Maintainers from Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., perform a gear swing on a U.S. B-2 ''Spirit'' bomber March 13, 2016, in the U.S. Pacific Command area of operations. Strategic Command bombers regularly deploy to the Indo-Asia-Pacific region to conduct PACOM-led operations which provide leaders deterrence options to maintain regional stability.

The goal of NATCA’s Professional Standards program is to maintain and promote professionalism across all of NATCA’s bargaining units. NATCA members achieve that through a commitment to safety and through upholding the public’s trust. They work to inspire, to motivate, to provide personal examples of our professionalism to others, and to maintain the highest standard of excellence. They know their actions represent all of their fellow professionals, and we work to bring honor and respect to all that they do. The NATCA National Professional Standards Committee (PSC) created the “NATCA National Professionalism Award” as a means to recognize the actions of those who continually strive to achieve these goals.

 

NATCA National Professional Standards Workgroup members Chris Keyes, Lydia Baune, and Patrick Carter presented the 2020, 2021, and 2022 winners with NATCA National Professionalism Awards today at #NATCACFS 2022:

 

2020

Jonathan Davis (Kahului ATCT, OGG)

Roy Guerrero (Chicago Midway ATCT, MDW)

LaKecia Shuron (Reading ATCT, RDG)

 

2021

Eric Mauro (Merrill Field ATCT, MRI)

Natasha Poepoe (Denver TRACON, D01)

Michelle Trudeau (Indianapolis Center, ZID)

Jennifer Dickinson (Boston ATCT, BOS)

 

2022

Dale Burton (Kahului ATCT, OGG)

Robert O'Reilly (Houston TRACON, I90)

Kevin Maney (New York TRACON, N90)

Dawn Forde (New York Aircraft Certification Office, EE1)

 

Maintaining CSSD Machine

Maintaining the fire and waiting for her husband to return with the horses, this cowgirl gets up to put some more wood on the fire.

This was much more attractive when I first photographed in 2016 and when I photographed it last year it did not look great but at least it was still a water feature. I do appreciate that because of the current heatwave there may be a shortage of water but I suspect that it is not being maintained.

 

One thing that I have noticed in Ireland is that water features are never properly maintained and eventually they become non-water features.

 

In 1999, artist Tina O’Connell was commissioned to re-create a fountain on the same site as where there had been a Victorian style tiered fountain which had fallen into disrepair. Thus Tina's contemporary sculpture is also a fully functioning fountain. After an extended period of research into the materials and of development 'In-Visible' was finally sited and fully installed in 2002.

 

‘In-Visible’ (2001) is a contemporary sculpture incorporating a water feature. Inspired by the connection between Waterford City and the world famous Waterford Glass industry, O'Connell's work consists of a very large transparent acrylic sphere (2 metres in diameter), over which clear running water continuously flows, and which is positioned on a large, circular platform made from black Kilkenny marble [must have been removed]. The work has been referred to locally as the ‘Orb Fountain’.

Maintaining a distance, the gather helicopter moves horses slowly toward the Shinn 1 capture site in Lassen County.

5/9/2012 - Maintainers with the Marine Fighter Attack Squadron-501 watch as the F-35B Lightning II joint strike fighter performs an engine run May 7 at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. (U.S. Air Force photo/Samuel King Jr.)

We’re the Oakland preferred retaining wall contractor. Our hard work, attention to detail fosters success right from the beginning. Leadership by design… Call All Access Construction for your next retaining wall project @ 510-701-4400. www.allaccesslandscape.com

 

AWDREY was designed, built and maintained by the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston. The system was designed to detect the blast of a nuclear explosion through the registering of the initial and subsequent intense flash generated by the explosion either by the electro-magnetic pulse that the explosion generates or from the flash generated by the blast. From these effects, an estimate the nuclear devices power (yield) could be determined.

 

The units were not located at all Group Controls, but were located far enough apart that a simultaneous response on two AWDREY units could only be registered as a nuclear explosion and not be triggered from a lightning strike which would generally affect only one AWDREY. A further machine called DIADEM (Direction Indicator of Atomic Detonation by Electronic Means) worked with AWDREY and enabled the identification of the likely bearing of the explosion.

 

ROC post bomb detection instruments such as the Bomb Power Indicator (BPI) operated by recording the pressure of the blast wave from any nearby nuclear explosion. Any ultra-high-altitude nuclear explosion, designed to knock out the UK's communications and electronic equipment would not produce a detectable blast wave and the AWDREY system was therefore the only method of identifying these bursts

  

built in 1961 to monitor nuclear explosions and fallout in Yorkshire, in the event of nuclear war.

One of about 30 around the United Kingdom, the building was used throughout its operational existence as the regional headquarters and control centre for the Royal Observer Corps's No. 20 Group YORK between 1961 and 1991. It has become an English Heritage Scheduled Monument and was opened in 2006 by English Heritage as a tourist attraction.

 

During its Cold War operational period, the building could have supported 60 local volunteer members of the Royal Observer Corps, inclusive of a ten-man United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation scientific warning team. They would have collated details of nuclear bombs exploded within the UK and tracked radioactive fallout across the Yorkshire region, warning the public of its approach. This example of an ROC control building is the only one that is preserved in its operational condition. The others stand derelict or have either been demolished or sold. A few have been converted to other uses, like No. 16 Group Shrewsbury that is now a veterinary clinic, another is a recording studio, two are satellite and communications control centres, and one is a solicitor's file storage facility.

 

The fully restored building contains air filtration and generating plant, kitchen and canteen, dormitories, radio and landline communication equipment and specialist 1980s computers and a fully equipped operations room with vertical illuminated perspex maps.OOK

Hajvery University has a good culture of organizing seminars, conferences and workshops for its graduate and postgraduate students and faculty. Maintaining this habit, one day seminar on “Drug Act and Future Health Care Challenges” was organized at euro campus of Hajvery University, Lahore on 21st January 2014. The students and faculty of Pharmacy were actively involved in in organizing and managing this seminar. Stall of alternative medicines was exhibited by BM (private) Ltd. Live coverage of the whole seminar was done by Pharmanews.

Many speakers and guests from Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan and Pharmaceutical Industries were present on that day. Invited speakers of the day include Mr. Saleem Khan (Director, OTC and Health Products), Mr. Abdul Sattar Surani (Deputy Director, OTC and Health Products), Mr. Ayaz Ali Khan (Chief Drug Controller, Lahore), Dr. Zeba Ahmed Shuja (Director Technical, Shazoo Zaka pvt Ltd), Mr. Amanullah Bismil (CEO, BM private Ltd), Mr. Zia Husain (Federal Inspector of Drugs, Drug Regulatory Authority Pakistan, Lahore), Mr. Noor Mohammad Mahar (Technical Member, European Nutraceutical Associate Switzerland/Media Secretary Pakistan Pharmacist Association), Mr. Syed Alvi (CEO, Calgan Phytopharma). All these guests were warmly welcomed by the reception team comprising of pharmacy faculty and students.

The seminar was started by the hosts Miss Hira Seerat and Saira Sami Khan by welcoming all the respected speakers and guests. Recitation of Holy Quran was done by Hafiz Hafeez Ullah. Prof. Then, Prof. Dr. Khaild Pervaiz, Rector of Hajvery University has formally welcomed all the speakers and guests in his address. Then the hosts, Tayyaba Riaz and Hina Khalid invited and introduced the respected speakers on the stage one by one. The first speaker of the day was Mr. Saleem Khan and delivered his presentation addressing the topic Alternative System of Medicines. The hosts thanked him and invited Dr. Zeba Ahmed Shuja, she told about The Active Ingredients. The next speaker, Mr. Amanullah Bismil came and told the audience about Quality Assurance Parameters for Manufacturing. After him, Mr. Abdul Sattar Surani came and shared his data related to Drug Control then Mr. Zia Husnain came and done his presentation on Use of Complementary and Alternative Medication. The next speaker was Mr. Noor Muhammad Mahar and told the listeners about Pharma Business Future and Health Laws. After him, Mr. Ayaz Ali Khan came and shared his awareness and discussed about Drug Control Management in Punjab while he was delivering his knowledge, the Chief Guest of the day, Mr. Rana Iqbal (Speaker of Punjab Assembly) came. All the students, teachers and guests warmly welcomed him and give standing ovation. Rector of Hajvery University gave the short introduction of speaker of Punjab Assembly and welcomed him. After that, Speaker Assembly was invited on the stage to say few words related to the seminar and efforts of Hajvery University. He thanked and was very happy for having him on the seminar. He gave very powerful and devotional speech on the pharmacist’s role and future. Then the souvenir were represented to the sespected speakers of the seminar by the Chief Guest. Chairman, Board of Governors, Mr. Atif Mushtaq has offered memento to the honor able chief guest. In last Director Foreign Affairs and Planning, Mr. Fahad Sheikh gave a speech thanking all the guests and chief guest and shared the importance of Drug Act. In the last, a group photo was taken and the seminar was ended with that. We really appreciate the efforts of our management and faculty for organizing such an informative session for students.

 

We are offering this incredibly well built and maintained property at 1914 Albert St., Racine WI 53404 for just $229,900, making it perfect for new business or business relocation to Racine to take advantage of not only the price of this property, but a plentiful labor force and low taxes.

 

Easily accessible from Milwaukee, Kenosha, Oak Creek, Franklin, Cudahy, Pleasant Prairie and anywhere throughout the I-94 corridor.

 

Ample parking and easily sub-dividable 4,000 sq ft of office and 11,000 sq ft of warehouse or heavy manufacturing spaces make this the perfect investment property. Formerly owned by Bosch/Rexroth, there is plenty of power available inside with bus bars throughout the main floor with 220v and 440v available.

 

A recently new rubber membrane roof and a recently sealed parking lot with more than 30 vehicle spaces along with plenty of interior rehab make this well maintained building an incredible value!

 

Contact autumncomgr@gmail.com for more information and showings.

 

106th Maintainers meet to discuss plans for the remainder of the duty day and next days taskings.

Airmen from the New York Air National Guard’s 106th Rescue Wing are participating in Exercise TÁPIO, a combined Brazilian and U.S. exercise taking place in Campo Grade, Brazil, Aug. 8-31, 2022. The U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) sponsored joint exercise scenario involves irregular warfare against a paramilitary force. Participating U.S. Air Force personnel are conducting combat search and rescue and close air support operations alongside Brazilian forces to build partnerships and interoperability and increase partner nation capacity. The New York National Guard’s partner in the State Partnership Program is Brazil. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Maj Michael O'Hagan, 106th Rescue Wing Public Affairs)

F-16 maintainers from Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., check out one of their aircraft at Hill AFB. Aircraft from Shaw and other units are participating in an the Air Force Weapon System Evaluation program air-to-ground exercise known as Combat Hammer. During the exercise, the units will drop munitions in realistic combat scenarios at the Utah Test and Training Range.

GDC Europe 2012 (Wed, 8/15) //

Track Keynote: Assassin's Creed: Maintaining Momentum on a Blockbuster Franchise //

Alexander Hutchinson (Ubisoft Montreal) //

Photographer: Dennis Stachel for GDC Europe

Biological technician Sundi Sigrist maintains a funnel trap for ambrosia beetles near the Port of Portland. This trap was part of a study initiated by USFS Research Entomologist Dan Miller investigating the effects of conophthorin on attraction of ambrosia beetles to ethanol-baited traps. Portland, Oregon.

 

Photo by: Beth Willhite

Date: May 31, 2013

 

Credit: USDA Forest Service, Region 6, State and Private Forestry, Forest Health Protection, Westside Forest Insect and Disease Service Center

Source: Beth Willhite collection; Sandy, Oregon.

 

Image provided by USDA Forest Service, Region 6, State and Private Forestry, Forest Health Protection: www.fs.usda.gov/main/r6/forest-grasslandhealth

Its a story as long as the history of aviation. Hurry up and wait. Sailors of VFA-213 await the return of their aircraft.

 

To view a hi-res version and for more information visit my website:ISAP Visit to NAS Oceana 2012

Members of the 349th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron participate in C-5 Galaxy maintenance training at Travis Air Force Base, Calif., Feb. 24-27, 2014. Dubbed "Wrench Week," the series of hands-on events enhanced skills proficiency and provided structured opportunities for upgrade training for Air Force Reserve C-5 maintainers. The training took place in classrooms, formal training unit simulators, maintenance shops and C-5 Galaxies on the flight line. (Courtesy photo/Senior Master Sgt. Darrell Carbullido)

Brick Lane London Street Artwork: You are Enough x Maintain Social Sweetness

Well maintained ancestral home on 53 perch land along Galle Road, Idama, Moratuwa. 65 feet Galle Road frontage. Two storey house with seven bedrooms (2 with A/C), 3 toilets (with hot water), two spacious living rooms, kitchens on both floors, pantry, balcony facing Galle road, servant’s room with attached toilet, 3 vehicle garage plus ample parking space both in front and behind the house, front porch, separate driver’s quarters, large back garden (25p bare land). Ideal for business, bank or as a luxury house. Rs. 100 million (negotiable).

