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Doble Peligro

 

Esculturas: Alexis Mujica

 

BIG / GRANDE

The consequences of the latest Etna eruption,the first of 2022, are finally visible in the cloud free view of the whole volcano area as captured by Copernicus Sentinel2 on Feb.18

A weak activity still is ongoing, marked by gas emissions and ash trails on the fresh snow, while the SE crater has changed its structure again. The majestic Bovo Valley stands out on the lower rigth side with its typical colors and shape.

A consequence of the Winwick Junction point problem yesterday was trains were stacked up in section both north and south and eventually things got on the move.

DRS 66428 charges north over the formation @ 15.16, single DRS 66's have become common of late on 4S44.

* heavy wire removed.

The small but delightful Kampa Island offers a green oasis in the middle of busy tourist Prague. The island, formed by a branch of the Vltava River, is accessible from steps on the side of Charles Bridge and offers a park, riverside cafes and a museum of Modern Art.

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©2013 All rights reserved.

 

© Please don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission

A breach of copyright has legal consequences

Police tape around play areas in a local park. The dolls were left on the picnic table by someone else and not staged for this shot. Maybe a memorial to all of the more than 32,000 COVID-19 victims worldwide. Please do your part to defeat this horrible pandemic: follow CDC guidelines and stay home!

My dear friend Natalie Prass releases her first full length album Today - 1/26 (in Europe), Tomorrow - 1/27 (in the US). The album is incredible and I highly recommend picking it up. The record has already received rave reviews from PitchforkThe Guardian, Vogue, and Consequence of Sound.

 

Get the album HERE

 

Natalie / Atlanta, GA / August 2011

Consequences of letting the boyfriend hold the camera for a change.

 

Hello :)

Storm Claudia hit hard with unrelenting rain and high winds, blowing over large trees, signage, and even snapping a telegraph pole nearby. This was one of two trees which brought overhead hi-tension lines down with them, leaving us without power for 20 hours

What does it mean? I look over all the information from Zucco again to find what I missed. The most helpful clues would be V, F, and that name that I can't remember! Come on, just REMEMBER!

 

Harvey: (throws everything off his desk, breathing heavily.)

 

Great. Just great. Now I have to put everything back where it was. I should've just interrogated Zucco, he was already knocked down, and I had the shard. I could've just-

Wait. I pay attention to what I'm doing, and see an ad for horse racing. Why'd that make me stop? Of course! Mareli! Mare-li! Luca Mareli! I put him away a few months back, he worked for... Maroni. Sal Maroni must've been the one to hire Zucco! And the dates correspond with when he would've first contacted-

I look at the clock. Shoot, I'm going to be late! Thankfully the trial's almost over, then I don't have to go waste time trying to protect or put away Gotham's criminals. If they do something illegal they should be punished a punishment matched to their crime. I have other things to do.

When I arrive everyone is there looking at me. I'm late. Buzz off people, it's not like you're perfect. Today's the closing arguments. Steven gets to go first.

 

Steven: "Today is the final day of the second trial of Drury Walker, aka Killer Moth. One of Gotham's many criminals, but not one of the brightest. He claims to have been under 'mind-control,' but the defense has yet to provide any substantial proof. All we have is the word of the accused, and the word of the man who is paid to defend him. Yet there is video proof, and the testimony of a witness that Mr. Walker is guilty. Video evidence, that convicts Mr. Walker. You all saw it on the screen. He robbed the bank, but didn't get away, so he got in trouble. And what do you do when you get in trouble? You blame it on someone or something else. Every single time anyone gets in trouble, they blame it on something. Whether it be on their rough day, their health or physical condition, or the fact that 'they started it,' everyone always blames someone, or something, else. Every time. Because they do not want to suffer the consequences of their own actions. So they blame. And this time, ladies and gentlemen, is no different. Thank you."

 

Playing that card, eh Malone. I know because it's the exact same card I used for other cases of henchmen for the bigger gangs. It worked, every time. And now it's being used against me. Just goes to show how fair Gotham City is. Now it's my turn to contradict myself.

 

Harvey: (clears throat) "We live in a changing world. Everyday, something new arrives on our doorstep. A couple years ago it was masked vigilantes fighting crime. Then costumed criminals, then metahumans with insane abilities. Yet one aspect that has been around for awhile is telepathy. Some of you may not believe in telepathy, or mind-control, but look around. Look at recent events. They've been around for what feels like forever. If you were to read the news today, I'll bet there will be at least one article that relates to telepathy or someone with telepathic powers. It's real. And on September 17th it was real too. Now, we may only have a couple of testimonies, but we can't exactly go ask the mind-controlling psyco for the truth. And this is the truth: Drury Walker was controlled by Psimon, the same telepath who controlled numerous criminals, to rob Gotham National Bank. He wasn't in control. Someone else took over his mind, and forced him to rob that bank. Someone else, who did this to many other people at the same time. Controlling them to do his bidding. And that's all there is too it. Thank you."

 

I sit down, hoping the jury believes me. We get dismissed so they can go make their decision, a decision that decides which direction a man's life will go. They come back about an hour after they left, with their choice.

 

Judge: "Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, have you made your decision?"

 

First Jury: "Yes, your honor."

 

Judge: "And how do you find the defendant?"

 

-----------------------------------

Trial is over. Now it's decision time. I've tagged the jury in the photo, but if you aren't tagged yet still want to comment whether or not you believe Drury Walker is guilty, feel free. Though if you do there is one condition: please read the rest of the trials (issues 4, 5, and 7) so you hear all the angles included. The time to decide ends 24 hours after this was posted. I will tally up the votes, and whichever side has more is the verdict (I know it's not how real juries work, but that's how I'm doing it). Thank you for reading, and let the decision-making begin.

 

EDIT: Voting is now closed.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCBL33NKvPA&list=RDiCBL33NKvP...

 

It was perfect.

 

That was the mistake.

 

Ruckus touched it.

Didn’t think. Didn’t need to.

 

The line broke.

 

Hope felt it —

not fear, just wrong.

 

No time to fix it.

No time to move.

 

The hit landed clean.

 

Tommy lunged.

Ruckus knew.

 

Too late.

 

Because control doesn’t fail.

 

It keeps score.

