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I got tagged by quite a few people. :)
1. I don't usually like straight-on selfies and I don't really like this one. My eyes look a bit weird. I look a bit weird.
2. I've seen Inception twice and wouldn't mind watching it a third time ;) If you haven't seen it, do it NOW! Reeeally.
3. I am going back to Melbourne tomorrow for the weekend. I can't wait!
4. I really want to get a job but I think I'm probably too picky.
5. (some) dubstup tracks aren't that bad, actually. It's better than a lot of other straight techno stuff out there.
6. I'm still really glad I didn't quit my 365. I need to be consistent with something in my life.
7. I'm trying to be more optimistic :)
8. I wish I could dance! Or be really good at something. Like a sport, maybe? I don't know.
9. I NEED LIGHTING GEAR. But it's so expensiveee :(
10. The shadowy bit under my chin ruins the shot :\
It was so dark when I took this. He's consistently easier to find in the evening. So probably won't be the last shot of him after the sun disappears behind the hill (possibly named Mount Waverley).
Geek speak - if not interested in observations / comparing Nikon D7200 & 200-500mm vs Oly E-M1 & Pana 100-400mm .. don't read further :-)
Taken hand-held at 1/20th in no light with the D7200. Cropped, no other edits. This D7200 & 200-500mm system continue to impress me very much. After spending the weekend with the light-and-easy-to-carry E-M1 and 100-400mm. The two systems achieve very similar focal lengths. Nikon FF equiv. 300-750mm, F5.6. Panasonic FF equiv 200-800mm, F6.3. But the weight difference is very significant. I hardly even notice the E-M1 & 100-400mm when hiking. Bought these mainly for cycling and remote locations. I've tried riding with the Nikon kit. While possible, it's impractical.
After a weekend with the E-M1 and brand-new Panasonic 100-400mm I am able to make a few observations. Some positive, others not so, usually overlooked by reviewers. I should write a blog on these.
Let's be positive:
* Great image quality (so sharp and nice colours when focussed properly; good background bokeh; reasonably resistant to flare);
* Compact, light, beautiful build quality;
* Should be able to go almost anywhere;
* The Panasonic 100-400mm VR is very capable - can easily hand-hold at equiv 800mm at 1/30 - and proved much more effective than the Olympus E-M1 built-in 5 axis IBIS. (After comparing I turned off the in-body system and used that in the lens).
Unfortunately there are a couple of negatives:
* Almost useless for inflight photography. Some reviewers try to convince themselves that mirrorless cameras (and the E-M1 in particular) can begin to compete with SLR's even comparing them to the Canon 7DII. Those reviewers have confused themselves and anyone who reads those rumours .. very badly .. indeed. The E-M1 is a very poor choice for in-flight or sport photography. It only takes 1 minute with a D7200 after a weekend with an E-M1 to notice how incredibly significant the focussing performance gap is between the "new mirrorless" and "trusty old DSLR" systems still is;
* On a few crucial occasions the in-lens VR seemed not to wake up from sleep quickly. I'd be trying to get it to focus on the bird and the bird would be floating around in the viewfinder. Maybe this is just a quirk of this brand-new Panasonic lens on the Olympus E-M1 body. Or maybe it's more serious. Hopefully it can be fixed in firmware updates. It didn't happen frequently, just often enough to leave one doubting that one would get the crucial shot if the right bird suddenly appeared.
* Focus is frequently missed even when the camera "locks" in AF-S. This , again, might be an Olympus-vs-Panasonic issue. Hopefully also rectified in firmware.. one day.
To conclude: it's a compromise. I'd use the Nikon system 9 out of 10 times. But for travel and/or cycling or if one simply wants to take a quick run with a light kit, the micro-four-thirds system is a winner.
Student residences 1936
The University of Aarhus, which dates from 1931, is a unique and coherent university campus with consistent architecture, homogenous use of yellow brickwork and adaptation to the landscape. The university has won renown and praise as an integrated complex which unites the best aspects of functionalism with solid Danish traditions in form and materials.
The competition for the university was won by the architects Kay Fisker, C. F. Møller og Povl Stegmann in 1931. Stegman left the partnership in 1937, Fisker in 1942 and C. F. Møller Architects has been in charge of the continued architectural development and building design of the university until today.
The University of Aarhus, with its extensive park in central Aarhus, includes teaching rooms, offices, libraries, workshops and student accommodation. The university has a distinct homogeneous building style and utilises the natural contours of the landscape. The campus has emerged around a distinct moraine gorge and the buildings for the departments and faculties are placed on the slopes, from the main buildings alongside the ring road to the center of the city at Nørreport. All throughout the campus, the buildings are variations of the same clear-cut prismatic volume with pitched roofs, oriented orthogonally to form individual architectural clusters sharing the same vocabulary. The way the buildings emerge from the landscape makes them seem to grow from it, rather than being superimposed on the site.
The original scheme for the campus park was made by the famous Danish landscape architect C. Th. Sørensen. Until the death of C. Th. Sørensens in 1979 the development of the park areas were conducted in a close cooperation between C. Th. Sørensen, C. F. Møller and the local park authorities. Since 1979 C. F. Møller Architects - in cooperation with the staff at the university - has continued the intentions of the original scheme for the park, and today the park is a beautiful, green area and an immense contribution to both the university and the city in general.
In 2001, C. F. Møller Architects prepared a new masterplan for the long and short term development of the university. Although the university has been extended continuously for more than 75 years, the original masterplan and design principles have been maintained, and have proven a simple yet versatile tool to create a timeless and coherent architectural expression adaptable to changing programs. Today, the university is officially recognized as a Danish national architectural treasure and is internationally renowned as an excellent example of early modern university campus planning.
If you have time, click to see the album I have just assembled of these trees on a farm lane in Mildmay... The most viewed pic I still cannot find.... The new STATS feature helped me find #9......,, I should have tagged more consistently.... Even with the simple word trees...perhaps the season....and the place, Mildmay, would have helped a lot.
This place, these trees, still intrigue me... I will take more photos....and now that I am generally driving alone, stopping to shoot is not so easy.......
We haven't booked a holiday this year, due to personal circumstances, so I thought I'd throw together a collection of Paris photos from the visits I've made there with Tim and the boys! These visits include photos from 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2009! We are all Paris addicts!!
I put the video together on Move Maker, and the photos were supposed to change in time, but they don't seem to be very consistent, annoyingly!
Music is from my fave group at the moment - the American Authors. If you feel down, play their album!!
Have a lovely May Bank Holiday weekend! xox
DeGrazia consistently used seven colors to create drama and emotional appeal: brown, black, vermilion, blue, lemon yellow and brown yellow as seen in “Yucca Camp, Monument Valley”, oil on canvas, 1970.
Over the last 20 years the State of California has consistently cut funding each year for arts education in its public schools. Several years ago, arts were eliminated all together. The reaction to this from the artistic community was to raise funds privately, which are used specifically to fund arts education for k through 12 schools. Art for all the Kids is one of the most successful programs of this type in Southern California. Each year hundreds of artists donate artwork to the program, and thousands of donors purchase the works, raising millions of dollars for arts education.
18 artists are selected each year to design and create the program's signature hearts. Artists are provided with an 18inch tall polymer foam heart and may do whatever they want with it. The hearts are displayed in public spaces around the area and are part of very effective public promotion effort for the fundraising event.
2Roses' piece is "Secrets of the Heart.
21 vaults of different shapes were carved into the body of the heart, and a working vault door was fabricated from copper for each shape. The interior of the vaults was gilded in gold.
Each vault contains a special object.
The secret objects are highly metaphorical and taken individually and/or in conjunction with each other, will speak to the personal life events of everyone who sees them.
I'm going to try to consistently post 2 photographs a week this year. I'm always afraid to post art for that may be seen as trite or not comparing to other photographers. I've finally resided to the fact I will never be the best and that's not what I strive it be. Somethings, you just have to do to keep your sanity. These are 13 I intend to keep it this year:
1. Appreciate Mother Nature more. Use what's already been produced, recycle what can be used again, and stop lusting over shiny objects. Everything I need, the earth has provided.
2. Talk to more strangers; find out about other people.
3. Be still and ask why instead of how.
4. Use social media less. There's an entire world happening outside and we could all put down our screens and just stare for awhile.
5. Write more. Get those thoughts on to paper.
6. Be vulnerable with others. Humility is something I lack.
7. Read more. Listen without responding to stories.
8. Truly appreciate diversity among personalities. I refuse to see only the worst in people.
9. Sing in the morning. Sing in the car. Sing in the shower. Sing while I play ukulele. Find a song and tuck it in my heart.
10. Be more positive. Counteract every negative thought with a positive one.
11. Strike up meaningful conversations. Everyone wants to talk and someone has to listen.
12. Take a road trip somewhere and document every beautiful thing that I see.
Inspiration found here ---> www.flickr.com/photos/sealegssnapshots/8087189217/in/fave...
Funciones Destacadas
Innovación para inspiración.
¿Qué determina cuándo Nikon debe lanzar una cámara emblemática de cuadro completo? Cuando la innovación tecnológica lo demanda. Presentamos la D5, una Cámara Réflex Digital con formato FX que hace posible lo imposible. Enormes avances en el diseño del sensor, enfoque automático, medición y procesamiento de imágenes dan como resultado nuevas capacidades emocionantes—disparo con poca luz hasta llegar a un ISO 102,400 (expansible a un inaudito ISO 3,280,000), detección y seguimiento precisos a través de todo el alcance del ISO, independientemente de los cambios de velocidad o dirección del sujeto, velocidad asombrosa de disparo continuo de 12 cps, video 4K UHD y por supuesto, calidad de imagen que capta el corazón y la mente de los espectadores. Esto no es iteración, amigos. Es innovación... una innovación espectacular. ¿Cómo cambiará la forma en que dispara?
Capacidades con poca luz que rompen los esquemas
El alcance de ISO nativo más amplio de Nikon
El rendimiento con poca luz de la D5 puede convertirla en leyenda. Se ha abierto un mundo de oportunidades de disparo gracias al alcance de ISO nativo más amplio de Nikon (100 a 102,400) y el mayor alcance de expansión (hasta Hi-5 ISO 3,280,000), avances en la reducción de ruido y fidelidad de color, además de un sistema AF de última generación que funciona en la oscuridad casi absoluta (EV -4). Capte imágenes claras y nítidas que no podría haber captado antes; en la noche, en salones de recepción oscuros, en estadios, etc. Para aplicaciones de vigilancia y seguridad, este alcance de ISO expandido significa obtener una imagen que otros no pueden ver sin un flash.
EXPEED 5, El procesador mas poderoso de la historia de Nikon
Calidad de imagen magistral
La potencia de imagen pura de la D5 es estimulante. Con un sensor FX CMOS de 20.8MP desarrollado por Nikon, la D5 es la cámara emblemática de sensor FX con la resolución más alta de la historia de Nikon y está lista para tu próximo desafío. El procesador de imágenes superior de Nikon se actualizó a EXPEED 5 para aprovechar la energía de este excepcional sensor nuevo y se agregó un segundo procesador para el enfoque automático. Todos los detalles exquisitos y texturas, los colores vibrantes y la rica tonalidad proporcionada por los lentes NIKKOR se capturan con una precisión perfecta, aun con muy poca luz. Cree imágenes que motiven a las personas.
Permanezca a la vanguardia
La velocidad para captar los momentos decisivos
Cuando escuche el disparo de la D5 a máxima velocidad, 12 cps con AF y AE de tiempo completo, 14 cps con enfoque fijo, AE y con el espejo bloqueado (mirror locked up) sabrá que las reglas del juego han cambiado. Por primera vez, una DSLR de Nikon cuenta con un segundo procesador dedicado únicamente para el funcionamiento y el cálculo del enfoque automático. Un nuevo mecanismo de obturador y secuenciación del espejo elimina casi por completo el tiempo de oscurecimiento y el golpe del espejo para vistas brillantes y consistentes durante la captura de alta velocidad. EXPEED 5 y un búfer de alto rendimiento pueden manejar hasta 200 NEF (RAW) y/o grandes imágenes en JPG durante una ráfaga de alta velocidad, lo suficiente para cubrir una carrera de 100 m completa sin quitar el dedo del disparador del obturador. El nuevo sistema avanzado de reconocimiento de escena de RGB de 180K combina todo y garantiza que cada disparo tenga una exposición óptima.
Capture imágenes que desafíen las posibilidades
El sistema AF más rápido y preciso de Nikon
La D5 marca el comienzo de una nueva era de enfoque automático con el módulo sensor de enfoque automático (AF) Multi-CAM 20K. Utiliza 153 puntos de enfoque con 99 (sí, 99) sensores de tipo cruz y un procesador AF especialmente dedicado y funciona en una oscuridad casi absoluta (EV -4). Es posible seguir con notable precisión a los objetos pequeños que se mueven a gran velocidad, incluso con poca luz. El sistema se puede configurar en una cobertura de 153, 72 y 25 puntos cuando se usa con AF continuo. Todos los 153 puntos son compatibles con los lentes AF NIKKOR f/5.6 o más rápidos, y hay 15 puntos centrales que funcionan con una apertura efectiva de f/8. Ya sea que esté fotografiando una carrera de alta velocidad o a celebridades en la alfombra roja, la D5 lo tiene cubierto.
Flexibilidad para la grabación de películas
Video 4K UHD en condiciones de luz con las que los demás no se atreverían
Por primera vez en una DSLR de Nikon de cuadro completo, grabe video en 4K Ultra Alta Definición (UHD) con una lectura punto por punto para la máxima calidad de imagen. Capte 3840 x 2160 a 30/25/24 p con un ángulo de visión de distancia focal del lente de aprox. 1.5x , o grabe videos Full HD 1080 a 60/30/24p. Fotografíe intervalos sensacionales a 4K/UHD, justo en la cámara. La ISO automática maneja las suaves transiciones de iluminación, desde la ISO 200 hasta la sensibilidad de su elección (hasta Hi-5). Disfrute de todas las capacidades de video profesionales de grabación interna y externa simultánea de la D4S y la D810: Control de Imagen Plana, Patron Cebra, un micrófono estéreo con ajustes de incremento de 20 pasos y mucho más. Combine las capacidades de poca luz de la D5 y la versatilidad de los lentes NIKKOR, y su próximo proyecto de video estará destinado a ser aclamado.
Un operador suave
Con la incorporación de la retroalimentación del campo, la D5 está diseñada para reducir los factores de estrés del disparo durante todo el día. La mejora en la ergonomía y un diseño más grande del botón iluminado pone los controles clave a su alcance. La pantalla táctil LCD XGA de alta resolución hace que sea fácil seleccionar los puntos AF o la función Balance de Blancos (WB) en Modo de Vista en Vivo (Live View), deslizarse a través de las imágenes, pinchar para hacer zoom, editar nombres de archivos y más. Las nuevas ranuras dobles para tarjetas XQD* manejan fácilmente la increíble capacidad de disparo de ráfaga de la cámara y mantienen el búfer despejado. Todo esto en un cuerpo de aleación de magnesio liviano y duradero con extenso tratamiento impermeable.
* Un nuevo diseño modular para la memoria le permite seleccionar un modelo, ya sea con ranuras XQD dobles o ranuras CF dobles de alta velocidad.
Cambie su perspectiva
La D5 utiliza la versátil montura del lente que ganó la confianza de los fotógrafos profesionales y avanzados. Utilice el preciado objetivo de vidrio NIKKOR para obtener lo mejor de lo mejor en sus fotos y videos. Combine la alta velocidad de la D5 con un lente NIKKOR equipado con modo SPORT VR, como el AF-S NIKKOR de 500 mm o 600 mm f/4E, y experimente una suavidad y la precisión sin precedentes. El modo VR SPORT proporciona una imagen estable en el visor durante el seguimiento de movimiento de alta velocidad; incluso se puede capturar sujetos en movimiento rápido e impredecible con sorprendente detalle.
Prepárese para el futuro de la iluminación creativa
La D5 es la primera DSLR Nikon de cuadro completo que incorpora un nuevo sistema avanzado de iluminación inalámbrica avanzada controlado por radio. Con el WR-A10 (Adaptador Remoto Inalámbrico) opcional y el Control Remoto Inalámbrico WR-R10 (transceptor), la D5 puede controlar y disparar hasta seis grupos de flashes SB-5000 alrededor de obstáculos, esquinas, en la luz del sol brillante e incluso en otra habitación, hasta 30 m (98 pies) de distancia. Acceda al control directamente desde el menú de la D5 e ilumine aún más oportunidades de disparo. Por supuesto, la D5 también es totalmente compatible con los flashes de las series SB-910, SB-800 y SB-700.
Flujo de trabajo simplificado
Dispare más y espere menos con el sistema de comunicación ultra rápido de la D5, que trabaja más de 1.5 veces más rápido que la D4S. Transfiera archivos a través de LAN a velocidades impresionantes: aprox. 400 Mb/s y 130 Mb/s de forma inalámbrica con el nuevo WT-6A opcional, que admite el estándar IEEE802.11ac y extiende la distancia de conectividad a 200 m (656 pies). Para obtener un rendimiento aun más rápido, dispare en dos tamaños RAW más pequeños: El tamaño RAW S (12 bits, sin comprimir) y el tamaño RAW M mantienen una nitidez y un detalle excepcional.
¿XQD o memoria de Flash Compacta (CF)? Usted elige.
La D5 le permite seleccionar a su preferencia: ranuras de tarjeta XQD dobles o ranuras CF dobles. El formato XQD está diseñado para aprovechar la velocidad que la D5 puede ofrecer a los fotógrafos. Por ejemplo, la D5 de Nikon puede disparar a 12 fotogramas por segundo y puede grabar hasta 200 NEF (RAW) o grandes imágenes JPEG durante una ráfaga de alta velocidad. Para los fotógrafos de deportes, acción y otros eventos de ritmo rápido o video 4K UHD es fundamental contar con un formato de tarjeta de memoria que pueda mantener el ritmo de la cámara. XQD es la solución.
Thanks for taking time out of your days to consistently look at my photos. I really appreciate it!
Have a beautiful day my friends!
Check out my drum video that I have posted on Youtube here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSwjxC_Jd0U&feature=plcp&...
Taken with my Sony a300 with my Tamron SP AF60mm f/2 DI II LD (IF) 1:1 Macro Lens
Taken at Missouri Botanical Gardens
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Here is the link:
Cami Ral, La Massana, Vall nord, Andorra, Pyrenees - (c) Lutz Meyer
More La Massana city, La Massana, Vall nord, Andorra, Pyrenees: Follow the group links at right side.
