Operation “Salt City" resulted in the arrest of 248 individuals from May through September 2015. Of those arrested, 124 were active gang members. During the operation 22 firearms, more than $237,000 in U.S. currency, 70 grams of heroin, 266 grams of cocaine, and 723 grams of marijuana with a total estimated street value of almost $44,000 was taken off Syracuse streets by participating agencies.

Operation Salt City is part of the U.S. Marshals nation-wide “Triple Beam” gang reduction initiative. Triple Beam partners federal, state, and local law enforcement to reduce violent crime and take dangerous offenders off the streets. The goal of the U.S. Marshals Gang Enforcement Program is to seek out and disrupt illegal gang activity in areas of the country with smaller or nonexistent gang enforcement units by providing manpower, funding and the Marshals’ renowned fugitive tracking abilities.

 

Photo by Shane T. McCoy / US Marshals

After so many years, the details tend to get a bit fuzzy, y'know? Still, it's my own history, so I'm very familiar with it, and the basic chronology here is quite accurate.

The story begins in the fall of 1962, when I was nine years old. This was when I started watching a live local show on TV. Basically, it featured a bunch of high school students dancing to the music as a disc jockey played the hits of the day. One of the first records I remember from direct experience was the Four Seasons' smash hit, "Sherry".

Well, I kept watching week by week. I found the music fascinating, even though I didn't understand the boy/girl stuff at all at that age. A major breakthrough came in February of 1964, when the Beatles made their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. Now the fascination attained a whole new level. Eventually, I became more interested in listening than watching. "House Party" was on CHSJ radio every Saturday morning, when they counted down the top 50. The show culminated when the host played the 'BIG GUN NUMBER ONE!" just before signing off at noon.

The host was a guy who went by the nickname "Rockin' Robbert" (with two 'b's). Robbert left sometime in the summer of '65 and was replaced by Pat Donelan. He'd keep mentioning these "Smart Charts" listing all the hits, and I kept getting more curious about what the things looked like. So I eventually got sufficiently curious to pick one up at MRA's, a long-established uptown department store (in those days, malls were almost nonexistent in Saint John). Thus, I became a bit of a chart addict. I obsessively watched as my favourite songs climbed (or fell down) the chart. I was eager to hear the latest from the Beatles-----and everybody else. So I got my first Smart Chart in November 1965, and continued the habit almost every week throughout '66 and into the start of '67.

For some reason, I stopped getting the Smart Charts in January of 1967, though I still listened to the music. In fact, I KEPT listening to the music well into the '70s-----until Disco, a genre I could not stand, came along and started dominating.

Pat Donelan stayed in the radio business for many years, though not in Saint John. In fact, he was only the DJ at CHSJ for a few months before a new guy took over.

But December, 1965, was a great era for memorable music. I've got at least SOME recollection of virtually every song on this chart. CHSJ was big on promoting "Canadian Talent", with no fewer than seven homegrown groups or singers in the top 50 records. "Rocket record of the week" was an interesting feature, highlighting the song that had climbed the chart faster than any other. The all-time CHSJ feat in that department came in February, 1966, when the Beach Boys "Barbara Ann" shot from nowhere to number one in a single week! Then there was the "Pick to Click", which sometimes clicked and sometimes bombed. "Thunderball" wasn't a big hit, but I liked it enough to buy the 45 rpm single-----which I still have to this day.

 

Many conventional diabetes diets rely on meat or grains as the major source of calories. This strategy has serious drawbacks. This type of diet is rich in macro nutrients, but lacking in micro nutrients, especially those derived from green vegetables. Micro nutrients are necessary for the body’s cells to function properly. Even modest micro nutrient insufficiency can lead to DNA damage, mitochondrial decay and telomere deterioration, promoting premature cellular aging.

A high-nutrient, low glycemic diet is the most effective method of preventing and reversing type 2 diabetes. In a recent study of type 2 diabetics following this type of diet, 90 percent of the participants were able to come off all diabetic medications and their mean HbA1c after one year was 5.8 percent, which is within the non-diabetic (normal) range. A diet rich in vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans, and fresh fruits can prevent and reverse disease, while fostering long-term health. These five types of foods are optimal for diabetics, and can even help prevent the disease from occurring in the first place.

Green Vegetables

These nutrient-dense vegetables are the most important foods to focus on for diabetes prevention and reversal. Higher green vegetable consumption is associated with a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes, and among those who have the disease, a higher intake is associated with lower HbA1c levels, which measures average blood glucose over a three-month period. A recent meta-analysis found that greater leafy green vegetable consumption was associated with a 14 percent decrease in the risk of type 2 diabetes. One study reported that each serving of leafy greens produces a 9 percent decrease in risk. This category of vegetable includes lettuces, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, kale, spinach, broccoli and cauliflower. I always advise eating at least one large salad each day to be sure of getting a good supply of these important vegetables.

Non-starchy Vegetables

Non-green, non-starchy veggies like mushrooms, onions, garlic, eggplant, and peppers are essential. These foods have almost nonexistent effects on blood sugar and are packed with fiber and phytochemicals.

Beans

Eating beans daily will help to stabilize your blood sugar, reduce your appetite, and protect against colon cancer. An ideal carbohydrate source, beans are low in glycemic load due to their abundant soluble fiber and resistant starch, making them an ideal weight-loss food because they are digested slowly. The fiber in beans promotes satiety and helps prevent food cravings and the resistant starch is fermented by bacteria in the colon, forming products that protect against colon cancer.

Nuts and Seeds

The Nurses’ Health Study found a 27 percent reduced risk of diabetes in nurses who ate five or more servings of nuts per week. Among nurses who had diabetes, this same quantity reduced the risk of heart disease by 47 percent. Nuts are low in glycemic load, promote weight loss, and have anti-inflammatory effects that may prevent insulin resistance.

Fresh Fruit

To satisfy sweet cravings, fresh fruit is an excellent choice. Rich in fiber, antioxidants, and nutrient-dense, eating three servings of fresh fruit a day is associated with an 18 percent decrease in the risk of developing diabetes. If you are already diabetic, I recommend selecting only the low-sugar fruits like berries, kiwi, oranges, and melon to minimize glycemic effects.

If you are committed to improving your health and reducing your risk of disease or reversing your disease so that your medications can be reduced or eliminated, a nutritional approach works. Source BY JOEL FUHRMAN. To know more visit www.yogagurusuneelsingh.com Pic by Sidd

Operation “Salt City" resulted in the arrest of 248 individuals from May through September 2015. Of those arrested, 124 were active gang members. During the operation 22 firearms, more than $237,000 in U.S. currency, 70 grams of heroin, 266 grams of cocaine, and 723 grams of marijuana with a total estimated street value of almost $44,000 was taken off Syracuse streets by participating agencies.

Operation Salt City is part of the U.S. Marshals nation-wide “Triple Beam” gang reduction initiative. Triple Beam partners federal, state, and local law enforcement to reduce violent crime and take dangerous offenders off the streets. The goal of the U.S. Marshals Gang Enforcement Program is to seek out and disrupt illegal gang activity in areas of the country with smaller or nonexistent gang enforcement units by providing manpower, funding and the Marshals’ renowned fugitive tracking abilities.

 

Photo by Shane T. McCoy / US Marshals

BOX DATE: None

APPROXIMATE RELEASE DATE: 2012

MANUFACTURER: M.G.A.

DOLLS IN LINE: Cloe; Yasmin; Sasha; Jade

BODY TYPE: 2010; pink painted panties; bend & snap legs

HEAD MOLD: 2001; parted lips; pierced ears

 

PERSONAL FUN FACT: I have said this time and time again, but hair gimmick doll lines are some of my favorites to collect. This phase started as a kid, and has extended into my adulthood. There is immense novelty in a Bratz hair themed line, as they were nonexistent back in the day when I played with Bratz as a child. In 2011 and 2012, there were a ton of different hair line options--Featherageous, All Glammed Up, and of course Crystalicious! It's really difficult for me to choose a favorite hair line from this era, as they each have something unique to offer. Originally, I wasn't planning on buying the Crystalicious dolls, because I thought that their outfits looked a bit "cheap." I definitely don't have that opinion now--on the contrary, I love the metallic/sequin bedazzled look of these Crystalicious ensembles. I was super duper glad when the line went on sale, because truth be told, I'm not sure how long I could have held off from buying it. I got Yasmin, Cloe, and Jade together at Toys 'R' Us, if I'm not mistaken, sometime in 2012. I already had purchased Sasha months before, for full price. I honestly don't have a favorite doll from this line, because they are all gorgeous. I love how Yasmin's eyes almost look like a 2010 Bratz doll's--they are very cartoon like and lack loads of iris detail. But she has the smaller, more defined lips of later Bratz--it's a very unique combination that I very much admire. Most of all, I am drawn to her glittery pink eye shadow--it just looks so stunning with her tan skin and medium brown hair. I was actually taken aback when I purchased my Yasmin doll and discovered she had nylon hair (albeit it's very soft, silky, deceiving nylon hair), because all my other Crystalicious dolls have saran. It's honestly hard to tell in photographs and even in person. It's just slightly lighter weight feeling and slightly less waxy in texture than saran. This Yasmin doll is such a babe, and I'm so glad I was able to add her to my collection because of TRU's wonderful sales!

The Reconquest began in Asturias. It was the begining of the formation of the Christian Empire. The center was Asturias.

 

Wikipedia

 

The Kingdom of Asturias (Latin: Regnum Asturorum) was a Kingdom in the Iberian peninsula founded in 718 by Visigothic nobles under the leadership of Pelagius of Asturias.[1] It was the first Christian political entity established following the collapse of the Visigothic kingdom after Islamic conquest of Hispania. In 722, Pelagius subsequently defeated the Umayyad Caliphate at the Battle of Covadonga, in what is usually regarded as the beginning of the Reconquista. The kingdom lasted until 924, when Fruela II became King of León.

 

Indigenous background

 

The birthplace of the Asturian kingdom was the western and central territory of the Cantabrian Mountains part of the Gallaecia, particularly the Picos de Europa and the central area of Asturias. The main political and military events during the first decades of the kingdom's existence took place in this region. According to the descriptions of Strabo, Dio Cassius and other Graeco-Roman geographers, the lands of Asturias were inhabited in the beginning of the Christian era by several peoples, amongst whom the more important were: From the Cantabrians, the Vadinienses, who inhabited the Picos de Europa region and whose settlement gradually expanded southward during the first centuries of the modern era; the Orgenomesci, who dwelled along the Asturian eastern coast; and from the Astures, the Saelini, whose settlement extended through the Sella valley; the Luggones, who had their capital in Lucus Asturum and whose territories stretched between the rivers Sella and Nalón; the Astures (in the strictest sense), who dwelled in inner Asturias, between the current councils of Piloña and Cangas del Narcea; and the Paesici, who had settled along the coast of Western Asturias, between the mouth of the Navia river and the modern city of Gijón.

Classical geographers give conflicting views of the ethnic description of the above mentioned peoples: Ptolemy says that the Astures extended along the central area of current Asturias, between the Navia and Sella rivers, fixing the latter river as the boundary with the Cantabrian territory. However, other geographers placed the frontier between the Astures and the Cantabri more eastwards: Julius Honorius stated in his Cosmographia that the springs of Ebro river were located in the land of the Astures (sub asturibus). In any case, ethnic borders in the Cantabrian mountains were not so important after that time, as the clans divisions that permeated the pre-roman societies of all the peoples of Northern Iberia fell under similar political administrative culture impossed on them by the Romans.

 

This situation started to change during the Late Roman Empire and the early Middle Ages, when an Asturian identity started to develop gradually: The centuries-old fight among Visigoths or Suebians nobles may have helped to forge a distinct identity among the peoples of the Cantabrian districts. Several archaeological digs in the castro of La Carisa (municipality of Lena) have found remnants of a defensive line whose main purpose was to protect the valleys of central Asturias from invaders who came from the Meseta through the Pajares pass: the construction of these fortifications reveals a high degree of organization and cooperation between the several Asturian communities, in order to defend themselves from the southern invaders. Carbon-14 tests have found that the wall dates from the period 675-725 AD, when two armed expeditions against the Asturians took place: One of them, headed by Visigothic king Wamba; the other by Muslim governor Musa bin Nusair, during the Islamic conquest of Iberia who settled garrisons over its territory.