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click to activate the icon of slideshow: the small triangle inscribed in the small rectangle, at the top right, in the photostream;

or…. press L to enlarge;

 

clicca sulla piccola icona per attivare lo slideshow: sulla facciata principale del photostream, in alto a destra c'è un piccolo rettangolo (rappresenta il monitor) con dentro un piccolo triangolo nero;

oppure…. premi L per ingrandire l'immagine;

 

Qi Bo's photos on Fluidr

  

Qi Bo's photos on Flickriver

  

www.worldphoto.org/sony-world-photography-awards/winners-...

  

www.fotografidigitali.it/gallery/2726/opere-italiane-segn...

 

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the story of Pablo Pino told in the caption of one of my photos

 

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Last Monday, an alert call from the local emergency health service 118 came to the emergency room, it was necessary to be ready, one person had drowned, the news had come that the rescuers were practicing external heart massage, and if all had gone at best, they would arrive in the ambulance with blaring sirens; everything is already set up to intubate together with the emergency drugs, the defibrillator is perfectly in order, the infusion and the aspirator of organic fluids (certainly mixed with sea water) are ready, visors, gloves, protective coats, protective masks for covid-19 are always worn in the hospital (in cases like these there will certainly not be time to swab for covid-19, this will certainly be done, but in a second time): time passes, a second lasts an eternity, too much time passes ... that patient will never arrive. The Mediterranean Sea is a sea that apparently could seem devoid of pitfalls, yet every year there is always someone who drowns in it: there are various causes, one is hydrocution syncope (once understood as "congestion") caused from entering the cold water and after eating (even drinking hot and quickly a frozen drink can lead to the same fatal consequences), then there is the stormy winter sea and, on the Ionian coast, there are also violent currents (the strait of Messina involves a narrowing both horizontally and vertically of the passage of water from the Ionian sea to the Tyrrhenian sea, and the other way around, waters pushed by the gravitational attraction exerted by the moon), then there is the dangerous "step" immediately beyond the shore (two meters from the water's edge, it immediately plunges into water where it is deep and it's no possible to touch the bottom). In the sea of Letojanni a boy lost his life who, to define a hero, is an understatement, his name was Pablo Pino, on 19 February '72 he jumped into the stormy winter waters to save three American sisters sucked by the waves while they were playing on the shore , he saved two, the youngest of eight years could not save her, but he did not leave her, he kept her afloat close to him, until his strength gave out, both disappeared forever among the waves. (I'll put a link, I talked about it some time ago).

In this group of photographs, there is a photo in which you can see a huge cloud: in reality that is not a normal cloud heralding some summer storm coming (many swimmers thinking that a storm was coming quickly they collected towels and umbrellas, leaving the beach in a hurry), but it is a gigantic cloud laden with ... volcanic ash: the Etna volcano plays these tricks from time to time, it is not uncommon that in a good weather, suddenly you have to equip yourself with umbrellas to protect yourself from a dense rain of volcanic ash.

All the photos I present were taken on the beaches of Taormina and its surroundings (Sicily-Italy); I made photos related to "beach photography" (a genre similar to "street photography");

... I photographed young and old people ... with a great desire for the sea and a great desire to dive into the sea to swim (even if the sea water is still a little cold now ...); I made some photo-portraits of people I didn't know, I thank them very much for their sympathy and their availability; I tried to capture the essence of minimal photographic stories, collected walking along the beaches ... in search of fleeting moments ...

I used a particular photographic technique for some photographs at the time of shooting, which in addition to capturing the surrounding space, also "inserted" a temporal dimension, with photos characterized by being moved because the exposure times were deliberately lengthened, they are confused -focused-imprecise-undecided ... the Anglo-Saxon term that encloses this photographic genre with a single word is "blur", these images were thus created during the shooting phase, and not as an effect created subsequently, in retrospect, in the post-production

  

Lo scorso lunedì è giunta al pronto soccorso una chiamata di allerta da parte del servizio di emergenza sanitaria territoriale 118, occorreva tenersi pronti, una persona era annegata, era giunta la notizia che i soccorritori stavano praticando il massaggio cardiaco esterno, e se tutto fosse andato al meglio, sarebbero arrivati con l’ambulanza a sirene spiegate; tutto è già predisposto per intubare assieme ai farmaci dell’emergenza, il defibrillatore è perfettamente in ordine, la flebo e l’aspiratore dei fluidi organici (certamente misti all’acqua di mare) sono pronti, si indossano le visiere, i guanti, i camici protettivi, le mascherine protettive per il covid-19 sono sempre indossate in ospedale (in casi come questi i secondi contano quanto millenni, non ci sarà certo il tempo di fare il tampone per il covid-19, questo si farà certamente, ma in un secondo tempo): il tempo passa, un secondo dura un’eternità, passa troppo tempo….quel paziente non arriverà mai. Il mar Mediterraneo è un mare che in apparenza potrebbe sembrare privo di insidie, eppure ogni anno c’è sempre qualcuno che vi muore annegato: varie sono le cause, una è la sincope da idrocuzione (una volta era intesa come “congestione”) causata dall’entrare in acqua accaldati e dopo aver mangiato (anche bere accaldati e velocemente una bevanda gelata può portare alle stesse fatali conseguenze), c’è poi il mare invernale in tempesta e, sulla costa Ionica, ci sono anche violente correnti (lo stretto di Messina comporta un restringimento sia in senso orizzontale che in senso verticale del passaggio delle acque dal mare Ionio al mare Tirreno, acque sospinte dall’attrazione gravitazionale esercitata dalla luna), c’è poi lo “scalino” subito oltre il bagnasciuga (a due metri dal bagnasciuga si sprofonda immediatamente in acque dove non si tocca). Nel mare di Letojanni perse la vita un ragazzo che, definire eroe, è dire poco, il suo nome era Pablo Pino, il 19 febbraio del '72 si gettò nelle acque invernali in burrasca per salvare tre sorelline americane risucchiate dalle onde mentre giocavano sul bagnasciuga, ne salvò due, la più piccola di otto anni non riuscì a salvarla, ma non la lasciò, la tenne a galla stretta a se, fino a quando le forze non gli cedettero, scomparirono entrambi per sempre tra i flutti. (metterò un link, ne ho parlato tempo fa).

In questo gruppo di fotografie, c’è una foto nella quale si vede una enorme nuvola: in realtà quella non è una normale nuvola foriera di qualche buriana estiva in arrivo (tantissimi bagnanti pensando che stesse arrivando un temporale raccolsero velocemente asciugamani ed ombrelloni, lasciando la spiaggia in tutta fretta), ma è una gigantesca nuvola carica di …cenere vulcanica: il vulcano Etna gioca di tanto in tanto di questi scherzi, non è raro che in pieno bel tempo improvvisamente ci si debba munire di ombrelli per proteggersi da una fitta pioggia di cenere vulcanica.

