Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, Jerome Powell, Chair of the Federal Reserve, Paschal Donohoe, Finance Minister of Ireland, and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organization, participate in a seminar on the global economy moderated by CNBC’s Sara Eisen, Co-Anchor of Closing Bell, during the 2021 Spring Meetings from the International Monetary Fund.

IMF Photo/Cliff Owen

8 April 2021

Washington, DC, United States

Photo ref: CO201341.ARW

I managed to get the rain gutters cleaned before the next storm arrives, assuming we'll see another one, and thought "wow I should do a face down up here". My neighbors have seen me do strange things with my camera but they've never seen me lay on the roof before. No doubt there will be several "For Sale" signs go up before I get home from work today :)

Happy Face Down Tuesday!!!

Managed to sneak out for an hour after dropping off some stuff to friend, to do some night photography. A bit in line with a friend's style with some Buffalo flavor.

We did manage to sneak in a quick road trip between the corn and bean planting. Not the best of weather, but still some interesting scenes. Enjoy

managed out on my own today taken at my local rspb

Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva meets with President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, at the Presidents Office in Urugwiro Village in Kigali, Rwanda. The MD is on a two day visit to Rwanda

IMF Photo/Kim Haughton

25 January 2023

Kigali, Rwanda

Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva rehearses her IMFC Plenary speech at the International Monetary Fund.

IMF Photo/Cory Hancock

20 April 2022

Washington, DC, United States

Photo ref: CH220420109.arw

Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, Head of the BIS Innovation Hub Benoît Cœuré, and Professor at Cornell University and Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution Eswar Prasad participate in “The Digital Money Revolution” seminar moderated by Chief Economics Commentator at the Financial Times Martin Wolf during the 2021 Annual Meetings at the International Monetary Fund.

IMF Photo/Joshua Roberts

15 October 2021

Washington, DC, United States

Photo ref: JR2110323040.jpg

My parents' cat, Kenobi, enjoys shredding toilet paper whenever he gets the chance. And then he has the nerve to give me that innocent look.

Obi has his own catster page now: www.catster.com/cats/569556

Managed to sneak this picture in whilst out fossil collecting with my children. This was taken around lunchtime with quite flat light, perfect big stopper territory.

Boyer Paris Saphir 1:3.5 F=75mm

Morrisons have finally managed to break away from their three year old stock of mainline Majorette singles and join 2016 with a new updated range which is even better than before! Since discovering them just yesterday I've managed to visit a few of their local stores and all bar one which is usually hopeless anyway for diecasts have good stocks of them on clip strips distributed throughout the aisles. I managed to grab a few of these Opel Adam models as I have hankered after it for a while now but have always resisted pain internet prices for them! Well the patience has paid off as this fresh and current little casting can be yours for just one pound and its worth every penny! A bright yellow and black colour combo finishes it off nicely and it goes without saying that detailing is top notch for a diecast which here in the U.K. retails at LESS than the average price of an inferior Mainline HW and MBX. Mint and boxed.

managed to get some shots of the inside of the new macbook pro unibody while pluggin new RAM inside

Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva participates in a roundtable discussion on the subject of “Building a Resilient and Inclusive Future; Supporting Africa’s Climate Agenda” in the Convention Centre, Kigali.

IMF Photo/Kim Haughton

25 January 2023

Kigali, Rwanda

Managed to hear this GSW drumming in the garden yesterday. A few grab shots and then he flew leaving me with this hole in the tree.

Forex Village is one of the best sites for finding out information about the best forex managed account managers on the internet, and they regularly carry out reviews of forex managed account service providers, ensuring a quality service for the readers

Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva participates in her press conference at the International Monetary Fund.

IMF Photo/Cory Hancock

20 April 2022

Washington, DC, United States

Photo ref: CH220420069.arw

Llawhaden Castle is a ruined castle in Llawhaden, Pembrokeshire, Wales, 10 miles (16 km) east of Haverfordwest. A motte-and-bailey castle is thought to have previously occupied the site and the present structure was built by the bishops of the Diocese of St David in the 13th century. The castle was abandoned in the 16th century and some of the stone was removed for local building projects. The site is privately owned by the Lord of the Manor of Llawhaden and managed by Cadw.

The ruins of Llawhaden Castle stands on a hill overlooking the River Cleddau, The remaining ruins date from the early 13th century. It is surrounded by a ditch, which was designed to be only crossable by a drawbridge. The castle is pentagonal in shape and while the north-western and western sides of the castle are no longer present, the other three sides remain. The gatehouse is located on the southern side, which is formed of two drum towers and a gateway. This was also where the drawbridge would have been located to allow entrance to the interior of the castle. The ruins are managed by Cadw, and are open to the public.

Llawhaden and its hinterland were lands owned by the Bishopric of the Diocese of St David, since at least the later years of the realm of Deheubarth. Following the Norman conquest of Deheubarth, these lands (of which Llawhaden and its hinterland were a detached part) became the Marcher Lordship of Dewisland, ruled by the Bishops;[6] it was the only ecclesiastically-ruled Marcher Lordship. Marcher Lords had such great authority that they were almost sovereign.

The first Norman Bishop, Bernard, constructed a castle on the site in the year that he was appointed - 1115. Only a moat and an earth bank from this period survive, although it is thought to have been a motte-and-bailey castle. The stone-built building came later; the vast majority of the ruins seen today date from the construction commissioned by Bishop Adam de Houghton between 1362 and 1389. This was much grander, with two suites of residences situated on the first floor. The gatehouse shown in the picture was probably added at a later date.[8] Additions continued to be made to the castle into the early years of the reign of Henry VIII of England.

The building fell into decline under the control of Bishop William Barlow, the first Bishop appointed after Henry's Laws in Wales Acts had abolished Marcher Lordships. Barlow was an ardent Church Reformist, whose appointment had been encouraged by Thomas Cranmer, and who was significantly unenamoured with St. Davids and its traditions. Barlow sold the lead from the castle roof, supposedly to pay for the dowry of one of his daughters, resulting in damage to the rest of the building from which it never recovered. After the dissolution of the monasteries (which met no resistance from Protestant reformists like Barlow), the castle was completely abandoned, falling into disrepair; it was subsequently quarried for building stone.

In 1930, George Lansbury, then First Commissioner of Works in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, organised a party of 1,300 previously unemployed men for six months to do renovation work on several castles. Llawhaden Castle was among those worked on, with several tasks undertaken including digging out moats and ditches, as well as removing ivy and undergrowth.

Pembrokeshire is a county in the south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and is otherwise surrounded by the sea. Haverfordwest is the largest town and administrative headquarters of Pembrokeshire County Council.

The county is generally sparsely populated and rural, with an area of 200 square miles (520 km2) and a population of 123,400. After Haverfordwest, the largest settlements are Milford Haven (13,907), Pembroke Dock (9,753), and Pembroke (7,552). St Davids (1,841) is a city, the smallest by population in the UK. Welsh is spoken by 17.2 percent of the population, and for historic reasons is more widely spoken in the north of the county than in the south.

Pembrokeshire's coast is its most dramatic geographic feature, created by the complex geology of the area. It is a varied landscape which includes high sea cliffs, wide sandy beaches, the large natural harbour of Milford Haven, and several offshore islands which are home to seabird colonies. Most of it is protected by Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, and can be hiked on the 190-mile (310 km) Pembrokeshire Coast Path. The interior of Pembrokeshire is relatively flat and gently undulating, with the exception of the Preseli Mountains in the north.

There are many prehistoric sites in Pembrokeshire, particularly in the Preseli Mountains. During the Middle Ages several castles were built by the Normans, such as Pembroke and Cilgerran, and St David's Cathedral became an important pilgrimage site. During the Industrial Revolution the county remained relatively rural, with the exception of Milford Haven, which was developed as a port and Royal Navy dockyard. It is now the UK's third-largest port, primarily because of its two liquefied natural gas terminals. The economy of the county is now focused on agriculture, oil and gas, and tourism.

Human habitation of the region that is now Pembrokeshire extends back to between 125,000 and 70,000 years  and there are numerous prehistoric sites such as Pentre Ifan, and neolithic remains (12,000 to 6,500 years ago), more of which were revealed in an aerial survey during the 2018 heatwave; in the same year, a 1st-century Celtic chariot burial was discovered, the first such find in Wales. There may have been dairy farming in Neolithic times.

There is little evidence of Roman occupation in what is now Pembrokeshire. Ptolemy's Geography, written c. 150, mentioned some coastal places, two of which have been identified as the River Teifi and what is now St Davids Head, but most Roman writers did not mention the area; there may have been a Roman settlement near St Davids and a road from Bath, but this comes from a 14th-century writer. Any evidence for villas or Roman building materials reported by mediaeval or later writers has not been verified, though some remains near Dale were tentatively identified as Roman in character by topographer Richard Fenton in his Historical Tour of 1810. Fenton stated that he had "...reason to be of opinion that they had not colonized Pembrokeshire till near the decline of their empire in Britain".

Part of a possible Roman road is noted by CADW near Llanddewi Velfrey, and another near Wiston. Wiston is also the location of the first Roman fort discovered in Pembrokeshire, investigated in 2013.

Some artefacts, including coins and weapons, have been found, but it is not clear whether these belonged to Romans or to a Romanised population. Welsh tradition has it that Magnus Maximus founded Haverfordwest, and took a large force of local men on campaign in Gaul in 383 which, together with the reduction of Roman forces in south Wales, left a defensive vacuum which was filled by incomers from Ireland.

Between 350 and 400, an Irish tribe known as the Déisi settled in the region known to the Romans as Demetae.  The Déisi merged with the local Welsh, with the regional name underlying Demetae evolving into Dyfed, which existed as an independent petty kingdom from the 5th century.  In 904, Hywel Dda married Elen (died 943), daughter of the king of Dyfed Llywarch ap Hyfaidd, and merged Dyfed with his own maternal inheritance of Seisyllwg, forming the new realm of Deheubarth ("southern district"). Between the Roman and Norman periods, the region was subjected to raids from Vikings, who established settlements and trading posts at Haverfordwest, Fishguard, Caldey Island and elsewhere.

Dyfed remained an integral province of Deheubarth, but this was contested by invading Normans and Flemings who arrived between 1067 and 1111.  The region became known as Pembroke (sometimes archaic "Penbroke":), after the Norman castle built in the cantref of Penfro. In 1136, Prince Owain Gwynedd at Crug Mawr near Cardigan met and destroyed a 3,000-strong Norman/Flemish army and incorporated Deheubarth into Gwynedd.  Norman/Flemish influence never fully recovered in West Wales.  In 1138, the county of Pembrokeshire was named as a county palatine. Rhys ap Gruffydd, the son of Owain Gwynedd's daughter Gwenllian, re-established Welsh control over much of the region and threatened to retake all of Pembrokeshire, but died in 1197. After Deheubarth was split by a dynastic feud, Llywelyn the Great almost succeeded in retaking the region of Pembroke between 1216 and his death in 1240.  In 1284 the Statute of Rhuddlan was enacted to introduce the English common law system to Wales, heralding 100 years of peace, but had little effect on those areas already established under the Marcher Lords, such as Cemais in the north of the county.

Henry Tudor, born at Pembroke Castle in 1457, landed an army in Pembrokeshire in 1485 and marched to Cardigan.  Rallying support, he continued to Leicestershire and defeated the larger army of Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field. As Henry VII, he became the first monarch of the House of Tudor, which ruled England until 1603.

The Laws in Wales Act 1535 effectively abolished the powers of the Marcher Lords and divided the county into seven hundreds, roughly corresponding to the seven pre-Norman cantrefi of Dyfed. The hundreds were (clockwise from the northeast): Cilgerran, Cemais, Dewisland, Roose, Castlemartin, Narberth and Dungleddy and each was divided into civil parishes; a 1578 map in the British Library is the earliest known to show parishes and chapelries in Pembrokeshire. The Elizabethan era brought renewed prosperity to the county through an opening up of rural industries, including agriculture, mining and fishing, with exports to England and Ireland, though the formerly staple woollen industry had all but disappeared. 

