A group of core networking volunteers and friends from past events (like What the Hack 2005, Hacking at Random 2009, Chaos Communication Camp 2011, Observe. Hack. Make 2013) needed to make alterations to a few kilometers of fiber optic cable to be ready for upcoming events such as Chaos Communication Camp 2015, Campzone 2015 and SHA2017.

This turned into a fusion splicing (fiber splicing) workshop.

. . . 2. 3. 2007 - this is the first day of a funeral ceremony in Bori for a High Class Woman. She died on 18. 1. 2007 at the age of 85 years. The ceremony will last for one week. Today we will see the showing of the water buffalos, pigs, cow, horse, deer and chicken. All these animals are offered to be the servants of the died woman in her new life after death in Puya. We will see buffalo fighting. Men bet for the winner of those fightings. Two buffalos fight each other - the one running away lost the fight!

If you wonder why the quality of the pictures is a little less: these are no photographs - it all are snapshots of my videos! So sorry for the less resolution, but I think, they are worth to be shown.

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The Toraja are an ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their population is approximately 1,100,000, of whom 450,000 live in the regency of Tana Toraja ("Land of Toraja"). Most of the population is Christian, and others are Muslim or have local animist beliefs known as aluk ("the way"). The Indonesian government has recognized this animist belief as Aluk To Dolo ("Way of the Ancestors").

 

The word toraja comes from the Bugis Buginese language term to riaja, meaning "people of the uplands". The Dutch colonial government named the people Toraja in 1909. Torajans are renowned for their elaborate funeral rites, burial sites carved into rocky cliffs, massive peaked-roof traditional houses known as tongkonan, and colorful wood carvings. Toraja funeral rites are important social events, usually attended by hundreds of people and lasting for several days.

 

Before the 20th century, Torajans lived in autonomous villages, where they practised animism and were relatively untouched by the outside world. In the early 1900s, Dutch missionaries first worked to convert Torajan highlanders to Christianity. When the Tana Toraja regency was further opened to the outside world in the 1970s, it became an icon of tourism in Indonesia: it was exploited by tourism developers and studied by anthropologists. By the 1990s, when tourism peaked, Toraja society had changed significantly, from an agrarian model - in which social life and customs were outgrowths of the Aluk To Dolo - to a largely Christian society. Today, tourism and remittances from migrant Torajans have made for major changes in the Toraja highland, giving the Toraja a celebrity status within Indonesia and enhancing Toraja ethnic group pride.

 

ETHNIC IDENTITY

The Torajan people had little notion of themselves as a distinct ethnic group before the 20th century. Before Dutch colonization and Christianization, Torajans, who lived in highland areas, identified with their villages and did not share a broad sense of identity. Although complexes of rituals created linkages between highland villages, there were variations in dialects, differences in social hierarchies, and an array of ritual practices in the Sulawesi highland region. "Toraja" (from the coastal languages' to, meaning people; and riaja, uplands) was first used as a lowlander expression for highlanders. As a result, "Toraja" initially had more currency with outsiders - such as the Bugis and Makassarese, who constitute a majority of the lowland of Sulawesi - than with insiders. The Dutch missionaries' presence in the highlands gave rise to the Toraja ethnic consciousness in the Sa'dan Toraja region, and this shared identity grew with the rise of tourism in the Tana Toraja Regency. Since then, South Sulawesi has four main ethnic groups - the Bugis (the majority, including shipbuilders and seafarers), the Makassarese (lowland traders and seafarers), the Mandarese (traders and fishermen), and the Toraja (highland rice cultivators).

 

HISTORY

From the 17th century, the Dutch established trade and political control on Sulawesi through the Dutch East Indies Company. Over two centuries, they ignored the mountainous area in the central Sulawesi, where Torajans lived, because access was difficult and it had little productive agricultural land. In the late 19th century, the Dutch became increasingly concerned about the spread of Islam in the south of Sulawesi, especially among the Makassarese and Bugis peoples. The Dutch saw the animist highlanders as potential Christians. In the 1920s, the Reformed Missionary Alliance of the Dutch Reformed Church began missionary work aided by the Dutch colonial government. In addition to introducing Christianity, the Dutch abolished slavery and imposed local taxes. A line was drawn around the Sa'dan area and called Tana Toraja ("the land of Toraja"). Tana Toraja was first a subdivision of the Luwu kingdom that had claimed the area. In 1946, the Dutch granted Tana Toraja a regentschap, and it was recognized in 1957 as one of the regencies of Indonesia.

 

Early Dutch missionaries faced strong opposition among Torajans, especially among the elite, because the abolition of their profitable slave trade had angered them. Some Torajans were forcibly relocated to the lowlands by the Dutch, where they could be more easily controlled. Taxes were kept high, undermining the wealth of the elites. Ultimately, the Dutch influence did not subdue Torajan culture, and only a few Torajans were converted. In 1950, only 10% of the population had converted to Christianity.

 

In the 1930s, Muslim lowlanders attacked the Torajans, resulting in widespread Christian conversion among those who sought to align themselves with the Dutch for political protection and to form a movement against the Bugis and Makassarese Muslims. Between 1951 and 1965 (following Indonesian independence), southern Sulawesi faced a turbulent period as the Darul Islam separatist movement fought for an Islamic state in Sulawesi. The 15 years of guerrilla warfare led to massive conversions to

 

CHRISTIANITY

Alignment with the Indonesian government, however, did not guarantee safety for the Torajans. In 1965, a presidential decree required every Indonesian citizen to belong to one of five officially recognized religions: Islam, Christianity (Protestantism and Catholicism), Hinduism, or Buddhism. The Torajan religious belief (aluk) was not legally recognized, and the Torajans raised their voices against the law. To make aluk accord with the law, it had to be accepted as part of one of the official religions. In 1969, Aluk To Dolo ("the way of ancestors") was legalized as a sect of Agama Hindu Dharma, the official name of Hinduism in Indonesia.

 

SOCIETY

There are three main types of affiliation in Toraja society: family, class and religion.

 

FAMILY AFFILIATION

Family is the primary social and political grouping in Torajan society. Each village is one extended family, the seat of which is the tongkonan, a traditional Torajan house. Each tongkonan has a name, which becomes the name of the village. The familial dons maintain village unity. Marriage between distant cousins (fourth cousins and beyond) is a common practice that strengthens kinship. Toraja society prohibits marriage between close cousins (up to and including the third cousin) - except for nobles, to prevent the dispersal of property. Kinship is actively reciprocal, meaning that the extended family helps each other farm, share buffalo rituals, and pay off debts.

 

Each person belongs to both the mother's and the father's families, the only bilateral family line in Indonesia. Children, therefore, inherit household affiliation from both mother and father, including land and even family debts. Children's names are given on the basis of kinship, and are usually chosen after dead relatives. Names of aunts, uncles and cousins are commonly referred to in the names of mothers, fathers and siblings.

 

Before the start of the formal administration of Toraja villages by the Tana Toraja Regency, each Toraja village was autonomous. In a more complex situation, in which one Toraja family could not handle their problems alone, several villages formed a group; sometimes, villages would unite against other villages. Relationship between families was expressed through blood, marriage, and shared ancestral houses (tongkonan), practically signed by the exchange of water buffalo and pigs on ritual occasions. Such exchanges not only built political and cultural ties between families but defined each person's place in a social hierarchy: who poured palm wine, who wrapped a corpse and prepared offerings, where each person could or could not sit, what dishes should be used or avoided, and even what piece of meat constituted one's share.

 

CLASS AFFILIATION

In early Toraja society, family relationships were tied closely to social class. There were three strata: nobles, commoners, and slaves (slavery was abolished in 1909 by the Dutch East Indies government). Class was inherited through the mother. It was taboo, therefore, to marry "down" with a woman of lower class. On the other hand, marrying a woman of higher class could improve the status of the next generation. The nobility's condescending attitude toward the commoners is still maintained today for reasons of family prestige.

 

Nobles, who were believed to be direct descendants of the descended person from heaven, lived in tongkonans, while commoners lived in less lavish houses (bamboo shacks called banua). Slaves lived in small huts, which had to be built around their owner's tongkonan. Commoners might marry anyone, but nobles preferred to marry in-family to maintain their status. Sometimes nobles married Bugis or Makassarese nobles. Commoners and slaves were prohibited from having death feasts. Despite close kinship and status inheritance, there was some social mobility, as marriage or change in wealth could affect an individuals status. Wealth was counted by the ownership of water buffaloes.

 

Slaves in Toraja society were family property. Sometimes Torajans decided to become slaves when they incurred a debt, pledging to work as payment. Slaves could be taken during wars, and slave trading was common. Slaves could buy their freedom, but their children still inherited slave status. Slaves were prohibited from wearing bronze or gold, carving their houses, eating from the same dishes as their owners, or having sex with free women - a crime punishable by death.

 

RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION

Toraja's indigenous belief system is polytheistic animism, called aluk, or "the way" (sometimes translated as "the law"). In the Toraja myth, the ancestors of Torajan people came down from heaven using stairs, which were then used by the Torajans as a communication medium with Puang Matua, the Creator. The cosmos, according to aluk, is divided into the upper world (heaven), the world of man (earth), and the underworld. At first, heaven and earth were married, then there was a darkness, a separation, and finally the light. Animals live in the underworld, which is represented by rectangular space enclosed by pillars, the earth is for mankind, and the heaven world is located above, covered with a saddle-shaped roof. Other Toraja gods include Pong Banggai di Rante (god of Earth), Indo' Ongon-Ongon (a goddess who can cause earthquakes), Pong Lalondong (god of death), and Indo' Belo Tumbang (goddess of medicine); there are many more.

 

The earthly authority, whose words and actions should be cleaved to both in life (agriculture) and death (funerals), is called to minaa (an aluk priest). Aluk is not just a belief system; it is a combination of law, religion, and habit. Aluk governs social life, agricultural practices, and ancestral rituals. The details of aluk may vary from one village to another. One common law is the requirement that death and life rituals be separated. Torajans believe that performing death rituals might ruin their corpses if combined with life rituals. The two rituals are equally important. During the time of the Dutch missionaries, Christian Torajans were prohibited from attending or performing life rituals, but were allowed to perform death rituals. Consequently, Toraja's death rituals are still practised today, while life rituals have diminished.

 

CULTURE

TONGKONAN

Tongkonan are the traditional Torajan ancestral houses. They stand high on wooden piles, topped with a layered split-bamboo roof shaped in a sweeping curved arc, and they are incised with red, black, and yellow detailed wood carvings on the exterior walls. The word "tongkonan" comes from the Torajan tongkon ("to sit").

