Well, here it is. At last. My F-4J MOC, in the VF-74 "BEDEVILERS" Naval Fighter Squadron. It took loads of work and lots of hours, but I'm so glad I can say I finally did a Phantom.

 

Initially designed with the U.S. Navy in mind, the McDonnell aircraft company -- creator of the F-4 Phantom -- of the early 1950s tirelessly and methodically analyzed the Navy's needs and desires. They determined that the jet ideal for current and future carrier operations was an aircraft that was quick, technologically advanced, and able to fill multiple roles (i.e., dogfighting, ground attacks, etc.). Initially, designers from McDonnell wanted to modify their F3H Demon aircraft to simply be faster, more modular (to perhaps have different nose or cockpit variations), and more efficient. However, while beginning to proceed with this idea, many Naval officers consented that they had the role of an attack fighter already fulfilled by emerging aircraft from other companies. Eventually, McDonnell started working on a highly-requested all-weather defensive interceptor that would become the F-4 Phantom. Though this was a tall order to fill, F-4 deliveries began in the early 1960s to the U.S. Navy, and, proving highly versatile, eventually was given to the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Air Force.

 

The F-4J is one, later variant of the Phantom family, and with modifications to the airframe, engines and weapons systems, it was certainly one of the more advanced models. In fact, it was the first fighter in the world to incorporate a look-down/shoot-down targeting system. Among the Naval Fighter Squadrons that recieved the F-4Js, the VF-74 "BEDEVILERS" were certainly some of the finest that received them. Transitioning from their F-4Bs to the new F-4Js in the early 1970s, they partook in aerial combat in Vietnam, and didn't lose a single aircraft to enemy forces. They were also successful elsewhere, winning many awards during peacetime -- one of which was the Admiral Joseph Clifton Award, rendering them as the top Naval Fighter squadron in 1976. My F-4J is in a typical, later skin they'd use on the USS Forrestal (CV-59) aircraft carrier.

 

My model itself features dual, opening canopies, room for two minifigures in their respective tandem cockpit arrangement, functioning landing gear, and a simulated loadout of two AIM-7 Sparrows and four AIM-9 Sidewinders. I worked very tirelessly on both the diorama and the jet, and I do hope you like it. Comments, faves, and constructive criticisms, as always, are greatly appreciated!

Situated in the heart of the Mediterranean area and former capital of the Hammadite kingdom, the city of Béjaïa (Bougie, Bugia, Bgayet, Buzzea) - which gave its name to the small candles and from which Arabic numerals were to become popular in Europe - was, in medieval times, one of the most dynamic cultural and scientific centres in the Maghreb. It was the focal point of the intellectual elite (Muslim, Christian and Jewish) who came to study, debate ideas, research and make astronomical observations (1). After the destruction of the city by the Spaniards at the beginning of the 16th century, the province took over responsibility for astronomy. This is the epic story of the Zaouïa or Kabylian institutes.Treaties are drawn up which enable local scholars to transmit knowledge. The level of knowledge of these nineteenth-century scholars and their practices can be understood by analysing the contents of the scholarly library of manuscripts of Sheikh Lmuhub, exhumed in 1994. The ancient practices lasted until the early 20th century, when the first contemporary astronomers were trained. The prediction of the appearance of the lunar crescents, the orientation (direction of Mecca), as well as the determination of the moments of prayer have always been the major preoccupation of the Muslims. The times of prayers, for example, are directly related to the height of the sun, and vary according to the latitude of the place and the declination of the sun.Astronomy was therefore necessary, and many portable observation instruments (astrolabes, sundials) were manufactured and developed. In the 13th century, a distinct discipline, Ilm al-Miqat (the science of determined moments), was even born, dealing only with religious prescriptions related to astronomy. Work on astronomy in the countries of Islam began in the ninth century in the East (Syria, Iraq), with the translation of the Almagest of Ptolemy, famous astronomer of Alexandria in the second century. As early as the 10th century, this work was known in the Maghreb, especially in Kairouan. In this important city of Ifriqiya (editor's note: Tunisia), founded in 670, have lived a large number of scientists.The famous astronomer and astrologer Ibn Abi Ridjal (m. 1040), known in Europe as Albohazen (or Aben Rajel) . He is said to have witnessed astronomical observations made in Baghdad in 989. His main work, Kitab al-Bari fi Ahkam al-Nudjum (The Ingenious in Forensic Astrology), was translated into Spanish for King Alfonso X (around 1254), and from there into Latin , Hebrew, Portuguese, French and English. This remarkable work has played an important role in the diffusion of Muslim astronomy and astrology in Europe. Following the Hilalian attack and the ruin of Kairouan in 1057, the learned elite of this city, and Ifriqiya in general, settled in Mahdia (Tunisia), the new capital of the Zirid kingdom, and in Qal' a of the Blessed Hammad (near M' sila, Algeria). Mahdia was the work of the great astronomer Abu l' Salt Umayya, who wrote a treatise on astronomy and a Risala fi`Ilm al-Asturlab (Treaty on the Use of the Astrolabe) in the early twelfth century. However, in 1067, following the continuing threat of the Hilalians, Prince al-Nasir transferred the capital of the Berber kingdom of the Hammadites of Qal`a to Bejaia.This city thus benefited from the exodus of the learned Qal' a elite, including many mathematicians. It was endowed with beautiful monuments and also recovered works of art from the Qal' a. It then became a flourishing city. Later, the Christian Reconquista, which would put an end to the Andalusian Muslim civilization, would encourage the immigration of many Andalusian scholars to Béjaïa, including many astronomers and mathematicians from different cities, including Murcia, Seville, Valencia and Jativa. In addition to the factors already mentioned at the origin of the arrival of the learned elite in Bougie, this city, with its very active port, had the particularity of being a point of obligatory passage on the Western-East road, notably for the accomplishment of the pilgrimage of Mecca or to pursue studies.Moreover, the tolerance and dynamism of the princes of Bougie, as well as the quality of the official relations established with the Mediterranean Christian republics (Genoa, Pisa, Marseille, Venice, Catalonia, Majorca) which led to the signing of numerous treaties (peace treaties, trade treaties, treaties on the property of shipwrecked persons, etc.), will play a major role in the process of transmitting Muslim knowledge, but this is not the only one that will play a major role in the process of transmitting Muslim knowledge. It was in Bougie, for example, that the son of an Italian merchant, Leonardo Fibonacci (1170-1240), considered the first great mathematician of the Christian West, received an "admirable" teaching (mirabili magisterio), according to his own testimony, in calculus science and algebra. He is introduced to the numbering system, calculation methods and commercial techniques of the countries of Islam. He learns to calculate latitudes and longitude. Back in Pisa, he is the one who will make the work of Muslims known and stimulate the revival of mathematical studies in Europe.Bougie was famous for the level of his school. Many famous astronomers lived and worked there in medieval times. The debates were intense. An example of controversy is the classification of astronomy by two scientists from Bougie: astronomy is not integrated into the same discipline; for Ibn Sab`in astronomy is part of physics, while for Ibn Khaldun it belongs to mathematics. Some knowledge and concepts of astronomy, deeply rooted in the minds of the time and conveyed on a daily basis, give us an idea of the high level of education. For example, as early as the 12th century, many scholars of Candlelight were convinced of the sphericity of the Earth and the enormity of the Sun (Ibn Sab' in, Ibn Khaldun, Ibn Sa' id, al-Gubrini and others).In addition, astronomical instruments have reached the high level of complexity and sophistication that any specialization requires. In Bougie, numerous specialists, such as al-Burji (1310-1384), ensure the development of these instruments. According to the testimony of Al-Idrisi (1100-1166), famous geographer of the Norman king Roger II of Sicily, there was in Bougie a whole industry of "strange and exceptional apparatuses".Among the major achievements that have marked the city are the astronomical observations of Abu l' Hassan Ali and the establishment of astronomical tables by Ibn Raqqam. The Moroccan astronomer Abu l' Hassan Ali, a native of Marrakech and a great traveller,"added to the knowledge he had acquired that of the most learned men in the only countries where science was then successfully cultivated". He says:"We have written in red ink the names of the cities in which we have been, and whose latitude we have observed ourselves. "".From his own testimony, we know that Abu l' Hassan (death in 1262) was involved in astronomical observations at Bougie. He observed the height of the pole and determined the longitude and latitude of the city (36° 5'). He did the same work, with much greater precision than the elders, for 40 other cities in Andalusia and northern Africa. He recorded his observations in a masterly work Jamiou al-Mabadi wa l' Gayiat fi`Ilm al-Miqat (Collection of Beginnings and Endings). This treatise is divided into four parts: the science of calculus, the use of devices, and studies to acquire knowledge and creative power. The work was partially translated by J. in the 19th century. J. Sedillot, a French orientalist and astronomer, who states that "this treaty is the most comprehensive one written on this subject by any astronomer of the Muslim nation". L. A. Sédillot completed his father's work by publishing, in 1841, the Mémoire sur les instruments astronomiques des Arabes.In 1266, astronomer Ibn Raqqam (death in 1315) left his native Andalusia to go to Béjaïa and learn astronomy. Around 1280, he composed his famous work al-Zij al-Shamil fi Tahdib al-Kamil according to the tradition of the school initiated by the famous Andalusian astronomer Arzachel (death in 1100). This book is divided into three parts: the first part is an abstract of the treaty Al-Zij al-Kamil fi at-Ta`anim of Ibn al-Haim (composed around 1205-1206). The second part is a production by Ibn Raqqam himself. The third part is devoted to astronomical tables (Zij) that predict various celestial events (eclipses, planetary passages...). It would be interesting to check whether these tables are really suitable for Bejaia's latitude. A copy of Al-Zij al-Shamil is listed under number 249 in the al-Kindili Museum (Istanbul).Many scholars who lived in Bougie were geographically versed. This is the case of Ibn Sa' id al-Magribi (1214-1286) who wrote a geography based on the treatises of Ptolemy, al-Idrisi, Ibn Fatima and al-Khawarizmi. He accompanied the most important places of their lands and latitudes. What distinguishes it from its peers is its interest in Europe and non-Muslim countries. Ibn Sa' id's work seems to have had an impact far beyond the region. Indeed, several chapters of Abu al-Fida's work (1271-1331), largely inspired by that of Ibn Sa' id, have been translated and published in Europe.Metaphysicist Ibn Sab' in (1216-1270), disciple of the great al-Buni astrologer (m. 1225), is famous for answering the philosophical questions that Emperor Frederic II of Hohenstaufen had addressed to the Almohad almohad Sultan al-Rashid. During his stay in Bejaïa, he wrote a book on the use of the Zayriya (an instrument for astrology invented in the Maghreb in the 12th or 13th centuries). In the form of a circular table, the practice of this instrument requires a good knowledge of astronomy.The famous Catalan philosopher Raymond Lulle (1232-1316), a follower of astrology, made many trips to Bougie. He would have studied mathematics there around 1280. However, it is his journey of 1307 that will be remarkable because, on this occasion, took place the only methodical discussion of Lulle with a Muslim scholar of which there remains a record. This discussion was only possible thanks to the good will of the Ulema. The work of Lulle à Bougie, however, remains difficult to apprehend. It seems that he has taken a serious interest in Muslim works "only under the influence of a certain intellectual missionary tendency". D. Urvoy considers that his scientific universe will be dominated essentially by two aspects which may seem unrelated: the importance of maritime techniques, and especially cartographic techniques, in Catalonia, on the one hand, and an important attachment to occultism (whose practice developed in the 14th century), on the other hand. In fact, Lulle would confine himself in mathematics to the problems of speculative figures and, in astronomy, to the nature of celestial bodies and astrological judgments.Ibn Khaldun (1332- 1406), a great historian and philosopher from the Maghreb, taught at Béjaïa in 1365 and 1366. In his writings, he provides us with valuable information on the transmission of astronomical knowledge from Antiquity to the present day. Ibn Khaldun, imbued with Ptolemy's ideas, showed in "The Prolegenics" a high level of knowledge in astronomy. Faithful to the Aristotelian dogma, he places the Earth at the center of the world (geocentrism), and broadly takes up the idea of the eight crystalline spheres (those of the planets, the Moon, the Sun and the fixed ones), eccentric circles and epicycles. However, he wonders about their true existence. Let us recall that another scholar of Candle, the cosmologist Ibn' Arabi (1165-1240), exposes a system different from the previous one (3). In addition to the eight crystalline spheres, it adds a ninth, the surrounding sphere. The latter, animated by a rotating movement (24 hours), carries with it all the other spheres. Thus, the movement of each sphere is divided into two parts: one that is its own, called natural movement, and another that is imposed on it. In Prolegenics, Ibn Khaldun devoted two chapters to the problem of conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn. Concerning the shape of the Earth, Ibn Khaldun says:"In the books of philosophers who have taken the universe as the subject of their studies, we read that the earth has a spherical shape. However, the sphericity of the Earth was an idea accepted, not only by Ibn Khaldun, but also by many scientists of Candle, such as Ibn Sabin, well before Galilee. Another important geographer is the Ottoman Admiral Piri Reis (1470-1554). Arrived in Bougie around 1495, it is from this city that he goes on expedition every summer. The most remarkable of his works is the geographical map of the world he established in 1513 (shortly after Christopher Columbus was discovered in 1492) which includes the coasts of Latin America and West Africa, among others.Very accurate, this map shows that the mapping technique was very advanced at that time. A little later, in 1521, he wrote a book entitled Kitab-i-Bahriye (The Book of the Navy), which included descriptions and drawings of the Mediterranean (cities and coastal countries), as well as information on navigation techniques and related subjects, such as nautical astronomy. His visits allowed him to obtain valuable information through his discussions with the Portuguese and Spanish captives, some of whom had participated in Christopher Columbus' expeditions. Remember that at that time, the Bougiers shipowners practiced the race (piracy) with great audacity.Following the invasion of Bougie by the Spaniards in 1509, all the buildings and monuments of this city were ruined (the royal library, the majestic mosques, the prestigious schools, the palaces decorated with arabesques and mosaics). These tragic events resulted in the death of many scientists and the loss of their work. The survivors of this disaster fled to the surrounding mountains of Kabylia. As a result, the formerly little-known zawya (religious and scientific teaching institute) became increasingly important. One of them is in Akbou (Béjaïa). According to some testimonies, it was the first of the scientific zawya that developed in Algeria during three consecutive centuries; it allowed, among other things, the diffusion of astronomy and arithmetic.Many Kabyle scholars have written astronomical treatises. The one of Ash Shellati (18th century) is probably the most important. As far as we are concerned, this last work has allowed us, more than anything else, to unveil the work of several Béjaïa astronomers, who had hitherto remained in the shadows. At present, the most critical criticism of these astronomers is that they have limited themselves to the purely utilitarian function of astronomy (calendars, orientation, etc.) and have reproduced, without any originality, the works of their ancestors. Muhammed ash-Shellati wrote around 1778 a treatise on astronomy entitled Ma' alim al-Istibsar (4). It is a commentary on the treatise of the Moroccan astronomer as-Susi (d. 1679), continuator of Abi Miqra (XIVth century). Ash-Shellati writes:"I have entitled my book Ma`alim al-Istibsar". "Thank God..."He then clarifies his objective:"A useful work for beginners like me, a key to access the as-Susi work, but also to enlighten abandoned or ignored points (by as-Susi). ""

One of the peculiarities of this book is that it allows to list the various astronomical events (new stars, comets, eclipses, etc.). Ash Shellati reports that, towards the end of August 1769, a comet with a very long tail appeared in the constellation of Taurus, changing position over time. It is certainly comet C/1769 P1, also observed in Paris at the same time. In addition, he mentions the appearance of a second comet shortly after, this time in the direction of the celestial North Pole.In the 19th century, the Julian year, some ten days behind the Gregorian year, was still in use in North Africa. It was used for all things relating to agriculture and daily occupations, and the lunar year was used for its chronology. Many treaties explain how to move from one to the other. Thanks to them, local scholars could determine exactly this concordance and design calendars for the Julian year. The discovery in 1994 by the Gehimab Association of Afniq n' Ccix Lmuhub (Library of Sheikh Lmuhub's manuscripts) in Tala Uzrar (Beni Ourtilane), today gives a better idea of the astronomical knowledge that was available to local scholars .Many families in Béjaïa have libraries of manuscripts by inheritance. But we know from experience that Kabyles value their old family documents very much. As a result, many books and documents, which could serve the history of this glorious city that is Bougie, are still in the shadows to this day. At the beginning of the 20th century, modern astronomy appeared in the Kabylie mountains. Mulud-al-Hafidhi (1880-1948) joined Al-Azhar University in Cairo at the age of 25, after a two-year stint at the Zaytouna University in Tunis, where he resided for 16 years. He returned to Beni Hafedh around 1922 and taught in several zaouïa (Illula, Tamokra...). He drew up the annual Hegira calendar and announced the beginning and end of Ramadhan's month based on his own scientific data.

 

www.djazairess.com/fr/elwatan/152991

 

Bejaia... Bougie...(Candle), the city lit by its name. Origin of the Bougie, Bejaia actually (Candlelight candle) - The name Candle is the name of our city (City of Algeria located in the Kabylia region). This name appeared around the middle ages and stems from its Kabyle name "Bgayet". This name also represents the candle originally made with beeswaxThe Bougie (candle) "The Dictionary of Littrum", after many quotes, gives us a 13th century candle, then another one from the 15th century. To Jehan Guérin, in favor of what he brought to Madame de Bougye candles that the Count of Beauvais sent to the said Lady ". The Littré ends with a definition:"Candle, city of Algeria where this kind of candle was made". "La Fontaine having also specified that the candle is made with beeswax". In fact "Candle" also exported beeswax to Genoa (in Italy) where important candle factories were located. Known in Roman times as Saldae, it became one of the most prosperous cities on the Mediterranean coast in the Middle Ages, capital of the great Muslim dynasties, notably the Hammadides and a branch of the Hafsid. Originally known in Europe for the quality of its beeswax candles, to which it gave its name, the candles, Béjaïa also played an important role in the dissemination of Indo-Arabic figures in the West. It is also often referred to as the francized name of Bougie, an official name during the period of colonizationThe origin of the 3 names of the city: Bgayet - Béjaia - Bougie (Candle). Indeed, it may surprise that a city can have three names and that they are used at the same time in our time. A peculiarity of our city that has had other names in its rich past. Saldae the Roman name, or El Naciriya in the time of the Hamadite kings.

But we know clearly that since the time of Ibn Khaldun (14th century AD) that its inhabitants called it BgayetAccording to Ibn Khaldun[1]: Bedja is a locality inhabited by a Berber tribe of the same name. Bedjaïa is written Bekaïa and pronounced BegaïaThe difficulty Ibn Khaldun had in translating the name of the city into literary Arabic can be easily explained by the fact that the letter "gua" from Gaston or Bgayet does not exist in the classical Arabic alphabet. The 2 letters he used are the "ka" of kanun (the law) and the "dja" of "Djamal".

It is not uncommon also to find, even today, on the road signs of the region, like Gouraya Park, the same lack of transcription in Arabic. Thus, we find Kouraya (with a guttural K[2]) instead of Gouraya.

In short, the name of the Kabyle town of Bgayet gives birth to:

Bedjaia: transcription in classical Arabic

Bdjaya: in Algerian dialect

Bugia: in Spanish

Candle: in French

 

Dalila Smail

 

1] considered the father of modern sociology and who, around 1364, was entrusted with the office of Prime Minister and preacher of the great El-Qaçaba mosque in our city by Abou-Abdellah, Prince Hafside, a dissident prince.

2] Consonant pronounced from the throat.

 

kabyleuniversel.com/2014/03/20/bougie-la-ville-eclairee-p...

The water buffalo or domestic Asian water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) is a large bovid originating in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and China. Today, it is also found in Europe, Australia, and some American countries. The wild water buffalo (Bubalus arnee) native to Southeast Asia is considered a different species, but most likely represents the ancestor of the domestic water buffalo.

 

Two extant types of water buffalo are recognized based on morphological and behavioural criteria – the river buffalo of South Asia and further west to the Balkans, Egypt, and Italy, and the swamp buffalo, found from Assam in the west through Southeast Asia to the Yangtze valley of China in the east. The origins of the domestic water buffalo types are debated, although results of a phylogenetic study indicate that the swamp type may have originated in China and was domesticated about 4,000 years ago, while the river type may have originated from India and was domesticated about 5,000 years ago. Water buffalo were traded from the Indus Valley Civilisation to Mesopotamia, in modern Iraq, 2500 BC by the Meluhhas. The seal of a scribe employed by an Akkadian king shows the sacrifice of water buffalo.

 

At least 130 million domestic water buffalo exist, and more human beings depend on them than on any other domestic animal. They are especially suitable for tilling rice fields, and their milk is richer in fat and protein than that of dairy cattle. The large feral population of northern Australia became established in the late 19th century, and smaller feral herds are in New Guinea, Tunisia, and northeastern Argentina. Feral herds are also present in New Britain, New Ireland, Irian Jaya, Papua New Guinea, Colombia, Guyana, Suriname, Brazil, and Uruguay.

 

CHARACTERISTICS

The skin of river buffalo is black, but some specimens may have dark, slate-coloured skin. Swamp buffalo have a grey skin at birth, but become slate blue later. Albinoids are present in some populations. River buffalo have comparatively longer faces, smaller girths, and bigger limbs than swamp buffalo. Their dorsal ridges extend further back and taper off more gradually. Their horns grow downward and backward, then curve upward in a spiral. Swamp buffalo are heavy-bodied and stockily built; the body is short and the belly large. The forehead is flat, the eyes prominent, the face short, and the muzzle wide. The neck is comparatively long, and the withers and croup are prominent. A dorsal ridge extends backward and ends abruptly just before the end of the chest. Their horns grow outward, and curve in a semicircle, but always remain more or less on the plane of the forehead. The tail is short, reaching only to the hocks. Height at withers is 129–133 cm for males, and 120–127 cm for females. They range in weight from 300–550 kg, but weights of over 1,000 kg have also been observed.

 

Tedong bonga is a black pied buffalo featuring a unique black and white colouration that is favoured by the Toraja of Sulawesi.

 

The swamp buffalo has 48 chromosomes; the river buffalo has 50 chromosomes. The two types do not readily interbreed, but fertile offspring can occur. Buffalo-cattle hybrids have not been observed to occur, and the embryos of such hybrids do not reach maturity in laboratory experiments.

 

The rumen of the water buffalo has important differences from that of other ruminants. It contains a larger population of bacteria, particularly the cellulolytic bacteria, lower protozoa, and higher fungi zoospores. In addition, higher rumen ammonia nitrogen (NH4-N) and higher pH have been found as compared to those in cattle

 

ECOLOGY AND BEHAVIOR

River buffalo prefer deep water. Swamp buffalo prefer to wallow in mudholes which they make with their horns. During wallowing, they acquire a thick coating of mud. Both are well adapted to a hot and humid climate with temperatures ranging from 0 °C in the winter to 30 °C and greater in the summer. Water availability is important in hot climates, since they need wallows, rivers, or splashing water to assist in thermoregulation. Some breeds are adapted to saline seaside shores and saline sandy terrain.

 

DIET

Water buffalo thrive on many aquatic plants and during floods, will graze submerged, raising their heads above the water and carrying quantities of edible plants. They eat reeds (quassab), a giant reed (birdi), a kind of bulrush (kaulan), water hyacinth, and marsh grasses. Some of these plants are of great value to local peoples. Others, such as water hyacinth, are a major problem in some tropical valleys, and water buffalo may help to keep waterways clear.

 

Green fodders are used widely for intensive milk production and for fattening. Many fodder crops are conserved as hay, chaffed, or pulped. Fodders include alfalfa, berseem and bancheri, the leaves, stems or trimmings of banana, cassava, fodder beet, halfa, ipil-ipil and kenaf, maize, oats, pandarus, peanut, sorghum, soybean, sugarcane, bagasse, and turnips. Citrus pulp and pineapple wastes have been fed safely to buffalo. In Egypt, whole sun-dried dates are fed to milk-buffalo up to 25% of the standard feed mixture.

 

REPRODUCTION

Swamp buffalo generally become reproductive at an older age than river breeds. Young males in Egypt, India, and Pakistan are first mated at about 3.0–3.5 years of age, but in Italy

 

they may be used as early as 2 years of age. Successful mating behaviour may continue until the animal is 12 years or even older. A good river male can impregnate 100 females in a year. A strong seasonal influence on mating occurs. Heat stress reduces libido

 

Although buffalo are polyoestrous, their reproductive efficiency shows wide variation throughout the year. Buffalo cows exhibit a distinct seasonal change in displaying oestrus, conception rate, and calving rate. The age at first oestrus of heifers varies between breeds from 13–33 months, but mating at the first oestrus is often infertile and usually deferred until they are 3 years old. Gestation lasts from 281–334 days, but most reports give a range between 300 and 320 days. Swamp buffalo carry their calves for one or two weeks longer than river buffalo. It is not rare to find buffalo that continue to work well at the age of 30, and instances of a working life of 40 years are recorded.

 

TAXONOMIC HISTORY

Carl Linnaeus first described the genus Bos and the water buffalo under the binomial Bubalis bubalus in 1758; the latter was known to occur in Asia and as a domestic form in Italy. Ellerman and Morrison-Scott treated the wild and domestic forms of the water buffalo as conspecifics whereas others treated them as different species. The nomenclatorial treatment of wild and domestic forms has been inconsistent and varies between authors and even within the works of single authors.

 

In March 2003, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature achieved consistency in the naming of wild and domestic water buffalo by ruling that the scientific name Bubalus arnee is valid for the wild form. B. bubalis continues to be valid for the domestic form and applies also to feral populations.

 

DOMESTICATION AND BREEDING

Water buffalo were domesticated in India about 5000 years ago, and in China about 4000 years ago. Two types are recognized, based on morphological and behavioural criteria – the river buffalo of the Indian subcontinent and further west to the Balkans and Italy, and the swamp buffalo, found from Assam in the west through Southeast Asia to the Yangtze valley of China in the east. The present-day river buffalo is the result of complex domestication processes involving more than one maternal lineage and a significant maternal gene flow from wild populations after the initial domestication events. Twenty-two breeds of the river type water buffalo are known, including Murrah, Nili-Ravi, Surti, Jafarabadi, Anatolian, Mediterranean, and Egyptian buffalo. China has a huge variety of buffalo genetic resources, comprising 16 local swamp buffalo breeds in various regions.

 

Results of mitochondrial DNA analyses indicate that the two types were domesticated independently. Sequencing of cytochrome b genes of Bubalus species implies that the domestic buffalo originated from at least two populations, and that the river and the swamp types have differentiated at the full species level. The genetic distance between the two types is so large that a divergence time of about 1.7 million years has been suggested. The swamp type was noticed to have the closest relationship with the tamaraw.

 

DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATIONS

The water buffalo population in the world is about 172 million.

 

IN ASIA

More than 95.8% of the world population of water buffalo are found in Asia including both river and swamp types. The water buffalo population in India numbered over 97.9 million head in 2003, representing 56.5% of the world population. They are primarily of the river type, with 10 well-defined breeds comprising Badhawari, Murrah, Nili-Ravi, Jafarabadi, Marathwada, Mehsana, Nagpuri, Pandharpuri, Toda, and Surti. Swamp buffalo occur only in small areas in the north-eastern part of the country and are not distinguished into breeds.

 

In 2003, the second-largest population lived in China, with 22.759 million head, all of the swamp type with breeds kept only in the lowlands, and other breeds kept only in the mountains; as of 2003, 3.2 million swamp-type carabao buffalo were in the Philippines, nearly three million swamp buffalo were in Vietnam, and 772,764 buffalo were in Bangladesh. About 750,000 head were estimated in Sri Lanka in 1997.

 

The water buffalo is the main dairy animal in Pakistan, with 23.47 million head in 2010. Of these, 76% are kept in the Punjab. The rest of them are mostly in the province of Sindh. Breeds used are Nili-Ravi, Kundi, and Azi Kheli. Karachi has the largest population of water buffalos for an area where fodder is not grown, consisting of 350,000 head kept mainly for milking.

 

In Thailand, the number of water buffalo dropped from more than 3 million head in 1996 to less than 1.24 million head in 2011. Slightly over 75% of them are kept in the country's northeastern region. The statistics also indicate that by the beginning of 2012, less than one million were in the country, partly as a result of illegal shipments to neighboring countries where sales prices are higher than in Thailand.

 

Water buffalo are also present in the southern region of Iraq, in the marshes. These marshes were drained by Saddam Hussein in 1991 in an attempt to punish the south for the uprisings of 1991. Following 2003, and the fall of the Saddam regime, these lands were reflooded and a 2007 report in the provinces of Maysan and Thi Qar shows a steady increase in the number of water buffalo. The report puts the number at 40,008 head in those two provinces.

 

IN EUROPE AND THE MEDITERRANEAN

Water buffalo likely were introduced to Europe from India or other Oriental countries. To Italy they were introduced about the year 600 in the reign of the Longobard King Agilulf. As they appear in the company of wild horses, they probably were a present from the Khan of the Avars, a Turkic nomadic tribe that dwelt near the Danube River at the time. Sir H. Johnston knew of a herd of water buffalo presented by a King of Naples to the Bey of Tunis in the mid-19th century that had resumed the feral state in northern Tunis.

 

European buffalo are all of the river type and considered to be of the same breed named Mediterranean buffalo. In Italy, the Mediterranean type was particularly selected and is called Mediterranean Italian breed to distinguish it from other European breeds, which differ genetically. Mediterranean buffalo are also found in Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Albania, Kosovo, and the Republic of Macedonia, with a few hundred in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Hungary. Little exchange of breeding buffalo has occurred among countries, so each population has its own phenotypic features and performances. In Bulgaria, they were crossbred with the Indian Murrah breed, and in Romania, some were crossbred with Bulgarian Murrah. Populations in Turkey are of the Anatolian buffalo breed.

 

IN AUSTRALIA

Between 1824 and 1849, water buffalo were introduced into the Northern Territory from Timor, Kisar, and probably other islands in the Indonesian archipelago. In 1886, a few milking types were brought from India to Darwin. They have been the main grazing animals on the subcoastal plains and river basins between Darwin and Arnhem Land since the 1880s. In the early 1960s, an estimated population of 150,000 to 200,000 buffalo were living in the plains and nearby areas.

 

They became feral and are causing significant environmental damage. Buffalo are also found in the Top End. As a result, they were hunted in the Top End from 1885 until 1980. The commencement of the brucellosis and tuberculosis campaign (BTEC) resulted in a huge culling program to reduce buffalo herds to a fraction of the numbers that were reached in the 1980s. The BTEC was finished when the Northern Territory was declared free of the disease in 1997. Numbers dropped dramatically as a result of the campaign, but have since recovered to an estimated 150,000 animals across northern Australia in 2008.

 

During the 1950s, buffalo were hunted for their skins and meat, which was exported and used in the local trade. In the late 1970s, live exports were made to Cuba and continued later into other countries. Buffalo are now crossed with riverine buffalo in artificial insemination programs, and may be found in many areas of Australia. Some of these crossbreds are used for milk production. Melville Island is a popular hunting location, where a steady population up to 4,000 individuals exists. Safari outfits are run from Darwin to Melville Island and other locations in the Top End, often with the use of bush pilots. The horns, which can measure up to a record of 3.1 m tip-to-tip, are prized hunting trophies.

 

The buffalo have developed a different appearance from the Indonesian buffalo from which they descend. They live mainly in freshwater marshes and billabongs, and their territory range can be quite expansive during the wet season. Their only natural predators in Australia are adult saltwater crocodiles, with whom they share the billabongs, and dingoes, which have been known to prey on buffalo calves and occasionally adult buffalo when the dingoes are in large packs.

 

Buffalo were exported live to Indonesia until 2011, at a rate of about 3000 per year. After the live export ban that year, the exports dropped to zero, and had not resumed as of June 2013.

 

IN SOUTH AMERICA

Water buffalo were introduced into the Amazon River basin in 1895. They are now extensively used there for meat and dairy production. In 2005, the buffalo herd in the Brazilian Amazon stood at roughly 1.6 million head, of which 460,000 were located in the lower Amazon floodplain. Breeds used include Mediterranean from Italy, Murrah and Jafarabadi from India, and Carabao from the Philippines.

 

During the 1970s, small herds were imported to Costa Rica, Ecuador, Cayenne, Panama, Surinam, Guyana, and Venezuela.

 

In Argentina, many game ranches raise water buffalo for commercial hunting

 

IN NORTH AMERICA

In 1974, four water buffalo were imported to the United States from Guam to be studied at the University of Florida. In February 1978, the first herd arrived for commercial farming. Until 2002, only one commercial breeder was in the United States. Water buffalo meat is imported from Australia. Until 2011, water buffalo were raised in Gainesville, Florida, from young obtained from zoo overflow. They were used primarily for meat production, frequently sold as hamburger.[38] Other US ranchers use them for production of high-quality mozzarella cheese.

 

HUSBANDRY

The husbandry system of water buffalo depends on the purpose for which they are bred and maintained. Most of them are kept by people who work on small farms in family units. Their buffalo live in very close association with them, and are often their greatest capital asset. The women and girls in India generally look after the milking buffalo while the men and boys are concerned with the working animals. Throughout Asia, they are commonly tended by children who are often seen leading or riding their charges to wallowing places. Water buffalo are the ideal animals for work in the deep mud of paddy fields because of their large hooves and flexible foot joints. They are often referred to as "the living tractor of the East". It probably is possible to plough deeper with buffalo than with either oxen or horses. They are the most efficient and economical means of cultivation of small fields. In most rice-producing countries, they are used for threshing and for transporting the sheaves during the rice harvest. They provide power for oilseed mills, sugarcane presses, and devices for raising water. They are widely used as pack animals, and in India and Pakistan also for heavy haulage. In their invasions of Europe, the Turks used buffalo for hauling heavy battering rams. Their dung is used as a fertilizer, and as a fuel when dried.

 

Buffalo contribute 72 million tones of milk and three million tones of meat annually to world food, much of it in areas that are prone to nutritional imbalances. In India, river-type buffalo are kept mainly for milk production and for transport, whereas swamp-type buffalo are kept mainly for work and a small amount of milk.

 

DAIRY PRODUCTS

Water buffalo milk presents physicochemical features different from that of other ruminant species, such as a higher content of fatty acids and proteins. The physical and chemical parameters of swamp and river type water buffalo milk differ. Water buffalo milk contains higher levels of total solids, crude protein, fat, calcium, and phosphorus, and slightly higher content of lactose compared with those of cow milk. The high level of total solids makes water buffalo milk ideal for processing into value-added dairy products such as cheese. The conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) content in milk ranged from 4.4 mg/g fat in September to 7.6 mg/g fat in June. Seasons and genetics may play a role in variation of CLA level and changes in gross composition of the water buffalo milk.

 

Water buffalo milk is processed into a large variety of dairy products:

 

- Cream churns much faster at higher fat levels and gives higher overrun than cow cream.

- Butter from water buffalo cream displays more stability than that from cow cream.

- Ghee from water buffalo milk has a different texture with a bigger grain size than ghee from cow milk.

- Heat-concentrated milk products in the Indian subcontinent include paneer, khoa, rabri, kheer and basundi.

- Fermented milk products include dahi, yogurt, and chakka.

- Whey is used for making ricotta and mascarpone in Italy, and alkarish in Syria and Egypt.

- Soft cheeses made include mozzarella in Italy, karish, mish, and domiati in Egypt, madhfor in Iraq, alghab in Syria, kesong puti in the Philippines, and vladeasa in Romania.

- The semihard cheese beyaz peynir is made in Turkey.

- Hard cheeses include braila in Romania, rahss in Egypt, white brine in Bulgaria, and akkawi in Syria.

- Watered-down buffalo milk is used as a cheaper alternative to regular milk.

 

MEAT AND SKIN PRODUCTS

Water buffalo meat, sometimes called "carabeef", is often passed off as beef in certain regions, and is also a major source of export revenue for India. In many Asian regions, buffalo meat is less preferred due to its toughness; however, recipes have evolved (rendang, for example) where the slow cooking process and spices not only make the meat palatable, but also preserve it, an important factor in hot climates where refrigeration is not always available.Their hides provide tough and useful leather, often used for shoes.

 

BONE AND HORN PRODUCTS

The bones and horns are often made into jewellery, especially earrings. Horns are used for the embouchure of musical instruments, such as ney and kaval.

 

ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS

Wildlife conservation scientists have started to recommend and use introduced populations of feral domestic water buffalo in far-away lands to manage uncontrolled vegetation growth in and around natural wetlands. Introduced water buffalo at home in such environs provide cheap service by regularly grazing the uncontrolled vegetation and opening up clogged water bodies for waterfowl, wetland birds, and other wildlife. Grazing water buffalo are sometimes used in Great Britain for conservation grazing, such as in Chippenham Fen National Nature Reserve. The buffalo can better adapt to wet conditions and poor-quality vegetation than cattle.

 

Currently, research is being conducted at the Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies to determine the levels of nutrients removed and returned to wetlands when water buffalo are used for wetland vegetation management.

 

However, in uncontrolled circumstances, water buffalo can cause environmental damage, such as trampling vegetation, disturbing bird and reptile nesting sites, and spreading exotic weeds.

 

RESEARCH

The world's first cloned buffalo was developed by Indian scientists from National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal. The buffalo calf was named Samrupa. The calf did not survive more than a week, and died due to some genetic disorders. So, the scientists created another cloned buffalo a few months later, and named it Garima.

 

On 15 September 2007, the Philippines announced its development of Southeast Asia's first cloned buffalo. The Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD), under the Department of Science and Technology in Los Baños, Laguna, approved this project. The Department of Agriculture's Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) will implement cloning through somatic cell nuclear transfer as a tool for genetic improvement in water buffalo. "Super buffalo calves" will be produced. There will be no modification or alteration of the genetic materials, as in genetically modified organisms.

 

On 1 January 2008, the Philippine Carabao Center in Nueva Ecija, per Filipino scientists, initiated a study to breed a super water buffalo that could produce 4 to 18 litres of milk per day using gene-based technology. Also, the first in vitro river buffalo was born there in 2004 from an in vitro-produced, vitrified embryo, named "Glory" after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Joseph Estrada's most successful project as an opposition senator, the PCC was created through Republic Act 3707, the Carabao Act of 1992.

 

IN CULTURE

Some ethnic groups, such as Batak and Toraja in Indonesia and the Derung in China, use water buffalo or kerbau (called horbo in Batak or tedong in Toraja) as sacrificial animals at several festivals.

 

- Legend has it that the Chinese philosophical sage Laozi left China through the Han Gu Pass riding a water buffalo.

- According to Hindu lore, the god of death Yama, rides on a male water buffalo.

- The carabao subspecies is considered a national symbol in the Philippines.

- In Vietnam, water buffalo are often the most valuable possession of poor farmers: "Con trâu là đầu cơ nghiệp". They are treated as a member of the family: "Chồng cày, vợ cấy, con trâu đi bừa" ("The husband ploughs, the wife sows, water buffalo draws the rake") and are friends of the children. Children talk to their water buffalo, "Bao giờ cây lúa còn bông. Thì còn ngọn cỏ ngoài đồng trâu ăn." (Vietnamese children are responsible for grazing water buffalo. They feed them grass if they work laboriously for men.) In the old days, West Lake, Hà Nội, was named Kim Ngưu - Golden Water Buffalo.