During the First English Civil War (1642–1646) the county gave strong support to the Roundheads (Parliamentarians), in contrast to the rest of Wales, which was staunchly Royalist. In spite of this, an incident in Pembrokeshire triggered the opening shots of the Second English Civil War when local units of the New Model Army mutinied. Oliver Cromwell defeated the uprising at the Siege of Pembroke in July 1648.  On 13 August 1649, the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland began when New Model Army forces sailed from Milford Haven.

In 1720, Emmanuel Bowen described Pembrokeshire as having five market towns, 45 parishes and about 4,329 houses, with an area of 420,000 acres (1,700 km2). In 1791 a petition was presented to the House of Commons concerning the poor state of many of the county's roads, pointing out that repairs could not be made compulsory by the law as it stood. The petition was referred to committee.  People applying for poor relief were often put to work mending roads. Workhouses were poorly documented. Under the Poor Laws, costs and provisions were kept to a minimum, but the emphasis was often on helping people to be self-employed. While the Poor Laws provided a significant means of support, there were many charitable and benefit societies. After the Battle of Fishguard, the failed French invasion of 1797, 500 French prisoners were held at Golden Hill Farm, Pembroke. From 1820 to 1878 one of the county's prisons, with a capacity of 86, was in the grounds of Haverfordwest Castle. In 1831, the area of the county was calculated to be 345,600 acres (1,399 km2) with a population of 81,424.

It was not until nearly the end of the 19th century that mains water was provided to rural south Pembrokeshire by means of a reservoir at Rosebush and cast iron water pipes throughout the district.

Throughout much of the 20th century (1911 to 1961) the population density in the county remained stable while it rose in England and Wales as a whole. There was considerable military activity in Pembrokeshire and offshore in the 20th century: a naval base at Milford Haven because German U-boats were active off the coast in World War I and, in World War II, military exercises in the Preseli Mountains and a number of military airfields. The wartime increase in air activity saw a number of aircraft accidents and fatalities, often due to unfamiliarity with the terrain. From 1943 to 1944, 5,000 soldiers from the United States Army's 110th Infantry Regiment were based in the county, preparing for D-Day. Military and industrial targets in the county were subjected to bombing during World War II. After the end of the war, German prisoners of war were accommodated in Pembrokeshire, the largest prison being at Haverfordwest, housing 600. The County of Pembroke War Memorial in Haverfordwest carries the names of 1,200 of those that perished in World War I.

In 1972, a second reservoir for south Pembrokeshire, at Llys y Fran, was completed.

Pembrokeshire's tourism portal is Visit Pembrokeshire, run by Pembrokeshire County Council. In 2015 4.3 million tourists visited the county, staying for an average of 5.24 days, spending £585 million; the tourism industry supported 11,834 jobs. Many of Pembrokeshire's beaches have won awards, including Poppit Sands and Newport Sands. In 2018, Pembrokeshire received the most coast awards in Wales, with 56 Blue Flag, Green Coast or Seaside Awards. In the 2019 Wales Coast Awards, 39 Pembrokeshire beaches were recognised, including 11 awarded Blue Flag status.

The Pembrokeshire coastline is a major draw to tourists; in 2011 National Geographic Traveller magazine voted the Pembrokeshire Coast the second best in the world and in 2015 the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park was listed among the top five parks in the world by a travel writer for the Huffington Post. Countryfile Magazine readers voted the Pembrokeshire Coast the top UK holiday destination in 2018, and in 2019 Consumers' Association members placed Tenby and St Davids in the top three best value beach destinations in Britain. With few large urban areas, Pembrokeshire is a "dark sky" destination. The many wrecks off the Pembrokeshire coast attract divers. The decade from 2012 saw significant, increasing numbers of Atlantic bluefin tuna, not seen since the 1960s, and now seen by some as an opportunity to encourage tourist sport fishing.

The county has a number of theme and animal parks (examples are Folly Farm Adventure Park and Zoo, Manor House Wildlife Park, Blue Lagoon Water Park and Oakwood Theme Park), museums and other visitor attractions including Castell Henllys reconstructed Iron Age fort, Tenby Lifeboat Station and Milford Haven's Torch Theatre. There are 21 marked cycle trails around the county.

Pembrokeshire Destination Management Plan for 2020 to 2025 sets out the scope and priorities to grow tourism in Pembrokeshire by increasing its value by 10 per cent in the five years, and to make Pembrokeshire a top five UK destination.

As the national sport of Wales, rugby union is widely played throughout the county at both town and village level. Haverfordwest RFC, founded in 1875, is a feeder club for Llanelli Scarlets. Village team Crymych RFC in 2014 plays in WRU Division One West. There are numerous football clubs in the county, playing in five leagues with Haverfordwest County A.F.C. competing in the Cymru Premier.

Triathlon event Ironman Wales has been held in Pembrokeshire since 2011, contributing £3.7 million to the local economy, and the county committed in 2017 to host the event for a further five years. Ras Beca, a mixed road, fell and cross country race attracting UK-wide competitors, has been held in the Preselis annually since 1977. The record of 32 minutes 5 seconds has stood since 1995. Pembrokeshire Harriers athletics club was formed in 2001 by the amalgamation of Cleddau Athletic Club (established 1970) and Preseli Harriers (1989) and is based in Haverfordwest.

The annual Tour of Pembrokeshire road-cycling event takes place over routes of optional length. The 4th Tour, in April 2015, attracted 1,600 riders including Olympic gold medallist Chris Boardman and there were 1,500 entrants to the 2016 event. Part of Route 47 of the Celtic Trail cycle route is in Pembrokeshire. The Llys y Fran Hillclimb is an annual event run by Swansea Motor Club, and there are several other county motoring events held each year.

Abereiddy's Blue Lagoon was the venue for a round of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series in 2012, 2013, and 2016; the Welsh Surfing Federation has held the Welsh National Surfing Championships at Freshwater West for several years, and Llys y Fran Country Park hosted the Welsh Dragonboat Championships from 2014 to 2017.

While not at major league level, cricket is played throughout the county and many villages such as Lamphey, Creselly, Llangwm, Llechryd and Crymych field teams in minor leagues under the umbrella of the Cricket Board of Wales.

Notable people

From mediaeval times, Rhys ap Gruffydd (c. 1132-1197), ruler of the kingdom of Deheubarth, was buried in St Davids Cathedral. and Gerald of Wales was born c. 1146 at Manorbier Castle. Henry Tudor (later Henry VII) was born in 1457 at Pembroke Castle.

The pirate Bartholomew Roberts (Black Bart) (Welsh: Barti Ddu) was born in Casnewydd Bach, between Fishguard and Haverfordwest in 1682.

In later military history, Jemima Nicholas, heroine of the so-called "last invasion of Britain" in 1797, was from Fishguard, Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Picton GCB, born in Haverfordwest, was killed at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and Private Thomas Collins is believed to be the only Pembrokeshire man that fought in the Battle of Rorke's Drift in 1879.

In the arts, siblings Gwen and Augustus John were both born in Pembrokeshire, as was the novelist Sarah Waters; singer Connie Fisher grew up in Pembrokeshire. The actor Christian Bale was born in Haverfordwest.

Stephen Crabb, a former Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and Secretary of State for Wales, was brought up in Pembrokeshire and is one of the county's two Members of Parliament, the other being Simon Hart,[90] who served as Secretary of State for Wales from 2019 to 2022.

Visit this location at Mischief Managed RP in Second Life

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Vietnam was our original choice for a touring holiday back in 2015, mainly to see Halong Bay, but we got sidetracked by the gorgeous pictures of Myanmar in the brochures and ended up going there instead. Myanmar, and probably touring holidays in general, was hard work, we are both in our sixties and do not really travel that well after having a lot of pampered holidays in the Maldives, so after the final three hour wait in another airport lounge we said 'never again'. But three months later after sitting back and looking at the best set of holiday photo's we have ever taken, we realised what wonderful people we had met and amazing places we had seen and that you have to put up with airport lounges, train stations and car journeys to get that. So the next thing we knew we were booking another touring holiday to Vietnam with Mango Journeys based in Cambodia! Warren the owner of Mango, actually an Aussie guy, sorted out our itinerary, click to view, we booked a couple of flights and it was done. Vietnam has a lot of Buddhist tradition like Myanmar so we figured that the people would be similar to the lovely people of Myanmar we met last year. Plus the landscape and scenery looked so green and lush so it all boded well.

However when we arrived in Saigon, all the Vietnamese still call it Saigon, in mid December it turned out that it was still the rainy season. So it was quite cloudy, foggy and rainy.....and it stayed like that for most of the holiday actually. We hadn't quite bargained for that, Myanmar was dry and sunny at the same time last year so this was quite a dramatic change. We were also in their winter so no crops were growing, hence all the lovely green and golden paddy fields you see in the brochures were mostly brown and muddy. Vietnam is big and very busy, there were a huge amount of Chinese tourists here, especially at Ankor Wat in Cambodia. A lot of the local people traditionally come home from all over the world at this time of year to see their families, so the place is buzzing. The Vietnamese people are also a lot more 'tourist savvy' here compared with the totally charming Burmese people we met last year, they seem to have that air of indifference you get in developed western countries towards tourists.

It's all sounding a bit disappointing and I'm afraid that is how it felt quite a lot of the time. We were in Saigon for 2 days....way too busy for us. Then a boat trip to the Mekong Delta, sounds idyllic but actually just a big busy river, we never really got far enough into the smaller tributaries where it might be more like you imagine the Mekong Delta to look like. A flight to Siem Reap then a couple of days around Ankor Wat. This was undoubtedly the highlight of the holiday. The Angkor Archaeological Park is mind boggingly massive! It took us 45 minutes by car to reach the pink sandstone temple of Banteay Srei in one corner of the park! The distances involved when moving between the various temples are all the same.....huge! Ankor Wat itself covers an enormous area but hugely impressive. It shows the power of this place when you get to the entrance at 5:00am to watch the sunrise and there are already hundreds of people there! And it happens every day of the year apparently. Although hordes of people can bug you sometimes, the collective enjoyment factor seems to override that here, the place is just so awe inspiring.

We really enjoyed Cambodia, we wished we had spent more time there, we only met a few people but they all seemed to have more of that charm of the Burmese people. Cambodia has had an extremely troubled past, the war didn't end until 1998 and everybody appears to have been tainted by it. Our guide lost 15 of his immediate relatives to it, and a lot of people seem to have similar horrific tales to tell. The landmine museum we visited was a poignant reminder of those days and our guide was obviously quite emotional in his rendering of the museum's history and the people involved in it. As a result of the regime's slaughter of all the ruling elite including politicians, teachers, scholars and intellectuals Cambodia was left backward in the rapidly growing economy of south east Asia. They are moving in the right direction now, albeit slowly, and we both felt we should have spent more time there and given them more of the benefit of our tourist dollar.

Of all the other places we visited, Da Nang, Hoi An, Hue, Tam Coc, Mai Chau Valley, Hanoi and Halong Bay, Mai Chau Valley was like an oasis in a sea of traffic, busy people and tourists. When you look down at the valley from the main photo vantage point it has the look of the promised land, a lush green place nestling in the surrounding mountains.

We had a couple of lovely walks around here over two days enjoying the beatiful landscape and meeting a few of the local people. We realised afterwards that we should have stayed away from the cities and done more of this sort of stuff. We stopped and spoke to a lovely 68 year old lady in Mau Chau vilage, there was nothing to her she looked so thin and frail. She told us, interpreted by our guide, that her husband left when she was 36 years old and because of the culture she was never allowed to be with another man after that. Her only daughter was married at around the same time and again the culture dictates that she moved to the husband's village which was in south Vietnam. Her daughter is extremely poor and travel for local people is so expensive that it is extremely unlikely she will ever see her mother again. A small story but one that is probably played out a lot in this country. This amazing lady took us back to the one room brick built house with a small garden no bigger than your average shed that she now lives in. She managed to build it with help from the villagers who all seem to look after each other extremely well, so at least she now has somewhere dry to live. She was so welcoming though and showed us how she cooks, where she sleeps and the small garden she tends, it was without doubt the most touching moment of our holiday and one we will always remember.

