Photo captured via Minolta MD Rokkor-X 85mm F/1.7 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 2020.

Exposure Time: 0.8 sec. * ISO Speed: ISO-100 * Aperture: F/8 * Bracketing: None * Color Temperature: 5812 K * Plug-In: Fall In Mood 04 * Filter: Hoya HMC CIR-PL (⌀55mm) * Elevation: 2,520 feet above sea-level

Stieglitz would never say that certain objects of the world were more or less beautiful than others-telegraph poles, for instance, compared with oak trees. He would accept them for what they are, and use the most appropriate objects to express his thoughts and convey his vision.

～Ansel Adams

P.S. Non-HDR / Non-GND-filtered / 黑卡作品

As a photographer, I enjoy using my camera to capture and share the beauty and peace I find while getting out in nature. But every now and then I come across something unusual, something that seemingly defies the laws of nature. Here's an image of just such an instance. The odd flame above the refinery really caught my eye this day, and I stopped to snap a shot. When I noticed the creepy guy standing menacingly between me and the refinery, I knew it was time to pack it in. Something strange was going on here, but to this day I still haven't found out what it was.

The difficulty with sharing these photos is that they are part of a series, with a theme - the idea of ‘reading’ a region through its signs, its architecture, its culture and aesthetic. Posting photos sequentially doesn’t really translate the same way - the casual viewer who stumbles across this image, for instance, probably sees simply another travel photo of an interesting church or building - which it is, of course, but in the context of the series it has other meanings too, which too easily are overlooked or lost.

Still, in the spirit of signs and themes, here is a frontal view of the Benedictine Arch-Abbey of Kloster Beuron, in the upper Danube Valley in Baden Wurttemberg. I hope you enjoy it.

Somewhere in Osaka's underground labyrinth of trains and yellow lines.

In this instance, the title is factual as what appears to be a misty day at the reservoir was in fact somebody burning a lot of stuff nearby and the smoke was drifting over the water at Trenchford reservoir.

And in this instance, it's just ignoring me!!

Thanks for looking, etc.:)

Cité judiciaire - Tribunal de commerce

Carrying my 10kg camera rucksack, with tripod, water, spare layers, food and maps; the people who I am with (in this instance my girlfriend) always comment on how do I do it, or why do I bother. My response is always the same - You have to be in it to win it :)

This photograph proves my point. We hiked to the summit of Scafell Pike, it was hot and steep and although I was constantly greeted with stunning scenery, the light was poor so I didn't bother getting out my camera. It wasn't until the last 15 minutes of the 4hr walk that the elements came together, producing just 30 seconds of stunning light. I had just enough time to set up, frame, focus, shoot. The light went as fast as it came and the effort of labouring up the mountain with my kit was more than worth it. I would also like to add that this hasn't been Photoshopped or played with much... the light was just that good.

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A Few Good Photography Books I Read

Full Frame

Waiting For the Light

Galen Rowell A Retrospective

The Light Elsewhere

Remember that the most beautiful things in the world are the most useless; peacocks and lilies for instance.

~John Ruskin

There were a few instances when I began to wonder if this particular box needed an air traffic controller !

There were so many birds around it that getting several in the shot at one time was not too difficult especially if I backed off on the telephoto a bit. But getting them in the same focal plane was tricky and most often when it occurred it was pure luck.

Oregon Coast

One instance of being behind a bus on a curvy road that we loved slowing our pace. It seemed to epitomize the Pacific NW, bumper stickers and guitar included. I like to think I can be critical of vans, we have one too.

I can write the saddest poem of all tonight.

Write, for instance: "The night is full of stars,

and the stars, blue, shiver in the distance."

The night wind whirls in the sky and sings.

I can write the saddest poem of all tonight.

I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.

On nights like this, I held her in my arms.

I kissed her so many times under the infinite sky.

She loved me, sometimes I loved her.

How could I not have loved her large, still eyes?

I can write the saddest poem of all tonight.

To think I don't have her. To feel that I've lost her.

To hear the immense night, more immense without her.

And the poem falls to the soul as dew to grass.

What does it matter that my love couldn't keep her.

The night is full of stars and she is not with me.

That's all. Far away, someone sings. Far away.

My soul is lost without her.

As if to bring her near, my eyes search for her.

My heart searches for her and she is not with me.

The same night that whitens the same trees.

We, we who were, we are the same no longer.

I no longer love her, true, but how much I loved her.

My voice searched the wind to touch her ear.

Someone else's. She will be someone else's. As she once

belonged to my kisses.

Her voice, her light body. Her infinite eyes.

I no longer love her, true, but perhaps I love her.

Love is so short and oblivion so long.

Because on nights like this I held her in my arms,

my soul is lost without her.

Although this may be the last pain she causes me,

and this may be the last poem I write for her.

Pablo Neruda

The Birte Selmer, a bulk ship registered in Majuro (where is that I hear you say) taking on a cargo of grain like product (perhaps chick peas or soya bean for instance) at the former bulk sugar terminal at suburban Colmslie on the Brisbane River, Queensland. In the background can be seen the two massive Gateway (or more correctly Sir Leo Hielscher) Bridges. You may notice that even though this location is a fair way up the river from the mouth, there is a small beach which is adjacent to a large park. There are several of these "beaches" on either side of the river along this reach but not used for swimming as such. The river is far cleaner these days but it does harbour rather nasty bull sharks which tend to be reasonably aggressive with big teeth!

The ship is loading by its own cranes rather than the conveyor/crane system which was designed for raw sugar and partly dismantled I believe. Imagine evacuating on that life boat at the stern of the ship!!

Now...where is Majuro? Well, I can tell you that it's on a tiny atoll like island in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific....definitely a place and flag of convenience. So firstly, a little bit about Majuro then after that, a bit about the ship.

Majuro (/ˈmædʒəroʊ/; Marshallese: Mājro [mʲæzʲ(e)rˠo] is the capital and largest city of the Marshall Islands. It is also a large coral atoll of 64 islands in the Pacific Ocean. It forms a legislative district of the Ratak (Sunrise) Chain of the Marshall Islands. The atoll has a land area of 9.7 square kilometres (3.7 sq mi) and encloses a lagoon of 295 square kilometres (114 sq mi). As with other atolls in the Marshall Islands, Majuro consists of narrow land masses. It has a tropical trade wind climate, with an average temperature of 27 °C (81 °F). You can read more on Wikipedia. It may be a beautiful place but it is definitely no ship base as such!

Now the ship!

The Birte Selmer was built in 2011 as a bulk ship and is registered in the Marshall Islands (see above). It arrived in Brisbane on 27 January 2021.

Gross Tonnage23432

Summer Deadweight (t)33660

More can be found on the internet ship tracking sites.

When shooting a brilliant sunset, for instance, don't forget to turn your head. I know those fiery clouds look more interesting, but you don't need that identical 57th exposure. You should, however, need variation.

By the way. My photostream reached a total of 2 million views yesterday!

Over on the Flickr Social group Flickr didn't ask for our best shots, but rather "our best moments" of 2024 or the start of 2025. Most of my best moments are with my family, so I thought I'd likely have nothing to share for that instance, but then I remembered this shot and the moment it represents for me:

From very early on in my life I've made music. It's one of the main ways of expressing myself and incredibly important to me. And yet - due to many circumstances - I dedicate less and less time to it year after year. 2024 was particularly bad, and it got to a point where I once more started to doubt, that I would ever be able to write music again...

