View allAll Photos Tagged maintaining
The majestic Jokhang in Barkhor Square, Lhasa.
The Jokhang is a Buddhist temple in Barkhor Square in Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet. Tibetans, in general, consider this temple as the most sacred and important temple in Tibet. The temple is currently maintained by the Gelug school, but they accept worshipers from all sects of Buddhism. The temple's architectural style is a mixture of Indian vihara design, Tibetan and Nepalese design.
The Jokhang was founded during the reign of King Songtsen Gampo. According to tradition, the temple was built for the king's two brides: Princess Wencheng of the Chinese Tang dynasty and Princess Bhrikuti of Nepal. Both are said to have brought important Buddhist statues and images from China and Nepal to Tibet, which were housed here, as part of their dowries. The oldest part of the temple was built in 652. Over the next 900 years, the temple was enlarged several times with the last renovation done in 1610 by the Fifth Dalai Lama. Following the death of Gampo, the image in Ramcho Lake temple was moved to the Jokhang temple for security reasons. When King Tresang Detsen ruled from 755 to 797, the Buddha image of the Jokhang temple was hidden, as the king's minister was hostile to the spread of Buddhism in Tibet. During the late ninth and early tenth centuries, the Jokhang and Ramoche temples were said to have been used as stables.
Around the 14th century, the temple was associated with the Vajrasana in India. In the 18th century the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing dynasty, following the Gorkha-Tibetan war in 1792, did not allow the Nepalese to visit this temple and it became an exclusive place of worship for the Tibetans. During the Chinese development of Lhasa, the Barkhor Square in front of the temple was encroached. During the Cultural Revolution, Red Guards attacked the Jokhang temple in 1966 and for a decade there was no worship. Renovation of the Jokhang took place from 1972 to 1980. In 2000, the Jokhang became a UNESCO World Heritage Site as an extension of the Potala Palace (a World Heritage Site since 1994). Many Nepalese artists have worked on the temple's design and construction.
The temple, considered the "spiritual heart of the city" and the most sacred in Tibet, is at the center of an ancient network of Buddhist temples in Lhasa. It is the focal point of commercial activity in the city, with a maze of streets radiating from it.
The Jokhang is 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) east of the Potala Palace. Barkhor, the market square in central Lhasa, has a walkway for pilgrims to walk around the temple (which takes about 20 minutes). Barkhor Square is marked by four stone sankang (incense burners), two of which are in front of the temple and two in the rear.
If cameras could talk...
I just got my first TLR camera--it's awesome! I plan doing alot of different, creative shots with it.
I really want to push the limits this year and by taking a photo a day (business or non-business related) will give me that opportunity. At first I was thinking a 365 project but that's uniform--I call it a "Maintain. Discover. Create. Project."
Stick with me and I hope to produce some awesome images. Please leave comments- it'll give me motivation to keep this silly thing going.
Cheers!
camera info Canon MRKII | 2000 ISO | 85mm f/2.8 | 1/30th
Lighting is with my new kewl secret German light which I have nicknamed "Valkyrie"
Quick video of me shooting this: www.flickr.com/photos/danielstark/4266405403/
Lothian Buses maintains three travel shops. Two of these are in the city centre, at Waverley Bridge and Hanover Street. The shop at Shandwick Place is now closed. The third shop is in Dalkeith town centre and this carries the slogan 'Lothian Buses - the way ahead in Midlothian' above the entrance. It opened in 2008 and is the first shop to be located outwith Edinburgh.
All the shops are shortly about to have a facelift in to Lothian's new colours and identification crests but the friendly service by staff within each will not change.
Timetable information is wall to wall in our travel shops and the Lost Property team will deal with all items that have gone astray in the Hanover Street shop.
Here's an eyesight test for anyone thinking they might be in need of some magnification - see how you score!
well-maintained bullet...
Bus No: 82058
Year released: 2007
Capacity: 49; 2x2 seating configuration
Route: Vigan/Laoag-Cubao via La Union/Urdaneta/Carmen/Paniqui/Tarlac/Capas/SCTEX-Concepcion/Dau
Body: Del Monte Motors Corp. (rebodied)
Model: 2007 Del Monte AX-I AC Series
Engine: Mercedes-Benz 1725
Fare: Airconditioned
Transmission System: M/T
Plate No.: TXJ-760(NCR-National Capital Region)
Taken on: May 17, 2012
Location: McArthur Highway, Brgy. Sto. Cristo, Tarlac City, Tarlac
Be glad for the things I have, Spread a little cheer where ever I can. and Always look for the good. I haven't done resolutions for almost twenty years. But I do aspire to maintain a positive outlook on life with all the crap it keeps sending my way.I can't stand to see a frown. It is a challenge to me to turn every frown I see into a smile. I am always reaching for bubbles of happines. I carry a small bottle of bubbles every where I go. They ALWAYS make people smile. A little smile can change a persons day. and "I" get to share it.
*************************************************************
For: Mondays challenge for January 18th 2010
"in one picture illustrate your one word that describes your New Year's resolution, dream, ASPIRATION or goal"
. . . and use that one word as your title.
See other Challengers here:
Monday Photo Challenges and Thursday Retreads
www.flickr.com/groups/1091826@N21/
********************************************************************************
I was not able to get out to take the photograph I wanted to take, so I created this one from the two below. Using standard "Paint" program that comes with Windows for editing and PS8 for the "artist brush" effects
I know there is a lot to read here, but looking it up keeps me out of trouble. :D
*************************************************************
********************************************************************************
Long before Dr Norman Vincent Peel and “The Power of Positive Thinking”
Or what ever the current “guru” might be, There was a little girl….
Who learned the best part of the Bible and MOST important teachings of it.
In The face of adversity I have ALWAYS found at least one good thing. Though there have been times I had to look really hard for it. But then that is the key to aspiring to have a perpetual Positive attitude. One MUST LOOK for the good especially in the midst of most difficult situations. Prepare for the bad but look for and expect the Good. And That is what I aspire and have alway aspired to do.
Mona Loldwoman
****************************************
POLLYANNA
a Pollyanna,
"one who finds cause for gladness in the most difficult situations," 1921, in allusion to Pollyanna Whittier, child heroine of U.S. novelist Eleanor Hodgman Porter's "Pollyanna" (1913) and "Pollyanna Grows Up" (1915), noted for keeping her chin up during disasters.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
*************************************
POLLYANNA SYNDROME
Psychologists and ministers who use the derogatory term, “Pollyanna Syndrome” never read the book. That little girl didn’t deny the bad events in her life. She just didn’t wallow in self-pity and make everybody else miserable. And she based her philosophy on Christ’s teachings
**************************************
Positive Thinking; Pollyanna Syndrome
By Frances Hall
Why do we have such a downer on Pollyanna? After all, she is just a little girl with a big dose of positive mental attitude. Instead of mocking, may we should learn something from her. I’m not saying we have to turn into Pollyanna, but when you think about it, positive thinking is the only sensible way forward. Our thinking creates our reality, so isn’t it just a bit daft to be creating our reality based on negative thinking? When we realise this, we understand we cannot afford the luxury of negative thinking.
As Einstein said, “we are boxed in by the boundary conditions of our thinking”. Mind management is essentially the key to life management, and we all have the power to choose what we think. It may take time and effort to break the habit of negative thinking, but that is just what it is, a habit. So the trick is to cultivate a new habit of looking for the positive. And the first step is to catch yourself when you are thinking negatively. It may shock you just how many of those 60,000 thoughts that run through your mind every day are of the negative variety. Perhaps when you catch yourself thinking negatively, you can turn it into a positive “but”. Whatever it is, look hard for something way to turn it around by seeing an advantage. Focus on the fact that your outer world reflects your inner world.
so which way would you rather think………… Create the habit of positive thinking
A good tool for this is daily affirmations. These are sayings repeated on a daily basis to manifest a more positive reality. It is a way of harnessing the power of words for your benefit because your reality starts with a thought. Help the mind along a more positive path. Just remember the rule with affirmations is that they must be personal, present and positive, for example “today I achieve everything I want effortlessly” rather than “today I will not have any problems”. You can start with something simple like “I choose happiness” or “I create my own reality”. You can write them, say them, sing them, it’s up to you, but a minimum of six times a day is good.
As the saying goes, whether you tell yourself you can or tell yourself you can’t do something you are right. So what have you got to lose by thinking positive?
Frances Hall
After many years working in film and music, Frances changed career direction to find what for her is a more fulfilling way to live. Now an accredited life coach, massage therapist and writer, she is doing what she’d rather be doing - helping people get the most out of their lives. Her intention is to “Liberate, Inspire, Focus, Empower.
check out: www.lifematters.gb.com
Article Source: EzineArticles.com/?expert=Frances_Hal
******************************************************************************
******************************************************************************
AND if you'd like to read my favorite part of the book....
******************************
Pollyanna By Eleanor H, Porter
From the book Pollyanna; part of Chapter 22
"Oh, he always said he was, of course, but 'most always he said, too, that he wouldn't STAY a minister a minute if 'twasn't for the rejoicing texts."
"The--WHAT?" The Rev. Paul Ford's eyes left the leaf and gazed wonderingly into Pollyanna's merry little face.
“Well, , that's what father used to call 'em," she laughed. "Of course the Bible didn't name 'em that. But it's all those that begin 'Be glad in the Lord,' or 'Rejoice greatly,' or 'Shout for joy,' and all that, you know--such a lot of 'em. Once, when father felt specially bad, he counted 'em. There were eight hundred of ‘em.
“eight hundred.!”
“Yes--that told you to rejoice and be glad, you know; that's why father named 'em the 'rejoicing texts.”
“Oh.!" There was an odd look on the minister's face. His eyes had fallen to the words on the top paper in his hands--"But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!" "And so your father--liked those 'rejoicing texts,' " he murmured
“Oh yes” nodded Pollyanna, emphatically. "He said he felt better right away, that first day he thought to count 'em. He said if God took the trouble to tell us eight hundred times to be glad and rejoice, He must want us to do it--SOME. And father felt ashamed that he hadn't done it more. After that, they got to be such a comfort to him, you know, when things went wrong; when the Ladies' Aiders got to fight--I mean, when they DIDN'T AGREE about something," corrected Pollyanna, hastily. "Why, it was those texts, too, father said, that made HIM think of the game--he began with ME on the crutches--but he said 'twas the rejoicing texts that started him on it.”
“And what game might that be?" asked the minister
"About finding something in everything to be glad about, you know. As I said, he began with me on the crutches." And once more Pollyanna told her story--this time to a man who listened with tender eyes and understanding ears.
A little later Pollyanna and the minister descended the hill, hand in hand. Pollyanna's face was radiant. Pollyanna loved to talk, and she had been talking now for some time: there seemed to be so many, many things about the game, her father, and the old home life that the minister wanted to know.
At the foot of the hill their ways parted, and Pollyanna down one road, and the minister down another, walked on alone.
In the Rev. Paul Ford's study that evening the minister sat thinking. Near him on the desk lay a few loose sheets of paper--his sermon notes. Under the suspended pencil in his fingers lay other sheets of paper, blank--his sermon to be. But the minister was not thinking either of what he had written, or of what be intended to write. In his imagination he was far away in a little Western town with a missionary minister who was poor, sick, worried, and almost alone in the world--but who was poring over the Bible to find how many times his Lord and Master had told him to "rejoice and be glad.”
After a time, with a long sigh, the Rev. Paul Ford roused himself, came back from the far Western town, and adjusted the sheets of paper under his hand "Matthew twenty-third; 13--14 and 23," he wrote; then, with a gesture of impatience, he dropped his pencil and pulled toward him a magazine left on the desk by his wife a few minutes before. Listlessly his tired eyes turned from paragraph to paragraph until these words arrested them: "A father one day said to his son, Tom, who, he knew, had refused to fill his mother's woodbox that morning: 'Tom, I'm sure you'll be glad to go and bring in some wood for your mother.' And without a word Tom went. Why? Just because his father showed so plainly that he expected him to do the right thing. Suppose he had said: 'Tom, I overheard what you said to your mother this morning, and I'm ashamed of you. Go at once and fill that woodbox!' I'll warrant that woodbox, would be empty yet, so far as Tom was concerned!"
On and on read the minister--a word here, a line there, a paragraph somewhere else.
"What men and women need is encouragement. Their natural resisting powers should be strengthened, not weakened. . . . Instead of always harping on a man's faults, tell him of his virtues. Try to pull him out of his rut of bad habits. Hold up to him his better self, his REAL self that can dare and do and win out! . . . The influence of a beautiful, helpful, hopeful character is contagious, and may revolutionize a whole town. . . . People radiate what is in their minds and in their hearts. If a man feels kindly and obliging, his neighbors will feel that way, too, before long. But if he scolds and scowls and criticizes--his neighbors will return scowl for scowl, and add interest! . . . When you look for the bad, expecting it, you will get it. When you know you will find the good--you will get that. . . . Tell your son Tom you KNOW he'll be glad to fill that woodbox--then watch him start, alert and interested!"
The minister dropped the paper and lifted his chin. In a moment he was on his feet, tramping the narrow room back and forth, back and forth. Later, some time later, he drew a long breath, and dropped himself in the chair at his desk.
"God helping me, I'll do it!" he cried softly. "I'll tell all my Toms I KNOW they'll be glad to fill that woodbox! I'll give them work to do, and I'll make them so full of the very joy of doing it that they won't have TIME to look at their neighbors' woodboxes!" And he picked up his sermon notes, tore straight through the sheets, and cast them from him, so that on one side of his chair lay "But woe unto you," and on the other, "scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!" while across the smooth white paper before him his pencil fairly flew--after first drawing one black line through Matthew twenty-third; 13--14 and 23 .”
Thus it happened that the Rev. Paul Ford's sermon the next Sunday was a veritable bugle-call to the best that was in every man and woman and child that heard it; and its text was one of Pollyanna's shining eight hundred.
“Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, ye righteous, and shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart."
END OF CHAPTER
If perhaps you'd like to read the entie book, It is available online through:
Classic Book Library : Pollyanna
classicbook.info/books/pollyanna/index.html
Main page
Classic Book Library -The Classics Online
Genres:
Historical Fiction
Romance
Children's Literature
History
Science Fiction
Science
Mystery
pollyanna 30a
~*Photography Originally Taken By: www.CrossTrips.Com Under God*~
The United States Merchant Marine refers to the fleet of US civilian-owned merchant ships—operated by either the government or the private sector, that are engaged in commerce or transportation of goods and services in and out of the navigable waters of the United States. The Merchant Marine is responsible for transporting cargo and passengers during peace time. In time of war, the Merchant Marine[1] is an auxiliary to the Navy, and can be called upon to deliver troops and supplies for the military.
The people of the Merchant Marine are called merchant mariners, and officers are commissioned into the United States Maritime Service. The Merchant Marine is a civilian auxiliary of the U.S. Navy, but not a uniformed service, except in times of war when, in accordance with the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, mariners are considered military personnel. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed a bill into law making veterans of merchant mariners who serve in war.
As of 2006, the United States merchant fleet numbered 465 ships[2] and approximately 69,000 people. Seven hundred ships owned by American interests but registered, or flagged, in other countries are not included in this number.
The federal government maintains fleets of merchant ships via organizations such as Military Sealift Command and the National Defense Reserve Fleet. In 2004, the Federal government employed approximately 5% of all American water transportation workers.[3]
In the 19th and 20th centuries, a number of laws were enacted that fundamentally changed the course of American merchant shipping. These laws put an end to practices such as flogging and shanghaiing, and increased shipboard safety and the standard of living. The United States Merchant Marine is also governed by several international conventions to promote safety and prevent pollution.
Background
Merchant mariners move cargo and passengers between nations and within the United States, operate and maintain deep-sea merchant ships, tugboats, towboats, ferries, dredges, excursion vessels, and other waterborne craft on the oceans, the Great Lakes, rivers, canals, harbors, and other waterways.
Captains, mates, and pilots supervise ship operations on domestic waterways and the high seas. A captain is in overall command of a vessel, and supervises the work of all other officers and crew. The captain orders the ship's course and speed, maneuvers to avoid hazards, and continuously monitors the ship's position. Captains oversee crew members who steer the vessel, determine its location, operate engines, communicate with other vessels, perform maintenance, handle lines, and operate the ship's equipment. Captains and their department heads[4] ensure that proper procedures and safety practices are followed, ensure that machinery is in good working order, and oversee the loading and discharging of cargo and passengers. They also maintain logs and other records tracking the ships' movements, efforts at controlling pollution, and cargo and passengers carried.
The mates direct a ship's routine operation for the captain during the shifts, which are called watches. Mates stand watch for specified periods, usually 4 hours on and 8 hours off.[5] When more than one mate is necessary aboard a ship, they typically are designated chief mate or first mate, second mate, third mate, and so forth. Mates also supervise the ship's crew. They monitor cargo loading and unloading to ensure proper stowage, and supervise crew members engaged in maintenance and the vessel's upkeep.
Pilots guide ships in and out of confined waterways, such as harbors, where a familiarity with local conditions is of prime importance.[6] Harbor pilots are generally independent contractors who accompany vessels while they enter or leave port, and may pilot many ships in a single day.
Ship's engineers operate, maintain, and repair propulsion engines, boilers, generators, pumps, and other machinery. Merchant marine vessels usually have four engineering officers: A chief engineer and a first, second, and third assistant engineer. Assistant engineers stand periodic watches, overseeing the safe operation of engines and machinery.
Deck officers and ship's engineers are usually trained at maritime academies.[7] However, women were barred from entry to U.S. maritime academies until 1974, when the California Maritime Academy admitted women as cadets.[8] It is becoming increasingly difficult for unlicensed mariners to earn a merchant marine license[9] due to increased requirements for formal training. To do so, a mariner must have sufficient sea time in a qualified rating and complete specified testing and training, such as that required by STCW.
Able seamen and ordinary seamen operate the vessel and its deck equipment under the officers' supervision and keep their assigned areas in good condition.[10] They stand watch, looking out for other vessels and obstructions in the ship's path, as well as for navigational aids such as buoys and lighthouses. They also steer the ship, measure water depth in shallow water, and maintain and operate deck equipment such as lifeboats, anchors, and cargo-handling gear. On tankers, mariners designated as pumpmen hook up hoses, operate pumps, and clean tanks. When arriving at or leaving a dock, they handle the mooring lines. Seamen also perform routine maintenance chores, such as repairing lines, chipping rust, and painting and cleaning decks. On larger vessels, a boatswain, or head seaman will supervise the work.