If you like busy cities then Hanoi is probably a better option than Saigon, it has an old quarter that is strangely quaint for a big city, is a lot more photogenic and a nicer place to be. We were never taken to new Hanoi so I guess it's probably just like Saigon.

Halong Bay was the main inspiration to visit Vietnam in the first place. I saw photo's of this place back in 2014 when searching for more of the limestone karst scenery we had seen in Thailand's Phang Nga Bay on a previous holiday. The boat trip with an overnight stay was the holiday finale and supposed to be one of the highlights. I mistakenly thought we would be touring around Halong Bay the whole time....a foolish assumption! We sailed for about 30 minutes, during which time we had a briefing and some food, then we dropped anchor and that was it! It turned out to be more of a booze cruise, with kayaking, happy hour, games, karaoke and Tai Chi in the morning! Oh my God, what a waste! This place is massive and to just sail into it for half an hour seemed ridiculous to us. I know a lot of it looks the same but as a photographer you are looking for those subtle differences in composition and quality of light that make great photographs. You can't get that when you are sat in the same spot. I managed to get some reasonable photographs but overall, disappointing.....again!

As I write this back in the UK, I've just finshed post processing our holiday photo's after around four weeks work. Originally, because of the dull weather we had, I thought they were not going to be a patch on the photo's from Myanmar last year, but I have been pleasantly surprised. I am constantly amazed at what you can pull out of seemingly dull photographs with the help of Lightroom, Topaz Labs and Photomatix for HDR. Back in the days of film I used to love the punchy colours you could get on a sunny day with the help of a polarizing filter and Kodachrome 25! Nowadays with the help of modern software it's possible to get so much colour into photographs almost out of nowhere! I love making 'impression' type of pictures where the photo is transformed into a sort of painting....used judiciously they conjure up more of the feeling of a place than a straight photo. Those plus the power of HDR photography and Topaz Labs give our holiday snaps a warmth and colour that maybe isn't true to life but always makes them look amazing! No wonder we got suckered into doing another touring holiday.....the photo's just look so good!

A word about Mango Journeys, they were amazing. All the guides were there to greet us and look after us wherever we went and they all seemed to enjoy their work, which always helps. Everything on the itenerary worked out OK.....in the end! We had one hiccup where we missed our flight from Cambodia back into Vietnam but Warren stepped in at 9:00pm at night and got us on another flight and into a hotel without too much bother and no extra charge. As it was our first visit to Vietnam Mango tried to give us a bit of everything I guess, stuff that most tourists want to see. In hindsight and learning from our Burma trip last year we should have really studied the itinerary and made sure it included what WE wanted to do, especially staying away from big cities! We are quite new to touring so it's a learning process.

Our next holiday? As soon as we got home we knew we 'needed a holiday' it had been so busy with a lot of travelling. We booked a week on Veligandu in the Maldives at Easter! Back to our favourite place in the world! Not only that we decided to put touring on hold for a while and booked two weeks on Filitheyo for Christmas. Back to just sunbathing, snorkelling, scuba diving and chilling! Heaven!

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To view the rest of my Photography Collection click on Link below:

www.flickr.com/photos/nevillewootton/albums

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Photography & Equipment sponsored by my web business:

www.inlinefilters.co.uk

We are UK's leading Filter Specialists, selling online to the Plant, Agricultural, Commercial Vehicle and Marine Industries.

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PLEASE NOTE: I take Photographs purely as a hobby these days so am happy to share them with anyone who enjoys them or has a use for them. If you do use them an accreditation would be nice and if you benefit from them financially a donation to www.sightsavers.org would be really nice.

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Rijks Museum - National Museum of Netherlands

Vision:

The Rijksmuseum links individuals with art and history.

Mission:

At the Rijksmuseum, art and history take on new meaning for a broad-based, contemporary national and international audience.

As a national institute, the Rijksmuseum offers a representative overview of Dutch art and history from the Middle Ages onwards, and of major aspects of European and Asian art.

The Rijksmuseum keeps, manages, conserves, restores, researches, prepares, collects, publishes, and presents artistic and historical objects, both on its own premises and elsewhere.

From 1800 to 2013

The Rijksmuseum first opened its doors in 1800 under the name ‘Nationale Kunstgalerij’. At the time, it was housed in Huis ten Bosch in The Hague. The collection mainly comprised paintings and historical objects. In 1808, the museum moved to the new capital city of Amsterdam, where it was based in the Royal Palace on Dam Square.

After King Willem I’s accession to the throne, the paintings and national print collection were moved to the Trippenhuis on Kloveniersburgwal, while the other objects were returned to The Hague. The current building was put into use in 1885. The Netherlands Museum for History and Art based in The Hague moved into the same premises, forming what would later become the departments of Dutch History and Sculpture & Applied Art.

The beginning

On 19 November 1798, more than three years after the birth of the Batavian Republic, the government decided to honour a suggestion put forward by Isaac Gogel by following the French example of setting up a national museum. The museum initially housed the remains of the viceregal collections and a variety of objects originating from state institutions. When the Nationale Kunstgalerij first opened its doors on 31 May 1800, it had more than 200 paintings and historical objects on display. In the years that followed, Gogel and the first director, C.S. Roos, made countless acquisitions. Their first purchase, The Swan by Jan Asselijn, cost 100 Dutch guilders and is still one of the Rijksmuseum’s top pieces.

Move to Amsterdam

In 1808, the new King Louis Napoleon ordered the collections to be moved to Amsterdam, which was to be made the capital of the Kingdom of Holland. The works of art and objects were taken to the Royal Palace on Dam Square, the former city hall of Amsterdam, where they were united with the city’s foremost paintings, including the Night Watch by Rembrandt. In 1809, the Koninklijk Museum opened its doors on the top floor of the palace.

A few years after Willem I returned to the Netherlands as the new king in 1813, the ‘Rijks Museum’ and the national print collection from The Hague relocated to the Trippenhuis, a 17th-century town-palace on Kloveniersburgwal, home to what would later become the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Much to the regret of the director, Cornelis Apostool, in 1820 many objects including pieces of great historical interest were assigned to the Kabinet van Zeldzaamheden [Royal Gallery of Rare Objects], which had been founded in The Hague. In 1838, a separate museum for modern 19th-century art was established in Paviljoen Welgelegen in Haarlem. Contrary to the days of Louis Napoleon, very few large acquisitions were made during this period.

Cuypers Cathedral

The Trippenhuis proved unsuitable as a museum. Furthermore, many people thought it time to establish a dedicated national museum building in the Netherlands. Work on a new building did not commence until 1876, after many years of debate. The architect, Pierre Cuypers, had drawn up a historic design for the Rijksmuseum, which combined the Gothic and the Renaissance styles. The design was not generally well-received; people considered it too mediaeval and not Dutch enough. The official opening took place in 1885.

Nearly all the older paintings belonging to the City of Amsterdam were hung in the Rijksmuseum alongside paintings and prints from the Trippenhuis, including paintings such as Rembrandt’s Jewish Bride, which had been bequeathed to the city by the banker A. van der Hoop. The collection of 19th-century art from Haarlem was also added to the museum’s collection. Finally, a significant part of the Kabinet van Zeldzaamheden, which had by then been incorporated into the new Netherlands Museum for History and Art, was returned to Amsterdam.

Renovations

Over the years, collections continued to grow and museum insight continued to expand, and so the Rijksmuseum building underwent many changes. Rooms were added to the south-west side of the building between 1904 and 1916 (now the Philips wing) to house the collection of 19th-century paintings donated to the museum by Mr and Mrs Drucker-Fraser. In the 1950s and 1960s, the two original courtyards were covered and renovated to create more rooms.

In 1927, while Schmidt-Degener was Managing Director, the Netherlands Museum was split to form the departments of Dutch History and Sculpture & Applied Art. These departments were moved to separate parts of the building after 1945. The arrival of a collection donated by the Association of Friends of Asian Art in the 1950s resulted in the creation of the Asian Art department.

The 1970s saw record numbers of visitors of almost one-and-a-half million per year, and the building gradually started to fall short of modern requirements.

‘Verder met Cuypers'

The current renovation reinstates the original Cuypers structure. The building work in the courtyards are removed. Paintings, applied art and history are no longer displayed in separate parts of the building, but form a single chronological circuit that tells the story of Dutch art and history.

The building is thoroughly modernized, while at the same time restoring more of Cuypers original interior designs: the Rijksmuseum has dubbed the venture ‘Verder met Cuypers‘ [Continuing with Cuypers]. The Rijksmuseum will be a dazzling new museum able to satisfy the needs of its 21st-century visitors!

Every year, the Rijksmuseum compiles an annual report for the previous year. Annual reports dating back to 1998 can be found here (in Dutch only). Reports relating to the years before 1998 are available in the reading room of the library.

O Museu Rijks é um dos maiores e mais importantes museus da Europa.É o maior dos Países Baixos, com acervo voltado quase todo aos artistas holandeses. As obras vão desde exemplares da arte sacra até a era dourada holandesa, além de uma substancial coleção de arte asiática.

Esse é o Rijksmuseum, o Museu Nacional dos Países Baixos. E aproveite, caro leitor, porque o Rijks esteve parcialmente fechado para reforma durante 10 anos – voltou a funcionar só em 2013. Ou seja, quem esteve em Amsterdam na última década não conheceu o Rijks, pelo menos não completamente.

Mas o quê tem lá? Muita coisa. Destaque para as coleções de arte e História holandesas. Os trabalhos dos pintores Frans Hals e Johannes Vermeer são alguns dos mais concorridos, mas imbatível mesmo é Rembrandt van Rijn, considerado um dos maiores pintores de todos os tempos. Se você não é um fã de museus de arte, mas faz questão de conhecer o trabalho desses grandes artistas, uma dica: assim que chegar ao Rijks, vá direto para a ala onde estão as obras-primas. Assim você vê o mais importante no início da visita, quando ainda está descansado e poderá dedicar o tempo necessário para essas obras.

A mais famosa delas é a “A Ronda Noturna”, de Rembrandt, uma obra que inspirou músicas, pinturas, filmes e até um flash mob. Quando o Rijks foi reaberto, artistas recriam a cena mostrada no quadro dentro de um shopping de Amsterdam. A ação está no vídeo abaixo e eu te garanto que vale a pena dar play.

Read more: www.360meridianos.com/2014/01/museus-de-amsterdam.html#ix...

Read more: www.360meridianos.com/2014/01/museus-de-amsterdam.html#ix...

Rijksmuseum, Museu Nacional

42 Stadhouderskade

Amsterdam

O museu Rijksmuseum de Amsterdã é o Museu Nacional da Holanda, onde você encontrará uma impressionante coleção permanente, formada por 5.000 pinturas e 30.000 obras de arte, além de 17.000 objetos históricos.

Esse museu nacional foi fundado em 1885 e está instalado em um edifício de estilo neogótico. A sua principal atração é a extensa coleção de quadros pintados por artistas holandeses, abrangendo um período que vai do séc. XV aos dias de hoje. A obra de arte mais famosa em exibição é o quadro A Ronda Noturna, de Rembrandt.

O museu Rijksmuseum está dividido em cinco departamentos: pintura, escultura, arte aplicada, arte oriental, história dos Países Baixos e gravuras. O núcleo da coleção é a pintura e suas obras mais representativas são as que pertencem ao Século de Ouro holandês, com quadros de artistas como Rembrandt, Vermeer ou Frans Hals.

