a variable-radius arch dam on the Kurobe River in Toyama Prefecture, Japan. It supports the 335 MW Kurobe No. 4 Hydropower Plant and is owned by Kansai Electric Power Company. At 186 metres (610 ft) in height, it is the tallest dam in Japan. It was constructed between 1956 and 1963 at a cost of ¥51.3 billion yen. The project was a difficult engineering feat for the rapidly growing post–World War II Japan, and claimed the lives of 171 people.

A very different side to Singapore for my next set of pictures. Pulau Ubin, also simply known as Ubin, is an island situated in the north east of Singapore, to the west of Pulau Tekong. The granite quarry used to be supported by a few thousand settlers on Pulau Ubin in the 1960s, but only about 38 villagers remained as of 2012. It is one of the last rural areas to be found in Singapore, with an abundance of natural flora and fauna. The island forms part of the Ubin–Khatib Important Bird Area (IBA), identified as such by BirdLife International because it supports significant numbers of visiting and resident birds, some of which are threatened. Today, the island is managed by the National Parks Board, compared to 12 agencies managing different areas of the island previously.

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,300 kilometres over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometres. The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, Australia. The Great Barrier Reef can be seen from outer space and is the world's biggest single structure made by living organisms. This reef structure is composed of and built by billions of tiny organisms, known as coral polyps. It supports a wide diversity of life and was selected as a World Heritage Site in 1981. The Great Barrier Reef has long been known to and used by the Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and is an important part of local groups' cultures and spirituality. The reef is a very popular destination for tourists, especially in the Whitsunday Islands and Cairns regions. Tourism is an important economic activity for the region, generating over A$3 billion per year. 22752

Just before the rain came, and boy did it rain.

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

The Noss Head Lighthouse is an active 19th-century lighthouse near Wick in Caithness in the Highland council area of Scotland. It is located at the end of Noss Head, a peninsula on the north-west coast of Caithness that overlooks Sinclairs Bay, three miles north-east of Wick. It is notable as being the first lighthouse that was built with a diagonally-paned lantern room.

 

The need for the lighthouse was promoted by the Northern Lights Commissioners. The light first entered service in 1849, and consists of an 18-metre-high (59 ft) cylindrical tower, which is painted white. It supports a single gallery and a lantern with a black cupola. There are 76 steps to the top of the tower. Adjacent to the tower are a pair of keeper's cottages and subsidiary buildings, bounded by a walled compound.

 

The lighthouse was built by Mr. Arnot of Inverness, with the construction being overseen by the notable lighthouse engineer Alan Stevenson (uncle of Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson), who for the first time used diagonal glass panes and framing for the exterior lantern. Considered to be both stronger, and less likely to interrupt the light from the optic, the design was employed as the standard for all future lighthouses built by the Board.

Beautiful historical home at Fort Reno, in El Reno, Oklahoma. Fort Reno was established as a permanent post in July 1875, near the Darlington Indian Agency on the old Cheyenne-Arapaho reservation in Indian Territory, in present-day central Oklahoma. Named for General Jesse L. Reno, who died at the Battle of South Mountain, it supported the U.S. Army following the Cheyenne uprising in 1874.

2025-07-28

 

Peacock Butterfly

 

The peacock butterfly (Aglais io) is a vibrant and unmistakable butterfly found throughout Europe and temperate Asia. It is easily recognized by the stunning "eyespots" on its wings, which resemble those of a peacock's tail feathers. These large, colorful spots—a combination of blue, black, yellow, and red—serve as a defense mechanism, startling potential predators like birds. The upper side of its wings is a deep reddish-brown, while the underside is dark and camouflaged, helping it blend in perfectly with its surroundings when at rest. As caterpillars, they are black and spiny, feeding primarily on nettles. As adults, they are a common sight in gardens, woodlands, and fields, often seen basking in the sun or feeding on nectar from flowers.

  

The Butterfly Bush (BuddlejavDavii):

 

The Butterfly Bush, or Buddleja davidii, is a plant of remarkable duality. On one hand, it is a champion of the pollinator world, its fragrant, nectar-rich panicles of flowers acting as irresistible magnets for butterflies, bees, and other beneficial insects. Its very name, a tribute to the French missionary and naturalist Father Armand David, speaks to its historical significance in botanical discovery. Originating from China, it has become a staple in gardens worldwide, valued for its vigorous growth and the stunning spectacle of a vibrant, fluttering ecosystem it supports throughout the summer.

However, this very vigor is the source of its controversial reputation. Buddleja davidii is a master colonizer. It thrives in disturbed ground, readily sprouting in cracks in pavement, along railway lines, and on derelict land. Its seeds are lightweight and abundant, easily dispersed by wind and water, allowing it to rapidly establish new populations. In some regions, this aggressive nature has earned it the classification of an invasive species. It can outcompete native flora, alter local ecosystems, and become a nuisance in areas where its spread is uncontrolled.

Thus, the butterfly bush presents a fascinating paradox. It is a plant celebrated for its beauty and its role in sustaining pollinator populations, a beacon of life in a garden. Yet, it is also a powerful force of nature, capable of disrupting the very ecosystems it appears to enhance. The decision to plant Buddleja davidii is therefore a choice that balances these two sides—embracing its beauty and ecological benefits while remaining mindful of its potential to dominate and spread. It is a living lesson in the complex and often contradictory relationships between human cultivation, introduced species, and the natural world.

This chap was emanating some wonderful sounds at Manchester Piccadilly! (The instrument is a Kora! - used extensively in West Africa!)

 

A kora is a Mandinka harp built from a large calabash cut in half and covered with cow skin to make a resonator with a long hardwood neck. The skin is supported by two handles that run under it. It supports a notched double free-standing bridge. It doesn't fit into any one category of musical instruments, but rather several, and must be classified as a "double-bridge-harp-lute". The strings run in two divided ranks, making it a double harp. They do not end in a soundboard but are held in notches on a bridge, making it a bridge harp. They originate from a string arm or neck and cross a bridge directly supported by a resonating chamber, making it a lute too. Wiki.

There are three essential requirements for a structure to function properly: Stability, resistance and rigidity; Stable so that it does not tip over, resistant so that it supports force without breaking and rigid so that its shape does not change when subjected to stresses such as your own weight or that of people.

Landscape Arch is in the Devils Garden section of Arches National Park. It is an arc natural arch eroded in Entrada sandstone. Arc natural arches are considered old and near the end of their lifecycle. In its thinnest section the arch is only 6 feet thick, yet it supports a span of rock 290 feet (88 meters) long. The Natural Arch and Bridge Society (NABS) considers Landscape Arch the fifth longest natural arch in the world.

New release!

maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Halong%20Bay/146/142/22

For now, it supports only the slink body.

 

Oa is a peninsula in the south-west of the island of Islay in the Scottish Hebrides. It is now famous for its many whisky distilleries, but in the early nineteenth century it supported a much larger population than today. Oa itself supported about 800 people, mainly through crofting, a mostly subsistence form of farming, but it was almost completely cleared of people around that time. Some of the displaced crofters were luckier than others; at least some had their passage to Canada paid for when they were forced out of their homes.

Oa now contains a few farms and a spectacular nature reserve managed by the RSPB, featuring windswept cliffs and moorland. We saw several meadow pipits during our walk.

D500_117894.NEF

Decided to give this photo op the attention it deserved.

This image a blend of two frames at f/2.8 (bg) and F/13 (stump face). Read on . . . .

 

Feeling sad about this backyard Oak tree that had to be taken down (it was split right to the ground - the ugly split, just out of this frame on the bottom). The view of this frame “life size” is 41 inches wide (I included one frame with a ruler and included it as layer in my edit to measure "life size"). The tree was about 200 years old (can you zoom in and count the rings?). For the redux, I rubbed the surface with a rag wetted with mineral spirits to bring out the grain.

 

Over the years my family and I have enjoyed this tree immensely and i have captured many images with my camera related to this tree and the wildlife it has supported. Many of the images are sprinkled throughout my FLICKR photostream. A pair of Red-tailed Hawks nested in it for years, followed by Great Horned Owls that took over the hawk nest. Half of the tree had died some years ago and it had become like a Squirrel hotel housing a dozen or more squirrels. Oddly enough even with the squirrels using the hollow mainly in the winter, for about three summers in a row wild Honey Bees had a great hive in the same hollow accessed through the same squirrel knot-hole. I always imagined the squirrels gorging on honeycomb and putting up with sticky, matted fur for the winter. The tree also served as a roost for Wild Turkeys, not to mention the many backyard and song birds and insects it supported. I will greatly miss this old friend.

 

Next spring, it's time to plant. Of course, not for me - because the best time to plant a tree is twenty five years ago. Second best time to plant is next spring, i.e., NOW.

 

“This is not our world with trees in it. It's a world of trees, where humans have just arrived.”

~ Richard Powers, “The Overstory

 

"The Overstory" is an excellent read btw - I recommend it.

Information from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Cod

 

Cape Cod

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

This article is about the area of Massachusetts. For other uses, see Cape Cod (disambiguation).

For other uses, see Cod (disambiguation).

 

Coordinates: 41°41′20″N 70°17′49″W / 41.68889°N 70.29694°W / 41.68889; -70.29694

Map of Massachusetts, with Cape Cod (Barnstable County) indicated in red

Dunes on Sandy Neck are part of the Cape's barrier beach which helps to prevent erosion

 

Cape Cod, often referred to locally as simply the Cape, is an island and a cape in the easternmost portion of the state of Massachusetts, in the Northeastern United States. It is coextensive with Barnstable County. Several small islands right off Cape Cod, including Monomoy Island, Monomoscoy Island, Popponesset Island, and Seconsett Island, are also in Barnstable County, being part of municipalities with land on the Cape. The Cape's small-town character and large beachfront attract heavy tourism during the summer months.

 

Cape Cod was formed as the terminal moraine of a glacier, resulting in a peninsula in the Atlantic Ocean. In 1914, the Cape Cod Canal was cut through the base or isthmus of the peninsula, forming an island. The Cape Cod Commission refers to the resultant landmass as an island; as does the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in regards to disaster preparedness.[1] It is still identified as a peninsula by geographers, who do not change landform designations based on man-made canal construction.[citation needed]

 

Unofficially, it is one of the biggest barrier islands in the world, shielding much of the Massachusetts coastline from North Atlantic storm waves. This protection helps to erode the Cape shoreline at the expense of cliffs, while protecting towns from Fairhaven to Marshfield.