 

The Asturian identity that was gradually forming led to the creation of the Kingdom of Asturias after Pelayo's coronation and the victory over the Muslim garrisons in Covadonga. The Chronica Albeldense, in narrating the happenings of Covadonga, stated that "Divine providence brings forth the King of Asturias".

 

Islamic occupation and Asturian revolt

 

The kingdom was established by the Visigothic nobleman Pelayo (Latin: Pelagius), who had returned to his country after the Battle of Guadalete where, in the Gothic tradition of Theias, he was elected by the other nobles as leader of the Astures, and founded the Kingdom of Asturias. However, Pelayo's kingdom was initially little more than a rallying banner for existing guerilla forces.[2][3]

 

In the progress of the Islamic conquest of the Iberian Peninsula, the main cities and administrative centers fell in the hands of Muslim troops. Control of the central and southern regions, such as the Guadalquivir and Ebro valleys, presented few problems for the newcomers, who used the existing Visigothic administrative structures, ultimately of Roman origin. However, in the northern mountains, urban centers (such as Gigia) were practically nonexistent and the submission of the country had to be achieved valley by valley. Muslim troops often resorted to the taking of hostages to ensure the pacification of the newly conquered territory.

 

After the first incursion of Tarik, who reached Toledo in 711, the Yemeni viceroy of Ifriqiya, Musa ibn Nusair, crossed the Strait of Gibraltar the following year and carried out a massive operation of conquest that would lead to the capture of Mérida, Toledo, Zaragoza and Lerida, among other cities. During the last phase of his military campaign, he reached the northwest of the Peninsula, where he gained control of the localities of Lugo and Gijon. In the latter city he placed a small Berber detachment under a governor, Munuza, whose mission was to consolidate Muslim control over Asturias. As guarantee of the submission of the region, some nobles – some argue that Pelayo was among them, although his origin is unknown – had to surrender hostages from Asturias to Cordoba. The legend says that his sister was asked for, and a marriage alliance sought with the local Berber leader. Later on, Munuza would try to do the same at another mountain post in the Pyrenees, where he rebelled against his Cordoban Arab superiors. The Berbers had been converted to Islam barely a generation earlier, and were considered second rank to Arabs and Syrians.

 

But, as is told in the Rotensian Chronicle (chronicle of Alfonso III of Asturias in which Pelayo is considered the successor of the kings of Toledo, with clear goals of political legitimacy) as well as in that of Al-Maqqari (a Moroccan historian of the 16th century who died in Cairo, Egypt, and who could have used the Rotensian Chronicle and rewrite it eight centuries later, making it useless as a historical document), Pelayo escaped from that city during the governorship of Al Hurr (717-718) and his return to Asturias triggered a revolt against the Muslim authorities of Gijon. The identity of Pelayo, however, is still an open subject, and this is only one of the theories. The leader of the Astures, whose origin is debated by historians, had at that time his home in Bres (in the district of Piloña) and Munuza sent his troops there under officer Al-Qama. After receiving word of the arrival of the Muslims, Pelayo and his companions hurriedly crossed the Piloña River and headed toward the narrow, easily defended valley of Auseva mountain, and took refuge in one of its caves, Covadonga. After an attempt at siege was abandoned due to the weather and the exposed position of the deep valley gorge, the troops are said to have taken to exit through the high ports to the south, in order to continue in the search and destroy action against other rebels. There the locals were able to ambush the Muslim detachment, which was annihilated. The rest of its survivors continued south to the plains of Leon, leaving the maritime districts of Asturias exposed and weakened of defenders. The most commonly accepted hypothesis for this battle (epic as described by Christian chronicles, but a mere skirmish in Muslim texts) is that the Moorish column was attacked from the cliffs and then fell back through the valleys towards present day Gijón, but was attacked whilst in retreat by the retinue and nearly destroyed.

 

The victory - relatively small, as only a few Berber soldiers were involved — resulted in great prestige for Pelayo and provoked a massive insurrection by other nobles in Galicia and Asturias who immediately rallied around Pelayo, electing him King or military Dux.

 

Under Pelayo's leadership, the attacks on the Berbers increased. Munuza, feeling isolated in a region increasingly hostile, decided to abandon Gijon and headed for the Plateau (Meseta) through the Mesa Trail. However, he was intercepted and killed by Astures at Olalíes (in the current district of Grado). Once he had expelled the Moors from the eastern valleys of Asturias, Pelayo attacked León, the main city in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula and secured the mountain passes, isolating the region from Moorish attack. Pelayo continued attacking those Berbers who remained north of the Asturian-Galician Mountains until they withdrew, but mostly deserted their garrisons at the wider rebellion against Arab control from Cordoba. He then married his daughter, Ermesinda to Alfonso, the son of Peter of Cantabria, the leading noble at the still-independent Visigothic dukedom of Cantabria. His son Favila was married to Froiliuba.

 

Recent archaeological excavations have found fortifications in Mount Homon and La Carisa (near the Huerna and Pajares valleys) dated between the end of the seventh and beginning of the eighth centuries. These Berber fortifications included watchtowers and moats of almost two meters, in whose construction and defense many hundreds may have participated. This would have required a high degree of organization and firm leadership, probably by Pelayo himself.[4] For this reason, experts consider that it is probable that the construction of the defensive line was intended to prevent the reentry of Moors into Asturias through the mountain passes of Mesa and Pajares.[5]

 

After Pelayo's victory over the Moorish detachment at the Battle of Covadonga, a small territorial independent entity was established in the Asturian mountains that was the origin of the kingdom of Asturias. Pelayo's leadership was not comparable to that of the Visigothic kings. The first kings of Asturias referred to themselves as "princeps" (prince) and later as "rex" (king), but the later title was not firmly established until the period of Alphonse II. The title of "princeps" had been used by the indigenous peoples of Northern Spain and its use appears in Galician and Cantabrian inscriptions, in which expressions like "Nícer, Príncipe de los Albiones"[6] (on an inscription found in the district of Coaña) and "princeps cantabrorum"[7] (over a gravestone of the municipality of Cistierna, in Leon). In fact, the Kingdom of Asturias originated as a focus of leadership over other peoples of the Cantabrian Coast that had resisted the Romans as well as the Visigoths and that were not willing to subject themselves to the dictates of the Umayyad Caliphate. Immigrants from the south, fleeing from Al-Andalus, brought a Gothic influence to the Asturian kingdom. However, at the beginning of the 9th century, Alphonse II's will cursed the Visigoths, blaming them for the loss of Hispania. The chronicles on which knowledge of this period is based, written all during the reign of Alphonse III when there was great Gothic ideological influence, are the Sebastianensian Chronicle (Crónica Sebastianense), the Albeldensian Chronicle (Crónica Albeldense) and the Rotensian Chronicle (Crónica Rotense).

 

During the first decades, the Asturian dominion over the different areas of the kingdom was still lax, and for this reason it had to be continually strengthened through matrimonial alliances with other powerful families from the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Thus, Ermesinda, Pelayo's daughter, was married to Alfonso, Dux Peter of Cantabria's son. Alphonse's son Fruela married Munia, a Basque princess from Alava, while his daughter Adosinda married Silo, a local chief from the area of Flavionavia, Pravia.

 

After Pelayo's death in 737, his son Favila (or "Fafila") was elected king. Fafila, according to the chronicles, was unexpectedly killed by a bear while hunting in one of the trials of courage normally required of the nobility in that era. But there is no other such incident known from the long history of monarchs and others at the sport, and the case is suspiciously similar to the Roman legend of their first king, Romulus, taken by a sudden storm. The immediate consequence was that the rule of the Asturians passed to his brother-in-law, ruler of the neighboring independent domain, through a marriage alliance to Fafila's sister. The female ties and rights of inheritance were still respected, and in later cases would allow the regency or crown for their husbands too.

 

Pelayo founded a dynasty in Asturias that survived for decades and gradually expanded the kingdom's boundaries, until all of northwest Iberia was included by ca. 775. The reign of Alfonso II from 791-842 saw further expansion of the kingdom to the south, almost as far as Lisbon, Portugal.

 

Initial expansion

 

Favila was succeeded by Alphonse I, who inherited the throne of Asturias thanks to his marriage to Pelayo's daughter, Ermesinda. The Albeldensian Chronicle narrated how Alphonse arrived in the kingdom some time after the battle of Covadonga to marry Ermesinda. Favila's death made his access to the throne possible as well as the rise to power of one of the most powerful families in the Kingdom of Asturias: the House of Cantabria. Initially only Alphonse moved to the court in Cangas, but after the progressive depopulation of the Plateau and the Middle Valley of the Ebro, where the main strongholds of the Duchy of Cantabria such as Amaya, Tricio and City of Cantabria were located, the descendants of Duke Peter withdrew from Rioja towards the Cantabrian area and in time controlled the destiny of the Kingdom of Asturias.

 

Alphonse began the territorial expansion of the small Christian kingdom from its first seat in the Peaks of Europe, advancing toward the west to Galicia and toward the south with continuous incursions in the Duero valley, taking cities and towns and moving their inhabitants to the safer northern zones. This eventually led to the strategic depopulation of the plateau, creating the Desert of the Duero as a protection against future Moorish attacks.[8]

 

This depopulation, defended by Claudio Sanchez-Albornoz, is doubted today, at least concerning its magnitude.[8] Two main arguments are used to refute it. First, the minor toponymy was preserved in multiple districts. Second, there are biological and cultural differences between the inhabitants of the Cantabrian zone and those of the central Plateau. What is true is that in the first half of the eighth century there was a process of rural growth that led to the abandonment of urban life and the organization of the population in small communities of shepherds. Several causes explain this process: The definitive breakdown of the production system based on slavery in existence from the time of the late Roman Empire, the continuous propagation of epidemics in the area, and the abandonment of Al Andalus by the Berber regiments after the revolt of 740-741. All this made possible the emergence of a sparsely populated and ill-organized area that isolated the Asturian kingdom from the Moorish assaults and allowed its progressive strengthening.

 

The campaigns of kings Alphonse I and Fruela in the Duero valley were probably not very different from the raids that the Astures made in the same area in the pre-Roman era. The initial Asturian expansion is carried out mainly through Cantabrian territory (from Galicia to Vizcaya) and it will be necessary to wait until the reigns of Ordoño I and Alphonse III for the Kingdom of Asturias to take effective possession of the territories located south of the Cantabrian Mountains.

 

Fruela I, Alphonse I's son, consolidated and expanded his father's domains. He was assassinated by members of the nobility associated with the House of Cantabria.

 

[edit] Social and political transformations

 

Written sources are concise concerning the reigns of Aurelio, Silo, Mauregato and Bermudo I. Generally this period, with a duration of twenty-three years (768-791), has been considered as a long stage of obscurity and retreat of the kingdom of Asturias. This vision, defended by some historians, who even named this phase of the history of the Asturian kingdom as that of the "lazy kings," originated because it appears that in that moment there were no important military actions against Al-Andalus. However, during those years there were relevant and decisive internal transformations in the Asturian kingdom. They all prepared and provided a foundation, in all respects, for the strengthening and the expansion of Asturias.

 

First, the first internal rebellion, led by Mauregato (783-788), occurred during those years. The rebellion removed Alphonse II from the throne (although he became king again later, from 791 to 842), and initiated a series of rebellions whose principal leaders were members of ascending aristocratic palace groups and landowners who, based on the growing economic development of the area, tried to displace from power of the reigning family of Don Pelayo. The important rebellions of Nepociano, Aldroito and Piniolo, during the reign of Ramiro I (842-50), are part of this process of economic, social, political and cultural transformation of the Asturian kingdom that occurred during the eighth and ninth centuries.

 

Second, neighboring rebellions by Basques and Galicians failed, aborted by Asturian kings. These rebellions, in turn, took advantage of the internal rebellions of the central and Eastern part of Asturias, and, on occasions, provided help to one or another contender of the Asturian aristocracy: refuge to Alphonse II in lands of Alava, after his flight; the support to Nepociano's rebellion in some Asturian areas or the adherence of Galicians to the cause of Ramiro I.