Marine oilers and more experienced qualified members of the engine department, or QMEDs, maintain the vessel in proper running order in the engine spaces below decks, under the direction of the ship's engineering officers. These workers lubricate gears, shafts, bearings, and other moving parts of engines and motors; read pressure and temperature gauges; record data; and sometimes assist with repairs and adjust machinery. Wipers are the entry-level workers in the engine room, holding a position similar to that of ordinary seamen of the deck crew. They clean and paint the engine room and its equipment and assist the others in maintenance and repair work. With more experience they become oilers and firemen.
A typical deep-sea merchant ship has a captain, three mates, a chief engineer and three assistant engineers, plus six or more unlicensed seamen, such as able seamen, oilers, QMEDs, and cooks or food handlers.[11] Other unlicensed positions on a large ship may include electricians and machinery mechanics.
History
The history of ships and shipping in North America goes back at least as far as when Leif Erikson established a short-lived settlement called Vinland in present day Newfoundland. An actual shipping industry gradually came into being as colonies grew and trade with Europe increased. As early as the 15th century, Europeans were shipping horses, cattle and hogs to the Americas.
Spanish colonies began to form as early as 1565 in places like St. Augustine, Florida, and later in Santa Fe, New Mexico, San Antonio, Tucson, San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco. English colonies like Jamestown began to form as early as 1607. The connection between the American colonies and Europe, with shipping as its only conduit, would continue to grow unhindered for almost two hundred years.
The first wartime role of an identifiable United States merchant marine first took place on June 12, 1775 in and around Machias, Maine. A group of citizens, hearing the news from Concord and Lexington, captured the British schooner HMS Margaretta. The citizens, in need of critical supplies, were given an ultimatum: either load the ships with lumber to build British barracks in Boston, or go hungry. They chose to fight.[13]
Word of this revolt reached Boston, where the Continental Congress and the various colonies issued Letters of Marque to privateers.[14] The privateers interrupted the British supply chain all along the eastern seaboard of the United States and across the Atlantic Ocean. These actions by the privateers predates both the United States Coast Guard and the United States Navy, which were formed in 1790 and 1797, respectively.
Some civilian mariners have earned the Merchant Marine Expeditionary Medal in the Iraq War.
Some civilian mariners have earned the Merchant Marine Expeditionary Medal in the Iraq War.
The Merchant marine was active in subsequent wars, from the Confederate commerce raiders of the American Civil War, to the First and Second Battle of the Atlantic in World War I and World War II. 3.1 million tons of merchant ships were lost in World War II, mariners dying at a rate of 1 in 24. All told, 733 American cargo ships were lost[15] and 8,651 of the 215,000 who served perished on troubled waters and off enemy shores.
Merchant shipping also played its role in the wars in Vietnam and Korea. From just six ships under charter when the Korean war began, this total peaked at 255. In September 1950, when the U.S. Marine Corps went ashore at Inchon, 13 USNS cargo ships, 26 chartered American, and 34 Japanese-manned merchant ships, under the operational control of Military Sea Transportation Service participated in the invasion.
During the Vietnam War, ships crewed by civilian seamen carried 95% of the supplies used by the American Armed Forces. Many of these ships sailed into combat zones under fire. In fact, the SS Mayaguez incident involved the capture of mariners from the American merchant ship SS Mayaguez.[16]
During the first Gulf War, the merchant ships of the Military Sealift Command (MSC) delivered more than 11 million metric tons of vehicles, helicopters, ammunition, fuel and other supplies and equipment during the war. At one point during the war, more than 230 government-owned and chartered ships were involved in the sealift.
Government-owned merchant vessels from the National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) have supported emergency shipping requirements in seven wars and crises. During the Korean War, 540 vessels were activated to support military forces. A worldwide tonnage shortfall from 1951 to 1953 required over 600 ship activations to lift coal to Northern Europe and grain to India. From 1955 through 1964, another 600 ships were used to store grain for the Department of Agriculture. Another tonnage shortfall following the Suez Canal closing in 1956 caused 223 cargo ship and 29 tanker activations from the NDRF. During the Berlin crisis of 1961, 18 vessels were activated, which remained in service until 1970. The Vietnam conflict required the activation of 172 vessels.[17]
Since 1977, the Ready Reserve Fleet has taken over the brunt of the work previously handled by the National Defense Reserve Fleet. The RRF made a major contribution to the success of Operation Desert Shield/Operation Desert Storm from August 1990 through June 1992, when 79 vessels were activated to meet military sealift requirements by carrying 25% of the unit equipment and 45% of the ammunition needed.[17]
Two RRF tankers, two RO/RO ships and a troop transport ship were needed in Somalia for Operation Restore Hope in 1993 and 1994. During the Haitian crisis in 1994, 15 ships were activated for Operation Uphold Democracy operations. In 1995 and 1996, four RO/RO ships were used to deliver military cargo as part of U.S. and U.K. support to NATO peace-keeping missions.[17]
Four RRF ships were activated to provide humanitarian assistance for Central America following Hurricane Mitch in 1998. Three RRF ships currently support the Afloat Prepositioning Force with two specialized tankers and one dry cargo vessel capable of underway replenishment for the Navy’s Combat Logistics Force.[17]
In 2003, 40 RRF ships were used in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. This RRF contribution was significant and included sealifting equipment and supplies into the theatre of combat operations, which included combat support equipment for the Army, Navy Combat Logistics Force, and USMC Aviation Support equipment. By the beginning of May 2005, RRF cumulative support included 85 ship activations that logged almost 12,000 ship operating days, moving almost 25% of the equipment needed to support the U.S. Armed Forces liberation of Iraq.[17]
MSC is also involved in the current Iraq War, having delivered 61 million square feet (5.7 km²) of cargo and 1.1 billion US gallons (4,200,000 m³) of fuel by the end of the first year alone. Merchant mariners are being recognized for their contributions in Iraq. For example, in late 2003, Vice Adm. David Brewer III, commander of Military Sealift Command, awarded the officers and crewmembers of the Motor Vessel Bennett the Merchant Marine Expeditionary Medal.[18]
The RRF was called upon to provide humanitarian assistance to gulf coast areas following Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita landfalls in September 2006. The Federal Emergency Management Agency requested a total of eight vessels to support relief efforts. Messing and berthing was provided for refinery workers, oils spill response teams, longshoremen. One of the vessels provided electrical power.
Today's merchant fleet
The commercial fleet
As of 2006, the United States merchant fleet had 465 privately-owned ships of 1,000 gross register tons or over. Two hundred ninety-one (291) of these were dry cargo ships, 97 were tankers, and 77 passenger ships. Of those American-flagged ships, 51 were foreign owned. Seven hundred American-owned ships are flagged in other nations.[19][20]
2005 statistics from the United States Maritime Administration focus on the larger segment of the fleet: ships of 10,000 metric tons of deadweight (DWT) and over. 245 privately owned American-flagged ships are of this size, and 153 of those meet the Jones Act criteria.[21]
U.S. sealift capability viewed over time shows a steep drop in the number of ships in the merchant marine fleet. Observers point to the World War II era as the peak for the U.S. fleet. During the post-war year of 1950, for example, U.S. carriers represented about 43 percent of the world's shipping trade. By 1995, the American market share had plunged to 4 percent, according to a 1997 report by the U.S. Congressional Budget Office (CBO).[22] CBO further notes in the report that "the number of U.S.-flag vessels has dropped precipitously--from more than 2,000 in the 1940s and 850 in 1970 to about 320 in 1996."
A diminishing U.S. fleet comes in the face of surge in international sea trade. For instance, worldwide demand for natural gas and the subsequent spike in related international trade presents a job growth opportunity for today's U.S. mariners aboard liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers. A 2007 agreement signed by the United States Maritime Administration (MARAD) sets uniform LNG training standards at U.S. maritime training facilities. Uniform training standards will help U.S. mariners compete for jobs aboard LNG tankers, estimated to number more than 370 worldwide at the close of 2007, according to MARAD.[23]
However, despite projection of an eight-fold increase in U.S. imported LNG by 2025, the worldwide LNG fleet does not include a single U.S. flagged vessel.[24] Moreover, only five U.S. deepwater LNG ports were operational in 2007, although permits have been issued for four additional ports, according to MARAD.[24]
Further limiting potential job growth in the U.S. fleet is the fact that ranks of qualified seamen to serve on ships continue to shrink. Recruitment efforts to attract younger mariners to replace retiring crews have failed to stem the shortage.[25] MARAD describes the gap between sealift crewing needs and available unlicensed personnel as "reaching critical proportions, and the long term outlook for sufficient personnel is also of serious concern."[26]
Seagoing jobs of the future for U.S. mariners may not necessarily be on U.S.-flagged ships. American-trained mariners are being sought after by international companies to operate foreign-flagged vessels, according to Julie A. Nelson, deputy maritime administrator of the U.S. Department of Commerce.[27]. For example, Shell International and Shipping Company Ltd. has announced that it will be recruiting U.S. seafarers to crew its growing fleet of tankers.[28] Further signs of the globalization of the mariner profession is evidenced by an agreement signed in 2007 between Overseas Shipholding Group and the Maritime Administration that will allow American maritime academy cadets to train aboard OSG's international flag vessels.
The federal fleet
Military Sealift Command (MSC) is an arm of the Navy that serves the entire Department of Defense as the ocean carrier of materiel during peacetime and war. It transports equipment, fuel, ammunition, and other goods essential to the smooth function of United States armed forces worldwide. Up to 95% of all supplies needed to sustain the U.S. military can be moved by Military Sealift Command.[30] MSC operates approximately 120 ships with 100 more in reserve. All ships are manned by civil service or contract merchant mariners, estimated to number more than 8,000.[31] MSC tankers and freighters have a long history of also serving as re-supply vessels in support of civilian research at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, and at other polar operations, including Greenland.
Civilian-crewed MSC ships annually re-supply McMurdo Station, Antarctica. Here the USNS Southern Cross (T-AK-285) is seen during cargo operations alongside a floating ice pier.
Civilian-crewed MSC ships annually re-supply McMurdo Station, Antarctica. Here the USNS Southern Cross (T-AK-285) is seen during cargo operations alongside a floating ice pier.
The National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF)[32] acts as a reserve of cargo ships for national emergencies and defense. Consisting of 2,277 ships at its peak in 1950, the NDRF fleet now numbers only 251 ships.[33]
NDRF vessels are now staged[34] at the James River, Beaumont and Suisun Bay fleet sites and other designated locations. A Ready Reserve Force[35] component of NDRF was established in 1976 to provide rapid deployment of military equipment. This force currently has 58 vessels, down from a peak of 102 in 1994.[17]
In 2004, the Federal government employed approximately 5% of all water transportation workers, most of whom worked on Military Sealift Command supply ships.
Important laws
A few laws have shaped the development of the U.S. merchant marine. Chief among them are the "Seamen's Act of 1915," the "Merchant Marine Act of 1920" (commonly referred to as the "Jones Act"), and the "Merchant Marine Act of 1936".
The Seamen's Act of 1915
The Seaman's Act[36] significantly improved working conditions for American seamen.[37] The brainchild of International Seamen's Union president Andrew Furuseth, the Act was sponsored in the Senate by Robert Marion La Follette and received significant support from Secretary of Labor, William B. Wilson.
Among other things, the Act:
1. abolished the practice of imprisonment for seamen who deserted their ship
2. reduced the penalties for disobedience
3. regulated a seaman's working hours both at sea and in port
4. established a minimum quality for ship's food
5. regulated the payment of seamen's wages
6. required specific levels of safety, particularly the provision of lifeboats
7. required a minimum percentage of the seamen aboard a vessel to be qualified Able Seamen
8. required a minimum of 75% of the seamen aboard a vessel to understand the language spoken by the officers
The Act's passage was attributed to union lobbying, increased tensions immediately before World War I, and raised public consciousness of safety at sea due to the sinking of the RMS Titanic three years prior.
The Jones Act
The "Merchant Marine Act of 1920," often called The "Jones Act," requires U.S.-flagged vessels be built in the United States, owned by U.S. citizens, and documented under the laws of the United States.[39] It also requires that all officers and 75% of the crew must be U.S. citizens. Vessels satisfying these requirements comprise the "Jones Act Fleet," and only these vessels may engage in "cabotage," or carrying passengers or cargo between two U.S. ports.[40]
Another important aspect of the Act is that it allows injured sailors to obtain damages from their employers for the negligence of the shipowner, the captain, or fellow members of the crew.
The Merchant Marine Act
The Merchant Marine Act of 1936 was enacted "to further the development and maintenance of an adequate and well-balanced American merchant marine, to promote the commerce of the United States, to aid in the national defense, to repeal certain former legislation, and for other purposes."
Specifically, the Act established the United States Maritime Commission and required a United States Merchant Marine that consists of U.S.-built, U.S.-flagged, U.S.-crewed and U.S.-owned vessels capable of carrying all domestic and a substantial portion of foreign water-borne commerce which can serve as a naval auxiliary in time of war or national emergency.
The act also established federal subsidies for the construction and operation of merchant ships. Two years after the Act was passed, the U.S. Merchant Marine Cadet Corps, the forerunner to the United States Merchant Marine Academy, was established.
International regulations
Federal law requires the merchant marine to adhere to a number of international conventions. The International Maritime Organization has been either the source or a conduit for a number of these regulations.
The principal International Conventions are:
* SOLAS 74: International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea.
* MARPOL 73/78: International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution From Ships, 1973 as modified by the Protocol of 1978.
* ICLL 66: International Convention on Load Lines, as revised in 1966
* 72 COLREGS: International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea.
* STCW 95: International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW).
* SAR 79: International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue.[41]
A list of IMO conventions adopted in the United States is available at the U.S. Coast Guard's Maritime Safety Center website
www.navcen.uscg.gov/marcomms/imo/msc_resolutions/default.htm
Noted U.S. Merchant Mariners
Merchant seamen have gone on to make their mark on the world in a number of interesting ways, for example, Douglass North went from seaman to navigator to winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Economics.
American merchant seamen have earned the Medal of Honor in the Korean War, George H. O'Brien, Jr. and Vietnam War, Lawrence Joel; and one went on to become the "Father of the American Navy", John Paul Jones.
Since World War II, a number of merchant seamen have become notorious criminals. William Colepaugh was convicted as a Nazi spy in World War II. George Hennard was a mass murderer who claimed twenty-four victims on a rampage at Luby's Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas. Perry Smith's own murderous rampage was made famous in Truman Capote's non-fiction novel In Cold Blood.
Mariners are well represented in the visual arts. Seaman Haskell Wexler would later win two Academy Awards, the latter for a biography of his shipmate Woody Guthrie. Merchant seaman Johnny Craig was already a working comic book artist before he joined up, but Ernie Schroeder would not start drawing comics until after returning home from World War II.
Merchant sailors have also made a splash in the world of sport. In football, with the likes of Dan Devine and Heisman Trophy winner Frank Sinkwich. In track and field, seamen Cornelius Cooper Johnson and Jim Thorpe both won Olympic medals, though Thorpe did not get his until thirty years after his death. Seamen Jim Bagby, Jr. and Charlie Keller went on to Major League Baseball. Drew Bundini Brown was Muhammad Ali's assistant trainer and cornerman, and Joe Gold went on to make his fortune as the bodybuilding and fitness guru of Gold's Gym.
Writer Ralph Ellison was a merchant mariner as were prominent members of the Beat movement Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Bob Kaufman, Dave Van Ronk and Herbert Huncke. Perhaps it is not surprising that the writers of Moby Dick, The American Practical Navigator, and Two Years Before the Mast were merchant mariners. It might be surprising that the writer of Cool Hand Luke and co-writer of Borat were.
A number of merchant mariners from World War II ended up playing well-known television characters. The list includes Raymond Bailey, who played Milburn Drysdale on The Beverly Hillbillies, Archie Bunker on All in the Family, Columbo on Columbo, Jim Rockford on The Rockford Files, Steve McGarret on Hawaii Five-O, Uncle Jesse Duke on The Dukes of Hazzard, and Cheyenne Bodie on Cheyenne.
Songwriter and lyricist Jack Lawrence was a mariner during World War II, and wrote the official United States Merchant Marine song "Heave Ho! My Lads, Heave Ho!" while a young lieutenant stationed at Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, in 1943.
Robert Kiyosaki lays claim of being a mariner. Paul Teutul, Sr., the founder of Orange County Ironworks and Orange County Choppers is a Vietnam War veteran of the United States merchant marine.
Fictional accounts
The United States merchant marine has been featured in a number of movies. Action in the North Atlantic is a 1943 film featuring Humphrey Bogart, Raymond Massey, and Alan Hale as merchant mariners fighting the Battle of the Atlantic in World War II. Other WWII fare includes The Long Voyage Home starring John Wayne, and the television documentary The Men Who Sailed the Liberty Ships.
Other movies set in the United States merchant marine include Lifeboat, Wake of the Red Witch, The Sea Chase, The Last Voyage, Morituri, and The Wreck of the Mary Deare.
The characters Bo Brady and Steve "Patch" Johnson were merchant mariners on the soap opera Days of Our Lives.
The character Tom Wingfield leaves his family to join the merchant marine in the play The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams.
James Edward Dougherty was Marilyn Monroe's first husband.
Popeye was a merchant mariner before joining first the U.S. Coast Guard, and then the U.S.Navy.
Aircraft maintainers from the 33rd Expeditionary Helicopter Maintenance Unit perform routine maintenance on an HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter May 25, 2012, at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. The high operational tempo and austere environment of Afghanistan presents a unique challenge for the maintainers, who work around-the-clock to keep the Pave Hawks ready to fly. (U.S. Air Force photo by Capt. Raymond Geoffroy)
"Jenners Department Store, now known simply as Jenners, is a department store located in Edinburgh, Scotland, and was the oldest independent department store in Scotland until its acquisition by House of Fraser in 2005.
