View allAll Photos Tagged estimation!
Here is my first model of 2022! This is a GE 30 Ton steeple cab. According to my research, only two of these were built, and were for the Hutchinson & Northern (Numbered #1 and #2). #1 still exists to this day, and occasionally operates at the Orange Empire railroad museum in Perris California.
This model is powered by a circuit cubes system, with the Bluetooth battery cube in the cab (which can be seen in this photo) and a cubit motor in each truck driving the outermost axles. This model has been in progress for a while now, and I recently got that spark of inspiration to go and finish it.
As for most of my models, I don't have an estimation of when it will be built in physical bricks, but since it has a fairly low part count, and is easily R40 compatible, I could easily start and complete the build process quickly, and have it running on my layout.
Prototype photos: www.rrpicturearchives.net/locopicture.aspx?id=147184
Thanks to Playingwithbrushes for the use of this texture! A gorgeous set of amazing work! www.flickr.com/photos/playingwithpsp/sets/72157604052440248/
Sorry I can't figure out a fancy link - but check her work out!
Hope everyone is well this morning. Another experimentation with texture! It is so hard not to over do it! The texture alone could stand as art in my estimation. The test for me is how to incorporate my image with another's! This process has altered the way I photograph, the vision that I have for my work. Each little step is riveting for me! Let me know what you think. Best wishes my friends - for a glorious sun filled day! e
Best when View On Black
PA_1458 [30 points]
A duo space invader on a greenish background in the 9ème arrondissement of Paris. In line with the pharmacie and balconies full of plants at this corner.
Onscreen FlashInvaders message: BAZINGA!
All my photos of PA_1458:
PA_1458 (Close-up, September 2021)
PA_1458 (Wide shot, September 2021)
Date of invasion: 24/02/2021 (estimation)
[ Visited PA_1458 within 7 months after invasion ]
Location of this house is in Washington County along the National Road (Route40)Bill, Here's what I found out. The original stone part of the house was built by Charles Wheeler, who purchased the property in the 1770s. The brick part was built in 1870s by Oliver Knoght Taylor, a Brownsville banker. The house is not on the national Register of Historic Places, although it should be in my estimation. Dave bill_rockwell.photography.com/
Framed photos and greeding cards visit:
PRINTS OF THIS PHOTO ARE AVAILABLE ON fineartamerica.com AND
MOUNTED PRINTS READY FOR FRAMING AVAILABLE at etsy.com/billrockrockphotography
What looks to be a casualty evacuation exercise, possibly/probably involving Chamber B in the Space Environment Simulation Laboratory (SESL), Building 32, at the Manned Spacecraft Center. The “casualty” is wearing a (I believe) final Apollo A7L pressure suit, hence my date estimation of 1967 – 1972.
The gentleman on the left looks very familiar…I’m sure I’ve seen him in other photos. Also note the partially obscured gentleman holding what looks like a wristwatch, possibly timing the activity.
I wonder what the bumper/guard-like fixtures affixed to the top of the helmets are?
8.5" x 11". A size that normally suggests a contractor-originated photo...usually McDonnell...so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
At the 10:35 mark of the following interesting footage, I believe the gentleman is wearing the same uniform, with a somewhat similar helmet, obviously also in a first-responder capacity. He also appears to be wearing the face-piece of his oxygen mask…which I think can be seen in the photo dangling from the left-hand side of both of the gentleman’s helmets:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDN0S4eJWYY
Credit: user ‘The Space Archive’/YouTube
Also in the SESL, with the caption “Apollo 14 backup Commander Cernan preparing for a vacuum chamber test in the SESL”:
www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/styles/full_width/public...
Although…the photo might be associated with the Crew Systems Laboratory (CSL), Building 7. Having never been to either, and with little contextual imagery available to conclusively determine, it’s possible, although (I think) less probable.
However, primarily or my own edification:
“The Crew Systems Laboratory (CSL) was constructed between December 1962, and March 1964, by the joint venture team of C.H. Leavell and Company of El Paso, the Morrison-Knudsen Company, Inc. of Boise, Idaho, and Paul Hardeman, Inc. of Stanton, California for a cost of approximately $1.549 million. Building 7 is one of the eleven original buildings constructed at the JSC. A 55,000 square foot addition (Building 7A) was made to the original 109,026 square foot building in 1966, at a cost of $1.494 million. In 1970, the addition of Building 7B increased the overall size of the facility by 2926 square feet. Smaller additions to Building 7 were made in 1967 (1272 square foot) and 1969 (546 square foot). The most recent major modification, in 1995, was the 3886-square foot addition to the Equipment Receiving Area.
The Wing E High Bay (Room 1000) of Building 7, known as the Environmental Test Area, contains the historically significant facilities which support the Space Shuttle program, including the 8’, 11’, and 18’ vacuum chambers and their ancillaries. Only the 18’ chamber was built specifically for the SSP. The 2’, 10’, and 20’ chambers, also located within Room 1000, lack noteworthy historical associations with the Space Shuttle program. Collectively, the 8’ and the 20’ chambers, originally used for Project Gemini, are the oldest.
The human-rated 8’ Vacuum Chamber, also known as the System/Component Vacuum Test Facility, arrived in Houston in May 1962, from Air Force surplus. It was modified three months later by the addition of an 8’-diameter loading door and explosion-proof interior lights. Following a complete overhaul and upgrading in Hangar 135 at Ellington Field during February 1964, the chamber was installed in Building 7 in July 1964. Portable Life Support System (PLSS) checkout consoles were installed in the adjacent control room in October 1965. The 8’chamber was active during Project Gemini and the Apollo Program, and was upgraded in 1973, to support the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP). Two years later, in November 1975, the equipment that supported the ASTP was removed. Subsequently, the 8’ chamber was used to support the design verification and flight qualification testing of the Shuttle Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) PLSS backpack.
[A nice article on the aforementioned PLSS testing capability, at:
www.nasa.gov/feature/50-years-ago-certifying-apollo-space...
Specifically, with the caption/description “Astronaut James Irwin testing the Apollo A-6L suit in the Crew Systems Division’s 8-foot altitude chamber”:
www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/styles/side_image/public...]
The 11’ Vacuum Chamber was first used in November 1966, for off-site manned tests. It was moved to JSC in May 1968, and used during the Apollo Program for evaluative tests of the Lunar Module environmental control PLSS, pressure suits, and EVA components. Two treadmills, used for metabolic determination, were installed in 1970 and 1971. Modifications to support the Space Shuttle program included removal of the Lunar Module cabin wall heater/cooler in 1977. In 1978, funding was approved for expanding the existing 11’ chamber vacuum system to incorporate the Shuttle Flash Evaporator System in the Shuttle Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) boilerplate (including airlock hardware). To enable extended systems evaluation and crew training tests, modifications included installing a vacuum line from the 11’ chamber to a new vacuum cylinder boilerplate (18’ vacuum chamber) sized to simulate the flight airlock; constructing a platform with stairway and an enclosure to surround the airlock boilerplate; extending the existing fire suppression and alarm system to the new airlock and entry room type enclosure; and installing repressurization valves, altitude limiting valves, and cable trays. Plumbing, electrical utilities, and high pressure GO2 and GN2 systems also were installed to allow reduced chamber pressure.”
Above at/from:
ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20110002110/downloads/2011000...
During Roman times the settlement was known as Astigi. Caesar ordered the town's fortification and refounded it as a Julian colony. According to Pliny the Elder who wrote in the 1st century AD, it was the rival of Cordova and Seville.
After the Romans, it was ruled by successively by Suevs and Visigoths. It was also from an early date the seat of a diocese. St. Fulgentius (died before 633), was named to the see by his brother Isidore of Seville.
In 711, Écija was conquered by an Islamic army on its way to Córdoba. Capital of an extensive Kūra, Écija preserved its condition as a centre of high agricultural productivity.
The place was seized by Christians in 1240. The proximity to the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada turned Écija into a border town. Most of the mudéjar population was expelled in 1263. The Jewish population suffered the antisemitic revolt initiated after the assault on the jewry of Seville in June 1391, that spread across Andalusia. During the 15th century, Écija was the third most important urban centre of the Kingdom of Seville after Seville and Jerez. Estimations for the 15th century yield a population of about 18,000 (today 40.000).
The effects of the 1755 earthquake (Lisbon) forced a deep urban renewal.
Although Astigi was one of the most completely discovered Roman cities, the city council decided against all odds in 1998 to bulldoze the Roman ruins of Écija, including a forum, a bathhouse, a gymnasium and a temple, as well as dozens of private houses, and replace them with a car park.
But at least, there is the museum housed in the "Palacio de Benamejí"
Sculpture of a bull. Limestone. Iberian/pre-Roman period
The Galactic Center or Galactic Centre is the rotational center of the Milky Way. The estimations for its location range from 7.6 to 8.7 kiloparsecs (about 25 000 to 28 000 lightyears), in the direction of the constellations Sagittarius, Ophiuchus, and Scorpius where the Milky Way appears brightest. (Wikipedia)
Check out also my timelapse shot from the same location.
Roseworthy.
Just outside of the town is the Roseworthy Agricultural College established in 1883. The railway from Adelaide reached the district in 1860. In 1869 the line was pushed northwards from here to the great copper mine at Burra. There are virtually no old buildings left in the town which once had an early Methodist Church, the hotel was totally rebuilt, the old railway station and the old school were demolished. The oldest public building in town is the Soldiers War memorial Hall.
•Origins are in declining wheat yields from the bread basket of Australia- SA; and the governments concerns to be experimental and in the forefront of scientific thinking. SA was almost radical in those times of 1880s- later the communists village settlement on the Murray River; the early 1880s a period of droughts; agriculture beyond Goyder’s line and agriculture in a mess- farmers walking off the land, lots of criticisms of the government.
•Albert Molineux. Despite his French name he was English. In 1875 he produced the first edition of a farming and gardening magazine called Garden and Field. From the start of Garden and Field he argued for a professor of Agriculture and a government department of Agriculture. The government listened. The first Minister of Agriculture was appointed in 1876 with a Central Board of farmers to advise him; the government began planning for Roseworthy College in 1880/81 although it did not open until 1885, but Professor Custance arrived and began work in 1883.
•Next in 1887 Albert Molineux proposed Agricultural Bureaux to help farmers modernise and user better methods for dairying and for cereal crops, and for the use of insecticides on fruit trees and vines in the Barossa and the use of fertilisers. i.e he wanted farmers to use the latest scientific methods for farming. Again the government listened. In February 1888 they established the Agricultural Bureaux. They were to be run from the Central Agricultural Board which advised the minister. Local branches were to be established to get the new scientific ideas out to the farmers. In the first year branches were established at: Burra, Gumeracha, Millicent, Mannum, Nurioopta and Stansbury. Soon there were over 120 branches across the state. Around 100 still operate after 120 years. Trevor will talk to you before dessert about the offshoot for women. In 1888 the Bureaux started advocating the use of superphosphate for wheat crops.
•Professor John Custance appointed 1882 to found the college and revive sagging fortunes of agriculture. He was the first professor of Agriculture in SA. He was a researcher and teacher. He experimented with new crops, new varieties of wheat and manures and above all else superphosphate. This was the first agricultural college in Australia. He experimented with guano from Sth America and in 1883 the Adelaide Chemical Works opened at Torrensville to produce super phosphate for wheat farmers. Wheat returns generally doubled with the application of super. More manufacturer of super established including Wallaroo Fertiliser Works and super was gradually adopted around all the wheat belts of Australia. Custance was suspended in 1886 because he had insulted the head for the Crown Lands Department! He returned to England but came back out to SA in 1906 and lived her until he died in 1923.
•The wonderful blue stone main building was completed in 1883 and the first 25 students began studies in 1885. The college was based on practical experience and had a full scale farm (the govt bought Olive Hill Farm at Roseworthy for the College) including dairy herds, cattle, sheep and cereals. It did not become part of the University of Adelaide as originally planned and remained a separate entity. The first links with the University of Adelaide were established in 1905 when wine making and other courses were accepted By Uni of Adelaide as subjects towards a B.Sc. It was eventually merged into the University in 1991.
•In 1887 William Lowrie was appointed as principal. He began a series of experiential government farms across the state to find new crops and new fertilisers and scientific breeding of livestock etc. The main farms were at: Millicent; Eudunda, Clare; Maitland; Gladstone and tiny Black Rock near Orroroo. He was also the one who popularised superphosphate with the farmers and showed them the direct benefits in the crop yields they would get. He left suddenly too after fights with the government about funding and resources for Roseworthy College. What changes? He resigned in 1902 and moved to Canterbury in New Zealand. He also eventually returned to SA and lived at Echunga until he died in 1933.
•Professor Arthur Perkins was another important early college principal. He was appointed in 1904 and became the new head of the newly established Department of Agriculture for the government as well. He had established the first wine making course at the college in 1895. He placed an emphasis on viticulture and his quarantines on plant imports to SA helped the state avoid a major phylloxera out breaks in the early 1900s.
•During the 1920s and 1930s the college expanded its programs and forged closer links with the science programs at the University of Adelaide. It by the awarded the Diploma of agriculture, another in Dairying and another in Oenology or winemaking (established 1936- the first in Australia.) In 1974 the college became a College of Advanced Education and in 1991 it merged with the University of Adelaide. It now also conducts the veterinary science program for the university which only began in SA for the first time a couple of years ago.
•A later principal, Reg Ninnes also forged a link between the college and the state highs schools in the 1920s. Principal Ninnes set up the agricultural science program at Clare High school in 1927 the first in the state of SA. The others set up at that time were Kadina and Balaklava( and Urrbrae of course.) For almost 30 years he was responsible for agricultural programs in state high schools across the state, including the one devoted solely to agriculture at Urrbrae. Urrbrae Agricultural High School was gifted to the Education department by wealthy pastoralist Peter Waite in 1913. But the high school did not begin until after Peter Waite’s death in 1922. Classes started in 1926.
•Mr Peter Waite in his letter to the premier in 1913 offering land for an agricultural high school. He wrote:
• with comparatively little scientific training our agriculturalists and pastoralists have placed our wheat, wool and fruits in the highest estimation of the world;
•our sheep have been brought to perfection such that they are sought not only by all the sisters states but by South Africa;
•our agricultural machinery has been found good enough for even the Americans to copy;
•and our farming methods have been accepted by the other states as the most up-to-date and practical for Australian conditions.”
NEW Volvo B7RLE Wright Urban Eclipse number 199 (LB62 BUS) departs from what must surely be our most scenic terminus: Pencaitland deep in the heart of East Lothian, near to Gifford and Tranent.
The journey time from the Western General Hospital in the centre of Edinburgh takes just under 1 and a half hours. On mostly an hourly service just three vehicles are normally required with an extra for the rush periods.
The new eastLothianbuses.com service is only a few months old and since it took over this service from 'a n other' company it has proved to be remarkably popular, but the change from old Dennis Trident double deckers to these beautiful new single deckers has not proved quite as popular with the travellers as we'd hoped.
195 to 199 came with a price tag of nearly £1 Million but for folk who have to now stand at busy peak periods this is not an improvement. The five single deckers each have a seating capacity of just 37, with an astonishing estimation of 59 standing - I certainly wouldn't want to have 58 tummies wobbling beside me on these East Lothian country tracks!
Perhaps an increase in the frequency would be the easiest solution with some of the older Eclipse's being re-painted into this glorious former Eastern Scottish livery.
Whatever happens this is still a delicious looking bus and one the locals can be proud of.
57 London Road was originally in civilian occupation and named ‘Fairlawns’. The property was requisitioned in 1939 as a new headquarters for No.1 Group of the Royal Observer Corps, who had previously been stationed in rooms above Maidstone Post Office. An operations room was built in the house using the ground floor and basement. Fairlawns was in use throughout the war until stand down. In the 1950s Fairlawns was relegated to being a training centre for the group control at Beckenham (19 Group). In 1961 a new semi-sunk control was built to the rear of Fairlawns with administration located in the house. Beckenham was then relegated to being training centre for 1 Group at Maidstone. The former 19 Group HQ at Dura Den, Park Place, Beckenham was absorbed into No. 1 Group in 1953 but was retained for as a secondary training centre until 1968 In 1976 Fairlawns was renamed Ashmore House in memory of the Corps’ founder Major Ashmore. On closure Ashmore House and the bunker behind was sold to a local solicitors.
Maidstone is similar in construction to other semi-sunken group controls, consisting of three levels. The upper level is a surface concrete blockhouse often referred to as an ‘Aztec Temple’. The middle level is partly below ground, mounded over with soil and grassed, the bottom level is completely below grown. Externally the bunker is in excellent condition and well maintained. The grass on top of the mound is regularly mown and the surface blockhouse is painted white. The telescopic aerial mast is still in place alongside the entrance steps and unusually the aerial is also still there on top of the mast. Two other UHF aerials are also still in place on top of an adjacent pole. On top of the mound the FSM and BPI pipes are in the middle and close to them is a metal cover over what might be part of the AWDREY (Atomic Weapon Detection Recognition and Estimation of Yield) equipment consisting of a white metal box mounted at an angle on a square concrete plinth. Several pipes protrude from the mound alongside. At the east end of the mound is the original emergency exit consisting of an ROC post hatch on a raised concrete plinth with a rail around it. The later emergency exit door is at the back of the mound.
The surface blockhouse still has its external ladder giving access to the roof. Here the GZI mounting is to be found on top of one of the ventilation stacks.
At the top of the entrance stairs is a steel blast door giving access to the upper level corridor. There are two rooms on the left, the decontamination room and dressing room; both still contain sinks and water tanks. There are two rooms on the right, the first has a gas tight door and houses a small fan for cooling the plant in the room below, the adjacent room contains a bank of filters. Beyond these rooms is another gas tight wooden door which, together with the entrance door, forms an air lock. Beyond this door stairs to the left lead down to the middle floor and ahead was the winch room. The winch has been removed as has the floor. There are railings just inside the entrance door to stop anyone falling. A hole has been cut into the right hand side wall of the winch room to give access to a large water tank.
At the bottom of the stairs is a dog leg into the main east - west spine corridor. The first room on the right is the ventilation and filtration plant room which is in immaculate condition with all the brass still polished and gleaming. All the plant remains in place including two chiller pumps, the main ventilation fan, two smaller fans, two compressors and the floor standing electrical control cabinet. There is a filing cabinet full of wiring diagrams, instruction books, maintenance logs etc. Although unused for ten years the plant is almost certainly fully operational with the chiller system still charged.
In one corner of the plant room is a separate filter room with it’s own gas tight door. The bank of filters are still in place. At the back of the room two wooden door open into the generator room which is noticeably narrower then the same room in other semi-sunken group controls. The generator and its control equipment is also in excellent condition with 1518 hours on the clock.
The next room on the right is the canteen, accessed along a short corridor. On the right hand side of the corridor is the kitchen which is largely intact with a Creda industrial cooker, Creda grill, hot food heater, stainless steel sink and draining board and stainless steel covered units. There is a sliding glass hatch for serving food. The canteen is now used for storage of old files and retains nothing original apart from wall cabinets at the back with electrical switchgear.
Next door to the canteen is the BT equipment room, again this is now used for the storage of old files but there are two BT wall cabinets on the end wall and the remains of two racks with some wiring looms. Beyond the BT room is an empty store room and stairs down to the lower level. The final two doors on the right lead onto the balcony looking down onto the control room. Nothing is left in the room at all although in the triangulation alcove it still says ‘Triangulation’ on the wall and there is a small shelf with a slot for an FSM and in the ceiling the bottom of the FSM pipe.
There is a gas tight door in the corridor between the two doors onto the balcony with another gas tight door beyond giving access to the emergency exit. These two doors form a second airlock. There is a ladder on the wall up to a short landing and then a second ladder up to the emergency escape hatch. This was replaced in the 1970’s by a stairway with a door on the south side of the mound.
Back in the spine corridor the first door on the left is the sewage ejection room with two compressors and a compressed air receiver just inside the door and two pumps in the sump underneath a metal grille. This plant also looks immaculate. The next two rooms are the male and female toilets which are complete although no longer connected to the mains water supply. The female toilet has a hot water tank, two hand basins, two WC cubicles and a shower. The male toilet is similar with one of the WC cubicles replaced by a urinal. The next two rooms are the male and female dormitories, these are used for the storage of confidential client files and we had no access. The final room on the left is the small officers room which is empty apart from a Tanoy loudspeaker on the wall.
On the bottom level the control room at the bottom of the stairs to the left has been fitted out with Dexion racking and is the main storage area for old files. Nothing from ROC days remains apart from one floor standing display board. The adjacent communications centre is empty. The walls are covered with acoustic tiles and the original tables and chairs are still in place. There are three windows looking into the control room one with a small message hatch beneath one.
The radio room was to the right of the stairs, this has been divided into two rooms, both of which are empty. There is a small store room under the stairs which is also empty.
During the 1990’s numerous ROC items including maps and signs were sold to the Kelvedon Hatch cold war museum. The only remaining signs are fire prevention notices which are screwed to the wall in various rooms.
The owners have no plans to remove any of the remaining equipment and will continue to use the bunker for the storage of redundant files. It is clean and dry throughout and the lighting works in all the rooms.
Backlit in winter with the Nikon D4 camera mated to the Nikkor 300mm 2.8 lens and 2.0 TC. Killer handheld bird photography rig for me for years and the files out of this combo remains supreme in my estimation. The DSLR is not dead, it just smells funny when you forgot you had left half a sub sandwich in your photo backpack from the previous shoot :)
Memphis, TN, est. 1819, pop. 650,000
• in the 1950s, in a small studio on Union, Ave., Sam C. Phillips (1923-2003) recorded music that is "one of the true touchstones of American culture" —Escott, Hawkins, Good Rockin' Tonight: Sun Records and the Birth of Rock 'N' Roll
• this two-story corner bldg. is located in Memphis's Edge district • before becoming the Sun Studio Café, the 1st floor housed Taylor's Fine Food restaurant (1948-1981) [photo] • owned by Dell Taylor (1911-2003) & husband, Carlos (1914-1976) • 2nd floor was a rooming house
• the 1908 bldg. shares a partywall with a 1-story storefront at no. 706, built in 1916 [photos] • this small adjacent structure became Memphis Recording Service & later, Sun Studio [discography], where Elvis Presley (1935-1977) began his recording career
"Dell M. Taylor served up country fried steak and gentle mothering to the emerging stars of Sun Studio… Mrs. Taylor saw to it that Elvis Presley, Rufus Thomas, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Charlie Rich and Carl Perkins, — along with the mechanics and other workers from the auto dealership row on Union — had the freshest greens and vegetables… Many a song was written in the booths, as the musicians would come in to eat during a break in recording at Sun Studio next door… Sun Studio founder Sam Phillips, credited with discovering Elvis and others, often did his bookkeeping at the restaurant." —Chris Conley, The Commercial Appeal (Memphis), 24 Feb., 2003
• Sam Phillips, who claimed he didn't have a desk, had his own booth at Taylor's to pore over paperwork • "That's where all the guys did their writing and talking, and that's where the Sun sound was really born." –Jack Clement (1931-2013), Sun Studio producer
• exhausted musicians often spent the night in one of "Miss Taylor's" upstairs rooms • while recording at Sun the mid-1950s, Roy Orbison had a two-room apartment there
• the bldg. now serves as visitor center for the recording studio, which is open to the public for tours
Marker: Elvis Presley and Sun Records
In July 1954 Sun Records released Elvis Presley's first recording. That record, and Elvis' four that followed on the Sun label, changed popular music. Elvis developed an innovative and different sound combining blues, gospel, and country. That quality made Elvis a worldwide celebrity within two years. He went on to become one of the most famous and beloved entertainers in history. Sun Records introduced many well known people in all fields of music. Generations of musicians have been affected by those who recorded here and especially by the music Elvis Presley first sang at Sun Records
National Historic Landmark Nomination: (unedited version with citations available here)
Marion Keisker (1917-1989), Phillips's sole assistant & employee when he started his business said he "would talk about this idea he had, this dream, I suppose, to have a facility where black people could come and play their own music, a place where they would feel free and relaxed to do it. One day we were riding along, and he saw that spot on Union, and he said, 'That's the spot I want.' With many difficulties we got the place, and we raised the money, and between us we did everything. We laid all the tile, we painted the acoustic boards, I put in the bathroom, Sam put in the control room—what little equipment he had always had to be the best." — quoted by Peter Guralnick, Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley
Phillips started his own record company, Sun Records, in 1952, "the first great rock 'n' roll record label." • Some of the artists Phillips recorded would redefine the musical genres in which they worked. Many of them made for Phillips not only their first recordings but also their best.
Before World War II most black music was blues, and a lot of those were country blues of the Mississippi Delta, the raw, gut-wrenching folk music of rural African Americans… Black migration out of the rural South accelerated during the First World War and exploded after World War II when manual cotton picking came to an end. Synthetic materials took over the market after the discovery of nylon in 1939, and the mechanical cotton picker, able to do the work of fifty people, arrived soon after. "The main musical result of the great migration was the blues came to town, and not to any old town: to Memphis, which acted as the local focus for migration from the Delta." — Sir Peter Hall, Cities in Civilization
In Memphis, WDIA started out in 1947 as a popular and country music radio station. The station switched formats in 1948 and began programming for a black audience after the success of a show called "Black America Speaks," hosted by Memphis's first black on-air personality, Nat Williams (1907-1983) [editorial: Color the Issue, A Point of View by Nat L. Williams]
Also in 1948, Dewey Phillips (1926-1968), a white radio announcer from rural Tennessee, began to host a show on WHBQ. "Red Hot and Blue" [listen] expanded from fifteen minutes to three hours daily during its first year on the air. Phillips played "an eclectic mix of blues, hillbilly, and pop that would become an institution in Memphis, and his importance to the cross-cultural miscegenation that became Rock 'n' Roll is incalculable." By 1951, word began to spread that white kids were buying "race records."
