expected photos on Flickr

Artist’s impression of the expected dark matter distribution around the Milky Way by European Southern Observatory

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This artist’s impression shows the Milky Way galaxy. The blue halo of material surrounding the galaxy indicates the expected distribution of the mysterious dark matter, which was first introduced by astronomers to explain the rotation properties of the galaxy and is now also an essential ingredient in current theories of the formation and evolution of galaxies. New measurements show that the amount of dark matter in a large region around the Sun is far smaller than predicted and have indicated that there is no significant dark matter at all in our neighbourhood.

More information: www.eso.org/public/images/eso1217a/

Credit:

ESO/L. Calçada

World Meeting of Families 2018 by Ken Larkin

Media Information on the WMOF2018 Closing Mass in Phoenix Park

3.00pm Sunday 26 August 2018

The WMOF2018 Closing Mass will be celebrated by Pope Francis in Phoenix Park, Dublin on Sunday 26 August. 500,000 people are expected to attend the Mass including up to 20,000 overseas visitors.

A mammoth 12-hour programme exploring faith through music, reflections, video and drama will entertain pilgrims as they arrive to and make their way home from the Phoenix Park. Prelude in the Park will feature national and international performers from Ireland, England, America, Germany, Austria, France, India, Canada and USA. They will lead worship, drama and pop-up concerts to prepare everyone for the arrival of Pope Francis at 2.30pm.

Over 1,000 performers from the world of music, arts and Church ministry groups were involved in the three-day Pastoral Congress in the RDS. Many of these will bring a taste of their Congress programme to entertain the crowds before and after Mass.

Eimear Quinn, Daniel O Donnell, Derek Ryan, Paddy Maloney, Comholtas as well as Christian Performers Rexband from India, Rend Collective from Northern Ireland will feature. Other performers include Audrey Assad, Factor One – Dublin, Aris Choir, Dublin Gospel Choir, YOUCAT Foundation, KisiKids, Fr. Ray Kelly, I Am – Worship Band from Derry, Donna Taggart, O Neill Sisters from Kerry.

The Mass

Father Liam Lawton, liturgical composer and priest of the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin, will sing the psalm, The Lord Hears the Cry of the Poor, which he has composed for the Papal Mass. Father Liam will be joined by a 3,000 strong papal Mass choir that has been brought together for the Mass.

The first reading will be proclaimed ‘as Gaeilge’ by Marie Wheldon from Clontarf, who was involved in the new Irish language translation of ‘An Leabhar Aifreann’. While Teresa Menendez, originally from Argentina and marketing manager for the World Meeting of Families 2018, will read the second reading in Spanish.

Rev. Noel McHugh, Permanent Deacon of Dublin Diocese, will preach the Gospel. Married to Paula, their son, John, died (aged 23) running a half marathon in the Phoenix Park in September 2015.

Mother of five Emma Mhic Mhathuna, will bring up one of the offertory gifts for the Papal Mass in the Phoenix Park tomorrow afternoon. The mother of five will be accompanied by her children, Natasha, Seamus, Mario, Oisín, and Donnacha, and friends, Mai Uí Bhruic and Tomás Ó Bruic.

Also involved in the offertory procession will be:

•Olive Foley, widow of former Ireland rugby international and Munster head coach, Anthony ‘Axel’ Foley, and their children, Dan and Tony;

•Paul and Bridget Uzo, and their children Stephanie and Kelvin, representatives of the African Community in the Archdiocese of Dublin;

•The family of one of those killed in the Omagh bombing 20 years ago;

•and a family involved in the “All Are Welcome” Mass in Avila, in Donnybrook, Dublin.

•LITURGICAL MUSIC

The music chosen for the Papal Mass will place an emphasis on congregational singing, so many of the pieces will be familiar to those in the Phoenix Park congregation of 500,000.

Irish music and composers feature prominently throughout the Mass. The Opening Hymn is A Joy For All The Earth, written by Ephrem Feeley, which is the official hymn for WMOF2018.

The music chosen for the Papal Mass will place an emphasis on congregational singing so many of the pieces will be familiar to those in the Phoenix Park congregation of 500,000.

Irish music and composers feature prominently throughout the Mass. The Opening Hymn is A Joy For All The Earth which is the official hymn for WMOF2018 written by Ephrem Feeley. Well-known liturgical composer Father Liam Lawton has composed a new Psalm for the Mass which is called The Lord Hears the Cry of the Poor.

Two pieces by Ireland’s most renowned liturgical composer, Seán Ó Riada, feature as the Penitential Rite/Kyrie (A Thiarna Déan Trócaire), and at the Lord’s Prayer (Ár nAthair). Fintan O’Carroll’s Celtic Alleluia with an enhanced verse by Ronan McDonagh will be sung as the Gospel acclamation.

The Apostles’ Creed will be John O’Keeffe’s own composition, while Fr. Pat Ahern’s A Thiarna Éist Linn will be sung between the Prayers of the Faithful.

As this is a World Meeting of Families there will be a number of international composers featured in the Mass including Caritas et Amor by Z. Randall Stroope has been chosen for the Presentation of Gifts and three piece from Jean-Paul Lécot’s Mass of Our Lady of Lourdes will feature as the Gloria, Sanctus, and Doxology/Amen.

The Communion hymns will be Ave Verum (William Byrd), The Last Supper (Bernard Sexton), Come Feast at this Table (Ian Callanan), Anima Christi (Mon. Marco Frisina), and Bí Íosa im Chroíse.

And finally, the Anthem to Our Lady will be Go mBeannaítear Duit, A Mhuire by Peadar Ó Riada (son of Seán), and the Recessional Hymn: Jesus Christ, You Are My Life by Mon. Marco Frisina.

•THE VESTMENTS - POPE FRANCIS WILL WEAR GREEN VESTMENTS INSPIRED BY CELTIC IMAGERY

Green has been chosen as the colour of vestments to be worn by Pope Francis during the Closing Mass of WMOF2018 which is the colour associated in the liturgy with Ordinary Time. The green is a symbol of how God is ever-faithful, and it also quite appropriate for a celebration in Ireland.

