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I wanted to include the Perseus molecular cloud in the same extent as the California Nebula, but it didn't quite fit in the 1.5x-crop-factor field of view of my Fuji + Samyang 135mm lens, so I shot a mosaic of 4 panels. I thought snct astro did a great job framing the extent here (flic.kr/p/2kcoAZu), so I imitated their framing.
Panels were 26, 30, 22, and 37 x 1 min integrations and overlapped substantially, so most areas were covered by more than one panel. I also added 50 x 1 min of imagery of the Perseus Molecular Cloud from Nov. 20, 2019 (flic.kr/p/2hNZ6iA). So in total this is 165 minutes worth of data.
Fujifilm X-T10, Samyang 135mm f/2.0 ED UMC @ f2.0, ISO 1600, tracking with iOptron SkyTracker Pro, stacking of individual panels done with DeepSkyStacker, flattening of individual panels and mosaicking done with Astro Pixel Processor, editing in GIMP.
Skies were Bortle 3/4 for the 4 panels shot on Dec. 5, 2020, and Bortle 2/3 for the 50 exposures from Nov. 20, 2019.
It was fun discovering the planetary nebula NGC 1514 below the California Nebula as I processed this. Even though it's tiny at 135mm, it was very apparent that it was a planetary nebula rather than a star.
Explored ~ Highest #462 on Saturday, November 4, 2017, and so far as I can see, dropped before I got out of bed this morning! Thanks so much, my Flickr friends, for your willingness to fave and to comment on my pictures! I'm very grateful for your support!
Weights & measures
Extent
Measuring tape
Selective focus
Taken at The Regency, Laguna Woods, Orange County, California. © 2017 All Rights Reserved.
My images are not to be used, copied, edited, or blogged without my explicit permission.
Please!! NO Glittery Awards or Large Graphics...Buddy Icons are OK. Thank You!
Many thanks for every kind comment, fave, your encouraging words, and the inspiration of your fine photography, my Flickr friends! You make my day every day!
"Generosity lies less in giving much than in giving at the right moment." ~ Jean de la Bruyere
In the wake of the earthquake in Haiti, an even bigger quake has also hit Chile. It was even stronger (at 8.8 magnitude) than that of the Haiti tremor and was reported to have actually shifted the Earth's axis. And yet one wonders why the news on Chile has been sporadic and shortlived. We may not fully realize the extent of devastation this quake has wrought but it is a fact that many were affected. And many need help. Aftershocks are still felt even at this time.
Donations from various sources to Chile has not been forthcoming, if not slow. If you are moved to help a brother in need, please remember Chile in your prayers. Maybe even forego a cup of espresso or latte and share with those who need it more. The cost of a cup may just be a blessing for someone in Chile today.
If you would like more information on Chile's tragedy, you can contact: ldeep dreamsI beg your solidarity to Chile ¡¡¡¡ here on flickr
Photos of Chile can be found here
Is a duet of short extent and concise form.
Mozart wrote the most beautiful! www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtTCwH2mQTA
Gerbera is a genus of ornamental plants from the sunflower family. It was named in honour of the German naturalist Traugott Gerber. View On Black
It has approximately 30 species in the wild, extending to South America, Africa and tropical Asia.
Colours include white, yellow, orange, red, and pink. The center of the flower is sometimes black.
It is the fifth most used cut flower in the world (after rose, carnation, chrysanthemum, and tulip).
Giving my flowers SOUL?
I love 'creating' and playing with light in the studio, comp in camera, gives me a real 'PHOTOGRAPHY' buzz, lol, M, (*_*)
For more: www.indigo2photography.co.uk
IT IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN (BY LAW!!!) TO USE ANY OF MY image or TEXT on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit permission. © All rights reserved
Gerbera, red, petals, flowers, studio, black-background, colour, design, square, NikonD7000, "Magda indigo"
One of the things that’s interesting about living in a big city is the number of times in which we draw instant conclusions about strange sights on the street. To some extent, everything looks strange on Halloween, of course, but when you’re surrounded by 8 million strangers, you see strange, unexpected sights every day. You don’t have the time, the energy, or the interest to check out the details; so you make some “snap” judgments that get filed away temporarily in some recess of your mind, and you just keep walking.
As a street photographer, I am constantly told that I should stop and interact with the people I photograph; get to know them, learn enough about them so that the photographs tell a meaningful personal story without the need for any words. But the photo you’re looking at here has at least seven individuals, most of whom I’ll never see again. True, 6 of the 7 are walking away from me; and I could have stopped the figure in the red mask to find out who he is, where he comes from, and a thousand other details about his life. Maybe he (or she) was hoping I would do so; maybe that’s what he (or she) really wants. But for better or worse, I simply snapped a photo (actually, five photos in quick succession) and kept on walking.
But if I did not stop to chat with this individual, obviously you didn’t either. To you, this is just a momentary scene, captured as digital bits that float through the Internet. Chances are you’ll never see an image quite like this again, and you’ll never meet the man/woman or the dog. And most of the people looking at this image have never been to New York City, never set foot in Greenwich Village, and have no idea whether this is a common, daily scene — or just an anomaly that occurs once a year.
Be honest with yourself: if you’re human, you’ve drawn some conclusions about what you’re looking at. You have probably assumed, for example, that it is a man you’re looking at, not a woman. Why? Who knows … maybe it’s the body language, maybe it’s the choice of pants rather than a dress, maybe it’s some combination of a hundred other subtle clues.
I also conclude that I’m looking at a relatively young person; not a child, of course, but also not an elderly person in his 80s, and probably not even a middle-aged person. Why? Again, who knows? It might be as simple as the bias that older people simply would not “do” such a thing … and, of course, it might actually turn out that this snap judgment is utterly, totally wrong. Maybe it’s an old woman who is pushing the stroller down the street …
As for the scene itself — a costumed dog in a baby stroller — there are a thousand other snap judgments that we might make. I wouldn’t be surprised, for example, if a common response from people all across the United States would be something like, “Only a gay person in a sinful, wicked part of a big city would parade around looking like that.”
I mention that particular example of a snap judgment (which, of course, is likely to be utterly wrong) to make a point: when most of us see something that’s completely different from the “normal” scene we encounter every day, it’s hard to resist the (largely unconscious) temptation to make judgments, often negative and critical in nature. If you’re a virile heterosexual in a small midwestern town, perhaps you expect to see people walking down the street with their German shepherd, and maybe you expect to see a Halloween costume that involves a farmer carrying a shotgun. Or maybe you have some other, completely different mental image of what would be “normal” in whatever corner of the universe you live in. But when you see this scene, your first reaction is, “Wow, that’s different, and it’s weird.” And your section reaction might well be, “Not only is it weird, it’s wrong!”
That doesn’t happen to us, at least not as often, in a big city like New York. That’s because we see weird things all day long. Not just on Halloween, but every day of the week. Gradually, you begin to accept the reality that you, too, are weird — at least from the perspective of the other weird people you see on the street. Everyone is weird, in their own little way. If nothing else, it teaches us to be more tolerant, more inclusive, more accepting.
But I still don’t get the gold necklace this person is wearing. That is definitely weird. Very weird.
Note: I chose this as my "photo of the day" for Nov 18, 2015.
************************
A year ago, I uploaded a bunch of photos to Flickr and admitted that while I had lived in New York City for 45 years — I had never previously attended, observed, photographed, or participated in the annual Halloween Parade that takes place in Greenwich Village. I won’t repeat the rest of the meandering blather that I wrote … if you would like to see it, and/or the photos that accompanied the notes, you can find them here on Flickr:
www.flickr.com/photos/yourdon/albums/72157646748393453
In any case, though, I decided to return to the parade again this year … and, like last year, I got off the subway at the Canal Street (express) station, and walked north to where the cops and the parade-floats, the bands and the professional photographers were gathering in anticipation of another year of festivity.
But I quickly discovered that, while last year’s parade started at 7 PM, when it was already cold and dark, this year’s parade was not scheduled to get started until 9 PM. I realize that 9 PM is quite an early hour for ghouls and vampires, not to mention teenagers, young adults, party-goers, and even the majority of the bridge-and-tunnel crowd who were presumably just getting in their trains and buses to make the trek from the wilderness regions of Long Island and New Jersey. But for those of us slightly (ahem) older than the age of 35, 9 PM is about the time when we turn on last night’s video-recording of Jimmy Fallon or Trevor Noah, and watch in a glassy-eyed stupor for a few minutes before we begin snoring …
So … I decided not to hang around the official starting position at Spring Street for two or three hours, and instead began wandering further north into the more crowded sections of the West Village — near West 4th Street. And I’m glad I did: while there were no bands or “fancy” displays, there was a lot more energy, and a lot of interesting costumes and people (or ghouls and vampires, depending on your preferences).
The only outcasts, far more confused and lost than the out-of-town tourists, were the cops. There were hundreds of them, maybe thousands; and this was two weeks before the recent terrorist attacks, with nobody expecting any trouble more serious than an occasional happy drunkard falling over in the street. Most of the cops that I saw were somehow affiliated with a “Community Affairs” department (or division, or whatever); but what made it funny is that none of them seemed to have a clue where they were. At one point, I stood near a friendly, attentive police officer at the corner of Sixth Avenue and 8th Street — when a tourist (sounding like he was from Germany) wandered up and asked the cop for directions to 9th Street. The cop shrugged politely and said that he really didn’t know — despite the fact that the street sign for 9th Street was clearly visible, less than a block away. I got the impression that the cops had been brought in from such far-away areas as Staten Island, Queens, and the Bronx; and while they could have navigated the neatly-rectangularized streets of mid-town Manhattan, they were utterly lost in Greenwich Village.
Oh, well, it didn’t matter. I watched one woman emerge from the subway, reassuring her clearly-terrified friend, “Don’t worry, I’ll get you back to New Jersey safely. I promise!” But she took one look at the wildly-costumed crowd around her, near the Waverly Theater, let out a loud “Woo hoo!” squeal, and left her friend behind….
In the midst of all this, I did manage to get some photos … and I’ve uploaded a small subset of them here to Flickr. Enjoy …
Peafowl are two Asiatic species of flying birds in the genus Pavo of the pheasant family, Phasianidae, best known for the male's extravagant eye-spotted tail, which it displays as part of courtship. The male is called a peacock, the female a peahen, and the offspring peachicks. The adult female peafowl is grey and/or brown. Peachicks can be between yellow and a tawny colour with darker brown patches. The term also embraces the Congo Peafowl, which is placed in a separate genus Afropavo.
The species are:
Indian Peafowl, Pavo cristatus, a resident breeder in South Asia. The peacock is designated as the national bird of India and the provincial bird of Punjab.
Green Peafowl, Pavo muticus. Breeds from Burma east to Java. The IUCN lists the Green Peafowl as vulnerable to extinction due to hunting and a reduction in extent and quality of habitat.
Congo Peafowl Afropavo congensis.
L. A. Arboretum and Botanical Gardens. Male Peacock.
The Bernina Range is a mountain range in the Alps of eastern Switzerland and northern Italy. It is considered to be part of the Rhaetian Alps within the Central Eastern Alps. It is one of the highest ranges of the Alps, covered with many glaciers. Piz Bernina (4,049 m), its highest peak, is the most easterly four thousand-metre peak in the Alps. Though Bernina’s glaciers have retreated over the last centuries, the sheer extent of these rivers of ice remains a distinctive feature of the entire range.
