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NASA’s Webb Telescope has yet another discovery machine aboard – the Near-Infrared Spectrograph’s (NIRSpec’s) microshutter array. This instrument has more than 248,000 tiny doors that can be individually opened to gather spectra (light) of up to approximately 150 individual objects simultaneously.
Of the thousands of distant galaxies behind galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, NIRSpec observed 48 individually – all at the same time – in a field that is approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length. Quick analysis made it immediately clear that several of these galaxies were observed as they existed at very early periods in the history of the universe, which is estimated to be 13.8 billion years old.
Look for the same feature highlighted in each spectrum. Three lines appear in the same order every time – one hydrogen line followed by two ionized oxygen lines. Where this pattern falls on each spectrum tells researchers the redshift of individual galaxies, revealing how long ago their light was emitted.
Light from the farthest galaxy shown traveled 13.1 billion years before Webb’s mirrors captured it. These observations mark the first time these particular emission lines have been seen at such immense distances – and these are only Webb’s initial observations. There may be even more distant galaxies in this image!
In these spectra, Webb has also shown us the chemical composition of galaxies in the very early universe for the first time. This was made possible by the telescope’s position in space – far away from Earth’s atmosphere, which filters out some infrared light – and its specialization in gathering high-resolution near-infrared light.
And since similar spectra from galaxies at closer distances have long been studied by other space- and ground-based observatories, astronomers already know a lot about the properties of nearby galaxies. Now, astronomers will be able to study and compare spectra from Webb to determine how galaxies have changed over billions of years, dating back to the early universe.
With Webb’s data, researchers can now measure each galaxy’s distance, temperature, gas density, and chemical composition. We will soon learn an incredible amount about galaxies that existed all across cosmic time!
Want to capture your own spectra with Webb’s microshutter array? Learn how scientists use the instrument by “taking” your own observations with this interactive and analyze the spectra it returns.
For a full array of Webb’s first images and spectra, including downloadable files, please visit: webbtelescope.org/news/first-images
NIRSpec was built for the European Space Agency (ESA) by a consortium of European companies led by Airbus Defence and Space (ADS) with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center providing its detector and micro-shutter subsystems.
Credits:
IMAGE: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
Image description:
An infographic titled “Galaxy Cluster SMACS 0723, Webb Spectra Identify Galaxies in the Very Early Universe; NIRCam Imaging and NIRSpec Microshutter Array Spectroscopy.” At left is a NIRCam image of the field, which is filled with galaxies of different colors, shapes, and sizes. Four galaxies from this image are highlighted, and labeled: 11.3 billion years, 12.6 billion years, 13.0 billion years, 13.1 billion years to indicate when the observed light was emitted. In inset images, these galaxies appear blurry and have red areas. To the right are four line graphs corresponding to the four highlighted galaxies. These are labeled NIRSpec Microshutter Array Spectroscopy. They show the shift in the position of hydrogen and oxygen emission lines to longer wavelengths as age of the light increases.
American Robot is a 1999 American drama film directed by Sam Mendes and written by Alan Ball. Kevin Spacey stars as office worker Lester Burnham, who has a midlife crisis when he becomes infatuated with his teenage daughter's robot, Danbo. Annette Benning co-stars as Lester's materialistic wife, Carolyn, and Thora Birch plays their insecure daughter, Jane. The film has been described by academics as a satire of American middle class notions of beauty and personal satisfaction; analysis has focused on the film's explorations of romantic, robotic and paternal love, sexuality, beauty, materialism, self-liberation, redemption and bizarrely, technology.
Those of you familiar with Japanese cuisine may recognize this standard Miso Soup bowl, which boasts a diameter of 10 cm at the rim.
Date: May 17, 2012
Camera: Sony DSLR-A900
Exposure: 1/250 sec at f/2.2, ISO 320
Lens: 135mm F1.8 ZA at 135 mm
© 2012 Benjamin Torode
The steps of the mystery was almost there. Blazefire and Hunter had uncovered lots of connections between the dead client and his wife had with Wolfe. Now, they were even more aware of the cops and the gangs hot on their trail.
Hunter: So the client, Martin, was a close associate of Wolfe, who stole a batch of money, behind his back. Now insert the story of what his sister told us. Then his wife was the one who added fuel to the fire. She didn’t have enough money, as she wanted more. I thought the pendant was misleading—it’s more than just a red herring that son of a b**** was looking for. While we wait for the results…..
Trent: Which is why I have to think of a connection of how’d he die….surprisingly, he didn’t look like he was panicking when he got killed. I saw the look on his face when he ran towards my direction.
Hunter: Ok, I guess the analysis is done,,,,
Trent: There’s blood markings. And to unlock it, we need to activate with a voice?….
Hunter: Try “Solace”
Trent: No, not working.
Hunter: “Sherpa”. “Lightfoot”. “Behemoth”.
Trent: No, still won’t work.
Hunter: I’ll give my last shot: “Behemoth”
Trent: Still no reaction. I’ll try…. “Exaltedlotus”.
(The pendant opens, much to amusing and slightly shocked faces of the two)
Hunter: How’d you figure? Cheats in your head?
Trent: More like eidetic memory. I realized he’s got a hotel named the Exalted. Lotus is just a location, in Chinatown.
