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This dance is to the death. Along the way, as these two large galaxies duel, a cosmic bridge of stars, gas, and dust currently stretches over 75,000 light-years and joins them. The bridge itself is strong evidence that these two immense star systems have passed close to each other and experienced violent tides induced by mutual gravity. As further evidence, the face-on spiral galaxy on the right, also known as NGC 3808A, exhibits many young blue star clusters produced in a burst of star formation. The twisted edge-on spiral on the left (NGC 3808B) seems to be wrapped in the material bridging the galaxies and surrounded by a curious polar ring. Together, the system is known as Arp 87 and morphologically classified, technically, as peculiar. While such interactions are drawn out over billions of years, repeated close passages should ultimately result in the death of one galaxy in the sense that only one galaxy will eventually result. Although this scenario does look peculiar, galactic mergers are thought to be common, with Arp 87 representing a stage in this inevitable process. The Arp 87 pair are about 300 million light-years distant toward the constellation Leo. The prominent edge-on spiral at the far left appears to be a more distant background galaxy and not involved in the on-going merger. via NASA ift.tt/1NifXrv
Taken 09/01/19 in Brighton's Churchill Square; According to Wikipedia the "... Wright StreetDeck is an integral double-deck bus manufactured by Wrightbus, with a Daimler OM934 diesel engine ....the first production examples entered service with Brighton & Hove in 2015." These were the BX15 batch which are all allocated to Newhaven and branded into Coaster livery for use on the 12 cluster of routes between Brighton and Eastbourne.
Again as per Wikipedia ".... Brighton & Hove was established in 1884 as Brighton, Hove and Preston United Omnibus Company. In 1916, Thomas Tilling took over the company and replaced all its remaining horse buses with motor buses. In November 1935 it was formed as the Brighton Hove and District Omnibus Company. In January 1969 it merged with Southdown Motor Services as a subsidiary of the National Bus Company. In January 1985 in preparation for privatisation, Brighton & Hove was separated from Southdown. In May 1987 it was sold in a management buyout. In November 1993 Brighton & Hove was sold to the Go-Ahead Group."
Brighton and Hove allocate names to virtually all their fleet and clicking on to the bus name on the following website gives biographies of those so honoured:
history.buses.co.uk/history/fleethist/current.htm
"Don Partridge was a busker who gained international fame in the 1960s with his song Rosie. Born in 1941, he had a talent for singing wistful and poignant songs. He was discovered while busking in London. He followed Rosie with several other hit songs including Blue Eyes and won the Ivor Novello award before his popularity faded. He was known as the king of the buskers. After many years travelling around the world, and for a while raising a family in Sweden, he came to live in Seaford where he went back to busking. He was a familiar figure in Seaford's main shopping street, Broad Street, as well as in Newhaven. Occasionally he would appear on the streets of Brighton. He often busked as a one-man band. Attempts were made to revive his musical career, particularly by the Shoreham-based guitarist Richard Durrant who helped him produce an album. But he never regained the reputation of the past. Partridge moved to Peacehaven and died from a heart attack in 2010. Buskers from all over the world attended a wake in Seaford which lasted seven hours."
Haven't posted in a while, so i decided to post a quick update on my shelf. I remade some of my items ( such as the Sunset Sarsaparilla and currency) and have begun to work on my NCR loadout. I plan on making the NCR flag, making a Chinese Assault Rifle or Service Rifle, and create some interesting items from the games.
it has switched between the time of the photograph and now (8 hours). i'm tempted to make a table cloth for this small round table.
Ayesha Ansari is currently pursuing BBA (Hons) at Hajvery University (HU). She was awarded a scholarship to Study Abroad for 1 semester at Hochschule Liechtenstein, situated in Vaduz, Liechtenstein. The scholarship included Return AirTicket, Comprehensive Insurance, and 5000 Euros Stipend Money for daily expenses among other things. The following essay is written by her, which presents a glimpse of her Experience of Studying and Living Abroad in Europe.
My name is Ayesha Ansari, I am studying at Hajvery University (HU) as a BBA (Hons) student, and I would like to share my amazing and life-changing experience with the other students to encourage them to work harder and apply for these scholarships at HU.
I travelled to Vaduz, Liechtenstein to avail this scholarship opportunity given by Hajvery University & Erasmus Mundus, where I studied in a University named Hochschule Liechtenstein. This University is the most well-known university in the whole country.
My experience was fantabulous and outstanding. People there are quite independent and live very busy lives. I noticed they don’t try to interfere in anyone’s matters; however they are extremely co-operative and helpful.
Our lectures at the host university were conducted in the morning and some are in the evening, so I always went to university five minutes before to take the lecture and after lecture I spent some of my time in library and computer lab to review the lecture.
Apart from studies I also visited lot of cites and other countries i.e. Germany, Austria and Switzerland with the other scholarship students and my friend from HU, Sidra Nazir, who was also sent by Hajvery University as a Scholarship student to Lichtenstein. I visited different churches, libraries, museums and monuments of different cities named Zurich, Bern, Dornbrin, Buchs, Genneve, Chur etc. It was fun to visit the biggest water fall in Switzerland.
I learned basics of German language but I did not get a command in German language but I do understand a lot. During International and Christmas Dinner people from different countries have to make food items of their Mother land - Sidra and I cooked a delicious Biryani and for Christmas Dinner, we cooked mouth-watering Chicken Karahi. My friends from all over the world, and everyone else loved the Pakistani food!
Hochschule Liechtenstein also arranged a lot of events and tours, from time to time. I attended almost each and every event organized by them. Some of the events include International Dinner, Trip to Chocolate Factory, Halloween Night, Ball Night, Trip to Christmas Market and Christmas Dinner, Farewell Dinner and Ski and lots more .
I didn’t face any cultural shock as I knew what to expect about the culture of Europe. The only problem I faced was to search Halal meat but that too solved after a couple of days when some of the Muslim students guided me. I made a lot friends from different nationalities -from Bulgaria , Taiwan , Japan, China, Czech-Republic, Austria, Poland, India, Spain, Egypt, Germany etc , most of whom I am still in touch with them through facebook!
As far as Cuisine is concerned it was so good and as I am a cheese lover so I really enjoyed and loved one of the traditional Swiss dish named Foundue. I did a lot of shopping with the scholarship money, As I already have my laptop so I did not buy any laptop from the scholarship money. Luckily I did not face any problem during the exchange semester as their administration and management was quite co-operative.
I will definitely miss the hospitality and the perfect management of the administration of the host university, the pleasant and frosty weather and obviously The Scholarship money…..seriously that helps me a lot in shopping and visiting cities .
My experience as a Scholarship student was out of the world. When I analyze myself after the student abroad program……I find myself more confident and mature. My convincing power, communication and presentation skills are much more improved .It is one of the best chance to experience different cultures at one place and I really enjoyed experiencing and understanding different cultures. In short I become more polished, independent about taking the decisions.
Its fun to get a scholarship as it makes the life little jazzy. Thank-you Hajvery University ,Erasmus Mundus and Hochschule Liechtenstein.
HU is a joint-signatory of EM 2009-2013 Consortium of 20 Universities from Europe and SAARC countries, which allows the partner universities to send and host students between the consortium members. HU is grateful for European Commission for such initiatives and the funding to make this all possible, moreover to all our Partner Universities for co-operating to make this a success.
If you liked this post, you will definitely enjoy reading these posts:
Orientation Seminar for HU Study Abroad Students.
HU in International Landscape.
Istanbul Technical University (ITU) and Hajvery University (HU) sign MoU of Educational Cooperation & Scientific Research.
Adnan Abdul Khaliq, Study Abroad Scholarship recipient talks about his experienc @ Fontys University, Netherlands.
Prof. Jeanne Schreurs, Hasselt University Belgium visits Hajvery University (HU), explores Cooperation / Dual Degrees between both Universities.
