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Extent of food losses and waste for each commodity (English language infographics)
More information: www.fao.org/save-food/savefood/en/
Urban extents illustrate the shape and area of urbanized places. Urbanized localities are defined as places with with 5,000 or more inhabitants that are delineated by stable night-time lights. For poorly lit areas, alternate sources are used to estimate the extent of cities.
/front/left to right/
first Farmhouse
sons extention (now widows house)
secondary masion sister in law (WIP)
Wista SP, S-Angulon 5.6/65, rh6, Ektar100, epson scan
A [ very ] potted history........
In 1902 the first electric tram route opened in Bournemouth and ran between the Lansdowne and Pokesdown.
Owned and operated by Bournemouth Corporation further routes quickly followed and in a few short years Bournemouth trams were also running to Christchurch and Poole.
By 1906 the system had reached its full extent although Sunday trams didn't run until 1913, and that was an afternoon service only, initially.
On 1st May 1908 a tram crashed in Avenue Rd as it made its way down from The Triangle to The Square killing seven people and seriously injuring twenty six.
The trams ran on steel tracks and got their power supply via overhead cables although parts of the system near the town centre used a conduit system where the power cables were buried underground so that there were no unsightly overhead cables. The sections of the conduit system were replaced with overhead cables by 1910.
The main depot was built in Southcote Rd in 1902 and had its own power station to supply electricity to the tram system. The depot closed in 1965 and is now used as a Council depot.
In 1905 a smaller depot was built next to the Bell Inn [ now The Seabournes ] opposite Pokesdown station. It closed in 1969 and became a second hand furniture warehouse before being demolished and replaced by housing in the mid 1990s.
In 1911 another similar depot opened on Wimborne Rd in Moordown, it closed in 1953 and was used by the Post Office amongst others until it was demolished and replaced by a retail unit in the late 1980s.
In the first half of the 1930s the trams were replaced by electric trolleybuses that also got their power from overhead cables but offered slightly more maneuverability as they did not run on tracks.
In 1951 a new depot was opened in Mallard Rd at Strouden Park in the north of the town. The depot was constructed on the site of Strouden Farm where the Council used to keep their work horses.
As part of the new depot a garage with a distinctive humped roof line was constructed. The roof was made from what was at the time the longest span of pre-stressed concrete in the country, which meant that the 300ft x 150 ft structure didn't need any supporting pillars inside. This feature has led to the garage being grade 2 listed which meant that when the depot became the Mallard Rd retail park in 2007 the garage had to be retained and so it became a Homebase DIY superstore.
The trolleybuses were officially retired in April 1969 when a final procession took place through local streets, after which they were superceded by the diesel engined bus.
In the early 1980s the company became officially known as Yellow Buses, a name used by locals for many years.
Bournemouth Council continued to own and operate the company when, in the mid 1980s, a Transport Act was passed that meant that the Council could no longer run the company directly and had to do so as a 'private' company via a board of directors. Making a profit became paramount although this was made more difficult as the Act also opened up the system to competition from rival companies.
In 2005 the company was sold to Transdev, a French company, and in early March 2006 they moved from Mallard Rd to a new depot in Yeomans Way behind the Castlepoint shopping centre.
The Mallard Rd site became a retail park in 2007.
In 2011 Transdev Yellow Buses were sold to the RAPT Group, another giant European public transport company.
RECOMMENDED FURTHER READING......
Glory Days- Bournemouth Transport by Colin Morris [ ISBN 0-7110-2877-X ].
Bournemouth Trolleybuses by Malcolm N Pearce [ ISBN 1 901706 10 9 ].
Yellow Buses website www.bybus.co.uk/about-us/history
extent the lens tube all the way so it won't spin in the base. firmly grasp the base in one hand and front edge of the lens on he other. unscrew the front group 'ccw' (counter-clockwise) it shouldn't be too hard to get this off.
cleaning haze from my Summar, see entire set here
Number:
178507
Date created:
1945
Extent:
1 photographic print : gelatin silver ; 7.5 x 9.5 in.
Rights:
Photograph is subject to copyright restrictions. Contact the Alan Mason Chesney Medical Archives for reproduction permissions.
Subjects:
Johns Hopkins Hospital. Department of Pediatrics--People
Dittmann, Barbara
Govan, Clifton D. Jr.
Kaye, Robert
Park, Edwards A.
Weiseth, Warren M.
Whittemore, Ruth
Steinheimer, Mary E.
Birmingham, John R.
Hammond, Margaret
Hall, Rowena S.
Pediatricians
Group portraits
Portrait photographs
Notes: Photographer unknown.
Number:
164388
Date created:
1924
Extent:
1 photographic print : gelatin silver ; 7.25 x 9 in.
Rights:
Photograph is subject to copyright restrictions. Contact the Alan Mason Chesney Medical Archives for reproduction permissions.
Subjects:
Church Home and Hospital (Baltimore, Md.). School of Nursing
Beall, Lillian Minerva
Eyler, Ruth Adele
Hawkins, Emma Ursula
Hawkins, Ida Virginia
Hawkins, Mary Elizabeth
Henry, Catherine Goldthwait
Jepson, Marie S.
Matthews, Ruth Virginia
Morsberger, Edith Tyson
Nash, Jane Evans, 1880-1955
Priebe, Martha Emilie
Roeder, Bertha Anna
Spencer, Emma Marie
Wharton, Mary Elizabeth
Nursing students--Maryland--Baltimore--1920-1930
Nurses--Maryland--Baltimore--1920-1930
Graduation ceremonies--Maryland--Baltimore--1920-1930
Nursing schools--Faculty
Group portraits
Portrait photographs
Notes:
Photographer unknown.
Urban extents illustrate the shape and area of urbanized places. Urbanized localities are defined as places with with 5,000 or more inhabitants that are delineated by stable night-time lights. For poorly lit areas, alternate sources are used to estimate the extent of cities.
Kraansaasvoel
(Gyps coprotheres)
The Cape griffon or Cape vulture (Gyps coprotheres), also known as Kolbe's vulture, is an Old World vulture in the family Accipitridae. It is endemic to southern Africa, and is found mainly in South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana and in some parts of northern Namibia. It nests on cliffs and lays one egg per year. Since 2015, it has been classified as Endangered.
This large vulture is of a creamy-buff colour, with contrasting dark flight- and tail-feathers. The adult is paler than the juvenile, and its underwing coverts can appear almost white at a distance. The head and neck are near-naked. The eyes are yellowish and the bill is black bill. Juveniles and immatures are generally darker and more streaked, with brown to orange eyes and red neck.
The average length of adult birds is about 96–115 cm (38–45 in) with a wingspan of 2.26–2.6 m (7.4–8.5 ft) and a body weight of 7–11 kg (15–24 lb). The two prominent bare skin patches at the base of the neck, also found in the white-backed vulture, are thought to be temperature sensors and used for detecting the presence of thermals. The species is among the largest raptors in Africa, next to the lappet-faced vulture. After the Himalayan griffon vulture and the cinereous vulture, the Cape vulture is the third largest Old World vulture.
The Cape vulture occurs in Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. Formerly it could also be found in Namibia and Swaziland. Vagrants are occasionally recorded from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia.
The species usually breeds and roosts on cliff faces in or near mountains, from where it can fly long distances in search of the large animal carcasses on which it specializes. Tracked specimens in Namibia were found to have home ranges 11,800 - 22,500 km2 in extent.
In the Eastern Cape of South Africa, Cape Vultures were more likely to occupy cliff nest sites on ledges with a smaller depth and at a higher elevation, surrounded by conspecifics.
The Cape vulture has been declining steadily since at least the 1980s, when it was first categorized as Threatened. Between 1992 and 2007 the species declined by 60-70%[6] in South Africa alone. It was later upgraded to Vulnerable and, in 2015, to Endangered. As of 2013, estimates of total population size assume about 4,700 pairs or 9,400 mature individuals.
The species is considered to be impacted by a large number of threats. A decrease in the amount of large carrion (particularly during nesting), poisoning (targeted or inadvertent), electrocution or collision with cables on electricity pylons (the most common cause of death in ringed birds), loss of foraging habitat, and unsustainable harvesting for traditional uses are thought to be the most important factors. A source of poisoning specific to many vultures, including the Cape vulture, is the drug diclofenac and related compounds, which is used to treat arthritis in cattle, and which leads to kidney failure in vultures who consume carcasses of treated cattle.
Wikipedia
a weighty issue in the 'block'
VHR citation
BLOCK ARCADE
Location
280 - 286 COLLINS STREET 96 - 102 ELIZABETH STREET MELBOURNE, Melbourne City
Google Maps and Google Streetview
Victorian Heritage Register (VHR) Number
H0032
Heritage Overlay Number
HO596
a Level of Significance
Registered
Extent of Registration 1. All the building known as the Block Arcade marked B1 on Diagram 32 held by the Executive Director.
2. All the land marked L1 on Diagram 32 held by the Executive Director, being the land described in Certificate of Titles Vol. 4645 Fol. 875, part of Vol. 9409 Fol. 669, Vol. 9924 Fol. 206, Vol. 9409 Fol. 669 and Vol. 4645 Fol. 874.
Statement of Significance
What is significant?
The Block Arcade was developed by financier Benjamin Fink. The Collins Street section of the building was completed in February 1892 and is similar in style to the Milano Galleria Vittorio Arcade in Italy. The new shopping arcade was designed by David.C.Askew of the architectural firm Twentyman and Askew. The cost of erection was £46 233. The bluestone footings for the building came from the original structure on the site, the Briscoe & Company Bulk Store. The site of 96-102 Elizabeth Street was purchased by the City Property Company Ltd in January 1892. Architect David Askew was called upon to continue his style for the arcade and this area was completed in October the following year. The Block Arcade comprises of arcade shops with mezzanine levels above for social rooms and offices, shops to Collins Street, Block Place and Elizabeth Street and four levels of office space above. The arcade forms an L-shape with a polygonal planned space with a glazed roof at the corner of the L. The kink in the plan was due to the shape of the original block subdivision and the location of Block Place, the lane behind. Linking the two spaces is an elaborately patterned mosaic floor of tiles, which were imported from Europe. When the arcade was constructed the Building and Engineering Journal noted that the flooring contained the largest area of mosaics yet laid down in Australia. In 1907, scenic artist Philip Goatcher for the Singer Sewing Machine Company decorated the ceiling of their premises on the east corner of the Collins Street entry to the arcade. The other shop to Collins Street, which housed the first Kodak shop in Melbourne contains an elaborate pressed metal ceiling. The facades to Collins and Elizabeth Street are designed in the Victorian Mannerist style with elaborate stucco decoration. Particular facade elements include; triangular and segmental pediments; rustication and an exaggerated cornice with brackets. Features of the upstairs office spaces include timber joinery around lift entries, tessellated tiles to the lobby spaces, elaborate leadlight windows and decorative plasterwork to arches in the corridors. There is also one surviving communal timber telephone box situated in a corridor.
How is it significant?
The Block Arcade is of architectural, aesthetic, social and historical importance to the State of Victoria.
Why is it significant?
The Block Arcade is of architectural and aesthetic importance as an excellent intact example of a shopping arcade. The design draws on early and influential European models and as such is important in its ability to demonstrate the essential and typical qualities of those designs and the continuity of the tradition of covered shopping streets. The Elizabeth and Collins Street facades are fine examples of the Mannerist style demonstrating many of the characteristic elements, such as a combination of triangular and segmental pediments and rustication. The Block Arcade is of architectural and aesthetic significance as it features lavish interior decoration, including an extraordinary mosaic tile floor. Based on the Milan Galleria Vittoria, it has a glass roof over the arcade with a glass dome at is corner. Its internal spaces, with their high quality finishes, have been maintained and the arcade remains a grand and prestigious retailing precinct. Attention to detail has also been carried through to the office spaces on the levels above the arcade.
The Block Arcade is of social and historical importance as the grandest and most fashionable amongst what became an extensive network of retail arcades that provided an alternative pedestrian route to Melbourne's major streets. Many of the arcades constructed in Melbourne before the turn of the century have not survived or have been altered considerably. The Block Arcade is important as an essential element in the social institution of doing The Block. This was a friendly expression referring to the stylish shopping trend of the late 19th century which involved starting in Collins Street at Swanston, then moving west to Elizabeth, north to Little Collins Street and back to Swanston. The Block was the place to be seen and those who frequented the popular thoroughfare, its shops and tea houses were often recorded by caricaturists in the city's social pages.
Year Construction Started 1891
Architectural Style Victorian Period (1851-1901) Mannerist
Heritage Act Categories Heritage place
Municipality MELBOURNE CITY; MELBOURNE CITY
VHR H0032 Statement of signficance
What is significant?
The Block Arcade was developed by financier Benjamin Fink. The Collins Street section of the building was completed in February 1892 and is similar in style to the Milano Galleria Vittorio Arcade in Italy. The new shopping arcade was designed by David.C.Askew of the architectural firm Twentyman and Askew. The cost of erection was £46 233. The bluestone footings for the building came from the original structure on the site, the Briscoe & Company Bulk Store. The site of 96-102 Elizabeth Street was purchased by the City Property Company Ltd in January 1892. Architect David Askew was called upon to continue his style for the arcade and this area was completed in October the following year. The Block Arcade comprises of arcade shops with mezzanine levels above for social rooms and offices, shops to Collins Street, Block Place and Elizabeth Street and four levels of office space above. The arcade forms an L-shape with a polygonal planned space with a glazed roof at the corner of the L. The kink in the plan was due to the shape of the original block subdivision and the location of Block Place, the lane behind. Linking the two spaces is an elaborately patterned mosaic floor of tiles, which were imported from Europe. When the arcade was constructed the Building and Engineering Journal noted that the flooring contained the largest area of mosaics yet laid down in Australia. In 1907, scenic artist Philip Goatcher for the Singer Sewing Machine Company decorated the ceiling of their premises on the east corner of the Collins Street entry to the arcade. The other shop to Collins Street, which housed the first Kodak shop in Melbourne contains an elaborate pressed metal ceiling. The facades to Collins and Elizabeth Street are designed in the Victorian Mannerist style with elaborate stucco decoration. Particular facade elements include; triangular and segmental pediments; rustication and an exaggerated cornice with brackets. Features of the upstairs office spaces include timber joinery around lift entries, tessellated tiles to the lobby spaces, elaborate leadlight windows and decorative plasterwork to arches in the corridors. There is also one surviving communal timber telephone box situated in a corridor.
