They had been given some hay which was quickly eaten

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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 33.762+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.

  

***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on October 9th 2019

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/1179755159 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 3,737th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Three metres, at 06:40am on Wednesday 1st September 2019 around sunrise off 1st Street and Bevan Avenue, bewteen the boat jetty and Bevan Avenue Fishing Pier in beautiful Sidney by the sea on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

  

Here we look over to Sidney Island, one of the Southern Gulf islands between the southwest coast of BC. It has an elevation of seventy seven metres above sea level at it's highest point. Ferry trips from Sidney to Sidney spit on Sidney Island operate for certain parts of the year.

  

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Nikon D850. Focal length 90mm Shutter speed 1/40s Aperture f/14.0 iso64 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX). Focus mode AF-C focus 51 point with 3D- tracking. AF-Area mode single point & 73 point switchable. Exposure mode - Aperture priority exposure. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. Matrix metering. ISO Sensitivity: Auto. White balance: Natural light auto. Colour space Adobe RGB. Nikon Distortion control on. Picture control: Auto. High ISO NR on. Vignette control: normal. Active D-lighting Auto.

  

Nikkor AF-P 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6E. Lee Filters ND9RG 0.9 Reverse Grad Nd Filter. Nikon EN-EL15a battery.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod 3 Sections (Payload: 5.6kgs). Manfrotto 327RC2 Light Duty Grip Ball Magnesium Tripod Head (Payload: 5.5kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 200PL-14. Jessops Tripod bag.Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release cable.

  

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RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 90.5MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 33.40MB

     

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PROCESSING POWER:

 

Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18) LF 1.00

 

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.3.1 11/07/2019). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

   

Barry Allen - Known his entire life as the man who was always late, Barry Allen was given quite the shake up one fateful night as a freak thunderstorm roared through Central City. That night Barry was frantically working on a case for the CCPD as every bolt of lightning lit up the sky outside his window. With a bright bolt of lightning and a loud crack of thunder, all the lights in Allen’s lab shut off, causing him to search the room for a light that he could turn on to continue his work. As he was searching, Barry noticed that all the liquid in the room was mysteriously floating up and out of their containers. A bewildered Barry looked out the window as a bright bolt of lightning careened towards him and crashed through his window. The bolt struck Barry directly and sent him flying back into the center of his office. The immense force of the lightning strike caused all of the cabinets around him to topple and spill their contents. As everything crashing down on an unconscious Allen, one would assume the worst of the situation. However, Barry somehow survived the jolt to his system and the subsequent dousing of every chemical Barry had in his lab.

 

Not only did Barry survive the blast, but thanks to this phenomenon, Allen was gifted abilities he had only dreamt of obtaining. Super speed, super strength, and accelerated regeneration, just to name a few of the extraordinary powers he was given. Barry took a few months to really get a handle on these abilities before he realized that he could make a difference with these powers much like his childhood hero, Jay Garrick aka the Flash!

 

With some more training and a bright red super suit, Barry became the Flash, like Jay, and began fighting crime and injustice that reared its head in Central City. Eventually he took on a protégée in Wally West, the nephew of Barry’s longtime girlfriend and soon to be wife. With Wally, or as he was called Kid Flash, by his side, Barry became a mentor to those who found themselves with super speed and other metahuman abilities.

 

Years later, one of Barry’s most famous adversaries, the Mirror Master, broke out of Iron Heights and began causing chaos among the citizens of Central City. Mirror Master made it known that he wanted to face Barry one on one after he kidnapped Iris West, Barry’s now wife. After much deliberation and arguing, Wally reluctantly let Barry go after Scudder by himself even though he wanted a hand in bringing down the man who kidnapped his aunt. Barry found Scudder exactly where he said he would be, in an abandoned toy store, surrounded by mirror images of Iris.

 

The fight that ensued was one of Barry’s greatest as he left nothing to chance, however, Scudder seemed to have always been one step ahead of the fastest man alive. Barry got clumsy and against his better judgement lunged directly into one of Scudder’s many mirror projections. Much to his dismay Allen found himself inside the mirror dimension with no bearing on where he actually was. Suddenly, an image of Iris appeared before him and in an instant the image shifted to a cackling silhouette of Mirror Master. With the snap of Scudder’s fingers the image vanished and Barry became trapped in the Mirror Dimension.

 

Full of hope of returning to Iris’s side, Barry now spends every waking second searching for a way out of his reflective prison!

credit given to boyfriend for pushing the button

Given as a gift for Christmas...

Given the situation this year, the Black Pearl Pirate Ship has not been rebuilt but there are piles of driftwood close by ready for next year

 

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****This frame was chosen on September 26th 2014 to appear on FLICKR EXPLORE (Highest Ranking: #196. This is my Fifty Sixth photograph to be selected, which for me is both amazing and exciting, as I never view my images as worthy compared to some of the awesome photography out there. EXPLORE is Flickr's way of showcasing the most interesting photos within a given point in time -- usually over a 24 hour period.

  

Flickr receives about 6,000 uploads every minute -- That's about 8.6 million photos a day! From this huge group of images, the Flickr Interestingness algorithm chooses only 500 images to showcase for each 24-hour period. That's only one image in every 17,000!..... so I am really thrilled to have a frame picked and most grateful to everyone who visited, favourite and commented on the frame*****

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Nine metres, in the magic of the Golden hour around sunrise at 05:41am, (sunrise was at precisely 06.15am) on Saturday 6th September 2014 off the Patricia Bay Highway 17, on Lochside Drive close to Frost Avenue and the Lochside Waterfront Park, in beautiful Sidney by the sea on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

  

Here, I am standing beside the wooden decked viewing platform, looking over towards Mt Baker in Washington State, USA from beautiful Sidney by the sea on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Also known as Koma Kulshan, she is an active glaciated andesitic stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc and the North Cascades of Washington State in the United States, standing 3,286 metres tall and was first ascended in 1868, her last eruption recorded in 1880.

  

These Canada Geese, along with many other small groups, fly across the lake from East to West every morning and back again every evening at Sunset, and I love to watch the classic Vee formations and listen to the honking as they pass me by.

 

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Nikon D800 70mm 1/1000s f/2.8 iso100 RAW (14 bit) Manual focus. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto white balance.

  

Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8G ED IF VRII. Jessops 77mm UV filter. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL batteries. Nikon DK-17M Magnifying Eyepiece. Nikon DK-19 soft rubber eyecup. Manfrotto MT057C3 057 Carbon Fiber Tripod 3 Sections (Payload 18kgs). Manfrotto MH057M0-RC4 057 Magnesium Ball Head with RC4 Quick Release (Payload 15kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 410PL-14.Jessops Tripod bag. Optech Tripod Strap.Digi-Chip 64GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDXC. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW camera bag. Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.

  

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LATITUDE: N 48d 38m 15.77s

LONGITUDE: W 123d 24m 12.83s

ALTITUDE: 9.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 15.02MB

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Processing power:

HP Pavillion Desktop with AMD A10-5700 APU processor. HD graphics. 2TB with 8GB RAM. 64-bit Windows 8.1. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. Nikon VIEWNX2 Version 2.10.0 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit

   

Given the lack of space in Japan (and especially Tokyo) it is fairly common for large department stores to landscape the entire roof as an outdoor park/garden for adults and children to relax/play in.

 

Catch is you have to go through the store first to get to it ;-)

 

5xp freehand HDR shot taken on the roof (9F) of the Takashimaya department store in Nihonbashi during Golden Week here in Tokyo, Japan.

Given the extraordinarily cold weather we're having in Southern California, I thought a wintery look would be appropriate. Here I'm sporting my distressed skinny jeans and a cute hot pink blouse with patent stiletto pumps. Have a wonderful Hump Day!!!

The low-key approach seemed natural, given this was shot on a cold and drizzly day in winter.

 

This sphinx has stood in the northeastern corner of the Lund Botanical Garden since 1978. It is a remnant of the original decorations on the city's main university building.

In 1882, the Swedish architect Helgo Zettervall adorned the newly opened university building with cement sculptures, including griffins, urns, and four sphinxes. The poor-quality concrete, however, eroded over time, and the decorations were removed in 1959. Newly cast urns and griffins were quickly put in place, but the sphinxes got lost in storage. Some years later, the Uarda Academy found one of the missing sphinxes and saved it from destruction. It became the model for the mould used to create the new sphinxes - and the original was placed in the city's Botanical Gardens.

It happened again in 2021—the sphinxes on the university’s roof were weathering away and taken down, and replacements were installed in October 2024.

Zettervall’s sphinxes are mythological creatures in a Hellenistic style, quite different from their Egyptian origins. In this interpretation, they are almost androgynous, unlike the Greek female prototype.

Give me back my innocence cos I wish to dream again

Like I never outgrew my old playground...

Banteay Kdei, meaning "A Citadel of Chambers", also known as "Citadel of Monks' cells", is a Buddhist temple in Angkor, Cambodia. It is located southeast of Ta Prohm and east of Angkor Thom. Built in the mid-12th to early 13th centuries AD during the reign of Jayavarman VII (who was posthumously given the title "Maha paramasangata pada"), it is in the Bayon architectural style, similar in plan to Ta Prohm and Preah Khan, but less complex and smaller. Its structures are contained within two successive enclosure walls, and consist of two concentric galleries from which emerge towers, preceded to the east by a cloister.

 

This Buddhist monastic complex is currently dilapidated due to faulty construction and poor quality of sandstone used in its buildings, and is now undergoing renovation. Banteay Kdei had been occupied by monks at various intervals over the centuries until the 1960s

 

The Banteay Kdei, one of the many Angkor temples, is located in the Angkor Archaeological Park of 400 square kilometres (150 sq mi) area. The ancient city of Angkor during the Khmer Empire extended from Tonle Sap to the Kulen hills covering a vast area of 1,000 square kilometres (390 sq mi). The temple is approached from the east gopura of Ta Prohm along a 600 metres (2,000 ft) path. This path leads to the west gate entrance gopura of Banteay Kdei. It is 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) east of Angkor Thom.

 

The name Banteay Kdei originates from an earlier name, Kuti, which is mentioned in the Sdok Kak Thom. This stele describes the arrival of Jayavarman II to the area, "When they arrived at the eastern district, the king bestowed an estate and a village called Kuti upon the family of the royal chaplain." This royal chaplain was the Brahman scholar Sivakaivalya, his chief priest for the Devaraja cult.: 98 

 

The Khmer Empire lasted from 802 to 1431, initially under Hindu religious beliefs up to the end of the 12th century and later under Buddhist religious practices. It was a time when temples of grandeur came to be built and reached a crescendo during the reign of Suryavarman II until 1145/1150, and later in the 12th–13th centuries, under Jayavarman VII. Many Buddhist temples were built, including the Banteay Kdei, from middle of the 12th century to early 13th century. Though Jayavarman VII was credited with building many temples, he was also accused of squandering money on extravagant temple building projects at the expense of society and other duties. He built Buddhist temples in which Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara was the main deity. This temple built, conforming to the style of the Ta Prohm and Preah Khan temples in the vicinity during the same period by Jayavarman VII, but of a smaller size, was built as a Buddhist monastic complex on the site of a 10th-century temple built by Rajendravarman. Some small inscriptions attest to the building of this temple by Jayavarman VII and the royal architect, Kavindrarimathana.

 

Jayavarman VII had come to power at the age of 55 after defeating Chams who had invaded Angkor and subjected it to devastation. His "prodigious activity" resulted in the restoration of Cambodia from its ruins. He was chiefly the architect of the rebuilt capital at Angkor Thom and was called a "Great Builder". He was responsible for building many temples, which apart from Banteay Kdei, included the central temple of the Bayon, Prah Khan, Ta Prohm and many others, and also many rest houses for pilgrims. The reasons for building this temple at its present site is not known. However, it is established that the temple is a contemporary of the Angkor Wat as many similarities have been identified between the two, and also with Phimai temple in Thailand. It is reported to be the first temple built by Jayavarman VII in 1181 AD, opposite to the Srah Srang reservoir.

 

In the 13th century, most of the temples built by Jayavarman were vandalised. However, some of the Mahayana Buddhist frontons and lintels are still seen in good condition. It is also the view of some archaeologists that the temple was built by Jayavarman II in honour of his religious teacher.

 

The temple, which for several centuries after the Khmer reign ended, remained neglected and covered with vegetation. It was exposed after clearing the surrounding overgrowth of vegetation in 1920–1922. This work was carried out under the guidance of Henri Marchal (then Conservator of Angkor) and Ch. Battuer, by adopting a conservation principle which was known as "the principle of anastylosis, which was being employed very effectively by the Dutch authorities in Indonesia". It was partially occupied by Buddhist monks till the 1960s.

 

For ten years till March 2002, Sophia University Mission or the Sophia Mission of Japan carried out several Archaeological research at the Banteay Kdei temple. During these investigations, a cache of fragments of 274 Buddhist statues made in sandstone, along with a few metal art pieces, were unearthed, in 2001. Plans to build a storage room to house the statues was also planned.

 

The sacred temple complex is cloistered and packed in a space of 65 m × 50 m (213 ft × 164 ft) with three enclosures within a large compound wall of size 700 m × 300 m (2,300 ft × 980 ft), made of laterite stones. The entry is from the east facing gopura, which is in a cruciform embellished with Lokesvara images. The temple is a treasure house of sculptures in the architectural styles of the Bayon and also of the Angkor Wat. The complex is on a single level.

 

The external enclosure with four concentric walls, has four gopuras similar to the Ta Prohm temple, and all are in some degree of preserved status. At the four corners, the gopuras have a fascia of Lokesvara (Buddhist deity, Avalokitesvara) mounted over Garuda images (it is also mentioned that the smiling faces are of King Jayavarman II, similar to those seen in the Beyan temple). The east facing gopura, in particular, has well-preserved garuda images on its corners. Two hundred meters from the west entrance of this enclosure leads to a moat, which is decorated with statues of lions and naga-balustrades mounted on garudas. The moat itself has in its precincts the third enclosure which measures 320 m × 300 m (1,050 ft × 980 ft), also enclosed with laterite walls. The Buddha image at the entrance to the moat, near the second interior gate, is well preserved, considering the fact that most of the other statues have been destroyed or stolen.

 

The third enclosure has a gopura which has a cruciform plan. It has pillars which are crossed by vaults. There are three passages in this enclosure, two on either side are independent, with laterite walls. The niches here have small figurines, and large apsara devatas in single poses or in pairs of dancing poses. Large Buddha images, in an internal courtyard of this enclosure, have been defaced by vandals. A paved access from here leads to the main shrine, which comprises two galleried enclosures. At the entrance to these enclosures, from the eastern end, is the "Hall of Dancers", which has four open courtyards and the pillars have fine carvings of apsaras.

 

The second enclosure, which is part of the main temple, measures 58 m × 50 m (190 ft × 164 ft). It has a gopura on its eastern side and also subsidiary gopura on the west. Entrance doors are at the northern and southern ends. The gopura is built like a gallery with one exterior wall and double row of pillars which open into a courtyard and which has mostly shored up walls with small openings at the bottom to allow air circulation. The niches here are decorated with images of apsaras, and a Buddha statue in the central hall has been defaced by vandals. Bayon style architectural features built-in are the "balustered false windows with lowered blinds and devatas with headdresses in the form of small flaming discs set in a triangle." The vaults built in sandstone and laterite have collapsed at several locations of the gallery. The inner enclosures contain library building to its north and south and also a central sanctuary.

 

The inner enclosure of the main temple is built on a 36 m × 30 m (118 ft × 98 ft) layout plan. This enclosure has four corner towers abutted by small gopuras. Galleries running along an axis link these towers to the main sanctuary. The towers at the north-east and south-east are linked with the second gallery where a Buddha statue in a sitting posture is seen, in the backdrop of an open sky line. The sanctum which is 2.75 m (9.0 ft) square enclosure has some traces of statues of deities. This entire enclosure, however, is not built in Bayon style and hence conjectured to be of an earlier period. Remnants of wooden ceiling are also seen here. The entrance to the sanctum is flanked by dvarapalas surrounded by apsaras.

 

Srah Srang or "The royal bathing pool" or "pool of ablutions" to the east of Banteay Kdei, which was dug to dimensions of 700 metres (2,300 ft)x300 metres (980 ft) during the reign of Rajendraverman in the 10th century, was beautified by Jayavarman VII with well laid out steps of laterite stones with external margin of sandstone, on the banks of the pond facing the Sun. It is set amidst large trees and has turquoise blue waters all the year round. The approaching steps to the water edge are flanked by two stone statues of lions with ornamented Nāga-balustrades. The pond was reserved for use by the king and his wives. A stone base seen at an island in the centre of the pond once housed a wooden temple where the king did meditation. At the lily filled lake, watching sunset reflections in the lake is quite an experience. The water from the lake is now used for rice cultivation by farmers of the area.

 

Some specific architectural features which evolved with the Bayon style are clearly discerned in this temple. The roof is supported on free-standing pillars in the eastern and western pavilions in the third enclosure, built in a cruciform plan with the inner row of pillars supporting the roof. The pillars are also tied to the wall by a tie beam using a "mortise–and–tenon join" patterned on wooden structures. Other features noted are of the four central pillars in the western pavilion which have been strengthened with temporary supports of laterite stone block pillars. Carvings of Buddha are seen on all these pillars but mostly defaced. The temporary support system provided to the roof built on free standing pillars is indicative of problems of design seen in the temples built during this period.

Where Do Mermaids Come From?

Where do mermaids come from? Mermaid legends are told all over the world. We hear of mermaids in Ireland, Scotland, England, Israel, India, Greece, Syria, China, and in Africa. How is it that so many different cultures across the world have their own mermaid legends? How is it that cultures far away from one another have similar tales of mermaids? Most people believe mermaids are mythical creatures fit for a kid’s imagination and nothing more. But legends come from somewhere. Truth lies behind every legend, including the legends of mermaids and where they come from. A new age concept tells us mermaid origins come from lost civilizations like Lemuria and Atlantis. Learn more below.

 

Edgar Cayce on Atlantis I

364-1

2. Atlantis as a continent is a legendary tale. Whether or not that which has been received through psychic sources has for its basis those few lines given by Plato, or the references made in Holy writ that the earth was divided, depends upon the trend of individual minds. Recently, however, the subject has taken on greater import, since some scientists have declared that such a continent was not only a reasonable and plausible matter, but from evidences being gradually gathered was a very probable condition.

3. As we recognize, there has been considerable given respecting such a lost continent by those channels such as the writer of Two Planets, or Atlantis - or Poseida and Lemuria - that has been published through some of the Theosophical literature. As to whether this information is true or not, depends upon the credence individuals give to this class of information.

4. Then, it has seemed well to many of this group, that those channels through which information may be obtained interest themselves in such an undertaking, as to gain through those channels such information that might be applicable in the lives or experiences of individuals interested in such.

5. From time to time, in and through the information obtained for some individuals in their life readings, has come that they, as an entity or individual, occupied some particular place, or performed some activity in some portion of that continent; or emigrated from the continent to some other portion of the earth's surface at the time, and began some particular development. These must have been a busy folk, for with their advent into other climes (as the information runs) they began to make many changes from the activities in that particular sphere in which they entered.

6. Then, if we are to accept such as being a fact or fiction, may truly depend upon what value to the human family knowledge concerning such a peoples would be in the affairs of individuals today. What contribution would information be to the minds of individuals, as to knowing or understanding the better or closer relations to the Creative Forces? Or, to put it another manner, what would information of that nature mean to my SOUL today?

7. Be it true that there IS the fact of reincarnation, and that souls that once occupied such an environ are entering the earth's sphere and inhabiting individuals in the present, is it any wonder that - if they made such alterations in the affairs of the earth in their day, as to bring destruction upon themselves - if they are entering now, they might make many changes in the affairs of peoples and individuals in the present? Are they, then, BEING born into the world? If so, what WERE their environs - and will those environs mean in a material world today?

 

364-3

1. EC: Yes, we have the subject and those conditions. As has been said, much data has been received from time to time through psychic forces as respecting conditions in or through the period, or ages, of this continent's existence. That the continent existed is being proven as a fact.

2. Then, what took place during the period, or periods, when it was being broken up? What became of the inhabitants? What was the character of their civilization? Are there any evidences of those, or any portion of, the inhabitants' escape? The POSITION of the continent, and the like, MUST be of interest to peoples in the present day, if either by inference that individuals are being born into the earth plane to develop in the present, or are people being guided in their spiritual interpretation of individuals' lives or developments BY the spirits of those who inhabited such a continent. In either case, if these be true, they ARE WIELDING - and are to wield - an influence upon the happenings of the present day world.

3. The position as the continent Atlantis occupied, is that as between the Gulf of Mexico on the one hand - and the Mediterranean upon the other. Evidences of this lost civilization are to be found in the Pyrenees and Morocco on the one hand, British Honduras, Yucatan and America upon the other. There are some protruding portions within this that must have at one time or another been a portion of this great continent. The British West Indies or the Bahamas, and a portion of same that may be seen in the present - if the geological survey would be made in some of these - especially, or notably, in Bimini and in the Gulf Stream through this vicinity, these may be even yet determined.

4. What, then, are the character of the peoples? To give any proper conception, may we follow the line of a group, or an individual line, through this continent's existence - and gain from same something of their character, their physiognomy, and their spiritual and physical development.

5. In the period, then - some hundred, some ninety-eight thousand years before the entry of Ram into India [See 364-3, Par. R2] - there lived in this land of Atlantis one Amilius [?], who had first NOTED that of the separations of the beings as inhabited that portion of the earth's sphere or plane of those peoples into male and female as separate entities, or individuals. As to their forms in the physical sense, these were much RATHER of the nature of THOUGHT FORMS, or able to push out OF THEMSELVES in that direction in which its development took shape in thought - much in the way and manner as the amoeba would in the waters of a stagnant bay, or lake, in the present. As these took form, by the gratifying of their own desire for that as builded or added to the material conditions, they became hardened or set - much in the form of the existent human body of the day, with that of color as partook of its surroundings much in the manner as the chameleon in the present. Hence coming into that form as the red, or the mixture peoples - or colors; known then later by the associations as the RED race. These, then, able to use IN their gradual development all the forces as were manifest in their individual surroundings, passing through those periods of developments as has been followed more closely in that of the yellow, the black, or the white races, in other portions of the world; yet with their immediate surroundings, with the facilities for the developments, these became much speedier in this particular portion of the globe than in others - and while the destruction of this continent and the peoples are far beyond any of that as has been kept as an absolute record, that record in the rocks still remains - as has that influence OF those peoples in that life of those peoples to whom those that did escape during the periods of destruction make or influence the lives of those peoples TO whom they came. As they MAY in the present, either through the direct influence of being regenerated, or re-incarnated into the earth, or through that of the MENTAL application on through the influences as may be had upon thought OF individuals or groups by speaking from that environ.

6. In the MANNER of living, in the manner of the moral, of the social, of the religious life of these peoples: There, classes existed much in the same order as existed among others; yet the like of the warlike INFLUENCE did NOT exist in the peoples - AS a people - as it did in the OTHER portions of the universe.

 

364-4

2. EC: Yes, we have the subject here, The Lost Continent of Atlantis.

3. As the peoples were a peaceful peoples, their developments took on rather that form - with the developing into the physical material bodies - of the fast development, or to the using of the elements about them to their own use; recognizing themselves to be a part OF that about them. Hence, as to the supplying of that as necessary to sustain physical life as known today, in apparel, or supplying of the bodily needs, these were supplied through the natural elements; and the DEVELOPMENTS came rather in the forms - as would be termed in the PRESENT day - of preparing for those things that would pertain to what would be termed the aerial age, or the electrical age, and supplying then the modes and manners of transposition of those materials about same that did not pertain to themselves bodily; for of themselves was transposed, rather by that ability lying within each to be transposed in thought as in body.

4. In these things, then, did Amilius [?] see the beginning of, and the abilities of, those of his own age, era, or period, not only able to build that as able to transpose or build up the elements about them but to transpose them bodily from one portion of the universe to the other, THROUGH the uses of not only those RECENTLY re-discovered gases, and those of the electrical and aeriatic formations - in the breaking up of the atomic forces to produce impelling force to those means and modes of transposition, or of travel, or of lifting large weights, or of changing the faces or forces of nature itself, but with these transpositions, with these changes that came in as personalities, we find these as the Sons of the Creative Force as manifest in their experience looking upon those changed forms, or the daughters of men, and there crept in those pollutions, of polluting themselves with those mixtures that brought contempt, hatred, bloodshed, and those that build for desires of self WITHOUT respects of OTHERS' freedom, others' wishes - and there began, then, in the latter portion of this period of development, that that brought about those of dissenting and divisions among the peoples in the lands. With the attempts of those still in power, through those lineages of the pure, that had kept themselves intact as of the abilities of forces as were manifest IN their activities, these BUILDED rather those things that ATTEMPTED to draw BACK those peoples; through first the various changes or seasons that came about, and in the latter portion of the experience of Amilius [?] was the first establishing of the altars upon which the sacrifices of the field and the forest, and those that were of that that SATISFIED the desires of the physical body, were builded.

5. Then, with the coming in or the raising up of Esai [?], with the change that had come about, began in that period when there were the invasions of this continent by those of the animal kingdoms, that brought about that meeting of the nations of the globe to PREPARE a way and manner of disposing of, else they be disposed of themselves by these forces. With this coming in, there came then the first of the destructive forces as could be set and then be meted out in its force or power. Hence that as is termed, or its first beginning of, EXPLOSIVES that might be carried about, came with this reign, or this period, when MAN - or MEN, then - began to cope with those of the beast form that OVERRAN the earth in many places. Then, with these destructive forces, we find the first turning of the altar fires into that of sacrifice of those that were taken in the various ways, and human sacrifice began. With this also came the first egress of peoples to that of the Pyrenees first, OF which later we find that peoples who enter into the black or the mixed peoples, in what later became the Egyptian dynasty. We also find that entering into Og, or those peoples that later became the beginning of the Inca, or Ohum [Aymara'?], that builded the walls across the mountains in this period, through those same usages of that as had been taken on by those peoples; and with the same, those that made for that in the other land, became first those of the mound dwellers, or peoples in that land. With the continued disregard of those that were keeping the pure race and the pure peoples, of those that were to bring all these laws as applicable to the Sons of God, man brought in the destructive forces as used for the peoples that were to be the rule, that combined with those natural resources of the gases, of the electrical forces, made in nature and natural form the first of the eruptions that awoke from the depth of the slow cooling earth, and that portion now near what would be termed the Sargasso Sea first went into the depths. With this there again came that egress of peoples that aided, or attempted to assume control, yet carrying with them ALL those forms of Amilius [?] that he gained through that as for signs, for seasons, for days, for years. Hence we find in those various portions of the world even in the present day, some form of that as WAS presented by those peoples in THAT great DEVELOPMENT in this, the Eden of the world.

6. In the latter portion of same we find as CITIES were builded more and more rare became those abilities to call upon rather the forces in nature to supply the needs for those of bodily adornment, or those of the needs to supply the replenishing of the wasting away of the physical being; or hunger arose, and with the determinations to set again in motion, we find there - then Ani [?] [See the name ANI mentioned on pp. 6, 57, 187 and 324 of the book, MYTHS & LEGENDS OF ANCIENT EGYPT, by Lewis Spence.] [GD's note: I put a question mark because I didn't know whether this was the correct spelling or not.], in those latter periods, ten thousand seven hundred (10,700) years before the Prince of Peace came - again was the bringing into forces that to TEMPT, as it were, nature - in its storehouse - of replenishing the things - that of the WASTING away in the mountains, then into the valleys, then into the sea itself, and the fast disintegration of the lands, as well as of the peoples - save those that had escaped into those distant lands.

7. How, then, may this be applicable to our present day understanding? As we see the effects as builded in that about the sacred fires, as through those of Hermes, those of Arart, those of the Aztec, those of Ohum [Aymara'?], each in their respective sphere CARRYING some portion of these blessings - when they are kept in accord and PURE with those through which the channels of the blessings, of the Creative Forces, may manifest. So, we find, when we apply the lessons in the day - would ye be true, keep that EVERY WHIT thou KNOWEST to do within thine own heart! Knowing, as ye USE that as is KNOWN, there is given the more and more light to know from whence ye came and whither ye go!

8. Ready for questions.

9. (Q) Please give a description of the earth's surface as it existed at the time of Atlantis' highest civilization, using the names of continents, oceans and sections of same as we know them today?

(A) As to the highest point of civilization, this would first have to be determined according to the standard as to which it would be judged - as to whether the highest point was when Amilius [?] ruled with those understandings, as the one that understood the variations, or whether they became man made, would depend upon whether we are viewing from a spiritual standpoint or upon that as a purely material or commercial standpoint; for the variations, as we find, extend over a period of some two hundred thousand years (200,000) - that is, as light years - as known in the present - and that there were MANY changes in the surface of what is now called the earth. In the first, or greater portion, we find that NOW known as the southern portions of South America and the Arctic or North Arctic regions, while those in what is NOW as Siberia - or that as of Hudson Bay - was rather in that region of the tropics, or that position now occupied by near what would be as the same LINE would run, of the southern Pacific, or central Pacific regions - and about the same way. Then we find, with this change that came first in that portion, when the first of those peoples used that as prepared FOR the changes in the earth, we stood near the same position as the earth occupies in the present - as to Capricorn, or the equator, or the poles. Then, with that portion, THEN the South Pacific, or Lemuria [?], began its disappearance - even before Atlantis, for the changes were brought about in the latter portion of that period, or what would be termed ten thousand seven hundred (10,700) light years, or earth years, or present setting of those, as set by Amilius [?] - or Adam.

 

364-5

2. EC: Yes, we have the information as given respecting the continent Atlantis. In the considerations that may be had concerning such information, many are the questions that must naturally arise in the minds of individuals who would consider same in any way or manner. However, will a very close check be kept upon those who evince an interest, these will be found to be those who occupy in the present some influence innate or manifested from their experience or sojourn under or in that environ. As has been given, this would be well to do; for to the analytical or to the research character of mind, there will be little that may escape the attention of such a mind - when spiritual or psychic, or occult, or those kindred subjects are approached - as to how quick there is the desire, that expression of "I know it, but don't know how to tell it, will be in that individual's or entity's feeling, and expression - when one may be obtained at all. They will immediately become the dreamer! Try this!

