+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

  

Some background:

The Gotha 146 was a fast reconnaissance aircraft that was used throughout WWII by the German Luftwaffe, and one of the results of a mutual technology exchange program with Japan.

The Go 146 was actually a license-built, modified variant of the excellent Mitsubishi Ki-46. The latter type's career started in late 1937: the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force issued a specification to Mitsubishi for a long-range strategic reconnaissance aircraft to replace the Mitsubishi Ki-15.

 

The specification demanded an endurance of six hours and sufficient speed to evade interception by any fighter in existence or development, but otherwise did not constrain the design by a team led by Tomio Kubo.

 

The resulting design was a twin-engined, low-winged monoplane with a retractable tailwheel undercarriage. It had a small diameter oval fuselage with the pilot and observer situated in individual cockpits separated by a large fuel tank. The engines, two Mitsubishi Ha-26 radials, were housed in close fitting cowlings to reduce drag and improve pilot view.

 

The first prototype aircraft, flew in November 1939 from the Mitsubishi factory at Kakamigahara, Gifu.Tests showed that the Ki-46 was underpowered, and slower than required, only reaching 540 km/h (336 mph) rather than the specified 600 km/h (373 mph). Otherwise, the aircraft tests were successful. As the type was still faster than the Army's latest fighter, the Nakajima Ki-43, as well as the Navy's new A6M2,an initial production batch was ordered.

 

To solve the performance problems, Mitsubishi fitted Ha-102 engines, which were Ha-26s fitted with a two-stage supercharger, while increasing fuel capacity and reducing empty weight to give the Ki-46-II. This machine was also demonstrated to German officials, who became immediately aware of its potential.

 

Knowing that the German Luftwaffe lacked this fast type of aircraft (German reconnaissance aircraft of that time were either slow artillery observation types, or variants of bombers or heavy fighters), the RLM immediately asked for a batch of airframe kits in order to adapt it to the European theatre and test its capabilities.

 

The result was a delivery of seven engine-less airframe kits that arrived in Germany in early 1940. In the meantime, with the help of blueprints and other documentations, an alternative engine installation had been devised - the German aircraft was to be powered by liquid-cooled DB 601 engines, which delivered more power than the Ha-102 and offered improved aerodynamics, despite the necessity to add radiators under the outer wings.Effectively, many stock parts from the Messerschmitt Bf 110 heavy fighter were incorporated, so that development time was very short.

 

In May 1940 the first batch of the Gotha 146 (which had officially been described as a further development of a four seat, twin-engine transport aircraft from the 1930s) was ready, and they were immediately transferred to the Western Front and based in France.

 

Allocated to the 14. Aufklärungsgruppe, the Go 146 A-0 machines carried out various reconnaissance tasks over the North Sea, Great Britain and France, and they were also used for camouflage trials: each of the five aircraft sported a different paint scheme, raging from uniform, all-over grey to disruptive geometrical patterns, reminiscent of Dazzle camouflage!

 

The Go 146 was popular among its crews, since it was fast, agile and easy to fly. During the test phase in summer 1940 the Go 146 proved to be slightly faster than its Japanese Ki-46 ancestor, and with a top speed of more than 375 mph (600 km/h) it was hard to intercept by any British or French fighter. The results were so convincing that serial production was ordered, and from October 1940 on the Go 146 A-1 was produced in limited numbers, and the type was steadily developed further, including the change of the nose section that came withe the Ki-46III and augmented engines.

  

Specifications:

Crew: two (pilot and observer)

Length: 11.00 m (36 ft 1 in)

Wingspan: 14.70 m (48 ft 2¾ in)

Height: 3.88 m (12 ft 8¾ in)

Wing area: 32.0 m² (344 ft²)

Empty weight: 3,263 kg (7,194 lb)

Loaded weight: 5,050 kg (11,133 lb)

Max. takeoff weight: 5,800 kg (12,787 lb)

 

Powerplant:

2× Daimler-Benz DB 601B-1 liquid-cooled inverted V-12, 809 kW (1,100 hp) each

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 625 km/h (345 knots, 388 mph) at 5,800 m (19,000 ft)

Cruise speed: 400 km/h (217 knots, 249 mph)

Range: 2,474 km (1,337 nmi, 1,537 mi)

Service ceiling: 10,720 m (35,200 ft)

Wing loading: 157.8 kg/m² (32.3 lb/ft²)

Climb to 8,000 m (26,250 ft): 17 min 58 sec

 

Armament:

1x 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 17 machine gun in the observer's cabin, facing rearwards

  

The kit and its assembly:

This sounds like a weird idea, but the Luftwaffe had seriously been interested in the Ki-46, even though no aircraft ever made it to Europe. On the other side, several German aircraft were delivered to Japan (including the Bf 109E, Ju 87 and Me 210) for trials, so reversing this procedure makes sense.

 

Anyway, a German version would certainly not have been powered by radials, since this type of engine was not very popular in Europe and rather seen as a "slow" option for bombers. So the idea was born to convert a stock Ki-46 II into a prototype with German liquid-cooled engines - and it was easier to realize than expected!

 

The basis is the Airfix Dinah, a vintage and very simple kit. Fit is basically good, but the clear parts were (in my case) somewhat damaged around the edges of both canopies. Engines and landing gear are also basic - so I used different wheels, and the radials were replaced, anyway.

I used DB 601 engines, taken from an Airfix Bf 110 C kit, which also donated the radiators.

 

The latter were easy to place outside or the engine nacelles, the engines took some effort. The DB 601's height is perfect for the nacelles, just the width had to be enlarged in order to fit the original, circular shape of the radials' attachment points.

 

The remedy was simple: two long cuts in the upper cowling made the new engines flexible and wide enough to press them onto the nacelles' front ends! Some putty was necessary to hide gaps and smooth out the intersection, but the result looks very natural!

 

Otherwise not much was changed. The cockpits and the pilots were taken OOB, I just added a typical ring antenna under the fuselage and an additional pitot under the nose.

  

Painting and markings:

The fun part, even though it took a while to find something... different. The typical RLM 70/71/65 splinter scheme with a low waterline for prototypes or bombers of the BoB era was a valid option, but soooo boring.

 

While looking for inspiration I stumbled across some experimental schemes that had been tested on Bf109E fighters from JG53 - and that's what I finally settled upon.

 

What the Go 146 now carries is effectively a mix of two schemes: the stylish, geometric pattern was taken from one Bf 109, the colors (RLM 61/02/71/65) from another. Everything was painted with brushes and without masks, some light panel shading, black ink and grinded graphite were used for weathering.

 

The markings are minimal, typical for German reconnaissance aircraft of the time and based upon Bf 110 of the 14. Aufklärungsgruppe, the decals come from various aftermarket sheets and the code was puzzled together from single letter decals (TL Modellbau). A coat of acrylic matt varnish finally sealed the kit.

 

An exotic whif, and despite the weird basic idea I made it even more spectacular through the strange paint scheme which reminds of similar experiments by the US Navy. Odd thing is that I had the idea for a German Ki-46 on the agenda for quite a while, but this was/is to become a beefed-up Ki-46III for the late WWII period.

 

Building this kit's ancestor now, even before the Ki-46III conversion even started, is a little odd - but confirms the feasibility of an engine change and adds another contribution to the 2015 "Battle of Britain" Group Build at whatifmodelers.com.

 

ELEGY FOR DAFYDD AP GWILYM

 

Yesternight when Dafydd died

A yawning morn of dolour dawned;

A knot of minstrelsy untwined,

In waking Wales a gaping wound.

Praise-shaper, bard of wonder,

Girl-blesser, abbess-wooer,

Craftsman of the silken word,

Cuckold-maker of his weird,

Hawk of girls, baiting lasses:

Constricting codes, taut jesses,

Cannot constrain tiercel-flight

Gyring, stooping, swooping light,

And crooked-clawed for catching love:

Words to take the prey alive

And turn her, at a soaring height,

Into the falcon of his heart.

 

I am a dog! Poet damned!

A world bereft of him is doomed

To live at a slower rate:

Dafydd sang; I merely prate,

Respectable and refined.

He the core, I the rind,

He the seedling, I the husk,

He the dawning, I the dusk,

I the pilferer of praise,

He the thrush who with no pause

Pours out songs into the wind:

His pinions hope, bill a wand

Of changing, making girls gold,

Raising bowers out of mould.

Roebuck’s antler, sharp of tine,

Salmon-scale, borne of brine,

Jackdaw-jester, raven’s craw,

Fiend of love, delight of war –

A path of thorns lies ahead

Now that vision’s voice is dead.

Pale Morfudd of mourning brow

Only Mair can claim him now.

 

- I began by paraphrasing Iolo Goch’s elegy for the great bard, but could not penetrate the rather formal style of the surviving poet, who was about ten years younger than Dafydd. The thirteenth line of Iolo’s elegy invokes the image of the “hawk of girls”, but instantly drops it again; I have chosen to sustain it for the rest of the first verse paragraph. Iolo praises Dafydd’s learning, but accuses him of “presumption” at one point. It is clear that Iolo did not know Dafydd at all well on a personal level, even though the former was the inheritor of the cywydd verse form which Dafydd pioneered. I have replaced most of Iolo’s stately praises in the second verse paragraph with images of Dafydd’s own, and in view of my own exceedingly minor status as a poet, have, I hope, lent the poem a humility which the original seems to lack. This is not to suggest that Iolo was not a supreme wordsmith. His own ‘Description of a Girl’ must surely have brought a smile to Dafydd’s face, assuming that he lived to read it.

 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain Inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

 

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

 

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

 

Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the President George Bush is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these United States. To prove this, let the Facts be submitted to a candid world.

 

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

 

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

 

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

 

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

 

He has dissolved the integrity of the Representative House repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness of his invasions on the rights of the people.

 

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

 

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

 

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

 

He has made Judges Alito and Roberts dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

 

He has erected a multitude of Homeland Security Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

 

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Armies of Spies without the Consent of our legislatures.

 

He has affected to render the Military in the Iraq War independent of and superior to the Civic Discourse.

 

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

 

For quartering a global warming among us:

 

For torturing them, at Abu Graib, by mock and punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

 

For cutting off our Unions with all parts of the world:

 

For imposing our Taxes upon the wealthy without our Consent:

 

For depriving free people in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

 

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

 

For abolishing the free System of Laws by Signing Statements that seek to avoid the Rule of Law, and establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

 

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring the Vice President invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

 

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Circle of Protection and waging war against others thrusting us into massive debt, disrespect and ruin.

 

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our forests, and destroyed the lives of our salmon.

 

He is at this time transporting large Armies of Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny in Iraq, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

 

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

 

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Savages whose known rule of war, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, human rights and conditions.

 

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Plotted on this chart are the locations of the hypocenters of 7 of the aftershocks of the August 23, 2011 earthquake of Louisa County, Virginia. (Data obtained from the mainshock and the other early aftershocks lacked the precision required to add anything meaningful to this analysis).

 

Visual Representation of Data

The y-axis represents depth in kilometers. The x-axis (also in units of kilometers) represents horizontal distance of the epicenter of each shock from the closest point on the line where the Chopawamsic Fault plane meets the Earth's surface. Also plotted on the x-axis are points (0,0), representing where the Chopawamsic Fault meets the surface, and (3.1,0), representing where the Long Branch Fault meets the surface. The lines of best fit represent a cross section of the Chopawamsic and Long Branch Faults in a plane perpendicular to both the fault planes and the plane of sea level.

 

Analysis

One can see from the data that each of the faults begin their descent under the earth with dips of approximately 65 degrees, measured from the plane of sea level. As expected, as the Chopawamsic fault descends deeper into the earth, it flattens out somewhat. Its average dip is approximately 60 degrees.

 

Apparent Fork in the Chopawamsic Fault Data

Eyeing the data in the chart, it might appear as if the Chopawamsic Fault comes to a fork. This is not likely the case. The epicenters of the aftershocks represented by three points that fall above the trend line (N=15, 16 and 19), were located a bit southwest of those points that fall below the trend line (N=12, 17 and 23). What we're seeing is simply the fact that the fault plane has a slight warp. The dip appears to be shallower to the southwest and steeper to the northeast. To visualize the warp, imagine a 3D surface, where the points that fall above the line come out of the page in front of the cross-section and the points that fall below the line go into the page behind the cross section. The warp can be understood if one thinks of the fault plane as the face of an underground mountain ridge. On surface of the fault, there are local variations of slope, much like the face of a mountain ridge. Note that the apparent warp in the plane coincides with a slight bend in the surface fault line.

 

Aftershock N=22

The point at (4.7,-3.5) represents the 22nd aftershock after the mainquake. If plotted in the same series as the other aftershocks, it appears to be an anomaly, yielding a dip angle of only about 35 degrees, too shallow to be explained by any warp in the fault plane. Assuming the accuracy of the data collected regarding the aftershock's hypocenter position (including uncertainty estimates), this could only mean that the aftershock represents a rupture on a different fault plane. Based on the map of physiographic regions of the Piedmont, that plane would be the Long Branch Fault. Using the horizontal distance of the 22nd epicenter from nearest point where the Long Branch Fault meets the Earth's surface, the resulting dip angle is approximately 65 degrees, much closer to the calculated dip angle of the nearby parallel Chopawamsic fault (based on aftershocks N=12, N=15, N=16, N=17, N=19 and N=21). Parallel thrust faults should have similar dip angles, based on the way in which these layers of earth were compressed during the Appalachian oregeny.

 

Was the Mainquake a Multiple-Fault Rupture?

Unfortunately the data from the mainquake and the first 11 aftershocks is not sufficiently accurate to constrain the positions of the hypocenters to a degree appropriate for meaningful analysis in this context. It should be noted that the first quake to provide any evidence of a rupture of the Long Branch Fault was aftershock N=22. This quake had a magnitude of 3.4, which was significantly higher than all aftershocks for the prior preceding week, indicating perhaps that N=22 was the first quake to rupture the Long Branch Fault, i.e. that the Long Branch Fault still had considerable stress to release as it hadn't yet ruptured.

 

On the other hand, a plot of aftershock frequency over time since the mainquake reveals an unexpected spike in the 120-132 hour range in which there were five quakes measured (N=12 through N=16), after no quakes in the previous 24 hour span. See: Aftershock Frequency Distribution Diagram. One can argue that this spike represents the initial rupture on the Chopawamsic fault in the aftershock sequence, i.e. the spike doesn't fit the expected decay pattern of aftershocks based on the earlier quakes. This, however, would imply that all prior quakes were ruptures of the Long Branch Fault, an unlikely proposition considering language from the nearby North Anna Power Station's site permit application which states that the Long Branch fault is not a capable tectonic source.

 

Since the magnitude of the mainquake was 5.8 (moderate when compared to earthquakes worldwide, but unusually large compared to earthquakes locally), perhaps the initial quake began on the Chopawamsic fault, but due to its magnitude, also ruptured relatively inactive Long Branch fault. What we may be observing in the aftershock frequency diagram is a superposition the two faults' distinct aftershock decay patterns. There may also be some inter-fault triggering, as aftershocks on either fault necessarily affect stress levels in the bedrock of the Chopawamsic Formation that lies between them.)

 

Aftershocks N=24+

Data from aftershocks 24 through 30 has been added to this diagram since the text in the caption was written. The information learned from these quakes has not contradicted any of the above analysis.

 

Raw Data provided by the United States Geological Survey and the Center for Earthquake Research and Information. Diagram and Analysis by Kevin Borland.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

  

Some background:

The Gotha 146 was a fast reconnaissance aircraft that was used throughout WWII by the German Luftwaffe, and one of the results of a mutual technology exchange program with Japan.

The Go 146 was actually a license-built, modified variant of the excellent Mitsubishi Ki-46. The latter type's career started in late 1937: the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force issued a specification to Mitsubishi for a long-range strategic reconnaissance aircraft to replace the Mitsubishi Ki-15.

 

The specification demanded an endurance of six hours and sufficient speed to evade interception by any fighter in existence or development, but otherwise did not constrain the design by a team led by Tomio Kubo.

 

The resulting design was a twin-engined, low-winged monoplane with a retractable tailwheel undercarriage. It had a small diameter oval fuselage with the pilot and observer situated in individual cockpits separated by a large fuel tank. The engines, two Mitsubishi Ha-26 radials, were housed in close fitting cowlings to reduce drag and improve pilot view.

 

The first prototype aircraft, flew in November 1939 from the Mitsubishi factory at Kakamigahara, Gifu.Tests showed that the Ki-46 was underpowered, and slower than required, only reaching 540 km/h (336 mph) rather than the specified 600 km/h (373 mph). Otherwise, the aircraft tests were successful. As the type was still faster than the Army's latest fighter, the Nakajima Ki-43, as well as the Navy's new A6M2,an initial production batch was ordered.

 

To solve the performance problems, Mitsubishi fitted Ha-102 engines, which were Ha-26s fitted with a two-stage supercharger, while increasing fuel capacity and reducing empty weight to give the Ki-46-II. This machine was also demonstrated to German officials, who became immediately aware of its potential.

 

Knowing that the German Luftwaffe lacked this fast type of aircraft (German reconnaissance aircraft of that time were either slow artillery observation types, or variants of bombers or heavy fighters), the RLM immediately asked for a batch of airframe kits in order to adapt it to the European theatre and test its capabilities.

 

The result was a delivery of seven engine-less airframe kits that arrived in Germany in early 1940. In the meantime, with the help of blueprints and other documentations, an alternative engine installation had been devised - the German aircraft was to be powered by liquid-cooled DB 601 engines, which delivered more power than the Ha-102 and offered improved aerodynamics, despite the necessity to add radiators under the outer wings.Effectively, many stock parts from the Messerschmitt Bf 110 heavy fighter were incorporated, so that development time was very short.

 

In May 1940 the first batch of the Gotha 146 (which had officially been described as a further development of a four seat, twin-engine transport aircraft from the 1930s) was ready, and they were immediately transferred to the Western Front and based in France.

 

Allocated to the 14. Aufklärungsgruppe, the Go 146 A-0 machines carried out various reconnaissance tasks over the North Sea, Great Britain and France, and they were also used for camouflage trials: each of the five aircraft sported a different paint scheme, raging from uniform, all-over grey to disruptive geometrical patterns, reminiscent of Dazzle camouflage!

 

The Go 146 was popular among its crews, since it was fast, agile and easy to fly. During the test phase in summer 1940 the Go 146 proved to be slightly faster than its Japanese Ki-46 ancestor, and with a top speed of more than 375 mph (600 km/h) it was hard to intercept by any British or French fighter. The results were so convincing that serial production was ordered, and from October 1940 on the Go 146 A-1 was produced in limited numbers, and the type was steadily developed further, including the change of the nose section that came withe the Ki-46III and augmented engines.

  

Specifications:

Crew: two (pilot and observer)

Length: 11.00 m (36 ft 1 in)

Wingspan: 14.70 m (48 ft 2¾ in)

Height: 3.88 m (12 ft 8¾ in)

Wing area: 32.0 m² (344 ft²)

Empty weight: 3,263 kg (7,194 lb)

Loaded weight: 5,050 kg (11,133 lb)

Max. takeoff weight: 5,800 kg (12,787 lb)

 

Powerplant:

2× Daimler-Benz DB 601B-1 liquid-cooled inverted V-12, 809 kW (1,100 hp) each

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 625 km/h (345 knots, 388 mph) at 5,800 m (19,000 ft)

Cruise speed: 400 km/h (217 knots, 249 mph)

Range: 2,474 km (1,337 nmi, 1,537 mi)

Service ceiling: 10,720 m (35,200 ft)

Wing loading: 157.8 kg/m² (32.3 lb/ft²)

Climb to 8,000 m (26,250 ft): 17 min 58 sec

 

Armament:

1x 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 17 machine gun in the observer's cabin, facing rearwards

  

The kit and its assembly:

This sounds like a weird idea, but the Luftwaffe had seriously been interested in the Ki-46, even though no aircraft ever made it to Europe. On the other side, several German aircraft were delivered to Japan (including the Bf 109E, Ju 87 and Me 210) for trials, so reversing this procedure makes sense.

 

Anyway, a German version would certainly not have been powered by radials, since this type of engine was not very popular in Europe and rather seen as a "slow" option for bombers. So the idea was born to convert a stock Ki-46 II into a prototype with German liquid-cooled engines - and it was easier to realize than expected!

 

The basis is the Airfix Dinah, a vintage and very simple kit. Fit is basically good, but the clear parts were (in my case) somewhat damaged around the edges of both canopies. Engines and landing gear are also basic - so I used different wheels, and the radials were replaced, anyway.

I used DB 601 engines, taken from an Airfix Bf 110 C kit, which also donated the radiators.

 

The latter were easy to place outside or the engine nacelles, the engines took some effort. The DB 601's height is perfect for the nacelles, just the width had to be enlarged in order to fit the original, circular shape of the radials' attachment points.

 

The remedy was simple: two long cuts in the upper cowling made the new engines flexible and wide enough to press them onto the nacelles' front ends! Some putty was necessary to hide gaps and smooth out the intersection, but the result looks very natural!

 

Otherwise not much was changed. The cockpits and the pilots were taken OOB, I just added a typical ring antenna under the fuselage and an additional pitot under the nose.

  

Painting and markings:

The fun part, even though it took a while to find something... different. The typical RLM 70/71/65 splinter scheme with a low waterline for prototypes or bombers of the BoB era was a valid option, but soooo boring.