How is it significant?
The Block Arcade is of architectural, aesthetic, social and historical importance to the State of Victoria.
Why is it significant?
The Block Arcade is of architectural and aesthetic importance as an excellent intact example of a shopping arcade. The design draws on early and influential European models and as such is important in its ability to demonstrate the essential and typical qualities of those designs and the continuity of the tradition of covered shopping streets. The Elizabeth and Collins Street facades are fine examples of the Mannerist style demonstrating many of the characteristic elements, such as a combination of triangular and segmental pediments and rustication. The Block Arcade is of architectural and aesthetic significance as it features lavish interior decoration, including an extraordinary mosaic tile floor. Based on the Milan Galleria Vittoria, it has a glass roof over the arcade with a glass dome at is corner. Its internal spaces, with their high quality finishes, have been maintained and the arcade remains a grand and prestigious retailing precinct. Attention to detail has also been carried through to the office spaces on the levels above the arcade.
The Block Arcade is of social and historical importance as the grandest and most fashionable amongst what became an extensive network of retail arcades that provided an alternative pedestrian route to Melbourne's major streets. Many of the arcades constructed in Melbourne before the turn of the century have not survived or have been altered considerably. The Block Arcade is important as an essential element in the social institution of doing The Block. This was a friendly expression referring to the stylish shopping trend of the late 19th century which involved starting in Collins Street at Swanston, then moving west to Elizabeth, north to Little Collins Street and back to Swanston. The Block was the place to be seen and those who frequented the popular thoroughfare, its shops and tea houses were often recorded by caricaturists in the city's social pages.
Source Victorian heritage database: vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au/places/result_detail/730?print=true & vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au/vhd/heritagevic_new#detail_places...
Urban extents illustrate the shape and area of urbanized places. Urbanized localities are defined as places with with 5,000 or more inhabitants that are delineated by stable night-time lights. For poorly lit areas, alternate sources are used to estimate the extent of cities.
We’d like to extent a heartfelt congratulations to Marlena and Vyacheslav on their beautiful wedding day, June 25, 2023!
We had a great time photographing this wonderful couple on one of the most important days of their lives.
After seeing each other for the first time, we took the couple on a stroll around the venue and took some stunning portraits with their beautiful families.
After the traditional ceremony perfectly directed by Michael Kruk the newly married couple and their guests came together for a celebration at luxury Park Chateau
The decor, lights, music, and dance floor welcomed everyone to have an unforgettable night, everyone was dancing and having a blast thanks to Douglas Genuard, Yura Jacobs, and the one and the only Marat Sidelsky
It was an honor capturing those very special moments for our gorgeous couple.
Congratulations to Marlena and Vyacheslav, best wishes from all your big family and friends!
P.S.
I could make a 3 minutes simple slideshow with photos like some other studios, but I prefer highest resolution best quality images, varieties in every detail of the magnificent wedding!
Please stay tuned for amazing drone clips and many more top quality amazing photos beautifully captured by Valery Shpak
@valeryshpakphotography
Video: MaxMedia / Videomax Studios
Urban extents illustrate the shape and area of urbanized places. Urbanized localities are defined as places with with 5,000 or more inhabitants that are delineated by stable night-time lights. For poorly lit areas, alternate sources are used to estimate the extent of cities.
Urban extents illustrate the shape and area of urbanized places. Urbanized localities are defined as places with with 5,000 or more inhabitants that are delineated by stable night-time lights. For poorly lit areas, alternate sources are used to estimate the extent of cities.
Urban extents illustrate the shape and area of urbanized places. Urbanized localities are defined as places with with 5,000 or more inhabitants that are delineated by stable night-time lights. For poorly lit areas, alternate sources are used to estimate the extent of cities.
F100
90mm Macro w/PK13 extention tube
~Provia 100
© 2012 Bruce Couch & Bodie Group inc | all rights reserved | don't be a dick, do not use or blog, without asking me first. I register my images with the US Copyright Office and I can be a real asshole about people or companies stealing my images ... just try me.
Form with gold-tinted body and cerata. White stipple on periphery of foot.
Oosterschelde, Netherlands, June, 2006. © R. Groeneveld.
Full SPECIES DESCRIPTION BELOW
Sets of OTHER SPECIES at: www.flickr.com/photos/56388191@N08/collections/
Aeolidiella glauca (Alder & Hancock, 1845)
Synonyms: Eolis glauca Alder & Hancock, 1845.
Current taxonomy: World Register of Marine Species www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=138711
GLOSSARY BELOW
Description
The body grows up to 40 mm long. It is translucent whitish, often with a fawn, orange fig. 01 flic.kr/p/2nYKVwj or, occasionally, golden fig. 02 flic.kr/p/2nYJjp9 suffusion of varying intensity and extent. The notum has opaque flecks of white fig. 04 flic.kr/p/2nYKVsB or a whitish shade of the general body tint fig. 01 flic.kr/p/2nYKVwj .
The cerata are arranged in about fifteen transverse rows on each side of the body. They sometimes conceal most of the notum fig. 05 flic.kr/p/2nYKVs1 , but much of it is often exposed fig. 01 flic.kr/p/2nYKVwj . The cerata are translucent white or pinkish revealing a pinkish fig. 03 flic.kr/p/2nYMiVQ , orange-brown fig. 01 flic.kr/p/2nYKVwj or grey-brown fig. 04 flic.kr/p/2nYKVsB internal digestive gland, with large white cnidosacs at the tip. Some of, but rarely all of, each ceras in the anterior row may be occupied for about half its length by a very large whitish cnidosac fig. 06 flic.kr/p/2nYKVn6 & fig. 05 flic.kr/p/2nYKVs1 to form a white ruff resembling the usually more fully developed one on A. alderi. There is usually extensive opaque whitish mottling on the surface of the cerata fig. 04 flic.kr/p/2nYKVsB & fig. 07 flic.kr/p/2nYFZeA .
The smooth, sometimes wrinkled fig. 07 flic.kr/p/2nYFZeA , translucent rhinophores are usually tinted orange of varying intensity fig. 06 flic.kr/p/2nYKVn6 with an opaque cream-white apical stipple.
The head is translucent white fig. 05 flic.kr/p/2nYKVs1 or tinted orange fig. 01 flic.kr/p/2nYKVwj . Internal eyes visible are visible at the posterior base of the rhinophores, unless hidden by the tilt of a rhinophore fig. 05 flic.kr/p/2nYKVs1 . The internal, opaque white internal jaw and buccal mass are often visible fig. 05 flic.kr/p/2nYKVs1 , and they may be tinted by the overlying translucent integument fig. 08 flic.kr/p/2nYKViU . The distance between oral tentacles at their base is about equal to thickness of a single tentacle base fig. 08 flic.kr/p/2nYKViU . Oral tentacles translucent white, nearly always without tinting of another colour, and with opaque white flecks fig. 03 flic.kr/p/2nYMiVQ .
The broad foot is three times as wide as the body, narrowing to a slender posterior point fig. 08 flic.kr/p/2nYKViU & fig. 09 flic.kr/p/2nYMiGD . The convex anterior continues into short propodial tentacles which often bend forwards at the tip resulting in a sigmoid foot anterior fig. 09 flic.kr/p/2nYMiGD . The sole is usually transparent colourless, clearly revealing the body and its overhanging cerata. Round white ovotestes may be visible through the sole. The dorsal surface of the foot usually has white peripheral pigment flecks fig. 21 flic.kr/p/2nYLSNc , but they are often hidden by overhanging cerata apart from its protruding posterior fig. 01 flic.kr/p/2nYKVwj or through the sole from below fig. 09 flic.kr/p/2nYMiGD .
Key identification features
Identification should be made with more than one feature as there is some interspecific overlap. For example, a white ruff of anterior cerata can be found on some of all three Aeolidiella species, though it is usually most distinct on A. alderi.
Aeolidiella glauca
1) Maximum length 40 mm (Thompson & Brown, 1984). Body broad fig. 09 flic.kr/p/2nYMiGD in comparison with A. sanguinea and A. alderi . Often, overall pinkish appearance from cerata, especially when viewed through translucent foot.
2) From above, internal eyes usually visible through translucent body fig. 03 flic.kr/p/2nYMiVQ .
3) Anterior cerata may be white and resemble the more fully developed white ruff on A. alderi fig. 06 flic.kr/p/2nYKVn6 & fig. 05 flic.kr/p/2nYKVs1 .
4) Anterior half of body copiously speckled with pale opaque pigment fig. 01 flic.kr/p/2nYKVwj .
5) Distance between oral tentacles about same as thickness of single tentacle base fig. 01 flic.kr/p/2nYKVwj .
6) Anterior edge of foot has short propodial tentacles which may curve forwards at the tip fig. 09 flic.kr/p/2nYMiGD .
7) White pigment stipple on dorsal periphery of foot fig. 21 flic.kr/p/2nYLSNc & fig. 09 flic.kr/p/2nYMiGD , oral tentacles, cerata and, distally, on rhinophores fig. 03 flic.kr/p/2nYMiVQ .
8) Body translucent white, anterior often translucent orange fig. 01 flic.kr/p/2nYKVwj .
9) Spawn, a plain non-sinuous spiral line fig. 10 flic.kr/p/2nYMiF1 ; white contents divided into sections by clear breaks; ova small so width of spawn line 5 or 6 times diameter of one ovum fig. 11 flic.kr/p/2nYMiDT .
Similar species
Aeolidiella alderi (Cocks, 1852) fig. 12 flic.kr/p/2nYJsRu .
1) Maximum length 37 mm (Thompson & Brown, 1984). When extended, fairly robust but more slender than Aeolidia papillosa, A. filomenae and Aeolidiella glauca. Usually straighter than the more slender, sinuous A. sanguinea.
2) From above, internal eyes usually visible through translucent body unless hidden by tilt of rhinophore.
3) Front row of cerata makes a white ruff with white zone in each ceras usually 50% or more of length.
4) No opaque flecks on dorsum.
5) Distance between oral tentacles about same as thickness of single tentacle base .
6) Anterior edge of foot a smooth crescent terminating in short triangular propodial tentacles which do not usually curve forward at the tip .
7) White or yellow pigment distally on rhinophores, oral tentacles and cerata, but no white pigment stipple on dorsal periphery of foot.
8) Body translucent white. Some tinted yellowish or reddish fig. 13 flic.kr/p/2nYMiCW .
9) Spawn is a deeply sinuous line arranged loosely in a disc fig. 14 flic.kr/p/2nYJsPA .
Aeolidiella sanguinea (Norman, 1877) fig. 15 flic.kr/p/2nYFZ4q & fig. 16 flic.kr/p/2nYLSWo .
1) Maximum length 46 mm (Thompson & Brown, 1984). Slender sinuous body is more slender than A. alderi.
2) From above, internal eyes usually visible through translucent body.
3) All cerata have a large white cnidosac slightly tinted by the orange to red surface of the cerata. The front row of cerata can make a white ruff, and the white zone, tinted orange or red, in each ceras can be more than 50% of ceras length. But the ruff is not usually as fully developed as on A. alderi.
4) No opaque flecks on notum.
5) Distance between oral tentacles about same as thickness of single tentacle base.
6) Anterior edge of foot often sigmoid with short propodial tentacles curved forward at tip.
7) No surface pigment on dorsal periphery of foot, oral tentacles or cerata, but rhinophores have distinctly demarcated white tips.
8) Body, rhinophores and cerata are translucent red, orange or yellow,
9) Spawn; a plain spiral line.
Aeolidia papillosa (Linnaeus, 1761) fig. 17 flic.kr/p/2nYKV7S .
1) Maximum length120 mm (Thompson & Brown, 1984). Body broader than Aeolidiella glauca.
2) Internal eyes not, or barely, visible through opaque pigment.
3) Dull whitish cnidosac visible if not obscured by white apical pigment.
4) Much opaque pigment on dorsum.
5) Distance between oral tentacles about three times thickness of tentacle base.
6) Anterior edge of foot a smooth crescent terminating in short triangular propodial tentacles.
7) Much pigment on rhinophores and cerata. Often dark and whitish pigment stipple on dorsal periphery of foot.
8) Most of body, rhinophores and cerata not translucent.
9) Spawn; large convoluted ribbon, standing upright in water, deposited in spiral fig. 18 flic.kr/p/2nYJsHy .
Aeolidia filomenae Kienberger, Carmona, Pola, Padula, Gosliner & Cervera, 2016 fig. 19 flic.kr/p/2nYKV6p .
1) Maximum length at least 70 mm. Body broader than Aeolidiella glauca.
2) Internal eyes sometimes faintly visible in light specimens.
3) Apices of cerata are white, often revealing large white cnidosacs.
4) Dorsum white or pale colour with opaque white or brown flecks which may concentrate locally into dense brown markings.
5) Distance between oral tentacles about three times thickness of tentacle base.
6) Anterior edge of foot a smooth crescent terminating in short triangular propodial tentacles.
7) Rhinophores and cerata are translucent with varying amounts of opaque white and brown freckling. Usually no pigment stipple on dorsal surface of foot.
