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Het Haas-Haus is een gebouw in Wenen op de Stock-im-Eisen-Platz tegenover de Stephansdom.
Het is een gebouw in postmodernistische stijl uit 1990, ontworpen door Hans Hollein, met een grote gevel van spiegelglas. Het doet dienst als restaurant. Het is omstreden door het grote contrast met de historische dom er tegenover.
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ABTEIBERG MUNICIPAL MUSEUM
Architects HOLLEIN, HANS
Date 1982
Address Abteistraße 27 / Johannes-Cladders-Platz, 41061, MÖNCHENGLADBACH, GERMANY
Since the 1990s, it has not been uncommon for architects and their clients to break with the two previously prevailing alternatives—temple or warehouse—for art museums, but such a typological rupture had been dramatically anticipated two decades earlier, by Hans Hollein in the Museum Abteiberg, a unique building tailored to an unusual site and a distinctive collection. The Pritzker Prize laureate of 1985, who was born in Vienna in 1934 and is an artist, teacher, and creator of furniture, interiors, and exhibitions, has at Mönchengladbach assembled a virtual primer of museum design, one that has brought a heretofore unknown visceral excitement to the vocation of museum going. In contrast to later attempts in this genre, however, Hollein’s achievement has contributed to an intensified appreciation of the museum’s contents rather than making a personal statement at their expense.
Although Hollein has learned from the institutional buildings of Louis I.Kahn and Alvar Aalto, he listens to his own music, which—to pursue the metaphor—includes concerti from the 18th, symphonies from the 19th, and popular songs from the 20th centuries. His eclecticism served him well in this complex commission, made more difficult by the need for the museum to serve urban as well as aesthetic ends. Hollein has linked Mönchengladbach’s town center on the heights with the medieval Ettal Abbey (today the city hall) on the slopes below, assembling a multi-tiered museum from a series of discrete elements of different sizes and shapes that provide a series of delightfully varied indoor and outdoor rooms. Distributing the individual volumes in space rather than containing them within a monolithic whole allowed him to maintain the picturesque scale of the town; at the subterranean level, the disparate sections are united.
Although designing a museum is always challenging, it is perhaps less onerous when, in contrast to those encyclopedic institutions that are in continual flux, its holdings consist of a focused group of works. Kahn found such a golden opportunity in the Kimbell Museum, and Hollein has exploited the similar possibilities here, where he worked closely with the director, Jonathan Cladders, in formulating the program. They believe that today the museum itself represents a Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art), “a huge scenario into which the individual work is fitted…not the autonomy of the work at any price but the deliberately staged correspondence between space and work of art” . This especially applies to contemporary art, which frequently is deliberately produced for a museum setting. The plan that Hollein and Cladders evolved is without precedent for this building type. None of the customary tropes, whether conventional or modern—vaulted galleries arranged symmetrically, the universal space, the proverbial white cube—are present. Instead, the combination of small, contained cabinets and larger rooms perfectly accommodates a collection that, although including some historical pieces, is mainly focused on the post-World War II period and, although international, is richly endowed with work by American artists of such competing movements as Minimalism, Post-Painterly Abstraction, and Pop. Many works are in the form of installations without customary boundaries or frames and do not necessarily require natural light.
From the town, one enters the museum precinct via an elevated walkway that leads to a stone-faced platform whereon is set a tower containing administrative offices; a library; workshops and storage; a cubic, top-lighted undivided volume for temporary displays; the shedroofed, zinc-clad “clover-leaf” pavilion for the permanent collection; and the entrance temple. The platform also covers museum spaces excavated into the hill, and from it, one can descend gradually to curving terraces, furnished with sculpture, that border the gardens of the former abbey; beneath a portion of the terraces are additional exhibition areas.
Hollein has rejected the prescribed routes encountered in traditional museums for mysterious, polymorphous paths that compel the viewer to wander on her own and discover unexpected places, then to turn back on them or chance on new chambers. Because chronology is not the issue it would be for a historically based collection, the ad hoc character is stimulating rather than frustrating. Upstairs and downstairs, under- and above-ground, the variously configured galleries illuminated by diverse means—daylight through windows and skylights and artificial light via incandescent, neon, and fluorescent fixtures—permit individual works to be perceived in the setting most sympathetic to their makers’ intentions. The most organized part of the display areas comprises what Hollein calls the “cloverleaf”—a group of seven “kissing squares,” to use Kahn’s formulation, that are traversed at the corners. Set under saw-toothed skylights, these rooms are ideal for big pieces by such artists as Andy Warhol, Frank Stella, Carl Andre, and Roy Lichtenstein. There are also curved rooms, some with undulating walls that are positively Baroque in character; double-height spaces and circular steps add further drama. Hollein’s rejection of the convention of amorphous flexible areas, dominant since the 1940s, in favor of a rich variety of specific and distinctive spaces, would in the 1990s become a popular solution for art museums—yet another example of the way the Museum Abteiberg adumbrates many later schemes for this type of institution.
Also prescient is Hollein’s interjection of playfulness and irony into the reverence that typically pervades museum design. Although marble clads some of the surfaces, it is combined with less elevated masonry materials like brick and sandstone. Reflective as well as transparent glass appears; zinc is placed beside chromium and steel. One side of the temple-like pavilion that forms the main entrance sports graffiti in red paint, matching the color of some of the railings. Exterior light fixtures have an industrial character in contrast to the lush surrounding landscape and the textured brick walls and paths. The visitor, constantly encountering the unpredictable, is sensitized to the daring originality of the art displayed.
It is instructive to compare Museum Abteiberg with another German museum from the same period that similarly had a profound effect on subsequent museum design—James Stirling’s Neue Staatsgalerie (1977–84) at Stuttgart. Both are set on irregular terrain and require urbanistic interventions, but Stirling’s solution revives and updates the 19thcentury museum paradigm, whereas Hollein has jettisoned all previous solutions. Both make reference to industrial as well as classical buildings and use the technique of compositional collage, yet their differences illuminate the manifold possibilities inherent in the museum program.
HELEN SEARING
Sennott R.S. Encyclopedia of twentieth century architecture, Vol.1 (A-F). Fitzroy Dearborn., 2004.
And so it ends.
366 self portraits in 366 days. This is my third completed 365 project, but it's the first time I've managed to do it without missing a day. It's been fun; it's been tedious; it's been instructive; it's been frustrating; but on the whole it's been worthwhile.
As always, perhaps the best part of the project has been meeting talented photographers and getting a chance to peek into your lives. I'm particularly pleased to have met the many creative members of the We're here group.
I'm not going to continue on this path for another year. A full year of self portraits is really just about all I can handle. I'll be taking photos as the inspiration strikes, and I hope to participate in We're Here on a part-time basis, if you'll have me. I do have a new idea for 2013 that I'll start tomorrow. I hope to send out info by flickrmail; I hope some of you might be interesting in joining in.
It's nearing midnight, so I have to run. I'll add some meaningless summary statistics when I get around to it. But for now, Happy New Year, everyone.
OK, here they are...meaningless stats.
I was a bit shocked at how homebound I was last year. 260 of 366 photos were taken at home. My stated goal was to learn how to work with my speed lights, so I guess that is some justification. Where in the house?
The dining room (where I almost never eat) served as my photo studio, so 143 photos were taken there, often with either the white or black seamless in the background.
40 shots were taken in the yard or on the sidewalk in front of the house
19 shots were taken in my office/bedroom
16 in the living room
7 in the garage
6 in the kitchen
5 in the bathroom
and the rest at various other locations.
Of the photos I took away from home:
41 were in Shinyurigaoka (where our school is located)
15 were in various locations in Tokyo
33 were in various locations in Yokohama (aside from our house)
6 were in Kawasaki (excluding Shinyurigaoka)
12 were taken in Hogi Koen -- the park across the street from our house.
13 were taken at our school
9 were taken in the parking garage near our school
7 were taken at the laundromat
Others were taken at university, temples and shrines and at a cemetery.
Most of my self portraits were solo shots, but...
my wife appeared in 12 photos
older son in 2
younger son in 1
Tokyo Flickr group members in 2
Students from our school in 2
Far too many shots were taken after 2:00 a.m.
All photos were processed in Lightroom and Photoshop. No SOOC for me.
Running total of photos appearing in Explore after two full years of 365 days projects - 0.
Approximate amount of fun accumulated during this project >1,000,000.
Atmospheric, no-one else was around, the gate was unlocked, I rolled up my pantlegs and walked through to the pool of Siloam.
- Update: I understand that this tunnel has become VERY popular with tourists in recent years (of course!), with tickets sold and scheduled visits in groups, so I feel lucky that I had it all to myself and that I could take my time and walk the length of it slowly and for free in '91. There was an iron gate with bars down some steps at the entrance which was open, there was no-one @ there nor in the tunnel, but there were some Palestinians, some kids and 2 or 3 adults, at the pool at the other end.
- Kings 20:20: "And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made a pool, and a conduit, and brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?"
- 2 Chronicles 32:30: "This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works."
- Most believe it was ordered dug at high speed from both ends by King Hezekiah to prepare for a siege and save Jerusalem from the Assyrians under Sennacherib in 701 BC who were en route south, diverting the city's water supply from the Gihon spring to the pool of Siloam within the walled city. It gets twisty in the middle at the 'meeting point' where the diggers were listening and digging toward the sound of hammers from the other end. But there's good evidence that Hezekiah had built a complex including a stepped passage, a shaft ('Warren's Shaft'), and the part of the tunnel (including the interesting 'twisty' section) which brought water from the spring to a point directly beneath the shaft, and that the rest (the part beyond the 'meeting point' and the shaft that leads to the pool of Siloam) was a Hasmonean project dug @ 400 yrs. later to protect the city from the Seleucids.
- Update: The pivotal period of the Assyrian campaign and the reign of Hezekiah is discussed from the 1:23:10 sec. pt. by Israel Finkelstein, Ronny Reich et al. and the tunnel is discussed and viewed from the 1:24:30 pt. in this fascinating video.: www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW-LV84c_O8
- Archaeologist Ronny Reich contradicts the theory that the western 1/2 of the tunnel was a more recent Hasmonean project on the basis of the similarity /b/ a plaque (or "the place that had been smoothed for a plaque") at the entrance to Tunnel IV from the Round Chamber of the rock-cut pool and the 'Siloam inscription' found at the pool of Siloam at the other western end of the tunnel. (Tunnel IV leads to the main tunnel where it joins Tunnel VI in something of a 'fork in the road' facing east. I don't recall this other tunnel which leads to a round chamber and rock-cut pool, as seen in the labyrinthine map in the link below.) This similarity /b/ the plaques supports a finding that "Tunnel IV marked the beginning of Hezekiah’s Tunnel, just as the Siloam Inscription marked its end" and which is evidence that the entire tunnel was dug continuously. However, "a house built on top of rubble fill, which blocked the entrance to Tunnel IV, was found in the Round Chamber. Some of the pottery in the fill under the house dates to the late 9th - early 8th cent. B.C. (Iron Age IIa) - which predates the time of Hezekiah by @ 100 years. Based on this pottery, Reich and Shukron date the house to the late 9th or early 8th cent. B.C. as well. Tunnel IV and Hezekiah’s Tunnel had to predate this house as debris underneath the house was used to block Tunnel IV. (See the map in the link below.) Additionally, if the 2 channels had not been dug, water would have continued to flow into the Rock-cut Pool, and the house would have been under water. On this basis, Reich and Shukron argue that Tunnel IV and Hezekiah’s Tunnel must have been constructed by one of Hezekiah’s predecessors, dating as early as the time of King Jehoash (835–801 B.C.) - a century before Sennacherib’s siege of Jerusalem in 701 B.C. Is Jehoash actually responsible for “Hezekiah’s” Tunnel?" [Update: The link below works and seems to be fine now, but when opening it a few years ago in @ 2022, Kaspersky warned me twice of a trojan virus download attempt. It's one thing to disagree with this analysis, but another to try to punish people who open the link.]: www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-sites-places/j... This seems to contradict what Reich and Finkelstein have to say about the period of Hezekiah's reign in the documentary from 2016 in the link above, which postdates the article quoted directly above by 3 yr.s. - ??
- Some of the comments to the article in the link above could be instructive.: e.g. "Did King Hezekiah really build a tunnel into Jerusalem?
Hezekiah was a king of Judah in the late 8th cent. B.C.E., a time of conflict with the mighty Assyrian power. The Bible tells us that he did a great deal to protect Jerusalem and to secure its water supply. Among the works he undertook was the construction of a 533 m. long tunnel, or conduit, to bring springwater into the city. - 2 Kings 20:20; 2 Chronicles 32:1-7, 30.
In the 19th century, just such a tunnel was discovered. ... Inside the tunnel, an inscription was found that described the final phases of the tunnel’s excavation. The shape and form of the letters of this inscription lead most scholars to date it to the time of Hezekiah. A decade ago, however, some suggested that the tunnel was built @ 500 yr.s later. In 2003, a team of Israeli scientists published the results of their research aimed at fixing a reliable date for the tunnel. What conclusion did they reach?
Dr. Amos Frumkin of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem says: “The carbon-14 tests we carried out on organic material within the plaster of the Siloam Tunnel, and uranium-thorium dating of stalactites found in the tunnel, date it conclusively to Hezekiah’s era.” An article in the scientific journal Nature adds: “The 3 independent lines of evidence - radiometric dating, palaeography and the historical record - all converge on @ 700 BC, rendering the Siloam Tunnel the best-dated Iron-Age biblical structure thus far known.” wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1200272697
- A good point: "... Do you ... think ancient scribes would write of a certain king (Hezekiah) building a tunnel in their most beloved book (to be read by other ancient people of the time), if it were not so? Anyone of ancient times would have known better, and would have also known who had it built."
- Another: "It’s quite common in building practice today to use excavated material from one site as fill in another; it’s cost-effective and efficient. If, as the article seems to suggest, the fill was used as foundational material for the structure (not derived from the structure), it’s not unreasonable to suppose the fill could include material that pre-dates the tunnel."
This is the address provided: Hardefuststrasse 54, Köln (Innenstadt) but the actual street address was nearby and identified by the large Square and Compasses.
Masonic Square and Compasses.
The Square and Compasses (or, more correctly, a square and a set of compasses joined together) is the single most identifiable symbol of Freemasonry. Both the square and compasses are architect's tools and are used in Masonic ritual as emblems to teach symbolic lessons. Some Lodges and rituals explain these symbols as lessons in conduct: for example, Duncan's Masonic Monitor of 1866 explains them as: "The square, to square our actions; The compasses, to circumscribe and keep us within bounds with all mankind".
However, as Freemasonry is non-dogmatic, there is no general interpretation for these symbols (or any Masonic symbol) that is used by Freemasonry as a whole.
Square and Compasses:
Source: Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry
These two symbols have been so long and so universally combined — to teach us, as says an early instruction, "to square our actions and to keep them within due bounds," they are so seldom seen apart, but are so kept together, either as two Great Lights, or as a jewel worn once by the Master of the Lodge, now by the Past Master—that they have come at last to be recognized as the proper badge of a Master Mason, just as the Triple Tau is of a Royal Arch Mason or the Passion Cross of a Knight Templar.