3. Ready for questions.

4. (Q) Explain the information given regarding Amilius [?], who first noted the separation of the peoples into male and female, as it relates to the story in the Bible of Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden giving the name of the symbols Adam, Eve, the apple, and the serpent.

(A) This would require a whole period of a lecture period for this alone; for, as is seen, that as is given is the presentation of a teacher of a peoples that separated for that definite purpose of keeping alive in the minds, the hearts, the SOUL minds of entities, that there may be seen their closer relationship to the divine influences of Creative Forces, that brought into being all that appertains to man's indwelling as man in the form of flesh in this material world. These are presented in symbols of that thought as held by those peoples from whom the physical recorder took those records as compiled, with that gained by himself in and through the entering into that state where the entity's soul mind drew upon the records that are made by the passing of time itself in a material world. As given, these are records not only of the nature as has been termed or called akashic records (that is, of a mental or soul record), but that in a more material nature as set down in stone, that was attempted to be done - HAS been attempted to be done throughout ALL time! WHY does man NOW set in stone those that are representatives of that desired to be kept in mind by those making records for future generations? There are many more materials more lasting, as is known to many.

In the records, then, as this: There are, as seen, the records made by the man in the mount, that this Amilius [?] - Adam, as given - first discerned that from himself, not of the beasts about him, could be drawn - WAS drawn - that which made for the propagation OF beings IN the flesh, that made for that companionship as seen by creation in the material worlds about same. The story, the tale (if chosen to be called such), is one and the same. The apple, as 'the apple of the eye', the desire of that companionship innate in that created, as innate in the Creator, that brought companionship into the creation itself. Get that one!

In this there comes, then, that which is set before that created - or having TAKEN ON that form, able of projecting itself in WHATEVER direction it chose to take, as given; able to make itself OF that environ, in color, in harmony, in WHATEVER source that makes for the spirit of that man would attempt to project in music, in art, in ANY form that may even be conceivable to the mind itself in what may be termed its most lucid moments, in its most esoteric moments, in its highest animation moments; for were He not the SON of the living God made manifest, that He might be the companion in a made world, in material manifested things, with the injunction to subdue all, BRING all in the material things under subjection - all UNDER subjection - by that ability to project itself IN its way? KNOWING itself, as given, to be a portion OF the whole, in, through, of, by the whole? In this desire, then, keep - as the injunction was - thine self separate: OF that seen, but NOT that seen. The apple, then, that desire for that which made for the associations that bring carnal-minded influences of that brought as sex influence, known in a material world, and the partaking of same is that which brought the influence in the lives of that in the symbol of the serpent, that made for that which creates the desire that may be only satisfied in gratification of carnal forces, as partake of the world and its influences about same - rather than of the spiritual emanations from which it has its source. Will control - inability of will control, if we may put it in common parlance.

 

364-6

1. GC: You will have before you the material and information given through this channel on the lost continent of Atlantis, a copy of which I hold in my hand. You will answer the questions which I will ask regarding this:

2. EC: Yes, we have the information as written here, as given. In following out that as just given, with these changes coming in the experience of Amilius [?] and I [Ai? Ay?], Adam and Eve, the knowledge of their position, or that as is known in the material world today as desires and physical bodily charms, the understanding of sex, sex relationships, came into the experience. With these came the natural fear of that as had been forbidden, that they know themselves to be a part of but not OF that as partook of EARTHLY, or the desires in the manner as were ABOUT them, in that as had been their heritage.

3. Were this turned to that period when this desire, then, becomes consecrated in that accomplished again in the virgin body of the mother of the SON of man, we see this is then crystallized into that, that even that of the flesh may be - with the proper concept, proper desire in all its purity - consecrated to the LIVING forces as manifest by the ability in that body so brought into being, as to make a way of escape for the ERRING man. Hence we have found throughout the ages, so oft the times when conception of truth became rampant with free-love, with the desecration of those things that brought to these in the beginning that of the KNOWLEDGE of their existence, as to that that may be termed - and betimes became - the MORAL, or morality OF a people. Yet this same feeling, this same exaltation that comes from association of kindred bodies - that have their lives consecrated in a purposefulness, that makes for the ability of retaining those of the essence of creation in every virile body - can be made to become the fires that light truth, love, hope, patience, peace, harmony; for they are EVER the key to those influences that fire the imaginations of those that are gifted in ANY form of depicting the high emotions of human experience, whether it be in the one or the other fields, and hence is judged by those that may not be able, or through desire submit themselves - as did Amilius [?] and I [?] to those ELEMENTS, through the forces in the life as about them.

7. (Q) How large was Atlantis during the time of Amilius?

(A) Comparison, that of Europe including Asia in Europe - not Asia, but Asia in Europe - see? This composed, as seen, in or after the first of the destructions, that which would be termed now - with the present position - the southernmost portion of same - islands as created by those of the first (as man would call) volcanic or eruptive forces brought into play in the destruction of same.

8. (Q) Was Atlantis one large continent, or a group of large islands?

(A) Would it not be well to read just that given? Why confuse in the questionings? As has been given, what would be considered one large continent, until the first eruptions brought those changes - from what would now, with the present position of the earth in its rotation, or movements about its sun, through space, about Arcturus, about the Pleiades, that of a whole or one continent. Then with the breaking up, producing more of the nature of large islands, with the intervening canals or ravines, gulfs, bays or streams, as came from the various ELEMENTAL forces that were set in motion by this CHARGING - as it were - OF the forces that were collected as the basis for those elements that would produce destructive forces, as might be placed in various quarters or gathering places of those beasts, or the periods when the larger animals roved the earth - WITH that period of man's indwelling. Let it be remembered, or not confused, that the EARTH was peopled by ANIMALS before peopled by man! First that of a mass, which there arose the mist, and then the rising of same with light breaking OVER that as it SETTLED itself, as a companion of those in the universe, as it began its NATURAL (or now natural) rotations, with the varied effects UPON the various portions of same, as it slowly - and is slowly - receding or gathering closer to the sun, from which it receives its impetus for the awakening of the elements that give life itself, by radiation of like elements from that which it receives from the sun. Hence that of one type, that has been through the ages, of mind - that gives the SUN as the father OF light in the earth. Elements have their attraction and detraction, or those of ANIMOSITY and those of gathering together. This we see throughout all of the kingdoms, as may be termed, whether we speak of the heavenly hosts or of those of the stars, or of the planets, or of the various forces within any or all of same, they have their attraction or detraction. The attraction increases that as gives an impulse, that that becomes the aid, the stimuli, or an impulse to create. Hence, as may be seen - or may be brought to man's own - that of attraction one for another gives that STIMULI, that IMPULSE, to be the criterion of, or the gratification of, those influences in the experience of individuals or entities. To smother same oft becomes deteriorations for each other, as may come about in any form, way or manner. Accidents happen in creation, as well as in individuals' lives! Peculiar statement here, but - true!

9. (Q) What were the principal islands called at the time of the final destruction?

(A) Poseidia and Aryan [?], and Og [?].

10. (Q) Describe one of the ships of the air that was used during the highest period of mechanical development in Atlantis.

(A) Much of the nature, in the EARLIER portion, as would be were the hide of MANY of the pachyderm, or elephants, many into the CONTAINERS for the gases that were used as both lifting and for the impelling of the crafts about the various portions of the continent, and even abroad. These, as may be seen, took on those abilities not only to pass through that called air, or that heavier, but through that of water - when they received the impetus from the NECESSITIES of the peoples in that particular period, for the safety of self. The shape and form, then, in the earlier portion, depended upon which or what skins were used for the containers. The metals that were used as the braces, these were the COMBINATIONS then of what is NOW a lost art - the TEMPERED brass, the temperament of that as becomes between aluminum (as now called) and that of uranium, with those of the fluxes that are from those of the COMBINED elements of the iron, that is carbonized with those of other fluxes - see? These made for lightness of structure, non-conductor OR conductors of the electrical forces - that were used for the IMPELLING of same, rather than the gases - which were used as the lifting. See? For that as in the NATURE'S forces may be turned into even the forces OF that that makes life, as given, from the sun rays to those elements that make for, or find CORRESPONDING reaction in their APPLICATION of same, or reflection of same, TO the rays itself - or a different or changed form of storage of FORCE, as called electrical in the present.

11. We are through for the present.

 

364-7

3. (Q) How is the legend of Lilith connected with the period of Amilius?

(A) In the beginning, as was outlined, there was presented that that became as the Sons of God, in that male and female were as one, with those abilities for those changes as were able or capable of being brought about. In the changes that came from those THINGS, as were of the projections of the abilities of those entities to project, this as a being came as the companion; and when there was that turning to the within, through the sources of creation, as to make for the helpmeet of that as created by the first cause, or of the Creative Forces that brought into being that as was made, THEN - from out of self - was brought that as was to be the helpmeet, NOT just companion of the body. Hence the legend of the associations of the body during that period before there was brought into being the last of the creations, which was not of that that was NOT made, but the first of that that WAS made, and a helpmeet to the body, that there might be no change in the relationship of the SONS of God WITH those relationships of the sons and daughters of men.

In this then, also comes that as is held by many who have reached especially to that understanding of how NECESSARY, then, becomes the PROPER mating of those souls that may be the ANSWERS one to another of that that may bring, through that association, that companionship, into being that that may be the more helpful, more sustaining, more the well- ROUNDED life or experience of those that are a PORTION one of another. Do not misinterpret, but knowing that all are OF one - yet there are those divisions that make for a CLOSER union, when there are the proper relationships brought about. As an illustration, in this:

In the material world we find there is in the mineral kingdom those elements that are of the nature as to form a closer union one with another, and make as for compounds as make for elements that act more in unison with, or against, other forms of activity in the experience in the earth's environ, or the earth's force, as makes for those active forces in the ELEMENTS that are ABOUT the earth. Such as we may find in those that make for the active forces in that of uranium, and that of ultramarine, and these make then for an element that becomes the more active force as with the abilities for the rates of emanation as may be thrown off from same. So, as illustrated in the union, then, of - in the PHYSICAL compounds - that as may vibrate, or make for emanations in the activities of their mental and spiritual, and material, or physical forces, as may make for a GREATER activity in this earth environ. Then, there may be seen that as is in an elemental, or compound, that makes for that as is seen in the material experience as to become an antipathy for other elements that are as equally necessary in the experience of man's environ as in the combination of gases as may produce whenever combined that called water, and its antipathy for the elements in combustion is easily seen or known in man's experience.

So in those unions of that in the elemental forces of creative energies that take on the form of man, either in that of man or woman, with its NATURAL or ELEMENTAL, see? ELEMENTAL forces of its vibration, with the union of two that vibrate or respond to those vibrations in self, create for that ideal that becomes as that, in that created, in the form - as is known as radium, with its fast emittal vibrations, that brings for active forces, principles, that makes for such atomic forces within the active principles of all nature in its active force as to be one of the elemental bases from which life in its essence, as an active principle in a material world, has its sources, give off that which is EVER good - unless abused, see? So in that may there be basis for THOSE forces, as HAS been, as IS sought, thought, or ATTAINED BY those who have, through the abilities of the vibrations, to make for a continued force in self as to meet, know, see, feel, understand, those sources from which such begets that of its kind, or as those that become as an antipathy for another, or as makes for those that makes for the variations in the tempering of the various elements, compounds, or the like; so, as is seen, THESE - then - the BASIS for those things as has been given here, there, in their various ways and manners, as to the companion of, and COMPANIONS of, that that first able - through its projection of itself and its abilities in the creation - to bring about that that was either of its OWN making, or creation, or that given in the beginning to BE the force THROUGH which there might BE that that would bring ever blessings, good, right, and love, in even the physical or material world. See?

4. (Q) How long did it take for the division into male and female?

(A) That depends upon which, or what branch or LINE is considered. When there was brought into being that as of the projection of that created BY that created, this took a period of evolutionary - or, as would be in the present year, fourscore and six year. That as brought into being as was of the creating OF that that became a portion of, OF that that was already created by the CREATOR, THAT brought into being as WERE those of the forces of nature itself. God said, "Let there be light" and there WAS light! God said, "Let there be life" and there WAS life!

5. (Q) Were the thought forms that were able to push themselves out of themselves inhabited by souls, or were they of the animal kingdom?

(A) That as created by that CREATED, of the animal kingdom. That created as by the Creator, with the soul.

6. (Q) What was meant by the Sons of the Highest in Atlantis and the second coming of souls to the earth, as mentioned in a life reading given thru this channel? [See 2802-1 on 5/18/25.]

(A) In this period or age, as was seen - There is fault of words here to PROJECT that as actually OCCURS in the FORMATIONS of that as comes about! There was, with the WILL of that as came into being through the correct channels, of that as created by the Creator, that of the CONTINUING of the souls in its projection and projection - see? while in that as was OF the offspring, of that as pushed itself INTO form to SATISFY, GRATIFY, that of the desire of that known as carnal forces of the SENSES, of those created, there continued to be the war one with another, and there were then - FROM the other SOURCES (worlds) the continuing entering of those that WOULD make for the keeping of the balance, as of the first purpose of the Creative Forces, as it magnifies itself in that given sphere of activity, of that that had been GIVEN the ABILITY to CREATE with its OWN activity - see? and hence the second, or the CONTINUED entering of souls into that known as the earth's plane during this period, for that activity as was brought about. Let's REMEMBER that as was given, in the second, third from Adam, or fourth, or from Amilius, there was "In that day did they CALL UPON the NAME of the Lord" - is right! and ever, when the elements that make for littleness, uncleanness, are crucified in the body, the SPIRIT of the Lord, of God, is present! When these are overbalanced, so that the body (physical), the mental man, the imagination of its heart, is evil, or his purpose is evil, then is that war continuing - as from the beginning. Just the continued warring of those things within self as from the beginning; for with these changes as brought SIN into the world, with same came the FRUITS of same, or the seed as of sin, which we see in the material world as those things that corrupt good ground, those that corrupt the elements that are of the compounds of those of the first causes, or elementals, and pests are seen - and the like, see? So does it follow throughout all creative forces, that the fruits of that as is active brings that seed that makes for the corrupting of, or the clearing of, in the activative forces of, that BEING acted upon.

7. (Q) What was meant by "As in the first Adam sin entered, so in the last Adam all shall be made alive?"

(A) Adam's entry into the world in the beginning, then, must become the savior OF the world, as it was committed to his care, "Be thou fruitful, multiply, and SUBDUE the earth!" Hence Amilius, Adam, the first Adam, the last Adam, becomes - then - that that is GIVEN the POWER OVER the earth, and - as in each soul the first to be conquered is self - then ALL THINGS, conditions and elements, are subject unto that self!

That a universal law, as may be seen in that as may be demonstrated either in gases that destroy one another by becoming elements of the same, or that in the mineral or the animal kingdom as may be found that destroy, or BECOME one WITH the other. Hence, as Adam given - the SON of God - so he MUST become that that would be able to take the world, the earth, back to that source from which it came, and ALL POWER is given in his keeping in the earth, that he has overcome; self, death, hell and the grave even, become subservient unto Him THROUGH the conquering of self in that made flesh; for, as in the beginning was the word, the Word WAS with God, the Word WAS God, the same was IN the beginning. The Word came and dwelt among men, the offspring of self in a material world, and the Word OVERCAME the world - and hence the world BECOMES, then, as the servant of that that overcame the world!

8. (Q) Please give the important re-incarnations of Adam in the world's history.

(A) In the beginning as Amilius, as Adam, as Melchizedek, as Zend [?], as Ur [?] [Enoch? GD's note: Perhaps Ur was prehistory person [364-9, Par. 3-A] who established Ur of the Chaldees? I don't think he was mentioned anywhere else in the readings as an incarnation of Jesus.], as Asaph [?] [Songs of Asaph? See Ps. 81:5 indicating that Joseph and Asaph were one and the same?], as Jesus [Jeshua] - Joseph - Jesus. [See 364-9, Par. 3-A.]

Then, as that coming into the world in the second coming - for He will come again and receive His own, who have prepared themselves through that belief in Him and acting in that manner; for the SPIRIT is abroad, and the time draws near, and there will be the reckoning of those even as in the first so in the last, and the last shall be first; for there is that Spirit abroad - He standeth near. He that hath eyes to see, let him see. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear that music of the coming of the Lord of this vineyard, and art THOU ready to give account of that THOU hast done with thine opportunity in the earth as the Sons of God, as the heirs and joint heirs of glory WITH the Son? Then make thine paths straight, for there must come an answering for that THOU hast done with thine Lord! He will not tarry, for having overcome He shall appear even AS the Lord AND Master. Not as one born, but as one that returneth to His own, for He will walk and talk with men of every clime, and those that are faithful and just in their reckoning shall be caught up with Him to rule and to do JUDGEMENT for a thousand years!

9. (Q) Describe some of the mental abilities that were developed by the Atlanteans at the time of their greatest spiritual development.

(A) Impossible to describe achievements physical in their spiritual development. The use of MATERIAL conditions and spiritual attributes in a material world would, and do, become that as are the miracles of the Son in the material world; for even as with Him in - and as He walked, whether in Galilee, in Egypt, in India, in France, in England, or America - there WERE those periods when the activities of the physical were as was what would be termed the everyday life of the SONS of God in the Atlantean or Eden experience; for as those brought the various changes from the highest of the SPIRITUAL development to the highest of the mental, then of the MATERIAL or physical developments, then the fall - see?

 

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Edgar Cayce on Atlantis II

364-10

1. GC: You will have before you the information given through this channel on the lost continent of Atlantis. You will please continue with this information, and answer the questions which I will ask regarding same.

2. EC: Yes. In understanding, then, in the present terminology, occult science, or psychic science - as seen, this was the natural or nature's activity in that experience, and not termed a science - any more than would be the desire for food by a new born babe. Rather the natural consequence. This explanation may of necessity take on some forms that may possibly be confusing at times, but illustrations may be made through the various types of occult science, or psychic manifestations, that may clarify for the student something of the various types of psychic manifestations in the present, as well as that that was natural in this period.

3. There is, as has been oft given, quite a difference - and much differentiation should be made - in mysticism and psychic, or occult science as termed today.

4. From that which has been given, it is seen that individuals in the beginning were more of thought forms than individual entities with personalities as seen in the present, and their projections into the realms of fields of thought that pertain to a developing or evolving world of matter, with the varied presentations about same, of the expressions or attributes in the various things about the entity or individual, or body, through which such science - as termed now, or such phenomena as would be termed - became manifest. Hence we find occult or psychic science, as would be called at the present, was rather the natural state of man in the beginning. Very much as (in illustration) when a baby, or babe, is born into the world and its appetite is first satisfied, and it lies sleeping. Of what is its dreams? That it expects to be, or that it has been? Of what are thoughts? That which is to be, or that which has been, or that which is? Now remember we are speaking - these were thought forms, and we are finding again the illustrations of same!

5. When the mental body (Now revert back to what you are calling science) - when the mental body, or mind, has had training, or has gone through a course of operations in certain directions, such individuals are called so-and-so minded; as one of an inventive turn, and trained; one of a statistician turn, and trained; one of a theologian turn, and trained; one of philosophical turn, and trained. Of what does the mind build? We have turned, then, to that that has become very material, for the mind constantly trained makes for itself MENTAL pictures, or makes for that as is reasoned with from its own present dimensional viewpoints - but the babe, from whence its reasoning? from whence its dream? From that that has been taken in, or that that has been its experience from whence it came? Oft has it been said, and rightly, with a babe's smile 'Dreaming of angels', and close in touch with them - but what has PRODUCED that dream? The contact with that upon which IT has fed! Don't forget our premise now from which we are reasoning! and we will find that we will have the premise from which those individuals, or the entities, reasoned within the beginning in this land. (We are speaking of Atlanteans, when they became as thought forces.) From whence did THEY reason? From the Creative Forces from which they had received their impetus, but acted upon by the thought FORMS as were in MATERIAL forms about them, and given that power (will) to be one WITH that from what it sprang or was given its impetus, or force, yet with the ability to USE that in the way that seemed, or seemeth, good or well, or pleasing, unto itself. Hence we find in this particular moulding or mouldive stage, that in which there was the greater development of, and use of, that as is termed or called psychic and occult forces, or science - in the present terminology, or age.

6. Illustrating, then, that as to how this was used by those entities, those beings, in the formative stage of their experience or sojourn among that as had been created in all of its splendor to supply every want or desire that might be called forth by that being, with all of its attributes physical, mental AND SPIRITUAL at hand; for, as has been given, even unto the four hundred thousandth generation from the first creation was it prepared for man's indwelling. As we today (turn to today), we find there the developments of those resources. How long have they remained? Since the beginning! How long has man been able to use them for his undoing, or his pleasure, or for his regeneration? Since the knowledge of some source has awakened within its psychic force, or source, of the apparatus, or the form that it takes, either in a physical or mental (for remember, Mind is the Builder - and it moves along those channels through which, and by which, it may bring into existence in whatever dimension or sphere from which it is reasoning, or reasoning toward - see) - and as these may be illustrated in the present:

7. When there is a manifestation of a psychic force, or an occult action, or phenomena, or activity in, upon, of or for, an individual, there is then the rolling back, as it were, or a portion of the physical consciousness - or that mental trained individual consciousness - has been rolled aside, or rolled back, and there is then a visioning - To what? That as from the beginning, a projection OF that form that assumed its position or condition in the earth as from the beginning, and with those so endowed with that as may be called an insight into psychic sources there may be visioned about a body its astral (if chosen to be termed), rather its THOUGHT body, as is projected FROM same in such a state; especially so when there is the induction, or the inducing of, an unconsciousness of the normal brain, or normal mental body. Submerged - into what? Into the unconscious, or subconscious. Sub, in THIS instance, meaning BELOW - not above normal; below - SUBJECTED to the higher consciousness, or to the higher thought, that has been builded - just as sure as has a physical body been builded, from what?

That as has been given from its first nucleus as passed through in its experience. Then there may be visioned by such a body, as may be called with the second sight, or with a vision, that accompanying thought body of such an one, manifesting in much the way and manner as individuals in the Atlantean period of psychic and occult development brought about in their experience. Through such projections there came about that first necessity of the division of the body, to conform to those necessities of that as seen in its own mental vision as builded (MENTAL now - Don't confuse these terms, or else you will become VERY confused in what is being given!).

8. The mental vision by its action upon what body is being builded? On the mental body of the individual in a material world, out of Spirit, out of the ability to have all the attributes of the spiritual or unseen forces - but MATERIALIZED forces, as is necessary from the mental body in a material world MENTALLY trained to, or in, certain directions, or given directions, or following the natural bent of its threefold or threeply body, as is seen in every individual or every entity. As these projected themselves, then we find these DEVELOPMENTS were in this portion of the development in the Atlantean period. How were these used? In much as were from the beginning. Remember there was ever the instruction to those peoples that were to hold to that that would bring for the spiritual forces, rather than the abuses of the abilities - as those with familiar spirits, as those that spoke to or partook of the divinations of those that had passed from the earth's plane, or those that partook of the animal magnetism - that came from the universal consciousness of animal matter as passed into its experience, in its interchange through those periods of integration and disintegration - and the spirit forces possessing those that would lay themselves open to such conditions, for these are as real as physical bodies if the attunements of the entity are such that it may vision them! and they are about you always, sure! These, then, are entities - sure; whether animal or those endowed with the soul - until they pass through those changes - as there ever has been, see? Also there are those that ever make for those channels in the psychic and occult (we are speaking of, through which man - as it reached that stage, or that position that it became farther and farther from its natural sources, through the same CHARACTER of channel may it communicate with that from which it is a portion of, or the Creative Forces), and hence the terminology arose as 'Good Spirits' and 'Bad Spirits'; for there are those that partake of the earth, or of the carnal forces, rather than of those forces that are of the spiritual or CREATIVE. Those that are destruction are of the Earth. Those that are constructive, then, are the good - or the divine and the devilish, bringing for those developments in their various phases. Hence the greater development of that called occult, or psychic forces, during the Atlantean period - and the use of same, and the abuse of same - was during its first thousand years, as we would call light years; not the light of the star, but the sun goes down and the sun goes down - years. That brought about those cycles, or those changes. Hence we have that which has been given through many of the sources of information, or the channels for individuals - and in those, these, the entity - as a voice upon waters, or as the wind that moved among the reeds and harkened, or again as when the morning stars sang together and the sons of God beheld the coming of man into his own, through the various realms as were brought by the magnifying of, or the deteriorating of, the use of those forces and powers as manifested themselves in a MATERIAL area, or those that partook of carnal to the gratification of that that brought about its continual HARDENING and less ability to harken back through that from WHICH it came, and partaking more and more OF that upon which it became an eater of; or, as is seen even in the material forces in the present: We find those that partake of certain elements, unless these become very well balanced WITH all SOURCES - Of what? That of which there were the first causes, or nature, or natural, or God's sources or forces are. Hence ELEMENTS - not rudiments; elements - as are termed in the terminology of the student of the anatomical, physiological, psychological forces within a body - GERMS! Sure they are germs! for each are as atoms of power - From what? That source from which it has drawn its essence upon what it feeds. Is one feeding, then, its soul? or is one feeding its body? or is one feeding that interbetween (its mental body) to its own undoing, or to those foolishnesses of the simple things of life? Being able, then, to partake OF the physical but not a part of same - but more and more feeding upon those sources from which it emanates itself, or of the SPIRITUAL life, so that the physical body, the mental body, are attuned TO its soul forces, or its soul source, its Creator, its Maker, in such a way and manner, as it develops.

9. What, then, IS psychic force? What IS occult science? A developing of the abilities within each individual that has not lost its sonship, or its relation to its Creator, to live upon - or demonstrate more and more through phenomena of whatever nature from which it takes its source, for that individual activity of that entity itself through the stages of development through which it has passed, and giving of its life source that there may be brought INTO being that which gives more knowledge of the source FROM which the entity ESSENCE (Isn't a good word, but signifies that intended to be expressed; not elements, not rudiments, but ESSENCE of the entity itself, ITS spirit and soul - its spirit being its portion of the Creator, its soul that of its entity itself, making itself individual, separate entity, that may be one WITH the Creative Force from which it comes - or which it is! of which it is made up, in its atomic forces, or in its very essence itself!) emanates; and the more this may be manifest, the greater becomes the occult force.

10. To what uses, then, did these people in this particular period give their efforts, and in what directions were they active? As many almost as there were individuals! for, as we find from the records as are made, to some there was given the power to become the sons of God; others were workers in brass, in iron, in silver, in gold; others were made in music, and the instruments of music. These, then, we find in the world today (Today, now - we are reasoning from today). Those that are especially gifted in art - in its various forms; and a real artist (as the world looks at it) isn't very much fit for anything else! yet it is - What? An expression of its concept OF that from WHICH it, that entity, sprang - through the various stages of its evolution (if you choose to call it such) in a material world, or that which it fed its soul or its mental being for its development through its varied experiences IN a material world. These, then, are but manifestations (occult forces) in individuals who are called geniuses, or gifted in certain directions.

11. These, then, are the manners in which the ENTITIES, those BEINGS, those SOULS, in the beginning partook of, or developed. Some brought about monstrosities, as those of its (that entity's) association by its projection with its association with beasts of various characters. Hence those of the Styx, satyr, and the like; those of the sea, or mermaid; those of the unicorn, and those of the various forms - these projections of what? The abilities in the PHYCHIC forces (psychic meaning, then, of the mental AND the soul - doesn't necessarily mean the body, until it's enabled to be brought INTO being in whatever form it may make its manifestation - which may never be in a material world, or take form in a three-dimensional plane as the earth is; it may remain in a fourth-dimensional - which is an idea! Best definition that ever may be given of fourth-dimension is an idea! Where will it project? Anywhere! Where does it arise from? Who knows! Where will it end? Who can tell! It is all inclusive! It has both length, breadth, height and depth - is without beginning and is without ending! Dependent upon that which it may feed for its sustenance, or it may pass into that much as a thought or an idea. Now this isn't ideal that's said! It's idea! see?)

12. In the use of these, then, in this material plane - of these forces - brought about those that made for all MANNERS of the various forms that are used in the material world today. MANY of them to a much higher development. As those that sought forms of minerals - and being able to be that the mineral was, hence much more capable - in the psychic or occult force, or power - to classify, or make same in its own classifications. Who classified them? They were from the beginning! They are themselves! They were those necessities as were IN the beginning from an ALL WISE Creator! for remember these came, as did that as was to be the keeper of same! The husbandman of the vineyard! Each entity, each individual - today, has its own vineyard to keep, to dress - For who? Its Maker, from whence it came! What is to be the report in thine own life with those abilities, those forces, as may be manifest in self - through its calling upon, through what? How does prayer reach the throne of mercy or grace, or that from which it emanates? From itself! Through that of CRUCIFYING, NULLIFYING, the carnal mind and opening the mental in such a manner that the Spirit of truth may flow in its psychic sense, or occult force, into the very being, that you may be one with that from which you came! Be thou faithful unto that committed into thy keeping! Life ITSELF is precious! For why? It is of the Maker itself! That IS the beginning! The psychic forces, the attunements, the developments, going TO that! As did many in that experience. And Enoch walked with God, and he was not for God took him. As was many of those in those first years, in this land, this experience.

13. These in the present, then, do not justly call it science; rather being close to nature. Listen at the birds. Watch the blush of the rose. Listen at the life rising in the tree. These serve their Maker - Through what? That psychic force, that IS Life itself, in their respective sphere - that were put for the service of man. Learn thine lesson, O Man, from that about thee!

 

364-11

1. GC: You will have before you the information given through this channel on the lost continent of Atlantis. You will continue with this information, and will answer the questions which I will ask regarding this:

2. EC: Yes. As to why, then, each individual must be, and is, the keeper of his own vineyard? For there is, as from the beginning, in each entity that - of the Father, or the First Cause - that enables one to make manifest even in the material world through the attributes OF the First Cause, that makes for the manifestation OF that power, or force, in a material world. As to what one does WITH same is an action of the will that entity himself, or herself.

