Gamecock Cottage is an historic building located at Stony Brook in Brookhaven Town, in Suffolk County, New York on Long Island. It was built in 1876 for storage of oars and sliding-seat rowboats and is the only remaining wooden beach cottage that was part of West Meadow Beach. It is located at the southernmost point of a peninsula within what is now part of the West Meadow Wetlands Reserve, as the official public beach is now restricted to the north. The Gamecock Cottage sits at the southern endpoint of West Meadow Lane, which was once called Trustees Road.

CAL FIRE Sikorsky S-70i Fire Hawk N483DF, 611,

c/n 704030.

When I photographed this helicopter in April 2021 it was numbered 903:

www.flickr.com/photos/ian_e_abbott/51173791872/in/photoli...

Sacramento McClellan Airport (MCC / KMCC), California

CAL FIRE S-70i Information Sheet (CAL FIRE):

34c031f8-c9fd-4018-8c5a-4159cdff6b0d-cdn-endpoint.azureed...

Sikorsky / Lockheed Martin FIREHAWK web site

(Manufacturer's web site):

www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/products/sikorsky-firehawk.html

Over the long march of biological and now technological evolution, we have finally reached a survival gate — we have enough computational power to model the trajectory all Near-Earth Objects (NEO's) that could threaten life on Earth. This was not possible in the year 2000, or any time over the prior millennia. We have made a million-fold improvement in computation in just the past 20 years. So, we can see the future and predict decades in advance of an impact event and then give the NEO a nudge such that it misses Earth entirely.

It’s not like the movies, where you have an asteroid on final approach and try to blow it up somehow (that just turns a rifle into a shotgun blast); instead, you launch a rocket to rear-end it and change its velocity ever so slightly. Integrated over years, that small delta-v makes all the difference. In short, asteroid defense does not end with a bang, but merely a nudge. That is, if you know what you are doing!

The non-profit B612 (with co-fiounding astronauts Ed Lu and Rusty Schweickart) did a webinar and demo of their ADAM simulation tool for calculating asteroid orbit propagation. They gave me permission to share the unpublished work of their Asteroid Institute tech team. Here's an unlisted video showing the sim seen here.

Rusty Schweickart, the first Lunar Module Pilot summarizes: “We live in a remarkable time in history. We can change the trajectory of the solar system, ever so slightly, and protect life on Earth"

Mapping the Final Frontier with ADAM (Asteroid Decision Analysis + Mapping):

The ADAM project runs on the Google Compute Engine to provide a cloud platform for large-scale orbital dynamics. Small errors in the initial velocity vector measurements can expand over decades to very different outcomes, especially when gravitational slingshots around the planets occur. So, they run thousands of Monte-Carlo simulations over an array of starting conditions, creating a distribution of points, as seen in the images here, some hitting Earth (red) or a near miss (green). The distribution of endpoints gives a probability of deep impact. As a heuristic patch to some insane computational complexity, we can calculate a probability for the long term, which narrows like a hurricane forecast cone to a certainly as time advances.

To reach an accuracy of a few kilometers over many decades, it’s not just the complexity of an n-body problem. They had to model effects such as the curvature of space-time due to General Relativity, the non-sphericity of the Sun, the gravitational asymmetry of the planets, moons and larger asteroids, as well as the non-isotropic thermal re-radiation from rotation of the asteroid.

So so the good news: we can do this today, and with each passing year of Moore's Law, we can look further into the future, moving from decades to a 100 years. The further you can see, and the more precisely, the easier the nudge becomes.

For input to the model you just need a series of at least three sample points (but more is better). And we are about to get a whole lot better at that. Starting in 2022, LSST will observe ~600,000 asteroids every night, and discover new asteroids at 10X today’s rate. This will accentuate the computation-bounded problem of using this torrent of data.

There is something poetic about the computational defense of humanity. And something that rhymes with history. The Space Race of the 60s was won computationally, not by brute force heavy-lift, which would have favored the Soviets.

Survival is computational. Intelligence allows us to see the future.

The endpoint of our hike today along the Bow River pathway out of Banff townsite. Beyond is Tunnel Mountain, (middle) Sulphur Mountain, and the end of Mount Rundle. (left) Our starting point in Banff townsite is over on the other side of Tunnel Mountain.

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Portuguese

A Fontana di Trevi (Fonte dos trevos, em português) é a maior (cerca de 26 metros de altura e 20 metros de largura) e mais ambiciosa construção de fontes barrocas da Itália e está localizada na rione Trevi, em Roma.

Fontana di Trevi (Roma)

A fonte situava-se no cruzamento de três estradas (tre vie), marcando o ponto final do Acqua Vergine, um dos mais antigos aquedutos que abasteciam a cidade de Roma. No ano 19 a.C., supostamente ajudados por uma virgem, técnicos romanos localizaram uma fonte de água pura a pouco mais de 22 quilômetros da cidade (cena representada em escultura na própria fonte, atualmente). A água desta fonte foi levada pelo menor aqueduto de Roma, diretamente para os banheiros de Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa e serviu a cidade por mais de 400 anos.

O "golpe de misericórdia" desferido pelos invasores godos em Roma foi dado com a destruição dos aquedutos, durante as Guerras Góticas. Os romanos durante a Idade Média tinham de abastecer-se da água de poços poluídos, e da pouco límpida água do rio Tibre, que também recebia os esgotos da cidade.

O antigo costume romano de erguer uma bela fonte ao final de um aqueduto que conduzia a água para a cidade foi reavivado no século XV, com a Renascença. Em 1453, o Papa Nicolau V, determinou que fosse consertado o aqueduto de Acqua Vergine, construindo ao seu final um simples receptáculo para receber a água, num projeto feito pelo arquiteto humanista Leon Battista Alberti.

Em 1629, o Papa Urbano VIII achou que a velha fonte era insuficientemente dramática e encomendou a Bernini alguns desenhos, mas quando o Papa faleceu o projeto foi abandonado. A última contribuição de Bernini foi reposicionar a fonte para o outro lado da praça a fim de que esta ficasse defronte ao Palácio do Quirinal (assim o Papa poderia vê-la e admirá-la de sua janela). Ainda que o projeto de Bernini tenha sido abandonado, existem na fonte muitos detalhes de sua idéia original.

Reformas

Muitas competições entre artistas e arquitetos tiveram lugar durante o Renascimento e o período Barroco para se redesenhar os edifícios, as fontes, e até mesmo a Scalinata di Piazza di Spagna (as escadarias da Praça de Espanha). Em 1730, o Papa Clemente XII organizou uma nova competição na qual Nicola Salvi foi derrotado, mas efetivamente terminou por realizar seu projeto. Este começou em 1732 e foi concluído em 1762, logo depois da morte de Clemente, quando o Netuno de Pietro Bracci foi afixado no nicho central da fonte.

Salvi morrera alguns anos antes, em 1751, com seu trabalho ainda pela metade, que manteve oculto por um grande biombo. A fonte foi concluída por Giuseppe Pannini, que substituiu as alegorias insossas que eram planejadas, representando Agrippa e Trivia, as virgens romanas, pelas belas esculturas de Netuno e seu séquito.

Restauro

A fonte foi restaurada em 1998; as esculturas foram limpas e polidas, e a fonte foi provida de bombas para circulação da água e sua oxigenação.

A fontana de Trevi e o cinema

Em 1964, foi lançado o filme que leva seu nome Fontana di Trevi - filmado pelo diretor Carlo Campogalliani.

O monumento foi o cenário de uma das cenas mais famosas do cinema italiano: em La Dolce Vita de Federico Fellini, Anita Ekberg entra na água e convida Marcello Mastroianni a fazer o mesmo.

Precedentemente, a fonte foi o cenário do filme estadunidense Three coins in the fontain, onde a fonte do título é a própria Fontana dei Trevi.

Em Tototruffa 62, Totò tenta vender a fonte a um turista.

A fonte aparece como fundo principal no videoclip da canção Thank You for Loving Me do grupo Bon Jovi.

English

The Trevi Fountain (Italian: Fontana di Trevi) is a fountain in the Trevi rione in Rome, Italy. Standing 26 metres (85.3 feet) high and 20 metres (65.6 feet) wide, it is the largest Baroque fountain in the city and one of the most famous fountains in the world.

The fountain at the junction of three roads (tre vie) marks the terminal point of the "modern" Acqua Vergine, the revived Aqua Virgo, one of the ancient aqueducts that supplied water to ancient Rome. In 19 BC, supposedly with the help of a virgin, Roman technicians located a source of pure water some 13 km (8 miles) from the city. (This scene is presented on the present fountain's façade.) However, the eventual indirect route of the aqueduct made its length some 22 km (14 miles). This Aqua Virgo led the water into the Baths of Agrippa. It served Rome for more than four hundred years. The coup de grâce for the urban life of late classical Rome came when the Goth besiegers in 537/38 broke the aqueducts. Medieval Romans were reduced to drawing water from polluted wells and the Tiber River, which was also used as a sewer.

The Roman custom of building a handsome fountain at the endpoint of an aqueduct that brought water to Rome was revived in the 15th century, with the Renaissance. In 1453, Pope Nicholas V finished mending the Acqua Vergine aqueduct and built a simple basin, designed by the humanist architect Leon Battista Alberti, to herald the water's arrival.

Commission, construction and design

In 1629 Pope Urban VIII, finding the earlier fountain insufficiently dramatic, asked Gian Lorenzo Bernini to sketch possible renovations, but when the Pope died, the project was abandoned. Though Bernini's project was torn down for Salvi's fountain, there are many Bernini touches in the fountain as it was built. An early, striking and influential model by Pietro da Cortona, preserved in the Albertina, Vienna, also exists, as do various early 18th century sketches, most unsigned, as well as a project attributed to Nicola Michetti[6] one attributed to Ferdinando Fuga and a French design by Edme Bouchardon.

Competitions had become the rage during the Baroque era to design buildings, fountains, and even the Spanish Steps. In 1730 Pope Clement XII organized a contest in which Nicola Salvi initially lost to Alessandro Galilei – but due to the outcry in Rome over the fact that a Florentine won, Salvi was awarded the commission anyway.[9] Work began in 1732, and the fountain was completed in 1762, long after Clement's death, when Pietro Bracci's Oceanus (god of all water) was set in the central niche.

The asso di coppe

Salvi died in 1751, with his work half-finished, but before he went he made sure a stubborn barber's unsightly sign would not spoil the ensemble, hiding it behind a sculpted vase, called by Romans the asso di coppe, the "Ace of Cups".

The Trevi Fountain was finished in 1762 by Giuseppe Pannini, who substituted the present allegories for planned sculptures of Agrippa and "Trivia", the Roman virgin.

Restoration

The fountain was refurbished in 1998; the stonework was scrubbed and the fountain provided with recirculating pumps.

The backdrop for the fountain is the Palazzo Poli, given a new facade with a giant order of Corinthian pilasters that link the two main stories. Taming of the waters is the theme of the gigantic scheme that tumbles forward, mixing water and rockwork, and filling the small square. Tritons guide Oceanus' shell chariot, taming hippocamps.

