A surprise and a gamble

I’m not usually an “assortment” person. For instance, I know I only want the licorice jelly beans, so why would I buy a bag with multiple flavors. Although, I must admit, my preference works in my favor because licorice is usually all that’s left after a bowl of jelly beans has been sitting a few days.

I ordered a four-pack of novelty suspender tights in February and lost the nerve to wear them. In the meantime, I forgot what they looked like. This is the second pair I’ve tried in recent weeks (the ootd pics with the first pair were too scandalous to publish) and I like the surprise of discovering the pattern as I put them on. I’m wearing this pair backwards from the model’s picture, but I think I’ve got it right and she’s got it turned around. So far, this assortment has been a big hit at tango. (Especially the unpublished outfit. I know. I’m a tease.)

Dress, H&M (thrifted). Tights, TGD. Earrings, Green Tree Jewelry.

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So this Bill guy. He's from this alternate reality. He's from Aim. Aim sucks. Hydra rules! Hail Hydra! Anyways, he totally sucks! Like he is the complete opposite of me. For instance.

"Yo, what's your favorite rock band?"

"Rock? I like rap, man."

Rap? Really? Rock is where it's at, Bill. Such an idiot.

"What's your favorite tv show?"

"Tv is for morons."

"You're for morons."

"My point proven."

"Favorite movie?"

"The Twilight films."

Are you freaking kidding me? This dude, man! He's so stupid. Honestly I wouldn't mind if he died. I wouldn't mind killing him either. Like seriously.

"Favorite superhero?"

"BIrdman."

"Dude, Pinkman could kick his butt anytime."

"Birdman!"

"Pinkman!"

"Bird!"

"Pink!"

"B(ee)!"

"P(ee)!"

"B(uh)!"

"P(uh)!

I'm gonna kill 'im!

"Hey, there's that Grasshopper dude."

Bill elbows me in the stomach and begins a full on sprint towards the Grasshopper. What the heck man? I catch my breath and begin chasing down Bill and the Grasshopper. With the Grasshopper's mechanical prosthetic's he is able to jump over obstacles much quicker then Bill or I can. With this advantage he was able to jump over a security fence. Bill stops in his tracks and doesn't make an effort to even try to jump over the fence.

"What the heck man? You were right behind him! You could've jumped that fence and caught him!"

"I'm sorry, the dude's a no-class villain. He'll end up getting caught by the cops."

"How do you know?"

"Trust me, on my world, he always does."

"Just because on your world he does, doesn't mean he does here. You're just being freaking lazy."

"Dude calm down. It's just the Grasshopper."

I rear back and punch him straight in the nose. He quickly grabs his nose to stop the blood from flowing out.

"The heck dude?"

"Next time I won't stop there."

"Whatever dude. Let's go find Lady Deadpool and Deadpool."

I love going to the flea market to find old used stuff...but I recently realized that you find really unique people; almost a different breed. For instance the old wooly man who politely posed. But the younger guy in the background is unique in his own right with the "Chucky" Shirt...who wears that!

One of those instances where the practise turns out far better than the shot you actually camp for (Trident 472). Oh well, this means I have a shot of the 486 at least.

E243 motors down the Millennium Busway, with a 161, 108 and 132(?) in the background.

canarywharf.com/arts-events/exhibitions/winter-lights-can...

Another instance in which I reflect on certain shots that I wished that I caught in monochrome. So I dig 'em up and edit like so.

Colosseum

Following, a text, in english, from the Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia:

The Colosseum, or the Coliseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre (Latin: Amphitheatrum Flavium, Italian Anfiteatro Flavio or Colosseo), is an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire. It is considered one of the greatest works of Roman architecture and Roman engineering.

Occupying a site just east of the Roman Forum, its construction started between 70 and 72 AD[1] under the emperor Vespasian and was completed in 80 AD under Titus,[2] with further modifications being made during Domitian's reign (81–96).[3] The name "Amphitheatrum Flavium" derives from both Vespasian's and Titus's family name (Flavius, from the gens Flavia).

Capable of seating 50,000 spectators,[1][4][5] the Colosseum was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles such as mock sea battles, animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on Classical mythology. The building ceased to be used for entertainment in the early medieval era. It was later reused for such purposes as housing, workshops, quarters for a religious order, a fortress, a quarry, and a Christian shrine.

Although in the 21st century it stays partially ruined because of damage caused by devastating earthquakes and stone-robbers, the Colosseum is an iconic symbol of Imperial Rome. It is one of Rome's most popular tourist attractions and still has close connections with the Roman Catholic Church, as each Good Friday the Pope leads a torchlit "Way of the Cross" procession that starts in the area around the Colosseum.[6]

The Colosseum is also depicted on the Italian version of the five-cent euro coin.

The Colosseum's original Latin name was Amphitheatrum Flavium, often anglicized as Flavian Amphitheater. The building was constructed by emperors of the Flavian dynasty, hence its original name, after the reign of Emperor Nero.[7] This name is still used in modern English, but generally the structure is better known as the Colosseum. In antiquity, Romans may have referred to the Colosseum by the unofficial name Amphitheatrum Caesareum; this name could have been strictly poetic.[8][9] This name was not exclusive to the Colosseum; Vespasian and Titus, builders of the Colosseum, also constructed an amphitheater of the same name in Puteoli (modern Pozzuoli).[10]

The name Colosseum has long been believed to be derived from a colossal statue of Nero nearby.[3] (the statue of Nero itself being named after one of the original ancient wonders, the Colossus of Rhodes[citation needed]. This statue was later remodeled by Nero's successors into the likeness of Helios (Sol) or Apollo, the sun god, by adding the appropriate solar crown. Nero's head was also replaced several times with the heads of succeeding emperors. Despite its pagan links, the statue remained standing well into the medieval era and was credited with magical powers. It came to be seen as an iconic symbol of the permanence of Rome.

In the 8th century, a famous epigram attributed to the Venerable Bede celebrated the symbolic significance of the statue in a prophecy that is variously quoted: Quamdiu stat Colisæus, stat et Roma; quando cadet colisæus, cadet et Roma; quando cadet Roma, cadet et mundus ("as long as the Colossus stands, so shall Rome; when the Colossus falls, Rome shall fall; when Rome falls, so falls the world").[11] This is often mistranslated to refer to the Colosseum rather than the Colossus (as in, for instance, Byron's poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage). However, at the time that the Pseudo-Bede wrote, the masculine noun coliseus was applied to the statue rather than to what was still known as the Flavian amphitheatre.

The Colossus did eventually fall, possibly being pulled down to reuse its bronze. By the year 1000 the name "Colosseum" had been coined to refer to the amphitheatre. The statue itself was largely forgotten and only its base survives, situated between the Colosseum and the nearby Temple of Venus and Roma.[12]

The name further evolved to Coliseum during the Middle Ages. In Italy, the amphitheatre is still known as il Colosseo, and other Romance languages have come to use similar forms such as le Colisée (French), el Coliseo (Spanish) and o Coliseu (Portuguese).

Construction of the Colosseum began under the rule of the Emperor Vespasian[3] in around 70–72AD. The site chosen was a flat area on the floor of a low valley between the Caelian, Esquiline and Palatine Hills, through which a canalised stream ran. By the 2nd century BC the area was densely inhabited. It was devastated by the Great Fire of Rome in AD 64, following which Nero seized much of the area to add to his personal domain. He built the grandiose Domus Aurea on the site, in front of which he created an artificial lake surrounded by pavilions, gardens and porticoes. The existing Aqua Claudia aqueduct was extended to supply water to the area and the gigantic bronze Colossus of Nero was set up nearby at the entrance to the Domus Aurea.[12]

Although the Colossus was preserved, much of the Domus Aurea was torn down. The lake was filled in and the land reused as the location for the new Flavian Amphitheatre. Gladiatorial schools and other support buildings were constructed nearby within the former grounds of the Domus Aurea. According to a reconstructed inscription found on the site, "the emperor Vespasian ordered this new amphitheatre to be erected from his general's share of the booty." This is thought to refer to the vast quantity of treasure seized by the Romans following their victory in the Great Jewish Revolt in 70AD. The Colosseum can be thus interpreted as a great triumphal monument built in the Roman tradition of celebrating great victories[12], placating the Roman people instead of returning soldiers. Vespasian's decision to build the Colosseum on the site of Nero's lake can also be seen as a populist gesture of returning to the people an area of the city which Nero had appropriated for his own use. In contrast to many other amphitheatres, which were located on the outskirts of a city, the Colosseum was constructed in the city centre; in effect, placing it both literally and symbolically at the heart of Rome.

The Colosseum had been completed up to the third story by the time of Vespasian's death in 79. The top level was finished and the building inaugurated by his son, Titus, in 80.[3] Dio Cassius recounts that over 9,000 wild animals were killed during the inaugural games of the amphitheatre. The building was remodelled further under Vespasian's younger son, the newly designated Emperor Domitian, who constructed the hypogeum, a series of underground tunnels used to house animals and slaves. He also added a gallery to the top of the Colosseum to increase its seating capacity.

In 217, the Colosseum was badly damaged by a major fire (caused by lightning, according to Dio Cassius[13]) which destroyed the wooden upper levels of the amphitheatre's interior. It was not fully repaired until about 240 and underwent further repairs in 250 or 252 and again in 320. An inscription records the restoration of various parts of the Colosseum under Theodosius II and Valentinian III (reigned 425–455), possibly to repair damage caused by a major earthquake in 443; more work followed in 484[14] and 508. The arena continued to be used for contests well into the 6th century, with gladiatorial fights last mentioned around 435. Animal hunts continued until at least 523, when Anicius Maximus celebrated his consulship with some venationes, criticised by King Theodoric the Great for their high cost.

The Colosseum underwent several radical changes of use during the medieval period. By the late 6th century a small church had been built into the structure of the amphitheatre, though this apparently did not confer any particular religious significance on the building as a whole. The arena was converted into a cemetery. The numerous vaulted spaces in the arcades under the seating were converted into housing and workshops, and are recorded as still being rented out as late as the 12th century. Around 1200 the Frangipani family took over the Colosseum and fortified it, apparently using it as a castle.

Severe damage was inflicted on the Colosseum by the great earthquake in 1349, causing the outer south side, lying on a less stable alluvional terrain, to collapse. Much of the tumbled stone was reused to build palaces, churches, hospitals and other buildings elsewhere in Rome. A religious order moved into the northern third of the Colosseum in the mid-14th century and continued to inhabit it until as late as the early 19th century. The interior of the amphitheatre was extensively stripped of stone, which was reused elsewhere, or (in the case of the marble façade) was burned to make quicklime.[12] The bronze clamps which held the stonework together were pried or hacked out of the walls, leaving numerous pockmarks which still scar the building today.

During the 16th and 17th century, Church officials sought a productive role for the vast derelict hulk of the Colosseum. Pope Sixtus V (1585–1590) planned to turn the building into a wool factory to provide employment for Rome's prostitutes, though this proposal fell through with his premature death.[15] In 1671 Cardinal Altieri authorized its use for bullfights; a public outcry caused the idea to be hastily abandoned.

In 1749, Pope Benedict XIV endorsed as official Church policy the view that the Colosseum was a sacred site where early Christians had been martyred. He forbade the use of the Colosseum as a quarry and consecrated the building to the Passion of Christ and installed Stations of the Cross, declaring it sanctified by the blood of the Christian martyrs who perished there (see Christians and the Colosseum). However there is no historical evidence to support Benedict's claim, nor is there even any evidence that anyone prior to the 16th century suggested this might be the case; the Catholic Encyclopedia concludes that there are no historical grounds for the supposition. Later popes initiated various stabilization and restoration projects, removing the extensive vegetation which had overgrown the structure and threatened to damage it further. The façade was reinforced with triangular brick wedges in 1807 and 1827, and the interior was repaired in 1831, 1846 and in the 1930s. The arena substructure was partly excavated in 1810–1814 and 1874 and was fully exposed under Benito Mussolini in the 1930s.

The Colosseum is today one of Rome's most popular tourist attractions, receiving millions of visitors annually. The effects of pollution and general deterioration over time prompted a major restoration programme carried out between 1993 and 2000, at a cost of 40 billion Italian lire ($19.3m / €20.6m at 2000 prices). In recent years it has become a symbol of the international campaign against capital punishment, which was abolished in Italy in 1948. Several anti–death penalty demonstrations took place in front of the Colosseum in 2000. Since that time, as a gesture against the death penalty, the local authorities of Rome change the color of the Colosseum's night time illumination from white to gold whenever a person condemned to the death penalty anywhere in the world gets their sentence commuted or is released,[16] or if a jurisdiction abolishes the death penalty. Most recently, the Colosseum was illuminated in gold when capital punishment was abolished in the American state of New Mexico in April 2009.

Because of the ruined state of the interior, it is impractical to use the Colosseum to host large events; only a few hundred spectators can be accommodated in temporary seating. However, much larger concerts have been held just outside, using the Colosseum as a backdrop. Performers who have played at the Colosseum in recent years have included Ray Charles (May 2002),[18] Paul McCartney (May 2003),[19] Elton John (September 2005),[20] and Billy Joel (July 2006).

Exterior

Unlike earlier Greek theatres that were built into hillsides, the Colosseum is an entirely free-standing structure. It derives its basic exterior and interior architecture from that of two Roman theatres back to back. It is elliptical in plan and is 189 meters (615 ft / 640 Roman feet) long, and 156 meters (510 ft / 528 Roman feet) wide, with a base area of 6 acres (24,000 m2). The height of the outer wall is 48 meters (157 ft / 165 Roman feet). The perimeter originally measured 545 meters (1,788 ft / 1,835 Roman feet). The central arena is an oval 87 m (287 ft) long and 55 m (180 ft) wide, surrounded by a wall 5 m (15 ft) high, above which rose tiers of seating.

The outer wall is estimated to have required over 100,000 cubic meters (131,000 cu yd) of travertine stone which were set without mortar held together by 300 tons of iron clamps.[12] However, it has suffered extensive damage over the centuries, with large segments having collapsed following earthquakes. The north side of the perimeter wall is still standing; the distinctive triangular brick wedges at each end are modern additions, having been constructed in the early 19th century to shore up the wall. The remainder of the present-day exterior of the Colosseum is in fact the original interior wall.

The surviving part of the outer wall's monumental façade comprises three stories of superimposed arcades surmounted by a podium on which stands a tall attic, both of which are pierced by windows interspersed at regular intervals. The arcades are framed by half-columns of the Tuscan, Ionic, and Corinthian orders, while the attic is decorated with Corinthian pilasters.[21] Each of the arches in the second- and third-floor arcades framed statues, probably honoring divinities and other figures from Classical mythology.

Two hundred and forty mast corbels were positioned around the top of the attic. They originally supported a retractable awning, known as the velarium, that kept the sun and rain off spectators. This consisted of a canvas-covered, net-like structure made of ropes, with a hole in the center.[3] It covered two-thirds of the arena, and sloped down towards the center to catch the wind and provide a breeze for the audience. Sailors, specially enlisted from the Roman naval headquarters at Misenum and housed in the nearby Castra Misenatium, were used to work the velarium.[22]

The Colosseum's huge crowd capacity made it essential that the venue could be filled or evacuated quickly. Its architects adopted solutions very similar to those used in modern stadiums to deal with the same problem. The amphitheatre was ringed by eighty entrances at ground level, 76 of which were used by ordinary spectators.[3] Each entrance and exit was numbered, as was each staircase. The northern main entrance was reserved for the Roman Emperor and his aides, whilst the other three axial entrances were most likely used by the elite. All four axial entrances were richly decorated with painted stucco reliefs, of which fragments survive. Many of the original outer entrances have disappeared with the collapse of the perimeter wall, but entrances XXIII (23) to LIV (54) still survive.[12]

Spectators were given tickets in the form of numbered pottery shards, which directed them to the appropriate section and row. They accessed their seats via vomitoria (singular vomitorium), passageways that opened into a tier of seats from below or behind. These quickly dispersed people into their seats and, upon conclusion of the event or in an emergency evacuation, could permit their exit within only a few minutes. The name vomitoria derived from the Latin word for a rapid discharge, from which English derives the word vomit.