So universally has this symbol been recognized, even by the profane world, as the peculiar characteristic of Freemasonry, that it has recently been made in the United States the subject of a legal decision. A manufacturer of flour having made, in 1873, an application to the Patent Office for permission to adopt the Square and Compasses as a trade-mark, the Commissioner of Patents, .J. M. Thatcher, refused the permission as the mark was a Masonic symbol.
If this emblem were something other than precisely what it is—either less known", less significant, or fully and universally understood—all this might readily be admitted. But, Considering its peculiar character and relation to the public, an anomalous question is presented. There can be no doubt that this device, so commonly worn and employed by Masons, has an established mystic significance, universally recognized as existing; whether comprehended by all or not, is not material to this issue. In view of the magnitude and extent of the Masonic organization, it is impossible to divest its symbols, or at least this particular symbol—perhaps the best known of all—of its ordinary signification, wherever displaced, either as an arbitrary character or otherwise.
It will be universally understood, or misunderstood, as having a Masonic significance; and, therefore, as a trade-mark, must constantly work deception. Nothing could be more mischievous than to create as a monopoly, and uphold by the poser of lacy anything so calculated. as applied to purposes of trade. to be misinterpreted, to mislead all classes, and to constantly foster suggestions of mystery in affairs of business (see Infringing upon Freemasonry, also Imitative Societies, and Clandestine).
In a religious work by John Davies, entitled Summa Totalis, or All in All and the Same Forever, printed in 1607, we find an allusion to the Square and Compasses by a profane in a really Masonic sense. The author, who proposes to describe mystically the form of the Deity, says in his dedication:
Yet I this forme of formelesse Deity,
Drewe by the Squire and Compasse of our Creed.
In Masonic symbolism the Square and Compasses refer to the Freemason's duty to the Craft and to himself; hence it is properly a symbol of brotherhood, and there significantly adopted as the badge or token of the Fraternity.
Berage, in his work on the higher Degrees, Les plus secrets Mystéres des Hauts Grades, or The Most Secret Mysteries of the High Grades, gives a new interpretation to the symbol. He says: "The Square and the Compasses represent the union of the Old and New Testaments. None of the high Degrees recognize this interpretation, although their symbolism of the two implements differs somewhat from that of Symbolic Freemasonry.
The Square is with them peculiarly appropriated to the lower Degrees, as founded on the Operative Art; while the Compasses, as an implement of higher character and uses, is attributed to the Decrees, which claim to have a more elevated and philosophical foundation. Thus they speak of the initiate, when he passes from the Blue Lodge to the Lodge of Perfection, as 'passing from the Square to the Compasses,' to indicate a progressive elevation in his studies. Yet even in the high Degrees, the square and compasses combined retain their primitive signification as a symbol of brotherhood and as a badge of the Order."
Square and Compass:
Source: The Builder October 1916
By Bro. B. C. Ward, Iowa
Worshipful Master and Brethren: Let us behold the glorious beauty that lies hidden beneath the symbolism of the Square and Compass; and first as to the Square. Geometry, the first and noblest of the sciences, is the basis on which the superstructure of Masonry has been erected. As you know, the word "Geometry" is derived from two Greek words which mean "to measure the earth," so that Geometry originated in measurement; and in those early days, when land first began to be measured, the Square, being a right angle, was the instrument used, so that in time the Square began to symbolize the Earth. And later it began to symbolize, Masonically, the earthly-in man, that is man's lower nature, and still later it began to symbolize man's duty in his earthly relations, or his moral obligations to his Fellowmen. The symbolism of the Square is as ancient as the Pyramids. The Egyptians used it in building the Pyramids. The base of every pyramid is a perfect square, and to the Egyptians the Square was their highest and most sacred emblem. Even the Chinese many, many centuries ago used the Square to represent Good, and Confucius in his writings speaks of the Square to represent a Just man.
As Masons we have adopted the 47th Problem of Euclid as the rule by which to determine or prove a perfect Square. Many of us remember with what interest we solved that problem in our school days. The Square has become our most significant Emblem. It rests upon the open Bible on this altar; it is one of the three great Lights; and it is the chief ornament of the Worshipful Master. There is a good reason why this distinction has been conferred upon the Square. There can be nothing truer than a perfect Square--a right angle. Hence the Square has become an emblem of Perfection.
Now a few words as to the Compass: Astronomy was the second great science promulgated among men. In the process of Man's evolution there came a time when he began to look up to the stars and wonder at the vaulted Heavens above him. When he began to study the stars, he found that the Square was not adapted to the measurement of the Heavens. He must have circular measure; he needed to draw a circle from a central point, and so the Compass was employed. By the use of the Compass man began to study the starry Heavens, and as the Square primarily symbolized the Earth, the Compass began to symbolize the Heavens, the celestial canopy, the study of which has led men to think of God, and adore Him as the Supreme Architect of the Universe. In later times the Compass began to symbolize the spiritual or higher nature of man, and it is a significant fact that the circumference of a circle, which is a line without end, has become an emblem of Eternity and symbolizes Divinity; so the Compass, and the circle drawn by the Compass, both point men Heavenward and Godward.
The Masonic teaching concerning the two points of the Compass is very interesting and instructive. The novitiate in Masonry, as he kneels at this altar, and asks for Light sees the Square, which symbolizes his lower nature, he may well note the position of the Compass. As he takes another step, and asks for more Light, the position of the Compass is changed somewhat, symbolizing that his spiritual nature can, in some measure, overcome his evil tendencies. As he takes another step in Masonry, and asks for further Light, and hears the significant words, "and God said let there be Light, and there was Light," he sees the Compass in new light; and for the first time he sees the meaning, thus unmistakably alluding to the sacred and eternal truth that as the Heavens are higher than the Earth, so the spiritual is higher than the material, and the spiritual in man must have its proper place, and should be above his lower nature, and dominate all his thoughts and actions. That eminent Philosopher, Edmund Burke, once said, "It is ordained that men of intemperate passions cannot be free. Their passions forge the chains which bind them, and make them slaves." Burke was right. Masonry, through the beautiful symbolism of the Compass, tells us how we can be free men, by permitting the spiritual within us to overcome our evil tendencies, and dominate all our thoughts and actions. Brethren, sometimes in the silent quiet hour, as we think of this conflict between our lower and higher natures, we sometimes say in the words of another, "Show me the way and let me bravely climb to where all conflicts with the flesh shall cease. Show me that way. Show me the way up to a higher plane where my body shall be servant of my Soul. Show me that way."
Brethren, if that prayer expresses desire of our hearts, let us take heed to the beautiful teachings of the Compass, which silently and persistently tells each one of us,
"You should not in the valley stay
While the great horizons stretch away
The very cliffs that wall you round
Are ladders up to higher ground.
And Heaven draws near as you ascend,
The Breeze invites, the Stars befriend.
All things are beckoning to the Best,
Then climb toward God and find sweet Rest."
Folded using Sara Adam's instructive tutorial. (which is redundant, I know, but it felt good typing it.) I'm very fond of this design, as it rather reminds me of a type of ancient Greek helmet.
Credit: Adam Schultz / Clinton Global Initiative
The Courage to Create
Many of the world’s most effective technologies or social movements grew out of organized brainstorms and were launched through a combination of hard work, strong mentors, and the courage to create. These successful innovators—whether working in dorm rooms, labs, studios, or classrooms—were able to start out and scale up despite having limited resources and few precedents for their work. While their impact may be widely recognized today, the hurdles and lessons learned from their earliest stages of design and implementation are as instructive and valuable to others. This session will bring together creative, impactful voices from a wide range of sectors to discuss:
• What first inspired their confidence in the process of innovation and creativity, and what some of their earliest challenges were.
• How to incentivize the invention and innovation process among young people through expanded access to seed funding, mentorship, technical training, and lower-risk student loan repayment plans.
• How students, universities, NGOs, and businesses can support a broader culture of creativity and collaborative design as core components of 21st century citizenship.
MAHAVATAR BABAJI CAVE
Mahāvatār Bābājī (literally; Great Avatar Dear Father) is the name given to an Indian saint and yogi by Lahiri Mahasaya and several of his disciples,[2] who reported meeting him between 1861 and 1935. Some of these meetings were described by Paramahansa Yogananda in his book Autobiography of a Yogi, including a first-hand report of Yogananda's own meeting with the yogi.[3]Another first hand account was given by Yukteswar Giri in his book The Holy Science.[4] According to Sri M's autobiography (Apprenticed to a Himalayan Master) Babaji, was Shiva. In the second last chapter of his book, he mentions Babaji changing his form to that of Shiva. All of these accounts, along with additional reported meetings, are described in various biographies.[5][6][7]According to Yogananda's autobiography, Babaji has resided for at least hundreds of years in the remote Himalayan regions of India, seen in person by only a small number of disciples and others.[3][8] The death less Master is more than 2000 years old. He belongs to a very powerful lineage of Siddha Boganthar and Rishi Agastya as his Gurus. He acquired this deathless, non perishable body through tough yogik kriyas.
Again, according to his autobiography, shortly before Yogananda left for America in 1920, Babaji came to his home in Calcutta, where the young monk sat deeply praying for divine assurance regarding the mission he was about to undertake. Babaji said to him: "Follow the behest of your guru and go to America. Fear not; you shall be protected. You are the one I have chosen to spread the message of Kriya Yoga in the West
There are very few accounts of Babaji's childhood. One source of information is the book Babaji and the 18 Siddha Kriya Yoga tradition by Marshal Govindan.[9]According to Govindan, Babaji was named Nagarajan (king of serpents) by his parents. [8] V.T. Neelakantan and S.A.A. Ramaiah founded on 17 October 1952, (they claim – at the request of Babaji) a new organization, "Kriya Babaji Sangah," dedicated to the teaching of Babaji's Kriya Yoga. They claim that in 1953 Mahavatar Babaji told them that he was born on 30 November 203 CE in a small coastal village now known as Parangipettai, Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu, India.[10] Babaji's Kriya Yoga Order of Acharyas Trust (Kriya Babaji Sangah) and their branch organizations claim his place and date of birth.[10] He was a disciple of Bogar and his birth name is Nagarajan.[9][10]
In Paramahansa Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi, many references are made to Mahavatar Babaji, including from Lahirī and Sri Yukteshwar.[3] In his book The Second Coming of Christ, Yogananda states that Jesus Christ went to India and conferred with Mahavatar Babaji.[8] This would make Babaji at least 2000 years old.[11] According to Govindan's book, Babaji Nagaraj's father was the priest of the village's temple. Babaji revealed only those details which he believed to be formative as well as potentially instructive to his disciples. Govindan mentioned one incident like this: "One time Nagaraj's mother had got one rare jackfruit for a family feast and put it aside. Babaji was only 4 years old at that time. He found the jackfruit when his mother was not around and ate it all. When his mother came to know about it, she flew in blind rage and stuffed a cloth inside Babaji's mouth, nearly suffocating him, but he survived. Later on he thanked God for showing him that she was to be loved without attachment or illusion. His Love for his mother became unconditional and detached."[9]
When Nagaraj was about 5 years old, someone kidnapped him and sold him as a slave in Calcutta (now Kolkata). His new owner however was a kind man and he freed Nagaraj shortly thereafter. Nagaraj then joined a small group of wandering sannyāsin due to their radiant faces and love for God. During the next few years, he wandered from place to place, studying holy scriptures like the Vedas, Upanishad, Mahabharata, Ramayana, Bhagavad Gita.
According to Marshall Govindan's book, at the age of eleven, he made a difficult journey on foot and by boat with a group of ascetics to Kataragama, Sri Lanka. Nagaraj met Siddha Bhogarnathar and became his disciple. Nagaraj performed intensive yogic sadhana for a long time with him. Bhogarnathar inspired Nagaraj to seek his initiation into Kriya Kundalini Pranayam from Siddha Agastya. Babaji became a disciple of Siddha Agastya. Nagaraj was initiated into the secrets of Kriya Kundalini Pranayama or "Vasi Yogam". Babaji made a long pilgrimage to Badrinath and spent eighteen months practising yogic kriyataught to him by Siddha Agastya and Bhogarnathar. Babaji attained self-realization shortly thereafter.[9]
It is claimed that these revelations were made by Babaji himself to S.A.A. Ramaiah, a young graduate student in geology at the University of Madras and V.T. Neelakantan, a famous journalist, and close student of Annie Besant, President of the Theosophical Society and mentor of Krishnamurti. Babaji was said to have appeared to each of them independently and then brought them together to work for his Mission in 1942
By Kailash Mansarovar Foundation Swami Bikash Giri www.sumeruparvat.com , www.naturalitem.com
MAHAVATAR BABAJI CAVE
Mahāvatār Bābājī (literally; Great Avatar Dear Father) is the name given to an Indian saint and yogi by Lahiri Mahasaya and several of his disciples,[2] who reported meeting him between 1861 and 1935. Some of these meetings were described by Paramahansa Yogananda in his book Autobiography of a Yogi, including a first-hand report of Yogananda's own meeting with the yogi.[3]Another first hand account was given by Yukteswar Giri in his book The Holy Science.[4] According to Sri M's autobiography (Apprenticed to a Himalayan Master) Babaji, was Shiva. In the second last chapter of his book, he mentions Babaji changing his form to that of Shiva. All of these accounts, along with additional reported meetings, are described in various biographies.[5][6][7]According to Yogananda's autobiography, Babaji has resided for at least hundreds of years in the remote Himalayan regions of India, seen in person by only a small number of disciples and others.[3][8] The death less Master is more than 2000 years old. He belongs to a very powerful lineage of Siddha Boganthar and Rishi Agastya as his Gurus. He acquired this deathless, non perishable body through tough yogik kriyas.