Sam Phillips was born on January 5, 1923 in the northwest corner of Alabama near Florence, about 150 miles east of Memphis. He got his first radio job in 1940 at WLAY in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and later took correspondence courses in radio engineering. He worked at WMSL in Decatur, Alabama, and at WLAC in Nashville before moving to Memphis in 1945.
In January 1950, Phillips started his own recording business in addition to his regular jobs. The Memphis Recording Service opened at 706 Union Avenue, about a mile east of the downtown area. The small one-story brick building had a reception area/office at the front of the building, a recording studio in the middle section, and a small control room in the rear. The entire building is only about 18 feet wide and 57 feet long. Phillips's business card read "We Record Anything—Anywhere—Anytime." Initially that included weddings, funerals, bar mitzvahs, advertisements for radio, etc., in addition to musicians in his studio.
"I opened the Memphis Recording Service with the intention of recording singers and musicians from Memphis and the locality who I felt had something that people should be able to hear. I'm talking about blues—both the country style and the rhythm style—and also about gospel or spiritual music and about white country music. I always felt that people who played this type of music had not been given the opportunity to reach an audience . . . My aim was to try and record the blues and other music I liked and to prove whether I was right or wrong about this music. I knew, or I felt I knew, that there was a bigger audience for blues than just the black man of the mid-South. There were city markets to be reached, and I knew that whites listened to blues surreptitiously." —Escott, op. cit.
Phillips also functioned as a folklorist, documenting music that was fading into the past. "With the jet age coming on, with cotton-picking machines as big as a building going down the road, with society changing, I knew that this music wasn't going to be available in a pure sense forever."
Recording the Blues
video: Sam Phillips: The Man who Invented Rock & Roll Part 1 (44:22) & Part 2 (45:59)
His first deal, with 4 Star/Gilt Edge Records, was a song by a blind pianist from south Memphis. Lost John Hunter's "Boogie for Me Baby" [listen] was "a crude boogie blues that could pick up some southern juke coin," according to the review in Billboard, a record business trade publication.
In late summer 1950, Phillips launched his own record company with partner Dewey Phillips (the hot Memphis radio announcer, no relation) in order to issue and promote his own products. They called their label Phillips, but it only lasted a few weeks, issuing three hundred copies of Joe Hill Louis's "Boogie in the Park" in August 1950 [listen]
Phillips soon began working with Modern Records of Los Angeles, owned and operated by the Bihari brothers. Their new subsidiary, RPM Records, was looking for "new music with a down- home feel." Jules Bihari sent a guitar player from Indianola, Mississippi, to Sam Phillips to record. Riley King was already popular locally and known as B.B. King (for Blues Boy, or more likely, Black Boy). Phillips recorded King, one of the first artists on the new RPM label, from mid-1950 until mid-1951 [listen].
Even at this early stage in his career, Sam Phillips used recording techniques that were soon recognized as hallmarks of his records. He put up-tempo boogies on the front sides of records, slow numbers on back sides, and overamplified on faster songs to get a primitive fuzzy sound… These early recording sessions with King also document Phillips's skill as a record producer. King's version of a Tampa Red song had an explosiveness missing from the original record.
"Rocket '88'," a song about a hot Oldsmobile, is one of the contenders for the title "first rock 'n' roll record." It featured Jackie Brenston, the singer, and Ike Turner, the bandleader, on piano. "Rocket '88'" [listen] was released in April 1951. It hit number 1 on Billboard's R&B chart in June and eventually became the second biggest R&B hit of the year. According to Sam Phillips, "Rocket '88'" was the record that really kicked it off for me as far as broadening the base of music and opening up wider markets for our local music." Phillips resigned from WREC in June 1951 after "Rocket '88'" became a hit. — [more] on the history of “Rocket 88”
The Commercial Appeal (Memphis), 28 Mar, 1951: "[Sam Phillips] has agreements with two recording companies to locate and record hillbilly and race music. Race numbers are those tailored for the Negro trade. Sam auditions musicians with original songs. When he finds something he's sure will sell, he gets it on acetate and sends it to one of the companies. He doesn't charge the musicians anything . . . Sam may branch out one day, so he says if anyone wants to bring him a pop song, he'll be glad to look it over." • full article
• Sam Phillips first recorded Chester Burnett (The Howlin' Wolf) in the spring of 1951. Born near Aberdeen, Mississippi, Howlin' Wolf (1910-1976) was a singer who gave the traditional Delta blues another dimension. They recorded "Moanin' at Midnight" and "How Many More Years" [listen] in August 1951… In Phillips's estimation, the Wolf was his greatest discovery.
• Even though he preferred the creative side of the business, Phillips started his own record company early in 1952… With his own label, Phillips could run the business like he wanted and release records that other labels rejected.
"When I was leasing to other labels, they wanted me to compromise. They wanted a fuller blues sound than I did. They were selling excitement. I was recording the feel I found in the blues. I wanted to get that gut feel onto record. I realized that it was going to be much more difficult to merchandise than what Atlantic or Specialty, for example, were doing, but I was willing to go with it."
Phillips named his new company Sun Records and selected an eye-catching record label [photo] designed by John G. Parker (1925-2012), who also designed the tiger stripe helmet for the Cincinnati Bengals football team and packages for Alka-Seltzer and Super Bubble gum… "The sun to me—even as a kid back on the farm—was a universal kind of thing. A new day, a new opportunity." —Sam Phillips
The first record issued on the new Sun label (March 27, 1952), Sun number 175, was an original instrumental, "Drivin' Slow," by alto saxophonist Johnny London.
"Even on this first release, all the hallmarks of a Sam Phillips Sun record were in place: the raw sound, the experimental origin, the dark texture, even the trademark echo. Phillips and London created the illusion of a sax heard down a long hallway on a humid night by rigging something like a telephone booth over London's head while he played. The record's appeal had more to do with feeling than virtuosity—in short, it offered everything music buyers could expect from Sun for the remainder of the decade." [listen]
The first recording on the Sun label considered to be a classic was Easy, an instrumental released in March 1953 by Walter Horton (1921-1981) (Little Walter, and later, Big Walter).
". . . Horton played the same theme five times, with mounting intensity. By the fourth chorus, he was playing with such intensity that his harmonica sounded like a tenor saxophone. Phillips' virtuosity with tape delay echo was rarely used to better advantage: he made three instruments [harmonica, guitar, drums] sound as full as an orchestra. Any other instrument would have been redundant." [listen]
Sun Records had its first national hit in the spring of 1953 with "Bear Cat," [listen] which went to number 3 on the national R&B chart. It was an "answer song" to "Hound Dog" by Big Mama Thornton aka Willie Mae Thornton (1926-1984), sung by local radio announcer Rufus Thomas. "Bear Cat" was the first record to make money for Sun Records and it put the company on the map. "Feelin' Good" by Little Junior's Blue Flames (released in July 1953), was also commercially successful, reaching number 5 on the national R&B chart.
Sun's next hit was "Just Walkin' in the Rain" [listen] by The Prisonaires, a black vocal group of five inmates from the Tennessee State Penitentiary in Nashville. They sang close-harmony gospel style and came under armed guard to record at 706 Union on June 1, 1953. As part of the warden's rehabilitation program, they were allowed to perform on radio, in concerts, and at the Governor's mansion, but "Just Walkin' in the Rain" was their only hit.
Phillips recorded a number of important blues artists in the early 1950s, including "Sleepy" John Estes, Little Milton Campbell, Rosco Gordon, Dr. Ross, Harmonica Frank Floyd, Willie Nix, Billy "The Kid" Emerson, and Bobby "Blue" Bland.
". . . It's safe to say that the blues has never sounded as mean, raw, or intense as it did on countless days and nights at 706 Union Avenue. Amplifiers were cranked way past the point of distortion, guitars slashed like straight razors, rickety drum kits were pounded with fury and abandon, and the stories both sung and shouted spanned the gamut of the black Southern experience…
"Even if he'd never issued a record on the shining yellow Sun label, even if Elvis Presley had never entered his small recording studio..., Phillips would rank as one of the most visionary record producers of our time on the basis of his early fifties blues work." —John Floyd, Sun Records: An Oral History
In May 1954, Phillips recorded "Cotton Crop Blues" with James Cotton on vocals and Auburn "Pat" Hare on guitar. This was "one of the truly great blues recordings," but recording of traditional blues at 706 Union fell off in 1954 with the growing popularity of R&B music. Sun Records soon became synonymous with rock 'n' roll, overshadowing Phillips's role in blues recording "and the insight that [he] brought to recording the blues. He worked hard to get the best from his artists . . . Phillips would sit behind his tape deck until sunup if he thought the musicians on the studio floor might capture the sound that he heard in his head."
Phillips struggled to make money in the record business for almost six years. Eventually he saw that the market at that time was too small for the kind of music he was recording.
"The base wasn't broad enough because of racial prejudice. It wasn't broad enough to get the amount of commercial play and general acceptance overall—not just in the South . . . Now these were basically good people, but conceptually they did not understand the kinship between black and white people in the South. So I knew what I had to do to broaden the base of acceptance." —Escott, op. cit.
Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley graduated from Humes High School in north Memphis on June 3, 1953 and went to work at M.B. Parker Machinists on July 1. Later that summer, he recorded a personal record at the Memphis Recording Service. Presley paid $3.98 for an acetate with two sides, both ballads. While he was there, Presley talked with Marion Keisker, a long-time Memphis radio personality who helped Sam Phillips run his businesses at 706 Union, and asked if she knew of a band that needed a singer.
He made an impression on Keisker which she later remembered well, especially his answer to her question about which hillbilly singer he sounded like: "I don't sound like nobody." At that time, Presley had a child's guitar that he played in the park, on his porch steps, and in a band with his buddies around their housing project. He soon aspired to be a member of the Songfellows, an amateur church quartet. —Guralnick, op. cit.
Presley dropped by 706 Union a number of times after that initial meeting to see if Ms. Keisker had any leads for him. In January 1954, Presley paid for a second personal record, and tried out for a professional band that spring. Eddie Bond (1933-2003), the band leader, told him to keep driving a truck because he would never make it as a singer. Presley later revealed that Bond's rejection "broke my heart." —Guralnick, op. cit.
". . . There is little question that he stepped through the doorway [at 706 Union] with the idea, if not of stardom . . . at the very least of being discovered. In later years he would always say that he wanted to make a personal record "to surprise my mother." Or "I just wanted to hear what I sounded like." But, of course, if he had simply wanted to record his voice, he could have paid twenty-five cents at W. T. Grant's on Main Street . . . Instead, Elvis went to a professional facility, where a man who had been written up in the papers would hear him sing." —Guralnick, op. cit.
Marion Keisker finally called Presley on Saturday, June 26 to set up an appointment, almost a year after he recorded his first personal disc. On a recent trip to Nashville, Phillips had gotten an acetate of a song that reminded him of Presley's voice. They worked on "Without You" [listen] for a long time that afternoon, and Phillips had Presley sing a number of other songs after his unsuccessful attempts with "Without You."
A week later, Phillips set Presley up with two members of the Starlite Wranglers [photos], Scotty Moore (guitar) and Bill Black (bass), and the three of them went to the studio on Monday, July 5 so Phillips could hear them on tape. Nothing special happened at the session until they took a break and Presley began fooling around and playing an old blues song by Arthur Crudup, "That's All Right [Mama] [listen]."
"Sam recognized it right away. He was amazed that the boy even knew Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup—nothing in any of the songs he had tried so far gave any indication that he was drawn to this kind of music at all. But this was the sort of music that Sam had long ago wholeheartedly embraced . . . And the way the boy performed it, it came across with a freshness and an exuberance, it came across with the kind of clear-eyed, unabashed originality that Sam sought in all the music that he recorded—it was "different," it was itself." —Guralnick, op. cit.
Phillips got his friend and kindred spirit, disc jockey Dewey Phillips, to play "That's All Right" [listen] on his radio show "Red Hot and Blue," then near the height of its popularity. The response was immediate—hundreds of phone calls and telegrams. Dewey played the song a number of times that night and also interviewed Presley during the show.
By the time the record was pressed and ready for release, there were 6,000 orders for it locally. Sun record number 209 was released on Monday, July 17, 1954. Phillips had been "looking for something that nobody could categorize," and this song did not sound exclusively black or white or country or pop. Initially, many people who heard the song thought that Presley was a black man. —Guralnick, op. cit.
Elvis Presley's first big public appearance with Scotty and Bill, the Blue Moon Boys, was on Friday, July 30 at Memphis's outdoor amphitheater in Overton Park [photos]. The show featured Slim Whitman, a star from the Louisiana Hayride, which some called the Grand Ole Opry's "farm club." He drew a hillbilly crowd, but they went wild when Elvis shook and wiggled his legs, his natural way of performing.
The new record made Billboard's regional charts by the end of August, but it was the B side that was more popular. Phillips backed "That's All Right" with an unorthodox version of "Blue Moon of Kentucky" [listen], a waltz that was a hit in 1946 for Bill Monroe, country music's elder statesman. By early September, "Blue Moon" was number 1 on the Memphis C&W chart and "That's All Right" was number 7. —Guralnick, op. cit.
Sun released Presley's second record in late September. "It was . . . an even bolder declaration of intent than the first, especially the strident blues number 'Good Rockin' Tonight' [listen], which rocked more confidently than anything they could have imagined in those first, uncertain days in the studio." The original jump blues version was written and recorded by Roy Brown in 1947 [listen]
Presley's growing popularity enabled Phillips to arrange a guest appearance on the Grand Ole Opry for October 2, even though the Opry had never before scheduled a performer at such an early stage in his career. The performance of "Blue Moon of Kentucky" by Elvis Presley, Scotty and Bill received a "polite, but somewhat tepid, reception," and the Opry's manager told Phillips that Presley "just did not fit the Opry mold."
It was a big disappointment for Elvis. But soon they were off to Louisiana for Presley's first appearance on the Louisiana Hayride, "the Opry's more innovative rival in Shreveport" that had a show every Saturday night. On the third Saturday of the month the show broadcast with a 50,000 watt signal that reached up to twenty-eight states.48 After only one guest appearance, Presley signed a standard one year contract to be one of the Hayride's regular members, and he and his band quit their day jobs. —Guralnick, op. cit.
For the next year, Elvis Presley and the Blue Moon Boys toured almost constantly... Presley took his first airplane flight and first trip to New York City on March 23, 1955 to try out for Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts contest, but he did not pass the audition. [A] tour with Hank Snow/Jamboree Attractions began on May 1 in New Orleans, visiting twenty cities in three weeks, including a number of stops in Florida. There was a "riot" backstage after the concert in Jacksonville …
The audiences had never heard music like Presley played before, and they had never seen anyone who performed like Presley either. The shy, polite, mumbling boy gained self-confidence with every appearance, which soon led to a transformation on stage. People watching the show were astounded and shocked, both by the "ferocity of his performance,"49 and the crowd's reaction to it.
Even in the early days, Elvis almost always stole the show from the headliners, and concert lineups had to be rearranged accordingly. Nobody followed Elvis. Roy Orbison saw Presley for the first time in Odessa, Texas: "His energy was incredible, his instinct was just amazing . . . I just didn't know what to make of it. There was just no reference point in the culture to compare it."—Guralnick, op. cit.
"'He's the new rage,' said a Louisiana radio executive… 'Sings hillbilly in R&B time. Can you figure that out? He wears pink pants and a black coat . . .'" —Guralnick, op. cit.
Elvis caused a great commotion everywhere he went. Throughout the South, Presley had girls screaming and fainting and chasing after him.
Sam Phillips was also on the road constantly after the Overton Park performance in July 1954, promoting the new records to distributors, disc jockeys, record store owners, and jukebox operators. His experiences, however, were entirely different. Time and again, disc jockeys who were old friends and/or long-standing business associates told Phillips they could not play the Presley records. A country deejay said "Sam, they'll run me out of town." To an R&B deejay, "That's All Right" was a country song. A major pop station disc jockey told Phillips, "your music is just so ragged. I just can't handle it right now. Maybe later on." —Guralnick, op. cit.
WELO in Tupelo, Mississippi, Presley's hometown, would not even play the record, in spite of many requests from teenagers, because the deejay did not like the new music. —Guralnick, op. cit.
Sam Phillips persevered in spite of all the rejection he was getting, and kept trying to turn it around. "I needed the attention that I got from the people that hated what I was doing, that acted like: 'Here is somebody trying to thrust junk on us and classify it as our music.'"—Guralnick, op. cit.
"He was a man swept up by a belief, in a sound and in an idea. And as discouraged as he might sometimes get, as harsh as the reality of selling this new music might be, he never strayed from his belief, he never allowed himself to be distracted from his main goal. Which was to get them to listen." —Guralnick, op. cit.
Phillips could feel a revolution was on the way. There were already lots of country boys coming to his studio to play the new music, which initially got the name rockabilly. "Sam knew that a day was coming . . . when the music would prevail." —Guralnick, op. cit.
Presley was still a regional sensation and unknown to the national market when he got the record industry's attention. By the summer of 1955, almost all the major and independent record labels were inquiring about him. Sam Phillips had mixed feelings about selling Presley's contract, but his operations could not accommodate the Presley phenomenon, his finances were very tight, and he had other artists who needed his attention.
Presley's parents signed a contract in August which soon forced the issue. Col. Tom Parker (1909-1997) became "special adviser to Elvis Presley." He was the head of Jamboree Attractions, one of the major promoters and bookers of country and western talent, and had booked Presley on the Hank Snow package tours earlier that year. At that time, Parker was known as the best promoter in the business. In October Parker asked Phillips to name his price for Presley's contract, and Parker made sure that it was met.
The deal was signed at 706 Union Avenue on November 21, 1955. RCA-Victor bought Elvis Presley's contract from Sun Records for $35,000, plus $5,000 in back royalties owed to Presley. The story ran in the Memphis Press-Scimitar the next day:
"Elvis Presley, 20, Memphis recording star and entertainer who zoomed into big- time and the big money almost overnight, has been released from his contract with Sun Record Co. of Memphis . . . . Phillips and RCA officials did not reveal terms but said the money involved is probably the highest ever paid for a contract release for a country-western recording artist. 'I feel Elvis is one of the most talented youngsters today,' Phillips said, 'and by releasing his contract to RCA-Victor we will give him the opportunity of entering the largest organization of its kind in the world, so his talents can be given the fullest opportunity.'" —quoted in Guralnick, op. cit.
Sam Phillips never regretted his decision to sell Elvis Presley's contract. In many ways, Presley's departure was like a new beginning for Sun Records. Many country musicians aspiring to play rockabilly began to make their way to 706 Union Avenue. As Johnny Cash said many years later, "Elvis was a beacon that brought us all there." —Peter Guralnick, "Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock 'n' Roll," VHS (A&E Biography, 2000)
Sun Studio
After Sam Phillips moved his companies to the new location on Madison Avenue, 706 Union Avenue housed a number of different businesses in the 1960s and 1970s, including a barber shop, an auto parts store, and a scuba shop. The building was vacant in 1985 when it became the site of a family reunion of sorts. An album entitled “Class of '55: Memphis Rock 'n' Roll Homecoming“ was recorded here to celebrate and remember the "Class of '55" on their 30th "anniversary." Record producer Chips Moman convened Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Roy Orbison to record together for the first time at the Sun studio in September 1985.
Not long after that event, 706 Union Avenue became a stop for visitors on tours to Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley, which opened to the public in 1982. The building opened as the Sun Studio for tours in 1987—the name Sun Records and the original Sun record label design still belong to Shelby Singleton, who bought the company in 1969. The current property owner also purchased the adjacent two-story brick building that housed a café and a boarding house in the 1950s. That building now serves as a soda shop, gallery, and gift shop for visitors to Sun Studio.
The Sun Studio also operates as a full service 24-track recording studio for professional musicians, as well as anyone who wants to make a personal record, just like Elvis. In 1987, the Irish rock band U2 recorded several songs here for their album "Rattle and Hum," including "When Love Comes to Town" featuring B.B. King. Several hundred thousand visitors have made the pilgrimage to this extraordinary place.
• National Register # 03001031, 2003 • designated a National Historic Landmark, 2003
This photo shows the once beefy Griffith model board slimmed down considerably.
This model board at the time I was there had the EJ&E and GTW. Parts of the C&O and the EL were still used as is the MC in spots.
My estimation of traffic at this time was :
8-12 EJ&E trains + switching moves
25-35 GT trains a day
EJ&E Griffith Tower
8/14/1999
2nd Shift
Manual Interlocking, crossing of the EJ&E-GTW-EL-C&O-MC RR's
photo rights reserved by B℮n
Uthai Thani is a province in the northwest of Thailand. It is a region known for its natural beauty, historical sites and cultural heritage. One of the notable features of Uthai Thani is the presence of several national parks that protect the beautiful flora and fauna of the region. Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary: This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the largest protected areas in Thailand. It is home to a diverse flora and fauna, including rare and endangered species such as the Indochinese tiger, Asian elephant and Malayan bear. Tum Chang Cave National Park is a national park known for its impressive limestone caves and formations. These national parks in Uthai Thani offer a range of activities including trekking, bird watching and admiring Thailand's natural beauty. An impressive and majestic tree, which is native especially to this part of Thailand, is Tualang tree, scientifically known as Koompassia excelsa. The Tualang tree is known for its exceptionally tall height. The Tualang tree often plays a crucial role in the ecosystem, as it provides an important source of food and shelter for various animals, including honey bees. Beekeepers sometimes place beehives high in the branches of the Tualang tree to promote the production of Tualang honey, which is considered one of the most unique and high-quality honeys. The conservation and protection of such trees is often of great importance for maintaining biodiversity and ecological balance in the region.
There is a giant Tualang tree (Koompassia excelsa) found east of Ban Rai in Uthai Thani province. This impressive Tualang is located on private property in the middle of a forest, but the owner is happy to welcome visitors. On one side of the tree are claw marks from a bear that tried to knock down a honey bee nest. The local population, descendants of Laotian settlers brought here two hundred years ago during conflicts with Burma, inhabit this area. The circumference of the tree is approximately 97 meters, including the buttress roots that reach from branches to the ground to support the tree. The age of the tree is estimated at 400 years, and its height exceeds 50 meters. This majestic tree sprang up around the year 1621. Visitors are encouraged to touch and feel the ancient tree. The skin of the tree still feels very healthy and vibrant. Let's hope this giant tree continues to thrive forever. It is truly a wonderful spectacle. Photo of Chada, Casper, Samantha, BieJee, Kanitha and Chi at the base of this giant Tualang tree.
Uthai Thani is een provincie in het noordwesten van Thailand. Eén van de opmerkelijke kenmerken van Uthai Thani is de aanwezigheid van diverse nationale parken die de prachtige flora en fauna van de regio beschermen. Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary: Dit is een UNESCO-werelderfgoed en één van de grootste beschermde gebieden in Thailand. Het herbergt een diverse flora en fauna, waaronder zeldzame en bedreigde diersoorten zoals de Indochinese tijger, Aziatische olifant en Maleise beer. Een indrukwekkende en majestueuze boom, die inheems is met name in dit deel van Thailand, is Tualang-boom. Deze boom staat bekend om zijn buitengewoon grote hoogte. De Tualang-boom speelt vaak een cruciale rol in het ecosysteem, omdat het een belangrijke bron van voedsel en onderdak biedt aan verschillende dieren, waaronder honingbijen. Het behoud en de bescherming van dergelijke bomen zijn vaak van groot belang voor het behoud van biodiversiteit en ecologisch evenwicht in de regio. Er is een gigantische Tualang-boom te vinden ten oosten van Ban Rai in de provincie Uthai Thani. Deze indrukwekkende Tualang bevindt zich op privéterrein midden in een bos, maar de eigenaar verwelkomt graag bezoekers. Aan de ene kant van de boom zijn klauwafdrukken te zien van een beer die probeerde een honingbijennest omver te werpen. De lokale bevolking, afstammelingen van Laotiaanse kolonisten die hier tweehonderd jaar geleden werden gebracht tijdens conflicten met Birma, bewoont dit gebied. De omtrek van de boom is ongeveer 97 meter, inclusief de steunwortels die van takken tot aan de grond reiken om de boom te ondersteunen. De leeftijd van de boom wordt geschat op 400 jaar, en de hoogte overschrijdt de 50 meter. Deze majestueuze boom ontsproot rond het jaar 1621. Bezoekers worden aangemoedigd de oude boom aan te raken en te voelen. De huid van de boom voelt nog steeds erg gezond en levendig aan. Laten we hopen dat deze gigantische boom voor altijd zal blijven gedijen. Het is werkelijk een wonderbaarlijk schouwspel. Foto van Chada, Casper, Samantha, BieJee, Kanitha and Chi bij de wortels van deze gigantische Tualang boom.
57 London Road was originally in civilian occupation and named ‘Fairlawns’. The property was requisitioned in 1939 as a new headquarters for No.1 Group of the Royal Observer Corps, who had previously been stationed in rooms above Maidstone Post Office. An operations room was built in the house using the ground floor and basement. Fairlawns was in use throughout the war until stand down. In the 1950s Fairlawns was relegated to being a training centre for the group control at Beckenham (19 Group). In 1961 a new semi-sunk control was built to the rear of Fairlawns with administration located in the house. Beckenham was then relegated to being training centre for 1 Group at Maidstone. The former 19 Group HQ at Dura Den, Park Place, Beckenham was absorbed into No. 1 Group in 1953 but was retained for as a secondary training centre until 1968 In 1976 Fairlawns was renamed Ashmore House in memory of the Corps’ founder Major Ashmore. On closure Ashmore House and the bunker behind was sold to a local solicitors.