    

Contact – Hirantha 0716 802811

Email – jvhr@sltnet.lk

 

mmgAcros100_20101113_2_06

Rolleicord-V

Xenar 75mm/F3.5

Fujifilm Acros100 (T-max1:4)

Maintained by Mr. Prabhakar. Great collection of a variety of plants and flowers.

Bangor bash Barban boys

 

by Roger Corbett

 

On a perfect afternoon for rugby, Bangor maintained their good winning streak by recording another bonus point victory against Dromore, eventually winning by 38-17.

   

With Bangor and Dromore looking secure in 3rd and 4th places respectively in the league, this game could have been viewed as a dead fixture. However, with Dromore no doubt wanting to reverse their earlier defeat, and Bangor wanting to maximise their points tally, the game was certainly competitive.

 

Bangor got proceedings underway, playing into a slight breeze that was blowing diagonally across the pitch. From the outset, Dromore used this slight advantage to gain good ground through well taken positional kicks. However, were equally happy to run the ball back and produced several good attacks in reply. In fact the home side could have been a couple of scores up in the first quarter, but the ball didn’t run for them at the crucial moments. However, the breakthrough eventually came when the handling across the backs was crisp and secure, giving Neil Cuthbertson on the right wing the opportunity to stretch his legs and dive over in the corner for a well-taken try. The difficult kick was missed, but the scoreboard had started in Bangor’s favour by 5-0.

 

The next twenty minutes were almost a copy of the first quarter, with Bangor making most of the attacking opportunities, only to be thwarted by a stubborn Dromore defence. For Dromore’s part, they also had their chances, and came close from a kick through that Cuthbertson managed to shepherd into the goal area and get the resulting twenty two drop-out. However, a slack response by Bangor handed the initiative back to Dromore who, after several surges, managed to push over for their first try in the right hand corner, levelling the scores at 5-5 with just a minute or two left in the first half.

 

Bangor’s reply from the restart was immediate and in complete contrast to how they approached the previous drop-out. Mark Thompson’s kick hung in the breeze, allowing Jamie Clegg to leap for it and continue running at the static Dromore defence. He then passed inside to Jason Morgan who then passed again to Mike Weir at outside centre. Although Weir had the option of Cuthbertson on the wing, he fooled the Dromore defence and made a charge for the line, just managing to squeeze over in the right hand corner. The conversion was missed, making the score 10-5.

 

With 2 minutes of stoppage time having elapsed, there was just enough time for Dromore to restart once more. However, another apparent lapse in concentration by Bangor in securing and then clearing the ball, allowed Dromore to come straight back and score an opportunist try in the corner and level the points at 10-10. As the referee blew for half time, the home supporters were stunned, feeling their side should have been well in front by this time.

 

As the teams turned around, Bangor produced their now familiar second half surge. Within 5 minutes, a good break by James Henly was stopped just inside the Dromore twenty two. Although the ball went to ground, good support play by Curtis Stewart saw him pick up and run through to score under the posts. Cuthbertson’s kick was good, and Bangor were back in front by 17-10.

 

An injury to full back Chris Morgan resulted in changes to both the forward and backs line-up, with Adam Rushe coming off the bench to take James Henly’s wing forward position, allowing Henly to move to outside centre, and moving Mike Weir to full back as a result. There followed a brief period of settling to this new structure, before Bangor struck again. Seeing a flat Dromore defence ahead of him, Jason Morgan chipped over their heads and began the chase for the line. The ball bounced favourably for him, and he just managed to gather and touch down ahead of the nearest defender. The kick was successful extending the lead to 24-10, and now with the additional bonus point.

 

Although Dromore maintained their own pressure, it was Bangor who were calling most of the shots. Just 7 minutes later, the ball went wide to Mark Widdowson on the left wing whose pace and footwork left several Dromore players floundering, before darting through to score under the posts. The addition of the simple conversion brought the score to 31-10.

 

With only 5 minutes remaining, Dromore produced a late push and brought play deep into Bangor’s twenty two. Although Dromore won their scrum close to Bangor’s line, it looked like Bangor had the attack covered. However a defensive mix-up left a gap that provided a simple run through for Dromore to score beside the posts. With the successful conversion, the gap had closed to 31-17.

 

Obviously annoyed by this mistake, Bangor came back at Dromore, forcing the visitors to concede a penalty inside their twenty two. Spurning the kick at goal, Thompson kicked for touch and an attacking line-out. With the ball safely won, Bangor started to drive forward, but the strong Dromore pack held it up. However, the ball was quickly recycled by Ricky Armstrong to Mark Thompson, who then passed to Jason Morgan who pushed off his tackler to score the final try of the day and, with the conversion, bring the final score to 38-17.

 

This was a good day for North Down sides playing Mid Down opposition. Bangor’s success against Dromore was matched by neighbours Donaghadee who produced an inspired performance to beat Ballynahinch 2nds and earn a place in this year’s Towns Cup final as a result – congratulations to all.

 

Bangor’s final fixture in this year’s league is away to Cooke next Saturday. The weekend is then topped off on Sunday afternoon with what should be a highly entertaining game between the Perennials and a Bangor Select XV. With several familiar faces from seasons past, this is sure to be a fun event, and one to come along and enjoy.

 

Bangor side: P Whyte, A Jackson, B Worthington (S Irvine), R Corbett, C Stewart , R Latimer, J Henly, J Clegg (c), R Armstrong, M Thompson, M Widdowson, J Morgan, M Weir, N Cuthbertson, C Morgan (A Rushe)

 

Subs: S Irvine, A Rushe

 

Bangor scores: N Cuthbertson (1T, 4C), M Weir (1T), C Stewart (1T), J Morgan (2T), M Widdowson (1T)

Members of the 349th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron participate in C-5 Galaxy maintenance training at Travis Air Force Base, Calif., Feb. 24-27, 2014. Dubbed "Wrench Week," the series of hands-on events enhanced skills proficiency and provided structured opportunities for upgrade training for Air Force Reserve C-5 maintainers. The training took place in classrooms, formal training unit simulators, maintenance shops and C-5 Galaxies on the flight line. (Courtesy photo/Senior Master Sgt. Darrell Carbullido)

maintain on board. You are allowed to use this image on your website. If you do, please link back to my site as the source: creditscoregeek.com/

 

Example: Photo by Credit Score Geek

 

Thank you!

Mike Cohen

Maintained by Greek Orthodox priests, this is (supposedly) the spot where Christ and his comrades where crucified. You can place your hand inside to to the rock. The shrine (and the entire church) was built over it.

While maintaining social distancing, paratroopers assigned to Blackfoot Company, 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, U.S. Army Alaska, debrief after conducting a platoon training iteration at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Aug. 26, 2020. The training honed Blackfoot Company’s infantry skills to include: platoon movement, communication, and destroying simulated enemy positions by coordinated assault and maneuver. (U.S. Air Force photo by Alejandro Peña)

Ulladulla's lighthouse is part of a network of navigational aids maintained around Australia's 20,000 kilometre coastline for the safety of ships and other crafts. Located at the Eastern end of Deering St Ulladulla, a 5 minute drive from the centre of Ulladulla.

 

The iron lighthouse was built in 1871 and was originally located at the entrance to Ulladulla harbour. The first Lighthouse keeper was William Gambell, an ex-sea captain who lived with his wife and family in a slab house on the beach. The lighthouse was re-erected to Ulladulla's south headland - Warden's Head in 1889.

 

It was designed in the Colonial Architect's Office by Edward Moriarty in the same style as the Wollongong Breakwater Light. It is one of only 2 lighthouses in New South Wales made from wrought iron plates.

Members of the 349th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron participate in C-5 Galaxy maintenance training at Travis Air Force Base, Calif., Feb. 24-27, 2014. Dubbed "Wrench Week," the series of hands-on events enhanced skills proficiency and provided structured opportunities for upgrade training for Air Force Reserve C-5 maintainers. The training took place in classrooms, formal training unit simulators, maintenance shops and C-5 Galaxies on the flight line. (Courtesy photo/Senior Master Sgt. Darrell Carbullido)

Day 2 of The Indy KA500 and After a Fantastic First Day of Racing and Celebrations now is where the Real Hard Work Begins as The Entire Field of 46 KA'S were in the Garages with Drivers Teams and Engineers at The Ready as they were about to tackle 8 Hours of the Indy Circuit.

 

With an 8 Hour Race anything can Happen and with such a Large Field of Cars a lot of Overtakes and Careful Navigation will be Required to Ensure Victory.

 

With The Start of The Race About to get underway Its Time to See Who will be able to Hold out the Longest and Take the Title of IndyKa500 Endurance Champion for 2021.

 

Hour 1 (11:04AM)

 

As The Field of 46 KA'S Completed the Formation Lap and Slowly made their way Towards the Start Finish Straight The Lights went Green and at Exactly 11:04AM the Race Had Begun.

 

Racing Down Towards Paddock Hill Bend it was The KA of Team (IP Racing's Adam Blair Scott Parkin Oliver Wilmot and Mark Witherington) Who took the Lead Followed Closely by Team (Octane Junkies Adam Smith Martyn Smith and Bazza Ward) in Second Place and Team (Alex Read Motorsport's Chris Reade Sam Luke's Carlito Miracco and Luke Read) in Third Place as they Thundered Up the Hill Towards The Tops of Druids and Back Down Again through Bottom Bend where Team (Ferguson Motorsport's Damon Astin Billy Ferguson Joe Ferguson and Daniel Ferguson) took the Lead from (Octane Junkies) before Flying Around The Track to Complete Lap 1 of 500.

 

As The Cars came Round Paddock for The Second Time The KA of (Ferguson Motorsport) Now Leads by a Heathy Margin While Further Back (IP Racing) and (Octane Junkies) Have A Fantastic Scrap over Second Place with The Two of Them Swapping The Lead Over and Over again. Car Number 55 of (Al Most Racers Alistair Hardie Alistair McDonald Lee Conway and Will Denny) was Seen Getting Air of The Inside Curb on the Exit of Paddock Hill Bend making for a Spectacular Sight.

 

Hour 2 (11:54AM)

 

Hour 2 and All 46 KA'S are Still Alive and Well with Each Driver Pushing Hard to Maintain their Advantage as the Tyres Begin to Warm Up and Start to Grip the Track More.

 

KA Number 56 Team (Hard And Enthusiastic Martyn Dilworth Mark Figes and Mike Hickey) are Locked in a Tight Battle at The Top of Paddock Hill Bend with KA Number 27 Team (Semprini Racing's Jeremy Evans James Hart Phil Hart and William Puttergill) as they Fight it Out Between the Two Cars for a Position.

 

Further Down the Field KA Number 23 Team (Kastrol's Michael Keegan Tim Keegan and David Murfitt) is Having its Own Battle with KA Number 4 of Team (Alex Read Motorsport) as The Two Teams Have a Go at One Another Thought the Course of The Lap trying Hard to Hold onto that Position they Worked so Hard for.

 

Another Battle at Paddock is the KA Number 3 of Team (Wingdat Racing's Andy Chapman Jonathan Barret and Wayne Jackson) Having to Fend off The KA Number 16 of Team (M and D Racing's Alex Martin Daniel Martin Tony Perfect and Mathew Rowling) as they Also were Looking to be in an Intense Battle Thought the Lap with Many Other Teams and Drivers Now Settling into a Rhythm. at The Endo f The Second Hour The KA't Mobile Number 49 of Team (LDR Performance Tuning's David Bywater Adrian Clarke Andy Grear Hardy and Sammy Bryan) is Seen Making its way Through Paddock Hill Bend and Through the Gravel Trap but Manages to Get Out Unaided and Safely.

 

At 12:12PM a Huge and Very Loud Crash is Heard at The Bottom of Paddock Hill Bend and Seen Rowling Through The Gravel Trap and Ending up on its Wheels is the KA Number 3 of Team (Windgat Racing) Bringing out the First Safety Car of The Endurance Race. Lucky The Driver was Fine and After a Few Minutes Due to The Recovery Taking Place they Are Back out in the Race But with a Lot of Catching Up to do.

 

Hour 3 (13:08PM)

 

With the Safety Car Now in the Race gets Back Underway and Already each Driver was Pushing Even Harder trying to either Create a Gap or Make Up for Lost Time Due to The Safety Car Intervention.

 

At The Top of Paddock Hill Bend a Fierce Battle is Taking Place Between the Two Teams of KA Number 13 and KA Number 155 Team (Deranged Motorsport's Jason Pelosi Josh Larkin and Alex Kelby) and Team (JRS's Nick Walker Alex Day and William Foster) as they Duel Thought the Whole of Paddock Hill Bend Starting at The Top and Still Keeping the Fight Going Right Up towards Druids in The End Deranged Motorsport Wins Out and Takes The Position Away from JRS.