Ver fonte: dreamguides.edreams.pt/holanda/amsterda/rijksmuseum

Museu Rijks, Amesterdão

O Museu Rijks (Museu Nacional) é um edifício histórico, sendo o maior museu nos Países Baixos. O Museu é o maior no numero relativamente às suas colecções, na área do edifício em si, no financiamento e no numero de funcionários empregados.

Cada ano, mais de um milhão de pessoas visitam o Museu Rijks. O Museu emprega cerca de 400 pessoas, incluindo 45 conservadores de museu que são especializados em todas as áreas.

O Museu Rijks é internacionalmente reconhecido pelas suas exibições e publicações, mas não só apenas por estes produtos de grande qualidade, mas também pelas áreas no museu em si que são fonte de inspiração e encorajam a criação de novas ideias.

O museu também tem recursos consideráveis para a educação, para a decoração e apresentação de exibições. Importantes designers são regularmente chamados a trabalharem em projectos no Museu Rijks.

O edifício principal do Museu Rijks está a ser renovado. A boa noticia é que a melhor parte da exposição está apresentada na redesenhada ala Philips. O nome desta exposição denomina-se "The Masterpieces'.

O museu abre diariamente das 10 da manhã até ás 5 da tarde.

A entrada é pela Stadhouderskade 42.

www.rijksmuseum.nl

Rijksmuseum

Origem: Wikipédia, a enciclopédia livre.

O Rijksmuseum é um museu nacional dos Países Baixos, localizada em Amsterdão na Praça do museu. O Rijksmuseum é dedicado à artes e história. Ele tem uma larga coleção de pinturas da idade de ouro neerlandesa e uma substancial coleção de arte asiática.

O museu foi fundado em 1800 na cidade da Haia para exibir a coleção do primeiro-ministro. Foi inspirado no exemplo francês. Pelos neerlandeses ficou conhecida como Galeria de Arte. Em 1808 o museu mudou-se para Amsterdã pelas ordens do rei Louis Napoleón, irmão de Napoleão Bonaparte. As pinturas daquela cidade, como A Ronda Nocturna de Rembrandt, tornaram-se parte da coleção.

Em 1885 o museu mudou-se para sua localização atual, construído pelo arquiteto neerlandês Pierre Cuypers. Ele combinou elementos góticos e renascentistas. O museu tem um posição proeminente na Praça do Museu, próximo ao Museu van Gogh e ao Museu Stedelijk. A construção é ricamente decorada com referências da história da arte neerlandesa. A Ronda Nocturna de Rembrandt tem seu próprio corredor no museu desde 1906. Desde 2003 o museu sofreu restaurações, mas as obras-primas são constatemente presentes para o público.

A coleção de pinturas inclui trabalhos de artistas como Jacob van Ruysdael, Frans Hals, Johannes Vermeer e Rembrandt e de alunos de Rembrandt.

Em 2005, 95% do museu está fechado para renovação, mas as pinturas da coleção permanente ainda estão em mostra em uma exibição especial chamada As Obras-primas.

Algumas das pinturas do museu:

Rembrandt van Rijn

A Ronda Nocturna

Os síndicos da guilda dos fabricantes de tecidos

A noiva judia

A lição de Anatomia do Dr. Deyman

Pedro negando Cristo

Saskia com um véu

Retrato de Titus em hábito de monge

Auto-retrato como Apóstolo Paulo

Tobias, Ana e o Bode

Johannes Vermeer:

A Leiteira

A Carta de Amor

Mulher de Azul a ler uma carta

A Rua pequena

Frans Hals:

Retrato de um jovem casal

A Companhia Reynier Real

O bebedor alegre

Retrato de Lucas De Clercq

Retrato de Nicolaes Hasselaer

Retrato de um homem

Página oficial do Rijksmuseum

Virtual Collection of Masterpieces (VCM)

O melhor museu de Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum

O Commons possui uma categoria contendo imagens e outros ficheiros sobre Rijksmuseum

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

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Se você visitar Amsterdam, precisará conhecer o Museu Nacional da Holanda: Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. O Museu Nacional fica na Praça do Museu, situada no centro de Amsterdam. O Museu Nacional, ou Rijksmuseum, possui uma maravilhosa coleção de arte e história holandesas. Após uma visita ao Rijksmuseum, você saberá mais sobre história e arte e terá visto alguns dos maiores marcos culturais da Holanda.

Obras-primas do Museu Nacional

Ao todo, a coleção do Rijksmuseum apresenta a história da Holanda em um contexto internacional, desde 1.100 até o presente. Há alguns ícones da história e cultura da Holanda que você não pode perder:

Ronda Noturna (de Nachtwacht) de Rembrandt é uma das mais famosas obras desse mestre holandês e é de tirar o fôlego.

O Rijksmuseum tem uma das melhores coleções de pinturas dos grandes mestres do século XVII, como Frans Hals, Jan Steen, Vermeer e Rembrandt.

Assim como o Museu Histórico de Haia, o Rijksmuseum apresenta lindas casas de bonecas, mobiliadas em detalhes, datando de 1676.

Se você não puder ir ao Delft Real, pode ainda apreciar algumas das melhores cerâmicas de Delft, de conjuntos de chá a vasos, no Museu Nacional.

Museu que é visita obrigatória em Amsterdam

Quer sua estadia em Amsterdam seja breve ou longa, você deve visitar o Rijksmuseum. Chegue cedo para evitar enfrentar filas. Combine a visita ao Rijksmuseum com várias outras atrações próximas, como o Museu Van Gogh, o Museu Stedelijk Amsterdam e a Coster Diamonds

Para obter mais informações sobre Amsterdam, retorne à página sobre Amsterdam ou à página sobre os museus de Amsterdam.

I finally managed to snag her. Had her about a week, but I'd been too busy to take these pics of her. Sorry! I have to admit, I love her. Her face-up is unique to her and I love those shoes. Now I need the darn fashion pack just for those XD

Managed to get there, Mac graphics issues causing issues though. Roll on a few months when I upgrade.

www.jonathanhuelin.com

Forex Village is a leading source of information on managed forex accounts, including reviews of all the latest forex managed account managers, and performance reviews

Tiesto during the TIESTO-Kaleidoscope World Tour performance held at InterContinental Hotels Doha Beach Area in Doha, Qatar, 01 October 2010.

DJ TIESTO live performance at the stage of InterContinental Hotels Doha, Beach Area on October 01, 2010 Doha, Qatar.

Music fans of local and foreign nationalities welcomes back in an up-close-and-personal experience the ever smiling world famous DJ as he performs his best selling music in unison with his own extravagant and jaw-dropping giant LED screen, animated light works and powerful sound system.

TIESTO "Kaleidoscope World Tour" was a success full house brought-in Doha, organized and managed by Jared Mcculloch of Global DJs.

Hotel InterContinental Doha Beach Area is the premier concert venue in Doha.

(Photo and Text by ROMMEL T. BANGIT

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TIESTO also known as DJ Tiësto, Allure, Da Joker, Drumfire, Handover Circuit, Paradise In Dubs, Passenger, Roze, Steve Forte Rio, Stray Dog, Tom Ace, Wild Bunch

Tiësto OON (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈcɛstoː]; born Tijs Michiel Verwest [ˈtɛi̯s miˈxil vərˈʋɛst] on January 17, 1969) is a Dutch musician, DJ and record producer of electronic dance music. Although he has used many aliases in the past, he is best known for his work as DJ Tiësto. On his latest productions, however, he has dropped the "DJ" label and is now known simply as "Tiësto", an alias which is a twist of his childhood nickname.

In 1997, he founded the label Black Hole Recordings with Arny Bink, where he released the Magik and In Search of Sunrise CD series. In 1999 and 2000 he collaborated with Ferry Corsten to create Gouryella. His 2000 remix of Delerium's "Silence" featuring Sarah McLachlan exposed him to more mainstream audiences. In 2001 he released his first solo album In My Memory which gave him several major hits that launched his career. He was named "World’s No.1 DJ" 3 consecutive times by DJ Magazine from 2002 through 2004.

Just after releasing his second studio album Just Be in 2004 at the Summer Olympics, he performed live at the opening ceremony in Athens, Greece, becoming the first DJ to play live on stage at an Olympics. Tracks he made especially for the Olympics were mixed together and released as the mix compilation Parade of the Athletes later that year. In April 2007 Tiësto launched both his radio show Tiësto's Club Life on Radio 538 in the Netherlands and released his third studio album titled Elements of Life. The album reached number one on the Dutch album chart as well on "Billboard Top Electronic Albums" in the U.S. and received a nomination for a Grammy Award in 2008. Tiësto released his fourth studio album called Kaleidoscope in October 2009.

Early Life and Career

Tijs Michiel Verwest was born in Breda, North Brabant, Netherlands on January 17, 1969. He had an interest in music since the age of twelve. When he was fourteen he decided to dedicate more time to it and began DJing professionally at school parties. He then moved on to become a resident DJ between 1985 and 1994 at several clubs in the Netherlands after his manager and friend Wilfred encouraged him. However, it was at The Spock, a small club in Breda, where he was able to fine-tune his own style by playing in a separate room from 10 p.m. until 4 a.m. on weekends. In the beginning of his career, as a DJ he played mostly New Beat and acid house.

In 1994, he began releasing material on Noculan Records' sub-labels Chemo and Coolman. During these years, he produced hardcore/gabber tracks under aliases such as Da Joker and DJ Limited. He was later discovered by the general manager of Rotterdam-based Basic Beat Recordings. In late 1994, he signed to Basic Beat where he met Arny Bink, Tiësto released records on the sub-label Trashcan, founded by Arny, and later created the Guardian Angel sub-label with Arny in which they introduced the popular Forbidden Paradise series. Meanwhile from 1995 to 1996 he released four extended plays on Bonzai Jumps and XTC, sub-labels of Lightning Records. In 1997, Tiësto joined his friend Yves Vandichel on his sub-label, DJ Yves, a division of the now defunct Human Resource label XSV Music. In the fall of 1997, both Arny and Tiësto decided to leave Basic Beat and create their own parent label, now known as Black Hole Recordings, Trashcan was discontinued and Guardian Angel continued releasing music until 2002. Through Black Hole, Tiësto released the Magik series and also created two major sub-labels in 1998; In Trance We Trust and SongBird.

From 1998 to 1999, Tiësto released music on Planetary Consciousness were he met A&R Hardy Heller and invited him to release some records on Black Hole. Tiësto later included the In Search of Sunrise series on SongBird. In 1999, Tiësto joined forces with fellow Dutch deejay Ferry Corsten to create the trance based duo of Gouryella. He also collaborated with Benno de Goeij from 1998 to 2000 under the name Kamaya Painters. Since November 1999 he performed monthly as a resident at Gatecrasher in Sheffield, one of the most popular clubs in England. In 1999 he also played in a 12-hour set, being his longest lasting concert in Amsterdam.

Late in 2000, Tiësto decided to concentrate on his personal work and left Corsten by himself to write and produce Gouryella's next single with John Ewbank, the record company was demanding more tracks and neither Tiësto or Ferry could work together at the time. Tiësto introduced Armin van Buuren, Johan Gielen and Ferry Corsten to the mainstream with his first compilations and the In Trance We Trust series. Summerbreeze became Tiësto's debut DJ mix album in the US with the help of a contract signed to Nettwerk. Summerbreeze featured his remix of Delerium's "Silence", it spent four weeks in the UK's Top Ten chart, it reached number three in the Billboard dance chart. In Search of Sunrise 2 was released in 2000. Tiësto decided to create a sub-label, known as Magik Muzik. The label began releasing Tiësto’s own releases, but it has also released tracks for the Filterheadz, Oliver Lieb, Mark Norman, Mojado, Phynn and Jes Brieden. The label became a trademark which stands for high quality electronic dance music which was due to the release of Tiësto's classic dance anthem "Flight 643" in 2001.

