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With external cross-bracing to withstand the wind and open up the internal floorplan the John Hancock Center anchors the north end of Michigan Avenue. At 100 stories it is third tallest building in Chicago (after the Sears Tower and the Aon (formerly Standard Oil) Center. Its another Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, this time designed by structural engineer Fazlur Khan and clearly in the modernist, structural expressionist style. While I've run my share of races I'll pass on the annual staircase climb to the "Top of the Cock." Once there, however, you can have an expensive drink and a marvelous view of 4 states from the Signature Room on the 95the Floor.
With its prominent site at the head of the fast flowing River Calder, the Hepworth Gallery pushes the tolerances of architectural design. To protect against the external environment, including cold transfer from the river, and create the perfect internal environment for visitors to the gallery, high performance insulation was required. Leading PIR manufacturer Celotex demonstrated it had a range of solutions that would provide the thermal performance the gallery required.
Architect: David Chipperfield
The steel framed concrete building has been designed to withstand the impact of a fast flowing river and as such the walls had to be reinforced to almost reservoir standard. The gallery walls float 30 millimetres above the floor, so hidden supports had to be constructed to support the magnesite floor. For a project where it was essential to protect the structure from the elements particularly the cold river water and fluctuating water levels, subcontractor Crown House installed 2,300 m² of 75mm thick Celotex GA4000 as lining for the concrete walls.
Made from PIR (polyisocyanurate) with foil facers for improved emissivity, Celotex GA4000 both achieve an excellent lambda of 0.022W/mK, a figure validated by the BBA (British Board of Agrement). Helping the project meet the desired U-values whilst meeting strict levels of energy efficiency, these products have been independently assessed by BRE Global and confirmed as achieving a low environmental impact, through its BRE Approved Environmental Profile. Celotex GA4000 has also been awarded an A+ rating when compared to the BRE Green Guide 2008.
The 75mm thick Celotex GA4000 was used in the cavity walls of the steel framed building - fitted between the external concrete walls and internal block walls. These durable and extremely lightweight boards, available in a range of thicknesses from 50mm to 100mm and a standard board size of 1,200mm x 2400mm, are easy to cut to fit using hand tools making them ideal for a speedy application.
Now complete, Celotex has played a crucial role in such a unique building. The bold lines and modern architecture of the striking new Hepworth Gallery will undoubtedly be a fitting home for an outstanding collection of British art and will including original sculptures by the gallery's namesake, Barbara Hepworth, who was born in Wakefield and went on to become one of the greatest sculptors of the 20th century.
To inspire others toward conserving wildlife resources, at risk species, and habitats, nothing is more compelling than a good story— especially when that story is easily accessible on the web. Dan Chapman, Mark Davis, Roy Hewitt and Phil Kloer have demonstrated their excellence in telling Southeast Region stories that have inspired the public on conservation issues ranging from the impacts of three hurricanes to the value of collaborative conservation that balances wildlife needs with the ability to use lands for economic benefit.
Giving their stories and photos a home on an attractively redesigned website and a new website section called Nature’s Good
Neighbors has helped, too, with analytics showing a 28.5 percent increase in Southeast Region page-views over a nine-month period in 2018. Also, many third-party organizations are republishing stories from the region in their own publications. These organizations include state wildlife agencies, local news organizations, commercial blogs, and industry trade groups, which brings our story to a wider audience.
From L to R:
Dan Chapman
Principal Deputy Director, Margaret Everson
Regional Director, Leo Miranda
Mark Davis
Roy Hewitt
Phil Kloer
Southeast Regional Director's Honor Awards Ceremony
May 8, 2019
Atlanta, GA
Photo by Nanciann Regalado
External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar called on H.E Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe, President of Sri Lanka in New Delhi
This external view of a corridor shows the expanse of glass used for its' construction. The location of the college means users have long distance views into the countryside and to the rest of the campus.
The indigenous cattle of Southern Africa are collectively known as Sanga. Ecotypes of Sanga are the Nguni(South Africa), Bapedi(Lesotho), Nkone & Mashona(Zimbabwe), Landim(Mozambique), Tswana(Botswana) and the Sanga of Namibia. The Afrikaner, Bonsmara, Drakensberger and Tuli could also be classified as Sanga or Sanga phenotypes.
The term Sanga is therefore used to describe cattle of Southern Africa. These cattle have a typical cervico-thoracic hump, lyre shaped horns with a cylindrical core. Their body profile indicates to the possible inheritance between the laterally horned animals with the hump on the neck and the shorthorn Brachyceros with no hump and it’s heritage from Europe.