8) Some parts of body and cerata may be translucent.
9) Spawn; large convoluted ribbon, standing upright in water, deposited in spiral fig. 20 flic.kr/p/2nYFYXo .
Habits and ecology
A. glauca is found sublittorally and, occasionally, at low water spring tide at sheltered sites, usually where there is some mud or silt present; its broad foot supports it on soft sediment fig. 21 flic.kr/p/2nYLSNc . Thompson & Brown, (1984) list its prey as Sagartiogeton spp., Cylista troglodytes (Price in Johnston, 1847), C. elegans (Dalyell, 1848) fig. 22 flic.kr/p/2nYKUXi , Cereus pedunculatus (Pennant, 1777) and Diadumene cincta Stephenson, 1925.
Like other nudibranchs, A. glauca is a simultaneous hermaphrodite. Spawn is deposited in a non-sinuous spiral line fig. 10 flic.kr/p/2nYMiF1 . The white ova within are divided into sections by several unoccupied short lengths of the transparent colourless line fig. 11 flic.kr/p/2nYMiDT . The spawn line is five or six times as wide as the diameters of the small ova fig. 12 flic.kr/p/2nYJsRu . Veliger larvae hatch from the spawn and drift as plankton before settling on the sea floor and transforming into adults.
Distribution and status
Available online images show that A. glauca occurs from Norway and Faeroe to the Netherlands and the south coast of Britain. Uncertainty about identifications of Aeolidiella records lacking the support of clear images make defining of its southern limit difficult. Thompson and Brown (1984) cited Tardy (1969) as recording it from Arcachon Bay near Bordeaux and said it probably does not occur in the Mediterranean. Some Iberian guides and websites show images of probable A. alderi as A. glauca or, in the absence of local finds, use images of A. glauca from north-west Europe. Careful search online with Google, GBIF, iNaturalist, Flickr and Facebook failed to find any incontestable image of A. glauca in southern Europe. In Britain, some old records aggregate A. alderi with A. glauca but an unmistakable image of A. glauca fig. 23 flic.kr/p/2nYFYKu from the Lizard, Cornwall, the southernmost tip of Britain, puts beyond doubt that it extends to the south coast of Britain. It is widespread in Britain and Ireland, UK map NBN species.nbnatlas.org/species/NBNSYS0000173623
GBIF map www.gbif.org/species/2291946
Acknowledgements
For use of images I thank Jim Anderson, Roy Dahl, Guy Freeman, Rokus Groeneveld, Arne Kuilman, Sylvain Le Bris, Mathias Meunier and Lou Valence, Malcolm Storey, Stefan Verheyen and Neil Ward. I thank Simon Taylor for specimens, and Marco Faasse for information about sea anemones.
References and links
Alder, J. & Hancock, A. 1845-1855. A monograph of the British nudibranchiate mollusca. London, Ray Society. Family 3, Plate 11. www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/131598#page/326/mode/1up
Anderson, J. Aeolidiella glauca (Alder & Hancock, 1845), Scottish nudibranchs and sea slugs (accessed 12 November 2022) www.nudibranch.org/Scottish%20Nudibranchs/aeolidiella-gla...
Groeneveld, R. & Reijs, S. (accessed 12 November 2022). Zeenaaktslakken, Nudibranchia. www.diverosa.com/FF_NL/ff_zeenaaktslakken.htm
Tardy, J. 1969. Étude systématique et biologique sur trois espèces d’Aeolidielles des côtes européennes (Gastéropodes Nudibranches). Bull. Inst. Oceanogr. Monaco 68: 1 – 40.
Thompson, T.E. & Brown, G.H. 1984. Biology of opisthobranch molluscs 2. London, Ray Society.
Glossary
acontia = thread-like tissue containing numerous stinging nematocysts which are released by some sea anemones
buccal mass = anterior of digestive system including an odontophore that supports anterior of radula, and a complex of muscles to operate them and other mouthparts.
cerata = (sing. ceras, adj. ceratal) lobes on notum of some nudibranchs.
Cnidaria = hydroids, jellyfish, sea anemones etc. which possess cnidocytes.
cnidocytes = explosive stinging cells of Cnidaria. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cnidocyte
cnidosac = storage capsule at tips of cerata of Aeolidiidae for ingested cnidocytes.
digestive gland = large organ in gastropods which acts like the liver and pancreas in mammals to absorb food.
distal = away from centre of body or from point of attachment.
hermaphrodite, simultaneous = individual acts as both male and female at the same time with similar partner.
notum = (of sea slugs) the dorsal surface of the body; the back.
ovotestis = (pl. ovotestes) hermaphrodite organ serving as both ovary and testis.
propodial tentacles = tentacular, lateral extensions on anterior of the foot.
rhinophore = chemo-receptor tentacle; many sea slugs have a pair on top of the head.
veliger = shelled larva which moves by action of cilia on a velum (bilobed flap). Stage may be passed in plankton or within liquid-filled egg-capsule.
De tweede en laatste rij foto's van Hole Park garden.
The second and last post of Hole Park garden
Hole Park Gardens is one of the best gardens in Kent. An attractively laid out, privately owned 15 acre garden, Hole Park is often referred to as a hidden gem, and there are plenty of treasures to be found within its walls and hedges.
Hole Park is set in over 200 acres of superb classic parkland. The colourful gardens enjoy far reaching views over the hills, woods and fields of the picturesque Kentish Weald. They are a skilful mix of formal design and more naturalised planting, giving colour throughout the seasons.
Een prachtige tuin met veel verrassingen. Een genot om in te wandelen en de cake is overheerlijk.
Inle Lake (Burmese: အင်းလေးကန်, pronounced: [ʔɪ́ɴlé kàɴ]) is a freshwater lake located in the Nyaungshwe Township of Taunggyi District of Shan State, part of Shan Hills in Myanmar (Burma). It is the second largest lake in Myanmar with an estimated surface area of 116 km2, and one of the highest at an elevation of 880 m. During the dry season, the average water depth is 2.1 m, with the deepest point being 3.7 m, but during the rainy season this can increase by 1.5 m.
The watershed area for the lake lies to a large extent to the north and west of the lake. The lake drains through the Nam Pilu or Balu Chaung on its southern end. There is a hot spring on its northwestern shore.
Although the lake is not large, it contains a number of endemic species. Over twenty species of snails and nine species of fish are found nowhere else in the world. Some of these, like the silver-blue scaleless Sawbwa barb, the crossbanded dwarf danio, and the Lake Inle danio, are of minor commercial importance for the aquarium trade. It hosts approximately 20,000 brown and black head migratory seagulls in November, December and January.
In June 2015, it becomes the Myanmar's first designated place of World Network of Biosphere Reserves. It was one of 20 places added at at the Unesco's 27th Man and the Biosphere (MAB) International Coordinating Council (ICC) meeting.
PEOPLE AND CULTURE
The people of Inle Lake (called Intha), some 70,000 of them, live in four cities bordering the lake, in numerous small villages along the lake's shores, and on the lake itself. The entire lake area is in Nyaung Shwe township. The population consists predominantly of Intha, with a mix of other Shan, Taungyo, Pa-O (Taungthu), Danu, Kayah, Danaw and Bamar ethnicities. Most are devout Buddhists, and live in simple houses of wood and woven bamboo on stilts; they are largely self-sufficient farmers.
Most transportation on the lake is traditionally by small boats, or by somewhat larger boats fitted with single cylinder inboard diesel engines. Local fishermen are known for practicing a distinctive rowing style which involves standing at the stern on one leg and wrapping the other leg around the oar. This unique style evolved for the reason that the lake is covered by reeds and floating plants making it difficult to see above them while sitting. Standing provides the rower with a view beyond the reeds. However, the leg rowing style is only practiced by the men. Women row in the customary style, using the oar with their hands, sitting cross legged at the stern.
Fish caught from the lake - the most abundant kind is called nga hpein locally (Inle carp, Cyprinus intha) - are a staple of the local diet. A popular local dish is htamin gyin - 'fermented' rice kneaded with fish and/or potato - served with hnapyan gyaw (literally twice fried - Shan tofu). In addition to fishing, locals grow vegetables and fruit in large gardens that float on the surface of the lake. The floating garden beds are formed by extensive manual labor. The farmers gather up lake-bottom weeds from the deeper parts of the lake, bring them back in boats and make them into floating beds in their garden areas, anchored by bamboo poles. These gardens rise and fall with changes in the water level, and so are resistant to flooding. The constant availability of nutrient-laden water results in these gardens being incredibly fertile. Rice cultivation is also significant.
Hand-made goods for local use and trading are another source of commerce. Typical products include tools, carvings and other ornamental objects, textiles, and cheroots. A local market serves most common shopping needs and is held daily but the location of the event rotates through five different sites around the lake area, thus each of them hosting an itinerant market every fifth day. When held on the lake itself, trading is conducted from small boats. This 'floating-market' event tends to emphasize tourist trade much more than the other four.
The Inle lake area is renowned for its weaving industry. The Shan-bags, used daily by many Burmese as a tote-bag, are produced in large quantities here. Silk-weaving is another very important industry, producing high-quality hand-woven silk fabrics of distinctive design called Inle longyi. A unique fabric from the lotus plant fibers is produced only at Inle lake and is used for weaving special robes for Buddha images called kya thingahn (lotus robe).
ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS
Inle Lake is suffering from the environmental effects of increased population and rapid growth in both agriculture and tourism. During the 65-year period from 1935 to 2000, the net open water area of Inle Lake decreased from 69.10 km² to 46.69 km², a loss of 32.4%, with development of floating garden agriculture, which occurs largely on the west side of the lake (a practice introduced in the 1960s).
Lumber removal and unsustainable cultivation practices (slash and burn farming techniques) on the hills surrounding the lake are causing ever-increasing amounts of silt and nutrients to run off into the rivers that feed the lake, especially along its western and northern watershed areas. This silt fills up the lake; the nutrients encourage the growth of weeds and algae. More important however is the development of floating garden agriculture, largely along the western side of the lake. This practice encroaches into the diminishing area of the lake, since over time, the floating beds become solid ground. About 93% (nearly 21 km²) of the recent loss in open water area of the lake, largely along its western side, is thought to be due to this agricultural practice. Direct environmental impacts associated with these combined agricultural activities within the wetlands and surrounding hills of the lake include sedimentation, eutrophication, and pollution.
The water hyacinth, a plant not native to the lake, also poses a major problem. It grows rapidly, filling up the smaller streams and large expanses of the lake, robbing native plants and animals of nutrients and sunlight. At one time, all boats coming into Nyaung Shwe were required to bring in a specified amount of water hyacinth. Over the past twenty years, large-scale use of dredges and pumps has been employed with some success in controlling the growth of this plant. On a smaller scale, public awareness education and small-scale control have also been successful.
Another cause for concern is the planned introduction of non-native fish species, such as the Grass Carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella)] intended to improve fishery.
Sanitation in the villages around the lake is an ongoing concern for public health authorities, due to untreated sewage (with 72% of households using open pits, not latrines) and waste water flowing into the lake. To ensure fresh and clean water, some villages now have enclosed wells and public access to the well water. Some studies of the lake's surface
water quality indicates that the water is not safe for consumption. Water from Inle Lake has dissolved oxygen ranges lower than those necessary for fisheries and aquatic life, while nitrite, nitrate and phosphate ranges are unusually high.
Noise pollution is also a noticeable issue. The noise from the cheaper poorly muffled diesel engines driving the stern drive propellers is significant, and can be a distraction to the otherwise tranquil lake.
The summer of 2010 registered very high temperatures causing the water level of the lake to drop so low, the lowest in nearly 50 years, that drinking water had to be fetched from elsewhere and the floating market was in danger of disappearing. One other serious consequence was that the hydroelectric plant at Lawpita, where the former capital Yangon received its power supply from, could not operate at its full capacity.
TOURISM
The best time of the year to visit is during September and October. The ceremonial Hpaung Daw U Festival, which lasts for almost three weeks, is closely followed by the Thadingyut festival of lights. Inthas and Shan turn out in their best clothes in great numbers to celebrate the Buddhist Lent. Traditional boat racing, with dozens of leg-rowers in Shan dress in a team on each boat, is a famous event during the Hpaung Daw U Festival.
Inle Lake is a major tourist attraction, and this has led to some development of tourist infrastructure. Many small and large privately owned hotels and tour operations have arisen during the past few years. Local shops are flooded with consumer items, both local and foreign. The nearest airport is Heho Airport which is 35 km away. There are flights from both Yangon and Mandalay. Yangon is 660 km away by road, Mandalay 330 km.
CUISINE
Inle cuisine is different from Shan cuisine, as it incorporates local natural produce. The most well-known Inle dish would be the Htamin jin - a rice, tomato and potato or fish salad kneaded into round balls dressed and garnished with crisp fried onion in oil, tamarind sauce, coriander and spring onions often with garlic, Chinese chives roots (ju myit), fried whole dried chili, grilled dried fermented beancakes (pè bouk) and fried dried tofu (topu jauk kyaw) on the side.
WIKIPEDIA
Peter I commonly known as Peter the Great, was Tsar of all Russia from 1682, and the first Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned jointly with his half-brother Ivan V until 1696. From this year, Peter was an absolute monarch who remained the ultimate authority. His methods were often harsh and autocratic.
Most of Peter's reign was consumed by long wars against the Ottoman and Swedish Empires. Despite initial difficulties, the wars were ultimately successful and led to expansion to the Sea of Azov and the Baltic Sea, thus laying the groundwork for the Imperial Russian Navy. His victory in the Great Northern War ended Sweden's era as a great power and its domination of the Baltic region while elevating Russia's standing to the extent it came to be acknowledged as an empire. Peter led a cultural revolution that replaced some of the traditionalist and medieval social and political systems with ones that were modern, scientific, Westernized, and based on radical Enlightenment.