For Further Information, Queries regarding Study Abroad opportunities at Hajvery University (HU), and Study Abroad Scholarships contact:
Office of Foreign Affairs & Planning
Hajvery University (HU)
Email : intl@hup.edu.pk
Thirty years later it could be a photograph of myself.
I was never interested in current fashions, whilst my friends in the mid 1960s were seeking the latest shade of anorak and trousers, I was quite happy with a waterproof raincoat, my only objection was if the hat fixed under my chin, for some reason after a couple of outings, the chin cord seem to fail and become lost.
I was fine with the fashions of the 1930s-1950s.
Get beach savvy with this fun tutorial on currents.
(Original source and more information: National Ocean Service Ocean Education)
A visit to Caernarfon Castle in North Wales. It was here in 1911 and 1969 that the Prince of Wales was inaugurated (Prince Edward later Edward VIII and the current Prince of Wales, Prince Charles).
Caernarfon Castle (Welsh: Castell Caernarfon), often anglicized as Carnarvon Castle, is a medieval fortress in Caernarfon, Gwynedd, north-west Wales cared for by Cadw, the Welsh Government's historic environment service. There was a motte-and-bailey castle in the town of Caernarfon from the late 11th century until 1283 when King Edward I of England began replacing it with the current stone structure. The Edwardian town and castle acted as the administrative centre of north Wales and as a result the defences were built on a grand scale. There was a deliberate link with Caernarfon's Roman past and the Roman fort of Segontium is nearby.
While the castle was under construction, town walls were built around Caernarfon. The work cost between £20,000 and £25,000 from the start until the end of work in 1330. Despite Caernarfon Castle's external appearance of being mostly complete, the interior buildings no longer survive and many of the building plans were never finished. The town and castle were sacked in 1294 when Madog ap Llywelyn led a rebellion against the English. Caernarfon was recaptured the following year. During the Glyndŵr Rising of 1400–1415, the castle was besieged. When the Tudor dynasty ascended to the English throne in 1485, tensions between the Welsh and English began to diminish and castles were considered less important. As a result, Caernarfon Castle was allowed to fall into a state of disrepair. Despite its dilapidated condition, during the English Civil War Caernarfon Castle was held by Royalists, and was besieged three times by Parliamentarian forces. This was the last time the castle was used in war. Caernarfon Castle was neglected until the 19th century when the state funded repairs. In 1911, Caernarfon Castle was used for the investiture of the Prince of Wales, and again in 1969. It is part of the World Heritage Site "Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd".
A Grade I listed building.
History
Begun in 1283 and still incomplete when building work ceased c1330. Built for Edward I of England, it combined the roles of fortification, palace and administrative centre. A motte and bailey castle had been built here in the late C11 by Earl Hugh of Chester, although it became a residence of Welsh princes, including Llewelyn ap Gruffudd, after the Welsh regained control of Gwynedd by 1115. The English conquest of N Wales followed quickly after the death of Llewelyn ap Gruffudd in 1282 and Caernarfon was built to consolidate the English gains. Edward I employed James of St George as his architect, who had previously been employed by Philip of Savoy and had designed for him the fortress-palace of St Georges d'Esperanche. James also directed the building other castles for Edward I, including Harlech, Conwy and Beaumaris, using English craftsmen and labourers. The design of Caernarfon Castle echoed the walls of Emperor Constantine's Roman city of Constantinople, which also has polygonal towers and banded stonework, and was thus intended by Edward to be an expression of imperial power. Edward I and Queen Eleanor visited Caernarfon in 1284 and it was said that their son, Edward, the first English prince of Wales, was born at the castle in 1284.
Construction of the castle was integrated with the construction of town walls protecting the newly established borough, the town being situated on the N side of the castle. By 1292 the southern external façade of the castle was probably complete, while on the N side the castle was protected by a ditch and the walled town. The castle was damaged during an uprising in 1294 led by Madog ap Llewelyn, but Edward I swiftly regained control of Caernarfon and the castle, where restoration work began in 1295. The uprising had demonstrated the need to complete the castle's defences on the town side, which were largely built in the period 1295-1301. Work subsequently continued at a slower pace in the period 1304-30 and included the completion of the towers, including the Eagle Tower which was completed 1316-17 and in 1316 the timber-framed 'Hall of Llewelyn', the Welsh prince's residence at Conwy, was dismantled and shipped to Caernarfon. The upper portion of the King's Gate was constructed in 1321 and included a statue of Edward of Caernarfon, who had been crowned Edward II in 1307.
The castle was garrisoned for nearly 2 centuries but was increasingly neglected as hostilities softened from the C16 onwards. The castle was garrisoned for Charles I during the Civil War but was surrendered to the Parliamentarians in 1646. In the C18 the castle became one of the most celebrated of ruins in Wales, which began its present phase as tourist attraction and ancient monument. Restoration was undertaken in the final quarter of the C19 under the direction of Sir Llewelyn Turner, Deputy Constable. In 1908 ownership passed from the Crown to the Office of Works and restoration work continued. This included the reinstatement of floors in most of the towers and reinstatement of the embattled wall walks by 1911. The castle was the venue for the investiture of both C20 Princes of Wales, in 1911 and 1969.
Exterior
Constructed of coursed limestone with darker stone banding to the S and E external façades between the Eagle Tower and NE Tower. The plan is polygonal, resembling a figure of 8, and constructed around an upper and a lower ward in the form of curtain walls and mainly 3-stage polygonal towers with basements (in contrast to the round towers of the town walls). The structure is in 2 main phases. The earlier is the S side, from and including the Eagle Tower to the NE Tower, was constructed mainly in the period 1283-1292, while the N side facing the walled town was built after the uprising of 1294. The curtain walls are embattled with loops to the merlons and a wall walk. Openings are characterised by the frequent use of shouldered lintels, giving rise to the alternative term 'Caernarfon lintel', and 2-centred arches. The towers have reinstated floors of c1911 on original corbels. The outer walls have arrow loops. Windows are mainly narrow single-light, but some of the mullioned windows incorporate transoms.
The principal entrance is the 3-storey King's Gate on the N side. It is reached across the ditch by a modern segmental-arched stone bridge with stone steps to the outer side, replacing the medieval drawbridge. The King's Gate has polygonal towers with 2-light windows to the outer facets in the middle stage and 2-light windows in the upper stage. The entrance is recessed behind a segmental moulded arch. It has a 2-centred arch beneath string courses and 2-light transomed window. Above the main arch is a statue of Edward II in a canopied niche with flanking attached pinnacles.
To the R is the outer wall of the kitchens and then the Well Tower, of 3 stages with basement. The Well Tower has a higher polygonal turret reinstated in the late C19 and full-height square projection on the W side housing the well shaft. The tower has 2-light windows in the middle and upper stages.
The Eagle Tower at the W end is the largest of the towers, having been designed to accommodate the king's lieutenant. It has 3 stages with basement and 3 higher polygonal turrets. The battlements are enriched by carved heads and eagles, although much weathered. On the N side are 2-light windows and an attached stub wall with drawbridge slot. This is the planned water gate through which water-borne supplies were intended to be conveyed to the basement of the Well Tower at high tide, but it was not completed. It has polygonal responds to the gate, a portcullis slot and 2 superimposed windows between the basement and ground-floor levels. On the N side is a flight of stone steps to an arched doorway at basement level. This postern was the main entrance for those approaching by sea. On the S side the curtain wall is built on exposed bedrock and the Queen's Tower, Chamberlain Tower and the Black Tower each have a single higher polygonal turret. The outer faces have only narrow loops. On the W side of the Chamberlain Tower are stone steps to a doorway under a shouldered lintel that led into the great hall. On the E side of the Black Tower is the shorter polygonal Cistern Tower, with the unfinished Queen's Gate at the SE end. Between the Chamberlain Tower and Black Tower the curtain wall is stepped in, from which point there is a substantial raked stone plinth continuing around to the NE Tower. The Queen's Gate has double polygonal towers linked by a straight wall above the gateway, while the openings are all narrow loops. The gateway is raised above a high basement storey (and would have been reached by the building of a massive stone ramp) and is recessed beneath a segmental arch with murder holes. The Watch Tower to the N is narrower and higher than the remaining towers, beyond which is the 2-stage NE Tower, which has a 2-light window. Returning along the N side, which was built after 1295, the curtain wall and the 4-stage Granary Tower incorporate 2-light windows.