 

While looking for inspiration I stumbled across some experimental schemes that had been tested on Bf109E fighters from JG53 - and that's what I finally settled upon.

 

What the Go 146 now carries is effectively a mix of two schemes: the stylish, geometric pattern was taken from one Bf 109, the colors (RLM 61/02/71/65) from another. Everything was painted with brushes and without masks, some light panel shading, black ink and grinded graphite were used for weathering.

 

The markings are minimal, typical for German reconnaissance aircraft of the time and based upon Bf 110 of the 14. Aufklärungsgruppe, the decals come from various aftermarket sheets and the code was puzzled together from single letter decals (TL Modellbau). A coat of acrylic matt varnish finally sealed the kit.

 

An exotic whif, and despite the weird basic idea I made it even more spectacular through the strange paint scheme which reminds of similar experiments by the US Navy. Odd thing is that I had the idea for a German Ki-46 on the agenda for quite a while, but this was/is to become a beefed-up Ki-46III for the late WWII period.

 

Building this kit's ancestor now, even before the Ki-46III conversion even started, is a little odd - but confirms the feasibility of an engine change and adds another contribution to the 2015 "Battle of Britain" Group Build at whatifmodelers.com.

 

What is Offshore Web Hosting Good for?

Here are the resources I use: www.sidewages.com/resources/

 

Why Offshore Web Hosting?

- have you even heard of it before?

- benefits vary by country

- freedom is a primary key

- privacy is also an important factor

 

Legalities Across the Globe

- certain countries restrict certain sites

- other countries are more enabling

- laws can protect but possibly constrain, too

 

Privacy is Always in Mind

- can choose anonymous hosting

- protect your identity from the masses

- don't have to worry about random stalkers

- DON'T do this for unlawful reasons!

- think long term and world-wide impact

 

Consider the Costs

- some offshore hosting can be extremely cheap

- others can be crazy expensive

- other countries may open advertising routes

 

Freedom from Nature?

- natural disasters are a real concern

- you may not be able to relocate

- no reason you can't keep your data safe

- ensure website protection by location

 

But Where are these Offshore Places?

- the United States and United Kingdom

- Panama, Netherlands, Singapore

- China can be good, but be aware of spam rules

 

Wrapping Up Your Hosting Needs

- looking for reliability in any situation

- potentially powerful price for performance

- legalities and privacy are important

- do what's right and get to doing already

 

Here are the resources I use: www.sidewages.com/resources/

The images on the right have grey at the edges — this is a result of correcting distortion and forgetting to crop out the edges of the image.

 

The images on the right have been cropped to remove the grey edging.

 

Quick Tip:

 

The easiest fix for this is to check Constrain Crop when correcting perspective in Lightroom — it will automatically crop to the new dimensions.

 

Post Processing Tutorials:

 

Constrain Crop is mentioned in this tutorial: adobe.ly/wH0Q2v

Deep Dream Generator(Digital DaVinci 2),Photoshop,

 

The Most Invaluable Aide to The Goblin Queen

 

Prompt:- Photographic Realistic,Steampunk Demon Woman Appearing Through the mist of The Catacombs,Multiple horns and Tendrils coming out of the figure,(Fluid :1),Preserve Face and Eyes,Clear distinct realistic Reptilian eyes,Constrain Proportions,Detailed,Intricate,Artists H.R Giger,Peter Mohrbacher,Seb McKinnon, 'Mdjrny v5 Style'

Edited image from the Hubble Space Telescope of the lenticular galaxy NGC 4526. For some reason, I really like this image...

 

Original caption: This neat little galaxy is known as NGC 4526. Its dark lanes of dust and bright diffuse glow make the galaxy appear to hang like a halo in the emptiness of space in this new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Although this image paints a picture of serenity, the galaxy is anything but. It is one of the brightest lenticular galaxies known, a category that lies somewhere between spirals and ellipticals. It has hosted two known supernova explosions, one in 1969 and another in 1994, and is known to have a colossal supermassive black hole at its centre that has the mass of 450 million Suns. NGC 4526 is part of the Virgo cluster of galaxies. Ground-based observations of galaxies in this cluster have revealed that a quarter of these galaxies seem to have rapidly rotating discs of gas at their centres. The most spectacular of these is this galaxy, NGC 4526, whose spinning disc of gas, dust, and stars reaches out uniquely far from its heart, spanning some 7% of the galaxy's entire radius. This disc is moving incredibly fast, spinning at more than 250 kilometres per second. The dynamics of this quickly whirling region were actually used to infer the mass of NGC 4526’s central black hole — a technique that had not been used before to constrain a galaxy’s central black hole. This image was taken using Hubble’s Wide Field Planetary Camera 2. A version of this image was entered into the Hubble’s Hidden Treasures image processing competition by contestant Judy Schmidt. Hidden Treasures was an initiative to invite astronomy enthusiasts to search the Hubble archive for stunning images that have never been seen by the general public.

Location: Southampton City Art Gallery - Southampton City Council

 

Work of:

Edward Burne-Jones

English Pre-Raphaelite Artist

1833 - 1898

 

Now hovering there, he seemed to hear a sound

Unlike the sea-bird's cry, and looking round,

He saw a figure standing motionless

Beneath the cliff, midway 'twixt ness and ness,

And as the wind lull'd heard that cry again,

That sounded like the wail of one in pain;

Wondering thereat, and seeking marvels new

He lighted down, and toward the place he drew,

And made invisible by Pallas' aid,

He came within the scarped cliff's purple shade,

And found a woman standing lonely there,

Naked, except for tresses of her hair

That o'er her white limbs by the breeze were wound,

And brazen chains her weary arms that bound

Unto the sea-beat overhanging rock,

As though her golden-crowned head to mock.

But nigh her feet upon the sand there lay

Rich raiment that had covered her that day,

Worthy to be the ransom of a king,

Unworthy round such loveliness to cling

 

Then unseen Perseus stole anigh the maid,

And love upon his heart a soft hand laid,

And tender pity rent it for her pain;

Not yet an eager cry could he refrain,

fks now, transformed by that piteous sight,

Grown like unto a God for pride and might,

Down on the sand the mystic cap he cast

And stood before her with flushed face at last,

(And grey eyes glittering with his great desire

Beneath his hair, that like a harmless fire

Blown by the wind shone in her hopeless eyes.

But she, all rigid with her first surprise,

Ceasing her wailing as she heard his cry,

Stared at him, dumb with fear and misery,

Shrunk closer yet unto the rocky place

And writhed her bound hands as to hide her face;

But sudden love his heart did so constrain,

With open mouth he strove to speak in vain

And his heart the hot tears 'gan to rise;

But she midst fear beheld his kind grey eyes,

and then, as hope came glimmering through her dread,

In a weak voice he scare could hearm she said,

"O Death! If though hast risen the sea,

Sent by the gods to end this misery,

I thank them that thou comest in this form,

Who rather thought to see a hideous worm

Come trailing up the sands out the deep.

 

- "The Doom of King Acrisius," I, 269-70]

 

Quoted From: The Rock of Doom - Burne-Jones, Edward - Gallery - Web Gallery of Art

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

  

Some background:

The Gotha 146 was a fast reconnaissance aircraft that was used throughout WWII by the German Luftwaffe, and one of the results of a mutual technology exchange program with Japan.

The Go 146 was actually a license-built, modified variant of the excellent Mitsubishi Ki-46. The latter type's career started in late 1937: the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force issued a specification to Mitsubishi for a long-range strategic reconnaissance aircraft to replace the Mitsubishi Ki-15.

 

The specification demanded an endurance of six hours and sufficient speed to evade interception by any fighter in existence or development, but otherwise did not constrain the design by a team led by Tomio Kubo.

 

The resulting design was a twin-engined, low-winged monoplane with a retractable tailwheel undercarriage. It had a small diameter oval fuselage with the pilot and observer situated in individual cockpits separated by a large fuel tank. The engines, two Mitsubishi Ha-26 radials, were housed in close fitting cowlings to reduce drag and improve pilot view.

 

The first prototype aircraft, flew in November 1939 from the Mitsubishi factory at Kakamigahara, Gifu.Tests showed that the Ki-46 was underpowered, and slower than required, only reaching 540 km/h (336 mph) rather than the specified 600 km/h (373 mph). Otherwise, the aircraft tests were successful. As the type was still faster than the Army's latest fighter, the Nakajima Ki-43, as well as the Navy's new A6M2,an initial production batch was ordered.

 

To solve the performance problems, Mitsubishi fitted Ha-102 engines, which were Ha-26s fitted with a two-stage supercharger, while increasing fuel capacity and reducing empty weight to give the Ki-46-II. This machine was also demonstrated to German officials, who became immediately aware of its potential.

 

Knowing that the German Luftwaffe lacked this fast type of aircraft (German reconnaissance aircraft of that time were either slow artillery observation types, or variants of bombers or heavy fighters), the RLM immediately asked for a batch of airframe kits in order to adapt it to the European theatre and test its capabilities.

 

The result was a delivery of seven engine-less airframe kits that arrived in Germany in early 1940. In the meantime, with the help of blueprints and other documentations, an alternative engine installation had been devised - the German aircraft was to be powered by liquid-cooled DB 601 engines, which delivered more power than the Ha-102 and offered improved aerodynamics, despite the necessity to add radiators under the outer wings.Effectively, many stock parts from the Messerschmitt Bf 110 heavy fighter were incorporated, so that development time was very short.

 

In May 1940 the first batch of the Gotha 146 (which had officially been described as a further development of a four seat, twin-engine transport aircraft from the 1930s) was ready, and they were immediately transferred to the Western Front and based in France.

 

Allocated to the 14. Aufklärungsgruppe, the Go 146 A-0 machines carried out various reconnaissance tasks over the North Sea, Great Britain and France, and they were also used for camouflage trials: each of the five aircraft sported a different paint scheme, raging from uniform, all-over grey to disruptive geometrical patterns, reminiscent of Dazzle camouflage!

 

The Go 146 was popular among its crews, since it was fast, agile and easy to fly. During the test phase in summer 1940 the Go 146 proved to be slightly faster than its Japanese Ki-46 ancestor, and with a top speed of more than 375 mph (600 km/h) it was hard to intercept by any British or French fighter. The results were so convincing that serial production was ordered, and from October 1940 on the Go 146 A-1 was produced in limited numbers, and the type was steadily developed further, including the change of the nose section that came withe the Ki-46III and augmented engines.

  

Specifications:

Crew: two (pilot and observer)

Length: 11.00 m (36 ft 1 in)

Wingspan: 14.70 m (48 ft 2¾ in)

Height: 3.88 m (12 ft 8¾ in)

Wing area: 32.0 m² (344 ft²)

Empty weight: 3,263 kg (7,194 lb)

Loaded weight: 5,050 kg (11,133 lb)

Max. takeoff weight: 5,800 kg (12,787 lb)

 

Powerplant:

2× Daimler-Benz DB 601B-1 liquid-cooled inverted V-12, 809 kW (1,100 hp) each

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 625 km/h (345 knots, 388 mph) at 5,800 m (19,000 ft)

Cruise speed: 400 km/h (217 knots, 249 mph)

Range: 2,474 km (1,337 nmi, 1,537 mi)

Service ceiling: 10,720 m (35,200 ft)

Wing loading: 157.8 kg/m² (32.3 lb/ft²)

Climb to 8,000 m (26,250 ft): 17 min 58 sec

 

Armament:

1x 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 17 machine gun in the observer's cabin, facing rearwards

  

The kit and its assembly:

This sounds like a weird idea, but the Luftwaffe had seriously been interested in the Ki-46, even though no aircraft ever made it to Europe. On the other side, several German aircraft were delivered to Japan (including the Bf 109E, Ju 87 and Me 210) for trials, so reversing this procedure makes sense.

 

Anyway, a German version would certainly not have been powered by radials, since this type of engine was not very popular in Europe and rather seen as a "slow" option for bombers. So the idea was born to convert a stock Ki-46 II into a prototype with German liquid-cooled engines - and it was easier to realize than expected!

 

The basis is the Airfix Dinah, a vintage and very simple kit. Fit is basically good, but the clear parts were (in my case) somewhat damaged around the edges of both canopies. Engines and landing gear are also basic - so I used different wheels, and the radials were replaced, anyway.

I used DB 601 engines, taken from an Airfix Bf 110 C kit, which also donated the radiators.

 

The latter were easy to place outside or the engine nacelles, the engines took some effort. The DB 601's height is perfect for the nacelles, just the width had to be enlarged in order to fit the original, circular shape of the radials' attachment points.

 

The remedy was simple: two long cuts in the upper cowling made the new engines flexible and wide enough to press them onto the nacelles' front ends! Some putty was necessary to hide gaps and smooth out the intersection, but the result looks very natural!

 

Otherwise not much was changed. The cockpits and the pilots were taken OOB, I just added a typical ring antenna under the fuselage and an additional pitot under the nose.

  

Painting and markings:

The fun part, even though it took a while to find something... different. The typical RLM 70/71/65 splinter scheme with a low waterline for prototypes or bombers of the BoB era was a valid option, but soooo boring.

 

While looking for inspiration I stumbled across some experimental schemes that had been tested on Bf109E fighters from JG53 - and that's what I finally settled upon.

 

What the Go 146 now carries is effectively a mix of two schemes: the stylish, geometric pattern was taken from one Bf 109, the colors (RLM 61/02/71/65) from another. Everything was painted with brushes and without masks, some light panel shading, black ink and grinded graphite were used for weathering.

 

The markings are minimal, typical for German reconnaissance aircraft of the time and based upon Bf 110 of the 14. Aufklärungsgruppe, the decals come from various aftermarket sheets and the code was puzzled together from single letter decals (TL Modellbau). A coat of acrylic matt varnish finally sealed the kit.

 

An exotic whif, and despite the weird basic idea I made it even more spectacular through the strange paint scheme which reminds of similar experiments by the US Navy. Odd thing is that I had the idea for a German Ki-46 on the agenda for quite a while, but this was/is to become a beefed-up Ki-46III for the late WWII period.

 

Building this kit's ancestor now, even before the Ki-46III conversion even started, is a little odd - but confirms the feasibility of an engine change and adds another contribution to the 2015 "Battle of Britain" Group Build at whatifmodelers.com.

 

Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis (Mrs. Lawrence Lewis)

 

•Date: 1804

•Medium: Oil on Canvas

•Dimensions:

oOverall: 73.7 × 61.6 cm (29 × 24¼ in.)

oFramed: 87.6 × 74 × 5.1 cm (34½ × 29⅛ × 2 in.)

•Credit Line: Gift of H. H. Walker Lewis in memory of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Edwin A. S. Lewis

•Accession Number: 1974.108.1

•Artists/Makers:

oPainter: Gilbert Stuart, American, 1755-1828

 

Provenance

 

Given by the sitter to her son, Lorenzo Lewis [1803-1847], Audley, Clarke County, Virginia;[1] his widow, Esther Maria Coxe Lewis [1804-1885], Clarke County, Virginia; their son, Edward Parke Custis Lewis [1837-1892], Hoboken, New Jersey;[2] his son, Edwin Augustus Stevens Lewis [1870-1906], Hoboken, New Jersey; his widow, Alice Stuart Walker Lewis [1877-1973], Hoboken, New Jersey; their son, H. H. Walker Lewis [b. 1904], Baltimore;[3] gift 1974 to NGA.

 

[1]An inscription in ink on the stretcher reads: “L. Lewis.” A second reads: “For Lorenzo Lewis given by his Mother 1836.” His dates and those of his wife and their descendants are found in Burke’s Presidential Families of the United States of America, 2nd ed., London, 1981, 21-22.

[2]H. H. Walker Lewis to William P. Campbell, 29 November 1974, with a memo dated 28 November 1974 (NGA curatorial file). “Lorenzo left his household furnishings … for the use of his widow for life, thereafter to be divided among his six sons in equal shares. Esther Maria died in 1885, and in the autumn of 1888 the portraits were divided by drawing lots … we know of the disposition of the Nelly Custis portrait from a letter written to his wife by Edward Parke Custis Lewis, who was then Minister to Portugal: ‘Dear Mary … American mail just in & a letter from Dainger in which he tells me that I have drawn the Nellie Custis picture by Stuart … Yr. affect husband E.P.C.L.’”

[3]On Mrs. Lewis’ death, 22 November 1973, the painting went to her son H. H. Walker Lewis as “remainderman” under his father’s will; memo of 28 November 1974 from Lewis to Campbell.

 

Associated Names

 

•Lewis, Alice Stuart Walker

•Lewis, Edward Parke Custis

•Lewis, Edwin Augustus Stevens

•Lewis, Eleanor Parke Custis

•Lewis, Esther Maria Coxe

•Lewis, H.H. Walker, Mr.

•Lewis, Lorenzo

 

Exhibition History

 

•1889—Centennial Celebration of the Inauguration of George Washington-Loan Exhibition of Historical Portraits and Relics, Metropolitan Opera House, New York, 1889, no. 142

•1967—Gilbert Stuart, Portraitist of the Young Republic, The National Gallery of Art; The Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1967, no. 33

•2003—Jefferson’s America & Napoleon’s France: An Exhibition for the Louisiana Purchase Bicentennial, New Orleans Museum of Art, 2003, no. 143, repro.

 

Bibliography

 

•1876—Stuart, Jane. “The Stuart Portraits of Washington.” Scribner’s Monthly 12, no. 3 (July 1876): 371-373.

•1879—Mason, George C. The Life and Works of Gilbert Stuart. New York, 1879: 27, 214.

•1880—“Portraits Painted by Stuart...taken from Mason’s Life and Works of Gilbert Stuart.” In Exhibition of Portraits Painted by Gilbert Stuart. Exh. cat. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1880: 46, no. 367.

•1892—Bowen, Clarence W., ed. The History of the Centennial Celebration of the Inauguration of George Washington. New York, 1892: 145, no. 142, repro. opp. 256, 441.

•1926—Park 1926, 294, 476-477, no. 491, 901.

•1964—Mount 1964, 255, 370.

•1973—Mount, Charles Merrill. “Gilbert Stuart in Washington; with a Catalogue of His Portraits Painted between December 1803 and July 1805.” Records of the Columbia Historical Society of Washington, D.C. 48 (1973): 106.

•1975—Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: 382-383, color repro.

•1980—American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 231, repro.

•1981—Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: 67, repro. 68, 72.

•1984—Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 378, no. 536, color repro., as Mrs. Lawrence Lewis.

•1991—Brady, Patricia, ed. George Washington’s Beautiful Nelly; The Letters of Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis to Elizabeth Bordley Gibson, 1794-1851. Columbia, South Carolina, 1991: 260-261.

•1992—American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 353, repro.

•1995—Miles, Ellen G. American Paintings of the Eighteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1995: 237-240, color repro. 239.

  

From American Paintings of the Eighteenth Century:

 

1974.108.1 (2677)

 

Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis (Mrs. Lawrence Lewis}

 

•1804

•Oil on Canvas, 73.7 × 61.6 (29 × 24¼)

•Gift of H. H. Walker Lewis in memory of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Edwin A.S. Lewis

 

Technical Notes

 

The painting is executed on a fairly loosely woven, medium-weight twill fabric. The stretcher is probably the original. The ground is a thin, off-white layer, which is smoothly applied and fills the weave pattern of the fabric without completely hiding it. The ground layer covers all four tacking margins, which have been slightly trimmed. Broad cusping is visible along the edges of the fabric. Although some of the cusping is related to the present location of the tacks, other areas of cusping indicate the location of tacks when the ground was applied.

 

The paint is brushed out in thin, fluid, opaque strokes that appear to have been worked up quickly. The application is in a wet-in-wet technique. Slightly pastóse paint was loosely applied with zig-zagging strokes to create a lively surface. The contour outlines of the flesh tones and details of the face are constructed with a semi-transparent brown-red glaze. The shadows of the face are applied on the surface and blended wet-in-wet with the adjacent flesh tones. The background is a thin scumble of gray green.

 

There is only minor retouching of small damages and abrasion at the edges. The varnish was removed and the painting relined in 1975. The present varnish is slightly toned.

 

Provenance

 

Given by the sitter to her son Lorenzo Lewis [1803-1847], Audley, Clarke County, Virginia;1 his widow Esther Maria Coxe Lewis [1804-1885], Clarke County, Virginia; their son Edward Parke Custis Lewis [1837-1892], Hoboken, New Jersey;2 his son Edwin Augustus Stevens Lewis [1870-1906], Hoboken, New Jersey; his widow Alice Stuart Walker Lewis [1877-1973], Hoboken, New Jersey; their son H.H. Walker Lewis [b. 1904], Baltimore.3

 

Exhibited

 

Metropolitan Opera House 1889, no. 142.4 Gilbert Stuart, NGA; RISD; PAFA, 1967, no. 33.