In 1700, he introduced the Gregorian calendar but the Russian Orthodox Church was particularly resistant to this change; they wanted to maintain its distinct identity and avoid appearing influenced by Catholic practices.[citation needed] In 1703, he introduced the first Russian newspaper, Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti, and ordered the civil script, a reform of Russian orthography largely designed by himself. He founded the city of Saint Petersburg on the shore of the Neva as a "window to the West" in May 1703. In 1712 Peter moved the capital from Moscow to Saint Petersburg, where it remained – with only a brief interruption – until 1918. He promoted higher education and industrialization in the Russian Empire.
Peter had a great interest in plants, animals and minerals, in malformed creatures or exceptions to the law of nature for his cabinet of curiosities. He encouraged research of deformities, all along trying to debunk the superstitious fear of monsters. The Russian Academy of Sciences and the Saint Petersburg State University were founded in 1724, a year before his death.
Peter is primarily credited with the modernization of the country, transforming it into a major European power. His administrative reforms, creating a Governing Senate in 1711, the Collegium in 1717 and the Table of Ranks in 1722 had a lasting impact on Russia, and many institutions of the Russian government trace their origins to his reign.
Early life
Peter was named after the apostle. He grew up at Izmaylovo Estate and was educated from an early age by several tutors commissioned by his father, Tsar Alexis of Russia, most notably Nikita Zotov, Patrick Gordon, and Paul Menesius. On 29 January 1676, Alexis died, leaving the sovereignty to Peter's elder half-brother, the weak and sickly Feodor III of Russia. Throughout this period, the government was largely run by Artamon Matveev, an enlightened friend of Alexis, the political head of the Naryshkin family and one of Peter's greatest childhood benefactors.
This position changed when Feodor died in 1682. As Feodor did not leave any children, a dispute arose between the Miloslavsky family (Maria Miloslavskaya was the first wife of Alexis I) and Naryshkin family (Natalya Naryshkina was his second) over who should inherit the throne. He jointly ruled with his elder half-brother, Ivan V, until 1696. Ivan, was next in line but was chronically ill and of infirm mind. Consequently, the Boyar Duma (a council of Russian nobles) chose the 10-year-old Peter to become Tsar, with his mother as regent.
This arrangement was brought before the people of Moscow, as ancient tradition demanded, and was ratified. Sophia, one of Alexis' daughters from his first marriage, led a rebellion of the Streltsy (Russia's elite military corps) in April–May 1682. In the subsequent conflict, some of Peter's relatives and friends were murdered, including Artamon Matveyev, and Peter witnessed some of these acts of political violence.
The Streltsy made it possible for Sophia, the Miloslavskys (the clan of Ivan) and their allies to insist that Peter and Ivan be proclaimed joint Tsars, with Ivan being acclaimed as the senior. Sophia then acted as regent during the minority of the sovereigns and exercised all power. For seven years, she ruled as an autocrat. A large hole was cut in the back of the dual-seated throne used by Ivan and Peter. Sophia would sit behind the throne and listen as Peter conversed with nobles, while feeding him information and giving him responses to questions and problems. He lived at Preobrazhenskoye. This throne can be seen in the Kremlin Armoury in Moscow.
At the age of 16, Peter discovered an English boat on the estate, had it restored and learned to sail. He received a sextant, but did not know how to use the instrument. Therefore, he began a search for a foreign expert in the German Quarter. Peter befriended two Dutch carpenters, Frans Timmerman and Karsten Brandt, and several other foreigners in Russian service. Peter studied arithmetic, geometry, and military sciences. He was not interested in a musical education but seems to have liked fireworks and drumming.
Peter was not particularly concerned that others ruled in his name. He engaged in such pastimes as shipbuilding and sailing, as well as mock battles with his toy army. Peter's mother sought to force him to adopt a more conventional approach and arranged his marriage to Eudoxia Lopukhina in 1689. The marriage was a failure, and ten years later Peter forced his wife to become a nun and thus freed himself from the union.
By the summer of 1689, Peter, planned to take power from his half-sister Sophia, whose position had been weakened by two unsuccessful Crimean campaigns against the Crimean Khanate in an attempt to stop devastating Crimean Tatar raids into Russia's southern lands. When she learned of his designs, Sophia conspired with some leaders of the Streltsy, who continually aroused disorder and dissent. Peter, warned by others from the Streltsy, escaped in the middle of the night to the impenetrable monastery of Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra; there he slowly gathered adherents who perceived he would win the power struggle. Sophia was eventually overthrown, with Peter I and Ivan V continuing to act as co-tsars. Peter forced Sophia to enter a convent, where she gave up her name and her position as a member of the royal family.
Still, Peter could not acquire actual control over Russian affairs. Power was instead exercised by his mother, Natalya Naryshkina. It was only when Natalya died in 1694 that Peter, then aged 22, became an independent sovereign. Formally, Ivan V was a co-ruler with Peter, though being ineffective. Peter became the sole ruler when Ivan died in 1696 without male offspring, two years later.
Peter grew to be extremely tall, especially for the time period, reportedly standing 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m). Peter had noticeable facial tics, and he may have suffered from petit mal seizures, a form of epilepsy. Meanwhile, he was a frequent guest in German quarter, where he met Anna and Willem Mons.
Ideology of Peter's reign
As a young man, Peter I adopted the Protestant model of existence in a pragmatic world of competition and personal success, which largely shaped the philosophy of his reformism. He perceived the Russian people as rude, unintelligent, stubborn in their sluggishness, a child, a lazy student. He highly appreciated the state's role in the life of society, saw it as an ideal instrument for achieving high goals, saw it as a universal institution for transforming people, with the help of violence and fear, into educated, conscious, law-abiding and useful to the whole society subjects.
He introduced into the concept of the autocrat's power the notion of the monarch's duties. He considered it necessary to take care of his subjects, to protect them from enemies, to work for their benefit. Above all, he put the interests of Russia. He saw his mission in turning it into a power similar to Western countries, and subordinated his own life and the lives of his subjects to the realization of this idea. Gradually penetrated the idea that the task should be solved with the help of reforms, which will be carried out at the autocrat's will, who creates good and punishes evil. He considered the morality of a statesman separately from the morality of a private person and believed that the sovereign in the name of state interests can go to murder, violence, forgery and deceit.
He went through the naval service, starting from the lowest ranks: bombardier (1695), captain (1696), colonel (1706), schout-bij-nacht (1709), vice-admiral (1714), admiral (1721). By hard daily work (according to the figurative expression of Peter the Great himself, he was simultaneously "forced to hold a sword and a quill in one right hand") and courageous behavior he demonstrated to his subjects his personal positive example, showed how to act, fully devoting himself to the fulfillment of duty and service to the fatherland.
Reign
Peter implemented sweeping reforms aimed at modernizing Russia. Heavily influenced by his advisors from Western Europe, Peter reorganized the Russian army along modern lines and dreamed of making Russia a maritime power. He faced much opposition to these policies at home but brutally suppressed rebellions against his authority, including by the Streltsy, Bashkirs, Astrakhan, and the greatest civil uprising of his reign, the Bulavin Rebellion.
Peter implemented social modernization in an absolute manner by introducing French and western dress to his court and requiring courtiers, state officials, and the military to shave their beards and adopt modern clothing styles. One means of achieving this end was the introduction of taxes for long beards and robes in September 1698.
In his process to westernize Russia, he wanted members of his family to marry other European royalty. In the past, his ancestors had been snubbed at the idea, but now, it was proving fruitful. He negotiated with Frederick William, Duke of Courland to marry his niece, Anna Ivanovna. He used the wedding in order to launch his new capital, St Petersburg, where he had already ordered building projects of westernized palaces and buildings. Peter hired Italian and German architects to design it.
As part of his reforms, Peter started an industrialization effort that was slow but eventually successful. Russian manufacturing and main exports were based on the mining and lumber industries. For example, by the end of the century Russia came to export more iron than any other country in the world.
To improve his nation's position on the seas, Peter sought more maritime outlets. His only outlet at the time was the White Sea at Arkhangelsk. The Baltic Sea was at the time controlled by Sweden in the north, while the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea were controlled by the Ottoman Empire and Safavid Empire respectively in the south.
Peter attempted to acquire control of the Black Sea, which would require expelling the Tatars from the surrounding areas. As part of an agreement with Poland that ceded Kiev to Russia, Peter was forced to wage war against the Crimean Khan and against the Khan's overlord, the Ottoman Sultan. Peter's primary objective became the capture of the Ottoman fortress of Azov, near the Don River. In the summer of 1695 Peter organized the Azov campaigns to take the fortress, but his attempts ended in failure.
Peter returned to Moscow in November 1695 and began building a large navy in Voronezh. He launched about thirty ships against the Ottomans in 1696, capturing Azov in July of that year.
Grand Embassy
Peter knew that Russia could not face the Ottoman Empire alone. In 1697, he traveled "incognito" to Western Europe on an 18-month journey with a large Russian delegation–the so-called "Grand Embassy". He used a fake name, allowing him to escape social and diplomatic events, but since he was far taller than most others, he could not fool anyone. One goal was to seek the aid of European monarchs, but Peter's hopes were dashed. France was a traditional ally of the Ottoman Sultan, and Austria was eager to maintain peace in the east while conducting its own wars in the west. Peter, furthermore, had chosen an inopportune moment: the Europeans at the time were more concerned about the War of the Spanish Succession over who would succeed the childless King Charles II of Spain than about fighting the Ottoman Sultan.
In Königsberg, the Tsar was apprenticed for two months to an artillery engineer. In July he met Sophia of Hanover at Coppenbrügge castle. She described him: "The tsar is a tall, handsome man, with an attractive face. He has a lively mind is very witty. Only, someone so well endowed by nature could be a little better mannered." Peter rented a ship in Emmerich am Rhein and sailed to Zaandam, where he arrived on 18 August 1697. He studied saw-mills, manufacturing and shipbuilding but left after a week. Through the mediation of Nicolaas Witsen, an expert on Russia, the Tsar was given the opportunity to gain practical experience in shipyard, belonging to the Dutch East India Company, for a period of four months, under the supervision of Gerrit Claesz Pool. The diligent and capable Tsar assisted in the construction of an East Indiaman ship Peter and Paul specially laid down for him. During his stay the Tsar engaged many skilled workers such as builders of locks, fortresses, shipwrights, and seamen—including Cornelis Cruys, a vice-admiral who became, under Franz Lefort, the Tsar's advisor in maritime affairs. Peter later put his knowledge of shipbuilding to use in helping build Russia's navy.
Peter felt that the ship's carpenters in Holland worked too much by eye and lacked accurate construction drawings. On 11 January 1698 (Old Style) Peter arrived at Victoria Embankment with four chamberlains, three interpreters, two clock makers, a cook, a priest, six trumpeters, 70 soldiers from the Preobrazhensky regiment, four dwarfs and a monkey. Peter stayed at 21 Norfolk Street, Strand and met with King William III and Gilbert Burnet, attended a session of the Royal Society, received a doctorate from Oxford University, trained a telescope on Venus at the Greenwich Observatory, and saw a Fleet Review by Royal Navy at Deptford. He studied the English techniques of city-building he would later use to great effect at Saint Petersburg. At the end of April 1698 he left after learning to make watches, carpenting coffins and posing for Sir Godfrey Kneller.
The Embassy next went to Leipzig, Dresden, Prague and Vienna. Peter spoke with Augustus II the Strong and Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor.[18] Peter's visit was cut short, when he was forced to rush home by a rebellion of the Streltsy. The rebellion was easily crushed before Peter returned home; of the Tsar's troops, only one was killed. Peter nevertheless acted ruthlessly towards the mutineers. Over one thousand two hundred of the rebels were tortured and executed, and Peter ordered that their bodies be publicly exhibited as a warning to future conspirators. The Streltsy were disbanded, some of the rebels were deported to Siberia, and the individual they sought to put on the Throne — Peter's half-sister Sophia — was forced to become a nun.
Peter's visits to the West impressed upon him the notion that European customs were in several respects superior to Russian traditions. He commanded all of his courtiers and officials to wear European clothing and cut off their long beards, causing his Boyars, who were very fond of their beards, great upset. Boyars who sought to retain their beards were required to pay an annual beard tax of one hundred rubles. Peter also sought to end arranged marriages, which were the norm among the Russian nobility, because he thought such a practice was barbaric and led to domestic violence, since the partners usually resented each other.
In 1698, Peter I instituted a beard tax to modernize Russian society. In the same year Peter sent a delegation to Malta, under boyar Boris Sheremetev, to observe the training and abilities of the Knights of Malta and their fleet. Sheremetev investigated the possibility of future joint ventures with the Knights, including action against the Turks and the possibility of a future Russian naval base. On 12 September 1698, Peter officially founded the first Russian Navy base, Taganrog on the Sea of Azov.
In 1699, Peter changed the date of the celebration of the new year from 1 September to 1 January. Traditionally, the years were reckoned from the purported creation of the World, but after Peter's reforms, they were to be counted from the birth of Christ. Thus, in the year 7207 of the old Russian calendar, Peter proclaimed that the Julian Calendar was in effect and the year was 1700. On the death of Lefort in 1699, Menshikov succeeded him as Peter's prime favourite and confidant. In 1701, the Moscow School of Mathematics and Navigation was founded; for fifteen years, not only naval officers, but also surveyors, engineers, and gunners were educated there.
Great Northern War
First Winter Palace
Peter made a temporary peace with the Ottoman Empire that allowed him to keep the captured fort of Azov, and turned his attention to Russian maritime supremacy. He sought to acquire control of the Baltic Sea, which had been taken by the Swedish Empire a half-century earlier. Peter declared war on Sweden, which was at the time led by the young King Charles XII. Sweden was also opposed by Denmark–Norway, Saxony, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Preobrazhensky regiment took part in all major battles of the Great Northern War.