- The Yoruban Orisha Oya (goddess of change) takes the form of a water buffalo.

 

FIGHTING FESTIVALS

- Pasungay Festival is held annually in the town of San Joaquin, Iloilo in the Philippines.

- Moh juj Water Buffalo fighting, is held every year in Bhogali Bihu in Assam. Ahotguri in Nagaon is famous for it.

- Do Son Water Buffalo Fighting Festival of Vietnam, held each year on the ninth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar at Do Son Township, Haiphong City in Vietnam, is one of the most popular Vietnam festivals and events in Haiphong City. The preparations for this buffalo fighting festival begin from the two to three months earlier. The competing buffalo are selected and methodically trained months in advance. It is a traditional festival of Vietnam attached to a Water God worshipping ceremony and the Hien Sinh custom to show martial spirit of the local people of Do Son, Haiphong.

- "Hai Luu" Water Buffalo Fighting Festival of Vietnam, According to ancient records, the buffalo fighting in Hai Luu Commune has existed from the 2nd century B.C. General Lu Gia at that time, had the buffalo slaughtered to give a feast to the local people and the warriors, and organized buffalo fighting for amusement. Eventually, all the fighting buffalo will be slaughtered as tributes to the deities.

- "Ko Samui" Water Buffalo Fighting Festival of Thailand, is a very popular event held on special occasions such as New Year's Day in January, and Songkran in mid-April, this festival features head-wrestling bouts in which two male Asian water buffalo are pitted against one another. Unlike in Spanish Bullfighting, wherein bulls get killed while fighting sword-wielding men, Buffalo Fighting Festival held at Ko Samui, Thailand is fairly harmless contest. The fighting season varies according to ancient customs & ceremonies. The first Buffalo to turn and run away is considered the loser, the winning buffalo becomes worth several million baht. Ko Samui is an island in the Gulf of Thailand in the South China Sea, it is 700 km from Bangkok and is connected to it by regular flights.

- "Ma'Pasilaga Tedong" Water Buffalo Fighting Festival, in Tana Toraja Regency of Sulawesi Island, Indonesia, is a very popular event where the Rambu Solo' or a Burial Festival took place in Tana Toraja.

 

RACING FESTIVALS

Carabao Carroza Festival is being held annually every May in the town of Pavia, Iloilo, Philippines.

Kambala races of Karnataka, India, take place between December and March. The races are conducted by having the water buffalo (he buffalo) run in long parallel slushy ditches, where they are driven by men standing on wooden planks drawn by the buffalo. The objectives of the race are to finish first and to raise the water to the greatest height and also a rural sport. Kambala races are arranged with competition, as well as without competition and as a part of thanks giving (to god) in about 50 villages of coastal Karnataka.

 

In the Chonburi Province of Thailand, and in Pakistan, there are annual water buffalo races.

 

Chon Buri Water buffalo racing festival, Thailand In downtown Chonburi, 70 km south of Bangkok, at the annual water buffalo festival held in mid-October. About 300 buffalo race in groups of five or six, spurred on by bareback jockeys wielding wooden sticks, as hundreds of spectators cheer. The water buffalo has always played an important role in agriculture in Thailand. For farmers of Chon Buri Province, near Bangkok, it is an important annual festival, beginning in mid-October. It is also a celebration among rice farmers before the rice harvest. At dawn, farmers walk their buffalo through surrounding rice fields, splashing them with water to keep them cool before leading them to the race field. This amazing festival started over a hundred years ago when two men arguing about whose buffalo was the fastest ended up having a race between them. That’s how it became a tradition and gradually a social event for farmers who gathered from around the country in Chonburi to trade their goods. The festival also helps a great deal in preserving the number of buffalo, which have been dwindling at quite an alarming rate in other regions. Modern machinery is rapidly replacing buffalo in Thai agriculture. With most of the farm work mechanized, the buffalo-racing tradition has continued. Racing buffalo are now raised just to race; they do not work at all. The few farm buffalo which still do work are much bigger than the racers because of the strenuous work they perform. Farm buffalo are in the "Buffalo Beauty Pageant", a Miss Farmer beauty contest and a comic buffalo costume contest etc.. This festival perfectly exemplifies a favored Thai attitude to life — "sanuk," meaning fun.

 

Babulang Water buffalo racing festival, Sarawak, Malaysia, is the largest or grandest of the many rituals, ceremonies and festivals of the traditional Bisaya (Borneo) community of Limbang, Sarawak. Highlights are the Ratu Babulang competition and the Water buffalo races which can only be found in this town in Sarawak, Malaysia.

Vihear Suor village Water buffalo racing festival, in Cambodia, each year, people visit Buddhist temples across the country to honor their deceased loved ones during a 15-day period commonly known as the Festival of the Dead but in Vihear Suor village, about 35 km northeast of Cambodia, citizens each year wrap up the festival with a water buffalo race to entertain visitors and honour a pledge made hundreds of years ago. There was a time when many village cattle which provide rural Cambodians with muscle power to plough their fields and transport agricultural products died from an unknown disease. The villagers prayed to a spirit to help save their animals from the disease and promised to show their gratitude by holding a buffalo race each year on the last day of "P'chum Ben" festival as it is known in Cambodian. The race draws hundreds of spectators who come to see riders and their animals charge down the racing field, the racers bouncing up and down on the backs of their buffalo, whose horns were draped with colorful cloth.

Pothu puttu matsaram, Kerala, South India, is similar to Kambala races.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Felix was formerly a Pilot of unique (and often super natural) ability; rumours suggest he killed a Jedi (thus receiving some of her ability to control the force) which resulted in the super reflexes that, in hindsight, earned him more recognition then he would have liked.

 

This unique ability to pilot spacefighters drew the attention of many crimelords and cartels which eventually led to him joining the under world consortium and crime syndicate known as the Zann Consortium; led by the notourious (and shamed Imperial Academy Cadet) Tyber Zann.

 

Soon after the Battle of Yavin, Felix was put in charge of a specialist group of pilots which conducted all the Narcotic runs to and from the other cartels. He and his team purpose built Space-Runners with secret holds to move the narcotics and their payments around.

 

Unfortunately Felix was ambushed on a return run to Tyber's HQ and was captured and then tortured.

 

Dumped back in his space-runner, he was left to drift in space before eventually being found.

 

Felix had been tortured for the whereabouts of the Zann consortium HQ - his kidnappers had removed his leg at the knee and one of his arms at the shoulder in the hope it would force him into giving them what they wanted.

 

Saved by his Crimelord boss. Narcotics were used during his treatment made Felix arrogant, methodical and ruthless. When well enough to leave the confines of the medical facilities of the cartel, he made a choice. Decision made he would hold a grudge on those that were behind his kidnapping and torture. And not let it go until he made them pay.

 

Felix used some of the vast funds he had saved to purchase psycho conditioning treatments and training to enhance his fightig ability to match his piloting. Turning his attention to his Starfighter which named Grudge Bearer, he converted the "narcotics" hold into an area which could hold his bounty he also added a more powerful hyperdrive, a cloaking device, a cloaking jammer and two double rapid firing laser canons to each wing. Felix also added an experimental Combat/Runner shield which adapts to the situation - ie. when in Runner mode the shield is weaker however it allows more power to be directed to the controls allowing greater manouverablility.

 

Felix has found that Bounty Hunting has led him to a number of his kidnappers and is slowly making his way to the man/creature behind his ordeal.

 

His pilot instincts have never left him and he adds a yellow and black stripe for every kidnapper he finds and in addition for every 100 bounties he adds a green stripe to the wings of Grudge Bearer

Gerhard Richter German 1932

AB Mediation , 1986

 

Oil on canvas

 

In 1961, the year the Berlin Wall went up, Richter left Dresden to settle in Düsseldorf, West Germany. There he met artists Polke and Fischer-Lueg with whom he founded Capitalist Realism. He brought to painting such images of the banality of the contemporary world as were found in numerous iconic sources, such as advertising flyers, magazines and family photographs. Throughout his long and prolific career, Richter has displayed a critical fascination for the ways in which images are constructed, an interest that led him to explore abstraction and figuration in like measure, giving him a unique position in the history of twentieth-century painting. “Since there is no such thing as absolute rightness and truth, we always pursue the artificial, leading, human truth”, he noted in 1962. This painting belongs to the group of “Free Abstracts” that the artist worked on in the mid-1980s. An apparent offshoot of the gestural abstraction Richter had admired during his years of academic training, this magnificent diptych is in fact the result of the artist’s analytical approach. Its violent explosion of colours is attenuated by the mechanical application of paint, while certain methodically brushed-on areas of the surface suggest the effects of a landscape viewed through an out-of-focus camera lens – a sign of the preponderance of photography in Richter’s work.

 

Purchase, Horsley and Annie Townsend Bequest and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts’ Volunteer Association Fund, inv. 1987.8

 

From the Placard: Musée Des Beaux-Arts Montréal

 

www.mbam.qc.ca/

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_Richter

 

youtu.be/q7Zbpz1Rjjw

 

www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/Photos/Photos-from-the-Ger...

 

youtu.be/yF6EluMNR14

 

This is "library hand," the strange way librarians had of writing cursive which slants backwards.

 

The University of Michigan Library catalog had the "first card written west of Cambridge" according to this recollection of it by William Warner Bishop, who would later become the UM Library Director:

 

"I well remember my first encounter with a card catalog," said William Warner Bishop, Superintendent of the Library of Congress Reading Room, in a paper read at the Minnetonka conference of the American Library Association. "It was at the University of Michigan, and too long ago for me to count the years with comfort, and too few with pride. I had haunted the Detroit Public Library for years, and knew every nook and corner of it—but I had never seen, much less used, a card catalog. I went into the University Library in the evening to pass a couple of hours. I wanted a book—any book—and I was coldly referred to a case of double-tray drawers where little cards were arranged—by authors. I remember to this day turning those cards. Being a methodical soul, even then, I had begun with A, and Aristotle was the first author I happened on. Do you wonder that I turned away from that oak case in which the first card written west of Cambridge was even then said to repose, and went out of that library utterly discouraged ? There were no open shelves then, save for a few dictionaries, etc., and no reference librarian and the "student assistant" on duty that night saw in me only a freshman who wanted to idle away time. I submit there was room for assistance in this case. The book-worm in me couldn't be downed even by Aristotle, and yet I remember many a time after that, when I had become thoroughly familiar with the use of the catalog, turning over the author cards at random to find something to read when I was tired or had an hour to spare. A selection of good literature on open shelves is an assistance to readers at a formative period which no university or college library can afford to forego. The more books the student can see and handle the better. They are worth more than catalogs, bibliographies, yes—and the reference librarian."

 

Koch, Theodore Wesley. University of Michigan Library, 1905-1912. Ann Arbor: Priv. print. [by the Ann Arbor press], 1912.

I am trying to be methodical about going through my Texas pics but I cannot seem to get past this one species. It was such a delight to watch their silly behavior.

Hidalgo county, Texas

April 2024

 

***UPDATE*** 8/30/13 Ian methodically stalked this beauty, and after careful research, this one is now heading his way. Thanks for the trust!

  

Can I please help you solve your storage needs? This line is the bees knees. Look for the details! Gosh. Contact me 24/7-- kinzco@domain900.net. All day. Every day. Kenny K.

The challenge:

 

This week challenge is to produce an image in the style of Andy Warhol’s Pop Art. If you were to ask people about Andy Warhol, I suppose most would immediately think about the silkscreen portraits. Such as those of Marilyn Monroe or a picture showing a lot of identical soup cans (which are not identical at all, as a closer look would reveal). Most of his pictures were made as silk screen paintings using only three to four colors, some were made into black and white or monochrome pictures.

 

My process:

 

I spent some time looking at Warhol’s body of work and was particularly drawn to a series he did of Ingrid Bergman that included blocks of color (www.wikiart.org/en/andy-warhol/ingrid-bergman-as-herself) and was inspired to try something similar.

 

I then did some research on the various ways to create an Andy Warhol look from a photo. I settled on this video (youtu.be/bT04Owgwrts) because I felt that its use of the Cutout filter in Photoshop not only helped separate the colors, but did it in a way that didn’t necessarily stay within the lines – something that I saw mentioned multiple times as part of Warhol’s style.

 

My next challenge was to find a photo that looked good after the pop-art conversion process was applied. I went through some photos that I’ve taken in the past couple of weeks just to run them through the process to see how they looked. (I created an action in Photoshop so that I could apply the filters with just a single click – that made it really easy to try a variety of subjects.) One of the images I liked the best was of a poinsettia – and as it turns out Warhol has a few poinsettia paintings. But I didn’t feel like taking yet another photo of a poinsettia (it has to be a new photo taken this week for the challenge) and masking out a single flower. One thing I discovered was that simple subjects worked better than complicated ones, i.e. a white coffee cup on a dark counter worked better than a bird at our feeder. But I wanted something more than a coffee cup so I kept my eyes peeled for subjects as I went about life this week. Opportunity struck when we were at a neighbor’s house and their dog started asking for treats. I took the photo with my phone because I knew that sharp details weren’t necessary for pop-art.

 

The background of my photo was a bit messy, so I masked that away at the start of my pop-art process. Again, I didn’t worry about a super clean mask because I knew it wouldn’t matter once the PS Cutout filter was applied.

 

When I first created the color blocks for the background, they didn’t feel quite right, but I couldn’t figure out why. When I went back to look at Warhol’s work, I noticed that there was a lot of texture in his backgrounds – even when they were a solid color. So, I found a texture that I thought would work and added it over my background colors. This also had the effect of toning down the intensity of the colors in the background and I found that I very much preferred it.

 

I used the Hue slider in a Hue/Saturation adjustment to create all of the color combos. Of course, my methodical brain required that I calculate an even “step” between all nine adjustments. Then I found that I needed to move the nine color variations around to make the colors appear more random. All in all, it was a fun creative endeavor. 

 

Still, it’s possible that I may have gone overboard with all of the color blocks I included in my rendition (compared to what Warhol would have done), but as I was working on it I felt like I was working on a patchwork quilt and just went with it. I’ll include a version without the color blocks in the comments so that you can see the difference.

 

Google Pixel 2 XL, RAW. Post-processing in Photoshop.

 

CC appreciated.

 

I'm looking to take these images (potentially) through another stage of production. It felt good, in a way, to photograph something with such simplicity and at a less hasty and more methodical pace. It doesn't hurt to try something different whenever possible!

A dramatic moment from 'Kin' by Barely Methodical Troupe which is part of the The Underbelly Circus Hub at this year's Edinburgh Fringe.

 

This show is oodles of fun.

 

You can book tickets here: www.underbellyedinburgh.co.uk/whats-on/kin

Taurus - SALMIAH HASSAN

youtu.be/b6xzKeX9gTw

 

The characteristics of taurus are solidity, practicality, extreme determination and strength of will - no one will ever drive them, but they will willingly and loyally follow a leader they trust. They are stable, balanced, conservative good, law-abiding citizens and lovers of peace, possessing all the best qualities of the bourgeoisie. As they have a sense of material values and physical possessions, respect for property and a horror of falling into debt, they will do everything in their power to maintain the security of the status quo and be somewhat hostile to change.

 

Mentally, the caracteristics of taurus are keen-witted and practical more often than intellectual, but apt to become fixed in their opinions through their preference for following accepted and reliable patterns of experience. Taurus character is generally dependable, steadfast, prudent, just, firm and unshaken in the face of difficulties. Their vices arise from their virtues, going to extremes on occasion,such as sometimes being too slavish to the conventions they admire.

 

On rare occasions a Taurus may be obstinately and exasperatingly self-righteous, unoriginal, rigid, ultraconservative, argumentative, querulous bores, stuck in a self-centered rut. They may develop a brooding resentment through nursing a series of injuries received and, whether their characters are positive or negative, they need someone to stroke their egos with a frequent, "Well Done!" Most Taurus people are not this extreme though.

 

They are faithful and generous friends with a great capacity for affection, but rarely make friends with anyone outside their social rank, to which they are ordinarily excessively faithful. In the main, they are gentle, even tempered, good natured, modest and slow to anger, disliking quarreling and avoiding ill-feeling. If they are provoked, however, they can explode into violent outbursts of ferocious anger in which they seem to lose all self-control. Equally unexpected are their occasional sallies into humor and exhibitions of fun.

 

Although their physical appearance may belie it, they have a strong aesthetic taste, enjoying art, for which they may have a talent, beauty (recoiling from anything sordid or ugly) and music. They may have a strong, sometimes unconventional, religious faith. Allied to their taste for all things beautiful is a love for the good things of life pleasure, comfort, luxury and good food and wine and they may have to resist the temptation to over indulgence, leading to drunkenness, gross sensuality, and covetousness.

 

In their work, Taurus are industrious and good craftspeople, and are not afraid of getting their hands dirty. They are reliable, practical, methodical and ambitious, within a framework of obedience to superiors. They are at their best in routine positions of trust and responsibility, where there is little need of urgency and even less risk of change, and a pension at the end. Yet they are creative and good founders of enterprises where the rewards of their productiveness come from their own work and not that of others.

 

They can flourish in many different trades and professions: banking, architecture, building, almost any form of bureaucracy, auctioneering, farming, medicine, chemistry, industry Taurus make good managers and foremen surveying, insurance, education and, perhaps surprisingly, music and sculpture. They make an ideal trustee or guardian, and can attain eminence as a chef. Some Taurus are gifted enough in singing to become opera stars or to excel in more popular types of music.

They are more than averagely amorous and sensually self-conscious, but sexually straightforward and not given to experiment. They make constant, faithful, home loving spouses and thoughtful, kindly parents, demanding too much of neither their spouses nor children. They can be over possessive and may sometimes play the game of engineering family roles for the pleasure of making up the quarrel. If anyone offends their amour proper they can be a determined enemy, though magnanimous in forgiveness if their opponent makes an effort to meet them halfway.

 

No other sign in the zodiac is closer to earth then Taurus. The main objective in leading a Taurean life is primarily (though not entirely) to maintain stability and physical concerns. Your inner spiritual sense longs for earthly harmony and wholesomeness. When you fully understand this, and work toward this end, you will no longer need to blindly reassure yourself with external possessions and comforts. A realization that finding this inner peace will cause all of the above mentioned positive things will overtake you and your life will be very full.

 

Ultimately the Taurean needs to discover their truest, deepest and highest values. When they know what is truly valuable, they are no longer chained to people and to things that have to do with lesser values. The greatest indication of value to a Taurean is beauty, which cannot be owned, only appreciated.

 

Possible Health Concerns For Taurus...

Taurus governs the throat and neck and its subjects need to beware throat infections, goiter and respiratory ailments such as asthma. They are said to be at risk of diseases of the genitals, womb, liver and kidneys, and of abscesses and rheumatism. Because their body type has an inclination to physical laziness, Taureans can be overweight.

   

I’m methodical uploading my photos to Flickr. I prefer to upload them in chronological order, no filters - but they do go through Lightroom to crop and adjust lighting.

I need more photos now then

This is a picture of me attempting to balance on an iceberg in the Canadian Rocky Mountains!

 

Now for the backstory... Standing on the shore of the glacial pond on Mt Edith Cavell, I could see a chain of 20 or so ice chunks making a path into the center of the pond. I told my friend I was with, "I bet you I can get in to the middle of this lake without getting wet - no problem." Two minutes later, having handed over my camera, I was disrobed and hopping from ice island to ice island, getting farther way from safe land.

 

I got as far as the large ice chunk on the left edge of this photo midway into the lake. Looking back to shore I stopped to get a few picture of me posing on this ice chunk. That's when I realized I forgot one important part from my plan - Newton's First Law. On my way out with every jump between islands my inertia shifted and destroyed my original path. The route I took out to the middle of the lake was no longer navigable. I was slowly drifting farther from shore.

 

Realizing that with every passing moment my chances of getting back dry were lessening, I started jumping back to shore on a new path more haphazardly than my methodical route out to sea. I was successful with my journey until I reached the chunk I'm standing on in this photo. Once I put my feet on it, I realized it wasn't stable. It spun like a barrel, tossing me into the ice cold water. With my head in shock, I gasped for breath. I swam franticly back to shore, scraping my way over and around ice chunks.

CANOGA PARK- The Los Angeles Fire Department battled a Major Emergency Structure Fire in the west San Fernando Valley on Monday, October 18, 2021.

 

The fire at 8423 Canoga Avenue in Canoga Park, was first noted at 12:18 PM by an LAFD Paramedic Ambulance crew returning from a nearby emergency. Within moments of their reporting the fire, flames were through the roof of the 125' x 125' one-story industrial building that also housed an adjoining but unrelated business at 8425 Canoga Avenue.

 

As that first-arriving LAFD Paramedic crew circled the structure to gain situational awareness and guide fellow responders, they encountered the first of three adult male civilians with severe burn injuries outside the burning building. Two proved to be in critical condition and the other in serious condition. All three were taken to area hospitals. Sadly, one of the critically injured men died later while undergoing hospital care.

 

The rapid spread of intense flames and multiple explosions heard within the building guided first-arriving firefighters to quickly commence defensive operations, applying multiple large diameter hose streams from the exterior, including two from atop extended aerial ladders, to prevent flames from extending beyond the well involved structure.

 

With the exception of a forty square-foot section of the roof at 8427 Canoga Avenue destroyed by surface fire, the tactics proved successful in holding the blaze to the pair of unrelated businesses under one roof at 8423 and 8425 Canoga Avenue.

 

It took 150 Los Angeles Firefighter just 75 minutes to extinguish the flames.

 

Firefighters remained active through the night extinguishing hotspots and minimizing hazards at the structurally compromised building with the help of LAFD's robotic firefighting vehicle and heavy equipment.

 

At daylight Tuesday, LAFD crews resumed a systematic search within the largely destroyed premises. During their methodical search among tons of burnt debris inside the structure, firefighters discovered the remains of an adult male, bringing the overall patient count to four, with a total of two deceased and two remaining hospitalized.

 

No other injuries were reported.

 

Scientific testing of materials inside the building of fire origin yielded positive results for hemp, and it appears that the operation inside involved the extraction from hemp, not dissimilar to that used in the Butane Honey Oil extraction process.

 

Though the business was a legal enterprise, the operation inside appeared to be illegal, as it did not adhere to established permitting processes and safety requirements.

 

Pursuant to protocol, the fire's cause remains the focus of a joint active investigation by the Los Angeles Fire Department, Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Interagency Metropolitan Police Apprehension Crime Task Force (L.A. Impact).

 

A positive identification of the dead men, as well as the cause, time and manner of their death will be determined by the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner.

 

© Photo by Austin Gebhardt

 

LAFD Incident 101821-0791

 

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RYERSON, EGERTON (his complete given name was Adolphus Egerton but he never used the first), Methodist minister, author, editor, and educational administrator; b. 24 March 1803 in Charlotteville Township, Norfolk County, Upper Canada, fifth son of Joseph Ryerson and Mehetable Stickney; m. first 10 Sept. 1828 Hannah Aikman (d. 1832) at Hamilton, Upper Canada, and they had two children; m. secondly 8 Nov. 1833 Mary Armstrong at York (Toronto), Upper Canada, and they had two children; d. 19 Feb. 1882 at Toronto.

 

Two circumstances in Egerton Ryerson’s early life exercised a lasting influence on his career. One was the loyalist environment in which he grew up. His father, Joseph, and his uncle Samuel Ryerse*, both American born, had served as loyalist officers in the American revolution and afterwards had fled north to New Brunswick before moving to Upper Canada in the 1790s. As a half-pay officer Joseph had received a substantial land grant and established his family on a farm near Vittoria, the first capital of the London District. Appointed to a series of important local offices, both Joseph and Samuel became part of the loyalist establishment in the district while members of their families married into other leading loyalist clans in the area. Joseph and his three eldest sons all served against the Americans in the War of 1812. Egerton, too young to be actively involved, saw a brother badly wounded and the destruction of lands and property belonging to friends and relatives. Among the Ryerson family, memories of pioneering a new land and defending it, of principles sustained and loyalty reaffirmed, would breed a deep and abiding attachment to both their native land and the maintenance of the British connection in North America.

 

The second great formative influence was evangelical Christianity. Like so many of his generation Ryerson was touched early in life by the wave of Protestant revivalism that swept North America in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The Ryerson children were raised by a devout mother of Methodist sympathies who taught them a personal and vital form of Christian belief and her precepts were reinforced by the Methodist circuit-riders who criss-crossed Norfolk County during Egerton’s childhood. Some time immediately after the War of 1812, according to his own account, Egerton, like three of his elder brothers, “became deeply religious. . . . My consciousness of guilt and sinfulness was humbling, oppressive and distressing; and my experience of relief, after lengthened fastings, watching and prayers, was clear, refreshing and joyous. In the end I simply trusted in Christ, and looked to Him for a present salvation. . . .” In 1816 his mother and two of his older brothers joined the Methodist Church. His Anglican father was “extremely opposed” to the Methodists and when at 18 Egerton applied for membership in the local Methodist society he was told “you must either leave them or leave my house.” Egerton took the latter course. The rift lasted for two years and was repaired only when the father acquiesced in his son’s convictions. The episode reveals something of the determination and impetuosity characteristic of Ryerson all his life. It also reveals the depth of his “conversion” experience. From the time he was a young man Ryerson’s personal odyssey was defined by his determination “never to rest contented until he [Christ] becomes not only my wisdom, but my sanctification and my full redemption.” Loyalism and Methodism would form the warp and woof of Ryerson’s life and thought throughout his long career.

 

Ryerson’s family was sufficiently well off to enable him to take advantage of the limited educational facilities available at the time. Most of his schooling took place under James Mitchell at the London District Grammar School in Vittoria. Between 1821 and 1823 he served as an assistant to his brother George, who was master in the school. During these years Ryerson absorbed the essentials of an English and classical education and was also introduced to two works that would become lasting influences – William Paley’s Principles of moral and political philosophy and Sir William Blackstone’s Commentaries. In August 1824, perhaps with the intention of becoming a lawyer, Ryerson went to Hamilton to study with John Law at the Gore District Grammar School.

 

After only a few months’ study in Hamilton, Ryerson’s formal education was ended by a prolonged illness in the winter of 1824–25. During his recovery he became convinced that he had been preserved from death to serve God’s purpose as a Methodist minister. He irrevocably accepted God’s call on 24 March 1825, his 22nd birthday, and preached his first sermon at Beamsville on Easter Sunday of that year. Thus Egerton became one of five Ryerson boys to enter the Methodist ministry: he followed in the footsteps of William* and John* as George, the eldest, and Edway (Edwy) Marcus, the youngest, would follow in his. Formally received on trial in September 1825 by the Canada Conference, the governing body of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Upper Canada, Egerton served his apprenticeship on the York and Yonge Street circuit and then as a missionary among the Indians at the Credit River. In September 1827 he was admitted to full connection and ordained. He spent the next two years assigned to the Cobourg and Ancaster circuits.

 

During these years the rigorous routine of a travelling preacher’s life was interrupted by two diversions that would put Ryerson’s name before a much wider audience than any Methodist circuit could offer. In 1826 a sermon, delivered the previous summer at the funeral of Bishop Jacob Mountain* by John Strachan*, appeared in print; in it Strachan, the leading Church of England clergyman in Upper Canada, traced the rise of the Anglican church in the colony, contending that it was the established church and attacking the Methodists as ignorant American enthusiasts, unsound in religion and disloyal in politics. None of the arguments were new, but on this occasion the Methodists in York chose not to remain silent and Ryerson, still a probationary preacher, was one of those invited to frame a reply. In a long letter printed in the Colonial Advocate (York) in May 1826 he challenged all of Strachan’s assertions. No less than Strachan himself, Ryerson sought a society that was both Christian and British. But he denied that an established church was either scriptural or an essential part of the British constitution, and quoted authors ancient and modern to support his case. He rejected the charges of ignorance by citing the intellectual training required of all Methodist preachers and also challenged the contention that most of them were Americans. Ryerson’s letter and the ensuing debate in the provincial press “thrilled the Methodist mind in the country,” in the words of John Saltkill Carroll, and called attention to Ryerson’s remarkable abilities as a spokesman for the Methodist cause. In 1827 Strachan again put forward his claims in a series of letters written in England to garner support for both the Church of England and the colony’s newly chartered university. In the public uproar that followed, Ryerson was only one critic among many, but in eight clearly reasoned and broad-ranging letters, published first in the Upper Canada Herald (Kingston) in June 1828 and later that year as a pamphlet, he again defended the character of Methodism, argued the case for religious equality, and broadened his attack to include the educational policies of what he claimed to be an Anglican-dominated executive.

 

His forays against Strachan brought Ryerson to the centre of Methodist affairs. In 1829 he was elected by conference as the first editor of the new Methodist newspaper, the Christian Guardian. Over the next decade he would be its dominant editorial voice, responsible for the paper from the first issue in November 1829 until August 1832, from October 1833 until June 1835, and again from June 1838 until June 1840. A large Methodist constituency and Ryerson’s own editorial talents made the Guardian one of the most widely read and politically influential papers in the colony. From the beginning it reflected not only the temporal but also the spiritual concerns of Ryerson’s own life. One subsidiary object of the paper, he wrote in 1830, was “to support and vindicate religious and civil rights”; but the paper’s principal purpose was to promote “practical Christianity – to teach men how to live and how to die.” Serving also as book steward for 1829–32 and 1833–35, Ryerson established a book room and helped lay the foundations of a flourishing publishing establishment which eventually became the Ryerson Press.

 

During the early 1830s Ryerson was involved in another important aspect of the institutional development of his church. In 1832, at the invitation of the colonial administration, the politically conservative British Wesleyans decided to expand their own work into Upper Canada. Colonial Methodists were divided over the appropriate response. Although some objected to any cooperation at all, the majority of conference, led by John Ryerson, voted to support a union between the two churches in order to avoid wasteful duplication and open conflict and to disprove the continuing charges of American sympathies. Egerton vigorously supported this policy in the Guardian and within conference, and was selected to go to England to complete the negotiations with the English conference as well as to lay a variety of Methodist interests before the Colonial Office. He returned to Upper Canada in September 1833. Just 30 years of age, fresh from his first trip abroad and the successful representation of his church in Britain, and re-elected editor of the Guardian, Ryerson had begun to establish himself, in Carroll’s words, as the Methodists’ “leader in all public questions.”

 

The style and character of the man had also begun to take permanent shape. Summarizing contemporary opinion, Charles Bruce Sissons* concludes that Ryerson was a competent rather than an outstanding preacher. The basis for his public reputation would lie in the written rather than the spoken word. At his best Ryerson could write prose laced with vigorous rhetoric, flashes of wit, and powerful imagery. He could also, particularly as he grew older, be long-winded and pontifical, his prose weighted down by endless quotations and irrelevant appeals to the history of any subject from time immemorial. His style was shaped by the Methodist homiletics of the day and encompassed the best and the worst of the genre.

 

To his many friends and admirers Ryerson was a generous, warm, kind, inspiring man, “trusting and trustworthy,” endowed with “grand qualities of mind and heart.” Others, particularly those who ran afoul of him in controversy, did not share this opinion. In his younger days Ryerson was generally careful to distinguish between the personalities and the arguments of his opponents. As editor of the Guardian he did not routinely indulge in the character assassination and innuendo typical of contemporary colonial journalism. Yet he was also acutely sensitive to slights or imputations about his own character and principles, and when provoked could descend into excesses of personal abuse unbecoming in a clergyman and public figure. These tendencies increased as he grew older so that even a sympathetic contemporary observer was led to remark that “both in writing and in debate he is not very choice of the means by which he abolishes an opponent, so long as it is done.” His was not a singular failing in mid-19th-century Canada and in many instances Ryerson had a strong claim to just cause. None the less he himself recognized it as a flaw. “I have,” he told his daughter, Mrs Sophia Howard Harris, in 1870, “written and printed many things that I afterwards very much regretted. For many years I have been accustomed to keep for a day or a week what I have written, before committing it to press.”

 

When he believed it to be necessary Ryerson could rethink his positions and make tactical compromises but his reluctance to admit such shifts publicly left him open to recurring charges of disingenuousness and hypocrisy. Such assessments were also encouraged by a strain of self-righteousness in his personality. Though his diaries and private letters often reveal him struggling with self-doubt, his public demeanour bespoke great assurance that his designs and God’s were one. Thomas Dalton* was one of the first of Ryerson’s contemporaries who captured this trait when he wrote in 1834 that Ryerson “pretends to be Heaven’s Lord Chancellor, and consequently the depository of all the secrets of that high court.”

 

Throughout his life Ryerson was a relentless worker. He could call up enormous reserves of energy, endurance, and discipline – products of his early labours on his father’s farm, the physical rigours of a circuit-rider’s life, and above all, the conviction that he must be a worthy steward of the time God gave him. He was also a constant student. He was forever learning a new language: Ojibwa at the Credit River mission, Hebrew in his spare time in the early 1840s, French and German on his trips to the Continent. The core of his religious and social thought had been shaped by rigorous study of the scriptures and the great Methodist divines: Wesley himself, Adam Clarke, and Richard Watson. He was also an avid reader of the classics of British and European history and political thought, and the “serious” contemporary literature such as the great English quarterlies. On any subject he chose he could command a remarkable variety of sources and quotations. His persistent interest in secular knowledge and in contemporary cultural and political affairs tempered the asperities of a faith that in other men could breed a disdain for temporal things or even an outright anti-intellectualism. On the other hand his secular interests, reinforced and justified by his religious convictions, also drew him into the political conflicts that haunted the colony in the 1830s and 1840s to a degree that, amongst Upper Canadian clergymen, was matched only by his great antagonist, John Strachan.

 

As pamphleteer and editor between 1826 and 1832 Ryerson had gradually become associated in the public mind with those who identified themselves as political Reformers. It was a natural alliance at the time, for many of the issues that galvanized Reformers were also those of most concern to Methodist leaders: the disposition of the clergy reserves, the right to solemnize marriages, the control of many of the educational institutions by the Church of England, and a number of similar issues affecting denominational equality Ryerson’s spirited editorial attacks on Anglican ascendancy, his leading role in organizing and drafting the petition of the Friends of Religious Liberty in December 1830 [see Jesse Ketchum*], and his denunciation in 1831 of the attack by Sir John Colborne* on the Methodists for political meddling, all seemed to identify him not just as a leading Methodist but as a leading Reformer as well. Thus it was not surprising that in 1832 a Tory mob in Peterborough, looking for symbols of reform on which to vent their anger, set fire to effigies of both William Lyon Mackenzie* and Ryerson.

 

When Ryerson returned from England in the autumn of 1833, however, he struck an unexpected theme. In the first of a series of “Impressions of England,” published in the Guardian, he attacked as infidel, republican, and anti-Methodist, radical leaders such as Joseph Hume and John Arthur Roebuck* who were close allies of Canadian Reformers. At the same time he praised the English “moderate Tories” among whom were to be found “a considerable portion of the evangelical clergy and, we think, a majority of Wesleyan Methodists.” Their political prudence, “genuine liberality and religious beneficence,” he concluded, “claim respect and imitation.” The “Impressions” caused a political uproar. To friends and enemies alike Ryerson appeared to reverse direction and commit himself to Toryism. The Reform press had a field-day at his expense, condemning him as an apostate and traitor, and many of his Methodist brethren concurred. To Ryerson himself, however, the change was one of emphasis, not principle. His passionate recitals of the grievances of Upper Canada had in fact masked an intellectual temper that was profoundly loyalist and conservative.

 

Two central convictions, shaped by his early life and by his reading of Blackstone, Paley, Wesley, Clarke, and Watson, formed the core of his political thought. First, he revered the body of constitutional theory and practice developed in Britain since 1688 and inherited, he believed, by Upper Canadians through the Constitutional Act of 1791. To Ryerson, civil institutions were among the means established by God to enable man to seek sanctification in this life and everlasting happiness with God in the next. No system of government designed by man was better suited to serve these purposes than the British constitution. By providing institutional bulwarks against arbitrary rule, it protected the civil and religious liberties of the subject and, through petitions to parliament and appeals to the crown, it furnished the means of seeking redress of grievances. Because of its mixed nature – its incorporation of king, lords, and commons (in the colony, governor, council, and assembly) – it provided the mechanism to balance and reconcile the different interests of society and thereby secure good government for the whole community. Wise policy, Ryerson would repeatedly say, not only arose from but also ensured “both the prerogatives and due influence of the Crown, and the constitutional rights of the people.”

 

The second fundamental principle that shaped his political thought was the importance of the imperial tie. Given his warm attachment to British institutions, all proposals for outright independence were anathema. At the same time he believed that the imperial authority and its local representatives must be responsive to local interests and circumstances. Thus Ryerson, like so many others of his generation, had to come to grips with a proposition that, on the face of it, seemed absurd: Upper Canada could be both self-governing and a colony. If some believed that sentiment alone could keep separatist tendencies in check, many others, Ryerson included, did not. To him, the “responsible government” of Robert Baldwin* was but a first step to independence. Its logic was to destroy the mixed constitution by eliminating the independent prerogative of the crown, the most palpable link between colony and parent state. So long as the imperial government was broadly responsive to public opinion, preserved the right of appeal for redress, and followed existing constitutional usages in dealing with the colony, Ryerson would oppose any innovations that threatened to weaken the imperial tie or modify the constitution inherited by the colony.

 

From the late 1820s until the mid 1840s Ryerson would attempt to govern his political course in accordance with these two principles. It was not an easy task. It would lead him from one side of the political spectrum to the other and back again, and leave him open to charges of political opportunism that, in the eyes of many Upper Canadians though not in his own, were difficult to refute.

 

By late 1833, when he published “Impressions,” Ryerson had become convinced that the main enemy was the Reform movement, not the administration. He did not dispute the fact that Upper Canadians still had justifiable complaints but, he argued, appeals to the crown and the imperial parliament were bringing redress. In particular, the royal dispatches of 1832 and 1833 had led Lieutenant Governor Colborne to modify many of the partisan policies of the previous decade. To Ryerson, in other words, the cause of Reform had been largely won. Of course Methodists had changed their tune, he would reply to his critics in 1835, “and for a simple and sufficient reason, the administration of government towards them has been essentially changed.” The Reformers, on the other hand, were seeking no longer to remedy real grievances but to introduce organic changes in the constitution. Thus, with the same energy he had exerted on behalf of Reform in the early 1830s, by mid decade Ryerson had thrown himself into the defence of existing authority.

 

Ryerson was absent from Upper Canada from November 1835 to June 1837, having been sent by conference to England as part of an attempt to put the affairs of the Methodists’ new academy at Cobourg in order. Begun with the greatest optimism in the early 1830s, Upper Canada Academy was in the most desperate financial straits by mid decade. It was Ryerson’s job to obtain a royal charter for it and, more importantly, to travel throughout Britain soliciting money for its support. Both tasks proved difficult but the latter was the more painful: to be a stranger and to have to beg, he confided to his diary, was “the most disagreeable of all employments.” He obtained the charter, none the less, and promises of financial support from British Wesleyans and the imperial government. Though away from home during these months, he continued to be a force in Upper Canadian politics, writing lengthy letters to the Christian Guardian and to English newspapers criticizing the Reformers and defending the policies of Lieutenant Governor Sir Francis Bond Head*.

