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Aurora started with 10 weeks of training on a variety of chemical signatures for explosives (they use different dogs for drugs). When the Obamas came to town, she got to sniff around Air Force One, and she gave her signal near a police car. Sure enough, inside the locked trunk were some roadside flares.
Compared to humans, much of a four legger's brain is devoted to nasal memory (related to their sensory input — a nose close to the ground). A dog can identify whether pairs of humans are identical twins or not by scent alone.
Their memories, thoughts and reveries may be rich and difficult for us to fully understand.
Cue Marcel Proust from À la recherche du temps perdu:
“The past still lives in us... It has made us what we are and is remaking us every moment! It is a vase filled with perfumes, sounds, places and climates! So we hold within us a treasure of impressions, clustered in small knots, each with a flavor of its own, formed from our own experiences, that become certain moments of our past.”
Some tidbits from a DARPA “artificial nose” researcher that I met at the IBM Institute on Cognitive Computing: Compared to humans, the dog has a much larger olfactory epithelium (the sensory receptor sheet) with many-fold more receptors. Also, dogs (and many other mammals) have more types of sensory receptors, and so they encode odorants in a higher-dimensional representation (reminding me of vision in birds). Humans have about 350-400 distinct receptor types, whereas mice have 1000. Many of these receptors are co-activated by the same odorant, so biological olfaction is inherently a high dimensional representation system.
The olfactory system is a much more direct activation path for stored memories, at a much deeper and more multidimensional level, than the other senses, consistent with its primitive evolutionary role in memory and association. The electrical signals from the olfactory tract go to the limbic system, the most ancient part of the brain — the hotbed of our most instinctual and primitive emotions.
. . . devoted to you - "Gartenzauber" :-x :-x :-x
. . . and to you - "Traudl2009" (by courtesy of "Gartenzauber") :-)))))))))))))))
Gerry Rafferty
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mvLUUZICeY
♫ ♥♫
Don’t speak of my heart, it hurts too much -- hurts to touch
I’m writing the book each and every day
Take a look at my face, I still need -- I still bleed
I’ve been running on empty since you went away.
The spirit world looks down on us
Sad that we’re apart
So please don’t speak of my heart.
♫ ♥♫
16 year old, in 1950, in Romania,
I was so happy to having been admited to the Organisation of Worker Yought ! and so sure we can build a better future for everyone with the comunism, so enthousiast and devoted to give my forces and time to help. I lived in communist Roumania, and at that age believed still whatever I was told.
I always liked children, so I begin to work with the "pioniears" who walked with red ties. As with Youth Organisation, only the "best" were admitted between children too, the one obedient to teachers who had good notes too.
We were preparing to take in a new lot of children age about seven, when a small, blond girl comes to me in tears.
I am a good girl, I am !
Yes, I know. Why do you crie ?
They do not want me to become pioniear, not any more.
Why ? Your notes are not up to it ?
I have good notes, but sometimes I am late. It is not my fault...
So why ?
I work in the circus, sometimes we have to repeat our number, again and again.
She was so tiny, and so sad. I told her I'll go see her mother. They lived in a trailer, near the circus. Her mother tears and words profondly remained in me until today.
My husband was arrested, but he did nothing. And my daughter is trying so hard. She does all her homework, but... If we do not repeat our number, she does fly and we do together acrobacy hight in the air, then there is danger. Sometimes, we have to do it again and again. It is not her fault she is late. They do not want her any more not because of the delay, because of her father...
I'll try what I can.
I knew what it was to be put down because of your father or familly. A year before, my father was taken in the middle of the night, and we did not know what happened to him, where he was for seven month. Meanwile, I was excluded from the Youth Organisation. How much it hurt !
After he was "found not guilty of anything" : they made a simulacre of arrest and inquiry seven month later in order to release the seven who were arrested in the same time and hold by the Security, I was taken back and given again pioniears to care for.
I go, and tell them that the girl works, has to work, she is worthy to become pioniar and receive the red tie. Ok, they said, but not very warmly.
But when the day arrived, the girl comes again to me, sad, so sad.
They say, no. Me, no.
So I go to inquire, and the people from the Organisation tells me "we have not enough ties" to give her too.
So, I took down mine, and gave her.
Never again did they let me work with the pioneears, but I did not regret my gest. And, at that time, I still believed "only here is not well" but..
Posted by Sonequa Martin-Green (Sasha) - The pinnacle of our #PerfectDay. Returning to this place. 5 years ago I devoted my life to this… t.co/aWO9EKdMJ5 #SonequaMG #SonequaMartinGreen #TWD #TheWalkingDead
Source: walkingdead.affiliatebrowser.com/the-pinnacle-of-our-perf...
Welcome to the Colorado Railroad Museum
The Colorado Railroad Museum is devoted to the collection and preservation of Colorado's unique history of railroading in the mountains and plains.
There are over 100 pieces of railroading equipment here on 15 acres. Our collections consist of historic and standard gauge rail cars and locomotives that ran on Colorado rails.
The Robert W. Richardson Railroad Library and the Cornelius W. Hauck Restoration Facility are also on the Museum grounds. The Library houses an extensive collection of railroading books and archives, and the Restoration Facility features an operating turntable and a roundhouse used to restore and maintain the rolling stock
The information panels you will find around the Museum's grounds have been made possible by the generous support of the North American Railway Foundation_
North American Railway Foundation.
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THE STREAMLINER ERA AND THE CALIFORNIA ZEPHYR
In the late 1940s, prompted by the need to replace older passenger to the pleasures of traveling by rail, railroads developed new passenger cars with an emphasis on style and comfort. Exteriors were often clad in stainless steel giving them a “streamlined” look. Interiors reflected modern design themes, such as fun art deco style, and had plush reclining seats, chrome and flashy new décor.
The railroad also changed the names of their trains to reflect the new equipment. There were the City trains on the Union Pacific, the Zephyrs on the Burlington and the Rio Grande, the Rockets on the Rock Island, to name a few.
One of the best-known passenger trains was the California Zephyr, which connected Chicago and San Francisco. It was pulled b engines from three different railroads, the Burlington Route, the Denver & Rio Grande Western, and the Western Pacific. It featured extremely popular “Vista Dome” cars – cars with glass domes over part of each cars roof, to allow passengers to enjoy mountain scenery all around.
On the Rio Grande portion of the trip between Denver and Salt Lake City, a diesel-electric locomotive like D&RGW No. 5771 would have pulled the Zephyr through the Rockies. The California Zephyr, shared by three railroads, ran until 1970. The Rio Grande continued its Denver-Salt Lake route as the Rio Grande Zephyr until 1983 when Amtrak took over. Today, it follows part of the original route and remains one of Amtrak’s more popular trains.
The Museum’s passenger car from the Streamliners – the Pullman Observation car Navajo – is the last car on your right behind the D&RGW locomotive No. 5771. It was used on the Santa Fe Super Chief between Chicago and Los Angeles and features air conditioning, … and an overall American Indian name appropriate to its southwestern route
Locomotive No. 5771, new on the Museum grounds, seen puffing the Rio Grande Zephyr through the snow near Denver.
Union Pacific’s streamlined train No. 910 – City of S… on a run through Wyoming.
The California Zephyr’s observation car, Silver Sky” was a Vista-Dome for first class passengers.
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Colorado Railroad Museum
Golden, CO
Brice and Melody Colcombe Wedding Trip
Viggo the dog, devoted member of our family, friend to everyone he ever met, gentlest of souls, inspiring personal trainer and best possible companion has passed away 3/26/15 unexpectedly. His last day was filled with joy as he bounded up the Cline Butte in Central Oregon in search of quail to flush from the sage brush. We will miss him terribly and are truly devastated but he lived a very happy life and brought joy to everyone that met him. We love you Viggo! Rest in peace.
History of the Gardens
The founder of Blooms Nurseries, Alan Bloom (1906- 2005), began developing a garden in front of Bressingham Hall in 1953, devoted to a new concept of using perennials, the nursery’s speciality, in Island Beds. Six acres and nearly 5000 different species and cultivars were taken in and planted by 1962, when the gardens were first opened on a regular basis to the public.
Returning from four years abroad (including two years in the U.S.A.) in 1962, Adrian Bloom began developing more gardens, starting his own, Foggy Bottom Garden in 1967 devoted to conifers, heathers, trees and shrubs.
In 2000, additional gardens were added by Adrian, linking them up to create a more diverse attraction to visitors, and joining the gardens together to create a Foggy Bottom Trail, leading from the entrance near the Steam Museum to the furthest and lowest end of Foggy Bottom. Today, although changes are still constant, the newer gardens are maturing; new planting designs and plants are being tried. Heritage and novelty exist together with the number of distinct varieties now in the region of 8000.
Bressingham Hall, near the entrance to the gardens, plays a historic role and has an iconic presence. Alan Bloom’s home for 50 years and that of the Bloom family has now been fully re furbished and is available for use as holiday lets and for wedding and other group stays.
www.thebressinghamgardens.com/the-gardens/history-of-the-... Gardens, Norfolk
We are all gathered here today to recollect and reflect on the life of Mr. D. A. Rajapaksa who died on the 7th of November 1967. This is an annual expression of abiding gratitude to an outstanding gentleman of noble qualities.
It was the good fortune of the people of Ruhuna that he was there to succeed his elder brother, D. M. Rajapaksa, who represented the people of the Hambantota District in the Second State Council of Ceylon from the 7th of March 1936 till his untimely death on the 18th of May 1945.
On his death in the morning of that Friday there descended a gloom over the Ruhuna region. The Leader of the State Council, Hon. D. S. Senanayake, in moving a vote of condolence said that, "From the day, D. M. left Wesley College, during the First World War (1914-1918), he made the backwood people of Ruhuna his own cause.
He devoted his whole life to them with courage, independence and straightforward dedication." The Member for Dumbara, Mr. A. Ratnayake, followed the Leader's speech and mentioned that in the previous night, whilst having dinner in the House premises, D. M. was relating to the few Members around him of his sufferings of the poor peasants of Ruhuna whose cause he had championed throughout his life. Ratnayake "felt that D. M. would be born again to resume his earthly mission." Ratnayake was a lifelong friend from his Mahabodhi College days during D. M.'s stay at Wesley.
Vacancy
The vacancy for the Hambantota seat had to be filled. The mourning people there looked for a successor from the same family. D. M.'s eldest son, Lakshman was barely 21 years of age, the 2nd son, George was still a student at Royal College.
The only one to turn to was D.M.'s younger brother, D. A. Rajapaksa. He was a dedicated supporter of D. M.'s political life, but a most unwilling Rajapaksa to get involved in politics. D.A. had to be motivated, induced and persuaded to the ultimate conviction that it was his bounden duty, by his brother and his family and the peasants of Ruhuna, to follow in his revered brother's steps.
Finally it was with great difficulty that he was literally lured to the Hambantota Kachcheri to submit his nomination for the by-election. On the 14th of July 1945, he was duly declared elected uncontested in place of his brother's vacancy.
I want to divert a little to mention something about the Hambantota District - the home of the Rajapaksa family.
At the time when D.M.'s father decided to send his three sons to Richmond College, Galle, a few years before the war broke out in 1914, Hambantota was divided into three "pattus" - Giruwa Pattu West, Giruwa Pattu East and Magam Pattu.