In the centre a robustly-modelled triumphal arch is superimposed on the palazzo façade. The centre niche or exedra framing Oceanus has free-standing columns for maximal light and shade. In the niches flanking Oceanus, Abundance spills water from her urn and Salubrity holds a cup from which a snake drinks. Above, bas reliefs illustrate the Roman origin of the aqueducts.

The tritons and horses provide symmetrical balance, with the maximum contrast in their mood and poses (by 1730, rococo was already in full bloom in France and Germany).

Coin throwing

A traditional legend holds that if visitors throw a coin into the fountain, they are ensured a return to Rome. Among those who are unaware that the "three coins" of Three Coins in the Fountain were thrown by three different individuals, a reported current interpretation is that two coins will lead to a new romance and three will ensure either a marriage or divorce. Another reported version of this legend is that it is lucky to throw three coins with one's right hand over one's left shoulder into the Trevi Fountain.

An estimated 3,000 euros are thrown into the fountain each day. The money has been used to subsidize a supermarket for Rome's needy. However, there are regular attempts to steal coins from the fountain.

Wikipedia

Donetsk, Feb 28 — Donetsk News Agency.

Mariupol authorities plan to launch tram service in the beginning of May to time the event with the 90th anniversary of the city tram system. The tram service has not operated since February 2022 due to considerable damage to its infrastructure.

Donetsk News Agency correspondents visited the Mariupol Tram Depot to see the preparations to relaunch the rail transit system. As of early 2022, the city had 70 tram cars; of those 36 were fully destroyed during hostilities. Overhead wires and tramway tracks also took much damage.

Tram Depot engineers and specialists from St Petersburg have repaired 20 tram cars; another 14 are next in line. The rebuilding of tram service infrastructure is ongoing. Tram Depot chief Anatoly Strizhenko said that the first tram route would be launched on May 1.

“Its length is five kilometers from the Depot to the endpoint next to City Hospital No 2, ” Strizhenko told DAN.

The Depot will operate 13 cars at the initial stage.

Mariupol launched its tram system on Mary 1, 1933. Previously, the city had seven tram routes.

There is a road that runs from Neah Bay to a trailhead parking lot for the Cape Flattery Trail. You can't see everything, though, and we didn't really have time for the 0.75-mile walk to Cape Flattery (a pity), but we did have time to miss a turn and accidentally take the road. This road is as close as a car can get to the exact northwestern corner of the United States (minus Alaska and Hawaii.) It's neither as far west nor as for north as you can go, but if you were going to draw a diagonal across the country, one of your endpoints would be here.

Two things to note:

1. See all that pretty sunlight piercing the fog? Hold onto that.

2. Sometimes I have "accidents" like this on purpose. This is how I drove across Lower Manhattan for the very first time in 1995, for instance, as my future ex-wife wasn't adventurous enough to let me do it intentionally. But here, we were burning daylight and tide, so this was not one of those intentional accidents. I'm glad I can mark this road off my map, but I really didn't mean to.

In early February 2020, the New York City Subway's Grand Central-Times Square Shuttle was on the verge of historic, disruptive, transformative change- change that was planned. The system as a whole though- and indeed, the city, nation, and world- were also on the verge of historic, disruptive, transformative change due to the emergence and spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the devastation wrought by it.

The IRT Times Square/Grand Central Shuttle runs a short distance under 42nd Street between two of the busiest and most important spots in all of New York City. It's a vital part of the subway system, linking the 1, 2, 3, 7, A, C, E, N, R, and Q train services at the enormous 42nd St - Times Square station complex to the 4, 5, 6, and 7 trains at Grand Central- and of course Metro-North's busy Hudson, Harlem and New Haven lines at Grand Central Terminal itself. The shuttle is especially historic, as for the first 14 years of its existence from 1904 to 1918, when services were reconfigured, it was an integral part of New York's "First Subway", the Interborough Rapid Transit line from City Hall to northern Manhattan. As such, there are many remnants of that era, mainly regarding Track 2, which was removed sometime after 1918- hence, for over a century the Shuttle has only, and officially, had Tracks 1, 3, and 4.

At the time of my visit, the shuttle line was about to undergo its greatest change in slightly over a century of existence, (other than a brief but revolutionary experiment with automated operation from 1959-1964) with both endpoint stations being rebuilt to smooth passenger flow, and the line simplified from its current 3-track arrangement to two tracks. This will involve complicated underground construction work that will ultimately improve and streamline service, but will significantly change the look and feel of the Shuttle.

Dam 07/05/2020 08h24

The Royal Palace, the famous balcony and a herd of pigeons waiting for food. The Dutch intelligent lockdown has its advantages.

Dam

Dam is a town square in Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands. Its notable buildings and frequent events make it one of the most well-known and important locations in the city and the country.

Dam Square lies in the historical center of Amsterdam, approximately 750 metres south of the main transportation hub, Centraal Station, at the original location of the dam in the river Amstel. It is roughly rectangular in shape, stretching about 200 metres from west to east and about 100 metres from north to south. It links the streets Damrak and Rokin, which run along the original course of the Amstel River from Centraal Station to Muntplein (Mint Square) and the Munttoren (Mint Tower). The Dam also marks the endpoint of the other well-traveled streets Nieuwendijk, Kalverstraat and Damstraat. A short distance beyond the northeast corner lies the main Red-light district: De Wallen.

On the west end of the square is the neoclassical Royal Palace, which served as the city hall from 1655 until its conversion to a royal residence in 1808. Beside it are the 15th-century Gothic Nieuwe Kerk (New Church) and the Madame Tussauds Amsterdam Wax Museum. The National Monument, a white stone pillar designed by J.J.P. Oud and erected in 1956 to memorialize the victims of World War II, dominates the opposite side of the square. Also overlooking the plaza are the NH Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky and the upscale department store De Bijenkorf. These various attractions have turned the Dam into a tourist zone.

The Dam derives its name from its original function: a dam on the Amstel River, hence also the name of the city.[1] Built in approximately 1270, the dam formed the first connection between the settlements on the sides of the river.

[ Source & More: Wikipedia - Dam (Square) ]

iss051e036121 (May 3, 2017) --- An over-the-shoulder look at Commander Peggy Whitson working inside the Microgravity Sciences Glovebox to change the media in the BioCell for the OsteoOmics experiment. Image was taken in the Destiny U.S. Laboratory. Gravitational Regulation of Osteoblast Genomics and Metabolism (OsteoOmics) aims to validate if magnetic levitation is a reasonable simulation of orbital free fall by measuring biological endpoints, such as signaling pathways and gene expression in osteoblast and osteoclast cells. Cells are exposed to a microgravity environment and ground based cells are exposed to magnetic levitation. If the validation is successful, then ground-based magnetic levitation will be an important ground-based tool to investigate the effect of gravitational force on biological systems.

This guy along with his few friends was playing race. A terrain race you can say. The deal was to climb up the steep road that too on a cycle and ride down to the endpoint. The one who does it in the least time wins the race. Well the technique this guy is using is something that even i preferred while riding. He is biking criss-cross the road as it reduces the inclination. although the distance increases still the gain in speed surpasses the distance and reduces the time to climb and consumes less energy as well.

Well luckily i could catch the same posture of the biker while riding. I am standing at almost the same place.

Far & Near....

At the Great Salt Lake, Utah

Rocky Beach, Big Sur Coastline. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell - all rights reserved.

A rocky beach near Willow Creek, rugged Big Sur coastline

The color of the ocean varies immensely along this California Big Sur coastline. The causes are varied. The water reflects the light, and that light can be dark and dramatic, soft and misty, or bright to the point of brilliance. The surface of the water, affected by wind and weather, has an effect — the water can be rough and textured or nearly glass smooth. The depth of the water and what lies beneath change the color — rocks, sand, kelp beds.

I'm fascinated by these locations, often in small bays, where the water is much lighter, a color that reminds me of lakes below glaciers. My theory is that in these locations the water is not very deep, and that the bottom must be sandy. In some spots I think that runoff or the action of waves on the shoreline may add sediment to the water. The little bay in this photograph is a spot where I often pause along this coast. But this time, as I returned from the southern endpoint of this day's drive, I stopped before I arrived there and photographed it from a distance.

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G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, "California's Fall Color: A Photographer's Guide to Autumn in the Sierra" is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

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Dam 16/12/2019 16h51

A merry Christmas from Amsterdam.

Dam

Dam (somtimes referred as 'Dam Square' by tourists) is a town square in Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands. Its notable buildings and frequent events make it one of the most well-known and important locations in the city and the country.

Dam Square lies in the historical center of Amsterdam, approximately 750 meters south of the main transportation hub, Centraal Station, at the original location of the dam in the river Amstel. It is roughly rectangular in shape, stretching about 200 meters from west to east and about 100 meters from north to south. It links the streets Damrak and Rokin, which run along the original course of the Amstel River from Centraal Station to Muntplein (Mint Square) and the Munttoren (Mint Tower). The Dam also marks the endpoint of the other well-traveled streets Nieuwendijk, Kalverstraat and Damstraat. A short distance beyond the northeast corner lies the main red-light district: de Wallen.

On the west end of the square is the neoclassical Royal Palace, which served as the city hall from 1655 until its conversion to a royal residence in 1808. Beside it are the 15th-century Gothic Nieuwe Kerk (New Church) and the Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. The National Monument, a white stone pillar designed by J.J.P. Oud and erected in 1956 to memorialize the victims of World War II, dominates the opposite side of the square. Also overlooking the plaza are the NH Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky and the upscale department store De Bijenkorf. These various attractions have turned the Dam into a tourist zone.

The Dam derives its name from its original function: a dam on the Amstel River, hence also the name of the city. Built in approximately 1270, the dam formed the first connection between the settlements on the sides of the river.

As the dam was gradually built up to it became wide enough for a town square, which remained the core of the town developing around it. Dam Square as it exists today grew out of what was originally two squares: the actual dam, called Middeldam; and Plaetse, an adjacent plaza to the west. A large fish market arose where ships moored at the dam to load and unload goods. The area became a centre not only of commercial activity but also of the government, as the site of Amsterdam's town hall.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]

Theme Rules:

The phrase “X marks the spot” often refers to a specific location, target, or goal. For this theme we want to see what your doll(s) is after. Is your doll a pirate following a map to a hidden treasure chest full of gold? Is your doll vacationing in a foreign city and following his/her visitors map to popular landmarks? Perhaps your doll is an entertainer and an X has been marked on the stage floor to show him/her where to stand. Or maybe your doll is an athlete practicing archery or crossing a finish line of a race. The only requirement for this theme is that there must be a doll and a marked endpoint or desired target somewhere in your photo.

Legolas has detected the target...

Very old handcut timber log home along historic Sullivan Trail in Forks Twp. north of Easton, Northampton County, Pennsylvania. The Sullivan Trail (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sullivan_Expedition) was cut through the wilderness here in 1779 and the Easton-Wilkes Barre Turnpike was opened to the public to Easton in 1815 so it is possibly that old. 05-02-13

UPDATE 2017: I think this house has been torn down!! I didn't see it last time I drove by!! I must double check it!! I sure hope no one demolished it!

UPDATE MAY 2017: IT IS GONE!!!!!!! I think maybe it must have had a bad case of termites or some sort of structural damage that it could not be saved. So sad.....