3. As to occult or psychic science, as called, then - it is, as we have found through some manifestations, that these forces are first recognized in or by the individual. Hence, as has been seen, in the beginning these were the natural expressions of an entity. As there developed more of the individual association with material conditions, and they partook of same in such a manner as to become wholly or in part a portion OF same, farther - or more hidden, more unseen - has become occult or psychic manifestations. First there were the occasional harking back. Later by dream. Again we find individuals raised in certain sections for specific purposes. As the cycle has gone about, time and again has there arisen in the earth those that MANIFESTED these forces in a more magnificent, more beneficent, way and manner. And, as has been given, again the time draws near when there shall be seen and known among men, in many places, the manifestations of such forces in the material world; for "As ye have seen him go, so will He return again." Be thou faithful unto those words He has given while yet with you. Hence it behooves every individual to take cognizance of that force that may manifest in their material lives, even in this material age; for those that become ashamed for His sake - for THAT sake - of that that may manifest (which is as the Spirit's manner of activity) through those many channels that are open to those who will look up, lift up - and these, we find, are often in the lowliest of places and circumstances. Why? Since these are forces of the Most High, since these supplied - as of old - those secular things in abundance, and were supplied the needs not only of the physical being but of the mental and spiritual also, contributing to those forces as made for the gratification also of that builded in a material world, does it become any wonder that he that shall be abased and remains true shall wear the Crown of Life? Does it become unreasonable, then, that ye are being chastised for that which has been builded within the material forces of the body itself, that must be tried so as by fire? for the chaff must be burned out! Even as with the use of those sources of information, the abilities to become a portion of those elements that were the creative forces OF the compounds or elements within the universal forces, at that period brought about those forces that made for destruction of the land itself, in the attempt to draw that as was in man then back TO the knowledge; and these brought about those destructive forces (that are known today) in gases, with that called the death ray [See 364-11, Par. R2], that brought from the bowels of the earth itself - when turned into the sources of supply - those destructions to portions of the land. Man has ever (even as then) when in distress, either mental, spiritual OR physical, sought to know his association, his connection, with the divine forces that brought the worlds into being. As these are sought, so does the promise hold true - or that given man from the beginning, "Will ye be my children, I will be thy God!" "Ye turn your face from me, my face is turned from thee", and those things ye have builded in thine own endeavor to make manifest thine own powers bring those certain destructions in the lives of individuals in the present, even as in those first experiences with the use of those powers that are so tabu by the worldly-wise, that are looked upon as old men's tales and women's fables; yet in the strength of such forces do WORLDS come into being!

4. THIS is what psychic force, and so called occult science, DID mean, HAS meant, DOES mean in the world today.

5. Ready for questions.

6. (Q) Describe in more detail the causes and effects of the destruction of the part of Atlantis now the Sargasso sea.

(A) As there were those individuals that attempted to bring again to the mind of man more of those forces that are manifest by the closer association of the mental and spiritual, or the soul forces that were more and more as individual and personal forms in the world, the use of the these elements - as for the building up, or the passage of individuals through space - brought the uses of the gases then (in the existent forces), and the individuals being able to become the elements, and elementals themselves, added to that used in the form of what is at present known as the raising of the powers from the sun itself, to the ray that makes for disintegration of the atom, in the gaseous forces formed, and brought about the destruction in that portion of the land now presented, or represented, or called, Sargasso sea.

7. (Q) What was the date of the first destruction, estimating in our present day system of counting time in years B.C.?

(A) Seven thousand five hundred (7,500) years before the final destruction, which came as has been given.

8. (Q) Please give a few details regarding the physiognomy, habits, customs and costumes of the people of Atlantis during the period just before this first destruction.

(A) These, as we find, will require their being separated in the gradual development of the body and its physiognomy as it came into being in the various portions of that land, as well as to those that would separate themselves from those peoples where there were the indwelling of peoples, or man - as man, in the various areas of the land, or what we call world.

In the matter of form, as we find, first there were those as projections from that about the animal kingdom; for the THOUGHT bodies gradually took form, and the various COMBINATIONS (as may be called) of the various forces that called or classified themselves as gods, or rulers over - whether herds, or fowls, or fishes, etc. - in PART that kingdom and part of that as gradually evolved into a physiognomy much in the form of the present day may (were one chosen of those that were, or are, the nearest representative of the race of peoples that existed in this first period as the first destructions came about). These took on MANY sizes as to stature, from that as may be called the midget to the giants - for there were giants in the earth in those days, men as tall as (what would be termed today) ten to twelve feet in stature, and in proportion - well proportioned throughout. The ones that became the most USEFUL were those as would be classified (or called in the present) as the IDEAL stature, that was of both male and female (as those separations had been begun); and the most ideal (as would be called) was Adam, who was in that period when he (Adam) appeared as five in one - See?

In this the physiognomy was that of a full head, with an extra EYE - as it were - in those portions that became what is known as the EYE. In the beginning these appeared in WHATEVER portion was desired by the body for its use!

As for the dress, those in the beginning were (and the Lord made for them coats) of the skins of the animals.

Given to us for our 35th anniversary this weekend

Honoring the Chicago Police Officers who have given their lives in the line of duty.

 

The "Ride to Remember" is an annual event that benefits the families of Chicago Police Officers who have been killed or catastrophically injured in the line of duty.

 

As one of the latter, the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation, which organizes this event, makes it possible for my daughter to attend college.

 

The Ride to Remember gathers at the old Area 4 HQ on the West Side and ends at the Chicago Police Memorial, just east of Soldier Field, where the participants dismount and walk to the memorial for a brief ceremony. Because I ride a motorized wheelchair instead of a motorcycle, that's the only part of the Ride I can participate in.

 

The participants generally belong to Law Enforcement Motorcycle Clubs from all over the U.S. and civilian riders primarily from the Chicagoland area.

 

On a personal note, I come to remember my old partner from my 12th District days, Sgt. Jean-Pierre Borja, who was a member of one of the local police motorcyclw cLubs and was killed doring what he loved most, riding his bike...

 

For more information about this event and other programs, go to the website of the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation:

www.cpdmemorial.org

  

Since Operation Fix Long Beach started, Hope For Paws funded the spay & neuter of 200 dogs and cats (and in a few days we'll start a campaign to fix 400 more).

 

This service is given for FREE to people who can't afford it.

 

One of my best friends who is running this show is Claudia Hoffmann. She is there every weekend, rallying the troops, convincing people to spay / neuter their pets, works hard to educate the public, and works nonstop to save animals.

 

(If you don't know Claudia, she is at the center right next to the dog with the dark sunglasses).

 

Today & tomorrow we have an opportunity to give her a gift (that she doesn't even want), but the goal is really to get the story to the media about one person working hard to change her community.

 

Here is the link to the competition: gemsoflb.com/#contest

 

Please vote for CLAUDIA HOFFMANN

 

Thank you to everybody else involved... dedicated volunteers who are working hard to prevent the suffering of many animals.

 

Eldad

 

©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®

  

No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

  

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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 41.973+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.

  

***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on Thursday October 21st 2021

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/1347380800 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 5,547th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Forty eight metres at 13:22pm on a beautiful summer afternoon on Tuesday 20th July 2021, off Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent.

  

Here we see a large adult Female Carrion crow (Corvus corone), a passerine bird of the family Corvidae and the genus Raven (Higher classification: Corvus), which is native to western Europe and eastern Asia.

 

AN IN DEPTH LOOK AT CORVUS CORONE

  

LEGEND AND MYTHOLOGY

By Paul Williams

  

Crows appear in the Bible where Noah uses one to search for dry land and to check on the recession of the flood. Crows supposedly saved the prophet, Elijah, from famine and are an Inuit deity. Legend has it that England and its monarchy will end when there are no more crows in the Tower of London. And some believe that the crows went to the Tower attracted by the regular corpses following executions with written accounts of their presence at the executions of Anne Boleyn and Jane Gray.

  

In Welsh mythology, unfortunately Crows are seen as symbolic of evilness and black magic thanks to many references to witches transforming into crows or ravens and escaping. Indian legend tells of Kakabhusandi, a crow who sits on the branches of a wish-fulfilling tree called Kalpataru and a crow in Ramayana where Lord Rama blessed the crow with the power to foresee future events and communicate with the souls.

  

In Native American first nation legend the crow is sometimes considered to be something of a trickster, though they are also viewed positively by some tribes as messengers between this world and the next where they carry messages from the living to those deceased, and even carry healing medicines between both worlds. There is a belief that crows can foresee the future. The Klamath tribe in Oregon believe that when we die, we fly up to heaven as a crow. The Crow can also signify wisdom to some tribes who believe crows had the power to talk and were therefore considered to be one of the wisest of birds. Tribes with Crow Clans include the Chippewa (whose Crow Clan and its totem are called Aandeg), the Hopi (whose Crow Clan is called Angwusngyam or Ungwish-wungwa), the Menominee, the Caddo, the Tlingit, and the Pueblo tribes of New Mexico.

  

The crow features in the Nanissáanah (Ghost dance), popularized by Jerome Crow Dog, a Brulé Lakota sub-chief and warrior born at Horse Stealing Creek in Montana Territory in 1833, the crow symbolizing wisdom and the past, when the crow had became a guide and acted as a pathfinder during hunting. The Ghost dance movement was originally created in 1870 by Wodziwob, or Gray Hair, a prophet and medicine man of the Paiute tribe in an area that became known as Nevada. Ghost dancers wore crow and eagle feathers in their clothes and hair, and the fact that the Crow could talk placed it as one of the sages of the animal kingdom. The five day dances seeking trance,prophecy and exhortations would eventually play a major part in the pathway towards the white man's broken treaties, the infamous battle at Wounded knee and the surrender of Matȟó Wanáȟtaka (Kicking Bear), after officials began to fear the ghost dancers and rituals which seemed to occur prior to battle.

  

Historically the Vikings are the group who made so many references to the crow, and Ragnarr Loðbrók and his sons used this species in his banner as well as appearances in many flags and coats of arms. Also, it had some kind of association with Odin, one of their main deities. Norse legend tells us that Odin is accompanied by two crows. Hugin, who symbolizes thought, and Munin, who represents a memory. These two crows were sent out each dawn to fly the entire world, returning at breakfast where they informed the Lord of the Nordic gods of everything that went on in their kingdoms. Odin was also referred to as Rafnagud (raven-god). The raven appears in almost every skaldic poem describing warfare.Coins dating back to 940's minted by Olaf Cuaran depict the Viking war standard, the Raven and Viking war banners (Gonfalon) depicted the bird also.

  

In Scandinavian legends, crows are a representative of the Goddess of Death, known as Valkyrie (from old Norse 'Valkyrja'), one of the group of maidens who served the Norse deity Odin, visiting battlefields and sending him the souls of the slain worthy of a place in Valhalla. Odin ( also called Wodan, Woden, or Wotan), preferred that heroes be killed in battle and that the most valiant of souls be taken to Valhöll, the hall of slain warriors. It is the crow that provides the Valkyries with important information on who should go. In Hindu ceremonies that are associated to ancestors, the crow has an important place in Vedic rituals. They are seen as messengers of death in Indian culture too.

  

In Germanic legend, Crows are seen as psychonomes, meaning the act of guiding spirits to their final destination, and that the feathers of a crow could cure a victim who had been cursed. And yet, a lone black crow could symbolize impending death, whilst a group symbolizes a lucky omen! Vikings also saw good omens in the crow and would leave offerings of meat as a token.

  

The crow also has sacred and prophetic meaning within the Celtic civilization, where it stood for flesh ripped off due to combat and Morrighan, the warrior goddess, often appears in Celtic mythology as a raven or crow, or else is found to be in the company of the birds. Crow is sacred to Lugdnum, the Celtic god of creation who gave his name to the city of Lug

  

In Greek mythology according to Appolodorus, Apollo is supposedly responsible for the black feathers of the crow, turning them forever black from their pristine white original plumage as a punishment after they brought news that Κορωνις (Coronis) a princess of the Thessalian kingdom of Phlegyantis, Apollo's pregnant lover had left him to marry a mortal, Ischys. In one legend, Apollo burned the crows feathers and then burned Coronis to death, in another Coronis herself was turned into a black crow, and another that she was slain by the arrows of Αρτεμις (Artemis - twin to Apollo). Koronis was later set amongst the stars as the constellation Corvus ("the Crow"). Her name means "Curved One" from the Greek word korônis or "Crow" from the word korônê.A similar Muslim legend allegedly tells of Muhammad, founder of Islam and the last prophet sent by God to Earth, who's secret location was given away by a white crow to his seekers, as he hid in caves. The crow shouted 'Ghar Ghar' (Cave, cave) and thus as punishment, Muhammad turned the crow black and cursed it for eternity to utter only one phrase, 'Ghar, ghar). Native Indian legend where the once rainbow coloured crows became forever black after shedding their colourful plumage over the other animals of the world.

  

In China the Crow is represented in art as a three legged bird on a solar disk, being a creature that helps the sun in its journey. In Japan there are myths of Crow Tengu who were priests who became vain, and turned into this spirit to serve as messengers until they learn the lesson of humility as well as a great Crow who takes part in Shinto creation stories.

  

In animal spirit guides there are general perceptions of what sightings of numbers of crows actually mean:

  

1 Crow Meaning: To carry a message from your near one who died recently.

 

2 Crows Meaning: Two crows sitting near your home signifies some good news is on your way.

 

3 Crows Meaning: An upcoming wedding in your family.

 

4 Crows Meaning: Symbolizes wealth and prosperity.

 

5 Crows Meaning: Diseases or pain.

 

6 Crows Meaning: A theft in your house!

 

7 Crows Meaning: Denotes travel or moving from your house.

 

8 Crows Meaning: Sorrowful events

  

Crows are generally seen as the symbolism when alive for doom bringing, misfortune and bad omens, and yet a dead crow symbolises potentially bringing good news and positive change to those who see it. This wonderful bird certainly gets a mixed bag of contradictory mythology and legend over the centuries and in modern days is often seen as a bit of a nuisance, attacking and killing the babies of other birds such as Starlings, Pigeons and House Sparrows as well as plucking the eyes out of lambs in the field, being loud and noisy and violently attacking poor victims in a 'crow court'....

  

There is even a classic horror film called 'THE CROW' released in 1994 by Miramax Films, directed by Alex Proyas and starring Brandon Lee in his final film appearance as Eric Draven, who is revived by a Crow tapping on his gravestone a year after he and his fiancée are murdered in Detroit by a street gang. The crow becomes his guide as he sets out to avenge the murders. The only son of martial arts expert Bruce Lee, Brandon lee suffered fatal injuries on the set of the film when the crew failed to remove the primer from a cartridge that hit Lee in the abdomen with the same force as a normal bullet. Lee died that day, March 31st 1993 aged 28.

  

The symbolism of the Crow resurrecting the dead star and accompanying him on his quest for revenge was powerful, and in some part based on the history of the carrion crow itself and the original film grossed more than $94 Million dollars with three subsequent sequels following.

  

TAKING A CLOSER LOOK

  

So let's move away from legend, mythology and stories passed down from our parents and grandparents and look at these amazing birds in isolation.

  

Carrion crow are passerines in the family Corvidae a group of Oscine passerine birds including Crows, Ravens, Rooks, Jackdaws, Jays, Magpies, Treepies, Choughs and Nutcrackers. Technically they are classed as Corvids, and the largest of passerine birds. Carrion crows are medium to large in size with rictal bristles and a single moult per year (most passerines moult twice). Carrion crow was one of the many species originally described by Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (Carl Von Linne after his ennoblement) in his 1758 and 1759 editions of 'SYSTEMA NATURAE', and it still bears its original name of Corvus corone, derived from the Latin of Corvus, meaning Raven and the Greek κορώνη (korōnē), meaning crow.

  

Carrion crow are of the Animalia kingdom Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Passeriformes Family: Corvidae Genus: Corvus and Species: Corvus corone

  

Corvus corone can reach 45-47cm in length with a 93-104cm wingspan and weigh between 370-650g. They are protected under The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in the United Kingdom with a Green UK conservation status which means they are of least concern with more than 1,000,000 territories. Breeding occurs in April with fledging of the chicks taking around twenty nine days following an incubation period of around twenty days with 3 to 4 eggs being the average norm. They are abundant in the UK apart from Northwest Scotland and Ireland where the Hooded crow (Corvus cornix) was considered the same species until 2002. They have a lifespan of around four years, whilst Crow species can live to the age of Twenty years old, and the oldest known American crow in the wild was almost Thirty years old. The oldest documented captive crow died at age Fifty nine. They are smaller and have a shorter lifespan than the Raven, which again is used as a symbol in history to live life to the full and not waste a moment!

  

They are often mistaken for the Rook (Corvus frugilegus), a similar bird, though in the UK, the Rook is actually technically smaller than the Carrion crow averaging 44-46cm in length, 81-99cm wingspan and weighing up to 340g. Rooks have white beaks compared to the black beaks of Carrion crow, a more steeply raked ratio from head to beak, and longer straighter beaks as well as a different plumage pattern. There are documented cases in the UK of singular and grouped Rooks attacking and killing Carrion crows in their territory. Rooks nest in colonies unlike Carrion crows. Carrion crows have only a few natural enemies including powerful raptors such as the northern goshawk, the peregrine falcon, the Eurasian eagle-owl and the golden eagle which will all readily hunt them.

  

Regarded as one of the most intelligent birds, indeed creatures on the planet, studies suggest that Corvids cognitive abilities can rival that of primates such as chimpanzees and gorillas and even provide clues to understanding human intelligence. Crows have relatively large brains for their body size, compared to other animals. Their encephalization quotient (EQ) a ratio of brain to body size, adjusted for size because there isn’t a linear relationship is 4.1. That is remarkably close to chimps at 4.2 whilst humans are 8.1. Corvids also have a very high neuronal density, the number of neurons per gram of brain, factoring in the number of cortical neurons, neuron packing density, interneuronal distance and axonal conduction velocity shows that Corvids score high on this measure as well, with humans scoring the highest.

  

A corvid's pallium is packed with more neurons than a great ape's. Corvids have demonstrated the ability to use a combination of mental tools such as imagination, and anticipation of future events. They can craft tools from twigs and branches to hook grubs from deep recesses, they can solve puzzles and intricate methods of gaining access to food set by humans., and have even bent pieces of wire into hooks to obtain food. They have been proven to have a higher cognitive ability level than seven year old humans. Communications wise, their repertoire of wraw-wraw's is not fully understood, but the intensity, rhythm, and duration of caws seems to form the basis of a possible language. They also remember the faces of humans who have hindered or hurt them and pass that information on to their offspring.

  

Aesop's fable of 'The Crow and the Pitcher, tells of a thirsty crow which drops stones into a water pitcher to raise the water level and enable it to take a drink. Scientists have conducted tests to see whether crows really are this intelligent. They placed floating treats in a deep tube and observed the crows indeed dropping dense objects carefully selected into the water until the treat floated within reach. They had the intelligence to pick up, weigh and discount objects that would float in the water, they also did not select ones that were too large for the container.

  

Pet crows develop a unique call for their owners, in effect actually naming them. They also know to sunbathe for a dose of vitamin D, regularly settling on wooden garden fences, opening their mouths and wings and raising their heads to the sun. In groups they warn of danger and communicate vocally. They store a cache of food for later if in abundance and are clever enough to move it if they feel it has been discovered. They leave markers for their cache. They have even learned to place walnuts and similar hard food items under car tyres at traffic lights as a means of cracking them!

  

Crows regularly gather around a dead fellow corvid, almost like a funeral, and it is thought they somehow learn from each death. They can even remember human faces for decades.Crows group together to attack larger predators and even steal their food, and they have different dialects in different areas, with the ability to mimic the dialect of the alpha males when they enter their territory!

  

They have a twenty year life span, the oldest on record reaching the age of Fifty nine. Crows can leave gifts for those who feed them such as buttons or bright shiny objects as a thank you, and they even kiss and make up after an argument, having mated for life.

  

In mythology they are associated with good and bad luck, being the bringers of omens and even witchcraft and are generally reviled for their attacks on baby birds and small mammals. They have an attack method of to stunning smaller birds before consuming them, tearing violently at smaller, less aggressive birds, which is simply down to the fact that they are so highly intelligent, and also the top of the food chain. Their diet includes over a thousand different items: Dead animals (as their name suggests), invertebrates, grain, as well as stealing eggs and chicks from other birds' nests, worms, insects, fruit, seeds, kitchen scraps. They are highly adaptable when food sources grow scarce. I absolutely love them, they are magnificent, bold, beautiful and incredibly interesting to watch and though at times it is hard to witness attacks made by them, I cannot help but adore them for so many other and more important reasons.

  

OBSERVATIONS ON THE PAIR IN MY GARDEN

  

Crows have been in the area for a while, but rarely had strayed into my garden, leaving the Magpies to own the territory. Things changed towards the end of May when a beautiful female Carrion crow appeared and began to take some of the food that I put down for the other birds. Within a few days she began to appear regularly, on occasions stocking up on food, whilst other times placing pieces in the birdbath to soften them. She would stand on the birdbath and eat and drink and come back over the course of the day to eat the softened food.

  

Shortly afterwards she brought along her mate, a tall and handsome fella, much larger than her who was also very vocal if he felt she was getting a little too close to me. By now I had moved from a seated position from the patio as an observer, to laying on a mat just five feet from the birdbath with my Nikon so that I could photograph the pair as they landed, scavenged and fed. She was now confident enough to let me be very close, and she even tolerated and recognized the clicking of the camera. At first I used silent mode to reduce the noise but this only allowed two shooting frame rates of single frame or continuous low frame which meant I was missing shots. I reverted back to normal continuous high frames and she soon got used to the whirring of the mechanisms as the mirror slapped back and forth.

  

The big fella would bark orders at her from the safety of the fence or the rear of the garden, whilst she rarely made a sound. That was until one day when in the sweltering heat she kept opening her beak and sunning on the grass, panting slightly in the heat. I placed the circular water sprayer nearby and had it rotating so that the birdbath and grass was bathed in gentle water droplets and she soon came back, landed and seemed to really like the cooling effect on offer. She then climbed onto the birdbath and opened her wings slightly and made some gentle purring, cooing noises....

  

I swear she was expressing happiness, joy....

  

On another blisteringly hot day when the sprayer was on, she came down, walked towards it and opened her wings up running into the water spray. Not once, but many times.

  

A further revelation into the unseen sides to these beautiful birds came with the male and female on the rear garden fence. They sat together, locked beaks like a kiss and then the male took his time gently preening her head feathers and the back of her neck as she made tiny happy sounds. They stayed together like that for several minutes, showing a gentle, softer side to their nature and demonstrating the deep bond between them. Into July and the pair started to bring their three youngsters to my garden, the nippers learning to use the birdbath for bathing and dipping food, the parents attentive as ever. Two of the youngsters headed off once large enough and strong enough.

  

I was privileged to be in close attendance as the last juvenile was brought down by the pair, taught to take food and then on a night in July, to soar and fly with it's mother in the evening sky as the light faded. She would swoop and twirl, and at regular intervals just touch the juvenile in flight with her wing tip feathers, as if to reassure it that she was close in attendance. What an amazing experience to view. A few days later, the juvenile, though now gaining independence and more than capable of tackling food scraps in the garden, was still on occasions demand feeding from it's mother who was now teaching him to take chicken breast, hotdogs or digestive biscuits and bury them in the garden beds for later delectation. The juvenile also liked to gather up peanuts and bury them in the grass. On one occasion I witnessed a pair of rumbunctious Pica Pica (Magpies), chasing the young crow on rooftops, leaping at him no matter how hard he tried to get away. He defended himself well and survived the attacks, much to my relief.

  

Into August and the last youngster remained with the adults, though now was very independent even though he still spent time with his parents on rooftops, and shared food gathering duties with his mum.Hotdog sausages were their favourite choice, followed by fish fingers and digestive biscuits which the adult male would gather up three at a time. In October, the three Crows were still kings of the area, but my time observing them was pretty much over as I will only put food out now for the birds in the winter months. The two adults are still here in December and now taking the food that I put out to help all birds survive in the winter months. They also have a pair of Magpies to compete with now.

Late February 2022 and Cheryl and Russell and their youngster are still with me, still dominant in the area and still taking raw chicken, hotdogs, biscuits and fatballs that I put out for them. Today I saw them mating for the first time this year in the tree and the cycle continues.

  

Corvus Corone.... magnificently misunderstood by some!

  

Paul Williams June 4th 2021 (Updated in April 2022)

  

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Nikon D850 Focal length 500mm Shutter speed: 1/200s Electronic front-curtain enabled Aperture f/7.1 iso320 Hand held with Tamron VC Vibration control set to ON in position 1 14 Bit uncompressed RAW NEF file size L (8256 x 5504 pixels) FX (36 x 24) Focus mode: AF-C AF-Area mode: 3D-tracking AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points Exposure mode: Manual exposure mode Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance on: Auto1, 0, 0 (4680k) Colour space: RGB Picture control: Neutral (Sharpening +2)

  

Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 95mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Black Rapid Curve Breathe strap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.

     

LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 27.97s

LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 10.51s

ALTITUDE: 48.00m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE: 90.9MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 53.60MB

      

PROCESSING POWER:

  

Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00

  

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

   

Aankomst in Rotterdam van het containerschip EVER GIVEN , VB TIGER , ROTTERDAM , SD STINGRAY en RT ROB van Boluda Towage assisteerden naar de ECT in de Amazonehaven.29-7-2021 gezien vanaf de KRVE 71

given a chance to meet the virgin of la naval face to face before she was brought out of her side altar room, in Sto. Doming Church QC.

Aurelio (Martinez) from Honduras, performing in the Siam Tent at WOMAD on Saturday.

 

You can see my WOMAD 2015 shots here: WOMAD 2015

 

You can see my WOMAD 2014 shots here: WOMAD 2014

 

You can see my WOMAD 2013 shots here: WOMAD 2013

 

You can see my WOMAD 2012 shots here: WOMAD 2012

 

You can see my WOMAD 2011 shots here: WOMAD 2011

 

You can see my WOMAD 2010 shots here: WOMAD 2010

 

You can see my WOMAD 2009 shots here: WOMAD 2009

 

My thanks are due to Dee McCourt of Borkowski PR for arranging my photo pass.

©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2019 & GETTY IMAGES ®

  

No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©

  

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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 34.240+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.

  

***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on October 7th 2019

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/1179003248 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 3,896th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

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Photograph taken in the magic of the golden hour around sunrise at an altitude of One metres, at 06:42am on Thursday 5th September 2019 around sunrise off 1st Street and Bevan Avenue, bewteen the boat jetty and Bevan Avenue Fishing Pier in beautiful Sidney by the sea on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

   

In the distance we see Mt Baker in Washington State, USA . Known to the Lummi First nation people ( Lhaq'temish) as Kwelshán ('Shooting place' in Nooksack), to the Halkomelem as Kwelxá:lxw, to Lushootseed speakers along the Skagit River as Teqwúbe7 “snow-capped peak'', to the Nooksack language as Kweq’ Smánit (“white mountain'') and also known as Koma Kulshan, (pronounced kō-ō’mah’ kool-shän’), the name for the Middle Fork which originates from the glaciers such as Deming and Thunder on the western slopes, she is an active glaciated andesitic stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc and the North Cascades of Washington State in the United States, standing 3,286 metres tall and was first ascended in 1868, her last eruption recorded in 1880.

  

The name Mount Baker first appeared in print in Captain Vancouver’s 1798 narrative of his voyage around Vancouver Island. Legend has it that his third-lieutenant, Joseph Baker, was the first to spot the mountain while they sailed into Dungeness Bay on April 30th, 1792. Also known by the Lummi as Kwud-Shad, and Koba (meaning 'high mountain always covered with snow', was the Skagit name.

  

The Bevan Avenue fishing pier is one of the main focal points in Sidney, and Work commenced on the pier in 1993 with Phase one, a 90 metre straight section being completed in 1996. A year later the 110 metre Phase two section was completed.

 

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Nikon D850. Focal length 75mm Shutter speed 1/10s. Aperture f/16.0 iso64 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX). Focus mode AF-C focus 51 point with 3D- tracking. AF-Area mode single point & 73 point switchable. Exposure mode - Aperture priority exposure. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. Matrix metering. ISO Sensitivity: Auto. White balance: Natural light auto. Colour space Adobe RGB. Nikon Distortion control on. Picture control: Auto. High ISO NR on. Vignette control: normal. Active D-lighting Auto.

  

Nikkor AF-S 24-120mm f/4G ED VR. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 77mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 0.3 (1 stop) ND Grad soft resin. Lee SW150 0.9 reverse neutral grad. Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Nikon EN-EL15a battery.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod 3 Sections (Payload: 5.6kgs). Manfrotto 327RC2 Light Duty Grip Ball Magnesium Tripod Head (Payload: 5.5kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 200PL-14. Jessops Tripod bag.Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release cable.

  

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LATITUDE: N 48d 38m 52.66s

LONGITUDE: W 123d 23m 36.73s

ALTITUDE: 1.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 89.8MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 34.60MB

     

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PROCESSING POWER:

 

Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18) LF 1.00

 

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.3.1 11/07/2019). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

  

So, I have given a lot of thought to this whole Street Photography pursuit and I think I am going to stick with it. Granted, I dont see the improvements coming as fast and steady as I had hoped (even with what I consider reasonably low expectations) and likely I will never be as good as the people I respect, or as popular as the people I loath, I still get excited every time I unload a roll of film from my camera, and I still get a feeling of anticipation every time I load a new roll in. What I think I need to do is start printing, showing, and (gag) socializing in this community. Maybe even learn proper PP skills. All things are possible. Life is an open book.

3075 was the 2nd of its type into service as one of 5 test buses a full 3 months ago now but still looks as new

Given myself an alphabet soup game. Two new photos and another two from my photostream or archives, when possible.

 

Took this lovely windmill while we were on holiday in Erdenven, Southern Brittany in 2009. We had quite a few holidays at a superb camp site there.

 

A bit of information I could find about the windmill.

"The Narbon's windmill

You will discover the Narbon's windmill on the road toward Kerhillo beach.

 

Built in 1805, this windmill has been seriously damaged by the 1987's hurricane.

It has been restored in 1989 by the association called " the Narbon's windmill friends".

  

Thank you for your favourites. :O)

 

©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®

  

No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

  

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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 43.733+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.

  

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©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Fifty eight metres at 07:18am just as the light broke through the dawn on an Autumn morning, Saturday Octyober 22nd 2022 off Hythe Avenue and Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent.

 

Here we see an adult male Carrion crow (Corvus corone), one of a pair who I have fed for three years now. Nicknamed Russell, he sits on an aerial opposite my front door, calling to Sheryl his wife, and Baboo, thier young'en from this year.