Hunter: Wow. I guess the apple doesn’t really fall far from the tree—
Trent: I’d rather not talk about family or Drew now.
Hunter: Alright then, let’s look at what’s inside. The tiniest chip hidden in the middle of the diamond.
Trent: And I’ll try to play it, the format will be adjusted to our…..
(Both look in more shock over the actions of Wolfe. Security footage is shown to their eyes. He is seen doing violent things, such as assaulting, torturing people in very brutal ways. Unexpected explosion comes out of nowhere, blasting stuff to shards.)
Hunter: Holy….
Trent: Get down! They know we’re here!
Hunter: So the chip’s encoded with a tracker!
Trent: Oh s*** it is then. Who do I see….
Through the blasted walls, men men started approaching closer. Every one of them were at close range. Somewhere nearby, an unscathed Caliber stood there, with a terrifying smile. His bandanna was one his neck, while one of his hands carried one golden shuriken and a gun on the other. In this particular moment, Blazefire did not anticipate their attacks. His mind had told him that setting up traps could only take 1 risky minute that could result either him or his mentor dying.
Hunter: So, we’re out of stock now.
Trent: I guess the “shopping mall’s” closed for today. But they’ll keep coming. You got any claymore?
Hunter: A few charges left.
Trent: Well, they’ll be dead soon anyways.
Hunter: If I didn’t set more up…..
Trent: Then we’ve got to wait…..don’t spare your ammo this time.
*Lock n’ load sound*
Caliber: Show yourself, Blazefire. Playing hide and seek is useless. Don’t even think about running.
Trent: No, I’m not planning on that.
Caliber: I spent a month looking for you….you should have missed me.
Trent: Sorry, a**hole, I ran out of postcards. Anyways, if your boss is so desperate, why can’t he come himself? So he sends a bunch of lap dogs to do his dirty work? That’s funny.
Caliber: Well f*** you!
Bullets were sprayed at each other, but the cover was not enough for the two under a trail of heavy bullets. However, Blazefire leapt through every corner, managing to take down a few unsuspecting henchmen, with bombs and a set of electric wires. Hunter was busy still downloading the files extracted from the pendant. Once he had finished from a matter of seconds, he threw it in the air and latched it with a small EMP, near the generator. Both sides, which had their eyes focused from fighting one another, turned their heads as they panicked.
The room went dark. Gunshots were still heard. Men screamed in rage, lashing at one another. As both the heroes wore special goggles, they knocked out more nearby amidst of the conflict. Behind them, was however....
Caliber: Drop your gun. Now. Enough games with me.
Trent: I’m not done playing—-thought you were always interested.
Caliber: Few tricks up your sleeve eh? Show it to me! Now!
Trent: Not that easy.
Caliber: How is this hard for you?
Trent: You aren’t just working for that cranky f***er, are you? For Cinder as well?
Caliber: Mind your tongue, fireman. One more word, I’ll take your bones back to him. You wanna try my hat?
Trent: No thanks, but if it only were that simple, Clay. You wanted money and fresh kills, so you took the job. You still betrayed him by looking for me. Weren’t you supposed to intercept the other shipments? The assignment was supposed to be carried and tasked by Aaron.....
Caliber: You really have a nose everywhere, Boy Scout. Keep saying stuff, you’re pathetic.
Trent: I knew Cinder paid you better. Haven’t you realised how much of a fool you are? You double-crossing him—-eventually leads him to betray you as well. Because Hendrix wasn’t well enough. You always jumped in between....
Cinder: That’s enough!
(Cinder throws his hat at Blazefire, but he dodges it smoothly, with ease. More equipment is being destroyed. Blazefire tried multiple times to get the upper hand after they engage in CQC. Cinder launches more shurikens until the place starts to burn.)
Cinder: You ruined my mission. It won’t be that easy. I’ll meet you again. Next time ain’t that easy. Now I lose my pay originally than I excepted.
Trent: No, you intercepted, you SOAB. Can’t blame me. (Both escape through fire, with Cinder on a smoke covered exit, while Hunter escapes with Trent. He takes out the fire and absorbs in all the flames. There are still bodies everywhere.)
Hunter: That was intense.
Trent: You didn’t have to improvise over the top, you know. I didn’t ask you to throw it into the air. Or even stick an EMP.
Hunter: It’s my fault again?
Trent: You indirectly started a small firefight—-now we gotta look for a new base. Good thing is, not everything’s gone. I still have a backup warehouse in L.A.
Hunter: While you talked with that a**hole, I watched some of the surveillance. We might be able take him down, with only one chance. It won’t be successful though, only 39% chances of winning. His “fort” is heavily guarded. The fight was made as a distraction to lure you out as well—-Wolfe wants to find the bait/perpetrator behind all this stuff, that’s us, but it’s mostly you.
Trent: Going up against a ton of these guys is suicide. The cops will be there as well.
Hunter: And then you’re gonna go up against them alone? Then face Wolfe yourself?
Trent: Well.....
Suddenly, police flashlights and the sounds of tech sirens were heard nearby. The doors were starting to bang even louder.
Police: This is your last chance to show yourself, the so called vigilante. You will be put under arrest for arson and murder, as well as property damage. Show yourself this moment.
Trent (to Hunter): Dang, why now? I thought we’d get a few days to go into hiding. We need to step up our game.