 

Road vehicles from the mainland cross over the Cape Cod Canal via the Sagamore Bridge and the Bourne Bridge. The two bridges are parallel, with the Bourne Bridge located slightly farther southwest. In addition, the Cape Cod Canal Railroad Bridge carries railway freight as well as tourist passenger services.

Contents

[hide]

 

* 1 Geography and political divisions

o 1.1 "Upper" and "Lower"

* 2 Geology

* 3 Climate

* 4 Native population

* 5 History

* 6 Lighthouses of Cape Cod

* 7 Transportation

o 7.1 Bus

o 7.2 Rail

o 7.3 Taxi

* 8 Tourism

* 9 Sport fishing

* 10 Sports

* 11 Education

* 12 Islands off Cape Cod

* 13 See also

* 14 References

o 14.1 Notes

o 14.2 Sources

o 14.3 Further reading

* 15 External links

 

[edit] Geography and political divisions

Towns of Barnstable County

historical map of 1890

 

The highest elevation on Cape Cod is 306 feet (93 m), at the top of Pine Hill, in the Bourne portion of the Massachusetts Military Reservation. The lowest point is sea level.

 

The body of water located between Cape Cod and the mainland, bordered to the north by Massachusetts Bay, is Cape Cod Bay; west of Cape Cod is Buzzards Bay. The Cape Cod Canal, completed in 1916, connects Buzzards Bay to Cape Cod Bay; it shortened the trade route between New York and Boston by 62 miles.[2] To the south of Cape Cod lie Nantucket Sound; Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, both large islands, and the mostly privately owned Elizabeth Islands.

 

Cape Cod incorporates all of Barnstable County, which comprises 15 towns: Bourne, Sandwich, Falmouth, and Mashpee, Barnstable, Yarmouth, Dennis, Harwich, Brewster, Chatham, Orleans, Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro, and Provincetown. Two of the county's fifteen towns (Bourne and Sandwich) include land on the mainland side of the Cape Cod Canal. The towns of Plymouth and Wareham, in adjacent Plymouth County, are sometimes considered to be part of Cape Cod but are not located on the island.

 

In the 17th century the designation Cape Cod applied only to the tip of the peninsula, essentially present-day Provincetown. Over the ensuing decades, the name came to mean all the land east of the Manomet and Scussett rivers - essentially the line of the 20th century Cape Cod Canal. Now, the complete towns of Bourne and Sandwich are widely considered to incorporate the full perimeter of Cape Cod, even though small parts of these towns are located on the west side of the canal. The canal divides the largest part of the peninsula from the mainland and the resultant landmass is sometimes referred to as an island.[3][4] Additionally some "Cape Codders" – residents of "The Cape" – refer to all land on the mainland side of the canal as "off-Cape."

 

For most of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, Cape Cod was considered to consist of three sections:

 

* The Upper Cape is the part of Cape Cod closest to the mainland, comprising the towns of Bourne, Sandwich, Falmouth, and Mashpee. Falmouth is the home of the famous Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and several other research organizations, and is also the most-used ferry connection to Martha's Vineyard. Falmouth is composed of several separate villages, including East Falmouth, Falmouth Village, Hatchville, North Falmouth, Teaticket, Waquoit, West Falmouth, and Woods Hole, as well as several smaller hamlets that are incorporated into their larger neighbors (e.g., Davisville, Falmouth Heights, Quissett, Sippewissett, and others).[5]

 

* The Mid-Cape includes the towns of Barnstable, Yarmouth and Dennis. The Mid-Cape area features many beautiful beaches, including warm-water beaches along Nantucket Sound, e.g., Kalmus Beach in Hyannis, which gets its name from one of the inventors of Technicolor, Herbert Kalmus. This popular windsurfing destination was bequeathed to the town of Barnstable by Dr. Kalmus on condition that it not be developed, possibly one of the first instances of open-space preservation in the US. The Mid-Cape is also the commercial and industrial center of the region. There are seven villages in Barnstable, including Barnstable Village, Centerville, Cotuit, Hyannis, Marstons Mills, Osterville, and West Barnstable, as well as several smaller hamlets that are incorporated into their larger neighbors (e.g., Craigville, Cummaquid, Hyannisport, Santuit, Wianno, and others).[6] There are three villages in Yarmouth: South Yarmouth, West Yarmouth and Yarmouthport. There are five villages in Dennis including, Dennis Village(North Dennis), East Dennis, West Dennis, South Dennis and Dennisport.[7]

 

* The Lower Cape traditionally included all of the rest of the Cape,or the towns of Harwich, Brewster, Chatham, Orleans, Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro, and Provincetown. This area includes the Cape Cod National Seashore, a national park comprising much of the outer Cape, including the entire east-facing coast, and is home to some of the most popular beaches in America, such as Coast Guard Beach and Nauset Light Beach in Eastham. Stephen Leatherman, aka "Dr. Beach", named Coast Guard Beach the 5th best beach in America for 2007.[8]

 

[edit] "Upper" and "Lower"

 

The terms "Upper" and "Lower" as applied to the Cape have nothing to do with north and south. Instead, they derive from maritime convention at the time when the principal means of transportation involved watercraft, and the prevailing westerly winds meant that a boat with sails traveling northeast in Cape Cod Bay would have the wind at its back and thus be going downwind, while a craft sailing southwest would be going against the wind, or upwind.[9] Similarly, on nearby Martha's Vineyard, "Up Island" still is the western section and "Down Island" is to the east, and in Maine, "Down East" is similarly defined by the winds and currents.

 

Over time, the reasons for the traditional nomenclature became unfamiliar and their meaning obscure. Late in the 1900s, new arrivals began calling towns from Eastham to Provincetown the "Outer Cape", yet another geographic descriptor which is still in use, as is the "Inner Cape."

[edit] Geology

Cape Cod and Cape Cod Bay from space.[10]

 

East of America, there stands in the open Atlantic the last fragment of an ancient and vanished land. Worn by the breakers and the rains, and disintegrated by the wind, it still stands bold.

“

”

Henry Beston, The Outermost House

 

Cape Cod forms a continuous archipelagic region with a thin line of islands stretching toward New York, historically known by naturalists as the Outer Lands. This continuity is due to the fact that the islands and Cape are all terminal glacial moraines laid down some 16,000 to 20,000 years ago.

 

Most of Cape Cod's geological history involves the advance and retreat of the Laurentide ice sheet in the late Pleistocene geological era and the subsequent changes in sea level. Using radiocarbon dating techniques, researchers have determined that around 23,000 years ago, the ice sheet reached its maximum southward advance over North America, and then started to retreat. Many "kettle ponds" — clear, cold lakes — were formed and remain on Cape Cod as a result of the receding glacier. By about 18,000 years ago, the ice sheet had retreated past Cape Cod. By roughly 15,000 years ago, it had retreated past southern New England. When so much of Earth's water was locked up in massive ice sheets, the sea level was lower. Truro's bayside beaches used to be a petrified forest, before it became a beach.

 

As the ice began to melt, the sea began to rise. Initially, sea level rose quickly, about 15 meters (50 ft) per 1,000 years, but then the rate declined. On Cape Cod, sea level rose roughly 3 meters (11 ft) per millennium between 6,000 and 2,000 years ago. After that, it continued to rise at about 1 meter (3 ft) per millennium. By 6,000 years ago, the sea level was high enough to start eroding the glacial deposits that the vanished continental ice sheet had left on Cape Cod. The water transported the eroded deposits north and south along the outer Cape's shoreline. Those reworked sediments that moved north went to the tip of Cape Cod.

 

Provincetown Spit, at the northern end of the Cape, consists largely of marine deposits, transported from farther up the shore. Sediments that moved south created the islands and shoals of Monomoy. So while other parts of the Cape have dwindled from the action of the waves, these parts of the Cape have grown.

Cape Cod National Seashore

 

This process continues today. Due to their position jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean, the Cape and islands are subject to massive coastal erosion. Geologists say that, due to erosion, the Cape will be completely submerged by the sea in thousands of years.[11] This erosion causes the washout of beaches and the destruction of the barrier islands; for example, the ocean broke through the barrier island at Chatham during Hurricane Bob in 1991, allowing waves and storm surges to hit the coast with no obstruction. Consequently, the sediment and sand from the beaches is being washed away and deposited elsewhere. While this destroys land in some places, it creates land elsewhere, most noticeably in marshes where sediment is deposited by waters running through them.

[edit] Climate

 

Although Cape Cod's weather[12] is typically more moderate than inland locations, there have been occasions where Cape Cod has dealt with the brunt of extreme weather situations (such as the Blizzard of 1954 and Hurricane of 1938). Because of the influence of the Atlantic Ocean, temperatures are typically a few degrees cooler in the summer and a few degrees warmer in the winter. A common misconception is that the climate is influenced largely by the warm Gulf Stream current, however that current turns eastward off the coast of Virginia and the waters off the Cape are more influenced by the cold Canadian Labrador Current. As a result, the ocean temperature rarely gets above 65 °F (18 °C), except along the shallow west coast of the Upper Cape.

 

The Cape's climate is also notorious for a delayed spring season, being surrounded by an ocean which is still cold from the winter; however, it is also known for an exceptionally mild fall season (Indian summer), thanks to the ocean remaining warm from the summer. The highest temperature ever recorded on Cape Cod was 104 °F (40 °C) in Provincetown[13], and the lowest temperature ever was −12 °F (−24.4 °C) in Barnstable.[14]

 

The water surrounding Cape Cod moderates winter temperatures enough to extend the USDA hardiness zone 7a to its northernmost limit in eastern North America.[15] Even though zone 7a (annual low = 0–5 degrees Fahrenheit) signifies no sub-zero temperatures annually, there have been several instances of temperatures reaching a few degrees below zero across the Cape (although it is rare, usually 1–5 times a year, typically depending on locale, sometimes not at all). Consequently, many plant species typically found in more southerly latitudes grow there, including Camellias, Ilex opaca, Magnolia grandiflora and Albizia julibrissin.

 

Precipitation on Cape Cod and the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket is the lowest in the New England region, averaging slightly less than 40 inches (1,000 mm) a year (most parts of New England average 42–46 inches). This is due to storm systems which move across western areas, building up in mountainous regions, and dissipating before reaching the coast where the land has leveled out. The region does not experience a greater number of sunny days however, as the number of cloudy days is the same as inland locales, in addition to increased fog. Snowfall is annual, but a lot less common than the rest of Massachusetts. On average, 30 inches of snow, which is a foot less than Boston, falls in an average winter. Snow is usually light, and comes in squalls on cold days. Storms that bring blizzard conditions and snow emergencies to the mainland, bring devastating ice storms or just heavy rains more frequently than large snow storms.