  

AN IN DEPTH LOOK AT CORVUS CORONE

  

LEGEND AND MYTHOLOGY

By Paul Williams

  

Crows appear in the Bible where Noah uses one to search for dry land and to check on the recession of the flood. Crows supposedly saved the prophet, Elijah, from famine and are an Inuit deity. Legend has it that England and its monarchy will end when there are no more crows in the Tower of London. And some believe that the crows went to the Tower attracted by the regular corpses following executions with written accounts of their presence at the executions of Anne Boleyn and Jane Gray.

  

In Welsh mythology, unfortunately Crows are seen as symbolic of evilness and black magic thanks to many references to witches transforming into crows or ravens and escaping. Indian legend tells of Kakabhusandi, a crow who sits on the branches of a wish-fulfilling tree called Kalpataru and a crow in Ramayana where Lord Rama blessed the crow with the power to foresee future events and communicate with the souls.

  

In Native American first nation legend the crow is sometimes considered to be something of a trickster, though they are also viewed positively by some tribes as messengers between this world and the next where they carry messages from the living to those deceased, and even carry healing medicines between both worlds. There is a belief that crows can foresee the future. The Klamath tribe in Oregon believe that when we die, we fly up to heaven as a crow. The Crow can also signify wisdom to some tribes who believe crows had the power to talk and were therefore considered to be one of the wisest of birds. Tribes with Crow Clans include the Chippewa (whose Crow Clan and its totem are called Aandeg), the Hopi (whose Crow Clan is called Angwusngyam or Ungwish-wungwa), the Menominee, the Caddo, the Tlingit, and the Pueblo tribes of New Mexico.

  

The crow features in the Nanissáanah (Ghost dance), popularized by Jerome Crow Dog, a Brulé Lakota sub-chief and warrior born at Horse Stealing Creek in Montana Territory in 1833, the crow symbolizing wisdom and the past, when the crow had became a guide and acted as a pathfinder during hunting. The Ghost dance movement was originally created in 1870 by Wodziwob, or Gray Hair, a prophet and medicine man of the Paiute tribe in an area that became known as Nevada. Ghost dancers wore crow and eagle feathers in their clothes and hair, and the fact that the Crow could talk placed it as one of the sages of the animal kingdom. The five day dances seeking trance,prophecy and exhortations would eventually play a major part in the pathway towards the white man's broken treaties, the infamous battle at Wounded knee and the surrender of Matȟó Wanáȟtaka (Kicking Bear), after officials began to fear the ghost dancers and rituals which seemed to occur prior to battle.

  

Historically the Vikings are the group who made so many references to the crow, and Ragnarr Loðbrók and his sons used this species in his banner as well as appearances in many flags and coats of arms. Also, it had some kind of association with Odin, one of their main deities. Norse legend tells us that Odin is accompanied by two crows. Hugin, who symbolizes thought, and Munin, who represents a memory. These two crows were sent out each dawn to fly the entire world, returning at breakfast where they informed the Lord of the Nordic gods of everything that went on in their kingdoms. Odin was also referred to as Rafnagud (raven-god). The raven appears in almost every skaldic poem describing warfare.Coins dating back to 940's minted by Olaf Cuaran depict the Viking war standard, the Raven and Viking war banners (Gonfalon) depicted the bird also.

  

In Scandinavian legends, crows are a representative of the Goddess of Death, known as Valkyrie (from old Norse 'Valkyrja'), one of the group of maidens who served the Norse deity Odin, visiting battlefields and sending him the souls of the slain worthy of a place in Valhalla. Odin ( also called Wodan, Woden, or Wotan), preferred that heroes be killed in battle and that the most valiant of souls be taken to Valhöll, the hall of slain warriors. It is the crow that provides the Valkyries with important information on who should go. In Hindu ceremonies that are associated to ancestors, the crow has an important place in Vedic rituals. They are seen as messengers of death in Indian culture too.

  

In Germanic legend, Crows are seen as psychonomes, meaning the act of guiding spirits to their final destination, and that the feathers of a crow could cure a victim who had been cursed. And yet, a lone black crow could symbolize impending death, whilst a group symbolizes a lucky omen! Vikings also saw good omens in the crow and would leave offerings of meat as a token.

  

The crow also has sacred and prophetic meaning within the Celtic civilization, where it stood for flesh ripped off due to combat and Morrighan, the warrior goddess, often appears in Celtic mythology as a raven or crow, or else is found to be in the company of the birds. Crow is sacred to Lugdnum, the Celtic god of creation who gave his name to the city of Lug

  

In Greek mythology according to Appolodorus, Apollo is supposedly responsible for the black feathers of the crow, turning them forever black from their pristine white original plumage as a punishment after they brought news that Κορωνις (Coronis) a princess of the Thessalian kingdom of Phlegyantis, Apollo's pregnant lover had left him to marry a mortal, Ischys. In one legend, Apollo burned the crows feathers and then burned Coronis to death, in another Coronis herself was turned into a black crow, and another that she was slain by the arrows of Αρτεμις (Artemis - twin to Apollo). Koronis was later set amongst the stars as the constellation Corvus ("the Crow"). Her name means "Curved One" from the Greek word korônis or "Crow" from the word korônê.A similar Muslim legend allegedly tells of Muhammad, founder of Islam and the last prophet sent by God to Earth, who's secret location was given away by a white crow to his seekers, as he hid in caves. The crow shouted 'Ghar Ghar' (Cave, cave) and thus as punishment, Muhammad turned the crow black and cursed it for eternity to utter only one phrase, 'Ghar, ghar). Native Indian legend where the once rainbow coloured crows became forever black after shedding their colourful plumage over the other animals of the world.

  

In China the Crow is represented in art as a three legged bird on a solar disk, being a creature that helps the sun in its journey. In Japan there are myths of Crow Tengu who were priests who became vain, and turned into this spirit to serve as messengers until they learn the lesson of humility as well as a great Crow who takes part in Shinto creation stories.

  

In animal spirit guides there are general perceptions of what sightings of numbers of crows actually mean:

  

1 Crow Meaning: To carry a message from your near one who died recently.

 

2 Crows Meaning: Two crows sitting near your home signifies some good news is on your way.

 

3 Crows Meaning: An upcoming wedding in your family.

 

4 Crows Meaning: Symbolizes wealth and prosperity.

 

5 Crows Meaning: Diseases or pain.

 

6 Crows Meaning: A theft in your house!

 

7 Crows Meaning: Denotes travel or moving from your house.

 

8 Crows Meaning: Sorrowful events

  

Crows are generally seen as the symbolism when alive for doom bringing, misfortune and bad omens, and yet a dead crow symbolises potentially bringing good news and positive change to those who see it. This wonderful bird certainly gets a mixed bag of contradictory mythology and legend over the centuries and in modern days is often seen as a bit of a nuisance, attacking and killing the babies of other birds such as Starlings, Pigeons and House Sparrows as well as plucking the eyes out of lambs in the field, being loud and noisy and violently attacking poor victims in a 'crow court'....

  

There is even a classic horror film called 'THE CROW' released in 1994 by Miramax Films, directed by Alex Proyas and starring Brandon Lee in his final film appearance as Eric Draven, who is revived by a Crow tapping on his gravestone a year after he and his fiancée are murdered in Detroit by a street gang. The crow becomes his guide as he sets out to avenge the murders. The only son of martial arts expert Bruce Lee, Brandon lee suffered fatal injuries on the set of the film when the crew failed to remove the primer from a cartridge that hit Lee in the abdomen with the same force as a normal bullet. Lee died that day, March 31st 1993 aged 28.

  

The symbolism of the Crow resurrecting the dead star and accompanying him on his quest for revenge was powerful, and in some part based on the history of the carrion crow itself and the original film grossed more than $94 Million dollars with three subsequent sequels following.

  

TAKING A CLOSER LOOK

  

So let's move away from legend, mythology and stories passed down from our parents and grandparents and look at these amazing birds in isolation.

  

Carrion crow are passerines in the family Corvidae a group of Oscine passerine birds including Crows, Ravens, Rooks, Jackdaws, Jays, Magpies, Treepies, Choughs and Nutcrackers. Technically they are classed as Corvids, and the largest of passerine birds. Carrion crows are medium to large in size with rictal bristles and a single moult per year (most passerines moult twice). Carrion crow was one of the many species originally described by Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (Carl Von Linne after his ennoblement) in his 1758 and 1759 editions of 'SYSTEMA NATURAE', and it still bears its original name of Corvus corone, derived from the Latin of Corvus, meaning Raven and the Greek κορώνη (korōnē), meaning crow.

  

Carrion crow are of the Animalia kingdom Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Passeriformes Family: Corvidae Genus: Corvus and Species: Corvus corone

  

Corvus corone can reach 45-47cm in length with a 93-104cm wingspan and weigh between 370-650g. They are protected under The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in the United Kingdom with a Green UK conservation status which means they are of least concern with more than 1,000,000 territories. Breeding occurs in April with fledging of the chicks taking around twenty nine days following an incubation period of around twenty days with 3 to 4 eggs being the average norm. They are abundant in the UK apart from Northwest Scotland and Ireland where the Hooded crow (Corvus cornix) was considered the same species until 2002. They have a lifespan of around four years, whilst Crow species can live to the age of Twenty years old, and the oldest known American crow in the wild was almost Thirty years old. The oldest documented captive crow died at age Fifty nine. They are smaller and have a shorter lifespan than the Raven, which again is used as a symbol in history to live life to the full and not waste a moment!

  

They are often mistaken for the Rook (Corvus frugilegus), a similar bird, though in the UK, the Rook is actually technically smaller than the Carrion crow averaging 44-46cm in length, 81-99cm wingspan and weighing up to 340g. Rooks have white beaks compared to the black beaks of Carrion crow, a more steeply raked ratio from head to beak, and longer straighter beaks as well as a different plumage pattern. There are documented cases in the UK of singular and grouped Rooks attacking and killing Carrion crows in their territory. Rooks nest in colonies unlike Carrion crows. Carrion crows have only a few natural enemies including powerful raptors such as the northern goshawk, the peregrine falcon, the Eurasian eagle-owl and the golden eagle which will all readily hunt them.

  

Regarded as one of the most intelligent birds, indeed creatures on the planet, studies suggest that Corvids cognitive abilities can rival that of primates such as chimpanzees and gorillas and even provide clues to understanding human intelligence. Crows have relatively large brains for their body size, compared to other animals. Their encephalization quotient (EQ) a ratio of brain to body size, adjusted for size because there isn’t a linear relationship is 4.1. That is remarkably close to chimps at 4.2 whilst humans are 8.1. Corvids also have a very high neuronal density, the number of neurons per gram of brain, factoring in the number of cortical neurons, neuron packing density, interneuronal distance and axonal conduction velocity shows that Corvids score high on this measure as well, with humans scoring the highest.

  

A corvid's pallium is packed with more neurons than a great ape's. Corvids have demonstrated the ability to use a combination of mental tools such as imagination, and anticipation of future events. They can craft tools from twigs and branches to hook grubs from deep recesses, they can solve puzzles and intricate methods of gaining access to food set by humans., and have even bent pieces of wire into hooks to obtain food. They have been proven to have a higher cognitive ability level than seven year old humans. Communications wise, their repertoire of wraw-wraw's is not fully understood, but the intensity, rhythm, and duration of caws seems to form the basis of a possible language. They also remember the faces of humans who have hindered or hurt them and pass that information on to their offspring.

  

Aesop's fable of 'The Crow and the Pitcher, tells of a thirsty crow which drops stones into a water pitcher to raise the water level and enable it to take a drink. Scientists have conducted tests to see whether crows really are this intelligent. They placed floating treats in a deep tube and observed the crows indeed dropping dense objects carefully selected into the water until the treat floated within reach. They had the intelligence to pick up, weigh and discount objects that would float in the water, they also did not select ones that were too large for the container.

  

Pet crows develop a unique call for their owners, in effect actually naming them. They also know to sunbathe for a dose of vitamin D, regularly settling on wooden garden fences, opening their mouths and wings and raising their heads to the sun. In groups they warn of danger and communicate vocally. They store a cache of food for later if in abundance and are clever enough to move it if they feel it has been discovered. They leave markers for their cache. They have even learned to place walnuts and similar hard food items under car tyres at traffic lights as a means of cracking them!

  

Crows regularly gather around a dead fellow corvid, almost like a funeral, and it is thought they somehow learn from each death. They can even remember human faces for decades.Crows group together to attack larger predators and even steal their food, and they have different dialects in different areas, with the ability to mimic the dialect of the alpha males when they enter their territory!

  

They have a twenty year life span, the oldest on record reaching the age of Fifty nine. Crows can leave gifts for those who feed them such as buttons or bright shiny objects as a thank you, and they even kiss and make up after an argument, having mated for life.

  

In mythology they are associated with good and bad luck, being the bringers of omens and even witchcraft and are generally reviled for their attacks on baby birds and small mammals. They have an attack method of to stunning smaller birds before consuming them, tearing violently at smaller, less aggressive birds, which is simply down to the fact that they are so highly intelligent, and also the top of the food chain. Their diet includes over a thousand different items: Dead animals (as their name suggests), invertebrates, grain, as well as stealing eggs and chicks from other birds' nests, worms, insects, fruit, seeds, kitchen scraps. They are highly adaptable when food sources grow scarce. I absolutely love them, they are magnificent, bold, beautiful and incredibly interesting to watch and though at times it is hard to witness attacks made by them, I cannot help but adore them for so many other and more important reasons.

  

OBSERVATIONS ON THE PAIR IN MY GARDEN

  

Crows have been in the area for a while, but rarely had strayed into my garden, leaving the Magpies to own the territory. Things changed towards the end of May when a beautiful female Carrion crow appeared and began to take some of the food that I put down for the other birds. Within a few days she began to appear regularly, on occasions stocking up on food, whilst other times placing pieces in the birdbath to soften them. She would stand on the birdbath and eat and drink and come back over the course of the day to eat the softened food.

  

Shortly afterwards she brought along her mate, a tall and handsome fella, much larger than her who was also very vocal if he felt she was getting a little too close to me. By now I had moved from a seated position from the patio as an observer, to laying on a mat just five feet from the birdbath with my Nikon so that I could photograph the pair as they landed, scavenged and fed. She was now confident enough to let me be very close, and she even tolerated and recognized the clicking of the camera. At first I used silent mode to reduce the noise but this only allowed two shooting frame rates of single frame or continuous low frame which meant I was missing shots. I reverted back to normal continuous high frames and she soon got used to the whirring of the mechanisms as the mirror slapped back and forth.

  

The big fella would bark orders at her from the safety of the fence or the rear of the garden, whilst she rarely made a sound. That was until one day when in the sweltering heat she kept opening her beak and sunning on the grass, panting slightly in the heat. I placed the circular water sprayer nearby and had it rotating so that the birdbath and grass was bathed in gentle water droplets and she soon came back, landed and seemed to really like the cooling effect on offer. She then climbed onto the birdbath and opened her wings slightly and made some gentle purring, cooing noises....

  

I swear she was expressing happiness, joy....

  

On another blisteringly hot day when the sprayer was on, she came down, walked towards it and opened her wings up running into the water spray. Not once, but many times.

  

A further revelation into the unseen sides to these beautiful birds came with the male and female on the rear garden fence. They sat together, locked beaks like a kiss and then the male took his time gently preening her head feathers and the back of her neck as she made tiny happy sounds. They stayed together like that for several minutes, showing a gentle, softer side to their nature and demonstrating the deep bond between them. Into July and the pair started to bring their three youngsters to my garden, the nippers learning to use the birdbath for bathing and dipping food, the parents attentive as ever. Two of the youngsters headed off once large enough and strong enough.

  

I was privileged to be in close attendance as the last juvenile was brought down by the pair, taught to take food and then on a night in July, to soar and fly with it's mother in the evening sky as the light faded. She would swoop and twirl, and at regular intervals just touch the juvenile in flight with her wing tip feathers, as if to reassure it that she was close in attendance. What an amazing experience to view. A few days later, the juvenile, though now gaining independence and more than capable of tackling food scraps in the garden, was still on occasions demand feeding from it's mother who was now teaching him to take chicken breast, hotdogs or digestive biscuits and bury them in the garden beds for later delectation. The juvenile also liked to gather up peanuts and bury them in the grass. On one occasion I witnessed a pair of rumbunctious Pica Pica (Magpies), chasing the young crow on rooftops, leaping at him no matter how hard he tried to get away. He defended himself well and survived the attacks, much to my relief.

  

Into August and the last youngster remained with the adults, though now was very independent even though he still spent time with his parents on rooftops, and shared food gathering duties with his mum.Hotdog sausages were their favourite choice, followed by fish fingers and digestive biscuits which the adult male would gather up three at a time. In October, the three Crows were still kings of the area, but my time observing them was pretty much over as I will only put food out now for the birds in the winter months. The two adults are still here in December and now taking the food that I put out to help all birds survive in the winter months. They also have a pair of Magpies to compete with now.

 

Late February 2022 and Cheryl and Russell and their youngster are still with me, still dominant in the area and still taking raw chicken, hotdogs, biscuits and fatballs that I put out for them. Today I saw them mating for the first time this year in the tree and the cycle continues.

 

By October 2022 the pair had successfully reared a new baby who we nicknamed Baboo, and the other youngster flew the coup. The three no recognised our car returning from weekends away, and were enjoying sausages, hotdogs, raw chicken, fish and especially cheese, but life was hard as they aged with daily morning and evening tustles in the air with invaders and intruders hoping to take their land.

  

Corvus Corone.... magnificently misunderstood by some!

  

Paul Williams June 4th 2021 (Updated in October 2022)

  

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Nikon D850 Focal length 550mm Shutter speed: 1/40s Aperture f/11.0 iso640 Hand held with Tamron VC Vibration control set to ON in position 1 14 Bit uncompressed RAW NEF file size L (8256 x 5504 pixels) FX (36 x 24) Focus mode: AF-C AF-Area mode: 3D-tracking AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points Exposure mode: Manual exposure mode Metering mode: Matrix metering ISO Sensitivity: Auto 360 White balance on: Auto1 (5390k) Colour space: RGB Picture control: Standard (Sharpening +3)

  

Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 95mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Black Rapid Curve Breathe strap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.

     

LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 28.36s

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ALTITUDE: 58.0m

  

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PROCESSING POWER:

 

Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00

 

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

   

Un dia cualquiera

These little bears are given to anyone buying a keyboard from a certain shop ... My daughter just bought a Roland keyboard (better than mine!) for her daughters, and I noticed a little bear on their new keyboard - so I took this photo to share with them - grandpa has a little brother bear to theirs. I hope they get a little smile from this.

  

This is in our tiny little flat here in town - my 6' Petrof grand would fill the lounge room here - and so it lives at our house, which is about 100 miles west of here. There's a cloth dog that lives on top of the piano there. He's my Watch Dog - a present from my uncle and his partner, who were always so ready to be a critical audience when I was preparing for more public events.

Happy 100th Birthday Flying Scotsman!

Flying Scotsman was built at Doncaster works as the first A1 Pacific built by the newly formed London & North Eastern Railway. Designed by Sir Nigel Gresley Flying Scotsman appeared with its original number of 1472 and released into traffic on February 24th 1923. 1472 was given the name Flying Scotsman after the LNER's 10AM Lodon Kings Cross- Edinburgh service and exhibited at the British empire Exhibition at Wembley in 1924. The loco was renumbered to 4472 during the same year. On May 1st 1928 4472 Flying Scotsman became the first locomotive to run non-stop from London Kings Cross to Edinburgh Waverley, a distance of 393 miles, at this time a world record for a non-stop run, the first of many records the loco set. November 30th 1934 saw Flying Scotsman achieve 100mph – the first steam locomotive in the world to officially hit the magic ton, the Great Western Railways 3440 City of Truro reportedly hit 102.3mph in 1904, but this has never been proven. The Fastest steam locomotive in the World is 4468 Mallard, which set a record of 126mph in July 1938. The current world speed record for rail is 375mph. In January 1946 4472 became 502 under a re-numbering programme, but when the railways were nationalised in 1948, the loco became 103, and then 60103 in December 1948. The loco was withdrawn from British Railways service on January 14th 1963, working its last service from London Kings Cross to Doncaster. Alan Pegler saved the loco from the scrap man, puchasing the loco for £3,000 from BR and from 1968 to 1971 Flying Scotsman was the only steam locomotive allowed to work on the main line in the UK. In 1968 the loco repeated its non-stop London – Edinburgh run for one last time before in 1969 to loco crossed the Atlantic and visited North America. After clocking up over 15,000 miles, the loco and owner found themselves in San Fransisco, the owner having to sell the loco to due to bankruptcy. Sadly Alan Pegler died in 2012. The new owner, Bill McAlpine quickly got the loco back to the UK before the bailiffs could get their hands on it and return it to the UK. In 1988, Flying Scotsman became the first loco to circumnavigate the globe when it visited Australia. 4472 set another world record when it was down under, by achieving the longest non-stop run ever by a steam loco, a distance of 422 miles. Sir Bill McAlpine sadly died in 2018. In 1996 The loco was sold to DR Tony Marchington for £1.5million who overhauled the loco again to mainline standards, running it until 2004 when the bailiffs were again on the door step. Dr Marchington died in 2011. The National Railway Museum puchased the engine for around £2.3million and after a restoration that has taken 10 years and £4.2million, the loco is now back in business and back on the mainline. Happy 100th Birthday.

Pic: mine of 60103 at the Eat Lancashire Railway in 2016.

Given Teves for FHM Philippines April 2011

 

photographed by paul ticzon

make up by jo ticzon for benefits style salon

hair by don donato of benefits style salon

shot at matsuri bar quezon city

special thanks to erwin tolentino and rage tianero

 

St Andrew, Honingham, Norfolk

 

Peter raises Dorcas from the dead (detail) by GW Taylor, 1877.

 

A new entry on the Norfolk Churches site which, after several years of neglect, is also coming back from the dead this year.

 

I had almost given up hope of seeing inside Honingham church, until my friend John told me he'd arranged for it to be open, and would I like to come along? In truth, I was wary about meeting a character I had encountered at the church some ten years previously; not so much for what had happened, but that I had written about it in some detail afterwards. I was a little apprehensive, therefore, to turn up and discover that the man opening the church was the same one I had met all those years before. But it didn't matter, because he didn't remember me, and probably had never read what I had written.

 

And I found I liked Honingham church rather more than I had expected to. There is a rich atmosphere of the last decade of the 19th Century and the first decade of the 20th, and the Victorian glass is really very good. It can't have much of a congregation, and I decided that it was essentially a churchwarden's hobby church, a fiefdom. He obviously did everything here, kept in in good order looking spick and span and shipshape, and locked it determinedly against anyone who wanted to see inside without attending a service. I imagined that even God would have to wipe his feet and mumble apologetically if he wanted to get inside. All well and good for now, but once the churchwarden has gone it will soon be lost to us.

 

In 2006, I had written: This big, locked, Perpendicular building, the nave and chancel rebuilt by the Victorians, is surrounded by a wide graveyard. On the north side there are sparsely scattered headstones, but to the south the church is set within a wide murderous curve of the A47. To describe this church as a landmark on the road is to assume that it would be safe to look up from the wheel to spot it; the stretch of the road between here and Hockering has claimed more deaths than any other since the A47 was taken outside the villages. I'm not suggesting that the church is responsible for this, of course, just that spotting it shouldn't be one of your priorities.

 

If a Martian came down and landed in the graveyard of St Andrew, Honingham, what on earth he would make of it? Would he think it was an art object? A barn, or storage facility? Or would he search for an industrial purpose? Perhaps the tall pinnacles on the tower might suggest to him that he was at the site of a scientific experiment. If the Martian had any brains, and I assume that he would have if he'd made it this far, he might perceive that the road is a lot newer than the church, and perhaps he would decide that the church was a relic of the past, its function now sidelined, perhaps forgotten altogether. Indeed, he might wonder if the road had been built deliberately to speed humans past this building and the tall stones set around it.

 

Perhaps this was a dangerous place. Or, maybe, it was simply an embarrassing reminder of past superstitions, a haunted site. An unlucky place, perhaps. The Martian might watch the traffic hurtling past, the drivers deliberately not looking, and think yes, that must be right. Whatever he decided, it would have to be based on a survey of the exterior, because St Andrew is always locked, unless the Sunday club is in session. He wouldn't even be able to look through the windows, because they are filled with frosted quarries.

 

Eventually, he might find the porch, and think it is some sort of antechamber (not an entrance, of course, for the doors beyond are locked) and for a moment ponder the holy water stoup, now filled with an old birds nest. What on earth would he make, I wonder, of the signboard on the wall that reads in part:

 

Friend, you have come to this church. Leave it not without a prayer.

No one entering a house ignores him who dwells in it.

This is the house of God, and He is here.

Pray, then, to him who loves you, and bids you welcome, and awaits your greeting.

 

A lovely sentiment, no doubt; but the Martian would still be left locked out of the house of God - if it is the house of God, of course, for if the locks and chains keep out the stranger and the pilgrim, how on earth can it be that God is in there to bid us welcome?

 

My friend Peter had been trying to see inside this church for years. We came this way most recently in early March, 2006. The day had started in bright sun, but as we headed here from Marlingford the east wind blew sheets of glacial cloud above us, which turned grey and, as we parked the car, turned to snow. Parking is difficult; there is a layby, but you need to approach from the west to park here. Otherwise, there is a drive which goes up to the east end of thechurch, but this was already occupied by a large BMW estate. We parked in the layby, and sat in the car for a moment, watching the fat flakes thicken.

 

What to do? We decided that we might just as well get out and go and take a look. Either, by some miracle, the church would be open and offer us shelter, or we could confirm our prejudices about the perpetual locking of St Andrew and be on our way.

 

The south side of the church has been cleared of headstones, and they have been placed in two perfectly straight lines, about 15 m apart. What would the Martian make of this? Some sort of sports arena, perhaps? Or a place to worship the sun at the solstice?

 

Our Martian couldn't possibly be expected to know about the great lawnmower enthusiasm of the 1960s and 1970s, when so many graveyards were cleared like this one. But the dead have their revenge, and this wide open space is now scattered with an acne of molehills.

 

We got into the porch and tried the inner door, which was locked of course; although it did feel as though one great shove with a shoulder would probably open it. And that was when the heavens opened. The snow was so thick in the air we could only just make out the suicidal cars thrashing up the main road to and from the Midlands. Peter is a careful driver, and he didn't much fancy heading on in a blizzard, and there didn't seem much point getting caked in snow just to go back and sit in the car, so we sheltered from the weather in the porch, and read the notices miserably.

 

I noticed that the presentation to the living had been suspended, which sounds drastic but simply means that the parish can't afford a Rector. The annual accounts were posted, and I noticed that the total income for the year was roughly the same as the weekly income of the church I attend in the middle of Ipswich, so this is a small parish. Eventually, I exhausted the possibilities of the noticeboard, and, feeling that I had probably squeezed the last ounce of pleasure out of the porch, I gazed out at the graveyard. This was when I noticed something rather curious. The back of the BMW estate was open, and beyond the second line of gravestones a smartly dressed man was standing in the snow bashing molehills with a spade.

 

At first I thought this must be an act of devotion on the part of a parishioner, or simply a Saturday morning habit. And then I wondered if it might be some kind of East Anglian country lore: if in the snow you clear his stack, mister mole will not be back. Perhaps this man had been waiting for it to snow for months.

 

We watched him for a while, the snow blanketing the sound of his spade into silence, rendering it surreal. But the wind was vicious, and so we stepped back into the porch, and worked out where we wanted to go next. It was while we were pondering over the map that we heard footsteps, and looking up saw that the smartly dressed man had approached us. He looked at us quizzically.

 

"Just here out of interest?" he asked.

 

"Well, we'd like to be", I replied, indicating the door. "But the church is locked."

 

This was such a heavy hint that, once dropped, it hit the floor with a loud clang. Surely, if this man had a key, he'd give it to us, or let us in. But he just smiled sadly and nodded in agreement, as if to say yes, the church was locked, and there was nothing he could do about it. Perhaps he'd been trying to see inside for years as well. Instead, the three of us exchanged a few polite comments about the weather, and he wandered off back to his moles.

 

And then ten years passed, and here I was again at Honingham church. No moles now, and so the churchwarden was at leisure to let us in through the chancel door. The first impression was of the jewel-like intensity of the chancel windows, several the work of George William Taylor soon after he had taken over the O'Connor workshop in Berner Street, London in 1877. Indeed, the windows are actually signed Taylor late O'Connor.

 

I always find Taylor's manga-eyed women a bit mawkish, but in these early days he was probably working with the O'Connor pattern book, and the combination of their cartoons and his romanticism is very pleasing, even if there is a bit of manga creeping in. But in the end, Taylor was unable to revive the O'Connor's fortunes. The mass-produced glass of the workshop was becoming unfashionable with the rise of the Arts & Crafts movement, and they weren't able to compete with the economies of scale of the really big workshops like Hardman & Co and Ward & Hughes. They produced their last glass in about 1900 and the company closed soon afterwards.

 

The main subjects here are all concerned with bringing the dead back to life: Peter raising Dorcas, Christ raising Jairus's daughter, and so on. Best of all is a triple window of Nativity, Crucifixion and Resurrection, probably produced by the O'Connors before George Taylor came along.

 

By contrast with the chancel, the nave is startlingly plain, perhaps a result of a considerable restoration in the early 20th Century. The memorials are all gathered at the east end and include one to Sir Eric Teichman. After a distinguished career in the diplomatic service, mainly in China, Teichman devoted his life to raising funds for Dr Barnardos Homes. He lived at Honingham Hall, and in the winter of 1944 he was shot dead in the grounds by two American servicemen who were poaching there.

 

The soldier who fired the fatal shot with an M1 Carbine, a Private George E Smith of Pittsburg, USA, was sentenced to death and hung at Shepton Mallet prison on VE Day, despite a call for clemency from Teichman's widow. Of course, the memorial gives you none of these details, but the incident was quite a cause celebré at the time, I believe.

 

So it was all very interesting, and despite the gloom of the nave I decided that I liked Honingham church. We went out to the car and set off for East Tuddenham.