I decided for this hiking loop (solo) having a few spare days at the beginning of July; beautiful scenery, lack of crowds (compared to Tour of Mont Blanc), and relative proximity to Prague were the key factors of this decision. I went as light as possible, opting thus to mountain huts and not carrying much food. As the result, I hiked the whole 130km-long circuit in 5 days, averaging slightly less than 30km per day - quite a portion also given the elevation, however still perfectly possible for an average (solo) hiker with some decent experience.
Surprisingly, this has been my first time in the Alps (in summer). Have to say I like the area, though it may get crowded unpleasantly. The huts are often spectacularly located and the scenery tends to be breathtaking.
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During the first day on the trail, I hiked from from Maloja village to Alpe dell’Oro settlement via the beautiful Lake da Cavloc and the isolated Passo del Muretto pass (2562 m).
Arctic sea ice, the vast sheath of frozen seawater floating on the Arctic Ocean and its neighboring seas, has been hit with a double whammy over the past decades: as its extent shrunk, the oldest and thickest ice has either thinned or melted away, leaving the sea ice cap more vulnerable to the warming ocean and atmosphere.
“What we’ve seen over the years is that the older ice is disappearing,” said Walt Meier, a sea ice researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “This older, thicker ice is like the bulwark of sea ice: a warm summer will melt all the young, thin ice away but it can’t completely get rid of the older ice. But this older ice is becoming weaker because there’s less of it and the remaining old ice is more broken up and thinner, so that bulwark is not as good as it used to be.”
Read more: go.nasa.gov/2dPJ9zT
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
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Fork-tailed Woodnymph
A text, in english, from Fork-tailed Woodnymph
A text, in english, from Birdlife International:
Justification
This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence 30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size has not been quantified, but it is not believed to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
Taxonomic source(s)
del Hoyo, J.; Collar, N. J.; Christie, D. A.; Elliott, A.; Fishpool, L. D. C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International.
SACC. 2006. A classification of the bird species of South America. Available at: #http://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.html#.
Population justification
The global population size has not been quantified, but this species is described as 'common' (Stotz et al. (1996).
Trend justification
This species is suspected to lose 15.9-17.6% of suitable habitat within its distribution over three generations (12 years) based on a model of Amazonian deforestation (Soares-Filho et al. 2006, Bird et al. 2011). It is therefore suspected to decline by <25% over three generations.
References
Stotz, D. F.; Fitzpatrick, J. W.; Parker, T. A.; Moskovits, D. K. 1996. Neotropical birds: ecology and conservation. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Further web sources of information
Explore HBW Alive for further information on this species
Search for photos and videos,and hear sounds of this species from the Internet Bird Collection
Text account compilers
Ekstrom, J., Butchart, S.
IUCN Red List evaluators
Butchart, S., Symes, A.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2015) Species factsheet: Thalurania furcata. Downloaded from www.birdlife.org on 14/12/2015. Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2015) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from www.birdlife.org on 14/12/2015.
This information is based upon, and updates, the information published in BirdLife International (2000) Threatened birds of the world. Barcelona and Cambridge, UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, BirdLife International (2004) Threatened birds of the world 2004 CD-ROM and BirdLife International (2008) Threatened birds of the world 2008 CD-ROM. These sources provide the information for species accounts for the birds on the IUCN Red List.
To provide new information to update this factsheet or to correct any errors, please email BirdLife
To contribute to discussions on the evaluation of the IUCN Red List status of Globally Threatened Birds, please visit BirdLife's Globally Threatened Bird Forums.
Beija-flor-tesoura-verde
Texto, em português, da WikiAves:
O beija-flor-tesoura-verde é uma ave da ordem dos Apodiformes, da família Trochilidae.
Também é conhecido como beija-flor-de-barriga-violeta. No livro Aves do Brasil, edição Pantanal e Cerrado, consta como beija-flor-de-ventre-roxo.
Seu nome significa: do (grego) thalos = criança, descendente de; e ouranos céu, celeste, referente ao azul do céu; e do (latim) furcata, furcatus = bifurcada. ⇒ Pássaro filho do azul celeste com cauda bifurcada.
Mede cerca de 9,7 cm de comprimento. Macho com partes superiores esverdeadas, garganta verde-metálica, peito e barriga azul-violeta-brilhante; fêmea com as partes inferiores cinza.
Possui doze subespécies:
Thalurania furcata furcata (Gmelin, 1788) - ocorre no extremo Leste da Venezuela, Guianas e Norte do Brasil, ao norte do Rio Amazonas;
Thalurania furcata refulgens (Gould, 1853) - ocorre no Nordeste da Venezuela, na Península de Paría e na Serra de Cumaná;
Thalurania furcata fissilis (Berlepsch & Hartert, 1902) - ocorre no Leste da Venezuela, e na região adjacente no extremo Oeste da Guiana e Nordeste do Brasil;
Thalurania furcata nigrofasciata (Gould, 1846) - ocorre do Sudoeste da Colômbia até o extremo Sul da Venezuela e Noroeste do Brasil;
Thalurania furcata viridipectus (Gould, 1848) - ocorre do Leste da Cordilheira dos Andes na Leste da Colômbia até o Nordeste do Peru;
Thalurania furcata jelskii (Taczanowski, 1874) - ocorre na região tropical Leste do Peru e na região adjacente no Brasil;
Thalurania furcata simoni (Hellmayr, 1906) - ocorre na Amazônia ao Sul do Rio Amazonas no extremo Leste do Peru e no Oeste do Brasil;
Thalurania furcata balzani (Simon, 1896) - ocorre na região Norte e Central do Brasil ao sul do Rio Amazonas;
Thalurania furcata furcatoides (Gould, 1861) - ocorre no baixo Rio Amazonas, na região Leste do Brasil ao Sul do Rio Amazonas;
Thalurania furcata boliviana (Boucard, 1894) - ocorre nos sopés da Cordilheira dos Andes no Sudeste do Peru e no Nordeste da Bolívia;
Thalurania furcata baeri (Hellmayr, 1907) - ocorre da região Central e Nordeste do Brasil até o Sudeste da Bolívia e no Norte da Argentina;
Thalurania furcata eriphile (Lesson, 1832) - ocorre do Sudeste do Brasil, Leste do Paraguai até o Nordeste da Argentina, na região de Misiones.
Alimenta-se em flores à pouca altura, buscando também insetos na vegetação ou capturando-os no ar.
Faz ninho em forma de taça profunda, preso por teias de aranha a forquilhas ou pequenos ramos, a cerca de 2 m de altura. Põe 2 ovos brancos. Os filhotes deixam o ninho após 18 a 24 dias.
Comum no sub-bosque de florestas altas, capoeiras e florestas de várzea. Vive solitário, defendendo seu território de maneira agressiva.
Distribuição Geográfica:
Quase todo o Brasil, da Amazônia ao Paraná. Encontrado também do México à Bolívia, Paraguai e Argentina.
Referências:
Portal Brasil 500 Pássaros, Beija-flor-tesoura-verde - Disponível em webserver.eln.gov.br/Pass500/BIRDS/1birds/p159.htm Acesso em 09 mai. 2009
CLEMENTS, J. F.; The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. Cornell: Cornell University Press, 2005.
Classificação Científica
Reino: Animalia
Filo: Chordata
Classe: Aves
Ordem: Apodiformes
Família: Trochilidae
Vigors, 1825
Subfamília: Trochilinae
Vigors, 1825
Espécie: T. furcata
Nome Científico
Thalurania furcata
(Gmelin, 1788)
Nome em Inglês
Fork-tailed Woodnymph
Estado de Conservação
(IUCN 3.1)
Pouco Preocupante
Birdlife International:
Justification
This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence 30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size has not been quantified, but it is not believed to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
Taxonomic source(s)
del Hoyo, J.; Collar, N. J.; Christie, D. A.; Elliott, A.; Fishpool, L. D. C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International.
SACC. 2006. A classification of the bird species of South America. Available at: #http://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.html#.
Population justification
The global population size has not been quantified, but this species is described as 'common' (Stotz et al. (1996).
Trend justification
This species is suspected to lose 15.9-17.6% of suitable habitat within its distribution over three generations (12 years) based on a model of Amazonian deforestation (Soares-Filho et al. 2006, Bird et al. 2011). It is therefore suspected to decline by <25% over three generations.
References
Stotz, D. F.; Fitzpatrick, J. W.; Parker, T. A.; Moskovits, D. K. 1996. Neotropical birds: ecology and conservation. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Further web sources of information
Explore HBW Alive for further information on this species
Search for photos and videos,and hear sounds of this species from the Internet Bird Collection
Text account compilers
Ekstrom, J., Butchart, S.
IUCN Red List evaluators
Butchart, S., Symes, A.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2015) Species factsheet: Thalurania furcata. Downloaded from www.birdlife.org on 14/12/2015. Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2015) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from www.birdlife.org on 14/12/2015.
This information is based upon, and updates, the information published in BirdLife International (2000) Threatened birds of the world. Barcelona and Cambridge, UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, BirdLife International (2004) Threatened birds of the world 2004 CD-ROM and BirdLife International (2008) Threatened birds of the world 2008 CD-ROM. These sources provide the information for species accounts for the birds on the IUCN Red List.
To provide new information to update this factsheet or to correct any errors, please email BirdLife
To contribute to discussions on the evaluation of the IUCN Red List status of Globally Threatened Birds, please visit BirdLife's Globally Threatened Bird Forums.
Beija-flor-tesoura-verde
Texto, em português, da WikiAves:
O beija-flor-tesoura-verde é uma ave da ordem dos Apodiformes, da família Trochilidae.
Também é conhecido como beija-flor-de-barriga-violeta. No livro Aves do Brasil, edição Pantanal e Cerrado, consta como beija-flor-de-ventre-roxo.
Seu nome significa: do (grego) thalos = criança, descendente de; e ouranos céu, celeste, referente ao azul do céu; e do (latim) furcata, furcatus = bifurcada. ⇒ Pássaro filho do azul celeste com cauda bifurcada.
Mede cerca de 9,7 cm de comprimento. Macho com partes superiores esverdeadas, garganta verde-metálica, peito e barriga azul-violeta-brilhante; fêmea com as partes inferiores cinza.
Possui doze subespécies:
Thalurania furcata furcata (Gmelin, 1788) - ocorre no extremo Leste da Venezuela, Guianas e Norte do Brasil, ao norte do Rio Amazonas;
Thalurania furcata refulgens (Gould, 1853) - ocorre no Nordeste da Venezuela, na Península de Paría e na Serra de Cumaná;
Thalurania furcata fissilis (Berlepsch & Hartert, 1902) - ocorre no Leste da Venezuela, e na região adjacente no extremo Oeste da Guiana e Nordeste do Brasil;
Thalurania furcata nigrofasciata (Gould, 1846) - ocorre do Sudoeste da Colômbia até o extremo Sul da Venezuela e Noroeste do Brasil;
Thalurania furcata viridipectus (Gould, 1848) - ocorre do Leste da Cordilheira dos Andes na Leste da Colômbia até o Nordeste do Peru;
Thalurania furcata jelskii (Taczanowski, 1874) - ocorre na região tropical Leste do Peru e na região adjacente no Brasil;
Thalurania furcata simoni (Hellmayr, 1906) - ocorre na Amazônia ao Sul do Rio Amazonas no extremo Leste do Peru e no Oeste do Brasil;
Thalurania furcata balzani (Simon, 1896) - ocorre na região Norte e Central do Brasil ao sul do Rio Amazonas;
Thalurania furcata furcatoides (Gould, 1861) - ocorre no baixo Rio Amazonas, na região Leste do Brasil ao Sul do Rio Amazonas;
Thalurania furcata boliviana (Boucard, 1894) - ocorre nos sopés da Cordilheira dos Andes no Sudeste do Peru e no Nordeste da Bolívia;
Thalurania furcata baeri (Hellmayr, 1907) - ocorre da região Central e Nordeste do Brasil até o Sudeste da Bolívia e no Norte da Argentina;
Thalurania furcata eriphile (Lesson, 1832) - ocorre do Sudeste do Brasil, Leste do Paraguai até o Nordeste da Argentina, na região de Misiones.