The guitar in the image is my childhood guitar (it's tiny) and I got it when I was 5 or 6 years old. One day in December I played once more (probably just some Christmas songs) when I had a new musical idea. I quickly recorded it and knew in that instance that I would easily be able to create a full song with that as my main idea.

The shot I took (some time later) is a kind of celebration, an haphazard portrait of sorts, of that (probably somewhat) naive child in me saying: "Yeah, you may have lost a lot of drive and skill, you may lack time and energy, sure... but you still got your creativity, and even if it's just for yourself, it won't go anywhere anytime soon!"

Shot with a Leitz "Xenon 5 cm F 1.5" lens on a Canon EOS R5.

Well it was a miserable and dull day, which produced a very dull photo of the fields local to where I live, so in processing I have given it a bit of poster filtering, and I think created amore interesting image. It a good instance of the way the "one a day" challenges me.

I've had a few instances of misuse of my photos on other sites - so henceforth I have a new watermark. this is something I'd really would rather not do, but sadly it has become necessary.

this shot is straight out of camera (SOOC) apart from the crop and watermark.

.

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© Jon Downs 2013 All Rights Reserved

This is a color photograph of the Courthouse in the city of Samos, Greece; it houses the First Instance Court on the island.

The entire façade of the edifice is adorned with interesting architectural elements (such as pilasters, pediments and capitals) and so are, too, its windows and balcony. On the lintel above the main entrance a marble inscription reads “OBEY THE LAW” (Νόμοις Πείθου). The building was renovated in the late 1990s.

I accidentally every now and then set the Rolleiflex to double exposure. 99% it is a wasted shot except this instance. This is also my first test roll on pushing the Tri-X 400 to 800.

Rolleiflex 3.5F

Film: Kodak Tri-X 400

Developer: Ilford Ilfotec DD-X

Scanner: Epson V600

*

Sometimes you walk by a site at the wrong time and just know there is a shot there. In this instance I had walked past this site early in the day, took a look at PhotoPills and realized that this would be a serious back lighting opportunity at sunset. I planned my evening around being here for sunset, and I am certainly happy I added this to my list of priorities! It was another image I paid for in blood donated to the resident mosquitoes and black flies, but hey, I guess that's just part of the game.

Shot with a Canon 5D IV, and a Canon 24-70 f/2.8L II. Processed in Camera Raw and Photoshop.

"“Nobody of any real culture, for instance, ever talks nowadays about the beauty of sunset. Sunsets are quite old fashioned. To admire them is a distinct sign of provincialism of temperament. Upon the other hand they go on”

I'm going to take a big risk here and dedicate this shot to the one and only barbera*. She hates sunset shots. No, that's not true - she detests them! But earlier today she faved one of mine. Oh yes!!! So, Barbara, this one is for you with love, thanks and a little wink ;-))

NEW GALLERY - Please take a look at tanakawho's work in this new gallery.

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This is another instance of persistence paying off. On my last night at the badlands I went out and had a bunch of problems with my intervalometer failing which resulted in a lot of wasted time. I finally got things going right before sunrise.

Image is a composite of about 50 photos to produce the trails. That resulted in some strange artifacts in the sunrise portion of the sky so the image was then blended with one towards the end of the series.

Tribunal Grande Instance er tegnet af Richard Rogers. Selve formgivningen har undret mig. Disse tre fotos er en granskning af det arkitektoniske afsæt for nutidens arkitektur i Bordeaux. Udgangspunktet er, at den er stedsspecifik og inde holder en høj grad af sense of place.'

Tribunal Grande Instance ist designed by Richard Rogers. The architectural expression seems out of place at the very first glimpse of the volumes. Discovering the scale og spaces of the city - both noisy as well as quiet spaces - leaves an understanding of "the sense of place" of Bordeaux.

Tribunal Grande Instance e stato sviluppato dal Architetto Richard Rogers. L'edificio non assomiglia agli altri edifici quotidiani in Bordeaux. Dunque andando in ricerca nei spazi segreti di città, si capisce e sente, che il Trilbunal Grande Instance si adatta ai spazi conosciuti di Bordeaux..

The 93! It is no more. Although in this instance I was more interested in the Sprinter because 228 was one of the Central Connect vans I hadn’t seen before. Unlike their usual minibus livery, this one is predominantly white with the usual blue rear. I don’t suppose I’ll be seeing any more of these since they’ve ceased to run regular public buses in the East Midlands, although I do have a few more photos left to upload.

RX25 TCJ is seen on Carrington Street, Nottingham, on 26.7.25

I see Central Connect opted for the rarely seen capacity boost on the EVM Sprinter, where the back end of an E200 MMC is attached!

Acqua Alta és un fenomen que passa amb freqüència a la ciutat de Venècia, Itàlia, a causa en general a les marees altes de primavera ia la pluja. Comprèn la inundació de les zones més baixes de la ciutat de Venècia, en els casos més greus pot arribar a abastar el 96% de la ciutat. La definició oficial és que, acqua alta és quan el nivell de l'aigua supera els 90 cm per sobre del nivell de la marea normal.

Acqua Alta es un fenómeno que ocurre con frecuencia en la ciudad de Venecia , Italia , debido en general a las mareas altas de primavera y a la lluvia.

Comprende la inundación de las zonas más bajas de la ciudad de Venecia, en los casos más graves puede llegar a abarcar el 96% de la ciudad. La definición oficial es que, acqua alta es cuando el nivel del agua supera los 90 cm por encima del nivel de la marea normal.

Is the term used in Veneto for the exceptional tide peaks that occur periodically in the northern Adriatic Sea. The peaks reach their maximum in the Venetian Lagoon, where they cause partial flooding of Venice and Chioggia; flooding also occurs elsewhere around the northern Adriatic, for instance at Grado and Trieste, but much less often and to a lesser degree. The phenomenon occurs mainly between autumn and spring, when the astronomical tides are reinforced by the prevailing seasonal winds which hamper the usual reflux. The main winds involved are the sirocco, which blows northbound along the Adriatic Sea, and the bora, which has a specific local effect due to the shape and location of the Venetian lagoon.

9 minute long exposure out on the edge of the ocean in the Bahamas. Storm clouds were building in the distance and it was pitch black. Another instance where I couldn't see or hear anything due to the crashing ocean water on the rocks.

Strobist: 1 offhand flash from right side of frame with a red gel and 1 offhand flash from the left with no gel. General light painting on dock for shadow exposure.

Photo by Russell Eck

The current church building dates from the late medieval era; construction of the main area of the church began in about 1267 and was completed in 1340. The successional building kept the guidelines of the floor plan of the original Willigis building and with it the design as a double quire church. St. Stephan is the oldest Gothic hall church in the Upper Rhine district, and is (besides Mainz Cathedral) the most important church in the city of Mainz.

View of the Gothic cloister of St. Stephan, rebuilt 1968-71 after heavy destruction in World War II

Only a few changes have been made to the church since the 14th century. The cloister, for instance, was added between 1462 and 1499 to the southern side of the church, and the outer face of the church was updated during the Baroque period. In 1857 a great explosion in a nearby powder magazine (Mainz was a federal fortress in the 19th century) destroyed the baroque facing of the church.

St. Stephan was heavily damaged in the cause of the bombing of Mainz in World War II. The cloister was heavily damaged and was rebuilt between 1968 and 1971; the restoration of the huge western belfry was also completed at that time, albeit with some difficulty. The arches over the nave and the quire could not be saved and have been replaced by a flat wooden ceiling.