Tutte le foto che presento sono state realizzate sulle spiagge di Taormina e dintorni (Sicilia-Italia); ho realizzato foto riconducibili alla “beach photography” (un genere affine alla “street photography”);

ho fotografato persone giovani e meno giovani…con tanta voglia di mare e tanta voglia di immergersi in mare per fare qualche nuotata (anche se l’acqua del mare adesso è ancora un po’ fredda…); ho realizzato dei foto-ritratti di persone che non conoscevo, le ringrazio veramente tanto per la loro simpatia e la loro disponibilità; ho cercato di cogliere al volo l’essenza di storie fotografiche minime, raccolte camminando per sulle spiagge... alla ricerca di attimi fugaci s-fuggenti ...

Ho utilizzato per alcune fotografie una tecnica fotografica particolare al momento dello scatto, che oltre a catturare lo spazio circostante, ha "inserito" anche una dimensione temporale, con foto caratterizzate dall’essere mosse poiché volutamente sono stati allungati i tempi di esposizione, sono confuse-sfocate-imprecise-indecise...il termine anglosassone che racchiude con una sola parola questo genere fotografico è "blur", queste immagini sono state così realizzate in fase di scatto, e non come un effetto creato successivamente, a posteriori, in fase di post-produzione.

 

"Every creative act has its destructive consequence, Will. The Hindu god Shiva is simultaneous destroyer and creator"

 

Scene from E11S02 "Kō No Mono" of NBC's series Hannibal.

Castle Sinclair Girnigoe is located about 3 miles north of Wick on the east coast of Caithness, Scotland. It is considered to be one of the earliest seats of Clan Sinclair. It comprises the ruins of two castles: the 15th-century Castle Girnigoe; and the early 17th-century Castle Sinclair. They are designated as a scheduled monument.

 

The earlier Castle Girnigoe was built by William Sinclair, 2nd Earl of Caithness, probably sometime between 1476 and 1496, but certainly before his death at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. There is some evidence to suggest that the castle was built on the foundations of an earlier fortalice.

 

In 1577, George Sinclair, 4th Earl of Caithness, imprisoned his own son John Sinclair, Master of Caithness, in Castle Girnigoe, on suspicion of rebelling against his rule. He was held there for seven years, after which his father fed him a diet of salted beef, with nothing to drink, so that he eventually died insane from thirst. The rebel Earl of Bothwell was at Girnigoe in December 1594.

 

Expansion occurred in 1606 when Castle Sinclair was built, comprising a gatehouse and other buildings, along with a curtain wall. These were connected to the earlier castle by a drawbridge over a ravine. The same year George Sinclair, 5th Earl of Caithness, requested the Scottish Parliament to change the name to Castle Sinclair, but because the names Castle Sinclair and Castle Girnigoe were both written down in 1700, both names have been in use since.

 

Robert Sinclair describes Girnigoe as "an adapted 5-storey L-plan crow-stepped gabled tower house, which sat upon a rocky promontory jutting out into Sinclair Bay. Of interest is the secret chamber in the vaulted ceiling of the kitchen."

 

In 1672, George Sinclair, 6th Earl of Caithness, was in heavy debt to his fourth cousin, John Campbell of Glenorchy, and transferred the castle to Campbell as payment. When Sinclair died four years later with no heir, Campbell claimed the title Earl of Caithness and married Sinclair's widow. However, Sinclair's first cousin, George Sinclair of Keiss, challenged Campbell's title. This resulted in the Battle of Altimarlach in which Campbell defeated Sinclair in 1680. Glenorchy and some of his troops remained in Caithness for some time and levied rents and taxes on the people, subjecting them to the most grievous oppression. He sent the remainder home immediately after the battle. However, George Sinclair of Keiss continued his opposition and laid siege, with firearms and artillery, to Castle Sinclair Girnigoe which he took after feeble resistance from the garrison. As a result, he and his three friends who had assisted him, Sinclair of Broynach, Sinclair of Thura and Mackay of Strathnaver were declared rebels. The political current having turned in favor of Sinclair of Keiss however, this was quashed. Having failed to regain his inheritance by force, Sinclair of Keiss then turned to the law.[9] Through the influence of the Duke of York and afterwards James II, he took his place as 7th Earl of Caithness on 15 July 1681, and his lands were restored on 23 September. Campbell of Glenorchy was made Earl of Breadalbane by way of compensation.

 

The Highlands is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands. The term is also used for the area north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, although the exact boundaries are not clearly defined, particularly to the east. The Great Glen divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands. The Scottish Gaelic name of A' Ghàidhealtachd literally means "the place of the Gaels" and traditionally, from a Gaelic-speaking point of view, includes both the Western Isles and the Highlands.

 

The area is very sparsely populated, with many mountain ranges dominating the region, and includes the highest mountain in the British Isles, Ben Nevis. During the 18th and early 19th centuries the population of the Highlands rose to around 300,000, but from c. 1841 and for the next 160 years, the natural increase in population was exceeded by emigration (mostly to Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and migration to the industrial cities of Scotland and England.) and passim  The area is now one of the most sparsely populated in Europe. At 9.1/km2 (24/sq mi) in 2012, the population density in the Highlands and Islands is less than one seventh of Scotland's as a whole.

 

The Highland Council is the administrative body for much of the Highlands, with its administrative centre at Inverness. However, the Highlands also includes parts of the council areas of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Moray, North Ayrshire, Perth and Kinross, Stirling and West Dunbartonshire.

 

The Scottish Highlands is the only area in the British Isles to have the taiga biome as it features concentrated populations of Scots pine forest: see Caledonian Forest. It is the most mountainous part of the United Kingdom.

 

Between the 15th century and the mid-20th century, the area differed from most of the Lowlands in terms of language. In Scottish Gaelic, the region is known as the Gàidhealtachd, because it was traditionally the Gaelic-speaking part of Scotland, although the language is now largely confined to The Hebrides. The terms are sometimes used interchangeably but have different meanings in their respective languages. Scottish English (in its Highland form) is the predominant language of the area today, though Highland English has been influenced by Gaelic speech to a significant extent. Historically, the "Highland line" distinguished the two Scottish cultures. While the Highland line broadly followed the geography of the Grampians in the south, it continued in the north, cutting off the north-eastern areas, that is Eastern Caithness, Orkney and Shetland, from the more Gaelic Highlands and Hebrides.