The home of the Rajapaksa's was in Buddhiyagama, a village near Weeraketiya in Giruwa Pattu West where the Mudaliyar was Harry Jayawardene of Kataluwa, Galle. H. E. Amarasekere, Mudaliyar of Giruwa Pattu East, was also from a place outside Hambantota, and the 3rd Mudaliyar, B. H. Doole was a descendant of the Malays of long ancestry settled down in Hambantota Town.
Irrigation works
There were four large irrigation works in the District, namely Kirini ganga, the left bank scheme of which could irrigate over 6,000 acres at Tissa and Magama, the Walawe ganga right bank scheme which could irrigate over 5,000 acres in East Giruwa Pattu and the Kirama and the Urubokka schemes in West Giruwa Pattu. Besides, there were around 4,000 small village tanks being restored by using village labour.
The chief cultivation was paddy, producing almost a million bushels per year, along with kurakkan, corn, meneri, sweet potatoes and chillies. The principal industry was the distillation of citronella oil largely in West Giruwa Pattu with over 200 distilleries. The other industries were making coconut oil in chekkus, manufacture of furniture, brass and lacquer works.
At Richmond
It is from this rural deep South that D. M. was sent to Richmond by his father, Vidana Arachi (akin to a Korale Mahatmaya in the Kandyan Kingdom) of Buddiyagama. D.A. once told me that Mudaliyar Jayawardene had asked his father whether he did not love his sons, in that he imprisoned them in the school hostel. He had replied that he imprisoned them in school only because he loved them.
At Richmond D.M. turned out to be a moderate student, but a good cricketer. He had played in the college team and in the year when he was due to be elected captain (a practice at Richmond), a very liberally spending team-mate from an affluent family, resorted to extensive treating and unheard of bribery. Needless to say, the poor boy who was rich in high principles lost the much coveted captaincy.
The English Principal of Richmond in his unostentatious way arranged with Richmond's sister school in Colombo. Wesley College, for D.M. to be accepted as a scholar. Thence began D.M.'s career at Wesley, which was well-known for cricket, but better known for the greater opportunities that Wesley provided for the development of a student's inborn aptitudes rather than the mere study of books.
He met on the playing fields, boys from the then established schools like Royal, S. Thomas', Ananda, Zahira, St. Joseph's, St. Benedict's and Trinity.
He attended meetings at the YMCA and YMBA and enjoyed public meetings at the Town Hall and the Colombo Masonic Lodge where he heard the famous speech of Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam on the 2nd April 1917 when he made his memorable speech on "Our Political Needs" to the Ceylon National Association of which D. R. Wijewardene of Lake House fame was the organizing secretary.
Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam was a reputed Hindu who concluded one of his addresses to the Ceylon National Congress with the exhortation, "May the beautiful Chant of Universal Love, the
Karaniya Metta Sutta be realised".
Sabba satta bhavantu sukhi tatta
Sukhino va khemino hontu
(Let all living beings be joyous and safe
May it be theirs to dwell in happiness)
Ceylon National Congress
This was a decade of high political activity, the era in which the efforts of Ponnambalam Arunachalam to unite the Ceylon National Association, the Ceylon Reform League, the Chilaw Association and the Jaffna Youth Association led to their combining together and making a united bid for Reforms.
The result was the birth of the Ceylon National Congress in 1918, which unanimously elected Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam as its first President. He was a man of outstanding ability, erudite scholarship and dedicated to public service.
He was the first Ceylonese to succeed in the newly introduced examination for entry into the Civil Service in England in 1874. He had a brilliant career in Cambridge University as a scholar from Ceylon. 1918 was a year when the Ceylonese be they Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims or Burghers looked upto Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam and his elder brother, Ramanathan, as truly representing the culture and aspirations of the Ceylonese people.
I will now briefly trace the history of the Government set up under British control, leading up to its development to the Reformed Legislative Council of 1920.
After the British East India Company came into possession in 1796 of the Dutch possessions in Ceyon, they were authorised by the British Government to recoup their expenses in that exercise - a sum of 20,000 pounds as reckoned at that time.
The Company Officials were not successful and the British Government took over those possessions as a Crown Colony in 1798. The first Governor sent from London was the Hon. Frederick North (afterwards the Earl of Guildford), the third son of a one time Prime Minister Lord North. The complete legislative power was left in the hands of the Governor, who was to form a Council of five persons to consult before passing any legislation, so that it might be understood that the laws were passed by the Governor in Council.
After the entire country went under the British in 1815 following the Kandyan Convention, the newly acquired provinces also came under the Governor's jurisdiction. The first English Agent in Kandy was John O'Doyly, the reputed Sinhala scholar. The Colebrook-Cameron Commission was sent to Ceylon in 1828 and t hey made their recommendations for a Legislative Council of 15 Members.
It provided for six Unofficial Members to be appointed by the Governor, three of whom were to represent the Non-Official European community in the Colony and one each to represent the Sinhalese, Tamil and Burgher communities respectively.
This composition of the Legislative Council remained till 1912, except that in 1889 two more Unofficial Members were appointed to represent the Kandyan and the Muslims respectively.
Meanwhile, the Colony which was divided into five provinces for purposes of Government in 1833, had the five provinces increased to nine by 1889 with the creation of the new North Central, the North Western, Uva and Sabaragamuwa provinces. These were British creations purely for their administrative convenience and not for any ethnic or religious or such other basis.
In 1912, due to the agitation of a number of people who had got well educated and of people who had advanced in plantations and trade, meagre reforms were made by introducing the elective principle in the form of changing the appointment of four of the Unofficial Members - two for the British interests, one for the Burgher and one for the "Educated Ceylonese" interests - This was as peculiar notion to election by educated Ceylonese to enable both educated Tamils and educated Sinhalese to elect one Member, needless to say by an electorate limited by stipulated education and property ownership qualifications.
Reformed Legislative Council
The Reformed Legislative Council of 1920 did not have provisions for a seat for the Tamils in the Western Province, something that was tacitly promised as a condition for the Jaffna Youth Association to join the National Congress. The elections under the new Constitution resulted in Sinhalese and Tamil Members being elected as follows:-
1. Western Province (Division A) - Mr. W. M. Rajapaksa
2. Western Province (Division B) - Mr. E. W. Perera
3. The Town of Colombo - Sir James Peiris
4. The Central Province - Sir A. C. G. Wijekoon
5. The Northern Province - Sir W. Duraiswamy
6. The Southern Province - Mr. O. C. Tillekeratne
7. The Eastern Province - Mr. E. R. Tambimuttu
8. The North Western Province - Mr. C. E. Corea
9. The North Central Province - Mr. E. R. Krishnaratne
10. Province of uva - Sir D. H. Kotalawala
11. Province of Sabaragamuwa - Rev. W. E. Boteju
12. Low-Country Products Association - Sir H. L. de Mel
But there was no seat for a Tamil in the Western Province. The seat that could have been given to a Tamil in the Western Province was the seat for the Town of Colombo for which Sir James Peiris appeared, and Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam was not considered.
The newly created seat for the Low-Country Products Association, with an electorate of eleven voters, went on to elect H. L. De Mel unopposed, the brother-in-law of James Peiris, who appears to have entered National politics for the first time. Sir James Peiris was a brilliant student from Cambridge University, the first elected Ceylonese President of the Cambridge Union and the first Vice President of the Legislative Council of Ceylon in 1925.
Ponnambalam Arunachalam
Ponnambalam Arunachalam, the architect of the 1920 Reforms, the brain behind the creation of the Ceylon National Congress, became a sad disappointed man. The Tamils were made to feel that they had no recognition in the Western Province, which had become the home to thousands of them.
Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam resigned the Presidency of the Ceylon National Congress. Lesser men took over, Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam then went to India on a pilgrimage. In the midst of his devotions at Madurai in South India, after a brief illness he passed away on the 9th of January 1924, leaving behind him memories of an illustrious life, well spent in the service of his country and its people.
This was the Colombo that D. M. Rajapaksa left behind to return to his remote village home to start a lifetime of dedicated service. He went round the region on a voyage of discovery and found great suffering, which he felt it was his mission to alleviate.
He got interested in politics and took part in the first public election for a member for the newly created Hambantota District seat in the Reformed Legislative Council of 1924. V. S. de S. Wickramanayake, a resident Proctor in Tangalle was contested by a Barrister living in Colombo, he was Mr. G. K. W. Perera, University Scholar in 1904 from Ananda College with B. A; and LL.B. Degree from Cambridge University, U. K. He was one time the President of the Ceylon National Congress. D. M. took a hand in the elections and supported the known resident of the area rather than the prestigious outsider from Colombo.
The election was won by the local Proctor. The story goes that G. K. W. was first declared the winner by a very small majority, but he challenged the count stating that he should have won by much more and demanded a recount. At the recount, some of the discarded votes as 'spoilt' were admitted as 'unspoilt'. The resultant final decision declared V. S. de S, the winner by 17 votes.
D. M. had developed his own novel methods of electioneering. He used the local music with trained singers and dancers in troupes and organised competitions to make Sinhala versed (Kavi Maduwas). These became the novel techniques of winning friends and influencing people. His increasing popularity was cause for concern amongst the powerful and the privileged.
It was around this time that the Assistant Government Agent at Hambantota, whilst on what was then called 'being on circuit' in the Middeniya area, received a complaint from a man of the village, Singho Appu by name, that D. M. had threatened to shoot him with a gun.
The A. G. A. the first Ceylonese member of the prestigious Ceylon Civil Service to be appointed to the Hambantota District directed a police headman to produce D. M. before him. When D. M. was duly produced, the AGA whilst still on circuit in Middeniya, acted in his other capacity as Police Magistrate, Tangalle, and stated that as all the parties were present, he thought it desirable to try the case at once.
He recorded the complaint of Singho Appu and appearing to have assumed jurisdiction as magistrate, framed the charge upon which he tried and convicted the accused, D. M. Rajapaksa. The Supreme Court heard this case in appeal.
It came up before Justice T. F. Garvin, K. C., who found it quite clear that in effect the accused had been tried by the very person at whose instance he was prosecuted. The Supreme Court further found it hardly necessary to observe that if confidence in the administration of justice is to be preserved, even the semblance of unfairness to which procedure of this nature gives rise, should be avoided. The proceedings were set aside on the 28th of November 1928 (NLR-Vol. XXX, p.348).
1931 elections
Soon thereafter came the fresh elections in 1931 after the grant of adult franchise and the creation of the State Council under the Donoughmore Constitution. Elections were planned for fifty territorial seats for constituencies in the country. Hambantota District was one of the seven electorates of the Southern Province.
The Hambantota election was held on the 13th June 1931 with only two candidates. V. S. de S. Wikramanayake of Tangalle won with a poll of 15,384 votes and the retired Mudaliyar, H. Jayawardene of the W. G. P., obtained only 4,467 votes thus yielding place to the Proctor a 10,917 majority. D. M. who supported the Proctor assisted his own relation and friend, Dr. S. A. Wickramasinghe of Aturaliya for the adjoining Morawaka seat, which he won. It was during the Morawaka elections in 1931 that D. M. and Dr. S. A. came to our home in Getamanna to discuss elections with my father. It was then, as a 9 year old boy, I first set eyes on these two public men.
Dr. S. A
Dr. S. A. won the Morawaka seat, a constituency in the Matara District to which our Getamanna village was attached from the Hambantota District, probably because it was shown on the map as jutting out from the Hambantota District as its most western placed village. Incidentally, Dr. S.A. was one of three doctors who was retrenched during the depression at that time. The other two were Dr. M. C. M. Kaleel and Dr. M. V. P. Peiris who later was a consultant surgeon at Colombo. They both also took to politics later and were Ministers in UNP Governments.