 

At 13:24PM The Fighting Between each Team Continues at The Top of Paddock Hill Bend which is Proving to be the Best Overtaking Area as Each Car has Only 73 Break Horse Power so Carrying as Much Speed as Possible from the Main Straight Towards Paddock is Essential for a Successful Overtake.

 

Team (Piston Heads Peter Dignan Oliver Lewis Benjamin Lowden and Sam Sheehan) Battles it out with Team (LDR Performance Tuning's Laurence Davey Mike Paul James Parker and Glen Copeland) as The Two Cars Do Battle for All to See with Team LDR Taking The Position Away.

 

At 13:39PM A Set of 4 KA's are Seen Fighting Their Way up Towards Druids with All Four Teams not Giving up the Fight as they Swap Positions Relentlessly with not One Driver Willing to Give Up his Position.

 

The 98 55 53 and 13 All Really Having a Good Go at One Another Thought their Fight. As The Sun Starts its Slow Dissent Down Over The Hills and Valleys that Surround The Circuit Bottom Bend was Providing Some More Opportunities for Drivers to do Battle with One Another. A Four way Fight Between KA's Number 56 51 44 and 64 was Occurring with Number 56 Holding Strong at The Front of This Fight and Leading them on Towards Clearways.

 

Finally at 13:48PM An Epic Battle Between KA's Number 64 and 44 was Witnessed Through Bottom Bend with The Likes of The Number 64 Bouncing a Wheel Into The Air as The Car Took the Tight Racing Line making for an Amazing Picture and a Superb bit of Car Control To Keep that KA Pointing The Right Way.

 

Hour 4 (14:02PM)

 

The Fourth Hour and Pit Stops and Driver Changes were Imminent with Many Teams Choosing to Go into The Pits to Change Both Drivers and Top Up the Fuel as Well as Change Tyres if Necessary. Every Team was Running to a Different Strategy Depending Upon the Amount of Drivers they Had with Teams of Four Drivers Taking 2 Hours in the Car Each While Teams of Three or Less would Have to Take on Longer Stints of 3 To Maybe Even 4 Hours in the Car Hoping that Having to do Fewer Driver Changes would Mean they could make Up The Difference on Track.

 

Back on The Track at 14:02PM More Battles were Commencing Through Pilgrims Drop With KA's Number 81 Team (GM Performance's Gary Mitchell and Ian Mitchell) Going Head to Head with KA Number 46 Team (JDC Motorsport's Stu Neal Andy Gaugler and Simon Walker Hensell) with The KA of GM Performance Narrowly Taking The Place From JDC Motorsport on the Run towards Clearways.

 

At 14:20PM a Fantastic Battle Between KA Number's 18 100 127 3 55 and 115 was Seen as they Powered their Way onto Clearways with 155 Leading Followed by 55 and 3 127 100 and 18 All Slowly Gaining Ground to the Two Leading KA's at The Front of This Train.

 

Shortly After This Train of Cars Came Through Another Train of 5 KA's was not Far Behind this Time Being Lead by Number 13 Deranged Motorsport with 131 (Team Viking's Mark Holme Harry Nunn and Nick Nunn) Then came Number 4 Alex Read Motorsport with 98 Piston Heads and 41 (Rowe Rage Motorsport's Alex Butler Greg Caswell Jason Handcock and Sam Rowe) As they All Fought Hard to Catch One Another Thought their Fight.

 

KA's Number 98 4 and 64 were Also Seen at 14:48PM Having a Really Good Three Way Fight with 64 and 98 Side by Side down Pilgrims Drop with The Number 4 Car Closing Fast.

 

At 14:54PM A Final Battle was Seen on the Run Up Towards Clearways with The KA's of Number 60 (Powerflex's David Power Paul Cowland and Dom David) Battling Hard with KA's Number 7 (G and B Finch's Joe Bragg Lee Finch Steve Finch Benjamin Smith and Arthur Thurtle) and Number 127 (Fat Boys Racing's Charlie Jackson and Matt Pinny) with The Number 7 KA Leading The Trio On Towards Clearways as The Sun Began to Set.

 

Hour 5 (15:25PM)

 

The Fith Hour and a Swarm of KA's were Seen Storming Down the Main Straight towards Paddock Hill Bend with the Number 131 Car of (Team Viking) in the Lead by Some Distance Followed by Number 64 125 18 81 and 155 as they All Made their Way Towards Paddock for another Chance at an Overtake.

 

Another Battle Followed Closely Behind with KA Numbers 11 18 49 and 111 All Fighting as Well in order to Maintain or Improve their Positions as The Race Went on.

 

At 15:28PM The Safety Car was Out again While Another KA Somewhere on Track was Being Recovered and The Leading car Number 36 IP Racing's (Adam Blair Scott Parkin Oliver Wilmot and Mark Witherington's Lead Evaporates as the Field is Once again Bunched up.

 

Behind Them are KA's Number 44 (Mini Challenges Max Coates Dominic Wheatley Lewis Saunders and Dan Zelos) Looking to Make a More Once the Safety Car Period Ends The 14 of (Frugal Racing) and 51 of (Barwell Autosport's Taylor Norton Kamran Tunio Ryan Brinsted and Kester Cook) Also Looking to Take the Lead of This Endurance Race.

 

At 15:36PM The Car that Had Caused The Safety Car was Seen Being Recovered into the Outer Garage Area where cars are Held Before the Start of Each Race. KA Number 46 (JDC Motorsport) Had Made Contact Somewhere on the Circuit and Looked to Have a Broken Front Left Steering Arm with the Wheel Being Completely Bend Backwards into The Car with the Car Heading Back to the Garage for Repairs Before Rendering The Race Quite a Few Laps Down.

 

15:38PM and The Two KA's of Positive Motorsport's Andrew Rogerson Samuel Rendon and Ryan Frith Battle it Out with Number 13 Deranged Motorsport Through Westfield Towards Dingle dell with The Number 13 Beautifully Sweeping Around the Outside to Take The Position Away.

 

Another Battle was Seen at 15:38PM with (Alex Read Motorsport) Number 4 Battling Number 64 (Auto Teach Motorsport's Reece Kellow Andrew Howell Luca Ataccini Anzanello and Megan) through Westfields Side by Side on Towards Dingle dell.

 

Finally at 15:57PM Another KA Had Fallen Victim to an Issue with the Number 23 Car of (PSR's Carl Beresford Russel Danzey Tom Gilbert and Jack Wood) Being Taken on the Back of the Recovery Truck to The Garages for Repairs Before Going back Out into The Race as Night Began to Fall Upon The Indy Circuit.

 

Hour 6 (16:15PM)

 

As The Light Slowly began to Fade Away from the Indy Circuit Many Drivers were Now starting to use their Headlights as The Lighting Conditions got Darker and Darker as Time went by.

 

At 16:15PM A Massive Group of Cars came Flying Down Through Paddock Hill Bend with KA Number 55 Al Most Racers on the Inside Line 127 Fat Boys Racing on the Middle Line and 39 Kameleon Racing's Chris Bright Richard Cox Steve Goldsmith and Leigh Youles Michael on the Outside Line as they Fought their way Through the Bend and Up Towards Druids.

 

At 16:21PM Piston Heads Racing KA Number 98 was Seen Leading another Group of Cars Through Paddock Hill Bend with Numbers 41 52 33 and 2 All Fighting for Places as they Came Towards Paddock Hill Bend.

 

16:24PM and The Paddock Hill Bend Gravel Trap Claims Another Victim This Time the Number 131 KA of Team Viking Had Ended up Taking a Trip Through it Before a Half Spin Left Him Facing the Marshalls Post Opposite before Returning to the Track after Losing a Few Places. Recovery Teams set to work Once Again with The Safety Car Being Called into Action for The Third Time.

 

16:40PM and at The Top of Paddock Hill Bend a Three way Fight Becomes a Two Way Fight as The Number 127 KA of Fat Boys Racing Goes for a Spin after Trying to Get a Run on the Number 19 KA of LDR Performance Tuning with The Number 14 Car of Frugal Racing Just Narrowly Missing The Spinning Car.

 

16:42PM and a Final Intense Battle Between the Number 44 KA and The Number 1 KA of Burton Power Racing's Andy Burton Kyle Sagar Tom Valentine and Sammy Venables as They Fight Hard to try and Take that Position away from Mini Challenge to Round off The 6th Hour.

 

Hour 7 (16:50PM)

 

The Seventh Hour and at The Bottom of Surtees a Massive Crash is Heard as The KA's of Number 42 The K Teams (Paul Simmons Edward Simmons Glen Woodbridge Damo) is Seen Running off Track with Number 13 Deranged Motorsport Onto The Grass and Number 81 GM Performance Being Spun Out Trying to Avoid The Carnage in Front. All Drivers Okay and They Get back on Track and Continue on As Day Turns into Night.

 

17:02PM and a Top of Druids The Ka's of Number 72 Misty Racings (Adam Bonham and Simon Bonham) are Fighting Hard to Keep their Position from the Number 49 Car of LDR Performance Tuning as well as Number 7 of G and B Finch Trying to Find a Way Through on the Outside of Druids. The 98 of Piston Heads is also Closing in by This Stage with Headlights A Blaze.

 

17:05PM and Coming Towards Druids is a Sea of KA's All With Headlights A Blaze as they Fight for Positions Cars Number 60 3 19 and 39 All in Different Positions and Yet Still Fighting to try and Gain an Advantage that Could Swine this Endurance Race in Any of the Teams Favours. Further Back 127 and 140 Are Doing Battle on the Run Up Towards Druids.

 

17:09PM Once Again Another Battle at Druids This Time its The Trio of Number 127 36 and 60 That are All Trying to Better One Another in their Attempt to Gain a Place with Number 36 IP Racing Leading The Way.

 

17:14PM One Final Battle is Seen Coming Up towards Druids with The Number's 18 44 55 and 2 Fighting it Out Number 2 Kastrol's Has The Lead of This Group of Cars with Blazing Bright Headlights to Aid the Drivers Around The Circuit.

 

17:27PM and Now Darkness was Everywhere Making Visibility Very Difficult and Yet this did not Stop the Likes of Cars Number 128 JTR's Eliot Mason Nick Tandy David Mason and James Rhodes from Battling with Car Number 16 M and D Racing's Alex Martin Daniel Martin Tony Perfect and Mathew Rowling. In a Daring Move in the Pitch Black Darkness The Two Cars Go Side by Side Trying to Gain One over The Other Before JTR's Takes The Inside Line and The Position.

 

17:30PM Another Daring Battle is Captured Between The Number 180 Car of (Shine Auto motive's Colin French Mathew Eldridge and Wayne Clelland) and Number 44 (Mini Challenge's Max Coates Dominic Whitely Lewis Saunders and Dan Zelos) Defending The Outside Line as Best as they Can but Ultimately Shine Automotive Makes their way Through.

 

17:51PM A KA is Seen Flying Down Through The Bottom of Druids and into a Cloud of Dust Caused by Another KA Going off The KA is Just Barely Visible Showing The Dangers of what can Happen at Night When Visibility Becomes Low or Obstructed. Other KA's Soon Followed Through the Dust Cloud as Well with Many Backing off Slightly In case a Car was Stuck out on The Track but Thankfully All was Good as Hour 7 Ended.

 

Hour 8 (17:56PM) (THE FINAL HOUR)

 

The FINAL Hour of The 8 Hour Indy KA 500 and With Every Driver Now Getting into a Rhythm it was Up to Each Teams Last Driver to Strap in and Go for it to the Checkered Flag. However not All had gone to Plan for every Driver as The Number 29 KA of LDR Performance Tuning Found Out Slipping into the Gravel and Costing Them a Ridge Back to the Pits for Repairs with Less than 1 Hour to go.

 

18:00PM and The Number 2 KA of Kastrol's was Captured Racing Through Paddock Hill Bend During The Night Pushing Incredibly Hard to Ensure a Good Top 25 Finnish in the Points with Headlights Illuminating their way Around Paddock Hill Bend as The Car Flew Through The Bend.

 

18:30PM The Safety Car was Out for The Last Time During The Race and was Captured Leading a whole Train of KA's Through Pilgrims Drop and Onto Clearways with Each Driver Poised and Ready to Get Going Once the Safety Car Had Come In.

 

19:07PM An Amazing Sight to Behold with Just 15 Minutes Left on the Clock a Huge Rush of KA's Flooded their way Down The Main Straight and Past The Start Finnish Straight with Headlights on Full Beam to Aid in Visibility. The Number 8 KA Leads The way in This Group of Cars with The Number 18 CHR Hoonikan Car of Stratton MacKay Dave Mayer and Paul Robson Closing in Behind.

 

19:09PM And The Green Flag is Dropped for The Final Time as The Safety Car Comes into the Pitlane All 44 Remaining KA's Race Towards Druids with the Field so Bunched up this is Anyone's Race to both Win or Lose at This Stage.