The church features a Gothic hall with a triple nave and quires at both the west and east ends. A large octagonal bell tower rises above the western quire. (Wikipedia)

Now features on "Leeds By Night" vid

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c_6KJV_6Ek

On this occasion I fell for the wily charms of a local prostitute. She asked for two quid for chips and a coffee whilst I asked for some photos for posterity in exchange! Not only is she a prostitute by profession but in this instance an Officer of Fair Trade ;O)

Despite her seemingly lax approach she is not unwise to the prying eyes of CCTV in the vicinity and does her best to avoid them whilst working.

Although local vice in the Holbeck/Sovereign Street area can be the object of scorn, I find the experience of meeting them, for some reason, personally upsetting!

But disregarding these observations, she seems happy in herself and agreed she is a part of local history as is any other tradesperson within Leeds.

My inspiration song for this pictur:

SCHAMANISCHES Tribal Drum Journey

Message for you:

Even when the wolf sometimes disappears deep into the forest, he always finds his way back home. May the power animal Wolf guide and lead you because in the last instance we will always follow the call of our soul.

Together we go our Soul Path the Queen of Swords and the Wolf as companions you will meet again and again and strengthen each other's backs because that is the deal and the goal.

Botschaft für dich:

Auch wenn der Wolf manchmal tief im Wald verschwindet findet er immer wieder den Weg nach Hause zurück. Möge das Krafttier Wolf dich leiten und führen, denn in letzter Instanz werden wir immer dem Ruf unserer Seele folgen.

Gemeinsam gehen wir unseren Seelenweg, die Königin der Schwerter und der Wolf als Gefährten werden sie sich immer wieder begegnen und sich gegenseitig den Rücken stärken denn das ist der Deal und das Ziel.

How we see echother:

Lina Bó - So wie du bist

Ich und Du - Anna Depenbusch & Mark Forster

Egzod & Maestro Chives - Royalty

Sam Tinnesz - Leading The Pack

Chosen One - Valley of Wolves

Valley Of Wolves - Take It All

WAR*HALL - Ready or Not

Soul Mates enter your life some stay for just one page others for a whole chapter and then there are those who are there for the whole story.♥

Since we have met each other I have always seen us as very polarizing and as strong personalities, two alphas who respect each other even if we sometimes snarl at each other.

Like the Bremerstadt musicians we couldn't be more different but we are connected from cradle to grave by a strong bond.

We are there for each other come what may and YES come what may.

We are never alone on the path we each take. I was allowed to grow on and with you and that is incredibly valuable to me. ♥

We know each other for what feels like an eternity now and I am incredibly grateful that you are a part of my life. You make my life more colorful and even more worth living.♥

Thank you for being exactly the way you are because in my eyes you shine in all your facets and it is pure joy to be able to experience this. Friends like us are very rare and I appreciate this gift very much.♥ Together we accompany each other on our way and Yes I am proud to have a friend like you at my side!

I am glad that you wash my head from time to time ^^ and still let me be who I am. ♥

You strengthen me and give me the courage to handle everything because you simply believe in me, thank you for that. ♥♥♥♥♥

Thank you for all the emotional and wonderful moments I was able to experience with you, whether good or bad, both are part of it. ♥

I have found my best friend in you because you are friend and girlfriend in one what could I wish for more ^^

Love you my BBF Friends for Ever SL & RL ♥

Seelen Gefährten treten in dein Leben einige bleiben für nur eine Seite andere für ein ganzes Kapitel und dann gibt es noch die die während der ganzen Geschichte dabei sind.♥

Seit wir uns getroffen haben, habe ich uns immer als sehr polarisierende und starke Persönlichkeiten gesehen zwei Alphas die sich gegenseitig respektieren, auch wenn wir uns manchmal anknurren.

Wie die Bremerstadtmusikannten könnten wir unterschielicher nicht sein und dennoch verbindet uns ein starkes Band denn von der Wiege bis zur Bare sind wir alle miteinander verbunden.

Wir sind für einander da komme was wolle und JA wolle was da komme.

Überwegs auf dem jeweiligen Weg den jeder einschlägt sind wir nie alleine. Ich durfte an und mit dir wachsen und das ist mir wahnsinnig viel wert.♥

Wir kennen uns nun schon eine gefühlte Ewichkeit und ich bin unglaublich dankbar das du ein Teil meines Lebens bist. Du machst mein Leben bunter und noch lebenswerter.♥

Danke das du genau so bist wie du bist den den in meinen Augen strahlst du in all deinen Facetten und es ist die Pure Freude das miterleben zu dürfen. Freunde wie wir es sind sind sehr selten und ich weiss dieses Geschenk sehr zu schätzen.♥ Gemeinsam begleiten wir uns auf unserem Weg und Yes ich bin stoltz einen Freund wie dich an meiner Siete zu haben!

Ich bin froh das du mir ab und an den Kopf wäschst ^^ und mich dennoch so sein lässt wie ich bin. ♥

Du stärkst mich und gibst mir den Mut alles in Agriff zu nehmen weil du einfach an mich Glaubst danke dafür. ♥♥♥♥♥

Danke für all die Emotionalen und wundervollen Momente die ich mit dir erleben durfte ob nun gut oder schlecht beides gehört dazu. ♥

Ich habe in dir meinen besten Freund gefunden denn du bist Freund und Freundin in einem was will man mehr ^^

Love you mein Bester Friends for Ever SL & RL ♥

The Speicherstadt, or City of Warehouses, is the world's largest warehouse district standing on oak pylon foundations. Built in 1883, today it has received UNESCO world heritage status and is amazing to walk around. Still utilized as warehouse space in some instances, others have been converted into museums (including Miniatur Wunderland - the world's largest model railroad system), world class dining and local shops.

© LMGFotography 2018; please do not use without permission.

I've never driven alone.

Lots of lonely, never alone.

(for instance)

About the Target

Messier 16, also known as the NGC 6611, and is associated with the popular names of :The Eagle Nebula", "The Star Queen Nebula", "The Spire", and lets not forget its most famous feature "The Pillars of Creation". It is a diffuse emission nebula associated with a star cluster in the constellation of Serpens. It is located about 5700 light years away.

Wikipedia tells us the following about the Pillars of Creation:

"Images produced by Jeff Hester and Paul Scowen using the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995 greatly improved scientific understanding of processes inside the nebula. One of these became famous as the "Pillars of Creation", depicting a large region of star formation. Its small dark pockets are believed to be protostars (Bok globules). The pillar structure resembles that of a much larger instance in the Soul Nebula of Cassiopeia, imaged with the Spitzer Space Telescope in 2005[ equally characterized as "Pillars of Star Creation". or "Pillars of Star Formation".[11] These columns – which resemble stalagmites protruding from the floor of a cavern – are composed of interstellar hydrogen gas and dust, which act as incubators for new stars. Inside the columns and on their surface astronomers have found knots or globules of denser gas, called EGGs ("Evaporating Gaseous Globules"). Stars are being formed inside some of these.

X-ray images from the Chandra observatory compared with Hubble's "Pillars" image have shown that X-ray sources (from young stars) do not coincide with the pillars, but rather randomly dot the nebula. Any protostars in the pillars' EGGs are not yet hot enough to emit X-rays.