At the centre of each vestment is the Trinity spiral, the same as can be seen in the WMOF2018 logo. The three parts of the spiral represent the mystery of the Holy Trinity, and also draws from Celtic imagery, as spirals can be found on many ancient stones and monuments of Ireland’s past. The colours used in the spiral are the same green, red and gold as the vestments.

Alongside the central spiral are lines which lift and spread out along the side of the vestments. These lines are inspired by the line in the liturgy ‘Lift up your hearts’ inviting us to participate in the celebration of Mass. When expanded the lines represent a cross, with the Trinity spiral as the head of the cross.

The vestments were produced by Haftina, a family business based in Poland, which specialises in liturgical vestments, chalice gowns, altar tablecloths and canopies. The vestment designs were created by Haftina in collaboration with the WMOF2018 Liturgical Committee.

•PENAL CROSS AND PROCESSIONAL CROSS

A penal cross will be present on the Altar while Pope Francis celebrates Mass in the Phoenix Park. The cross, which is carved into a single piece of wood, dates back to 1763 and has been cared for at a Carmelite Community in the Archdiocese of Dublin. The carvings on the front and back of the cross are designed to tell the story of the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The penal cross served as the inspiration for the processional cross which was newly created by Anne Murphy of Eala Enamels, based in Co Carlow in the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin.

•CHALICES AND CIBORIA

To aid in the distribution of Holy Communion during celebrations of Mass both at the Pastoral Congress in the RDS and at the Phoenix Park, 4,000 ciboria and 200 chalices have been produced by MMI who are based in the Bluebell industrial estate in Dublin. The ciboria and chalices are pewter and silver, adorned with a Celtic cross containing the Trinity spiral of WMOF2018.

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS

· The Closing Mass of WMOF2018 will take place in the Phoenix Park, Dublin on Sunday 26 August at 3.00pm. Pope Francis will celebrate this Mass which will have a congregation of 500,000 people including 15,000 from overseas.

Biographies of Liturgical Music Team:

· Liturgical Music Coordinator, Derek Mahady is a native of Rooskey, Co. Roscommon and works as a choral conductor, vocalist, piano accompanist and music educator. Derek has been involved in liturgical music from an early age. He began his liturgical music ministry in parishes throughout his home diocese of Elphin and his neighbouring diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnois. Currently, he works in music ministry at Newman University Church, St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin and has regularly featured as a regional and national tutor for the Irish Church Music Association. Derek holds a Master of Arts Degree in Choral Conducting from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, a Higher Diploma in Education from University of Dublin, Trinity College and a Bachelor of Music (Pedagogy) from the Dublin Institute of Technology, Conservatory of Music and Drama. Derek also features as a soloist on the first recording of the official World Meeting of Families 2018 hymn A Joy for all the Earth.

· Conductor, John O’Keeffe is director of Sacred Music and Choral Groups at St Patrick’s College and NUI Maynooth. The native of Portmagee, Co Kerry, studied Church music at St Finian’s College, Mullingar, before going on to further education at universities in Maynooth, Limerick, and UCD, and at the Catholic cathedrals of Dublin and Westminster, where he served as organ scholar.

· Organist, David Grealy, began his musical training as a chorister in the Galway Boy Singers, and organ scholar of Galway Cathedral from 2002-2005. He has held various positions as organist, including at Westminster Cathedral, and is currently the associate organist in St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral, Dublin, where he works closely with the Palestrina Choir, as well as playing the organ for the Cathedral’s busy schedule of liturgies.

· Assistant Conductor of Massed Choir, Amy Ryan is originally from Killarney, Co Kerry. She holds a BMus from the CIT Cork School of Music and a Masters degree from the Kodály Institute of the Liszt Academy of Music, Hungary. As Assistant Director of St. Mary’s Pro Cathedral Girls’ Choir from 2015-2018, she led the choir in Sunday morning liturgies, most recently on RTÉ television. Amy founded and conducts award-winning chamber choir, Cuore. In March of this year she conducted the Irish premiere of Graun’s passion oratorio Der Tod Jesu with Jubilate Choir. In April she conducted UCD Symphony Orchestra and Philharmonic Choir in their performance of Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem at the National Concert Hall. Amy currently lectures in Music at Trinity College, Dublin and at the Royal Irish Academy of Music.

· Assistant Conductor of Massed Choir, Dominic Finn is originally from Cobh, Co. Cork. He studied a Degree in Arts & Music at UCC, followed by a Diploma in Sacred Music at NUI Maynooth. He is currently the Director of Music at St. Colman’s Cathedral Cobh, and has been involved there for over 24 years as well as throughout the Diocese of Cloyne. Dominic also works as a secondary school teacher at Colaiste Muire, Cobh where he teaches Geography and Music. His choirs at St. Colman’s Cathedral have done many national broadcasts and recordings over the years, and have also worked with several composers such as Philip Stopford, John Rutter, and Liam Lawton to name just a few. Dominic has travelled extensively conducting his choirs from the Cathedral in major venues including St. Stephen’s Cathedral Vienna, Westminster Cathedral London, St. James’s Church, Spanish Place London, along with St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City in 2009 and 2013. Next year Dominic will oversee the music for the 100 year celebrations of the Dedication of St. Colman’s Cathedral, Diocese of Cloyne.

· Father Liam Lawton is a priest of the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin. Throughout his two decade-long career, his songs have been sung by choirs all over the world, have been translated into a number of different languages, and national and international artists have recorded them. He has recorded 18 collections of music to date, and has graced the stages of the Vatican, Carnegie Hall, Symphony Hall Chicago, the Anaheim Convention Centre in L.A., The Malmo Arena in Sweden, The National Concert Hall, Dublin, and many of the world’s sacred sites.