 

Tongkonan are the center of Torajan social life. The rituals associated with the tongkonan are important expressions of Torajan spiritual life, and therefore all family members are impelled to participate, because symbolically the tongkonan represents links to their ancestors and to living and future kin. According to Torajan myth, the first tongkonan was built in heaven on four poles, with a roof made of Indian cloth. When the first Torajan ancestor descended to earth, he imitated the house and held a large ceremony.

 

The construction of a tongkonan is laborious work and is usually done with the help of the extended family. There are three types of tongkonan. The tongkonan layuk is the house of the highest authority, used as the "center of government". The tongkonan pekamberan belongs to the family members who have some authority in local traditions. Ordinary family members reside in the tongkonan batu. The exclusivity to the nobility of the tongkonan is diminishing as many Torajan commoners find lucrative employment in other parts of Indonesia. As they send back money to their families, they enable the construction of larger tongkonan.

 

WOOD CARVINGS

To express social and religious concepts, Torajans carve wood, calling it Pa'ssura (or "the writing"). Wood carvings are therefore Toraja's cultural manifestation.

 

Each carving receives a special name, and common motifs are animals and plants that symbolize some virtue. For example, water plants and animals, such as crabs, tadpoles and water weeds, are commonly found to symbolize fertility. In some areas noble elders claim these symbols refer to strength of noble family, but not everyone agrees. The overall meaning of groups of carved motifs on houses remains debated and tourism has further complicated these debates because some feel a uniform explanation must be presented to tourists. The image to the left shows an example of Torajan wood carving, consisting of 15 square panels. The center bottom panel represents buffalo or wealth, a wish for many buffaloes for the family. The center panel represents a knot and a box, a hope that all of the family's offspring will be happy and live in harmony, like goods kept safe in a box. The top left and top right squares represent an aquatic animal, indicating the need for fast and hard work, just like moving on the surface of water. It also represents the need for a certain skill to produce good results.

 

Regularity and order are common features in Toraja wood carving (see table below), as well as abstracts and geometrical designs. Nature is frequently used as the basis of Toraja's ornaments, because nature is full of abstractions and geometries with regularities and ordering. Toraja's ornaments have been studied in ethnomathematics to reveal their mathematical structure, but Torajans base this art only on approximations. To create an ornament, bamboo sticks are used as a geometrical tool.

 

FUNERAL RITES

In Toraja society, the funeral ritual is the most elaborate and expensive event. The richer and more powerful the individual, the more expensive is the funeral. In the aluk religion, only nobles have the right to have an extensive death feast. The death feast of a nobleman is usually attended by thousands and lasts for several days. A ceremonial site, called rante, is usually prepared in a large, grassy field where shelters for audiences, rice barns, and other ceremonial funeral structures are specially made by the deceased family. Flute music, funeral chants, songs and poems, and crying and wailing are traditional Toraja expressions of grief with the exceptions of funerals for young children, and poor, low-status adults.

 

The ceremony is often held weeks, months, or years after the death so that the deceased's family can raise the significant funds needed to cover funeral expenses. Torajans traditionally believe that death is not a sudden, abrupt event, but a gradual process toward Puya (the land of souls, or afterlife). During the waiting period, the body of the deceased is wrapped in several layers of cloth and kept under the tongkonan. The soul of the deceased is thought to linger around the village until the funeral ceremony is completed, after which it begins its journey to Puya.

 

Another component of the ritual is the slaughter of water buffalo. The more powerful the person who died, the more buffalo are slaughtered at the death feast. Buffalo carcasses, including their heads, are usually lined up on a field waiting for their owner, who is in the "sleeping stage". Torajans believe that the deceased will need the buffalo to make the journey and that they will be quicker to arrive at Puya if they have many buffalo. Slaughtering tens of water buffalo and hundreds of pigs using a machete is the climax of the elaborate death feast, with dancing and music and young boys who catch spurting blood in long bamboo tubes. Some of the slaughtered animals are given by guests as "gifts", which are carefully noted because they will be considered debts of the deceased's family. However, a cockfight, known as bulangan londong, is an integral part of the ceremony. As with the sacrifice of the buffalo and the pigs, the cockfight is considered sacred because it involves the spilling of blood on the earth. In particular, the tradition requires the sacrifice of at least three chickens. However, it is common for at least 25 pairs of chickens to be set against each other in the context of the ceremony.

 

There are three methods of burial: the coffin may be laid in a cave or in a carved stone grave, or hung on a cliff. It contains any possessions that the deceased will need in the afterlife. The wealthy are often buried in a stone grave carved out of a rocky cliff. The grave is usually expensive and takes a few months to complete. In some areas, a stone cave may be found that is large enough to accommodate a whole family. A wood-carved effigy, called Tau tau, is usually placed in the cave looking out over the land. The coffin of a baby or child may be hung from ropes on a cliff face or from a tree. This hanging grave usually lasts for years, until the ropes rot and the coffin falls to the ground.

 

In the ritual called Ma'Nene, that takes place each year in August, the bodies of the deceased are exhumed to be washed, groomed and dressed in new clothes. The mummies are then walked around the village.

 

DANCE AND MUSIC

Torajans perform dances on several occasions, most often during their elaborate funeral ceremonies. They dance to express their grief, and to honour and even cheer the deceased person because he is going to have a long journey in the afterlife. First, a group of men form a circle and sing a monotonous chant throughout the night to honour the deceased (a ritual called Ma'badong). This is considered by many Torajans to be the most important component of the funeral ceremony. On the second funeral day, the Ma'randing warrior dance is performed to praise the courage of the deceased during life. Several men perform the dance with a sword, a large shield made from buffalo skin, a helmet with a buffalo horn, and other ornamentation. The Ma'randing dance precedes a procession in which the deceased is carried from a rice barn to the rante, the site of the funeral ceremony. During the funeral, elder women perform the Ma'katia dance while singing a poetic song and wearing a long feathered costume. The Ma'akatia dance is performed to remind the audience of the generosity and loyalty of the deceased person. After the bloody ceremony of buffalo and pig slaughter, a group of boys and girls clap their hands while performing a cheerful dance called Ma'dondan.

 

As in other agricultural societies, Torajans dance and sing during harvest time. The Ma'bugi dance celebrates the thanksgiving event, and the Ma'gandangi dance is performed while Torajans are pounding rice. There are several war dances, such as the Manimbong dance performed by men, followed by the Ma'dandan dance performed by women. The aluk religion governs when and how Torajans dance. A dance called Ma'bua can be performed only once every 12 years. Ma'bua is a major Toraja ceremony in which priests wear a buffalo head and dance around a sacred tree.

 

A traditional musical instrument of the Toraja is a bamboo flute called a Pa'suling (suling is an Indonesian word for flute). This six-holed flute (not unique to the Toraja) is played at many dances, such as the thanksgiving dance Ma'bondensan, where the flute accompanies a group of shirtless, dancing men with long fingernails. The Toraja have indigenous musical instruments, such as the Pa'pelle (made from palm leaves) and the Pa'karombi (the Torajan version of a jaw harp). The Pa'pelle is played during harvest time and at house inauguration ceremonies.

 

LANGUAGE

The ethnic Toraja language is dominant in Tana Toraja with the main language as the Sa'dan Toraja. Although the national Indonesian language is the official language and is spoken in the community, all elementary schools in Tana Toraja teach Toraja language.Language varieties of Toraja, including Kalumpang, Mamasa, Tae' , Talondo' , Toala' , and Toraja-Sa'dan, belong to the Malayo-Polynesian language from the Austronesian family. At the outset, the isolated geographical nature of Tana Toraja formed many dialects between the Toraja languages themselves. After the formal administration of Tana Toraja, some Toraja dialects have been influenced by other languages through the transmigration program, introduced since the colonialism period, and it has been a major factor in the linguistic variety of Toraja languages. A prominent attribute of Toraja language is the notion of grief. The importance of death ceremony in Toraja culture has characterized their languages to express intricate degrees of grief and mourning. The Toraja language contains many terms referring to sadness, longing, depression, and mental pain. Giving a clear expression of the psychological and physical effect of loss is a catharsis and sometimes lessens the pain of grief itself.

 

ECONOMY

Prior to Suharto's "New Order" administration, the Torajan economy was based on agriculture, with cultivated wet rice in terraced fields on mountain slopes, and supplemental cassava and maize crops. Much time and energy were devoted to raising water buffalo, pigs, and chickens, primarily for ceremonial sacrifices and consumption. Coffee was the first significant cash crop produced in Toraja, and was introduced in the mid 19th century, changing the local economy towards commodity production for external markets and gaining an excellent reputation for quality in the international market .

 

With the commencement of the New Order in 1965, Indonesia's economy developed and opened to foreign investment. In Toraja, a coffee plantation and factory was established by Key Coffee of Japan, and Torajan coffee regained a reputation for quality within the growing international specialty coffee sector Multinational oil and mining companies opened new operations in Indonesia during the 1970s and 1980s. Torajans, particularly younger ones, relocated to work for the foreign companies - to Kalimantan for timber and oil, to Papua for mining, to the cities of Sulawesi and Java, and many went to Malaysia. The out-migration of Torajans was steady until 1985. and has continued since, with remittances sent back by emigre Torajans performing an important role within the contemporary economy.

 

Tourism commenced in Toraja in the 1970s, and accelerated in the 1980s and 1990s. Between 1984 and 1997, a significant number of Torajans obtained their incomes from tourism, working in and owning hotels, as tour guides, drivers, or selling souvenirs. With the rise of political and economic instability in Indonesia in the late 1990s - including religious conflicts elsewhere on Sulawesi - tourism in Tana Toraja has declined dramatically. Toraja continues to be a well known origin for Indonesian coffee, grown by both smallholders and plantation estates, although migration, remittances and off-farm income is considered far more important to most households, even those in rural areas.

 

TOURISM AND CULTURAL CHANGE

Before the 1970s, Toraja was almost unknown to Western tourism. In 1971, about 50 Europeans visited Tana Toraja. In 1972, at least 400 visitors attended the funeral ritual of Puang of Sangalla, the highest-ranking nobleman in Tana Toraja and the so-called "last pure-blooded Toraja noble." The event was documented by National Geographic and broadcast in several European countries. In 1976, about 12,000 tourists visited the regency and in 1981, Torajan sculpture was exhibited in major North American museums. "The land of the heavenly kings of Tana Toraja", as written in the exhibition brochure, embraced the outside world.