Again, according to his autobiography, shortly before Yogananda left for America in 1920, Babaji came to his home in Calcutta, where the young monk sat deeply praying for divine assurance regarding the mission he was about to undertake. Babaji said to him: "Follow the behest of your guru and go to America. Fear not; you shall be protected. You are the one I have chosen to spread the message of Kriya Yoga in the West
There are very few accounts of Babaji's childhood. One source of information is the book Babaji and the 18 Siddha Kriya Yoga tradition by Marshal Govindan.[9]According to Govindan, Babaji was named Nagarajan (king of serpents) by his parents. [8] V.T. Neelakantan and S.A.A. Ramaiah founded on 17 October 1952, (they claim – at the request of Babaji) a new organization, "Kriya Babaji Sangah," dedicated to the teaching of Babaji's Kriya Yoga. They claim that in 1953 Mahavatar Babaji told them that he was born on 30 November 203 CE in a small coastal village now known as Parangipettai, Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu, India.[10] Babaji's Kriya Yoga Order of Acharyas Trust (Kriya Babaji Sangah) and their branch organizations claim his place and date of birth.[10] He was a disciple of Bogar and his birth name is Nagarajan.[9][10]
In Paramahansa Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi, many references are made to Mahavatar Babaji, including from Lahirī and Sri Yukteshwar.[3] In his book The Second Coming of Christ, Yogananda states that Jesus Christ went to India and conferred with Mahavatar Babaji.[8] This would make Babaji at least 2000 years old.[11] According to Govindan's book, Babaji Nagaraj's father was the priest of the village's temple. Babaji revealed only those details which he believed to be formative as well as potentially instructive to his disciples. Govindan mentioned one incident like this: "One time Nagaraj's mother had got one rare jackfruit for a family feast and put it aside. Babaji was only 4 years old at that time. He found the jackfruit when his mother was not around and ate it all. When his mother came to know about it, she flew in blind rage and stuffed a cloth inside Babaji's mouth, nearly suffocating him, but he survived. Later on he thanked God for showing him that she was to be loved without attachment or illusion. His Love for his mother became unconditional and detached."[9]
When Nagaraj was about 5 years old, someone kidnapped him and sold him as a slave in Calcutta (now Kolkata). His new owner however was a kind man and he freed Nagaraj shortly thereafter. Nagaraj then joined a small group of wandering sannyāsin due to their radiant faces and love for God. During the next few years, he wandered from place to place, studying holy scriptures like the Vedas, Upanishad, Mahabharata, Ramayana, Bhagavad Gita.
According to Marshall Govindan's book, at the age of eleven, he made a difficult journey on foot and by boat with a group of ascetics to Kataragama, Sri Lanka. Nagaraj met Siddha Bhogarnathar and became his disciple. Nagaraj performed intensive yogic sadhana for a long time with him. Bhogarnathar inspired Nagaraj to seek his initiation into Kriya Kundalini Pranayam from Siddha Agastya. Babaji became a disciple of Siddha Agastya. Nagaraj was initiated into the secrets of Kriya Kundalini Pranayama or "Vasi Yogam". Babaji made a long pilgrimage to Badrinath and spent eighteen months practising yogic kriyataught to him by Siddha Agastya and Bhogarnathar. Babaji attained self-realization shortly thereafter.[9]
It is claimed that these revelations were made by Babaji himself to S.A.A. Ramaiah, a young graduate student in geology at the University of Madras and V.T. Neelakantan, a famous journalist, and close student of Annie Besant, President of the Theosophical Society and mentor of Krishnamurti. Babaji was said to have appeared to each of them independently and then brought them together to work for his Mission in 1942
By Kailash Mansarovar Foundation Swami Bikash Giri www.sumeruparvat.com , www.naturalitem.com
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MAHAVATAR BABAJI CAVE
Mahāvatār Bābājī (literally; Great Avatar Dear Father) is the name given to an Indian saint and yogi by Lahiri Mahasaya and several of his disciples,[2] who reported meeting him between 1861 and 1935. Some of these meetings were described by Paramahansa Yogananda in his book Autobiography of a Yogi, including a first-hand report of Yogananda's own meeting with the yogi.[3]Another first hand account was given by Yukteswar Giri in his book The Holy Science.[4] According to Sri M's autobiography (Apprenticed to a Himalayan Master) Babaji, was Shiva. In the second last chapter of his book, he mentions Babaji changing his form to that of Shiva. All of these accounts, along with additional reported meetings, are described in various biographies.[5][6][7]According to Yogananda's autobiography, Babaji has resided for at least hundreds of years in the remote Himalayan regions of India, seen in person by only a small number of disciples and others.[3][8] The death less Master is more than 2000 years old. He belongs to a very powerful lineage of Siddha Boganthar and Rishi Agastya as his Gurus. He acquired this deathless, non perishable body through tough yogik kriyas.
Again, according to his autobiography, shortly before Yogananda left for America in 1920, Babaji came to his home in Calcutta, where the young monk sat deeply praying for divine assurance regarding the mission he was about to undertake. Babaji said to him: "Follow the behest of your guru and go to America. Fear not; you shall be protected. You are the one I have chosen to spread the message of Kriya Yoga in the West
There are very few accounts of Babaji's childhood. One source of information is the book Babaji and the 18 Siddha Kriya Yoga tradition by Marshal Govindan.[9]According to Govindan, Babaji was named Nagarajan (king of serpents) by his parents. [8] V.T. Neelakantan and S.A.A. Ramaiah founded on 17 October 1952, (they claim – at the request of Babaji) a new organization, "Kriya Babaji Sangah," dedicated to the teaching of Babaji's Kriya Yoga. They claim that in 1953 Mahavatar Babaji told them that he was born on 30 November 203 CE in a small coastal village now known as Parangipettai, Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu, India.[10] Babaji's Kriya Yoga Order of Acharyas Trust (Kriya Babaji Sangah) and their branch organizations claim his place and date of birth.[10] He was a disciple of Bogar and his birth name is Nagarajan.[9][10]
In Paramahansa Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi, many references are made to Mahavatar Babaji, including from Lahirī and Sri Yukteshwar.[3] In his book The Second Coming of Christ, Yogananda states that Jesus Christ went to India and conferred with Mahavatar Babaji.[8] This would make Babaji at least 2000 years old.[11] According to Govindan's book, Babaji Nagaraj's father was the priest of the village's temple. Babaji revealed only those details which he believed to be formative as well as potentially instructive to his disciples. Govindan mentioned one incident like this: "One time Nagaraj's mother had got one rare jackfruit for a family feast and put it aside. Babaji was only 4 years old at that time. He found the jackfruit when his mother was not around and ate it all. When his mother came to know about it, she flew in blind rage and stuffed a cloth inside Babaji's mouth, nearly suffocating him, but he survived. Later on he thanked God for showing him that she was to be loved without attachment or illusion. His Love for his mother became unconditional and detached."[9]
When Nagaraj was about 5 years old, someone kidnapped him and sold him as a slave in Calcutta (now Kolkata). His new owner however was a kind man and he freed Nagaraj shortly thereafter. Nagaraj then joined a small group of wandering sannyāsin due to their radiant faces and love for God. During the next few years, he wandered from place to place, studying holy scriptures like the Vedas, Upanishad, Mahabharata, Ramayana, Bhagavad Gita.
According to Marshall Govindan's book, at the age of eleven, he made a difficult journey on foot and by boat with a group of ascetics to Kataragama, Sri Lanka. Nagaraj met Siddha Bhogarnathar and became his disciple. Nagaraj performed intensive yogic sadhana for a long time with him. Bhogarnathar inspired Nagaraj to seek his initiation into Kriya Kundalini Pranayam from Siddha Agastya. Babaji became a disciple of Siddha Agastya. Nagaraj was initiated into the secrets of Kriya Kundalini Pranayama or "Vasi Yogam". Babaji made a long pilgrimage to Badrinath and spent eighteen months practising yogic kriyataught to him by Siddha Agastya and Bhogarnathar. Babaji attained self-realization shortly thereafter.[9]
It is claimed that these revelations were made by Babaji himself to S.A.A. Ramaiah, a young graduate student in geology at the University of Madras and V.T. Neelakantan, a famous journalist, and close student of Annie Besant, President of the Theosophical Society and mentor of Krishnamurti. Babaji was said to have appeared to each of them independently and then brought them together to work for his Mission in 1942
By Kailash Mansarovar Foundation Swami Bikash Giri www.sumeruparvat.com , www.naturalitem.com
This was for sale today on EBay.
The secrets of Freemasonry are concerned with its traditional modes of recognition. It is not a secret society, since all members are free to acknowledge their membership and will do so in response to enquiries for respectable reasons. Its constitutions and rules are available to the public. There is no secret about any of its aims and principles. Like many other societies, it regards some of its internal affairs as private matters for its members. In history there have been times and places where promoting equality, freedom of thought or liberty of conscience was dangerous. Most importantly though is a question of perspective. Each aspect of the craft has a meaning. Freemasonry has been described as a system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols. Such characteristics as virtue, honour and mercy, such virtues as temperance, fortitude, prudence and justice are empty clichés and hollow words unless presented within an ordered and closed framework. The lessons are not secret but the presentation is kept private to promote a clearer understanding in good time. It is also possible to view Masonic secrecy not as secrecy in and of itself, but rather as a symbol of privacy and discretion. By not revealing Masonic secrets, or acknowledging the many published exposures, freemasons demonstrate that they are men of discretion, worthy of confidences, and that they place a high value on their word and bond.
Masonic Square and Compasses.
The Square and Compasses (or, more correctly, a square and a set of compasses joined together) is the single most identifiable symbol of Freemasonry. Both the square and compasses are architect's tools and are used in Masonic ritual as emblems to teach symbolic lessons. Some Lodges and rituals explain these symbols as lessons in conduct: for example, Duncan's Masonic Monitor of 1866 explains them as: "The square, to square our actions; The compasses, to circumscribe and keep us within bounds with all mankind".
However, as Freemasonry is non-dogmatic, there is no general interpretation for these symbols (or any Masonic symbol) that is used by Freemasonry as a whole.
Square and Compasses:
Source: Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry
These two symbols have been so long and so universally combined — to teach us, as says an early instruction, "to square our actions and to keep them within due bounds," they are so seldom seen apart, but are so kept together, either as two Great Lights, or as a jewel worn once by the Master of the Lodge, now by the Past Master—that they have come at last to be recognized as the proper badge of a Master Mason, just as the Triple Tau is of a Royal Arch Mason or the Passion Cross of a Knight Templar.
So universally has this symbol been recognized, even by the profane world, as the peculiar characteristic of Freemasonry, that it has recently been made in the United States the subject of a legal decision. A manufacturer of flour having made, in 1873, an application to the Patent Office for permission to adopt the Square and Compasses as a trade-mark, the Commissioner of Patents, .J. M. Thatcher, refused the permission as the mark was a Masonic symbol.
If this emblem were something other than precisely what it is—either less known", less significant, or fully and universally understood—all this might readily be admitted. But, Considering its peculiar character and relation to the public, an anomalous question is presented. There can be no doubt that this device, so commonly worn and employed by Masons, has an established mystic significance, universally recognized as existing; whether comprehended by all or not, is not material to this issue. In view of the magnitude and extent of the Masonic organization, it is impossible to divest its symbols, or at least this particular symbol—perhaps the best known of all—of its ordinary signification, wherever displaced, either as an arbitrary character or otherwise.
It will be universally understood, or misunderstood, as having a Masonic significance; and, therefore, as a trade-mark, must constantly work deception. Nothing could be more mischievous than to create as a monopoly, and uphold by the poser of lacy anything so calculated. as applied to purposes of trade. to be misinterpreted, to mislead all classes, and to constantly foster suggestions of mystery in affairs of business (see Infringing upon Freemasonry, also Imitative Societies, and Clandestine).
In a religious work by John Davies, entitled Summa Totalis, or All in All and the Same Forever, printed in 1607, we find an allusion to the Square and Compasses by a profane in a really Masonic sense. The author, who proposes to describe mystically the form of the Deity, says in his dedication:
Yet I this forme of formelesse Deity,
Drewe by the Squire and Compasse of our Creed.
In Masonic symbolism the Square and Compasses refer to the Freemason's duty to the Craft and to himself; hence it is properly a symbol of brotherhood, and there significantly adopted as the badge or token of the Fraternity.
Berage, in his work on the higher Degrees, Les plus secrets Mystéres des Hauts Grades, or The Most Secret Mysteries of the High Grades, gives a new interpretation to the symbol. He says: "The Square and the Compasses represent the union of the Old and New Testaments. None of the high Degrees recognize this interpretation, although their symbolism of the two implements differs somewhat from that of Symbolic Freemasonry.
The Square is with them peculiarly appropriated to the lower Degrees, as founded on the Operative Art; while the Compasses, as an implement of higher character and uses, is attributed to the Decrees, which claim to have a more elevated and philosophical foundation. Thus they speak of the initiate, when he passes from the Blue Lodge to the Lodge of Perfection, as 'passing from the Square to the Compasses,' to indicate a progressive elevation in his studies. Yet even in the high Degrees, the square and compasses combined retain their primitive signification as a symbol of brotherhood and as a badge of the Order."
Square and Compass:
Source: The Builder October 1916
By Bro. B. C. Ward, Iowa
Worshipful Master and Brethren: Let us behold the glorious beauty that lies hidden beneath the symbolism of the Square and Compass; and first as to the Square. Geometry, the first and noblest of the sciences, is the basis on which the superstructure of Masonry has been erected. As you know, the word "Geometry" is derived from two Greek words which mean "to measure the earth," so that Geometry originated in measurement; and in those early days, when land first began to be measured, the Square, being a right angle, was the instrument used, so that in time the Square began to symbolize the Earth. And later it began to symbolize, Masonically, the earthly-in man, that is man's lower nature, and still later it began to symbolize man's duty in his earthly relations, or his moral obligations to his Fellowmen. The symbolism of the Square is as ancient as the Pyramids. The Egyptians used it in building the Pyramids. The base of every pyramid is a perfect square, and to the Egyptians the Square was their highest and most sacred emblem. Even the Chinese many, many centuries ago used the Square to represent Good, and Confucius in his writings speaks of the Square to represent a Just man.
As Masons we have adopted the 47th Problem of Euclid as the rule by which to determine or prove a perfect Square. Many of us remember with what interest we solved that problem in our school days. The Square has become our most significant Emblem. It rests upon the open Bible on this altar; it is one of the three great Lights; and it is the chief ornament of the Worshipful Master. There is a good reason why this distinction has been conferred upon the Square. There can be nothing truer than a perfect Square--a right angle. Hence the Square has become an emblem of Perfection.
Now a few words as to the Compass: Astronomy was the second great science promulgated among men. In the process of Man's evolution there came a time when he began to look up to the stars and wonder at the vaulted Heavens above him. When he began to study the stars, he found that the Square was not adapted to the measurement of the Heavens. He must have circular measure; he needed to draw a circle from a central point, and so the Compass was employed. By the use of the Compass man began to study the starry Heavens, and as the Square primarily symbolized the Earth, the Compass began to symbolize the Heavens, the celestial canopy, the study of which has led men to think of God, and adore Him as the Supreme Architect of the Universe. In later times the Compass began to symbolize the spiritual or higher nature of man, and it is a significant fact that the circumference of a circle, which is a line without end, has become an emblem of Eternity and symbolizes Divinity; so the Compass, and the circle drawn by the Compass, both point men Heavenward and Godward.