Alimenta-se em flores à pouca altura, buscando também insetos na vegetação ou capturando-os no ar.
Faz ninho em forma de taça profunda, preso por teias de aranha a forquilhas ou pequenos ramos, a cerca de 2 m de altura. Põe 2 ovos brancos. Os filhotes deixam o ninho após 18 a 24 dias.
Comum no sub-bosque de florestas altas, capoeiras e florestas de várzea. Vive solitário, defendendo seu território de maneira agressiva.
Distribuição Geográfica:
Quase todo o Brasil, da Amazônia ao Paraná. Encontrado também do México à Bolívia, Paraguai e Argentina.
Referências:
Portal Brasil 500 Pássaros, Beija-flor-tesoura-verde - Disponível em webserver.eln.gov.br/Pass500/BIRDS/1birds/p159.htm Acesso em 09 mai. 2009
CLEMENTS, J. F.; The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. Cornell: Cornell University Press, 2005.
Classificação Científica
Reino: Animalia
Filo: Chordata
Classe: Aves
Ordem: Apodiformes
Família: Trochilidae
Vigors, 1825
Subfamília: Trochilinae
Vigors, 1825
Espécie: T. furcata
Nome Científico
Thalurania furcata
(Gmelin, 1788)
Nome em Inglês
Fork-tailed Woodnymph
Estado de Conservação
(IUCN 3.1)
Pouco Preocupante
being a 'birder' to an extent I really have mixed feelings about these effective little predators...but then again, it is the nature of things..
In reality the mitigation of moral laws—to the extent it is not illusory—can represent an intrinsic superiority only on two conditions: first, that it confers a concrete advantage on society; and second, that it is not obtained at the cost of what gives meaning to life; respect for the human person must not open the door to a dictatorship of error and baseness, to the crushing of quality by quantity, to general corruption and the loss of cultural values, for if it does so it is, in relation to the ancient tyrannies, merely an opposite extreme and not the norm. When humanitarianism is no more than the expression of an over-valuation of the human at the expense of what is divine or the crude fact at the expense of truth, it cannot possibly be counted as a positive acquisition; it is easy to criticize the “fanaticism” of our ancestors when one has lost the very notion of saving truth, or to be “tolerant” when one derides religion. Whatever the morality of the Babylonians may have been, it must not be forgotten that certain kinds of behavior depend largely on circumstances and that collective man always remains a sort of wild animal, at least in the “Iron Age”: the conquerors of Peru and Mexico were no better than Nebuchadnezzar, Cambyses, or Antiochus Epiphanus, and one could find analogous examples in the most recent history. Religions can reform the individual man with his consent—and it is never the function of religion to make up for the absence of this consent—but no one can bring about a fundamental
change in that “thousand-headed hydra” which is collective
man, and this is why nothing of the kind has ever been the aim of any religion; all that a revealed Law can do is curb the egoism and ferocity of society by channeling its tendencies more or less effectively.
The goal of religion is to transmit to man a symbolic, yet adequate, image of the reality that concerns him, according to his real needs and ultimate interests, and to provide him with the means of surpassing himself and realizing his highest destiny; this destiny can never be of this world, given the nature of our spirit. The secondary goal of religion—with a view to the principal goal—is to make possible a sufficient equilibrium in the life of the collectivity or to safeguard within the framework of the natural malice of men a maximum of spiritual opportunities; if society must be protected against the individual, the individual for his part must be protected against society. There is endless talk about “human dignity”, but it is rather too often forgotten that “noblesse oblige”; dignity is invoked in a world that is doing everything to empty it of its content and thus to abolish it. In the name of an indeterminate and unconditional “human dignity”, unlimited rights are conceded to the basest of men, including the right to destroy everything that goes to make our real dignity, that is to say, everything on every plane that attaches us in one way or another to the Absolute. Of course truth obliges us to condemn the excesses of the aristocracy, but we can see no reason at all why it should not also confer a right to judge contrary excesses.
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Frithjof Schuon: Light on The Ancient Worlds
Olympus 60mm macro lens + 26mm extention tubes + Raynox 250 with continuous led lighting from Godox 126
This panorama extends for just over 90° along the northernmost extent of the Milky Way ...
... from Perseus at left,
... to Cygnus at right,
... with Cassiopeia and Cepheus between in the centre.
The images were taken and processed to enhance the rich array of reddish emission nebulas along this segment of the Milky Way, glowing in the red light of hydrogen gas. Also emphasized are the contrasting dark nebulas made of obscuring interstellar dust.
The main and brightest emission nebulas are, from L to R (north to south):
- IC 1848 and IC 1805, the Heart and Soul Nebulas in Cassiopeia,
- NGC 7822 and Cederblad 214, with small and round Sharpless 2-170 below, all making up the Question Mark Nebula,
- a large complex of small nebulas in Cepheus, such as Sharpless 2-132 and 2-142,
- the large round IC 1396 in Cepheus at centre, which contains the Elephant Trunk Nebula,
- the bright North America Nebula, NGC 7000, accompanied by the Pelican Nebula, IC 5067 and the Cygnus Arc, IC 5068,
- the complex of nebulas in central Cygnus, with IC 1318, the Butterfly Nebula the main component,
- the twin arcs at bottom right of the Veil Nebula, a supernova remnant.
Technical:
This is a panorama of 5 segments, each a stack of 8 x 2-minute exposures, with the Canon RF28-70mm lens at 50mm, and at f/2, on the astro-modified Canon EOS R camera at ISO 1600.
All on the MSM Nomad star tracker. And all taken with an Astronomik UHC clip-in filter installed in the camera to isolate the red and green light of emission nebulas. The filter certainly brought out the nebulas and suppressed any skyglow, but did tend to make the stars cyan coloured, a tint I have mostly corrected. Using the filter for all shots simplifies the panorama assembly, as there is no need to align separate panoramas taken with and without filters, but does compromise star colours.
All stacking, stitching and blending in Photoshop. Actions and filters from Photokemi Actions and Nik Color EFX helped bring out the fainter nebulas.
Taken August 21, 2025 from Lookout Point in Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, Saskatchewan, during the annual Saskatchewan Summer Star Party.
Landsat image that shows the extent of Carr wildfires in Shasta and Trinity Counties, northern California, as of August 11, 2018. The Carr fires started on July 23, 2018, and were associated with 'fire tornadoes". Included in this image are Trinity Center, Lewiston, Redding, Anderson, the Sacramento River, Interstate 5, Trinity Lake, Whiskeytown Lake, and Shasta Lake.
Even though I've changed the format of this image, relative to the earlier one on the Carr fire, I'm confident that you'll be able to see how much this wildfire has grown—and continues to grow! The image above shows continuing fires to the southwest and, especially, to the northeast. Also included in this image is a new wildfire: the Hirz Fire, to the right (east).
This is a high-resolution, false-color satellite image, from Landsat 8; image acquired on August 11, 2018. Please place your cursor above the image, then click on the image in order to see more detail; click on the image a second time to get back to your normal viewing.
62149 leaves Guild St as a 5 for the "last stop" on Bridge St but effectively would morph into a 20 enroute.
Atlantic Ocean cliffs and granite boulders at Cabo da Roca Portugal
The westernmost extent of continental Europe.
(From Wikipedia)
Inle Lake 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 44.9 square miles (116 km2), and one of the highest at an elevation of 2,900 feet (880 m). During the dry season, the average water depth is 7 feet (2.1 m), with the deepest point being 12 feet (3.7 m), but during the rainy season this can increase by 5 feet (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.
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.
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.
It's raining hard to the extent that the droplets can be spotted against the dark wall of the warehouse on the other side of the Trent & Mersey Canal at Lostock Gralam. And you had to feel sorry for the fork truck drivers and outside staff at Tudor Griffiths Builders' Merchants who were busy marshalling lots for loading on to customer's vehicles.
Meantime GBRf Shed 66741 'Swanage Railway' is putting in an appearance with the 7.11am Liverpool Biomass - Drax loaded wooden pellets (6E09). She's seen here threading her way through the low hanging steam generated by the Tata Chemicals plant - a much photographed backdrop and an atmospheric by-product of the synthetic soda ash manufacturing process located here.
Suffice to say the camera and lens got seriously soaked rendering a time out necessary for liquid refreshment and drying off the kit.
A day for messing about on the river? Not.
10.02am, 7th March 2019
Was bored looking out at the rain the other night so banged on my macro lens ala extention tubes and ventured out into the gloom. Saw this seed suspended on a web with the wee drop on it, snapped it then the heavens broke. :)
Taken @ Zurich, Switzerland
I am always fascinated by 'thru the glass' shots. To some extent the photographer and the subjects are like separated in 2 different worlds. People on trains or buses are often found to be deep in thoughts and their expressions are always intriguing. What were in their minds? What are their stories?
I must apologise again for being a bad contact recently but work has got the better of me. I will come by soon.
車長聲音通知尾站到此 鐘聲響起正午夜時
似要替下葬的愛 加添悲哀的色彩
很想一生花光氣力相愛 難逃最終輸得慷慨
我發誓不會困在最善變的海
盡情愚弄我吧 我自行回家 沒有眼淚要留下
不要忘記 我不會是個笑話
盡情愉快吧 但願憑殘忍代價
來年將生命美麗昇華
若忘掉你 感覺很差 讓這灰姑娘被醜化
The extent of a shadow trying to find itself in the light.
L'ampleur d'une ombre qui se cherche au milieu de la lumière.
Hasselblad 500C/M + Zeiss Planar 80mm f/2.8 + Kodak Tri-X 400TX + Ilford ID-11 selfdeveloped + Epson V700 Scan Color 48 Bits Scan (No photoshop except from dust)
Bruno Servant © All rights reserved - Downloading and using images without permission is illegal.
PoissonSoluble92@hotmail.fr
Kurt Schwitters abandoned his Merz pictures to a large extent during the mid- to late 1920s to concentrate on paintings, constructions, and reliefs in which the influence of Russian Constructivism and the work of his friend Theo van Doesburg is discernable. He eliminated found materials from these compositions and thereby reduced the Dada element of chance they contributed in order to achieve a less idiosyncratic and hence more universal form of expression. This development accorded with his belief in the ascendancy of formal values, which he felt should not be jeopardized by references to anything outside the work of art.
When Schwitters returned to the Merz idiom in 1930, he placed more emphasis on the act of painting than he had in his early collages. Though the planes are shaped with the impersonality of geometric contour, they are animated by the variation of rhythmic brushstrokes and the addition of collaged forms. In the tradition of his Merz works of the classic period of 1919 to the mid-1920s, the objects he adopted were disposable articles—the top of a corroded tin can and a metal butterfly; the picture once included a broken piece of china to the right of the tin circle and two wooden balls below the butterfly. While the objects function as abstract elements within the flat confines of the support, their projection contradicts the two-dimensionality of the picture plane and implies an extension of the work of art into the observer’s world.
Lucy Flint
This artwork is, to some extent, a reflection of my experience with meditative practices and the visual effects that accompany them.
As sea ice at far northern latitudes approached its annual maximum extent, the Terra satellite captured this natural-color image of sea ice and clouds off of Canada’s Newfoundland and Labrador province. Though sea ice has been significantly below normal extent and thickness across much of the Arctic, the ice in the Labrador Sea has been relatively close to normal.