 

In 1984, the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism declared Tana Toraja Regency the prima donna of South Sulawesi. Tana Toraja was heralded as "the second stop after Bali". Tourism was increasing dramatically: by 1985, a total number of 150,000 foreigners had visited the Regency (in addition to 80,000 domestic tourists), and the annual number of foreign visitors was recorded at 40,000 in 1989. Souvenir stands appeared in Rantepao, the cultural center of Toraja, roads were sealed at the most-visited tourist sites, new hotels and tourist-oriented restaurants were opened, and an airstrip was opened in the Regency in 1981.

 

Tourism developers have marketed Tana Toraja as an exotic adventure - an area rich in culture and off the beaten track. Western tourists expected to see stone-age villages and pagan funerals. Toraja is for tourists who have gone as far as Bali and are willing to see more of the wild, "untouched" islands. However, they were more likely to see a Torajan wearing a hat and denim, living in a Christian society. Tourists felt that the tongkonan and other Torajan rituals had been preconceived to make profits, and complained that the destination was too commercialized. This has resulted in several clashes between Torajans and tourism developers, whom Torajans see as outsiders.

 

A clash between local Torajan leaders and the South Sulawesi provincial government (as a tourist developer) broke out in 1985. The government designated 18 Toraja villages and burial sites as traditional tourist attractions. Consequently, zoning restrictions were applied to these areas, such that Torajans themselves were barred from changing their tongkonans and burial sites. The plan was opposed by some Torajan leaders, as they felt that their rituals and traditions were being determined by outsiders. As a result, in 1987, the Torajan village of Kété Kesú and several other designated tourist attractions closed their doors to tourists. This closure lasted only a few days, as the villagers found it too difficult to survive without the income from selling souvenirs.

 

Tourism has also transformed Toraja society. Originally, there was a ritual which allowed commoners to marry nobles (puang) and thereby gain nobility for their children. However, the image of Torajan society created for the tourists, often by "lower-ranking" guides, has eroded its traditional strict hierarchy. High status is not as esteemed in Tana Toraja as it once was. Many low-ranking men can declare themselves and their children nobles by gaining enough wealth through work outside the region and then marrying a noble woman.

 

WIKIPEDIA

twitter.com/Memoire2cite youtu.be/uhk9yDA3lIc #Copropriété #HLM #citémoderne #mémoire2cité #Quartiers #Banlieue #Périphérie @ la Ville* dans tous ses états..Histoire & Mémoire de Métropoles / Rétro-Villes /Quartiers Banlieue / Urbanisme des 30 Glorieuses..les années PAIC CITRON avec ses critiques.. Echangeurs, lotissements, zones commerciales, alignements de ronds-points… Depuis les années 60, la ville s’est mise à dévorer la campagne. Une fatalité ? Non : le résultat de choix politiques et économiques. Historique illustré de ces métastases pé-riurbaines.

Un gros bourg et des fermes perdues dans le bocage, des murs de granit, des toits d'ardoise, des tas de foin, des vaches... Et pour rejoindre Brest, à quelques kilomètres au sud, une bonne route départementale goudronnée. C'était ça, Gouesnou, pendant des décennies, un paysage quasi immuable. Jean-Marc voit le jour dans la ferme de ses parents en 1963. Il a 5 ans lorsqu'un gars de Brest, Jean Cam, a l'idée bizarre d'installer en plein champ un drôle de magasin en parpaing et en tôle qu'il appelle Rallye. Quatre ans plus tard, les élus créent un peu plus au nord, à Kergaradec, un proto--type, une ZAC, « zone d'aménagement concerté » : les hangars y poussent un par un.

Un hypermarché Leclerc s'installe au bout de la nouvelle voie express qui se cons-truit par tronçons entre Brest et Rennes. Puis viennent La Hutte, Conforama et les meubles Jean Richou... 300 hectares de terre fertile disparaissent sous le bitume des parkings et des rocades. Quelques maisons se retrouvent enclavées çà et là. La départementale devient une belle quatre-voies sur laquelle filent à vive allure R16, 504 et Ami 8. Un quartier chic voit le jour, toujours en pleine nature, qui porte un nom de rêve : la Vallée verte...

C'est à ce moment-là que ça s'est compliqué pour les parents de Jean-Marc. Avec l'élargissement de la départementale, ils sont expropriés d'un bon bout de terrain et ne peuvent plus emmener leurs vaches de l'autre côté de la quatre-voies. Ils s'adaptent tant bien que mal, confectionnent des produits laitiers pour le centre Leclerc, avant de se reconvertir : la jolie ferme Quentel est au-jourd'hui une des salles de réception les plus courues de Bretagne.

 

Les fermes voisines deviennent gîte rural ou centre équestre. La Vallée verte, elle, se retrouve cernée de rangées de pavillons moins chics : « Nous, on a eu de la chance, grâce à la proximité de l'aéroport, les terres tout autour de la ferme sont restées inconstructibles. » Aujourd'hui, quand il quitte son bout de verdure préservé pour aller à Brest, Jean-Marc contourne juste la zone de Kergaradec, tellement il trouve ça moche : « C'est à qui fera le plus grand panneau, rajoutera le plus de fanions. Comme si tout le monde hurlait en même temps ses messages publicitaires. »

Ça s'est passé près de chez Jean-Marc, à Brest, mais aussi près de chez nous, près de chez vous, à Marseille, Toulouse, Lyon, Metz ou Lille, puis aux abords des villes moyennes, et désormais des plus petites. Avec un formidable coup d'accélérateur depuis les années 1982-1983 et les lois de décentralisation Defferre. Partout, la même trilogie – infrastructures routières, zones commerciales, lotissements – concourt à l'étalement urbain le plus spectaculaire d'Europe : tous les dix ans, l'équivalent d'un département français disparaît sous le béton, le bitume, les panneaux, la tôle.

Il n'y a rien à comprendre, a-t-on jugé pendant des années, juste à prendre acte de la modernité à l'œuvre, une sorte de chaos naturel et spontané, prix à payer pour la « croissance » de notre bien-être matériel. Les élites intellectuelles de ce pays oscillent entre répulsion (« c'est moche, les entrées de ville »), fascination (« vive le chaos, ça fait Wim Wenders ! ») et indifférence : elles habitent en centre-ville... Rien à comprendre, vraiment ?

 

En 2003, l'architecte urbaniste David Man-gin prend le temps d'y réfléchir quelques mois et sort un an plus tard son formidable bouquin, La Ville franchisée, qui reste l'analyse la plus pertinente des métastases pé-riurbaines. Il faut en finir, dit Mangin, avec l'idée que ce « chaos sort de terre tout seul ». Il résulte au contraire « de rapports de forces politiques, de visions idéologiques, de cultures techniques ».

Lorsque apparaissent les premiers supermarchés, au début des années 60, la France ne compte que 200 kilomètres d'autoroutes, un morceau de périphérique parisien, aucune autre rocade, pas le moin-dre rond-point... et un architecte-urbaniste visionnaire, Le Corbusier ! Celui-ci a compris très tôt l'hégémonie à venir de la voiture, à laquelle il est favorable. Dès 1933, avec des confrères qu'il a réunis à Athènes, il a imaginé de découper les villes de fa-çon rationnelle, en quatre zones cor-respondant à quatre « fonctions » : la vie, le travail, les loisirs et les infrastructures routières.

L'Etat s'empare de l'idée, on entre dans l'ère des « zones », ZUP, ZAC, etc. (1) Et puis il faut « rattraper » l'Allemagne et son insolent réseau d'autoroutes ! Du pain bénit pour notre illustre corps d'ingénieurs des Ponts et Chaussées. La France inscrit dans la loi (loi Pasqua, 1998) que tout citoyen doit se trouver à moins de quarante-cinq minutes d'une entrée ou d'une sortie d'autoroute ! Des itinéraires de contournement des villes sont construits, le territoire se couvre d'échangeurs, de bre-telles et de rocades. Vingt ans plus tard, les enfilades de ronds-points à l'anglaise, trop nombreux et trop grands, parachèvent le travail : ils jouent, constate Mangin, « le rôle de diffuseurs de l'étalement dans le nouveau Meccano urbain qui se met en place ».L’empire du hangar

Ceux qui ont vite compris le potentiel que leur offrait ce quadrillage de bitume – foncier pas cher et abondant, accessibilité et visibilité formidables –, ce sont les nouveaux opérateurs du commerce. Ils s'appellent Leclerc en Bretagne, Auchan dans le Nord, Casino dans la région stéphanoise. Leur stratégie : se faire connaître sur leur terroir d'origine, saturer un territoire pour étouffer la concurrence, puis s'étendre à d'autres régions. « Localisations et accès sont repérés et négociés en amont, explique Mangin, auprès des propriétaires privés, des élus, des aménageurs de ZAC et des directions départemen-tales de l'Equipement. » Conçus à l'américaine – « no parking, no business » –, les hypermarchés raisonnent en termes de « flux » de voitures et de « zones de chalandise » : ils com-mencent par aspirer les consommateurs des centres-villes en attendant que les lotissements viennent boucher les trous du maillage routier...

Aujourd'hui, la France, championne mondiale de la grande distribution – elle exporte son glorieux modèle jusqu'en Chine – compte 1 400 hypermarchés (de plus de 2 500 mètres carrés) et 8 000 supermarchés... Et pour quel bilan ! « En cassant les prix sur quelques rares mais symbo-liques produits, les grandes surfaces se sont enrichies en ruinant les pompes à essence, les commerces de bouche, les drogueries, les quincailleries, des milliers de commerces indépendants spécialisés ou de proximité, des milliers d'artisans, et même des milliers de producteurs et fournisseurs. Les résultats sont objectivement inacceptables. Avec, en plus, des prix supérieurs à ceux de nos voisins eu-ropéens ! »

Ce n'est pas un dangereux contestataire qui dresse ce constat, mais Jean-Paul Charié, député UMP du Loiret (hélas décédé en novembre dernier), dans un rapport sur l'urbanisme commercial rédigé en mars 2009. La logique des grandes surfaces a vidé les centres-villes de leurs commerces, a favorisé la malbouffe, contraint de nombreuses entrepri-ses à délocaliser. Elle a fabriqué des emplois précaires et des chômeurs. C'est une spécificité très française – 70 % du chiffre d'affaires commercial est réalisé en périphérie des villes, contre 30 % en Allemagne.