Evidence from the Spitzer Telescope originally suggested that the pillars in M16 may be threatened by a "past supernova". Hot gas observed by Spitzer in 2007 suggested they were already – likely – being disturbed by a supernova that exploded 8,000 to 9,000 years ago. Due to the distance the main blast of light would have reached Earth for a brief time 1,000 to 2,000 years ago. A more slowly moving, theorized, shock wave would have taken a few thousand years to move through the nebula and would have blown away the delicate pillars. However, in 2014 the pillars were imaged a second time by Hubble, in both visible light and infrared light. The images being 20 years later provided a new, detailed account of the rate of evaporation occurring within the pillars. No supernova is evidenced within them, and it is estimated in some form they still exist – and will appear for at least 100,000 more years."

About the Project

I don't know about you, but Messier 16 - The Eagle Nebula is one of my Favorite objects in the sky. I think it started when I first saw the "Pillars of Creation" shot by the Hubble Space Telescope back in 1995.

www.nasa.gov/image-feature/the-pillars-of-creation

That incredible image impressed me for a long time, so when I first started my astrophotographic journey 2019, it was one of the first targets I went after. It was a pretty crude image but I could see the "eagle" so I was pretty happy with it. Last summer I revisited M16, capturing images over two nights (a first for me at the time) and I processed it with Pixinsight - which I was just learning - and got a results that was a distinct improvement. At the time - a One-Shot-Color Camera was what I had, so no Hubble Palette for me. I upped my game by gathering more subs and experimented with more sophisticated processing techniques.

This Year's Capture

But this year - I was really psyched to try m16 for a third time. This time I had a telescope platform with a slightly longer focal length and I had a brand new ASI 2600MM-Pro Mono setup - so for the first time, I would be able to shoot with Narrowband and use the Hubble Palette to render the image in away similar to seen in that first Hubble image.

Then we hit Rochester's Monsoon Season of 2021……

I began this project back on the Fourth of July and took a 2.5 hours of subs before having to shut down. Given my site's tree line, I only have about a 3 hour window where I can shoot any given target. With some luck, 3 or 4 more nights should do it and I would have - I hoped - a wonderful image.

Since then I have set my gear up twice to try and capture more subs, only to be shutdown by the clouds. Finally - on Wednesday the 14th, ClearOutside suggested I had an opening. Gary Optiz - who is not only an accomplished astrophotographer but also a real weather wiz, warned me that we would be in the smoke plume from the forest fires out west and that would certainly impact imaging. The Moon was also up as well, but not too bad yet. This would be about my last opportunity to shoot for this project this year, so I had to go for it. The captures seemed to go well but the sky transparency was very bad due to the smoke and because of the high humidity (dew was forming on the scope tubes and running off in streams!)

The Resulting Data

When I looked at the data the next day - I could see that I would have some processing challenges. First I had way fewer frames than I wanted (the story of my life!). When I scanned all of my frames with Blink I found about 25% of them had some evidence of very thin clouds passing through the frame. This would normally would cause me to cull these images before stacking - but I had so few frames this time - I was very reluctant to do so. I really fought hard for those frames and I wanted to get some value from them.

The Processing

The problem here is that the impacted images had very different gradients depending on when they were taken. This would cause what would look like a higher variance for a given pixel when sampled across the subs. This would raise havoc with the rejection algorithms and would cause the final pixel values to be off. I have been hearing about a new script in Pixinsight called NormaliseScaleGradients that does something kind of cool. After calibration and registration, you pick a reference frame and each sub is normalized to the gradient seen in THAT reference frame. This effectively removes arbitrary differences due to thin clouds, stray lights and such. Now that all of the subs look more similar - the rejection algorithms can work more effectively and the image integration can now use more subs - weighted by their noise profiles. This suggests that even pretty bad frames can add some useful data to the final integrated results.

So I keep most of the bad images in the mix, they had their gradients normalized, and they were included in the final master image, weighted by noisy they were compared to other images.

Anything that lets you keep hard-fought subs into the mix is my friend!

I also had a problem where the size of the stars were a function of when I took the images. Narrowband stars always look a little funky anyways- and this was certainly not going to help.

So processing took a lot of time. I was very careful to maximize what I could with deconvolution and I was also able to shrink some of the star sizes using the deconvolution function by taking the point spread function model created by PFSImage and trimming the outer edges a bit before application. I picked up this type from a video by Adam Bock and it did help shrink the images. But I still had mismatched between the filter channels so I spent a lot of time with star masks trying to help things out. And I did help things a bit - they were much better than when I started, but having said that - don't look to carefully at the stars in this image as they the are still a mess!

Capture Information

Lights Frames

• 18 x 300 seconds, bin 1x1 @ -15C, Gain 100.0, Astronmiks 6nm Ha Filter

• 14 x 300 seconds, bin 1x1 @ -15C, Gain 100.0, Astronmiks 6nm OIII Filter

• 15 x 300 seconds, bin 1x1 @ -15C, Gain 100.0, Astronmiks 6nm SII Filter

• Total of 3.9 hours

Cal Frames

• 30 Darks at 300 seconds, bin 1x1, -15C, gain 100

• 25 Dark Flats at Flat exposure times, bin 1x1, -15C, gain 100

• Flats done separately for each evening to account for camera rotator variances:

○ 25 Ha Flats

○ 25 OIII Flats

○ 25 SII Flats

Capture Hardware

Scope: Astrophysics 130mm Starfire F/8.35 APO refractor

Guide Scope: Televue 76mm Doublet

Camera: ZWO AS2600mm-pro with ZWO 7x36 Filter wheel with ZWO LRGB filter set,

and Astronomiks 6nm Narrowband filter set

Guide Camera: ZWO ASI290Mini

Focus Motor: Pegasus Astro Focus Cube 2

Camera Rotator: Pegasus Astro Falcon

Mount: Ioptron CEM60

Polar Alignment: Polemaster camera

Software

Capture Software: PHD2 Guider, Sequence Generator Pro controller

Image Processing: Pixinsight, Photoshop - assisted by Coffee, extensive processing indecision and second guessing, editor regret and much swearing…..

In the rare instances an afternoon eastbound during the summer on the Central of Georgia actually has something worth shooting these days, it's pretty much a mission to find the least-backlit locations. Given the light angles available, was pretty pleased with how this scene turned out as the S&A unit ducks under old US 280 outside of Alexander City. Hard to get more Deep South feeling than the combination of the piney-woods, kudzu, and a tuxedo.

The whole NS road power roster is looking pretty shabby these days, but the poor 1065 might just be one of the dirtiest of them all.

EXPLORE FP #20 ... Really appreciate the visits, comments, invites, fav's and all the great notes.

Check out my photographic Games of Memory, Jigsaw Puzzles and Scrambles - 17 Photographic Jigsaw Puzzles; 15 Photo Scrambles; 4 Photo Games of Memory / Concentration. The number of layouts are really infinite because every time you refresh or go to them again the layout changes.

Download my TOOLBAR to access: 1) all of your programs such as word, excel etc, 2) your email, 3) Flickr, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, 4) play online games, 5) listen to radio, 6) watch TV news, 7) check local weather, 8) block popups, 9) microsoft paint, 10) notebook, 11) Google search .... and, you can customize the toobar by adding other components and sites as you wish -- all from ONE LOCATION.