[hide]Climate data for Cape Cod

Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year

Average high °C (°F) 2.06

(35.7) 2.5

(36.5) 6.22

(43.2) 11.72

(53.1) 16.94

(62.5) 23.5

(74.3) 26.39

(79.5) 26.67

(80.0) 25.06

(77.1) 18.39

(65.1) 12.56

(54.6) 5.44

(41.8) 26.67

(80.0)

Average low °C (°F) -5.33

(22.4) -5

(23.0) -1.33

(29.6) 2.72

(36.9) 8.72

(47.7) 14.61

(58.3) 19.22

(66.6) 20.28

(68.5) 15.56

(60.0) 9.94

(49.9) 3.94

(39.1) -2.22

(28.0) -5.33

(22.4)

Precipitation mm (inches) 98

(3.86) 75.4

(2.97) 95

(3.74) 92.5

(3.64) 83.6

(3.29) 76.7

(3.02) 62.2

(2.45) 65

(2.56) 74.7

(2.94) 84.8

(3.34) 90.7

(3.57) 92.7

(3.65) 990.9

(39.01)

Source: World Meteorological Organisation (United Nations) [16]

[edit] Native population

 

Cape Cod has been the home of the Wampanoag tribe of Native American people for many centuries. They survived off the sea and were accomplished farmers. They understood the principles of sustainable forest management, and were known to light controlled fires to keep the underbrush in check. They helped the Pilgrims, who arrived in the fall of 1620, survive at their new Plymouth Colony. At the time, the dominant group was the Kakopee, known for their abilities at fishing. They were the first Native Americans to use large casting nets. Early colonial settlers recorded that the Kakopee numbered nearly 7,000.

 

Shortly after the Pilgrims arrived, the chief of the Kakopee, Mogauhok, attempted to make a treaty limiting colonial settlements. The effort failed after he succumbed to smallpox in 1625. Infectious diseases such as smallpox, measles and influenza caused the deaths of many other Kakopee and Wampanoag. They had no natural immunity to Eurasian diseases by then endemic among the English and other Europeans. Today, the only reminder of the Kakopee is a small public recreation area in Barnstable named for them. A historic marker notes the burial site of Mogauhok near Truro, although the location is conjecture.

 

While contractors were digging test wells in the eastern Massachusetts Military Reservation area, they discovered an archeological find.[citation needed] Excavation revealed the remains of a Kakopee village in Forestdale, a location in Sandwich. Researchers found a totem with a painted image of Mogauhok, portrayed in his chief's cape and brooch. The totem was discovered on property on Grand Oak Road. It is the first evidence other than colonial accounts of his role as an important Kakopee leader.

 

The Indians lost their lands through continued purchase and expropriation by the English colonists. The documentary Natives of the Narrowland (1993), narrated by actress Julie Harris, shows the history of the Wampanoag people through Cape Cod archaeological sites.

 

In 1974, the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council was formed to articulate the concerns of those with Native American ancestry. They petitioned the federal government in 1975 and again in 1990 for official recognition of the Mashpee Wampanoag as a tribe. In May 2007, the Wampanoag tribe was finally federally recognized as a tribe.[17]

[edit] History

Cranberry picking in 1906

 

Cape Cod was a landmark for early explorers. It may have been the "Promontory of Vinland" mentioned by the Norse voyagers (985-1025). Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524 approached it from the south. He named Martha's Vineyard Claudia, after the mother of the King of France.[18] The next year the explorer Esteban Gómez called it Cape St. James.

 

In 1602 Bartholomew Gosnold named it Cape Cod, the surviving term and the ninth oldest English place-name in the U.S.[19] Samuel de Champlain charted its sand-silted harbors in 1606 and Henry Hudson landed there in 1609. Captain John Smith noted it on his map of 1614 and at last the Pilgrims entered the "Cape Harbor" and – contrary to the popular myth of Plymouth Rock – made their first landing near present-day Provincetown on November 11, 1620. Nearby, in what is now Eastham, they had their first encounter with Native Americans.

 

Cape Cod was among the first places settled by the English in North America. Aside from Barnstable (1639), Sandwich (1637) and Yarmouth (1639), the Cape's fifteen towns developed slowly. The final town to be established on the Cape was Bourne in 1884.[20] Provincetown was a group of huts until the 18th century. A channel from Massachusetts Bay to Buzzards Bay is shown on Southack's map of 1717. The present Cape Cod Canal was slowly developed from 1870 to 1914. The Federal government purchased it in 1928.

 

Thanks to early colonial settlement and intensive land use, by the time Henry Thoreau saw Cape Cod during his four visits over 1849 to 1857[21], its vegetation was depauperate and trees were scarce. As the settlers heated by fires, and it took 10 to 20 cords (40 to 80 m³) of wood to heat a home, they cleared most of Cape Cod of timber early on. They planted familiar crops, but these were unsuited to Cape Cod's thin, glacially derived soils. For instance, much of Eastham was planted to wheat. The settlers practiced burning of woodlands to release nutrients into the soil. Improper and intensive farming led to erosion and the loss of topsoil. Farmers grazed their cattle on the grassy dunes of coastal Massachusetts, only to watch "in horror as the denuded sands `walked' over richer lands, burying cultivated fields and fences." Dunes on the outer Cape became more common and many harbors filled in with eroded soils.[22]

 

By 1800, most of Cape Cod's firewood had to be transported by boat from Maine. The paucity of vegetation was worsened by the raising of merino sheep that reached its peak in New England around 1840. The early industrial revolution, which occurred through much of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, mostly bypassed Cape Cod due to a lack of significant water power in the area. As a result, and also because of its geographic position, the Cape developed as a large fishing and whaling center. After 1860 and the opening of the American West, farmers abandoned agriculture on the Cape. By 1950 forests had recovered to an extent not seen since the 18th century.

 

Cape Cod became a summer haven for city dwellers beginning at the end of the 19th century. Improved rail transportation made the towns of the Upper Cape, such as Bourne and Falmouth, accessible to Bostonians. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Northeastern mercantile elite built many large, shingled "cottages" along Buzzards Bay. The relaxed summer environment offered by Cape Cod was highlighted by writers including Joseph C. Lincoln, who published novels and countless short stories about Cape Cod folks in popular magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post and the Delineator.

 

Guglielmo Marconi made the first transatlantic wireless transmission originating in the United States from Cape Cod, at Wellfleet. The beach from which he transmitted has since been called Marconi Beach. In 1914 he opened the maritime wireless station WCC in Chatham. It supported the communications of Amelia Earhart, Howard Hughes, Admiral Byrd, and the Hindenburg. Marconi chose Chatham due to its vantage point on the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded on three sides by water. Walter Cronkite narrated a 17-minute documentary in 2005 about the history of the Chatham Station.

 

Much of the East-facing Atlantic seacoast of Cape Cod consists of wide, sandy beaches. In 1961, a significant portion of this coastline, already slated for housing subdivisions, was made a part of the Cape Cod National Seashore by President John F. Kennedy. It was protected from private development and preserved for public use. Large portions are open to the public, including the Marconi Site in Wellfleet. This is a park encompassing the site of the first two-way transoceanic radio transmission from the United States. (Theodore Roosevelt used Marconi's equipment for this transmission).

 

The Kennedy Compound in Hyannisport was President Kennedy's summer White House during his presidency. The Kennedy family continues to maintain residences on the compound. Other notable residents of Cape Cod have included actress Julie Harris, US Supreme Court justice Louis Brandeis, figure skater Todd Eldredge, and novelists Norman Mailer and Kurt Vonnegut. Influential natives included the patriot James Otis, historian and writer Mercy Otis Warren, jurist Lemuel Shaw, and naval officer John Percival.

[edit] Lighthouses of Cape Cod

Race Point Lighthouse in Provincetown (1876)

 

Lighthouses, from ancient times, have fascinated members of the human race. There is something about a lighted beacon that suggests hope and trust and appeals to the better instincts of mankind.

“

”

Edward Rowe Snow

 

Due to its dangerous constantly moving shoals, Cape Cod's shores have featured beacons which warn ships of the danger since very early in its history. There are numerous working lighthouses on Cape Cod and the Islands, including Highland Light, Nauset Light, Chatham Light, Race Point Light, and Nobska Light, mostly operated by the U.S. Coast Guard. The exception is Nauset Light, which was decommissioned in 1996 and is now maintained by the Nauset Light Preservation Society under the auspices of Cape Cod National Seashore. These lighthouses are frequently photographed symbols of Cape Cod.

 

Others include:

 

Upper Cape: Wings Neck

 

Mid Cape: Sandy Neck, South Hyannis, Lewis Bay, Bishop and Clerks, Bass River

 

Lower Cape: Wood End, Long Point, Monomoy, Stage Harbor, Pamet, Mayo Beach, Billingsgate, Three Sisters, Nauset, Highland

[edit] Transportation

 

Cape Cod is connected to the mainland by a pair of canal-spanning highway bridges from Bourne and Sagamore that were constructed in the 1930s, and a vertical-lift railroad bridge. The limited number of access points to the peninsula can result in large traffic backups during the tourist season.

 

The entire Cape is roughly bisected lengthwise by U.S. Route 6, locally known as the Mid-Cape Highway and officially as the Grand Army of the Republic Highway.

 

Commercial air service to Cape Cod operates out of Barnstable Municipal Airport and Provincetown Municipal Airport. Several bus lines service the Cape. There are ferry connections from Boston to Provincetown, as well as from Hyannis and Woods Hole to the islands.

 

Cape Cod has a public transportation network comprising buses operated by three different companies, a rail line, taxis and paratransit services.

The Bourne Bridge over the Cape Cod Canal, with the Cape Cod Canal Railroad Bridge in the background

[edit] Bus

 

Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority operates a year-round public bus system comprising three long distance routes and a local bus in Hyannis and Barnstable Village. From mid June until October, additional local routes are added in Falmouth and Provincetown. CCRTA also operates Barnstable County's ADA required paratransit (dial-a-ride) service, under the name "B-Bus."

 

Long distance bus service is available through Plymouth and Brockton Street Railway, with regular service to Boston and Logan Airport, as well as less frequent service to Provincetown. Peter Pan Bus Lines also runs long distance service to Providence T.F. Green Airport and New York City.