Interior

According to the Codex-Calendar of 354, the Colosseum could accommodate 87,000 people, although modern estimates put the figure at around 50,000. They were seated in a tiered arrangement that reflected the rigidly stratified nature of Roman society. Special boxes were provided at the north and south ends respectively for the Emperor and the Vestal Virgins, providing the best views of the arena. Flanking them at the same level was a broad platform or podium for the senatorial class, who were allowed to bring their own chairs. The names of some 5th century senators can still be seen carved into the stonework, presumably reserving areas for their use.

The tier above the senators, known as the maenianum primum, was occupied by the non-senatorial noble class or knights (equites). The next level up, the maenianum secundum, was originally reserved for ordinary Roman citizens (plebians) and was divided into two sections. The lower part (the immum) was for wealthy citizens, while the upper part (the summum) was for poor citizens. Specific sectors were provided for other social groups: for instance, boys with their tutors, soldiers on leave, foreign dignitaries, scribes, heralds, priests and so on. Stone (and later marble) seating was provided for the citizens and nobles, who presumably would have brought their own cushions with them. Inscriptions identified the areas reserved for specific groups.

Another level, the maenianum secundum in legneis, was added at the very top of the building during the reign of Domitian. This comprised a gallery for the common poor, slaves and women. It would have been either standing room only, or would have had very steep wooden benches. Some groups were banned altogether from the Colosseum, notably gravediggers, actors and former gladiators.

Each tier was divided into sections (maeniana) by curved passages and low walls (praecinctiones or baltei), and were subdivided into cunei, or wedges, by the steps and aisles from the vomitoria. Each row (gradus) of seats was numbered, permitting each individual seat to be exactly designated by its gradus, cuneus, and number.

The arena itself was 83 meters by 48 meters (272 ft by 157 ft / 280 by 163 Roman feet).[12] It comprised a wooden floor covered by sand (the Latin word for sand is harena or arena), covering an elaborate underground structure called the hypogeum (literally meaning "underground"). Little now remains of the original arena floor, but the hypogeum is still clearly visible. It consisted of a two-level subterranean network of tunnels and cages beneath the arena where gladiators and animals were held before contests began. Eighty vertical shafts provided instant access to the arena for caged animals and scenery pieces concealed underneath; larger hinged platforms, called hegmata, provided access for elephants and the like. It was restructured on numerous occasions; at least twelve different phases of construction can be seen.[12]

The hypogeum was connected by underground tunnels to a number of points outside the Colosseum. Animals and performers were brought through the tunnel from nearby stables, with the gladiators' barracks at the Ludus Magnus to the east also being connected by tunnels. Separate tunnels were provided for the Emperor and the Vestal Virgins to permit them to enter and exit the Colosseum without needing to pass through the crowds.[12]

Substantial quantities of machinery also existed in the hypogeum. Elevators and pulleys raised and lowered scenery and props, as well as lifting caged animals to the surface for release. There is evidence for the existence of major hydraulic mechanisms[12] and according to ancient accounts, it was possible to flood the arena rapidly, presumably via a connection to a nearby aqueduct.

The Colosseum and its activities supported a substantial industry in the area. In addition to the amphitheatre itself, many other buildings nearby were linked to the games. Immediately to the east is the remains of the Ludus Magnus, a training school for gladiators. This was connected to the Colosseum by an underground passage, to allow easy access for the gladiators. The Ludus Magnus had its own miniature training arena, which was itself a popular attraction for Roman spectators. Other training schools were in the same area, including the Ludus Matutinus (Morning School), where fighters of animals were trained, plus the Dacian and Gallic Schools.

Also nearby were the Armamentarium, comprising an armory to store weapons; the Summum Choragium, where machinery was stored; the Sanitarium, which had facilities to treat wounded gladiators; and the Spoliarium, where bodies of dead gladiators were stripped of their armor and disposed of.

Around the perimeter of the Colosseum, at a distance of 18 m (59 ft) from the perimeter, was a series of tall stone posts, with five remaining on the eastern side. Various explanations have been advanced for their presence; they may have been a religious boundary, or an outer boundary for ticket checks, or an anchor for the velarium or awning.

Right next to the Colosseum is also the Arch of Constantine.

he Colosseum was used to host gladiatorial shows as well as a variety of other events. The shows, called munera, were always given by private individuals rather than the state. They had a strong religious element but were also demonstrations of power and family prestige, and were immensely popular with the population. Another popular type of show was the animal hunt, or venatio. This utilized a great variety of wild beasts, mainly imported from Africa and the Middle East, and included creatures such as rhinoceros, hippopotamuses, elephants, giraffes, aurochs, wisents, barbary lions, panthers, leopards, bears, caspian tigers, crocodiles and ostriches. Battles and hunts were often staged amid elaborate sets with movable trees and buildings. Such events were occasionally on a huge scale; Trajan is said to have celebrated his victories in Dacia in 107 with contests involving 11,000 animals and 10,000 gladiators over the course of 123 days.

During the early days of the Colosseum, ancient writers recorded that the building was used for naumachiae (more properly known as navalia proelia) or simulated sea battles. Accounts of the inaugural games held by Titus in AD 80 describe it being filled with water for a display of specially trained swimming horses and bulls. There is also an account of a re-enactment of a famous sea battle between the Corcyrean (Corfiot) Greeks and the Corinthians. This has been the subject of some debate among historians; although providing the water would not have been a problem, it is unclear how the arena could have been waterproofed, nor would there have been enough space in the arena for the warships to move around. It has been suggested that the reports either have the location wrong, or that the Colosseum originally featured a wide floodable channel down its central axis (which would later have been replaced by the hypogeum).[12]

Sylvae or recreations of natural scenes were also held in the arena. Painters, technicians and architects would construct a simulation of a forest with real trees and bushes planted in the arena's floor. Animals would be introduced to populate the scene for the delight of the crowd. Such scenes might be used simply to display a natural environment for the urban population, or could otherwise be used as the backdrop for hunts or dramas depicting episodes from mythology. They were also occasionally used for executions in which the hero of the story — played by a condemned person — was killed in one of various gruesome but mythologically authentic ways, such as being mauled by beasts or burned to death.

The Colosseum today is now a major tourist attraction in Rome with thousands of tourists each year paying to view the interior arena, though entrance for EU citizens is partially subsidised, and under-18 and over-65 EU citizens' entrances are free.[24] There is now a museum dedicated to Eros located in the upper floor of the outer wall of the building. Part of the arena floor has been re-floored. Beneath the Colosseum, a network of subterranean passageways once used to transport wild animals and gladiators to the arena opened to the public in summer 2010.[25]

The Colosseum is also the site of Roman Catholic ceremonies in the 20th and 21st centuries. For instance, Pope Benedict XVI leads the Stations of the Cross called the Scriptural Way of the Cross (which calls for more meditation) at the Colosseum[26][27] on Good Fridays.

In the Middle Ages, the Colosseum was clearly not regarded as a sacred site. Its use as a fortress and then a quarry demonstrates how little spiritual importance was attached to it, at a time when sites associated with martyrs were highly venerated. It was not included in the itineraries compiled for the use of pilgrims nor in works such as the 12th century Mirabilia Urbis Romae ("Marvels of the City of Rome"), which claims the Circus Flaminius — but not the Colosseum — as the site of martyrdoms. Part of the structure was inhabited by a Christian order, but apparently not for any particular religious reason.

It appears to have been only in the 16th and 17th centuries that the Colosseum came to be regarded as a Christian site. Pope Pius V (1566–1572) is said to have recommended that pilgrims gather sand from the arena of the Colosseum to serve as a relic, on the grounds that it was impregnated with the blood of martyrs. This seems to have been a minority view until it was popularised nearly a century later by Fioravante Martinelli, who listed the Colosseum at the head of a list of places sacred to the martyrs in his 1653 book Roma ex ethnica sacra.

Martinelli's book evidently had an effect on public opinion; in response to Cardinal Altieri's proposal some years later to turn the Colosseum into a bullring, Carlo Tomassi published a pamphlet in protest against what he regarded as an act of desecration. The ensuing controversy persuaded Pope Clement X to close the Colosseum's external arcades and declare it a sanctuary, though quarrying continued for some time.

At the instance of St. Leonard of Port Maurice, Pope Benedict XIV (1740–1758) forbade the quarrying of the Colosseum and erected Stations of the Cross around the arena, which remained until February 1874. St. Benedict Joseph Labre spent the later years of his life within the walls of the Colosseum, living on alms, prior to his death in 1783. Several 19th century popes funded repair and restoration work on the Colosseum, and it still retains a Christian connection today. Crosses stand in several points around the arena and every Good Friday the Pope leads a Via Crucis procession to the amphitheatre.

Coliseu (Colosseo)

A seguir, um texto, em português, da Wikipédia, a enciclopédia livre:

O Coliseu, também conhecido como Anfiteatro Flaviano, deve seu nome à expressão latina Colosseum (ou Coliseus, no latim tardio), devido à estátua colossal de Nero, que ficava perto a edificação. Localizado no centro de Roma, é uma excepção de entre os anfiteatros pelo seu volume e relevo arquitectónico. Originalmente capaz de albergar perto de 50 000 pessoas, e com 48 metros de altura, era usado para variados espetáculos. Foi construído a leste do fórum romano e demorou entre 8 a 10 anos a ser construído.

O Coliseu foi utilizado durante aproximadamente 500 anos, tendo sido o último registro efetuado no século VI da nossa era, bastante depois da queda de Roma em 476. O edifício deixou de ser usado para entretenimento no começo da era medieval, mas foi mais tarde usado como habitação, oficina, forte, pedreira, sede de ordens religiosas e templo cristão.

Embora esteja agora em ruínas devido a terremotos e pilhagens, o Coliseu sempre foi visto como símbolo do Império Romano, sendo um dos melhores exemplos da sua arquitectura. Actualmente é uma das maiores atrações turísticas em Roma e em 7 de julho de 2007 foi eleita umas das "Sete maravilhas do mundo moderno". Além disso, o Coliseu ainda tem ligações à igreja, com o Papa a liderar a procissão da Via Sacra até ao Coliseu todas as Sextas-feiras Santas.

O coliseu era um local onde seriam exibidos toda uma série de espectáculos, inseridos nos vários tipos de jogos realizados na urbe. Os combates entre gladiadores, chamados muneras, eram sempre pagos por pessoas individuais em busca de prestígio e poder em vez do estado. A arena (87,5 m por 55 m) possuía um piso de madeira, normalmente coberto de areia para absorver o sangue dos combates (certa vez foi colocada água na representação de uma batalha naval), sob o qual existia um nível subterrâneo com celas e jaulas que tinham acessos diretos para a arena; Alguns detalhes dessa construção, como a cobertura removível que poupava os espectadores do sol, são bastante interessantes, e mostram o refinamento atingido pelos construtores romanos. Formado por cinco anéis concêntricos de arcos e abóbadas, o Coliseu representa bem o avanço introduzido pelos romanos à engenharia de estruturas. Esses arcos são de concreto (de cimento natural) revestidos por alvenaria. Na verdade, a alvenaria era construída simultaneamente e já servia de forma para a concretagem. Outro tipo de espetáculos era a caça de animais, ou venatio, onde eram utilizados animais selvagens importados de África. Os animais mais utilizados eram os grandes felinos como leões, leopardos e panteras, mas animais como rinocerontes, hipopótamos, elefantes, girafas, crocodilos e avestruzes eram também utilizados. As caçadas, tal como as representações de batalhas famosas, eram efetuadas em elaborados cenários onde constavam árvores e edifícios amovíveis.

Estas últimas eram por vezes representadas numa escala gigante; Trajano celebrou a sua vitória em Dácia no ano 107 com concursos envolvendo 11 000 animais e 10 000 gladiadores no decorrer de 123 dias.

Segundo o documentário produzido pelo canal televisivo fechado, History Channel, o Coliseu também era utilizado para a realização de naumaquias, ou batalhas navais. O coliseu era inundado por dutos subterrâneos alimentados pelos aquedutos que traziam água de longe. Passada esta fase, foi construída uma estrutura, que é a que podemos ver hoje nas ruínas do Coliseu, com altura de um prédio de dois andares, onde no passado se concentravam os gladiadores, feras e todo o pessoal que organizava os duelos que ocorreriam na arena. A arena era como um grande palco, feito de madeira, e se chama arena, que em italiano significa areia, porque era jogada areia sob a estrutura de madeira para esconder as imperfeições. Os animais podiam ser inseridos nos duelos a qualquer momento por um esquema de elevadores que surgiam em alguns pontos da arena; o filme "Gladiador" retrata muito bem esta questão dos elevadores. Os estudiosos, há pouco tempo, descobriram uma rede de dutos inundados por baixo da arena do Coliseu. Acredita-se que o Coliseu foi construído onde, outrora, foi o lago do Palácio Dourado de Nero; O imperador Vespasiano escolheu o local da construção para que o mal causado por Nero fosse esquecido por uma construção gloriosa.

Sylvae, ou recreações de cenas naturais eram também realizadas no Coliseu. Pintores, técnicos e arquitectos construiriam simulações de florestas com árvores e arbustos reais plantados no chão da arena. Animais seriam então introduzidos para dar vida à simulação. Esses cenários podiam servir só para agrado do público ou como pano de fundo para caçadas ou dramas representando episódios da mitologia romana, tão autênticos quanto possível, ao ponto de pessoas condenadas fazerem o papel de heróis onde eram mortos de maneiras horríveis mas mitologicamente autênticas, como mutilados por animais ou queimados vivos.

Embora o Coliseu tenha funcionado até ao século VI da nossa Era, foram proibidos os jogos com mortes humanas desde 404, sendo apenas massacrados animais como elefantes, panteras ou leões.

O Coliseu era sobretudo um enorme instrumento de propaganda e difusão da filosofia de toda uma civilização, e tal como era já profetizado pelo monge e historiador inglês Beda na sua obra do século VII "De temporibus liber": "Enquanto o Coliseu se mantiver de pé, Roma permanecerá; quando o Coliseu ruir, Roma ruirá e quando Roma cair, o mundo cairá".

A construção do Coliseu foi iniciada por Vespasiano, nos anos 70 da nossa era. O edifício foi inaugurado por Tito, em 80, embora apenas tivesse sido finalizado poucos anos depois. Empresa colossal, este edifício, inicialmente, poderia sustentar no seu interior cerca de 50 000 espectadores, constando de três andares. Aquando do reinado de Alexandre Severo e Gordiano III, é ampliado com um quarto andar, podendo suster agora cerca de 90 000 espectadores. A grandiosidade deste monumento testemunha verdadeiramente o poder e esplendor de Roma na época dos Flávios.

Os jogos inaugurais do Coliseu tiveram lugar ano 80, sob o mandato de Tito, para celebrar a finalização da construção. Depois do curto reinado de Tito começar com vários meses de desastres, incluindo a erupção do Monte Vesúvio, um incêndio em Roma, e um surto de peste, o mesmo imperador inaugurou o edifício com uns jogos pródigos que duraram mais de cem dias, talvez para tentar apaziguar o público romano e os deuses. Nesses jogos de cem dias terão ocorrido combates de gladiadores, venationes (lutas de animais), execuções, batalhas navais, caçadas e outros divertimentos numa escala sem precedentes.

O Coliseu, como não se encontrava inserido numa zona de encosta, enterrado, tal como normalmente sucede com a generalidade dos teatros e anfiteatros romanos, possuía um “anel” artificial de rocha à sua volta, para garantir sustentação e, ao mesmo tempo, esta substrutura serve como ornamento ao edifício e como condicionador da entrada dos espectadores. Tal como foi referido anteriormente, possuía três pisos, sendo mais tarde adicionado um outro. É construído em mármore, pedra travertina, ladrilho e tufo (pedra calcária com grandes poros). A sua planta elíptica mede dois eixos que se estendem aproximadamente de 190 m por 155 m. A fachada compõe-se de arcadas decoradas com colunas dóricas, jónicas e coríntias, de acordo com o pavimento em que se encontravam. Esta subdivisão deve-se ao facto de ser uma construção essencialmente vertical, criando assim uma diversificação do espaço.