Jenners has maintained its position on Edinburgh's Princes Street since 1838 when it was founded by Charles Jenner FRSE (1810-1893), a linen draper by trade, and Charles Kennington and known as "Kennington & Jenner". The store was run for many years by the Douglas-Miller family, who were descendants of James Kennedy, who took charge of Jenners in 1881.
The original buildings that formed the department store were destroyed by fire in 1892, and in 1893 the Scottish architect William Hamilton Beattie was appointed to design the new store which subsequently opened in 1895. This new building is designated as a category A listed building, and it is noted by the statutory listing that, at Charles Jenner's insistence, the building's caryatids were intended 'to show symbolically that women are the support of the house'. The new store included many technical innovations such as electric lighting and hydraulic lifts.
Known as the "Harrods of the North", it has held a Royal Warrant since 1911, and was visited by Queen Elizabeth II on the occasion of its 150th anniversary in 1988.
In 2004 it changed its vision statement from its goal to "be the most exciting department store outside London" to "Confidently Independent". The store made national news in 2007 when it publicised that it would stop selling pate de foie gras, following a boycott by the Duke and Duchess of Hamilton.
The New Town is a central area of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. A masterpiece of city planning, it was built in stages between 1767 and around 1850, and retains much of its original neo-classical and Georgian period architecture. Its best known street is Princes Street, facing Edinburgh Castle and the Old Town across the geological depression of the former Nor Loch. Together with the Old Town, the New Town was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995.
Edinburgh (/ˈɛdɪnbərə/; Scots: Edinburgh; Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Èideann [ˈt̪uːn ˈeːtʲən̪ˠ]) is the capital of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the Firth of Forth's southern shore.
Recognised as the capital of Scotland since at least the 15th century, Edinburgh is the seat of the Scottish Government, the Scottish Parliament and the supreme courts of Scotland. The city's Palace of Holyroodhouse is the official residence of the monarch in Scotland. The city has long been a centre of education, particularly in the fields of medicine, Scots law, literature, philosophy, the sciences and engineering. It is the second largest financial centre in the United Kingdom (after London) and the city's historical and cultural attractions have made it the United Kingdom's second most visited tourist destination attracting 4.9 million visits including 2.4 million from overseas in 2018.
Edinburgh is Scotland's second most populous city and the seventh most populous in the United Kingdom. The official population estimates are 488,050 (2016) for the Locality of Edinburgh (Edinburgh pre 1975 regionalisation plus Currie and Balerno), 518,500 (2018) for the City of Edinburgh, and 1,339,380 (2014) for the city region. Edinburgh lies at the heart of the Edinburgh and South East Scotland city region comprising East Lothian, Edinburgh, Fife, Midlothian, Scottish Borders and West Lothian.
The city is the annual venue of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. It is home to national institutions such as the National Museum of Scotland, the National Library of Scotland and the Scottish National Gallery. The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1582 and now one of four in the city, is placed 20th in the QS World University Rankings for 2020. The city is also known for the Edinburgh International Festival and the Fringe, the latter being the world's largest annual international arts festival. Historic sites in Edinburgh include Edinburgh Castle, the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the churches of St. Giles, Greyfriars and the Canongate, and the extensive Georgian New Town built in the 18th/19th centuries. Edinburgh's Old Town and New Town together are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, which has been managed by Edinburgh World Heritage since 1999." - info from Wikipedia.
Summer 2019 I did a solo cycling tour across Europe through 12 countries over the course of 3 months. I began my adventure in Edinburgh, Scotland and finished in Florence, Italy cycling 8,816 km. During my trip I took 47,000 photos.
Now on Instagram.
Become a patron to my photography on Patreon.
St Callan’s Church dates from 1777, this Church and Graveyard is well maintained and looked after. Church services are conducted on the 2nd and 4th Sunday of the month. I noticed on entry an inscription on the gates, this is what it said;
“To the glory of God
In memory of Peter William Boa 1910 – 2001
Elder of Rogart Church
Who was connected all his life with Saint Callan’s Church
And of his wife Helen 1907 – 1987
These gates were gifted by their family”
What a wonderful lasting tribute
Thomas watched his troops advancing on the old fort for the umpteenth time that day. This time their formation moved swiftly in for the assault while maintaining their tight cohesion. For the first time Thomas allowed himself a smile of pride. This was looking good and he was hopeful their Toberg teachers would be pleased. It had been an arduous time.
On that first day at dawn the men had been lined up while Benjamin and Yussuf had given them the once over “Here are a few pointers about your equipment I would like to give you,” began Benjamin “You have all this nice kit, but it’s not quite right, there are some changes you could consider to improve the effectiveness of your men.
“First of all your cavalry. You, Gunnar and Hamas could make a small but effective heavy cavalry unit. But, you need to decide if the rest of your cavalry is going to perform the same role or would be better suited as a lighter cavalry capable of rapid movement across the field. At the moment you’re a bit of a mixture. Those large shields will slow them down too much and might be better placed in the hands of your spearmen to make them a better wall against arrows.”
“Ok” said Thomas.
“And your archers, can they use bows?”
“Yes,” replied Thomas, “The crossbows are actually new. I’d heard of their destructive power even through heavy armour and equipped the men just before we came.”
“Hmmm… the thing with crossbows is they take a very long time to load and you only have a few archers. If they all changed back to bows you could increase your fire rate and be better able to pin units down. Also, get rid of the helmets. If archers come into contact with the enemy they are dead already. Giving them armour just stops them being mobile enough to get out the way and interferes with their bow draw."
The list of advice had continued. All of it designed to shave off anything that detracted from each unit being effective in its given role. 'Ok, you can sort all that out after, now we shall enter the training field."
Thomas and his men were marched outside of the town of Toberg and into the surrounding desert. There each day they had performed military drill after military drill while Benjamin and Yussuf looked on and explained the basic principles of modern warfare.
“At the heart of skilled warfare are the basic formations of your men. To truly master the art you must become adept at its intricate dance of feints and thrusts.”
“An enemy cavalry charge onto your randomly strewn men will leave very little, but meet them with your spearman orderly presented and it will be you that will draw blood.”
“Use your heavy cavalry in a wedge formation to punch a hole in the enemy line. Then deliver your men at arms into the heart of the enemy’s broken flanks.”
“A cohesive disciplined unit will separate and divide each element of a unit’s force and then deliver their most effective counterattack upon them. Such is victory achieved.”
At first they had been little more than a rabble waving swords, but as each lesson had been completed they had improved steadily. Each night Thomas and his men would be practically falling asleep into their evening meal, but all knew the importance of what they were doing.
This time, his men had now reached the fort and proceeded to storm the breeched wall as a fluid whole. Thomas had not seen any mistakes.
“Yes!” cried Yussuf “You’ve got it. – I think we are almost finished here.”
Thomas let his men stand down and Benjamin and Yussuf rode over to talk to him. “Your men have learned fast. If they can remember what they have learned in the heat of battle then they will be a formidable foe. Of course there is only one way to truly test that.” Yussuf smiled.
“Thank you for all you have done.” replied Thomas. “I feel a lot more prepared now than when I came.”
“You’re welcome. Think on all you have learned here and we wish you the luck not to have to use it.”
Thomas shook the hands of the two men and wished them well.
Benjamin Toft and Yussuf are the creation of Bentoft another LCC player. www.flickr.com/photos/bentoft/ He has generously given me permission to use them for this scene.
The earliest written account of the city is the 10th Century Laguna Copperplate Inscription which describe an Indianized kingdom maintaining diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Medang and commercial exchanges with Ancient Japan and Song Dynasty China. The city was invaded by Brunei's Sultan Bolkiah and was already Islamized by the 15th century when the Spanish first arrived. Manila eventually became the center of Spanish activity in the Far East and one end of the Manila–Acapulco galleon trade route linking Latin America and Asia. This caused it to be called the "Pearl of the Orient". Several Chinese insurrections, local revolts, a British Occupation and a Sepoy mutiny also occurred thereafter. Later, it saw the rise of the Philippine Revolution which was followed by the arrival of the Americans who made contributions to the city's urban planning and development only to have most of those improvements lost in the devastation of World War II. Since then the city has been rebuilt.
Manila was first known as Ginto (land of gold) or Suvarnadvipa by its neighboring provinces, and was officially the Kingdom of Maynila. The Kingdom of Maynila flourished during the latter half of the Ming Dynasty as a result of trade relations with China. Ancient Tondo was maintained as the traditional capital of the empire. Its rulers were equivalent to kings and not mere chieftains, and they were addressed as panginuan or panginoon ("lords"), anak banwa ("son of heaven") or lakandula ("lord of the palace"). During the 13th century, the city consisted of a fortified settlement and trading quarter at the shores of the Pasig river, on top of previous older towns. There is also early evidence of Manila being invaded by the Indianized empire of Majapahit, due to the epic eulogy poem Nagarakretagama which inscribed its conquest by Maharaja Hayam Wuruk.Saludong or Selurong which is a historical name for the city of Manila is listed in Canto 14 alongside Sulot, which is now Sulu, and Kalka.
During the reign of Sultan Bolkiah in 1485 to 1521, the Sultanate of Brunei decided to break the Dynasty of Tondo's monopoly in the China trade by attacking it and establishing the state of Selurong (now Manila) as a Bruneian satellite-state.[8] A new dynasty under the Islamized Rajah Salalila. was also established to challenge the House of Lakandula in Tondo. Islam was further strengthened by the arrival to the Philippines of traders and proselytizers from Malaysia and Indonesia.The multiple states that existed in the Philippines simplified Spanish colonization. Manila was temporarily threatened by the invasion of Chinese pirate-warlord Limahong before it became the seat of the colonial government of Spain.
In 1571 Spanish conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legazpi founded the Manila in what today is Intramuros. Manila was made the capital of the Philippine Islands, which Spain would control for over three centuries, from 1565 to 1898. The city was occupied by Great Britain for two years from 1762 to 1764 as part of the Seven Years' War. The city remained the capital of the Philippines under the government of the provisional British governor, acting through the Mexican-born Archbishop of Manila, Manuel Rojo del Rio y Vieyra and the captive Real Audiencia. However, armed resistance to the British persisted, centered in Pampanga, and was led by Oidor Don Simón de Anda y Salazar.
Manila also became famous during the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade which lasted for three centuries and brought goods from as far as Mexico and Peru all the way to Southeast Asia. Silver that was mined in Mexico and Peru were exchanged for Chinese silk, Indian gems, and the spices of the East Indies.
In 1898, Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States. Under the American control, the new government invited Daniel Burnham to plan a modern Manila. The Burnham Plan was a project that attempted to create Manila as Paris on the Prairie, with a vision of a government center occupying all of Wallace Field, which extends from Luneta to the present Taft Avenue. The Philippines Capitol was to rise on the Taft Avenue end of the field, facing toward the sea, and would form, with the buildings of different government bureaus and departments, a mighty quadrangle, lagoon in the center and a monument to Rizal at its Luneta end. Of Burnham’s proposed government center, only three units were built: the Legislative Building and the building of the Finance and Agricultural departments, which were completed on the eve of the War. By then, President Manuel L. Quezon had doomed the Burnham Plan by creating a new capital outside Manila, which was named after him, Quezon City.
Manila was the site of the most fierce battle in the Pacific theater during the war. During the battle, Manila became a city of bloodbath in Asia where 100,000 civilians were killed. It was the second most devastated city in the world after Warsaw during the Second World War. Since then the city has been rebuilt.
With Arsenio Lacson becoming the first elected mayor (prior to this all mayors were appointed), Manila underwent The Golden Age, Manila was revitalized and became once again the pearl of the orient, which Manila has earned before the outbreak of World War II. During the Marcos dictatorship, the region of the Manila metropolitan area was enacted as an independent entity in 1975 encompassing several cities and towns, being as a whole the seat of government of the Philippines.
On 1992, Alfredo Lim became the mayor, and was known for his anti-crime crusades. When Lim ran for the presidency during the 1998 presidential election, his vice mayor Lito Atienza was elected as city mayor. Atienza was known for renovating most of the city's plaza, and projects that would benefit the populace. He was the Mayor of Manila for 3 terms (9 years); barred for seeking a fourth consecutive term. Lim defeated Atienza's son Ali in the 2007 city election and immediately reversed all of Atienza's projects claiming the projects made little contribution to the improvements of the city. On July 17, 2008, councilor Dennis Alcoreza, filed human rights complaints before the Commission on Human Rights, against Lim, and other Manila officials. Twenty four Manila officials also resigned because of the maltreatment of Lim's police forces.
While the eastern part of Manila faced a catastrophe during the flooding of Tropical Storm Ketsana in 2009, the only major inconvenience in the city was the flooded Quezon Boulevard underpass which took two days to clean up and the district of Santa Mesa, the most flooded area within the city. During the 2010 city elections, Alfredo Lim won against secretary Lito Atienza. After a few months of taking office, Lim was harshly criticized on the bloody resolution of the Manila hostage crisis, one of the deadliest hostage crisis in the Philippines.
Struggling to maintain a grip on the greasy rails, 46233 'Duchess of Sutherland' passes Angrholm on the final part of the climb to the summit at Ais Gill, heading the return 'Thames Clyde Express' charter from Carlisle to Lincoln on Saturday12th October 2013.
© Gordon Edgar - All rights reserved. Please do not use my images without my explicit permission
The horses maintained by the Royal Guard receive a great deal of training. They must get used to the loud sounds of brass and drums. Horses must be extremely well-trained because along with performing for millions of people a year in state capacities, riders are dividing their time between playing an instrument and managing a horse.
Brass musicians play their instruments with one hand and guide the horse with the other.
Comprei esse esmalte por ter visto que era quase dupe do Snowcone.
Adorei a cor, apesar da formula ser meio grossa deu pra passar tranquilo. Para as mais habilidosas uma camada seria suficiente, mas como nao sou passei duas rsrs
Finalizei com Sally Hansen Instant Dry.. pq tenho preguiça de esperar o esmalte secar mesmo!
Ashton windmill is a tower mill in Chapel Allerton, Somerset, England. Its tower is over 7.5 metres (25 ft) high with stone walls that are 60 cm (2.0 ft) thick. The sails are 13 m (43 ft) across and used to be covered with canvas. The last millstones were 1.2 m (3.9 ft) across and the millstones used to grind wheat for flour and beans for cattle food.
The first mill on the site was medieval, but the present structure probably dates from the 18th century. It was modernised in 1900 with machinery brought from the demolished Moorlinch mill, and iron hoops around the building being added. It was restored in 1967. The mill has been designated by English Heritage as a grade II* listed building.
It is now preserved, having been given to Bristol City Museum in 1966 and is owned by Sedgemoor District Council, and maintained by volunteers.
In 2008 the council applied for listed building planning consent to undertake major restoration work on the windmill, including replacement of the stone steps, installation of hand rails, guard rails and safety bars, alterations to the window shutters and replacement of the sail frames with wood laminate.
In 2010 Sedgemoor Council decided it could no longer afford to maintain the windmill and has appealed for an independent group of trustees to take on the responsibility for the building.
Chapel Allerton is a village and civil parish, south of Cheddar in the English county of Somerset. The parish includes the hamlets of Ashton and Stone Allerton.
The name comes from "Aelfweard's settlement", with the chapel prefix being added in 1708 to distinguish it from the adjoining Stone Allerton. The manor was brought in 1492 by John Gunthorpe and passed to the Bishop of Wells.
Chapel Allerton was part of the hundred of Bempstone.
Chapel Allerton forms part of Sedgemoor district and is located southwest of Cheddar. It is noted for the striking Ashton windmill nearby.
The parish council has responsibility for local issues, including setting an annual precept (local rate) to cover the council's operating costs and producing annual accounts for public scrutiny. The parish council evaluates local planning applications and works with the local police, district council officers, and neighbourhood watch groups on matters of crime, security, and traffic. The parish council's role also includes initiating projects for the maintenance and repair of parish facilities, as well as consulting with the district council on the maintenance, repair, and improvement of highways, drainage, footpaths, public transport, and street cleaning. Conservation matters (including trees and listed buildings) and environmental issues are also the responsibility of the council.
For local government purposes, since 1 April 2023, the village comes under the unitary authority of Somerset Council. Prior to this, it was part of the non-metropolitan district of Sedgemoor, which was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, having previously been part of Axbridge Rural District.
It is also part of the Wells county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. It was part of the South West England constituency of the European Parliament before Britain left the European Union in January 2020, which elected seven MEPs using the d'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation.
The parish church dates from the 13th century and has been designated by English Heritage as a grade II listed building. A restored cross in the graveyard is also grade II listed, as is the adjacent Manor Farmhouse.
Somerset is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east and the north-east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. The largest settlement is the city of Bath, and the county town is Taunton.
Somerset is a predominantly rural county, especially to the south and west, with an area of 4,171 km2 (1,610 sq mi) and a population of 965,424. After Bath (101,557), the largest settlements are Weston-super-Mare (82,418), Taunton (60,479), and Yeovil (49,698). Wells (12,000) is a city, the second-smallest by population in England. For local government purposes the county comprises three unitary authority areas: Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset, and Somerset.
The centre of Somerset is dominated by the Levels, a coastal plain and wetland, and the north-east and west of the county are hilly. The north-east contains part of the Cotswolds AONB, all of the Mendip Hills AONB, and a small part of Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs AONB; the west contains the Quantock Hills AONB, a majority of Exmoor National Park, and part of the Blackdown Hills AONB. The main rivers in the county are the Avon, which flows through Bath and then Bristol, and the Axe, Brue, and Parrett, which drain the Levels.
There is evidence of Paleolithic human occupation in Somerset, and the area was subsequently settled by the Celts, Romans and Anglo-Saxons. The county played a significant part in Alfred the Great's rise to power, and later the English Civil War and the Monmouth Rebellion. In the later medieval period its wealth allowed its monasteries and parish churches to be rebuilt in grand style; Glastonbury Abbey was particularly important, and claimed to house the tomb of King Arthur and Guinevere. The city of Bath is famous for its Georgian architecture, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The county is also the location of Glastonbury Festival, one of the UK's major music festivals.
Somerset is a historic county in the south west of England. There is evidence of human occupation since prehistoric times with hand axes and flint points from the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic eras, and a range of burial mounds, hill forts and other artefacts dating from the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages. The oldest dated human road work in Great Britain is the Sweet Track, constructed across the Somerset Levels with wooden planks in the 39th century BCE.