[edit] Rail

 

Regular passenger rail service through Cape Cod ended in 1959, quite possibly on June 30 of that year. In 1978, the tracks east of South Dennis were abandoned and replaced with the very popular bicycle path, known as the Cape Cod Rail Trail. Another bike path, the Shining Sea Bikeway, was built over tracks between Woods Hole and Falmouth in 1975; construction to extend this path to North Falmouth over 6.3 miles (10.1 km) of inactive rail bed began in April 2008[23] and ended in early 2009. Active freight service remains in the Upper Cape area in Sandwich and in Bourne, largely due to a trash transfer station located at Massachusetts Military Reservation along the Bourne-Falmouth rail line. In 1986, Amtrak ran a seasonal service in the summer from New York City to Hyannis called the Cape Codder. From 1988, Amtrak and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation increased service to a daily frequency.[24] Since its demise in 1996, there have been periodic discussions about reinstating passenger rail service from Boston to reduce car traffic to and from the Cape, with officials in Bourne seeking to re-extend MBTA Commuter Rail service from Middleboro to Buzzards Bay[25], despite a reluctant Beacon Hill legislature.

 

Cape Cod Central Railroad operates passenger train service on Cape Cod. The service is primarily tourist oriented and includes a dinner train. The scenic route between Downtown Hyannis and the Cape Cod Canal is about 2½ hours round trip. Massachusetts Coastal Railroad is also planning to return passenger railroad services eventually to the Bourne-Falmouth rail line in the future. An August 5, 2009 article on the New England Cable News channel, entitled South Coast rail project a priority for Mass. lawmakers, mentions a $1.4-billion railroad reconstruction plan by Governor Deval Patrick, and could mean rebuilding of old rail lines on the Cape. On November 21, 2009, the town of Falmouth saw its first passenger train in 12 years, a set of dinner train cars from Cape Cod Central. And a trip from the Mass Bay Railroad Enthusiasts on May 15, 2010 revealed a second trip along the Falmouth line.

[edit] Taxi

 

Taxicabs are plentiful, with several different companies operating out of different parts of the Cape. Except at the airport and some bus terminals with taxi stands, cabs must be booked ahead of time, with most operators preferring two to three hours notice. Cabs cannot be "hailed" anywhere in Barnstable County, this was outlawed in the early nineties after several robbery attempts on drivers.

 

Most companies utilize a New York City-style taximeter and charge based on distance plus an initial fee of $2 to $3. In Provincetown, cabs charge a flat fare per person anywhere in the town.

[edit] Tourism

Hyannis Harbor on Nantucket Sound

 

Although Cape Cod has a year-round population of about 230,000, it experiences a tourist season each summer, the beginning and end of which can be roughly approximated as Memorial Day and Labor Day, respectively. Many businesses are specifically targeted to summer visitors, and close during the eight to nine months of the "off season" (although the "on season" has been expanding somewhat in recent years due to Indian Summer, reduced lodging rates, and the number of people visiting the Cape after Labor Day who either have no school-age children, and the elderly, reducing the true "off season" to six or seven months). In the late 20th century, tourists and owners of second homes began visiting the Cape more and more in the spring and fall, softening the definition of the high season and expanding it somewhat (see above). Some particularly well-known Cape products and industries include cranberries, shellfish (particularly oysters and clams) and lobstering.

 

Provincetown, at the tip of Cape Cod, also berths several whale watching fleets who patrol the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. Most fleets guarantee a whale sighting (mostly humpback whale, fin whale, minke whale, sei whale, and critically endangered, the North Atlantic Right Whale), and one is the only federally certified operation qualified to rescue whales. Provincetown has also long been known as an art colony, attracting writers and artists. The town is home to the Cape's most attended art museum, the Provincetown Art Association and Museum. Many hotels and resorts are friendly to or cater to gay and lesbian tourists and it is known as a gay mecca in the summer.[26]

 

Cape Cod is a popular destination for beachgoers from all over. With 559.6 miles (900.6 km) of coastline, beaches, both public and private, are easily accessible. The Cape has upwards of sixty public beaches, many of which offer parking for non-residents for a daily fee (in summer). The Cape Cod National Seashore has 40 miles (64 km) of sandy beach and many walking paths.

 

Cape Cod is also popular for its outdoor activities like beach walking, biking, boating, fishing, go-karts, golfing, kayaking, miniature golf, and unique shopping. There are 27 public, daily-fee golf courses and 15 private courses on Cape Cod.[27] Bed and breakfasts or vacation houses are often used for lodging.

 

Each summer the Naukabout Music Festival is held at the Barnstable County Fair Grounds located in East Falmouth,(typically) during the first weekend of August. This Music festival features local, regional and national talent along with food, arts and family friendly activities.

[edit] Sport fishing

 

Cape Cod is known around the world as a spring-to-fall destination for sport anglers. Among the species most widely pursued are striped bass, bluefish, bluefin tuna, false albacore (little tunny), bonito, tautog, flounder and fluke. The Cape Cod Bay side of the Cape, from Sandwich to Provincetown, has several harbors, saltwater creeks, and shoals that hold bait fish and attract the larger game fish, such as striped bass, bluefish and bluefin tuna.

 

The outer edge of the Cape, from Provincetown to Falmouth, faces the open Atlantic from Provincetown to Chatham, and then the more protected water of Nantucket and Vineyard Sounds, from Chatham to Falmouth. The bays, harbors and shoals along this coastline also provide a robust habitat for game species, and during the late summer months warm-water species such as mahi-mahi and marlin will also appear on the southern edge of Cape Cod's waters. Nearly every harbor on Cape Cod hosts sport fishing charter boats, which run from May through October.[28]

[edit] Sports

 

The Cape has nine amateur baseball franchises playing within Barnstable County in the Cape Cod Baseball League. The Wareham Gatemen also play in the Cape Cod Baseball League in nearby Wareham, Massachusetts in Plymouth County. The league originated 1923, although intertown competition traces to 1866. Teams in the league are the Bourne Braves, Brewster Whitecaps, Chatham Anglers (formerly the Chatham Athletics), Cotuit Kettleers, Falmouth Commodores, Harwich Mariners, Hyannis Harbor Hawks (formerly the Hyannis Mets), Orleans Firebirds (formerly the Orleans Cardinals), Wareham Gatemen and the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox. Pro ball scouts frequent the games in the summer, looking for stars of the future.

 

Cape Cod is also a national hot bed for baseball and hockey. Along with the Cape Cod Baseball League and the new Junior Hockey League team, the Cape Cod Cubs, many high school players are being seriously recruited as well. Barnstable and Harwich have each sent multiple players to Division 1 colleges for baseball, Harwich has also won three State titles in the past 12 years (1996, 2006, 2007). Bourne and Sandwich, known rivals in hockey have won state championships recently. Bourne in 2004, and Sandwich in 2007. Nauset, Barnstable, and Martha's Vineyard are also state hockey powerhouses. Barnstable and Falmouth also hold the title of having one of the longest Thanksgiving football rivalries in the country. The teams have played each other every year on the Thanksgiving since 1895. The Bourne and Barnstable girl's volleyball teams are two of the best teams in the state and Barnstable in the country. With Bourne winning the State title in 2003 and 2007. In the past 15 years, Barnstable has won 12 Division 1 State titles and has won the state title the past two years.

 

The Cape also is home to the Cape Cod Frenzy, a team in the American Basketball Association.

 

Soccer on Cape Cod is represented by the Cape Cod Crusaders, playing in the USL Premier Development League (PDL) soccer based in Hyannis. In addition, a summer Cape Cod Adult Soccer League (CCASL) is active in several towns on the Cape.

 

Cape Cod is also the home of the Cape Cod Cubs, a new junior league hockey team that is based out of Hyannis at the new communtiy center being built of Bearses Way.

 

The end of each summer is marked with the running of the world famous Falmouth Road Race which is held on the 3rd Saturday in August. It draws about 10,000 runners to the Cape and showcases the finest runners in the world (mainly for the large purse that the race is able to offer). The race is 7.2 miles (11.6 km) long, which is a non-standard distance. The reason for the unusual distance is that the man who thought the race up (Tommy Leonard) was a bartender who wanted a race along the coast from one bar (The Cap'n Kidd in Woods Hole) to another (The Brothers Four in Falmouth Heights). While the bar in Falmouth Heights is no longer there, the race still starts at the front door of the Cap'n Kidd in Woods Hole and now finishes at the beach in Falmouth Heights. Prior to the Falmouth race is an annual 5-mile (8.0 km) race through Brewster called the Brew Run, held early in August.

[edit] Education

 

Each town usually consists of a few elementary schools, one or two middle schools and one large public high school that services the entire town. Exceptions to this include Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School located in Yarmouth which services both the town of Yarmouth as well as Dennis and Nauset Regional High School located in Eastham which services the town of Brewster, Orleans, Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro, and Provincetown (optional). Bourne High School is the public school for students residing in the town of Bourne, which is gathered from villages in Bourne, including Sagamore, Sagamore Beach, and Buzzards Bay. Barnstable High School is the largest high school and is known for its girls' volleyball team which have been state champions a total of 12 times. Barnstable High School also boasts one of the country's best high school drama clubs which were awarded with a contract by Warner Brothers to created a documentary in webisode format based on their production of Wizard of Oz. Sturgis Charter Public School is a public school in Hyannis which was featured in Newsweek's Magazine's "Best High Schools" ranking. It ranked 28th in the country and 1st in the state of Massachusetts in the 2009 edition and ranked 43rd and 55th in the 2008 and 2007 edition, respectively. Sturgis offers the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme in their junior and senior year and is open to students as far as Plymouth. The Cape also contains two vocational high schools. One is the Cape Cod Regional Technical High School in Harwich and the other is Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical High School located in Bourne. Lastly, Mashpee High School is home to the Mashpee Chapter of (SMPTE,) the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. This chapter is the first and only high school chapter in the world to be a part of this organization and has received much recognition within the Los Angeles broadcasting industry as a result. The officers of this group who have made history are listed below:

 

* President: Ryan D. Stanley '11

* Vice-President Kenneth J. Peters '13

* Treasurer Eric N. Bergquist '11

* Secretary Andrew L. Medlar '11

 

In addition to public schools, Cape Cod has a wide range of private schools. The town of Barnstable has Trinity Christian Academy, Cape Cod Academy, St. Francis Xavier Preparatory School, and Pope John Paul II High School. Bourne offers the Waldorf School of Cape Cod, Orleans offers the Lighthouse Charter School for elementary and middle school students, and Falmouth offers Falmouth Academy. Riverview School is located in East Sandwich and is a special co-ed boarding school which services students as old as 22 who have learning disabilities. Another specialized school is the Penikese Island School located on Penikese Island, part of the Elizabeth Islands off southwestern Cape Cod, which services struggling and troubled teenage boys.