 

Ryerson ended 1837 with a blistering sermon condemning those who had participated in the rebellion. He himself, however, was already beginning to have second thoughts about Head’s administration. It was one thing to defend the existing constitution against “republican” or “democratic” radicalism but quite another to tolerate arbitrary rule. Despite the clearly expressed will of the crown and the assembly, the Legislative Council had refused to approve a loan to Upper Canada Academy in 1837 – a scandalous departure, Ryerson argued, from constitutional precedent. A Tory legislature appeared to be attempting once more to place the clergy reserves in Anglican hands. In the wake of the rebellion civil liberties were being trampled upon and early in 1838 the case of Marshall Spring Bidwell*, who had been forced into exile at the whim of the lieutenant governor, roused Ryerson to issue a ringing public denunciation of the authorities and a defence of the constitutional rights of the subject. In Ryerson’s view Head’s successor, Sir George Arthur*, brought no improvement; indeed Arthur seemed determined to sustain all of the most objectionable pretensions of traditional colonial Toryism. From June 1838, when Ryerson returned as editor of the Guardian, his energies were again directed towards attacking the policies of the local executive and its supporters inside and outside the legislature. Once more he had entered the camp of the anti-government alliance.

 

It was in these circumstances that Ryerson was temporarily converted to the constitutional proposals of Lord Durham [Lambton*]. To those who recalled with some glee his earlier opposition to colonial cabinet responsibility he replied in June 1839 that “the history of the last three years” had proved that no other means existed to ensure a just and equitable local administration. By the end of 1840, however, Ryerson had returned to more familiar ground. In Lord Sydenham [Thomson*], who was determined to form a broad party of moderate opinion, to treat all denominations equally, and to be responsive to public opinion while at the same time preserving the prerogatives of the crown, Ryerson believed he had found the patriot governor who could implement “truly liberal conservative policy” and thus sustain the mixed constitution in the colonial setting. When Sydenham died in 1841 Ryerson wrote an obituary that heaped encomium upon encomium. At its heart was an expression of his own most fervent wish for the province: “his Lordship has solved the difficult problem, that a people may be colonists and yet be free.”

 

In June 1840 Ryerson ended his last stint as editor of the Guardian and was assigned to a pastorate in Toronto. He remained, however, a central figure in Methodist affairs. A number of issues had begun to divide Canadian and British Wesleyans in the late 1830s, raising doubts about the value of the union into which they had entered in 1833. One of these was the editorial policy of the Guardian, which members of the British conference felt Ryerson had made into “a political and party organ” of colonial radicalism. Though Ryerson was sustained by large majorities at conference, clashes over this and other matters of policy led to the dissolution of the union in 1840. Egerton and his brother William were appointed delegates to the British conference and spent the summer of 1840 in England negotiating the details of separation. In the following year Egerton was selected as the first principal of Victoria College, the successor to Upper Canada Academy, though he was not formally inducted into the post until June 1842. He remained principal until 1847 but his active role in the college was short-lived. In 1844 he took up a new post as a government administrator and, at the same time, became involved in one of the most celebrated political conflicts in Upper Canadian history.

 

In November 1843, because of a dispute over control of patronage, Governor Sir Charles Theophilus Metcalfe*’s Reform ministers had resigned from office. In the next few months Metcalfe and his new chief minister in Canada West, William Henry Draper*, began to search for a base of support in the leading moderates of both parties and all denominations. Among those consulted for general advice was Ryerson and, most probably in January 1844, consultation turned into a more positive offer of a place in the administration.

 

It is not difficult to see why Metcalfe wanted Ryerson. An appointment for Ryerson would disprove charges that he was too partial to Anglicans and high Tories and would favourably influence the large Methodist vote. Ryerson was on close terms with other political moderates and his accession might bring their support as well. A place on the council itself was, however, out of the question. Ryerson did not want an unequivocally political appointment and Draper discovered that it was not possible in any case. Thus Ryerson was offered the post of superintendent of schools for Canada West, which was not formally political; his acceptance would, however, signify his support for the ministry.

 

Why Ryerson himself was tempted by the offer is another question. Certainly he believed that at stake was a major constitutional issue upon which men must declare themselves. Moreover, he had always thought that an effective system of national education was one of the highest goals of practical, liberal policy and he was no doubt deeply attracted by the chance to play a role in promoting its development. But there may have been other reasons as well. On two previous occasions in the early 1840s he had expressed an interest in becoming involved in primarily secular projects and it may have been that Ryerson was somewhat restless in these years and eager to test his talents in a wider sphere than that afforded by Upper Canadian Methodism alone.

 

He may also have been tempted by the new political atmosphere of the years after 1840. The many leading politicians of the decade with whom he was on close personal terms accorded him a degree of respect he had not received from an earlier generation of Upper Canadian notables. Moreover, whatever their differences on particular issues, Ryerson’s vision of the future development of Canadian society had much in common with that of such men as Draper and Francis Hincks. They were ready to recognize the legitimate interests of Methodists and other dissenters within the body politic, they were men of the centre who rejected the extremes of either radicalism or Toryism, and their concern for economic development and the modernization of public services and institutions was as great as their commitment to the preservation of a distinct British-American society. In other words, Ryerson may have been attracted to the job because he believed that politics and policy were moving in more congenial and promising directions than in the conflict-ridden decade of the 1830s. In any case and for whatever reasons, Ryerson accepted Metcalfe’s offer in early 1844, though his appointment was not formally announced until September.

 

Apparently Metcalfe and Draper had asked only that Ryerson agree to serve as superintendent of common schools. It seems to have been Ryerson himself who proposed that he also step into the public arena in defence of the governor. He did so in part because he thought that his appointment was at risk unless the ministry was sustained by the electorate. But his behaviour was also fully in character. For Ryerson it was never enough to stand up and be counted; he had to smite the enemy hip and thigh as well. Thus he set about writing Sir Charles Metcalfe defended against the attacks of his late counsellors, published first as a series of letters in the British Colonist (Toronto) in the late spring and early summer of 1844 and later that year as a pamphlet of some 165 pages.

 

Though the letters ranged widely over British and colonial constitutional and political history and included a variety of arguments favourable to Metcalfe’s position, Ryerson focused on the patronage question. The Reform ministry, he argued, proposed to use patronage to strengthen the grip of extreme partyism on the country. This in itself was dangerous enough, for partyism prized partisanship and factionalism over independent judgement and the public interest, and rewarded loyalty rather than merit. In this respect the Reformers were reviving all the evils of Family Compact rule when patronage had been used for the benefit of a faction and a sect rather than the community as a whole. But more importantly, by attempting to control patronage, the Reform ministers were attacking the British connection itself: to put the control of patronage primarily in the hands of the council was to undermine the independent authority of the governor and thereby fatally weaken the link with the crown. To accede to such a principle would give Canada “Responsible Government in a sense that would make the Crown a ‘tool’ in the hands of a party; or in a sense, as the Imperial Government emphatically declare, would make ‘Canada an independent republic.’” Thus the duty of the people of Canada in the present crisis was clear: to sustain the kind of responsible government which had been established by Sydenham, which was approved by the imperial government, “and which Sir Charles Metcalfe has most explicitly and fully avowed.”

 

The Metcalfe ministry won the elections of 1844 for many reasons, though no doubt Ryerson’s “Defence” and the loyalty cry he helped to raise played a part in influencing moderate opinion. His appointment to an important public position may also have influenced Methodist voters for it represented a long-delayed recognition of their importance and their claims to full membership in Upper Canadian society. The affair also won Ryerson the lasting enmity of some Reformers, George Brown* amongst them, and a recurring epithet, “Leonidas,” for Ryerson’s smug comparison of his own role in 1844 with that of the hero of Thermopylæ. Ryerson himself left Canada West in October 1844 for his first tour of educational establishments in Britain and on the Continent, and did not return until December 1845. In the following year, working closely with Draper, he began the task of reorganizing the structure of elementary education in the colony.

 

He could not, however, detach himself immediately from the political role he had played in 1844. He had publicly allied himself with Metcalfe and with Draper’s Conservative ministry. Upon the victory of the Reformers in the elections of 1847–48 it was commonly rumoured that Ryerson would be replaced as superintendent of schools. He survived for several reasons. Impressed by his competence, Lord Elgin [Bruce*] gave Ryerson his full support against those who wished to dismiss him for political reasons. Ryerson also had warm allies within the ministry, such as William Hamilton Merritt*, and influential admirers within the party. Above all, Francis Hincks, worried about the Methodist vote, was prepared to bury the political enmity of the mid 1840s. By late 1849 Ryerson had prevailed. His chief enemy in the ministry, Malcolm Cameron*, had resigned, new school legislation that undercut Ryerson’s position had been set aside, and Ryerson had been invited to remain in office and to prepare a revised school bill incorporating the experience of his four years as superintendent. The way was now clear for him to begin the most significant phase of his life’s work.

 

Ryerson’s main preoccupation in the two decades after 1850 was to give form and substance to his vision of the appropriate system of education for Canada West. That vision had been taking shape for years, derived in equal parts from the lessons of scripture and Methodist theology, from his reading of the early 19th-century debates in Britain and America about the importance of popular education, from his participation in the editorial warfare over educational policy in Upper Canada, and from his study of other school systems during his tour of Europe in 1844–45. Though Ryerson wrote voluminously about education throughout his public life, his ideas were expressed most fully and systematically in his Report on a system of public elementary instruction for Upper Canada, written after his return from Europe.

 

At the heart of his educational ideas lay his Christian faith. Next to religion itself, he believed, education was the great agent of God’s purpose for man. Carried out in a Christian context, education promoted virtue and usefulness in this world and union with God in the next. Because it made good and useful individuals it was also a key agent in supporting the good society, inasmuch as it helped to promote social harmony, self-discipline, and loyalty to properly constituted authority. To Ryerson it was the duty of education to develop “all the intellectual powers of man, teach him self-reliance as well as dependence on God, excite him in industry and enterprise, and instruct him in his rights as well as the duties of man.”

 

From these principles Ryerson drew his particular goals. First and foremost, a system of education must be Christian: a secular education was a danger to the child and the society as well as a denial of God’s message to mankind. Secondly, in order to have its intended effects on all children, schooling must be universal. A truly national system must also be “extensive” or “comprehensive”: it must meet the needs of all ranks and vocations by providing both elementary and advanced institutions of education. As well the system must be both British and Canadian. The schools had a duty to uphold the British tie and respect for British constitutional government, and at the same time to foster local patriotism and serve the particular needs and circumstances of Upper Canada’s social and economic life. Finally, the system must be the active concern of government. As an ordinance of God “designed by the Supreme Being ‘to be a minister of God for good’ to a whole people,” government had a duty to sustain and encourage those institutions which promoted the temporal and eternal welfare of its citizens. These were the goals Ryerson would pursue in his remarkably long career as superintendent of education in the upper province.

 

When Ryerson first took office in 1844 there were already more than 2,500 elementary schools in Canada West: financed by a combination of government grants, property taxation, and tuition fees; run by locally elected boards of education; and supervised and coordinated, though in a somewhat ineffective way, by an established central Education Office. Ryerson, in other words, did not create a school system; he inherited one. Throughout his career, moreover, his success was in large part the product of a climate of opinion highly favourable to his aims. Politicians, editors, and other public figures of all religious and political persuasions were sympathetic to the expansion of schooling. School boards and taxpayers provided most of the financial and political support at the local level and imposed broad limits within which central policy could operate. Thus system-building was a cooperative venture rather than the sole achievement of any one individual. More than anyone else, however, it was Ryerson who gave the emerging system its particular shape and character. Between 1844 and 1876 he was involved in a multitude of projects, ranging from the drafting of his major school legislation of 1846, 1850, and 1871 to writing school textbooks, promoting school libraries, and creating a museum of art and science. But his four major achievements were the creation of conditions which made universal access to elementary education possible, the promotion of improvements in the quality of the school programme, changes in the function and character of the grammar schools, and the establishment of an effective administrative structure.

 

He sought universality and improved quality in several ways. In a period when much of the province was still being settled Ryerson provided the legislative and financial devices that enabled even new, small communities to provide schools for themselves. He also led the campaign, which culminated in the Schools Act of 1871, to make every elementary school tuition-free and to introduce Ontario’s first tentative measure of compulsory attendance. For Ryerson, however, it was not enough to ensure that the rudiments alone were universally available. Through exhortation and regulation he tried to make certain that the programme of studies extended well beyond the “three Rs” so that the elementary schools not only began but completed all of the schooling most children and their parents would want or need. He tried to ensure that textbooks were pedagogically sound and reflected the political, social, and religious values he believed should underpin Upper Canadian society. Finally, he did what he could to promote improved teaching. In 1847 he established the first teacher-training institution and he constantly attempted to set progressively higher standards for the certification of elementary school teachers.

 

Ryerson’s achievement with respect to the grammar schools was twofold. First, by persuading the politicians and the public to accept the principle that grammar schools should have access to local taxation, he put these institutions on a sound financial footing for the first time in their history and transformed them into unequivocally public institutions. Secondly, he attempted to turn the grammar schools into effective secondary schools. By the gradual introduction of an entrance examination and a prescribed curriculum that clearly delimited the functions of elementary and grammar schools, he linked these institutions hierarchically. At the same time, he attempted to ensure that the grammar schools would offer a high-quality, broadly based education, consisting of English, mathematics, and classical studies, to that minority of students continuing beyond the elementary level.

 

By creating an effective administrative system for his own department, Ryerson became a member of that small group of pioneer public servants who, in J. E. Hodgetts’ words, made responsible government “a working reality.” He established a strong central authority and a system of local inspection designed to ensure that provincial policy could be implemented and enforced. His own daily routine was dominated by an immense volume of correspondence generated by the problems of institution-building at the local level – correspondence that required him to write hundreds of letters a month in response to requests for guidance and advice. By careful attention to the detail of the organizational machinery at his command he secured both financial and administrative responsibility throughout the system. He reduced the routine work of administration as well as his relations with the local authorities to a body of systematic procedure that covered everything from the gathering of a multitude of statistics to the means by which local boards could function fairly and efficiently in the day-to-day running of the schools. An intensely methodical administrator, Ryerson created the first effective social service bureaucracy in the province’s history.

 

He was, however, not only a school administrator but, in Alison Prentice’s phrase, a “school promoter” as well. Through his speeches, his educational tours of the province, and the Journal of Education for Upper Canada, which he edited from 1848 to 1875, he reported the best ideas from home and abroad, exhorted local boards to introduce this or that new idea, and launched his own campaigns for such major innovations as free schools and compulsory education.

 

Part of his promotional task, perhaps the least welcome part, was to defend the place of grant-aided Roman Catholic separate schools within the system. Though these schools represented only a small proportion of the total number of schools in operation, they became the subject of prolonged political, religious, and sectional controversy in the mid 19th century. Though Ryerson had no a priori objections to denominational schools where a common faith was shared by the whole population, he did not approve of sectarian schools in a denominationally diverse society like Canada West. He thought such schools impractical in most parts of the country, divisive, and unnecessary on the grounds that all the essential, shared doctrines of Christianity could be taught in the elementary schools without reference to the peculiar doctrines of each sect. None the less he had inherited responsibility for the separate schools from the School Act of 1841 and could see no way of abolishing them, given the union of the Canadas which ensured the Catholic minority of Canada West the powerful support in the legislature of their Lower Canadian brethren. Thus Ryerson found himself repeatedly forced to defend the status quo, or to justify a succession of unpalatable political compromises on the issue, in an attempt to fend off both the abolitionists and those who sought the extension of the Catholic system. The additional rights won by Roman Catholics in 1853, 1855, and 1863 were modest compared to their demands; Ryerson was largely successful in preserving the unity of the school system. But his role made him appear to endorse the survival of the separate schools against the clearly expressed will of the majority of politicians and electors in Canada West, and kept him deeply embroiled in public debate from 1852 to 1865, when the issue was finally disposed of as part of the confederation settlement.

 

If Ryerson disliked the separate school controversy, however, it was because he believed the question to be insoluble and divisive, not because he thought it inappropriate for public servants to become involved in political questions. The modern conventions of civil service neutrality and anonymity were still in a formative stage in the period and Ryerson stands out as a Canadian example of that transitional group of mid-Victorian reformer-bureaucrats whom George Kitson Clark has labelled “statesmen in disguise.” Because Ryerson believed that the disposition of educational issues should not be subject to politics or partyism, he had made the Education Office a semi-autonomous agency with no distinct ministerial head. Though formally responsible to the Executive Council, Ryerson himself assumed an almost ministerial role. He established policy, sought political support for it inside and outside parliament, and defended it in public. Moreover his notion of his public duty transcended responsibility to a particular ministry or even parliament. In effect he saw himself as the guardian of the public interest in all educational matters. Even in the late 1860s Ryerson did not think it anomalous, when his own views conflicted with those of a member of the cabinet, to confront the minister with the threat that he would take his side of the case directly to the public. Nor did he feel constrained to keep his activities within the formal jurisdiction of his office. While in England in 1851, for example, he acted as an emissary for the administration to the Colonial Office on the clergy reserves issue and published anonymous letters on the same subject in the Times. He regularly exchanged political gossip and advice with politicians to whom he was personally close, especially William Draper, Francis Hincks, and John A. Macdonald*, and on at least one occasion privately used his influence among Methodist leaders to sway their politics and their votes.

 

Throughout his superintendency, moreover, he remained an active participant in the affairs of Upper Canadian Methodism. With the exception of the year 1854–55, when a brief but tempestuous dispute over the rights of Methodist ministers to require attendance at class meetings led to Ryerson’s temporary resignation from conference, he continued to serve on important conference committees, including the board of Victoria College. In the late 1860s and in the 1870s he was an active supporter at conference of the negotiations for Methodist union and was honoured in 1874 for his contributions to the institutional development of Canadian Methodism by his election as the first president of the Methodist Church of Canada. This continuing clerical role, however, involved him once again in a highly contentious political issue, the university question.

 

Ryerson always claimed that he was a warm supporter of a provincial university, and no doubt he was in the sense that he generally supported any measure that would sustain effective professional schools and provide common standards for examinations and degrees among the various colleges in the province. Indeed he himself had written the original draft of Hincks’s University Act of 1853, which incorporated these ideas. But Ryerson was also a resolute defender of the denominational colleges as agencies for ensuring a Christian education and environment for young men who did not live at home. And he had an immense personal commitment to the survival of Victoria College, which he had done so much to foster in the 1830s and 1840s. For both reasons he was an energetic supporter of public aid to the denominational colleges throughout the 1850s and 1860s. He took a leading role between 1859 and 1863 in the concerted attempt by several denominations to force the government to give them access to the funds of the University of Toronto and in the abortive campaign in 1868 to prevent the new government of Ontario from abolishing the existing grants to the denominational colleges. In the controversy surrounding the question, Ryerson always attempted to claim the high ground as champion of the interests of Christianity and high standards in education. But to those who believed in the virtues of a civic university, free from sectarian control and large enough to offer a comprehensive liberal and professional education, he inevitably appeared as the partisan of denominational self-interest and sectarian political scheming.

 

The 1850s were for Ryerson among the most satisfying years of his life. He had experienced his share of personal tragedy in the two previous decades with the deaths of his first wife and both their children. By the 1850s, however, he and his second wife had settled in a comfortable house in Toronto, and had two growing children, Charles Egerton and Sophia. Though Charlie was a constant worry to his father because of his lack of earnestness and studiousness, he became a welcome sporting and sailing companion later in Ryerson’s life. Sophie, as Ryerson’s warm and often moving letters to his daughter reveal, was the love of his life, particularly since his relationship with his second wife was somewhat distant and at times strained. The 1850s were also among his most productive years as superintendent. In a sequence of major legislation between 1850 and 1855 he had put the common school system in order, begun the reform of the grammar schools, and played a role in reshaping the provincial university. He was on close terms with most of the influential politicians of the day, and received broad support from both parties and from the provincial press; even the Globe found good things to say about him for much of the decade. He basked in the accolades of Lord Elgin during ceremonies connected with the building of the Normal School in Toronto, and was invited in 1854 to serve as a member of a commission of inquiry into the state of King’s College (University of New Brunswick) in Fredericton, N.B. Among other ornaments of public approbation he accumulated three honorary degrees: a dd from Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., in 1842; an ma from the University of Toronto in 1857; and an lld from Victoria College in 1861. His reputation and his public role seemed permanently and securely established.

 

Towards the end of the decade, however, both his personal and his professional circumstances became more troubled. In the late 1850s his pride was badly wounded by a contretemps with John Langton*, the provincial auditor. Langton, the first to admit that Ryerson was a superb administrator, had written in 1856 that Ryerson had “the genius of order and system,” and that “his accounts and vouchers are a model for all our public departments.” But between 1855 and 1857 Langton also discovered and exposed the fact that Ryerson had personally collected the interest on public funds held in his name. It was not an illegal practice at the time, and Ryerson believed he had ministerial approval for it, but it was also ceasing to be acceptable conduct in the public mind. He promised to pay back the entire amount and a sympathetic government granted him virtually the equivalent sum in back salary. But he was stung by the accusations against his probity and shaken by the way in which those charges remained current long after the issue had been formally settled. Then, in 1862, approaching the age of 60, Ryerson suffered a prolonged and severe illness marked by the recurrence of headaches, dizziness, and coughing. His illness forced him to reduce his traditional schedule of work and as he recovered in the succeeding years he took his first real vacations and embarked on a regimen of vigorous exercise. Among other things he built a skiff, and over the next few years sailed and rowed nine times from Toronto to Long Point, five of these adventures, much to the consternation of friends and family, being undertaken alone. Though he would regain much of his strength by the mid 1860s, he would suffer relapses for the rest of his life and was never again able to carry the burden of work he had once borne.

 

From the late 1850s onwards, moreover, he discovered that there was a price to be paid for insulating the department from the political process, for he began to have difficulties persuading the politicians to interest themselves in his projects, carry forward his legislation, and defend him when he was under attack. These difficulties, perhaps more than anything else, convinced him by the late 1860s that a ministerial head was essential if the interests of the department and the school system were to be adequately protected. At the same time he began to accumulate a growing number of enemies. His public attack in 1858 on the educational policies of the short-lived coalition between George Brown and the Lower Canadian Reformers marked the reopening of hostilities between Ryerson and Brown which would last until the latter’s death. Along with this incident his role in the university question and his close relations with John A. Macdonald alienated many leading Brownite Liberals. Nor did Ryerson learn prudence from the political controversies in which he found himself involved. When in 1867 the Reform party called for an end to coalitions and a return to party politics, Ryerson replied with a pamphlet entitled The new Canadian dominion: dangers and duties of the people in regard to their government, in which he returned to the themes of 1844, warning against the dangers of partyism – its “intolerance,” its “excesses and oppressions,” and the “unscrupulous partisanship” of “this hermaphrodite spawn of cast-off colonial despotism and selfishness.” All of this controversy contributed to what Oliver Mowat* would describe, in a letter to Ryerson in 1873, as “the antagonism towards you which has so long prevailed in the Liberal party.”

 

Illness and the frustrations of public life led Ryerson to talk sporadically about retirement throughout the 1860s. At the same time, however, he was anxious to complete his agenda for educational reform. In 1866–67 he made his last educational tour of Europe and America, out of which came two reports, written in 1868: one on the education of the deaf, dumb, and blind, and the other on the state of American and European education along with recommendations for the improvement of the Ontario system. Late in the same year he submitted draft legislation designed to improve the details of school law and to introduce universal free elementary education, compulsory attendance, and a new structure for secondary education.

 

His initial hopes for quick and easy passage of the school bill were soon dashed. In part this disappointment was due to the constant attacks mounted by the opposition Liberals, many of them directed at Ryerson personally. But it was also due to the emergence of real public debate about a wide variety of educational issues. Differences of opinion in the legislature and the press, along with opposition to parts of the bill from teachers’ organizations and from local opinion expressed during Ryerson’s tour of the province in 1869, led to the temporary withdrawal of the bill and to considerable modification of it. The new School Act, finally passed early in 1871, contained most of Ryerson’s major recommendations in one form or another and remains as one of the great landmarks of his career. But it was passed amidst a degree of political debate and personal bitterness not experienced by Ryerson since the late 1840s.

 

Ryerson’s last years in office were unhappy ones. Again some of this unhappiness was due to the political and personal antagonisms among Liberals over the previous 30 years – antagonisms that boiled over in 1872 in his bitter and sustained public conflict with Edward Blake*. But it was not merely a matter of personalities and political differences. From the administration of John Sandfield Macdonald* onwards, successive ministries were determined to regularize the procedures of the Education Office and, more importantly, to exercise a firm hand in educational policy-making. In Ryerson’s view this effort was an invasion of his prerogatives as well as a denigration of his own role to that of “a clerk,” and seemed motivated by the most base political partisanship. Each incursion – from the simple attempt by the provincial treasurer in 1868 to impose financial controls on the department to the suspension of his school regulations in 1872 and the plans to modify his book depository – was met with resistance and, too often, with a barrage of invective hurled at those he conceived to be his persecutors. In 1872 Blake seemed to invite conflict; Mowat was far more conciliatory. He sought Ryerson’s advice, allowed him considerable latitude in the administration of the department, and applied liberal amounts of soft sawder when Ryerson’s sensitivities were bruised. But he was no less determined than Blake to be his own master. As Mowat put it on one occasion when a quarrel threatened: “I would much rather cooperate with you . . . but if I must have a fight with the Chief Superintendent . . . instead of his co-operation, as in my position I ought to have, I must still do what I consider to be my duty.”

 

The conflicts of the years 1872–75 invited either resignation or dismissal. Yet neither option could be exercised. Ryerson repeatedly expressed a wish to resign but he did not have the financial resources to sustain himself independently: for years he had given generously to help finance a variety of Methodist causes including Victoria College, he had a nephew to educate, and he may also have lived somewhat beyond his means. Thus he needed to assure himself of a government pension and could not afford to make any grand gestures over policies with which he disagreed. Either Blake or Mowat would probably have welcomed his resignation but there were political difficulties in providing him with a permanent pension and differences within the Liberal party itself over the kind of reorganization the Education Office should undergo. Dismissal, on the other hand, was out of the question. Ryerson’s reputation remained high in many quarters and he was still, as even the Liberals recognized, a power among Methodist voters. It was not until late 1875 that Mowat finally took the matter in hand, and made the decision to create a ministry of education [see Adam Crooks] and to provide a pension for Ryerson. He formally left office in February 1876, just over a month before his 73rd birthday.

 

Retirement, however, did not mean a life of leisure. Since the early 1860s Ryerson had devoted his spare moments to what he was convinced was his last “mission” in life – a history of the United Empire Loyalists. In 1876 the project became his full-time occupation and most of that year was spent in England where he put in long hours of research in the British Museum. Over the succeeding five years he finished the two large volumes that make up The loyalists of America and their times. Beyond that he completed a school textbook on political economy and a history of Canadian Methodism. He was working on his autobiography when, in the summer of 1881, his health began to fail. He died on 19 Feb. 1882. Following a large and impressive funeral service he was buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto.

 

Ryerson’s life spans the growth of Upper Canada virtually from first settlement to the social and economic maturity of the 1870s. For most of those years he was a major figure in its history. Particularly before 1850 he played a central part in the institutional growth of Methodism, one of the province’s largest denominations. As well, he helped to articulate and publicize “the grievances of Upper Canada,” and contributed to the debate about the nature of colonial-imperial relations. If most historians now reject an older view that Ryerson determined single-handed the results of the elections of 1836 and 1844, still he remains an influential figure in these events and one of the leading spokesmen for that majority of Upper Canadians who sought some middle way to reconcile self-government and the imperial tie.

 

But it is his contribution to Canadian education that remains his greatest legacy. He was one of the founders of Victoria College, its first principal, and a generous benefactor through some of its most difficult years. He was a vigorous protagonist of the right of all the denominational colleges to survive and prosper in the province. And he attempted to make the grant-aided schools universal and comprehensive and to create an effective system of public administration at both the local and provincial levels.

 

Few of his educational ideas were original. John Strachan, for one, had anticipated many of them, while others were the common coinage of an era when school systems were being constructed in many different places. Nor was his vision without flaws. He had an unsure hand when it came to providing for the advanced education of young women. To some of his contemporaries his version of non-denominationalism in education appeared as little more than a disguised and proselytizing form of evangelical Protestantism. And his hopes for social improvement through education were vitiated by a belief, widely shared by his generation, that social and economic inequalities were the unchangeable realities of man’s fallen estate. During his lifetime there were already divergent views about the merits of the school system, and since his death the assessments of his work have been diverse and conflicting. But on one point there has been consensus. More than any other person Ryerson gave the Ontario school system its particular character, one that, because of his enormous influence in his own generation, would become during the later 19th century a model for most of English-speaking Canada.

ROMA ARCHEOLOGICA & RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA 2022. Elisabetta Bianchi & Roberto Meneghini (ed.), Il Foro di Traiano nell’Antichità I risultati degli scavi 1991-2007. BAR INTL., SERIES No. 3097. Oxford: BAR PUBLISHING (2022): Pp. 360. S.v., Prof. Arch. Pier Luigi Tucci [recensione di], “Roberto Meneghini" (2021); in: Histara-les comptes rendus / France (28/07/2022). Anche: Roma, Foro di Traiano - Materiali d'archivio integrativi (1997-2022). wp.me/pbMWvy-3q6

 

Foto: Roma, Il Foro di Traiano, 2021-22; in: Riccardo Nofi / Instagram (2021-22).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52519787104

 

1). ROMA - Elisabetta Bianchi & Roberto Meneghini (ed.), Il Foro di Traiano nell’Antichità I risultati degli scavi 1991-2007. BAR INTL., SERIES No. 3097. Oxford: BAR PUBLISHING (2022): Pp. 360.

 

Foto: ROMA – Elisabetta Bianchi & Roberto Meneghini (ed.), Il Foro di Traiano nell’Antichità I risultati degli scavi 1991-2007. BAR INTL., SERIES No. 3097. Oxford: BAR PUBLISHING (2022): Pp. 360.

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52519978255

 

Questo libro illustra i risultati degli scavi realizzati dal Comune di Roma sull’area del Foro di Traiano fra il 1991 e il 2007. In particolare il volume descrive le strutture murarie superstiti del monumento rimesse in luce durante le campagne di scavo di quegli anni nel settore centro meridionale di esso. La parte iniziale del libro presenta una storia degli studi recenti e le ipotesi ricostruttive del complesso prima dei nuovi scavi. Il secondo e il terzo capitolo analizzano nel dettaglio i resti dei settori del Foro scoperti durante i nuovi scavi in corrispondenza della piazza e del suo limite meridionale sino all’adiacente Foro di Augusto. Il quarto capitolo contiene lo studio del sistema fognante e idraulico del monumento mentre il quinto esamina il complesso dei bolli laterizi rinvenuti durante le indagini. Il capitolo conclusivo offre spunti e osservazioni sulle scoperte anche alla luce degli studi preliminari effettuati su di esse.

 

ROMA – Elisabetta Bianchi & Roberto Meneghini (ed.), Il Foro di Traiano nell’Antichità I risultati degli scavi 1991-2007. BAR INTL., SERIES No. 3097. Oxford: BAR PUBLISHING (2022): Pp. 360.

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52520050633

 

This book illustrates the results of the excavations carried out by the Municipality of Rome between 1991 and 2007 on the area of the Forum of Trajan. In particular, the volume describes the surviving wall structures of the monument discovered in the central southern sector. Long version:This book illustrates the results of the excavations carried out by the Municipality of Rome on the area of the Forum of Trajan between 1991 and 2007. In particular, the volume describes the surviving wall structures of the monument brought to light during the excavation campaigns in the central southern sector. The introductory section presents a history of recent studies and the reconstructive hypotheses of the complex before the new excavations. The second and third chapters analyse the remains of the sectors of the Forum discovered during the new excavations in correspondence with the square and its southern boundary adjacent to the Forum of Augustus. The fourth chapter contains the study of the sewerage and hydraulic system of the monument, while the fifth examines the brick stamps found during the investigations. The concluding chapter offers insights and observations on the discoveries in light of the preliminary studies carried out.

 

ROMA – Elisabetta Bianchi & Roberto Meneghini (ed.), Il Foro di Traiano nell’Antichità I risultati degli scavi 1991-2007. BAR INTL., SERIES No. 3097. Oxford: BAR PUBLISHING (2022): Pp. 360.

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52519500726

 

--- Elisabetta Bianchi è archeologa, funzionario presso la Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali del Comune di Roma. Dal 2000 al 2007 ha preso parte allo scavo dei Fori Imperiali. Ha pubblicato oltre cinquanta saggi scientifici sulle tecniche costruttive di età imperiale e sulla produzione di laterizi bollati rinvenuti negli edifici antichi di Roma e ha curato due volumi sulla Cloaca Massima.

 

--- Roberto Meneghini è stato funzionario Archeologo presso la Sovrintendenza ai Beni Culturali del Comune di Roma e ha coordinato o diretto gli scavi archeologici nell’area dei Fori Imperiali dal 1991 al 2021. Ha scritto e curato numerosi libri e pubblicato molti saggi scientifici sui Fori Imperiali nell’antichità e nel medioevo.

 

Fonte / source:

--- Elisabetta Bianchi & Roberto Meneghini (ed.) / BAR INTL., SERIES No. 3097. Oxford: BAR PUBLISHING (2022): Pp. 360.

www.barpublishing.com/il-foro-di-traiano-nellantichita.html

doi.org/10.30861/9781407360034

 

Foto: Camera con vista, Foro di Traiano [all’inizio del XX secolo?]; in: Pier Luigi Tucci, Twt (29/11/2021); in: RARA (2022) [11/2021].

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52248080949

 

2). ROMA - Prof. Arch. Pier Luigi Tucci [review of / recensione di], “Roberto Meneghini, Il Foro di Traiano nel Medioevo e nel Rinascimento. Scavi 1998-2007. No. S3059 / Oxford: BAR Publishing (2021): Pp. 238”; in: Histara-les comptes rendus / France (28/07/2022).

 

ROME – Prof. Arch. Pier Luigi Tucci [review of / recensione di], “Roberto Meneghini, Il Foro di Traiano nel Medioevo e nel Rinascimento. Scavi 1998-2007. No. S3059 / Oxford: BAR Publishing (2021): Pp. 238”; in: Histara-les comptes rendus / France (28/07/2022).

 

** Note: Below is an extract of Prof. Arch Tucci’s peer-review article, the review is published in full text on the French journals website. **

 

** Nota: Di seguito è riportato un estratto dell’articolo di “peer review” del Prof. Arch Tucci, la recensione è pubblicata a testo integrale sul sito web delle riviste francesi. **

 

ROME – “In the vast complex of the Imperial Fora, for a long time the Forum of Trajan (AD 107 – 112) has been the best archaeologically known component because it was first touched in 1811-14 by the French digs, then by the excavations of the first half of the 20th century and, after 1998, by the archaeological campaigns of the Sovrintendenza.

 

As his short bio reveals, until 2021 the author of this book was Director of the Ufficio Fori Imperiali of the Municipality of Rome and took advantage of his own investigations conducted since the 1980s. His monograph, undoubtedly the peak of his scholarly career, consists of three chapters written in Italian (with English summaries) and four appendices. It presents what the author has already published in previous articles and books (e.g. Meneghini 1992, 1993 and 1999; Santangeli Valenzani – Meneghini 2007, 151-158; Meneghini 2009, 193-251) and aims at offering a complete picture of the Forum of Trajan in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

 

____

 

Foto: Roma, I Fori Imperiali, 1998: Foro di Traiano / Scavi 1998. Veduta delle “Oliere” del convento di S. Urbano nella cantina XIX, torna in luce dopo la demolizione di una scala moderna. Foto di: Dott. Fabrizio Delussu (1998) / Facebook (09/03/2017).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/48699675022

_____

 

However, the analysis focuses on the medieval church of Sant’Urbano and the remains of few houses located in the middle of the Forum square. The subtitle mentions the 1998-2007 excavations but does not clarify that the volume does not cover the entire Forum. Only the author’s introduction reveals that the investigation is limited to the “sectors covered by gardens in the middle of its southern part” (p. xvii), that is, just the 11% of the Forum’s surface.

 

The plan of the neighbourhood in the 18th century (Fig. 1.9, adapted from Ercolino 2013, pl. C) shows how much of Trajan’s monument has been left untouched. The Renaissance remains have been overlooked as well (they were demolished during the course of the latests digs) and, unfortunately, the author has not included the 2016-2020 excavation of a further sector of the Forum (more below), thus dismissing Santangeli Valenzani’s claim that this work is a “definitive contribution on the topic” (from the back cover).”

 

Fonte / source:

--- Prof. Arch. Pier Luigi Tucci (2022); in: RARA 2022 (28/07/2022).

wp.me/pbMWvy-30Q

 

Foto: Roma, I Fori Imperiali (1999/2009); in: Eva Benard, “JUBILE` 2000: LES GRANDS CHANTEIRS DE ROME,” Archeologia [France] n. 368, (June 2000): 42-51; & Roberto Meneghini (2009 & 2007).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52519502431

 

3). ROMA - Roberto Meneghini, Il Foro di Traiano nell’Antichità, Medioevo, Rinascimento & Moderna (1998-2022) = "Una Piaga dell'Archeologia Italiana: Gli Scavi Inediti"; in: RARA 2022 (23/11/2022).*

 

'...The author's purpose [Prof. Giuseppe Lugli] is best described in his own words (p. xvi): “To give an exact and methodical account of each monument, to describe its building periods, its architectural and artistic features, in order to bring the reader into direct contact with the structure and serve as a guide for its examination.”…’

 

Prof. Giuseppe Lugli (Italian archaeologist), in:

Prof. C. A. Raleigh-Radford [-- Review of--], Prof. Giuseppe Lugli, ‘Roma Antica: Il Centro Monumentale.’ Rome: Bardi editore (1946), pp. 1-632, JRS 37., 1 & 2 (1947): 216-17.

 

ROME - Dr. Roberto Meneghini - the Director of the Office of the Imperial Fora of Rome & the Forum of Trajan (1996-2022); in: RARA 2022 (23/11/2022).

 

Having followed the scholarly work of Dr. Roberto Meneghni and his work in the Forum of Trajan now for the past 25 years 1997-2022 (first, in print published materials: monographs, guidebooks, scholarly articles & Italian newspaper reports & secondly, since early 1999 onwards: various Internet and later social media resources) etc.

 

Although Dr. Meneghini’s professional Italian and foregin scholarly peers consider Dr. Meneghini a creditable scholar for his work on the Forum of Trajan (= Antiquity thru the Modern Era), since the late 1980s thru the present 2022, which is largely based on the various Italian and International peer-review articles discussing his work so forth.

 

Foto: Rome, the Forum of Trajan (1998-99): View of the excavations in the Forum of Trajan in 1998-99 & Rome – The Imperial Fora / Trajan’s Forum – the New Excavations, the City of Rome (1998-99); in: RARA 2022 (26 May 2008).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/2540767664

 

While, Dr. Meneghini maybe be a creditable scholar; have followed his work on Trajan’s Forum and the Imperial Fora in general, and as well as the similar works of his fellow Italian & International peers, since the mid-1980s onwards (both officially published resources and or unpublished resources and later located by myself via long-term internet searches) = largely thesis work undertaken by Italian university students in Rome and throughout Italy, since the late 1990s onwards: Italian Archaeologists and more so by Italian Restoration-Architects etc.

