doing a second and final run!

these books are sewn/hand bound by me. price is $10 to $15 -- whatever you can afford personally (this would cover shipping as well). if you want one, send me a message and i'll send you instructions/we can make arrangements :) you can also tell me if you have a color preference for the cover! (now also available in yellow, cream and lavender)

for a sample of my writing, you can see this post and this post. there are a total of 12 stories in the book, including these two. inside looks like this.

thanks!

Miramar, Fla.-based Spirit is calling it a “DOTUC fee,” for Department of Transportation Unintended Consequences, and the airline says it covers costs to the airline for holding fares 24 hours after booking without penalty.

.

........***** All images are copyrighted by their respective authors ........

.

............................................................................................................................................................................................

.

......item 1) .... Las Vegas Sun News ... www.lasvegassun.com/news .... TRANSPORTATION:

Spirit Airlines says DOT ignoring cost impact to customers, adds ‘unintended consequences’ fee

.

..................................................

img code photo .... A Spirit Airlines jet

photos.lasvegassun.com/media/img/photos/2011/08/26/scaled...

A Spirit Airlines jet takes off from McCarran International Airport on Friday, Aug. 26, 2011.

Sam Morris

..................................................

.

.

FEBRUARY 2, 2012

By Richard N. Velotta (contact)

Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012 | 3:13 p.m.

www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012/jan/31/spirit-airlines-says...

The battle between discount air carrier Spirit Airlines and the U.S. Department of Transportation escalated today with the airline — the fastest growing carrier at McCarran International Airport last year — adding a new $2 fee to ticket prices to cover costs associated with new consumer regulations that took effect last week.

Miramar, Fla.-based Spirit is calling it a “DOTUC fee,” for Department of Transportation Unintended Consequences, and the airline says it covers costs to the airline for holding fares 24 hours after booking without penalty.

The Department of Transportation ordered new consumer protection rules that took effect on Thursday. Spirit, Southwest Airlines and Allegiant Air, all prominent operators at McCarran, have been the most vocal in their displeasure with the rules.

Spirit’s passenger counts at McCarran grew by 228 percent last year over 2010. Southwest is the busiest carrier at McCarran while Las Vegas-based Allegiant is poised to grow substantially in 2012 after having a 6.4 percent increase in local passengers last year.

The new rules order airlines to include all taxes and fees when advertising or displaying costs of airfares. Airlines don’t have to disclose fees that may not apply to all travelers, such as baggage and booking fees. The rules also order airlines to hold passengers’ fares when booking and allow them to be canceled or changed without penalty for 24 hours.

“People love the idea of not having to commit to a reservation, but this regulation, like most, imposes costs on consumers,” Spirit President and CEO Ben Baldanza said in a company release issued today.

“Wouldn’t we all like to eat all we want and not get fat?” Baldanza said. “Regulators like to try to sell the idea of this rule but have ignored the cost impact to consumers. You simply can’t eat all you want without consequences.”

.

........................................................

img code photo ... Senate Ethics Committee Chair Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.

photos.lasvegassun.com/media/img/photos/2011/05/12/AP1105...

Senate Ethics Committee Chair Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., is pursued by reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, May 12, 2011, after speaking on the Senate floor about former Nevada Sen. John Ensign.

AP PHOTO/J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE

........................................................

.

.

Baldanza was on the receiving end of a scathing letter from Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, who criticized Spirit for emailing customers and telling them the government is encouraging airlines to hide federal taxes. It is Spirit’s contention that by requiring airlines to display the full cost of a ticket that customers won’t see how much of it is taxes and fees and how much of it is the airline’s fare.

“I have been shocked by the failure of your airline to tell the truth in an email sent to your customers earlier this week as well as warnings posted on Spirit.com that read, ‘New government regulations require us to HIDE taxes in your fares.’ Nothing could be further from the truth,” Boxer wrote.

“What the rule says is that you have to tell your customers the full cost of a ticket," she continued. "It prohibits Spirit or any other airline from advertising fares ‘that exclude taxes, fees or other charges since the major impact of such presentations is to confuse and deceive consumers.’

“And despite Spirit's claim that the airline must now hide relevant information, the rule ‘allows carriers to advise the public in their fare solicitations about government taxes and fees ...’

“Today's consumers are faced with many options when planning air travel, and being able to compare the full price before purchase is both necessary and fair. Your recent statement that ‘the better form of transparency is to break out costs so that consumers know exactly what they are buying’ is exactly what this new DOT rule will help do,” her letter said.

Airlines like Spirit, Southwest and Allegiant are more sensitive to the new rules because they traditionally have offered lower fares and the displays that include taxes and fees come across as sticker shock to potential customers.

Spirit and Allegiant have business models that offer greatly discounted fares but numerous fees for baggage, booking by phone or online and for seat selection. Southwest fares appear higher with taxes and fees, but its counterparts don’t have to disclose bag fees it doesn’t have.

.

.

.............................................................................................................................................................................................

.

.

The Voyage of Life: Childhood

West Building, Main Floor—Gallery 60

•Date: 1842

•Medium: Oil on Canvas

•Dimensions

oOverall: 134.3 × 195.3 cm (52⅞ × 76⅞ in.)

oFramed: 162.9 × 224.8 × 17.8 cm (64⅛ × 88½ × 7 in.)

•Credit Line: Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund

•Accession Number: 1971.16.1

•Artists/Makers:

oArtist: Thomas Cole, American, 1801-1848

Overview

Cole’s renowned four-part series traces the journey of an archetypal hero along the “River of Life.” Confidently assuming control of his destiny and oblivious to the dangers that await him, the voyager boldly strives to reach an aerial castle, emblematic of the daydreams of “Youth” and its aspirations for glory and fame. As the traveler approaches his goal, the ever-more-turbulent stream deviates from its course and relentlessly carries him toward the next picture in the series, where nature’s fury, evil demons, and self-doubt will threaten his very existence. Only prayer, Cole suggests, can save the voyager from a dark and tragic fate.

From the innocence of childhood, to the flush of youthful overconfidence, through the trials and tribulations of middle age, to the hero’s triumphant salvation, The Voyage of Life seems intrinsically linked to the Christian doctrine of death and resurrection. Cole’s intrepid voyager also may be read as a personification of America, itself at an adolescent stage of development. The artist may have been issuing a dire warning to those caught up in the feverish quest for Manifest Destiny: that unbridled westward expansion and industrialization would have tragic consequences for both man and nature.

Inscription

•Lower Left: 1842 / T. Cole / Rome

Provenance

Sold by the artist to George K. Shoenberger [1809-1892], Cincinnati, perhaps as early as 1845 and no later than May 1846;[1] Shoenberger heirs, after 20 January 1892;[2] purchased 1908 by Ernst H. Huenefeld, Cincinnati;[3] gift 1908 to Bethesda Hospital and Deaconess Association of Methodist Church of Cincinnati;[4] sold 17 May 1971 through (Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York) to NGA.

[1]For a discussion of a possible 1845 date, see Thomas Cole, Exh. cat. Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, 1969: 35. Other sources place the acquisition a bit later than 1845; see Paul D. Schweizer, “The Voyage of Life: A Chronology,” in The Voyage of Life by Thomas Cole, Paintings, Drawings, and Prints, Exh. cat. Museum of Art, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, New York, 1985: 45 (“December 1846?”), and Ellwood C. Parry III, The Art of Thomas Cole: Ambition and Imagination, Newark, Delaware, 1988: 332 (“sometime late in 1846 or, more likely, early in 1847”); however in a Boston Transcript article entitled “The Voyage of Life,” which appeared 21 May 1846, the pictures are mentioned as then belonging to “a wealthy gentleman of Cincinnati.”

[2]A letter of April 1979 from Mrs. Robert Heuck (in NGA curatorial files) specifies: “Mr. Shoenberger died in 1892, at which time many of the belongings of the home were given to heirs.” Shoenberger died 20 January 1892; for additional information, see The Biographical Cyclopaedia and Portrait Gallery with an Historical Sketch of the State of Ohio, 6 vols., Cincinnati, 1895: 6:1457-1458.

[3]Mrs. Robert Heuck, letter of April 1979 (in NGA curatorial files) states: “In 1908 Mr. and Mrs. Ernest W. [sic] Huenefeld purchased the land [and the house and contents].”

[4]Edward H. Dwight and Richard J. Boyle, “Rediscovery: Thomas Cole’s ‘Voyage of Life’,” Art in America 55 (May 1967): 62.

Associated Names

•Bethesda Hospital and Deaconess Association

•Hirschl & Adler Galleries

•Huenefeld, Ernst H.

•Shoenberger, George K.

Exhibition History

•1842—Annual Exhibition of Modern Artists, Piazza del Popolo, Rome, 1842, no cat.

•1842—Private Exhibition, Luther Terry’s studio, Orto di Napoli, Rome, 1842.

•1843—Pictures by Thomas Cole N.A. … The Voyage of Life! A Series of Allegorical Pictures, National Academy of Design, New York, 1843-1844, no. 1.

•1843—Second Exhibition, Boston Artists’ Association, 1843, no. 1.

•1844—Paintings Exhibited…, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1844, no. 1.

•1848—Western Art Union, Cincinnati, 1848, no cat.

•1854—Pictures at the Ladies’ Gallery, Cincinnati, 1854, 2 and 5, no. 20, as Infancy.

•1983—A New World: Masterpieces of American Painting 1760-1910, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Grand Palais, Paris, 1983-1984, no. 25, repro.

•1985—The Voyage of Life by Thomas Cole, Paintings, Drawings, and Prints, Museum of Art, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, New York, 1985, 4, 5, 28, 30-32, 34-36, 38-40, 42, 44, 45, 48, 53, 66-69, no. 33.

•1994—Thomas Cole: Landscape into History, National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.; Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford; The Brooklyn Museum, 1994-1995, fig. 115.

•1995—Loan for display with permanent collection, The Detroit Institute of Arts, 1995-1996.

•2000—Explorar el Edén: Paisaje Americano del Siglo XIX, Fundación Colección Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, 2000-2001, no. 2, repro.

Technical Summary

Secondary ground layers include red under the top left corner; yellow under the boat and angel; red under the center in the light area of mountain; red under top right corner in the light area of sky; red under the water around the boat. Infrared reflectography reveals some underdrawing of mountain contours in the right middle and far distance. There are scattered small losses along the edges, a small loss below the boat, and craquelure throughout.

All four paintings in The Voyage of Life series were executed on herringbone twill fabric with moderately fine threads and a moderately rough surface. The paintings were lined (apparently for the first time) and the original panel-back stretchers were replaced during treatment in 1970-1971. The presence of unused tack holes and the pattern of wear on the canvas edges suggest that the paintings were originally stretched and painted on slightly larger stretchers, and then restretched by the artist on the panel-backed stretchers. All four paintings have white ground layers; in specific areas of each painting (see individual comments, below) secondary ground layers of different colors were applied. Infrared reflectography reveals only minimal underdrawing. Paint was applied moderately thinly and with low and broad brushstrokes in some areas such as the skies, and more thickly and with some high impasto in details such as the figures and foliage. In general, the paintings are in excellent condition, with only scattered small losses, some craquelure, and minor abrasion. In 1970-1971, discolored varnish was removed and the paintings were restored.

Bibliography

•1843—“Cole’s Pictures at the National Academy of Design.” Anglo American (30 December 1843): 239.

•1843—“Dottings on Art and Artists. No. II.” New World 6 (25 February 1843): 246.

•1843—“Mr. Cole’s Paintings.” New-York Daily Tribune (26 December 1843): 2.

•1843—New-York Daily Tribune (18 February 1843): 3.

•1844—“A Few Words About Mr. Cole’s Paintings.” New World 8 (17 February 1844): 217.

•1844—“Cole’s Paintings.” New-York Daily Tribune (9 January 1844): 2.

•1844—“Editor’s Table.” The Knickerbocker 23 (January/February 1844): 97, 196.

•1844—P., S.H.J. “To Thomas Cole.” New Mirror 2 (27 January 1844): 269.

•1847—Transactions of the Western Art Union for the Year 1847. Cincinnati, 1847: 25.

•1848—Bryant, William Cullen. A Funeral Oration, occasioned by the death of Thomas Cole delivered before the National Academy of Design, New York, May 4, 1848. Philadelphia and New York, 1848: 30.

•1848—Whitley, Thomas W. Reflections on the Government of the Western Art Union and a Review of the Works of Art on Its Walls. [Originally published in the Herald of Truth] Cincinnati, 1848: 17-18.

•1849—Lanman, Charles. “The Epic Paintings of Thomas Cole.” Southern Library Messenger 15 (June 1849): 353.

•1849—Transactions of the Western Art Union for the Year 1848. Cincinnati, 1849: 10.

•1853—Noble, Louis Legrand. The Course of Empire, Voyage of Life, and other Pictures of Thomas Cole, N.A.. New York, 1853: 295-298, 301, 309, 312-314, 317, 320-322, 353, 359.

•1854—“Thomas Cole.” National Magazine 4 (April 1854): 318-321.

•1855—“Sketchings.” The Crayon 1 (7 February 1855): 92.

•1858—“Notes and Gleanings—Cole’s Pictures of Life.” National Magazine 13 (September 1858): 284-285.

•1860—Green, George W. Biographical Sketches. New York, 1860: 101, 105, 110-112.

•1860—“The Artists of America—Taken from New American Cyclopaedia.” The Crayon 7 (February 1860): 46.

•1865—Cummings, Thomas S. Historic Annals of the National Academy of Design (1825-1863). Philadelphia, 1865. Reprint, New York, 1965: 170, 176, 201.

•1932—Mayer, Frank Blackwell. With Pen and Pencil on the Frontier in 1851: The Diary and Sketches of Frank Blackwell Mayer. Edited by Bertha L. Heilbron. Reprint, Saint Paul, 1932: 41.

•1954—La Budde, Kenneth James. “The Mind of Thomas Cole.” Ph.D. dissertation, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, 1954: 171, 212.

•1962—Devane, James. “Sightseers Have Visited Scarlet Oaks for 95 Years.” Cincinnati Enquirer (20 May 1962): 6A.

•1964—Noble, Louis Legrand. The Life and Works of Thomas Cole (1853). Edited by Elliot S. Vesell. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1964: 220-224, 231, 233-235, 237, 239-240, 264.

•1967—Dwight, Edward H., and Richard J. Boyle. “Rediscovery: Thomas Cole’s ‘Voyage of Life’.” L’Art et les Artistes 55 (May 1967): 60-63, repro. 62.

•1967—Merritt, Howard S. “Thomas Cole’s List, ‘Subjects for Pictures.’” In Baltimore Museum of Art, Annual II: Studies on Thomas Cole, an American Romanticist. Baltimore, 1967: 84, 90.

•1970—Riordan, John. “Thomas Cole: A Case Study of the Painter-Poet Theory ofArt in American Painting from 1825-1850.” 2 vols. Ph.D. dissertation, Syracuse University, 1970: 1:99-100; 2:345, 455-497.

•1973—Wallach, Alan Peter. “The Ideal American Artist and the Dissenting Tradition: A Study of Thomas Cole’s Popular Reputation.” Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University, New York, 1973: 70-72, 106.

•1976—Kurland, Sydney. “The Aesthetic Quest of Thomas Cole and Edgar Allan Poe: Correspondence in their Thought and Practice in Relation to their Time.” Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio University, Athens, 1976: 105-109, 172, repro. 227.

•1977—Wallach, Alan. “The Voyage of Life as Popular Art.” The Art Bulletin 59 (1957): 234.

•1980—American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 133, repro.

•1980—Coen, Rena N. “Cole, Coleridge and Kubla Khan.” Art History 3 (June 1980): 218, 227, pl. 31.

•1980—Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: 11, 14, 88, repro. 88.

•1981—Virdis, Caterina Limentani. “Paesaggio e racconto in Edgar Allan Poe.” Artibus et Historiae 4 (1981): 90, 94, repro. 89.

•1981—Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: color repro. 96, 112-113.

•1983—Schweizer, Paul D. “Another Possible Literary Source for Thomas Cole’s Voyage of Life.” In “New Discoveries in American Art.” Edited by Jayne A. Kuchina. The American Art Journal 15 (1983): 74-75.

•1985—The Voyage of Life by Thomas Cole, Paintings, Drawings, and Prints. Exh. cat. Museum of Art, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, New York, 1985: 66-69.

•1987—Sarnoff, Charles A. “The Voyage of Life Had a Life of Its Own.” Paper presented to the NGA, January 1987.

•1987—Wilmerding, John. American Marine Painting. Rev. ed. of A History of American Marine Painting, 1968. New York, 1987: 44, 46, 47, color repro. 42.

•1988—Parry, Ellwood C., III. The Art of Thomas Cole: Ambition and Imagination. Newark, London, and Toronto, 1988: 218, 228, 265-268, 270-272, 275, 277, 280, 284-285, 291-298, 301-303, 332, 338, 378.

•1988—Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 11, 17, 102, 103, repro. 102.

•1990—Powell, Earl A., III. Thomas Cole. New York, 1990: 103.

•1991—Kopper, Philip. America’s National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation. New York, 1991: 261, 263, color repro.

•1991—Wilmerding, John. American Views: Essays on American Art. Princeton, 1991: 56, 67, repro. 57.

•1992—American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 145, repro.

•1994—Truettner, William H., and Alan Wallach. Thomas Cole: Landscape into History. Exh. cat. Natl. Mus. of Am. Art, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford; Brooklyn Museum. Washington,1994: 42,46-47,79,82,84,98-101,113,130-133,138,144,149-150,152,154,182, no. 115.

•1995—Apostolos-Cappadona, Diane. The Spirit and the Vision: The Influence of Christian Romanticism on the Development of 19th-Century American Art. Atlanta, 1995: 137-148, fig. 26.

•1996—Kelly, Franklin, with Nicolai Cikovsky, Jr., Deborah Chotner, and John Davis. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1996: 95-108, color repro.

•1998—Boeckl, Christine M. “Path/Road/Crossroads.” In Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography: Themes Depicted in Works of Art. Edited by Helene E. Roberts. 2 vols. Chicago, 1998: 2:692.

•2004—Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 308-310, no. 247, color repros.

•2012—“Rethinking ‘Luminism’: Taste, Class, and Aestheticizing Tendencies in Mid-Nineteenth-Century American Landscape Painting.” In The Cultured Canvas: New Perspectives on American Landscape Painting edited by Nancy Siegel. Lebanon, N.H., 2012: 133-134.

•2013—Corbett, David Peters. “Painting American Frontiers: ‘Encounter’ and the Borders of American Identity in Nineteenth-Century Art.” Perspective 2013, no. 1: 140, 141, color fig. 9.