From Wikipedia:

History

Old roads

Most of what became PA 115 from Easton to Wilkes-Barre was originally a pathway made by General John Sullivan and his forces in 1779 during the American Revolutionary War on their expedition from Easton to the Wyoming Valley. George Washington ordered Sullivan to march upstream the Susquehanna River to join General James Clinton's brigade at the Bradford County town of Tioga (now known as Athens). Soon after, Sullivan's army departed to Newtown, New York where they defeated the Iroquois and Cayuga Indians living in Western New York. His campaign was one of the most important military movements in the American Revolution. The southernmost segment of General Sullivan's path which became part of PA 115 centuries later from Knox Avenue in Easton to PA 512 in Wind Gap is currently designated as Sullivan Trail.[3][4][5]

At the turn of the 19th century, the population and economy of Luzerne County continued to grow and there was a necessity for new roads to improve communication between distant settlements. Most of the early merchandise transportation in the area was done by Durham boats on the Lehigh and Susquehanna Rivers. This led Arnold Colt, a Luzerne County clerk, to construct a turnpike directly connecting the Wyoming and Lehigh Valleys on Sullivan's Trail. Colt then obtained a charter to incorporate the Easton and Wilkes-Barre Turnpike on February 11, 1803. The first 46 miles (74 km) of the turnpike from Wilkes-Barre to Wind Gap were finished by 1807. The road was completed by 1815 at a total expense of US$75,000.[3][6]

They are building a plank road to Slocum Hollow (now Scranton) to get to a railroad and they say that a man can get from Wilkes-Barre to New York in a day. It is almost beyond my belief. I wonder what will become of the old turnpike there is no more use for the old man and the old road.

Honorable Joseph Slocum, former president of the Easton and Wilkes-Barre Turnpike[7]

The turnpike was initially used as major thoroughfare for conveying grains and plaster during War of 1812. When Northampton County farmers could not afford shipped plaster from the Eastern seaboard they became interested in New York plaster. The plaster was transported from New York via the Susquehanna River then onto the turnpike on wagons and sleds. Transporting this product became the turnpike's legacy as it transformed the road into an important commercial line.[7]

By the 1850s, the transport industry heavily favored trains over wagons and sleds. In 1851, the Lackawanna and Western Railroad was completed, connecting Scranton to upstate New York. The new railroad shortened the time required to ship goods between the two endpoints from ten days (by way of roads) to just one. The amount of traffic on the turnpike declined as a result. By the 1850s, the turnpike company had folded and the highway was abandoned.[8] From Bear Creek to Tobyhanna Township the name Easton and Wilkes-Barre Road is still marked on PA 115. The former southern extension of PA 115 from Brodheadsville to Wind Gap is marked as the Wilkes-Barre Turnpike.[9][10]

Designation

Former southernmost alignment of PA 115 in Monroe and Northampton Counties.

When Pennsylvania began maintenance over roads by the way of the Sproul Road Bill in May 1911, the Luzerne County portion of present-day PA 115 was adopted as Legislative Route 169, the primary connector between Wilkes-Barre and the Poconos.[11] The former southernmost segment of the route from Saylorsburg to Easton was adopted as Legislative Route 166.[12] The first traffic routes were assigned in 1924 and by 1927, the state had assigned LR 169 as Pennsylvania Route 15 only to be renumbered the following year as PA 115.[1][13]

When PA 115 was commissioned in 1928, the road was mostly aligned east–west and stretched from US 220 in Montoursville to US 611 in Mount Pocono. From Swiftwater to Tobyhanna Township the road followed present-day PA 940 and PA 314. The former routing from Montoursville to Wilkes-Barre became PA 309, PA 118, PA 154, and PA 87.[14] During the Great Depression, the southern branch of PA 115 was lengthened to US 611 in Easton on the Sullivan Trail and the northern terminus was moved to the Montour County municipality of Mausdale along PA 254 and PA 642.[15][16]

After World War II, PA 115 was extended west to PA 14 (currently PA 405) in Milton on modern PA 642.[4] The northern terminus was moved from Milton to US 220 in Hughesville during the 1950s; this segment of the road followed what is now PA 118. By 1960, PA 115 was moved onto a limited-access road (now PA 33) from Saylorsburg to PA 512.[17] By 1962, the northern terminus of PA 115 was moved from Hughesville to US 309 (now PA 309 Business) in Wilkes-Barre Township.[18] In Wilkes-Barre, it used to followed Kidder Street, Butler Street, Main Street, Courtright Street, Carey Avenue, and crossed the Susquehanna River on Pierce Street.[19]

By 1972, the southern terminus was truncated from Easton to its current location.[20] The portion of PA 115's former surface alignment in Northampton County between Center Square in Easton and PA 191 in Stockertown is now designated as State Route 2025, an unsigned quadrant route.[19][21] PA 115 was extended back to its former alignments by 1980 via Kidder, Scott, Butler, and Pierce Streets through Wilkes-Barre and ended at US 11 in Kingston.[22] The route was truncated to PA 309 at the intersection of Kidder and Spring Streets in Wilkes-Barre by 1989. A year later, the northern terminus was moved to its current location when the North Cross-Valley Expressway (PA 309) was completed.[23][24]

Cornus Kousa flower.

This variation is based on the Soft Stained Glass preset in Topaz Studio 2. I try and reach differing endpoints from the same start as part of the fun.

Fo this one I blended a vignette layer back with Soft Light blend mode (in TS2) which strengthened the colours an set a vignette.

I liked the linear patterns...

See this version for more detail of the initial processing.

The first comment gives a link to the in-camera original I started with.

Thank you for taking the time to look. I hope you enjoy the image and the series :)

B23-7's #2213 & 2214 and U23B #2207 are switching train NH-1 at it's endpoint of Old Saybrook, CT on Amtrak's Shoreline. This train normally ran with units on both ends to facilitate quick switching moves on the busy corridor. 6/1/2000.(PW6962L)

BMO Vancouver Marathon is one of the biggest events in Vancouver. I still remember I participated two years in a row back then and got a pretty good result each time. Starting from last year, I decided to switch roles where I changed from runners to spectator.

Last year I wanted to take some photos but I woke up too late. By the time I woke up, the event was over. This time, I am very determined to get the shots done and I did. I took two lenses with me XF16-55mm and XF50-140mm. I used mostly XF50-140mm and got some great shots. In the end, I felt like I did a marathon myself as I ran from Queen Elizabeth Park to Kind Ed Station. Then I ran from Boardway Station to Cambie Bridge and walked all the way to the endpoint. I think it was a good morning exercise especially on Sunday! :)

More photos to come...I like this photo as the BMO runners outnumbered the cars haha...

Location: Vancouver, BC (Canada)

Nikon FM3a + expired Fuji Provia 400F.

Here it is on Soundcloud.

From interviewer Rainer Sternfeld: This is the 20th episode – as you know, every tenth episode we make is a special where I talk to someone who is of Estonian descent yet doesn’t speak the seemingly unintelligible language, or is a big friend of Estonia who is contributing to the success of Estonia.

We’re recording this on March 24 2017, and my guest today is an Estonian-American polymath, a world renowned venture capitalist, and the Estonia’s first e-resident outside Europe – Steve Jurvetson. In his day job, he invests in bold human endeavors in quantum computing, deep learning, electric cars, rockets, synthetic biology, genomics, robotics, and other areas.

In this podcast you’ll hear us cover a wide variety of brain-stimulating topics:

His technology-infused, Estonian-subtext upbringing in Arizona

How chip design and computing is undergoing a fundamental shift using biomimicry?

Why learning 9 programming languages is not as hard as 9 human languages, and what advice does he give to young people starting out in technology?

How does he think about the future of humanity in the light of accelerating rich-poor gap, automation, and why will robots be the slaves, not humans?

and his thoughts on why Estonia is competitive on the world stage.

Fasten your seatbelts!

Quotes

“If you didn’t understand evolution, and somebody explains it to you, you have to take your ego down a notch. You have to say: “Wait a minute. So humanity is not the endpoint of purposeful design? Wait – we’re just kind of an accident?!””

“I think we are currently in the middle of a major renaissance in how we do computation and how we actually think of engineering in general. I think it is shifting profoundly, almost as profoundly as when we first came up with the concept of the scientific method as a way to accumulate knowledge as a species over time. Something as profound is happening in the field of machine intelligence.”

“What fascinates me is that our humanity’s capacity to compute has compounded over 120 years and across multiple technology modes including mechanical devices etc. The main takeaway for me that is so powerful is there is I think a reflection here of a huge phenomenon, even bigger than computers themselves, which is humanity’s information reserve — our knowledge, our learning is compounding.”

“In terms of advice, first of all, I think that everyone should learn computer science. Do it young, do it early, do it often. Most importantly, I would encourage people, once they have had any taste of CS, to force themselves to play around with neural networks, whatever they will call it in the future. The core of it is neural networks patterned on the brain.”

“It sort of clicked for me that there are power laws in income (meaning it looks in and there are power laws in the number of companies that succeed in the information age businesses. As businesses succeed, they become information-centric and global, it tends to be winner takes all dynamic. Couple that with the notion that I strongly believe every business becomes an information business over time, just at different rates of speed. … The worries around AI should be centered on the concentration of power and I think OpenAI is spot on to say let’s look to Google, should one company be that powerful?”

from Memokraat

Jingili Water Gardens day 8-10

In a social environment, each repeating action is slightly different, even when social interactions are limited to a few actors and a limited range of actions is undertaken.

Walking past a stranger and muttering 'good morning' or making a hand or facial gesture, whilst limited is also grounding. Each repeated action improves the experience of the activity. The smile gets bigger and ignoring more pronounced. The gesture shifts from novel to heightened and then to automation. Simple transactions fall into the shadows or normality. The gesture occurs without realization. It is systematized. Is there a way of not plateauing into reductive repetitive activity and to continually improve the experience?

Perhaps gamification? For example, one reaction for one person and another for another person.

My original and prior thoughts were that continuous and repeated actions inhibit each transaction's ability to adapt. So mix it up - change hand & facial gestures - make the play in how the transaction initiates and concludes. Perhaps, switch the which side of the path the transaction occurs. This way the humanness within the transaction transpires the actual activity of walking on a designated and identical path. At what point does this approach breakthrough social norms to become non-sensical or even perceived as a threat?

Obviously, the superficialness of the greeting of unknown people within a simple scenario is different than that of a more complex scenario like greeting known co-workers every morning where discussion is likely to occur. However, the question of improving transactions in social media platforms is comparable. At what time does liking the same person's creative post stop having a sense of quality or uplifting emotion and enters the realm of superficial habit. Doing it because that is what you do or gaming up by employing emojis, comments, and self-promotional statements/links. There is creative opportunities within each transaction within systemic understandings acceptable norms.