In this image, acquired on Feb. 18, 2018, the coastline, the sea ice edge, and offshore clouds all present a clear edge to distinguish one from the next. Ice hugs the coast, where it receives the full chilling effect of offshore winds, and the water is shallower and fresher than in the open sea. The swirl patterns on the eastern edges reveal areas where ice is new and has not yet consolidated into a solid sheet, so it is more susceptible to stirring by winds and by ocean eddies.
Image credit: NASA/Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE/EOSDIS Rapid Response/Mike Carlowicz
Mogoșoaia Palace is situated in a suburb of Bucharest, Romania. It was built between 1698-1702 by Constantin Brâncoveanu in what is called the Romanian Renaissance style or Brâncovenesc style, a combination of Venetian and Oriental elements. The palace bears the name of the widow of the Romanian boyar Mogoș, who owned the land it was built on. The Palace was to a large extent rebuilt in the 1920s by Martha Bibescu. (Wikipedia)
One more image from a great session at Reynisdrangar about a month ago. Endless foul weather and rain has kept me home and going through my archive. In a way it is good to go through the archive but I would rather be out there somewhere shooting.
If you would like to visit an ice cave consider join my Winter Photo Tour
SN/NC: Echinacea Purpurea, Asteraceae Family
Echinacea purpurea, the eastern purple coneflower, purple coneflower, hedgehog coneflower, or echinacea, is a North American species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is native to parts of eastern North America and present to some extent in the wild in much of the eastern, southeastern and midwestern United States as well as in the Canadian Province of Ontario. It is most common in the Ozarks and in the Mississippi/Ohio Valley. Its habitats include dry open woods, prairies and barrens.
Echinacea is derived from Greek, meaning 'spiny one', in reference to the spiny sea urchins 'εχίνοι' which the ripe flower heads of species of this genus resemble. The epithet purpurea means 'reddish-purple'. Originally named Rudbeckia purpurea by Linnaeus in 1753 in Species plantarum 6, it was reclassified in 1794 by Conrad Moench, in a new genus named Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench. In 1818, Thomas Nuttall describes a new variety that he named Rudbeckia purpurea var. serotina. Just two decades later, De Candolle raised him to the rank of species of the other genus Echinacea serotina (Nutt.) DC. (1836). In 2002, Binns et al. discovered a misapplication of the name Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench for the taxon correctly named Echinacea serotina (Nutt.) DC. in 1836. The authors proposed to retain the names not to cause confusion among gardeners and herbalists. Other names include: Broad-leaved purple coneflower, Eastern Purple Coneflower, Hedgehog Coneflower, Echinacea.
A equinácea é uma planta medicinal, também conhecida como flor-de-cone, púrpura ou rudbéquia, rica em alcamidas, flavonóides e polissacarídeos, com propriedades anti-inflamatórias, antialérgicas e imunomoduladoras, sendo, por isso, muito utilizada como remédio caseiro no tratamento de gripes e resfriados, aliviando a coriza e a tosse.
Ela é uma espécie norte-americana de planta com flores na família Asteraceae, a mesma do girassol e das margaridas e dálias. É nativa do leste da América do Norte e presente em grande parte do leste, sudeste e centro-oeste dos Estados Unidos, bem como na província canadense de Ontário e British Columbia, para mencionar algumas. É mais comum nos Ozarks e no Vale dos Rios Mississippi e Ohio. Seus habitats incluem bosques abertos secos, pradarias e áridos. Echinacea é derivado do grego, que significa 'espinhoso', em referência aos ouriços-do-mar espinhosos 'εχίνοι', aos quais as cabeças de flores maduras de espécies deste gênero se assemelham. O epíteto purpurea significa 'roxo-avermelhado'. É uma linda flor.
L'Echinacea purpurea, l'echinacea viola orientale, l'echinacea viola, l'echinacea riccio o l'echinacea, è una specie di pianta da fiore nordamericana della famiglia delle Asteraceae. È originario di parti del Nord America orientale e in una certa misura è presente allo stato selvatico in gran parte degli Stati Uniti orientali, sudorientali e centro-occidentali, nonché nella provincia canadese dell'Ontario. È più comune negli Ozarks e nella valle del Mississippi/Ohio. I suoi habitat includono boschi aperti asciutti, praterie e aridi.
Echinacea deriva dal greco, che significa 'spinoso', in riferimento ai ricci di mare spinosi 'εχίνοι' a cui assomigliano i capolini maturi di specie di questo genere. L'epiteto purpurea significa 'porpora rossastro'
Echinacea purpurea, de oostelijke paarse zonnehoed, paarse zonnehoed, egel zonnehoed of echinacea, is een Noord-Amerikaanse soort bloeiende plant in de familie Asteraceae. Het is inheems in delen van Oost-Noord-Amerika en komt tot op zekere hoogte in het wild voor in een groot deel van het oosten, zuidoosten en middenwesten van de Verenigde Staten, evenals in de Canadese provincie Ontario. Het komt het meest voor in de Ozarks en in de Mississippi/Ohio-vallei. De habitats omvatten droge open bossen, weilanden en kale vlaktes.
Echinacea is afgeleid van het Grieks en betekent 'stekelige', verwijzend naar de stekelige zee-egels 'εχίνοι' waarop de rijpe bloemhoofdjes van soorten van dit geslacht lijken. Het epitheton purpurea betekent 'rood-paars'.
Echinacea purpurea , la equinácea púrpura oriental , la equinácea púrpura , la equinácea erizo o la equinácea , es una especie norteamericana de planta con flores de la familia Asteraceae . Es nativo de partes del este de América del Norte y está presente hasta cierto punto en la naturaleza en gran parte del este, sureste y medio oeste de los Estados Unidos, así como en la provincia canadiense de Ontario. Es más común en los Ozarks y en el valle de Mississippi/Ohio. Sus hábitats incluyen bosques abiertos secos, praderas y páramos.
Echinacea se deriva del griego, que significa 'espinoso', en referencia a los erizos de mar espinosos 'εχίνοι' a los que se asemejan las cabezas de flores maduras de las especies de este género. El epíteto purpurea significa 'púrpura rojizo'.
Echinacea purpurea, l'échinacée pourpre orientale, l'échinacée pourpre, l'échinacée hérisson ou l'échinacée, est une espèce nord-américaine de plante à fleurs de la famille des astéracées. Il est originaire de certaines parties de l'est de l'Amérique du Nord et est présent dans une certaine mesure à l'état sauvage dans une grande partie de l'est, du sud-est et du Midwest des États-Unis ainsi que dans la province canadienne de l'Ontario. Il est le plus courant dans les Ozarks et dans la vallée du Mississippi/Ohio. Ses habitats comprennent des bois ouverts secs, des prairies et des landes.
L'échinacée vient du grec et signifie « épineux », en référence aux oursins épineux « εχίνοι » auxquels ressemblent les inflorescences mûres des espèces de ce genre. L'épithète purpurea signifie « violet rougeâtre ».
Echinacea purpurea, der östliche Purpur-Sonnenhut, Purpur-Sonnenhut, Igel-Sonnenhut oder Echinacea, ist eine nordamerikanische Pflanzenart aus der Familie der Asteraceae. Sie ist in Teilen des östlichen Nordamerika beheimatet und bis zu einem gewissen Grad in freier Wildbahn in weiten Teilen des Ostens, Südostens und mittleren Westens der Vereinigten Staaten sowie in der kanadischen Provinz Ontario vorhanden. Es ist am häufigsten in den Ozarks und im Mississippi/Ohio Valley. Seine Lebensräume umfassen trockene offene Wälder, Prärien und Ödland.
Echinacea leitet sich aus dem Griechischen ab und bedeutet „stacheliger", in Anlehnung an die stacheligen Seeigel „εχίνοι", denen die reifen Blütenköpfe von Arten dieser Gattung ähneln. Der Beiname purpurea bedeutet „rötlich-lila".
إشنسا بوربوريا ، الصنوبريات الأرجوانية الشرقية ، الصنوبريات الأرجواني ، قنفذ القنفذ ، أو إشنسا ، هو نوع من النباتات المزهرة في أمريكا الشمالية في عائلة Asteraceae. هي موطنها الأصلي في أجزاء من شرق أمريكا الشمالية وتوجد إلى حد ما في البرية في الكثير من شرق وجنوب شرق وغرب الولايات المتحدة وكذلك في مقاطعة أونتاريو الكندية. هو الأكثر شيوعًا في أوزاركس وفي وادي المسيسيبي / أوهايو. تشمل موائلها الغابات المفتوحة الجافة والمروج والجبل.
إشنسا مشتق من اللغة اليونانية ، وتعني "الشوكة الواحدة" ، في إشارة إلى قنافذ البحر الشوكية "εχίνοι" التي تشبهها رؤوس الأزهار الناضجة لأنواع هذا الجنس. الصفة بوربوريا تعني "أرجواني محمر".
Echinacea purpurea、イースタン パープル コーンフラワー、パープル コーンフラワー、ハリネズミ コーンフラワー、またはエキナセアは、キク科の開花植物の北米種です。北米東部の一部に自生し、米国東部、南東部、中西部の多く、およびカナダのオンタリオ州にある程度野生で存在します。オザークとミシシッピ/オハイオ渓谷で最も一般的です.その生息地には、乾いた開けた森、大草原、不毛地帯が含まれます。
エキナセアは、この属の種の熟した花の頭が似ているとげのあるウニ「εχίνοι」に関連して、「とげのあるもの」を意味するギリシャ語に由来します。別名プルプレアは「赤紫色」を意味します。
PINK for OCTOBER..................... best viewed on black
Hybrid Perpetual ROSE— The dominant class of roses in Victorian England, they first emerged in 1838 and were derived to a great extent from the Bourbons. They became the most popular garden and florist roses of northern Europe at the time, as the tender tea roses would not thrive in cold climates. The "perpetual" in the name hints at repeat-flowering, but many varieties of this class had poor reflowering habits; the tendency was for a massive spring bloom, followed by either scattered summer flowering, a smaller autumn burst, or sometimes nothing at all until next spring.
They were opulent, however, this 'head' of 5 beauties opened one day... the next day it was mad, raining, thunder and lightning, so in between showers... yep, I rushed out, yep another 'rescue' job, lol.
I wanted to make this photo as a 'period' image.
Have a wonderful day, filled with love and thank you for your visit, M, (*_*)
For more of my other work or if you want to PURCHASE, visit here: www.indigo2photography.com
Please do not use this image on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit permission. © All rights reserved
A female Trypetoptera punctulata, a member of the marsh flies (Sciomyzidae).
For a species found in Sweden - this is a pretty exotic look. Body length about ~6 mm.
The larvae of T. punctulata actually prey on some snails and it's to some extent used as biological pest control.
The extent to which I have read about the prototype is this webpage:
www.lner.info/locos/Electric/ner_tyneside.php
No buffers lol
Love this time of year.
Please press L to view full screen.
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Landsat image that shows the extent of Carr wildfires in Shasta and Trinity Counties in northern California, as of July 27, 2018. The Carr fires started on July 23, 2018, and were associated with 'fire tornadoes". This image, acquired early on in the cycle of destruction, shows the community of Shasta going up in smoke. Included in this image are Weaverville, Lewiston, Redding, Anderson, the Sacramento River, Interstate 5, Trinity Lake, Whiskeytown Lake, and Shasta Lake.
