Photo Copyright 2017, dynamo.photography.

All rights reserved, no use without license

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from Hong kong)

Hong Kong, officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, is an autonomous territory south to Mainland China and east to Macao in East Asia. With around 7.2 million Hong Kongers of various nationalities[note 2] in a territory of 1,104 km2, Hong Kong is the world's fourth most densely populated country or territory.

Hong Kong used to be a British colony with the perpetual cession of Hong Kong Island from the Qing Empire after the First Opium War (1839–42). The colony expanded to the Kowloon Peninsula in 1860 and acquired a 99-year lease of the New Territories from 1898. Hong Kong was later occupied by Japan during the Second World War until British control resumed in 1945. The Sino-British Joint Declaration signed between the United Kingdom and China in 1984 paved way for the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong in 1997, when it became a special administrative region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China with a high degree of autonomy.[15]

Under the principle of "one country, two systems",[16][17] Hong Kong maintains a separate political and economic system from China. Except in military defence and foreign affairs, Hong Kong maintains its independent executive, legislative and judiciary powers.[18] In addition, Hong Kong develops relations directly with foreign states and international organisations in a broad range of "appropriate fields".[19] Hong Kong involves in international organizations, such as the WTO[20] and the APEC [21], actively and independently.

Hong Kong is one of the world's most significant financial centres, with the highest Financial Development Index score and consistently ranks as the world's most competitive and freest economic entity.[22][23] As the world's 8th largest trading entity,[24] its legal tender, the Hong Kong dollar, is the world's 13th most traded currency.[25] As the world's most visited city,[26][27] Hong Kong's tertiary sector dominated economy is characterised by competitive simple taxation and supported by its independent judiciary system.[28] Even with one of the highest per capita incomes in the world, it suffers from severe income inequality.[29]

Nicknamed "Pearl of the Orient", Hong Kong is renowned for its deep natural harbour, which boasts the world's fifth busiest port with ready access by cargo ships, and its impressive skyline, with the most skyscrapers in the world.[30][31] It has a very high Human Development Index ranking and the world's longest life expectancy.[32][33] Over 90% of the population makes use of well-developed public transportation.[34][35] Seasonal air pollution with origins from neighbouring industrial areas of Mainland China, which adopts loose emissions standards, has resulted in a high level of atmospheric particulates in winter.[36][37][38]

Contents

1 Etymology

2 History

2.1 Prehistory

2.2 Imperial China

2.3 British Crown Colony: 1842–1941

2.4 Japanese occupation: 1941–45

2.5 Resumption of British rule and industrialisation: 1945–97

2.6 Handover and Special Administrative Region status

3 Governance

3.1 Structure of government

3.2 Electoral and political reforms

3.3 Legal system and judiciary

3.4 Foreign relations

3.5 Human rights

3.6 Regions and districts

3.7 Military

4 Geography and climate

5 Economy

5.1 Financial centre

5.2 International trading

5.3 Tourism and expatriation

5.4 Policy

5.5 Infrastructure

6 Demographics

6.1 Languages

6.2 Religion

6.3 Personal income

6.4 Education

6.5 Health

7 Culture

7.1 Sports

7.2 Architecture

7.3 Cityscape

7.4 Symbols

8 See also

9 Notes

10 References

10.1 Citations

10.2 Sources

11 Further reading

12 External links

Etymology

Hong Kong was officially recorded in the 1842 Treaty of Nanking to encompass the entirety of the island.[39]

The source of the romanised name "Hong Kong" is not known, but it is generally believed to be an early imprecise phonetic rendering of the pronunciation in spoken Cantonese 香港 (Cantonese Yale: Hēung Góng), which means "Fragrant Harbour" or "Incense Harbour".[13][14][40] Before 1842, the name referred to a small inlet—now Aberdeen Harbour (Chinese: 香港仔; Cantonese Yale: Hēunggóng jái), literally means "Little Hong Kong"—between Aberdeen Island and the southern coast of Hong Kong Island. Aberdeen was an initial point of contact between British sailors and local fishermen.[41]

Another theory is that the name would have been taken from Hong Kong's early inhabitants, the Tankas (水上人); it is equally probable that romanisation was done with a faithful execution of their speeches, i.e. hōng, not hēung in Cantonese.[42] Detailed and accurate romanisation systems for Cantonese were available and in use at the time.[43]

Fragrance may refer to the sweet taste of the harbour's fresh water estuarine influx of the Pearl River or to the incense from factories lining the coast of northern Kowloon. The incense was stored near Aberdeen Harbour for export before Hong Kong developed Victoria Harbour.[40]

The name had often been written as the single word Hongkong until the government adopted the current form in 1926.[44] Nevertheless, a number of century-old institutions still retain the single-word form, such as the Hongkong Post, Hongkong Electric and the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.

As of 1997, its official name is the "Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China". This is the official title as mentioned in the Hong Kong Basic Law and the Hong Kong Government's website;[45] however, "Hong Kong Special Administrative Region" and "Hong Kong" are widely accepted.

Hong Kong has carried many nicknames. The most famous among those is the "Pearl of the Orient", which reflected the impressive nightscape of the city's light decorations on the skyscrapers along both sides of the Victoria Harbour. The territory is also known as "Asia's World City".

History

Main articles: History of Hong Kong and History of China

Prehistory

Main article: Prehistoric Hong Kong

Archaeological studies support human presence in the Chek Lap Kok area (now Hong Kong International Airport) from 35,000 to 39,000 years ago and on Sai Kung Peninsula from 6,000 years ago.[46][47][48]

Wong Tei Tung and Three Fathoms Cove are the earliest sites of human habitation in Hong Kong during the Paleolithic Period. It is believed that the Three Fathom Cove was a river-valley settlement and Wong Tei Tung was a lithic manufacturing site. Excavated Neolithic artefacts suggested cultural differences from the Longshan culture of northern China and settlement by the Che people, prior to the migration of the Baiyue to Hong Kong.[49][50] Eight petroglyphs, which dated to the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600 BC – 1066 BC) in China, were discovered on the surrounding islands.[51]

Imperial China

Main article: History of Hong Kong under Imperial China

In 214 BC, Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of a centralised China, conquered the Baiyue tribes in Jiaozhi (modern-day Liangguang region and Vietnam) and incorporated the area of Hong Kong into his imperial China for the first time. Hong Kong proper was assigned to the Nanhai commandery (modern-day Nanhai District), near the commandery's capital city Panyu.[52][53][54]

After a brief period of centralisation and collapse of the Qin dynasty, the area of Hong Kong was consolidated under the Kingdom of Nanyue, founded by general Zhao Tuo in 204 BC.[55] When Nanyue lost the Han-Nanyue War in 111 BC, Hong Kong came under the Jiaozhi commandery of the Han dynasty. Archaeological evidence indicates an increase of population and flourish of salt production. The Lei Cheng Uk Han Tomb on the Kowloon Peninsula is believed to have been built as a burial site during the Han dynasty.[56]

From the Han dynasty to the early Tang dynasty, Hong Kong was a part of Bao'an County. In the Tang dynasty, modern-day Guangzhou (Canton) flourished as an international trading centre. In 736, the Emperor Xuanzong of Tang established a military stronghold in Tuen Mun to strengthen defence of the coastal area.[57] The nearby Lantau Island was a salt production centre and salt smuggler riots occasionally broke out against the government. In c. 1075, The first village school, Li Ying College, was established around 1075 AD in modern-day New Territories by the Northern Song dynasty.[58] During their war against the Mongols, the imperial court of Southern Song was briefly stationed at modern-day Kowloon City (the Sung Wong Toi site) before their ultimate defeat by the Mongols at the Battle of Yamen in 1279.[59] The Mongols then established their dynastic court and governed Hong Kong for 97 years.

From the mid-Tang dynasty to the early Ming dynasty (1368–1644), Hong Kong was a part of Dongguan County. During the Ming dynasty, the area was transferred to Xin'an County. The indigenous inhabitants at that time consisted of several ethnicities such as Punti, Hakka, Tanka and Hoklo.

European discovery

The earliest European visitor on record was Jorge Álvares, a Portuguese explorer, who arrived in 1513.[60][61] Having established a trading post in a site they called "Tamão" in Hong Kong waters, Portuguese merchants commenced with regular trading in southern China. Subsequent military clashes between China and Portugal, however, led to the expulsion of all Portuguese merchants from southern China.

Since the 14th century, the Ming court had enforced the maritime prohibition laws that strictly forbade all private maritime activities in order to prevent contact with foreigners by sea.[62] When the Manchu Qing dynasty took over China, Hong Kong was directly affected by the Great Clearance decree of the Kangxi Emperor, who ordered the evacuation of coastal areas of Guangdong from 1661 to 1669. Over 16,000 inhabitants of Xin'an County including those in Hong Kong were forced to migrate inland; only 1,648 of those who had evacuated subsequently returned.[63][64]

British Crown Colony: 1842–1941

A painter at work. John Thomson. Hong Kong, 1871. The Wellcome Collection, London

Main articles: British Hong Kong and History of Hong Kong (1800s–1930s)

In 1839, threats by the imperial court of Qing to sanction opium imports caused diplomatic friction with the British Empire. Tensions escalated into the First Opium War. The Qing admitted defeat when British forces captured Hong Kong Island on 20 January 1841. The island was initially ceded under the Convention of Chuenpi as part of a ceasefire agreement between Captain Charles Elliot and Governor Qishan. A dispute between high-ranking officials of both countries, however, led to the failure of the treaty's ratification. On 29 August 1842, Hong Kong Island was formally ceded in perpetuity to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland under the Treaty of Nanking.[65] The British officially established a Crown colony and founded the City of Victoria in the following year.[66]

The population of Hong Kong Island was 7,450 when the Union Flag raised over Possession Point on 26 January 1841. It mostly consisted of Tanka fishermen and Hakka charcoal burners, whose settlements scattered along several coastal hamlets. In the 1850s, a large number of Chinese immigrants crossed the then-free border to escape from the Taiping Rebellion. Other natural disasters, such as flooding, typhoons and famine in mainland China would play a role in establishing Hong Kong as a place for safe shelter.[67][68]

Further conflicts over the opium trade between Britain and Qing quickly escalated into the Second Opium War. Following the Anglo-French victory, the Crown Colony was expanded to include Kowloon Peninsula (south of Boundary Street) and Stonecutter's Island, both of which were ceded to the British in perpetuity under the Convention of Beijing in 1860.

In 1898, Britain obtained a 99-year lease from Qing under the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory, in which Hong Kong obtained a 99-year lease of Lantau Island, the area north of Boundary Street in Kowloon up to Shenzhen River and over 200 other outlying islands.[69][70][71]

Hong Kong soon became a major entrepôt thanks to its free port status, attracting new immigrants to settle from both China and Europe. The society, however, remained racially segregated and polarised under early British colonial policies. Despite the rise of a British-educated Chinese upper-class by the late-19th century, race laws such as the Peak Reservation Ordinance prevented ethnic Chinese in Hong Kong from acquiring houses in reserved areas such as Victoria Peak. At this time, the majority of the Chinese population in Hong Kong had no political representation in the British colonial government. The British governors did rely, however, on a small number of Chinese elites, including Sir Kai Ho and Robert Hotung, who served as ambassadors and mediators between the government and local population.

File:1937 Hong Kong VP8.webmPlay media

Hong Kong filmed in 1937

In 1904, the United Kingdom established the world's first border and immigration control; all residents of Hong Kong were given citizenship as Citizens of United Kingdom and Colonies (CUKC).

Hong Kong continued to experience modest growth during the first half of the 20th century. The University of Hong Kong was established in 1911 as the territory's first higher education institute. While there had been an exodus of 60,000 residents for fear of a German attack on the British colony during the First World War, Hong Kong remained unscathed. Its population increased from 530,000 in 1916 to 725,000 in 1925 and reached 1.6 million by 1941.[72]

In 1925, Cecil Clementi became the 17th Governor of Hong Kong. Fluent in Cantonese and without a need for translator, Clementi introduced the first ethnic Chinese, Shouson Chow, into the Executive Council as an unofficial member. Under Clementi's tenure, Kai Tak Airport entered operation as RAF Kai Tak and several aviation clubs. In 1937, the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out when the Japanese Empire expanded its territories from northeastern China into the mainland proper. To safeguard Hong Kong as a freeport, Governor Geoffry Northcote declared the Crown Colony as a neutral zone.

Japanese occupation: 1941–45

Main article: Japanese occupation of Hong Kong

The Cenotaph in Hong Kong commemorates those who died in service in the First World War and the Second World War.[73]

As part of its military campaign in Southeast Asia during Second World War, the Japanese army moved south from Guangzhou of mainland China and attacked Hong Kong in on 8 December 1941.[74] Crossing the border at Shenzhen River on 8 December, the Battle of Hong Kong lasted for 18 days when British and Canadian forces held onto Hong Kong Island. Unable to defend against intensifying Japanese air and land bombardments, they eventually surrendered control of Hong Kong on 25 December 1941. The Governor of Hong Kong was captured and taken as a prisoner of war. This day is regarded by the locals as "Black Christmas".[75]

During the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, the Japanese army committed atrocities against civilians and POWs, such as the St. Stephen's College massacre. Local residents also suffered widespread food shortages, limited rationing and hyper-inflation arising from the forced exchange of currency from Hong Kong dollars to Japanese military banknotes. The initial ratio of 2:1 was gradually devalued to 4:1 and ownership of Hong Kong dollars was declared illegal and punishable by harsh torture. Due to starvation and forced deportation for slave labour to mainland China, the population of Hong Kong had dwindled from 1.6 million in 1941 to 600,000 in 1945, when the United Kingdom resumed control of the colony on 2 September 1945.[76]

Resumption of British rule and industrialisation: 1945–97

Main articles: British Hong Kong, 1950s in Hong Kong, 1960s in Hong Kong, 1970s in Hong Kong, 1980s in Hong Kong, and 1990s in Hong Kong

Flag of British Hong Kong from 1959 to 1997

Hong Kong's population recovered quickly after the war, as a wave of skilled migrants from the Republic of China moved in to seek refuge from the Chinese Civil War. When the Communist Party eventually took full control of mainland China in 1949, even more skilled migrants fled across the open border for fear of persecution.[69] Many newcomers, especially those who had been based in the major port cities of Shanghai and Guangzhou, established corporations and small- to medium-sized businesses and shifted their base operations to British Hong Kong.[69] The establishment of a socialist state in China (People's Republic of China) on 1 October 1949 caused the British colonial government to reconsider Hong Kong's open border to mainland China. In 1951, a boundary zone was demarked as a buffer zone against potential military attacks from communist China. Border posts along the north of Hong Kong began operation in 1953 to regulate the movement of people and goods into and out of the territory.

Stamp with portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, 1953

In the 1950s, Hong Kong became the first of the Four Asian Tiger economies under rapid industrialisation driven by textile exports, manufacturing industries and re-exports of goods to China. As the population grew, with labour costs remaining low, living standards began to rise steadily.[77] The construction of the Shek Kip Mei Estate in 1953 marked the beginning of the public housing estate programme to provide shelter for the less privileged and to cope with the influx of immigrants.

Under Sir Murray MacLehose, 25th Governor of Hong Kong (1971–82), a series of reforms improved the public services, environment, housing, welfare, education and infrastructure of Hong Kong. MacLehose was British Hong Kong's longest-serving governor and, by the end of his tenure, had become one of the most popular and well-known figures in the Crown Colony. MacLehose laid the foundation for Hong Kong to establish itself as a key global city in the 1980s and early 1990s.

A sky view of Hong Kong Island

An aerial view of the northern shore of Hong Kong Island in 1986

To resolve traffic congestion and to provide a more reliable means of crossing the Victoria Harbour, a rapid transit railway system (metro), the MTR, was planned from the 1970s onwards. The Island Line (Hong Kong Island), Kwun Tong Line (Kowloon Peninsula and East Kowloon) and Tsuen Wan Line (Kowloon and urban New Territories) opened in the early 1980s.[78]

In 1983, the Hong Kong dollar left its 16:1 peg with the Pound sterling and switched to the current US-HK Dollar peg. Hong Kong's competitiveness in manufacturing gradually declined due to rising labour and property costs, as well as new development in southern China under the Open Door Policy introduced in 1978 which opened up China to foreign business. Nevertheless, towards the early 1990s, Hong Kong had established itself as a global financial centre along with London and New York City, a regional hub for logistics and freight, one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia and the world's exemplar of Laissez-faire market policy.[79]

The Hong Kong question

In 1971, the Republic of China (Taiwan)'s permanent seat on the United Nations was transferred to the People's Republic of China (PRC), Hong Kong's status as a recognised colony became terminated in 1972 under the request of PRC. Facing the uncertain future of Hong Kong and expiry of land lease of New Territories beyond 1997, Governor MacLehose raised the question in the late 1970s.

The British Nationality Act 1981 reclassified Hong Kong into a British Dependent Territory amid the reorganisation of global territories of the British Empire. All residents of Hong Kong became British Dependent Territory Citizens (BDTC). Diplomatic negotiations began with China and eventually concluded with the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration. Both countries agreed to transfer Hong Kong's sovereignty to China on 1 July 1997, when Hong Kong would remain autonomous as a special administrative region and be able to retain its free-market economy, British common law through the Hong Kong Basic Law, independent representation in international organisations (e.g. WTO and WHO), treaty arrangements and policy-making except foreign diplomacy and military defence.

It stipulated that Hong Kong would retain its laws and be guaranteed a high degree of autonomy for at least 50 years after the transfer. The Hong Kong Basic Law, based on English law, would serve as the constitutional document after the transfer. It was ratified in 1990.[69] The expiry of the 1898 lease on the New Territories in 1997 created problems for business contracts, property leases and confidence among foreign investors.

Handover and Special Administrative Region status

Main articles: Transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong and 2000s in Hong Kong

Transfer of sovereignty

Golden Bauhinia Square

On 1 July 1997, the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China took place, officially marking the end of Hong Kong's 156 years under British colonial governance. As the largest remaining colony of the United Kingdom, the loss of Hong Kong effectively represented the end of the British Empire. This transfer of sovereignty made Hong Kong the first special administrative region of China. Tung Chee-Hwa, a pro-Beijing business tycoon, was elected Hong Kong's first Chief Executive by a selected electorate of 800 in a televised programme.

Structure of government

Hong Kong's current structure of governance inherits from the British model of colonial administration set up in the 1850s. The 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration states that "Hong Kong should enjoy a high degree of autonomy in all areas except defence and foreign affairs" with reference to the underlying principle of one country, two systems.[note 3] This Declaration stipulates that Hong Kong maintains her capitalist economic system and guarantees the rights and freedoms of her people for at least 50 years after the 1997 handover. [note 4] Such guarantees are enshrined in the Hong Kong's Basic Law, the territory's constitutional document, which outlines the system of governance after 1997, albeit subject to interpretation by China's Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC).[95][96]

Hong Kong's most senior leader, Chief Executive, is elected by a committee of 1,200 selected members (600 in 1997) and nominally appointed by the Government of China. The primary pillars of government are the Executive Council, Legislative Council, civil service and Judiciary.

Policy-making is initially discussed in the Executive Council, presided by the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, before passing to the Legislative Council for bill adoption. The Executive Council consists of 30 official/unofficial members appointed by the Chief Executive and one member among them acts as the convenor.[97][98]

The Legislative Council, set up in 1843, debates policies and motions before voting to adopt or rejecting bills. It has 70 members (originally 60) and 40 (originally 30) among them are directly elected by universal suffrage; the other 30 members are "functional constituencies" (indirectly) elected by a smaller electorate of corporate bodies or representatives of stipulated economic sectors as defined by the government. The Legislative Council is chaired by a president who acts as the speaker.[99][100]

In 1997, seating of the Legislative Council (also public services and election franchises) of Hong Kong modelled on the British system: Urban Council (Hong Kong and Kowloon) and District Council (New Territories and Outlying Islands). In 1999, this system has been reformed into 18 directly elected District Offices across 5 Legislative Council constituencies: Hong Kong Island (East/West), Kowloon and New Territories (East/West); the remaining outlying islands are divided across the aforementioned regions.

Hong Kong's Civil Service, created by the British colonial government, is a politically neutral body that implements government policies and provides public services. Senior civil servants are appointed based on meritocracy. The territory's police, firefighting and customs forces, as well as clerical officers across various government departments, make up the civil service.[101][102]

American postcard by Godfrey Herbert, The World Explorer, 1941. Photo: Paramount.

Fred MacMurray (1908-1991) was an American actor and singer who appeared in more than 100 films and a successful television series during a career that spanned nearly a half-century, from 1935 to the 1970s. He often played the quintessential nice guy, but some of his strongest and best-remembered performances cast him against type as a villain such as in director Billy Wilder's Film Noir Double Indemnity (1944), with costars Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson. From 1959 through the 1960s, MacMurray appeared in numerous Disney films, including The Absent-Minded Professor, The Happiest Millionaire, and The Shaggy Dog. In 1960, he turned to television as Steve Douglas, the widowed father on My Three Sons, which ran on ABC from 1960 to 1965 and CBS from 1965 to 1972.