 

Deep feelings of melancholy are reflected in this portrait of Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis (1779-1852) during her period of mourning after the recent deaths of several family members. Nelly Custis, as she was known, was the daughter of John Parke Custis and his wife Eleanor Calvert Custis. She became the ward of her grandparents George and Martha Washington shortly after the death of her father in 1781, and she spent most of her childhood at Mount Vernon in Virginia. She lived with her grandparents in New York and Philadelphia during Washington’s presidential years and returned to Mount Vernon with them on his retirement. On 22 February 1799, her grandfather’s birthday, Nelly married Washington’s nephew Lawrence Lewis. After Washington’s death that December, the Lewises inherited property near Mount Vernon, where they built their new home, Woodlawn. The house was designed by William Thornton, a family friend; the Lewises were living in a completed wing by early 1802.5

 

That year, however, Nelly suffered poor health and great sorrow. Perhaps most traumatic was the death of Martha Washington in May. Within a month Nelly’s one-year-old daughter died of the measles, a disease that Nelly also contracted. Several months later her first son died shortly after birth. These losses affected Nelly deeply. She described this period in letters written to her close friend Elizabeth Bordley, who lived in Philadelphia. On 4 December 1804 she wrote,

 

We have both experienced the most severe distress in being deprived of affectionate Parents, whose loss can never be repaired. In addition to this, I have lost two children, one of them the most lovely & engaging little Girl I ever saw. I have had very bad health since my marriage until the two last years, I have now recover’d my health, and have two charming children.6

 

On u January 1805 she wrote again.

 

For my part the Death of my Grandmother, to whom my obligations were unbounded, the experience of every hour teaches me that the loss is irreparable. I constantly call to mind her tenderness and unceasing care of me, & the reverse is so dreadful, that I shall never know happiness again, life has no charms for me unless when employ’d in the care of my children, & in that respect I suffer so much anxiety that I have more sorrow than joy in them.7

 

On 23 March 1806 she summed up her feelings. “Ah my Beloved friend, how sadly times are changed to us all, but to memore than anyone, deprived of those Beloved Parents whom I loved with so much devotion. … I look back with sorrow, & to the future without hope.”8

 

This portrait can be dated to 1804 by Nelly’s reference to it in her letter to Elizabeth Bordley, written on 4 August 1851, many years later. Elizabeth had thanked Nelly for a copy of the portrait, and Nelly wrote in return,

 

Accept my most sincere acknowledgements for the kind & cordial reception of my “keepsake,” & all your affectionate expressions of approbation. You are mistaken in your recollections of Nelly Custis, she was only 77, The original of the Portrait was 25 & had been the Mother of four children—& 8 yrs in such circumstances, had certainly produced a considerable change in figure &c.9

 

Elizabeth had mistakenly thought that the copy of Nelly’s portrait was based on an image of her when she was seventeen, perhaps thinking of James Sharpies’ portrait (National Trust for Historic Preservation, Woodlawn Collection, Alexandria, Virginia). Nelly pointed out that she was twenty-five, which would have been in 1804. Also she had her fifth child by the summer of the next year. It is likely, therefore, that she sat for Stuart in the spring or early summer of 1804. She visited her older sister Martha Custis Peter in Washington between 6 and 14 April10 and by 12 May was staying with her aunt Rosalie Stier Calvert at Riversdale. She remained there into July, her visit coinciding with that of her step-sister Ann Calvert Stuart (Robinson). Both her aunt and her step-sister were also painted by Gilbert Stuart at about this time (see Ann Calvert Stuart Robinson [Mrs. William Robinson], 1942.8.22).

 

Stuart depicts Nelly seated, wearing a white “day” dress. The color of the dress is characteristic of clothing worn during the second year of mourning.11 She leans back in her chair, her left arm bent, her left hand resting gently against her chin. Her right arm lies along her right thigh. Around her waist and right arm twists a gold and silver sash. Her large brown eyes, engulfed in shadow, are averted from the viewer as she gazes out of the picture. The painted wood armchair and greenish gray wall create a somber setting quite unlike the upholstered crimson chairs, billowing mauve curtains, or lush landscapes that characterize other portraits of women that Stuart painted in Washington. The only definition of space is a curved decorative frieze at the upper edge of the painting. It suggests an oval or round interior, unidentifiable today as a specific setting.

 

Stuart’s portrait successfully captures Nelly’s emotional state. With her head held against her hand and her heavily shadowed eyes averted from the viewer, she embodies contemporary artistic conventions used to depict mourning. Her pose is similar to late eighteenth-century images of mourners seen on English tombs and in English portraits, as well as in American images made in tribute to Washington after his death in 1799.12 Although Stuart’s image is less dramatic, his use of muted colors and a simple environment underscore a somber, reflective mood. To reinforce the weight of her emotion, he placed her leaning back against the chair, in a position he later cautioned a younger artist to avoid because it “constrains the attitude and gen[era]l air” of the sitter.13 Stuart’s particular sensitivity may reflect his own ties to Nelly and her family. When he painted President and Mrs. Washington in Philadelphia in the 17905, Nelly accompanied her grandparents to his Germantown studio for their sittings.14 The contrast between the vibrant girl whom Stuart had known in Philadelphia and the melancholy young woman he saw in Washington seems to have made an impact on the observant artist.

 

PB

 

Notes

 

1.An inscription in ink on the stretcher reads: “L. Lewis.” A second reads: “For Lorenzo Lewis given by his Mother 1836.” His dates and those of his wife and their descendants are found in Burke 1981, 21-22.

2.H.H. Walker Lewis to William P. Campbell, 29 November 1974, with a memo dated 28 November 1974 (NGA). “Lorenzo left his household furnishings … for the use of his widow for life, thereafter to be divided among his six sons in equal shares. Esther Maria died in 1885, and in the autumn of 1888 the portraits were divided by drawing lots … we know of the disposition of the Nelly Gustis portrait from a letter written to his wife by Edward Parke Gustis Lewis, who was then Minister to Portugal: ‘Dear Mary … American mail just in & a letter from Dainger in which he tells me that I have drawn the Nellie Gustis picture by Stuart…. Yr. affect husband E.P.C.L.’”

3.On Mrs. Lewis’ death, 22 November 1973, the painting went to her son H.H. Walker Lewis as “remainderman” under his father’s will; memo of 28 November 1974 from Lewis to Campbell.

4.Bowen 1892,145.

5.For a brief biography of Nelly see the introduction to Brady 1991,1-16; for the date of their move see Eleanor Lewis to Mrs. C.C. Pinckney, January 1802, quoted in Sorley 1979, 208.

6.Brady 1991, 65; the letters are in the collection of the Mount Vernon Ladies Association, Mount Vernon, Virginia. Nelly had five more children; of the eight, only four survived past childhood, and she outlived all but one. She died in 1852 at Audley, the home of her son Lorenzo, in Clarke County, Virginia.

7.Patricia Brady kindly supplied a transcript of this letter, which is owned by the Mount Vernon Ladies Association of the Union, Mount Vernon, Virginia, and is not included in Brady 1991.

8.Brady 1991, 67-68.

9.Brady 1991, 260-261, with thanks to Patricia Brady for bringing this letter to the author’s attention. There are two copies of the portrait: at Woodlawn Plantation in Alexandria, Virginia, and at the Custis-Lee Mansion in Arlington, Virginia. Elizabeth Bordley, who was also painted by Stuart (PAFA), may have sent Nelly a copy of her portrait in return; there is also a copy of her portrait at Woodlawn.

10.Her visits were noted by Anna Maria Thornton in her diary entries for 6, 9, 13, and 14 April 1804 (Thornton Papers, Manuscript Division, LC).

11.Cunnington and Lucas 1972, 146-147, 245-247, 263.

12.For similar poses of mourners in mid-eighteenth-century English tomb sculpture see Richard Hayward’s Monument to William Strode, Westminster Abbey, London, c. 1786, and Thomas Banks’ Monument to the 2d Earle of Hardwicke, Flitton, Bedfordshire, c. 1790, illustrated in Penny 1977, 7 and 67, respectively. Other examples of mourners are Joshua Reynolds’ portrait The Honorable Mrs. Edward Bouverie and Mrs. Crew (1769, private collection) and Angelica Kauffmann’s Lady Louisa MacDonald (n.d., Collection of the Duke of Sutherland, Dunrobin Castle). Anita Schorsch links the development of American needlework images of mourning to the death of Washington; see Schorsch 1979, 41-71.

13.Jouett 1816, in Morgan, Stuart, 1939, 86.

14.“About the time that the Washingtons were sitting for their portraits, my father’s painting room was the resort of many of the most distinguished and interesting persons of the day. Nelly Custis, Mrs. Law, Miss Harriet Shaw (afterward Mrs. Carroll), generally accompanied Mrs. Washington”; Stuart 1876, 371.

 

References

 

•1876—Stuart: 371-373.

•1879—Mason: 27, 214.

•1880—MFA:46,no.367.

•1892—Bowen: 145, no. 142, repro. opp. 256, 441.

•1926—Park: 294, 476-477, no. 491, 901.

•1964—Mount : 255, 370.

•1973—Mount: 106.

•1981—Williams: 67, repro. 68.

•1984—Walker: 378, no. 536, color repro.

•1991—Brady: 260-261.

www.cycling-embassy.org.uk/sites/cycling-embassy.org.uk/f...

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

  

Some background:

The Gotha 146 was a fast reconnaissance aircraft that was used throughout WWII by the German Luftwaffe, and one of the results of a mutual technology exchange program with Japan.

The Go 146 was actually a license-built, modified variant of the excellent Mitsubishi Ki-46. The latter type's career started in late 1937: the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force issued a specification to Mitsubishi for a long-range strategic reconnaissance aircraft to replace the Mitsubishi Ki-15.

 

The specification demanded an endurance of six hours and sufficient speed to evade interception by any fighter in existence or development, but otherwise did not constrain the design by a team led by Tomio Kubo.

 

The resulting design was a twin-engined, low-winged monoplane with a retractable tailwheel undercarriage. It had a small diameter oval fuselage with the pilot and observer situated in individual cockpits separated by a large fuel tank. The engines, two Mitsubishi Ha-26 radials, were housed in close fitting cowlings to reduce drag and improve pilot view.

 

The first prototype aircraft, flew in November 1939 from the Mitsubishi factory at Kakamigahara, Gifu.Tests showed that the Ki-46 was underpowered, and slower than required, only reaching 540 km/h (336 mph) rather than the specified 600 km/h (373 mph). Otherwise, the aircraft tests were successful. As the type was still faster than the Army's latest fighter, the Nakajima Ki-43, as well as the Navy's new A6M2,an initial production batch was ordered.

 

To solve the performance problems, Mitsubishi fitted Ha-102 engines, which were Ha-26s fitted with a two-stage supercharger, while increasing fuel capacity and reducing empty weight to give the Ki-46-II. This machine was also demonstrated to German officials, who became immediately aware of its potential.

 

Knowing that the German Luftwaffe lacked this fast type of aircraft (German reconnaissance aircraft of that time were either slow artillery observation types, or variants of bombers or heavy fighters), the RLM immediately asked for a batch of airframe kits in order to adapt it to the European theatre and test its capabilities.

 

The result was a delivery of seven engine-less airframe kits that arrived in Germany in early 1940. In the meantime, with the help of blueprints and other documentations, an alternative engine installation had been devised - the German aircraft was to be powered by liquid-cooled DB 601 engines, which delivered more power than the Ha-102 and offered improved aerodynamics, despite the necessity to add radiators under the outer wings.Effectively, many stock parts from the Messerschmitt Bf 110 heavy fighter were incorporated, so that development time was very short.

 

In May 1940 the first batch of the Gotha 146 (which had officially been described as a further development of a four seat, twin-engine transport aircraft from the 1930s) was ready, and they were immediately transferred to the Western Front and based in France.

 

Allocated to the 14. Aufklärungsgruppe, the Go 146 A-0 machines carried out various reconnaissance tasks over the North Sea, Great Britain and France, and they were also used for camouflage trials: each of the five aircraft sported a different paint scheme, raging from uniform, all-over grey to disruptive geometrical patterns, reminiscent of Dazzle camouflage!

 

The Go 146 was popular among its crews, since it was fast, agile and easy to fly. During the test phase in summer 1940 the Go 146 proved to be slightly faster than its Japanese Ki-46 ancestor, and with a top speed of more than 375 mph (600 km/h) it was hard to intercept by any British or French fighter. The results were so convincing that serial production was ordered, and from October 1940 on the Go 146 A-1 was produced in limited numbers, and the type was steadily developed further, including the change of the nose section that came withe the Ki-46III and augmented engines.

  

Specifications:

Crew: two (pilot and observer)

Length: 11.00 m (36 ft 1 in)

Wingspan: 14.70 m (48 ft 2¾ in)

Height: 3.88 m (12 ft 8¾ in)

Wing area: 32.0 m² (344 ft²)

Empty weight: 3,263 kg (7,194 lb)

Loaded weight: 5,050 kg (11,133 lb)

Max. takeoff weight: 5,800 kg (12,787 lb)

 

Powerplant:

2× Daimler-Benz DB 601B-1 liquid-cooled inverted V-12, 809 kW (1,100 hp) each

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 625 km/h (345 knots, 388 mph) at 5,800 m (19,000 ft)

Cruise speed: 400 km/h (217 knots, 249 mph)

Range: 2,474 km (1,337 nmi, 1,537 mi)

Service ceiling: 10,720 m (35,200 ft)

Wing loading: 157.8 kg/m² (32.3 lb/ft²)

Climb to 8,000 m (26,250 ft): 17 min 58 sec

 

Armament:

1x 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 17 machine gun in the observer's cabin, facing rearwards

  

The kit and its assembly:

This sounds like a weird idea, but the Luftwaffe had seriously been interested in the Ki-46, even though no aircraft ever made it to Europe. On the other side, several German aircraft were delivered to Japan (including the Bf 109E, Ju 87 and Me 210) for trials, so reversing this procedure makes sense.

 

Anyway, a German version would certainly not have been powered by radials, since this type of engine was not very popular in Europe and rather seen as a "slow" option for bombers. So the idea was born to convert a stock Ki-46 II into a prototype with German liquid-cooled engines - and it was easier to realize than expected!

 

The basis is the Airfix Dinah, a vintage and very simple kit. Fit is basically good, but the clear parts were (in my case) somewhat damaged around the edges of both canopies. Engines and landing gear are also basic - so I used different wheels, and the radials were replaced, anyway.

I used DB 601 engines, taken from an Airfix Bf 110 C kit, which also donated the radiators.

 

The latter were easy to place outside or the engine nacelles, the engines took some effort. The DB 601's height is perfect for the nacelles, just the width had to be enlarged in order to fit the original, circular shape of the radials' attachment points.

 

The remedy was simple: two long cuts in the upper cowling made the new engines flexible and wide enough to press them onto the nacelles' front ends! Some putty was necessary to hide gaps and smooth out the intersection, but the result looks very natural!

 

Otherwise not much was changed. The cockpits and the pilots were taken OOB, I just added a typical ring antenna under the fuselage and an additional pitot under the nose.

  

Painting and markings:

The fun part, even though it took a while to find something... different. The typical RLM 70/71/65 splinter scheme with a low waterline for prototypes or bombers of the BoB era was a valid option, but soooo boring.

 

While looking for inspiration I stumbled across some experimental schemes that had been tested on Bf109E fighters from JG53 - and that's what I finally settled upon.

 

What the Go 146 now carries is effectively a mix of two schemes: the stylish, geometric pattern was taken from one Bf 109, the colors (RLM 61/02/71/65) from another. Everything was painted with brushes and without masks, some light panel shading, black ink and grinded graphite were used for weathering.

 

The markings are minimal, typical for German reconnaissance aircraft of the time and based upon Bf 110 of the 14. Aufklärungsgruppe, the decals come from various aftermarket sheets and the code was puzzled together from single letter decals (TL Modellbau). A coat of acrylic matt varnish finally sealed the kit.

 

An exotic whif, and despite the weird basic idea I made it even more spectacular through the strange paint scheme which reminds of similar experiments by the US Navy. Odd thing is that I had the idea for a German Ki-46 on the agenda for quite a while, but this was/is to become a beefed-up Ki-46III for the late WWII period.

 

Building this kit's ancestor now, even before the Ki-46III conversion even started, is a little odd - but confirms the feasibility of an engine change and adds another contribution to the 2015 "Battle of Britain" Group Build at whatifmodelers.com.

 

"Minal 'Aidin Wal-Faizin' is a saying/prayer that will be outspoken amongst Moslims when celebrating the 'Idul Fitri' at the end of the fasting. Translated it means 'I pray that we will be amongst those who got back to their clean (without sins) selfs and succeeded in constraining ourselves' (free translation, if anyone has a better one please let me know)

 

Minal 'Aidin wal-Faizin. Mohon Maaf Lahir dan Bathin.

 

Taqobbalallahu minna waminkum

The latest current NASA project is named OSIRIS REx. The project involves Acquiring Answers from Asteroid number 1999 RQ36. This asteroid is the largest known extraterrestrial threat to life on earth. That's one of the reasons to study it up close and friendly...

 

Here's a quote: "OSIRIS-REx will also provide the knowledge that will guide humanity in deflecting any future asteroid that could collide with Earth, allowing humanity to avoid the fate of the dinosaurs."

 

And another quote: "RQ36 is both the most accessible carbonaceous asteroid and the most potentially Earth-hazardous asteroid known." Bolding is by me...;))

 

Scientific Objective

4. Measure the Yarkovsky effect on a potentially hazardous asteroid and constrain the asteroid properties that contribute to this effect.

 

Please note that this effect, which I have not described here, leads to it changing its orbit around the sun so it can just possibly be more likely to collide with the earth.

NOT GOOD...

     

Read More Below...

 

This poster is inside the front entrance of the University of Arizona's Lunar & Planetary Laboratory building in Tucson, Arizona. I don't know if the water bottle is part of the exhibit or not...

 

OSIRIS-REx stands for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer.

 

Regolith: An unconsolidated residual or transported material that overlies the solid rock on the earth, moon, or a planet.

.

 

I suggest viewing this on black by clicking once on the image.

 

Description of Project

uanews.org/osiris-rex

 

www.arizona.edu/features/osiris-rex-wins-uas-largest-gran...

 

OSIRIS-REx Wins UA's Largest Grant Ever

NASA has selected the University of Arizona to lead a sample-return mission to an asteroid. The team is led by Michael Drake, director of the UA's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. will manage the mission for NASA. Lockheed Martin will build the spacecraft.

 

View the video on YouTube.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6XbYLGWmOs

 

Video courtesy of NASA.

 

The OSIRIS-REx mission is budgeted for approximately $800 million, excluding the launch vehicle.

 

The target asteroid – named 1999 RQ36 after the year it was discovered – measures 575 meters (one-third of a mile) in diameter. 1999 RQ36 is a time capsule from the early solar system rich with organic compounds that may have seeded life on Earth.

 

"OSIRIS-REx will explore our past and help determine our destiny," said Drake. "It will return samples of pristine organic material that scientists think might have seeded the sterile early Earth with the building blocks that led to life. Such samples do not currently exist on Earth. OSIRIS-REx will also provide the knowledge that will guide humanity in deflecting any future asteroid that could collide with Earth, allowing humanity to avoid the fate of the dinosaurs."

 

OSIRIS-REx stands for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer.

 

Scheduled for launch in 2016, the OSIRIS-REx mission will return the first samples ever taken from a special type of asteroid holding clues to the origin of the solar system and likely organic molecules that may have seeded life on Earth.

 

OSIRIS-REx also will investigate an object potentially hazardous to humanity. 1999 RQ36 has a one-in-1,800 chance of impacting the Earth in the year 2182.

 

Spending longer than a year exploring 1999 RQ36 before acquiring samples, OSIRIS-REx will provide geologic context essential to expanding our understanding of the asteroid-comet continuum. The mission will provide near-live coverage of 1999 RQ36 operations and sample return to Earth. Samples will return to Earth in the year 2023.

 

The return to Earth of pristine samples with known geologic context will enable precise analyses that cannot be duplicated by spacecraft-based instruments. Pristine carbonaceous materials have never before been analyzed in laboratories on Earth.

 

The OSIRIS-REx instrument suite will include: the OSIRIS-REx Camera Suite (OCAMS) by the University of Arizona; the OSIRIS REx Visible-Infrared Spectrometer (OVIRS) instrument by NASA Goddard; the OSIRIS-REx Thermal Emission Spectrometer (OTES) by Arizona State University; and the OSIRIS-REx Laser Altimeter (OLA) by the Canadian Space Agency.

 

The team includes the University of Arizona, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Lockheed Martin, Arizona State University, KinetX, the Canadian Space Agency, NASA Johnson Space Center, NASA Ames Research Center, NASA Langley Research Center, along with science team members from across academia.

 

NASA New Frontiers is a program to explore the solar system with frequent, medium-class spacecraft missions that will conduct high-quality, focused scientific investigations designed to enhance our understanding of the solar system.

 

"OSIRIS-REx will usher in a new era of planetary exploration," said Dante Lauretta, the mission's deputy principal investigator and an associate professor at the UA's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. "For the first time in space-exploration history, a mission will travel to, and return pristine samples of a carbonaceous asteroid with known geologic context. Such samples are critical to understanding the origin of the solar system, Earth, and life."

 

"OSIRIS-REx will have an extraordinary impact on the University of Arizona and our entire state," said UA President Robert N. Shelton. "For decades, our Lunar and Planetary Laboratory has made immeasurable contributions to our knowledge of the universe. This mission will continue and advance that tradition, with unique opportunities for our students and researchers."

 

Extensive characterization by the Arecibo Planetary Radar System, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and ground-based telescopes in Arizona and elsewhere have resulted in exceptional knowledge about the asteroid. 1999 RQ36 orbits the sun every 1.2 years, crossing the Earth's orbit every September. Its shape and rotation rate are well known, allowing OSIRIS-REx to make a safe, albeit short, touchdown.