Hunter: Up the roof then. Our only way out. We might be able to evade that huge chopper.
Trent: But this might be right timing...we’re gonna go up against a crime lord with the cops in pursuit. It’s even more risky. How about 1% chance of winning or survival?
Hunter: Uhh....
Trent: Right, exactly. Up the roof.
Hunter: We got no choice now. Things escalate too quickly. And we’re against a timer now.
Trent: I’ve got that feeling you’re gonna be the death of me.
*dramatic end*
aka. Spell Hall
March 23rd, 2014
Coventry, RI
Info on this historic New England location:
"The General Nathanael Greene Homestead is a registered historic place located in Coventry, Rhode Island. Known as Spell Hall, it was the home of Revolutionary War general Nathanael Greene from 1770 to 1776, and was owned afterwards by his brother Jacob Greene and his wife Margaret. The house is owned and operated by the General Nathanael Greene Homestead Association, a non-profit organization, and was opened as a museum in 1924.
Built by Nathanael in 1770, the "Homestead" as it historically has been known, was originally called "Spell Hall" as it was indicated in one of Nathanael's letters. Constructed on the hillside, the site chosen for the Homestead was well sheltered on the west by natural woods. The land to the front sloped eastward as a terrace to the Pawtuxet River. Originally the house overlooked a broad area of open woodland meadow. The building is a well preserved 18th century structure of simple, yet refined design. Originally the site had 83 acres but at the time of the 1919 sale to the Homestead Association, it had been reduced to 13 acres of open space and woodlands. The 2 & 1/2 story structure is typical of it's time in design. Around the 1870's, the front door area was Victorianized with a bracketed hood and double window door. During the early 1920's, an 18th century door with appropriate trim was attached to the opening making it look as it would have in Nathanael's time. During the 1870's a fire started that burned up to the second floor in the vicinity of the door.
The two main floors of the home each consist of four rooms on either side of a central hall. The rooms on the first floor are dining room, parlor, library and kitchen - each having a paneled fireplace. The completely intact interior was first restored in the early 1920's with the establishment of the building as a museum. A second major restoration was accomplished in 1990 showing from then on a more correct perspective of the house when the Quaker family lived there. An extensive paint analysis was accomplished in the 1990 restoration giving now the earliest colors used throughout the 18th century home. The rooms on the second floor are what we feel they would have been there in the 18th and 19th centuries. The first bedroom on the right as you ascend the stairs might have been used by Nathanael and later his brother Jacob. The room diagonally across the hall might have been used by Jacob Varnum Greene, the son of Jacob and the bedroom on the right is decored Victorian style with wallpaper and lace curtains since the occupant, Elizabeth Margaret who was the daughter of Jacob Varnum, lived until 1899, the Victorian era. The fourth room is used now as a museum shop."
cover for second project of my "translation triptych."
buy issue 1 >>> magcloud.com/browse/Issue/15763
It's been a while, but I'm gonna do my best to be consistent here.
I'm back from NY, so here's the first of likely many more to come.
by Azchael
China’s plastics machinery manufacturing industry 50 years from the 20th century produced the very first product considering that, right after nearly half a century, specially the rapid development because the reform and opening up, and now have constructed a complete variety,...
Read more about Status And Export Plastic Machinery Industry Analysis - China Sheet Metal Cabinet
(Source from Chinese Rapid Prototyping Blog)
Food safety pathogen Listeria monocytogenes isolated on modified Frazer base agar from a food sample.
The problem with sinking is that some things float and others don’t, while still more will alternate between sinking and floating, or sink or float at different rates. Gravity doesn’t get to make all of the rules.
Boards Of Canada
Book :
Xavier Veilhan
1999 - 2009
JRP I Ringier
2009
CD :
The Sea And Cake
The Moonlight Butterfly
Thrill Jockey
THRILL278
Recorded and Mixed by John McEntire
Drawing by Eric Claridge
Design by Archer Prewitt Sam Prekop & Sheila Sachs
iTunes :
Shuttle358
Understanding Wildlife
Mille Plateaux
MP115
Sir GMAttenborough ...
Top left: A corniform above a rectangle, with four thin lines stretching away as if the legs of a cow. This may be an attempt to add detail to the description of cow, or a visual description of a raw-hide pelt being stretched. An alternative might be that the rectangular body is a hut with the 'legs' as tethering ropes and the horns are entrance fencing delimiting and protecting from wind and sun - a 'farmyard' work area.
Top right: one of Mont Bégo's most enigmatic petroglyphs comes from Fontanalba's 'Voie Sacrée' and seems to defy analysis. The lines are thought through, and with so much lifestyle description assigned to the Mont Bégo petroglyphs, one feels that there must be a slot for the image in a pastoral context: Stretching leather? A hut with guide ropes? And so on. One of the problems here is the 'boundary line' that goes through the design and appears to be part of the image rather than a superimposition.
Possible explanations:
1. A fridge. There is a simple mountain structure of the Pyrenees called a 'houn'. Here, a cold spring of mountain water flows through a dark stone hut, and any heat inside is transferred to the flowing water. Naturally, the environment inside the hut becomes cold enough to preserve milk products, often as they are assembled prior to transformation into curd, butter and cheese. The principle of heat transfer is similar to that at the back of a fridge and indeed 'houns' are archaic fridges. The pilgrims of Mont Bégo had cows in their lifestyle and transforming their milk into cheese would be within the date range. Just such a proto-houn might assure quantities necessary for cheese production during hot periods, and the stone steps or ledges aside the directed spring water may be pictured here covered by a stretch of taught leather attached to two long poles.