 

Finally, other evidence suggests important internal transformations of the Asturian kingdom during this time. Rebellions of freedmen (serbi, servilis orico and libertini, according to the Chronicles) occurred during the reign of Aurelio I. The property relationship between master and slave broke down progressively. This fact, together with the growing role of the individual and the restricted family in detriment of the role that until that time had fulfilled the extended family, is another indication that a new society was emerging in Asturias at the end of the eighth and beginning of the ninth centuries.

 

Fruela I (757-68) is succeeded by Aurelio (768-74), Peter of Cantabria's grandson, who will establish the court in lands of what is today the district of San Martin del Rey Aurelio, which previously belonged to Langreo, between the years of his reign. Silo (774-83) succeeded Aurelio after his death, and transfers the court to Pravia. Silo was married to Adosinda, one of the daughters of Alphonse I (and therefore, Pelayo's granddaughter).

 

Alphonse II was elected king after Silo's death, but Mauregato organized a strong opposition and forced the new king to withdraw to lands in Alava (his mother, Munia, was Basque), obtaining the Asturian throne. This king, despite the bad reputation attributed by history, had good relations with Beato de Liebana, perhaps the most important cultural figure of the kingdom, and supported him in his fight against adoptionism. Legend says that Mauregato was Alphonse I's bastard son with a Moorish woman, and attributes to him the tribute of a hundred maidens. He was succeeded by Bermudo I, Aurelio's brother. He was called the deacon, although he probably only received minor vows. Bermudo abdicated after a military defeat, ending his life in a monastery.

 

[edit] Recognition

 

It was not until King Alfonso II of Asturias (791-842) that the kingdom was firmly established with Alfonso's recognition as king of Asturias by Charlemagne and the Pope. He conquered Galicia and the Basques. During his reign, the holy bones of St. James the Great were declared to be found in Galicia, at Santiago de Compostela (from Latin campus stellae, literally "the field of the star"). Pilgrims from all over Europe opened a way of communication between the isolated Asturias and the Carolingian lands and beyond.

 

The first capital city was Cangas de Onís. Then, in Silo's time, it was moved to Pravia. Alfonso II chose Oviedo as the definite capital of the Kingdom. The kingdom was known as Asturias until 924, when it became the Kingdom of León. It continued under that name until incorporated into the Kingdom of Castile in 1230, after Ferdinand III became joint king of the two kingdoms.

  

Operation “Salt City" resulted in the arrest of 248 individuals from May through September 2015. Of those arrested, 124 were active gang members. During the operation 22 firearms, more than $237,000 in U.S. currency, 70 grams of heroin, 266 grams of cocaine, and 723 grams of marijuana with a total estimated street value of almost $44,000 was taken off Syracuse streets by participating agencies.

Operation Salt City is part of the U.S. Marshals nation-wide “Triple Beam” gang reduction initiative. Triple Beam partners federal, state, and local law enforcement to reduce violent crime and take dangerous offenders off the streets. The goal of the U.S. Marshals Gang Enforcement Program is to seek out and disrupt illegal gang activity in areas of the country with smaller or nonexistent gang enforcement units by providing manpower, funding and the Marshals’ renowned fugitive tracking abilities.

 

Photo by Shane T. McCoy / US Marshals

Eidi or Eide. Peninsular city on a plain adjacent to a mountain (a bit like Gibraltar). 2009.

"Friday the 13th - Better Than Monday Whatever"

 

marketplace.secondlife.com/p/CHILLaXe-Friday-13th-Shorts/...

 

Swap your Monday blues for some Friday thrills with these hilarious "Friday the 13th - Better Than Monday Whatever" shorts! Featuring an adorable Baby Jason donning his iconic hockey mask, these black shorts are perfect for those who prefer their scares cute and their Mondays nonexistent. Whether you're chilling at home plotting your next move or slashing through beach waves, these shorts will keep you comfy and ready for any mischief. Because honestly, Mondays has nothing on Friday....😈🎃

Camera Nikon D5000

Lens Nikkor 18-55mm

Exposure 8.0 sec

Aperture f/29

Focal Length 19 mm

ISO Speed 200

 

Sunset Boulevard is a street in the western part of Los Angeles County, California, that stretches from Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Coast Highway at the Pacific Ocean in the Pacific Palisades. The street is an icon of Hollywood celebrity culture and the phrase "Sunset Boulevard" is an enduring shorthand for the glamor associated with Hollywood.

 

Approximately 24 miles in length, the famous boulevard passes through or near Echo Park, Silver Lake, Los Feliz, Hollywood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Holmby Hills, Bel-Air, Brentwood, and Pacific Palisades. Other than West Hollywood and Beverly Hills, which are independent incorporated cities, the places named above are all districts and neighborhoods in the City of Los Angeles. In the Bel-Air district of Los Angeles, Sunset Boulevard runs along the northern boundary of the UCLA Westwood campus, and it also serves as the postal divider between north and south west of Beverly Hills.

 

The boulevard is winding and treacherous in some areas. It is at least four lanes in width for all of its route. Car accidents are not uncommon due to its numerous hairpin curves and blind crests, and the lack of a center divider on most sections. Sunset (along with Santa Monica and Wilshire Boulevards) is frequently congested with traffic loads far beyond its design capacity. As a result, it is also notorious for cracks and potholes. Traffic on Sunset is often slow-moving, with bumper-to-bumper congestion not infrequent during rush hour in both directions. However, when traffic is mild or nonexistent, Sunset is an extremely fast thoroughfare as it encounters few (and short timed) traffic lights west of Doheny Drive. Even at rush hours, traffic generally flows well through the Holmby Hills and Bel Air, west of Whittier in Beverly Hills, as the lights are very well spaced and timed.

 

Sunset Boulevard historically extended farther east, starting at Alameda Street near Union Station and beside Olvera Street in the historic section of Downtown, but the portion of Sunset Boulevard east of Figueroa on the north end of Downtown Los Angeles was renamed Cesar Chavez Avenue, in 1994, along with Macy Street and Brooklyn Avenue, in honor of the late Mexican-American trade union leader and civil rights activist.

 

In the 1970s, the area between Gardner Street and Western Avenue, became a seedy red-light district afflicted with street prostitution. It was at the corner of Sunset and Courtney Avenue that actor Hugh Grant pulled over and picked up prostitute Divine Brown in the early morning of June 27, 1995. He then drove a few blocks east and parked at the corner of Curson and Hawthorn Avenues. Police arrested him and the prostitute for lewd conduct in a public place and he was later fined $1,200. Shortly after this police raids drove out the majority of prostitutes in this area and the majority of those turned to on-line escort services, thus diminishing the long held red-light district.

 

Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood is also sometimes called "Guitar Row" due to the large number of guitar stores and music industry-related businesses, including the legendary recording studios Sunset Sound Studios and United Western Recorders. Also, many young, struggling actors, musicians, and other artists continue to live in the area.

 

The best-known section of Sunset Boulevard is probably the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, which is a center for nightlife in the Los Angeles area.

Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tibet and Vietnam

 

english

 

Religion in Korea encompasses a number of different traditions. Traditional Buddhism, Mugyo with a background of Korean Confucianism and later Christianity all play a role in Korea's religious tradition. The modern separation of Korea into North and South Korea has also shaped religious practice, especially in the communist North.

 

Religion in South Korea

 

Just over 53 percent of South Koreans profess religious affiliation. That affiliation is spread primarily among three traditions - Buddhism (43 percent), Christianity (55 percent), and Mugyo (0.2 percent).[6] These numbers should be treated with some caution, however, as (with the exception of Christianity) there are few if any meaningful distinctions between believers and nonbelievers in Buddhism and Confucianism, which comprise more of a set of ethical values than a religion. The cultural impact of these movements is far more widespread than the number of formal adherents suggests. A variety of "new religions" have emerged since the mid-19th century, including Cheondogyo. Very small Muslim and Bahá'í minorities also exist due to the emigration of South Asians.

 

Religion in North Korea

 

Traditionally, Koreans have practiced Buddhism and observed the tenets of Korean Confucianism. Besides a number of practicing Buddhists (about 11.4 million, under the auspices of the official Korean Buddhist Federation), the population also includes some Christians (about 10,000 Protestants and 4,000 Roman Catholics, under the auspices of the Korean Christian Federation) and an indeterminate number of native Cheondogyo (Heavenly Way) adherents. However, religious activities in North Korea are almost nonexistent. North Korea has 300 Buddhist temples, but they are considered cultural relics rather than active places of worship. Several schools for religious education exist, including three-year religious colleges for training Protestant and Buddhist clergy. In 1989 Kim Il Sung University established a religious studies program, but its graduates usually go on to work in the foreign trade sector. Although the constitution provides for freedom of religious belief, in practice the government severely discourages organized religious activity except as supervised by the aforementioned officially recognized groups. Constitutional changes made in 1992 allow authorized religious gatherings and the construction of buildings for religious use and deleted a clause about freedom of anti-religious propaganda. The constitution also stipulates that religion "should not be used for purposes of dragging in foreign powers or endangering public security."

 

Mugyo

 

Koreans, like other East Asians, have traditionally been eclectic rather than exclusive in their religious commitments. Their religious outlook has not been conditioned by a single, exclusive faith but by a combination of indigenous beliefs and creeds imported into Korea. Belief in a world inhabited by spirits is probably the oldest form of Korean religious life, dating back to prehistoric times. There is a rather unorganized pantheon of literally millions of gods, spirits, and ghosts, ranging from the "god generals" who rule the different quarters of heaven to mountain spirits (sansin). This pantheon also includes gods who inhabit trees, sacred caves, and piles of stones, as well as earth spirits, the tutelary gods of households and villages, mischievous goblins, and the ghosts of persons who in many cases met violent or tragic ends. These spirits are said to have the power to influence or to change the fortunes of living men and women.

 

Shamans, most of whom are women, are enlisted by those who want the help of the spirit world. Female shamans (mudang) hold kut, or services, in order to gain good fortune for clients, cure illnesses by exorcising evil spirits, or propitiate local or village gods. Such services are also held to guide the spirit of a deceased person to heaven.

 

Often a woman will become a shaman very reluctantly—after experiencing a severe physical or mental illness that indicates "possession" by a spirit. Such possession can allegedly be cured only through performance of a kut. Once a shaman is established in her profession, she usually can make a good living.

 

Many scholars regard Korean shamanism as less a religion than a form of medicine in which the spirits are manipulated in order to achieve human ends. There is no notion of salvation or moral and spiritual perfection, at least for the ordinary believers in spirits. The shaman is a professional who is consulted by clients whenever the need is felt. Traditionally, shamans had low social status and were members of the ch'ommin class. This discrimination has continued into modern times.

 

Korean folk beliefs are strongly associated with the culture of fishing villages and are primarily a phenomenon found in rural communities. Shamans also treat the ills of city people, however, especially recent migrants from the countryside who find adjustment to an impersonal urban life stressful. The government has discouraged belief in shamanism as superstition and for many years minimized its persistence in Korean life. Yet in a climate of growing nationalism and cultural self-confidence, the dances, songs, and incantations that compose the kut have come to be recognized as an important aspect of Korean culture. Beginning in the 1970s, rituals that formerly had been kept out of foreign view began to resurface, and occasionally a Western hotel manager or other executive could even be seen attending a shamanistic exorcism ritual in the course of opening a new branch in Seoul. Some of these aspects of kut have been designated valuable cultural properties that should be preserved and passed on to future generations.

 

The future of shamanism itself was uncertain in the late 1980s. Observers believed that many of its functions in the future probably will be performed by the psychiatric profession as the government expands mental health treatment facilities. Given the uncertainty of social, economic, and political conditions, however, it appears certain that shamans will find large numbers of clients for some time to come.

 

Buddhism and Confucianism

 

Buddhism was the dominant religious and cultural influence during the Silla (668–935) and Koryo (918–1392) dynasties. Confucianism also was brought to Korea from China in early Three Kingdoms period, but it occupied a subordinate position until the establishment of the Choson Dynasty where it became the state ideology.

 

Christianity

 

Roman Catholic missionaries did not arrive in Korea until 1794, a decade after the return of the first baptized Korean from a visit to Beijing. However, the writings of the Jesuit missionary, Matteo Ricci, who was resident at the imperial court in Beijing, had been brought to Korea from China in the seventeenth century. It appears that scholars of the Sirhak, or practical learning, school were interested in these writings. Largely because converts refused to perform ancestor rites, the government prohibited the proselytization of Christianity. Some Catholics were executed during the early nineteenth century, but the anti-Christian law was not strictly enforced. By the 1860s, there were some 17,500 Roman Catholics in the country. There followed a more rigorous persecution, in which thousands of Christians died, that continued until 1884.