 

"Our spacecraft will sneak up to RQ36 over the course of weeks," Lauretta said. "Once the two objects are traveling in sync, OSIRIS-REx will extend its sample collector, touch the surface for five seconds, collect well over 60 grams of sample, and get out of there."

 

Using an injection of ultra pure nitrogen, the OSIRIS-REx sample-collecting device will stir up dirt and small gravel to be captured and sealed for return to Earth. The samples are returned to the surface of the Earth using hardware and procedures successfully demonstrated on the Stardust mission, which returned samples from comet Wild 2 in 2006.

 

UA planetary science professor William Boynton is the mission instrumentation scientist, and Peter Smith, a professor in the UA's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and principal investigator on the Phoenix Mars Mission, is the instrument scientist for the three on-board cameras. Heather Enos, project manager for the TEGA instrument on Phoenix, serves as the project planning and control officer. Chris Shinohara, science operations manager for the Phoenix Mission, will perform a similar role for OSIRIS-REx.

 

All mission science operations will be performed on the UA campus. Anna Spitz from the Mt. Lemmon Sky Center leads the Education and Public Outreach program. In addition to outstanding science and educational opportunities, OSIRIS-REx will provide a significant boost to the Arizona economy; approximately $200 million will be spent in Tucson and across Arizona.

 

Visit the NASA website for details and a video animation of the OSIRIS-REx mission.

 

Visit the UA's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory.

   

IMG_7912 - Version 2

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

  

Some background:

The Gotha 146 was a fast reconnaissance aircraft that was used throughout WWII by the German Luftwaffe, and one of the results of a mutual technology exchange program with Japan.

The Go 146 was actually a license-built, modified variant of the excellent Mitsubishi Ki-46. The latter type's career started in late 1937: the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force issued a specification to Mitsubishi for a long-range strategic reconnaissance aircraft to replace the Mitsubishi Ki-15.

 

The specification demanded an endurance of six hours and sufficient speed to evade interception by any fighter in existence or development, but otherwise did not constrain the design by a team led by Tomio Kubo.

 

The resulting design was a twin-engined, low-winged monoplane with a retractable tailwheel undercarriage. It had a small diameter oval fuselage with the pilot and observer situated in individual cockpits separated by a large fuel tank. The engines, two Mitsubishi Ha-26 radials, were housed in close fitting cowlings to reduce drag and improve pilot view.

 

The first prototype aircraft, flew in November 1939 from the Mitsubishi factory at Kakamigahara, Gifu.Tests showed that the Ki-46 was underpowered, and slower than required, only reaching 540 km/h (336 mph) rather than the specified 600 km/h (373 mph). Otherwise, the aircraft tests were successful. As the type was still faster than the Army's latest fighter, the Nakajima Ki-43, as well as the Navy's new A6M2,an initial production batch was ordered.

 

To solve the performance problems, Mitsubishi fitted Ha-102 engines, which were Ha-26s fitted with a two-stage supercharger, while increasing fuel capacity and reducing empty weight to give the Ki-46-II. This machine was also demonstrated to German officials, who became immediately aware of its potential.

 

Knowing that the German Luftwaffe lacked this fast type of aircraft (German reconnaissance aircraft of that time were either slow artillery observation types, or variants of bombers or heavy fighters), the RLM immediately asked for a batch of airframe kits in order to adapt it to the European theatre and test its capabilities.

 

The result was a delivery of seven engine-less airframe kits that arrived in Germany in early 1940. In the meantime, with the help of blueprints and other documentations, an alternative engine installation had been devised - the German aircraft was to be powered by liquid-cooled DB 601 engines, which delivered more power than the Ha-102 and offered improved aerodynamics, despite the necessity to add radiators under the outer wings.Effectively, many stock parts from the Messerschmitt Bf 110 heavy fighter were incorporated, so that development time was very short.

 

In May 1940 the first batch of the Gotha 146 (which had officially been described as a further development of a four seat, twin-engine transport aircraft from the 1930s) was ready, and they were immediately transferred to the Western Front and based in France.

 

Allocated to the 14. Aufklärungsgruppe, the Go 146 A-0 machines carried out various reconnaissance tasks over the North Sea, Great Britain and France, and they were also used for camouflage trials: each of the five aircraft sported a different paint scheme, raging from uniform, all-over grey to disruptive geometrical patterns, reminiscent of Dazzle camouflage!

 

The Go 146 was popular among its crews, since it was fast, agile and easy to fly. During the test phase in summer 1940 the Go 146 proved to be slightly faster than its Japanese Ki-46 ancestor, and with a top speed of more than 375 mph (600 km/h) it was hard to intercept by any British or French fighter. The results were so convincing that serial production was ordered, and from October 1940 on the Go 146 A-1 was produced in limited numbers, and the type was steadily developed further, including the change of the nose section that came withe the Ki-46III and augmented engines.

  

Specifications:

Crew: two (pilot and observer)

Length: 11.00 m (36 ft 1 in)

Wingspan: 14.70 m (48 ft 2¾ in)

Height: 3.88 m (12 ft 8¾ in)

Wing area: 32.0 m² (344 ft²)

Empty weight: 3,263 kg (7,194 lb)

Loaded weight: 5,050 kg (11,133 lb)

Max. takeoff weight: 5,800 kg (12,787 lb)

 

Powerplant:

2× Daimler-Benz DB 601B-1 liquid-cooled inverted V-12, 809 kW (1,100 hp) each

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 625 km/h (345 knots, 388 mph) at 5,800 m (19,000 ft)

Cruise speed: 400 km/h (217 knots, 249 mph)

Range: 2,474 km (1,337 nmi, 1,537 mi)

Service ceiling: 10,720 m (35,200 ft)

Wing loading: 157.8 kg/m² (32.3 lb/ft²)

Climb to 8,000 m (26,250 ft): 17 min 58 sec

 

Armament:

1x 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 17 machine gun in the observer's cabin, facing rearwards

  

The kit and its assembly:

This sounds like a weird idea, but the Luftwaffe had seriously been interested in the Ki-46, even though no aircraft ever made it to Europe. On the other side, several German aircraft were delivered to Japan (including the Bf 109E, Ju 87 and Me 210) for trials, so reversing this procedure makes sense.

 

Anyway, a German version would certainly not have been powered by radials, since this type of engine was not very popular in Europe and rather seen as a "slow" option for bombers. So the idea was born to convert a stock Ki-46 II into a prototype with German liquid-cooled engines - and it was easier to realize than expected!

 

The basis is the Airfix Dinah, a vintage and very simple kit. Fit is basically good, but the clear parts were (in my case) somewhat damaged around the edges of both canopies. Engines and landing gear are also basic - so I used different wheels, and the radials were replaced, anyway.

I used DB 601 engines, taken from an Airfix Bf 110 C kit, which also donated the radiators.

 

The latter were easy to place outside or the engine nacelles, the engines took some effort. The DB 601's height is perfect for the nacelles, just the width had to be enlarged in order to fit the original, circular shape of the radials' attachment points.

 

The remedy was simple: two long cuts in the upper cowling made the new engines flexible and wide enough to press them onto the nacelles' front ends! Some putty was necessary to hide gaps and smooth out the intersection, but the result looks very natural!

 

Otherwise not much was changed. The cockpits and the pilots were taken OOB, I just added a typical ring antenna under the fuselage and an additional pitot under the nose.

  

Painting and markings:

The fun part, even though it took a while to find something... different. The typical RLM 70/71/65 splinter scheme with a low waterline for prototypes or bombers of the BoB era was a valid option, but soooo boring.

 

While looking for inspiration I stumbled across some experimental schemes that had been tested on Bf109E fighters from JG53 - and that's what I finally settled upon.

 

What the Go 146 now carries is effectively a mix of two schemes: the stylish, geometric pattern was taken from one Bf 109, the colors (RLM 61/02/71/65) from another. Everything was painted with brushes and without masks, some light panel shading, black ink and grinded graphite were used for weathering.

 

The markings are minimal, typical for German reconnaissance aircraft of the time and based upon Bf 110 of the 14. Aufklärungsgruppe, the decals come from various aftermarket sheets and the code was puzzled together from single letter decals (TL Modellbau). A coat of acrylic matt varnish finally sealed the kit.

 

An exotic whif, and despite the weird basic idea I made it even more spectacular through the strange paint scheme which reminds of similar experiments by the US Navy. Odd thing is that I had the idea for a German Ki-46 on the agenda for quite a while, but this was/is to become a beefed-up Ki-46III for the late WWII period.

 

Building this kit's ancestor now, even before the Ki-46III conversion even started, is a little odd - but confirms the feasibility of an engine change and adds another contribution to the 2015 "Battle of Britain" Group Build at whatifmodelers.com.

 

Globular Cluster (Messier 3) in Canes Venatici captured 16 May 2022, ~22:00 hrs ET, Springfield, VA, USA. Bortle 8 skies, Celestron 8 inch SCT at f/6.3 (eff. fl 1290mm), Orion Atlas AZ/EQ-G Pro mount. QHY 294M Pro camera @ -10C, bin 1, exposure 32 seconds, gain 3100, 11MP mode, stack of 20 subframes, no calibration frames used. Baader Luminance filter.

 

Clouds: clear

Seeing: avg

Transparency: avg

Moon phase: full

 

FOV: 33 x 33 arcmin.

Resolution: 1.0 arcsec/pixel.

Orientation: Up is East.

 

From Wikipedia:

A globular cluster is a spherical collection of stars. Globular clusters are very tightly bound by gravity, with a high concentration of stars towards their centers. Their name is derived from Latin globulus—a small sphere. Globular clusters are occasionally known simply as globulars.

 

Although one globular cluster, Omega Centauri, was observed in antiquity and long thought to be a star, recognition of the clusters' true nature came with the advent of telescopes in the 17th century. In early telescopic observations, globular clusters appeared as fuzzy blobs, leading French astronomer Charles Messier to include many of them in his catalog of astronomical objects that he thought could be mistaken for comets. Using larger telescopes, 18th-century astronomers recognized that globular clusters are groups of many individual stars. Early in the 20th century, the distribution of globular clusters in the sky was some of the first evidence that the Sun is far from the center of the Milky Way.

 

Globular clusters are found in nearly all galaxies. In spiral galaxies like the Milky Way, they are mostly found in the outer, spheroidal part of the galaxy—the galactic halo. They are the largest and most massive type of star cluster, tending to be older, denser, and composed of fewer heavy elements than open clusters, which are generally found in the disks of spiral galaxies. The Milky Way has over 150 known globulars, and there may be many more.

 

The origin of globular clusters and their role in galactic evolution are unclear. Some are among the oldest objects in their galaxies and even the universe, constraining estimates of the universe's age. Star clusters are often assumed to consist of stars that all formed at the same time from one star-forming nebula, but nearly all globular clusters contain stars that formed at different times, or that have differing compositions. Some clusters may have had multiple episodes of star formation, and some may be remnants of smaller galaxies captured by larger galaxies.

 

The first known globular cluster, now called M22, was discovered in 1665 by Abraham Ihle, a German amateur astronomer. The cluster Omega Centauri, easily visible in the southern sky with the naked eye, was known to ancient astronomers like Ptolemy as a star, but was reclassified as a nebula by Edmond Halley in 1677, then finally as a globular cluster in the early 19th century by John Herschel. The French astronomer Abbé Lacaille listed NGC 104, NGC 4833, M55, M69, and NGC 6397 in his 1751–1752 catalogue. The low resolution of early telescopes prevented individual stars in a cluster from being visually separated until Charles Messier observed M4 in 1764.

 

When William Herschel began his comprehensive survey of the sky using large telescopes in 1782, there were 34 known globular clusters. Herschel discovered another 36 and was the first to resolve virtually all of them into stars. He coined the term globular cluster in his Catalogue of a Second Thousand New Nebulae and Clusters of Stars (1789). In 1914, Harlow Shapley began a series of studies of globular clusters, published across about 40 scientific papers. He examined the clusters' RR Lyrae variables—stars which he assumed were Cepheid variables—and used their luminosity and period of variability to estimate the distances to the clusters. It was later found that RR Lyrae variables are fainter than Cepheid variables, causing Shapley to overestimate the distances.

 

A large majority of the Milky Way's globular clusters are found in the celestial sky around the galactic core. In 1918, Shapley used this strongly asymmetrical distribution to determine the overall dimensions of the galaxy. Assuming a roughly spherical distribution of globular clusters around the galaxy’s center, he used the positions of the clusters to estimate the position of the Sun relative to the galactic center. He correctly concluded that the Milky Way's center is in the Sagittarius constellation and not near the Earth. He overestimated the distance, finding typical globular cluster distances of 10–30 kiloparsecs (33,000–98,000 ly); the modern distance to the galactic center is roughly 8.5 kiloparsecs (28,000 ly). Shapley's measurements indicated the Sun is relatively far from the center of the galaxy, contrary to what had been inferred from the observed uniform distribution of ordinary stars. In reality, most ordinary stars lie within the galaxy's disk and are thus obscured by gas and dust in the disk, whereas globular clusters lie outside the disk and can be seen at much further distances.

 

The count of known globular clusters in the Milky Way has continued to increase, reaching 83 in 1915, 93 in 1930, 97 by 1947, and 157 in 2010. Additional, undiscovered globular clusters are believed to be in the galactic bulge or hidden by the gas and dust of the Milky Way. The Andromeda Galaxy—comparable in size to the Milky Way—may have as many as 500 globulars. Every galaxy of sufficient mass in the Local Group has an associated system of globular clusters, as does almost every large galaxy surveyed. Some giant elliptical galaxies (particularly those at the centers of galaxy clusters), such as M87, have as many as 13,000 globular clusters.

 

Shapley was later assisted in his studies of clusters by Henrietta Swope and Helen Sawyer Hogg. In 1927–1929, Shapley and Sawyer categorized clusters by the degree of concentration of stars toward each core. Their system, known as the Shapley–Sawyer Concentration Class, identifies the most concentrated clusters as Class I and ranges to the most diffuse Class XII. In 2015, astronomers from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile proposed a new type of globular cluster on the basis of observational data: dark globular clusters.

 

The formation of globular clusters is poorly understood.

Globular clusters have traditionally been described as a simple star population formed from a single giant molecular cloud, and thus with roughly uniform age and metallicity (proportion of heavy elements in their composition). Modern observations show that nearly all globular clusters contain multiple populations; the globular clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) exhibit a bimodal population, for example. During their youth, these LMC clusters may have encountered giant molecular clouds that triggered a second round of star formation. This star-forming period is relatively brief, compared with the age of many globular clusters. It has been proposed that this multiplicity in stellar populations could have a dynamical origin. In the Antennae Galaxy, for example, the Hubble Space Telescope has observed clusters of clusters—regions in the galaxy that span hundreds of parsecs, in which many of the clusters will eventually collide and merge. Their overall range of ages and (possibly) metallicities could lead to clusters with a bimodal, or even multiple, distribution of populations.

 

Observations of globular clusters show that their stars primarily come from regions of more efficient star formation, and from where the interstellar medium is at a higher density, as compared to normal star-forming regions. Globular cluster formation is prevalent in starburst regions and in interacting galaxies. Some globular clusters likely formed in dwarf galaxies and were removed by tidal forces to join the Milky Way. In elliptical and lenticular galaxies there is a correlation between the mass of the supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at their centers and the extent of their globular cluster systems. The mass of the SMBH in such a galaxy is often close to the combined mass of the galaxy's globular clusters.

 

No known globular clusters display active star formation, consistent with the hypothesis that globular clusters are typically the oldest objects in their galaxy and were among the first collections of stars to form. Very large regions of star formation known as super star clusters, such as Westerlund 1 in the Milky Way, may be the precursors of globular clusters.

 

Many of the Milky Way's globular clusters have a retrograde orbit, including the most massive, Omega Centauri. Its retrograde orbit suggests it may be a remnant of a dwarf galaxy captured by the Milky Way.

 

Globular clusters are generally composed of hundreds of thousands of low-metal, old stars. The stars found in a globular cluster are similar to those in the bulge of a spiral galaxy but confined to a spheroid in which half the light is emitted within a radius of only a few to a few tens of parsecs. They are free of gas and dust and it is presumed that all of the gas and dust was long ago either turned into stars or blown out of the cluster by the massive first-generation stars.

 

Globular clusters can contain a high density of stars; on average about 0.4 stars per cubic parsec, increasing to 100 or 1000 stars/pc3 in the core of the cluster. In comparison, the stellar density around the sun is roughly 0.1 stars/pc3. The typical distance between stars in a globular cluster is about 1 light year, but at its core the separation between stars averages about a third of a light year—13 times closer than Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Sun.

 

Globular clusters are thought to be unfavorable locations for planetary systems. Planetary orbits are dynamically unstable within the cores of dense clusters because of the gravitational perturbations of passing stars. A planet orbiting at 1 astronomical unit around a star that is within the core of a dense cluster, such as 47 Tucanae, would only survive on the order of 100 million years. There is a planetary system orbiting a pulsar (PSR B1620−26) that belongs to the globular cluster M4, but these planets likely formed after the event that created the pulsar.

 

Some globular clusters, like Omega Centauri in the Milky Way and Mayall II in the Andromeda Galaxy, are extraordinarily massive, measuring several million solar masses (M☉) and having multiple stellar populations. Both are evidence that supermassive globular clusters are in fact the cores of dwarf galaxies that have been consumed by larger galaxies. About a quarter of the globular cluster population in the Milky Way may have been accreted this way, as with more than 60% of the globular clusters in the outer halo of Andromeda.

 

Globular clusters normally consist of Population II stars which, compared with Population I stars such as the Sun, have a higher proportion of hydrogen and helium and a lower proportion of heavier elements. Astronomers refer to these heavier elements as metals (distinct from the material concept) and to the proportions of these elements as the metallicity. Produced by stellar nucleosynthesis, the metals are recycled into the interstellar medium and enter a new generation of stars. The proportion of metals can thus be an indication of the age of a star in simple models, with older stars typically having a lower metallicity.

 

The Dutch astronomer Pieter Oosterhoff observed two special populations of globular clusters, which became known as Oosterhoff groups. The second group has a slightly longer period of RR Lyrae variable stars. While both groups have a low proportion of metallic elements as measured by spectroscopy, the metal spectral lines in the stars of Oosterhoff type I (Oo I) cluster are not quite as weak as those in type II (Oo II), and so type I stars are referred to as metal-rich (e.g. Terzan 7), while type II stars are metal-poor (e.g. ESO 280-SC06). These two distinct populations have been observed in many galaxies, especially massive elliptical galaxies. Both groups are nearly as old as the universe itself and are of similar ages. Suggested scenarios to explain these subpopulations include violent gas-rich galaxy mergers, the accretion of dwarf galaxies, and multiple phases of star formation in a single galaxy. In the Milky Way, the metal-poor clusters are associated with the halo and the metal-rich clusters with the bulge.

 

In the Milky Way, a large majority of the metal-poor clusters are aligned on a plane in the outer part of the galaxy's halo. This observation supports the view that type II clusters were captured from a satellite galaxy, rather than being the oldest members of the Milky Way's globular cluster system—as was previously thought. The difference between the two cluster types would then be explained by a time delay between when the two galaxies formed their cluster systems.

 

Close interactions and near-collisions of stars occur relatively often in globular clusters because of their high star density. These chance encounters give rise to some exotic classes of stars—such as blue stragglers, millisecond pulsars, and low-mass X-ray binaries—which are much more common in globular clusters. How blue stragglers form remains unclear, but most models attribute them to interactions between stars, such as stellar mergers, the transfer of material from one star to another, or even an encounter between two binary systems. The resulting star has a higher temperature than other stars in the cluster with comparable luminosity and thus differs from the main sequence stars formed early in the cluster's existence. Some clusters have two distinct sequences of blue stragglers, one bluer than the other.

 

Astronomers have searched for black holes within globular clusters since the 1970s. The required resolution for this task is exacting; it is only with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) that the first claimed discoveries were made, in 2002 and 2003. Based on HST observations, other researchers suggested the existence of a 4,000 M☉(solar masses) intermediate-mass black hole in the globular cluster M15 and a 20,000 M☉ black hole in the Mayall II cluster of the Andromeda Galaxy. Both X-ray and radio emissions from Mayall II appear consistent with an intermediate-mass black hole; however, these claimed detections are controversial. The heaviest objects in globular clusters are expected to migrate to the cluster center due to mass segregation. One research group pointed out that the mass-to-light ratio should rise sharply towards the center of the cluster, even without a black hole, in both M15 and Mayall II. Observations from 2018 find no evidence for an intermediate-mass black hole in any globular cluster, including M15, but cannot definitively rule out one with a mass of 500–1000 M☉.

 

The confirmation of intermediate-mass black holes in globular clusters would have important ramifications for theories of galaxy development as being possible sources for the supermassive black holes at their centers. The mass of these supposed intermediate-mass black holes is proportional to the mass of their surrounding clusters, following a pattern previously discovered between supermassive black holes and their surrounding galaxies.

 

Hertzsprung–Russell diagrams (H–R diagrams) of globular clusters allow astronomers to determine many of the properties of their populations of stars. An H–R diagram is a graph of a large sample of stars plotting their absolute magnitude (their luminosity, or brightness measured from a standard distance), as a function of their color index. The color index, roughly speaking, measures the color of the star; positive color indices indicate a reddish star with a cool surface temperature, while negative values indicate a bluer star with a hotter surface. Stars on an H–R diagram mostly lie along a roughly diagonal line sloping from hot, luminous stars in the upper left to cool, faint stars in the lower right. This line is known as the main sequence and represents the primary stage of stellar evolution. The diagram also includes stars in later evolutionary stages such as the cool but luminous red giants.