Fort Hayes - Columbus Arsenal - Building 105 by Jaci Starkey

The history of Fort Hayes as a military post spans from its establishment in 1863 to the expected departure of the remaining military presence by the end of 2009.

Fort Hayes is a military post in Columbus, Ohio, United States. Created by an act of the United States Congress on July 11, 1862, the site was also known as the Columbus Arsenal until 1922, when the site was renamed after former Ohio Governor and later 19th U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes. As of 2007, the property is primarily used for the Columbus School District's Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center and bus depot. Currently, the 391st Military Police Battalion and the 375th Criminal Investigations Division of the U.S. Army Reserve use the facility, but the last military presence on the property was in 2009. The military is building a new army reserve center in Whitehall, which will end a century and a half of military presence at Fort Hayes.

Columbus Arsenal

Ordnance Corps General C.P. Buckingham selected a site nearly two years after the congressional authorization of July 1862. It was a tract of about 70 acres northeast of the city, an oak grove owned by Robert and Jannette Neil of Neil House fame. The need for an army arsenal in Central Ohio was acute soon after war broke out. The state arsenal was jammed with arms and equipment for the states' first regiments, but that building was deemed unsafe and a fire hazard. The army needed a modern arsenal for the receipt and issuance of arms and equipment and the manufacture and storage of ammunition.

Captain J. W. Todd, of the U .S. Army Ordnance Corps, was the first commander of the Columbus Arsenal, as the post was first known. High command was nothing more than a field of oak stumps and some temporary shacks on land that Captain Todd also prepared the first arsenal master plan:

1 two-story brick workshop, 180′ X 60′: $27,758

4 storehouses, 200′ x 50′: $98,884

Barracks and EM quarters: $7,500

1 blacksmith shop: $2,000

1 stable and laboratory: $5,000

1 office building, brick, one-story: $2,400

1 officer's quarters, brick, two-story: $11,250

1 guardhouse and brick wall, 10′ high: $44,283

Railroad switch: $5,000

Landscaping: $10,000

Inflation: $10,000

Total Budget: $224,075

The Todd plan was $10,000 in excess of what Congress was to be asked to appropriate. Captain Todd did not remain at this assignment long enough to see his plan accepted for implementation. He was replaced by the "Father" of Fort Hayes, Captain T. C. Bradford, on January 16, 1864. Bradford arrived to build the new post from scratch, where he served until 1867, being promoted to Major, then Colonel before 1866. He resumed command again for six months in 1869, then departed for San Antonio.

Bradford's first task was to secure the completion of the rail spur and procure carts, horses, tools, hoisting machines and materials with which to build the main building and other buildings. By April 1864, the excavation was dug, the tracks' grading completed, and temporary carpenter's shop built, and two wells dug and equipped with pumps to supply water for the needs of men, animals, and construction.

Bradford called his magnum opus the "Store House", the first of many names which would be applied to the post's principal facility. Plans for the building had been drawn in Washington by the Ordnance Corps. Bradford, however, made many on-site changes to the plans as construction proceeded. Building materials in that time were difficult and expensive to obtain. For foundation material, Bradford went to Newark, Ohio, for sandstone, the first cargo brought in on the new rail spur during the summer of 1864. Brick was fired in Columbus by brickmakers who Bradford continually had to watch because of inferior workmanship. Flooring and other timber he obtained from southern Ohio (There are 50,000 board feet of ash flooring in the arsenal which cost $20.00 to $25.00 per thousand feet). Copper and cast iron cornices he had manufactured in Cincinnati.

The officers' quarters and magazine were ordered built on June 3, 1864, as designed by master building Joseph O. Sawyer. The foundation for the magazine, with a capacity of 2,500 barrels of powder, was built in September, ready for brickwork, and all lumber for this building was on the grounds.

As the main building rose, Bradford devoted much attention to the tower. The original purpose of this dominant feature was to accommodate stone steps to each floor. At Bradford's urging, the plans were altered to incorporate wooden steps and hoisting apparatus, and an elevator to move supplies more easily among the floors. As finally constructed, the tower was a duplicate of the one attached to the Indianapolis arsenal.

Long before the main arsenal building was completed in 1865, the post was receiving, storing, and issuing arms and accoutrements in large amounts. On May 6, 1864, 10,000 sets of equipage and five thousand Enfield rifles to arm "three-months" of enlistees were being issued, and the post had enough arms stored in the temporary warehouse to arm and equip 30,000 men. From its holding that month alone, the Columbus Arsenal shipped to other arsenals two million rounds of elongated ball cartridges, 400 percussion artillery shells, and 600 shells for 3-inch guns.

The first building at Fort Hayes was completed in 1864 and is known as Building #62. Arms and equipment of the "100-day" men being mustered out in Ohio were being received by the arsenal in August 1864, but not until late that year were the commodious facilities of the main building in use. Ironically, the first man killed on the post was a civilian, Nicholas Kaetzel, who, on April 5, 1865 was blown up while firing a salute to honor the capture of Richmond, VA.(Source: United States Senate Record, May 17, 1866)

The main business of the arsenal during the last months of the war was the trans-shipment of ammunition (paper and metal cartridges), the receipt and issuance of Springfield rifles, and sets of equipage for 10 regiments to be formed at Camp Chase in Columbus.

Civilians, under Colonel Bradford, conducted much of the business of the arsenal until October 25, 1865, when the first permanently assigned detachment of enlisted men were stationed here. Twenty-five men were authorized to be enlisted locally and were ordered to be one sergeant, four corporals, five privates first class, and twelve privates second class. These new recruits of the regular army were quickly trained by Bradford to receive the large amount of arms and equipment being turned in by Ohio regiments rapidly being deactivated. Civilian employees were retained to repair, in the main building, the Springfield and Enfield rifle muskets turned in by either cannibalizing or by adding new parts shipped in from the Springfield Armory. The rule was, if a piece could be made serviceable for fifty cents or less, to do so; if not, utilize only the unworn parts.