The Masonic teaching concerning the two points of the Compass is very interesting and instructive. The novitiate in Masonry, as he kneels at this altar, and asks for Light sees the Square, which symbolizes his lower nature, he may well note the position of the Compass. As he takes another step, and asks for more Light, the position of the Compass is changed somewhat, symbolizing that his spiritual nature can, in some measure, overcome his evil tendencies. As he takes another step in Masonry, and asks for further Light, and hears the significant words, "and God said let there be Light, and there was Light," he sees the Compass in new light; and for the first time he sees the meaning, thus unmistakably alluding to the sacred and eternal truth that as the Heavens are higher than the Earth, so the spiritual is higher than the material, and the spiritual in man must have its proper place, and should be above his lower nature, and dominate all his thoughts and actions. That eminent Philosopher, Edmund Burke, once said, "It is ordained that men of intemperate passions cannot be free. Their passions forge the chains which bind them, and make them slaves." Burke was right. Masonry, through the beautiful symbolism of the Compass, tells us how we can be free men, by permitting the spiritual within us to overcome our evil tendencies, and dominate all our thoughts and actions. Brethren, sometimes in the silent quiet hour, as we think of this conflict between our lower and higher natures, we sometimes say in the words of another, "Show me the way and let me bravely climb to where all conflicts with the flesh shall cease. Show me that way. Show me the way up to a higher plane where my body shall be servant of my Soul. Show me that way."
Brethren, if that prayer expresses desire of our hearts, let us take heed to the beautiful teachings of the Compass, which silently and persistently tells each one of us,
"You should not in the valley stay
While the great horizons stretch away
The very cliffs that wall you round
Are ladders up to higher ground.
And Heaven draws near as you ascend,
The Breeze invites, the Stars befriend.
All things are beckoning to the Best,
Then climb toward God and find sweet Rest."
Credit: Max Orenstein / Clinton Global Initiative
The Courage to Create
Many of the world’s most effective technologies or social movements grew out of organized brainstorms and were launched through a combination of hard work, strong mentors, and the courage to create. These successful innovators—whether working in dorm rooms, labs, studios, or classrooms—were able to start out and scale up despite having limited resources and few precedents for their work. While their impact may be widely recognized today, the hurdles and lessons learned from their earliest stages of design and implementation are as instructive and valuable to others. This session will bring together creative, impactful voices from a wide range of sectors to discuss:
• What first inspired their confidence in the process of innovation and creativity, and what some of their earliest challenges were.
• How to incentivize the invention and innovation process among young people through expanded access to seed funding, mentorship, technical training, and lower-risk student loan repayment plans.
• How students, universities, NGOs, and businesses can support a broader culture of creativity and collaborative design as core components of 21st century citizenship.
Wall memorial - "BENEATH rests what was mortal of THOMAS SYMONDS of Pengethly, esq, whose distinguished natural and acquired abilities, inflexible integrity, and condescensive sweetness of disposition, would have done honour to the most conspicuous station; but his singular modesty, the surest test of merit,, ambitious of no advancement but in knowledge & virtue, preferred a more retired scene; where his politeness, affability & engaging manners, his extensive erudition & instructive conversation, his piety humility & every virtue united in the gentleman, the scholar & the christian. attracted the admiration , esteem & love of his County; and prepared him for the congenial society of their beatified spirits he so nearly resembled; to whom he was called hence March the 5th 1750 aged 75
Happy was his life in a joint partner of his virtues, happier in assurance of meeting again in glory her who ascribes this short, but sad memorial of departed merit, his affectionate, disconsolate relict, PENELOPE, daughter of Sir John Williams of Pengethly, bart, interred in the tomb adjacent to this chappel; And of Mary daughter of Sir William Powell, bart, who are both deposited in the vault beneath;
As is William Symonds Powell esq, eldest son , and Robert Symonds, third son, of Thomas Symonds esq & Penelope his wife
PENELOPE SYMONDS died December 11th 1774 aged 80"
(Thomas was the son of Robert Symonds of Sugwas by Jane daughter of Dr Thomas Willis & Mary Fell
He was a MD at Ludlow before marriage
He m Penelope daughter of Sir John Williams, 2nd Bart of Eltham and Mary co-heiress of Sir William Powell, 1st Bart of Pengethley by Elizabeth heiress of John Pearle of Aconbury (Penelope brought the Pengethly estate to him on marriage)
Children
1. William Symonds Powell died unmarried
2. Thomas Symonds Powell of Pengethley m Sarah daughter of Joseph Chester of Gloucester & Sarah
3. Robert died unmarried
4. John died unmarried
2. Penelope m John son of John Skipp by Jane Wellington)
books.google.co.uk/books?id=FlI4AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA1345&am... - Church of St Tesiliog, Sellack Herefordshire
Credit: Adam Schultz / Clinton Global Initiative
The Courage to Create
Many of the world’s most effective technologies or social movements grew out of organized brainstorms and were launched through a combination of hard work, strong mentors, and the courage to create. These successful innovators—whether working in dorm rooms, labs, studios, or classrooms—were able to start out and scale up despite having limited resources and few precedents for their work. While their impact may be widely recognized today, the hurdles and lessons learned from their earliest stages of design and implementation are as instructive and valuable to others. This session will bring together creative, impactful voices from a wide range of sectors to discuss:
• What first inspired their confidence in the process of innovation and creativity, and what some of their earliest challenges were.
• How to incentivize the invention and innovation process among young people through expanded access to seed funding, mentorship, technical training, and lower-risk student loan repayment plans.
• How students, universities, NGOs, and businesses can support a broader culture of creativity and collaborative design as core components of 21st century citizenship.
Title
Letter by G H Lewes to H C Bastian
Date
Feb 1868
Description
In this letter G H Lewes admires H C Bastian's 'remarkable paper...'. Lewes also gives his opinion concerning 'Waller's idea of the nutritive centres of nerve fibres'. Dated Wedesday. Written from The Priory, Regent's Park. Signed G H Lewes.
Transcript
The Priory,
21, North Bank,
Regents Park.
Wednesday
My dear Sir
The very remarkable paper you were kind enough to send me has been very instructive, and some day I will ask you to lend me Bouchard's memoir, if you possess it.
I have many doubts respecting WaIler's idea of the nutritive centres of nerve fibres. His facts are indisputable, and his idea for a long while misled me on a wild goose chase after the homologies of the spinal ganglia & posterior horns; but I have seen too many contradictory & destructive facts to hold that explanation now. In the special case you have brought forward I do not think the explanation acceptable because I have very many times separated the fibres from those supposed centres of nutrition (by section and hemisection of the cord, and removal of the brain) yet after several weeks the cord has exhibited no degeneration when hardened in chromic acid. On the other hand I did once observe what I now (enlightened by you) comprehend to have been a secondary degeneration in the cord of a mole whom I stunned by a blow on the back part of the head.
Query; Is not the cause of the degeneration primarily an exhaustion of Neurility owing to the excess of stimulus (shock) destroying the molecular structure of the nerve, & secondarily a consequent influence on the capillaries?
Yours very faithfully
G.H. Lewes
H.C. Bastian Esq. M.D.
All Right's Reserved. All images are subject to copyright restrictions. Contact Warwickshire Libraries for further details. Part of Warwickshire Libraries' George Eliot Collection.
Original held at Warwickshire County Record Office.
Nice color combinations in this cabinet. The detector circuit has a metal variable capacitor, uncommon in such germanium radios, antenna coil with ferrite core, germanium diode, beautiful red crystal receiver earpiece and ground wire/alligator clip. It comes with box, vinyl case and instructive.
Visit my Rollei Prego 90 review for a full write-up on this clunky yet valued "point and shoot" .
Poor shots are instructive too.
I normally take at least one photograph with a point and shoot at night using a tripod. This photo of the Lake Geneva dock at night was taken hand-held.
Obviously this camera can't take night shots without flash, with or without a tripod. But if I had known the camera had a B (bulb) function, I could have used a tripod to make this shot a whole lot better.
01 Oil Studies, No. 52
Rainbow Monas Set (Nos. 52–55 in 101 Oil Studies album)
The Rainbow Monas began as studies in skin tones but evolved into Mona Lisa pretenders, each a portrait of a woman against a dramatic, natural background. Fun, and very instructive on my path toward oll proficiency. Which Mona do you like best?
Mona Fionn painted in 11 sessions: 7 January to 3 March 2025
Pigments (Winsor & Newton Artists' oil colour unless otherwise note): Yellow ochre, Naples yellow light, terra rosa, raw umber, ivory black, permalba white (Weber), cobalt blue, cobalt turquiese light. Mediums: Gamsol, Oleogel.
Centurion OP DLX oil primed linen, 27.9 x 35.6 cm (11 x 14 inches)
Alkali flies at South Tufa, Mono Lake, CA.
"Then there is a fly, which looks something like our house fly. These settle on the beach to eat the worms that wash ashore--and any time, you can see there a belt of flies an inch deep and six feet wide, and this belt extends clear around the lake--a belt of flies one hundred miles long. If you throw a stone among them, they swarm up so thick that they look dense, like a cloud. You can hold them under water as long as you please--they do not mind it--they are only proud of it. When you let them go, they pop up to the surface as dry as a patent office report, and walk off as unconcernedly as if they had been educated especially with a view to affording instructive entertainment to man in that particular way. Providence leaves nothing to go by chance. All things have their uses and their part and proper place in Nature's economy: the ducks eat the flies--the flies eat the worms--the Indians eat all three--the wild cats eat the Indians--the white folks eat the wild cats--and thus all things are lovely. - Mark Twain,"Roughing It"
Alkali flies provide more fat and protein than the brine shrimp. This is the principal food that Phalaropes use to grow new feathers and then migrate three thousand miles non-stop to South America. In the mid to late summer the Wilson's Phalarope can be seen spinning in shallow water, creating a miniature vortex that brings alkali fly larvae and pupae to the surface for easy pickings. California Gulls and Brewer's Blackbirds run along the shoreline with beaks open filling themselves with adult alkali flies.
Alkali flies spend two of their three life stages entirely underwater. The larval and pupal life stages develop within the lake. When the adult fly is ready to emerge from the pupa case its head comes apart! The head separates and a small sac inflates and pops the top off the pupa case. The sac then collapses, the fly's head reassembles itself, and the fly emerges from the case to float to the surface where it then begins its adult life cycle. Eventually adult flies return underwater to lay eggs or feed on algae. Tiny hairs trap a thin layer of air which allows the fly to "scuba dive."
Don Smith was appointed to fill the District B vacancy.
At its regularly scheduled meeting held on Monday, May 17, City Council approved a design contract for the future Tennis and Recreation Center, honored two companies for their generous donations to "green" initiatives, recognized the exemplary volunteer work of two Boy Scouts, appointed a Mayor Pro Tem and selected a former Councilman to serve out the unexpired term in District B.
District Court Judge James Shoemake administered oaths of office to Mayor Allen Owen and Councilmen Jerry Wyatt and Danny Nguyen, who were recently elected to serve two-year terms in the At-Large Position 1 and At-large Position 2 seats respectively. "We have some healing to do in this City," Mayor Owen poignantly remarked after the swearing-in. Acknowledging contention in some of the campaigns, he emphasized that no matter what Missouri City "will continue to be one of the greatest and safest places to live in America."
Here are some actions Council took during the meeting:
*Appointed Brett Kolaja as Mayor Pro Tem; he will preside if Mayor Owen is absent
*Selected Don Smith to serve out the remaining one-year term in District B. City Charter required Cynthia Lenton-Gary to automatically relinquish the seat after her unsuccessful bid for Mayor.
*Approved an amendment of the tax abatement agreement between the City and Global Geophysical to move the terms back one year from the original agreement to start with the year 2010. The growth of the project and bad weather pushed back the date of the final construction, which now includes five buildings and more than 110,000 square feet.
*Authorized the City Manager to contract with PBS&J of Houston for $71,888 for design services for the Tennis and Recreation Center. Their services will cover Phase 1 of the project, which should take about two months to be completed. It will include town meetings, facility and site assessments, cost-benefit analysis, conceptual plans, conceptual cost estimates and presentations to staff and Council.
*Authorized the City Manager to contract with Freese and Nichols Inc. for $151,777 for design services for the Quail Valley Golf Course Club House and Community Center. The agreement will cover Phase 1 of the project, which will include two public workshops, community meetings, cost estimates, exterior 3D renderings, a design of the architectural character and style of the new community center, and a schematic design based on community and stakeholder input.
*Awarded a contract for storm water management services for $39,900 to PBS&J of Houston for services related to the implementation of the third year of the storm water management plan, including inspections, staff training and testing services.
*Awarded a contract for mosquito spraying services for $55,000 to Cypress Creek Pest Control. Spraying for the season began April 2. The contract will include service until June 30, 2011, with renewal options for two additional years.
*Amended the Residential and Fire Codes to comply with State legislation that allows homebuilders more options while providing the same levels of safety.
*Authorized the City to submit a nomination to the Houston-Galveston Area Council for funding for an Access Management Study on Texas Parkway, which includes a 20 percent match from the City. A study is required prior to the design and construction of raised medians on Texas Parkway.
*Presented Golden Tree Awards to CenterPoint Energy and Apache Corp. for their commitment and contribution toward Missouri City's continuing efforts to "go green". CenterPoint partnered with the City to create the "Right Tree Trail" in Ridgeview Park, a first of its kind in the area. The Trail includes two instructive panels that provide information on planting trees that will not grow into power lines. Separately, the City recently received a grant of 250 new trees from Apache Corp. The trees, which have an estimated value of $6,250, will be used for reforestation and volunteer projects at Independence Park and Buffalo Run Park.
*Recognized two Boy Scouts, Brian Eaton and Ryan Kelly, for completing their Eagle Scout community projects. Eaton led a group of 40 volunteer scouts and parents who spent 160 collective hours cleaning up litter and planting 150 trees along the eastern bank of Sta-Mo Park pond. Kelly led a group of 30 volunteer scouts and parents in a project to plant 50 trees in Buffalo Run Park.
Apologies for the blur.
The display reads:
French (Poitou or Saintonge)
Romanesque portal, ca. 1150
Limestone
This massive portal served as an entrance to a church in the Loire Valley in western France. Typically Romanesque in its rounded, heavy appearance, it is composed of three set-back arches resting on two broad and four slender, engaged columns. A narrower outer arch is decorated with a saw-tooth design that is repeated along the continuous cornice above the capitals. Although the sculptural decoration of Romanesque churches frequently served an instructive purpose, the capitals on this portal are predominantly secular in design, consisting of combinations of palm fronds, stars, ribbons, flowers, and small mask-like faces. One notable exception is the inclusion of two standing birds that drink from a single vessel on the inner capital at left. Long familiar in Christian art, this group served as an allegory of baptism and resurrection and also symbolized Christ's presence in the consecrated wine of the mass.
Taken November 16th, 2010.
Credit: Adam Schultz / Clinton Global Initiative
The Courage to Create
Many of the world’s most effective technologies or social movements grew out of organized brainstorms and were launched through a combination of hard work, strong mentors, and the courage to create. These successful innovators—whether working in dorm rooms, labs, studios, or classrooms—were able to start out and scale up despite having limited resources and few precedents for their work. While their impact may be widely recognized today, the hurdles and lessons learned from their earliest stages of design and implementation are as instructive and valuable to others. This session will bring together creative, impactful voices from a wide range of sectors to discuss:
• What first inspired their confidence in the process of innovation and creativity, and what some of their earliest challenges were.
• How to incentivize the invention and innovation process among young people through expanded access to seed funding, mentorship, technical training, and lower-risk student loan repayment plans.