View larger photos on black at Andrea Kollo's Flickriver. Do NOT use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission. © Andrea Kollo - All rights reserved | *** PLEASE - no glitter graphics or multi invites / DO NOT add your photos in comments ***

View Favourites According to Flickr | TAKE A SEAT AND RELAX - should be view larger

First instance of a MHV on Route 164 - MHV40

London General MHV40 on Route 164, Wimbledon Francis Grove

BG66MJJ

Volvo B5LH/MCV EvoSeti

NEW JERSEY 2017 BALD EAGLE PROJECT REPORT

ANOTHER PRODUCTIVE YEAR FOR NJ’S EAGLES

by Larissa Smith, CWF Wildlife Biologist

The Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ in partnership with the NJ Endangered and Nongame Species Program has released the 2017 NJ Bald Eagle Project Report. In 2017, 178 eagle nests were monitored during the nesting season. Of these nests 153 were active (with eggs) and 25 were territorial or housekeeping pairs. One hundred and ninety young were fledged.

In 2017 the number of active nests was three more than in 2016, but the number young fledged decreased by 27 from a record high of 216 fledged in 2016. The productivity rate this season of 1.25 young/active nest is still above the required range of 0.0 to 1.1 for population maintenance. Productivity could be lower this season for many reasons including weather, predation and disturbance to the nesting area. In 2017 nest monitors reported several instances of “intruder” eagles at nests which did disrupt the nesting attempts of several pairs. One of these “eagle dramas” unfolded at the Duke Farms eagle cam watched by millions of people. An intruder female attempted to replace the current female. This harassment interrupted the pairs bonding and copulation and no eggs were laid.

This year’s report includes a section on Resightings of banded eagles. Resightings of NJ (green) banded eagles have increased over the years, as well as eagles seen in NJ that were banded in other states. These resightings are important, as they help us to understand eagle movements during the years between fledging and settling into a territory, as well as adult birds at a nest site.

For more info: www.conservewildlifenj.org/blog/2017/12/06/new-jersey-201...

New Jersey Bald Eagle Project Report | 2017 may be downloaded here: www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/ensp/pdf/eglrpt17.pdf

Dear Protagonist, (a reverie regarding you in the perpetual present), Tim Lowly © 2013, acrylic on panel, 86” x 74”

The parenthetical latter part of the title alludes to both how

1) a painting has a relatively temporally static state (compared to film for instance) and as such the viewer's experience with a painting is fundamentally rooted in the present [ie. this reading suggests the "you" is the viewer].

and

2) Temma (my daughter depicted in the painting) seems to have a fairly limited memory and as such seems to exist in a perpetual present [ie. this reading suggests the "you" is Temma].

Assistance with this work by Erica Elan Ciganek and Maggie Hubbard]

Please view this large

Here is the beginning of an essay Kelly VanderBrug in which she reflects on the painting (it's from the book "Trying to Get a Sense of Scale" ). Over the summer I was finishing this painting Kelly would stop by frequently to observe the process of the painting's making:

Temma takes a step, making and made. As in Temma on Earth, she continues muscle tensed, hunched, clenched hands, but this Temma’s vulnerability lies below the surface. She shuffles forward from dark clearing to a path—perhaps a dry streambed. Her awkward yet purposeful baby steps exhibit intentionality. She isn’t just going to the store. She wants to show the viewer herself, her role.

Whatever the case, Temma is our guide and the focus of our attention. The focus is sharpest in her face and hands. Everything else winks in and out of focus. Here and there a stone is clear, but not the plant or bit of wood next to it. Darkness shrouds the upper reaches of the painting, the background, and the bed’s head- board. The blanket around her blurs slightly.

View Large

For instance, from Huffington Post, Nov. 5, 2009:

EXCERPT: While thousands of at-risk Americans wait, some big Wall Street banks have already secured the hard-to-find H1N1 vaccine for their employees.

Building on a story that BusinessWeek broke, NBC reports that employees at the New York Stock Exchange, bankers at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, and employees at the Federal Reserve have all received swine flu vaccine doses to administer to their employees.

In particular, NBC reports that Goldman Sachs has received 200 doses of the vaccine -- the same amount as Lenox Hill Hospital in New York.

VIDEO & full text at: www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/05/swine-flu-vaccine-banks...

----------

Blame for this lies squarely upon Bait & Switch Obama & the vicious corporatism which he is using all of his power to advance (witness the golden pigs he put atop the nation immediately under himself, such as Larry Summers & Tim Geithner).

"We interrupt this transmission..." as the saying goes - and in this instance, we interrupt the short holiday we recently enjoyed in the South Island a couple of weekends ago to announce that New Zealand's "Bird Of The Year" for 2018 is the Kereru (or NZ Wood Pigeon).

For more information on this big beautiful bird, have a look at:

nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/new-zealand-pigeon

Thanks so much for visiting my Site, and thanks especially for taking the time and trouble to leave a Comment; it's always nice to hear from you...!

(Left (or Right!) click the Mouse to view Large; click again to return to normal).

The Mithraic Mysteries were a mystery religion practised in the Roman Empire from about the 1st to 4th centuries AD. The name of the Persian god Mithra (proto-Indo-Iranian Mitra), adapted into Greek as Mithras, was linked to a new and distinctive imagery. Writers of the Roman Empire period referred to this mystery religion by phrases which can be anglicized as Mysteries of Mithras or Mysteries of the Persians; modern historians refer to it as Mithraism,[1] or sometimes Roman Mithraism.The mysteries were popular in the Roman military.

Worshippers of Mithras had a complex system of seven grades of initiation, with ritual meals. Initiates called themselves syndexioi, those "united by the handshake".They met in underground temples (called mithraea), which survive in large numbers. The cult appears to have had its centre in Rome.

Numerous archaeological finds, including meeting places, monuments and artifacts, have contributed to modern knowledge about Mithraism throughout the Roman Empire.The iconic scenes of Mithras show him being born from a rock, slaughtering a bull, and sharing a banquet with the god Sol (the Sun). About 420 sites have yielded materials related to the cult. Among the items found are about 1000 inscriptions, 700 examples of the bull-killing scene (tauroctony), and about 400 other monuments.[9] It has been estimated that there would have been at least 680 mithraea in Rome.[10] No written narratives or theology from the religion survive, with limited information to be derived from the inscriptions, and only brief or passing references in Greek and Latin literature. Interpretation of the physical evidence remains problematic and contested.

The Romans regarded the mysteries as having Persian or Zoroastrian sources. Since the early 1970s the dominant scholarship has noted dissimilarities between Persian Mithra-worship and the Roman Mithraic mysteries. In this context, Mithraism has sometimes been viewed as a rival of early Christianity with similarities such as liberator-saviour, hierarchy of adepts (archbishops, bishops, priests), communal meal and a hard struggle of Good and Evil (bull-killing/crucifixion).The name Mithras (Latin, equivalent to Greek “Μίθρας” is a form of Mithra, the name of an Old Persian god– a relationship understood by Mithraic scholars since the days of Franz Cumont. An early example of the Greek form of the name is in a 4th century BC work by Xenophon, the Cyropaedia, which is a biography of the Persian king Cyrus the Great.

The exact form of a Latin or classical Greek word varies due to the grammatical process of declension. There is archeological evidence that in Latin worshippers wrote the nominative form of the god’s name as “Mithras”. However, in Porphyry’s Greek text De Abstinentia («Περὶ ἀποχῆς ἐμψύχων»), there is a reference to the now-lost histories of the Mithraic mysteries by Euboulus and Pallas, the wording of which suggests that these authors treated the name “Mithra” as an indeclinable foreign word.