From American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I:

1971.16.1 (2550)

The Voyage of Life: Childhood

•1842

•Oil on Canvas, 134.3 × 195.3 (52⅞ × 76⅞)

•Ails a Mellon Bruce Fund

•Inscriptions:

oAt Lower Left: 1842 / T. Cole / Rome

Technical Notes

All four paintings were executed on herringbone twill fabric with moderately fine threads and a moderately rough surface. The paintings were lined (apparently for the first time) and the original panel-back stretchers were replaced during treatment in 1970—1971. The presence of unused tack holes and the pattern of wear on the canvas edges suggest that the paintings were originally stretched and painted on slightly larger stretchers, and then restretched by the artist on the panel-backed stretchers. All four paintings have white ground layers; in specific areas of each painting (see individual comments, below) secondary ground layers of different colors were applied. Infrared reflectography reveals only minimal underdrawing. Paint was applied moderately thinly and with low and broad brushstrokes in some areas such as the skies, and more thickly and with some high impasto in details such as the figures and foliage. In general, the paintings are in excellent condition, with only scattered small losses, some craquelure, and minor abrasion. In 1970-1971, discolored varnish was removed and the paintings were restored.

1971.16.1 (Childhood): Secondary ground layers include red under the top left corner; yellow under the boat and angel; red under the center in the light area of mountain; red under top right corner in the light area of sky; red under the water around the boat. Infrared reflectography reveals some underdrawing of mountain contours in the right middle and far distance. There are scattered small losses along the edges, a small loss below the boat, and craquelure throughout.

Description by the Artist:

First Picture: Childhood

A stream is seen issuing from a deep cavern, in the side of a craggy and precipitous mountain, whose summit is hidden in clouds. From out the cave glides a Boat, whose golden prow and sides are sculptured into figures of the Hours: steered by an Angelic Form, and laden with buds and flowers, it bears a laughing Infant, the Voyager whose varied course the artist has attempted to delineate. On either hand the banks of the stream are clothed in luxuriant herbage and flowers. The rising sun bathes the mountains and the flowery banks in rosy light.

The dark cavern is emblematic of our earthly origin, and the mysterious Past. The Boat, composed of Figures of the Hours, images the thought, that we are borne on the hours down the Stream of Life. The Boat identifies the subject in each picture. The rosy light of the morning, the luxuriant flowers and plants, are emblems of the joyousness of early life. The close banks, and the limited scope of the scene, indicate the narrow experience of Childhood, and the nature of its pleasures and desires. The Egyptian Lotus in the foreground of the picture is symbolical of Human Life. Joyousness and wonder are the characteristic emotions of childhood.

A coolie (alternatively spelled cooli, cooly, quli, koelie, and other such variations), during the 19th and early 20th century, was a term for a locally sourced unskilled labourer hired by a company, mainly from the Indian subcontinent or Southern China.

Today, it is used varyingly as a legal inoffensive word (for example, in India for helpers carrying luggage in railway stations) and also used as a racial slur in Africa for certain people from Asia, particularly in South Africa

ETYMOLOGY

The origins of the word are uncertain but it is thought to have originated from the name of a Gujarati sect (the Kolī, who worked as day labourers) or perhaps from the Tamil word for a payment for work, kuli (கூலி). An alternative etymological explanation is that the word came from the Urdu qulī (क़ुली, قلی), which itself could be from the Turkish word for slave, qul. The word was used in this sense for labourers from India. In 1727, Dr. Engelbert Kämpfer described "coolies" as dock labourers who would unload Dutch merchant ships at Nagasaki in Japan.

The Chinese word 苦力 (pinyin: kǔlì) literally means "bitterly hard (use of) strength", in the Mandarin pronunciation.

HISTORY OF THE COOLIE TRADE

An early trade in Asian labourers is believed to have begun sometime in or around the 16th century. Social and political pressure led to the abolition of the slave trade throughout the British Empire in 1807, with other European nations following suit. Labour-intensive industries, such as cotton and sugar plantations, mines and railway construction, in the colonies were left without a cheap source of manpower. As a consequence, a large scale slavery-like trade in Asian (primarily Indian and Chinese) indentured labourers began in the 1820s to fill this vacuum. Some of these labourers signed contracts based on misleading promises, some were kidnapped and sold into the trade, some were victims of clan violence whose captors sold them to coolie brokers, while others sold themselves to pay off gambling debts. British companies were the first to experiment with this potential new form of cheap labour in 1807, when they imported 200 Chinese men to work in Trinidad.

The coolie trade was often compared to the earlier slave trade and they accomplished very similar things.

Although there are reports of ships for Asian coolies carrying women and children, the great majority of them were men. Finally, regulations were put in place, as early as 1837 by the British authorities in India to safeguard these principles of voluntary, contractual work and safe and sanitary transportation although in practice this rarely occurred especially during examples such as the Pacific Passage or the Guano Pits of Peru. The Chinese government also made efforts to secure the well-being of their nation's workers, with representations being made to relevant governments around the world.

CHINESE COOLIES

Workers from China were mainly transported to work in Peru and Cuba, but they also worked in British colonies such as Jamaica, British Guiana (now Guyana), British Malaya, Trinidad and Tobago, British Honduras (now Belize) and in the Dutch colonies Dutch East Indies and Suriname. The first shipment of Chinese labourers was to the British colony of Trinidad in 1806.

In 1847 two ships from Cuba transported workers to Havana to work in the sugar cane fields from the port of Xiamen, one of the five Chinese treaty ports opened to the British by the Treaty of Nanking in 1842. The trade soon spread to other ports in Guangdong province and demand became particularly strong in Peru for workers in the silver mines and the guano collecting industry. Australia began importing workers in 1848 and the United States began using them in 1865 on the First Transcontinental Railroad construction. These workers were deceived about their terms of employment to a much greater extent than their Indian counterparts, and consequently, there was a much higher level of Chinese emigration during this period.

The trade flourished from 1847 to 1854 without incident, until reports began to surface of the mistreatment of the workers in Cuba and Peru. As the British government had political and legal responsibility for many of the ports involved, including Amoy, the trade was shut down at these places. However, the trade simply shifted to the more accommodating port in the Portuguese enclave of Macau.

Many coolies were first deceived or kidnapped and then kept in barracoons (detention centres) or loading vessels in the ports of departure, as were African slaves. In 1875, British commissioners estimated that approximately eighty percent of the workers had been abducted. Their voyages, which are sometimes called the Pacific Passage, were as inhumane and dangerous as the notorious Middle Passage of the Atlantic slave trade. Mortality was very high. For example, it is estimated that from 1847 to 1859, the average mortality for coolies aboard ships to Cuba was 15.2 percent, and losses among those aboard ships to Peru were 40 percent in the 1850s and 30.44 percent from 1860 to 1863.

They were sold and were taken to work in plantations or mines with very bad living and working conditions. The duration of a contract was typically five to eight years, but many coolies did not live out their term of service because of the hard labour and mistreatment. Those who did live were often forced to remain in servitude beyond the contracted period. The coolies who worked on the sugar plantations in Cuba and in the guano beds of the Chincha Islands (the islands of Hell) of Peru were treated brutally. Seventy-five percent of the Chinese coolies in Cuba died before fulfilling their contracts. More than two-thirds of the Chinese coolies who arrived in Peru between 1849 and 1874 died within the contract period. In 1860 it was calculated that of the 4000 coolies brought to the Chinchas since the trade began, not one had survived.

Because of these unbearable conditions, Chinese coolies often revolted against their Ko-Hung bosses and foreign company bosses at ports of departure, on ships, and in foreign lands. The coolies were put in the same neighbourhoods as Africans and, since most were unable to return to their homeland or have their wives come to the New World, many married African women. The coolies' interracial relationships and marriages with Africans, Europeans and Indigenous peoples, formed some of the modern world's Afro-Asian and Asian Latin American populations.

Chinese immigration to the United States was almost entirely voluntary, but working and social conditions were still harsh. In 1868, the Burlingame Treaty allowed unrestricted Chinese immigration into the country. Within a decade significant levels of anti-Chinese sentiment had built up, stoked by populists such as Denis Kearney with racist slogans - "To an American, death is preferable to life on a par with the Chinese."

Although Chinese workers contributed to the building of the first Transcontinental Railroad in the United States and of the Canadian Pacific Railway in western Canada, Chinese settlement was discouraged after completion of the construction. California's Anti-Coolie Act of 1862 and the federal Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 contributed to the curtailment of Chinese immigration to the United States.

Notwithstanding such attempts to restrict the influx of cheap labour from China, beginning in the 1870s Chinese workers helped construct a vast network of levees in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. These levees made thousands of acres of fertile marshlands available for agricultural production.

The 1879 Constitution of the State of California declared that "Asiatic coolieism is a form of human slavery, and is forever prohibited in this State, and all contracts for coolie labour shall be void."

Colonos asiáticos is a Spanish term for coolies. The Spanish colony of Cuba feared slavery uprisings such as those that took place in Haiti and used coolies as a transition between slaves and free labor. They were neither free nor slaves. Indentured Chinese servants also labored in the sugarcane fields of Cuba well after the 1884 abolition of slavery in that country. Two scholars of Chinese labor in Cuba, Juan Pastrana and Juan Perez de la Riva, substantiated horrific conditions of Chinese coolies in Cuba and stated that coolies were slaves in all but name. Denise Helly is one researcher who believes that despite their slave-like treatment, the free and legal status of the Asian laborers in Cuba separated them from slaves. The coolies could challenge their superiors, run away, petition government officials, and rebel according to Rodriguez Pastor and Trazegnies Granda. Once they had fulfilled their contracts the colonos asiáticos integrated into the countries of Peru, The Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Cuba. They adopted cultural traditions from the natives and also welcomed in non-Chinese to experience and participate into their own traditions. Before the Cuban Revolution in 1959, Havana had Latin America's largest Chinatown.

In South America, Chinese indentured labourers worked in Peru's silver mines and coastal industries (i.e., guano, sugar, and cotton) from the early 1850s to the mid-1870s; about 100,000 people immigrated as indentured workers. They participated in the War of the Pacific, looting and burning down the haciendas where they worked, after the capture of Lima by the invading Chilean army in January 1880. Some 2000 coolies even joined the Chilean Army in Peru, taking care of the wounded and burying the dead. Others were sent by Chileans to work in the newly conquered nitrate fields.

The Chinese Engineering and Mining Corporation, of which later U.S. president Herbert Hoover was a director, was instrumental in supplying Chinese coolie labour to South African mines from c.1902 to c.1910 at the request of mine owners, who considered such labour cheaper than native African and white labour. The horrendous conditions suffered by the coolie labourers led to questions in the British parliament as recorded in Hansard.

In 1866, the British, French and Chinese governments agreed to mitigate the abuse by requiring all traders to pay for the return of all workers after their contract ended. The employers in the British West Indies declined these conditions, bringing the trade there to an end. Until the trade was finally abolished in 1875, over 150,000 coolies had been sold to Cuba alone, the majority having been shipped from Macau. These labourers endured conditions far worse than those experienced by their Indian counterparts. Even after the 1866 reforms, the scale of abuse and conditions of near slavery did not get any better - if anything they deteriorated. In the early 1870s increased media exposure of the trade led to a public outcry, and the British, as well as the Qing government, put pressure on the Portuguese authorities to bring the trade at Macau to an end; this was ultimately achieved in 1874. By that time, a total of up to half a million Chinese workers had been exported.

The term coolie was also applied to Chinese workers recruited for contracts on cacao plantations in German Samoa. German planters went to great lengths to secure access to their "coolie" labour supply from China. In 1908 a Chinese commissioner, Lin Shu Fen, reported on the cruel treatment of coolie workers on German plantations in the western Samoan Islands. The trade began largely after the establishment of colonial German Samoa in 1900 and lasted until the arrival of New Zealand forces in 1914. More than 2000 Chinese "coolies" were present in the islands in 1914 and most were eventually repatriated by the New Zealand administration.

INDIAN COOLIES

By the 1820s, many Indians were voluntarily enlisting to go abroad for work, in the hopes of a better life. European merchants and businessmen quickly took advantage of this and began recruiting them for work as a cheap source of labour. The British began shipping Indians to colonies around the world, including Mauritius, Fiji, Natal, British East Africa, and British Malaya. The Dutch also shipped workers to labour on the plantations on Suriname and the Dutch East Indies. A system of agents was used to infiltrate the rural villages of India and recruit labourers. They would often deceive the credulous workers about the great opportunities that awaited them for their own material betterment abroad. The Indians primarily came from the Indo-Gangetic Plain, but also from Tamil Nadu and other areas to the south of the country.

Without permission from the British authorities, the French attempted to illegally transport Indian workers to their sugar producing colony, the Reunion Island, from as early as 1826. By 1830, over 3000 labourers had been transported. After this trade was discovered, the French successfully negotiated with the British in 1860 for permission to transport over 6,000 workers annually, on condition that the trade would be suspended if abuses were discovered to be taking place.

The British began to transport Indians to Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, starting in 1829. Slavery had been abolished with the planters receiving two million pounds sterling in compensation for the loss of their slaves. The planters turned to bringing in a large number of indentured labourers from India to work in the sugar cane fields. Between 1834 and 1921, around half a million indentured labourers were present on the island. They worked on sugar estates, factories, in transport and on construction sites.

In 1837, the Raj issued a set of regulations for the trade. The rules provided for each labourer to be personally authorised for transportation by an officer designated by the Government, it limited the length of service to five years subject to voluntary renewal, it made the contractor responsible for returning the worker after the contract elapsed and required the vessels to conform to basic health standards

Despite this, conditions on the ships were often extremely crowded, with rampant disease and malnutrition. The workers were paid a pittance for their labour, and were expected to work in often awful and harsh conditions. Although there were no large scale scandals involving coolie abuse in British colonies, workers often ended up being forced to work, and manipulated in such a way that they became dependent on the plantation owners so that in practice they remained there long after their contracts expired; possibly as little as 10% of the coolies actually returned to their original country of origin. Colonial legislation was also passed to severely limit their freedoms; in Mauritius a compulsory pass system was instituted to enable their movements to be easily tracked. Conditions were much worse in the French colonies of Reunion and Guadeloupe and Martinique, where workers were 'systematically overworked' and abnormally high mortality rates were recorded for those working in the mines.

However, there were also attempts by the British authorities to regulate and mitigate the worst abuses. Workers were regularly checked up on by health inspectors, and they were vetted before transportation to ensure that they were suitably healthy and fit to be able to endure the rigours of labour. Children under the age of 15 were not allowed to be transported from their parents under any circumstances.

The first campaign against the 'coolie' trade in England likened the system of indentured labour to the slavery of the past. In response to this pressure, the labour export was temporarily stopped in 1839 by the authorities when the scale of the abuses became known, but it was soon renewed due to its growing economic importance. A more rigorous regulatory framework was put into place and severe penalties were imposed for infractions in 1842. In that year, almost 35,000 people were shipped to Mauritius.

In 1844, the trade was expanded to the colonies in the West Indies, including Jamaica, Trinidad and Demerara, where the Asian population was soon a major component of the island demographic.

Starting in 1879, many Indians were transported to Fiji to work on the sugar cane plantations. Many of them chose to stay after their term of indenture elapsed and today they number about 40% of the total population. Indian workers were also imported into the Dutch colony of Suriname after the Dutch signed a treaty with the United Kingdom on the recruitment of contract workers in 1870. In Mauritius, the Indian population are now demographically dominant, with Indian festivals being celebrated as national holidays.

This system prevailed until the early twentieth century. Increasing focus on the brutalities and abuses of the trade by the sensationalist media of the time, incited public outrage and lead to the official ending of the coolie trade in 1916 by the British government. By that time tens of thousands of Chinese workers were being used along the Western Front by the allied forces (see Chinese Labour Corps).

SEX RATIOS AND INTERMARRIAGE AMONG COOLIES

A major difference between the Chinese coolie trade and the Indian coolie trade was that the Chinese coolies were all male, while East Indian women (from India) were brought alongside men as coolies. This led to a high rate of Chinese men marrying women of other ethnicities like Indian women and mixed race Creole women. Indian women and children were brought alongside Indian men as coolies while Chinese men made up 99% of Chinese colonies. The contrast with the female to male ratio among Indian and Chinese immigrants has been compared by historians. In Sumatra in the Dutch East Indies just 18,731 Chinese women and 92,985 Chinese men served as coolies on plantations. Chinese women migrated less than Javanese and Indian women as indentured coolies. The number of Chinese women as coolies was "very small" while Chinese men were easily taken into the coolie trade. In Cuba men made up the vast majority of Chinese indentured servants on sugar plantations and in Peru non-Chinese women married the mostly male Chinese coolies.

Chinese women were scarce in every place where Chinese indentured laborers were brought, the migration was dominated by Chinese men. Up to the 1940s men made up the vast majority of the Costa Rican Chinese community. Males made up the majority of the original Chinese community in Mexico and they married Mexican women.

In the early 1900s, the Chinese communities in Manila, Singapore, Mauritius, New Zealand, Victoria in Australia, the United States, and Victoria in British Columbia in Canada were all male dominated.

WIKIPEDIA

A hearse, police car, ambulance and taxi lined up along Piccadilly Gardens to remind revellers of the consequences of their decisions.

The vehicles took their place at the busy city centre location on ‘Mad Friday’ to encourage those going out on the busiest night of the year to make responsible choices whilst enjoying the festivities.

Three hundred thousand people are expected to visit the city centre this weekend, and extra officers will be out on patrol throughout to ensure the night is fun and safe for all. Officers will also be patrolling the roads looking for drink drivers.

Chief Superintendent John O’Hare from Greater Manchester Police’s Specialist Operations, said: “Our officers will be on duty throughout the holiday period to ensure people have a safe and peaceful Christmas. However, I urge everyone to consider how they plan to spend their festive period – nobody wants to end up in a police car, ambulance or – in the worst instance – a hearse.

“We want people to come out and enjoy themselves but ask that they take personal responsibility. Alcohol can have devastating consequences and one thoughtless act after too much alcohol can end violently and tragically. Often people don’t realise what they are doing when they have had a drink and it is those split-second actions that result in devastating life-long consequences.

“No police officer wants to have to deliver the message that a loved one has died in an alcohol-fuelled fight or been killed or seriously injured at the hands of a drink or drug driver. Or where they have been the driver deliver the news of their tragic death.

“If you’re out tonight then please look after yourself and your friends. Know your limits, control your temper, walk away from trouble and make sure the only vehicle taking you home tonight is a taxi.”

Steve Hynes, Greater Manchester Head of Service, North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust, said: “We are currently receiving an unprecedented amount of 999 calls. The festive season is always an extremely busy time for the emergency services and is set to place even more demand on our resources this year.