Chromosome studies showed that Sanga cattle has the same submetacentric Y-chromosome as Bos Taurus cattle. This is contrary to the acrocentric Y-chromosome usually find in Bos Indicus cattle. Due to the anatomical, physiological and adaptability of the breed it was lately classified as bos taurus africanus.
The earliest evidence of cattle in Africa exists in north-west Africa, nowadays Niger, some 7000 years ago. The Sanga however appeared to have originated about 1600 BC in the Ethiopia/Somalia region. Whatever the origins of Sanga cattle, they migrated South through Africa with their nomadic owners. The migration was not easy as they had to cross the most cattle-diseased affected areas in the world. It is believed that the Tsetse belt was crossed just west of the Victoria Falls. The Sanga finally entered Southern Africa some 500 years BC.
Description
Size & Mass
Bulls are of medium size weighing 500 - 800 kg. The average shoulder height of Phase C bulls (=15 months) is + 120cm. Cows are smallish and weigh 300 - 480 kg. Their body length is + 130 cm and height at shoulder + 119 cm.
Horns
Horns are crescent-shaped in bulls and characteristically lyre-shaped, thinner and longer in mature females. They are round in cross-section and dark, especially at the tips.
Hump
The hump is situated cervico-thoracially and is muscular in structure. The size and shape of the hump is reasonably well developed in bulls especially after 3 years, but in females is only evidence in individual animals in good condition.
Hide & Hair
The Nguni has a well-pigmented, motile hide of medium thickness and the coat is short, fine and glossy (oily). The coat patterns are legion and warrant a separate descriptive catalogue but black, red, dun, roan, speckled and patched animals are acceptable. Poor and unpigmented animals are discriminated against.
Colours
The majority of Nguni cattle have pigmented hides and dark, if not black, hooves and muzzles. The coat shows a variety of colours which may appear as whole colours, mixed colours or as specific colour patterns.Six whole coat colours under which white (Umhlope), black (Mnyama), Brown (Emfusi), Red (Embomvu), Dun (Mdaka) and Yellow (Mpofu) exist in Nguni cattle, while eight colour patterns occur. The Zulu names appear in brackets. Besides the fact that there are theoretically 48 colour patterns the Zulu and Swazi people describe 77 different colour patterns in order to ease identification and ownership of cattle. These different colours and colour patterns are playing a very important role in the social and cultural life of the African people.
There is no doubt that the variety of colours, and the combination thereof, have something to do with the excellent adaptability of the breed under the high temperature and dry or humid climatic conditions of Southern Africa.The colourful red and white speckled animals are the most popular animals. However, the inheritance of Nguni cattle are somewhat complicated which makes it impossible to select solely for a certain favourable colour. The Nguni hides have very impressive and attractive colour patterns and can therefore be sold as a byproduct to be used for fashion articles.
Characteristics
Adaptability and Hardness
Having survived many years of exposure to climatic and other environmental extremes such as internal and external parasites, suboptimal grazing conditions and primitive management practices the Nguni has developed as a heat tolerant, disease and tick resistant breed.
Fertility
Nguni cattle seems to be the most fertile beef breed in Southern Africa (and most probably in the world). Nguni cows registered at the Namibian Stud Breeders Association obtained an average inter calving period (ICP) of 402 days despite the severe drought conditions experienced during the nineties.
Ease of Calving
Ngunis calve easily. Calves of both sexes are small at birth weighing 26kg on average or 7.5% of the mothers' mass. Calving difficulties are also extremely rare due to conformational features such as the sloping rump in females and the significant maternal restriction on birth mass.
NGA Canberra, Australia
Seen on ABCTV Canberra, 27 August 2025.
www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-19/act-ouroboros-statue-trave...
Basilica of Panagia KANAKARIA, Cyprus
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A delightfully unexpected byzantine church, with an elderly door keeper who appeared out of nowhere to chase away the pigeons. Mosaics and other materials were looted during the Turkish invasion of North Cyprus, some of which were recovered, and can be seen in the Icon Museum in Nicosia.
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In Lythrangomi, a small village of the Famagusta region in the Turkish occupied Karpasia peninsula, one may find a rare specimen of the 6th century BC: The Church of Panagia Kanakaria. It is a monastery church which is devoted to the Virgin Mary and is situated at the far western corner of the village.
Kanakaria_church_6th_century_700_bg
There are three meanings given to the name “Kanakaria”. Popular tradition says that a Saracen threw an arrow against Panagias’ knee on the icon, which was lying outside the church against the wall, or put a knife to the icon. However, the knife turned back and pierced his hand. He tried to mend the wound by appealing to the people at the next village. While running, he was shouting “kan, kan”, which means “blood”. He died on the way. The icon was thereafter named “Kanakaria”.