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There appears to be no consistent/conclusive identification of this oft-published iconic photo of the X-15. Most sites identify it as photo no. EC65-885 and/or ECN885. The vehicle's serial number is discernible (56-6671), so that narrows it down somewhat. However, check out the following, and you'll see what I mean:
www.space.com/22585-x15-mounted-to-b52-mothership-pylon-i...
www.sierrafoot.org/x-15/ecn885_large.html
www.x-15.com/X-15/In_Flight.html#0
www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/history/thisweek/EC65-885.html
archive.org/details/287270main_EC65-885_full
Unfortunately, the above is pretty much demonstrates 'circular reporting'. The following "official" site at least states the photo date as "probably 1962":
www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Photo/X-15/HTML/EC65-885.html
That, in conjunction with the seemingly conscientiously compiled data at the following site, gets my vote:
www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/mud-lake/
However, the verso of the photo has a 'received' stamp dated "JUL 1962" - predating the above...so...who really knows.
Suffice it to say: a great photo of the Bad-Ass X-15 taken some time during the 1960's.
Consistent with its partner railroad DM&E, the IC&E started naming locomotives for on line cities & towns it served. What wasn't so consistent was how GP40-2 4207 got named for the obscure little city thats always been overshadowed by it's big brother just over the Wisconsin state line. The 4207 ran around unnamed for a while and a local engineer got the ok to have the lettering made up and put it on himself. it was a nice personal and local touch that it got to wear till CP came back to town, after which the 4207 returned to it's owner and eventually moved on to the Copper Basin Railway.
I have no idea if this young woman is an MIT student -- but I hope she won't mind if I use her to illustrate another bit of ancient MIT folklore:
Of the 900 incoming students each year, approximately 30 were female (I have no idea if that ratio is still true, but it was fairly consistent from one year to the next, while I was there).
We did not refer to them as females, or girls, or women; instead they were known as "coeds." As far as I know, no insult was intended; I think the point was that their presence demonstrated that MIT was no longer a single-sex university, but was legitimately coeducational.
Still, it did not surprise us to learn that, while all 900 freshmen were members of the intellectual elite, the coeds were really special.
I recall meeting only one coed during my freshman year -- actually, during an orientation party where we insecure, anti-social geeks were supposed to become acquainted with one another. She was 16 years old, she was incredibly sexy, she smoked a pipe, and her IQ was several hundred points higher than mine. Or so it seemed...
Note: this photo was published in a Jan 16, 2012 Traveling in US blog titled "Once upon a time, she was known as a “coed”," with the same caption and detailed notes that I had written here on this Flickr page. It was also published in an undated (early Jan 2012) blog titled "The State of Young America: Millennials Need More Expensive Education to Succeed." It was also published in an Apr 4, 2012 Jaggi blog, with the same caption that I had written on this Flickr page. And it was published in a Dec 10, 2012 blog titled "Should schools be allowed to separate boys and girls into one-gender classrooms?"
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It was a lifetime ago that I stumbled off a Greyhound bus in downtown Boston, a clueless 17 year old kid with two suitcases that held all my worldly possessions. I dragged them out to the street (no roll-aboard suitcases in those ancient times), and asked a taxi driver to take me to an address in Cambridge that I had scribbled on a scrap of paper: 77 Massachusetts Ave.
"Aye," the driver muttered, in a dialect that never did become familiar during the next several years. "SebendySebenMassAve."
When he dropped me off, I noticed two things. First, enormous stone steps leading up to the entrance to an imposing granite building. And second, a long line of scraggly, sloppily-dressed young men stretching from the building's entrance down toward the street where the taxi had dropped me. Aha, I thought: I'm not the only one who forgot to fill out the official form requesting a dorm room.
Welcome to MIT.
I waited in line for two hours before being assigned temporarily, with two other equally absent-minded, newly-arrived MIT students, to sleep on mattresses in an East Campus dorm room that had initially been assigned as a "single" room to an understandably annoyed fellow from Cincinnati. One of the other temporary misfits, whom we immediately nicknamed "Filthy Pierre," had just arrived from Paris with nothing but one large, heavy duffel bag that he dragged into the room. Its contents consisted of miscellaneous telephone parts, which he dumped on the floor and kicked under the bed before wandering out of the room to explore Boston. (He had not showered in weeks, and he was eventually expelled for burning a cross on MIT's Great Lawn on Easter morning. But that's another story.)
Thus began my four-year experience at what many still consider America's premiere scientific/engineering university. That I survived and graduated is a minor miracle; and while I'll hint at the adventures along the way, in this Flickr set, you'll have to look elsewhere for the details...
I continued to live in Cambridge for a couple of years after I graduated; took a couple of graduate courses in AI and computer science, taught a couple summer MIT classes to innocent high school students (one of whom challenged me to write the value of pi on the blackboard, to 100 places, from memory - which I did), took full advantage of MIT's athletic facilities, and 25-cent Saturday-nite movies at Kresge auditorium, which always featured the enormously popular RoadRunner cartoons, and occasionally walked through the same halls and pathways that I had first explored as an overwhelmed undergraduate student. But then I got a new job, moved to New York City, got married, settled down, and began raising family. After that, I typically travelled to Boston two or three times a year on business trips, but never seemed to have time to come back to MIT for a casual visit.
But one of the advantages of a near-fanatical devotion to the hobby of photography is that you begin to appreciate that all of the experiences you internalized and took for granted need to be photographed -- for posterity, if nothing else. Some of my most vivid memories of MIT, which we took for granted - like the huge,red, neon, flashing/pulsating "Heinz 57" sign out on the northern edge of the (Briggs) athletic fields -- are gone. Some of the legendary professors and deans have died and commemorative plaques have been erected in their honor. And there's a whole lot of new stuff - mostly new buildings and laboratories, whose specific purpose is a mystery to me - that I just have to shrug and accept.
But the basic campus is still there. And the memories are just as vivid as they were, so many years ago. I can't say that I captured them all in this Flickr set; the photos were taken at sunset one evening, and dawn the following morning. But they'll give you an idea of what it was like, a long long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away ... and what it's still like today.
The Japanese spent the 1970s and 80 consistently improving quality and features in the cars they produced. This led Toyota to introduce a new marque to sit above their mainstream cars, named Lexus. Nissan did the same with Infinti, Mazda with Amati, and Honda with Acura.
The first model to wear the Acura badge was the Legend - also sold globally under the Honda badge. The Legend was laucned in 1985, with a Coupe model following in 1987. The Legend was the first Honda to feature on V6 engines, initially of 2.5L , then 2.7L capacity, producing 165 PS and 180 PS respectively. The powertrain was mounted longitudinally, and drove the front wheels only - Honda had not yet marketed a rear-drive saloon car.
Though the US was considered the primary market for the car, and this showed strongly in the styling of the Coupe model.
The second generation Honda / Acura Legend was launched in 1990, again featuring both Saloon and Coupe models.
Sample Gates, entrance to the historic core of Indiana University. The gates are actually relatively new (built in 1987), but architecturally very consistent with the style of the older buildings. Like most of the older buildings on campus, they’re built of Indiana limestone.
I went to Indiana to work on my PhD in Sociology -- my time in Bloomington was a key point in my life, not only for the PhD, but also Bloomington, and also those particular years. What years? That’s surprisingly hard to pinpoint, mainly because I spent probably the first 40 years of my life experimenting with different directions, getting frustrated and switching to something else, and thus moving around a lot.
The easiest way to determine when I was in Bloomington is to look at the history of AIDS. I moved from San Francisco to Bloomington and it was in my first year in Bloomington that talk of the ‘gay cancer’ was beginning, which would put me as having arrived in Bloomington for the Fall semester of 1980. I left IU to try to put my skills to work on AIDS issues at a time when most gay men thought they had it (the commonly used test didn’t become widely available until about 1988), so working back from other parts of life history, it looks like I left IU after four years of classes, in 1983 – how I finished my PhD is a later story. From what I learned about myself in those years at IU, they were fairly densely packed years.
Note in the previous paragraph that we (a partner and I) moved to Bloomington from San Francisco. When I told people in SF that I was moving to Indiana, they all thought it would be a disaster, that the culture would be terrible and that I wouldn’t be able to find adequate health care. None of that turned out to be true – Bloomington turned out be much more than even I expected. How Bloomington worked out is the story over the many following pictures.
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So what about this picture? As noted above, it’s the Sample Gates constructed in 1987, after I had left. When I was there this was a driveway onto campus, but the buildings on both sides were there, and the thick woods right at the entrance were there. Though I had been at multiple other colleges and universities before IU, those were newer campuses where all or almost all of the buildings were of the ‘university as office park’ construction that was a common theme from about the 1960’s into the 1990’s. IU was my first campus where the physical structure provided a sense of knowledge as a reflective/scholarly activity embedded in a long history – the building on the right is Bryan Hall, built in 1936 and always an administrative building.
For the first day in the past several, we had some consistent sun in Memphis. The Juncos, House Finches, Northern Cardinals, Chickadees and others have taken advantage of the seeds in the backyard setup.
Is this consistent with your idea of automotive perfection? Robert’s gorgeous '69 Camaro was built by our friends at Detroit Speed! It's powered by a Mast Motorsports LS7 with a 6-speed Bowler Performance transmission and rides on DSE's Hydroformed Subframe, DSE minitubs, DSE QUADRALINK rear suspension, DSE/JRi double-adjustable coilovers, Baer brakes, 275/35ZR18 & 335/30ZR18 BFGoodrich Rival S tires, and 18x10/18x12 Forgeline CR3 wheels finished with Satin Gunmetal centers, Polished outers, & tall center caps! See more at: www.forgeline.com/customer_gallery_view.php?cvk=1807
Consistent with the weekly theme of "Beginnings" in the 365-2013 Group, I am creating a new workspace/playspace/office for myself. This used to be my oldest daughter's bedroom, but she moved out years ago and it has been sort of a dumping ground for exercise equipment and mismatched excess furniture and miscellaneous stuff. It is now "my space", complete with elliptical machine, which I use 30-60 minutes a day while watching streaming movies or DVD's, my favorite books and family photo albums, my new desk, laptop, camera equipment, framed photos, sewing machine, etc. I still need to order new shades, as the large bay window is cold in the winter time.
The title describes something I consistently fail to do, but here, at least in a physical/literal sense, there is some truth in it (if only in as much as my hand made contact with the paper. I don't know if I will add colour to this drawing at a later stage, I think it stands as it is. Fingers, in general, are fascinating body parts and have long intrigued me. Perhaps this picture points the way to future work. Providing I can knuckle down and produce it of course.
MY BLOG, NAROLC'S WORLD:
A-Grade Driving Boosts GLW Feeds’ Sustainability
GLW Feeds driver, Colin Langley, was brought to our attention recently having scored consistent ‘A-Grade’ driver scores in his Scania S500 tractor unit (S500A6X2NA), sold last year by Keltruck Account Manager Ivor Morris.
Colin has worked for GLW Feeds for 18 years, originally working on presses, producing food at Burton on Trent before moving into driving for the firm in which he is on his 15th year as a professional HGV driver. Colin is now on his second Scania, the mighty S500. Colin commented, “Since having this Scania S500 I have never looked back. It is totally different to the previous model in terms of ride, comfort and visibility.”
Colin has been an advocate of the Scania Connected Services system and is constantly monitoring his own driver scores on the dedicated app on his smartphone which is feeding back vital information of his anticipation, coasting, MPG and idle time which has enabled him to consistently achieve his high score on the system with his economic and safe driving style. Scania Connected Services have helped achieve this too.
When Colin received the vehicle and set himself up on the system he was assisted by Jenny Lambert at Scania Connected Services in selecting the optimum settings on the system for his vehicle based on running 38,000 kgs at 110,000 kms per year. Colin commended Jenny at Scania commenting, “She is brilliant and has been so helpful.” When Keltruck made contact with Jenny she confirmed that Colin was one of over 700 drivers she provides coaching services to and reported that out of all 700 drivers only 3 people scored straight grade A scores for the entire month, Colin being one of these 3 people. In addition, Colin was reported as being in the top 10% of drivers who Scania have registered on telematics and they presently have over 30,000 drivers so that was an incredible feat.
As a token of appreciation, Colin and Transport Manager, Neale Jones of GLW Feeds, were taken to the Scania (Great Britain) Limited training centre in Loughborough which boasts a large open-plan workshop, nine technology training rooms, two conference rooms and a large restaurant. The state-of-the-art facilities include cutting-edge vehicle technology and diagnostic equipment, an extensive selection of trucks, coaches, buses and units to work on and structured training and development programmes for all business requirements – all set in beautifully landscaped grounds.
At GLW Feeds the new S500 tractor units are operating 2 mpg above other vehicles in the fleet, helping influence the business decision to invest in 19 Next Generation Scania tractor units purchased from Keltruck Limited over the last 18 months. All vehicles are maintained at Keltruck Scania Burton on Trent which has the added benefit of also being an ATF facility, helping GLW Feeds in minimising downtime for servicing, inspections and MOT.
Scania Connected Services deliver everything from automated tachograph reporting to remote diagnostics and driver coaching. The system is uniquely easy to use, which means they’re used more often, in more detail, and to greater effect. On Scania vehicles registered after January 2011 Scania Connected Services is fully available without any additional hardware. The service can be activated remotely with no downtime, no wires and no fuss.
Founded in 1873, GLW Feeds are one of the largest independent, family-owned livestock and speciality feed manufacturers in the UK, concentrating in roll, nut, pellet and meal-form compound feeds.
keltruckscania.com/about-keltruck/news-centre/press-relea...
Les grottes de Han consistent en un ensemble de grottes souterraines à Han-sur-Lesse près de Rochefort, située sur la rivière Lesse en Famenne, dans la région géologique appelée Calestienne. Wikipédia
© yohanes.budiyanto, 2014
PRELUDE
The 1st of August, 2014 was such an historic day as the world finally welcomed the birth of the first in line to the Parisian throne after a painstaking and extraordinary "labor" process that took four years in creation, and almost a decade in the making. I was not talking about a French rival to baby George, but instead a newborn that has sent shivers down the spines of Paris' oldest and current Kings and Grand Dames from the day it was conceived. Yes, I was referring to The Peninsula Paris, the youngest sister to the legendary Peninsula Hong Kong (circa 1928).
Ever since the project was announced to the public four years ago, it has been on my top list of the most eagerly awaited hotel openings of the decade. So when the hotel announced 1st of August as an opening date back in March, I immediately issued my First Class return tickets to the City of Light, risking the usual opening delay. A man of his word, Peninsula Paris finally opened as scheduled.
HISTORY
The Peninsula brand needs no introduction, as it is synonymous with quality, technology, innovation, craftsmanship and sophistication, -much like a slogan for French top brands and their savoir faire. Despite having only 10 current properties worldwide in its portfolio (Paris is its tenth), each Peninsula hotel is a market leader in each respective cities, and consistently tops the chart in many bonafide travel publications and reigns supreme as the world's best, especially elder sisters in Hong Kong and Bangkok. The Peninsula model is different from other rival hotel groups, which usually expand aggressively through both franchise and managed models worldwide. Instead, the Peninsula focuses on acquiring majority to sole ownership on all its properties to ensure control on quality (Hong Kong, New York, Chicago and Tokyo are 100% owned; Bangkok, Beijing and Manila are over 75%; Shanghai is 50%, while Beverly Hills and Paris are the only two with only 20% ownership).
The history of the Peninsula Paris could be traced back to a modest villa aptly called Hotel Basilevski on the plot of land at 19 Avenue Kleber back in 1864, -named after its Russian diplomat owner, Alexander Petrovich Basilevski, which caught the attention of hotelier Leonard Tauber for his prospective hotel project. The Versailles-styled property was partly a museum housing Basilevski's vast and impressive collection of 19th century medieval and Renaissance art, which eventually was acquired by Alexander III, -a Russian Tsar, at the sums of six millions francs. These collections were later transported to the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, and formed the base collection for the newly established Department of Medieval and Renaissance Art. After Basilevski sold the villa and moved to a more palatial residence at Avenue du Trocadero, the property was then acquired and rebranded the Palais de Castille as the residence of the exiled Queen Isabella II of Spain in 1868, who seeked refuge and continued to live there until 1904. Upon her death, the property was later demolished in 1906 to make way for the Majestic hotel, which finally opened in 1908 with much satisfaction of Leonard Tauber, who has eyed the premise from the very beginning.
The Majestic Hotel was exquisitely designed in the Beaux-Art style as a grand hotel by prominent architect of that time, Armand Sibien. Together with The Ritz (circa 1898), the two became the most preferred places to stay and entertain in Paris of the time. The Majestic has attracted the well-heeled crowd, and hosted many high profile events, most notably for a particular dinner hosted by rich British couple Sydney and Violet Schiff on 18 May 1922 as the after party of Igor Stravinsky's 'Le Renard' ballet premiere, and the hotel becomes an instant legend. The guests list were impressive: Igor Stravinsky himself, Pablo Picasso, Sergei Diaghilev, and two of the 20th century most legendary writers: James Joyce and Marcel Proust, who met for the first and only time before Proust's death six months later. Since then, the Majestic continued to draw high profile guests, including George Gershwin on 25 March 1928, where he composed "An American in Paris" during the stay.
If the walls could talk, the Majestic has plenty of stories to tell. It was once converted into a hospital during the infamy in 1914, and the British took residency at the hotel during the Paris Peace Conference back in 1919. The hotel was then acquired by the French State in 1936 as the offices of the Ministry of Defence; and later had a stint as the German Military High Command in France between October 1940 to July 1944 during the World War II. Post war, it then became the temporary home for UNESCO from 16 September 1946 until 1958. More than a decade after, the Paris Peace talks was opened by Henry Kissinger in one of its spectacular Ballrooms in 1969 with the Northern Vietnamese. Four years later, the Paris Peace Accord was finally signed at the oak paneled-room next to the Ballroom on 27 January 1973, which ended the Vietnam War. This triumphant event has also led to another victorious event when Henry Kissinger won the Nobel Peace Prize that same year.
The hotel continued to serve as the International Conference Center of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs until it was up for sale by the government in 2008 as part of the cost cutting program to the Qatari Diar, -which later transferred its ownership to Katara Hospitality, for a staggering USD 460 million. An excess of USD 600 million was further spent on the massive rebuilding and refurbishment not only to restore the hotel to its former glory, but also to transform it into a Peninsula with the highest standard.