Related deity-names in other languages include

Sanskrit Mitra (मित्रः), the name of a god praised in the Rig Veda.In Sanskrit, "mitra" means "friend" or "friendship"

the form mi-it-ra-, found in an inscribed peace treaty between the Hittites and the kingdom of Mitanni, from about 1400 BC.

Iranian "Mithra" and Sanskrit "Mitra" are believed to come from an Indo-Iranian word mitra meaning "contract, agreement, covenant".

Modern historians have different conceptions about whether these names refer to the same god or not. John R. Hinnells has written of Mitra / Mithra / Mithras as a single deity worshipped in several different religions. On the other hand, David Ulansey considers the bull-slaying Mithras to be a new god who began to be worshipped in the 1st century BC, and to whom an old name was applied.

Mary Boyce, a researcher of ancient Iranian religions, writes that even though Roman Empire Mithraism seems to have had less Iranian content than historians used to think, still "as the name Mithras alone shows, this content was of some importance.Much about the cult of Mithras is only known from reliefs and sculptures. There have been many attempts to interpret this material.

Mithras-worship in the Roman Empire was characterized by images of the god slaughtering a bull. Other images of Mithras are found in the Roman temples, for instance Mithras banqueting with Sol, and depictions of the birth of Mithras from a rock. But the image of bull-slaying (tauroctony) is always in the central niche.Textual sources for a reconstruction of the theology behind this iconography are very rare. (See section Interpretations of the bull-slaying scene below.)

The practice of depicting the god slaying a bull seems to be specific to Roman Mithraism. According to David Ulansey, this is "perhaps the most important example" of evident difference between Iranian and Roman traditions: "... there is no evidence that the Iranian god Mithra ever had anything to do with killing a bull."n every Mithraeum the centrepiece was a representation of Mithras killing a sacred bull, called the tauroctony.

The image may be a relief, or free-standing, and side details may be present or omitted. The centre-piece is Mithras clothed in Anatolian costume and wearing a Phrygian cap; who is kneeling on the exhausted bull, holding it by the nostrils[33] with his left hand, and stabbing it with his right. As he does so, he looks over his shoulder towards the figure of Sol. A dog and a snake reach up towards the blood. A scorpion seizes the bull's genitals. A raven is flying around or is sitting on the bull. Three ears of wheat are seen coming out from the bull's tail, sometimes from the wound. The bull was often white. The god is sitting on the bull in an unnatural way with his right leg constraining the bull's hoof and the left leg is bent and resting on the bull's back or flank.[34] The two torch-bearers are on either side, dressed like Mithras, Cautes with his torch pointing up and Cautopates with his torch pointing down. Sometimes Cautes and Cautopates carry shepherds' crooks instead of torches.

Tauroctony from the Kunsthistorisches Museum

The event takes place in a cavern, into which Mithras has carried the bull, after having hunted it, ridden it and overwhelmed its strength.[38] Sometimes the cavern is surrounded by a circle, on which the twelve signs of the zodiac appear. Outside the cavern, top left, is Sol the sun, with his flaming crown, often driving a quadriga. A ray of light often reaches down to touch Mithras. At the top right is Luna, with her crescent moon, who may be depicted driving a biga.[39]

In some depictions, the central tauroctony is framed by a series of subsidiary scenes to the left, top and right, illustrating events in the Mithras narrative; Mithras being born from the rock, the water miracle, the hunting and riding of the bull, meeting Sol who kneels to him, shaking hands with Sol and sharing a meal of bull-parts with him, and ascending to the heavens in a chariot.[39] In some instances, as is the case in the stucco icon at Santa Prisca mithraeum, the god is shown heroically nude. Some of these reliefs were constructed so that they could be turned on an axis. On the back side was another, more elaborate feasting scene. This indicates that the bull killing scene was used in the first part of the celebration, then the relief was turned, and the second scene was used in the second part of the celebration.Besides the main cult icon, a number of mithraea had several secondary tauroctonies, and some small portable versions, probably meant for private devotion, have also been found.[The second most important scene after the tauroctony in Mithraic art is the so-called banquet scene.The banquet scene features Mithras and the Sun god banqueting on the hide of the slaughtered bull. On the specific banquet scene on the Fiano Romano relief, one of the torchbearers points a caduceus towards the base of an altar, where flames appear to spring up. Robert Turcan has argued that since the caduceus is an attribute of Mercury, and in mythology Mercury is depicted as a psychopomp, the eliciting of flames in this scene is referring to the dispatch of human souls and expressing the Mithraic doctrine on this matter. Turcan also connects this event to the tauroctony: the blood of the slain bull has soaked the ground at the base of the altar, and from the blood the souls are elicited in flames by the caduceus.Mithras is depicted as being born from a rock. He is shown as emerging from a rock, already in his youth, with a dagger in one hand and a torch in the other. He is nude, standing with his legs together, and is wearing a Phrygian cap.

However, there are variations. Sometimes he is shown as coming out of the rock as a child, and in one instance he has a globe in one hand; sometimes a thunderbolt is seen. There are also depictions in which flames are shooting from the rock and also from Mithras' cap. One statue had its base perforated so that it could serve as a fountain, and the base of another has the mask of the water god. Sometimes Mithras also has other weapons such as bows and arrows, and there are also animals such as dogs, serpents, dolphins, eagles, other birds, lion, crocodiles, lobsters and snails around. On some reliefs, there is a bearded figure identified as Oceanus, the water god, and on some there are the gods of the four winds. In these reliefs, the four elements could be invoked together. Sometimes Victoria, Luna, Sol and Saturn also seem to play a role. Saturn in particular is often seen handing over the dagger to Mithras so that he can perform his mighty deeds.

In some depictions, Cautes and Cautopates are also present; sometimes they are depicted as shepherds.

On some occasions, an amphora is seen, and a few instances show variations like an egg birth or a tree birth. Some interpretations show that the birth of Mithras was celebrated by lighting torches or candles.[One of the most characteristic features of the Mysteries is the naked lion-headed figure often found in Mithraic temples, named by the modern scholars with descriptive terms such as leontocephaline (lion-headed) or leontocephalus (lion-head). He is entwined by a serpent (or two serpents, like a caduceus), with the snake's head often resting on the lion's head. The lion's mouth is often open, giving a horrifying impression. He is usually represented as having four wings, two keys (sometimes a single key), and a scepter in his hand. Sometimes the figure is standing on a globe inscribed with a diagonal cross. In the figure shown here, the four wings carry the symbols of the four seasons, and a thunderbolt is engraved on the breast. At the base of the statue are the hammer and tongs of Vulcan, the cock, and the wand of Mercury. A more scarcely represented variant of the figure with a human head is also found.

Although animal-headed figures are prevalent in contemporary Egyptian and Gnostic mythological representations, an exact parallel to the Mithraic leontocephaline figure is not found.

The name of the figure has been deciphered from dedicatory inscriptions to be Arimanius (though the archeological evidence is not very strong), which is nominally the equivalent of Ahriman, a demon figure in the Zoroastrian pantheon. Arimanius is known from inscriptions to have been a god in the Mithraic cult (CIMRM 222 from Ostia, 369 from Rome, 1773 and 1775 from Pannonia).