Os assentos eram em mármore e a cavea, escadaria ou arquibancada, dividia-se em três partes, correspondentes às diferentes classes sociais: o podium, para as classes altas; as maeniana, sector destinado à classe média; e os portici, ou pórticos, construídos em madeira, para a plebe e as mulheres. O pulvinar, a tribuna imperial, encontrava-se situada no podium e era balizada pelos assentos reservados aos senadores e magistrados. Rampas no interior do edifício facilitavam o acesso às várias zonas de onde podiam visualizar o espectáculo, sendo protegidos por uma barreira e por uma série de arqueiros posicionados numa passagem de madeira, para o caso de algum acidente. Por cima dos muros ainda são visíveis as mísulas, que sustentavam o velarium, enorme cobertura de lona destinada a proteger do sol os espectadores e, nos subterrâneos, ficavam as jaulas dos animais, bem como todas as celas e galerias necessárias aos serviços do anfiteatro.

O monumento permaneceu como sede principal dos espetáculos da urbe romana até ao período do imperador Honorius, no século V. Danificado por um terremoto no começo do mesmo século, foi alvo de uma extensiva restauração na época de Valentinianus III. Em meados do século XIII, a família Frangipani transformou-o em fortaleza e, ao longo dos séculos XV e XVI, foi por diversas vezes saqueado, perdendo grande parte dos materiais nobres com os quais tinha sido construído.

Os relatos romanos referem-se a cristãos sendo martirizados em locais de Roma descritos pouco pormenorizadamente (no anfiteatro, na arena...), quando Roma tinha numerosos anfiteatros e arenas. Apesar de muito provavelmente o Coliseu não ter sido utilizado para martírios, o Papa Bento XIV consagrou-o no século XVII à Paixão de Cristo e declarou-o lugar sagrado. Os trabalhos de consolidação e restauração parcial do monumento, já há muito em ruínas, foram feitos sobretudo pelos pontífices Gregório XVI e Pio IX, no século XIX.

In a rare instance, NS Croxton local K75 performs a daylight switch at A. Zerega's Sons Pasta off NJ Transit's Bergen County Line in Fair Lawn, NJ. This is the site of the infamous 1982 wreck where a group of local teenagers threw the mainline switch in front of an eastbound Conrail commuter train, sending it into the pasta factory and killing its engineer.

Folded instance:

www.flickr.com/photos/133041586@N06/25183215026/in/shares...

The horns are hard to make out of it without help in the crease pattern so I thought I would show you guys which flap I point splitted to obtain the long ones, and with it, the rest of the mayor limbs.

In one instance I like this and in the other I absolutely don't. Was not sure if I should put this up here but then I thought......let' s see what people have to say :) Opinions please!

Definitely an instance where I would've done well to adjust my exposure for a passive subject.

Bird was originally found by Kim Kozella.

Lake Monticello--Marina

ebird.org/view/checklist/S54541808

This is an instance where photographic evidence supports the feeling that things aren't as cool as they used to be. I discovered recently that I have a more recent shot of this church in Brownsville twenty years ago. Now it has no ivy, the slate on the roof is replaced with asphalt and most of the stained glass is gone. Oh well.

I work with some pretty creative people. One of them, for instance, has recently took it upon himself to figure out how to color process old C-22 film. For those unfamiliar with C-22, it was the precursor to the modern C-41 process which is used to develop present day color negative film. C-22 was discontinued as a process between 1972-1973. Unfortunately you cannot process all that leftover C-22 film in today's C-41 chemistry as bad things will happen to both the film and the machine that is developing it (take my word for it, don't try it). There are ways to work around this though and people have done it. There are a couple of labs out there that offer C-22 color processing as a service but you can count them on one hand.

Well, one of my co-workers has made the case for bigger hands I guess. He is our darkroom tech at work (one of them at least) and he has been putting a lot of effort in these past couple of years specializing a developer for old b&w films to help minimize base fogging caused by age. He has carried that over now to old color films. Then during a recent attic cleanout at work we found this bag of Kodak Ektacolor Type S film in 220. Who knows when this stuff expired, sometime between 1960 and the early 70s. Plus it has been stored in Blue Moon's non-air conditioned attic for years. Seems like a great candidate for some test film, so I took a roll out and shot through it. The film was originally ISO 80, so I rated it at ISO 4 (roughly a stop per decade expired) and had at it then handed it over to our dark wizard to see what he could do with it. I wasn't expecting much so it is safe to say what he produced really blew me away. I wish I had a picture of the negatives because they actually look close to a healthy orange color in the film base. The images themselves have some pretty stupendous color shifts (this is slightly corrected, mind you). But wow, there is a color image off film over 40 years old. I was and am impressed.

And now he has amassed the chemicals to actually fully recreate the C-22 process along with a few other goodies he plans to throw in. I can sort of follow along chemically with what he is doing but certainly not all the way and it is fun to see him make leaps of deduction into areas that are dark to me.

There is a lot that goes on at my job in terms of the behind-the-scenes effort and investment. I am lucky to work with such a passionate and creative crew. I am sure that not everyone can say the same, so I try to appreciate how fortunate I am in that regard. I think it is also noteworthy that I have been with Blue Moon for almost 16 years now and I can still see stuff that blows my mind and widens my scope of the world of photography.

Yashica Mat-124 G

Kodak Ektacolor Type S

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Another instance where I think the Redfield plug-in worked out pretty well. This started out as a photo of an ice storm last winter and now it's laying on a bed of striped carrots.

view on black

Yet another instance where I wish I had the clothes my loves do. ^^;

Being a leg man of long standing I usually reserve that description for girls but in this instance I'm willing to expand my horizons a bit ;)

I don't know what kind of spider it is, I'm a photographer, not a spiderologist

White backgrounds bite

On June 5, 2012, Hinode captured these stunning views of the transit of Venus -- the last instance of this rare phenomenon until 2117. Hinode is a joint JAXA/NASA mission to study the connections of the sun's surface magnetism, primarily in and around sunspots. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages Hinode science operations and oversaw development of the scientific instrumentation provided for the mission by NASA, and industry. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Mass., is the lead U.S. investigator for the X-ray Telescope.

Image credit: JAXA/NASA/Lockheed Martin

Original images: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hinode/venus_transit_hinode.html

Read more about Hinode:

www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hinode/index.html

p.s. You can see all of our Hinode photos in the Hinode Group in Flickr at: www.flickr.com/photos/28634332@N05/sets/72157606297030945/

_____________________________________________

These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin...

another instance of the dramatic difference of open and shut wings . This is a blue morpho-- you can catch just a glimpse of the blue due to a slightly damaged wing. Normally none is visible when the wings are closed.

want to see the full glorious blue of the open wings? That photo is linked here

www.flickr.com/photos/25171569@N02/8911456515/

View Awards Count

acrylic and collage on birch, 2x2 ft

Photo captured via Minolta MD W.Rokkor-X 35mm F/2.8 Lens. Alongside State Route 20. "Methow Valley". Okanogan Valley section within the Columbia Plateau region. Okanogan County, Washington. Mid October 2020.

Exposure Time: 1/100 sec. * ISO Speed: ISO-320 * Aperture: F/5.6 * Bracketing: None * Filter: Hoya HMC CIR-PL (⌀49mm) * Color Temperature: 5122 K * Plug-In: Black Magic Preset #46 * Elevation: 1,737 feet above sea-level

Bit of a trigger warning. This one's dark.

Another attack, and another instance of the media using pictures of leaflets asking "Why?" laid down on the street, amidst the candles and plushies in memoriam of the deceased, to symbolize the shock and helplessness of the public in the face of what happened.

Frankly, I've grown rather tired of that. And, what's more, I can't help but question if whoever wrote that leaflet, is really asking why, or if it's really more to show helplessness disguised as compassion. Neither of which is the same as asking why. "Why" denotes the question for an explanation, a reason, a meaning, understanding.

In the past, I sometimes used to explain "why" someone would do that. Why a person would go and attack a bunch of random people who never did anything to him whatsoever, who he never even spoke a word to. Usually it comes down to mental health issues, to bad company or none at all, often an adverse childhood. The subconscious plays a role. And all that paired with the feeling of having been screwed over big time by modern civilization. It's is one of the golden rules I aim to live by: People don't choose who they grow up to be. They don't even choose who they *hope* to grow up to be, for fuck's sake. Forgive them for they don't know what they do, one could call it - not saying that was easy.

But people rarely like to hear that, they'll get emotional and confrontational. Suddenly you're not explaining, but justifying, condoning, endorsing, sympathizing, and other things along those lines. And maybe I did in some cases. I certainly still know in my teenage years, I was another Columbine in the making. Saw the pictures on TV and immediately knew I wanted this to be my way to go. Shoot dead a few schoolmates and then blow my own brains out. And if I hadn't the balls for the latter, then the cops would do it for me. Things just didn't end up unfolding that way.

Anyway, to link this into the topic at hand: You've asked a question, and I replied to the best of my knowledge. The thing is just, you asked the wrong person. One who actually can answer your question. The figurative judge who, at least to a degree, knows what it's like to be a murderer, because he knows he could've become one on a different timeline. And who also has had the opportunity to sit down and talk with a few of them.

If you don't like the answer - and this assumes that in reality you already knew what the answer was going to be, which might not always be the case - then don't ask. Simple as that. Then don't write "Why?" on your leaflets. Write "Asshole!" instead. Either as an insult to process your anger, or as an Ärzte quote, recognizing the tragedy as the culmination of a chain of events, on which nobody involved would have chosen to embark on, if asked beforehand.

There were not many instances of a route shared between two garages having a different vehicle type from each. But by the time of this picture at Westbury Avenue near Turnpike Lane Station on 26 October 1981, the 144`s were a mix of Metrobuses from Wood Green Garage such as M627 and Titans from Walthamstow Garage though the latter has sent DMS 2198 out on this day.

no wrecking ball is responsible for this mess - just the slow and steady ravages of time. this house is in detroit's once posh neighborhood of brush park. the automobile execs who once lived in this neighborhood have long since left - in many instances just abandoning their homes.

Still holding on to its yellow leaves this reminded of the legend of a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, or multicoloured pathway in this instance lol.

During my visit to Limerick I used a number of different lenses. In this instance I used a Sony A7RM2 body with a Zeiss Batis 25mm Lens which I really like.

St Mary's Cathedral, Limerick, also known as Limerick Cathedral, is a cathedral of the Church of Ireland in Limerick, Ireland which is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is in the ecclesiastical province of Dublin. Previously the cathedral of the Diocese of Limerick, it is now one of three cathedrals in the United Dioceses of Limerick and Killaloe.

Today the cathedral is still used for its original purpose as a place of worship and prayer for the people of Limerick. It is open to the public every day from 8:30 am to 5:30 pm. Following the retirement of the Very Rev'd Maurice Sir on June 24, 2012, Bishop Trevor Williams announced the appointment of the Rev'd Sandra Ann Pragnell as Dean of Limerick and Rector of Limerick City Parish. She is the first female dean of the cathedral and rector of the Limerick parish. The cathedral grounds holds a United Nations Memorial Plaque with the names of all the Irish men who died while serving in the United Nations Peacekeepers.

Top 10 Flickr Hacks, 2011 Edition. These are ways that you can enhance your Flickr experience through either tools developed outside of Flickr by independent developers or though little known ways that many don't know about to use the site.

I'm an active Flickr user on a daily basis and am always on the lookout for ways to improve my own experience. If you have other hacks that you feel are valuable and know about, feel free to share them in the comments.

1. SuprSetr. Without a doubt the best piece of third-party software ever developed for Flickr. Flickr should buy this software from its developer Jeremy Brooks and integrate it into the entire Flickr experience. SuprSetr allows you to organize your sets on Flickr by keywords or tags. Let's say (for instance) you want to make a set of all of your photos that you've taken in San Francisco (yes, all 17,000+ of them).

Simply tell SuprSetr to create a set by this tag and it will automatically build one for you. It can arrange the photos in your set by interestingness (flickr's internal rating system based on a photo's activity), by date taken or uploaded, or in no particular order. You have control over the main thumbnail for the set as well.

Jeremy hasn't officially released it yet, but I've been testing the final 1.0 release and it's the best version yet. It filters wicked fast.

I'm using SuprSetr to manage my almost 1,500 sets on Flickr and it works like a charm. This is a far more efficient way to manage your sets on Flickr than to manually organize each and every one by hand, having to add a photo to a set every single time you do another upload.

Jeremy's also developed tagerator, a great tool to analyze your flickr tags, make tag clouds, and rank your tags by now many times they are used. I found tagerator a great tool to find misspelled tags of mine and correct them.

2. Flickr Non-Reciprocal Contacts Finder. When Flickr redid their contacts page, they took out some functionality that was in the beta in the final release due to "drama". What they took out was the ability to see who your non-reciprocal contacts are on Flickr. You know the type. They add you. You add them back. And then they dump and you didn't even realize it. Or maybe it's just that you weren't aware that your so called friend of 3 years decided to unfriend you. Unfriending is messy business for any social network -- especially when they want you to feel all warm and fuzzy about your time spent there.

But if *do* want to know who those people who have dumped you are, it's as easy as installing Tom Harrison's Flickr Non-Reciprocal Contacts Finder greasemonkey script. It works for Firefox and Chrome and you can get it here. With Tom's script, under the normal "your contacts page" any who do not reciprocate back are returned in red text. This way you can know who's not following you back better. By the way, this script is working in Firefox for me right now but not Chrome for some reason.

What Flickr taketh away, Tom Harrison giveth back.

3. Google Reader. For over six years now Group Search on Flickr has been broken, badly. If you try to do a search for a term in a Group's discussion threads, results are haphazard at best. Recently it seems that they may have stopped indexing group discussion threads entirely. A group that I started last week Hot Box Uncensored (go check it out, it's the best new group on Flickr) returns zero results for search for every single keyword that I've been able to test thus far.

You would think that Yahoo, of all companies, would know a thing or two about indexing text for search, right? But apparently not.

To get around Yahoo/Flickr's super poor ability to index Flickr Group discussions, simply get a subscription to your favorite group's threads in Google Reader. Google are pure Pros at search (as opposed to those Yahoos at Yahoo) and get it right perfectly every time.

Going forward, any threads in a group discussion will be indexed for you in that RSS feed. Then you can search for a topic/discussion/etc. in your favorite group and get a link in reader right back to it perfectly thanks to Google's wonderful reliability.

Thanks, Ther!

4. Favorite Finder. Want to know how many times someone's faved your photos or how many times you've faved theirs? Want to see which photos your ex-girlfriend is faving of the new guy in her life (joking, joking, completely joking about that). Then check out Big Huge Lab's Favorite Finder.

This tool lets you put any two flickr users names into a form and returns how many (and which) of your photos that they've faved. For instance, you can see the 101 Thomas Hawk photos that Smoothdude has faved here.

Big Huge Labs also has a pretty good app called Flickr DNA where you can put in any Flickr user's name and it returns much more indepth information about them than the basic flickr profile page, including their most interesting photos on Flickr. You can check out my Flickr DNA profile here.

5. h4ppierphotos. Flickr's organizer tool is good. But h4ppierphotos is even better at some things.

For example, let's say you accidentally tagged all of your photos of your recent trip to the desert "dessert" (remember folks dessert has two s because you always like to go back for seconds). Presently with Flickr there is no way to go back and remove the 100 or so bad tags you made. You have to remove them one by one individually. This is where h4ppierphotos can be helpful. Simply tell h4ppierphotos to filter your photos with the tag that you want to remove and then have it remove all of them in bulk for you.

h4ppierphotos does lots of other things as well, want to do bulk date changes on your photos, or privacy or licensing settings? No problem.

6. FlickrMud. Is Flickr blocked at your work? Has your dictator's regime decided to block your flickr? Is there some reason why you can't get in Flickr through the front door at flickr.com? Then go in through the back door with Flickr's unofficial alternate url world FlickrMud.

Instead of accessing thomashawk's flickrstream with the normal url like this: www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/. You access it with this url instead: www.flickr.mud.yahoo.com/photos/thomashawk By adding the .mud.yahoo before the .com oftentimes you can access the site because this way of accessing Flickr is much less known and less likely to be blocked.

7. Fitr Flickr. Didn't you just hate it when Yahoo shoved that Yahoo Corp. logo bug down our throats right up there on the top of every page next to the Flickr logo?

If you're like me and hate the constant reminder that Yahoo owns Flickr, use Dan Pupius' Fitr Flickr Chrome Extension (you are using Chrome and not one of those "other" browsers right?) Dan wrote a nice little piece of code that just zaps that little Yahoo logo part out of existence for you (unless you hover over the logo).