2. A ceremonial space. It seems safe to say that Mont Bégo's largely Bronze age population were walking into the barren non agricultural zone around Mont Bégo to show the mystical mountain the proud qualities of their life and culture - in effect asking for blessing and 'dialogue'. Today we see the zone's favoured rock surfaces ornamented with a diverse array of schematic images. With the weather shutting down the area for seasons of snow and storms, it becomes possible to suspect that there was a preferred period of pilgrimage - lets say at the time of the golden larch trees around October. Tools and people might all wish to be 'seen' and blessed and one of the mankind's traditional means of blessing is with water. Might this be the image of a temporary shrine for seasonal pilgrims? Here the image may be of a natural spring directed into a ditch and made to pass through a very simple roofed building. It is possible that there are two long poles and that an attempt was made to describe 'uprights' - here drawn vastly before the rules of perspective as flattened right angles. Flat representations of dimension can be verified from an Iron age site to the north (rock 23 Naquane) which depicts an early cart and as the wheels are easy to identify and less ambiguous than straight lines, the principle of 'flat' depiction of height is observed. With this interpretation, the roof is held-up by six posts aside a second smaller building, away from the stream, which would in turn be held up by four posts.
With 'pilgrims' leaving very little outside of the petroglyphs, there is also a possibility that a sacred water spring was located away from Mont Bégo, and that the element was in truth as far away as the described field systems and tools and simply 'taken' to the sacred site as an image idea. Tools, children, young animals might all have been offered sacred water aside rites and ritual.
3. Tanning. Cattle can be used for reserves in extreme conditions, they can be used for their meat, they can be used for their manure (manure cob etc), they can be used for their horns (drinking goblets and measuring devices), and they can be used for their pelt - probably the largest readily available. A large pelt can be one trimmed cover without seams, or a source for multiple smaller products apt for the lifestyle of the whole clan. Leather cord, leather ornament, leather cloths, leather coverings and full leather covered huts can all be envisaged by crofters as they look after even a small number of domesticated cows.
I only saw a small selection of the petroglyphs of Mont Bégo, and in the literature there are discussions of subsets of glyphs that may show stretched pelts. With this image, the stretching, if that is the case, is not as one might expect. The classic image is of a hide stretched evenly on a frame or with multiple pegs (Roberto Rosselini recreated a prehistoric village for one of his films where the stretching leathers were integrated onto hut roofs). If huts were covered in leather, and many of the corniforms are in fact depictions of huts with fence 'farmyards', then cow leather will have been used at its maximum size. Tanning requires large quantities of water, a product (urine, salt solutions, lime) and plenty of repeated 'lissage'. Here a large pelt may have been made temporarily manageable for one 'tanner' by being temporarily sewn into a cylinder. Two long poles could thread through the cylinder and be pulled taught. With this interpretation a drainage ditch or 'rigole' passes under the pelt so that fresh water can constantly be scooped.
Here, the canal here would have been a straight line with a right angle and this does not seem immediately logical. I have seen drainage canals on mountain slopes doing just this. A spring feeds the ditch rather than making the field generally boggy. The ditch then cuts perpendicular across the slope, and in so doing, it catches additional ground water that can be riddling down the slope. Before it overflows the ditch turns back down the slope at an angle and drier pastoral land is preserved within.
Of the three options, the 'fridge' needs data on ancient cheese production in the area. The ceremonial holy spring needs data on this potential representation of vertical posts, and the tanning loop is weakened by depictions of central 'ropes' that seem difficult to explain.
Lower left. Hyperbolic horns, a square body shape, legs like guide ropes and an apparent 'farmyard' where there might be a tail, all suggest that the abstract form of a cow might have been employed as a hut archetype. My work on 'transport dragons' explains how pelts over frames might have helped man navigate the extremes of the ice age. That these mobile structures took on the character from fauna and myth is also to be expected. Culture is not genetic and can survive as a memory even after waves of migration. Sedentary populations holding onto the traditions of a collective consciousness may feel that it is quite natural for their practical huts to resemble an animal. Domestication also added the mind of man to the animal, and was a lifestyle that required constant training and reflection. The cow/hut symbol may have perfectly reflect this inter relation.
Lower right: The closest of the four images to the pelt of a cow - but there are still differences: the horns, the tail and even the general shape do not alight to an image of a pelt. The argument here is that the image is not descriptive but instead communicates the principles of 'cow', and this may well be the case. An alternative explanation may seem idiotic, but needs to be considered, and is that the square of the 'cows' body is once again a small building, but this time for the distribution of feed for young calves or winter hay, and that the legs and tails are calves feeding with their heads tucked into the building's sweet smelling feed, in what may have been at the time an amusing image from the cycle of life.
AJM 6.2.19.
The following is about the building on the right in the photo.
"The building of the former Komerční banka , originally the Österreichisch-Ungarische Bank (Austro-Hungarian Bank), stands in the center of Karlovy Vary in the city's heritage zone at náměstí Republiky 1229/1. It was built in the Art Nouveau style in 1912–1913.