Maidstone is similar in construction to other semi-sunken group controls, consisting of three levels. The upper level is a surface concrete blockhouse often referred to as an ‘Aztec Temple’. The middle level is partly below ground, mounded over with soil and grassed, the bottom level is completely below grown. Externally the bunker is in excellent condition and well maintained. The grass on top of the mound is regularly mown and the surface blockhouse is painted white. The telescopic aerial mast is still in place alongside the entrance steps and unusually the aerial is also still there on top of the mast. Two other UHF aerials are also still in place on top of an adjacent pole. On top of the mound the FSM and BPI pipes are in the middle and close to them is a metal cover over what might be part of the AWDREY (Atomic Weapon Detection Recognition and Estimation of Yield) equipment consisting of a white metal box mounted at an angle on a square concrete plinth. Several pipes protrude from the mound alongside. At the east end of the mound is the original emergency exit consisting of an ROC post hatch on a raised concrete plinth with a rail around it. The later emergency exit door is at the back of the mound.
The surface blockhouse still has its external ladder giving access to the roof. Here the GZI mounting is to be found on top of one of the ventilation stacks.
At the top of the entrance stairs is a steel blast door giving access to the upper level corridor. There are two rooms on the left, the decontamination room and dressing room; both still contain sinks and water tanks. There are two rooms on the right, the first has a gas tight door and houses a small fan for cooling the plant in the room below, the adjacent room contains a bank of filters. Beyond these rooms is another gas tight wooden door which, together with the entrance door, forms an air lock. Beyond this door stairs to the left lead down to the middle floor and ahead was the winch room. The winch has been removed as has the floor. There are railings just inside the entrance door to stop anyone falling. A hole has been cut into the right hand side wall of the winch room to give access to a large water tank.
At the bottom of the stairs is a dog leg into the main east - west spine corridor. The first room on the right is the ventilation and filtration plant room which is in immaculate condition with all the brass still polished and gleaming. All the plant remains in place including two chiller pumps, the main ventilation fan, two smaller fans, two compressors and the floor standing electrical control cabinet. There is a filing cabinet full of wiring diagrams, instruction books, maintenance logs etc. Although unused for ten years the plant is almost certainly fully operational with the chiller system still charged.
In one corner of the plant room is a separate filter room with it’s own gas tight door. The bank of filters are still in place. At the back of the room two wooden door open into the generator room which is noticeably narrower then the same room in other semi-sunken group controls. The generator and its control equipment is also in excellent condition with 1518 hours on the clock.
The next room on the right is the canteen, accessed along a short corridor. On the right hand side of the corridor is the kitchen which is largely intact with a Creda industrial cooker, Creda grill, hot food heater, stainless steel sink and draining board and stainless steel covered units. There is a sliding glass hatch for serving food. The canteen is now used for storage of old files and retains nothing original apart from wall cabinets at the back with electrical switchgear.
Next door to the canteen is the BT equipment room, again this is now used for the storage of old files but there are two BT wall cabinets on the end wall and the remains of two racks with some wiring looms. Beyond the BT room is an empty store room and stairs down to the lower level. The final two doors on the right lead onto the balcony looking down onto the control room. Nothing is left in the room at all although in the triangulation alcove it still says ‘Triangulation’ on the wall and there is a small shelf with a slot for an FSM and in the ceiling the bottom of the FSM pipe.
There is a gas tight door in the corridor between the two doors onto the balcony with another gas tight door beyond giving access to the emergency exit. These two doors form a second airlock. There is a ladder on the wall up to a short landing and then a second ladder up to the emergency escape hatch. This was replaced in the 1970’s by a stairway with a door on the south side of the mound.
Back in the spine corridor the first door on the left is the sewage ejection room with two compressors and a compressed air receiver just inside the door and two pumps in the sump underneath a metal grille. This plant also looks immaculate. The next two rooms are the male and female toilets which are complete although no longer connected to the mains water supply. The female toilet has a hot water tank, two hand basins, two WC cubicles and a shower. The male toilet is similar with one of the WC cubicles replaced by a urinal. The next two rooms are the male and female dormitories, these are used for the storage of confidential client files and we had no access. The final room on the left is the small officers room which is empty apart from a Tanoy loudspeaker on the wall.
On the bottom level the control room at the bottom of the stairs to the left has been fitted out with Dexion racking and is the main storage area for old files. Nothing from ROC days remains apart from one floor standing display board. The adjacent communications centre is empty. The walls are covered with acoustic tiles and the original tables and chairs are still in place. There are three windows looking into the control room one with a small message hatch beneath one.
The radio room was to the right of the stairs, this has been divided into two rooms, both of which are empty. There is a small store room under the stairs which is also empty.
During the 1990’s numerous ROC items including maps and signs were sold to the Kelvedon Hatch cold war museum. The only remaining signs are fire prevention notices which are screwed to the wall in various rooms.
The owners have no plans to remove any of the remaining equipment and will continue to use the bunker for the storage of redundant files. It is clean and dry throughout and the lighting works in all the rooms.
Intelligence is a multidimensional entity, a human characteristic too complicated to be accurately and sufficiently measured by any IQ test. IQ tests merely photograph one's cognitive level / mental performance, rather than fully analyze and describe it, mainly since IQ itself is not all there is to intelligence. Creativity, for instance, which is highly correlated to imagination (the core of intelligence), is not IQ dependent. So it's really very hard to say, particularly since the IQ estimation of most of the greatest geniuses of all time is based almost entirely on their work, since they're not alive. Thus, the results' credibility cannot be verified with intelligence tests. Despite that, several psychometricians consider William James Sidis to be the most intelligent human who ever lived. Moreover, some believe his peak cognitive level to be representative of the highest possible level a human being can reach (his deviation IQ is estimated at about 250-280, sd 16). Others characterize Emanuel Swedenborg as the most intellectually charismatic person ever (during his lifetime, his mental abilities where considered nearly divine). Some other universal geniuses exceeding the level of a deviation IQ of 200, sd 16 are Leonardo Da Vinci, Socrates, Plato, Nikola Tesla, Hypatia, Stephen Hawking and more. Others, with an estimated deviation IQ above 180, sd 16 - the critical level of 5 sigma above the mean - are Friedrich Nietzsche, Gottfried W. Leibniz, Salvador Dali, Baruch Spinoza, Marie Curie, Johann W. Goethe, Pythagoras, Srinivasa Ramanujan, John Stuart Mill, Michelangelo Buonarroti, William Shakespeare, Robert J. Fischer and many more. Just consider that according to the current statistics & norms, the top 0.00003% of the unselected population corresponds to a deviation IQ of 180, sd 16 which is statistically equivalent to approximately 1800 individuals in our current population of (roughly) 6.4 billion people. Many scientific magazines & top scientists around the globe accept Dr. Edward Witten as the most intelligent human alive on earth. Witten works as a professor of physics at Princeton's Institute of Advanced Study and focuses on the laws that govern the Superstring Theory, currently the most realistic and widely accepted theory regarding the beginning and evolution of our universe. Grail Society (founded by Paul Cooijmans) has been created with a sole purpose of bringing out the most intelligent person who ever lived, that is, 1 in 100 billion people. This corresponds to 6.7 sigma above the average or a deviation IQ of 207, sd
The Medieval City of Rhodes was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988.
It is one of the best-preserved and largest inhabited medieval towns in Europe.
Ted found a utility cover to shoot. Its an EN 124 B125 class cover.
The Deer Dama-Dama of Rhodes Greece, Dodecanese is present on all Rhodes utility covers.
The deer Dama-Dama is a unique species that lives only in Rhodes Greece for many centuries. Many legends say that this deer was brought to Rhodes by the Crusaders in the Medieval times, but according to other sources, they lived there since the ancient times.
In fact, Rhodes was called Elafioussa in the antiquity, which means with a lot of deer. The two deer statues that stand in Mandraki Harbor, Rhodes Town, shows that this deer has been the symbol of Rhodes for a long time.
The deer of Rhodes are medium-sized. They have a perfectly proportionate body and its colors are amazing. Colors vary according to the age and the season of the year. Their stomach is white, but they also have white patches on their body, which are used as a sort of camouflage. Their height can reach 90 cm till the upper part of its part and its weight can be approximately 100 kilos.
The bucks have spectacular symmetrical antlers. Interestingly enough, these antlers fall out every May and again grow back in September.
Adult bucks live alone or sometimes can be seen in groups of three to four, whereas the newborns live in herds. The pregnancy of the deer lasts about 8 months and female deer give birth in May.
In October, the mother pushes their children to get away and live on their own. The Dama-Dama deer can be spotted in the forests in mainland Rhodes and close to water springs.
According to estimations, there are about 100 to 150 deer at present in Rhodes. The Municipality of Rhodes has taken the initiative to take care about 70 of these animals. The rest has been transported to different parts of Greece and they are found especially in zoos and national reserve parks.
However, the number of these animals is declining due to severe poaching, forest fires or car accidents. As the roads cross their forests, many deer try to cross the road at night and get hit by cars.
These deer live mostly in the inland close to Afandou, Archangelos and Lindos, Rhodes island
InterClassics 2020
Maastricht, the Netherlands.
Production: 1 of 500 (2007-2009)
The Alfa Romeo 8C is a supercar produced by Italian automaker Alfa Romeo between 2007 and 2009.
It was first presented as a concept car at the 2003 Frankfurt Motor Show and later released for sale for the 2007 model year.
The name refers to the eight-cylinder (Cilindro in Italian) engine (8C) and Alfa Romeo's racing pedigree (Competizione, Italian for 'Competition').
Alfa received over 1400 orders for the 8C after the official announcement that the car would enter production. However, only 500 customers ended up with the 8C Competizione and an other 500 with the 8C Spider.
The production version is very similar to the concept; the biggest difference to the exterior being the rear-hinged hood. Other minor changes included the front lights, which used Xenon lamps, a standard wiper system, a mesh side vent, and the rims, which had a design that mimicked the cloverleaf logo. The car came standard in Alfa Red or Black. Pearl Yellow and the Special Competizione Rosso, was also available as an option. Paint upon sample colors were also available for an additional charge. Therefore, the 8Cs where produced in a wide range of colors including, white, Maserati range: Fuji White, Blue Avio, Blue Oceano, Ferrari range: Blue Pozzi, Vinaccia (Aubergine), and special Alfa Romeo historic color Grigio Nuvolari.
The bodyshell is made of carbon fibre, produced by ATR Group. The carbon fibre body is fitted to a steel chassis, made by Italian company ITCA Produzione. The final assembly takes place at the Maserati factory in Modena, Italy.
It is fitted with specially developed 20-inch tires: 245/35 at the front and 285/35 at the rear, fitted on perforated rims in fluid moulded aluminium.
The 8C brakes have been called "phenomenal" by Road & Track magazine, with a stopping distance of 32 metres (105.0 ft), when travelling at an initial speed of 97 kilometres per hour (60 mph). The official top speed is announced to be 300 kilometres per hour but it might be higher, with estimations that it could be around 306 kilometres per hour (190 mph) according to the Road & Track magazine. An Alfa Romeo engineer also stated that it is faster than the announced top speed.
On top of this supercar performance there is the best exhaust sound you can imagine.
Source: www.dreamgarage.nl
American postcard by Storer's Cards, Tulsa Oklahoma, no. S- 1058. Original painting: Everett Raymond Kinstler. On display at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
American actor John Wayne (1907-1979) was one of the most popular film stars of the 20th century. He received his first leading film role in The Big Trail (1930). Working with John Ford, he got his next big break in Stagecoach (1939). His career as an actor took another leap forward when he worked with director Howard Hawks in Red River (1948). Wayne won his first Academy Award in 1969. He starred in 142 films altogether and remains a popular American icon to this day.
John Wayne was born Marion Robert Morrison in 1907, in Winterset, Iowa. Some sources also list him as Marion Michael Morrison and Marion Mitchell Morrison. He was already a sizable presence when he was born, weighing around 13 pounds. The oldest of two children born to Clyde and Mary 'Molly' Morrison, Wayne moved to Lancaster, California, around the age of seven. The family moved again a few years later after Clyde failed in his attempt to become a farmer. Settling in Glendale, California, Wayne received his distinctive nickname 'Duke' while living there. He had a dog by that name, and he spent so much time with his pet that the pair became known as 'Little Duke' and 'Big Duke', according to the official John Wayne website. In high school, Wayne excelled in his classes and in many different activities, including student government and football. He also participated in numerous student theatrical productions. Winning a football scholarship to the University of Southern California (USC), Wayne started college in the fall of 1925. Unfortunately, after two years, an injury, a result of a bodysurfing accident, took him off the football field and ended his scholarship. While in college, Wayne had done some work as a film extra, appearing as a football player in Brown of Harvard (Jack Conway, 1926) with William Haines, and Drop Kick (Millard Webb, 1927), starring Richard Barthelmess. Out of school, Wayne worked as an extra and a prop man in the film industry. He first met director John Ford while working as an extra on Mother Machree (John Ford, 1928). With the early widescreen film epic The Big Trail (Raoul Walsh, 1930), Wayne received his first leading role, thanks to director Walsh. Raoul Walsh is often credited with helping him create his now-legendary screen name, John Wayne. Unfortunately, the Western was a box office failure. For nearly a decade, Wayne toiled in numerous B-films. He played the lead, with his name over the title, in many low-budget Poverty Row Westerns, mostly at Monogram Pictures and serials for Mascot Pictures Corporation. By Wayne's own estimation, he appeared in about 80 of these horse operas from 1930 to 1939. In Riders of Destiny (Robert N. Bradbury, 1933), he became one of the first singing cowboys of film, named Sandy Saunders, although via dubbing. During this period, Wayne started developing his man of action persona, which would serve as the basis of many popular characters later on.
Working with John Ford, John Wayne got his next big break in Stagecoach (John Ford, 1939). Because of Wayne's B-film status and track record in low-budget Westerns throughout the 1930s, Ford had difficulty getting financing for what was to be an A-budget film. After rejection by all the major studios, Ford struck a deal with independent producer Walter Wanger in which Claire Trevor, who was a much bigger star at the time, received top billing. Wayne portrayed the Ringo Kid, an escaped outlaw, who joins an unusual assortment of characters on a dangerous journey through frontier lands. During the trip, the Kid falls for a dance hall prostitute named Dallas (Claire Trevor). The film was well-received by filmgoers and critics alike and earned seven Academy Award nominations, including one for Ford's direction. In the end, it took home the awards for Music and for Actor in a Supporting Role for Thomas Mitchell. Wayne became a mainstream star. Reunited with Ford and Mitchell, Wayne stepped away from his usual Western roles to become a Swedish seaman in The Long Voyage Home (John Ford, 1940). The film was adapted from a play by Eugene O'Neill and follows the crew of a steamer ship as they move a shipment of explosives. Along with many positive reviews, the film earned several Academy Award nominations. Around this time, Wayne made the first of several films with German star Marlene Dietrich. The two appeared together in Seven Sinners (Tay Garnett, 1940) with Wayne playing a naval officer and Dietrich as a woman who sets out to seduce him. Off-screen, they became romantically involved, though Wayne was married at the time. There had been rumours about Wayne having other affairs, but nothing as substantial as his connection to Dietrich. Even after their physical relationship ended, the pair remained good friends and co-starred in two more films, Pittsburgh (Lewis Seiler, 1942) and The Spoilers (Ray Enright, 1942). Wayne's first color film was Shepherd of the Hills (Henry Hathaway, 1941), in which he co-starred with his longtime friend Harry Carey. The following year, he appeared in his only film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, the Technicolor epic Reap the Wild Wind (1942), in which he co-starred with Ray Milland and Paulette Goddard; it was one of the rare times he played a character with questionable values. Wayne started working behind the scenes as a producer in the late 1940s. The first film he produced was Angel and the Badman (James Edward Grant, 1947) with Gail Russell. Over the years, he operated several different production companies, including John Wayne Productions, Wayne-Fellows Productions, and Batjac Productions.
John Wayne's career as an actor took another leap forward when he worked with director Howard Hawks in Red River (1948). The Western drama provided Wayne with an opportunity to show his talents as an actor, not just an action hero. Playing the conflicted cattleman Tom Dunson, he took on a darker sort of character. He deftly handled his character's slow collapse and difficult relationship with his adopted son played by Montgomery Clift. Also around this time, Wayne also received praise for his work in John Ford's Fort Apache (1948) with Henry Fonda and Shirley Temple. Taking on a war drama, Wayne gave a strong performance in Sands of Iwo Jima (Allan Dwan, 1949), which garnered him his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. He also appeared in more two Westerns by Ford now considered classics: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (John Ford, 1949) and Rio Grande (John Ford, 1950) with Maureen O'Hara. Wayne worked with O'Hara on several films, perhaps most notably The Quiet Man (John Ford, 1952). Playing an American boxer with a bad reputation, his character moved to Ireland where he fell in love with a local woman (Maureen O'Hara). This film is considered Wayne's most convincing leading romantic role by many critics. A well-known conservative and anticommunist, Wayne merged his personal beliefs and his professional life in Big Jim McLain (Edward Ludwig, 1952). He played an investigator working for the U.S. House Un-American Activities Committee, which worked to root out communists in all aspects of public life. Off-screen, Wayne played a leading role in the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals and even served as its president for a time. The organisation was a group of conservatives who wanted to stop communists from working in the film industry, and other members included Gary Cooper and Ronald Reagan. In 1956, Wayne starred in another Ford Western, The Searchers (John Ford, 1956). He played Civil War veteran Ethan Edwards whose niece is abducted by a tribe of Comanches and he again showed some dramatic range as the morally questionable veteran. He soon after reteamed with Howard Hawks for Rio Bravo (1959). Playing a local sheriff, Wayne's character must face off against a powerful rancher and his henchmen who want to free his jailed brother. The unusual cast included Dean Martin and Angie Dickinson.
John Wayne made his directorial debut with The Alamo (John Wayne, 1960). Starring in the film as Davy Crockett, he received decidedly mixed reviews for both his on- and off-screen efforts. Wayne received a much warmer reception for The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (John Ford, 1962) in which he played a troubled rancher competing with a lawyer (James Stewart) for a woman's hand in marriage. Some other notable films from this period include The Longest Day (Ken Annakin, Andrew Marton, Bernhard Wicki, 1962) and How the West Was Won (John Ford, Henry Hathaway, George Marshall, 1962). Continuing to work steadily, Wayne refused to even let illness slow him down. He successfully battled lung cancer in 1964. To defeat the disease, Wayne had to have a lung and several ribs removed. In the later part of the 1960s, Wayne had some great successes and failures. He co-starred with Robert Mitchum in El Dorado (Howard Hawks, 1967), which was well-received. The next year, Wayne again mixed the professional and the political with the pro-Vietnam War film The Green Berets (Ray Kellogg, John Wayne, 1968). He directed and produced as well as starred in the film, which was derided by critics for being heavy-handed and clichéd. Viewed by many as a piece of propaganda, the film still did well at the box office. Around this time, Wayne continued to espouse his conservative political views. He supported his friend Ronald Reagan in his 1966 bid for governor of California as well as his 1970 re-election effort. In 1976, Wayne recorded radio advertisements for Reagan's first attempt to become the Republican presidential candidate. Wayne won his first Academy Award for Best Actor for True Grit (Henry Hathaway, 1969). He played Rooster Cogburn, a one-eyed marshal, and drunkard, who helps a young woman named Mattie (Kim Darby) track down her father's killer. A young Glen Campbell joined the pair on their mission. Rounding out the cast, Robert Duvall and Dennis Hopper were among the bad guys the trio had to defeat. A later sequel with Katherine Hepburn, Rooster Cogburn (Stuart Millar, 1975), failed to attract critical acclaim or much of an audience. Wayne portrayed an aging gunfighter dying of cancer in his final film, The Shootist (Don Siegel, 1976), with James Stewart and Lauren Bacall. His character, John Bernard Books, hoped to spend his final days peacefully but got involved in one last gunfight. In 1978, life imitated art with Wayne being diagnosed with stomach cancer. John Wayne died in 1979, in Los Angeles, California. He was survived by his seven children from two of his three marriages. During his marriage to Josephine Saenz from 1933 to 1945, the couple had four children, two daughters Antonia and Melinda, and two sons Michael and Patrick. Both Michael and Patrick followed in their father's footsteps Michael as a producer and Patrick as an actor. With his third wife, Pilar Palette, he had three more children, Ethan, Aissa, and Marisa. Ethan has worked as an actor over the years.
Sources: Biography.com, Wikipedia, and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
Better Large-These excellent examples of Giant Sequoias here in Sequoia National Park are in the lower part of the Sierra Nevada Range in California. A long way off the beaten path to get to these beauties. We crossed over the Coastal Sierra Divide (the Sierra watershed divide) in a loaded 20ft box truck to get here through the beautiful Sierras. What a vertical nightmare! These are the famous Giant Sequoias that are cousins to the Giant Redwoods. Many of these are larger around than the similar redwoods, but not as high.
The most significant difference to me is the area in which they grow. Redwoods are in Coastal areas with cool breezes and extreme fog and moisture...creating their own canopy in a cathedral-like manner...almost creating their own climate. These Sequoias are in much dryer and warmer areas though they do receive some rain. Because of the temperature difference, though more secluded, the sequoia groves are much more burdened with insects. On this warm summer day, even with spray, we could not get away quick enough to avoid bites of all shapes and sizes. We wanted to stay the night, but decided better after the insect onslaught. Spring, winter, or fall would be a much better time to visit in my estimation. It is a beautiful, secluded area that is well worth the properly timed trip.
My wife's hair highlights the color of the trees and gives an approximation of the enormous height and width of these "babies!" We learned that early settlers often used the hollow bases of the trees to protect wildlife in natural pens. In many of them, I could easily spend the night in a properly set up tent in quiet isolation. They are absolutely huge and majestic just like their cousin redwoods.
FOR THOSE INTERESTED I HAVE AN EXHIBITION AT THIS LINK www.flickr.com/groups/inspiringcollection/discuss/7215762...
Diamond Daggered Daughter (James Watkins)
Diamond daggered
Daughter-
Radiance so rare-
Soft as starlight,
Hard as heaven,
Strength
Beyond compare.
Constant
As the morning-
Dazzling
As the day-
Golden nights
And
Moonlit flights-
In lasting love’s
Foray.
Autumn coloured
Princess-
Fallish, fawning,
Fair-
Rooted deep
Through
Winter’s sleep-
She waits
Without a care.
Go gently in
Her presence-
You guilding
Gown of day-
For joy
Is in her armament,
And life in her array.
Bold bolstering hands
By helpful heart,
Contend
On buttress bare…
Full-forced she stands
Against all fear-
Her armory prepared.
Against the challenge
Of her time-
Far from frenzied fray-
Of mystery
And darkened mind-
That hunts
The periled prey.
The soul of man
Cannot withstand
Her onslaught
Soon released-
Of warmth
And laughter
Waxing wild
With
Primal
Passioned
Peace.
So,
Run your race
With confidence-
And stand
Before
Your king-
Your storehouse
Full and prospering-
Your children
Clothed and clean.
Your husband
Known
By
Men of war
Your journey
Now complete-
Prepared
To stand
At
God’s right hand-
With
Crowns
Before
His feet.
James Watkins 10-05
The Turkana inhabit the arid territories of northern Kenya, on the boundary with Sudan. Nilotic-speaking people, they have for a long time stayed outside of the influence of the main foreign trends. Nomad shepherds adapted to a almost totally desert area, some also fish in Lake Turkana. They are divided in 28 clans. Each one of them is associated with a particular brand for its livestock, so that any Turkana can identify a relative in this way.The majority of the Turkana still follow their traditional religion: they believe in a God called Kuj or Akuj, associated with the sky and creator of all things. He is thought to be omnipotent but rarely intervenes in the lives of people. Contact between God and the people is made though a diviner (emeron). Diviners have the power to interpret dreams, forecast the future, heal, and make rain. However, the Turkana doubt about those who say they have powers, but fail to prove it in the everyday life. According to estimates, about 15% of the Turkana are Christian. Evangelism has started among the Turkana since the 1970s. Various church buildings have been built since then. The most astonishing element one can notice in the villages, is that the only permanent structures are churches, with huts all around. Infact, in the late 1970s, feeding projects as well as literacy courses and other services have been provided by Baptist workers. This easily explains the importance acquired by the Church.The Turkana don't have any physical initiations. They have only the asapan ceremony, transition from youth to adulthood, that all men must perform before marriage. The Turkana are polygamous. Homestead consists of a man, his wives and children, and often his mother. When a new wife comes, she stays at the hut of the mother or first wife until she has her first child. The high bride-wealth payment (30 to 50 cattle, 30 to 50 camels and 100 to 200 small stock) often means that a man cannot marry until he has inherited livestock from his dead father. It also implies that he collect livestock from relatives and friends, which strengthens social ties between them. Resolution is found to conflicts through discussions between the men living in proximity to one another. Men of influence are particularly listened, and decisions are enforced by the younger men of the area. Each man belongs to a specific generation set. If a man is a Leopard, his son will be a Stone, so that there is approximately an equal number of each category. The Turkana make finely carved wooden implements, used in the daily life. During the rainy season, moonlight nights' songs have a particular place in the Turkana's life. The songs often refer to their cattle or land, but they are sometimes improvised and related to immediate events. The Turkana have a deep knowledge of plants and products they use as medicine. The fat-tailed sheep is often called "the hospital for the Turkana".
Les Turkana habitent les territoires arides du nord du Kenya, à la frontière avec le Soudan.Peuple de langue nilotique, ils sont pendant longtemps restés hors de l’influence des principaux courants étrangers. Pasteurs nomades adaptés à une zone presque totalement déserte, certains pêchent également dans le lac Turkana. Ils sont divisés en 28 clans. Chacun d’entre eux est associé à une marque particulière donné à son bétail, de telle façon que tout Turkana peut identifier un parent de cette manière.La majorité des Turkana suit encore leur religion traditionnelle : ils croient en un Dieu appelé Kuj ou Akuj, associé au ciel et créateur de toute chose. Les Turkana le voient comme omnipotent mais intervenant rarement dans la vie des gens. Le contact entre Dieu et les hommes se fait par l’intermédiaire d’un divin (emeron). Les devins ont le pouvoir d’interpréter les rêves, prédire l’avenir, soigner et faire pleuvoir. Toutefois, les Turkana doutent de ceux qui disent qu’ils ont des pouvoirs, mais échouent à le prouver dans la vie de tous les jours. Selon des estimations, environ 15% des Turkana sont chrétiens.