But no, that's not really the main reason to use Fitr Flickr. One of the nice things that Fitr Flickr does is shows a photo's EXIF data information (where supplied by a user) in small unobtrusive text, right below the photo. Now instead of having to go hunt for a photos particular iso settings, etc. It's right there for you where you need it. It also includes tag autocomplete functionality that you might find helpful when adding tags on your photos on Flickr as well.

8. Hacking Explore. For those of you not blacklisted from Explore (like I am), there are a couple of interesting tools for exploring Explore, Flickr's section of their top 500 photos each day. First, you can use Scout to find out which of your own photos have appeared in Explore. Next if you want to filter all the "crap" out of explore and only have it return photos of your contact's photos you can use Drew Meyer's script to only show you photos from your contacts that have made it.

9. Get Rid of Paging on the Sets Pages. Don't you just hate paging? I do. Paging sucks!

Flickr used to let you and other users see all of your sets on one page. Then they changed it to a miserly 30 sets per page and paged the sets page. To see all of my sets now I'd have to page through 50 pages (ugh!). This makes it especially hard when you have a lot of sets to find sets or just see everything at a glance.

To get around this limitation simply paste in the code (don't use the quotation marks though) "?page=1&per_page=10000" at the end of any sets url on Flickr. This way you will get to see up to 10,000 of that users (or your own) sets on Flickr on a single page. For example to see all 1,490 of my sets on a single page go to my normal sets page with the code that I added on the end like this: www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/sets/?page=1&per_pag...

10. Rich text edit. Like bolding, italicizing, linking things, etc. in your comments on photos but hate having to manually type out the html code to do so? Then get this handy little rich text edit greasemonkey script which gives you a nice little menu at the top of your posts to use.

BONUS TIP:

TO GET AROUND THIS SILLY LIMITATION, SIMPLY REPLACE ONE OF YOUR LARGE CAP I'S WITH A SMALL CAP L. IT LOOKS THE SAME TO THE USER BUT WITH THE SINGLE SMALL CAP L IN THERE IT ALLOWS YOU TO STILL SHOUT ON FLICKR IF YOU NEED TO.

The same quasar seen in four separate instances due to the effect of the foreground mass intervening between the viewer and the quasar, causing distorted light paths, otherwise known as gravitational lensing.

Data from the following proposal were used to create this image:

H0, the stellar initial mass function, and other dark matters from a large sample of quadruply imaged quasars

Pixel scale is 0.0396 arcseconds per pixel.

WFC3/IR F160W was used as a "screen" layer for both the green and blue channels.

Red: WFC3/IR F160W

Green: WFC3/UVIS F814W

Blue: WFC3/UVIS F475X

North is up.

Day 13, busy week, worked today and very tired so I have resorted to my fall back subject - the dogs, Mabel in this instance, will save Ted for emergencies!

Used a shallow DoF which I know not everyone likes but I just like how it makes her eyes stand out.

The 'sea' in this instance is Lough Neagh, the United Kingdom's largest lake. But when I saw the powerful waves breaking against the shore - just a few metres from this spot - I could have believed that it really was the sea.

These birds were seen at Antrim Marina, almost two kilometres away from Antrim town on foot, and where the Six Mile Water river flows into the Lough. If any of my visitors who are also twitchers could kindly identify the types of feathered creatures visible here, I'd appreciate it.

I had never seen Lough Neagh from ground level before and to do so was an ambition for this trip. And it's a visit I was very pleased to accomplish, albeit briefly; a case of once seen, never forgotten. I chose Antrim for its ease of rail access, which probably comes as no surprise.

Thursday 10th September 2020.

Many thanks to BITH* for identifying the birds as Black-headed Gulls, Mallards and a solitary juvenile Mute Swan.

Kodak Ektachrome 100

Nikon FM2

Nikkor 50mm lens

Epson V600 scanner

Film developed in a commercial laboratory.

A few more low-level aerial shots from my recent visit to Brlnsley Pit Headstocks, in Nottinghamshire. In this instance, each of the three final images is a 5-exposure HDR composite, taken with the DJI Mini 3 Pro drone.

The mine in Brinsley stopped production in 1934 when the coal reserves were exhausted, although the mine shafts remained open for another 36 years to provide access to neighbouring pits.

The Brinsley Headstocks were removed from the site in 1970 after 98 years in service and taken to the National Coal Museum at Retford. They were returned and re-erected on the original site in 1991 when the Coal Museum closed. The site then became, along with the old mineral railway line, a picnic and leisure site. This was the colliery where the father of D.H. Lawrence worked, and where scenes from the film Sons and Lovers were shot in the 1960s.

Sony A7RII Fine Art Zion National Park Autumn Winter Subway Hike! Dr. Elliot McGucken Fine Art Landscape Photography!

An important thing to remember is that even though pixel sizes keep getting smaller and smaller, the technology is advancing, so the smaller pixels are more efficient at collecting light. For instance, the Sony A7rII is back-illuminated which allows more photons to hit the sensor. Semiconductor technology is always advancing, so the brilliant engineers are always improving the signal/noise ratio. Far higher pixel counts, as well as better dynamic ranger, are thus not only possible, but the future!

Yes I have a Ph.D. in physics! I worked on phototranistors and photodiodes as well as an artificial retina for the blind. :)

You can read more about my own physics theory (dx4/dt=ic) here: herosodysseyphysics.wordpress.com/

And follow me on instagram! @45surf

instagram.com/45surf

Facebook!

www.facebook.com/elliot.mcgucken

www.facebook.com/45surfAchillesOdysseyMythology

Dr. Elliot McGucken Fine Art Photography!

I love shooting fine art landscapes and fine art nature photography! :) I live for it!

45surf fine art!

Feel free to ask me any questions! Always love sharing tech talk and insights! :)

And all the best on Your Epic Hero's Odyssey!

The new Lightroom rocks!

Beautiful magnificent clouds!

View your artistic mission into photography as an epic odyssey of heroic poetry! Take it from Homer in Homer's Odyssey: "Tell me, O muse, of that ingenious hero who travelled far and wide after he had sacked the famous town of Troy. Many cities did he visit, and many were the nations with whose manners and customs he was acquainted; moreover he suffered much by sea while trying to save his own life and bring his men safely home; but do what he might he could not save his men, for they perished through their own sheer folly in eating the cattle of the Sun-god Hyperion; so the god prevented them from ever reaching home. Tell me, too, about all these things, O daughter of Jove, from whatsoever source you may know them. " --Samuel Butler Translation of Homer's Odyssey

All the best on your Epic Hero's Odyssey from Johnny Ranger McCoy!

Sony A7RII Fine Art Zion National Park Autumn Winter Subway Hike! Dr. Elliot McGucken Fine Art Landscape Photography! Sony A7R2 & Sony 16-35mm Vario-Tessar T FE F4 ZA OSS E-Mount Lens!

fine art landscape photography,fine art photography, fine art photographer, elliot mcgucken photography, landscapes, fine art landscape, landscape, landscape photography

For many kids and collectors, male dolls are more of an after thought, when compared to their female counterparts. It's not unusual to see someone with a hundred girl dolls, for instance, but just one solitary dude. That was never the case for myself, however. From the moment I first felt that magic spark for dolls, I was equally enchanted by the guys. I never lost that interest, even after a five year hiatus from dolls. It's not surprising that it was the boys from the Monster High line that first captured my attention, specifically Deuce Gorgon. It was 2011, the year I started collecting dolls again after an "I'm too cool for my plastic friends" hiatus. Monster High were the hot, new thing on store shelves. I wasn't sure what to think of them, and honestly I was preoccupied with stalking Bratz anyways. I couldn't help but occasionally glance at these creepy new dolls. I have a very vivid memory of seeing the "1st Edition" Deuce and Cleo pack at Benny's back then. I felt a pang of desire for these somewhat morbid dolls. Firstly, there was Cleo the Egyptian mummy. I had taken a special interest in Ancient Egypt dating back to my days in elementary school. Then there was the captivating Deuce Gorgon, with his unique snake mohawk. I loved his edgy styling and intricate hairdo. I always had a fondness for guy dolls with mohawks. You can trace that back to my early childhood as well (spurred from my crush on Kocoum from Pocahontas, who had long hair and a short mohawk). If I had been more immersed in the world of dolls, I know I would have gotten the Deuce/Cleo pack that day at Benny's. But it would be another two years before that would happen.

My initial avoidance of the Monster High line stemmed from three factors. The first being that I didn't want to start collecting something new when I had missed out on several years of buying my old favorites. The second factor was that my sister thought the dolls were insanely ugly and stupid. It wasn't nearly as much fun when she wasn't remotely interested in a doll type. And number three, I was convinced that old is always better than new. It's a mindset that many of us get trapped into, whether or not we collect things. We seem to see old things, especially from our childhood, through rose colored glasses. We ignore or simply forget the negative attributes from these times. Instead, we put the past on a pedestal and place new things lowest on the totem pole. Fortunately for myself, it didn't take me too long to break out of this mindset. I'm a naturally curious person who likes to explore new things. I love dolls, plain and simple. So even if I was forced to only collect from one certain time frame, I'd be happy and excited. After spending more time in toy aisles as I delved further into my doll hobby, I became more and more familiar with Monster High. Unknown to my sister, I spent hours watching Youtube videos or admiring photos of these monsters. I couldn't take it anymore, so finally I revealed my growing interest in the line to Colleen. She was apprehensive at first, but after seeing how easy it was to find the dolls in stores, she was supportive. My first order of business was to get my hands on Deuce Gorgon. Since I'd spent so much time doing "research," I knew that Scaris Deuce was freshly released. He was also from a budget line, meaning he wouldn't be a huge investment.

It was March 2013 when I set out to sample Monster High dolls. Deep down I had a feeling this had the potential to get out of hand. After settling on three girl dolls from the "Swim Class" line (since I couldn't find Deuce anywhere), I knew we were in trouble. Well, my wallet was in trouble anyways. I ended up ordering my first Scaris Deuce on eBay for about double his retail price. I learned quickly that Monster High dolls were notorious for being bought out at stores, only to be resold online for insane prices. I should have been more patient, but I was dying to get my hands on Mr. Gorgon. Funnily enough, the day before he was supposed to arrive in the mail I found a Scaris Deuce in the wild at Kmart. Of course I had to buy him...what if something happened to my doll in the mail? Deuce was everything I'd imagined him to be and more. He's still my favorite Monster High character. It's not shocking that I collected all the Deuce dolls that Mattel put out. It did take some time, especially given that at some point it was nearly impossible to find the guy dolls in stores. But I even managed to score TWO of my favorite Deuce dolls at the flea market...Dawn of the Dance. I did learn patience--many of my Deuce dolls I bought brand new were on a sale of sorts (like Manster, Dance the Fright Away, and Boo York).

Deuce was not the only guy from the Monster High franchise that caught my eye. I immediately fell in love with grainy stock images of Heath Burns. Those pictures were circulating around the internet around the time I began buying Monster High dolls. I even decided to preorder a set from Target's website, to ensure I could get him. Heath and Abbey were supposed to be my 22nd birthday gift to myself. I knew it would be insanely hard to get my hands on him once the dolls were actually in stores. I was crushed when Target cancelled my preorder. Colleen made so many phone calls to various stores after the pack came out, hoping one would have Heath. We finally struck gold when a Target had the Home Ick set in stock. It was quite the drive, but well worth it. I also hoarded a second Heath years later, when he turned up at the local flea market. He's probably my second fave Monster High guy.

I stalked many Monster High boys back when the dolls were in stores. I admit, I even contemplated buying some on eBay when they were quite pricey. Colleen talked me out of it, reminding me of how the Beanie Baby craze had tanked in the 90s. She was right...and I'm glad I listened to her. I was able to find many of my beloved guys secondhand for only a few dollars. Plus, the fad started to die down when the dolls were still in stores, which meant even the boys went on sale. I was so excited when I found the Manster set at Toys 'R' Us, for instance. I had wanted a Gil Webber doll since I started my collection. But the Dance Class pack was pricey, and I wasn't a huge fan of the theme. It worked out for me because the Manster dude was sold in a set with Deuce, AND I ended up with Dance Class Gil years later (he was from the flea market). I was excited when they brought Gil back after the reboot in the Shriekwrecked line. As online prices went down, I even contemplated buying affordable Skull Shores Gil dolls. I haven't yet pulled the trigger on that yet...I've had pretty good luck with my boys in the wild. I found Holt, Clawd, Neighthan, the CAM Gargoyle, and Jackson all used. It was just my luck that I even got my favorite release of Jackson...the Picnic Casket one! Kmart proved to be my luckiest store to find the guys at. My Invisi Billy, first Scaris Deuce, and Dracula all came from Kmart. Billy was even on sale!

I feel the same inspiration for my Monster High boys that I felt for my childhood Disney guys and Ken dolls. Growing up, our guys had some of the most memorable personalities or intricate backstories. That sentiment extends to present day...Deuce, Clawd, and Dracula are all staples in our dolly world. I remember sometime in 2013 Colleen and I actually set up our plastic friends and "played" with them like old times. As grown women, we didn't find it nearly as much fun as we did as kids. I think that's mostly because we both were extremely bothered by the dolls and their accessories not being in their proper places (it created a lot of anxiety for me). We also spent so many hours playing as kids that we were burned out. But it was during that time that Deuce developed a backstory. He was supposed to be a neighbor of our main doll family, which included my Bratz Punkz Eitan doll. Eitan and Deuce were best friends in the scenario, which meant Deuce was always over the house visiting. That's when he "fell in love" with Colleen's Pet Pals Skipper (the African American version she dubbed Robin when we were kids). Robin and Deuce have stayed together after all these years. Despite their obvious differences, what with Robin being a classic 90s doll and Deuce being a modern freaky looking one, they are inseparable. We often break them out and use them in our Youtube skits. Filming silly videos is a way to "play" with the dolls, but in new, engaging way. That's also how Clawd and Dracula developed their story lines. Admittedly, Clawd is mostly cast as Draculaura's boyfriend. But he is always butting heads with her daddy Dracula. And if you are familiar with my ridiculous Youtube videos, then you know all about dysfunctional Dracula. He's our resident Pepsi loving, rage-aholic. It's entirely accidental how Dracula even came to be cast in our videos. He was a beloved and unexpected birthday gift in 2018. Colleen and our friend Beth conspired to buy me the costly Vampire Kitchen pack at Kmart. We were broke, but Colleen managed to scrounge the money together, and Beth hid the set at her house until my birthday. She cleverly made speech bubbles for the dolls' box. Colleen always did silly accents when we were kids, so I had her read the speech bubbles in her best vampire accent when I opened the set in a video. A few months later we were filming an As Told By Dollies episode which starred dolly therapists and their patients. As she was rummaging around our doll containers for someone else, she spotted Dracula. His glasses and grey hair made him a perfect candidate. Somehow we developed the idea he was Pepsi obsessed and the rest is history. He became president of our doll world, boyfriend of my Reba McIntire and I Love Lucy dolls, and a notorious charlatan (peddling medical misinformation and fraudulent claims). I've had hours of fun filming videos with Dracula and watching the edited versions back with Colleen over the past few years. What I love most about Dracula is that he embodies our childhood spirits. As stupid and unrealistic as our ideas are, he's helped us recapture that imaginative spirit that sometimes we lose as we get older.

On June 5, 2012, Hinode captured these stunning views of the transit of Venus -- the last instance of this rare phenomenon until 2117. Hinode is a joint JAXA/NASA mission to study the connections of the sun's surface magnetism, primarily in and around sunspots. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages Hinode science operations and oversaw development of the scientific instrumentation provided for the mission by NASA, and industry. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Mass., is the lead U.S. investigator for the X-ray Telescope.

Image credit: JAXA/NASA/Lockheed Martin

Original images: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hinode/venus_transit_hinode.html

Read more about Hinode:

www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hinode/index.html

p.s. You can see all of our Hinode photos in the Hinode Group in Flickr at: www.flickr.com/photos/28634332@N05/sets/72157606297030945/

_____________________________________________

These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin...

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A location I visited last year, I wanted to return this autumn and not only practice exposure bracketing but a different angle on subjects I shot last year. Here, we have the island in Dawes Lake with the sun rising in the background.