It would be stupid if I thought that after 10 days of visiting Jingili Water Gardens, at more or less the same time and following the same path my ability to adapt would be stunted. After 10 circuits over 10 days, I am starting to anticipate what I will most likely encounter, and surprises become significant. It is enjoyable crossing paths with the same people, dogs, and birds. I do enjoy how the sun interacts with the trees and other artifacts within the gardens. Like a game of chess, I am seeing possibilities and anticipating what I can do. I can forecast that if I repeated my actions over a year, my structural, physiological, and behavioral insights would become finer and finer. If I could maintain this level of reflection, the data I collect on each and every transaction would compound, and my knowledge would transcend to a new level of expertise. If I do not maintain this level of reflection will the activity become a chore and a lockin

The promise of Artificial Intelligence and automation is about freeing us from the tyranny of repetitive tasks. Is reflection a burden and will AI extend its capacity to respond on my behalf? More importantly, will I employ it? The symbiotic relationship of walking through Jingili Water Gardens and reflective writing has enabled a creative response. Combined, both repetitive activities required time and effort, dedication and discipline to gain a semblance of personal reward. My simple question is - how do humans gain expertise of intrinsic satisfaction without engaging repetition? My more complex question regards the systematization of Artificial Intelligence and the problem of freedom without repetition.

If the promise is, freedom from repetition enables people to engage in more complex endeavors, however, how do we step up to more complex endeavors without repetition? How does that work in teaching? Will that mean teaching will become more complex, learning will increase and creativity will flourish?

In regards to creating great music, can this be done without developing a skills platform? Iterative improvement, through a step and repeat based process, can create exceptional art. Jackson Pollock achieved remarkable paintings through a repetitive action-based methodology. Despite the similarities, not one of his paintings is a replicant. At the heart, Pollock's artistic creativity is both repetition and reflection. On this basis, the complexity of reflection increases the output enriches. This leads to the next question if creativity is based on iterative improvement at what point is improvement non-recognizable.

Baldessari Cremation Project highlights the normality plateau many repetitive creatives find themselves - that is an expression that relies on iterative improvement eventually recycles and becomes reductive.

In regards to Jingili Water Gardens, how many repeated walks and how much reflection can be applied before reduction occurs and I am basically recycling? I will not reach this realization as I know that the repetitive loop will be broken once I return to work. So on this realization, this is my last Jingili Water Garden reflection.

What have I learned from the experience and reflection?

My quest was to discipline myself into a repetitive activity to question 'just doing it' normality, to observe freedom, and to self impose restricted actions within societal restrictions to find a path forward that increased my creatively in the twilight years of my professional career and address ways of re-entering an artistic career post 60. I believe that I have found a nebulous idea and my next logical step is to goal map creative growth across education and artistic expressions. There are two systems I need to reevaluate and build within. My creativity will be essentially adaptive. That is from within.

Since I graduated in 1981 as an artist and 1983 as an educator much has changed. Within the contemporary art realm, narrative, identity, and experience have become an increasingly important design agent. There are more people who are interested in contemporary art, there are more gallery agents, more venues, more ways to publicize and make publication. Studio arts have exponentiated into a wider scoped creative arts industry. What I can observe is that contemporary art is moving from the margin towards the center. The arts industry seems more professional and commercial in that it not only operates in elite circles but on a mass scale based on a smaller price dividend. Art events are becoming more and more spectacular. As this growth has broadened user base, traditional media-based fine art products have shifted from the leading thought to that of the level of craft. It has found it's based on media specialization. Technology has shifted contemporary artists from producing and refining style to seeking new modes of critical dialogue. The artist-as-genius model has expired. Wow - how do I step into this paradigm?

The expansion of education into society has significantly transformed society. When I entered university it was a privilege of the few. Most students did not complete their senior secondary school. Perhaps the biggest change has been in the realm of completion to “lifelong learning. There is no endpoint. The link between national growth and personal growth through formal education is established. National growth, human capital, and educational attainment underlines human prosperity. I need to question my hierarchical status. Do I remain operational in my current position and incrementally improve until I reach reduction or do I break the loop into a new paradigm of improvement?

What I have gained from the repetitive walks through Jingili Water Gardens and applied reflection is that the creative system is the system thinking. For creativity to benefit systems it cannot be as simple as - get another idea and then just do it. The components that form a system must be viewed as a whole and thinking as a whole. A creative system observes itself thinking throughout its own repetitive iterations. It takes time and thinking discipline for systems to realize creativity. Systems lose creative scope and become reductive and deprecatory. These systems need to reflect on their repetitive artifacts.

Read more: www.jjfbbennett.com/2020/07/darwin-jingili-water-gardens-...

One-off sponsorship: www.paypal.me/bennettJJFB

North of Redding, the Sacramento River Rail Trail links with the Sacramento River Trail, forming an extensive paved trail network that offers stunning views of the river and nearby mountains throughout its length.

From the southern trailhead at Keswick Dam, the Sacramento River Rail Trail heads steeply northwest along Keswick Reservoir for nearly 3 miles through dense woodlands. At the trail junction near Spring Creek, continue right at the start of the much flatter rail-trail portion, which follows the old Central Pacific Railroad bed for more than 7 miles north. (A left turn instead leads to a small trailhead on Iron Mountain Road a short distance away.)

The remainder of the route continues to follow the former rail corridor on the western edge of Keswick Reservoir, offering beautiful views of the crystal-clear water. From the trail's northern endpoint on Coram Road, continue northeast on-road to reach Shasta Dam. The impressive dam—the eighth tallest in the United States—is responsible for the creation of Shasta Lake, a popular recreation destination for Northern Californians.

Back at the southern end of the trail at smaller Keswick Dam, pick up the Sacramento River Trail to continue south to Redding and its famous Sundial Bridge.

Photo by Jesse Pluim, BLM

Dam 17/05/2018 16h00

Soap bubble artist at work in the middle of the Dam in the center of Amsterdam. Entertainment for young and old.

Dam

Dam (somtimes referred as 'Dam Square' by tourists) is a town square in Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands. Its notable buildings and frequent events make it one of the most well-known and important locations in the city and the country.

Dam Square lies in the historical center of Amsterdam, approximately 750 meters south of the main transportation hub, Centraal Station, at the original location of the dam in the river Amstel. It is roughly rectangular in shape, stretching about 200 meters from west to east and about 100 meters from north to south. It links the streets Damrak and Rokin, which run along the original course of the Amstel River from Centraal Station to Muntplein (Mint Square) and the Munttoren (Mint Tower). The Dam also marks the endpoint of the other well-traveled streets Nieuwendijk, Kalverstraat and Damstraat. A short distance beyond the northeast corner lies the main red-light district: de Wallen.

On the west end of the square is the neoclassical Royal Palace, which served as the city hall from 1655 until its conversion to a royal residence in 1808. Beside it are the 15th-century Gothic Nieuwe Kerk (New Church) and the Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. The National Monument, a white stone pillar designed by J.J.P. Oud and erected in 1956 to memorialize the victims of World War II, dominates the opposite side of the square. Also overlooking the plaza are the NH Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky and the upscale department store De Bijenkorf. These various attractions have turned the Dam into a tourist zone.

The Dam derives its name from its original function: a dam on the Amstel River, hence also the name of the city. Built in approximately 1270, the dam formed the first connection between the settlements on the sides of the river.

As the dam was gradually built up to it became wide enough for a town square, which remained the core of the town developing around it. Dam Square as it exists today grew out of what was originally two squares: the actual dam, called Middeldam; and Plaetse, an adjacent plaza to the west. A large fish market arose where ships moored at the dam to load and unload goods. The area became a centre not only of commercial activity but also of the government, as the site of Amsterdam's town hall.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]

...and then, the weather changed quite dramatically. Nearing its (temporary) endpoint at Pau - due to the line onwards to Lourdes being closed as a consequence of the flooding of the Gave de Pau mid-June - is TGV 8572 from Paris-Montparnasse. In the background, the Château de Pau. Note the inclined, MIDI-style catenary. Pau, 05-08-2013.

Links NS El3 2863 en rechts GVBA emr 623 aan de respectievelijke eindpunten van hun lijnen. Deze "crosplatform" overstap tussen trein en tram hield niet lang daarna op te bestaan als gevolg van de aanleg van de Zuidtak waarvoor het station RAI volledig werd vernieuwd.

To the left NS El3 2863 and to the right GVBA emr 623 at their endpoints off their respectievelijk lines. Soon afterwards the crossplatform connection between train and tram was over because off the building from a new station RAI.

Zaterdag 12 januari 2013

Ook TXL is een standaard klant - TXL 189 293 + 189 294 (DT) met een beladen kolentrein op weg naar Oberhausen Osterfeld (D) - locwissel naar Dloc en naar eindbestemming Duisburg Hochfeld (D).

English

Saterday the 12th of January 2013

Another regular customer - TXL 189 293 + 189 294 (DT) haul a loaded coal train passing Herwijnen over the BR on its way to Oberhausen Osterfeld (G) where a change to Dloc takes place unto endpoint Duisburg Hochfeld (G).

Dam Square, or simply the Dam (Dutch: de Dam), is a town square in Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands. Its notable buildings and frequent events make it one of the most well-known and important locations in the city.

Dam Square lies in the historical center of Amsterdam, approximately 750 meters south of the main transportation hub, Centraal Station, at the original location of the dam in the river Amstel. It is roughly rectangular in shape, stretching about 200 meters from west to east and about 100 meters from north to south.

It links the streets Damrak and Rokin, which run along the original course of the Amstel River from Centraal Station to Muntplein (Mint Square) and the Munttoren (Mint Tower).

The Dam also marks the endpoint of the other well-traveled streets Nieuwendijk, Kalverstraat and Damstraat. A short distance beyond the northeast corner lies the main red-light district: de Wallen.

On the west end of the square is the neoclassical Royal Palace, which served as the city hall from 1655 until its conversion to a royal residence in 1808. Beside it are the 15th-century Gothic Nieuwe Kerk (New Church) and the Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum.

The National Monument, a white stone pillar designed by J.J.P. Oud and erected in 1956 to memorialise the victims of World War II, dominates the opposite side of the square.

Also overlooking the plaza are the NH Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky and the upscale department store De Bijenkorf. These various attractions have turned the Dam into a tourist zone.

CHERific PKB nearing Route 2 Endpoint!

CHER Transport | 52-208 | UD SR PKB fleet by CMC/Santarosa Motor Works, Inc. (SRWMI - Philippines)

🚏 Rationalized Route Assigned in Route 2: Monumento - PITX (under Mega Manila Consortium Corporation)

🚏 Original / Authorized Franchise Route: Pacita Complex - Navotas via EDSA

🕙 Date Taken on December 20, 2021 • 11:45 AM

📍 Photo Shot Location @ Near 5th Ave. LRT Line 1 Station, Rizal Ave. Ext., East Grace Park, Caloocan City

#MacBusEnthusiast #BehindTheBusSpottingPhotography @macbusenthusiastph

#BusesInThePhilippines #ProudlyPinoyMade #LoveLocals #JapaneseStandards #JapaneseTechnology #UDBus #SantarosaPKB #CMC #Santarosa #CHERTransport

Fontana di Trevi

Um texto, em português, da Wikipédia, a Enciclopédia livre:

A Fontana di Trevi (Fonte dos trevos, em português) é a maior (cerca de 26 metros de altura e 20 metros de largura) e mais ambiciosa construção de fontes barrocas da Itália e está localizada na rione Trevi, em Roma.

A fonte situava-se no cruzamento de três estradas (tre vie), marcando o ponto final do Acqua Vergine, um dos mais antigos aquedutos que abasteciam a cidade de Roma. No ano 19 a.C., supostamente ajudados por uma virgem, técnicos romanos localizaram uma fonte de água pura a pouco mais de 22 quilômetros da cidade (cena representada em escultura na própria fonte, atualmente). A água desta fonte foi levada pelo menor aqueduto de Roma, diretamente para os banheiros de Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa e serviu a cidade por mais de 400 anos.