 

Historically, the major social unit of the Highlands was the clan. Scottish kings, particularly James VI, saw clans as a challenge to their authority; the Highlands was seen by many as a lawless region. The Scots of the Lowlands viewed the Highlanders as backward and more "Irish". The Highlands were seen as the overspill of Gaelic Ireland. They made this distinction by separating Germanic "Scots" English and the Gaelic by renaming it "Erse" a play on Eire. Following the Union of the Crowns, James VI had the military strength to back up any attempts to impose some control. The result was, in 1609, the Statutes of Iona which started the process of integrating clan leaders into Scottish society. The gradual changes continued into the 19th century, as clan chiefs thought of themselves less as patriarchal leaders of their people and more as commercial landlords. The first effect on the clansmen who were their tenants was the change to rents being payable in money rather than in kind. Later, rents were increased as Highland landowners sought to increase their income. This was followed, mostly in the period 1760–1850, by agricultural improvement that often (particularly in the Western Highlands) involved clearance of the population to make way for large scale sheep farms. Displaced tenants were set up in crofting communities in the process. The crofts were intended not to provide all the needs of their occupiers; they were expected to work in other industries such as kelping and fishing. Crofters came to rely substantially on seasonal migrant work, particularly in the Lowlands. This gave impetus to the learning of English, which was seen by many rural Gaelic speakers to be the essential "language of work".

 

Older historiography attributes the collapse of the clan system to the aftermath of the Jacobite risings. This is now thought less influential by historians. Following the Jacobite rising of 1745 the British government enacted a series of laws to try to suppress the clan system, including bans on the bearing of arms and the wearing of tartan, and limitations on the activities of the Scottish Episcopal Church. Most of this legislation was repealed by the end of the 18th century as the Jacobite threat subsided. There was soon a rehabilitation of Highland culture. Tartan was adopted for Highland regiments in the British Army, which poor Highlanders joined in large numbers in the era of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1790–1815). Tartan had largely been abandoned by the ordinary people of the region, but in the 1820s, tartan and the kilt were adopted by members of the social elite, not just in Scotland, but across Europe. The international craze for tartan, and for idealising a romanticised Highlands, was set off by the Ossian cycle, and further popularised by the works of Walter Scott. His "staging" of the visit of King George IV to Scotland in 1822 and the king's wearing of tartan resulted in a massive upsurge in demand for kilts and tartans that could not be met by the Scottish woollen industry. Individual clan tartans were largely designated in this period and they became a major symbol of Scottish identity. This "Highlandism", by which all of Scotland was identified with the culture of the Highlands, was cemented by Queen Victoria's interest in the country, her adoption of Balmoral as a major royal retreat, and her interest in "tartenry".

 

Recurrent famine affected the Highlands for much of its history, with significant instances as late as 1817 in the Eastern Highlands and the early 1850s in the West.  Over the 18th century, the region had developed a trade of black cattle into Lowland markets, and this was balanced by imports of meal into the area. There was a critical reliance on this trade to provide sufficient food, and it is seen as an essential prerequisite for the population growth that started in the 18th century. Most of the Highlands, particularly in the North and West was short of the arable land that was essential for the mixed, run rig based, communal farming that existed before agricultural improvement was introduced into the region.[a] Between the 1760s and the 1830s there was a substantial trade in unlicensed whisky that had been distilled in the Highlands. Lowland distillers (who were not able to avoid the heavy taxation of this product) complained that Highland whisky made up more than half the market. The development of the cattle trade is taken as evidence that the pre-improvement Highlands was not an immutable system, but did exploit the economic opportunities that came its way.  The illicit whisky trade demonstrates the entrepreneurial ability of the peasant classes. 

 

Agricultural improvement reached the Highlands mostly over the period 1760 to 1850. Agricultural advisors, factors, land surveyors and others educated in the thinking of Adam Smith were keen to put into practice the new ideas taught in Scottish universities.  Highland landowners, many of whom were burdened with chronic debts, were generally receptive to the advice they offered and keen to increase the income from their land.  In the East and South the resulting change was similar to that in the Lowlands, with the creation of larger farms with single tenants, enclosure of the old run rig fields, introduction of new crops (such as turnips), land drainage and, as a consequence of all this, eviction, as part of the Highland clearances, of many tenants and cottars. Some of those cleared found employment on the new, larger farms, others moved to the accessible towns of the Lowlands.

 

In the West and North, evicted tenants were usually given tenancies in newly created crofting communities, while their former holdings were converted into large sheep farms. Sheep farmers could pay substantially higher rents than the run rig farmers and were much less prone to falling into arrears. Each croft was limited in size so that the tenants would have to find work elsewhere. The major alternatives were fishing and the kelp industry. Landlords took control of the kelp shores, deducting the wages earned by their tenants from the rent due and retaining the large profits that could be earned at the high prices paid for the processed product during the Napoleonic wars.

 

When the Napoleonic wars finished in 1815, the Highland industries were affected by the return to a peacetime economy. The price of black cattle fell, nearly halving between 1810 and the 1830s. Kelp prices had peaked in 1810, but reduced from £9 a ton in 1823 to £3 13s 4d a ton in 1828. Wool prices were also badly affected.  This worsened the financial problems of debt-encumbered landlords. Then, in 1846, potato blight arrived in the Highlands, wiping out the essential subsistence crop for the overcrowded crofting communities. As the famine struck, the government made clear to landlords that it was their responsibility to provide famine relief for their tenants. The result of the economic downturn had been that a large proportion of Highland estates were sold in the first half of the 19th century. T M Devine points out that in the region most affected by the potato famine, by 1846, 70 per cent of the landowners were new purchasers who had not owned Highland property before 1800. More landlords were obliged to sell due to the cost of famine relief. Those who were protected from the worst of the crisis were those with extensive rental income from sheep farms.  Government loans were made available for drainage works, road building and other improvements and many crofters became temporary migrants – taking work in the Lowlands. When the potato famine ceased in 1856, this established a pattern of more extensive working away from the Highlands.