 

Protestant missionaries entered Korea during the 1880s and, along with Catholic priests, converted a remarkable number of Koreans. Methodist and Presbyterian missionaries were especially successful. They established schools, universities, hospitals, and orphanages and played a significant role in the modernization of the country. During the Japanese colonial occupation, Christians were in the front ranks of the struggle for independence. Factors contributing to the growth of Protestantism included the disorganized state of Korean Buddhism, the efforts made by educated Christians to reconcile Christian and Confucian values (the latter being viewed as purely a social ethic rather than a religion), the encouragement of self-support and selfgovernment among members of the Korean church, and the identification of Christianity with Korean nationalism.

 

A large number of Christians lived in the northern part of the peninsula where Confucian influence was not as strong as in the south. Before 1948 P'yongyang was an important Christian center: one-sixth of its population of about 300,000 people were converts. Following the establishment of a communist regime in the north, however, most Christians had to flee to South Korea or face persecution.

 

New religions

 

Ch'ondogyo, generally regarded as the first of Korea's "new religions," is another important religious tradition. It is a synthesis of Confucian, Buddhist, shamanistic, Daoist, and Catholic influences. Ch'ondogyo grew out of the Donghak Movement (also called Eastern Learning Movement) established by Choe Je-u, a man of yangban background who claimed to have experienced a mystic encounter with God, who told him to preach to all the world. Ch'oe was executed by the government as a heretic in 1863, but not before he had acquired a number of followers and had committed his ideas to writing. Tonghak spread among the poor people of Korea's villages, especially in the Cholla region, and was the cause of a revolt against the royal government in 1894. While some members of the Tonghak Movement-- renamed Ch'ondogyo (Teachings of the Heavenly Way)--supported the Japanese annexation in 1910, others opposed it. This group played a major role, along with Christians and some Confucians, in the Korean nationalist movement. In the 1920s, Ch'ondogyo sponsored Kaebyok (Creation), one of Korea's major intellectual journals during the colonial period.

 

Ch'ondogyo's basic beliefs include the essential equality of all human beings. Each person must be treated with respect because all persons "contain divinity;" there is "God in man." Moreover, men and women must sincerely cultivate themselves in order to bring forth and express this divinity in their lives. Self-perfection, not ritual and ceremony, is the way to salvation. Although Ch'oe and his followers did not attempt to overthrow the social order and establish a radical egalitarianism, the revolutionary potential of Ch'ondogyo is evident in these basic ideas, which appealed especially to poor people who were told that they, along with scholars and high officials, could achieve salvation through effort. There is reason to believe that Ch'ondogyo had an important role in the development of democratic and anti-authoritarian thought in Korea. In the 1970s and 1980s, Ch'ondogyo's antecedent, the Tonghak Movement, received renewed interest among many Korean intellectuals.

 

Apart from Ch'ondogyo, major new religions included Taejonggyo, which has as its central creed the worship of Tangun, legendary founder of the Korean nation. Chungsanggyo, founded in the early twentieth century by Chungsan Kang, emphasizes magical practices and the creation of a paradise on earth. It is divided into a great number of competing branches, the largest being Jeungsando and Daesun Jinrihoe.[7] Wonbulgyo, or Won Buddhism, attempts to combine traditional Buddhist doctrine with a modern concern for social reform and revitalization. There are also a number of small sects which have sprung up around Mount Kyeryong in South Ch'ungch'ong Province, the supposed future site of the founding of a new dynasty originally prophesied in the eighteenth century.

 

Several new religions derive their inspiration from Christianity. The Chondogwan, or Evangelical Church, was founded by Pak T'ae-son. Pak originally was a Presbyterian, but was expelled from the church for heresy in the 1950s after claiming for himself unique spiritual power. By 1972 his followers numbered as many as 700,000 people, and he built several "Christian towns," established a large church network, and managed several industrial enterprises.

 

Because of its overseas evangelism, the Hold Spirit Association for the Unification of the World Christianity, or Unification Church (T'ongilgyo), founded in 1954 by Reverend Sun Myong Moon (Mun Son-myong), also a former Christian, is the most famous Korean new religion. During its period of vigorous expansion during the 1970s, the Unification Church had several hundred thousand members in South Korea and Japan and a substantial (although generally overestimated) number of members in North America and Western Europe. Moon claimed that he was the "messiah" designated by God to unify all the peoples of the world into one "family," governed theocratically by himself. Like Pak's Evangelical Church, the Unification Church has been highly authoritarian, demanding absolute obedience from church members. Moon, for example, has arranged marriages for his younger followers; United States television audiences were treated some years ago to a mass ceremony at which several hundred young "Moonies" were married. Also like Pak, Moon has coupled the church's fortunes to economic expansion. Factories in South Korea and abroad manufacture arms and process ginseng and seafood, artistic bric-a-brac, and other items. Moon's labor force has worked long hours and been paid minimal wages in order to channel profits into church coffers. Virulently anticommunist, Moon has sought to influence public opinion at home and abroad by establishing generally unprofitable newspapers such as the Segye Ilbo in Seoul, the Sekai Nippo in Tokyo, and the Washington Times in the United States capital, and by inviting academics to lavish international conferences, often held in South Korea. At home, the Unification Church was viewed with suspicion by the authorities because of its scandals and Moon's evident desire to create a "state within a state." His influence, however, had declined by the late 1980s.

 

Islam

 

The number of Muslims in South Korea is estimated at about 35,000 mainly consisting of people who converted during the Korean War and their descendents and not including migrant workers from South and Southeast Asia. The largest mosque is the Seoul Central Mosque in the Itaewon district of Seoul; smaller mosques can be found in most of the country's major cities.[8]

 

In addition to native Korean Muslims, there are some 100,000 foreign workers from Muslim countries,[9] particularly Bangladesh and Pakistan.[

  

Judaism

 

The Jewish presence in South Korea effectively began with the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950. At this time a large number of Jewish soldiers, including the chaplain Chaim Potok, came to the Korean peninsula. Today the Jewish community is very small and limited to the Seoul metropolitan area. There have been very few Korean converts to Judaism.

 

Created with Leonardo AI

 

16:9 image of a silent alien plateau where massive flower-like structures grow directly out of empty space rather than ground. Each bloom anchors to nothing, connected by faint spatial distortions. Foreground blooms show petal-like geometry made of matte-black material edged with faint gold light. Midground structures overlap at impossible angles. Background dissolves into pure void with no stars. Lighting is minimal, coming only from the bloom edges, sculpting form through absence. Atmosphere is nonexistent. Mood: sacred emptiness.

 

[Please Note : There are 5 images in this set so if seeing this in some group please go to my Flickr page to see the other 4 images, thanks.]

 

Pic and Prompt by Adrian

Focke-Achgelis Fa 330 A-1 Bachstelze (Water Wagtail)

  

Henrich Focke startled the aviation world when he flew his Focke-Wulf Fw 61 helicopter in 1937. It quickly shattered all records for helicopter speed, altitude, distance, and endurance. Thanks to Focke and fellow helicopter pioneer, Anton Flettner, Germany entered World War II as the leader in rotorcraft technology. By 1942, the German Navy was already testing Flettner's twin-rotor helicopter, the Fl 282. Navy leaders hoped to use this aircraft to hunt for enemy submarines and protect convoys. The tests convinced them to continue to develop rotary-winged aircraft for shipboard use.

 

During World War 2, German naval strategy and Britain's survival hinged on the success or failure of the U-boat service to interdict the flow of material from the United States. However, the U-boats depended primarily on visual acquisition of their targets. They rode low in the water and a lookout could not see vessels more than 8 km (5 miles) away, even when surfaced. Small, submarine-launched aircraft offered a novel solution in regions free of enemy patrol aircraft.

 

Beginning in World War I, several nations experimented with submarine-based observation aircraft with mediocre results and interest waned after the Armistice. The start of World War II renewed interest in Germany and Japan in developing this technology. The German Navy looked first at the Arado Ar 231 but this collapsible seaplane proved a failure. It handled poorly on the water and took too long to assemble and disassemble. As the sub's crew put the airplane together on the open deck, the submarine was extremely vulnerable. As a result, the German Navy quickly terminated the Ar 231 program.

 

By the spring of 1942, the Battle of the Atlantic was beginning to turn against Germany. The U. S. Navy was deploying increasing numbers of anti-submarine assets to protect the eastern seaboard, once a fertile hunting ground for prowling U-boats. The submarine commanders moved their patrols far out to sea to avoid Allied air cover and roaming destroyers. High sea states in these open waters restricted visibility to several kilometers or less, and U-boat commanders were hard-pressed to acquire targets. The expanse of the open ocean also worsened the target detection problem. Near the coast, Allied ships traveled in relatively narrow areas. A U-boat could wait, just beneath the waves in daylight or float on the surface at night, and expect with some certainty that a target would steam within detection range. Away from the coast, U-boats had to patrol much larger areas and this reduced the chances of detecting Allied ships. German sonar and radar technology lagged behind Allied developments and also made detection of the U-boats easier.

 

The navy asked Focke-Achgelis GmbH to build a rotorkite that a U-boat could tow aloft to search for targets. The aircraft had to fly high enough to substantially boost the scouting range, yet remain small, easy to store, and mechanically simple to maintain and operate. Focke-Achgelis proposed a clever design best characterized by simplicity. The Fa 330 was simple to fabricate, easy to assemble on deck for flight, and weighed so little that two men could comfortably hoist the entire machine. The Fa 330 needed no engine because the submarine towed the gyro kite through the air. Like a gyro plane, the rotorkite flew by autorotation, meaning that the movement of relative wind through the rotors caused them to turn with sufficient speed to generate lift.

 

The airframe consisted of two 6.35 cm (2.5 in) diameter steel tubes joined to form an inverted 'T.' One tube served as the fuselage of the aircraft, which mounted the pilot's seat and rear control surfaces. The other tube served as the rotor mast. A control stick hung from the blade hub atop the mast. The pilot moved the stick for direct (no intervening control linkage) pitch and roll control, and he used foot pedals to move the large rudder and control yaw. The horizontal stabilizer had no moving control surfaces. Weight was saved on the rotor hub by using steel cables to support the blades against blade droop when the aircraft was not flying. The cables also limited the blades' range of movement when during flight. Instrumentation consisted of an altimeter, airspeed indicator, and tachometer. Its landing gear consisted of two small skids.

 

The three-bladed rotor turned freely but was limited to 250 rpm. This limit was reached if the aircraft attained a never-exceed speed of 80 kph (50 mph). Normal flight rpm was about 205 at a standard towing airspeed of 40 km/h (25 mph). A minimum speed of 27 kph (17 mph) was required to maintain autorotation. Blade pitch could only be set before flight by turning adjustment screws. The blades used flapping and dragging hinges equipped with variable dampers. The rotor blades consisted of a 3.2 m (10 ft 4 in) steel spar that supported plywood ribs. The blades were 0.3 m (12 in) wide and skinned with fabric-covered plywood. The blade airfoil was almost symmetrical. The blades were precisely balanced during the manufacturing process, which eliminated the need for difficult and time-consuming manual balancing at sea.

 

The Fa-330 was stowed in two tubes of approximately 3.75 meters (12 ft 4in) length built vertically into the U-boat's conning tower. One tube contained the blades and tail and the other contained the fuselage. Four crewmen could assemble the entire structure in three minutes in calm conditions. Rotation of the blades in preparation for flight could be done by hand, but if a course pitch (which provided the best operating performance) was preset on the rotor blades this became extremely difficult. In that case, a rope wrapped around drum on the rotor hub was used to get the rotor turning. The Fa 330 took off from a small platform attached to the aft railing of the U-boat's conning tower. A towline extended from an electric winch to a quick release coupling on the Fa 330. Since the primary duty of the Fa 330 was to spot suitable targets, communication with the towing vessel was essential. The pilot used an interphone system that consisted of a telephone cable, which paralleled the towline. Upon landing a rotor brake was provided to quickly stop the rotor spinning. Disassembly time was not much greater than that required for assembly. If the U-boat came under attack and had to make a crash dive the pilot could pull a quick release lever above the seat, and the towline would separate from the aircraft in addition to releasing the rotor hub from the mast. As the rotors departed they pulled a line out, which deployed a parachute. Once the parachute opened, the pilot released his seat buckle, which allowed the remainder of the aircraft structure to fall away. Additionally, the towline quick release coupling could be manually operated without engaging the rotor release.