The epic restoration work was led by prominent French architect, Richard Martinet, who has also previously work with the restoration of Prince Roland Bonaparte's former mansion into the Shangri-La Paris and also the Four Seasons George V; and involved teams of France's leading craftsmen; heritage designers and organisations; stonemasons from historic monument specialist; master glass crafters; crystal manufacturer; wood, moulding and gilder restoration experts, -many of whom are third generation, and have carried out high profile projects such as the Palace of Versailles, Louvre Museum, the dome of Les Invalides, the Grand and Petit Palais, and even the flame of the Statue of Liberty in New York. The result is truly breathtaking, and it was certainly money well spent to revive and recreate one of the nation's most treasured landmark. One of my favorite places within the hotel is the Main Lobby at Avenue des Portugais where the grand hall is adorned with a spectacular chandelier installation comprising 800 pieces of glass leaves inspired by the plane trees along Avenue Kleber. The work of Spain's most influential artist since Gaudi, Xavier Corbero, could also be found nearby in the form of a beautiful sculpture called Moon River.
Katara Hospitality owns 80% of The Peninsula Paris, and already has a spectacular portfolio ownership consisting some of the world's finest hotels, including The Raffles Singapore, Le Royal Monceau-Raffles Paris, Ritz-Carlton Doha, Schweizerhof Bern, and most recently, 5 of the InterContinental Hotel's European flagships, including Amstel in Amsterdam, Carlton in Cannes, De la Ville in Rome, Madrid and Frankfurt. It is interesting to note that Adrian Zecha, founder of the extraordinary Amanresorts chain is a member of the Board of Directors at Katara since September 2011, lending his immense hospitality expertise to the group.
At over USD 1 billion cost, the Pen Paris project is easily the most expensive to ever being built, considering it has only 200 rooms over 6 storeys. As a comparison, the cost of building the 101 storey, 494m high Shanghai World Financial Center (where the Park Hyatt Shanghai resides) is USD 1.2 billion; whereas Burj Khalifa, the current tallest building on earth at 163 storey and 828m, costed a 'modest' USD 1.5 billion to build. The numbers are truly mind boggling, and The Peninsula Paris is truly an extraordinary project. It might took the Majestic Hotel two years to build; but it took four years just to restore and reincarnate it into a Peninsula.
HOTEL OPENING
On a pleasant afternoon of 1 August 2014, the hotel finally opened its door to a crowd of distinguished guests, international journalists, first hotel guests and local crowds who partake to witness the inauguration and rebirth of a Parisian legend and grande dame (Many A-list celebrities and even Head of State flocked to the hotel to witness its sheer beauty). It was an historic day not just for Paris, but also for the Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels Group as it marks their arrival in Europe with its first ever Peninsula, while the second is already on the pipeline with the future opening of The Peninsula London, located just behind The Lanesborough at Knightsbridge.
The eagerly-awaited opening ceremony was attended by the Chairman of Katara Hospitality, His Excellency Sheikh Nawaf Bin Jassim Bin Jabor Al-Thani; CEO of Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels Limited (HSH), Clement Kwok; Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, Laurent Fabius; General Manager of the Peninsula Paris, Nicolas Béliard; and the event kicked off with an opening speech by the famous French Secretary of State for Foreign Trade, the Promotion of Tourism and French Nationals Abroad, Madame Fleur Pellerin, who clearly stole the show with her public persona. A ribbon cutting and spectacular lion dance show concluded the event, which drew quite a spectacle on Avenue des Portugais as it brought a unique display of Asian heritage to the heart of cosmopolitan Paris.
LOCATION
The Peninsula Paris stands majestically at the tree-lined Avenue Kléber, just off the Arc de Triomphe. Personally, this is an ideal location in Paris as it is a stone's throw away from all the happenings at the Champs-Élysées, but is set away from its hustle and bustle, which is constantly a tourist trap day and night. Once you walk pass the leafy Avenue Kléber, the atmosphere is very different: peaceful and safe. The Kléber Metro station is just a few steps away from the hotel, providing guests a convenient access to further parts of town.
Champs-Élysées is the center of Parisian universe, and it is just a short and pleasant stroll away from the hotel, where some of the city's most legendary commercial and cultural institutions reside. For a start, Drugstore Publicis at the corner by the roundabout has been a legendary hang-out since the 1960s, and is my ultimate favourite place in town. The Post Modern edifice by architect Michele Saee (renovated in 2004) houses almost everything: a Cinema; side walk Brasserie & Steak House; Newsagency; Bookshop (you can find Travel publications and even the Michelin Guide); upscale Gift shop and Beauty corner (even Acqua di Parma is on sale here); Pharmacy (whose pharmacist thankfully speaks English and gladly advises you on your symptoms); upscale deli (stocking pretty much everything from Foie gras burger on the counter, to fine wines & cigar cellar; to Pierre Herme & Pierre Marcolini chocolates; Dalloyau bakery; Marriage Freres tea; and even the Petrossian Caviar!). Best of all, it features a 2 Michelin star L'atelier de Joel Robuchon Etoile on its basement; and the store is even opened on Sunday until 2am. It is a one stop shopping, eating and entertainment, showcasing the best of France.
Further down the road, Maison Louis Vuitton stands majestically on its own entire 7 storey building, which was opened in 2005 as one of the biggest flagship stores in the world, covering a total area of 1,800m2. Designed by Eric Carlson and Peter Marino, the entire store is an architectural marvel and the temple of luxury, elegance and sophistication. This is one of the very few stores to open in Sunday as the French Labour Unions prohibits commercial stores to open on Sunday, unless if it involves cultural, recreational and sporting aspect. Initially, Maison LV was ordered by the court to close on Sunday, but LVMH finally wins an appeal in 2007 on the grounds of cultural experience; and the store has continued to draw endless queue on Sunday.
A block away from Maison LV is the legendary Parisian Tea Room of Ladurée, which was founded in 1862 by Louis Ernest Ladurée on its original store at 16 Rue Royal as a bakery. The Champs-Élysées store was opened in 1997 and has since attracted an endless queue of tourists and locals who wish to savour its legendary Macarons and pastries. The Ladurée phenomenon and popularity could only be rivaled by fellow Frenchmen Pierre Hermé, who has also attracted a cult of loyal fans worldwide. It may not have a flagship store at Champs-Élysées, but one could easily stop by Drugstore Publicis for a quick purchase to ease the craving.
For those looking for upscale boutiques, Avenue Montaigne located just nearby on a perpendicular, and features the flagship presence of the world's finest luxury fashion labels: Armani, Bottega Veneta, Valention, Prada, Dior, Versace, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Saint Laurent, Fendi and Salvatore Ferragamo to name a few. For the ultimate in shopping extravaganza, head down to Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré where all money will (hopefully) be well spent.
Champs-Élysées is the most famous and expensive boulevard in the world, yet it has everything for everyone; and myriad of crowds flocking its grand boulevards for a pleasant stroll. It has no shortage of luxury stores, but it also offers mainstream stores for the general public, from Levi's to Zara and Lacoste; to McDonalds and Starbucks; and FNAC store (French answer to HMV).
In terms of fine dining experience, the areas around Champs-Élysées has plenty to offer. I have mentioned about the 2 Michelin L'atelier de Joel Robuchon Etoile at the Drugstore Publicis, which was excellent. Robuchon never disappoints as it consistently serves amazing French cuisine amidst its signature red and black interior everywhere I visited, including Tokyo (3 Michelin), Hong Kong (3 Michelin), Paris (2 Michelin) and Taipei.
During my stay, I also managed to sample the finest cuisine from the kitchens of two, 3-Michelin Paris institutions: Pierre Gagnaire at Rue Balzac, just off Champs-Élysées; and Epicure at Le Bristol by Chef Eric Frechon on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, which was undoubtedly the best and most memorable dining experiences I have ever had in Paris to date. It is certainly the gastronomic highlight of this trip.
Other 3 Michelin establishment, such as Ledoyen is also located nearby at an 18th century pavilion by the Gardens of Champs-Élysées by newly appointed famous French Chef Yannick Alléno, who previously also resided at the Le Meurice with 3 Michelin, until Alain Ducasse took over last year during the Plaza Athénée closure for expansion.
August is a time of misery for international visitors to Paris as most fine dining restaurants are closed for the summer holiday. When choices are limited, foodies could rely on Epicure and Robuchon, which are opened all year round; and also the 2 Michelin star Le Cinq at the Four Seasons George V. Although its food could not compete with Robuchon, Epicure and Gagnaire, guests could still enjoy the beautiful surroundings.
ROOMS:
On my visit to Paris last year, I was not too impressed with my stay at the Four Seasons George V, as everything seemed to be pretty basic: the room design; the in-room tech and amenities; and even the much lauded service. It simply does not justify the hefty price tag. The only thing stood out there were the ostentatious designer floral display at the lobby, which reportedly absorbed a six digit figure budget annually. When I saw them at the first time, this was what came to mind: guests are paying for these excessive flowers, whether you like it or not.
Fortunately, the Peninsula Paris skips all this expensive gimmick, and instead spends a fortune for guests to enjoy: advance room technology; a host of complimentary essential amenities, including internet access, non-alcoholic minibar, and even long distance phone calls. In fact, every single items inside the room has been well thought and designed for guest's ultimate comfort.
Ever since The Peninsula Bangkok opened in 1998 to much success, the group has used it as a template for its signature rooms for future sister hotels, which consists of an open plan, ultra-wide spacious room equivalent to a 2 bays suite, with 5-fixtures bathroom, and a separate Dressing Room, which soon becomes a Peninsula signature.
The Peninsula Tokyo followed this template when it opened in 2007 to rave reviews; and it was soon adopted as a model for Peninsula Shanghai, which later opened in 2009 as the flagship property in Mainland China. This layout is also being applied at The Peninsula Paris, albeit for its Suites categories, i.e. Junior Suite, which measure at an astonishing 50 - 60m2. The entry level Superior and Deluxe Rooms lack the signature layout with smaller size at 35 - 45m2, but they are already spacious for a Parisian standard; and each is equipped with Peninsula's signature technology.
Technology is indeed at the core of the Peninsula DNA, and no expense is spared in creating the world's most advance in-room technology. When other hotels try to cut costs and budgets on in-room technology with lame excuses, the Peninsula actually spends a fortune to innovate and set a new benchmark. In fact, it is probably the only hotel group to have its own Technology laboratory at a secret location deep inside Aberdeen, Hong Kong, where in-room tech is being developed and tested. It was here where innovative devices, such as the outside temperature indicator; my favourite Spa Button by the bathtub; or even the portable nail dryer for the ladies are invented. The Peninsula took the world by storm when it introduced the Samsung Galaxy tablet device at the Peninsula Hong Kong in 2012, which is programmed in 11 languages and virtually controls the entire room, including the lights, temperature, curtains, TV, radio, valet calls and Do Not Disturb sign. It even features touch screen Room Service Menu, hotel information, city guide, and a function to request room service and housekeeping items, thus creating an entirely paperless environment.
All these technological marvel are also being replicated at the Peninsula Paris, together with other 'standard' features, such as Nespresso Coffee Machine; flat-screen 3D LED television; LED touch screen wall panels; an iPod/iPad docking station; memory card reader; 4-in1 fax/scanner/printer/photocopier machine; DVD player; complimentary in-house HD movies; complimentary internet access and long distance calls through the VOIP platform. Even the room's exterior Parisian-styled canopy is electronically operated. All these technological offerings is so extremely complex, that it resulted in 2.5 km worth of cabling in each room alone.
Bathroom at the Junior Suite also features Peninsula's signature layout: a stand alone bathtub as the focal point, flanked by twin vanities and separate shower and WC compartments amidst acres of white marble. Probably the first in Paris, it features a Japanese Toilet complete with basic control panel, and a manual handheld bidet sprayer.
When all these add up to the stay, it actually brings a very good value to the otherwise high room rates. Better yet, the non-alcoholic Minibar is also complimentary, which is a first for a Peninsula hotel. The Four Seasons George V may choose to keep looking back to its antiquity past and annihilate most technological offerings to its most basic form, but the Pen always looks forward to the future and brings the utter convenience, all at your finger tip. The Peninsula rooms are undoubtedly the best designed, best equipped and most high-tech in the entire universe.
ROOM TO BOOK:
The 50 - 60m2 Junior Suite facing leafy Avenue Kléber is the best room type to book as it is an open-plan suite with Peninsula's signature bathroom and dressing room; and the ones located on the Premiere étage (first floor) have high ceilings and small balcony overlooking Kleber Terrace's iconic glass canopy. Personally, rooms facing the back street at Rue La Pérouse are the least preferred, but its top level rooms inside the Mansart Roof on level 5 have juliet windows that allow glimpse of the tip of Eiffel Tower despite being smaller in size due to its attic configuration. Superior Rooms also lack the signature Peninsula 5 fixtures bathroom configuration, so for the ultimate bathing experience, make sure to book at least from the Deluxe category.
If money is no object, book one of the five piece-de-resistance suites with their own private rooftop terrace and gardens on the top floor, which allow 360 degree panoramic views of Paris. Otherwise, the mid-tier Deluxe Suite is already a great choice with corner location, multiple windows and 85m2 of pure luxury.
DINING:
Looking back at the hotel's illustrious past, the Peninsula offers some of the most unique and memorable dining experiences in Paris, steep in history.
The area that once housed Igor Stravinksy's after party where James Joyce met Marcel Proust for the first time is now the hotel's Cantonese Restaurant, aptly called LiLi; and is led by Chef Chi Keung Tang, formerly of Peninsula Tokyo's One Michelin starred Hei Fung Terrace. Lili was actually modeled after Peninsula Shanghai's Yi Long Court, but the design here blends Chinese elements with Art Nouveau style that flourished in the late 1920s. It also boasts a world first: a spectacular 3x3.3m fiber optic installation at the entrance of the restaurant, depicting the imaginary portrait of LiLi herself. The Cantonese menu was surprisingly rather simple and basic, and features a selection of popular dim sum dishes. The best and most memorable Chinese restaurants I have ever experienced are actually those who masterfully fuse Chinese tradition with French ingredients: Jin Sha at the Four Seasons Hangzhou at Westlake; 2 Michelin Tin Lung Heen at Level 102 of the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong; Jiang at Mandarin Oriental Guangzhou by Chef Fei; and Ya Ge at Mandarin Oriental Taipei. Ironically, the world's only 3 Michelin star Chinese restaurant, Lung King Heen at the Four Seasons Hong Kong failed to impress me.
The former Ballroom area where Henry Kissinger started the Paris Peace talks with the Vietnamese has now been transformed as The Lobby, which is a signature of every Peninsula hotels where the afternoon tea ritual takes place daily. The spectacular room with intricate details and crystal chandeliers has been meticulously restored, and is an ideal place to meet, see and be seen. Breakfast is served daily here, and guests could choose to have it either inside or outside at the adjoining al fresco La Terrasse Kléber, which connects all the F&B outlets on the ground floor, including Lili. Guests could choose from a Chinese set breakfast, which includes dim sum, fried vermicelli, and porridge with beef slices; or the Parisian set, which includes gourmet items such as Egg Benedict with generous slices of Jamon Iberico on top. The afternoon tea ritual is expected to be very popular as renowned Chef Pattissier Julien Alvarez, -who claimed the World Pastry Champion in 2009; and also the Spanish World Chocolate Master in 2007 at the tender age of 23, is at the helm; and the venue quickly booked out from the opening day.
Next to the Lobby is a small, intimate bar covered in exquisite oak panelling where Henry Kissinger signed the Paris Peace Accord back in 1973 that ended the Vietnam War. Kissinger politely declined the offer to have the Bar named after him, and instead it is simply called Le Bar Kléber.
On the top floor of the hotel lies the signature restaurant L'Oiseau Blanc, which is named after the French biplane that disappeared in 1927 in an attempt to make the first non-stop transatlantic flight between Paris and New York. A 75% replica of the plane has even been installed outside the main entrance of the restaurant with the Eiffel Tower on its background. The restaurant is divided into 3 distinct areas: a spectacular glass enclosed main dining room; a large outdoor terrace that runs the entire length of the hotel's roof; and an adjoining lively bar, all with breathtaking uninterrupted views of Paris' most identifiable landmarks, including the Eiffel Tower and the Sacré-Cœur at the highest point of the city at Montmartre.
L'Oiseau Blanc is led by Chef Sidney Redel, a former protégé of Pierre Gagnaire, and serves contemporary French cuisine focussing on 'terroir' menu of locally sourced seasonal ingredients from the region. During my stay, tomato was the seasonal ingredients, and Chef Redel created four courses incorporating tomato, even on dessert. While the food was of high quality, personally the menu still needs fine tuning, considering the sort of clientele the Pen is aiming for: the ultra rich (Chinese), who usually seek top establishments with luxury ingredients, such as caviar, black truffle, foie gras, blue lobster, Jamon Iberico, Wagyu beef, Kurobuta pork and Challans chicken.
LEISURE:
The Peninsula Paris features one of the best health and recreational facilities in the city, housed within the basement of the hotel, and covers an expansive area of 1,800m2. For a comparison, rival Mandarin Oriental Spa covers a total area of only 900m2 over two floors. The Peninsula Spa is undoubtedly one of the nicest urban spa that I have been to, it easily beats the Spa at the Four Seasons George V. The pool is also one of the city's largest at 22m long, -compared to both the Shangri-La and Mandarin Oriental at 15m; the George V at only 9m, which is more like a bigger jacuzzi. The only two other pools better than the Peninsula is the one designed by Phillippe Starck at the Le Royal Monceau at 28m; and the spectacular grand pool at the Ritz.
There is the usual 24 hours gym within two fitness spaces equipped with Technogym machines and free weights; and the locker rooms features steam, sauna, and experience shower room. There is a total of 8 treatment rooms within the Spa area, and the highlight is certainly the Relaxation Room, which is equipped with amazing day beds with specially placed deep cushions. The best part? the beds are electronically operated, much like a first class seat on a plane.
X-FACTOR:
The Peninsula signature technology; The Spa Button in the bathroom; VOIP technology for complimentary long distance calls; The top suites (Historic, Katara and Peninsula Suites); Xavier Corbero's Moon River sculpture at the Lobby; Lili; The Lobby and Bar where Henry Kissinger signed Paris Peace Accord; L'Oiseau Blanc Restaurant; The 1,800m2 Peninsula Spa; and the 1934 Rolls Royce Phantom II.