 

Unfortunately, as for Dr. Meneghini’s work, I don’t agree with the more than flattering and or charitable professional opinions of many of his foreign peers i.e., numerous peer-review articles published largely in the various British scholarly journals, published since the mid-2000’s until now.

 

Frankly, Dr. Meneghini’s overall quality and quantity of his published works on the Forum of Trajan and the Imperial Fora since the early 200os onwards, have the following rather similar and continuous unprofessional characteristics of being: inaccurate, unreliable and impractical research materials for Italian scholars, university students and independent researchers; as well as being out-dated and poorly available published and or online resources for the Romans & Italians interested in the Imperial Fora for educational purposes and or the Italian general public visiting the site itself.

 

Foto: Roma, I Fori Imperiali – Il Foro di Traiano (17 July 1998) & Dr. Silvana Rizzo, in: “Riaffiora l’inconscio di Roma – Cantine del ‘600 nascondano ancora I Fori Imperiali.” l’Unità (17 July 1998): 9 [in PDF].

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/6502102657

  

As far Dr. Meneghini’s overall lack of quality of his published works on the Forum of Trajan & the Imperial Fora in his numerous monographs, scholarly articles and guidebooks. These references general consist of the same recurring problems, as pointed out by many of the foreign professional peers, more so recently by a number of German Scholars / peer-reviews =

 

— Abstracts: translated into English or German from Italian - poorly written / sloppy as if original Italian text was translated via Google Translator.

 

— English or German Text: Poor spelling and incorrect use of proper equivalent English and or German Terms.

 

— Bibliographical Resources and References: the selective / limited use and or redundant listing of those works only endorsed by Dr. Meneghini. Either failure to recognize and or utilize other professional references to highlight the overall: construction, architecture and history of the Forum of Trajan and the other Imperial Forums from Antiquity to the present. Much of what research that Dr. Meneghini has published on the Forum of Trajan and the other Imperial Fora, since the early 200os to the present; is simply redundantly published over and over! Likewise, re-utilizing the same text, photographs and general plans in one work from to another.

 

— General plans, sections & elevation drawings and photographs: As the archaeological investigations and architectural surveys progressed in the Forum of Trajan, 1998-2001 and the follow up work conducted since 2002 thru to the present.

 

Foto: Roma, Il Foro di Traiano, 2011: “Nei Fori riappare il Tempio di Traiano. Riappare non lontano dal Foro e dalla Colonna di Traiano il Tempio che il successore Adriano dedicò all’imperatore e alla moglie Plotina, entrambi divinizzati dopo la morte.” Il Messaggero (02/09/2011), p. 1 & 31.

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/6106945951

 

Dr. Meneghini's work has focused largely on the disproving of the construction, architecture and history of the Temple of Divine Trajan, 1997 onwards; likewise also solely focusing on the history of the transformation of the Forum of Trajan in the Medieval Era.

 

The same can be said for his later narrow or and selective research and work on the Imperial Forums, as the Archaeological Director of the Imperial Forums (early 2000s thru 2020? [= when Dr. Meneghini replaced the former Director in the early 2000s?: Dr. Silvana Rizzo, it is not officially known]; nor who replaced Dr. Meneghini, as the current Director?).

 

The various General plans, sections & elevation drawings and photographs of Dr. Meneghini’s work on the Forum of Trajan, has not been properly published; this is largely due to the fact work (excavations and architectural surveys) in the Forum of Trajan and elsewhere in the Imperial Forums, May 1999 thru January 2000) was rushed to meet the deadline of the official opening of the Imperial Forums for the Rome, Jubilee Year 2000 (in late Dec. 1999 & early Jan. 2000).

 

Foto: Rome, the Imperial Fora & the Forum of Peace (Oct. 1999): Italian archaeologists excavating the basement substructures of the former Renaissance era residential block of the Alessandrina Quarter overlying the ‘Zone B’ / Forum of Peace [= the site of the underlying numerous Medieval burials]; in: Photo by Barbara Alper/Getty Images (Oct. 1999).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/36935038213

 

Here again, during Dr. Meneghini’s tenure as the Archaeological Director of the Forum of Trajan & the Imperial Forums, in early 2000s onwards; no new information = General plans, sections & elevation drawings and photographs have not been properly published in detail on the architectural remains of the Alessandrina Quarter late 16th thru early 1920s (surviving ground floors, basement or cellar walls and cellar flooring) unearthed in the Forum of Trajan, Forum of Caesar and the Forum / Temple of Peace in 1998 thru early 2000. What few General plans, sections & elevation drawings and photographs exist of the architectural remains of the Alessandrina Quarter, recovered in 1998-99; much of this ‘Unknown Work’ was undertaken by several Italian Architectural-Restoration Scholars, Archaeologists and University students; here again which was selectively undervalued and ignored by Dr. Meneghini in his later work on the Forum of Trajan and Imperial Fora, from the early 2000s onwards.

 

Furthermore, as for photographs of the architectural remains of the Alessandrina Quarter, recovered in 1998-99; myself, I have had to rely largely on photographs taken during the course of the excavations by Romans, Italians and foreign visitors at the Imperial Fora; and later published years later on the various Internet sites and or now social media resources.

 

Foto: Roberto Meneghini & Antonella Corsaro (ed.), Scavi dei Fori Imperiali – Il Templum Pacis (1998–2015). Rome Studies 2; Publishers: Turnhout, Belgium (Feb. 2023): Pp. 228.

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52472853737

 

As of today, late Nov. 2022. Dr. Menghini is in the process of publishing in the near future several new work on the Imperial Forums =

 

The Foro di Cesare, 1 (forthcoming?) =

--- Roberto Meneghini & Claudio Parisi Presicce et al. (eds), Foro di Cesare, 1: Gli Scavi del Foro di Cesare (1998-2000). Rome Studies; Publishers: Turnhout, Belgium.

 

The Foro di Cesare, 2 (forthcoming?) =

--- Jan K. Jacobsen, et al. (eds.), Foro di Cesare, 2: I materiali ceramici dallo scavo del 1998-2000. Rome Studies; Publishers: Turnhout, Belgium.

 

--- Roberto Meneghini & Antonella Corsaro (ed.), Scavi dei Fori Imperiali - Il Templum Pacis (1998–2015). Rome Studies 2; Publishers: Turnhout, Belgium (Feb. 2023): Pp. 228.

 

With exception of the two future volumes on the Foro di Cesare, 1 &2 (forthcoming); as for Dr. Meneghini’s new work on the “Il Templum Pacis (1998–2015)”; one has to wonder why this new volume will be published, when considering the recent start of a new series of excavations in the north-east corner of the Forum of Peace / bordering along the Forum of Nerva (Spring 2022 onwards)?

 

Foto: DR. ANTONELLA CORSARO & DR. ARCH. PIERO GIUSBERTI, “Scavo Archeologico nel Settore Nord-Orientale Del Foro Della Pace / Giardino in Largo Corrado Ricci.”; in: ROMA CAPITALE / Direzione Generale (20/05/2021 [10/06/2021]) [in PDF].

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/51315384260

 

As for the recent excavations in the Forum of Trajan / the Via Alessandrina (2015-2022); here again as of late 2022, this work undertaken by the Office of the Imperial Fora has not been properly published? Here again, what is known about the Forum of Trajan / the Via Alessandrina excavations (2015-2022), one has to rely largely on the information made available online by Italian independent researchers.

 

Foto: Roma, Foro di Traiano / Via Alessandrina (06/2019); in: “ReinvenTIAMO Roma” & “FORI: RITROVATA TESTA DI STATUA DI ETÀ IMPERIALE,” in: Virginia Raggi / LA SINDACA INFORMA / COMUNE DI ROMA (01/06/2019): pp. 4 & 5 [PDF].

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/48163010811

 

As for Dr. Meneghini’s soon to be published work on the Temple of Peace (2023) and the future Forum of Caesar, 1 & 2 (forthcoming); hopefully all of these works will be properly edited & published in a more professional manner; as well as useful for the interested reader: Romans & Italian scholars, university students, independent researchers and general published as well as the international researder…We will have to wait and see?

 

Foto: Il Foro di Traiano & “Domiziano Imperatore – Odio e amore. La mostra dedicata a Domiziano, l’ultimo imperatore della gens Flavia” (13/07/2022 – 29/01/2023). Roma, Sovrintendenza Capitolina & Leiden, Rijksmuseum van Oudheden (07/2022).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52238874548

 

In the meantime, below are eleven individual albums of archived useful (and unpublished) materials (general plans, photographs, scholar and newspapers articles [in PDF]) on the primary archaeological investigations and architectural surveys conducted by Italian and international scholars and students throughout the vast two complexes of the Forum of Trajan and the Markets of Trajan in 1998-2001. As well later work on these complexes in 2002 thru 2022. Including supplementary research on the history of the architectural studies, excavations & urban planning studies undertaken since the late 18th century and up-to the early 1940s; and then again since the early 1970s thru the mid-1990s.

 

— RARA 2022 (24/11/2022).

  

* = Paolino Mingazzini, "Una piaga dell'archeologia italiana: gli scavi inediti." Athenaeum: studi periodici di letteratura e storia (01/1946): p. 75 of pp. 75-81.

 

_____________________________

 

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/6092231164

 

RARA 2022: 2.2 & 7.1 thru 7.10). Forum of Trajan - The Temple of Trajan, Column, Basilica Ulpia & Markets [= Museum of the Imperial Fora]; the ‘Alda Fendi’ Project; Palazzo Valentini / Domus Romanae; Palazzo delle Assicurazioni Generali; Via Alessandrina Excavations & METRO C] (1995-2022, 1928-34 & 1907-12): the Excavations, Restorations, Systemization & Exhibitions.

 

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/46416018604

 

--- RARA 2020: 2.2). The Markets of Trajan & Museum of the Imperial Fora (1995-2022) & (1928-34): the Excavations, Restorations, Systemization, Exhibitions & the Visitor Center of the Imperial Fora.

 

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/50340604818

 

--- RARA 2022: 7.1). Forum of Trajan, Basilica Ulpia, Temple of Trajan, Fendi Project & Via Alessandrina (1995-2022 & 1928-34): the Excavations, Restorations, Systemization & Exhibitions.

 

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/498649194

 

--- RARA 2022: 7.2). Forum of Trajan, Basilica Ulpia & the ‘Alda Fendi’ Project (1995-2022 & 1928-34): the Excavations, Restorations, Systemization & Exhibitions.

 

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/51865498565

 

--- RARA 2022: 7.3). Forum of Trajan / Temple of Trajan & Palazzo Valentini / Domus Romanae & Palazzo delle Assicurazioni Generali (1995-2022 & 1932-34): the Excavations, Restorations, Systemization & Exhibitions.

 

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/4035600080

 

--- RARA 2022: 7.4). Forum of Trajan / Temple of Trajan & Palazzo Valentini & METRO C (1995-2022): Excavations & Restorations - Supplementary Information.

 

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/50391831237

 

--- RARA 2022: 7.5). Forum of Trajan & Column of Trajan (1995-2022, 1930-34 & 1907-12): Excavations, Restorations, Systemization & Exhibitions.

 

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/51839366411

 

--- RARA 2022: 7.6). Forum of Trajan, Basilica Ulpia & the Via Alessandrina [= Dr. Arch. Federico Celletti] (1995-2022 & 1930-34): Excavations, Restorations, Systemization & Exhibitions.

 

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/7134778707

 

--- RARA 2022: 7.7). Forum of Trajan / Basilica Ulpia (1995-2022): Dr. Arch. Caterina Bigatton, & Restoration, Systematization & Museumization of the Basilica Ulpia & Thesis / La Sapienza University (2007-08).

 

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/6227832702

 

--- RARA 2022: 7.8). Forum of Trajan / Basilica Ulpia & Museum of Imperial Fora (1995-2022): Excavations & Studies of the Colored Marble Architectural Elements & Artistic Decorations.

 

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/6421138439

 

--- RARA 2022: 7.9). The Forum of Trajan / Via dei Fori Imperiali (1995-2022): Dr. Arch. Giulio Testori, & ROME – MAIN ARCHAEOLOGICAL AREA - PROPOSALS, TRANSFORMATIONS AND PROJECT’S FRAGMENTS & Thesis / IUAV University of Venice (Apr. 2007).

 

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/7374384004

 

--- RARA 2022: 7.10). Forum of Trajan / Basilica Ulpia (1995-2022): Excavations - Colony of Freshwater Crabs living in the Ancient Drains of the Forum of Trajan (2006-11).

I feel like I've seen the same type of person walking home in the same position. Carrying the bag behind. Walking slowly. Methodically washing away the day from the mind. It might be the only peace and quiet he has the entire day.

CANOGA PARK- The Los Angeles Fire Department battled a Major Emergency Structure Fire in the west San Fernando Valley on Monday, October 18, 2021.

 

The fire at 8423 Canoga Avenue in Canoga Park, was first noted at 12:18 PM by an LAFD Paramedic Ambulance crew returning from a nearby emergency. Within moments of their reporting the fire, flames were through the roof of the 125' x 125' one-story industrial building that also housed an adjoining but unrelated business at 8425 Canoga Avenue.

 

As that first-arriving LAFD Paramedic crew circled the structure to gain situational awareness and guide fellow responders, they encountered the first of three adult male civilians with severe burn injuries outside the burning building. Two proved to be in critical condition and the other in serious condition. All three were taken to area hospitals. Sadly, one of the critically injured men died later while undergoing hospital care.

 

The rapid spread of intense flames and multiple explosions heard within the building guided first-arriving firefighters to quickly commence defensive operations, applying multiple large diameter hose streams from the exterior, including two from atop extended aerial ladders, to prevent flames from extending beyond the well involved structure.

 

With the exception of a forty square-foot section of the roof at 8427 Canoga Avenue destroyed by surface fire, the tactics proved successful in holding the blaze to the pair of unrelated businesses under one roof at 8423 and 8425 Canoga Avenue.

 

It took 150 Los Angeles Firefighter just 75 minutes to extinguish the flames.

 

Firefighters remained active through the night extinguishing hotspots and minimizing hazards at the structurally compromised building with the help of LAFD's robotic firefighting vehicle and heavy equipment.

 

At daylight Tuesday, LAFD crews resumed a systematic search within the largely destroyed premises. During their methodical search among tons of burnt debris inside the structure, firefighters discovered the remains of an adult male, bringing the overall patient count to four, with a total of two deceased and two remaining hospitalized.

 

No other injuries were reported.

 

Scientific testing of materials inside the building of fire origin yielded positive results for hemp, and it appears that the operation inside involved the extraction from hemp, not dissimilar to that used in the Butane Honey Oil extraction process.

 

Though the business was a legal enterprise, the operation inside appeared to be illegal, as it did not adhere to established permitting processes and safety requirements.

 

Pursuant to protocol, the fire's cause remains the focus of a joint active investigation by the Los Angeles Fire Department, Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Interagency Metropolitan Police Apprehension Crime Task Force (L.A. Impact).

 

A positive identification of the dead men, as well as the cause, time and manner of their death will be determined by the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner.

 

© Photo by Austin Gebhardt

 

LAFD Incident 101821-0791

 

Connect with us: LAFD.ORG | News | Facebook | Instagram | Reddit | Twitter: @LAFD @LAFDtalk

Gandhara is the name given to an ancient region or province invaded in 326 B.C. by Alexander the Great, who took Charsadda (ancient Puskalavati) near present-day Peshawar (ancient Purusapura) and then marched eastward across the Indus into the Punjab as far as the Beas river (ancient Vipasa). Gandhara constituted the undulating plains, irrigated by the Kabul River from the Khyber Pass area, the contemporary boundary between Pakistan and Afganistan, down to the Indus River and southward towards the Murree hills and Taxila (ancient Taksasila), near Pakistan"s present capital, Islamabad. Its art, however, during the first centuries of the Christian era, had adopted a substantially larger area, together with the upper stretches of the Kabul River, the valley of Kabul itself, and ancient Kapisa, as well as Swat and Buner towards the north.

   

A great deal of Gandhara sculptures has survived dating from the first to probably as late as the sixth or even the seventh century but in a remarkably homogeneous style. Most of the arts were almost always in a blue-gray mica schist, though sometimes in a green phyllite or in stucco, or very rarely in terracotta. Because of the appeal of its Western classical aesthetic for the British rulers of India, schooled to admire all things Greek and Roman, a great deal found its way into private hands or the shelter of museums.

  

Gandhara sculpture primarily comprised Buddhist monastic establishments. These monasteries provided a never-ending gallery for sculptured reliefs of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas. The Gandhara stupas were comparatively magnified and more intricate, but the most remarkable feature, which distinguished the Gandhara stupas from the pervious styles were hugely tiered umbrellas at its peak, almost soaring over the total structure. The abundance of Gandharan sculpture was an art, which originated with foreign artisans.

  

In the excavation among the varied miscellany of small bronze figures, though not often like Alexandrian imports, four or five Buddhist bronzes are very late in date. These further illustrate the aura of the Gandhara art. Relics of mural paintings though have been discovered, yet the only substantial body of painting, in Bamiyan, is moderately late, and much of it belongs to an Iranian or central Asian rather than an Indian context. Non-narrative themes and architectural ornament were omnipresent at that time. Mythical figures and animals such as atlantes, tritons, dragons, and sea serpents derive from the same source, although there is the occasional high-backed, stylized creature associated with the Central Asian animal style. Moldings and cornices are decorated mostly with acanthus, laurel, and vine, though sometimes with motifs of Indian, and occasionally ultimately western Asian, origin: stepped merlons, lion heads, vedikas, and lotus petals. It is worth noting that architectural elements such as pillars, gable ends, and domes as represented in the reliefs tend to follow the Indian forms

.

 

Gandhara became roughly a Holy Land of Buddhism and excluding a handful of Hindu images, sculpture took the form either of Buddhist sect objects, Buddha and Bodhisattvas, or of architectural embellishment for Buddhist monasteries. The more metaphorical kinds are demonstrated by small votive stupas, and bases teeming with stucco images and figurines that have lasted at Jaulian and Mora Moradu, outpost monasteries in the hills around Taxila. Hadda, near the present town of Jalalabad, has created some groups in stucco of an almost rococo while more latest works of art in baked clay, with strong Hellenistic influence, have been revealed there, in what sums up as tiny chapels. It is not known exactly why stucco, an imported Alexandrian modus operandi, was used. It is true that grey schist is not found near Taxila, however other stones are available, and in opposition to the ease of operating with stucco, predominantly the artistic effects which can be achieved, must be set with its impermanence- fresh deposits frequently had to be applied. Excluding possibly at Taxila, its use emerges to have been a late expansion.

  

Architectural fundamentals of the Gandhara art, like pillars, gable ends and domes as showcased in the reliefs, were inclined to follow Indian outlines, but the pilaster with capital of Corinthian type, abounds and in one-palace scene Persepolitan columns go along with Roman coffered ceilings. The so-called Shrine of the Double-Headed Eagle at Sirkap, in actuality a stupa pedestal, well demonstrates this enlightening eclecticism- the double-headed bird on top of the chaitya arch is an insignia of Scythian origin, which appears as a Byzantine motif and materialises much later in South India as the ga1J.qa-bheru1J.qa in addition to atop European armorial bearings.

 

In Gandhara art the descriptive friezes were all but invariably Buddhist, and hence Indian in substance- one depicted a horse on wheels nearing a doorway, which might have represented the Trojan horse affair, but this is under scan. The Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux, familiar from the previous Greek-based coinage of the region, appeared once or twice as standing figurines, presumably because as a pair, they tallied an Indian mithuna couple. There were also female statuettes, corresponding to city goddesses. Though figures from Butkara, near Saidan Sharif in Swat, were noticeably more Indian in physical type, and Indian motifs were in abundance there. Sculpture was, in the main, Hellenistic or Roman, and the art of Gandhara was indeed "the easternmost appearance of the art of the Roman Empire, especially in its late and provincial manifestations". Furthermore, naturalistic portrait heads, one of the high-points of Roman sculpture, were all but missing in Gandhara, in spite of the episodic separated head, probably that of a donor, with a discernible feeling of uniqueness. Some constitutions and poses matched those from western Asia and the Roman world; like the manner in which a figure in a recurrently instanced scene from the Dipankara jataka had prostrated himself before the future Buddha, is reverberated in the pose of the defeated before the defeater on a Trojanic frieze on the Arch of Constantine and in later illustrations of the admiration of the divinised emperor. One singular recurrently occurring muscular male figure, hand on sword, witnessed in three-quarters view from the backside, has been adopted from western classical sculpture. On occasions standing figures, even the Buddha, deceived the elusive stylistic actions of the Roman sculptor, seeking to express majestas. The drapery was fundamentally Western- the folds and volume of dangling garments were carved with realness and gusto- but it was mainly the persistent endeavours at illusionism, though frequently obscured by unrefined carving, which earmarked the Gandhara sculpture as based on a western classical visual impact.

  

The distinguishing Gandhara sculpture, of which hundreds if not thousands of instances have outlived, is the standing or seated Buddha. This flawlessly reproduces the necessary nature of Gandhara art, in which a religious and an artistic constituent, drawn from widely varied cultures have been bonded. The iconography is purely Indian. The seated Buddha is mostly cross-legged in the established Indian manner. However, forthcoming generations, habituated to think of the Buddha as a monk, and unable to picture him ever possessing long hair or donning a turban, came to deduce the chigon as a "cranial protuberance", singular to Buddha. But Buddha is never depicted with a shaved head, as are the Sangha, the monks; his short hair is clothed either in waves or in taut curls over his whole head. The extended ears are merely due to the downward thrust of the heavy ear-rings worn by a prince or magnate; the distortion of the ear-lobes is especially visible in Buddha, who, in Gandhara, never wore ear-rings or ornaments of any kind. As Foucher puts it, the Gandhara Buddha is at a time a monk without shaving and a prince stripped off jewellery.

  

The western classical factor rests in the style, in the handling of the robe, and in the physiognomy of Buddha. The cloak, which covers all but the appendages (though the right shoulder is often bared), is dealt like in Greek and Roman sculptures; the heavy folds are given a plastic flair of their own, and only in poorer or later works do they deteriorate into indented lines, fairly a return to standard Indian practice. The "western" treatment has caused Buddha"s garment to be misidentified for a toga; but a toga is semicircular, while, Buddha wore a basic, rectangular piece of cloth, i.e., the samghiifi, a monk"s upper garment. The head gradually swerves towards a hieratic stylisation, but at its best, it is naturalistic and almost positively based on the Greek Apollo, undoubtedly in Hellenistic or Roman copies.

 

Gandhara art also had developed at least two species of image, i.e. not part of the frieze, in which Buddha is the fundamental figure of an event in his life, distinguished by accompanying figures and a detailed mise-en-scene. Perhaps the most remarkable amongst these is the Visit to the Indrasala Cave, of which the supreme example is dated in the year 89, almost unquestionably of the Kanishka period. Indra and his harpist are depicted on their visit in it. The small statuettes of the visitors emerge below, an elephant describing Indra. The more general among these detailed images, of which approximately 30 instances are known, is presumably related with the Great Miracle of Sravasti. In one such example, one of the adjoining Bodhisattvas is distinguished as Avalokiteshwara by the tiny seated Buddha in his headgear. Other features of these images include the unreal species of tree above Buddha, the spiky lotus upon which he sits, and the effortlessly identifiable figurines of Indra and Brahma on both sides.

  

Another important aspect of the Gandhara art was the coins of the Graeco-Bactrians. The coins of the Graeco-Bactrians - on the Greek metrological standard, equals the finest Attic examples and of the Indo-Greek kings, which have until lately served as the only instances of Greek art found in the subcontinent. The legendary silver double decadrachmas of Amyntas, possibly a remembrance issue, are the biggest "Greek" coins ever minted, the largest cast in gold, is the exceptional decadrachma of the same king in the Bibliotheque Nationale, with the Dioscuri on the inverse. Otherwise, there was scanty evidence until recently of Greek or Hellenistic influences in Gandhara. A manifestation of Greek metropolitan planning is furnished by the rectilinear layouts of two cities of the 1st centuries B.C./A.D.--Sirkap at Taxila and Shaikhan Pheri at Charsadda. Remains of the temple at Jandial, also at Taxila and presumably dating back to 1st century B.C., also includes Greek characteristics- remarkably the huge base mouldings and the Ionic capitals of the colossal portico and antechamber columns. In contrast, the columns or pilasters on the immeasurable Gandhara friezes (when they are not in a Indian style), are consistently coronated by Indo-Corinthian capitals, the local version of the Corinthian capital- a certain sign of a comparatively later date.

 

The notable Begram hoard confirms articulately to the number and multiplicity of origin of the foreign artefacts imported into Gandhara. This further illustrates the foreign influence in the Gandhara art. Parallel hoards have been found in peninsular India, especially in Kolhapur in Maharashtra, but the imported wares are sternly from the Roman world. At Begram the ancient Kapisa, near Kabul, there are bronzes, possibly of Alexandrian manufacture, in close proximity with emblemata (plaster discs, certainly meant as moulds for local silversmiths), bearing reliefs in the purest classical vein, Chinese lacquers and Roman glass. The hoard was possibly sealed in mid-3rd century, when some of the subjects may have been approximately 200 years old "antiques", frequently themselves replicates of classical Greek objects. The plentiful ivories, consisting in the central of chest and throne facings, engraved in a number of varied relief techniques, were credibly developed somewhere between Mathura and coastal Andhra. Some are of unrivalled beauty. Even though a few secluded instances of early Indian ivory carving have outlived, including the legendary mirror handle from Pompeii, the Begram ivories are the only substantial collection known until moderately in present times of what must always have been a widespread craft. Other sites, particularly Taxila, have generated great many instances of such imports, some from India, some, like the appealing tiny bronze figure of Harpocrates, undoubtedly from Alexandria. Further cultural influences are authenticated by the Scytho Sarmatian jewellery, with its characteristic high-backed carnivores, and by a statue of St. Peter. But all this should not cloud the all-important truth that the immediately identifiable Gandhara style was the prevailing form of artistic manifestation throughout the expanse for several centuries, and the magnitude of its influence on the art of central Asia and China and as far as Japan, allows no doubt about its integrity and vitality.

 

In the Gandhara art early Buddhist iconography drew heavily on traditional sources, incorporating Hindu gods and goddesses into a Buddhist pantheon and adapting old folk tales to Buddhist religious purposes. Kubera and Harm are probably the best-known examples of this process.

  

Five dated idols from Gandhara art though exist, however the hitch remains that the era is never distinguished. The dates are in figures under 100 or else in 300s. Moreover one of the higher numbers are debatable, besides, the image upon which it is engraved is not in the conventional Andhra style. The two low-number-dated idols are the most sophisticated and the least injured. Their pattern is classical Gandhara. The most undemanding rendition of their dates relates them to Kanishka and 78 A.D. is assumed as the commencement of his era. They both fall in the second half of the 2nd century A.D. and equally later, if a later date is necessitated for the beginning of Kanishka`s time. This calculation nearly parallels numismatics and archaeological evidences. The application of other eras, like the Vikrama (base date- 58 B.C.) and the Saka (base date- 78 A.D.), would place them much later. The badly battered figurines portray standing Buddhas, without a head of its own, but both on original figured plinths. They come to view as depicting the classical Gandhara style; decision regarding where to place these two dated Buddhas, both standing, must remain knotty till more evidence comes out as to how late the classical Gandhara panache had continued.

   

Methodical study of the Gandhara art, and specifically about its origins and expansion, is befuddled with numerous problems, not at least of which is the inordinately complex history and culture of the province. It is one of the great ethnical crossroads of the world simultaneously being in the path of all the intrusions of India for over three millennia. Bussagli has rightly remarked, `More than any other Indian region, Gandhara was a participant in the political and cultural events that concerned the rest of the Asian continent`.

   

However, Systematic study of the art of Gandhara, and particularly of its origins and development, is bedeviled by many problems, not the least of which is the extraordinarily complex history and culture of the region.

   

In spite of the labours of many scholars over the past hundred and fifty years, the answers to some of the most important questions, such as the number of centuries spanned by the art of Gandhara, still await, fresh archaeological, inscriptional, or numismatic evidence.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandhara

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gautama_Buddha

Astronomy, a natural science, is the study of celestial objects (such as stars, galaxies, planets, moons, asteroids, comets and nebulae) and processes (such as supernovae explosions, gamma ray bursts, and cosmic microwave background radiation), the physics, chemistry, and evolution of such objects and processes, and more generally all phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth. A related but distinct subject, physical cosmology, is concerned with studying the Universe as a whole.[1]

 

Astronomy is the oldest of the natural sciences. The early civilizations in recorded history, such as the Babylonians, Greeks, Indians, Egyptians, Nubians, Iranians, Chinese, and Maya performed methodical observations of the night sky. Historically, astronomy has included disciplines as diverse as astrometry, celestial navigation, observational astronomy and the making of calendars, but professional astronomy is nowadays often considered to be synonymous with astrophysics.[2]

 

During the 20th century, the field of professional astronomy split into observational and theoretical branches. Observational astronomy is focused on acquiring data from observations of astronomical objects, which is then analyzed using basic principles of physics. Theoretical astronomy is oriented toward the development of computer or analytical models to describe astronomical objects and phenomena. The two fields complement each other, with theoretical astronomy seeking to explain the observational results and observations being used to confirm theoretical results.

New Jersey USA 12-05-2019

 

Scientific classification

Domain:Eukaryota

Kingdom:Animalia

Phylum:Chordata

Class:Aves

Order:Pelecaniformes

Family:Ardeidae

Genus:Egretta

Species:E. caerulea

Binomial name

Egretta caerulea

 

Songs and Calls

Usually silent; squawks when alarmed. Various croaks and screams at nesting colonies.

 

Family

Herons, Egrets, Bitterns

 

Habitat

Marshes, swamps, rice fields, ponds, shores. In North America most numerous on fresh waters inland, around river swamps and marshy lakes. Also feeds in wet meadows and even dry fields. Less commonly feeds in salt water, although it may favour such habitat in the Caribbean. Nests in trees or in dense low thickets near water.

Despite its different last name, the Little Blue Heron is probably a close relative of the Snowy Egret. It looks much like a Snowy when it is young, but molts to a dark slate-blue plumage as an adult. Generally wary and hard to approach. Nests in colonies, sometimes of this species alone; in large mixed heronries, Little Blues tend to nest along the edges. Some of its largest colonies are in the lower Mississippi Valley, where it often nests in association with Cattle Egrets.

 

Feeding Behaviour

Usually slow and methodical in its foraging, walking very slowly in shallows or standing still waiting for prey to approach. May feed in shallow water or on shore, also in grassy fields.

 

Eggs

3-5, sometimes 1-6. Pale blue-green. Incubation is by both sexes, 20-23 days. Young: Both parents feed young, by regurgitation. Young may climb out of nest onto nearby branches after 2-3 weeks, are capable of short flights at 4 weeks, become independent at 6-7 weeks.

 

Young

Both parents feed young, by regurgitation. Young may climb out of nest onto nearby branches after 2-3 weeks, are capable of short flights at 4 weeks, become independent at 6-7 weeks.

 

Diet

Mainly fish and crustaceans. Diet quite variable. Eats mostly small fish (including larger ones than those favored by similar-sized Snowy Egret) and crustaceans, including crabs and crayfish. Away from water eats many grasshoppers and other insects. Other food items include tadpoles, frogs, lizards, snakes, turtles, spiders.

 

Nesting

Breeds in colonies. Male establishes small territory within colony and displays there, driving away other males. Displays by male include neck-stretching and bill-snapping; pairs in courtship may nibble at each other's plumage, and cross and intertwine necks. Nest: Site is in a tree or shrub, usually 3-15' above ground or water, sometimes up to 40' high. Nest (built by both sexes) is a platform of sticks, varying from flimsy to substantial, with depression in the centre.

‎WESTLAKE - It took nearly 150 ‪Los Angeles‬ ‪Firefighters‬ nearly two and a half hours to extinguish a major emergency fire in a vacant 2 story office building west of downtown Los Angeles Monday evening.

 

The Los Angeles Fire Department was summoned at 7:01 PM on June 13, 2016 to a structure fire at 2411 West 8th Street in the Westlake neighborhood not far from MacArthur Park. LAFD responders arrived quickly to find intense fire on the upper floor of a long vacant 14,351 square-foot two story office building, the site of previous blazes.

 

Firefighters used ground ladders to assist several imperiled persons at windows of the burning structure, with LAFD responders entering the building to performing the rescue of three others.

 

While extending hoselines to aggressively battle the flames within, LAFD crews sadly discovered and retrieved a dead man from the inferno, before the failing structure forced then to switch to defensive exterior operations twenty minutes into the firefight.

 

A total of 147 LAFD personnel under the command of Battalion Chief Jaime Moore, confined the blaze to the heavily damaged building of fire origin - which had no functional fire sprinklers, extinguishing the bulk of flame in just 2 hours and 22 minutes.

 

As a result of witnesses statements, Los Angeles Police Department Officers later detained and arrested an adult male suspected of starting the fire. He and one of the persons earlier rescued by firefighters, were taken to an area hospital by ambulance for evaluation of non-life threatening injuries.

 

With the flames extinguished well past darkness, firefighters remained at the structurally unsound premises to douse hotspots, prevent public harm and prepare for a further search at daybreak.

 

Early Tuesday, investigation teams from the LAFD Arson/Counter-Terrorism Section methodically processed the large and still-smoldering site to determine the fire's cause and origin, as highly-trained Human Remains Detection Dog and Handler teams performed a relentless search of the collapsed structure for deceased victims.

 

With the canines' help, firefighters discovered the remains of four adult victims, two men and two women, amid the rubble on the second floor of the building. Their discovery, combined with the male victim found deceased by firefighters battling the blaze, brought the death tally to five, all of whom appeared to be transients.

 

No firefighters sustained injury in the firefight, investigation or recovery operations.

 

A positive identification of the dead persons, to include the cause, time and manner of their death will be determined by the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner.

 

© Photo by Mike Meadows

 

LAFD Incident: 061316-1267

 

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Joseph Pitton de Tournefort (1656-1708) was a French botanist. He was born to a well-to-do family in Aix-en-Provence. Tournefort initially took up studies in theology. However, as he had a marked inclination towards natural sciences, he turned to medicine. He completed his studies at the University of Montpellier. In 1681, he was in Barcelona doing research in botany. In 1694 Tournefort published his first three-volume work, in which he classified 8846 plants. In 1698 he became Doctor in Medicine of the University of Paris. At that time his treatise was also translated into Latin. Tournefort became a famous physician and naturalist. He travelled extensively in Western Europe (Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, England). He had published a number of works on botany, and had acquired a fabulous collection of nearly 50.000 books, as well as costumes, arms, minerals, shells and various curiosities. Thus, he already had a very important career behind him when Louis XIV entrusted him with the mission to bring new plants to the Royal Botanical Garden.

 

Tournefort started out on his voyage to the Near East in the spring of 1700, at the age of 44, accompanied by a painter and a doctor. He visited thirty-eight islands of the Greek archipelago, as well as Northern Anatolia, Pontus and Armenia, and reached Tiflis in Georgia. Tournefort returned to Marseilles in June 1702.

 

His manuscript, composed of his letters to the Minister of the Exterior Count de Pontchartain, was published posthumously in 1717. A number of re-editions followed, while his work was also translated into English, German and Flemish. There is also a Greek translation of the first part. The fact that Tournefort had discovered new plants in his journey led him to publish a supplement to his main work of botanical classification in 1703. He taught Botany in the Académie, while continuing to practice medicine; at the same time, he was in charge of the Royal Gardens, where many plants he brought from his travels were cultivated with success. Having survived a multitude of adventures, Tournefort died of an accident in 1708. He did not live to see the publication of his travel chronicle, which in the following three centuries became the basic manual to all travellers to these regions. Until today, researchers from numerous fields turn to Tournefort’s text, as it remains an invaluable source of information. He describes the places he visited in a particular systematic manner.

 

The systematic way he organizes his information on topography, economy, administration, ethnic composition, customs and habits of everyday life shows how one can arrive at truth and knowledge through research, methodical study, classification and generalisation. To document his research, Tournefort cites a hundred and thirty-five texts by Greek and Latin authors as well as Byzantine writers, Humanists, and earlier travel accounts.

 

He methodically narrates his visit to each island, and describes the locations as well as events that he witnessed and encounters with locals. He then continues with the island’s history from ancient times to the current age, citing the corresponding myths, and comparing with the information provided by ancient coins. Subsequently, he writes on the island’s administration and taxes, commerce, products and prices thereof. An entire chapter is dedicated to the Greek church. Tournefort also writes on monasteries and churches, house architecture and caves. He also describes the customs, the dress and the occupations of the inhabitants. He concludes his chapters with geographical observations from the highest point of each main region.

 

Naturally, his work includes engravings of city views, locations and monuments as well as plants, instruments and costumes. The text becomes alive with vivid descriptions of his encounters with islanders, be it Turks, Franks, Greeks or privateers. Of special interest are his descriptions of fortresses, ports, safe havens and his information on map drawing.

 

The second volume is a publication of his thoroughly documented manuscripts. It was not edited by Tournefort himself as had happened with the first. On numerous occasions he refers to the politics, administration and ethnic composition of the Ottoman Empire. He continues with his journey on the southern coast of the Black Sea to Armenia. The work closes with a short description of Smyrna and Ephesus.

 

Tournefort is considered the first to have shown the islands of the Archipelago to be “travel material”, as he offered information which inspired the interest for further research, and also highlighed each location’s wealth and uniqueness.

 

Written by Ioli Vingopoulou

  

Fransız botanikçi Joseph Pitton de Tournefort (1656-1708) Aix-en-Provence'da varlıklı bir aile içinde doğar, ilk önce tanrıbilim (teoloji) dersleri izler ancak genç yaştan beri doğa bilimlerine eğilim gösterir. Bu yüzden Montpellier'de tıp öğrenimi görüp 1681'de botanik araştırmaları yapmak üzere Barcelona'ya gelir. 1694 yılında üç ciltlik ve 8.846 bitkinin sınıflandırmasına ilişkin ilk eserini yayınlar; 1698'de Paris Tıp Fakültesinden doktor unvanını alır ve bu kazanımı yapıtının latince çevirisi izler. Doktor ve doğa bilimcisi olarak ün salmış, Batı Avrupa'da (İspanya, Portekiz, Hollanda, İngiltere'ye) seyahat etmiş, botanoloji ile ilgili kitaplar yayınlamış, 50.000'e yakın kitaptan meydana gelen bir kitaplık oluşturmuş, ayrıca yerel kıyafet, silah, mineral, deniz kabuğu ve daha başka ilginç şeylerden oluşan hayranlık uyandıran koleksiyonlar sahibi olmuşken, kral 14. Louis ona Kraliyet Botanik Bahçesine yeni bitkiler getirme görevini verir. Tournefort 1700 yılının ilkbaharında, 44 yaşındayken, yanına yoldaş olarak bir ressam ve bir doktor alarak Yakın Doğu'ya doğru yola çıkar.

 

Ege adalarından 38 tanesini ziyaret eder, Kuzey Anadolu'nun her tarafını gezip Karadeniz ve Ermenistan yörelerine gelir, Tiflis'e varır. Tournefort, 1702 yılının Haziran ayında Marsilya'da karaya ayak basar.