• How students, universities, NGOs, and businesses can support a broader culture of creativity and collaborative design as core components of 21st century citizenship.
Nguyen, Owen and Wyatt are administered their oaths by Judge Shoemake.
At its regularly scheduled meeting held on Monday, May 17, City Council approved a design contract for the future Tennis and Recreation Center, honored two companies for their generous donations to "green" initiatives, recognized the exemplary volunteer work of two Boy Scouts, appointed a Mayor Pro Tem and selected a former Councilman to serve out the unexpired term in District B.
District Court Judge James Shoemake administered oaths of office to Mayor Allen Owen and Councilmen Jerry Wyatt and Danny Nguyen, who were recently elected to serve two-year terms in the At-Large Position 1 and At-large Position 2 seats respectively. "We have some healing to do in this City," Mayor Owen poignantly remarked after the swearing-in. Acknowledging contention in some of the campaigns, he emphasized that no matter what Missouri City "will continue to be one of the greatest and safest places to live in America."
Here are some actions Council took during the meeting:
*Appointed Brett Kolaja as Mayor Pro Tem; he will preside if Mayor Owen is absent
*Selected Don Smith to serve out the remaining one-year term in District B. City Charter required Cynthia Lenton-Gary to automatically relinquish the seat after her unsuccessful bid for Mayor.
*Approved an amendment of the tax abatement agreement between the City and Global Geophysical to move the terms back one year from the original agreement to start with the year 2010. The growth of the project and bad weather pushed back the date of the final construction, which now includes five buildings and more than 110,000 square feet.
*Authorized the City Manager to contract with PBS&J of Houston for $71,888 for design services for the Tennis and Recreation Center. Their services will cover Phase 1 of the project, which should take about two months to be completed. It will include town meetings, facility and site assessments, cost-benefit analysis, conceptual plans, conceptual cost estimates and presentations to staff and Council.
*Authorized the City Manager to contract with Freese and Nichols Inc. for $151,777 for design services for the Quail Valley Golf Course Club House and Community Center. The agreement will cover Phase 1 of the project, which will include two public workshops, community meetings, cost estimates, exterior 3D renderings, a design of the architectural character and style of the new community center, and a schematic design based on community and stakeholder input.
*Awarded a contract for storm water management services for $39,900 to PBS&J of Houston for services related to the implementation of the third year of the storm water management plan, including inspections, staff training and testing services.
*Awarded a contract for mosquito spraying services for $55,000 to Cypress Creek Pest Control. Spraying for the season began April 2. The contract will include service until June 30, 2011, with renewal options for two additional years.
*Amended the Residential and Fire Codes to comply with State legislation that allows homebuilders more options while providing the same levels of safety.
*Authorized the City to submit a nomination to the Houston-Galveston Area Council for funding for an Access Management Study on Texas Parkway, which includes a 20 percent match from the City. A study is required prior to the design and construction of raised medians on Texas Parkway.
*Presented Golden Tree Awards to CenterPoint Energy and Apache Corp. for their commitment and contribution toward Missouri City's continuing efforts to "go green". CenterPoint partnered with the City to create the "Right Tree Trail" in Ridgeview Park, a first of its kind in the area. The Trail includes two instructive panels that provide information on planting trees that will not grow into power lines. Separately, the City recently received a grant of 250 new trees from Apache Corp. The trees, which have an estimated value of $6,250, will be used for reforestation and volunteer projects at Independence Park and Buffalo Run Park.
*Recognized two Boy Scouts, Brian Eaton and Ryan Kelly, for completing their Eagle Scout community projects. Eaton led a group of 40 volunteer scouts and parents who spent 160 collective hours cleaning up litter and planting 150 trees along the eastern bank of Sta-Mo Park pond. Kelly led a group of 30 volunteer scouts and parents in a project to plant 50 trees in Buffalo Run Park.
INTERVIEW: Joan Nanook Webley A Jamaican xtraORDINARY personality. New FREESTYLEE Art Drop
1. Joan tell us about your background and who are you?
What a question! I was born into the unique circumstance of being the daughter of two sitting politicians. My father died when I was very young. My mother is a farmer who was also active in political life throughout my upbringing. I was educated and socialised “uptown” but through my mother’s work was very aware of all the other realities of Jamaica. I also moved around a lot when I was younger, for a variety of reasons. By the time I returned to Jamaica in 2008, I had lived in Grenada, Canada, Trinidad and Australia and so was exposed to a variety of cultures. These experiences shaped the formation and pilot projects of Nanook in a big way. The last eight years I’ve played a variety of roles but in essence I am a cultural curator, connector and fixer. I am an artist, attorney and activist. I am also in a fairly constant state of change. I am really curious about how we interact with each other as people. I enjoy conceptualising and implementing projects that bring different people and places together. I like my own company and I’m a pretty private person. But I like learning from really listening to people, and attending LIVE music performances in particular - so I’m a contradiction! :) I love reading and making music or art. I am blessed with a few close friends/chosen family collected over my travels and currently residing all over the globe and in my heart.
2. What are you passionate about?
I am passionate about appreciating life. In an abstract sense I think life is about experiences and have always lived mine exploring and getting involved in my various interests. In a more specific sense I am passionate about being a part of the effort to help my country appreciate and grow from its cultural legacy. I am equally passionate about facilitating ethical cultural exchange activities. I think focusing on appreciating who we are as a people and making solid international exchanges are the keys to a more positive social and economic reality.
3. Where did your love for creative expression begin?
My mother had me in dance class and piano lessons (both less than successful pursuits :)), and took me to plays and other cultural events as a child. She also really encouraged my reading and creative writing from an early age. But music, specifically vinyl, is what really grabbed me in a huge way. Firstly, the design on the sleeves of my father’s old record collection captivated me for months when I discovered them. Rick James, Donna Summer, Neil Diamond…the artwork was enough to inspire me to teach myself how to work the record player. When I was first able to get it to work that was it for me. The love for making my own music or writing lyrics was fostered by two cousins. One would tape Rick D’s weekly top 40 and we would transcribe lyrics from the cassette. Another would bring sound system tapes so I could learn the latest dancehall tunes before we would stage our own “sound clashes”.
4. Can you tell us a bit about Nanook? "How did this name and title came about?”
Nanook is a positive intention. When I moved back to Jamaica I knew what I wanted to be a part of. I had various ideas of what could work but I had been gone for a long time and was unfamiliar with the country. I knew I would need to understand the people, situation and myself a bit better so I wanted a name that gave me room to create a meaning. Nanook was a name my father used to call me, so I named the company Nanook Enterprises, so that I could have freedom to try a few different things. Over time the name has evolved into an acronym that stands for Nurturing All Nuances Of One’s Kreativity. At present, Nanook is a creative hub, a physical safe space for various creative communities, based in Kingston. Our efforts over the past two years have centred on fostering events to develop, showcase and connect local and international creative talent. It is also a hostel facilitating cultural exchange programmes. This year we intend to shift focus to the virtual delivery of a suite of professional developmental services for creatives.
5. What has Nanook taught you about yourself?
The lessons are too much. It’s really been a rewarding, though challenging and humbling, experience. Nanook has taught me about patience, forgiveness and the beautiful necessity and complexities of human interaction. I’ve learnt that I’m not as ______ as I thought I was. But, more than anything this journey has taught me that I’m stronger than I knew and has made me learn to love myself more.
6. One of the events curated under the Nanook umbrella is called “Level-UP". Can you share more about this project? How has the creative community responded to this initiative?
It’s funny you would ask as Level UP! was very significant to me for a number of reasons. It was the first time I staged an event that was less about Nanook facilitating or supporting the creative efforts of others in the space, and more about me harnessing energy to stage the kind of event I think the community needs. This event was born out of my experiences in the UP!Tour which resulted in the realisation that there was a real NEED to talk about things but that there wasn’t a forum to facilitate these discussions. The first season lasted 16 weeks and each Tuesday evening was a “comeunity” reasoning around a different topic. We had featured panelists but created an intimate setting that made it possible for all members of the community to engage. Audiences numbers ranged from 10-70+ and the music community supported with acoustic performances to close each gathering. We had guests from all over the world (Serbia, Kenya, Indonesia, US, Chile, etc.) and the feedback, both in person and online, has been really encouraging. Week after week, people come to listen and pay attention to and share perspectives. There was never any disrespect even though contentious subjects were covered. I think what the Nanook community shared in that space was a truly beautiful energy of collective growth. We’re all really looking forward to the next season.
7. Who are the great Jamaicans who inspire you?
I am inspired by different Jamaicans for different reasons but to keep it short, Deceased: JA Rogers and Louise Bennett… Living: really too many -can’t even start this.
8. Where in Jamaica are you from, and what makes this place special?
I’m from Kingston and it is special because it is a cultural mecca. It is the birthplace of Reggae music but is home to so much more in terms of creative energy and activity. It’s one of the most interesting little places in the world. So much happens here that ripples across the globe: It is a place where everything seems possible to me…if we get out of our own way. :)
9. With neighbouring Cuba opening up and Havana growing as a diverse and creative city, how can Kingston leverage it's creative power?
Good question! :) I recently took my first trip to (and fell in love with) Havana. Incidentally, while I was there Fast and the Furious 8 was being filmed, so already the impact of the “opening up” can be evidenced. Historically, Cuba was an even greater ally than it is now. I actually have Cuban ancestry, as do many Jamaicans and I see only positives coming out of this if approached correctly. While there, I was able to meet with the Directors of a few cultural spaces and I’m hopeful that in years to come we will see increased collaborative efforts. Cuba is teeming with appreciation for the arts and, the sense I got, is of a genuine interest and willingness to collaborate with Jamaican creatives. As for Kingston leveraging its power: I think Jamaica and Cuba have a lot to gain from each other and music will lead the way.
10. What do you think of the state of the creative industry in Jamaica?
I am very optimistic about the state of the creative industries in Jamaica. Progress is frustratingly slow but it is happening - we need to be a bit bolder and focus on unifying efforts. Over my 8 years in the industry, I’ve seen the strides that have been made. There’s a lot to be done but I have confidence in the intention and capabilities of the key players…we just need to communicate and get it together. We may actually be better off or closer to our goals than we realise because we haven't taken the time to clearly envision what we want for ourselves. This will require reframing of our perspective to understand and accept the reality of what “success” and “progress” in the creative industries looks like in real life. I am optimistic but I am also very aware of the specific areas where key changes are necessary and possible. I hope those happen soon and will continue my advocacy in that direction.
11. How would you like to change the world to be a better place?
I don’t need to change the world. I am creating my reality daily and I do that through meditation and by trying each day to live a little bit more in accordance with the things I value. All I can change is me.
What do you think your work offers Jamaica?
I’m hoping to offer examples. I’m hoping to offer solutions. I’m hoping to be a part of a positive shift or mechanism that sees more Jamaicans respecting, accurately valuing and benefitting from our indigenous culture.
12. What's your proudest achievement?
That’s hard for me to answer. Maybe it hasn’t happened yet. I really feel very much like I’m just shifting out of preparation mode so my main hope is to achieve the original intention/vision behind Nanook in years to come.
13. So where do you want to be in five years time?
Alive, healthy and happy.
14. Do you think more needs to be done for the arts in education?
I think we have only scratched the surface in terms of the scope of what could be done for the arts in education. I’d love to see us integrating the practice of traditional cultural forms (storytelling, drumming, dance ceremonies, etc.) more into primary education. I would love to see the secondary education augmented by practical programmes that merge the creative arts with academic exercises (accounting and principles of business courses focused on learning artist management considerations, royalty splits and licensing structures). At the tertiary level, more can be done with our arts education programmes to allow them to have more real world viability. At present, many graduates still complain about feeling ill-prepared by schools for a future in the creative industries. I would like to see more of an emphasis on fostering innovation, entrepreneurship and intellectual property awareness across all levels.
15 Do you think public art can make a difference for a city like Kingston?
Yes. Kingston and every city in the world benefits from public art. Again it was one of the things that struck me so much about Havana. I really respected the obvious regard for public art. I spent days just walking through the streets admiring what I can only call fine art graffiti splashed across buildings in Centro and Old Havana. The work was of such a high level and much of it was truly provocative. In addition to the street art, there were so many public parks with artworks, and publicly commissioned monuments that it truly raised my esteem for the Cuban people. The reframing of perspectives and consideration of new angles is so important. Art trains you to be better at doing that. Art allows you to explore alternate versions of long held assumptions and beliefs in a way that is external to you and therefore, less threatening. I think Kingston and every city can benefit from added thought-provoking beauty.
16. Do you feel a responsibility to be a good role model? Do you think artists and entertainers should be outspoken on social issues?
I never started Nanook to be a community leader or role model. It was intended to be a facilitatory vehicle, or “user-steered” mechanism. It is only over the last year that I have had to accept that in order for my vision to be a reality, I must lead the charge. I was a reluctant leader and I’m only now embracing this role and trying to do what is necessary to level up my activities in this regard. I want to be the best version of myself. It is a process and I am thankful that I think anyone who is genuinely trying to better themselves will invariably be a good role model. I 100% think artists should be outspoken on social issues, particularly in a country like Jamaica where they hold such power; entertainers do not have to be. There is a huge difference between the two and both are necessary and have a purpose.
17. Which present musician has had a profound effect on you?
Var from Pentateuch is who comes to mind first. I am fortunate to interact with many artists frequently but not every interaction is as authentic and instructive as I find reasoning with Var. I believe in the authenticity of his interactions and I think that is evidenced in his performances. I remember at Wickie Wackie Music Festival last year when Pentateuch Movement was onstage, a friend commented that I was acting as if the performance had been dedicated to me. I laughed but in looking around, I think many of us there felt that. I think he has a really uncanny ability to emote in an extremely powerful way and I really respect the sincerity of his approach.
18. What's on your playlist these days, and who are your favourite reggae artists?
Hmm…on my playlist these days are actually a lot of old demos I made a few years ago with Massy the Creator. I’ve been listening to these tracks kind of addictively and really considering redoing or releasing some of them. I came across a quote that said “Creativity is Intelligence having fun!”…I’m about that right now.
Credit: Adam Schultz / Clinton Global Initiative
The Courage to Create
Many of the world’s most effective technologies or social movements grew out of organized brainstorms and were launched through a combination of hard work, strong mentors, and the courage to create. These successful innovators—whether working in dorm rooms, labs, studios, or classrooms—were able to start out and scale up despite having limited resources and few precedents for their work. While their impact may be widely recognized today, the hurdles and lessons learned from their earliest stages of design and implementation are as instructive and valuable to others. This session will bring together creative, impactful voices from a wide range of sectors to discuss:
• What first inspired their confidence in the process of innovation and creativity, and what some of their earliest challenges were.
• How to incentivize the invention and innovation process among young people through expanded access to seed funding, mentorship, technical training, and lower-risk student loan repayment plans.
• How students, universities, NGOs, and businesses can support a broader culture of creativity and collaborative design as core components of 21st century citizenship.
In today's exercise we were given a vfb file containing five ready-drawn glyphs and six to eight characters that we each had to add to the font.