SERVICE:
There are a total of 600 staffs for just 200 rooms, so the service level is expected to be high; but it is perhaps unfair to judge the service during the opening weeks when all staffs were not at their best due to the intense preparation leading to the opening event. Furthermore, teething problems are expected for a newly opened hotel as great hotels are not born overnight, but takes a good few years of refinement.
Nonetheless, I was actually quite impressed with the level of service during the whole stay, as the majority of the staffs showed great attitude and much enthusiasm, which is a testament of great intense training. As one of the first guests arriving on the opening day, check-in was truly delightful and memorable as a battalion of staffs of different ranks welcomed and wished the most pleasant stay. The mood could not have been more festive as moments later, the hotel was finally inaugurated.
I was also particularly impressed with the service at both LiLi and The Lobby where staffs performed at an exceptional level like a veteran. There are two distinct qualities that made a lot of difference during the stay: humility and friendliness, which is quite a challenge to find, not only in Paris and the entire Europe, but even in Asian cities, such as Hong Kong. It is like finding needles in a haystack. A genuine smile seems to be a rare commodity these days, so I was happy to see plenty of smiles at the Peninsula Paris during the stay, from the signature Peninsula Pageboys to waiters, Maître d, receptionists and even to Managers and Directors. In fact, there were more smiles in Paris than Hong Kong.
When I woken up too early for breakfast one day, the restaurant was just about to open; and there were hardly anyone. I realized that even the birds were probably still asleep, but I was extremely delighted to see how fresh looking and energetic the staffs were at the dining room. There was a lot of genuine smile that warmed the rather chilly morning; and it was a great start to the day. One of the staffs I met during the stay even candidly explained how they were happy just to be at work, and it does not feel like working at all, which was clearly shown in their passion and enthusiasm.
That said, the Shangri-La Paris by far is still my top pick for best service as it is more personalized and refined due to its more intimate scale. The Shangri-La Paris experience is also unique as guests are welcomed to a sit down registration by the historic lounge off the Lobby upon arrival, and choice of drinks are offered, before being escorted to the room for in-room check-in. Guests also receive a Pre-Arrival Form in advance, so the hotel could anticipate and best accommodate their needs. During the stay, I was also addressed by my last name everywhere within the hotel, so it was highly personalized. I did receive similar treatment at The Peninsula Paris, -albeit in a lesser extent due to its size; and even the housekeeping greeted me by my last name. Every requests, from room service to mineral water were all handled efficiently at a timely manner. At times, service could be rather slow at the restaurants (well, it happens almost everywhere in Paris), but this is part of the Parisian lifestyle where nothing is hurried; and bringing bills/checks upfront is considered rude. I did request the food servings to be expedited during a lunch at LiLi on the last day due to the time constraint; and the staffs managed to succeed the task not only ahead of the time limit, but also it never felt hurried all along. Everything ran as smooth as silk.
VERDICT:
It was a personal satisfaction to witness the history in the making during the opening day on 1 August 2014, as the Peninsula Paris is my most eagerly awaited hotel opening of the decade. It was also historic, as it was a first in my travel to dedicate a trip solely for a particular hotel in a particular city (in this case Paris, some 11,578km away from home), without staying at other fine hotels. It was money well spent, and a trip worth taking as it was an amazing stay; and certainly a lifetime experience.
The Peninsula Paris could not have arrived at a better time, as two of the most established Parisian grande dames (Ritz and de Crillon) are still closed for a complete renovation, and will only be revealed in 2015; so there is plenty of time to adapt, grow and hone its skills. But with such pedigree, quality and illustrious history, the Pen really has nothing to be worried about. The Four Seasons George V seems to have a cult of highly obsessed fans (esp. travel agents) worldwide, but personally (and objectively), it is no match to the Peninsula. Based on physical product alone, the Pen wins in every aspect as everything has been meticulously designed with the focus on guest comfort and convenience. In terms of technology, the Pen literally has no rival anywhere on the planet, except from the obvious sibling rivalry.
The only thing that the Pen still needs to work on is its signature restaurants as all its rival hotels have at least 2 Michelin star restaurants (L'abeille at the Shangri-La; Sur Mesure at the Mandarin Oriental; and 3 Michelin at Epicure, Le Bristol; Le Cinq at the Four Seasons George V and Alain Ducasse at Le Meurice). L'Oiseau Blanc design is truly breathtaking and would certainly be the most popular gastronomic destination in Paris, but at the moment, the food still needs some works.
There were the expected teething problems and some inconsistencies with the service; but with years of refinement, The Peninsula Paris will no doubt ascend the throne. Personally, the Shangri-La Paris is currently the real competitor, together with the upcoming Ritz and de Crillon when they open next year, especially when Rosewood has taken over Crillon management and Karl Lagerfeld is working on its top suites. The two, however, may still need to revisit the drawing boards and put more effort on the guestrooms if they ever want to compete; because at the moment, The Peninsula Paris is simply unrivaled.
UPDATE 2016:
*I have always been very spot-on with my predictions. After only two years since its opening, The Peninsula Paris has been awarded the much coveted Palace status. In fact, it is the only hotel in Paris to receive such distinction in 2016. Congratulations, it is very much deserving*
PERSONAL RATING:
1. Room: 100
2. Bathroom: 100
3. Bed: 100
4. Service: 90
5. In-room Tech: 100
6. In-room Amenities: 100
7. Architecture & Design: 100
8. Food: 80
9. View: 80
10. Pool: 95
11. Wellness: 95
12. Location: 95
13. Value: 100
Overall: 95.00
Compare with other Parisian hotels (all with Palace status) that I have stayed previously:
SHANGRI-LA HOTEL, PARIS: 95.00
PARK HYATT PARIS-VENDOME: 90.00
My #1 ALL TIME FAVORITE HOTEL
LANDMARK MANDARIN ORIENTAL, HONG KONG: 95.38
THE PENINSULA, PARIS
19, Avenue Kléber, Paris
Awarded Palace Status in 2016
General Manager: Nicolas Béliard
Hotel Manager: Vincent Pimont
Executive Chef: Jean-Edern Hurstel
Head Chef (Lili): Chi Keung Tang
Head Chef (L'oiseau Blanc): Sidney Redel
Head Chef (The Lobby): Laurent Poitevin
Chef Patissier: Julien Alvarez
Architect (original Majestic Hotel, circa 1908): Armand Sibien
Architect (renovation & restoration, 2010-2014): Richard Martinet
Interior Designer: Henry Leung of Chhada Siembieda & Associates
Landscape Designer: D. Paysage
Art Curator: Sabrina Fung
Art Restorer: Cinzia Pasquali
Artist (Courtyard installation): Ben Jakober & Yannick Vu
Crystal work: Baccarat
Designer (Lili fiber optic installation): Clementine Chambon & Francoise Mamert
Designer (Chinaware): Catherine Bergen
Gilder Specialist & Restorer: Ateliers Gohard
Glass Crafter (Lobby Installation): Lasvit Glass Studio
Master Glass Crafters: Duchemin
Master Sculptor (Lobby): Xavier Corbero
Metalwork: Remy Garnier
Plaster & Moulding Expert: Stuc et Staff
Silverware: Christofle
Silk & Trimmings: Declercq Passementiers
Wood Restoration Expert: Atelier Fancelli
Hotel Opening Date: 01 August 2014
Notable owners: Katara Hospitality; Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels Group (HSH)
Total Rooms & Suites: 200 (including 35m2 Superior, 45m2 Deluxe, 50m2 Grand Deluxe, 55m2 Premier and 60m2 Grand Premier Rooms)
Total Suites: 34 Suites (including 70m2 Superior, 85m2 Deluxe and 100m2 Premier
Top Suites: Historic Suite, Katara Suite, and The Peninsula Suite
Bathroom Amenities: Oscar de la Renta
Restaurants: The Lobby (All day dining & Afternoon tea), LiLi (Cantonese), L'Oiseau Blanc (French), La Terrasse Kléber
Bars and Lounges: Le Bar Kléber; Kléber Lounge; Cigar Lounge; and L'Oiseau Blanc Bar
Meeting & Banquets: Salon de l'Étoile for up to 100 guests, and 3 smaller Function Rooms
Health & Leisure: 24 hours gym & 1,800m2 Peninsula Spa with 22m indoor swimming pool and jacuzzis; Steam & Sauna, Relaxation Room, and 8 treatment rooms
Transport: chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce Extended Wheel Base Phantom; a 1934 Rolls Royce Phantom II; 2 MINI Cooper S Clubman; and a fleet of 10 BMW 7 Series
Complimentary facilities: Non-alcoholic Minibar; Wired and Wireless Internet; VOIP long distance calls; HD Movies; Daily fruit Basket; International Newspaper; Chauffeured MINI Cooper S Clubman for Suites guests; and Chauffeured Rolls Royce for top Suites
paris.peninsula.com
Consistently fine food and cocktails. Where genial warmth and atmosphere prevail. Highway 100 at Olson Drive, Minneapolis, Minn. For reservations call Juniper 1400.
Mailed from Minneapolis, Minnesota to Miss Eleanor Bailer c/o Thayer House General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts on September 13, 1955:
9/8/55
Hi There! Don't consider this a Round Robin. Just to you. Plan to stay two weeks here, plus a weekend in Chicago. Barbara's parent just the bestest. Entertained two gentlemen Wed. night, today had cocktails & luncheon here. Plan to go to Sheiks Sat. night. Bob's parents own it. Supposed to be the spot in the Midwest, Will write a letter after weekend. Love, Roz
Copyright 1953
L.L. Cook Co.
71280
CAPA-019594
Oh Flickr! I haven't been consistent with you for around 3 years. How time as flown by and the business has grown. I've become so busy lately. I remember when I first joined on flickr. I was only posting horrible images on flowers and water drops from my sink... LOL! From offering free photoshoots to those who I would beg to finally charging a beginning package at $125, I have come a long way.
I've participated in unprofessional gestures and snide comments towards other photographers growing up. I think for me it was more so of me trying to put my foot in the door in the photography world and the only way I knew how was to be "intimidating" and other photographers really started to hate me... so in return, I got worse.
From starting Flickr when I was 17 until now... I'm 23. How time has changed me. I hope you all enjoy my photostream because I promise promise promise... I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaack!!!!
Due to the consistent colder weather this last week, the Mississippi River is icing over. Of course the water remains open at the locks and dams, but there are the ice flows, which small dead shad get caught up in. The eagles were hovering over the ice and landing on the ice to eat these snack size fish. It is amazing how they can spot the fish to begin with! Most times they would gulp the fish down right there on the ice and other times they would pick it up and eat it in the air.
A green and pink Mecaphesa crab spider caught a carpenter bee (?) in a saskatoon flower. I have never seen that species of crab spider. Hidden Valley, Qu'Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan, Canada. 10 May 2024.
Confirmed as genus Mecaphesa on inaturalist.
Mecaphesa
bugguide.net/node/view/4999. Apparently, according to one of the indentifiers: "The key on BugGuide is a little dated, the person who made it has since discovered that the eye size thing isn’t a consistent trait. What is a consistent trait is the hairs on the carapace—Mecaphesa will have numerous long hairs on the carapace (Carapace means the thorax (or head). Dorsal hairs), Misumena will have a hairless carapace except for a few extremely short hairs next to the eyes.
Niagara Falls is a city in Niagara County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 48,671. It is adjacent to the Niagara River, across from the city of Niagara Falls, Ontario, and named after the famed Niagara Falls which they share. The city is within the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area and the Western New York region.
While the city was formerly inhabited by Native Americans, Europeans who migrated to the Niagara Falls in the mid-17th century began to open businesses and develop infrastructure. Later in the 18th and 19th centuries, scientists and businessmen began harnessing the power of the Niagara River for electricity and the city began to attract manufacturers and other businesses drawn by the promise of inexpensive hydroelectric power. After the 1960s, however, the city and region witnessed an economic decline, following an attempt at urban renewal under then Mayor Lackey. Consistent with the rest of the Rust Belt as industries left the city, old line affluent families relocated to nearby suburbs and out of town.
Despite the decline in heavy industry, Niagara Falls State Park and the downtown area closest to the falls continue to thrive as a result of tourism. The population, however, has continued to decline from a peak of 102,394 in the 1960s due to the loss of manufacturing jobs in the area.
Before Europeans entered the area, it was dominated by the Neutral Nation of Native Americans. European migration into the area began in the 17th century. The first recorded European to visit the area was Frenchman Robert de la Salle, who built Fort Conti at the mouth of the Niagara River early in 1679, with permission from the Iroquois, as a base for boatbuilding; his ship Le Griffon was built on the upper Niagara River at or near Cayuga Creek in the same year. He was accompanied by Belgian priest Louis Hennepin, who was the first known European to see the falls. The influx of newcomers may have been a catalyst for already hostile native tribes to turn to open warfare in competition for the fur trade.
The City of Niagara Falls was incorporated on March 17, 1892, from the villages of Manchester and Suspension Bridge, which were parts of the Town of Niagara. Thomas Vincent Welch, a member of the charter committee and a New York state assemblyman and a second-generation Irish American, persuaded Governor Roswell P. Flower to sign the bill on St. Patrick's Day. George W. Wright was elected the first mayor of Niagara Falls.
By the end of the 19th century, the city was heavily industrialized, due in part to the power potential offered by the Niagara River. Tourism was considered a secondary niche, while manufacturing of petrochemicals, abrasives, metallurgical products and other materials was the main producer of jobs and attracted a large number of workers, many of whom were immigrants.
Industry and tourism grew steadily throughout the first half of the 20th century due to a high demand for industrial products and the increased mobility of people to travel. Paper, rubber, plastics, petrochemicals, carbon insulators and abrasives were among the city's major industries. This prosperity would end by the late 1960s as aging industrial plants moved to less expensive locations. In addition, the falls were incompatible with modern shipping technology.[further explanation needed]
In 1956, the Schoellkopf Power Plant on the lower river just downstream of the American Falls was critically damaged by the collapse of the Niagara Gorge wall above it. This prompted the planning and construction of one of the largest hydroelectric plants to be built in North America to that time, generating a large influx of workers and families to the area. New York City urban planner Robert Moses built the new power plant in nearby Lewiston, New York. Much of the power generated there fueled growing demands for power in downstate New York and New York City.
The neighborhood of Love Canal gained national media attention in 1978 when toxic waste contamination from a chemical landfill beneath it forced United States President Jimmy Carter to declare a state of emergency, the first such presidential declaration made for a non-natural disaster. Hundreds of residents were evacuated from the area, many of whom were ill because of exposure to chemical waste.
After the Love Canal disaster, the city—which had already been declining in population for nearly two decades—experienced accelerated economic and political difficulties. The costs of manufacturing elsewhere had become less expensive, which led to the closure of several factories. The city's population eventually dropped by more than half of its peak, as workers fled the city in search of jobs elsewhere. Then, much like the nearby city of Buffalo, the city's economy plummeted when a failed urban renewal project destroyed Falls Street and the tourist district.
In 2001, the leadership of Laborers Local 91 was found guilty of extortion, racketeering and other crimes following an exposé by Mike Hudson of the Niagara Falls Reporter. Union boss Michael "Butch" Quarcini died before trial, while the rest of the union leadership was sentenced to prison.
In early 2010, former Niagara Falls Mayor Vincenzo Anello was indicted on federal charges of corruption, alleging the mayor accepted $40,000 in loans from a businessman who was later awarded a no-bid lease on city property. The charges were dropped as part of a plea deal after Anello pleaded guilty to unrelated charges of pension fraud, regarding a pension from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, of which he is a member. He was sentenced to 10 to 16 months in prison.
The city's decline received national exposure from Bloomberg Businessweek in 2010.
On November 30, 2010, the New York State Attorney General entered into an agreement with the city and its police department to create new policies to govern police practices in response to claims of excessive force and police misconduct. The city committed to create policies and procedures to prevent and respond to allegations of excessive force, and to ensure police are properly trained and complaints are properly investigated. Prior claims filed by residents will be evaluated by an independent panel.
In 2020, a public square named Cataract Commons opened on Old Falls Street. It is a public space for outdoor events and activities.
The city has multiple properties on the National Register of Historic Places. It also has three national historic districts, including Chilton Avenue-Orchard Parkway Historic District, Deveaux School Historic District and the Park Place Historic District.
Niagara Falls is at the international boundary between the United States and Canada. The city is within the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area and is approximately 16 miles (26 km) from Buffalo, New York.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 16.8 square miles (44 km2), of which 14.1 square miles (37 km2) is land and 2.8 square miles (7.3 km2) (16.37%) is water. The city is built along the Niagara Falls and the Niagara Gorge, which is next to the Niagara River.
Niagara Falls has a humid continental climate (Dfa). The city experiences cold, snowy winters and hot, humid summers. Precipitation is moderate and consistent in all seasons, falling equally or more as snow during the winter. The city has snowier than average winters compared to most cities in the US, however less than many other cities in Upstate New York including nearby Buffalo and Rochester. Thaw cycles with temperatures above 32 °F (0 °C) are a common occurrence. The hottest and coldest temperatures recorded in the decade through 2015 were 97 °F (36 °C) in 2005 and −13 °F (−25 °C) in 2003, respectively. 38% of warm season precipitation falls in the form of a thunderstorm.
Buffalo Avenue – runs along the south end along the Niagara River once home to a vast number of old families with architecturally significant mansions; further east (past John Daly Boulevard) the street is surrounded by a number of industrial sites to 56th Street before returning to a residential area and ending at the Love Canal area at 102nd Street.
Central District
Deveaux – Located in the northwestern corner (west of the North End) along the Niagara River is residential area built in the 1920s to 1940s. Named for Judge Samuel DeVeaux who left his estate to be established as the Deveaux College for Orphans and Destitute Children in 1853 (closed 1971), now the site of DeVeaux Woods State Park and DeVeaux School Historical District.
Downtown – Area around the Falls and home to hotels including Seneca Niagara Resort Casino, Niagara Falls State Park, Niagara Falls Culinary Institute (formerly Rainbow Centre Factory Outlet)
East Side – the area bounded by the gorge on the west, Niagara Street on the south, Ontario Avenue on the North and Main Street (NY Rt 104) on the east.
Hyde Park – Located near the namesake Hyde Park next to Little Italy as well as home to Hyde Park Municipal Golf Course.
LaSalle – Bounded by 80th Street, Niagara Falls Boulevard, Cayuga Drive and LaSalle Expressway was built up in the 1940s to 1960s. Cayuga Island is linked to neighborhood. The actual neighborhood where the Love Canal was to be built.