D. M., now feeling confident to enter national politics contested the sitting member in 1936, along with Mr. L. G. Poulier, a practising Proctor, a long resident of Tangalle. D. M. won with 17,046 votes beating also the sitting member, V. S. de S. Wikramanayake to third place.
His kinsman, David Wanigasekera was re-elected for Weligama, but Dr. S. A. lost Morawaka to Mr. R. C. Kannangara, a newcomer to National Politics, who was a superintendent of a Tea Estate in Deniyaya. On his death, a few years later, Dr. S.A. was returned at the by-election for Morawaka.
State Council
The new State Council of 1936 met on the 17th of March and proceeded to elect the Speaker. The old stalwarts of the Ceylon National Congress felt bound to honour.
Mr. Francis de Zoysa, K. C. with the Speakership and the certainty of a knighthood and proposed his name, but the new enthusiastic intellects of the rising generation led by Philip Gunawardena, Dr. N. M. Perera and D. M. Rajapaksa, fresh from the hustings, having defeated the sitting aristocrats in the form of Forester Obeyesekere and Mrs. Adeline Molamure from feudal Ruwanwella and the veteran Wickramanayake of Hambantota were determined to oppose the old stalwarts.
At the first ballot for the Speaker, Mr. C. Batuwantudawe, who was the Minister for Local Administration and the brother-in-low of Sir D. B. Jayathileke, was eliminated with 14 votes. At the second ballot, the remaining two candidates, namely Mr. Francis de Zoysa and Mr. W. Duraiswamy tied with 29 votes each.
At the resultant third ballot, Mr. Duraiswamy got 30 votes as against Mr. Francis de Zoysa's ballot of 28 votes. The secret of the manoeuvre, which gave the extra vote for victory was recealed by Dr. N.M. in Parliament, when N.M. made his moving speech on the death of Sir Waitialingam Duraiswamy in 1966.
He said that the one vote victory was due to the persuasion of Philip Gunawardena, the member for Avissawella. In fact, it was a little more than mere mental persuasion that was made on the member for Nuwara Eliya, Mr. E. W. Abeygunasekera.
After D.M. got into the State Council, I, as a school boy used to go to the Council meeting with some friends, got passes from him and watched proceedings in the house. It was an exciting revelation to us young lads to watch these gentlemen in debate. Then the war came and by that time, D.M.'s son, George Rajapaksa was a student at Royal College and boarded at the Maha Mudaliyar's house-'Maligawa', directly opposite Royal College.
At that time, I believe, his elder son, Lakshman was at Wesley. In 1944, when George captained Royal, I was watching the Royal-Thomian cricket match played that year at the old SSC grounds seated along with D.M. I was a student member of the SSC at that time.
Whilst watching the match, George was bowled out by Sam Elapata for a very small score and for the second time in the match. D.M. with a slight smile mentioned how Sam Elapata's father, who was later a Rate Mahatmaya of Atakalan Korale in Ratnapura, got him out also twice in the Wesley vs St. Thomas' match during the Martial law days of the great war.
D.M. was in an expansive mood and I asked him about his school days. He said they were exciting times with Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam leading us, how his speeches attracted big crowed and he laboured to from the Ceylon National Congress.
Then he said that it was sad the way our people let him down, in not giving him a place in the Reformed Legislative Council of 1920. That was the beginning of our present ethnic troubles, he thought. It was around this tie that he had seriously reflected on politics and went back to the village to take part in public life and to seek pastures new, but he found them withered.
After D.M's death in May 1945 and the entry of his brother, D. A. into politics, I took George, who had just passed the entrance examination, to the University hostel (Brodie), which was then at Ward Place. He completed his first exam in 1946 and started on Law studies and remained with me at Brodie.
D. A. as a new Member of the State Council used to come to the hostel to see his nephew. On one occasion, I was reading from Nehru's book "Discovery of India", when he dropped in, I left the book aside and was talking to him. He casually mentioned that his wife was expecting another baby. I told him" - "Uncle, that will be a son of the Member of the State Council".
But he said that he already had a son and a daughter and then I humorously suggested to him that they were born before he entered Parliament, but this one will be the son of the Parliamentarian. Then I showed him the page of Nehru's book, which I was reading when he came in and read out' - "Emperor Ashoka's messengers and ambassadors went to Syria, Egypt, Macedonia, etc. conveying his greetings and Buddha's message.
They went to Central Asia and Burma and Siam and he sent his own son and daughter, Mahendra and Sangamitta to Ceylon in the South". I asked him rhetorically - "Why don't you call him - Mahendra?" Several months after, when he met me, he said, "I gave that name".
Member of Parliament
Now I want to get back to D.A.'s life as a Member of Parliament after the historic election of 1947 when the era of Independence began.
He was one of the earliest members who took up residence at the newly created hostel for Members of Parliamentary at Sravasti - the impressive mansion of the late Dr. W. A. de Silva, Member of the State Council for Moratuwa from 1931 till his death in 1942.
The first Speaker elected to the new Parliament was Sir Francis Molamure. This was his final lapse after being a Member of the Legislative Council of 1925 and of the State Council of 1931. He collapsed whilst presiding at a sitting of the House in January 1951.
A few months later, in June, Mr. S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, the Leader of the House, the Minister of Health and Local Government resigned from all office and crossed the floor of the House to the Opposition in the traditionally symbolic manner of leaving the government itself, but not from Parliament.
On that solemn occasion, Mr. D. A. Rajapaksa was the only Member who had the courage to walk across the floor following his Leader immediately behind. There were others who joined Mr. Bandaranaike later, but D. A. alone had the courage to walk behind the Leader.
Today, crossing over to the Opposition in Parliament has become rather common and sometimes even popular.
They are generally for personal gain, sometimes for political prospects with the hope of reward and rarely even for fear of punishment. S. W. R. D. crossed the floor of the House on a matter of principle. His was the brilliant and epoch making speech expressing the gratitude of the House on the momentous occasion of opening the first Parliament of Independent Ceylon in 1948 by the Duke of Gloucester.
It was an oration full of hope for the dawn of a new era. Almost 4 years later after that historical occasion, S. W. R. D. sincerely felt that the country was not taking off on a prospective path. He saw no hope of a new world dawning for Ceylon.
Hence, he pondered long and took the extreme step of parting from his friends and colleagues in the hope of carving out a new era. He literally took the plunge into the unknown, fully mindful of the many vicissitudes ahead. The only other Member of the Government to boldly risk the decision was none other than our one D. A. or Ruhuna.
D. A. was not by any means an affluent person, but a loner, working honourably with dedication to his people. He had to bring up a large young family. He was abandoning a prospective position in politics to an abysmal valley of insecurity and despair.
However, he sincerely felt that the best hope for the rural masses lay in his bold decision. He continued in Parliament long enough to see his Leader assassinated in September 1959. He lost his seat at the following election in March 1960, but won it again four months later in July.
That was enough for him to hear his young nephew, George Rajapakse, make one of the finest speeches in the annals of the Legislature of this country on his resignation from the post of Parliamentary Secretary of Finance to his formidable Minister, the young Felix Dias Bandaranaike.
George started his speech saying, "I am in Parliament today, not because of any achievement of my own, I am here because of the services that were rendered to the peasants of the Hambantota District by my late father, a judgment-debtor lingering within the walls of Welikada prison.
The people of Ruhuna sent him to the State Council, and until his death, he fought relentlessly against the feudal overlords who were lording it over the backwoods from which I come. On his death, the only inheritance he left me was the heritage of a name and this little brown shawl that I wear round me of kurakkan colour, which symbolizes the struggle of the peasants in Ruhuna against the feudalists and the headman who were oppressing the people at that time".
"It was well researched with the virtues of lucidity, precision, order and method. It was a devastating revelation by what he called himself' - a political infant. He, time and again, fired his darts at those within his own ranks who had connived and given their consent to the gross betrayal of the people of this country.
He reminded the Members of the House of all their many duties and obligations, but that their fundamental and highest obligation was to the people of this country. The good cricketer that he was, he didn't bash around the wicket, but batted elegantly and scored a faultless century and more.
His main criticism was of his Minister of Finance whose budget proposal was to cut the rice ration, which he felt was a disastrous measure. His penultimate thrust was that - "This Government was very fond of talking about bribery and corruption.
They threatened to introduce a Bill for the declaration of assets. They talked plain humbug in their Throne speeches about elimination of corruption in our own ranks, our party, our trade unions and in our representation at International Organizations.
I do not talk about International racketeers, it is pointless wasting the time of the House". In concluding his speech, which takes several pages of the Hansard, he told the House - "Withdraw this proposed cut in the rice rations. Unless a statement is made in this House that the rice ration will be withdrawn, I will be reluctantly compelled to vote against this budget.
My final appeal to the Government is to use their good offices to restore this rice cut without committing suicide and if you cannot restore the rice cut, I offer you the advice that our late Prime Minister tendered, - "The first most important constructive suggestion I have to make to the Government is to - clear out". The Minister of Finance resigned on the 24th of August 1962.
That speech was made in the Parliament elected in July 1960, where all three electorates of the Hambantota District were represented by D. A. Rajapaksa, (Beliatta), by his brother, D. M.'s elder son, Lakshman (Tissamaharama), and by his second son, George (Mulkirigala). That was the last occasion that the whole District was represented by the family.
At the next election held on the 22nd of March 1965, D. A. lost his seat. He retired from politics, but continued to be of service to his people. He died on the 7th of November 1967, and today, we are gathered here to recollect and reflect on a life well lived, a life of humble service, without ostentation in self effacement.
He was sympathetic and kind and had an extremely happy family life and it was a good life well spent with contentment. Death has few consolations to offer the living. It is so final and uncompromising.
Nothing can replace the loss of a familiar face, the touch of a vanished hand or the sound of a voice that is still. But we need a compelling need to do whatever we can to keep some contact with the loved one even if it means sitting around and talking of him.
D. A. was a public figure and many have remarked on his integrity, courage and perseverance with which he carried out his duties. But to those around him he was a kind man and a good man in a sense in which very few are called kind and good.
He was sixty two years old when he died. But his family never heard a harsh word nor saw a lost temper. He abused no one personally or from a political platform, in parliament or in his personal relationships. That is the gentleman of whom, we are gathered here with respect and admiration.
(Sunday Observer, 25 December 2005 and 1 January 2006)
NARMADA PARIKRAMA
The Narmada also called the Rewa, is a river in central India and the fifth longest river in the Indian subcontinent. It is the third longest river that flows entirely within India, after the Godavari and the Krishna. It is also known as "Life Line of Madhya Pradesh" for its huge contribution to the state of Madhya Pradesh in many ways. It forms the traditional boundary between North India and South India and flows westwards over a length of 1,312 km (815.2 mi) before draining through theGulf of Khambhat into the Arabian Sea, 30 km (18.6 mi) west of Bharuch city of Gujarat. It is one of only three major rivers in peninsular India that run from east to west (longest west flowing river), along with the Tapti River and the Mahi River. It is the one of the rivers in India that flows in a rift valley, flowing west between the Satpura and Vindhya ranges. The other rivers which flows through rift valley include Damodar River in Chota Nagpur Plateau and Tapti. The Tapti River and Mahi River also flow through rift valleys, but between different ranges. It flows through the states of Madhya Pradesh(1,077 km (669.2 mi)), and Maharashtra, (74 km (46.0 mi))– (35 km (21.7 mi)) then along the border between Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra (39 km (24.2 mi) and the border between Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat and in Gujarat (161 km (100.0 mi)).