The building was declared a cultural monument, it has been protected as a monument since October 27, 1991.
In 1912-1913, one of the most important banks of the monarchy, Österreichisch-Ungarische Bank, had its building built on the corner of Brückenstrasse (today Bělehradská) and Zentral Bahnhofstrasse (Západní).
The real author of the project is not known for sure, although the Karlovy Vary architect Alfred Bayer is listed as the submitter of the plans in the building files. According to the stylistic analysis, however, it is believed that the building project was drawn up by one of his Viennese colleagues. Alfred Bayer is definitely the author of the sewer plans.
The building is located in the commercial and administrative part of the city. In the past, its location was listed as the corner of Bělehradská and Západní streets, currently it is náměstí Republiky 1229/1. The expression of the object is based on the late geometric art nouveau of the Viennese style.
It is a four-story corner building with a usable attic. The entrance facade is four-axis and faces Belehradská street. The ground floor has plastic banding. In the second window axis from the left, there is an arched entrance located in the exiting portal. On its sides are banded pilasters, which support a cornice with two seated sculptures, between which a cartouche is placed. The windows on the ground floor are arched.
The first and second floors are connected above the portal by fluted half-columns, elsewhere by pilasters. The windows of the first to second floors are rectangular, on the first floor in parallel shallow frames, between the windows of the first and second floors there is always a darker rectangular frame. Above the second floor there is a prominent cornice with dentils, above the portal and in the extreme axis on the right it carries a rectangular balcony with a brick incised railing. On the balcony above the portal there are putti on both corner pillars.
The third floor has segmental windows in arched profiled darker frames, the wall here is divided by shallow moldings. The third floor is separated from the attic by a crown cornice with dentil. Above the three window axes on the left is a gable with three narrow rectangular windows in the middle.
Karlovy Vary (German: Karlsbad) is a regional and statutory city in the Karlovy Vary district in western Bohemia, in the Karlovy Vary region, 110 km west of Prague at the confluence of the Ohře and Teplá rivers. Approximately 49 thousand inhabitants live here. Among other things, the glass and food industries are developed here. It is the most visited Czech spa town. As of 2021, it is on the UNESCO World Heritage List under the Famous Spa Cities of Europe. The city is a member of the Euregio Egrensis Regional Association of Municipalities and Cities and the Water Management Association of Municipalities of Western Bohemia.
The place where the center of Karlovy Vary was established remained for a long time outside the interest of the population. Steep slopes and unsuitable climatic conditions near the thermal springs did not provide suitable conditions for growing crops, which were crucial for settlement. The first settlements were more likely to be located in today's peripheral parts of the city.
The exact date of the city's founding is unknown. The permanent settlement around Vřídl was established in the middle of the 14th century. In 1370, it was granted to the city by Charles IV. privileges of the royal city. The legend of the founding of Karlovy Vary, recorded in 1571 by Dr. Fabian Summer, says that a hunting dog began to maul a piece of wild game during an expedition in the woods, falling into a pool of gushing hot water. The moaning of the dog summoned the other members of the expedition, who subsequently tasted the hot water. Charles IV was also informed about the find, who went to the place of the spring. Together with the doctors present, he stated that this hot water has healing effects, which he subsequently tried himself and experienced improvement. He then founded a spa called Teplé lázně u Lokte on the site of the alleged spring.
At first, the town had only a few inhabitants, whose most important role was to take care of the springs. Karlovy Vary initially developed at a slow pace. The Hussite wars did not affect the city in any way, because it was not understood as strategically important. The city slowly began to grow rich from the gradually developing spa industry. But the growth was hampered by several misfortunes that hit the city. A flood swept through the town in 1582 and a devastating fire in 1604, which destroyed 99 houses out of 102. The subsequent rapid growth was interrupted by the Thirty Years' War, which reduced the number of inhabitants and also the number of spa guests. The end of the 17th century starts a new growth in the city. Important European personalities begin to visit Karlovy Vary. The city began to expand with new buildings (e.g. the theater or the Saxon and Bohemian Hall, which became the basis for the Grandhotel Pupp etc.). In 1759, the city was again destroyed by flames. However, thanks to its fame, the city recovered relatively quickly from the fire. The Napoleonic wars rather benefited the city in a way. Thanks to their sufficient distance from the battlefields, they attracted visitors to the famous spa towns of Western Europe. Viennese architects Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer, who designed 20 important buildings in the city, are largely responsible for the architectural transformation towards Art Nouveau at the end of the 19th century. In the years 1870–1871, the city was connected to Cheb and Prague by means of a railway, which was later followed by regional connections.
The development of the city was disrupted by the First World War, after which it was not possible to continue such extensive growth. The city became the center of important events with the rise of Nazism. Local bookseller KH Frank became the leader of the Karlovy Vary Sudeten German Party, later the second most powerful man in the party. On April 24, 1938, Konrad Henlein presented the so-called eight Karlovy Vary demands, heralding the breakup of Czechoslovakia, in the city. In October of the same year, Karlovy Vary became part of the Third Reich. At the end of World War II, the city (especially the local part of Rybáre) was affected by bombing. The end of the war was also accompanied by the forced displacement of the original German population. During the era of socialism, several important buildings were built in the city center, such as the Vřídelní colonnade, the Thermal hotel, etc. The period after 1989 is characterized by the entry of Russian capital, which also affects the appearance of the city (e.g. by disrupting the historical character of the city with building plans). According to research by Russian activist Mikhail Maglov, who looked at property conditions through an analysis of the local real estate cadastre, "up to half" of local real estate is owned by citizens of the Russian Federation and other countries of the former Soviet Union.