Fred Martin MacMurray was born in Kankakee, Illinois in 1908. He was the son of Maleta (née Martin) and concert violinist Frederick Talmadge MacMurray. His aunt, Fay Holderness, was a vaudeville performer and actress. Before MacMurray was two years old, his family moved to Madison, Wisconsin, where his father taught music. They then relocated within the state to Beaver Dam, where his mother had been born. He later attended school in Quincy, Illinois before earning a full scholarship to Carroll College in Waukesha, Wisconsin. At Carroll, MacMurray played the saxophone in numerous local bands. He did not graduate from college. In 1930, he played saxophone in the Gus Arnheim and his Coconut Grove Orchestra when Bing Crosby was the lead vocalist and Russ Columbo was in the violin section. As a featured vocalist, he recorded in 1930 with the Gus Arnheim Orchestra on 'All I Want Is Just One Girl' on the Victor label. and with George Olsen on 'I'm In The Market For You' and 'After a Million Dreams'. MacMurray's musical aspirations eventually led him to Hollywood, where he frequently worked as an extra. He later joined the California Collegians and with them, he appeared on Broadway in the hit production 'Three's a Crowd'' (1930-1931) starring Sydney Greenstreet, Clifton Webb, and Libby Holman. He joined Holman on a duet of 'Something to Remember Me By'. He subsequently appeared in 'The Third Little Show' and alongside Sydney Greenstreet and Bob Hope in another hit show, 'Roberta' (1933-1934). In 1934, he signed with Paramount Pictures for the then-standard 7-year contract. At Paramount, he rose to fame in The Gilded Lily (Wesley Ruggles, 1935), a romantic comedy with Claudette Colbert. Seemingly overnight he was among the hottest young actors in town, and he quickly emerged as a favorite romantic sparring partner with many of Hollywood's leading actresses. Although the majority of his films of the 1930s can largely be dismissed as standard fare there are exceptions. Later in the 1930s, MacMurray worked with film directors Billy Wilder and Preston Sturges and actors Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Humphrey Bogart, Marlene Dietrich and, in seven films, Claudette Colbert. He co-starred with Katharine Hepburn in Alice Adams (George Stevens, 1935), with Joan Crawford in Above Suspicion (Richard Thorpe, 1943), and with Carole Lombard in four productions: the screwball comedy Hands Across the Table (Mitchell Leisen, 1935), the mystery-comedy The Princess Comes Across (William K. Howard, 1936), the comedy-drama Swing High, Swing Low (Mitchell Leisen, 1937), and the screwball comedy True Confession (Wesley Ruggles, 1937). Usually, he was cast in light comedies as a decent, thoughtful character such as in The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (Henry Hathaway, 1936), an ambitious early outdoor 3-strip Technicolor hit with Henry Fonda. MacMurray spent the decade learning his craft and developing a reputation as a solid actor. In 1939, artist C. C. Beck used MacMurray as the initial model for the superhero character who became Fawcett Comics' Captain Marvel. The 1940s gave him his chance to shine. MacMurray became one of Hollywood's highest-paid actors of the period. By 1943, his annual salary had reached $420,000, making him the highest-paid actor in Hollywood and the fourth-highest-paid person in the nation. He scored a huge hit with the thoroughly entertaining The Egg and I (Chester Erskine, 1947), again teamed with Claudette Colbert and today largely remembered for launching the long-running Ma and Pa Kettle franchise.

Despite being typecast as a "nice guy", Fred MacMurray often said his best roles were when he was cast against type, such as under the direction of Billy Wilder and Edward Dmytryk. Perhaps his best known "bad guy" performance was that of Walter Neff, an insurance salesman who plots with a greedy wife (played by Barbara Stanwyck) to murder her husband in the Film Noir classic Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944). Another stellar turn in this category is MacMurray's cynical, spineless Lieutenant Thomas Keefer in Edward Dmytryk's The Caine Mutiny (1954). Six years later, MacMurray played Jeff Sheldrake, a two-timing corporate executive in Wilder's Oscar-winning romcom The Apartment (Billy Wilder, 1960) with Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine. Throughout the mid-1950s he appeared primarily in low-budget action pictures, most of them Westerns. In 1958, he guest-starred in the premiere episode of NBC's Cimarron City Western series, with George Montgomery and John Smith. MacMurray's career continued upward the following year when he was cast as the father in the Disney Studios live-action comedy, The Shaggy Dog (Charles Barton, 1959). The film was an enormous hit. Then, from 1960 to 1972, he starred on television in My Three Sons, a long-running, highly rated series. Concurrent with My Three Sons, MacMurray stayed busy in films, starring as Professor Ned Brainard in Disney's The Absent-Minded Professor (Robert Stevenson, 1961) and in the sequel Son of Flubber (Robert Stevenson, 1963). MacMurray was nominated for a Golden Globe for The Absent-Minded Professor (Robert Stevenson, 1961). Using his star-power clout, MacMurray had a provision in his My Three Sons contract that all of his scenes on that series were to be shot in two separate month-long production blocks and filmed first. That condensed performance schedule provided him more free time to pursue his work in films, maintain his ranch in Northern California, and enjoy his favorite leisure activity, golf. Over the years, MacMurray became one of the wealthiest actors in the entertainment business, primarily from wise real estate investments and from his "notorious frugality". After the cancellation of My Three Sons in 1972, MacMurray made only a few more film appearances and one last feature, The Swarm (Irwin Allen, 1978), before retiring. HA lifelong heavy smoker, MacMurray suffered from throat cancer in the late 1970s, and it reappeared in 1987. He also suffered a severe stroke during Christmas 1988 which left his right side paralysed and his speech affected, although with therapy he was able to make a ninety percent recovery. After suffering from leukemia for more than a decade, Fred MacMurray died from pneumonia at age 83 in 1991 at his home in Santa Monica, California. His body was entombed in Holy Cross Cemetery. In 2005, his widow, actress June Haver, died at aged 79, and her body was entombed with him. MacMurray was married twice. He married dancer Lillian Lamont (legal name Lilian Wehmhoener MacMurray) in 1936, and the couple adopted two children, Susan (1940) and Robert (1946). After Lamont died of cancer in 1953, he married actress June Haver the following year. The couple subsequently adopted two more children - twins born in 1956 - Katherine and Laurie. MacMurray and Haver's marriage lasted 37 years, until Fred's death.

Sources: Jason Ankeny (AllMovie), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Imagine living caged. Imagine a huge wall being built around your home. Imagine this wall destroying trees and causing homes to be demolished. Possibly yours. What would you do?

The Israeli Wall has been comdemned by the UN, and yet it is still being built. The Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign’s most recent map of the Wall’s path, finalized November 2003, reveals that if completed in its entirety, nearly 50% of the West Bank population will be affected by the Wall through loss of land, imprisonment into ghettos, or isolation into Israeli de facto annexed areas .

Israel maintains that the Wall is a temporary structure to physically separate the West Bank from Israel and thus to prevent suicide attacks on Israeli citizens. However the wall’s location, (in some places reaching up to 6km inside Palestinian territory), and projected length, (currently 750km, despite a border with Israel of less than 200km), suggest it is more realistically an additional effort to confiscate Palestinian land, facilitate further colony expansion and unilaterally redraw geopolitical borders all the while encouraging an exodus of Palestinians by denying them the ability to earn a living from their land, reach their schools or work places, access adequate water resources, or reach essential health care. (http://www.palestinemonitor.org/factsheet/wall_fact_sheet.htm/)

A DYING GHETTO

(Exerpt from Chris Hedges' Wall of Horrors)

Qalqiliya is a ghetto. It is completely surrounded by the wall. There is one Israeli military checkpoint to let people into the West Bank or back home again. Only those with special Israeli-issued permits can go in and out of Qalqiliya. It is not the Lodz ghetto or the Warsaw ghetto, but it is a ghetto that would be recognizable to the Jews who were herded into walled enclaves by Pope IV in 1555 and stranded there for generations. Qalqiliya, like all ghettos, is dying. And it is being joined by dozens of other ringed ghettos as the serpentine barrier snaking its way through up and down two sides of the West Bank gobbles up Palestinian land and lays down nooses around Palestinian cities, towns, villages and fields.

Construction began on the barrier in 2002 with the purported intent of safeguarding Israel from suicide bombers and other types of attacks. Although it nominally runs along the 1949 Jordanian-Israeli armistice/Green Line that demarcates the boundary between Israel and the Palestinian-held West Bank, around 80 percent of the barrier actually cuts into Palestinian territories --at some points by as much as 20 kilometers.

If and when the barrier is completed, several years from now, it will see the West Bank cut up into three large enclaves and numerous small ringed ghettos. The three large enclaves will include in the south the Bethlehem/Hebron area and in the north the Jenin/Nablus and Ramallah areas.

B'tselem, a leading Israeli human rights organization that documents conditions in the occupied territories, recently estimated that the barrier will eventually stretch 703 miles around the West Bank, about 450 of which are already completed or under construction. (The Berlin Wall, for comparison, ran 96 miles.) B'tselem also estimates that 500,000 West Bank residents will be directly affected by the barrier (by virtue of residing in areas completely encircled by the wall; by virtue of residing west of the barrier and thus in de facto Israeli territory; or by virtue of residing in East Jerusalem, where Palestinians effectively cannot cross into West Jerusalem).

I stand on Qalqiliya's main street. There is little traffic. Shop after shop is shuttered and closed. The heavy metal doors are secured to the ground with thick padlocks. There are signs in Hebrew and Arabic, fading reminders of a time when commerce was possible. There were, before the wall was built, 42,000 people living here. Mayor Maa'rouf Zahran says at least 6,000 have left. Many more, with the unemployment rate close to 70%, will follow. Over the tip of the wall, in the distance, I can see the tops of the skyscrapers in Tel Aviv. It feels as if it is a plague town, quarantined. Israeli officials, after a few suicide bombers slipped into Israel from Qalqiliya, began to refer to the town as a "hotel for terrorists."

There are hundreds of acres of farmland on the other side of the wall, some of the best farmland in the West Bank, which is harder and harder to reach given the gates, checkpoints and closures. There are some 32 farming villages on the outskirts of Qalqiliya, cut off from their land, sinking into poverty and despair. Olive groves, with trees that are hundreds of years old, have been uprooted and bulldozed into the ground. The barrier is wiping out the middle class in the West Bank, the last bulwark in the West Bank against Islamic fundamentalism. It is plunging the West Bank into the squalor that defines life in the Gaza Strip, where Palestinians struggle to live on less than $ 2 a day. It is the Africanization of Palestinian land...

If the barrier is being built for security, why is so much of the West Bank being confiscated by Israel? Why is the barrier plunging in deep loops into the West Bank to draw far-flung settlements into Israel? Why are thousands of acres of the most fertile farmland and much of the West Bank's aquifers being seized by Israel?

The barrier does not run along the old 1967 border or the 1949 armistice line between Israel and the Arab states, which, in the eyes of the United Nations, delineates Israel and the West Bank. It will contain at least 50% of the West Bank, including the whole of the western mountain aquifer, which supplies the West Bank Palestinians with over half their water. The barrier is the most catastrophic blow to the Palestinians since the 1967 occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

The barrier itself mocks any claim that it is temporary. It costs $ 1 million per mile and will run over $ 2 billion by the time it is completed. It will cut the entire 224-mile length of the West Bank off from Israel, but because of its diversions into the West Bank to incorporate Palestinian land it will be about 400 miles in length. A second barrier is being built on the Jordan River side of the West Bank. To look at a map of the barrier is to miss the point. The barrier interconnects with every other piece of Israeli-stolen real estate in Palestinian territory. And when all the pieces are in place the Israelis will no doubt offer up the little ringed puddles of poverty and despair and misery to the world as a Palestinian state.

The "Aguila Azteca", the Aztec Eagle, connecting with the Texas Eagle of the Missouri-Pacific, was the train of prestige from the U.S. border at Nuevo Laredo to Mexico Ciudad - and the fastest way from Europe to Mexico.

In 1952, NdeM ordered three elegant train sets from the Pratteln-based Swiss manufacturer, Schindler Waggon, consisting of luxury Pullman sleepers, first class and standard coaches, diners and round-end observation lounge cars. The new trains were intended to provide a new level of comfort on the direct rail service to the USA.

Built in 1952/3, the new Swiss coaches were thought for the Aguila Azteca, but as the Swiss trucks were developed for well-maintained tracks, they were not very successful in Mexico and by and by were replaced with American "Commonwealth" trucks.

Delivery consisted of 56 cars, 25.7 m long and weighting 44 to 54 t each - a relatively heavy car for Europe (the American standard stands at 26.4 meters for Intercity cars for up to 200 km/h that typically weigh 40 to 44 t). For American railroads, it was rather a lightweight type:

3 bagage/mail

30 primera 84 seats

7 primera especial 56 seats

3 diners "Comedor"

7 sleepers 8 section - 1 bedroom - 2 compartment

3 sleepers 2 bedroom - 3 compartment - 2 drawing room - 2 master room

3 bars with rounded ends

In May 1953, several test and demonstration runs were held in Switzerland behind Swiss electrics to the famous resort Interlaken (Jungfrau region).

The new Schindler sleeping, dining and observation coaches were all renumbered in the early 1960s:

(3) TAVERN-LOUNGE OBSERVATION CARS

Maya, renamed Club Maya (1960) - 363

Mexica, renamed Club Mexica (1960) - 364

Olmeca, renamed Club Olmeca (1960) - 365

(3) 7 compartment-2 drawing room SLEEPING CARS

Tajin - 263

Teotihuacan - 267

Tulum -272

(3) DINING CARS

Tarasco -3610

Tolteca - 3611, renamed Feria Nacional de San Marcos (1966)

Totonaca - 3612

(8) 8 section-3 double bedroom SLEEPING CARS

Bonampak - 108

Chichen-Itza - 117

Gran Teocali - 150

Kabah - 174

Mitla [2] - 216

Monte Alban [2] - 217

Palenque [1] -223

Uxmal - 278

Indian Air Force maintainers marshal a Sukhoi Su-30MKI (NATO reporting name: "Flanker-H") aircraft to its parking spot after arriving at the flight line at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., Aug. 6, 2008, during Red Flag 08-04. Red Flag is a multinational advanced aerial combat training exercise.

Indian Air Force maintainers prepare their Sukhoi Su-30MKI (NATO reporting name: "Flanker-H") aircraft during Red Flag 08-04 at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., Aug. 6, 2008. Red Flag is a multinational advanced aerial combat training exercise.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Sukhoi Su-30MKI (NATO reporting name: "Flanker-H") is a twinjet multirole air superiority fighter developed by Russia's Sukhoi and built under licence by India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian Air Force (IAF). A variant of the Sukhoi Su-30, it is a heavy, all-weather, long-range fighter.

Development of the variant started after India signed a deal with Russia in 2000 to manufacture 140 Su-30 fighter jets. The first Russian-made Su-30MKI variant was accepted into the Indian Air Force in 2002, while the first indigenously assembled Su-30MKI entered service with the IAF in 2004. The IAF had 240 Su-30MKIs in service as of October 2017. The Su-30MKI is expected to form the backbone of the Indian Air Force's fighter fleet to 2020 and beyond.

The aircraft is tailor-made for Indian specifications and integrates Indian systems and avionics as well as French and Israeli sub-systems. It has abilities similar to the Sukhoi Su-35 with which it shares many features and components.

Origins and acquision

The Su-30MKI was designed by Russia's Sukhoi Corporation beginning in 1995 and built under licence by India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The Su-30MKI is derived from the Sukhoi Su-27 and has a fusion of technology from the Su-37 demonstrator and Su-30 program, being more advanced than the Su-30MK and the Chinese Su-30MKK/MK2. Russia's Defence Ministry was impressed with the type's performance envelope and ordered 30 Su-30SMs, a localised Su-30MKI, for the Russian Air Force. It features state of the art avionics developed by Russia, India and Israel for display, navigation, targeting and electronic warfare; France and South Africa provided other avionics.

After two years of evaluation and negotiations, on 30 November 1996, India signed a US$1.462 billion deal with Sukhoi for 50 Russian-produced Su-30MKIs in five batches. The first batch were eight Su-30MKs, the basic version of Su-30. The second batch were to be 10 Su-30Ks with French and Israeli avionics. The third batch were to be 10 Su-30MKIs featuring canard foreplanes. The fourth batch of 12 Su-30MKIs and final batch of 10 Su-30MKIs were to have the AL-31FP turbofans.

In October 2000, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed for Indian licence-production of 140 Su-30MKIs; in December 2000, a deal was sealed at Russia's Irkutsk aircraft plant for full technology transfer. The first Nasik-built Su-30MKIs were to be delivered by 2004, with staggered production until 2017–18. In November 2002, the delivery schedule was expedited with production to be completed by 2015. An estimated 920 AL-31FP turbofans are to be manufactured at HAL's Koraput Division, while the mainframe and other accessories are to be manufactured at HAL's Lucknow and Hyderabad divisions. Final integration and test flights of the aircraft are carried out at HAL's Nasik Division. Four manufacturing phases were outlined with progressively increasing Indian content: Phase I, II, III and IV. In phase I, HAL manufactured the Su-30MKIs from knocked-down kits, transitioning to semi knocked-down kits in phase II and III; in phase IV, HAL produced aircraft from scratch from 2013 onwards.

In 2007, another order of 40 Su-30MKIs was placed. In 2009, the planned fleet strength was to be 230 aircraft. In 2008, Samtel HAL Display Systems (SHDS), a joint venture between Samtel Display Systems and HAL, won a contract to develop and manufacture multi-function avionics displays for the MKI. A helmet mounted display, Topsight-I, based on technology from Thales and developed by SHDS will be integrated on the Su-30MKI in the next upgrade. In March 2010, it was reported that India and Russia were discussing a contract for 42 more Su-30MKIs. In June 2010, it was reported that the Cabinet Committee on Security had cleared the ₹15,000 crore (US$2.2 billion) deal and that the 42 aircraft would be in service by 2018.

By August 2010, the cost increased to $4.3 billion or $102 million each. This increased unit cost compared to the previous unit cost of $40 million in 2007, has led to the rumours that these latest order of 42 Su-30MKIs are for the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) and these aircraft will be optimised and hardwired for nuclear weapons delivery. The SFC had previously submitted a proposal to the Indian Defence Ministry for setting up two dedicated squadrons of fighters consisting of 40 aircraft capable of delivering nuclear weapons.

HAL expected that indigenisation of the Su-30MKI programme would be completed by 2010; V. Balakrishnan, general manager of the Aircraft Manufacturing Division stated that "HAL will achieve 100 per cent indigenisation of the Sukhoi aircraft – from the production of raw materials to the final plane assembly". As of 2017, HAL manufactures more than 80% of the aircraft. On 11 October 2012, the Indian Government confirmed plans to buy another 42 Su-30MKI aircraft. On 24 December 2012, India ordered assembly kits for 42 Su-30MKIs by signing a deal during President Putin's visit to India. This increases India's order total to 272 Su-30MKIs.

In June 2018, India has reportedly decided not order any further Su-30s as they feel its cost of maintenance is very high compared to Western aircraft.

Upgrades

In 2004, India signed a deal with Russia to domestically produce the Novator K-100 missile, designed to shoot down airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) and C4ISTAR aircraft, for the Su-30MKI. Although not initially designed to carry nuclear or strategic weapons, in 2011, there were plans to integrate the nuclear-capable Nirbhay missile as well.

In May 2010, India Today reported that Russia had won a contract to upgrade 40 Su-30MKIs with new radars, onboard computers, electronic warfare systems and the ability to carry the BrahMos cruise missile. The first two prototypes with the "Super-30" upgrade will be delivered to the IAF in 2012, after which the upgrades will be performed on the last batch of 40 production aircraft. The Brahmos missile integrated on the Su-30MKI will provide the capability to attack ground targets from stand-off ranges of around 300 km. On 25 June 2016, HAL conducted the first test flight of a Su-30MKI fitted with a BrahMos-A missile from Nashik, India. The first air launch of BrahMos from a Su-30MKI was successfully carried out on 22 November 2017.

India is planning to upgrade its Su-30MKI fighters with Russian Phazotron Zhuk-AE Active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars. The X band radar can track 30 aerial targets in the track-while-scan mode and engage six targets simultaneously in attack mode. AESA technology offers improved performance and reliability compared with traditional mechanically scanned array radars. On 18 August 2010, India's Minister of Defence A K Antony stated the current estimated cost for the upgrade was ₹10,920 crore (US$2 billion) and the aircraft are likely to be upgraded in phases beginning in 2012.

The Indian Defence Ministry proposed several upgrades for the Su-30MKI to the Indian Parliament, including the fitting of Russian Phazotron Zhuk-AE AESA radars starting in 2012. During MMRCA trials the Zhuk-AE AESA radar demonstrated significant capabilities, including ground-mapping modes and the ability to detect and track aerial targets. At the 2011 MAKS air-show, Irkut chairman Alexy Fedorov offered an upgrade package with an improved radar, and reduced radar signature to the Indian fleet to make them "Super Sukhois".

In 2012, upgrades of the earlier 80 Su-30MKIs involves equipping them with stand-off missiles with a range of 300 km; a request for information (ROI) was issued for such weapons. In 2011, India issued a request for information to MBDA for the integration of the Brimstone ground attack missile and the long-range "Meteor" air-to-air missile.

In February 2017, it was reported that the planes would be upgraded with AL-41F turbofan engines, same as the ones on Sukhoi Su-35. In August 2017, the Indian government cleared a proposal of Rs. 30,000 crore to equip the planes with new reconnaissance pods.

Design

Characteristics

The Su-30MKI is a highly integrated twin-finned aircraft. The airframe is constructed of titanium and high-strength aluminium alloys. The engine intake ramps and nacelles are fitted with trouser fairings to provide a continuous streamlined profile between the nacelles and the tail beams. The fins and horizontal tail consoles are attached to tail beams. The central beam section between the engine nacelles consists of the equipment compartment, fuel tank and the brake parachute container. The fuselage head is of semi-monocoque construction and includes the cockpit, radar compartments and the avionics bay.

Su-30MKI aerodynamic configuration is a longitudinal triplane with relaxed stability. The canard increases the aircraft lift ability and deflects automatically to allow high angle of attack (AoA) flights allowing it to perform Pugachev's Cobra. The integral aerodynamic configuration combined with thrust vectoring results in extremely capable manoeuvrability, taking off and landing characteristics. This high agility allows rapid deployment of weapons in any direction as desired by the crew. The canard notably assists in controlling the aircraft at large angles-of-attack and bringing it to a level flight condition. The aircraft has a fly-by-wire (FBW) with quadruple redundancy. Dependent on flight conditions, signals from the control stick position transmitter or the FCS may be coupled to remote control amplifiers and combined with feedback signals from acceleration sensors and rate gyros. The resultant control signals are coupled to the high-speed electro-hydraulic actuators of the elevators, rudders and the canard. The output signals are compared and, if the difference is significant, the faulty channel is disconnected. FBW is based on a stall warning and barrier mechanism which prevents stalls through dramatic increases of control stick pressure, allowing a pilot to effectively control the aircraft without exceeding the angle of attack and acceleration limitations. Although the maximum angle of attack is limited by the canards, the FBW acts as an additional safety mechanism.