In My Memory era (2001–2004)

Tiësto's fame started to rise in the early 2000s after his set at the first ID&T Innercity party (Live at Innercity: Amsterdam RAI), and the release of In My Memory, his first solo album released in 2001 which contained 10 singles and 5 major hits; The singles from the album were: "Lethal Industry" which was actually produced in 1999 and had only 3 copies released at that time, the track was officially released in 2001 which was remixed by Richard Durand in 2006 along with "Flight 643" which was another leading single that was later adapted with vocals by Suzanne Palmer and released as "643 (Love's on Fire)". Other tracks were "Obsession" in which Tiësto worked alongside Junkie XL, the instrumental tracks "Dallas 4PM" and "Suburban Train" with "Urban Train" as its B-Side which contained some vocals. The last singles to be released were "In My Memory" which is the title track for the album as it only received high ratings in the United States and the opening track "Magik Journey" which opened Tiësto in Concert (2003). On February 2, 2002 Tiësto played nine consecutive hours during the second edition of the Dutch Dimension festival. On February 27 he was awarded a Zilveren ('Silver') Harp music award. The same year he also received a Lucky Strike Dance Award in the category Best DJ Trance/Progressive. In August he became part of Moby's Area2 Tour. For eighteen days he travelled through the United States with artists such as Moby himself, but also David Bowie and Busta Rhymes. In January 2003 Tiësto received the annual Dutch Popprijs ('Pop Award') during the Noorderslag festival. After touring with Moby, Tiësto remixed two songs from him, "We Are All Made of Stars" and "Extreme Ways" in the same year, having "We Are All Made of Stars" reach #13 in the Hot Dance Club Play. In 2002 he released his first In Search of Sunrise mix to feature a place on its name, In Search of Sunrise 3: Panama. On March 28, 2003; Tiësto, Dieselboy, Bad Boy Bill, and Noel Sanger joined the PlayStation2 Dual Play tour. Tiësto and Noel's appearance began on April 13 and ended on June 6.

His fame continued to skyrocket in the early 2000s, following his six-hour "Tiësto Solo" sets which he performed without other DJs or opening acts. This idea, of one DJ playing alone to a large crowd, was brought to its pinnacle when Tiësto was the first DJ to hold a solo concert in a stadium; on May 10, 2003, he performed for over 25,000 people in Arnhem's GelreDome. This concert was later called Tiësto in Concert, the event was an enormous success. He repeated the same type of concert the following year during two consecutive nights in late October. In addition to holding these two concerts for 35,000 of his fans, he held another concert for a crowd of 20,000 in Hasselt, Belgium the following week. DVDs of both his May 10, 2003 and October 30, 2004 concerts have been released, having the other DVD titled Tiësto in Concert 2. The DVD's show the journey from the first idea to the main event, it features live performances by Andain, Dinand Woesthoff, and Jan Johnston. The event includes live music and dancers performing at different times throughout the set. The theme of the event is a mystical, musical journey around the world based on the theme of Magik. It consists of 200+ minutes of performances with a second disc with special features, It includes a behind-the-scenes looking at The Making Of the event, the music video for his song "Traffic" and TV Commercials for the event. The second DVD has performances from Aqualung and violin player DJ Mason, Micha Klein and the Bulgarian Children of Orpheus choir. During this period, he was crowned as "No. 1. DJ in the World" by DJ Magazine (UK) in 2002, 2003, and 2004.

Just Be era (2004–2007)

In 2004, he released his second artist album Just Be, which featured his first single "Traffic" which is the first non-vocal track to reach number one spot in the Dutch national charts for 23 years. The track "Sweet Misery" was originally written for Evanescence but it did not meet the deadline for the release of their album. In support to his Just Be album, he played at Breda, Eindhoven, Utrecht, and Amsterdam; these stops were later named Just Be: Train Tour. On May 20, 2004 he was appointed Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau by Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.

The Athens Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (ATHOC) asked Tiësto to perform at the Olympic Games, making him the first DJ to play live on stage at an Olympic Games at the 2004 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in Athens, where he played for 90 minutes. Tiësto flew to Athens in January 2004 to have a meeting with the ATHOC. His Tiësto in Concert DVD caught their attention, after which he was asked to write more tracks based on his opening tune "Adagio for Strings" which could fit in with the Olympic spirit and combine the classical with the modern age; They also requested that he play his own produced music. The first rehearsal was on Saturday August, 7, for an empty stadium; the second rehearsal was on Sunday August 8 with 35,000 volunteers, a lot of the people recognised some tracks like "Traffic" and "Adagio for Strings". The last rehearsal included almost 60,000 people in the stadium which was on Tuesday August 10, there were some technical problems, the mixer broke down, the monitors dropped out a couple of times and the music in the stadium was not continuously on the right volume.

During the parade on Friday, August 13, 2004, all participating nations introduced their athletes—10,500 in total There were 80,000 spectators, only 75,000 knowing about dance music. During the course of his performance the Dutch athletes started dancing in front of the DJ booth and had to be moved on by officials. The performance included new tracks produced especially for the Opening Ceremony and songs that were created to complement the spirit and theme of the ceremony. A condensed studio-recorded album of the songs played on the Olympic set was later released, including new songs specially composed for the occasion, entitled Parade of the Athletes in October 2004. In the liner notes, he noted the IOC requested that the music not contain any lyrics as they could be inadvertently misinterpreted.

In late 2004, he began his touring across Latin America, with his release of In Search of Sunrise 3: Panama in which he gained influence from the sun and sand in summer 2002. The tour continued in 2005, and Tiësto performed live at Brazil, Argentina, Panama, Peru, Costa Rica, Uruguay, Paraguay, Ecuador and Colombia. Following the tours, In Search of Sunrise 4: Latin America was released in 2005, featuring a second CD for the first time in the In Search of Sunrise series.

In 2005, his Perfect Remixes Vol. 3 compilation was released through Warlock Records, containing ten tracks which were created during the beginning of his career, between those is Junkie XL, Mauro Picotto and The Roc Project. On August 20, 2005, Verwest took Tiësto in Concert to the US when he played to 16,000 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena with Cirque du Soleil dancers. For the second year in a row he performed live at a New Year's Eve/New Year's concert in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Orleans Arena to a sell-out crowd. Despite his four-city US tour being postponed due to the hurricane damage in New Orleans and Miami, playing such cities further expanded and cemented his popularity among mainstream audiences. This was surpassed later in summer 2007 when some 250,000 danced on Ipanema Beach, Brazil, becoming the second largest concert in history. BPM magazine has an annual poll in the US which is unveiled in the WMC, in 2005 Tiësto took the No. 1 spot. The influences of Los Angeles remained with him and would later influence his In Search of Sunrise compilation.

A wax sculpture of Tiësto was placed behind a turntable at Madame Tussauds in Amsterdam where visitors can mix Tiësto's music together. In the fall of 2005 he went on a very successful tour across Central and Eastern Europe where he played once in each country to crowds of 10,000 to 15,000 fans. Stops were made in Ukraine, Slovakia, Serbia, Macedonia, Romania, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Croatia, Poland and South Africa. The United States tour that was part of Tiësto in Concert was dwarfed by his appearance at Sensation White in 2006 where he performed to over 45,000 people in the world's biggest dance event in Amsterdam, Holland.

In Search of Sunrise 5: Los Angeles was released in 2006 which was certified Gold in Canada for sales over 50,000 copies. It also charted, peaking #34 in Canada and #59 in Austria. The compilation was launched in the Winter Music Conference at Mansion in South Beach Miami to support his release, Tiësto went on his In Search of Sunrise 5 Asia Tour for more than 3 weeks.

In September 2006, Tiësto was admitted to hospital after experiencing pain in his chest. He was diagnosed with pericarditis and subsequently had to cancel a number of shows. With the diagnosis, he was invited to support Dance4Life to help teens who are not aware of the risks of HIV/AIDS. He was chosen as the official ambassador for the Dance4Life foundation in May 2006, and released the song "Dance4Life" with Maxi Jazz to help spread the awareness of HIV/AIDS.

On April 6, 2007 Tiësto began presenting a new weekly two-hour radio show called Tiësto's Club Life on Dutch radio station Radio 538. It is syndicated worldwide and later released as a Podcast.

Elements of Life era (2007-2009)

On April 16, 2007, Tiësto released his third studio album Elements of Life, the album moved 73,000 units in its April release, according to Nielsen SoundScan. During the production of the album Tiësto in several cases sent a demo with the music to certain artists, and they replied back with the lyrics and vocals and other duration times. In the case of Christian Burns from BBMak, Tiësto met him through MySpace and got in contact with him and the production of the single "In the Dark". The album consists of rock, trance and experimental music, which shows the style Tiësto has grown throughout the years since his previous albums which contained lyrics, In My Memory and Just Be. Producer Brian Transeau collaborated with Tiësto in three tracks, he composed "Bright Morningstar" and "Sweet Things", he also performed the vocals in the single "Break My Fall". Together, they produced more tracks which were not released in the album, Tiësto has mentioned they would work again during the coming summer. In December 2007 it was announced that the album was nominated for a Grammy Award, in the category "Best Electronic/Dance Album." The album also received gold certifications in Belgium, Hungary, Netherlands, and Romania.[28] A special release party was held at the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam on November 3, 2007 for In Search of Sunrise 6: Ibiza.

His last three full-length releases broke the 70,000 mark, and the 2003 2CD compilation Nyana recently hit 87,000, according to Nielsen SoundScan. In support of the album, he embarked on his Elements of Life World Tour which had shows across the world. Tiësto's performance at Parken Stadium in Copenhagen, Denmark on November 10, 2007 was also sold out.[30] The Copenhagen: Elements of Life World Tour DVD was released in a party which was held on February 29, 2008 in London at the IndigO2 club.

Tiësto announced his residence at Privilege, officially recognised by the Guinness World Records as being the largest club in the world. He played in Ibiza every Monday, from July 7 until September 22. The gigs consisted of sets in the style of his In Search of Sunrise series. In 2007, he had released In Search of Sunrise 6: Ibiza which was inspired by the island. The residencies also featured the performance of guest deejays, all selected by Tiësto, such as Chris Lake, Andy Duguid, Mat Zo, Cosmic Gate, Alex Kunnari and Sander van Doorn as well as exclusive appearances by Fonzerelli and Airbase.

On April 28, Tiësto released Elements of Life: Remixed, a recompilation of the Elements of Life album with all songs being replaced by remixed versions. In mid-2008, Tiësto announced his In Search of Sunrise: Summer Tour 2008, which will be presented by Armani Exchange on May in support of his upcoming In Search of Sunrise 7: Asia compilation[34] and the previously released In Search of Sunrise 6: Ibiza. On August 8, 2008 Tiësto became the first DJ to perform at the famous O2 Arena in London as part of his In Search of Sunrise 7 summer tour, the event was sold out with a capacity of 20,000 people. Earlier that day, Tiësto had performed in-store at Armani Exchange on Regent Street in central London.

A sole production was prepared for Tiësto from June 8 to September 21 for his return at club Privilege for the second year in a row on Monday nights, after a successful year as a resident in 2008. During his time at Privilege he previewed tracks from his upcoming artist album. InTheBooth, the official members-only fansite of Tiësto launched July 17, 2009. On July 31, he was the first DJ to perform for 25,000 people at an exclusive outdoor concert in Victoria Park, London.

Kaleidoscope era (2009–present)

On October 6, 2009, Tiësto released his fourth studio album Kaleidoscope, which featured artists such as Priscilla Ahn, Calvin Harris, Tegan & Sara and Nelly Furtado. Unlike his earlier albums, which were all mostly trance, Kaleidoscope explores other electronic genres, and is considered Tiesto's most experimental album. The first single "I Will Be Here" featuring Sneaky Sound System being released in July 2009.[37][38][39] In its first week, the album reached the Top 10 chart on iTunes.

To release the album he has set up a new record label called Musical Freedom after parting ways with Black Hole Recordings. Tiësto felt that his music was evolving in a new direction and his focus as an artist was moving away from what Black Hole was set up to support. His new tour, sharing the name of his new album, called Kaleidoscope World Tour commenced in late September.