It was a fun exercise, and very instructive as we had to think through each others' design decisions, and explain to each other (without having any right answers) why certain glyphs worked or not, as well as which ones should lead the design. By the end of the day we had the alphabetic and numeral glyphs, more to be done tomorrow.
* Woodhouse Washlands
Finely balanced on my 'very wide ladder' which looked like a section of fence turned so the rails were the steps, which someone had left propped up against the pointy palisade fence, required a careful swivel around to get the 'going away shot'. A very impressive long rake of empty, blue, VTG, TEA Oil Tank Wagons flew past and I counted, as far as I could manage, 33. There appeared to be a lot of instructive labelling on the side of the wagons- '...Railfreight delivers with less congestion', '...taking lorries off the road', and 'Railfreight delivers... with less CO2', but these are, after all, full of oil, the stuff which should be left in the ground.. so, not quite sure where we are with that one. It is certainly good to take heavy traffic off the road.. and in such an economical way.. This is the the D.B.C. Shenker class 60 hauled Oils Train from the Kingsbury Oil Sidings up to the Humber Oil Refinery with 60040, 'Territorial Army Centenary' at the front on the regular Sunday afternoon move, 6E68. It is about to pass under the Rother Valley Viaduct ahead which carries the Lincoln Line from Sheffield via Woodburn and Woodhouse Junction, over to the east on the right and Worksop, Gainsborough and Lincoln.
oil on canvas with wooden strip added at bottom, 193.5 x 103 cm (76 1/8 x 40 1/2 in.)
Widener Collection --NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART / WASHINGTON
^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^
The Chapel of Saint Joseph in Toledo, where this painting hung above the north altar, was established by Martín Ramírez, whose patron saint, Martin of Tours, is the subject here. As a soldier in Roman France, Martin cut his cloak in half to share it with a beggar he encountered. Christ later appeared to Martin in a dream wearing the makeshift cape and saying, “What thou hast done for the poor man, thou hast done for me.” Martin was then baptized, and dedicated his life to Christianity. Venerated for his charity, he was zealous in making converts to the church.
The figures positioned in the extreme foreground loom as if perched on a high ledge, while the background recedes quickly to a distant vista—not of Amiens where the story took place, but Toledo. Time is likewise transformed as the fourth-century saint wears contemporary armor. These deliberate shifts of time and place hint at Toledo’s role in the Counter-Reformation, suggesting that all Toledans should emulate the saint’s charitable behavior.
A small replica of this subject, one of five known, may have been painted by El Greco’s son, Jorge Manuel Theotokopoulos. It provides an instructive comparison with El Greco’s own works. Here the brushstrokes are shorter and more hesitant; the elongated figures of the original are further distorted; and the saint’s serene expression is transformed by the twisting curl of his lip.
www.nga.gov/collection/gallery/gg29/gg29-1167.0.html
HPIM6792
→ 121 →
TWELVE WOOD-BLOCK PRINTS OF | KITAGAWA UTAMARO |
ILLUSTRATING THE PROCESS OF SILK CULTURE | WITH AN
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY BY JACK HILLIER | REPRODUCED IN
FACSIMILE FROM THE | ORIGINALS IN THE COLLECTION OF |
EDWIN & IRMA GRABHORN | [illustration] | SAN FRANCISCO
• THE BOOK CLUB OF CALIFORNIA • 1965
15 1⁄8 × 9 7⁄8. 36 pp.—title (i), blank (ii), printer’s notice and statement of limitation
(iii), blank (iv), introductory essay (v–xiv), explanatory text to accompany illustrations
(1–22). All versos blank.
Title in black, green and yellow, opening initial letter of introductory essay in green and yellow. Twelve numbered plates in color not included in pagination.
Type Goudy Modern, handset. Paper machine made. Bound in green and light
green decorated boards with parchment back, title in gold on back. 450 copies
printed by the Grabhorn Press. Price $33.00.
With the publication of this handsome book the series on Japanese prints from
the Grabhorn collection was completed. Many Club members would regard these
four works as the crowning achievement of the Club’s publication program. The
technical ingenuity applied by the Press in creating and printing the four books
has been widely acknowledged and praised. Roby Wentz’s history of the Press
(1981, #168, plate xiv) contains an instructive illustration of some of the blocks
and plates employed.
Looking at paintings near to can be instructive; often small details have a world within a world. I have chosen both broadly painted work and those with minute detail from a number of collections including the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and Chicago's Art Institute. The Wallace Collection , Tate Britain, Tate Modern and Dulwich Picture Gallery and The Museu, of Ancient Art Brussels.
The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium . Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique), is one of the most famous museums in Belgium. I was fortunate to visit this fine collection on 25th September 2011. My photographs are in no way systematic, I have photographed works that interested me and certain details.
Credit: Adam Schultz / Clinton Global Initiative
The Courage to Create
Many of the world’s most effective technologies or social movements grew out of organized brainstorms and were launched through a combination of hard work, strong mentors, and the courage to create. These successful innovators—whether working in dorm rooms, labs, studios, or classrooms—were able to start out and scale up despite having limited resources and few precedents for their work. While their impact may be widely recognized today, the hurdles and lessons learned from their earliest stages of design and implementation are as instructive and valuable to others. This session will bring together creative, impactful voices from a wide range of sectors to discuss:
• What first inspired their confidence in the process of innovation and creativity, and what some of their earliest challenges were.
• How to incentivize the invention and innovation process among young people through expanded access to seed funding, mentorship, technical training, and lower-risk student loan repayment plans.
• How students, universities, NGOs, and businesses can support a broader culture of creativity and collaborative design as core components of 21st century citizenship.
Retford - St Swithun's Church
Detail: Angel with shield.
The church was founded in 1258, but the current building is almost completely the work of restorers of 1658, 1854-5 and 1905.
St Swithun’s is a cruciform stone building consisting of chancel, with vestry, nave aisles, transepts, north chantry chapel, south porch and a 90' central embattled tower with 8 pinnacles, containing a clock and 10 bells. The oldest, virtually untouched, part is the north transept, although it has now been transformed into a chapel as a war memorial.
The tower and chancel collapsed in 1651 and were rebuilt in 1658. The tower is supported by four massive arches and the nave and aisles are separated by arcades of five bays.
There is a stone pulpit, an eagle lectern in oak, and a large organ erected in 1841. The south porch built in 1852.
In 1884-5 G G Place re-built the north aisle (with capitals imitating the 13th century ones), then north porch, north chancel aisle, clerestory, battlements and the east window of 13th century stonework. (All of these were renovated in 1905.) Galleries were removed and new seats and roof installed.
G F Bodley re-built the chantry chapel in 1873 and refurbished the chancel.
New choir stalls were erected in 1889 and in 1910 and 1914 the corporation presented new stalls for its own use.
In the north transept is an incised slab to Henry Smyth (d1496) and Sir Whatton Amcotts (d1807) by William Kinnard, architect.
The Victorian stained glass is instructive with work by Clayton & Bell, Kempe & Co, O’Connor, Hardman, Wailes and one by a local, George Shaw.
southwellchurches.nottingham.ac.uk/retford-st-swithun/hin...
Guide
Although there are records of a church on this site in the 13th century, the church today is a typical large town church, built on a cruciform plan with a central tower. The oldest part as it now stands is the North Transept which today is called the Lady Chapel and used for weekday or other small services. The central pillar and its two arches belong to the 14th century and still display their original painted decoration. Anciently there were two chantry chapels here known as Our Lady's Chantry and St Trinity Chantry. Their altars were against the East wall which may have been further to the East than it is now. The purpose of a chantry was to provide regular Masses for the souls of departed benefactors. A document of 1535 says that St Swithun's had four chantries and there may have been two more in the South Transept or elsewhere in the church. The neighbouring Chapelgate probably takes its name from the existence of the chantry chapels. The North Transept chapel is also a war memorial and it houses the banner of the Borough of East Retford.
The rest of the church is basically of the 15th century and is in the style often called perpendicular. The central tower collapsed in a storm in 1651, destroying much of the Chancel and South transept. It was rebuilt in 1658 and from outside it clearly has a 17th century look to it. Inside, massive piers were built to carry its weight and these low, heavy crossing arches are a feature of the church today. Looking eastward from the nave, the columns of the earlier arches can be seen, much more slender and with a much higher springing. Under the tower, on the South side high above the vicar's stall, although not easily seen with the naked eye, is a stone bearing the inscription Ano Mundi 5226 Ano Christie 1582. It was moved to there from the chantry in 1873.
There are many memorials in the church. The oldest one is a floor slab in the North-East corner of the North Transept chapel. It dates from 1496 and is in memory of Henry Smyth, but most of the memorials are of the 18th and 19th centuries.
southwellchurches.nottingham.ac.uk/retford-st-swithun/hin...
www.visitoruk.com/Retford/st-swithuns-church-C567-AT5017....
This pair was for sale today on eBay. I wasn't about to drop the USD$200. plus shipping and Canadian taxes.
Masonic Square and Compasses.
The Square and Compasses (or, more correctly, a square and a set of compasses joined together) is the single most identifiable symbol of Freemasonry. Both the square and compasses are architect's tools and are used in Masonic ritual as emblems to teach symbolic lessons. Some Lodges and rituals explain these symbols as lessons in conduct: for example, Duncan's Masonic Monitor of 1866 explains them as: "The square, to square our actions; The compasses, to circumscribe and keep us within bounds with all mankind".
However, as Freemasonry is non-dogmatic, there is no general interpretation for these symbols (or any Masonic symbol) that is used by Freemasonry as a whole.
Square and Compasses:
Source: Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry
These two symbols have been so long and so universally combined — to teach us, as says an early instruction, "to square our actions and to keep them within due bounds," they are so seldom seen apart, but are so kept together, either as two Great Lights, or as a jewel worn once by the Master of the Lodge, now by the Past Master—that they have come at last to be recognized as the proper badge of a Master Mason, just as the Triple Tau is of a Royal Arch Mason or the Passion Cross of a Knight Templar.
So universally has this symbol been recognized, even by the profane world, as the peculiar characteristic of Freemasonry, that it has recently been made in the United States the subject of a legal decision. A manufacturer of flour having made, in 1873, an application to the Patent Office for permission to adopt the Square and Compasses as a trade-mark, the Commissioner of Patents, .J. M. Thatcher, refused the permission as the mark was a Masonic symbol.
If this emblem were something other than precisely what it is—either less known", less significant, or fully and universally understood—all this might readily be admitted. But, Considering its peculiar character and relation to the public, an anomalous question is presented. There can be no doubt that this device, so commonly worn and employed by Masons, has an established mystic significance, universally recognized as existing; whether comprehended by all or not, is not material to this issue. In view of the magnitude and extent of the Masonic organization, it is impossible to divest its symbols, or at least this particular symbol—perhaps the best known of all—of its ordinary signification, wherever displaced, either as an arbitrary character or otherwise.
It will be universally understood, or misunderstood, as having a Masonic significance; and, therefore, as a trade-mark, must constantly work deception. Nothing could be more mischievous than to create as a monopoly, and uphold by the poser of lacy anything so calculated. as applied to purposes of trade. to be misinterpreted, to mislead all classes, and to constantly foster suggestions of mystery in affairs of business (see Infringing upon Freemasonry, also Imitative Societies, and Clandestine).
In a religious work by John Davies, entitled Summa Totalis, or All in All and the Same Forever, printed in 1607, we find an allusion to the Square and Compasses by a profane in a really Masonic sense. The author, who proposes to describe mystically the form of the Deity, says in his dedication:
Yet I this forme of formelesse Deity,
Drewe by the Squire and Compasse of our Creed.
In Masonic symbolism the Square and Compasses refer to the Freemason's duty to the Craft and to himself; hence it is properly a symbol of brotherhood, and there significantly adopted as the badge or token of the Fraternity.
Berage, in his work on the higher Degrees, Les plus secrets Mystéres des Hauts Grades, or The Most Secret Mysteries of the High Grades, gives a new interpretation to the symbol. He says: "The Square and the Compasses represent the union of the Old and New Testaments. None of the high Degrees recognize this interpretation, although their symbolism of the two implements differs somewhat from that of Symbolic Freemasonry.
The Square is with them peculiarly appropriated to the lower Degrees, as founded on the Operative Art; while the Compasses, as an implement of higher character and uses, is attributed to the Decrees, which claim to have a more elevated and philosophical foundation. Thus they speak of the initiate, when he passes from the Blue Lodge to the Lodge of Perfection, as 'passing from the Square to the Compasses,' to indicate a progressive elevation in his studies. Yet even in the high Degrees, the square and compasses combined retain their primitive signification as a symbol of brotherhood and as a badge of the Order."
Square and Compass:
Source: The Builder October 1916
By Bro. B. C. Ward, Iowa
Worshipful Master and Brethren: Let us behold the glorious beauty that lies hidden beneath the symbolism of the Square and Compass; and first as to the Square. Geometry, the first and noblest of the sciences, is the basis on which the superstructure of Masonry has been erected. As you know, the word "Geometry" is derived from two Greek words which mean "to measure the earth," so that Geometry originated in measurement; and in those early days, when land first began to be measured, the Square, being a right angle, was the instrument used, so that in time the Square began to symbolize the Earth. And later it began to symbolize, Masonically, the earthly-in man, that is man's lower nature, and still later it began to symbolize man's duty in his earthly relations, or his moral obligations to his Fellowmen. The symbolism of the Square is as ancient as the Pyramids. The Egyptians used it in building the Pyramids. The base of every pyramid is a perfect square, and to the Egyptians the Square was their highest and most sacred emblem. Even the Chinese many, many centuries ago used the Square to represent Good, and Confucius in his writings speaks of the Square to represent a Just man.
As Masons we have adopted the 47th Problem of Euclid as the rule by which to determine or prove a perfect Square. Many of us remember with what interest we solved that problem in our school days. The Square has become our most significant Emblem. It rests upon the open Bible on this altar; it is one of the three great Lights; and it is the chief ornament of the Worshipful Master. There is a good reason why this distinction has been conferred upon the Square. There can be nothing truer than a perfect Square--a right angle. Hence the Square has become an emblem of Perfection.
Now a few words as to the Compass: Astronomy was the second great science promulgated among men. In the process of Man's evolution there came a time when he began to look up to the stars and wonder at the vaulted Heavens above him. When he began to study the stars, he found that the Square was not adapted to the measurement of the Heavens. He must have circular measure; he needed to draw a circle from a central point, and so the Compass was employed. By the use of the Compass man began to study the starry Heavens, and as the Square primarily symbolized the Earth, the Compass began to symbolize the Heavens, the celestial canopy, the study of which has led men to think of God, and adore Him as the Supreme Architect of the Universe. In later times the Compass began to symbolize the spiritual or higher nature of man, and it is a significant fact that the circumference of a circle, which is a line without end, has become an emblem of Eternity and symbolizes Divinity; so the Compass, and the circle drawn by the Compass, both point men Heavenward and Godward.