 

The unequal concentration of land ownership remained an emotional and controversial subject, of enormous importance to the Highland economy, and eventually became a cornerstone of liberal radicalism. The poor crofters were politically powerless, and many of them turned to religion. They embraced the popularly oriented, fervently evangelical Presbyterian revival after 1800. Most joined the breakaway "Free Church" after 1843. This evangelical movement was led by lay preachers who themselves came from the lower strata, and whose preaching was implicitly critical of the established order. The religious change energised the crofters and separated them from the landlords; it helped prepare them for their successful and violent challenge to the landlords in the 1880s through the Highland Land League. Violence erupted, starting on the Isle of Skye, when Highland landlords cleared their lands for sheep and deer parks. It was quietened when the government stepped in, passing the Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act, 1886 to reduce rents, guarantee fixity of tenure, and break up large estates to provide crofts for the homeless. This contrasted with the Irish Land War underway at the same time, where the Irish were intensely politicised through roots in Irish nationalism, while political dimensions were limited. In 1885 three Independent Crofter candidates were elected to Parliament, which listened to their pleas. The results included explicit security for the Scottish smallholders in the "crofting counties"; the legal right to bequeath tenancies to descendants; and the creation of a Crofting Commission. The Crofters as a political movement faded away by 1892, and the Liberal Party gained their votes.

 

Today, the Highlands are the largest of Scotland's whisky producing regions; the relevant area runs from Orkney to the Isle of Arran in the south and includes the northern isles and much of Inner and Outer Hebrides, Argyll, Stirlingshire, Arran, as well as sections of Perthshire and Aberdeenshire. (Other sources treat The Islands, except Islay, as a separate whisky producing region.) This massive area has over 30 distilleries, or 47 when the Islands sub-region is included in the count. According to one source, the top five are The Macallan, Glenfiddich, Aberlour, Glenfarclas and Balvenie. While Speyside is geographically within the Highlands, that region is specified as distinct in terms of whisky productions. Speyside single malt whiskies are produced by about 50 distilleries.

 

According to Visit Scotland, Highlands whisky is "fruity, sweet, spicy, malty". Another review states that Northern Highlands single malt is "sweet and full-bodied", the Eastern Highlands and Southern Highlands whiskies tend to be "lighter in texture" while the distilleries in the Western Highlands produce single malts with a "much peatier influence".

 

The Scottish Reformation achieved partial success in the Highlands. Roman Catholicism remained strong in some areas, owing to remote locations and the efforts of Franciscan missionaries from Ireland, who regularly came to celebrate Mass. There remain significant Catholic strongholds within the Highlands and Islands such as Moidart and Morar on the mainland and South Uist and Barra in the southern Outer Hebrides. The remoteness of the region and the lack of a Gaelic-speaking clergy undermined the missionary efforts of the established church. The later 18th century saw somewhat greater success, owing to the efforts of the SSPCK missionaries and to the disruption of traditional society after the Battle of Culloden in 1746. In the 19th century, the evangelical Free Churches, which were more accepting of Gaelic language and culture, grew rapidly, appealing much more strongly than did the established church.

 

For the most part, however, the Highlands are considered predominantly Protestant, belonging to the Church of Scotland. In contrast to the Catholic southern islands, the northern Outer Hebrides islands (Lewis, Harris and North Uist) have an exceptionally high proportion of their population belonging to the Protestant Free Church of Scotland or the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. The Outer Hebrides have been described as the last bastion of Calvinism in Britain and the Sabbath remains widely observed. Inverness and the surrounding area has a majority Protestant population, with most locals belonging to either The Kirk or the Free Church of Scotland. The church maintains a noticeable presence within the area, with church attendance notably higher than in other parts of Scotland. Religion continues to play an important role in Highland culture, with Sabbath observance still widely practised, particularly in the Hebrides.

 

In traditional Scottish geography, the Highlands refers to that part of Scotland north-west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which crosses mainland Scotland in a near-straight line from Helensburgh to Stonehaven. However the flat coastal lands that occupy parts of the counties of Nairnshire, Morayshire, Banffshire and Aberdeenshire are often excluded as they do not share the distinctive geographical and cultural features of the rest of the Highlands. The north-east of Caithness, as well as Orkney and Shetland, are also often excluded from the Highlands, although the Hebrides are usually included. The Highland area, as so defined, differed from the Lowlands in language and tradition, having preserved Gaelic speech and customs centuries after the anglicisation of the latter; this led to a growing perception of a divide, with the cultural distinction between Highlander and Lowlander first noted towards the end of the 14th century. In Aberdeenshire, the boundary between the Highlands and the Lowlands is not well defined. There is a stone beside the A93 road near the village of Dinnet on Royal Deeside which states 'You are now in the Highlands', although there are areas of Highland character to the east of this point.

 

A much wider definition of the Highlands is that used by the Scotch whisky industry. Highland single malts are produced at distilleries north of an imaginary line between Dundee and Greenock, thus including all of Aberdeenshire and Angus.

 

Inverness is regarded as the Capital of the Highlands, although less so in the Highland parts of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Perthshire and Stirlingshire which look more to Aberdeen, Dundee, Perth, and Stirling as their commercial centres.

 

The Highland Council area, created as one of the local government regions of Scotland, has been a unitary council area since 1996. The council area excludes a large area of the southern and eastern Highlands, and the Western Isles, but includes Caithness. Highlands is sometimes used, however, as a name for the council area, as in the former Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern is also used to refer to the area, as in the former Northern Constabulary. These former bodies both covered the Highland council area and the island council areas of Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles.

 

Much of the Highlands area overlaps the Highlands and Islands area. An electoral region called Highlands and Islands is used in elections to the Scottish Parliament: this area includes Orkney and Shetland, as well as the Highland Council local government area, the Western Isles and most of the Argyll and Bute and Moray local government areas. Highlands and Islands has, however, different meanings in different contexts. It means Highland (the local government area), Orkney, Shetland, and the Western Isles in Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern, as in Northern Constabulary, refers to the same area as that covered by the fire and rescue service.

 

There have been trackways from the Lowlands to the Highlands since prehistoric times. Many traverse the Mounth, a spur of mountainous land that extends from the higher inland range to the North Sea slightly north of Stonehaven. The most well-known and historically important trackways are the Causey Mounth, Elsick Mounth, Cryne Corse Mounth and Cairnamounth.

 

Although most of the Highlands is geographically on the British mainland, it is somewhat less accessible than the rest of Britain; thus most UK couriers categorise it separately, alongside Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and other offshore islands. They thus charge additional fees for delivery to the Highlands, or exclude the area entirely. While the physical remoteness from the largest population centres inevitably leads to higher transit cost, there is confusion and consternation over the scale of the fees charged and the effectiveness of their communication, and the use of the word Mainland in their justification. Since the charges are often based on postcode areas, many far less remote areas, including some which are traditionally considered part of the lowlands, are also subject to these charges. Royal Mail is the only delivery network bound by a Universal Service Obligation to charge a uniform tariff across the UK. This, however, applies only to mail items and not larger packages which are dealt with by its Parcelforce division.