On November 10, 1865, with the magazine at the post filled to capacity, the main building's basement was authorized for storage of ammunition, and the first live rounds were placed in the building. Four million cartridges were placed in the basement that winter, and 10,000 new Spencer carbines were stored in upper floors. So crowded was the building late in November that the first public auction of military stores was authorized and held. By early 1866, artillery was stored in large numbers of pieces, transferred from the Newport, Kentucky arsenal under Colonel Bradford's personal supervision. The appearance of the Civil War era Columbus arsenal was ragged and cluttered until Spring of 1866, when the first shade and ornamental trees and shrubs were planted at a cost of $150. With the coming of peace, the post came to assume a more ordered, regulated posture.

The War Department transferred the Columbus arsenal on September 24, 1875 to the general Recruiting Service for depot purposes, where it came to be known as Columbus Barracks. At that time, the value of site and building was reckoned at nearly $500,000.

Columbus Barracks and Fort Hayes

In 1875, the War Department repurposed the facility for use as a recruiting intake and training facility. It became known as the Columbus Barracks and later the Columbus Arsenal.[2] In 1922, the property was renamed Fort Hayes, in honor of Rutherford B. Hayes.

Between 1875 and 1890, Columbus Barracks was used to instruct recruits, specifically music boys, select recruits, disposable recruits, unexamined recruits, and colored recruits. Four companies of cadre were organized in February 1881. Recruits were given specialized instruction of from one to four months' duration. In 1894, the command general of the Department of the East took charge of Columbus. Barracks and garrisoned it with the 17th Infantry Regiment. The post remained as a recruiting rendezvous manned by two skeleton companies for the next two years when it entered, during the Spanish–American War, a period of building and enlarged occupancy for recruitment and training. The arsenal building, now called the Main Building, was altered inside to accommodate 500 recruits. New barracks, officers' houses, and a host of other buildings were erected (among them the reception center, mess building, drill hall, new guardhouse and bandstand). A post newspaper, The Army Herald, was started in 1895 and continued until 1896. A file is in the library of the Ohio Historical Society.

In 1900, the post was enlarged by nearly 8 acres, and five years later became officially the Columbus Recruiting Depot of two infantry companies and six recruiting companies. A band was assigned the post in 1906 when concerns became a regular public attraction.

Electricity came to the depot in 1908, and with it a new building program of a hospital, PX, a gym, new officers' quarters, noncommissioned officers' quarters, a bakery, a laundry, a warehouse and several barracks.

The razing, in 1910, of the old headquarters building uncovered the site of one of Colonel Bradford's original wells. With the advent of World War I and the signing by President Wilson on May 18, 1917, of the Selective Military Conscription Act, old Columbus barracks became a beehive of activity. Barns and stables became garages and repair shops as the Army increased numbers of Regular Army recruits who passed through the post beginning in 1917. After the war, in 1922, the post became headquarters of the Fifth Corps comprising the areas of Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana and Kentucky. Major General George A. Reed was the commander when, in June, the corps came to Columbus. In 1922, the name of the post was changed to Fort Hayes in honor of Rutherford B. Hayes, an Ohio Governor and later President of the United States. In 1933, the present parade grounds were constructed and the Civilian Conservation Corps constructed seven new frame buildings

During the early years of World War II, Fort Hayes continued as it had in the past as a reception center when it had stationed on its grounds 2,000 officers and men. But on March 1, 1944, this function was discontinued. The Ohio National Guard was granted use of the post on December 17, 1946. Used by both the Army Reserve and the Guard of Engineers, it continued in use by the State and Federal governments for both military and civilian functions.

Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center

Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center (FHMEC), an urban public high school, located at the edge of downtown Columbus, has as its mission " …to create expectations of excellence within students through challenging and collaborative learning, blending the arts, academics and career programs."

The Fort Hayes Career Center was established in 1976 on the site of a part of the military base. Fort Hayes was used as a training and induction center during the Civil War through the Vietnam War, the Federal Government abandoned the fifty acres on which the Fort Hayes Career Center (now the Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center) is located. Through the leadership of Jack Gibbs and the efforts of two local congressmen, the Columbus Public Schools was able to purchase these fifty acres for one dollar ($1.00). The career center was composed of four buildings–the Business Building, the Health Building, the Visual Arts Center (Shot Tower—though shot was never made here[3]), and the Battelle Math/Science Building. In the fall of 1988, the Fort Hayes campus became the site for three unique educational programs: a career center program, The Battelle Youth Science Program, and an arts and academic high school. The Fort Hayes Career Center component offers vocational courses in health/medical services, data processing, commercial art and photography, and the fine and performing arts. The Battelle Youth Science Program provided advanced laboratory and academic courses in math and science. The Fort Hayes Arts and Academic High School, the newest component, focuses on excellence in performance–performance in a rigorous college preparatory program and a rich immersion in the art areas of music, dance, theater, and visual arts. During the 1988–89 school year, the Fort Hayes Arts and Academic High School was created, joining Columbus Public Schools' excellently rated arts, business, childcare, and health vocational programs. Ninth and tenth graders (about 223 of them) arrived to begin the work of starting a new high school, along with 23 new staff members. An additional grade level was added each year, and the first senior class graduated in June 1991. Twice in the past ten years, the school has been recognized by Redbook magazine as an outstanding school in the country, and in the Spring of 1995, by Ohio's Best Schools as an exemplary "Break the Mold School." In 1997, the school was recognized by Business Week magazine as one of ten schools in the nation for Instructional Innovation with an Arts-Driven Curriculum. The International Network for Performing and Visual Arts Schools selected Fort Hayes as the Outstanding School for the 1997–98 school year.

FHMEC reflects the cultural, economic, religious and ethnic diversity of the urban community it serves: 51 percent African-American; 47 percent Caucasian; nearly 4 percent Asian-American; and less than 1 percent Hispanic students. Sixty-three percent of the students are female. Students bring a variety of religious beliefs: Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, and Taoist. Approximately 30 percent of the students reside in low-income households. With some exceptions, the remaining 70 percent reside in middle-income households. Over 1100 students, 80-plus faculty, and five administrators are located on the total campus in the course of a school day.