“We want to encourage the public to consider the seriousness associated with this time of year, especially in the week before Christmas. Our staff see first-hand the devastating affect alcohol-related incidents can cause - in some instances, it can result in death.

“Ultimately, we want people to have a safe, enjoyable festive season but it can all change quickly, so please consider your actions as the implications may be life-changing.”

To find out more about Greater Manchester Police please visit our website.

www.gmp.police.uk

You should call 101, the new national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.

Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.

You can also call anonymously with information about crime to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Opening Remarks Before the House Armed Services Committee

Chairman McKeon, Ranking Member Smith, and distinguished members of the committee, I’m privileged to be here this morning with Secretary Hagel and General Dempsey, and we are all of us – all three of us – very much looking forward to a conversation with you about this complicated, challenging, but critical issue that our country faces.

And we don’t come to you lightly. I think Secretary Hagel and I particularly come here with an enormous amount of respect for this process, for what each of you go through at home, and the challenges you face with constituents, and the complexity of this particular issue. So this is good. It’s good that we’re here, and we look forward to the conversation.

And as we convene at this hearing, it is no exaggeration at all to say to you that the world is watching. And they’re watching not just to see what we decide; they’re watching to see how we decide it, and whether or not we have the ability at this critical time when so much is on the line in so many parts of the world. As challenges to governance, writ large, it’s important that we show the world that we actually do have the ability to, hopefully, speak with one voice. And we believe that that can make a difference.

Needless to say, this is one of the most important decisions that any member of Congress makes during the course of their service. And we all want to make sure we leave plenty of time here for discussion. Obviously, this is a very large committee, and so we’ll try to summarize in these comments and give the opportunity for the Q&A.

But I just want to open with a few comments about questions I’m hearing from many of your colleagues, and obviously, from the American people and what we read in the news.

First, people ask me – and they ask you, I know – why we are choosing to have a debate on Syria at a time when there’s so much that we need to be doing here at home. And we all know what that agenda is. Let me assure you, the President of the United States didn’t wake up one day and just kind of flippantly say, “Let’s go take military action in Syria.” He didn’t choose this. We didn’t choose this. We’re here today because Bashar al-Assad, a dictator who has chosen to meet the requests for reform in his country with bullets and bombs and napalm and gas, because he made a decision to use the world’s most heinous weapons to murder more than – in one instance – more than 1,400 innocent people, including more than 400 children. He and his regime made a choice, and President Obama believes – and all of us at this table believe – that we have no choice but to respond.

Now, to those who doubt whether Assad’s actions have to have consequences, remember that our inaction absolutely is guaranteed to bring worse consequences. You, every one of you here – we, all of us – America will face this. If not today, somewhere down the line when the permissiveness of not acting now gives Assad license to go do what he wants – and threaten Israel, threaten Jordan, threaten Lebanon, create greater instability in a region already wracked by instability, where stability is one of the greatest priorities of our foreign policy and of our national security interest.

And that brings me to the second question that I’ve heard lately, which is sort of: What’s really at stake here? Does this really affect us? I met earlier today with Steve Chabot and had a good conversation. I asked him, “What are you hearing?” I know what you’re all hearing. The instant reaction of a lot of Americans anywhere in our country is, “Woah, we don’t want to go to war again. We don’t want to Iraq. We don’t want to go to Afghanistan. We’ve seen how those turned out.” I get it, and I’ll speak to that in a minute.

But I want to make it clear at the outset, as each of us at this table want to make it clear, that what Assad has done directly affects America’s security – America’s security. We have a huge national interest in containing all weapons of mass destruction. And the use of gas is a weapon of mass destruction. Allowing those weapons to be used with impunity would be an enormous chink in our armor that we have built up over years against proliferation. Think about it. Our own troops benefit from that prohibition against chemical weapons.

I mentioned yesterday in the briefing – many of you were there, and some of you I notice from decorations, otherwise I know many of you have served in the military, some of you still in the reserves. And you know the training we used to go through when you’re learning. And I went to Chemical, Nuclear, Biological Warfare school, and I remember going into a room and a gas mask, and they make you take it off, and you see how long you can do it. It ain’t for long.

Those weapons have been outlawed, and our troops, in all of the wars we fought since World War I, have never been subjected to it because we stand up for that prohibition. There’s a reason for that. If we don’t answer Assad today, we will irreparably damage a century-old standard that has protected American troops in war. So to every one of your constituents, if they were to say to you, “Why did you vote for this even though we said we don’t want to go to war?” Because you want to protect American troops, because you want to protect America’s prohibition and the world’s prohibition against these weapons.

The stability of this region is also in our direct security interest. Our allies, our friends in Israel, Jordan, and Turkey, are, all of them, just a strong wind away from being injured themselves or potentially from a purposeful attack. Failure to act now will make this already volatile neighborhood even more combustible, and it will almost certainly pave the way for a more serious challenge in the future. And you can just ask our friends in Israel or elsewhere. In Israel, they can’t get enough gas masks. And there’s a reason that the Prime Minister has said this matters, this decision matters. It’s called Iran. Iran looms out there with its potential – with its nuclear program and the challenge we have been facing. And that moment is coming closer in terms of a decision. They’re watching what we do here. They’re watching what you do and whether or not this means something.

If we choose not to act, we will be sending a message to Iran of American ambivalence, American weakness. It will raise the question – I’ve heard this question. As Secretary of State as I meet with people and they ask us about sort of our long-term interests and the future with respect to Iran, they’ve asked me many times, “Do you really mean what you say? Are you really going to do something?” They ask whether or not the United States is committed, and they ask us also if the President cuts a deal will the Congress back it up? Can he deliver? This is all integrated. I have no doubt – I’ve talked to Prime Minister Netanyahu yesterday – Israel does not want to be in the middle of this. But we know that their security is at risk and the region is at risk.

I also want to remind you, you have already spoken to this. Your word is on the line, too. You passed the Syria Accountability Act. And that act clearly states that Syria’s chemical weapons threaten the security of the Middle East. That’s in plain writing. It’s in the act. You voted for it. We’ve already decided these chemical weapons are important to the security of our nation. I quote, “The national security interests of the United States are – the national security interests of the United States are at risk with the weapons of mass – the chemical weapons of Syria.”

The fourth question I’ve been asked a lot of times is why diplomacy isn’t changing this dynamic. Isn’t there some alternative that could avoid this? And I want to emphasize on behalf of President Obama, President Obama’s first priority throughout this process has been and is diplomacy. Diplomacy is our first resort, and we have brought this issue to the United Nations Security Council on many occasions. We have sent direct messages to Syria, and we’ve had Syria’s allies bring them direct messages: Don’t do this. Don’t use these weapons. All to date, to no avail.

In the last three years, Russia and China have vetoed three Security Council resolutions condemning the regime for inciting violence or resolutions that simply promote a political solution to the dialogue – to the conflict. Russia has even blocked press releases – press releases that do nothing more than express humanitarian concern for what is happening in Syria, or merely condemn the generic use of chemical weapons, not even assigning blame. They have blocked them. We’ve brought these concerns to the United Nations, making the case to the members of the Security Council that protecting civilians, prohibiting the use of chemical weapons, and promoting peace and security are in our shared interests, and those general statements have been blocked.

That is why the President directed me to work with the Russians and the region’s players to get a Geneva 2 peace negotiation underway. And the end to the conflict in Syria, we all emphasize today – is a political solution. None of us are coming to you today asking for a long-term military – I mean, some people think we ought to be, but we don’t believe there is any military solution to what is happening in Syria. But make no mistake: No political solution will ever be achievable as long as Assad believes he can just gas his way out of this predicament. And we are without question building a coalition of support for this now. Thirty-one countries have signed on to the G-20 statement, which is a powerful one, endorsing the United States’ efforts to hold Assad accountable for what he is doing. Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, France and many others are committed to joining with us in any action. We’re now in the double digits with respect to countries that are prepared to actually take action should they be needed were they capable of it. More than 25 – I mentioned 31 nations signing on to the G-12 statement.

But our diplomatic hand, my former colleagues, our diplomatic hand only becomes stronger if other countries know that America is speaking with a strong voice here, with one voice, and if we’re stronger as a united nation around this purpose. In order to speak with that voice, we need you, the Congress. That’s what the President did. Many of you said please bring this to Congress. The President has done that, and he’s bringing it to Congress with confidence that the Congress will want to join in an effort in order to uphold the word of the United States of America – not just a president, but the United States of America – with respect to these weapons of mass destruction.

Now, I want to be crystal clear about something else. Some people want to do more in Syria; some people are leery about doing anything at all. But one goal we ought to all be able to agree on is that chemical weapons cannot be under the control of a man so craven that he has repeatedly used those chemical weapons against his fellow Syrians with the horrific results that all of us have been able to see.

Yesterday, we challenged the regime to turn them over to the secure control of the international community so that they could be destroyed. And that, of course, would be the ultimate way to degrade and deter Assad’s arsenal, and it is the ideal weapon – ideal way to take this weapon away from him.

Assad’s chief benefactor, the Russians, have responded by saying that they would come up with a proposal to do exactly that. And we have made it clear to them – I have in several conversations with Foreign Minister Lavrov – that this cannot be a process of delay, this cannot be a process of avoidance. It has to be real, has to be measurable, tangible. And it is exceedingly difficult – I want everybody here to know – to fulfill those conditions. But we’re waiting for that proposal, but we’re not waiting for long.

President Obama will take a hard look at it. But it has to be swift, it has to be real, it has to be verifiable. It cannot be a delaying tactic. And if the United Nations Security Council seeks to be the vehicle to make it happen, that cannot be allowed to simply become a debating society. There are many countries – and many of you in the Congress, from those who wanted military action to those who were skeptical of military action – want to see if this idea could become reality.

But make no mistake – make no mistake – about why this idea has any potential legs at all and why it is that the Russians have reached out to the Syrians and why the Syrians have initially suggested they might be interested. A lot of people say that nothing focuses the mind like the prospect of a hanging. Well, it’s the credible threat of force that has been on the table for these last weeks that has, for the first time, brought this regime to even acknowledge that they have a chemical weapons arsenal. And it is the threat of this force and our determination to hold Assad accountable that has motivated others to even talk about a real and credible international action that might have an impact.

So how do you maintain that pressure? We have to continue to show Syria, Russia, and the world that we are not going to fall for stalling tactics. If the challenge we laid down is going to have the potential to become a real proposal, it is only because of the threat of force that we are discussing today. And that threat is more compelling if Congress stands with the Commander-in-Chief.

Finally, let me just correct a common misconception. In my conversation with Steve Chabot earlier today, he mentioned this. I’ve heard it. I’ve talked with many of you. You’ve told you me you hear it. The instant reaction of a lot of Americans – and I am completely sympathetic to it, I understand it, I know where it comes from, I only stopped sitting where you sit a few months ago – I know exactly what the feelings are. People don’t want another Iraq. None of us do. We don’t want Afghanistan.

But Mr. Chairman, with all due respect, we can’t make this decision based solely on the budget. We can’t make this decision based solely on our wishes, on our feeling that we know we’ve been through the ringer for a while. We’re the United States of America, and people look to us. They look to us for the meaning of our word, and they look to us for our values in fact being followed up by the imprint of action where that is necessary.

We are not talking about America going to war. President Obama is not asking for a declaration of war. We are not going to war. There will be no American boots on the ground. Let me repeat: No American boots will be on the ground.

What we’re talking about is a targeted, limited, but consequential action that will reinforce the prohibition against chemical weapons. And General Dempsey and Secretary Hagel will tell you how we can achieve that and their confidence in our ability to achieve that. We’re talking about an action that will degrade Assad’s capacity to use these weapons and to ensure that they do not proliferate. And with this authorization, the President is asking for the power to make sure that the United States of America means what we say.

Mr. Chairman, Mr. Ranking Member, and members of this committee, I can say to you with absolute confidence, the risk of not acting is much greater than the risk of acting. If we fail to act, Assad will believe that he has license to gas his own people again. And that license will turn prohibited weapons into tactical weapons. And General Dempsey can tell you about this. It would make – it would take an exception, a purposeful exception that has been in force since 1925, and make it the rule today. It would undermine our standing, degrade America’s security and our credibility, and erode our strength in the world.

In a world of terrorists and extremists, we would choose to ignore those risks at our peril. We cannot afford to have chemical weapons transformed into the new convenient weapon, the IED, the car bomb, the weapon of everyday use in this world. Neither our country nor our conscience can bear the costs of inaction, and that’s why we’ve come before you, at the instruction of the President, to ask you to join us in this effort.

# # #

Washington, DC

September 10, 2013

PRN: 2013/2101

Runnymede is a water-meadow alongside the River Thames in the English county of Surrey, and just over 20 miles (32 km) west of central London. It is notable for its association with the sealing of Magna Carta, and as a consequence is, with its adjoining hillside, the site of memorials. Runnymede Borough is named after the area, Runnymede being at its northernmost point.

Topography

The name Runnymede refers to land in public and National Trust ownership in the Thames flood plain south-west of the river between Old Windsor and Egham. The area includes (to the west of A308 road) the Long Mede and Runnymede, which together with Coopers Hill Slopes is managed by the National Trust. There is also a narrower strip of land, east of the road and west of the river, known as the Yard Mede. Slightly further downstream from the area shown on the map are (inter alia): a recreational area with a car park; a number of private homes; a large distribution centre; and an hotel.

The landscape of Runnymede is characterised as "Thames Basin Lowland", urban fringe. It is a gently undulating vale of small fields interspersed by woods, shaws, ponds, meadows, and heath. The National Trust area is a Site of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI) which contains a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Both sites are overseen by Runnymede Borough Council.

The National Trust holding includes:

188 acres (0.76 km2) donated in 1929 set behind a narrow riverside park with occasional benches on the southern river bank, with car and coach parking;

110 acres (0.45 km2) of broadleaved woodland on Coopers Hill Slopes, given in 1963 by the former Egham Urban District Council.

Long Mede is a meadow north of the ancient "mede" (meadow) of Runnymede towards Old Windsor and has been used for centuries to provide good-quality hay from the alluvial pasture. Runnymede itself lies towards Egham. It is likely that Runnymede proper was the site of the sealing of Magna Carta, although the Magna Carta Memorial (see below) stands on Long Mede, and the event is also popularly associated with Magna Carta Island, on the opposite bank of the Thames.

Near the Island, on the north-east flood plain, in parkland on the eastern bank of the river, are Ankerwycke and the ruins of the 12th century Priory of St Mary's. The Thames has changed course here occasionally, and these areas may once have been an integral part of Runnymede. Both were acquired by the National Trust in 1998.

History

Runnymede's historical significance has been heavily influenced by its proximity to the Roman Road river crossing at nearby Staines-upon-Thames.

The name Runnymede may be derived from the Anglo-Saxon runieg (regular meeting) and mede (mead or meadow), describing a place in the meadows used to hold regular meetings. The Witan, Witenagemot or Council of the Anglo-Saxon Kings of the 7th to 11th centuries was held from time to time at Runnymede during the reign of Alfred the Great. The Council met usually in the open air. This political organ was transformed in succeeding years, influencing the creation of England's 13th century parliament.

The water-meadow at Runnymede is the most likely location at which, in 1215, King John sealed Magna Carta. The charter indicates Runnymede by name as "Ronimed. inter Windlesoram et Stanes" (between Windsor and Staines). Magna Carta had an impact on common and constitutional law as well as political representation also affecting the development of parliament.

Runnymede's association with ideals of democracy, limitation of power, equality and freedom under law has attracted placement there of monuments and commemorative symbols.

The last fatal duel in England took place in 1852, on Priest Hill, a continuation of Cooper's Hill by Windsor Great Park.

The National Trust land was donated in 1929 by Cara Rogers Broughton and her two sons. The American-born widow of Urban Hanlon Broughton, she was permitted by letter from George V to join her son's new peerage in tribute to her husband and this gift and be officially styled Lady Fairhaven. The gift was given in memory of Urban Broughton. At the time the New Bedford Standard-Times commented "It must be a source of gratification to all Americans, and especially to us here and in Fairhaven, that the presentation of this historic spot as public ground has been brought about by an American woman, an appropriate enough circumstance considering that the great charter underlies the USA's conception of government and human rights."

Features

Urban H. Broughton Memorials

After the death of Urban Broughton in 1929, Sir Edwin Lutyens was commissioned to design a set of twin memorials consisting of large kiosks and posts or "piers" with stone blocks crowned with laurel wreaths and formalised urns at the Egham end and with lodges and piers at the Windsor end. Lutyens also designed a low wide arch bridge to carry the main road over the Thames to the north, integrating the road layout and bridge design into his plans for the memorials. The southern kiosks were moved to their present location when the M25 motorway was constructed.

There are two octagonal kiosks with piers facing each other across the A308 towards Egham. These piers are a shorter version of those adjacent to the lodges either side of the same road towards Old Windsor in the Long Mede. The lodges show typical Lutyens design features with steeply angled roofs, large false chimneys and no rainwater gutters at the eaves.

The piers carry similar inscriptions. On one face is the inscription:

“ In these Meads on 15th June 1215 King John at the instance of Deputies from the whole community of the Realm granted the Great Charter the earliest of constitutional documents whereunder ancient and cherished customs were confirmed abuses redressed and the administration of justice facilitated new provisions formulated for the preservation of peace and every individual perpetually secured in the free enjoyment of his life and property. ”

and on the other the words:-

“ In perpetual memory of Urban Hanlon Broughton 1857 – 1929 of Park Close Englefield Green in the county of Surrey Sometime Member of Parliament These meadows of historic interest on 18th December 1929 were gladly offered to the Nation by his widow Cara Lady Fairhaven and his sons Huttleston Lord Fairhaven and Henry Broughton ”

The memorials were opened in 1932 by the Prince of Wales (Edward VIII) and are Grade II listed buildings.

Langham Pond SSSI

Langham Pond was created when the meandering River Thames formed an oxbow lake. Its status as a wetland Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) was first notified in 1975 and later reviewed under Section 28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 when the protected area was extended to 64 acres (260,000 m2) within Runnymede as managed by the National Trust.

The pond and associated meadow form a habitat considered unique in Southern England and of international importance for nature conservation. The flora and fauna include nationally scarce plants and insects including a species of fly unrecorded elsewhere in the United Kingdom.

Air Forces Memorial

The Air Forces Memorial commemorates the men and women of the Allied Air Forces who died during the Second World War and records the names of the 20,456 airmen who have no known grave.

From the top of the tower visitors can see long views over Windsor, the surrounding counties and aircraft taking off and landing at Heathrow. On a good day visitors can see as far as the Wembley Arch and even the Gherkin in the City of London. The memorial was designed by Sir Edward Maufe, architect of Guildford Cathedral.