This is a high-resolution, false-color satellite image, from Landsat 8; image acquired on July 27, 2018. Please place your cursor above the image, then click on the image in order to see more detail; click on the image a second time to get back to your normal viewing.
++++ FROM WIKIPEDIA ++++
U Bein Bridge (Burmese: ဦးပိန် တံတား) is a crossing that spans the Taungthaman Lake near Amarapura in Myanmar. The 1.2-kilometre (0.75 mi) bridge was built around 1850 and is believed to be the oldest and (once) longest teakwood bridge in the world.[1][2][3] Construction began when the capital of Ava Kingdom moved to Amarapura,[4] and the bridge is named after the mayor who had it built.[5] It is used as an important passageway for the local people and has also become a tourist attraction and therefore a significant source of income for souvenir sellers.[1][5][6][7] It is particularly busy during July and August when the lake is at its highest.[8]
The bridge was built from wood reclaimed from the former royal palace in Inwa. It features 1,086 pillars that stretch out of the water, some of which have been replaced with concrete. Though the bridge largely remains intact, there are fears that an increasing number of the pillars are becoming dangerously decayed. Some have become entirely detached from their bases and only remain in place because of the lateral bars holding them together. Damage to these supports have been caused by flooding as well as a fish breeding program introduced into the lake which has caused the water to become stagnant. The Ministry of Culture’s Department of Archaeology, National Museum and Library plans to carry out repairs when plans for the work are finalised.[1]
From 1 April 2009, eight police force personnel have been deployed to guard the bridge. Their presence is aimed at reducing anti-social behaviour and preventing criminal activities, with the first arrest coming in September 2013 when two men were reported for harassing tourists.[8]
Contents
1 Construction
2 Design and Structure
3 Gallery
4 References
Construction
The construction was started in 1849 and finished in 1851. Myanmar construction engineers used traditional methods of scaling and measuring to build the bridge. According to historic books about U Bein Bridge, Myanmar engineers made scale by counting the footsteps.
Design and Structure
The bridge was built in curved shape in the middle to resist the assault of wind and water. The main teak posts were hammered into the lake bed seven feet deep. The other ends of the posts were shaped conically to make sure that rain water would fall down easily. The joints of the bridge are intertwined.
Originally, there were 984 teak posts supporting the bridge and two approach brick bridges. Later the two approach brick bridges were replaced by wooden approach bridge. There are four wooden pavilions at the same interval along the bridge. By adding posts of two approach bridges and four pavilions, the number of posts amounts to 1089.
There are nine passageways in the bridge, where the floors can be lifted to let boats and barges pass. There 482 spans and the length of the bridge is 1,209 metres.
Myanmar (Burmese pronunciation: [mjəmà]),[nb 1][8] officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and also known as Burma, is a sovereign state in Southeast Asia. Myanmar is bordered by India and Bangladesh to its west, Thailand and Laos to its east and China to its north and northeast. To its south, about one third of Myanmar's total perimeter of 5,876 km (3,651 mi) forms an uninterrupted coastline of 1,930 km (1,200 mi) along the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. The country's 2014 census counted the population to be 51 million people.[9] As of 2017, the population is about 54 million.[10] Myanmar is 676,578 square kilometers (261,228 square miles) in size. Its capital city is Naypyidaw, and its largest city and former capital is Yangon (Rangoon).[1] Myanmar has been a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) since 1997.
Early civilisations in Myanmar included the Tibeto-Burman-speaking Pyu city-states in Upper Burma and the Mon kingdoms in Lower Burma.[11] In the 9th century, the Bamar people entered the upper Irrawaddy valley and, following the establishment of the Pagan Kingdom in the 1050s, the Burmese language, culture and Theravada Buddhism slowly became dominant in the country. The Pagan Kingdom fell due to the Mongol invasions and several warring states emerged. In the 16th century, reunified by the Taungoo Dynasty, the country was for a brief period the largest empire in the history of Mainland Southeast Asia.[12] The early 19th century Konbaung Dynasty ruled over an area that included modern Myanmar and briefly controlled Manipur and Assam as well. The British took over the administration of Myanmar after three Anglo-Burmese Wars in the 19th century and the country became a British colony. Myanmar was granted independence in 1948, as a democratic nation. Following a coup d'état in 1962, it became a military dictatorship.
For most of its independent years, the country has been engrossed in rampant ethnic strife and its myriad ethnic groups have been involved in one of the world's longest-running ongoing civil wars. During this time, the United Nations and several other organisations have reported consistent and systematic human rights violations in the country.[13] In 2011, the military junta was officially dissolved following a 2010 general election, and a nominally civilian government was installed. This, along with the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and political prisoners, has improved the country's human rights record and foreign relations, and has led to the easing of trade and other economic sanctions.[14] There is, however, continuing criticism of the government's treatment of ethnic minorities, its response to the ethnic insurgency, and religious clashes.[15] In the landmark 2015 election, Aung San Suu Kyi's party won a majority in both houses. However, the Burmese military remains a powerful force in politics.
Myanmar is a country rich in jade and gems, oil, natural gas and other mineral resources. In 2013, its GDP (nominal) stood at US$56.7 billion and its GDP (PPP) at US$221.5 billion.[6] The income gap in Myanmar is among the widest in the world, as a large proportion of the economy is controlled by supporters of the former military government.[16] As of 2016, Myanmar ranks 145 out of 188 countries in human development, according to the Human Development Index.[7]
Etymology
Main article: Names of Myanmar
In 1989, the military government officially changed the English translations of many names dating back to Burma's colonial period or earlier, including that of the country itself: "Burma" became "Myanmar". The renaming remains a contested issue.[17] Many political and ethnic opposition groups and countries continue to use "Burma" because they do not recognise the legitimacy of the ruling military government or its authority to rename the country.[18]
In April 2016, soon after taking office, Aung San Suu Kyi clarified that foreigners are free to use either name, "because there is nothing in the constitution of our country that says that you must use any term in particular".[19]
The country's official full name is the "Republic of the Union of Myanmar" (ပြည်ထောင်စုသမ္မတ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်, Pyidaunzu Thanmăda Myăma Nainngandaw, pronounced [pjìdàʊɴzṵ θàɴməda̰ mjəmà nàɪɴŋàɴdɔ̀]). Countries that do not officially recognise that name use the long form "Union of Burma" instead.[20]
In English, the country is popularly known as either "Burma" or "Myanmar" /ˈmjɑːnˌmɑːr/ (About this sound listen).[8] Both these names are derived from the name of the majority Burmese Bamar ethnic group. Myanmar is considered to be the literary form of the name of the group, while Burma is derived from "Bamar", the colloquial form of the group's name.[17] Depending on the register used, the pronunciation would be Bama (pronounced [bəmà]) or Myamah (pronounced [mjəmà]).[17] The name Burma has been in use in English since the 18th century.
Burma continues to be used in English by the governments of many countries, such as Canada and the United Kingdom.[21][22] Official United States policy retains Burma as the country's name, although the State Department's website lists the country as "Burma (Myanmar)" and Barack Obama has referred to the country by both names.[23] The Czech Republic officially uses Myanmar, although its Ministry of Foreign Affairs mentions both Myanmar and Burma on its website.[24] The United Nations uses Myanmar, as do the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Australia,[25] Russia, Germany,[26] China, India, Bangladesh, Norway,[27] Japan[21] and Switzerland.[28]
Most English-speaking international news media refer to the country by the name Myanmar, including the BBC,[29] CNN,[30] Al Jazeera,[31] Reuters,[32] RT (Russia Today) and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)/Radio Australia.[33]
Myanmar is known with a name deriving from Burma as opposed to Myanmar in Spanish, Italian, Romanian, and Greek – Birmania being the local version of Burma in the Spanish language, for example. Myanmar used to be known as "Birmânia" in Portuguese, and as "Birmanie" in French.[34] As in the past, French-language media today consistently use Birmanie.,[35][36]
History
Main article: History of Myanmar
Prehistory
Main articles: Prehistory of Myanmar and Migration period of ancient Burma
Pyu city-states c. 8th century; Pagan is shown for comparison only and is not contemporary.
Archaeological evidence shows that Homo erectus lived in the region now known as Myanmar as early as 750,000 years ago, with no more erectus finds after 75,000 years ago.[37] The first evidence of Homo sapiens is dated to about 11,000 BC, in a Stone Age culture called the Anyathian with discoveries of stone tools in central Myanmar. Evidence of neolithic age domestication of plants and animals and the use of polished stone tools dating to sometime between 10,000 and 6,000 BC has been discovered in the form of cave paintings in Padah-Lin Caves.[38]
The Bronze Age arrived circa 1500 BC when people in the region were turning copper into bronze, growing rice and domesticating poultry and pigs; they were among the first people in the world to do so.[39] Human remains and artefacts from this era were discovered in Monywa District in the Sagaing Division.[40] The Iron Age began around 500 BC with the emergence of iron-working settlements in an area south of present-day Mandalay.[41] Evidence also shows the presence of rice-growing settlements of large villages and small towns that traded with their surroundings as far as China between 500 BC and 200 AD.[42] Iron Age Burmese cultures also had influences from outside sources such as India and Thailand, as seen in their funerary practices concerning child burials. This indicates some form of communication between groups in Myanmar and other places, possibly through trade.[43]
Early city-states
Main articles: Pyu city-states and Mon kingdoms
Around the second century BC the first-known city-states emerged in central Myanmar. The city-states were founded as part of the southward migration by the Tibeto-Burman-speaking Pyu city-states, the earliest inhabitants of Myanmar of whom records are extant, from present-day Yunnan.[44] The Pyu culture was heavily influenced by trade with India, importing Buddhism as well as other cultural, architectural and political concepts, which would have an enduring influence on later Burmese culture and political organisation.[45]
By the 9th century, several city-states had sprouted across the land: the Pyu in the central dry zone, Mon along the southern coastline and Arakanese along the western littoral. The balance was upset when the Pyu came under repeated attacks from Nanzhao between the 750s and the 830s. In the mid-to-late 9th century the Bamar people founded a small settlement at Bagan. It was one of several competing city-states until the late 10th century when it grew in authority and grandeur.[46]
Imperial Burma
Main articles: Pagan Kingdom, Taungoo Dynasty, and Konbaung Dynasty
See also: Ava Kingdom, Hanthawaddy Kingdom, Kingdom of Mrauk U, and Shan States
Pagodas and kyaungs in present-day Bagan, the capital of the Pagan Kingdom.
Pagan gradually grew to absorb its surrounding states until the 1050s–1060s when Anawrahta founded the Pagan Kingdom, the first ever unification of the Irrawaddy valley and its periphery. In the 12th and 13th centuries, the Pagan Empire and the Khmer Empire were two main powers in mainland Southeast Asia.[47] The Burmese language and culture gradually became dominant in the upper Irrawaddy valley, eclipsing the Pyu, Mon and Pali norms by the late 12th century.[48]
Theravada Buddhism slowly began to spread to the village level, although Tantric, Mahayana, Hinduism, and folk religion remained heavily entrenched. Pagan's rulers and wealthy built over 10,000 Buddhist temples in the Pagan capital zone alone. Repeated Mongol invasions (1277–1301) toppled the four-century-old kingdom in 1287.[48]
Temples at Mrauk U.
Pagan's collapse was followed by 250 years of political fragmentation that lasted well into the 16th century. Like the Burmans four centuries earlier, Shan migrants who arrived with the Mongol invasions stayed behind. Several competing Shan States came to dominate the entire northwestern to eastern arc surrounding the Irrawaddy valley. The valley too was beset with petty states until the late 14th century when two sizeable powers, Ava Kingdom and Hanthawaddy Kingdom, emerged. In the west, a politically fragmented Arakan was under competing influences of its stronger neighbours until the Kingdom of Mrauk U unified the Arakan coastline for the first time in 1437.