 

Cape Cod also contains two institutions of higher education. One is the Cape Cod Community College located in West Barnstable, Barnstable. The other is Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Buzzards Bay, Bourne. Massachusetts Maritime Academy is the oldest continuously operating maritime college in the United States.

[edit] Islands off Cape Cod

 

Like Cape Cod itself, the islands south of the Cape have evolved from whaling and trading areas to resort destinations, attracting wealthy families, celebrities, and other tourists. The islands include Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, as well as Forbes family-owned Naushon Island, which was purchased by John Murray Forbes with profits from opium dealing in the China trade during the Opium War. Naushon is one of the Elizabeth Islands, many of which are privately owned. One of the publicly accessible Elizabeths is the southernmost island in the chain, Cuttyhunk, with a year-round population of 52 people. Several prominent families have established compounds or estates on the larger islands, making these islands some of the wealthiest resorts in the Northeast, yet they retain much of the early merchant trading and whaling culture.

128/365,

 

Garden Village, Burnaby, British Columbia

 

The Nikkormat FT3, manufactured for only several months in 1977, had the shortest production run of any Nippon Kogaku SLR. The FT3 was essentially identical to the FT2 except that it supported Nikkor lenses with the Automatic Indexing (AI) feature (introduced 1977)

 

50mm takes 52mm filters. It has a seven-bladed diaphragm stopping down to f/16. It has seven elements in six groups. It focuses to 1.5 feet or 0.45m.

1977-1981

Gotta go, right now I gotta go

Headed home, To a different timezone

Sun is low

Everything is going right

'Til she told me

Where she slept last night, yeah

Where'd you go, yeah

When the sun came down?

Karma knows

It'll come back around, yeah

Fire's hot, don't you let it go out, yeah

Fires hot, babe, don't you let it go out

 

_________________________

 

A big thank you to my lovely DVISION members and close friends! Rose, Mae, and Bishop were nice enough to join me and sit pretty for a couple hours while I struggled with this pic, so don't forget to check them out as well!

 

Rose

 

Mae

 

Bishop

 

________________________

 

☽ this lovely picture is sponsored by...

 

⋆ DIOS

Nina Outfit (Body and Panties in pic) @ DREAMDAY!

 

DIOS out with another baddie fit and I'm here for it. This outfit has the Body, Panties, and Pasties! It supports Kupra, Legacy, BBL, Reborn & Reborn Mounds!

  

⋆ Sintiklia

Xiao Hair @ Man Cave event!

 

When I saw this hair i KNEW I had to get it. As a Xiao simp I just had to leave my dream okay >.> This gorgeous hair comes with Rigged and Unrigged, and has 11 color packs to choose from as well as the bonus colors!

  

⋆ Tsumi

Razor Cuts

 

First post for Tsumi and I must say I am NOT disappointed. I've been looking for some good cuts and bruises and Tsumi delivered. Razor comes with a bruise (under eye), Cuts (on cheek), and Slash (on nose) and has both the Evox and Genus/LelutkaEvo versions!

 

_______________________

 

☽ also featuring...

 

AsteroidBox - Zara T-shirt

 

AERTH - Dehumanize Tattoo (Gold)

 

Guapa - Maya Freckles

 

Tres Beau - Rala Skin

 

Aii & Ego - Night Glamour ( Bindi)

  

Probably the last set of pictures with this phone. I'm upgrading my iPhone 8 Plus to the latest iPhone version ... my IT support team informed me that the new 'toy' has arrived and I'm impatient to go to the office on Thursday to get this new 15 Pro Max in my hands. I'm very curious to see how it will perform. One thing is sure, the eye of the photographer will remain the same 😉 and for the moment I'll continue to post pictures from the past ... More to follow the next few years with the new camera although some people don't consider a phone camera to be a 'camera' 😆

Basilica di San Nicola, Bari

Questo capolavoro del romanico pugliese fu costruito dal 1087 al 1125 per riporre le ossa del Santo vescovo. La struttura, edificata in età normanna, si appoggia al preesistente palazzo bizantino del Catapano (governatore bizantino), e raccoglie numerosi materiali di spoglio. La chiesa ha una pianta a croce latina, è caratterizzata da un ampio transetto, due poderose torri in facciata e profondi arconi sul lato meridionale a cui si sovrappone la galleria dell'esaforato. Sotto la chiesa principale vi è la cripta (davvero da non perdere), con una selva di colonne con capitelli multiformi e la tomba di San Nicola. Qui si celebra secondo il rito greco, trovarsi mentre un sacerdote legge (canta) la liturgia è qualcosa di straordinario. Nella chiesa superiore vi sono splendidi mosaici pavimentali, un trono vescovile di superba fattura, un soffitto ligneo dipinto nel Seicento da Carlo Rosa e, in una saletta, il tesoro. All'esterno c'è ancora una ricca fioritura di sculture, alcune estremamente originali come la sfinge che sovrasta il portale principale.

 

This masterpiece of the Romanesque of Puglia had been built since 1087 to 1125 to put back the bones of the Saint bishop. The structure, built in Norman age, it supports him to the preexisting Byzantine building of the Catapano (Byzantine governor), and it picks up numerous materials of bare. The church has a plant to Latin cross, it is characterized by an ample "transetto", two mighty towers in façade and depths arch on the southern side to which overlaps the gallery of the "esaforato". Under the principal church there is the crypt (indeed not to lose), with a forest of columns with multiform capitals and the grave of St. Nicola. Here it is celebrated according to the Greek rite, to be in while a priest reads (he sings) the liturgy is something of extraordinary. In the superior church there are splendid mosaics pave them, an Episcopalian throne of superb invoice, a ceiling wooden painting in Six hundred from Charles Rosa and, in a hall, the treasure. To the outside there is still a rich flowering of sculptures, some extremely original ones as the sphinx that overhangs the principal portal.

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

Altri particolari: Ciborio, Portale principale

 

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system, composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,300 kilometres over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometres. The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, Australia, separated from the coast by a channel 160 kilometres wide in places and over 61 metres deep. The Great Barrier Reef can be seen from outer space and is the world's biggest single structure made by living organisms. This reef structure is composed of and built by billions of tiny organisms, known as coral polyps. It supports a wide diversity of life and was selected as a World Heritage Site in 1981. CNN labelled it one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World in 1997. Australian World Heritage places included it in its list in 2007. The Queensland National Trust named it a state icon of Queensland in 2006.

A large part of the reef is protected by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, which helps to limit the impact of human use, such as fishing and tourism. Other environmental pressures on the reef and its ecosystem include runoff of humanmade pollutants, climate change accompanied by mass coral bleaching, dumping of dredging sludge and cyclic population outbreaks of the crown-of-thorns starfish. According to a study published in October 2012 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the reef has lost more than half its coral cover since 1985, a finding reaffirmed by a 2020 study which found over half of the reef's coral cover to have been lost between 1995 and 2017, with the effects of a widespread 2020 bleaching event not yet quantified.

The Great Barrier Reef has long been known to and used by the Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and is an important part of local groups' cultures and spirituality. The reef is a very popular destination for tourists, especially in the Whitsunday Islands and Cairns regions. Tourism is an important economic activity for the region, generating over AUD$3 billion per year. In November 2014, Google launched Google Underwater Street View in 3D of the Great Barrier Reef.

A March 2016 report stated that coral bleaching was more widespread than previously thought, seriously affecting the northern parts of the reef as a result of warming ocean temperatures. In October 2016, Outside published an obituary for the reef; the article was criticised for being premature and hindering efforts to bolster the resilience of the reef. In March 2017, the journal Nature published a paper showing that huge sections of an 800-kilometre stretch in the northern part of the reef had died in the course of 2016 of high water temperatures, an event that the authors put down to the effects of global climate change. The percentage of baby corals being born on the Great Barrier Reef dropped drastically in 2018 and scientists are describing it as the early stage of a "huge natural selection event unfolding". Many of the mature breeding adults died in the bleaching events of 2016–17, leading to low coral birth rates. The types of corals that reproduced also changed, leading to a "long-term reorganisation of the reef ecosystem if the trend continues."

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975 stipulates an Outlook Report on the Reef's health, pressures, and future every five years. The last report was published in 2019. In March 2022, another mass bleaching event has been confirmed, which raised further concerns about the future of this reef system, especially when considering the possible effects of El Niño weather phenomenon.

The Australian Institute of Marine Science conducts annual surveys of the Great Barrier Reef's status, and the 2022 report showed the greatest recovery in 36 years. It is mainly due to the regrowth of two-thirds of the reef by the fast-growing Acropora coral, which is the dominant coral there.

[polish language spoken, subtitles in English]

 

Under the lining of dreams (OBEnauts) is a reportage, made in 2008 at OBE fans camp in Poland. OBE means Out of Body Experience, NDE means Near Death Experience and LD means Lucid Dreams. Style of this documentary video is a freestyle speaking at close up camera shoots. It support the sincerity of speaking people and their emotions. Director and crew are not intervene in the set and not manipulate anything, so sometimes it is an impression of somehow incoherence and naivety etc. However after 12 years director thinks, that this video may be interesting in a light of current affairs. Director thinks, that image still present some of the Truth.

 

Written&Dirrected: Mateusz Droba, cinematography: Paweł Dunia, Marek Czarnik, Mateusz Droba, editing: Mateusz Droba, music: Krzysztof Jaros, production: Marek Czarnik & Mateusz Droba, Poland 2008.

This version is (c) to PLEOROMA & Marat Dakunin 2022

 

Director's Statement 2008 & 2020

 

Film został zarejestrowany na zlocie fanów tzw. "OBE" w 2008 r. Przedstawiłem swobodne wypowiedzi uczestników, bez żadnej ingerencji i bez montażu reżyserującego wypowiedź itp. W bliskich ujęciach dokumentalnych, na twarz, mówiące usta, mimikę, starałem się oddać "prawdę mówiącego". Wydaje mi się, że film pokazuje szczerość wypowiedzi. To, o czym i jak, wypowiadają się Bohaterowie, cechuje w moim przekonaniu znaczne pomieszanie fantazji, pewnych przewidzeń, dopowiedzeń i mylnych interpretacji, nie przeczy to jednak temu, że jest tu także obecna Prawda.