 

By early August 1942, Focke-Achgelis had completed the first prototype Fa 330 and had begun operational testing aboard U 523 in the Baltic Sea with positive results, though it clearly demonstrated that the Type VIIC U-boats were to slow to tow the aircraft successfully. A wind tunnel at Chalais-Meudon, France served as a simulator to train several crewmembers from each vessel that carried a Fa 330. Since very few of the prospective pilots had previous flight experience, and would have little opportunity to practice while on patrol, it was essential that the aircraft be easy to fly. The Fa 330 was stable enough that the pilot could release the stick for seconds at a time without a loss of control.

 

At the time the Fa 330 received clearance for deployment at the beginning of 1943, only the Type IX U-boat, with its surface speed of 18 knots, had sufficient speed to ensure the Fa 330 remained airborne in low wind conditions. The Fa 330 used a steel tow cable 300 meters (984 ft) in length, which allowed it to ascend to a maximum altitude of 220 meters (722 ft) when flying at the top speed of 80 km/h (50 mph). At that altitude, spotting distance was 53 kilometers (33 miles) in clear conditions. Like a kite, the maximum altitude attainable was dependent on airspeed. If the airspeed dropped to 50 km/h (31 mph), then the maximum altitude became 200 meters (656 ft) with a possible spotting distance of 50 kilometers (31 miles). If the speed dropped to the minimum safe towing speed of 35 km/h (22 mph) then the maximum altitude was only 100 meters (328 ft), with a possible spotting distance of 35 kilometers (22 miles).

 

Unfortunately, the Fa 330 possessed a large radar signature and because most of the Atlantic convoys employed numerous escort vessels for anti-submarine duty by the time the Fa 330 entered service, it was impractical to deploy the rotorkite in that ocean. However, in the Indian Ocean, merchantmen still plied the seas without benefit of the convoy system and the Fa 330 could serve the U-boat service to some effect. The U-boat service began committing its longest-range vessels - the Type IX D2, known as the Monsoon boats, to operate with the Fa 330 in the Indian Ocean, frequently operating out of bases borrowed from the Japanese. The first operational deployment of the type occurred in April 1943 aboard U 177, which managed to sink one vessel on August 5 with the aid of the Fa 330.

 

Operational details of the Fa 330's combat service are almost nonexistent after the U 177 deployment. This is undoubtedly because of the extremely high loss rate among U-boats, which has meant that very few ships' logs have survived. There were several concerns that prevented wider employment of the Fa 330. A U-boat commander was faced with a choice between risking his entire vessel and crew to recover the pilot, or to crash dive the submarine and leave the unfortunate individual to suffer an almost certain death, in the event that the submarine had been spotted, in addition to the fact that it gave away the U-boats primary advantage - stealth. It appears that some U-boat commanders who were not enamored with the Fa 330 took the opportunity to trade them to the Japanese in exchange for floatplanes to patrol around U-boat bases in Java and Malaya. The Japanese Navy enjoyed more success with submarine launched aircraft. They had several classes of large submarines that could carry, launch and recover seaplanes capable of carrying reasonable weapon loads and which would not give away the submarine's position.

 

Although Focke-Achgelis was responsible for the development of the Fa 330, Weser-Flugzeugbau in Hoyenkamp actually produced the aircraft with approximately 200 Fa 330s produced alongside Focke-Achgelis's most significant product - the Fa 223 helicopter, which was the largest rotary wing aircraft of the war. The only notable variation that occurred during Fa 330 production was increase in the span of the rotor blades to 3.79 meters (12 ft 5 in). Later production Fa 330s also had mountings for small wheels to be added to the skids to aid in moving the aircraft on the ground. A version of the Fa 330 was under consideration for surface vessels, which was actually a true helicopter that used a 200 lb, 60 horsepower engine, however this design did not progress much beyond the drawing board.

 

The Fa 330 was viewed with a great deal of interest by the Allies following its discovery on U-852 after it ran aground off the Somali coast during an air attack on May 3, 1944. The performance of the Fa 330 was not as interesting to Allied Intelligence as was the simplicity, ease of production, and speed with which it could be assembled. It was apparent that such a design allowed a significant increase in visual range at sea for very little effort.

 

After the war, the United States and Britain conducted extensive tests on the Fa 330 to evaluate this type of aircraft for observation purposes. Captured Fa 330s towed behind boats and even jeeps provided positive results, but the introduction of the helicopter into naval operations rendered such concepts obsolete. A number of these easily stored aircraft appeared on the collector's market, even occasionally showing up in Army-Navy surplus stores and a number survive in museums around the world.

 

The National Air and Space Museum fully restored its Fa 330 in 1975. It bears the captured aircraft registration number of T2-4618, but it appears likely that the museum's aircraft is actually T2-4616, which was in a display example of captured German technology at Freeman Field in 1946. The Army Air Force then loaned it to Eastern Rotor Craft of Pennsylvania in 1947 for an evaluation after which it into storage for the National Air Museum. T2-4618 conducted a number of flight tests at Wright Field in 1946, during which it was equipped with a wheeled landing gear and towed by a truck. However the relatively large landing gear upset the center-of-gravity and made the aircraft difficult to takeoff and land. After four successful flights the aircraft rolled on landing and sustained some damage. The aircraft was repaired and sent to MacDill Air Force Base for further testing in 1948. There it was towed behind a boat, minus the wheeled undercarriage, for consideration as an aid for U.S. Air Force small rescue boats in spotting downed airmen in the water. Unfortunately in August 1948 the towline broke and the aircraft sank in Tampa Bay, but pilot Capt. Raymond A. Popson managed to escape. The aircraft mysteriously disappeared from where it sank and rumors state that it may have turned up in an army surplus store over twenty years later.

 

The Fa 330 undoubtedly achieved its designed objectives, however by the time the aircraft entered service the tide had irreversibly turn against the U-boat service. If this simplest of aircraft had been available at the beginning of the war, then merchant shipping might have suffered significantly higher losses. The fact that this design was not used more extensively is more an acknowledgement of allied air and naval supremacy over the sea-lanes than any failure of the equipment to live up to its expectations.

 

Rotor Diameter:8.53 m (28 ft)

Length: 4.47 m (14 ft 8 in)

Height: 1.67 m (5 ft 6 in)

Weight: Empty, 75 kg (165 lb) [not including 10 kg (22 lb) parachute]

Gross, 175 kg (386 lb)

Serial Number:T2-4616

 

References and Further Reading:

 

Butler, Phil. War Prizes. Leicester, England: Midland Counties Publications, 1994.

 

Showell, Jak P. Mallman. U-Boats Under the Swastika. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval

Institute Press, 1987.

 

Smith, J.R. German Aircraft of the Second World War. London: Putnam, 1972.

 

Treadwell, Terry. Strike From Beneath the Sea: A History of Aircraft-carrying

Submarines. Charleston, South Carolina: Tempus Publishing Inc., 1999

 

Fa 330 curatorial file, Aeronautics Division, National Air and Space Museum.

 

Roger Connor, REL, 10-16-00

Kaluk is a very paranoid Matoran, rarely leaving his hut or the observatory in fear of the various (and nonexistent) threats that are lurking in the outside world, but no matter what, he does his best to help his fellow Sah-toran.

|Prints| Tumblr |

 

This photo took so long to execute because our schedules doesn't match,and personal problems came in.

We actually got the costume and such for quite a while, as in back in 2010 December to now. December 2011, it's finally executed.

I gave the Reflection scene to Sydney because Mulan's costume is really hard. So I got Mara this scene.

 

In the photographing process I made a mistake. Mulan's writing is on a different arm. No wonder why it was so hard to pose Mara's body and arm right. Oops.

 

The Chinese writing on Mara's arm is actually my writing. It's not even Chinese. I made it look Chinese, but's actually regular letters - kinda like what I did to the Mulan poster. It says vertically, "DUY MARA LADY GAGA"

It looks "legit" up close.

 

As for the title, I really want to play on the word "punctual" as Mulan says it (the last word she wrote).

Punctuality means on time, involved in time. As in there's a time and place for everything. Something of that manner. I think of the magic of Disney. The planning is punctual, but the magic is not.

Disney is "Where Punctuality is Nonexistent."

See how all of my title plays out? I don't think I ever say that, but my titles really lays out.

 

Mara Santos

Costume by Mara

Set byDuy

Prop by Mara

Makeup by Duy and Mara

The words define "rap" music as a genre coming from America (the Bronx, more precisely) and "rapa" the plant, as in "broccoli di rapa."

The artist, Martoz, calls this the "Nonexistent Knight": alemartoz.blogspot.it/2014/06/nonexistent-knight.html

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

  

Some background:

The outbreak of the war in Europe in September 1939 did not immediately affect the status of the Armée de l'Air in French Indochina because it had the task of defending a wide area of Southeast Asia, including the future Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. And yet its array of airplanes seemed inadequate to perform any kind of real defense against any incursion by an enemy, because there were less than 100 airplanes available to it, all obsolescent or obsolete. In September 1931, Japan invaded and occupied Manchuria. This was an area of northeast China, which encompassed the provinces of Jilin, Liaoning and Heilongjiang. Nearly six whole years later, in July 1937, the Second Sino-Japanese War had begun. As yet, the French colonial authorities were hoping that the Japanese would not be brazen enough to take on the might of a European power. However, it became increasingly likely after the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, since Japan was part of the Axis alliance and thus Germany's ally.

 

On September 26, 1940, Japanese troops landed in Haiphong, violating a cease-fire which had been signed only the previous day. From the middle of the following month, the French became heavily involved in repelling Japanese army assaults. Following the Fall of France in 1940, Thais perceived a chance to regain the territories they had lost years earlier. The collapse of Metropolitan France made the French hold on Indochina tenuous. After the Japanese invasion of French Indochina in September 1940, the French were forced to allow the Japanese to set up military bases. This seemingly subservient behavior convinced the Thai regime that Vichy France would not seriously resist a confrontation with Thailand.

 

During the French-Thai War, the Thai Air Force achieved several air-to-air-victories in dogfights against the Vichy Armée de l'Air. During World War II, the Thai Air Force supported the Royal Thai Army in its occupation of the Shan States of Burma as somewhat reluctant allies of the Japanese and took part in the defense of Bangkok against allied air raids in the latter part of the war, achieving some successes against state-of-the-art aircraft like the P-51 Mustang and the B-29 Superfortress. During these times, the RTAF was actively supplied by the Japanese with Imperial Japanese Army Air Force aircraft such as the Ki-43 "Oscar," and the Ki-27 "Nate." Other RTAF personnel took an active part the anti-Japanese resistance movement.

 

French forces in Indochina consisted of an army of approximately fifty thousand men, The most obvious deficiency of the French army lay in its shortage of armor; however, the Armée de l'Air had in its inventory approximately a hundred aircraft, of which around sixty could be considered first line. These consisted of thirty Potez 25 TOEs, four Farman 221s, eight Loire 130 flying boats, six Potez 542s, nine Morane M.S.406s.

 

The M.S.406 was a French fighter aircraft developed and manufactured by Morane-Saulnier starting in 1938. In response to a requirement for a fighter issued by the French Air Force in 1934, Morane-Saulnier built a prototype, designated MS.405, of mixed materials. This had the distinction of being the company's first low-wing monoplane, as well as the first to feature an enclosed cockpit, and the first design with a retracting undercarriage. The entry to service of the M.S.406 to the French Air Force in early 1939 represented the first modern fighter aircraft to be adopted by the service, and the type was also used in the French overseas colonies. The M.S.406 was France's most numerous fighter during the Second World War and one of only two French designs to exceed 1,000 in number. At the beginning of the war, it was one of only two French-built aircraft capable of 400 km/h (250 mph) – the other being the Potez 630.

 

Although a sturdy and highly manoeuvrable fighter aircraft, the M.S.406 was considered underpowered and weakly armed when compared to its contemporaries, esp. over continental Europe. Most critically, the M.S.406 was outperformed by the Messerschmitt Bf 109E during the Battle of France and no serious threat to the German fighter. In less advanced theatres like Indochina, though, the M.S. 406 was a respectable contender, but its numbers were low.