Russia was ill-prepared to fight the Swedes, and their first attempt at seizing the Baltic coast ended in disaster at the Battle of Narva in 1700. In the conflict, the forces of Charles XII, rather than employ a slow methodical siege, attacked immediately using a blinding snowstorm to their advantage. After the battle, Charles XII decided to concentrate his forces against the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, which gave Peter time to reorganize the Russian army. He invited Nicolaas Bidloo to organize a military hospital. In 1701, Peter the Great signed a decree on the opening of Moscow School of Mathematics and Navigation.
While the Poles fought the Swedes, Peter founded the city of Saint Petersburg on 29 June 1703, in Ingermanland (a province of the Swedish Empire that he had captured). It was named after his patron saint Saint Peter. He forbade the building of stone edifices outside Saint Petersburg, which he intended to become Russia's capital, so that all stonemasons could participate in the construction of the new city. Peter moved the capital to St. Petersburg in 1703. While the city was being built along the Neva he lived in a modest three-room log cabin (with a study but without a fire-place) which had to make room for the first version of the Winter palace. The first buildings which appeared were the Peter and Paul Fortress, a shipyard at the Admiralty and Alexander Nevsky Lavra.
Following several defeats, Polish King Augustus II the Strong abdicated in 1706. Swedish king Charles XII turned his attention to Russia, invading it in 1708. After crossing into Russia, Charles defeated Peter at Golovchin in July. In the Battle of Lesnaya, Charles suffered his first loss after Peter crushed a group of Swedish reinforcements marching from Riga. Deprived of this aid, Charles was forced to abandon his proposed march on Moscow.
Charles XII refused to retreat to Poland or back to Sweden and instead invaded Ukraine. Peter withdrew his army southward, employing scorched earth, destroying along the way anything that could assist the Swedes. Deprived of local supplies, the Swedish army was forced to halt its advance in the winter of 1708–1709. In the summer of 1709, they resumed their efforts to capture Russian-ruled Ukraine, culminating in the Battle of Poltava on 27 June. The battle was a decisive defeat for the Swedish forces, ending Charles' campaign in Ukraine and forcing him south to seek refuge in the Ottoman Empire. Russia had defeated what was considered to be one of the world's best militaries, and the victory overturned the view that Russia was militarily incompetent. In Poland, Augustus II was restored as King.
Peter, overestimating the support he would receive from his Balkan allies, attacked the Ottoman Empire, initiating the Russo-Turkish War of 1710. Peter's campaign in the Ottoman Empire was disastrous, and in the ensuing Treaty of the Pruth, Peter was forced to return the Black Sea ports he had seized in 1697. In return, the Sultan expelled Charles XII.
The Ottomans called him Mad Peter (Turkish: deli Petro), for his willingness to sacrifice large numbers of his troops in wartime. Peter I loved all sorts of rarities and curiosities. In 1704 Abram Petrovich Gannibal, a child with Ethiopian origin, was presented to him; in 1716 Peter took him to Paris.
In 1711, Peter established by decree a new state body known as the Governing Senate. Normally, the Boyar duma would have exercised power during his absence. Peter, however, mistrusted the boyars; he instead abolished the Duma and created a Senate of ten members. The Senate was founded as the highest state institution to supervise all judicial, financial and administrative affairs. Originally established only for the time of the monarch's absence, the Senate became a permanent body after his return. A special high official, the Ober-Procurator, served as the link between the ruler and the senate and acted, in Peter own words, as "the sovereign's eye". Without his signature no Senate decision could go into effect; the Senate became one of the most important institutions of Imperial Russia.
1712, Peter I issued a decree establishing an Engineering School in Moscow, which was supposed to recruit up to 150 students, and two-thirds of them were to consist of nobles.[31] Therefore, on 28 February 1714, he issued a decree calling for compulsory education, which dictated that all Russian 10- to 15-year-old children of the nobility, government clerks, and lesser-ranked officials must learn basic mathematics and geometry, and should be tested on the subjects at the end of their studies.
Peter's northern armies took the Swedish province of Livonia (the northern half of modern Latvia, and the southern half of modern Estonia), driving the Swedes out of Finland. In 1714 the Russian fleet won the Battle of Gangut. Most of Finland was occupied by the Russians.
In 1716, the Tsar visited Riga, and Danzig in January, Stettin, and obtained the assistance of the Electorate of Hanover and the Kingdom of Prussia fighting a war against Sweden at Wismar. He was forced to leave Mecklenburg. In Altona he met with Danish diplomats. He went on to Bad Pyrmont in May/June, because of an illness he stayed at this spa. He arrived in Amsterdam in December, where he bought some interesting collections: those of Frederik Ruysch, Levinus Vincent and Albertus Seba and paintings by Maria Sibylla Merian for his Kunstkamera. He visited a silk manufacture and a paper-mill, and learned to create paper and to spin silk. He visited Herman Boerhaave and Carel de Moor in Leiden and ordered two mercury thermometers from Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit and instruments from Musschenbroek. In April 1717 he continued his travel from Flushing to Brussels in the Austrian Netherlands and Dunkirk, Calais, Paris, where he obtained many books and proposed a marriage between his daughter and King Louis XV. Saint-Simon described him as "tall, well-formed and slim…with a look both bewildered and fierce." Via Reims, and Spa Peter travelled on to Maastricht, at that time one of the most important fortresses in Europe, where he was received by Daniël van Dopff, the commander of the fortress. He went back to Amsterdam and visited the Hortus Botanicus and left the city early September.
The Tsar's navy was powerful enough that the Russians could penetrate Sweden. Still, Charles XII refused to yield, and not until his death in battle in 1718 did peace become feasible. After the battle near Åland, Sweden made peace with all powers but Russia by 1720. In 1721, the Treaty of Nystad ended the Great Northern War. Russia acquired Ingria, Estonia, Livonia, and a substantial portion of Karelia. In turn, Russia paid two million Riksdaler and surrendered most of Finland. The Tsar retained some Finnish lands close to Saint Petersburg, which he had made his capital in 1712. Between 1713 and 1728, and from 1732 to 1918, Saint Petersburg was the capital of imperial Russia.
Title
Following his victory in the Great Northern War, he adopted the title of emperor in 1721.
By the grace of God, the most excellent and great sovereign emperor Pyotr Alekseevich the ruler of all the Russias: of Moscow, of Kiev, of Vladimir, of Novgorod, Tsar of Kazan, Tsar of Astrakhan and Tsar of Siberia, sovereign of Pskov, great prince of Smolensk, of Tver, of Yugorsk, of Perm, of Vyatka, of Bulgaria and others, sovereign and great prince of the Novgorod Lower lands, of Chernigov, of Ryazan, of Rostov, of Yaroslavl, of Belozersk, of Udora, of Kondia and the sovereign of all the northern lands, and the sovereign of the Iverian lands, of the Kartlian and Georgian Kings, of the Kabardin lands, of the Circassian and Mountain princes and many other states and lands western and eastern here and there and the successor and sovereign and ruler.
Later years
In 1717, Alexander Bekovich-Cherkassky led the first Russian military expedition into Central Asia against the Khanate of Khiva. The expedition ended in complete disaster when the entire expeditionary force was slaughtered.
In 1718, Peter investigated why the formerly Swedish province of Livonia was so orderly. He discovered that the Swedes spent as much administering Livonia (300 times smaller than his empire) as he spent on the entire Russian bureaucracy. He was forced to dismantle the province's government.
To the end of 1717, the preparatory phase of administrative reform in Russia was completed. After 1718, Peter established colleges in place of the old central agencies of government, including foreign affairs, war, navy, expense, income, justice, and inspection. Later others were added, to regulate mining and industry. Each college consisted of a president, a vice-president, a number of councilors and assessors, and a procurator. Some foreigners were included in various colleges but not as president. Peter did not have enough loyal, talented or educated persons to put in full charge of the various departments. Peter preferred to rely on groups of individuals who would keep check on one another. Decisions depended on the majority vote.
Peter's last years were marked by further reform in Russia. On 22 October 1721, soon after peace was made with Sweden, he was officially proclaimed Emperor of All Russia. Some proposed that he take the title Emperor of the East, but he refused. Gavrila Golovkin, the State Chancellor, was the first to add "the Great, Father of His Country, Emperor of All the Russias" to Peter's traditional title Tsar following a speech by the archbishop of Pskov in 1721. Peter's imperial title was recognized by Augustus II of Poland, Frederick William I of Prussia, and Frederick I of Sweden, but not by the other European monarchs. In the minds of many, the word emperor connoted superiority or pre-eminence over kings. Several rulers feared that Peter would claim authority over them, just as the Holy Roman Emperor had claimed suzerainty over all Christian nations.
In 1722, Peter created a new order of precedence known as the Table of Ranks. Formerly, precedence had been determined by birth. To deprive the Boyars of their high positions, Peter directed that precedence should be determined by merit and service to the Emperor. The Table of Ranks continued to remain in effect until the Russian monarchy was overthrown in 1917.
The once powerful Persian Safavid Empire to the south was in deep decline. Taking advantage of the profitable situation, Peter launched the Russo-Persian War of 1722–1723, otherwise known as "The Persian Expedition of Peter the Great", which drastically increased Russian influence for the first time in the Caucasus and Caspian Sea region, and prevented the Ottoman Empire from making territorial gains in the region. After considerable success and the capture of many provinces and cities in the Caucasus and northern mainland Persia, the Safavids were forced to hand over territory to Russia, comprising Derbent, Shirvan, Gilan, Mazandaran, Baku, and Astrabad. Within twelve years all the territories were ceded back to Persia, now led by the charismatic military genius Nader Shah, as part of the Treaty of Resht, the Treaty of Ganja, and as the result of a Russo-Persian alliance against the Ottoman Empire, which was the common enemy of both.
Peter introduced new taxes to fund improvements in Saint Petersburg. He abolished the land tax and household tax and replaced them with a poll tax. The taxes on land and on households were payable only by individuals who owned property or maintained families. The new head taxes were payable by serfs and paupers. In 1725 the construction of Peterhof, a palace near Saint Petersburg, was completed. Peterhof (Dutch for "Peter's Court") was a grand residence, becoming known as the "Russian Versailles".
In the winter of 1723, Peter, whose overall health was never robust, began having problems with his urinary tract and bladder. In the summer of 1724, a team of doctors performed surgery releasing upwards of four pounds of blocked urine. Peter remained bedridden until late autumn. In the first week of October, restless and certain he was cured, Peter began a lengthy inspection tour of various projects. According to legend, in November, at Lakhta along the Gulf of Finland to inspect some ironworks, Peter saw a group of soldiers drowning near shore and, wading out into near-waist deep water, came to their rescue.
This icy water rescue is said to have exacerbated Peter's bladder problems and caused his death. The story, however, has been viewed with skepticism by some historians, pointing out that the German chronicler Jacob von Staehlin is the only source for the story, and it seems unlikely that no one else would have documented such an act of heroism. This, plus the interval of time between these actions and Peter's death seems to preclude any direct link.
In early January 1725, Peter was struck once again with uremia. Legend has it that before lapsing into unconsciousness Peter asked for a paper and pen and scrawled an unfinished note that read: "Leave all to ..." and then, exhausted by the effort, asked for his daughter Anna to be summoned.
Peter died between four and five in the morning 8 February 1725. An autopsy revealed his bladder to be infected with gangrene. He was fifty-two years, seven months old when he died, having reigned forty-two years. He is interred in Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
After the death of Peter I, there were immediately students who came to the Military College with a request to "leave science" under the pretext of "unconsciousness and incomprehensibility."
Religion
Peter did not believe in miracles and founded The All-Joking, All-Drunken Synod of Fools and Jesters, an organization that mocked the Orthodox and Catholic Church when he was eighteen. In January 1695, Peter refused to partake in a traditional Russian Orthodox ceremony of the Epiphany Ceremony, and would often schedule events for The All-Joking, All-Drunken Synod of Fools and Jesters to directly conflict with the Church. He often used the nickname Pakhom Mikhailov (Russian: Пахом Михайлов) among the ministers of religion who made up his relatively close circle of long-term drinking companions. He drank less than the others, deliberately getting the others drunk in order to listen to their drunken conversations.
Peter was brought up in the Russian Orthodox faith, but he had low regard for the Church hierarchy, which he kept under tight governmental control. The traditional leader of the Church was the Patriarch of Moscow. In 1700, when the office fell vacant, Peter refused to name a replacement, allowing the patriarch's coadjutor (or deputy) to discharge the duties of the office. Peter could not tolerate the patriarch exercising power superior to the tsar, as indeed had happened in the case of Philaret (1619–1633) and Nikon (1652–66). In 1716 he invited Theophan Prokopovich to come to the capital. In 1718 he ordered to translate the "Introduction to European History" (a work by Samuel Pufendorf); the Ecclesiastical Regulations of 1721 are based on it. The Church reform of Peter the Great therefore abolished the patriarchate, replacing it with a Holy Synod that was under the control of a Procurator, and the tsar appointed all bishops.
In 1721, Peter followed the advice of Prokopovich in designing the Holy Synod as a council of ten clergymen. For leadership in the Church, Peter turned increasingly to Ukrainians, who were more open to reform, but were not well loved by the Russian clergy. Peter implemented a law that stipulated that no Russian man could join a monastery before the age of fifty. He felt that too many able Russian men were being wasted on clerical work when they could be joining his new and improved army.
A clerical career was not a route chosen by upper-class society. Most parish priests were sons of priests and were very poorly educated and paid. The monks in the monasteries had a slightly higher status; they were not allowed to marry. Politically, the Church was impotent.