[This was one of those instances where my planned upgrade to a D810 would have been very handy...this would have been a lot sharper with that body.]

© 2015 Brian Rodgers

Note: His name (for instance on Wikipedia) is often spelled "Bainbridge", but all his relatives in Yorkshire and the North of England, and later in Derbyshire, in the Midlands, spelled the family name in its more ancient form, as "Bainbrigge", and they all bore variants of the same coat of arms, of ancient origin.

Before becoming, in 1509, the English Emissary at the Papal Court, in Rome, he was Archbishop of York, in England, and prior to that, in 1496, Provost of Queen's College, Oxford, and then Chaplain to Henry VII, a member of the Privy Council, and Dean of St. George's Chapel, Windsor.

He died by poisoning, by a member of his household, said to have been at the instigation of Thomas Wolsey, who in fact immediately followed him as Archbishop of York, and Cardinal. Records at the English College, Rome, make reference to this allegation.

Sony A7RII Fine Art Zion National Park Autumn Winter Subway Hike! Dr. Elliot McGucken Fine Art Landscape Photography!

An important thing to remember is that even though pixel sizes keep getting smaller and smaller, the technology is advancing, so the smaller pixels are more efficient at collecting light. For instance, the Sony A7rII is back-illuminated which allows more photons to hit the sensor. Semiconductor technology is always advancing, so the brilliant engineers are always improving the signal/noise ratio. Far higher pixel counts, as well as better dynamic ranger, are thus not only possible, but the future!

Yes I have a Ph.D. in physics! I worked on phototranistors and photodiodes as well as an artificial retina for the blind. :)

You can read more about my own physics theory (dx4/dt=ic) here: herosodysseyphysics.wordpress.com/

And follow me on instagram! @45surf

instagram.com/45surf

Facebook!

www.facebook.com/elliot.mcgucken

www.facebook.com/45surfAchillesOdysseyMythology

Dr. Elliot McGucken Fine Art Photography!

I love shooting fine art landscapes and fine art nature photography! :) I live for it!

45surf fine art!

Feel free to ask me any questions! Always love sharing tech talk and insights! :)

And all the best on Your Epic Hero's Odyssey!

The new Lightroom rocks!

Beautiful magnificent clouds!

View your artistic mission into photography as an epic odyssey of heroic poetry! Take it from Homer in Homer's Odyssey: "Tell me, O muse, of that ingenious hero who travelled far and wide after he had sacked the famous town of Troy. Many cities did he visit, and many were the nations with whose manners and customs he was acquainted; moreover he suffered much by sea while trying to save his own life and bring his men safely home; but do what he might he could not save his men, for they perished through their own sheer folly in eating the cattle of the Sun-god Hyperion; so the god prevented them from ever reaching home. Tell me, too, about all these things, O daughter of Jove, from whatsoever source you may know them. " --Samuel Butler Translation of Homer's Odyssey

All the best on your Epic Hero's Odyssey from Johnny Ranger McCoy!

Sony A7RII Fine Art Zion National Park Autumn Winter Subway Hike! Dr. Elliot McGucken Fine Art Landscape Photography! Sony A7R2 & Sony 16-35mm Vario-Tessar T FE F4 ZA OSS E-Mount Lens!

fine art landscape photography,fine art photography, fine art photographer, elliot mcgucken photography, landscapes, fine art landscape, landscape, landscape photography

A promising sunrise that ended a little muted. Good to rise up for a sunrise again. And this instance, interesting cloud formation!

Sony A7RII Fine Art Zion National Park Autumn Winter Subway Hike! Dr. Elliot McGucken Fine Art Landscape Photography!

An important thing to remember is that even though pixel sizes keep getting smaller and smaller, the technology is advancing, so the smaller pixels are more efficient at collecting light. For instance, the Sony A7rII is back-illuminated which allows more photons to hit the sensor. Semiconductor technology is always advancing, so the brilliant engineers are always improving the signal/noise ratio. Far higher pixel counts, as well as better dynamic ranger, are thus not only possible, but the future!

Yes I have a Ph.D. in physics! I worked on phototranistors and photodiodes as well as an artificial retina for the blind. :)

You can read more about my own physics theory (dx4/dt=ic) here: herosodysseyphysics.wordpress.com/

And follow me on instagram! @45surf

instagram.com/45surf

Facebook!

www.facebook.com/elliot.mcgucken

www.facebook.com/45surfAchillesOdysseyMythology

Dr. Elliot McGucken Fine Art Photography!

I love shooting fine art landscapes and fine art nature photography! :) I live for it!

45surf fine art!

Feel free to ask me any questions! Always love sharing tech talk and insights! :)

And all the best on Your Epic Hero's Odyssey!

The new Lightroom rocks!

Beautiful magnificent clouds!

View your artistic mission into photography as an epic odyssey of heroic poetry! Take it from Homer in Homer's Odyssey: "Tell me, O muse, of that ingenious hero who travelled far and wide after he had sacked the famous town of Troy. Many cities did he visit, and many were the nations with whose manners and customs he was acquainted; moreover he suffered much by sea while trying to save his own life and bring his men safely home; but do what he might he could not save his men, for they perished through their own sheer folly in eating the cattle of the Sun-god Hyperion; so the god prevented them from ever reaching home. Tell me, too, about all these things, O daughter of Jove, from whatsoever source you may know them. " --Samuel Butler Translation of Homer's Odyssey

All the best on your Epic Hero's Odyssey from Johnny Ranger McCoy!

Sony A7RII Fine Art Zion National Park Autumn Winter Subway Hike! Dr. Elliot McGucken Fine Art Landscape Photography! Sony A7R2 & Sony 16-35mm Vario-Tessar T FE F4 ZA OSS E-Mount Lens!

fine art landscape photography,fine art photography, fine art photographer, elliot mcgucken photography, landscapes, fine art landscape, landscape, landscape photography

Surprisingly, because the metals are such perfect expressions of archetypal energies, we can actually learn quite a bit about people by studying the properties of metals and the behavior of planets. That same correspondence exists in the human temperament. For instance, the leaden person is someone who has, like Saturn, lost their bid to become a star. They have accepted a mere physical existence and believe the created world is all that counts. The positive characteristics of the saturnine person are patience, responsibility, somberness, structure and realism, true knowledge of history and karma. The black messenger crows of Chronos bring black moods, depression and despair to us, but they also alert us to illusion and fakeness in our lives.

While we have already discussed the planetary archetypes, it is worth reminding ourselves at this point exactly how the alchemists looked on the relationship between the planet and its metal. They believed that the metals had the same “virtue” as the corresponding planet, that a single spirit infuses both the planet and the metal. In other words, the planet was a celestial manifestation and the metal a terrestrial manifestation of the same universal force. Therefore, the metals are the purest expression of the planetary energies in the mineral kingdom, which is the basis for material reality on earth. The next stage of evolution on our planet is the plant kingdom, and the alchemists assigned a metal and its corresponding planet to describe the characteristics of every known herb, flower, and plant. Similarly, on the next level in the evolution of matter in the animal kingdom, all creatures carry their own metallic or planetary signatures, which are expressed in their behavior. In human beings, the alchemists referred to the sum total of the cosmic signatures of the metals as a person’s “temperament.” Originally, that word referred to the metallurgical process of “tempering” or mixing different metals to produce certain characteristics in an alloy. Although the alchemists considered lead the lowest of the base metals, they treated it with a great deal of respect, as they did its corresponding planet Saturn. Lead was said to carry all the energy of its own transformation, and it was that hidden energy that the alchemists sought to free. To the alchemists, the ancient metal was a powerful “sleeping giant” with a dark and secret nature that encompassed both the beginning and end of the Great Work.