Early on, Ava fought wars of unification (1385–1424) but could never quite reassemble the lost empire. Having held off Ava, Hanthawaddy entered its golden age, and Arakan went on to become a power in its own right for the next 350 years. In contrast, constant warfare left Ava greatly weakened, and it slowly disintegrated from 1481 onward. In 1527, the Confederation of Shan States conquered Ava itself, and ruled Upper Myanmar until 1555.
Like the Pagan Empire, Ava, Hanthawaddy and the Shan states were all multi-ethnic polities. Despite the wars, cultural synchronisation continued. This period is considered a golden age for Burmese culture. Burmese literature "grew more confident, popular, and stylistically diverse", and the second generation of Burmese law codes as well as the earliest pan-Burma chronicles emerged.[49] Hanthawaddy monarchs introduced religious reforms that later spread to the rest of the country.[50] Many splendid temples of Mrauk U were built during this period.
Taungoo and colonialism
Bayinnaung's Empire in 1580.
Political unification returned in the mid-16th century, due to the efforts of Taungoo, a former vassal state of Ava. Taungoo's young, ambitious king Tabinshwehti defeated the more powerful Hanthawaddy in the Toungoo–Hanthawaddy War (1534–41). His successor Bayinnaung went on to conquer a vast swath of mainland Southeast Asia including the Shan states, Lan Na, Manipur, Mong Mao, the Ayutthaya Kingdom, Lan Xang and southern Arakan. However, the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia unravelled soon after Bayinnaung's death in 1581, completely collapsing by 1599. Ayutthaya seized Tenasserim and Lan Na, and Portuguese mercenaries established Portuguese rule at Thanlyin (Syriam).
The dynasty regrouped and defeated the Portuguese in 1613 and Siam in 1614. It restored a smaller, more manageable kingdom, encompassing Lower Myanmar, Upper Myanmar, Shan states, Lan Na and upper Tenasserim. The Restored Toungoo kings created a legal and political framework whose basic features would continue well into the 19th century. The crown completely replaced the hereditary chieftainships with appointed governorships in the entire Irrawaddy valley, and greatly reduced the hereditary rights of Shan chiefs. Its trade and secular administrative reforms built a prosperous economy for more than 80 years. From the 1720s onward, the kingdom was beset with repeated Meithei raids into Upper Myanmar and a nagging rebellion in Lan Na. In 1740, the Mon of Lower Myanmar founded the Restored Hanthawaddy Kingdom. Hanthawaddy forces sacked Ava in 1752, ending the 266-year-old Toungoo Dynasty.
A British 1825 lithograph of Shwedagon Pagoda shows British occupation during the First Anglo-Burmese War.
After the fall of Ava, the Konbaung–Hanthawaddy War involved one resistance group under Alaungpaya defeating the Restored Hanthawaddy, and by 1759, he had reunited all of Myanmar and Manipur, and driven out the French and the British, who had provided arms to Hanthawaddy. By 1770, Alaungpaya's heirs had subdued much of Laos (1765) and fought and won the Burmese–Siamese War (1765–67) against Ayutthaya and the Sino-Burmese War (1765–69) against Qing China (1765–1769).[51]
With Burma preoccupied by the Chinese threat, Ayutthaya recovered its territories by 1770, and went on to capture Lan Na by 1776. Burma and Siam went to war until 1855, but all resulted in a stalemate, exchanging Tenasserim (to Burma) and Lan Na (to Ayutthaya). Faced with a powerful China and a resurgent Ayutthaya in the east, King Bodawpaya turned west, acquiring Arakan (1785), Manipur (1814) and Assam (1817). It was the second-largest empire in Burmese history but also one with a long ill-defined border with British India.[52]
The breadth of this empire was short lived. Burma lost Arakan, Manipur, Assam and Tenasserim to the British in the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824–1826). In 1852, the British easily seized Lower Burma in the Second Anglo-Burmese War. King Mindon Min tried to modernise the kingdom, and in 1875 narrowly avoided annexation by ceding the Karenni States. The British, alarmed by the consolidation of French Indochina, annexed the remainder of the country in the Third Anglo-Burmese War in 1885.
Konbaung kings extended Restored Toungoo's administrative reforms, and achieved unprecedented levels of internal control and external expansion. For the first time in history, the Burmese language and culture came to predominate the entire Irrawaddy valley. The evolution and growth of Burmese literature and theatre continued, aided by an extremely high adult male literacy rate for the era (half of all males and 5% of females).[53] Nonetheless, the extent and pace of reforms were uneven and ultimately proved insufficient to stem the advance of British colonialism.
British Burma (1824–1948)
Main articles: British rule in Burma and Burma Campaign
Burma in British India
The landing of British forces in Mandalay after the last of the Anglo-Burmese Wars, which resulted in the abdication of the last Burmese monarch, King Thibaw Min.
British troops firing a mortar on the Mawchi road, July 1944.
The eighteenth century saw Burmese rulers, whose country had not previously been of particular interest to European traders, seek to maintain their traditional influence in the western areas of Assam, Manipur and Arakan. Pressing them, however, was the British East India Company, which was expanding its interests eastwards over the same territory. Over the next sixty years, diplomacy, raids, treaties and compromises continued until, after three Anglo-Burmese Wars (1824–1885), Britain proclaimed control over most of Burma.[54] British rule brought social, economic, cultural and administrative changes.
With the fall of Mandalay, all of Burma came under British rule, being annexed on 1 January 1886. Throughout the colonial era, many Indians arrived as soldiers, civil servants, construction workers and traders and, along with the Anglo-Burmese community, dominated commercial and civil life in Burma. Rangoon became the capital of British Burma and an important port between Calcutta and Singapore.
Burmese resentment was strong and was vented in violent riots that paralysed Yangon (Rangoon) on occasion all the way until the 1930s.[55] Some of the discontent was caused by a disrespect for Burmese culture and traditions such as the British refusal to remove shoes when they entered pagodas. Buddhist monks became the vanguards of the independence movement. U Wisara, an activist monk, died in prison after a 166-day hunger strike to protest against a rule that forbade him to wear his Buddhist robes while imprisoned.[56]
Separation of British Burma from British India
On 1 April 1937, Burma became a separately administered colony of Great Britain and Ba Maw the first Prime Minister and Premier of Burma. Ba Maw was an outspoken advocate for Burmese self-rule and he opposed the participation of Great Britain, and by extension Burma, in World War II. He resigned from the Legislative Assembly and was arrested for sedition. In 1940, before Japan formally entered the Second World War, Aung San formed the Burma Independence Army in Japan.
A major battleground, Burma was devastated during World War II. By March 1942, within months after they entered the war, Japanese troops had advanced on Rangoon and the British administration had collapsed. A Burmese Executive Administration headed by Ba Maw was established by the Japanese in August 1942. Wingate's British Chindits were formed into long-range penetration groups trained to operate deep behind Japanese lines.[57] A similar American unit, Merrill's Marauders, followed the Chindits into the Burmese jungle in 1943.[58] Beginning in late 1944, allied troops launched a series of offensives that led to the end of Japanese rule in July 1945. The battles were intense with much of Burma laid waste by the fighting. Overall, the Japanese lost some 150,000 men in Burma. Only 1,700 prisoners were taken.[59]
Although many Burmese fought initially for the Japanese as part of the Burma Independence Army, many Burmese, mostly from the ethnic minorities, served in the British Burma Army.[60] The Burma National Army and the Arakan National Army fought with the Japanese from 1942 to 1944 but switched allegiance to the Allied side in 1945. Under Japanese occupation, 170,000 to 250,000 civilians died.[61]
Following World War II, Aung San negotiated the Panglong Agreement with ethnic leaders that guaranteed the independence of Myanmar as a unified state. Aung Zan Wai, Pe Khin, Bo Hmu Aung, Sir Maung Gyi, Dr. Sein Mya Maung, Myoma U Than Kywe were among the negotiators of the historical Panglong Conference negotiated with Bamar leader General Aung San and other ethnic leaders in 1947. In 1947, Aung San became Deputy Chairman of the Executive Council of Myanmar, a transitional government. But in July 1947, political rivals[62] assassinated Aung San and several cabinet members.[63]
Independence (1948–1962)
Main article: Post-independence Burma, 1948–62
British governor Hubert Elvin Rance and Sao Shwe Thaik at the flag raising ceremony on 4 January 1948 (Independence Day of Burma).
On 4 January 1948, the nation became an independent republic, named the Union of Burma, with Sao Shwe Thaik as its first President and U Nu as its first Prime Minister. Unlike most other former British colonies and overseas territories, Burma did not become a member of the Commonwealth. A bicameral parliament was formed, consisting of a Chamber of Deputies and a Chamber of Nationalities,[64] and multi-party elections were held in 1951–1952, 1956 and 1960.
The geographical area Burma encompasses today can be traced to the Panglong Agreement, which combined Burma Proper, which consisted of Lower Burma and Upper Burma, and the Frontier Areas, which had been administered separately by the British.[65]
In 1961, U Thant, then the Union of Burma's Permanent Representative to the United Nations and former Secretary to the Prime Minister, was elected Secretary-General of the United Nations, a position he held for ten years.[66] Among the Burmese to work at the UN when he was Secretary-General was a young Aung San Suu Kyi (daughter of Aung San), who went on to become winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize.
When the non-Burman ethnic groups pushed for autonomy or federalism, alongside having a weak civilian government at the centre, the military leadership staged a coup d’état in 1962. Though incorporated in the 1947 Constitution, successive military governments construed the use of the term ‘federalism’ as being anti-national, anti-unity and pro-disintegration.[67]
Military rule (1962–2011)
On 2 March 1962, the military led by General Ne Win took control of Burma through a coup d'état, and the government has been under direct or indirect control by the military since then. Between 1962 and 1974, Myanmar was ruled by a revolutionary council headed by the general. Almost all aspects of society (business, media, production) were nationalised or brought under government control under the Burmese Way to Socialism,[68] which combined Soviet-style nationalisation and central planning.
A new constitution of the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma was adopted in 1974. Until 1988, the country was ruled as a one-party system, with the General and other military officers resigning and ruling through the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP).[69] During this period, Myanmar became one of the world's most impoverished countries.[70]
Protesters gathering in central Rangoon, 1988.
There were sporadic protests against military rule during the Ne Win years and these were almost always violently suppressed. On 7 July 1962, the government broke up demonstrations at Rangoon University, killing 15 students.[68] In 1974, the military violently suppressed anti-government protests at the funeral of U Thant. Student protests in 1975, 1976, and 1977 were quickly suppressed by overwhelming force.[69]
In 1988, unrest over economic mismanagement and political oppression by the government led to widespread pro-democracy demonstrations throughout the country known as the 8888 Uprising. Security forces killed thousands of demonstrators, and General Saw Maung staged a coup d'état and formed the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). In 1989, SLORC declared martial law after widespread protests. The military government finalised plans for People's Assembly elections on 31 May 1989.[71] SLORC changed the country's official English name from the "Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma" to the "Union of Myanmar" in 1989.
In May 1990, the government held free elections for the first time in almost 30 years and the National League for Democracy (NLD), the party of Aung San Suu Kyi, won 392 out of a total 492 seats (i.e., 80% of the seats). However, the military junta refused to cede power[72] and continued to rule the nation as SLORC until 1997, and then as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) until its dissolution in March 2011.