The Periplus Maris Erythraei (c. 80 AD) calls it the Nammadus, and theBritish Raj called it the Nerbudda or Narbada. Narmadā is a Sanskrit word meaning "the Giver of Pleasure".
To Hindus the Narmada is one of the five holy rivers of India; the other four beingGanges, Yamuna, Godavari and Kaveri. It is believed that a dip in any of these five rivers washes one's sins away. According to a legend, the river Ganges, polluted by millions of people bathing in it, assumes the form of a black cow and comes to the Narmada to bathe and cleanse itself in its holy waters. Legends also claim that the Narmada River is older than the river Ganges.
The river was mentioned by Ptolemy in the second century AD as Namade and by the author of the Periplus. The Ramayana, the Mahabharat, and thePuranas refer to it frequently. The Rewa Khand of Vayu Purana and the Rewa Khand of Skanda Purana are entirely devoted to the story of the birth and the importance of the river, and hence Narmada is also called the Rewa.
There are many fables about the origin of the Narmada. According to one of them, once Lord Shiva, the Destroyer of the Universe, meditated so hard that he started perspiring. Shiva's sweat accumulated in a tank and started flowing in the form of a river – the Narmada. Another legend has it that two teardrops that fell from the eyes of Lord Brahma, the creator of the universe, yielded two rivers – the Narmada and the Son.
Legends also say that for Lord Shiva, the Hindu God, the river is especially sacred on account of its origin, and it is often called Shankari, i.e., daughter of Shankar (Lord Shiva). All the pebbles rolling on its bed are said to take the shape of his emblem with the saying, "Narmada Ke Kanker utte Sankar" (a popular saying in the Hindi belt of India), which means that 'pebble stones of Narmada get a personified form of Shiva'. These lingam shaped stones (cryptocrytalline quartz), calledBanalinga also called (Banashivalingas) are much sought after for daily worship by the Hindus. The Brihadeeswara Temple in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, constructed by Rajaraja Chola, has one of the biggest Banalingas. Adi Shankara met his guru Govinda Bhagavatpada on the banks of the river Narmada.
Narmada is also said to have been in love with the Sonbhadra, another river flowing on the Chota Nagpur Plateau. According to the Puranas, the Narmada is also called the Rewa, from its leaping motion (from the root 'rev') through its rocky bed.
Important religious places and Ghats along the course of the river, starting from its origin at Narmadakhund at Amarkantakhill, are a) the Amarkantak (in Sanskrit: Neck of Shiva) or Teertharaj (the King of Pilgrimages), b) Omkareshwar, Maheshwar, and Mahadeo temples, Nemawar Siddeshwar Mandir in the middle reach of the river – all named after Shiva, c) Chausath Yogini (sixty four yoginis) temple, d) Chaubis Avatar temple, e) Bhojpur Shiva temple and Bhrigu Rishi temple in Bharuch. The Narmada River is also worshipped as mother goddess by Narmadeeya Brahmins.
The importance of the Narmada River as sacred is testified by the fact that the pilgrims perform a holy pilgrimage of aparikrama or circumambulation of the river.[17] The Narmada Parikrama, as it is called, is considered to be a meritorious act that a pilgrim can undertake. Many sadhus and pilgrims walk on foot from the Arabian Sea at Bharuch in Gujarat, along the river, to the source in Maikal Mountains (Amarkantak hills) in Madhya Pradesh and back along the opposite bank of the river. It is a 2,600-kilometre (1,600 mi) walk.[18] Important towns of interest in the valley are Jabalpur, Barwani, Hoshangabad, Harda, Narmada Nagar, Omkareshwar, Dewas (Nemavar, Kity, Pipri), Mandla and Maheshwar in Madhya Pradesh, andRajpipla and Bharuch in Gujarat. Some places of historical interest are Joga Ka Quilla, Chhatri of Baji Rao Peshwa andBhimbetka, and among the falls are the Dugdhdhara, Dhardi falls, Bheraghat, Dhuandhara, Kapiladhara and Sahastradhara. By Kailash Mansarovar Foundation Swami Bikash Giri www.sumeruparvat.com , www.naturalitem.com
NARMADA PARIKRAMA
The Narmada also called the Rewa, is a river in central India and the fifth longest river in the Indian subcontinent. It is the third longest river that flows entirely within India, after the Godavari and the Krishna. It is also known as "Life Line of Madhya Pradesh" for its huge contribution to the state of Madhya Pradesh in many ways. It forms the traditional boundary between North India and South India and flows westwards over a length of 1,312 km (815.2 mi) before draining through theGulf of Khambhat into the Arabian Sea, 30 km (18.6 mi) west of Bharuch city of Gujarat. It is one of only three major rivers in peninsular India that run from east to west (longest west flowing river), along with the Tapti River and the Mahi River. It is the one of the rivers in India that flows in a rift valley, flowing west between the Satpura and Vindhya ranges. The other rivers which flows through rift valley include Damodar River in Chota Nagpur Plateau and Tapti. The Tapti River and Mahi River also flow through rift valleys, but between different ranges. It flows through the states of Madhya Pradesh(1,077 km (669.2 mi)), and Maharashtra, (74 km (46.0 mi))– (35 km (21.7 mi)) then along the border between Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra (39 km (24.2 mi) and the border between Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat and in Gujarat (161 km (100.0 mi)).
The Periplus Maris Erythraei (c. 80 AD) calls it the Nammadus, and theBritish Raj called it the Nerbudda or Narbada. Narmadā is a Sanskrit word meaning "the Giver of Pleasure".
To Hindus the Narmada is one of the five holy rivers of India; the other four beingGanges, Yamuna, Godavari and Kaveri. It is believed that a dip in any of these five rivers washes one's sins away. According to a legend, the river Ganges, polluted by millions of people bathing in it, assumes the form of a black cow and comes to the Narmada to bathe and cleanse itself in its holy waters. Legends also claim that the Narmada River is older than the river Ganges.
The river was mentioned by Ptolemy in the second century AD as Namade and by the author of the Periplus. The Ramayana, the Mahabharat, and thePuranas refer to it frequently. The Rewa Khand of Vayu Purana and the Rewa Khand of Skanda Purana are entirely devoted to the story of the birth and the importance of the river, and hence Narmada is also called the Rewa.
There are many fables about the origin of the Narmada. According to one of them, once Lord Shiva, the Destroyer of the Universe, meditated so hard that he started perspiring. Shiva's sweat accumulated in a tank and started flowing in the form of a river – the Narmada. Another legend has it that two teardrops that fell from the eyes of Lord Brahma, the creator of the universe, yielded two rivers – the Narmada and the Son.
Legends also say that for Lord Shiva, the Hindu God, the river is especially sacred on account of its origin, and it is often called Shankari, i.e., daughter of Shankar (Lord Shiva). All the pebbles rolling on its bed are said to take the shape of his emblem with the saying, "Narmada Ke Kanker utte Sankar" (a popular saying in the Hindi belt of India), which means that 'pebble stones of Narmada get a personified form of Shiva'. These lingam shaped stones (cryptocrytalline quartz), calledBanalinga also called (Banashivalingas) are much sought after for daily worship by the Hindus. The Brihadeeswara Temple in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, constructed by Rajaraja Chola, has one of the biggest Banalingas. Adi Shankara met his guru Govinda Bhagavatpada on the banks of the river Narmada.
Narmada is also said to have been in love with the Sonbhadra, another river flowing on the Chota Nagpur Plateau. According to the Puranas, the Narmada is also called the Rewa, from its leaping motion (from the root 'rev') through its rocky bed.
Important religious places and Ghats along the course of the river, starting from its origin at Narmadakhund at Amarkantakhill, are a) the Amarkantak (in Sanskrit: Neck of Shiva) or Teertharaj (the King of Pilgrimages), b) Omkareshwar, Maheshwar, and Mahadeo temples, Nemawar Siddeshwar Mandir in the middle reach of the river – all named after Shiva, c) Chausath Yogini (sixty four yoginis) temple, d) Chaubis Avatar temple, e) Bhojpur Shiva temple and Bhrigu Rishi temple in Bharuch. The Narmada River is also worshipped as mother goddess by Narmadeeya Brahmins.
The importance of the Narmada River as sacred is testified by the fact that the pilgrims perform a holy pilgrimage of aparikrama or circumambulation of the river.[17] The Narmada Parikrama, as it is called, is considered to be a meritorious act that a pilgrim can undertake. Many sadhus and pilgrims walk on foot from the Arabian Sea at Bharuch in Gujarat, along the river, to the source in Maikal Mountains (Amarkantak hills) in Madhya Pradesh and back along the opposite bank of the river. It is a 2,600-kilometre (1,600 mi) walk.[18] Important towns of interest in the valley are Jabalpur, Barwani, Hoshangabad, Harda, Narmada Nagar, Omkareshwar, Dewas (Nemavar, Kity, Pipri), Mandla and Maheshwar in Madhya Pradesh, andRajpipla and Bharuch in Gujarat. Some places of historical interest are Joga Ka Quilla, Chhatri of Baji Rao Peshwa andBhimbetka, and among the falls are the Dugdhdhara, Dhardi falls, Bheraghat, Dhuandhara, Kapiladhara and Sahastradhara. By Kailash Mansarovar Foundation Swami Bikash Giri www.sumeruparvat.com , www.naturalitem.com
NARMADA PARIKRAMA
The Narmada also called the Rewa, is a river in central India and the fifth longest river in the Indian subcontinent. It is the third longest river that flows entirely within India, after the Godavari and the Krishna. It is also known as "Life Line of Madhya Pradesh" for its huge contribution to the state of Madhya Pradesh in many ways. It forms the traditional boundary between North India and South India and flows westwards over a length of 1,312 km (815.2 mi) before draining through theGulf of Khambhat into the Arabian Sea, 30 km (18.6 mi) west of Bharuch city of Gujarat. It is one of only three major rivers in peninsular India that run from east to west (longest west flowing river), along with the Tapti River and the Mahi River. It is the one of the rivers in India that flows in a rift valley, flowing west between the Satpura and Vindhya ranges. The other rivers which flows through rift valley include Damodar River in Chota Nagpur Plateau and Tapti. The Tapti River and Mahi River also flow through rift valleys, but between different ranges. It flows through the states of Madhya Pradesh(1,077 km (669.2 mi)), and Maharashtra, (74 km (46.0 mi))– (35 km (21.7 mi)) then along the border between Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra (39 km (24.2 mi) and the border between Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat and in Gujarat (161 km (100.0 mi)).
The Periplus Maris Erythraei (c. 80 AD) calls it the Nammadus, and theBritish Raj called it the Nerbudda or Narbada. Narmadā is a Sanskrit word meaning "the Giver of Pleasure".
To Hindus the Narmada is one of the five holy rivers of India; the other four beingGanges, Yamuna, Godavari and Kaveri. It is believed that a dip in any of these five rivers washes one's sins away. According to a legend, the river Ganges, polluted by millions of people bathing in it, assumes the form of a black cow and comes to the Narmada to bathe and cleanse itself in its holy waters. Legends also claim that the Narmada River is older than the river Ganges.