 

But back in 2006 we were still sitting in the porch, of course. The snow gradually thinned, and at last it stopped. We stepped out, examining the sky for signs. An uneasy truce had set in. Just a thin dusting remained on the grass to show that it had ever snowed; the sun was edging to come out, the white rime on the green fading, but there were more sheets of greying clouds huddled off in the distance. It was time to go. We wanted to make a statement of some kind, and so we left the porch gates open, as if to suggest that the the doors were not barred, and that God was in His dwelling house waiting to bid a welcome.

 

But by the time we got back to the car and headed eastwards past the church, someone had already closed them.

This vase was given to us by Hadley’s first cousin who we have just gotten to know in the past few years. We love her, and were hoping to make up for all the lost years. Unfortunately, Covid hit, and now she is very ill. Anytime I use this vase, I feel closer to her. Sometimes, a small gift can create a lasting connection,

 

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Backstory: As a war for the masks of power ravages the land of Okoto, a being of legend, Irei the Valkyrie, has appeared. Irei has one purpose, slay Diaa, the corrupt Predecessor of Light, and any who stand in her way.

Cursed with immortality by the Mask of Life when she was just a child, Irei . But with immortality only comes pain. Irei has died a thousand deaths only to be resurrected and has lived thousands of years alone. Irei hunts those that seek the mask’s life giving power and eliminates them so that they too will not be cursed by the mask. Irei carries weapons gathered from the various cultures and ages which she has visited. Her sword, Randgrid is one of only a few weapons that can destroy the Mask of Life, and Irei carries it in hopes that one day she will be able to destroy the mask and end the cycle of immortality. She just needs to find the entrance to the dark realm in which the mask is sealed.

Abilities and Tools: Irei uses various tools to aid her in battle. She uses Reginleif Levitation Gear to fly freely and seemingly defy gravity in combat. She wields Eir and Randgrid, her shield and sword. Eir can absorb any blow without breaking, and Randgrid can fire powerful lasers from its tip. Irei wears a mask of translation, allowing her to speak to anyone in any age. Irei has mysterious powers granted to her by the Mask of Life. While the full extent of her powers are unknown even to her, some of her known powers are enhanced speed, agility, and strength. Despite her delicate appearance, she is strong enough to wield her two-handed sword, Randgrid, with one hand. She seems to be able charge energy over time and use that energy to activate abilities such as teleporting short distances, healing, or releasing explosive shockwaves. Her most significant trait is her immortality given to her by the mask of life. While she is not invincible and she can “die”, she will always resurrect and heal when given enough time.

 

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Forty six metres at 10:19am on Tuesday 12th May 2020 off Abbey Road B213 and New Road in the grounds of Lesnes Abbey Woods in the London Borough of Bexley, England. Lesnes Abbey woods joins to abbey wood and Abbey wood open space as well as Bostall Heath and woods.

  

After almost fifty days of self isolation due to the global pandemic that we know as COVID-19 Coronavirus, we are allowed to go for unlimited exercise now out whilst still observing social distancing measures, by keeping at least 2 metres away from others. A walk in the local woodlands after the rain came today to taste the fresh air and get my limbs moving again.

  

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Nikon D850 Hand held. Focal length 14mm Shutter speed: 1/60s Aperture f/11.0 iso800 Image area FX (36 x 24) NEF RAW L (8256 x 5504). NEF RAW L (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX). Focus mode AF-C focus. AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. AF-S Priority selection: Focus. 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points.AF-Area mode single point & 73 point switchable. Exposure mode: Aperture Priority mode. Matrix metering. Auto ISO sensitivity control on (Max iso 800/ Miniumum shutter speed 125). White blance on: Auto1. Colour space: RGB. Actve D-lighting: Normal. Vignette control: Normal. Nikon Distortion control: Enabled. Picture control: Auto (Sharpening A +1/Clarity A+1)

  

Nikkor AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8G IF ED. Lee filters SW150 holder. Lee filters SW150 Nikon 14-24mm adapter ring. Lee filters Circular Polariser Glass filter. Lee filters SW150 filters field pouch. Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.

     

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LATITUDE: N 51d 29m 16.04s

LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 4.16s

ALTITUDE: 46.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 93.9MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 60.30MB

    

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PROCESSING POWER:

 

Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00

 

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

   

No correspondence.

 

Given the presence of a mix of Fliegertruppen personnel and civilians, my guess is the aeroplane has crash landed in a farmer's field as opposed to the end of an off-limits to the public aerodrome. Whatever is the case, the crew were fortunate those bombs didn't explode.

 

Just visible on the upper wing of this pranged AEG G.IV bomber is at least one Eisernes Kreuz as well as the distinctive "Lozenge" camouflage.

 

Because of its relatively short range, the AEG G.IV served mainly as a tactical bomber, operating close to the front lines. The G.IV flew both day and night operations in France, Romania, Greece and Italy.

©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®

  

No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

 

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Six metres at 13:18pm on Saturday 13th May 2023 off Eastview Drive and Bevan Avenue on the Bevan Avenue fishing pier in Sidney on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada.

  

Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus Leucocephalus), derives it's name from the Greek for 'Sea eagle', and the 'bald' denotation actually derives from an older meaning of 'white headed'.Bald Eagles can be up to forty inches in length with a wingspan up to seven and a half feet and can weigh up to 6.3kgs. The females are generally 25% larger than the males.

  

Nikon D850 Single-lens reflex digital camera F Mount with FX CMOS 35.9mm x 23.9mm Image sensor 46.89 Million total pixels Focal length 150mm Shutter speed: 1/1600s (Mechanical shutter) Aperture f/6.3 iso125 Tamron Vibration Control set to position 1 Image area Full Frame FX (36 x 24) NEF RAW L 45.4Million pixels (8256 x 5504) 14 Bit uncompressed AF-C Priority Selection: Release Nikon Back button focusing enabled 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points Exposure mode: Manual mode Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance on: Auto1, A1.00, M0.25 (5110k) Colour space: Adobe RGB Picture control: (A) Auto (Sharpening +1.00/Clarity +1.00)

  

Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup. Black Rapid Curve Breathe strap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon EN-EL15a battery.

   

LATITUDE: N 48d 38m 51.60s

LONGITUDE: W 123d 23m 35.90s

ALTITUDE: 6.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 91.0MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 32.40MB

      

PROCESSING POWER:

  

Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.21 (8/12/2022) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (16/01/20) LF 1.00 Nikon Codec Full version 1.31.2 (09/11/2021)

  

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with Windows 10 Home edition AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. My Passport USB 3.0 2TB portable desktop hard drive. Nikon NX STUDIO 64bit Version 1.2.2 (08/12/2022). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.16.0 (08/12/2022). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

  

Junya Ishigami 石上純也 , How small? How vast? How architecture grows [Hamlet], 2010 [2023], Porcelain, ⌀ 40,5 cm, Shiseido Gallery, Tokyo (2013, Arc en rêve centre d’architecture, Bordeaux) [Design Hampe, Räder GmbH, Bochum]

 

Plot and houses. Here a design of plot and houses are considered in tandem. Generally when building, the plot is a given condition, however designing the plot itself allow us to explore a new relationship between housing and exterior space surrounding it. By viewing the residence as a total package including the enviroment, we think of architecture in slightly broader terms.

 

sites.google.com/view/fabioomero/testi/le-foto-di-artists

Given up !

Amazonehaven Europoort 9-3-2020 gezien vanaf DE NIEUWE PRINS van de RET

Scroll down!

 

Montblanc Zemiramis Patron of Arts 1996 fountain pen.

 

Every detail of the Patron of Art Edition Semiramis is given the same care that the great master craftsmen of ancient Babylon were famous for. The barrel of Edition 4810, made of black precious resin, is surrounded by delicate gold-plated fretwork.

 

On Edition 888 this fretwork is made of 750 solid gold, emphasised by exquisite inlays of red enamel lacquer. An inlay of the heraldic animal of Ishtar decorates the elegant, elaborately embellished clip, which in Edition 888 is finished off by an approximately 0.2-carat diamond. With its delicate engraving, the 18K gold nib recalls the great era of Semiramis.

 

The politically astute Queen Semiramis is responsible for uniting the two countries of Babylon and Assyria to create one of the most fascinating empires of the ancient world.

 

Semiramis, as a lover of fine arts and patron of Nabu, the tutelary deity of the scribes, ordered the building of several palaces and monuments. It was under her rule that the gigantic Gate of Ishtar and the legendary second Wonder of the World – the Hanging Gardens of Babylon – were created.

 

Joan Chalmers - Canada obituary.

 

www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/joan-chalmers-turned-philant...

 

Peter Caldwell has a favourite story about Joan Chalmers. Back in the 1980s, when he was running the now-defunct Arts Foundation of Greater Toronto, he drew up a list of the foundation's board members and their occupations. After describing this vice-president of such-and-such a bank, and that partner in so-and-so's law firm, he came to the name "Joan Chalmers" and didn't know what to write. The wealthy lady didn't have an official job, let alone a job title, so finally he settled for "arts patron."

 

When she read that label next to her name, Ms. Chalmers – whom the painter Charles Pachter once called a cross between Vanessa Redgrave and Annie Oakley – rounded on Mr. Caldwell and let him have it with both barrels. "What?" she barked. "Arts patron?" A young Mr. Caldwell, shocked, asked how he'd offended her. "I'm not an arts patron," she told him bluntly, "I'm an arts activist!"

 

Ms. Chalmers, who died Dec. 2 in Toronto at the age of 88 from injuries suffered in a fall, was much celebrated for her philanthropy, channelling millions of dollars toward Canada's artists and arts institutions; but she did far more than just dash off cheques with multiple zeroes. "She had very strong ideas about what she wanted to support," said Mr. Caldwell, now director and CEO of the Ontario Arts Council, "and she put her money where her mouth was."

 

Often it was "first money." Ms. Chalmers, like her legendary father, Floyd S. Chalmers, loved to take a risk on new arts projects, making the initial contribution and urging public and private funders to follow suit. She saw it as her duty to help build Canadian arts and culture and she approached her self-imposed role with a missionary's zeal.

 

The late Urjo Kareda, long-time artistic director of Toronto's Tarragon Theatre, wrote of once seeing Ms. Chalmers dive into a gathering of dignitaries, politicians and bureaucrats, right hand extended, and work the room tirelessly, like a great ambassador. As she had explained to Mr. Kareda, "there's a lot of work to be done here for the arts."

 

It wasn't just the arts, either, that benefited from her activism. In the 1990s, she and her partner, Barbra Kate Amesbury, staged a touring exhibition dedicated to battling breast cancer. That mix of art and fundraising stirred up some controversy, as did a much-publicized decision in 1996 to withdraw financial support from the Ontario Arts Council over a perceived excess of bureaucracy. The rift with the OAC was soon healed, but it served as a reminder that Ms. Chalmers's enormous generosity came with a clear purpose: it was meant to help artists, not shore up administrators.

 

Yet Ms. Chalmers was almost always, to use a Shakespearean phrase, "in the giving vein." The trait was in her blood. She was the child of serial philanthropists who lavished their time and energy on the arts even before they came into serious money.

 

Floyd Chalmers, a go-getting newspaper editor who rose to become president of the Maclean Hunter magazine empire, and his wife Jean (née Boxall), were tireless supporters of their country's burgeoning arts scene from the 1930s onwards, helping to establish the Canadian Opera Company, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Stratford Festival, to list only a few now-august institutions.

 

Margaret Joan Chalmers, their second child and only daughter, was born May 30, 1928 in Toronto. From girlhood on she shared her mother's love of fine craftsmanship and later fondly remembered that her first job, at age 14, was helping at the downtown shop run by Ontario's craft guild. She studied interior architecture and design at what was then the Ontario College of Art, graduating in 1948. Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, she worked as an art director for magazines, notably Canadian Homes and Gardens, Chatelaine and other titles published by Maclean-Hunter – although there was no nepotism involved; her father was initially unaware that she'd been hired.

 

In 1964, however, the family's status abruptly changed from well-off to rich. That year, Maclean-Hunter went public and Mr. Chalmers, who had sold half of his 22-per-cent share in the company's stock, received $1.7-million (about $13-million in today's dollars). That's when the serious giving began.

 

Money was funnelled into the family's recently established Chalmers Foundation and dispersed widely to arts groups in Toronto and across the country. Ms. Chalmers left the magazine business and devoted herself to such new causes as the founding of Toronto's Young People's Theatre and – her special passion – advocating for the crafts community. She not only oversaw the creation in 1976 of the Ontario Crafts Council, she also bought a building for its headquarters.

 

"She really took a leadership role in the craft sector," said Emma Quin, the current CEO of the council, now called Craft Ontario. "She wanted to bring more professionalism to it and help members develop their business skills."

 

In 1973 the Chalmers family handed over the administration of its foundation funds to the Ontario Arts Council. The wide-ranging Chalmers Awards for Creativity and Excellence in the Arts, launched the year previously, became one of their most prominent contributions to the national arts scene. They included the annual $25,000 Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award, which bolstered the careers of many significant playwrights, from David French to Djanet Sears.

 

The prolific George F. Walker won a record number of eight awards before they were discontinued in 2001. Ms. Chalmers was "a gracious strong woman with a real twinkle in her eye," Mr. Walker recalled. "She asked me once how many of my children had their educations paid for by the foundation. I told her all of them."

 

Ms. Chalmers took great pleasure in such news. As she stated in Iris Nowell's 1996 book about Canadian female philanthropists, Women Who Give Away Millions, one of her goals was "helping make lives better for creative people in this country."

 

Early on, Ms. Chalmers preferred to keep her arts activism behind the scenes. That began to change when she met Ms. Amesbury in the 1980s. Ms. Amesbury was formerly Bill Amesbury, a saucy singer-songwriter who had enjoyed some minor hits on the Canadian pop charts in the 1970s. After re-emerging as Barbra Amesbury following sex-reassignment surgery, she met Ms. Chalmers at a Christmas party in the mid-1980s. "I may have been a bad influence on her," Ms. Amesbury said with a laugh. She came to play the hellion to Ms. Chalmers's "patron saint."

 

As a duo, their most publicized project was Survivors, In Search of a Voice: The Art of Courage, in which they commissioned 24 Canadian female artists to create works based on the stories of some 100 breast-cancer survivors. The resulting show opened at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto in 1995, drawing huge crowds but also some criticism for what was deemed to be "victim art" and tensions when Ms. Chalmers and Ms. Amesbury had a falling-out with the museum's management over costs.

 

The pair ended up taking the travelling installation out of galleries and sending it to large shopping malls throughout Canada and the U.S. Used as a vehicle to raise funds for breast cancer awareness and research, it became, in Ms. Amesbury's words, "the AIDS quilt for the cancer movement."

 

Ms. Amesbury also encouraged Ms. Chalmers to commission art for her own pleasure – and, of course, to encourage others to do the same. In 1990, the couple bought a home on Chestnut Park in Toronto's affluent Rosedale neighbourhood and spent close to $2-million completely renovating it with custom-made fixtures and furnishings by Canadian artists and craftspeople. Among its striking features were a pair of 14-foot-high, curved bronze doors created by one of Ms. Chalmers's favourite craftsmen, Gord Peteran.

 

"I got called over to Chestnut Park and Joan was marching around in her nightgown," Mr. Peteran remembered with amusement. "She showed me two giant holes in the walls and said, 'Fill those! Do something wonderful!'"

 

The home became a showplace and a centre for arts fundraisers. Ms. Chalmers lent it to such favourite causes as the ballet, the opera and the Glenn Gould Foundation. "Maureen Forrester did a concert in the living room," Ms. Amesbury said.

 

Ms. Chalmers sold the place in 1994, but there were other impressive homes, and not just in Toronto. They ranged from a farm in Mono Mills, Ont., to a house next door to Hollywood legend Claudette Colbert in Speightstown, Barbados. Ms. Colbert was a standoffish neighbour until Ms. Chalmers, an expert gardener, resurrected the movie star's dying bougainvillea vine. "Claudette fell in love with Joan after that," Ms. Amesbury said. "She could do no wrong." Ms. Chalmers and Ms. Colbert remained fast friends until the latter's death in 1996.

 

The year prior, Ms. Chalmers herself suffered a stroke, which marked the start of serious health problems. She eventually moved into a luxurious retirement residence, Hazelton Place, in 2006. She held court there surrounded by art and her many honours, which included companion of the Order of Canada, member of the Order of Ontario and the international Montblanc de la Culture Arts Patronage Award. As she grew frail, Mr. Peteran fashioned her another piece of practical art – a handmade cane.

 

Ms. Chalmers was predeceased by her parents, her brother, engineer and philanthropist Wallace Chalmers, and her sister-in-law, Clarice Chalmers. She is survived by her partner, Ms. Amesbury. There will be a private burial in Toronto's Mount Pleasant Cemetery, where the family rests, and Ms. Amesbury is planning to hold a wake in the spring, in the same celebratory spirit as the old Chalmers Awards.

 

It was during a luncheon for those awards, on her 70th birthday in May, 1998, that Ms. Chalmers performed one of her most memorable acts of generosity. After handing out the previously announced prizes, she suddenly began dispensing large cheques to 21 arts organizations in a dizzying display of spontaneous philanthropy. In 17 minutes, she gave away $1-million. The unwary recipients were gobsmacked and profoundly grateful for this reverse birthday gift. As they thanked her, Ms. Chalmers smiled through her tears.

 

"There was great joy in it," said Ms. Amesbury, summing up both that day's surprise give-away and Ms. Chalmers's lifelong habit of giving. "I think for Joan, that was how she felt loved."

 

Annie Fratellini - Germany:

 

Annie Fratellini (14 November 1932 – 1 July 1997) was a French circus artist, singer, film actress and clown.

 

She was born Annie Violette Fratellini on 14 November 1932, in Algiers, French Algeria, where her parents, who were circus performers, were touring. She was the fourth generation of one of Europe's most illustrious clown dynasties, the Fratellini Family, a French circus family of Italian descent. Her father was Victor Fratellini, a clown and acrobat; her mother, Suzanne (née Rousseau), was the daughter of Gaston Rousseau, the director of the Cirque de Paris, a huge circus building located Avenue de la Motte-Picquet in Paris that was active from 1906 to 1930. Her grandfather was Paul Fratellini, one of the Fratellini brothers, the legendary clown trio that was the Toast of Paris (and Europe) between the two world wars.

 

Although she made her debut in the ring at age 13 at the famous Cirque Medrano in Paris, she eventually ran away from the circus when she was 18 years old, and begun a music-hall and recording career as a musician and singer. She also became a movie actress, appearing notably in 1965 in La Métamorphose des cloportes a film directed by Pierre Granier-Deferre (1927–2007), whom she had married in 1954. They had one daughter, Valérie.

 

In 1969, she starred in Pierre Étaix's Le grand amour. They fell in love and married that same year. Pierre Étaix (1928–2016), who had been a comedian and Jacques Tati's assistant before becoming a filmmaker himself, had a passion for the circus and clowns. Annie Fratellini had an inherited talent for comedy, and Pierre Étaix convinced her to take it seriously. Together, they created a classic European clown duo in which Étaix was the Clown to Fratllini's Auguste (the comic character of the duet). They made their debut on tour with the French Cirque Pinder.

 

In 1975, Étaix and Fratellini opened the École Nationale du Cirque, one of Paris's (and Europe's) first two professional circus schools, and created the Nouveau Cirque de Paris, an intimate, high-end traveling circus that was the performing arm of the school, and in which they regularly performed their act. Pierre Étaix and Annie Fratellini divorced in 1987, and Annie continued to run the school and the circus, performing her clown act with her daughter, Valérie. The school has become the Académie Fratellini, one of France's two major state-sponsored circus schools.

 

Annie Fratellini died from cancer on 1 July 1997, at Neuilly-sur-Seine and is buried at the Cimetière de Montmartre in Paris, France, near the other members of her illustrious family.

 

Joseph Hotung - Hong Kong

 

www.flickr.com/photos/77903093@N00/26041364181/in/photoli...

 

Sir Joseph Hotung is a successful businessman, a knowledgeable collector of Chinese art and a generous philanthropist. Born in China, schooled in Shanghai and Tianjin, he completed his higher education in the USA. He later received an LLB from the University of London external programme. Having initially taken up employment in Marine Midland Bank, New York, he started his own business in Hong Kong. He subsequently served on the boards of HSBC and HSBC Holdings as a non-executive director.

 

Throughout his career Sir Joseph Hotung has actively participated in public and community affairs in Hong Kong and in London. Among his many and varied positions he has acted as Council Member at the University of Hong Kong and served as Chairman of the Arts Development Council, Hong Kong and as a member of the SOAS Governing Body.

 

Sir Joseph is an acclaimed and knowledgeable collector of Chinese art, especially Chinese jades, porcelain, bronzes and Chinese Ming furniture. He has served on a number of boards and committees of several major international museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York where he is now Trustee Emeritus and a life fellow; the Freer Gallery in Washington D.C. where he is an Honorary Member of the Visiting Committee, and at the British Museum as a Trustee from 1994-2004 and where he has made possible the construction of new galleries, including the Joseph E. Hotung Gallery of Oriental Antiquities.

 

Through his interests, knowledge and generous support, Sir Joseph is an outstanding friend and ambassador for SOAS. His major research initiatives at the School include a project on human rights in China, and the Sir Joseph Hotung Programme in Law, Human Rights and Peace Building in the Middle East in 2003, which continues to this day. For his contribution and participation in many educational and governmental organisations and his numerous charitable activities, Sir Joseph was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1993. He was awarded an Hon. DLitt at the University of Hong Kong in 1997 and an Hon. DSc (Economics) at the University of London in 2003.

 

Giulia Maria Mozzoni Crespi - Italy

 

She has always been actively involved in preserving our Cultural and Environmental Heritage.

 

After her publishing activity (she was co-owner of the Corriere della Sera) in 1975, together with Renato Bazzoni, Alberto Predieri and Franco Russoli, she founded FAI (the Italian Environmental Organization) based on the English National Trust model. She became its President, closely supervising the institutional enterprises and the concrete work that FAI performs to save from abandonment and deterioration precious Italian testimonies of artistic, historic and naturalistic interest entrusted to FAI by donations and bequests.

 

Since 1965, Giulia Maria Mozzoni Crespi has also carried out a great deal of work as a national board member of Italia Nostra and in the Milan Section, where she ran the Environmental Education sector for 15 years, organizing training courses for teachers and students.

 

For 25 years, assisted by her son, she has been at the helm of an agricultural enterprise in the Padana plains that practices the Biodynamic Agricultural method, in which the use of pesticides, weed killers and artificial chemical fertilizers is abolished.

She works with the Biodynamic Agricultural Association to organize conventions and also coordinates courses in her farm that cover different topics such as health, diet (including alternative cures for cancer), agriculture, gardening, horticulture, biodynamic fruit-growing, the philosophy of life, artistic activities, etc …

 

Together with the other conservationist associations, she campaigns for the preservation and protection of the Italian artistic, historical and landscape heritage and intervenes on subjects of national interest regarding these matters.

 

So Kuramoto - Japan

 

Kuramoto Sou

From DramaWiki

 

Kuramoto Sou4 Recognitions:

 

Profile:

Name: 倉本聰 (くらもと そう)

Name (romaji): Kuramoto Sou

Real Name: 山谷馨 / Yamaya Kaoru

Profession: Screenwriter

Birthdate: 1935-Jan-01

Birthplace: Tokyo, Japan

Star sign: Capricorn

TV Shows:

Yasuragi no Sato (TV Asahi, 2017)

Oyaji no Senaka (TBS, 2014, ep3)

Kikoku (TBS, 2010)

Kaze no Garden (Fuji TV, 2008)

Haikei, Chichiue-sama (Fuji TV, 2007)

Yasashii Jikan (2005)

Kawa, Itsuka Umi e (2003)

Kita no Kunikara (1982-3) (drama series, 8 specials up to 2002)

Aniki (TBS, 1977)

Zenryaku, Ofukuro-sama 2 (1976)

Zenryaku, Ofukuro-sama (1975)

Movies[edit]

Umi e -See You- (1988)

Recognitions:

2nd Tokyo Drama Awards: Best Screenplay for Kaze no Garden

External Links:

Japanese Wikipedia

 

Paloma O’Shea - Spain

 

Paloma O'Shea y Artiñano

DOB: February 19, 1936 (age 84). Guecho, Biscay, Spain

Nationality: Spanish

Occupation: President of the Albéniz Foundation

Spouse(s): Emilio Botín

Children: 6, including Ana Patricia

Parent(s): José O'Shea Sebastián

María Asunción Artiñano Luzárraga[1]

Paloma O'Shea Artiñano,

 

1st Marchioness of O'Shea,[2] (born 1936), is a pianist, patron of the arts,[3] founder and current president of the Reina Sofía School of Music and founder and president of the Albéniz Foundation, which organizes the Paloma O'Shea Santander International Piano Competition in Santander (Spain).

 

Paloma O'Shea was born in Bilbao suburb Las Arenas, Biscay, Spain, a daughter of José O'Shea y Sebastián de Erice(descended from Irishman William O'Shea who came to Spain in the 18th century) and Basque María de la Asunción de Artiñano y Luzarraga, married at Concepción, Madrid, on 2 May 1935.[4]She started studying piano in 1941 in Bilbao and later moved to France to further her music studies.[2] At age 15 she won the Primer Premio Fin de Carrera and performed as soloist with the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra.[5] Several years later she married Emilio Botín, the previous Executive Chairman of Grupo Santander and devoted herself to promoting classical music in Spain.[5]

 

In 1972 she founded the Concurso de Piano de Santander, which was later named after her and in 1991 founded the Reina Sofía School of Music,[2] a private music school, now one of the leading music schools in Spain.

 

She was given the title of Marchioness of O'Shea by the King of Spain in 2008,[2]the Légion d'honneur of France,[3] the gold medal of the Spanish Institute in New York and the Picasso Award of the UNESCO.[3] She has 6 children and divides her time between Madrid and Santander.

 

Contents:

 

Professional career:

 

Her professional activity has always been linked to the music world, its beginning having taken place in 1972 with the inception of the Paloma O'Shea Santander International Piano Competition. She has never stopped developing her initiatives ever since, through world-scale activities aimed at the modernization of the musical life in Spain:

 

1972: Paloma O'Shea Santander International Piano Competition

1987: Albéniz Foundation

1989: Isaac Albéniz Library and Research Centre

1991: Reina Sofía School of Music

1998: Yehudi Menuhin Prize to the Integration of the Arts and the Education.

2000: MagisterMusicae.com, which provides online music education.

2001: Encounter of Santander "Music and Academia".

2005: International Chamber Music Institute of Madrid.

2010: Classicalplanet.com.

 

Albéniz Foundation:

 

The Albéniz Foundation is the cultural institution that has been encouraging, managing and coordinating these programs for more than twenty years and the instrument that has allowed Paloma O'Shea to reunite private and public efforts altogether in a common project of community service. The impact and importance of these activities has been recognized many times by Spanish and international institutions. This recognition took place for the first time with the Ribbon of the Order of Queen Isabella I of Castile. In 1988, she received the Medal of Honor of the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts and in 1994 the Picasso Medal of the UNESCO to her contribution to the cultural understanding between countries and to her dedication to the promotion of young artists. She has also received the Heraldic Order of Christopher Columbus, of the Dominican Republic, the Golden Medal of the Spanish Institute of New York and in 1996 the Montblanc Prize of Culture. In 1998, because of an agreement of the Counsel of Ministers, Paloma O'Shea received from the hands of Their Majesty the Kings of Spain the Golden Medal to the Merit in Fine Arts. She has also been nominated by the Regional Government of Cantabria "Adoptive Daughter", in 2004 she was nominated Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur by the French government and in 2005 she was bestowed the Culture Prize of the Community of Madrid. A year later she was awarded with the Honor Medal of the Manuel de Falla Archive, "Adoptive Daughter" of Santander and Honorary Fellow title of the Royal Academy of Music in London. In 2009, the Madrid city council bestowed her its Golden Medal.

 

Paloma O'Shea Santander International Piano Competition:

 

Paloma O'Shea's "Foundations", in the words of Enrique Franco, had started in 1972 with the Santander Piano Competition, that very soon recollected international fame and relevance, as it is demonstrated by its entering in 1976 in the International Competitions Federation, based in Geneva. Today, after almost forty years of existence, this prize is a coveted one, to which opt the most talented young pianists. It was precisely the development of the Competition what woke in Paloma O'Shea the idea of an improvement of the musical training in Spain. Spanish pianists had problems to get to the final phases of the Competition and the reason was not their talent, but the few opportunities they had to reach a higher level of education. That was the inception of the piano masterclasses offered in Santander by important soloists and pedagogues, in partnership with Menéndez Pelayo International University. This isolated series of lessons gave place to a regular and broader call for Summer Courses, celebrated each year in Santander and including instruments other than piano.

 

Santander Encounter "Music and Academia":

 

This teaching progression in Santander had its climax in July 2001 with the foundation of the Santander Encounter "Music and Academy". Each month of July the Encounter encourages the coexistence of important maestri and young musicians coming from the best European Schools. It also mixes classrooms and stages, filling Santander and Cantabria with music with 60 public concerts and more than 500 hours of masterclasses.

 

Reina Sofía School of Music:

 

Paloma O'Shea, Queen Sofía and the mayor of Madrid, Manuela Carmenaattend a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the School.

After the experience gained at the Competition, it was a necessity to create a permanent center in Spain with the highest international level. To make this ideal a reality, Paloma O'Shea managed to get the support of important artistic personalities including Alicia de Larrocha, Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel, Yehudi Menuhin and Mstislav Rostropovich. HM the Queen Sofía, knowing the necessities and lacks of the Spanish musical education, didn't hesitate in giving her full support to such a project. Today, the Reina Sofía School of Music counts on the most wanted Professors of each instrument and therefore with the most talented international students. After twenty years of temporary location in Pozuelo de Alarcón, the School was transferred in autumn 2009 to its new location, designed by the architect Miguel Oriol and built by Albéniz Foundation. It is an emblematic building, located in the Plaza de Oriente in Madrid, next to the Royal Palace and Royal Theater. Its interior offers all the facilities that requires a centre of musical excellence, including the most advanced technological systems and a superb Auditorium with 450 seats that has already become a cultural heart in downtown Madrid.