© Eric Lafforgue
Still a good number of Wading birds on the south bank @ high tide this morning. Tide was higher than predicted in my estimation & about equal to yesterdays high tide. Difference was no people today compared to 150 yesterday! An alternative angle shot @ a distance from number 2 hide instead of the usual south bank blind
PA_1457 [20 points]
A classic sized blue-pink space invader above a bookstore with books for the youth and children in the 11ème arrondissement of Paris.
When I flashed this space invader it was the 11,320,806th 'flash' in FlashInvaders and FlashInvaders had 186,806 players at this moment (2021-09-28 18h29 Central European Summer Time (UTC+2) )
Onscreen FlashInvaders message: SWEET!
All my photos of PA_1457:
PA_1457 (Close-up, September 2021)
PA_1457 (Wide shot 1, September 2021)
PA_1457 (Wide shot 2, September 2021)
Date of invasion: 04/02/2021 (estimation)
[ Visited this "sweet" PA_1457 almost 8 months after invasion ]
Treasure for your soul
(Henry Law, "The Raven" 1869)
Blessed are those who find their constant
pleasure-ground in the luxuries of the Bible!
They commune with the mind of God.
They listen to a heavenly voice.
They bask in rays of purest light.
They feed in wholesome pastures of refreshment.
They fear no poison from the weeds of error.
No devious path can lead their steps astray.
Wisdom from above sweetly guides them.
The Spirit, the ultimate Teacher of His people,
instructs the students. They advance safely,
happily—from grace to grace.
The lessons are as vast as the mine from which
they spring. They are as pure as the realms to
which they call. They warn of sin—its filth, its
misery, its end. They unfold Jesus—in all the
glories of His redeeming love. They exhibit
holiness—as the only road to a holy heaven.
Reader, heed a salutary admonition. Study the
Bible, as holding treasure for your soul. Study
in the earnestness of prayer. Study with eternity
outspread before you. Study with the humility of
a poor sinner before a speaking God. Study with
faith devoutly grasping every word.
Do not close the volume without inquiring . . .
Is sin more hateful to me?
Is the world more worthless in my estimation?
Is the flesh more treacherous in my sight?
Is Jesus brought nearer to my adoring soul?
Is my heart won to more entire devotedness?
Am I more resolute to live for Him, who died for me?
Empilements de 64 photos de 74µm/step en mode manuel 65mm - f/3,5 - 1” - ISO 100 - rapport 3:1
Boitier Canon EOS 5D Mark IV + Objectif Canon MP-E 65 mm f/2,8 1:1 ~ 5:1 + flash Canon MT-24EX Macro Twin Lite diffusé + lumières LED pour le fond + rail macro motorisé et contrôleur Cognisys Stackshot 3X.
Logiciel de stacking : ZereneStacker (DMap estimation radius 5/smoothing radius 2).
Post traitement : ZereneStacker, Lightroom, Photoshop.
Today I shot the x100 along with my fairly recently purchased Ricoh Gr3x. I need time to get used to the 3x,the x100 I'm very used to. I won't say one is better than the other, first impression is they both do things the other can't do as well. I found myself using the x100 a lot more today,probably 5 out of every 6 shots were with it over the Ricoh. I'm sure it's partly because I'm very comfortable with it,but I also was feeling that often I simply was liking it's look better. Sometimes the photos look very similar. Sometimes the better resolution of the Ricoh makes me favour it's rendering more,at other times it's cleaner look makes it lose in my mind to the Fuji. But neither camera is necessarily always predictable as to what it will produce,whether it will beat the other. The Fuji has a softer look at times,less perfection,which for me is on the path to perfection more so than than the more perfected outcome of the Ricoh. But not in all cases,for the Ricoh has it's own flashes of brilliance I've seen a bit in my short time using it. Different abilities in different situations than the Fuji, I'm just not well enough versed in these abilities right now. Comparing it as I am,or comparing these two cameras as I have the last couple of days is interesting,but not necessarily in every point the best thing to do. I am pretty clear that for me the better thing is to shoot the Ricoh all by itself and leave the Fuji or any other camera at home. They are two different cameras and they should be kept separate. In my estimation. The comparison thing may seem interesting,but I think it's actually the wrong road to go down. We have the ability I believe to like a great range of artistic stuff. It greatly depends on our mood,at least for me. When I like a scene,an image,I don't sit and compare it to another. I like it for what I see and feel in it in the moment. If I come back to it another day I will find my mood and feeling may have changed. I may favour one camera over the other, but honestly the fairest way to do that is to know both cameras really well and also know how to shoot them really well. Few people do that or are that good,including me. In the end I may like one over the other,and the fairest thing to be said would be that I prefer one look over the other,rather than saying one camera is better than the other. Kind of an interesting thing for me with another camera around as I shot the x100 alone for pretty well 8 years. Yes, I picked up a DP2 Merrill in June of 2022,and I think it is an amazing camera in what it can do well. But as anyone who knows anything about it knows,it has a certain limited range in which it is brilliant,and my schedule of life and shooting just don't always make it handy to use. I've thought often of selling it,but am not really willing quite yet to part with it. Now there's a Canon 5d in the mix as well. But have run into a technical problem with it,which hopefully is resolved by end of next week. I have the highest of hopes with this particular camera,but it will take time like anything to get acquainted well with it. Time is not easy to come by for me. So my shooting style of necessity is on the fly,not always my first choice but at the same time that style can be fun with good surprises. Today I remember the experience of shooting as much as any image shot. It was being alone on a beautiful day just outside of town. There were still too many people for me,occasionally driving by. Don't get me wrong,I don't dislike people. But when I take a camera out I don't want to bother them...and I don't want them to bother me. I want zero interaction,that's why I take a camera out. If I wanted to be with a person I would call them up and get together. Anyway, it was a special day,and there's always another special day waiting to be had with a camera.
Dutch postcard. Photo: RKO Radio Films.
American actor John Wayne (1907-1979) was one of the most popular film stars of the 20th century. He received his first leading film role in The Big Trail (1930). Working with John Ford, he got his next big break in Stagecoach (1939). His career as an actor took another leap forward when he worked with director Howard Hawks in Red River (1948). Wayne won his first Academy Award in 1969. He starred in 142 films altogether and remains a popular American icon to this day.
John Wayne was born Marion Robert Morrison in 1907, in Winterset, Iowa. Some sources also list him as Marion Michael Morrison and Marion Mitchell Morrison. He was already a sizable presence when he was born, weighing around 13 pounds. The oldest of two children born to Clyde and Mary 'Molly' Morrison, Wayne moved to Lancaster, California, around the age of seven. The family moved again a few years later after Clyde failed in his attempt to become a farmer. Settling in Glendale, California, Wayne received his distinctive nickname 'Duke' while living there. He had a dog by that name, and he spent so much time with his pet that the pair became known as 'Little Duke' and 'Big Duke', according to the official John Wayne website. In high school, Wayne excelled in his classes and in many different activities, including student government and football. He also participated in numerous student theatrical productions. Winning a football scholarship to the University of Southern California (USC), Wayne started college in the fall of 1925. Unfortunately, after two years, an injury, a result of a bodysurfing accident, took him off the football field and ended his scholarship. While in college, Wayne had done some work as a film extra, appearing as a football player in Brown of Harvard (Jack Conway, 1926) with William Haines, and Drop Kick (Millard Webb, 1927), starring Richard Barthelmess. Out of school, Wayne worked as an extra and a prop man in the film industry. He first met director John Ford while working as an extra on Mother Machree (John Ford, 1928). With the early widescreen film epic The Big Trail (Raoul Walsh, 1930), Wayne received his first leading role, thanks to director Walsh. Raoul Walsh is often credited with helping him create his now-legendary screen name, John Wayne. Unfortunately, the Western was a box office failure. For nearly a decade, Wayne toiled in numerous B-films. He played the lead, with his name over the title, in many low-budget Poverty Row Westerns, mostly at Monogram Pictures and serials for Mascot Pictures Corporation. By Wayne's own estimation, he appeared in about 80 of these horse operas from 1930 to 1939. In Riders of Destiny (Robert N. Bradbury, 1933), he became one of the first singing cowboys of film, named Sandy Saunders, although via dubbing. During this period, Wayne started developing his man of action persona, which would serve as the basis of many popular characters later on.
Working with John Ford, John Wayne got his next big break in Stagecoach (John Ford, 1939). Because of Wayne's B-film status and track record in low-budget Westerns throughout the 1930s, Ford had difficulty getting financing for what was to be an A-budget film. After rejection by all the major studios, Ford struck a deal with independent producer Walter Wanger in which Claire Trevor, who was a much bigger star at the time, received top billing. Wayne portrayed the Ringo Kid, an escaped outlaw, who joins an unusual assortment of characters on a dangerous journey through frontier lands. During the trip, the Kid falls for a dance hall prostitute named Dallas (Claire Trevor). The film was well-received by filmgoers and critics alike and earned seven Academy Award nominations, including one for Ford's direction. In the end, it took home the awards for Music and for Actor in a Supporting Role for Thomas Mitchell. Wayne became a mainstream star. Reunited with Ford and Mitchell, Wayne stepped away from his usual Western roles to become a Swedish seaman in The Long Voyage Home (John Ford, 1940). The film was adapted from a play by Eugene O'Neill and follows the crew of a steamer ship as they move a shipment of explosives. Along with many positive reviews, the film earned several Academy Award nominations. Around this time, Wayne made the first of several films with German star Marlene Dietrich. The two appeared together in Seven Sinners (Tay Garnett, 1940) with Wayne playing a naval officer and Dietrich as a woman who sets out to seduce him. Off-screen, they became romantically involved, though Wayne was married at the time. There had been rumours about Wayne having other affairs, but nothing as substantial as his connection to Dietrich. Even after their physical relationship ended, the pair remained good friends and co-starred in two more films, Pittsburgh (Lewis Seiler, 1942) and The Spoilers (Ray Enright, 1942). Wayne's first color film was Shepherd of the Hills (Henry Hathaway, 1941), in which he co-starred with his longtime friend Harry Carey. The following year, he appeared in his only film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, the Technicolor epic Reap the Wild Wind (1942), in which he co-starred with Ray Milland and Paulette Goddard; it was one of the rare times he played a character with questionable values. Wayne started working behind the scenes as a producer in the late 1940s. The first film he produced was Angel and the Badman (James Edward Grant, 1947) with Gail Russell. Over the years, he operated several different production companies, including John Wayne Productions, Wayne-Fellows Productions, and Batjac Productions.
John Wayne's career as an actor took another leap forward when he worked with director Howard Hawks in Red River (1948). The Western drama provided Wayne with an opportunity to show his talents as an actor, not just an action hero. Playing the conflicted cattleman Tom Dunson, he took on a darker sort of character. He deftly handled his character's slow collapse and difficult relationship with his adopted son played by Montgomery Clift. Also around this time, Wayne also received praise for his work in John Ford's Fort Apache (1948) with Henry Fonda and Shirley Temple. Taking on a war drama, Wayne gave a strong performance in Sands of Iwo Jima (Allan Dwan, 1949), which garnered him his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. He also appeared in more two Westerns by Ford now considered classics: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (John Ford, 1949) and Rio Grande (John Ford, 1950) with Maureen O'Hara. Wayne worked with O'Hara on several films, perhaps most notably The Quiet Man (John Ford, 1952). Playing an American boxer with a bad reputation, his character moved to Ireland where he fell in love with a local woman (Maureen O'Hara). This film is considered Wayne's most convincing leading romantic role by many critics. A well-known conservative and anticommunist, Wayne merged his personal beliefs and his professional life in Big Jim McLain (Edward Ludwig, 1952). He played an investigator working for the U.S. House Un-American Activities Committee, which worked to root out communists in all aspects of public life. Off-screen, Wayne played a leading role in the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals and even served as its president for a time. The organisation was a group of conservatives who wanted to stop communists from working in the film industry, and other members included Gary Cooper and Ronald Reagan. In 1956, Wayne starred in another Ford Western, The Searchers (John Ford, 1956). He played Civil War veteran Ethan Edwards whose niece is abducted by a tribe of Comanches and he again showed some dramatic range as the morally questionable veteran. He soon after reteamed with Howard Hawks for Rio Bravo (1959). Playing a local sheriff, Wayne's character must face off against a powerful rancher and his henchmen who want to free his jailed brother. The unusual cast included Dean Martin and Angie Dickinson.
John Wayne made his directorial debut with The Alamo (John Wayne, 1960). Starring in the film as Davy Crockett, he received decidedly mixed reviews for both his on- and off-screen efforts. Wayne received a much warmer reception for The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (John Ford, 1962) in which he played a troubled rancher competing with a lawyer (James Stewart) for a woman's hand in marriage. Some other notable films from this period include The Longest Day (Ken Annakin, Andrew Marton, Bernhard Wicki, 1962) and How the West Was Won (John Ford, Henry Hathaway, George Marshall, 1962). Continuing to work steadily, Wayne refused to even let illness slow him down. He successfully battled lung cancer in 1964. To defeat the disease, Wayne had to have a lung and several ribs removed. In the later part of the 1960s, Wayne had some great successes and failures. He co-starred with Robert Mitchum in El Dorado (Howard Hawks, 1967), which was well-received. The next year, Wayne again mixed the professional and the political with the pro-Vietnam War film The Green Berets (Ray Kellogg, John Wayne, 1968). He directed and produced as well as starred in the film, which was derided by critics for being heavy-handed and clichéd. Viewed by many as a piece of propaganda, the film still did well at the box office. Around this time, Wayne continued to espouse his conservative political views. He supported friend Ronald Reagan in his 1966 bid for governor of California as well as his 1970 re-election effort. In 1976, Wayne recorded radio advertisements for Reagan's first attempt to become the Republican presidential candidate. Wayne won his first Academy Award for Best Actor for True Grit (Henry Hathaway, 1969). He played Rooster Cogburn, a one-eyed marshal, and drunkard, who helps a young woman named Mattie (Kim Darby) track down her father's killer. A young Glen Campbell joined the pair on their mission. Rounding out the cast, Robert Duvall and Dennis Hopper were among the bad guys the trio had to defeat. A later sequel with Katherine Hepburn, Rooster Cogburn (Stuart Millar, 1975), failed to attract critical acclaim or much of an audience. Wayne portrayed an aging gunfighter dying of cancer in his final film, The Shootist (Don Siegel, 1976), with James Stewart and Lauren Bacall. His character, John Bernard Books, hoped to spend his final days peacefully but got involved one last gunfight. In 1978, life imitated art with Wayne being diagnosed with stomach cancer. John Wayne died in 1979, in Los Angeles, California. He was survived by his seven children from two of his three marriages. During his marriage to Josephine Saenz from 1933 to 1945, the couple had four children, two daughters Antonia and Melinda and two sons Michael and Patrick. Both Michael and Patrick followed in their father's footsteps Michael as a producer and Patrick as an actor. With his third wife, Pilar Palette, he had three more children, Ethan, Aissa, and Marisa. Ethan has worked as an actor over the years.
Sources: Biography.com, Wikipedia and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
Le Fossa, animal presque mythique de Madagascar, est pratiquement invisible, présent sur toute la Grande Ile, l’endroit où on peut espérer le voir est le Parc de Kirindy … si on a de la chance !
Mix de civette, mangouste, chat, chien, puma, il est unique dans sa famille.
Classé VU par l’IUCN, sa population n’est qu’une estimation : 2 500 à 8 000 adultes, la déforestation et la démographie inflationniste de Madagascar perturbe tout l’écosystème : moins de forêts = moins de lémuriens (ses principales proies) = moins de Fossas !
Son régime est pour le moins varié : lémuriens, reptiles, insectes, oiseaux et quand il a compris qu’il y a de la nourriture près de l’homme, il s’attaque aux poules, chevreaux, porcs … et aux déchets …
Bien que considéré comme « fady », tabou on sait qu’il est pourchassé à proximité des villages et dans certaines régions il sert de viande de brousse !
L’individu vu à Kirindy a compris qu’il pouvait y avoir de la nourriture dans les poubelles et il visite les abords de l’entrée du parc … de temps en temps, vous pouvez passer plusieurs jours sans le voir, ou si vous avez de la chance, le voir traverser la piste …
www.iucnredlist.org/species/5760/45197189
fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossa_(animal)
Fosa, mythic animal of Madagascar, is virtually invisibe, found in the whole Great Island, the place where you have to be is Kirindy Park … if you have luck !
Mix of civet, mongoose, cat, dog, puma, he is unique in his family.
Classified VU by IUCN, his population is only a rough estimation / 2 500 to 8 000 adults, deforestation and inflationary human pressure in madagascar disrupt the whole ecosystem : less forests = less lemurs (his main preys) = less fosas !
His diet is, at the least, varied : lemurs (all species), reptiles, insects, birds and when he understood there is food near human, he can decide to directly take chicken, young goats, pigs … and garbage …
Although considered « fady », taboo we know he is chased near villages and in some areas he is used as bushmeat !
The one we saw in Kirindy knew he could get some food in the waste bins and he could visit the park surroundings … from time to time, you can spend several days without seeing him, or if you are lucky, you will watch him crossing the trail …
Visual interpretation of relief on Europa based on depth estimation from a single image
Zoedepth was not trained for DTM - the 3D image may contain errors, since it's not based on a DTM but on an AI model that hasn't been trained on planets.
Process on 2d image : false color, not RGB
Enlargement, enhancement and colorisation
Original version available on Nasa photojournal : photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25498
Surface of Europa taken by Galileo / NASA - November 6, 1997
Process on 3d image :
Not based on a DTM, but a visual interpretation of the surface
Thank you ZoeDepth: Zero-shot Transfer by Combining Relative and Metric Depth : see it on arxiv.org/abs/2302.12288
Science Credit of image taken by Galileo: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Choice of processing method (2D/3D) and process execution : Thomas Thomopoulos
Credit for ZoeDepth: Shariq Farooq Bhat, Reiner Birkl, Diana Wofk, Peter Wonka, Matthias Müller
See it in 3D on Sketchfab :
Europa - a moon of Jupiter by tthomopoulos on Sketchfab
Citation of Nasa photojournal about 2D original version :
"This mosaic shows a portion of one of the highest-resolution images captured of Jupiter's moon Europa in the 1990s by NASA's Galileo spacecraft. This picture is cropped from a larger image. These are the kind of features studied by scientists who recently modeled how moonquakes may trigger landslides on icy moons circling Jupiter and Saturn.
Visible here are possible fault scarps (like those found on Earth when tectonic activity breaks the crust) with smooth slopes and nearby rubble that may have been produced by small landslides triggered by the faulting activity".
(Finally got around to posting this, I made it nearly 3 weeks ago. But I was procrastinating on the story)
(I've been having fun revisiting some of the crazy styles I used to do, but with better detail and - I hope - a more reasonable set of proportions)
://CRIMSON-LIBRARY-ARCHIVE//...
://SUBJECT:/Outsider//...
://ENTRY-NO.:/x006//...
://Main-Text-Body:
A tense and awkward silence prevailed over the room. Burris Den busied himself at his terminal, finding even the most minute and tedious task preferable to facing the lethal glare being thrown him across the room. When the small nations and peoples of the outer rim banded together, ousting corporate enclaves -including those of his former employer, Taron- Burris saw the writing on the wall. The losses to the Outsider's mercenary band already had brought him close to the chopping block. When he received news of the alliance, of the proclaimed "Crimson Knighthood" which would fight for them, he never bothered to contact his boss, Seran Vaal. He left as quickly as he could, pulling every string and favor to land himself this job. It was a pitiful job, a secretary position. But he was secretary to the head of the CPF, Commander Teoghan, which made him untouchable to Vaal, especially after the losses suffered by Taron.
This did not make it any more comfortable when earlier that morning, Vaal -looking worse for wear, his typically impeccable uniform creased and worn, like a creature who had neither slept nor eaten half as much as necessary- appeared with an appointment to speak with Commander Teoghan. The Kassian businessman was not here for Burris, but that did not prevent Vaal from fixing his best glare at the ashamed little Verta who was hiding behind his holo-terminal. After an impossibly long, tense silence, a chime on the terminal signaled that Teoghan was ready to receive his guest.
Vaal stood, now ignoring Burris, and squared his shoulders as he took a deep breath. He had fallen far, it took all the little reputation and resources left just to arrange this appointment, something he could have demanded on a whim only a few galactic standard years ago. He needed this meeting to go well. He had been petitioning for this opportunity for months. Finally, he hoped to start the wheels moving to crush what was, in Vaal's estimation, an upstart alliance that clearly stood in rebellion against Council rule.
Stepping into the room, Vaal laid eyes on the great commander. Teoghan cut an imposing figure, and not just because has was, as a Morkan, almost twice as tall as Vaal, himself a Kassian of above average height. Teoghan, even sitting at his desk, exuded an aura of command in a well tailored military uniform which exaggerated his muscular physique. A few flecks of grey in the typically black, stiff tine-like hair of the Morkan, and the telltale hint of a multitude of healed scars on his thick dark green skin, belied that Teoghan was anything other than a soldier in his prime. Vaal had been warned. Like most Morkan, Teoghan was often underestimated on account of popular stereotypes of Morkan males being unintelligent brutes. Teoghan more so: he had a reputation for tactical cunning and wit that would put even the most elite of Royal Caste Kassian scholars to shame.
Vaal's forked tongue flicked out across his thin scaled lips, "Thank you for making time to see me, Commander. I trust what we discuss will be of great benefit to us both." He dusted off a smile which once had sealed so many deals. Things were finally turning back in his favor, he could feel it.
Commander Teoghan looked up from his private terminal, giving a weary look at the reptilian biped before him. Seran Vaal's reputation preceded him. Often considered a necessary evil, a mobster in the skin of a businessman (though what Kassian wasn't? Teoghan mused), Teoghan had kept a careful eye on Vaal and Taron Corporation for most of his tenure. If he was not so often reminded of the diplomatic repercussions by his peers in the Council, Teoghan would have cleared the Council City of men like Vaal a long time ago. He allowed himself a smirk. Looking at the once-proud Kassian now, the gleaming bronze scales now dim from poor self care, the beady gleaming eyes staring at him with pitiful desperation, the Commander felt momentarily better about his lot.
Teoghan's eyes fell once more to the message open on his terminal, the message he had been reading and re-reading all morning, and all night since it first appeared. His smile flattened. Breathing a heavy sigh and rubbing his temples, he mustered his best diplomatic voice and manners - which was barely anything.
"You must forgive me, Mr. Vaal, but I am afraid you have misread my intentions. I have not changed my mind since the last thirty-four times you have called. I called you in on formality, as someone who comes with... so many recommendations" Teoghan inwardly breathed relief. He had been receiving an immense amount of pressure from a multitude of pathetic lower-tier Councilmen who had been bought, with money or through owed debts, by Vaal in attempt to procure a meeting, "I am duty bound to provide a formal meeting to inform you that your request is being denied. Permanently. Please, leave the matter at rest."
Vaal blinked furiously, "You cannot be serious. This is not legal. I am entitled to my representation! By what authority-"
"MY AUTHORITY." Teoghan boomed, thick tusked teeth glistening in his angry grimace. He did not wait for Vaal to continue. "By wartime emergency guidelines article 14, as Commander of the CPF, I have the full authorization to sideline ANY issue indefinitely while an active threat to the Council City exists."
Vaal stood frozen, shaking slightly as the thundering words slowly sank in. Wartime? Active threat? "Emergency guidelines article 14....?"
"Yes." Teoghan returned to his seat and straightened the ceremonial medallion pinned to his chest, clearing his throat. "We have received reports of an unknown invading force. An exogalactic invasion force. The Council is taking it very seriously. We've already lost a frontier military base. The public doesn't know yet, but they will before the end of the day. It is a much higher priority than your petty concerns about the outer rim," he paused to allow himself a mirthless grunt, "The poor fools may not have long anyways, the invasion force will hit them first. All the same, we cannot spare any forces to subdue them. Especially because the intel we have -the ONLY intel we have- is the result of their scouts."
Teoghan swiveled his terminal holo-display around to face Vaal. There, the only item open on the display, was a typed report forwarded from "Crimson Command." Crimson Recon units had encountered the invasion force. The Council would have, in all likelihood, never heard of the invading force if not for the Crimson Recon units. Vaal visibly slumped. "They... they can't be trusted. They're a threat..." he staggered to support himself on the nearest wall, defeated.
Teoghan shook his head, "This meeting has concluded, you are dismissed Mr. Vaal."
://END-ENTRY//.
17. Favorits can be seen on most street corners in Malta. Again, another model seldom seen in the UK.
*The age is my best estimation....
2011 has become the year of the fire for me, Ive shot more fire this year then in any of the previous years combined. It helps to have someone on the in, with the department but also there is a level of respect. I introduced myself to the fire chief this evening and explained what I was doing: we both realized that we were on the same page and went on our merry way! Stay out of the way of the guys, and the flames. All is good then, and no one gets hurt: tho this fire was much hotter then the last one I shot. I have a feeling that my face is going to be quite red when I wake up in the morning and I could feel it singing my stuble.
Estimation on the f-stop, as without metering I shot this wide open, but was slightly zoomed in closer then 35mm. With a varible aperture, its hard to know exactly where I was (to compensate for low light before the fire started I left the lens wide open).