Marriages and family
Peter the Great had two wives, with whom he had fifteen children, three of whom survived to adulthood. Peter's mother selected his first wife, Eudoxia Lopukhina, with the advice of other nobles in 1689. This was consistent with previous Romanov tradition by choosing a daughter of a minor noble. This was done to prevent fighting between the stronger noble houses and to bring fresh blood into the family. He also had a mistress from Westphalia, Anna Mons.
Upon his return from his European tour in 1698, Peter sought to end his unhappy marriage. He divorced the Tsaritsa and forced her to join a convent. She had borne him three children, although only one, Alexei Petrovich, Tsarevich of Russia, had survived past his childhood.
Menshikov introduced him to Marta Helena Skowrońska, a Polish-Lithuanian peasant, and took her as a mistress some time between 1702 and 1704. Marta converted to the Russian Orthodox Church and was given the name Catherine. Though no record exists, Catherine and Peter married secretly between 23 Oct and 1 December 1707 in St. Petersburg. Peter valued Catherine and married officially, at Saint Isaac's Cathedral in Saint Petersburg on 19 February 1712.
His eldest child and heir, Alexei, was suspected of being involved in a plot to overthrow the Emperor. Alexei was tried and confessed under torture during questioning conducted by a secular court (count Tolstoy). He was convicted and sentenced to be executed. The sentence could only be carried out with Peter's signed authorization, and Alexei died in prison, as Peter hesitated before making the decision. Alexei's death most likely resulted from injuries suffered during his torture. Alexei's mother Eudoxia was punished. She was dragged from her home, tried on false charges of adultery, publicly flogged, and confined in monasteries while being forbidden to be talked to.
In 1724, Peter had his second wife, Catherine, crowned as Empress, although he remained Russia's actual ruler.
Issue
By his two wives, he had fifteen children: three by Eudoxia and twelve by Catherine. These included four sons named Pavel and three sons named Peter, all of whom died in infancy. Only three of his children survived to adulthood. He also had three grandchildren: Tsar Peter II and Grand Duchess Natalia by Alexei and Tsar Peter III by Anna.
Mistresses and illegitimate children
Princess Maria Dmitrievna Cantemirovna of Moldavia (1700–1754), daughter of Dimitrie Cantemir
Unnamed son (1722 - 1723?) – different sources say that the baby was stillborn or died before he was one year old.
Lady Mary Hamilton, Catherine I's lady in waiting of Scottish descent.
Miscarriage (1715)
Unnamed child (1717 - 1718?)
Legacy
Peter's legacy has always been a major concern of Russian intellectuals. Riasanovsky points to a "paradoxical dichotomy" in the black and white images such as God/Antichrist, educator/ignoramus, architect of Russia's greatness/destroyer of national culture, father of his country/scourge of the common man. Voltaire's 1759 biography gave 18th-century Russians a man of the Enlightenment, while Alexander Pushkin's "The Bronze Horseman" poem of 1833 gave a powerful romantic image of a creator-god. Slavophiles in mid-19th century deplored Peter's westernization of Russia.
Western writers and political analysts recounted "The Testimony" or secret will of Peter the Great. It supposedly revealed his grand evil plot for Russia to control the world via conquest of Constantinople, Afghanistan and India. It was a forgery made in Paris at Napoleon's command when he started his invasion of Russia in 1812. Nevertheless, it is still quoted in foreign policy circles.
The Communists executed the last Romanovs, and their historians such as Mikhail Pokrovsky presented strongly negative views of the entire dynasty. Stalin however admired how Peter strengthened the state, and wartime, diplomacy, industry, higher education, and government administration. Stalin wrote in 1928, "when Peter the Great, who had to deal with more developed countries in the West, feverishly built works in factories for supplying the army and strengthening the country's defenses, this was an original attempt to leap out of the framework of backwardness." As a result, Soviet historiography emphasizes both the positive achievement and the negative factor of oppressing the common people.
After the fall of Communism in 1991, scholars and the general public in Russia and the West gave fresh attention to Peter and his role in Russian history. His reign is now seen as the decisive formative event in the Russian imperial past. Many new ideas have merged, such as whether he strengthened the autocratic state or whether the tsarist regime was not statist enough given its small bureaucracy. Modernization models have become contested ground.
He initiated a wide range of economic, social, political, administrative, educational and military reforms which ended the dominance of traditionalism and religion in Russia and initiated its westernization. His efforts included secularization of education, organization of administration for effective governance, enhanced use of technology, establishing an industrial economy, modernization of the army and establishment of a strong navy.
Historian Y. Vodarsky said in 1993 that Peter, "did not lead the country on the path of accelerated economic, political and social development, did not force it to 'achieve a leap' through several stages.... On the contrary, these actions to the greatest degree put a brake on Russia's progress and created conditions for holding it back for one and a half centuries!" The autocratic powers that Stalin admired appeared as a liability to Evgeny Anisimov, who complained that Peter was, "the creator of the administrative command system and the true ancestor of Stalin."
According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, "He did not completely bridge the gulf between Russia and the Western countries, but he achieved considerable progress in development of the national economy and trade, education, science and culture, and foreign policy. Russia became a great power, without whose concurrence no important European problem could thenceforth be settled. His internal reforms achieved progress to an extent that no earlier innovator could have envisaged."
While the cultural turn in historiography has downplayed diplomatic, economic and constitutional issues, new cultural roles have been found for Peter, for example in architecture and dress. James Cracraft argues:
The Petrine revolution in Russia—subsuming in this phrase the many military, naval, governmental, educational, architectural, linguistic, and other internal reforms enacted by Peter's regime to promote Russia's rise as a major European power—was essentially a cultural revolution, one that profoundly impacted both the basic constitution of the Russian Empire and, perforce, its subsequent development.
In popular culture
Peter has been featured in many histories, novels, plays, films, monuments and paintings. They include the poems The Bronze Horseman, Poltava and the unfinished novel The Moor of Peter the Great, all by Alexander Pushkin. The former dealt with The Bronze Horseman, an equestrian statue raised in Peter's honour. Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy wrote a biographical historical novel about him, named Peter I, in the 1930s.
The 1922 German silent film Peter the Great directed by Dimitri Buchowetzki and starring Emil Jannings as Peter
In 1929 A.N. Tolstoy's play was true to the party line, depicting Peter as a tyrant who "suppressed everyone and everything as if he had been possessed by demons, sowed fear, and put both his son and his country on the rack."
The 1937–1938 Soviet film Peter the Great
The 1976 film How Czar Peter the Great Married Off His Moor, starring Aleksey Petrenko as Peter, and Vladimir Vysotsky as Abram Petrovich Gannibal, shows Peter's attempt to build the Baltic Fleet.
Peter was played by Jan Niklas and Maximilian Schell in the 1986 NBC miniseries Peter the Great.
The 2007 film The Sovereign's Servant depicts the unsavoury brutal side of Peter during the campaign.
A character based on Peter plays a major role in The Age of Unreason, a series of four alternate history novels written by American science fiction and fantasy author Gregory Keyes.
Peter is one of many supporting characters in Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle – mainly featuring in the third novel, The System of the World.
Peter was portrayed on BBC Radio 4 by Isaac Rouse as a boy, Will Howard as a young adult and Elliot Cowan as an adult in the radio plays Peter the Great: The Gamblers and Peter the Great: The Queen of Spades, written by Mike Walker and which were the last two plays in the first series of Tsar. The plays were broadcast on 25 September and 2 October 2016.
A verse in the "Engineers' Drinking Song" references Peter the Great:
There was a man named Peter the Great who was a Russian Tzar;
When remodeling his the castle put the throne behind the bar;
He lined the walls with vodka, rum, and 40 kinds of beers;
And advanced the Russian culture by 120 years!
Peter was played by Jason Isaacs in the 2020 'antihistory' Hulu series The Great.
Peter is featured as the leader of the Russian civilization in the computer game Sid Meier's Civilization VI.
Peter was played by Ivan Kolesnikov in the 2022 Russian historical documentary film Peter I: The Last Tsar and the First Emperor.
Day Twenty-two
Addiction
May 24th, 2011
I got these feathers put in on Thursday, and I just love them. But I want more.
Oh no.
US 61 is represented by the purple line beginning in New Orleans LA. Its current north terminus is in Wyoming MN; the red line extending north of there is the historic extent of US 61. Also shown in red is US 61's historic routing through Fredericktown MO.
US 161 is the red line from Dubuque to Keokuk IA.
US 218 is also shown on this map: the blue line beginning in Keokuk IA. Its current northern terminus is in Owatonna MN; the red line extending north from there to St. Paul is the historic extent of US 218. This is a north/south branch route misnumbered as if it runs east/west, so I included it on this map to demonstrate how the highway would fit into the US 61 family, if it were to be assigned a number US x61. This is just one possibility that makes more sense than 218; I've also included the route on the maps for US 63 and US 65. US 65 was the only one of these routes that connected with US 218 in 1926. But in 1938 US 218 was extended to connect with US 61, and personally I wish US 218 would've been renumbered as US 161 at that time. I think that would've been the best choice - not only since it connected with US 61 on both ends, but particularly because much of current US 218 follows historic US 161 (the red-blue dashed segment). You can also view the US 18 map, which shows US 218 with its implied family.
In a way I find this amusing because what is to be seen here is to some extent mirrored in a public art installation in the nearby museum. The installation is 8 Limestones by Ulrich Rückriem. When I first saw the installation a number of years ago I liked it but I was a bit worried that it might be an attractive air conditioning installation rather than a work of art. I will publish relevant photographs later today.
I last visited this complex in April 2016 had there have been some changes since then.
Here is a quote dating from nine years ago “In 2005, the partnership paid €79 million for the 8.2-acre site. When the entire range of facilities are completed in 2011 it is expected to have an end value of almost 10 times the purchase price.” [Irish Times Wed, Apr,2008,01:00]. I very much doubt that you would have to pay €790 million if you wanted to buy the complex today but is is frequently referred to as a €600 million development. However, as another property boom is underway it could well well worth a billion be year end.
According to the official description the €600 million Heuston South Quarter [HSQ], set on a former quarry, overlooks the Royal Hospital but I would be more inclined to say that it is overlooked by the Royal Hospital. The complex incorporates over 92,900sq m of floor area including retail, offices, a four to five-star hotel, leisure centre, gym, restaurants, and a crèche. To the best of my knowledge the first 350 apartments have been completed. I must admit that I did not notice the hotel. I sould mention that I have some friends who live here and they are really like it … I could be wrong but they are buying their apartments through some sort of rent to buy scheme.
The area was identified by Dublin City Council as one of the most important development zones for the future of Dublin and therefore formulated Heuston Regeneration Strategy to stimulate and control this growth. The stated aim was to develop a modern and dynamic western entrance to Dublin city centre.
Designed by a team led by Anthony Reddy Architects, the development was originally called ‘Westgate’ because it is strategically located as the new western entrance to Dublin city centre. At some stage it was rebranded as the HSQ.
The complex is located close to Heuston Railway Station which includes a Luas tram stop. It is also very close to the Luas which runs down Steevens' Lane along-side the old Dr Steevens' Hospital.
Urban extents illustrate the shape and area of urbanized places. Urbanized localities are defined as places with with 5,000 or more inhabitants that are delineated by stable night-time lights. For poorly lit areas, alternate sources are used to estimate the extent of cities.
Urban extents illustrate the shape and area of urbanized places. Urbanized localities are defined as places with with 5,000 or more inhabitants that are delineated by stable night-time lights. For poorly lit areas, alternate sources are used to estimate the extent of cities.
Vijaya Nagara is in Ballari district, Karnataka. It is the name of the now-ruined capital city that surrounds modern-day Hampi, of the historic Vijayanagara Empire which extended over South India.
Around 1500, Vijaynagara had about 500,000 inhabitants (supporting 0.1% of the global population during 1440-1540), making it the second largest city in the world after Beijing and almost twice the size of Paris. The ruins are now a World Heritage Site.
LOCATION
Most of the city lies on the south bank of the Tungabhadra River. The city was built around the religious center of the Virupaksha temple complex at Hampi. Other holy places lie within its environs, including the site that legend calls as Kishkindha, which includes the historically important Hanuman temple (the cave home of Anjana, Kesari and Shabari) and a holy pond called the Pampasarovar. It is known to house the cave home of Sugriva, the monkey king in the Hindu epic Ramayana.
The city at its greatest extent was considerably larger than the area described here; an account is given at the article on the Vijayanagara metropolitan area. The central areas of the city, which include what are now called the Royal Centre and the Sacred Centre, extend over an area of at least 40 km². It includes the modern village of Hampi. Another village, Kamalapura, lies just outside the old walled city, surrounded by ruins and monuments. The nearest town and railway is in Hospet, about 13 kilometres by road. Hosapete lies within the original extents of the old city, though most of the items of interest are walking distance of Hampi and Kamalapura.
The natural setting for the city is a hilly landscape, dotted with granite boulders. The Tungabhadra river runs through it and provides protection from the north. Beyond the hills, on the south bank on which the city was built, a plain extended further the south. Large walls and fortifications of hewn granite defended the centre of the city.
THE CITY
The name translates as "City of Victory", from vijaya (victory) and nagara (city). As the prosperous capital of the largest and most powerful kingdom of its time in all of India, Vijayanagara attracted people from all around the world.