Tę prawdę, choćby w tym materiale było jej niewiele, chciałem pokazać. [Marat Dakunin, 2008]

  

Obecnie, chciałbym dodać jedno: Z wiedzy, jaką udało mi się uzyskać, z najbardziej wiarygodnego Źródła, tzw. OBE - LD itp. nie nadaje się w zasadzie do niczego innego, jak do rozrywki (entertainment). Tak więc, ponieważ obecnie, sytuacja wzywa raczej do pracy, a nie rozrywki, prezentuję ten film jako ciekwostkę. [Marat Dakunin, PLEOROMA, 2022]

Inverness Castle, with its commanding view over the River Ness, is a site steeped in Scottish history. The current fortress, dating back to 1836, is the latest in a long line of castles that have graced this spot since 1057. It's a Category A listed building, reflecting its significant heritage. The castle is not just a historical site; it's set to become a vibrant cultural hub. The Inverness Castle Experience, opening in 2025, will offer visitors an interactive journey celebrating the spirit of the Highlands, complete with storytelling, music, and panoramic views from the South Tower. This transformation symbolizes the castle's evolution from a medieval stronghold to a modern beacon of Highland culture.

 

In the foreground, the River Ness is a notable waterway in Scotland, flowing from Loch Dochfour, which is connected to the famous Loch Ness, and running northeast for about 10 Kilometres until it reaches the Moray Firth at Inverness. This river is not only significant for its natural beauty and the wildlife it supports but also for its rich history and cultural significance. The Ness Islands, accessible by footbridges, offer a serene escape within the city of Inverness, and the river itself is spanned by several bridges, including the Victorian-era Greig Street Bridge and Infirmary Bridge. The River Ness also holds a place in folklore as the site of the first reported sighting of the Loch Ness Monster, adding a layer of myth to its flowing waters. Whether one is interested in nature, history, or legend, the River Ness provides a captivating backdrop to the city of Inverness and the surrounding Highlands.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverness_Castle

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Ness

Kent Coast Path: Oare Marshes Circular

Explore a tranquil nature reserve on this North Kent circular walk.

Explore this tranquil nature reserve managed by the Kent Wildlife Trust on this North Kent circular walk. It is an area of over 200 acres, with freshwater dykes, open water ‘scrapes’, sea-wall and saltmarshes. It is part of the Swale Site of Special Scientific Interest and is an internationally important wetland because of the migratory, overwintering and breeding wetland birds it supports.

 

Begin this short walk in the quaint village of Oare, where boatbuilding and fishing have been a way of life for centuries. As you follow the creek as it twists and turns towards the coast you will pass by small shipwrecks and mudflats.

 

Continue further to enter the wildlife reserve and discover the true wildness of the marshes. Reach the conveniently placed Sea Wall Hide on the corner of the marshes. Take some time to rest, be still and peer out of the hide out onto the sea to spot migrating sea birds

India Set I Travel Collection I Steve's Website I © Steve Rosset 2009

 

Isa Khan's Tomb - New Delhi, India

 

While spending a few days in Delhi, I decided to take in some of the more popular tourist destinations. Unlike Mumbai, New Delhi is relatively "clean". It is the center of government and thus is very much the face of India. While the business deals get done in Mumbai, Delhi is the place where India's rich history comes to life.

 

This is Isa Khan's Tomb situated within the city. Here's a quick excerpt from Wikipedia:

 

Isa Khan's tomb built during his lifetime ca 1547-48 AD, is situated near the Mughal Emperor Humayun's Tomb complex in Delhi which was built later between 1562-1571 AD. Built within an enclosed garden, it is bears striking resemblance to other tombs of Sur dynasty monuments in the Lodhi Gardens. This octagonal tomb has distinct ornamentation in the form of canopies, glazed tiles and lattice screens and a corridor around it supported by pillars.

 

Also across this tomb lies a mosque, built along with the tomb, known as Isa Khan's mosque with noticeable mehrabs. Many of the architectural details present in these structures can be seen further evolved in the main Humayun's tomb, though on a much grander scale

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system, composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,300 kilometres over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometres. The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, Australia, separated from the coast by a channel 160 kilometres wide in places and over 61 metres deep. The Great Barrier Reef can be seen from outer space and is the world's biggest single structure made by living organisms. This reef structure is composed of and built by billions of tiny organisms, known as coral polyps. It supports a wide diversity of life and was selected as a World Heritage Site in 1981. CNN labelled it one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World in 1997.[9] Australian World Heritage places included it in its list in 2007. The Queensland National Trust named it a state icon of Queensland in 2006.

A large part of the reef is protected by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, which helps to limit the impact of human use, such as fishing and tourism. Other environmental pressures on the reef and its ecosystem include runoff of humanmade pollutants, climate change accompanied by mass coral bleaching, dumping of dredging sludge and cyclic population outbreaks of the crown-of-thorns starfish. According to a study published in October 2012 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the reef has lost more than half its coral cover since 1985, a finding reaffirmed by a 2020 study which found over half of the reef's coral cover to have been lost between 1995 and 2017, with the effects of a widespread 2020 bleaching event not yet quantified.

The Great Barrier Reef has long been known to and used by the Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and is an important part of local groups' cultures and spirituality. The reef is a very popular destination for tourists, especially in the Whitsunday Islands and Cairns regions. Tourism is an important economic activity for the region, generating over AUD$3 billion per year. In November 2014, Google launched Google Underwater Street View in 3D of the Great Barrier Reef.

A March 2016 report stated that coral bleaching was more widespread than previously thought, seriously affecting the northern parts of the reef as a result of warming ocean temperatures. In October 2016, Outside published an obituary for the reef; the article was criticised for being premature and hindering efforts to bolster the resilience of the reef. In March 2017, the journal Nature published a paper showing that huge sections of an 800-kilometre stretch in the northern part of the reef had died in the course of 2016 of high water temperatures, an event that the authors put down to the effects of global climate change. The percentage of baby corals being born on the Great Barrier Reef dropped drastically in 2018 and scientists are describing it as the early stage of a "huge natural selection event unfolding". Many of the mature breeding adults died in the bleaching events of 2016–17, leading to low coral birth rates. The types of corals that reproduced also changed, leading to a "long-term reorganisation of the reef ecosystem if the trend continues."

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975 stipulates an Outlook Report on the Reef's health, pressures, and future every five years. The last report was published in 2019. In March 2022, another mass bleaching event has been confirmed, which raised further concerns about the future of this reef system, especially when considering the possible effects of El Niño weather phenomenon.

The Australian Institute of Marine Science conducts annual surveys of the Great Barrier Reef's status, and the 2022 report showed the greatest recovery in 36 years. It is mainly due to the regrowth of two-thirds of the reef by the fast-growing Acropora coral, which is the dominant coral there.

20. Deep Inside the Glacier

January 2024

90 × 60 cm, Alu-Dibond with acrylic glass

 

Italiaans

Nel cuore della cattedrale di ghiaccio c’è una seconda colonna scintillante, formata da acqua di fusione che gocciola lentamente e si è trasformata in una scultura cristallina. Sostiene la volta glaciale sopra di sé, come un appoggio temporaneo in un mondo in continuo movimento.

Il soffitto brilla di ghiaccio blu venato. Sotto la colonna scorre silenziosa l’acqua di fusione, liscia come vetro. Da lontano, una luce fredda entra attraverso l’apertura, come provenisse da un altro mondo.

Un luogo che sembra una cappella nel ghiacciaio: silenzioso, misterioso e effimero.

 

Questa foto ha ricevuto una menzione d’onore dalla giuria della Swiss Photo Club agli SPC Photo Awards di Zurigo, a fine 2024 e ha vinto un terzo posto in un concorso fotografico di Expozer.

________________________________________

Duits

In den Tiefen der Eiskathedrale steht eine zweite glänzende Säule, geformt aus langsam tropfendem Schmelzwasser, das zu einer kristallinen Skulptur gefroren ist. Sie trägt das Eisgewölbe über sich, als temporärer Stützpunkt in einer Welt in Bewegung.

Die Decke schimmert in geädertem, blauem Eis. Unter der Säule fliesst stilles Schmelzwasser, klar wie Glas. Aus der Ferne fällt kaltes Licht durch den Eingang, als käme es aus einer anderen Welt.

Ein Ort, der sich anfühlt wie eine Kapelle im Gletscher: still, geheimnisvoll und vergänglich.

 

Für dieses Foto erhielt ich eine lobende Erwähnung durch die Jury des Swiss Photo Clubs bei den SPC Photo Awards in Zürich, Ende 2024 und hat den dritten Platz bei einem Fotowettbewerb von Expozer gewonnen.

 

________________________________________

Engels

In the depths of the ice cathedral stands a second glistening column, formed by slowly dripping meltwater, frozen into a crystalline sculpture. It supports the icy vault above, a temporary pillar in a world in motion.

The ceiling gleams with veined blue ice. Beneath the column, still meltwater flows, smooth as glass. From a distance, cold light enters through the opening, as if from another world.

A place that feels like a chapel within the glacier: silent, mysterious, and fleeting.

 

This photograph received an honorable mention by the jury of the Swiss Photo Club at the SPC Photo Awards in Zurich, late 2024 and won third place in a photography contest by Expozer.

 

Tahai, Rapa Nui, Easter Island, Chile.

 

The three ahu of Tahai

But without a doubt, the great focus of attention at Tahai are its three ahu or ceremonial platforms located on the small rocky cliff that rises above the sea. The altars form a visual line that stars in this magnificent setting. If you look straight at the platforms, the first group on the left with five moai statues is the Ahu Vai Uri, the next one is the Ahu Tahai and the last one with a single statue wearing a pukao or hat is the Ahu Ko Te Riku.

 

Ahu Vai Uri

The Ahu Vai Uri, whose name could be translated as dark water or green water, is the platform with the largest number of erected statues. Its construction dates from 1200 AD. and its five restored moai are a sample of the different styles of how they were carved.

The first one on the right is currently a piece of rock that is barely recognizable. However, the one that follows, much better preserved as such as the first on the left, has a lower and more robust body than the rest and shows a grim expression.

 

Ahu Tahai

Ahu Tahai has a single solitary moai about 4.5 meters high. The figure, which is very eroded, shows a thick torso and a wide neck, and rises on the oldest platform of the complex built around 700 AD.

Despite the enormous wear suffered by the moai over time, it still shows the greatness and pride of the ancestors they represent and, in some way, still transmits that mythical power called mana.

 

Ahu Ko Te Riku

Ahu Ko Te Riku is the last and singular platform located further north. Above it rises a single moai of 5.1 meters high that was restoredwith all the elements that adorned the old finished statues.