 

The Number 42 KA of The K Teams Paul Simmons Edward Simmons and Glen Woodbridge Damo takes off Leading from Number 20 A Reeve's Motorsport Aron Reeve Stuart Lane and Andy Godfrey while The Number 127 of Fat Boys Racing Chases Them Down into a Nail Biting Finnish at The Centre of The Field.

 

19:13PM A Group of Six KA's are Captured Having an Intense Battle with Only 5 Minutes Left to Run The Likes of KA Number 127 36 and 128 All Putting Up One Hell of a Good Fight in The Closing Stages of The Endurance Race with Some Drives Having Driven for 4 Hours Straight.

 

19:21PM and after 8 Hours of Continuous Racing and 5 KA's Out of The Race The Checkered Flag was Ready and Waiting as The Number 81 KA of GM Performance's Gary Mitchell and Ian Mitchell Takes the Victory at The 2021 8 Hour Indy Car 500!!!! Followed Closely by The Number 72 Car Misty Racing's Adam Bonham and Simon Bonham in Second Place with KA Number 14 Frugal Racing's Jim McDougal Callum McDougal Mike Marais and Leon Bidgeway Taking Third Place.

 

A Huge Congratulations to The Overall Top Three Winners and to All of the other Teams and Competitors for Showing some Incredible Racing To End of The 2021 Motorsport Season. From

Historic Formula 1 to Classic Touring Cars To The Indy KA 500 This Season Has been One of The Best to Date.

 

See You All Again Next Year Where We Will do it All Over Again.

                                        

West Clear Creek Trail #17 provides the only marked and maintained access to the lower reaches of West Clear Creek Wilderness. From its western terminus at Bull Pen Ranch at the canyon mouth, the trail leads upstream into the deep, narrow gorge which medium-sized West Clear Creek has cut into the southern edge of the Colorado Plateau. The downstream end of the trail attracts large numbers of anglers, picnickers, and other streamside recreators attracted by the clear pools, slickrock water slides, and tree-shaded riparian areas tucked away between red rock canyon walls.

 

Photo taken April 2016 by Deborah Lee Soltesz. Source: U.S. Forest Service, Coconino National Forest. Visit West Clear Creek Trail #17 and Coconino National Forest for more information.

Maintained this broom for 20 years. This old brooms had 17 new heads and 14 new handles in its time.

Forsaken (SSf 10), Well Maintained (Ma. Helena). Taken at Polambato Port, Bogo City

This was much more attractive when I first photographed in 2016 and when I photographed it last year it did not look great but at least it was still a water feature. I do appreciate that because of the current heatwave there may be a shortage of water but I suspect that it is not being maintained.

 

One thing that I have noticed in Ireland is that water features are never properly maintained and eventually they become non-water features.

 

In 1999, artist Tina O’Connell was commissioned to re-create a fountain on the same site as where there had been a Victorian style tiered fountain which had fallen into disrepair. Thus Tina's contemporary sculpture is also a fully functioning fountain. After an extended period of research into the materials and of development 'In-Visible' was finally sited and fully installed in 2002.

 

‘In-Visible’ (2001) is a contemporary sculpture incorporating a water feature. Inspired by the connection between Waterford City and the world famous Waterford Glass industry, O'Connell's work consists of a very large transparent acrylic sphere (2 metres in diameter), over which clear running water continuously flows, and which is positioned on a large, circular platform made from black Kilkenny marble [must have been removed]. The work has been referred to locally as the ‘Orb Fountain’.

Arupo Regina (59)

 

---

 

In the Teso region of Uganda, Cordaid and partner organization SOCADIDO support female farmers who struggle to maintain their livelihood because of climate change, land depletion or a lack of tools and agricultural knowledge. Cordaid and SOCADIDO provide seeds, tools, technology and training.

 

The program started in August 2017 and has been implemented in 9 sub-counties in Teso and supports 9000 farmers in total. The main objectives are threefold: increase food production, reduce post-harvest losses and improve access to finance for the farmers.

 

Each participating farmer received 2 kilograms of seeds, mainly black-eyed peas, corn and vegetables like cassava and potato, which they plant in a plot of land of about one acre.

 

All 9000 participating farmers are put into groups of 30. The 300 farming groups are trained on harvest loss reduction, how to organize savings and credit and improve economic activities.

 

Each sub-county also has a marketing association. That is where the farmers collect their produce reserved for the market after they put aside all they need for their own consumption. The farmers get paid per kilogram of product sold. The association connects the sellers and buyers.

 

"The problem was that they had a poor bargaining position and often had to sell their products for a bad price", says Tom Edul, Program Coordinator for the Female Farmers Deserve Better program. "As a group, the farmers are much stronger and better equipped to improve their income."

 

Another vital factor in raising the value of their products is the possibility to save the harvests for a longer time. In some cases, the time of year greatly determines the price of the products. By providing the farmers with special bags, called PICS bags, fruits and vegetables can be saved for months. Now they can wait for the right time to sell and get a much better price.

 

The successful project is about to end in a few months, but SOCADIDO is eager to extend and expand. Edul: "We really want to continue. The results are great, and we have really made a difference in the lives of these farmers. Our methods of distributing PICS bags, providing tarpaulins for drying the harvest, which increases the quality of the produce, and the implementation of irrigation systems, are unique in this region. The farmers truly appreciate our efforts and they now have the confidence and courage to sell their products on the markets for a reasonable price. They can sustain themselves and even grow their businesses."

 

Classic Tracks: My Bloody Valentine ‘Only Shallow’

Producer: Kevin Shields

Published May 2018

By Tom Doyle

www.soundonsound.com/magazine/2018-05

 

Первая часть.

 

It may be famous for its difficult birth, but Loveless was a technical triumph. My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields tells us the story behind their breathtakingly original album.

 

Since its release in November 1991, My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless has rightly become regarded as one of the most sonically groundbreaking albums of its era and beyond. A dense, kaleidoscopic swirl of shape-shifting guitars and feedback, it’s best remembered for its opening track (and third single), ‘Only Shallow’, featuring the hypnotic, half-submerged vocals of Bilinda Butcher and the pioneering ‘glide guitar’ technique of band leader, producer and co-singer Kevin Shields.

 

Loveless offered a modernist update on psychedelia and even spawned its own musical genre, with the legions of shoegaze bands who used it as their aural blueprint. Over the years, it has been hailed as a landmark album and influence by the likes of Brian Eno, the Cure’s Robert Smith and Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan.

 

But the two-year-long making of Loveless between 1989-91 has also become fabled due to Shields’s legendary sonic fixations and meticulous ear for detail. Twenty-five recording studios were used during its making, as Shields left behind him a trail of burned-out engineers, exasperating his paymasters at Creation Records in the process. Even now, he maintains a role as the painstaking curator of My Bloody Valentine’s catalogue, recently overseeing all-analogue vinyl remasters of Loveless and its predecessor, 1988’s Isn’t Anything.

 

With the latter album, Shields first began imagining a sound that was completely at odds with the production fashions of the ’80s. “The standard sound of, say 1988, for most rock bands was clearly-panned guitars,” he remembers. “Mostly DI’ed bass guitar sounds. The bass drum was very clicky, the snare was very big. Drums using stereo as much as possible, keeping the vocals quite loud and clear.

 

“The sound that we were going for was more like the sound that we were hearing all the time, which was either hearing music through ghetto blasters or cheap record players or small gigs coming through Bose PA systems. All very boxy-sounding and meshed in.”

 

While Shields was influenced by guitar bands such as Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr, it was actually the Bomb Squad’s productions for Public Enemy that mostly informed his approach. “That drove me towards not just going into the sort of guitar-y world,” he says. “I was more interested in doing anything I wanted with the guitar because I was hearing really cool music made by hip-hop groups that were sampling stuff. And it was slightly out-of-tune a lot of the time. Because the whole thing about sampling back in those days is that people really started to mess with the key. You’d have stuff that was all slightly in different keys all on top of each other, and you’d get this odd effect.

 

“The overall mood of the time for me was that I was hearing a lot of music that you just didn’t really know what was creating that sound.”

 

Beginnings

Born in Queens, New York in 1963 to Irish parents who returned to Dublin when he was 10, Kevin Shields first picked up a guitar in 1980 and began recording at home two years later, using a Yamaha CS-5 synth and Tascam 244 Portastudio.

 

“There were only a handful of them around in Ireland,” he says of the latter. “It ran at high speed and it had the two parametric EQs covering the whole frequency range, which was kind of something at the time. My approach was as much about using the tape machine and the synth as the guitar. Nothing was favoured at that point. I appeared to be a guitar player years later. But really, from the start, I was coming from a kind of post-punk-influenced era where it was quite normal for people to do anything. It was quite an experimental period. The idea that you couldn’t do anything didn’t occur to me.”

 

My Bloody Valentine formed in 1983, around the core of Shields and drummer Colm Ó Cíosóig, and the band’s original singer David Conway. Initially their modus operandi was to record drums and bass in the Tascam 244-based Litton Lane Studios in Dublin, before taking the cassettes home to Shields’ home recording setup for overdubbing. “You’d always record a track when you were bouncing a track,” Shields remembers. “A bit like back in the Beatles days. You wouldn’t waste any opportunity to get an extra track.”

 

Acting on the advice of Gavin Friday (frontman of post-punkers the Virgin Prunes and U2 associate) to “get out of Dublin,” where MBV’s music was considered too noisy and extreme, the band relocated first to Amsterdam and then to West Berlin where they recorded their debut mini-album, 1985’s This Is Your Bloody Valentine, at SCS 8TK Studios.

 

“It had a Tascam 8-track of some sort,” recalls Shields. “The studio unfortunately shared its desk, which was constantly being pulled in and out for live gigs. We actually mixed the album in four hours, ‘cause we had a choice between waiting two or three weeks or mixing it there and then. The guy had to leave at six o’clock, so we were like, ‘We’ll just do it,’ and that was that.”

 

At the time, My Bloody Valentine’s sound was more of a Birthday Party/Cramps-styled hybrid of punk, rockabilly and garage rock. Relocating to London and adding bassist Debbie Googe to the line-up, they released two EPs (Geek! In 1985, The New Record in ’86), their sound becoming more akin to the Jesus & Mary Chain’s full-tilt noise pop. Their next single ‘Strawberry Wine’ and second album, Ecstasy, introduced new singer/guitarist Bilinda Butcher (after David Conway had quit to become a fiction writer).

 

With every release, they were growing more confident in the studio. Due to budget constraints, though, even when making Ecstasy in London’s Alaska Studios, My Bloody Valentine had to work quickly. “It was two studios actually,” Shields remembers, “and we were in the small studio right under a train station. I very much remember always stopping. You’d be doing vocals and you could hear the train coming before anybody else, ‘cause you’d have your headphones turned up. But that was cool. There’s a certain energy that you put into it when you know this is it. There are a lot of advantages to that.”

 

The breakthrough into the layered, mysterious sound that MBV would become famous for came when they signed to Creation Records for the You Made Me Realise EP in 1988, quickly followed the same year by the widely-acclaimed album Isn’t Anything. “Creation had put us in Bark Studios [in Walthamstow, North London] for You Made Me Realise,” says Shields. “We basically did the EP in about five days. We were happy with it, ’cause it was the first time we recorded with an attitude of, ‘We won’t be able to play this live very easily.’ The attitude towards the vocals was very much single takes. You just did one or two takes and that was it, and you used one or the other, you didn’t comp. We wouldn’t add compression. Especially around the Isn’t Anything time, we wouldn’t add any compression to anything.”

 

One other significant development was that Shields’ friend Bill Carey (from Creation band Something Pretty Beautiful) lent him his Fender Jazzmaster, which was to help the guitarist develop his trademark sound. “When we did the You Made Me Realise EP, we didn’t really have many instruments,” he says. “I had a Fender Sidekick 65 that I used quite a lot. They were transistor Fender amps and my friend had lent me his [Fender] Dual Showman valve amp. But I actually preferred the hardness of the transistor amps.

 

“Again, I think it was coming from the fact that what I was hearing a lot from the Public Enemy productions was quite a mid-range hardness. I didn’t know what it was but I just found that it seemed to work with using the transistor amp.”

 

Glider

In February 1989, My Bloody Valentine entered Blackwing Studios in London’s Southwark, for the preliminary sessions of what would become Loveless. Initially, though, their intention was just to quickly make a new EP. “Blackwing was cool, because it was in a big church,” says Shields. “It was slightly on the musty side. It didn’t have that shiny new studio appeal, but it had good, very solid equipment: Studer tape machine and Amek 2500 desk.

 

“I think we had 11 days or something and we felt that we could do an EP. We’d done half of Isn’t Anything in 11 days and so we felt well capable of doing an EP in that sort of time scale. And it just didn’t quite work out. But the one song that came from it was ‘Moon Song’ which came out on the Tremolo EP.”