The Su-30MKI has a range of 3,000 km with internal fuel which ensures a 3.75 hour combat mission. Also, it has an in-flight refueling (IFR) probe that retracts beside the cockpit during normal operation. The air refueling system increases the flight duration up to 10 hours with a range of 8,000 km at a cruise height of 11 to 13 km.[citation needed] Su-30MKIs can also use the Cobham 754 buddy refueling pods.

The Su-30MKI's radar cross-section (RCS) is reportedly from 4 to 20 square metres.

Cockpit

The displays include a customised version of the Israeli Elbit Su 967 head-up display (HUD) consisting of bi-cubic phase conjugated holographic displays and seven multifunction liquid-crystal displays, six 127 mm × 127 mm and one 152 mm × 152 mm. Flight information is displayed on four LCD displays which include one for piloting and navigation, a tactical situation indicator, and two for display systems information including operating modes and overall status. Variants of this HUD have also been chosen for the IAF's Mikoyan MiG-27 and SEPECAT "Jaguar" upgrades for standardisation. The rear cockpit has a larger monochrome display for air-to-surface missile guidance.

The Su-30MKI on-board health and usage monitoring system (HUMS) monitors almost every aircraft system and sub-system, and can also act as an engineering data recorder. From 2010, indigenously designed and built HUDs and Multi-Function Displays (MFD) were produced by the Delhi-based Samtel Group Display Systems.

The crew are provided with zero-zero NPP Zvezda K-36DM ejection seats. The rear seat is raised for better visibility. The cockpit is provided with containers to store food and water reserves, a waste disposal system and extra oxygen bottles. The K-36DM ejection seat is inclined at 30°, to help the pilot resist aircraft accelerations in air combat.

Avionics

The forward-facing NIIP N011M Bars (Panther) is a powerful integrated passive electronically scanned array radar. The N011M is a digital multi-mode dual frequency band radar. The N011M can function in air-to-air and air-to-land/sea mode simultaneously while being tied into a high-precision laser-inertial or GPS navigation system. It is equipped with a modern digital weapons control system as well as anti-jamming features. N011M has a 400 km search range and a maximum 200 km tracking range, and 60 km in the rear hemisphere. The radar can track 15 air targets and engage 4 simultaneously. These targets can even include cruise missiles and motionless helicopters. The Su-30MKI can function as a mini-AWACS as a director or command post for other aircraft. The target co-ordinates can be transferred automatically to at least four other aircraft. The radar can detect ground targets such as tanks at 40–50 km. The Bars radar will be replaced by Zhuk-AESA in all Su-30MKI aircraft.

OLS-30 laser-optical Infra-red search and track includes a day and night FLIR capability and is used in conjunction with the helmet mounted sighting system. The OLS-30 is a combined IRST/LR device using a cooled, broad waveband sensor. Detection range is up to 90 km, while the laser ranger is effective to 3.5 km. Targets are displayed on the same LCD display as the radar. Israeli LITENING targeting pod is used to target laser guided munitions. The original Litening pod includes a long range FLIR, a TV camera, laser spot tracker to pick up target designated by other aircraft or ground forces, and an electro-optical point and inertial tracker, which enables engagement of the target even when partly obscured by clouds or countermeasures; it also integrates a laser range-finder and flash-lamp powered laser designator for the delivery of laser-guided bombs, cluster and general-purpose bomb.

The aircraft is fitted with a satellite navigation system (A-737 GPS compatible), which permits it to make flights in all weather, day and night. The navigation complex includes the high accuracy SAGEM Sigma-95 integrated global positioning system and ring laser gyroscope inertial navigation system. Phase 3 of further development of the MKI, will integrate avionic systems being developed for the Indo-Russian Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft programme.

Sukhoi Su-30MKI has electronic counter-measure systems. The RWR system is of Indian design, developed by India's DRDO, called Tarang, (Wave in English). It has direction finding capability and is known to have a programmable threat library. The RWR is derived from work done on an earlier system for India's MiG-23BNs known as the Tranquil, which is now superseded by the more advanced Tarang series. Elta EL/M-8222 a self-protection jammer developed by Israel Aircraft Industries is the MKI's standard EW pod, which the Israeli Air Force uses on its F-15s. The ELTA El/M-8222 Self Protection Pod is a power-managed jammer, air-cooled system with an ESM receiver integrated into the pod. The pod contains an antenna on the forward and aft ends, which receive the hostile RF signal and after processing deliver the appropriate response.

Propulsion

The Su-30MKI is powered by two Lyulka-Saturn AL-31FP turbofans, each rated at 12,500 kgf (27,550 lbf) of full after-burning thrust, which enable speeds of up to Mach 2 in horizontal flight and a rate of climb of 230 m/s. The mean time between overhaul is reportedly 1,000 hours with a full-life span of 3,000 hours; the titanium nozzle has a mean time between overhaul of 500 hours. In early 2015, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar stated before Parliament that the AL-31FP had suffered numerous failures, between the end of 2012 and early 2015, a total of 69 Su-30MKI engine-related failures had occurred; commons causes were bearing failures due to metal fatigue and low oil pressure, in response several engine modifications were made to improve lubrication, as well as the use of higher quality oil and adjustments to the fitting of bearings.

The Su-30MKI's AL-31FP powerplant built on the earlier AL-31FU, adding two-plane thrust vectoring nozzles are mounted 32 degrees outward to longitudinal engine axis (i.e. in the horizontal plane) and can be deflected ±15 degrees in one plane. The canting allows the aircraft to produce both roll and yaw by vectoring each engine nozzle differently; this allows the aircraft to create thrust vectoring moments about all three rotational axes, pitch, yaw and roll. Engine thrust is adjusted via a conventional engine throttle lever as opposed to a strain-gauge engine control stick. The aircraft is controlled by a standard control stick. The pilot can activate a switch for performing difficult maneuvers; while this is enabled, the computer automatically determines the deflection angles of the swiveling nozzles and aerodynamic surfaces.

Operational history

The Sukhoi Su-30MKI is the most potent fighter jet in service with the Indian Air Force in the late 2000s. The MKIs are often fielded by the IAF in bilateral and multilateral air exercises. India exercised its Su-30MKIs against the Royal Air Force's Tornado ADVs in October 2006. This was the first large-scale bilateral aerial exercise with any foreign air force during which the IAF used its Su-30MKIs extensively. This exercise was also the first in 43 years with the RAF. During the exercise, the RAF Air Chief Marshal Glenn Torpy was given permission by the IAF to fly the MKI. RAF's Air Vice Marshal, Christopher Harper, praised the MKI's dogfight ability, calling it "absolutely masterful in dogfights".

In July 2007, the Indian Air Force fielded the MKI during the Indra-Dhanush exercise with Royal Air Force's Eurofighter "Typhoon". This was the first time that the two jets had taken part in such an exercise. The IAF did not allow their pilots to use the radar of the MKIs during the exercise so as to protect the highly classified N011M Bars. Also in the exercise were RAF "Tornado" F3s and a Hawk. RAF "Tornado" pilots were candid in their admission of the Su-30MKI's superior manoeuvring in the air, and the IAF pilots were impressed by the "Typhoon's" agility.

In 2004, India sent Su-30MKs, an earlier variant of the Su-30MKI, to take part in war games with the United States Air Force (USAF) during Cope India 04. The results have been widely publicised, with the Indians winning "90% of the mock combat missions" against the USAF's F-15C. The parameters of the exercise heavily favored the IAF; none of the six 3rd Wing F-15Cs were equipped with the newer long-range, active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars and, at India's request, the U.S. agreed to mock combat at 3-to-1 odds and without the use of simulated long-range, radar-guided AIM-120 AMRAAMs for beyond-visual-range kills. In Cope India 05, the Su-30MKIs reportedly beat the USAF's F-16s.

In July 2008, the IAF sent 6 Su-30MKIs and 2 Il-78MKI aerial-refueling tankers, to participate in the Red Flag exercise. The IAF again did not allow their pilots to use the radar of the MKIs during the exercise so as to protect the highly classified N011M Bars. In October 2008, a video surfaced on the internet which featured a USAF colonel, Terrence Fornof, criticising Su-30MKI's performance against the F-15C, engine serviceability issues, and high friendly kill rate during the Red Flag exercise. Several of his claims were later rebutted by the Indian side and the USAF also distanced itself from his remarks.

In June 2010, India and France began the fourth round of their joint air exercises, "Garuda", at the Istres Air Base in France. During Garuda, the IAF and the French Air Force were engaged in various missions ranging from close combat engagement of large forces, slow mover protection, protecting and engaging high value aerial assets. This exercise marked the first time the Su-30MKI took part in a military exercise in France.

The Indian Air Force first took part in the United States Air Force's Red Flag exercise in 2008. Participating in Red Flag costs the IAF ₹ 100 crore (US$17.5 million) each time. To reduce costs, the IAF decided to take part once every five years. The IAF is taking part in the Red Flag exercise in July 2013, at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, United States. For the exercise, it is dispatching eight Su-30MKIs, two Lockheed C-130J "Hercules" tactical aircraft, two Ilyushin Il-78 (NATO reporting name Midas) mid-air refueling tankers, one Ilyushin Il-76 (NATO reporting name Candid) heavy-lift aircraft, and over 150 personnel.

The IAF again fielded its MKIs in the Garuda-V exercise with France in June 2014, where they manoeuvred in mixed groups with other IAF aircraft and French "Rafale's".

On 21 July 2015, India and UK began the bilateral exercise named Indradhanush with aircraft operating from three Royal Air Force bases. The exercises included both Beyond Visual Range (BVR) and Within Visual Range (WVR) exercises between the Su-30MKI and Eurofighter "Typhoon". Indian media reported the results were in favour of the IAF with a score of 12-0 at WVR engagements. They also claim that the IAF Su-30MKIs held an edge over the "Typhoon's" in BVR engagements though not in as dominating a manner. The RAF issued a statement that the results being reported by the Indian media did not reflect the results of the exercise. According to Aviation International News In close combat, thrust vector control on the "Flanker's" more than compensated for the greater thrust-to-weight ratio of the "Typhoon".

On 27 February 2019, the Pakistani Air Force stated that it had downed an Indian Sukhoi Su-30MKI in an aerial skirmish. The Indian Air Force said this statement was a cover up for the loss of a Pakistani F-16 fighter, stating that all Sukhoi aircraft that were dispatched returned safely.

On 4 March 2019, an Indian Su-30MKI shot down a Pakistani drone in Indian airspace, according to local media reports.

The deck may be tilting to starboard, but I’m able to maintain a lady-like upright posture

World War II and the atomic bombing (1939–1945)

Main article: Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki § Hiroshima

During World War II, the 2nd General Army and Chugoku Regional Army were headquartered in Hiroshima, and the Army Marine Headquarters was located at Ujina port. The city also had large depots of military supplies, and was a key center for shipping.[12]

The bombing of Tokyo and other cities in Japan during World War II caused widespread destruction and hundreds of thousands of deaths.[13] For example, Toyama, an urban area of 128,000 people, was nearly destroyed, and incendiary attacks on Tokyo claimed the lives of 100,000 people. There were no such air raids on Hiroshima. However, a real threat existed and was recognized. In order to protect against potential firebombings in Hiroshima, school children aged 11–14 years were mobilized to demolish houses and create firebreaks.[14]

On Monday, August 6, 1945, at 8:15 a.m., the nuclear bomb "Little Boy" was dropped on Hiroshima by an American B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, flown by Colonel Paul Tibbets,[15] directly killing an estimated 80,000 people. By the end of the year, injury and radiation brought the total number of deaths to 90,000–166,000.[16] The population before the bombing was around 340,000 to 350,000. Approximately 70% of the city's buildings were destroyed, and another 7% severely damaged.

The public release of film footage of the city following the attack, and some of the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission research, about the human effects of the attack, was restricted during the occupation of Japan, and much of this information was censored until the signing of the San Francisco Peace Treaty in 1951, restoring control to the Japanese.[17]

As Ian Buruma observes, “News of the terrible consequences of the atom bomb attacks on Japan was deliberately withheld from the Japanese public by US military censors during the Allied occupation—even as they sought to teach the natives the virtues of a free press. Casualty statistics were suppressed. Film shot by Japanese cameramen in Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the bombings was confiscated. "Hiroshima", the famous account written by John Hersey for The New Yorker, had a huge impact in the US, but was banned in Japan. As [John] Dower says: ‘In the localities themselves, suffering was compounded not merely by the unprecedented nature of the catastrophe…but also by the fact that public struggle with this traumatic experience was not permitted.’” The US occupation authorities maintained a monopoly on scientific and medical information about the effects of the atomic bomb through the work of the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission, which treated the data gathered in studies of hibakusha as privileged information rather than making the results available for the treatment of victims or providing financial or medical support to aid victims. The US also stood by official denial of the ravages associated with radiation. Finally, not only was the press tightly censored on atomic issues, but literature and the arts were also subject to rigorous control prior.[18]

The book Hiroshima written by Pulitzer Prize winner John Hersey, was originally featured in article form and published in the popular magazine The New Yorker,[19] on 31 August 1946. It is reported to have reached Tokyo, in English, at least by January 1947 and the translated version was released in Japan in 1949.[20] Despite the fact that the article was planned to be published over four issues, "Hiroshima" made up the entire contents of one issue of the magazine.[21][22] Hiroshima narrates the stories of six bomb survivors immediately prior to and for months after the dropping of the Little Boy bomb.[19][23]

The oleander is the official flower of the city of Hiroshima because it was the first to bloom again after the explosion of the atomic bomb in 1945.[24]

Hiroshima after the bombing

I spent a delightful Saturday with the Famous Flickr Five+ Group in Blackwood at the Garden of St Erth. As my first Famous Flickr Five+ excursion, I was just delighted by how kind and welcoming everyone was. I look forward to future trips to places I have never been (such as the garden of St Erth) with the Famous Flickr Five+ Group in the future.

In 1854 a Cornish stonemason named Matthew Rogers decided to pursue his luck in the goldfields around Mount Blackwood in Victoria, so he packed up his life in Sydney and journeyed south. His venture proved successful, as he became one of the gold rush's most successful miners.

In the 1860s, Matthew built a modest sandstone cottage from stone quarried from around Bacchus Marsh behind a boot factory in an area known as Simmonds Reef, just outside what was then the very busy and thriving gold mining community of Blackwood which at the time had a population of some 13,000 people. He named it "St Erth" after his Cornwall birthplace. The original title was dated 1867, but it is believed the house was built before then.

The sandstone cottage is typical of Victorian architecture found in Australia at that time. Built in Victorian Georgian style. It features a symmetrical facade of exposed sandstone brick with sash windows either side of the front door, all of which are characteristics of Victorian Georgian architecture. The shady verandah, today covered in curling wisteria vine, features elegant, slender posts, which is also typical of the architectural style, as is the medium pitch corrugated iron roof.

Matthew attached a wooden building to the western end of his neat stone cottage which served as the Blackwood post office for a time, and also a general store; both essential parts of the burgeoning community.

The gold rush lasted for twenty eight years. Matthew's daughter Elizabeth and her husband Jim Terrill continued to maintain the store, but as gold ran out, the wooden buildings of the town were moved to Trentham. For a time the house lay empty and the bush moved back in. Eventually it was bought by a group of Melbourne businessmen who called themselves the Simmons Reef Shire Council.

Today, "St Erth" is the Garden of St Erth; a wonderful garden featuring fruit trees, an espalier orchard, heirloom vegetables, perennials, daffodils, tulips, flowering shrubs and a plant nursery. The Garden of St Erth is one of two main sites in Victoria for the Diggers Club, who specialise in growing and selling heirloom variety plants and old fashioned exotic plants. The homestead forms the entry to the beautiful garden, as well as a shop showcasing the heritage seeds, gardening equipment and myriad gardening products in line with the Diggers Club's commitment to sustainable gardening. Outside there's a plant nursery with a wonderful array of trees and plants for sale. A pretty cafe offers drinks, cakes and meals indoors or out featuring where possible local produce and some sourced from the garden.

Matthew Rogers was born at St. Erth, Cornwall, on 11th June 1824, he arrived in Victoria in 1854 with his wife Mary, and came to Blackwood about 1855. Matthew and Mary Rogers were the wealthiest people in Simmons Reef. Matthew did well from his mine called "Mount Rogers Big Hill Mine". He is stated to have made a fortune out of ore that yielded one and a half pennyweights to the ton. Mary Ann Rogers was born in Hayle in Cornwall 24th June 1828. She looked after the store and the Post Office attached to the house. The Rogers had no children, and adopted a girl born in 1872, called Elizabeth. Mary Ann Rogers died on the 27th of August 1896, aged 68 years. Matthew Rogers died on the 6th of January 1902.

Nestled against the Wombat State Forest, the township of Blackwood was originally founded in 1855 during the Victorian gold rush. The township's post office was opened in September 1855, and was known as Mount Blackwood until 1921. The township has shrunk significantly since the gold rush ended, and today many of its properties are weekenders for Melbourne professionals. The town still has a main street featuring a post office and general store, a pub, a cafe and an antique shop. It still retains some of its original miners cottages beyond "St Erth". It is a quiet, sleepy town, and is a delightful retreat for some peace and quiet. Blackwood is perhaps best known today for its music and culture festival held in November. It attracts artists from across the world.

Maintaining the style, I decided to create a monochromatic tribute for each of the 6 colors with which the piece 64713 was made. Now it's the turn of the Tan color!

(the tan base, also present in the other dioramas, is only a support. Once I complete the display to expose them all, it will be hidden.)

Most of Greylag geese tend to maintain a certain distance with human, but not this one ...

BLM photo: Kyle Sullivan

The Little Applegate River can be found nearby the historic Sterling Mine Ditch Trail (SMDT), which is located south of Jacksonville, Oregon. The trail is maintained for non-motorizes recreation by the Bureau and Land Management Medford District and the Siskiyou Upland Trails Association.

The trail provides recreation opportunities for visitors of all ages: short, level strolls for small children; long-distance hikes; runs; horseback trails; and mountain bike rides. The trail is open for use by hikers and runners year-round, thanks to its 2,000-2,400 elevation.

The SMDT passes through a diversity of landscapes and ecosystems as it winds its way around the ridges and ravines of Anderson Butte. This diversity contributes to an ever-changing array of wildflowers, trees, birds, wildlife, and environments. Trail users enjoy panoramic views of surrounding landscapes--the Siskiyou Crest, Wagner Butte, Little Applegate Valley, Greyback Mountain, and the Red Buttes Wilderness, as well as deep woods and lovely meadows. Groves of mature ponderosa pine, Douglas-fir, big leaf maple, white and black oak, cedar, hazel, fern and other woodland plants flourish on shady northfacing slopes and in draws near Deming Gulch, Armstrong Gulch, and along the Little Applegate and Tunnel Ridge access trails.

Drier southern exposures support madrone, manzanita, oaks, buckbrush, mountain mahogany, silk tassel, Klamath plum, and even a few junipers. Several champion trees are found along the ditch, including a massive madrone 18 feet in circumference, growing between Bear Gulch and Tunnel Ridge. Spring brings an abundance of wildflowers and birds that last well into summer. Summer can be very warm along south-facing exposures, but north-facing slopes and draws provide a refreshingly cool respite from the heat. Autumn’s changing colors splash the deep green forest canopy with yellow, orange, and red accents.

Although you may not see them often, many species of wildlife call the area home. Be aware, as you travel along this ditch, you share the trail with other local species such as poison oak, ticks, and an array of wildlife including bears, cougars, bob cats, coyotes and deer.

Long before the appearance of European settlers, Sterling Creek and the Little Applegate River area were traditional homelands of the Dakubetede people. This group was also known as the Applegate Creek Indians and was part of the Rogue River Indians, a name applied to the people of the Upper Rogue River and its tributaries.

Currently, three trailheads are located along Little Applegate Road: Bear Gulch, Tunnel Ridge, and Little Applegate. There are four trailheads off Sterling Creek Road on unpaved BLM roads: Deming, Armstrong Gulch, Wolf Gap, and Grub Gulch.

With a little planning and two cars for a shuttle, you can create a wide variety of routes.

Horse trailer parking is provided at a landing east of the Deming trailhead, and at Armstrong Gulch trailhead, Tunnel Ridge, and Little Applegate trailheads.

Please help preserve and protect your trail! In the interests of maintain the trail in top condition for all users, equestrians and bicyclists must avoid using the trail after severe rains.

Inland, Maintainance Craft K.R.V.E. 61 en Inland, Maintainance Craft K.R.V.E 52 passeren hier ter hoogte van Vlaardingen.

MMSI: 244770598

Name: K.R.V.E. 61

Ship type: Inland, Maintainance Craft

Flag: Netherlands

Gross Tonnage: - - t

Deadweight: - - t

Size: 10 x 5 m

Year Built: - - - -

Status: Active

MMSI 244820976

Name: K.R.V.E. 52

Ship type: Inland, Maintainance Craft

Flag: Netherlands

Gross Tonnage: - - - t

Deadweight: - - - t

Size: 14 x 4 m

Year Built: - - -

Status: Active

Port of Rotterdam

Inside Chase Coaches garage GHU639N undergoes finishing touches to it's overhaul, 1990.

At this time Chase had operated Leyland Nationals for 3 years and were to continue to do so for a further 17 years.

GHU639N-UpInGarage(11V90)1743

On the CPR main line

This vehicle has a very interesting history. Known as the ‘Beaver Bullet’ it was the first diesel-powered car to maintain an average speed of over 100mph for 24 hours, breaking all diesel speed records for a 4x4. Over three days in August 1986 at the MIRA test track, two diesel-powered Range Rovers took a total of 27 sprint and endurance records. This is the endurance vehicle.

To assist with the record attempt a number of modifications were carried out. Two racing-type fuel fillers were installed on the lower tailgate, a full internal roll-cage was fitted, and passenger and rear seats removed. Radio communications were installed, together with a quick-release bonnet catch and other minor modifications.

The VM diesel-powered Range Rover was not received favourably by the motoring press when it was introduced, primarily because the ‘Top Gear’ show had tested a vehicle that was badly-prepared. The record-breaking initiative was Land Rover’s way of showing how capable the new vehicle actually was.

The car is in completely original and unrestored condition.