Lead is the heaviest of the seven metals; it is very tied to gravity, form, and manifested reality. It is also a very stubborn metal known for its durability and resistance to change. Lead products dating from 7000 BC are still intact, and lead water pipes installed by the Romans 1,500 years ago are still in use today. Alchemists depicted lead in their drawings as the god Saturn (a crippled old man with a sickle), Father Time, or a skeleton representing death itself. Any of these symbols in their manuscripts meant the alchemist was working with the metal lead in the laboratory or a leaden attitude in his accompanying meditation.Lead is a boundary of heaviness for matter. Metals of greater atomic weight are too heavy and disintegrate over time (by radioactive decay) to turn back into lead. So radioactive decay is really a Saturnic process that introduces a new characteristic in the metals – that of time. All the hyper-energetic metals beyond lead are trapped in time to inexorably return to lead. There is no natural process more unalterably exact than radioactive decay. Atomic clocks, the most precise timekeeping devices we have, are based on this leaden process. Geologists measure the age of radioactive rocks by how much lead they contain, and the age of the earth is estimated by taking lead isotope measurements. In many ways, lead carries the signature of Father Time.Native lead, which is lead metal found in a chemically uncombined state, is actually extremely rare. It is found in the earth's crust in a concentration of only about 13 parts per billion. Lead does not form crystals easily, and thus the pure mineral form is very rare and extremely valuable as rock specimens. Such elemental lead can also be found in very unusual “metamorphosed” limestone and marble formations that are equally rare.Surprisingly, lead is in the same group in the Periodic Table as gold, and when it occurs in nature, it is always found with gold and silver. In fact, the chemical symbol for lead (Pb) is from the Latin word plumbum, which means “liquid silver.” We derive our words “plumbing” and “plumb bob” from the use of lead in those applications. In the smelting of silver, lead plays an important role by forming a layer over the emerging molten silver and protecting it from combining with the air and splattering out. The volatile molten lead covering is gradually burnt away, until only the pure silver metal “peeks out” (in the smelter’s terminology) in a stabilized form. Thus, lead protects and even sacrifices itself for the nobler metals.The planet Saturn and its metal and the planet have the same symbol (L) in alchemy. The Hermetic interpretation is that the symbol is basically the cross of the elements that depicts the division between the Above and Below or spirit and matter. The lunar crescent of the soul is below the cross, representing the manifestation (or entrapment) of soul below in matter. Despite these associations with the noble metals, lead itself never makes it to such heights among the metals. The silvery luster of fresh cut lead quickly fades, as if it were “dying” before your eyes. Furthermore, alchemists considered lead to be “hydrophobic” or against the life nourishing archetype of water. Lead ores lack the slightest water content and tend to form machine-like structures.The most common ore of lead is galena, which also contains the noble metals silver and gold. Galena is lead sulfide, a favorite of rock collectors because of its distinctive cubic shapes, characteristic cleavage, and high density. In fact, the structure of galena is identical to that of natural table salt. The two minerals have exactly the same crystal shapes, symmetry and cleavage, although galena crystals are thousands of times larger. Some galena may contain up to 1% silver and often contains trace amounts of gold. The large volume of galena that is processed for lead produces enough silver as a by product to make galena the leading ore of silver as well Galena definitely has the signature of lead. Its color is silver gray with a bluish tint. The luster ranges from metallic to dull in the weathered faces, and the isometric crystals are opaque to light. The massive crystals of galena almost always take the form of a cube or octahedron, and the cleavage is perfect in four direction always forming cubes. Because of the perfect cleavage, fractures are rarely seen and the dark crystalline structure is nearly perfect.Lead is also found in other sulfuric minerals like calcite and dolomite, as well as lead oxidation minerals such as and anglesite and cerussite, which is found in the oxidation zone of lead deposits usually associated with galena. Some formations show cerussite crusts around a galena core as if the act of oxidation was frozen in time. Cerrussite is lead carbonate and also a favorite of rock hounds. Its very high luster is due mostly to the metallic lead content, and just as leaded crystal glass sparkles more brilliantly because of its lead content, so too does cerussite. Cerussite has one of the highest densities for a transparent mineral. It is over six and a half times as dense as water. Most rocks and minerals average only around three times the density of water. Cerussite is famous for its great sparkle and density, and its amazing twinned (or double) crystals. The mineral forms geometrically intricate structures and star shapes that simply amazing to behold – sometimes the twinned crystals form star shapes with six "rays" extending out from the star.When freed from its ores, lead metal has a bluish-white color and is very soft – capable of being scratched by a fingernail. With its dull metallic luster and high density, lead cannot easily be confused with any other metal. It is also malleable, ductile, and sectile – meaning it can be pounded into other shapes, stretched into a wire, and cut into slices. However, lead is a dark, sluggish, base metal. Of the seven metals, it is the slowest conductor of electricity and heat, the least lustrous or resonant. Its Saturnic signature of heaviness is expressed not only in its being the heaviest metal but also in its tendency to form inert and insoluble compounds. No other metal forms as many. Although it tarnishes upon exposure to air like silver, lead is extremely resistant to corrosion over time and seems to last forever. Lead pipes bearing the insignia of Roman emperors, used as drains from the baths, are still in service. The surface of lead is protected by a thin layer of lead oxide, and it does not react with water. The same process protects lead from the traditional “liquid fire” of the alchemists – sulfuric acid. In fact, lead bottles are still used to store the highly corrosive acid. Lead is so inalterable, that half of all the lead in the world today is simply recovered from scrap and formed directly into bullion for reuse.Lead is truly a destroyer of light. It is added to high-quality glassware (lead crystal) to absorb light reflections and make the glass clearer. Lead salts in glass are not changed by light but change light itself by absorbing it. Incoming light in lead crystal meets with high resistance, but once it is within the glass, light is immediately absorbed or dispersed without any reflected light escaping. Sheets of lead are also impermeable to all forms of light, even high energy X-rays and gamma rays, which makes lead the perfect shield against any form of radiation and is why it is used to transport and store radioactive materials.Lead is an extremely poor conductor of electricity and blocks all kinds of energy transmission. Indeed, one of the signatures of lead is its ability to “dampen” or absorb energy. Unlike other metals, when lead is struck, the vibrations are immediately absorbed and any tone is smothered in dullness. Lead is an effective sound proofing medium and tetraethyl lead is still used in some grades of gasoline as an antiknock compound to “quiet” the combustion of gasoline.Thin lead sheets are used extensively in the walls of high-rise buildings to block the transmission of sound, and thick pads of lead are used in the foundations to absorb the vibrations of street traffic and even minor earthquakes. Lead sheets are widely used in roofing to block solar rays, and lead foil is used to form lightproof enclosures in laboratory work. Ultimately, lead corresponds to the galactic Black Hole that absorbs all forms of radiation and light.Lead reacts with more chemicals than any other metal, however, instead of producing something new and useful, lead “kills” the combining substance by making it inert, insoluble and unable to enter into further chemical reactions. Its salts precipitate out of solutions heavily and copiously. Lead has the same effect in the plant kingdom. It accumulates in the roots and slows down the “breathing” process in plants. Young plants are adversely affected by even the smallest amount of lead in the soil.Lead is poisonous and accumulates over time in the bones of the human body, where it cannot be flushed out. It has also been found in high concentrations in gallstones and kidney stones. The old alchemical graphic for lead – a skeleton – was grotesquely appropriate. The symptoms of lead poisoning (known as “Saturnism”) are lack of energy, depression, blindness, dizziness, severe headaches at the back of the head, brain damage, attention deficit disorder, learning disabilities and mental retardation, antisocial behavior and anger, atrophy of muscular tissue and cramping, excess growth of connective tissue resulting in a rigid appearance, rapid aging, coma, and early death. Rats fed only 5 parts per million of lead had a lifespan 25% shorter than normal rats. Children are especially vulnerable to lead poisoning, and it is believed to be an important factor in stillborn fetuses. Children with more than just 0.3 parts per million of lead in their blood suffer a significant slowing of brain function and corresponding drop in IQ. Lead in paint has caused mental retardation and premature aging in hundreds of children who ingested old flaking paint from the walls of their homes. Lead paint was used extensively until the poisonous effects were documented in the 1960s. Because of its lasting durability, lead paint is still used outdoors in advertising and the yellow lines on highways and curbs. The subtly controlling aspect of those applications is another signature of lead and of “leaden” persons in general.Not surprisingly, lead has found use as an insecticide and was even once considered for use as a military weapon. Lead metal reacts violently with fluorine and chlorine to form the highly poisonous gases, lead fluoride and lead chloride. Lead is also used in all kinds of ammunition – another appropriate application of lead’s esoteric signature as Father Time and the Grim Reaper. There are many research studies linking lead exposure to anger and violence, especially in adolescents. One recent study of all counties in the United States conducted by Colorado State University revealed that the murder rate in counties with the highest lead levels were four times higher than in counties with the lowest levels of lead.More benevolent uses of lead are in storage batteries, covering for underground and transoceanic cables, waste plumbing, shielding around X-ray equipment and nuclear reactors, solder, pewter, fine lead crystal glass, and flint glass with a high refractive index for achromatic lenses.Even the elemental metal carries the seed of its own redemption. The alchemists knew that Fire is lord over lead, for the metal has a low melting point and is easily separated from its ore by roasting in an open flame, and the metal itself melts in a candle flame. Lead expands on heating and contracts on cooling more than any other solid heavy metal. (Silver is the opposite and is considered an antidote to lead.)Perhaps owing to its dual nature, lead carries deeply hidden within its structure the fire of its own transformation. Many lead salts reveal a whole rainbow of brilliant colors, with the solar colors of yellow, orange, and red predominating. This is why lead has been used in paints for so many centuries. Finely divided lead powder is pyrophoric (“fire containing”) and easily catches fire or erupts spontaneously in flames. When made into a fine powder, lead metal must be kept in a vacuum to keep from catching fire. Otherwise, it ignites and burns down to a bright yellow ash, revealing its deeply hidden solar signature. So, the wonder of lead is that hidden deep inside the gray, dead metal is a tiny, eternal spark that is the seed of its own resurrection. In the eyes of alchemists, this makes lead the most important metal despite its unattractive darkness. For dull lead and gleaming gold are really the same things, only at different stages of growth or maturity.The Secret Fire inside lead is really the alchemical basis for transforming lead into gold, and correspondingly, gives mankind hope for its own spiritual transformation. That tiny spark of light in the darkest part of matter makes resurrection part of the structure of the universe. So, deep down inside, the metal lead also yearns to be transformed. It wants to rise in the air and fly, leave matter and form behind, and be free as Fire. Lead unites two contrasting forces: rigid heaviness and revivifying inner fire. Archetypically, the lead process is concerned with death and resurrection. Greek myth says that after death our soul is put on a scale, and the weights of the scale are made from lead, the metal that carries Saturn's signature.Lead is used in magical rituals, spells, and amulets to promote contact with deep unconscious levels (the underworld), deep meditation, controlling negativity, breaking bad habits and addictions, protection, stability, grounding, solidity, perseverance, decisiveness, concentration, conservation, and material constructions (buildings). Pick up a hunk of lead and the first thing you notice is its weight – its connection to gravity. It is that connection to something beyond matter and light, the very form of the universe that is the physical basis for this experiment. During the winter months, preferably on some clear night in late January or early February, go outside and find the planet Saturn in the northern sky. Relax and try to focus all your attention on the golden sphere. Relax completely with an open and quiet mind. Become empty and let the planet influence you. Do this until you feel a real connection with the distant planet. Continue gazing upon Saturn and place a piece of lead metal in your hand. You should be able to feel a strange resonance building. That eerie, cold vibration is not your imagination. It is what alchemists refer to as the “call of lead.” You are experiencing the metal’s true signature or living correspondence with its planetary twin.The strange connection between lead and Saturn has been documented by modern scientists, who have shown that lead compounds react differently depending on Saturn’s position in the sky. For instance, solutions of lead nitrate produce the greatest weight of crystallization (or manifestation) during February, when Saturn rules the sky, and the least during June, when Saturn is barely visible. Lead compounds also exhibit different properties when Saturn aligns with other planets. For example, lead sulfate solution rises 60% higher on strips of filter paper during conjunctions of Saturn with Mars than at other times. It is also known that the ease of making lead solutions (the “solubility coefficient” of lead) varies with the position of Saturn relative to the other planets. NASA is even considering a series of astrochemical experiments to see if the Saturn-lead effects become more pronounced in outer space.Surprisingly, because the metals are such perfect expressions of archetypal energies, we can actually learn quite a bit about people by studying the properties of metals and the behavior of planets. That same correspondence exists in the human temperament. For instance, the leaden person is someone who has, like Saturn, lost their bid to become a star. They have accepted a mere physical existence and believe the created world is all that counts. The positive characteristics of the saturnine person are patience, responsibility, somberness, structure and realism, true knowledge of history and karma. The black messenger crows of Chronos bring black moods, depression and despair to us, but they also alert us to illusion and fakeness in our lives. Surprisingly, because the metals are such perfect expressions of archetypal energies, we can actually learn quite a bit about people by studying the properties of metals and the behavior of planets. That same correspondence exists in the human temperament. For instance, the leaden person is someone who has, like Saturn, lost their bid to become a star. They have accepted a mere physical existence and believe the created world is all that counts. The positive characteristics of the saturnine person are patience, responsibility, somberness, structure and realism, true knowledge of history and karma. The black messenger crows of Chronos bring black moods, depression and despair to us, but they also alert us to illusion and fakeness in our lives. Surprisingly, because the metals are such perfect expressions of archetypal energies, we can actually learn quite a bit about people by studying the properties of metals and the behavior of planets. That same correspondence exists in the human temperament. For instance, the leaden person is someone who has, like Saturn, lost their bid to become a star. They have accepted a mere physical existence and believe the created world is all that counts. The positive characteristics of the saturnine person are patience, responsibility, somberness, structure and realism, true knowledge of history and karma. The black messenger crows of Chronos bring black moods, depression and despair to us, but they also alert us to illusion and fakeness in our lives. Because the lusterless metal is so “dead” and resists interaction with other substances, it is used as containers for acids, like automobile batteries, and is used as a lining in pipes that carry corrosive substances. Similarly, the lead tempered person is like an acid-proof container that stores up caustic feelings and anger. Phrases like “acid tongued” and “vitriolic” have their origins in this alchemical process of storing negative emotional energy.On the psychological level, lead is symbolic of a person’s inertness and unwillingness to change. There is a denial of all higher or spiritual energies, and the alchemists often portrayed the leaden person as lying in an open grave or hopelessly chained to matter in some way. A feeling of being trapped in material reality is symptomatic of a leaden attitude. Leaden people are stubborn, unyielding, and often control other people by making them wait. They must always be right, rarely accept blame or admit to being in error, and have no real regard for the truth of a situation. They may be religious but not spiritual. They tend to be suspicious of genius and inspiration, which they will often attribute to fantasy, They feel threatened by freedom of thought and expression, and sometimes use ridicule or try to “push people’s buttons” to control it. They tend to be very uncreative, judgmental, and smug.On the other hand, leaden people are grounded, earthy, and practical. They are good friends during times of bereavement – a rock of support at funerals and deathbeds. Such people secretly crave stimulation, excitement, and new ideas. They gravitate to people who supply energy and entertainment in their lives. This craving for stimulation often makes them focus on nervous energy instead of higher inspiration. Therefore, Saturn’s children can be very reactive and excitable instead of lethargic, as they try to escape from their prison of matter.As soon as bright, fresh lead metal is exposed to air, it forms a dull-gray oxide layer called the “litharge” that resists any further chemical interaction. In alchemy, air is associated with spiritual energy, and lead reacts to it by instantly forming a barrier or blocking it. Likewise, one of the distinguishing characteristics of someone with a lead temperament is their lack of interest in spiritual ideas. There is also a general lack of interest in life in general, and leaden people often seem lazy, lethargic, or unresponsive.In the individual, lead absorbs the inner light or insight necessary for personal growth and blocks all outside “radiations,” such as attempts at spiritual instruction by others. Because psychological lead absorbs both the deeper vibrations of intuition and higher spiritual energies and aspirations, the person with a lead temperament is uninspired, unimaginative, and lacks that creative spark so necessary for positive change. Before long the lead person starts to feel trapped in his or her dull environment and seeks out excitement, death-defying feats, lively people, and challenging conversation. Their favorite color is often red, and unconsciously, they are seeking the alchemical element of Fire. Fire is one of the Four Elements that represents activity, energy, creative thinking, and transformation. Fire is the tool alchemists use to begin the transmutation of lead into gold as well as transform leaden consciousness into a golden awareness of higher reality. In the laboratory, the changes in the metal and in the alchemist take place simultaneously. Otherwise, there can be no real transformation. The alchemists transmuted the Lead temperament using the Fire operation of Calcination. Physically, lead and Saturn rule the bones, teeth, spleen, and slow chronic processes such as aging. The therapeutic effects are contracting, coagulating, drying, and mineralizing. Saturn-ruled plants enhance the structures of life. They give a sobriety of disposition, en-abling one to see limitations. These plants give steadiness, solidity of pur-pose, subtlety, diplomacy, patience, and an ability to work on the physical plane better.Saturnic or leaden energies are needed for those who have a hard time finishing pro-jects or for those with plenty of ideas but never realize them. Alchemists seeking to produce physical effects found in saturnine elixirs the essential vibratory rate that enabled materialization. Alchemists seeking to produce physical effects found in saturnine elixirs the essential vibratory rate that enabled materialization. Generally speaking, any other elixir mixed with a Saturn elixir will be earthed, which makes them of great value when working on physical plane phenomenon. Their physical therapeutic properties become refrigerant, anti-pyretic, sedative, styptic, and astringent.For instance, if one mixes a saturnine elixir with a mercurial one, the alchemists believed it would release knowledge contained in secret magical manuscripts or in ancient hermetic traditions, because the Saturn-Mercury vibration contains all hidden knowledge of an esoteric nature within it. Alchemical oils were mixed in the same way. For example, to treat leukemia, alchemists would prescribe an equal mixture of lead oil and gold oil. The alchemists made an Oil of Lead that was good for “growth of bones after breaking, strengthening the skeleton, osteoporosis and atrophy of the bones, stimulation of the spleen, drying tissue, reducing secretions and discharges, stopping bleeding, reducing fever, increasing patience, and stopping visions and an overactive imagination.” They also suggested it for hallucinations due to neurological disorders that have delirious after-effects such as encephalitis and post-traumatic stress syndrome. In the “like cures like” philosophy of homeopathy, lead is used to treat sclerosis, the hardening of bones and arteries, which is the hallmark of old age and signature of lead. The homeopathic name of lead is Plumbum metallicum. Native tin is known as stannum, which is the Latin word for tin and also gives the metal its chemical symbol (Sn). The alchemical symbol is K, which shows the lunar principle of soul above the cross of the elements or emerging from the darkness of matter.

Tin is a shiny, silvery-white metal that is malleable, somewhat ductile and sectile, and seems like a perfected form of lead to the casual observer. In fact, the Romans called tin Plumbum album or “white lead.” Tin resists weathering and does not oxidize, and tin utensils buried underground or lost at sea in sunken ships shone like new when rediscovered after hundreds of years. “Tinkers” were gypsy craftsmen who wandered from neighborhood to neighborhood in Europe repairing tin kettles and utensils or melting them down and recasting them. Native or elemental tin is extremely rare in nature and is found with gold and copper deposits. The metal was considered “semi-noble” in ancient times and was used for jewelry in Babylonia and Egypt. The Romans used it to make mirrors, and it was used as coinage in Europe at one time.

Tin has a highly crystalline structure, and due to the breaking of these crystals, a "cry" is heard when a tin bar is bent. Unlike lead, tin has pleasing acoustic effects and is used in the making of bells. The crystals in common grey tin have a cubic structure, but when heated or frozen it changes into white tin, which has a tetragonal structure. After further heating or freezing, white tin disintegrates into a powdery substance. This powder has the ability to “infect” other tin surfaces it comes in contact with by forming blisters that spread until all the metal “sickens” and disintegrates. This transformation is encouraged by impurities such as zinc and aluminum and can be prevented by adding small amounts of antimony or bismuth to the metal. The sickness of tin was called the “tin plague” and was the scourge of tin roofs during Europe’s frigid winters. The mysterious effect was first was first noticed as “growths” on organ pipes in European cathedrals, where it was thought to be the work of the devil to disfigure god’s work.Tin metal has only a few practical uses and most tin is used in alloys. Bronze is an alloy of 5% tin and 95% copper, and the development of bronze by humans marked a new age of advancement known as the Bronze Age. Most solder is a combination of tin and lead; pewter is also an alloy of tin and lead. Other tin alloys are used to make tin cans and tin roofs, and tin has significant use as a corrosion fighter in the protection of other metals. Tin resists distilled, sea and soft tap water, but is attacked by strong acids, alkalis, and acid salts. When heated in air, tin forms tin oxide, which is used to plate steel and make tin cans. Other uses are in type metal, fusible metal, Babbitt metal, and die casting alloys. Tin chloride is used as a reducing agent and mordant in calico printing. Tin salts sprayed onto glass are used to produce electrically conductive coatings, which are used for panel lighting and for frost-free windshields. Window glass is made by floating molten glass on molten tin to produce a flat surface. A crystalline tin-niobium alloy is superconductive at very low temperatures, and shoebox-sized electromagnets made of the wire produce magnetic fields comparable to conventional electromagnets weighing hundreds of tons.The distribution of tin on earth follows an ecliptic at an angle of 23.5 º to the equator that is an exact track of the orbit of Jupiter slicing through the planet. Even stranger, these jovian forces seem to form tin veins that zigzag through the rocks in a lightening bolt pattern. This is no haphazard effect, but an astonishing confirmation of Jupiter freeing the metals from their Saturnic prison on earth. Goethe was just one great alchemical philosopher who believed this. “A remarkable influence proceeds from the metal tin,” he wrote. “This has a differentiating influence, and opens a door through which a way is provided for different metals to be formed from primeval rocks.”Tin ore minerals include oxide minerals like cassiterite and a few sulfides such as franckerite. By far the most tin comes from cassiterite or tin oxide. Reduction of this ore in burning coal results in tin metal and was probably how tin was made by the ancients. Cassiterite is a black or reddish brown mineral that has ornately faceted specimens with a greasy, high luster. It is generally opaque, but its luster and multiple crystal faces cause a sparkling surface. Cassiterite has been an important ore of tin for thousands of years and is still the greatest source of tin today. Most aggregate specimens of cassiterite show crystal twins, with the typical twin bent at a near-60-degree angle to form a distinctive "Elbow Twin." Other crystalline forms include eight-sided prisms and four-sided pyramids. Cassiterite is sometimes found in nature associated with topaz and fluorite gemstones.Tin has a surprising affinity for silica and shares its crystalline structure. In the jovian ring on our planet where native tin is found, the metal lies in silica veins of quartz and granite. In the body, high concentrations of tin and silica are found in the boundary layer of the skin, and tin reacts with silica acid in many of the “shaping” processes of growth. In the Middle Ages, sick people were served food on a tin plate and drinks in a tin vessel to help them regenerate and recover their strength. Today, we know that tin acts as a bactericide and pesticide.Native tin is known as stannum, which is the Latin word for tin and also gives the metal its chemical symbol (Sn). The alchemical symbol is K, which shows the lunar principle of soul above the cross of the elements or emerging from the darkness of matter.

Tin is a shiny, silvery-white metal that is malleable, somewhat ductile and sectile, and seems like a perfected form of lead to the casual observer. In fact, the Romans called tin Plumbum album or “white lead.” Tin resists weathering and does not oxidize, and tin utensils buried underground or lost at sea in sunken ships shone like new when rediscovered after hundreds of years. “Tinkers” were gypsy craftsmen who wandered from neighborhood to neighborhood in Europe repairing tin kettles and utensils or melting them down and recasting them. Native or elemental tin is extremely rare in nature and is found with gold and copper deposits. The metal was considered “semi-noble” in ancient times and was used for jewelry in Babylonia and Egypt. The Romans used it to make mirrors, and it was used as coinage in Europe at one time.