The river was mentioned by Ptolemy in the second century AD as Namade and by the author of the Periplus. The Ramayana, the Mahabharat, and thePuranas refer to it frequently. The Rewa Khand of Vayu Purana and the Rewa Khand of Skanda Purana are entirely devoted to the story of the birth and the importance of the river, and hence Narmada is also called the Rewa.
There are many fables about the origin of the Narmada. According to one of them, once Lord Shiva, the Destroyer of the Universe, meditated so hard that he started perspiring. Shiva's sweat accumulated in a tank and started flowing in the form of a river – the Narmada. Another legend has it that two teardrops that fell from the eyes of Lord Brahma, the creator of the universe, yielded two rivers – the Narmada and the Son.
Legends also say that for Lord Shiva, the Hindu God, the river is especially sacred on account of its origin, and it is often called Shankari, i.e., daughter of Shankar (Lord Shiva). All the pebbles rolling on its bed are said to take the shape of his emblem with the saying, "Narmada Ke Kanker utte Sankar" (a popular saying in the Hindi belt of India), which means that 'pebble stones of Narmada get a personified form of Shiva'. These lingam shaped stones (cryptocrytalline quartz), calledBanalinga also called (Banashivalingas) are much sought after for daily worship by the Hindus. The Brihadeeswara Temple in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, constructed by Rajaraja Chola, has one of the biggest Banalingas. Adi Shankara met his guru Govinda Bhagavatpada on the banks of the river Narmada.
Narmada is also said to have been in love with the Sonbhadra, another river flowing on the Chota Nagpur Plateau. According to the Puranas, the Narmada is also called the Rewa, from its leaping motion (from the root 'rev') through its rocky bed.
Important religious places and Ghats along the course of the river, starting from its origin at Narmadakhund at Amarkantakhill, are a) the Amarkantak (in Sanskrit: Neck of Shiva) or Teertharaj (the King of Pilgrimages), b) Omkareshwar, Maheshwar, and Mahadeo temples, Nemawar Siddeshwar Mandir in the middle reach of the river – all named after Shiva, c) Chausath Yogini (sixty four yoginis) temple, d) Chaubis Avatar temple, e) Bhojpur Shiva temple and Bhrigu Rishi temple in Bharuch. The Narmada River is also worshipped as mother goddess by Narmadeeya Brahmins.
The importance of the Narmada River as sacred is testified by the fact that the pilgrims perform a holy pilgrimage of aparikrama or circumambulation of the river.[17] The Narmada Parikrama, as it is called, is considered to be a meritorious act that a pilgrim can undertake. Many sadhus and pilgrims walk on foot from the Arabian Sea at Bharuch in Gujarat, along the river, to the source in Maikal Mountains (Amarkantak hills) in Madhya Pradesh and back along the opposite bank of the river. It is a 2,600-kilometre (1,600 mi) walk.[18] Important towns of interest in the valley are Jabalpur, Barwani, Hoshangabad, Harda, Narmada Nagar, Omkareshwar, Dewas (Nemavar, Kity, Pipri), Mandla and Maheshwar in Madhya Pradesh, andRajpipla and Bharuch in Gujarat. Some places of historical interest are Joga Ka Quilla, Chhatri of Baji Rao Peshwa andBhimbetka, and among the falls are the Dugdhdhara, Dhardi falls, Bheraghat, Dhuandhara, Kapiladhara and Sahastradhara. By Kailash Mansarovar Foundation Swami Bikash Giri www.sumeruparvat.com , www.naturalitem.com
NARMADA PARIKRAMA
The Narmada also called the Rewa, is a river in central India and the fifth longest river in the Indian subcontinent. It is the third longest river that flows entirely within India, after the Godavari and the Krishna. It is also known as "Life Line of Madhya Pradesh" for its huge contribution to the state of Madhya Pradesh in many ways. It forms the traditional boundary between North India and South India and flows westwards over a length of 1,312 km (815.2 mi) before draining through theGulf of Khambhat into the Arabian Sea, 30 km (18.6 mi) west of Bharuch city of Gujarat. It is one of only three major rivers in peninsular India that run from east to west (longest west flowing river), along with the Tapti River and the Mahi River. It is the one of the rivers in India that flows in a rift valley, flowing west between the Satpura and Vindhya ranges. The other rivers which flows through rift valley include Damodar River in Chota Nagpur Plateau and Tapti. The Tapti River and Mahi River also flow through rift valleys, but between different ranges. It flows through the states of Madhya Pradesh(1,077 km (669.2 mi)), and Maharashtra, (74 km (46.0 mi))– (35 km (21.7 mi)) then along the border between Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra (39 km (24.2 mi) and the border between Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat and in Gujarat (161 km (100.0 mi)).
The Periplus Maris Erythraei (c. 80 AD) calls it the Nammadus, and theBritish Raj called it the Nerbudda or Narbada. Narmadā is a Sanskrit word meaning "the Giver of Pleasure".
To Hindus the Narmada is one of the five holy rivers of India; the other four beingGanges, Yamuna, Godavari and Kaveri. It is believed that a dip in any of these five rivers washes one's sins away. According to a legend, the river Ganges, polluted by millions of people bathing in it, assumes the form of a black cow and comes to the Narmada to bathe and cleanse itself in its holy waters. Legends also claim that the Narmada River is older than the river Ganges.
The river was mentioned by Ptolemy in the second century AD as Namade and by the author of the Periplus. The Ramayana, the Mahabharat, and thePuranas refer to it frequently. The Rewa Khand of Vayu Purana and the Rewa Khand of Skanda Purana are entirely devoted to the story of the birth and the importance of the river, and hence Narmada is also called the Rewa.
There are many fables about the origin of the Narmada. According to one of them, once Lord Shiva, the Destroyer of the Universe, meditated so hard that he started perspiring. Shiva's sweat accumulated in a tank and started flowing in the form of a river – the Narmada. Another legend has it that two teardrops that fell from the eyes of Lord Brahma, the creator of the universe, yielded two rivers – the Narmada and the Son.
Legends also say that for Lord Shiva, the Hindu God, the river is especially sacred on account of its origin, and it is often called Shankari, i.e., daughter of Shankar (Lord Shiva). All the pebbles rolling on its bed are said to take the shape of his emblem with the saying, "Narmada Ke Kanker utte Sankar" (a popular saying in the Hindi belt of India), which means that 'pebble stones of Narmada get a personified form of Shiva'. These lingam shaped stones (cryptocrytalline quartz), calledBanalinga also called (Banashivalingas) are much sought after for daily worship by the Hindus. The Brihadeeswara Temple in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, constructed by Rajaraja Chola, has one of the biggest Banalingas. Adi Shankara met his guru Govinda Bhagavatpada on the banks of the river Narmada.
Narmada is also said to have been in love with the Sonbhadra, another river flowing on the Chota Nagpur Plateau. According to the Puranas, the Narmada is also called the Rewa, from its leaping motion (from the root 'rev') through its rocky bed.
Important religious places and Ghats along the course of the river, starting from its origin at Narmadakhund at Amarkantakhill, are a) the Amarkantak (in Sanskrit: Neck of Shiva) or Teertharaj (the King of Pilgrimages), b) Omkareshwar, Maheshwar, and Mahadeo temples, Nemawar Siddeshwar Mandir in the middle reach of the river – all named after Shiva, c) Chausath Yogini (sixty four yoginis) temple, d) Chaubis Avatar temple, e) Bhojpur Shiva temple and Bhrigu Rishi temple in Bharuch. The Narmada River is also worshipped as mother goddess by Narmadeeya Brahmins.
The importance of the Narmada River as sacred is testified by the fact that the pilgrims perform a holy pilgrimage of aparikrama or circumambulation of the river.[17] The Narmada Parikrama, as it is called, is considered to be a meritorious act that a pilgrim can undertake. Many sadhus and pilgrims walk on foot from the Arabian Sea at Bharuch in Gujarat, along the river, to the source in Maikal Mountains (Amarkantak hills) in Madhya Pradesh and back along the opposite bank of the river. It is a 2,600-kilometre (1,600 mi) walk.[18] Important towns of interest in the valley are Jabalpur, Barwani, Hoshangabad, Harda, Narmada Nagar, Omkareshwar, Dewas (Nemavar, Kity, Pipri), Mandla and Maheshwar in Madhya Pradesh, andRajpipla and Bharuch in Gujarat. Some places of historical interest are Joga Ka Quilla, Chhatri of Baji Rao Peshwa andBhimbetka, and among the falls are the Dugdhdhara, Dhardi falls, Bheraghat, Dhuandhara, Kapiladhara and Sahastradhara. By Kailash Mansarovar Foundation Swami Bikash Giri www.sumeruparvat.com , www.naturalitem.com
Lee Marmon (1925-)
Lee Marmon has devoted sixty years to documenting the people and places of Laguna and the surrounding pueblos. Starting in his early twenties, he received strong support from his family, who encouraged him to record life in the rapidly changing pueblos, especially the local elders. Thus, Marmon shares many of the same interests as other documentarians – illuminating the small but significant details of life and using them to tell wider stories of humans and human interactions. As a Native American photographing his own people, however, Marmon faced unusual circumstances. His challenge lay in re-conceiving the role and capabilities of photography. Many Pueblo Indians in the forties and fifties still harbored mistrust and resentment toward cameras and the cultural outsiders who usually stood behind them. Marmon, whose goal wasn’t merely to document a person but a personality, had no wish to impose his lens upon an unwilling subject. Since, however, he himself was a resident of the Pueblo and often knew his subjects personally, Marmon was often able to obtain intimate photos that captured his subjects in informal, revealing moments.
1961 – Lucy Lewis, Acoma Potter.
Marmon’s photograph of Lucy Lewis (1898-1992), a celebrated Acoma potter, contrasts in a number of ways to the earlier Pennington-Updike picture of an unnamed Acoma potter. First of all, Marmon’s potter is named in the title, and with this name comes a recoverable biography and personality, both lacking in the earlier photo. Formally, Marmon’s picture brings the viewer much closer to his subject, the potter Lucy. Instead of standing across from a seated woman, which creates a respectful, but somewhat cold distance between observer and observed, we are here seated at the same table beside the potter. We are on her level, sharing her space unobtrusively. Both her eyes and her entire attention are directed downwards, as she draws her fine, yucca brush over the white slip covering the clay vessel. Absorbed in her craft, Lucy feels no need to meet the viewer’s eye. Indeed, it is the viewer who feels privileged to gain a brief glimpse into this intimate, hushed atmosphere.
Devoted to low-alcohol drinks. Titles are just random strings that my mind generates from time to time.
Museum Tinguely embarks on a special journey
This Summer Museum Tinguely Basel will celebrate its 25th anniversary by weighing anchor and embarking on a very special journey. Museum Tinguely AHOY! is devoted to taking the art of Jean Tinguely (1925–1991), one of the greatest and most innovative Swiss artists of the twentieth century, to the people in a specially converted barge. The travel stops of MS Evolutie will be places of relevance to Tinguely's artistic career, from Paris to Antwerp and Amsterdam, and from there upriver through the urban centres of the Rhine-Ruhr region and back to Basel.