 

Kaleme aldığı metin (Dışişleri bakanı Kont de Pontchartain'e yolladığı mektuplar biçiminde) ilk olarak 1717'de yayınlanır, bu ilk yayını bir çok yeni baskı izler ve eser ingilizce, almanca ve flamanca gibi dillere- ilk kısmı yunancaya da - çevrilir. Yeni keşfettiği bitkilerin daha önce belirlemiş olduğu sınıflandırma sistemine eklenmesi sonucu olarak 1703'te yeni bir cilt yayınlar. Tournefort botanik profesörü sıfatıyla Akademide dersler verir, doktorluk mesleğini ve bunlara koşut olarak Kraliyet Bahçesinin sorumluluğu görevini sürdürür. Gezilerinden getirmiş olduğu birçok yeni bitki bu bahçede başarılı bir şekilde yetiştirilir. Tournefort geçirdiği birçok maceradan kefeni yırtmışken, üç asır boyunca her gezginin bu bölge için başucu kitabı olacak seyahatnamesinin yayınlanmasını göremeden 1708'de bir kaza sonucu ölür. Bugün hâlâ çeşitli dallardan araştırmacılar Tournefort'un metnine başvurup son derece değerli bilgilerinden faydalanmak durumundalar. Eseri anında ingilizce, hollandaca ve almancaya çevrilmişti.

 

Gezdiği yerleri betimlerken belirli bir yöntem izleyerek topoğrafya, ekonomi, yönetim, milletler sentezi ve günlük yaşamdaki örf ve adetlere ilişkin bilgiler verirken, Tournefort, bilginin gerçeğe uyup uymadığı konusuna araştırma, düzenli okuma, sınıflandırma ve genelleştirme yoluyla yanaşılabileceğini kanıtlıyor. Kanıtlayıcı belgeleri arasında antik Yunan ve Latin yazarlarından, ayrıca Bizans yazarlarından ve daha eski hümanist bilgin ve gezginlerden 135 tane metin bulunmakta.

 

Ziyaret ettiği her ada için düzenli olarak ziyaretini anlatıp birçok yeri ve olayı hatta yerlilerle olan görüşmelerini de betimler. Bunlara ek olarak, adanın eski çağlardan gününe dek tarihi ve bununla ilintili efsaneler, sikkeler hakkında, yönetim, vergilendirme usulleri, ticaret, ürünler ve fiyatları hakkında bilgiler verir. Ayrıca Yunanistan'ın dinî (kilise) yaşamına başlıbaşına bir bölüm ayırır. Manastırlar, kiliseler, evlerin mimarisi, mağaralar hakkında yazar, adetler ve kıyafetleri betimleyip halkın uğraşlarından sözeder ve önemli yörelerin her birinin en yüksek irtifasından yaptığı coğrafya gözlemleri ile anlatımını bitirir.

 

Doğal olarak eserinde şehir, yer, anıt, bitki, alet, ve kıyafet görünümleri ile ilgili gravürler de yer almakta. Ayrıca metni ada halkıyla (Türkler, Latinler, Yunanlılar, korsanlarla) ilişkilerinden çarpıcı betimlemelerle de çeşitlenir. Kitabında hisarlar, gemi barınakları, güvenli limanlar hakkında yaptığı betimlemeler ve harita çizimi ile ilgili verdiği bilgiler özel ilgi uyandıran kısımlar arasındadır.

 

Eserinin birinci cildinin yayına hazırlığını kendisi denetlemişken ikinci cilt kendi ayrıntılı yazılarına sadık kalınarak basılır. Bu cildin başındaki birçok bölüm Osmanlıların siyasal, yönetimsel ve etnografik durumuna ayrılmıştır. Bunun devamında Karadeniz'in güney kıyılarında yaptığı Ermenistan'a kadar varan yolculuğunu anlatıp kitabı İzmir ve Efes'in kısa bir betimlemesi ile bitirir.

 

Böylece Tournefort, başkalarında arayış isteğini besleyecek nitelikte malzeme sağlamanın yanısıra, gördüğü her yerin sonsuz zengiliğini ve kendine özgü niteliklerini yüzeye çıkarması açısından Ege adalarına bir "yolculuk uknumu" veren ilk şahıs olarak bilinir.

 

Yazan: İoli Vingopoulou

 

And so it begins...the pre-holiday cleaning of the family room--over many weeks--and the slow, methodical unwrapping of the Christmas goodies. These wonderful house-shaped tins were given to me by my friend Judi and are the perfect size for a little bumpout--a battery operated string of lights on ultra thin wire is wrapped around the vintage bottle brush trees. Excellent graphics on these tins.

 

Peter I commonly known as Peter the Great, was Tsar of all Russia from 1682, and the first Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned jointly with his half-brother Ivan V until 1696. From this year, Peter was an absolute monarch who remained the ultimate authority. His methods were often harsh and autocratic.

 

Most of Peter's reign was consumed by long wars against the Ottoman and Swedish Empires. Despite initial difficulties, the wars were ultimately successful and led to expansion to the Sea of Azov and the Baltic Sea, thus laying the groundwork for the Imperial Russian Navy. His victory in the Great Northern War ended Sweden's era as a great power and its domination of the Baltic region while elevating Russia's standing to the extent it came to be acknowledged as an empire. Peter led a cultural revolution that replaced some of the traditionalist and medieval social and political systems with ones that were modern, scientific, Westernized, and based on radical Enlightenment.

 

In 1700, he introduced the Gregorian calendar but the Russian Orthodox Church was particularly resistant to this change; they wanted to maintain its distinct identity and avoid appearing influenced by Catholic practices.[citation needed] In 1703, he introduced the first Russian newspaper, Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti, and ordered the civil script, a reform of Russian orthography largely designed by himself. He founded the city of Saint Petersburg on the shore of the Neva as a "window to the West" in May 1703. In 1712 Peter moved the capital from Moscow to Saint Petersburg, where it remained – with only a brief interruption – until 1918. He promoted higher education and industrialization in the Russian Empire.

 

Peter had a great interest in plants, animals and minerals, in malformed creatures or exceptions to the law of nature for his cabinet of curiosities. He encouraged research of deformities, all along trying to debunk the superstitious fear of monsters. The Russian Academy of Sciences and the Saint Petersburg State University were founded in 1724, a year before his death.

 

Peter is primarily credited with the modernization of the country, transforming it into a major European power. His administrative reforms, creating a Governing Senate in 1711, the Collegium in 1717 and the Table of Ranks in 1722 had a lasting impact on Russia, and many institutions of the Russian government trace their origins to his reign.

 

Early life

Peter was named after the apostle. He grew up at Izmaylovo Estate and was educated from an early age by several tutors commissioned by his father, Tsar Alexis of Russia, most notably Nikita Zotov, Patrick Gordon, and Paul Menesius. On 29 January 1676, Alexis died, leaving the sovereignty to Peter's elder half-brother, the weak and sickly Feodor III of Russia. Throughout this period, the government was largely run by Artamon Matveev, an enlightened friend of Alexis, the political head of the Naryshkin family and one of Peter's greatest childhood benefactors.

 

This position changed when Feodor died in 1682. As Feodor did not leave any children, a dispute arose between the Miloslavsky family (Maria Miloslavskaya was the first wife of Alexis I) and Naryshkin family (Natalya Naryshkina was his second) over who should inherit the throne. He jointly ruled with his elder half-brother, Ivan V, until 1696. Ivan, was next in line but was chronically ill and of infirm mind. Consequently, the Boyar Duma (a council of Russian nobles) chose the 10-year-old Peter to become Tsar, with his mother as regent.

 

This arrangement was brought before the people of Moscow, as ancient tradition demanded, and was ratified. Sophia, one of Alexis' daughters from his first marriage, led a rebellion of the Streltsy (Russia's elite military corps) in April–May 1682. In the subsequent conflict, some of Peter's relatives and friends were murdered, including Artamon Matveyev, and Peter witnessed some of these acts of political violence.

 

The Streltsy made it possible for Sophia, the Miloslavskys (the clan of Ivan) and their allies to insist that Peter and Ivan be proclaimed joint Tsars, with Ivan being acclaimed as the senior. Sophia then acted as regent during the minority of the sovereigns and exercised all power. For seven years, she ruled as an autocrat. A large hole was cut in the back of the dual-seated throne used by Ivan and Peter. Sophia would sit behind the throne and listen as Peter conversed with nobles, while feeding him information and giving him responses to questions and problems. He lived at Preobrazhenskoye. This throne can be seen in the Kremlin Armoury in Moscow.

 

At the age of 16, Peter discovered an English boat on the estate, had it restored and learned to sail. He received a sextant, but did not know how to use the instrument. Therefore, he began a search for a foreign expert in the German Quarter. Peter befriended two Dutch carpenters, Frans Timmerman and Karsten Brandt, and several other foreigners in Russian service. Peter studied arithmetic, geometry, and military sciences. He was not interested in a musical education but seems to have liked fireworks and drumming.

 

Peter was not particularly concerned that others ruled in his name. He engaged in such pastimes as shipbuilding and sailing, as well as mock battles with his toy army. Peter's mother sought to force him to adopt a more conventional approach and arranged his marriage to Eudoxia Lopukhina in 1689. The marriage was a failure, and ten years later Peter forced his wife to become a nun and thus freed himself from the union.

 

By the summer of 1689, Peter, planned to take power from his half-sister Sophia, whose position had been weakened by two unsuccessful Crimean campaigns against the Crimean Khanate in an attempt to stop devastating Crimean Tatar raids into Russia's southern lands. When she learned of his designs, Sophia conspired with some leaders of the Streltsy, who continually aroused disorder and dissent. Peter, warned by others from the Streltsy, escaped in the middle of the night to the impenetrable monastery of Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra; there he slowly gathered adherents who perceived he would win the power struggle. Sophia was eventually overthrown, with Peter I and Ivan V continuing to act as co-tsars. Peter forced Sophia to enter a convent, where she gave up her name and her position as a member of the royal family.

 

Still, Peter could not acquire actual control over Russian affairs. Power was instead exercised by his mother, Natalya Naryshkina. It was only when Natalya died in 1694 that Peter, then aged 22, became an independent sovereign. Formally, Ivan V was a co-ruler with Peter, though being ineffective. Peter became the sole ruler when Ivan died in 1696 without male offspring, two years later.

 

Peter grew to be extremely tall, especially for the time period, reportedly standing 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m). Peter had noticeable facial tics, and he may have suffered from petit mal seizures, a form of epilepsy. Meanwhile, he was a frequent guest in German quarter, where he met Anna and Willem Mons.

 

Ideology of Peter's reign

As a young man, Peter I adopted the Protestant model of existence in a pragmatic world of competition and personal success, which largely shaped the philosophy of his reformism. He perceived the Russian people as rude, unintelligent, stubborn in their sluggishness, a child, a lazy student. He highly appreciated the state's role in the life of society, saw it as an ideal instrument for achieving high goals, saw it as a universal institution for transforming people, with the help of violence and fear, into educated, conscious, law-abiding and useful to the whole society subjects.

 

He introduced into the concept of the autocrat's power the notion of the monarch's duties. He considered it necessary to take care of his subjects, to protect them from enemies, to work for their benefit. Above all, he put the interests of Russia. He saw his mission in turning it into a power similar to Western countries, and subordinated his own life and the lives of his subjects to the realization of this idea. Gradually penetrated the idea that the task should be solved with the help of reforms, which will be carried out at the autocrat's will, who creates good and punishes evil. He considered the morality of a statesman separately from the morality of a private person and believed that the sovereign in the name of state interests can go to murder, violence, forgery and deceit.

 

He went through the naval service, starting from the lowest ranks: bombardier (1695), captain (1696), colonel (1706), schout-bij-nacht (1709), vice-admiral (1714), admiral (1721). By hard daily work (according to the figurative expression of Peter the Great himself, he was simultaneously "forced to hold a sword and a quill in one right hand") and courageous behavior he demonstrated to his subjects his personal positive example, showed how to act, fully devoting himself to the fulfillment of duty and service to the fatherland.

 

Reign

Peter implemented sweeping reforms aimed at modernizing Russia. Heavily influenced by his advisors from Western Europe, Peter reorganized the Russian army along modern lines and dreamed of making Russia a maritime power. He faced much opposition to these policies at home but brutally suppressed rebellions against his authority, including by the Streltsy, Bashkirs, Astrakhan, and the greatest civil uprising of his reign, the Bulavin Rebellion.

 

Peter implemented social modernization in an absolute manner by introducing French and western dress to his court and requiring courtiers, state officials, and the military to shave their beards and adopt modern clothing styles. One means of achieving this end was the introduction of taxes for long beards and robes in September 1698.

 

In his process to westernize Russia, he wanted members of his family to marry other European royalty. In the past, his ancestors had been snubbed at the idea, but now, it was proving fruitful. He negotiated with Frederick William, Duke of Courland to marry his niece, Anna Ivanovna. He used the wedding in order to launch his new capital, St Petersburg, where he had already ordered building projects of westernized palaces and buildings. Peter hired Italian and German architects to design it.

 

As part of his reforms, Peter started an industrialization effort that was slow but eventually successful. Russian manufacturing and main exports were based on the mining and lumber industries. For example, by the end of the century Russia came to export more iron than any other country in the world.

 

To improve his nation's position on the seas, Peter sought more maritime outlets. His only outlet at the time was the White Sea at Arkhangelsk. The Baltic Sea was at the time controlled by Sweden in the north, while the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea were controlled by the Ottoman Empire and Safavid Empire respectively in the south.

 

Peter attempted to acquire control of the Black Sea, which would require expelling the Tatars from the surrounding areas. As part of an agreement with Poland that ceded Kiev to Russia, Peter was forced to wage war against the Crimean Khan and against the Khan's overlord, the Ottoman Sultan. Peter's primary objective became the capture of the Ottoman fortress of Azov, near the Don River. In the summer of 1695 Peter organized the Azov campaigns to take the fortress, but his attempts ended in failure.

 

Peter returned to Moscow in November 1695 and began building a large navy in Voronezh. He launched about thirty ships against the Ottomans in 1696, capturing Azov in July of that year.

 

Grand Embassy

Peter knew that Russia could not face the Ottoman Empire alone. In 1697, he traveled "incognito" to Western Europe on an 18-month journey with a large Russian delegation–the so-called "Grand Embassy". He used a fake name, allowing him to escape social and diplomatic events, but since he was far taller than most others, he could not fool anyone. One goal was to seek the aid of European monarchs, but Peter's hopes were dashed. France was a traditional ally of the Ottoman Sultan, and Austria was eager to maintain peace in the east while conducting its own wars in the west. Peter, furthermore, had chosen an inopportune moment: the Europeans at the time were more concerned about the War of the Spanish Succession over who would succeed the childless King Charles II of Spain than about fighting the Ottoman Sultan.

 

In Königsberg, the Tsar was apprenticed for two months to an artillery engineer. In July he met Sophia of Hanover at Coppenbrügge castle. She described him: "The tsar is a tall, handsome man, with an attractive face. He has a lively mind is very witty. Only, someone so well endowed by nature could be a little better mannered." Peter rented a ship in Emmerich am Rhein and sailed to Zaandam, where he arrived on 18 August 1697. He studied saw-mills, manufacturing and shipbuilding but left after a week. Through the mediation of Nicolaas Witsen, an expert on Russia, the Tsar was given the opportunity to gain practical experience in shipyard, belonging to the Dutch East India Company, for a period of four months, under the supervision of Gerrit Claesz Pool. The diligent and capable Tsar assisted in the construction of an East Indiaman ship Peter and Paul specially laid down for him. During his stay the Tsar engaged many skilled workers such as builders of locks, fortresses, shipwrights, and seamen—including Cornelis Cruys, a vice-admiral who became, under Franz Lefort, the Tsar's advisor in maritime affairs. Peter later put his knowledge of shipbuilding to use in helping build Russia's navy.

 

Peter felt that the ship's carpenters in Holland worked too much by eye and lacked accurate construction drawings. On 11 January 1698 (Old Style) Peter arrived at Victoria Embankment with four chamberlains, three interpreters, two clock makers, a cook, a priest, six trumpeters, 70 soldiers from the Preobrazhensky regiment, four dwarfs and a monkey. Peter stayed at 21 Norfolk Street, Strand and met with King William III and Gilbert Burnet, attended a session of the Royal Society, received a doctorate from Oxford University, trained a telescope on Venus at the Greenwich Observatory, and saw a Fleet Review by Royal Navy at Deptford. He studied the English techniques of city-building he would later use to great effect at Saint Petersburg. At the end of April 1698 he left after learning to make watches, carpenting coffins and posing for Sir Godfrey Kneller.

 

The Embassy next went to Leipzig, Dresden, Prague and Vienna. Peter spoke with Augustus II the Strong and Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor.[18] Peter's visit was cut short, when he was forced to rush home by a rebellion of the Streltsy. The rebellion was easily crushed before Peter returned home; of the Tsar's troops, only one was killed. Peter nevertheless acted ruthlessly towards the mutineers. Over one thousand two hundred of the rebels were tortured and executed, and Peter ordered that their bodies be publicly exhibited as a warning to future conspirators. The Streltsy were disbanded, some of the rebels were deported to Siberia, and the individual they sought to put on the Throne — Peter's half-sister Sophia — was forced to become a nun.

 

Peter's visits to the West impressed upon him the notion that European customs were in several respects superior to Russian traditions. He commanded all of his courtiers and officials to wear European clothing and cut off their long beards, causing his Boyars, who were very fond of their beards, great upset. Boyars who sought to retain their beards were required to pay an annual beard tax of one hundred rubles. Peter also sought to end arranged marriages, which were the norm among the Russian nobility, because he thought such a practice was barbaric and led to domestic violence, since the partners usually resented each other.

 

In 1698, Peter I instituted a beard tax to modernize Russian society. In the same year Peter sent a delegation to Malta, under boyar Boris Sheremetev, to observe the training and abilities of the Knights of Malta and their fleet. Sheremetev investigated the possibility of future joint ventures with the Knights, including action against the Turks and the possibility of a future Russian naval base. On 12 September 1698, Peter officially founded the first Russian Navy base, Taganrog on the Sea of Azov.

 

In 1699, Peter changed the date of the celebration of the new year from 1 September to 1 January. Traditionally, the years were reckoned from the purported creation of the World, but after Peter's reforms, they were to be counted from the birth of Christ. Thus, in the year 7207 of the old Russian calendar, Peter proclaimed that the Julian Calendar was in effect and the year was 1700. On the death of Lefort in 1699, Menshikov succeeded him as Peter's prime favourite and confidant. In 1701, the Moscow School of Mathematics and Navigation was founded; for fifteen years, not only naval officers, but also surveyors, engineers, and gunners were educated there.

 

Great Northern War

First Winter Palace

Peter made a temporary peace with the Ottoman Empire that allowed him to keep the captured fort of Azov, and turned his attention to Russian maritime supremacy. He sought to acquire control of the Baltic Sea, which had been taken by the Swedish Empire a half-century earlier. Peter declared war on Sweden, which was at the time led by the young King Charles XII. Sweden was also opposed by Denmark–Norway, Saxony, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Preobrazhensky regiment took part in all major battles of the Great Northern War.

 

Russia was ill-prepared to fight the Swedes, and their first attempt at seizing the Baltic coast ended in disaster at the Battle of Narva in 1700. In the conflict, the forces of Charles XII, rather than employ a slow methodical siege, attacked immediately using a blinding snowstorm to their advantage. After the battle, Charles XII decided to concentrate his forces against the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, which gave Peter time to reorganize the Russian army. He invited Nicolaas Bidloo to organize a military hospital. In 1701, Peter the Great signed a decree on the opening of Moscow School of Mathematics and Navigation.

 

While the Poles fought the Swedes, Peter founded the city of Saint Petersburg on 29 June 1703, in Ingermanland (a province of the Swedish Empire that he had captured). It was named after his patron saint Saint Peter. He forbade the building of stone edifices outside Saint Petersburg, which he intended to become Russia's capital, so that all stonemasons could participate in the construction of the new city. Peter moved the capital to St. Petersburg in 1703. While the city was being built along the Neva he lived in a modest three-room log cabin (with a study but without a fire-place) which had to make room for the first version of the Winter palace. The first buildings which appeared were the Peter and Paul Fortress, a shipyard at the Admiralty and Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

 

Following several defeats, Polish King Augustus II the Strong abdicated in 1706. Swedish king Charles XII turned his attention to Russia, invading it in 1708. After crossing into Russia, Charles defeated Peter at Golovchin in July. In the Battle of Lesnaya, Charles suffered his first loss after Peter crushed a group of Swedish reinforcements marching from Riga. Deprived of this aid, Charles was forced to abandon his proposed march on Moscow.

 

Charles XII refused to retreat to Poland or back to Sweden and instead invaded Ukraine. Peter withdrew his army southward, employing scorched earth, destroying along the way anything that could assist the Swedes. Deprived of local supplies, the Swedish army was forced to halt its advance in the winter of 1708–1709. In the summer of 1709, they resumed their efforts to capture Russian-ruled Ukraine, culminating in the Battle of Poltava on 27 June. The battle was a decisive defeat for the Swedish forces, ending Charles' campaign in Ukraine and forcing him south to seek refuge in the Ottoman Empire. Russia had defeated what was considered to be one of the world's best militaries, and the victory overturned the view that Russia was militarily incompetent. In Poland, Augustus II was restored as King.

 

Peter, overestimating the support he would receive from his Balkan allies, attacked the Ottoman Empire, initiating the Russo-Turkish War of 1710. Peter's campaign in the Ottoman Empire was disastrous, and in the ensuing Treaty of the Pruth, Peter was forced to return the Black Sea ports he had seized in 1697. In return, the Sultan expelled Charles XII.

 

The Ottomans called him Mad Peter (Turkish: deli Petro), for his willingness to sacrifice large numbers of his troops in wartime. Peter I loved all sorts of rarities and curiosities. In 1704 Abram Petrovich Gannibal, a child with Ethiopian origin, was presented to him; in 1716 Peter took him to Paris.

 

In 1711, Peter established by decree a new state body known as the Governing Senate. Normally, the Boyar duma would have exercised power during his absence. Peter, however, mistrusted the boyars; he instead abolished the Duma and created a Senate of ten members. The Senate was founded as the highest state institution to supervise all judicial, financial and administrative affairs. Originally established only for the time of the monarch's absence, the Senate became a permanent body after his return. A special high official, the Ober-Procurator, served as the link between the ruler and the senate and acted, in Peter own words, as "the sovereign's eye". Without his signature no Senate decision could go into effect; the Senate became one of the most important institutions of Imperial Russia.

 

1712, Peter I issued a decree establishing an Engineering School in Moscow, which was supposed to recruit up to 150 students, and two-thirds of them were to consist of nobles.[31] Therefore, on 28 February 1714, he issued a decree calling for compulsory education, which dictated that all Russian 10- to 15-year-old children of the nobility, government clerks, and lesser-ranked officials must learn basic mathematics and geometry, and should be tested on the subjects at the end of their studies.

 

Peter's northern armies took the Swedish province of Livonia (the northern half of modern Latvia, and the southern half of modern Estonia), driving the Swedes out of Finland. In 1714 the Russian fleet won the Battle of Gangut. Most of Finland was occupied by the Russians.

 

In 1716, the Tsar visited Riga, and Danzig in January, Stettin, and obtained the assistance of the Electorate of Hanover and the Kingdom of Prussia fighting a war against Sweden at Wismar. He was forced to leave Mecklenburg. In Altona he met with Danish diplomats. He went on to Bad Pyrmont in May/June, because of an illness he stayed at this spa. He arrived in Amsterdam in December, where he bought some interesting collections: those of Frederik Ruysch, Levinus Vincent and Albertus Seba and paintings by Maria Sibylla Merian for his Kunstkamera. He visited a silk manufacture and a paper-mill, and learned to create paper and to spin silk. He visited Herman Boerhaave and Carel de Moor in Leiden and ordered two mercury thermometers from Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit and instruments from Musschenbroek. In April 1717 he continued his travel from Flushing to Brussels in the Austrian Netherlands and Dunkirk, Calais, Paris, where he obtained many books and proposed a marriage between his daughter and King Louis XV. Saint-Simon described him as "tall, well-formed and slim…with a look both bewildered and fierce." Via Reims, and Spa Peter travelled on to Maastricht, at that time one of the most important fortresses in Europe, where he was received by Daniël van Dopff, the commander of the fortress. He went back to Amsterdam and visited the Hortus Botanicus and left the city early September.

 

The Tsar's navy was powerful enough that the Russians could penetrate Sweden. Still, Charles XII refused to yield, and not until his death in battle in 1718 did peace become feasible. After the battle near Åland, Sweden made peace with all powers but Russia by 1720. In 1721, the Treaty of Nystad ended the Great Northern War. Russia acquired Ingria, Estonia, Livonia, and a substantial portion of Karelia. In turn, Russia paid two million Riksdaler and surrendered most of Finland. The Tsar retained some Finnish lands close to Saint Petersburg, which he had made his capital in 1712. Between 1713 and 1728, and from 1732 to 1918, Saint Petersburg was the capital of imperial Russia.

 

Title

Following his victory in the Great Northern War, he adopted the title of emperor in 1721.

 

By the grace of God, the most excellent and great sovereign emperor Pyotr Alekseevich the ruler of all the Russias: of Moscow, of Kiev, of Vladimir, of Novgorod, Tsar of Kazan, Tsar of Astrakhan and Tsar of Siberia, sovereign of Pskov, great prince of Smolensk, of Tver, of Yugorsk, of Perm, of Vyatka, of Bulgaria and others, sovereign and great prince of the Novgorod Lower lands, of Chernigov, of Ryazan, of Rostov, of Yaroslavl, of Belozersk, of Udora, of Kondia and the sovereign of all the northern lands, and the sovereign of the Iverian lands, of the Kartlian and Georgian Kings, of the Kabardin lands, of the Circassian and Mountain princes and many other states and lands western and eastern here and there and the successor and sovereign and ruler.

 

Later years

In 1717, Alexander Bekovich-Cherkassky led the first Russian military expedition into Central Asia against the Khanate of Khiva. The expedition ended in complete disaster when the entire expeditionary force was slaughtered.

 

In 1718, Peter investigated why the formerly Swedish province of Livonia was so orderly. He discovered that the Swedes spent as much administering Livonia (300 times smaller than his empire) as he spent on the entire Russian bureaucracy. He was forced to dismantle the province's government.

 

To the end of 1717, the preparatory phase of administrative reform in Russia was completed. After 1718, Peter established colleges in place of the old central agencies of government, including foreign affairs, war, navy, expense, income, justice, and inspection. Later others were added, to regulate mining and industry. Each college consisted of a president, a vice-president, a number of councilors and assessors, and a procurator. Some foreigners were included in various colleges but not as president. Peter did not have enough loyal, talented or educated persons to put in full charge of the various departments. Peter preferred to rely on groups of individuals who would keep check on one another. Decisions depended on the majority vote.

 

Peter's last years were marked by further reform in Russia. On 22 October 1721, soon after peace was made with Sweden, he was officially proclaimed Emperor of All Russia. Some proposed that he take the title Emperor of the East, but he refused. Gavrila Golovkin, the State Chancellor, was the first to add "the Great, Father of His Country, Emperor of All the Russias" to Peter's traditional title Tsar following a speech by the archbishop of Pskov in 1721. Peter's imperial title was recognized by Augustus II of Poland, Frederick William I of Prussia, and Frederick I of Sweden, but not by the other European monarchs. In the minds of many, the word emperor connoted superiority or pre-eminence over kings. Several rulers feared that Peter would claim authority over them, just as the Holy Roman Emperor had claimed suzerainty over all Christian nations.

 

In 1722, Peter created a new order of precedence known as the Table of Ranks. Formerly, precedence had been determined by birth. To deprive the Boyars of their high positions, Peter directed that precedence should be determined by merit and service to the Emperor. The Table of Ranks continued to remain in effect until the Russian monarchy was overthrown in 1917.

 

The once powerful Persian Safavid Empire to the south was in deep decline. Taking advantage of the profitable situation, Peter launched the Russo-Persian War of 1722–1723, otherwise known as "The Persian Expedition of Peter the Great", which drastically increased Russian influence for the first time in the Caucasus and Caspian Sea region, and prevented the Ottoman Empire from making territorial gains in the region. After considerable success and the capture of many provinces and cities in the Caucasus and northern mainland Persia, the Safavids were forced to hand over territory to Russia, comprising Derbent, Shirvan, Gilan, Mazandaran, Baku, and Astrabad. Within twelve years all the territories were ceded back to Persia, now led by the charismatic military genius Nader Shah, as part of the Treaty of Resht, the Treaty of Ganja, and as the result of a Russo-Persian alliance against the Ottoman Empire, which was the common enemy of both.

 

Peter introduced new taxes to fund improvements in Saint Petersburg. He abolished the land tax and household tax and replaced them with a poll tax. The taxes on land and on households were payable only by individuals who owned property or maintained families. The new head taxes were payable by serfs and paupers. In 1725 the construction of Peterhof, a palace near Saint Petersburg, was completed. Peterhof (Dutch for "Peter's Court") was a grand residence, becoming known as the "Russian Versailles".

 

In the winter of 1723, Peter, whose overall health was never robust, began having problems with his urinary tract and bladder. In the summer of 1724, a team of doctors performed surgery releasing upwards of four pounds of blocked urine. Peter remained bedridden until late autumn. In the first week of October, restless and certain he was cured, Peter began a lengthy inspection tour of various projects. According to legend, in November, at Lakhta along the Gulf of Finland to inspect some ironworks, Peter saw a group of soldiers drowning near shore and, wading out into near-waist deep water, came to their rescue.

 

This icy water rescue is said to have exacerbated Peter's bladder problems and caused his death. The story, however, has been viewed with skepticism by some historians, pointing out that the German chronicler Jacob von Staehlin is the only source for the story, and it seems unlikely that no one else would have documented such an act of heroism. This, plus the interval of time between these actions and Peter's death seems to preclude any direct link.

 

In early January 1725, Peter was struck once again with uremia. Legend has it that before lapsing into unconsciousness Peter asked for a paper and pen and scrawled an unfinished note that read: "Leave all to ..." and then, exhausted by the effort, asked for his daughter Anna to be summoned.

 

Peter died between four and five in the morning 8 February 1725. An autopsy revealed his bladder to be infected with gangrene. He was fifty-two years, seven months old when he died, having reigned forty-two years. He is interred in Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral, Saint Petersburg, Russia.

 

After the death of Peter I, there were immediately students who came to the Military College with a request to "leave science" under the pretext of "unconsciousness and incomprehensibility."

 

Religion

Peter did not believe in miracles and founded The All-Joking, All-Drunken Synod of Fools and Jesters, an organization that mocked the Orthodox and Catholic Church when he was eighteen. In January 1695, Peter refused to partake in a traditional Russian Orthodox ceremony of the Epiphany Ceremony, and would often schedule events for The All-Joking, All-Drunken Synod of Fools and Jesters to directly conflict with the Church. He often used the nickname Pakhom Mikhailov (Russian: Пахом Михайлов) among the ministers of religion who made up his relatively close circle of long-term drinking companions. He drank less than the others, deliberately getting the others drunk in order to listen to their drunken conversations.

 

Peter was brought up in the Russian Orthodox faith, but he had low regard for the Church hierarchy, which he kept under tight governmental control. The traditional leader of the Church was the Patriarch of Moscow. In 1700, when the office fell vacant, Peter refused to name a replacement, allowing the patriarch's coadjutor (or deputy) to discharge the duties of the office. Peter could not tolerate the patriarch exercising power superior to the tsar, as indeed had happened in the case of Philaret (1619–1633) and Nikon (1652–66). In 1716 he invited Theophan Prokopovich to come to the capital. In 1718 he ordered to translate the "Introduction to European History" (a work by Samuel Pufendorf); the Ecclesiastical Regulations of 1721 are based on it. The Church reform of Peter the Great therefore abolished the patriarchate, replacing it with a Holy Synod that was under the control of a Procurator, and the tsar appointed all bishops.

 

In 1721, Peter followed the advice of Prokopovich in designing the Holy Synod as a council of ten clergymen. For leadership in the Church, Peter turned increasingly to Ukrainians, who were more open to reform, but were not well loved by the Russian clergy. Peter implemented a law that stipulated that no Russian man could join a monastery before the age of fifty. He felt that too many able Russian men were being wasted on clerical work when they could be joining his new and improved army.

 

A clerical career was not a route chosen by upper-class society. Most parish priests were sons of priests and were very poorly educated and paid. The monks in the monasteries had a slightly higher status; they were not allowed to marry. Politically, the Church was impotent.

 

Marriages and family

Peter the Great had two wives, with whom he had fifteen children, three of whom survived to adulthood. Peter's mother selected his first wife, Eudoxia Lopukhina, with the advice of other nobles in 1689. This was consistent with previous Romanov tradition by choosing a daughter of a minor noble. This was done to prevent fighting between the stronger noble houses and to bring fresh blood into the family. He also had a mistress from Westphalia, Anna Mons.

 

Upon his return from his European tour in 1698, Peter sought to end his unhappy marriage. He divorced the Tsaritsa and forced her to join a convent. She had borne him three children, although only one, Alexei Petrovich, Tsarevich of Russia, had survived past his childhood.

 

Menshikov introduced him to Marta Helena Skowrońska, a Polish-Lithuanian peasant, and took her as a mistress some time between 1702 and 1704. Marta converted to the Russian Orthodox Church and was given the name Catherine. Though no record exists, Catherine and Peter married secretly between 23 Oct and 1 December 1707 in St. Petersburg. Peter valued Catherine and married officially, at Saint Isaac's Cathedral in Saint Petersburg on 19 February 1712.

 

His eldest child and heir, Alexei, was suspected of being involved in a plot to overthrow the Emperor. Alexei was tried and confessed under torture during questioning conducted by a secular court (count Tolstoy). He was convicted and sentenced to be executed. The sentence could only be carried out with Peter's signed authorization, and Alexei died in prison, as Peter hesitated before making the decision. Alexei's death most likely resulted from injuries suffered during his torture. Alexei's mother Eudoxia was punished. She was dragged from her home, tried on false charges of adultery, publicly flogged, and confined in monasteries while being forbidden to be talked to.

 

In 1724, Peter had his second wife, Catherine, crowned as Empress, although he remained Russia's actual ruler.

 

Issue

By his two wives, he had fifteen children: three by Eudoxia and twelve by Catherine. These included four sons named Pavel and three sons named Peter, all of whom died in infancy. Only three of his children survived to adulthood. He also had three grandchildren: Tsar Peter II and Grand Duchess Natalia by Alexei and Tsar Peter III by Anna.

 

Mistresses and illegitimate children

Princess Maria Dmitrievna Cantemirovna of Moldavia (1700–1754), daughter of Dimitrie Cantemir

Unnamed son (1722 - 1723?) – different sources say that the baby was stillborn or died before he was one year old.

Lady Mary Hamilton, Catherine I's lady in waiting of Scottish descent.

Miscarriage (1715)

Unnamed child (1717 - 1718?)

 

Legacy

Peter's legacy has always been a major concern of Russian intellectuals. Riasanovsky points to a "paradoxical dichotomy" in the black and white images such as God/Antichrist, educator/ignoramus, architect of Russia's greatness/destroyer of national culture, father of his country/scourge of the common man. Voltaire's 1759 biography gave 18th-century Russians a man of the Enlightenment, while Alexander Pushkin's "The Bronze Horseman" poem of 1833 gave a powerful romantic image of a creator-god. Slavophiles in mid-19th century deplored Peter's westernization of Russia.

 

Western writers and political analysts recounted "The Testimony" or secret will of Peter the Great. It supposedly revealed his grand evil plot for Russia to control the world via conquest of Constantinople, Afghanistan and India. It was a forgery made in Paris at Napoleon's command when he started his invasion of Russia in 1812. Nevertheless, it is still quoted in foreign policy circles.

 

The Communists executed the last Romanovs, and their historians such as Mikhail Pokrovsky presented strongly negative views of the entire dynasty. Stalin however admired how Peter strengthened the state, and wartime, diplomacy, industry, higher education, and government administration. Stalin wrote in 1928, "when Peter the Great, who had to deal with more developed countries in the West, feverishly built works in factories for supplying the army and strengthening the country's defenses, this was an original attempt to leap out of the framework of backwardness." As a result, Soviet historiography emphasizes both the positive achievement and the negative factor of oppressing the common people.

 

After the fall of Communism in 1991, scholars and the general public in Russia and the West gave fresh attention to Peter and his role in Russian history. His reign is now seen as the decisive formative event in the Russian imperial past. Many new ideas have merged, such as whether he strengthened the autocratic state or whether the tsarist regime was not statist enough given its small bureaucracy. Modernization models have become contested ground.

 

He initiated a wide range of economic, social, political, administrative, educational and military reforms which ended the dominance of traditionalism and religion in Russia and initiated its westernization. His efforts included secularization of education, organization of administration for effective governance, enhanced use of technology, establishing an industrial economy, modernization of the army and establishment of a strong navy.

 

Historian Y. Vodarsky said in 1993 that Peter, "did not lead the country on the path of accelerated economic, political and social development, did not force it to 'achieve a leap' through several stages.... On the contrary, these actions to the greatest degree put a brake on Russia's progress and created conditions for holding it back for one and a half centuries!" The autocratic powers that Stalin admired appeared as a liability to Evgeny Anisimov, who complained that Peter was, "the creator of the administrative command system and the true ancestor of Stalin."

 

According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, "He did not completely bridge the gulf between Russia and the Western countries, but he achieved considerable progress in development of the national economy and trade, education, science and culture, and foreign policy. Russia became a great power, without whose concurrence no important European problem could thenceforth be settled. His internal reforms achieved progress to an extent that no earlier innovator could have envisaged."

 

While the cultural turn in historiography has downplayed diplomatic, economic and constitutional issues, new cultural roles have been found for Peter, for example in architecture and dress. James Cracraft argues:

 

The Petrine revolution in Russia—subsuming in this phrase the many military, naval, governmental, educational, architectural, linguistic, and other internal reforms enacted by Peter's regime to promote Russia's rise as a major European power—was essentially a cultural revolution, one that profoundly impacted both the basic constitution of the Russian Empire and, perforce, its subsequent development.

In popular culture

 

Peter has been featured in many histories, novels, plays, films, monuments and paintings. They include the poems The Bronze Horseman, Poltava and the unfinished novel The Moor of Peter the Great, all by Alexander Pushkin. The former dealt with The Bronze Horseman, an equestrian statue raised in Peter's honour. Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy wrote a biographical historical novel about him, named Peter I, in the 1930s.

 

The 1922 German silent film Peter the Great directed by Dimitri Buchowetzki and starring Emil Jannings as Peter

In 1929 A.N. Tolstoy's play was true to the party line, depicting Peter as a tyrant who "suppressed everyone and everything as if he had been possessed by demons, sowed fear, and put both his son and his country on the rack."

The 1937–1938 Soviet film Peter the Great

The 1976 film How Czar Peter the Great Married Off His Moor, starring Aleksey Petrenko as Peter, and Vladimir Vysotsky as Abram Petrovich Gannibal, shows Peter's attempt to build the Baltic Fleet.