Little Italy – home to a once predominately Italian community that runs along Pine Avenue from Main Street to Hyde Park Boulevard
Love Canal – Established in the 1950s on land acquired from Hooker Chemical Company. Most of the neighborhood was evacuated in the 1980s after toxic waste was discovered underground. Resettlement began in 1990.[24]
Niagara Street – residential area east of Downtown along Niagara Street (distinct from Niagara Ave.) once home to a predominately German and Polish community.
North End – runs along Highland Avenue in the north end of the city before it merges with Hyde Park Boulevard.
As of the census of 2010, there were 50,193 people, 22,603 households, and 12,495 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,987.7 people per square mile (1,153.5 per square km). There were 26,220 housing units at an average density of 1,560.7 per square mile (602.6/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 70.5% White, 21.6% African American, 1.9% Native American, 1.2% Asian, 0% Pacific Islander, 0.8% from other races, and 3.9% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.0% of the population.
There were 22,603 households, out of which 23.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 29.8% were married couples living together, 19.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 44.7% were non-families. 38.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.20 and the average family size was 4.02.
In the city, 22% of the population was under the age of 18, 10.1% aged from 18 to 24, 24.2% from 25 to 44, 28.2% from 45 to 64, and 15.5% were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.4 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $26,800, and the median income for a family was $34,377. Males had a median income of $31,672 versus $22,124 for females. 23% of the population was below the poverty line.
Niagara Falls has a number of places of worship, including the Salvation Army, First Assembly of God Church, First Unitarian Universalist Church of Niagara, St. Peter's Episcopal Church, First Presbyterian Church, St. Theresa Roman Catholic Church in Deveaux, and the Reform Jewish Temple Beth El. The Conservative Jewish Temple Beth Israel closed in 2012.
Niagara Falls has struggled with high rates of violent and property crime; FBI crime data indicate that the city has among the highest crime rates in New York state. In response to gun violence, volunteer groups such as Operation SNUG mobilized to promote positive community involvement in the troubled areas of the city.
Comptroller reported that Niagara Falls has "struggled through decades of population losses, rising crime and repeated attempts to reinvent itself from a manufacturing town with some tourism to a major tourist destination." The city became a boomtown with the opening of the New York State Power Authority's hydroelectric Niagara Power Plant in the 1960s; the cheap electricity produced by the plant generated power for a burgeoning manufacturing industry. Along with the rest of Western New York, Niagara Falls suffered a significant economic decline from a decline in industry by the 1970s. Today, the city struggles to compete with Niagara Falls, Ontario; the Canadian side has a greater average annual income, a higher average home price, and lower levels of vacant buildings and blight, as well as a more vibrant economy and better tourism infrastructure. The population of Niagara Falls, New York fell by half from the 1960s to 2012. In contrast, the population of Niagara Falls, Ontario more than tripled. In 2000, the city's median household income was 36% below the national average. In 2012, the city's unemployment rate was significantly higher than the statewide unemployment rate.
Significant sources of economic activity in the region includes the Niagara Falls International Airport, which was renovated in 2009; the Seneca Gaming Corporation's Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel, which opened in the 2000s respectively; and the nearby Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station.
In late 2001, the State of New York established the USA Niagara Development Corporation, a subsidiary to the State's economic development agency, to focus specifically on facilitating development in the downtown area. However, the organization has been criticized for making little progress and doing little to improve the city's economy.
From 1973 to 2002, the city had a Convention and Civic Center on 4th street. In 2002 the venue was converted into the Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel. In 2004, a new Niagara Falls Convention Center (NFCC) opened on Old Falls Street. The Old Falls Street venue has 116,000 square feet for exhibitions and meetings, and a 32,200-square-foot event/exhibit hall.
The city is home to the Niagara Falls State Park. The park has several attractions, including Cave of the Winds behind the Bridal Veil Falls, Maid of the Mist, a popular boat tour which operates at the foot of the Rainbow Bridge, Prospect Point and its observation tower, Niagara Discovery Center, Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center, and the Aquarium of Niagara.
Several other attractions also near the river, including Whirlpool State Park, De Veaux Woods State Park, Earl W. Brydges Artpark State Park in nearby Lewiston (town), New York, and Fort Niagara State Park in Youngstown, New York.
Attractions in the downtown include the Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel and Pine Avenue which was historically home to a large Italian American population and is now known as Little Italy for its abundance of shops and quality restaurants.
The Niagara Power of the New York Collegiate Baseball League play at Sal Maglie Stadium. The team is owned by Niagara University. The Cataract City Wolverines of the Gridiron Developmental Football League are a minor league football team based in Niagara Falls. The team played their inaugural season in 2021.
In 2017, the Tier III junior North American 3 Hockey League team, the Lockport Express, relocated to Niagara Falls as the Niagara Falls PowerHawks.
Former sports teams based in Niagara Falls include the Class-A Niagara Falls Sox, the Class-A Niagara Falls Rapids, the Niagara Falls Lancers of the Midwest Football League, and the Western New York Thundersnow of the Premier Basketball League and American Basketball Association.
The City of Niagara Falls functions under a strong mayor-council form of government. The government consists of a mayor, a professional city administrator, and a city council. The current mayor is Robert Restaino.
The city council serves four-year, staggered terms, except in the case of a special election. It is headed by a chairperson, who votes in all items for council action.
On a state level, Niagara Falls is part of the 145th Assembly District of New York State, represented by Republican Angelo Morinello. Niagara Falls is also part of the 62nd Senate District of New York State, represented by Republican Robert Ortt.
On a national level, the city is part of New York's 26th congressional district and is represented by Congressman Brian Higgins. In the United States Senate, the city and the state are represented by senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand.
Founded in 1892 Niagara Falls Police Department provide local law enforcement in the city with 155 sworn officers. This force is not to be mistaken for the Town of Niagara, New York which has a smaller force founded in 1954.
Residents are zoned to the Niagara Falls City School District. Niagara University and Niagara County Community College are the two colleges in Niagara County.
Since Niagara Falls is within the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area, the city's media is predominantly served by the city of Buffalo.
The city has two local newspapers, the Niagara Gazette, which is published daily except Tuesday and The Messenger Of Niagara Falls, NY which is published quarterly. The Messenger Of Niagara Falls, NY, which is officially Niagara Falls, New York's, first black-owned and operated news publication, founded October 2018. The Messenger Of Niagara Falls, NY published its inaugural issue April 2019. The Buffalo News is the closest major newspaper in the area. The city also is the home to a weekly tabloid known as the Niagara Falls Reporter.
Three radio stations are licensed to the city of Niagara Falls, including WHLD AM 1270, WEBR AM 1440, and WTOR AM 770.
Niagara Falls is primarily served by the Buffalo Niagara International Airport for regional and domestic flights within the United States. The recently expanded Niagara Falls International Airport serves the city, and many cross border travellers with flights to Myrtle Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and Punta Gorda. Toronto's Pearson International Airport on the Canadian side is the closest airport offering long-haul international flights for the Niagara region.
The city is served by Amtrak's Maple Leaf and Empire train services, with regular stops at the Niagara Falls Station and Customhouse Interpretive Center at 825 Depot Ave West.
Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority is the public transit provider in the Buffalo metro area, with hubs at the Portage Road and Niagara Falls transportation centers.
Six New York State highways, one three-digit Interstate Highway, one expressway, one U.S. Highway, and one parkways pass through the city of Niagara Falls. New York State Route 31, New York State Route 104, and New York State Route 182 are east–west state roadways within the city, while New York State Route 61, New York State Route 265, and New York State Route 384 are north–south state roadways within the city. The LaSalle Expressway is an east–west highway which terminates near the eastern edge of Niagara Falls and begins in the nearby town of Wheatfield, New York. The Niagara Scenic Parkway is a north–south parkway that formerly ran through the city along the northern edge of the Niagara River. It remains in sections and terminates in Youngstown, New York.
Interstate 190, also referred to as the Niagara Expressway, is a north–south highway and a spur of Interstate 90 which borders the eastern end of the city. The highway enters the city from the town of Niagara and exits at the North Grand Island Bridge. U.S. Route 62, known as Niagara Falls Boulevard, Walnut Avenue, and Ferry Avenue, is signed as a north–south highway. U.S. Route 62 has an east–west orientation, and is partially split between two one-way streets within Niagara Falls. Walnut Avenue carries U.S. Route 62 west to its northern terminus at NY 104, and Ferry Avenue carries U.S. Route 62 east from downtown Niagara Falls. U.S. Route 62 Business, locally known as Pine Avenue, is an east–west route which parallels U.S. Route 62 to the south. Its western terminus is at NY 104, and its eastern terminus is at U.S. Route 62.
Two international bridges connect the city to Niagara Falls, Ontario. The Rainbow Bridge connects the two cities with passenger and pedestrian traffic and overlooks the Niagara Falls, while the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge, which formerly carried the Canadian National Railway, now serves local traffic and Amtrak's Maple Leaf service.
New York, sometimes called New York State, is a state in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders New Jersey and Pennsylvania to its south, New England and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec to its north, and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. With almost 19.6 million residents, it is the fourth-most populous state in the United States and eighth-most densely populated as of 2023. New York is the 27th-largest U.S. state by area, with a total area of 54,556 square miles (141,300 km2).
New York has a varied geography. The southeastern part of the state, known as Downstate, encompasses New York City, the most populous city in the United States, Long Island, the most populous island in the United States, and the lower Hudson Valley. These areas are the center of the New York metropolitan area, a sprawling urban landmass, and account for approximately two-thirds of the state's population. The much larger Upstate area spreads from the Great Lakes to Lake Champlain, and includes the Adirondack Mountains and the Catskill Mountains (part of the wider Appalachian Mountains). The east–west Mohawk River Valley bisects the more mountainous regions of Upstate, and flows into the north–south Hudson River valley near the state capital of Albany. Western New York, home to the cities of Buffalo and Rochester, is part of the Great Lakes region and borders Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. Central New York is anchored by the city of Syracuse; between the central and western parts of the state, New York is dominated by the Finger Lakes, a popular tourist destination. To the south, along the state border with Pennsylvania, the Southern Tier sits atop the Allegheny Plateau, representing the northernmost reaches of Appalachia.
New York was one of the original Thirteen Colonies that went on to form the United States. The area of present-day New York had been inhabited by tribes of the Algonquians and the Iroquois Confederacy Native Americans for several thousand years by the time the earliest Europeans arrived. Stemming from Henry Hudson's expedition in 1609, the Dutch established the multiethnic colony of New Netherland in 1621. England seized the colony from the Dutch in 1664, renaming it the Province of New York. During the American Revolutionary War, a group of colonists eventually succeeded in establishing independence, and the former colony was officially admitted into the United States in 1788. From the early 19th century, New York's development of its interior, beginning with the construction of the Erie Canal, gave it incomparable advantages over other regions of the United States. The state built its political, cultural, and economic ascendancy over the next century, earning it the nickname of the "Empire State." Although deindustrialization eroded a significant portion of the state's economy in the second half of the 20th century, New York in the 21st century continues to be considered as a global node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance, and environmental sustainability.
The state attracts visitors from all over the globe, with the highest count of any U.S. state in 2022. Many of its landmarks are well known, including four of the world's ten most-visited tourist attractions in 2013: Times Square, Central Park, Niagara Falls and Grand Central Terminal. New York is home to approximately 200 colleges and universities, including two Ivy League universities, Columbia University and Cornell University, and the expansive State University of New York, which is among the largest university systems in the nation. New York City is home to the headquarters of the United Nations, and it is sometimes described as the world's most important city, the cultural, financial, and media epicenter, and the capital of the world.
The history of New York begins around 10,000 B.C. when the first people arrived. By 1100 A.D. two main cultures had become dominant as the Iroquoian and Algonquian developed. European discovery of New York was led by the Italian Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524 followed by the first land claim in 1609 by the Dutch. As part of New Netherland, the colony was important in the fur trade and eventually became an agricultural resource thanks to the patroon system. In 1626, the Dutch thought they had bought the island of Manhattan from Native Americans.[1] In 1664, England renamed the colony New York, after the Duke of York and Albany, brother of King Charles II. New York City gained prominence in the 18th century as a major trading port in the Thirteen Colonies.
New York played a pivotal role during the American Revolution and subsequent war. The Stamp Act Congress in 1765 brought together representatives from across the Thirteen Colonies to form a unified response to British policies. The Sons of Liberty were active in New York City to challenge British authority. After a major loss at the Battle of Long Island, the Continental Army suffered a series of additional defeats that forced a retreat from the New York City area, leaving the strategic port and harbor to the British army and navy as their North American base of operations for the rest of the war. The Battle of Saratoga was the turning point of the war in favor of the Americans, convincing France to formally ally with them. New York's constitution was adopted in 1777, and strongly influenced the United States Constitution. New York City was the national capital at various times between 1788 and 1790, where the Bill of Rights was drafted. Albany became the permanent state capital in 1797. In 1787, New York became the eleventh state to ratify the United States Constitution.
New York hosted significant transportation advancements in the 19th century, including the first steamboat line in 1807, the Erie Canal in 1825, and America's first regularly scheduled rail service in 1831. These advancements led to the expanded settlement of western New York and trade ties to the Midwest settlements around the Great Lakes.
Due to New York City's trade ties to the South, there were numerous southern sympathizers in the early days of the American Civil War and the mayor proposed secession. Far from any of the battles, New York ultimately sent the most soldiers and money to support the Union cause. Thereafter, the state helped create the industrial age and consequently was home to some of the first labor unions.
During the 19th century, New York City became the main entry point for European immigrants to the United States, beginning with a wave of Irish during their Great Famine. Millions came through Castle Clinton in Battery Park before Ellis Island opened in 1892 to welcome millions more, increasingly from eastern and southern Europe. The Statue of Liberty opened in 1886 and became a symbol of hope. New York boomed during the Roaring Twenties, before the Wall Street Crash of 1929, and skyscrapers expressed the energy of the city. New York City was the site of successive tallest buildings in the world from 1913 to 1974.
The buildup of defense industries for World War II turned around the state's economy from the Great Depression, as hundreds of thousands worked to defeat the Axis powers. Following the war, the state experienced significant suburbanization around all the major cities, and most central cities shrank. The Thruway system opened in 1956, signaling another era of transportation advances.
Following a period of near-bankruptcy in the late 1970s, New York City renewed its stature as a cultural center, attracted more immigration, and hosted the development of new music styles. The city developed from publishing to become a media capital over the second half of the 20th century, hosting most national news channels and broadcasts. Some of its newspapers became nationally and globally renowned. The state's manufacturing base eroded with the restructuring of industry, and the state transitioned into service industries.
The first peoples of New York are estimated to have arrived around 10,000 BC. Around AD 800, Iroquois ancestors moved into the area from the Appalachian region. The people of the Point Peninsula complex were the predecessors of the Algonquian peoples of New York. By around 1100, the distinct Iroquoian-speaking and Algonquian-speaking cultures that would eventually be encountered by Europeans had developed. The five nations of the Iroquois League developed a powerful confederacy about the 15th century that controlled territory throughout present-day New York, into Pennsylvania around the Great Lakes. For centuries, the Mohawk cultivated maize fields in the lowlands of the Mohawk River, which were later taken over by Dutch settlers at Schenectady, New York when they bought this territory. The Iroquois nations to the west also had well-cultivated areas and orchards.
The Iroquois established dominance over the fur trade throughout their territory, bargaining with European colonists. Other New York tribes were more subject to either European destruction or assimilation within the Iroquoian confederacy. Situated at major Native trade routes in the Northeast and positioned between French and English zones of settlement, the Iroquois were intensely caught up with the onrush of Europeans, which is also to say that the settlers, whether Dutch, French or English, were caught up with the Iroquois as well. Algonquian tribes were less united among their tribes; they typically lived along rivers, streams, or the Atlantic Coast. But, both groups of natives were well-established peoples with highly sophisticated cultural systems; these were little understood or appreciated by the European colonists who encountered them. The natives had "a complex and elaborate native economy that included hunting, gathering, manufacturing, and farming...[and were] a mosaic of Native American tribes, nations, languages, and political associations." The Iroquois usually met at an Onondaga in Northern New York, which changed every century or so, where they would coordinate policies on how to deal with Europeans and strengthen the bond between the Five Nations.
Tribes who have managed to call New York home have been the Iroquois, Mohawk, Mohican, Susquehannock, Petun, Chonnonton, Ontario and Nanticoke.
In 1524, Giovanni da Verrazzano, an Italian explorer in the service of the French crown, explored the Atlantic coast of North America between the Carolinas and Newfoundland, including New York Harbor and Narragansett Bay. On April 17, 1524, Verrazzano entered New York Bay, by way of the Strait now called the Narrows. He described "a vast coastline with a deep delta in which every kind of ship could pass" and he adds: "that it extends inland for a league and opens up to form a beautiful lake. This vast sheet of water swarmed with native boats". He landed on the tip of Manhattan and perhaps on the furthest point of Long Island.
In 1535, Jacques Cartier, a French explorer, became the first European to describe and map the Saint Lawrence River from the Atlantic Ocean, sailing as far upriver as the site of Montreal.
On April 4, 1609, Henry Hudson, in the employ of the Dutch East India Company, departed Amsterdam in command of the ship Halve Maen (Half Moon). On September 3 he reached the estuary of the Hudson River. He sailed up the Hudson River to about Albany near the confluence of the Mohawk River and the Hudson. His voyage was used to establish Dutch claims to the region and to the fur trade that prospered there after a trading post was established at Albany in 1614.
In 1614, the Dutch under the command of Hendrick Christiaensen, built Fort Nassau (now Albany) the first Dutch settlement in North America and the first European settlement in what would become New York. It was replaced by nearby Fort Orange in 1623. In 1625, Fort Amsterdam was built on the southern tip of Manhattan Island to defend the Hudson River. This settlement grew to become the city New Amsterdam.
The British conquered New Netherland in 1664; Lenient terms of surrender most likely kept local resistance to a minimum. The colony and New Amsterdam were both renamed New York (and "Beverwijck" was renamed Albany) after its new proprietor, James II later King of England, Ireland and Scotland, who was at the time Duke of York and Duke of Albany The population of New Netherland at the time of English takeover was 7,000–8,000.
Thousands of poor German farmers, chiefly from the Palatine region of Germany, migrated to upstate districts after 1700. They kept to themselves, married their own, spoke German, attended Lutheran churches, and retained their own customs and foods. They emphasized farm ownership. Some mastered English to become conversant with local legal and business opportunities. They ignored the Indians and tolerated slavery (although few were rich enough to own a slave).