Expect Great Things by Brandon Doran

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Canon AE-1

Kodak Ektar 100

Casablanca - Parc Lyautey by pepandtim

The Postcard

A postally unused carte postale that was published by CAP of Paris. The card has a divided back.

The Arab League Park

What is now known as The Arab League Park (Arabic: حديقة جامعة الدول العربية‎) is an urban park in Casablanca, Morocco.

It is located in the centre of the city, west of Hassan II Boulevard, east of Roudani Boulevard and Algiers Street, and south east of the Church of the Sacred Heart.

The park covers 30 acres of land, and is bisected by Moulay Youssef Boulevard. As of 2019, it remains officially closed to the public after renovations started March 2016, though it had been expected to re-open in September 2018.

History of Parc Lyautey

The French architect and urban planner Albert Laprade was appointed to redesign the central park of the city under the supervision of Henri Prost in 1913.

It was named Parc Lyautey in honour of Hubert Lyautey, the first French Résident Général in Morocco.

Lyautey moved some arches from the old Portuguese prison, also known as the Prison of Anfa, east toward what is now Hassan II Boulevard, to decorate the park, serving as a support for a pergola.

Casablanca

Casablanca, located in the central-western part of Morocco bordering the Atlantic Ocean, is the largest city in Morocco.

It is also the largest city in the Maghreb, as well as one of the largest and most important cities in Africa, both economically and demographically.

Casablanca is Morocco's chief port and one of the largest financial centers on the continent.

According to a 2014 population estimate, the city has a population of about 3.35 million in the urban area and over 6.8 million in the Casablanca-Settat region.

Casablanca is considered the economic and business center of Morocco, although the national political capital is Rabat.

The leading Moroccan companies and international corporations doing business in the country have their headquarters and main industrial facilities in Casablanca.

The Port of Casablanca is one of the largest artificial ports in the world. Casablanca also hosts the primary naval base for the Royal Moroccan Navy.

Albert Laprade, Architect

Casablanca's new quarter was designed by the French architect Albert Laprade. He was born in Buzançais, Indre on the 29th. November 1883. He was the only son of a wholesale grocer and a seamstress from Châteauroux.

Between 1910 and 1914 Laprade worked in the studio of René Sergent, an uncle by marriage, who designed townhouses and chateaux lavishly decorated in the Louis XV style.

He was called up in 1914 with the outbreak of the Great War. In 1915 he was wounded at Ypres and sent to Rouen to recover, but was unable to return to the field.

Laprade then worked in town planning, and was given the tasks of redesigning the great central park in Casablanca, and then planning a new indigenous town.

Laprade first made many drawings of local architectural motifs in an effort to understand the interaction of stylistic elements with social functions.

His goal was to develop an elegant urban architecture based on modern technology that would be appropriate to the stylistic tastes and way of life of the Moroccan people.

His new Médina in Casablanca was separate from the earlier French quarter and very different in design. Laprade followed Moroccan traditions in the division between interior courtyards and the street.

His new quarter, in neo-Moorish style using modern materials, technology and sanitary principles, included pedestrian walkways, courtyard houses, markets, communal ovens, mosques, schools and public baths.

Casablanca and the French

In June 1907, the French attempted to build a light railway near the port which would have passed through a graveyard.

As an act of resistance and protestation, the locals attacked the French, riots ensued, causing a few soldiers to be wounded and one general to be killed.

In response, the French attacked by ship, bombarding the city from the coast, and landing troops inside the town, which caused severe damage to the town with 15,000 dead and wounded.

The French claimed that it was to restore order there. This effectively began the process of colonization, although French control of Casablanca was not formalised until 1910. Under the French rule, Muslim anti-Jewish riots occurred in 1908.

Humphrey Bogart

The famous 1942 film 'Casablanca' (starring Humphrey Bogart) underlined the city's colonial status at the time - depicting it as the scene of a power struggle between competing European powers. The film has a cosmopolitan cast of characters.

Hubert Lyautey

The park in the photograph is named after Hubert Lyautey, who was born in Nancy, French Empire, on the 17th. November 1854.

Louis Hubert Gonzalve Lyautey was a French Army general and colonial administrator. After serving in Indochina and Madagascar, he became the first French Resident-General in Morocco from 1912 to 1925.

Early in 1917 he served briefly as Minister of War. From 1921 he was a Marshal of France. He was dubbed the French empire builder, and in 1931 made the cover of Time.

Hubert Lyautey - The Early Years

Lyautey's father was a prosperous engineer, and his grandfather a highly decorated Napoleonic general. His mother was a Norman aristocrat, and Lyautey inherited many of her assumptions: monarchism, patriotism, Catholicism and belief in the moral and political importance of the elite.

In 1873 he entered the French military academy of Saint-Cyr. He attended the army training school in early 1876, and in December 1877 was made a lieutenant.

After graduating from St. Cyr, two months' holiday in Algeria in 1878 left him impressed by the Maghreb and by Islam. He served in the cavalry, and made his career serving in the colonies and not in a more prestigious assignment in metropolitan France.

Hubert Lyautey in Morocco

In 1903 Hubert was posted to command first a subdivision south of Oran, and then the whole Oran district. His official task was to protect a new railway line against attacks from Morocco. French commanders in Algeria moved into Morocco largely on their own initiative, early in 1903.

Later in the year Lyautey marched west and occupied Bechar, a clear breach of 1840's treaties. The following year he advanced further into Morocco, in clear disobedience to the Minister of War, threatening to resign if he were not supported by Paris.

The French Foreign Minister issued a vague disavowal of Lyautey, because he was concerned at clashing with British influence in Morocco. As it turned out, Great Britain, Spain and Italy were placated by France agreeing to allow them a free hand in Egypt, northern Morocco and Libya respectively, and the only objections to French expansion in the region came from Germany.