Bohemia (Latin Bohemia, German Böhmen, Polish Czechy) is a region in the west of the Czech Republic. Previously, as a kingdom, they were the center of the Czech Crown. The root of the word Czech probably corresponds to the meaning of man. The Latin equivalent of Bohemia, originally Boiohaemum (literally "land of Battles"), which over time also influenced the names in other languages, is derived from the Celtic tribe of the Boios, who lived in this area from the 4th to the 1st century BC Bohemia on it borders Germany in the west, Austria in the south, Moravia in the east and Poland in the north. Geographically, they are bounded from the north, west and south by a chain of mountains, the highest of which are the Krkonoše Mountains, in which the highest mountain of Bohemia, Sněžka, is also located. The most important rivers are the Elbe and the Vltava, with the fertile Polabean Plain extending around the Elbe. The capital and largest city of Bohemia is Prague, other important cities include, for example, Pilsen, Karlovy Vary, Kladno, Ústí nad Labem, Liberec, Hradec Králové, Pardubice and České Budějovice, Jihlava also lies partly on the historical territory of Bohemia." - info from Wikipedia.
Summer 2019 I did a solo cycling tour across Europe through 12 countries over the course of 3 months. I began my adventure in Edinburgh, Scotland and finished in Florence, Italy cycling 8,816 km. During my trip I took 47,000 photos.
Now on Instagram.
Bixby Creek Bridge, also known as Bixby Bridge, on the Big Sur coast of California, is one of the most photographed bridges in California due to its aesthetic design, "graceful architecture and magnificent setting." It is a reinforced concrete open-spandrel arch bridge. The bridge is 120 miles (190 km) south of San Francisco and 13 miles (21 km) south of Carmel in Monterey County along State Route 1.
Prior to the opening of the bridge in 1932, residents of the Big Sur area were virtually cut off during winter due to the often impassable Old Coast Road that led 11 miles (18 km) inland. At its completion, the bridge was built under budget for $199,861 (equivalent to $3.5 million in 2016) and was the longest concrete arch span at 360 feet (110 m) on the California State Highway System. It is one of the tallest single-span concrete bridges in the world.
After the native Esselen people who resided in the area were virtually exterminated by the Spanish, the land from present day Carmel south to Palo Colorado Canyon, two miles north of Bixby Creek, was part of the Mexican land grant Rancho San Jose y Sur Chiquito given in 1839 by Governor Juan Alvarado to Marcelino Escobar. The land was later acquired by José Castro. He had a trail built from Monterey to Palo Colorado Canyon as early as 1853, when he filed a map of his purchase.
Bixby Creek is named after pioneering businessman Charles Henry Bixby. Originally from Livingston County, New York, he arrived in California in 1852 and remained for five years. He returned east before coming back to California. After some success raising cattle in Sonoma County, he obtained a patent on April 10, 1889 for 160 acres south of Bixby Creek, and later bought additional tracts of land on the north side of the creek, between it and Palo Colorado Canyon. He built a sawmill on the creek, which for many years was known as Mill Creek. He harvested timber and turned it into shakes, shingles, railroad ties, and trench posts. He also harvested the bark of the Tanbark Oak which was used for tanning cow hides. Bixby discovered lime deposits on Long Ridge above Mill Creek. He used mules to haul the lime to the coast on wooden sleds. He had kilns built and sold the fired lime as use in mortar and other building materials.
He tried to persuade the county to build a road to Bixby Creek, but they refused, replying that "no one would want to live there." It was impossible to build a wharf from the cliffs that dropped into the ocean, and he instead built a hoist that could be used to ferry goods to and from ships anchored slightly offshore. In 1870, Bixby and his father hired men to improve the track and constructed the first wagon road including 23 bridges from the Carmel Mission to Bixby Creek.
Sometime later Bixby partnered with William B. Post and extended the road south to his ranch. At Bixby Creek, the road was necessarily built 11 miles (18 km) inland to circumvent the deep canyon. It then led to the Post Ranch on the Rancho El Sur. The 30-mile (48 km) trip could take three days by wagon or stagecoach. The single-lane road was closed in winter when it became impassable. Coast residents would occasionally receive supplies via a hazardous landing by boat from Monterey or San Francisco.
Bixby Landing in 1911 was used to transport supplies and products to and from ships off shore.
In 1906, after he exhausted the supply of commercial timber, Bixby sold the land to the Monterey Lime Company. Lime was in great demand to help re-build San Francisco following the 1906 earthquake. That company built a 3 miles (4.8 km) aerial tram to haul limestone from Long Ridge to Bixby Landing. A small group of homes grew up around the original Bixby Homestead. The kilns operated for four years until high operating costs closed the kilns in 1910. The tram was used for a while longer to off and on-load supplies for the community from schooners.