Following the Roman Empire's invasion of southern Britain, the mining of lead and silver in the Mendip Hills provided a basis for local industry and commerce. Bath became the site of a major Roman fort and city, the remains of which can still be seen. During the Early Medieval period Somerset was the scene of battles between the Anglo-Saxons and first the Britons and later the Danes. In this period it was ruled first by various kings of Wessex, and later by kings of England. Following the defeat of the Anglo-Saxon monarchy by the Normans in 1066, castles were built in Somerset.
Expansion of the population and settlements in the county continued during the Tudor and more recent periods. Agriculture and coal mining expanded until the 18th century, although other industries declined during the industrial revolution. In modern times the population has grown, particularly in the seaside towns, notably Weston-super-Mare. Agriculture continues to be a major business, if no longer a major employer because of mechanisation. Light industries are based in towns such as Bridgwater and Yeovil. The towns of Taunton and Shepton Mallet manufacture cider, although the acreage of apple orchards is less than it once was.
The Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods saw hunter-gatherers move into the region of Somerset. There is evidence from flint artefacts in a quarry at Westbury that an ancestor of modern man, possibly Homo heidelbergensis, was present in the area from around 500,000 years ago. There is still some doubt about whether the artefacts are of human origin but they have been dated within Oxygen Isotope Stage 13 (524,000 – 478,000 BP). Other experts suggest that "many of the bone-rich Middle Pleistocene deposits belong to a single but climatically variable interglacial that succeeded the Cromerian, perhaps about 500,000 years ago. Detailed analysis of the origin and modification of the flint artefacts leads to the conclusion that the assemblage was probably a product of geomorphological processes rather than human work, but a single cut-marked bone suggests a human presence." Animal bones and artefacts unearthed in the 1980s at Westbury-sub-Mendip, in Somerset, have shown evidence of early human activity approximately 700,000 years ago.
Homo sapiens sapiens, or modern man, came to Somerset during the Early Upper Palaeolithic. There is evidence of occupation of four Mendip caves 35,000 to 30,000 years ago. During the Last Glacial Maximum, about 25,000 to 15,000 years ago, it is probable that Somerset was deserted as the area experienced tundra conditions. Evidence was found in Gough's Cave of deposits of human bone dating from around 12,500 years ago. The bones were defleshed and probably ritually buried though perhaps related to cannibalism being practised in the area at the time or making skull cups or storage containers. Somerset was one of the first areas of future England settled following the end of Younger Dryas phase of the last ice age c. 8000 BC. Cheddar Man is the name given to the remains of a human male found in Gough's Cave in Cheddar Gorge. He is Britain's oldest complete human skeleton. The remains date from about 7150 BC, and it appears that he died a violent death. Somerset is thought to have been occupied by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers from about 6000 BCE; Mesolithic artefacts have been found in more than 70 locations. Mendip caves were used as burial places, with between 50 and 100 skeletons being found in Aveline's Hole. In the Neolithic era, from about 3500 BCE, there is evidence of farming.
At the end of the last ice age the Bristol Channel was dry land, but later the sea level rose, particularly between 1220 and 900 BC and between 800 and 470 BCE, resulting in major coastal changes. The Somerset Levels became flooded, but the dry points such as Glastonbury and Brent Knoll have a long history of settlement, and are known to have been occupied by Mesolithic hunters. The county has prehistoric burial mounds (such as Stoney Littleton Long Barrow), stone rows (such as the circles at Stanton Drew and Priddy) and settlement sites. Evidence of Mesolithic occupation has come both from the upland areas, such as in Mendip caves, and from the low land areas such as the Somerset Levels. Dry points in the latter such as Glastonbury Tor and Brent Knoll, have a long history of settlement with wooden trackways between them. There were also "lake villages" in the marsh such as those at Glastonbury Lake Village and Meare. One of the oldest dated human road work in Britain is the Sweet Track, constructed across the Somerset Levels with wooden planks in the 39th century BC, partially on the route of the even earlier Post Track.
There is evidence of Exmoor's human occupation from Mesolithic times onwards. In the Neolithic period people started to manage animals and grow crops on farms cleared from the woodland, rather than act purely as hunter gatherers. It is also likely that extraction and smelting of mineral ores to make tools, weapons, containers and ornaments in bronze and then iron started in the late Neolithic and into the Bronze and Iron Ages.
The caves of the Mendip Hills were settled during the Neolithic period and contain extensive archaeological sites such as those at Cheddar Gorge. There are numerous Iron Age Hill Forts, which were later reused in the Dark Ages, such as Cadbury Castle, Worlebury Camp and Ham Hill. The age of the henge monument at Stanton Drew stone circles is unknown, but is believed to be from the Neolithic period. There is evidence of mining on the Mendip Hills back into the late Bronze Age when there were technological changes in metal working indicated by the use of lead. There are numerous "hill forts", such as Small Down Knoll, Solsbury Hill, Dolebury Warren and Burledge Hill, which seem to have had domestic purposes, not just a defensive role. They generally seem to have been occupied intermittently from the Bronze Age onward, some, such as Cadbury Camp at South Cadbury, being refurbished during different eras. Battlegore Burial Chamber is a Bronze Age burial chamber at Williton which is composed of three round barrows and possibly a long, chambered barrow.
The Iron Age tribes of later Somerset were the Dobunni in north Somerset, Durotriges in south Somerset and Dumnonii in west Somerset. The first and second produced coins, the finds of which allows their tribal areas to be suggested, but the latter did not. All three had a Celtic culture and language. However, Ptolemy stated that Bath was in the territory of the Belgae, but this may be a mistake. The Celtic gods were worshipped at the temple of Sulis at Bath and possibly the temple on Brean Down. Iron Age sites on the Quantock Hills, include major hill forts at Dowsborough and Ruborough, as well as smaller earthwork enclosures, such as Trendle Ring, Elworthy Barrows and Plainsfield Camp.
Somerset was part of the Roman Empire from 47 AD to about 409 AD. However, the end was not abrupt and elements of Romanitas lingered on for perhaps a century.
Somerset was invaded from the south-east by the Second Legion Augusta, under the future emperor Vespasian. The hillforts of the Durotriges at Ham Hill and Cadbury Castle were captured. Ham Hill probably had a temporary Roman occupation. The massacre at Cadbury Castle seems to have been associated with the later Boudiccan Revolt of 60–61 AD. The county remained part of the Roman Empire until around 409 AD.
The Roman invasion, and possibly the preceding period of involvement in the internal affairs of the south of England, was inspired in part by the potential of the Mendip Hills. A great deal of the attraction of the lead mines may have been the potential for the extraction of silver.
Forts were set up at Bath and Ilchester. The lead and silver mines at Charterhouse in the Mendip Hills were run by the military. The Romans established a defensive boundary along the new military road known the Fosse Way (from the Latin fossa meaning ditch). The Fosse Way ran through Bath, Shepton Mallet, Ilchester and south-west towards Axminster. The road from Dorchester ran through Yeovil to meet the Fosse Way at Ilchester. Small towns and trading ports were set up, such as Camerton and Combwich. The larger towns decayed in the latter part of the period, though the smaller ones appear to have decayed less. In the latter part of the period, Ilchester seems to have been a "civitas" capital and Bath may also have been one. Particularly to the east of the River Parrett, villas were constructed. However, only a few Roman sites have been found to the west of the river. The villas have produced important mosaics and artifacts. Cemeteries have been found outside the Roman towns of Somerset and by Roman temples such as that at Lamyatt. Romano-British farming settlements, such as those at Catsgore and Sigwells, have been found in Somerset. There was salt production on the Somerset Levels near Highbridge and quarrying took place near Bath, where the Roman Baths gave their name to Bath.
Excavations carried out before the flooding of Chew Valley Lake also uncovered Roman remains, indicating agricultural and industrial activity from the second half of the 1st century until the 3rd century AD. The finds included a moderately large villa at Chew Park, where wooden writing tablets (the first in the UK) with ink writing were found. There is also evidence from the Pagans Hill Roman Temple at Chew Stoke. In October 2001 the West Bagborough Hoard of 4th century Roman silver was discovered in West Bagborough. The 681 coins included two denarii from the early 2nd century and 8 Miliarense and 671 Siliqua all dating to the period AD 337 – 367. The majority were struck in the reigns of emperors Constantius II and Julian and derive from a range of mints including Arles and Lyons in France, Trier in Germany and Rome.
In April 2010, the Frome Hoard, one of the largest-ever hoards of Roman coins discovered in Britain, was found by a metal detectorist. The hoard of 52,500 coins dated from the 3rd century AD and was found buried in a field near Frome, in a jar 14 inches (36 cm) below the surface. The coins were excavated by archaeologists from the Portable Antiquities Scheme.
This is the period from about 409 AD to the start of Saxon political control, which was mainly in the late 7th century, though they are said to have captured the Bath area in 577 AD. Initially the Britons of Somerset seem to have continued much as under the Romans but without the imperial taxation and markets. There was then a period of civil war in Britain though it is not known how this affected Somerset. The Western Wandsdyke may have been constructed in this period but archaeological data shows that it was probably built during the 5th or 6th century. This area became the border between the Romano-British Celts and the West Saxons following the Battle of Deorham in 577 AD. The ditch is on the north side, so presumably it was used by the Celts as a defence against Saxons encroaching from the upper Thames Valley. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the Saxon Cenwalh achieved a breakthrough against the British Celtic tribes, with victories at Bradford-on-Avon (in the Avon Gap in the Wansdyke) in 652 AD, and further south at the Battle of Peonnum (at Penselwood) in 658 AD, followed by an advance west through the Polden Hills to the River Parrett.
The Saxon advance from the east seems to have been halted by battles between the British and Saxons, for example; at the siege of Badon Mons Badonicus (which may have been in the Bath region e.g. at Solsbury Hill), or Bathampton Down. During the 5th, 6th and 7th centuries, Somerset was probably partly in the Kingdom of Dumnonia, partly in the land of the Durotriges and partly in that of the Dobunni. The boundaries between these is largely unknown, but may have been similar to those in the Iron Age. Various "tyrants" seem to have controlled territories from reoccupied hill forts. There is evidence of an elite at hill forts such as Cadbury Castle and Cadbury Camp; for example, there is imported pottery. Cemeteries are an important source of evidence for the period and large ones have been found in Somerset, such as that at Cannington, which was used from the Roman to the Saxon period. The towns of Somerset seem to have been little used during that period but there continued to be farming on the villa sites and at the Romano-British villages.
There may have been effects from plague and volcanic eruption during this period as well as marine transgression into the Levels.
The language spoken during this period is thought to be Southwestern Brythonic, but only one or two inscribed stones survive in Somerset from this period. However, a couple of curse tablets found in the baths at Bath may be in this language. Some place names in Somerset seem to be Celtic in origin and may be from this period or earlier, e.g. Tarnock. Some river names, such as Parrett, may be Celtic or pre-Celtic. The religion of the people of Somerset in this period is thought to be Christian but it was isolated from Rome until after the Council of Hertford in 673 AD when Aldhelm was asked to write a letter to Geraint of Dumnonia and his bishops. Some church sites in Somerset are thought to date from this period, e.g., Llantokay Street.
Most of what is known of the history of this period comes from Gildas's On the Ruin of Britain, which is thought to have been written in Durotrigan territory, possibly at Glastonbury.
The earliest fortification of Taunton started for King Ine of Wessex and Æthelburg, in or about the year 710 AD. However, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle this was destroyed 12 years later.
This is the period from the late 7th century (for most of Somerset) to 1066, though for part of the 10th and 11th centuries England was under Danish control. Somerset, like Dorset to the south, held the West Saxon advance from Wiltshire/Hampshire back for over a century, remaining a frontier between the Saxons and the Romano-British Celts.
The Saxons conquered Bath following the Battle of Deorham in 577, and the border was probably established along the line of the Wansdyke to the north of the Mendip Hills. Then Cenwalh of Wessex broke through at Bradford-on-Avon in 652, and the Battle of Peonnum possibly at Penselwood in 658, advancing west through the Polden Hills to the River Parrett. In 661 the Saxons may have advanced into what is now Devon as a result of a battle fought at Postesburh, possibly Posbury near Crediton.
Then in the period 681–85 Centwine of Wessex conquered King Cadwaladr and "advanced as far as the sea", but it is not clear where this was. It is assumed that the Saxons occupied the rest of Somerset about this time. The Saxon rule was consolidated under King Ine, who established a fort at Taunton, demolished by his wife in 722. It is sometimes said that he built palaces at Somerton and South Petherton but this does not seem to be the case. He fought against Geraint in 710. In 705 the diocese of Sherborne was formed, taking in Wessex west of Selwood. Saxon kings granted land in Somerset by charter from the 7th century onward. The way and extent to which the Britons survived under the Saxons is a debatable matter. However, King Ine's laws make provision for Britons. Somerset originally formed part of Wessex and latter became a separate "shire". Somersetshire seems to have been formed within Wessex during the 8th century though it is not recorded as a name until later. Mints were set up at times in various places in Somerset in the Saxon period, e.g., Watchet.
Somerset played an important part in defeating the spread of the Danes in the 9th century. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that in 845 Alderman Eanwulf, with the men of Somersetshire (Sumorsǣte), and Bishop Ealstan, and Alderman Osric, with the men of Dorsetshire, conquered the Danish army at the mouth of the Parret. This was the first known use of the name Somersæte. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports that in January 878 the King Alfred the Great fled into the marshes of Somerset from the Viking's invasion and made a fort at Athelney. From the fort Alfred was able to organize a resistance using the local militias from Somerset, Wiltshire and Hampshire.
Viking raids took place for instance in 987 and 997 at Watchet and the Battle of Cynwit. King Alfred was driven to seek refuge from the Danes at Athelney before defeating them at the Battle of Ethandun in 878, usually considered to be near Edington, Wiltshire, but possibly the village of Edington in Somerset. Alfred established a series of forts and lookout posts linked by a military road, or Herepath, so his army could cover Viking movements at sea. The Herepath has a characteristic form which is familiar on the Quantocks: a regulation 20 m wide track between avenues of trees growing from hedge laying embankments. The Herepath ran from the ford on the River Parrett at Combwich, past Cannington hill fort to Over Stowey, where it climbed the Quantocks along the line of the current Stowey road, to Crowcombe Park Gate. Then it went south along the ridge, to Triscombe Stone. One branch may have led past Lydeard Hill and Buncombe Hill, back to Alfred's base at Athelney. The main branch descended the hills at Triscombe, then along the avenue to Red Post Cross, and west to the Brendon Hills and Exmoor. A peace treaty with the Danes was signed at Wedmore and the Danish king Guthrum the Old was baptised at Aller. Burhs (fortified places) had been set up by 919, such as Lyng. The Alfred Jewel, an object about 2.5 inch long, made of filigree gold, cloisonné-enamelled and with a rock crystal covering, was found in 1693 at Petherton Park, North Petherton. Believed to have been owned by Alfred the Great it is thought to have been the handle for a pointer that would have fit into the hole at its base and been used while reading a book.
Monasteries and minster churches were set up all over Somerset, with daughter churches from the minsters in manors. There was a royal palace at Cheddar, which was used at times in the 10th century to host the Witenagemot, and there is likely to have been a "central place" at Somerton, Bath, Glastonbury and Frome since the kings visited them. The towns of Somerset seem to have been in occupation in this period though evidence for this is limited because of subsequent buildings on top of remains from this period. Agriculture flourished in this period, with a re-organisation into centralised villages in the latter part in the east of the county.
In the period before the Norman Conquest, Somerset came under the control of Godwin, Earl of Wessex, and his family. There seems to have been some Danish settlement at Thurloxton and Spaxton, judging from the place-names. After the Norman Conquest, the county was divided into 700 fiefs, and large areas were owned by the crown, with fortifications such as Dunster Castle used for control and defence.
This period of Somerset's history is well documented, for example in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and Asser's Life of Alfred.
This is the period from 1066 to around 1500. Following the defeat of the Saxons by the Normans in 1066, various castles were set up in Somerset by the new lords such as that at Dunster, and the manors was awarded to followers of William the Conqueror such as William de Moyon and Walter of Douai. Somerset does not seem to have played much part in the civil war in King Stephen's time, but Somerset lords were main players in the murder of Thomas Becket.
A good picture of the county in 1086 is given by Domesday Book, though there is some difficulty in identifying the various places since the hundreds are not specified. The total population given for the county, which had different boundaries to those today, was 13,399, however this only included the heads of households, so with their families this may have been around 67,000. Farming seems to have prospered for the next three centuries but was severely hit by the Black Death which in 1348 arrived in Dorset and quickly spread through Somerset, causing widespread mortality, perhaps as much as 50% in places. It re-occurred, resulting in a change in feudal practices since the manpower was no longer so available.
Reclamation of land from marsh in the Somerset Levels increased, largely under monastic influence. Crafts and industries also flourished, the Somerset woollen industry being one of the largest in England at this time. "New towns" were founded in this period in Somerset, i.e. Newport, but were not successful. Coal mining on the Mendips was an important source of wealth while quarrying also took place, an example is near Bath.
The towns grew, again often by monastic instigation, during this period and fairs were started. The church was very powerful at this period, particularly Glastonbury Abbey. After their church burnt down, the monks there "discovered" the tomb of "King Arthur" and were able rebuild their church. There were over 20 monasteries in Somerset at this period including the priory at Hinton Charterhouse which was founded in 1232 by Ela, Countess of Salisbury who also founded Lacock Abbey. Many parish churches were re-built in this period. Between 1107 and 1129 William Giffard the Chancellor of King Henry I, converted the bishop's hall in Taunton into Taunton Castle. Bridgwater Castle was built in 1202 by William Brewer. It passed to the king in 1233 and in 1245 repairs were ordered to its motte and towers. During the 11th century Second Barons' War against Henry III, Bridgwater was held by the barons against the King. In the English Civil War the town and the castle were held by the Royalists under Colonel Sir Francis Wyndham. Eventually, with many buildings destroyed in the town, the castle and its valuable contents were surrendered to the Parliamentarians. The castle itself was deliberately destroyed in 1645.