Large manors were developed along the Hudson River by elite colonists during the 18th century, including Livingston, Cortlandt, Philipsburg, and Rensselaerswyck. The manors represented more than half of the colony's undeveloped land. The Province of New York thrived during this time, its economy strengthened by Long Island and Hudson Valley agriculture, in conjunction with trade and artisanal activity at the Port of New York; the colony was a breadbasket and lumberyard for the British sugar colonies in the Caribbean. New York's population grew substantially during this century: from the first colonial census (1698) to the last (1771), the province grew ninefold, from 18,067 to 168,007.
New York in the American Revolution
Further information: John Peter Zenger, Stamp Act Congress, Invasion of Canada (1775), New York and New Jersey campaign, Prisoners of war in the American Revolutionary War, and Intelligence in the American Revolutionary War
New York played a pivotal role in the Revolutionary War. The colony verged on revolt following the Stamp Act of 1765, advancing the New York City–based Sons of Liberty to the forefront of New York politics. The Act exacerbated the depression the province experienced after unsuccessfully invading Canada in 1760. Even though New York City merchants lost out on lucrative military contracts, the group sought common ground between the King and the people; however, compromise became impossible as of April 1775 Battles of Lexington and Concord. In that aftermath the New York Provincial Congress on June 9, 1775, for five pounds sterling for each hundredweight of gunpowder delivered to each county's committee.
Two powerful families had for decades assembled colony-wide coalitions of supporters. With few exceptions, members long associated with the DeLancey faction went along when its leadership decided to support the crown, while members of the Livingston faction became Patriots.
New York's strategic central location and port made it key to controlling the colonies. The British assembled the century's largest fleet: at one point 30,000 British sailors and soldiers anchored off Staten Island. General George Washington barely escaped New York City with his army in November 1776; General Sir William Howe was successful in driving Washington out, but erred by expanding into New Jersey. By January 1777, he retained only a few outposts near New York City. The British held the city for the duration, using it as a base for expeditions against other targets.
In October 1777, American General Horatio Gates won the Battle of Saratoga, later regarded as the war's turning point. Had Gates not held, the rebellion might well have broken down: losing Saratoga would have cost the entire Hudson–Champlain corridor, which would have separated New England from the rest of the colonies and split the future union.
Upon war's end, New York's borders became well–defined: the counties east of Lake Champlain became Vermont and the state's western borders were settled by 1786.
Many Iroquois supported the British (typically fearing future American ambitions). Many were killed during the war; others went into exile with the British. Those remaining lived on twelve reservations; by 1826 only eight reservations remained, all of which survived into the 21st century.
The state adopted its constitution in April 1777, creating a strong executive and strict separation of powers. It strongly influenced the federal constitution a decade later. Debate over the federal constitution in 1787 led to formation of the groups known as Federalists—mainly "downstaters" (those who lived in or near New York City) who supported a strong national government—and Antifederalists—mainly upstaters (those who lived to the city's north and west) who opposed large national institutions. In 1787, Alexander Hamilton, a leading Federalist from New York and signatory to the Constitution, wrote the first essay of the Federalist Papers. He published and wrote most of the series in New York City newspapers in support of the proposed United States Constitution. Antifederalists were not swayed by the arguments, but the state ratified it in 1788.
In 1785, New York City became the national capital and continued as such on and off until 1790; George Washington was inaugurated as the first President of the United States in front of Federal Hall in 1789. The United States Bill of Rights was drafted there, and the United States Supreme Court sat for the first time. From statehood to 1797, the Legislature frequently moved the state capital between Albany, Kingston, Poughkeepsie, and New York City. Thereafter, Albany retained that role.
In the early 19th century, New York became a center for advancement in transportation. In 1807, Robert Fulton initiated a steamboat line from New York to Albany, the first successful enterprise of its kind. By 1815, Albany was the state's turnpike center, which established the city as the hub for pioneers migrating west to Buffalo and the Michigan Territory.
In 1825 the Erie Canal opened, securing the state's economic dominance. Its impact was enormous: one source stated, "Linking the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes, the canal was an act of political will that joined the regions of the state, created a vast economic hinterland for New York City, and established a ready market for agricultural products from the state's interior." In that year western New York transitioned from "frontier" to settled area. By this time, all counties and most municipalities had incorporated, approximately matching the state's is organized today. In 1831, the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad started the country's first successful regularly–scheduled steam railroad service.
Advancing transportation quickly led to settlement of the fertile Mohawk and Gennessee valleys and the Niagara Frontier. Buffalo and Rochester became boomtowns. Significant migration of New England "Yankees" (mainly of English descent) to the central and western parts of the state led to minor conflicts with the more settled "Yorkers" (mainly of German, Dutch, and Scottish descent). More than 15% of the state's 1850 population had been born in New England[citation needed]. The western part of the state grew fastest at this time. By 1840, New York was home to seven of the nation's thirty largest cities.
During this period, towns established academies for education, including for girls. The western area of the state was a center of progressive causes, including support of abolitionism, temperance, and women's rights. Religious enthusiasms flourished and the Latter Day Saint movement was founded in the area by Joseph Smith and his vision. Some supporters of abolition participated in the Underground Railroad, helping fugitive slaves reach freedom in Canada or in New York.
In addition, in the early 1840s the state legislature and Governor William H. Seward expanded rights for free blacks and fugitive slaves in New York: in 1840 the legislature passed laws protecting the rights of African Americans against Southern slave-catchers. One guaranteed alleged fugitive slaves the right of a jury trial in New York to establish whether they were slaves, and another pledged the aid of the state to recover free blacks kidnapped into slavery, (as happened to Solomon Northup of Saratoga Springs in 1841, who did not regain freedom until 1853.) In 1841 Seward signed legislation to repeal a "nine-month law" that allowed slaveholders to bring their slaves into the state for a period of nine months before they were considered free. After this, slaves brought to the state were immediately considered freed, as was the case in some other free states. Seward also signed legislation to establish public education for all children, leaving it up to local jurisdictions as to how that would be supplied (some had segregated schools).
New York culture bloomed in the first half of the 19th century: in 1809 Washington Irving wrote the satirical A History of New York under the pen name Diedrich Knickerbocker, and in 1819 he based Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow in Hudson Valley towns. Thomas Cole's Hudson River School was established in the 1830s by showcasing dramatic landscapes of the Hudson Valley. The first baseball teams formed in New York City in the 1840s, including the New York Knickerbockers. Professional baseball later located its Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Saratoga Race Course, an annual summer attraction in Saratoga Springs, opened in 1847.
A civil war was not in the best interest of business, because New York had strong ties to the Deep South, both through the port of New York and manufacture of cotton goods in upstate textile mills. Half of New York City's exports were related to cotton before the war. Southern businessmen so frequently traveled to the city that they established favorite hotels and restaurants. Trade was based on moving Southern goods. The city's large Democrat community feared the impact of Abraham Lincoln's election in 1860 and the mayor urged secession of New York.
By the time of the 1861 Battle of Fort Sumter, such political differences decreased and the state quickly met Lincoln's request for soldiers and supplies. More soldiers fought from New York than any other Northern state. While no battles were waged in New York, the state was not immune to Confederate conspiracies, including one to burn various New York cities and another to invade the state via Canada.
In January 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed the slaves in states that were still in rebellion against the union. In March 1863, the federal draft law was changed so that male citizens between 20 and 35 and unmarried citizens to age 45 were subject to conscription. Those who could afford to hire a substitute or pay $300 were exempt. Antiwar newspaper editors attacked the law, and many immigrants and their descendants resented being drafted in place of people who could buy their way out. Democratic Party leaders raised the specter of a deluge of freed southern blacks competing with the white working class, then dominated by ethnic Irish and immigrants. On the lottery's first day, July 11, 1863, the first lottery draw was held. On Monday, July 13, 1863, five days of large-scale riots began, which were dominated by ethnic Irish, who targeted blacks in the city, their neighborhoods, and known abolitionist sympathizers. As a result, many blacks left Manhattan permanently, moving to Brooklyn or other areas.
In the following decades, New York strengthened its dominance of the financial and banking industries. Manufacturing continued to rise: Eastman Kodak founded in 1888 in Rochester, General Electric in Schenectady, and Endicott-Johnson Shoe Company in the Triple Cities are some of the well-known companies founded during this period. Buffalo and Niagara Falls attracted numerous factories following the advent of hydroelectric power in the area. With industry blooming, workers began to unite in New York as early as the 1820s. By 1882, the Knights of Labor in New York City had 60,000 members. Trade unions used political influence to limit working hours as early as 1867. At the same time, New York's agricultural output peaked. Focus changed from crop-based to dairy-based agriculture. The cheese industry became established in the Mohawk Valley. By 1881, the state had more than 241,000 farms. In the same period, the area around New York harbor became the world's oyster capital, retaining that title into the early twentieth century.
Immigration increased throughout the latter half of the 19th century. Starting with refugees from the Great Famine of Ireland in the 1840s, New York became a prominent entry point for those seeking a new life in the United States. Between 1855 and 1890, an estimated 8 million immigrants passed through Castle Clinton at Battery Park in Manhattan. Early in this period, most immigrants came from Ireland and Germany. Ellis Island opened in 1892, and between 1880 and 1920, most immigrants were German and Eastern European Jews, Poles, and other Eastern and Southern Europeans, including many Italians. By 1925, New York City's population outnumbered that of London, making it the most populous city in the world. Arguably New York's most identifiable symbol, Liberty Enlightening the World (the Statue of Liberty), a gift from France for the American centennial, was completed in 1886. By the early 20th century, the statue was regarded as the "Mother of Exiles"—a symbol of hope to immigrants.
New York's political pattern changed little after the mid–19th century. New York City and its metropolitan area was already heavily Democrat; Upstate was aligned with the Republican Party and was a center of abolitionist activists. In the 1850s, Democratic Tammany Hall became one of the most powerful and durable political machines in United States history. Boss William Tweed brought the organization to the forefront of city and then state politics in the 1860s. Based on its command of a large population, Tammany maintained influence until at least the 1930s. Outside the city, Republicans were able to influence the redistricting process enough to constrain New York City and capture control of the Legislature in 1894. Both parties have seen national political success: in the 39 presidential elections between 1856 and 2010, Republicans won 19 times and Democrats 20 times.
By 1901, New York was the richest and most populous state. Two years prior, the five boroughs of New York City became one city. Within decades, the city's emblem had become the skyscraper: the Woolworth Building was the tallest building in the world from 1913, surpassed by 40 Wall Street in April 1930, the Chrysler Building in 1930, the Empire State Building in 1931, and the World Trade Center in 1972 before losing the title in 1974.
The state was serviced by over a dozen major railroads and at the start of the 20th century and electric Interurban rail networks began to spring up around Syracuse, Rochester and other cities in New York during this period.
In the late 1890s governor Theodore Roosevelt and fellow Republicans such as Charles Evans Hughes worked with many Democrats such as Al Smith to promote Progressivism. They battled trusts and monopolies (especially in the insurance industry), promoted efficiency, fought waste, and called for more democracy in politics. Democrats focused more on the benefits of progressivism for their own ethnic working class base and for labor unions.
Democratic political machines, especially Tammany Hall in Manhattan, opposed woman suffrage because they feared that the addition of female voters would dilute the control they had established over groups of male voters. By the time of the New York State referendum on women's suffrage in 1917, however, some wives and daughters of Tammany Hall leaders were working for suffrage, leading it to take a neutral position that was crucial to the referendum's passage.
Following a sharp but short-lived Depression at the beginning of the decade, New York enjoyed a booming economy during the Roaring Twenties. New York suffered during the Great Depression, which began with the Wall Street crash on Black Tuesday in 1929. The Securities and Exchange Commission opened in 1934 to regulate the stock market. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected governor in 1928, and the state faced upwards of 25% unemployment. His Temporary Emergency Relief Agency, established in 1931, was the first work relief program in the nation and influenced the national Federal Emergency Relief Administration. Roosevelt was elected President in 1932 in part because of his promises to extend New York–style relief programs across the country via his New Deal. In 1932, Lake Placid was host to the III Olympic Winter Games.
As the largest state, New York again supplied the most resources during World War II. New York manufactured 11 percent of total United States military armaments produced during the war and suffered 31,215 casualties. The war affected the state both socially and economically. For example, to overcome discriminatory labor practices, Governor Herbert H. Lehman created the Committee on Discrimination in Employment in 1941 and Governor Thomas E. Dewey signed the Ives-Quinn Act in 1945, banning employment discrimination. The G.I. Bill of 1944, which offered returning soldiers the opportunity of affordable higher education, forced New York to create a public university system since its private universities could not handle the influx; the State University of New York was created by Governor Dewey in 1948.
World War II constituted New York's last great industrial era. At its conclusion, the defense industry shrank and the economy shifted towards producing services rather than goods. Returning soldiers disproportionately displaced female and minority workers who had entered the industrial workforce only when the war left employers no other choice. Companies moved to the south and west, seeking lower taxes and a less costly, non–union workforce. Many workers followed the jobs. The middle class expanded and created suburbs such as the one on Long Island. The automobile accelerated this decentralization; planned communities like Levittown offered affordable middle-class housing.
Larger cities stopped growing around 1950. Growth resumed only in New York City, in the 1980s. Buffalo's population fell by half between 1950 and 2000. Reduced immigration and worker migration led New York State's population to decline for the first time between 1970 and 1980. California and Texas both surpassed it in population.
New York entered its third era of massive transportation projects by building highways, notably the New York State Thruway. The project was unpopular with New York City Democrats, who referred to it as "Dewey's ditch" and the "enemy of schools", because the Thruway disproportionately benefited upstate. The highway was based on the German Autobahn and was unlike anything seen at that point in the United States. It was within 30 miles (50 km) of 90% of the population at its conception. Costing $600 million, the full 427-mile (687 km) project opened in 1956.
Nelson Rockefeller was governor from 1959 to 1973 and changed New York politics. He began as a liberal, but grew more conservative: he limited SUNY's growth, responded aggressively to the Attica Prison riot, and promulgated the uniquely severe Rockefeller Drug Laws. The World Trade Center and other profligate projects nearly drove New York City into bankruptcy in 1975. The state took substantial budgetary control, which eventually led to improved fiscal prudence.
The Executive Mansion was retaken by Democrats in 1974 and remained under Democratic control for 20 years under Hugh Carey and Mario Cuomo. Late–century Democrats became more centrist, including US Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (1977–2001) and New York City Mayor Ed Koch (1978–1989), while state Republicans began to align themselves with the more conservative national party. They gained power through the elections of Senator Alfonse D'Amato in 1980, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in 1993, and Governor George Pataki in 1994. New York remained one of the most liberal states. In 1984, Ronald Reagan was the last Republican to carry the state, although Republican Michael Bloomberg served as New York City mayor in the early 21st century.
In the late 20th century, telecommunication and high technology industries employed many New Yorkers. New York City was especially successful at this transition. Entrepreneurs created many small companies, as industrial firms such as Polaroid withered. This success drew many young professionals into the still–dwindling cities. New York City was the exception and has continued to draw new residents. The energy of the city created attractions and new businesses. Some people believe that changes in policing created a less threatening environment; crime rates dropped, and urban development reduced urban decay.
This in turn led to a surge in culture. New York City became, once again, "the center for all things chic and trendy". Hip-hop and rap music, led by New York City, became the most popular pop genre. Immigration to both the city and state rose. New York City, with a large gay and lesbian community, suffered many deaths from AIDS beginning in the 1980s.
New York City increased its already large share of television programming, home to the network news broadcasts, as well as two of the three major cable news networks. The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times became two of the three "national" newspapers, read throughout the country. New York also increased its dominance of the financial services industry centered on Wall Street, led by banking expansion, a rising stock market, innovations in investment banking, including junk bond trading and accelerated by the savings and loan crisis that decimated competitors elsewhere in New York.
Upstate did not fare as well as downstate; the major industries that began to reinvigorate New York City did not typically spread to other regions. The number of farms in the state had fallen to 30,000 by 1997. City populations continued to decline while suburbs grew in area, but did not increase proportionately in population. High-tech industry grew in cities such as Corning and Rochester. Overall New York entered the new millennium "in a position of economic strength and optimism".
In 2001, New York entered a new era following the 9/11 attacks, the worst terrorist attack ever to take place on American soil. Two of the four hijacked passenger jets crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, destroying them, and killing almost 3,000 people. One flew into the Pentagon demolishing the walls. The final one was almost taken back over by the passengers aboard and crashed into an open grassland with 296 out of the 500 people dead. Thousands of New Yorkers volunteered their time to search the ruin for survivors and remains in the following weeks.
Following the attacks, plans were announced to rebuild the World Trade Center site. 7 World Trade Center became the first World Trade Center skyscraper to be rebuilt in five years after the attacks. One World Trade Center, four more office towers, and a memorial to the casualties of the September 11 attacks are under construction as of 2011. One World Trade Center opened on November 3, 2014.
On October 29 and 30, 2012, Hurricane Sandy caused extensive destruction of the state's shorelines, ravaging portions of New York City, Long Island, and southern Westchester with record-high storm surge, with severe flooding and high winds causing power outages for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, and leading to gasoline shortages and disruption of mass transit systems. The storm and its profound effects have prompted the discussion of constructing seawalls and other coastal barriers around the shorelines of New York City and Long Island to minimize the risk from another such future event. Such risk is considered highly probable due to global warming and rising sea levels.
Fraser Riverfront Trail — the most consistent viewing area; look for eagles perched above the river.
Bald eagles are one of the signature wildlife sightings at Kanaka Creek Regional Park, especially along the Fraser Riverfront Trail, where they perch in cottonwoods, hunt for salmon, and ride the river winds. The mix of creek, river, and open shoreline makes this one of Maple Ridge’s most reliable year‑round eagle‑watching spots.
📍 Best Places to See Eagles
• Fraser Riverfront Trail — the most consistent viewing area; look for eagles perched above the river.
• Viewing towers along the Riverfront section offer elevated vantage points.
• Near the mouth of Kanaka Creek where salmon gather and gulls feed — eagles often follow.
• Tall snags and cottonwoods near the picnic area and along the dyke.
🐟 What They Feed On
• Salmon carcasses during spawning seasons.
• Waterfowl and small mammals in the marshy edges.
• Carrion along the riverbanks.
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Since Volvo Bus entered the Indian market in 2001, it has consistently held a significant share in the nation's luxury bus sector. In 2013, Scania Bus, in partnership with the Malaysian coachbuilder Gemilang Coachwork, also made its foray into the Indian market. They introduced the "Metrolink" series, built upon their K310, K360, and K410 chassis, featuring specially designed bodies co-produced for India.