The King's Gate has murder holes to the vault and porters' rooms to the L and R, leading to the interior. Internally the castle is planned around an upper ward on the E side and a lower ward on the W side. Through the entrance passage is a 2-storey projection on the R (now housing a shop), the S side of which retains 2 portcullis slots and a vault springer, indicating that a second entrance was built here, although it no longer survives above the foundations. Above the main gate is a former chapel, which retains its original piscina. The upper storey hall has window seats. On the W side of the King's Gate are the foundations of the kitchens in the lower ward, in which are 2 round foundations for copper cauldrons and springer of a former vault. The Well Tower does not have reinstated floors, but in each storey a fireplace and garderobe are retained and in the second stage is a small kitchen above the well chamber. The fireplaces all differ in detail: in the basement is a segmental arch, the lower storey a tripartite lintel, the second stage a projecting lintel on corbels with raked hood, and chamfered lintel to the upper stage. The tower has a full-height newel stair. The basement is reached by external stone steps. Between the Well Tower and Eagle Tower is a restored fireplace with a raked hood in a chamber whose outline walls are visible.
The Eagle Tower has stone steps to the basement to the L of the main doorway, both lower stage and basement having pointed doorways. The upper stages have 2-light windows similar to the outer faces. The thick walls incorporate mural passages and stairs. In the lower stage is a large fireplace with raked hood and a small octagonal chamber that probably served as a chapel. The great chamber in the second stage also has an octagonal chapel, which retains a stoup or piscina. Between the Eagle Tower and the NE Tower the curtain wall and towers have mural passages in addition to the wall walk and generally have stone steps in either straight flights to the wall walks or newel stairs, and most chambers in the towers have associated garderobes. The Queen's Tower, known as the 'Banner Tower' in the C14, and the Chamberlain Tower have chambers in each storey with small square subsidiary chambers that probably served as chapels, and 2-light windows. The Queen's Tower has 3 octagonal chimney shafts behind the parapet. In the Chamberlain Tower the lower storey retains a fireplace with shouldered lintel. Both towers are occupied by the museum of the Royal Welch Fusiliers. Between Queen's Tower and Chamberlain Tower are the foundations of the great hall, while the 2 superimposed mural passages in the curtain wall have 2-light windows that formerly opened into the hall.
The Black Tower is smaller than the other towers and has only single chambers in each stage, with cambered fireplace in the upper chamber, and 2-light windows. The Cistern Tower has a vaulted hexagonal chamber beneath an open stone-lined rainwater tank visible on the wall walk. In the unfinished Queen's Gate the position of porters' rooms is discernible in the flanking towers of which the S has a lintelled fireplace while both have garderobes. Portcullis slots and murder holes are in the passage. The upper storey over the passage was to have been a hall but was not completed. The Watch Tower is entered by a doorway at the wall walk level only.
The NE Tower is simpler with single chambers in each stage, as is the Granary Tower, which incorporates a well shaft and has a fireplace with raked hood in the upper stage. Between the NE Tower and the King's Gate the curtain wall has corbels representing former buildings built against the curtain, and its mullioned windows incorporate window seats.
Reasons for Listing
Listed grade I as one of the finest medieval castles in Wales, and unique in its royal associations.
Scheduled Ancient Monument CN 079.
World Heritage Site.
Up to the top of the Black Tower. Then up the smaller tower on the Black Tower.
The wall walk to the Chamberlain Tower below. Would head that way after heading down from the Black Tower.
Queen's Tower behind the Chamberlain Tower.
Well Tower and the King's Gate to the right.
Boats on the Afon Seiont to the left.
Menai Strait to the far right beyond the castle.
I love that the wallpaper on my laptop in this photo is actually the previous photo in my flickr stream.
Current state of my commuter: an updated Moutlon bicycle from late 1960s (most probably a Raleigh-made Major) with new (longer) handlebar stem, all-rounder handlebars a semi-modern (1990s) Sturmey-archer 3-speed hub gears and with a full set of bags (they are modern replicas). The fur on the saddle (the Brooks C17 in the cheapest color) is a must in current temperatures.
It's starting to get tight in the photo bag...
LowePro Mini Trekker II AW Black.
Picture taken with our Canon IXUS 85IS compact camera.
This is how I've been spending much of my time lately, building up inventory to take back to the States in July to sell! It's fun and challenging!
This picture is part of a discussion on Words-L.
The little round thing is a tape measure; the red case under phone contains mini iPad; the pink case contains a compass and business cards; the blue purse-looking thing contains cards like Rainbow bread card and membership card, Koinonia card; the flowered case contains kleenex, cough drops, hand-sanitizer, and assorted other stuff; little yellow case contains extra camera battery; little (fabric) red case contains a SD card. I think that takes care of most of the possibly mysterious items.
The engineering mockup of the Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM) module is currently on display within the press building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The RRM mission is a joint effort between NASA and the Canadian Space Agency designed to demonstrate and test the tools, technologies, and techniques needed to robotically refuel satellites in space. Reporters have the opportunity to get a close-up view of the replica module and tools that are a part of the final shuttle mission payload.
Directed by customized controllers and algorithms, a powerful industrial robot (left) uses a Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM) tool (at end of blue arm) to perform precise and minute maneuvers on RRM flight hardware (right).
To learn more about the RRM go to: ssco.gsfc.nasa.gov/
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
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Behind the Giant Tiger store in downtown Grimsby, Ontario, a brilliantly painted orange and blue former school bus has been transformed to fullfil its current role in life as a fry truck. Sitting on the edge of a parking lot it attracts downtown shoppers with the cooking smells. Adjacent to the truck are a couple of picnic tables for patrons and at one of these, I struck up a conversation with a retired gentleman. After drifting around a bit, the conversation eventually turned to the scratch-off lottery card he was holding and then further onto gambling in general. Shortly thereafter a bearded friend joined him and the two of them regaled me with stories of notable winnings, but still conceded the reality of long-time net losses. I noted that the second gentleman was wearing an orange safety sweat shirt, a colour nearly matching the brilliant orange used for the fry truck’s upper half. I asked him to let me shoot him against the truck as a background. It took a little convincing but he did eventually agree. So we have a man in orange set against an orange background that is the fry truck. - JW
Date Taken: 2-18-05-07
Tech Details:
Taken using a hand-held Nikon D7100 fitted with a AF-S DX Nikkor 18-105mm VR lense set to 52mm, ISO100, Auto WB, Aperture priority mode, f/7.1, 1/250 sec. PP in free open Source RAWTherapee from Nikon RAW/NEF source file: set/scale final image size to 9000px wide, crop off the bottom and right side (preserving the 3:2 aspect ratio of the original image) to get rid of a small blue element from the background (bottom right in original), adjust exposure compensation to brighten the image by +1.15 stops, slightly increase colour temperature in White balance to warm the image a bit, very slightly boost Vibrance with skin tone protection turned on, enable Shadow/highlights and bring up shadow detail to bring out detail in the shadow ares of the face and also boost highlight recovery to handle the highlights on the forehead and cheeks, sharpen, save. PP in free Open Source GIMP: move the black point of the tone curve to the right and then make minor adjustment to the tone curve to fine-tune the tonality, duplicate the image to a new top layer and add a black/transparent layer mask, use a large soft-edged brush with white paint to paint in the shadow areas only of the face, in the main image area of the to layer adjust the tone curve to pul up the shadow tonality without impacting the rest of the image, create new working layer from visible result, use the dodge/burn tool on the highlights only to brighten the whites of the man’s eyes, very slightly boost overall saturation to clean up the colours and then on the yellow channel only only slightly reduce its brightness, remove a slight green cast using the colour balance tool, sharpen, save, scale image to 6000x4000, sharpen, save, add fine black-and-white frame, add bar and text on left, save, scale image to 1800 wide for posting online, sharpen slightly, save.