 

The Highlands lie to the north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which runs from Arran to Stonehaven. This part of Scotland is largely composed of ancient rocks from the Cambrian and Precambrian periods which were uplifted during the later Caledonian Orogeny. Smaller formations of Lewisian gneiss in the northwest are up to 3 billion years old. The overlying rocks of the Torridon Sandstone form mountains in the Torridon Hills such as Liathach and Beinn Eighe in Wester Ross.

 

These foundations are interspersed with many igneous intrusions of a more recent age, the remnants of which have formed mountain massifs such as the Cairngorms and the Cuillin of Skye. A significant exception to the above are the fossil-bearing beds of Old Red Sandstone found principally along the Moray Firth coast and partially down the Highland Boundary Fault. The Jurassic beds found in isolated locations on Skye and Applecross reflect the complex underlying geology. They are the original source of much North Sea oil. The Great Glen is formed along a transform fault which divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands.

 

The entire region was covered by ice sheets during the Pleistocene ice ages, save perhaps for a few nunataks. The complex geomorphology includes incised valleys and lochs carved by the action of mountain streams and ice, and a topography of irregularly distributed mountains whose summits have similar heights above sea-level, but whose bases depend upon the amount of denudation to which the plateau has been subjected in various places.

Climate

 

The region is much warmer than other areas at similar latitudes (such as Kamchatka in Russia, or Labrador in Canada) because of the Gulf Stream making it cool, damp and temperate. The Köppen climate classification is "Cfb" at low altitudes, then becoming "Cfc", "Dfc" and "ET" at higher altitudes.

 

Places of interest

An Teallach

Aonach Mòr (Nevis Range ski centre)

Arrochar Alps

Balmoral Castle

Balquhidder

Battlefield of Culloden

Beinn Alligin

Beinn Eighe

Ben Cruachan hydro-electric power station

Ben Lomond

Ben Macdui (second highest mountain in Scotland and UK)

Ben Nevis (highest mountain in Scotland and UK)

Cairngorms National Park

Cairngorm Ski centre near Aviemore

Cairngorm Mountains

Caledonian Canal

Cape Wrath

Carrick Castle

Castle Stalker

Castle Tioram

Chanonry Point

Conic Hill

Culloden Moor

Dunadd

Duart Castle

Durness

Eilean Donan

Fingal's Cave (Staffa)

Fort George

Glen Coe

Glen Etive

Glen Kinglas

Glen Lyon

Glen Orchy

Glenshee Ski Centre

Glen Shiel

Glen Spean

Glenfinnan (and its railway station and viaduct)

Grampian Mountains

Hebrides

Highland Folk Museum – The first open-air museum in the UK.

Highland Wildlife Park

Inveraray Castle

Inveraray Jail

Inverness Castle

Inverewe Garden

Iona Abbey

Isle of Staffa

Kilchurn Castle

Kilmartin Glen

Liathach

Lecht Ski Centre

Loch Alsh

Loch Ard

Loch Awe

Loch Assynt

Loch Earn

Loch Etive

Loch Fyne

Loch Goil

Loch Katrine

Loch Leven

Loch Linnhe

Loch Lochy

Loch Lomond

Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park

Loch Lubnaig

Loch Maree

Loch Morar

Loch Morlich

Loch Ness

Loch Nevis

Loch Rannoch

Loch Tay

Lochranza

Luss

Meall a' Bhuiridh (Glencoe Ski Centre)

Scottish Sea Life Sanctuary at Loch Creran

Rannoch Moor

Red Cuillin

Rest and Be Thankful stretch of A83

River Carron, Wester Ross

River Spey

River Tay

Ross and Cromarty

Smoo Cave

Stob Coire a' Chàirn

Stac Polly

Strathspey Railway

Sutherland

Tor Castle

Torridon Hills

Urquhart Castle

West Highland Line (scenic railway)

West Highland Way (Long-distance footpath)

Wester Ross

Twice, now, my family has made the drive from Richmond, VA, to Wauwatosa, WI. On the way up we drive through a massive wind farm in Jasper County, IN. My jaw drops and I squeal like a little kid with wonder at these behemoths. So this summer I finally stopped on the way back and took some photos.

LMAO I took this and all I could this was;

"This is what happens when you fuck weird cyberpunk boys and don't use protection."

negative traits should be ended, wild shouldn't be used for the purpose of entertainment. In the past people used to hunt rabbits by the help of trained dogs. Course of nature should not be disrupted or the consequences could be terrible

Explored!

 

This one is inspired by Gregory Crewdson and his use of light, and the way he sets up cinematic scenes. I did a recent inspiration bit with him on my site.

 

It was about 10pm at night when I did this. The setup is the westcott apollo softbox outside the shutters set to about 3/4 power on the canon 430exii, Lumiquest LTP softbox camera right and about 6 foot high on my tripod set to about 1/2 power on the canon 430exii. Settings are f/8, 1/125 (to block out any ambient light), ISO 1600 (so I could use f/8). There's also a reflector behind me to bounce some more light on me. The drink is actually water with a splash of coffee for color. This is a composite shot, one of me sitting, then another of me laying on the ground.

 

I hope to play with more lighting setups like this because they tie in my love for movies :D

 

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If it's broke, don't fix it

Berlin boasts two zoological gardens, a consequence of decades of political and administrative division of the city. The older one, called Zoo Berlin, founded in 1844, is situated in what is now called the "City West". It is the most species-rich zoo worldwide. The other one, called Tierpark Berlin ("Animal Park"), was established on the long abandoned premises of Friedrichsfelde Manor Park in the eastern borough of Lichtenberg, in 1954. Covering 160 ha, it is the largest landcape zoo in Europe.

 

Rund 15 Prozent der Erdoberfläche werden von Savannen bedeckt. Damit gehören sie zu den größten und wichtigsten Lebensräumen des Planeten. Seit dem 26. Mai 2023 wird Besucher*innen im Tierpark Berlin ein Einblick in diese faszinierende Landschaft gewährt und sie können mehr über die unterschiedlichen Bewohner der ostafrikanischen Savanne und ihren natürlichen Lebensraum erfahren.