O "golpe de misericórdia" desferido pelos invasores godos em Roma foi dado com a destruição dos aquedutos, durante as Guerras Góticas. Os romanos durante a Idade Média tinham de abastecer-se da água de poços poluídos, e da pouco límpida água do rio Tibre, que também recebia os esgotos da cidade.

O antigo costume romano de erguer uma bela fonte ao final de um aqueduto que conduzia a água para a cidade foi reavivado no século XV, com a Renascença. Em 1453, o Papa Nicolau V determinou fosse consertado o aqueduto de Acqua Vergine, construindo ao seu final um simples receptáculo para receber a água, num projeto feito pelo arquiteto humanista Leon Battista Alberti.

Em 1629, o Papa Urbano VIII achou que a velha fonte era insuficientemente dramática e encomendou a Bernini alguns desenhos, mas quando o Papa faleceu o projeto foi abandonado. A última contribuição de Bernini foi reposicionar a fonte para o outro lado da praça a fim de que esta ficasse defronte ao Palácio do Quirinal (assim o Papa poderia vê-la e admirá-la de sua janela). Ainda que o projeto de Bernini tenha sido abandonado, existem na fonte muitos detalhes de sua idéia original.

Muitas competições entre artistas e arquitetos tiveram lugar durante o Renascimento e o período Barroco para se redesenhar os edifícios, as fontes, e até mesmo a Scalinata di Piazza di Spagna (as escadarias da Praça de Espanha). Em 1730, o Papa Clemente XII organizou uma nova competição na qual Nicola Salvi foi derrotado, mas efetivamente terminou por realizar seu projeto. Este começou em 1732 e foi concluído em 1762, logo depois da morte de Clemente, quando o Netuno de Pietro Bracci foi afixado no nicho central da fonte.

Salvi morrera alguns anos antes, em 1751, com seu trabalho ainda pela metade, que manteve oculto por um grande biombo. A fonte foi concluída por Giuseppe Pannini, que substituiu as alegorias insossas que eram planejadas, representando Agrippa e Trivia, as virgens romanas, pelas belas esculturas de Netuno e seu séquito.

A fonte foi restaurada em 1998; as esculturas foram limpas e polidas, e a fonte foi provida de bombas para circulação da água e sua oxigenação.

A text, in english, From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

The fountain at the junction of three roads (tre vie) marks the terminal point of the "modern" Acqua Vergine, the revivified Aqua Virgo, one of the ancient aqueducts that supplied water to ancient Rome. In 19 BC, supposedly with the help of a virgin, Roman technicians located a source of pure water some 13 km (8 miles) from the city. (This scene is presented on the present fountain's façade.) However, the eventual indirect route of the aqueduct made its length some 22 km (14 miles). This Aqua Virgo led the water into the Baths of Agrippa. It served Rome for more than four hundred years. The coup de grâce for the urban life of late classical Rome came when the Goth besiegers in 537/38 broke the aqueducts. Medieval Romans were reduced to drawing water from polluted wells and the Tiber River, which was also used as a sewer.

The Roman custom of building a handsome fountain at the endpoint of an aqueduct that brought water to Rome was revived in the 15th century, with the Renaissance. In 1453, Pope Nicholas V finished mending the Acqua Vergine aqueduct and built a simple basin, designed by the humanist architect Leon Battista Alberti, to herald the water's arrival.

In 1629 Pope Urban VIII, finding the earlier fountain insufficiently dramatic, asked Bernini to sketch possible renovations, but when the Pope died, the project was abandoned. Bernini's lasting contribution was to resite the fountain from the other side of the square to face the Quirinal Palace (so the Pope could look down and enjoy it). Though Bernini's project was torn down for Salvi's fountain, there are many Bernini touches in the fountain as it was built. An early, striking and influential model by Pietro da Cortona, preserved in the Albertina, Vienna, also exists, as do various early 18th century sketches, most unsigned, as well as a project attributed to Nicola Michetti, one attributed to Ferdinando Fuga and a French design by Edme Bouchardon.

Competitions had become the rage during the Baroque era to design buildings, fountains, and even the Spanish Steps. In 1730 Pope Clement XII organized a contest in which Nicola Salvi initially lost to Alessandro Galilei — but due to the outcry in Rome over the fact that a Florentine won, Salvi was awarded the commission anyway. Work began in 1732, and the fountain was completed in 1762, long after Clement's death, when Pietro Bracci's Oceanus (god of all water) was set in the central niche.

Salvi died in 1751, with his work half-finished, but before he went he made sure a stubborn barber's unsightly sign would not spoil the ensemble, hiding it behind a sculpted vase, called by Romans the asso di coppe, "the "Ace of Cups".

The Trevi Fountain was finished in 1762 by Giuseppe Pannini, who substituted the present allegories for planned sculptures of Agrippa and "Trivia", the Roman virgin.

The fountain was refurbished in 1998; the stonework was scrubbed and the fountain provided with recirculating pumps.

The backdrop for the fountain is the Palazzo Poli, given a new facade with a giant order of Corinthian pilasters that link the two main stories. Taming of the waters is the theme of the gigantic scheme that tumbles forward, mixing water and rockwork, and filling the small square. Tritons guide Oceanus' shell chariot, taming seahorses (hippocamps).

In the center is superimposed a robustly modelled triumphal arch. The center niche or exedra framing Oceanus has free-standing columns for maximal light-and-shade. In the niches flanking Oceanus, Abundance spills water from her urn and Salubrity holds a cup from which a snake drinks. Above, bas reliefs illustrate the Roman origin of the aqueducts.

The tritons and horses provide symmetrical balance, with the maximum contrast in their mood and poses (by 1730, rococo was already in full bloom in France and Germany).

A traditional legend holds that if visitors throw a coin into the fountain, they are ensured a return to Rome. Among those who are unaware that the "three coins" of Three Coins in the Fountain were thrown by three different individuals, a reported current interpretation is that two coins will lead to a new romance and three will ensure either a marriage or divorce. A reported current version of this legend is that it is lucky to throw three coins with one's right hand over one's left shoulder into the Trevi Fountain.

Approximately 3,000 Euros are thrown into the fountain each day and are collected at night. The money has been used to subsidize a supermarket for Rome's needy. However, there are regular attempts to steal coins from the fountain.

Rollei 35,

Made in Singapore, 1966 ~ 1974

Lens : Tessar 3,5/40, license build by Rollei.

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From the first Testfilm after repair of the Gear, March 2021.

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Buggenum (NL),

Endpoint of the railway bridge across the river Maas.

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Film Kodak Colorplus 200.

Scanner Plustek Opticfilm 120 Pro at 5300ppi, downscaled to 2048 pixels width.

Sharpening, IR-Dustremoval, exposure, contrast and color adjustments in PSE11.

On the way back from the endpoint of our railroad bicycle trip, we were right behind the guides. Contax IIIa, Santa Color 100, ECN-2 development.

Our endpoint was at the first little lake beyond Chester. It began to rain at this time, so we did not venture beyond here today.

Dam | Damstraat 19/04/2020 15h28

Never seen this corner from this angle. The corner of the Dam and Damstraat with on the corner Café Zwart and chinese japanese fusion restaurant Adiadam.

Dam

Dam is a town square in Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands. Its notable buildings and frequent events make it one of the most well-known and important locations in the city and the country.

Dam (Square) lies in the historical center of Amsterdam, approximately 750 metres south of the main transportation hub, Centraal Station, at the original location of the dam in the river Amstel. It is roughly rectangular in shape, stretching about 200 metres from west to east and about 100 metres from north to south. It links the streets Damrak and Rokin, which run along the original course of the Amstel River from Centraal Station to Muntplein (Mint Square) and the Munttoren (Mint Tower). The Dam also marks the endpoint of the other well-traveled streets Nieuwendijk, Kalverstraat and Damstraat. A short distance beyond the northeast corner lies the main Red-light district: De Wallen.

On the west end of the square is the neoclassical Royal Palace, which served as the city hall from 1655 until its conversion to a royal residence in 1808. Beside it are the 15th-century Gothic Nieuwe Kerk (New Church) and the Madame Tussauds Amsterdam Wax Museum. The National Monument, a white stone pillar designed by J.J.P. Oud and erected in 1956 to memorialize the victims of World War II, dominates the opposite side of the square. Also overlooking the plaza are the NH Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky and the upscale department store De Bijenkorf. These various attractions have turned the Dam into a tourist zone.

The Dam derives its name from its original function: a dam on the Amstel River, hence also the name of the city.[1] Built in approximately 1270, the dam formed the first connection between the settlements on the sides of the river.

[ Source & More: Wikipedia - Dam (Square) ]

In April 2012, I have started the project to scan the best photos in my personal archive, from the time I did not yet have a digital camera. Due to the fact that they are scanned images, the quality may be a bit poorer than what you are used to from me. Apart from that, I was younger then (I've started in 1998, when I was 13 years old), so composition and lighting may not be up to standards. Nonetheless, some documents are historic by now.

The summer of 2004 was the last summer of the famed gas turbine multiple units – or "Turbotrains" – in France. In general (that is, excluding a one-of-a-kind prototype locomotive from 1952 and another two-locomotive prototype class CC 80000, nicknamed «Belphégor»), only two classes of multiple units have been in service: the somewhat older "Eléments à Turbine à Gaz" ETG, which possessed the peculiarity of having one motor car equipped with the turbo-powered engine, and the other one with a conventional diesel engine; and the slightly more recent RTG (Rames à Turbine à Gaz), or "Ratagaz" of which the last units held out on the Bordeaux-Lyon route until 2004.

The main reason for that is that that route acumulates a staggering four (!) changes of direction underway (that is, not counting the endpoints): in Périgueux, St. Sulpice-Laurière, Gannat and St. Germain des Fossés, the train had to leave in the same direction as where it came from. Therefore, loco-hauled services were not very practical, but replacement DMUs were no really available. After the summer of 2004, the trains were finally replaced by exactly that, a loco-hauled consist, with a prolongation of the travel time by roughly an hour. A few years later again, X 72500 class DMUs replaced those trains.

Here, train 4480 from Bordeaux St. Jean (departure 10:42AM) to Lyon-Perrache (arrival 6:33PM) is departing from Limoges-Bénédictins station. It will run northbound on the Paris-Toulouse (or rather Les Aubrais-Montauban) main line for about 33 kilometres, before turning east - after a reversal, of course. The trainset on duty that day, carrying one number for each motor car as was customary, was headed by T 2035 and pushed by T 2036. Under normal circumstances, only the turbo engine at the back of the train was used (except when accelerating, like on this photo), to save the driver from the sauna effect in the cabin when the turbo engine right behind him was working, and developing tremendous heat as a by-product. Limoges-Bénédictins, April 2004.

A little less than a month or so ago, my brother designed me a 6-track long functional (weight bearing) single-track train bridge in the real world. (This was designed and built by him in less than a day after I expressed a need for another small-size bridge.) I then added railings and recreated it digitally just in case I had any issues with it or wanted to modify it. This MOC is designed to be slung between two tables, and works beautifully as a single track bridge.