The Masonic teaching concerning the two points of the Compass is very interesting and instructive. The novitiate in Masonry, as he kneels at this altar, and asks for Light sees the Square, which symbolizes his lower nature, he may well note the position of the Compass. As he takes another step, and asks for more Light, the position of the Compass is changed somewhat, symbolizing that his spiritual nature can, in some measure, overcome his evil tendencies. As he takes another step in Masonry, and asks for further Light, and hears the significant words, "and God said let there be Light, and there was Light," he sees the Compass in new light; and for the first time he sees the meaning, thus unmistakably alluding to the sacred and eternal truth that as the Heavens are higher than the Earth, so the spiritual is higher than the material, and the spiritual in man must have its proper place, and should be above his lower nature, and dominate all his thoughts and actions. That eminent Philosopher, Edmund Burke, once said, "It is ordained that men of intemperate passions cannot be free. Their passions forge the chains which bind them, and make them slaves." Burke was right. Masonry, through the beautiful symbolism of the Compass, tells us how we can be free men, by permitting the spiritual within us to overcome our evil tendencies, and dominate all our thoughts and actions. Brethren, sometimes in the silent quiet hour, as we think of this conflict between our lower and higher natures, we sometimes say in the words of another, "Show me the way and let me bravely climb to where all conflicts with the flesh shall cease. Show me that way. Show me the way up to a higher plane where my body shall be servant of my Soul. Show me that way."
Brethren, if that prayer expresses desire of our hearts, let us take heed to the beautiful teachings of the Compass, which silently and persistently tells each one of us,
"You should not in the valley stay
While the great horizons stretch away
The very cliffs that wall you round
Are ladders up to higher ground.
And Heaven draws near as you ascend,
The Breeze invites, the Stars befriend.
All things are beckoning to the Best,
Then climb toward God and find sweet Rest."
As the aqueduct lacks a legible inscription (one was apparently located in the structure's attic, or top portion), the date of construction cannot be definitively determined. Researchers have placed it between the second half of the 1st Century CE and the early years of the 2nd Century—during the reign of either Emperor Vespasian or Nerva. The beginnings of Segovia itself are likewise not definitively known. Vacceos are known to have populated the area before the Romans conquered the city. Roman troops sent to control the area, which fell within the jurisdiction of the Roman provincial court (Latin conventus iuridici, Spanish convento jurídico) located in Clunia, stayed behind to settle there.
Source: Wikipedia
Trying to get better at quilting I bought Angela Walters book: Free-Motion Quilting and the quilting motif is "Sunrays" from the book. I can recommend it, it is very instructive.
Now I try to decide the binding, maybe the dark- and medum blue´, or ?
Most of the fabric is from a Moda charm pack "Lucy´s Crab Shack" and Kona solids in bone and parchment.
The first cheeses for a beer-with-cheese tasting.
Washington, D.C.
19 June 2010
**********************************
▶ Cheeses pictured:
☞ On the right: a triple-creme, to be served with Allagash White.
☞ On the left: a 3-year aged Gouda, to be served with Brooklyn Lager.
▶ Cheeses not pictured:
☞ Danish Blue, served with Abita Turbo Dog (brown ale).
☞ Humboldt Fog goat cheese, served with Duchesse de Bourgogne (Flemish sour red ale).
☞ Époisses (washed rind cheese), served with Heavy Seas Loose Cannon Hop3 (IPA).
▶ Book:
Tasting Beer by Randy Mosher. An instructive and entertaining primer on just that.
***************
▶ Photo and story by Yours For Good Fermentables.com.
▶ For a larger image, type 'L' (without the quotation marks).
— Follow on Twitter: @Cizauskas.
— Follow on Facebook: YoursForGoodFermentables.
— Follow on Instagram: @tcizauskas.
▶ Commercial use requires explicit permission, as per Creative Commons.
Credit: Adam Schultz / Clinton Global Initiative
The Courage to Create
Many of the world’s most effective technologies or social movements grew out of organized brainstorms and were launched through a combination of hard work, strong mentors, and the courage to create. These successful innovators—whether working in dorm rooms, labs, studios, or classrooms—were able to start out and scale up despite having limited resources and few precedents for their work. While their impact may be widely recognized today, the hurdles and lessons learned from their earliest stages of design and implementation are as instructive and valuable to others. This session will bring together creative, impactful voices from a wide range of sectors to discuss:
• What first inspired their confidence in the process of innovation and creativity, and what some of their earliest challenges were.
• How to incentivize the invention and innovation process among young people through expanded access to seed funding, mentorship, technical training, and lower-risk student loan repayment plans.
• How students, universities, NGOs, and businesses can support a broader culture of creativity and collaborative design as core components of 21st century citizenship.
Joseph Weizenbaum died recently. He was 85 years old.
He influenced my adult life than any other writer from my childhood. Before I read Computer Power and Human Reason, I thought I wanted to be a computer programmer. After I read it, especially the chapter on "Science and the Compulsive Programmer," I tried to focus more of my attention on the world outside.
Most of the computer books I tried to read when I was an adolescent were too difficult for me. But Weizenbaum's simple prose was easy for me to understand.
Here's a short quote from the book--
"The computer programmer is a creator of universes for which he alone is the lawgiver. So, of course, is the designer of any game. But universes of virtually unlimited complexity can be created in the form of computer programs. Morevoer, and this a crucial point, systems so formulated and elaborated act out their programmed scripts. They compliantly obey their laws and vividly exhibit their obedient behavior. No playwright, no stage director, no emperor, however powerful, has ever exercised such absolute authority to arrange a stage or a field of battle and to command such unswervingly dutiful actors or troops.
One would have to be astonished if Lord Acton's observation that power corrupts were not to apply in an environment in which omnipotence is so easily achievable. It does apply. And the corruption evoked by the computer programmer's omnipotence manifests itself in a form that is instructive in a domain far larger that the immediate evironment of the computer. To understand it, we will have to take a look at a mental disorder that, while actually very old, appears to have been transformed by the computer into a new genus: the compulsion to program."
The automatically moving rocket V2 is the prototype of the single rocket. It was built in Peenemunde (Germany) by Werner von Braun. Length of the rocket: 14 meters.
("Chocolate Jacques", instructive chromos, space travel, 1958)
ROWLSTONE
ST PETER. Unbuttressed, late w tower with pyramid roof. But the nave is Norman and has in its s doorway and chancel arch two of the very best and most characteristic pieces of the Herefordshire school of carvers. Both pieces are clearly the work of one man. His obsession was birds, especially cocks. Cocks are e.g. on the capitals of the one order of shafts of the S doorway. The abacus has intertwined trails. In the arch a thick roll moulding and a band of rosettes. But the tympanum is what really matters, a tympanum that helps much to reconstruct the all but lost one of Shobdon, of which Rowlstone is to all intents and purposes a copy. It represents Christ in Glory. The legs are placed in the typically Romanesque way, with knees wide apart and feet together. The folds have the tense, stringy parallel curves of the Herefordshire school. The figure is in a halo, not almond-shaped as usual, but with top and bottom rounded. Four angels hold the halo, and all four are represented flying head downwards. This allows the carver again to display his curved parallels. The composition is highly accomplished. What is against nature is in accordance with stylistic principles. In the capitals of the chancel arch there are again birds. The capitals it are of one piece with the outer adjoining panel of two small figures on each side. On the 1. (N) they are an angel and a bishop, on the r. it is not so easy to recognize them, as they stand upside down. That does not seem quite so accomplished, and the most baffling fact is that the whole stone was not rejected. Such indulgence is attractive; it is instructive too. Many birds once more in the abaci. In the doorway arch a thick roll and an outer band of saltire crosses. Norman windows in nave and chancel.
(Pevsner: The Buildings of England, Herefordshire)
St Swithun, Retford, Nottinghamshire.
The Parish Church of East Retford.
Grade ll* listed.
The church was founded in 1258, but the current building is almost completely the work of restorers of 1658, 1854-5 and 1905.
St Swithun’s is a cruciform stone building consisting of chancel, with vestry, nave aisles, transepts, north chantry chapel, south porch and a 90' central embattled tower with 8 pinnacles, containing a clock and 10 bells. The oldest, virtually untouched, part is the north transept, although it has now been transformed into a chapel as a war memorial.
The tower and chancel collapsed in 1651 and were rebuilt in 1658. The tower is supported by four massive arches and the nave and aisles are separated by arcades of five bays.
There is a stone pulpit, an eagle lectern in oak, and a large organ erected in 1841. The south porch built in 1852.
In 1884-5 G G Place re-built the north aisle (with capitals imitating the 13th century ones), then north porch, north chancel aisle, clerestory, battlements and the east window of 13th century stonework. (All of these were renovated in 1905.) Galleries were removed and new seats and roof installed.
G F Bodley re-built the chantry chapel in 1873 and refurbished the chancel.
New choir stalls were erected in 1889 and in 1910 and 1914 the corporation presented new stalls for its own use.
In the north transept is an incised slab to Henry Smyth (d1496) and Sir Whatton Amcotts (d1807) by William Kinnard, architect.
The Victorian stained glass is instructive with work by Clayton & Bell, Kempe & Co, O’Connor, Hardman, Wailes and one by a local, George Shaw.
southwellchurches.nottingham.ac.uk/retford-st-swithun/hin...
Guide
Although there are records of a church on this site in the 13th century, the church today is a typical large town church, built on a cruciform plan with a central tower. The oldest part as it now stands is the North Transept which today is called the Lady Chapel and used for weekday or other small services. The central pillar and its two arches belong to the 14th century and still display their original painted decoration. Anciently there were two chantry chapels here known as Our Lady's Chantry and St Trinity Chantry. Their altars were against the East wall which may have been further to the East than it is now. The purpose of a chantry was to provide regular Masses for the souls of departed benefactors. A document of 1535 says that St Swithun's had four chantries and there may have been two more in the South Transept or elsewhere in the church. The neighbouring Chapelgate probably takes its name from the existence of the chantry chapels. The North Transept chapel is also a war memorial and it houses the banner of the Borough of East Retford.
The rest of the church is basically of the 15th century and is in the style often called perpendicular. The central tower collapsed in a storm in 1651, destroying much of the Chancel and South transept. It was rebuilt in 1658 and from outside it clearly has a 17th century look to it. Inside, massive piers were built to carry its weight and these low, heavy crossing arches are a feature of the church today. Looking eastward from the nave, the columns of the earlier arches can be seen, much more slender and with a much higher springing. Under the tower, on the South side high above the vicar's stall, although not easily seen with the naked eye, is a stone bearing the inscription Ano Mundi 5226 Ano Christie 1582. It was moved to there from the chantry in 1873.
There are many memorials in the church. The oldest one is a floor slab in the North-East corner of the North Transept chapel. It dates from 1496 and is in memory of Henry Smyth, but most of the memorials are of the 18th and 19th centuries.
southwellchurches.nottingham.ac.uk/retford-st-swithun/hin...
www.visitoruk.com/Retford/st-swithuns-church-C567-AT5017....
A vintage gold plated square and compasses cufflinks possibly in their original case.
Masonic Thoughts:
“The well being of every nation, like that of every individual, is threefold – physical, moral and intellectual. Neither physically, morally, nor intellectually are a people ever stationary. Always, society either advances or retrogrades; and, as when one climbs a hill of ice, to advance demands continual effort and exertion, while to slide downward one needs but to halt.” Albert Pike
As we continue to work through this global pandemic and the feelings of isolation that accompany these trials, and as we see increased political and social unrest around the globe, we need to hold dear the pillars and teachings of Freemasonry that have for centuries guided good men through difficult and trying times.
The writers of our ritual as well as many Masonic scholars wanted to emphasize the ecumenical Brotherhood of Masons to unite us with our common belief in God and charity. What was purposefully avoided was political dogma or religious doctrine. We continue to be taught that those areas belong to each individual and that while differences between us will inevitably occur, it is the bonds of our shared beliefs that will carry us to a brighter future.
The Albert Pike quote above highlights the effort required to maintain forward, positive momentum. Pike goes on to instruct that happiness and prosperity consist in the advancement of all three, physical, moral, and intellectual, equally.
Our culture and society continues to progress in accumulated knowledge and overall levels of education. We are all more conscious of our health and wellness while at the same time basking in the creature comforts and technologies that make our physical relaxations easier and more profound than just a few years ago. Can we also make such claims about our morality?
We have been, at times, seduced by our own improvement. Our hurried advancement to progress, invent, and prosper has often been devoid of concern for the well being of our neighbours, our country, or our world.
Freemasonry instructs us to keep a balance. This balance is reiterated in each degree but at the root of each lesson remains the goodness of man and the duty to project that goodness to others. Charity, benevolence, virtue, ethics, compassion, honesty, empathy, and understanding are but the beginning of a Mason’s contribution to the moral betterment of society.
It is perhaps even more poignant for us to practice our moral lessons during times of anxiety, stress, hardship and isolation. Guided by a sense of faith, hope, and charity others may begin to see the positive changes that will steer us on a brighter course into the future.
A small group of dedicated Masons could be the change required to make our world and our communities safer, healthier, and beacons of humanity.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world indeed, its the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead.
D. J. Boyd September 3, 2020
Square and Compasses - This symbolic stone was removed from above the entrance to the Lambton Mills Masonic Temple erected by Mimico Lodge on the north side of Dundas Street in 1882.
Masonic Square and Compasses.
The Square and Compasses (or, more correctly, a square and a set of compasses joined together) is the single most identifiable symbol of Freemasonry. Both the square and compasses are architect's tools and are used in Masonic ritual as emblems to teach symbolic lessons. Some Lodges and rituals explain these symbols as lessons in conduct: for example, Duncan's Masonic Monitor of 1866 explains them as: "The square, to square our actions; The compasses, to circumscribe and keep us within bounds with all mankind".
However, as Freemasonry is non-dogmatic, there is no general interpretation for these symbols (or any Masonic symbol) that is used by Freemasonry as a whole.
Square and Compasses:
Source: Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry
These two symbols have been so long and so universally combined — to teach us, as says an early instruction, "to square our actions and to keep them within due bounds," they are so seldom seen apart, but are so kept together, either as two Great Lights, or as a jewel worn once by the Master of the Lodge, now by the Past Master—that they have come at last to be recognized as the proper badge of a Master Mason, just as the Triple Tau is of a Royal Arch Mason or the Passion Cross of a Knight Templar.
So universally has this symbol been recognized, even by the profane world, as the peculiar characteristic of Freemasonry, that it has recently been made in the United States the subject of a legal decision. A manufacturer of flour having made, in 1873, an application to the Patent Office for permission to adopt the Square and Compasses as a trade-mark, the Commissioner of Patents, .J. M. Thatcher, refused the permission as the mark was a Masonic symbol.
If this emblem were something other than precisely what it is—either less known", less significant, or fully and universally understood—all this might readily be admitted. But, Considering its peculiar character and relation to the public, an anomalous question is presented. There can be no doubt that this device, so commonly worn and employed by Masons, has an established mystic significance, universally recognized as existing; whether comprehended by all or not, is not material to this issue. In view of the magnitude and extent of the Masonic organization, it is impossible to divest its symbols, or at least this particular symbol—perhaps the best known of all—of its ordinary signification, wherever displaced, either as an arbitrary character or otherwise.