After Timur's sack of Delhi, North India remained weak and divided up. South India was better off, and the largest and most powerful of the southern kingdoms was Vijayanagar. This state and city attracted many of the Hindu refugees from the north. From contemporary accounts, it appears that the city was rich and very beautiful - The city is such that eye has not seen nor ear heard of any place resembling it upon earth", says Abdur-Razzak from Central Asia. There were arcades and magnificent galleries for the bazaars, and rising above them all was the palace of the king surrounded by "many rivulets and streams flowing through channels of cut stone, polished and even." The whole city was full of gardens, and because of them, as an Italian visitor in 1420, Nicolo Conti writes, the circumference of the city was sixty miles. A later visitor was Paes, a Portuguese who came in 1522 after having visited the Italian cities of the Renaissance. The city of Vijayanagar, he says, is as "large as Rome and very beautiful to the sight"; it is full of charm and wonder with its innumerable lakes and waterways and fruit gardens. It is "the best-provided city in the world" and "everything abounds." The chambers of the palace were a mass of ivory, with roses and lotuses carved in ivory at the top"it is so rich and beautiful that you would hardly find anywhere, another such.
— Jawaharlal Nehru, The Discovery of India
The ruined city is a World Heritage Site, known in that context as the Ruins of Hampi. In recent years there have been concerns regarding damage to the site at Hampi from heavy vehicular traffic and the construction of road bridges in the vicinity. Hampi is now listed as a "threatened" World Heritage Site.
HISTORY
The Vijayanagara empire was founded by (Harihara) and Bukka, also called the Sangama brothers. The empire consolidated under Harihara I and began to expand and prosper under Bukka Raya. Some time after its original establishment the capital was established at the more defensible and secure location of Vijayanagara on the south side of the river.
Contemporary descriptions depict a very large and highly developed metropolitan area: recent commentators say,
"The massive walls, which can still be traced, enclosed an area of more than sixty square miles, much of which was occupied by fields and gardens watered by canals from the river. The population cannot be estimated with precision, but it was certainly very large when judged by the standards of the fifteenth century. The great majority of the houses were naturally small and undistinguished, but among them were scattered palaces, temples, public buildings, wide streets of shops shaded by trees, busy markets, and all the equipment of a great and wealthy city. The principal buildings were constructed in the regular Hindu style, covered with ornamental carving, and the fragments which have survived suffice to give point to the enthusiastic admiration of the men who saw the city in the days of its magnificence."
The city flourished between the 14th century and 16th century, during the height of the power of the Vijayanagar empire. During this time, the empire was often in conflict with the neighbouring kingdoms with Muslim rulers, which had become established in the northern Deccan, collectively termed the Deccan sultanates. In 1565, the empire's armies suffered a massive and catastrophic defeat at the hands of an alliance of the sultanates, and the capital was taken. The victorious Deccan armies then proceeded to raze, depopulate, and destroy the city and its temples and icons over a period of several months. Despite the empire continuing to exist thereafter during a slow decline, the original capital was not reoccupied or rebuilt. It has not been occupied since.
The buildings in the city are mostly built in the original native traditions of southern India, associated with the Hindu religion. Some of them show a certain amount of Islamic influence due the interaction with the Islamic kingdoms.
THE SACRED CENTRE
This title has been given by historians to the areas extending from Hampi village to Matanga Hill to its east. It is sometimes extended further northeast to the Vitthala Temple. It consists of a hilly region immediately to the south of the Tungabhadra.
VIRUPAKSHA TEMPLE
This surviving temple and temple complex is the core of the village of Hampi. Also known as the Pampapati temple, it predated the empire, and was extended between the 13th and 17th centuries. It has two courts with entrance gopurams. The main entrance with a 50-meter gopuram faces east into a ceremonial and colonnaded street, that extends for about 1 km to a monolithic statue of Nandi.
The temple is still in use now. It is dedicated to Virupaksha, an aspect of Shiva and his consort Pampa, a local deity.
HEMAKUTA HILL
The hill is situated to the south of Hampi village. It bears several small temples that predate the construction of Vijayanagara as the capital of the empire, some being as early as the 10th century. The hill was fortified when the main city was constructed, and a number of more recent temples, tanks, entrances, and gopurams exist on the hill, some of which were never completed.
KRISHNA TEMPLE
This is a ruined temple, south of Hampi and Hemakuta hill. It was built by the emperor Krishnadevaraya after military campaigns in Odisha. The temple is contained in twin enclosures. Parts of the temple and its compound have collapsed, and while some restoration has been carried out, it is generally in poor condition. There is now no image in the inner sanctuary.
LAKSHMI NARASIMHA
Also to the south of Hampi is this massive rock cut idol of Narasimha, the fierce aspect of Vishnu, 6.7 m high. Originally the idol bore a smaller image of Lakshmi on one knee; this had fallen off, probably due to vandalism. The Lakshmi statue is now in the museum at Kamalapuram.
Narasimha is depicted seated on the coils of Shesha. Shesha is shown here in a form with seven heads, the heads arching over Narasimha to form a canopy. The statue has recently been restored. The granite strap binding between his knees is a recent addition to stabilise it.
The donation of this work is ascribed to either Krishnadeva Raya, or to a wealthy merchant during his reign.
SUGRIVA`S CAVE
This is a natural cave, said to be the original home of the ape king Sugriva, where Rama is said to have met him and Hanuman on his journey . The cave is marked by coloured markings, and the attentions of pilgrims.
KODANDARAMA TEMPLE
This is situated to the east of Hampi, near the end of the colonnaded street that leads out from the Virupaksha temple. It is in the sacred centre of the city, and by a narrow point of the Tungabhadra river. This temple marks the spot where Rama crowned Sugriva. The temple is still in use, and the garbha griha contains statues of Rama, Lakshmana and Sita all carved out a single boulder.
VITTALA TEMPLE
Situated northeast of Hampi, opposite the village of Anegondi, this is one of the principal monuments of the city. It is dedicated to Vittala, an aspect of Vishnu worshipped in the Maratha country. It is believed to date from the 16th century.
In front of the temple is the world famous stone chariot or ratha. This is one of the three famous stone chariots in India, the other two being in Konark and Mahabalipuram. The wheels of the ratha can be rotated but the government cemented them to avoid the damage caused by the visitors.
One of the notable features of the Vittala Temple is the musical pillars. Each of the pillars that support the roof of the main temple is supported by a pillar representing a musical instrument, and is constructed as 7 minor pillars arranged around a main pillar. These 7 pillars, when struck, emanate the 7 notes from the representative instrument, varying in sound quality based on whether it represents a wind, string or percussion instrument.
The British wanted to check the reason behind this wonder and so they had cut two pillars to check anything was there inside the pillars that was producing the sound. They had found nothing but hollow pillars. Even today we can see those pillars cut by the British.
The road leading to the temple was once a market where the horses were traded. Even today we can see the ruins of the market on both the sides of the road. The temple contains the images of foreigners like Persians selling horses.
The temple is the venue of the annual Purandaradasa festival.
THE KING`S BALANCE
This structure, the Tulapurushandana, stands to the southwest of the Vittala temple. consists of two carved granite pillars, spanned by a carved horizontal granite transom. This was used on ceremonial days, when scales were hung from the transom, and the Raya (the emperor) was ceremonially weighed against gold or jewels. The treasure was then distributed, to Brahmins or others in the city.
THE ROYAL CENTRE
This extensive area consists of a small plateau, which starts about 2 km to the southeast of Hampi, and extends southeast, almost to the village of Kamalapuram. It is separated from the Sacred Centre by a small valley, now consisting of agricultural fields, and which carries irrigation canals or streams that join the river opposite Anegondi. A granite platform overlooks the Royal Centre. The Royal Centre contains the ruins of palaces, administrative buildings, and some temples directly associated with royalty. Little remains of the palaces except the foundations, as they were largely timber structures, for comfort. The temples and some of the other stone structures survive however, as do many of the surrounding city walls.
An aqueduct runs through much of the Royal Enclosure and into the Great Tank where water was brought for special events. The west end of the tank is overlooked by a platform shrine. The aqueduct also runs into the large stepped tank, lined in green diorite, with a geometric design that has not required restoration
RAMACHANDRA TEMPLE
The temple stands in a rectangular courtyard, with entrances facing to the east. Reliefs showing daily life and festival scenes occur on the outer walls of the courtyard. Scenes from the Ramayana occur on the inner courtyard walls, and on the temple itself. There is a well-relief of baby Krishna on the walls.
The temple may have been exclusively for royal use. It is believed to be constructed at the site of Vaali's killing in the hands of Rama. It may have been a private shrine for royalty. It is unusual in that it has four black basalt columns in the mantapa (columned hall). The inner sanctuary of the temple is now empty.
This is also known as the Hazara Rama temple (temple of a thousand Ramas), due to the recurrence of images of Rama on the walls. Sometimes it is called the Hajara Rama temple (the Rama temple in the courtyard).
UNDERGROUND SHIVA TEMPLE
The temple has a] with an antarala and Aradhamantapa and a Mahamantapa. The mahamantapa has pillared corridors that fuse with the pillared Mukhamantapa, making a larger pillared frontal Mantapa which also encloses a Dwajasthamba. The pillars of this temple are plain.
An inscription referring to this temple states that Krishnadevaraya donated Nagalapura and other villages for worship and offerings to the Gods for the merit of his parents Narsa Nayaka and Nagaji Devi.
At times the base of the temple is flooded and may be inaccessible. When it is accessible, masses of small bats may be found in the temple.
LOTUS MAHAL
Lotus Mahal, also known as Kamal Mahal or Chitrangini Mahal is situated in the Zenana Enclosure of the monuments. It is a ticketed monument and a single ticket would let you into the Zenana Enclosure covering several monuments including Elephant Stables. The term Zenana refers to the Women and Zenana Enclosure in general would refer to the Queens’ enclosure along with the servants’ quarters around and private temples.
Lotus Mahal is a two storied very symmetric structure exhibiting a fine example of Indo-Islamic architecture. The base of the structure depicts a Hindu foundation of stone just like in the temples, typical of Vijayanagara Architecture while the upper superstructure is Islamic in architecture with pyramidal towers instead of regular dome shapes, giving it a Lotus-like look, originating in the name. Also, this is one of the very few buildings that have the plaster intact though it is defaced at several places due to wear and tear, especially; the dampness on the walls is very visible. The exemplary carvings on the pillar arches including those of birds and delicate art work can be very mesmerizing, especially with the Makara Torana on top of these arches that can still be seen on some of them.
It is also believed that the Mahal or Palace was air-cooled and maintained its temperature during summer. The proof of this can be seen in the pipeline work above and between the arches.
The entire monument is surrounded by a fortifying wall which is rectangular in plan. The four corners of the fortifications have watch towers that would have been used to keep an eye on the intruders into the Womens’ chambers. While it was a very popular practice to have Eunuchs hold guards at Queens’ Palaces in the North India, especially during Moghul rule, the existence of such a practice has not come to light in the Vijayanagara kingdom and era.
How to Reach There: The Lotus Mahal is situated in the Zenana Enclosure of the Royal Center and could be reached from Hazara Rama Temple.
PUSHKARANI
Also called the Stepped Bath, or the Queen's bath, this is a stepped well designed for bathing. Such sunken wells were created to provide relief from daytime heat. It would have been covered when the city was occupied.
ELEPHANT STABLES
A set of large stables, to house the ceremonial elephants of the royal household. The area in front of them was a parade ground for the elephants, and for troops. This is another structure that shows Islamic influence in its domes and arched gateways. The guards' barracks are located right next to the elephant stables.
OTHER AREAS
Other monuments and places of interest can be found outside of the above two major centers.
A number of modern populated towns and villages lie within the extents of the original city. These include;
- Anegundi, probably the earliest settlement in the area, on the north side of the Tungabhadra River.
- Hampi, the village lies in the middle of the ruins.
- Hospet, a town and railhead, to the southwest.
- Kamalapura, a small temple town to the southeast of the Royal Centre, also houses an archaeological museum.
All of these are in Ballari district, except Anegundi, which is in Koppal district.
WIKIPEDIA
A wider shot showing the extent of the clearance between the main lines in the distance which can be compared with a shot from October the 6th last year and taken in better light, showing much more greenery. I would suspect the burgeoning growth was blocking the driver's views of the line in front of the loco and the material was gradually creeping south towards the position of the camera. Today newly painted Freightliner class 66, 66504, and with a slightly different livery to the earlier paint jobs, heads the short set south, timing load, as usual, is 1235 tonnes but most of the consist is empty and I only see 5 containers in the haul, the other flat-bed wagons being empty. The yellow sign-board is for a speed restriction along the main line as work is being undertaken further along to remove the old ladder crossovers at Treeton south, although the main lines are now plain line, a stub of the crossover still remains in the loop and there is a corresponding sign board at the other side of the work, see next pictures. On the left, the old Woodhouse Mill sewerage works and there are more workings afoot on the old Orgreave Coking plant side in the left distance; lorries appear to be building a large bank along the north side of the fishing/nature pond and to the right of this, the new Waverley housing estate continues to spread. The Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, now home to Boeing, the University of Sheffield, WI Technology & McLaren, the latter are to build a new 50 million pound centre to produce carbon-fibre chassis for their new cars; if you can afford to buy one. Its all a far cry from the like of the vast, smelly and messy Orgreave Coking works in much the same way that places like this and others such as Manvers Colliery and its associated, equally smelly, Coking works near Wath and the Avenue Coking plant, along the 'Old Road' south of Chesterfield also with the same qualification as the other two, are now a long gone part of history and the scene now is one of new-age industrial manufacture... hard to say which is best really!
Thai police cadets embarked on the first-ever training on ending violence against women and girls to increase their knowledge on the nature, extent, and seriousness on crimes perpetrated against women and show commitment as change agent towards ending the global pandemic.
Following the advocacy to end violence against women supported by Her Royal Highness Princess Bajrakitiyabha, UN Women Goodwill Ambassador, the Office of the Attorney General and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) have joined hands with the Police Cadet Academy in organizing the Training Workshop: New Generation to End Violence against Women for the 285 third-year Police Cadet students from today and will call for 80 volunteering students to continue with the training for another two days. The training curriculum includes role of police in justice system, police as change agent, and attitude and behavioral change. The workshop is part of Thailand’s commitment to contribute to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon UNiTE Campaign to End Violence against Women.