 

In September ‘89, the Loveless sessions recommenced, moving to Elephant Studios in Wapping, London. “A pretty big live room, pretty low ceiling,” Shields remembers. “It used to a be a car park or something. But there was a sense of space because of the large size of the rooms and there was a good drum room there. They had some good valve mics, Neumann 67s.”

 

In Elephant, Shields made another sonic breakthrough when he realised that he could distort not only his amps, but the U67 itself: “When you drive the 67 mic, as well as the amp, but basically not put the pad on the mic, it has a certain sound. I do remember the engineer being quite concerned about it, but I really liked it.”

 

My Bloody Valentine made great progress at Elephant, recording 10-15 of 25 potential tracks, which they’d demo’ed on cassette. Disaster struck during the two-month Elephant sessions, however, when drummer Colm Ó Cíosóig, undergoing the threat of eviction from his squat and potentially facing homelessness, suffered a nervous breakdown.

 

“Everything just crashed for him,” says Shields. “So he couldn’t really use his legs essentially. We thought it was a good idea, since we’d worked out all the arrangements, to just program the bass drum so then he could play the hi-hat and snare on top.

 

“Then when I started overdubbing guitars, it just felt bad. You could hear that there was a lack of feel between him playing along with the programming. He wasn’t used to it, I guess. So we decided to completely program the drums, just sample everything and make it as live as possible. We sampled many snare drums, many bass drums. Beginnings, middles and ends of all the cymbals. The toms were made out of lots of one hits, two hits, three hits, so you could create any kind of roll.”

 

With the help of engineer Harold Burgon, Shields and Ó Cíosóig programmed the drum parts using Steinberg’s Pro24 software in the Atari ST computer, triggering the sampled sounds in an Akai S900. “It was very similar to what he would’ve played,” Shields points out, “just programmed, with the same drum sounds. The Akai was a good sound. I think that’s the thing that people don’t appreciate is that a lot of the digital stuff that was made in that era... the people who were creating the filters and everything, essentially they’d been listening to analogue all their lives.

 

“By the time we were finishing that, Colm was better. He’d kind of recovered. This all happened within this two-month period, and essentially we were like, Well, let’s just record [live drums] on some of these newer songs like ‘Only Shallow’ and ‘Come In Alone’. He also played toms on ‘Loomer’.”

 

Next, Debbie Googe’s bass sound was created using a combination of DI and amp sound and, significantly, a Vox Tone Bender pedal. “Back then, there were no bass fuzzes that you could buy in the shops,” Shields says. “When you normally plugged a bass into a fuzz pedal, it would just sound a bit thin. Our pedal was a clone that put a weird load on the pickups. You could even put a really thin twangy guitar sound through it and it came out totally full and big, because it was taking all the top end off somehow and then the fuzz circuit was just amplifying everything below 2kHz or something. Nothing over 2kHz was being properly represented from the guitar and was just created by the fuzz unit. So it just had this certain sound.”

 

All the while, Kevin Shields began to develop his ‘glide guitar’ technique, employing experimental tunings and use of the tremolo arm on Fender Jazzmaster and Jaguar guitars to create pitch-bending effects. “The action arm is taped to sort of keep it from going all the way in,” he explains. “That’s so when I’m strumming the guitar, I sort of modify the positions of the end of the arm. If you pick up a guitar and start strumming it holding the tremolo arm, it’s gonna sound quite different than when you don’t hold the tremolo arm, even if you’re not bending. Because depending on how it’s set up, it’s actually moving all the time as you’re playing.

 

“I managed to set it up in such a way that it didn’t move so much unless I moved it. It’s super-loose. So it’s only my downwards pushing that would make it work, as opposed to just strumming it back and forth. If it’s not set up in a certain way, then that starts to affect the pitch as well. You just get a more wobbly thing that doesn’t sound right. It’s one of the reasons why I think when people first started to copy it, it wasn’t working, ‘cause they’d just pick up a guitar and play it with the standard Jazzmaster tremolo setup. It can work, but it rarely does. I figured out a way of modifying it so it became invisible really in my hand. It’s just more of a feeling thing. I wouldn’t even need to be thinking about it.”

 

Amps-wise, Shields variously used a Marshall JCM800 and what he describes as Elephant’s “Dan Armstrong half-valve, half-transistor amp.” Elsewhere, he began experimenting with the studio’s Vox AC4 and AC15 amps. “They were my first introduction to Vox amps and immediately I fell in love with them,” he enthuses. “I discovered that when you use open tunings and you have slightly odd-sounding chords that they really brought out all the harmonics of all the notes in a way that the Marshall didn’t.

 

“I’d read something about a Joni Mitchell tuning and I remember copying it. Or I could be getting confused and it was a Rolling Stones tuning, I can’t remember. But those two I do remember trying out. Mostly I’d just make a tuning up. Just kind of tune the strings until it worked and then start making a song on it.”

 

Another of Shields’s secret weapons was the reverse reverb patch on the Yamaha SPX90 multi-effects processor. “I discovered it back in ’88 when we did the You Made Me Realise EP,” he says “I’d used the reverse reverb before in ’87, but on the song ‘Slow’, it just dawned on me to put the full signal on, with the mix in full effect. When you played soft, it was very quiet, and when you played hard it got really loud because the reverse reverb effect in the SPX90 is essentially made up of lots of little delays that just get louder. It also has a thing called random reverb which was equally usable. So I would swap between them. I would just basically use whichever one appealed to me at that moment.

 

“I used the SPX90 for most of Loveless. The sound was basically a guitar into an amp, the amp miked up, into the SPX90 with the effect on full. It was a pretty clean sound on the amp. So I wound up with this SPX90 effect and I took that and fed that into a Marshall amp and that created the kind of distortion essentially.”

 

Meanwhile for the distinctive squalling riff on ‘Only Shallow’, Shields had something of a eureka moment with a ’60s Burman amp and Fender Showman. “I set them up facing each other with one microphone in the middle and both of them with the tremolo going,” he explains. “So the base sound of the thing was these two amps with the tremolos shaking at different rates. I overdubbed that, so you had four different rates of tremolo. Then I sampled it in the Akai and played it backwards, so it was backwards and forwards at the same time, and then played it an octave higher.”

 

Layers

While many engineers struggled to get their heads around Kevin Shields’s boundary-pushing (and sometimes equipment-endangering) techniques, My Bloody Valentine found one, Alan Moulder, who instantly got what the producer/guitarist was trying to achieve. Moulder was brought in to mix the Glider EP (released April 1990) and stayed on for more sessions for Loveless.

 

“Yes, he got us,” says Shields, “but he was also at a completely different level in standard than we’d come across before. Alan was the first person up to that point that we’d worked with who was completely in a different space. He was extremely positive and motivated and very knowledgeable and also very respectful of the fact that I knew what I wanted.

 

“I wanted everything very dry and he went to great lengths to record everything as dry as possible. He would always build tents around everything. Every guitar sound that was recorded always had huge blankets around [the amps] and everything we could to sort of dry it up and make it as upfront as possible. The reason for that was because of all the sounds I was using. When you use the tremolo arm, it adds a reverb in itself. It adds a sort of space and when you start having room ambience, then it gets weird.

 

“Essentially, when you use a tremolo arm on a guitar, the way I use it, it’s not only pitch bending, it’s also tone bending, ‘cause you get a totally different tonal response as the guitar is changing. Each string has a different tension so you’re not getting uniform tone change. The more room sound on the guitar sound, the more the little resonances just wouldn’t seem to be upfront. This became a big issue at the time. But Alan was just really good. He was the first person I came across I could really trust. I mean, we’d had good people before, but it wasn’t the same.”

 

Adding to the overall melange of MBV’s sound on Loveless were the various keyboard patches comprising of different combinations of feedback, flute and Butcher’s voice. “That was another one of our big things,” says Shields. “I like the pureness of flutes. Also, because of Public Enemy and the kind of samples they were using, I realised that when you make lots of guitar feedback and sample it, you’ve got kind of like endless sounds. So we made a big library of that. If we made a keyboard line, it would be kind of made with these guitar feedback things, then I would also mix a flute sample in there sometimes.

 

“We sampled Bilinda singing across the keyboard, so it wasn’t too Mickey Mouse. It was more or less in the tonal range, maybe three or four notes we’d share between a sample. So we kind of had a Bilinda/guitar feedback library, a Bilinda library and then this basic thing I used from the Akai library which was flute and oboe. They were my main things if I was using keyboard sounds.”

 

One of the stranger legends about the making of Loveless is that Butcher and Shields insisted on recording their vocals at Britannia Row Studios in north London inside a curtained vocal booth, so that no one could see them performing, and that they asked the engineer Anjali Dutt to turn down the control room monitors so she couldn’t hear the singers. Shield confirms that this is in fact true, while explaining his thinking. “I kind of had this weird thing,” he laughs. “Y’know the way in quantum physics that everything gets affected by the observer? Well basically I just decided that I didn’t want anyone to hear what we were doing.

 

“How we’d sing generally, we’d just sing a song from beginning to end. There wouldn’t be any kind of saying, ‘Stop... start again... drop me in there’. We weren’t doing any of that. It was just essentially, ‘Bring the tape to the beginning, roll it, we’ll sing it, we’ll do it again’, and we’d keep on doing that until we got tired. Anjali Dutt was recording us without hearing it. Just monitoring by seeing the meters.”

 

No vocal comping of takes was ever done either in the fashioning of MBV’s distinctive vocal styles. More unusual still, no compression, reverb or delay whatsoever was used. “Nothing at all,” says Shields. “Essentially I just had all of [the takes] running and subtracted ones that weren’t working, then gravitated towards one that would feel particularly good, and that became the lead vocal. The top end and all the consonants and the clarity would come from that. Then behind that is this kind of bed of around 10 or more. So that’s why it doesn’t sound particularly double-tracked. It just sounds like an odd sound, and the sound is created by the fading of the 10 tracks, but they all sound very similar.

 

“That was the sort of thing that me and Bilinda at the time did quite naturally. Once we learned the song, we would sing it very similar each time. It would be markedly the same. And we realised that even to get a double-tracked vocal effect was actually quite difficult, because they’d be so similar.

 

“Our big problem was because we sang reasonably quiet, all the esses, ticks and noises would be your main enemy. Especially painting the picture, you don’t want the esses. Taking a vocal and compressing it wasn’t ideal, because it would just bring out those problems a bit more.”

 

Mixing

For the mixing of Loveless, My Bloody Valentine settled into The Church, North London, working with engineers Darren Allison and Dick Meaney. “We needed somewhere with 48-track and they had excellent monitoring at The Church: this Boxer system by Neil Grant, and [Yamaha] NS10s. Alan Moulder had gone on a bit of a mission to find speakers that weren’t as flattering as NS10s. ‘Cause NS10s are extremely flattering for guitar music. So when I was mixing Loveless, Alan had bought these Acoustic Energy AE1s. Basically I used them and NS10s and then the Boxers. It was a good setup actually.”

 

Given the extreme noise elements of Loveless, it’s perhaps surprising that Shields had a very specific limit to how loudly he monitored while mixing. “Not that loud,” he says. “With mixing, I find that my ears start to compress around 85dB. So while I record loud, and monitor loud at various times, most of the time when I was mixing, it would be sort of around that 84dB area. I could do a trick after a while. I found that with a dB meter you could turn music up and I could literally say, ‘Right, stop,’ and it would always stop around 84.

 

“If I was mixing consistently at 90dB, say, it would sound surprisingly different to me if you heard it really quiet. It’s different when you’re working with a lot of bass and treble, but when you’re doing a lot in mid-range, it doesn’t benefit from blasting the speakers so much because you’re getting conned. You think it’s way more exciting and forward-sounding than it really is.”

 

Shields remembers that ‘Only Shallow’ in particular was a relatively simple track to mix. “I found the track sheet and there’s only three main guitar tracks on it. I kind of panned them, that one was quite stereo. ’Cause that’s the thing, I would use stereo just on a whim. I wasn’t against it or anything. Half the tracks have stereo and half don’t. ‘Only Shallow’ was literally two main guitar tracks that were panned and a guide guitar which I brought in for the last verse. Then there’s four tracks we used for the main guitar [riff] thing when it comes in.”

 

During the mix process, Shields would often experiment with varispeeding the two 24-track tape machines. “‘Only Shallow’ would be a really good example,” he says. “It was slower than it wound up because we sped it up a little bit, from 30ips to 32ips, to help Bilinda sing it comfortably. So when I was mixing ‘Loveless’, I would just decide exactly where I wanted the pitch to be — just randomly go, ‘That sounds good.’ Some songs it would be close to where the vocal really was. Some songs, like ‘Come In Alone’, it was the opposite. It’s me singing but it sounds like Bilinda because I’m actually pitched up. I just let the music dictate the pitch it would be and then the vocal just became this varisped vocal.”