In Tinguely’s footsteps between Paris, Amsterdam, and Basel
Exhibition on board the MS Evolutie, 17 July to 26 September 2021
An avid creator of kinetic sculptures, Swiss artist Jean Tinguely (1925–1991) made movement the centerpiece of his oeuvre, indeed of his whole life. Hence the opening of his Für Statik manifesto, which according to a legend he printed as a flyer and scattered from a plane over Düsseldorf in 1959: ‘Everything moves! Rest does not exist’. True to this motto, Museum Tinguely’s festivities to mark 25 Years of Moving Art are to include the exhibition Et tout ceci est vrai! on board the converted barge MS Evolutie. The exhibition will reference the various stops on the Museum Tinguely AHOY! jubilee voyage, and with photographs, writings, audio stations, films and models installed in the ca. 100 square-meter hull of the vessel will showcase Jean Tinguely the artist and his art. On this journey back in time visitors will be able to follow Tinguely’s trajectory from his first exhibitions in galleries in Paris in the late 1950s and his first solo show at the Haus Lange Museum in Krefeld in 1960 to the great retrospectives of later years, including that at the Lehmbruck Museum in Duisburg in 1978. To convey the works’ immediacy and the sensory pleasure of experiencing them live – even ‘on the road’ – the museum has built models inspired by Tinguely’s kinetic originals. On pressing a button, therefore, visitors will be able to enjoy the jangling, squeaking and clanking of his machines and to sway to the videos, audios and projections of his works.
Jean Tinguely’s Amsterdam was and is the Stedelijk Museum, which is bound up with his career as is almost no other. It was Willem Sandberg, the near-legendary and highly influential director of the Stedelijk Museum, who played the lead role initially. Sandberg, who first joined the Stedelijk in 1928, took over as its director after the Second World War and set about establishing it as a contemporary art museum of international renown. In both its exhibitions and in its printed matter – all of which the director, as a trained graphic designer and typographer, designed himself – the museum set new standards for the communication of modern art. Sandberg brought design, prints and photography to the Stedelijk; he also showed films and music there, making it a favourite haunt of the younger generation. Edy de Wilde, Sandberg’s successor, continued as he had begun. It was under these two directors (supported by curators like Ad Petersen), that the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam staged five exhibitions in which Jean Tinguely had a major role to play.
The first of these was Bewogen Beweging of 1961, a show that aimed to assemble kinetic art of renown from all over the world, both historical and contemporary, in a single exhibition. Sandberg had met Daniel Spoerri in Zurich and it was from that encounter that the exhibition concept emerged, as outlined by Spoerri in a letter to Sandberg dated 8 June 1960. Just four days later Tinguely wrote to Sandberg to express an interest in taking part in the exhibition in Amsterdam and offering his support for the undertaking. That Pontus Hultén, who by then was already director of the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, was likewise hatching plans for an exhibition of kinetic art of his own is unsurprising, given the friendship between all those involved. It was decided that Sandberg would leave the organization of the exhibition in Amsterdam to Spoerri, who in turn would define the key aspects of the project in collaboration with Hultén. The working group driving the project made up of Hultén, Sandberg, Spoerri and Tinguely was formalized in October 1960. As much as the two exhibitions in Amsterdam and later in Stockholm differed (both from each other and from the third port of call at the Louisiana Museum in Humlebaek, Copenhagen), Tinguely was by far the most prominent artist at all three editions. Bewogen Beweging at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam established Tinguely as the most important kinetic artist of his time.
#museumtinguely25 #museumtinguelyahoy #tinguelyontour
Maker: S.D. Humphrey
Born: USA
Active: USA
Medium: peridiocal
Size: 5 1/2 in x 9 in
Location: USA
Object No. 2014.170
Shelf: PER-1851
Publication: William S. Dorr, 101 Nassau Street, New York NY 1851
Other Collections: The first 12 issues of the first journal in the world devoted to the art of the photograph
Provenance: Remy le Fur
Rank: 3061
Notes: The first 12 issues of the first journal in the world devoted to the art of the photograph. An article by Talbot on the history of Photogenic Drawing is on page 129. The editor and publisher was Samuel Dwight Humphrey, born in Hartland Connecticut, himself a daguerreotypist in New York with several years experience, and already by that time, co-author with M. Finley of the 1849 manual on the process, A System of Photography Containing an Explicit Detail of the Whole Process of Daguerreotype. After two years of successful publication, and three volumes, the The Daguerrean Journal name was changed to Humphreys Journal of the Daguerreotype and Photographic Arts—usually thereafter referred to as Humphreys Journal— a title it retained until the end of volume 13. With the exception of a brief cessation between January and march 1852, publication under this name continued until late 1863.
To view our archive organized by Collections, visit: OUR COLLECTIONS
For information about reproducing this image, visit: THE HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY ARCHIVE
35th annual Rosary Sunday draws thousands devoted to Mary, holy rosary
Story by Gina Keating
Photos by Ambria Hammel
The Catholic Sun
In a kaleidoscope of colors, sound and movement, more than 6,000 faithful in the Phoenix Diocese gathered to honor Mary in the most anticipated Catholic event of the year, Rosary Sunday.
Under her title Mary, Help of Christians, the 35th annual celebration continued its traditional offerings of confession, adoration, benediction and recitation of the rosary.
The downtown Phoenix Convention Center opened its doors Oct. 10 to ethnically diverse members of the Body of Christ whose public prayers in different tongues paid homage to Mary, especially for her protection of the unborn.
Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted was greeted with a standing ovation from an enthusiastic crowd that filled the seats, as others searched for open spots.
“Today, we see how Mary is the mother of all of us,” Bishop Olmsted said in his bilingual address.
Auxilary Bishop Eduardo Nevares, recently back from a trip to Rome, delivered an apostolic blessing from Pope Benedict, which was received with a round of applause.
Christy O’Gara said she attended the event for the second year with her six children so they could “see all those that love Jesus.”
“Now, more than ever, we desire to be together as witnesses to the world,” O’Gara said.
More: www.catholicsun.org
ORDERING INFORMATION
Looking for a glossy/matte copy of this photo? Please call 602-354-2140 or send an e-mail for ordering information. Please note the photo's title when ordering. Download the order form here.
Copyright 2006-2010 The Catholic Sun. All rights reserved. This photo and all photos on this Web site credited to The Catholic Sun are provided for personal use only and may not be published, broadcasted, transmitted or sold without the expressed consent of The Catholic Sun.
I have a set devoted to Park Hill:
www.flickr.com/photos/shefftim/sets/72157642537014264/
Park Hill is a large disused council built social housing estate in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It was built in the late 1950s. It was closed in 1998 following a period of steep decline and a reputation for crime, drugs & social problems. It now is largely depopulated, though its Grace Owen nursery school is still open.
The estate is structurally sound & has Grade II listed building status for its modernist style, influenced by the architect Le Corbusier. Part of the estate is currently being renovated by developer Urban Splash.
More on Park Hill’s history:
www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/architecture/9551327/Mult...
As devoted fans gather to honor Elvis Presley, the undisputed King of Rock, who would have been 78 this year were it not for the small matter of his demise on August 16, 1977, I thought it was time to bring him out of the shadows -- well, at least his hidden bronze statue, that is.
The unmistakable hip-wiggling, quiff-quivering, guitar-gyrating, lip-curling stance is there for all to see in the statue - that is, if the public look carefully for it, as it's hidden in the shadows of a courtyard off Broadway on First Hill (OK, directly across from the new Elliott Bay Book shop on 10th Ave). It was one of three Rock icons - Jimi Hendrix, Chuck Berry and Presley - commissioned by Mike Malone, a real-estate developer. He was the founder of AEI Music Network, a music programming and distribution company with worldwide operations. Seattleite Malone has a valuable guitar collection that includes the King's first guitar that he used at Sun Studio and Hendrix's last guitar.
The statue of Hendrix, directly on Broadway, at Blick Art Supplies, is by far the most iconic and most photographed. But Malone also commissioned Seattle artist Daryl Smith to do similar one's of Elvis and Berry - and all three can be found within a few blocks of each other.
"Thank you. Thank you very much," as the King would say.
Leica M4 & 50mm Summilux V.2
Sekonic L-308S
Ilford Delta 100
HC-110 (Dil. H - 10min)
Plustek 7600i & Vuescan
This window is devoted to the story of St Mary Magdalene, but the legendary version which was widely known in the Middle Ages. It arose from a sermon of St Gregory the Great preached on 21st September 591 on the passage Luke 7:36-50 in which Jesus is at dinner in a Pharisees' house when a sinful women comes in, anoints his feet with ointment and wipes them with her hair. Gregory identified this woman with Mary of Bethany, sister of Martha and Lazarus and also with Mary Magdalene from whom Jesus driven out seven devils. Thus Mary Magdalene became for the Middle Ages a symbol of penitence and also of the contemplative life (Mary of Bethany). The legend was further developed at Vezelay (which claimed to possess the relics of Mary Magdalene) to claim that Mary and a number of other of Christ's disciples were, as a result of persecution, set adrift in a rudderless boat and washed up in Provence at Marseilles where Maximin, one of their number, became bishop. Mary died, after years of living in penitential seclusion.
Nedyam Balachandra Menon, was a distinguished Indian diplomat, whose career was largely focused on the Himalayan region and Southeast Asia.
Born March 1921 in Guruvayur, Kerala, the son of a mathematics teacher in Singapore, he spent his childhood in Southeast Asia.
He was educated in Allahabad University where he completed a degree in Economics Honours.
Navy stint
Like many of his generation he interrupted his studies to join the war effort against Japanese militarism and served in the Royal Indian Navy during the Second World War, mainly in Burma and the Bay of Bengal.
Menon's early foreign assignments were in post-war Europe including The Hague, Bonn and Berlin.
Towards the latter part of his career he served as Political Officer in Sikkim and Bhutan, and Ambassador to Indonesia, Turkey and Nepal.
First assignment
His life was greatly marked by the special political circumstances of the Himalayan region.
His first assignment in Kathmandu coincided with upheaval in the Nepalese monarchy and he served as Director, China Division during and after the Sino-Indian conflict. He was later Joint Secretary, North during the merger of Sikkim.
Interest in culture
He had an abiding interest in the culture and politics of India's northern neighbours, later learning to speak Tibetan. Menon was fascinated by the natural beauty of the region and travelled widely as a hiker and birdwatcher as well as a diplomat.
He is remembered by his friends in many parts of the world for his delight in language and punning and an avid interest in sports and dramatics.
He is survived by his wife, Aneethy, three sons, Krishnakumar, Ramachandran and Narayanan, a daughter, Parvathi, and eight grandchildren.
Courtesy : The Hindu, Monday, Oct 30, 2006
I have a set devoted to Park Hill:
www.flickr.com/photos/shefftim/sets/72157642537014264/
Park Hill is a large disused council built social housing estate in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It was built in the late 1950s. It was closed in 1998 following a period of steep decline and a reputation for crime, drugs & social problems. It now is largely depopulated, though its Grace Owen nursery school is still open.
The estate is structurally sound & has Grade II listed building status for its modernist style, influenced by the architect Le Corbusier. Part of the estate is currently being renovated by developer Urban Splash.
More on Park Hill’s history:
www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/architecture/9551327/Mult...
I have a set devoted to Park Hill:
www.flickr.com/photos/shefftim/sets/72157642537014264/
Park Hill is a large disused council built social housing estate in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It was built in the late 1950s. It was closed in 1998 following a period of steep decline and a reputation for crime, drugs & social problems. It now is largely depopulated, though its nursery school is still open.