Experiences worldwide have shown that recruitment of women police officers and resourcing of gender desks must be part of a broader strategy to train and incentivize all police to adequately respond to women’s needs. Women being present in justice services can help to enhance accountability and create a system that is responsible to women.
In Thailand, a National Survey in 2009 found that 365,230 ever-married women faced physical violence from intimate partners, especially young women aged 15-19 years. But the number of ever-partnered women facing violence against women remains unknown. Under-reporting of crimes against women is a serious problem in all regions.
Photo: UN Women/Panya Janjira
Urban extents illustrate the shape and area of urbanized places. Urbanized localities are defined as places with with 5,000 or more inhabitants that are delineated by stable night-time lights. For poorly lit areas, alternate sources are used to estimate the extent of cities.
Creator: White, William Charles, 1873-1960
Title: Ferry
Date: n.d.
Extent: 1 photograph: b&w ; (10.5x15cm)
Notes: From an album of photographs of China taken by Bishop W.C. White. Title transcribed from caption when available.
Format: Photograph
Rights Info: No known restrictions on access
Repository: Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario Canada, M5S 1A5, library.utoronto.ca/fisher
Part of: MS Coll. 32 White, William Charles Papers.
Finding Aid located at: www.library.utoronto.ca/fisher/collections/findaids/white...
An extremely rare World WarTwo (one of few in England) 5.25-inch Battery, consisting of three Gun Emplacements, located within the western extent of Weybourne Anti-Aircraft Training Camp, the site is centred on TG 0975 4381. The group consists of a Command Post building and three 5.25-inch Gun Emplacements, one of which was constructed in the post World War Two phase of the camp, potentially post 1953. A national plan was devised in 1944 to construct 5.25-inch batteries across Britain, although the Weybourne guns may have been installed as late as 1946, although there are no available aerial photographs of the camp in between 1941 and June 1946, so it is possible that the guns were constructed earlier. However on the 1946 aerial photographs there are obvious signs of relatively recent construction and activity around the site.
The Command Post building is centred on TG 0982 4387 and measures 55ft 9in by 19ft 8in. This building now houses the Environmental Centre operated by the University of East Anglia.
The eastern emplacement is centred on TG 0977 4381, a circular encasement, 39ft 4in in diameter, surrounds the gun and a 18ft long magazine is located to the immediate southeast. The central emplacement is centred on TG 0972 4381 and the post war gun is located at TG 0968 4382. A loop of access trackway runs to the south, which continues to the south towards the airstrip.
The site of the World War Two and post war Weybourne Anti-Aircraft Training Camp located alongside the cliffs at Weybourne to the north west of the village. The camp originally started out as a temporary summer camp for the Anti-Aircraft Division of the Territorial Army in 1935. At first the majority of the camp consisted of wooden and tented structures, although in 1937 it was decided to make the camp permanent and more fixed structures and defences were erected. The camp closed in 1959. During World War Two the camp was surrounded by a perimeter Anti-Tank Ditch and defended by a system of Gun Emplacements and Barbed Wire obstructions. The interior of the camp consisted of groups of Nissen huts and barracks and other military buildings. The cliff top to the north was covered by a line of Heavy Anti-Aircraft Guns and Batteries, Slit Trenches and Pillboxes.
RAF Weybourne was a World War Two Anti-Aircraft Establishment, ''X'' Flt, No. 1 Anti-Aircraft Co-Operation Unit were based at the station between 16th May and 14th September 1939, with ''T'' Flt, No. 1 Anti-Aircraft Co-Operation Unit there between 25th February and 29th April 1942. No. 6 Anti-Aircraft Co-Operation Unit were based there between 7th December 1942 and 30th November 1943. Associated with the Anti-Aircraft Gunnery, the station operated the De Havilland DH-82B Queen Bee target drone aircraft, a radio-controlled target tug version of the Tiger Moth II.
Although the published closure date known for this airfield relates to the World War Two airfield, the Army maintained an Anti-Aircraft Training Camp across from RAF Weybourne using Bofors 40mm Anti-Aircraft Guns linked to AA4 Mk.7 Gun-Laying Radar. When that closed in 1958 the radars were transferred to the RAF. A very small permanent detachment was maintained there using the obsolete radar into the 1980's for cross-tell training, decoy work and to extend low level coverage. In the late 1980's, after the obsolete radars were removed, trials were carried out to confirm the site's suitability for deployment of the new mobile radars that were coming into service.
A Marconi Type 91 ''Martello'' radar was moved from RAF Trimingham to Weybourne in September 1996, operated by 432 Signals Unit acting as a Ready Platform (along with RAF Hopton and RAF Trimingham) for the IUKADGE Series II (United Kingdom Air Defence Ground Environment) Radar System controlled from the R3 Underground Control Centre at RAF Neatishead. In October 1997 the Type 91 at RAF Weybourne was de-built, replaced when the Type 93 at RAF Trimingham became operational.
Information sourced from -
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Weybourne
www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?ui...
Inle Lake (Burmese: အင်းလေးကန်, pronounced: [ʔɪ́ɴlé kàɴ]) is a freshwater lake located in the Nyaungshwe Township of Taunggyi District of Shan State, part of Shan Hills in Myanmar (Burma). It is the second largest lake in Myanmar with an estimated surface area of 116 km2, and one of the highest at an elevation of 880 m. During the dry season, the average water depth is 2.1 m, with the deepest point being 3.7 m, but during the rainy season this can increase by 1.5 m.
The watershed area for the lake lies to a large extent to the north and west of the lake. The lake drains through the Nam Pilu or Balu Chaung on its southern end. There is a hot spring on its northwestern shore.
Although the lake is not large, it contains a number of endemic species. Over twenty species of snails and nine species of fish are found nowhere else in the world. Some of these, like the silver-blue scaleless Sawbwa barb, the crossbanded dwarf danio, and the Lake Inle danio, are of minor commercial importance for the aquarium trade. It hosts approximately 20,000 brown and black head migratory seagulls in November, December and January.
In June 2015, it becomes the Myanmar's first designated place of World Network of Biosphere Reserves. It was one of 20 places added at at the Unesco's 27th Man and the Biosphere (MAB) International Coordinating Council (ICC) meeting.
PEOPLE AND CULTURE
The people of Inle Lake (called Intha), some 70,000 of them, live in four cities bordering the lake, in numerous small villages along the lake's shores, and on the lake itself. The entire lake area is in Nyaung Shwe township. The population consists predominantly of Intha, with a mix of other Shan, Taungyo, Pa-O (Taungthu), Danu, Kayah, Danaw and Bamar ethnicities. Most are devout Buddhists, and live in simple houses of wood and woven bamboo on stilts; they are largely self-sufficient farmers.
Most transportation on the lake is traditionally by small boats, or by somewhat larger boats fitted with single cylinder inboard diesel engines. Local fishermen are known for practicing a distinctive rowing style which involves standing at the stern on one leg and wrapping the other leg around the oar. This unique style evolved for the reason that the lake is covered by reeds and floating plants making it difficult to see above them while sitting. Standing provides the rower with a view beyond the reeds. However, the leg rowing style is only practiced by the men. Women row in the customary style, using the oar with their hands, sitting cross legged at the stern.
Fish caught from the lake - the most abundant kind is called nga hpein locally (Inle carp, Cyprinus intha) - are a staple of the local diet. A popular local dish is htamin gyin - 'fermented' rice kneaded with fish and/or potato - served with hnapyan gyaw (literally twice fried - Shan tofu). In addition to fishing, locals grow vegetables and fruit in large gardens that float on the surface of the lake. The floating garden beds are formed by extensive manual labor. The farmers gather up lake-bottom weeds from the deeper parts of the lake, bring them back in boats and make them into floating beds in their garden areas, anchored by bamboo poles. These gardens rise and fall with changes in the water level, and so are resistant to flooding. The constant availability of nutrient-laden water results in these gardens being incredibly fertile. Rice cultivation is also significant.
Hand-made goods for local use and trading are another source of commerce. Typical products include tools, carvings and other ornamental objects, textiles, and cheroots. A local market serves most common shopping needs and is held daily but the location of the event rotates through five different sites around the lake area, thus each of them hosting an itinerant market every fifth day. When held on the lake itself, trading is conducted from small boats. This 'floating-market' event tends to emphasize tourist trade much more than the other four.
The Inle lake area is renowned for its weaving industry. The Shan-bags, used daily by many Burmese as a tote-bag, are produced in large quantities here. Silk-weaving is another very important industry, producing high-quality hand-woven silk fabrics of distinctive design called Inle longyi. A unique fabric from the lotus plant fibers is produced only at Inle lake and is used for weaving special robes for Buddha images called kya thingahn (lotus robe).
ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS
Inle Lake is suffering from the environmental effects of increased population and rapid growth in both agriculture and tourism. During the 65-year period from 1935 to 2000, the net open water area of Inle Lake decreased from 69.10 km² to 46.69 km², a loss of 32.4%, with development of floating garden agriculture, which occurs largely on the west side of the lake (a practice introduced in the 1960s).
Lumber removal and unsustainable cultivation practices (slash and burn farming techniques) on the hills surrounding the lake are causing ever-increasing amounts of silt and nutrients to run off into the rivers that feed the lake, especially along its western and northern watershed areas. This silt fills up the lake; the nutrients encourage the growth of weeds and algae. More important however is the development of floating garden agriculture, largely along the western side of the lake. This practice encroaches into the diminishing area of the lake, since over time, the floating beds become solid ground. About 93% (nearly 21 km²) of the recent loss in open water area of the lake, largely along its western side, is thought to be due to this agricultural practice. Direct environmental impacts associated with these combined agricultural activities within the wetlands and surrounding hills of the lake include sedimentation, eutrophication, and pollution.
The water hyacinth, a plant not native to the lake, also poses a major problem. It grows rapidly, filling up the smaller streams and large expanses of the lake, robbing native plants and animals of nutrients and sunlight. At one time, all boats coming into Nyaung Shwe were required to bring in a specified amount of water hyacinth. Over the past twenty years, large-scale use of dredges and pumps has been employed with some success in controlling the growth of this plant. On a smaller scale, public awareness education and small-scale control have also been successful.
Another cause for concern is the planned introduction of non-native fish species, such as the Grass Carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella)] intended to improve fishery.
Sanitation in the villages around the lake is an ongoing concern for public health authorities, due to untreated sewage (with 72% of households using open pits, not latrines) and waste water flowing into the lake. To ensure fresh and clean water, some villages now have enclosed wells and public access to the well water. Some studies of the lake's surface
water quality indicates that the water is not safe for consumption. Water from Inle Lake has dissolved oxygen ranges lower than those necessary for fisheries and aquatic life, while nitrite, nitrate and phosphate ranges are unusually high.
Noise pollution is also a noticeable issue. The noise from the cheaper poorly muffled diesel engines driving the stern drive propellers is significant, and can be a distraction to the otherwise tranquil lake.
The summer of 2010 registered very high temperatures causing the water level of the lake to drop so low, the lowest in nearly 50 years, that drinking water had to be fetched from elsewhere and the floating market was in danger of disappearing. One other serious consequence was that the hydroelectric plant at Lawpita, where the former capital Yangon received its power supply from, could not operate at its full capacity.
TOURISM
The best time of the year to visit is during September and October. The ceremonial Hpaung Daw U Festival, which lasts for almost three weeks, is closely followed by the Thadingyut festival of lights. Inthas and Shan turn out in their best clothes in great numbers to celebrate the Buddhist Lent. Traditional boat racing, with dozens of leg-rowers in Shan dress in a team on each boat, is a famous event during the Hpaung Daw U Festival.
Inle Lake is a major tourist attraction, and this has led to some development of tourist infrastructure. Many small and large privately owned hotels and tour operations have arisen during the past few years. Local shops are flooded with consumer items, both local and foreign. The nearest airport is Heho Airport which is 35 km away. There are flights from both Yangon and Mandalay. Yangon is 660 km away by road, Mandalay 330 km.
CUISINE
Inle cuisine is different from Shan cuisine, as it incorporates local natural produce. The most well-known Inle dish would be the Htamin jin - a rice, tomato and potato or fish salad kneaded into round balls dressed and garnished with crisp fried onion in oil, tamarind sauce, coriander and spring onions often with garlic, Chinese chives roots (ju myit), fried whole dried chili, grilled dried fermented beancakes (pè bouk) and fried dried tofu (topu jauk kyaw) on the side.
WIKIPEDIA
leg extention
Steampunk Ballerina
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made by me
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The extent of land degradation in Masange, Milungui in Lushoto, Tanzania.
A lot of work has been going on in the CCAFS Climate Smart Villages in Lushoto, Tanzania. Farmers have been engaging in agroforestry, farmer learning events, improved land management and use of indigenous knowledge in weather forecasting. These images showcase activities at the site.
Find out more about CCAFS Climate Smart Villages.
Photo P.Kimeli (CCAFS)
Limitation of Atma (self)-Realization
To what extent does ãtmã-realisation actually help at the time of death?"
Shriji Mahãrãj replied, "When faced with the task of crossing a river, one who knows how to swim can cross it, whereas one who is unable to swim will be left standing. However, when faced with the task of crossing an ocean, both require the aid of a ship. Similarly, a river - in the form of the dualities of cold and heat, hunger and thirst, honor and insult, happiness and misery - may be crossed by a person with ãtmã-realisation; death, however, is like an ocean. In that case, both a person with ãtmã-realisation and a person without it require the help of a ship in the form of faith in God. Therefore, only the firm refuge of God is helpful at the time of death, whereas ãtmã-realisation alone is of no use whatsoever at the time of death. For this reason, one should firmly cultivate faith in God."
Vachanamrut Gadhadã I-61