L'homme le plus riche de France ? Gérard Mulliez, fondateur du groupe familial Auchan. Une nébuleuse d'entreprises dont le poids estimé en fait le premier annonceur publicitaire et le troisième employeur du pays. Difficile de résister à son influence, ou à celle des Leclerc, Carrefour, Intermarché, aménageurs en chef de l'Hexagone. Jusqu'à la loi de modernisation de l'économie votée en 2008, l'implantation des grandes surfaces n'était d'ailleurs pas soumise au droit de l'urbanisme, mais au seul droit commercial. Aucune règle n'était édictée quant à la forme ou à l'aspect des bâtiments, seule la surface comptait, donnant lieu à des marchandages peu re-luisants avec les élus : laisse-moi construire mon supermarché, je financerai ton club sportif...

« L'aménagement du territoire soumis aux puissances financières débouche toujours sur des effets pervers, poursuit le rapport Charié. Comment un élu peut-il facilement refuser un projet parasite si c'est par ailleurs une source de financement pour le budget communal ? » A fortiori s'il est maire d'une petite ville, désormais en première ligne. Car l'hypermarché de première génération s'est « fractionné ». Decathlon, Norauto, Leroy-Merlin, Kiabi, Cultura... c'est aussi le groupe Auchan ! Autant de MSS (moyennes surfaces spécialisées) qui investissent de nouvelles petites ZAC, où McDonald's côtoie désormais Biocoop...

Pas un bourg qui n'accueille le visiteur par un bazar bariolé : « C'est partout le même alignement de cubes et de parallélé-pipèdes en tôle ondulée, le même pullulement de pancartes et d'enseignes », se désole Jean-Pierre Sueur, sénateur socialiste du même Loiret, qui a déposé une proposition de loi à l'automne dernier. Son objectif : que « tous les documents d'urbanisme assurent la qualité urbaine, architecturale et paysagère des entrées de ville ». Plein de bonnes idées, le texte a été adopté il y a deux mois par la majorité sénatoriale UMP, qui l'a vidé de sa substance – plus aucune mesure contraignante.

Le rêve pavillonnaire

Tandis que nos compatriotes s'accoutumaient à naviguer le week-end d'un parking à l'autre, les quartiers pavillonnaires ont fleuri. Il faut dire qu'ils n'ont pas vraiment eu d'autre choix, les Français, face à une crise du logement qui sévit depuis la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Alors que la population du pays était stable depuis le milieu du XIXe siècle – 40 millions d'habitants –, le baby-boom, l'accélération de l'exode rural, le recours à l'immigration puis l'arrivée des rapatriés d'Algérie changent la donne : il faut construire, vite, pour éradiquer les taudis urbains.

 

Ce sera, pendant vingt ans, la politique des grands ensembles, à laquelle la circulaire Guichard de 1973 met brutalement fin. Place au rêve pavillonnaire ! Certes, dans les années 20, les débuts de l'exode rural avaient donné naissance aux premiers lotissements – les fameux pavillons Loucheur des faubourgs parisiens. Mais cette fois, on change d'échelle. Rêve de tous les Français, le pavillon ? C'est ce que serinent, depuis Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, tous les gouvernements, qui appuient leur politique sur le rejet des grands ensembles et sur « notre mémoire rurale » – souvenons-nous de l'affiche bucolique de François Mitterrand en 1981, la force tranquille du clocher.

« Pourtant, le pavillon, c'est avant tout un choix contraint », constate David Mangin. Les centres-villes étant devenus inabordables, les familles pas très riches – elles sont la grande majorité – sont condamnées à l'exil périurbain. Et elles le resteront tant que manquera une bonne offre résidentielle collective. Alors, comme l'a observé l'urbaniste Bruno Fortier, « on tartine du lotissement au kilomètre », c'est facile et pas cher. Conçue par un promoteur-constructeur, la maison est un « produit », à commander sur catalogue. Où que l'on aille, le marché ne sait fournir que des lotissements avec des rues « en raquette », des parcelles de même taille, des maisons posées sur leur sous-sol de béton ; tant pis pour le raccord visuel avec la ville ancienne. Les plantes des jardins sont achetées en promotion à la jardinerie du coin ; tant pis pour la flore locale et le paysage.

La puissance publique y met du sien : incapable d'assurer la con-tinuité urbaine, elle croit compenser en imposant les règles draconiennes des Plans locaux d'urbanisme (PLU). Les Directions départementales de l'Equipement (DDE) imposent leurs normes, et les architectes des Bâtiments de France (ABF) homogénéisent à coups de pastiches régionalistes. Allez essayer de construire une maison en bois ou un peu personnalisée dans un lotissement ! « Les gens qui essaient se font flinguer, dit David Mangin. Ils doivent s'expliquer avec le maire, déposer trois permis, il y a des recours... Ils sont découragés. »

Les dégâts de la décentralisation

« Pendant très longtemps l'urbanisme a été une affaire d'Etat en France », rappelle Thierry Paquot, philosophe de l'urbain et éditeur de la revue Urbanisme. Mais, à partir des années 80, les gouvernements, de droite ou de gauche, ont délégué à d'autres la fabrication de la ville. L'Etat s'est mis au service du privé : « Le meilleur exemple, c'est Laurent Fabius, qui "offre" à Eurodisney une ligne de RER que les habitants de Marne-la-Vallée réclamaient sans succès depuis des années ! »

En 1983, les lois de décentralisation donnent tout pouvoir aux maires en matière de permis de construire « et la catastrophe commence, estime Thierry Paquot. La plupart des élus sont totalement incompétents en matière d'urbanisme, et de plus ont un goût exécrable ». Ils se reposent sur les promoteurs pour produire du clés en main. « L'habitat se banalise et conduit à cette France moche qui nie totalement l'esprit des lieux. »

Frédéric Bonnet, architecte-conseil de l'Etat en Haute-Vienne, confirme : « Dans un rayon de 40 kilomètres autour de Limoges, tous les villages ont construit dix, quinze, vingt maisons pour des habitants qui ne se rendent jamais dans le centre-bourg, puisqu'ils travaillent tous... à Limoges. » Le mécanisme est simple : pour lutter contre l'exode rural, pour éviter la fermeture de l'école, la commune fait construire un lotissement, qui amène de nouveaux arrivants. Mais les enfants scolarisés grandissent et s'en vont. Il faut créer un second lotissement pour attirer de nouvelles familles. C'est la fuite en avant. Le mitage du paysage est renforcé par la spéculation foncière.

Difficile pour le maire d'une petite commune de refuser à des voisins agri-culteurs la constructibilité sachant que le prix du terrain à lotir est alors multiplié par dix ou vingt. Et voilà comment la France consomme pour son « urbanisation » deux fois plus de terres agricoles que l'Allemagne : « Il faut en finir avec la politique urbaine coordonnée au niveau de la commune, ce n'est pas la bonne échelle », conclut Frédéric Bonnet.

Un développement pas durable

L'urbanisme raconte ce que nous sommes. Le Moyen Age a eu ses villes fortifiées et ses cathédrales, le XIXe siècle ses boulevards et ses lycées. Nous avons nos hangars commerciaux et nos lotissements. Les pare-brise de nos voitures sont des écrans de télévision, et nos villes ressemblent à une soirée sur TF1 : un long tunnel de publicité (la zone commerciale et ses pancartes) suivi d'une émission guimauve (le centre muséifié). Cette périurbanisation vorace s'opère en silence – les revues d'architecture l'ignorent. Elle a été peu visitée par le roman, le documentaire ou la fiction.

Aux Etats-Unis, des films comme American Beauty, la série Desperate Housewives ont raconté l'ennui qui suinte des quartiers pavillonnaires. En France, il manque un Balzac contemporain pour décrire la comédie urbaine. « La ville n'est pas objet de débat, analyse Annie Fourcaut, historienne de la vie citadine. On débat de l'école, pas de la ville, sans voir que la secon-de conditionne la première. Peut-être parce que les Français ne sont pas un peuple urbain. Il a fallu attendre 1931 pour que la population des villes égale celle des campagnes, des décennies après les Anglais et les Allemands. »

Alors, il n'y aurait pas d'autre modèle de vie que celui qui consiste à prendre sa voiture tous les matins pour faire des kilomètres jusqu'à son travail, par des routes saturées et des ronds-points engorgés, pour revenir le soir dans sa maison après être allé faire le plein chez Carrefour ? « L'inflexion, sur le plan des idées, a commencé, se réjouit Bruno Fortier. Depuis trois ou quatre ans, tout le monde dit : on arrête les conneries, on se calme, on redensi-fie, on réurbanise intelligemment, on cesse de dévorer les terrains agri-coles... Mais fabriquer un urbanisme plus évolué, avec un rapport à la nature plus riche, comme ce que l'on voit aux Pays-Bas, au Danemark ou en Allemagne, ça va coûter un peu plus cher ! »

L'impératif écologique supplantera-t-il l'impéritie politique ? Durant l'été 2008, quand le prix de l'essence s'est envolé, le chiffre d'affaires de certaines zones commerciales s'est effondré. Affolés, les habitants des lotissements ont réclamé des lignes de bus à leur maire. « Depuis la fin des grands ensembles, la France n'avait plus de projet urbain collectif, rappelle Annie Fourcaut. Le développement durable pourrait en cons-tituer un. » Alors rêvons un instant à ce que pourrait être une « ville passante », comme l'appelle David Mangin, une ville désintoxiquée de la voiture, désenclavée, oublieuse des artères qui segmentent et des zones privatisées et sécurisées, une ville de faubourgs dont les fonctions – habitat, travail, commerce, loisirs – seraient à nouveau mélangées, une ville hybride, métissée, où chacun mettrait un peu du sien... Trop tard ?Le pavillon, un choix ?

Sur la carte du Comité du tourisme de la Haute-Vienne, les villages dessinés ressemblent tous à celui de l'affiche du candidat Mitterrand en 1981. Et en vrai ? Au sud-ouest de Limoges, au-delà de la zone commerciale, Boisseuil s'est couvert de lotissements. L'un d'eux se termine. Des dizaines de pavillons bas, parfois pas loin du cabanon amélioré. Il est loin « l'éco-quartier », dernière marotte de nos élus. C'est la France qui se lève tôt, qui fait des heures sup, mais n'a pas de quoi s'offrir plus.

A 5 kilomètres de là, à Pierre-Buffière, vieux bourg de 1 200 habitants, on tombe sur 21 parcelles, au bord des champs. Anne, « nounou », et son mari, fonctionnaire, sont venus « pour la qualité de vie ». De toute façon, « Limoges, c'était bien trop cher ». Bien sûr, « 80 % des gens qui habitent ici travaillent à Limoges. Il faut tout faire en voiture ». Même son de cloche à Eybouleuf, 400 habitants à peine, à 16 kilomètres au nord.Le manque d'argent, toujours... « Avec la crise, les gens sont mutés et obligés de revendre », dit Louis, ancien routier. « Construire, c'est meilleur marché que de louer », explique quand même Fernand, retraité des abattoirs, qui a eu sa maison dès 1982. Depuis, combien ont poussé autour ? « Une, deux... neuf ! » Et d'autres plus loin. Tous les commerces ont coulé. « Les campagnes, maintenant, c'est des dortoirs. Mais les gens y sont plus heureux qu'en ville. » X.J.