 

The Reina Sofía Music School has always aimed at starting educational projects within an international focus, in order to favour mutual enrichment and an exchange of music traditions. In these ambitious initiatives such as the Encounter, virtual music school Magister Musicae, Harmos Project or Yehudi Menuhin Prize, the School has always worked side by side with the most prestigious centres in Europe.

 

Sir Ernest Hall - UK

 

Ernest Hall (businessman)

Language: English

Sir Ernest Hall OBE (born 19 March 1930) is an English businessman, known for his restoration of Dean Clough Mills, Halifax; pianist, and composer.

 

Sir Ernest Hall

Born: 19 March 1930 (age 89)[1]

Bolton, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, England

Nationality: English

Occupation: Entrepreneur and musician

Known for: Restoration of Dean Clough Mills

Children: 5

Contents: Early life and education:

 

Hall was born in Bolton, Greater Manchester[2] in 1930.[3] He was educated at Bolton College Grammar School and the Royal College of Music.[1]

 

Career:

 

Hall made his first fortune in textiles. He then sold real estate through the Mountleigh Group. In 1983, Hall sold his company for £40 million and then invested £20 million in the Dean Clough former carpet factory site.[4] In 1983, he led a consortium which purchased a disused carpet mill complex, Dean Clough Mills, and converted it into an arts, business, design and education complex.[5][6] While in his 70s, he recorded the complete piano works of Frédéric Chopin.[2]

 

He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1986 Birthday Honours and knighted in the 1993 Birthday Honours.[1]

 

Show business:

 

He appeared as a "castaway" on the BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs on 26 April 1998,[7] and on the Radio 3 programme Private Passions on 18 September 2005.[2]

 

Residence:

 

Hall has homes in Lanzarote and in France.[8]

 

Autobiography:

 

His autobiography, How to Be A Failure and Succeed, was published in 2008.[9]

 

Personal life:

 

In 1951, Hall married firstly June Annable (died 1994), and had two sons and two daughters. He married secondly in 1975 Sarah Wellby, with whom he has a third son.[1]

 

In 2009, he revealed that he was in a romantic relationship with his long-time friend, the cookery writer Prue Leith.[10]

 

Bibliography:

 

—— (2008). How to Be A Failure and Succeed. Book Guild Publishing. ISBN 978-1846241635.

 

Tony Randall - USA

 

www.flickr.com/photos/27353948@N05/2554032384/in/photolis...

 

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Randall

 

Anthony Leonard Randall[1] (born Aryeh Leonard Rosenberg; February 26, 1920 – May 17, 2004) was an American actor, comedian and singer. He is best known for his role as Felix Unger in a television adaptation of the 1965 play The Odd Couple by Neil Simon.[2][3]In a career spanning about six decades, Randall received six Golden Globe Awardnominations and six Primetime Emmy Award nominations (winning one).

 

Tony Randall

1976 Tony Randall.jpg

Randall in 1976

Born: Aryeh Leonard Rosenberg

February 26, 1920

Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S.

Died: May 17, 2004(aged 84)

New York City, New York, U.S.

Burial place: Westchester Hills Cemetery, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, U.S.

Education: Northwestern University

Occupation: Actor, comedian and singer

Years active: 1940s–2003

Spouse(s)

Florence Gibbs

(m. 1938; her death 1992)

Heather Harlan

(m. 1995; his death 2004)

Children: 2

Contents

Biography:

Early years:

Randall was born to a Jewish family, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of Julia (née Finston) and Mogscha Rosenberg, an art and antiques dealer.[4]

 

He attended Tulsa Central High School.[5]

 

Randall attended Northwestern Universityfor a year before going to New York Cityto study at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre. He studied under Sanford Meisner and choreographer Martha Graham. Randall worked as an announcer at radio station WTAG in Worcester, Massachusetts.[6] As Anthony Randall, he starred with Jane Cowl in George Bernard Shaw's Candidaand Ethel Barrymore in Emlyn Williams's The Corn Is Green.

 

Randall then served for four years with the United States Army Signal Corps in World War II, including work at the Signal Intelligence Service.[7]:207 After the war, he worked at the Olney Theatre in Montgomery County, Maryland before heading back to New York City.

 

In the 1940s, one of his first jobs was playing "Reggie" on the long-running radio series I Love a Mystery.

 

Broadway:

 

In 1946, Randall was cast as one of the brothers in a touring production of Katharine Cornell's revival of The Barretts of Wimpole Street.[8]

 

Randall then appeared on Broadway in Cornell's production of Antony and Cleopatra(1947–48) alongside Cornell and a young Charlton Heston and Maureen Stapleton.

 

He was in Caesar and Cleopatra (1949–50) with Cedric Hardwicke and Lilli Palmer.

 

Randall also began appearing on television, notably episodes of One Man's Family.

 

Mr Peepers:

 

Tony Randall's first major television role was as a history teacher, Harvey Weskit, in Mister Peepers (1952–1955). He continued to guest star on other shows such as The Gulf Playhouse (directed by Arthur Penn), The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse, Kraft Theatre, The Motorola Television Hour, Armstrong Circle Theatre, Studio One in Hollywood, Appointment with Adventure, and The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse.

 

Randall replaced Gig Young in the Broadway hit Oh, Men! Oh, Women! (1954).

 

Inherit the Wind:

 

Randall's first major role in a Broadway hit was in Inherit the Wind (1955–57) portraying Newspaperman E. K. Hornbeck (based on real life cynic H. L. Mencken), alongside Ed Begley and Paul Muni.

 

On television he was in Heaven Will Protect the Working Girl (1956) co-written by Neil Simon. He guest starred on The Alcoa Hour.

 

Film Star:

 

Randall's success in Inherit the Wind led to film offers and his first significant big-screen role in Oh, Men! Oh, Women! (1957). It was made at 20th Century Fox who promoted Randall to stardom with Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957) alongside Jayne Mansfield. He had one of the leads in No Down Payment (1957).

 

In 1958, Randall played the leading role in the Broadway musical comedy Oh, Captain!, taking on a role originated on film by Alec Guinness. Oh, Captain! was a financial failure, but Randall received a Tony Award nomination for his dance turn with prima ballerina Alexandra Danilova.

 

Randall was in Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse, Goodyear Theatre, The United States Steel Hour, Sunday Showcase and Playhouse 90.

 

Doris Day and Rock Hudson:

 

Randall co-starred with Debbie Reynolds in The Mating Game (1959) at MGM. He was in a huge hit with Pillow Talk (1959) supporting Doris Day and Rock Hudson; he would reunite with Day and Hudson for two more films.

 

He then starred in an NBC-TV special The Secret of Freedom, which was filmed during the summer of 1959 in Mount Holly, New Jersey, and broadcast on the network during the fall of 1959 and again in early 1960. On TV he was also in The Man in the Moon (1960) co-written by Mel Brooks.

 

Randall was top billed in MGM's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1960), then had a Pillow Talk style support role in Let's Make Love (1960) with Marilyn Monroe and Yves Montand and Lover Come Back (1961) with Hudson and Day.

 

Randall continued to guest on TV shows including General Electric Theater and Checkmate. In 1961 Randall played a highly dramatic role in "Hangover," an episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour in which he portrayed an alcoholic business executive who strangles his wife in a drunken rage.[9]

 

He starred in a TV adaptation of Arsenic & Old Lace (1962), and had big screen leading roles in Boys' Night Out (1962), and Island of Love (1963).

 

Randall starred as nearly all of the leading characters in the 1964 classic film 7 Faces of Dr. Lao, which was based on The Circus of Dr. Lao by Charles G. Finney. In addition to portraying and voicing the eponymous 7 Faces (Dr. Lao, the Abominable Snowman, Merlin, Appolonius of Tyana, The Giant Serpent, Pan, and Medusa), Randall also appeared without makeup in a two-second cameo, as a solemn spectator in the crowd, for a total of 8 roles in the film. The film received an Oscar for William J. Tuttle's makeup artistry.

 

He had the lead in The Brass Bottle (1964) and made one last film with Hudson and Day, Send Me No Flowers (1965).

 

Randall had the lead in Fluffy (1965), a comedy about a lion; The Alphabet Murders (1965), playing Hercule Poirot for Frank Tashlin; Our Man in Marrakesh (1966), as a secret agent; and Hello Down There (1969).

 

Randall returned to Broadway in UTBU (1966) which only had a short run. He was in the TV movie The Littlest Angel (1969).

 

The Odd Couple:

 

Randall with Jack Klugman in a publicity photo of The Odd Couple, 1972

Randall returned to television in 1970 as Felix Unger in The Odd Couple, opposite Jack Klugman, a role lasting for five years. The names of Felix's children on The Odd Couple were Edna and Leonard, named for Randall's sister and Randall himself.

 

In 1974, Randall and Jack Klugman appeared in television spots endorsing a Yahtzee spinoff, Challenge Yahtzee. They appeared in character as Felix and Oscar, and the TV spots were filmed on the same set as The Odd Couple.

 

During the series run he had a small role in Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972).

 

In 1973, he was originally hired to play the voice of Templeton the gluttonous rat in Charlotte's Web, but was replaced at the last minute by Paul Lynde, due to his voice sounding too sophisticated and the director wanting Templeton to have a nasal voice.

 

The Tony Randall Show:

 

From 1976–78, he starred in The Tony Randall Show, playing a Philadelphia judge. He had small roles in Kate Bliss and the Ticker Tape Kid (1978), Scavenger Hunt (1979), and Foolin' Around (1980).

 

Love, Sidney:

 

Randall starred in Love, Sidney from 1981 to 1983. In the TV movie that served as the latter show's pilot, Sidney Shorr was written as a gay man, but his character's sexuality was made ambiguous when the series premiered. Randall refused to star in any more television shows, favoring the Broadway stage as his medium.

 

He did star in the TV movies Sunday Drive (1986) for Disney, Save the Dog! (1988), and The Man in the Brown Suit (1989). From October 30 to November 2, 1987, Randall hosted the free preview of HBO's short-lived premium channel Festival.[10]

 

In 1989 he returned to Broadway as a replacement in M. Butterfly.

 

National Actors Theatre:

 

In 1991, Randall founded the National Actors Theatre (ultimately housed at Pace Universityin New York City. Their productions included The Crucible (1991), A Little Hotel on the Side(1992), The Master Builder (1992), The Seagull (1992), Saint Joan (1993), Three Men on a Horse (1993), Timon of Athens (1993), The Government Inspector (1993), The Flowering Peach (1994), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1994), The School for Scandal (1995), Inherit the Wind (1996), and The Gin Game (1997). He also did a production of The Sunshine Boys(1997) with Klugman which was a big success.

 

In September 1993, Randall and Jack Klugman reunited in the CBS-TV movie The Odd Couple: Together Again reprising their roles. The story began when, after Felix ruined plans for his daughter Edna's wedding, his wife Gloria threw him out of the house for 11 days, which left him no choice but to move back in with Oscar and to help him recover, getting him back in shape after throat cancer surgery left his voice very raspy.

 

Randall in 2001:

 

Randall's later stage productions included Night Must Fall(1999) and Judgment at Nuremberg (2001).

 

Periodically, he performed in stage revivals of The Odd Couple with Jack Klugman including a stint in London in 1996. Later film roles included Fatal Instinct (1994) and Down with Love (2003).

 

Randall's last appearances on stage as an actor were in The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (2002) and Right You Are(2003).

 

Guest appearances:

 

On September 4, 1955, Randall and Jack Klugman appeared together with Gena Rowlands in the episode "The Pirate's House" of the CBS anthology series, Appointment with Adventure.

 

Randall was a frequent guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and often spoke of his love of opera, saying it was due in no small part to the salaciousness of many of the plotlines. He also admitted to sneaking tape recorders into operas to make his own private recordings. He chided Johnny Carson for his chain-smoking and was generally fastidious. At the time of his death, Randall had appeared as a guest on The Tonight Show105 times, more often than any other celebrity.

 

Randall appeared frequently on What's My Line?, Password, The Hollywood Squares, and the $10,000 and $20,000 Pyramids. He also parodied his pompous image with an appearance as a "contestant" on The Gong Show in 1977.

 

First aired on October 11, 1980, Randall was a guest star on the 5th and final season of The Muppet Show. This was the 100th episode of the show.

 

Randall, along with John Goodman and Drew Barrymore, was one of the first guests on the debut episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien on September 13, 1993. He would also appear in Conan's 5th Anniversary Special with the character PimpBot 5000. Randall was a frequent guest as well on both of David Letterman's late-night shows Late Night with David Letterman and the Late Show with David Letterman, making 70 appearances, according to his obituary in The Washington Post; Letterman said that Randall was one of his favorite guests, along with Regis Philbin.

 

On November 7, 1994, Randall appeared on the game show Jeopardy!, as part of a Special Edition Celebrity Jeopardy! episode playing on behalf of the National Actors Theatre. He came in second place after General Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. and before Actress Stefanie Powers, with a final score of $9,900.[11]

 

Other creative activities:

 

In 1973, Tony Randall and Jack Klugman recorded an album called The Odd Couple Singsfor London Records. Roland Shaw and The London Festival Orchestra and Chorus provided the music and additional vocals.[12] The record was not a chart-topper but is a highly sought-after item for many Odd Couple fans.[13] Randall and Klugman also collaborated for a series of television commercials for Eagle Brand snacks, which can be viewed on YouTube.

 

A noted raconteur, Randall co-wrote with Mike Mindlin a collection of amusing and sometimes racy show business anecdotes called Which Reminds Me, published in 1989.

 

In keeping with his penchant for both championing and mocking the culture that he loved, during the Big Band-era revival in the mid-1960s, he produced a record album of 1930s songs, Vo Vo De Oh Doe, inspired by (and covering) The New Vaudeville Band's one-hit wonder, "Winchester Cathedral". He mimicked (and somewhat exaggerated) the vibratostyle of Carmen Lombardo, and the two of them once sang a duet of Lombardo's signature song "Boo Hoo (You've Got Me Crying for You)" on The Tonight Show.

 

Activism:

Randall was an advocate for the arts. During the summer of 1980, he served as the celebrity host of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra's concerts in Central Park, New York City.

 

He was politically liberal. During the U.S. presidential primaries in 1972, he appeared as the featured celebrity at numerous fundraising house parties for Democratic Party candidate George McGovern.[14]

 

Personal life:

 

Randall's headstone in Westchester Hills Cemetery

Randall was married to Florence Gibbs from 1938 until her death from cancer on April 18, 1992. The following year, he said, "I wish I believed I'd see my parents again, see my wife again. But I know it's not going to happen."[15] He remarried on November 17, 1995, to Heather Harlan, an intern in one of his theatrical programs. At the time, Tony was 75 years old and Heather was 25. They lived in a Manhattan apartment and bought a vacation apartment in Key Biscayne, Florida, in 2003. The couple, who had two children—Julia, born on April 11, 1997, and Jefferson, born on June 15, 1998—remained married until his death in May 2004.[16]

 

In his book Which Reminds Me, Randall maintained that any publicity an actor generates should be about his work, not himself. "The public knows only one thing about me: I don't smoke."[17]

 

Death:

 

Randall died in his sleep on May 17, 2004, at NYU Medical Center of pneumonia that he had contracted following coronary bypass surgery in December 2003. He had been hospitalized since the operation.[18] His remains are interred at the Westchester Hills Cemetery in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.[2][3]

 

Awards and honors:

 

Randall was nominated for five Golden Globe awards and six Emmy Awards, winning one Emmy in 1975 for his work on the sitcom The Odd Couple. In 1993, he received The Hundred Year Association of New York's Gold Medal Award "in recognition of outstanding contributions to the City of New York." Pace University granted him an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree in 2003. In 1999 the City College of New York honored Randall with the John H. Finley Award for outstanding service to the City of New York.

 

Bibliography:

 

Randall, Tony; Mindlin, Michael (1989). Which Reminds Me. New York: Delacorte Press. ISBN 0-385-29785-8.

 

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Given that she looks like a hooker on speed.

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Forty seven metres at 13:23pm on an beautiful summer morning on Tuesday 20th July 2021, off Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent.

 

This is Baboo, a juvenile parented by two crows who have come to my garden now for over 18 months.

  

AN IN DEPTH LOOK AT CORVUS CORONE

  

LEGEND AND MYTHOLOGY

By Paul Williams

  

Crows appear in the Bible where Noah uses one to search for dry land and to check on the recession of the flood. Crows supposedly saved the prophet, Elijah, from famine and are an Inuit deity. Legend has it that England and its monarchy will end when there are no more crows in the Tower of London. And some believe that the crows went to the Tower attracted by the regular corpses following executions with written accounts of their presence at the executions of Anne Boleyn and Jane Gray.

  

In Welsh mythology, unfortunately Crows are seen as symbolic of evilness and black magic thanks to many references to witches transforming into crows or ravens and escaping. Indian legend tells of Kakabhusandi, a crow who sits on the branches of a wish-fulfilling tree called Kalpataru and a crow in Ramayana where Lord Rama blessed the crow with the power to foresee future events and communicate with the souls.

  

In Native American first nation legend the crow is sometimes considered to be something of a trickster, though they are also viewed positively by some tribes as messengers between this world and the next where they carry messages from the living to those deceased, and even carry healing medicines between both worlds.

  

There is a belief that crows can foresee the future. The Klamath tribe in Oregon believe that when we die, we fly up to heaven as a crow. The Crow can also signify wisdom to some tribes who believe crows had the power to talk and were therefore considered to be one of the wisest of birds. Tribes with Crow Clans include the Chippewa (whose Crow Clan and its totem are called Aandeg), the Hopi (whose Crow Clan is called Angwusngyam or Ungwish-wungwa), the Menominee, the Caddo, the Tlingit, and the Pueblo tribes of New Mexico.

  

The crow features in the Nanissáanah (Ghost dance), popularized by Jerome Crow Dog, a Brulé Lakota sub-chief and warrior born at Horse Stealing Creek in Montana Territory in 1833, the crow symbolizing wisdom and the past, when the crow had become a guide and acted as a pathfinder during hunting. The Ghost dance movement was originally created in 1870 by Wodziwob, or Gray Hair, a prophet and medicine man of the Paiute tribe in an area that became known as Nevada.

  

Ghost dancers wore crow and eagle feathers in their clothes and hair, and the fact that the Crow could talk placed it as one of the sages of the animal kingdom. The five-day dances seeking trance, prophecy and exhortations would eventually play a major part in the pathway towards the white man's broken treaties, the infamous battle at Wounded knee and the surrender of Matȟó Wanáȟtaka (Kicking Bear), after officials began to fear the ghost dancers and rituals which seemed to occur prior to battle.

  

Historically the Vikings are the group who made so many references to the crow, and Ragnarr Loðbrók and his sons used this species in his banner as well as appearances in many flags and coats of arms. Also, it had some kind of association with Odin, one of their main deities. Norse legend tells us that Odin is accompanied by two crows.

  

Hugin, who symbolizes thought, and Munin, who represents a memory. These two crows were sent out each dawn to fly the entire world, returning at breakfast where they informed the Lord of the Nordic gods of everything that went on in their kingdoms. Odin was also referred to as Rafnagud (raven-god).

  

The raven appears in almost every skaldic poem describing warfare. Coins dating back to 940's minted by Olaf Cuaran depict the Viking war standard, the Raven and Viking war banners (Gonfalon) depicted the bird also.

  

In Scandinavian legends, crows are a representative of the Goddess of Death, known as Valkyrie (from old Norse 'Valkyrja'), one of the group of maidens who served the Norse deity Odin, visiting battlefields and sending him the souls of the slain worthy of a place in Valhalla. Odin ( also called Wodan, Woden, or Wotan), preferred that heroes be killed in battle and that the most valiant of souls be taken to Valhöll, the hall of slain warriors.

  

It is the crow that provides the Valkyries with important information on who should go. In Hindu ceremonies that are associated to ancestors, the crow has an important place in Vedic rituals. They are seen as messengers of death in Indian culture too.

  

In Germanic legend, Crows are seen as psychonomes, meaning the act of guiding spirits to their final destination, and that the feathers of a crow could cure a victim who had been cursed. And yet, a lone black crow could symbolize impending death, whilst a group symbolizes a lucky omen! Vikings also saw good omens in the crow and would leave offerings of meat as a token.

  

The crow also has sacred and prophetic meaning within the Celtic civilization, where it stood for flesh ripped off due to combat and Morrighan, the warrior goddess, often appears in Celtic mythology as a raven or crow, or else is found to be in the company of the birds. Crow is sacred to Lugdnum, the Celtic god of creation who gave his name to the city of Lug

  

In Greek mythology according to Appolodorus, Apollo is supposedly responsible for the black feathers of the crow, turning them forever black from their pristine white original plumage as a punishment after they brought news that Κορωνις (Coronis) a princess of the Thessalian kingdom of Phlegyantis, Apollo's pregnant lover had left him to marry a mortal, Ischys.

  

In one legend, Apollo burned the crows feathers and then burned Coronis to death, in another Coronis herself was turned into a black crow, and another that she was slain by the arrows of Αρτεμις (Artemis - twin to Apollo). Koronis was later set amongst the stars as the constellation Corvus ("the Crow").

  

Her name means "Curved One" from the Greek word korônis or "Crow" from the word korônê.A similar Muslim legend allegedly tells of Muhammad, founder of Islam and the last prophet sent by God to Earth, who's secret location was given away by a white crow to his seekers, as he hid in caves. The crow shouted 'Ghar Ghar' (Cave, cave) and thus as punishment, Muhammad turned the crow black and cursed it for eternity to utter only one phrase, 'Ghar, ghar). Native Indian legend where the once rainbow-coloured crows became forever black after shedding their colourful plumage over the other animals of the world.

  

In China the Crow is represented in art as a three legged bird on a solar disk, being a creature that helps the sun in its journey. In Japan there are myths of Crow Tengu who were priests who became vain, and turned into this spirit to serve as messengers until they learn the lesson of humility as well as a great Crow who takes part in Shinto creation stories.

  

In animal spirit guides there are general perceptions of what sightings of numbers of crows actually mean:

  

1 Crow Meaning: To carry a message from your near one who died recently.

 

2 Crows Meaning: Two crows sitting near your home signifies some good news is on your way.

 

3 Crows Meaning: An upcoming wedding in your family.

 

4 Crows Meaning: Symbolizes wealth and prosperity.

 

5 Crows Meaning: Diseases or pain.

 

6 Crows Meaning: A theft in your house!

 

7 Crows Meaning: Denotes travel or moving from your house.

 

8 Crows Meaning: Sorrowful events

  

Crows are generally seen as the symbolism when alive for doom bringing, misfortune and bad omens, and yet a dead crow symbolizes potentially bringing good news and positive change to those who see it.

 

This wonderful bird certainly gets a mixed bag of contradictory mythology and legend over the centuries and in modern days is often seen as a bit of a nuisance, attacking and killing the babies of other birds such as Starlings, Pigeons and House Sparrows as well as plucking the eyes out of lambs in the field, being loud and noisy and violently attacking poor victims in a 'crow court'....

  

There is even a classic horror film called 'THE CROW' released in 1994 by Miramax Films, directed by Alex Proyas and starring Brandon Lee in his final film appearance as Eric Draven, who is revived by a Crow tapping on his gravestone a year after he and his fiancée are murdered in Detroit by a street gang. The crow becomes his guide as he sets out to avenge the murders.

  

The only son of martial arts expert Bruce Lee, Brandon lee suffered fatal injuries on the set of the film when the crew failed to remove the primer from a cartridge that hit Lee in the abdomen with the same force as a normal bullet. Lee died that day, March 31st 1993 aged 28.

  

The symbolism of the Crow resurrecting the dead star and accompanying him on his quest for revenge was powerful, and in some part based on the history of the carrion crow itself and the original film grossed more than $94 Million dollars with three subsequent sequels following.

  

TAKING A CLOSER LOOK

  

So, let's move away from legend, mythology and stories passed down from our parents and grandparents and look at these amazing birds in isolation.

  

Carrion crow are passerines in the family Corvidae a group of Oscine passerine birds including Crows, Ravens, Rooks, Jackdaws, Jays, Magpies, Treepies, Choughs and Nutcrackers. Technically they are classed as Corvids, and the largest of passerine birds. Carrion crows are medium to large in size with rictal bristles and a single moult per year (most passerines moult twice).

  

Carrion crow was one of the many species originally described by Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (Carl Von Linne after his ennoblement) in his 1758 and 1759 editions of 'SYSTEMA NATURAE', and it still bears its original name of Corvus corone, derived from the Latin of Corvus, meaning Raven and the Greek κορώνη (korōnē), meaning crow.

  

Carrion crow are of the Animalia kingdom Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Passeriformes Family: Corvidae Genus: Corvus and Species: Corvus corone

  

Corvus corone can reach 45-47cm in length with a 93-104cm wingspan and weigh between 370-650g. They are protected under The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in the United Kingdom with a Green UK conservation status which means they are of least concern with more than 1,000,000 territories.

 

Breeding occurs in April with fledging of the chicks taking around twenty nine days following an incubation period of around twenty days with 3 to 4 eggs being the average norm. They are abundant in the UK apart from Northwest Scotland and Ireland where the Hooded crow (Corvus cornix) was considered the same species until 2002. They have a lifespan of around four years, whilst Crow species can live to the age of Twenty years old, and the oldest known American crow in the wild was almost Thirty years old.

  

The oldest documented captive crow died at age Fifty nine. They are smaller and have a shorter lifespan than the Raven, which again is used as a symbol in history to live life to the full and not waste a moment!

  

They are often mistaken for the Rook (Corvus frugilegus), a similar bird, though in the UK, the Rook is actually technically smaller than the Carrion crow averaging 44-46cm in length, 81-99cm wingspan and weighing up to 340g. Rooks have white beaks compared to the black beaks of Carrion crow, a more steeply raked ratio from head to beak, and longer straighter beaks as well as a different plumage pattern.

  

There are documented cases in the UK of singular and grouped Rooks attacking and killing Carrion crows in their territory. Rooks nest in colonies unlike Carrion crows. Carrion crows have only a few natural enemies including powerful raptors such as the northern goshawk, the peregrine falcon, the Eurasian eagle-owl and the golden eagle which will all readily hunt them.

  

Regarded as one of the most intelligent birds, indeed creatures on the planet, studies suggest that Corvids cognitive abilities can rival that of primates such as chimpanzees and gorillas and even provide clues to understanding human intelligence.

  

Crows have relatively large brains for their body size, compared to other animals. Their encephalization quotient (EQ) a ratio of brain to body size, adjusted for size because there isn’t a linear relationship is 4.1.

  

That is remarkably close to chimps at 4.2 whilst humans are 8.1. Corvids also have a very high neuronal density, the number of neurons per gram of brain, factoring in the number of cortical neurons, neuron packing density, intraneuronal distance and axonal conduction velocity shows that Corvids score high on this measure as well, with humans scoring the highest.

  

A corvid's pallium is packed with more neurons than a great ape's. Corvids have demonstrated the ability to use a combination of mental tools such as imagination, and anticipation of future events.

  

They can craft tools from twigs and branches to hook grubs from deep recesses, they can solve puzzles and intricate methods of gaining access to food set by humans,and have even bent pieces of wire into hooks to obtain food. They have been proven to have a higher cognitive ability level than seven year old humans.

  

Communications wise, their repertoire of wraw-wraw's is not fully understood, but the intensity, rhythm, and duration of caws seems to form the basis of a possible language. They also remember the faces of humans who have hindered or hurt them and pass that information on to their offspring.

  

Aesop's fable of 'The Crow and the Pitcher, tells of a thirsty crow which drops stones into a water pitcher to raise the water level and enable it to take a drink. Scientists have conducted tests to see whether crows really are this intelligent. They placed floating treats in a deep tube and observed the crows indeed dropping dense objects carefully selected into the water until the treat floated within reach. They had the intelligence to pick up, weigh and discount objects that would float in the water, they also did not select ones that were too large for the container.

  

Pet crows develop a unique call for their owners, in effect actually naming them. They also know to sunbathe for a dose of vitamin D, regularly settling on wooden garden fences, opening their mouths and wings and raising their heads to the sun. In groups they warn of danger and communicate vocally.

  

They store a cache of food for later if in abundance and are clever enough to move it if they feel it has been discovered. They leave markers for their cache. They have even learned to place walnuts and similar hard food items under car tyres at traffic lights as a means of cracking them!

  

Crows regularly gather around a dead fellow corvid, almost like a funeral, and it is thought they somehow learn from each death. They can even remember human faces for decades. Crows group together to attack larger predators and even steal their food, and they have different dialects in different areas, with the ability to mimic the dialect of the alpha males when they enter their territory!

  

They have a twenty year life span, the oldest on record reaching the age of Fifty nine. Crows can leave gifts for those who feed them such as buttons or bright shiny objects as a thank you, and they even kiss and make up after an argument, having mated for life.

  

In mythology they are associated with good and bad luck, being the bringers of omens and even witchcraft and are generally reviled for their attacks on baby birds and small mammals. They have an attack method of stunning smaller birds before consuming them, tearing violently at smaller, less aggressive birds, which is simply down to the fact that they are so highly intelligent, and also the top of the food chain.

  

Their diet includes over a thousand different items: Dead animals (as their name suggests), invertebrates, grain, as well as stealing eggs and chicks from other birds' nests, worms, insects, fruit, seeds, kitchen scraps. They are highly adaptable when food sources grow scarce. I absolutely love them, they are magnificent, bold, beautiful and incredibly interesting to watch and though at times it is hard to witness attacks made by them, I cannot help but adore them for so many other and more important reasons.

  

OBSERVATIONS ON THE PAIR IN MY GARDEN

 

Known mostly for my landscape work, Covid-19 changed everything for me photographically speaking thanks to a series of lock downs which naturally impeded my ability to travel. I began to spend more time on my own land, photographing the wildlife, and suddenly those wildlife photographs began to sell worldwide in magazines and books.

 

Crows have been in the area for a while, but rarely had strayed into my garden, leaving the Magpies to own the territory. Things changed around mid May 2021 when a beautiful female Carrion crow appeared and began to take some of the food that I put down for the other birds. Within a few days she began to appear regularly, on occasions stocking up on food, whilst other times placing pieces in the birdbath to soften them. She would stand on the birdbath and eat and drink and come back over the course of the day to eat the softened food. Naturally I named her Sheryl (Crow).