John F. Kennedy Memorial

The British memorial for U.S. President John F. Kennedy was jointly dedicated in May 1965, by Queen Elizabeth II and Jacqueline Kennedy, prior to a reception for the Kennedy family at Windsor Castle. The memorial consists of a garden and Portland stone memorial tablet inscribed with the famous quote from his Inaugural Address:

“ Let every Nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend or oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and success of liberty. ”

Visitors reach the memorial by treading a steep path of irregular granite steps, intended to symbolise a pilgrimage. There are 50 steps in total. Each step is different from all others, with the entire flight made from 60,000 hand-cut granite setts.[10] Landscape architect Geoffrey Jellicoe designed the garden; sculptor Alan Collins designed and carved the stone inscription. The area of ground on which the memorial is situated was given as a gift to the United States of America by the people of Britain. (Though property ownership was transferred to the federal government of the United States, the area remains under the sovereignty of the United Kingdom.) It is maintained by the Kennedy Memorial Trust, which also sponsors educational scholarships for British students to attend university in the United States.

In 1968 the 7-ton stone was damaged by a bomb during a time of anti-Vietnam war demonstrations; it was later repaired by the sculptor.

Magna Carta Memorial

Situated in a grassed enclosure. on the lower slopes of Cooper's Hill, this memorial is of a domed classical style monopteros, containing a pillar of English granite on which is inscribed "To commemorate Magna Carta, symbol of Freedom Under Law". The memorial was created by the American Bar Association (ABA) to a design by Sir Edward Maufe R.A., and was unveiled on 18 July 1957 at a ceremony attended by American and English lawyers.

Since 1957 representatives of the ABA have visited and rededicated the Memorial, renewing pledges to the Great Charter. In 1971 and 1985 commemorative stones were placed on the Memorial plinth. In July 2000 the ABA came:

“ to celebrate Magna Carta, foundation of the rule of law for ages past and for the new millennium. ”

In 2007, on its 50th anniversary, the ABA again visited Runnymede. During its convention it installed as President Charles Rhyne, who devised Law Day, which in the USA represents an annual reaffirmation of faith in the forces of law for peace.

In 2008 floodlights were installed to light the memorial at night.

In 2015, in anticipation of the 800th anniversary of the sealing of Magna Carta, the two wooden benches at the memorial were replaced by stone benches. On 15 June, the anniversary day, the ABA, accompanied by US Attorney General Loretta Lynch, rededicated the memorial in a ceremony led by HRH The Princess Royal in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen and other members of the Royal family.

The Magna Carta Memorial is administered by the Magna Carta Trust, which is chaired by the Master of the Rolls.

Ceremonial Tree Plantings

The Duke of Kent together with David K. Diebold, a Minister-Counselor at the US Embassy in London, planted an oak tree adjacent to the Magna Carta Memorial in 1987, as did P. V. Narismha Rao, Prime Minister of the Republic of India. The Prime Minister left a plaque reading:

“ As a tribute to the historic Magna Carta, a source of inspiration throughout the world, and as an affirmation of the values of Freedom, Democracy and the Rule of Law which the People of India cherish and have enshrined in their Constitution. March 16, 1994 ”

In 1987 two further oak trees were planted near the Memorial. One, planted by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, marked National Tree Week. Another, planted by John O. Marsh, Secretary of the Army of the USA, has a plaque which reads:

“ This oak tree, planted with soil from Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in the New World, commemorates the bicentenary of the Constitution of the United States of America. It stands in acknowledgement that the ideals of liberty and justice embodied in the Constitution trace their lineage through institutions of English law to the Magna Carta, sealed at Runnymede on June 15th, 1215. ”

The Jurors

The Jurors artwork was commissioned by Surrey County Council and the National Trust to mark the 800th anniversary of the sealing of Magna Carta. The sculptor Hew Locke created 12 bronze chairs each of which is decorated with symbols of past and present struggles for freedom, equality and the rule of law. The artist / sculptor invites participants to sit, reflect upon and discuss the themes represented. In the image the back of the chair nearest the viewer is a representation of Nelson Mandela's prison cell on Robben Island, South Africa. The portrait seen of the further chair is of Lillie Lenton wearing insignia related to the imprisonment and activism of suffragettes.

The installation was inaugurated at Runnymede by Prince William during the Magna Carta 800th Anniversary celebrations.

Cooper's Hill House

A large house on Cooper's Hill, overlooking Runnymede and the River Thames, has played a number of roles – as the Royal Indian Engineering College; wartime Post Office headquarters; storage for the Statue of Eros during World War II; an emergency teacher training college; Shoreditch College – a centre for craft and handiwork education – and most recently, Brunel University's design school (has removed to Uxbridge Main Campus).

Ankerwycke Yew

The revered +1,400 year old Ankerwycke Yew, on the left bank of the river, is also a possible site where Magna Carta may have been sealed. The sacred tree could have been the location of the Witan council and influenced the founding of St Mary's Priory there. This religious site may well have been the preferred neutral meeting place of King John and the barons.

Land development proposals threatening the yew led to action resulting in the tree and surrounding estate passing into the protection of the National Trust in 1998.

Henry VIII is said to have met Anne Boleyn under the tree in the 1530s.

In 1992, botanist and environmental campaigner David Bellamy led a dedication at the yew, stating:

“ We the free people of the islands of Great Britain on the 777th anniversary of the signing of Magna Carta do:

Look back and give thanks for the benefits that the signings, sealing and swearing of oaths on that document handed down to us. Look forward to a new age of freedom through sustainability by granting the following rights to all the sons of plants and animals with which we share our islands and our planet.

”

There followed ten pledges to sustain all life forms.

Location and access

Runnymede is 20 miles (32 km) west by southwest of the centre of London. It is owned by the National Trust and is open 24 hours, seven days a week, at no charge.

Runnymede is accessed via the road or river towpath on foot or by bicycle, or by motor vehicle via the A308 road near Egham about 4 miles (6.4 km) southeast of Windsor. Two car parks (on the A308) adjoin the Windsor entrance (these may be closed in winter due to flooding etc.). Runnymede is also along the Thames Path National Trail. The nearest railway station is Egham. One of the Lutyens lodges at the Windsor entrance to the meadow houses a popular tea room.

The Anckerwycke area on the other bank of the river is accessible from the B376 between Wraysbury and Staines (nearest station Wraysbury).

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runnymede

"I'm honored to share my family's experience with hearing loss. I am the mother of twins, David and Elyssa, who were born extremely early. One of the consequences of their prematurity is that both my children have permanent hearing loss.

"Emotionally, it was like being knocked back to right after their birth at 24 weeks. It was just so unfair! They had already been through so much! And this was entirely different than anything they had been through up to this point—this was permanent, not something that they would eventually outgrow.

"And while hearing loss is actually a disability I am familiar with, since my Dad is hard of hearing, I still could literally feel the track of my life shift beneath me after hearing that news. I knew in that moment that wherever I thought my life was going before, I was now headed someplace entirely different.

"We learned about the all-important 'speech-language acquisition window' and began to research cochlear implants. At the same time, I also began to learn sign language. Our goal was to give our children access to language in as many forms as possible. As much as possible, we wanted to put off forcing them into any path that would narrow their options. Don't misunderstand, I do want my children to be able to hear and speak so that they are not isolated from the larger culture we live in. I also felt though, that it was not entirely up to me… our children should have input into the decision of how they would communicate, too.

"As our preemies continued to grow and develop, we started to notice that they were hearing more than their tests would have predicted. The hearing tests showed that David's hearing had improved—in some ranges to a moderate hearing loss level—A miracle! Elyssa however, still tested as profoundly deaf.

"The time had finally come to get Elyssa a cochlear implant. It wasn't easy to go through for any of us but we are so glad that we did! Elyssa has done fabulous with her "cochlear elephant" as she called it at first, quickly catching up to where she was with her hearing aids and then surpassing that point. She had a hearing test at one year post-activation. I cannot describe the feeling of joy and pride I felt, sitting behind my "deaf" daughter, watching her respond to sounds I could barely hear. For David, hearing loss is not his major issue anymore, although it is still there. We certainly are in a different place than I expected six years ago, but it is also most definitely a good place."

CDC would like to thank Amy and The Rhode Island Assessment Program for sharing this personal story.

Learn about hearing loss in children >>

Last Call!

Nikon 35/1.8G

Blink and you miss a beat. Keep one of your eyes open at all times.

---- Church of St. Nicholas of Bari of Melia, the monument for the Marchioness Virginia Corvaja Catherine died in a.C. 1760 ----

---- Chiesa di S.Nicolò di Bari di Melia, il monumento funebre della Marchesina Caterina Virginia Corvaja morta nel 1760 ----

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

June 10, 1940, from the balcony of Palazzo Venezia in Rome, seat of the Grand Council of Fascism, the Duce Benito Mussolini announces the Italian entry into the war on the side of Nazi Germany; Mussolini already now stands as a military goal to have an enemy to be defeated in order to start the so-called "parallel war" on Germany (Italy would fight so with the German allies, but pursuing autonomous and independent objectives); In fact, the Duce, he wanted to prove to Hitler (who took the decisions on the course of the war without first consult Him) that Italy had to be considered military, political and economic of equal importance to the German one, so in order to achieve that, he need an opponent militarily within his reach, this opponent seemed to be Greece as it was geographically close, seemed to have weak military, a political class unwilling to fight, but the reckless attack proved be a serious military mistake with heavy consequences. This is the scenary as a backdrop to a group of military Sicilians catapulted on the Greek front, young soldiers who immediately realize of the prevailing military disorganization, their life appears hanging by a thread ... but there is a Saint who can help them... they finance the construction of the float of St. Sebastian, patron saint of the town of Melia in the municipality of Mongiuffi Melia (Messina), maybe (the figure is not certain) the idea of ​​the float is from corporal Cingari of Melia, so asking S.Sebastian for help and protection (S.Sebastian is the principal patron saint invoked against the plague .... . isn't the War a plague...?!); participants enter their names in a silver casket bearing cantilevered effigy of the Royal Army, if they will die will remain at least a trace of their earthly life. This particular float has the Saint Sebastian who seems to have the military salute, on the basis of float is written: "The Infantries of the first company and officials of the 3rd Regiment.Infantry. Piedmont Fighters in the year 1940 during the battle of Greek devotees offered" .

This is a short and long reports on the traditional festival that the village of Melia (Mongiuffi Melia - Messina) celebrates in honor of its Patron Saint San Sebastian, with thet float that was so ardently desired by those Sicilians soldiers in those bleak darkest hours in our history.

A curiosity, every year on the occasion of the procession are distributed to the population of the loaves in the shape of arrows (they remember the 1st martyrdom) , this year the priest Father Di Bella has expressed the wish about the bread don't have the form with the shape of arrows because this form carriers in itself a sign of violence, this year the loaves had the shape of a "cuddura" (donut-shaped), as is the case for the San Leonardo holiday, celebrated in the other fraction of Mongiuffi, opposite of Melia.

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

il 10 giugno 1940, dal balcone di Palazzo Venezia in Roma, sede del Gran Consiglio del fascismo, il Duce Benito Mussolini annuncia agli Italiani l'ingresso in guerra dell'Italia a fianco della Germania nazista; già da subito Mussolini si pone come obiettivo militare quello di avere un nemico da sconfiggere per poter avviare la cosiddetta "guerra parallela" alla Germania (l'Italia avrebbe combattuto sì con gli alleati tedeschi, ma perseguendo obiettivi autonomi ed indipendenti); il Duce infatti, voleva dimostrare a Hitler (che prendeva le decisioni sull’andamento della guerra senza preventivamente consultarlo) che l'Italia doveva essere considerata potenza militare, politica ed economica di uguale importanza a quella tedesca, quindi per poter raggiungere tale scopo, aveva bisogno di un avversario militarmente alla sua portata, questo avversario sembrava essere la Grecia in quanto era geograficamente vicina, sembrava avere forze armate deboli, una classe politica poco disposta a battersi ed una popolazione poco interessata agli eventi nazionali, ma l'avventato attacco si rivelò essere un grave errore militare con pesanti conseguenze. Questo lo scenario che fa da sfondo ad un gruppo di militari Siciliani catapultati sul fronte Greco, giovani soldati i quali subito si rendono conto dell'imperante disorganizzazione militare, la loro vita appare appesa ad un filo...un Santo a cui votarsi forse c'è...si autotassano per finanziare la costruzione della vara di San Sebastiano, Santo Protettore della frazione di Melia del comune di Mongiuffi Melia (Messina), forse (il dato non è certo) l'idea della vara è del caporale Cingari originario di Melia, chiedendo così protezione ed aiuto a S.Sebastiano, Santo Protettore invocato contro la peste (esiste una peste meno grave della Guerra ?!); i partecipanti alla colletta inseriscono i loro nomi all'interno di una teca in argento recante a sbalzo l'effigie del Regio Esercito, se moriranno resterà almeno una traccia della loro vita terrena, in più collegata al Santo. Viene realizzata questa particolare vara col Santo che sembra eseguire il saluto militare, sulla base della vara è scritto " I FANTI DELLA 1a COMP. E UFFICIALI DEL 3° REGG.FANT. "PIEMONTE" COMBATTENTI NELL'ANNO 1940 AL FRONTE GRECO DEVOTI OFFRIRONO".

Questo è un breve e lungo report sulla festa tradizionale che il borgo di Melia compie in onore del suo Santo Patrono San Sebastiano, portando in processione quella vara che fu così ardentemente voluta da quei militari Siciliani in quelle ore tetre e buie della nostra recente storia.

Una curiosità, ogni anno in occasione della processione vengono distribuite alla popolazione delle pagnotte a forma di frecce (a ricordare il 1° martirio del Santo Bimartire), quest'anno il sacerdote Padre Di Bella ha espresso il desiderio di non dare quelle fattezze al pane poichè portatrici in sè di un segno di violenza, quindi i pani hanno avuto la forma a "cuddura" (a ciambella), analogamente a quanto avviene per la festa di San Leonardo, festeggiato nell'altra frazione di Mongiuffi, dirimpettaia di Melia (entrambi i borghi formano il comune siculo di Mongiuffi Melia).

Truth or Consequences, New Mexico

Tuesday 22 November 2016, saw local Greater Manchester Police officers join HMP Manchester Community Team in a visit to St. Edward’s RC Priamry School in Lees, Oldham as part of the ‘Actions Have Consequences’ campaign.

‘Actions Have Consequences’ workshops inform pupils on how their actions can affect them and their local community and the negative outcomes that could occur if they were to stray off the beaten track.

Subjects include nuisance 999 calls, bullying, anti-social behaviour, stranger danger, internet safety as well as others. Although the workshops carry a serious message, they are structured to be fun, informative and engaging.

The HMP Community Team gave the young people an idea of the harsh reality of prison life and the dangers of knife and gang-related crime.

To find out more about Greater Manchester Police please visit our website.

www.gmp.police.uk

You should call 101, the new national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.

Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.

You can also call anonymously with information about crime to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Of a Misspent youth

TITLE/NAME:

Emissions and consequences - by Hristo Rusev 19, Bulgaria

DESCRIPTION:

The photo was taken on 21/01/2014 at the entrance of the Trakia highway into Sofia. Vegetation on the side of the road testifies of the pollution from cars and vans.

ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER

Hristo Rusev, 19, from Svilengrad, Bulgaria, studying International relations and law at Varna Free University. He describes himself as a boy flying with the wind, because he loves travelling, and he loves taking photos.

CREDIT:

©Hristo RUSEV

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

Photography competition: Insert <> here!

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

Become our "Guest Photographer"!

If photography is a passion of yours, we'd like to invite you to take part in our photography competition. During the coming months we will announce different topic once a month until the European elections in May. Send us your photo and you might be the winner of the month and have your photo published on our site. One of these monthly winners will be invited to Strasbourg in July to do a full photo reportage on the newly elected parliament.

How to take part

You can submit your photo and entry form via email. The deadline for the second topic "tobacco" is Sunday 23 February at midnight CET. The February winner will be announced in the first week of March and the photo will be used to illustrate an article on this topic.

Among the submitted photos, an editorial committee will select the ten best entries and then pick the winner of the month. This will automatically make them a finalist for the jury prize. At the same time, the ten best photos will be showcased on our social media pages where everyone can vote for their favourite. The most liked photo and the person who took it will then be awarded a public prize. Both of these photographers will be invited to the first sitting of the newly elected chamber after the European elections in May, where they will get the chance to create their own photo-reportage of the event.

Hurry!

Send your photo and application form to the following address: webcom-flickr@europarl.europa.eu. For more details on the rules, photo requirements and copyright conditions please click on the links on the right. Happy clicking!

Rules:

www.europarl.europa.eu/resources/library/media/20140110RE...

Application form in 23 official languages:

www.europarl.europa.eu/pdf/photo_competition/AF_EN.rtf

(This link to the English file, to access to the other versions, change the two letters in red in the URL)

Q& A: www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/news-room/content/20140110...

Guestphotographer in 2009: www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=IM-PRESS&...

January topic was "car and van emissions". Take a look at the 10 best images of the month and vote ("like") your favourite one!

www.flickr.com/photos/european_parliament/sets/7215763962...

THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

Eco Art Project by Nataly Cnyrim-Kimmel

for the Eco Art Parade International of Monte Carlo 2009

Benefitting the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation &

Under the Haute Patronage of

His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco

Contact Info :

E mail : nataly.kimmel@yahoo.de

Skype : natalykimmel

Webpage : www.natalykimmel.com

THE V.I.P. Feathers

( already signed )

by

Bill Clinton

Sharon Stone

Sir Cliff Richard

Claudia Schiiffer

Donatella Versace

Zucchero

Christopher Lee

Anastacia

Hans Juergen Baeumler

Elle MACPHERSON

Marianne Faithfull

Marylin Carlson Nelson

Gery Keszler

Danielle Thoma

Regine Sixt

Hans Mahr

Ester

Dr.Mario Theissen

Josef Bulva

President Barack Obama

Hillary Rodham Clinton

Mikhael Gorbachev

Nelson Mandela

Claudia Cardinale

Kofi Annan

Felipe, Prince of Asturias

Britney Spears

George Clooney

Ted Turner

Catherine Zeta-Jones

Al Gore

Madonna

Queen Sirikit of Thailand

Carmen Electra

Hugh Grant

Kylie Minogue

Liv Tyler

Esther MUJAWAYO-KEINER

Vivienne Westwood

CINDY CRAWFORD

Queen Noor of Jordan

PRESENTATION

www.authorstream.com/Presentation/natalykimmel-148327-bea...