(1) La ZUP (Zone à urbaniser en priorité), procédure d'urbanisme créée en 1959 , a permis la construction des grands ensembles. La ZAC (Zone d'aménagement concerté) s'est substituée à la ZUP en 1967, pour faciliter la concertation entre collectivités publiques et promoteurs privés.

(2) Reprenant les attributions des Ponts et Chaussées (réseaux routiers, règlements d'urbanisme, etc.), les Directions départementales de l'Equipement (DDE) ont été créées en 1967. Depuis les lois de décentralisation, elles relèvent des conseils généraux. Le 1er janvier, elles ont fusionné avec les Directions départementales de l'Agriculture et de la Forêt, devenant DDT (Directions départementale des territoires). Elles sont donc désormais censées se préoccuper de développement durable...

La Ville franchisée, Formes et structures de la ville contemporaine, de David Mangin, 2004, éd. de la Villette, 480 p., 35 €. la construction des Autoroutes en France - Les liaisons moins dangereuses 1972 www.dailymotion.com/video/xxi0ae?playlist=x34ije - Ministère de l'Équipement et de l'Aménagement du Territoire - Dotation par la France d'autoroutes modernes "nécessité vitale" pour palier à l'inadaptation du réseau routier de l'époque voué à la paralysie : le reportage nous montre des images d'embouteillages. Le ministre de l'Équipement et de l'Aménagement du Territoire dans les deux gouvernements de Pierre Messmer, de 1972 à 1974, Olivier Guichard explique les ambitions du programme de construction qui doit atteindre 800 km par ans en 1978. L'ouverture de section nouvelles va bon train : Nancy / Metz par exemple. Le reportage nous montre l'intérieur des bureaux d'études qui conçoivent ces autoroute dont la conception est assistée par ordinateurs dont le projet d'ensemble en 3D est visualisé sur un écran. La voix off nous informe sur le financement de ces équipements. Puis on peut voir des images de la construction du pont sur la Seine à Saint Cloud reliant l'autoroute de Normandie au périphérique, de l'échangeur de Palaiseau sur 4 niveau : record d'Europe précise le commentaire. Le reportage nous informe que des sociétés d'économies mixtes ont étés crées pour les tronçons : Paris / Lille, Paris / Marseille, Paris / Normandie. Pour accélérer la construction l’État a eu recours à des concessions privées par exemple pour le tronçon Paris / Chartres. "Les autoroutes changent le visage de la France : artères économiques favorisant le développement industriel elles permettent de revitaliser des régions en perte de vitesse et de l'intégrer dans le mouvement général de l'expansion" Sur le plan européen elles vont combler le retard de la France et réaliser son insertion. Images de l'inauguration de l'autoroute entre Paris et Bruxelles par le président Georges Pompidou. Le reportage rappel que l'autre fonction capitale des autoroute est de favoriser la sécurité. La question de la limitation de vitesse est posée au ministre de l’Équipement, qui n'y est favorable que sur certains tronçons. Un des facteur de sécurité selon le commentaire est l'humanisation des autoroutes : aires de repos, restaurants, signalisation touristiques... "Rien n'est impossible aux techniques modernes" nous apprend la voix off qui prend comme exemple le déplacement sur rail de 65 mètres d'un château classé afin de faire passer l'autoroute Lille / Dunkerque.Durée Production : ministère de l'Équipement et de l'Aménagement du Territoire Réalisateur : inconnu

Tous les films du fonds ancien, sont regroupés sur la Cinémathèque METL

www.dailymotion.com/group/fonds-ancien

Sur les routes de France les ponts renaissent 1945 reconstruction de la France après la Seconde Guerre mondiale www.dailymotion.com/video/xuxrii?playlist=x34ije , Quelques mois après la fin de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, un triste constat s'impose : 5 944 passages sont coupés, soit plus de 110 km de brèches ; de nombreuses villes se trouvent isolées.

Les chantiers s'activent dans toute la France pour "gagner la bataille des communications routières". Mais outre la pénurie de main d’œuvre, il faut faire face au manque de matériaux (béton, métal) et donc déployer des trésors d'imagination pour reconstruire les ponts détruits. Si le savoir faire des tailleurs de pierre est exploité, le plus spectaculaire est le relevage des ponts, comme le pont de Galliéni à Lyon, où 7 à 800 tonnes d'acier sont sorti de l'eau avec des moyens de l'époque. En avril 1945, il reste 5 700 ponts à reconstruire soit 200 000 tonnes d'acier, 600 000 tonnes de ciment, 250 000 m3 de bois, 10 millions de journées d'ouvrier, prix de l'effort de reconstruction.

Titre : Sur les routes de France les ponts renaissent

Année de réalisation : 1945

Auteurs / réalisateurs : images : G.Delaunay, A.Pol, son : C.Gauguier

Production : Direction Technique des Services des Ponts et Chaussées / Ministère des Travaux Publics et des Transports

Support original : 16 mm noir et blanc Durée : 14 min

Thèmes principaux : infrastructures-ouvrages d'art Mot clés : chantier, pont, Reconstruction, restauration, béton précontraint, ministère des travaux publics et des transports

Lieux : Lyon, Tournon, Caen - Le Bosquel, un village renait 1947 l'album cinématographique de la reconstruction, réalisation Paul de Roubaix production ministère de la Reconstruction et de l'Urbanisme, village prototype, architecte Paul Dufournet, www.dailymotion.com/video/xx5tx8?playlist=x34ije -

Demain Paris 1959 dessin animé présentant l'aménagement de la capitale dans les années 60, Animation, dessin animé à vocation pédagogique visant à promouvoir la politique d’aménagement suivie dans les années 60 à Paris.

Un raccourci historique sur l’extension de Paris du Moyen Âge au XIXe siècle (Lutèce, œuvres de Turgot, Napoléon, Haussmann), ce dessin animé retrace la naissance de la banlieue et de ses avatars au XXe siècle. Il annonce les grands principes d’aménagement des villes nouvelles et la restructuration du centre de Paris (référence implicite à la charte d’Athènes).

Le texte est travaillé en rimes et vers. Une chanson du vieux Paris conclut poétiquement cette vision du futur. Thèmes principaux : Aménagement urbain / planification-aménagement régional Mots-clés : Banlieue, extension spatiale, histoire, quartier, ville, ville nouvelle

Architectes ou personnalités : Eugène Haussmann, Napoléon, Turgot

Réalisateurs : André Martin, Michel Boschet Production : les films Roger Leenhardt

www.dailymotion.com/video/xw6lak?playlist=x34ije -

Rue neuve 1956 la reconstruction de la France dix ans après la fin de la seconde guerre mondiale, villes, villages, grands ensembles réalisation : Jack Pinoteau , Panorama de la reconstruction de la France dix ans après la fin de la seconde guerre mondiale, ce film de commande évoque les villes et villages français détruits puis reconstruits dans un style respectant la tradition : Saint-Malo, Gien, Thionville, Ammerschwihr, etc. ainsi que la reconstruction en rupture avec l'architecture traditionnelle à Châtenay-Malabry, Arles, Saint Étienne, Évreux, Chambéry, Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, Abbeville, Le Havre, Marseille, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Dunkerque.

Le documentaire explique par exemple la manière dont a été réalisée la reconstruction de Saint-Malo à l'intérieur des rempart de la vieille ville : "c'est la fidélité à l'histoire et la force du souvenir qui a guidé l'architecte". Dans le même esprit à Gien, au trois quart détruite en 1940, seul le château construit en 1494 pour Anne de Beaujeu, fille aînée de Louis XI, fut épargné par les bombardements. La ville fut reconstruite dans le style des rares immeubles restant. Gien est relevé de ses ruines et le nouvel ensemble harmonieux est appelé « Joyau de la Reconstruction française ».

Dans un deuxième temps est abordé le chapitre de la construction des cités et des grands ensembles, de l’architecture du renouveau qualifiée de "grandiose incontestablement". S’il est précisé "on peut aimer ou de ne pas aimer ce style", l’emporte au final l’argument suivant : les grands ensembles, c'est la campagne à la ville, un urbanisme plus aéré, plus vert." les films caravelles 1956, Réalisateur : Jack Pinoteau (connu pour être le metteur en scène du film Le Triporteur 1957 qui fit découvrir Darry Cowl)

www.dailymotion.com/video/xuz3o8?playlist=x34ije ,

Film d'archive actualités de 1952 Reconstruction de la France sept ans après la fin de la seconde guerre mondiale état des lieux de la crise du logement , Actualités de 1952.

Sept ans après la fin de la seconde guerre Mondiale état des lieux de la reconstruction de la France et de la crise du logement à l’œuvre, pénurie de logement, logements insalubres.

Les actualités montrent des images d'archives de la destruction de la France, les Chars de la division Leclerc qui défilent sur les Champs Elysees. Le commentaire dénonce la lenteur de la reconstruction et notamment des manifestations qui ont eu lieue à Royan afin d''accélérer la reconstruction de la ville détruite.

Le film montre à Strasbourg, Mulhouse, des réalisation moderne de grands ensembles et des images d'archive de la reconstruction du Havre de Saint Nazaire.

Le film se termine à Marseille sur les réalisation nouvelles autour du vieux port puis on assiste à l'inauguration de la Cité Radieuse par le ministre de la Reconstruction et de l'Urbanisme Eugène Claudius-Petit en présence de son architecte Le Corbusier à qui le ministre remet la cravate de commandeur de la légion d'honneur. www.dailymotion.com/video/xk1g5j?playlist=x34ije Brigitte Gros - Urbanisme - Filmer les grands ensembles 2016 - par Camille Canteux chercheuse au CHS -Centre d'Histoire Sociale - Jeanne Menjoulet - Ce film du CHS daté de 2014 www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDUBwVPNh0s … L'UNION SOCIALE POUR L'HABITAT le Musée des H.L.M. musee-hlm.fr/ - union-habitat.org/ -

The team uses lasers to align the sophisticated optics in the telescope before flight. This will help the telescope's pointing system, called the Solar Aspect System, accurately target points on the sun.