  

Shortly afterwards she brought along her mate, a tall and handsome fella, much larger than her who was also very vocal if he felt she was getting a little too close to me. I named him Russell (Crow). By now I had moved from a seated position from the patio as an observer, to laying on a mat just five feet from the birdbath with my Nikon so that I could photograph the pair as they landed, scavenged and fed.

  

Sheryl was now confident enough to let me be very close, and she even tolerated and recognized the clicking of the camera. At first, I used silent mode to reduce the noise, but this only allowed two shooting frame rates of single frame or continuous low frame which meant I was missing shots. I reverted back to normal continuous high frames, and she soon got used to the whirring of the mechanisms as the mirror slapped back and forth.

  

Russell would bark orders at her from the safety of the fence or the rear of the garden, whilst she rarely made a sound. That was until one day when in the sweltering heat she kept opening her beak and sunning on the grass, panting slightly in the heat.

  

I placed the circular water sprayer nearby and had it rotating so that the birdbath and grass was bathed in gentle water droplets and she soon came back, landed and seemed to really like the cooling effect on offer. She then climbed onto the birdbath and opened her wings slightly and made some gentle purring, cooing noises....

  

I swear she was expressing happiness, joy even....

  

On another blisteringly hot day when the sprayer was on, she came down, walked towards it and opened her wings up running into the water spray. Not once, but many times.

  

A further revelation into the unseen sides to these beautiful birds came with the male and female on the rear garden fence. They sat together, locked beaks like a kiss and then the male took his time gently preening her head feathers and the back of her neck as she made tiny happy sounds.

  

They stayed together like that for several minutes, showing a gentle, softer side to their nature and demonstrating the deep bond between them. Into July and the pair started to bring their three youngsters to my garden, the nippers learning to use the birdbath for bathing and dipping food, the parents attentive as ever. Two of the youngsters headed off once large enough and strong enough.

  

I was privileged to be in close attendance as the last juvenile was brought down by the pair, taught to take food and then on a night in July, to soar and fly with its mother in the evening sky as the light faded. She would swoop and twirl, and at regular intervals just touch the juvenile in flight with her wing tip feathers, as if to reassure it that she was close in attendance.

  

What an amazing experience to view. A few days later, the juvenile, though now gaining independence and more than capable of tackling food scraps in the garden, was still on occasions demand feeding from its mother who was now teaching him to take chicken breast, hotdogs or digestive biscuits and bury them in the garden beds for later delectation.

  

The juvenile also liked to gather up peanuts (monkey nuts) and bury them in the grass. On one occasion I witnessed a pair of rumbunctious Pica Pica (Magpies), chasing the young crow on rooftops, leaping at him no matter how hard he tried to get away. He defended himself well and survived the attacks, much to my relief.

  

Into August and the last youngster remained with the adults, though now was very independent even though he still spent time with his parents on rooftops, and shared food gathering duties with his mum. Hotdog sausages were their favourite choice, followed by fish fingers and digestive biscuits which the adult male would gather up three at a time.

  

In October 2021, the three Crows were still kings of the area, but my time observing them was pretty much over as I will only put food out now for the birds in the winter months. The two adults are still here in December and now taking the food that I put out to help all birds survive in the winter months. They also have a pair of Magpies to compete with now.

  

Late February 2022 and Cheryl and Russell and their youngster are still with me, still dominant in the area and still taking raw chicken, hotdogs, biscuits and fat balls that I put out for them. Today I saw them mating for the first time this year in the tree and the cycle continues.

  

By October 2022 the pair had successfully reared a new baby who we nicknamed Baboo, and the other youngster flew the coup. The three now recognised our car returning from weekends away, and were enjoying sausages, hotdogs, raw chicken, fish and especially cheese, but life was hard as they aged with daily morning and evening tussles in the air with invaders and intruders hoping to take their land.

  

Russell picked up an injury during one fight and hobbled about for a few weeks before fully recovering, though a slight limp remained long-term, but Sheryl was visibly ageing and struggled at times to gain height from a vertical ground take off. I placed a garden chair near the house and she would often jump onto the top and then onto the fence and then the roof in stages.

 

Baboo became the dominant garden watcher, swooping in to take advantage of the food I put out, though he now faced competition from a gaggle of five or so resident Magpies, Black headed gulls and Herring Gulls which seemed to have adopted the area, and brave enough to snatch food from under his nose and eat on the grass in his presence. The three crows still held on to our garden and the territory and were dominant still into December 2022. They loved cheese, hot dogs, raw chicken, fish fingers and digestive biscuits and also mixed nuts, crusty bread and cakes and fat from steak or gammon plus fish skin from salmon or haddock. But by December 13th 2022, feeding became almost impossible as Black headed gulls (Chroicocephalus ridibundus), Herring Gulls (Larus argentatus) and Common Gulls (Larus canus), seemed to take up residence, swooping from nowhere in dozens as soon as I tried to feed the crows and Magpies. I had to wait until any of my three crows were nestled in the Chestnut tree which seeps into my garden, before throwing food out to them, watching as they grabbed what they could, followed by the resident Magpies, before the gulls began to swoop once more!

 

By December 25th normal service was resumed and the crows could recognise my car and know if we were returning home, and call each other, then me to feed them. They enjoyed Tesco finest mince pies, tinned Salmon steaks, fatballs and raw meatballs over the festive period, and Sheryl particularly loved her mature cheddar cheese in large chunks.

  

Corvus Corone.... magnificently misunderstood by some!

  

Paul Williams June 4th 2021 (Updated on December 26th 2022)

  

Nikon D850 Focal length: 600mm Shutter speed: 1/320s Aperture: f/7.1 iso320 Hand held with Tamron VC Vibration control set to ON (Position 1) 14 Bit uncompressed RAW NEF file size L (8256 x 5504 pixels) FX (36 x 24) Focus mode: AF-C AF-Area mode: 3D-tracking AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points Exposure mode: Manual exposure mode Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance on: Auto1 (5370k) Colour space: RGB Picture control: Neutral (Sharpening +2)

  

Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 95mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Black Rapid Curve Breathe strap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.

     

LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 28.03s

LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 10.67s

ALTITUDE: 47.00m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE: 90.7MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 48.40MB

    

PROCESSING POWER:

 

Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00

 

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

   

Given that Harold Wilson (T/A Premire) operated a large number of front engined buses, it problably no surprise that Premier purchased this Vovlo Ailsa in 1976. The vehicle is seen in High Street, Doncaster in August 1988 wearing its later, and less pleasing livery. This area of the town is pedestrianised these days.

 

----------------------------- JESUS ✝️ SAVES-------------------------------

 

SALVATION THROUGH FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST - ALONE!

 

12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."

 

❤️❤️ IT'S ALL JESUS AND NONE OF OURSELVES! ❤️❤️

 

16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the SALVATION of everyone WHO BELIEVES: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel a RIGHTEOUSNESS FROM GOD IS REVEALED, a righteousness that is by FAITH FROM FIRST TO LAST, just as it is written: "THE RIGHTEOUS WILL LIVE BY FAITH." (Romans 1:16-17)

 

16 KNOW that a man is NOT justified by observing the law, but by FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be JUSTIFIED BY FAITH in CHRIST and NOT by observing the law, BECAUSE BY OBSERVING THE LAW NO ONE WILL BE JUSTIFIED. (Galatians 2:16)

 

1. Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2. BY THIS GOSPEL YOU ARE SAVED, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

 

3. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4. that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5. and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8. and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

 

9. For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them--yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11. Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed. (1 Corinthians 15:1-11)

 

7. Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. 8. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9. I am the gate; whoever enters through me WILL BE SAVED. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10. The thief comes only to STEAL and KILL and DESTROY; I have come that they may have LIFE, and have it to the FULL. (John 10:7-10)

 

1 Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. 2 For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. 3 Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. 4 Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

 

5 Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: "The man who does these things will live by them." 6 But the righteousness that is by faith says: "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?'" (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 "or 'Who will descend into the deep?'" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11 As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile--the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." (Romans 10:1-13)

 

Jesus came to bring spiritual LIFE to the spiritually dead and set the captives FREE! FREE from RELIGION, ERROR and outright LIES, so WE might serve THE LIVING GOD! In SPIRIT and in TRUTH!

 

So you'll KNOW, and not think you're to bad for God to love. The Christian LIFE isn't about how good WE are, because NONE of us are! It's about how GOOD JESUS IS! Because JESUS LOVES US, so much he died in our place and took the punishment for all of our sins on himself. The wages of sin is DEATH, and Jesus took the death WE so richly deserved for us and died in our place. The good news is, there's no more punishment for sin left. WE, you and I were all born forgive as a result of the crucifixion of God himself on the cross that took away the sins of the whole world. All we have to do is believe it, and put your Faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. That my friends is REAL UNCONDITIONAL LOVE! YOU ARE LOVED. ❤️ ✝️ ❤️

 

For the best Biblical teaching in the last 2 centuries! Please listen to and down load these FREE audio files that were created with YOU in mind. It's ALL FREE, if you like it, please share it with others. ❤️

 

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

LocationSan Francisco Bay, California

Coordinates37°49′36″N 122°25′24″W[1]

StatusClosed (now a museum)

Security classMaximum

Capacity312

Opened11 August 1934; 85 years ago

Closed21 March 1963; 57 years ago

Managed byFederal Bureau of Prisons, Department of Justice

Director

Wardens[2]

James A. Johnston (1934–48)

Edwin B. Swope (1948–55)

Paul J. Madigan (1955–61)

Olin G. Blackwell (1961–63)

 

The Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary or United States Penitentiary, Alcatraz Island (often referred to as Alcatraz or The Rock) was a maximum security federal prison on Alcatraz Island, 1.25 miles (2.01 km) off the coast of San Francisco, California, United States, which operated from 11 August 1934, until 21 March 1963.

 

Alcatraz had been the site of a fort since the 1850s; the main prison building was built in 1910–1912 as a United States Army military prison. The United States Department of Justice acquired the United States Disciplinary Barracks, Pacific Branch, on Alcatraz on 12 October 1933, and the island became a prison of the Federal Bureau of Prisons in August 1934 after the buildings were modernized and security increased. Given this high security and the island's location in the cold waters and strong currents of San Francisco Bay, prison operators believed Alcatraz to be escape-proof and America's strongest prison.

 

Alcatraz was used to hold prisoners who continually caused trouble at other federal prisons. One of the world's most notorious and best known prisons over the years, it housed some 1,576 federal inmates, including some of America's most ruthless, such as Al Capone, Robert Franklin Stroud (the "Birdman of Alcatraz"), George "Machine Gun" Kelly, Bumpy Johnson, Rafael Cancel Miranda,[3] Mickey Cohen, Arthur R. "Doc" Barker, Whitey Bulger, and Alvin "Creepy" Karpis (who served more time at Alcatraz than any other inmate). The Bureau of Prisons' staff and their families lived on the island as well. 36 prisoners made 14 escape attempts during the prison's 29-year history; most notable were the violent attempt of May 1946 called the "Battle of Alcatraz" and the possibly successful June 1962 attempt by Frank Morris, John Anglin, and Clarence Anglin, which was marked by careful planning and execution. Faced with high maintenance costs and a poor reputation, Alcatraz closed on 21 March 1963.

 

The three-story cellhouse included the four main cell blocks, A-block through D-block, the warden's office, visitation room, the library, and the barber shop. The prison cells typically measured 9 feet (2.7 m) by 5 feet (1.5 m) and 7 feet (2.1 m) high. The cells were primitive and lacked privacy, with a bed, desk, and washbasin, and a toilet on the back wall, and with few furnishings except a blanket. African-Americans were segregated from other inmates in cell designation due to racial abuse. D-Block housed the worst inmates, and six cells at its end were designated "The Hole," where badly behaving prisoners would be sent for periods of often brutal punishment. The dining hall and kitchen extended from the main building. Prisoners and staff ate three meals a day together. The Alcatraz Hospital was above the dining hall.

 

Prison corridors were named after major U.S. streets such as Broadway and Michigan Avenue. Working at the prison was considered a privilege for inmates and many of the better inmates were employed in the Model Industries Building and New Industries Building during the day, actively involved in providing for the military in jobs such as sewing and woodwork, and performing various maintenance and laundry chores.

 

Today, Alcatraz is a public museum and one of San Francisco's major tourist attractions, attracting some 1.5 million visitors annually. Now operated by the National Park Service's Golden Gate National Recreation Area, the timeworn former prison is being restored and maintained.

 

History

Construction

Alcatraz Cellhouse

 

The main cellhouse was built incorporating some parts of Fort Alcatraz's citadel, a partially fortified barracks from 1859 that had come to be used as a jail. A new cellhouse was built from 1910–1912 on a budget of $250,000, and upon completion, the 500 feet (150 m) long concrete building was reputedly the longest concrete building in the world at the time. This building was modernized in 1933 and 1934 and became the main cellhouse of the federal penitentiary until its closure in 1963.[4]:76 When the new concrete prison was built, many materials were reused in its construction. Iron staircases in the interior and the cellhouse door near the barber's shop at the end of A-block were retained from the old citadel and massive granite blocks originally used as gun mounts were reused as the wharf's bulkheads and retaining walls. [5] Many of the old cell bars were used to reinforce the walls, causing structural problems later due to the fact that many placed near the edge were subject to erosion from the salt air and wind over the years.[5][dubious – discuss]

Entrance

 

After the United States Army's use of the island for over 80 years, it was transferred to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which hoped an escape-proof jail would help break the crime wave of the 1920s and 1930s.[6] The Department of Justice acquired the Disciplinary Barracks on Alcatraz on 12 October 1933, and it became a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility in August 1934. $260,000 was spent to modernize and improve it from January 1934.[7][8] George Hess of the United States Public Health Service was appointed chief medical officer and Edward W. Twitchell became a consultant in psychiatry for Alcatraz in January 1934.[8] The hospital was checked by three officials from the Marine Hospital of San Francisco.[8] The Bureau of Prisons personnel arrived on Alcatraz in early February; among them was acting chief clerk Loring O. Mills. In April 1934, the old material was removed from the prison; holes were cut in the concrete and 269 cell fronts were installed, built using four carloads of steel ordered from the Stewart Iron Works.[8] Two of four new stairways were built, as were 12 doors to the utility corridors and gratings at the top of the cells. On 26 April, an accidental small fire broke out on the roof and an electrician injured his foot by dropping a manhole cover on it.[8] The Anchor Post Fence Company added fencing around Alcatraz and the Enterprise Electric Works added emergency lighting in the morgue and switchboard operations.[8] In June 1934, the Teletouch Corporation of New York began the installation of an "electro-magnetic gun or metal detecting system" at Alcatraz; detectors were added on the wharf, at the front entrance into the cellblock, and at the rear entrance gate.[8] The correctional officers were instructed how to operate the new locking devices on 30 July 1934, and both the United States Coast Guard and the San Francisco Police Department tested the new radio equipment on the same day.[8] Final checks and assessments were made on the first two days of August.[8]

Early history

Alcatraz laundry service

 

Alcatraz was intended for prisoners who continuously caused trouble at other federal prisons, a "last resort prison" to hold the worst of the worst who had no hope of rehabilitation.[9][10] At 9:40 a.m. on 11 August 1934, the first batch of 137 prisoners arrived at Alcatraz from the United States Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas, having travelled by rail to Santa Venetia, California. Before being escorted to Alcatraz, they were handcuffed in high-security coaches and guarded by some 60 Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) special agents, U.S. Marshals, and railway security officials.[8][11] Most of the prisoners were notorious bank robbers, counterfeiters, murderers, or sodomites.[11] Among the first inmates were also 14 men from McNeil Island, Washington.[8] On 22 August 43 prisoners arrived from Atlanta Penitentiary and 10 from North Eastern Penitentiary, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.[8] On 1 September, one prisoner arrived from Washington Asylum and Jail and seven from the District of Columbia Reformatory in Virginia, and on 4 September, another batch of 103 prisoners arrived by train from Leavenworth.[8] Prisoners continued to arrive, mainly from Leavenworth and Atlanta, into 1935 and by 30 June 1935, the penitentiary's first anniversary, it had a population of 242 prisoners, although some inmates such as Verrill Rapp had already been transferred from Alcatraz some months earlier.[8] On the first anniversary, the Bureau of Prisons wrote, "The establishment of this institution not only provided a secure place for the detention of the more difficult type of criminal but has had a good effect upon discipline in our other penitentiaries also. No serious disturbance of any kind has been reported during the year." The metal detectors often overheated and had to be turned off. After the Teletouch Corporation failed to address the problem, their contract was terminated in 1937 and they were charged over $200 for three new detectors supplied by Federal Laboratories.[8]

 

On 10 January 1935, a severe storm caused a landslide on Alcatraz, causing the Model Industries Building to slide.[8] This began series of changes to the structures on the island. A riprap was built around Model Industries Building, it was strengthened, and a guard tower added to the roof in June 1936. That same month, the barracks building was remodeled into 11 new apartments and nine single rooms for bachelors; by this time there were 52 families living on Alcatraz, including 126 women and children.[8] The problems with the Model Industries Building and continuing utility problems with some of the old buildings and systems led to extensive updates in 1937, including new tool-proof grills on the ventilators of the cell house roof, two new boilers installed in the power house, and a new pump for salt water sanitation and guardrails added to stairways.[8] In 1939–40, a $1.1 million redevelopment was begun, including construction of the New Industries Building, a complete overhaul of the power house with a new diesel engine, the building of a new water tower to solve the water storage problem, new apartment blocks for officers, improvements to the dock, and the conversion of D-block into isolation cells.[8] The changes were completed in July 1941. The workshops of the New Industries Building became highly productive, making army uniforms, cargo nets, and other items in high demand during World War II. In June 1945, it was reported that the federal penitentiaries had made 60,000 nets.[8]

 

Alcatraz gained notoriety from its inception as the toughest prison in America, considered by many the world's most fearsome prison of the day. Former prisoners reported brutality and inhumane conditions which severely tested their sanity.[12][13][14] Ed Wutke was the first prisoner to commit suicide in Alcatraz. Rufe Persful chopped off his fingers after grabbing an axe from the firetruck, begging another inmate to do the same to his other hand.[14] One writer decried Alcatraz as "the great garbage can of San Francisco Bay, into which every federal prison dumped its most rotten apples."[15] In 1939, the new U.S. Attorney General, Frank Murphy, attacked the penitentiary, saying, "The whole institution is conductive to psychology that builds up a sinister ambitious attitude among prisoners."[8] The prison's reputation was not helped by the arrival of more of America's most dangerous felons, including Robert Stroud, the "Birdman of Alcatraz," in 1942. He entered the prison system at age 19, and never left, spending 17 years at Alcatraz. Stroud killed a guard, tangled with other inmates and spent 42 of his 54 years in prison in solitary confinement. Despite its reputation, with many former inmates calling it "Hellcatraz," some prisoners reported that the living conditions there were much better than most other prisons in the country, especially the food, and many volunteered to come to Alcatraz.[6]

 

On 3 December 1940, Henri Young murdered fellow inmate Rufus McCain. Running downstairs from the furniture shop to the tailor's shop where McCain worked, Young violently stabbed McCain's neck; McCain died five hours later.[8] Young had been sent to Alcatraz for murder in 1933, and was later involved in an escape attempt during which the gangster Doc Barker was shot to death. He spent nearly 22 months in solitary confinement as a result, but was eventually permitted to work in the furniture shop. Young went on trial in 1941, with his attorneys claiming that their client could not be held responsible for the murder, since he had allegedly been subjected to "cruel and unusual punishment" by prison guards prior to the act. The trial brought Alcatraz into further disrepute.[8] Ultimately, Young was convicted of manslaughter and his prison sentence was only extended by a few years.

 

By the 1950s, conditions at Alcatraz had improved, and inmates were gradually permitted more privileges, such as playing musical instruments, watching movies on weekends, painting, and radio use; the strict code of silence became more relaxed, and prisoners were permitted to talk quietly.[14] However, it was by far the most expensive prison in the United States, and many still perceived it as America's most extreme jail.[16][8] In his annual report for 1952, Bureau of Prisons director James V. Bennett called for a more centralized institution to replace Alcatraz.[8] A 1959 report indicated that the facility was over three times more expensive to run than the average American prison; $10 per prisoner per day compared to $3 in most other prisons.[17] The problem was made worse by the buildings' structural deterioration from exposure to salt spray. It would need $5 million to fix. Major repairs began in 1958, but by 1961 engineers evaluated the prison as a lost cause. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy submitted plans for a new maximum-security institution at Marion, Illinois.[8] The June 1962 escape from Alcatraz led to acrimonious investigations. Combined with the major structural problems and expensive operation, this led to closure on 21 March 1963.[17] The final Bureau of Prisons report said of Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary: "The institution served an important purpose in taking the strain off the older and greatly overcrowded institutions in Atlanta, Leavenworth and McNeil Island since it enabled us to move to the smaller, closely guarded institution for the escape artists, the big-time racketeers, the inveterate connivers and those who needed protection from other groups."[8]

 

Today a museum and one of San Francisco's major tourist attractions, Alcatraz drew some 1.5 million visitors annually (2010).[18][19] Visitors arrive by boat, and are given a tour of the cellhouse and island, and a slide show and audio narration with anecdotes from former inmates, guards and rangers on Alcatraz.[20] The atmosphere of the former penitentiary is still considered to be "eerie", "ghostly" and "chilling".[20] Protected by the National Park Service and the National Register of Historic Places, the salt-damaged buildings of the former prison are now being restored and maintained.[21]

 

According to the prison's correctional officers, once a convict arrived on the Alcatraz wharf, his first thoughts were on how to leave.[22] During its 29 years of operation, the penitentiary claimed that no prisoner successfully escaped. A total of 36 prisoners made 14 escape attempts, two men trying twice; 23 were caught, six were shot and killed during their escape, two drowned, and five are listed as "missing and presumed drowned".[23]

 

The first escape attempt was made on 27 April 1936, by Joseph Bowers, who was assigned to burn trash at the incinerator. He was scaling a chain link fence at the edge of the island when noticed. When he refused orders of the correctional officer located at the West Road guard tower to come down he was shot. He was seriously injured in the fall from over 15 m (50 ft) and consequently died.[6]

 

The second escape attempt was on 16 December 1937, by Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe. During their work assignment in one of the workshops, they cut the flat iron bars of the window and climbed into the bay. It was a stormy day and the sea was rough. They were thought dead by the prison authorities, who believed that they drowned in the bay and their bodies were swept out to sea.[6]

 

The most violent escape attempt occurred on 2–4 May 1946, when a failed attempt by six prisoners led to the Battle of Alcatraz, also known as the "Alcatraz Blast out". Bernard Coy, Joseph Cretzer, Sam Shockley, Clarence Carnes, Marvin Hubbard and Miran Thompson daringly took control of the cell house by overpowering correctional officers, and were able to enter the weapons room, where they then demanded keys to the outside recreation door. A quick-thinking guard, William Miller, turned over all but the key to the outer door, which he pocketed. The prisoners' aim was to escape by boat from the dock, but when they were unable to open the outside door, they decided to battle it out. They held Miller, and a second guard hostage. Prompted by Shockley and Thompson, Cretzer shot the hostages at very close range. Miller succumbed to his injuries while the second guard, Harold Stites, was also killed at the cell house. Although Shockley, Thompson, and Carnes returned to their cells, the other three, Coy, Cretzer and Hubbard, persisted with their fight. The U.S. Marines intervened to help the correctional officers and killed the three prisoners. In this battle, apart from the guards and prisoners killed, 17 other guards and one prisoner were also injured. Shockley, Thompson, and Carnes were tried for the killing of the correctional officers. Shockley and Thompson were sentenced to death via the gas chamber, which was carried out at San Quentin in December 1948. However, Carnes, who was only 19 years of age, was given a second life sentence.[6][24]

 

On 11 June 1962, Frank Morris, John Anglin, and Clarence Anglin, in contrast, attempted to escape using careful planning. Behind their cells in Cell Block B was an unguarded 3-foot (0.91 m) wide utility corridor. The prisoners chiseled away the salt-damaged concrete from around an air vent leading to this corridor, using tools such as a metal spoon soldered with silver from a dime and an electric drill improvised from a stolen vacuum cleaner motor. The noise was disguised by accordions played during music hour, and the progress was concealed by false walls which, in the dark recesses of the cells, fooled the guards.[6]

Side view of model head found in Frank Morris's cell

 

The escape route led up through a fan vent; the prisoners removed the fan and motor, replacing them with a steel grill and leaving a shaft large enough for a prisoner to enter. Stealing a carborundum abrasive cord from the prison workshop, the prisoners then removed the rivets from the grill. In their beds, they placed papier-mâché dummies made with human hair stolen from the barbershop. The escapees also made an inflatable raft over many weeks from over 50 stolen raincoats, which they prepared on the top of the cell block, concealed from the guards by sheets which had been put up over the sides. They escaped through a vent in the roof and departed Alcatraz.[6][24]

 

The FBI investigation was aided by another prisoner, Allen West, who was part of the escapees' group but was left behind. West's false wall kept slipping so he held it in place with cement, which set. When Morris and the Anglins accelerated the schedule, West desperately chipped away at the wall, but by the time he got out, his companions were gone. Hundreds of leads and theories have been pursued by the FBI and local law enforcement officials in the ensuing years, but no conclusive evidence has ever surfaced favoring the success or failure of the attempt. The FBI's investigation from 1962 to December 1979 was finally treated as closed.[25] The official report on the escape concludes that the prisoners drowned in the cold waters of the bay while trying to reach the mainland, it being unlikely that they made it the 1.25 miles to shore due to the strong ocean currents and the cold sea water temperatures ranging between 50 and 55 degrees Fahrenheit.[6][24]

 

The U.S. Marshals Service case file remains open and active, however. Morris and the Anglin brothers remain on its wanted list.[26] Circumstantial evidence uncovered in the early-2010s seemed to suggest that the men had survived, and that contrary to the official FBI report of the escapee's raft never being recovered and no car thefts being reported, a raft was discovered on nearby Angel Island with footprints leading away, and a 1955 blue Chevrolet had been stolen on the night of the escape by three men, who could have been Morris and the Anglins, and that officials then engaged in a cover-up.[27] Relatives of the Anglin brothers presented further circumstantial evidence in the mid-2010s in support of a longstanding rumor that the Anglin brothers had fled to Brazil following the escape; a facial recognition analyst concluded that the one piece of physical evidence, a 1975 photograph of two men resembling John and Clarence Anglin, did support that conclusion.[28][29]

Administration

Admin offices of Alcatraz

 

The prison initially had a staff of 155, including the first warden James A. Johnston and associate warden Cecil J. Shuttleworth, both considered to be "iron men".[11] None of the staff were trained in rehabilitation but were highly trained in security.[11] The guards' and staff's salaries varied. A new guard arriving in December 1948 was offered $3,024.96 per year, but there was a 6% deduction for retirement taxes a year (amounting to $181.50).[30] The guards typically worked 40-hour weeks with five 8-hour shifts.[30] Guards who worked between 6 pm and 6 am were given a 10% increase and guards doing overtime had to be reported and authorized by the warden.[30] Officers generally had to pay 25 cents for meals and were charged $10 to rent an apartment on the island, to include laundry service, although larger families were charged anything from $20–43 a month for larger quarters and charged additional for laundry.[30] In 1960, a Bureau of Prisons booklet revealed that the average prison population between 1935 and 1960 was 263; the highest recorded was 302 in 1937 and the lowest recorded was 222 in 1947.[31]

 

The main administration center was at the entrance to the prison, which included the warden's office. The office contained a desk with radio and telegraph equipment, typewriter, and a telephone.[32] The administrative office section also had the offices of the associate warden and secretary, mail desk, captain's desk, a business office, a clerk's office, an accounting office, a control room which was added with modern technology in 1961, the officer's lounge, armory and vault, and a visiting area and restrooms. The basement of Alcatraz prison contained dungeons and the showers. The main stairway to the dungeon lay along Sunrise Alley at the side of A-Block, but the dungeons were also accessible by a staircase in a trapdoor along the corridor of D-Block. All visits to Alcatraz required prior written approval from the warden.[33]

 

A hospital had originally been installed at Alcatraz during its time as a military prison in the late 19th century.[34] During its time as a federal penitentiary, it was located above the dining hall on the second floor. Hospital staff were U.S. Public Health Service employees assigned to the Federal Prison Service at Alcatraz.[35] Doctors often lasted fewer than several days or months at Alcatraz, because few of them could tolerate the violent inmates who would often terrify them if they failed to be given certain drugs.[35] Prisoners in ill health were often kept in the hospital, most famously Stroud and Al Capone, who spent years in it.[36][37]

Security

 

When the Bureau of Prisons established the Federal Penitentiary on 1 January 1934, they took measures to strengthen the security of the prison cells to make Alcatraz "escape-proof", and also to improve living conditions for their own staff. Up-to-date technologies for enhancing security and comfort were added to the buildings. Guard towers were built outside at four strategic locations, cells were rebuilt and fitted with "tool-proof steel cell fronts and locking devices operated from control boxes", and windows were made covered with iron grills. Electromagnetic metal detectors were placed at the entrances of the dining hall and workshops, with remote controlled tear gas canisters at appropriate locations, remote controlled gun galleries with machine gun armed guards were installed to patrol along the corridors. Improvements were made to the toilet and electricity facilities, old tunnels were sealed up with concrete to avoid hiding and escape by prisoners, and substantial changes and improvements were made to the housing facilities of guards, wardens and Captain to live with their families, with quality relative to rank. Warden Johnston, U.S. Attorney General Homer Cummings, and Sanford Bates first Director of the Bureau of Prisons, collaborated very closely to create "a legendary prison" suited to the times, which resulted in the Alcatraz Island Federal Penitentiary being nicknamed "Uncle Sam's Devil's Island.'[38]

Guards of Alcatraz

 

Despite Alcatraz being designed to house the "worst of the worst" of criminals who caused problems at other prisons, under the guidelines and regulations set by the strict prison administrators, courts could not direct a prisoner to be directly sent to Alcatraz, however notorious they were for misbehavior and attempted escape from other prisons.[38] Prisoners entering Alcatraz would undergo vigorous research and assessments prior to their arrival. Security in the prison was very tight, with constant checking of bars, doors, locks, electrical fixtures, and other physical security.[39] Prisoners were normally counted 13 times daily, and the ratio of prisoners to guards was the lowest of any American prison of the time.[40][41] The front door was made of solid steel, virtually impossible for any prisoners to escape through.[42] The island had many guard towers, most of which have since been demolished, which were heavily guarded at various points in the day at times when security may have been breached; for instance, there were guard towers on each of the industry buildings to ensure that inmates didn't attempt to escape during the work day shifts. The recreation yard and other parts of the prison had a 25-foot fence around it topped with barbed wire,[12] should any inmates attempt to escape during exercise. One former employee of the jail likened his prison job to being a zoo keeper or his old farm job, due to the fact that prisoners were treated like animals, sending them out to "plough the fields" when some of them worked during the day, and then counting them up and feeding them and so on.[39] He referred to those four years of his life working in the prison as a "total waste of his life".[39] The corridors were regularly patrolled by the guards, with passing gates along them; the most heavily trafficked corridor was "Broadway" between B and C Block, due to its being the central corridor of the prison and passed not only by guards but other prison workers.[43]

 

At the end of each 20-minute meal in the dining hall, the forks, spoons and knives were laid out on the table and carefully counted to ensure that nothing had been taken as a potential weapon. In the earlier years as a prison, prisoners were forbidden from talking while eating, but this was later relaxed, provided that the prisoners communicated quietly.[39] [44]

 

The gun gallery was situated in the Recreation Yard and mounted on one of the dining hall's exterior walls.[45] There was a metal detector outside of the dining hall for security purposes. The dining hall had tear-gas canisters attached to the rafters of the ceiling which could be activated by remote control, should prisoners riot or attempt to escape.[46][13] The first warden, James A. Johnston, always entered the dining hall alone and unarmed, due to heavy guarding around him.[47] Several riots did break out in the dining hall during Alcatraz's history. Those prisoners who were not involved in the fighting hid under the dining hall tables to escape possible gunfire.[48]

Wardens

 

James A. Johnston.jpg James A. Johnston 1934–48 James Aloysius Johnston (1874–1954) (nickname "Old Saltwater") [49] was the first warden of Alcatraz. The former Warden of Folsom and San Quentin, Johnston was instrumental to the creation of Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary from conception to design. He was considered to be a highly strict disciplinarian and a devout reformist who imposed a number of rules upon the prison including a strict code of silence, which led to him being nicknamed the 'Golden Rule Warden' from his San Quentin days.[49] However, he was relatively popular among inmates and guards, known as "Old Saltwater" to the inmates, and is credited with challenging the barbaric tactics used in the prison when he was there, including strait jackets and solitary confinement in darkness and working towards the general improvement of the lives of prisoners. In 1937 he was attacked by Burton Phillips from behind in the dining hall who beat him in anger at a worker's strike, but he continued to attend meals unguarded.