Vivitar 35-70 2.8/3.8
f3.3 1/400
ISO100
57 London Road was originally in civilian occupation and named ‘Fairlawns’. The property was requisitioned in 1939 as a new headquarters for No.1 Group of the Royal Observer Corps, who had previously been stationed in rooms above Maidstone Post Office. An operations room was built in the house using the ground floor and basement. Fairlawns was in use throughout the war until stand down. In the 1950s Fairlawns was relegated to being a training centre for the group control at Beckenham (19 Group). In 1961 a new semi-sunk control was built to the rear of Fairlawns with administration located in the house. Beckenham was then relegated to being training centre for 1 Group at Maidstone. The former 19 Group HQ at Dura Den, Park Place, Beckenham was absorbed into No. 1 Group in 1953 but was retained for as a secondary training centre until 1968 In 1976 Fairlawns was renamed Ashmore House in memory of the Corps' founder Major Ashmore. On closure Ashmore House and the bunker behind was sold to a local solicitors.
Maidstone is similar in construction to other semi-sunken group controls, consisting of three levels. The upper level is a surface concrete blockhouse often referred to as an ‘Aztec Temple’. The middle level is partly below ground, mounded over with soil and grassed, the bottom level is completely below grown. Externally the bunker is in excellent condition and well maintained. The grass on top of the mound is regularly mown and the surface blockhouse is painted white. The telescopic aerial mast is still in place alongside the entrance steps and unusually the aerial is also still there on top of the mast. Two other UHF aerials are also still in place on top of an adjacent pole. On top of the mound the FSM and BPI pipes are in the middle and close to them is a metal cover over what might be part of the AWDREY (Atomic Weapon Detection Recognition and Estimation of Yield) equipment consisting of a white metal box mounted at an angle on a square concrete plinth. Several pipes protrude from the mound alongside. At the east end of the mound is the original emergency exit consisting of an ROC post hatch on a raised concrete plinth with a rail around it. The later emergency exit door is at the back of the mound.
The surface blockhouse still has its external ladder giving access to the roof. Here the GZI mounting is to be found on top of one of the ventilation stacks.
At the top of the entrance stairs is a steel blast door giving access to the upper level corridor. There are two rooms on the left, the decontamination room and dressing room; both still contain sinks and water tanks. There are two rooms on the right, the first has a gas tight door and houses a small fan for cooling the plant in the room below, the adjacent room contains a bank of filters. Beyond these rooms is another gas tight wooden door which, together with the entrance door, forms an air lock. Beyond this door stairs to the left lead down to the middle floor and ahead was the winch room. The winch has been removed as has the floor. There are railings just inside the entrance door to stop anyone falling. A hole has been cut into the right hand side wall of the winch room to give access to a large water tank.
At the bottom of the stairs is a dog leg into the main east - west spine corridor. The first room on the right is the ventilation and filtration plant room which is in immaculate condition with all the brass still polished and gleaming. All the plant remains in place including two chiller pumps, the main ventilation fan, two smaller fans, two compressors and the floor standing electrical control cabinet. There is a filing cabinet full of wiring diagrams, instruction books, maintenance logs etc. Although unused for ten years the plant is almost certainly fully operational with the chiller system still charged.
In one corner of the plant room is a separate filter room with it’s own gas tight door. The bank of filters are still in place. At the back of the room two wooden door open into the generator room which is noticeably narrower then the same room in other semi-sunken group controls. The generator and its control equipment is also in excellent condition with 1518 hours on the clock.
The next room on the right is the canteen, accessed along a short corridor. On the right hand side of the corridor is the kitchen which is largely intact with a Creda industrial cooker, Creda grill, hot food heater, stainless steel sink and draining board and stainless steel covered units. There is a sliding glass hatch for serving food. The canteen is now used for storage of old files and retains nothing original apart from wall cabinets at the back with electrical switchgear.
Next door to the canteen is the BT equipment room, again this is now used for the storage of old files but there are two BT wall cabinets on the end wall and the remains of two racks with some wiring looms. Beyond the BT room is an empty store room and stairs down to the lower level. The final two doors on the right lead onto the balcony looking down onto the control room. Nothing is left in the room at all although in the triangulation alcove it still says ‘Triangulation’ on the wall and there is a small shelf with a slot for an FSM and in the ceiling the bottom of the FSM pipe.
There is a gas tight door in the corridor between the two doors onto the balcony with another gas tight door beyond giving access to the emergency exit. These two doors form a second airlock. There is a ladder on the wall up to a short landing and then a second ladder up to the emergency escape hatch. This was replaced in the 1970’s by a stairway with a door on the south side of the mound.
Back in the spine corridor the first door on the left is the sewage ejection room with two compressors and a compressed air receiver just inside the door and two pumps in the sump underneath a metal grille. This plant also looks immaculate. The next two rooms are the male and female toilets which are complete although no longer connected to the mains water supply. The female toilet has a hot water tank, two hand basins, two WC cubicles and a shower. The male toilet is similar with one of the WC cubicles replaced by a urinal. The next two rooms are the male and female dormitories, these are used for the storage of confidential client files and we had no access. The final room on the left is the small officers room which is empty apart from a Tanoy loudspeaker on the wall.
On the bottom level the control room at the bottom of the stairs to the left has been fitted out with Dexion racking and is the main storage area for old files. Nothing from ROC days remains apart from one floor standing display board. The adjacent communications centre is empty. The walls are covered with acoustic tiles and the original tables and chairs are still in place. There are three windows looking into the control room one with a small message hatch beneath one.
The radio room was to the right of the stairs, this has been divided into two rooms, both of which are empty. There is a small store room under the stairs which is also empty.
During the 1990’s numerous ROC items including maps and signs were sold to the Kelvedon Hatch cold war museum. The only remaining signs are fire prevention notices which are screwed to the wall in various rooms.
The owners have no plans to remove any of the remaining equipment and will continue to use the bunker for the storage of redundant files. It is clean and dry throughout and the lighting works in all the rooms.
57 London Road was originally in civilian occupation and named ‘Fairlawns’. The property was requisitioned in 1939 as a new headquarters for No.1 Group of the Royal Observer Corps, who had previously been stationed in rooms above Maidstone Post Office. An operations room was built in the house using the ground floor and basement. Fairlawns was in use throughout the war until stand down. In the 1950s Fairlawns was relegated to being a training centre for the group control at Beckenham (19 Group). In 1961 a new semi-sunk control was built to the rear of Fairlawns with administration located in the house. Beckenham was then relegated to being training centre for 1 Group at Maidstone. The former 19 Group HQ at Dura Den, Park Place, Beckenham was absorbed into No. 1 Group in 1953 but was retained for as a secondary training centre until 1968 In 1976 Fairlawns was renamed Ashmore House in memory of the Corps' founder Major Ashmore. On closure Ashmore House and the bunker behind was sold to a local solicitors.
Maidstone is similar in construction to other semi-sunken group controls, consisting of three levels. The upper level is a surface concrete blockhouse often referred to as an ‘Aztec Temple’. The middle level is partly below ground, mounded over with soil and grassed, the bottom level is completely below grown. Externally the bunker is in excellent condition and well maintained. The grass on top of the mound is regularly mown and the surface blockhouse is painted white. The telescopic aerial mast is still in place alongside the entrance steps and unusually the aerial is also still there on top of the mast. Two other UHF aerials are also still in place on top of an adjacent pole. On top of the mound the FSM and BPI pipes are in the middle and close to them is a metal cover over what might be part of the AWDREY (Atomic Weapon Detection Recognition and Estimation of Yield) equipment consisting of a white metal box mounted at an angle on a square concrete plinth. Several pipes protrude from the mound alongside. At the east end of the mound is the original emergency exit consisting of an ROC post hatch on a raised concrete plinth with a rail around it. The later emergency exit door is at the back of the mound.
The surface blockhouse still has its external ladder giving access to the roof. Here the GZI mounting is to be found on top of one of the ventilation stacks.
At the top of the entrance stairs is a steel blast door giving access to the upper level corridor. There are two rooms on the left, the decontamination room and dressing room; both still contain sinks and water tanks. There are two rooms on the right, the first has a gas tight door and houses a small fan for cooling the plant in the room below, the adjacent room contains a bank of filters. Beyond these rooms is another gas tight wooden door which, together with the entrance door, forms an air lock. Beyond this door stairs to the left lead down to the middle floor and ahead was the winch room. The winch has been removed as has the floor. There are railings just inside the entrance door to stop anyone falling. A hole has been cut into the right hand side wall of the winch room to give access to a large water tank.
At the bottom of the stairs is a dog leg into the main east - west spine corridor. The first room on the right is the ventilation and filtration plant room which is in immaculate condition with all the brass still polished and gleaming. All the plant remains in place including two chiller pumps, the main ventilation fan, two smaller fans, two compressors and the floor standing electrical control cabinet. There is a filing cabinet full of wiring diagrams, instruction books, maintenance logs etc. Although unused for ten years the plant is almost certainly fully operational with the chiller system still charged.
In one corner of the plant room is a separate filter room with it’s own gas tight door. The bank of filters are still in place. At the back of the room two wooden door open into the generator room which is noticeably narrower then the same room in other semi-sunken group controls. The generator and its control equipment is also in excellent condition with 1518 hours on the clock.
The next room on the right is the canteen, accessed along a short corridor. On the right hand side of the corridor is the kitchen which is largely intact with a Creda industrial cooker, Creda grill, hot food heater, stainless steel sink and draining board and stainless steel covered units. There is a sliding glass hatch for serving food. The canteen is now used for storage of old files and retains nothing original apart from wall cabinets at the back with electrical switchgear.
Next door to the canteen is the BT equipment room, again this is now used for the storage of old files but there are two BT wall cabinets on the end wall and the remains of two racks with some wiring looms. Beyond the BT room is an empty store room and stairs down to the lower level. The final two doors on the right lead onto the balcony looking down onto the control room. Nothing is left in the room at all although in the triangulation alcove it still says ‘Triangulation’ on the wall and there is a small shelf with a slot for an FSM and in the ceiling the bottom of the FSM pipe.
There is a gas tight door in the corridor between the two doors onto the balcony with another gas tight door beyond giving access to the emergency exit. These two doors form a second airlock. There is a ladder on the wall up to a short landing and then a second ladder up to the emergency escape hatch. This was replaced in the 1970’s by a stairway with a door on the south side of the mound.
Back in the spine corridor the first door on the left is the sewage ejection room with two compressors and a compressed air receiver just inside the door and two pumps in the sump underneath a metal grille. This plant also looks immaculate. The next two rooms are the male and female toilets which are complete although no longer connected to the mains water supply. The female toilet has a hot water tank, two hand basins, two WC cubicles and a shower. The male toilet is similar with one of the WC cubicles replaced by a urinal. The next two rooms are the male and female dormitories, these are used for the storage of confidential client files and we had no access. The final room on the left is the small officers room which is empty apart from a Tanoy loudspeaker on the wall.
On the bottom level the control room at the bottom of the stairs to the left has been fitted out with Dexion racking and is the main storage area for old files. Nothing from ROC days remains apart from one floor standing display board. The adjacent communications centre is empty. The walls are covered with acoustic tiles and the original tables and chairs are still in place. There are three windows looking into the control room one with a small message hatch beneath one.
The radio room was to the right of the stairs, this has been divided into two rooms, both of which are empty. There is a small store room under the stairs which is also empty.
During the 1990’s numerous ROC items including maps and signs were sold to the Kelvedon Hatch cold war museum. The only remaining signs are fire prevention notices which are screwed to the wall in various rooms.
The owners have no plans to remove any of the remaining equipment and will continue to use the bunker for the storage of redundant files. It is clean and dry throughout and the lighting works in all the rooms.
2010 ..Gosling at Western Springs Auckland New Zealand Aotearoa ..
Canon dSLR 300d at 1/2000 400iso with Canon 75-300mm lens at 230mm f6.3
www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/animals/birds/go...
The Domesticated Goose has increased greatly in size and fecundity from its ancester, the Greylag Goose, but almost the only change in plumage is that tame geese are bred to lose the darker tints of the wild bird, and are more or less marked with white - being often wholly of that colour. From the times of the Romans, white geese have been held in great estimation, and hence, doubtless, they have been preferred as breeding stock
Memphis, TN, est. 1819, pop. 650,000
• in the 1950s, in a small studio on Union, Ave., Sam C. Phillips (1923-2003) recorded music that is "one of the true touchstones of American culture" —Escott, Hawkins, Good Rockin' Tonight: Sun Records and the Birth of Rock 'N' Roll
• this two-story corner bldg. is located in Memphis's Edge district • before becoming the Sun Studio Café, the 1st floor housed Taylor's Fine Food restaurant (1948-1981) [photo] • owned by Dell Taylor (1911-2003) & husband, Carlos (1914-1976) • 2nd floor was a rooming house
• the 1908 bldg. shares a partywall with a 1-story storefront at no. 706, built in 1916 [photos] • this small adjacent structure became Memphis Recording Service & later, Sun Studio [discography], where Elvis Presley (1935-1977) began his recording career
"Dell M. Taylor served up country fried steak and gentle mothering to the emerging stars of Sun Studio… Mrs. Taylor saw to it that Elvis Presley, Rufus Thomas, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Charlie Rich and Carl Perkins, — along with the mechanics and other workers from the auto dealership row on Union — had the freshest greens and vegetables… Many a song was written in the booths, as the musicians would come in to eat during a break in recording at Sun Studio next door… Sun Studio founder Sam Phillips, credited with discovering Elvis and others, often did his bookkeeping at the restaurant." —Chris Conley, The Commercial Appeal (Memphis), 24 Feb., 2003
• Sam Phillips, who claimed he didn't have a desk, had his own booth at Taylor's to pore over paperwork • "That's where all the guys did their writing and talking, and that's where the Sun sound was really born." –Jack Clement (1931-2013), Sun Studio producer
• exhausted musicians often spent the night in one of "Miss Taylor's" upstairs rooms • while recording at Sun the mid-1950s, Roy Orbison had a two-room apartment there
• the bldg. now serves as visitor center for the recording studio, which is open to the public for tours
Marker: Elvis Presley and Sun Records
In July 1954 Sun Records released Elvis Presley's first recording. That record, and Elvis' four that followed on the Sun label, changed popular music. Elvis developed an innovative and different sound combining blues, gospel, and country. That quality made Elvis a worldwide celebrity within two years. He went on to become one of the most famous and beloved entertainers in history. Sun Records introduced many well known people in all fields of music. Generations of musicians have been affected by those who recorded here and especially by the music Elvis Presley first sang at Sun Records
National Historic Landmark Nomination: (unedited version with citations available here)
Marion Keisker (1917-1989), Phillips's sole assistant & employee when he started his business said he "would talk about this idea he had, this dream, I suppose, to have a facility where black people could come and play their own music, a place where they would feel free and relaxed to do it. One day we were riding along, and he saw that spot on Union, and he said, 'That's the spot I want.' With many difficulties we got the place, and we raised the money, and between us we did everything. We laid all the tile, we painted the acoustic boards, I put in the bathroom, Sam put in the control room—what little equipment he had always had to be the best." — quoted by Peter Guralnick, Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley
Phillips started his own record company, Sun Records, in 1952, "the first great rock 'n' roll record label." • Some of the artists Phillips recorded would redefine the musical genres in which they worked. Many of them made for Phillips not only their first recordings but also their best.
Before World War II most black music was blues, and a lot of those were country blues of the Mississippi Delta, the raw, gut-wrenching folk music of rural African Americans… Black migration out of the rural South accelerated during the First World War and exploded after World War II when manual cotton picking came to an end. Synthetic materials took over the market after the discovery of nylon in 1939, and the mechanical cotton picker, able to do the work of fifty people, arrived soon after. "The main musical result of the great migration was the blues came to town, and not to any old town: to Memphis, which acted as the local focus for migration from the Delta." — Sir Peter Hall, Cities in Civilization
In Memphis, WDIA started out in 1947 as a popular and country music radio station. The station switched formats in 1948 and began programming for a black audience after the success of a show called "Black America Speaks," hosted by Memphis's first black on-air personality, Nat Williams (1907-1983) [editorial: Color the Issue, A Point of View by Nat L. Williams]
Also in 1948, Dewey Phillips (1926-1968), a white radio announcer from rural Tennessee, began to host a show on WHBQ. "Red Hot and Blue" [listen] expanded from fifteen minutes to three hours daily during its first year on the air. Phillips played "an eclectic mix of blues, hillbilly, and pop that would become an institution in Memphis, and his importance to the cross-cultural miscegenation that became Rock 'n' Roll is incalculable." By 1951, word began to spread that white kids were buying "race records."
Sam Phillips was born on January 5, 1923 in the northwest corner of Alabama near Florence, about 150 miles east of Memphis. He got his first radio job in 1940 at WLAY in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and later took correspondence courses in radio engineering. He worked at WMSL in Decatur, Alabama, and at WLAC in Nashville before moving to Memphis in 1945.
In January 1950, Phillips started his own recording business in addition to his regular jobs. The Memphis Recording Service opened at 706 Union Avenue, about a mile east of the downtown area. The small one-story brick building had a reception area/office at the front of the building, a recording studio in the middle section, and a small control room in the rear. The entire building is only about 18 feet wide and 57 feet long. Phillips's business card read "We Record Anything—Anywhere—Anytime." Initially that included weddings, funerals, bar mitzvahs, advertisements for radio, etc., in addition to musicians in his studio.
"I opened the Memphis Recording Service with the intention of recording singers and musicians from Memphis and the locality who I felt had something that people should be able to hear. I'm talking about blues—both the country style and the rhythm style—and also about gospel or spiritual music and about white country music. I always felt that people who played this type of music had not been given the opportunity to reach an audience . . . My aim was to try and record the blues and other music I liked and to prove whether I was right or wrong about this music. I knew, or I felt I knew, that there was a bigger audience for blues than just the black man of the mid-South. There were city markets to be reached, and I knew that whites listened to blues surreptitiously." —Escott, op. cit.
Phillips also functioned as a folklorist, documenting music that was fading into the past. "With the jet age coming on, with cotton-picking machines as big as a building going down the road, with society changing, I knew that this music wasn't going to be available in a pure sense forever."
Recording the Blues
video: Sam Phillips: The Man who Invented Rock & Roll Part 1 (44:22) & Part 2 (45:59)
His first deal, with 4 Star/Gilt Edge Records, was a song by a blind pianist from south Memphis. Lost John Hunter's "Boogie for Me Baby" [listen] was "a crude boogie blues that could pick up some southern juke coin," according to the review in Billboard, a record business trade publication.
In late summer 1950, Phillips launched his own record company with partner Dewey Phillips (the hot Memphis radio announcer, no relation) in order to issue and promote his own products. They called their label Phillips, but it only lasted a few weeks, issuing three hundred copies of Joe Hill Louis's "Boogie in the Park" in August 1950 [listen]
Phillips soon began working with Modern Records of Los Angeles, owned and operated by the Bihari brothers. Their new subsidiary, RPM Records, was looking for "new music with a down- home feel." Jules Bihari sent a guitar player from Indianola, Mississippi, to Sam Phillips to record. Riley King was already popular locally and known as B.B. King (for Blues Boy, or more likely, Black Boy). Phillips recorded King, one of the first artists on the new RPM label, from mid-1950 until mid-1951 [listen].
Even at this early stage in his career, Sam Phillips used recording techniques that were soon recognized as hallmarks of his records. He put up-tempo boogies on the front sides of records, slow numbers on back sides, and overamplified on faster songs to get a primitive fuzzy sound… These early recording sessions with King also document Phillips's skill as a record producer. King's version of a Tampa Red song had an explosiveness missing from the original record.
"Rocket '88'," a song about a hot Oldsmobile, is one of the contenders for the title "first rock 'n' roll record." It featured Jackie Brenston, the singer, and Ike Turner, the bandleader, on piano. "Rocket '88'" [listen] was released in April 1951. It hit number 1 on Billboard's R&B chart in June and eventually became the second biggest R&B hit of the year. According to Sam Phillips, "Rocket '88'" was the record that really kicked it off for me as far as broadening the base of music and opening up wider markets for our local music." Phillips resigned from WREC in June 1951 after "Rocket '88'" became a hit. — [more] on the history of “Rocket 88”
The Commercial Appeal (Memphis), 28 Mar, 1951: "[Sam Phillips] has agreements with two recording companies to locate and record hillbilly and race music. Race numbers are those tailored for the Negro trade. Sam auditions musicians with original songs. When he finds something he's sure will sell, he gets it on acetate and sends it to one of the companies. He doesn't charge the musicians anything . . . Sam may branch out one day, so he says if anyone wants to bring him a pop song, he'll be glad to look it over." • full article
• Sam Phillips first recorded Chester Burnett (The Howlin' Wolf) in the spring of 1951. Born near Aberdeen, Mississippi, Howlin' Wolf (1910-1976) was a singer who gave the traditional Delta blues another dimension. They recorded "Moanin' at Midnight" and "How Many More Years" [listen] in August 1951… In Phillips's estimation, the Wolf was his greatest discovery.
• Even though he preferred the creative side of the business, Phillips started his own record company early in 1952… With his own label, Phillips could run the business like he wanted and release records that other labels rejected.
"When I was leasing to other labels, they wanted me to compromise. They wanted a fuller blues sound than I did. They were selling excitement. I was recording the feel I found in the blues. I wanted to get that gut feel onto record. I realized that it was going to be much more difficult to merchandise than what Atlantic or Specialty, for example, were doing, but I was willing to go with it."
Phillips named his new company Sun Records and selected an eye-catching record label [photo] designed by John G. Parker (1925-2012), who also designed the tiger stripe helmet for the Cincinnati Bengals football team and packages for Alka-Seltzer and Super Bubble gum… "The sun to me—even as a kid back on the farm—was a universal kind of thing. A new day, a new opportunity." —Sam Phillips
The first record issued on the new Sun label (March 27, 1952), Sun number 175, was an original instrumental, "Drivin' Slow," by alto saxophonist Johnny London.
"Even on this first release, all the hallmarks of a Sam Phillips Sun record were in place: the raw sound, the experimental origin, the dark texture, even the trademark echo. Phillips and London created the illusion of a sax heard down a long hallway on a humid night by rigging something like a telephone booth over London's head while he played. The record's appeal had more to do with feeling than virtuosity—in short, it offered everything music buyers could expect from Sun for the remainder of the decade." [listen]
The first recording on the Sun label considered to be a classic was Easy, an instrumental released in March 1953 by Walter Horton (1921-1981) (Little Walter, and later, Big Walter).
". . . Horton played the same theme five times, with mounting intensity. By the fourth chorus, he was playing with such intensity that his harmonica sounded like a tenor saxophone. Phillips' virtuosity with tape delay echo was rarely used to better advantage: he made three instruments [harmonica, guitar, drums] sound as full as an orchestra. Any other instrument would have been redundant." [listen]
Sun Records had its first national hit in the spring of 1953 with "Bear Cat," [listen] which went to number 3 on the national R&B chart. It was an "answer song" to "Hound Dog" by Big Mama Thornton aka Willie Mae Thornton (1926-1984), sung by local radio announcer Rufus Thomas. "Bear Cat" was the first record to make money for Sun Records and it put the company on the map. "Feelin' Good" by Little Junior's Blue Flames (released in July 1953), was also commercially successful, reaching number 5 on the national R&B chart.
Sun's next hit was "Just Walkin' in the Rain" [listen] by The Prisonaires, a black vocal group of five inmates from the Tennessee State Penitentiary in Nashville. They sang close-harmony gospel style and came under armed guard to record at 706 Union on June 1, 1953. As part of the warden's rehabilitation program, they were allowed to perform on radio, in concerts, and at the Governor's mansion, but "Just Walkin' in the Rain" was their only hit.
Phillips recorded a number of important blues artists in the early 1950s, including "Sleepy" John Estes, Little Milton Campbell, Rosco Gordon, Dr. Ross, Harmonica Frank Floyd, Willie Nix, Billy "The Kid" Emerson, and Bobby "Blue" Bland.
". . . It's safe to say that the blues has never sounded as mean, raw, or intense as it did on countless days and nights at 706 Union Avenue. Amplifiers were cranked way past the point of distortion, guitars slashed like straight razors, rickety drum kits were pounded with fury and abandon, and the stories both sung and shouted spanned the gamut of the black Southern experience…
"Even if he'd never issued a record on the shining yellow Sun label, even if Elvis Presley had never entered his small recording studio..., Phillips would rank as one of the most visionary record producers of our time on the basis of his early fifties blues work." —John Floyd, Sun Records: An Oral History
In May 1954, Phillips recorded "Cotton Crop Blues" with James Cotton on vocals and Auburn "Pat" Hare on guitar. This was "one of the truly great blues recordings," but recording of traditional blues at 706 Union fell off in 1954 with the growing popularity of R&B music. Sun Records soon became synonymous with rock 'n' roll, overshadowing Phillips's role in blues recording "and the insight that [he] brought to recording the blues. He worked hard to get the best from his artists . . . Phillips would sit behind his tape deck until sunup if he thought the musicians on the studio floor might capture the sound that he heard in his head."
Phillips struggled to make money in the record business for almost six years. Eventually he saw that the market at that time was too small for the kind of music he was recording.
"The base wasn't broad enough because of racial prejudice. It wasn't broad enough to get the amount of commercial play and general acceptance overall—not just in the South . . . Now these were basically good people, but conceptually they did not understand the kinship between black and white people in the South. So I knew what I had to do to broaden the base of acceptance." —Escott, op. cit.
Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley graduated from Humes High School in north Memphis on June 3, 1953 and went to work at M.B. Parker Machinists on July 1. Later that summer, he recorded a personal record at the Memphis Recording Service. Presley paid $3.98 for an acetate with two sides, both ballads. While he was there, Presley talked with Marion Keisker, a long-time Memphis radio personality who helped Sam Phillips run his businesses at 706 Union, and asked if she knew of a band that needed a singer.
He made an impression on Keisker which she later remembered well, especially his answer to her question about which hillbilly singer he sounded like: "I don't sound like nobody." At that time, Presley had a child's guitar that he played in the park, on his porch steps, and in a band with his buddies around their housing project. He soon aspired to be a member of the Songfellows, an amateur church quartet. —Guralnick, op. cit.