 

Credit: NSAA/Albert Shih

 

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In Ft. Sumner, N.M., a team of scientists is readying a giant balloon -- and a 5,015-pound telescope – for launch in mid-September 2013. During its flight some 25 miles up in the sky, the balloon, called HEROES, for High Energy Replicated Optics to Explore the Sun, will carry a hard X-ray telescope with a two-part job. During the day, the telescope will observe the sun. It will record imagery of giant bursts of radiation and light on the sun called solar flares with 10 times better resolution than the best solar observations to date in these wavelengths. At night, the telescope will turn its focus toward other stars, collecting X-ray data from astrophysical sources such as the crab Nebula. The hard X-ray sky is relatively unexplored, especially at high resolution.

The HEROES mission is funded by NASA's Hands-On Project Experience, or HOPE, Training Opportunity award, an honor designed to promote achievement among America's newest ranks of space scientists and engineers. HEROES is led by Jessica Gaskin, an astrophysicist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and Steven Christe, a solar scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

 

NASA image use policy.

 

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.

 

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FDNY Ladder 148, Composite Photograph, stitched two photographs together to create one image in Photoshop. (cropped panoramic). Notice the rig lined up nicely but the houses in the background did not align perfectly. 1980's.

Prior food security development project representing the focus on long-term solutions via activities such as improved agriculture. Photo credit: USAID/Livatina Ranarison

 

***

Three new USAID projects will deliver immediate food aid and long-term solutions in South and Southeastern Madagascar

 

In December 2020, alongside President Andry Rajoelina, U.S. Ambassador Michael P. Pelletier was pleased to announce three new projects funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), making an additional $100 million commitment by the United States to combat food insecurity in Madagascar. Through these projects, the Government of the United States, working side-by-side with the Government of Madagascar, will respond to the urgent needs of families in hunger

and provide long-term solutions to food insecurity in the south and southeast of Madagascar. Ambassador Pelletier, who just returned from a trip to the most affected regions of the south, shared his impressions of the challenges there, and the effectiveness of ongoing US assistance, in coordination with the Government and many partners. He invoked a well-known Malagasy proverb, noting that “We are brothers walking in the forest...You can always rely on the United States of America, as we know we can rely on Madagascar.”

 

In the past decade alone, the United States has helped the Government of Madagascar and the Malagasy people overcome cyclones, plague, measles, and COVID-19. Since 2015, the U.S. government has been the leading provider of food aid and agricultural supplies to southern Madagascar, providing more than

$100 million in emergency assistance.

 

In line with the Government of Madagascar’s own strategy for addressing food insecurity in the south, these three new USAID projects will not only provide emergency food assistance, but also develop long-term solutions to food insecurity.

 

USAID’s Firangà project will provide $10 million in emergency food assistance to more than 222,000 people in hard-hit Atsimo Andrefana and Androy regions. The project will also treat malnutrition in children under five years old. Catholic Relief Services will implement Firangà.

 

USAID’s five-year, $45 million Maharo development project will address the long-term nutritional needs of more than 279,000 vulnerable people in Atsimo Andrefana and Androy, helping them become healthier, more resilient, and more prosperous. In the short-term, Maharo will also provide immediate food relief to vulnerable families. Catholic Relief Services will also implement Maharo.

 

The third USAID project is the five-year, $45 million Fiovana project, which will reduce food insecurity for more than 428,000 people in the southeastern regions of Vatovavy-Fitovinany and Atsimo Atsinanana. The Adventist Development and Relief Agency will implement Fiovana. These projects will collaborate closely with the Government of Madagascar’s drought response and long-term development efforts. They are also aligned with more than $10.5 million in U.S. government-funded emergency activities that the World Food Programme and UNICEF are already delivering, including 8,330 metric tons of emergency food aid and $2.5 million in malnutrition treatment for young children.

 

The U.S. government, through USAID, has worked with the Government of Madagascar and local partners for 36 years to promote the health and prosperity of the Malagasy people. Last year, USAID assistance totaled $114 million, including $62 million in health sector activities where the United States is the largest single country donor. The other $52 million supported a range of programs to promote

economic growth and job opportunities, protect and develop natural and human resources, marine and forest resources, and promote sustainable agriculture and food security.

   

Screenshot from EVE Online

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eve_Online

Svalbard at the Raudfjorden

Wilson Orthodontics

7316 Spout Springs Road #101, Flowery Branch, GA 30542

Tel: (770) 967-8462

WilsonBraces.com

 

Dr. Wilson's new flagship orthodontic office is located in Flowery Branch, GA! Patients from Flowery Branch and the surrounding North Georgia areas are invited to experience Dr. Wilson's cutting-edge orthodontic care, including the Damon® System braces, Damon® Clear braces, and Invisalign invisible braces. Wilson Orthodontics provide orthodontic treatments for kids, teens and adults. It's never too late to get the smile you've always wanted. Wilson Orthodontics are the closest orthodontic office to Flowery Branch high school, the surrounding middle & elementary schools, and they are proud supporters of the Falcons!

Cocktail tomato peel surface. Nikon Eclipse 90i, 10x N.A. 0.45 Plan Apo objective. Canon 5D II. The image was composed of several shots using Helicon Focus software, Method B. Step 2 um.

I had purchased this awesome Yasmin around last week! If you guys are looking for some good deals on Bratz, I totally recommend Toys R Us! :)

 

Hope you guys like! :)

The mounting plate for the motor needed two new relocated holes drilled to position the motor correctly so the pulley aligns to the the upper pulley on the lathe.

A worker helps align the unit as it is installed in Grants Pass.

Objectiveli.com is the best way to manage all of your organizations or personal goals and objectives in one place. Objectiveli drives Outcomes that matter, fulfilling your Goals and Objectives, instead of losing focus; managing day-to-day emergencies and “things to do”.

Invisible aligners are the perfect solution for teenagers who may still need to be ready to have braces. If you want a more conservative approach to care, invisible aligners are the way to go. Invisible Aligners in Russellville and Compton Orthodontics - Russellville can provide a safe and effective way of straightening teeth without wires and metal brackets.

Visit - www.bgbraces.com/invisalign/

  

A group of core networking volunteers and friends from past events (like What the Hack 2005, Hacking at Random 2009, Chaos Communication Camp 2011, Observe. Hack. Make 2013) needed to make alterations to a few kilometers of fiber optic cable to be ready for upcoming events such as Chaos Communication Camp 2015, Campzone 2015 and SHA2017.

This turned into a fusion splicing (fiber splicing) workshop.

A pair of class 156s at Lincoln Central in platforms 1 and 2, perfectly aligned so it looks as if they are coupled to each other.

27.2.21

@ Tiyan, Guam

I use Titebond III wood glue and apply a generous amount along the entire length of each piece before adjoining the two.

Protesters aligned with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad marching down 15th Street, NW near the US Treasury Department, agitating against U.S. involvement in the Syrian Civil War.

 

Washington, DC / September 9, 2013

The designer recommends starting with the daggerboard trunk and aligning frames to that, but I have no daggerboard trunk. Each bulkhead was positioned on the bottom panel using hinges to allow for the angle of each to the bottom. Bulkheads 3 and 5 were then levelled and braced to the jig.

No equality - Nellie McKay

 

There's no equality here

There's no equality anywhere

And every fear you can face

Is quickly replaced

By one you can't loose

 

It's an illusion

That's never meant to occur

Won't happen to her

Won't happen to you

 

And you let me down slowly

Let me down slow and you turn me around

Let me down easy

Let yourself go, now you're going to town

 

Baby, baby, can't you see

What this hypocrisy is doing to me

We should’ve kicked over the ladder from the start

 

You used to be my lover

You used to be my soul soul brother

I used to believe

That you could conceive

Conceive of my love

 

But you let me down slowly

You let me down slow and you turn me around

Let me down easy

Let yourself go, now you're going to town

 

Baby, baby, can't you see

What this absurdity is doing to me

We should’ve kicked over the ladder from the start

 

There’s no equality

 

Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen

No one supposes just how mean I can be

I play the victim, but I’m really a cad

And all I’ve ever wanted ‘s everything I’m gonna have

 

There’s no equality here

There’s no equality on Earth I fear

There are so many (incomprehensible)

It’s me or it’s you

 

That’s why I let you down slowly

Let you down slow and I turn you around

Let you down easy

Let myself go, now we’re both set to drown

 

No equality presented by Nellie McKay this song show the plot of story, that people get indignant about inequality in Council of Vocations, and the Council of Scholars. They view any inequalities, whether in educational attainment, as a sign of injustice. Because they are all different, inequalities are the natural result of living in a free society. This song connects to the people in the story they had no concept of individuality, they could not have individual names, only had the number. The patterned the numbering like telephone numbers. They try to hide their intelligence, or they will be punished more than anyone else.

    

Freewill - Rush

 

There are those who think that life is nothing left to chance,

A host of holy horrors to direct our aimless dance.

 

A planet of playthings,

We dance on the strings

Of powers we cannot perceive.

"The stars aren't aligned

Or the gods are malign"-

Blame is better to give than receive.

 

You can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice.

If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.

You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill;

I will choose a path that's clear-

I will choose Free Will.

There are those who think that they were dealt a losing hand,

The cards were stacked against them- they weren't born in lotus-land.

 

All preordained-

A prisoner in chains-

A victim of venomous fate.

Kicked in the face,

You can't pray for a place

In heaven's unearthly estate.

 

You can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice.

If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.

You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill;

I will choose a path that's clear-

I will choose Free Will.

 

Freewill presented by Rush, the song shows the plot in the story is about freewill and belief of freedom of choice not fate. Some people believe that things happen for a reason that are out of their control like puppets. They believe that everything is controlled by fate. He believes that he can make his own choices and thinks about the possible uses of his discovery. He decides that he must present his light to the World Council of Scholars. Others who can join him in a society based on individual freedom. And one day, they will fight to free all those enslaved by collectivism.