Peter was played by Jan Niklas and Maximilian Schell in the 1986 NBC miniseries Peter the Great.

The 2007 film The Sovereign's Servant depicts the unsavoury brutal side of Peter during the campaign.

A character based on Peter plays a major role in The Age of Unreason, a series of four alternate history novels written by American science fiction and fantasy author Gregory Keyes.

Peter is one of many supporting characters in Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle – mainly featuring in the third novel, The System of the World.

Peter was portrayed on BBC Radio 4 by Isaac Rouse as a boy, Will Howard as a young adult and Elliot Cowan as an adult in the radio plays Peter the Great: The Gamblers and Peter the Great: The Queen of Spades, written by Mike Walker and which were the last two plays in the first series of Tsar. The plays were broadcast on 25 September and 2 October 2016.

A verse in the "Engineers' Drinking Song" references Peter the Great:

There was a man named Peter the Great who was a Russian Tzar;

When remodeling his the castle put the throne behind the bar;

He lined the walls with vodka, rum, and 40 kinds of beers;

And advanced the Russian culture by 120 years!

 

Peter was played by Jason Isaacs in the 2020 'antihistory' Hulu series The Great.

Peter is featured as the leader of the Russian civilization in the computer game Sid Meier's Civilization VI.

Peter was played by Ivan Kolesnikov in the 2022 Russian historical documentary film Peter I: The Last Tsar and the First Emperor.

This is not the sharpest photograph that I have ever made. It doesn't have the nicest sky as the background - i.e., the sky lacks color and character by way of "puffy" clouds. And the image didn't have the optimum composition - if I had been given the opportunity, I would have liked to have been closer to the subject which would have avoided the need to crop to just a fraction of the original extent.

 

But there was no time to finesse any of these aspects. It was more important that I push the shutter button and capture the moment. For me, this image "bottles" a comic moment, and that is a very difficult emotion to record in a photograph.

 

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This bird was having a tough day. It was sitting on the railing, minding its own business, when it was first swooped by a Magpie. And then by another Currawong! When this happened, the long tail feathers were flared out. I wonder if this is an instinctive action to give the appearance of being bigger? It could also be an action that readied the bird for flight. In any case, it then had to cope with my arrival on the scene. It turned to watch me. And for just a brief moment, it cocked its head to one side and gave me the big stare! Snap. Thunk! The sound of the various camera mechanisms associated with an exposure left me (and the bird) with no doubt that a photograph had been taken!

 

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This photograph provides me with some proof that with regular practice, I am getting better at anticipating and reacting quickly to events that unfold around me. If I had to stop and methodically adjust all of the settings on my camera, these moments would have passed. It is worth noting that I am using a Hasselblad 500C/M V-series medium format camera. It is far from the optimum technical solution for "wildlife" photography. No autofocus. No auto-exposure. No zoom lenses. And the fastest exposure is 1/500 seconds, when it would be great to be able to use 1/1000 or 1/2000 seconds. But who needs to care? Certainly not me. I'm happy with the "challenge" that this magnificent Hasselblad camera supplies. And that is all that matters. :-)

 

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Links for background information ...

 

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Currawong

www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Strepera-graculina

 

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[ Location - Barton, Australian Capital Territory, Australia ]

 

Photography notes ...

The photograph was taken using the following hardware configuration ...

(Year of manufacture indicated in braces where known.)

- Hasselblad 500C/M body (1994).

- Hasselblad CFV-50c Digital Back for Hasselblad V mount camera.

- Hasselblad Focusing Screen for the CFV-50c digital back, with focussing prism and crop markings.

- Hasselblad 45 Degree Viewfinder PME-45 42297 (2001).

- Hasselblad Carl Zeiss lens - Sonnar CF 250mm f/5.6 Superachromat lens (1987).

- FotodioX B60 Lens Hood for Select Hasselblad Telephoto CF Lenses.

 

I acquired the photograph (8272 x 6200 pixels) with an ISO of 400, exposure time of 1/500 seconds, and aperture of f/22.0

 

Post-processing ...

Finder - Removed the CF card from the camera digital back and placed it in a Lexar 25-in-1 USB card reader. Then used Finder on my MacBook Air to download the raw image file (3FR extension) from the card.

Lightroom - Imported the 3FR image.

Lightroom - Used the Map module to add the location details to the EXIF header.

Lightroom - Made various lighting and color adjustments to the image.

Lightroom - Applied a square (1:1 aspect ratio) crop.

Lightroom - Saved the Develop module settings as preset 20161110-005.

Lightroom - Output the image as a JPEG image using the "Maximum" quality option (2847 x 2847 pixels).

PhotoSync - Copied the JPEG file to my iPad Mini for any final processing, review, enjoyment, and posting to social media.

 

@MomentsForZen #MomentsForZen #MFZ #Hasselblad #500CM #CFV50c #square #color #bird #Currawong #PiedCurrawong #Strepera #StreperaGraculina #black #white #attitude #expression #feathers

In my close to four decades being involved with picking pockets, I've picked up everything from techniques to terms associated with the craft. I've even coined a couple of phrases myself....for example, a "360° lift" is when you lift an item off of a mark, use it as you need, and return the item to the mark's pocket or purse - all without them knowing the item was missing. The full circle of a stolen item!

 

One very common misuse of the word "Pickpocketed" is when it's used in reference to someone being robbed while either sleeping or passed out from alcohol or drugs. This technique is actually referred to as "rolling", and there's a very specific difference between these two words....

 

Pickpocketing - successful pickpocketing, regardless of how you're using this talent - requires several things to work. Fluid dexterity, an ability to distract, keeping your actions under the radar....everyone from street urchins to stage illusionists know this and apply it properly to meet their goals. All of this while the mark is awake, lucid, and at least has a chance of catching the perpetrator trying to lighten their load.

 

However, the term rolling, in this sense used as American slang, has the added distinction of the victim being in a state of helplessness. As demonstrated in the illustration I've included here, the mark is either fast asleep, has had too good a time at the local tavern, or has had someone slip a "mickey" (or "roofie" in more modern lingo) into their food or drink, and is left indisposed of as a consequence.

 

As a result, the latter action is considerably easier to accomplish than the former. For instance, one weekend when I was visiting my grandmother as a youngster, I spied her rolling one of my uncles after he came back from a late-night party. He had pretty much crashed upon the couch in her living room. She didn't bother trying to wake him up, but instead methodically emptied every pocket on him: wallet, keys, change, a couple of phone numbers of women he had met, and a small bag of pot. She did this not to necessarily rob him, but for his safety, to be sure he wouldn't go out driving while still inebriated. Although I also recall her ripping up the phone numbers and flushing the pot down the toilet, while mumbling something in a disgusted tone.

 

A more egregious, real-life example I've seen of rolling was at a bar one night. Two women and a guy were hanging out together, knocking back drinks and letting loose. I had stepped out for a cigar at one point, when almost immediately behind me come the three. He's holding up one of the woman, his arm around her while her head is on his shoulder, clearly passed out. The second woman is behind the first, her hands vigorously rifling the passed-out woman's pockets, taking her cash, keys, cigarettes, pretty much anything she had on her. At first I thought that they were just bringing her to her place...until I saw both of them grin evilily at one another, with him asking, "So where you wanna leave her off?" (Note: I did notify local authorities about this - I may be a thief, but I don't want to see anyone hurt or worse. I never heard of the victim's fate after that evening).

 

On a lighter note, I think much of the population is not aware of "rolling" being used as a reference to robbing. I once worked with a colorful woman named Karen who had, by her own admission, a checkered past. One of her stories involved an evening of her and her girlfriends joy-riding. They came across a homeless man sleeping on a park bench, huddled up in a long coat in spite of the evening having mild temperatures. One of her friends dared her to go over to the man and check his pockets for anything good. Never one to back down, Karen accepted, got out of their car, and tiptoed towards the vagrant. She softly asked if he was awake; when he answered with a loud snore, she leaned down over him, and delicately unzipped the first pocket. A flask and some coins poured out, which she caught in her hand before they hit the seat. Unzipping the second pocket, Karen had to slip her fingers inside, but was able to softly pry out a small roll of dollar bills. She ended the story by saying it was one of the first times she'd ever picked someone's pocket. When I tried to correct her and stated that she'd rolled him, she gave me an incredulous look and replied: "Weren't you paying attention? I didn't knock him off of the bench and sent him rolling across the lawn, I pickpocketed him while he slept!"

 

So, is it really a big deal to make this case? I suppose, in the grand scheme of things, it isn't. Both are larceny or petty theft, and even rolling someone you don't know requires at least a small amount of daring. But I do think the distinction should be made when discussing the development of thieving skills. A mark being wide awake and aware of their surroundings is more gratifying to steal from than someone who's passed out, practically dead to the world.

Teotihuacán [teotiwa'kan] was, at its height in the first half of the 1st millennium CE, the largest pre-Columbian city in the Americas. The name Teotihuacán is also used to refer to the civilization or culture that this city was the center of, which at its greatest extent included much of central Mexico. Its influence spread throughout Mesoamerica; evidence of Teotihuacano presence, if not outright political and economic control, can be seen at numerous sites in Veracruz and the Maya region.

 

The city was located in what is now the San Juan Teotihuacán municipality in the State of México, Mexico, approximately 40 km (about 24.8 miles) northeast of Mexico City. It covers a total surface area of 83 km² and was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.

 

The name Teotihuacán was given by the Nahuatl-speaking Aztec centuries after the fall of the city. The term has been glossed as 'birthplace of the gods,' reflecting Nahua creation myths that took place in Teotihuacán. Another translation was offered by Thelma Sullivan, who interprets the name as "place of those who have the road of the gods."

 

The original name of the city is unknown, but it appears in hieroglyphic texts from the Maya region as 'puh', or Place of Reeds. This suggests that the Maya understood Teotihuacán as a 'Place of Reeds' similar to other Central Mexican settlements that took the name 'Tollan,' such as Tula-Hidalgo and Cholula. This naming convention led to much confusion in the early 20th century as scholars debated whether Teotihuacán or Tula-Hidalgo was the Tollan described by 16th century chronicles. It now seems clear that 'Tollan' may be understood as a generic term applied to any large settlement, rather like the modern expression "the Big Smoke". In the Mesoamerican concept of urbanism, Tollan and other language equivalents serve as a metaphor, linking the bundles of reeds and rushes that formed part of the lacustrine environment of the Valley of Mexico and the large gathering of people in a city

 

Origins and foundation

 

The early history of Teotihuacán is quite mysterious, and the origin of its founders is debated. For many years, archaeologists believed it was built by the Toltec people, an early Mexican civilization. This belief was based on Aztec writings which attributed the site to the Toltecs. However, the Nahuatl word "Toltec" means "great craftsman" and may not always refer to the Toltec civilization. Also, Teotihuacán predates the Toltec civilization, ruling them out as the city's founders. Other scholars have put forth the Totonac people as the founders of Teotihuacán, and the debate continues to this day. There is evidence that at least some of the people living in Teotihuacán came from areas influenced by the Teotihuacano civilization, including the Zapotec, Mixtec and Maya peoples. The culture and architecture of Teotihuacán was influenced by the Olmec people, who are considered to be the "mother civilization" of Mesoamerica. The earliest buildings at Teotihuacán date to about 200 BC, and the largest pyramid, the Pyramid of the Sun, was completed by 100 AD.

 

Zenith

 

The city reached its zenith between 150 and 450 CE, when it was the center of a powerful culture that dominated Mesoamerica, wielding power and influence comparable to ancient Rome. At its height the city covered over 30 km² (over 11½ square miles), and probably housed a population of over 150,000 people, possibly as many as 250,000. Various districts in the city housed people from across the Teotihuacano empire that spread south as far as Guatemala. Notably absent from the city are fortifications and military structures. Teotihuacán had a major influence on the Preclassic and Classic Maya, conquering several Maya centers including Tikal and influencing Maya culture. The Teotihuacano style of architecture was a major contribution to Mesoamerican culture. The stepped pyramids that were quite prominent in Maya and Aztec architecture came from Teotihuacán.[citation needed] This style of building was called "talud-tablero", where a rectangular panel (tablero) was placed over a sloping side (talud). The city was a center of industry, home to many potters, jewelers and craftsmen. Teotihuacán is known for producing a great number of obsidian artifacts. Unfortunately no ancient Teotihuacano non-ideographic texts are known to exist (or known to have existed), but mentions of the city in inscriptions from Maya cities show that Teotihuacán nobility travelled to and perhaps conquered local rulers as far away as Honduras. Maya inscriptions mention an individual nicknamed by scholars as "Spearthrower Owl", apparently ruler of Teotihuacán, who reigned for over 60 years and installed his relatives as rulers of Tikal and Uaxactún in Guatemala. Most of what we infer about the culture at Teotihuacán comes from the murals that adorn the site and others, like the Wagner Murals, found in private collections, and from hieroglyphic inscriptions made by the Maya describing their encounters with Teotihuacano conquerors.

 

Collapse

 

It was previously believed that sometime during the 7th or 8th centuries, the city was sacked and burned by invaders, possibly the Toltecs. More recent evidence, however, seems to indicate that the burning was limited to the structures and dwellings associated primarily with the elite class. Some see this as evidence that the burning was from an internal uprising and that the invasion theory is flawed due to the fact that early archaeological work on the city was focused exclusively on the palaces and temples, places used by the elites, and because all of these sites showed burning, archaeologists concluded that the whole city was burned. Instead, it is now known that the destruction in the city was focused on major civic structures along the Avenue of the Dead. Some statues seem to have been destroyed in a methodical way, their fragments dispersed. The fact that population began to decline around 500-600 AD also supports the internal unrest hypothesis. The decline of Teotihucán has been correlated with the droughts related to the Climate changes of 535–536. This theory is supported by the archeological remains that show a rise in the percentage of juvenile skeletons with evidence of malnutrition during the 6th century. This does not conflict with either of the above theories however since both increased warfare and internal unrest can also be effects of a general period of drought and famine. Other nearby centers like Cholula, Xochicalco, and Cacaxtla attempted to fill the powerful vacuum left by Teotihuacán's decline. They may have aligned themselves against Teotihuacán in an attempt to reduce its influence and power. The art and architecture at these sites shows an interest in emulating Teotihuacán forms, but also a more eclectic mix of motifs and iconography from other parts of Mesoamerica, particularly the Maya region.

 

People

 

There is archaeological evidence that Teotihuacán was a multi-ethnic city, with distinct Zapotec, Mixtec, Maya and what seem to be Nahua quarters. The Totonacs have always maintained that they were the ones who built it, a story that was corroborated later by the Aztecs.

 

Language

In his 2001 paper,Terrence Kaufman presents linguistic evidence suggesting that an important ethnic group in Teotihuacán was of Totonacan and/or Mixe-Zoquean linguistic affiliation. He uses this to explain general influences from Totonacan and Mixe-Zoquean languages in many other Mesoamerican languages many of which do not have any known history of contact with either of the above mentioned groups.

  

Religion

 

The religion of Teotihuacán is similar to those of other Mesoamerican cultures. Many of the same gods were worshiped, including the Feathered Serpent and The Rain god. Teotihuacán was a major religious center, and the priests probably had a great deal of political power. As with other Mesoamerican cultures, Teotihuacános practiced human sacrifice. Human bodies and animal sacrifices have been found during excavations of the pyramids at Teotihuacán; it is believed that when the buildings were expanded, sacrifices were made to dedicate the new building. The victims were probably enemy warriors captured in battle and then brought to the city to be ritually sacrificed so the city could prosper. Some were decapitated, some had their hearts removed, others were killed by being hit several times over the head and some were even buried alive. Animals that were considered sacred and represented mythical powers and military might were also buried alive but imprisoned in cages: cougars, a wolf, eagles, a falcon, an owl, and even venomous snakes.

 

The city's broad central avenue, called "Avenue of the Dead" (a translation from its Nahuatl name Miccaotli), is flanked by impressive ceremonial architecture, including the immense Pyramid of the Sun (second largest in the New World after the Great Pyramid of Cholula) and the Pyramid of the Moon. Along the Avenue of the Dead are many smaller talud-tablero platforms. The Aztecs believed they were tombs, inspiring the name of the avenue. Now they are known to be ceremonial platforms that were topped with temples. Further down the Avenue of the Dead is the area known as the Citadel, containing the ruined Temple of the Feathered Serpent. This area was a large plaza surrounded by temples that formed the religious and political center of the city. The name "Citadel" was given to it by the Spanish, who believed it was a fort. Many of the rich and powerful Teotihuacanos lived in Palaces near the temples. The largest of these cover more than 3300 sq. meters. Most of the common people lived in large apartment buildings spread across the city. Many of the buildings contained workshops that produced pottery and other goods.

 

The geographical layout of Teotihuacán is a good example of the Mesoamerican tradition of planning cities, settlements and buildings as a representation of the Teotihuacano view of the Universe. Its urban grid is aligned to precisely 15.5º east of north. The Street of the Dead, in particular, seems to line up with Cerro Gordo to the north of the Pyramid of the Moon. Pecked-cross circles throughout the city and in the surrounding regions indicate how the grid was managed over long distances

  

Kazakhstan (also spelled Kazakstan, Kazakh: Қазақстан Qazaqstan,قازاقستان, pronounced [qɑzɑqstɑ́n]; Russian: Казахстан [kəzɐxˈstan]), officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a country in Eurasia ranked as the ninth largest country in the world. It is also the world's largest landlocked country. Its territory of 2,727,300 km² is greater than Western Europe. It is neighbored clockwise from the north by Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and also borders on a significant part of the Caspian Sea. The capital moved in 1997 to Astana from Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city.

Vast in size, the terrain of Kazakhstan ranges from flatlands, steppes, taigas, rock-canyons, hills, deltas, and snow-capped mountains to deserts. With 16.0 million people (2009 census), Kazakhstan has the 62nd largest population in the world, though its population density is less than 6 people per square kilometre (15 per sq. mi.).

For most of its history the territory of modern-day Kazakhstan has been inhabited by nomadic tribes. By the 16th century the Kazakhs emerged as a distinct group, divided into three hordes. The Russians began advancing into the Kazakh steppe in the 18th century, and by the mid-19th century all of Kazakhstan was part of the Russian Empire. Following the 1917 Russian Revolution, and subsequent civil war, the territory of Kazakhstan was reorganised several times before becoming the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic in 1936, a part of the USSR. During the 20th century, Kazakhstan was the site of major Soviet projects, including Khrushchev's Virgin Lands campaign, the Baikonur Cosmodrome, and the Semipalatinsk "Polygon", the USSR's primary nuclear weapon testing site.

Kazakhstan declared itself an independent country on December 16, 1991, the last Soviet republic to do so. Its communist-era leader, Nursultan Nazarbayev, became the country's new president. Since independence, Kazakhstan has pursued a balanced foreign policy and worked to develop its economy, especially its hydrocarbon industry. While the country's economic outlook is improving, President Nazarbayev maintains strict control over the country's politics. Nevertheless, Kazakhstan's international prestige is building. It is now considered to be the dominant state in Central Asia. The country is a member of many international organizations, including the United Nations, NATO's Partnership for Peace, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. In 2010, Kazakhstan is chairing the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

Kazakhstan is ethnically and culturally diverse, in part due to mass deportations of many ethnic groups to the country during Stalin's rule. Kazakhs are the largest group. Kazakhstan has 131 nationalities including Kazakh, Russian, Ukrainian, Uzbek and Tatar. It has a population of 16.0 million, of whom around 63% percent are Kazakhs

Kazakhstan allows freedom of religion, and many different beliefs are represented in the country. Islam is the primary religion. The Kazakh language is the state language, while Russian is also officially used as an "equal" language (to Kazakh) in Kazakhstan's institutions.

 

History

Kazakh Khanate

Kazakhstan has been inhabited since the Stone Age: the region's climate and terrain are best suited for nomads practicing pastoralism. Historians believe that humans first domesticated the horse in the region's vast steppes. While ancient cities Taraz (Aulie-Ata) and Hazrat-e Turkestan had long served as important way-stations along the Silk Road connecting East and West, real political consolidation only began with the Mongol invasion of the early 13th century. Under the Mongol Empire, administrative districts were established, and these eventually came under the emergent Kazakh Khanate.

Throughout this period traditionally nomadic life and a livestock-based economy continued to dominate the steppe. In the 15th century, a distinct Kazakh identity began to emerge among the Turkic tribes, a process which was consolidated by the mid-16th century with the appearance of a distinctive Kazakh language, culture, and economy.

Nevertheless, the region was the focus of ever-increasing disputes between the native Kazakh emirs and the neighbouring Persian-speaking peoples to the south. By the early 17th century, the Kazakh Khanate was struggling with the impact of tribal rivalries, which has effectively divided the population into the Great, Middle and Little (or Small) Hordes (jüz). Political disunion, tribal rivalries, and the diminishing importance of overland trade routes between East and West weakened the Kazakh Khanate.

During the 17th century Kazakhs fought Oirats, a federation of western Mongol tribes, among which the Dzungars were particularly aggressive. The beginning of the 18th century marked the zenith of the Kazakh Khanate. During this period the Little Horde participated in the 1723–1730 war against the Dzungars, following their "Great Disaster" invasion of Kazakh territories. Under leadership Abul Khair Khan the Kazakhs won major victories over the Dzungar at the Bulanty River, in 1726, and at the Battle of Anrakay in 1729. Ablai Khan participated in the most significant battles against the Dzungars from the 1720s to the 1750s, for which he was declared a "batyr" ("hero") by the people. Kazakhs were also a victims of constant raids carried out by the Volga Kalmyks.

 

Russian Empire

In the 19th century, the Russian Empire began to expand, and spread into Central Asia. The "Great Game" period is generally regarded as running from approximately 1813 to the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907. The tsars effectively ruled over most of the territory belonging to what is now the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The Russian Empire introduced a system of administration and built military garrisons and barracks in its effort to establish a presence in Central Asia in the so-called "Great Game" between it and the British Empire. The first Russian outpost, Orsk, was built in 1735. Russia enforced the Russian language in all schools and governmental organisations. Russian efforts to impose its system aroused the extreme resentment by the Kazakh people, and by the 1860s, most Kazakhs resisted Russia's annexation largely because of the disruption it wrought upon the traditional nomadic lifestyle and livestock-based economy, and the associated hunger which was rapidly wiping out some Kazakh tribes. The Kazakh national movement, which began in the late 1800s, sought to preserve the native language and identity by resisting the attempts of the Russian Empire to assimilate and stifle them.

From the 1890s onwards ever-larger numbers of settlers from Russian Empire began colonising the territory of present-day Kazakhstan, in particular the province of Semirechye. The number of settlers rose still further once the Trans-Aral Railway from Orenburg to Tashkent was completed in 1906, and the movement was overseen and encouraged by a specially created Migration Department (Переселенческое Управление) in St. Petersburg. During the 19th century about 400,000 Russians immigrated to Kazakhstan, and about one million Slavs, Germans, Jews, and others immigrated to the region during the first third of the 20th century.

The competition for land and water which ensued between the Kazakhs and the newcomers caused great resentment against colonial rule during the final years of Tsarist Russia, with the most serious uprising, the Central Asian Revolt, occurring in 1916. The Kazakhs attacked Russian and Cossack settlers and military garrisons. The revolt resulted in a series of clashes and in brutal massacres committed by both sides. The Russians' revenge was merciless. A military force drove 300,000 Kazakhs to flee into the mountains or to China. When approximately 80,000 of them returned the next year, many of them were slaughtered by Tsarist forces. During the 1921–22 famine, another million Kazakhs died from starvation.

 

Kazakh SSR

Although there was a brief period of autonomy (Alash Autonomy) during the tumultuous period following the collapse of the Russian Empire, many uprisings were brutally suppressed, and the Kazakhs eventually succumbed to Soviet rule. In 1920, the area of present-day Kazakhstan became an autonomous republic within the Soviet Union.

Soviet repression of the traditional elite, along with forced collectivization in late 1920s–1930s, brought mass hunger and led to unrest (See also: Soviet famine of 1932–1933). Between 1926 and 1939, the Kazakh population declined by 22%, due to starvation, violence and mass emigration. Today, the estimates suggest that the population of Kazakhstan would be closer to 20 million if there had been no starvation or massacre of Kazakhs. During the 1930s, many renowned Kazakh writers, thinkers, poets, politicians and historians were slaughtered on Stalin's orders, both as part of the repression and as a methodical pattern of suppressing Kazakh identity and culture. Soviet rule took hold, and a Communist apparatus steadily worked to fully integrate Kazakhstan into the Soviet system. In 1936 Kazakhstan became a Soviet republic. Kazakhstan experienced population inflows of millions exiled from other parts of the Soviet Union during the 1930s and 1940s; many of the deportation victims were deported to Siberia or Kazakhstan merely due to their ethnic heritage or beliefs, and were in many cases interned in some of the biggest Soviet labour camps, including ALZHIR camp outside Astana, which was reserved for the wives of men considered "enemies of the people". (See also: Population transfer in the Soviet Union, Involuntary settlements in the Soviet Union.)

The Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic contributed five national divisions to the Soviet Union's World War II effort. In 1947, two years after the end of the war, the Semipalatinsk Test Site, the USSR's main nuclear weapon test site was founded near the city of Semey.

The period of World War II marked an increase in industrialisation and increased mineral extraction in support of the war effort. At the time of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin's death, however, Kazakhstan still had an overwhelmingly agricultural-based economy. In 1953, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev initiated the ambitious "Virgin Lands" programme to turn the traditional pasture lands of Kazakhstan into a major grain-producing region for the Soviet Union. The Virgin Lands policy brought mixed results. However, along with later modernizations under Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, it accelerated the development of the agricultural sector which remains the source of livelihood for a large percentage of Kazakhstan's population. By 1959, Kazakhs made up 30% of the population. Ethnic Russians accounted for 43%.

Growing tensions within Soviet society led to a demand for political and economic reforms, which came to a head in the 1980s. A factor that has contributed to this immensely was Lavrentii Beria's decision to test a nuclear bomb on the territory of Kazakh SSR in Semey in 1949. This had a catastrophic ecological and biological effect which was felt generations later, and Kazakh anger toward the Soviet system has escalated.

In December 1986, mass demonstrations by young ethnic Kazakhs, later called Jeltoqsan riot, took place in Almaty to protest the replacement of the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Kazakh SSR Dinmukhamed Konayev with Gennady Kolbin from the Russian SFSR. Governmental troops suppressed the unrest, several people were killed and many demonstrators were jailed. In the waning days of Soviet rule, discontent continued to grow and find expression under Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's policy of glasnost

 

Independence

Caught up in the groundswell of Soviet republics seeking greater autonomy, Kazakhstan declared its sovereignty as a republic within the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in October 1990. Following the August 1991 aborted coup attempt in Moscow and the subsequent dissolution of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan declared independence on December 16, 1991. It was the last of the Soviet republics to declare independence.

The years following independence have been marked by significant reforms to the Soviet-style economy and political monopoly on power. Under Nursultan Nazarbayev, who initially came to power in 1989 as the head of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan and was eventually elected President in 1991, Kazakhstan has made significant progress toward developing a market economy. The country has enjoyed significant economic growth since 2000, partly due to its large oil, gas, and mineral reserves.

Democracy, however, has not gained much ground since 1991. In 2007, Kazakhstan's parliament passed a law granting President Nursultan Nazarbayev lifetime powers and privileges, immunity from criminal prosecution, and influence over domestic and foreign policy. Critics say he has become a de facto "president for life."

Over the course of his ten years in power, Nazarbayev has repeatedly censored the press through arbitrary use of "privacy" laws, and refused demands that the governors of Kazakhstan's 14 provinces be elected, rather than appointed by the president.

 

Geography

With an area of 2.7 million square kilometers (1.05 million sq. mi), Kazakhstan is the ninth-largest country and the largest landlocked country in the world. It is equivalent to the size of Western Europe. It shares borders of 6,846 kilometers (4,254 mi) with Russia, 2,203 kilometers (1,369 mi) with Uzbekistan, 1,533 kilometers (953 mi) with China, 1,051 kilometers (653 mi) with Kyrgyzstan, and 379 kilometers (235 mi) with Turkmenistan. Major cities include Astana, Almaty, Karagandy, Shymkent, Atyrau and Oskemen. While located primarily in Asia, a small portion of Kazakhstan is also located west of the Urals in Eastern Europe.

The terrain extends west to east from the Caspian Sea to the Altay Mountains and north to south from the plains of Western Siberia to the oases and deserts of Central Asia. The Kazakh Steppe (plain), with an area of around 804,500 square kilometres (310,600 sq. mi), occupies one-third of the country and is the world's largest dry steppe region. The steppe is characterized by large areas of grasslands and sandy regions. Important rivers and lakes include: the Aral Sea, Ili River, Irtysh River, Ishim River, Ural River, Syr Darya, Charyn River and gorge, Lake Balkhash and Lake Zaysan.

The climate is continental, with warm summers and colder winters. Precipitation varies between arid and semi-arid conditions.

 

Other info

 

Oficial names:

 

Republic of Kazakhstan

Қазақстан Республикасы

Qazaqstan Respwblïkası

قازاقستان رهسپۋبلٸكاسى

Республика Казахстан

Respublika Kazakhstan

  

Independence:

1st Khanate 1361 as White Horde

- 2nd Khanate 1428 as Uzbek Horde

- 3rd Khanate 1465 as Kazakh Khanate

- Declared December 16, 1991

- Finalized December 25, 1991

 

Area:

2.726.908

 

Inhabitants:

17.456.400

 

Language:

Dungan [dng] Dialects: Shaanxi. Classification: Sino-Tibetan, Chinese

More information.

 

German, Standard [deu] 958,000 in Kazakhstan. Population excludes Plautdietsch. Classification: Indo-European, Germanic, West, High German, German, Middle German, East Middle German

More information.

 

Ili Turki [ili] Ili Valley near Kuldja, Xinjiang, China. There may be none in Kazakhstan. Alternate names: T'urk, Tuerke. Classification: Altaic, Turkic, Eastern

More information.

 

Kazakh [kaz] 5,293,400 in Kazakhstan (1979 census). Population total all countries: 8,178,879. Kazakhstan, northern Soviet Middle Asia and into western Siberia. Also spoken in Afghanistan, China, Germany, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Russia (Asia), Tajikistan, Turkey (Asia), Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan. Alternate names: Kazak, Kaisak, Kosach, Qazaq. Dialects: Northeastern Kazakh, Southern Kazakh, Western Kazakh. Minor dialect differences. Classification: Altaic, Turkic, Western, Aralo-Caspian

More information.

 

Plautdietsch [pdt] 100,000 in Russia and Kazakhstan (1986). Various locations including Alma Ata near the China border, beyond Tashkent, and Kazakhstan. Alternate names: Low German. Classification: Indo-European, Germanic, West, Low Saxon-Low Franconian, Low Saxon

More information.

 

Romani, Sinte [rmo] Kazakhstan (formerly Volga area until 1941). Alternate names: Sinti, Tsigane, Manuche, Manouche. Classification: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Central zone, Romani, Northern

More information.

 

Uyghur [uig] 300,000 in Kazakhstan (1993). Taranchi dialect in Kazakhstan, Kashgar-Yarkand dialect in Uzbekistan. Alternate names: Uighur, Uiguir, Uygur, Novouygur. Dialects: Taranchi (Kulja), Kashgar-Yarkand. Classification: Altaic, Turkic, Eastern

 

Capital city:

Astana

 

Meaning of the country name:

Means "land of the Kazakhs". The word "Kazakh" does not have a straightforward exact English translation, but it means something along the lines of "independent/rebellious/wanderer/brave/free". The Russian term kazak (казак) - "cossack" in English - offers a cognate word. -stan as a Persian suffix means "land".

 

Description Flag:

The current flag of Kazakhstan was adopted on June 4, 1992, replacing the flag of the Kazakh SSR.It consists of a sky-blue background, with a steppe eagle beneath a golden sun with 32 rays in the centre, and a web-like pattern running down the left-hand side

The pattern represents the art and cultural traditions of the old khanate and the Kazakh people. The light blue background stands for the various Turkic peoples that make up the present-day population of the country, including the Tatars, Mongols, Uyghurs and others. Among these peoples blue has a religious significance, representing the sky God Gök-Tanry, "the eternal wide blue sky"; a more modern interpretation is that the sky blue background stands for Kazakhstan's broad skies, and for freedom.

The golden eagle is associated with the empire of Genghis Khan, who ruled Kazakhstan under a blue banner with such an eagle on it; thus, it is a reminder of the proud history of the people who form the modern nation of Kazakhstan

 

Coat of arms:

The coat of arms of Kazakhstan was adopted following the dissolving of the Soviet Union on 26 December 1991.

The coat of arms has a circular form and carries the colors blue and yellow. Blue represents the blue sky and yellow is the symbol of the agriculture which blossomed in the Soviet era. To the left and right of the coat of arms, two unicorns with wings look away from each other.

Like other post-Soviet republics whose arms do not predate the October Revolution, the current arms retains some components of the Soviet one. In the upper part of the coat of arms, there is a star; the rays behind the yurt smokehole also bespeak the Soviet arms.

The name of the country in Kazakh is in the lower part of the coat of arms is stated: "ҚA3AҚCTAH."

In the middle there is a shangrak (Kazakh: Шаңырақ, shangyraq; Russian: Шанырак, shanyrak), the crown of the Kazakh yurt. The shangrak symbolizes both wealth of heritage and a hopeful future.

 

National Anthem: My Kazakhstan , Kazakh: Менің Қазақстаным

 

Kazakh

 

Алтын күн аспаны,

Алтын дән даласы,

Ерліктің дастаны -

Еліме қарашы!

 

Ежелден ер деген,

Даңқымыз шықты ғой,

Намысын бермеген,

Қазағым мықты ғой!

 

Қайырмасы:

Менің елім, менің елім,

Гүлің болып егілемін,

Жырың болып төгілемін, елім!

Туған жерім менің — Қазақстаным!

 

Ұрпаққа жол ашқан,

Кең байтақ жерім бар.

Бірлігі жарасқан,

Тәуелсіз елім бар.

 

Қарсы алған уақытты,

Мәңгілік досындай.

Біздің ел бақытты,

Біздің ел осындай!

Қайырмасы:

 

Transliteration

 

Altın kün aspanı,

Altın dän dalası,

Erliktiñ dastanı -

Elime qaraşı!

Ejelden er degen,

Dañqımız şıqtı ğoy,

Namısın bermegen,

Qazağım mıqtı ğoy!

Chorus:

Meniñ elim, meniñ elim,

Güliñ bolıp egilemin,

Jırıñ bolıp tögilemin, elim!

Twğan jerim meniñ — Qazaqstanım!

 

Urpaqqa jol aşqan,

Keñ baytaq jerim bar.

Birligi jarasqan,

Täwelsiz elim bar.

Qarsı alğan waqıttı,

Mäñgilik dosınday.

Bizdiñ el baqıttı,

Bizdiñ el osınday!

 

Chorus

 

English

Sky of golden sun,

Steppe of golden seed,

Legend of courage -

Take a look at my country.

From the antiquity

Our heroic glory emerged,

They did not give up their pride

My Kazakh people are strong!

Chorus:

My country, my country,

As your flower I will be planted,

As your song I will stream, my country!

My native land — My Kazakhstan!

The way was opened to the posterity

I have a vast land.

It's unity is proper,

I have an independent country.

It welcomed the time

Like an eternal friend,

Our country is happy,

Such is our country.

Chorus

 

Internet Page: www.government.kz

www.akorda.kz

www.aboutkazakhstan.com

www.tourkz.com

 

Kazakhstan in diferent laguages

 

eng | cat | dan | eus | fra | jav | jnf | swa: Kazakhstan

csb | dsb | hsb | lim | nld | pol | slk | szl: Kazachstan

fin | fry | hat | ibo | swe: Kazakstan

deu | ltz | nds: Kasachstan / Kaſachſtan

fao | isl | sme: Kasakstan

hrv | ron | slv: Kazahstan

bos | gag: Kazahstan / Казахстан

cym | roh: Casachstan

ind | msa: Kazakhstan / كازاخستان

ita | lld: Kazakistan

kin | run: Kazakstani

afr: Kasakstan; Kazakstan

arg: Kasajstán; Kasajistán; Kazajstán

ast: Kazahistán; Kazakhistán

aze: Qazaxıstan / Газахыстан

bam: Kazakisitan

bre: Kazac’hstan

ces: Kazachstán

cor: Pow Kasagh

crh: Qazahistan / Къазахистан

epo: Kazaĥstano; Kazaĥio

est: Kasahstan

frp: Kazacstan

fur: Cosachistan

gla: Casachstan; Casagstan

gle: An Chasacstáin / An Ċasacstáin

glg: Casaquistán

glv: Yn Chassaghstaan

hun: Kazahsztán

ina: Kazakhstan; Kazakstan

kaa: Qazaqstan / Қазақстан

kal: Kasakhstani

kmr: Qazaẍistan / Qазаг’ьстан / قازاغستان

kur: Qazaxistan / قازاخستان

lat: Cazastania; Kazakistania; Casachia

lav: Kazahstāna

lin: Kazakstáni

lit: Kazachstanas

mlg: Kazakistana

mlt: Każakstan; Każakistan

mol: Kazahstan / Казахстан

nor: Kasakhstan

nrm: Cazaqùie

oci: Cazacstan

por: Cazaquistão; Casaquistão

que: Qasaqsuyu

rmy: Kazaxstan / काज़ाख़्स्तान

rup: Cazahstan

scn: Kazakstàn

slo: Kazahia / Казахиа; Kazahzem / Казахзем

smg: Kazakstans

smo: Kasakisitani

som: Kasaakhistaan

spa: Kazajstán; Kazajistán

sqi: Kazakistani

srd: Kazakhstàn

tet: Kazakistaun

tgl: Kasakstan; Kasahstan

ton: Kasākisitani

tuk: Gazagystan / Газагыстан

tur: Kazakistan; Kazakeli

uzb: Qozogʻiston / Қозоғистон

vie: Ka-dắc-xtan

vol: Kasakän

vor: Kasakstan; Kasastan

wln: Kazaxhtan

wol: Kaasakestaan

zza: Qazaxıstan

abq | alt | bul | chm | chv | kbd | kjh | kom | rus | tyv | udm | ukr | xal: Казахстан (Kazaĥstan)

krc | kum: Къазахстан (Qazaĥstan)

lbe | lez: Къазахсттан (Q̱azaḫsttan)

bak: Ҡаҙағстан / Ķaźağstan

bel: Казахстан / Kazachstan

che: Казахстан (Kazaḫstan)

kaz: Қазақстан / Qazaqstan / قازاقستان

kir: Казакстан (Kazakstan)

mkd: Казахстан (Kazahstan)

mon: Казакстан (Kazakstan); Казахстан (Kazaĥstan)

oss: Хъазахстан (Qazaĥstan)

srp: Казахстан / Kazahstan; Казакстан / Kazakstan

tab: Къазакъистан (Q̱azaq̄istan)

tat: Казакстан / Qazaqstan

tgk: Қазоқистон / قزاقستان / Qazoqiston

ara: كازاخستان (Kāzāḫistān); قازاقستان (Qāzāqistān); كازخستان (Kāzaḫistān)

fas: قزاقستان / Qazâqestân; کازاخستان / Kâzâxestân

prs: قزاقستان (Qazāqestān)

pus: قزاقستان (Qazāqistān); قازاقستان (Qāzāqistān)

uig: قازاقىستان / Qazaqistan / Қазақистан

urd: قزاقستان (Qazāqistān); قازقستان (Qāzaqistān)

div: ކަޒަކިސްތާން (Każakistān)

heb: קזחסטן (Qazaḥsṭan); קזחסטאן (Qazaḥsṭân); קאזאחסטאן (Qâzâḥsṭân)

lad: קאזאכסטאן / Kazaxstan

yid: קאַזאַכסטאַן (Kazaḫstan); קאַזאַקסטאַן (Kazakstan)

amh: ካዛክስታን (Kazakstan); ካዛኽስታን (Kazaĥstan)

ell: Καζακστάν (Kazakstán); Καζαχστάν (Kazaĥstán)

hye: Ղազախստան (Ġazaĥstan)

kat: ყაზახეთი (Qazaĥeṭi)

hin: कज़ाख़स्तान (Kazāĥstān); कज़ाख़िस्तान (Kazāĥistān); कज़ाकिस्तान (Kazākistān)

ben: কাজাখস্তান (Kājākʰstān); কাজাকস্তান (Kājākstān); কাজাকিস্তান (Kājākistān)

pan: ਕਜ਼ਾਕਸਤਾਨ (Kazākstān)

kan: ಕಜಾಕಸ್ತಾನ್ (Kajākastān)

mal: കസാഖ്സ്ഥാന് (Kasākʰstʰān); കസാഖിസ്ഥാന് (Kasākʰistʰān)

tam: கஸாக்ஸ்தான் (Kasākstāṉ); கஜகஸ்தான் (Kajakastāṉ)

tel: కజకిస్తాన్ (Kajakistān); కజకస్తాన్ (Kajakastān)

zho: 哈薩克斯坦/哈萨克斯坦 (Hāsàkèsītǎn)

jpn: カザフスタン (Kazafusutan)

kor: 카자흐스탄 (Kajaheuseutan)

mya: ကာဇက္စတန္ (Kazeʿsátã)

tha: คาซัคสถาน (Kʰāsâksatʰān)

lao: ກາຊ້ກສະຖານ (Kāsáksatʰān)

khm: កាហ្សាក់ស្តង់ (Kāhsakstăṅ)

 

The Charyn Canyon is 150–300 metres deep and 80 kilometres long, cutting through the red sandstone plateau and stretching along the Charyn River gorge in northern Tian Shan ("Heavenly Mountains", 200 km east of Almaty) at 43°21′1.16″N 79°4′49.28″E / 43.3503222°N 79.0803556°E / 43.3503222; 79.0803556. The steep canyon slopes, columns and arches rise to heights of 150–300 m. The inaccessibility of the canyon provided a safe haven for a rare ash tree that survived the Ice Age and is now also grown in some other areas. Bigach crater is a Pliocene or Miocene asteroid impact crater, 8 kilometres (5 mi) in diameter and estimated at 5 ±3 million years old at 48°30′N 82°00′E / 48.5°N 82°E / 48.5; 82.