The estate is structurally sound & has Grade II listed building status for its modernist style, influenced by the architect Le Corbusier. Part of the estate is currently being renovated by developer Urban Splash.
More on Park Hill’s history:
www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/architecture/9551327/Mult...
It was when I got to this image in my review of my most recent batch of uploads that I was suddenly gripped by a mortal dread that I had jeopardized the existence of my Flickr account. I broke out in a cold sweat.
For all I knew, the 28,868 photos I've placed here and the incalculable amount of time I have devoted to creating the images and writing about them might go down the tubes instantaneously. That could happen if the powers that be were to conclude that my photo of a famous print of Custer's Last Stand constituted a repeat violation of Flickr's community standards so grave that it required summary application of the virtual death penalty.
You, my Flicker followers, are probably as astonished to learn that Flickr's compliance folks took issue with one of my images as I was when I received the notice a while ago.
Here is the notice as translated from the original Portuguese, the language I've selected in order to hold on to some of what I learned during my two years of university-level study of that language.
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Hi, By joining Flickr, you have agreed to abide by Flickr's Terms of Service and Community Guidelines. www.flickr.com/help/guidelines www.flickr.com/help/terms
Your account has been brought to our attention and, upon review, we have determined that its contents were a violation because it contains a collection of confidential material.
This may include images of war events or graphic crimes copied from the media or news reports. It is forbidden to send screenshots or videos of news and other sources.
As a reminder, only content you've photographed or created is allowed on Flickr.
As a result, we remove content of this nature from your account.
Please ensure that any remaining uploads containing similar material are removed as soon as possible.
Please be aware that any subsequent violation of Flickr's Community Guidelines or Terms may result in termination of your account without notice. Best regards, Flickr Team.
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Does anyone see the glaring due-process deficiency here?
Because Flickr failed to identify the offending image, I have no idea which of my more than 28,000 images allegedly violated the standards cited in the notice. How, then, can I possibly "ensure that any remaining uploads containing similar material are removed as soon as possible"?
Frankly, I'm not aware of ever having uploaded "confidential material. . . . [that] may include images of war events or graphic crimes copied from the media or news reports."
Tell me, have you ever come across anything matching that description in my photostream?
For that matter, if images are copied from the media or news reports, how can they be considered confidential? Did Flickr's moderators mean to use a different word beginning with the letter "C"? Were they grasping for the word "copyrighted"?
I did not appeal this to Flickr because I have no reason to believe that a bureaucracy that bungled a takedown notice this badly would give me a fair hearing. For all I know someone could pull the plug on my account in retaliation for my perceived impertinence and I'd be screwed.
Hence, out of an abundance of caution, I have decided to self-censor my photo of a painting of Custer's Last Stand that was probably as ubiquitous as urban pigeons in its day. That's because the painting itself is one big image of a "war event." Depending on one's perspective, the painting also depicts "crimes" (i.e., homicide) on a massive scale.
If anyone is aware of any Flickr community standards that prohibit venting about Flickr itself, please let me know right away. This minor piece of dissent isn't worth the life of my Flickr account!
Here's what I had to say about the now obscured image. If you wish to see it, Flicker has left me no choice but to tell you to search for it yourselves.
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This is yet another piece I did not buy when I was making the rounds of antique and vintage stores in Astoria over the weekend.
It is a piece of Americana that seems downright transgressive by today's standards.
It appears that there are scads of this print for sale on eBay and elsewhere at any given time. I've established that style of the Anheuser-Busch label changed over the years, but I didn't find any examples online with a label identical to this one. My sense is that it dates to the first half of the 20th century.
There is a story behind this image:
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Craig Johnson on Custer, and the painting that ornamented barroom walls across America, then vanished.
October 2, 2020 By Craig Johnson
Questionable, inebriated art critics have referred to Custer’s Last Fight as the most viewed piece of artwork in the history of America. You may not know the artist, but I can assure most of you that you’ve seen his work in either a bar, saloon, restaurant, garage or rumpus room across the country.
The story of Cassilly Adams’ 1885 painting approaches the drama of the historic moment it represents and is something I’ve wanted to write about for some time. Although I’ve been interested in the Battle of the Little Big Horn, I never have developed the mania that seems to overtake those who fall under the spell of the historic incident that took place on the rolling hills of eastern Montana just up the road from my ranch. There has been so much written and re-written on the subject that I’ve avoided it like a mountain that seemed too tall to have to climb until I stumbled onto a story that triggered my interest.
I have seen reproductions of the painting hanging in every bar and saloon in the West, but I stumbled onto its story in the Norman Maclean Reader, a collection of essays, letters, and other writings by, in my estimation, one of the most eminent men of letters in the West, the man who gave us A River Runs Through It. A portion of the book is dedicated to an unfinished Custer manuscript that the great writer either gave up on, or one which he simply discovered he didn’t have time to write. The Cassilly Adams painting is referred to numerous times and its social implications intrigued me to the point that I started off on the first of many steps in climbing mount Custer.
The trick to approaching any monumental and controversial aspect of history is to find an access point, a facet that provides an entrance that might not have been used before or affords a perspective that endows the subject matter with a fresh point of view.
A shirttail ancestor of the Adam’s family of Boston fame, Cassilly was a Civil War veteran who studied at the Boston Academy of Arts and the Cincinnati Art School before settling in St. Louis. At 9.5 by 16.5 feet, his most epic work took a year to complete whereupon it toured the country where citizens could relive the battle at two bits a pop.
The painting, however, didn’t realize the profits the owners imagined, so it was sold to a saloonkeeper in St. Louis where it hung on the wall until the establishment went bankrupt, at which point Adolphus Busch, the head of a fledgling brewery named Anheuser Busch, acquired the painting in exchange for a $35,000 beer bill.
He then rolled it up, stuck it under his arm, and carried it back to the fledgling brewery where he instructed his advertising department that they were going to reproduce the painting in order to advertise their beer. The company began distributing lithographs, prints, and posters wherever Budweiser beer was sold, the theory being that the brewery in St. Louis would be a much greater and going concern once the marketing campaign had run its course—and boy howdy, did it ever.
The eighteen-nineties were an interesting period in American history. Following the depression of ’93 when advertising was just beginning to take hold nationally, campaigns combined with manufacturing to become consumer driven, big business. Even though Libby Custer’s campaign to revitalize her husband’s reputation had been in full swing for decades, it now seemed like a perfect pairing with Budweiser, the beer of action, even if George Armstrong Custer was a teetotaler.
In the painting flaxen tousled Custer is depicted swinging a sabre even though the 7th Cavalry as an expeditionary force had not been issued them and the general had cut off all his hair the night before. The rest of the painting itself is not without controversy, with a number of historical inaccuracies, not the least of which is a somewhat foreign topography that has the Lakota/Cheyenne village on both sides of the Little Big Horn River which may have been borrowed from the highly successful Buffalo Bill’s Wild West recreation backdrops of the day.
The son of the artist, William Apthorp Adams, stated that models were posed by Sioux Indians in their war paint and also by cavalrymen in the costume of the period. If such is the case, the soldiers fared much better in that the warriors of the Northern Plains appear to have arrived via Rorke’s Drift, by way of the Everglades.
It’s no surprise that the influence of the Zulu war in Africa would’ve held stead in the artist’s imagination in that the two comparably technologically advanced and colonializing countries had been knocked for a loop by what were then seen then as primitive tribesman.
The Seminole headdresses are little more difficult to explain.
Even Ernest Hemingway mentions the advertising device in For Whom the Bell Tolls when Robert Jordan remembers his grandfather remarking, “Custer was not an intelligent leader of cavalry, Robert.” His grandfather had said. “He was not even an intelligent man.”
He remembered that when his grandfather said that he felt resentment that any one should speak against that figure in the buckskin shirt, the yellow curls blowing, that stood on the hill holding a service revolver as the Sioux closed in around him in the old Anheuser-Busch lithograph that hung on the poolroom wall in Red Lodge.
With an initial run of over 15,000 prints and 18 subsequent editions totaling well over a million copies, Adolphus Busch, having realized the commercial potential of the painting had waned, presented Custer’s Last Fight to the 7th Cavalry in Fort Riley, Kansas in 1896 in a fit of philanthropic zeal. Later, the headquarters was relocated to Fort Grant and the painting decamped along with them but was then lost or misplaced. Abandoned to antiquity, it was rediscovered by Col. John K. Herr in 1934 while on maneuvers in the abandoned Arizona fort, rolled onto a flagpole and stuffed in the rafters of a derelict building. By then in poor condition, it was restored by the W.P.A. in Boston and was returned to the 7th where it hung on the wall in the officer’s club in Fort Bliss, Texas.
At this point I’d like to tell you where you could visit the painting and access its artistic merits yourself, but such is not the case in that on the velvety night of June 13, 1946, there was a fire in the officer’s club and the painting was destroyed.
Or was it?
Herein lies the better part of being an author of fiction, and my first step up mount Custer.
Dance performance in Nowohuckie Centrum Kultury, devoted to the remembrance of the choreographer and pedagogue Professor Janina Strzembosz. Kraków, Poland
35th annual Rosary Sunday draws thousands devoted to Mary, holy rosary
Story by Gina Keating
Photos by Ambria Hammel
The Catholic Sun
In a kaleidoscope of colors, sound and movement, more than 6,000 faithful in the Phoenix Diocese gathered to honor Mary in the most anticipated Catholic event of the year, Rosary Sunday.
Under her title Mary, Help of Christians, the 35th annual celebration continued its traditional offerings of confession, adoration, benediction and recitation of the rosary.
The downtown Phoenix Convention Center opened its doors Oct. 10 to ethnically diverse members of the Body of Christ whose public prayers in different tongues paid homage to Mary, especially for her protection of the unborn.
Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted was greeted with a standing ovation from an enthusiastic crowd that filled the seats, as others searched for open spots.
“Today, we see how Mary is the mother of all of us,” Bishop Olmsted said in his bilingual address.
Auxilary Bishop Eduardo Nevares, recently back from a trip to Rome, delivered an apostolic blessing from Pope Benedict, which was received with a round of applause.
Christy O’Gara said she attended the event for the second year with her six children so they could “see all those that love Jesus.”
“Now, more than ever, we desire to be together as witnesses to the world,” O’Gara said.
More: www.catholicsun.org
ORDERING INFORMATION
Looking for a glossy/matte copy of this photo? Please call 602-354-2140 or send an e-mail for ordering information. Please note the photo's title when ordering. Download the order form here.
Copyright 2006-2010 The Catholic Sun. All rights reserved. This photo and all photos on this Web site credited to The Catholic Sun are provided for personal use only and may not be published, broadcasted, transmitted or sold without the expressed consent of The Catholic Sun.
“[M]y whole soul is devoted to building this church here” wrote Pugin to the Earl of Shrewsbury.
St Augustine’s Church is the ‘ideal Church’ of Augustus Welby Pugin (1812-1852) who constructed it between 1845-1852 next to his home ‘the Grange’ according to his ‘true principles of Christian architecture’. He described it as ‘my own child’ and it was to be ‘a revival of the old Kentish churches stone & flint’, with a chantry chapel ‘that may be the burial place of my family’.
It stands as symbol of the Catholic revival of the 19th century which Pugin’s own life and conversion in 1835 epitomises. The church is also an integral part of Pugin’s own Gothic revival which inspired the nation at large. It was being constructed at the same time that Pugin was designing the new Houses of Parliament and Big Ben.