More recently, I decided to add a second track and as such two more sets of latitudinal supports were placed underneath to make it even stronger now that the load it has to carry has doubled. The longitudinal supports were also lengthened to support the larger bridge deck and the second track.

This thing is built using many layers of overlapping plates and bricks. It is SOLID, though the endpoints that rest on the table without support underneath could be a weak point if a heavy enough train crosses the bridge. I'll have to see about modifying it to correct this slight oversight.

NS 23K from Massachusetts rolls along the Skyway at Stony Island Avenue with an ex-BN three-piece cab SD60M on point. The train is only a few minutes away from its endpoint at 55th Street Yard.

Brohltalbahn 26.12.2014: Am zweiten Weihnachtsfeiertag führte die Brohltalbahn wieder ihre beliebte Weihnachtsfahrt durch. Unterwegs besuchte der Nikolaus den Zug und am Endpunkt Engeln gab es eine Wanderung.

Day after Christmas the Brohltalbahn again led by their popular Christmas trip. On the way visited St. Nicholas the train and at the endpoint at Engeln there was a hike.

Name: Queenscliff.

Location: Victoria, Australia.

Map: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Victoria_in_Australia.svg

Population: 1,416.

Queenscliff is a small town on the Bellarine Peninsula in southern Victoria, Australia, south of Swan Bay at the entrance to Port Phillip. The Bellarine Peninsula is a peninsula located southwest of Melbourne. Queenscliff is a former 1880s seaside resort now known for its Victorian era heritage and tourist industry and as one of the endpoints of the Searoad ferry to Sorrento.

History

In 23 000 BC-1836 AD

Prior to European settlement, the area was inhabited by the Bengalat Bulag clan of the Wautharong tribe, a member of the Kulin nation. The Kulin nation was an alliance of five Indigenous Australian nations in central Victoria, Australia, prior to European settlement, that spoke related languages. The Wathaurong tribe lived in the area for at least the last 25,000 years. European explorers first arrived in 1802, Lieutenant John Murray (1775-1807) in January and Captain Matthew Flinders (1774-1814) in April. John Murray was a seaman and explorer. He was the first European to discover Port Phillip, the bay on which the cities of Melbourne and Geelong are situated. He is believed to be born in Edinburgh and began his naval career as an able seaman in 1789. Matthew Flinders was a distinguished navigator and cartographer, who was the first to circumnavigate Australia and identify it as a continent. He was born in Donington, England.

The first European settler in the area (Queenscliff) was convict escapee William Buckley (1776-1856) between 1803 and 1835, latterly in a cave beneath the Point Lonsdale Lighthouse, with the local Aborigines. William Buckley was an English convict who was transported to Australia, escaped, was given up for dead and lived in an Aboriginal community for many years. Buckley's improbable survival is believed by many Australians to be the source of the vernacular phrase "you've got Buckley's or none" (or simply "you've got Buckley's"), which means no chance.

William Buckley was born in Cheshire, England. He was apprenticed to a bricklayer, but left to enlist in the King's Foot Regiment. He was soon transferred to the King's Own Regiment. In 1799, his regiment went to the Netherlands to fight against Napoleon, under the command of the Duke of York where he injured his hand. Later, in London, Buckley was convicted of knowingly receiving a bolt of stolen cloth. He insisted he was carrying it for a woman and did not know it was stolen. He was sentenced to transportation to New South Wales for 14 years. Buckley left England in April 1803 aboard HMS Calcutta, one of two ships sent to Port Phillip to form a new settlement under Lieutenant-Colonel David Collins. They arrived in October 1803, and anchored off the south-eastern side of the bay, near modern day Sorrento. The new settlement, called Sullivan Bay, subject to drought and poor soils, soon ran into problems and they started to abandon the site in January 1804, with the remainder leaving in June. After hearing that the settlement was about to move to Tasmania, on 27 December 1803 at 9 pm, Buckley and several other convicts cut loose a boat and made their escape to the shore. They made their way around the bay, and the party split up in the vicinity of present day Melbourne. His companions went northeast, hoping to reach Sydney, which they thought was not far, although it was 622 miles away. Buckley, tired and dehydrated, continued alone around the bay.

During the weeks following his escape, Buckley avoided contact with Aboriginal people, travelling around Port Phillip Bay as far as the Bellarine Peninsula. He met a group of Wathaurung women, several months after his escape. Buckley had taken a spear used to mark a grave for use as a walking stick. The women befriended him after recognising the spear as belonging to a relative who had recently died and invited him back to their camp. Believed to be the returned spirit of the former tribesman, he was joyfully welcomed and adopted by the group. They treated him with great kindness. He also began to learn their language. For the next thirtytwo years, he continued to live among the Wathaurung people on the Bellarine Peninsula being treated with great affection and respect. By virtue of his age and peaceful ways, Buckley became a person of considerable respect among his people and his voice was influential in deciding matters of war and peace. Though despite this, he was banned from participating in tribal wars. He had at least two Aboriginal wives and almost certainly a daughter by one of them. According to Buckley, warfare was a central part of life among the Australian hunter-gatherers. He had often witnessed wars. This information was uniquely important as little is known about warfare among pre-agricultural peoples.

On 6 July 1835, William Buckley appeared at the camp site of John Batman's Port Phillip Association with a party of Aboriginal people who had told him about the sighting of a ship at Indented Head. The three European men at the camp were William Todd, James Gumm and Alexander Thomson. They fed him and treated him with kindness. Buckley showed them the letters "W.B." tattooed on his arm. Fearful of being shot, he told them he was a shipwrecked soldier, but a few days later he revealed his identity, to the amazement of everybody present. In September the same year, he was granted a pardon by Lieutenant Governor Arthur, in Tasmania. In 1836, Buckley was given the position of interpreter to the natives and as a guide for Captain Foster Fyans. His knowledge of the Aboriginal language was put to good use. By late 1837, Buckley had become disenchanted with his new way of life and the people around him. He therefore left for Tasmania. He remained there for the next nineteen years until his death in 1856. On 27 June 1840, he was married to Julia Eager, at St. John's Church, New Town, by the Reverend T. J. Ewing. Buckley died in 1856 at the age of 80, when he fell off his gig at Greenpond near Hobart.

In 1836-1889

Permanent settlement in Queenscliff began in 1836 when squatters arrived in the area known as Whale Head. The name was changed to Shortland's Bluff in honour of Lieutenant John Shortland, who assisted in the surveying of Port Phillip. Land sales began in 1853, the same year the name was changed to Queenscliff by Lieutenant Charles La Trobe, in honour of Queen Victoria. The Post Office opened on 1 May 1853 as Shortland's Bluff and was renamed Queenscliff in 1854.

Originally a fishing village, Queenscliff soon became an important cargo port, servicing steamships trading in Port Philip. A shipping pilot service was established in 1841 and its two lighthouses, the High and Low Lights, were constructed in 1862-63. Queenscliff also played an important military role. Fort Queenscliff was built between 1879 and 1889 and operated as the command centre for a network of forts around the port.

In 1879-1950

Queenscliff became a tourist destination in the late 19th century. Some visitors arrived from Melbourne after a two-hour journey on the paddle steamer, Ozone. The Ozone was a ship built in 1886 near Glasgow, in Scotland. She could exceed 17 kts and is regarded as one of the finest paddle steamers ever built. Ozone was commissioned by the Bay Excursion Company and relocated to Australia, where she became a great favourite on Port Phillip Bay, in Victoria, and remained in service there for many years. The Ozone's first bay excursion was on 18 December 1886, when she commenced a run between Melbourne and Queenscliff.

The opening of a railway line to Geelong in 1879 brought increasing tourists to the area. Numerous luxury hotels and coffee palaces were built to accommodate them. The Palace Hotel was built in 1879, later renamed Esplanade Hotel, the Baillieu Hotel was built in 1881, later renamed Ozone Hotel, the Vue Grande Hotel was built in 1883 and the Queenscliff Hotel was built in 1887.

The term Coffee Palace was primarily used in Australia to describe the temperance hotels which were built during the period of the 1880s although there are references to the term also being used, to a lesser extent, in the United Kingdom. They were hotels that did not serve alcohol, built in response to the temperance movement and in particular the influence of the Independent Order of Rechabites in Australia. James Munro was a particularly vocal member of this movement. Coffee Palaces were often multi-purpose or mixed use buildings which included a large number of rooms for accommodation as well as ballrooms and other function and leisure facilities.

The beginnings of the movement were in 1879, with the first coffee palace companies founded in the cities of Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide. The movement in particular flourished in Melbourne in the 1880s when a land boom that followed the Victorian gold rush created an environment in which it was the construction of lavish buildings and richly ornamental high Victorian architecture, often designed in the fashionable Free Classical or Second Empire styles to attract patrons. Many of the larger establishments were bestowed prestigious names such as Grand or Royal in order to appeal to the wealthier classes. Coffee palaces were popular in the coastal seaside resorts and for inner city locations attracting catering for families as well as interstate and overseas visitors. Ironically as the temperance movement's influence waned, many of these coffee palaces applied for liquor licences. Many have since been either converted into hotels or demolished, however, some significiant examples still survive.

In 1950-today

The advent of the car saw Queenscliff drop in popularity as a tourist destination, as tourists were no longer dependent on its role as a transport hub. The railway ceased weekly passenger services in 1950 and was closed in 1976. The 1980s saw a return in the town's tourist popularity. In 2005, the area previously holding the Fort Barracks was subdivided into residential blocks and renamed Shortlands Beach in honour of the town's prior name. The proposed redevelopment drew fierce criticism from some sectors of the community, who feared loss of an important heritage site. The original fort remains on site.

The Queenscliff Seafood Feast, a culinary festival using fresh seafood donated by local fishermen, is held annually on Good Friday to raise funds for the Royal Children's Hospital. Queenscliff is also home to the Queenscliff Music Festival, a popular annual music festival held on the last weekend of November, which attracts both local and international acts and is an important part of the town's tourist industry.

Maps

1. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Swan_bay_map.PNG

2. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bellarine_Peninsula_Map.PNG

3. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Portphillip.gif

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Sources:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queenscliff,_Victoria

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellarine_Peninsula

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Murray_(Australian_explorer)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Flinders

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Buckley_(convict)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozone_(paddle_steamer)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_palace

The owner of the image above is Airviewonline.com.

Link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Queenscliffvic-airview-0508-26...

The image above is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Australia license.

Link: creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/au/deed.en

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Our endpoint this day. A thunderstorm was moving in so we did not stay or return on an alternate path.

Italien / Toskana - Siena

Sunset - Piazza del Campo - Torre del Mangia and Palazzo Comunale

Sonnenuntergang - Piazza del Campo - Torre del Mangia und Palazzo Comunale

Piazza del Campo is the main public space of the historic center of Siena, Tuscany, Italy and is regarded as one of Europe's greatest medieval squares. It is renowned worldwide for its beauty and architectural integrity. The Palazzo Pubblico and its Torre del Mangia, as well as various palazzi signorili surround the shell-shaped piazza. At the northwest edge is the Fonte Gaia.

The twice-a-year horse-race, Palio di Siena, is held around the edges of the piazza. The piazza is also the finish of the annual road cycling race Strade Bianche.