The Dunsfold Collection

Alfold - Surrey

England - United Kingdom

June 2015

Day 14: January 14th, 2017

Two weeks in and there's one theme that just hasn't stopped. Mother Nature is everything here. She makes your life possible, and frustrating at the same time. Norfolk Southern signal maintainers are not immune. The slide warning fence (SWF) that protects the cut at Cassandra can be fickle. The electronics are half a century old, and need constant attention. An ice fall last night from the internal thaw of the mountain created headaches for personnel this morning, who spent hours solving a problem with indications from the fence's 1950's electronics that they said "shouldn't even be possible".

18 Days On The Main Line is a project comprised of a single photograph per day while living for 18 days on the former PRR Main Line's West Slope between Gallitzin, Pennsylvania and Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

Signal Maintainer and Slide Fence

Plane Bank Cut

Cassandra, Pennsylvania

Saturday, January 14th, 2017

©2017 Matthew James Ryan, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This photo may not be republished, copied, printed or used in any way, on any medium and under any circumstances without written consent. This is my living, so violators will be prosecuted.

MQ-9 Reaper crew chiefs perform a routine inspection Aug. 12, 2014, on an MQ-9 remotely piloted aircraft at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M. The 49th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron thoroughly inspects each part of the aircraft before takeoff and after landing, looking for any discrepancies that could interfere with the proper operation of the aircraft. Inspections are performed based on various factors including total hours flown and discrepancies noticed or reported during training sorties. The crew chiefs are assigned to the 49th AMXS. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Leah Ferrante/Released)

Information From: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklyn_bridge

Brooklyn Bridge

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from Brooklyn bridge)

Jump to: navigation, search

For other uses, see Brooklyn Bridge (disambiguation).

Brooklyn Bridge

Carries Motor vehicles (cars only)

Elevated trains (until 1944)

Streetcars (until 1950)

Pedestrians, and bicycles

Crosses East River

Locale New York City (Manhattan–Brooklyn)

Maintained by New York City Department of Transportation

Designer John Augustus Roebling

Design Suspension/Cable-stay Hybrid

Total length 5,989 feet (1825 m)[1]

Width 85 feet (26 m)

Longest span 1,595 feet 6 inches (486.3 m)

Clearance below 135 feet (41 m) at mid-span

Opened May 24, 1883

Toll Free both ways

Daily traffic 123,781 (2008)[2]

Coordinates 40°42′20″N 73°59′47″W / 40.70569°N 73.99639°W / 40.70569; -73.99639 (Brooklyn Bridge)Coordinates: 40°42′20″N 73°59′47″W / 40.70569°N 73.99639°W / 40.70569; -73.99639 (Brooklyn Bridge)

Brooklyn Bridge

U.S. National Register of Historic Places

U.S. National Historic Landmark

NYC Landmark

Built/Founded: 1883

Architectural style(s): Gothic

Added to NRHP: 1966[3]

Designated NHL: January 29, 1964[4]

NRHP Reference#: 75001237

The Brooklyn Bridge is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States. Completed in 1883, it connects the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn by spanning the East River. With a main span of 1,595.5 feet (486.3 m), it was the longest suspension bridge in the world from its opening until 1903, and the first steel-wire suspension bridge.

Originally referred to as the New York and Brooklyn Bridge, it was dubbed the Brooklyn Bridge in a January 25, 1867 letter to the editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle,[5] and formally so named by the city government in 1915. Since its opening, it has become an iconic part of the New York skyline. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964[4][6][7] and a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1972.[8]

Contents [hide]

1 Construction

2 Pedestrian and vehicular access

2.1 Notable events

2.2 100th anniversary celebrations

2.3 125th anniversary celebrations

3 Cultural significance

4 References

5 Further reading

6 External links

[edit] Construction

The Brooklyn Bridge was initially designed by German immigrant John Augustus Roebling, who had previously designed and constructed shorter suspension bridges, such as Roebling's Delaware Aqueduct in Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania, and the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge in Cincinnati, Ohio.

While conducting surveys for the bridge project, Roebling sustained a crush injury to his foot when a ferry pinned it against a piling. After amputation of his crushed toes he developed a tetanus infection which left him incapacitated and soon resulted in his death, not long after he had placed his 32 year-old son Washington Roebling in charge of the project.[9]

Washington Roebling also suffered a paralyzing injury as a result of decompression sickness shortly after the beginning of construction on January 3, 1870.[10] This condition, first called "caisson disease" by the project physician Dr. Andrew Smith, afflicted many of the workers working within the caissons.[11][12] After Roebling's debilitating condition left him unable to physically supervise the construction firsthand, his wife Emily Warren Roebling stepped in and provided the critical written link between her husband and the engineers on-site.[13] Under her husband's guidance, Emily had studied higher mathematics, the calculations of catenary curves, the strengths of materials, bridge specifications, and the intricacies of cable construction.[14][15][16] She spent the next 11 years assisting Washington Roebling helping to supervise the bridge's construction.

When iron probes underneath the caisson found the bedrock to be even deeper than expected, Roebling halted construction due to the increased risk of decompression sickness. He deemed the aggregate overlying the bedrock 30 feet (9 m) below it to be firm enough to support the tower base.[17]

The Brooklyn Bridge was completed thirteen years later and was opened for use on May 24, 1883. The opening ceremony was attended by several thousand people and many ships were present in the East Bay for the occasion. President Chester A. Arthur and New York Mayor Franklin Edson crossed the bridge to celebratory cannon fire and were greeted by Brooklyn Mayor Seth Low when they reached the Brooklyn-side tower. Arthur shook hands with Washington Roebling at the latter's home, after the ceremony. Roebling was unable to attend the ceremony (and in fact rarely visited the site again), but held a celebratory banquet at his house on the day of the bridge opening. Further festivity included the performance of a band, gunfire from ships, and a fireworks display.[18]

On that first day, a total of 1,800 vehicles and 150,300 people crossed what was then the only land passage between Manhattan and Brooklyn. Emily Warren Roebling was the first to cross the bridge. The bridge's main span over the East River is 1,595 feet 6 inches (486.3 m). The bridge cost $15.5 million to build and approximately 27 people died during its construction.[19]

One week after the opening, on May 30, 1883, a rumor that the Bridge was going to collapse caused a stampede, which crushed and killed at least twelve people.[20] On May 17, 1884, P. T. Barnum helped to squelch doubts about the bridge's stability—while publicizing his famous circus—when one of his most famous attractions, Jumbo, led a parade of 21 elephants over the Brooklyn Bridge.[21][22][23][24]

Plan of one tower for the Brooklyn Bridge, 1867At the time it opened, and for several years, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world—50% longer than any previously built — and it has become a treasured landmark. Since the 1980s, it has been floodlit at night to highlight its architectural features. The towers are built of limestone, granite, and Rosendale cement. Their architectural style is neo-Gothic, with characteristic pointed arches above the passageways through the stone towers. The paint scheme of the bridge is "Brooklyn Bridge Tan", although is has been argued that the original paint was "Rawlins Red".[25]

At the time the bridge was built, the aerodynamics of bridge building had not been worked out. Bridges were not tested in wind tunnels until the 1950s—well after the collapse of the original Tacoma Narrows Bridge (Galloping Gertie) in 1940. It is therefore fortunate that the open truss structure supporting the deck is by its nature less subject to aerodynamic problems. Roebling designed a bridge and truss system that was six times as strong as he thought it needed to be. Because of this, the Brooklyn Bridge is still standing when many of the bridges built around the same time have vanished into history and been replaced. This is also in spite of the substitution of inferior quality wire in the cabling supplied by the contractor J. Lloyd Haigh—by the time it was discovered, it was too late to replace the cabling that had already been constructed. Roebling determined that the poorer wire would leave the bridge four rather than six times as strong as necessary, so it was eventually allowed to stand, with the addition of 250 cables. Diagonal cables were installed from the towers to the deck, intended to stiffen the bridge. They turned out to be unnecessary, but were kept for their distinctive beauty.

After the collapse in 2007 of the I-35W highway bridge in the city of Minneapolis, increased public attention has been brought to bear on the condition of bridges across the US, and it has been reported that the Brooklyn Bridge approach ramps received a rating of "poor" at its last inspection.[26] According to a NYC Department of Transportation spokesman, "The poor rating it received does not mean it is unsafe. Poor means there are some components that have to be rehabilitated." A $725 million project to replace the approaches and repaint the bridge was scheduled to begin in 2009.[27]

The construction of the Brooklyn Bridge is detailed in the 1978 book The Great Bridge by David McCullough[13] and Brooklyn Bridge (1981), the first PBS documentary film ever made by Ken Burns.[28] Burns drew heavily on McCullough's book for the film and used him as narrator.[29] It is also described in Seven Wonders of the Industrial World, a BBC docudrama series with accompanying book.

[edit] Pedestrian and vehicular access

Cross section diagramAt various times, the bridge has carried horse-drawn and trolley traffic; at present, it has six lanes for motor vehicles, with a separate walkway along the centerline for pedestrians and bicycles. Due to the roadway's height (11 ft (3.4 m) posted) and weight (6,000 lb (2,700 kg) posted) restrictions, commercial vehicles and buses are prohibited from using this bridge. The two inside traffic lanes once carried elevated trains of the BMT from Brooklyn points to a terminal at Park Row via Sands Street. Streetcars ran on what are now the two center lanes (shared with other traffic) until the elevated lines stopped using the bridge in 1944, when they moved to the protected center tracks. In 1950 the streetcars also stopped running, and the bridge was rebuilt to carry six lanes of automobile traffic.

The Brooklyn Bridge is accessible from the Brooklyn entrances of Tillary/Adams Streets, Sands/Pearl Streets, and Exit 28B of the eastbound Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. In Manhattan, motor cars can enter from either direction of the FDR Drive, Park Row, Chambers/Centre Streets, and Pearl/Frankfort Streets. Pedestrian access to the bridge from the Brooklyn side is from either Tillary/Adams Streets (in between the auto entrance/exit), or a staircase on Prospect St between Cadman Plaza East and West. In Manhattan, the pedestrian walkway is accessible from the end of Centre Street, or through the unpaid south staircase of Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall IRT subway station.

View from the pedestrian walkway. The bridge's cable arrangement forms a distinct weblike pattern.The Brooklyn Bridge has a wide pedestrian walkway open to walkers and cyclists, in the center of the bridge and higher than the automobile lanes. While the bridge has always permitted the passage of pedestrians across its span, its role in allowing thousands to cross takes on a special importance in times of difficulty when usual means of crossing the East River have become unavailable.

During transit strikes by the Transport Workers Union in 1980 and 2005, the bridge was used by people commuting to work, with Mayors Koch and Bloomberg crossing the bridge as a gesture to the affected public.[30][31]

Following the 1965, 1977 and 2003 Blackouts and most famously after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center, the bridge was used by people in Manhattan to leave the city after subway service was suspended. The massive numbers of people on the bridge could not have been anticipated by the original designer, yet John Roebling designed it with three separate systems managing even unanticipated structural stresses. The bridge has a suspension system, a diagonal stay system, and a stiffening truss. "Roebling himself famously said if anything happens to one of [his] systems, 'The bridge may sag, but it will not fall.'"[32] The movement of large numbers of people on a bridge creates pedestrian oscillations or "sway" as the crowd lifts one foot after another, some falling inevitably in synchronized cadences. The natural sway motion of people walking causes small sideways oscillations in a bridge, which in turn cause people on the bridge to sway in step, increasing the amplitude of the bridge oscillations and continually reinforcing the effect. High-density traffic of this nature causes a bridge to appear to move erratically or "to wobble" as happened at opening of the London Millennium Footbridge in 2000.[33]

Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper c.1883[edit] Notable events

First jumper

The first person to jump from the bridge was Robert E. Odlum on May 19, 1885. He struck the water at an angle and died shortly thereafter from internal injuries.[34] Steve Brodie was the most famous jumper, or self-proclaimed jumper (in 1886).

Bungee jump

On June 1993, following 13 reconnoiters inside the metal structure, and with the help of a mountain guide, Thierry Devaux performed (illegally) eight acrobatic bungee jumps above the East River close to the Brooklyn pier, in the early morning. He used an electric winch between each acrobatic figure.[35]

1994 Brooklyn Bridge shooting

Main article: Brooklyn Bridge Shooting

On March 1, 1994, Lebanese-born Rashid Baz opened fire on a van carrying members of the Chabad-Lubavitch Orthodox Jewish Movement, striking sixteen-year-old student Ari Halberstam and three others traveling on the bridge.[36] Halberstam died five days later from his wounds. Baz was apparently acting out of revenge for the Hebron massacre of 29 Muslims by Baruch Goldstein that had taken place days earlier on February 25, 1994. Baz was convicted of murder and sentenced to a 141-year prison term. After initially classifying the murder as one committed out of road rage, the Justice Department reclassified the case in 2000 as a terrorist attack. The entrance ramp to the bridge on the Manhattan side was named the Ari Halberstam Memorial Ramp in memory of the victim.[37]

The 2003 plot

In 2003, truck driver Iyman Faris was sentenced to about 20 years in prison for providing material support to Al-Qaeda, after an earlier plot to destroy the bridge by cutting through its support wires with blowtorches was thwarted through information the National Security Agency uncovered through wiretapped phone conversations and interrogation of Al-Qaeda militants.[38]

2006 bunker discovery

In 2006, a Cold War era bunker was found by city workers near the East River shoreline of Manhattan's Lower East Side. The bunker, hidden within the masonry anchorage, still contained the emergency supplies that were being stored for a potential nuclear attack by the Soviet Union.[39]

[edit] 100th anniversary celebrations

The centennary celebrations on May 24, 1983, saw a cavalcade of cars crossing the bridge, led by President Ronald Reagan. A flotilla of ships visited the harbor, parades were held, and in the evening the sky over the bridge was illuminated by Grucci fireworks.[40] The Brooklyn Museum exhibited a selection of the original drawings made for the bridge's construction, some by Washington Roebling himself.

[edit] 125th anniversary celebrations

Beginning on May 22, 2008, festivities were held over a five-day period to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge. The events kicked off with a live performance of the Brooklyn Philharmonic in Empire–Fulton Ferry State Park, followed by special lighting of the bridge's towers and a fireworks display.[41] Other events held during the 125th anniversary celebrations, which coincided with the Memorial Day weekend, included a film series, historical walking tours, information tents, a series of lectures and readings, a bicycle tour of Brooklyn, a miniature golf course featuring Brooklyn icons, and other musical and dance performances.[42]

Just before the anniversary celebrations, the Telectroscope, which created a video link between New York and London, was installed on the Brooklyn side of the bridge. The installation lasted for a few weeks and permitted viewers in New York to see people looking into a matching telectroscope in front of London's Tower Bridge.[43] A newly renovated pedestrian connection to DUMBO was also unveiled before the anniversary celebrations.[44]

[edit] Cultural significance

Contemporaries marveled at what technology was capable of and the bridge became a symbol of the optimism of the time. John Perry Barlow wrote in the late 20th century of the "literal and genuinely religious leap of faith" embodied in the Brooklyn Bridge ... "the Brooklyn Bridge required of its builders faith in their ability to control technology."[45]

References to "selling the Brooklyn Bridge" abound in American culture, sometimes as examples of rural gullibility but more often in connection with an idea that strains credulity. For example, "If you believe that, I've got a bridge to sell you."[citation needed] References are often nowadays more oblique, such as "I could sell you some lovely riverside property in Brooklyn ...".[citation needed] George C. Parker and William McCloundy are two early 20th-century con-men who had (allegedly) successfully perpetrated this scam on unwitting tourists.[46] The 1949 Bugs Bunny cartoon Bowery Bugs is a joking reference to Bugs "selling" a story of the Brooklyn Bridge to a naive tourist.

In his second book The Bridge, Hart Crane begins with a poem entitled "Proem: To Brooklyn Bridge." The bridge was a source of inspiration for Crane and he owned different apartments specifically to have different views of the bridge.

[edit] References

^ "NYCDOT Bridges Information". New York City Department of Transportation. www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/bridges/bridges.shtml#brooklyn. Retrieved 2008-08-23.

^ "New York City Bridge Traffic Volumes 2008" (PDF). New York City Department of Transportation. March 2010. p. 63. www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/bridgetrafrpt08.pdf. Retrieved 2010-07-10.

^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2007-01-23. www.nr.nps.gov/.

^ a b "Brooklyn Bridge". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=376&Resource....

^ E.P.D. (January 25, 1867). "Bridging the East River – Another Project". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle: p. 2. www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/eagle/. Retrieved 2007-11-26.

^ "The Brooklyn Bridge", February 24, 1975, by James B. Armstrong and S. Sydney Bradford "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination"]. National Park Service. 1975-02-24. pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Text/66000523.pdf "The Brooklyn Bridge", February 24, 1975, by James B. Armstrong and S. Sydney Bradford].

^ The Brooklyn Bridge—Accompanying three photos, from 1975. "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination"]. National Park Service. 1975-02-24. pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Photos/66000523.pdf The Brooklyn Bridge—Accompanying three photos, from 1975.].

^ "Brooklyn Bridge". ASCE Metropolitan Section. www.ascemetsection.org/content/view/339/872/. Retrieved 2010-06-30.

^ "THE BUILDING OF THE BRIDGE.; ITS COST AND THE DIFFICULTIES MET WITH-- DETAILS OF THE HISTORY OF A GREAT ENGINEERING TRIUMPH.". The New York Times. May 24, 1883. query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F01E5DC1431E433A.... Retrieved 2009-10-27.

^ Butler WP (2004). "Caisson disease during the construction of the Eads and Brooklyn Bridges: A review". Undersea Hyperb Med 31 (4): 445–59. PMID 15686275. archive.rubicon-foundation.org/4028. Retrieved 2008-06-19.

^ Smith, Andrew Heermance (1886). The Physiological, Pathological and Therapeutical Effects of Compressed Air. Detroit: George S. Davis. books.google.com/?id=hLq981_A5bMC&printsec=frontcover.... Retrieved 2009-04-17.

^ Acott, Chris (1999). "A brief history of diving and decompression illness.". South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society journal 29 (2). ISSN 0813-1988. OCLC 16986801. archive.rubicon-foundation.org/6004. Retrieved 2009-04-17.

^ a b Amazon.com: The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge: J'aime Drisdelle: Books

^ Weigold, Marilyn (1984). Silent Builder: Emily Warren Roebling and the Brooklyn Bridge. Associated Faculty Press.

^ McCullough, David (1983). The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 421.

^ "Emily Warren Roebling". American Society of Civil Engineers. www.asce.org/PPLContent.aspx?id=2147487328. Retrieved 2010-06-30.

^ "GlassSteelandStone: Brooklyn Bridge-tower rests on sand". www.glasssteelandstone.com/BuildingDetail/435.php. Retrieved 2007-02-20.

^ Reeves, Thomas C. (1975). Gentleman Boss. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. pp. 359–360. ISBN 0-394-46095-2.

^ "Brooklyn Daily Eagle 1841–1902 Online". Archived from the original on 2007-11-14. web.archive.org/web/20071114135249/http://eagle.brooklynp.... Retrieved 2007-11-23.

^ "Dead on the New Bridge; Fatal Crush at the Western Approach". The New York Times. May 31, 1883. query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=980DE3DA1431E433A.... Retrieved 2010-02-20.

^ Bildner, Phil (2004). Twenty-One Elephants. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0689870116.

^ Prince, April Jones (2005). Twenty-One Elephants and Still Standing. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 061844887X.

^ "P.T. Barnum – MSN Encarta". Archived from the original on 2009-10-31. www.webcitation.org/5kwQPajtQ.

^ Strausbaugh, John (November 9, 2007). "When Barnum Took Manhattan". The New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2007/11/09/arts/09expl.html. Retrieved 2008-09-21.

^ Gary Buiso, New York Post (May 25, 2010). "A True Cover Up. Brooklyn Bridge Paint Job Glosses over History". www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/true_cover_up_brookl.... Retrieved October 23, 2010.

^ Chan, Sewell (August 2, 2007). "Brooklyn Bridge Is One of 3 With Poor Rating". The New York Times. cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/08/02/brooklyn-bridge-is-.... Retrieved 2007-09-10.

^ "Brooklyn Bridge called 'safe' – DOT says span is okay despite getting a 'poor' rating". Courier-Life Publications. www.baynewsbrooklyn.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18685076&amp.... Retrieved 2007-08-12.

^ Burns, Ken. "Why I Decided to Make Brooklyn Bridge". Public Broadcasting Service. www.pbs.org/kenburns/brooklynbridge/about/. Retrieved 2010-02-20.

^ "Burns, Ken – U.S. Documentary Film Maker". The Museum of Broadcast Communications. www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=burnsken. Retrieved 2010-02-20.

^ Quindlen, Anna (April 2, 1980). "Koch Faces Day Ebulliently; He Looks Well Rested". The New York Times. select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F3061EFB395C1272.... Retrieved 2010-06-30.

^ Rutenberg, Jim (December 21, 2005). "On Foot, on Bridge and at City Hall, Bloomberg Is Irate". The New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2005/12/21/nyregion/nyregionspecial3/21ma.... Retrieved 2010-06-30.

^ Julavits, Robert (August 26, 2003). "Point of Collapse". The Village Voice. www.villagevoice.com/2003-08-26/news/point-of-collapse/. Retrieved 2010-02-20.

^ Steven Henry, Strogatz (2003). Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order. New York: Hyperion. pp. 174–175, 312, 320. ISBN 0786868449.

^ "Odlum's Leap to Death". The New York Times: p. 1. May 20, 1885. query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=990DE4D91739E533A.... Retrieved 2008-04-15.

^ "Brooklyn Bridge". SunnyDream. www.sunnydream.info/index.php?page=brooklyn. Retrieved 2010-06-25.

^ Sexton, Joe (March 2, 1994). "4 Hasidic Youths Hurt in Brooklyn Bridge Shooting". The New York Times. www.nytimes.com/1994/03/02/nyregion/4-hasidic-youths-hurt.... Retrieved 2010-06-30.

^ "In Memoriam". Ari Halberstam Memorial Site. www.arihalberstam.com/in-memoriam/. Retrieved 2010-06-30.

^ "Iyman Faris". GlobalSecurity.org. www.globalsecurity.org/security/profiles/iyman_faris.htm. Retrieved 2010-06-30.