Tin has a highly crystalline structure, and due to the breaking of these crystals, a "cry" is heard when a tin bar is bent. Unlike lead, tin has pleasing acoustic effects and is used in the making of bells. The crystals in common grey tin have a cubic structure, but when heated or frozen it changes into white tin, which has a tetragonal structure. After further heating or freezing, white tin disintegrates into a powdery substance. This powder has the ability to “infect” other tin surfaces it comes in contact with by forming blisters that spread until all the metal “sickens” and disintegrates. This transformation is encouraged by impurities such as zinc and aluminum and can be prevented by adding small amounts of antimony or bismuth to the metal. The sickness of tin was called the “tin plague” and was the scourge of tin roofs during Europe’s frigid winters. The mysterious effect was first was first noticed as “growths” on organ pipes in European cathedrals, where it was thought to be the work of the devil to disfigure god’s work.Tin metal has only a few practical uses and most tin is used in alloys. Bronze is an alloy of 5% tin and 95% copper, and the development of bronze by humans marked a new age of advancement known as the Bronze Age. Most solder is a combination of tin and lead; pewter is also an alloy of tin and lead. Other tin alloys are used to make tin cans and tin roofs, and tin has significant use as a corrosion fighter in the protection of other metals. Tin resists distilled, sea and soft tap water, but is attacked by strong acids, alkalis, and acid salts. When heated in air, tin forms tin oxide, which is used to plate steel and make tin cans. Other uses are in type metal, fusible metal, Babbitt metal, and die casting alloys. Tin chloride is used as a reducing agent and mordant in calico printing. Tin salts sprayed onto glass are used to produce electrically conductive coatings, which are used for panel lighting and for frost-free windshields. Window glass is made by floating molten glass on molten tin to produce a flat surface. A crystalline tin-niobium alloy is superconductive at very low temperatures, and shoebox-sized electromagnets made of the wire produce magnetic fields comparable to conventional electromagnets weighing hundreds of tons.The distribution of tin on earth follows an ecliptic at an angle of 23.5 º to the equator that is an exact track of the orbit of Jupiter slicing through the planet. Even stranger, these jovian forces seem to form tin veins that zigzag through the rocks in a lightening bolt pattern. This is no haphazard effect, but an astonishing confirmation of Jupiter freeing the metals from their Saturnic prison on earth. Goethe was just one great alchemical philosopher who believed this. “A remarkable influence proceeds from the metal tin,” he wrote. “This has a differentiating influence, and opens a door through which a way is provided for different metals to be formed from primeval rocks.”Tin ore minerals include oxide minerals like cassiterite and a few sulfides such as franckerite. By far the most tin comes from cassiterite or tin oxide. Reduction of this ore in burning coal results in tin metal and was probably how tin was made by the ancients. Cassiterite is a black or reddish brown mineral that has ornately faceted specimens with a greasy, high luster. It is generally opaque, but its luster and multiple crystal faces cause a sparkling surface. Cassiterite has been an important ore of tin for thousands of years and is still the greatest source of tin today. Most aggregate specimens of cassiterite show crystal twins, with the typical twin bent at a near-60-degree angle to form a distinctive "Elbow Twin." Other crystalline forms include eight-sided prisms and four-sided pyramids. Cassiterite is sometimes found in nature associated with topaz and fluorite gemstones.Tin has a surprising affinity for silica and shares its crystalline structure. In the jovian ring on our planet where native tin is found, the metal lies in silica veins of quartz and granite. In the body, high concentrations of tin and silica are found in the boundary layer of the skin, and tin reacts with silica acid in many of the “shaping” processes of growth. In the Middle Ages, sick people were served food on a tin plate and drinks in a tin vessel to help them regenerate and recover their strength. Today, we know that tin acts as a bactericide and pesticide.

Flowers last longer in tin vases, and food has been preserved in the tin cans (actually a thin layer of tin on iron) for over a century. Beer (ruled by the jovial Jupiter) is said to taste best from a tin mug. Jupiter rules growth, the metabolic system, the liver, and the enrichment of the blood from food. Jupiter therapeutic effects are anti-spasmodic and hepatic. Jupiter-ruled plants preserve the body and promote healthy growth and are the natural healing herbs of the planetary system. They af-fect the mind in such a way as to promote an understanding of ritual form from the highest point of view, and religious leaders, doctors, lawyers, etc. will find great benefit from jovian herb remedies. They also attune one to the wealth vibration and open up channels for growth and expansion, materi-ally as well as spiritually.Jupiter controls the circulation of blood in the human body. If mixed with a solar herbal eider, it will give the alchemist access to the highest plane. Jupiter-Mercury combinations produce insight into the philosophical principles of any system and their part in the cosmic scheme and provide an intuitive understanding of the great spiritual masters. This particular herbal mixture also produces a lightheartedness and gaiety, which can be very useful to those with a predisposition to depression or gloominess. The physical properties of such a mixture are anabolic and antispasmodic.The alchemists made an Oil of Tin that was used to treat the liver (jaundice, hepatitis, cirrhosis), certain types of eczema, liquid ovarian cysts, inflammatory effusions, pleurisies, acne, water retention, and certain types of obesity. This oil was said to be excellent for someone "loosing shape." The oil was also used as a sweat inducer, wormer, antispasmodic, cathartic, and laxative.The polar (opposite) metal to tin is mercury, and Oil of Tin was said to be an excellent antidote for mercury poisoning, and likewise mercury was said to balance the bad effects of tin. Tin and mercury oil combined are said to provide deep insight and cure lightheadedness and certain phases of manic-depressive syndrome.The homeopathic form of tin is called Stannum, a remedy which is said to strengthen and regenerate muscle and brain tissue. It is also a remedy for the joints and connective tissue of ligaments and cartilage. Stannum is allegedly beneficial in liver disease and is used for congestion, hardening, encephalitis, and other illnesses where the fluid balance is upset.During the early Spring, preferably sometime in March, go outside and find the red planet Mars in the night sky. Relax and try to focus all your attention on the tiny red sphere. Relax completely with an open and quiet mind. Become empty and let the planet influence you. Do this until you feel a real connection with the distant planet. Continue gazing upon Mars and place a piece of iron in your hand or a small cast iron pot or other object but not something of made of steel or chromed. You should be able to feel a resonance building. It is what alchemists refer to as the “call of iron.” You are experiencing the metal’s true signature or living correspondence with its planetary twin. See how your feelings compare to how the alchemists felt about this powerful metal.When mixed with solar herbs, iron herbs increase energy and activate the energetic potentials of other herbs. Martian elixirs release the action poten-tial of the soul of something. When mixed with other herbs, martian herbs acti-vate the potentialities of the other herbs to a great degree making them more forceful in applica-tion and generally more active. Mars herbs are wonderful tonics when mixed with Sun herbs. The combination gives great physical energy, tones the muscles, and increases sexual potency. They also provoke self-reliance, spontaneity, and indepen-dence of attitude. If the alchemist is involved in magical evocation, a mixture of a mars, moon, and mercurial elixirs will help produce the physical plane vehicle of manifestation.Copper is a reddish-brown metal with a bright metallic luster. It is in the same group in the Periodic Table as gold, and like gold, it is remarkably ductile. It is also very malleable and sectile (it can be pounded into other shapes and cut into slices) and is an excellent conductor of heat and electricity. Molten copper is a sea green color, and copper tarnishes with a green color and burns with a blue-green flame with flashes of red, and the alchemists sometimes described Venus, the metal’s archetypal planetary source, as dressed in a blue cloak over a red gown.Pick up a piece of copper and the first thing you notice is its surprising feeling of warmth and moisture. It is that connection to something archetypal and nourishing that makes up the signature of this metal. It is easy to connect with copper, just as its planet (Venus) is easy to see in the sky. It is so brilliant it is often mistaken for a bright star or even a UFO. The best time to see it is in the early evening or morning when it is close to the horizon. In fact, Venus has been called both the “Morning Star” and the “Evening Star” and is associated with magical energies. It is the “first star I see tonight” upon you make you wish that will come true with the sympathetic venusian energies. On some clear night or morning, go outside and find the planet Venus. Relax and try to focus all your attention on the brilliant white sphere. Relax completely with an open and quiet mind. Become empty and let the planet influence you. Do this until you feel a real connection with the distant planet. Continue gazing upon the planet and grab a piece of copper, a fistful of pennies, or even a copper cooking utensil. You should be able to feel a warm resonance building. That deep and soothing vibration is not your imagination. It is what alchemists refer to as the “call of copper.” You are experiencing the metal’s true signature or living correspondence with its planetary twin.The venusian signature gives refinement of senses and the ability to appreciate beauty. Artists, actors, and others in the public eye will find these elixirs a great aid to performing their work. Venus herbs also enhance the taste perceptions, promote affection, give an amiable disposition, and make one more psychically sensitive to astral influences. For those who feel a lack of charm, or some of the softer human qualities, a venusian elixir will stimulate the right vibration in your aura. Venusian elixirs also promote harmony and balance within our being and in our dealings with others. Venusian elixirs are said to give access to that realm of the astral that is intimately connected with the working and forces of the most intimate magic of nature. They are a great aid to alchemists who wish to make herbal alchemy their life work, as they open up the human consciousness to the secrets of the plant kingdom. Naturalists will find these elixirs most illuminating, as they will give conscious con-tact with the various “deities” of long past nature religions.Mercury is truly unique. It is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature and the heaviest natural liquid on the planet. According to alchemical theory, all the metals began in the liquid state on deep in the earth, but only mercury was able to retain it original innocence and life force and resist taking on a final form, and for that reason, the ancients called it Mercurius vivens (the “living mercury”). This silvery liquid metal (also known as “Quicksilver”) was known to ancient Chinese and Hindus before 2000 BC and has been found in sacred tubes in Egyptian tombs dated from 1500 BC. It was first used to form alloys with other metals around 500 BC. The Greeks applied germ-killing ability of mercury in healing ointments (to the benefit of those afflicted with wounds and skin infections), and in the Middle Ages, Paracelsus used it successfully to treat syphilis. However, the ancient Romans applied mercury compounds for long-term use in cosmetics, and many beautiful women eventually died of its cumulative poisonous effects. Today, many popular brands of eye makeup still contain low levels of mercury.In the East, metallic mercury was the main ingredient in most Tantric medicinal preparations. In his travels through India, Marco Polo observed that many people drank a concoction of mercury and sulfur twice monthly from early childhood with no observable ill effects. They believed the drink gave them longevity. Tantric alchemists in India still take metallic mercury in place of food as an elixir of life, although they caution that the body must be perfectly attuned and strengthened to tolerate the intense cosmic infusion of life force. In Indian alchemy, mercury is called rasa, which refers to the subtle essence that is the origin of all forms of matter. The cosmic chaos from which the universe sprang is called the Rasasara or “Sea of Mercury.” The craft of alchemy is referred to as Rasayana or “Knowledge of Mercury.” Go outside on the night of the full moon and gaze up at the silver orb. Relax and try to focus all your attention on the surface of the moon. Relax completely with an open and quiet mind. Become empty and let our closest planetary body influence you. Do this until you feel a real connection. Now, pick up piece of silver jewelry or dinnerware, and hold it in your left hand until it gets warm. You should be able to feel a liquid-like sensation of cool metallic energy. This is what alchemists refer to as the “call of silver.” You are experiencing the metal’s true signature or living correspondence with the moon itself. Try to remember how this feels in your body. Has the taste in your mouth changed? Has your eyesight altered? How does your skin feel.The alchemists prepared an Oil of Silver they used to treat disorders of the brain and cerebellum, reduce stress, balance emotions, improve memory, treat nervous disorders and epilepsy, improve both melancholia and mania. It was also used as a physical purgative and mental purifier. It was said to affect the subconscious mind, see into the past clearly, remove fears and blockages, allow one to unwind, produce “homey” feelings, give a feeling of grace and sensitivity, and enhanced imagination.Using elaborate mixing and heating techniques, Egyptian alchemists tried making gold by changing the proportions of the Four Elements in the base metals or by attempting to speed up natural growth of lesser metals into gold. Around 100 AD, Egyptian alchemist Maria Prophetissa used mercury and sulfur to try to make gold. Around 300 AD, the alchemist Zosimos, whose recipes often came to him in dreams, was working to transmute copper. “The soul of copper,” he wrote must be purified until it receives the sheen of gold and turns into the royal metal of the Sun." A technique known as "diplosis" (“doubling”) of gold became popular. One such recipe called for heating a mixture of two parts gold with one part each of silver and copper. After appropriate alchemical charging that brought the seed of gold alive, twice as much of a gold as originally added was produced. Egyptian alchemists believed that the gold acted as a seed in metals, especially copper and silver. According to their view, the seed of gold grew, eating the copper and silver as food, until the whole mixture was transformed into pure gold.Gold is a stubbornly pure metal when it comes to reacting or even associating with “lesser” elements. That signature explains a lot of the chemical characteristics of gold. Unlike nearly every other metal, there are no plants that contain even trace amounts of metallic gold. There are very few gold ores, because the noblest metal never alloys with the baser metals, but does alloy with the noble metal silver and makes an amalgam with mercury.Gold is extremely ductile, malleable, and sectile, and so soft it can be cut with a knife, which makes gold impractical to use for tools. It is also very heavy. A gold bar is twice as heavy as an equal-sized bar of lead. Furthermore, gold embodies an inner equilibrium of forces that make it pretty much indestructible. Gold never tarnishes like copper or silver or rust like iron and, whether found buried in the ground, at the bottom of the ocean, in an ancient tomb, or in the ring on your finger, it always looks the same. It cannot be damaged by heat and was considered completely inalterable until around 1100 AD, when alchemists concocted a mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acids known as Agua Regia (“Royal Water”) that could dissolve gold. The immortal metal is endlessly recycled, and all the gold known today is very nearly equal to all the gold that has ever been mined. One ounce of gold can be stretched into a single wire 35 miles long, or it can be beaten to just a few atoms thick. It is the most flexible, enduring, and beautiful of all metals.