On his head it carries a pukao, a cylindrical piece carved in red scoria from the Puna Pau volcano. This form, which according to different opinions, represents a hat or a hair bun, was placed in the last phase of construction of the ahu. It is believed that the original pukaoof this moai was used to carve the Christian cross that is found in the nearby cemetery to Tahai, but there is not even the certainty that it had one. The other differentiating element of Ahu Ko Te Riku is that it supports the only moai that has eyes of the whole island.

 

For video, please visit youtu.be/b3LaCk0laBo

For lack of this old but still strong hexagonal bolt, the section of the spectator stand that it supports would come tumbling down. In its own way, the patterns of this rusty bolt, worn from years of weather and use, are lovely.

The Mourning Dove's nest is a flimsy nest of two or more sticks built in a tree. It supports two eggs incubated by both parents for thirteen or fourteen days. The young leave the nest two weeks after adapting to the surroundings. A pair may produce 2 to 5 broods each summer. The dove usually nests from April through August.

The dove will sometimes build its nest on top of the nests of American Robins, Gray Catbirds, and Common Grackles. When building a nest, the Mourning Dove male will bring twigs to the nest and give them to the female. She will use them to begin to build a nest. The female will lay the twigs down in a very loose platform. They usually make their nest about 5 to 6 feet high up in pine trees. They also nest in Norway Spruce trees and Sage Orange trees. The Mourning Dove sometimes nests in colonies of ten or more.

U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 was one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The highway, which became one of the most famous roads in the United States, ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona before terminating in Santa Monica in Los Angeles County, California, covering a total of 2,448 miles.

It was recognized in popular culture by both the 1946 hit song "Route 66" and the Route 66 television series, which aired on CBS from 1960 to 1964. It was also featured in the Disney/Pixar animated feature film franchise Cars, beginning in 2006. In John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath (1939), the highway symbolizes escape, loss, and the hope of a new beginning; Steinbeck dubbed it the Mother Road. Other designations and nicknames include the Will Rogers Highway and the Main Street of America, the latter nickname shared with U.S. Route 40.

US 66 was a primary route for those who migrated west, especially during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, and it supported the economies of the communities through which it passed. People doing business along the route became prosperous, and they later fought to keep it alive in the face of the growing threat of being bypassed by the more advanced controlled-access highways of the Interstate Highway System in the 1960s and 70s.

US 66 underwent many improvements and realignments over its lifetime, but it was officially removed from the United States Highway System in 1985 after it was entirely replaced by segments of the Interstate Highway System. Portions of the road that passed through Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona have been communally designated a National Scenic Byway by the name "Historic Route 66", returning the name to some maps. Several states have adopted significant bypassed sections of the former US 66 into their state road networks as State Route 66 and much of the former route within the San Bernardino County, California, is designated as County Route 66. The corridor is also being redeveloped into U.S. Bicycle Route 66, a part of the United States Bicycle Route System that was developed in the 2010s.

Wikipedia:

The American airborne landings in Normandy were the first United States combat operations during Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy by the Western Allies on June 6, 1944. Around 13,100 paratroopers of the U.S. 82nd Airborne and 101st Airborne Divisions made night parachute drops early on D-Day, June 6, followed by 3,937 glider troops flown in by day. As the opening maneuver of Operation Neptune (the assault operation for Overlord) the American airborne divisions were delivered to the continent in two parachute and six glider missions. Both divisions were part of the U.S. VII Corps and provided it support in its mission of capturing Cherbourg as soon as possible to provide the Allies with a port of supply. The specific missions of the airborne divisions were to block approaches into the vicinity of the amphibious landing at Utah Beach, to capture causeway exits off the beaches, and to establish crossings over the Douve River at Carentan to assist the U.S. V Corps in merging the two American beachheads. The assault did not succeed in blocking the approaches to Utah for three days. Numerous factors played a part, most of which dealt with excessive scattering of the drops. Despite this, German forces were unable to exploit the chaos. Many German units made a tenacious defense of their strong-points, but all were systematically defeated within the week.

 

I actually don't know if I'm totally satisfied with this but I decided to upload it. I might retake this in the future.

 

Sorry If I forgot to tag you!

 

~Victor

Mysterious Designs - Fragrance-Free - Body Essentials PACK

 

grab your Own @ Mysterious Designs Mainstore

 

Mysterious Designs Marketplace

 

Is your lifestyle very challenging? because fragrances are found in most products such as hair and body washes, deodorants, laundry detergents, carpet cleaners, air fresheners, instant sticks, oil burners, etc. Therefore, Mysterios Designs wanted to create these products to raise awareness for people who may not know this is a real issue. You may be sensitive yourself and not even realize it.

 

YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT IT....READ MORE HERE : SinclaiR Style

Hello! Do want to come and sit on the wall and eat ice lollies with me?

 

***********

 

The ice lollies were made for my BJD's by the sister of a friend.

And Mary Meaden has yet another new body!!! It is a PN small size and it supports her head with ease.

Excerpt from grimsby.ca:

 

Doctors’ House: The subject property is located at the northeast corner of Ontario Street and Doran Avenue.

 

The property has the original brick building and its addition and includes the addresses 16 -20 Ontario Street. The subject of the designation is the brick building and its southwesterly addition at 16 Ontario Street.

 

Statement of Cultural Heritage Value or Interest: The Doctors' House at 16 Ontario Street demonstrates physical value as a good example of the Queen Anne Style of Architecture, and as the most substantial residential building in the downtown core of Grimsby.

 

The subject dwelling embodies the rich architectural detail associated with historical fruit farms and with the Queen Anne Style of Architecture as a result of the profitability of the tender fruit industry in the area which allowed residential farm architecture to be lavish. The building represents an early example of a converted estate type residential building into a building used for medical practice.

 

The physical value of the building is enhanced by the Queen Anne Style detailing that is prominent on the exterior of the building. The Doctors' House at 16 Ontario Street demonstrates associational value as a focal point of the medical profession in Grimsby from the 1910s to the 1960s.

 

A number of the physicians who operated out of 16 Ontario Street were significant in the community as both professionals and community leaders. Dr. Buck was the first physician associated with the building and a community leader in many ways including education, service clubs and lodges.

 

His greatest community impact was his leadership of the Grimsby Peach Kings Hockey Club during its first years of operation which was a period of great prominence in the sporting history of Grimsby. Dr. McMillan was the second physician associated with the building and was prominent in his leadership of the local community through the establishment of the West Lincoln Memorial Hospital. The third prominent physician associated with the building is Dr. Jamieson. All three of the physicians associated with the Doctors' House were role models for their service as medical practitioners in the First World War. The Doctors' House at 16 Ontario Street as contextual value as it supports the character and quality of built form in downtown Grimsby and on Ontario Street. The building demonstrates historical land use patterns as a medical practice hub within the downtown.

 

Heritage Attributes

The following architectural attributes have been determined to contribute to the heritage value of the dwelling and constitute part of the Statement of Cultural Heritage Value or Interest for 133 Main Street East:

Local red stone foundation;

Brick plinth above foundation;

Two storey bay on south facade:

•Decorative windows;

•Stone sills and lintel;

•Decorative brick patterns;

•Blind bay with decorative brick;

Four decorative brackets in gable;

One storey bay on the north facade;

Stone sills and lintels;

Stone corbels;

Decorative brackets supported by stone corbels;

1/1 sash windows;

Brackets below the eaves;

Patterned slate roof;

Gable with decorative shingles;

Gable window;

Peaked roof;

Dormer window on south elevation;

Brick chimneys and chimney base on north facade;

Setback of west façade from Ontario Street;

Physical reminders of medical practice (speaking tube); and

Red pressed brick exterior (currently painted)

Acanthuridae are the family of surgeon fishes, tangs, and unicornfishes. The family includes about 86 extant species of marine fish living in tropical seas, usually around coral reefs. Many of the species are brightly colored and popular in aquaria. The distinctive characteristic of the family is that they have scalpel-like modified scales, one or more on either side of the peduncle of the tail. The spines are dangerously sharp and may seriously injure anyone who carelessly handles such a fish. The dorsal, anal, and caudal fins are large, extending for most of the length of the body. The mouths are small and have a single row of teeth adapted to grazing on algae. Surgeonfishes sometimes feed as solitary individuals, but they often travel and feed in schools. Feeding in schools may be a mechanism for overwhelming the highly aggressive defense responses of small territorial damselfishes that vigorously guard small patches of algae on coral reefs.

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,300 kilometres over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometres. The Great Barrier Reef is a distinct feature of the East Australian Cordillera division. It reaches from Torres Strait (between Bramble Cay, its northernmost island, and the south coast of Papua New Guinea) in the north to the unnamed passage between Lady Elliot Island (its southernmost island) and Fraser Island in the south. Lady Elliot Island is located 1,915 km southeast of Bramble Cay as the crow flies. It includes the smaller Murray Islands. The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, Australia. The Great Barrier Reef can be seen from outer space and is the world's biggest single structure made by living organisms. This reef structure is composed of and built by billions of tiny organisms, known as coral polyps. It supports a wide diversity of life and was selected as a World Heritage Site in 1981. The Great Barrier Reef has long been known to and used by the Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and is an important part of local groups' cultures and spirituality. The reef is a very popular destination for tourists, especially in the Whitsunday Islands and Cairns regions. Tourism is an important economic activity for the region, generating over A$3 billion per year. 22731

Tucked into the dune swales and beach grass of Washington’s southwest coast, Achillea millefolium—common yarrow—flourishes where salt, wind, and sand test the hardiest natives. Its finely divided, feathery leaves and flat-topped white blooms belie its toughness.

 

Long valued by coastal Indigenous peoples, yarrow was used to treat wounds, fevers, and digestive complaints, often brewed as tea or applied as a poultice. The Quinault, Chinook, and other regional nations recognized its astringent, anti-inflammatory, and styptic properties—an ancestral medicine chest hiding in plain sight.

 

Ecologically, yarrow plays a quiet but vital role in coastal succession. Its rhizomes help stabilize fragile soils, making it one of the pioneer species that prepares open sand for more complex plant communities. It supports native pollinators and withstands both drought and disturbance—traits essential for survival in the shifting, wind-scoured dune zones near the Pacific.

 

Today, yarrow is as much a symbol of resilience as it is a plant of utility—bridging past and present, healing and holding ground.

 

This text is a collaboration with Chat GPT.