The second version says that Panagia was so named because it was built by an only child, “a kanakari”.
The third one relies on a mosaic which depicts Panagia embracing her Child, holding Him on her lap.
The church was built on the ruins of an early Christian Basilica, at the time of the Iconamachia. It is a three aisled domed basilica, whose central aisle ends in a semi circular apse dated to the 7th century and is regarded as the Katholikon of the monastery. The church had its walls, the side apses, the dome, the narthekas and the middle apse modified during the 12th and 13th century.
Three mosaic specimens which are found on the apses of three early Christian basilicas ( Panagia Angeloktisti at Kitium, of Kyras at Livadia and Panagia Kanakaria)give an idea of the grandeur and the immense beauty of the mosaics which adorned the basilicas destroyed during the Arab raids. The oldest of the three mosaics was found on the apse of the Panagia Kanakaria.
Panagia, sitting on a front facing throne, holding Christ on her lap, was at the centre of the mosaic. Archangels Gabriel and Michael surrounded her on a golden background. This mosaic was in place until 1979. Panagia’s head had not been preserved. The mosaic is surrounded by a frieze depicting the twelve apostles and Christ in medallions richly decorated with geometric and flowery designs. Only nine of the medallions with the apostles have been preserved.
In 1979, the Church was destroyed by the Turkish occupation troops. The unique mosaics have been looted and sold to dealers of archaeological treasures. The Church of Cyprus and the Cyprus government launched a long legal battle which caused worldwide interest. In 1989, a United States court described the mosaics as ‘stolen property’ and ordered their return to their rightful owner: the Church of Cyprus.
This is a series of sunrise shots taken during my 2012 trip to Myrtle Beach. I hadn't been there since I was a child. It was also the first time for me staying in a hotel with an oceanfront balcony view.
Taking advantage of the balcony view, I woke up long enough to photograph the sunrise each morning and then went back to bed for a few hours. I'm not an early riser as a rule, especially on vacation.
I pulled this series from my old computer files. My newer "photo" computer had major issues, including a hard drive failure, and has been out of service for more than two weeks. Fortunately, I believe I got all of the photos backed up onto an external hard drive before it crashed.
www.holyspiritspeaks.org/on-quieting-your-heart-before-go...
Pondering the words of God and praying over the words of God at the same time as eating and drinking the actual words of God—this is the first step to being at peace before God. If you can be truly at peace before God, then the enlightenment and illumination of the Holy Spirit will be with you.
All spiritual life is achieved by relying on being quiet before God. In praying you must be quiet before God before you can be moved by the Holy Spirit. By being quiet before God when you eat and drink God’s words you can be enlightened and illuminated and be able to achieve truly understanding God’s words. In your usual meditation and fellowship, and when you are drawing close to God with your heart, only when you are quiet before God can you have genuine closeness to God, genuine understanding of God’s love and God’s work, and true thoughtfulness toward God’s intentions. The more you are usually able to be quiet before God the more you can be illuminated, and the more you are able to understand your own corrupt disposition, what you lack, what you should enter, what function you should serve, and where you have defects. All these are achieved by relying on being quiet before God. If you truly reach some depth in being quiet before God, you can touch some mysteries in the spirit, touch on what God at present wants to do on you, touch on deeper understanding of God’s words, and touch on the essence of God’s words, on the substance of God’s words, on the being of God’s words, and you can see the path of practice more thoroughly and more accurately. If you cannot be quiet in your spirit to a certain depth, you will just be somewhat moved by the Holy Spirit, inside you will feel strength, and some enjoyment and peace, but you will not touch anything deeper. I have said before, if one does not use all their strength, it will be difficult for them to hear My voice or see My face. This refers to achieving depth in being quiet before God, not to external effort. A person who can truly be quiet before God is able to free themselves from all worldly ties and can achieve being occupied by God. All people who are unable to be quiet before God are assuredly dissolute and unrestrained. All who are able to be quiet before God are people who are pious before God, people who yearn for God. It is only people who are quiet before God who pay attention to life, pay attention to fellowship in spirit, who thirst for God’s words, and who pursue the truth. All those who pay no attention to being quiet before God, who do not practice being quiet before God are vain people who are completely attached to the world, who are without life; even if they say they believe in God they are just paying lip-service. Those God ultimately perfects and completes are people who can be quiet before God. Therefore, people who are quiet before God are people graced with great blessings. People who during the day take little time to eat and drink God’s words, who are completely preoccupied with external affairs, and do not pay attention to life entry are all hypocrites with no prospect of developing in the future. It is those who can be quiet before God and genuinely commune with God who are God’s people.
from "On Quieting Your Heart Before God"
IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim receives Dr. Agus Joko Pramono, Vice-Chairman of the Audit Board of Indonesia (9-3-22).