Lyautey met Isabelle Eberhardt in 1903, and employed her for intelligence missions. After her death in 1904, he chose her tombstone.

Early in 1907 Émile Mauchamp, a French doctor, was killed in Marrakesh, possibly as he was attempting to lay the groundwork for French expansion. Lyautey then occupied Oujda in eastern Morocco near the Algerian border. Having been promoted to division general, Lyautey was Military Governor of French Morocco from 4 August 1907.

After taking Oudja, he went to Rabat to put pressure on the Sultan, getting embroiled in a power struggle between the Sultan and his brother, with Germany and France taking sides in the dispute.

On the 14th. October 1909, in Paris, the openly homosexual Lyautey married Inès Fortoul, née de Bourgoing, widow of Joseph Fortoul, an artillery colonel who had committed suicide. She was also a god daughter of former Empress Eugénie and president of the French Red Cross, who had just organized the Red Cross in Morocco. The marriage was childless.

Hubert returned to France in 1910, and in January 1911 he took up command of a corps at Rennes.

In 1912 Lyautey was posted back to Morocco, and relieved Fez, which was being besieged by 20,000 Moroccans. After the Convention of Fez established a protectorate over Morocco, Lyautey served as Resident-General of French Morocco from the 28th. April 1912 to the 25th. August 1925. Sultan Moulay Hafid abdicated at the end of 1912, replaced by his more pliable brother, although the country was not fully pacified until 1934.

Hubert Lyautey in the Great War

On the 27th. July 1914, Resident-General Lyautey received a cable from Paris from the undersecretary of foreign affairs Abel Ferry. Hubert was quoted as telling his officers:

"They are completely mad. A war between

Europeans is a civil war. This is the most

monumental foolishness that they have

ever done."

However, like many professional soldiers, he disliked the Third Republic, and in some ways welcomed the outbreak of war:

"Because the politicians

have shut up".

The same day War Minister Messimy told Lyautey to prepare to abandon Morocco except for the major cities and ports, and to send all seasoned troops to France. Messimy later said this had been a "formal" order.

At the outbreak of war Lyautey was commanding 70,000 troops, all members of the Armée d'Afrique or part of La Coloniale. Under French law, metropolitan conscripts might only under very exceptional circumstances be made to serve abroad.

Initially he sent two Algerian-Tunisian divisions to the Western Front, then another two, plus two brigades of Algerians serving in Morocco, and a brigade of 5,000 Moroccans.

Over seventy battalions of Algerians and Tunisians served on the Western front, while one Moroccan and seven Algerian regiments of Spahis (cavalry) served dismounted on the Western Front – others fought in Macedonia or – mounted – in the Levant.

In 1914, 33 officers, 580 soldiers and the weapons of two battalions were lost in an expedition near Khenifra. Although this was to prove the only incident in Morocco during the war, Lyautey was worried about the threat of jihad as a result of German propaganda in Morocco, and many of the remaining legionnaires were German.

Four territorial regiments were sent from the south of France and served alongside the mobilised European colonists. By mid-1915 Lyautey had sent 42 battalions to the Western Front, receiving in return middle-aged reservists (whom to his delight were regarded as seasoned warriors by the Moroccans), battalions of Tirailleurs Sénégalais and Tirailleurs Marocains, as well as irregular Moroccan goumiers.

With 200,000 men Lyautey had to hold down the Middle Atlas and the Rif, suppressing rebellions by Zaians at Khenifra, Abd al Malik at the Taza, and al Hiba in the south, the latter aided by German U-boats. Lyautey argued that Verdun and Morocco were part of the same war.

Lyautey disregarded advice to concentrate major forces in a few cities and took a personal risk by spreading them all over the country. In the end, his gamble proved right as he had a psychological edge over potentially mutinous tribal chiefs. Lyautey had 71,000 men by July 1915. He insisted France would win the war, and continued with the usual trade fairs and road and rail construction.

Hubert Lyautey as Minister of War

Lyautey served as France's Minister of War for three months in 1917, which were clouded by the unsuccessful Nivelle Offensive and the French Army Mutinies.

Lyautey was apparently surprised to receive a telegram offering him the job on the 10th. December 1916 and demanded, and was given, authority to issue orders to Nivelle (the new Commander-in-Chief of French forces on the Western Front) and Sarrail (Commander-in-Chief at Salonika).

Sniveler's predecessor Joffre had enjoyed much greater freedom from the War Minister and had also had command over Salonika.

Prime Minister Aristide Briand, not going into detail about Joffre's removal, replied that Lyautey would be one of a War Committee of five members, controlling manufacturing, transport and supply, and thus giving him greater powers than his predecessors.

Lyautey replied "I shall answer your call". Lyautey had to spend a good deal of time touring units and learning about the Western front.

Lyautey was strongly disliked by the political Left, and when Briand reconstructed his government in December 1916, Painlevé declined to stay part (he had been Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts) as he was reluctant to be associated with Lyautey.

However doubts about the replacement of Joffre by Nivelle rather than Philippe Petain also played a role (Painlevé was later himself Minister of War for much of 1917, then briefly Prime Minister late in the year).

Lyautey was met with a fait accompli as Nivelle, whom he would not have chosen, had been appointed Commander-in-Chief by the acting War Minister Admiral Lacaze, whilst munitions under Albert Thomas (formerly Under-Secretary for War) were hived off into a separate ministry assisted by the industrialist Louis Loucheur as Under-Secretary of State.

Lyautey had hoped to rely on Joffre, Ferdinand Foch and de Castelnau, but the first soon resigned from his job as advisor, Foch had already been sacked as commander of Army Group North, de Castelnau was sent on a mission to Russia, and Lyautey was not permitted to revive the post of Chief of the Army General Staff.