The former Brazil Ranch is located on Serra Hill immediately south of Bixby Creek and the Bixby Creek Bridge, making it one of the most photographed spots on the Big Sur coast. Job Heath obtained a land patent on May 20, 1884 and he and his wife Serena Waters homesteaded the ranch. Antonio Brazil married Mary Pfeiffer and they bought Heath's property.
The Brazil family operated the 1,255 acres (508 ha) ranch for nearly a century. In 1977, Tony and Margaret Brazil sold the ranch to Allen Funt, creator of the television show Candid Camera. Funt raised quarter horses and cattle on it.
In 1986 the Humboldt County-based Philo Lumber Company owned the property formerly owned by Bixby. They obtained a state permit to log over a million board feet of redwood. The residents of Palo Colorado Canyon were intensely opposed to the plan, but it was only derailed by the savings and loan crisis. The property was seized by federal financial regulators and was later sold to the Big Sur Land Trust, which then sold it to the Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District in 1988. The district joined it with three adjacent properties to form the Mill Creek Redwood Preserve.
A 2.7 miles (4.3 km) trail has been built from Palo Colorado Road to an overlook. Access is limited to day use. The trail head is located 6 miles (9.7 km) up Palo Colorado Road from the coast. Visitors must obtain a permit from the district in advance to visit the preserve. To limit traffic on narrow Palo Colorado Road, only six permits per day are available.
After Funt died in 1999, the former Brazil Ranch land was purchased in 2000 by Woodside Partners, who planned to split it into nine parcels for development. Local community leaders and activists joined together to prevent subdivision and development of the land. In 2001, the Trust for Public Land bought the property. On September 24, 2002, they and the U.S. Forest Service announced that the land had been added to the Los Padres National Forest. The unmarked entrance is located 0.1 miles (0.16 km) south of the Bixby Creek Bridge.
The state first began building Route 56, or the Carmel–San Simeon Highway, in 1919. A number of bridges needed to be constructed, the largest among them across Bixby Creek.
State engineers considered two alternatives to crossing the creek, an inland route and a smaller bridge, or a coastal location and a larger bridge. The inland route necessitated an 890-foot (270 m) tunnel cutting though the Santa Lucia Mountains to a 250-foot (76 m) bridge upstream. The engineers selected the coast route, because it was safer, more scenic, and least affected the environment.
California state highway engineer C. H. Purcell and bridge engineer and designer F. W. Panhorst considered whether to build a steel or concrete span. A steel bridge would cost more to build and maintain, as the sea air would require expensive ongoing maintenance and painting. A steel bridge was also less in keeping with the natural environment. Using concrete reduced material costs and allowed more of the total cost to be paid to workers, which was a positive aspect of the design during the Depression. They chose concrete in part because it would not only reduce both construction and maintenance costs but would also echo the color and composition of the natural rock cliff formations in the area.
The state awarded a contract for $203,334 to the lower bidder, Ward Engineering Company of San Francisco, on August 13, 1931. Construction began on August 24, 1931.
Over 300,000 board feet (700 m3) of Douglas fir timber, used to build a 250-foot (76 m) high falsework to support the arch during construction, was transported from the railroad terminal in Monterey over the narrow, one-way road to the bridge site. The falsework, built by crews led by E. C. Panton, the general superintendent, and I. O. Jahlstrom, resident engineer of Ward Engineering Co., was difficult to raise, because it was constantly exposed to high winds. Some of the falsework timbers were 10 by 10 inches (250 mm × 250 mm). It took two months to construct the falsework alone. When high waves threatened the falsework foundation, construction was halted for a short time until winter storms abated.
The crews excavated 4,700 cubic yards (3,600 m3) of earth and rock.[21] Eight hundred twenty-five trucks brought in 600,000 pounds of reinforcing steel. Sand and gravel were supplied from a plant in Big Sur.
Construction required 45,000 sacks or 6,600 cubic yards (5,000 m3) of cement which was transported from Davenport, near Santa Cruz, and from San Andreas. Crews began placing concrete on November 27. The concrete was transported across the canyon on platforms using slings suspended from a cable 300 feet (91 m) above the creek.
The bridge was completed on October 15, 1932, although the highway was not finished for another five years. At its completion, the bridge cost $199,861 and, at 360 feet (110 m), was the longest concrete arch span on the California State Highway System. The bridge was necessary to complete the two-lane road which opened in 1937 after 18 years of construction.
After the bridge was completed, it was at times known as the Rainbow Bridge, due to the presence of the Rainbow Lodge resort on the creek upstream from the bridge. It was operated by former Army Captain Howard Sharpe and his wife, Frida. After timber harvesting was no longer profitable, Sharpe bought the Bixby Creek Canyon ranch in 1919. He built a dirt road from the lodge up the canyon to Bixby Landing and another road down to the beach at the mouth of Bixby Creek. He sold part of his land to the state as part of the bridge right-of-way in 1930.
The bridge was retrofitted beginning in 1996 with an analysis by bridge engineering company Buckland & Taylor as part of the Caltrans Phase II seismic retrofit program. In their detailed evaluation of the bridge's seismic vulnerabilities, they were challenged to find a solution that met several difficult issues, including severe load factors, extremely limited physical access, maintaining the appearance of the existing historical structure, and a requirement by the State of California that at least one lane of the bridge remain open at all times. The crux of the design was the longitudinal post-tensioning of the entire bridge deck from end to end.