Offer current as of 3 June 2021
Up to 50% discounted first or tourist class RENFE rail travel on the Spain rail network, to departure stations and from arrival stations; discount code provided for on-line self-booking. Discount depends on fare type. This is a RENFE offer, which may change without notice.
Club members with reservations booked through the Club on the Spanish luxury trains* can request transfers in regular AVE, ALVIA or LD (Long Distance) trains to the starting point of the luxury train and the return journey from the end point. *except El Expreso de la Robla.
that's my current set up in the Palo Alto apartment I'll stay until end of march. Loosing weight running from one side to other of the desk :)
The original Little Mermaid is currently visiting Shanghai. For people who wish to see it in Denmark an original, exact copy currently resides in Tivoli, Copenhagen.
The statue of The Little Mermaid (Den lille havfrue in Danish) sits on a rock in the harbour of the capital of Denmark. Based on a tale by Hans Christian Andersen, the small and unimposing statue is a Copenhagen icon and a major tourist attraction.
The statue was commissioned in 1909 by Carl Jacobsen, son of the founder of Carlsberg, who had been fascinated by a ballet about the fairytale in Copenhagen’s Royal Theatre and asked the primaballerina, Ellen Price, to model for the statue. The sculptor Edvard Eriksen created the statue, which was unveiled on 23 August 1913. The statue’s head was modelled after Price, but as the ballerina did not agree to model in the nude, the sculptor’s wife Eline Eriksen was used for the body.
The relatively small size of the statue typically surprises tourists visiting Langelinie for the first time. The Little Mermaid statue is only 1.25 metres high and weighs around 175 kg.
There are similarities between the Little Mermaid statue and the Pania of the Reef statue on the beachfront at Napier in New Zealand, and some similarities in the Little Mermaid and Pania tales. The statue of a woman diver (titled "Girl in a Wetsuit" by Elek Imredy) in Vancouver, Canada was placed there when, unable to obtain permission to reproduce the Copenhagen statue, Vancouver authorities selected a modern version.
The Copenhagen City Council decided to move the statue to Shanghai at the Danish Pavilion for the duration of the Expo 2010 (from May to October), the first time it had been moved from its perch since it was installed almost a century earlier.
Against The Current performing live at The Roxy Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, on Sunday, December 4, 2016.
Stay Classy, Not Trashy show @ The Music House in Clermont, FL with Playing For Keeps, Aglacia, Conquer, Currents, Deviations, Wake Up Atlantic, Majesty,
This 1920's home had lots of charm but lacked the space and convenience of a modern kitchen. Where are the countertops? The current dining room was large compared to the kitchen and underutilized. The existing laundry/pantry was tucked in a corner with two doorways (waste of space) and the tiny half bathroom was almost useless. After touring the home and speaking with the homeowners we came up with the following design. We opened the kitchen to the dining room and subsequently to the rest of the house. This allowed the feeling of more space and lots of natural light. We also closed off the laundry area to the dining and kitchen and incorporated it into a new full bathroom with laundry facility (see McGuire in Bathroom Portfolio). The homeowners are delighted with the new layout and even sent out Christmas cards to their friends and family with their children's picture and a note saying "Happy Holidays from our new Kitchen!"
Top row: Shana (Resinsoul Fei, dark tan), Aino (Zaoll Ramie, NS), Twisp (Dollzone Renata, tan)
Middle row: Vilja (Dollmore Narsha, NS), Alyser (Resinsoul Song, grey), Cici (Hujoo Nano Freya, grey), Dragon#1 (self-made, poseable), Dhya (Resinsoul Mai, dark tan)
Bottom row: Oswald (Impldoll Martin, special realskin), Dragon #2 (self-made, poseable)
A little cheating here because I've already finished Chuck Klosterman's But What If We're Wrong and I have to say it's the best book I've read for a long time. I read everything that Klosterman and Mary Roach publish as soon as they're available.
Current grantee Ciarán Donnelly, Acting Vice-President for Programme Quality for the International Rescue Committee (IRC), speaks during the first-ever awards ceremony of the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women, which was organized with UN Secretary General's UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign. The ceremony put a spotlight on ground-breaking initiatives that address the crucial needs of survivors of gender-based violence around the world and recognized individuals who have dedicated their lives to the cause.
Three individuals were honoured: UN Women Goodwill Ambassador Nicole Kidman, for her extensive global efforts to end violence against women; CEO of the Joyful Heart Foundation actress Mariska Hargitay, for her exemplary contribution to national efforts, and Co-Executive Director of CONNECT, Quentin Walcott, for his ground-breaking efforts at a local level.
Sukey Novogratz, Board Member of the Joyful Heart Foundation, accepted the award on Ms. Hargitay’s behalf, while Ms. Kidman addressed the participants via video message.
Photo: UN Women/Sebastian Montalvo
Digitised image from the Town Hall Photographer's Collection - GB127.M850.
The Town Hall Photographer’s Collection is a large photographic collection held in Manchester City Council’s Central Library archives, ranging in date from 1956 to 2007.
The collection consists of tens of thousands of images, covering the varied areas of work of Manchester Corporation and latterly, Manchester City Council.
The photographs were taken by staff photographers, who were tasked to document the work of Corporation/Council departments and, in doing so, captured many aspects of Manchester life and history, including significant changes to the Manchester landscape.
The collection includes many different formats from glass negatives, to slides, prints, CDs and even a couple of cine films.
What is especially exciting is that the majority of these images have never before been available in a digital format and therefore have only ever been seen by a handful of people.
A team of dedicated Staff and Volunteers are currently working on the systematic digitisation of the negatives held within the collection.
This album represents the result of their work to date.
My second copy of this lens.
In summary this is what I found with the 3 copies I received:
Each additional copy I received the FOV angle was slightly wider; in other words, the second lens was slightly wider than the first and the third lens was slightly wider than the second.
The first copy had a soft spot in the focus (constant friction on the end-points but somewhere in the middle of the focus throw it got loose for a bit, almost like it didn’t have and even application of grease). The second copy was smooth as silk. The third copy was smooth but has a little bit of a gritty sound to it, but nothing too annoying.
The second copy had a large speck of dust under the outer element whereas the first and second were spotless.
Captured with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II and Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 IF ED UMC lens.
* Current state:
BRB, out 2 study! c me on 18th Jun @ 11:30 :hcry:
* bala filckr bala 5rabe6, FINALLs 3al abwab o ma abe afosh a7ad here =P
* btw, it's my first time I took this drink..
&& last !! eew mn galb =x
* edited by photoshop & 4get 2 signed on x/
* 6o6 6oo6! hatha ile3lan b re3ayt RED BULL =P xP
Current Sports Live from WMU Cooley Law School Stadium before the Lansing Lugnuts game. Lansing, Michigan. July 20, 2018. Photo Credit: Amanda Pinckney/WKAR-MSU.
The Bonneville Salt Flats are a densely packed salt pan in Tooele County in northwestern Utah. A remnant of the Pleistocene Lake Bonneville, it is the largest of many salt flats west of the Great Salt Lake. It is public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management and is known for land speed records at the Bonneville Speedway. Access to the Flats is open to the public.
The Flats are about 12 miles (19 km) long and 5 miles (8 km) wide, with a crust almost 5 ft (1.5m) thick at the center and less than one inch (2.5 cm) towards the edges. It is estimated to hold 147 million tons of salt, approximately 90% of which is common table salt.