 

Constructing an H–R diagram requires knowing the distance to the observed stars to convert apparent into absolute magnitude. Because all the stars in a globular cluster have about the same distance from Earth, a color–magnitude diagram using their observed magnitudes looks like a shifted H–R diagram—because of the roughly constant difference between their apparent and absolute magnitudes. This shift is called the distance modulus and can be used to calculate the distance to the cluster. The modulus is determined by comparing features (like the main sequence) of the cluster's color–magnitude diagram to corresponding features in an H–R diagram of another set of stars, a method known as spectroscopic parallax or main-sequence fitting.

 

Since globular clusters form at once from a single giant molecular cloud, a cluster's stars have roughly the same age and composition. A star's evolution is primarily determined by its initial mass, so the positions of stars in a cluster's H–R or color–magnitude diagram mostly reflect their initial masses. A cluster's H–R diagram, therefore, appears quite different from H–R diagrams containing stars of a wide variety of ages. Almost all stars fall on a well-defined curve in globular cluster H–R diagrams, and that curve's shape indicates the age of the cluster. A more detailed H–R diagram often reveals multiple stellar populations as indicated by the presence of closely separated curves, each corresponding to a distinct population of stars with a slightly different age or composition.

Observations with the Wide Field Camera 3, installed in 2009 on the Hubble Space Telescope, made it possible to distinguish these slightly different curves.

 

The most massive main-sequence stars have the highest luminosity and will be the first to evolve into the giant star stage. As the cluster ages, stars of successively lower masses will do the same. Therefore, the age of a single-population cluster can be measured by looking for those stars just beginning to enter the giant star stage, which form a "knee" in the H–R diagram called the main sequence turnoff, bending to the upper right from the main-sequence line. The absolute magnitude at this bend is directly a function of the cluster's age; an age scale can be plotted on an axis parallel to the magnitude.

 

The morphology and luminosity of globular cluster stars in H–R diagrams are influenced by numerous parameters, many of which are still actively researched. Recent observations have overturned the historical paradigm that all globular clusters consist of stars born at exactly the same time, or sharing exactly the same chemical abundance. Some clusters feature multiple populations, slightly differing in composition and age; for example, high-precision imagery of cluster NGC 2808 discerned three close, but distinct, main sequences. Further, the placements of the cluster stars in an H–R diagram—including the brightnesses of distance indicators—can be influenced by observational biases. One such effect, called blending, arises when the cores of globular clusters are so dense that observations see multiple stars as a single target. The brightness measured for that seemingly single star is thus incorrect—too bright, given that multiple stars contributed.[81] The computed distance is in turn incorrect, so the blending effect can introduce a systematic uncertainty into the cosmic distance ladder and may bias the estimated age of the universe and the Hubble constant.

 

The aforementioned blue stragglers appear on the H–R diagram as a series diverging from the main sequence in the direction of brighter, bluer stars. White dwarfs (the final remnants of some Sun-like stars), which are much fainter and somewhat hotter than the main sequence stars, lie on the bottom-left of an H–R diagram. Globular clusters can be dated by looking at the temperatures of the coolest white dwarfs, often giving results as old as 12.7 billion years. In comparison, open clusters are rarely older than about 500 million years. The ages of globular clusters place a lower bound on the age of the entire universe, presenting a significant constraint in cosmology. Astronomers were historically faced with age estimates of clusters older than their cosmological models would allow, but better measurements of cosmological parameters, through deep sky surveys and satellites, appear to have resolved this issue.

 

Studying globular clusters sheds light on how the composition of the formational gas and dust affects stellar evolution; the stars' evolutionary tracks vary depending on the abundance of heavy elements. Data obtained from these studies are then used to study the evolution of the Milky Way as a whole.

 

In contrast to open clusters, most globular clusters remain gravitationally bound together for time periods comparable to the lifespans of most of their stars. Strong tidal interactions with other large masses result in the dispersal of some stars, leaving behind "tidal tails" of stars removed from the cluster.

 

After formation, the stars in the globular cluster begin to interact gravitationally with each other. The velocities of the stars steadily change, and the stars lose any history of their original velocity. The characteristic interval for this to occur is the relaxation time, related to the characteristic length of time a star needs to cross the cluster and the number of stellar masses.[92] The relaxation time varies by cluster, but a typical value is on the order of one billion years.[93][94]

 

Although globular clusters are generally spherical in form, ellipticity can form via tidal interactions. Clusters within the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy are typically oblate spheroids in shape, while those in the Large Magellanic Cloud are more elliptical.

 

Astronomers characterize the morphology (shape) of a globular cluster by means of standard radii: the core radius (rc), the half-light radius (rh), and the tidal or Jacobi radius (rt). The radius can be expressed as a physical distance or as a subtended angle in the sky. Considering a radius around the core, the surface luminosity of the cluster steadily decreases with distance, and the core radius is the distance at which the apparent surface luminosity has dropped by half. A comparable quantity is the half-light radius, or the distance from the core containing half the total luminosity of the cluster; the half-light radius is typically larger than the core radius.

 

Most globular clusters have a half-light radius of less than 10 parsecs (pc), although some globular clusters have very large radii, like NGC 2419 (rh = 18 pc) and Palomar 14 (rh = 25 pc). The half-light radius includes stars in the outer part of the cluster that happen to lie along the line of sight, so theorists also use the half-mass radius (rm)—the radius from the core that contains half the total mass of the cluster. A small half-mass radius, relative to the overall size, indicates a dense core. Messier 3 (M3), for example, has an overall visible dimension of about 18 arc minutes, but a half-mass radius of only 1.12 arc minutes.

 

The tidal radius, or Hill sphere, is the distance from the center of the globular cluster at which the external gravitation of the galaxy has more influence over the stars in the cluster than does the cluster itself. This is the distance at which the individual stars belonging to a cluster can be separated away by the galaxy. The tidal radius of M3, for example, is about 40 arc minutes, or about 113 pc.

 

In most Milky Way clusters, the surface brightness of a globular cluster as a function of decreasing distance to the core first increases, then levels off at a distance typically 1–2 parsecs from the core. About 20% of the globular clusters have undergone a process termed "core collapse". In such a cluster, the luminosity increases steadily all the way to the core region.

 

Models of globular clusters predict core collapse occurs when the more massive stars in a globular cluster encounter their less massive counterparts. Over time, dynamic processes cause individual stars to migrate from the center of the cluster to the outside, resulting in a net loss of kinetic energy from the core region and leading the region's remaining stars to occupy a more compact volume. When this gravothermal instability occurs, the central region of the cluster becomes densely crowded with stars, and the surface brightness of the cluster forms a power-law cusp. A massive black hole at the core could also result in a luminosity cusp. Over a long time this leads to a concentration of massive stars near the core, a phenomenon called mass segregation.

 

The dynamical heating effect of binary star systems works to prevent an initial core collapse of the cluster. When a star passes near a binary system, the orbit of the latter pair tends to contract, releasing energy. Only after this primordial supply of energy is exhausted can a deeper core collapse proceed. In contrast, the effect of tidal shocks as a globular cluster repeatedly passes through the plane of a spiral galaxy tends to significantly accelerate core collapse.

 

Core collapse may be divided into three phases. During a cluster's adolescence, core collapse begins with stars nearest the core. Interactions between binary star systems prevents further collapse as the cluster approaches middle age. The central binaries are either disrupted or ejected, resulting in a tighter concentration at the core. The interaction of stars in the collapsed core region causes tight binary systems to form. As other stars interact with these tight binaries they increase the energy at the core, causing the cluster to re-expand. As the average time for a core collapse is typically less than the age of the galaxy, many of a galaxy's globular clusters may have passed through a core collapse stage, then re-expanded.

 

The HST has provided convincing observational evidence of this stellar mass-sorting process in globular clusters. Heavier stars slow down and crowd at the cluster's core, while lighter stars pick up speed and tend to spend more time at the cluster's periphery. The cluster 47 Tucanae, made up of about one million stars, is one of the densest globular clusters in the Southern Hemisphere. This cluster was subjected to an intensive photographic survey that obtained precise velocities for nearly 15,000 stars in this cluster.

 

The overall luminosities of the globular clusters within the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy each have a roughly Gaussian distribution, with an average magnitude Mv and a variance σ2. This distribution of globular cluster luminosities is called the Globular Cluster Luminosity Function (GCLF). For the Milky Way, Mv = −7.29 ± 0.13, σ = 1.1 ± 0.1. The GCLF has been used as a "standard candle" for measuring the distance to other galaxies, under the assumption that globular clusters in remote galaxies behave similarly to those in the Milky Way.

 

Computing the gravitational interactions between stars within a globular cluster requires solving the N-body problem. The naive computational cost for a dynamic simulation increases in proportion to N 2 (where N is the number of objects), so the computing requirements to accurately simulate a cluster of thousands of stars can be enormous. A more efficient method of simulating the N-body dynamics of a globular cluster is done by subdivision into small volumes and velocity ranges, and using probabilities to describe the locations of the stars. Their motions are described by means of the Fokker–Planck equation, often using a model describing the mass density as a function of radius, such as a Plummer model. The simulation becomes more difficult when the effects of binaries and the interaction with external gravitation forces (such as from the Milky Way galaxy) must also be included. In 2010 a low-density globular cluster's lifetime evolution was first directly computed, star-by-star.

 

Completed N-body simulations have shown that stars can follow unusual paths through the cluster, often forming loops and falling more directly toward the core than would a single star orbiting a central mass. Additionally, some stars gain sufficient energy to escape the cluster due to gravitational interactions that result in a sufficient increase in velocity. Over long periods of time this process leads to the dissipation of the cluster, a process termed evaporation. The typical time scale for the evaporation of a globular cluster is 1010 years. The ultimate fate of a globular cluster must be either to accrete stars at its core, causing its steady contraction, or gradual shedding of stars from its outer layers.

 

Binary stars form a significant portion of stellar systems, with up to half of all field stars and open cluster stars occurring in binary systems. The present-day binary fraction in globular clusters is difficult to measure, and any information about their initial binary fraction is lost by subsequent dynamical evolution. Numerical simulations of globular clusters have demonstrated that binaries can hinder and even reverse the process of core collapse in globular clusters. When a star in a cluster has a gravitational encounter with a binary system, a possible result is that the binary becomes more tightly bound and kinetic energy is added to the solitary star. When the massive stars in the cluster are sped up by this process, it reduces the contraction at the core and limits core collapse.

  

Cluster classification is not always definitive; objects have been found that can be classified in more than one category. For example, BH 176 in the southern part of the Milky Way has properties of both an open and a globular cluster.

 

In 2005, astronomers discovered a new, "extended" type of star cluster in the Andromeda Galaxy's halo, similar to the globular cluster. The three new-found clusters have a similar star count as globular clusters and share other characteristics, such as stellar populations and metallicity, but are distinguished by their larger size—several hundred light years across—and some hundred times lower density. Their stars are separated by larger distances; parametrically, these clusters lie somewhere between a globular cluster and a dwarf spheroidal galaxy. The formation of these extended clusters is likely related to accretion. It is unclear why the Milky Way lacks such clusters; Andromeda is unlikely to be the sole galaxy with them, but their presence in other galaxies remains unknown.

 

When a globular cluster comes close to a large mass, such as the core region of a galaxy, it undergoes a tidal interaction. The difference in gravitational strength between the nearer and further parts of the cluster results in an asymmetric, tidal force. A "tidal shock" occurs whenever the orbit of a cluster takes it through the plane of a galaxy.

 

Tidal shocks can pull stars away from the cluster halo, leaving only the core part of the cluster; these trails of stars can extend several degrees away from the cluster. These tails typically both precede and follow the cluster along its orbit and can accumulate significant portions of the original mass of the cluster, forming clump-like features. The globular cluster Palomar 5, for example, is near the apogalactic point of its orbit after passing through the Milky Way. Streams of stars extend outward toward the front and rear of the orbital path of this cluster, stretching to distances of 13,000 light years. Tidal interactions have stripped away much of Palomar 5's mass; further interactions with the galactic core are expected to transform it into a long stream of stars orbiting the Milky Way in its halo.

 

The Milky Way is in the process of tidally stripping the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy of stars and globular clusters through the Sagittarius Stream. As many as 20% of the globular clusters in the Milky Way's outer halo may have originated in that galaxy. Palomar 12, for example, most likely originated in the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal but is now associated with the Milky Way. Tidal interactions like these add kinetic energy into a globular cluster, dramatically increasing the evaporation rate and shrinking the size of the cluster. The increased evaporation accelerates the process of core collapse.

 

Astronomers are searching for exoplanets of stars in globular star clusters.[141] A search in 2000 for giant planets in the globular cluster 47 Tucanae came up negative, suggesting that the abundance of heavier elements—low in globular clusters—necessary to build these planets may need to be at least 40% of the Sun's abundance. Because terrestrial planets are built from heavier elements such as silicon, iron and magnesium, member stars have a far lower likelihood of hosting Earth-mass planets than stars in the solar neighborhood. Globular clusters are thus unlikely to host habitable terrestrial planets.

 

A giant planet was found in the Messier 4 globular cluster orbiting a pulsar in the binary star system PSR B1620-26. The planet's eccentric and highly inclined orbit suggests it may have been formed around another star in the cluster, then "exchanged" into its current arrangement. The likelihood of close encounters between stars in a globular cluster can disrupt planetary systems; some planets break free to become rogue planets, orbiting the galaxy. Planets orbiting close to their star can become disrupted, potentially leading to orbital decay and an increase in orbital eccentricity and tidal effects.

In Photoshop Elements, open both images. Create a duplicate layer of the girl (Ctrl+J).

Use Quick Selection tool to isolate girl from her background.

Click Refine Edge (top of screen). I set smooth to 10, Feather to 1.5 and Contract/Expand to -2.

Click on Add Layer Mask button (Middle of 3 bottom left buttons on the Layers palette.)

Click on the move tool to drag the girl up to the Books image tab (above main window) then down into image to drop her in the scene. Resize and rotate using the arrows at the corners of the bounding box. (Make sure Constrain Proportions in top bar is ticked).

Perfect the mask by using the brush tool - soft-edged circular. Paint with black to hide parts of the layer, and with white to reveal them. Use 100% opacity, and a brush about 20 pixels.MAKE SURE YOU CLICK ON THE LAYER MASK FIRST! I couldn't understand why this wouldn't work with me until I eventually realised I was on the girl layer, not the layer mask.

Add some shadows: Click Create New Layer, go to Edit>Fill and choose 50% Gray. In the Layers panel, change Blend Mode to Overlay (Left hand drop-down menu). Select Burn tool from tools panel and paint shadows under and behind the girl. Select Mid-tones, and Range - 15%. I couldn't find the Burn tool as it was Sponge that was selected - right click to rotate between Sponge, Burn or Dodge. If you think you've overdone the shadows, lessen the Opacity to about 70% to reduce the effect.

 

(N-Photo magazine, Vol 2, Jan 2012)

VIEW FROM THE FERRY FROM LARNE IN N. IRELAND TO CAIRNRYAN IN SCOTLAND.

 

THIS SHORE LIGHTHOUSE GUARDS THE EAST SIDE OF THE ENTRANCE TO LOCH RYAN FROM A POINT JUST SOUTH EAST OF IT. IT STANDS ON CAIRN POINT WHICH PROJECTS INTO LOCH RYAN FROM A NARROW SHELF IN FRONT OF THE MAIN (A77) ROAD; A SOLID PORTION ON THE EAST SIDE OF THE LANTERN CONSTRAINS THE LIGHT TO SEAWARD. THE LIGHTHOUSE WAS BUILT BY ALAN STEVENSON AND FIRST LIT IN 1847. IT WAS CONVERTED TO OIL BURNING IN 1847, AND AUTOMATED (ELECTRIFIED AND MADE 'UNATTENDED') IN 1964.

  

The oases of the Maghreb region are green islands flourishing in a constraining and harsh environment. They are home to a diversified and highly intensive and productive system, which has been developed over millennia.

 

Dominated by the date palm, intertwined with trees and crops, these ancient systems produce a surprising variety of fruits and vegetables, cereals and forages, medicinal and aromatic plants. The palm groves offer shade and lower the ambient temperature, making it the best place to live in the Sahara and an important place of recreation.

 

The systems of production and irrigation and the culture of the oases vary between the different locations in correspondence to their environment. There are oases in continental, mountainous, as well as in littoral areas. With their rich diversity these oases systems constitute an agricultural and cultural heritage.

 

Photo credit must be given: Photo courtesy of GIAHS Algeria - Ghout System. Editorial use only.

 

More information:

GIAHS - Ghout Oasis system El Oued, Algeria

  

Information from:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta

 

Atlanta (pronounced /ətˈlæntə/ or /ætˈlæntə/) is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia.

As of 2008, Atlanta is the thirty-third largest city in the United States, with an estimated population of 537,958. Its metropolitan area, officially named the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA MSA (commonly referred to as Metropolitan Atlanta) is the ninth largest metropolitan area in the country, inhabited by approximately 5.5 million people. Like most areas in the Sun Belt, the Atlanta region has seen explosive growth in the past decade, adding more than 1.13 million residents between 2000 and 2008. It is the fastest growing area of the United States behind the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.[3]

Considered a top business city and transportation hub,[4][5] Atlanta is the world headquarters of The Coca-Cola Company, AT&T Mobility, and Delta Air Lines. Atlanta has the country's fourth largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies inside city limits (although UPS, Home Depot, and Newell Rubbermaid are not in the city limits) and more than 75 percent of the Fortune 1000 companies have a presence in the metro area. Also the Atlanta metro area has the 11th largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies headquarters. [6] Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport, which is located seven miles south of downtown Atlanta, is the world's busiest airport and the only major airport to serve the city.[7][8]

Atlanta is the county seat of Fulton County and the fifth location for the seat of government of the state of Georgia. A small portion of the city of Atlanta corporate limits extends into DeKalb County. Residents of the city are known as Atlantans.[9]

 

History

 

Main articles: History of Atlanta and Atlanta in the Civil War

The land constituting the city of Atlanta was once a Native American village called Standing Peachtree. The land that became the Atlanta area was taken from the Cherokee and Creeks by white settlers in 1822, with the first area settlement being Decatur.

On December 21, 1836, the Georgia General Assembly voted to build the Western and Atlantic Railroad to provide a trade route to the Midwestern United States.[10] Following the forced removal of the Cherokee Nation between 1838 and 1839 the newly depopulated area was opened for the construction of a railroad. The area around the eastern terminus to the line began to develop first, and so the settlement was named "Terminus" in 1837. It was nicknamed Thrasherville after John Thrasher, who built homes and a general store there.[11] By 1842, the settlement had six buildings and 30 residents and the town was renamed "Marthasville".[12] The Chief Engineer of the Georgia Railroad, J. Edgar Thomson, suggested that the area be renamed "Atlantica-Pacifica" after the Western and Atlantic Railroad, which was quickly shortened to "Atlanta".[12] The residents approved, and the town was incorporated as Atlanta on December 29, 1847.[13] By 1854, another railroad connected Atlanta to LaGrange, and the town grew to 9,554 by 1860.[14][15]

During the American Civil War, Atlanta served as an important railroad and military supply hub. In 1864, the city became the target of a major Union invasion. The area now covered by Atlanta was the scene of several battles, including the Battle of Peachtree Creek, the Battle of Atlanta, and the Battle of Ezra Church. On September 1, 1864, Confederate General John Bell Hood evacuated Atlanta after a four-month siege mounted by Union General William T. Sherman and ordered all public buildings and possible Confederate assets destroyed. The next day, Mayor James Calhoun surrendered the city, and on September 7 Sherman ordered the civilian population to evacuate. He then ordered Atlanta burned to the ground on November 11 in preparation for his march south, though he spared the city's churches and hospitals.[16]

The rebuilding of the city was gradual. From 1867 until 1888, U.S. Army soldiers occupied McPherson Barracks in southwest Atlanta to ensure Reconstruction era reforms. To help the newly freed slaves, the Freedmen's Bureau worked in tandem with a number of freedmen's aid organizations, especially the American Missionary Association. In 1868, Atlanta became the fifth city to serve as the state capital.[17] The Confederate Soldiers' Home was built to house disabled and elderly Georgia veterans from 1901 to 1941.[18] Henry W. Grady, the editor of the Atlanta Constitution, promoted the city to investors as a city of the "New South", one built on a modern economy, less reliant on agriculture. However, as Atlanta grew, ethnic and racial tensions mounted. The Atlanta Race Riot of 1906 left at least 27 dead[19] and over 70 injured.

On December 15, 1939, Atlanta hosted the premiere of Gone with the Wind, the movie based on Atlanta-born Margaret Mitchell's best-selling novel of the same name. Stars Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Olivia de Havilland and legendary producer David O. Selznick attended the gala, which was held at Loew's Grand Theatre, now destroyed. Leslie Howard had returned to England for the war.[20] The reception was held at the Georgian Terrace Hotel, which is still standing.