^ Lovgren, Stefan (March 24, 2006). "Cold War "Time Capsule" Found in Brooklyn Bridge". National Geographic. news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/03/0324_060324_broo.... Retrieved 2010-02-20.

^ NYC Roads. "The Brooklyn Bridge". www.nycroads.com/crossings/brooklyn/. Retrieved October 23, 2010.

^ Burke, Kerry; Hutchinson, Bill (May 23, 2008). "Brooklyn Bridge turns 125 with a bang". Daily News (New York). www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2008/05/22/2008-05-.... Retrieved 2009-08-01.

^ "Brooklyn Bridge 125th Anniversary Celebration". ASCE Metropolitan Section. www.ascemetsection.org/content/view/121/830/. Retrieved 2009-08-01.

^ Ryzik, Melena (May 21, 2008). "Telescope Takes a Long View, to London". The New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2008/05/21/arts/design/21tele.html. Retrieved 2009-08-01.

^ Farmer, Ann (May 21, 2008). "This Way to Brooklyn, This Way". The New York Times. cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/21/welcome-to-dumbo-it.... Retrieved 2009-08-01.

^ Cultural Significance

^ Cohen, Gabriel (November 27, 2005). "For You, Half Price". The New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2005/11/27/nyregion/thecity/27brid.htm. Retrieved 2010-02-20.

[edit] Further reading

Cadbury, Deborah. (2004), Dreams of Iron and Steel. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-00-716307-X

Haw, Richard. (2005). The Brooklyn Bridge: A Cultural History. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 0-8135-3587-5

Haw, Richard. (2008). Art of the Brooklyn Bridge: A Visual History. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-95386-3

McCullough, David. (1972). The Great Bridge. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-21213-3

Strogatz, Steven. (2003). Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order. New York: Hyperion books. 10-ISBN 0-7868-6844-9; 13-ISBN 978-0-7868-6844-5 (cloth) [2nd ed., Hyperion, 2004. 10-ISBN 0-7868-8721-4; 13-ISBN 978-0-7868-8721-7 (paper)]

Strogartz, Steven, Daniel M. Abrams, Allan McRobie, Bruno Eckhardt, and Edward Ott. et al. (2005). "Theoretical mechanics: Crowd synchrony on the Millennium Bridge," Nature, Vol. 438, pp, 43–44.link to Nature articleMillennium Bridge opening day video illustrating "crowd synchrony" oscillations

Trachtenberg, Alan. (1965). Brooklyn Bridge: Fact and Symbol. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226811158 [2nd ed., 1979, ISBN 0-226-81115-8 (paper)]

[edit] External links

New York City portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Brooklyn Bridge

360° Interactive panorama from the top of the Brooklyn Bridge

The Brooklyn Bridge: A Study in Greatness

NYCroads.com – Brooklyn Bridge

Transportation Alternatives Fiboro Bridges – Brooklyn Bridge

The story of Brooklyn Bridge – by CBS Forum

Panorama of Brooklyn Bridge 1899 – Extreme Photo Constructions

Structurae: Brooklyn Bridge

Great Buildings entry for the Brooklyn Bridge

American Society of Civil Engineers

Railroad Extra – Brooklyn Bridge and its Railway

Images of the Brooklyn Bridge from the Brooklyn Museum

Brooklyn Bridge Photo Gallery with a Flash VR 360 of the Brooklyn Bridge Pedestrian Walkway

Opening Ceremonies of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge, May 24, 1883 at Project Gutenberg

Brooklyn Bridge at Historical Marker Database

The harbor (or harbour) seal (Phoca vitulina), also known as the common seal, is a true seal found along temperate and Arctic marine coastlines of the Northern Hemisphere. The most widely distributed species of pinniped (walruses, eared seals, and true seals), they are found in coastal waters of the northern Atlantic and Pacific oceans, Baltic and North seas.

Harbor seals are brown, silvery white, tan, or gray, with distinctive V-shaped nostrils. An adult can attain a length of 1.85 m (6.1 ft) and a mass of up to 168 kg (370 lb). Blubber under the seal's skin helps to maintain body temperature. Females outlive males (30–35 years versus 20–25 years). Harbor seals stick to familiar resting spots or haulout sites, generally rocky areas (although ice, sand, and mud may also be used) where they are protected from adverse weather conditions and predation, near a foraging area. Males may fight over mates under water and on land. Females bear a single pup after a nine-month gestation, which they care for alone. Pups can weigh up to 16 kg (35 lb) and are able to swim and dive within hours of birth. They develop quickly on their mothers' fat-rich milk, and are weaned after four to six weeks.

The global population of harbor seals is 350,000–500,000, but the freshwater subspecies Ungava seal in Northern Quebec is endangered. Once a common practice, sealing is now illegal in many nations within the animal's range.

Description

Individual harbor seals possess a unique pattern of spots, either dark on a light background or light on a dark. They vary in colour from brownish black to tan or grey; underparts are generally lighter. The body and flippers are short, heads are rounded. Nostrils appear distinctively V-shaped. As with other true seals, there is no pinna (ear flap). An ear canal may be visible behind the eye. Including the head and flippers, they may reach an adult length of 1.85 m (6.1 ft) and a weight of 55 to 168 kg (120 to 370 lb). Females are generally smaller than males.

Population

There are an estimated 350,000–500,000 harbor seals worldwide. While the population is not threatened as a whole, the Greenland, Hokkaidō and Baltic Sea populations are exceptions. Local populations have been reduced or eliminated through disease (especially the phocine distemper virus) and conflict with humans, both unintentionally and intentionally. Killing seals perceived to threaten fisheries is legal in Norway, and Canada, but commercial hunting is illegal. Seals are also taken in subsistence hunting and accidentally as bycatch (mainly in bottomset nets). Along the Norwegian coast, bycatch accounted for 48% of pup mortality. Killing or taking seals has been illegal in the United Kingdom since 1 March 2021.

Seals in the United Kingdom are protected by the 1970 Conservation of Seals Act, which prohibits most forms of killing. In the United States, the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 prohibits the killing of any marine mammals, and most local ordinances, as well as NOAA, instruct citizens to leave them alone unless serious danger to the seal exists.

Habitat and diet

Harbor seals prefer to frequent familiar resting sites. They may spend several days at sea and travel up to 50 km in search of feeding grounds, and will also swim more than a hundred miles upstream into fresh water in large rivers in search of migratory fish like shad and likely salmon.[citation needed] Resting sites may be both rugged, rocky coasts, such as those of the Hebrides or the shorelines of New England, or sandy beaches, like the ones that flank Normandy in Northern France or the Outer Banks of North Carolina.[1] Harbor seals frequently congregate in harbors, bays, sandy intertidal zones,[1] and estuaries in pursuit of prey fish such as salmon, menhaden, anchovy, sea bass, herring, mackerel, cod, whiting and flatfish, and occasionally shrimp, crabs, mollusks, and squid. Atlantic subspecies of either Europe or North America also exploit deeper-dwelling fish of the genus Ammodytes as a food source and Pacific subspecies have been recorded occasionally consuming fish of the genus Oncorhynchus. Although primarily coastal, dives of over 500 m have been recorded. Harbor seals have been recorded to attack, kill and eat several kinds of ducks.

Behavior, survival, and reproduction

Harbor seals are solitary, but are gregarious when hauled out and during the breeding season, though they do not form groups as large as some other seals. When not actively feeding, they haul to rest. They tend to be coastal, not venturing more than 20 km offshore. The mating system is not known, but thought to be polygamous. Females give birth once per year, with a gestation period around nine months. Females have a mean age at sexual maturity of 3.72 years and a mean age at first parturition of 4.64. Both courtship and mating occur under water. Researchers have found males gather under water, turn on their backs, put their heads together, and vocalize to attract females ready for breeding. Pregnancy rate of females was 92% from age 3 to age 36, with lowered reproductive success after the age of 25 years.

Birthing of pups occurs annually on shore. The timing of the pupping season varies with location, occurring in February for populations in lower latitudes, and as late as July in the subarctic zone. The mothers are the sole providers of care, with lactation lasting 24 days. The single pups are born well developed, capable of swimming and diving within hours. Suckling for three to four weeks, pups feed on the mother's rich, fatty milk and grow rapidly; born weighing up to 16 kilograms, the pups may double their weight by the time of weaning.

Harbor seals must spend a great deal of time on shore when molting, which occurs shortly after breeding. This onshore time is important to the life cycle, and can be disturbed when substantial human presence occurs. The timing of onset of molt depends on the age and sex of the animal, with yearlings molting first and adult males last. A female mates again immediately following the weaning of her pup. Harbor seals are sometimes reluctant to haul out in the presence of humans, so shoreline development and access must be carefully studied in known locations of seal haul out.

In comparison to many pinniped species, and in contrast to otariid pinnipeds, harbor seals are generally regarded to be more vocally reticent. However, they do utilize non-harmonic vocalizations to maintain breeding territories and to attract mates during specified times of year, and also during mother and pup interactions.

Annual survival rates were calculated at 0.91 for adult males, and 0.902 for adult females. Maximum age for females was 36 and for males 31 years.

Pacific Coast

The California population of subspecies P. v. richardsi amounted to about 25,000 individuals as of 1984. Pacific harbor seals or California harbor seals are found along the entire Pacific Coast shoreline of the state. They prefer to remain relatively close to shore in subtidal and intertidal zones, and have not been seen beyond the Channel Islands as a pelagic form; moreover, they often venture into bays and estuaries and even swim up coastal rivers. They feed in shallow littoral waters on herring, flounder, hake, anchovy, codfish, and sculpin.

Breeding occurs in California from March to May, with pupping between April and May, depending on local populations. As top-level feeders in the kelp forest, harbor seals enhance species diversity and productivity. They are preyed upon by killer whales (orcas) and white sharks. Haul out sites in California include urban beaches and from time to time they can be seen having a nap on the beach in all of San Francisco Bay, which would include the conurbation of Richmond, Oakland, and San Francisco, the Greater Los Angeles area, which would include Santa Barbara, the city of Los Angeles itself, and Long Beach, and all of San Diego Bay, most famously beaches near La Jolla.

Considerable scientific inquiry has been carried out by the Marine Mammal Center and other research organizations beginning in the 1980s regarding the incidence and transmission of diseases in harbor seals in the wild, including analysis of phocine herpesvirus. In San Francisco Bay, some harbor seals are fully or partially reddish in color, possibly caused by an accumulation of trace elements such as iron or selenium in the ocean, or a change in the hair follicles.

Although some of the largest harbor seal pupping areas are found in California, they are also found north along the Pacific Coast in Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and Alaska. Large populations move with the season south along the west coast of Canada and may winter on the islands in Washington and Oregon. Pupping is known to occur in both Washington and Oregon as of 2020. People are advised to stay at least 50m away from harbor seals that have hauled out on land, especially the pups, as mothers will abandon them if there's too much human activity nearby.

Atlantic Coast

Historically, the range of the harbor seal extended from the mouth of the St. Lawrence River and Greenland to the sandy beaches of North Carolina, a distance of well over a thousand miles (greater than 1600 km.) Evidence of their presence in these areas is consistent with both the fossil record as well as a few landmarks named for them during colonization: Robbin's Reef, off of Bayonne, New Jersey, gets its name from the Dutch word robben, meaning "seals". On the border between Canada and the US is an island known as Machias Seal Island, a place where today the harbor seal will occasionally visit but is now a sanctuary for puffins. Over the course of hundreds of years, however, the seal was wiped out steadily by being shot on sight by fishermen and by massive pollution. The evidence for this is found in documents all along the coast of New England which put a bounty on the head of every seal shot, as well as the accounts of harbormasters. New York City, when it was founded in the 1640s, was founded on top of an enormous estuary teeming with life that included the harbor seal. Oil in the 1800s started the process of pollution that was later compounded by even more toxic 20th century chemicals that included PCB's and dioxin. By the time of the 1972 Clean Water Act, New York Harbor was almost dead-almost no living thing could survive in it. Approximately 300 miles to the north, Boston Harbor was equally polluted. Raw sewage had been dumped in the harbor since the late 1800s and the stench of fecal matter in the Charles River was overpowering, as evidenced by the song "Dirty Water" by the Standells, written in 1966. Flatfish, abundant in the area, had enormous tumors in their livers by the 1980s and the harbor seal was long gone, shot to oblivion.

As of 2020, however, the seals have returned. They never were extirpated from Canada and certain pockets of the Maine coast, and thus an important mother population was created from whence the species could reclaim the home of their ancestors. Currently, they are sighted as far south as the barrier islands of North Carolina on a regular basis, with Massachusetts being the southernmost point of known pupping areas along the Atlantic Coast. Harbor seals move south from eastern Canadian waters to breed along the coast of Maine, Cape Cod, and the South Shore in Massachusetts in May and June, and return northward in fall. Others will head south from these areas to "vacation" in warmer waters, particularly young seals unable to compete with adults for food and territory; they do not return north until spring.

One park ranger in New York City, which is dead center of its West Atlantic range, says that "New York is like their Miami resort." This refers to the habit of young seals leaving Cape Cod and even some Arctic waters to inhabit the harbor in winter. In 2018 the New York Post reported that the harbor is now "cleaner than it has been in 110 years," and since the first decade of the 21st century, the harbor seal has found the old turf of its ancestors to be a land of plenty and the water to be livable. Within sight of the New York skyline, known colonies of harbor seals are found on Hoffman and Swinburne Islands as well as portions of Red Hook and Staten Island, readily hauling out every from October until very early May. Known favorite foods of the seal are returning in grand numbers to New York Harbor as well as nearby New Jersey, from Raritan Bay all the way down the entire Jersey Shore, with schools of mossbunker regularly attracting harbor seals, their cousins the grey seals, dolphins and, most recently, whales. Both the northern and southern shores of Long Island have a reliable population of harbor seals as well as greys, where they will take sand lance as well as some species of crab as part of their diet.

Injury from waste in the world's oceans

A major problem is injury from litter floating in the world's oceans. Seals get entangled in nets of general waste like garments, old fishing lines from hobby and professional fishermen and packaging waste (packaging straps) and fishing hooks from professional shark and tuna fishing. If they cannot free themselves from the entanglement, these grow into the skin or flippers of young and old seals and the animals will die from them. The organisation Ocean Conservation Namibia has freed about 3000 seals from such dangerous waste and documents such rescue operations on YouTube.

Notable individuals

Andre, rescued and trained by his owner Harry Goodridge, he became an iconic figure in his hometown of Rockport, Maine.

Hoover, also rescued from a Maine harbor. Hoover became famous for his ability to imitate human speech, something not observed in any other mammal.

Popeye, the official seal of Friday Harbor, Washington, notable for her common sightings up until 2019, when she was presumed to have died. She was identified and named for her cloudy left eye. There is a statue of her in the Port of Friday Harbor.

Freddie, a seal pup commonly spotted along the Thames in central London. Named after Freddie Mercury due to his bushy whiskers and playfulness. Freddie was known to travel unusually far into London from the Thames Estuary, and was often sighted as far west as Hammersmith. On 21 March 2021 he had to be put down after he was violently mauled by an out-of-control dog.

Macau is a city in south-east China. Until 1999 it belonged to Portugal. Then it became part of China as a Special Administrative Region, thus maintaining some autonomy, same as Hongkong. Nowadays Macau is best known as world’s largest center of gambling. In this MOC, however, I focus on the old part of the city.

Thanks to its Portuguese roots, Macau has a unique charm. At every step you see western and eastern culture merge into one. It’s probably the only place in the world where you can taste pasteis de nata with durian topping.

The MOC shows some highlights from my trip to Macau in the summer of 2019:

* Bilingual signboards (in Portuguese and Cantonese)

* Buddhist altar - many small altars are scattered around the city, same as larger temples and catcholic churches. It is quite an exceptional mix, but the buddhist tradition seems to be more lively.

* Bus stop – timetables are attached to a cyllinder that you can rotate to find your line. When it comes to public transport, everything happens really fast -something that I’m not used to. To make the things more confusing, in Macau you drive on the left side of the road, so the bus always arrived from the opposite side than a European tourist would expect.

* Shop with... Strange things – I honestly don’t know how to call this. From the look of them, the items for sale looked like dried fish fins and bones, perhaps some sea snails and herbs as well... If anybody has a clue, please let me know!

* Vietnamese Banh Mi sandwich restaurant – this might not clearly be a local dish, but I’ve been there a couple of times and definitely recommend it!

From the Wikipedia entries:

"Deer Isle is an island in Hancock County, Maine, United States. There are two communities on the island, Deer Isle and Stonington. It is on the eastern side of Penobscot Bay, connected by road to the Maine mainland through Little Deer Isle. Its only vehicular connection to the mainland is State Route 15 over Deer Isle Bridge.

The first people to live on Deer Isle, as early as 6,100 years ago, were Native Americans. Their descendants were known to early French explorers as Etchemins; some continued to live on the island even after Anglo-Americans established settlements. The first European to venture into the region was Estevan Gomez, a Portuguese working for the Spanish Crown. Gomez sailed his ship La Anunciada up Eggemoggin Reach, which divides Deer Isle from the mainland. The French, however, would be the most active in the region, establishing a fort in Castine and intermarrying with Abenaki natives. A body buried in full armor (believed to be French) was discovered on nearby Campbell Island.

Toward the end of the French and Indian War, Deer Isle was settled by New England colonists around 1760. From Berwick came descendants of Scots Covenanter George Gray, a prisoner of war taken at the 1650 Battle of Dunbar and shipped to America, his grandchildren (Joshua and Andrew) populated the area. Sailors on the island became noted for maritime skills, some even serving as crew in the America's Cup Races of 1895 and 1899. Ironically, their ancestors hadn't come looking for a life on the sea, but on the land. Following a southerly migration from the mainland above, the first settlers established farms and built cabins on the northern part of Deer Island. On the southern part, Green's Landing (as Stonington was initially known) would be settled after 1800.

Soil became exhausted from over farming and deforestation, so inhabitants of Deer Isle took to the sea. They became active in shipbuilding, seafaring and fishing. Green's Landing, a sparsely populated fishing village, didn't change much until the granite boom after 1870, when quarrying became a major occupation. Stone excavated here was used to build important structures across the country, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Europeans, mainly from Italy, were imported as stonecutters. Some were housed in barracks on Crotch Island, while others lived in hotels and large boarding houses built for that purpose. Many of the original buildings have been transformed since into restaurants, galleries and shops.

On February 18, 1897, Green's Landing was set off and incorporated by the Maine State Legislature as Stonington, named for its granite quarries. To the west of the main harbor lies Steamboat Wharf, now home to the Isle au Haut Boat Company. Prior to that it was a sardine factory. Before the Deer Isle-Sedgwick Bridge connected to the mainland in 1939, the wharf was an essential link to Deer Isle in general, and Stonington in particular. Steamboats arrived daily from ports such as Rockland, transporting freight and passengers from as far as Boston. The harbor has long been filled with Friendship Sloops, which are powered by sail only. Lobstermen once used them to haul traps. Most of their trips were to the outer islands (like York Island) near Isle au Haut, fishing during the week and returning to the harbor on weekends. This changed with the advent of gasoline or diesel engines, along with new hull designs, which enabled fishermen to make day trips to fishing grounds in Penobscot Bay."

Deer Isle is a spectacular island community of 24,000 acres and 112 miles of shoreline, comprising the towns of Deer Isle and Stonington and outlying islands.

Island Heritage Trust is a community-based, non-profit land trust contributing to the well-being of the island community by conserving its distinctive landscape and natural resources, maintaining public access to valued trails, shoreline and islands, and by providing educational programming for all ages.

www.islandheritagetrust.org/visit.html

.....

Superbly maintained Volvo B58 / Plaxton Supreme CVE 12V of Kenzies, Shepreth is seen here at it's home base on 7th December 2011.

Maintaining its unbroken run on the FGW summer Saturday loco-hauled workings, 57303 just about outpaces the advancing cloud at Treleigh between Redruth and Truro with the 5P70 1015 Penzance T&RSMD - Par ECS on 11 July 2015. This is the first time this year this train has run with four coaches and the first time it has included two vehicles in the new GWR sludge green livery.

Durga

------

In Hinduism, Durga one who can redeem in situations of utmost distress; is a form of Devi, the supremely radiant goddess, depicted as having ten arms, riding a lion or a tiger, carrying weapons and a lotus flower, maintaining a meditative smile, and practising mudras, or symbolic hand gestures.

An embodiment of creative feminine force (Shakti), Durga exists in a state of tantrya (independence from the universe and anything/anybody else, i.e., self-sufficiency) and fierce compassion. Kali is considered by Hindus to be an aspect of Durga. Durga is also the mother of Ganesha and Kartikeya. She is thus considered the fiercer, demon-fighting form of Shiva's wife, goddess Parvati. Durga manifests fearlessness and patience, and never loses her sense of humor, even during spiritual battles of epic proportion.

The word Shakti means divine feminine energy/force/power, and Durga is the warrior aspect of the Divine Mother. Other incarnations include Annapurna and Karunamayi. Durga's darker aspect Kali is represented as the consort of the god Shiva, on whose body she is often seen standing.

Durga Slays Mahishasura, Mahabalipuram sculpture.

As a goddess, Durga's feminine power contains the energies of the gods. Each of her weapons was given to her by various gods: Rudra's trident, Vishnu's discus, Indra's thunderbolt, Brahma's kamandalu, Kuber's Ratnahar, etc.

According to a narrative in the Devi Mahatmya story of the Markandeya Purana text, Durga was created as a warrior goddess to fight an asura (an inhuman force/demon) named Mahishasura. He had unleashed a reign of terror on earth, heaven and the nether worlds, and he could not be defeated by any man or god, anywhere. The gods went to Brahma, who had given Mahishasura the power not to be defeated by a man. Brahma could do nothing. They made Brahma their leader and went to Vaikuntha — the place where Vishnu lay on Ananta Naag. They found both Vishnu and Shiva, and Brahma eloquently related the reign of terror Mahishasur had unleashed on the three worlds. Hearing this Vishnu, Shiva and all of the gods became very angry and beams of fierce light emerged from their bodies. The blinding sea of light met at the Ashram of a priest named Katyan. The goddess Durga took the name Katyaayani from the priest and emerged from the sea of light. She introduced herself in the language of the Rig-Veda, saying she was the form of the supreme Brahman who had created all the gods. Now she had come to fight the demon to save the gods. They did not create her; it was her lila that she emerged from their combined energy. The gods were blessed with her compassion.