Geologist Grove Karl Gilbert named the area after Benjamin Bonneville, a U.S. Army officer who explored the Intermountain West in the 1830s. In 1907, Bill Rishel and two local businessmen tested the suitability of the salt for driving by taking a Pierce-Arrow onto its surface.
A railway line across the Flats was completed in 1910, marking the first permanent crossing. The first land speed record was set there in 1914 by Teddy Tetzlaff.
Entertainment filmed at the Flats include portions of Walking with Dinosaurs Special - The Ballad of Big Al, Knight Rider, Warlock, Independence Day (1996) and its sequel, SLC Punk, Cremaster 2 from Cremaster Cycle, The Brown Bunny, The World's Fastest Indian, Gerry, The Tree of Life, Top Gear and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Furthermore, the Pontiac Bonneville (former flagship sedan of the Pontiac motor division), the Triumph Bonneville motorcycle, and the Bonneville International media company are all named for the Flats.
The Bonneville Salt Flats hosts the annual US Flight Archery Championships. The goal of flight archery is to shoot arrows from bows at the greatest distance possible without regard to hitting a target, and so the vast flat plane of the flats serves as an ideal location to measure the linear distance traveled by arrows without geographic interference. Both the 1977 (archer Don Brown) and 1982 (archer Alan Webster) world records were set there; while the current world record, achieved in 1987 (archer Don Brown), was set at the salt flats near Smith Creek, Nevada.
The thickness of salt crust is a critical factor in racing use of the salt flats. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has undertaken multiple studies on the topic; while a 2007 study determined that there was little change in the crust's thickness from 1988 to 2003, more recent studies have shown a reduction in thickness, especially in the northwest area where racing occurs. The flats' overall area has contracted significantly over the past several decades. The cause or causes of this remain unclear, but many believe adjacent evaporative potash mining is the primary factor.
Collaboration between racing organizations, the potash mine, and the BLM led to a pilot program begun in 1998 to release excess brine onto the salt flats during winter. Plans to increase the volume of brine returned to the salt flats are hoped to halt loss of crust thickness, or possibly restore it where it has become too thin to sustain human use.
Motorcar racing has taken place at the salt flats since 1914. Racing takes place at part of the Bonneville Salt Flats known as the Bonneville Speedway. There are five major land speed events that take place at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Bonneville "Speed Week" takes place mid-August followed by "World of Speed" in September and the "World Finals" take place early October.
These three events welcome cars, trucks, and motorcycles. The "Bub Motorcycle Speed Trials" are for motorcycles only. World records are contested at the Mike Cook ShootOut in September. The Southern California Timing Association and the Utah Salt Flats Racing Association organizes and plans the multi-vehicle events, but all event promoters contribute to prepping and maintaining the salt. "Speed Week" events in August were canceled in 2015 and 2022, due to the poor condition of the salt in certain parts of the flats. The salt flats had been swamped by heavy rains earlier in the year, as usual, but this year the rains also triggered mudslides from surrounding mountains onto a section of the flats used for the land-speed racing courses.
Bonneville Speedway (also known as the Bonneville Salt Flats Race Track) is an area of the Bonneville Salt Flats northeast of Wendover, Utah, that is marked out for motor sports. It is particularly noted as the venue for numerous land speed records. The Bonneville Salt Flats Race Track is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The salt flats were first used for motor sports in 1912, but did not become truly popular until the 1930s when Ab Jenkins and Sir Malcolm Campbell competed to set land speed records.
A reduction of available racing surface and salt thickness has led to the cancellation of events at Bonneville, such as Speed Week in 2014 and 2015. Available racing surface is much reduced with just 2.5 miles (4.0 km) available instead of the 9-mile (14 km) courses traditionally used for Speed Week.
Historically, the speedway was marked out by the Utah Department of Transportation at the start of each summer. Originally, two tracks were prepared; a 10-mile (16 km) long straightaway for speed trials and an oval or circular track for distance runs, which was typically between 10 and 12 miles (16 and 19 km) long depending on the condition of the salt surface.
Since at least the 1990s, track preparations have been the responsibility of the event organizers. Days or weeks in advance, the track preparers identify an area best suited for their track layouts and begin grading the tracks. Surveyors are brought in to survey the timing trap distances. A day before racing begins, the track markers are added.
Originally, the straightaway was marked with a broad black line down its center. This was eventually changed to lines down either side, as the center line wore out too quickly. As the costs for painting the lines has gone up, organizations have switched to flags and cones as track markers. The last event to use black lines was Speed Week, August 2009.
The number of tracks and the timed sections for each track are set according to what is most beneficial for each event. Large public meets such as Speed Week run as many as four tracks with several timed miles, usually starting with the second mile and running to the fifth mile. Smaller meets that typically only run world record attempts will utilize a single track, with one timed mile and one timed kilometer in the middle of the track. Additional marks and cones indicate the end of the track and the position of timing equipment.
The annual Speed Week was cancelled in both 2014 and 2015, as were many land-speed racing events, due to deteriorating track conditions. Heavy rains caused a layer of mud from surrounding mountains to flow onto the flats, covering approximately 6 mi (9.7 km) of the track. Although another section of the flats would normally be used, nearby salt mining operations had reduced the size of the alternative track.
The depth of the salt crust at Bonneville has also been decreasing, possibly leaching into a saltwater aquifer. Measured at as much at 3 ft (0.91 m) in the 1940s and 50s, it has been reduced to just 2 in (0.051 m) in 2015.
Though recent studies have been made (since 1960), the causes of this deterioration are not clear, although the evidence points toward both local climatic changes and salt mining. Some strategies were devised to revert the decreasing salt surface, such as pumping back salt, though this had no effect.
In August, the Southern California Timing Association and Bonneville Nationals Inc. organize Speed Week, the largest meet of the year, which attracts several hundred drivers who compete to set highest speed in a range of categories. Bonneville Speed Week has been taking place since 1949.
In late August, the Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials are held.
In September each year is the World of Speed, (similar to Speed Week) organized by the Utah Salt Flats Racing Association. The USFRA also meet on the first Wednesday of each month throughout the summer.
In October, the Southern California Timing Association puts on World Finals, a scaled-down version of Speed Week. This event tends to have cooler weather and often drier salt that Speed Week the prior month. There are less spectators and it tends to draw serious racers, as this event is the last chance to break a land speed record and be in the SCTA record book for that year.
Each year, there are usually a few private meets that are not publicized scattered among the larger public meets.
Several motor-paced racing speed records have been attempted at Bonneville.
In 1985, American cyclist John Howard set a then world record of 244 km/h (152 mph).
On 15 October 1995, Dutch cyclist Fred Rompelberg achieved 268.831 km/h (167.044 mph), using a special bicycle behind a dragster with a large shield.
In 2016, Denise Mueller-Korenek claimed a women's bicycle land speed record at 147 mph (237 km/h). She was coached by Howard. It is not clear which authority was supervising the record attempt.
In 2018, Mueller-Korenek broke her own women's record and the men's record at a speed of 183.9 miles per hour (296.0 km/h).
In popular culture
In the 2003 film The Brown Bunny, Bud Clay races his motorcycle at the speedway.
In the 2005 film The World's Fastest Indian, Burt Munro and his highly modified Indian Scout motorcycle sets a world record.
In the 2015 series finale episode of Mad Men, Donald Draper drives a 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS muscle car in the races at Bonneville Speedway.
Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It borders Colorado to its east, Wyoming to its northeast, Idaho to its north, Arizona to its south, and Nevada to its west. Utah also touches a corner of New Mexico in the southeast. Of the fifty U.S. states, Utah is the 13th-largest by area; with a population over three million, it is the 30th-most-populous and 11th-least-densely populated. Urban development is mostly concentrated in two areas: the Wasatch Front in the north-central part of the state, which is home to roughly two-thirds of the population and includes the capital city, Salt Lake City; and Washington County in the southwest, with more than 180,000 residents. Most of the western half of Utah lies in the Great Basin.