Presley dropped by 706 Union a number of times after that initial meeting to see if Ms. Keisker had any leads for him. In January 1954, Presley paid for a second personal record, and tried out for a professional band that spring. Eddie Bond (1933-2003), the band leader, told him to keep driving a truck because he would never make it as a singer. Presley later revealed that Bond's rejection "broke my heart." —Guralnick, op. cit.
". . . There is little question that he stepped through the doorway [at 706 Union] with the idea, if not of stardom . . . at the very least of being discovered. In later years he would always say that he wanted to make a personal record "to surprise my mother." Or "I just wanted to hear what I sounded like." But, of course, if he had simply wanted to record his voice, he could have paid twenty-five cents at W. T. Grant's on Main Street . . . Instead, Elvis went to a professional facility, where a man who had been written up in the papers would hear him sing." —Guralnick, op. cit.
Marion Keisker finally called Presley on Saturday, June 26 to set up an appointment, almost a year after he recorded his first personal disc. On a recent trip to Nashville, Phillips had gotten an acetate of a song that reminded him of Presley's voice. They worked on "Without You" [listen] for a long time that afternoon, and Phillips had Presley sing a number of other songs after his unsuccessful attempts with "Without You."
A week later, Phillips set Presley up with two members of the Starlite Wranglers [photos], Scotty Moore (guitar) and Bill Black (bass), and the three of them went to the studio on Monday, July 5 so Phillips could hear them on tape. Nothing special happened at the session until they took a break and Presley began fooling around and playing an old blues song by Arthur Crudup, "That's All Right [Mama] [listen]."
"Sam recognized it right away. He was amazed that the boy even knew Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup—nothing in any of the songs he had tried so far gave any indication that he was drawn to this kind of music at all. But this was the sort of music that Sam had long ago wholeheartedly embraced . . . And the way the boy performed it, it came across with a freshness and an exuberance, it came across with the kind of clear-eyed, unabashed originality that Sam sought in all the music that he recorded—it was "different," it was itself." —Guralnick, op. cit.
Phillips got his friend and kindred spirit, disc jockey Dewey Phillips, to play "That's All Right" [listen] on his radio show "Red Hot and Blue," then near the height of its popularity. The response was immediate—hundreds of phone calls and telegrams. Dewey played the song a number of times that night and also interviewed Presley during the show.
By the time the record was pressed and ready for release, there were 6,000 orders for it locally. Sun record number 209 was released on Monday, July 17, 1954. Phillips had been "looking for something that nobody could categorize," and this song did not sound exclusively black or white or country or pop. Initially, many people who heard the song thought that Presley was a black man. —Guralnick, op. cit.
Elvis Presley's first big public appearance with Scotty and Bill, the Blue Moon Boys, was on Friday, July 30 at Memphis's outdoor amphitheater in Overton Park [photos]. The show featured Slim Whitman, a star from the Louisiana Hayride, which some called the Grand Ole Opry's "farm club." He drew a hillbilly crowd, but they went wild when Elvis shook and wiggled his legs, his natural way of performing.
The new record made Billboard's regional charts by the end of August, but it was the B side that was more popular. Phillips backed "That's All Right" with an unorthodox version of "Blue Moon of Kentucky" [listen], a waltz that was a hit in 1946 for Bill Monroe, country music's elder statesman. By early September, "Blue Moon" was number 1 on the Memphis C&W chart and "That's All Right" was number 7. —Guralnick, op. cit.
Sun released Presley's second record in late September. "It was . . . an even bolder declaration of intent than the first, especially the strident blues number 'Good Rockin' Tonight' [listen], which rocked more confidently than anything they could have imagined in those first, uncertain days in the studio." The original jump blues version was written and recorded by Roy Brown in 1947 [listen]
Presley's growing popularity enabled Phillips to arrange a guest appearance on the Grand Ole Opry for October 2, even though the Opry had never before scheduled a performer at such an early stage in his career. The performance of "Blue Moon of Kentucky" by Elvis Presley, Scotty and Bill received a "polite, but somewhat tepid, reception," and the Opry's manager told Phillips that Presley "just did not fit the Opry mold."
It was a big disappointment for Elvis. But soon they were off to Louisiana for Presley's first appearance on the Louisiana Hayride, "the Opry's more innovative rival in Shreveport" that had a show every Saturday night. On the third Saturday of the month the show broadcast with a 50,000 watt signal that reached up to twenty-eight states.48 After only one guest appearance, Presley signed a standard one year contract to be one of the Hayride's regular members, and he and his band quit their day jobs. —Guralnick, op. cit.
For the next year, Elvis Presley and the Blue Moon Boys toured almost constantly... Presley took his first airplane flight and first trip to New York City on March 23, 1955 to try out for Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts contest, but he did not pass the audition. [A] tour with Hank Snow/Jamboree Attractions began on May 1 in New Orleans, visiting twenty cities in three weeks, including a number of stops in Florida. There was a "riot" backstage after the concert in Jacksonville …
The audiences had never heard music like Presley played before, and they had never seen anyone who performed like Presley either. The shy, polite, mumbling boy gained self-confidence with every appearance, which soon led to a transformation on stage. People watching the show were astounded and shocked, both by the "ferocity of his performance,"49 and the crowd's reaction to it.
Even in the early days, Elvis almost always stole the show from the headliners, and concert lineups had to be rearranged accordingly. Nobody followed Elvis. Roy Orbison saw Presley for the first time in Odessa, Texas: "His energy was incredible, his instinct was just amazing . . . I just didn't know what to make of it. There was just no reference point in the culture to compare it."—Guralnick, op. cit.
"'He's the new rage,' said a Louisiana radio executive… 'Sings hillbilly in R&B time. Can you figure that out? He wears pink pants and a black coat . . .'" —Guralnick, op. cit.
Elvis caused a great commotion everywhere he went. Throughout the South, Presley had girls screaming and fainting and chasing after him.
Sam Phillips was also on the road constantly after the Overton Park performance in July 1954, promoting the new records to distributors, disc jockeys, record store owners, and jukebox operators. His experiences, however, were entirely different. Time and again, disc jockeys who were old friends and/or long-standing business associates told Phillips they could not play the Presley records. A country deejay said "Sam, they'll run me out of town." To an R&B deejay, "That's All Right" was a country song. A major pop station disc jockey told Phillips, "your music is just so ragged. I just can't handle it right now. Maybe later on." —Guralnick, op. cit.
WELO in Tupelo, Mississippi, Presley's hometown, would not even play the record, in spite of many requests from teenagers, because the deejay did not like the new music. —Guralnick, op. cit.
Sam Phillips persevered in spite of all the rejection he was getting, and kept trying to turn it around. "I needed the attention that I got from the people that hated what I was doing, that acted like: 'Here is somebody trying to thrust junk on us and classify it as our music.'"—Guralnick, op. cit.
"He was a man swept up by a belief, in a sound and in an idea. And as discouraged as he might sometimes get, as harsh as the reality of selling this new music might be, he never strayed from his belief, he never allowed himself to be distracted from his main goal. Which was to get them to listen." —Guralnick, op. cit.
Phillips could feel a revolution was on the way. There were already lots of country boys coming to his studio to play the new music, which initially got the name rockabilly. "Sam knew that a day was coming . . . when the music would prevail." —Guralnick, op. cit.
Presley was still a regional sensation and unknown to the national market when he got the record industry's attention. By the summer of 1955, almost all the major and independent record labels were inquiring about him. Sam Phillips had mixed feelings about selling Presley's contract, but his operations could not accommodate the Presley phenomenon, his finances were very tight, and he had other artists who needed his attention.
Presley's parents signed a contract in August which soon forced the issue. Col. Tom Parker (1909-1997) became "special adviser to Elvis Presley." He was the head of Jamboree Attractions, one of the major promoters and bookers of country and western talent, and had booked Presley on the Hank Snow package tours earlier that year. At that time, Parker was known as the best promoter in the business. In October Parker asked Phillips to name his price for Presley's contract, and Parker made sure that it was met.
The deal was signed at 706 Union Avenue on November 21, 1955. RCA-Victor bought Elvis Presley's contract from Sun Records for $35,000, plus $5,000 in back royalties owed to Presley. The story ran in the Memphis Press-Scimitar the next day:
"Elvis Presley, 20, Memphis recording star and entertainer who zoomed into big- time and the big money almost overnight, has been released from his contract with Sun Record Co. of Memphis . . . . Phillips and RCA officials did not reveal terms but said the money involved is probably the highest ever paid for a contract release for a country-western recording artist. 'I feel Elvis is one of the most talented youngsters today,' Phillips said, 'and by releasing his contract to RCA-Victor we will give him the opportunity of entering the largest organization of its kind in the world, so his talents can be given the fullest opportunity.'" —quoted in Guralnick, op. cit.
Sam Phillips never regretted his decision to sell Elvis Presley's contract. In many ways, Presley's departure was like a new beginning for Sun Records. Many country musicians aspiring to play rockabilly began to make their way to 706 Union Avenue. As Johnny Cash said many years later, "Elvis was a beacon that brought us all there." —Peter Guralnick, "Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock 'n' Roll," VHS (A&E Biography, 2000)
Sun Studio
After Sam Phillips moved his companies to the new location on Madison Avenue, 706 Union Avenue housed a number of different businesses in the 1960s and 1970s, including a barber shop, an auto parts store, and a scuba shop. The building was vacant in 1985 when it became the site of a family reunion of sorts. An album entitled “Class of '55: Memphis Rock 'n' Roll Homecoming“ was recorded here to celebrate and remember the "Class of '55" on their 30th "anniversary." Record producer Chips Moman convened Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Roy Orbison to record together for the first time at the Sun studio in September 1985.
Not long after that event, 706 Union Avenue became a stop for visitors on tours to Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley, which opened to the public in 1982. The building opened as the Sun Studio for tours in 1987—the name Sun Records and the original Sun record label design still belong to Shelby Singleton, who bought the company in 1969. The current property owner also purchased the adjacent two-story brick building that housed a café and a boarding house in the 1950s. That building now serves as a soda shop, gallery, and gift shop for visitors to Sun Studio.
The Sun Studio also operates as a full service 24-track recording studio for professional musicians, as well as anyone who wants to make a personal record, just like Elvis. In 1987, the Irish rock band U2 recorded several songs here for their album "Rattle and Hum," including "When Love Comes to Town" featuring B.B. King. Several hundred thousand visitors have made the pilgrimage to this extraordinary place.
• National Register # 03001031, 2003 • designated a National Historic Landmark, 2003
Pseudoneoponera rufipes
Empilements de 60 photos en mode manuel 65mm - f/4 - 1” - ISO 400 - rapport 1:1
Boitier Canon EOS 5D Mark IV + Objectif Canon MP-E 65 mm f/2,8 1:1 ~ 5:1 + flash Canon MT-24EX Macro Twin Lite + lumière arrière LED diffusée + rail macro motorisé et contrôleur Cognisys Stackshot 3X.
Logiciel de stacking : ZereneStacker (DMap estimation radius 7/smoothing radius 3 - contrast treshold 71%).
Post traitement : ZereneStacker, Lightroom, Photoshop.
Solo mission freestyle. One of the first times I was able to get out in 2009 and get on some hoppers at a local spot. I originally went there with 5 cans of white and 5 cans of black Rusto and 1 Blue with the intent of just rocking a few throwups just get loose and get my can control up a little bit. After getting to the spot, I realized that this 80 foot hopper was parked in a way that I could spend a lot more time and be a little more creative on it. Even though, I didn't bring a lot of paint, I thought I might be able to stretch it to almost an end to end. So, I went at it and rocked this for my crew TCI. It ended up about 60 feet or so long but only about 3-4 feet high due to the fact that I didn't have anything to stand on. I was close in my estimation of paint but fell short on the white about half way through trying to clean up the piece. When all was said and done, I was happy I chose to do a little more then just a few throwups. It also helped to set the tone for the crew for the upcoming year.
I'm not good in tree age estimation, is it possible this tree "remembers" Tolstoi visiting this place... lets say 125 years ago?
A missing filter... Picture or maybe in the air of the time that brews a little anguish, it grinds ideas by dint of filtering the words... the cunning life with a twist. Angel or mill?
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in conspiracy theories and misinformation about the scale of the pandemic and the origin, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of the disease.[1][2][3] False information, including intentional disinformation, has been spread through social media,[2][4] text messages,[5] and mass media,[6] including the tabloid media,[7] conservative media,[8][9] state media of countries such as China,[10][11] Russia,[12][13] Iran,[14] and Turkmenistan.[2][15] It has also been spread by state-backed covert operations to generate panic and sow distrust in other countries.[16][17]
Misinformation has been propagated by celebrities, politicians[18][19] (including heads of state in countries such as the United States,[20][21] Iran,[22] and Brazil[23]), and other prominent public figures.[24] Commercial scams have claimed to offer at-home tests, supposed preventives, and "miracle" cures.[25][26] Politicians and leaders of some countries have promoted purported cures, while some religious groups said that the faith of their followers and God will protect them from the virus.[27][28][29] Others have claimed the virus is a lab-developed bio-weapon that was accidentally leaked,[30][31] or deliberately designed to target a country,[32] or one with a patented vaccine, a population control scheme, the result of a spy operation,[3][4] or linked to 5G networks.[33]
The World Health Organization has declared an "infodemic" of incorrect information about the virus, which poses risks to global health.[2]
Types and origin and effect
On January 30, the BBC reported about the increasing spread of conspiracy theories and false health advice in relation to COVID-19. Notable examples at the time included false health advice shared on social media and private chats, as well as conspiracy theories such as the origin in bat soup and the outbreak being planned with the participation of the Pirbright Institute.[1][34] On January 31, The Guardian listed seven instances of misinformation, adding the conspiracy theories about bioweapons and the link to 5G technology, and including varied false health advice.[35]
In an attempt to speed up research sharing, many researches have turned to preprint servers such as arXiv, bioRxiv, medRxiv or SSRN. Papers can be uploaded to these servers without peer review or any other editorial process that ensures research quality. Some of these papers have contributed to the spread of conspiracy theories. The most notable case was a preprint paper uploaded to bioRxiv which claimed that the virus contained HIV "insertions". Following the controversy, the paper was withdrawn.[36][37][38]
According to a study published by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, most misinformation related to COVID-19 involves "various forms of reconfiguration, where existing and often true information is spun, twisted, recontextualised, or reworked". While less misinformation "was completely fabricated". The study found no deep fakes in the studied sample. The study also found that "top-down misinformation from politicians, celebrities, and other prominent public figures", while accounting for a minority of the samples, captured a majority of the social media engagement. According to their classification, the largest category of misinformation (39%) includes "misleading or false claims about the actions or policies of public authorities, including government and international bodies like the WHO or the UN".[39]
A natural experiment correlated coronavirus misinformation with increased infection and death; of two similar television news shows on the same network, one took coronavirus seriously about a month earlier than the other. People and groups exposed to the slow-response news show had higher infection and death rates.[40]
The misinformations have been used by politicians, interest groups, and state actors in many countries to scapegoat other countries for the mishandling of the domestic responses, as well as furthering political, financial agenda.[41][42][43]
Combative efforts
Further information: Impact of the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic on journalism
File:ITU - AI for Good Webinar Series - COVID-19 Misinformation and Disinformation during COVID-19.webm
International Telecommunication Union
On February 2, the World Health Organization (WHO) described a "massive infodemic", citing an over-abundance of reported information, accurate and false, about the virus that "makes it hard for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when they need it". The WHO stated that the high demand for timely and trustworthy information has incentivised the creation of a direct WHO 24/7 myth-busting hotline where its communication and social media teams have been monitoring and responding to misinformation through its website and social media pages.[44][45][46] The WHO specifically debunked several claims as false, including the claim that a person can tell if they have the virus or not simply by holding their breath; the claim that drinking large amounts of water will protect against the virus; and the claim that gargling salt water prevents infection.[47]
In early February, Facebook, Twitter and Google said they were working with WHO to address "misinformation".[48] In a blogpost, Facebook stated they would remove content flagged by global health organizations and local authorities that violate its content policy on misinformation leading to "physical harm".[49] Facebook is also giving free advertising to WHO.[50] Nonetheless, a week after Trump's speculation that sunlight could kill the virus, the New York Times found "780 Facebook groups, 290 Facebook pages, nine Instagram accounts and thousands of tweets pushing UV light therapies," content which those companies declined to remove from their platforms.[51]
At the end of February, Amazon removed more than a million products claimed to cure or protect against coronavirus, and removed tens of thousands of listings for health products whose prices were "significantly higher than recent prices offered on or off Amazon", although numerous items were "still being sold at unusually high prices" as of February 28.[52]
Millions of instances of COVID-19 misinformation have occurred across a number of online platforms.[53] Other fake news researchers noted certain rumors started in China; many of them later spread to Korea and the United States, prompting several universities in Korea to start the multilingual Facts Before Rumors campaign to separate common claims seen online.[54][55][56][57]
The media has praised Wikipedia's coverage of COVID-19 and its combating the inclusion of misinformation through efforts led by the Wiki Project Med Foundation and the English-language Wikipedia's WikiProject Medicine, among other groups.[58][59][60]
Many local newspapers have been severely affected by losses in advertising revenues from coronavirus; journalists have been laid off, and some have closed altogether.[61]
Many newspapers with paywalls lowered them for some or all their coronavirus coverage.[62][63] Many scientific publishers made scientific papers related to the outbreak open access.[64]
The Turkish Interior Ministry has been arresting social media users whose posts were "targeting officials and spreading panic and fear by suggesting the virus had spread widely in Turkey and that officials had taken insufficient measures".[65] Iran's military said 3600 people have been arrested for "spreading rumors" about coronavirus in the country.[66] In Cambodia, some individuals who expressed concerns about the spread of COVID-19 have been arrested on fake news charges.[67][68] Algerian lawmakers passed a law criminalising "fake news" deemed harmful to "public order and state security".[69] In the Philippines,[70] China,[71] India,[72][73] Egypt,[74] Bangladesh,[75] Morocco,[76] Pakistan,[77] Saudi Arabia,[78] Oman,[79] Iran,[80] Vietnam, Laos,[81] Indonesia,[73] Mongolia,[73] Sri Lanka,[73] Kenya, South Africa,[82] Somalia,[83] Thailand,[84] Kazakhstan,[85] Azerbaijan,[86] Malaysia[87] and Hong Kong, people have been arrested for allegedly spreading false information about the coronavirus pandemic.[88][73] The United Arab Emirates have introduced criminal penalties for the spread of misinformation and rumours related to the outbreak.[89]
Conspiracy theories
Conspiracy theories have appeared both in social media and in mainstream news outlets, and are heavily influenced by geopolitics.[90]
Accidental leakage
Virologist and immunologist Vincent R. Racaniello said that "accident theories – and the lab-made theories before them – reflect a lack of understanding of the genetic make-up of Sars-CoV-2."[91]
A number of allegations have emerged supposing a link between the virus and Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV); among these is that the virus was an accidental leakage from WIV.[92] In 2017, U.S. molecular biologist Richard H. Ebright expressed caution when the WIV was expanded to become mainland China's first biosafety level 4 (BSL-4) laboratory, noting previous escapes of the SARS virus at other Chinese laboratories.[93] While Ebright refuted several conspiracy theories regarding the WIV (e.g., bioweapons research, or that the virus was engineered), he told BBC China this did not represent the possibility that the virus can be "completely ruled out" from entering the population due to a laboratory accident.[92] Various researchers contacted by NPR concluded there was "virtually no chance" (in NPR's words) that the pandemic virus had accidentally escaped from a laboratory.[94] Disinformation researcher Nina Jankowicz from Wilson Center indicates the lab leakage claim entered mainstream media in United States during April, propagated by pro-Trump news outlet.[43]
On February 14, 2020, Chinese scientists explored the possibility of accidental leakage and published speculations on scientific social networking website ResearchGate. The paper was neither peer-reviewed nor presented any evidence for its claims.[95] On March 5, the author of paper told Wall Street Journal in an interview why he decided to withdrew the paper by the end of February, stating: "the speculation about the possible origins in the post was based on published papers and media, and was not supported by direct proofs."[96][97] Several newspapers have referenced the paper.[95] Scientific American reported that Shi Zhengli, the lead researcher at WIV, started investigation on mishandling of experimental materials in the lab records, especially during disposal. She also tried to cross-check the novel coronavirus genome with the genetic information of other bat coronaviruses her team had collected. The result showed none of the sequences matched those of the viruses her team had sampled from bat caves.[98]
In February, it was alleged that the first person infected may have been a researcher at the institute named Huang Yanling.[99] Rumours circulated on Chinese social media that the researcher had become infected and died, prompting a denial from WIV, saying she was a graduate student enrolled in the Institute until 2015 and is not the patient zero.[100][99] In April, the conspiracy theory started to circulate around on Youtube and got picked up by conservative media, National Review.[101][6]
The South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that one of the WIV's lead researchers, Shi Zhengli, was the particular focus of personal attacks in Chinese social media alleging that her work on bat-based viruses was the source of the virus; this led Shi to post: "I swear with my life, [the virus] has nothing to do with the lab". When asked by the SCMP to comment on the attacks, Shi responded: "My time must be spent on more important matters".[102] Caixin reported Shi made further public statements against "perceived tinfoil-hat theories about the new virus's source", quoting her as saying: "The novel 2019 coronavirus is nature punishing the human race for keeping uncivilized living habits. I, Shi Zhengli, swear on my life that it has nothing to do with our laboratory".[103] Immunologist Vincent Racaniello stated that virus leaking theory "reflect a lack of understanding of the genetic make-up of Sars-CoV-2 and its relationship to the bat virus". He says the bat virus researched in the institution "would not have been able to infect humans—the human Sars-CoV-2 has additional changes that allows it to infect humans."[91]
On April 14, the U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, in response to questions about the virus being manufactured in a lab, said "... it's inconclusive, although the weight of evidence seems to indicate natural. But we don't know for certain."[104] On that same day, Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin detailed a leaked cable of a 2018 trip made to the WIV by scientists from the U.S. Embassy. The article was referenced and cited by conservative media to push the lab leakage theory.[43] Rogin's article went on to say that "What the U.S. officials learned during their visits concerned them so much that they dispatched two diplomatic cables categorized as Sensitive But Unclassified back to Washington. The cables warned about safety and management weaknesses at the WIV lab and proposed more attention and help. The first cable, which I obtained, also warns that the lab's work on bat coronaviruses and their potential human transmission represented a risk of a new SARS-like pandemic."[105] Rogin's article pointed out there was no evidence that the coronavirus was engineered, "But that is not the same as saying it didn't come from the lab, which spent years testing bat coronaviruses in animals."[105] The article went on to quote Xiao Qiang, a research scientist at the School of Information at the University of California, Berkeley, "I don't think it's a conspiracy theory. I think it's a legitimate question that needs to be investigated and answered. To understand exactly how this originated is critical knowledge for preventing this from happening in the future."[105] Washington Post's article and subsequent broadcasts drew criticism from virologist Angela Rasmussen of Columbia University, which she states "It's irresponsible for political reporters like Rogin [to] uncritically regurgitate a secret 'cable' without asking a single virologist or ecologist or making any attempt to understand the scientific context."[43] Rasmussen later compared biosafety procedure concerns to "having the health inspector come to your restaurant. It could just be, ‘Oh, you need to keep your chemical showers better stocked.’ It doesn’t suggest, however, that there are tremendous problems.”[106]
Days later, multiple media outlets confirmed that U.S. intelligence officials were investigating the possibility that the virus started in the WIV.[107][108][109][110] On April 23, Vox presented disputed arguments on lab leakage claims from several scientists.[111] Scientists suggested that virus samples cultured in the lab have significant amount of difference compare to SARS-CoV-2. The virus institution sampled RaTG13 in Yunnan, the closest known relative of the novel coronavirus with 96% shared genome. Edward Holmes, SARS-CoV-2 researcher at the University of Sydney, explained 4% of difference "is equivalent to an average of 50 years (and at least 20 years) of evolutionary change."[111][112] Virologist Peter Daszak, president of the EcoHealth Alliance, which studies emerging infectious diseases, noted the estimation that 1–7 million people in Southeast Asia who live or work in proximity to bats are infected each year with bat coronaviruses. In the interview with Vox, he comments, "There are probably half a dozen people that do work in those labs. So let's compare 1 million to 7 million people a year to half a dozen people; it's just not logical."[94][111]
On April 30, The New York Times reported the Trump administration demanded intelligence agencies to find evidence linking WIV with the origin of SARS-Cov-2. Secretary of State and former Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A) director Mike Pompeo was reportedly leading the push on finding information regarding the virus origin. Analysts were concerned that pressure from senior officials could distort assessments from the intelligence community. Anthony Ruggiero, the head of the National Security Council which responsible for tracking weapons of mass destruction, expressed frustration during a video conference that C.I.A. was unable to form conclusive answer on the origin of the virus. According to current and former government officials, as of April 30, C.I.A has yet to gather any information beyond circumstantial evidence to bolster the lab theory.[113][114] US intelligence officers suggested that Chinese officials tried to conceal the severity of the outbreak in early days, but no evidence had shown China attempted to cover up a lab accident.[115] One day later, Trump claimed he has evidence of the lab theory, but offers no further details on it.[116][117] Jamie Metzl, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, claimed the SARS-CoV-2 virus "likely" came from a Wuhan virology testing laboratory, based on "circumstantial evidence". He was quoted as saying, "I have no definitive way of proving this thesis."[118]
On April 30, 2020, the U.S. intelligence and scientific communities issued a public statement dismissing the idea that the virus was not natural, while the investigation of the lab accident theory was ongoing.[119][120] The White House suggested an alternative explanation, along with a seemingly contradictory message, that the virus was man-made. In an interview with ABC News, Secretary of State Pompeo said he has no reason to disbelieve the intelligence community that the virus was natural. However, this contradicted the comment he made earlier in the same interview, in which he said "the best experts so far seem to think it was man-made. I have no reason to disbelieve that at this point."[121][122][123] On May 4, Australian tabloid The Daily Telegraph claimed a reportedly leaked dossier from Five Eyes, which alleged the probable outbreak was from the Wuhan lab.[124] Fox News and national security commentators in the US quickly followed up The Telegraph story,[125][126] rising the tension within international intelligence community.[127] Australian government, which is part of the Five Eyes nations, determined the leaked dossier was not a Five Eyes document, but a compilation of open-source materials that contained no information generated by intelligence gathering.[128] German intelligence community denied the claim of the leaked dossier, instead supported the probability of a natural cause.[129][130] Australian government sees the promotion of the lab theory from the United States counterproductive to Australia’s push for a more broad international-supported independent inquiry into the virus origins.[127] Senior officials in Australian government speculated the dossier was leaked by US embassy in Canberra to promote a narrative in Australia media that diverged from the mainstream belief of Australia.[127][128][125]
Beijing rejected the White House's claim, calling the claim "part of an election year strategy by President Donald Trump’s Republican Party".[131] Hua Chunying, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, urged Mike Pompeo to present evidence for his claim. "Mr. Pompeo cannot present any evidence because he does not have any," Hua told a journalist during a regular briefing, "This matter should be handled by scientists and professionals instead of politicians out of their domestic political needs."[131][132] The Chinese ambassador, in an opinion published in the Washington Post, called on the White House to end the "blame game" over the coronavirus.[133][134] As of May 5, assessments and internal sources from the Five Eyes nations indicated that the coronavirus outbreak was the result of a laboratory accident was "highly unlikely", since the human infection was "highly likely" a result of natural human and animal interaction. However, to reach such a conclusion with total certainty would still require greater cooperation and transparency from the Chinese side.[135]
Anti-Israeli and antisemitic
Further information: Antisemitic canard
Iran's Press TV asserted that "Zionist elements developed a deadlier strain of coronavirus against Iran".[14] Similarly, various Arab media outlets accused Israel and the United States of creating and spreading COVID-19, avian flu, and SARS.[136] Users on social media offered a variety of theories, including the supposition that Jews had manufactured COVID-19 to precipitate a global stock market collapse and thereby profit via insider trading,[137] while a guest on Turkish television posited a more ambitious scenario in which Jews and Zionists had created COVID-19, avian flu, and Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever to "design the world, seize countries, [and] neuter the world's population".[138]
Israeli attempts to develop a COVID-19 vaccine prompted mixed reactions. Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi denied initial reports that he had ruled that a Zionist-made vaccine would be halal,[139] and one Press TV journalist tweeted that "I'd rather take my chances with the virus than consume an Israeli vaccine".[140] A columnist for the Turkish Yeni Akit asserted that such a vaccine could be a ruse to carry out mass sterilization.[141]
An alert by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding the possible threat of far-right extremists intentionally spreading the coronavirus mentioned blame being assigned to Jews and Jewish leaders for causing the pandemic and several statewide shutdowns.[142]
Anti-Muslim
Further information: 2020 Tablighi Jamaat coronavirus hotspot in Delhi
In India, Muslims have been blamed for spreading infection following the emergence of cases linked to a Tablighi Jamaat religious gathering.[143] There are reports of vilification of Muslims on social media and attacks on individuals in India.[144] Claims have been made Muslims are selling food contaminated with coronavirus and that a mosque in Patna was sheltering people from Italy and Iran.[145] These claims were shown to be false.[146] In the UK, there are reports of far-right groups blaming Muslims for the coronavirus outbreak and falsely claiming that mosques remained open after the national ban on large gatherings.[147]
Bioengineered virus
It has been repeatedly claimed that the virus was deliberately created by humans.