     

Heart - These Heart

 

Spare a little candle

Save some light for me

Figures up ahead

Moving in the trees

White skin in linen

Perfume on my wrist

And the full moon that hangs over

These dreams in the mist

 

Darkness on the edge

Shadows where I stand

I search for the time

On a watch with no hands

I want to see you clearly

Come closer than this

But all I remember

Are the dreams in the mist

 

These dreams go on when I close my eyes

Every second of the night I live another life

These dreams that sleep when it's cold outside

Every moment I'm awake the further I'm away

 

Is it cloak n dagger

Could it be spring or fall

I walk without a cut

Through a stained glass wall

Weaker in my eyesight

The candle in my grip

And words that have no form

Are falling from my lips

These dreams go on when I close my eyes

Every second of the night I live another life

These dreams that sleep when it's cold outside

Every moment I'm awake the further I'm away

 

There's something out there

I can't resist

I need to hide away from the pain

There's something out there

I can't resist

 

The sweetest song is silence

That I've ever heard

Funny how your feet

In dreams never touch the earth

In a wood full of princes

Freedom is a kiss

But the prince hides his face

From dreams in the mist

 

These dreams go on when I close my eyes

Every second of the night I live another life

These dreams that sleep when it's cold outside

Every moment I'm awake the further I'm away

 

These dreams go on when I close my eyes

Every second of the night I live another life

These dreams that sleep when it's cold outside

Every moment I'm awake the further I'm away

 

Heart presented by These Dream shows the theme of Anthem. It is tells about "every second of the night, I live another life." He want hides away from the pain, but it is unclear whether he wants to live in the dream world to hide away from the pain of the real world, or wants to go back to the real world to hide from the pain of the dream world. This song continues to the mood of Anthem when he is assigned to a menial job cleaning the streets, Equality 7-2521 rebels against collectivism by conducting secret scientific research, which eventually leads him to re-create electric light.

  

Give a Little Love - Aswad

 

Living in this crazy world, so caught up in the confusion

Nothing is-a making sense for me and you

But maybe if we find a way, there is got to be the solution

How to make a brighter day? What do we do?

 

We've got to give a little love, have a little hope

Let's make this world a little better

Try a little more, harder than before

Let's do what we can do together

 

Only we can make it better...

Only if we try...

 

Got the words on our minds, got the troubles on our shoulders

Sometimes it just seems so much what we go through

But maybe if we take the time, time to understand each other

We can learn to make it right. What do we do?

 

We've got to give a little love, have a little hope

Let's make this world a little better

Try a little more, harder than before

Let's do what we can do together

 

Only we can make it better...

Only if we try...

Only we can make it better...

Only if we try...

 

If everybody took somebody by the hand

Then maybe everyone could learn to love and understand

 

Give a little love...

Give a little love...

Give a little love...

Give a little love...

 

Give A Little Love present by Aswad shows the mood of the story. This song connects with the part in the story when he is noticed there by his love, a girl called Liberty 5-3000. They come across an ancient house, a relic of the Unmentionable times. There they rediscover the lost language of the self. They rename themselves Prometheus and Gaea, and Prometheus vows to use his new knowledge to build a society based on individual freedom.

   

Electric Light Orchestra – Livin' Thing

 

Sailin' away on the crest of a wave

It's like magic

Rollin' and ridin' and slippin' & slidin'

It's magic

 

And you, and your sweet desire,

You took me, higher and higher

It's a livin' thing,

It's a terrible thing to lose

It's a given thing

What a terrible thing to lose

 

Making believe this is what you conceived

From your worst day,

Moving in line then you look back in time

To your first day

  

Takin' a dive 'cos you can't halt the slide

Floating downstream,

So let her go don't start spoiling the show

It's a bad dream.

 

Electric Light Orchestra present by Livin' Thing that song show the plot of the story. In carrying out experiments in the underground tunnel, Equality 7-2521 has discovered the power of electricity. He first stumbled on it accidentally two years ago, while the use of copper wires hanging from the tunnel to the frog for biological experiments. He made the main object of his experiments. The knowledge he learned afraid because he can be punished discovered secrets unknown to the Council of Scholars. Finally He re-create electric light.

      

Aligner - aparelho ortodôntico transparente em posição

Sculptures monumentales de Jean-Claude Lambert

lambertsculptor.canalblog.com/archives/2009/11/22/1588974...

 

L'association c'osmose : cosmose.typepad.fr/blog_cosmose/

Around Vienna

Seen from below. The springs are for the bumper, to prevent damage from hitting walls too hard. They had to be added to limit damage to the car and the environment; going kamikaze into a wall at top speed won't help, no matter how well something is built.

This was result of being out with Shen then being attracted like zombies to the incandescent glow of Richard's Mill at sunset. We rushed up through one of the buildings but it seemed that the last light was always one step ahead of us, except for with this nice line-up of pillars illuminated through windows at the opposite side of the building.

 

Completely unedited as well.

Burlington Northern Santa Fe

Red River Division

Houston Subdivision

MP168.46 - FM 977 gc

Flynn, Texas, USA

19 February 2018 - 14:30 CST

 

Daylight gave me an opportunity to record each piece of equipment of the U-LSSFLX.

 

Add this to Track Inspector Bird being issued a track warrant for "my" segment so I can photograph the equipment with even safer knowledge of knowing I would not be encountering an train coming through (not that I was ~that~ close to the tracks to start with.)

 

Ran into Mr. Bird midway through the shoot and had a nice conversation. The track equipment will be unloaded Tuesday morning 08:00. The empty train will be shuttled back south and stored at TMPA siding (MP139) - Gibbons Creek Generating Station is shut down until June, so the siding is not needed for coal trains or taking up a valuable passing siding for north / southbound meets).

 

U-LSSFLX 5-16G

(Lacassine, LA > Flynn, TX, nb maintenance of way equipment)

 

UP #3022 [EMD SD70ACe-T4]

 

BNSF #927072 (MOW 89' flat)

Dynamic Track Stabilizer Plasser PTS-90 X8600052

 

BNSF #927160 (MOW 89' flat)

Plasser X0500087

 

BNSF #927352 (MOW 89' flat)

Ballast Regulator Kershaw X0600498

 

BNSF #927357 (MOW 89' flat)

Drone Tamper Harsco DT2AJ2 X5300098

 

BNSF #927351 (MOW 89' flat)

Production Switch Tamper Harsco 6700 J2p X5400477

 

BNSF #927249 (MOW 89' flat)

Regulator Ditcher Kershaw X0600512

 

BNSF #927343 (MOW 89' flat)

Drone Tamper Harsco DT2AJ2 X5300010

Harsco 6700 SJ2J2PD X5400483

 

BNSF 927409 (MOW 89' flat)

Regulator Kershaw? X0600135

 

BNSF #927353 (MOW 89' flat)

NMC Railway Sys CMC812E Electro Magnet Boom X6000347

Cart x87000100

Spiker X4400400

 

BNSF #927361 (MOW 89' flat)

Spiker X4400445

Cart J0400809

Racine Dual Anchor Spreader X0100833

 

BNSF #927358 (MOW 89' flat)

Porta Potty / Sani Station

Racine dual anchor adjuster X0100832

Spiker X4400356

 

BNSF #927359 (MOW 89' flat)

Spiker x4400464

Racine tie plate inserter X3800187

 

BNSF #927355 (MOW 89' flat)

Tie Plate Inserter X3800183

Budde Tool Box on Wheels Budde Enterprises, Newton, KS J00819

Plasser 08-16NT Nipper Tamper X5300087

 

BNSF #927356 (MOW 89' flat)

Tool cart vice J0403039

Nordco X6300254

 

BNSF #927473 (MOW 89' flat)

Nordco X6300243

Nordco X6300242 Rail Aligner? Gauger? (X 2)

Budde Tool Cart J0400797

 

BNSF #927455 (MOW 89' flat)

X6000294 Self propelled Claw Tie Handler

J0400694 Tie Cart

X6000303 Self propelled Claw Tie Handler

J0400807 Tie Cart

X6000313 Self propelled Claw Tie Handler

 

BNSF #927463 (MOW 89' flat)

Tie Cart J0400693

X6000299 Self propelled Claw Tie Handler

Porta Potty Sani Unit

Rail Aligner X0100245

 

BNSF #927467 (MOW 89' flat)

Nordco X6300241

Rail Aligner / Gauger? X6300209

 

BNSF #927360 (MOW 89' flat)

Racine Dual Anchor Spreader X0100783

Nordco X4700519

Nordco X4700514

 

© 2018 - Phantastic Pherroequinology by Philip M. Goldstein

monks hundreds of years ago managed to align this building better than i can take a photo!

Built in 1906-1917, this Beaux Arts-style Capitol Building was designed by George B. Post to house the state house of representatives, state senate, and offices for the Wisconsin State Government. The fourth state capitol to house the state government since the state’s establishment in 1848, the building is the third building to sit on the present site, and replaced the previous state capitol, built in 1857-1869 and expanded in 1882, which burned down in February of 1904. The capitol houses both the Wisconsin State Assembly and the Wisconsin State Senate, as well as the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the Office of the Governor of Wisconsin. The first capitol of Wisconsin upon the formation of Wisconsin Territory in 1836 was in the village of Belmont, Wisconsin, with the legislature meeting in a hastily constructed wood-frame building, before deciding to designate the future site of Madison as the state capitol, and holding further sessions of the legislature in the much better-developed Mississippi River port town of Burlington (now in Iowa) until a capitol building could be completed in Madison. Upon Burlington becoming part of the new Iowa Territory, the state legislature moved to a log and stone building on the present site of the state capitol, a relatively humble Greek Revival-style building constructed in 1837, which looked much like older capitol buildings in the eastern United States, with doric columns and a rusticated fieldstone exterior. It was most similar to the Old State House in North Carolina, built only four years prior, and the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois, built in the same year, though these two similar buildings were built almost entirely of stone blocks rather than fieldstone. The small second capitol building was the first state capitol of Wisconsin upon its ascension to statehood in 1848, but had become inadequate for the growing population and government by the 1850s. The original building was demolished and replaced with a larger, Classical Revival-style structure with Romanesque Revival elements constructed in stages between 1857 and 1869, which featured a dome inspired by the United Capitol Building, semi-circular porticoes with corinthian columns, and two short side wings with octagonal towers at the corners, which were modified and extended in 1882 with new wings that increased the Classical Revival aspects of the building and helped to downplay the Romanesque Revival elements that originally were very prominent on the structure. This building was oriented with the semi-circular original porticoes aligned with State Street and King Street, with the wings being oriented towards both sections of Hamilton Street, though the building appeared rather small within the large parklike expanse of Capitol Square. By the turn of the 20th Century, the old Capitol had become inadequate for the growing needs of Wisconsin, which had become wealthy, industrialized, and heavily populated by that point, so study of a replacement capitol building began in 1903. In February 1904, the old State Capitol burned to the ground when a gas jet ignited a newly varnished ceiling inside the building, which spread quickly despite the building featuring a then-advanced sprinkler system, as the reservoir of the nearby University of Wisconsin was empty, which allowed the fire to spread out of control. The north wing of the building, built in 1882, was the only portion that survived, with many relics, records, and important historical items being lost in the fire, though the state law library was saved thanks to efforts by University of Wisconsin students. The fire also happened just after the state legislature had voted to cancel the fire insurance policy on the building, thinking it was a costly and unnecessary folly.