During World War II, manufacturing such as the Bell Aircraft factory in the suburb of Marietta helped boost the city's population and economy. Shortly after the war, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was founded in Atlanta.[21]

In the wake of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education, which helped usher in the Civil Rights Movement, racial tensions in Atlanta began to express themselves in acts of violence. On October 12, 1958, a Reform Jewish temple on Peachtree Street was bombed; the synagogue's rabbi, Jacob Rothschild, was an outspoken advocate of integration.[22] A group of anti-Semitic white supremacists calling themselves the "Confederate Underground" claimed responsibility.

In the 1960s, Atlanta was a major organizing center of the Civil Rights Movement, as Dr. Martin Luther King and students from Atlanta's historically black colleges and universities played major roles in the movement's leadership. Two of the most important civil rights organizations, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, had their national headquarters in Atlanta. Despite some racial protests during the Civil Rights era, Atlanta's political and business leaders labored to foster Atlanta's image as "the city too busy to hate". In 1961, Atlanta Mayor Ivan Allen Jr. became one of the few Southern white mayors to support desegregation of his city's public schools.[23]

African-American Atlantans demonstrated growing political influence with election of the first African-American mayor in 1973. They became a majority in the city during the late 20th century but suburbanization, rising prices, a booming economy and new migrants have decreased their percentage in the city from a high of 69 percent in 1980 to about 54 percent in 2004. The addition of new immigrants such as Latinos and Asians is also altering city demographics, along with an influx of white residents.[24]

In 1990, Atlanta was selected as the site for the 1996 Summer Olympics. Following the announcement, Atlanta undertook several major construction projects to improve the city's parks, sports facilities, and transportation. Atlanta became the third American city to host the Summer Olympics. The games themselves were marred by numerous organizational inefficiencies, as well as the Centennial Olympic Park bombing.[25]

Contemporary Atlanta is sometimes considered to be an archetype for cities experiencing rapid growth and urban sprawl.[26][27] Unlike most major cities, metropolitan Atlanta does not have any natural boundaries, such as an ocean, lakes, or mountains, that might constrain growth.

The city has recently been commended by bodies such as the Environmental Protection Agency for its eco-friendly policies.[28] In 2009, Atlanta's Virginia-Highland became the first carbon-neutral zone in the United States. Verus Carbon Neutral developed the partnership that links 17 merchants of the historic Corner Virginia-Highland shopping and dining neighborhood retail district, through the Chicago Climate Exchange, to directly fund the Valley Wood Carbon Sequestration Project (thousands of acres of forest in rural Georgia).

 

Is anybody thirsty before going on to Rome?

 

'Bienfaisance Internationale'

 

'Fontaine de la Frontière'

  

The famous 'Nationale 7' synonymous with the way to sunny vacations along the Mediterranean shores for generations of French families following the establishment of statutory summer holidays in 1936.

 

Long, warm days, no more time or job constrains; let's party.

 

fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Route_nationale_7_(France_métropolitaine)

fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menton_(Alpes-Maritimes)

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Route_nationale_7

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menton

 

A public fontain erected in homage to Sir Thomas Hanbury who established the Giardini Botanici Hanbury a couples 3 kilometres East on the other side of the border.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hanbury

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giardini_Botanici_Hanbury

 

The botanical garden in my set:

www.flickr.com/photos/31594504@N06/21596104398/in/datepos...

 

Photo taken looking South.

 

View from above:

wikimapia.org/#lang=fr&lat=43.784830&lon=7.521259...

 

Another point of view:

www.openstreetmap.org/#map=19/43.78472/7.52155

 

The Mitsubishi Ki-46 was a twin-engine reconnaissance aircraft used by the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II. Its Army Shiki designation was Type 100 Command Reconnaissance Aircraft (一〇〇式司令部偵察機); the Allied nickname was "Dinah".

 

On 12 December 1937, the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force issued a specification to Mitsubishi for a long-range strategic reconnaissance aircraft to replace the Mitsubishi Ki-15. The specification demanded an endurance of six hours and sufficient speed to evade interception by any fighter in existence or development, but otherwise did not constrain the design by a team led by Tomio Kubo 久保富夫　（a 1931 graduate from the Aeronautical Section of the Faculty of Engineering at Tokyo Imperial University) whose aesthetics are densely infused to this elegant aircraft.

 

The resulting design was a twin-engined, low-winged monoplane with a retractable tailwheel undercarriage. It had a small diameter oval fuselage which accommodated a crew of two, with the pilot and observer situated in individual cockpits separated by a large fuel tank. Further fuel tanks were situated in the thin wings both inboard and outboard of the engines, giving a total fuel capacity of 1,490 L (328 imperial gallons). The engines, two Mitsubishi Ha-26s, were housed in close fitting cowlings developed by the Aeronautical Research Institute of the Tokyo Imperial University to reduce drag and improve pilot view.

 

The first prototype aircraft, with the designation Ki-46, flew in November 1939 from the Mitsubishi factory at Kakamigahara, Gifu, north of Nagoya. Tests showed that the Ki-46 was underpowered, and slower than required, only reaching 540 km/h (336 mph) rather than the specified 600 km/h (373 mph). Otherwise, the aircraft tests were successful. As the type was still faster than the Army's latest fighter, the Nakajima Ki-43, as well as the Navy's new A6M2, an initial production batch was ordered as the Army Type 100 Command Reconnaissance Plane Model 1 (Ki-41-I).

 

To solve the performance problems, Mitsubishi fitted Ha-102 engines, which were Ha-26s fitted with a two-stage supercharger, while increasing fuel capacity and reducing empty weight to give the Ki-46-II, flying in March 1941. This met the speed requirements of the original specification, and was ordered into full-scale production, with deliveries starting in July.

 

Although at first the Ki-46 proved almost immune from interception, the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force realised that improved Allied fighters such as the Supermarine Spitfire and P-38 Lightning could challenge this superiority, and in July 1942, it instructed Mitsubishi to produce a further improved version, the Ki-46-III. This had more powerful, fuel-injected Mitsubishi Ha-112 engines, and a redesigned nose, with a fuel tank ahead of the pilot and a new canopy, smoothly faired from the extreme nose of the aircraft, eliminating the "step" of the earlier versions. The single defensive machine gun of the earlier aircraft was also omitted. The new version first flew in December 1942, demonstrating significantly higher speed (630 km/h (391 mph) at 6,000 m (19,700 ft). The performance of the Ki-46-III, proved superior to that of the aircraft intended to replace it (the Tachikawa Ki-70), which as a result did not enter production.

 

In an attempt to yet further improve the altitude performance of the Ki-46, two prototypes were fitted with exhaust driven turbosupercharged Ha-112-II-Ru engines, flying in February 1944, but only two prototypes of this version were built.

 

Mitsubishi factories made a total of 1,742 examples of all versions (34 units Ki-46-I, 1093 units Ki-46-II, 613 units Ki-46-III, 4 units Ki-46-IV）during 1941-44.

 

This aircraft was first used by the Japanese Army in Manchukuo and China, where seven units were equipped with it, and also at times by the Japanese Imperial Navy in certain reconnaissance missions over the northern coasts of Australia and New Guinea.

 

The Japanese Army used this aircraft for the same type of missions (which were not authorized) over present-day Malaysia during the months before the Pacific War. Later, it was used for high altitude reconnaissance over Burma, Indochina, Thailand, and the Indian Ocean. The Ki-46 was regarded by the British RAF in Burma as a difficult aircraft to counter, only occasionally intercepting them successfully. On September 25, 1944, Flying Officer Wittridge shot down a Ki-46, using a personally modified Spitfire Mk. 8. Wittridge had removed two machine guns and the seat armour, and also polished the wing leading edges to gain extra speed. The leading American fighter pilot Richard Bong, flying a P-38 Lightning, managed to shoot down a Ki-46 over the coast of Papua New Guinea in late 1942.

 

In 1944-45, during the last days of the war, it was modified as a high-altitude interceptor, with two 20 mm cannon in the nose and one 37 mm (1.46 in) cannon in an "upwards-and-forwards" position - almost like the Luftwaffe's Schräge Musik night fighter cannon emplacements - for fighting USAAF B-29 Superfortresses over the metropolitan Japanese islands. It lacked stability for sustained shooting of the 37 mm (1.46 in) weapon, had only a thin layer of armour plating, lacked self-sealing fuel tanks, and was slow to climb.

 

The Ki-46 was also assigned to two whole Sentai (wings/groups), as well as individual Chutaicho (junior operational commanders) in the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service, during the Pacific War.

 

The Allies captured some examples during the conflict which were then repaired and flown for evaluation purposes.

 

The only known survivor is a Ki-46-III Army Type 100 example, currently on display at Royal Air Force Museum Cosford. It was captured in Malaya and became part of the RAF St Athan collection of historic aircraft, before passing to the RAF Museum at RAF Cosford where it is currently (2013) on public display.

 

With thanks to a dozen brass monkeys.

 

Water is such a fascinating and unique substance, there's nothing else that behaves quite like it and when the temperatures hover around zero Mother Nature's touch becomes even more of an influence over what one can make. And that's where it really gets interesting.

 

This art is about so much more than making things out of nature's materials. What is often hidden from the viewer is how nature constrains, moulds and changes what you are able to do while you are doing it and how the environmental conditions are in flux throughout the time you make something.

 

That is where the real fascination is. The really intense, centring sculptures are the ones where it is a true collaboration with nature herself where she has just as much input into the end result as you do and with that you see more deeply within.

 

Leaves will gradually dry and wilt as you play with them and holes made by thorns will expand so the fixings fall out all too soon. The ambient humidity, the sun and wind will all alter the speed it happens. And whats more as your senses open you can feel those things change as you progress through the making.

 

If you work on a river when it's lightly raining you may perceive a tiny rise in water level imperceptible unless tuned into over a number of hours, or on a warm, dry day you may see dark haloes around the stones only a mm or two deep as water level subtly drops in a half day or so.

Three outstanding Flying Crew Chiefs (FCC) were awarded with Meritorious Service Medals (MSM) by NYANG Commander Brig Gen Denise M. Donnell for actions during Operation ALLIES REFUGE.

 

MSgt Michael S. Roe’s MSM Citation:

 

Master Sergeant Michael S. Roe distinguished himself by outstanding achievement while assigned to the 105th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, Stewart Air National Guard Base. While assigned as a Crew Chief with a C-17 Aircrew staged in support of Operation ALLIES REFUGE, Sergeant Roe went above and beyond the realm of his normal duties. As he and his crew were waiting on the ramp at Al Udeid Air Base, a call came over the radio from an aircraft nearby experiencing multiple medical emergencies. As emergency services were heavily tasked, Sergeant Roe jumped at the opportunity to aid the medical officer assigned to his crew and accompanied him to the distressed airplane, where he learned, on the fly, to record blood pressure and pulse, identify signs of dehydration and heat stroke, and administer basic medical care to refugees with a litany of medical issues. Days later, after the crew’s medical officer was reassigned elsewhere, Sergeant Roe and his crew were tasked to evacuate over four-hundred refugees from Afghanistan. Without a medical crew member on board, Sergeant Roe stepped up, using the impromptu training he received to administer medical care to malnourished and ill refugees, issuing hydration packs and passing out his own food and candy to children. He stepped outside his role as a Crew Chief, doing what he could to improve a difficult situation, and embodied the core values of Service Before Self and Excellence In All We Do. The singularly distinctive accomplishments of Sergeant Roe reflect great credit upon himself, the Air National Guard, and the United States Air Force.

 

TSgt Craig A. Hernandez’s MSM Citation:

 

Technical Sergeant Craig A. Hernandez distinguished himself by outstanding achievement while assigned to the 105th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, 105th Airlift Wing, Stewart Air National Guard Base, Newburgh, New York. Sergeant Hernandez was the top-choice selection to be a Flying Crew Chief during Operation ALLIES REFUGE to Kabul, Afghanistan. As part of an aircrew of nine, Sergeant Hernandez executed the maintenance and upkeep of multiple 313 million dollar Air Force C-17 aircraft, resulting in the crew evacuating 1,476 Afghan refugees. His career field expertise and exceptional work ethic resulted in the expedient repair of a Special Operations Low Level II aircraft tasked on a no-fail mission in the last critical days of the evacuation. The aircraft sustained multiple generator failures and it became imperative to return it to service for additional no-fail missions. Sergeant Hernandez led a team of four engine and electrical maintainers in a time-critical situation to perform an expedient and effective repair in austere conditions. Finally, beyond excelling at his primary job as crew chief, Sergeant Hernandez was an ambassador of goodwill, personally attending to the health and welfare of Afghan refugees, providing food, water, extensive provisions, and medical care. The singularly distinctive accomplishments of Sergeant Hernandez reflect great credit upon himself, the Air National Guard, and the United States Air Force.

 

TSgt Byron A. Catu’s MSM Citation:

 

Technical Sergeant Byron A. Catu distinguished himself by outstanding achievement while assigned to the 105th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, 105th Airlift Wing, Stewart Air National Guard Base, New York. During this time, he was hand-selected to be a Flying Crew Chief during Operation ALLIES REFUGE to Kabul, Afghanistan. On the crew’s initial mission into Kabul, extreme airfield temperatures of over 115 degrees Fahrenheit resulted in a fuel overspill. Sergeant Catu recognized the emergency, immediately contained the situation, and directed responding emergency services. His plan of action saved the mission and ensured critical Special Operations cargo was delivered for the Afghan evacuation. Furthermore, on three separate missions into Kabul, the crew brought back hundreds of Afghan refugees. Following each mission, the aircraft was rendered unusable due to biohazard waste and the high operations temp constraining support personnel. Sergeant Catu went above and beyond his maintainer duties to ensure the aircraft was able to quickly return to their departure airfield where Sergeant Catu spearheaded the effort to expeditiously identify, fuel, and preflight another aircraft so the mission could continue. The overall mission success could not have been achieved without his outstanding professional skill and ceaseless efforts. The singularly distinctive accomplishments of Sergeant Catu reflect great credit upon himself, the Air National Guard, and the United State Air Force.

 

[crosseye stereograph, see 3D with your right eye on the left image, and left on right.]

 

Click and watch YouTube to learn

HOW TO JOIN STEREO PAIRS Using Gimp by Disney Wizard

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bspN1k2AuCQ

 

A Tale from the Dark Side

 

This new 10 minute video supersedes the previous one because it now incorporates "DUPLICATE" which preserves EXIF data from the camera, protects the original image from accidental alteration as well as both saving time and easing of dealing with directories and saving the resulting images.

 

Right click the left image and select PROPERTIES to name it,

highlight the entire name CTRL-A

copy the name to the text clipboard CTRL-C

ENTER to save the name change.

 

Open the image in Gimp by dragging it into the Gimp tool-bar, have open desktop space in the lower right so it opens there.

CTRL-A to select the entire left Image

CTRL-C to copy the left image into the image clipboard

CTRL-Z to clear any changes to the left image that will soon be minimized after the visual cross eye inspection, and closed at the end, but we are done with processing it.

 

Open the right-hand image in Gimp by dragging it into the Gimp tool-bar, have open desktop space in the lower left so it opens there.

Visually inspect the unjoined pair by crossing your eyes. Inspect for latency, alignment and rotation issues - but don't change them yet.

 

Minimize the first image,

Duplicate the second image ALT-I, D

Minimize the second image

The new, untitled, right image should be in the lower right of the desktop.

Drag the upper left corner of the new right image across the screen to the left.

Resize the canvas: ALT-I, V to open the Set Image Canvas Size control box.

At Ratio X,Y, off the right side, click the "chain link" to break the "constrain Aspect Ratio" because we want to double the width and not double the height along with it.

Type "2" into the X box and enter. The bottom shape indicator should reflect image on left and empty on right. Click OK.

SHIFT-I flattens the image.

CTRL-V pastes the left image into the center of the duplicated right image, displayed on the left.

Drag the pasted image into place (if something else happens when you click, kill that, then type M or click the select rectangular regions in the Gimp toolbar.) When you drag it into place, it doesn't need to be precise, it's a nice bonus if it is.

 

ALIGNMENT

ALT-V, B will add scroll bars.

CTRL-+,+,+,+ will zoom in.

Drag the image to close the gap all around, the 'dancing ants' indicating the selection should be right up to the edge all around. Often the pairs were not precisely aligned in the camera. Find a spot near the center of the stationary image that both image share, and move the scroll bar so the spot touches the top edge. In this image, the high contrast top curve of the large is an excellent choice, points of triangles also work well. Go to the floating image side and drag the image up and down until the shared spot also touches the top edge, It is easy to misalign to the right or left by a pixel or two when dragging up and down for horizontal alignment, so go to the center, or right edge and trim up the gap with a short drag. I tend to skip this trim by aligning the cursor on the right edge before I click to drag, and make sure the cursor is the same trim from the right edge as I drag it up and down for the horizontal alignment step.

 

My camera pair doesn't attach to the bar correctly, and there is a 2.5 degree slope

CTRL-T, image Transform, rotate allows me to correct this slant out. Drag the grid to the correct alignment and change the sign of the number box to snap it level.

Often, If the image was snapped in zoom, that zoom was not precisely matched, so scaling the image is necessary.

When you are ready to lock in the image, type F to Fill the screen, for a final crosseye image check. Then click anywhere outside the floating image to anchor it.

 

Occasionally an image pair will be mismatched in time of shutter trigger, an arm will be out of place, or eyes blink. Copy small areas of the opposite image to the other for a visual match.

Shift-I to flatten the image.

CTRL-S to save. Your text clipboard should still have the image filename in it, CTRL-V will paste it into the filename save box, and, if you are saving as a JPEG you can also paste that name into the comments box.

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

The Title in the image above was constructed by creating the actual title in another image window, copied and pasted into this one, twice. The Horizontal alignment is critical, use the method above to match them up. Sliding the text left and right brings it forward and back visually. I like to match it up to a spot shared by both images before tweaking it forward and back visually with a small left/right shift.

 

Small samples from the original image, that we minimized for temporary storage at the beginning of this exercise, can be used to paste over the applied text to further the illusion. The ball on the right is closer than the spire behind it. By pasting the edge of the ball over the text, the alignment of the title between them by visual parallax is enhanced. The subtitle is visually attached to the smaller spire by first pasting the back ground of the text into place, copying the spire over it, and finally the foreground text over that.

 

Remember to save your work.

Good luck -- Wiz.

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

[ dsc00173, 2008.11.08 00.22, 3Dti, California, Anaheim, Disneyland®, Tomorrowland, view of Astro Orbiter, from Plaza, night, aligned, with Text, inverse, anaglyph ]

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.

The x-cart runs on plain t-slots. Seven nylon rollers constrain its motion in all but on way. A snug fit is achieved vertically by spring lockers and horizontally by a rubber insert. Both are adjustable.

The day starts at 7:30 am with a 40-minute drive to the Punta Bandera dock to take a boat on Lago Argentino to Upsala Glacier, a large valley glacier on the eastern side of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field. Its higher portion lies in a disputed territory between Chile and Argentina. The glacier terminus is at Upsala channel of Lago Argentino. The Upsala Glacier is well known for its rapid retreat that has been ongoing since the glacier was first documented in 1810. The glacier showed almost continual recession up until 1999. The acceleration in ice motion during the two decades preceding 1999 may have been augmented by the release of backstress when the glacier retreated beyond the islands in Brazo Upsala. Another period of even faster retreat started in 2008. As of 2018 Upsala Glacier has retreated to such degree that it no longer constrains its tributary Bertacchi Glacier. The boat then drops us off at the Estancia Cristina, an Argentine cattle and sheep ranch located inside Los Glaciares National Park in Santa Cruz Province. It is here that we take a 4x4 for 45 minutes up a mountain, stop and continue up for another 20 minutes, reaching the summit around 12:30 pm. The ranch was founded in 1914 by Joseph Percival Masters, an Englishman who came to Patagonia with his wife in 1900; Estancia Cristina is named for Masters' daughter Cristina. Located on the coast of Brazo Cristina, a northern channel of Lago Argentino, Estancia Cristina still keeps the history of the Masters family alive. Its lodge has 20 rooms distributed over 5 buildings and it his here that we had lunch followed by a presentation of the traditional Mate, an Argentinean tea and a tour of the ranch. We then take the boat back to Punta Bandera and arrive back at the hotel at 8:00 pm.

The day starts at 7:30 am with a 40-minute drive to the Punta Bandera dock to take a boat on Lago Argentino to Upsala Glacier, a large valley glacier on the eastern side of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field. Its higher portion lies in a disputed territory between Chile and Argentina. The glacier terminus is at Upsala channel of Lago Argentino. The Upsala Glacier is well known for its rapid retreat that has been ongoing since the glacier was first documented in 1810. The glacier showed almost continual recession up until 1999. The acceleration in ice motion during the two decades preceding 1999 may have been augmented by the release of backstress when the glacier retreated beyond the islands in Brazo Upsala. Another period of even faster retreat started in 2008. As of 2018 Upsala Glacier has retreated to such degree that it no longer constrains its tributary Bertacchi Glacier. The boat then drops us off at the Estancia Cristina, an Argentine cattle and sheep ranch located inside Los Glaciares National Park in Santa Cruz Province. It is here that we take a 4x4 for 45 minutes up a mountain, stop and continue up for another 20 minutes, reaching the summit around 12:30 pm. The ranch was founded in 1914 by Joseph Percival Masters, an Englishman who came to Patagonia with his wife in 1900; Estancia Cristina is named for Masters' daughter Cristina. Located on the coast of Brazo Cristina, a northern channel of Lago Argentino, Estancia Cristina still keeps the history of the Masters family alive. Its lodge has 20 rooms distributed over 5 buildings and it his here that we had lunch followed by a presentation of the traditional Mate, an Argentinean tea and a tour of the ranch. We then take the boat back to Punta Bandera and arrive back at the hotel at 8:00 pm.