External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar called on H. E. Dr. Irfaan Ali, President of The Cooperative Republic of Guyana on the sidelines of 17th PBD in Indore
Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez (born January 29, 1942) is a Cuban military officer, legislator, and former cosmonaut and the first person of African heritage in space.[1][2] As a member of the crew of Soyuz 38, he became the first Cuban citizen and the first person from a country in the Western Hemisphere other than the United States to travel into Earth orbit.
Contents
1 Early life and military service
2 Intercosmos program
3 Personal life
4 See also
5 References
6 External links
Early life and military service
Tamayo was born in Baracoa, Guantánamo province, into a humble family of Afro-Cuban descent. Orphaned as an infant, he was adopted at age 1 by Rafael Tamaya and Esperanza Méndez. He began working at age 13 as a shoeshine and vegetable vendor and later worked as a carpenter's assistant.[3][4]
He was born on January 29, 1942, in Cuba. During the Cuban Revolution he joined the Association of Young Rebels, a group protesting the Batista regime, and later the Revolutionary Work Youth Brigades.[4] After the Cuban revolution he entered the Technical Institute "Rebel Army" completing a course for aviation technicians in December 1960. Wishing to become a fighter pilot, he went on to join the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces. Between April 1961 and May 1962 Tamayo completed a course in aerial combat at the Yeisk Higher Air Force School with MiG-15s in Soviet Union, after which he was certified a combat pilot at the age of 19.[4] Later that year, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, he flew 20 reconnaissance missions in defense of Cuba as part of the Playa Girón Brigade of the Cuban Revolutionary Guard.[5]
In 1967, Tamayo officially joined the Communist Party of Cuba and spent the next two years serving with Cuban forces in the Vietnam War, returning in 1969 to study at the Maximo Gomez Basic College of the Revolutionary Armed Forces until 1971.
In 1975, he was made Chief of Staff of the Santa Clara Aviation Brigade and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel the following year. In 1978 he was selected to join the Intercosmos program and moved to the Star City in Russia for his training as a cosmonaut.
Intercosmos program
Arnaldo Tamayo's space suit, on display at Museo de la Revolución, Havana, Cuba
Tamayo was selected as part of the Soviet Union's seventh Intercosmos program on March 1, 1978. His backup in the Intercosmos program was fellow Cuban José López Falcón. Tamayo would spend the next two and half years in training for the mission.[4]
Tamayo, along with Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Romanenko, was launched into space aboard Soyuz 38 from Baikonur Cosmodrome on September 18, 1980, at 19:11 UTC. After docking with Salyut 6, Tamayo and Romanenko conducted experiments in an attempt to find what caused space adaptation syndrome (SAS), and perhaps even find a cure, and on the crystallisation of sucrose in microgravity, for the benefit of Cuba's sugar industry. The SAS experiment involved wearing special adjustable shoes for six hours every day that placed a load on the arch of the foot. After 124 orbits of the Earth (lasting 7 days, 20 hours and 43 minutes), Tamayo and Romanenko landed 180 km (110 mi) from Dzhezkazgan. The landing was risky, as it was during the night.[1][6][7][8]
Upon his return to Earth he was decorated with the Hero of the Republic of Cuba medal, the first person to be so honored. In Moscow he received the Order of Lenin and was also named Hero of the Soviet Union.
Personal life
Soviet postage stamp commemorating the Soyuz 38 mission.
Following his time in the Intercosmos program, Tamayo was made Director of the Military Patriotic Educational Society known as Sociedad de Educación Patriótico-Militar "SEPMI".[5] After his promotion to brigadier general, he became Director of International Affairs in the Cuban armed forces.
Since 1980, he has been a Deputy in the Cuban National Assembly, representing his home region of Guantánamo Province.[9]
He has been honored by the Cuban Government for being the first Cuban, the first Caribbean, and the first Latin American to go into orbit. He was awarded the titles of Hero of the Republic of Cuba and the Order of Playa Girón.[9] He also is a recipient of the Hero of the Soviet Union award.
Tamayo is married and has two daughters and a son.
His space suit is preserved at the Museum of the Revolution in Havana.
- added radar domes and added 2x2x3 corner slopes at the corners of the towers (waited 4 weeks! for the slopes, ordered from an italian bricklink-seller... never ever will I order sth. from italy!!)