 

Thanks a lot for your visits, comments, faves, invites, etc ...

 

Always very much appreciated !

Smile on Saturday Theme: "BEAUTY OF THE BEAST"

 

"All things share the same breath - the beast, the tree, the man... the air shares its spirit with all the life it supports." -Chief Seattle

 

¤ On Black ¤ : It's an international crime to not view this large on black; Only 162KB.

 

This is my 400th upload, what a better way to show it off than with an image from the most-photographed vista in the world. This was made just after the sun dipped below the horizon--the pinks and creeping purples are evidence of approaching twilight.

 

Visible surrounding Yosemite Valley are El Capitan (left), Half Dome (center), and Bridalveil Fall (right).

 

¤ ¤ ¤

 

Yosemite is one of the largest and least fragmented habitat blocks in the Sierra Nevada, and it supports a diversity of plants and animals. The park has an elevation range from 2,000 to 13,114 feet (600 to 4000 m) and contains five major vegetation zones: chaparral/oak woodland, lower montane, upper montane, subalpine and alpine. Of California's 7,000 plant species, about 50% occur in the Sierra Nevada and more than 20% within Yosemite. There is suitable habitat or documented records for more than 160 rare plants in the park, with rare local geologic formations and unique soils characterizing the restricted ranges many of these plants occupy. --from Wiki

 

paulomernik.com

The Kurobe Dam (黒部ダム) or Kuroyon Dam (黒四ダム), is a variable-radius arch dam on the Kurobe River in Toyama Prefecture on the island of Honshū, Japan. It supports the 335 MW Kurobe No. 4 Hydropower Plant and is owned by Kansai Electric Power Company. At 186 metres (610 ft) high, it is the tallest dam in Japan. It was constructed between 1956 and 1963 at a cost of ¥51.3 billion yen. (wiki)

 

Thank you to all for your visits, comments and faves ! Much appreciated !

The Theodore Grain Elevator is the last remaining wooden grain elevator in the community of Theodore, Saskatchewan, after the other three were demolished. This historic structure symbolizes the importance of agriculture in the region and serves as a reminder of the past agricultural economy and the communities it supported. It is adorned with the 1967 Canadian Centennial maple leaf.

 

Chapter 3: Don't Be So Measuremental

 

This picture appears in Chapter 3 of my soon-to-be-released book, Your Business Plan is Like a Bra -

It Supports Your Every Move. This chapter talks about studying your competition.

 

My favorite quote from this chapter:

"Unfortunately, too many people fall into the trap of thinking that there is not enough success to go around, so they throw down the ladder which they climb to keep others behind. This type of behavior stinks and gives competition a bad name."

 

Enjoy using the pictures. Please provide a link back to likeabra.com if you do.

 

Stay tuned! Much more is coming...

This enormous church dates from the early 13th century with fabric dating from the Norman to Victorian eras. It is very large because it supported a college of priests in the Middle Ages. The pilars are made of solid chestnut wood.

  

It supports a pipeline. I always thought it was an oil pipeline as there is one nearby but learned this carries sewage. Whitemud Creek Ravine

The Forty-Fours are a group of islands in the Chatham Archipelago, about 50 kilometres (31 mi) east of the main Chatham Island. They are called Motchuhar in Moriori and Motuhara in Māori. The group includes New Zealand's easternmost point, whose South Island is located about 800 kilometres (500 mi) to the west.

It is one of only two breeding sites for the Chatham Fulmar Prion. It has been identified as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International because it supports breeding colonies of Buller's and Northern Royal Albatrosses.

Floating high among the thinly layered, misty, and gracefully playful clouds that occupy the deep blue skies spanning the Kingdom, wanders Autumn's Breeze Keep. As if that was not enough of a sight, the Keep is topped with gold shingled roofs that shine in the afternoon sun, and surrounded by red-orange leaved trees who dance with the soft winds as they are pushed and pulled back and forth, rustling gently among the swift cries of the winds. A spring of sapphire tinted water erupts from underneath the Keep's side, until the curious water plummets below, sharply, disappearing forever among the clouds.

 

Just a little Micro-Castle. I've always wanted to try my hand at something tiny like this, and I think it turned out nicely. Sorry the base kind of blended with the background. I should've gone with a different color with the back drop.

 

This build will be up for purchase through Creations for Charity. (Link coming soon!) I suggest you check out the store and other creations, and maybe think about buying something. I don't really care if it's mine or somebody else's creation. There's a lot of cool stuff on there. Or just donate, as it supports a good cause.

There are experiences that mark us. They are so intense and unique that we go back to those memories over and over again, reapreciando every feeling as if it were the first time

 

It wasn't the best sky I've ever seen, I didn't see the best shooting stars, in fact, it wasn't even the astrolandscape session for which I was more motivated, since it was the second session in a row and the fatigue was kicking in.

 

These factors led to lower the pace. Instead of looking frantically for the most diverse subjects, I chose one at the end of the afternoon and waited

 

This long and relaxed wait allowed me to truly observe for the first time in 2 days the natural splendor that surrounded me. The Almendra dam area is rich in wildlife as well as quite remote from civilization, having only small villages, yet distant. Human and city sounds are completely non-existent and replaced by a frenzy of animal life, and in the space of just over 1h30 it was easy to appreciate small and large birds, cat-sized fish, leisurely feeding cattle, deers, far and suspicious, among others animals and sounds, so well known but so rare to hear so often.

 

The night has come, windy but with a pleasant temperature, the sounds changed but the frenzy of nature was kept, and I think that for the first time in many years, I just observed the starry sky, accompanied by the relaxing melody of the waves of water and the fauna that it supports.

 

This is the only picture of this night. Seek to convey calm, tranquility and beauty, and it is a reflection of the whole experience of this late afternoon / night

 

PS. The human being cannot, in any way, percecionar these colors during the night. It was however only used by the camera. It's probably the most "fake" photo I've ever posted.

Atlante Farnese (2nd century AD) - MANN, National Archaeological Museum of Naples

 

Esiodo narra che Atlante fu costretto da Zeus a tenere sulle spalle l'intera volta celeste per punirlo di essersi alleato col padre di Zeus, Crono, che guidò i titani contro gli dèi dell'Olimpo.

Atlante riuscì a convincere Eracle a sostituirlo temporaneamente nella sua punizione offrendosi di poter raccogliere i pomi d'oro dall'albero del giardino delle Esperidi al suo posto. Ottenuto lo scambio però Eracle riuscì a convincerlo di tenere momentaneamente la volta per potersi mettere qualcosa sotto le ginocchia e quando Atlante sollevò la volta del cielo dalle spalle di Eracle, questi raccolse le tre mele lasciate a terra e se ne andò.

La prima vertebra della colonna vertebrale, atlante, deve il suo nome a questo personaggio, poiché essa sostiene il cranio così come il titano regge la sfera celeste.

 

Hesiod narrates that Atlas was forced by Zeus to hold the entire celestial vault on his shoulders to punish him for having allied himself with Zeus' father, Cronus, who led the titans against the Olympian gods.

Atlas managed to convince Heracles to temporarily replace him in his punishment by offering to be able to collect the golden apples from the tree of the Hesperides garden in his place. Obtained the exchange, however, Heracles managed to convince him to hold the vault momentarily to be able to put something under his knees and when Atlas lifted the vault of the sky from the shoulders of Heracles, he picked up the three apples left on the ground and left.

The first vertebra of the vertebral column, atlas, owes its name to this character, since it supports the skull just as the titan holds the celestial sphere.

 

Some times you just got to have a little support.

 

Remembering Leo Russell R.I.P.

youtu.be/ooxvmkT4FSo

youtu.be/XHSv6N6T3Do

 

Remembering Bill Withers R.I.P.

youtu.be/XHSv6N6T3Do

 

Remembeing the Pretenders

James Honeyman_Scott and Peter Granville Farndon R.I.P.

youtu.be/SuWAGT9ZkYE

 

To see what it supports go here

www.flickr.com/photos/tripod_treker/52249957742/in/datepo...

 

DSC_2650

Dunsapie Loch, Holyrood Park

 

A small artificial loch located between Dunsapie Hill and Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh's Holyrood Park. Created at the initiative of Prince Albert, Consort to Queen Victoria, in 1844, it is fed with water from Alnwickhill in the south of the city.

 

Today, lying alongside the road at about 110m above sea level, the loch forms a popular location within the park which is often the starting point for an ascent to the top of Arthur's Seat. It supports plentiful wildfowl.

Excerpt from mcfcrandall.wordpress.com:

 

Amnesty International Toronto Organization is a group that works to raise public awareness of human rights issues. One of the projects that it supports is Urban Canvas. Thirty murals were planned, each based on one of the thirty articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

 

The mural for Article 26 is on Sherbourne Street at St. James Town West Park. It is on the wall of a Shoppers Drug Mart.

 

Article 26 pertains to education:

 

“Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages…. and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit. Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and it shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups” is written on the accompanying poster. That is a condensed version of article 26.

 

The Mackinac Bridge is currently the fifth longest suspension bridge in the world. In 1998, the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge in Japan became the longest with a total suspension of 12,826 feet. The Mackinac Bridge is the longest suspension bridge in the western hemisphere. The total length of the Mackinac Bridge is 26,372 feet. The length of the suspension bridge (including anchorages) is 8,614 feet. The length from cable bent pier to cable bent pier is 7,400 feet. Length of main span (between towers) is 3,800 feet.

 

The width of the roadway is 54 feet. The outside lanes are 12 feet wide (2), the inside lanes are 11 feet wide (2), the center mall is 2 feet wide, and the catwalk, curb and rail width is 3 feet on each side - totaling 54 feet. The stiffening truss width in the suspended span is 68 feet wide making it wider than the roadway it supports.

 

The height of the roadway at mid-span is approximately 200 feet above water level. The vertical clearance at normal temperature is 155 feet at the center of the main suspension span and 135 feet at the boundaries of the 3,000 ft. navigation channel.

 

All suspension bridges are designed to move to accommodate wind, change in temperature, and weight. It is possible that the deck at center span could move as much as 35 feet (east or west) due to high winds. This would only happen under severe wind conditions. The deck would not swing or "sway" but rather move slowly in one direction based on the force and direction of the wind. After the wind subsides, the weight of the vehicles crossing would slowly move it back into center position.

 

The steel superstructure will support one ton per lineal foot per roadway (northbound or southbound). The length of the steel superstructure is 19,243 feet. Each direction will, therefore, support 19,243 tons. The answer is 38,486 tons (2 x 19,243 tons).