History

The open site was a marketplace established before the thirteenth century on a sloping site near the meeting point of the three hillside communities that coalesced to form Siena: the Castellare, the San Martino and the Camollia. Siena may have had earlier Etruscan settlements, but it was not a considerable Roman settlement, and the campo does not lie on the site of a Roman forum, as is sometimes suggested. It was paved in 1349 in fishbone-patterned red brick with 8 lines of travertine, which divide the piazza into 9 sections, radiating from the mouth of the gavinone (the central water drain) in front of the Palazzo Pubblico. The number of divisions is held to be symbolic of the rule of The Nine (Noveschi) who laid out the campo and governed Siena at the height of its mediaeval splendour between 1292-1355. The Campo was and remains the focal point of public life in the City. From the piazza, eleven narrow shaded streets radiate into the city.

The palazzi signorili that line the square, housing the families of the Sansedoni, the Piccolomini and the Saracini etc., have unified rooflines, in contrast to earlier tower houses — emblems of communal strife — such as may still be seen not far from Siena at San Gimignano. In the statutes of Siena, civic and architectural decorum was ordered :"...it responds to the beauty of the city of Siena and to the satisfaction of almost all people of the same city that any edifices that are to be made anew anywhere along the public thoroughfares...proceed in line with the existent buildings and one building not stand out beyond another, but they shall be disposed and arranged equally so as to be of the greatest beauty for the city."

The unity of these Late Gothic houses is affected in part by the uniformity of the bricks of which their walls are built: brick-making was a monopoly of the commune, which saw to it that standards were maintained.

At the foot of the Palazzo Pubblico's wall is the late Gothic Chapel of the Virgin built as an ex voto by the Sienese, after the terrible Black Death of 1348 had ended.

Fonte Gaia

The Fonte Gaia ("Joyous Fountain") was built in 1419 as an endpoint of the system of conduits bringing water to the city's centre, replacing an earlier fountain completed about 1342 when the water conduits were completed. Under the direction of the Committee of Nine, many miles of tunnels were constructed to bring water in aqueducts to fountains and thence to drain to the surrounding fields. The present fountain, a center of attraction for the many tourists, is in the shape of a rectangular basin that is adorned on three sides with many bas-reliefs with the Madonna surrounded by the Classical and the Christian Virtues, emblematic of Good Government under the patronage of the Madonna. The white marble Fonte Gaia was originally designed and built by Jacopo della Quercia, whose bas-reliefs from the basin's sides are conserved in the Ospedale di St. Maria della Scala in Piazza Duomo. The former sculptures were replaced in 1866 by free copies by Tito Sarrocchi, who omitted Jacopo della Quercia's two nude statues of Rhea Silvia and Acca Larentia, which the nineteenth-century city fathers found too pagan or too nude. When they were set up in 1419, Jacopo della Quercia's nude figures were the first two female nudes, who were neither Eve nor a repentant saint, to stand in a public place since Antiquity.

(Wikipedia)

Die Piazza del Campo ist der bedeutendste Platz der toskanischen Stadt Siena, deren Zentrum er bildet.

Der Platz ist bekannt durch seine beeindruckende Architektur und seine halbrunde Form sowie durch das hier normalerweise jährlich zweimal ausgetragene Pferderennen Palio di Siena.

Geschichte

Das Zentrum der bereits in der Etruskerzeit bedeutenden Stadt lag ursprünglich im Gebiet des heutigen Castelvecchio, während „der Campo“ lediglich ein Stück Land war, das dem Abfluss des Regenwassers diente. Da aber auch die an Siena vorbeiführende Fernstraße über dieses Feld verlief und sich hier mit einer anderen Straße kreuzte, entwickelte sich bald ein Marktplatz.

Der Name „Campo“ wird zum ersten Mal schriftlich 1169 erwähnt in einer Quelle, die sich mit der gesamten Talebene befasst, zu der auch die heutige Piazza del Mercato, heute auf der anderen Seite des Palazzo Comunale, gehörte. Damals erwarb die Stadt Siena das Gelände, das von der Piazza del Mercato bis zur heutigen Logge della Mercanzia reicht. Eine Unterteilung des Geländes in die heutigen zwei Plätze wird 1193 erwähnt, sodass man davon ausgehen kann, dass in der Zwischenzeit zumindest eine Mauer erbaut wurde, die den Platz in zwei Hälften teilte; möglicherweise geschah dies, um das Wasser besser ableiten zu können.

Bis ins Jahr 1270, als die Herrschaft der Vierundzwanzig (1236–1270) zu Ende ging, wurde dann der Platz für Messen und Märkte genutzt. Zwar hatte der Platz noch nicht das heutige Aussehen, er entwickelte sich aber allmählich zum zweiten Mittelpunkt der Stadt neben dem Dom; während dort religiöse Feste im Mittelpunkt standen, dominierten auf der Piazza del Campo der Handel und weltliche Feste. Da sich auch die städtische Obrigkeit immer unabhängiger vom Bischof (und später Erzbischof) machte, kam in der Zeit der Herrschaft der Neun (1289–1355) der Bedarf nach einem eigenen Rathaus auf.

Die Piazza del Campo ist einer der eindrucksvollsten kommunalen Plätze Italiens – im Gegensatz zum Markusplatz Venedigs und zur Piazza dei Miracoli Pisas ist dies ein Platz ohne Kirche, also ein rein politisches Zentrum – und das zeigt sich auch in der Kunst in den Innenräumen des Rathauses. Das Gelände ist leicht abschüssig und der Palazzo Pubblico, der öffentliche Palast, also das Rathaus steht an der tiefsten Stelle. Diese auffallend tief liegende Position im Gegensatz zu den Gepflogenheiten anderer Städte erklärt sich aus dem Bedürfnis, eine neutrale Lage zwischen den Hügeln von Siena zu wählen. Auch hier hat also das Konkurrenzdenken innerhalb der Stadt Konsequenzen gehabt. Das hatte zur Folge, dass der Turm sehr hoch werden musste, damit er trotz seiner niedrigen Lage die Stadt überragen konnte.

Mit dem Bau des Palazzo Comunale wurden dann auch die Impulse für eine architektonische Gestaltung des Platzes gegeben. In den Jahren 1327–1349 erhielt der Platz eine Pflasterung, wobei auch heute noch die Einteilung in neun Segmente an die damalige Herrschaft der Neun erinnert. Die „Skyline“ des Platzes ist allerdings nicht spontan in einem Stück entstanden. Erst mit den Jahren sorgte die Stadtverwaltung durch entsprechende Gesetze dafür, dass die Fassadengestaltung einheitlich gehandhabt wurde. So wurde etwa eine Peter- und Paul-Kirche abgerissen; heute erinnern die Gassen Vicoli di San Pietro e di San Paolo daran.

Nach 1861 wurden, wie auch an anderen Gebäuden in der Altstadt von Siena, Gebäude an der Piazza von ihren barocken Fassaden „befreit“, um dem ursprünglichen, d. h. mittelalterlichen Erscheinungsbild wieder zur Geltung zu verhelfen.

Seit ca. 2017 gehören 15 der 20 Gebäude, die den Platz begrenzen, Igor Bidilo, einem Investor aus Kasachstan.

Fonte Gaia

Auf der höheren Seite des Campo steht der Fonte Gaia, den Jacopo della Quercia von 1409 bis 1419 geschaffen hat. ‚Brunnen der Freude’ heißt er, weil es 1342 zum ersten Mal gelungen war, mithilfe einer 25 km langen Leitung Wasser in die Stadt fließen zu lassen. Der ewige Wassermangel war in der Bergstadt Siena ein großes Problem – besonders in den Sommermonaten. Stilistisch hat della Quercia in den Figuren dieses Brunnens etwas Ähnliches erreicht wie die Sieneser Malerei, nämlich einen Ausgleich zwischen der klassischen Tradition und gotischem Schwung.

Die Figuren des Brunnens sind zwar seit 1858 durch Nachbildungen von Tito Sarrocchi ersetzt, aber trotzdem haben wir hier ein wichtiges Dokument für die Entwicklung der frühen Renaissance-Plastik vor uns. Zur damaligen Zeit, 1409, hatte man angefangen, sich zunehmend für die antike Vergangenheit zu interessieren und dabei natürlich besonders für die Geschichte Roms. Jacopo della Quercia war von der Stadt Siena deshalb beauftragt worden, in diesem Brunnen die angebliche römische Abstammung der Stadt als Gründung der Söhne des Remus und ihre darauf beruhenden Tugenden zu dokumentieren. Die Originalteile des Brunnens sind heute im Museum von Santa Maria della Scala im Raum Fienile zu betrachten.

Gebäude

Palazzo Comunale

Mit dem Bau des Gebäudes der Stadtverwaltung wurde 1297 begonnen. Ursprünglich hatte der Palazzo lediglich drei Stockwerke; später erfolgten weitere Anbauten. Vor allem aber kam im Laufe des 14. Jahrhunderts mit dem Torre del Mangia der 102 Meter hohe Turm hinzu, der das Stadtbild von Siena prägt. Der Name leitet sich von dem Spitznamen Mangiaguadagni (Gewinnfresser) des ersten Glöckners ab.

Cappella di Piazza

Vor dem Eingang zum Palazzo Pubblico wurde als Dank für die überstandene Pest 1352 – also noch in der Gotik – eine kleine Kapelle, die Cappella di Piazza, die Platzkapelle errichtet, die über 100 Jahre später (1463) mit einer Renaissance-Dekoration ihre heutige Gestalt erhielt. Beides passt aber so gut zusammen, als sei es gleichzeitig geschaffen worden. Die Dachkonstruktion stammt von Antonio Federighi und entstand in den 1460er Jahren. Die nordeuropäische Gotik wurde in Italien im 13. und besonders im 14. Jh. in stark veränderter und der italienischen Tradition angepassten Form übernommen. Und später konnte im 15. Jh. die Renaissance auf jahrhundertelange vorbereitende Phasen aufbauen. Beides widersprach sich hier in Italien nicht so wie in Frankreich oder Deutschland. Hier an dieser Kapelle ist in der Gotik also locker der alte Rundbogen verwandt worden und nicht der eigentlich typische gotische Spitzbogen. Und als in der Renaissance der Rundbogen wieder zur Norm wurde, musste hier auch gar nichts geändert werden.

Das Pferderennen

Auf dem Platz wird zweimal im Jahr, am 2. Juli und am 16. August, ein Pferderennen („Palio di Siena“) ausgetragen.

(Wikipedia)

Between November 1998 and January 2003, Amtrak shifted the endpoints of the Pennsylvanian west to Chicago, providing daylight service along the Chicago Line. In 2003 the Pennsylvanian reverted back to the Pittsburgh—New York schedule, leaving this image at Holmesville one for the record books.

Train 44 was eastbound just after daybreak behind a Phase IV P42 and a good old F40PH, running ahead of several hot NS TV trains. It was a good time to be along the Chicago Line.

Congratulations to the entire team on their $40M investment round, announced today! And it’s on the heels of their announcement of the industry’s first-ever AI-discovered drug candidate.