To honor the beauty and the rights of the Bonelli Eagles, Nataly Cnyrim-Kimmel has conceived an art project entitled “The Beauty and The Beast. Self-Destruction”. While the sculptural project is clearly making reference to the famous fairy tale, it is also offering a new version of the story, with an eco-reading to it. In this interpretation, Beauty lies in the animal world and Man is revealed to be the Beast, endangering all living beings and as a consequence its own human world. The cycle of life must be preserved, the Beauty can be saved, and the Beast be tamed again. Adorned like a totemic animal by the many colors of a joyful palette, the Bonelli Eagle is presented in a thorn cage, fractured by the power of the Beauty taking off. Despite the thrust, the flight does not take place, hands seize his legs and the bird looses many of his feathers as he struggles to break free. His plumage gets hurt, scattered about in the cage, suspended in the air. The statement is clear: our planet has become a thorny environment, uncomfortable and unwelcoming, in which life can only damage itself.

Despite our love of Beauty, our square rational human logic is not always serving the spirit and dignity of all the living beings it shares the planet with. It is time for Humans to question the logic that has driven them. The Bonelli Eagle becomes in this project the symbol of the Natural Beauty in this world. The Eagle is loosing its mean to fly, its identity and life force. But there is a chance to change: the process can be reversed. Preservation and measures can be put into place to act now. Helping the Bonelli Eagles to survive is a meaningful gesture. To signify this crucial opportunity, Nataly Cnyrim-Kimmel has conceived the feathers as multicolored rubber modules. As a suggestion for the end of the ECO ART PARADE : The first symbolical step could be to reversing the dreadful prospect of the extinction of this specie would be to put back the feathers on. The second step would be to be to bring back peacefully the eagle into our world, changing the logic of our actions. So that by protecting him, we will protect our planet, we will protect ourselves.

To sensitize the public to the Eagle’s cause, the artist would like to propose to the Eco-Art Parade a few events around the production of multicolored feathers, the creation of a The feathers would become the ambassadors of the Eagle’s cause. They would be sent around the world to be signed by VIPs and celebrities of the art and environmental world present in Monaco would be gathered for a signing event. Moreover an edition of the feathers as pen, pencils or more complex objects could be made for the general public. Sotheby’s International could in addition to the sale of the Eagle, auction some of the special signed feathers conceived as collectibles. Multiple forms of events and production of secondary products to mark the importance of the Eco-Parade and the Bonelli Eagles could be imagined on the basis of this sculptural project. All proceeds of the sales via auctions or shops, online or on site, of the signed and unsigned feathers and feather-objects would benefit the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation.

Feather - Mania !!!

An educational program involving the schools of the Principality would be designed for children to learn about the environment and the Bonelli Eagles. Special Arts and crafts workshops would be lead by the artist, as she feels very committed to youth and the role of the arts in contributing to better the world. During one of the workshops, the children could participate in a determinant action to gather the feathers scattered in the exhibited cage and put them back on the sculpture. The artist and a young aware generation would join in this gesture full of hope for the future. To seal the Parade in a poetic and concrete manner, a couple of Bonelli Eagles (Male & Female) equipped with a tracking system could be released and their flight toward a safe new life could be monitored on a giant public screen as well as on the web. The movement from Art to Life would thus be accomplished, and the Bonelli Eagles, all plumage on being a reality to the people of the Eco Art Parade. Please see the technical documents and portfolio of sketches accompanying this text to have a visual idea of the proposal. The studio is at your entire disposition should you need more information!

Material Description

Feather : The feathers will be conceived as a decorative modular system. Made out of rubber they can fit together like a puzzle to create many different patterns and designs. The individual pieces come in 8 different forms, 8 standard colors, 3 metallic colors and 3 velvet colors. The size of each piece is customizable. The feathers will be water resistant and can be created in different materials in order to fit specific needs. They can be used as interior and/or exterior decorations, shower mats, lampshade, floors and wall coverings. They could be turned easily into pencils or ball pen holders

Panels :

Size: 270x270x3,7mm Weight-Piece: 98g Material: Erbit C-Hooks : 2g

Eagle Cage :

Cube Acrylic frame / cube shape Size 2100 x 2100 x 2100 mm Square acrylic tube 25 x 25 mm Three way junction at each corner

One of the essential parts of my project is the uniquely conceived, colorful feathers, which I will place on and around the Bonelli Eagle sculpture symbolizing the disappearance of animal life from our natural environment. The feathers that are attached to the Eagle will contain the signatures of various celebrities, dignitaries and supporters like you. I have already received signatures from Bill Clinton , Queen Noor of Jordan, Anastacia, etc.

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

Projet de Nataly Cnyrim-Kimmel

Afin d’honorer la beauté et les droits des Aigles Bonelli, Nataly Cnyrim-Kimmel a conçu un projet intitulé “ La Belle et la Bête. Auto-Destruction”. Tout en faisant référence au conte de fée, ce projet propose une lecture écologique du conte. Dans cette nouvelle interprétation, la Belle est l’oiseau et c’est à l’homme que revient le rôle de la Bête, mettant en danger tous les êtres du monde et en conséquence l’humanité. Le cycle de vie doit être préservé, la Belle peut être sauvée, et la Bête apprivoisée.

Paré de couleurs joyeuses tel un animal totémique, l’Aigle Bonelli est enfermé dans une cage épineuse qu’il brise en prenant son envol. Malgré son élan vers le ciel, l’échappée n’a pas lieu, des mains se saisissent de lui et luttant pour s’envoler l’oiseau perds ses plumes. Son plumage est endommagé, les plumes sont éparpillées dans la cage, suspendues dans les airs.

Le propos est clair: la planète est devenue un environnement hardu, inhospitalié, même dangeureux, où il ne fait plus bon vivre. Malgré notre amour de la Beauté, notre raison cartésienne qui appréhende la vie de facon peut être un peu trop mathématique, ne prends pas toujours en consideration l’esprit et la dignité des êtres qui partagent cette planète avec nous. Il est temps pour les humains de remettre en question leur logique de vie sur terre.

Pour ce projet, l’Aigle Bonelli est devenu le symbole de la Beauté Naturelle dans ce monde. L’aigle a perdu les moyens de voler, son identité, sa force de vie. Mais il est possible de changer: le processus peut être inversé. Des mesures de préservations peuvent être implémentées pour agir rapidement. Protéger l’Aigle Bonelli est un geste exemplaire. Pour souligner ce fait, Nataly Cnyrim-Kimmel a conçu le plumage multicolore de sa sculpture de telle facon que les plumes soient des modules légers facilement détachables et ratachables au modèle de l’oiseau. Le premier geste symbolique pour protéger cette espèce en voie de disparition serait de remettre sur l’oiseau les plumes éparpillées et suspendues dans la cage. Le second plus concret serait de réintégrer et de sauvegarder l’Aigle Bonelli dans nos environs, nous changerions ainsi la logique de nos actions. En le protegeant nous protégeons notre planète et nous nous protégeons nous-même.

Pour sensibiliser le public à la cause de l’Aigle Bonelli, l’artiste voudrait proposer quelques évènements et la production de plumes de couleurs, la création d’une Plume Mania ! Les plumes deviendraient les ambassadeurs de l’Aigle Bonelli. Elles seraient envoyées autour du monde à des VIP, et les célébrités de l’art et de l’environnement présents à Monaco seraient invités à une signature de plume ! De plus les plumes pourraient être offertes au grand public sous forme de stylots, crayons mais aussi sous la forme d’autres objets un peu plus développés.

Tout comme la sculpture de l’aigle, une edition limitée de plumes signées pourraient être vendue aux enchères par Sothebys International en clôture de Parade. Plusieurs formes d’évènements et de produits dérivés pourraient être imaginés sur la base de ce projet. Tous les bénéfices des ventes en magasins ou en salles des ventes, en ligne ou sur place reviendraient à la Fondation Prince Albert II de Monaco.

Un programme éducatif établi en collaboration avec les écoles de la Principauté aurait pour but de sensibiliser les enfants à la cause de l’Aigle Bonelli et plus généralement aux problèmes de l’environnement. L’artiste dirigerait elle-même les ateliers d’art plastiques. Nataly Cnyrim-Kimmel tient beaucoup à assurer ce role de liaison avec la jeunesse et à utiliser l’art comme véhicule de sensibilisation pour une cause importante. Lors du dernier atelier, les enfants pourraient participer avec elle à une action déterminante pour le projet : rassembler les plumes éparpillées dans la cage exposée et de les rattacher à la sculpture. L’artiste et une jeune génération alerte feraient ensemble ce geste qui porte en lui un espoir pour le futur.

Pour clôre la Parade de façon poétique et concrète, un couple d’Aigle Bonelli pourrait être relaché en liberté équipé d’un système de surveillance électronique. Leurs vols pourraient être diffusé sur des écrans géants et sur un site internet. L’art nous renvérait ainsi vers la vie et l’Aigle Bonelli tout plumage lissé serait une realité pour les spectateurs de L’Eco Art Parade de Monaco.

Pour voir les esquisses pour le projet vous pouvez vous référer aux fiches techniques et au portfolio qui accompagnent ce texte. Le studio est à votre entière disposition si vous avez besoin de plus d’information!

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

The DAP “Bunyip” fighter was an indigenous development as a successor for the successful CA-12 “Boomerang” fighter, which had been designed in late 1941. The main challenge to this ambition was the fact that fighter aircraft had never been manufactured before in Australia, and that the country’s aircraft industry was relatively young and only had acquired experience through license production.

The DAP Bunyip’s active career was short and intense, and the aircraft was exclusively operated by the RAAF. In service, the operating units worked closely together with the Royal New Zealand Air Force, undertaking reconnaissance, artillery observation, ground attack, and aerial resupply missions in support of Australian ground troops fighting against the Japanese on Bougainville, New Britain and New Guinea. Until August 1945 a total of 351 Bunyips were produced at DAP’s Melbourne factory. After the end of WWII, the type was quickly phased out, though. Only a handful remained in RAAF service as advanced trainers and as ground instruction airframes until 1949.

General characteristics:

Crew: 1

Length: 8.6 m (28 ft 3 in)

Wingspan: 9.8 m (32 ft 2 in)

Height: 2.54 m (8 ft 4 in)

Wing area: 17.59 m2 (189.3 sq ft)

Empty weight: 2,638 kg (5,816 lb)

Gross weight: 3,315 kg (7,308 lb)

Powerplant:

1× Hercules XVII 14-cylinder, two-row, air-cooled radial, delivering 1,735 hp (1,294 kW),

driving a 3-bladed Hamilton Standard, 11 ft 7 in (3.53 m) diameter constant-speed fully-feathering propeller

Performance:

Maximum speed: 632 km/h (392 mph)

Cruise speed: 400 km/h (249 mph; 216 kn) at 4,000 m (13,123 ft)

Stall speed: 150 km/h (93 mph; 81 kn)

Range: 765 km (475 miles)

Service ceiling: 11,000 m (36,089 ft)

Rate of climb: 16.7 m/s (3,280 ft/min)

Time to altitude: 5.3 minutes to 5,000 meters (16,404 ft)

Armament:

4× 20 mm (0.787 in) Hispano or CAC cannons with 200 RPG

Two underwing hardpoints for a total ordnance of 500 lb (227 kg),

or four launch rails for unguided 60 lb missiles

The kit and its assembly:

This is my submission to the 2019 “One Week Group Build” at whatifmodelers.com, and it’s actually a personal interpretation of a fantasy profile drawing created by fellow user PantherG who combined a La-5FN with an all-green RAAF livery. The result looked very convincing, and since the GB was coming up, I decided to turn the drawing into model hardware.

However, my build just stuck loosely to the drawing – the kit basis is an Eduard La-7, and I also wanted to get more away from the aircraft’s Soviet (and very characteristic) origins, primarily through a different, Western engine. A search in the spares box revealed the cowling from a Matchbox Bristol Beaufighter: an appropriate choice, since the engine was actually in RAAF use, and the cowling’s diameter fits well onto the La-7 fuselage. A suitable engine dummy had to be found, too, and I decided to add a spinner-less propeller for an even more different look. The latter was improvised from a B-24 propeller hub (Quickboost) and the La-7’s OOB propeller blades. It was mounted on a metal axis and a styrene tube was added behind the engine block as an adapter.

As a gimmick and a reminder of the CA-12’s characteristic “porcupine” exhaust, I added a similar installation to the engine, even though the flame damper had to be shortened considerably. IIRC, the exhaust stub also comes from a Matchbox Beaufighter.

Other changes concern the armament; all guns were moved into the outer wings, using a set of resin 20mm Hispano cannon (Pavla) for a Hawker Hurricane Mk. IIC. Additionally, I mounted four 60 lb missiles and their respective launch rails under the outer wings – also resin aftermarket parts (Pavla again).

Painting and markings:

PantherG’s original profile drawing showed an all-green La-5FN with Australian markings and characteristic white quick ID markings. Since I already had an RAAF Hurricane in my collection with such a livery, I rather went for a different paint scheme and went for another RAAF “classic”: upper surfaces in foliage green and earth brown, paired with sky blue undersides – plus the white markings.

PantherG was so kind to draw up a matching profile, based on my plans, and I stuck to it as good as possible. The real challenge became the colors, though. RAAF tones, esp. foliage green, are under heavy debate among modelers, and it is hard to find good evidence. Moreover, the RAAF seems to have been very pragmatic when it came to (re-)painting the flying equipment, there must have been a lot of variance and tolerance concerning the paints’ tones.

The most frequent recommendation for foliage green is FS 34092, but while this bluish green tone goes into the right direction, I find it (after having seen trustworthy WWII pictures of RAAF aircraft) to be much too light, lacking chroma. Furthermore, the recommendation of simply using RAF Dark Earth for the RAAF’s Earth Brown appears fishy to me, too. Again, the RAAF tone appears to be much deeper and richer, and less reddish.

As a consequence I decided to mix my own colors and eventually settled on a 3:1 mix of IJN Green (Modelmaster 2116) plus Humbrol 30 (Dark Green) and a 3:1 mix of Humbrol 10 (Brown) with Modelmaster 2108 (French Earth Brown) – both became relatively dark tones, but this would only make the white ID markings and the grey tactical codes better stand out. The Sky Blue underneath was also a light but rich tone and I found in Modelmaster 2131 (Medium Su-27 Blue) a suitable approximation.

The white tail was painted with a mix of Humbrol 34 and some 147 (White and Light Grey FS 36495), while the wings’ white leading edges were created with white water slide decal sheet material (TL Modellbau) and some touch-ups with white enamel paint. A convenient but somewhat tricky solution that saved time and masking hazards – I guess that painting would have been the more hazardous alternative.

The kit received a standard black ink wash and panels were post-shaded with lightened basic tones, visually adding surface structures that are actually not there.

The interior of cockpit and landing gear were painted with RAF Interior Green (Humbrol 78) – I checked several sources and pictures of museum pics, and this seems to have been the typical tone for RAAF aircraft (or at least those that had been built in Australia).

The decals were puzzled together from various sources. The roundels belong to an RAAF Spitfire (from a Carpena sheet), and this aircraft’s serial number was cut into pieces and re-arranged for the Bunyip. The tactical codes were created with single RAF font letters in medium sea grey from Xtradecal.

Some soot stains around the exhaust and the cannon nozzles was added with grinded graphite, and some signs of wear added on the leading edges and around the cockpit as well as the engine with dry-brushed light grey and silver. Finally, the kit was sealed with matt acrylic varnish (Italeri), and some oils stains (Tamiya Smoke) as well as small details (wire antenna, position lights) were added. Voilà.

Not a complex build, but the time frame of just nine days made this one, also due to the engine surgery, a tough build. Nevertheless, I am quite happy with the result – the La-7/RAAF combo just looks right, like a natural successor to the stubby CAC Boomerang.

Due to the lockdown we seemed to have filled a 240 litre paper recycling bin. More cardboard on ice cream lolly boxes due to the warmest May on record here in the UK, certainly more beer boxes (no explanation needed on that one) and more boxes from internet shopping (not by me I hasten to add, although I did buy a can of paint by mail order).

Mixed Berry seems to be flavour of the month!

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

It took China long way to develop and produce a true supersonic fighter aircraft: in March, 1964, Shenyang Aircraft Factory began the first domestic production of the J-7 jet fighter. However, the mass production of the aircraft, which had been developed through Soviet help, license production and reverse-engineering, was severely hindered by an unexpected problem—the Cultural Revolution. This incident and its consequences resulted in poor initial quality and slow progress.

Production was still continuing in small numbers in late 2016, but the number of built specimen is uncertain. About 150 J-7DH are supposed to be in active service, mostly with PLANAF Northern and East Fleet units. Unlike many former J-7 variants (including its ancestor, the PLAAF's more or less stillborn C and D variants), the J-7DH was not offered for export.

General characteristics:

Crew: 1

Length: 14.61 m (47 ft 10½ in)

15.69 m (51 ft 5 in) with pitot

Wingspan: 7,41 m (24 ft 3½ in)

Height: 4.78 m (15 ft 8½ in)

Wing area: 28.88 m² (309.8 ft²)

Aspect ratio: 2.8:1

Empty weight: 5,892 kg (12.977 lb)

Loaded weight: 8,240 kg (18.150 lb)

Max. take-off weight: 9,800 kg (21.585 lb)

Powerplant:

1× Guizhou WS-13 turbofan with a dry thrust of 51.2 kN (11,510 lbf)

and 84.6 kN (19,000 lbf) with afterburner

Performance

Maximum speed: Mach 2.0, 2,200 km/h (1.189 knots, 1.375 mph)

Stall speed: 210 km/h (114 knots, 131 mph) IAS

Combat radius: 1.050 km (568 nmi, 652 mi) (air superiority, two AAMs and three drop tanks)

Ferry range: 2,500 km (1.350 nmi, 1.550 mi)

Service ceiling: 17,500 m (57.420 ft)

Rate of climb: 195 m/s (38.386 ft/min)

Armament:

1× Type 30-I 30mm (1.18") cannon with 150 rounds in the port forward fuselage;

7× hardpoints (6× under-wing, 1× centerline under-fuselage) with a capacity of 3,000 kg maximum (up to 500 kg each); Ordnance primarily comprises air-to-air missiles, including PL-2, PL-5, PL-7, PL-8, PL-9 and PL-11 AAMs, but in a secondary CAS role various rocket pods an unguided bombs of up to 500kg caliber can be carried

The kit and its assembly:

Another Chinese whif, and again a MiG-21 derivative - a fruitful source of inspiration. The J-7DH is not based ona real world project, though, but was rather inspired by an article about a Chinese 2020 update for the MiG-21 from Japan, including some drawings and artwork.

The latter depicted a late MiG-21 with some minor mods, but also some characteristic F-16 parts like the chines and the BWB flanks grafted to it - and it looked good!

Since I recently butchered an Intech F-16 for my Academy T-50 conversion (primariliy donation the whole landing gear, including the wells), I had a donor kit at ahnd, and I also found a Mastercraft MiG-21MF in my stash without a true plan. So I combined both for "something Chinese"...