During the Middle Ages sheep farming for the wool trade came to dominate the economy of Exmoor. The wool was spun into thread on isolated farms and collected by merchants to be woven, fulled, dyed and finished in thriving towns such as Dunster. The land started to be enclosed and from the 17th century onwards larger estates developed, leading to establishment of areas of large regular shaped fields. During this period a Royal Forest and hunting ground was established, administered by the Warden. The Royal Forest was sold off in 1818.
In the medieval period the River Parrett was used to transport Hamstone from the quarry at Ham Hill, Bridgwater was part of the Port of Bristol until the Port of Bridgwater was created in 1348, covering 80 miles (130 km) of the Somerset coast line, from the Devon border to the mouth of the River Axe. Historically, the main port on the river was at Bridgwater; the river being bridged at this point, with the first bridge being constructed in 1200 AD. Quays were built in 1424; with another quay, the Langport slip, being built in 1488 upstream of the Town Bridge. A Customs House was sited at Bridgwater, on West Quay; and a dry dock, launching slips and a boat yard on East Quay. The river was navigable, with care, to Bridgwater Town Bridge by 400 to 500 tonnes (440 to 550 tons) vessels. By trans-shipping into barges at the Town Bridge the Parrett was navigable as far as Langport and (via the River Yeo) to Ilchester.
This is the period from around 1500 to 1800. In the 1530s, the monasteries were dissolved and their lands bought from the king by various important families in Somerset. By 1539, Glastonbury Abbey was the only monastery left, its abbot Richard Whiting was then arrested and executed on the orders of Thomas Cromwell. From the Tudor to the Georgian times, farming specialised and techniques improved, leading to increases in population, although no new towns seem to have been founded. Large country houses such as at Hinton St George and Montacute House were built at this time.
The Bristol Channel floods of 1607 are believed to have affected large parts of the Somerset Levels with flooding up to 8 feet (2 m) above sea level. In 1625, a House of Correction was established in Shepton Mallet and, today, HMP Shepton Mallet is England's oldest prison still in use.
During the English Civil War, Somerset was largely Parliamentarian, although Dunster was a Royalist stronghold. The county was the site of important battles between the Royalists and the Parliamentarians, notably the Battle of Lansdowne in 1643 and the Battle of Langport in 1645. The castle changed hands several times during 1642–45 along with the town. During the Siege of Taunton it was defended by Robert Blake, from July 1644 to July 1645. This war resulted in castles being destroyed to prevent their re-use.
In 1685, the Duke of Monmouth led the Monmouth Rebellion in which Somerset people fought against James II. The rebels landed at Lyme Regis and travelled north hoping to capture Bristol and Bath, puritan soldiers damaged the west front of Wells Cathedral, tore lead from the roof to make bullets, broke the windows, smashed the organ and the furnishings, and for a time stabled their horses in the nave. They were defeated in the Battle of Sedgemoor at Westonzoyland, the last battle fought on English soil. The Bloody Assizes which followed saw the losers being sentenced to death or transportation.
The Society of Friends established itself in Street in the mid-17th century, and among the close-knit group of Quaker families were the Clarks: Cyrus started a business in sheepskin rugs, later joined by his brother James, who introduced the production of woollen slippers and, later, boots and shoes. C&J Clark still has its headquarters in Street, but shoes are no longer manufactured there. Instead, in 1993, redundant factory buildings were converted to form Clarks Village, the first purpose-built factory outlet in the United Kingdom.
The 18th century was largely one of peace and declining industrial prosperity in Somerset. The Industrial Revolution in the Midlands and Northern England spelt the end for most of Somerset's cottage industries. However, farming continued to flourish, with the Bath and West of England Agricultural Society being founded in 1777 to improve methods. John Billingsley conducted a survey of the county's agriculture in 1795 but found that methods could still be improved.
Arthur Wellesley took his title, Duke of Wellington from the town of Wellington. He is commemorated on a nearby hill with a large, spotlit obelisk, known as the Wellington Monument.
In north Somerset, mining in the Somerset coalfield was an important industry, and in an effort to reduce the cost of transporting the coal the Somerset Coal Canal was built; part of it was later converted into a railway. Other canals included the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal, Westport Canal, Grand Western Canal, Glastonbury Canal and Chard Canal.[9] The Dorset and Somerset Canal was proposed, but very little of it was ever constructed.
The 19th century saw improvements to Somerset's roads with the introduction of turnpikes and the building of canals and railways. The usefulness of the canals was short-lived, though they have now been restored for recreation. The railways were nationalised after the Second World War, but continued until 1965, when smaller lines were scrapped; two were transferred back to private ownership as "heritage" lines.
In 1889, Somerset County Council was created, replacing the administrative functions of the Quarter Sessions.
The population of Somerset has continued to grow since 1800, when it was 274,000, particularly in the seaside towns such as Weston-super-Mare. Some population decline occurred earlier in the period in the villages, but this has now been reversed, and by 1951 the population of Somerset was 551,000.
Chard claims to be the birthplace of powered flight, as it was here in 1848 that the Victorian aeronautical pioneer John Stringfellow first demonstrated that engine-powered flight was possible through his work on the Aerial Steam Carriage. North Petherton was the first town in England (and one of the few ever) to be lit by acetylene gas lighting, supplied by the North Petherton Rosco Acetylene Company. Street lights were provided in 1906. Acetylene was replaced in 1931 by coal gas produced in Bridgwater, as well as by the provision of an electricity supply.
Around the 1860s, at the height of the iron and steel era, a pier and a deep-water dock were built, at Portishead, by the Bristol & Portishead Pier and Railway to accommodate the large ships that had difficulty in reaching Bristol Harbour. The Portishead power stations were coal-fed power stations built next to the dock. Construction work started on Portishead "A" power station in 1926. It began generating electricity in 1929 for the Bristol Corporation's Electricity Department. In 1951, Albright and Wilson built a chemical works on the opposite side of the dock from the power stations. The chemical works produced white phosphorus from phosphate rock imported, through the docks, into the UK. The onset of new generating capacity at Pembroke (oil-fired) and Didcot (coal-fired) in the mid-1970s brought about the closure of the older, less efficient "A" Station. The newer of the two power stations ("B" Station) was converted to burn oil when the Somerset coalfields closed. Industrial activities ceased in the dock with the closure of the power stations. The Port of Bristol Authority finally closed the dock in 1992, and it has now been developed into a marina and residential area.
During the First World War hundreds of Somerset soldiers were killed, and war memorials were put up in most of the towns and villages; only a few villages escaped casualties. There were also casualties – though much fewer – during the Second World War, who were added to the memorials. The county was a base for troops preparing for the 1944 D-Day landings, and some Somerset hospitals still date partly from that time. The Royal Ordnance Factory ROF Bridgwater was constructed early in World War II for the Ministry of Supply. It was designed as an Explosive ROF, to produce RDX, which was then a new experimental high-explosive. It obtained water supplies from two sources via the Somerset Levels: the artificial Huntspill River which was dug during the construction of the factory and also from the King's Sedgemoor Drain, which was widened at the same time. The Taunton Stop Line was set up to resist a potential German invasion, and the remains of its pill boxes can still be seen, as well as others along the coast. A decoy town was constructed on Black Down, intended to represent the blazing lights of a town which had neglected to follow the black-out regulations. Sites in the county housed Prisoner of War camps including: Norton Fitzwarren, Barwick, Brockley, Goathurst and Wells. Various airfields were built or converted from civilian use including: RNAS Charlton Horethorne (HMS Heron II), RAF Weston-super-Mare, RNAS Yeovilton (HMS Heron), Yeovil/Westland Airport, RAF Weston Zoyland, RAF Merryfield, RAF Culmhead and RAF Charmy Down.
Exmoor was one of the first British National Parks, designated in 1954, under the 1949 National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act. and is named after its main river. It was expanded in 1991 and in 1993 Exmoor was designated as an Environmentally Sensitive Area. The Quantock Hills were designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in 1956, the first such designation in England under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. The Mendip Hills followed with AONB designation in 1972.
Hinkley Point A nuclear power station was a Magnox power station constructed between 1957 and 1962 and operating until ceasing generation in 2000. Hinkley Point B is an Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor (AGR) which was designed to generate 1250 MW of electricity (MWe). Construction of Hinkley Point B started in 1967. In September 2008 it was announced, by Électricité de France (EDF), that a third, twin-unit European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) power station known as Hinkley Point C is planned, to replace Hinkley Point B which was due for closure in 2016, but has now has its life extended until 2022.
Somerset today has only two small cities, Bath and Wells, and only small towns in comparison with other areas of England. Tourism is a major source of employment along the coast, and in Bath and Cheddar for example. Other attractions include Exmoor, West Somerset Railway, Haynes Motor Museum and the Fleet Air Arm Museum as well as the churches and the various National Trust and English Heritage properties in Somerset.
Agriculture continues to be a major business, if no longer a major employer because of mechanisation. Light industries take place in towns such as Bridgwater and Yeovil. The towns of Taunton and Shepton Mallet manufacture cider, although the number of apple orchards has reduced.
In the late 19th century the boundaries of Somerset were slightly altered, but the main change came in 1974 when the county of Avon was set up. The northern part of Somerset was removed from the administrative control of Somerset County Council. On abolition of the county of Avon in 1996, these areas became separate administrative authorities, "North Somerset" and "Bath and North East Somerset". The Department for Communities and Local Government was considering a proposal by Somerset County Council to change Somerset's administrative structure by abolishing the five districts to create a Somerset unitary authority. The changes were planned to be implemented no later than 1 April 2009. However, support for the county council's bid was not guaranteed and opposition among the district council and local population was strong; 82% of people responding to a referendum organised by the five district councils rejected the proposals. It was confirmed in July 2007 that the government had rejected the proposals for unitary authorities in Somerset, and that the present two-tier arrangements of Somerset County Council and the district councils will remain.
Permaquip Maintenance Unit PM 002 ( Badger )
North Weald Loco Yard .
Epping Ongar Railway .
Wednesday 21st-February-2018 .
The garden at Sissinghurst Castle in the Weald of Kent, near Sissinghurst village, is owned and maintained by the National Trust. It is among the most famous gardens in England.
Sissinghurst's garden was created in the 1930s by Vita Sackville-West, poet and gardening writer, and her husband Harold Nicolson, author and diplomat. Sackville-West was a writer on the fringes of the Bloomsbury Group who found her greatest popularity in the weekly columns she contributed as gardening correspondent of The Observer, which incidentally—for she never touted it—made her own garden famous. The garden itself is designed as a series of "rooms", each with a different character of colour and/or theme, the walls being high clipped hedges and many pink brick walls. The rooms and "doors" are so arranged that, as one enjoys the beauty in a given room, one suddenly discovers a new vista into another part of the garden, making a walk a series of discoveries that keeps leading one into yet another area of the garden. Nicolson spent his efforts coming up with interesting new interconnections, while Sackville-West focused on making the flowers in the interior of each room exciting.
For Sackville-West, Sissinghurst and its garden rooms came to be a poignant and romantic substitute for Knole, reputedly the largest house in Britain, which as the only child of Lionel, the 3rd Lord Sackville she would have inherited had she been a male, but which had passed to her cousin as the male heir.
The site is ancient— "hurst" is the Saxon term for "an enclosed wood". A manorhouse with a three-armed moat was built here in the Middle Ages. By 1305, Sissinghurst was impressive enough for King Edward I to spend the night. In 1490, Thomas Baker purchased Sissinghurst.The house was given a new brick gatehouse in the 1530s by Sir John Baker, one of Henry VIII's Privy Councillors, and hugely enlarged in the 1560s by his son Sir Richard Baker, when it became the centre of a 700-acre (2.8 km2) deer park. In 1573, Queen Elizabeth I spent three nights at Sissinghurst.
When arriving from the south at Chicago union station you pass through the amtrak 14th Street Coach Yard & Maintainence facility Amtrak operates a 48 acre site here : ( Metra which is part of BNSF also has a 20 acre site adjoining, on the right )
A six-story control tower overlooks and coordinates activities there
Amtrak long distance trains could be described as hotels on wheels, Railroad workers perform numerous tasks here such as as repairing engines, replacing the wheels on sleeping cars, checking water supplies to restocking toilet paper.Replenishing food and drink supplies ,cleaning Etc..
There is a giant car wash for washing the locomotives and coaches
In the inspection building, which can hold as many as 28 cars on two sets of tracks. Are pits below the tracks that allow workers to walk the length of the trains and inspect the undercarriages.
In the car shop, five sets of tracks accommodate cars that need wheels replaced, refrigeration repairs or major electrical work.
In the Engine house, up to 20 locomotives are fueled, traction motors are changed and wheels are resurfaced.
On the storage tracks, cars wait to go out and a few are in line for maintenance.
Switch crews, coach cleaners, train directors, levermen, stationmasters, tower operators and yard masters are some of the 400 workers that keep the yard running 24 hours a day.
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.)
Coachwork by H.J. Mulliner Park Ward
Bonhams : the Chantilly Sale
Sold for € 87.400
Chantilly Arts & Elegance Richard Mille
Château de Chantilly
Chantilly
France - Frankrijk
September 2017
A key factor in Rolls-Royce's marketing strategy for the 1980s was the re-launch of Bentley. To rekindle interest in the marque, a glorious name from its past was resurrected - 'Continental' - and applied to the two-door model previously known, like its Rolls-Royce equivalent, as the Corniche. An inspired move, the Bentley's 1984 name change had the desired effect; sales, which in the 13 years since the Corniche's launch had amounted to a mere 77 Bentley-badged cars, totalling 421 for the succeeding 11 years of Continental production.
Introduced in March 1971, the Corniche was a revised version of the H J Mulliner, Park Ward-bodied two-door variants of the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow and Bentley T-Series saloons, themselves notable as the Crewe factory's first unitary-construction cars. In Corniche form Rolls-Royce's well-tried 6.7-litre V8 produced around ten percent more power than standard and proved capable of propelling the car to a top speed in excess of 120mph, with sports car-beating acceleration to match. The model proved a major success for Rolls-Royce, and although its exterior style remained recognisably Silver Shadow, the Corniche/Continental benefited from the regular up-dates and improvements made to the contemporary Silver Spirit range, remaining in production well into the 1990s, the last (Convertible) examples being delivered in 1995.
Finished in the most attractive colour combination of black with tan leather interior, this beautiful and rare 1987-model Bentley Continental was delivered new to Southern California, USA and first owned by Mr Ken Berg. The Continental's specification encompassed all the usual Bentley refinements as well as two matching cocktail cabinets in the doors, Mouton over-rugs, and a mobile telephone, which is still fitted. The Bentley subsequently passed to Mr Berg's wife, Ms Julie Ann Sheltonberg, but did not leave the family's ownership until August 2014 when it was registered in the UK as 'D197 YOO'.
The Bentley was meticulously maintained throughout the Bergs' ownership, while the dry Southern Californian climate kept it free of rust or corrosion. During the Bergs' 27 years of ownership up to 2014, the Continental covered a mere 43,000 miles (approximately 1,500 miles annually). The current owner has since added a further 4,000 miles, making the total from new circa 47,000. Upon its arrival in the UK, the car was thoroughly serviced at a cost of almost £5,000 in preparation for an extended European tour. Serviced exclusively by Bentley Monaco since then, '16663' comes with all the relevant invoices (totalling circa €10,000) and a Certificate of Quality issued by the Bentley factory in 2015.
This Continental has suffered no accidents and has an impeccable history, as confirmed by the Carfax document on file. Most importantly, the Bentley comes with all its original factory paperwork, instruction manuals, owner's wallets, and tools. In addition, the car's entire history is recorded in an accompanying book.
Described by the private vendor as in generally very good condition, this beautiful, rare, and desirable Bentley Continental would make an attractive addition to any important private collection. The car is offered with Monaco registration papers and the aforementioned history. The perfect car for Les Corniches sur Côtes d'Azur.
This photo was taken on the Milford Track, a 4-day / 3-night walk in northern Fiordland, on New Zealand's South Island.
Wet? Well, yes.
To get things into perspective, you have to know that the nearby town of Milford received a mean of 6.75 metres of rain per year between 1971 and 2000. We were frequently told that the Milford track area gets around 7m a year, while some of the western slopes of the mountains in Fiordland get up to 9m. The day before this photo was taken, we spent much of the walk being refreshed by most of the day's near-negligible 214mm, of which 40mm fell in one 30-minute period.
Measuring rainfall in metres may seem quaint; and yet Fiordland is positively parched by comparison with some of the soggier parts of the world.
Lloro in Columbia is thought to get 13m a year, though this is a modelled figure that has never been measured.
Mount Wai‘ale‘ale, on the Hawai'an island of Kauai, gets 11.5 to 13m a year.
Mawsynram, in north-eastern India, receives 11.9m annually.
Mount Tutenendo in Columbia gets 12m a year.
Cherrapunji, near Mawsynram, gets 11m a year – almost all of it between June and August. It holds the record for the wettest 6 months ever recorded, with 22.5m between April and September 1861. In July that year 9.3m fell, making it the wettest month ever recorded anywhere.
Debundscha in Cameroon gets 10m a year.
Quibdo in Columbia gets 9m.
Bellenden Ker, in Queensland, Australia, gets 8.6m a year.
And last among these sodden spots, Andagoya in Colombia gets 7m. All of the above are towns and villages; Fiordland is a wonderful wilderness.
The most rain ever recorded in a 3-day period – 3.9m – is held by La Réunion. Now that's wet.
It rained and rained and rained and rained,
The average fall was well maintained,
And when the tracks were simply bogs
It started raining cats and dogs.
After a drought of half an hour
we had a most refreshing shower,
then the most curious thing of all:
a gentle rain began to fall.
Next day was also fairly dry
save for the deluge from the sky
which wet the party to the skin:
and after that, the rain set in.
This poem is found in many websites in a variety of slightly different versions. On those sites, it is variously linked with the west coast of Scotland and with the west coast of New Zealand's South Island. Setting aside those few individuals who pass it off as their own invention, is invariably attributed to "Anon", with associated dates often in the 1980s. I first saw it framed on the wall of a mountain hut on the Millford Track, where it is attributed to an anonymous tramper who left it there in 1989.
I have found one source that may be the root of it all. A certain Ho-Fang, from what must then have been the villagethe city (sorry, Nelson - see Andrew's comment under this shot) of Nelson (located in the north of South Island), published it on 15 September 1931, under the title West Coast Weather in the Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume XXVII, Issue 1336, where it was printed on page 3.