NGC 4656/4657 is an edge-on barred spiral galaxy located in the Canes Venatici constellation. It is part of a larger galactic group with the Whale galaxy (NGC 4631) being the main member. The latter exerts a strong gravitational force constraining the shape of NGC 4656 in a highly chaotic way. The upper edge of the galaxy shows another scar: a dimmer region seems to be detaching from it. Initially considered as an isolated spiral arm related to the galaxy, recent studies have shown that this anomaly is likely to be a dwarf galaxy captured by NGC 465

131,000 light years away

i will delete my account soon because of censorship at flickr!

 

www.drmotte.de

The oases of the Maghreb region are green islands flourishing in a constraining and harsh environment. They are home to a diversified and highly intensive and productive system, which has been developed over millennia.

 

Dominated by the date palm, intertwined with trees and crops, these ancient systems produce a surprising variety of fruits and vegetables, cereals and forages, medicinal and aromatic plants. The palm groves offer shade and lower the ambient temperature, making it the best place to live in the Sahara and an important place of recreation.

 

The systems of production and irrigation and the culture of the oases vary between the different locations in correspondence to their environment. There are oases in continental, mountainous, as well as in littoral areas. With their rich diversity these oases systems constitute an agricultural and cultural heritage.

 

Photo credit must be given: Photo courtesy of GIAHS Algeria - Ghout System. Editorial use only.

 

More information:

GIAHS - Ghout Oasis system El Oued, Algeria

What is Offshore Web Hosting Good for?

Here are the resources I use: www.sidewages.com/resources/

 

Why Offshore Web Hosting?

- have you even heard of it before?

- benefits vary by country

- freedom is a primary key

- privacy is also an important factor

 

Legalities Across the Globe

- certain countries restrict certain sites

- other countries are more enabling

- laws can protect but possibly constrain, too

 

Privacy is Always in Mind

- can choose anonymous hosting

- protect your identity from the masses

- don't have to worry about random stalkers

- DON'T do this for unlawful reasons!

- think long term and world-wide impact

 

Consider the Costs

- some offshore hosting can be extremely cheap

- others can be crazy expensive

- other countries may open advertising routes

 

Freedom from Nature?

- natural disasters are a real concern

- you may not be able to relocate

- no reason you can't keep your data safe

- ensure website protection by location

 

But Where are these Offshore Places?

- the United States and United Kingdom

- Panama, Netherlands, Singapore

- China can be good, but be aware of spam rules

 

Wrapping Up Your Hosting Needs

- looking for reliability in any situation

- potentially powerful price for performance

- legalities and privacy are important

- do what's right and get to doing already

 

Here are the resources I use: www.sidewages.com/resources/

DSC02706

The Anatomy departemnt, University College London (UCL)

-----------

  

Up to the Napoleonic wars, at the beginning of the 19th century, the benefits of a university education in England were restricted to men who were members of the Church of England; UCL was founded to challenge that discrimination. UCL was the first university to be established in England after Oxford and Cambridge, providing a progressive alternative to those institutions’ social exclusivity, religious restrictions and academic constraints.

 

The university's main building was designed by William Wilkins who went on to build the National Gallery.

 

Some Interesting Facts

 

The first university in England to admit students of any race, class or religion, and the first to welcome women on equal terms with men.

Students from outside London, and from overseas, present from the start.

A teaching programme was established in which religious beliefs would not constrain the dissemination of knowledge and exploration of ideas.

Academic disciplines introduced as required by the emerging industrial and commercial society; the first English university to offer the systematic teaching of law, architecture and medicine.

Landmarks In UCL's Early History

 

1826: UCL is founded, opening up education to wider social groups than those permitted into Oxford and Cambridge

1828: Twenty-four professorial chairs are established, many in subjects that had not previously been taught in English universities

1863: Five Japanese students come to UCL – some of the earliest ever to study in the West – and return to play major roles in the founding of modern Japan

1878: UCL becomes the first British educational establishment to admit women on equal terms with men

1893: England’s first student union is established at UCL

St Peter, Monks Eleigh, Suffolk

 

Here we are in the Brett Valley, the prettiest part of East Anglia, I think. Nearby Lavenham and Kersey attract all the tourists, but I wonder how many of them ever make it out into these deliciously lovely villages that huddle in the gentle hills between Hadleigh and Stowmarket? A mile or so from its little sister Brent Eleigh, this village has the grander church, but, perhaps, the less interesting one.It certainly has a splendid setting, for this was one of the great wool-producing villages of the Brett Valley in late medieval days, the busiest and richest part of England in the 15th century.

 

Up from the village high street, St Peter's powerful 15th century tower can be seen for miles around, and it is a pleasant foil to the mightily sombre St Peter and St Paul, Lavenham, a couple of miles beyond it. St Peter's tower is perhaps more typical of the churches of the nearby Stour Valley, with the stair turret climbing beyond the battlements. It certainly makes itself known - in this hilly country, every view is like a painting.

 

The tower sits close to the road, with a fascinating west doorway carved with little animals. There was a huge rebuilding here in the late 15th century, as you might expect. The top of the tower has deliciously decorated flushwork and a weather vane dated 1969. The graveyard constrains the building tightly to south and north, but then sprawls away to the east. Looking back, you can see that the long chancel is entirely 19th century.

 

You enter through the south porch. While this part of Suffolk is well-known for some deliciously atmospheric and historically significant interiors, this is something different. There was an overwhelming Victorian restoration here in the full flush of Anglican triumphalism, leaving a fairly urban and even slightly anonymous feeling, although this is obviously a well-loved and cared-for place. It would have been interesting to see this church in the 18th century, when it was full of box pews - the door of one of them survives in the south-west corner, labelled Free for Women. The elegant Early English tub font on pilasters, retaining its Perpendicular font cover, was originally at this end but has since been reset in front of the former north doorway.

 

The nave was rebuilt at the time of the tower, retaining an arcade from an earlier church, but otherwise being all of a Perpendicular piece. There is a massive set of Queen Anne royal arms above the chancel arch, almost of a size with those at Mildenhall. The chancel is wholly Victorian in construction and character, but it has some fascinating windows by the Ward & Hughes workshop, not a sentiment I hold very often. They depict scenes from the life of Christ - the summoning of the Disciples, the raising of Jairus's daughter - but if you look closely you will see that some of the figures in the scenes have 19th century faces, and are wearing 19th century clothes. These are memorial windows to the figures worked into the scenes, and the brass plaques that name them are also by Ward & Hughes. The best one is the astonishing consumptive figure of Jairus's daughter, who is represented by Winifred Frances Fisher, a 17 year old girl who was suddenly called home in 1892. Her plaque notes that she was perfected in a short time. She lies on her death bed, her silvery curls flowing across the pillow in a perfect moment of late Victorian sentiment. Rather odder is the figure of her father, in full 19th Century formal wear, who peers curiously from behind the backs of St Peter and St Andrew as they are called on the lake shore to give their lives to Christ.

*Dressed for Venice*

 

The soft chime of church bells echoed through the narrow streets of Venice, signaling the start of another golden morning. Sunlight spilled lazily through the windows of their suite, casting delicate patterns upon the marble floor. The scent of freshly brewed coffee mingled with the faint trace of salt in the air, a gentle reminder that beyond the elegance of their hotel, the canals awaited. Today was to be a day of culture—a visit to Murano, a stroll through the palazzi, an immersion in the city’s artistic treasures. And, as always, Clara was to be dressed accordingly.

 

Freddy had already made himself comfortable, lounging in the armchair by the window with a cup of coffee in hand. He was, of course, effortlessly refined—his crisp white linen shirt left open at the collar, his navy trousers well-fitted yet unrestrictive. Loafers, unburdened by socks, completed the ensemble, an image of relaxed sophistication. Clara, upon glancing at him, narrowed her eyes in disapproval.

 

“This is completely unfair.”

 

Freddy arched a brow, setting down his cup with lazy amusement. “Oh? What is?”

 

She gestured toward his outfit with a sigh, adjusting the silk robe that barely clung to her shoulders. "That." Her voice was sharp with accusation. "You look as though you’re about to take a leisurely stroll through a garden. Meanwhile, I will undoubtedly be forced into something far more… constraining."

 

Freddy smirked. “Well, my darling, you are a vision of elegance, while I am merely your escort. And besides, you would hate it if I dressed you in anything but perfection.”

 

Clara let out a sigh, though they both knew he was right. She moved to the vanity, where her collection of cosmetics was meticulously arranged. She reached for the foundation first, smoothing it over her skin with practiced precision, ensuring an immaculate, porcelain-like finish. A soft touch of blush followed, just enough to enhance her cheekbones without disrupting the controlled elegance of her appearance.

 

Her eyebrows, perfectly shaped through careful plucking, required only the lightest touch of pencil to accentuate their graceful arch. She traced her eyeliner in a crisp, unwavering line, subtly defining her gaze before finishing with a soft dusting of eyeshadow, a neutral shade that added just enough depth to her eyes without drawing attention away from the rest of her composed expression.

 

Then came the most vital touch—her lips. She uncapped the deep red lipstick, its color rich and commanding. With slow precision, she outlined her lips, filling them in with the striking shade that was both bold and timeless. A single blot, a final press together, and they were perfected.

 

She turned her attention to her nails, her fingertips already adorned with a matching red polish, each coat flawlessly even, gleaming under the soft light. Not a single chip, not a single imperfection. Every detail was exact, deliberate, as it always was.

 

Satisfied, she reached for her perfume—a delicate glass bottle filled with the scent of jasmine and bergamot. She dabbed a touch behind her ears, at her wrists, and at the hollow of her throat, letting the fragrance settle against her skin. The scent was sophisticated yet subtle, an invisible signature of elegance that lingered in the air around her.

 

Only when she was satisfied did she glance at the bed, where her outfit for the day had been carefully arranged. The ensemble was deceptively light for summer, yet still bore the structured precision that Freddy demanded of her. And, as always, it began with the foundation.

 

Her lingerie was a delicate masterpiece in ivory lace—a balconette bra, sculpted with intricate embroidery that lay like filigree against her skin, paired with matching high-waisted panties that molded to her form with whispered restraint. A garter belt, its satin straps impossibly thin, lay beside the stockings that would soon encase her legs, their sheer silk nearly weightless yet undeniably present.

 

“Go on, then,” Freddy murmured, his voice edged with quiet command. “Get started.”

 

Clara took a slow breath, reaching for the stockings first. She sat gracefully upon the edge of the chaise lounge, rolling one carefully over her foot, drawing it up the curve of her calf with practiced precision. The silk clung to her like a second skin, whispering against her freshly shaven legs. She fastened the garter straps, their tension light yet insistent, a constant reminder of their presence beneath her clothing.

 

Freddy watched, fascinated, as she moved with meticulous care. “You do it so beautifully,” he mused. “As though it’s an art form.”

 

Clara cast him a look, her lips pressing together as she reached for the second stocking. “It is,” she replied smoothly. “A painstaking one.”

 

He merely chuckled, watching as she smoothed out any wrinkles, ensuring perfection before reaching for the main pieces of her attire.

 

The pleated skirt came first—a pale ivory creation, its fabric light and airy yet undeniably structured. As she stepped into it, she felt the way it settled against her hips, its high waist cinching just enough to remind her of her posture. The pleats fell with geometric precision, their movement controlled despite the gentle flow of the material. It was elegant, classic, a nod to the past while embracing the grace of the present.

 

Then came the blouse—a crisp lavender confection, its fabric soft against her skin yet firm in its design. The high, pointed collar framed her neck in disciplined refinement, buttoned meticulously up to the top, ensuring not a single fold fell out of place. The sleeves, tailored to perfection, ended in neat cuffs, their buttons fastened with quiet finality. Tucking it into her skirt, she smoothed the fabric down, ensuring a flawless silhouette.

 

Freddy stood then, approaching with slow, deliberate steps as he inspected her progress. “Beautiful,” he murmured, reaching for the finishing touches.

 

A slim white belt encircled her waist, securing the blouse in place, accentuating the shape already dictated by her undergarments. He placed a delicate pearl brooch at her collar, its shimmer catching the morning light. Then, with the patience of a man who enjoyed every second of this ritual, he lifted a pair of short pale light grey kid leather gloves, waiting expectantly.

 

Clara sighed but extended her hands, slipping them into the soft embrace of the gloves. She adjusted them with slow precision, tugging gently at the wrists, ensuring a smooth, seamless fit. The leather conformed to her fingers, cool at first, warming with her body heat, a familiar sensation of controlled grace.

 

Her shoes—a pair of ivory T-strap heels—were next. As she stepped into them, their arch lifted her posture ever so slightly, commanding her stride with the smallest reminder of discipline.

 

Finally, Freddy lifted the last two pieces of the ensemble. First, he draped a light wool cardigan over her shoulders, its soft fabric resting elegantly over her structured blouse. Only the top button was fastened, allowing the rest to hang open, adding a touch of effortless refinement. Then, he lifted the final accessory—a wide-brimmed straw hat, adorned with a matching lavender ribbon. He settled it atop her head, securing it with a soft tie beneath her chin. Strands of her hair, carefully arranged into structured waves, spilled from beneath the brim, framing her face with practiced ease.

 

Clara exhaled, taking a slow step toward the mirror. She studied her reflection, taking in every detail—the crispness of the blouse, the perfectly symmetrical pleats of her skirt, the whisper of silk stockings beneath the fabric, the gleam of pearl buttons at her cuffs. It was exquisite. It was oppressive. It was perfect.

 

She turned back to Freddy, arching a brow. "And yet you get to wear that." She gestured to his relaxed attire, exhaling in exasperation. "Meanwhile, I am practically entombed in layers. My collar is so stiff it might as well be a vise around my throat. My gloves ensure I can barely feel anything with my fingers. My stockings pull at their garters with every step, a constant reminder that I am entirely encased in silk. And these shoes—honestly, Freddy—do you have any idea how difficult it is to remain composed while walking on cobblestones in heels this high?" She gestured toward her hat, the wide brim restricting her peripheral vision as she adjusted the ribbon beneath her chin. "Even my hat dictates how I move! And yet, you? A loose shirt, an open collar, and not a single restraint to hold you in check. It is entirely unjust."

 

Freddy smirked, stepping closer to adjust the ribbon beneath her chin with careful fingers. His hands, bare of course, relished the contrast between his own freedom and the layers of delicate, constraining fabric that adorned Clara. “You wouldn’t have it any other way,” he murmured, brushing his fingertips along the smooth leather of her glove before trailing them lightly over the stiff collar framing her throat. He could feel every fine stitch, every precise fold, while she, encased in her elegant armor, could only sense the weight of his touch through layers of refinement.

 

Clara huffed softly, though her pulse betrayed her, fluttering beneath his touch. “You are impossible.”

 

“And you,” Freddy whispered, pressing a slow kiss to her gloved fingers, “are a masterpiece.”

 

With that, he extended his arm. “Shall we?”

 

Clara lifted her chin, smoothing the front of her blouse one final time before adjusting the strap of her purse—a structured, elegant piece with just enough room for her essential cosmetics and a compact mirror. It was a necessity, a quiet reassurance that every detail of her presentation could be maintained throughout the day. Only then did she slip her hand into the crook of his elbow.

 

“Let’s.”

 

And with that, they stepped out into Venice, the city awaiting their elegant arrival.

 

*Poise Among the Canals*

 

The streets of Venice unfurled before them in a maze of polished stone and rippling waterways, golden sunlight dancing across the canals as gondolas drifted past in a timeless procession. Tourists, dressed in airy linens and wide-brimmed sunhats, meandered along the narrow bridges and shaded alleyways, their movements free and relaxed. Clara, in contrast, moved with measured grace, her heels clicking against the ancient stone paths, each step dictated by the firm structure of her attire.

 

She kept her gloved hands delicately wrapped around Freddy’s arm, his own bare hands resting casually in his pockets. The injustice of their contrasting ensembles was not lost on her. As they passed a glass storefront, she caught sight of their reflection—him, effortlessly poised yet unburdened, and her, wrapped in layers of carefully curated refinement.

 

“My dear,” Freddy murmured, sensing her scrutiny, “you look radiant.”

 

Clara pursed her lips, feeling the snug embrace of her high-buttoned collar as she tilted her head toward him. “I look imprisoned,” she corrected, tugging discreetly at the ribbon beneath her chin, which refused to yield. “Do you have any idea how confining this is?”

 

Freddy cast an amused glance at her, his fingers tracing the gloved hand resting on his arm. “Oh, I think you quite like it,” he mused. “You adore the attention, the admiration. The way everyone turns to look at you.”

 

She scoffed but could not deny that heads did, indeed, turn as she passed—an elegant apparition among the sea of casual travelers. Her skirt swayed in controlled pleats with each precise step, her silk stockings whispering beneath the fabric, secured firmly by garters that pressed insistently against her thighs. The leather of her gloves had warmed to her skin, fitting like a second layer, ensuring that every delicate movement was a calculated display of grace.

 

They boarded a vaporetto bound for Murano, the wooden seats polished from years of passengers. As she lowered herself onto the bench, she felt the tight structure of her blouse restrict the natural movement of her shoulders, her posture remaining impeccably straight even as Freddy lounged beside her. He stretched one arm along the backrest, watching her with veiled amusement as she smoothed down her skirt, ensuring every pleat remained immaculate.

 

“You must be sweltering,” he murmured, tilting his head slightly as if savoring her plight.

 

Clara inhaled carefully, feeling the firm embrace of her structured undergarments beneath the crisp cotton of her blouse. "I am perfectly composed," she replied, though the warmth of the sun seeping through her layers told another story. "Unlike you, who sits there as though this is a mere afternoon outing."

 

Freddy smirked. “This is a mere afternoon outing.”

 

She narrowed her eyes at him but was given no time to retort as the boat arrived in Murano, the island of master glassmakers. The air was thick with the scent of molten glass and salt, the sound of furnaces roaring within the workshops blending with the lapping of the waves against the stone banks. They disembarked, Freddy assisting her with a hand beneath her gloved fingers as she stepped carefully onto the dock, her heels never faltering despite the uneven ground.

 

They wandered through the ateliers, each workshop showcasing delicate creations of spun glass in radiant hues—goblets like trapped sunlight, chandeliers that seemed woven from crystal threads. Clara reached out, tracing the air just above a cobalt-blue vase, her gloved fingers hovering over the fragile masterpiece.

 

“I wonder,” Freddy mused, standing beside her, “if the glassmakers would appreciate your restraint or find it a tragedy that you cannot truly touch their work.”

 

Clara exhaled through her nose, flexing her fingers slightly within the leather confines. “A lady does not leave fingerprints,” she murmured, though the idea of feeling the cool, smooth surface of the glass against her bare fingertips was momentarily tempting.

 

Freddy leaned in slightly, his voice a low murmur. “Would you like me to remove them for you?”

 

She turned sharply to him, her hat’s wide brim momentarily obscuring her glare. “Absolutely not,” she hissed, though the thrill of the forbidden lingered in her chest. “And stop looking so pleased with yourself.”

 

Freddy chuckled, stepping back with an air of mock innocence. “Very well, my love.”

 

They continued their tour, Freddy guiding her through the canals of Murano, past sunlit bridges and tiny piazzas where local artisans displayed their creations. Clara walked with practiced elegance, though every step reminded her of her carefully assembled prison—the way her stockings held her thighs in gentle captivity, the firm embrace of her high-waisted shapewear smoothing her form while exerting its constant, unyielding pressure, the ever-present discipline of her gloves keeping even the smallest sensations at bay.

 

As the afternoon wore on, they stopped at a quiet café, the terrace overlooking the water where gondolas drifted lazily past. Freddy ordered for them both, as he often did, while Clara allowed herself a rare indulgence—resting her gloved hands in her lap rather than keeping them perfectly poised on the table.

 

“You’ve been very patient,” Freddy remarked as their drinks arrived. He reached for her hand, his thumb grazing over the smooth leather. “Would you like a small reprieve?”

 

Clara glanced at him warily. “Define ‘small.’”

 

He gestured toward her gloves, arching a brow in silent permission.

 

She hesitated. It was, perhaps, the only piece of her attire she could remove without disrupting the entirety of her ensemble. And, though she would never admit it aloud, the idea of air touching her skin was too enticing to resist. With practiced grace, she began peeling them away, first one, then the other, feeling the cool breeze kiss her fingers as she set them delicately beside her purse.

 

Freddy took her hand in his, turning it slightly as he traced over the faint creases left behind by the gloves. His thumb brushed lightly over her fingers, admiring the contrast between her smooth skin and the deep red polish adorning her perfectly manicured nails. “A rare sight,” he murmured. “And a beautiful one. The color suits you exquisitely.”

 

Clara rolled her eyes but allowed the indulgence for now. “Enjoy it while it lasts,” she said, flexing her fingers slightly before reclaiming her cup.

 

Freddy smirked. “Oh, I will.”

 

And so, amid the golden glow of Murano, with the scent of the sea in the air and the delicate weight of her attire still holding her in its elegant grasp, Clara allowed herself this single moment of respite, knowing full well that soon, every carefully curated piece of her ensemble would be restored, and the game of poise and restraint would continue anew.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

  

Some background:

The Gotha 146 was a fast reconnaissance aircraft that was used throughout WWII by the German Luftwaffe, and one of the results of a mutual technology exchange program with Japan.