While some scholars identify the lion-man as Aion (or Zurvan, or Cronus) others assert that it is Ahriman.[51] There is also speculation that the figure is the Gnostic demiurge, (Ariel) Ialdabaoth. Although the exact identity of the lion-headed figure is debated by scholars, it is largely agreed that the god is associated with time and seasonal change.[53] An occultist, D. J.Cooper, speculates to the contrary that the lion-headed figure is not a god, but rather represents the spiritual state achieved in Mithraism's "adept" level, the Leo (lion) degree. Rituals and worship[edit]

According to M. J. Vermaseren, the Mithraic New Year and the birthday of Mithras was on December 25. However, Beck disagrees strongly.Clauss states: "the Mithraic Mysteries had no public ceremonies of its own. The festival of natalis Invicti [Birth of the Unconquerable (Sun)], held on 25 December, was a general festival of the Sun, and by no means specific to the Mysteries of Mithras." Mithraic initiates were required to swear an oath of secrecy and dedication, and some grade rituals involved the recital of a catechism, wherein the initiate was asked a series of questions pertaining to the initiation symbolism and had to reply with specific answers. An example of such a catechism, apparently pertaining to the Leo grade, was discovered in a fragmentary Egyptian papyrus (P.Berolinensis 21196),and reads:

... He will say: 'Where ... ?

... he is/(you are?) there (then/thereupon?) at a loss?' Say: ... Say: 'Night'. He will say: 'Where ... ?' ... Say: 'All things ...' (He will say): '... you are called ... ?' Say: 'Because of the summery ...' ... having become ... he/it has the fiery ... (He will say): '... did you receive/inherit?' Say: 'In a pit'. He will say: 'Where is your ...?... (Say): '...(in the...) Leonteion.' He will say: 'Will you gird?' The (heavenly?) ...(Say): '... death'. He will say: 'Why, having girded yourself, ...?' '... this (has?) four tassels. Very sharp and ... '... much'. He will say: ...? (Say: '... because of/through?) hot and cold'. He will say: ...? (Say): '... red ... linen'. He will say: 'Why?' Say: '... red border; the linen, however, ...' (He will say): '... has been wrapped?' Say: 'The savior's ...' He will say: 'Who is the father?' Say: 'The one who (begets?) everything ...' (He will say): '('How ?)... did you become a Leo?' Say: 'By the ... of the father'. ... Say: 'Drink and food'. He will say '...?'

'... in the seven-...

Almost no Mithraic scripture or first-hand account of its highly secret rituals survives;with the exception of the aforementioned oath and catechism, and the document known as the Mithras Liturgy, from 4th century Egypt, whose status as a Mithraist text has been questioned by scholars including Franz Cumont. The walls of Mithraea were commonly whitewashed, and where this survives it tends to carry extensive repositories of graffiti; and these, together with inscriptions on Mithraic monuments, form the main source for Mithraic texts.

Nevertheless, it is clear from the archeology of numerous Mithraea that most rituals were associated with feasting – as eating utensils and food residues are almost invariably found. These tend to include both animal bones and also very large quantities of fruit residues.The presence of large amounts of cherry-stones in particular would tend to confirm mid-summer (late June, early July) as a season especially associated with Mithraic festivities. The Virunum album, in the form of an inscribed bronze plaque, records a Mithraic festival of commemoration as taking place on 26 June 184. Beck argues that religious celebrations on this date are indicative of special significance being given to the Summer solstice; but this time of the year coincides with ancient recognition of the solar maximum at midsummer, whilst iconographically identical holidays such as Litha, St John's Eve, and Jāņi are observed also.

For their feasts, Mithraic initiates reclined on stone benches arranged along the longer sides of the Mithraeum – typically there might be room for 15 to 30 diners, but very rarely many more than 40 men. Counterpart dining rooms, or triclinia, were to be found above ground in the precincts of almost any temple or religious sanctuary in the Roman empire, and such rooms were commonly used for their regular feasts by Roman 'clubs', or collegia. Mithraic feasts probably performed a very similar function for Mithraists as the collegia did for those entitled to join them; indeed, since qualification for Roman collegia tended to be restricted to particular families, localities or traditional trades, Mithraism may have functioned in part as providing clubs for the unclubbed.However, the size of the Mithraeum is not necessarily an indication of the size of the congregation.

Each Mithraeum had several altars at the further end, underneath the representation of the tauroctony, and also commonly contained considerable numbers of subsidiary altars, both in the main Mithraeum chamber and in the ante-chamber or narthex.[68] These altars, which are of the standard Roman pattern, each carry a named dedicatory inscription from a particular initiate, who dedicated the altar to Mithras "in fulfillment of his vow", in gratitude for favours received. Burned residues of animal entrails are commonly found on the main altars indicating regular sacrificial use. However, Mithraea do not commonly appear to have been provided with facilities for ritual slaughter of sacrificial animals (a highly specialised function in Roman religion), and it may be presumed that a Mithraeum would have made arrangements for this service to be provided for them in co-operation with the professional victimarius of the civic cult. Prayers were addressed to the Sun three times a day, and Sunday was especially sacred.

It is doubtful whether Mithraism had a monolithic and internally consistent doctrine. It may have varied from location to location. However, the iconography is relatively coherent. It had no predominant sanctuary or cultic centre; and, although each Mithraeum had its own officers and functionaries, there was no central supervisory authority. In some Mithraea, such as that at Dura Europos, wall paintings depict prophets carrying scrolls,but no named Mithraic sages are known, nor does any reference give the title of any Mithraic scripture or teaching. It is known that intitates could transfer with their grades from one Mithraeum to another.

Mithraeum

See also: Mithraeum

A mithraeum found in the ruins of Ostia Antica, Italy

Temples of Mithras are sunk below ground, windowless, and very distinctive. In cities, the basement of an apartment block might be converted; elsewhere they might be excavated and vaulted over, or converted from a natural cave. Mithraic temples are common in the empire; although unevenly distributed, with considerable numbers found in Rome, Ostia, Numidia, Dalmatia, Britain and along the Rhine/Danube frontier; while being somewhat less common in Greece, Egypt, and Syria.According to Walter Burkert, the secret character of Mithriac rituals meant that Mithraism could only be practiced within a Mithraeum.Some new finds at Tienen show evidence of large-scale feasting and suggest that the mystery religion may not have been as secretive as was generally believed.

For the most part, Mithraea tend to be small, externally undistinguished, and cheaply constructed; the cult generally preferring to create a new centre rather than expand an existing one. The Mithraeum represented the cave to which Mithras carried and then killed the bull; and where stone vaulting could not be afforded, the effect would be imitated with lath and plaster. They are commonly located close to springs or streams; fresh water appears to have been required for some Mithraic rituals, and a basin is often incorporated into the structure. There is usually a narthex or ante-chamber at the entrance, and often other ancillary rooms for storage and the preparation of food. The extant mithraea present us with actual physical remains of the architectural structures of the sacred spaces of the Mithraic cult. Mithraeum is a modern coinage and mithraists referred to their sacred structures as speleum or antrum (cave), crypta (underground hallway or corridor), fanum (sacred or holy place), or even templum (a temple or a sacred space).

In their basic form, mithraea were entirely different from the temples and shrines of other cults. In the standard pattern of Roman religious precincts, the temple building functioned as a house for the god, who was intended to be able to view through the opened doors and columnar portico, sacrificial worship being offered on an altar set in an open courtyard; potentially accessible not only to initiates of the cult, but also to colitores or non-initiated worshippers.Mithraea were the antithesis of this.

Degrees of initiation

In the Suda under the entry "Mithras", it states that "no one was permitted to be initiated into them (the mysteries of Mithras), until he should show himself holy and steadfast by undergoing several graduated tests."Gregory Nazianzen refers to the "tests in the mysteries of Mithras".