 

Other important features for Shields on Loveless were the transitions between tracks, meaning that he effectively mastered the album at The Church, as he put together the segues in an AMS Audiofile digital audio editor. “We did the stuff back then with DAT machines,” he says. “It was the DTC-1000. Terrible convertors and all that, but it had a sound. We recorded the mixes onto the DAT and then played them from the DAT back into a Massenburg [GML 8200 Stereo Parametric] EQ and then into the AMS Audiofile. The Massenburg has kind of a phase phenomena going on, and that’s partly why it sounds really good. If you use it twice in a row, you get a certain sound that’s actually quite difficult to get any other way.

 

“The AMS Audiofile was just like a big washing machine with a tiny screen. All of the crossfades were just Crossfade 1-10 and you just picked one. One of the big things for me with Loveless was the way it flowed. We spent quite a few days, probably a week, just getting that exact flow correct.”

 

Remastering

For the all-analogue vinyl remaster of Loveless released earlier this year, Kevin Shields gave himself the task of recreating the transitions between the tracks entirely with tape edits of copies of the original half-inch two-track masters. “Andy Savours, the engineer I was working with, did lots of trial and error,” he says. “He found the best way to do it was you essentially get two pieces of tape and you put them on top of each other, and basically just do the edits on both tapes.

 

“The edits that were really hard were the short fades. The AMS Audiofile fades, program 1 or 2 or 3, they were actually only like a half second, but they had a definite curve on them. So we had to do these kind of triangular tape edits — you just cut a huge triangle in the middle of it, so that means that left and right fade in at exactly the same time.

 

“We spent a year achieving the perfect flow again in the analogue domain. We achieved that thanks to Pro Tools, because we could work everything out in Pro Tools and then we would just use mathematics to measure everything. We basically did all the legwork in Pro Tools and then literally went, ‘OK, what would that mean if you turned that into a tape length?’”

 

The vinyl masters completed, Kevin Shields has now turned his attention to two new My Bloody Valentine EPs — one to be released this summer; a second to come next spring. The story of Loveless isn’t over yet, however, with Shields planning to create a double-album vinyl version at some point in the future. Given the amount of time and dedication he’s given to the album down the years, has it ever felt like pushing a boulder up a hill? “Yep,” he laughs. “It didn’t feel like that when we were working out all the edits and stuff, ’cause we were in control of that. Cutting it was really painful because you’re dealing with all these variables.

 

“At one point we were just going in a circle. I was trying to do it at one cutting place and it was just too soft-sounding, and I was sending it to two different pressing plants and neither of them were the one I wound up with. They both were to varying levels changing the sound in ways that I didn’t like. Both of them were subjugating the mid-range but one was adding high end and one was very nice sounding but the high end just wasn’t there. We went with Optimal [Media in Germany] and suddenly we were getting test pressings back that weren’t messing with the sound. Then it was just a case of perfecting it.”

 

One of the things that listeners say about Loveless is that they hear something new in it every time they play it. For Shields, there is no greater compliment, since that’s exactly how he intended the album to be. “The very nature of the way it’s mixed,” he says, “it allows your imagination to sort of play a certain role in the mix. If you mix things in a way that they share a lot of frequencies, your brain plays a role. Also the bending, the constant pitch changing means that it’s difficult for your brain to sort of remember that. You’re always hearing something different every single time.”

 

#mbv #shoegaze #reverb #shields

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SILETZ, Ore. – As part of its tribal outreach program, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Oregon is working with the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians to improve forest health on tribal lands. NRCS provides technical and financial assistance through its Farm Bill programs to help the Siletz Tribe perform pre-commercial thinning on targeted forest stands. Pre-commercial thinning is an essential forestry conservation practice because it removes unhealthy or diseased trees and allows more sunlight for the healthy trees to grow. Pre-commercial thinning also enhances wildlife habitat, reduces soil erosion, and reduces wildfire risk. The overarching goal of the Siletz forestry project is to maintain healthy and resilient forests for future generations. NRCS photo by Tracy Robillard.

Meerkats are born with hair but not full coats and with their eyes closed. They will live in the wild up to 10 years. However, in captivity they can live to be 15 years of age. Although they are relatively healthy animals, they are unfortunately prone to bovine tuberculosis and have been known to get rabies. When they are adults at about one year of age they will weigh around 2 pounds (750 - 820 grams) and stand an average of 12 inches high (30 centimeters). When they are on all four of their feet their height is only 6 inches (15 centimeters). Like all mongooses, they are agile hunters; however, they differ considerably from most of their other relatives. Unlike the typical mongoose of which there are around 35 types, Meerkats live in communities and depend on one another for survival. There are three other types of sociable mongooses, the Banded, the Kousi Mansi and the Dwarf mongooses. They also live in groups, but are not usually found in the Kalahari desert. While most mongooses are nocturnal, Meerkats hunt during the day. They live at night in burrows, which are complex tunnel systems consisting of mounds, access holes, and tunnels which lead to numerous sleeping chambers. A Meerkat community is called a mob or gang, and can number up to 40. There is always a dominate alpha male and dominate alpha female in each gang. The Meerkats larger mongoose relatives typically live alone or in pairs. These intelligent animals are extremely communicative and posses a large vocabulary. They flourish in their environment and are not endangered.

 

Meerkats live in southern part of Africa which is dominated by the Kalahari desert - The Kalahari spreads over the countries of South Africa, Namibia, Angola, Botswana, and Zimbabwe. The Kalahari desert has little rainfall and an arid climate with open plains. It spreads across the Southern part of Africa covering over one million square miles and is 10 times the size of Great Britain. The land is covered by a porous or soft sand that in many places is bright orange in color. The temperature in the summer months of October to April can reach 115 (f) or around 40 (c) which can give a sand temperature of 158 (f) or 70(c). In this harsh environment the difference between being in the sun and shade can be up to 86 (f) or 30 (c). The winter months from May to September are very different from the summer, you will see highs around 70 (f) or 22 (c) during the short days and lows at night down to 14 (f) or -10 (c). Winter is the dry season.

The average rainfall is 12 inches (300 millimeters) which comes between January and April. This is towards the end of the summer. There is little surface water but there is quite a bit of moisture below the sand. Generally, the broad plains of the Kalahari are covered with a thin coat of different types of grass and thorn scrub. When it rains during the summer, which is rare, the desert transforms into a lush carpet of plants, grasses, and flowers.

 

The Kalahari consists of both soft and compacted sands, ranging in color from bright orange to white. Meerkats like the soft sand when digging for food as it lessons the energy requirements in this harsh environment. However, they prefer compact sand to build their burrows which would collapse in softer sands. There could be any number of reasons Meerkats flourish in this environment, though all relate to competition for food and predators. One could speculate that the Meerkat may be a weaker type of mongoose that would find competing for food with other mongooses a tremendous hardship or that their coats would stand out making them easy prey for others. What is known is that Meerkats have specially adapted to the Kalahari, which is described later. The Yellow and the Slender mongooses also live in the Kalahari but generally live in harmony with the Meerkats. This is primarily because they each have a different diet and are not in competition for food. Unfortunately the Yellow mongoose will sometimes eat a Meerkat pup (baby), so meerkats will keep their distance from Yellows when there are pups around. Many other animals have also adapted over time in order to survive in this harsh environment, making the Kalahari a remarkable and interesting place. Even within this barren and harsh environment, animals and plant life flourish.

 

Animals in the Kalahari have a 40% lower metabolic rate then their counterparts in other parts of the world. This adaptation allows animals to survive with less food and water. Of course,the Kalahari's intense heat puts animals at risk of overheating, making the ability to efficiently regulate body temperature a necessity. Body size is key, the smaller the animal the faster the loss and gain of body heat. The "mouse-to-elephant curve" measures this relationship. The general idea is as follows, a gerbil has a 50 times higher metabolic rate than a elephant (per gram of bodyweight); therefore, the amount of energy from food that the gerbil needs to maintain its body temperature is greater than the elephants, making the need for food gathering almost constant. The Meerkat looses 5% of its body weight over night making the search for food very important every day. Can you imagine losing 5% of your body weight over night ? They can also get their fluid requirements from what they eat, so water sources while not a neccessity are helpful.

  

by: Lester Levy Jr

 

Meerkats.net

 

Meerkat characteristics - Meerkats at adulthood will grow to a standing height of 12 inches (30 centimeters) and weigh around 2 lbs. (750-820 grams). A pregnant female will weigh around 2.8 lb. (1.1 kilos). Their legs are short and their bodies are long and thin. Their tails are also long and thin with a dark tip. The reason for the dark tip is to identify other gang members while foraging for food. Meerkats forage for food with their tails in an upright position enabling them to easily identify their fellow gang members. Meerkats reach sexual maturity at 10 months and adulthood at 11 months. Both males and females share similar physical traits such as short hair and gray or tan markings. The markings on their backs are unique and no two are the same. They have dark brown or black bands around their eyes. Their ears are tipped with black or dark brown. They have dark bands on their sides and back. Their faces and throat are predominately a shade of white. There are four digits on each foot with very sharp non-retractile claws which are curved. They use their claws to dig their burrows. Meerkats also have the unique ability to close their ears, this is to keep dirt out while they burrow, which they do quite often.

 

Meerkats fur ranges in color from silver to orange to brown. Much of this depends on the subspecies as well as the sand color in which they live.Even in close proximity in the Kalahari you will find Meerkats with tanish fur in the dried out riverbeds and orange fur in the dunes above. Their coats have a great ability to act as both an insulation to keep heat in and an exhaust system to prevent them from overheating in the harsh climate. In the winter they will spread their hair out so to create a heat insulation effect much like a wet suit. Their stomach acts as a sort of solar panel during the winter months. Under a thin layer of stomach hair is a patch of dark skin which collects heat from the winter sun in order to provide warmth on cool days.

 

Meerkats vision is outstanding. They have a dark band around their eyes, which reduces any glare from the sun. As a result, Meerkats have the ability to see a predatory bird as they look directly into the sun. A Meerkat removes sand from its eyes by blinking. Between the eye and eye lid there is a white membrane called the nictitating membrane. This membrane acts as a windshield wiper and removes sand from their eyes with every blink. However, their ability to see things close up is not as good. Furthermore, they seem to have a problem with depth perception, not being able to focus within 20 feet (6 meters) of themselves. Often they will bob their head up and down trying to get the perspective right. As a result of this nearsightedness, they will often miss food directly in front of them. They often depend on their sense of smell to find food.

   

babies eating scorpion

 

meerkat.org

Meerkat cuisine .- Agile Meerkats always forage for their food in groups but catch and eat their food alone as their diet usually consist of small portions. As they search for their food they spread apart from one another on the desert floor. This distance between foraging Meerkats averages from 6 feet (2 meters) to 45 feet (15 meters), but can extend to 150 feet (50meters). The distance often depends on the availability of food. Generally Meerkats stay at their burrow one or two nights, so there line of foraging is usually from one burrow system to the next. During the winter when there is no grass and food is sparse they have been seen being as far as 150 feet (50 meters) apart. In the late summer when desert grass may reach three feet high and food is abundant they will forage about 6 feet (2 meters) apart. Meerkats frequently communicate with each other while they are looking for food in order to warn of possible dangers in the area or hear a distress call if one gets lost. Usually there is a Meerkat acting as a sentry watching for danger as the others look for food. This is usually the one that is the best fed at the time, there is no evidence that either sex has a predominance for sentry duty. If trouble arises, an alarm is sounded by the sentry and the gang will band together in a mob ( a mob is when Meerkats band together to fight) to assess what the danger is, and take appropriate defense actions. Meerkats will sometimes collect food for their pups and babysitters back at the den. The young pups as they learn to search for food will follow the adults to help supplement their diet. Current studies show that the pup that gives the loudest begging call gets the most food from the adults.

Most of the Meerkats food is found underground and their specially adapted bodies are perfect for this. Their front claws are curved and act as shovels. They often have to dig their own body weight in dirt just to get a small insect. Foraging for a Meerkat means digging here and there and occasionally finding a tasty morsel on the surface then moving forward with the gang on the endless search for food. A typical Meerkats diet consists of worms, crickets, grasshoppers, small rodents, lizards, small snakes, birds, eggs, fruit, and ant larvae (which they especially love). Insects are a particularly good source of nutrition for the Meerkats because they reproduce rapidly and supply an almost constant food source. I have even had the rare chance to see a Meerkat find a Kalahari truffle which is rare and very expensive in stores. He seemed to enjoy it immensely. Meerkats also love to eat poisonous scorpions which are plentiful. They do this by quickly biting off their stingers and then consuming the rest. Meerkats appear to be resistant to many deadly venom's which greatly increases the variety of their diet. A Meerkat will often drag any poisonous prey such as a scorpion or millipede across the sand before eating it. They do this to remove the chemical defenses of their soon to be meal. They will make use of a water source if one is nearby but Meerkats have developed the ability to get all their liquid requirements from their diet. In the summer, the Meerkats must work harder to get their food because the insects have burrowed deeper in the sand in order to be closer to moisture. The rain brings the insects back to the surface, which means feast to the Meerkat.