 

When the French-Thai War broke out in Indochina, the Thai Army was a relatively well-equipped force, consisting of some sixty thousand men, with artillery and tanks. The Royal Thai Navy — consisting of several vessels, including two coastal defence ships, twelve torpedo boats and four submarines — was inferior to the French naval forces, though, but the Royal Thai Air Force held both a quantitative and qualitative edge over l'Armee de l'Air. Among the 140 aircraft that composed the air force's initial first-line strength were twenty-four Mitsubishi Ki-30 light bombers, nine Mitsubishi Ki-21 and six Martin B-10 twin-engine bombers, seventy Vought Corsair dive bombers, and twenty-five Curtiss Hawk 75 fighters.

 

While nationalistic demonstrations and anti-French rallies were held in Bangkok, border skirmishes erupted along the Mekong frontier. The superior Royal Thai Air Force conducted daytime bombing runs over Vientiane, Sisophon, and Battambang with impunity. The French retaliated with their own planes, but the damage caused was less than equal. The activities of the Thai air force, particularly in the field of dive-bombing, was such that Admiral Jean Decoux, the governor of French Indochina, grudgingly remarked that the Thai planes seemed to have been flown by men with plenty of war experience.

 

In early January 1941, the Thai Burapha and Isan Armies launched their offensive on Laos and Cambodia. French resistance was instantaneous, but many units were simply swept along by the better-equipped Thai forces, with some French equipment – including some aircraft – being captured and immediately pressed into Thai army service. The Thais swiftly took Laos, but Cambodia proved a much harder nut to crack.

 

On January 16, 1941 the French launched a large counterattack on the Thai-held villages of Yang Dang Khum and Phum Preav, initiating the fiercest battle of the war. Because of over-complicated orders and nonexistent intelligence, the French counterattacks were cut to pieces and fighting ended with a French withdrawal from the area. The Thais were unable to pursue the retreating French, as their forward tanks were kept in check by the gunnery of French Foreign Legion artillerists.

 

On January 24, the final air battle took place when Thai bombers raided the French airfield at Angkor near Siem Reap, which quickly fell. The last Thai mission commenced at 0710 hours on January 28, when the Martins of the 50th Bomber Squadron set out on a raid on Sisophon, escorted by three Hawk 75Ns of the 60th Fighter Squadron.

 

Although the French won an important naval victory over the Thais, Japan forced the French to accept Japanese mediation of a peace treaty that returned the disputed territory to Thai control. A general armistice was arranged by Japan to go into effect on January 28. On May 9 a peace treaty was signed in Tokyo, with the French being coerced by the Japanese into relinquishing their hold on the disputed territories. However, the French (now part of the Axis Forces’ Vichy regime) were left in place to administer the rump colony of Indochina until 9 March 1945, when the Japanese staged a coup d'état in French Indochina and took control, establishing their own colony, the Empire of Vietnam, as a puppet state controlled by Tokyo.

 

Until then, Japanese authorities heavily influenced the diminishing Vichy French presence in the region and handed over a lot of leftover military hardware to its own allies, primarily the Thai forces. However, there was not much left to be distributed: about 30% of the French aircraft were rendered unserviceable by the end of the French-Thai War in early 1941, some as a result of minor damage sustained in air raids that remained unrepaired. The Armée de l'Air admitted the loss of only one Farman F221 and two Morane M.S.406s destroyed on the ground, but, in reality, its losses were greater and the influence of Japan on the leftover stock was fogged in order to save face. However, even in 1944, single former Vichy French aircraft and tanks were still active in the region, primarily under Thai flag.

  

General characteristics:

Crew: 1

Length: 8.17 m (26 ft 10 in)

Wingspan: 10.61 m (34 ft 10 in)

Height: 3.25 m (10 ft 8 in)

Wing area: 16 m2 (170 sq ft)

Empty weight: 1,895 kg (4,178 lb)

Gross weight: 2,540 kg (5,600 lb)

 

Powerplant:

1 × Hispano-Suiza 12Y-31 V-12 liquid-cooled piston engine with

619 kW (830 hp) for take-off at 2,520 rpm at sea level,

driving a 3-bladed variable-pitch propeller, 3 m (9 ft 10 in) diameter

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 490 km/h (304 mph; 265 kn) at 4,500 m (14,764 ft)

Stall speed: 160 km/h (99 mph, 86 kn) without flaps

135 km/h (84 mph; 73 kn) with flaps

Range: 1,100 km (680 mi, 590 nmi) at 66% power

Combat range: 720 km (450 mi, 390 nmi)

Endurance: 2 hours 20 minutes 30 seconds (average combat mission)

Service ceiling: 9,400 m (30,800 ft)

Time to altitude: 2,000 m (6,562 ft) in 2 minutes 32 seconds

9,000 m (29,528 ft) in 21 minutes 37 seconds

Wing loading: 154 kg/m2 (32 lb/sq ft)

Power/mass: 2.95 kg/kW (4.85 lb/hp)

Take-off run to 8 m (26 ft): 270 m (886 ft)

Landing run from 8 m (26 ft): 340 m (1,115 ft)

 

Armament:

1× 20 mm (0.787 in) Hispano-Suiza HS.404 cannon, firing through the propeller hub

2× 7.5 mm (0.295 in) MAC 1934 machine guns in the outer wings

  

The kit and its assembly:

This quick build was created in the wake of the “Captured” group build at whatifmodellers.com and actually is a personal interpretation of someone else’s idea, namely of fellow modeler NARSES who came up with the idea of a captured French M.S. 406 in Indochina under a new Thai flag. I found the idea so weird, yet realistic, that I decided to build one, too.

 

The model is the very simple but quite acceptable M.S. 406 from Hobby Boss. Externally the model is nice, with recessed panel lines and a basic landing gear. Internally, it is rather bleak, even though it has a full cockpit with a floor, integrally molded seat and even some details behind the pilot’s armor bulkhead. The canopy is a single piece and very clear, but it comes with massive locator bars, so that I decided to keep the canopy closed and added a pilot figure to cover the minimal interior. I was lucky to find a Japanese (though pretty “flat”) WWII pilot in the donor bank, left over from a Hasegawa model. I also gave the figure some seat belts (made from adhesive tape), but the rest remained unchanged – even the original metal axis for the propeller was used. I just replaced the machine gun barrels with hollow steel needles and added a pitot on the wing, which is probably part of the kit but not indicated in the instructions. The same is true for the foldable ventral antenna.

 

The build was finished quickly, in the course of just a single evening, including the pilot and some overall PSR.

  

Painting and markings:

My interpretation of a French aircraft in Thai service after the French-Thai War stuck closely to the real world Vichy livery, which was the standard French camouflage in grey/green/brown with light blue-grey undersides (all from ModelMaster’s Authentic Color range), together with a yellow-and-red-striped cowling (a base with Humbrol 69 and red decal stripes added later) and a white cheatline long the fuselage. The tail of French aircraft in Indochina was painted all-red from early 1941 onwards upon Japanese command, because of friendly fire incidents. This was adopted for the model (with a mix of Humbrol 19 and some 73), which is supposed to belong into the 1942 time frame.

 

As a captured aircraft, the original French roundels were replaced/overpainted with red disks/hinomaru, and then Thai elephant markings added on top. That’s a personal idea, ordnance directly supplied to the Thai forces from Japan had the simple, square “elephant flag” emblem directly applied to the wings and the fin (but no fuselage roundel). The all-red tail was taken over, but I painted the rudder in a dark IJA green, since it would formerly carry a French fin flash. The same green was used to overpaint a serial number on the fin and a former squadron emblem under the cockpit.

The hinomaru come from a PrintScale Ki-46 sheet, and these markings are intentionally a bit oversized, so that they cover well the former French markings and are highly visible. The elephant markings some from a PrintScale Ki-27 sheet, so that the red tone on both sources are very close to each other. The Ki-27 sheet also provided the Thai ciphers “3” and “4”, combined into a “34”.

 

The interior was painted in medium grey, and the model externally received some signs of wear and tear in the form of dry-brushed leading edges and around the cockpit as well as some soot stains behind the exhaust stubs and the machine guns. Finally, the model was sealed with a coat of matt acrylic varnish (Italeri).

  

A quick build, and the easy-build Hobby Boss M.S. 406 is certainly not as crisp as a “real” model, but in this case the story behind the weird livery was more in the focus than the canvas underneath. However, an interesting result, and the hybrid paint scheme with heritage from three different operators make the aircraft an unusual, if not exotic sight.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

  

Some background:

The outbreak of the war in Europe in September 1939 did not immediately affect the status of the Armée de l'Air in French Indochina because it had the task of defending a wide area of Southeast Asia, including the future Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. And yet its array of airplanes seemed inadequate to perform any kind of real defense against any incursion by an enemy, because there were less than 100 airplanes available to it, all obsolescent or obsolete. In September 1931, Japan invaded and occupied Manchuria. This was an area of northeast China, which encompassed the provinces of Jilin, Liaoning and Heilongjiang. Nearly six whole years later, in July 1937, the Second Sino-Japanese War had begun. As yet, the French colonial authorities were hoping that the Japanese would not be brazen enough to take on the might of a European power. However, it became increasingly likely after the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, since Japan was part of the Axis alliance and thus Germany's ally.

 

On September 26, 1940, Japanese troops landed in Haiphong, violating a cease-fire which had been signed only the previous day. From the middle of the following month, the French became heavily involved in repelling Japanese army assaults. Following the Fall of France in 1940, Thais perceived a chance to regain the territories they had lost years earlier. The collapse of Metropolitan France made the French hold on Indochina tenuous. After the Japanese invasion of French Indochina in September 1940, the French were forced to allow the Japanese to set up military bases. This seemingly subservient behavior convinced the Thai regime that Vichy France would not seriously resist a confrontation with Thailand.

 

During the French-Thai War, the Thai Air Force achieved several air-to-air-victories in dogfights against the Vichy Armée de l'Air. During World War II, the Thai Air Force supported the Royal Thai Army in its occupation of the Shan States of Burma as somewhat reluctant allies of the Japanese and took part in the defense of Bangkok against allied air raids in the latter part of the war, achieving some successes against state-of-the-art aircraft like the P-51 Mustang and the B-29 Superfortress. During these times, the RTAF was actively supplied by the Japanese with Imperial Japanese Army Air Force aircraft such as the Ki-43 "Oscar," and the Ki-27 "Nate." Other RTAF personnel took an active part the anti-Japanese resistance movement.

 

French forces in Indochina consisted of an army of approximately fifty thousand men, The most obvious deficiency of the French army lay in its shortage of armor; however, the Armée de l'Air had in its inventory approximately a hundred aircraft, of which around sixty could be considered first line. These consisted of thirty Potez 25 TOEs, four Farman 221s, eight Loire 130 flying boats, six Potez 542s, nine Morane M.S.406s.

 

The M.S.406 was a French fighter aircraft developed and manufactured by Morane-Saulnier starting in 1938. In response to a requirement for a fighter issued by the French Air Force in 1934, Morane-Saulnier built a prototype, designated MS.405, of mixed materials. This had the distinction of being the company's first low-wing monoplane, as well as the first to feature an enclosed cockpit, and the first design with a retracting undercarriage. The entry to service of the M.S.406 to the French Air Force in early 1939 represented the first modern fighter aircraft to be adopted by the service, and the type was also used in the French overseas colonies. The M.S.406 was France's most numerous fighter during the Second World War and one of only two French designs to exceed 1,000 in number. At the beginning of the war, it was one of only two French-built aircraft capable of 400 km/h (250 mph) – the other being the Potez 630.

 

Although a sturdy and highly manoeuvrable fighter aircraft, the M.S.406 was considered underpowered and weakly armed when compared to its contemporaries, esp. over continental Europe. Most critically, the M.S.406 was outperformed by the Messerschmitt Bf 109E during the Battle of France and no serious threat to the German fighter. In less advanced theatres like Indochina, though, the M.S. 406 was a respectable contender, but its numbers were low.