 

The present building was built on the site of the previous building, with the construction process focusing on completing each wing one at a time to provide space to the state government with as much fiscal efficiency as possible due to financial limitations. Due to this, the north wing was built last to allow the remaining portion of the previous capitol to serve as space for the state government during the construction period, with the central rotunda and dome also being built after the other three wings had been completed, as they serve a more symbolic and less utilitarian purpose than the rest of the building. The building stands 284 feet (86 meters) tall to the top of the statue on the dome, which was sculpted in 1920 by Daniel Chester French, and is a personification of the state of Wisconsin, with the outstretched arm of the statue representing the state motto, “Forward”. The exterior of the building is clad in Bethel white granite, sourced from Vermont, with an additional 42 types of stone from a total of eight states and six countries being utilized on the interior of the building. The dome is the largest in the world to be entirely clad in granite, and is the tallest building in Madison, with a state law passed in 1990 stipulating that any building within a one-mile radius of the capitol is limited in height to the base of the columns of the dome, which stand at 187 feet, which preserves the visibility of the building from the surrounding landscape. The building has a greek cross footprint with four five-story wings that are aligned with the compass directions and radial streets following the compass directions that slice through the surrounding street grid, which is at a 45-degree angle to compass directions, instead roughly paralleling the shorelines of nearby Lake Mendota and Lake Monona, with Downtown Madison sitting on an isthmus between the two lakes. This places the building at a unique 45-degree angle orientation relative to the edges of Capitol Square and most buildings on adjacent streets. The building was one of the last works of the prolific architect George B. Post, whom died before the building was completed. The building underwent a major renovation in the 1970s that added modern features to the interior and covered up many original features, with later projects between 1988 and 2002 restoring the building while updating the building’s systems and functions for the modern needs of the state government.

 

The exterior of the building’s wings feature porticoes on the ends with corinthian columns, arched windows on the third floor, rusticated bases with entrance doors and decorative keystones, decorative reliefs featuring festoons over the windows on the porticoes, cornices with modillions and dentils, and pediments with sculptural reliefs, which were created by several sculptors, and have different symbolism embodied by their design. On the east wing, which is home to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the sculpture known as Law, created by Karl Bitter, is located on the portico pediment, on the west wing, which houses the chamber of the Wisconsin Assembly, is a sculpture known as Agriculture, also created by Karl Bitter, on the north wing, which is home to a hearing chamber, is the sculpture known as Virtues and Traits of Character, created by Adolph Alexander Weinman, and on the south wing, which houses the chamber of the Wisconsin Senate, is a sculpture known as Wisdom and Learning of the World, created by Attilio Piccirilli. The sides of the wings feature simpler cornices with dentils, pilasters and recessed window openings with arched openings at the ground floor, windows with decorative pedimented headers on the second floor, arched windows on the third floor, two small two-over-two windows on the fourth floor, and a recessed fifth floor features small paired windows, hidden behind a balustrade that runs around the entirety of the building minus the ends of the wings, concealing a low-slope roof at the setbacks on the sides of the wings and above the corner porticoes. The upper roofs of the wings are low-slope with front gabled portions in the middle punctured by skylights, with the roof being almost entirely enclosed by a parapet. At the center of the building in the inside corners of the greek cross are semi-circular portions of the facade with semi-circular two-story ionic porticos with large terraces and grand staircases featuring decorative copper lampposts, decorative stone balustrades, concealed entrances to the ground floor underneath the terraces, and three doorways on the upper level, with drums surrounded by buttresses featuring small windows and domed roofs above the balustrade on the fifth floor. In the center of the building is the rotunda, which is topped with a large dome that rises from a tall base that terminates in a balustrade, with a low-slope roof at the base of the drum of the dome, which features a level with small windows at the base, with projected pavilions at the corners above the semi-circular porticoes below, which were originally to support four smaller domes, but ended up supporting sculptures by Karl Bitter, symbolizing strength, faith, prosperity, and abundance and knowledge. The drum of the dome is surrounded by a corinthian colonnade with corinthian pilasters on the exterior wall of the dome behind the colonnade, arched windows, and recessed decorative panels at the top of the colonnade below the architrave. Above the architrave is a cornice with modillions and dentils, above which is another balustrade, accessed via doors from the interior space above the inner dome of the rotunda, and ringed by six-over-six windows, pilasters, and a cornice with egg and dart motif at the top. Above this last cornice is the dome, which is ribbed, with the ribs terminating in voluted upside down brackets at the base, and clad in granite, terminating at the top at a balustrade around the base of the lantern. The cylindrical landern features corinthian columns, arched windows, festoons, with a concavely sloped roof featuring rubs terminating in volutes, above which is the base of the Wisconsin statue, which is coated in gold leaf.

 

The interior of the building is richly decorated with Beaux Arts detailing, utilizing plaster, a diverse array of stone and woodwork, engaged columns and pilasters, murals, vaulted ceilings, decorative balustrades, grand staircases, and modern oak furniture. The interior dome features a mural by Edwin Howland Blashfield, known as Resources of Wisconsin, which sits in the middle of the dome’s coffered ceiling, above the upper balcony at the base of the drum. The rotunda features green and white marble corinthian columns with gold leaf on the capitals, vaulted alcoves on the sides with coffered ceilings, a stone floor, and features marble from Tennessee, Missouri, Vermont, Georgia, New York, and Maryland, granite from Wisconsin and Minnesota, limestone from Minnesota and Illinois, marble from France, Italy, Greece, Algeria and Germany, and syenite from Norway. A large circular opening in the floor of the center of the rotunda allows light into the lower level of the building, and is supported by a ring of square columns underneath. The light fixtures in the space are a combination of lampposts and sconces. The pendentives below the drum of the dome in the rotunda are decorated with glass mosaics by artist Kenyon Cox. The interior’s decoration denotes hierarchy of space, with the level of detail varying throughout the building’s interior from simple offices and service areas to the grand public spaces, such as the rotunda and government meeting chambers. The two-story senate chamber is circular with marble cladding, corinthian columns, and pilasters on the walls, a decorative ceiling with a central shallow domed decorative glass skylight, and coffers with rosettes, with murals above the main podium, and balconies inside the alcoves behind the columns for spectators and observers. The two-story assembly chamber features a similar shallow domed decorative glass skylight on the ceiling, but is square in shape with decorative pendentives and arches on the perimeter of the space opening into alcoves with vaulted ceilings, with wood paneling and a large mural behind the main podium, and balconies in the upper level of the alcoves. The supreme court chamber is square with a square decorative glass skylight in the room’s coffered ceiling, white marble pilasters, paneling, and murals on the walls, and arched niches housing candelabra-type lamppost light fixtures. The north wing hearing chamber features a massive cove ceiling with decorative trim and murals, with a large square decorative glass skylight in the middle, and walls lined with ionic pilasters and stone panels. The Governor’s Conference Room, located in the east wing, features a heavily decorated ceiling with multiple coffers housing murals, decorative stained woodwork, a fireplace with a decorative marble surround flanked by two corinthian columns, and gold leaf on some of the trim. The interior of the building is even more richly detailed than the exterior.

 

The building, which has been fully modernized and restored to some semblance of its original appearance, remains the seat of the government of Wisconsin, presently the 25th largest by land area and 20th largest by population in the United States. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, owing to its historical and architectural significance, and was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 2001. The building visually dominates the isthmus that makes up Downtown Madison, and sits in the city’s central square, one of the most visually impressive and stunning sitings of any capitol building in the United States.

The Robo TAP is a smart evolution of the robotic vacuum cleaner used to target an exact area for cleaning. An IPS system aligned with a simple remote control attached to the shoe or slipper of the user, means automated cleaning can be over-ridden. Two taps on a dirty spot directs the Robo TAP to the precise area. Two more taps will cancel the order and three taps returns the vacuum cleaner to regular cleaning. It’s as fun as tap dancing, but much easier. You can now pretend to be Fred Astaire while effortlessly cleaning the house.

Balade à Colmar

 

La « Petite Venise » est le nom donné au cours de la Lauch à Colmar. Ce nom provient sans doute de l’alignement original des maisons de part et d’autre de la rivière qui dessert le sud-est de la ville. Ce quartier commence derrière le Koïffhus, passe par le quai de la poissonnerie, pour aller jusqu’aux ponts Turenne et Saint-Pierre. Il se trouve donc au début de la Krutenau, dont l’étymologie désigne des lieux de cultures maraîchères aux abords des villes. Habitée à l’origine par une communauté rurale de vignerons, maraîchers et bateliers, la Krutenau s’étend autour de la rue Turenne que le maréchal emprunta en 1674 pour son entrée triomphale dans la ville.

 

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GEO event Visualizing the World's Food Systems brought together principals from business, academia, governments and other public-sector entities to review progress and propose an agenda that aligns ongoing GEO activities to research and operational needs required to move toward more sustainable and resilient food systems through visualizing the world food system.

 

From January 13 to 17, 2014 Geneva’s CICG is the site of a major international conference and exhibit aimed at improving access to critical information on the global environment. The GEO-X Plenary and Geneva Ministerial Summit brings together experts from 90 governments and nearly 70 organizations and will include an exhibit of cutting edge technology and more than 30 forums and panel discussions, many open to the general public. Topics include Agriculture and Food Security, Measuring Biodiversity, Disaster Risk Reduction, Cholera Early Warning, Ocean Acidification, UNEP Live!, and Water Security. The summit will be presided over by GEO’s four co-chairs: China, the European Commission, South Africa and the United States. The United States will be represented at GEO-X by a high level multiagency delegation.

 

For nearly a decade, the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) has been driving the interoperability of thou­sands of individual space-based, airborne and in situ Earth observations around the world. Often these separate systems yield just snapshot assessments, leading to critical gaps in scientific understanding. GEO is addressing such gaps by providing easy, open access to organized observations that enable an increasingly integrated view of our changing Earth. Summit participants will look at how the international community can increase the sustainability and quality of observation networks and make the maximum possible volume of data freely accessible. For sound science to shape sound policy, leaders and other decision-makers require this fuller picture as an indispensable foundation of environmental decision-making.

 

For Additional Information Visit: www.earthobservations.org

 

U.S. Mission Photo / Eric Bridiers

This is how to fit this cover to keep the camshaft aligned and enable removal and fitting of rocker shafts when checking valve timing and for checking and adjusting valve clearances