Ein wahrer Höhepunkt der neuen Tierpark-Savanne ist der 120 Meter lange Giraffenpfad: Hier werden die Gäste den bis zu fünf Meter hohen Grazien der Savanne zukünftig auf Augenhöhe begegnen können – wer sich traut, bahnt sich den Weg durch den Wald bis zu den Aussichtsplattformen über eine abenteuerliche Hängebrücke. Der Tierpark Berlin erreicht mit der Eröffnung der Afrikanischen Savannenlandschaft ein neues Etappenziel auf seinem Weg zu einem Zoo der Zukunft. Seit knapp neun Jahren wird der 1955 gegründete und 160 Hektar große Tierpark Berlin zu einem naturnahen Geozoo umgebaut. Um einen Einblick in den Lebensraum der einzelnen Tierarten und deren Interaktionen, Besonderheiten und Problematiken zu ermöglichen, werden die Tiere im Tierpark größtenteils nach geografischen Gesichtspunkten zu sehen sein.

 

de/de/aktuelles/alle-news/artikel/wil...

 

Around 15 per cent of the earth's surface is covered by savannahs. This makes them one of the largest and most important habitats on the planet. Since 26 May 2023, visitors to Tierpark Berlin have been given an insight into this fascinating landscape and can learn more about the different inhabitants of the East African savannah and their natural habitat.

A true highlight of the new zoo savannah is the 120-metre-long giraffe trail: here, guests will be able to meet the up to five-metre-high graces of the savannah at eye level in future - those who dare will make their way through the forest to the viewing platforms via an adventurous suspension bridge. With the opening of the African Savannah Landscape, Tierpark Berlin has reached a new milestone on its way to becoming a zoo of the future. For almost nine years, the 160-hectare Tierpark Berlin, which was founded in 1955, has been transformed into a near-natural geozoo. In order to provide an insight into the habitat of the individual animal species and their interactions, peculiarities and problems, the animals in the zoo will largely be seen according to geographical aspects.

 

de/de/aktuelles/alle-news/artikel/wil...

(Hey everyone. This will be temporarily my last post as I will start work tomorrow. Peace out folks.)

 

My hand carries a detonator. Just one. Meaning it’s a only shot at destroying the Lazarus pit.

 

Onyx instructs me to take out the nearest guards before advancing further into the other important corners, which I seem to be familiar with, but not entirely. Guess I could make my way out of here then.

 

Anticipation feeds up my feelings with fear—because knowing it’s a trap, while also making a risky move. I certainly know it won’t make good consequences if I survive this.

 

Ben: “No sight of the other men. Should I blow it up now?”

Onyx: “Clear to go. Be ready when you are.”

Ben: “Here goes.”

 

I throw the detonator into the still bubbly pit, full of green stuff, like the ones they had at Ace Chemicals. Whatever it is, I tap the button while moving to a better position, blowing it up. In under two minutes, it all goes away, leaving nothing but rocks and a pile of mess.

 

Just as I try to leave the room, I feel my head getting wobbly, presumably with a person’s hand hitting me, making me go out cold.

 

***

 

Voice: “Wake up.”

Ben: “Who are you?”

Voice: “Darrk.”

Ben: “Ebenezer. Figured out your boss sent his leash after my head eh? Here’s the tiger for you.”

Darrk: “Indeed. Once again, your bounty’s high on the list, since the other Dragon failed to do so, it’s my pleasure.”

Ben: “For my traitorous acts, of course.”

Darrk: “So where is your other compatriot?”

Ben: “Who?”

Slade: “Her. Tell me.”

Ben: “I know nothing.”

Darrk: “Good. Bring him here. Maybe after this, you will tell me.”

 

As I lay chained and hurt, Darrk’s order brings none other than the man—my old friend, Richard. Richard Dragon. Brainwashed at the hands by the League. Well damn, that’s a surprise.

 

Ben: “If it is, I should be accommodated to a duel, right?”

Dark: “I would have eliminated traitors, but at per our common request, you will fight to the death. Either way, winning or losing will not fare well either. I will find the woman and kill her as well. Then I will go after Shiva. Your friends will all be gone because of the League.”

Darrk: “Hope it’s still stained while it lasts.”

 

Two men unchain me, returning my claws in the process. I find my footing hard to balance. That must be the effects of sedation, on a medium level. Darrk sits on his “throne”, and I’m sure he’s laughing under that ugly face of his.

 

Richard throws a punch at my face, due to me being distracted. He returns another to my stomach, yet another one I can’t retaliate back. I feel nothing but remorse seeing him brainwashed like me previously, but if it has to be done, I...I don’t know if I would hit him again.)

 

(Flashback to Ben’s mind, where he catches Richard stealing something from the dojo. Both are young and somewhat friendly. Back to the current fight, he is beaten to a bloody pulp, refusing to fight back.)

  

Ben: “Orange hair eh? I’d expect you to grow more of it. Heh.”

(Richard keeps punching)

Ben: “C’mon man, a bit more strength. Whatever happened to your training? You should know better than doing it to a punching bag!”

Slade: “There goes our entertainment!”

(Richard, expressionless, keeps on using his boxing skills)

 

By this point I should be dead now. The lad should be using Jeet Kun Do, but he doesn’t. What if he’s holding back as well? I guess I do have to test the waters then. Damn. One claw swipe and now he’s got three scratch marks on his shirt, now it’s ripped.

 

He takes away his shirt, revealing his sweaty, bare torso. Had I not seen him in years, I didn’t know he would get so much scratch marks. But either way, if I keep stalling, I’d die. Probably throwing him into stranglehold would make the trick.

 

Ben: “Wake the hell up, Richard Drakunovski!”

(Richard starts blinking, seemingly regaining his senses.)

Onyx: “Did I interrupt the party? Sorry if I came late!”

 

I knock Richard out into commission, as Onyx throws a knife right into Slade’s blinded eye, causing him pain. She flexes her bullwhip, knocking out a masked ninja, the man who chained me. Ling and Henderson also appear with dual handguns.

 

Ling: “Take him to safety! This place is gonna blow up!”

Ben: “What?”

Ling: “Darrk doused it with explosives. If we don’t get out of here, we’ll be burnt toast!”

Onyx: “Everyone get to cover!”

Darrk: And this won’t end soon! Next time, I will kill all you traitors!”

 

We rush out of the base’s entrance, as I carry Richard’s unconscious body onto the chopper. That’s the last thing I did before passing out again.