"Fang" is quite a common family name in China and Taiwan, so the author might be Chinese, though in normal Chinese usage the given name, "Ho", would follow the family name. Somehow it sounds like a nom de plume. I can't find any obvious name for which this would be an anagram, though.
There is something about Ho-Fang's printed introduction to the poem that does not quite ring true, and I wonder whether Ho-Fang cribbed it from some earlier source - perhaps (who knows?) even from some saturated scribbler in Scotland.
Scotland? Saturated? Kinlochewe, the wettest met station in Scotland, gets a paltry 2.2m a year. Almost sahelian, if you ask me.
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 Orange 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.)
A maintained vintage barn along a rural country east of the isolated community of Taylorsville in NE California's Plumas County. Note the great looking roof shingles.
still maintained...
Bus No: A-354
Year released: 2008
Capacity: 45; 2x3 seating configuration
Route: Cubao-San Carlos via Dau/SCTEX-Concepcion/Capas/Tarlac/Camiling/Bayambang/Malasiqui(special line)
Fairview-Baclaran via Commonwealth Ave./EDSA(regular line)
Body: Higer Bus Ltd.
Model: 2008 Higer S90
Engine: Yuchai
Fare: Airconditioned
Transmission System: M/T
Plate No.: TXN-752(NCR-National Capital Region)
Taken on: November 2, 2011
Location: Romulo Highway, Brgy. Malacampa, Camiling, Tarlac
Spanish postcard by C y A, no. 29. Photo: Warner Bros. Caption: Troy Donahue, co-stars in Warner Bros. Palm Springs Weekend.
American actor Troy Donahue (1936-2001), was especially known in the late 1950s and early 1960s as a teen idol. His blond hair, tanned skin, and blue eyes appeared frequently on the covers of movie magazines. In the 1970s, alcohol and drugs problems cost him his career.
Troy Donahue was born Merle Johnson Jr. in New York, in 1936
He was the son of Merle Johnson Sr., the manager of the motion-picture department of General Motors, and a retired stage actress. His father died when Troy was 14. When Donahue was 18, he moved to New York and got a job as a messenger in a film company founded by his father. Troy first came into contact with the acting profession while studying journalism at Columbia. At that time, he joined a repertory company. In the mid-1950s, he left for Hollywood to pursue his acting career. Actress Fran Bennett introduced him to agent Henry Willson, who represented Rock Hudson, among others. Willson signed him and changed his name to Troy Donahue. He made his film debut in 1957 with a small, uncredited role in the Film Noir Man Afraid (Harry Keller, 1957) starring George Nader. Larger roles followed, including in the drama The Tarnished Angels (Douglas Sirk, 1957) starring Rock Hudson and Robert Stack, and the Film Noir Live Fast, Die Young (Paul Henreid, 1958). Donahue achieved good reviews for a brief, but effective part in Imitation of Life (Douglas Sirk, 1959), playing a man who beats up his girlfriend after he discovers she is black. The big break came in 1959 when Warner Bros. signed him to a long-term contract. The studio put him to work guest-starring in episodes of their Western TV series, such as Colt .45 (1959), Maverick (1959), Sugarfoot (1959), The Alaskans (1960), and Lawman (1960). They also gave him a leading role opposite Sandra Dee in A Summer Place (Delmer Daves, 1959). The film was a huge success. The young, blond, blue-eyed Donahue became a star, especially with teenage girls, and regularly appeared on the cover of magazines.
In the following years, Troy Donahue played leading roles for Warner Bros. in several major films, especially those aimed at teenage audiences. Donahue's most successful film was Parrish (Delmer Daves, 1961), in which he played the title character. Donahue and Daves reunited for another melodrama, Susan Slade (Delmer Daves, 1962). In Rome Adventure (Delmer Daves, 1962), he starred opposite Suzanne Pleshette, whom he married and divorced again in 1964. In addition to his film work, Troy Donahue could also be seen on television, first in Surfside 6 (1960-1962), one of several spin-offs of 77 Sunset Strip, and then in Hawaiian Eye (1962-1963), another spinoff of Sunset Strip. A more challenging role came with the Western A Distant Trumpet (Raoul Walsh, 1964), about the conflicts between the US Cavalry and the Indians. In 1965, Donahue was cast as a psychopathic killer opposite Joey Heatherton in the thriller My Blood Runs Cold (William Conrad, 1965). While Donahue was happy to break type and play a different type of role, it was not well received by the public. After years in the limelight, Troy Donahue went out of fashion and he was offered smaller and lesser roles. In 1966, his contract with Warner Bros. was not renewed. Low-budget television films became his main income. He had roles in low-budget films such as Sweet Savior (Robert L. Roberts, 1971), Cockfighter (Monte Hellman, 1974), and the horror film Seizure (1974), Oliver Stone's directorial debut. A small revival came when Francis Ford Coppola gave him a role in The Godfather Part II (1974) as the fiancé of Connie Corleone. The character in that film carried his own name, Merle Johnson. However, due to an alcohol and drug addiction, he disappeared from view from the mid-1970s. For a while, he was even homeless. In 1982, he joined Alcoholics Anonymous, which he credited for helping him achieve and maintain sobriety. In the mid-1980s he returned to film, mostly exploitation films for the low-budget home video market, e.g., Sexpot (1990) and Nudity Required (1990). But he also appeared in the cult classic Cry-Baby (John Waters, 1990) starring Johnny Depp. The film spawned a Broadway musical of the same name which was nominated for four Tony Awards. Donahue's final film role was in the comedy The Boys Behind the Desk (2000), directed by Sally Kirkland. Troy Donahue was married several times, but never for long. His brief marriage to actress Suzanne Pleshette lasted from 4 January to 8 September 1964. In 1966, he married actress Valerie Allen. The couple was married for just over a year and divorced in 1968. He was also married to Vicky Taylor from 1979 to 1981. At the time of his death, he was living with his fiancée, mezzo-soprano Zheng Cao. Donahue had two children, a son and a daughter, and three grandchildren. Troy Donahue died of a heart attack in 2001 at the age of 65.
Source: Ed Stephan (IMDb), Wikipedia (Dutch and English), and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Larry Webb, 455th Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron A-10 Thunderbolt II crew chief, raises an A-10 Thunderbolt II at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, Dec. 30, 2013. After spending a certain amount of time in the air, the A-10’s must receive routine maintenance. Webb is deployed from the 23rd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron from Moody Air Force Base, Ga., and a native of Canton, Ga. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Kayla Newman/Released)
Staff Sgt. Brian Fielhauer and Senior Airman Otto Kelly service the engine of a KC-135 Stratotanker as part of the isochronal inspection process of the aircraft Sept. 14, 2013, at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Mich. Kelly is a member of the 191st Maintenance Squadron at Selfridge ANGB. During the process, all components of the aircraft undergo an extensive inspection and preventive maintenance. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Tech. Sgt. Robert Hanet/Released)
Sudeley Castle is located in the Cotswolds near Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, England. The present structure was built in the 15th century and may have been on the site of a 12th-century castle. The castle has a notable garden, which is designed and maintained to a very high standard. The chapel, St. Mary's Sudeley, is the burial place of Queen Catherine Parr (1512–1548), the sixth wife of King Henry VIII, and contains her marble tomb. Unusually for a castle chapel, St Mary's of Sudeley is part of the local parish of the Church of England. Sudeley is also one of the few castles left in England that is still a residence. As a result, the castle is only open to visitors on specific dates, and private family quarters are closed to the public. It is a Grade I listed building,[1] and recognised as an internationally important structure.
History
The Queen's Gardens at Sudeley Castle
A castle may have been built on the site during the reign of King Stephen (1135–1154).[3] In 1442, Ralph Boteler, who was created Baron Sudeley by King Henry VI of England, inherited Sudeley Castle and built the current castle on its present site, using what he had earned fighting in the Hundred Years' War. He built quarters for servants and men at arms on the double courtyard that was surrounded by a moat. He also added state and family apartments on the second courtyard. The Chapel, which would become St. Mary's, and the tithe barn were also built under Boteler. Unfortunately, Boteler failed to gain royal permission to crenellate the castle, and had to seek King Henry VI's pardon.[4]
Due to his support for the Lancastrian cause, King Edward IV of England confiscated the castle from Boteler in 1469, and gave it to his brother, Richard Plantagenet, Duke of Gloucester, who later became King Richard III of England. Richard used the castle as a base for the Battle of Tewkesbury. He later exchanged this property for Richmond Castle, making Sudeley property of the crown. Ownership of the castle returned to Richard when he became king in 1483. During his reign, the Banqueting Hall, with oriel windows, and the adjoining state rooms, now in ruins, were built in place of the eastern range of Boteler’s inner court as part of a royal suite.
After King Richard's death at the Battle of Bosworth, Sudeley passed to the new king, Henry VII of England, who then gave it to his uncle, Jasper Tudor, Duke of Bedford. By the time King Henry VIII of England succeeded to the throne, the castle was the property of the Crown again. In 1535, King Henry VIII and his second wife, Queen Anne Boleyn, visited the castle, which had been empty and unattended for some time.
When King Henry VIII died, the castle became the property of his son, King Edward VI of England, who gave it to his uncle, Thomas Seymour, whom he made Baron of Sudeley. In early Spring 1547, Lord Seymour married King Edward's stepmother, the Dowager Queen Catherine Parr. At the announcement of her pregnancy in late 1547, Seymour began to renovate the castle for Catherine's use, but only one room that he built remains today. Lord Seymour and Catherine decided that she should move to Sudeley for the final months of her pregnancy. At about six months, Catherine was accompanied by Lady Jane Grey and a large retinue of ladies to attend on her, as well as over one hundred gentlemen of the household and Yeomen of the guard. Catherine's sister Anne, Countess of Pembroke, also came and attended upon her as her chief lady and groom of the stool. Catherine gave birth to her daughter, Lady Mary Seymour, on 30 August 1548, only to die on 5 September of that year. She was buried in the Chapel. Her grave was later discovered in 1782, after the castle and the chapel had been left in ruins by the English Civil War. She was later reinterred by the Rector of Sudeley in 1817, and an elaborate tomb was erected in her honour.
In 1549, Lord Seymour's ambitions led him to be arrested and beheaded; after which, Sudeley Castle became the property of Catherine's brother, William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton. After Parr's involvement with the plot to put Lady Jane Grey on the throne, he was stripped of his property and title by Queen Mary I of England. Parr would regain his titles later on under Queen Elizabeth I of England, but the Castle remained property of the Crown.
In 1554, Queen Mary I gave Sudeley Castle to John Brydges, 1st Baron Chandos, and it remained his property throughout her reign and the reign of Queen Elizabeth I as well. It was at Sudeley that Queen Elizabeth was entertained three times. Also, a spectacular three-day feast was held there to celebrate the anniversary of the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1592. He is buried in the chapel, as well, as was Giles Brugge, 6th Baron Chandos.
n 1877, the then owner described the castle thus:
Few residences can boast a greater antiquity, or have witnessed more striking changes. A mansum, or manor-house, before the Conquest, a baronial castle in the time of Stephen, then alternately going to decay, or rising into additional magnificence, with stately towers to overlook the vale — again suffering from neglect, and once more right royally restored and beautified to receive the widowed Queen as Seymour s Bride, with all her lordly retinue.][5]
Current ownership
The current owners are Elizabeth, Lady Ashcombe, widow of Henry Cubitt, 4th Baron Ashcombe, and her two children: Henry Dent-Brocklehurst and Mollie Dent-Brocklehurst. After the death of Lady Ashcombe's husband Mark Dent-Brocklehurst in 1972, she owns 50 percent of the equity, while her children each own 25 percent.
Mark inherited Sudeley in 1949 after the death of his father. His mother decided to stay at the castle though until 1969. It was at this time that Mark and his American-born wife, Elizabeth, decided to open up the castle to the public.[6] It took two years to convert the home into a tourist attraction, but Mark died in 1972, leaving a large amount of both debts and death duties. Lady Ashcombe married Baron Ashcombe, and the couple made major renovations.[7] Lady Ashcombe and her children have since taken over the management of the castle as a visitor attraction.[8]
BBC Four featured an investigation into the castle on 27 June 2007 titled Crisis At The Castle.[9] This detailed the turmoil associated with managing the castle within three sets of owners and their families.[10] Closing the castle to the general public on some weekdays meant that visitors were disheartened when embarking on their day trips, and resulted in a dramatic fall in visitor numbers in the three years leading up to the creation of the programme.
The castle is sometimes used for high-profile events, such as the 2007 wedding of English actress Elizabeth Hurley to Indian textile heir Arun Nayar, which took place in the private chapel.
wikipedia
The introduction of the Fulvia saloon in 1963 maintained Lancia's reputation for innovation in automobile design. Designed by Antonio Fessia, the boxy-styled Appia replacement featured an all-new, narrow-angle, V4, overhead-camshaft engine; front wheel drive; independent front suspension by double wishbones; and disc brakes all round. The Fulvia was described as 'a precision motor car, an engineering tour de force', and was lauded by motoring journalists as a jewel of engineering and forward thinking design, as well as being delightful to drive.
A 2+2 coupé on a shorter wheelbase was launched in 1965. Though mechanically similar, the beautiful newcomer had all the visual presence its progenitor lacked and came with a 1.216 cc engine producing 80 bhp. In 1967 the model was up-rated with the 1.298 cc, 85bhp engine, becoming the Fulvia Rallye 1.3. Tuned, lightweight 'HF' versions provided increased performance and formed the basis of the Squadra Corse works team's highly successful rally programme that saw the Fulvia HF 1600 secure Lancia's first Manufacturers' World Championship in 1972. Although their symbol was a galloping elephant, these cars were true paragons of lightness and efficiency. Producing 101 bhp at 6.400 rpm, the Rallye 1.3 HF's engine was the most powerful 1.300 cc unit used in a Fulvia. There were only 882 cars made, compared with 1.258 Fulvia Rallye 1.6 HFs produced between 1969 and 1970, and these rarer early 1,3-litre cars are becoming more sought after than the 1.600 cc versions.
This Fulvia Rallye 1.3 HF Coupé was delivered new to France in 1968. The car changed hands in 1971, moving to the Montpellier region, and from then onwards stayed with the same French owner until 2008, being kept in excellent and notably original condition. It is recorded on file that in the early 1980s the car had covered only 15.000 kilometres (believed the correct total from new). After an engine rebuilt around that same time, the odometer was zeroed and only some 7.700 km were covered subsequently, making the total distance from new approximately 22.000 km.
Changing hands in 2008, the Fulvia was then cosmetically restored to the highest possible standards by well-known Dutch Lancia specialist, Franke in The Hague (Den Haag). The engine was overhauled again, unnecessarily as it turned out, while other mechanical works carried out at that time included overhauling the brakes, clutch, starter motor, etc.
Boasting beautiful paintwork, the car remains highly original and we have been advised that it retains full matching numbers, including those of the body panels. This car's quality was recognised at the Paleis Het Loo Concours d'Élégance in 2010 where it was a prize-winner in its class 'Cuore Sportivo'. In addition to the concours prize, the car comes with an instruction manual; Dutch registration papers; a copy of the old French (second-owner) Carte Grise; old French number plates; a photographic record of all Franke's 2008 work; and invoices for the last sympathetic restoration totalling over € 30.000.
Original and unmolested Fulvia 1.3 HFs being hard to find, this car represents a rare opportunity to acquire a superb example of this desirable model, offered in wonderful and highly original condition by only its third owner.
Bonhams : the Zoute Sale
Sold for € 51.750
Zoute Grand Prix 2017
Knokke - Zoute
België - Belgium
October 2017
Maintaining old customs, Miao people held a welcoming ceremony for us as we entered the village. During the ceremony, the entire village stood in lines, wearing their full costumes, greeting us by presenting us a cup of "block-the-way" wine (three times before reaching the town square!!!). Miao girls will sing a "block-the-way" song, the words of which is mainly about their happiness to welcome a friend coming from afar. Following the dances, the elders sang and offered each other a cup of wine. It was truly a remarkable experience!
© 2016 Alex Stoen, All rights reserved.
No Group Invites/Graphics Please.
Follow me on 500px * Google+ * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram .
Prior to the Blighting, Urgland maintained a small, domestic navy only strong enough to patrol their own borders and trade routes. However, once it became clear that their current aerofleet was not nearly strong enough to repel or even control the flood of refugees and Ferals at their gates, the Urglandan governement moved to increase the size of their navy. Unfortunately this was not possible during the Feral War as so many resources were either controlled by the Ferals or being otherwised used to combat the Ferals. By the time the Great Scouring ended, Urgland was devastated and struggling economically. For this reason, a battleship-type flagship leading the Urglandan Aerofleet reconstruction effort was deemed too expensive.
The Aerofleet Design Bureau came up with an ingenious solution. An airship slightly smaller than a battleship type but with equivalent firepower would retain the capabilities of a true battleship while keeping costs lower. Thus was born the Firespit class, with two heavy tri-barrelled turrets, one fore and one aft, and ten light cannon, 5 each for starboard and port. Slong with an excellent sensor array and exquisitely ergonomic bridge, the deadliness of these ships are not in doubt. However, there was a cost to pay (ironically) for their low price. First of all, the Firespit is painfully slow and cumbersome, even for a large airship. It has only one heavy propeller, although its large size and relative sleekness allows it to fly through the Great Galestorm, which is important, as it covers a significant portion of Urglandan territory. Secondly, the Firespit's heavy armament, while formidable, is unsupported by lighter weapons, having only one flak repeater. This leavy it extremely vulnerable to fighter swarms and lighter, nimble opponents.
The Firespit serve Urgland well during the Continental War, patrolling Allied trade routes and fighting off multiple invasion attempts by the Straser Imperium. However, they suffered atrocious loss rates, so much so that Clerics refused to serve on them. Being one of the least religious countries on the Continent, this didn't unduly bother the Urglandans, but the weakness of the Firespit could not be overlooked. While they continue to serve in the Urglandan Aerofleet, there are currently trials to determine their replacement.
*************************************************************************************************
COMMENTS/QUESTIONS/SUGGESTIONS/FEEDBACK/REQUESTS ARE WELCOME AND APPRECIATED!