Tiësto contributed songs to both DJ Hero and DJ Hero 2 video games and is a playable character in the second game. He contributed two exclusive mixes to the second game, and used content from DJ Hero 2 to create the official video for his single 'Speed Rail' - the world's first music video to be created entirely using in-game footage.

Tiësto has produced a trance-flavoured song on Memphis rap duo Three 6 Mafia's upcoming album Laws of Power called "Feel It," which features Flo Rida and Sean Kingston.

On March 16, 2010, Tiësto released his greatest hits album called Magikal Journey: The Hits Collection 1998-2008, a two disc album focusing on his most famous songs and remixes of his songs.

On April 7, 2010, Tiësto announced that he would start a new compilation series called A New Dawn with his own label Musical Freedom. In his interview Tiësto furthermore confirmed that he will no longer have any more involvement with Black Hole Recordings.

On August 31, 2010 Kaleidoscope: Remixed was released, a remix album of his album Kaleidoscope.

On December 11, 2010, Tiësto was one of the headlining acts at ZoukOut 2010,[48] which was held in Singapore at Siloso Beach, Sentosa Island.

Philanthropy

On January 6, 2005, Tiësto performed in an outdoor fundraiser in De Dam, Amsterdam. The event was free, and many famous Dutch artists like Dinand Woesthoff, BLØF, Acda & De Munnik, Di-rect, Berget Lewis, Xander de Buisonjé and Trijntje Oosterhuis were involved in it to provide financial aid to the people who suffered from the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in Southern and Southeastern Asia. All profits made of all TV commercials and live broadcast were given to the organisations collecting the relief funds.

In April 2006, Tiësto was named the official worldwide ambassador for the Dance4Life foundation promoting awareness of HIV/AIDS, as the foundation's ambassador he has helped the organisation with fundraising along with recording the track "Dance4life" that he recorded with Maxi Jazz from Faithless. The foundation consists on a better way of living with safe sex in exchange of entertainment to the young crowd.[50] The song was a huge success, peaking for five weeks in #3 and eleven consecutive weeks in the Top 10 of the Dutch Singles Chart, it also reached #5 in Belgium, #6 in Finland and also charting in the UK and Germany. With the successful release of Elements of Life, Tiësto and fashion designer Giorgio Armani collaborated together on a limited edition Tiësto T-shirt available at Armani Exchange stores. His single "Sweet Things" comes with the shirt including an exclusive "A|X Remix" by Tom Cloud which shows the great influence Tiësto has in fashion culture.[51] The charity raised over US$300,000.[34] On November 29, 2008 artists like Tiësto himself, Sied van Riel, Leon Bolier, Joop, and MC Gunner presented a concert at The Sand, Amsterdam promoted by Dance4Life, the sales from the event will go to the foundation to support next year's Schools4Life project.

Personal life

Until early 2006, Tiësto was in a relationship with Dutch model Monique Spronk. On January 10, 2008, Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf announced that Tiësto and his girlfriend Stacey Blokzijl were going to get married on October 10, 2008 in Cartagena, Colombia. He proposed to her in December 2007 while they were visiting Mauritius. Tiësto cancelled his wedding for October 10, because he claimed to have a busy schedule and too little time for the preparations. During Christmas 2008, Blokzijl broke off the engagement due to the constant delays to their wedding.

Source: Wikipedia

TIESTO, hotel intercontinental hotels and resorts, kaleidoscope,Hotel "InterContinental Hotels and Resorts Doha" Kaleidoscope TIESTO rommelbangit rommelbangit@yahoo.com "electronic dance music" "global DJ" "Nikon D300" trance clubbing dancing lights music musician nightlife party progreesive remix strobe "Top 100 DJ's" "doha qatar" "club culture" "trance sounds" pioneer "US Dance Chart" "Radio 538" "Trance DJ Netherlands" "Digital Spy" "DJ Mag" "DJ Magazine" "Music News" MixMag "Trance Artist" "Progressive Trance" electronic electronix

I managed to complete armoring the legs with silver Technic panels, and put a lot of Bionicle armor plates into the tail with lots of clip and bar elements as greebling.

I also solved adding wings.

I'm down to very small details and waiting on Bricklink parts.

Managed a couple of hours climbing last evening with Edgar my nephew.. Got him to do his first ever outside climbing and his first outdoor lead.. The boy did good!

The route he did was Snail Crack a 18mt high climb graded at VDiff.

Climbing at Lawrencefield Quarry a very cool place to climb!

The Tipco Maritime managed asphalt/bitumen tanker, Tasco Nirand [IMO 9689809] on September 20, 2015 as she approaches the Fremantle Harbour entrance channel to berth at No. 1 NQ, Fremantle Port.

IMO: 9689809

MMSI: 567502000

DWT: 4,485

Built: 2014

Flag: Thailand

Ship Manager: Tipco Maritime Co Ltd

Managed to find these old Lego catalogues from my old room at parents' place. They are from 1981 to 1984.

Ah the memories...

Day twenty-two of The 100 Day Project for 2021.

I managed to finish this about ten minutes before midnight on day twenty-two. But obviously, that didn't leave enough time to get it posted on the day.

Today was a long day, but it ended with some art, so I'll say no more.

This was all drawn with an HB pencil.

I think I did okay, considering that by the time I'd hit the first barb, I'd realised I'd probably bit off more than I could chew for "a quick sketch".

In case you're unsure, I worked left to right on this one, and as may be obvious, when it started getting more repetitive, I lost my nerve and kept making mistakes. But I think I managed to bring it back okay.

I find it funny that often when I'm drawing or as I finish, I think, "Meh, I kind of hashed that today." But then, when I photograph it and look at it on a screen, suddenly it seems to fall together better than I initially thought. Not perfect or exceptional. But more convincingly than I first believed.

I hope you had a lovely weekend. Or at least nicer than mine x

via Instagram ift.tt/2dKCFyR

Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, IMFC Chair Magdalena Andersson, and Communications Director Gerry Rice participate in a press briefing during the 2021 Annual Meetings at the International Monetary Fund.

IMF Photo/Allison Shelley

14 October 2021

Washington, DC, United States

Photo ref: AS211014058.ARW

Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva participates in the G7 African Ministerial meeting during the 2022 Annual Meetings at the International Monetary Fund.

IMF Photo/Cory Hancock

12 October 2022

Washington, DC, United States

Photo ref: CH221012107.arw

Managed to get out and about today with a walk at Glen Tanar.

Manage to get to a friends house and steal those gorgeous

Managed this shot through two layers of glass just as the CRJ was departing. In the background is the KF Aerospace graveyard with mainly Convairliners present.

I managed to snag my absolute favourite fashion doll - Colette - for a cheap price on eBay. She'll be nude, but I have no use for the fashions she comes with. She'll also be rerooted with a caramel brown.

Dayle and Reese - I am so excited to be getting Reese. Dayle I'm getting because she has that Rufus Blue face going on, and a tan, blonde Rufus Blue is super exciting. Plus I love her outfit.

This is the first time I've been collecting these girls and been able to buy them at preorder, so I'm REAAAALLLY excited, and can't wait for them to get here. I have a growing collection of IT girls, and I finally have enough to call a collection lol.

UGH THE WAITING. Colette should be here soon though. OMG COLETTE. She's so gorgeous.

VENICE BIENNALE / VENEZIA BIENNIAL 2013 : BIENNALIST

www.emergencyrooms.org/biennalist.html

Biennalist is an Art Format by Thierry Geoffroy / Colonel debating with artistic tools on Biennales and other cultural managed events . Often those events promote them selves with thematics and press releases faking their aim . Biennalist take the thematics of the Biennales very seriously , and test their pertinance . Artists have questioned for decade the canvas , the pigment , the museum ... since 1989 we question the Biennales .Often Biennalist converge with Emergency Room providing a burning content that cannot wait ( today before it is too late )

please contact before using the images : Thierry Geoffroy / Colonel 1@colonel.dk

www.colonel.dk

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In 2013 Thierry Geoffroy / Colonel is represented at the Malives pavilion at the Venice Biennale and then went further and received hospitality at the Zimbabwe pavilion with the Emergency Room Mobile

www.emergencyrooms.org/biennalist.html

Meanwhile Thierry Geoffroy is in Copenhagen the work about todays emergencies continue at the gallery Marianne Friis on the

ULTRACONTEMPOARY WARM UP Wall established for this occasion since 6sept 2013

thierrygeoffroy.blogspot.dk/2013/09/colonel-s-warm-up-wal...

www.emergencyrooms.org

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lists of artists participating at the Venice Biennale :

Hilma af Klint, Victor Alimpiev, Ellen Altfest, Paweł Althamer, Levi Fisher Ames, Yuri Ancarani, Carl Andre, Uri Aran, Yüksel Arslan, Ed Atkins, Marino Auriti, Enrico Baj, Mirosław Bałka, Phyllida Barlow, Morton Bartlett, Gianfranco Baruchello, Hans Bellmer, Neïl Beloufa, Graphic Works of Southeast Asia and Melanesia, Hugo A. Bernatzik Collection, Ștefan Bertalan, Rossella Biscotti, Arthur Bispo do Rosário, John Bock, Frédéric Bruly Bouabré, Geta Brătescu, KP Brehmer, James Lee Byars, Roger Caillois, Varda Caivano, Vlassis Caniaris, James Castle, Alice Channer, George Condo, Aleister Crowley & Frieda Harris, Robert Crumb, Roberto Cuoghi, Enrico David, Tacita Dean, John De Andrea, Thierry De Cordier, Jos De Gruyter e Harald Thys, Walter De Maria, Simon Denny, Trisha Donnelly, Jimmie Durham, Harun Farocki, Peter Fischli & David Weiss, Linda Fregni Nagler, Peter Fritz, Aurélien Froment, Phyllis Galembo, Norbert Ghisoland, Yervant Gianikian & Angela Ricci Lucchi, Domenico Gnoli, Robert Gober, Tamar Guimarães and Kasper Akhøj, Guo Fengyi, João Maria Gusmão & Pedro Paiva, Wade Guyton, Haitian Vodou Flags, Duane Hanson, Sharon Hayes, Camille Henrot, Daniel Hesidence, Roger Hiorns, Channa Horwitz, Jessica Jackson Hutchins, René Iché, Hans Josephsoh, Kan Xuan, Bouchra Khalili, Ragnar Kjartansson, Eva Kotátková, Evgenij Kozlov, Emma Kunz, Maria Lassnig, Mark Leckey, Augustin Lesage, Lin Xue, Herbert List, José Antonio Suárez Londoño, Sarah Lucas, Helen Marten, Paul McCarthy, Steve McQueen, Prabhavathi Meppayil, Marisa Merz, Pierre Molinier, Matthew Monahan, Laurent Montaron, Melvin Moti, Matt Mullican, Ron Nagle, Bruce Nauman, Albert Oehlen, Shinro Ohtake, J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere, Henrik Olesen, John Outterbridg, Paño Drawings, Marco Paolini, Diego Perrone, Walter Pichler, Otto Piene, Eliot Porter, Imran Qureshi, Carol Rama, Charles Ray, James Richards, Achilles G. Rizzoli, Pamela Rosenkranz, Dieter Roth, Viviane Sassen, Shinichi Sawada, Hans Schärer, Karl Schenker, Michael Schmidt, Jean-Frédéric Schnyder, Friedrich Schröder-Sonnenstern, Tino Sehgal, Richard Serra, Shaker Gift Drawings, Jim Shaw, Cindy Sherman, Laurie Simmons e Allan McCollum, Drossos P. Skyllas, Harry Smith, Xul Solar, Christiana Soulou, Eduard Spelterini, Rudolf Steiner, Hito Steyerl, Papa Ibra Tall, Dorothea Tanning, Anonymous Tantric Paintings, Ryan Trecartin, Rosemarie Trockel, Andra Ursuta, Patrick Van Caeckenbergh, Stan VanDerBeek, Erik van Lieshout, Danh Vo, Eugene Von Bruenchenhein, Günter Weseler, Jack Whitten, Cathy Wilkes, Christopher Williams, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Kohei YoshiyUKi, Sergey Zarva, Anna Zemánková, Jakub Julian Ziółkowski ,Artur Żmijewski.