Similar to Volvo Bus, Scania also offered products in three different lengths: a 12-meter two-axle version, and 13.7-meter and 14.5-meter three-axle versions. The 12-metre two-axle model is equipped with a 5-cylinder, 9-litre DC09 engine, delivering a maximum of 310 horsepower. The 3-axle versions uniformly utilise a 6-cylinder, 13-litre DC13 engine, with horsepower outputs of 360 and 410, respectively. It is noteworthy that the Metrolink series, as originally launched by the manufacturer, were all configured with seating arrangements. The sleeper versions of the Scania Metrolink that subsequently appeared in the Indian market are believed to be later conversions undertaken by local workshops.
The vehicle depicted, WB 73 E 4335, belongs to Sima Five Star Travels and is the first Scania Metrolink in West Bengal to be converted into a 2+1 sleeper configuration. Following its modification, it continues to serve with Sima Five Star Travels. Of particular note is that the original Scania Metrolink has a body height of 3.7 metres. To accommodate the double-decker sleeper berths, the entire body was raised during the conversion. However, the original height lines can still be clearly discerned at the front of the vehicle. Furthermore, luxury buses in India are predominantly used for overnight long-haul routes. Although sleeper bus fares are higher than those for seated buses, their enhanced comfort is more favored by middle-class passengers. This preference explains why some Scania Metrolink buses have been converted into sleeper configurations.
Singapore Zoo ranks consistently (after San Diego Zoo) as one of the best in the world.
The penguins are a delight to watch.
For the story, please visit: www.ursulasweeklywanders.com/travel/teeth-claws-and-colou...
Free download under CC Attribution (CC BY 4.0). Please credit the artist and rawpixel.com.
Vintage fish illustrations from Ichtyologie, ou, Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière des poissons (1785–1797) by Marcus Elieser Bloch (1723–1799), the German physician and naturalist. Bloch was the most influential ichthyologist of the 18th century who consistently devoted himself to natural objects, anatomy, and physiology. This collection showcases his devotion to ichthyology, illustrating more than 400 various types of fish. We have digitally enhanced these richly colored public domain illustrations in high-resolution printable quality. Free to download under the CC0 license.
Higher resolutions with no attribution required can be downloaded: https://www.rawpixel.com/board/938140/ichtyologie-ou-histoire-naturelle-generale-et-particuliere-des-poissons?sort=curated&mode=shop&page=1
Atop the gatepost at the Ancient Playground in Central Park, New York.
Sculpture by Paul Manship, 1957.
Here's what we should know about the sculptor (spoiler: he created the state of Prometheus at Rockefeller Center):
Paul Howard Manship (December 24, 1885 – January 28, 1966) was an American sculptor. He consistently created mythological pieces in a classical style, and was a major force in the Art Deco movement. He is well known for his large public commissions, including the iconic Prometheus in Rockefeller Center. He is also credited for designing the modern rendition of New York City's official seal.
Manship gained notice early in his career for rejecting the Beaux Arts movement and preferring linear compositions with a flowing simplicity. Additionally, he shared a summer home in Plainfield, New Hampshire, part of the Cornish Art Colony, with William Zorach for a number of years. Other members of the highly social colony were also contemporary artists.
Manship created his own artist retreat on Cape Ann, developing a 15-acre site in Gloucester, MA that had been two former granite quarries. A local nonprofit, the Manship Artists Residence and Studios has been formed to preserve this estate and establish an artist residency program at the site.
Early Life, Education
Paul Howard Manship was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, on December 24, 1885, the son of Charles H. and Mary Etta (Friend) Manship. His father, born in Mississippi, was a clerk for the St. Paul gas company, and with his wife, who was born in Pennsylvania, were parents of seven children.
Charles and Mary were married in St. Paul, on July 14, 1870, and raised their family in a home they owned at 304 Nelson (later Marshall) Avenue.
Paul H. Manship began his art studies at the St. Paul School of Art in Minnesota. From there he moved to Philadelphia and continued his education at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Following that he migrated to New York City where he enrolled in the Art Students League of New York, studying anatomy with George Bridgman and modeling under Hermon Atkins MacNeil. From 1905 to 1907 he served as an assistant to sculptor Solon Borglum and spent the two years after that studying with Charles Grafly and assisting Isidore Konti.
In 1909, at Konti's urging, he entered the competition for, and won, the Rome Prize and shortly thereafter decamped for Rome where he attended the American Academy from 1909 until 1912.
While in Europe he became increasingly interested in Archaic art, his own work began to take on some archaic features, and he became more and more attracted to classical subjects. He also developed an interest in classical sculpture of India, and traces of that influence can be observed in his work (see "Dancer and Gazelles" in Gallery). Manship was one of the first artists to become aware of the vast scope of art history being newly excavated at the time and became intensely interested in Egyptian, Assyrian and pre-classical Greek sculpture.
Career
Prometheus at Rockefeller Center
When he returned to America from his European sojourn, Manship found that his style was attractive to both modernists and conservatives. His simplification of line and detail appealed to those who wished to move beyond the Beaux-Arts classical realism prevalent in the day. Also, his view of and use of a more traditional "beauty" as well as an avoidance of the more radical and abstract trends in art made his works attractive to more conservative art collectors. Manship's work is often considered to be a major precursor to Art Deco.
Manship produced over 700 works and always employed assistants of the highest quality. At least two of them, Gaston Lachaise and Leo Friedlander, went on to create significant places for themselves in the history of American sculpture.
Although not known as a portraitist, he did produce statues and busts of Theodore Roosevelt, Samuel Osgood, John D. Rockefeller, Robert Frost, Gifford Beal and Henry L. Stimson.
Manship was very adept at low relief and used these skills to produce a large number of coins and medals. Among his more prominent are the Dionysus medal, the second issue of the long running Society of Medalists; the first term inaugural medal for Franklin D. Roosevelt; and the John F. Kennedy inaugural medal. Additionally, during WW II he designed the U. S. Merchant Marine's Distinguished Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal and Mariner's Medal.
Manship was chosen by the American Battle Monuments Commission to create monuments following both the First and Second World Wars. They are located respectively in the American Cemetery at Thiaucourt, France in 1926, and in the military cemetery at Anzio, Italy.
Affiliations and Awards
For a number of summers early in his career, Manship found social and artistic companionship in Plainfield, New Hampshire, then part of the Cornish Art Colony, which attracted sculptors such as Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Herbert Adams, Daniel Chester French, and William Zorach. He visited first in 1916, returned the next three years, and then returned again a decade later. This period in his life has been recognized as significant, and Harry Rand observed that "Manship recognized 1916 as the year of his artistic maturity...[he] seemed to express modern ideas in terms of the primitive.
Manship served on the board of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and chaired the board. Manship was affiliated with the National Academy of Design, the National Sculpture Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He served on the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts from 1937 to 1941. His many honors include a Pierpont Morgan fellowship, a Widener Gold Medal from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and the award of Chevalier from the French Legion of Honor. Manship's extensive papers, maquettes and sculptures are housed in the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art. In 2004 the Smithsonian mounted a retrospective of Manship's career which resulted in a reappraisal of the sculptor's work.
There is a gallery dedicated to the display of Manship's work at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Manship was father of the artist John Paul Manship (1927–2000).
Got some equipment set up for more consistent picture taking. This seems a pretty good starting point.
Singapore Zoo ranks consistently (after San Diego Zoo) as one of the best in the world.
Watching the power of this animal as he leaps for the incoming food is just breathtaking. You can see the deadly canines in the powerful jaw. At 16, Omar was already old for a tiger, and he died 16 months after this was taken.
For the story, please visit: www.ursulasweeklywanders.com/travel/teeth-claws-and-colou...
This magnificent scene of the Roman campagna is impressive not only for its scale and dramatic composition, but also for the consistently high quality one finds throughout the painting. Busiri Vici rightly stated that the main protagonists of Van Bloemen’s landscapes are the trees, the natural elements which he so vividly portrays, rather than any of the figures that populate them, and this is one of the most significant examples in his œuvre. The artist has created a convincing sense of depth by drawing us into the landscape through a river placed in the centre foreground. The men and women resting on its banks act as repoussoir figures and our eye is immediately led to the hills beyond where the real focus of the painting is: a bolt of lightning has just struck a hill-top and a fire is just breaking out beside a farmhouse that the bolt narrowly missed.
In this, as in other arcadian landscapes painted by the artist, Van Bloemen shows his skill in rendering different atmospheric effects. We sense the storm moving swiftly over the landscape, the storm-clouds being driven by a wind which bends trees under its force. The bolt of lightning in the centre of the painting is a motif which recurs in other paintings by Van Bloemen, but never on the same scale or with the same dramatic emphasis as it does here: compare, for example, his Stormy landscapes in the Galleria Doria Pamphilij, Rome, and Galleria Sabauda, Turin (Busiri Vici, see Literature, nos. 22 and 340, both reproduced); or the small copper tondo in a Roman private collection (ibid., no. 105, reproduced). The Temple of Vesta (or Temple of the Sibyl) was a favourite motif not just for Van Bloemen but for the many vedutisti who portrayed the Roman campagna and Tivoli in particular. Its partially ruined structure, still visible today, dominates a rocky hill-top and the waterfall pours out from under it; a detail used again by Van Bloemen on numerous occasions (compare a painting of upright format in which this becomes the main subject of the painting; ibid., no. 135, reproduced). The figures, which are of exceedingly high quality, are probably by Van Bloemen himself rather than by any of the painters with whom he frequently collaborated.
This work is likely to be identifiable with a painting recorded in a letter, dated 14 January 1736, sent by Van Bloemen to the architect Filippo Juvarra in Madrid. The artist talks of four paintings he is working on for Elisabetta Farnese (1692-1766), second wife of Philip V and Queen of Spain, all of which measure seven by ten palmi romani (approx. 156 by 223 cm.); a pair of vertical format (showing Villa Medici with antique vases) and another horizontal pair: “…gli altri due sono per traverso l’uno rappresenta gli Orti Farnesiani, con tutta la veduta di Campovaccino di Roma, l’altro rappresenta la gran cascata di Tivoli” (cited in Busiri Vici, op. cit., pp. 228-9, doc. no. 3). The former is to be identified with the painting belonging to the Gruppo Ferruzzi and sold, Milan, Sotheby's, 8 June 1994, lot 268, which is of very similar dimensions to the present work (172 by 247 cm.; ibid., no. 211, figs. 10, 33, 34 and 190). Van Bloemen goes on to say that he wishes them to be hung in the Palacio Real and that he would like to be paid a sum of 300 scudi Romani for each pair, given the effort he has put into them (“quadri che mi costano una lunga fatica”). Pascoli, in his biography on the artist written shortly afterwards, mentions only two paintings for the Queen of Spain and records only the Farnese-related subjects, but Van Bloemen’s letter should be taken as firm evidence: the fact that paintings on such a large scale, particularly of Tivoli, are rare in his work, makes an identification with the Farnese painting more than likely.
www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2005/old-master-p...
Harpobittacus australis
Family: Bittacidae
Order: Mecoptera
Location is consistent with Harpobittacus australis which has a distribution across southern regions of Australia.
Common name is the Australian Scorpionfly in the Hangingfly family of Bittacidae. They are unique in having raptorial hind legs which they use for holding prey. Male present insect prey to female as nuptial gifts.
Character(s) used for identification: Slender elongate body and legs. Red and black colouration. Long, narrow wings with 30-50mm span. Wings are brown tinged and held roof-like above the abdomen. Head is hypognathous with the clypeus, labrum and other mouthparts forming a rostrum. Large compound eyes. Ocelli present. Cervix (neck) membranous, somewhat elongate. Pronotum saddle-like, wider than long and with transverse ridges. Long slender legs which are used for their characteristic ‘hanging’ pose on branches. Coxae are elongate. Hind legs have raptorial tarsal segments.
It was seen here apparently feeding on the Flannel Flowers (Actinotus helianthi), but it was probably looking for an opportunity to feed on insect prey too.
The following is an interesting video by Denis Crawford:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5NpN8Vn2Bw
DSC01793 _DSC01798 _DSC01796 LR TZ
Unfettered by party affiliation or corporate control, DrikNews consistently provides news photographs which are of public interest regardless of the vested interest of the power elite. Photo: Ranak Martin. December 9, 2012 [DrikNEWS] – Opposition activists were engaged in clashes with police and pro-government supporters on Sunday morning as they fight to gain control of Gabtoli area, the hub of North-bound long-distance passenger transportation. The area turned into a battleground as the pro-blockade activists and their rivals equipped with firearms, knives and sticks fought for five hours during the 18-Party alliance declared countrywide blockade demanding parliamentary polls under a non-party caretaker government. At least six vehicles were torched in the clash. The road was blocked with burning tyres.
This started on Tumblr but I appreciate a lot of people on Flickr so I'm bringing it over! ;)
@lostfrontier, I appreciate your honesty and practicality in a very frivolous hobby, and I'm so glad you work so hard to make the Boston meets as consistent and awesome as they are! Your nail art and faceups are getting so good, it's a genuine inspiration.
@sephyelysian, I'm so glad we're friends, and by friends I mean mutual enabling society ;) ;) ;) You always have an open ear/chatbox, and it's so fun to discuss plans with you! Also I appreciate Ro, I am the secretary of his fan club (because Mitchell is the president, obviously!)
ChriseeV, I'll never forget how you restrung my very first doll at my second ever meet, out of the kindness of your heart. And because you're really good at it! ;) I'm so glad you moved closer than Mars and I can't wait to come harass you at your new place a little more!
@dolltrash, welcome to the cesspit that is Tumblr! Not as classy as LJ ;) I'm so glad we're friends and I absolutely adore your crew. Especially Sally! ;) I'm glad we've gotten to do dolly travels together, and I'm hoping fortune will give us more opportunities to do that in the future!
@theapathetic, JEEZ could you STOP having a life and COME PLAY DOLLS i mean damn leveling up in your life is fine and like whatever but I mean DOLLS. Dolls dolls dolls. I'm so glad we can play games or dolls, and that your partner is such a kind and sweet vampire.
@magicallyabsurdly, I appreciate your low-key humor and kindness. It's very relaxing to spend time with you because you're so chill. Here's hoping school is a little less brutal next year!
Sjaan, I MISS YOUUUUUU! I'm looking forward to tiny people party times. You're such a genuinely kind person, and your artistic skills are amazing!
Arthur, my world traveling friend, servant of the Daraes, run away from your cold barren home and return to Boston! I miss you too!
@sicktress, it's always fun to see what you're working on, you have so many creative ideas! Naoto being my favorite of those, of course ;) And I like bumping elbows with the Tumblr glitterati ;) ;) ;)
@bellaanaris, I'm so glad you come to the meets, you're such a kind and funny person! :D Morrigan and Eleanor are such cuties!
@traumer-of-dreams, your devotion to Luci is inspiring, Marcus is such a sweetheart, and I can't wait to see what you do with Mr. Aragorn when he gets home! :D
@blithefool, I love seeing your dolls, and I'm so glad you can come to the meets so I can see them in person! You have an amazingly hip collection of dolls and t-shirts, and such a nice sense of humor, too. :D
Lady Kanna and @azurepalerthanthesky, I hope we get to hang out more in 2016! I really enjoy spending time just talking to you guys, and marveling at your dolls' cuteness! :D Your pictures always end up so pretty, with perfect fashion and a perfect backdrop. Lady Kanna, I've known you since the earliest days I was in the hobby, ever since you were kind to my first Littlefee, and it's been so nice to see how our collections have developed over time. Also many thanks for the kind Christmas gifts! I still need to take pictures but both of the necklaces are absolutely perfect!
Essie, thank you again for inviting us to your lovely home! You're so kind and welcoming, and I'm absolutely in awe of your sewing skills, and your generosity in letting me play with your dolls! Here's hoping we get to spend more time together in 2016!
@hushikins, thank you for being a good dolly friend! :D Your crew is lovely and it was so good to see you at Dolpa. Here's hoping 2016 brings health and happiness for you and your family!
@micaeverywhere, I can never stop thanking you for giving my dearest dolly Sofie her perfect face! Your faceups are true art and I love seeing your fabulous cosplays, too!
@darjeeling-shop, your faceups are gorgeous and you're such a sweet person! I'm looking forward to seeing your work, it's always innovative and beautiful!
@mogrifae, your dolls always have such a consistent nature-y mori-y aesthetic that I clearly can't put into words very well, but I love just the same! ;)
@gu-wak-jai, it was so nice to 'meet' you on IG this year. Lately I've felt like it's really hard to talk to new people in the doll hobby because it's so hard to know who's actually nice, but your comments on my dolls were always so kind, and I'm looking forward to knowing you and your cute crew even better in 2016!
And finally, if you've bought a legit doll this year, to support the artists, or even just saved up to do that when you can, you go! Congratulations on your hard work and I hope you enjoy your dolls!
If you've given up recasts and gone legit this year, and posted about it publicly, you go! Please keep speaking out so that others can see the benefits of making an ethical choice in dolly buying.
And last but not least, @anblargray, I love you.
The U.S. Army remains at the forefront of modern warfare, consistently adapting and evolving to safeguard vital U.S. national security interests and meet the ever-changing challenges of today’s complex security environment. Maintaining its strength, edge, and combat credibility and preparing for future readiness requires continued investments, a commitment to modernization, and concerted efforts to prioritize and care for its people.
On March 21, the Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology at Brookings held a conversation with Army Chief of Staff General James C. McConville on the Army’s modernization and the state of its readiness, its support of the National Defense Strategy, its commitments to recruiting and retaining its service members, and lessons it has learned from the war in Ukraine.
Photo Credit: Paul Morigi
Here’s my Fashionistas Daisy Pop on a curvy Made to Move body. Her make up was smudged in box but I decided to enhance it to make it look less flat and I’m really surprised by how much I like her now. After a year or so of consistent disappointments from Mattel it’s nice having a *new* doll I don’t completely despise despite customizing her.
I was really surprised how much nicer she is in person cuz I assumed Mattel just slapped the same white curvy doll with pink hair but her tanned skin really pops with everything.
Church on the Australian $50 note at Raukkan Aboriginal Community near Meningie South Australia.
Wellington.