 

**One week later:**

 

I lie on the hospital bed. Pretty sure I ended up back in Gotham, heh. Or maybe Central City?

 

Onyx: “Ah, you’re up. Feeling better?”

Ben: “Feels like I broke a few bones. Must be what it’s like.”

Onyx: “Just about 8 days. Your suit....it got destroyed. Unless you stashed a old one somewhere, then I don’t know. You seem to be recovering quick.”

Ling: “Mr Turner? Sorry to interrupt, but it seems like the League base is gone. Good work.”

Ben: “So we did it?”

Ling: “Yep. FBI’s doing an investigation now, me and my partner are assigned to it. But promises are promises, I won’t mention anything about you guys. In the meantime, your friend seems to be doing well. I’ll catch up with him later. You can drop by to visit once you’re clear to leave.”

Onyx: “Thank you, agent.”

Ling: “No prob. But Onyx, I think there’s someone who wants to see Ben, you can check on him later.”

Onyx: “Alright.”

 

As they both leave, a woman carrying a briefcase grabs a chair and sits down.

 

Woman: “Hello Mr Turner. Good to see you’re still in shape.

Ben: “Thanks I guess?”

Woman: “It seems like you’ve proven to be something....big. You have made accomplishments.”

Ben: “Don’t tell me you’re here to recruit me into the CIA, or the head of FBI yourself with her fine champagne.

Woman: “Perhaps, but I am neither. I work for the government, Mr Turner; the states. For a man like you, your skills can and are highly needed.”

Ben: “But I usually operate alone. Even if it’s a team....”

Woman: “The world is full of meta-humans, Mr Turner. A team is just what I need for assembling. My name is Amanda Waller and I’m here to make you an offer.”

Ben: “What’s it called?”

Waller: “Task Force X. Suicide missions, if you dare to. You can partially lead it too.”

Ben: “Then I’ll take it as a yes.”

 

***

Leicaflex SL

50mm Summicron

Agfa Vista 200

 

Banes Grove, Floral City, FL

 

The law doesn't mess around when it comes to protecting agricultural crops.

 

I really like the vintage look of this film and it turned out to be a pleasing choice for old Florida subjects. I say "choice", but it wasn't a conscious decision as I was shooting a borrowed camera loaded with donated film. There has to be some payback for giving up a whole shelf of freezer space to a film stash, right?

Bit of a happy mistake after lighting myself up (bottom right) as I walked back to the camera.

_____

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Keeping everyone home to fight the spread of COVID19 has an unintended consequence. Fires have increased during the lockdown. Its an alarming trend, almost double the rate of last year. The leading cause of residential fires is unattended cooking and more people at home means more cooking. It also means more people smoking at home, another leading causes of home fires mostly caused by smokers flicking lit cigarette buts off a balcony.

set the ball a rollin

i'll be clicking off the miles

on the train of consequences

my boxcar life o' style

my thinking is derailed

i'm tied up to the tracks

the train of consequences

there ain't no turning back

 

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Plaza Pescadería

To go to feria, the Andalusian buy or rent flamenca dresses

 

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World leaders will soon gather in Copenhagen in the hopes of coming up with a binding agreement aimed at limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius. But what if we're not successful?

 

Kirsty Lewis of the Met Office Hadley Centre, a leading climate research group, introduces a new Flash map which shows what might happen should temperatures rise by 4 degrees Celsius.

 

The impacts of climate change will be widespread across the globe. Emissions of greenhouse gases have already altered the earth's atmosphere and the climate is already changing. We will live with the consequences of these changes for the next few decades, regardless of the actions we take now to reduce our emissions. However, beyond that time, future climate change depends on whether we continue to emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere at the rate we currently do, or whether we take effective steps to dramatically reduce our emissions.

 

The difference between these two courses of action is the difference between some inevitable climate change, and more severe, "high-end" climate change in the longer term. This is a decision that faces politicians at the global climate change negotiations at Copenhagen in December.

 

In order to understand more about what the human impact of high-end climate change might be, and therefore what would happen if a successful agreement can not be reached at Copenhagen, the United Kingdom's Met Office Hadley Centre has produced a map outlining some of the impacts that may occur if the global average temperature rises by 4 degrees Celsius (7 degrees Fahrenheit) above the pre-industrial climate average.

 

The Latest Research

 

The map was produced by the Met Office Hadley Centre, but contains contributions from climate scientists from other institutions conducting the latest research on climate impacts.

 

Although the average temperature rise over the globe is 4 degrees Celsius (7 degrees Fahrenheit) the projection on the map shows that this average rise will not be spread uniformly across the globe. The land will heat up more quickly than the sea, and high latitudes, particularly the Arctic, will have larger temperature increases. The average land temperature will be 5.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

 

The impacts on human activity shown on the map are only a selection of those that may occur, and highlight the severe effects on water availability, agricultural productivity, extreme temperatures and drought, the risk of forest fire and sea level rise.

 

Frightening Impacts

 

Agricultural yields are expected to decrease for all major cereal crops in all major regions of production. The availability of water will be affected by melting of glaciers, particularly in areas such as the Indus basin and western China, where much of the river flow comes from melt water. Population increases, combined with changes in river run off as a result of changes in rainfall patterns and increased temperatures, could mean that by 2080 significantly less water is available to approximately 1 billion people already living under water stress. For many areas of the world sea level rise, combined with the effect of storms, will threaten low lying coastal communities. There are often very dense populations living along coasts, as well as important infrastructure and high value agricultural land, which makes the impact of coastal flooding particularly severe. The intrusion of salt water on farming land, and the risk to lives of flooding events could affect millions of people worldwide every year.

 

The impacts are frightening, and the list is not exhaustive. However, the map represents a world where climate change has gone unmitigated, where we have continued to emit greenhouse gases at the rates we are today. If we continue to do this, then the likelihood of the planet warming by 4 degrees Celsius (7 degrees Fahrenheit) increases, and as it does so the risk of these impacts being realised also increases. By taking strong and effective action to curb greenhouse gases emissions, it may be possible to limit this temperature rise to 2 debrees Celsius (4 degrees Fahrenheit). Although this would still bring some adverse impacts, the risk of the very severest impacts, as shown in the Met Office Hadley Centre map, is significantly reduced.

 

By Kirsty Lewis, Principal Climate Change Consultant for the Met Office Hadley Centre, the UK's principal climate research institute and a global leader in climate change science.

 

More Info: www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,662887,00.html

 

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