Lyautey was hard of hearing and inclined to dominate conversation. As minister and cabinet member, he preferred to deal directly with the British government via the British Embassy, to the annoyance of the British CIGS Robertson (at a time when generals of both countries tried to prevent politicians from "interfering" in the details of strategy), who disliked Lyautey.

On the train to the Rome Conference (5th./6th. January 1917) Lyautey stood before a map lecturing the British delegation on their Palestine campaign. Robertson, a man of notorious bluntness, listened to the lecture then asked Lloyd George "Has he finished?" before retiring to bed.

Robertson told Lloyd George "That fellow won’t last long". He wrote to the King’s adviser Clive Wigram on the 12th. January:

"Lyautey is a dried-up person of the Anglo-Indian

type who has been in the colonies all his life and

talks of nothing else. He talks a good deal.

He has no grasp whatever of the war as yet, and I

should doubt if he remains long where he is now."

Lyautey attended the infamous Calais Conference on the 27th. February 1917, at which Lloyd George attempted to subordinate British forces in France to Nivelle.

After a serious argument had broken out between Lloyd George and the British generals, Lyautey claimed that he had not seen the proposals until he boarded the train for Calais.

On being shown Nivelle's plan, Lyautey declared that it was "A plan for the Duchess of Gerolstein" (a light opera satirising the army).

Hubert contemplated trying to have Nivelle dismissed, but backed down in the face of traditional Republican hostility to military men with political aspirations. Lyautey shared his concerns about Nivelle with Petain, commander of Army Group Centre, who would eventually replace him.

Lyautey refused to discuss military aviation even at a closed session of the French Chamber, and at the subsequent open session declared that to discuss such matters even in closed session would be a security risk.

He resigned as Minister of War after being shouted down in the Chamber on the 15th. March 1917, and after several leading politicians declined the post of Minister of War, Aristide Briand's sixth cabinet (12th. December 1916 – 20th. March 1917) fell four days later.

Hubert Lyautey's Homosexuality

Lyautey has been called:

"Perhaps France's most distinguished –

or infamous – homosexual."

Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau – whom Lyautey despised, as he did most politicians – is quoted as having said:

"Here is an admirable and courageous man

who always had balls up to his ass. It's just a

shame that they are not always his."

It has been speculated that Lyautey might have provided Marcel Proust with the model for the character of the homosexual Baron de Charlus in his magnum opus Remembrance of Things Past.

The actual evidence for Lyautey being a homosexual is primarily circumstantial, but it was widely regarded as an open secret at the time, and one which Lyautey did not make any effort to hide. Robert Aldrich writes that he liked hot climates and "The masculine company of young officers".

Lyautey's wife is said to have told a group of her husband's young officers that

"I have the pleasure of informing you

that last night I made you all cuckolds."

She was implying that the officers were all paramours of her husband, and that she had had sex with Lyautey the night before.

Lyautey's homosexuality, or at the very least his "homophile sensuality" or "Greek virtues", was in some ways connected with his time in Morocco. Lyautey's sexual preference for men was not caused by his sojourn in Morocco, as there were those who objected to his appointment as commander there because he was a homosexual.

The Death of Hubert Lyautey

Hubert died at the age of 79 on the 27th. July 1934 in Thorey, French Republic. He was initially laid to rest in Morocco and re-interred in 1961 in Les Invalides in Paris.

Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition by doggedknits

5

Nobody expects a mouse up in their grill, either.

Wee, sleeket, cowran, tim'rous beastie,

O, what panic's in thy breastie!

Thou need na start awa sae hasty,

Wi' bickering brattle!

I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee,

Wi' murd'ring pattle!

Yellow Submarine by Everyone Calls Me Dave

6 9

I expect it's been in production on and off for the past fourty years. The hatches open, obviously, revealing the Fab Four, and the periscopes rotate when the toy is pushed along. In recent years, however, a smaller version was produced which featured non-opening hatches and periscopes which, while rotating freely, didn't rotate when the thing was pushed.

I believe this to be from the first production run. Note the colour of the hatches. In all production runs after the first the hatches were red - except for the smaller, recent version which has yellow hatches. Here the hatches match the colour of the body, as they do in the film.

Besides the missing prop at the rear and the missing front wheel, this is in quite good nick. As it would probably fetch a pretty penny if sold, and as I picked it up for a song on eBay, I think it was a Real Bargain.

The airfield at Naval Air Station Fallon is named after Lieutenant Commander Bruce Avery Van Voorhis, Nevada's only native-born Medal of Honor recipient. by Robert Sullivan

Naval Air Station Fallon traces its origins to 1942, when the Civil Aviation Administration and the Army Air Corps began construction of four airfields in the Nevada desert. As part of the Western Defense Program, initiated to repel an expected Japanese attack on the west coast, runways and lighting systems were built in Winnemucca, Minden, Lovelock and Fallon.

As the war in the Pacific developed, the Navy recognized a need to train its pilots in a realistic environment using all the tactics and weapons currently being developed. Fallon was the Navy's choice. In 1943, the Navy assumed control of the two 5,200 foot runways. Construction soon began on barracks, hangars, air traffic control facilities and target ranges. On June 10, 1944, Naval Auxiliary Air Station Fallon was commissioned. Training operations reached a peak in the summer of 1945 when an average of 21,000 take-offs and landings were recorded and more than 12,000 flight hours logged at the station. Ironically, just as construction of the initial airfield project was completed and the training program was going full gear, the Japanese surrendered and brought an untimely end to N.A.A.S. Fallon. Eight months after the completion of a new 24-unit housing project, five months after a new gym was built and only three months following the opening of a new Commissary, N.A.A.S. Fallon was placed in a "reduced operation status." One month later, on Feb. 1, 1946, the facility was further reduced to a "maintenance status." On June 1, 1946 it was in a "caretaker status" and the official designation of Naval Auxiliary Air Station removed.

For the next five years, the Bureau of Indian Services used the facility. Buildings once used by pilots to prepare to meet the challenge from the deck of a pitching aircraft carrier disappeared. The swimming pool, once the scene of Sailors attempting to escape the Nevada summer heat, became a home for pigs.