**********************************************************************************
We no longer maintain a separate Friends and Family status or have pictures tagged as Friends, Family, or Friends and Family. All photos we are willing to post will be tagged as Public and available to everyone. Any photos that have been tagged previously as F&F will either be tagged as Public or moved to our Private page. Too many requests were coming in from individuals who did not read our profile and I simply do not want to maintain separate tags on our photos any longer.
We do not care how many favorites you select from our photo stream, but a couple of comments along the way would be nice.
We appreciate comments and playful banter among our fans, we thank you for that! However, be warned, we will not tolerate disrespectful, lewd, crude and/or excessively vulgar comments! Any comments made that fit into this category will be ignored and will result in you being banned. We do not have time for those who wish to converse in this manner.
If you do not like our content, poses, facial expressions, or the photo stream in general, simply move along and do not spread your negativity here! Constructive criticism is always welcome, but there is a line that can be crossed. We are simple amateurs, neither one a professional, and we are not getting paid to do this. Those who feel the need to spew negativity will simply be banned, removing any insolent comments you insist on sharing.
Please feel free to invite our stuff to your groups. If you do, please ensure we are invited to any "private" groups before we will add our photos.
Thanks to everyone who encourages and supports our photo stream.
****************************************************************************************
+++ 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.
One of these aircraft were two Noorduyn Norseman bush planes, also known as the C-64, a Canadian single-engine shoulder wing aircraft designed to operate from unimproved surfaces. Distinctive stubby landing gear protrusions from the lower fuselage made it easily recognizable. Norseman aircraft are known to have been registered and/or operated in 68 countries and also have been based and flown in the Arctic and Antarctic regions.
Designed by Robert B.C. Noorduyn, the Noorduyn Norseman was produced from 1935 to 1959, more than 900 were sold. With the experience of working on many ground-breaking designs at Fokker, Bellanca and Pitcairn-Cierva, Noorduyn decided to create his own design in 1934. Along with his colleague, Walter Clayton, Noorduyn created his original company, Noorduyn Aircraft Limited, in early 1933 at Montreal while a successor company was established in 1935, bearing the name Noorduyn Aviation. Noorduyn's vision of an ideal bush plane began with a high-wing monoplane airframe to facilitate loading and unloading passengers and cargo at seaplane docks and airports; next, a Canadian operator utilizing existing talents, equipment and facilities should be able to make money using it; last, it should be all-around superior to those already in use there. From the outset, Noorduyn designed his transport to have interchangeable wheel, ski or twin-float landing gear. Unlike most aircraft designs, the Norseman was first fitted with floats, then skis and, finally, fixed landing gear.
The final design looked much like Noorduyn's earlier Fokker designs: a robust high-wing braced monoplane with an all-welded steel tubing fuselage. Attached wood stringers carried a fabric skin. Its wing was all fabric covered wood, except for steel tubing flaps and ailerons. The divided landing gear were fitted to fuselage stubs; legs were secured with two bolts each to allow the alternate arrangement of floats or skis. The tail strut could be fitted with a wheel or tail skid, and sometimes a fin was added in this place on aircraft of floats to improve directional stability.
Until 1940, the Noorduyn company had sold only 17 aircraft in total, primarily to commercial operators in Canada's north and to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. With the outbreak of war in Europe, demand for a light utility transport and liaison aircraft that could operate on unprepared airfields close to the European frontlines led to major military orders. The Royal Canadian Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces became the two largest operators, and several versions, the Norseman Mk. II-IV, which primarily differed in their powerplants, were produced.
In postwar production, the Canada Car and Foundry in Fort William, Ontario acquired rights to the Norseman design, producing a version known as the Norseman Mk V, a civilian version of the wartime Mk IV. To exploit the market further, the "Can Car" factory designed and built the Norseman Mk VII. This version had a bigger engine, a new all-metal wing and greater cargo capacity but was fated never to go into production. With large Korean War commitments at that time, the company put it into temporary storage where it was destroyed in a hangar fire in September 1951.
In 1953, Noorduyn headed a group of investors who bought back the jigs and equipment from Canada Car and Foundry and started a new company called Noorduyn Norseman Aircraft Ltd. Bob Noorduyn became ill and died at his home in South Burlington, Vermont, on 22 February 1959. The company continued to provide support for operating Norseman aircraft and built three new Mk Vs before selling its assets in 1982 to Norco Associates. Norco provided support services only, as Norseman aircraft manufacture was labor-intensive and very expensive, and this ended the production of the rugged aircraft after almost 30 years.
The last Noorduyn Norseman to be built was sold and delivered to a commercial customer on January 19, 1959. A total of 903 Norseman aircraft (Mk I - Mk V) were produced and delivered to various commercial and military customers. The two aircraft operated by Buffalo Airways (CF-NMD and -NME) were refurbished WWII USAAF machines that had formerly flown in Alaska and on the Aleutian Islands. They were initially procured by the company only as light transport and feederliner passenger aircraft for regional traffic around the Great Slave Lake. During this early please the Norsemen carried an overall white livery with pastel green trim.
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.
Mechanics at Tuskegee Army Air Field, Alabama, maintain an engine of a Vultee BT-13A Valiant. This aircraft was used for basic flight training for the Tuskegee Airmen.
National Archives and Records Administration, 342-C-K-409
Maintained by the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust, the site at Capel-le-Ferne is dedicated to Churchill’s famous “Few” who fought in the skies overhead.
The Memorial itself inspires quiet reflection on the bravery and sacrifice shown by the aircrew – fewer than 3,000 men – who flew, fought and sometimes died in the Battle.
The Memorial Wall lists the names of all those who took part in the Battle of Britain, while a replica Spitfire and Hurricane stand nearby as a reminder of the iconic machines they flew to victory.
1965 Shelby Cobra Original Factory Build beautiful car perfectly maintained and of course a Shelby. Shot in North Carolina.
Sourp Magar or Magaravank is an Armenian monastery located in a forested valley in the Pentadaktylos range in Cyprus. It is de facto located in Northern Cyprus. The Magaravank stands at 530 metres and is about 3 km from the Halevga Forest Station. In addition to its historical interest as a centre of Armenian culture, Sourp Magar is noted for its picturesque location and distant views of the Mediterranean and the mountains in Anatolia. The monastery had close ties with the Armenian Catholicosate of Cicilia, located in Antelias, Lebanon.
Magaravank was founded in the early eleventh century and at that time seems to have belonged to the Coptic Orthodox Church. It was dedicated to Saint Macarius of Alexandria who died in 395 AD. Of the Coptic history of Sourp Magar nothing is known, but sometime before 1425 the monastery was transferred to the Armenians in Cyprus. Armenians had long been resident in Cyprus, but their numbers increased substantially after fall of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia in 1375 when its last king Leo V escaped the Mamlukes. The crown of the Kingdom of Armenia subsequently passed to the Lusignan rulers of Cyprus. Armenians continued to migrate to Cyprus as Turkic peoples entered Anatolia and established powerful kingdoms there in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The transfer of Sourp Magar to the Armenians was probably occasioned by these events and the increasing importance of the Armenian community in the Lusignan kingdom.
The Armenians retained control of Sourp Magar and its lands under Venetian and Ottoman rule. In the Ottoman Era, it was often called the Blue Monastery on account of the colour of the doors and windows. In 1642, at the time of Ibrahim I, the establishment was exempted from taxes. This exemption was renewed in 1660 and 1701. Restoration work is recorded to have been undertaken in 1735 and again in 1814, when the larger of the two chapels was reconstructed. Sourp Magar has, over its long history, served a wide range of social functions, from a school and rest-house for pilgrims to an orphanage and summer retreat for the Armenians of Nicosia. Some people lived on-site full-time, a report made in 1935 noting that 17 people resided there. Sourp Magar once housed a collection of manuscripts and other sacred items, but these were re-located to the Holy See of Cilicia in 1947. After the 1974 Turkish invasion, the Armenian community could no longer maintain custodians at Sourp Magar and the complex fell into ruins. Armenians nonetheless retain great attachment to their ancient establishment. Thanks to the efforts of Armenian Cypriot MP Vartkes Mahdessian, three pilgrimages have been made there, the last of which took place on 9 May 2010.
The Sourp Magar consists of an irregular rectangle of two-storied residential buildings constructed around a generous precinct. The site overall slopes gently from west to east. Two small churches or chapels, standing in the north-east part of the central courtyard, stand side-by-side. The largest chapel, with its vault still in place, was built in 1814. The chapels appear to be the vestiges of the side aisles of a fairly large church, the nave of which has more or less disappeared. This nave is represented by a large arch (rebuilt) and the common vestibule between the two chapels. The antiquity of the apses is indicated by the masonry which is close to the eleventh-century parts of the churches at Lythrangomi and Aphendrika on the Karpass Peninsula. The Aphendrika churches have been dated on good authority to the eleventh century and appear to have suffered a similar fate, being ruined by earthquakes in the thirteenth or fourteenth century.
The line of residential buildings facing towards the north and east probably belong to the fifteenth century judging from the shape and style of the Gothic windows and doors. One window has a chevron design, a characteristic feature of later Gothic building in Cyprus (as well old Coptic Cairo). These building were probably put up when the Armenians first took possession of the site. Internally, the buildings are two-storied, with a simple arcade below and a walkway above. The walkway was originally edged by stone posts with wooden lintels. The roofs throughout rested on wooden beams and were covered with curved tiles.
The residential buildings at Sourp Magar are extremely important for the history of architecture in Cyprus, being the best-preserved and most extensive examples of late medieval domestic building on the island, even in their ruined state. Camille Enlart (1862–1927), the doyen of Gothic architecture who visited Cyprus in the nineteenth century, did not mention Sourp Magar in his landmark volume, and the buildings, as a consequence, have not been received the recognition they deserve. The only architectural account was given by George H. Everett Jeffery who, writing in 1918, commented that the east side "retains its architectural character in richly moulded pointed arch windows ... and in a venerable doorway. A large room used as a guest chamber, with the roof supported on a central column at the north-east corner, is of the same date as the eastern façade."
From the 1920s modern tiles and other additions were added in many places, while the post-war period brought misguided rebuilding with reinforced concrete. One of the medieval windows had a concrete awning with steel I-beams inserted into it, evidently to provide a place for a toilet and bathroom. Part of the walkway floor in the interior was also rebuilt using reinforced concrete.
The 1974 Turkish invasion precipitated a degree of vandalism and the looting of the site for building materials. Many of the old roof tiles, now rendered valueless by recent prosperity, lie neatly stacked beside the outer walls. Most of the wooden rafters have disappeared. From 2005 the Turkish authorities rebuilt and re-roofed some rooms on the south side of the precinct with the idea of providing refreshments for forest trekkers and there was discussion of further developments. The project, however, has not been continued.
Northern Cyprus, officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), is a de facto state that comprises the northeastern portion of the island of Cyprus. It is recognised only by Turkey, and its territory is considered by all other states to be part of the Republic of Cyprus.
Northern Cyprus extends from the tip of the Karpass Peninsula in the northeast to Morphou Bay, Cape Kormakitis and its westernmost point, the Kokkina exclave in the west. Its southernmost point is the village of Louroujina. A buffer zone under the control of the United Nations stretches between Northern Cyprus and the rest of the island and divides Nicosia, the island's largest city and capital of both sides.
A coup d'état in 1974, performed as part of an attempt to annex the island to Greece, prompted the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. This resulted in the eviction of much of the north's Greek Cypriot population, the flight of Turkish Cypriots from the south, and the partitioning of the island, leading to a unilateral declaration of independence by the north in 1983. Due to its lack of recognition, Northern Cyprus is heavily dependent on Turkey for economic, political and military support.
Attempts to reach a solution to the Cyprus dispute have been unsuccessful. The Turkish Army maintains a large force in Northern Cyprus with the support and approval of the TRNC government, while the Republic of Cyprus, the European Union as a whole, and the international community regard it as an occupation force. This military presence has been denounced in several United Nations Security Council resolutions.
Northern Cyprus is a semi-presidential, democratic republic with a cultural heritage incorporating various influences and an economy that is dominated by the services sector. The economy has seen growth through the 2000s and 2010s, with the GNP per capita more than tripling in the 2000s, but is held back by an international embargo due to the official closure of the ports in Northern Cyprus by the Republic of Cyprus. The official language is Turkish, with a distinct local dialect being spoken. The vast majority of the population consists of Sunni Muslims, while religious attitudes are mostly moderate and secular. Northern Cyprus is an observer state of ECO and OIC under the name "Turkish Cypriot State", PACE under the name "Turkish Cypriot Community", and Organization of Turkic States with its own name.
Several distinct periods of Cypriot intercommunal violence involving the two main ethnic communities, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, marked mid-20th century Cyprus. These included the Cyprus Emergency of 1955–59 during British rule, the post-independence Cyprus crisis of 1963–64, and the Cyprus crisis of 1967. Hostilities culminated in the 1974 de facto division of the island along the Green Line following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. The region has been relatively peaceful since then, but the Cyprus dispute has continued, with various attempts to solve it diplomatically having been generally unsuccessful.
Cyprus, an island lying in the eastern Mediterranean, hosted a population of Greeks and Turks (four-fifths and one-fifth, respectively), who lived under British rule in the late nineteenth-century and the first half of the twentieth-century. Christian Orthodox Church of Cyprus played a prominent political role among the Greek Cypriot community, a privilege that it acquired during the Ottoman Empire with the employment of the millet system, which gave the archbishop an unofficial ethnarch status.
The repeated rejections by the British of Greek Cypriot demands for enosis, union with Greece, led to armed resistance, organised by the National Organization of Cypriot Struggle, or EOKA. EOKA, led by the Greek-Cypriot commander George Grivas, systematically targeted British colonial authorities. One of the effects of EOKA's campaign was to alter the Turkish position from demanding full reincorporation into Turkey to a demand for taksim (partition). EOKA's mission and activities caused a "Cretan syndrome" (see Turkish Resistance Organisation) within the Turkish Cypriot community, as its members feared that they would be forced to leave the island in such a case as had been the case with Cretan Turks. As such, they preferred the continuation of British colonial rule and then taksim, the division of the island. Due to the Turkish Cypriots' support for the British, EOKA's leader, Georgios Grivas, declared them to be enemies. The fact that the Turks were a minority was, according to Nihat Erim, to be addressed by the transfer of thousands of Turks from mainland Turkey so that Greek Cypriots would cease to be the majority. When Erim visited Cyprus as the Turkish representative, he was advised by Field Marshal Sir John Harding, the then Governor of Cyprus, that Turkey should send educated Turks to settle in Cyprus.
Turkey actively promoted the idea that on the island of Cyprus two distinctive communities existed, and sidestepped its former claim that "the people of Cyprus were all Turkish subjects". In doing so, Turkey's aim to have self-determination of two to-be equal communities in effect led to de jure partition of the island.[citation needed] This could be justified to the international community against the will of the majority Greek population of the island. Dr. Fazil Küçük in 1954 had already proposed Cyprus be divided in two at the 35° parallel.
Lindley Dan, from Notre Dame University, spotted the roots of intercommunal violence to different visions among the two communities of Cyprus (enosis for Greek Cypriots, taksim for Turkish Cypriots). Also, Lindlay wrote that "the merging of church, schools/education, and politics in divisive and nationalistic ways" had played a crucial role in creation of havoc in Cyprus' history. Attalides Michael also pointed to the opposing nationalisms as the cause of the Cyprus problem.
By the mid-1950's, the "Cyprus is Turkish" party, movement, and slogan gained force in both Cyprus and Turkey. In a 1954 editorial, Turkish Cypriot leader Dr. Fazil Kuchuk expressed the sentiment that the Turkish youth had grown up with the idea that "as soon as Great Britain leaves the island, it will be taken over by the Turks", and that "Turkey cannot tolerate otherwise". This perspective contributed to the willingness of Turkish Cypriots to align themselves with the British, who started recruiting Turkish Cypriots into the police force that patrolled Cyprus to fight EOKA, a Greek Cypriot nationalist organisation that sought to rid the island of British rule.
EOKA targeted colonial authorities, including police, but Georgios Grivas, the leader of EOKA, did not initially wish to open up a new front by fighting Turkish Cypriots and reassured them that EOKA would not harm their people. In 1956, some Turkish Cypriot policemen were killed by EOKA members and this provoked some intercommunal violence in the spring and summer, but these attacks on policemen were not motivated by the fact that they were Turkish Cypriots.
However, in January 1957, Grivas changed his policy as his forces in the mountains became increasingly pressured by the British Crown forces. In order to divert the attention of the Crown forces, EOKA members started to target Turkish Cypriot policemen intentionally in the towns, so that Turkish Cypriots would riot against the Greek Cypriots and the security forces would have to be diverted to the towns to restore order. The killing of a Turkish Cypriot policeman on 19 January, when a power station was bombed, and the injury of three others, provoked three days of intercommunal violence in Nicosia. The two communities targeted each other in reprisals, at least one Greek Cypriot was killed and the British Army was deployed in the streets. Greek Cypriot stores were burned and their neighbourhoods attacked. Following the events, the Greek Cypriot leadership spread the propaganda that the riots had merely been an act of Turkish Cypriot aggression. Such events created chaos and drove the communities apart both in Cyprus and in Turkey.
On 22 October 1957 Sir Hugh Mackintosh Foot replaced Sir John Harding as the British Governor of Cyprus. Foot suggested five to seven years of self-government before any final decision. His plan rejected both enosis and taksim. The Turkish Cypriot response to this plan was a series of anti-British demonstrations in Nicosia on 27 and 28 January 1958 rejecting the proposed plan because the plan did not include partition. The British then withdrew the plan.
In 1957, Black Gang, a Turkish Cypriot pro-taksim paramilitary organisation, was formed to patrol a Turkish Cypriot enclave, the Tahtakale district of Nicosia, against activities of EOKA. The organisation later attempted to grow into a national scale, but failed to gain public support.
By 1958, signs of dissatisfaction with the British increased on both sides, with a group of Turkish Cypriots forming Volkan (later renamed to the Turkish Resistance Organisation) paramilitary group to promote partition and the annexation of Cyprus to Turkey as dictated by the Menderes plan. Volkan initially consisted of roughly 100 members, with the stated aim of raising awareness in Turkey of the Cyprus issue and courting military training and support for Turkish Cypriot fighters from the Turkish government.