The build was pretty starightforward - except for the fact that the Intech F-16 is a rather clumsy affair (donating the fin and the fuselage flanks) and that no part from the Mastercraft MiG-21 matches with another one! Lots of improvisation and mods were necessary.

On the other side, the F-16 parts were just glued onto the MiG-21 fuselage and blended into one with putty (in several layers, though).

The fin was taken wholesale from the F-16, but clipped by about 5mm at the top. I originally wanted to use F-16 wings with wing tip launch rails and the stabilizers, too, but when I held them to the model it looked wacky - so I reverted to the Fishbed parts. The stabilizers were taken OOB, but the wing span was reduced at the roots, so that the original MiG-21 wing span was retained. Only the landing gear wells had to be adapted accordingly, but that was easier than expected and the result looks very organic.

With more wing area, I added a third pair of hardpoints under the wing roots, and I kept the gun under the cockpit in the LERX. That offered room inside of the fuselage, filled by a laser rangefinder in a canoe fairing where the original gun used to be.

On the tail, a new jet nozzle was mounted, on the fuselage some air scoops and antennae were added an an IR sensor on the nose. A new seat was used in the cockpit instead of the poor L-shaped OOB thing. The PL-2 & -11 ordnance consists of simple AIM-9Bs and slightly modified AIM-120, plus some launch rails from the scrap box.

Paintings and markings:

Modern Chinese military aircraft are hardly benchmarks for creative paint schemes - and the only "realistic" option in this case would have been a uniform grey livery. The original J-7C PLAAF night fighters carried a high contrast sand/dark green/light blue livery, similar to the MiG-21 export scheme (a.k.a. "Pumpkin"), but I found the latter not suitabel for a naval operator.

I eventually found a compromise, using one of the J-7C schemes as pattern but using grey tones instead - still not very colorful, but the "clover" patterns would help disrupt the aircraft's outlines and support the modern look and feel of this whif.

Basic colors are Humbrol 140 (Dark Gull Grey, FS 36231) and 165 (RAF Medium Sea Grey) from above, plus 122 (IAF Pale Blue, FS 35622) on the undersides. With the dark grey pattern placed with no direct connection to the Pale Blue undersides, there's even a blending effect between the tones - not spectacular, but IMHO effective.

The cockpit interior became pale teal (a mix of Soviet Cockpit Blue and white), while the landing gear wells were painted with a mix of Humbrol 56, 119 and 225 - for a yellow-ish, dull metallic brown. The wheel discs became bright green (Humbrol 131), and any di-electric panel and the radome became deep green (Humbrol 2).

The decals come from a Begemot MiG-21 sheet (roundels), while the tactical 5-digit code comes from an Airfix 1:72 B-17 sheet. The yellow code is a bit unusual, as well as its place on the fin, but both occur on Chinese fighters.

The code itself is based on the information published in the 2010 book “Chinese Air Power” by Yefim Gordon und Dmitriy Komissarov, where the Chinese code system is explained – I hope that it is more or less authentic.

The kit received a light black ink wash and some dry painting with lighter blue-grey shades, but no weathering, since modern Chinese aircraft tend to look pretty clean and pristine. Since the kits both did not feature much surface details, and a lot of the few OOB details got lost during the PSR process for the BWB wing sections, I painted some details and panel lines with a soft pencil - a compromise, though. Finally, the kit was sealed with matt acrylic varnish.

The result is a pretty subtle whif, and with the F-16 parts added the result even looks very conclusive! From above, the extra fuselage width makes the Fishbed look very massive, which is underlined by the extended stabilizer span. But I think that retailing the original MiG-21 delta wing was a good decision, because it helps retaining the Fishbed's "fast" look.

I am just not 100% happy with the finish - but for the crappy kits I used as basis it's O.K.

Doctor Who

The War Doctor Begins

2 - Warbringer

2.1: Consequences

Big Finish Alternate Cover (Silver McGann Logo)

St Andrew, Westhall, Suffolk

I'm currently preparing a new page for Westhall at suffolkchurches.co.uk - I'm parking the old one here so it doesn't get lost forever.

Listen: come with me. We’ll set off from the Queen’s Head at Blyford, a fine and welcoming pub across the road from that village’s little church. Perhaps we’ll have just had lunch, and we’ll be sitting outside with a couple of pints of Adnams. You’d like to stay there in the sunshine for the rest of the afternoon, but I’m going to take you somewhere special, so stir yourself. You are probably thinking it is Holy Trinity at Blythburgh, Suffolk’s finest church a couple of miles away on the main A12. But it isn’t.

Nor is it St Andrew at Wenhaston, a mile away across the bridge, and home of the Doom, one of Suffolk’s greatest medieval art treasures. You’ve already seen that.

No. Within a few miles of the pub sign (notice that it features St Etheldreda, whose father King Anna was killed in battle on the Blyth marshes) there is a third of Suffolk’s finest churches. It is the least known of the three, partly because it is so carefully hidden, so secreted away, and partly because Simon Jenkins, inconceivably, unforgivably, missed it out of his book England’s Thousand Best Churches.This may yet have serious consequences, as we shall see.

Blyford is on the main road between Halesworth and Dunwich, but we are going to take a narrow lane that you might almost miss if you weren’t with me. It leads northwards, and is quickly enveloped by oak-buttressed hedgerows, beyond which thin fields spread. Pheasants scuttle across the road in front of us; a hare watches warily for a moment before kicking sulkily back into the ditch (we are on foot perhaps, or bicycle). Occasional lanes thread off towards the woods and the sea.

After a couple of miles, we reach the obscenity of a main road, and cross it quickly, leaving it behind us. Now, the lane narrows severely, the banks steepening, trees arching above us. They guard the silence, until our tunnel doglegs suddenly, and an obscure stream appears beyond the hedgerow. Once, on a late winter afternoon, my dream was disturbed here by a startled heron rising up, its bony legs clacking dryly as it took flight over my head. I felt the rush of its wings.

This road was not designed for cars. Instead, it traces the ancient field pattern, cutting across the ends of strips and then along the sides, connecting long-vanished settlements. The lane splits (we take the right fork) and splits again (the left) and suddenly we are descending steeply into a secret glade shrouded in ancient tree canopies. The lane curves, narrows and opens – and here we are. Still, you might not notice it, because the church is still camouflaged by the trees, and the absurdity of the neighbouring bungalow with its kitschy garden may distract you; but to your right, in a silent velvet graveyard sits St Andrew, Westhall. It has been described in one book as Suffolk’s best kept secret.

I hope that I can convey to you something of why this place is so special. Firstly, notice the unusual layout of the building as you walk around it. That fine late 13th century tower, not too high despite its post-Reformation bell-stage, organic and at one with the trees; the breathtaking little Norman church that spreads to the east of it. And then, to the north, a large 13th century nave, thatched and rustic. It was designed for this graveyard, for this glade. Neither has changed much. Beyond it, the grand 14th century chancel, rudely filling almost the entire east end of the graveyard. Perhaps as we step around to the north side the same thing will happen as happened to me one muggy Saturday afternoon in July 2003 – a tawny owl sat watching me on a headstone, and then threw itself furiously into the air and away.

Your first thought may be that here we have two churches joined together – and this is almost exactly right. You can see the same thing on a similar timescale at Ufford, although the development there is rather more subtle than it is here.

Here at Westhall, there was a Norman church – an early one. Several hundred years later a tower was built to the west of it, and then the vast new nave to the north. A hundred years later came the chancel. Perhaps the east end of the Norman church was rebuilt at this time. Mortlock thinks that there was once a Norman chancel, and this may be so. The old church became a south aisle, the particular preserve perhaps of the Bohun family. They married into the famous Coke family, who we have already met at nearby Bramfield.

And so, we step inside. We may do so through the fine north porch; it is a wide, open one, clearly intended for the carrying out of parish business. It was probably the last substantial part of the church to be built, on the eve of the Reformation. The door appears contemporary. Or, I might send you round to step in through the Norman doorway on the south side, into the body of the original church.

You expect dust and decay, perhaps, in such a remote place. But this is a well-kept church, lovingly maintained and well-used. Although there are a couple of old benches scattered about, most of the seating is early 19th century, with that delightful cinema curve to the western row which was fashionable immediately before the Oxford Movement and the Camden Society sent out their great resacramentalising waves, and English churches were never the same again.

If you step in from the south, then you are immediately confronted with something so stunning, so utterly wonderful, that we are going to pretend you cannot believe your eyes, and you pass it by. Instead, draw back the curtain, and step into the space beneath the tower. Walk to the western wall, and turn back.

You are confronted with the main entrance of a grand post-conquest church, probably about 1100. Surviving faces in the unfinished ranges look like something out of Wallace and Grommit. Above, an arcade of windows, the central one open. Almost a thousand years ago, it would have thrown summer evening light on the altar.

As you step back into the aisle, it is now easy to see it as the nave it once was. The northern wall has now gone, replaced by a low arcade, and you step through into the wideness of the modern (it is only 600 years old!) nave.

Here, then, let us at last allow ourselves an exploration of Suffolk’s other great medieval art survival. This is Westhall’s famous font, one of the seven sacrament series, but more haunting than all the others because it still retains almost all its original colour.

The Mass panel is the most familiar, because it is the cover of Eamonn Duffy’s majestic The Stripping of the Altars. The other panels, anti-clockwise from this, are Last Rites, Reconciliation, Matrimony, Confirmation, Baptism, Ordination, and the odd panel out, the Baptism of Christ.

The font asks more questions than it answers. How did it survive? Suffolk has 13 Seven Sacrament fonts in various states of repair. Those nearby at Blythburgh, Wenhaston and Southwold are clearly from the same group as this one, but have been completely effaced. Other good ones survive nearby at Weston and Great Glemham, at Monk Soham, at neighbours Woodbridge and Melton, neighbours Cratfield and Laxfield, at Denston in the south west and at Badingham. We don’t know how many others there might have been; probably not many, for most East Anglian churches have a surviving medieval font of another design. The surviving panels were probably plastered over during the long puritan night (the damage to the figures is probably a result of making the faces flush rather than any attempt at iconoclasm) but they were also all probably once coloured. So why has only this one survived in that state?

The other feature of the font that is quite, quite extraordinary is the application of gessowork for the tabernacled figures between the faces. This is plaster of Paris which is moulded on and allowed to dry – it can then be carved. It is sometimes used on wood to achieve fine details, but rarely on stone. Was it once found widely elsewhere? How has it survived here?

If it was just for the font, then St Andrew would still be an essential destination for anyone interested in medieval churches. But there are several other features that, in any other church, would be considered equally essential.

There is the screen. It is a bit of a curiosity. Firstly, the two painted ranges are clearly the work of different artists. On the south side are female Saints, very similar in style to those on the screen at Ufford. The artists helpfully labelled them, and they are St Etheldreda (the panel bearing her left half has been lost) St Sitha, St Agnes, St Bridget, St Catherine, St Dorothy, St Margaret of Aleppo and finally one of the most essential Saints in the medieval economy of grace, St Apollonia - she it was who could be asked to intercede against toothache. With the possible exception of St Margaret, modern Anglicans would think of all of these as peculiarly Catholic Saints, a reminder that St Andrew was built, after all, as a Catholic church.

The depictions on the northern part of the screen are much simpler (Pevsner thought them crude) and are probably painted by a local artist. Note the dedicatory inscription along the top on this side; it is barely legible, but the names Margarete and Tome Felton and Richard Lore and Margaret Alen are still discernible. I think the figures on this screen are equally fascinating, if not more so. They are all easily recognisable, and are fondly rendered. With one remarkable exception, they are familiar to us from many popular images.

The first is Saint James in his pilgrim's garb, as if about to set out for Santiago de Compostella. The power of such an image to medieval people in a backwater like north-east Suffolk should not be underestimated. Next comes St Leonard, associated with the Christian duty of visiting prisoners - perhaps this had a local resonance. Thirdly, there is a triumphant St Michael, one of the major Saints of the late medieval panoply, and then St Clement, the patron Saint of seafarers. This is interesting, because although Westhall is a good six miles from the sea, it is much closer to the Blyth river, which was probably much wider and faster in medieval times. It seems strange to think of Westhall as having a relationship with the sea, but it probably did.

Next comes the remarkable exception. The next three panels represent between them the Transfiguration; Christ on a mountain top between the two figures of Moses and Elijah. It is the only surviving medieval screen representation of the Transfiguration in England. Eamonn Duffy, in The Stripping of the Altars, argues that here at Westhall is priceless evidence of the emergence of a new cult on the eve of the Reformation, which would snuff it out. Another representation survived in a wall painting at Hawkedon, but has faded away during the last half century.

The last panel is St Anthony of Egypt, recognisable from the dear little pig at his feet. I wonder if it was painted from the life.

There is a fascinating wall painting against the north wall. It shows St Christopher, as you might expect. St Christopher was a special devotion in the hearts of medieval churchgoers, and usually sits opposite the main entrance so that they could look in at the start of the day and receive his blessing. As a surviving inscription at Creeting St Peter reminds us, anyone who looks on the image in the morning would be spared a sudden death that day. It is the other figures in the illustration that are remarkable, though, for one of them is clearly Moses, wearing his ‘horns of light’ (an early medieval mistranslation of ‘halo’).

There are a couple of other wall-paintings, including a beautiful flower-surrounded consecration cross beside the south door, and a painted image niche alcove in the eastern splay of a window in the south wall. This is odd; it should have a figure in it, but none appears to have been painted there. Perhaps it was intended to have a statue placed in front of it, but the window sill is very steep, and it is hard to see how a statue could have been positioned there. DD surmised that there had once been a stand, the base of which was canted in some manner, and that the sill had once been less steep (the base of the painting seems to suggest this). Whatever, it is very odd.

Between the painted niche and consecration cross there are surviving traces of a large painting; it seems to consist of the leafy surrounds of seven large roundels. Mortlock wondered if it might have been a sequence of the Seven Works of Mercy as at Trotton in Sussex, but there is insufficient remaining to tell.

Nicholas Bohun's tomb, in very poor repair, sits in the south-east corner; an associated brass gives you rather more information than you might think you need. A George III royal arms hangs above.

If you haven't lost your appetite for the extraordinary, come back up into the apparently completely Victorianised chancel. Chalice brasses are incredibly rare, because of their Catholic imagery. Westhall had two of them, although unfortunately only the matrices survive. Then, look up; on one of the roof beams is an image of the Holy Trinity, with God the Father holding the Crucified Christ between his knees. There is probably a dove as well, although that is not visible from the ground. Indeed, the whole thing is too small, as if the artist hadn't really thought about the scale needed for it to be seen from the chancel floor.

So there we are, I've let you in on Suffolk's best-kept secret. But I said earlier that I was afraid Simon Jenkins’s omission of this church might have serious consequences. Here is why: there is an ongoing programme of essential repairs, and the church has had to raise tens of thousands of pounds at fairly short notice. The parish has less than a hundred people living in it, and the congregation is barely in double figures. The church is clearly a national treasure, and its continued survival is essential; but it is difficult to convince people of this, because it has been missed out of what is increasingly being treated as a heritage wish-list. It was bad enough that Pevsner’s books were used as arbiters of what should survive when redundancies loomed in the 1970s; it would be appalling if the Jenkins book was used in the same way now.

Richard Ryals 2015©

Spanish guitar strings echo as the sun sets

A weary traveler

who has lost what his dream meant

Death of this mortal vessel is of no consequence

What has died inside is cursed to rest

in this tomb of flesh

With the sun behind him

the shadows grow longer

Enveloping all that was as he's pulled under

into an eternal valley of the broken

Sun cracked skin

Eyes as black as his hope is thin

He brings the last of his bread to his dry lips

The last supper

Hard to swallow as his stomach grumbles

Thumbing rosary beads

Praying through the labored breathing

A shadowy fox with eyes as red as blood

The grass smoldering under its every step

A halo of fire above its head

It opens its lips

Its voice a composition those long passed

Join us and your suffering will cease

Wide glowing red eyes

It speaks through its clenched frothing teeth

Vapors from damned souls

as it heavily breathes

The smell of death permeating

when its open jaws

Worry not wretched creature

I am just a passer-by

If there is a soul as dark as you

then surely there is light

Point me in the direction of salvation

and I will pray for your on the other side

FOLLOW ME it replies

with a furious grin

We will walk side by side

I will bring you to where your misery ends

Thorns on both sides of the road

Eyes teeming with burning souls

As the end of the valley draws nearer

There stands a framed mirrored-door

No walls

No knob

I look into it and see I am the fox!

Is this not what you're looking for?

the fox replies in a malicious growl

Your salvation of self realization

that you let yourself down

the souls groan in unison

Who you were died

when you let your light extinguish within

You are I now

And I you

The door swings open

The air fills with soot

It pulls me into the nothingness

The nothingness consumes

til there is nothing left....

In 1997, the PA-46 was developed from the very successful PA-36 'Nove' as a special climate condition version - namely for the use in desert regions. Tests and tactical reports from Africa had shown that Earth Defence Forces were in dire need for a more climate-resilient powered armour than the standard PA-36s and PA-58s, which suffered heavily under dust and extremely high temperatures.

Field modifications and enhancement packages were hastily developed, but these proved to be unsuitable for the battlefield. The biggest problem was overheating and fine dust getting anywhere, especially into the engines and the joints of the legs.

Despite its sheer weight and bulk which limited its use, the PA-46 became a reliable weapon in the Northern and Middle African conflict theatre against Idelian forces and saw frequent use until 2013, when it was retired or used to retrofit PA-36 units with spare parts.

Another major conversion of an Aoshima kit, this time the inspiration came through the simple question what a special desert use PA would look like, and which modifications it would need and show, esp. from a rather realistic point of view?

The basis for this conversion was a PA-36K kit, but so many donations went into this one that it is rather a scratch-built kit than a mere conversion.

Special parts and modification sinclude:

·The bigger/square feet come from the Berlon kit

·New knee guards (made from Cornerstone Modulars HO scale chimney parts and 2C putty)

·The visor unit comes from a PA-58

·A modified/enlarged left shoulder, sculpted with 2C putty, containing the assumed heat exchanger

·A pressurized air tank at the right flank (from the Berlon kit) with tubes around the hull

·The right lower arm is standard but fitted with six missile launchers and wiring,

·The left lower arm once was an R2 laser but was modified to hold a gatling gun (from a PA-58 conversion kit) with an ammo box

·The air filters are (modified) anchor bolts

·Many small details like hard points, hooks and covers were added from the scrap box

·All joints on arms and legs received protective and flexible covers made from nylon stockings

The flexible dust covers made the kit's assemby complicated: instead of building torso, arms and legs as separate pieces as usual and putting them together when separately finished, I had to put all the major parts together before painting, because the flexible nylon material is hard to fix and needs some room in order to keep arms end legs moveable. I cut out some roughly matching strips of the nylon stocking material and attached them with super glue. A bit messy, but effective and at the 1:24 scale a convincing result.