It will be universally understood, or misunderstood, as having a Masonic significance; and, therefore, as a trade-mark, must constantly work deception. Nothing could be more mischievous than to create as a monopoly, and uphold by the poser of lacy anything so calculated. as applied to purposes of trade. to be misinterpreted, to mislead all classes, and to constantly foster suggestions of mystery in affairs of business (see Infringing upon Freemasonry, also Imitative Societies, and Clandestine).
In a religious work by John Davies, entitled Summa Totalis, or All in All and the Same Forever, printed in 1607, we find an allusion to the Square and Compasses by a profane in a really Masonic sense. The author, who proposes to describe mystically the form of the Deity, says in his dedication:
Yet I this forme of formelesse Deity,
Drewe by the Squire and Compasse of our Creed.
In Masonic symbolism the Square and Compasses refer to the Freemason's duty to the Craft and to himself; hence it is properly a symbol of brotherhood, and there significantly adopted as the badge or token of the Fraternity.
Berage, in his work on the higher Degrees, Les plus secrets Mystéres des Hauts Grades, or The Most Secret Mysteries of the High Grades, gives a new interpretation to the symbol. He says: "The Square and the Compasses represent the union of the Old and New Testaments. None of the high Degrees recognize this interpretation, although their symbolism of the two implements differs somewhat from that of Symbolic Freemasonry.
The Square is with them peculiarly appropriated to the lower Degrees, as founded on the Operative Art; while the Compasses, as an implement of higher character and uses, is attributed to the Decrees, which claim to have a more elevated and philosophical foundation. Thus they speak of the initiate, when he passes from the Blue Lodge to the Lodge of Perfection, as 'passing from the Square to the Compasses,' to indicate a progressive elevation in his studies. Yet even in the high Degrees, the square and compasses combined retain their primitive signification as a symbol of brotherhood and as a badge of the Order."
Square and Compass:
Source: The Builder October 1916
By Bro. B. C. Ward, Iowa
Worshipful Master and Brethren: Let us behold the glorious beauty that lies hidden beneath the symbolism of the Square and Compass; and first as to the Square. Geometry, the first and noblest of the sciences, is the basis on which the superstructure of Masonry has been erected. As you know, the word "Geometry" is derived from two Greek words which mean "to measure the earth," so that Geometry originated in measurement; and in those early days, when land first began to be measured, the Square, being a right angle, was the instrument used, so that in time the Square began to symbolize the Earth. And later it began to symbolize, Masonically, the earthly-in man, that is man's lower nature, and still later it began to symbolize man's duty in his earthly relations, or his moral obligations to his Fellowmen. The symbolism of the Square is as ancient as the Pyramids. The Egyptians used it in building the Pyramids. The base of every pyramid is a perfect square, and to the Egyptians the Square was their highest and most sacred emblem. Even the Chinese many, many centuries ago used the Square to represent Good, and Confucius in his writings speaks of the Square to represent a Just man.
As Masons we have adopted the 47th Problem of Euclid as the rule by which to determine or prove a perfect Square. Many of us remember with what interest we solved that problem in our school days. The Square has become our most significant Emblem. It rests upon the open Bible on this altar; it is one of the three great Lights; and it is the chief ornament of the Worshipful Master. There is a good reason why this distinction has been conferred upon the Square. There can be nothing truer than a perfect Square--a right angle. Hence the Square has become an emblem of Perfection.
Now a few words as to the Compass: Astronomy was the second great science promulgated among men. In the process of Man's evolution there came a time when he began to look up to the stars and wonder at the vaulted Heavens above him. When he began to study the stars, he found that the Square was not adapted to the measurement of the Heavens. He must have circular measure; he needed to draw a circle from a central point, and so the Compass was employed. By the use of the Compass man began to study the starry Heavens, and as the Square primarily symbolized the Earth, the Compass began to symbolize the Heavens, the celestial canopy, the study of which has led men to think of God, and adore Him as the Supreme Architect of the Universe. In later times the Compass began to symbolize the spiritual or higher nature of man, and it is a significant fact that the circumference of a circle, which is a line without end, has become an emblem of Eternity and symbolizes Divinity; so the Compass, and the circle drawn by the Compass, both point men Heavenward and Godward.
The Masonic teaching concerning the two points of the Compass is very interesting and instructive. The novitiate in Masonry, as he kneels at this altar, and asks for Light sees the Square, which symbolizes his lower nature, he may well note the position of the Compass. As he takes another step, and asks for more Light, the position of the Compass is changed somewhat, symbolizing that his spiritual nature can, in some measure, overcome his evil tendencies. As he takes another step in Masonry, and asks for further Light, and hears the significant words, "and God said let there be Light, and there was Light," he sees the Compass in new light; and for the first time he sees the meaning, thus unmistakably alluding to the sacred and eternal truth that as the Heavens are higher than the Earth, so the spiritual is higher than the material, and the spiritual in man must have its proper place, and should be above his lower nature, and dominate all his thoughts and actions. That eminent Philosopher, Edmund Burke, once said, "It is ordained that men of intemperate passions cannot be free. Their passions forge the chains which bind them, and make them slaves." Burke was right. Masonry, through the beautiful symbolism of the Compass, tells us how we can be free men, by permitting the spiritual within us to overcome our evil tendencies, and dominate all our thoughts and actions. Brethren, sometimes in the silent quiet hour, as we think of this conflict between our lower and higher natures, we sometimes say in the words of another, "Show me the way and let me bravely climb to where all conflicts with the flesh shall cease. Show me that way. Show me the way up to a higher plane where my body shall be servant of my Soul. Show me that way."
Brethren, if that prayer expresses desire of our hearts, let us take heed to the beautiful teachings of the Compass, which silently and persistently tells each one of us,
"You should not in the valley stay
While the great horizons stretch away
The very cliffs that wall you round
Are ladders up to higher ground.
And Heaven draws near as you ascend,
The Breeze invites, the Stars befriend.
All things are beckoning to the Best,
Then climb toward God and find sweet Rest.”
The secrets of Freemasonry are concerned with its traditional modes of recognition. It is not a secret society, since all members are free to acknowledge their membership and will do so in response to enquiries for respectable reasons. Its constitutions and rules are available to the public. There is no secret about any of its aims and principles. Like many other societies, it regards some of its internal affairs as private matters for its members. In history there have been times and places where promoting equality, freedom of thought or liberty of conscience was dangerous. Most importantly though is a question of perspective. Each aspect of the craft has a meaning. Freemasonry has been described as a system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols. Such characteristics as virtue, honour and mercy, such virtues as temperance, fortitude, prudence and justice are empty clichés and hollow words unless presented within an ordered and closed framework. The lessons are not secret but the presentation is kept private to promote a clearer understanding in good time. It is also possible to view Masonic secrecy not as secrecy in and of itself, but rather as a symbol of privacy and discretion. By not revealing Masonic secrets, or acknowledging the many published exposures, freemasons demonstrate that they are men of discretion, worthy of confidences, and that they place a high value on their word and bond.
Masonic Square and Compasses.
The Square and Compasses (or, more correctly, a square and a set of compasses joined together) is the single most identifiable symbol of Freemasonry. Both the square and compasses are architect's tools and are used in Masonic ritual as emblems to teach symbolic lessons. Some Lodges and rituals explain these symbols as lessons in conduct: for example, Duncan's Masonic Monitor of 1866 explains them as: "The square, to square our actions; The compasses, to circumscribe and keep us within bounds with all mankind".
However, as Freemasonry is non-dogmatic, there is no general interpretation for these symbols (or any Masonic symbol) that is used by Freemasonry as a whole.
Square and Compasses:
Source: Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry
These two symbols have been so long and so universally combined — to teach us, as says an early instruction, "to square our actions and to keep them within due bounds," they are so seldom seen apart, but are so kept together, either as two Great Lights, or as a jewel worn once by the Master of the Lodge, now by the Past Master—that they have come at last to be recognized as the proper badge of a Master Mason, just as the Triple Tau is of a Royal Arch Mason or the Passion Cross of a Knight Templar.
So universally has this symbol been recognized, even by the profane world, as the peculiar characteristic of Freemasonry, that it has recently been made in the United States the subject of a legal decision. A manufacturer of flour having made, in 1873, an application to the Patent Office for permission to adopt the Square and Compasses as a trade-mark, the Commissioner of Patents, .J. M. Thatcher, refused the permission as the mark was a Masonic symbol.
If this emblem were something other than precisely what it is—either less known", less significant, or fully and universally understood—all this might readily be admitted. But, Considering its peculiar character and relation to the public, an anomalous question is presented. There can be no doubt that this device, so commonly worn and employed by Masons, has an established mystic significance, universally recognized as existing; whether comprehended by all or not, is not material to this issue. In view of the magnitude and extent of the Masonic organization, it is impossible to divest its symbols, or at least this particular symbol—perhaps the best known of all—of its ordinary signification, wherever displaced, either as an arbitrary character or otherwise.
It will be universally understood, or misunderstood, as having a Masonic significance; and, therefore, as a trade-mark, must constantly work deception. Nothing could be more mischievous than to create as a monopoly, and uphold by the poser of lacy anything so calculated. as applied to purposes of trade. to be misinterpreted, to mislead all classes, and to constantly foster suggestions of mystery in affairs of business (see Infringing upon Freemasonry, also Imitative Societies, and Clandestine).
In a religious work by John Davies, entitled Summa Totalis, or All in All and the Same Forever, printed in 1607, we find an allusion to the Square and Compasses by a profane in a really Masonic sense. The author, who proposes to describe mystically the form of the Deity, says in his dedication:
Yet I this forme of formelesse Deity,
Drewe by the Squire and Compasse of our Creed.
In Masonic symbolism the Square and Compasses refer to the Freemason's duty to the Craft and to himself; hence it is properly a symbol of brotherhood, and there significantly adopted as the badge or token of the Fraternity.
Berage, in his work on the higher Degrees, Les plus secrets Mystéres des Hauts Grades, or The Most Secret Mysteries of the High Grades, gives a new interpretation to the symbol. He says: "The Square and the Compasses represent the union of the Old and New Testaments. None of the high Degrees recognize this interpretation, although their symbolism of the two implements differs somewhat from that of Symbolic Freemasonry.
The Square is with them peculiarly appropriated to the lower Degrees, as founded on the Operative Art; while the Compasses, as an implement of higher character and uses, is attributed to the Decrees, which claim to have a more elevated and philosophical foundation. Thus they speak of the initiate, when he passes from the Blue Lodge to the Lodge of Perfection, as 'passing from the Square to the Compasses,' to indicate a progressive elevation in his studies. Yet even in the high Degrees, the square and compasses combined retain their primitive signification as a symbol of brotherhood and as a badge of the Order."
Square and Compass:
Source: The Builder October 1916
By Bro. B. C. Ward, Iowa
Worshipful Master and Brethren: Let us behold the glorious beauty that lies hidden beneath the symbolism of the Square and Compass; and first as to the Square. Geometry, the first and noblest of the sciences, is the basis on which the superstructure of Masonry has been erected. As you know, the word "Geometry" is derived from two Greek words which mean "to measure the earth," so that Geometry originated in measurement; and in those early days, when land first began to be measured, the Square, being a right angle, was the instrument used, so that in time the Square began to symbolize the Earth. And later it began to symbolize, Masonically, the earthly-in man, that is man's lower nature, and still later it began to symbolize man's duty in his earthly relations, or his moral obligations to his Fellowmen. The symbolism of the Square is as ancient as the Pyramids. The Egyptians used it in building the Pyramids. The base of every pyramid is a perfect square, and to the Egyptians the Square was their highest and most sacred emblem. Even the Chinese many, many centuries ago used the Square to represent Good, and Confucius in his writings speaks of the Square to represent a Just man.
As Masons we have adopted the 47th Problem of Euclid as the rule by which to determine or prove a perfect Square. Many of us remember with what interest we solved that problem in our school days. The Square has become our most significant Emblem. It rests upon the open Bible on this altar; it is one of the three great Lights; and it is the chief ornament of the Worshipful Master. There is a good reason why this distinction has been conferred upon the Square. There can be nothing truer than a perfect Square--a right angle. Hence the Square has become an emblem of Perfection.
Now a few words as to the Compass: Astronomy was the second great science promulgated among men. In the process of Man's evolution there came a time when he began to look up to the stars and wonder at the vaulted Heavens above him. When he began to study the stars, he found that the Square was not adapted to the measurement of the Heavens. He must have circular measure; he needed to draw a circle from a central point, and so the Compass was employed. By the use of the Compass man began to study the starry Heavens, and as the Square primarily symbolized the Earth, the Compass began to symbolize the Heavens, the celestial canopy, the study of which has led men to think of God, and adore Him as the Supreme Architect of the Universe. In later times the Compass began to symbolize the spiritual or higher nature of man, and it is a significant fact that the circumference of a circle, which is a line without end, has become an emblem of Eternity and symbolizes Divinity; so the Compass, and the circle drawn by the Compass, both point men Heavenward and Godward.
The Masonic teaching concerning the two points of the Compass is very interesting and instructive. The novitiate in Masonry, as he kneels at this altar, and asks for Light sees the Square, which symbolizes his lower nature, he may well note the position of the Compass. As he takes another step, and asks for more Light, the position of the Compass is changed somewhat, symbolizing that his spiritual nature can, in some measure, overcome his evil tendencies. As he takes another step in Masonry, and asks for further Light, and hears the significant words, "and God said let there be Light, and there was Light," he sees the Compass in new light; and for the first time he sees the meaning, thus unmistakably alluding to the sacred and eternal truth that as the Heavens are higher than the Earth, so the spiritual is higher than the material, and the spiritual in man must have its proper place, and should be above his lower nature, and dominate all his thoughts and actions. That eminent Philosopher, Edmund Burke, once said, "It is ordained that men of intemperate passions cannot be free. Their passions forge the chains which bind them, and make them slaves." Burke was right. Masonry, through the beautiful symbolism of the Compass, tells us how we can be free men, by permitting the spiritual within us to overcome our evil tendencies, and dominate all our thoughts and actions. Brethren, sometimes in the silent quiet hour, as we think of this conflict between our lower and higher natures, we sometimes say in the words of another, "Show me the way and let me bravely climb to where all conflicts with the flesh shall cease. Show me that way. Show me the way up to a higher plane where my body shall be servant of my Soul. Show me that way."
Brethren, if that prayer expresses desire of our hearts, let us take heed to the beautiful teachings of the Compass, which silently and persistently tells each one of us,
"You should not in the valley stay
While the great horizons stretch away
The very cliffs that wall you round
Are ladders up to higher ground.
And Heaven draws near as you ascend,
The Breeze invites, the Stars befriend.
All things are beckoning to the Best,
Then climb toward God and find sweet Rest."