In June 1958, the British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, was expected to propose a plan to resolve the Cyprus issue. In light of the new development, the Turks rioted in Nicosia to promote the idea that Greek and Turkish Cypriots could not live together and therefore any plan that did not include partition would not be viable. This violence was soon followed by bombing, Greek Cypriot deaths and looting of Greek Cypriot-owned shops and houses. Greek and Turkish Cypriots started to flee mixed population villages where they were a minority in search of safety. This was effectively the beginning of the segregation of the two communities. On 7 June 1958, a bomb exploded at the entrance of the Turkish Embassy in Cyprus. Following the bombing, Turkish Cypriots looted Greek Cypriot properties. On 26 June 1984, the Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktaş, admitted on British channel ITV that the bomb was placed by the Turks themselves in order to create tension. On 9 January 1995, Rauf Denktaş repeated his claim to the famous Turkish newspaper Milliyet in Turkey.
The crisis reached a climax on 12 June 1958, when eight Greeks, out of an armed group of thirty five arrested by soldiers of the Royal Horse Guards on suspicion of preparing an attack on the Turkish quarter of Skylloura, were killed in a suspected attack by Turkish Cypriot locals, near the village of Geunyeli, having been ordered to walk back to their village of Kondemenos.
After the EOKA campaign had begun, the British government successfully began to turn the Cyprus issue from a British colonial problem into a Greek-Turkish issue. British diplomacy exerted backstage influence on the Adnan Menderes government, with the aim of making Turkey active in Cyprus. For the British, the attempt had a twofold objective. The EOKA campaign would be silenced as quickly as possible, and Turkish Cypriots would not side with Greek Cypriots against the British colonial claims over the island, which would thus remain under the British. The Turkish Cypriot leadership visited Menderes to discuss the Cyprus issue. When asked how the Turkish Cypriots should respond to the Greek Cypriot claim of enosis, Menderes replied: "You should go to the British foreign minister and request the status quo be prolonged, Cyprus to remain as a British colony". When the Turkish Cypriots visited the British Foreign Secretary and requested for Cyprus to remain a colony, he replied: "You should not be asking for colonialism at this day and age, you should be asking for Cyprus be returned to Turkey, its former owner".
As Turkish Cypriots began to look to Turkey for protection, Greek Cypriots soon understood that enosis was extremely unlikely. The Greek Cypriot leader, Archbishop Makarios III, now set independence for the island as his objective.
Britain resolved to solve the dispute by creating an independent Cyprus. In 1959, all involved parties signed the Zurich Agreements: Britain, Turkey, Greece, and the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders, Makarios and Dr. Fazil Kucuk, respectively. The new constitution drew heavily on the ethnic composition of the island. The President would be a Greek Cypriot, and the Vice-President a Turkish Cypriot with an equal veto. The contribution to the public service would be set at a ratio of 70:30, and the Supreme Court would consist of an equal number of judges from both communities as well as an independent judge who was not Greek, Turkish or British. The Zurich Agreements were supplemented by a number of treaties. The Treaty of Guarantee stated that secession or union with any state was forbidden, and that Greece, Turkey and Britain would be given guarantor status to intervene if that was violated. The Treaty of Alliance allowed for two small Greek and Turkish military contingents to be stationed on the island, and the Treaty of Establishment gave Britain sovereignty over two bases in Akrotiri and Dhekelia.
On 15 August 1960, the Colony of Cyprus became fully independent as the Republic of Cyprus. The new republic remained within the Commonwealth of Nations.
The new constitution brought dissatisfaction to Greek Cypriots, who felt it to be highly unjust for them for historical, demographic and contributional reasons. Although 80% of the island's population were Greek Cypriots and these indigenous people had lived on the island for thousands of years and paid 94% of taxes, the new constitution was giving the 17% of the population that was Turkish Cypriots, who paid 6% of taxes, around 30% of government jobs and 40% of national security jobs.
Within three years tensions between the two communities in administrative affairs began to show. In particular disputes over separate municipalities and taxation created a deadlock in government. A constitutional court ruled in 1963 Makarios had failed to uphold article 173 of the constitution which called for the establishment of separate municipalities for Turkish Cypriots. Makarios subsequently declared his intention to ignore the judgement, resulting in the West German judge resigning from his position. Makarios proposed thirteen amendments to the constitution, which would have had the effect of resolving most of the issues in the Greek Cypriot favour. Under the proposals, the President and Vice-President would lose their veto, the separate municipalities as sought after by the Turkish Cypriots would be abandoned, the need for separate majorities by both communities in passing legislation would be discarded and the civil service contribution would be set at actual population ratios (82:18) instead of the slightly higher figure for Turkish Cypriots.
The intention behind the amendments has long been called into question. The Akritas plan, written in the height of the constitutional dispute by the Greek Cypriot interior minister Polycarpos Georkadjis, called for the removal of undesirable elements of the constitution so as to allow power-sharing to work. The plan envisaged a swift retaliatory attack on Turkish Cypriot strongholds should Turkish Cypriots resort to violence to resist the measures, stating "In the event of a planned or staged Turkish attack, it is imperative to overcome it by force in the shortest possible time, because if we succeed in gaining command of the situation (in one or two days), no outside, intervention would be either justified or possible." Whether Makarios's proposals were part of the Akritas plan is unclear, however it remains that sentiment towards enosis had not completely disappeared with independence. Makarios described independence as "a step on the road to enosis".[31] Preparations for conflict were not entirely absent from Turkish Cypriots either, with right wing elements still believing taksim (partition) the best safeguard against enosis.
Greek Cypriots however believe the amendments were a necessity stemming from a perceived attempt by Turkish Cypriots to frustrate the working of government. Turkish Cypriots saw it as a means to reduce their status within the state from one of co-founder to that of minority, seeing it as a first step towards enosis. The security situation deteriorated rapidly.
Main articles: Bloody Christmas (1963) and Battle of Tillyria
An armed conflict was triggered after December 21, 1963, a period remembered by Turkish Cypriots as Bloody Christmas, when a Greek Cypriot policemen that had been called to help deal with a taxi driver refusing officers already on the scene access to check the identification documents of his customers, took out his gun upon arrival and shot and killed the taxi driver and his partner. Eric Solsten summarised the events as follows: "a Greek Cypriot police patrol, ostensibly checking identification documents, stopped a Turkish Cypriot couple on the edge of the Turkish quarter. A hostile crowd gathered, shots were fired, and two Turkish Cypriots were killed."
In the morning after the shooting, crowds gathered in protest in Northern Nicosia, likely encouraged by the TMT, without incident. On the evening of the 22nd, gunfire broke out, communication lines to the Turkish neighbourhoods were cut, and the Greek Cypriot police occupied the nearby airport. On the 23rd, a ceasefire was negotiated, but did not hold. Fighting, including automatic weapons fire, between Greek and Turkish Cypriots and militias increased in Nicosia and Larnaca. A force of Greek Cypriot irregulars led by Nikos Sampson entered the Nicosia suburb of Omorphita and engaged in heavy firing on armed, as well as by some accounts unarmed, Turkish Cypriots. The Omorphita clash has been described by Turkish Cypriots as a massacre, while this view has generally not been acknowledged by Greek Cypriots.
Further ceasefires were arranged between the two sides, but also failed. By Christmas Eve, the 24th, Britain, Greece, and Turkey had joined talks, with all sides calling for a truce. On Christmas day, Turkish fighter jets overflew Nicosia in a show of support. Finally it was agreed to allow a force of 2,700 British soldiers to help enforce a ceasefire. In the next days, a "buffer zone" was created in Nicosia, and a British officer marked a line on a map with green ink, separating the two sides of the city, which was the beginning of the "Green Line". Fighting continued across the island for the next several weeks.
In total 364 Turkish Cypriots and 174 Greek Cypriots were killed during the violence. 25,000 Turkish Cypriots from 103-109 villages fled and were displaced into enclaves and thousands of Turkish Cypriot houses were ransacked or completely destroyed.
Contemporary newspapers also reported on the forceful exodus of the Turkish Cypriots from their homes. According to The Times in 1964, threats, shootings and attempts of arson were committed against the Turkish Cypriots to force them out of their homes. The Daily Express wrote that "25,000 Turks have already been forced to leave their homes". The Guardian reported a massacre of Turks at Limassol on 16 February 1964.
Turkey had by now readied its fleet and its fighter jets appeared over Nicosia. Turkey was dissuaded from direct involvement by the creation of a United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) in 1964. Despite the negotiated ceasefire in Nicosia, attacks on the Turkish Cypriot persisted, particularly in Limassol. Concerned about the possibility of a Turkish invasion, Makarios undertook the creation of a Greek Cypriot conscript-based army called the "National Guard". A general from Greece took charge of the army, whilst a further 20,000 well-equipped officers and men were smuggled from Greece into Cyprus. Turkey threatened to intervene once more, but was prevented by a strongly worded letter from the American President Lyndon B. Johnson, anxious to avoid a conflict between NATO allies Greece and Turkey at the height of the Cold War.
Turkish Cypriots had by now established an important bridgehead at Kokkina, provided with arms, volunteers and materials from Turkey and abroad. Seeing this incursion of foreign weapons and troops as a major threat, the Cypriot government invited George Grivas to return from Greece as commander of the Greek troops on the island and launch a major attack on the bridgehead. Turkey retaliated by dispatching its fighter jets to bomb Greek positions, causing Makarios to threaten an attack on every Turkish Cypriot village on the island if the bombings did not cease. The conflict had now drawn in Greece and Turkey, with both countries amassing troops on their Thracian borders. Efforts at mediation by Dean Acheson, a former U.S. Secretary of State, and UN-appointed mediator Galo Plaza had failed, all the while the division of the two communities becoming more apparent. Greek Cypriot forces were estimated at some 30,000, including the National Guard and the large contingent from Greece. Defending the Turkish Cypriot enclaves was a force of approximately 5,000 irregulars, led by a Turkish colonel, but lacking the equipment and organisation of the Greek forces.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations in 1964, U Thant, reported the damage during the conflicts:
UNFICYP carried out a detailed survey of all damage to properties throughout the island during the disturbances; it shows that in 109 villages, most of them Turkish-Cypriot or mixed villages, 527 houses have been destroyed while 2,000 others have suffered damage from looting.
The situation worsened in 1967, when a military junta overthrew the democratically elected government of Greece, and began applying pressure on Makarios to achieve enosis. Makarios, not wishing to become part of a military dictatorship or trigger a Turkish invasion, began to distance himself from the goal of enosis. This caused tensions with the junta in Greece as well as George Grivas in Cyprus. Grivas's control over the National Guard and Greek contingent was seen as a threat to Makarios's position, who now feared a possible coup.[citation needed] The National Guard and Cyprus Police began patrolling the Turkish Cypriot enclaves of Ayios Theodoros and Kophinou, and on November 15 engaged in heavy fighting with the Turkish Cypriots.
By the time of his withdrawal 26 Turkish Cypriots had been killed. Turkey replied with an ultimatum demanding that Grivas be removed from the island, that the troops smuggled from Greece in excess of the limits of the Treaty of Alliance be removed, and that the economic blockades on the Turkish Cypriot enclaves be lifted. Grivas was recalled by the Athens Junta and the 12,000 Greek troops were withdrawn. Makarios now attempted to consolidate his position by reducing the number of National Guard troops, and by creating a paramilitary force loyal to Cypriot independence. In 1968, acknowledging that enosis was now all but impossible, Makarios stated, "A solution by necessity must be sought within the limits of what is feasible which does not always coincide with the limits of what is desirable."
After 1967 tensions between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots subsided. Instead, the main source of tension on the island came from factions within the Greek Cypriot community. Although Makarios had effectively abandoned enosis in favour of an 'attainable solution', many others continued to believe that the only legitimate political aspiration for Greek Cypriots was union with Greece.
On his arrival, Grivas began by establishing a nationalist paramilitary group known as the National Organization of Cypriot Fighters (Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston B or EOKA-B), drawing comparisons with the EOKA struggle for enosis under the British colonial administration of the 1950s.
The military junta in Athens saw Makarios as an obstacle. Makarios's failure to disband the National Guard, whose officer class was dominated by mainland Greeks, had meant the junta had practical control over the Cypriot military establishment, leaving Makarios isolated and a vulnerable target.
During the first Turkish invasion, Turkish troops invaded Cyprus territory on 20 July 1974, invoking its rights under the Treaty of Guarantee. This expansion of Turkish-occupied zone violated International Law as well as the Charter of the United Nations. Turkish troops managed to capture 3% of the island which was accompanied by the burning of the Turkish Cypriot quarter, as well as the raping and killing of women and children. A temporary cease-fire followed which was mitigated by the UN Security Council. Subsequently, the Greek military Junta collapsed on July 23, 1974, and peace talks commenced in which a democratic government was installed. The Resolution 353 was broken after Turkey attacked a second time and managed to get a hold of 37% of Cyprus territory. The Island of Cyprus was appointed a Buffer Zone by the United Nations, which divided the island into two zones through the 'Green Line' and put an end to the Turkish invasion. Although Turkey announced that the occupied areas of Cyprus to be called the Federated Turkish State in 1975, it is not legitimised on a worldwide political scale. The United Nations called for the international recognition of independence for the Republic of Cyprus in the Security Council Resolution 367.
In the years after the Turkish invasion of northern Cyprus one can observe a history of failed talks between the two parties. The 1983 declaration of the independent Turkish Republic of Cyprus resulted in a rise of inter-communal tensions and made it increasingly hard to find mutual understanding. With Cyprus' interest of a possible EU membership and a new UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 1997 new hopes arose for a fresh start. International involvement from sides of the US and UK, wanting a solution to the Cyprus dispute prior to the EU accession led to political pressures for new talks. The believe that an accession without a solution would threaten Greek-Turkish relations and acknowledge the partition of the island would direct the coming negotiations.
Over the course of two years a concrete plan, the Annan plan was formulated. In 2004 the fifth version agreed upon from both sides and with the endorsement of Turkey, US, UK and EU then was presented to the public and was given a referendum in both Cypriot communities to assure the legitimisation of the resolution. The Turkish Cypriots voted with 65% for the plan, however the Greek Cypriots voted with a 76% majority against. The Annan plan contained multiple important topics. Firstly it established a confederation of two separate states called the United Cyprus Republic. Both communities would have autonomous states combined under one unified government. The members of parliament would be chosen according to the percentage in population numbers to ensure a just involvement from both communities. The paper proposed a demilitarisation of the island over the next years. Furthermore it agreed upon a number of 45000 Turkish settlers that could remain on the island. These settlers became a very important issue concerning peace talks. Originally the Turkish government encouraged Turks to settle in Cyprus providing transfer and property, to establish a counterpart to the Greek Cypriot population due to their 1 to 5 minority. With the economic situation many Turkish-Cypriot decided to leave the island, however their departure is made up by incoming Turkish settlers leaving the population ratio between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots stable. However all these points where criticised and as seen in the vote rejected mainly by the Greek Cypriots. These name the dissolution of the „Republic of Cyprus", economic consequences of a reunion and the remaining Turkish settlers as reason. Many claim that the plan was indeed drawing more from Turkish-Cypriot demands then Greek-Cypriot interests. Taking in consideration that the US wanted to keep Turkey as a strategic partner in future Middle Eastern conflicts.
A week after the failed referendum the Republic of Cyprus joined the EU. In multiple instances the EU tried to promote trade with Northern Cyprus but without internationally recognised ports this spiked a grand debate. Both side endure their intention of negotiations, however without the prospect of any new compromises or agreements the UN is unwilling to start the process again. Since 2004 negotiations took place in numbers but without any results, both sides are strongly holding on to their position without an agreeable solution in sight that would suit both parties.
HMS ARGYLL's Lynx maintains a visual during boarding operations. Picture: LA(Phot) Steve Johncock.
On 7th August 2014, whilst conducting counter narcotic operations in the Caribbean Sea, HMS ARGYLL boarded a fast boat.
ML140041
“I will maintain and defend the sovereignty of the United States paramount to any and all allegiance, sovereignty, or fealty,” the more than 1,200 new cadets pledged at the end of their Reception Day June 29, 2021. The Class of 2025 is composed of 302 women, 504 minorities, 10 combat veterans and 16 international students. (U.S. Army Photo by John Pellino/USMA)
To maintain operational readiness, HMCS MONCTON’s Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat (RHIB) conducts boat manoeuvres in the Caribbean Sea during Operation CARIBBE on February 18, 2021.
Please credit: Canadian Armed Forces photo
Pour maintenir sa disponibilité opérationnelle, l’équipage du NCSM Moncton exécute des manœuvres de bateau à bord d’embarcations gonflables à coque rigide (RHIB) dans la mer des Caraïbes durant l’opération CARIBBE, le 18 février 2021.
Mention de source : Photo des Forces armées canadiennes
Lower Seletar Reservoir, Seletar Reservoir Park, Singapore
To maintain a healthy marriage, it needs both effort, hardwork and not to mention the precious time achieving together, not depend one self or other going through the journey.
Our time spent with each other could be counting by fingers now, we both have our own work tied up badly these days. I've been working almost every weekends and this weekend will be marking my 7th weekend. Though I got my day off but our working hours just so variance. She living seems to be normal working hours, as matter fact her working hours been dramatic increased, sometimes could be 14 hours and more.
Today is my off day after 9 days straight, though my working hours are odd and recent continuous weekends works and duties, so we both really treasure whenever we spend time with each other. Starting a day by getting her company to clinic for medical report (Suppose to be with her last week while she doing her body checkout), and I missed it because my roster had fixed my off day and I just wanted to save the hassle. She then left a series of tasks for the house hold chores for me to follow up. I send her off to office after done visiting her doctor. Once I got home, I started with the list she handed over to me. Honestly, I was quite enjoying working on those chores. And getting very satisfied after seeing items scratches one followed by another. Considerably an achievement too in my humble opinion.
You see, all these little things could creates harmony in life. When we have harmony in life, we are literally maintaining a healthy marriage. Sometimes we need to be observant, look after and taking care every single tiny things and achieve those things hand-in-hand together.
Last piece of message I'd like to convey, "If I could live until 100 year-old, I wish I could love her 98 years..."
You must see this on large View On White and View On Black
----
P/s : This is new Lightroom 4 editing parts can be seen in the commentary too.