The camouflage was inspired by the Egyptian Air Force, a pattern used on Tu-16 "Badger" bombers and MiG fighters - a three-colored paint scheme made of stripes in light sand, grey-green and a pale dark brown, with the green always separating the sand from the brown. An attractive and effective pattern for desert surroundings and for rural areas in this climate zone.

The basic colours are Pale Stone (Humbrol 121, FS 33531), Light Green (Humbrol 120, FS 34227) and Chocolate (Humbrol 98, maybe FS30051?), but that was only the beginning. Since I wanted a sun-worn and dust-bleached look, I added some layers of dry painting with lighter shades like Humbrol 103 (Cream) and 71 (Beige) on the Pale Stone, a mix of 120 and 95 on the green and 98 and 64 on the brown.

Light contrast areas and details like the chest box, the visor unit or the pressurized air tank were painted with Ivory (Humbrol 41). To add some more contrast, the PA-46's "face" was painted with a mix of 98 and matte black.

A black ink wash followed, and with dry painting in light grey and cream the weathered look of the already bleached basic tones was even enhanced. Additional dry pinting with silver at some edges would emphasize the used look of the whole PA. Decals came partly from the PA-36K basis kit, numbers and the „Saint“ emblem from the scrap box.

As a last step, the PA was dusted with a mix of artist pigments in sang, beige and grey – the same tones which were used on the small 10x10cm base.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

Following the end of the Second World War, Poland was politically dominated by the neighboring Soviet Union; as a consequence, the Polish aviation industry underwent vast changes at the behest of the Soviets. While the nation's design offices had been liquidated, some former members had joined Poland's Aviation Institute (IL) and performed some limited work on various original projects, even though such efforts were initially officially discouraged. As such, it was at IL that the effort to design would become the first jet aircraft to be developed in Poland originated; however, during the late 1950s, responsibility for the design work on the program was transferred to aircraft manufacturer PZL-Mielec at an early stage in order that IL could resume its primary mission of scientific and technological research. Much of the design work on the program was produced in response to the specified needs of a requirement issued by the Polish Air Force for a capable jet-propelled trainer aircraft, which was seeking a replacement for the piston-engine PZL TS-8 Bies at the time.

The Indian Air Force procured 64 of these light aircraft from 1978 onwards, which partly replaced the outdated HAL HF-24 "Marut" fleet. These machines even saw hot combat action in 1984, when India launched Operation Meghdoot to capture the Siachen Glacier in the contested Kashmir region.

General characteristics:

Crew: One

Length: 11.15 m (36 ft 7 in)

Wingspan (incl. tip tanks): 11.01 m (36 ft 1 in)

Height: 3.50 m (11 ft 5½ in)

Wing area: 17.5 m² (188 ft²)

Empty weight: 2,760 kg (6,080 lb)

Loaded weight: 4,234 kg (9,325 lb)

Max. takeoff weight: 4,540 kg (10,000 lb)

Powerplant:

1 × Rolls-Royce Viper turbojet, rated at 12.2 kN (2,700 lbf)

Performance:

Maximum speed: 760 km/h (419 knots, 472 mph) at 5,000 m (16,400 ft)

Cruise speed: 600 km/h (324 knots, 373 mph)

Stall speed: 140 km/h (92 knots, 106 mph) (power off, flaps down)

Range: 1,500 km (828 nmi, 931 mi)

Service ceiling: 12,000 m (39,300 ft)

Rate of climb: 16.8 m/s (3,300 ft/min)

Armament:

2x 30 mm Aden cannon with 120 RPG in the lower nose

4 underwing pylons, up to 1.200 kg (2.640 lb) of bombs, unguided rocket pods or gun packs

The kit and its assembly:

I have already butchered several of these former Intech kits from Poland, but never built one as an Iskra. Since the kit comes with optional parts to build the planned Iskra 200 BR single-seater, I gave the kit a try - and had the idea to create an "Indian Tiger" of it, as a part of a bigger plan for a future build project (see below).

Building the Mistercraft TS-11 is not a pleasant experience, though. The kit comes cheap, and that's what you get. While it comes with some nice features like an engine dummy, two optional canopies and ordnance loads, the whole thing tends to be crude. There's flash, gaps, a surface finish that partly looks as if the molds had been sand-blasted, mediocre if not poor fit, and the clear parts do not deserve this description – they are utterly streaky. You can certainly make something out of it with lots of effort, but it's IMHO not a good basis for an ambitious build.

The biggest issue I had were the parts for the single seat cockpit. There are no locator pins, and when you manage to put the canopy onto the fuselage there remains a considerable hole in the spine where the two-seater canopy would be attached. As a result, lots of PSR was necessary around the optional parts. I also scratched a rear bulkhead for the cockpit (which normally would remain empty and “open”) and added some equipment/boxes behind the pilot's seat. Messy affair.

Even though I’d have loved to replace the main wheels (the OOB parts had sinkholes and poorly molded details) I stuck with them because of the complicated cover arrangement, trying to cover the worst flaws under other parts. The jet exhaust was replaced, too, since I saved the engine dummy for the spares box.

On the wing tips, the tips were slightly trimmed and I added tanks from an 1:144 Tornado (Dragon) - a small detail that lets the Iskra appear a bit beafier than it actually is. For the same reason I omitted the single cannon in the nose with its characteristic bump, and replaced it with two guns: leftover parts from KP MiG-19 kits, plus a pair of differently shaped, smaller fairings alongside the lower flanks.

The ordnance comes from the scrap box, since I wanted a little more muscle than the OOB options. I went for a pair of unguided missile launchers (from a Kangnam Yak-38) and a pair of Soviet iron bombs (KP Su-25).

Painting and markings:

Well, the real motivation behind this build is that I used this kit as a proof-of-concept test for a planned build of the Indian Air Force's famous MiG-21 "C 992" of No. 1 Squadron that bore a striking tiger stripe scheme – but, unfortunately, there's no conclusive color picture of the aircraft, and painting suggestions remain contradictive, if not speculative. Some profiles show the aircraft with a grey of silver fuselage underside, while some have the tiger stripes wrapped around the fuselage, or not. Some have the upper camouflage wrapped around the whole fuselage, so that only the wings’ undersides remain in a light color. Some sources also claim that no darker, basic tone had been applied at all to the upper sides, and that the stripes had been directly painted on the bare aluminum surface of the Fishbed.

The worst, color-wise thing I found for this specific aircraft were in the painting instructions of the Fujimi kit: opaque FS 34227 as basic color seems to be totally off to me... But you also find suggestions of a yellowish sand tone, mid-stone, even some greenish slate grey, whatever. Fascinating subject!

From what I learned about the aircraft from various sources, the scheme looks like a kind of translucent/thin layer of olive drab/greenish earth or khaki tone over bare metal on all upper surfaces and wrapped around the fuselage – very light, if there was any paint at all. Alternatively, the bare metal must have been very weathered and dull, since pictures of C992 reveal no metallic shine at all.

On top of that, the tiger stripes (most probably in black, but there are suggestions of dark brown or green, too…) were applied manually, apparently by at least three painters who were probably working at the same time on different sections of the Indian Fishbed. Since I have the build of this aircraft on my agenda, some day, and a plan to re-create the special paint finish, this Iskra single seater was used as a test bed.

External painting started with an overall coat of acrylic aluminum (Revell 99), with some panels on the wings in grey (a protective lacquer, frequently applied on real-life Iskras). Then came a coat of highly thinned FS 34087 (Olive Drab) from Modelmaster, mixed with a little of Humbrol 72 (Khaki Drill) and applied with a soft, flat brush, leaving out areas where later the decals would be placed.

Once dry, the camouflaged areas received a wet sanding treatment, so that the edges would become bare metal again, and, here and there, the impression of flaked/worn paint was created.

Next came the tiger stripes. I somewhat wanted to create the three-different-painters look of C992, and so I not only used three different brushes for this task, I also used three different shades of black (acrylic “Flat Black”, "Tar Black" and “Anthracite” from Revell). Again, once dry, light sanding created a flaked/worn look.

The wings' undersides were left in aluminum, as well as the fuselage. This differs from the C992 benchmark, but I found the Iskra’s low stance to be more conclusive with an all NMF underside.

Cockpit and landing gear interior became medium grey (FS 36231). In a wake of Soviet-ism I painted the wheel discs in bright green, as a small color contrast to the otherwise rather murky aircraft.

The markings are a mix of IAF roundels for an early MiG-21 from a Begemot sheet, while the tactical code was taken from the Mistercraft OOB sheet. The yellow 10 Squadron badge was created with PC software and printed on white decal sheet – another, nice color highlight.

It looks harmless, but building the Mistercraft Iskra was a real PITA - now I know why I formerly only butchered this kit for donor parts... However, with the little modifications I made and some different ordnance the light aircraft sells its "attack/recce" role well, and the tiger livery looks pretty unique and ...Indian. And, once more, the beauty pics reveal that this paint scheme, while looking primarily decorative, is actually quite effective over typical northern Indian landscapes. C 992 can come! :D

!

"Beached Walkers” Installation of shoes washed ashore near and around LA Harbor Southern California . View more artwork #Lowell Nickel art. Lower- Digital imaging using beached rubbish as subject matterlocal beaches.

This work began by building clusters of flotsam

and making digital photomontages. As this project evolved a

formal image-making strategy developed via toying with these

beached objects and placing them within layered compositions.

The intention: the renewal of this wayward material by displaying

it, with all it’s seasoned attributes, as somehow elegant.

As a devoted beachcomber and lifelong roadside treasure

hunter I have regard for these distressed and decomposing

products. These materials are our own footprints to be washed

away in time by the elements. The weathering forces of nature

serve as the ultimate liberator of all manmade materials… this

does not come without alterations of risky consequence.

Currently, this flotsam theme is also being explored with video,

installation work and billboard public presentations.

Thank you for the work that you do to change minds and better our Planet in need!

Sincerely lowell nickel

The town "won" it's name on a gameshow

35ª festa dos Morangos e Flores de Atibaia-SP

120 anos de amizade Brasil Japão

Biennalist

Biennalist is an Art Format commenting on active biennials and managed cultural events through artworks.Biennalist takes the thematics of the biennales and similar events like festivals and conferences seriously, questioning the established structures of the staged art events in order to contribute to the debate, which they wish to generate.

About artist Thierry Geoffroy/Colonel:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thierry_Geoffroy

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Room_(art)

www.emergencyrooms.org/formats.html

www.colonel.dk/

Biennalist :

Biennalist is an Art Format commenting on active biennials and managed cultural events through artworks.Biennalist takes the thematics of the biennales and similar events like festivals and conferences seriously, questioning the established structures of the staged art events in order to contribute to the debate, which they wish to generate.

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

links about Biennalist :

Thierry Geoffroy/Colonel:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thierry_Geoffroy

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Room_(art)

www.emergencyrooms.org/formats.html

www.colonel.dk/

—--Biennale from wikipedia —--

The Venice International Film Festival is part of the Venice Biennale. The famous Golden Lion is awarded to the best film screening at the competition.

Biennale (Italian: [bi.enˈnaːle]), Italian for "biennial" or "every other year", is any event that happens every two years. It is most commonly used within the art world to describe large-scale international contemporary art exhibitions. As such the term was popularised by Venice Biennale, which was first held in 1895. Since the 1990s, the terms "biennale" and "biennial" have been interchangeably used in a more generic way - to signify a large-scale international survey show of contemporary art that recurs at regular intervals but not necessarily biannual (such as triennials, Documenta, Skulptur Projekte Münster).[1] The phrase has also been used for other artistic events, such as the "Biennale de Paris", "Kochi-Muziris Biennale", Berlinale (for the Berlin International Film Festival) and Viennale (for Vienna's international film festival).

Characteristics[edit]

According to author Federica Martini, what is at stake in contemporary biennales is the diplomatic/international relations potential as well as urban regeneration plans. Besides being mainly focused on the present (the “here and now” where the cultural event takes place and their effect of "spectacularisation of the everyday"), because of their site-specificity cultural events may refer back to,[who?] produce or frame the history of the site and communities' collective memory.[2]

The Great Exhibition in The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, in 1851, the first attempt to condense the representation of the world within a unitary exhibition space.

A strong and influent symbol of biennales and of large-scale international exhibitions in general is the Crystal Palace, the gigantic and futuristic London architecture that hosted the Great Exhibition in 1851. According to philosopher Peter Sloterdijk,[3][page needed] the Crystal Palace is the first attempt to condense the representation of the world in a unitary exhibition space, where the main exhibit is society itself in an a-historical, spectacular condition. The Crystal Palace main motives were the affirmation of British economic and national leadership and the creation of moments of spectacle. In this respect, 19th century World fairs provided a visual crystallization of colonial culture and were, at the same time, forerunners of contemporary theme parks.

The Venice Biennale as an archetype[edit]

The structure of the Venice Biennale in 2005 with an international exhibition and the national pavilions.

The Venice Biennale, a periodical large-scale cultural event founded in 1895, served as an archetype of the biennales. Meant to become a World Fair focused on contemporary art, the Venice Biennale used as a pretext the wedding anniversary of the Italian king and followed up to several national exhibitions organised after Italy unification in 1861. The Biennale immediately put forth issues of city marketing, cultural tourism and urban regeneration, as it was meant to reposition Venice on the international cultural map after the crisis due to the end of the Grand Tour model and the weakening of the Venetian school of painting. Furthermore, the Gardens where the Biennale takes place were an abandoned city area that needed to be re-functionalised. In cultural terms, the Biennale was meant to provide on a biennial basis a platform for discussing contemporary art practices that were not represented in fine arts museums at the time. The early Biennale model already included some key points that are still constitutive of large-scale international art exhibitions today: a mix of city marketing, internationalism, gentrification issues and destination culture, and the spectacular, large scale of the event.

Biennials after the 1990s[edit]

The situation of biennials has changed in the contemporary context: while at its origin in 1895 Venice was a unique cultural event, but since the 1990s hundreds of biennials have been organized across the globe. Given the ephemeral and irregular nature of some biennials, there is little consensus on the exact number of biennials in existence at any given time.[citation needed] Furthermore, while Venice was a unique agent in the presentation of contemporary art, since the 1960s several museums devoted to contemporary art are exhibiting the contemporary scene on a regular basis. Another point of difference concerns 19th century internationalism in the arts, that was brought into question by post-colonial debates and criticism of the contemporary art “ethnic marketing”, and also challenged the Venetian and World Fair’s national representation system. As a consequence of this, Eurocentric tendency to implode the whole word in an exhibition space, which characterises both the Crystal Palace and the Venice Biennale, is affected by the expansion of the artistic geographical map to scenes traditionally considered as marginal. The birth of the Havana Biennial in 1984 is widely considered an important counterpoint to the Venetian model for its prioritization of artists working in the Global South and curatorial rejection of the national pavilion model.

International biennales[edit]

In the term's most commonly used context of major recurrent art exhibitions:

Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, South Australia

Asian Art Biennale, in Taichung, Taiwan (National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts)

Athens Biennale, in Athens, Greece

Bienal de Arte Paiz, in Guatemala City, Guatemala[4]

Arts in Marrakech (AiM) International Biennale (Arts in Marrakech Festival)

Bamako Encounters, a biennale of photography in Mali

Bat-Yam International Biennale of Landscape Urbanism

Beijing Biennale

Berlin Biennale (contemporary art biennale, to be distinguished from Berlinale, which is a film festival)

Bergen Assembly (triennial for contemporary art in Bergen, Norway)www.bergenassembly.no

Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture, in Shenzhen and Hong Kong, China

Bienal de Arte de Ponce in Ponce, Puerto Rico

Biënnale van België, Biennial of Belgium, Belgium

BiennaleOnline Online biennial exhibition of contemporary art from the most promising emerging artists.

Biennial of Hawaii Artists

Biennale de la Biche, the smallest biennale in the world held at deserted island near Guadeloupe, French overseas region[5][6]

Biwako Biennale [ja], in Shiga, Japan

La Biennale de Montreal

Biennale of Luanda : Pan-African Forum for the Culture of Peace,[7] Angola

Boom Festival, international music and culture festival in Idanha-a-Nova, Portugal

Bucharest Biennale in Bucharest, Romania

Bushwick Biennial, in Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York

Canakkale Biennial, in Canakkale, Turkey

Cerveira International Art Biennial, Vila Nova de Cerveira, Portugal [8]

Changwon Sculpture Biennale in Changwon, South Korea

Dakar Biennale, also called Dak'Art, biennale in Dakar, Senegal

Documenta, contemporary art exhibition held every five years in Kassel, Germany

Estuaire (biennale), biennale in Nantes and Saint-Nazaire, France

EVA International, biennial in Limerick, Republic of Ireland

Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art, in Gothenburg, Sweden[9]

Greater Taipei Contemporary Art Biennial, in Taipei, Taiwan

Gwangju Biennale, Asia's first and most prestigious contemporary art biennale

Havana biennial, in Havana, Cuba

Helsinki Biennial, in Helsinki, Finland

Herzliya Biennial For Contemporary Art, in Herzliya, Israel

Incheon Women Artists' Biennale, in Incheon, South Korea

Iowa Biennial, in Iowa, USA

Istanbul Biennial, in Istanbul, Turkey

International Roaming Biennial of Tehran, in Tehran and Istanbul

Jakarta Biennale, in Jakarta, Indonesia

Jerusalem Biennale, in Jerusalem, Israel

Jogja Biennale, in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Karachi Biennale, in Karachi, Pakistan

Keelung Harbor Biennale, in Keelung, Taiwan

Kochi-Muziris Biennale, largest art exhibition in India, in Kochi, Kerala, India

Kortrijk Design Biennale Interieur, in Kortrijk, Belgium

Kobe Biennale, in Japan

Kuandu Biennale, in Taipei, Taiwan

Lagos Biennial, in Lagos, Nigeria[10]

Light Art Biennale Austria, in Austria

Liverpool Biennial, in Liverpool, UK

Lofoten International Art Festival [no] (LIAF), on the Lofoten archipelago, Norway[11]

Manifesta, European Biennale of contemporary art in different European cities

Mediations Biennale, in Poznań, Poland

Melbourne International Biennial 1999

Mediterranean Biennale in Sakhnin 2013

MOMENTA Biennale de l'image [fr] (formerly known as Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal), in Montreal, Canada

MOMENTUM [no], in Moss, Norway[12]

Moscow Biennale, in Moscow, Russia

Munich Biennale, new opera and music-theatre in even-numbered years

Mykonos Biennale

Nakanojo Biennale[13]

NGV Triennial, contemporary art exhibition held every three years at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia

October Salon – Belgrade Biennale [sr], organised by the Cultural Center of Belgrade [sr], in Belgrade, Serbia[14]

OSTEN Biennial of Drawing Skopje, North Macedonia[15]

Biennale de Paris

Riga International Biennial of Contemporary Art (RIBOCA), in Riga, Latvia[16]

São Paulo Art Biennial, in São Paulo, Brazil

SCAPE Public Art Christchurch Biennial in Christchurch, New Zealand[17]

Prospect New Orleans

Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism

Sequences, in Reykjavík, Iceland[18]

Shanghai Biennale

Sharjah Biennale, in Sharjah, UAE

Singapore Biennale, held in various locations across the city-state island of Singapore

Screen City Biennial, in Stavanger, Norway

Biennale of Sydney

Taipei Biennale, in Taipei, Taiwan

Taiwan Arts Biennale, in Taichung, Taiwan (National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts)

Taiwan Film Biennale, in Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, U.S.A.

Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art [el], in Thessaloniki, Greece[19]

Dream city, produced by ART Rue Association in Tunisia

Vancouver Biennale

Visayas Islands Visual Arts Exhibition and Conference (VIVA ExCon) in the Philippines [20]

Venice Biennale, in Venice, Italy, which includes:

Venice Biennale of Contemporary Art

Venice Biennale of Architecture

Venice Film Festival

Vladivostok biennale of Visual Arts, in Vladivostok, Russia

Whitney Biennial, hosted by the Whitney Museum of American Art, in New York City, NY, USA

Web Biennial, produced with teams from Athens, Berlin and Istanbul.

West Africa Architecture Biennale,[21] Virtual in Lagos, Nigeria.

WRO Biennale, in Wrocław, Poland[22]

Music Biennale Zagreb

[SHIFT:ibpcpa] The International Biennale of Performance, Collaborative and Participatory Arts, Nomadic, International, Scotland, UK.

—---Venice Biennale from wikipedia —

The Venice Biennale (/ˌbiːɛˈnɑːleɪ, -li/; Italian: La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation.[2][3][4] The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of its kind. The main exhibition held in Castello, in the halls of the Arsenale and Biennale Gardens, alternates between art and architecture (hence the name biennale; biennial).[5][6][7] The other events hosted by the Foundation—spanning theatre, music, and dance—are held annually in various parts of Venice, whereas the Venice Film Festival takes place at the Lido.[8]

Organization[edit]

Art Biennale

Art Biennale

International Art Exhibition

1895

Even-numbered years (since 2022)

Venice Biennale of Architecture

International Architecture Exhibition

1980

Odd-numbered years (since 2021)

Biennale Musica

International Festival of Contemporary Music

1930

Annually (Sep/Oct)

Biennale Teatro

International Theatre Festival

1934

Annually (Jul/Aug)

Venice Film Festival

Venice International Film Festival

1932

Annually (Aug/Sep)

Venice Dance Biennale

International Festival of Contemporary Dance

1999

Annually (June; biennially 2010–16)

International Kids' Carnival

2009

Annually (during Carnevale)

History

1895–1947

On April 19, 1893, the Venetian City Council passed a resolution to set up an biennial exhibition of Italian Art ("Esposizione biennale artistica nazionale") to celebrate the silver anniversary of King Umberto I and Margherita of Savoy.[11]

A year later, the council decreed "to adopt a 'by invitation' system; to reserve a section of the Exhibition for foreign artists too; to admit works by uninvited Italian artists, as selected by a jury."[12]

The first Biennale, "I Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte della Città di Venezia (1st International Art Exhibition of the City of Venice)" (although originally scheduled for April 22, 1894) was opened on April 30, 1895, by the Italian King and Queen, Umberto I and Margherita di Savoia. The first exhibition was seen by 224,000 visitors.

The event became increasingly international in the first decades of the 20th century: from 1907 on, several countries installed national pavilions at the exhibition, with the first being from Belgium. In 1910 the first internationally well-known artists were displayed: a room dedicated to Gustav Klimt, a one-man show for Renoir, a retrospective of Courbet. A work by Picasso "Family of Saltimbanques" was removed from the Spanish salon in the central Palazzo because it was feared that its novelty might shock the public. By 1914 seven pavilions had been established: Belgium (1907), Hungary (1909), Germany (1909), Great Britain (1909), France (1912), and Russia (1914).

During World War I, the 1916 and 1918 events were cancelled.[13] In 1920 the post of mayor of Venice and president of the Biennale was split. The new secretary general, Vittorio Pica brought about the first presence of avant-garde art, notably Impressionists and Post-Impressionists.

1922 saw an exhibition of sculpture by African artists. Between the two World Wars, many important modern artists had their work exhibited there. In 1928 the Istituto Storico d'Arte Contemporanea (Historical Institute of Contemporary Art) opened, which was the first nucleus of archival collections of the Biennale. In 1930 its name was changed into Historical Archive of Contemporary Art.

In 1930, the Biennale was transformed into an Ente Autonomo (Autonomous Board) by Royal Decree with law no. 33 of 13-1-1930. Subsequently, the control of the Biennale passed from the Venice city council to the national Fascist government under Benito Mussolini. This brought on a restructuring, an associated financial boost, as well as a new president, Count Giuseppe Volpi di Misurata. Three entirely new events were established, including the Biennale Musica in 1930, also referred to as International Festival of Contemporary Music; the Venice Film Festival in 1932, which they claim as the first film festival in history,[14] also referred to as Venice International Film Festival; and the Biennale Theatro in 1934, also referred to as International Theatre Festival.

In 1933 the Biennale organized an exhibition of Italian art abroad. From 1938, Grand Prizes were awarded in the art exhibition section.

During World War II, the activities of the Biennale were interrupted: 1942 saw the last edition of the events. The Film Festival restarted in 1946, the Music and Theatre festivals were resumed in 1947, and the Art Exhibition in 1948.[15]

1948–1973[edit]

The Art Biennale was resumed in 1948 with a major exhibition of a recapitulatory nature. The Secretary General, art historian Rodolfo Pallucchini, started with the Impressionists and many protagonists of contemporary art including Chagall, Klee, Braque, Delvaux, Ensor, and Magritte, as well as a retrospective of Picasso's work. Peggy Guggenheim was invited to exhibit her collection, later to be permanently housed at Ca' Venier dei Leoni.

1949 saw the beginning of renewed attention to avant-garde movements in European—and later worldwide—movements in contemporary art. Abstract expressionism was introduced in the 1950s, and the Biennale is credited with importing Pop Art into the canon of art history by awarding the top prize to Robert Rauschenberg in 1964.[16] From 1948 to 1972, Italian architect Carlo Scarpa did a series of remarkable interventions in the Biennale's exhibition spaces.

In 1954 the island San Giorgio Maggiore provided the venue for the first Japanese Noh theatre shows in Europe. 1956 saw the selection of films following an artistic selection and no longer based upon the designation of the participating country. The 1957 Golden Lion went to Satyajit Ray's Aparajito which introduced Indian cinema to the West.

1962 included Arte Informale at the Art Exhibition with Jean Fautrier, Hans Hartung, Emilio Vedova, and Pietro Consagra. The 1964 Art Exhibition introduced continental Europe to Pop Art (The Independent Group had been founded in Britain in 1952). The American Robert Rauschenberg was the first American artist to win the Gran Premio, and the youngest to date.

The student protests of 1968 also marked a crisis for the Biennale. Student protests hindered the opening of the Biennale. A resulting period of institutional changes opened and ending with a new Statute in 1973. In 1969, following the protests, the Grand Prizes were abandoned. These resumed in 1980 for the Mostra del Cinema and in 1986 for the Art Exhibition.[17]

In 1972, for the first time, a theme was adopted by the Biennale, called "Opera o comportamento" ("Work or Behaviour").

Starting from 1973 the Music Festival was no longer held annually. During the year in which the Mostra del Cinema was not held, there was a series of "Giornate del cinema italiano" (Days of Italian Cinema) promoted by sectorial bodies in campo Santa Margherita, in Venice.[18]

1974–1998[edit]

1974 saw the start of the four-year presidency of Carlo Ripa di Meana. The International Art Exhibition was not held (until it was resumed in 1976). Theatre and cinema events were held in October 1974 and 1975 under the title Libertà per il Cile (Freedom for Chile)—a major cultural protest against the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

On 15 November 1977, the so-called Dissident Biennale (in reference to the dissident movement in the USSR) opened. Because of the ensuing controversies within the Italian left wing parties, president Ripa di Meana resigned at the end of the year.[19]

In 1979 the new presidency of Giuseppe Galasso (1979-1982) began. The principle was laid down whereby each of the artistic sectors was to have a permanent director to organise its activity.

In 1980, the Architecture section of the Biennale was set up. The director, Paolo Portoghesi, opened the Corderie dell'Arsenale to the public for the first time. At the Mostra del Cinema, the awards were brought back into being (between 1969 and 1979, the editions were non-competitive). In 1980, Achille Bonito Oliva and Harald Szeemann introduced "Aperto", a section of the exhibition designed to explore emerging art. Italian art historian Giovanni Carandente directed the 1988 and 1990 editions. A three-year gap was left afterwards to make sure that the 1995 edition would coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Biennale.[13]

The 1993 edition was directed by Achille Bonito Oliva. In 1995, Jean Clair was appointed to be the Biennale's first non-Italian director of visual arts[20] while Germano Celant served as director in 1997.

For the Centenary in 1995, the Biennale promoted events in every sector of its activity: the 34th Festival del Teatro, the 46th art exhibition, the 46th Festival di Musica, the 52nd Mostra del Cinema.[21]

1999–present[edit]

In 1999 and 2001, Harald Szeemann directed two editions in a row (48th & 49th) bringing in a larger representation of artists from Asia and Eastern Europe and more young artists than usual and expanded the show into several newly restored spaces of the Arsenale.

In 1999 a new sector was created for live shows: DMT (Dance Music Theatre).

The 50th edition, 2003, directed by Francesco Bonami, had a record number of seven co-curators involved, including Hans Ulrich Obrist, Catherine David, Igor Zabel, Hou Hanru and Massimiliano Gioni.

The 51st edition of the Biennale opened in June 2005, curated, for the first time by two women, Maria de Corral and Rosa Martinez. De Corral organized "The Experience of Art" which included 41 artists, from past masters to younger figures. Rosa Martinez took over the Arsenale with "Always a Little Further." Drawing on "the myth of the romantic traveler" her exhibition involved 49 artists, ranging from the elegant to the profane.

In 2007, Robert Storr became the first director from the United States to curate the Biennale (the 52nd), with a show entitled Think with the Senses – Feel with the Mind. Art in the Present Tense.

Swedish curator Daniel Birnbaum was artistic director of the 2009 edition entitled "Fare Mondi // Making Worlds".

The 2011 edition was curated by Swiss curator Bice Curiger entitled "ILLUMInazioni – ILLUMInations".

The Biennale in 2013 was curated by the Italian Massimiliano Gioni. His title and theme, Il Palazzo Enciclopedico / The Encyclopedic Palace, was adopted from an architectural model by the self-taught Italian-American artist Marino Auriti. Auriti's work, The Encyclopedic Palace of the World was lent by the American Folk Art Museum and exhibited in the first room of the Arsenale for the duration of the biennale. For Gioni, Auriti's work, "meant to house all worldly knowledge, bringing together the greatest discoveries of the human race, from the wheel to the satellite," provided an analogous figure for the "biennale model itself...based on the impossible desire to concentrate the infinite worlds of contemporary art in a single place: a task that now seems as dizzyingly absurd as Auriti's dream."[22]

Curator Okwui Enwezor was responsible for the 2015 edition.[23] He was the first African-born curator of the biennial. As a catalyst for imagining different ways of imagining multiple desires and futures Enwezor commissioned special projects and programs throughout the Biennale in the Giardini. This included a Creative Time Summit, e-flux journal's SUPERCOMMUNITY, Gulf Labor Coalition, The Invisible Borders Trans-African Project and Abounaddara.[24][25]

The 2017 Biennale, titled Viva Arte Viva, was directed by French curator Christine Macel who called it an "exhibition inspired by humanism".[26] German artist Franz Erhard Walter won the Golden Lion for best artist, while Carolee Schneemann was awarded a posthumous Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement.[27]

The 2019 Biennale, titled May You Live In Interesting Times, was directed by American-born curator Ralph Rugoff.[28]

The 2022 edition was curated by Italian curator Cecilia Alemani entitled "The Milk of Dreams" after a book by British-born Mexican surrealist painter Leonora Carrington.[29]

The Biennale has an attendance today of over 500,000 visitors.[30][31][32]

Role in the art market[edit]

When the Venice Biennale was founded in 1895, one of its main goals was to establish a new market for contemporary art. Between 1942 and 1968 a sales office assisted artists in finding clients and selling their work,[33] a service for which it charged 10% commission. Sales remained an intrinsic part of the biennale until 1968, when a sales ban was enacted. An important practical reason why the focus on non-commodities has failed to decouple Venice from the market is that the biennale itself lacks the funds to produce, ship and install these large-scale works. Therefore, the financial involvement of dealers is widely regarded as indispensable;[16] as they regularly front the funding for production of ambitious projects.[34] Furthermore, every other year the Venice Biennale coincides with nearby Art Basel, the world's prime commercial fair for modern and contemporary art. Numerous galleries with artists on show in Venice usually bring work by the same artists to Basel.[35]

Central Pavilion and Arsenale[edit]

The formal Biennale is based at a park, the Giardini. The Giardini includes a large exhibition hall that houses a themed exhibition curated by the Biennale's director.

Initiated in 1980, the Aperto began as a fringe event for younger artists and artists of a national origin not represented by the permanent national pavilions. This is usually staged in the Arsenale and has become part of the formal biennale programme. In 1995 there was no Aperto so a number of participating countries hired venues to show exhibitions of emerging artists. From 1999, both the international exhibition and the Aperto were held as one exhibition, held both at the Central Pavilion and the Arsenale. Also in 1999, a $1 million renovation transformed the Arsenale area into a cluster of renovated shipyards, sheds and warehouses, more than doubling the Arsenale's exhibition space of previous years.[36]

A special edition of the 54th Biennale was held at Padiglione Italia of Torino Esposizioni – Sala Nervi (December 2011 – February 2012) for the 150th Anniversary of Italian Unification. The event was directed by Vittorio Sgarbi

consequence of the worldwide depression

limeshots

Photo credit: Sieglinde Friedman, 2000

Nigeria

Mixed media--oil paint, 36x60..still in process but coming along

www.colormusings.blogspot.com

Tuesday 08 July 2014 - Day 09 - Quishuar (3,740m) - Tupatupa Pass (4,374m/14,350ft) - Jancapampa (3,673m / 12,050ft)

Bed tea was scheduled for 7am, but I was up and about (packing) half an hour earlier. Today we were moving on from Quishuar to pastures and vistas new.

Granola and Gloria strawberry yoghurt made another tasty breakfast, followed by sandwich making and a visit from the old lady who'd been brought to the clinic yesterday, bent double by arthritis but still living in a farmhouse high up in the hills above Quishuar.

Luis and Augustin packed up the tents and we piled up kit bags, watched by the village school children who were slowly congregating in the playing fields.... with the natural consequence that more photos were taken. With a bit of a delay due to transport complications (aka the promised donkeys and medical horse didn't turn up) and farewells to Juan and Michael who were walking the old lady home, we set off.

Beautiful blue skies above as we crossed the Rio Huercrococha and walked upstream towards the Blanca, before taking a last look at the Lucma valley and turning right into the wider valley we'd seen yesterday, with its own winding stream and scattering of farms. Kiswar bushes (after which the village of Quishuar is named) lined sections of the path, and occasionally we found ourselves strolling through woods of Quenual (paperbark) trees.

Easy walking up the valley, trying to beat the clouds to the snowy peaks of Nevado Pukahirka / Pucajirca Sur (6,039 m) / 19,813ft) - we managed it, just. Wonderful views. Lots of photos.

As the clouds gathered, we turn away from the Cordillera Blanca, for a tougher stretch walking uphill over grassland to the Tupatupa Pass (4,374m/14,350ft). Lovely views over rolling hills and long valleys, but under gloomy skies. We lunched at the pass and waited for Melky, Augustin, Luis, Amner and the donkeys. Melky arrived first, carrying his new fishing rod - a present from Dave. Christine and I headed uphill (getting to about 4,400m / 14 440ft) to see if we could get a better view of Pukahirka - which we did, together with more peaks and ridges, snow and glaciers, glacier-scoured rocks and glacier-fed waterfalls. Definitely a pass to return to under cloudless skies.

I took it slow on the steep downhill section from the pass, partly for the knees, partly for the views - the clouds were starting to lift and the snow shone brightly in the sunlight.

Our destination was one of the farm on the hills above Jancapampa, and from high above we could see our tents being put up, and dark clouds gathering over the ridges on the far side of the valley and the glaciers rolling down from Nevado Pukahirka / Pucajirca Central (6,014m / 19,731ft). Strolling through farmland we passed fields of beautiful blue flowers and the familiar 'lupins', which turn out to be chocho beans.

Arriving in camp about 2.30pm, we settled into our tents - after three nights in Quishuar I'd got my camp craft down to a fine art - and pottered around the campsite, watching the flocks of sheep and goats being herded home for the day, shepherdesses spinning as they went. The farmhouses we were camping near had gardens of colourful flowers enclosed in stone walls.

Tea and popcorn in the tent, with diary writing and Scrabble accompanied by the sound of an occasional patter of raindrops on the canvas, and the long low rumble of avalanches from above. Later in the afternoon we were visited by the family from the farm and a local trained nurse who looks after a disabled orphan.

Superb dinner: soup (always!), squash curry (surprise ingredient: strawberry jam to temper the chilli), tinned peaches. I'm afraid I wimped out of joining Val and the crew at the fiesta held at the farmhouse in honour of Val's visit. The music played on pipe, harp and drum provided the soundtrack to sleep after a satisfying day of proper peaks. Not so sure what tomorrow will bring weatherwise....

Not so many barking dogs tonight, but heavy rain and a rooster at 4am instead.

Read more about my Cordillera Blanca trek with Val Pitkethly.

DSC05933

North-eastern coast of Italy. Po River Delta. Copernicus Sentinel-2

Want fast, easy, and free download of english subtitles for SPL 2 A Time for Consequences ? These subtitles will work for SPL 2 A Time for Consequences released by EVO. You can download them from www.subtitlesking.in/subtitle/spl-2-a-time-for-consequenc... - dont forget to rate them!