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other pavilions at Venice Biennale

Andorra Artists: Javier Balmaseda, Samantha Bosque, Fiona Morrison

Commissioner: Henry Périer Deputy Commissioners: Francesc Rodríguez, Ermengol Puig, Ruth Casabella

Curators: Josep M. Ubach, Paolo De GrandisAngola Artist: Edson Chagas Commissioner: Ministry of Culture

Curators: Beyond Entropy (Paula Nascimento, Stefano Rabolli Pansera), Jorge Gumbe, Feliciano dos Santos

Argentina Artist: Nicola Costantino Commissioner: Magdalena Faillace Curator: Fernando Farina

Armenia Artist: Ararat SarkissianCurator: Arman Grogoryan /AustraliaArtist: Simryn Gill Commissioner: Simon Mordant Deputy Commissioner: Penelope Seidler Curator: Catherine de Zegher /AustriaArtist: Mathias Poledna ,Curator: Jasper Sharp /AzerbaijanArtists: Rashad Alakbarov, Sanan Aleskerov, Chingiz Babayev, Butunay Hagverdiyev, Fakhriyya Mammadova, Farid Rasulov /Commissioner: Heydar Aliyev FoundationCurator: Hervé Mikaeloff

Bahamas Artist: Tavares Strachan Commissioner: Nalini Bethel, Ministry of Tourism Curators: Jean Crutchfield, Robert HobbsDeputy Curator: Stamatina Gregory/BangladeshChhakka Artists’ Group: Mokhlesur Rahman, Mahbub Zamal, A. K. M. Zahidul Mustafa, Ashok Karmaker, Lala Rukh Selim, Uttam Kumar Karmaker. Dhali Al Mamoon, Yasmin Jahan Nupur, Gavin Rain, Gianfranco Meggiato, Charupit School/Commissioner/Curator: Francesco Elisei. , Curator: Fabio Anselmi./BahrainArtists: Mariam Haji, Waheeda Malullah, Camille Zakharia /Commissioner: Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa, Minister of Culture /Curator: Melissa Enders-Bhatiaa/BelgiumArtist: Berlinde De Bruyckere

Commissioner: Joke Schauvliege, Flemish Minister for Environment, Nature and Culture .Curator: J. M. Coetzee ,Deputy Curator: Philippe Van Cauteren /Bosnia and Herzegovina

Artist: Mladen Miljanovic .Commissioners: Sarita Vujković, Irfan Hošić

Brazil Artists: Hélio Fervenza, Odires Mlászho, Lygia Clark, Max Bill, Bruno Munari

Commissioner: Luis Terepins, Fundação Bienal de São Paulo,Curator: Luis Pérez-Oramas ,Deputy Curator: André Severo

CanadaArtist: Shary Boyle /Commissioner: National Gallery of Canada / Musée des beaux-arts du Canada ,Curator: Josée Drouin-Brisebois/Central AsiaArtists: Vyacheslav Akhunov, Sergey Chutkov, Saodat Ismailova, Kamilla Kurmanbekova, Ikuru Kuwajima, Anton Rodin, Aza Shade, Erlan Tuyakov

Commissioner: HIVOS (Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation)

Deputy Commissioner: Dean Vanessa Ohlraun (Oslo National Academy of the Arts/The Academy of Fine Art)

Curators: Ayatgali Tuleubek, Tiago Bom

Scientific Committee: Susanne M. Winterling

ChileArtist: Alfredo JaarCommissioner: CNCA, National Council of Culture and the Arts Curator: Madeleine Grynsztejn

ChinaArtists: He Yunchang, Hu Yaolin, Miao Xiaochun, Shu Yong, Tong Hongsheng, Wang Qingsong, Zhang Xiaotao

Commissioner: China Arts and Entertainment Group (CAEG) ,Curator: Wang Chunchen

Costa Rica Artists: Priscilla Monge, Esteban Piedra, Rafael Ottón Solís, Cinthya Soto

Commissioner: Francesco EliseiCurator: Francisco Córdoba, Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo (Fiorella Resenterra)

Croatia Artist: Kata Mijatovic ,Commissioner/Curator: Branko Franceschi.

CubaArtists: Liudmila and Nelson, Maria Magdalena Campos & Neil Leonard, Sandra Ramos, Glenda León, Lázaro Saavedra, Tonel, Hermann Nitsch, Gilberto Zorio, Wang Du, H.H.Lim, Pedro Costa, Rui Chafes, Francesca Leone ,Commissioner: Miria ViciniCurators: Jorge Fernández Torres, Giacomo Zaza

CyprusArtists: Lia Haraki, Maria Hassabi, Phanos Kyriacou, Constantinos Taliotis, Natalie Yiaxi, Morten Norbye Halvorsen, Jason Dodge, Gabriel Lester, Dexter Sinister /Louli Michaelidou

Deputy Commissioners: Angela Skordi, Marika Ioannou/Curator: Raimundas Malašauskas

Czech Republic & Slovak RepublicArtists: Petra Feriancova, Zbynek Baladran ,Commissioner: Monika Palcova, Curator: Marek Pokorny /DenmarkArtist: Jesper Just in collaboration with Project ProjectsEgypt

Artists: Mohamed Banawy, Khaled Zaki

EstoniaArtist: Dénes Farkas ,Commissioner: Maria Arusoo ,Curator: Adam Budak

FinlandArtist: Antti Laitinen , Commissioner: Raija Koli , Curators: Marko Karo, Mika Elo, Harri Laakso

FranceArtist: Anri Sala ,Curator: Christine Macel

GeorgiaArtists: Bouillon Group,Thea Djordjadze, Nikoloz Lutidze, Gela Patashuri with Ei Arakawa and Sergei Tcherepnin, Gio Sumbadze/Commissioner: Marine Mizandari, First Deputy Minister of Culture Curator: Joanna Warsza

GermanyArtists: Ai Weiwei, Romuald Karmakar, Santu Mofokeng, Dayanita Singh Commissioner/Curator: Susanne Gaensheimer /Great BritainArtist: Jeremy Deller ,Commissioner: Andrea Rose , Curator: Emma Gifford-Mead

Holy SeeArtists: Lawrence Carroll, Josef Koudelka, Studio Azzurro ,Curator: Antonio Paolucci

Hungary , Artist: Zsolt Asztalos , Curator: Gabriella Uhl

Iceland , Artist: Katrín Sigurðardóttir ,Commissioner: Dorotheé Kirch

Curators: Mary Ceruti , Ilaria Bonacossa/IndonesiaArtists: Albert Yonathan Setyawan, Eko Nugroho, Entang Wiharso, Rahayu Supanggah, Sri Astari, Titarubi

Deputy Commissioner: Achille Bonito Oliva , Assistant Commissioner: Mirah M. Sjarif

Curators: Carla Bianpoen, Rifky Effendy

IraqArtists: Abdul Raheem Yassir, Akeel Khreef, Ali Samiaa, Bassim Al-Shaker, Cheeman Ismaeel, Furat al Jamil, Hareth Alhomaam, Jamal Penjweny, Kadhim Nwir, WAMI (Yaseen Wami, Hashim Taeeh)

Commissioner: Tamara Chalabi (Ruya Foundation for Contemporary Culture)Curator: Jonathan Watkins.

IrelandArtist: Richard MosseCommissioner, Curator: Anna O’Sullivan

Israel , Artist: Gilad Ratman , Commissioners: Arad Turgeman, Michael GovCurator: Sergio Edelstein

ItalyArtists: Francesco Arena, Massimo Bartolini, Gianfranco Baruchello, Elisabetta Benassi, Flavio Favelli, Luigi Ghirri, Piero Golia, Francesca Grilli, Marcello Maloberti, Fabio Mauri, Giulio Paolini, Marco Tirelli, Luca Vitone, Sislej Xhafa ,Commissioner: Maddalena Ragni

Curator: Bartolomeo Pietromarchi /Ivory Coast Artists: Frédéric Bruly Bouabré, Tamsir Dia, Jems Koko Bi, Franck Fanny

Commissioner: Paolo De Grandis , Curator: Yacouba Konaté

Japan ,Artist: Koki Tanaka ,Curator: Mika Kuraya

KenyaArtists: Kivuthi Mbuno, Armando Tanzini, Chrispus Wangombe Wachira, Fan Bo, Luo Ling & Liu Ke, Lu Peng, Li Wei, He Weiming, Chen Wenling, Feng Zhengjie, César MeneghettiCommissioner: Paola Poponi ,Curators: Sandro Orlandi, Paola Poponi /Korea (Republic of)Artist: Kimsooja

KosovoArtist: Petrit Halilaj ,Commissioner: Erzen Shkololli ,Curator: Kathrin Rhomberg

KuwaitArtists: Sami Mohammad, Tarek Al-Ghoussein

Commissioner: Mohammed Al-Asoussi ,Curator: Ala Younis /Latin AmericaIstituto Italo-Latino Americano

Artists:Marcos Agudelo, Miguel Alvear & Patricio Andrade, Susana Arwas, François Bucher, Fredi Casco, Colectivo Quintapata (Pascal Meccariello, Raquel Paiewonsky, Jorge Pineda, Belkis Ramírez), Humberto Díaz, Sonia Falcone, León & Cociña, Lucía Madriz, Jhafis Quintero, Martín Sastre, Guillermo Srodek-Hart, Juliana Stein, Simón Vega, Luca Vitone, David Zink Yi. /Harun Farocki & Antje Ehmann. In collaboration with: Cristián Silva-Avária, Anna Azevedo, Paola Barreto, Fred Benevides, Anna Bentes, Hermano Callou, Renata Catharino, Patrick Sonni Cavalier, Lucas Ferraço Nassif, Luiz Garcia, André Herique, Bruna Mastrogiovanni, Cezar Migliorin, Felipe Ribeiro, Roberto Robalinho, Bruno Vianna, Beny Wagner, Christian Jankowski ,Commissioner: Sylvia Irrazábal ,Curator: Alfons Hug

Deputy Curator: Paz Guevara /Latvia Artists: Kaspars Podnieks, Krišs Salmanis ,Commissioners: Zane Culkstena, Zane Onckule ,Curators: Anne Barlow, Courtenay Finn, Alise Tifentale

LithuaniaArtist: Gintaras Didžiapetris, Elena Narbutaite, Liudvikas Buklys, Kazys Varnelis, Vytaute Žilinskaite, Morten Norbye Halvorsen, Jason Dodge, Gabriel Lester, Dexter SinisterCommissioners: Jonas Žokaitis, Aurime Aleksandraviciute Curator: Raimundas Malašauskas /LuxembourgArtist: Catherine LorentCommissioner: Clément Minighetti Curator: Anna Loporcaro /MexicoArtist: Ariel Guzik ,Commissioner: Gastón Ramírez Feltrín ,Curator: Itala Schmelz

Montenegro ,Artist: Irena Lagator Pejovic .Commissioner/Curator: Nataša Nikcevic

The Netherlands ,Artist: Mark Manders

Commissioner: Mondriaan Fund ,Curator: Lorenzo Benedetti

New Zealand Artist: Bill Culbert ,Commissioner: Jenny Harper ,Deputy Commissioner: Heather Galbraith ,Curator: Justin Paton /Finland: ,Artist: Terike Haapoja ,Commissioner: Raija Koli ,Curators: Marko Karo, Mika Elo, Harri Laakso

Norway:Artists: Edvard Munch, Lene Berg

Curators: Marta Kuzma, Pablo Lafuente, Angela Vettese

Paraguay Artists: Pedro Barrail, Felix Toranzos, Diana Rossi, Daniel Milessi ,Commissioner: Elisa Victoria Aquino Laterza