There were seven grades of initiation into the mysteries of Mithras, which are listed by St. Jerome.Manfred Clauss states that the number of grades, seven, must be connected to the planets. A mosaic in the Ostia Mithraeum of Felicissimus depicts these grades, with symbolic emblems that are connected either to the grades or are just symbols of the planets. The grades also have an inscription beside them commending each grade into the protection of the different planetary gods. In ascending order of importance, the initiatory grades were:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithraic_mysteries

In the Mithraic ceremonies, there were seven degrees of initiations: Corax (Raven), Nymphus (Bridegroom), Miles (Soldier), Leo (Lion), Perses (Persian),Heliodromus (Courier of the Sun), and Pater (Father). Those in the lowest ranks, certainly the Corax, were the servants of the community during the sacred meal of bread and water that formed part of the rite.

The area where the concentration of evidence for Mithraism is the most dense is the capital, Rome, and her port city, Ostia. There are eight extant mithraea in Rome of as many as seven hundred (Coarelli 1979) and eighteen in Ostia. In addition to the actual mithraea, there are approximately three hundred other mithraic monuments from Rome and about one hundred from Ostia. This body of evidence reveals that Mithraism in Rome and Ostia originally appealed to the same social strata as it did in the frontier regions. The evidence also indicates that at least some inhabitants knew about Mithraism as early as the late first century CE, but that the cult did not enjoy a wide membership in either location until the middle of the second century CE.

As the cult in Rome became more popular, it seems to have "trickled up" the social ladder, with the result that Mithraism could count several senators from prominent aristocratic families among its adherents by the fourth century CE. Some of these men were initiates in several cults imported from the eastern empire (including those of Magna Mater and Attis, Isis, Serapis, Jupiter Dolichenus, Hecate, and Liber Pater, among others), and most had held priesthoods in official Roman cults. The devotion of these men to Mithraism reflects a fourth-century "resurgence of paganism," when many of these imported cults and even official Roman state religion experienced a surge in popularity although, and perhaps because, their very existence was increasingly threatened by the rapid spread of Christianity after the conversion of the emperor Constantine in 313 CE.

global.britannica.com/topic/heliodromus

Mithraism had a wide following from the middle of the second century to the late fourth century CE, but the common belief that Mithraism was the prime competitor of Christianity, promulgated by Ernst Renan (Renan 1882 579), is blatantly false. Mithraism was at a serious disadvantage right from the start because it allowed only male initiates. What is more, Mithraism was, as mentioned above, only one of several cults imported from the eastern empire that enjoyed a large membership in Rome and elsewhere. The major competitor to Christianity was thus not Mithraism but the combined group of imported cults and official Roman cults subsumed under the rubric "paganism." Finally, part of Renan's claim rested on an equally common, but almost equally mistaken, belief that Mithraism was officially accepted because it had Roman emperors among its adherents (Nero, Commodus, Septimius Severus, Caracalla, and the Tetrarchs are most commonly cited). Close examination of the evidence for the participation of emperors reveals that some comes from literary sources of dubious quality and that the rest is rather circumstantial. The cult of Magna Mater, the first imported cult to arrive in Rome (204 BCE) was the only one ever officially recognized as a Roman cult. The others, including Mithraism, were never officially accepted, and some, particularly the Egyptian cult of Isis, were periodically outlawed and their adherents persecuted.

ecole.evansville.edu/articles/mithraism.html

Some words were enough for God to precipitate the most beautiful of his creatures at the bottom of the abyss. Lucifer, the carrier of Light, pulled(entailed) with him a third(third party) of the angels in its revolt. Hell was created for him. We know the continuation(suite) … The column of July Place de la Bastille, was set up between 1833 and 1840. In its summit, thrones the "Spirit of liberty" conceived(designed) by the sculptor Auguste Dumont. Curious tribute returned by Louis Philippe to the insurgents who knocked down(spilled) Charles X and the Absolute monarchy three years earlier. Lucifer picked up. No detail misses(is lacking) … Torch in the hand, the Angel has just broken his chains(channels) and dashes to new conquests. Under its impressive base is a crypt sheltering some 500 rests of Fighters of 1830, as well as Egyptian mummy brought back(reported) by Napoleon.Durant la commune de Paris en 1870, après avoir abattu la colonne Vendôme, les communards s’en prirent à celle de la Bastille… sans succès. Ni le dispositif d’explosifs souterrains, ni le tir d’une trentaine d’obus depuis les buttes Chaumont n’en virent pas à bout. La flamme du porteur de Lumière refusa de s’éteindre…

During the municipality of Paris in 1870, having brought(shot) down the column Vendôme, the Communards took themselves in that of the Bastille unsuccessfully. Neither the device(plan) of subterranean explosives, nor the shooting(firing) of around thirty shells since mounds Chaumont transfer(fire) it to end. The flame of the carrier of Light refused to go out …Lucifer was so far away...?

« Non Serviam »- « Je ne servirai pas ! »

Quelques mots suffirent à Dieu pour précipiter la plus belle de ses créatures au fond de l’abîme. Lucifer, le porteur de Lumière, entraîna avec lui un tiers des anges dans sa révolte. L’enfer fut créé pour lui. Nous connaissons la suite…La colonne de Juillet Place de la Bastille, fut érigée entre 1833 et 1840. À son sommet, trône le « Génie de La Liberté » conçu par le sculpteur Auguste Dumont. Curieux hommage rendu par Louis Philippe aux insurgés qui renversèrent Charles X et la Monarchie absolue trois ans plus tôt. Lucifer a repris du poil de la bête. Aucun détail ne manque… Torche à la main, l’Ange vient de briser ses chaînes et s’élance vers de nouvelles conquêtes. Sous son imposant piédestal se trouve une crypte abritant quelques 500 restes des combattants de 1830, ainsi qu’une momie égyptienne rapportée par Napoléon.Durant la commune de Paris en 1870, après avoir abattu la colonne Vendôme, les communards s’en prirent à celle de la Bastille… sans succès. Ni le dispositif d’explosifs souterrains, ni le tir d’une trentaine d’obus depuis les buttes Chaumont n’en virent pas à bout. La flamme du porteur de Lumière refusa de s’éteindre…

www.pariszigzag.fr/histoire-insolite-paris/qui-est-vraime...

Lucky instance...

Launched in September 2021, the HertsLynx concept (operated by Uno) uses a set of Mercedes minibuses to provide an on-demand transport service between a number of towns and villages across a wide area of north and east Hertfordshire.

Bishops Stortford stands at the eastern most side of the travel network, with Mercedes Benz 516CDi/EVB RJ21XDB seen passing along a dull Hadham Road leaving Bishops Stortford behind heading back west 30/12/21

Originally, the camouflage on my Frogfoot was built using brown, dark green and tan Lego elements. The tan was much too light, however, but the variety of parts available in the more suitable dark tan was severely limited. Since then, however, cheese slopes, 1x1 tiles and various wedge plates have become available. The parts selection in dark green has also been increased, with 1x1 plates, for instance. This enabled me to revise the colour scheme.

Structures and dwellings built by mankind are often simply left to be reclaimed by the elements. Whether due to a catastrophic event or the natural movement of the population to another location, places that are abandoned can serve as a record of times past. They may help us – or future generations – learn about our heritage. In nearly every instance, they are beautiful and haunting places to explore.