Morphett selected the area around Wellington and up both banks of the Murray River for the Secondary Towns Association as a Special Survey for £4,000 in 1839. Morphett bought up land in the district for himself as well. The Secondary Towns Association had also paid for the Special Survey at Currency Creek which they foresaw would become the New Orleans of the South. They had the same idea about Wellington (although Morphett wanted to call the town Victoria.) They surveyed the land, selling off 400 forty acre farmlets and they subdivided one thousand town blocks for the town of Wellington. Their high expectations were not met, few town blocks were built upon and Wellington East on the other side of the Murray never developed at all. Wellington was at the end of the Murray and at the entranced to Lake Alexandrina but traffic was slow and when the river trade did begin in 1854 Wellington was just one stop among many. It never became a major river port. Its two ongoing and consistent functions were to provide ferry services across the Murray River and to house the police, Aboriginal Sub-Protection Officer (John Mason for many years) and visiting court officials.
Apart from John Morphett, one of the first buyers of freehold land in Wellington and near Wellington was Allan McFarlane who later built Wellington Lodge. Other early land purchasers were the Cooke brothers and Robert Barr Smith. All saw the potential of Wellington but only McFarlane stayed the distance and reaped the rewards. Although being located at a major crossing point of the Murray and being the gateway town for the land route down to the South East and on to Port Phillip colony, Wellington suffered set backs. In 1879 a new road and rail bridge was opened at Edwards Crossing, now Murray Bridge removing much of the traffic across the Murray at Wellington. The town survived this. But the arrival of the railway at nearby Tailem Bend (1886) took even more traffic away from Wellington. Although there was government talk of a bridge across the Murray at Wellington in 1864 nothing happened at that stage. The feasibility studies were done on several crossing points with Wellington coming in the most expensive as the bedrock soil report was not favourable. Wellington would have been the most expensive option for bridging the Murray. Edwards Crossing, the cheapest, was selected instead in the 1870s.
But before the bridge was built Willington in the 1840s had great potential. Morphett operated the first ferry across the Murray in 1839 before the town was established in 1840. The town had a police presence before the township was established too with a Sub-Protector of Aboriginals based there. The government stationed police there from 1841 to bring law and order to the region. The first police station was built in 1845 but it was probably not much more than a shanty. It was replaced by a new station in 1849. But the soft soils at Wellington meant that this structure was soon in need of replacement and it was condemned in 1862. The current police station, and court house (and originally ferry house too) were erected in 1864. The stables were added in 1865. Although in a good state of repair it has not been a court house and police station for many years. It was owned by the National Trust but it has recently been sold to private occupiers. In the 1840s two hotels were licensed in Wellington but only one survived, the 1846 built Wellington Hotel. Despite modernisation it is still there and still operates.
Perhaps the most famous ferryman at Wellington was the former Police Commissioner Alexander Tolmer. The one time Commissioner of Police, and instigator of the Gold Escort services from the Victorian goldfields in the early 1850s. But by 1857 he was unemployed as his position was made redundant. In that year Tolmer moved to Wellington to become a sheep farmer and the ferry man. He wrote his biography which he called A Chequered Career to explain his demise. He had pioneered a route across the Ninety Mile desert to Victoria to escort gold back to Adelaide to be assayed in the SA office. The first escort in 1852 took nine days to reach Bendigo. The Governor Sir Henry Fox gave a dinner party for Tolmer on his return and a gift of £100. Commissioner Tolmer led two more escorts but in total some 18 escorts were conducted. Some time later when he was away on police business, a review of the police department led to him being demoted to Inspector. Then this inspector position was abolished in 1856. Our gold hero was then unemployed! In 1857 he moved to Wellington and took up a block of land. Tolmer wrote about himself:”I knew no more about sheep farming than the man in the moon.” He gave up farming and was almost destitute but he then he gained a part time job as returning officer for the District of Murray. His main income was rent from his house at Norwood. In 1859/60 he bought a boat from Mr Potts a boat builder (and wine maker) of Langhorne’s Creek and he began a second ferry service across the Murray. He nearly drowned working his ferry and Alan McFarlane, the great pastoralist of Wellington Lodge rescued him and the boat. Then in 1862 Tolmer was appointed Crown Lands Ranger at a salary of £200 per annum. In 1866 he and his family were transferred to Kingston South East and he departed from Wellington. In 1871 he returned to the Valuations Department of the government in Adelaide. He then lived at Mitcham until he died there in 1891.
Wellington Lodge and Allan McFarlane.
The first pastoralist settlers in the area were the family of Allen McFarlane who established a lease hold run near Wellington in 1845 covering 72,000 acres. They built a grand house called Wellington Lodge, noted for its fine wrought iron work and views over Lake Alexandrina. The original Georgian house of 1843 was incorporated into a later huge Victorian Italianate style house. Wellington Lodge has hosted several royal visits in 1867 and again in 1927 and members of the family were local MPs and councillors. On his Wellington run McFarlane soon owned 43,000 acres freehold apart from his leasehold land. Allan McFarlane died in 1864 and his son died in 1908 but descendants still operate the property. The McFarlane family operate the property as an Angus beef stud.
Poltalloch.
In 1839 Neill Malcolm (and John) of Poltalloch in Scotland applied in London for a £4,000 for 4,000 acres Special Survey around the shores of Lake Alexandrina. The survey was not finished until 1841 and then the Malcolm’s began their estate as absentee landlords with a local manager. In 1842 a simple Scottish style cottage was built on the property. Behind the narrow strip of 4,000 acres along the Lake frontage the Malcolm’s took out an annual lease, and later a 14 year lease, on a huge estate of 24,000 acres which they ran as a cattle station and dairy. John Malcolm inherited Poltalloch from his brother in 1857 and also acquired a lease for Campbell Park, an adjoining run on Lake Albert. In 1873 the freehold and leased land of Poltalloch was sold to John Bowman. Descendants of John Bowman still live at Poltalloch and run the property. The grand house there was built in 1876.
Narrung and Point Malcolm Lighthouse.
The Malcolms of Poltalloch had their association with the district memorialised in the only inland lighthouse in Australia. The lighthouse at Narrung on the narrow entrance from Lake Alexandrina into Lake Albert was named Point Malcolm. The lighthouse here was erected as an aid to shipping and lake transport in 1878 just a few years after the founding of Meningie. At that time the land route to the South East was from Milang across the lakes to Meningie by steamer and then down through the Coorong by coach. A local Strathalbyn builder charged over £1,000 to build the lighthouse and the keeper’s cottage. The lighthouse was turned off in 1931 and a lighted pole erected nearby for leisure sailors and fishermen as most commercial trade on the lakes stopped by 1931.
The land here was taken up by leasehold by the South Australian Company in 1843 and named Narrung from a local Ngarrindjeri word meaning place of “large she-oaks.” It was a beef cattle property covering most of the peninsula south from Narrung. This leasehold station was then taken over by the Honourable John Baker a wealthy pastoralist and a very conservative politician. (He opposed the railways to Port Adelaide and Gawler in 1856 and wanted members of the Legislative Council to be elected for life!) By the time of his death in 1872 he had 11,000 acres of freehold land near Lake Albert as well as leasehold land along the Coorong. He held major properties at Morialta where he lived, Harrogate, Tungkillo, and runs in the Flinders Ranges and elsewhere in SA. He was to later defame George Taplin and argue strongly against the establishment of Point McLeay Mission for Aboriginal people. Baker attended church at the Anglican Church at Norton Summit and his likeness is carved in stone there and the stained glass windows are memorials to members of his family. When Narrung Station was put up for sale by a later owner in 1906 the state government purchased the station and then subdivided it into small farms for closer settlement. Despite appeals from the Aboriginal Friends’ Association (AFA) not one acre was granted to the Aboriginal Mission at this time. The small township of Narrung with about 40 town blocks was surveyed and laid out in 1907. The school opened in 1912.
George Taplin, Point McLeay Mission and Raukkan Aboriginal Community.
The origin of the Ngarrindjeri Mission of the AFA goes back to the drive of George Taplin, the founding missionary, and the need for the mission because of destruction of the traditional fishing and hunting grounds of the Ngarrindjeri people. The Ngarrindjeri occupied the lands along the Coorong from Kingston, around the two lakes and up the Murray to where Murray Bridge now stands, and across the bottom of Fleurieu Peninsula to Cape Jervis. These lands were all areas of Special Surveys in 1839 and early white settlement. The close access to fresh water attracted pastoralists and where there were not Special Surveys the lands were granted to white pastoralists by annual and later 14 year leases. As one writer, Graham Jenkins, has claimed in his history of the lower lakes, the Ngarrindjeri were conquered by whites and then dispossessed of their lands and food sources. The Aboriginal Friends’ Association was formed in 1857 from various Protestant denominations but with a strong Anglican backing. They wanted to assist with the physical living conditions of Aboriginal people as well as introducing them to Christianity. Welfare was their primary aim. The believed Aboriginal people deserved more than blankets and meagre government food rations. The AFA called for reports and were told that 30 to 40 Aboriginal children in Goolwa from the Ngarrindjeri were in desperate need of schooling. Parliament offered a grant of £500 for the establishment of a school in the vicinity of Goolwa. In 1859 the new AFA committee agreed to appoint an agent to find the best location for the school. George Taplin, a school teacher of Goolwa, was appointed to this role of finding a suitable location and then to set up a mission and school. Taplin had been concerned about Aboriginal welfare for some years. He relished his new position. Taplin selected a spot at Point McLeay (McLeay was second in charge of the Charles Sturt expedition of 1830 along the Murray). To the Ngarrindjeri this spot was called Raukkan hence the name of the Aboriginal Community here today.
The leaseholder of land adjoining Raukkan was John Baker of Morialta. He objected to Taplin’s choice as an Aboriginal Mission there would be “prejudicial to his interests” as the government grant for the Mission was coming out of his leasehold of Narrung station. As a state politician he initiated the first Royal Commission by an SA government into the conditions and welfare of Aboriginal people. He had hoped to have Taplin and the AFA ousted from his land. But this was not the outcome of the Royal Commission which looked at issues across SA, not just around the lower lakes, and the Commission found no reason to relocate the Taplin Mission. In one sense Baker had one justifiable point- the Raukkan Mission had insufficient land to provide a satisfactory livelihood for the Aboriginal residents. They could fish the lakes and the Coorong, they could work on the pastoral properties of Poltalloch and Campbell Park, they could grow their own vegetables, but they had insufficient land to crop or to pasture sheep or cattle on in terms of income. The land at Raukkan might have provided for one family, not dozens. This lack of land and income was an ongoing problem with the Mission. But Baker’s other claims that Taplin only wanted the salary and was not interested in aboriginal welfare, that he was lazy, and that he bribed the Ngarrindjeri to attend church were all patently false.
Taplin set to work to establish a school at Raukkan, then some cottages for the Aboriginal people, as well as one for his own family, and the church, depicted our $50 note which opened in 1869. Taplin learnt Ngarrindjeri language, recorded it, wrote many essays and published books on the Aborigines of South Australia. He died in 1879 when one of his sons took over as superintendent of the Mission. George Taplin was revered and respected by the Ngarrindjeri people. He tried to establish a commercial fishing operation for the Ngarrindjeri, he organised football and cricket matches with local white teams, he assisted with the employment of Aboriginal people on the nearby great stations, and the community ran a business washing wool for the Bowman brothers’ estates. The school was his first priority and the school room opened in 1860. Taplin is especially remembered for his Ngarrindjeri translations of books from the Bible which are unique in Australia. By the time Taplin died Raukkan had about 1,700 acres of land, the size of a normal farm. It began in 1860 with a lease from the government of just 750 acres. In 1878 the AFA got a leasehold block along the Coorong for sheep grazing, holidays and fishing. The Raukkan Mission under the guidance of the AFA and strong educationists like George Taplin produced three well known Aboriginal preachers and an outstanding writer, scientist and inventor, David Unaipon who is also depicted on our $50 note. David (1872-1967) was born on the mission, died in Tailem Bend and was buried back in Raukkan. In 1909 he developed and patented a new form of shearing cutters. He was an internationally recognised expert in ballistics although he had no formal university education. He patented nine inventions including a centrifugal motor. He did research at the University of Adelaide although he was not employed there. He mainly got his income from preaching and writing.
The Raukkan Mission was taken over from the AFA in 1916 by the state government which then assumed full control. It was then known as Point McLeay Aboriginal Reserve and over the years it acquired some additional land but never sufficient for a good income for the Reserve. In 1974 the Raukkan lands were handed over to the Ngarrindjeri people and they changed the Reserve name to Raukkan Aboriginal Community in 1982. The town has memorial cairns to George Taplin, Captain Charles Sturt and David Unaipon. The old church has good stained glass windows and an interesting interior with no central church aisle which is most unusual. George Taplin’s cottage from the 1860s is now the Raukkan Gallery and museum.
Campbell Park and Campbell House.
This large property was originally part of the SA Company’s Narrung leasehold of 1843. It was then taken over by Duncan MacFarlane (not related to Allan McFarlane of Wellington Lodge) and then purchased by Donald Gollan of Strathalbyn who in turn sold the leasehold to John Malcolm of Poltalloch in 1857. In 1873/4 it was taken over by Thomas Bowman at the time when his brother was purchasing adjoining Poltalloch station. At that stage the Campbell Park run was 80,000 acres. The Bowmans were great house builders and Thomas set about building his grand house at Campbell Park just as brother John Bowman built Poltalloch in 1876. Both houses were built at the same time. Campbell Park like Poltalloch was a small village with workmen’s cottages, sheds, general store, tack rooms etc. It was on the waterfront as at that time the main form of transport to and from the estate was by lake steamer. The Malcolm’s had had a small residence built, probably for their manager in the 1860s but it was replaced by the larger and current Campbell Park house in the late 1870s.
Campbell Park House was enlarged in 1881 for the royal visit of two of Queen Victoria’s grandsons, Albert and George, the sons of Edward who became King Edward 1901-10. The tower and two extra bedrooms were added at that stage. Although the Bowmans ran Campbell Park as a cattle property they also experimented with ostrich farms for about 10 years( 1893-1905) when ostrich plumes were at their peak of popularity for the adornment of ladies hats! The Bowmans kept Campbell Park until 1951 when it was resumed by the government to create soldier settlers blocks for returning World War Two soldiers. For some years the house was empty and derelict but the current owner restored it after 2002 and now it is run as an up market bed and breakfast (www.campbellpark.com.au). The house includes a ballroom, twelve main rooms and amazingly for the 1880s five bathrooms! Perhaps some were added for the royal visit of 1881? In 1918 the Bowman’s sold most of the Campbell Park property to a pastoral company (Yalkuri). That property also operated until 1951 when it too was subdivided for small beef/dairy cattle properties for returning soldiers from World War Two. The grand old house was left on a small 50 acre block.
Also on the Bowman’s property of Campbell Park is Campbell House which we see on the road into Meningie. It began life as a manager’s residence probably in the late 1860s. But the Bowmans were also resident managers. They were not city dwellers and they built grand houses on their properties as that was where they actually lived. Arthur Bowman, the son of Thomas Bowman, was made a partner in Campbell Park in 1892 and took up residence in Campbell House rather than Campbell Park house. When Thomas Bowman died in 1912 Arthur became the sole proprietor of Campbell House and a few thousand adjoining acres. At that time, 1912, Arthur extended significantly Campbell House. It has many Art Nouveau and Art Deco features including stained glass windows designed by Mrs. Bowman. The left over stained glass was used for the stained glass windows in the Anglican Church in Meningie! Arthur Bowman and his son lived in this property until it was sold in 1951 to the government. The government kept the house and used it as a training entre for Aboriginal boys for some years. During this time much internal damage was done, marble fire places removed, etc. The current owner has recently begun major restoration.
Meningie.
'Meningie' is an Aboriginal word meaning 'mud' an appropriate name for a town on the edge of Lake Albert! The area around the town site was a leasehold station of the South Australian Company called Bonney Wells. (Charles Bonney had discovered this district on one of his overland explorations in 1839.) The government laid out the town of Meningie in 1866 as a staging point on the coach route to Melbourne. Passengers travelled by coach to Milang, then by lake steamer to Meningie and then onwards by coach to the South East and Melbourne. The mails from Adelaide followed the same route. Meningie still had this lake steamer connection to Adelaide into the 1930s but by then the connection from Adelaide to Milang was by steam train (that line opened in 1884). In the 1950s it was a thriving dairying district and the town had a cheese factory. It operated from 1956-1970. Part of the old cheese factory is now the local museum. After surveying town blocks in 1866 many sold quickly. Within a few years there were two hotels in the town, a town jetty (1867), and an Institute and Reading Room (1889.) The public school opened in 1869. A Methodist church was erected in 1878 and is on the road out of town with a newer 1950s church in the Main Street. The Anglican Church of St. John the Evangelist opened for worship in 1882 and it too is in the Main Street near the Institute building. The cemetery is a kilometre or so out of town. The newish Catholic and Lutheran churches are up on the hill near the hospital on the southern exit of the town.
Several gypsum deposits were discovered in the Meningie area in 1995 and are now mined by Meningie Gypsum Pty Ltd. Mining also commenced in 1997 at the Gemlake deposit 6km south of Meningie. Another mine site opened in 1999 at Elephant Lake, 13km northeast of Meningie. But the main industry of the region is still dairy farming and beef cattle and sheep along the Coorong.
I'm trying to get consistent and better smoke rings from my setup. Here's some more smoke rings. As promised I'll let you all know how I got the rings when I get better at it. Until then keep visiting back and fav the pic if you like it.
Strobist Info:
For the bottle picture I used a Canon 580 EX II at 1/8th power and 28mm zoom shot through the umbrella from above the subject to avoid glare. I used a Canon 100mm macro lens on a Canon T1i body. For the smoke picture read detail setup and how to do this shot? go here.
Please Fav the picture if you like it and Follow me in twitter and facebook for some valuable tips.
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You're meant to make a difference. This is your time. Now is your moment. Begin." ~ Robin Sharma
Canon 550D, Sigma South Africa 10-20 mm @ 20 mm, F6.3, ISO 100, SS via AV
Outing with Graham Gillett and Focus On Us group this morning at Wilson's Wharf Durban Harbour.
Not consistent with model years. 1954 windshield, 1955 grille, 1956 side trim. Gilmore Museum, the Red Barns
Feeding young takes consistent hunting for nutritious food by the male and female Baltimore oriole. Both visit the sock-like nest regularly, dropping in food.
In the first few seconds the female comes to the nest with a beak full of food. She feeds the babies and the male joins her, waiting for his turn to feed the babies. The female eventually gets all the way in the nest, while the male comes back by to check on things before heading out again to search.
Video from Falls Church, Virginia