It is said that upon initially encountering Durga, Mahishasura underestimated her, thinking: "How can a woman kill me, Mahishasur — the one who has defeated the trinity of gods?" However, Durga roared with laughter, which caused an earthquake which made Mahishasur aware of her powers.

And the terrible Mahishasur rampaged against her, changing forms many times. First he was a buffalo demon, and she defeated him with her sword. Then he changed forms and became an elephant that tied up the goddess's lion and began to pull it towards him. The goddess cut off his trunk with her sword. The demon Mahishasur continued his terrorizing, taking the form of a lion, and then the form of a man, but both of them were gracefully slain by Durga.

Then Mahishasur began attacking once more, starting to take the form of a buffalo again. The patient goddess became very angry, and as she sipped divine wine from a cup she smiled and proclaimed to Mahishasur in a colorful tone — "Roar with delight while you still can, O illiterate demon, because when I will kill you after drinking this, the gods themselves will roar with delight".[cite this quote] When Mahashaur had half emerged into his buffalo form, he was paralyzed by the extreme light emitting from the goddess's body. The goddess then resounded with laughter before cutting Mahishasur's head down with her sword.

Thus Durga slew Mahishasur, thus is the power of the fierce compassion of Durga. Hence, Mata Durga is also known as Mahishasurmardhini — the slayer of Mahishasur. According to one legend, the goddess Durga created an army to fight against the forces of the demon-king Mahishasur, who was terrorizing Heaven and Earth. After ten days of fighting, Durga and her army defeated Mahishasur and killed him. As a reward for their service, Durga bestowed upon her army the knowledge of jewelry-making. Ever since, the Sonara community has been involved in the jewelry profession [3].

The goddess as Mahisasuramardhini appears quite early in Indian art. The Archaeological Museum in Matura has several statues on display including a 6-armed Kushana period Mahisasuramardhini that depicts her pressing down the buffalo with her lower hands [4]. A Nagar plaque from the first century BC - first century AD depicts a 4-armed Mahisamardhini accompanied by a lion. But it is in the Gupta period that we see the finest representations of Mahisasuramardhini (2-, 4-, 6-, and at Udayagiri, 12-armed). The spear and trident are her most common weapons. a Mamallapuram relief shows the goddess with 8 arms riding her lion subduing a bufalo-faced demon (as contrasted with a buffalo demon); a variation also seen at Ellora. In later sculptures (post-seventh Century), sculptures show the goddess having decapitated the buffalo demon

Durga Puja

----------

Durga puja is an annual Hindu festival in South Asia that celebrates worship of the Hindu goddess Durga. It refers to all the six days observed as Mahalaya, Shashthi , Maha Saptami, Maha Ashtami, Maha Navami and Bijoya Dashami. The dates of Durga Puja celebrations are set according to the traditional Hindu calendar and the fortnight corresponding to the festival is called Devi Paksha and is ended on Kojagori Lokkhi Puja

Durga Puja is widely celebrated in the Indian states of West Bengal, Assam, Jharkhand, Orissa and Tripura where it is a five-day annual holiday.In West Bengal and Tripura which has majority of Bengali Hindus it is the Biggest festival of the year. Not only is it the biggest Hindu festival celebrated throughout the State, but it is also the most significant socio-cultural event in Bengali society. Apart from eastern India, Durga Puja is also celebrated in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, Kashmir, Karnataka and Kerala. Durga Puja is also celebrated as a major festival in Nepal and in Bangladesh where 10% population are Hindu. Nowadays, many diaspora Bengali cultural organizations arrange for Durgotsab in countries such as the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, France, The Netherlands, Singapore and Kuwait, among others. In 2006, a grand Durga Puja ceremony was held in the Great Court of the British Museum.

The prominence of Durga Puja increased gradually during the British Raj in Bengal. After the Hindu reformists identified Durga with India, she became an icon for the Indian independence movement. In the first quarter of the 20th century, the tradition of Baroyari or Community Puja was popularised due to this. After independence, Durga Puja became one of the largest celebrated festivals in the whole world.

Durga Puja also includes the worship of Shiva, Lakshmi, Ganesha, Saraswati and Kartikeya. Modern traditions have come to include the display of decorated pandals and artistically depicted idols (murti) of Durga, exchange of Bijoya Greetings and publication of Puja Annuals

Winchester Science Centre is hosting The Observatory Artists Studios from January through to July 2015.

This project is being run through an external organisation called SPUD. The aim of the project is to create a sculptural installation that becomes an intervention, a space, a platform, a shelter, a look-out for a series of artist’s residencies to take place. The intervention has been designed through a competition that encourages collaborations between artists, architects and engineers and students.

Three different artists are working in the space before it moves to its next location at the South Dorset Ridgeway.

Winchester Science Centre (previously known as INTECH) is a hands-on, interactive, science and technology centre located in Morn Hill, just outside the city of Winchester in Hampshire, England. Opened in 2002 after major grants from amongst others the Millennium Commission, IBM, SEEDA and Hampshire County Council it replaced an existing facility in a more functional building in Winchester.

The centre houses over 100 activities, all of which link in with the National Curriculum for schools. During term time it is used mainly by local schools and days out, while at week ends and holidays it attracts a wider audience. The dome is now a state-of-the-art digital planetarium seating 176.

Winchester Science Centre offers a main exhibition area with the hands-on science exhibits. In addition Winchester Science Centre features a digital planetarium that offers a full-dome experience and a variety of live daily shows suitable both children and adults. The centre also offers school visits by their new mobile planetarium with shows that are both engaging and relevant to the curriculum.

The on-site education team offer a variety of tailored workshops for primary and secondary level students within the Winchester Science Centre classrooms and out-reach is also offered. Workshops include 'Data logging', 'Parts of a flower', 'Electrical Conductors' and 'Explore your universe' as well as many other options. Winchester Science Centre are also proud to offer workshops for CAD/CAM in partnership with Techsoft.

The one-site workshop team make and maintain the majority of the exhibits and also are contracted by other science centres and schools to make bespoke pieces, such as the recently designed 'Stem-Cell Volcano'.

Winchester Science Centre is the Contract Holder for STEMNET in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. As Contract Holder, the Science Centre brokers relationships with over 700 trained STEM Ambassadors each of whom volunteer their time for free to secondary schools in the area. The Science Centre also offers educational advice to teachers.

The "After Dark" and "Saturday Night at the Planetarium", Space and Science Lectures are a popular addition to the programme and are tailored towards adults.

As well as all of this Winchester Science Centre also runs Singles Events and the venue is available to hire for private or corporate functions.

The Science Centre also has an on-site cafe facility called "Chompers".

www.winchestersciencecentre.org/visitor-information/the-o...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winchester_Science_Centre

Garden at Caloola, Sunbury. Caloola buildings are set in extensive grounds with plantings of mature trees and remnant farmland. Caloola commenced in 1864 as an Industrial School, was redeveloped in 1879 as a Lunatic Asylum, substantially enlarged in the period 1891 to 1914 and was maintained in use as a psychiatric hospital (1879-1968) and later a training centre for the intellectually disabled (1962-1992). Part of the site became a Victoria University campus from 1994 to 2011 and the remainder is in use by the Department of Education.

The Industrial School consisted of ten basalt buildings (nine extant), designed under the direction of Public Works Department Inspector General William Wardell and constructed in 1865-66, four workrooms, kitchen, hospital, basalt farm building, road and stone wall remnants which were used to house and train neglected children in the 1860s. Boys in the Sunbury Industrial School worked on the farm and in the tailoring and shoe-making workshops to maintain themselves whilst in the institution and were given some basic education. Major alterations were undertaken to the earlier basalt wards in the period 1908-12 when the buildings were linked.

The Industrial School at Sunbury is believed to be the earliest surviving example in Victoria; of the original twelve industrial schools: only one other, constructed in 1875-76, survives at North West Hospital, Parkville.

The purpose built Sunbury Lunatic Asylum, constructed mainly between 1892 and 1912, was designed and constructed mainly under the direction of the Chief Architect of the Victorian Public Works Department, George Watson. A site plan was prepared by the talented architect Henry Bastow in 1888. Its pavilion wards in brick with terra cotta roofing tiles conformed to international standards of asylum and hospital planning adopted in the later nineteenth century and were a departure from the single monolithic buildings constructed at Kew and Beechworth. Electric lighting was installed in the wards in 1905-6. A tramway was laid linking the rear of the wards with the kitchen (built 1906-7) in 1908. Telephone and fire alarm systems were installed to connect the 20 separate buildings of the asylum in 1911.

The landscape designed by prominent landscape designer Hugh Linaker dates principally from the inter-war period The landscape also includes mature trees , mainly pines, cypress, oaks and elms and the remains of a drystone perimeter wall and a later brick ha ha wall.

How is it significant?

Caloola is of historical, architectural, aesthetic, archaeological and social significance to the State of Victoria.

Why is it significant?

The Caloola complex is of historical significance for its demonstration of attitudes to child welfare and mental health in its early industrial school buildings and asylum buildings, airing courts and gardens. .

Caloola is historically significant for the former Industrial School buildings constructed mainly from 1865-66. The school operated from 1865 to 1879 as the first purpose-built Industrial School in Victoria. The buildings at Sunbury are demonstrative of the harsh conditions which characterised such schools for neglected or delinquent children. The former Industrial School hospital (1865) is amongst the earliest hospital buildings surviving in the state.

Caloola is of historical significance for its typical asylum landscaping and site planning, its airing courts (many of which retain early sunshades and privies) and a complete example of a sunken wall (or ha ha wall). Asylums were typically distant from population centres, with extensive grounds and ha ha walls to prevent escape.

Caloola is historically significant for its purpose built Sunbury Lunatic Asylum, constructed between 1892 and 1912. Caloola's large and architecturally impressive buildings in a curved detached pavilion arrangement demonstrate changes in the accommodation and treatment of mentally ill patients in the nineteenth century. The clear evidence of farming operations also demonstrates the policy of employing boys in industrial schools to train them in farm work and the later policy of involving physically able mentally ill patients in outdoor work.

Caloola is of historical significance for its physical fabric and spaces which demonstrate nineteenth century attitudes to the treatment of mental illness, including the padded cells, ripple iron cells and dormitory accommodation. The female refractory ward, originally designed for male criminally insane patients, demonstrates contemporary practices in dealing with female patients who were transferred from the general wards for disruptive behaviour.

The Caloola complex is of historical significance for their association with the talented Public Works Department architects from the 1860s, and particularly associated with Henry Bastow and Chief Architect George Watson, who were responsible for the design of the pavilion buildings from the 1890s to 1912. Its association with noted landscape designer, Hugh Linaker, who was responsible for the grounds from 1912, is also significant.

The Caloola site is of archaeological significance for its potential to contain historical archaeological features, deposits and relics that relate to the construction and use of the Industrial School and the Lunatic Asylum.

Caloola is of architectural significance for its institutional buildings of the 1860s and the 1890s. Its industrial school buildings of the 1860s are typical of the Public Works Department output of the 1860s, use local material, have simple classically derived detailing and gain much of their importance by the repetition of forms. Major alterations were undertaken to the earlier basalt wards in the period 1908-12 when the buildings were linked. The planning of these links is accomplished and contributed to the continuity of use of the site and represented changing attitudes to mental health.

The site at Sunbury is architecturally significant for its rare and intact examples of an industrial school and a late nineteenth century lunatic asylum. The site contains rare examples of hairpin fencing used to enclose airing courts for patients. Outdoor shelters or sunshades for patients are also uncommon in Victoria.

The Caloola complex is of architectural significance for its industrial school and asylum buildings. The earliest of the remaining buildings of the Sunbury Industrial School are architecturally significant as forming the earliest purpose built example of its type,. They are important for their bluestone construction and austere style which distinguished them from the later asylum buildings. The 1860s buildings which exhibit classically derived detailing are constructed of local basalt. The red brick and timber buildings of the principal phase of asylum expansion of 1891 to 1912 are of architectural significance for innovative design as a pavilion hospital grouping and include distinctive detailing.

Caloola is architecturally significant as a former lunatic asylum, one of several surviving in the state. It demonstrates typical characteristics such as formal planning, use of sunken walls (ha ha walls), airing courts and a diverse range of building types to cater for the patient and staff population. They gain their architectural significance from the unity of materials, overall cohesiveness of design, consistent and distinctive detailing (especially in the unusual use of buttresses and steep roofs in the former hospital wards), impressive site planning and spacious setting.

The Caloola complex is of aesthetic significance for the quality and range of its architecture and garden elements, consistent use of basalt, red brick and terra cotta tiles, its consistency of architectural styles and materials within the two major building phases, for its landscape planning and plantings and for its prominent siting on the hill with views to and from the site...(VHR)

~ Story People

Photo Copyright 2012, dynamo.photography.

All rights reserved, no use without license

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from Hong kong)

Hong Kong, officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, is an autonomous territory south to Mainland China and east to Macao in East Asia. With around 7.2 million Hong Kongers of various nationalities[note 2] in a territory of 1,104 km2, Hong Kong is the world's fourth most densely populated country or territory.

Hong Kong used to be a British colony with the perpetual cession of Hong Kong Island from the Qing Empire after the First Opium War (1839–42). The colony expanded to the Kowloon Peninsula in 1860 and acquired a 99-year lease of the New Territories from 1898. Hong Kong was later occupied by Japan during the Second World War until British control resumed in 1945. The Sino-British Joint Declaration signed between the United Kingdom and China in 1984 paved way for the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong in 1997, when it became a special administrative region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China with a high degree of autonomy.[15]

Under the principle of "one country, two systems",[16][17] Hong Kong maintains a separate political and economic system from China. Except in military defence and foreign affairs, Hong Kong maintains its independent executive, legislative and judiciary powers.[18] In addition, Hong Kong develops relations directly with foreign states and international organisations in a broad range of "appropriate fields".[19] Hong Kong involves in international organizations, such as the WTO[20] and the APEC [21], actively and independently.

Hong Kong is one of the world's most significant financial centres, with the highest Financial Development Index score and consistently ranks as the world's most competitive and freest economic entity.[22][23] As the world's 8th largest trading entity,[24] its legal tender, the Hong Kong dollar, is the world's 13th most traded currency.[25] As the world's most visited city,[26][27] Hong Kong's tertiary sector dominated economy is characterised by competitive simple taxation and supported by its independent judiciary system.[28] Even with one of the highest per capita incomes in the world, it suffers from severe income inequality.[29]

Nicknamed "Pearl of the Orient", Hong Kong is renowned for its deep natural harbour, which boasts the world's fifth busiest port with ready access by cargo ships, and its impressive skyline, with the most skyscrapers in the world.[30][31] It has a very high Human Development Index ranking and the world's longest life expectancy.[32][33] Over 90% of the population makes use of well-developed public transportation.[34][35] Seasonal air pollution with origins from neighbouring industrial areas of Mainland China, which adopts loose emissions standards, has resulted in a high level of atmospheric particulates in winter.[36][37][38]

Contents

1 Etymology

2 History

2.1 Prehistory

2.2 Imperial China

2.3 British Crown Colony: 1842–1941

2.4 Japanese occupation: 1941–45

2.5 Resumption of British rule and industrialisation: 1945–97

2.6 Handover and Special Administrative Region status

3 Governance

3.1 Structure of government

3.2 Electoral and political reforms

3.3 Legal system and judiciary

3.4 Foreign relations

3.5 Human rights

3.6 Regions and districts

3.7 Military

4 Geography and climate

5 Economy

5.1 Financial centre

5.2 International trading

5.3 Tourism and expatriation

5.4 Policy

5.5 Infrastructure

6 Demographics

6.1 Languages

6.2 Religion

6.3 Personal income

6.4 Education

6.5 Health

7 Culture

7.1 Sports

7.2 Architecture

7.3 Cityscape

7.4 Symbols

8 See also

9 Notes

10 References

10.1 Citations

10.2 Sources

11 Further reading

12 External links

Etymology

Hong Kong was officially recorded in the 1842 Treaty of Nanking to encompass the entirety of the island.[39]

The source of the romanised name "Hong Kong" is not known, but it is generally believed to be an early imprecise phonetic rendering of the pronunciation in spoken Cantonese 香港 (Cantonese Yale: Hēung Góng), which means "Fragrant Harbour" or "Incense Harbour".[13][14][40] Before 1842, the name referred to a small inlet—now Aberdeen Harbour (Chinese: 香港仔; Cantonese Yale: Hēunggóng jái), literally means "Little Hong Kong"—between Aberdeen Island and the southern coast of Hong Kong Island. Aberdeen was an initial point of contact between British sailors and local fishermen.[41]

Another theory is that the name would have been taken from Hong Kong's early inhabitants, the Tankas (水上人); it is equally probable that romanisation was done with a faithful execution of their speeches, i.e. hōng, not hēung in Cantonese.[42] Detailed and accurate romanisation systems for Cantonese were available and in use at the time.[43]

Fragrance may refer to the sweet taste of the harbour's fresh water estuarine influx of the Pearl River or to the incense from factories lining the coast of northern Kowloon. The incense was stored near Aberdeen Harbour for export before Hong Kong developed Victoria Harbour.[40]

The name had often been written as the single word Hongkong until the government adopted the current form in 1926.[44] Nevertheless, a number of century-old institutions still retain the single-word form, such as the Hongkong Post, Hongkong Electric and the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.

As of 1997, its official name is the "Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China". This is the official title as mentioned in the Hong Kong Basic Law and the Hong Kong Government's website;[45] however, "Hong Kong Special Administrative Region" and "Hong Kong" are widely accepted.

Hong Kong has carried many nicknames. The most famous among those is the "Pearl of the Orient", which reflected the impressive nightscape of the city's light decorations on the skyscrapers along both sides of the Victoria Harbour. The territory is also known as "Asia's World City".

History

Main articles: History of Hong Kong and History of China

Prehistory

Main article: Prehistoric Hong Kong

Archaeological studies support human presence in the Chek Lap Kok area (now Hong Kong International Airport) from 35,000 to 39,000 years ago and on Sai Kung Peninsula from 6,000 years ago.[46][47][48]

Wong Tei Tung and Three Fathoms Cove are the earliest sites of human habitation in Hong Kong during the Paleolithic Period. It is believed that the Three Fathom Cove was a river-valley settlement and Wong Tei Tung was a lithic manufacturing site. Excavated Neolithic artefacts suggested cultural differences from the Longshan culture of northern China and settlement by the Che people, prior to the migration of the Baiyue to Hong Kong.[49][50] Eight petroglyphs, which dated to the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600 BC – 1066 BC) in China, were discovered on the surrounding islands.[51]

Imperial China

Main article: History of Hong Kong under Imperial China

In 214 BC, Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of a centralised China, conquered the Baiyue tribes in Jiaozhi (modern-day Liangguang region and Vietnam) and incorporated the area of Hong Kong into his imperial China for the first time. Hong Kong proper was assigned to the Nanhai commandery (modern-day Nanhai District), near the commandery's capital city Panyu.[52][53][54]

After a brief period of centralisation and collapse of the Qin dynasty, the area of Hong Kong was consolidated under the Kingdom of Nanyue, founded by general Zhao Tuo in 204 BC.[55] When Nanyue lost the Han-Nanyue War in 111 BC, Hong Kong came under the Jiaozhi commandery of the Han dynasty. Archaeological evidence indicates an increase of population and flourish of salt production. The Lei Cheng Uk Han Tomb on the Kowloon Peninsula is believed to have been built as a burial site during the Han dynasty.[56]

From the Han dynasty to the early Tang dynasty, Hong Kong was a part of Bao'an County. In the Tang dynasty, modern-day Guangzhou (Canton) flourished as an international trading centre. In 736, the Emperor Xuanzong of Tang established a military stronghold in Tuen Mun to strengthen defence of the coastal area.[57] The nearby Lantau Island was a salt production centre and salt smuggler riots occasionally broke out against the government. In c. 1075, The first village school, Li Ying College, was established around 1075 AD in modern-day New Territories by the Northern Song dynasty.[58] During their war against the Mongols, the imperial court of Southern Song was briefly stationed at modern-day Kowloon City (the Sung Wong Toi site) before their ultimate defeat by the Mongols at the Battle of Yamen in 1279.[59] The Mongols then established their dynastic court and governed Hong Kong for 97 years.

From the mid-Tang dynasty to the early Ming dynasty (1368–1644), Hong Kong was a part of Dongguan County. During the Ming dynasty, the area was transferred to Xin'an County. The indigenous inhabitants at that time consisted of several ethnicities such as Punti, Hakka, Tanka and Hoklo.

European discovery

The earliest European visitor on record was Jorge Álvares, a Portuguese explorer, who arrived in 1513.[60][61] Having established a trading post in a site they called "Tamão" in Hong Kong waters, Portuguese merchants commenced with regular trading in southern China. Subsequent military clashes between China and Portugal, however, led to the expulsion of all Portuguese merchants from southern China.

Since the 14th century, the Ming court had enforced the maritime prohibition laws that strictly forbade all private maritime activities in order to prevent contact with foreigners by sea.[62] When the Manchu Qing dynasty took over China, Hong Kong was directly affected by the Great Clearance decree of the Kangxi Emperor, who ordered the evacuation of coastal areas of Guangdong from 1661 to 1669. Over 16,000 inhabitants of Xin'an County including those in Hong Kong were forced to migrate inland; only 1,648 of those who had evacuated subsequently returned.[63][64]

British Crown Colony: 1842–1941

A painter at work. John Thomson. Hong Kong, 1871. The Wellcome Collection, London

Main articles: British Hong Kong and History of Hong Kong (1800s–1930s)

In 1839, threats by the imperial court of Qing to sanction opium imports caused diplomatic friction with the British Empire. Tensions escalated into the First Opium War. The Qing admitted defeat when British forces captured Hong Kong Island on 20 January 1841. The island was initially ceded under the Convention of Chuenpi as part of a ceasefire agreement between Captain Charles Elliot and Governor Qishan. A dispute between high-ranking officials of both countries, however, led to the failure of the treaty's ratification. On 29 August 1842, Hong Kong Island was formally ceded in perpetuity to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland under the Treaty of Nanking.[65] The British officially established a Crown colony and founded the City of Victoria in the following year.[66]

The population of Hong Kong Island was 7,450 when the Union Flag raised over Possession Point on 26 January 1841. It mostly consisted of Tanka fishermen and Hakka charcoal burners, whose settlements scattered along several coastal hamlets. In the 1850s, a large number of Chinese immigrants crossed the then-free border to escape from the Taiping Rebellion. Other natural disasters, such as flooding, typhoons and famine in mainland China would play a role in establishing Hong Kong as a place for safe shelter.[67][68]

Further conflicts over the opium trade between Britain and Qing quickly escalated into the Second Opium War. Following the Anglo-French victory, the Crown Colony was expanded to include Kowloon Peninsula (south of Boundary Street) and Stonecutter's Island, both of which were ceded to the British in perpetuity under the Convention of Beijing in 1860.