Utah has been inhabited for thousands of years by various indigenous groups such as the ancient Puebloans, Navajo, and Ute. The Spanish were the first Europeans to arrive in the mid-16th century, though the region's difficult geography and harsh climate made it a peripheral part of New Spain and later Mexico. Even while it was Mexican territory, many of Utah's earliest settlers were American, particularly Mormons fleeing marginalization and persecution from the United States via the Mormon Trail. Following the Mexican–American War in 1848, the region was annexed by the U.S., becoming part of the Utah Territory, which included what is now Colorado and Nevada. Disputes between the dominant Mormon community and the federal government delayed Utah's admission as a state; only after the outlawing of polygamy was it admitted in 1896 as the 45th.
People from Utah are known as Utahns. Slightly over half of all Utahns are Mormons, the vast majority of whom are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), which has its world headquarters in Salt Lake City; Utah is the only state where a majority of the population belongs to a single church. A 2023 paper challenged this perception (claiming only 42% of Utahns are Mormons) however most statistics still show a majority of Utah residents belong to the LDS church; estimates from the LDS church suggests 60.68% of Utah's population belongs to the church whilst some sources put the number as high as 68%. The paper replied that membership count done by the LDS Church is too high for several reasons. The LDS Church greatly influences Utahn culture, politics, and daily life, though since the 1990s the state has become more religiously diverse as well as secular.
Utah has a highly diversified economy, with major sectors including transportation, education, information technology and research, government services, mining, multi-level marketing, and tourism. Utah has been one of the fastest growing states since 2000, with the 2020 U.S. census confirming the fastest population growth in the nation since 2010. St. George was the fastest-growing metropolitan area in the United States from 2000 to 2005. Utah ranks among the overall best states in metrics such as healthcare, governance, education, and infrastructure. It has the 12th-highest median average income and the least income inequality of any U.S. state. Over time and influenced by climate change, droughts in Utah have been increasing in frequency and severity, putting a further strain on Utah's water security and impacting the state's economy.
The History of Utah is an examination of the human history and social activity within the state of Utah located in the western United States.
Archaeological evidence dates the earliest habitation of humans in Utah to about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. Paleolithic people lived near the Great Basin's swamps and marshes, which had an abundance of fish, birds, and small game animals. Big game, including bison, mammoths and ground sloths, also were attracted to these water sources. Over the centuries, the mega-fauna died, this population was replaced by the Desert Archaic people, who sheltered in caves near the Great Salt Lake. Relying more on gathering than the previous Utah residents, their diet was mainly composed of cattails and other salt tolerant plants such as pickleweed, burro weed and sedge. Red meat appears to have been more of a luxury, although these people used nets and the atlatl to hunt water fowl, ducks, small animals and antelope. Artifacts include nets woven with plant fibers and rabbit skin, woven sandals, gaming sticks, and animal figures made from split-twigs. About 3,500 years ago, lake levels rose and the population of Desert Archaic people appears to have dramatically decreased. The Great Basin may have been almost unoccupied for 1,000 years.
The Fremont culture, named from sites near the Fremont River in Utah, lived in what is now north and western Utah and parts of Nevada, Idaho and Colorado from approximately 600 to 1300 AD. These people lived in areas close to water sources that had been previously occupied by the Desert Archaic people, and may have had some relationship with them. However, their use of new technologies define them as a distinct people. Fremont technologies include:
use of the bow and arrow while hunting,
building pithouse shelters,
growing maize and probably beans and squash,
building above ground granaries of adobe or stone,
creating and decorating low-fired pottery ware,
producing art, including jewelry and rock art such as petroglyphs and pictographs.
The ancient Puebloan culture, also known as the Anasazi, occupied territory adjacent to the Fremont. The ancestral Puebloan culture centered on the present-day Four Corners area of the Southwest United States, including the San Juan River region of Utah. Archaeologists debate when this distinct culture emerged, but cultural development seems to date from about the common era, about 500 years before the Fremont appeared. It is generally accepted that the cultural peak of these people was around the 1200 CE. Ancient Puebloan culture is known for well constructed pithouses and more elaborate adobe and masonry dwellings. They were excellent craftsmen, producing turquoise jewelry and fine pottery. The Puebloan culture was based on agriculture, and the people created and cultivated fields of maize, beans, and squash and domesticated turkeys. They designed and produced elaborate field terracing and irrigation systems. They also built structures, some known as kivas, apparently designed solely for cultural and religious rituals.
These two later cultures were roughly contemporaneous, and appear to have established trading relationships. They also shared enough cultural traits that archaeologists believe the cultures may have common roots in the early American Southwest. However, each remained culturally distinct throughout most of their existence. These two well established cultures appear to have been severely impacted by climatic change and perhaps by the incursion of new people in about 1200 CE. Over the next two centuries, the Fremont and ancient Pueblo people may have moved into the American southwest, finding new homes and farmlands in the river drainages of Arizona, New Mexico and northern Mexico.
In about 1200, Shoshonean speaking peoples entered Utah territory from the west. They may have originated in southern California and moved into the desert environment due to population pressure along the coast. They were an upland people with a hunting and gathering lifestyle utilizing roots and seeds, including the pinyon nut. They were also skillful fishermen, created pottery and raised some crops. When they first arrived in Utah, they lived as small family groups with little tribal organization. Four main Shoshonean peoples inhabited Utah country. The Shoshone in the north and northeast, the Gosiutes in the northwest, the Utes in the central and eastern parts of the region and the Southern Paiutes in the southwest. Initially, there seems to have been very little conflict between these groups.
In the early 16th century, the San Juan River basin in Utah's southeast also saw a new people, the DÃne or Navajo, part of a greater group of plains Athabaskan speakers moved into the Southwest from the Great Plains. In addition to the Navajo, this language group contained people that were later known as Apaches, including the Lipan, Jicarilla, and Mescalero Apaches.
Athabaskans were a hunting people who initially followed the bison, and were identified in 16th-century Spanish accounts as "dog nomads". The Athabaskans expanded their range throughout the 17th century, occupying areas the Pueblo peoples had abandoned during prior centuries. The Spanish first specifically mention the "Apachu de Nabajo" (Navaho) in the 1620s, referring to the people in the Chama valley region east of the San Juan River, and north west of Santa Fe. By the 1640s, the term Navaho was applied to these same people. Although the Navajo newcomers established a generally peaceful trading and cultural exchange with the some modern Pueblo peoples to the south, they experienced intermittent warfare with the Shoshonean peoples, particularly the Utes in eastern Utah and western Colorado.
At the time of European expansion, beginning with Spanish explorers traveling from Mexico, five distinct native peoples occupied territory within the Utah area: the Northern Shoshone, the Goshute, the Ute, the Paiute and the Navajo.
The Spanish explorer Francisco Vázquez de Coronado may have crossed into what is now southern Utah in 1540, when he was seeking the legendary CÃbola.
A group led by two Spanish Catholic priests—sometimes called the DomÃnguez–Escalante expedition—left Santa Fe in 1776, hoping to find a route to the California coast. The expedition traveled as far north as Utah Lake and encountered the native residents. All of what is now Utah was claimed by the Spanish Empire from the 1500s to 1821 as part of New Spain (later as the province Alta California); and subsequently claimed by Mexico from 1821 to 1848. However, Spain and Mexico had little permanent presence in, or control of, the region.
Fur trappers (also known as mountain men) including Jim Bridger, explored some regions of Utah in the early 19th century. The city of Provo was named for one such man, Étienne Provost, who visited the area in 1825. The city of Ogden, Utah is named for a brigade leader of the Hudson's Bay Company, Peter Skene Ogden who trapped in the Weber Valley. In 1846, a year before the arrival of members from the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints, the ill-fated Donner Party crossed through the Salt Lake valley late in the season, deciding not to stay the winter there but to continue forward to California, and beyond.