Gold shows a distinct affinity for sulfur and forms an ore with a rare element called tellurium. It is one of the few elements gold easily bonds with. In fact, telluride is rarely found without gold. Gold also appears in minerals that are part of a group of tellurium sulfides called the tellurides. However, the amount of gold in these minerals is really miniscule next to the amount of gold found in its native metallic state. Native gold seems to like the company of the purest white quartz and is also found mixed with deposits of pyrite and a few other sulfide minerals. Gold is six times rarer than silver, and it takes about three tons of gold ore to extract an ounce of gold metal.Around the world, nearly every culture associated their supreme god or goddess with gold. For many centuries only the images of gods graced gold coins, until Alexander the Great began the trend of rulers’ images appearing on gold coins around 30 BC. Even the most primitive societies recognize the sacred properties of gold. For example, the Makuna tribes of modern Brazil believe that gold contains “the light of the sun and stars." The chemical symbol for gold (Au) comes from the Latin word aurum meaning "gold.” The alchemical cipher for gold is a rendition of the sun (A), and gold was considered a kind of congealed light. Sol is the King of alchemy, and his royal purple-red color is revealed in gold colloidal solutions, and red is his symbolic color. Sol Philosophorum was the name the alchemists gave to this living spirit of gold, which they saw as the refined essence of heat and fire. Gold was known and considered sacred from earliest times. Gold became popular because it reminded people of the sun with its warm, life-giving properties. Because of its imperishability, the ancient Chinese thought that gold conveyed immortality to its owners. Egyptian inscriptions dating back to 2600 BC describe these same associations with gold. Gold replaced bartering around 3500 BC when the people of Mesopotamia started using it as a kind of money because of it eternal value. By 2800 BC, gold was being fashioned into standardized weights in the form of rings. People started carried black stones called “touchstones” onto which they scraped a piece of gold to leave a streak. Depending on the brightness of the streak, one could estimate how much gold was in the sample. Around 1500 BC, Mesopotamian alchemists discovered a process for purifying gold known as "cuppellation," which involved heating impure gold in a porcelain cup called a “cuppel.” Impurities were absorbed by the porcelain, leaving a button of pure gold behind. Later alchemists used cuppels to test the quality of their transmutations.Using elaborate mixing and heating techniques, Egyptian alchemists tried making gold by changing the proportions of the Four Elements in the base metals or by attempting to speed up natural growth of lesser metals into gold. Around 100 AD, Egyptian alchemist Maria Prophetissa used mercury and sulfur to try to make gold. Around 300 AD, the alchemist Zosimos, whose recipes often came to him in dreams, was working to transmute copper. “The soul of copper,” he wrote must be purified until it receives the sheen of gold and turns into the royal metal of the Sun." A technique known as "diplosis" (“doubling”) of gold became popular. One such recipe called for heating a mixture of two parts gold with one part each of silver and copper. After appropriate alchemical charging that brought the seed of gold alive, twice as much of a gold as originally added was produced. Egyptian alchemists believed that the gold acted as a seed in metals, especially copper and silver. According to their view, the seed of gold grew, eating the copper and silver as food, until the whole mixture was transformed into pure gold.According to the medieval alchemists, Nature sought continually to create the perfection achieved in gold, and they looked at every metal as gold in the making. Alchemists also thought that the objective of every metal was to become gold, and every metal was tested for corrosion and strength and ranked as to how far it was from gold. Many alchemists felt that mercury was the closest metal to gold and that it could be transmuted directly into gold. Their intuition was correct, for mercury can indeed be turned into gold. Gold and mercury are next to each other on the Periodic Table. Mercury is element 80 (has 80 protons) and gold is element 79 (has 79 protons). In the 1960s, physicists were able to knock out a proton in mercury atoms using neutron particle accelerators, and thereby create minute quantities of gold.Gold is at the head of the metals, paired with what in the medieval mind was the strongest planet, the Sun. The alchemists were obsessed with gold’s signature of perfection. Medieval Italian alchemist Bernard Trevisan speculated, "Is not gold merely the Sun’s beams condensed into a solid yellow?" Seventeenth-century alchemist John French asked fervently: “Is there no sperm in gold? Is it not possible to exalt it for multiplication? Is there no universal spirit in the world? Is it not possible to find that collected in One Thing which is dispersed in all things? What is that which makes gold incorruptible? What induced the philosophers to examine gold for the matter of their medicine? Was not all gold once living? Is there none of this living gold, the matter of philosophers, to be had anymore?”Gold is highly valued in the everyday world too. It is used as coinage and is a standard for monetary systems in many countries. It is used to make jewelry and artwork, and also in dentistry, electronics, and plating. Since it is an excellent reflector of infrared energy (such as emerges from the sun), the metal is used to coat space satellites and interstellar probes. Chlorauric acid is used in photography for toning the silver image. It is also used in medicine to treat degenerative diseases such as arthritis and cancer.Chemist Lilly Kolisko performed experiments with gold chloride and showed its chemical behavior coincided with events that altered the strength of the sun, such as the weakening in solar forces during solar eclipses or their increase during the summer solstice. Moreover, she found that both silver and gold salts seemed to be equally influenced by the sun. In the case of silver, it was the forms or patterns that changed, whereas in the gold, it was the colors that changed. Silver shapes moved from jagged spikes to smooth rolling forms but the colors remained hues of grey, while the basic shape of gold patterns remained the same but the colors changed from brilliant yellows through violet to reddish-purple hues. This work presents an amazing confirmation of how the King and Queen, Sol and Luna, work together in creation, with the female principle representing soul and form and the male principle representing spirit and energy. Kolisko’s innovative work with the metals is presented in the Appendix. Her work has been duplicated by dozens of other chemists and has been confirmed many times.The signatures of gold are invoked in rituals, magical spells, and talismans concerning solar deities, the male force, authority, self-confidence, creativity, financial riches, investments, fortune, hope, health, and worldly and magical power. Gold talismans can be very expensive, but you can make one of gold colored cardboard or write the symbols on it with gold paint or plate an object with gold. Gold jewelry is said to improve self-confidence and inner strength. To charge water with the signature of gold, put a gold object in a glass of water and let sit in the sunlight for 6-10 hours.During sunrise or sunset, face the sun and try to feel it archetypal presence. If not too bright, gaze into the rising or setting sun and try to see the metallic solar disk of which the Egyptian alchemists spoke. Relax and try to focus all your attention on the golden sphere. Relax completely with an open and quiet mind. Become empty and let the presence at the center of our solar system influence you. Do this until you feel a real connection with the distant sun. Continue facing the sun as you pick up a piece of gold jewelry or a vial of pure gold flakes (such as sold in some novelty shops) into your right palm. You should be able to feel a electric warmth building. That eerie, warm vibration is not your imagination. It is what alchemists refer to as the “call of gold” – the resonation of the metal with its “planet.” You are experiencing the metal’s true signature or living correspondence, and for gold, this is the most perfect expression of all materials. If you can connect with this archetype, you will realize that it a very personal as well as divine presence. As Above, so Below. This is perfection on all levels of your mind, body, and soul resonating with the perfection inherent in the Whole Universe.For those with weaker wills or loss of contact with the divine presence, gold represents a psychological cure. The solar essences gives great ambition, courage, self-re-liance, dignity, authority, and the ability to manage oneself and others. The creative principle, no matter how small and insignificant it is within us can be enhanced to a great degree by tapping into the solar archetype. Just as the Sun represents the di-vine creative force in our immediate solar system, gold represents the same thing in our inner temperament. For lasting manifestation, the golden temperament needs to be firmly grounded in the world, and the danger at this phase of transformation is that the individual become too focused on the workings Above and forget his or her connection to the real world. Gold and the blazing Sun correspond to personal ambition, courage, and creative energy and vitality, but without a constant effort to remain pure and alive in the real world, the golden temperament can quickly transmute into the leaden qualities of despair, poor self esteem, lack of confidence, and impurity. Most important for the golden temperament, however, is to realize that once having reached this plateau, one has certain personal and karmic obligations. The golden attitude of this temperament is what brings the rewards of health, wealth, and happiness through synchonistic responses from the universe. Go against these archetypal powers at this level of achievement and even the slightest deviation from the golden path of righteousness and personal integrity can have disastrous and immediate consequences. The alchemists transmuted the Gold temperament using the operation of Coagulation.Chrysotherapy is the name given to healing with gold. The mystical metal has been used for both spiritual and medical purposes as far back as ancient Egypt. Over 5,000 years ago, the Egyptians used gold in dentistry and ingested it for mental, bodily, and spiritual purification. The ancients believed that gold in the body worked by stimulating the life force and raising the level of vibration on all levels. In Alexandria, alchemists developed a powerful elixir known as “liquid gold,” which reportedly had the ability to restore youth and perfect health. In ancient Rome, gold salves were used for the treatment of skin ulcers, and today, gold leaf plays an important role in the treatment of chronic skin ulcers. The great alchemist and founder of modern medicine, Paracelsus, developed many highly successful medicines from metallic minerals including gold. In medieval Europe, gold-coated pills and “gold waters” were extremely popular. Alchemists mixed powdered gold into drinks to "comfort sore limbs," and today, it is widely used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. In the 1900s, surgeons implanted a $5.00 gold piece under the skin near an inflamed joint, such as a knee or elbow. In China, peasants still cook their rice with a gold coin in order to help replenish gold in their bodies, and fancy Chinese restaurants put 24-karat gold-leaf in their food preparations.The alchemists believed that gold represented the perfection of matter, and that its presence in the body would enliven, rejuvenate, and cure a multitude of “dis-eases.” Gold is never corrodes or even tarnishes, is completely non-toxic, and exhibits no interactions with other drugs. Gold is the only heavy metal that has a right-hand atomic spin and is therefore easily tolerated by the body.The alchemists believed that gold represented the perfection of matter, and that its presence in the body would enliven, rejuvenate, and cure a multitude of “dis-eases.” Gold is never corrodes or even tarnishes, is completely non-toxic, and exhibits no interactions with other drugs. Gold is the only heavy metal that has a right-hand atomic spin and is therefore easily tolerated by the body.Sun-ruled plants affect the soul in its positive phase of manifestation, which manifests on the personal level as our idea of ourselves as a progressive unified entity. Solar herbs help us realize our evolutionary epoch as an individual among many other individuals, helping to synthesize and synchronize our goals with those of the macrocosm. In this sense they are ego fortifiers, but with a divine purpose.Solar herbs heal inferiority complexes, bolstering people and giving them a sense of purpose beyond the norm. The Sun represents the Christ and Osiris consciousness in man, as well as Hercules in his monumental strength. For those with weaker wills, Sun ruled herbs will provide the springboard for more posi-tive action; they also bestow the quality of generosity to our souls. Solar plants, when alchemically charged, will reveal the divine purpose of our solar system, and will let you be-come aware of the will of God in manifestation. Solar essences give great ambition.

www.azothalchemy.org/metals.htm

New 45EPIC Fine Art facebook and instagram landscapes!

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Sony A7RII Spring Wildflowers Fine Art Joshua Tree National Park! Dr. Elliot McGucken Fine Art Landscape Photography! Sony A7R 2 & Sony 16-35mm Vario-Tessar T FE F4 ZA OSS E-Mount Lens!

An important thing to remember is that even though pixel sizes keep getting smaller and smaller, the technology is advancing, so the smaller pixels are more efficient at collecting light. For instance, the Sony A7rII is back-illuminated which allows more photons to hit the sensor. Semiconductor technology is always advancing, so the brilliant engineers are always improving the signal/noise ratio. Far higher pixel counts, as well as better dynamic ranger, are thus not only possible, but the future!

Yes I have a Ph.D. in physics! I worked on phototranistors and photodiodes as well as an artificial retina for the blind. :)

You can read more about my own physics theory (dx4/dt=ic) here: herosodysseyphysics.wordpress.com/

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I love shooting fine art landscapes and fine art nature photography! :) I live for it!

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Feel free to ask me any questions! Always love sharing tech talk and insights! :)

And all the best on Your Epic Hero's Odyssey!

The new Lightroom rocks!

Beautiful magnificent clouds!

View your artistic mission into photography as an epic odyssey of heroic poetry! Take it from Homer in Homer's Odyssey: "Tell me, O muse, of that ingenious hero who travelled far and wide after he had sacked the famous town of Troy. Many cities did he visit, and many were the nations with whose manners and customs he was acquainted; moreover he suffered much by sea while trying to save his own life and bring his men safely home; but do what he might he could not save his men, for they perished through their own sheer folly in eating the cattle of the Sun-god Hyperion; so the god prevented them from ever reaching home. Tell me, too, about all these things, O daughter of Jove, from whatsoever source you may know them. " --Samuel Butler Translation of Homer's Odyssey

All the best on your Epic Hero's Odyssey from Johnny Ranger McCoy!

Sony A7RII Fine Art Zion National Park Autumn Winter Subway Hike! Dr. Elliot McGucken Fine Art Landscape Photography!

An important thing to remember is that even though pixel sizes keep getting smaller and smaller, the technology is advancing, so the smaller pixels are more efficient at collecting light. For instance, the Sony A7rII is back-illuminated which allows more photons to hit the sensor. Semiconductor technology is always advancing, so the brilliant engineers are always improving the signal/noise ratio. Far higher pixel counts, as well as better dynamic ranger, are thus not only possible, but the future!

Yes I have a Ph.D. in physics! I worked on phototranistors and photodiodes as well as an artificial retina for the blind. :)

You can read more about my own physics theory (dx4/dt=ic) here: herosodysseyphysics.wordpress.com/

And follow me on instagram! @45surf

instagram.com/45surf

Facebook!

www.facebook.com/elliot.mcgucken

www.facebook.com/45surfAchillesOdysseyMythology

Dr. Elliot McGucken Fine Art Photography!

I love shooting fine art landscapes and fine art nature photography! :) I live for it!

45surf fine art!

Feel free to ask me any questions! Always love sharing tech talk and insights! :)

And all the best on Your Epic Hero's Odyssey!

The new Lightroom rocks!

Beautiful magnificent clouds!

View your artistic mission into photography as an epic odyssey of heroic poetry! Take it from Homer in Homer's Odyssey: "Tell me, O muse, of that ingenious hero who travelled far and wide after he had sacked the famous town of Troy. Many cities did he visit, and many were the nations with whose manners and customs he was acquainted; moreover he suffered much by sea while trying to save his own life and bring his men safely home; but do what he might he could not save his men, for they perished through their own sheer folly in eating the cattle of the Sun-god Hyperion; so the god prevented them from ever reaching home. Tell me, too, about all these things, O daughter of Jove, from whatsoever source you may know them. " --Samuel Butler Translation of Homer's Odyssey

All the best on your Epic Hero's Odyssey from Johnny Ranger McCoy!

Sony A7RII Fine Art Zion National Park Autumn Winter Subway Hike! Dr. Elliot McGucken Fine Art Landscape Photography! Sony A7R2 & Sony 16-35mm Vario-Tessar T FE F4 ZA OSS E-Mount Lens!

fine art landscape photography,fine art photography, fine art photographer, elliot mcgucken photography, landscapes, fine art landscape, landscape, landscape photography

To the Zion Narrows and Wall Street! Sony A7RII Fine Art Zion National Park Autumn Winter Hike! Dr. Elliot McGucken Fine Art Landscape Photography!

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An important thing to remember is that even though pixel sizes keep getting smaller and smaller, the technology is advancing, so the smaller pixels are more efficient at collecting light. For instance, the Sony A7rII is back-illuminated which allows more photons to hit the sensor. Semiconductor technology is always advancing, so the brilliant engineers are always improving the signal/noise ratio. Far higher pixel counts, as well as better dynamic ranger, are thus not only possible, but the future!

Yes I have a Ph.D. in physics! I worked on phototranistors and photodiodes as well as an artificial retina for the blind. :)

You can read more about my own physics theory (dx4/dt=ic) here: herosodysseyphysics.wordpress.com/

And follow me on instagram! @45surf

instagram.com/45surf

Facebook!

www.facebook.com/elliot.mcgucken

Dr. Elliot McGucken Fine Art Photography!

I love shooting fine art landscapes and fine art nature photography! :) I live for it!

Feel free to ask me any questions! Always love sharing tech talk and insights! :)

And all the best on Your Epic Hero's Odyssey!

The new Lightroom rocks!

Beautiful magnificent clouds!

View your artistic mission into photography as an epic odyssey of heroic poetry! Take it from Homer in Homer's Odyssey: "Tell me, O muse, of that ingenious hero who travelled far and wide after he had sacked the famous town of Troy. Many cities did he visit, and many were the nations with whose manners and customs he was acquainted; moreover he suffered much by sea while trying to save his own life and bring his men safely home; but do what he might he could not save his men, for they perished through their own sheer folly in eating the cattle of the Sun-god Hyperion; so the god prevented them from ever reaching home. Tell me, too, about all these things, O daughter of Jove, from whatsoever source you may know them. " --Samuel Butler Translation of Homer's Odyssey

All the best on your Epic Hero's Odyssey from Johnny Ranger McCoy!

Sony A7RII Fine Art Zion National Park Autumn Winter Subway Hike! Dr. Elliot McGucken Fine Art Landscape Photography! Sony A7R2 & Sony 16-35mm Vario-Tessar T FE F4 ZA OSS E-Mount Lens!

There is something about being easy to read. Take, for instance, this bike rack. You know its a bike rack, because, well, it is shaped like a bike and located in an area that would be convenient for bicyclists to park & lock their bikes. Easy, right?

Then you have me. I'm shaped like a human, like a dude even... but that doesn't really tell you much about me. At least that is what I'm told. Perhaps I should be shaped like a stubborn. Or like an opinionated. Or a creative. But you know, I'm not so sure what those would look like (even though I'm creative) and neither would anyone else. So what is one to do? I guess I just keep on keeping on being me and let people figure me out.

At least I know I'm not easy to read and thus know why people give me funny looks as they try to figure me out :)

Having only had an obscured view of them the day before outside the TMD, not going to Peak Rail meant I was free to go and see the class 69s working the weedkiller train into Toton on 18.6.23

The sun was shining when I set off from Chilwell, but it clouded over by the time I reached the footbridge south of Toton. The train was about 20 minutes early at this point, so I had to quickly rush and jump on my bike to get here in time. I was only about a minute ahead of the train, but that's a comfortable margin compared to some previous instances I've had here!

Having only seen class 69s for the first time the previous day, this was my first time seeing them work... which I guess warrants the obligatory "nice". I knew they were updated class 56s with new engines, but beyond that wasn't sure exactly what they were. However it became quite clear they had the prime movers from 66s as they made the distinctive class 66 noise as they rolled by!

Photo captured via Minolta Maxxum AF Macro 50mm F/2.8 Lens. Spokane Indian Reservation. Selkirk Mountains Range. Okanogan-Colville Xeric Valleys and Foothills section within the Northern Rockies Region. Inland Northwest. Stevens County, Washington. Late October 2021.

Exposure Time: 1/250 sec. * ISO Speed: ISO-100 * Aperture: F/2.8 * Bracketing: None * Color Temperature: 4200 K * Mood: Dark & Moody Preset #19