 

There will be a story with this set as soon as I can get it written, and upload these pictures which I took while in the Hospital at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis, Oregon.

 

FALL OCCURRED IN THE SPRING

 

That’s right; fall occurred in the spring. Not the kind of fall like a beautiful autumn, but the kind of fall like Humpty Dumpty. The “splat” type of fall, which must have been painful for him. It was surely painful for me.

 

Let me digress a bit. I already have severe arthritis in both of my knees. I was very close to having the Orthopedic Physician’s Assistant refer me to the Orthopedist for knee replacements. The assistant had already seen me for seven to nine visits or so, and a series of Orthovisc® shots, which did not help me. I understand they are a great help to some people, but I wasn‘t one of them. He told me something I was completely unaware of. He said my teeth were bad, which is true. I have upper dentures and only one real tooth in my mouth. The bottom teeth except the one I just mentioned are all rotted away. They didn’t rot completely away; there are still parts of them in and below the gum line. He said they would all have to be surgically extracted before I could have knee replacements done. I asked him, “What do my teeth have to do with my knees?” He said infection can easily set in the rotten teeth and go to the knee or cause problems with my heart, major problems like death. Thus the reader can understand how I arrived at the title for my photo set about my hospital stay…The Knee Bone’s Connected to the Jaw Bone, Huh?

 

I have been walking around with very painful knees for quite awhile now, and I cannot afford the $1,600 to $2,000 to have my teeth surgically extracted. I already paid a dentist $180 for an appointment and a Panaray® X-Ray, over a year ago, just thinking it would be nice to finally get some lower dentures too. He split town, taking or disposing of his equipment and his files and x-rays. That $180 is long gone for me. I cannot recover the old x-ray. Even if I did recover it, some new dentist would probably say it was out of date.

 

Medicare, which I am on, will pay for the two knee replacements, but here is the rub. They will not pay for dental. I have been in a surgical limbo with all the free pain I can stand.

 

That is the background information probably needed for this little story to be understood. There will be some OMG moments and some laughter. If it were a TV show, they would probably advertise, “You’ll Laugh; You’ll Cry; You’ll Sell Your Chickens; You’ll Call Your Congressman, and You’ll No Doubt Charge Your Cell Phone!”

 

That brings us to Thursday the 15th of March, 2012. My daughter called to see if I could and would watch Rose all day Friday the 16th , as she had forgotten that she had signed up to be chaperone for her daughter, Anna Leigh’s, school field trip. It was going to be quite a bit out of town, the other direction from where I live. It was to be a special day. I wanted to be their hero; so I said sure. Some of you have seen Rose, the Hungarian Vizsla puppy among my photos. Rose is beautiful and young, and strong, and undisciplined and should probably be named Wild Rose. I love her, but she is a major handful. I had already watched her for 8 days while they went on a trip out of state, got one day off and then volunteered to do Friday the 16th.

 

Rose isn’t housebroken yet; so I took her out several times to encourage her to go outside. I was alone as far as other humans, and my daughter and granddaughter were about 60 miles away, on a school bus and then museum field trip. I live about 60 miles the other way from their home. It had been raining off and on and the ground and grass and driveway and mud were all pretty wet. My other trips outside with Rose that morning had been fine. I only had a thin shirt on, no extra shirt or jacket. I did not think I would be out in the yard very long.

 

Rose pulled on the leash too exuberantly, as she does often (she is five and a half months old, and has had puppy obedience training, but is in dire need of more of it). I slipped on a muddy and grassy slope. My right leg went out in front of me, and I fell on my rear end. My left leg folded underneath my thigh and toward my rear, and my weight, which is a lot, crunched it. It was bent backward way further than a knee is supposed to bend. I screamed bloody murder. I was afraid to even try to get up, as I thought I had probably torn a ligament or two.

 

Rose thought it was play time and was all over me. There was not a thing in sight that would give me any leverage to hold me up or to help me get up. I sat and I pondered what to do. My daughter and Anna Leigh would not be home for nearly 6 more hours. I thought, well I’ll just call 911 (the emergency number where we live). Wrong! No cell phone with me. It was inside their house, being charged up; ironically so it would be ready when I needed it.

 

I tried yelling for help. Nothing! A neighbor about a half an acre away, was mowing, and every time the mower cut off, I tried screaming for help. He must have had headphones on or something. Cars would drive by way down the driveway, and I would yell, but no one had their windows down on that day. Did you now that when you have upper dentures and no lower ones, and you yell really hard, that it blows the upper dentures right out of your mouth? Just thought I would throw that little trivia in. I didn’t know until that day. I knew I couldn’t make it back in the house. There were too many upward slopes and an exposed aggregate patio and a few stairs. The front of the house was even worse, as it had more stairs. I looked down the driveway and saw a vehicle which had some metal protrusions, on the order of spare tire holder or something like that. I decided to try to scoot on my rear down to that metal thing. I thought perhaps it would give me leverage to get up. Rose thought that it was great fun to romp on and around me.

 

I thought the four chickens would be afraid to come around Rose. No, they are not very intelligent. They came right up to me and Rose and started pecking on me. I had never been pecked on my chickens before, and there I was on the ground with no help and Rose alternating between tried to attack the chickens and trying to play with me. Rose’s playfulness sort of resembles an attack, anyway. I scooted faster, much faster.

 

There was a light rain, but it was getting a little heavier. There was also a dusting of snow mixed with the rain. I was wondering how long it would take to get Exposure. I was wondering about Shock also. Can a person who has Exposure or Shock know that they have it? Ominous looking clouds were blowing quickly toward me. It was 1:30 P. M. when I fell. I didn’t have my phone, but I had my watch.

 

I scooted methodically toward the vehicle closest to me. I think it was about 100 feet. I got to it, and thought if worse came to worse with the weather, I could roll under the back of it. I did not relish thought of spiders, but thought it might be better to risk them than the weather. I saw some wide strapping tape on the spare tire, which was loose. I didn’t want to risk hoisting myself up on the spare and its frame, as it was quite loose. But I took the tape and wrapped it around the metal thing that was separate from the spare tire things, and made it softer for my arm to lean on. I tried to prop myself up. No use; I fell back down. Not enough leverage. I put Rose’s leash handle on the trailer hitch. I didn’t want to just let her run free and maybe get hit by a car.

 

I tried again to get up and made it to both knees. It hurt so badly I went back down again. I noticed the license plate on the vehicle renewed on the ninth month of 2011. That said 911. I thought, “Oh yeah right, you inanimate license plate. Go ahead and taunt me! You know I can’t call 911.” I got a chuckle out of my own joke, and gave myself a figurative pat on the back for being resourceful about trying to get up.

 

I tried again. I got on both knees but the right one was in gravel that really hurt. Then I thought which knee should I put forward and which one should I try to rise on. I tried one, and it didn’t seem as if it would work so I tried the other way. That wasn’t the right way either. Finally I tried the first way again. I told myself on the count of three I would stand up, even if it hurt excruciatingly, I would scream but I would still get up. False start! Down again! I tried again and got up. I was standing!

 

Now was the problem of how to go anywhere, not knowing if my left knee would buckle at any time. I thought I had to try. I spotted my own truck further down the driveway, and decided to try to make it to it. I walked between two vehicles very carefully and slowly and got to my truck. I unlocked it with the remote key which I had in my pocket. After 11 years of driving it, the seat is pretty well conformed to me; so I didn’t have to bend my knees to sit down in it. I just leaned into the seat and put my relatively good right leg in. It was painful to bend my left knee to get it in the truck, but I did. Rose was still tied to a trailer hitch further back in the yard, but she was safe.

 

I looked at my watch. It was 3:30 P. M. It took me two hours to stand up and to get to some degree of safety and warmth. I could drive, as my truck is automatic. I drove down the road to a house that Anna had pointed out was where a schoolmate lived. I thought I could ask them to go in my daughter’s house and get my cell phone for me. There was a very large barking dog in the driveway, and no sign of humans, and the mother of the schoolmate has never even met me. I decided to go back to Jennifer’s home.

 

I found a cane in my truck that a charity, a different one than the one later in my story, had given me a few months ago. It is not a very sturdy one, but better than nothing. I did not use it on a regular basis. I used the hook end of it to fetch a large stick lying near the driveway (larger than a normal hiking stick). I pulled it to me, and stood back up out of the truck and used the big stick and the cane and balanced against two vehicles, and decided to try to get back in the house. I did. I got in the recliner and pulled a blanket up over me and slept until they got home.

 

After they got home, we all decided to go to the nearest Emergency room. It was a Friday night by then, and no normal doctor’s hours. We went to one closest to them, but it was still about 27 miles or so. They checked me out and did an x-ray. I told the Physician’s assistant nurse type lady about my knee history. She was fun and nice and caring and a little bit of a comedienne. She said that my left knee was really “ratty” looking on the x-ray. I laughed, because I’m sure it was. I have just never, in all my doctor visits ever had a nurse refer to one of my body parts as “ratty”. I suspect it is not a medical term. They said I sprained my knee, and gave me some medical records to take up to the emergency room (or my doctor) closer to where I live, seventeen miles from my home, the other direction from Jen & Anna. I wanted to be closer to the doctors and hospital that I know. I was given a prescription similar to Vicodin. Someone kindly pointed out that Walgreen’s was visible about a block away and their drive-thru was open. At that point I was still getting around by hobbling and by leaning on Jennifer. So I sat in a chair and she and Anna and Rose drove over to Walgreen’s . It seems as if it took a long time for them get the prescription filled.

 

While I was sitting there waiting, a employee came out to the lobby with clipboard in hand and asked if I were the lady with an injured knee. I replied that I was. She said, OK, come with me and we’ll have you see a triage. I thought it odd that I had already been seen and now they wanted to start all over again. I told her I had already been seen and x-rayed and all. It turned out there was another lady in the waiting room with an injured knee. It probably would have blown the Physician’s Assistant’s mind if I had played dumb and gone through everything again, and then told her when she looked shocked, “I’m coming through again; and this time don’t call my knee “ratty! Funny to imagine, but not a good idea.

 

Finally, my daughter and granddaughter returned to the hospital waiting room. Jennifer had forgotten her checkbook. So back they went and then it turned out, Jennifer couldn’t sign for my prescription, and she didn‘t have my insurance information. Thus, we all drove back over there. I was in line ahead of Jen‘s car. I told the pharmacist that my window did not go down well on the driver’s side, and I could not reach the pills in the drawer. So I would give him paperwork and cards he needed, but to please leave the pills themselves in the slide-out drawer. I said my daughter was right behind me and her window worked; and she would pick them up with my permission. Finally she got the pain pills in the drawer, but when we got out of Walgreen’s I flagged her down to stop and be sure to give me the pills to have with me before we forgot. Jennifer got them and handed them over to me. We laughed about how, at that time of night, it looked for the entire world like some sort of illegal drug deal.

 

We tried to go out for dinner, and the restaurant we chose put the closed sign in their front window as we were approaching. That always makes one feel so welcome, not!

 

Saturday, I rested, and then Sunday they took me to Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center. I had called my normal doctor, and he was out of the country (probably on some Doctors without Borders type thing). He does many good will type things. The doctor filling in for him; said to go to the Emergency Room. So I did, and they did an MRI, and I had torn the meniscus in my left knee. I ended up in the hospital for 8 days. No surgery was done to repair anything, because of the dental situation. But I got a walker, and some really nice nurses and physical therapy. I saw all kinds of doctors, and Home Health care people, and Senior and Disabled specialists. They must have taken my blood pressure 100 times, it seems. They always seem surprised that it is very good.

 

Anna Leigh, who is seven years old, threw a coin in the Hospital Fountain and made good wishes for me. She is such a sweetie. My daughter helped to clean up my place so when I went home the walker would fit through the rooms. I don’t know what I do without them. The first few days out of the hospital, I taught Anna how to play Monopoly, and she and Jennifer and I also did puzzles. There were some quality family moments. I one point I was eating a chip or cracker of some kind and trying to place a puzzle piece. I got absentminded and stuck the puzzle piece in my mouth. I realized what I had done because the food tasted like cardboard. I took it out of my mouth. Anna about went into hysterics over it. I was laughing too.

Anna’s Daddy called Jen about that time, and wanted to know what the laughter was all about. Anna wrote a note to show her Mom so her Mom could tell her Dad what happened. She spelled it phonetically, as she is only in first grade. I think she does really well, but Jen and I cracked up over how much Anna was laughing and over what she wrote. She wrote, “My grandmuther ate a pussel pees.” It looked substantially nastier than it was.

 

At first a physical therapist helped me with the walker and with some small steps. After a few days, I could roam around the hallways on my own with the walker. At that point I took my camera. As I was practicing with my walker I took a number of pictures. I tried very hard to only shoot artsy type things and nothing about any patients or doctors that would invade their privacy. I had a bulletin board in my room just about me. I wrote “Exemplary Patient Award” on the comments. I wanted to see if it would make the nurses laugh. I thought it was funny to give myself an award. I enjoy making people laugh. I was curious if they would erase it, but it was still there when I was discharged.

 

I graduated from the walker to a cane yesterday. A home health therapist came to see how I was doing, and brought me a very artsy cane. I like it. It suits me, and it is brand new. There is a charity in my area called Love, Inc. I don’t know if it is just local or nationwide. Anyway, they gave him the cane to bring to me. Really super! Of course, I need to take a photo of it, and add it to this set. I’ll probably do that in the daylight.

 

I am still in surgical limbo, but a charity is going to come out and install grab bars on my shower, and another charity will build up my recliner (which I sleep in) with a platform so it will be easier to get in and out of. It is suggested that I donate enough to cover the cost of the supplies but not the labor. I will probably make a donation, but I haven’t decided how much yet. I’m going to call my Congressman to see if something can be done about covering some dental procedures. Probably not, but I feel I have to try. Not just for me, but for a multitude of people.

 

I’ll close with a quote, although I don’t know who said it, “Be True to your Teeth and they will Never be False to You.” and “That is the Tooth, the whole Tooth, and Nothing but the Tooth.”

  

(1531wallofblue&yellowhospitalglovesmedBIG)

CANOGA PARK- The Los Angeles Fire Department battled a Major Emergency Structure Fire in the west San Fernando Valley on Monday, October 18, 2021.

 

The fire at 8423 Canoga Avenue in Canoga Park, was first noted at 12:18 PM by an LAFD Paramedic Ambulance crew returning from a nearby emergency. Within moments of their reporting the fire, flames were through the roof of the 125' x 125' one-story industrial building that also housed an adjoining but unrelated business at 8425 Canoga Avenue.

 

As that first-arriving LAFD Paramedic crew circled the structure to gain situational awareness and guide fellow responders, they encountered the first of three adult male civilians with severe burn injuries outside the burning building. Two proved to be in critical condition and the other in serious condition. All three were taken to area hospitals. Sadly, one of the critically injured men died later while undergoing hospital care.

 

The rapid spread of intense flames and multiple explosions heard within the building guided first-arriving firefighters to quickly commence defensive operations, applying multiple large diameter hose streams from the exterior, including two from atop extended aerial ladders, to prevent flames from extending beyond the well involved structure.

 

With the exception of a forty square-foot section of the roof at 8427 Canoga Avenue destroyed by surface fire, the tactics proved successful in holding the blaze to the pair of unrelated businesses under one roof at 8423 and 8425 Canoga Avenue.

 

It took 150 Los Angeles Firefighter just 75 minutes to extinguish the flames.

 

Firefighters remained active through the night extinguishing hotspots and minimizing hazards at the structurally compromised building with the help of LAFD's robotic firefighting vehicle and heavy equipment.

 

At daylight Tuesday, LAFD crews resumed a systematic search within the largely destroyed premises. During their methodical search among tons of burnt debris inside the structure, firefighters discovered the remains of an adult male, bringing the overall patient count to four, with a total of two deceased and two remaining hospitalized.

 

No other injuries were reported.

 

Scientific testing of materials inside the building of fire origin yielded positive results for hemp, and it appears that the operation inside involved the extraction from hemp, not dissimilar to that used in the Butane Honey Oil extraction process.

 

Though the business was a legal enterprise, the operation inside appeared to be illegal, as it did not adhere to established permitting processes and safety requirements.

 

Pursuant to protocol, the fire's cause remains the focus of a joint active investigation by the Los Angeles Fire Department, Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Interagency Metropolitan Police Apprehension Crime Task Force (L.A. Impact).

 

A positive identification of the dead men, as well as the cause, time and manner of their death will be determined by the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner.

 

© Photo by Brandon Taylor

 

LAFD Incident 101821-0791

 

Connect with us: LAFD.ORG | News | Facebook | Instagram | Reddit | Twitter: @LAFD @LAFDtalk

With so few flowers in bloom at this time, I had to really be on the lookout for Hummers. The foraging Hummers also have to be on the lookout for any blooming plant.This lady was methodically sampling all of these red blooms on an ornamental shrub in my daughter's back yard. I saw only a few flying Hummers species (mostly female Anna's and Costa's). These ladies are segregated from each other for IDs mainly on their bill shapes. This bill is said to be straighter... but there is overlap.

 

IMG_0113; Anna's Hummingbird

Our Daily Challenge - "The Great Outdoors": Performing in, and embracing nature.

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As some parts of humanity have grown ever more dependent on its instant sources of satisfaction and fast-paced lives, cultural expressions like dance have transformed along with it.

 

The abundance of contemporary North American entertainment I'm treated to on a regular basis involves quick movement, fast beats, unbelievable special effects and choreography, and flashy apparel -- a great show, indeed! But sometimes it can be equally interesting to travel the path back to our roots -- cultures based around nature and the dynamics of life without technology.

 

For this reason, I've become a little addicted to performances by cultural and ethnic groups outside of my rather "cultureless" Canadian environment. Dance takes on a completely different meaning when the effects are stripped away, and the entire performance revolves around a core principle rooted deep within our history.

 

A group of national title-winning Polish dancers between 6 and 18 years old took to the stage this weekend, and brought back to life some of that culture's traditional dances. While they may not be the most energetic or immediately exciting performances to watch, I love how smoothly their motions and garments flow with the music.

 

In a way, they reflect the more slow, methodical, and appreciative lives led by those who preceded us. The concept behind every single dance is centered around either nature and the human dynamic surrounding it, or fostering relationships of some kind.

CANOGA PARK- The Los Angeles Fire Department battled a Major Emergency Structure Fire in the west San Fernando Valley on Monday, October 18, 2021.

 

The fire at 8423 Canoga Avenue in Canoga Park, was first noted at 12:18 PM by an LAFD Paramedic Ambulance crew returning from a nearby emergency. Within moments of their reporting the fire, flames were through the roof of the 125' x 125' one-story industrial building that also housed an adjoining but unrelated business at 8425 Canoga Avenue.

 

As that first-arriving LAFD Paramedic crew circled the structure to gain situational awareness and guide fellow responders, they encountered the first of three adult male civilians with severe burn injuries outside the burning building. Two proved to be in critical condition and the other in serious condition. All three were taken to area hospitals. Sadly, one of the critically injured men died later while undergoing hospital care.

 

The rapid spread of intense flames and multiple explosions heard within the building guided first-arriving firefighters to quickly commence defensive operations, applying multiple large diameter hose streams from the exterior, including two from atop extended aerial ladders, to prevent flames from extending beyond the well involved structure.

 

With the exception of a forty square-foot section of the roof at 8427 Canoga Avenue destroyed by surface fire, the tactics proved successful in holding the blaze to the pair of unrelated businesses under one roof at 8423 and 8425 Canoga Avenue.

 

It took 150 Los Angeles Firefighter just 75 minutes to extinguish the flames.

 

Firefighters remained active through the night extinguishing hotspots and minimizing hazards at the structurally compromised building with the help of LAFD's robotic firefighting vehicle and heavy equipment.

 

At daylight Tuesday, LAFD crews resumed a systematic search within the largely destroyed premises. During their methodical search among tons of burnt debris inside the structure, firefighters discovered the remains of an adult male, bringing the overall patient count to four, with a total of two deceased and two remaining hospitalized.

 

No other injuries were reported.

 

Scientific testing of materials inside the building of fire origin yielded positive results for hemp, and it appears that the operation inside involved the extraction from hemp, not dissimilar to that used in the Butane Honey Oil extraction process.

 

Though the business was a legal enterprise, the operation inside appeared to be illegal, as it did not adhere to established permitting processes and safety requirements.

 

Pursuant to protocol, the fire's cause remains the focus of a joint active investigation by the Los Angeles Fire Department, Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Interagency Metropolitan Police Apprehension Crime Task Force (L.A. Impact).

 

A positive identification of the dead men, as well as the cause, time and manner of their death will be determined by the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner.

 

© Photo by Mike Meadows

 

LAFD Incident 101821-0791

 

Connect with us: LAFD.ORG | News | Facebook | Instagram | Reddit | Twitter: @LAFD @LAFDtalk

Check out the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) official results for me... a bit more accurate than I expected.... what do you think?

 

Extraversion (E), Intuition (N), Thinking (T), Perceiving (P) - ENTP the Originator.

 

ENTPs are inspired innovators, motivated to find new solutions to intellectually challenging problems. They are curious and clever, and seek to understand the people, systems, and principles that surround them. Open-minded and easygoing, ENTPs want to understand other people—their motivations, behavior, and ideas—without applying judgment. ENTPs enjoy engaging others in debate, and can be perceived as argumentative due to their love of critical analysis.

 

Bored by routine, ENTPs are masters of re-inventing the wheel and often refuse to do a task the same way twice. They question norms and often ignore them altogether; they would much rather try a new method (or two) than go along with the standard. Structured environments frustrate them and routine demotivates them who rely on their ingenuity in the moment, and have little patience for preparation or planning. ENTPs are multi-talented as well as non-conforming with a wide range of interests.

 

ENTps are methodically very abstract and thought driven, constantly seeking the pure potentialities of the unseen. They tend to be absent-minded, and forget appointments. They continually try to acquire new skills, and will continually engage in the pursuit of knowledge for no specific reason other than enjoyment and entertainment.

 

Life for an ENTP (and for those around them) can be a roller-coaster event with great highs, thrills, scares, occasional stops--and lots of unexpected jerks and turns.

 

ENTPs make up 3% of the world population.

This photo was taken during the third test flight of the Jim Moss replica GeeBee Q.E.D.

 

This aircraft has been built as closely to the original as possible, using original structural drawings and photos. However, many changes have been made simply to allow safe operation by modern standards. The original Hornet engine has been replaced by the same engine as a T-28, giving the aircraft more than twice its original horsepower. Due to the added weight of the engine (although it is the same size as the original) the fuel capacity was lowered from 480 gallons to about 280 gallons. Because of the increased power of the engine the vertical fin was enlarged to match the surface area of a T-28 tail. The avionics are up to date. The landing gear on the original aircraft was problematic, so in addition to being redesigned the "stance" has been widened by two feet. This also added a foot to each wing.

 

Flight test of what is essentially a never before flown aircraft is always interesting. Minor squawks occur on every flight, but they have been methodically working through them and hope to have the aircraft certified this winter or next Spring. The test pilot is Carter Teeters, a sim instructor for Alaska Airlines and a high-time warbird pilot.

 

EAA news article about first flight: eaa.org/news/2013/2013-10-03_jim-moss-gee-bee-qed-makes-m...

 

Video of the aircraft before first flight: www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnnSb1QYFMk

This is what depression feels like for me.

 

I cannot choose to do anything.

 

I can't choose to go out. I have to check with my depression if it's ok first. Whether I can go there, or whether it will punish me for venturing too far with a panic attack. It might be too far from home, or too many people, or too far to the nearest building, I might spot someone who I don't like. All resulting in a panic attack.

 

It's taken away my ability to see things, and have them make me happy. I don't notice flowers outside, I don't notice spring about to be sprung. I'm too busy wondering if I've pushed my depression too far by being out of the house and if I'll be rewarded with - you guessed it - a panic attack.

 

My hands are tied behind my back - I am usually creative and want to make things all of the time, from cakes to music, to sewing, to jewellery - I want to do it all - but my depression has taken away my motivation to do any of it.

 

I am gagged. I don't like talking to anyone. In case they ask me a direct question that I can't answer. I can't say no. If I were to say no, I'd go home and agonise about it for hours. Will they ever speak to me again? Have I annoyed them? Have I overstepped the mark? Was I rude? Do they think I'm stupid? Resulting in... a panic attack.

 

Are you spotting a theme here?

 

The only thing that doesn't result in a panic attack is the fact that I can't remember what I was doing 5 minutes ago most of the time. Depression has taken away my short term memory. I have to go through a set of methodical steps to get anything done. If I get interrupted, I can't remember where I was, so have to start at the beginning. This means I cannot multitask. I can't make a cup of tea at the same time as having a conversation on a bad day. Hell, on a bad day, I can't even remember how to make a cup of tea.

 

I can't go anywhere, see anything, talk to anyone, make anything, do anything... without my depression saying it's ok to do so.

 

I am effectively being held hostage by my own brain. I hate it.

 

Depression is a horrible, dark, black, encroaching illness. It affects every area of your being. Every sleeping or waking minute is affected by it. Every breath I take I'm worried it will build into a panic attack where I literally cannot breathe, my vision starts to fade, I start to shake, I cannot talk - in fact, describing the symptoms now I can feel them all creeping back in. I am wrestling with them every minute of every day. Trying to fight them back down. Trying to climb out of the well.

 

The thing which I find the most difficult is when people see me smile, or walk somewhere, or maybe go into a shop, or out with friends. Anyone who sees me would think that there's nothing wrong with me. They'd think I was a fraud. They'd think that I didn't have a care in the world. What they can't see is my internal monologue, trying to coax the depression away for long enough to enable me to put one foot in front of the other. The smile will be a nervous one. If I am out with someone, usually my long-suffering husband, have a look at my knuckles. The poor guy suffers from me clinging onto him with white knuckles as if my life depended on it. Quite honestly it feels as if it does.

 

I just hope that anyone who sees this picture, and reads this description can understand a tiny bit about how I am feeling, and that there might not appear to be anything wrong with me, and I might appear as if I don't have a care in the world, but appearances, with depression, are very rarely what they seem.

  

Juvenile Indian Cuckoo (Cuculus micropterus)

  

The generic name derives from the onomatopoeic name for a cuckoo, based on the bird's call, in Old English = coccou or cukkow, in French = coucou and in Greek = kokkux or kokkyx. The specific name results from a combination of two Greek words: micro = little or very small and ptero = wing. Together, the name literally means "small winged cuckoo" which is reflected in an early common name.

 

Other common names: Short-winged Cuckoo, Indian Hawk-Cuckoo.

 

Taxonomy: Cuculus micropterus Gould 1837, Himalayas.

 

Sub-species & Distribution: Two races are recognised, both of which are found in this region:

 

micropterus Gould 1837, Himalayas. Ranges from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand, east to E China, Mongolia, Korea and E Russia. It winters south to the Andamans and Nicobars, West Malaysia, Singapore, Sumatra, Java, Borneo and the Philippines.

 

concretus S. Müller 1845, Borneo. This smaller resident form is found in Borneo, Sumatra and Java. It is also found from Phattalung, in S Thailand, south to Johore (Medway & Wells 1976).

 

Similar species: It is very similar to two other Cuculus species. The Common Cuckoo C. canorus does not occur in this region. The Oriental Cuckoo C. saturatus is a rare winter visitor and passage migrant. Both these birds do not have a broad black sub-terminal band, tipped with white, on the tail.

 

Size: 12½ to 13" (31 to 33 cm). Sexes differ slightly.

 

Description: Male: Head and neck dark ashy-grey tinged with brown, paler on the lores, chin, throat and upper breast. Remaining upperparts, scapulars and wing coverts dark ashy-brown, the primaries and secondaries similar but barred with white along the inner webs. Tail dark ashy-brown with a broad black sub-terminal band and tipped with white. Basally, the tail feathers have a series of alternating white and black bands, more on the outer feathers than the inner ones, often with white or rufous notches along both edges. Lower breast and abdomen creamy-white, boldly barred with dark blackish-brown bars, the vent, axillaries, undertail and underwing coverts more narrowly barred with blackish-brown.

 

Female: Very like the male, with the throat and breast tinged with rufous.

 

Immature birds: Juvenile birds appear largely white to rufous-white with dark brown bars on the head, nape, upper back, chin, throat, sides of neck and breast, the face and ear coverts less heavily marked. Remaining upperparts, including wing coverts more rufous, the feathers broadly edged with rufous-buff and tipped with white. Lower breast, belly and vent pale buffy-white, broadly barred with blackish-brown, more so on the flanks. The tail appears largely to be barred with rufous and black, with more numerous bars than adult have. They, too, like the adults, have a broad black sub-terminal tail band.

 

Gradually, the white and rufous edges on the upperparts disappear, the throat and upper breast turn ashy, and the bars on the underparts become more defined. Within five months of leaving the nest, the young are almost in adult plumage, the rufous band across the upper breast being ultimately lost except in females. However, they often have rufous or whitish tips to the flight feathers and upperwing coverts (Oates & Blanford 1895).

 

Soft parts: Iris dark yellowish-brown, orbital ring orange-yellow. Upper mandible black, lower mandible greenish-horn tipped with black, gape orange-yellow. Legs and feet orange-yellow, claws black.

 

Status, Habitat & Behaviour: A common winter visitor and passage migrant, is found throughout Singapore, the earliest date being 14th September, the latest date 19th May (Wang & Hails 2007). Between these two dates, this bird has not been recorded in Singapore, which suggests that C. m. concretus, the resident form found south to Johore in west Malaysia, does not occur in Singapore.

 

The nominate form is a vagrant to Borneo where C. m. concretus, a smaller and darker form, is also the resident race (Smythies & Davison 1999), up to 1100 m (3300 feet) in the Kelabit Highlands of Sarawak. In Sabah, it is found in primary, peatswamp and logged forests (Sheldon et. al. 2001).

 

In Singapore, it is more usually found in forests, along forest edges, in mangroves, secondary scrub and, occasionally, in gardens and parks (Wang & Hails 2007). In West Malaysia, both resident and migrant forms are found to 760 m (2500 feet), in the canopy of lowland and hill forests, as well as on offshore islands (Medway & Wells 1976). In India and Nepal, where it is very common in summer, it can be found in fairly wooded country to 2300 m, even up to 3700 m (Baker 1927).

 

A solitary and shy bird, it is generally found singly and easily overlooked, keeping to the treetops or flying hawk-like over the forest canopy. During the breeding season, however, it becomes very vocal, calling incessantly during the early hours of dawn and again at dusk, far into the night, especially on moonlit nights, even calling on the wing during courtship chases (Ali & Ripley 1969).

 

Food: It mainly eats caterpillars, ants, locustids, fruit, butterflies and grasshoppers (Smythies 1968), sometimes coming down to the ground, hopping about awkwardly to pick up insects from within the leaf litter (Ali & Ripley 1969). In Singapore, it was found feeding at a termite hatch (Subaraj 2008).

 

Voice and Calls: In India, its most common four-note call is a fine melodious pleasing whistle from which evolved some of its popular local names, Bo-kota-ko in Bengali (Jerdon 1862), Kyphulpakka (Oates & Blanford 1895), and the "Broken Pekoe" bird in English (Baker & Inglis 1930). The call has also been variously annotated by several other authors: as "crossword puzzle" (Ali & Ripley 1969), a far-carrying wa-wa-wa-wu (Medway & Wells 1976), a flute-like ko-ko-ta-ko (King, Woodcock & Dickinson 1975), as reminiscent of the beginning of Beethoven's 5th symphony (Sheldon et. al. 2001). There are several other interpretations of its call (Tsang 2010).

 

In the Kelabit Highlands of Sarawak, its call was continuously heard in late February over sub-montane forest at 900 m (3000 feet). The loud four-note call was fairly musical, koh-koh-koh-kok, the first three syllables on the same pitch, the third sometimes higher, the last note always lower. It was persistently uttered for several minutes at a time, each burst of four-note lasting slightly over one second with about two seconds between each burst, occasional with a fifteen to thirty seconds break between each set of notes. Once or twice, it made a more rounded fluting and musical variation of the same four notes. Most of the time, the call was echoed, almost synchronously, by a four-note squeaking call, much more shrill and softer, sometimes in a lower key (Sreedharan 2005).

 

It usually calls from the tops of tall trees or when flying from tree to tree (Jerdon 1862), and much more persistently during breeding season, often calling all night long (Smythies 1968). The call is uttered intermittently for hours on end, for more than five minutes at a stretch, at about 23 calls per minute, and, while courting a nearby female, the wings are dropped, the tail spread wide and erected, the bird pivoting from side to side (Ali & Ripley 1969).

 

Breeding: Very little is known of the breeding of this Cuckoo. It is brood parasitic and, instead of building its own nest, it surreptitiously lays eggs in the nests of several host species, its choice of victim varying from location to location. The nominate form, C. m. micropterus, does not breed in our area. The local form, C. m. concretus breeds in peninsular Malaysia.

 

The breeding season varies from May to July in northern China, March to August in India, January to June in Burma and January to August in the Malay Peninsula.

 

In India, the host species are said to be Streaked Laughing-Thrush Garrulax lineatus, White-bellied Redstart Hodgsonius phoenicuroides, Indian Bush-Chat Saxicola torquata and Indian Blue Robin Luscinia brunnea, all of which lay blue or bluish eggs, similar to those of this Cuckoo (Baker 1927).

 

Additionally, it is said to victimise species such as Fork-tailed Drongo Dicrurus adsimilis, Ashy Drongo Dicrurus leucophaeus but other species, "in whose nests putative eggs of this cuckoo are claimed to have been found, or have been observed feeding its young", include the Asian Paradise-flycatcher Terpsiphone paradisi, the Streaked Spiderhunter Arachnothera magna and, in Sri Lanka, the Black-hooded Oriole Oriolus xanthornus (Ali & Ripley 1969).

 

Given the difficulty in determining the identity of young cuckoos, it is hardly surprising that these two authors have included a caveat, stating that the available data on the breeding biology of this bird, indeed, of all parasitic cuckoos are, "by and large, meagre, and of dubious authenticity. Most accounts are vague, largely conjectural and often contradictory. The whole subject calls for a more methodical de novo re-investigation".

 

Currently, this picture (Ong 2008), of a juvenile Indian Cuckoo fostered by a Black-and-yellow Broadbill Eurylaimus ochromalus provides the only incontrovertible evidence of a confirmed host in Malaysia. In Amurland, Siberia, its main host is the Brown Shrike Lanius cristatus, the cuckoo's eggs hatching in about 12 days, two to three days sooner than that of the shrike (Ali & Ripley 1969).

 

Oviduct eggs from females are said to be of two types: whitish with small reddish-brown dots, closely matching drongo eggs, or pale greyish-blue, like those of the Turdinae, the eggs c. 25 x 19 mm in size (Ali & Ripley 1969).

 

Migration: Seventeen night-flying migrants, attributed to C. m. micropterus, were caught at Fraser's Hill from 10th October to 27th November and 7th to 14th April between 1966 and 1969. Birds on passage were also collected in November at One Fathom Bank Lighthouse and on Rembia and Pisang islands. None of these belonged to the resident races have been handled (Medway & Wells 1976).

 

Moult: In the Family Cuculidae, moult strategy is quite complex, occasionally suspended. The primaries moult from two centres, P1 to P4 descendantly, P5 to P10 ascendantly. The secondaries, too, have two centres, S1 to S5 centripetally, S6 to S9 ascendant and alternate. Tail moult is irregular. They moult twice annually, undergoing a partial summer moult and a complete winter moult which finishes in early spring (Baker 1993).

 

None of the migrant birds from the off-shore sources were in moult. The migrants caught at Fraser's Hill in autumn were all in post-juvenile or adult plumage, indicating that the annual moult is completed in the breeding grounds, before they reach winter quarters (Medway & Wells 1976).

  

Bonhams : the Zoute Sale

Estimated : € 50.000 - 80.000

Sold for € 51.750

 

Zoute Grand Prix 2018

Knokke - Zoute

België - Belgium

October 2018

 

'The Mustang can be tailored to be anything from a gentle in-town ladies' car to an impressive 130mph highway performer. Undoubtedly its almost infinitely variable personality is one of the car's chief attractions...' - William S Stone, 'The Ford Mustang'.