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as Mormon pioneers, first came to the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. At the time, the U.S. had already captured the Mexican territories of Alta California and New Mexico in the Mexican–American War and planned to keep them, but those territories, including the future state of Utah, officially became United States territory upon the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, February 2, 1848. The treaty was ratified by the United States Senate on March 10, 1848.
Upon arrival in the Salt Lake Valley, the Mormon pioneers found no permanent settlement of Indians. Other areas along the Wasatch Range were occupied at the time of settlement by the Northwestern Shoshone and adjacent areas by other bands of Shoshone such as the Gosiute. The Northwestern Shoshone lived in the valleys on the eastern shore of Great Salt Lake and in adjacent mountain valleys. Some years after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley Mormons, who went on to colonize many other areas of what is now Utah, were petitioned by Indians for recompense for land taken. The response of Heber C. Kimball, first counselor to Brigham Young, was that the land belonged to "our Father in Heaven and we expect to plow and plant it." A 1945 Supreme Court decision found that the land had been treated by the United States as public domain; no aboriginal title by the Northwestern Shoshone had been recognized by the United States or extinguished by treaty with the United States.
Upon arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, the Mormons had to make a place to live. They created irrigation systems, laid out farms, built houses, churches, and schools. Access to water was crucially important. Almost immediately, Brigham Young set out to identify and claim additional community sites. While it was difficult to find large areas in the Great Basin where water sources were dependable and growing seasons long enough to raise vitally important subsistence crops, satellite communities began to be formed.
Shortly after the first company arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, the community of Bountiful was settled to the north. In 1848, settlers moved into lands purchased from trapper Miles Goodyear in present-day Ogden. In 1849, Tooele and Provo were founded. Also that year, at the invitation of Ute chief Wakara, settlers moved into the Sanpete Valley in central Utah to establish the community of Manti. Fillmore, Utah, intended to be the capital of the new territory, was established in 1851. In 1855, missionary efforts aimed at western native cultures led to outposts in Fort Lemhi, Idaho, Las Vegas, Nevada and Elk Mountain in east-central Utah.
The experiences of returning members of the Mormon Battalion were also important in establishing new communities. On their journey west, the Mormon soldiers had identified dependable rivers and fertile river valleys in Colorado, Arizona and southern California. In addition, as the men traveled to rejoin their families in the Salt Lake Valley, they moved through southern Nevada and the eastern segments of southern Utah. Jefferson Hunt, a senior Mormon officer of the Battalion, actively searched for settlement sites, minerals, and other resources. His report encouraged 1851 settlement efforts in Iron County, near present-day Cedar City. These southern explorations eventually led to Mormon settlements in St. George, Utah, Las Vegas and San Bernardino, California, as well as communities in southern Arizona.
Prior to establishment of the Oregon and California trails and Mormon settlement, Indians native to the Salt Lake Valley and adjacent areas lived by hunting buffalo and other game, but also gathered grass seed from the bountiful grass of the area as well as roots such as those of the Indian Camas. By the time of settlement, indeed before 1840, the buffalo were gone from the valley, but hunting by settlers and grazing of cattle severely impacted the Indians in the area, and as settlement expanded into nearby river valleys and oases, indigenous tribes experienced increasing difficulty in gathering sufficient food. Brigham Young's counsel was to feed the hungry tribes, and that was done, but it was often not enough. These tensions formed the background to the Bear River massacre committed by California Militia stationed in Salt Lake City during the Civil War. The site of the massacre is just inside Preston, Idaho, but was generally thought to be within Utah at the time.
Statehood was petitioned for in 1849-50 using the name Deseret. The proposed State of Deseret would have been quite large, encompassing all of what is now Utah, and portions of Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Wyoming, Arizona, Oregon, New Mexico and California. The name of Deseret was favored by the LDS leader Brigham Young as a symbol of industry and was derived from a reference in the Book of Mormon. The petition was rejected by Congress and Utah did not become a state until 1896, following the Utah Constitutional Convention of 1895.
In 1850, the Utah Territory was created with the Compromise of 1850, and Fillmore (named after President Fillmore) was designated the capital. In 1856, Salt Lake City replaced Fillmore as the territorial capital.
The first group of pioneers brought African slaves with them, making Utah the only place in the western United States to have African slavery. Three slaves, Green Flake, Hark Lay, and Oscar Crosby, came west with this first group in 1847. The settlers also began to purchase Indian slaves in the well-established Indian slave trade, as well as enslaving Indian prisoners of war. In 1850, 26 slaves were counted in Salt Lake County. Slavery didn't become officially recognized until 1852, when the Act in Relation to Service and the Act for the relief of Indian Slaves and Prisoners were passed. Slavery was repealed on June 19, 1862, when Congress prohibited slavery in all US territories.
Disputes between the Mormon inhabitants and the federal government intensified after the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' practice of polygamy became known. The polygamous practices of the Mormons, which were made public in 1854, would be one of the major reasons Utah was denied statehood until almost 50 years after the Mormons had entered the area.
After news of their polygamous practices spread, the members of the LDS Church were quickly viewed by some as un-American and rebellious. In 1857, after news of a possible rebellion spread, President James Buchanan sent troops on the Utah expedition to quell the growing unrest and to replace Brigham Young as territorial governor with Alfred Cumming. The expedition was also known as the Utah War.
As fear of invasion grew, Mormon settlers had convinced some Paiute Indians to aid in a Mormon-led attack on 120 immigrants from Arkansas under the guise of Indian aggression. The murder of these settlers became known as the Mountain Meadows massacre. The Mormon leadership had adopted a defensive posture that led to a ban on the selling of grain to outsiders in preparation for an impending war. This chafed pioneers traveling through the region, who were unable to purchase badly needed supplies. A disagreement between some of the Arkansas pioneers and the Mormons in Cedar City led to the secret planning of the massacre by a few Mormon leaders in the area. Some scholars debate the involvement of Brigham Young. Only one man, John D. Lee, was ever convicted of the murders, and he was executed at the massacre site.
Express riders had brought the news 1,000 miles from the Missouri River settlements to Salt Lake City within about two weeks of the army's beginning to march west. Fearing the worst as 2,500 troops (roughly 1/3rd of the army then) led by General Albert Sidney Johnston started west, Brigham Young ordered all residents of Salt Lake City and neighboring communities to prepare their homes for burning and evacuate southward to Utah Valley and southern Utah. Young also sent out a few units of the Nauvoo Legion (numbering roughly 8,000–10,000), to delay the army's advance. The majority he sent into the mountains to prepare defenses or south to prepare for a scorched earth retreat. Although some army wagon supply trains were captured and burned and herds of army horses and cattle run off no serious fighting occurred. Starting late and short on supplies, the United States Army camped during the bitter winter of 1857–58 near a burned out Fort Bridger in Wyoming. Through the negotiations between emissary Thomas L. Kane, Young, Cumming and Johnston, control of Utah territory was peacefully transferred to Cumming, who entered an eerily vacant Salt Lake City in the spring of 1858. By agreement with Young, Johnston established the army at Fort Floyd 40 miles away from Salt Lake City, to the southwest.
Salt Lake City was the last link of the First Transcontinental Telegraph, between Carson City, Nevada and Omaha, Nebraska completed in October 1861. Brigham Young, who had helped expedite construction, was among the first to send a message, along with Abraham Lincoln and other officials. Soon after the telegraph line was completed, the Deseret Telegraph Company built the Deseret line connecting the settlements in the territory with Salt Lake City and, by extension, the rest of the United States.