 

When the French-Thai War broke out in Indochina, the Thai Army was a relatively well-equipped force, consisting of some sixty thousand men, with artillery and tanks. The Royal Thai Navy — consisting of several vessels, including two coastal defence ships, twelve torpedo boats and four submarines — was inferior to the French naval forces, though, but the Royal Thai Air Force held both a quantitative and qualitative edge over l'Armee de l'Air. Among the 140 aircraft that composed the air force's initial first-line strength were twenty-four Mitsubishi Ki-30 light bombers, nine Mitsubishi Ki-21 and six Martin B-10 twin-engine bombers, seventy Vought Corsair dive bombers, and twenty-five Curtiss Hawk 75 fighters.

 

While nationalistic demonstrations and anti-French rallies were held in Bangkok, border skirmishes erupted along the Mekong frontier. The superior Royal Thai Air Force conducted daytime bombing runs over Vientiane, Sisophon, and Battambang with impunity. The French retaliated with their own planes, but the damage caused was less than equal. The activities of the Thai air force, particularly in the field of dive-bombing, was such that Admiral Jean Decoux, the governor of French Indochina, grudgingly remarked that the Thai planes seemed to have been flown by men with plenty of war experience.

 

In early January 1941, the Thai Burapha and Isan Armies launched their offensive on Laos and Cambodia. French resistance was instantaneous, but many units were simply swept along by the better-equipped Thai forces, with some French equipment – including some aircraft – being captured and immediately pressed into Thai army service. The Thais swiftly took Laos, but Cambodia proved a much harder nut to crack.

 

On January 16, 1941 the French launched a large counterattack on the Thai-held villages of Yang Dang Khum and Phum Preav, initiating the fiercest battle of the war. Because of over-complicated orders and nonexistent intelligence, the French counterattacks were cut to pieces and fighting ended with a French withdrawal from the area. The Thais were unable to pursue the retreating French, as their forward tanks were kept in check by the gunnery of French Foreign Legion artillerists.

 

On January 24, the final air battle took place when Thai bombers raided the French airfield at Angkor near Siem Reap, which quickly fell. The last Thai mission commenced at 0710 hours on January 28, when the Martins of the 50th Bomber Squadron set out on a raid on Sisophon, escorted by three Hawk 75Ns of the 60th Fighter Squadron.

 

Although the French won an important naval victory over the Thais, Japan forced the French to accept Japanese mediation of a peace treaty that returned the disputed territory to Thai control. A general armistice was arranged by Japan to go into effect on January 28. On May 9 a peace treaty was signed in Tokyo, with the French being coerced by the Japanese into relinquishing their hold on the disputed territories. However, the French (now part of the Axis Forces’ Vichy regime) were left in place to administer the rump colony of Indochina until 9 March 1945, when the Japanese staged a coup d'état in French Indochina and took control, establishing their own colony, the Empire of Vietnam, as a puppet state controlled by Tokyo.

 

Until then, Japanese authorities heavily influenced the diminishing Vichy French presence in the region and handed over a lot of leftover military hardware to its own allies, primarily the Thai forces. However, there was not much left to be distributed: about 30% of the French aircraft were rendered unserviceable by the end of the French-Thai War in early 1941, some as a result of minor damage sustained in air raids that remained unrepaired. The Armée de l'Air admitted the loss of only one Farman F221 and two Morane M.S.406s destroyed on the ground, but, in reality, its losses were greater and the influence of Japan on the leftover stock was fogged in order to save face. However, even in 1944, single former Vichy French aircraft and tanks were still active in the region, primarily under Thai flag.

  

General characteristics:

Crew: 1

Length: 8.17 m (26 ft 10 in)

Wingspan: 10.61 m (34 ft 10 in)

Height: 3.25 m (10 ft 8 in)

Wing area: 16 m2 (170 sq ft)

Empty weight: 1,895 kg (4,178 lb)

Gross weight: 2,540 kg (5,600 lb)

 

Powerplant:

1 × Hispano-Suiza 12Y-31 V-12 liquid-cooled piston engine with

619 kW (830 hp) for take-off at 2,520 rpm at sea level,

driving a 3-bladed variable-pitch propeller, 3 m (9 ft 10 in) diameter

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 490 km/h (304 mph; 265 kn) at 4,500 m (14,764 ft)

Stall speed: 160 km/h (99 mph, 86 kn) without flaps

135 km/h (84 mph; 73 kn) with flaps

Range: 1,100 km (680 mi, 590 nmi) at 66% power

Combat range: 720 km (450 mi, 390 nmi)

Endurance: 2 hours 20 minutes 30 seconds (average combat mission)

Service ceiling: 9,400 m (30,800 ft)

Time to altitude: 2,000 m (6,562 ft) in 2 minutes 32 seconds

9,000 m (29,528 ft) in 21 minutes 37 seconds

Wing loading: 154 kg/m2 (32 lb/sq ft)

Power/mass: 2.95 kg/kW (4.85 lb/hp)

Take-off run to 8 m (26 ft): 270 m (886 ft)

Landing run from 8 m (26 ft): 340 m (1,115 ft)

 

Armament:

1× 20 mm (0.787 in) Hispano-Suiza HS.404 cannon, firing through the propeller hub

2× 7.5 mm (0.295 in) MAC 1934 machine guns in the outer wings

  

The kit and its assembly:

This quick build was created in the wake of the “Captured” group build at whatifmodellers.com and actually is a personal interpretation of someone else’s idea, namely of fellow modeler NARSES who came up with the idea of a captured French M.S. 406 in Indochina under a new Thai flag. I found the idea so weird, yet realistic, that I decided to build one, too.

 

The model is the very simple but quite acceptable M.S. 406 from Hobby Boss. Externally the model is nice, with recessed panel lines and a basic landing gear. Internally, it is rather bleak, even though it has a full cockpit with a floor, integrally molded seat and even some details behind the pilot’s armor bulkhead. The canopy is a single piece and very clear, but it comes with massive locator bars, so that I decided to keep the canopy closed and added a pilot figure to cover the minimal interior. I was lucky to find a Japanese (though pretty “flat”) WWII pilot in the donor bank, left over from a Hasegawa model. I also gave the figure some seat belts (made from adhesive tape), but the rest remained unchanged – even the original metal axis for the propeller was used. I just replaced the machine gun barrels with hollow steel needles and added a pitot on the wing, which is probably part of the kit but not indicated in the instructions. The same is true for the foldable ventral antenna.

 

The build was finished quickly, in the course of just a single evening, including the pilot and some overall PSR.

  

Painting and markings:

My interpretation of a French aircraft in Thai service after the French-Thai War stuck closely to the real world Vichy livery, which was the standard French camouflage in grey/green/brown with light blue-grey undersides (all from ModelMaster’s Authentic Color range), together with a yellow-and-red-striped cowling (a base with Humbrol 69 and red decal stripes added later) and a white cheatline long the fuselage. The tail of French aircraft in Indochina was painted all-red from early 1941 onwards upon Japanese command, because of friendly fire incidents. This was adopted for the model (with a mix of Humbrol 19 and some 73), which is supposed to belong into the 1942 time frame.

 

As a captured aircraft, the original French roundels were replaced/overpainted with red disks/hinomaru, and then Thai elephant markings added on top. That’s a personal idea, ordnance directly supplied to the Thai forces from Japan had the simple, square “elephant flag” emblem directly applied to the wings and the fin (but no fuselage roundel). The all-red tail was taken over, but I painted the rudder in a dark IJA green, since it would formerly carry a French fin flash. The same green was used to overpaint a serial number on the fin and a former squadron emblem under the cockpit.

The hinomaru come from a PrintScale Ki-46 sheet, and these markings are intentionally a bit oversized, so that they cover well the former French markings and are highly visible. The elephant markings some from a PrintScale Ki-27 sheet, so that the red tone on both sources are very close to each other. The Ki-27 sheet also provided the Thai ciphers “3” and “4”, combined into a “34”.

 

The interior was painted in medium grey, and the model externally received some signs of wear and tear in the form of dry-brushed leading edges and around the cockpit as well as some soot stains behind the exhaust stubs and the machine guns. Finally, the model was sealed with a coat of matt acrylic varnish (Italeri).

  

A quick build, and the easy-build Hobby Boss M.S. 406 is certainly not as crisp as a “real” model, but in this case the story behind the weird livery was more in the focus than the canvas underneath. However, an interesting result, and the hybrid paint scheme with heritage from three different operators make the aircraft an unusual, if not exotic sight.

hellu my more or less nonexistent flickr following, i've been taking a lot of pictures lately so this is a tentative claim to a 365 but a lot of them will probably be similar and stuff, but yeah.

 

i'm also just going to try to write small updates so i can look back and see what was going on and whatnot.

 

so i went to nyu and then i dropped out and i'm working on a lot more stuff so that's cool. hopefully i can keep this up.

 

you can also follow my photo tumblr here

 

1

This was my first time actually plane watching at Miami International Airport (MIA). I checked some spotter websites to find some good locations. They recommended The Holes as being an "official" site so we checked it out. I was pretty disappointed; there was a lot of construction going on and parking was nonexistent. My wife dropped me off. The area is totally exposed. Even though it was December it was pretty hot - no shade, no place to sit, no other people around. The holes are actually pretty small so it's hard to get a lens through the hole. Arrivals were almost impossible to shoot but you could see planes taxiing by for takeoff. After an hour I was cooking so we bagged it. We then went to the area close to the El Dorado furniture store. Much better. There were a bunch of spotters from around the world there. It was a great atmosphere. Nicely shaded, safe, close to some stores and a lot of good traffic to watch. I saw a bunch of planes from airlines I had not seen before, including some airlines I had not heard of. Some of the planes didn't show up on Flight Radar 24 so they were very pleasant surprises. All in all a very good day and I'd love to go back there!

 

I took these photos in December 2019.

In 1936, about 128 Siamese (Thai) naval officers were sent to japan for training by the Japanese Navy, and to bring back 4 new submarines with them to Siam. -- However, there were 32 officers, sent earlier that year for a secret training, in a separate mission - they were a crew of a nonexistent Submarine Number 5.

 

No record / document about 32 officers and their submarine can be found in Thailand today. No one can really be sure what their secret mission was - only rumor that Submarine No.5 vanished without a trace by the end of 1945 - if they really existed..that is.

 

Not until 2006 that some photographs, by laws, were uncovered / declassified by the US. government, and quickly disappeared again. But before then, there was an article in a small / local magazine in Portland, Oregon, related some unrelated events mixed up all together,from Tunguska event in Russia (1908) to strange little things around the world in the past century. The article would have been regarded as bullshit by a pot head writer until the guy is dead from a simple fall from his fixed gear bike.

 

and the story continues ..

 

about photographs :

 

classified documents ..hmmm..

Actually it's a totally fake document.. a little bit here and there.

We put some real photograph of Siamese submarine in 1938 with her crew,

and twisted around with our way of manipulation. Then, we made up story

that you just read..

We think this is a fun story that we can do something with, except that

we're too lazy to do anything right now. But i think we should something

with it -- a fiction or comics ?? hmmm..

 

History : this is what really happened.

 

Before and during the first half of World War II, with close relation

with japan and Germany, the Siamese government (Thailand) commissioned

4 small / diesel submarines to be used as coastal protection and war

with the French in Indochina.

 

The submarines were designed and built at the Mitsubishi Naval Dockyards

in Kobe. All four submarines were delivered to Siam on July 19, 1938.

However, submarines never engaged in a real war, and used from time to

time as emergency electricity generators during the allied bombing of Bangkok.

 

The power house in the city was frequently bombed to pieces by the

American bombers. And at that time, Japan had some anti aircraft guns but none of

fighter planes stationed in Siam (Thailand).

 

info from axis forum

  

Lake Natron is a remarkable salt lake situated in the northern region of Tanzania. It is a part of the East African Rift. The lake is fed by a combination of hot springs rich in minerals, and by a tributary of the Ewaso Ngiro River. Lake Natron is an extremely shallow lake. The water level rarely exceeds a depth of 9.8 ft (3 m). The width and area of the lake varies greatly. This is due to the effects of evaporation on such a shallow body of water. As the water evaporates, it leaves behind a unique deposit. This deposit is a mixture of minerals and salt. This particular mixture is known as: natron.