 

Ford created a new class of car almost overnight with the introduction of the Mustang sports coupé part way through the 1964 season, catching the rest of the US auto industry off guard. Brainchild of Lee Iacocca - subsequent saviour of the Chrysler Corporation – the Mustang is one of the most remarkable automotive success stories of modern times and arguably the pinnacle of his long career with Ford. Aimed at the affluent young, for whom a car was as much a lifestyle statement as means of transport, the Mustang succeeded brilliantly, achieving sales in excess of a quarter million by the end of '64. This remarkable debut was followed by a staggering 524,791 sales in 1965, earning Ford a fortune.

 

The secret of the Mustang's success was a broad appeal that extended beyond the target market thanks to a great value-for-money package combining sporty looks, decent economy and brisk performance. Mustangs could be ordered in specifications ranging from six-cylinder 'economy' to V8-powered luxury, while customers could choose from an extensive range of factory options, with the result that seldom are two Mustangs identical.

 

In 1994, Mr John Wilson from Hillsborough, California was looking for an original rust-free, undamaged and all matching numbers Ford Mustang. He found this car in San Francisco and purchased it from the original owner. The Mustang had covered relatively few miles and had not been run for the preceding ten years. Mr Wilson drove the Mustang for three years, and in 1998 decided to restore it to factory-original show standard, commissioning one of the West Coast's most renowned specialists, Potts Restorations of Burlingame, to carry out the work. Working with Potts, the owner spared no expense in his pursuit of perfection. The Potts team methodically disassembled the Mustang down to the bar bodyshell and carefully worked their way upwards, incorporating all 'new-old-stock' parts. Noteworthy features include automatic transmission, power brakes, power steering, electric hood, radio, 'Pony' wheels, and whitewall tyres.

 

This car is fully matching and correct in every detail, having been restored to the same state it left the factory in 1965. Completed in 2000, the Mustang was shown widely across the USA for the next few years, winning the 'Best in Show' award at every event entered. For two years in a row, it was the MCS Grand National winner as the best Mustang in the country – the ultimate accolade. Other important awards include: Gold AACA Grand National (2001, 2002); ISCA Best Antique Restored Senior Award (2002); ISCA Eastern Division Class Champion (2003); and Carolina Grand National Gold (2000-2003). Over 30 awards come with the car, which 15 years later is still in effectively 'as new' condition, exactly as it left the factory in 1965. Offered with California Certificate of Title and Netherlands registration papers, this breathtaking Mustang is worthy of the closest inspection.

 

CANOGA PARK- The Los Angeles Fire Department battled a Major Emergency Structure Fire in the west San Fernando Valley on Monday, October 18, 2021.

 

The fire at 8423 Canoga Avenue in Canoga Park, was first noted at 12:18 PM by an LAFD Paramedic Ambulance crew returning from a nearby emergency. Within moments of their reporting the fire, flames were through the roof of the 125' x 125' one-story industrial building that also housed an adjoining but unrelated business at 8425 Canoga Avenue.

 

As that first-arriving LAFD Paramedic crew circled the structure to gain situational awareness and guide fellow responders, they encountered the first of three adult male civilians with severe burn injuries outside the burning building. Two proved to be in critical condition and the other in serious condition. All three were taken to area hospitals. Sadly, one of the critically injured men died later while undergoing hospital care.

 

The rapid spread of intense flames and multiple explosions heard within the building guided first-arriving firefighters to quickly commence defensive operations, applying multiple large diameter hose streams from the exterior, including two from atop extended aerial ladders, to prevent flames from extending beyond the well involved structure.

 

With the exception of a forty square-foot section of the roof at 8427 Canoga Avenue destroyed by surface fire, the tactics proved successful in holding the blaze to the pair of unrelated businesses under one roof at 8423 and 8425 Canoga Avenue.

 

It took 150 Los Angeles Firefighter just 75 minutes to extinguish the flames.

 

Firefighters remained active through the night extinguishing hotspots and minimizing hazards at the structurally compromised building with the help of LAFD's robotic firefighting vehicle and heavy equipment.

 

At daylight Tuesday, LAFD crews resumed a systematic search within the largely destroyed premises. During their methodical search among tons of burnt debris inside the structure, firefighters discovered the remains of an adult male, bringing the overall patient count to four, with a total of two deceased and two remaining hospitalized.

 

No other injuries were reported.

 

Scientific testing of materials inside the building of fire origin yielded positive results for hemp, and it appears that the operation inside involved the extraction from hemp, not dissimilar to that used in the Butane Honey Oil extraction process.

 

Though the business was a legal enterprise, the operation inside appeared to be illegal, as it did not adhere to established permitting processes and safety requirements.

 

Pursuant to protocol, the fire's cause remains the focus of a joint active investigation by the Los Angeles Fire Department, Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Interagency Metropolitan Police Apprehension Crime Task Force (L.A. Impact).

 

A positive identification of the dead men, as well as the cause, time and manner of their death will be determined by the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner.

 

© Photo by Mike Meadows

 

LAFD Incident 101821-0791

 

Connect with us: LAFD.ORG | News | Facebook | Instagram | Reddit | Twitter: @LAFD @LAFDtalk

thegoldensieve.com

 

A good thing continues

 

Some six months ago, I posted almost 100 images and a few thoughts I felt were missing from the many existing RX1 reviews. The outpouring of support and interest in that article was very gratifying. When I published, I had used the camera for six full months, enough time to come to a view of its strengths and weaknesses and to produce a small portfolio of good images, but not enough time to see the full picture (pun intended). In the following six months, I have used the camera at least as frequently as in the first six and have produced another small set of good images. It should be noted that my usage of the RX1 in the last six (and especially in the last 3) months has involved less travel and more time with the family and around the house; I will share relatively few of these images but will spend some time sharing my impressions of its functionality for family snapshots as I am sure there is some interest. And let it be said here: one of the primary motivations to purchase the camera was to take more photos with the family, and after one full year I can confidently say: money well spent.

The A7/r game-changer?

 

In the past six months, Sony have announced and released two full-frame, interchangeable lens cameras that clearly take design cues from the RX1: the A7 and the A7r. These cameras are innovative and highly capable and, as such, are in the midst of taking the photography world by storm. I think they are compelling enough cameras that I wonder whether Sony is wasting its energy continuing to develop further A-mount cameras. Sony deserve credit for a bold strategy—many companies would have been content to allow the success of the the RX1 (and RX1R) generate further sales before pushing further into the white space left unexplored by camera makers with less ambition.This is not the place to detail the relative advantages and disadvantages of the RX1 versus the A7/r except to make the following point. I currently use a Nikon D800 and an RX1: were I to sell both and purchase the A7r + 35mm f/2.8 I would in many ways lose nothing by way of imaging capability or lens compatibility but would pocket the surplus $1250-1750. Indeed this loyal Nikon owner thought long and hard about doing so, which speaks to the strategic importance of these cameras for a company trying to make inroads into a highly concentrated market.Ultimately, I opted to hang onto the two cameras I have (although this decision is one that I revisit time and time again) and continue to use them as I have for the past year. Let me give you a quick flavor of why.

The RX1 is smaller and more discrete

 

This is a small a point, but my gut reaction to the A7/r was: much smaller than the D800, not as small as the RX1. The EVF atop the A7/r and the larger profile of interchangeable mount lenses means that I would not be able to slip the A7/r into a pocket the way I can the RX1. Further, by virtue of using the EVF and its loud mechanical shutter, the A7/r just isn’t as stealthy as the RX1. Finally, f/2 beats the pants off of f/2.8 at the same or smaller size.At this point, some of you may be saying, “Future Sony releases will allow you to get a body without an EVF and get an f/2 lens that has a slimmer profile, etc, etc.” And that’s just the point: to oversimplify things, the reason I am keeping my RX1 is that Sony currently offers something close to an A7 body without a built-in EVF and with a slimmer profile 35mm f/2.

The D800 has important functional advantages

 

On the other side of the spectrum, the AF speed of the A7/r just isn’t going to match the D800, especially when the former is equipped with a Nikon lens and F-mount adapter. EVFs cannot yet match the experience of looking through the prism and the lens (I expect they will match soon, but aren’t there yet). What’s more, I have made such an investment in Nikon glass that I can’t yet justify purchasing an adapter for a Sony mount or selling them all for Sony’s offerings (many of which aren’t to market yet).Now, all of these are minor points and I think all of them disappear with an A8r, but they add up to something major: I have two cameras very well suited to two different types of shooting, and I ask myself if I gain or lose by getting something in between—something that wasn’t quite a pocket shooter and something that was quite a DSLR? You can imagine, however, that if I were coming to the market without a D800 and an RX1, that my decision would be far different: dollar for dollar, the A7/r would be a no-brainer.During the moments when I consider selling to grab an A7r, I keep coming back to a thought I had a month or so before the RX1 was announced. At that time I was considering something like the NEX cameras with a ZM 21mm f/2.8 and I said in my head, “I wish someone would make a carry-around camera with a full frame sensor and a fixed 35mm f/2.8 or f/2.” Now you understand how attractive the RX1 is to me and what a ridiculously high bar exists for another camera system to reach.

Okay, so what is different from the last review?

 

For one, I had an issue with the camera’s AF motor failing to engage and giving me an E61:00 error. I had to send it out to Sony for repairs (via extended warranty and service plan). I detailed my experience with Sony Service here [insert link] and I write to you as a very satisfied customer. That is to say, I have 3 years left on a 4 year + accidental damage warranty and I feel confident enough in that coverage to say that I will have this beauty in working order for at least another 3 years.For two, I’ve spent significantly less time thinking of this camera as a DSLR replacement and have instead started to develop a very different way of shooting with it. The activation barrier to taking a shot with my D800 is quite high. Beyond having to bring a large camera wherever you go and have it in hand, a proper camera takes two hands and full attention to produce an image. I shoot slowly and methodically and often from a tripod with the D800. In contrast, I can pull the RX1 out, pop off the lens cap, line up and take a shot with one hand (often with a toddler in the other). This fosters a totally different type of photography.

My “be-there” camera

 

The have-everywhere camera that gives DSLR type controls to one-handed shooting lets me pursue images that happen very quickly or images that might not normally meet the standards of “drag-the-DSLR-out-of-the-bag.” Many of those images you’ll see on this post. A full year of shooting and I can say this with great confidence: the RX1 is a terrific mash-up of point-and-shoot and DSLR not just in image quality and features, but primarily in the product it helps me create. To take this thinking a bit further: I find myself even processing images from the RX1 differently than I would from my DSLR. So much so that I have strongly considered starting a tumblr and posting JPEGs directly from the RX1 via my phone or an iPad rather than running the bulk of them through Lightroom, onto Flickr and then on the blog (really this is just a matter of time, stay tuned, and those readers who have experience with tumblr, cloud image storage and editing, etc, etc, please contact me, I want to pick your brain).Put simply, I capture more spontaneous and beautiful “moments” than I might have otherwise. Photography is very much an exercise in “f/8 and be there,” and the RX1 is my go-to “be there” camera.

The family camera

 

I mentioned earlier that I justified the purchase of the RX1 partly as a camera to be used to document the family moments into which a DSLR doesn’t neatly fit. Over the past year I’ve collected thousands and thousands of family images with the RX1. The cold hard truth is that many of those photos could be better if I’d taken a full DSLR kit with me to the park or the beach or the grocery store each time. The RX1 is a difficult camera to use on a toddler (or any moving subject for that matter); autofocus isn’t as fast as a professional DSLR, it’s difficult to perfectly compose via an LCD (especially in bright sunlight), but despite these shortcomings, it’s been an incredibly useful family camera. There are simply so many beautiful moments where I had the RX1 over my shoulder, ready to go that whatever difficulties exist relative to a DSLR, those pale in comparison to the power of it’s convenience. The best camera is the one in your hand.

Where to go from here.

 

So what is the value of these RX1 going forward, especially in a world of the A7/r and it’s yet-to-be-born siblings without an EVF and a pancake lens? Frankly, at its current price (which is quite fair when you consider the value of the the body and the lens) I see precious little room for an independent offering versus a mirrorless, interchangeable lens system with the same image quality in a package just as small. That doesn’t mean Sony won’t make an RX2 or an RX1 Mark II (have a look at it’s other product lines to see how many SKUs are maintained despite low demand). Instead, I see the RX1 as a bridge that needed to exist for engineers, managers, and the market to make it to the A7/r and it’s descendants.A Facebook friend recently paid me a great compliment; he said something like, “Justin, via your blog, you’ve sold a ton of RX1 cameras.” Indeed, despite my efforts not to be a salesman, I think he’s right: I have and would continue to recommend this camera.The true value of the RX1 going forward is for those of us who have the thing on our shoulders; and yes, if you have an investment in and a love for a DSLR system, there’s still tremendous value in getting one, slinging it over your shoulder, and heading out into the wide, bright world; A7/r or no, this is just an unbelievably capable camera.

CANOGA PARK- The Los Angeles Fire Department battled a Major Emergency Structure Fire in the west San Fernando Valley on Monday, October 18, 2021.

 

The fire at 8423 Canoga Avenue in Canoga Park, was first noted at 12:18 PM by an LAFD Paramedic Ambulance crew returning from a nearby emergency. Within moments of their reporting the fire, flames were through the roof of the 125' x 125' one-story industrial building that also housed an adjoining but unrelated business at 8425 Canoga Avenue.

 

As that first-arriving LAFD Paramedic crew circled the structure to gain situational awareness and guide fellow responders, they encountered the first of three adult male civilians with severe burn injuries outside the burning building. Two proved to be in critical condition and the other in serious condition. All three were taken to area hospitals. Sadly, one of the critically injured men died later while undergoing hospital care.

 

The rapid spread of intense flames and multiple explosions heard within the building guided first-arriving firefighters to quickly commence defensive operations, applying multiple large diameter hose streams from the exterior, including two from atop extended aerial ladders, to prevent flames from extending beyond the well involved structure.

 

With the exception of a forty square-foot section of the roof at 8427 Canoga Avenue destroyed by surface fire, the tactics proved successful in holding the blaze to the pair of unrelated businesses under one roof at 8423 and 8425 Canoga Avenue.

 

It took 150 Los Angeles Firefighter just 75 minutes to extinguish the flames.

 

Firefighters remained active through the night extinguishing hotspots and minimizing hazards at the structurally compromised building with the help of LAFD's robotic firefighting vehicle and heavy equipment.

 

At daylight Tuesday, LAFD crews resumed a systematic search within the largely destroyed premises. During their methodical search among tons of burnt debris inside the structure, firefighters discovered the remains of an adult male, bringing the overall patient count to four, with a total of two deceased and two remaining hospitalized.

 

No other injuries were reported.

 

Scientific testing of materials inside the building of fire origin yielded positive results for hemp, and it appears that the operation inside involved the extraction from hemp, not dissimilar to that used in the Butane Honey Oil extraction process.

 

Though the business was a legal enterprise, the operation inside appeared to be illegal, as it did not adhere to established permitting processes and safety requirements.

 

Pursuant to protocol, the fire's cause remains the focus of a joint active investigation by the Los Angeles Fire Department, Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Interagency Metropolitan Police Apprehension Crime Task Force (L.A. Impact).

 

A positive identification of the dead men, as well as the cause, time and manner of their death will be determined by the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner.

 

© Photo by Mike Meadows

 

LAFD Incident 101821-0791

 

Connect with us: LAFD.ORG | News | Facebook | Instagram | Reddit | Twitter: @LAFD @LAFDtalk

The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death are a series of nineteen (twenty were originally constructed) intricately designed dollhouse-style dioramas created by Frances Glessner Lee (1878–1962), a pioneer in forensic science. Glessner Lee used her inheritance to establish a department of legal medicine at Harvard Medical School in 1936, and donated the first of the Nutshell Studies in 1946 for use in lectures on the subject of crime scene investigation. In 1966, the department was dissolved, and the dioramas went to the Maryland Medical Examiner’s Office in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. where they are on permanent loan and still used for forensic seminars.

 

The dioramas are detailed representations of death scenes that are composites of actual cases, created by Glessner Lee on a 1 inch to 1 foot (1:12) scale. She attended autopsies to ensure accuracy, and her attention to detail extended to having a wall calendar include the pages after the month of the incident, constructing openable windows, and wearing out-of-date clothing to obtain realistically worn fabric. The dioramas show tawdry and, in many cases, disheveled living spaces very different from Glessner Lee's own background. The dead include prostitutes and victims of domestic violence.

 

Glessner Lee called them the Nutshell Studies because the purpose of a forensic investigation is said to be to "convict the guilty, clear the innocent, and find the truth in a nutshell." Students were instructed to study the scenes methodically—Glessner Lee suggested moving the eyes in a clockwise spiral—and draw conclusions from the visual evidence. At conferences hosted by Glessner Lee, prominent crime-scene investigators were given 90 minutes to study each diorama.

thegoldensieve.com

 

A good thing continues

 

Some six months ago, I posted almost 100 images and a few thoughts I felt were missing from the many existing RX1 reviews. The outpouring of support and interest in that article was very gratifying. When I published, I had used the camera for six full months, enough time to come to a view of its strengths and weaknesses and to produce a small portfolio of good images, but not enough time to see the full picture (pun intended). In the following six months, I have used the camera at least as frequently as in the first six and have produced another small set of good images. It should be noted that my usage of the RX1 in the last six (and especially in the last 3) months has involved less travel and more time with the family and around the house; I will share relatively few of these images but will spend some time sharing my impressions of its functionality for family snapshots as I am sure there is some interest. And let it be said here: one of the primary motivations to purchase the camera was to take more photos with the family, and after one full year I can confidently say: money well spent.

The A7/r game-changer?

 

In the past six months, Sony have announced and released two full-frame, interchangeable lens cameras that clearly take design cues from the RX1: the A7 and the A7r. These cameras are innovative and highly capable and, as such, are in the midst of taking the photography world by storm. I think they are compelling enough cameras that I wonder whether Sony is wasting its energy continuing to develop further A-mount cameras. Sony deserve credit for a bold strategy—many companies would have been content to allow the success of the the RX1 (and RX1R) generate further sales before pushing further into the white space left unexplored by camera makers with less ambition.This is not the place to detail the relative advantages and disadvantages of the RX1 versus the A7/r except to make the following point. I currently use a Nikon D800 and an RX1: were I to sell both and purchase the A7r + 35mm f/2.8 I would in many ways lose nothing by way of imaging capability or lens compatibility but would pocket the surplus $1250-1750. Indeed this loyal Nikon owner thought long and hard about doing so, which speaks to the strategic importance of these cameras for a company trying to make inroads into a highly concentrated market.Ultimately, I opted to hang onto the two cameras I have (although this decision is one that I revisit time and time again) and continue to use them as I have for the past year. Let me give you a quick flavor of why.

The RX1 is smaller and more discrete

 

This is a small a point, but my gut reaction to the A7/r was: much smaller than the D800, not as small as the RX1. The EVF atop the A7/r and the larger profile of interchangeable mount lenses means that I would not be able to slip the A7/r into a pocket the way I can the RX1. Further, by virtue of using the EVF and its loud mechanical shutter, the A7/r just isn’t as stealthy as the RX1. Finally, f/2 beats the pants off of f/2.8 at the same or smaller size.At this point, some of you may be saying, “Future Sony releases will allow you to get a body without an EVF and get an f/2 lens that has a slimmer profile, etc, etc.” And that’s just the point: to oversimplify things, the reason I am keeping my RX1 is that Sony currently offers something close to an A7 body without a built-in EVF and with a slimmer profile 35mm f/2.

The D800 has important functional advantages

 

On the other side of the spectrum, the AF speed of the A7/r just isn’t going to match the D800, especially when the former is equipped with a Nikon lens and F-mount adapter. EVFs cannot yet match the experience of looking through the prism and the lens (I expect they will match soon, but aren’t there yet). What’s more, I have made such an investment in Nikon glass that I can’t yet justify purchasing an adapter for a Sony mount or selling them all for Sony’s offerings (many of which aren’t to market yet).Now, all of these are minor points and I think all of them disappear with an A8r, but they add up to something major: I have two cameras very well suited to two different types of shooting, and I ask myself if I gain or lose by getting something in between—something that wasn’t quite a pocket shooter and something that was quite a DSLR? You can imagine, however, that if I were coming to the market without a D800 and an RX1, that my decision would be far different: dollar for dollar, the A7/r would be a no-brainer.During the moments when I consider selling to grab an A7r, I keep coming back to a thought I had a month or so before the RX1 was announced. At that time I was considering something like the NEX cameras with a ZM 21mm f/2.8 and I said in my head, “I wish someone would make a carry-around camera with a full frame sensor and a fixed 35mm f/2.8 or f/2.” Now you understand how attractive the RX1 is to me and what a ridiculously high bar exists for another camera system to reach.

Okay, so what is different from the last review?

 

For one, I had an issue with the camera’s AF motor failing to engage and giving me an E61:00 error. I had to send it out to Sony for repairs (via extended warranty and service plan). I detailed my experience with Sony Service here [insert link] and I write to you as a very satisfied customer. That is to say, I have 3 years left on a 4 year + accidental damage warranty and I feel confident enough in that coverage to say that I will have this beauty in working order for at least another 3 years.For two, I’ve spent significantly less time thinking of this camera as a DSLR replacement and have instead started to develop a very different way of shooting with it. The activation barrier to taking a shot with my D800 is quite high. Beyond having to bring a large camera wherever you go and have it in hand, a proper camera takes two hands and full attention to produce an image. I shoot slowly and methodically and often from a tripod with the D800. In contrast, I can pull the RX1 out, pop off the lens cap, line up and take a shot with one hand (often with a toddler in the other). This fosters a totally different type of photography.

My “be-there” camera

 

The have-everywhere camera that gives DSLR type controls to one-handed shooting lets me pursue images that happen very quickly or images that might not normally meet the standards of “drag-the-DSLR-out-of-the-bag.” Many of those images you’ll see on this post. A full year of shooting and I can say this with great confidence: the RX1 is a terrific mash-up of point-and-shoot and DSLR not just in image quality and features, but primarily in the product it helps me create. To take this thinking a bit further: I find myself even processing images from the RX1 differently than I would from my DSLR. So much so that I have strongly considered starting a tumblr and posting JPEGs directly from the RX1 via my phone or an iPad rather than running the bulk of them through Lightroom, onto Flickr and then on the blog (really this is just a matter of time, stay tuned, and those readers who have experience with tumblr, cloud image storage and editing, etc, etc, please contact me, I want to pick your brain).Put simply, I capture more spontaneous and beautiful “moments” than I might have otherwise. Photography is very much an exercise in “f/8 and be there,” and the RX1 is my go-to “be there” camera.

The family camera

 

I mentioned earlier that I justified the purchase of the RX1 partly as a camera to be used to document the family moments into which a DSLR doesn’t neatly fit. Over the past year I’ve collected thousands and thousands of family images with the RX1. The cold hard truth is that many of those photos could be better if I’d taken a full DSLR kit with me to the park or the beach or the grocery store each time. The RX1 is a difficult camera to use on a toddler (or any moving subject for that matter); autofocus isn’t as fast as a professional DSLR, it’s difficult to perfectly compose via an LCD (especially in bright sunlight), but despite these shortcomings, it’s been an incredibly useful family camera. There are simply so many beautiful moments where I had the RX1 over my shoulder, ready to go that whatever difficulties exist relative to a DSLR, those pale in comparison to the power of it’s convenience. The best camera is the one in your hand.

Where to go from here.

 

So what is the value of these RX1 going forward, especially in a world of the A7/r and it’s yet-to-be-born siblings without an EVF and a pancake lens? Frankly, at its current price (which is quite fair when you consider the value of the the body and the lens) I see precious little room for an independent offering versus a mirrorless, interchangeable lens system with the same image quality in a package just as small. That doesn’t mean Sony won’t make an RX2 or an RX1 Mark II (have a look at it’s other product lines to see how many SKUs are maintained despite low demand). Instead, I see the RX1 as a bridge that needed to exist for engineers, managers, and the market to make it to the A7/r and it’s descendants.A Facebook friend recently paid me a great compliment; he said something like, “Justin, via your blog, you’ve sold a ton of RX1 cameras.” Indeed, despite my efforts not to be a salesman, I think he’s right: I have and would continue to recommend this camera.The true value of the RX1 going forward is for those of us who have the thing on our shoulders; and yes, if you have an investment in and a love for a DSLR system, there’s still tremendous value in getting one, slinging it over your shoulder, and heading out into the wide, bright world; A7/r or no, this is just an unbelievably capable camera.

"The Badlands National Park: Paul Ogren and his hat" Paul is our resident bird expert, though he hesitates to call himself an ornithologist. A gentlemen's gentleman, he is wry, methodical, irreverent, and incredibly well versed in the variations of flighted species and their respective ethologies. On the subject of his hat, he bought it for less than five dollars in east Asia more than ten years ago. It, like he, has traveled the world over.

"The film, ultimately, is a celebration of Hunter and his language and his discovery of his voice. It's before Hunter became Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. I think he'd be very proud." – Johnny Depp on The Rum Diary

 

This one's for Hunter.

The Rum Diary, which is based on Hunter S. Thompson's only novel, follows Paul Kemp (Johnny Depp), a young American journalist who is in San Juan, Puerto Rico, having accepted a position at the local newspaper, the San Juan Star, for which he is assigned to write the horoscopes and report on the bowling alley beat. New in town, and with lots of drinks and other questionable substances on the side, Paul observes the locals, from the privileged and untouchable, like expatriate Sanderson (Aaron Eckhart), to the struggling anonymous and poverty-stricken. With the help of his newspaper comrades, Sala (Michael Rispoli) and Moberg (Giovanni Ribisi), Paul uncovers the darker side of Sanderson's wealth and finds purpose and direction for his career. A project close to Johnny's heart, The Rum Diary pays tribute and fulfills a promise made to his friend, offering a rare glimpse into Hunter Thompson's world before he became the great doctor of Gonzo journalism.

 

It was the start of something good.

Johnny was thrilled to meet Hunter S. Thompson, one of his favorite writers, in the '90s when he was slated to play the author's alter ego in Terry Gilliam's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. To prepare for the role, Johnny lived in the writer's basement on Owl Creek Farm for a few months, absorbing like a sponge everything he could about the man. The two discovered that they had plenty in common, from their Southern roots and habit of questioning everything to their love of language and books. "Hunter was, prior to even meeting him, he was somebody that I greatly admired–his whole way of life, his whole sort of way of moving forward in this kind of strange little soup bowl of existence," Johnny explains. "When I met him, there was an instant click between the two of us. From that second on, it never let up. We were very close until the moment of his exit." It was while researching for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas that Johnny discovered The Rum Diary manuscript, written in 1959, stored in an old box in the basement. When they dusted it off, the writer wanted to turn it into a movie immediately. The actor suggested getting the story published first.

  

After The Rum Diary was published, Hunter Thompson and Johnny held informal meetings together with potential film producers and other contributors who could help get the movie made. "I had no idea what the hell to believe because Depp was charming and unfailingly polite, and then there was some dude with a camera. And, there was the great Hunter Thompson, and you absolutely could not understand a word that came out of his mouth," Producer Holly Sorenson remembers. "Just seeing their relationship, it was just very sweet. It was a very pure thing. It wasn't a business arrangement. It wasn't someone trying to do someone's book. They had real love between the two of them. I think that was obviously, as an observer, very seductive. Even if I didn't know how this book was going to turn into a movie, we had to try."

 

They chose Bruce Robinson to write and direct the film. Best known for creating the cult classic Withnail and I, one of Johnny's favorite movies, Bruce Robinson hadn't made a movie in more than 20 years. Johnny worked his magic to lure him out of retirement for The Rum Diary. "Adapting the book, you have to absorb what the book is, throw it away, and then rewrite it," Bruce Robinson says. "Hopefully, we did the vernacular of Hunter but not copy what he's written." He and Johnny scouted locations in Puerto Rico for the movie, and during one trip, their little plane stopped running mid-air. Just before panic struck, the engine perked up again. They both cracked up laughing and didn't talk about what happened until they were safely on the ground. I think the bond between these two goes well beyond mutual admiration.

 

Then something awful happened.

Hunter Thompson committed suicide in February 2005. Per his wishes, Johnny contracted the construction of a Gonzo monument (featuring the Gonzo double fist) to hold a cannon, from which the writer's ashes would blast out and over his farm. "All I'm doing is trying to make sure his last wish comes true," Johnny says of the plans. "I want to send my pal out the way he wants to go out." The private ceremony was a moving, celebratory one attended by Hunter Thompson's close friends and family, with readings of his work, his favorite music playing, and plenty of fireworks. From a height of 153 feet, the cannon sent him off in Hunter style.

 

The show must go on.

"The idea of The Rum Diary as a film was something that was cooked up between Hunter and myself," Johnny says. "One of my last efforts to salute the man was to continue on in our venture and force him, even in death, to be a producer. We just wanted Hunter there, and he was there every day, every second, every moment." Johnny had a producer's chair made with Hunter Thompson's name on it, which was placed on set every day. The chair held a script cover and was paired with a glass of whiskey, which the cast ritualistically dipped their fingers into like holy water at the start of each day's work. "Everyone chose to do this movie because of Johnny, because of the material," Executive Producer Patrick McCormick says. "Of all the Hunter Thompson projects that he might consider, this would be the most critical one, and there was never a question that this movie was going to get made one way or another. It just allows you to keep pushing forward with great confidence, no matter what the obstacles are."

 

It only took nearly 15 years.

Before the movie came out, I read The Rum Diary and really liked the story. I was excited to see the movie but disappointed by the previews. I felt they were marketing it as Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Part 2, which I hoped would not be the case.

 

I was happy to discover that the few minutes of mayhem shown in these commercials do not represent all that happens in this movie. Despite its suggestive title, The Rum Diary shows a calmer, quieter side of Hunter Thompson. While this story is fictional, Hunter Thompson did freelance in Puerto Rico, reporting on horoscopes and bowling alleys for that paper. "Looking back, I wasn't aware then what a special place it was or a special time," he said. It's difficult to watch this movie and not hear Hunter Thompson's voice and make the connection between fiction and history. The crew used the writer's books and photographs to capture that place and time as authentically as they could. Even the cameras lean toward a documentary-style point of view. "My approach was to be so minimalistic," Director of Photography Dariusz Wolski says. "The camera doesn't exist. It's an observer of what the story's about."

 

One of the best parts of this movie is recognizing the parallels between Hunter Thompson's and Paul Kemp's journeys and the authenticity that the crew created to honor them. While all the drinking and Giovanni Ribisi's over-the-top performance as the incessantly drunk Moberg are a bit much for me at times, I love the feel of this movie. With Bruce Robinson's great script and atmospheric direction, you experience Paul Kemp's time in Puerto Rico. "The thing that I connected with with Hunter's work was his brutal honesty and imagination," Johnny says. "When you read about these amazing experiences, you think, 'That's fake. He wrote that. That's his imagination.' But when you really spend time with him, which I have, you realize it's all true." Antics aside, I love The Rum Diary's portrayal of Paul Kemp's struggle to discover the writer he wants to be. By the end of the movie, I feel a sweet sense of nostalgia for a time I'd never experienced and satisfaction in knowing that Hunter Thompson is on his way to becoming the writer we all know.

 

From what I could tell, critics were mixed about The Rum Diary. You either loved it because you love Hunter Thompson, Bruce Robinson, or Johnny Depp, or you didn't get it and were annoyed by it. I witnessed the latter for myself: After seeing The Rum Diary in the theater, I shuffled toward the exit behind two older ladies and heard one complain to the other about the movie's lack of eye candy. (Yes, she actually used the words "eye candy.") With the drunkenness, drugs, and cock fighting, I see her point. I, too, wished for more of the love story between Paul and Chanault (Amber Heard). I liked that storyline best in the book, but there are only two hours to work with for a movie.

 

I came out of the theater feeling better than those ladies did about The Rum Diary. I'm not sure if the ordinary moviegoer–who didn't know all the blood, sweat, and tears that went into making this movie or who isn't a fan of Hunter Thompson–will fully appreciate The Rum Diary for what it is. I agreed fully with what Ignaty Vishnevetsky said about it on Roger Ebert's At the Movies: "Bruce Robinson writes rich, punchy dialogue and really knows how to direct actors and create a subtle hungover atmosphere. This very funny, keenly observed movie meanders in the best way possible, moving from one misadventure to another while constantly developing its many eccentric characters." With this movie, you're just along for the ride.

 

Shooting on location was essential to achieving that feeling. "With the brilliance of these set designers, we could've built it all in the studio, but it wouldn't have had that intense heat. It wouldn't have had the smell of rot coming through the floor," Bruce Robinson explains. "It was impossible not to be there emotionally, physically, and in every way, and if we'd been on an air-conditioned sound stage, it wouldn't have been the same narrative."

 

I think The Rum Diary turned out just as Hunter Thompson would have wanted it. From the spontaneous idea between two friends in a basement to the polished finished product in theaters, he created an unforgettable experience for everyone involved. "This is really something that's come from the heart for everybody," Actor Giovanni Ribisi says. "It's really rare when something like this happens."

 

The Kitties advise not to do this at home.

Despite my aversion to excessive drug and alcohol use, I love those scenes in The Rum Diary. I credit the brilliance of the director and actors for putting me under the influence. One of my favorite scenes is after Paul (Gordon) and Sala (B.J.) acquire and use some potent eye drops from Moberg. They sit in their stuffy apartment, waiting for something to happen. When something does happen, it terrifies them both so much that they have to get out. They try to calm down during a nighttime walk with some rum in hand.

 

But the walk is not calming; it's frantic and without direction. As Sala walks straight on methodically, Paul appears behind him. Walking a faster pace, he crossing diagonally right to left and out of the shot. When Paul reappears by Sala's side, he snatches the rum bottle from Sala's hand and takes a swig without losing sight of whatever they're both seeing in the distance. The performances in this sequence are pretty priceless. Johnny's really good at playing a drugged up drunk guy.

 

I also love Puerto Rico's murky nighttime atmosphere in this scene: the solitude of the empty street and quiet sounds of the surrounding sea are completely different from the colorful vibrancy Puerto Rico emanates in daylight.

 

Johnny honors Hunter Thompson here too.

Aside from The Rum Diary and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Johnny's adoration of Hunter Thompson comes through in several other projects. Among them are:

 

- Breakfast with Hunter. Johnny shows up in Wayne Ewing's 2003 documentary about Hunter Thompson, which gives a glimpse of the every-day life of the man behind the larger-than-life persona.

- When I Die. Wayne Ewing's 2005 documentary shows how the Gonzo monument was constructed for Hunter Thompson's one-of-a-kind sendoff. While Johnny is mentioned a few times in this documentary because he's overseeing the task, he's not actually in it. But it's interesting to watch this massive 153-foot structure being built so meticulously.

- Rolling Stone. After Hunter Thompson's death, Rolling Stone ran a tribute issue (March 24, 2005), for which Johnny wrote a wonderful essay called "A Pair of Deviant Bookends."

- Gonzo: The Life of Hunter S. Thompson. In 2006, Johnny penned another touching tribute, an introduction for this book by Jann Werner and Corey Seymour.

- Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson. Alex Gibney's 2008 documentary exposes Hunter Thompson in his element, mainly focusing on a 10-year period, 1965 to 1975. Johnny lends his voice here, reading passages from the writer's work.

- Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson–Music from the Film. This collection includes music and recordings of Johnny's readings from the documentary. Johnny also wrote the extensive liner notes for this CD with his friend, author Douglas Brinkley. They did such a good job that they were nominated for a Grammy! (Do you think Johnny was as excited about that as I was?)

 

What's next?

Johnny rises from the dead and tries to adapt to living in the '70s with his dysfunctional descendants in Dark Shadows.

La vitrine du luthier - The shop-window of a violin maker (Alexandre Snitkovski), Lyon, 2006

 

Une année 2006 marquée par une exploration méthodique et passionnée de la musique classique, avec une forte dominante sur le répertoire de musique sacrée de la période baroque. Une passion un peu exclusive au goût de mes deux filles, qui préfèrent le répertoire rock auquel je les avais habitué (mais que je n'ai pas renié).

 

Le top 20 des oeuvres découvertes cette année et qui m'ont ébloui et ému (aux larmes souvent).

 

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My 2006 year was made of a methodical and passionated discover and exploration of classical music, especially sacred baroque music. A passion too exclusive in the opinion of my two daughters, who were used to my rock taste until now (but I do not lost it).

 

The top 20 of the masterpieces discovered this year and which dazzled me and touch me (often to tears) :

 

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L'ordre n'est pas significatif / The order is not significant.

 

1 - La passion selon Saint Matthieu/ St Matthew passion - JS Bach par Helmut Rilling avec la voix bouleversante de Julia Hamari (alto) sur Erbarme dich

2 - La passion selon Saint Jean/ Saint John passion - JS Bach par Karl Richter

3 - Magnificat et Gloria - Antonio Vivaldi par Riccardo Muti avec la voix sublime de Teresa Berganza

4 - Stabat Mater de Antonio Vivaldi par Chiara Banchini avec la voix cristalline d'Andreas Scholl (contre-ténor)

5 - Messe en Ut mineur - WA Mozart par Philippe Herreweghe

6 - Messe en si mineur - JS Bach par Philippe Herreweghe. Un Sanctus extraordinaire et un Agnus dei porté par la voix bouleversante d'Andreas Scholl

7 - Alcina - Haendel par Richard Bonynge. Avec le nombre incroyable d'aria superbes de cet opéra et les voix à tomber de Joan Sutherland et de Teresa Berganza

8 - Le Messie - Handel par William Christie

9 - Oeuvres pour orgue - Olivier Messiaen par lui-même. Un voyage dans l'au-delà, emporté par les sonorités puissantes et profondes de l'orgue Cavaillé-Coll de l'église de la Trinité à Paris

10 - Les psaumes de la pénitence - Roland de Lassus par Philippe Herreweghe. Mon disque du dimanche matin au réveil, polyphonies sublimes

11 - Concerto pour piano n°21 - W.A. Mozart par Piotr Anderszewski. Tout le monde connait l'Andante, beau à pleurer, utilisé si souvent au cinéma (en 2006 par Tellence Mallick dans "Le nouveau monde", un beau film de cette année, même s'il n'est pas dans mon top ten - cf bilan cinema 2006)

12 - Lecons de ténèbres - Office du vendredi saint - Marc-Antoine Charpentier par il seminario musicale

13 - Requiem - W.A. Mozart par Philippe Herreweghe ou par Michel Corboz. Deux versions aussi belles l'une que l'autre

14 - Impromptus de Franz Schubert par Krystian Zimerman (piano). Un toucher si subtil

15 - Les grands motets - Jean-Philippe Rameau par William Christie

16 - Magnificat - JS Bach par Helmut Winschermann

17 - Messa di gloria de Giacomo Puccini par Claudio Scimone. Une mention particulière pour cette oeuvre que je prépare (au sein du pupitre ténor) avec la chorale à laquelle j'appartiens depuis Septembre. Un grand moment 2007 en perspective...

18 - Didon et Enée/ Dido & Aeneas - Henry Purcell by René Jacobs

19 - Musique pour les funérailles de la Reine Mary - Henry Purcell par Sir John Eliot Gardiner

20 - Orphée et Euridice / Orfeo ed Euridice - C.W. Gluck par Ervin Lukacs

 

I watched this wasp mom methodically give all her pairs of legs a cleaning, by rubbing them against the next pair back, and finally do her front legs with her mouthparts. I see things like this and I wonder how anyone can not be impressed with the natural world.