Because of the American Civil War, federal troops were pulled out of Utah Territory (and their fort auctioned off), leaving the territorial government in federal hands without army backing until General Patrick E. Connor arrived with the 3rd Regiment of California Volunteers in 1862. While in Utah, Connor and his troops soon became discontent with this assignment wanting to head to Virginia where the "real" fighting and glory was occurring. Connor established Fort Douglas just three miles (5 km) east of Salt Lake City and encouraged his bored and often idle soldiers to go out and explore for mineral deposits to bring more non-Mormons into the state. Minerals were discovered in Tooele County, and some miners began to come to the territory. Conner also solved the Shoshone Indian problem in Cache Valley Utah by luring the Shoshone into a midwinter confrontation on January 29, 1863. The armed conflict quickly turned into a rout, discipline among the soldiers broke down, and the Battle of Bear River is today usually referred to by historians as the Bear River Massacre. Between 200 and 400 Shoshone men, women and children were killed, as were 27 soldiers, with over 50 more soldiers wounded or suffering from frostbite.
Beginning in 1865, Utah's Black Hawk War developed into the deadliest conflict in the territory's history. Chief Antonga Black Hawk died in 1870, but fights continued to break out until additional federal troops were sent in to suppress the Ghost Dance of 1872. The war is unique among Indian Wars because it was a three-way conflict, with mounted Timpanogos Utes led by Antonga Black Hawk fighting federal and Utah local militia.
On May 10, 1869, the First transcontinental railroad was completed at Promontory Summit, north of the Great Salt Lake. The railroad brought increasing numbers of people into the state, and several influential businessmen made fortunes in the territory.
Main article: Latter Day Saint polygamy in the late-19th century
During the 1870s and 1880s, federal laws were passed and federal marshals assigned to enforce the laws against polygamy. In the 1890 Manifesto, the LDS Church leadership dropped its approval of polygamy citing divine revelation. When Utah applied for statehood again in 1895, it was accepted. Statehood was officially granted on January 4, 1896.
The Mormon issue made the situation for women the topic of nationwide controversy. In 1870 the Utah Territory, controlled by Mormons, gave women the right to vote. However, in 1887, Congress disenfranchised Utah women with the Edmunds–Tucker Act. In 1867–96, eastern activists promoted women's suffrage in Utah as an experiment, and as a way to eliminate polygamy. They were Presbyterians and other Protestants convinced that Mormonism was a non-Christian cult that grossly mistreated women. The Mormons promoted woman suffrage to counter the negative image of downtrodden Mormon women. With the 1890 Manifesto clearing the way for statehood, in 1895 Utah adopted a constitution restoring the right of women's suffrage. Congress admitted Utah as a state with that constitution in 1896.
Though less numerous than other intermountain states at the time, several lynching murders for alleged misdeeds occurred in Utah territory at the hand of vigilantes. Those documented include the following, with their ethnicity or national origin noted in parentheses if it was provided in the source:
William Torrington in Carson City (then a part of Utah territory), 1859
Thomas Coleman (Black man) in Salt Lake City, 1866
3 unidentified men at Wahsatch, winter of 1868
A Black man in Uintah, 1869
Charles A. Benson in Logan, 1873
Ah Sing (Chinese man) in Corinne, 1874
Thomas Forrest in St. George, 1880
William Harvey (Black man) in Salt Lake City, 1883
John Murphy in Park City, 1883
George Segal (Japanese man) in Ogden, 1884
Joseph Fisher in Eureka, 1886
Robert Marshall (Black man) in Castle Gate, 1925
Other lynchings in Utah territory include multiple instances of mass murder of Native American children, women, and men by White settlers including the Battle Creek massacre (1849), Provo River Massacre (1850), Nephi massacre (1853), and Circleville Massacre (1866).
Beginning in the early 20th century, with the establishment of such national parks as Bryce Canyon National Park and Zion National Park, Utah began to become known for its natural beauty. Southern Utah became a popular filming spot for arid, rugged scenes, and such natural landmarks as Delicate Arch and "the Mittens" of Monument Valley are instantly recognizable to most national residents. During the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, with the construction of the Interstate highway system, accessibility to the southern scenic areas was made easier.
Beginning in 1939, with the establishment of Alta Ski Area, Utah has become world-renowned for its skiing. The dry, powdery snow of the Wasatch Range is considered some of the best skiing in the world. Salt Lake City won the bid for the 2002 Winter Olympics in 1995, and this has served as a great boost to the economy. The ski resorts have increased in popularity, and many of the Olympic venues scattered across the Wasatch Front continue to be used for sporting events. This also spurred the development of the light-rail system in the Salt Lake Valley, known as TRAX, and the re-construction of the freeway system around the city.
During the late 20th century, the state grew quickly. In the 1970s, growth was phenomenal in the suburbs. Sandy was one of the fastest-growing cities in the country at that time, and West Valley City is the state's 2nd most populous city. Today, many areas of Utah are seeing phenomenal growth. Northern Davis, southern and western Salt Lake, Summit, eastern Tooele, Utah, Wasatch, and Washington counties are all growing very quickly. Transportation and urbanization are major issues in politics as development consumes agricultural land and wilderness areas.
In 2012, the State of Utah passed the Utah Transfer of Public Lands Act in an attempt to gain control over a substantial portion of federal land in the state from the federal government, based on language in the Utah Enabling Act of 1894. The State does not intend to use force or assert control by limiting access in an attempt to control the disputed lands, but does intend to use a multi-step process of education, negotiation, legislation, and if necessary, litigation as part of its multi-year effort to gain state or private control over the lands after 2014.
Utah families, like most Americans everywhere, did their utmost to assist in the war effort. Tires, meat, butter, sugar, fats, oils, coffee, shoes, boots, gasoline, canned fruits, vegetables, and soups were rationed on a national basis. The school day was shortened and bus routes were reduced to limit the number of resources used stateside and increase what could be sent to soldiers.
Geneva Steel was built to increase the steel production for America during World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had proposed opening a steel mill in Utah in 1936, but the idea was shelved after a couple of months. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States entered the war and the steel plant was put into progress. In April 1944, Geneva shipped its first order, which consisted of over 600 tons of steel plate. Geneva Steel also brought thousands of job opportunities to Utah. The positions were hard to fill as many of Utah's men were overseas fighting. Women began working, filling 25 percent of the jobs.
As a result of Utah's and Geneva Steels contribution during the war, several Liberty Ships were named in honor of Utah including the USS Joseph Smith, USS Brigham Young, USS Provo, and the USS Peter Skene Ogden.
One of the sectors of the beachhead of Normandy Landings was codenamed Utah Beach, and the amphibious landings at the beach were undertaken by United States Army troops.
It is estimated that 1,450 soldiers from Utah were killed in the war.
These are the two gorilla troops currently living in Dallas (TX), United States.
Juba and B’Wenzi - the zoo's bachelor group - arrived in November 2010 from Toledo. They live "next door" with silverback Patrick who had long been a behavior problem for Dallas Zoo officials, attributed to his upbringing by humans at the Bronx Zoo. Soon after he came to Dallas, he was partnered with another male gorilla, Jabari, who in 2003 famously escaped, attacked zoo visitors and was shot and killed by Dallas police. Since then, Patrick had been kept apart from other gorillas.
In November 2011, Madge and Shanta arrived from Cincinnati and were introduced to Patrick in February 2012. "As genetically over-represented females, Madge and Shanta are needed to help socialize Patrick," said Ron Evans, Primate Team Leader at the Cincinnati Zoo. "It is a primary goal of managing gorillas in captivity to not have solitary individuals. Madge and Shanta’s social skills make them a great match for Patrick’s personality. Having been alone for a number of years he will need experienced females to help him along in his socialization."
Color Key - Black: males, red: females, grey: non-residents (with their current location) or deceased.
Arrows - Pointing from parents to their offspring.
Please note: Kitani's parents are Tatu and Emily (Oklahoma City). Kwisha's parents are Samson II and Alpha (deceased).
This chart is based on the interactive online Gorilla Studbook by James R. Davis and the official International Studbook, published by Frankfurt Zoo.
Image of Patrick (c) deathspine, images of Madge and Shanta (c) Dave Jenike/Cincinnati Zoo, image of Juba (c) Stan Dorsett, image of B'Wenzi (c) Courtney Crawford.
Cited articles: Dallas News (1), Lubbock and Dallas News (2).