Nature Medicine published an article arguing against the conspiracy theory that the virus was created artificially. The high-affinity binding of its peplomers to human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) was shown to be "most likely the result of natural selection on a human or human-like ACE2 that permits another optimal binding solution to arise".[148] In case of genetic manipulation, one of the several reverse-genetic systems for betacoronaviruses would probably have been used, while the genetic data irrefutably showed that the virus is not derived from a previously used virus template.[148] The overall molecular structure of the virus was found to be distinct from the known coronaviruses and most closely resembles that of viruses of bats and pangolins that were little studied and never known to harm humans.[149]
In February 2020, the Financial Times quoted virus expert and global co-lead coronavirus investigator Trevor Bedford: "There is no evidence whatsoever of genetic engineering that we can find", and "The evidence we have is that the mutations [in the virus] are completely consistent with natural evolution".[150] Bedford further explained, "The most likely scenario, based on genetic analysis, was that the virus was transmitted by a bat to another mammal between 20–70 years ago. This intermediary animal—not yet identified—passed it on to its first human host in the city of Wuhan in late November or early December 2019".[150]
On February 19, 2020, The Lancet published a letter of a group of scientists condemning "conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin".[151]
Chinese biological weapon
India
Amidst a rise in Sinophobia, there have been conspiracy theories reported on India's social networks that the virus is "a bioweapon that went rogue" and also fake videos alleging that Chinese authorities are killing citizens to prevent its spread.[152]
Ukraine
According to the Kyiv Post, two common conspiracy theories online in Ukraine are that American author Dean Koontz predicted the pandemic in his 1981 novel The Eyes of Darkness, and that the coronavirus is a bioweapon leaked from a secret lab in Wuhan.[153]
United Kingdom
Tobias Ellwood said, "It would be irresponsible to suggest the source of this outbreak was an error in a Chinese military biological weapons programme ... But without greater Chinese transparency we cannot entirely completely sure."[154]
In February, Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood, chair of the Defence Select Committee of the UK House of Commons, publicly questioned the role of the Chinese Army's Wuhan Institute for Biological Products and called for the "greater transparency over the origins of the coronavirus".[154][non-primary source needed] The Daily Mail reported in early April 2020 that a member of COBRA (an ad-hoc government committee tasked with advising on crises[citation needed]) has stated while government intelligence does not dispute that the virus has a zoonotic origin, it also does not discount the idea of a leak from a Wuhan laboratory, saying "Perhaps it is no coincidence that there is that laboratory in Wuhan"; the Asia Times reported the story as if it were factual,[155] perhaps unaware of the reputation of the Daily Mail.
United States
Further information: Cyberwarfare in the United States and Propaganda in the United States
In January 2020, BBC News published an article about coronavirus misinformation, citing two January 24 articles from The Washington Times that said the virus was part of a Chinese biological weapons program, based at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).[1] The Washington Post later published an article debunking the conspiracy theory, citing U.S. experts who explained why the WIV was unsuitable for bioweapon research, that most countries had abandoned bioweapons as fruitless, and that there was no evidence the virus was genetically engineered.[156]
On January 29, financial news website and blog ZeroHedge suggested without evidence that a scientist at the WIV created the COVID-19 strain responsible for the coronavirus outbreak. Zerohedge listed the full contact details of the scientist supposedly responsible, a practice known as doxing, by including the scientist's name, photo, and phone number, suggesting to readers that they "pay [the Chinese scientist] a visit" if they wanted to know "what really caused the coronavirus pandemic".[157] Twitter later permanently suspended the blog's account for violating its platform-manipulation policy.[158]
Logo of the fictional Umbrella Corporation, which some internet rumours linked to the pandemic. The corporation was invented for the Resident Evil game series.
In January 2020, Buzzfeed News reported on an internet meme of a link between the logo of the WIV and "Umbrella Corporation", the agency that created the virus responsible for a zombie apocalypse in the Resident Evil franchise. Posts online noted that "Racoon [sic]" (the main city in Resident Evil) was an anagram of "Corona".[159] Snopes noted that the logo was not from the WIV, but a company named Shanghai Ruilan Bao Hu San Biotech Ltd (located some 500 miles (800 km) away in Shanghai), and that the correct name of the city in Resident Evil was "Raccoon City".[159]
In February 2020, U.S. Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) suggested the virus may have originated in a Chinese bioweapon laboratory.[160] Francis Boyle, a law professor, also expressed support for the bioweapon theory suggesting it was the result of unintended leaks.[161] Cotton elaborated on Twitter that his opinion was only one of "at least four hypotheses". Multiple medical experts have indicated there is no evidence for these claims.[162] Conservative political commentator Rush Limbaugh said on The Rush Limbaugh Show—the most popular radio show in the U.S.—that the virus was probably "a ChiCom laboratory experiment" and the Chinese government was using the virus and the media hysteria surrounding it to bring down Donald Trump.[163][164]
On February 6, the White House asked scientists and medical researchers to rapidly investigate the origins of the virus both to address the current spread and "to inform future outbreak preparation and better understand animal/human and environmental transmission aspects of coronaviruses".[165] American magazine Foreign Policy said Xi Jinping's "political agenda may turn out to be a root cause of the epidemic" and that his Belt and Road Initiative has "made it possible for a local disease to become a global menace".[90]
The Inverse reported that "Christopher Bouzy, the founder of Bot Sentinel, conducted a Twitter analysis for Inverse and found [online] bots and trollbots are making an array of false claims. These bots are claiming China intentionally created the virus, that it's a biological weapon, that Democrats are overstating the threat to hurt Donald Trump and more. While we can't confirm the origin of these bots, they are decidedly pro-Trump."[166]
Conservative commentator Josh Bernstein claimed that the Democratic Party and the "medical deep state" were collaborating with the Chinese government to create and release the coronavirus to bring down Donald Trump. Bernstein went on to suggest those responsible should be locked in a room with infected coronavirus patients as punishment.[167][168]
Jerry Falwell Jr., the president of Liberty University, promoted a conspiracy theory on Fox News that North Korea and China conspired together to create the coronavirus.[169] He also said people were overreacting to the coronavirus outbreak and that Democrats were trying to use the situation to harm President Trump.[170]
Hospital ship attack
The hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH-19) deployed to the Port of Los Angeles to provide backup medical services for the region. On March 31, 2020, a Pacific Harbor Line freight train was deliberately derailed by its onboard engineer in an attempt to crash into the ship, but the attack was unsuccessful and no one was injured.[171][172] According to U.S. federal prosecutors, the train's engineer "[...] was suspicious of the Mercy, believing it had an alternate purpose related to COVID-19 or a government takeover".[173]
Population control scheme
See also: List of conspiracy theories § RFID chips
According to the BBC, Jordan Sather, a conspiracy theory YouTuber supporting the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory and the anti-vax movement, has falsely claimed the outbreak was a population control scheme created by Pirbright Institute in England and by former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates. This belief is held mostly by right-wing libertarians, NWO conspiracy theorists, and Christian Fundamentalists.[1][174]
Spy operation
Some people have alleged that the coronavirus was stolen from a Canadian virus research lab by Chinese scientists. Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada said that conspiracy theory had "no factual basis".[175] The stories seem to have been derived[176] from a July 2019 news article[177] stating that some Chinese researchers had their security access to a Canadian Level 4 virology facility revoked in a federal police investigation; Canadian officials described this as an administrative matter and "there is absolutely no risk to the Canadian public."[177]
This article was published by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC);[176] responding to the conspiracy theories, the CBC later stated that "CBC reporting never claimed the two scientists were spies, or that they brought any version of the coronavirus to the lab in Wuhan". While pathogen samples were transferred from the lab in Winnipeg, Canada to Beijing, China, on March 31, 2019, neither of the samples was a coronavirus, the Public Health Agency of Canada says the shipment conformed to all federal policies, and there has not been any statement that the researchers under investigation were responsible for sending the shipment. The current location of the researchers under investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is not being released.[175][178][179]
In the midst of the coronavirus epidemic, a senior research associate and expert in biological warfare with the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, referring to a NATO press conference, identified suspicions of espionage as the reason behind the expulsions from the lab, but made no suggestion that coronavirus was taken from the Canadian lab or that it is the result of bioweapons defense research in China.[180]
U.S. biological weapon
Arab world
According to Washington DC-based nonprofit Middle East Media Research Institute, numerous writers in the Arabic press have promoted the conspiracy theory that COVID-19, as well as SARS and the swine flu virus, were deliberately created and spread to sell vaccines against these diseases, and it is "part of an economic and psychological war waged by the U.S. against China with the aim of weakening it and presenting it as a backward country and a source of diseases".[181] Iraqi political analyst Sabah Al-Akili on Al-Etejah TV, Saudi daily Al-Watan writer Sa'ud Al-Shehry, Syrian daily Al-Thawra columnist Hussein Saqer, and Egyptian journalist Ahmad Rif'at on Egyptian news website Vetogate, were some examples given by MEMRI as propagators of the U.S. biowarfare conspiracy theory in the Arabic world.[181]
China
Further information: Cyberwarfare by China, Propaganda in China, and Chinese information operations and information warfare
The Xinhua News Agency is among the news outlets that have published false information about COVID-19's origins.
According to London-based The Economist, plenty of conspiracy theories exist on China's internet about COVID-19 being the CIA's creation to keep China down.[182] NBC News however has noted that there have also been debunking efforts of U.S.-related conspiracy theories posted online, with a WeChat search of "Coronavirus is from the U.S." reported to mostly yield articles explaining why such claims are unreasonable.[183] According to an investigation by ProPublica, such conspiracy theories and disinformation have been propagated under the direction of China News Service, the country's second largest government-owned media outlet controlled by the United Front Work Department.[184] Global Times and Xinhua News Agency have similarly been implicated in propagating disinformation related to COVID-19's origins.[185][186]
Multiple conspiracy articles in Chinese from the SARS era resurfaced during the outbreak with altered details, claiming SARS is biological warfare. Some said BGI Group from China sold genetic information of the Chinese people to the U.S., which then specifically targeted the genome of Chinese individuals.[187]
On January 26, Chinese military enthusiast website Xilu published an article, claimed how the U.S. artificially combined the virus to "precisely target Chinese people".[188][189] The article was removed in early February. The article was further distorted on social media in Taiwan, which claimed "Top Chinese military website admitted novel coronavirus was Chinese-made bio-weapons".[190] Taiwan Fact-check center debunked the original article and its divergence, suggesting the original Xilu article distorted the conclusion from a legitimate research on Chinese scientific magazine Science China Life Sciences, which never mentioned the virus was engineered.[190] The fact-check center explained Xilu is a military enthusiastic tabloid established by a private company, thus it doesn't represent the voice of Chinese military.[190]
Some articles on popular sites in China have also cast suspicion on U.S. military athletes participating in the Wuhan 2019 Military World Games, which lasted until the end of October 2019, and have suggested they deployed the virus. They claim the inattentive attitude and disproportionately below-average results of American athletes in the games indicate they might have been there for other purposes and they might actually be bio-warfare operatives. Such posts stated that their place of residence during their stay in Wuhan was also close to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, where the first known cluster of cases occurred.[191]
In March 2020, this conspiracy theory was endorsed by Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China.[192][193][194][195] On March 13, the U.S. government summoned Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai to Washington over the coronavirus conspiracy theory.[196] Over the next month, conspiracy theorists narrowed their focus to one U.S. Army Reservist, a woman who participated in the games in Wuhan as a cyclist, claiming she is "patient zero". According to a CNN report, these theories have been spread by George Webb, who has nearly 100,000 followers on YouTube, and have been amplified by a report by CPC-owned newspaper Global Times.[197][198]
Iran
Further information: Propaganda in Iran
Reza Malekzadeh, deputy health minister, rejected bioterrorism theories.
According to Radio Farda, Iranian cleric Seyyed Mohammad Saeedi accused U.S. President Donald Trump of targeting Qom with coronavirus "to damage its culture and honor". Saeedi claimed that Trump is fulfilling his promise to hit Iranian cultural sites, if Iranians took revenge for the airstrike that killed of Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani.[199]
Iranian TV personality Ali Akbar Raefipour claimed the coronavirus was part of a "hybrid warfare" programme waged by the United States on Iran and China.[200] Brigadier General Gholam Reza Jalali, head of Iranian Civil Defense Organization, claimed the coronavirus is likely a biological attack on China and Iran with economic goals.[201][202]
Hossein Salami, the head of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), claimed the coronavirus outbreak in Iran may be due to a U.S. "biological attack".[203] Several Iranian politicians, including Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Rasoul Falahati, Alireza Panahian, Abolfazl Hasanbeigi and Gholamali Jafarzadeh Imanabadi, also made similar remarks.[204] Iranian Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, made similar suggestions.[205]
Former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sent a letter to the United Nations on March 9, claiming that "it is clear to the world that the mutated coronavirus was produced in lab" and that COVID-19 is "a new weapon for establishing and/or maintaining political and economic upper hand in the global arena".[206]
The late[207] Ayatollah Hashem Bathaie Golpayegani claimed that "America is the source of coronavirus, because America went head to head with China and realised it cannot keep up with it economically or militarily."[208]
Reza Malekzadeh, Iran's deputy health minister and former Minister of Health, rejected claims that the virus was a biological weapon, pointing out that the U.S. would be suffering heavily from it. He said Iran was hard-hit because its close ties to China and reluctance to cut air ties introduced the virus, and because early cases had been mistaken for influenza.[205]
Philippines
In the Philippine Senate, Tito Sotto has promoted his belief that COVID-19 is a bioweapon.
A Filipino Senator, Tito Sotto, played a bioweapon conspiracy video in a February 2020 Senate hearing, suggesting the coronavirus is biowarfare waged against China.[209][210]
Russia
Further information: Cyberwarfare by Russia and Propaganda in the Russian Federation
On February 22, U.S. officials alleged that Russia is behind an ongoing disinformation campaign, using thousands of social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to deliberately promote unfounded conspiracy theories, claiming the virus is a biological weapon manufactured by the CIA and the U.S. is waging economic war on China using the virus.[211][12][212] The acting assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia, Philip Reeker, said "Russia's intent is to sow discord and undermine U.S. institutions and alliances from within" and "by spreading disinformation about coronavirus, Russian malign actors are once again choosing to threaten public safety by distracting from the global health response."[211] Russia denies the allegation, saying "this is a deliberately false story".[213]
According to U.S.-based The National Interest magazine, although official Russian channels had been muted on pushing the U.S. biowarfare conspiracy theory, other Russian media elements do not share the Kremlin's restraint.[214] Zvezda, a news outlet funded by the Russian Defense Ministry, published an article titled "Coronavirus: American biological warfare against Russia and China", claiming that the virus is intended to damage the Chinese economy, weakening its hand in the next round of trade negotiations.[214] Ultra-nationalist politician and leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, claimed on a Moscow radio station that the virus was an experiment by the Pentagon and pharmaceutical companies. Politician Igor Nikulin made rounds on Russian television and news media, arguing that Wuhan was chosen for the attack because the presence of a BSL-4 virus lab provided a cover story for the Pentagon and CIA about a Chinese bio-experiment leak.[214] An EU-document claims 80 attempts by Russian media to spread disinformation related to the epidemic.[215]
According to the East StratCom Task Force, the Sputnik news agency was active publishing stories speculating that the virus could've been invented in Latvia, that it was used by Communist Party of China to curb protests in Hong Kong, that it was introduced intentionally to reduce the number of elder people in Italy, that it was targeted against the Yellow Vests movement, and making many other speculations. Sputnik branches in countries including Armenia, Belarus, Spain, and in the Middle East came up with versions of these stories.[216]
Venezuela
Constituent Assembly member Elvis Méndez declared that the coronavirus was a "bacteriological sickness created in '89, in '90 and historically" and that it was a sickness "inoculated by the gringos". Méndez theorized that the virus was a weapon against Latin America and China and that its purpose was "to demoralize the person, to weaken to install their system".[217]
COVID-19 recovery
It has been wrongly claimed that anyone infected with COVID-19 will have the virus in their bodies for life. While there is no curative treatment, infected individuals can recover from the disease, eliminating the virus from their bodies; getting supportive medical care early can help.[279]
COVID-19 xenophobic blaming by ethnicity and religion
Main article: List of incidents of xenophobia and racism related to the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic
File:IOM - Fighting Stigma and Discrimination against Migrants during COVID-19.webm
UN video warns that misinformation against groups may lower testing rates and increase transmission.
COVID-19-related xenophobic attacks have been made against people the attacker blamed for COVID-19 on the basis of their ethnicity. People who are considered to look Chinese have been subjected to COVID-19-related verbal and physical attacks in many other countries, often by people accusing them of transmitting the virus.[281][282][283] Within China, there has been discrimination (such as evictions and non-service in shops) against people from anywhere closer to Wuhan (where the pandemic started) and against anyone perceived as being non-Chinese (especially those considered African), as the Chinese government has blamed continuing cases on re-introductions of the virus from abroad (90% of reintroduced cases were by Chinese passport-holders). Neighbouring countries have also discriminated against people seen as Westerners.[284][285][286] People have also simply blamed other local groups along the lines of pre-existing social tensions and divisions, sometimes citing reporting of COVID-19 cases within that group. For instance, Muslims have been widely blamed, shunned, and discriminated against in India (including some violent attacks), amid unfounded claims that Muslims are deliberately spreading COVID-19, and a Muslim event at which the disease did spread has received far more public attention than many similar events run by other groups and the government.[287] White supremacist groups have blamed COVID-19 on non-whites and advocated deliberately infecting minorities they dislike, such as Jews.[288]
False causes
5G
5G towers have been burned by people wrongly blaming them for COVID-19.
Openreach engineers appealed on anti-5G Facebook groups, saying they aren't involved in mobile networks, and workplace abuse is making it difficult for them to maintain phonelines and broadband.