Deputy Commissioner: Nori Vaccari Starck , Curator: Osvaldo González Real

Poland Artist: Konrad Smolenski Commissioner: Hanna Wróblewska Curators: Agnieszka Pindera, Daniel Muzyczuk

Portugal Artist: Joana Vasconcelos Curator: Miguel Amado

RomaniaArtists: Maria Alexandra Pirici, Manuel Pelmus Commissioner: Monica Morariu Deputy Commissioner: Alexandru Damia Curator: Raluca VoineaArtists: Anca Mihulet, Apparatus 22 (Dragos Olea, Maria Farcas,Erika Olea), Irina Botea, Nicu Ilfoveanu, Karolina Bregula, Adi Matei, Olivia Mihaltianu, Sebastian MoldovanCommissioner: Monica Morariu ,Deputy Commissioner: Alexandru Damian ,Curator: Anca Mihulet

Russia Artist: Vadim Zakharov ,Commissioner: Stella Kasaeva ,Curator: Udo Kittelmann

Serbia Artists: Vladimir Peric, Miloš Tomic .Commissioner: Maja Ciric

SloveniaArtist: Jasmina CibicCommissioner: Blaž Peršin ,Curator: Tevž Logar

South Africa Commissioner: Saul Molobi ,Curator: Brenton Maart

Spain Artist: Lara Almarcegui , Commissioner/Curator: Octavio Zaya

Switzerland Artist: Valentin Carron Commissioners: Pro Helvetia - Sandi Paucic and Marianne Burki

Curator: Giovanni CarmineVenue: Pavilion at Giardini

Syrian Arab RepublicArtists: Giorgio De Chirico, Miro George, Makhowl Moffak, Al Samman Nabil, Echtai Shaffik, Giulio Durini, Dario Arcidiacono, Massimiliano Alioto, Felipe Cardena, Roberto Paolini, Concetto Pozzati, Sergio Lombardo, Camilla Ancilotto, Lucio Micheletti, Lidia Bachis, Cracking Art Group, Hannu Palosuo

Commissioner: Christian Maretti Curator: Duccio Trombadori

Taiwan Artists: Bernd Behr, Chia-Wei Hsu, Kateřina Šedá + BATEŽO MIKILU Curator: Esther Lu

Thailand Artists: Wasinburee Supanichvoraparch, Arin Rungjang

Curators: Penwadee Nophaket Manont, Worathep Akkabootara

Turkey Artist: Ali Kazma Commissioner: Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts Curator: Emre Baykal

Ukraine Artists: Ridnyi Mykola, Zinkovskyi Hamlet, Kadyrova Zhanna Commissioner: Victor Sydorenko

Curators: Soloviov Oleksandr, Burlaka Victoria

United Arab Emirates Artist: Mohammed Kazem /Commissioner: Dr. Lamees Hamdan Curator: Reem Fadda

Uruguay Artist: Wifredo Díaz Valdéz

Commissioner: Ricardo Pascale Curators: Carlos Capelán, Verónica Cordeiro

USA Artist: Sarah Sze Commissioners/Curators: Carey Lovelace, Holly Block

Venezuela Colectivo de Artistas Urbanos Venezolanos , Commissioner: Edgar Ernesto González Curator: Juan Calzadilla

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Encyclopedic Palace is curated by Massimiliano Gioni

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Other Biennales (Biennials ) : Venice Biennial , Documenta Havana Biennial,Istanbul Biennial ( Istanbuli),Biennale de Lyon ,Dak'Art Berlin Biennial,Mercosul Visual Arts Biennial ,Bienal do Mercosul Porto Alegre.,Berlin Biennial ,Echigo-Tsumari Triennial .Yokohama Triennial Aichi Triennale,manifesta ,Copenhagen Biennale,Aichi Triennale

Yokohama Triennial,Echigo-Tsumari Triennial.Sharjah Biennial ,Biennale of Sydney, Liverpool , São Paulo Biennial ; Athens Biennale , Bienal do Mercosul ,Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art

I finally managed to install a more "period correct" range hood over my cooktop. I used parts from 3 vent hoods like that one to make one that looks decent! I like the result.

Managed to get a good shot of this heron hiding in the trees before it flew off,taken at Slaithwaite near Huddersfield.

Managed to capture this while out walking around RSPB Oldmoor 20/7/2014. Not sure if it's a Ruddy Darter or not.. I really must learn more about these wonderful creatures. :)

Please feel free to ID it for me... Thank you. :)

Manage to capture the picture of these cute little flower girls at my last wedding assignment. At first, it was very hard as both of them were too shy!!

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

Some background:

N.V. Koolhoven was an aircraft manufacturer based in Rotterdam, Netherlands. From its conception in 1926 to its destruction in the Blitzkrieg in May 1940, the company remained the Dutch second major aircraft manufacturer after Fokker.

Although many of its aircraft were as unsuccessful economically as they were brilliant from a design standpoint, the company managed to score several 'hits', amongst them the FK-58 single-seat monoplane fighter, the FK-50 twin-engine passenger transport and the FK-41.

Anyway, England-based production of the FK-60 already ceased in late 1943 after only about 60 aircraft had been built - the British resources were needed elsewhere, so that the FK-60 became the ultimate Koolhoven aircraft to be produced in significant numbers.

General characteristics:

Crew: 1

Length: 24 ft 7 3/4 in (7,54 m)

Wingspan: 33 ft 4½ in (10.19 m)

Height: 11 ft 5½ in (3.50 m)

Wing area: 187.1 ft² (17.44 m²)

Empty weight: 5,518 lb (2,505 kg)

Max. takeoff weight: 7,378 lb (3,350 kg)

Performance

Maximum speed: 343 mph (555 km/h)

Range: 692 mi (1.117 km)

Service ceiling: 35,363 ft (10,800 m)

Rate of climb: 2,303 ft/min (11.7 m/s)

Wing loading: 29.5 lb/ft² (192 kg/m²)

Power/mass: 0.16 hp/lb (0.26 kW/kg)

Engine:

1× Wright Cyclone R-1820-60 9 cylinder radial engine with 1.200 hp (882 kW)

Armament:

3× 12.7 mm (0.5 in) machine guns with 250 RPG in the forward fuselage, synchronized to fire through the propeller disk

Provisions for 4× 7.62 (0.303 in) machine guns in the wings, outside of the landing gear; often replaced in the field by 2× 20mm (0.787 in) Hispano or CAC cannons with 60 RPG.

Hardpoint under the fuselage for a 500 lb (227 kg) bomb or a drop tank

The kit and its assembly

This aircraft is completely fictional, and the result of a spontaneous purchase: it's Art Model's kit of the I-210 prototype, also known as MiG-3 Ash-82 or MiG-9 (first use of designation) - a rather disappointing attempt to mate the MiG-3 with a radial engine.

Art Model is AFAIK a relatively new Russian manufacturer, and I already built their Grumman Bearcat. This one confirms the good initial impression, and actually the I-210 kit is a good one. It appears a bit simple, as the wings are just one massive piece. But all parts fit very well - except for the fuselage halves, which need massive shaping and sanding effort. But, on the positive side, there are nice interior details in the cockpit and the landing gear wells, and there's a fine resin engine (which I did not use, though).

It took a while to find a whiffy use for the kit, and finally settled on the idea to make another contribution to this year's Group Build at whatifmodelers.com under the theme "Asiarama". From there, and the wish to build a whif aircraft in a Dutch East Indies livery. But I had to de-sovietize this MiG somehow...

The kit was taken more or less OOB, but its engine and the nose were modified. The cowling was shortened, making place for a fan-less single radial engine from the scrap box (I suspect that it comes from a Matchbox Gladiator, the first one I built maybe 30 years ago!). A new cowling ring, also from a Matchbox Gloster Gladiator, was implanted. The original propeller received a smaller spinner from a Matchbox Fw 190, and that already changed the overall look of the aircraft considerable, even though it appears now like a Polikarpov I-16 on steroids?

I adapted the I-210's weapon installations with three MGs around the engine. Odd, but why not? The wing armament is a personal addition, the 20mm cannons were built from scratch.

Some bulges for the weapons and a pilot were added to the basic kit, that was all.

Painting and markings:

At first glance, the paint scheme looks familiar, like the typical RAF Dark Earth/Dark Green from above. But upon closer inspection, the ML-KNIL's typical scheme actually consists of two green tones, with silver undersides. This scheme was frequently used on many other ML-KNIL planes, e. g. the P-36/Hawk 75 or, Curtiss-Wright CW-21, and also on some RAAF Spitfires in that region.

For the lighter 'Oudeblad' ("old leaves") tone I used Olive Drab from Humbrol (155), which is rather brown-ish. 155 seems to be a perfect choice, and it was shaded with FS 34087 from Model Masters and Humbrol 26 (Khaki Drab).

For the darker Jongblad ("young leaves") tone I used Humbrol 195 as basic tone. FS 34092 is often recommended (as well as for RAAF "Foliage Green"), but I found this modern FS tone to be much too bluish and light. It just does not look right. After consulting pictures of a ML-KNIL Buffalo replica at airliners.net, I settled for the darker Chromeoxyde Green, setting some shades with Marine Green (Humbrol 105) and Army Green (Humbrol 102)

Taking Hawk 75 in ML-KNIL use as a benchmark I wrapped the paint scheme around the leading edges and the rear fuselage, so that only the lower wing surfaces and the engine cowling received a coat with Revell's acyrlic Aluminum. The fabric-covered rudders were painted with the darker, more gray-ish Humbrol 56. Model MAster Aluminum was used for some light shading.

A nice, colorful detail is the typical collector ring at the engine front - painted with a mix of Copper and Titanium Metallizer - it really turns the MiG into something different.

The interior surfaces became Cockpit Green (Humbrol 78), I deemed it an appropriate tone as the aircraft was assembled in the UK.

Finally, the kit was considerably weathered through a black ink wash, dry brushing on all surfaces with lighter/bleached tones of the camouflage colours, some emphasized panel lines, plus some soot stains around the guns and the exhaust - the humid conditions would certainly take their toll on the aircraft.

Markings were puzzled together. The triangles come from two Matchbox Buffal kits - the marking on the upper wings are not authentic, but I wanted to add them as these insignia are so exotic and stand out so well from the all-green background. The white fuselage stripe is another detail taken from ML-KNIL Buffalos, improvised with white decal strpis from a TL Modellbau sheet. The tactical code "K-164/D" is totally fictional and also created thorugh single digits from TL decal sheets.

In the end, a small project from the long idea list, done in just two days as nothing much was changed and I had all ingredients at hand.

Eine ungewöhnliche Zusammenstellung aus lichtstarkem Tele-Zoom, Zweifachkonverter, Adapter und EOS-M Gehäuse.

-Canon EOS-M Gehäuse mit 18Mio APS-C Bildsensor.

-Canon MOUNTADAPTER EF-EOS-M.

-SIGMA APO TELE CONVERTER 2x EX DG

-SIGMA APO 120-300mm F2.8 DG OS HSM I S

2014 02 07_XZ-2_0003

Love Me Again

Coolidge, Rita

A&M 4699

1978

Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and Magdalena Andersson, Chairman for the International Monetary Fund and Financial Committee, participate in the IMFC Press Conference during the 2021 Spring Meetings at the International Monetary Fund.

Pictured is Managing Director preparing for the Press Conference.

IMF Photo/Eman Mohammed

8 April 2021

Washington, DC, United States

Photo ref: IMF-EMGDC-27

I managed to get the first ever shot of the Sydney Opera House light painted Red!

Nah, it was lit red for world aids day and I just so happened to be in town. I had no tripod so had to use my bag and a series of props to make shift a tripod for a few long exposures. This was just taken handheld though.

Thank god for the 5D's weather sealing and high ISO performance though. It was pissing it down and you couldn't get a decent hand held shot without going 3200+

Hang around for a shot of the Harbour Bridge too!