  

The Meerkat home - As mentioned previously, the Meerkats live in underground burrows which consist of entrance holes, tunnels, and sleeping chambers. There may be up to 70 different entrances to the burrow system which may also serve as an exit if the Meerkat is inside the burrow system. They are territorial and maintain an area of about one to three square miles. Their territorial expansion depends on the size of the gang, as well as, the abundance of food and water in the area. Meerkats mark their territory with the use of their anal gland or saliva from their cheek. This marking is done by the alpha male of the gang. They will protect their boundaries ferociously against other gangs. They have from 6 to 15 dens in their territory and will move dens every day or two. The breeding burrow ,which is where the offspring are born, is an exception to the frequent moves. Meerkats will stay at a breeding burrow for about three weeks. It is at this time that the young are able leave the burrow and start to learn to forage for food with the adults. In addition to this, the parasite loads become heavy in the burrow and fill with ticks, fleas and other undesirables after three weeks. Breeding burrows differ from other burrows in that they will have higher mounds of sand around the entrance holes. This is a result of the continual renovation of the tunnels and sleeping chambers necessary for the longer stays. The mounds of dirt around the entrances can reach up to three feet high. When breeding is successful Meerkats often return to the same breeding burrows to have there young. As the Meerkats rotate burrows, the insect population of each abandoned burrow has the opportunity to multiply. Furthermore, the burrow system itself needs to regenerate while the feces left behind becomes food for other animals and the parasite load decreases. When dens are not being used, snakes and ground squirrels often find them to be convenient residences. Mixed everywhere in the Meerkat territory are bolt holes. A bolt hole is a small system of entrances and tunnels between burrows. These bolt holes give Meerkats a place to take cover if danger arises if they are out foraging.

 

The strategic reasoning behind such an elaborate construction of multiple entrances, is to provide many alternative exits if a dangerous intruder should invade their home. Likewise they have multiple entrances in the burrow if the danger is from the outside. They sleep in groups, cuddled up or on top of each other for warmth as they are particularly sensitive to the cold. In the summer they tend to space out when they sleep. Their sleeping chambers are usually 6 to 8 feet under ground. This keeps the temperature in the sleeping chamber at a more constant level, cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. There are several sleeping chambers in the den but they will only use one at a time, in the breeding burrows there will be more sleeping chambers. They will move sleeping chamber because of build up of contaminates. What may seem odd to you is, Meerkats will urinate in their dens. This could be for several reasons first it may aid in a marking system to one another. Second Meerkats don't survive well alone so to go outside at night to go to the bathroom is not a prudent thing. In captivity though Meerkats can be trained to go to the bathroom in a litter box. There are certain beetles that share their den that they don't eat. These insects will eat their deification. Above the tunnel system, there is usually a dirt mound resulting from all of their excavation. This higher vantage point serves as a lookout point for the small Meerkats. From this outpost of sorts, they can survey the terrain for predators. This done in the the morning before they leave the burrow for foraging and in the evening before they go to bed.

 

Other animals, such as squirrels or the yellow mongoose, sometimes share the Meerkats burrow. Because these animals do not compete with the Meerkats for food, they are allowed to share the den. When pup are born they will keep the yellow mongoose away because they will eat a Meerkat pup. Predators, such as cobras, are not welcome houseguests. Meerkats will purposely harass a cobra in the open so to discourage it from entering the den.

 

Meerkats sometimes move their territories when food becomes to sparse or when another gang of Meerkats forces them from their previous den. Often territories overlap one another and a stronger Meerkat gang will overtake a weaker gangs burrow system. This forces the weaker gang to take the loss and try to expand in another direction, or wait tell they are stronger and retake the lost burrow system.

    

Family standing on home

 

meerkat.org

  

babies feeding

 

meerkat.org

Mating and reproduction - Meerkats try, but do not usually mate for life. Mating in the gang is suppose to be reserved for the alpha male and alpha female, but things happen to change this. First the alpha male might die or be overthrown by another male from inside their gang or another gang. Or the alpha female might mate with a male from a wondering male from another gang while out foraging for food, the alpha male never knowing. What they won't do is mate with another direct family member. When the dominate female is ready to breed she will chase away all the other beta families that can bear children, this will be females at 10 months and older. The temporary outcast will follow the gang until the alpha female has had her pups (babies) and regains her strength. This is done because she wants only her offspring in the gang and another beta female might try and displace her during her weakened time of giving birth. The trailing females often get impregnated from males from other gangs they encounter. Often they will abort these births. If the do give birth they will attempt to sneak them in with the pups of the alpha female. The alpha female will if she notices kill and eat the beta females babies. The beta female have about a 20% chance of getting the young snack in with the alphas females pups. A interesting note, if the alpha female pup die, no other meerkat will eat them. A few days after the birth of the alphas pups, the once outlasted females will rejoin the gang and help with the giving milk to the new pups if they are able. It was once observed that a beta female killed the alpha females pups just after birth and replace them with her pups a few days later, the alpha female not knowing the difference. They can breed every two months but tend to successfully breed two to three times a year depending on food availability. There was one gang observed breeding four times in a year. The gestational period is 70 days resulting in a litter of usually five to six. The pregnant female will increase her body weigh approximately 40% gestation (see - Meerkats are a type of mongoose). The babies, called pups, are born with sparse fur and eyes closed. For the first two weeks they stay in the sleeping chamber and drink their mothers or milk producing females. The third week they will venture outside and stay around the burrow system with a babysitter. . During this period when the alpha female is not feeding the young, babysitters will watch the pups while the alpha female goes out to feed, fortifying her supply of milk and her strength. She will do less sentry duty at this time and never babysitting. From week 4 to week 6 the pups will forage with their elders getting nourishment from both milk and insects. At 6 weeks to 16 weeks they will find their own food as well as be supplemented by the elders, and no longer getting milk. Studies show that the pups that make the loudest begging calls get fed the most from the elders. After sixteen weeks they are on there own to find there food Each pup will be taken on by a adult Meerkat which will act as a mentor, who will take the responsibility to teach the pup necessary skills for foraging for food as well as responding to danger. Male Meerkats tend to mentor male pups and female Meerkats tend to mentor the female pups. Many of skills Meerkats have are taught by the mentors rather then being instinctual.

Meerkats reach sexual maturity at 10 months, and reach adulthood at 11 months. After 10 months a Meerkat may venture out of the gang looking for breeding opportunities. They may also leave to form new gangs or join other gangs. They also may stay with their original gang for up to three years before venturing out. They also may leave in groups of two or three. It takes a brave Meerkat to leave the gang because the road out if filled with many dangers for the sole are small group.

  

Typical day of a Meerkat - Meerkats are extremely social animals. Observing Meerkats is a wonderful experience. They love grooming one another, wrestling and playing with one other. They have avid curiosities and can make a toy of almost anything. Even with all this play, Meerkats do not ignore the need for security. One Meerkat always seems to be a sentry and stands guard to keep the gang safe.

There typical day consist of, they wake up early in the morning as the first rays of sun stretch across the Kalahari. The first to come out of the burrow is usually the last one in from the preceding night. This Meerkat surveys the area to make sure the coast is clear after that the others start to rise one by one from several entrances. They start by soaking up the sun to warm up there bodies from the nights sleep by facing the sun and using their stomachs as solar panels.. One may observe some digging around the entrances, this seems to be more like exercise to warm their bodies up. Then the young start to scurry around play and grooming one another, as the elders spend time grooming sunning. Once hunger starts to set in, the search for food is on. The alpha male sets the direction for the day and decide weather or not to move towards another burrow system.. Scurrying hear and there and digging here and there, but always one is on sentry. As the day goes on and the heat sets in they will stop for a rest. These rest periods are longer during the summers but so are the days. As the day cools they are off again in the afternoon in search of food. Just before sunset they will arrive at the den for the night. At this time they will commence on repairs of the den as well as well deserved grooming and giving one another affection which is really marking one another with the anal gland or cheek saliva. As the sun falls, they descend one by one into the burrow for sleep all huddled together. Lastly, they don't like the rain and will stay in their burrow and not forage for food until the rain stops.

 

Interestingly enough Meerkats seem to identify one another my smell rather than sight. That is why the are constantly marking one another. For instance if a Meerkat gets separated for some time and try to rejoin the gang, the gang will think it is a intruder and get in a mobbing defense stance ( mobbing is when they huddle together so to look bigger and present aggressive behavior) until they smell what they think is the unknown Meerkat. Once the sent is recognized everything is fine.

 

Two babies playing - by -Alain Degre

  

A sentry in a tree

 

by:Alain Degre

 

Meerkats social structure - To survive, Meerkats must live in groups for protection, as the desert presents many challenges. Each Meerkat has an important, role to perform. It was first thought Meerkats had well defined roles in their gang from being a sentry to baby sitting to foraging for food for the young. Recent studies have disprove this and actually show that hormonal changes in Meerkats influence their behavior. Also the conditions around the burrow system effect their responsibilities. When food and water is abundant more time is spent being sentries, renovating the burrow systems, relaxing and caring for the young. Some things are instinctual while others are taught to the pups by the elders. For example raising young is a learned behavior for Meerkats. If a pup is separated at birth and kept as a pet, and the pup gets pregnant. She will not know how to raise her young or teach them how to forage for food. Meerkat roles vary:

 

alpha male - Dominate male of the gang, has breeding rights to the alpha female. The dominate male is not necessarily decided by the largest male in the gang.

 

alpha female - Dominate female of the gang, all betas are subservient to her. Only one that is suppose to breed in the gang.

 

beta male - Subservient males will leave the gang by 3 years in search of better breeding opportunities. They are 10 months or older

 

beta female - Subservient females will support the alpha Meerkats. They will be driven temporally from the gang by the alpha female when she is ready to get pregnant. They will leave the gang by 3 years in search of better breeding opportunities. At 10 months or older they are at sexual maturity.

 

pups - Meerkat babies, 10 months or younger.

 

babysitter - Stays with the pups while the gang is out foraging for food. Different gang members take the responsibility different days, this is not domiated by males of females. Generally though the least hungry Meerkat will do the babysitting. The alpha female never baby-sits. This duty is for Meerkats 6 months or older.

 

sentry - Watches over the gang to spot danger. It is either done standing on the ground or climbing a tree or bush. Known to climb up to 30 feet in a tree to do sentry duty. This duty is not dominated by males or female. There is a sentry on watch both at the burrow system as well as when the gang is foraging for food. During times of less available food less sentry duty is done when searching for food.

 

excavating - Necessary to renovate burrow systems. Often Meerkats will get one behind another and work together to move sand out of the burrow system. Like how firemen would hand buckets of water to one another to put out a fire in the old days.

 

mentoring - A elder Meerkat will take on the responsibility of teach a pup the do's and do don'ts of being a Meerkat. This includes how to raise young, how to forage for food, and what dangers lurk about.

 

grooming - Meerkats like to groom one another, and in fact have a natural reflex to groom when the area where there back and tail meet is stimulated. They will remove ticks and fleas from one anther and actually eat them, though these parasites are not a normal part of the diet

 

play fighting - Often done by the young in the morning and to a lesser degree in the evening. Adults will also play fight. This teaches the young to fight as well puts a dominance order to the gang.

 

Beta males and famales often leave the gang by three years to live with different gangs or join together to form different gangs in order to increase their chances to breed. Meerkats that embark on this journey alone or in groups of two or three face great danger, as Meerkats are most vulnerable when they few in number. Sometimes Meerkats will ally themselves with one another and takeover another gang, and getting rid of the competitive alpha male and perhaps the alpha female.

 

The size and makeup of the meerkat community determines what duties each will have. There is usually a dominate male and female in the community although there also seems to be a second in command. I have seen a case where the alpha female was killed and the alpha male did not seem to know what to do. He had not taken on another alpha female because that would mean a female from the outside. It was felt he would at some point leave the gang in search of throwing out another alpha male from a rival gang. The alpha male is responsible for marking the territory, some of the foraging trips turn into more of scouting trips so the alpha male can mark the outer boundaries of the territory. These tend to be days of more movement and less foraging for food.

 

Fights happen between rival Meerkat gangs. It generally happens for two reasons. One is territory conflict. When one gang encroaches on another gangs territory. Once the two gangs come in contact with one another they group up together and fluff their fur out and jump up and down to make themselves appear bigger, also making allot of noise. This is called mobbing. Each gang is assessing the others strength. Sometimes they separating and go opposite directions other times a ferocious fight breaks out. Meerkats will kill rival gang members if they can. Also during a fight 2 or 3 Meerkats may jump on a rival biting and scratching him. It will look like a big pile of dust. During or directly after attacks, the dominant male will take a few minutes to asses the situation and decide weather there was a victory or his gang members have fled, in this case he will retreat himself. The other case happens when roaming Meerkats either solo or in small groups are looking for better breeding possibilities try to join other gangs. Mobbing occurs and they may be or may not be successful at joining the gang..