Protesters in Yangon during the 2007 Saffron Revolution with a banner that reads non-violence: national movement in Burmese. In the background is Shwedagon Pagoda.
On 23 June 1997, Myanmar was admitted into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). On 27 March 2006, the military junta, which had moved the national capital from Yangon to a site near Pyinmana in November 2005, officially named the new capital Naypyidaw, meaning "city of the kings".[73]
Cyclone Nargis in southern Myanmar, May 2008.
In August 2007, an increase in the price of diesel and petrol led to the Saffron Revolution led by Buddhist monks that were dealt with harshly by the government.[74] The government cracked down on them on 26 September 2007. The crackdown was harsh, with reports of barricades at the Shwedagon Pagoda and monks killed. There were also rumours of disagreement within the Burmese armed forces, but none was confirmed. The military crackdown against unarmed protesters was widely condemned as part of the international reactions to the Saffron Revolution and led to an increase in economic sanctions against the Burmese Government.
In May 2008, Cyclone Nargis caused extensive damage in the densely populated, rice-farming delta of the Irrawaddy Division.[75] It was the worst natural disaster in Burmese history with reports of an estimated 200,000 people dead or missing, damage totalled to 10 billion US dollars, and as many as 1 million left homeless.[76] In the critical days following this disaster, Myanmar's isolationist government was accused of hindering United Nations recovery efforts.[77] Humanitarian aid was requested but concerns about foreign military or intelligence presence in the country delayed the entry of United States military planes delivering medicine, food, and other supplies.[78]
In early August 2009, a conflict known as the Kokang incident broke out in Shan State in northern Myanmar. For several weeks, junta troops fought against ethnic minorities including the Han Chinese,[79] Wa, and Kachin.[80][81] During 8–12 August, the first days of the conflict, as many as 10,000 Burmese civilians fled to Yunnan province in neighbouring China.[80][81][82]
Civil wars
Main articles: Internal conflict in Myanmar, Kachin Conflict, Karen conflict, and 2015 Kokang offensive
Civil wars have been a constant feature of Myanmar's socio-political landscape since the attainment of independence in 1948. These wars are predominantly struggles for ethnic and sub-national autonomy, with the areas surrounding the ethnically Bamar central districts of the country serving as the primary geographical setting of conflict. Foreign journalists and visitors require a special travel permit to visit the areas in which Myanmar's civil wars continue.[83]
In October 2012, the ongoing conflicts in Myanmar included the Kachin conflict,[84] between the Pro-Christian Kachin Independence Army and the government;[85] a civil war between the Rohingya Muslims, and the government and non-government groups in Rakhine State;[86] and a conflict between the Shan,[87] Lahu, and Karen[88][89] minority groups, and the government in the eastern half of the country. In addition, al-Qaeda signalled an intention to become involved in Myanmar. In a video released on 3 September 2014, mainly addressed to India, the militant group's leader Ayman al-Zawahiri said al-Qaeda had not forgotten the Muslims of Myanmar and that the group was doing "what they can to rescue you".[90] In response, the military raised its level of alertness, while the Burmese Muslim Association issued a statement saying Muslims would not tolerate any threat to their motherland.[91]
Armed conflict between ethnic Chinese rebels and the Myanmar Armed Forces have resulted in the Kokang offensive in February 2015. The conflict had forced 40,000 to 50,000 civilians to flee their homes and seek shelter on the Chinese side of the border.[92] During the incident, the government of China was accused of giving military assistance to the ethnic Chinese rebels. Burmese officials have been historically "manipulated" and pressured by the Chinese government throughout Burmese modern history to create closer and binding ties with China, creating a Chinese satellite state in Southeast Asia.[93] However, uncertainties exist as clashes between Burmese troops and local insurgent groups continue.
Democratic reforms
Main article: 2011–12 Burmese political reforms
The goal of the Burmese constitutional referendum of 2008, held on 10 May 2008, is the creation of a "discipline-flourishing democracy". As part of the referendum process, the name of the country was changed from the "Union of Myanmar" to the "Republic of the Union of Myanmar", and general elections were held under the new constitution in 2010. Observer accounts of the 2010 election describe the event as mostly peaceful; however, allegations of polling station irregularities were raised, and the United Nations (UN) and a number of Western countries condemned the elections as fraudulent.[94]
U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with Aung San Suu Kyi and her staff at her home in Yangon, 2012
The military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party declared victory in the 2010 elections, stating that it had been favoured by 80 percent of the votes; however, the claim was disputed by numerous pro-democracy opposition groups who asserted that the military regime had engaged in rampant fraud.[95][96] One report documented 77 percent as the official turnout rate of the election.[95] The military junta was dissolved on 30 March 2011.
Opinions differ whether the transition to liberal democracy is underway. According to some reports, the military's presence continues as the label "disciplined democracy" suggests. This label asserts that the Burmese military is allowing certain civil liberties while clandestinely institutionalising itself further into Burmese politics. Such an assertion assumes that reforms only occurred when the military was able to safeguard its own interests through the transition—here, "transition" does not refer to a transition to a liberal democracy, but transition to a quasi-military rule.[97]
Since the 2010 election, the government has embarked on a series of reforms to direct the country towards liberal democracy, a mixed economy, and reconciliation, although doubts persist about the motives that underpin such reforms. The series of reforms includes the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest, the establishment of the National Human Rights Commission, the granting of general amnesties for more than 200 political prisoners, new labour laws that permit labour unions and strikes, a relaxation of press censorship, and the regulation of currency practices.[98]
The impact of the post-election reforms has been observed in numerous areas, including ASEAN's approval of Myanmar's bid for the position of ASEAN chair in 2014;[99] the visit by United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in December 2011 for the encouragement of further progress, which was the first visit by a Secretary of State in more than fifty years,[100] during which Clinton met with the Burmese president and former military commander Thein Sein, as well as opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi;[101] and the participation of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party in the 2012 by-elections, facilitated by the government's abolition of the laws that previously barred the NLD.[102] As of July 2013, about 100[103][104] political prisoners remain imprisoned, while conflict between the Burmese Army and local insurgent groups continues.
Map of Myanmar and its divisions, including Shan State, Kachin State, Rakhine State and Karen State.
In 1 April 2012 by-elections, the NLD won 43 of the 45 available seats; previously an illegal organisation, the NLD had not won a single seat under new constitution. The 2012 by-elections were also the first time that international representatives were allowed to monitor the voting process in Myanmar.[105]
2015 general elections
Main article: Myanmar general election, 2015
General elections were held on 8 November 2015. These were the first openly contested elections held in Myanmar since 1990. The results gave the National League for Democracy an absolute majority of seats in both chambers of the national parliament, enough to ensure that its candidate would become president, while NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi is constitutionally barred from the presidency.[106]
The new parliament convened on 1 February 2016[107] and, on 15 March 2016, Htin Kyaw was elected as the first non-military president since the military coup of 1962.[108] On 6 April 2016, Aung San Suu Kyi assumed the newly created role of State Counsellor, a role akin to a Prime Minister.
Geography
Main article: Geography of Myanmar
A map of Myanmar
Myanmar map of Köppen climate classification.
Myanmar has a total area of 678,500 square kilometres (262,000 sq mi). It lies between latitudes 9° and 29°N, and longitudes 92° and 102°E. As of February 2011, Myanmar consisted of 14 states and regions, 67 districts, 330 townships, 64 sub-townships, 377 towns, 2,914 Wards, 14,220 village tracts and 68,290 villages.
Myanmar is bordered in the northwest by the Chittagong Division of Bangladesh and the Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh states of India. Its north and northeast border is with the Tibet Autonomous Region and Yunnan province for a Sino-Myanmar border total of 2,185 km (1,358 mi). It is bounded by Laos and Thailand to the southeast. Myanmar has 1,930 km (1,200 mi) of contiguous coastline along the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea to the southwest and the south, which forms one quarter of its total perimeter.[20]
In the north, the Hengduan Mountains form the border with China. Hkakabo Razi, located in Kachin State, at an elevation of 5,881 metres (19,295 ft), is the highest point in Myanmar.[109] Many mountain ranges, such as the Rakhine Yoma, the Bago Yoma, the Shan Hills and the Tenasserim Hills exist within Myanmar, all of which run north-to-south from the Himalayas.[110]
The mountain chains divide Myanmar's three river systems, which are the Irrawaddy, Salween (Thanlwin), and the Sittaung rivers.[111] The Irrawaddy River, Myanmar's longest river, nearly 2,170 kilometres (1,348 mi) long, flows into the Gulf of Martaban. Fertile plains exist in the valleys between the mountain chains.[110] The majority of Myanmar's population lives in the Irrawaddy valley, which is situated between the Rakhine Yoma and the Shan Plateau.
Administrative divisions
Main article: Administrative divisions of Myanmar
A clickable map of Burma/Myanmar exhibiting its first-level administrative divisions.
About this image
Myanmar is divided into seven states (ပြည်နယ်) and seven regions (တိုင်းဒေသကြီး), formerly called divisions.[112] Regions are predominantly Bamar (that is, mainly inhabited by the dominant ethnic group). States, in essence, are regions that are home to particular ethnic minorities. The administrative divisions are further subdivided into districts, which are further subdivided into townships, wards, and villages.
Climate
Main article: Climate of Myanmar
The limestone landscape of Mon State.
Much of the country lies between the Tropic of Cancer and the Equator. It lies in the monsoon region of Asia, with its coastal regions receiving over 5,000 mm (196.9 in) of rain annually. Annual rainfall in the delta region is approximately 2,500 mm (98.4 in), while average annual rainfall in the Dry Zone in central Myanmar is less than 1,000 mm (39.4 in). The Northern regions of Myanmar are the coolest, with average temperatures of 21 °C (70 °F). Coastal and delta regions have an average maximum temperature of 32 °C (89.6 °F).[111]
Environment
Further information: Deforestation in Myanmar
Myanmar continues to perform badly in the global Environmental Performance Index (EPI) with an overall ranking of 153 out of 180 countries in 2016; among the worst in the South Asian region, only ahead of Bangladesh and Afghanistan. The EPI was established in 2001 by the World Economic Forum as a global gauge to measure how well individual countries perform in implementing the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. The environmental areas where Myanmar performs worst (ie. highest ranking) are air quality (174), health impacts of environmental issues (143) and biodiversity and habitat (142). Myanmar performs best (ie. lowest ranking) in environmental impacts of fisheries (21), but with declining fish stocks. Despite several issues, Myanmar also ranks 64 and scores very good (ie. a high percentage of 93.73%) in environmental effects of the agricultural industry because of an excellent management of the nitrogen cycle.[114][115]
Wildlife
Myanmar's slow economic growth has contributed to the preservation of much of its environment and ecosystems. Forests, including dense tropical growth and valuable teak in lower Myanmar, cover over 49% of the country, including areas of acacia, bamboo, ironwood and Magnolia champaca. Coconut and betel palm and rubber have been introduced. In the highlands of the north, oak, pine and various rhododendrons cover much of the land.[116]
Heavy logging since the new 1995 forestry law went into effect has seriously reduced forest acreage and wildlife habitat.[117] The lands along the coast support all varieties of tropical fruits and once had large areas of mangroves although much of the protective mangroves have disappeared. In much of central Myanmar (the Dry Zone), vegetation is sparse and stunted.