In 1898, Britain obtained a 99-year lease from Qing under the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory, in which Hong Kong obtained a 99-year lease of Lantau Island, the area north of Boundary Street in Kowloon up to Shenzhen River and over 200 other outlying islands.[69][70][71]

Hong Kong soon became a major entrepôt thanks to its free port status, attracting new immigrants to settle from both China and Europe. The society, however, remained racially segregated and polarised under early British colonial policies. Despite the rise of a British-educated Chinese upper-class by the late-19th century, race laws such as the Peak Reservation Ordinance prevented ethnic Chinese in Hong Kong from acquiring houses in reserved areas such as Victoria Peak. At this time, the majority of the Chinese population in Hong Kong had no political representation in the British colonial government. The British governors did rely, however, on a small number of Chinese elites, including Sir Kai Ho and Robert Hotung, who served as ambassadors and mediators between the government and local population.

File:1937 Hong Kong VP8.webmPlay media

Hong Kong filmed in 1937

In 1904, the United Kingdom established the world's first border and immigration control; all residents of Hong Kong were given citizenship as Citizens of United Kingdom and Colonies (CUKC).

Hong Kong continued to experience modest growth during the first half of the 20th century. The University of Hong Kong was established in 1911 as the territory's first higher education institute. While there had been an exodus of 60,000 residents for fear of a German attack on the British colony during the First World War, Hong Kong remained unscathed. Its population increased from 530,000 in 1916 to 725,000 in 1925 and reached 1.6 million by 1941.[72]

In 1925, Cecil Clementi became the 17th Governor of Hong Kong. Fluent in Cantonese and without a need for translator, Clementi introduced the first ethnic Chinese, Shouson Chow, into the Executive Council as an unofficial member. Under Clementi's tenure, Kai Tak Airport entered operation as RAF Kai Tak and several aviation clubs. In 1937, the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out when the Japanese Empire expanded its territories from northeastern China into the mainland proper. To safeguard Hong Kong as a freeport, Governor Geoffry Northcote declared the Crown Colony as a neutral zone.

Japanese occupation: 1941–45

Main article: Japanese occupation of Hong Kong

The Cenotaph in Hong Kong commemorates those who died in service in the First World War and the Second World War.[73]

As part of its military campaign in Southeast Asia during Second World War, the Japanese army moved south from Guangzhou of mainland China and attacked Hong Kong in on 8 December 1941.[74] Crossing the border at Shenzhen River on 8 December, the Battle of Hong Kong lasted for 18 days when British and Canadian forces held onto Hong Kong Island. Unable to defend against intensifying Japanese air and land bombardments, they eventually surrendered control of Hong Kong on 25 December 1941. The Governor of Hong Kong was captured and taken as a prisoner of war. This day is regarded by the locals as "Black Christmas".[75]

During the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, the Japanese army committed atrocities against civilians and POWs, such as the St. Stephen's College massacre. Local residents also suffered widespread food shortages, limited rationing and hyper-inflation arising from the forced exchange of currency from Hong Kong dollars to Japanese military banknotes. The initial ratio of 2:1 was gradually devalued to 4:1 and ownership of Hong Kong dollars was declared illegal and punishable by harsh torture. Due to starvation and forced deportation for slave labour to mainland China, the population of Hong Kong had dwindled from 1.6 million in 1941 to 600,000 in 1945, when the United Kingdom resumed control of the colony on 2 September 1945.[76]

Resumption of British rule and industrialisation: 1945–97

Main articles: British Hong Kong, 1950s in Hong Kong, 1960s in Hong Kong, 1970s in Hong Kong, 1980s in Hong Kong, and 1990s in Hong Kong

Flag of British Hong Kong from 1959 to 1997

Hong Kong's population recovered quickly after the war, as a wave of skilled migrants from the Republic of China moved in to seek refuge from the Chinese Civil War. When the Communist Party eventually took full control of mainland China in 1949, even more skilled migrants fled across the open border for fear of persecution.[69] Many newcomers, especially those who had been based in the major port cities of Shanghai and Guangzhou, established corporations and small- to medium-sized businesses and shifted their base operations to British Hong Kong.[69] The establishment of a socialist state in China (People's Republic of China) on 1 October 1949 caused the British colonial government to reconsider Hong Kong's open border to mainland China. In 1951, a boundary zone was demarked as a buffer zone against potential military attacks from communist China. Border posts along the north of Hong Kong began operation in 1953 to regulate the movement of people and goods into and out of the territory.

Stamp with portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, 1953

In the 1950s, Hong Kong became the first of the Four Asian Tiger economies under rapid industrialisation driven by textile exports, manufacturing industries and re-exports of goods to China. As the population grew, with labour costs remaining low, living standards began to rise steadily.[77] The construction of the Shek Kip Mei Estate in 1953 marked the beginning of the public housing estate programme to provide shelter for the less privileged and to cope with the influx of immigrants.

Under Sir Murray MacLehose, 25th Governor of Hong Kong (1971–82), a series of reforms improved the public services, environment, housing, welfare, education and infrastructure of Hong Kong. MacLehose was British Hong Kong's longest-serving governor and, by the end of his tenure, had become one of the most popular and well-known figures in the Crown Colony. MacLehose laid the foundation for Hong Kong to establish itself as a key global city in the 1980s and early 1990s.

A sky view of Hong Kong Island

An aerial view of the northern shore of Hong Kong Island in 1986

To resolve traffic congestion and to provide a more reliable means of crossing the Victoria Harbour, a rapid transit railway system (metro), the MTR, was planned from the 1970s onwards. The Island Line (Hong Kong Island), Kwun Tong Line (Kowloon Peninsula and East Kowloon) and Tsuen Wan Line (Kowloon and urban New Territories) opened in the early 1980s.[78]

In 1983, the Hong Kong dollar left its 16:1 peg with the Pound sterling and switched to the current US-HK Dollar peg. Hong Kong's competitiveness in manufacturing gradually declined due to rising labour and property costs, as well as new development in southern China under the Open Door Policy introduced in 1978 which opened up China to foreign business. Nevertheless, towards the early 1990s, Hong Kong had established itself as a global financial centre along with London and New York City, a regional hub for logistics and freight, one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia and the world's exemplar of Laissez-faire market policy.[79]

The Hong Kong question

In 1971, the Republic of China (Taiwan)'s permanent seat on the United Nations was transferred to the People's Republic of China (PRC), Hong Kong's status as a recognised colony became terminated in 1972 under the request of PRC. Facing the uncertain future of Hong Kong and expiry of land lease of New Territories beyond 1997, Governor MacLehose raised the question in the late 1970s.

The British Nationality Act 1981 reclassified Hong Kong into a British Dependent Territory amid the reorganisation of global territories of the British Empire. All residents of Hong Kong became British Dependent Territory Citizens (BDTC). Diplomatic negotiations began with China and eventually concluded with the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration. Both countries agreed to transfer Hong Kong's sovereignty to China on 1 July 1997, when Hong Kong would remain autonomous as a special administrative region and be able to retain its free-market economy, British common law through the Hong Kong Basic Law, independent representation in international organisations (e.g. WTO and WHO), treaty arrangements and policy-making except foreign diplomacy and military defence.

It stipulated that Hong Kong would retain its laws and be guaranteed a high degree of autonomy for at least 50 years after the transfer. The Hong Kong Basic Law, based on English law, would serve as the constitutional document after the transfer. It was ratified in 1990.[69] The expiry of the 1898 lease on the New Territories in 1997 created problems for business contracts, property leases and confidence among foreign investors.

Handover and Special Administrative Region status

Main articles: Transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong and 2000s in Hong Kong

Transfer of sovereignty

Golden Bauhinia Square

On 1 July 1997, the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China took place, officially marking the end of Hong Kong's 156 years under British colonial governance. As the largest remaining colony of the United Kingdom, the loss of Hong Kong effectively represented the end of the British Empire. This transfer of sovereignty made Hong Kong the first special administrative region of China. Tung Chee-Hwa, a pro-Beijing business tycoon, was elected Hong Kong's first Chief Executive by a selected electorate of 800 in a televised programme.

Structure of government

Hong Kong's current structure of governance inherits from the British model of colonial administration set up in the 1850s. The 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration states that "Hong Kong should enjoy a high degree of autonomy in all areas except defence and foreign affairs" with reference to the underlying principle of one country, two systems.[note 3] This Declaration stipulates that Hong Kong maintains her capitalist economic system and guarantees the rights and freedoms of her people for at least 50 years after the 1997 handover. [note 4] Such guarantees are enshrined in the Hong Kong's Basic Law, the territory's constitutional document, which outlines the system of governance after 1997, albeit subject to interpretation by China's Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC).[95][96]

Hong Kong's most senior leader, Chief Executive, is elected by a committee of 1,200 selected members (600 in 1997) and nominally appointed by the Government of China. The primary pillars of government are the Executive Council, Legislative Council, civil service and Judiciary.

Policy-making is initially discussed in the Executive Council, presided by the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, before passing to the Legislative Council for bill adoption. The Executive Council consists of 30 official/unofficial members appointed by the Chief Executive and one member among them acts as the convenor.[97][98]

The Legislative Council, set up in 1843, debates policies and motions before voting to adopt or rejecting bills. It has 70 members (originally 60) and 40 (originally 30) among them are directly elected by universal suffrage; the other 30 members are "functional constituencies" (indirectly) elected by a smaller electorate of corporate bodies or representatives of stipulated economic sectors as defined by the government. The Legislative Council is chaired by a president who acts as the speaker.[99][100]

In 1997, seating of the Legislative Council (also public services and election franchises) of Hong Kong modelled on the British system: Urban Council (Hong Kong and Kowloon) and District Council (New Territories and Outlying Islands). In 1999, this system has been reformed into 18 directly elected District Offices across 5 Legislative Council constituencies: Hong Kong Island (East/West), Kowloon and New Territories (East/West); the remaining outlying islands are divided across the aforementioned regions.

Hong Kong's Civil Service, created by the British colonial government, is a politically neutral body that implements government policies and provides public services. Senior civil servants are appointed based on meritocracy. The territory's police, firefighting and customs forces, as well as clerical officers across various government departments, make up the civil service.[101][102]

It might not be the oldest church of the city, but for sure it is the oldest religious building that maintained in its original aspect!

Many churches do have a history of 300 years or more, but the current building bears little ressemblance to the initial church in that site.

Currently the Patron of the church is St. Anthony, who is patron of children and protects them from diseases.

St. Anthony it is also protector of person who have debts, problems with money and poor people.

It is believed that this is the oldest building in Bucharest.

It was founded during the reign of Prince Mircea Ciobanul in the fifties of the sixteenth century who was buried in the church.

The old Patron of the Church was the Annunciation.

The church is "the oldest religious building maintained in its original aspect in Bucharest".

It is also calle the "Curtea Veche Church", since itwas also the church were the rulers were worshiped before starting their reign in Wallachia.

The voivodal palace, as it can be seen, is situated just in front of the entrance of the church.

This meant that the ruler was in good collaboration with the church.

It is the only place in Romania where every Tuesday people come in pilgrimage from 06:30 to 20:00.

The reason of this continuesly pilgrimage has radices in an event that took place in 1848 - the Great Fire!

The city of Bucharest had greatly suffered from earthquakes, fires and invasions.

The church was finished in several decades.

It has suffered in 1611 when it was destroyed by fire.

The King Matei Basarab has taken care of its rebuilding..

Then it was again destroyed by the invading Turks, but was again restored.

In 1660 the church was restored by Grigore Ghica and in 1673 it was reconstructed by Gheorghe Duca.

The beautiful tower of St. Anton’s Church was erected in the reign of Grigore Ghica.

In the nineteenth century, the church was severely damaged by earthquake and fire.

In 1847 took place a huge fire in Bucharest thatdestroyed a big part of the city center.

Near to the church that was a prison and inside the prison was a little church erected for the prisoners.

The fire destroyed the prison and the church, but a miracle made that the only object that didn’t burn was the silver icon of Saint Anthony which was transferred in the actual church.

To be more precise, now the icon seats next to the chuch, in a small house where pilgrims wait for minutes to pray in front of the icon.

In the early twentieth century a number of restorations of the church took place which brought the church nearer to its initial form; the trichonch plan of the church with: pronaos, nave with side apses, the altar apsis.

The church has four arched niches in the walls.

Regarding the painting, the church has frescoes in the neoclassical style, painted in 1852.

The frescoes of the tower are newer, they were painted in 1935.

High Line, an elevated railway line owned by the City of New York, today it is a 1.45-mile-long linear public park maintained, operated, and programmed by Friends of the High Line, in partnership with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, on Thursday, September 17, 2015. High Line was opened in 1934 and moved goods to and from Manhattan’s largest industrial district until 1980. The third and final phase officially opened to the public on September 21, 2014. The High Line's green roof system with drip irrigation is designed to allow the planting beds to retain as much water as possible; because many of the plants are drought-tolerant, they need little supplemental watering. When supplemental watering is needed, hand watering is used so as to tailor the amount of water to the needs of individual species and weather conditions, and to conserve water. High Line is independently funded from U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service (USFS). Urban forestry and green spaces are priority areas for USFS. With 80 percent* of the nation's population in urban areas, there are strong environmental, social, and economic cases to be made for the conservation of green spaces to guide growth and revitalize city centers and older suburbs. Urban forests broadly include urban parks, street trees, landscaped boulevards, public gardens, river and coastal promenades, greenways, river corridors, wetlands, nature preserves, natural areas, shelter belts of trees and working trees at industrial brownfield sites. Urban forests are dynamic ecosystems that provide needed environmental services by cleaning air and water helping to control storm water, and conserving energy. They add form, structure, beauty and breathing room to urban design, reduce noise, separate incompatible uses, provide places to recreate, strengthen social cohesion, leverage community revitalization, and add economic value to our communities. Urban forests, through planned connections of green spaces, form the green infrastructure system on which communities depend. Green infrastructure works at multiple scales from the neighborhood to the metro area up to the regional landscape. This natural life support system sustains clean air and water, biodiversity, habitat, nesting and travel corridors for wildlife, and connects people to nature. Urban forests, through planned connections of green spaces, form the green infrastructure system on which communities depend. Urban and Community Forestry (UCF) is a cooperative program of the US Forest Service that focuses on the stewardship of urban natural resources. UCF provides technical, financial, research and educational services to local government, non-profit organizations community groups, educational institutions, and tribal governments. The program is delivered through its legislative partners, the state forestry agencies in 59 states and US territories. Forest Service cooperative programs are currently being redesigned to make more effective use of federal resources. Programs will be focused on issues and landscapes of national importance and prioritized through state and regional assessments. Over the next five years an increasing percentage of funding will be focused on landscape scale projects. Three national themes provide a framework for this work: conserve working forest landscapes; protect forests from harm; and enhance benefits associated with trees and forests. More information and upcoming webinars on December 9, 2015 | 1:00pm-2:15pm ET; January 13, 2016 | 1:00pm-2:15pm ET; and February 10, 2016 | 1:00pm-2:15pm ET can be seen at *http://www.fs.fed.us/ucf/program.shtml. USDA Photo By Lance Cheung.

A U.S. Marine Corps maintainer assigned to the Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 323 performs preflight inspections on an F/A-18C Hornet aircraft Aug. 18, 2014, during Red Flag-Alaska 14-3 at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. Red Flag-Alaska is a series of Pacific Air Forces commander-directed field training exercises for U.S. and partner nation forces, providing combined offensive counter-air, interdiction, close air support, and large force employment training in a simulated combat environment. (DoD photo by Staff Sgt. Jim Araos, U.S. Air Force/Released)

This is an injured animal being maintained at the Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center in Grasonville, MD.

As one ferry arrives in Seattle, another leaves, maintaining the delicate balance of humanity in the city that never sleeps.

Maintaining six points of contact.

Afghan children walk alongside U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Jacob Kartchner, a team leader with 4th Platoon, Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, and 28-year-old native of Long Beach, Calif., in the hopes of receiving candy from Kartchner as he patrols with fellow Marines and Afghan National Police outside the Hazar Joft Bazaar here, April 8, 2012. On the patrol, the Kilo Co. Marines partnered with members of the ANP to maintain security in and around the bazaar, one of the busiest commercial centers in Helmand province’s Garmsir district. Their partnership is a vital part of preparing the Afghan National Security Forces to assume lead security responsibility in Garmsir.

Regimental Combat Team-5, 1st Marine Division

Photo by Cpl. Reece Lodder

Date Taken:04.09.2012

Location:HAZAR JOFT, AF

Read more: www.dvidshub.net/image/556393/afghan-national-police-amer...

Male Allen's hummingbird hovers by the yellow flower in the late afternoon light during his feeding sesh. Both the tail and the wings are heavily engaged to maintain the steady position, the beak is deep in the flower in between the petals... @ Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve

Sydney Ferries fleet of ferries are repaired and maintained at this small facility.

Deutschland / Baden-Württemberg - Mainau

Mainau [ˈmaɪnaʊ] also referred to as Mav(e)no(w), Maienowe (in 1242), Maienow (in 1357), Maienau, Mainowe (in 1394) and Mainaw (in 1580) is an island in Lake Constance (on the Southern shore of the Überlinger See near the city of Konstanz, Baden-Württemberg, Germany). It is maintained as a garden island and a model of excellent environmental practices. Administratively, the island has been a part of Konstanz since December 1, 1971, when the municipality of Litzelstetten, of which Mainau was part, was incorporated into Konstanz. Mainau is still part of Litzelstetten, now one of 15 wards (administrative subdivisions) of Konstanz.

The island belongs to the Lennart Bernadotte-Stiftung (eng. The Lennart Bernadotte Foundation), an entity created by Prince Lennart Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg, originally a Prince of Sweden and Duke of Småland. It is one of the main tourist attractions of Lake Constance. Beside flowers there is a park landscape with views on the lake. There is a greenhouse as well with tropical climate and thousands of butterflies.

Mainau Bay is the location of their university's sailing club.

Geography

Position

The island averages out at a height between 395 metres (1,296 ft) (roughly equals the lake’s average medium water-level) and 425 meters (1,394 ft) above sea level. Its highest peak is located at the Großherzog-Friedrich Terrace (historic water reservoir). Mainau Island is 610 metres (2,000 ft) long from North to South and a 1,050 meters (3,440 ft) wide from West to East. The island’s circumference is about three kilometers (1.9 mi). The shortest distance between the downwelling molasse slice and the lake’s shore is about 130 meters (430 ft).

Population

Few people inhabit Mainau Island. Due to its small amount of inhabitants, it is considered a hamlet. Meyer’s Lexikon’s issue of 1888 declared that 28 people lived on Mainau Island. During the census of 1961, a population of 123 was verified. Count Björn Bernadotte is living in the castle on Mainau Island.

Parks and gardens

Mainau Island is a "flowering island" notable for its parks and gardens. Frederick I, Grand Duke of Baden, created the island's arboretum, which now contains 500 species of deciduous and coniferous trees, many exotic and valuable, including fine specimens of Sequoiadendron giganteum (1864) and Metasequoia glyptostroboides (1952). The island also contains about 200 rhododendron and azalea varieties.

Due to the advantageous climate at the lake, palm trees and other Mediterranean plants can grow on the drop-shaped island. Because of its rich subtropical and partly even tropical vegetation, Mainau Island is also called "flowering island in the Lake Constance". Count Lennart Bernadotte, who died in 2004, liked to call his island "Blumenschiff" (engl. flower ship). He also described the famous destination as follows: "She is a coquettish little Lady, Mainau Island, who constantly demands much attention, even more love and ceaselessly new clothes." - Lennart Bernadotte. By "new clothes", he probably meant the blossoms, plants and flower-beds which are constantly renewed by the gardeners.

Apart from the historic buildings, the centerpiece of Mainau Island is the Arboretum with its 500 different types of rare and valuable broad-leaved trees and conifers, which was created in 1856 by grand duke Friedrich I. Among those is one of Germany's "oldest" dawn redwood trees (Metasequoia glyptostroboides). The tree, which originated from China, was planted on the island in 1952, when it was just 70 centimeters (28 in) tall. Particularly mighty are some exemplars of the giant redwood (Sequoiadendron giganteum). Their seeds came from California in 1853 and were planted on the island in 1864, which makes them one of the oldest of their kind in Europe. You can find the above-mentioned giant redwoods as well as Cedars, Dawn Redwoods and Tulip Poplars on the island. The Arboretum expands towards the north-west of the island.

Spring marks the beginning of the "Blumenjahr" (eng. Flower Year) with an exhibition of orchids. From March to May you can see several types of flowers in full bloom, like Tulips, Daffodils, Primroses, Forget-Me-Nots and Hyacinths. To show the full beauty of all these flowers the so-called „Frühlingsallee“ (eng. Spring Alley) was opened, which is a path across the island surrounded by beds of these plants. From May to June over 200 kinds of Rhododendrons and Azaleas are in full bloom. To the west of the "Comturey-Keller" you can find an Italian rose garden commissioned by Friedrich I. This rose garden is strictly geometric and consists of pergolas, sculptures and fountains. In general, over 1200 kinds of roses can be found on the island.

„Frühlingsallee“ leads to „Mediterran-Terrassen“ (eng. Mediterranean Terrace) where exotic plants such as palm families, agaves, cacti and bougainvillea are presented in pails during summer. Lake Constance and its surroundings as well as the Alps can be seen in a panoramic view from here. In July the blossoms of brugmansia and hibiscus are blooming on Mainau Island and in August the blossoms of passion flowers bloom.