The Go 146 was actually a license-built, modified variant of the excellent Mitsubishi Ki-46. The latter type's career started in late 1937: the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force issued a specification to Mitsubishi for a long-range strategic reconnaissance aircraft to replace the Mitsubishi Ki-15.

 

The specification demanded an endurance of six hours and sufficient speed to evade interception by any fighter in existence or development, but otherwise did not constrain the design by a team led by Tomio Kubo.

 

The resulting design was a twin-engined, low-winged monoplane with a retractable tailwheel undercarriage. It had a small diameter oval fuselage with the pilot and observer situated in individual cockpits separated by a large fuel tank. The engines, two Mitsubishi Ha-26 radials, were housed in close fitting cowlings to reduce drag and improve pilot view.

 

The first prototype aircraft, flew in November 1939 from the Mitsubishi factory at Kakamigahara, Gifu.Tests showed that the Ki-46 was underpowered, and slower than required, only reaching 540 km/h (336 mph) rather than the specified 600 km/h (373 mph). Otherwise, the aircraft tests were successful. As the type was still faster than the Army's latest fighter, the Nakajima Ki-43, as well as the Navy's new A6M2,an initial production batch was ordered.

 

To solve the performance problems, Mitsubishi fitted Ha-102 engines, which were Ha-26s fitted with a two-stage supercharger, while increasing fuel capacity and reducing empty weight to give the Ki-46-II. This machine was also demonstrated to German officials, who became immediately aware of its potential.

 

Knowing that the German Luftwaffe lacked this fast type of aircraft (German reconnaissance aircraft of that time were either slow artillery observation types, or variants of bombers or heavy fighters), the RLM immediately asked for a batch of airframe kits in order to adapt it to the European theatre and test its capabilities.

 

The result was a delivery of seven engine-less airframe kits that arrived in Germany in early 1940. In the meantime, with the help of blueprints and other documentations, an alternative engine installation had been devised - the German aircraft was to be powered by liquid-cooled DB 601 engines, which delivered more power than the Ha-102 and offered improved aerodynamics, despite the necessity to add radiators under the outer wings.Effectively, many stock parts from the Messerschmitt Bf 110 heavy fighter were incorporated, so that development time was very short.

 

In May 1940 the first batch of the Gotha 146 (which had officially been described as a further development of a four seat, twin-engine transport aircraft from the 1930s) was ready, and they were immediately transferred to the Western Front and based in France.

 

Allocated to the 14. Aufklärungsgruppe, the Go 146 A-0 machines carried out various reconnaissance tasks over the North Sea, Great Britain and France, and they were also used for camouflage trials: each of the five aircraft sported a different paint scheme, raging from uniform, all-over grey to disruptive geometrical patterns, reminiscent of Dazzle camouflage!

 

The Go 146 was popular among its crews, since it was fast, agile and easy to fly. During the test phase in summer 1940 the Go 146 proved to be slightly faster than its Japanese Ki-46 ancestor, and with a top speed of more than 375 mph (600 km/h) it was hard to intercept by any British or French fighter. The results were so convincing that serial production was ordered, and from October 1940 on the Go 146 A-1 was produced in limited numbers, and the type was steadily developed further, including the change of the nose section that came withe the Ki-46III and augmented engines.

  

Specifications:

Crew: two (pilot and observer)

Length: 11.00 m (36 ft 1 in)

Wingspan: 14.70 m (48 ft 2¾ in)

Height: 3.88 m (12 ft 8¾ in)

Wing area: 32.0 m² (344 ft²)

Empty weight: 3,263 kg (7,194 lb)

Loaded weight: 5,050 kg (11,133 lb)

Max. takeoff weight: 5,800 kg (12,787 lb)

 

Powerplant:

2× Daimler-Benz DB 601B-1 liquid-cooled inverted V-12, 809 kW (1,100 hp) each

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 625 km/h (345 knots, 388 mph) at 5,800 m (19,000 ft)

Cruise speed: 400 km/h (217 knots, 249 mph)

Range: 2,474 km (1,337 nmi, 1,537 mi)

Service ceiling: 10,720 m (35,200 ft)

Wing loading: 157.8 kg/m² (32.3 lb/ft²)

Climb to 8,000 m (26,250 ft): 17 min 58 sec

 

Armament:

1x 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 17 machine gun in the observer's cabin, facing rearwards

  

The kit and its assembly:

This sounds like a weird idea, but the Luftwaffe had seriously been interested in the Ki-46, even though no aircraft ever made it to Europe. On the other side, several German aircraft were delivered to Japan (including the Bf 109E, Ju 87 and Me 210) for trials, so reversing this procedure makes sense.

 

Anyway, a German version would certainly not have been powered by radials, since this type of engine was not very popular in Europe and rather seen as a "slow" option for bombers. So the idea was born to convert a stock Ki-46 II into a prototype with German liquid-cooled engines - and it was easier to realize than expected!

 

The basis is the Airfix Dinah, a vintage and very simple kit. Fit is basically good, but the clear parts were (in my case) somewhat damaged around the edges of both canopies. Engines and landing gear are also basic - so I used different wheels, and the radials were replaced, anyway.

I used DB 601 engines, taken from an Airfix Bf 110 C kit, which also donated the radiators.

 

The latter were easy to place outside or the engine nacelles, the engines took some effort. The DB 601's height is perfect for the nacelles, just the width had to be enlarged in order to fit the original, circular shape of the radials' attachment points.

 

The remedy was simple: two long cuts in the upper cowling made the new engines flexible and wide enough to press them onto the nacelles' front ends! Some putty was necessary to hide gaps and smooth out the intersection, but the result looks very natural!

 

Otherwise not much was changed. The cockpits and the pilots were taken OOB, I just added a typical ring antenna under the fuselage and an additional pitot under the nose.

  

Painting and markings:

The fun part, even though it took a while to find something... different. The typical RLM 70/71/65 splinter scheme with a low waterline for prototypes or bombers of the BoB era was a valid option, but soooo boring.

 

While looking for inspiration I stumbled across some experimental schemes that had been tested on Bf109E fighters from JG53 - and that's what I finally settled upon.

 

What the Go 146 now carries is effectively a mix of two schemes: the stylish, geometric pattern was taken from one Bf 109, the colors (RLM 61/02/71/65) from another. Everything was painted with brushes and without masks, some light panel shading, black ink and grinded graphite were used for weathering.

 

The markings are minimal, typical for German reconnaissance aircraft of the time and based upon Bf 110 of the 14. Aufklärungsgruppe, the decals come from various aftermarket sheets and the code was puzzled together from single letter decals (TL Modellbau). A coat of acrylic matt varnish finally sealed the kit.

 

An exotic whif, and despite the weird basic idea I made it even more spectacular through the strange paint scheme which reminds of similar experiments by the US Navy. Odd thing is that I had the idea for a German Ki-46 on the agenda for quite a while, but this was/is to become a beefed-up Ki-46III for the late WWII period.

 

Building this kit's ancestor now, even before the Ki-46III conversion even started, is a little odd - but confirms the feasibility of an engine change and adds another contribution to the 2015 "Battle of Britain" Group Build at whatifmodelers.com.

 

The Declaration of Independence: A Transcription

  

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

  

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

  

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

  

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

  

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

  

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

  

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

  

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

  

The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:

  

Column 1

Georgia:

Button Gwinnett

Lyman Hall

George Walton

  

Column 2

North Carolina:

William Hooper

Joseph Hewes

John Penn

South Carolina:

Edward Rutledge

Thomas Heyward, Jr.

Thomas Lynch, Jr.

Arthur Middleton

  

Column 3

Massachusetts:

John Hancock

Maryland:

Samuel Chase

William Paca

Thomas Stone

Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:

George Wythe

Richard Henry Lee

Thomas Jefferson

Benjamin Harrison

Thomas Nelson, Jr.

Francis Lightfoot Lee

Carter Braxton

  

Column 4

Pennsylvania:

Robert Morris

Benjamin Rush

Benjamin Franklin

John Morton

George Clymer

James Smith

George Taylor

James Wilson

George Ross

Delaware:

Caesar Rodney

George Read

Thomas McKean

  

Column 5

New York:

William Floyd

Philip Livingston

Francis Lewis

Lewis Morris

New Jersey:

Richard Stockton

John Witherspoon

Francis Hopkinson

John Hart

Abraham Clark

  

Column 6

New Hampshire:

Josiah Bartlett

William Whipple

Massachusetts:

Samuel Adams

John Adams

Robert Treat Paine

Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:

Stephen Hopkins

William Ellery

Connecticut:

Roger Sherman

Samuel Huntington

William Williams

Oliver Wolcott

New Hampshire:

Matthew Thornton

What is Offshore Web Hosting Good for?

Here are the resources I use: www.sidewages.com/resources/

 

Why Offshore Web Hosting?

- have you even heard of it before?

- benefits vary by country

- freedom is a primary key

- privacy is also an important factor

 

Legalities Across the Globe

- certain countries restrict certain sites

- other countries are more enabling

- laws can protect but possibly constrain, too

 

Privacy is Always in Mind

- can choose anonymous hosting

- protect your identity from the masses

- don't have to worry about random stalkers

- DON'T do this for unlawful reasons!

- think long term and world-wide impact

 

Consider the Costs

- some offshore hosting can be extremely cheap

- others can be crazy expensive

- other countries may open advertising routes

 

Freedom from Nature?

- natural disasters are a real concern

- you may not be able to relocate

- no reason you can't keep your data safe

- ensure website protection by location

 

But Where are these Offshore Places?

- the United States and United Kingdom

- Panama, Netherlands, Singapore

- China can be good, but be aware of spam rules

 

Wrapping Up Your Hosting Needs

- looking for reliability in any situation

- potentially powerful price for performance

- legalities and privacy are important

- do what's right and get to doing already

 

Here are the resources I use: www.sidewages.com/resources/

More information: www.americanprogress.org/events/2009/09/deficit_event.html

 

This year, the federal deficit will exceed 11 percent of the gross domestic product—higher than at any point in the country's post-war history. Though the size of the current deficit is due largely to pre-existing policies, economic recession, and one-time policies to revive the economy, there is no question that public concern over the long-term fiscal gap has intensified.

 

Last month, the Congressional Budget Office and the Office of Management and Budget both released new projections that predict substantial budget deficits in each of the next 10 years. If left unchecked, these long-term deficits could pose significant challenges, including substantially weakening economic growth, constraining much needed public investments, and making the United States more dependent on foreign lenders.

 

Please join the Center for American Progress and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities for a conference designed to lay the intellectual groundwork for efforts that the administration and Congress should undertake—once the economy has fully recovered—to put the nation on a more sustainable fiscal path.

english.news.cn/20221115/6521ac3498f24426b79256d4fc529bbb...

 

Xi meets French President Macron

 

BALI, Indonesia, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping met with French President Emmanuel Macron here Tuesday morning.

 

Xi noted that in the past three years the two leaders maintained close communication in various ways, keeping the positive momentum in China-France relations and enabling important bilateral cooperation to make good progress.

 

Pointing out that the world today has entered a new period of turbulence and change, Xi said as two major forces in a multi-polar world, China and France and China and Europe should uphold the spirit of independence, openness and cooperation, promote the steady and sustained development of their bilateral relations on the right track, and inject stability and positive energy into the world.

 

Underscoring China's commitment to promoting high-standard opening up and advancing Chinese modernization, Xi said these efforts will offer France and other countries new opportunities.

 

The two sides need to make top-level planning for the bilateral relations with a view toward the future, respect each other's core interests and major concerns, deepen practical cooperation, and work for continued progress in traditional areas of cooperation while actively tapping into green energy, scientific and technological innovation and other areas for cooperation potential, Xi said.

 

China hopes that France will provide Chinese businesses there with a fairer, more equitable and non-discriminatory business environment, Xi added.

 

Emphasizing that, after many years of development, China and Europe have formed a strong relationship of economic interdependency, Xi said that the two sides should expand two-way trade and investment, keep global industrial and supply chains stable and smooth, and uphold international economic and trade rules and order.

 

China, Xi said, hopes France will encourage the EU to stay committed to an independent and positive China policy.

 

China stands ready to work with France to support Indonesia in hosting a successful G20 Bali summit, step up communication and coordination on issues including climate response and biodiversity conservation, jointly uphold true multilateralism, tackle global challenges such as food and energy security, and find solutions to the thorny issues confronting sustainable development, Xi said.

 

For his part, Macron extended warm congratulations to Xi on his re-election as general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), and on the full success of the 20th CPC National Congress.

 

He noted that both France and China are committed to peace, development and economic prosperity in the world, and commended the Chinese path to modernization.

 

Noting France follows an independent foreign policy and stands against bloc confrontation, the French president said that amid a volatile international landscape, France hopes to continue working with China in the spirit of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, increase high-level exchanges and dialogue, and deepen cooperation in areas such as trade, economy, aviation and civilian nuclear energy.

 

France welcomes Chinese firms to the country for business cooperation, he added.

 

The president expressed France's readiness to work with China to increase communication and collaboration at multilateral fora, and jointly respond to global issues such as climate change, food crisis and biodiversity conservation, saying that France is willing to actively promote dialogue and cooperation between Europe and China.

 

The two sides exchanged views on the situation in Ukraine. Xi made the point that China's position on the Ukraine crisis is clear and consistent: China stands for ceasefire, cessation of the conflict and peace talks. The international community should create conditions for this to happen. China will also continue to work in its way to play a constructive role.

 

Ding Xuexiang, Wang Yi and He Lifeng were present at the meeting. ■

 

www.politico.com/news/2022/11/14/biden-xi-g-20-summit-ind...

 

Biden, Xi meet amid efforts to cool tensions between their nations

Biden says the two leaders will “manage this competition responsibly.” He also dismisses “new cold war” and pledges to restart climate talks with China.

 

BALI, Indonesia — As fears of a new cold war rise, President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping met for nearly three hours, trying to find areas of common ground amid moments of stark disagreement as relations between the world’s two superpowers are at their lowest point in decades.

 

As they met on the sidelines of the massive G-20 summit in Indonesia, the leaders focused on creating a foundation for a relationship. And while there were clear tensions on China’s intentions toward Taiwan, Biden afterward said he believed that a conflict between the powers can be avoided.

 

“I absolutely believe there need not be a new cold war,” said Biden. “We’re going to compete vigorously but we’re not looking for conflict. We’re going to manage this competition responsibly.”

 

Biden said there was “little substitute to face-to-face” contact with Xi as the two men shook hands earlier Monday against a backdrop of flags. Biden said the two men had “blunt” disagreements but pledged to continue talking.

 

Few concrete accomplishments were achieved but just meeting at all was seen as an important step toward deescalation.

 

“The world has come to a crossroads [and] we need to chart the right course,” said Xi, whose words were translated into English. “The world expects that China and the United States will properly handle the relationship.”

 

The two men, along with their small team of aides and translators, then disappeared to begin their meeting, which lasted about three hours.

 

The high stakes for the summit felt incongruous with its backdrop: the sun-splashed beaches of Bali, normally a balmy vacation playground but on this day host to two dueling geopolitical behemoths. The summit was nearly two years in the making and came at a moment of rising tension between the two nations.

 

Taiwan was to be a centerpiece of the conversation. Multiple times in his presidency, Biden has said the U.S. would defend the self-governing island — Beijing has long sought for eventual unification — in case of a Chinese invasion. But each time, administration officials have stressed the U.S. posture of “strategic ambiguity” toward Taiwan had not changed.

 

After the meeting, both sides released statements making clear that the issue remained a flashpoint. The White House said the president “raised objections” to China’s “coercive and increasingly aggressive actions toward Taiwan, which undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and in the broader region, and jeopardize global prosperity.”

 

But China’s own statement sent a clear warning to the United States and its allies to leave Beijing to its own devices with Taiwan.

 

“It is the common aspiration of the Chinese people and nation to realize national reunification and safeguard territorial integrity,” the statement read. “Anyone that seeks to split Taiwan from China will be violating the fundamental interests of the Chinese nation; the Chinese people will absolutely not let that happen!”

 

There were some places of agreement.

 

The two nations pledged to restart climate talks and agreed their senior advisers should resume communication after months of silence. Biden said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will soon travel to Beijing.

 

The president also pushed Xi on his relationship with Russia. Xi and Russia’s Vladimir Putin declared a friendship “without limits” between their two countries in February, just days before Russia invaded Ukraine.

 

But since then, Russia’s war has faltered and Putin — who was set to skip the G-20 — has been turned into a global pariah. China has largely refrained from public criticism of the war but, while it has not supplied arms to Moscow, continues to be a significant buyer of Russian energy, helping finance Putin’s war machine. Both Xi and Biden agreed “a nuclear war should never be fought and can never be won and underscored their opposition to the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine,” according to the White House statement.

 

In the news conference afterward, Biden suggested that Ukraine’s win in Kherson — recapturing what had been a Russian prize — was “a significant victory” in the war and pledged Washington would continue sending aid to Kyiv.

 

Back home, the meeting’s results prompted GOP skepticism. “I don’t see what the president got out of the meeting,” said Rep. Michael McCaul, ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “Seems like China is the only one to walk away with a win with the promise of a visit by Secretary Blinken — I fear the president is not projecting strength.”

 

But the Biden-Xi summit buoyed hopes for some in the U.S. business community waiting for relief in rancor between the two nations. The meeting could eventually yield a new framework “to advance confidence building measures and tackle long standing issues in the bilateral relationship,” Craig Allen, president of the U.S.-China Business Council, said in a statement.

 

The fact that Monday’s meeting came together was being sold as a win. U.S. officials had been eager for Biden to meet face-to-face with Xi, to take measure of the changes within a man with whom he spent considerable time while vice president. And both men came into the meeting emboldened, with a renewed grip on power.

 

Xi recently secured another five-year term as president during a Communist Party congress and some observers believe he could eventually make a bid to hang onto power for life. Biden, meanwhile, was bolstered by Democrats’ historic showing in last week’s midterms, the best showing in decades for a president and his party in power.

 

For Biden, the trip has become something of a victory lap.

 

The president was in Cambodia on Sunday when an election call in Nevada ensured that Democrats would keep control of the Senate, even as the House remained up for grabs. Jake Sullivan, the president’s national security adviser, told reporters that many of the world leaders Biden has encountered in Asia have congratulated him on his party’s wins.

 

“What we saw was the strength and resilience of the American democracy and we saw it in action and the American people proved once again that democracy is who we are,” Biden told reporters Monday. “There was a strong rejection of election deniers at every level from those seeking to lead our states and those seeking to serve in Congress, and also those seek to go oversee the elections.”

 

The president did acknowledge the limit of his renewed political capital, suggesting Democrats still did not have the votes needed to codify federal abortion rights.

 

But Biden’s in-person meeting with Xi highlighted the growing gulf between two countries that used to believe they could cooperate at least on global crises and trade. Even its Indonesian location — a neutral site on the sidelines of a multinational summit — hinted at the frosty relations as U.S. officials conceded it was difficult to conceive of the two meeting anytime soon in either Washington or Beijing.

 

Nearly all communication had ceased between Washington and Beijing the week of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s August trip to Taiwan, a visit that infuriated the Chinese. And there was public saber-rattling in the runup to the Bali bilat, with Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian declaring China “will firmly defend our sovereignty, security and development interests while Biden said he was “not willing to make any fundamental concessions.”

 

But Biden again reiterated Monday that while he viewed the 21st century as a rivalry between the U.S. and China he said he sought “competition, not conflict.” Further straining ties, the Biden administration blocked exports of advanced computer chips to China last month. That move, which was meant to bolster U.S. competition against Beijing, was quickly condemned by Chinese officials. The administration has also left in place Donald Trump-era tariffs on more than $350 billion worth of Chinese goods due to alleged unfair trade practices.

 

White House aides have left open the possibility that the two leaders could meet again next year.

 

“Any verbal agreement with Xi should not be relied on or taken seriously given the Chinese leader’s long record of saying one thing and doing something else,” said John Lee, a former Asia adviser to the Australian government, now a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute think tank. Instead, Biden’s focus this week should be to discuss ways to work more closely with Asian allies and partners to constrain China’s strategic options and deter Beijing from considering the use of force to realize its objectives.”

 

But Robert Daly, director of the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States at the Wilson Center, dismissed Monday’s meeting as “a non-event.”

 

“I don’t see any sign that either country is willing to change its assessment of the other, its intentions or its goals. So there’s a desire to understand [each other] which is good, but there’s no indication that either country is yet ready to reconsider any of its positions,” he said.

 

Daly, the former cultural exchanges officer at the U.S. embassy in Beijing, did call news about Blinken’s trip to China encouraging.

 

“A real face to face summit tends to mobilize bureaucracies, tamps down rhetoric, and provides at least an illusion of deliverables or some form of progress,” he said.

 

The Monday summit was the main event of Biden’s week in Asia. And the shadow of China has loomed over all of it.

 

In a speech to a gathering of Asian nations in Phnom Penh on Saturday, Biden pledged to help stand against China’s growing dominance in the region — without mentioning the other superpower by name. The U.S. has long derided China’s violation of the international rules-based order — from trade to shipping to intellectual property — and Biden tried to emphasize his administration’s solidarity with a region American has too often overlooked.

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.