Pugin moved to St Augustine’s in 1843 specifically ‘close to the spot where blessed Austin landed’. His building of the church therefore stands as a monument to the arrival of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England recalling the landing of St Augustine in 597AD. Pugin was keen to show that Catholicism and Gothic were part of the DNA of English identity and the church emphasises and celebrates the English saints in a particular way.
Pugin spared nothing in building this church and he would only use the finest material and workmen. He wrote to his son Edward, ‘I am giving you the best architectural lessons I can; watch the church’. The church provided Mass for local Catholics and visitors before a parish was formed. Ramsgate’s first post-reformation Catholic school was run from the site. At his death he gifted the Church to the Catholic community, for he always intended it to be “a Parochial church” (Pugin’s Letters).
The church’s exterior is stone covered with traditional hardy flint to withstand the weather. Its interior is also lined with Whitby stone forging a link with the great seaside church of St Hilda. There is exquisite decoration with stone and wood carvings throughout, unique statues, stained glass and ornate tiles. Pugin’s team for the church included other well knownassociates George Myers for construction, John Hardman Powell for the metalwork and especially stained glass and Herbert Minton for the tiles. Pugin died in 1852 before completing the project but the work was continued until 1893 and involved Edward Pugin (1834-75) and Peter Paul Pugin (1851-1904) and many of the original associates and their families.
St Augustine’s was consecrated in 1884 and Grade-1 listed only in 1988. From 1856 until 2010 the church was run by the Benedictine monks of St Augustine’s Abbey (which was constructed opposite by Edward Pugin). In 2010 the Benedictine Monks withdrew from the Church and it came under the jurisdiction of the Parish of SS Ethelbert and Gertrude, Ramsgate and Minster. In February 2011 after a sizeable grant from English Heritage, the church’s future was assured. It serves as a functioning local church of the Ramsgate and Minster Catholic parish and since March 1st 2012 as an official shrine of St Augustine for pilgrimage. It remains for all a monument of serious historical importance and site of great architectural, artistic and culture significance for the wider public.
“[M]y whole soul is devoted to building this church here” wrote Pugin to the Earl of Shrewsbury.
St Augustine’s Church is the ‘ideal Church’ of Augustus Welby Pugin (1812-1852) who constructed it between 1845-1852 next to his home ‘the Grange’ according to his ‘true principles of Christian architecture’. He described it as ‘my own child’ and it was to be ‘a revival of the old Kentish churches stone & flint’, with a chantry chapel ‘that may be the burial place of my family’.
It stands as symbol of the Catholic revival of the 19th century which Pugin’s own life and conversion in 1835 epitomises. The church is also an integral part of Pugin’s own Gothic revival which inspired the nation at large. It was being constructed at the same time that Pugin was designing the new Houses of Parliament and Big Ben.
Pugin moved to St Augustine’s in 1843 specifically ‘close to the spot where blessed Austin landed’. His building of the church therefore stands as a monument to the arrival of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England recalling the landing of St Augustine in 597AD. Pugin was keen to show that Catholicism and Gothic were part of the DNA of English identity and the church emphasises and celebrates the English saints in a particular way.
Pugin spared nothing in building this church and he would only use the finest material and workmen. He wrote to his son Edward, ‘I am giving you the best architectural lessons I can; watch the church’. The church provided Mass for local Catholics and visitors before a parish was formed. Ramsgate’s first post-reformation Catholic school was run from the site. At his death he gifted the Church to the Catholic community, for he always intended it to be “a Parochial church” (Pugin’s Letters).
The church’s exterior is stone covered with traditional hardy flint to withstand the weather. Its interior is also lined with Whitby stone forging a link with the great seaside church of St Hilda. There is exquisite decoration with stone and wood carvings throughout, unique statues, stained glass and ornate tiles. Pugin’s team for the church included other well knownassociates George Myers for construction, John Hardman Powell for the metalwork and especially stained glass and Herbert Minton for the tiles. Pugin died in 1852 before completing the project but the work was continued until 1893 and involved Edward Pugin (1834-75) and Peter Paul Pugin (1851-1904) and many of the original associates and their families.
St Augustine’s was consecrated in 1884 and Grade-1 listed only in 1988. From 1856 until 2010 the church was run by the Benedictine monks of St Augustine’s Abbey (which was constructed opposite by Edward Pugin). In 2010 the Benedictine Monks withdrew from the Church and it came under the jurisdiction of the Parish of SS Ethelbert and Gertrude, Ramsgate and Minster. In February 2011 after a sizeable grant from English Heritage, the church’s future was assured. It serves as a functioning local church of the Ramsgate and Minster Catholic parish and since March 1st 2012 as an official shrine of St Augustine for pilgrimage. It remains for all a monument of serious historical importance and site of great architectural, artistic and culture significance for the wider public.
My devoted fan turned into my pit crew, then became my competitor. Thanks Dad!
Track Day info and how to Turn riding into Racing @ www.cornercarving.com
Fleet Air Arm Museum
The museum is devoted to the history of British naval aviation.
It has an extensive collection of military and civilian aircraft, aero engines, models of aircraft and Royal Navy ships (especially aircraft carriers), and paintings and drawings related to naval aviation.
It is located on RNAS Yeovilton airfield, and the museum has viewing areas where visitors can watch military aircraft (especially helicopters) taking off and landing.
Hall 4
Leading Edge
This display demonstrates how advances in design and technology allowed the British aircraft industry to lead the world in these fields. Among the unique aircraft on display is the first British built Concorde.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleet_Air_Arm_Museum
BAC Concorde 002
The second (and first British built) prototype
G-BSST
Supersonic Passenger Airliner
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concorde
Hawker Harrier P1127
XP980
www.fleetairarm.com/exhibit/hawker-p1127/4-6-41.aspx
Fairey Delta Two
WG774
www.fleetairarm.com/exhibit/british-aircraft-corporation-...
Hawker Hunter T.8M
XL580
35th annual Rosary Sunday draws thousands devoted to Mary, holy rosary
Story by Gina Keating
Photos by Ambria Hammel
The Catholic Sun
In a kaleidoscope of colors, sound and movement, more than 6,000 faithful in the Phoenix Diocese gathered to honor Mary in the most anticipated Catholic event of the year, Rosary Sunday.
Under her title Mary, Help of Christians, the 35th annual celebration continued its traditional offerings of confession, adoration, benediction and recitation of the rosary.
The downtown Phoenix Convention Center opened its doors Oct. 10 to ethnically diverse members of the Body of Christ whose public prayers in different tongues paid homage to Mary, especially for her protection of the unborn.
Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted was greeted with a standing ovation from an enthusiastic crowd that filled the seats, as others searched for open spots.
“Today, we see how Mary is the mother of all of us,” Bishop Olmsted said in his bilingual address.
Auxilary Bishop Eduardo Nevares, recently back from a trip to Rome, delivered an apostolic blessing from Pope Benedict, which was received with a round of applause.
Christy O’Gara said she attended the event for the second year with her six children so they could “see all those that love Jesus.”
“Now, more than ever, we desire to be together as witnesses to the world,” O’Gara said.
More: www.catholicsun.org
ORDERING INFORMATION
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Copyright 2006-2010 The Catholic Sun. All rights reserved. This photo and all photos on this Web site credited to The Catholic Sun are provided for personal use only and may not be published, broadcasted, transmitted or sold without the expressed consent of The Catholic Sun.
Location: Rozentuin
This summer Kunsthal Rotterdam dedicates an exhibition to the internationally renowned contemporary artist Antony Gormley, the first one devoted to the sculptor in the Netherlands. The exhibition marks the purchase of the art work entitled Another Time II, which will be permanently positioned at the park side of the Kunsthal. During the exhibition, the sculpture is part of a spectacular installation entitled Event Horizon, which will be spread over fifteen buildings, silhouetted against the skyline of Rotterdam. In the monumental daylight hall of the building by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, Gormley stages two of his prominent installations, Allotment II (1996) and Critical Mass II (1995), together weighing as much as 100 tons, which have been transported to the Kunsthal by special flatbed trailers.
Between you and me
Antony Gormley radically re-investigates the central theme of art: human being. His powerful sculptures make us aware of the space we (literally) occupy. The basis of his oeuvre is the relation between ‘internal' and ‘external', the space inside and outside the human body. The exhibition focuses on the installations Allotment II and Critical Mass II, which both engage with the architecture of the Kunsthal, as well as a selection of key historical works. In his investigation of the physical boundaries of the human body, Gormley often uses moulds of his own body, as with the compelling work Sense (1991) which presents this body as a concentrated silent space locked in concrete. Critical Mass II is built up from sixty cast-iron moulds of Gormley thrown on the ground and suspended in the air. Allotment II consists of three hundred life-sized concrete elements based on the exact same number of inhabitants of the city of Malmö, Sweden. The petrified landscape of bunker-like figures conveys a claustrophobic and terrifying image of the collective urban body.
Event Horizon
To Gormley the (lived) interaction between visitor and work is essential. That is why he chooses to work in public space. For Event Horizon, Gormley will position 21 moulds of his body on the roofs of a number of prominent buildings, amongst which Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Erasmus MC, Hogeschool Rotterdam and the Euromast, all situated within a radius of 1 kilometer from the Kunsthal. The figures confuse the perception of passengers-by, a disturbing infection of Rotterdam for both inhabitants and visitors alike.
‘NODE15 – Forum for Digital Arts’ is gathering designers, creative coders and digital artists for creative explorations of technologies. With the Leitmotif ‘Wrapped in Code – the Future of the Informed Body’, NODE15 is devoted to the negotiation of the body and its fusion with technology. It’s a week long rush with hands-on vvvv workshops, exhibition, symposium, performances and artist talks.
Photo: Nemanja Knežević
35th annual Rosary Sunday draws thousands devoted to Mary, holy rosary
Story by Gina Keating
Photos by Ambria Hammel
The Catholic Sun
In a kaleidoscope of colors, sound and movement, more than 6,000 faithful in the Phoenix Diocese gathered to honor Mary in the most anticipated Catholic event of the year, Rosary Sunday.
Under her title Mary, Help of Christians, the 35th annual celebration continued its traditional offerings of confession, adoration, benediction and recitation of the rosary.
The downtown Phoenix Convention Center opened its doors Oct. 10 to ethnically diverse members of the Body of Christ whose public prayers in different tongues paid homage to Mary, especially for her protection of the unborn.
Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted was greeted with a standing ovation from an enthusiastic crowd that filled the seats, as others searched for open spots.
“Today, we see how Mary is the mother of all of us,” Bishop Olmsted said in his bilingual address.
Auxilary Bishop Eduardo Nevares, recently back from a trip to Rome, delivered an apostolic blessing from Pope Benedict, which was received with a round of applause.
Christy O’Gara said she attended the event for the second year with her six children so they could “see all those that love Jesus.”
“Now, more than ever, we desire to be together as witnesses to the world,” O’Gara said.
More: www.catholicsun.org
ORDERING INFORMATION
Looking for a glossy/matte copy of this photo? Please call 602-354-2140 or send an e-mail for ordering information. Please note the photo's title when ordering. Download the order form here.
Copyright 2006-2010 The Catholic Sun. All rights reserved. This photo and all photos on this Web site credited to The Catholic Sun are provided for personal use only and may not be published, broadcasted, transmitted or sold without the expressed consent of The Catholic Sun.