Typical jungle animals, particularly tigers, occur sparsely in Myanmar. In upper Myanmar, there are rhinoceros, wild water buffalo, clouded leopard, wild boars, deer, antelope, and elephants, which are also tamed or bred in captivity for use as work animals, particularly in the lumber industry. Smaller mammals are also numerous, ranging from gibbons and monkeys to flying foxes. The abundance of birds is notable with over 800 species, including parrots, myna, peafowl, red junglefowl, weaverbirds, crows, herons, and barn owl. Among reptile species there are crocodiles, geckos, cobras, Burmese pythons, and turtles. Hundreds of species of freshwater fish are wide-ranging, plentiful and are very important food sources.[118] For a list of protected areas, see List of protected areas of Myanmar.
Government and politics
Main article: Politics of Myanmar
Assembly of the Union (Pyidaungsu Hluttaw)
The constitution of Myanmar, its third since independence, was drafted by its military rulers and published in September 2008. The country is governed as a parliamentary system with a bicameral legislature (with an executive President accountable to the legislature), with 25% of the legislators appointed by the military and the rest elected in general elections.
(Aral Sea: left 2014 and right 2000, 1960 extent black line)
In the 1960s, the Soviet Union undertook a major water diversion project on the arid plains of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. The region’s two major rivers, fed by snowmelt and precipitation in faraway mountains, were used to transform the desert into farms for cotton and other crops. Before the project, the Syr Darya and the Amu Darya rivers flowed down from the mountains, cut northwest through the Kyzylkum Desert, and finally pooled together in the lowest part of the basin. The lake they made, the Aral Sea, was once the fourth largest in the world.
Although irrigation made the desert bloom, it devastated the Aral Sea. This series of images from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite documents the changes. At the start of the series in 2000, the lake was already a fraction of its 1960 extent (black line). The Northern Aral Sea (sometimes called the Small Aral Sea) had separated from the Southern (Large) Aral Sea. The Southern Aral Sea had split into eastern and western lobes that remained tenuously connected at both ends.
By 2001, the southern connection had been severed, and the shallower eastern part retreated rapidly over the next several years. Especially large retreats in the eastern lobe of the Southern Sea appear to have occurred between 2005 and 2009, when drought limited and then cut off the flow of the Amu Darya. Water levels then fluctuated annually between 2009 and 2014 in alternately dry and wet years. Dry conditions in 2014 caused the Southern Sea’s eastern lobe to completely dry up for the first time in modern times. Continue reading: 1.usa.gov/1nLX9Ku
Read more: 1.usa.gov/1pqEnDj
Credit: NASA Earth Observatory
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
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A composite of the total solar eclipse of March 29, 2006 from Libya.
The composite of totality shows the full extent of the solar corona, the Sun’s outer atmosphere. This image is a stack of 7 exposures, from 1/800th second to 0.8 seconds, and blended with luminosity masks to bring out the faintest extent of the outer corona while still preserving detail in the bright inner corona. A high pass filter brought out the structure in the corona.
The corona is shaped by brushes emanating away from the solar poles at top right and lower left of the disk, and long tapering plumes from the middle and equatorial latitudes of the Sun.
Note the faint image of the Moon’s disk itself is visible here, from the longest exposure. The New Moon’s disk is lit by light from the fully illuminated Earth in the lunar sky. While long exposure photos bring out the earthlit lunar disk, to the eye the Moon looks utterly black during totality.
I shot all images with a Canon 20Da camera shooting through a 66mm aperture WIlliam Optics f/6 apo refractor on a alt-az tripod with no tracking. Images were manually aligned in Photoshop. The location was the desert of Libya south of Tubruq. I was with a TravelQuest/Sky and Telescope eclipse tour.
I can’t help it, I love ruins —they sadden me of course, on the one hand, because destruction is never pleasant to behold, but on the other there is also survival, albeit partial, and ruins are so full of atmosphere and so evocative that I can very much understand (and, to some extent, share) the attraction that 19th century “Romantics” felt for them. It is this very attraction that gave rise to the conviction that historic ruins should be protected and preserved, and that conviction, at the beginning only shared between the members of an intellectual élite, trickled down into the general public and turned into our modern concepts of heritage, protection and restoration of “old stones”... hopefully before they do turn into ruins!
The ruined priory church in the Burgundy village of Le Puley, which we will visit over a couple of days, exemplifies both this interest of mine, and the more and more widespread conviction that historic monuments and buildings must be cared for and, if at all possible, saved, or at least preserved from further decay, as I will explain below.
It is said here and there that the church was built between 1100 and 1150, but personally, I would rather date it between 1050 and 1100. For a Cluny subsidiary (which this priory of Benedictine nuns was from the beginning, except for the very few first years during which the sisters were canonesses), I find the apparel quite rough, and this indicates old age. I also see the beautiful bandes lombardes on the façade, and the archaic shape of the apse and apsidioles I will show tomorrow: all of this tells me that the church was built before 1100. If it had been built after, it would look more “accomplished”, so to speak. Cluny had the technical and monetary means to do better, and they did in all the subsidiaries I have visited to date.
What I would also like to stress is that the church was restored and saved from ruin entirely by volunteers between 1969 and 1984. Its bell tower had fallen during a thunderstorm in 1877. Even now, two-month restoration periods are conducted on the site every Summer under the ægis of the Rempart non-profit organization, the works being carried out mostly by architecture and archæology students.
A first view of the apse, seen from the outside. In French, we have two words, one to refer to the apse when seen from the inside (“abside”), and another one (“chevet”) to describe what you see when you’re outside, as in this photo. When people know their vocabulary and use the proper term, it makes things much easier, especially when reading descriptions not accompanied by photos or drawings.
Here you can clearly see the rough, unrefined apparel, and the absent or minimal (and very eroded) decoration on the modillons, which are signs of archaism. This is not a post–1100 chevet, it is at least 50 years older. The wide windows were of course opened later; only the narrow, axial one which I showed in the previous photo (and which you can glimpse near the right edge of the frame) is period.
Notice also the massive buttress I spoke about in the caption under the nave photo I uploaded today: it is much too big for whatever support the apse may need, and it is not alone, you can see its brothers on the left and right. Those are the typical expression of unexperienced builders who thus voice their fear that the church might collapse, and take whatever precautions they can think of against such a misfortune. Building such enormous (and utterly out of proportion) reinforcements was for a kind of reassurance typical to the countryside, and which I also found among sailors, who in France have a saying that goes Trop fort n’a jamais manqué, i.e., “Too strong never failed”... :o)
We are living in times of great destruction of the world as we know it, earth changes, fires, floods, earthquakes.
Here alone in Australia we sit in horror at the extent of the fires rampage across the country. Unprecedented fires and weather in the history of our existence (well what is on record)
Whilst horrific - the earth we live on has always been full of cyclic changes.
Ancient cities have been discovered under the sea, we are naive to think that the world as we know it will remain the same.
What continents exist now may no longer exist. What coast line exists now is slowly being swallowed up by the ocean.
Volcanic eruptions are changing the face of the planet as are earthquakes - the list is long.
We cannot stop the force of Mother Nature. We live on a planet that has always endured such destruction.
We have pole shifts taking place - all kinds of catastrophic events happening across the Globe. We are but a spit in the ocean to the wide Galaxies that we know of. Yet we think we are precious in some way.
I cannot help but wonder why I was so drawn to create this "Black Winged Goddess" let alone give her the name of Black Winged Goddess. But I was drawn, my soul was pushing me for weeks with a "slight vision" of what I needed to create. It now makes total sense to me why I was so drawn to create The Black Winged Goddess, given the state of our world and humanity.
My soul as always when I listen guides me with powerful messages and reminds me to just 'be' to accept 'what is'.
We may not like the current state of our world but it is what it is and all we can do is stay strong within ourselves and hold the power of 'love' in our hearts despite seeing so much being played out on the planet.
Kali (Hindu) - was known as a deity of the Fearsome Demon destroying Goddess who represents death and rebirth - so her name means "Black One".
We can never truly comprehend or understand the power of mother nature - we have abused her for centuries, taken her for granted and she is a living breathing consciousness so powerful that we dare not go up against here.
In recent years we have seen the influence of the feminine energy on earth which for eons has been dominated by the male energy.
So it makes complete sense to me that we are witness to so much destruction on the planet.
We are witness to the destruction of our societies as we know it, breakdown of families, law, politics.
So much of humanity is at war with the 'system', the injustices, and the lack of balance within our society. The homeless, the abused, the forgotten souls, the mental health issues that seem to have become rampant, the rise of Corporate wealth while humanity is trapped in slavery. We have learnt nothing as a humanity over the past how many hundred years?
In order for rebirth, for new growth, a culling needs to take place - hence the energy of the Black Winged Goddess she is both the Destroyer and the Giver of New Life.
We have elected to be here at this time on the planet - despite the suffering we witness or endure - I know at a higher level it is absolutely necessary for real change to take place.
Our world is a very different place to the one we have known - and whilst we have believed we have had a safe and reasonable planet in which to live, the reality is much Evil has existed and people have been brainwashed to the point of being zombies. There has been so much suppression imposed upon humanity even to the extreme of vaccinations and fluoride to our water supply. All of these chemicals act as suppressants to our brain! It has been a deliberate agenda of the existing power on earth. Their agenda has always been to rule, control and suppress the populous.
Humanity is awakening and with this will be uproar, dis - ease, a culling if you like. It is time for humanity to step out of fear and into their true power which is within each and every one of us.
New growth, new beginnings but not before the dismantling of the old - it has to be this way.
These times we are living through were written in history.
So I have created "The Black Winged Goddess" she is available in different styles, inside a Dome with beautiful etched glass or stand alone. She will rotate or can be static.
She is available on MP in the Stand Alone version (rotating) or can be seen in world at my store.
I hope you enjoy and embrace 'The "Black Winged Goddess' and rather be in fear of her - understand she brings 'New Life" but first the old has to die for the new to be born.
How appropriate for a New Year of 2020 fast approaching.
Interestingly and unconsciously I created 4 of these Black Winged Goddesses.
The year 2020 equates to the number 4 in Numerology.
The #4 represents a Universal energy. (see below for a deeper understanding of the #4)
The # 2 - Is the most feminine and often underestimated when it comes to power and strength. She is always gentle, tactful, diplomatic, forgiving and understanding. She likes to keep peace and likes to avoid confrontation. # 2 is the survivor and extremely resilient force. Her shape looks as though she is bent back on a knee with head bowed in humility and service. However when enough pressure is applied to the # 2 energy. Some would perceive her as weak and powerless due to this servitude shape. However never underestimate the power behind #2 because she represents the power (double) #1 who is the all powerful warrior who will shake and destroy no matter what. So #2 brings the balance but never underestimate the power of 2 Energy.
The #4 Energy in more detail
The 4 is without a doubt masculine, reflecting strength and stability. His chief characteristics are dependability, productivity, punctuality and obedience. He is trustworthy, patient, conventional and a traditionalist.
Tend to be rule followers. 4 is the area of sciences, upholding the law (such as Government and the military). The #4 represents Disciplined, systematic, Dependable, Strong. Loyal
Four is the basis of all solid objects. Four points are used in constructing the simplest solid and thus four is the number symbolizing the way of construction. In many religions, four is seen as the number for earth, and representing the four elements, Air Earth, Water and Fire.
At its extreme 4's can tend to overreact to violence.
So 2020 seems to have more challenges ahead and I suspect we will be seeing more uprising across the planet (#2 energy) with totalitarianism (#4 energy) being played out like never before. Perhaps more of what the world has witnessed in Hong Kong this year.
It is as if the two energies Masculine & Feminine are battling against one another. But at the same time I cannot help but feel and acknowledge UNITY - and this is what I will remain focused upon during the year ahead. We must stand united. We are after all 'one humanity'
We are without doubt living in very challenging times.
May peace be with you!
Taxi
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