 

Edwin B. Swope.jpg Edwin B. Swope 1948–55 Edwin Burnham Swope (1888–1955) (nickname "Cowboy") was the second warden of Alcatraz. His earlier posts as warden included New Mexico State Prison and Washington State's McNeil Island Federal Penitentiary. He was described as being approximately 1.73 meter (5 feet 9 inches) tall, of slender build, and was a fan of horse racing who dressed like a cowboy off-duty.[50] He was a strict disciplinarian but unlike his predecessor was considered the most unpopular warden of Alcatraz with his officers and the inmates.[51]

 

Paul J. Madigan.jpg Paul J. Madigan 1955–61

 

Paul Joseph Madigan (1897–1974) was the third warden of Alcatraz. He had earlier served as the last Associate Warden during the term of James A. Johnston. He was the only warden who had worked his way up from the bottom of the ranks of the prison staff hierarchy, having worked originally as a Correctional Officer on Alcatraz from the 1930s.[52][51] In 21 May 1941, Madigan was the key to quashing an escape attempt after being held hostage in the Model Industries Building, which later led to his promotion as associate warden.[53] He was a stout, ruddy-faced, pipe-smoking, devout Irish Catholic.[54] Unlike his predecessors, Madigan was known for being more lenient and softer in his approach to administering the prison and was better liked by the prison staff.[52]

 

Olin G. Blackwell.jpg Olin G. Blackwell 1961–63

 

Olin Guy Blackwell (1915–1986) was the fourth and final warden of Alcatraz. Associate Warden to Paul J. Madigan from April 1959,[53] Blackwell served as warden of Alcatraz at its most difficult time from 1961 to 1963 when it was facing closure as a decaying prison with financing problems, coinciding with the timing of the infamous June 1962 escape from Alcatraz. At the time of the 1962 escape he was on vacation in Lake Berryessa in Napa County, and he didn't believe the men could have survived the waters and made it to shore.[55] Blackwell was considered to have been the least strict warden of Alcatraz, perhaps in part due to him having been a heavy drinker and smoker, nicknamed "Gypsy" and known as "Blackie" to his friends.[53] He was said to have been an excellent marksman who had earlier served as Associate Warden of Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary.

Prison life and the cells

 

An inmate register reveals that there were 1,576 prisoners in total held at Alcatraz during its time as a Federal Penitentiary, although figures reported have varied and some have stated 1557.[56][57] The prison cells, purposefully designed so that none adjoined an outside wall,[13] typically measured 9 feet (2.7 m) by 5 feet (1.5 m) and 7 feet (2.1 m) high.[58] The cells were primitive with a bed, a desk and a washbasin and toilet on the back wall and few furnishings except a blanket.[58] An air vent, measuring 6 inches (150 mm) by 9 inches (230 mm), covered by a metal grill, lay at the back of the cells which led into the utility corridors. [58] Prisoners had no privacy in going to the toilet and the toilets would emit a strong stench because they were flushed with salt water. Hot water faucets were not installed until the early 1960s, shortly before closure.[58]

 

The penitentiary established a very strict regimen of rules and regulations under the title "the Rules and Regulations for the Government and Discipline of the United States Penal and Correctional Institutions" and also a "Daily Routine of Work and Counts" to be followed by the prisoners and also the guards; copies of these were provided to the prisoners to read and follow. Inmates were basically entitled to food, clothing, shelter, and medical attention. Anything else was seen as a privilege. Inmates were given a blue shirt, grey pants (blue and white in later years[56]), cotton long underwear, socks and a blue handkerchief; the wearing of caps was forbidden in the cellhouse.[58] Cells were expected to be kept tidy and in good order. Any dangerous article found in the cells or on inmates such as money, narcotics, intoxicating substances or tools which had the potential to inflict injury or assist in an escape attempt was considered contraband and made the prisoners eligible for disciplinary action.[56] It was compulsory for prisoners to shave in their cells three times a week. Attempting to bribe, intimidate, or assault prison officers was seen as a very serious offense.[56] African-Americans were segregated from the rest in cell designation due to racial abuse being prevalent.[59] Toilet paper, matches, soap, and cleanser were issued to the cells on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and inmates could request hot water and a mop to clean their cells.[56] The bars, windows and floors of the prison were cleaned on a daily basis.[59] In earlier years there was a strict code of silence but by the 1950s this had relaxed and talking was permitted in the cellhouse and dining hall provided conversations were quiet and there was no shouting, loud talking, whistling or singing.[56]

 

Prisoners would be woken at 6:30 am, and sent to breakfast at 6:55 am. After returning to the cell, inmates then had to tidy their cell and place the waste basket outside.[56] At 7:30 am, work started in the shifts for those privileged enough to do so, punctuated by a whistle, and prisoners would have to go through a metal detector during work shifts.[39] If assigned a job, prisoners had to accept that line of work; prisoners were not permitted to have money in their possessions but earnings went into a prisoner's Trust Fund.[56] Some of the prisoners were assigned duties with the guards and foremen in the Laundry, Tailor Shop, Cobblers Shop, Model Shop etc. and in gardening and labor. Smoking, a privilege, was permitted in the workplace providing there wasn't any hazardous condition, but inmates were not permitted to smoke between the recreation yard and work. Lunch was served at 11:20 am, followed by a 30-minute rest in the cell, before returning to work until 16:15.[39] Dinner was served at 16:25 and the prisoners would then retire to their cells to be locked in for the night at 16:50, and lights went off at 21:30.[39][60] After being locked in for the night, 6 guards usually patrolled the four cell blocks.[59] Many prisoners have compared their duration at Alcatraz to hell and would have preferred death to continued incarceration.[61]

 

Alcatraz Library was located at the end of D-Block. Upon entering Alcatraz, every inmate was given a library card and a catalog of books found in the library; inmates could place orders by putting a slip with their card in a box at the entrance to the dining hall before breakfast, and the books would be delivered to and from their cell by a librarian.[62][63][60] The library, which utilized a closed-stack paging system, had a collection of 10,000 to 15,000 books, mainly left over from the army days.[64][63][60] Inmates were permitted a maximum of three books in addition to up to 12 text books, a Bible, and a dictionary.[60] They were permitted to subscribe to magazines but crime-related pages were torn out and newspapers were prohibited.[63] Sex, crime and violence were censored from all books and magazines, and the library was governed by a chaplain who regulated the censorship and the nature of the reading material to ensure that the material was wholesome.[60][64] Failure to return books by the date given made the inmate liable to removal of privileges.[60] The average prisoner read 75 to 100 books a year.[65] Every evening, inmates would generally read books loaned from the library and usually an hour or 75 minutes was allocated to the practicing of musical instruments, from the guitar to the accordion. A prison band often practiced in the dining room or auditorium above it; Al Capone famously practiced the banjo in the shower block, although most prisoners were limited to playing in their cells alone.[66]

 

Alcatraz cellhouse had a corridor naming system named after major American streets and landmarks. Michigan Avenue was the corridor to the side of A-Block, and Broadway was the central corridor in which the inmates would assemble as they massed through Times Square (an area with a clock on the wall), before entering the dining hall for their meals. Broadway separated Block-B and Block-C and prisoners kept along it had the least privacy in the prison.[67] The corridor between Block-C and the library was called Park Avenue.[67] The corridor in D-Block was named Sunset Strip. Gun galleries lay at the end of each block, including the West and

 

A-Block was never modernized, so retained its "flat strap-iron bars, key locks and spiral staircases" from the original military prison.[68] No inmates were permanently held there during the years Alcatraz was a federal penitentiary. Several inmates, however, were held briefly in A-Block before a hearing or transfer.[68] In the later years, A-Block was mainly used for storage. A law library was set up at some point, where inmates could type legal documents.[68] A small barber's shop was located at the end of A-block where inmates would have a monthly haircut.[68]

B-Block

 

Most new inmates at Alcatraz were assigned to the second tier of B-Block.[69] They had "quarantine status" for their first three months in confinement in Alcatraz, and were not permitted visitors for a minimum of 90 days.[69][70] Inmates were permitted one visitor a month, although anybody likely to cause trouble such as registered criminals were barred from visiting. Letters received by inmates were checked by prison staff first, to see if they could decipher any secret messages.[10][71] Frank Morris and his fellow escapees escaped Alcatraz during the June 1962 escape from Alcatraz by entering a utility corridor behind B-Block.[4]:120

 

D-Block gained notoriety as a "Treatment block" for some of the worst inmates, with varying degrees of punishment, including Isolation, Solitary and Strip.[72] Prisoners usually spent anywhere from 3 to 19 days in Solitary.[72] Prisoners held here would be given their meals in their cells, were not permitted to work and could only shower twice a week. After a 1939 escape attempt in which Arthur "Doc" Barker was killed, the Bureau of Prisons tightened security in the D-Block. The Birdman of Alcatraz inhabited cell 42 in D-Block in solitary confinement for 6 years.

D-Block

 

The worst cells for confinement as a punishment for inmates who stepped out of line were located at the end of D-Block in cells 9–14, known as "The Hole".[73] Inmates held in the hole were limited to just one 10-minute shower and an hour of exercise in the yard a week.[74][72] The five cells of "The Hole" had nothing but a sink and toilet and the very worst cell was nicknamed "The Oriental" or "Strip Cell", the final cell of the block with nothing but a hole in the floor as a toilet, in which prisoners would often be confined naked with nothing else for two days.[67][72] The guards controlled the flushing of the toilet in that cell.[8] After completing the punishment in the hole, the prisoner could then return to his cell but be tagged; a red tag, third grade, denoted a prisoner who was restricted from leaving his cell for perhaps 3 months.[39] At second grade the prisoners could receive letters, and if after 30 days they remained behaved, they would then be restored full prison privileges.[39]

 

Its size was approximately that of a regular cell-9 feet by 5 feet by about 7 feet high. I could just touch the ceiling by stretching out my arm ... You are stripped nude and pushed into the cell. Guards take your clothes and go over them minutely for what few grains of tobacco may have fallen into the cuffs or pockets. There is no soap. No tobacco. No toothbrush, The smell – well you can describe it only by the word 'stink.' It is like stepping into a sewer. It is nauseating. After they have searched your clothing, they throw it at you. For bedding, you get two blankets, around 5 in the evening. You have no shoes, no bed, no mattress-nothing but the four damp walls and two blankets. The walls are painted black. Once a day I got three slices of bread—no—that is an error. Some days I got four slices. I got one meal in five days, and nothing but bread in between. In the entire thirteen days I was there, I got two meals ... I have seen but one man get a bath in solitary confinement, in all the time that I have been there. That man had a bucket of cold water thrown over him.

 

Alcatraz Dining Hall, often referred to as the Mess Hall, is the dining hall where the prisoners and staff ate their meals. It is a long wing on the west end of the Main Cellhouse of Alcatraz, situated in the center of the island.[76] It is connected to the block by a corridor known as "Times Square", as it passes beneath a large clock approaching the entrance way to the dining hall.[4]:93 This wing includes the dining hall and the kitchen beyond it. On the second floor was the hospital and the auditorium, which was where movies were screened to the inmates at weekends.[77]

 

Dining hall protocol was a scripted process, including a whistle system to indicate which block and tier of men would move into and out of the hall at any given time, who sat where, where to place hands, and when to start eating.[78] Prisoners would be awakened at 6:30 am, and sent to breakfast at 6:55 am.[39] A breakfast menu is still preserved on the hallway board, dated 21 March 1963. The breakfast menu included assorted dry cereals, steamed whole wheat, a scrambled egg, milk, stewed fruit, toast, bread, and butter. Lunch was served in the dining hall at 11:20 am, followed by a 30-minute rest in the cell, before returning to work until 16:15.[39] Dinner was served at 16:25 and the prisoners would then go to their cells at 16:50 to be locked in for the night.[39] Inmates were permitted to eat as much as they liked within 20 minutes, provided they left no waste; waste would be reported and may make the prisoner subject to removal of privileges if they made a habit of it.[79][40]

 

Each dining table had benches which held up to six men, although smaller tables and chairs later replaced these which seated four.[44] All of the prison population, including the guards and officials would dine together, thus seating over 250 people.[44][80] The food served at Alcatraz was reportedly the best in the United States prison system.[79]

 

The Recreation Yard was the yard used by inmates of the prison between 1934 and 1963. It is located opposite the dining hall south of the end of D-Block, facing the mainland on a raised level surrounded by a high wall and fence above it.[81][82][83] Guard Tower #3 lay just to the west of the yard.[84] The gun gallery was situated in the yard, mounted on one of the dining hall's exterior walls.[45]

 

In 1936, the previously dirt-covered yard was paved.[85] The yard was part of the most violent escape attempt from Alcatraz in May 1946 when a group of inmates hatched a plot to obtain the key into the recreation yard, kill the tower guards, take hostages, and use them as shields to reach the dock.[86]

 

Inmates were permitted out into the yard on Saturdays and Sundays and on holidays for a maximum of 5 hours.[87][88] Inmates who worked seven days a week in the kitchen were rewarded with short yard breaks during the weekdays.[88] Badly behaved prisoners were liable to having their yard access rights taken away from them on weekends.[88] The prisoners of Alcatraz were permitted to play games such as baseball, softball and other sports at these times and intellectual games such as chess.[87] Because of the small size of the yard and the diamond at the end of it, a section of the wall behind the first base had to be padded to cushion the impact of inmates overrunning it.[89] Inmates were provided gloves, bats, and balls, but no sport uniforms. In 1938, there were four amateur teams, the Bees, Oaks, Oilers, and Seals, named after Minor League clubs, and four league teams named after Major League clubs, the Cardinals, Cubs, Giants, and Tigers.[90] Many of the inmates used weekends in the yards to converse with each other and discuss crime, the only real opportunities they had during the week for a durable conversation.[91]

 

The Warden's House is located at the northeastern end of the Main Cellblock, next to Alcatraz Lighthouse. The 3-floor 15-room mansion was built in 1921 according to the Golden Gate National Recreational Area signpost,[92] although some sources say it was built in 1926 or 1929 and had 17 or 18 rooms.[93]

 

Between 1934 and 1963, the four wardens of Alcatraz resided here, including the first warden, James A. Johnston. A house of luxury, in stark contrast to the jail next to it, the wardens often held lavish cocktail parties here.[94] The signpost at the spot shows a photograph of a trusted inmate doing chores at the house for the warden and that the house had a terraced garden and greenhouse.[92] The mansion had tall windows, providing fine views of San Francisco Bay.[93] Today, the house is a ruin, burned down by Native Americans during the

 

Building 64 Residential Apartments was the first building constructed on the island of Alcatraz, intended entirely for the purpose of accommodating the military officers and their families living on the island.[95] Located next to the dock on the southeastern side of the island, below the Warden's House,[96] the three-story apartment block was built in 1905 on the site of a U.S. Army barracks which had been there from the 1860s. It functioned as the Military Guard Barracks from 1906 until 1933. One of its largest apartments in the southwest corner was known as the "Cow Palace" and a nearby alleyway was known as "Chinatown".[95]

 

The Social Hall, also known as the Officers' Club, was a social club located on the northwestern side of the island. Located in proximity to the Power House, water tower and Former Military Chapel (Bachelor Quarters), it formerly housed the post exchange.[97] The club was a social venue for the Federal Penitentiary workers and their families on the island to unwind after a hard week's work dealing with America's most hardened criminals after they'd been locked up at 17:30.[98][99] It was burned down by Native Americans during the Occupation of Alcatraz in 1970, leaving a shell which still remains.

 

The club had a small bar, library, large dining and dance floor, billiards table, ping pong table and a two-lane bowling alley, and was the centre of social life on the island for the employees of the penitentiary.[100][101][102] It regularly hosted dinners, bingo events, and from the 1940s onwards showed movies every Sunday night after they had been shown to the inmates during the day on Saturday and Sunday.[100][4]:128 The club was responsible for organizing numerous special events on the island (held either in the hall or the Parade Grounds) and the fundraising associated with it, anything from ice cream and watermelon feasts to Halloween fancy dress and Christmas parties.[100][103]

 

The Power House is located on the northwest coast of Alcatraz Island. It was constructed in 1939 for $186,000 as part of a $1.1 million modernization scheme which also included the water tower, New Industries Building, officers quarters and remodeling of the D-block.[69] The white powerhouse smokestack and lighthouse were said to give an "appearance of a ship's mast on either side of the island".[104] A sign reading "A Warning. Keep Off. Only Government permitted within 200 yards" lay in front of the powerhouse to deter people landing on the island at the point.

 

Between 1939 and 1963, it supplied power to the Federal Penitentiary and other buildings on the island. The powerhouse had a tower duty station which was guarded with a "30-caliber Winchester rifle with 50 rounds of ammunition, a 1911 semiautomatic pistol with three seven-round magazines, three gas grenades, and a gas mask."[105]

 

The water tower is located on the northwestern side of the island, near Tower No. 3, beyond the Morgue and Recreation Yard.[106] The water tank is situated on six cross-braced steel legs submerged in concrete foundations.[dubious – discuss][107]

 

As Alcatraz had no water supply of its own, it had to import it from the mainland, brought by tug and barge.[108] During the island's military years, there were in-ground water tanks and water tanks were situated on the roof of the citadel.[109] The water tower was built in 1940–41 by the Federal Bureau of Prisons,[110] after the island received a government renovations grant to supply the majority of the island's fresh water.[109][dubious – discuss]

 

It is the tallest building on the island, at a height of 94 feet (29 m) with a volume of 250,000 US gallons (950 kL) gallons of fresh water. It was used to store potable water for drinking, water for firefighting, and water for the island's service

 

The Model Industries Building is a three/four-story building on the northwest corner of Alcatraz Island. This building was originally built by the U.S. military and was used as a laundry building until the New Industries Building was built as part of a redevelopment program on Alcatraz in 1939 when it was a federal penitentiary. As part of the Alcatraz jail, it held workshops for inmates to work in.[112]

Inmates working in the sewing room

 

On 10 January 1935, the building shifted to within 2.5 feet from the edge of the cliff following a landslide caused by a severe storm. The warden at the time, James A. Johnston, proposed extend the seawall next to it and asked the Bureau for $6500 to fund it; he would later claim to dislike the building because it was irregularly shaped.[69] A smaller, cheaper riprap was completed by the end of 1935. A guard tower and a catwalk from Hill Tower was added to the roof of the Industries Building in June 1936 and the building was made secure with bars from old cells to bar the windows and grill the roof ventilators and to prevent inmates from escaping from the roof.[69] It ceased use as a laundry in 1939 when it was moved to the upper floor of the New Industries Building. Today the building is heavily rusted after decades of exposure to the salt air and wind, and neither the guard tower on top of the building nor the Hill Tower still exist.

 

The New Industries Building was constructed in 1939 for $186,000 as part of a $1.1 million modernization scheme which also included the water tower, power house, officers' quarters and remodeling of the D-block.[8]

 

The ground floor of the two-story 306 ft long building contained a clothing factory, dry cleaning plant, furniture plant, brush factory, and an office, where prisoners of the federal penitentiary could work for money.[8] They earned a small wage for their labour which was put into an account, known as a Prisoner's Trust Fund, which would be given to them upon leaving Alcatraz.[113] They made items such as gloves, furniture mats, and army uniforms.[112] The laundry room occupied the entire upper floor, the largest in San Francisco at the time.[8][112] Each window has 9 panes and there are 17 bays on each floor on either side.

 

Arthur Barker.jpg Arthur R. Barker ("Doc") #268 1935–39 Arthur Barker (4 June 1899 – 13 January 1939) was the son of Ma Barker and a member of the Barker-Karpis gang along with Alvin Karpis. In 1935, Barker was sent to Alcatraz Island on conspiracy to kidnap charges. On the night of 13 January 1939, Barker with Henri Young and Rufus McCain attempted escape from Alcatraz. Barker was shot and killed by the guards.[114]

Acaponeh.jpg Alphonse "Al" Gabriel Capone ("Scarface") #85 1934–39 When Al Capone (17 January 1899 – 25 January 1947) arrived on Alcatraz in 1934, prison officials made it clear that he would not be receiving any preferential treatment. While serving his time in Atlanta Federal Penitentiary, Capone, a master manipulator, had continued running his rackets from behind bars by buying off guards.[38] Capone generated major media attention while on Alcatraz, though he served just four and a half years of his sentence there[38] before developing symptoms of tertiary syphilis and poor mental health before being transferred to the Federal Correctional Institution at Terminal Island in Los Angeles in 1938. He tried his best to seek favors from warden Johnston, but failed, and was given work in the prison performing numerous menial jobs. Capone was involved in many fights with fellow prisoners, including one with an inmate who held a blade to his throat in the prison barbershop after Capone attempted to jump the queue. He was released from jail in November 1939 and lived in Miami until his death in 1947 at 48 years of age.[38][115]

Mickey Cohen.jpg Meyer Harris Cohen ("Mickey") #1518 1961–63 Mickey Cohen (4 September 1913 – 29 July 1976) worked for the Mafia's gambling rackets; he was convicted of tax evasion and sentenced to 15 years in Alcatraz Island.[116] He was transferred to the United States Penitentiary in Atlanta shortly before Alcatraz closed permanently on 21 March 1963. While at Atlanta, on 14 August 1963, fellow inmate Burl Estes McDonald clobbered[117] Cohen with a lead pipe, partially paralyzing the mobster. After his release in 1972, Cohen led a quiet life with old friends.[118]

BumpyJohnsonAlcatrazPrisonCropped.jpg Ellsworth Raymond Johnson ("Bumpy") #1117 1954–63 "Bumpy" Johnson (31 October 1905 – 7 July 1968), referred to as the "Godfather of Harlem", was an African-American gangster, numbers operator, racketeer, and bootlegger in Harlem in the early 20th century. He was sent to Alcatraz in 1954 and was imprisoned until 1963. He was believed to have been involved in the 1962 escape attempt of Frank Morris, John and Clarence Anglin.[119]

Alvin Karpis.jpg Alvin Francis Karpavicz ("Creepy Karpis") #325 1936–62 Alvin Karpis (10 August 1907 – 26 August 1979) was Canadian, of Lithuanian descent. He was nicknamed "Creepy" for his sinister smile and called "Ray" by his gang members. He was known for being one of the three leaders of the Ma Barker-Karpis gang in the 1930s; the other two leaders were Fred and Doc Barker of the Ma Barker Gang. He was the only "Public Enemy #1" to be taken personally by J. Edgar Hoover. There were only four "public enemies" ever given the title of "Public Enemy #1" by the FBI. The other three, John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, and Baby Face Nelson, were all killed before being captured.[120] He also spent the longest time as a federal prisoner in Alcatraz Prison at 26 years. Karpis was credited with ten murders and six kidnappings apart from bank robbery. He was deported to Canada in 1971 and died in Spain in 1979.[115][121][122]

MachineGunKelly.jpg George Kelly Barnes ("Machine Gun Kelly") #117 1934–51 "Machine Gun Kelly" (18 July 1895 – 18 July 1954) arrived on 4 September 1934. At Alcatraz, Kelly was constantly boasting about several robberies and murders that he had never committed.[123] Although his boasts were said to be tiresome to other prisoners, Warden Johnson considered him a model inmate. Inmate #139, Harvey Bailey was his partner. Kelly was returned to Leavenworth in 1951.

Robert Garcia visiting Rafael Cancel Miranda.jpg Rafael Cancel Miranda #1163 1954–60 In July 1954, Rafael Cancel Miranda (18 July 1930 – 2 March 2020) was sent to Alcatraz, where he served six years of his sentence. At Alcatraz he was a model prisoner,[3] where he worked in the brush factory and served as an altar boy at Catholic services. His closest friends were fellow Puerto Ricans Emerito Vasquez and Hiram Crespo-Crespo. They spoke Spanish and watched out for each other. On the recreation yard he often played chess with "Bumpy" Johnson.[3] He also befriended Morton Sobell; they developed a friendship that lasts to this day.[3]

 

His family made trips to San Francisco to visit him, but he wasn't allowed to see his children. His wife was allowed to talk to him through a glass in the visiting room, using a phone. They were not allowed to speak in Spanish and had to speak in English.[124] He was transferred to Leavenworth in 1960.

RobertStroud.jpg Robert Franklin Stroud ("Birdman of Alcatraz") #594 1942–59 Robert Stroud, who was better known to the public as the Birdman of Alcatraz (28 January 1890 – 21 November 1963), was transferred to Alcatraz in 1942. At a young age he took to pimping and was involved in a murder during a drunken brawl. After terms in McNeil Island and Leavenworth Federal Prison, where he had killed Officer Andrew Turner, he was transferred to Alcatraz, with his sentence extended.

 

A self-taught ornithologist, he wrote several books. His Digest on the Diseases of Birds is considered a classic in Ornithology. He was confined to D-Block in solitary confinement for most of his duration in Alcatraz.[125] and after a term in the prison hospital, was transferred to the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri, due to seriously detioriating health.[6] Although he was given the name "The Birdman of Alcatraz", he was not permitted to keep birds in his prison cell at Alcatraz, as he had at Leavenworth, because it was prohibited. He died in 1963.[6][24][126][127]

 

The Native Americans mentioned the evil spirits they purportedly encountered on the island long before it became a military prison.[128] Mark Twain visited it, found the atmosphere of the island eerie, and described it as "being as cold as winter, even in the summer months."[129] The alleged haunting of the prison has been documented in numerous paranormal television series.[130]

"The Law was given by Moses, prophecy by Elijah: they were seen in majesty, shining with the Lord on the mountain."

– Lauds antiphon for the feast of the Transfiguration.

 

My sermon for today's feast of the Lord's Transfiguration can be read here.

 

Bas relief tableau of the Transfiguration from the Franciscan Monastery in Washington DC.

Given my dirty soles a break from the hot pavement

The Florida East Coast Hotel Company selected the architectural firm Schultze and Weaver, which later designed the Waldorf-Astoria, Pierre, and Sherry Netherlands hotels in New York City, to rebuild The Breakers. During an earlier trip to Rome, Leonard Schultze had admired the Villa Medici (1575) and decided to use this building, Italian Renaissance in design, as the architectural inspiration for The Breakers facade.

 

On December 4, 1925, the New York City-based Turner Construction Company signed a contract to build the new seven-story Breakers. Construction began in January 1926. More than 1,200 construction workers labored around the clock, while 72 artisans from Italy completed the magnificent paintings on the lobby ceilings. The immense structure was completed for $7 million in a scant 11½ months and opened on December 29, 1926, just in time for the start of the Palm Beach season.

 

Exceeding everyone's expectations, the hotel opened showcasing a 200-foot-long main lobby with an arched, hand-painted ceiling; a vast Florentine Dining Room, richly decorated with a beamed ceiling modeled after the Palazzo Davanzati (ca. 1400) in Florence; magnificent North and South Loggias; and shaded terraces and landscaped patios.

 

Far grander than its predecessor, The Breakers was more than America's greatest winter resort, it was an unrivaled masterpiece. The Architectural Forum praised The Breakers as “without doubt one of the most magnificent, successful examples of a palatial winter resort hotel,” (May 1927). The president of Turner Construction Company reported soon after the opening, “Those who know, say it is the finest resort hotel in America, and it is not likely that the circumstances of ownership, time, and place will produce its counterpart in years to come.”

 

Now in its second century, The Breakers continues the tradition of excellence started by Henry Morrison Flagler. Today it remains one of the few, privately-owned resorts independent of chain affiliation. The heirs to the original ownership have successfully maintained and revitalized the hotel, keeping with the Flagler tradition and spending millions on renewal and expansion. With their commitment, capital expenditures averaging $30 million a year continue to be reinvested, ensuring The Breakers remains energized and alluring to future generations.

 

Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:

www.thebreakers.com/about/look-back/

www.thebreakers.com/

pbcpao.gov/Property/Details?parcelId=50434322240060000

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Breakers_(hotel)

 

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