The Korean conflict brought new life to the small desert installation. Once again, the Navy found reason to train pilots in the new sophisticated jet aircraft. In 1951, Fallon became an Auxiliary Landing Field for N.A.S. Alameda Calif. On Oct. 1, 1953, N.A.A.S. Fallon was reestablished by order of the Secretary of the Navy. The present day bombing ranges, Bravo 16, 17 and 19, were also created that year.

Over the next 30 years the Fallon air station grew to become one of the premier training sites for Navy and Marine Corps pilots and ground crews. New hangars, ramps, housing and other facilities sprang up to give the installation new and greater capabilities.

The airfield became known as Van Voorhis Field in 1958, named after Lt. Commander Bruce A. Van Voorhis, a Fallon native who received the Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously for service in the South Pacific during World War II.

The airfield's most sophisticated range, the electronic warfare range, was established in 1967.

On Jan. 1, 1972, the Navy recognized Fallon's importance to naval aviation by upgrading the base to a major aviation command, and thus, Naval Air Station Fallon was commissioned.

During the 1980s the air station experienced dramatic growth, as a state-of-the-art air traffic control facility and new hangars were constructed. In response to challenges faced by deployed air wings in conducting contingency strike operations from aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean Sea into Lebanon, the Navy constructed a new training center. In 1984, the Naval Strike Warfare Center was established to be the primary authority for integrated strike warfare tactical development and training. It quickly became the "graduate level" training evolution that air wings go through during their inter-deployment training cycle: after completing the four week training course in Fallon, an air wing was ready for combat anywhere in the world.

In 1985, Fallon received a new tool to aid in its aircrews training: the Tactical Aircrew Combat Training System or TACTS. This system provides squadrons, carrier air wings and students from the Naval Strike Warfare Center with visual, graphic displays of their missions eliminating guess work. Strike Fighter Squadron 127, the "Desert Bogeys" aggressors moved to N.A.S. Fallon in 1987, becoming the air station's only permanently based squadron.

During the 1990s the base continued to expand its role as the pinnacle of Naval Aviation tactical training. A new hangar, ramp and academic building were built in 1995 to accommodate the arrival of Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN) and Carrier Airborne Early Warning Weapons School (Top Dome) from San Diego to Fallon in early 1996.

In July 1996, The Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center (NSAWC) was commissioned, combining the functions of TOPGUN, the Carrier Airborne Early Warning Weapons School and the Naval Strike Warfare Center into one command under a two-star admiral. The training center has continued to instruct all aspects of tactical integrated air warfare, including air wing training detachments, TOPGUN classes, E-2 Hawkeye mission commander courses, as well as developing advancements in tactics and procedures.

CBMU 303, a Seabee construction maintenance unit, also relocated to Fallon in 1996. Known as the "Fighting Saints," Fighter Composite Squadron Thirteen (VFC-13), replaced VFA-127 as the adversary squadron at Fallon, taking over the duties of the disestablishing Desert Bogeys in flying F-5 Tiger IIs that same year.

NAS Fallon moved into the twenty first century with a continued commitment to Naval Aviation. From the formulation of the Navy's first "Encroachment Action Plan" to the holding of the first Operational Assurance Forum, NAS Fallon has been in the forefront of preserving the existing training areas while planning to meet future requirements. These long range visions together with the current combination of the base's facilities, the air space available for training over Northern Nevada and the unsurpassed air-to-ground and electronic warfare ranges make NAS Fallon integral to keeping America's Naval Forces trained and ready now and into the future.

VAN VOORHIS FIELD

A Legacy of Honor

Naval Air Station Fallon is known among the locals simply as 'the base,' and few are familiar with the airfield's real name or the man for whom the field is named. In fact, the airfield represents a memorial to a WWII naval aviation hero and recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor. Lieutenant Commander Bruce Avery Van Voorhis, the airfield's namesake, was born in Aberdeen, Wash., on Jan. 29, 1908. Shortly thereafter he moved with his family to Fallon, Nev., where he spent his childhood. His father served as the Indian Service Representative at Stillwater. Van Voorhis attended school at the Oats Park Grade School and later graduated from Churchill County High School in 1924 where his classmates also knew him as "Clint."

He was a 1929 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis and earned his pilot wings in 1931. Van Voorhis served with numerous aviation units stateside and overseas. He reported for duty to Bombing Squadron 102 as Plane Commander of a PB4Y-1 at the height of conflict in the Pacific during WWII.

Van Voorhis died on July 6, 1943, near Hare Island of the Kapingamarangi Atoll in the southernmost area of the Eastern Carolina Islands in the Western Pacific. After a 700-mile flight alone, he launched successive bombing and strafing attacks on Japanese ground installations, destroying a radio station, anti-aircraft emplacement and at least four enemy aircraft in the air and on the water in six successive ground level attacks. He was caught in his own bomb blast and crashed into a lagoon, ending his heroic, single-handed strike.

The Air Station was dedicated in his name on Nov. 1, 1959. At that time the 14,000-foot runway was one of the longest in the world and remains the longest in the Navy. In 1956, 13 years after Van Voorhis' death, a destroyer escort was launched bearing his name (DD-1028) from the shipyard in Camden, N.J. The ship was in service throughout the world for 17 years, including participation in the naval blockade of Cuba in 1962, before being decommissioned in 1972. In 1982, then Governor of Nevada, Robert List, issued a proclamation designating May 31 as LCDR Bruce Avery Van Voorhis Day in the state of Nevada.

As the names of a new generation of heroes is written in the history books, Americans can look back gratefully at the heritage left by those who came before and know that this country is no stranger to the cost of freedom. The list of those willing to fight, and die, to pay that price is long and continues through every chapter of America's history. Among that list of names is Nevada's own LCDR Bruce Avery Van Voorhis.

"GO NAVY"