On the southern end you can find “Südgarten” (eng. South Garden) where in autumn fields of dahlia with approximately 20,000 dahlia bushes and 250 varieties gleam from September until October. Spring and summer flowers such as different kinds of fuchsia are growing on the affiliated shore garden to the eastern side of “Südgarten”.

The “Bodenseerelief” (eng. Relief of Lake Constance) is a very popular photo motive. It is a relief with the picture of a flower which is changed by season. A small harbor with a landing place is situated to the northern side of Mainau Island. Excursion boats lay in here and another entrance to “Frühlingsallee” can be found here.

History

Until the Napoleonic mediatisations and secularisations of small German fiefs this island belonged to the Order of Teutonic Knights. It was later sold into private ownership. In 1853 Grand Duke Frederick I of Baden purchased the island as his personal property and used the palace built by the Teutonic Knights as summer palace. At the end of World War I Baden became a republic with the abdication of Grand Duke Frederick II, son of Frederick I. The former Grand Duke retained his private property including Mainau. When he died childless in 1928 the island passed to his sister Victoria of Baden, wife of King Gustaf V of Sweden. Upon her death two years later she bequeathed the island to her second son Prince Wilhelm, Duke of Södermanland and his descendants. In 1932 Prince Wilhem gave Mainau to his only child Lennart Bernadotte who owned it until 1974 when he transferred the island to a foundation. Count Bernadotte formed Enterprise Mainau GmbH in 1991 as a private enterprise to manage the island for the benefit of the Lennart Bernadotte-Stiftung. The Count remained active in managing Mainau until his death in 2004 but had appointed his second wife Sonja co-manager in 2001. Widowed, she and their children ran both the foundation and the management company until 2007. Since January 2007 Bettina Bernadotte, the eldest daughter of Lennart and Sonja, directs the Mainau GmbH as current manager, and since 2011 her brother Björn Bernadotte has joined her.

Pre- and Early History

In 1862, signs of an earlier population were discovered along the south banks of Mainau and soon exploited by domain administrator Walter: among the items were wedges, a potsherd, flint splinters, an axe and a muller. The pile dwelling settlement made up of six houses was uncovered in the 1930s and dated back to the Neolithic Age ( 3.000 b.c.). Lake-dwelling settlements of the Neolithic and the Bronze Age were located along the northern shore and the southwestern island along the shallow water zone.

(Wikipedia)

Die Insel Mainau, als Mav(e)no(w), Maienowe (1242) bzw. Maienow (1357), Maienau, Mainowe (1394) und Mainaw (1580) erwähnt, ist mit etwa 45 Hektar Fläche die drittgrößte Insel im Bodensee. Der Molassekalkfelsen befindet sich im Überlinger See genannten, nordwestlichen Teil des Bodensees. Sie ist vom Südufer des Überlinger Sees über eine Brücke zu erreichen und verfügt über einen Schiffsanleger, der von Kurs- und Ausflugsschiffen der Weißen Flotte bedient wird. Die nächsten größeren Städte sind Konstanz, Meersburg und Überlingen. Die Insel gehört zum Stadtteil Litzelstetten der Stadt Konstanz und befindet sich seit 1974 im Besitz der von Graf Lennart Bernadotte gegründeten gemeinnützigen „Lennart-Bernadotte-Stiftung“. Die gräfliche Familie ist bis heute wichtiger Teil der Attraktion der Mainau. Die Insel liegt an der Oberschwäbischen Barockstraße.

Geographie

Lage

Die Insel liegt auf einer Höhe zwischen 395 (Seeniveau bei mittlerem Wasserstand) und 425 Meter über Normalnull. Der höchste Punkt ist laut amtlichen Karten bei der Großherzog-Friedrich-Terrasse (historisches Wasserreservoir auf dem Vogelherd). Ihre Nord-Süd-Ausdehnung beträgt 610 Meter, ihre größte Breite (West-Ost) rund 1050 Meter. Der Umfang der Insel beträgt rund drei Kilometer. Die kürzeste Entfernung der abgesunkenen Molassescholle zum Seeufer beträgt 130 Meter.

Bevölkerung

Die Insel Mainau hat nur wenige Einwohner, Meyers Konversationslexikon von 1888 gab eine Bevölkerung von 28 an. Zur Volkszählung 1961 war eine Bevölkerung von 123 nachgewiesen. Auf der Insel Mainau lebt Björn Graf Bernadotte mit seiner Familie.

Anlage

Park- und Gartenanlagen

Bedingt durch das günstige Bodenseeklima wachsen auf der tropfenförmigen Insel Palmen und andere mediterrane Pflanzen. Wegen ihrer reichen subtropischen, teilweise auch tropischen Vegetation wird die Mainau auch als „Blumeninsel im Bodensee“ bezeichnet. Der 2004 verstorbene Graf Lennart Bernadotte nannte seine Insel gerne das „Blumenschiff“. Weiterhin beschrieb er das bekannte und für Besucher gegen Eintrittsgelder zugängliche Ausflugsziel mit folgenden Worten:

„Sie ist eine kokette kleine Dame, diese Mainau, die stets und ständig große Aufmerksamkeit fordert, noch mehr Liebe und vor allem unaufhörlich neue Kleider.“

– Lennart Bernadotte

Wobei er mit den „neuen Kleidern“ zuerst den immer wieder neu von Gärtnerhand gewebten Blütenüberwurf gemeint haben mag.

Herzstück der „Blumeninsel“ ist neben den historischen Gebäuden das von Großherzog Friedrich I. ab 1856 angelegte parkähnliche Arboretum der Insel Mainau mit seinen 500 verschiedenen Arten von zum Teil seltenen und wertvollen Laub- und Nadelgehölzen. Darunter befindet sich einer der ältesten Urweltmammutbäume (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) Deutschlands. Der aus China stammende Baum war 1952 als 70 Zentimeter großes Bäumchen im Ufergarten ausgepflanzt worden. Besonders mächtig sind einige Exemplare des Riesenmammutbaums (Sequoiadendron giganteum). Die Samen dieser Bäume kamen 1853 aus Kalifornien, und 1864 ließ Friedrich I. zahlreiche Bäume auf der Mainau pflanzen. Damit gehören sie zu den ältesten ihrer Art in Europa. Neben den riesigen Mammutbäumen befinden sich Zedern, Metasequoien und Tulpenbäume. Das Arboretum dehnt sich nordwestlich vom Schloss auf der Hochfläche aus.

Im Frühjahr Ende März/Anfang April beginnt auf der Mainau das Blumenjahr im Palmenhaus mit einer großen Orchideenschau. Von Ende März bis Mitte Mai blühen auf der Mainau Tulpen, Narzissen und Hyazinthen. Hierzu wurden im östlichen Teil der Insel an der sogenannten „Frühlingsallee“ parallel zum Weg Tausende von Tulpen-, Narzissen- und Hyazinthenzwiebeln gepflanzt. Ebenfalls im Frühjahr gedeihen auf der Insel Stiefmütterchen, Vergissmeinnicht und Primeln.

In der Übergangszeit von Mai und Juni zeigen sich die Blüten der 200 Rhododendren- und Azaleensorten. Westlich des Comturey-Kellers kommt man zu dem ebenfalls durch Großherzog Friedrich I. im italienischen Stil angelegten Rosengarten. Der sogenannte „italienische Rosengarten“ ist eine streng geometrische Anlage mit Pergolen, Skulpturen und Brunnen. Im Sommer betört der Duft der rund 500 verschiedenen Rosensorten, vor allem Beetrosen. Auf der ganzen Insel finden sich etwa 30.000 Rosenstöcke von 1200 Sorten. Eine Barocktreppe führt hinauf zur aussichtsreichen Schlossterrasse.

Die „Frühlingsallee“ führt zu den „Mediterran-Terrassen“ mit ihren exotischen Kübelpflanzen, wo im Sommer Palmengewächse, Agaven, Kakteen und Bougainvilleen gezeigt werden. Von hier hat man ein Panorama auf die Bodenseelandschaft. Im Juli zeigen sich auf der Mainau die Blüten der Engelstrompeten und des Hibiskus, im August die der Passionsblumen.

Südlich breitet sich der „Südgarten“ aus, wo im Herbst von September bis Oktober die Dahlienfelder mit etwa 20.000 Dahlienbüschen von 250 Sorten blühen. Im östlich anschließenden Ufergarten wachsen Frühlings- und Sommerblumen, darunter eine Sammlung verschiedener Fuchsienarten. Ein beliebtes Fotomotiv ist das Bodenseerelief, ein nach Jahreszeit unterschiedlich gestaltetes Blütenbild in Form des Bodensees.

An der Nordseite der Insel liegt der kleine Hafen mit Schiffsanlegestelle, wo die Ausflugsschiffe anlegen und es einen weiteren Eingang gibt.

Im ganzjährig geöffneten Schmetterlingshaus auf der Insel, mit etwa 1000 Quadratmeter das zweitgrößte seiner Art in Deutschland, können Besucher zwischen 25 °C und 30 °C Wärme und 80 bis 90 Prozent Luftfeuchtigkeit durch eine tropisch anmutende Umgebung mit Wasserfällen und exotischen Gewächsen gehen. Je nach Saison fliegen 700 bis 1000 bunte Falter bis zu 80 verschiedener Schmetterlingsarten, vor allem südamerikanischer Herkunft, frei zwischen den Besuchern. Rund ein Drittel der gezeigten Schmetterlingsarten vermehrt sich hier auf natürliche Weise. Doch ist es ganz unterschiedlich, wie viele Nachkommen es gibt. Aus diesen Gründen bekommt das Schmetterlingshaus wöchentliche Lieferungen von 400 Puppen von Züchtern aus Costa Rica, England und Holland. Rund 20.000 Euro beträgt das Budget im Jahr für neue Raupen. Die Gartenanlage rund um das Schmetterlingshaus wurde als Lebensraum für heimische Schmetterlinge gestaltet. Angeschlossen ist ein Duftgarten mit mehr als 150 Duftpflanzenarten.

Außer den Park- und Gartenanlagen gibt es einen Streichelzoo mit Ziegen und Ponys und den „Mainauer Bauernhof“ mit Alpakas, Hasen, Hühnern, Eseln, Schafen und Katzen sowie einige gastronomische Einrichtungen.

Für Kinder gibt es das rund 1100 Quadratmeter große Mainauer Kinderland „Wasserwelt“, einen Spielplatz mit einem 60 Zentimeter tiefen Wasserbecken, das von Flusssteinen mit einem Gesamtgewicht von rund 130 Tonnen eingefasst wird. In der Mitte des mit 170 Kubikmeter Wasser gefüllten Sees liegt eine Insel. Auf dem See können die Kinder mit Flößen umherfahren oder sich mit einer Holzfähre hinüberziehen. Rundherum stehen Holzhäuser als Klettergerüste, die laut Planern an die Zeit der Pfahlbauten erinnern sollen. Verbunden sind die Häuschen durch Hängebrücken und Kettenstege. Dazu gibt es Wasserrinnen und extra Matschtische. Falls ein Kind beim Spielen allzu tief in die Wasserwelt eingetaucht sein sollte, haben die beiden Mainauplaner Matthias Wagner und Markus Zeiler auch vorgesorgt: Am Spielplatz wurde in einem Kiosk ein Wäschetrockner aufgestellt, in dem die Eltern nasse Kleidungsstücke selbst trocknen können. Die Spiellandschaft wird wie alle anderen Spielplätze vom TÜV SÜD abgenommen und regelmäßig inspiziert.

(Wikipedia)

2018 Kenworth T370/Maintainer Custom Bodies

This exquisitely maintained Italianate Victorian on Jerrold Avenue in San Francisco’s Bayview neighborhood is a testament to the city’s 19th-century architectural legacy. Painted in a refined gradient of slate blue and periwinkle gray, the façade is a study in texture, shadow, and ornamental restraint. It’s a home that turns every corbel, column, and carved panel into a conversation.

The entrance is framed by intricately turned columns, supporting an overhanging cornice bracketed by finely chiseled detail. Above the door and windows, layered trim, sunburst motifs, and floral flourishes emphasize symmetry and status—hallmarks of Italianate design. A wrought iron gate, anchored by classic masonry pillars, elegantly guards the home’s elevated stoop, offering both security and historic continuity.

Located on Jerrold Avenue, this Victorian stands among Bayview’s rare and often under-celebrated historic homes—many of which have been lovingly preserved by generations of families despite decades of disinvestment and citywide change. Unlike the better-known Painted Ladies in Alamo Square, these homes tell a different story: one of working-class resilience and deeply rooted community pride.

For photographers, architecture enthusiasts, or anyone documenting San Francisco’s layered cultural history, this home offers a pristine and powerful example of what survives when craftsmanship and care converge.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

Buffalo Airways is a family-run airline based in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada, established in 1970. Buffalo Airways was launched by Bob Gauchie and later sold to one of his pilots, Joe McBryan (aka "Buffalo Joe"). It operates charter passenger, charter cargo, firefighting, and fuel services, and formerly operated scheduled passenger service. Its main base is at Yellowknife Airport (CYZF). It has two other bases at Hay River/Merlyn Carter Airport (CYHY) and Red Deer Regional Airport (CYQF). The Red Deer base is the main storage and maintenance facility. The company slogan is “Your passage to the North”.

Buffalo also operates a courier service as Buffalo Air Express which started in 1982-1983. It offers service throughout the Northwest Territories (NWT) and Northern Alberta. In association with Global Interline Network it can ship around the world from bases in Yellowknife, Edmonton and Hay River.

Under contract for the NWT Government, Buffalo Airways also operates and maintains aircraft used in the aerial firefighting program. The waterbombers are assisted by smaller aircraft known as "bird dogs" which are used to help spot wildfires as well as guide waterbombers during operations.

However, with the company’s commitment to aerial firefighting the robust machines were from 1987 on primarily used for aerial fire patrol in the Yellowknife region during summertime, and for postal service in wintertime. Occasionally, the Buffalo Airways Norsemen were used as air ambulance, too. To reflect their new role the machines received a striking and highly visible new livery in deep orange and dark green, which they carried for the rest of their career. In the firefighting role they operated in unison with other Bird Dogs and Buffalo Airways’ Air Tractor 802 Fireboss and specially converted Lockheed L-188 Electra waterbombers. CF-NME was eventually grounded in 1996 after a severe engine damage and sold (but later revived with a replacement engine), while CF-NMD, nicknamed ‘Anna Louise’ by its crews, soldiered on with Buffalo Airways until 2004.

General characteristics:

Crew: 1

Capacity: up to 10 passengers

Length: 32 ft 4 in (9.86 m)

Wingspan: 51 ft 6 in (15.70 m)

Height: 10 ft 1 in (3.07 m)

Wing area: 325 sq ft (30.2 m²)

Airfoil: NACA 2412

Empty weight: 4,240 lb (1,923 kg)

Max takeoff weight: 7,400 lb (3,357 kg) ;7,540 lb (3,420 kg) with floats

Fuel capacity: 100 imp gal (120 US gal; 450 L) in two wing root tanks,

plus optional 37.4 imp gal (44.9 US gal; 170 L) or 2x 101.6 imp gal

(122.0 US gal; 462 L) auxiliary tanks in the cabin

Powerplant:

1× Pratt & Whitney R-1340-AN1 9 cylinder air cooled radial piston engine, 600 hp (450 kW),

driving a 3-bladed Hamilton Standard, 9 ft 0.75 in (2.7623 m) diameter constant-speed propeller

Performance:

Maximum speed: 155 mph (249 km/h, 135 kn) as landplane with standard wheels

138 miles per hour (120 kn; 222 km/h) on skis

134 miles per hour (116 kn; 216 km/h) on floats

Cruise speed: 130 mph (210 km/h, 110 kn) KTAS at 10,000 ft (3,000 m)

Stall speed: 68 mph (109 km/h, 59 kn)

Range: 932 mi (1,500 km, 810 nmi) at 10,000 ft (3,000 m)

Service ceiling: 17,000 ft (5,200 m)

Rate of climb: 591 ft/min (3.00 m/s) at 100 miles per hour (87 kn; 161 km/h)

Wing loading: 22.8 lb/sq ft (111 kg/m²)

Power/mass: 0.08 hp/lb (0.13 kW/kg)

Maximum - Flaps extended (Vfe): 108 miles per hour (94 kn; 174 km/h)

The kit and its assembly:

This project was spawned when, some years ago, I came across a picture of PBV-5A Canso/Catalina CF-NJE/ C-FNJE (ex RCAF 11094) during its use with Buffalo Airways between 1996 and 2004, where it AFAIK flew as a tanker/mobile gas station for other firefighting aircraft. The Canso carried a bright and highly attractive livery in deep orange and dark green with high-contrast white trim on wings and fuselage, and I immediately decided to apply this pretty scheme to another aircraft one day. And what could be more Canadian and an epitome of a bush aircraft than the stubby Noorduyn Norseman (well, O.K., an Otter, a Beaver…) which is available as a 1:72 kit from Matchbox (since 1981, re-released by Revell)? An alternative is AFAIK a full resin kit from Choroszy Modelbud, even though it only offers floats.

Several years after the project’s inception I was able to hunt down a relatively cheap kit (2009 Revell re-boxing), but it rested some more years in The Stash™ until the time was ripe and I collected enough mojo to tackle it. Since this would only be a livery whif and not involve any major conversions, the Norseman kit was basically built OOB, using the optional floats as most suitable landing gear.

The only addition is a scratched semi-elliptic stabilizing fin under the tail, sometimes seen on real world Norsemen with floats. A technical change I made is a metal axis for the propeller with an internal styrene tube adapter behind the engine. Unusual for a Matchbox kit: it comes with separate rudders and flaps, and I mounted the latter in a downward position. For eventual flight scenes I integrated a vertical styrene tube behind the rear cabin bulkhead, as a rigid adapter for a steel rod display holder.

To avoid masking and the danger of losing one or more of the side windows during the assembly or while painting the model, I left them all away and recreated them after painting with Humbrol ClearFix – only the windscreen is an OOB piece. The risk of pushing one of the windows into the hull is IMHO very high, because each pane is a separate piece and none of them have any support to increase the contact area with the hull. This also makes the use of glue to mount and fix them rather hazardous. The ClearFix stunt went better than expected, but I guess that the Norseman’s window might be the limit of what can be created with the gooey stuff.

Overall fit of the kit is good, even though some PSR is needed along seams (esp. at the wing/fuselage intersections) and for some sinkholes along the fuselage seam. A feature Matchbox always did well is the surface structure of fabric-clad areas, and the Norseman is no exception. Mounting the delicate float arrangement was challenging, though, it takes a lot of patience and thorough drying phases to assemble. Because I wanted to paint the floats and the respective struts in aluminum (from a rattle can) I assembled and lacquered them separately, for a final “marriage”.

As additional details I added PE boarding ladders between the floats and the side doors instead of the minimal OOB plastic steps, and some rigging between the fin and the stabilizers as well as between the floats’ struts, created with heated grey styrene material.

Painting and markings:

The real highlight of the model: the bright firefighting livery! I adapted the paint scheme as good as possible from the benchmark Catalina (the same livery was also carried by CL-215 waterbombers) onto the stubby Norseman and used Humbrol 3 (Brunswick Green) and 132 (Red Satin, a rather orange-red tone) as basic colors. A personal addition/deviation is the black belly, and because of the separate cowling I ended the jagged white cheatline behind it and added a white front ring to the cowling.

The wing supports were painted white, similar to the real Canso. Since the floats are an optional landing gear, they were painted (separately) in white aluminum (from a rattle can), with dark gray walkways and black tips. The model did not receive an overall black ink washing, because I wanted to present a clean look, but I did some very subtle post-shading with slightly lightened basic tones along the internal braces. It’s barely noticeable, though.

Most of the white trim was created with generic decal stripe material from TL Modellbau, a very convenient solution, even though a LOT of material (more than 1m in total!) went into the decoration. Aligning all the stripes on the stabilizers and the wings was not as easy as it seems, due to the rib structure of the surfaces. The registration codes on wings and fuselage were created with single white letters (also from TL Modellbau) in different sizes.

The model was sealed with semi-gloss acrylic varnish (Italeri) for a clean and fresh look, the floats received a coat with matt (effectively a bit shiny) varnish from a rattle can, before the model was finally assembled and final struts and the PE boarding ladders were added. The anti-glare panel in front of the windscreen became matt, too.

As one of the final steps, the windowpanes were created with ClearFix (see above) – quite a stunt. Due to their size and square shape, I had to carve some individual tools from chopsticks to apply the thick material properly. Filling the openings this way was quite a challenge, but eventually worked better than expected (or suspected).

A pretty outcome! The firefighting livery suits the Norseman well, it’s a bright spotlight – as intended in real life! :D Building the model took a while, though, mostly because I had to take time for the paint to dry and the extensive use of decal stripes, and I took part in the 2023 “One Week” group build at whatifmodellers.com in the meantime, too. The Matchbox kit is also not to be taken lightly. While things mostly go together well, the delicate floats and the windows are a serious challenge, and I think that replacing the clear parts mostly with Clearfix was not a bad move to avoid other/long-term trouble.

Maintaining social contact whilst respecting distance

Luck was still with me as maintaining the 'First' theme I walked into winner 32370 at (near!) Paddington. It's seen catching the last of the evening sun opposite Charing Cross Station, after an unusually clear run across. 27/6/16.

32425 Charing Cross-Paddington 23

43177/150 Paddington-Bath Spa

32950 Bath-Kingswood 19

32931 Kingwood-UWE Frenchay 19

32939 UWE-Cribbs Causeway 19

33960 Cribbs C-Westbury Village 1

33961 Westbury Village-Henbury 1

33964 Henbury-Westbury Village 1

33963 Westbury Village-Redland 1

33958 Redland-Westbury Village 1

33957 Westbury Village-Redland 1

33952 Redland-Bristol City Centre 1

33411 Bristol BS-Failand X6

33417 Failand-Bristol BS X6

33956 Bristol CC-Clifton Down 1

33959 Clifton Down-Bristol TM 1

43088/162 Bristol TM-Paddington

32370 Paddington-Charing Cross 23