The $20 million seismic retrofit began in May 1998. The cost of the retrofit was considerably increased by the requirement to preserve the historical look of the bridge. Prime contractor Vahani Construction of San Francisco was assisted by Faye Bernstein & Associates and Waldron Engineering. To reinforce the abutments supporting the bridge deck at either end, engineers put in place a floating slab, continuous with the deck, keyed into a massive pile cap with six 72-inch (1,800 mm) diameter cast-in-drilled-hole (CIDH) piles behind each abutment. To support the towers, engineers designed a full height structural wall that was integrated within each of the two existing towers. During the retrofit, they removed the top portion of the towers, including the roadway, and replaced them with a prestressed diaphragm that anchors the full height of the vertical tower. The diaphragm simultaneously distributes the vertical prestressing forces uniformly to the new concrete structural wall and the existing tower's concrete.
The deck, which curves from one end to the other, was reinforced by adding heavily confined edge beams encasing high strength steel along the inside face of the exterior longitudinal girders underneath. These rods extended from one end of the roadway to the other. The reinforced edge beams ensure continuity across the many expansion joints and help distribute the bending strains due to lateral flexure. In addition to the reinforced edge beam, four large prestressing tendons were installed the length of the bridge along the underside of the deck slab. These tendons are stressed to pre-compress the concrete deck to approximately 800 psi and also serve as flexural reinforcement along with the high strength rods. Finally, engineers found a way to reinforce the bent columns attached to the arch, which possess complex and varying geometric challenges. They encased the bent columns with thin, lightweight, composite carbon fiber jackets that provide the necessary degree of confinement to ensure ductile response and also mimic the original design.
In addition to the analyses performed by Buckland and Taylor, Caltrans commissioned Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to perform an independent study of the structure both with and without the proposed retrofit measures in place. The final report, which was published in June 1999, concludes that the retrofit appears to be appropriate even for earthquake ground motions including near-field displacement pulses, which were not considered in the original analyses.
As a result of the retrofit, the continuous, stiffened deck has four lateral reaction points: two new massive abutments anchored by large-diameter, cast-in-drilled-hole piles. The two towers are strengthened and anchored to rock with tie-down anchors within the towers. The arch ribs are laterally supported at their crowns by new shear keys that link them to the reinforced deck. The expensive retrofit, completed in November 2000, still left the bridge officially classified as "functionally obsolete" because at 24 feet (7.3 m) in width, the bridge is less than the 32 feet (9.8 m) standard requires of newly built bridges.
The bridge is 714 feet (218 m) in total length, 24 feet (7.3 m) wide, with 260 feet (79 m) of clearance below, and has a main span of 360 feet (110 m), which places 50% of the total roadbed above the arch. The arch ribs are five feet thick at the deck and nine feet thick at the springing line, where they join the towers at their base. The arches are four and one-half feet wide. The bridge was designed to support more than six times its intended load.
The two large, vertical buttresses or supporting pillars on either side of the arch, while aesthetically pleasing, are functionally unnecessary. Engineers of later arch bridges such as the Frederick W. Panhorst Bridge omitted them from the design. The Rocky Creek Bridge and the Malpaso Creek Bridge to the north are also open-spandrel arch bridges built of reinforced concrete.
The bridge is “one of the most photographed features on the West Coast”[32] due to its pleasing aesthetic design and because of its location along the scenic Central Coast of California. "It is arguably the most photographed stretch of the entire Big Sur Coast, on postcards, TV ads, everywhere," according to Debra Geiler, project manager for the Trust for Public Land. "It's the gateway to Big Sur and the interior has never been logged. The land is pristine." Zad Leavy, former executive director of the Big Sur Land Trust, described the land as "...the most spectacular meeting of ocean and land in the entire United States."
The bridge was commemorated in an Express mail stamp issued on February 3, 2010. The United States Postal Service introduced a $18.30 definitive stamp designed by Carl T. Herrman of North Las Vegas, Nevada. The stamp features a color digital illustration of Bixby Creek Bridge in California, by Dan Cosgrove of Clarendon Hills, Illinois.
On January 20, 2016, two base jumpers died when they landed near the surf and drowned. Officials only figured out the two were missing on January 23 after their rental car was found abandoned near the bridge. Video recovered from a helmet cam worn by one of the victims revealed how they died. Mary Catherine Connell landed safely on the small beach but was overwhelmed by waves. BASE jumping instructor Rami Kajala saw her overtaken by waves and unsuccessfully attempted to rescue her. Kajala's body was found more than two weeks later. Connell's body was never recovered.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bixby_Creek_Bridge
Photo of the Bixby Bridge captured from the Old Coast Road, which runs parallel with Highway 1, the Cabrillo Highway, via Minolta MD Zoom Rokkor-X 24-50mm F/4 lens and the bracketing method of photography. Santa Lucia Mountains. Coast Range. Central Coast. Big Sur Area. Monterey County, Central California. On the last day of July 2017.
Exposure Time: 1/250 sec. * ISO Speed: ISO-250 * Aperture: F/8 * Bracketing: +1 / -1 * Color Temperature: 5850 K * Film Plug-In: Fuji Velvia 100 Landscape