- added the second saab bofors dynamics RBS 15 Mk3 surface-to-surface missle (the autentic braunschweig has been equipped with the Mk3 in the End of 2011, now it is a really heavy armed navy ship)
I took a week-long intensive class in art therapy. Here are parts of a project we did: Create a self-box that says something about who you and where you are in your life. I chose to make a Beauty Box, to remind me that I'm beautiful on the inside, which is more important than external beauty. Inside I wrote some notes about my strengths.
One of a series of test shots of a test target about 8.4m away using a Nikon Z9 and either the 400/2.8TC and/or 800/6.3 with and without use of the internal or an additional external ZTC14 or ZTC20 - resulting focal lengths from 400 to 1,600mm. Shots are taken wide open in aperture priority using ISO 32 to ISO 6400 - all shot data is shown in the Title. Images were all shot at EV +1 1/3rd to give the white brightness and saved as Lossless RAW files, which have been processed in DxO PureRAW 2. Optical corrections are applied in Lightroom Classic. Files are exported as sRGB JPGs
Vascoceras sp. - ammonite fossil (internal mold) in fossiliferous limestone from the Cretaceous of Nigeria, Africa. (~5.6 centimeters across)
Ammonites are common & conspicuous fossils in Mesozoic marine sedimentary rocks. Ammonites are an extinct group of cephalopods - they’re basically squids in coiled shells. The living chambered nautilus also has a squid-in-a-coiled-shell body plan, but ammonites are a different group.
Ammonites get their name from the coiled shell shape being reminiscent of a ram’s horn. The ancient Egyptian god Amun (“Ammon” in Greek) was often depicted with a ram’s head & horns. Pliny’s Natural History, book 37, written in the 70s A.D., refers to these fossils as “Hammonis cornu” (the horn of Ammon), and mentions that people living in northeastern Africa perceived them as sacred. Pliny also indicates that ammonites were often pyritized.
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Ammonite info. from the Wyoming Geological Museum in Laramie, Wyoming:
Ammonites
Ammonites are extinct molluscs of the Class Cephalopoda, a group represented today by the octopus, squid, and shell-bearing Nautilus. Ammonites appeared midway through the Paleozoic Era (400 million years ago). They diversified many times over their 300 million year history, and persited through three mass-extinction events. During the Mesozoic Era (from 250 to 65 million years ago), ammonites reached their greatest diversity, achieving many different shell forms and ways of life. At the end of the Mesozoic Era, ammonites became extinct, together with the dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and marine reptiles.
Ammonite Anatomy
Ammonites, like the modern Nautilus, possessed an external shell divided into a series of chambers by thin walls called septa. These chambers were connected by a flesh-bearing tube known as the siphuncle. By analogy with the living Nautilus, it served to regulate fluid and gas levels in each chamber, enabling ammonites to control their buoyancy. Although ammonites are common fossils, little is known about their soft parts. However, it is thought that their soft anatomy was similar to that of modern squid and octopi. They probably possessed eight to ten arms surrounding a beak-like mouth. Locomotion probably involved bringing water into a cavity, formed by the fleshy mantle, then expelling it by muscular contraction through a funnel-like opening called the hyponome, therby implementing a form of jet-propulsion.
Ammonite Ecology
Ammonites were common constituents of Cretaceous marine ecosystems and were represented in many habitats in the shallow seas that covered North America during the Mesozoic Era. Ammonites lived in both nearhsore and offshore settings in both benthic (seafloor) and pelagic (open ocean) habitats. Some species could probably even migrate between both types of habitats.
Feeding Habits
Most ammonites, like their modern cephalopod relatives, were probably carnivores, although some may have been passive planktivores. The carnivorous ammonites possesssed powerful jaws adapted for crushing prey, which included crustaceans, fish, clams, snails, and even other ammonites.
Reproduction and Growth
Ammonites, like their modern relatives the octopi and squids, hatched as tiny larvae in huge numbers and probably grew to maturity within a short span of time. Most adults were small, while those of some species were huge, reaching sizes greater than 6 feet (2 meters) in diameter. Aberrant ammonites that changed their shape during growth are thought to have changed their habitat as well.
Ammonite Sexes
Like modern cephalopods, ammonites showed distinct differences between sexes. Shells of female ammonites, known as macroconchs, are larger and possess little or no ornamentation. Males, known as microconchs, are smaller than females and commonly possess distinct ornamentation.
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Classification: Animalia, Mollusca, Cephalopoda, Ammonoidea, Ammonitida, Vascoceratidae
Stratigraphy: unrecorded Upper Cretaceous unit (possibly the Pindiga Formation)
Locality: unrecorded/undisclosed site in the Gombe region, northeastern Nigeria, western Africa