By focusing on the information-systems of our biology, from genetic disorders to genetic therapies, Deep Genomics can train their machine learning on the code — finding errant code and fixing it with digital RNA therapies — rather than the analog complexity and hit-and-miss methodology of small molecule drug design. As RNA therapy delivery chemistries unlock new organs and tissues, their approach can address a growing number of serious medical disorders.

Today’s news from FierceBiotech and Endpoints News:

“Therapeutically re-engineering the human genome is the final frontier,” said Brendan Frey, founder and CEO of Deep Genomics. “We have found that the more we explore the universe of genetic therapies using AI, the more we discover dark regions that can be illuminated only with the development of new technology.”

"This approach, the company explained, results in remarkable clarity and speed, as 70% of research projects have led to therapeutic leads, and programs have been taken from target discovery to drug candidate in less than a year."

“For over twenty years, our team at Future Ventures has backed visionary companies seeking to change the world for the better,” said Steve Jurvetson, co-founder of Future Ventures and board member of Tesla and SpaceX. “Deep Genomics has pioneered a better way to systematically discover new therapies with a much higher success rate than traditional pharma methods. My partner Maryanna Saenko and I are excited to be joining them on a journey to modernize drug development by using AI to design and de-risk drug development programs up front, instead of relying on trial-and-error experiments that are fraught with time delays and high cost.”

Maryanna serves on the board of directors of Deep Genomics, and Future Ventures led today’s financing.

And last year from FierceBiotech and BusinessWire:

“Deep Genomics reveals the first-ever AI-discovered drug candidate. ‘We have built a system that within two hours can scan over 200,000 pathogenic patient mutations and automatically identify potential drug targets,’ Frey said.”

“Researchers have struggled for two decades, without success, to understand the mechanism of this genetic mutation that causes Wilson disease,” said Frederick K. Askari, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor and director of the Wilson disease program at the University of Michigan. “The clarity that this artificial intelligence platform has brought to the scientific community is astounding and the potential of a therapy that could operate at the genomic level to correct the disease process is exciting. Patients can now have hope that a therapy may be developed that will recapitulate normal gene function and make their problems go away.”

Hiring in Toronto: DeepGenomics.com

Our endpoint today was this ridge beyond Chester Lake and above the first of the three small lakes in the Three Lake Valley.

We started out on a warm sunny day in the city, but conditions had changed considerably by the time we got out here. It was clouding up and there was a chilly wind blowing. The Larch trees in the valley were showing their bright fall colouring.

Just beyond that big rock in the middle is the trail to Mt Lougheed on the left.

Fonte Gaia ("Joyous Fountain") was built in 1419 as an endpoint of the system of conduits bringing water to the city's centre, replacing an earlier fountain completed about 1342 when the water conduits were completed. Under the direction of the Committee of Nine, many miles of tunnels were constructed to bring water in aqueducts to fountains and thence to drain to the surrounding fields. The present fountain, a center of attraction for the many tourists, is in the shape of a rectangular basin that is adorned on three sides with many bas-reliefs with the Madonna surrounded by the Classical and the Christian Virtues, emblematic of Good Government under the patronage of the Madonna. The white marble Fonte Gaia was originally designed and built by Jacopo della Quercia, whose bas-reliefs from the basin's sides are conserved in the Ospedale di St. Maria della Scala in Piazza Duomo. The former sculptures were replaced in 1866 by free copies by Tito Sarrocchi, who omitted Jacopo della Quercia's two nude statues of Rhea Silvia and Acca Larentia, which the nineteenth-century city fathers found too pagan or too nude. When they were set up in 1419, Jacopo della Quercia's nude figures were the first two female nudes, who were neither Eve nor a repentant saint, to stand in a public place since Antiquity.

Or XJ Marks the Spot!

We hit the Alaskan trails in the Jeep XJ, up Solitude Street to the Bald Mountain Trail. The goal: reaching the remains of an old B-29 plane that crashed at the top of the mountain in the late 50’s.

Difficult trail conditions and a broken axle on a friends rig caused us to fall short of our goal. Unfortunately we didn’t make it to the top of the mountain. Fortunately with all of the down time for towing and trail fixes I was able to capture some amazing shots of the scenery, and a fresh face: WWE Superstar Becky Lynch Doll!

Next goal: Home! (To barely make it for the end of the A-Z Challenge!)

The Theme:

The phrase “X marks the spot” often refers to a specific location, target, or goal. For this theme we want to see what your doll(s) is after. Is your doll a pirate following a map to a hidden treasure chest full of gold? Is your doll vacationing in a foreign city and following his/her visitors map to popular landmarks? Perhaps your doll is an entertainer and an X has been marked on the stage floor to show him/her where to stand. Or maybe your doll is an athlete practicing archery or crossing a finish line of a race. The only requirement for this theme is that there must be a doll and a marked endpoint or desired target somewhere in your photo.

Twinkle Star Splendour Nearing Endpoint ✨

Hi-Star Transport Inc. | 747-20 I Golden Dragon XML6102 “Splendour” fleet by Xiamen Golden Dragon Bus Co., Ltd. (China) (Prime Manufacturer) / Trans Oriental Motor Builders, Inc. (Assembler)

🚏 Original / Authorized Franchise Route: Baclaran - Novaliches via Mindanao Ave. & Vice Versa

🚏 Rationalized Route Assigned in Route 4: North EDSA - Fairview (under Mega Manila Consortium Corporation - MMCC)

🚏 Now Re-classified as New Route 33

🕚 Date Taken on June 2022

📍 Photo Shot Location @ North Ave., cor. Mindanao Ave., Bagong Pag-asa, Quezon City

️ Landmark: Ayala Malls Trinoma

#MacBusEnthusiast #BehindTheBusSpottingPhotography #BusPhotography #HiStarTransport #HiStarTransportInc

Fonte Avatar official FB Page:

A dark, twisted circus sideshow that’s built around bombastically grooving melodic death n’ roll is swinging forward with captivating glee, mesmerizing merriment and the plundering power of lethal pirates toward those brave souls who hand over a ticket to be torn by Avatar and their Black Waltz, the fourth album and first proper American release from the Swedish masters of mayhem.

Within Avatar’s diverse songs, a steady focus on the fluid and organic power of the riff (recalling the thunderous foresight of heavy metal’s original wizards, Black Sabbath) takes flight combined with an adventurous sprit veering off into the astral planes of the psychedelic atmosphere conjured by pioneers like Pink Floyd back in the day.

Avatar has found a footing that combines the best of rock n’ roll, hard rock and heavy metal’s past, present and future into an overall artistic presentation that is thought-provoking, challenging and altogether enchantingly electric. With the grandiose showmanship of American professional wrestling, the snake oil salesmanship of early 20th century vaudevillian troubadours and the kinetically superheroic power of early Kiss, Avatar lays waste to lesser mortals with ease. Whether somebody gets their rocks off listening to Satyricon or System of a Down, they’ll find something suitably deranged here.

“We’re in this weird field, caught in a triangle between extreme metal, rock n’ roll and what can be described as Avant-garde,” confesses Avatar vocalist Johannes Eckerström. The all-enveloping theme park vibe of the band’s music and visual counterpart means that, naturally, “it’s turning into something bigger.”

“I have been in this band for ten years. I grew up in this band,” Eckerström explains. “We’re somewhat veterans on the one hand. But we’re the new kids in the neighborhood in America at the same time.”

Avatar came of age as “little brothers” of sorts of the famed Gothenburg scene that spawned the celebrated New Wave Of Swedish Death Metal. The band’s debut album, 2006’s Thoughts of No Tomorrow, was filled with brutal, technical melodic death metal to be sure but already, “We tried to put our own stamp on it,” the singer assures. While the following year’s Schlacht still contained flourishes of melody, the unrelenting metallic fury reached an extreme peak. “Intensity was very important,” he says, with some degree of understatement.

Where to go for album number three? “We basically rebelled against ourselves,” Eckerström says of 2009’s self-titled collection. “We figured, ‘We can play faster and make even weirder, more technical riffs,’ because Schlacht was cool. But to take that another step would have turned us into something we didn’t want to be.”

Instead Avatar rediscovered their inherent passion for traditional heavy metal and classic rock n’ roll. “We decided to remove some unnecessary ‘look at me, I can play!’ parts and added more groove. We added a whole new kind of melody. It was awesome to be this ‘rock n’ roll band’ for a while. It was refreshing and liberating.”

Black Waltz sees Avatar coming completely full circle, returning to a more aggressive form of heavy metal but incorporating the lessons they learned while jamming on big riffs with album number three. “We finally came to understand what a good groove is all about and what a great fit it was for our sound,” notes Eckerström.

Tracks like the appropriately titled “Ready for the Ride,” the rollicking “Let it Burn” (which dips into some delicious stonerifficness), the anthemic “Smells Like a Freakshow” (a modern day twist of Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie) and “Torn Apart” are supercharged with a dynamic range of artistic showmanship on a near cinematic scale and it’s all stitched together by a driving bottom end.

While most European metal acts who dare attempt this level of musicianship, showmanship and attention to detail seem content to toil away in the studio and lock themselves away from the crowds, Avatar have excelled beyond their peers thanks in large part to their continued focus on road work. Careening to and fro on tour busses and airplanes around the world like a marauding troupe of circus performers, Eckerström and his mates (guitarists Jonas Jarlsby and Tim Öhrström, bassist Henrik Sandelin and drummer John Alfredsson) have forged the type of musical bond that can only be brought forth from massive amounts of time spent together on the stage, in hotel rooms, in airports and partying at the venue’s bar.

Whether on tour with bands like In Flames, Dark Tranquility or Helloween, playing gigantic festivals like Storsjöyra and Sweden Rock Festival or demolishing South by Southwest, playing live is what it all comes down to for this band. “That is the final manifestation of our art,” Eckerström insists. “Of course an album is a piece of art in itself, but mainly it's a means to reach the higher goal, which is doing these awesome shows. Touring is of the greatest importance.”

“We all just love the pirate’s life,” he admits freely. “Sailing into the city on this tour bus thingy, going to kick some ass, have that party and all the while meeting all of these people, entertaining them, encountering a culture that's not your own. We love that.”

The want for this type of lifestyle goes back to early childhood fascinations for the good-humored singer. Reading about superheroes, watching Hulk Hogan on TV, getting exposed to Kiss – these were the first ingredients for what Eckerström would go on to create with the guys in Avatar and what has culminated now in Black Waltz.

The frontman promises that Avatar will continue to create, to captivate and to experiment. There’s no definitive endpoint in sight. It’s always about the horizon, the journey itself. “As long as you're hungry as an artist, there are higher and higher artistic achievements. I love AC/DC and Motorhead and what they’ve established is amazing, but we don’t want to write albums that are kind of like the album before. We want to travel to a new galaxy, so to speak, every time.”

The goal is always to conquer what came before. “That is what stays with you as a mentally healthy musician. Or maybe a mentally deranged one, I’m not sure,” the singer laughs. And part and parcel to that continued evolution will be the ever broadening expansion of the scope of Avatar’s worldwide presentation: Black Waltz and beyond.

“We have great visions of what we want to do and the things we want to give to people on a stage,” Eckerström promises. “These ideas, these visions, they require a huge audience. They require a lot of legroom to be done, so I want to get into those arenas, basically. I know we would do something really magical if we got the chance. This idea is one of those things that really, really keeps us going.”