This article is part of a series on
Alternative and pseudo‑medicine
Outline-body-aura.svg
General information[show]
Fringe medicine and science[show]
Conspiracy theories[hide]
Anti-fluoridation/Water fluoridation movement Anti-vaccination Vaccines causing autism Big Pharma conspiracy theory COVID-19 pandemic GMO conspiracy theories HIV/AIDS denialism Discredited HIV/AIDS origins theories OPV AIDS hypothesis
Classifications[show]
Traditional medicine[show]
Diagnoses[show]
vte
In February 2020 BBC News reported that conspiracy theorists on social media groups alleged a link between coronavirus and 5G mobile networks, claiming that Wuhan and Diamond Princess outbreaks were directly caused by electromagnetic fields and by the introduction of 5G and wireless technologies. Some conspiracy theorists also alleged that the coronavirus outbreak was a cover-up for a 5G-related illness.[33] In March 2020, Thomas Cowan, a holistic medical practitioner who trained as a physician and operates on probation with Medical Board of California, alleged that coronavirus is caused by 5G, based on the claims that African countries were not affected significantly by the pandemic and Africa was not a 5G region.[289][290] Cowan also falsely alleged that the viruses were wastes from cells that are poisoned by electromagnetic fields and historical viral pandemics coincided with the major developments in radio technology.[290] The video of his claims went viral and was recirculated by celebrities including Woody Harrelson, John Cusack, and singer Keri Hilson.[291] The claims may also have been recirculated by an alleged "coordinated disinformation campaign", similar to campaigns used by the Internet Research Agency in Saint Petersburg, Russia.[292] The claims were criticized on social media and debunked by Reuters,[293] USA Today,[294] Full Fact[295] and American Public Health Association executive director Georges C. Benjamin.[289][296]
Professor Steve Powis, national medical director of NHS England, described theories linking 5G mobile phone networks to COVID-19 as the "worst kind of fake news".[297] Viruses cannot be transmitted by radio waves. COVID-19 has spread and continues to spread in many countries that do not have 5G networks.[279]
After telecommunications masts in several parts of the United Kingdom were the subject of arson attacks, British Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove said the theory that COVID-19 virus may be spread by 5G wireless communication is "just nonsense, dangerous nonsense as well".[298] Vodafone announced that two Vodafone masts and two it shares with O2 had been targeted.[299][300]
By Monday April 6, 2020 at least 20 mobile phone masts in the UK had been vandalised since the previous Thursday.[301] Because of slow rollout of 5G in the UK, many of the damaged masts had only 3G and 4G equipment.[301] Mobile phone and home broadband operators estimated there were at least 30 incidents of confronting engineers maintaining equipment in the week up to April 6.[301] There have been eleven incidents of attempted arson at mobile phone masts in the Netherlands, including one case where "Fuck 5G" was written, as well as in Ireland and Cyprus.[302][303] Facebook has deleted multiple messages encouraging attacks on 5G equipment.[301]
Engineers working for Openreach posted pleas on anti-5G Facebook groups asking to be spared abuse as they are not involved with maintaining mobile networks.[304] Mobile UK said the incidents were affecting attempts to maintain networks that support home working and provide critical connections to vulnerable customers, emergency services and hospitals.[304] A widely circulated video shows people working for broadband company Community Fibre being abused by a woman who accuses them of installing 5G as part of a plan to kill the population.[304]
YouTube announced that it would reduce the amount of content claiming links between 5G and coronavirus.[299] Videos that are conspiratorial about 5G that do not mention coronavirus would not be removed, though they might be considered "borderline content", removed from search recommendations and losing advertising revenue.[299] The discredited claims had been circulated by British conspiracy theorist David Icke in videos (subsequently removed) on YouTube and Vimeo, and an interview by London Live TV network, prompting calls for action by Ofcom.[305][306]
On April 13, 2020, Gardaí were investigating fires at 5G masts in County Donegal, Ireland.[307] Gardaí and fire services had attended the fires the previous night in an attempt to put them out.[307] Although Gardaí were awaiting results of tests they were treating the fires as deliberate.[307]
There were 20 suspected arson attacks on phone masts in the UK over the Easter 2020 weekend.[297] These included an incident in Dagenham where three men were arrested on suspicion of arson, a fire in Huddersfield that affected a mast used by emergency services and a fire in a mast that provides mobile connectivity to the NHS Nightingale Hospital Birmingham.[297]
Ofcom issued guidance to ITV following comments by Eamonn Holmes after comments made by Holmes about 5G and coronavirus on This Morning.[308] Ofcom said the comments were "ambiguous" and "ill-judged" and they "risked undermining viewers' trust in advice from public authorities and scientific evidence".[308] Ofcom also local channel London Live in breach of standards for an interview it had with David Icke who it said had " expressed views which had the potential to cause significant harm to viewers in London during the pandemic".[308]
Some telecoms engineers have reported threats of violence, including threats to stab and murder them, by individuals who believe them to be working on 5G networks.[309] West Midlands Police said the crimes in question are being taken very seriously.[309]
On April 24, 2020 The Guardian revealed that an evangelical pastor from Luton had provided the male voice on a recording blaming 5G for deaths caused by coronavirus.[310] Jonathon James claimed to have formerly headed the largest business-unit at Vodafone, but insiders at the company said that he was hired for a sales position in 2014 when 5G was not a priority for the company and that 5G would not have been part of his job.[310] He left the company after less than a year.[310]
Mosquitoes
It has been claimed that mosquitoes transmit coronavirus. There is no evidence that this is true; coronavirus spreads through small droplets of saliva and mucus.[279]
Petrol pumps
A warning claiming to be from the Australia Department of Health said coronavirus spreads through petrol pumps and that everyone should wear gloves when filling up petrol in their cars.[311]
Shoe-wearing
There were claims that wearing shoes at one's home was the reason behind the spread of the coronavirus in Italy.[312]
Resistance/susceptibility based on ethnicity
There have been claims that specific ethnicities are more or less vulnerable to COVID-19. COVID-19 is a new zoonotic disease, so no population has yet had the time to develop population immunity.[medical citation needed]
Beginning on February 11, reports, quickly spread via Facebook, implied that a Cameroonian student in China had been completely cured of the virus due to his African genetics. While a student was successfully treated, other media sources have noted that no evidence implies Africans are more resistant to the virus and labeled such claims as false information.[313] Kenyan Secretary of Health Mutahi Kagwe explicitly refuted rumors that "those with black skin cannot get coronavirus", while announcing Kenya's first case on March 13.[314] This myth was cited as a contributing factor in the disproportionately high rates of infection and death observed among African Americans.[315][316]
There have been claims of "Indian immunity": that the people of India have more immunity to the COVID-19 virus due to living conditions in India. This idea was deemed "absolute drivel" by Anand Krishnan, professor at the Centre for Community Medicine of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). He said there was no population immunity to the COVID-19 virus yet, as it is new, and it is not even clear whether people who have recovered from COVID-19 will have lasting immunity, as this happens with some viruses but not with others.[317]
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei claimed the virus was genetically targeted at Iranians by the U.S., and this is why it is seriously affecting Iran. He did not offer any evidence.[318][22]
Religious protection
A number of religious groups have claimed protection due to their faith, some refusing to stop large religious gatherings. In Israel, some Ultra-Orthodox Jews initially refused to close synagogues and religious seminaries and disregarded government restrictions because "The Torah protects and saves",[319] which resulted in an 8 times faster rate of infection among some groups.[320] The Tablighi Jamaat movement organised mass gatherings in Malaysia, India, and Pakistan whose participants believed that God will protect them resulted the biggest rise in COVID-19 cases in a number of countries.[321][29][322] In Iran, the head of Fatima Masumeh Shrine encouraged pilgrims to visit the shrine despite calls to close the shrine, saying that they "consider this holy shrine to be a place of healing."[323] In South Korea the River of Grace Community Church in Gyeonggi Province spread the virus after spraying salt water into their members' mouths in the belief that it would kill the virus,[324] while the Shincheonji Church of Jesus in Daegu where a church leader claimed that no Shincheonji worshipers had caught the virus in February while hundreds died in Wuhan later caused in the biggest spread of the virus in the country.[325][326]
In Somalia, myths have spread claiming Muslims are immune to the virus.[327]
Unproven protective and aggravating factors
Vegetarian immunity
[icon]
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (April 2020)
Claims that vegetarians are immune to coronavirus spread online in India, causing "#NoMeat_NoCoronaVirus" to trend on Twitter.[328][better source needed] Eating meat does not have an effect on COVID-19 spread, except for people near where animals are slaughtered, said Anand Krishnan.[329] Fisheries, Dairying and Animal Husbandry Minister Giriraj Singh said the rumour had significantly affected industry, with the price of a chicken falling to a third of pre-pandemic levels. He also described efforts to improve the hygiene of the meat supply chain.[330]
Efficacy of hand sanitiser, "antibacterial" soaps
Washing in soap and water for at least 20 seconds is the best way to clean hands. Second-best is a hand sanitizer that is at least 60% alcohol.[331]
Claims that hand sanitiser is merely "antibacterial not antiviral", and therefore ineffective against COVID-19, have spread widely on Twitter and other social networks. While the effectiveness of sanitiser depends on the specific ingredients, most hand sanitiser sold commercially inactivates SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19.[332][333] Hand sanitizer is recommended against COVID-19,[279] though unlike soap, it is not effective against all types of germs.[334] Washing in soap and water for at least 20 seconds is recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) as the best way to clean hands in most situations. However, if soap and water are not available, a hand sanitizer that is at least 60% alcohol can be used instead, unless hands are visibly dirty or greasy.[331][335] The CDC and the Food and Drug Administration both recommend plain soap; there is no evidence that "antibacterial soaps" are any better, and limited evidence that they might be worse long-term.[336][337]
Alcohol (ethanol and poisonous methanol)
Contrary to some reports, drinking alcohol does not protect against COVID-19, and can increase health risks[279] (short term and long term). Drinking alcohol is ethanol; other alcohols, such as methanol, which causes methanol poisoning, are acutely poisonous, and may be present in badly-prepared alcoholic beverages.[338]
Iran has reported incidents of methanol poisoning, caused by the false belief that drinking alcohol would cure or protect against coronavirus;[339] alcohol is banned in Iran, and bootleg alcohol may contain methanol.[340] According to Iranian media in March 2020, nearly 300 people have died and more than a thousand have become ill due to methanol poisoning, while Associated Press gave figures of around 480 deaths with 2,850 others affected.[341] The number of deaths due to methanol poisoning in Iran reached over 700 by April.[342] Iranian social media had circulated a story from British tabloids that a British man and others had been cured of coronavirus with whiskey and honey,[339][343] which combined with the use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers as disinfectants, led to the false belief that drinking high-proof alcohol can kill the virus.[339][340][341]
Similar incidents have occurred in Turkey, with 30 Turkmenistan citizens dying from methanol poisoning related to coronavirus cure claims.[344][345]
In Kenya, the Governor of Nairobi Mike Sonko has come under scrutiny for including small bottles of the cognac Hennessy in care packages, falsely claiming that alcohol serves as "throat sanitizer" and that, from research, it is believed that "alcohol plays a major role in killing the coronavirus."[346][347]
Cocaine
Cocaine does not protect against COVID-19. Several viral tweets purporting that snorting cocaine would sterilize one's nostrils of the coronavirus spread around Europe and Africa. In response, the French Ministry of Health released a public service announcement debunking this claim, saying "No, cocaine does NOT protect against COVID-19. It is an addictive drug that causes serious side effects and is harmful to people's health." The World Health Organisation also debunked the claim.[348]
Ibuprofen
A tweet from French health minister Olivier Véran, a bulletin from the French health ministry, and a small speculative study in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine raised concerns about ibuprofen worsening COVID-19, which spread extensively on social media. The European Medicines Agency[349] and the World Health Organization recommended COVID-19 patients keep taking ibuprofen as directed, citing lack of convincing evidence of any danger.[350]
Helicopter spraying
In some Asian countries, it has been claimed that one should stay at home on particular days when helicopters spray disinfectant over homes for killing off COVID-19; no such spraying is taking place.[351][352]
Cruise ships safety from infection
Main article: COVID-19 pandemic on cruise ships
Claims by cruise-ship operators notwithstanding, there are many cases of coronaviruses in hot climates; some countries in the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, and the Persian Gulf are severely affected.
In March 2020, the Miami New Times reported that managers at Norwegian Cruise Line had prepared a set of responses intended to convince wary customers to book cruises, including "blatantly false" claims that the coronavirus "can only survive in cold temperatures, so the Caribbean is a fantastic choice for your next cruise", that "[s]cientists and medical professionals have confirmed that the warm weather of the spring will be the end of the [c]oronavirus", and that the virus "cannot live in the amazingly warm and tropical temperatures that your cruise will be sailing to".[353]
Flu is seasonal (becoming less frequent in the summer) in some countries, but not in others. While it is possible that the COVID-19 coronavirus will also show some seasonality, it is not yet known.[354][355][356][medical citation needed] The COVID-19 coronavirus spread along international air travel routes, including to tropical locations.[357] Outbreaks on cruise ships, where an older population lives in close quarters, frequently touching surfaces which others have touched, were common.[358][359]
It seems that COVID-19 can be transmitted in all climates.[279] It has seriously affected many warm-climate countries. For instance, Dubai, with an year-round average daily high of 28.0 Celsius (82.3°F) and the airport said to have the world's most international traffic, has had thousands of cases.
Vaccine pre-existence
It was reported that multiple social media posts have promoted a conspiracy theory claiming the virus was known and that a vaccine was already available. PolitiFact and FactCheck.org noted that no vaccine currently exists for COVID-19. The patents cited by various social media posts reference existing patents for genetic sequences and vaccines for other strains of coronavirus such as the SARS coronavirus.[360][4] The WHO reported as of February 5, 2020, that amid news reports of "breakthrough" drugs being discovered to treat people infected with the virus, there were no known effective treatments;[361] this included antibiotics and herbal remedies not being useful.[362] Scientists are working to develop a vaccine, but as of March 18, 2020, no vaccine candidates have completed Phase II clinical trials.[citation needed]
Miscellaneous
Name of the disease
Social media posts and internet memes claimed that COVID-19 means "Chinese Originated Viral Infectious Disease 19", or similar, as supposedly the "19th virus to come out of China".[477] In fact, the WHO named the disease as follows: CO stands for corona, VI for virus, D for disease and 19 for when the outbreak was first identified (31 December 2019).[478]
Bat soup
Some media outlets, including Daily Mail and RT, as well as individuals, disseminated a video showing a Chinese woman eating a bat, falsely suggesting it was filmed in Wuhan and connecting it to the outbreak.[479][480] However, the widely circulated video contains unrelated footage of a Chinese travel vlogger, Wang Mengyun, eating bat soup in the island country of Palau in 2016.[479][480][481][482] Wang posted an apology on Weibo,[481][482] in which she said she had been abused and threatened,[481] and that she had only wanted to showcase Palauan cuisine.[481][482] The spread of misinformation about bat consumption has been characterized by xenophobic and racist sentiment toward Asians.[90][483][484] In contrast, scientists suggest the virus originated in bats and migrated into an intermediary host animal before infecting people.[90][485]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misinformation_related_to_the_COVID...
I tried estimation of the brightness of the comet with a simple method, out-out method, and I felt it difficult. I felt the estimation less by about magnitude 2 on this comet. It was too big for the method.
I could find the comet easily with my naked eyes. It was mere a faint and big blob of white light without tails. I felt the magnitude around 4 after comparing surrounding stars. I felt the size a bit smaller than Pleiades, but it must be my optimistic overestimation.
equipment: Sigma 50mmF1.4 DG HSM and Canon EOS 5Dmk2-sp2, modified by Seo-san on a tripod on the ground
exposure: 15 seconds at ISO 6,400 and f/4.0
site: 1,250m above sea level at lat. 36 14 35 North and long. 138 36 22 East near Uchiyama Farm Saku Nagano 長野県佐久市内山牧場付近.
SQM-L reached 21.18 at the night. Ambient temperature was around -7 degrees Celsius or 19 degrees Fahrenheit.
Vintage card.
American actor John Wayne (1907-1979) was one of the most popular film stars of the 20th century. He received his first leading film role in The Big Trail (1930). Working with John Ford, he got his next big break in Stagecoach (1939). His career as an actor took another leap forward when he worked with director Howard Hawks in Red River (1948). Wayne won his first Academy Award in 1969. He He starred in 142 films altogether and remains a popular American icon to this day.
John Wayne was born Marion Robert Morrison in 1907, in Winterset, Iowa. Some sources also list him as Marion Michael Morrison and Marion Mitchell Morrison. He was already a sizable presence when he was born, weighing around 13 pounds. The oldest of two children born to Clyde and Mary 'Molly' Morrison, Wayne moved to Lancester, California, around the age of seven. The family moved again a few years later after Clyde failed in his attempt to become a farmer. Settling in Glendale, California, Wayne received his distinctive nickname 'Duke' while living there. He had a dog by that name, and he spent so much time with his pet that the pair became known as 'Little Duke' and 'Big Duke', according to the official John Wayne website. In high school, Wayne excelled in his classes and in many different activities, including student government and football. He also participated in numerous student theatrical productions. Winning a football scholarship to University of Southern California (USC), Wayne started college in the fall of 1925. Unfortunately, after two years, an injury, a result of a bodysurfing accident, took him off the football field and ended his scholarship. While in college, Wayne had done some work as a film extra, appearing as a football player in Brown of Harvard (Jack Conway, 1926) with William Haines, and Drop Kick (Millard Webb, 1927), starring Richard Barthelmess. Out of school, Wayne worked as an extra and a prop man in the film industry. He first met director John Ford while working as an extra on Mother Machree (John Ford, 1928). With the early widescreen film epic The Big Trail (Raoul Walsh, 1930), Wayne received his first leading role, thanks to director Walsh. Raoul Walsh is often credited with helping him create his now legendary screen name, John Wayne. Unfortunately, the Western was a box office failure. For nearly a decade, Wayne toiled in numerous B-films. He played the lead, with his name over the title, in many low-budget Poverty Row Westerns, mostly at Monogram Pictures and serials for Mascot Pictures Corporation. By Wayne's own estimation, he appeared in about 80 of these horse operas from 1930 to 1939. In Riders of Destiny (Robert N. Bradbury, 1933), he became one of the first singing cowboys of film, named Sandy Saunders, although via dubbing. During this period, Wayne started developing his man of action persona, which would serve as the basis of many popular characters later on.
Working with John Ford, John Wayne got his next big break in Stagecoach (John Ford, 1939). Because of Wayne's B-film status and track record in low-budget Westerns throughout the 1930s, Ford had difficulty getting financing for what was to be an A-budget film. After rejection by all the major studios, Ford struck a deal with independent producer Walter Wanger in which Claire Trevor, who was a much bigger star at the time, received top billing. Wayne portrayed the Ringo Kid, an escaped outlaw, who joins an unusual assortment of characters on a dangerous journey through frontier lands. During the trip, the Kid falls for a dance hall prostitute named Dallas (Claire Trevor). The film was well received by filmgoers and critics alike and earned seven Academy Award nominations, including one for Ford's direction. In the end, it took home the awards for Music and for Actor in a Supporting Role for Thomas Mitchell. Wayne became a mainstream star. Reunited with Ford and Mitchell, Wayne stepped away from his usual Western roles to become a Swedish seaman in The Long Voyage Home (John Ford, 1940). The film was adapted from a play by Eugene O'Neill and follows the crew of a steamer ship as they move a shipment of explosives. Along with many positive reviews, the film earned several Academy Award nominations. Around this time, Wayne made the first of several films with German star Marlene Dietrich. The two appeared together in Seven Sinners (Tay Garnett, 1940) with Wayne playing a naval officer and Dietrich as a woman who sets out to seduce him. Off-screen, they became romantically involved, though Wayne was married at the time. There had been rumours about Wayne having other affairs, but nothing as substantial as his connection to Dietrich. Even after their physical relationship ended, the pair remained good friends and co-starred in two more films, Pittsburgh (Lewis Seiler, 1942) and The Spoilers (Ray Enright, 1942). Wayne's first color film was Shepherd of the Hills (Henry Hathaway, 1941), in which he co-starred with his longtime friend Harry Carey. The following year, he appeared in his only film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, the Technicolor epic Reap the Wild Wind (1942), in which he co-starred with Ray Milland and Paulette Goddard; it was one of the rare times he played a character with questionable values. Wayne started working behind the scenes as a producer in the late 1940s. The first film he produced was Angel and the Badman (James Edward Grant, 1947) with Gail Russell. Over the years, he operated several different production companies, including John Wayne Productions, Wayne-Fellows Productions and Batjac Productions.
John Wayne's career as an actor took another leap forward when he worked with director Howard Hawks in Red River (1948). The Western drama provided Wayne with an opportunity to show his talents as an actor, not just an action hero. Playing the conflicted cattleman Tom Dunson, he took on a darker sort of character. He deftly handled his character's slow collapse and difficult relationship with his adopted son played by Montgomery Clift. Also around this time, Wayne also received praise for his work in John Ford's Fort Apache (1948) with Henry Fonda and Shirley Temple. Taking on a war drama, Wayne gave a strong performance in Sands of Iwo Jima (Allan Dwan, 1949), which garnered him his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. He also appeared in more two Westerns by Ford now considered classics: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (John Ford, 1949) and Rio Grande (John Ford, 1950) with Maureen O'Hara. Wayne worked with O'Hara on several films, perhaps most notably The Quiet Man (John Ford, 1952). Playing an American boxer with a bad reputation, his character moved to Ireland where he fell in love with a local woman (Maureen O'Hara). This film is considered Wayne's most convincing leading romantic role by many critics. A well-known conservative and anticommunist, Wayne merged his personal beliefs and his professional life in Big Jim McLain (Edward Ludwig, 1952). He played an investigator working for the U.S. House Un-American Activities Committee, which worked to root out communists in all aspects of public life. Off screen, Wayne played a leading role in the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals and even served as its president for a time. The organisation was a group of conservatives who wanted to stop communists from working in the film industry, and other members included Gary Cooper and Ronald Reagan. In 1956, Wayne starred in another Ford Western, The Searchers (John Ford, 1956). He played Civil War veteran Ethan Edwards whose niece is abducted by a tribe of Comanches and he again showed some dramatic range as the morally questionable veteran. He soon after reteamed with Howard Hawks for Rio Bravo (1959). Playing a local sheriff, Wayne's character must face off against a powerful rancher and his henchmen who want to free his jailed brother. The unusual cast included Dean Martin and Angie Dickinson.
John Wayne made his directorial debut with The Alamo (John Wayne, 1960). Starring in the film as Davy Crockett, he received decidedly mixed reviews for both his on- and off-screen efforts. Wayne received a much warmer reception for The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (John Ford, 1962) in which he played a troubled rancher competing with a lawyer (James Stewart) for a woman's hand in marriage. Some other notable films from this period include The Longest Day (Ken Annakin, Andrew Marton, Bernhard Wicki, 1962) and How the West Was Won (John Ford, Henry Hathaway, George Marshall, 1962). Continuing to work steadily, Wayne refused to even let illness slow him down. He successfully battled lung cancer in 1964. To defeat the disease, Wayne had to have a lung and several ribs removed. In the later part of the 1960s, Wayne had some great successes and failures. He co-starred with Robert Mitchum in El Dorado (Howard Hawks, 1967), which was well received. The next year, Wayne again mixed the professional and the political with the pro-Vietnam War film The Green Berets (Ray Kellogg, John Wayne, 1968). He directed and produced as well as starred in the film, which was derided by critics for being heavy handed and clichéd. Viewed by many as a piece of propaganda, the film still did well at the box office. Around this time, Wayne continued to espouse his conservative political views. He support friend Ronald Reagan in his 1966 bid for governor of California as well as his 1970 re-election effort. In 1976, Wayne recorded radio advertisements for Reagan's first attempt to become the Republican presidential candidate. Wayne won his first Academy Award for Best Actor for True Grit (Henry Hathaway, 1969). He played Rooster Cogburn, an one-eyed marshal and drunkard, who helps a young woman named Mattie (Kim Darby) track down her father's killer. A young Glen Campbell joined the pair on their mission. Rounding out the cast, Robert Duvall and Dennis Hopper were among the bad guys the trio had to defeat. A later sequel with Katherine Hepburn, Rooster Cogburn (Stuart Millar, 1975), failed to attract critical acclaim or much of an audience. Wayne portrayed an aging gunfighter dying of cancer in his final film, The Shootist (Don Siegel, 1976), with James Stewart and Lauren Bacall. His character, John Bernard Books, hoped to spend his final days peacefully, but got involved one last gunfight. In 1978, life imitated art with Wayne being diagnosed with stomach cancer. John Wayne died in 1979, in Los Angeles, California. He was survived by his seven children from two of his three marriages. During his marriage to Josephine Saenz from 1933 to 1945, the couple had four children, two daughters Antonia and Melinda and two sons Michael and Patrick. Both Michael and Patrick followed in their father's footsteps Michael as a producer and Patrick as an actor. With his third wife, Pilar Palette, he had three more children, Ethan, Aissa, and Marisa. Ethan has worked as an actor over the years.
Sources: Biography.com, Wikipedia and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
Le Fossa, animal presque mythique de Madagascar, est pratiquement invisible, présent sur toute la Grande Ile, l’endroit où on peut espérer le voir est le Parc de Kirindy … si on a de la chance !
Mix de civette, mangouste, chat, chien, puma, il est unique dans sa famille.
Classé VU par l’IUCN, sa population n’est qu’une estimation : 2 500 à 8 000 adultes, la déforestation et la démographie inflationniste de Madagascar perturbe tout l’écosystème : moins de forêts = moins de lémuriens (ses principales proies) = moins de Fossas !
Son régime est pour le moins varié : lémuriens, reptiles, insectes, oiseaux et quand il a compris qu’il y a de la nourriture près de l’homme, il s’attaque aux poules, chevreaux, porcs … et aux déchets …
Bien que considéré comme « fady », tabou on sait qu’il est pourchassé à proximité des villages et dans certaines régions il sert de viande de brousse !
L’individu vu à Kirindy a compris qu’il pouvait y avoir de la nourriture dans les poubelles et il visite les abords de l’entrée du parc … de temps en temps, vous pouvez passer plusieurs jours sans le voir, ou si vous avez de la chance, le voir traverser la piste …
www.iucnredlist.org/species/5760/45197189
fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossa_(animal)
Fosa, mythic animal of Madagascar, is virtually invisibe, found in the whole Great Island, the place where you have to be is Kirindy Park … if you have luck !
Mix of civet, mongoose, cat, dog, puma, he is unique in his family.
Classified VU by IUCN, his population is only a rough estimation / 2 500 to 8 000 adults, deforestation and inflationary human pressure in madagascar disrupt the whole ecosystem : less forests = less lemurs (his main preys) = less fosas !
His diet is, at the least, varied : lemurs (all species), reptiles, insects, birds and when he understood there is food near human, he can decide to directly take chicken, young goats, pigs … and garbage …
Although considered « fady », taboo we know he is chased near villages and in some areas he is used as bushmeat !
The one we saw in Kirindy knew he could get some food in the waste bins and he could visit the park surroundings … from time to time, you can spend several days without seeing him, or if you are lucky, you will watch him crossing the trail …
Flying over Belgium 03/07/2022 21h26
This must be the Belgium coastline before the beautiful approach over Zeeland towards the airport of Rotterdam.
Last photo of my holiday to Fez in order to see Mehdi in real life and to visit Fez and surroundings and Chefchaouen as a big bonus. I will be back
NOTE: geotag is not accurate, just an estimation
Something I’ve found with every place I’ve worked, is that the structure of runs/routes has been completely stupid, poorly thought, plain ridiculous... or beyond fucked up as was the case with Randwick. Run allocation and design must be one of the biggest potential efficiencies and cost savers for a business, yet the simple area of operations seems to always be so complicated and messed up in my experience. Even though Randwick isn’t your typical side loader contract, 20+ run changes in 7 years is a total joke! After floating there for a year I got to see the contract inside and out, which showed me how appalling the runs were across the week, something that needed a drastic overhaul, even the most basic and obvious improvements had been left in the dark. I ended up taking it upon myself to change the Warringah rear loader runs years ago which was a success, and it became a dream to improve and enhance the Randwick runs while working there too. This goal almost came to fruition, but ended up being shut down by the very individual who was there to support the changes near the beginning and should’ve been the biggest stakeholder of all... what a fucking cunt of a bloke. I spent about 3 weeks of my own time staring at maps, analysing facts, doing estimations, solving problems and justifying my thoughts. There was also the staged creation of a 26 page document full of info about the problems/changes, along with the pictured 45 maps I highlighted for nothing in the end.
Things were already an operational catastrophe when I had started there, but the job got far worse when the contract extension started and the council dictated some new rules. An opportunity for a fresh collection strategy was right there, but the chance went to waste and things got worse through the runs - they were inefficient, impractical, illogical, unsafe, complicated, disproportionate, inflexible and logistics were poor. Not long down the track I ended up getting a green light to go and conduct my own run/route change project. Without wanting any credit or reward, I genuinely wanted to try and get things right, not just for my own benefit, but for all my coworkers, the company, the council and the public. I have a massive passion to see adequate mapping and well organised runs, so it’s a real kick to the nuts when you put so much personal time and effort into building let’s say a hectic sandcastle, just to have a fat wave come and wash it all away. It’s bewildering how things could be left status quo for so long given all the circumstances, especially when everything is reported to a bloody regional manager in detail, just showed some proper negligence and incompetence. Also disappointing was the lack of input by fellow workers upon wanting to engage their involvement and hopefully receive some support, but that positive idea ended up being a 95% flop. I grew an enormous hatred for that contract, but what finally drove me out of the place was all the astronomical bullshit with the runs.
Black-faced Spoonbill (Platalea minor), Watzuwei Nature Reserve, Taipei, Taiwan
The Black-faced Spoonbill (Platalea minor) has the most restricted distribution of all spoonbills, and it is the only one regarded as endangered.
The Black-Faced Spoonbill population as of 2012 census was recorded at 2,693 birds, with an estimation of 1,600 mature birds.
Source: Wikipedia