 

#How did the Meerkat evolve

How did the Meerkat evolve - According to Sean Doolan, they evolved from the southern tip of Africa or the Cape of Good Hope,where a type of extinct Meerkat, called the Suricata Suricatta major, has been found . The extinct Meerkat was similar to the banded mongoose. The current theory is that the Meerkat evolved from the banded mongoose. As the weather climate changed in the region, so did the Meerkats ability to survive in drier conditions.

 

Why the meerkat stands - Meerkats walk and run on all four, there head is only six inches above ground in this state. When they stand, their total height is 12 inches, providing them with a much better vantage point to see danger. In order to attain an even better vantage point, they will also climb trees and bushes. Their vision is good but depth perception does not appear to be as strong. They bob their head up and down to get distance measurement when objects or close. this gives them different focal points.When facing a threat, they will stand, arch their bodies and erect their tails in an attempt to appear bigger.

  

What threatens Meerkats? - The threats to a meerkat come from sky, land and weather. In the sky, the Martial Eagle, with a wing span of six feet, can easily prey on adults, while other smaller birds of prey prefer to snatch the young. When the winged predator is seen the alarm goes out and all sprint for nearby bolt holes. If they are not near any bolt holes the will lie on the ground and depend on camouflage They also may take cover in thorny bushes where the birds dare not venture. On the ground, the jackal and other wild cats are the Meerkats primary foe; however, when banded together, Meerkats have the ability to chase away a jackal. Badgers can also be a threat, as their burrowing can penetrate the Meerkats den making them more vulnerable prey. As mentioned previously, the cobra sometimes threatens meerkat young. Meerkats will mob a cobra relentlessly if it tries to enter their burrow. They are agile enough to avoid a snakes strike. They even have the ability to kill a cobra. If they come across one while our foraging they will temporarily mob it and once the situation is under control move on. A puff header snake will also eat Meerkat pups. I have read about a sighting in which a group of Banded mongooses actually climbed a tree to rescue one of their family members from a eagle. Both the Banded mongoose and the meerkat have similar social habits.

Meerkats are also threatened by other competitive gangs as mentioned above. The sentry's alarm will sound if another gang of Meerkats is encroaching upon marked territory. The fights are fierce but sometimes fatal as submission is the goal. The winners, usually the larger of the groups, take or keep the burrow system in question. One interesting note after the fight and Meerkats try and rejoin there gang small fight break out because they have difficulty recognizing each other by sight. The Meerkat rejoining their gang may smell like the rival gang. After the conflict, the winners will hug and congratulate each other with human-like gestures, this is rely remarking each other.. Often non-dominant Meerkats defect from the losing group to the winner's side.

 

The summer rains also threaten the Meerkats. When rain approaches, the sentry sends the alarm off. As there are often newborns during this time, they must make sure the are on high ground so to avoid a flooding of the burrow system. The alpha female will transport the young one by one to the higher ground burrow. At night they may get stuck in a flooding burrow system.

 

The most famous of all Meerkats - There are two famous Meerkats that should be mentioned One is Timone, who was featured in the Lion King. Timone, the cartoon character, is based on the real-life Meerkat Timone who which is domesticated resides outside of Palm Springs, California at the only private refuge for Meerkats in existence. For more information, visit www.meerkats.com. You can actually go and visit Timone and hand feed other Meerkats there. I did and it was a terrific experience.

The second is Ziziphus of the Lazuli gang. She is a wild Meerkat and lives in the Kalahari and has been the subject of numerous documentaries and films. One of her more prominent projects is Walking With Meerkats which is a National Geographic documtory filmed in 2000.

  

Meerkat communication - Meerkats constantly communicate with one another in three different ways: scent, sound, and body language. There have over 20 different sounds that have been recorded which have different meanings. These calls can be broken down into six different groups: lost calls, alarm calls, leading the group calls, pup feeding calls, guarding calls, and foraging calls. For example, while out looking for food, they are are constantly communicating in what sounds like a kind of growling. It helps them to keep track of one another's location since they forage up to 15 feet (5 meters) apart. When the young are learning how to forage, they are very loud and can be heard up to a hundred yards away. If they become separated from the adults, the volume of their cries increases so that an adult will come to get them. They have numerous sounds that are used when grooming and playing

 

When on guard duty, there is an entirely different assortment of sounds employed. These sounds are constant and communicate to everyone else what is happening during the watch. When everything is fine, the sentry emits mellow tones. When a predator is spotted at a distance, a beeping sound is given, almost like a yellow alert. If the predator gets closer, the sound differentiates depending on the type of predator. The martial eagle tends to get the most frantic alarm even from great distance. Meerkats allow some predators to get very close before they sound the red alert (up to 100 feet from the den).

 

One last interesting point, sound can be broken up into one, two, three, and even four syllable calls.

  

How the seasons effect Meerkats -

 

In the Savanna desert, temperatures can vary greatly. Remember, Meerkats live on southern hemisphere as opposed to the United States and Europe which are on the northern hemisphere. South of the equator and the seasons are opposite of those in the northern hemisphere. The Kalahari summer is considered the wet season, . The summer months October to April temperature can reach 115 (f) or around 40 (c) which can give a sand temperature of 158 (f) or 70(c). In this harsh environment the difference between being in the sun and shade can be up to 86 (f) or 30 (c). The winter months from May to September are very different from the summer, you will see highs around 70 (f) or 22 (c) during the short days and lows at night down below freezing to 14 (f) or -10 (c). Winter is the dry season. Because of these dramatic temperature changes, their feeding habits change accordingly

 

In the wet season or summer, Meerkats get up early in order to avoid looking for food in the heat. As the day gets warmer, they look for food in shaded areas. At mid-day they return to their den or find a nice, shaded spot for a mid-day nap. If they nap outside, they will lie on their belly with legs stretched out and often throw cooler sand on their back. They will pant during the summer this aids in reducing their body temperature. The yellow mongoose shares this behavior. They wake for a late afternoon feeding which ends at sunset. This season is a virtual feast for Meerkats, as the rain brings out an abundance of food and vegetation especially towards the end of summer from January to April. Grasses on the dunes can reach heights of over three feet tall! Meerkats will eat to their hearts content and their little bellies stick out.

 

In the dry season or winter, they wait until it warms up a little (9 a.m.) to go and look for food. No mid-day naps at this time. They stay out all day and get back around 4:30 p.m. Meerkats then remain in their den to avoid the rapid and severe temperature change night brings. Food is not as abundant during this time and foraging for food is more difficult. They have to do allot more digging and cover more territory to find adequate nutrition. They will also eat ants, ant eggs, millipedes, and small beetles which are less appealing to them than their summer favorites of lizards, insect larvae, and scorpions.

  

Meerkats like most other living creatures change their behavior patterns as conditions change. As one reads about the charertistics of any animal you must know whether the animal was observed in captivity or in the wild. Unfortunately most of what has been written about Meerkats has been in captivity, because of the remote habitat where they live makes it hard reach. Therefor it is interesting to understand how their behavior changes when confined to zoos.

 

The gang will find many differences in captivity. For example food will be abundant and the normal procurement of food such as digging is not necessary. Also space is significantly limited. So the Meerkats will not migrate from burrow to burrow, but stay in one burrow system. They also are not able to forage for food keeping them within meters of there burrow system for their whole lives. Predators are non existent in captivity so there alert systems are dulled. In captivity one will find Meerkats living longer and bigger. Meerkats do fine in captivity, in fact for the Meerkat which spends most of its time looking for food in the wild, this is probably a vacation. In captivity Meerkats are known to mate up to twice a year while in the wild they only mate once a year. Their cuisine is quite different to. In captivity the keepers may feed mice, worms and other sorted insects locally available. A Scorpion, a Meerkat delight would never be seen. Meerkats that don't get along with the gang will be separated and put in another habitat.

 

Would Meerkats make good pets? - The answer to this question is no, not really. In the United States, you need special permits to keep these animals. The government mandates strict specification for Meerkats enclosures as well as their climate. Meerkats will think your family is their gang and the are the alpha. When you have guest to your home they will get aggressive towards them. A host of other animals would make more appropriate pets! I have run into many people in southern part of Africa that keep Meerkats as pets and say they can be friendly. They are terrific pets though if you have a scorpion infestation problem.

  

I love crazy golf, and playing Seafront Mini Golf was an absolute pleasure - kudos to those who run it as it is a really well maintained course.

 

And there was even a hole with a proper windmill obstacle - ace.

WWII Weekend at Dover Castle, May 2014.

Swedish Air Force aircraft maintainers provide an introduction to the JAS 39 Gripen fighter jet to U.S. Air Force aircraft maintainers assigned to the Air National Guard’s 169th Fighter Wing from McEntire Joint National Guard Base, S.C., in support of Arctic Challenge Exercise 2019 at Kallax Air Base, Luleå, Sweden, May 29, 2019. ACE 19 is a Nordic aviation exercise that provides realistic, scenario-based training to prepare forces for enemy defensive systems. Interoperability and combined training during exercises like ACE 19 enhances professional relationships and improves overall coordination with allies and partner militaries. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sgt. Edward Snyder)

U.S. Air Force aircraft maintainers, assigned to the 169th Fighter Wing from McEntire Joint National Guard Base of the South Carolina Air National Guard, working in Rionegro, Colombia, Aug. 14, 2014, during Relampago (Lightning) 2014. Relampago is a combined air cooperation engagement with the Republic of Colombia. One hundred Airmen and six F-16s are participating in the first major joint-air training opportunity under the auspices of the South Carolina National Guard's State Partnership Program with the country of Colombia. (U.S. Air National Guard Courtesy Photo/Released)

Villa Gregoriana is a park located in Tivoli, Italy. It is maintained by the Fondo Ambiente Italiano (FAI), which gives free entry to its members and to members of the UK's National Trust.

 

The park, located at the feet of the city's ancient acropolis, was commissioned by Pope Gregory XVI in 1835 to rebuild the bed of the Aniene River, which had been damaged by the flood of 1826. Since ancient times, the river formed a wide curve around the acropolis, after which it fell from a limestone's spur into the plain below. The river formed originally four falls, now reduced to two. The site had a strategical importance since it commanded the route from Abruzzo along the road which later become the Via Valeria. The Romans had already built here hydraulic pumps, 12 of which are known by findings today.

 

It had fallen into ruins by the end of the 20th century, but was reopened to the public in 2005 thanks to a major landscape recovery project orchestrated by the FAI, the Italian National Trust.

 

Villa Gregoriana consists mainly of thick woodlands with paths that lead to the caves of Neptune and the Sirens, which form part of a series of gorges and cascades, and to the Great Waterfall.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Gregoriana

For more information, see also: www.visitfai.it/dimore/parcovillagregoriana/dimora

Savings group

 

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In the Teso region of Uganda, Cordaid and partner organization SOCADIDO support female farmers who struggle to maintain their livelihood because of climate change, land depletion or a lack of tools and agricultural knowledge. Cordaid and SOCADIDO provide seeds, tools, technology and training.

 

The program started in August 2017 and has been implemented in 9 sub-counties in Teso and supports 9000 farmers in total. The main objectives are threefold: increase food production, reduce post-harvest losses and improve access to finance for the farmers.

 

Each participating farmer received 2 kilograms of seeds, mainly black-eyed peas, corn and vegetables like cassava and potato, which they plant in a plot of land of about one acre.

 

All 9000 participating farmers are put into groups of 30. The 300 farming groups are trained on harvest loss reduction, how to organize savings and credit and improve economic activities.

 

Each sub-county also has a marketing association. That is where the farmers collect their produce reserved for the market after they put aside all they need for their own consumption. The farmers get paid per kilogram of product sold. The association connects the sellers and buyers.

 

"The problem was that they had a poor bargaining position and often had to sell their products for a bad price", says Tom Edul, Program Coordinator for the Female Farmers Deserve Better program. "As a group, the farmers are much stronger and better equipped to improve their income."

 

Another vital factor in raising the value of their products is the possibility to save the harvests for a longer time. In some cases, the time of year greatly determines the price of the products. By providing the farmers with special bags, called PICS bags, fruits and vegetables can be saved for months. Now they can wait for the right time to sell and get a much better price.

 

The successful project is about to end in a few months, but SOCADIDO is eager to extend and expand. Edul: "We really want to continue. The results are great, and we have really made a difference in the lives of these farmers. Our methods of distributing PICS bags, providing tarpaulins for drying the harvest, which increases the quality of the produce, and the implementation of irrigation systems, are unique in this region. The farmers truly appreciate our efforts and they now have the confidence and courage to sell their products on the markets for a reasonable price. They can sustain themselves and even grow their businesses."