 

Lake Natron Unique Flora

 

Lake Natron receives its distinctive coloring due to a combination of factors. During the dry season, a significant percentage of the water evaporates. At this time, the level of salinity rises to the levels that certain microorganisms thrive in. These halophile organisms generate their own sustenance through photosynthesis. In the case of these microorganisms, the photosynthesizing pigment is red, not green. Levels of microorganisms are higher in deeper water, creating the deep red color. In shallower water, the lower levels create an orange coloring.

 

Lake Natron Wildlife

 

Originating in hot springs, the water temperature of Lake Natron, combined with extreme salinity, does not support any life directly. However, the outer margins form a unique habitat for some creatures. Several species of flamingo make the outermost edges of the lake their home. There, they feed upon species that have adapted to the environment of the narrow periphery. These include algae, small invertebrates, and even a few species of small fish. In fact, the outer portions of the lake serves as the only routine breeding area for the Lesser Flamingo. At times, as many as 2.5 million of these flamingos may be seen resting in a thin band encircling the edges of the lake.

Lake Natron Threats and Preservation Efforts

 

Lake Natron forms a geologically unique and important habitat. The species adapted to its unique environment can not survive elsewhere. Projected logging activities threaten to disrupt the delicate salinity balance. A hydroelectric plant is under consideration, to be based on the Ewaso River. Both of these projects threaten to disrupt the delicate environmental balance of Lake Natron. Additionally, a soda ash plant has been proposed, to be built upon the shore of the lake. This plant would extract the sodium carbonate from the waters of the lake. This is one of the minerals which forms the base of the unique waters present in the lake. The possibility of the Lesser Flamingo species being able to adapt to the change in the lake is considered: virtually nonexistent. #ourbreathingplanet

 

Photo Source: www.artwallpaperhi.com/Architecture/surface/surface_tanza...

 

orginal pattern is 9"h x 9 1/4"w. Transfer is from unknown company. It's on tissue paper with dark blue dots. I fixed some of the lines because they were almost nonexistent. These 3 were on a partial sheet.

BONDED (SLAVE) CHILD LABOURER POUNDING CLAY INTO A BRICK FORM. THE BRICKS BEHIND HER REPRESENT A DAYS WORK.

 

THOUSANDS OF BRICK KILNS LINE LINE THE RIVERBANKS IN BENGAL AND THE SURROUNDING STATES OF INDIA. MOST OF THE WORKERS HERE ARE BONDED (SLAVE) LABORERS. THE FAMILIES THAT WORK HERE ARE EXPLOITED 12-16 HOURS A DAY, 7 DAYS A WEEK. THEIR WORLD CONSISTS ONLY OF THESE MUD HOLES, DRYING FIELDS AND KILNS. AT NIGHT THEY SLEEP IN THE OPEN OR IN MAKESHIFT SHANTYS WHERE SANITARY CONDITIONS ARE NONEXISTENT. THERE ARE NO SCHOOLS HERE, AND FOR MANY OF THE CHILDREN THERE AREN'T EVEN FAMILIES. OVER 1/4 OF THE CHILDREN WORKING HERE HAVE BEEN TRAFFICKED FROM OTHER AREAS WHERE THEIR PARENTS HAVE BEEN FORCED TO EITHER SELL THEM INTO DEBT BONDAGE (SLAVERY) OR, IF THEY ARE LUCKY ENOUGH NOT TO BE BONDED, ARE DEPENDENT ON THE MEAGER WAGES THAT THESE CHILDREN CAN PROVIDE.

THE WORK IS EXTREMELY BRUTAL, HAZARDOUS, ABUSIVE AND SOMETIMES LETHAL. WORKING ALL DAY IN THE HOT SUN WHERE TEMPERATU

The Eden Project is a visitor attraction in Cornwall, England, UK. The project is located in a reclaimed china clay pit, located 2 km (1.2 mi) from the town of St Blazey and 5 km (3 mi) from the larger town of St Austell.

 

The complex is dominated by two huge enclosures consisting of adjoining domes that house thousands of plant species, and each enclosure emulates a natural biome. The biomes consist of hundreds of hexagonal and pentagonal ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) inflated cells supported by geodesic tubular steel domes. The larger of the two biomes simulates a rainforest environment (and is the largest indoor rainforest in the world) and the second, a Mediterranean environment. The attraction also has an outside botanical garden which is home to many plants and wildlife native to Cornwall and the UK in general; it also has many plants that provide an important and interesting backstory, for example, those with a prehistoric heritage.

 

There are plans to build an Eden Project North in the seaside town of Morecambe, Lancashire, with a focus on the marine environment.

 

The clay pit in which the project is sited was in use for over 160 years. In 1981, the pit was used by the BBC as the planet surface of Magrathea in the TV series the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. By the mid-1990s the pit was all but exhausted.

 

The initial idea for the project dates back to 1996, with construction beginning in 1998. The work was hampered by torrential rain in the first few months of the project, and parts of the pit flooded as it sits 15 m (49 ft) below the water table.

 

The first part of the Eden Project, the visitor centre, opened to the public in May 2000. The first plants began arriving in September of that year,[8] and the full site opened on 17 March 2001.

 

To counter criticism from environmental groups, the Eden Project committed to investigate a rail link to the site. The rail link was never built, and car parking on the site is still funded from revenue generated from general admission ticket sales.

 

The Eden Project was used as a filming location for the 2002 James Bond film Die Another Day. On 2 July 2005 The Eden Project hosted the "Africa Calling" concert of the Live 8 concert series. It has also provided some plants for the British Museum's Africa garden.

 

In 2005, the Project launched "A Time of Gifts" for the winter months, November to February. This features an ice rink covering the lake, with a small café-bar attached, as well as a Christmas market. Cornish choirs regularly perform in the biomes.

 

In 2007, the Eden Project campaigned unsuccessfully for £50 million in Big Lottery Fund money for a proposed desert biome.[10][11] It received just 12.07% of the votes, the lowest for the four projects being considered. As part of the campaign, the Eden Project invited people all over Cornwall to try to break the world record for the biggest ever pub quiz as part of its campaign to bring £50 million of lottery funds to Cornwall.

 

In December 2009, much of the project, including both greenhouses, became available to navigate through Google Street View.

 

The Eden Trust revealed a trading loss of £1.3 million for 2012–13, on a turnover of £25.4 million. The Eden Project had posted a surplus of £136,000 for the previous year. In 2014 Eden accounts showed a surplus of £2 million.

 

The World Pasty Championships, an international competition to find the best Cornish pasties and other pasty-type savoury snacks, have been held at the Eden Project since 2012.

 

The Eden Project is said to have contributed over £1 billion to the Cornish economy. In 2016, Eden became home to Europe's second-largest redwood forest (after the Giants Grove at Birr Castle, Birr Castle, Ireland) when forty saplings of coast redwoods, Sequoia sempervirens, which could live for 4,000 years and reach 115 metres in height, were planted there.

 

The Eden Project received 1,010,095 visitors in 2019.

 

In December 2020 the project was closed after heavy rain caused several landslips at the site. Managers at the site are assessing the damage and will announce when the project will reopen on the company's website. Reopening became irrelevant as Covid lockdown measures in the UK indefinitely closed the venue from early 2021, though it had reopened by May 2021 after remedial works had taken place. The site was used for an event during the 2021 G7 Summit, hosted by the United Kingdom.

 

The project was conceived by Tim Smit and Jonathan Ball, and designed by Grimshaw Architects and structural engineering firm Anthony Hunt Associates (now part of Sinclair Knight Merz). Davis Langdon carried out the project management, Sir Robert McAlpine and Alfred McAlpine did the construction, MERO jointly designed and built the biome steel structures, the ETFE pillows that build the façade were realized by Vector Foiltec, and Arup was the services engineer, economic consultant, environmental engineer and transportation engineer. Land Use Consultants led the masterplan and landscape design. The project took 2½ years to construct and opened to the public on 17 March 2001.

 

Once into the attraction, there is a meandering path with views of the two biomes, planted landscapes, including vegetable gardens, and sculptures that include a giant bee and previously The WEEE Man (removed in 2016), a towering figure made from old electrical appliances and was meant to represent the average electrical waste used by one person in a lifetime.

 

At the bottom of the pit are two covered biomes:

 

The Tropical Biome, covers 1.56 ha (3.9 acres) and measures 55 m (180 ft) high, 100 m (328 ft) wide, and 200 m (656 ft) long. It is used for tropical plants, such as fruiting banana plants, coffee, rubber and giant bamboo, and is kept at a tropical temperature and moisture level.

 

The Mediterranean Biome covers 0.654 ha (1.6 acres) and measures 35 m (115 ft) high, 65 m (213 ft) wide, and 135 m (443 ft) long. It houses familiar warm temperate and arid plants such as olives and grape vines and various sculptures.

 

The Outdoor Gardens represent the temperate regions of the world with plants such as tea, lavender, hops, hemp, and sunflowers, as well as local plant species.

 

The covered biomes are constructed from a tubular steel (hex-tri-hex) with mostly hexagonal external cladding panels made from the thermoplastic ETFE. Glass was avoided due to its weight and potential dangers. The cladding panels themselves are created from several layers of thin UV-transparent ETFE film, which are sealed around their perimeter and inflated to create a large cushion. The resulting cushion acts as a thermal blanket to the structure. The ETFE material is resistant to most stains, which simply wash off in the rain. If required, cleaning can be performed by abseilers. Although the ETFE is susceptible to punctures, these can be easily fixed with ETFE tape. The structure is completely self-supporting, with no internal supports, and takes the form of a geodesic structure. The panels vary in size up to 9 m (29.5 ft) across, with the largest at the top of the structure.

 

The ETFE technology was supplied and installed by the firm Vector Foiltec, which is also responsible for ongoing maintenance of the cladding. The steel spaceframe and cladding package (with Vector Foiltec as ETFE subcontractor) was designed, supplied and installed by MERO (UK) PLC, who also jointly developed the overall scheme geometry with the architect, Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners.

 

The entire build project was managed by McAlpine Joint Venture.

 

The Core is the latest addition to the site and opened in September 2005. It provides the Eden Project with an education facility, incorporating classrooms and exhibition spaces designed to help communicate Eden's central message about the relationship between people and plants. Accordingly, the building has taken its inspiration from plants, most noticeable in the form of the soaring timber roof, which gives the building its distinctive shape.

 

Grimshaw developed the geometry of the copper-clad roof in collaboration with a sculptor, Peter Randall-Page, and Mike Purvis of structural engineers SKM Anthony Hunts. It is derived from phyllotaxis, which is the mathematical basis for nearly all plant growth; the "opposing spirals" found in many plants such as the seeds in a sunflower's head, pine cones and pineapples. The copper was obtained from traceable sources, and the Eden Project is working with Rio Tinto Group to explore the possibility of encouraging further traceable supply routes for metals, which would enable users to avoid metals mined unethically. The services and acoustic, mechanical, and electrical engineering design was carried out by Buro Happold.

 

The Core is also home to art exhibitions throughout the year. A permanent installation entitled Seed, by Peter Randall-Page, occupies the anteroom. Seed is a large, 70 tonne egg-shaped stone installation standing some 13 feet (4.0 m) tall and displaying a complex pattern of protrusions that are based upon the geometric and mathematical principles that underlie plant growth.

 

Environmental aspects

The biomes provide diverse growing conditions, and many plants are on display.

 

The Eden Project includes environmental education focusing on the interdependence of plants and people; plants are labelled with their medicinal uses. The massive amounts of water required to create the humid conditions of the Tropical Biome, and to serve the toilet facilities, are all sanitised rain water that would otherwise collect at the bottom of the quarry. The only mains water used is for hand washing and for cooking. The complex also uses Green Tariff Electricity – the energy comes from one of the many wind turbines in Cornwall, which were among the first in Europe.

 

In December 2010 the Eden Project received permission to build a geothermal electricity plant which will generate approx 4MWe, enough to supply Eden and about 5000 households. The project will involve geothermal heating as well as geothermal electricity. Cornwall Council and the European Union came up with the greater part of £16.8m required to start the project. First a well will be sunk nearly 3 miles (4.5 km) into the granite crust underneath Eden.

 

Eden co-founder, Sir Tim Smit said, "Since we began, Eden has had a dream that the world should be powered by renewable energy. The sun can provide massive solar power and the wind has been harnessed by humankind for thousands of years, but because both are intermittent and battery technology cannot yet store all we need there is a gap. We believe the answer lies beneath our feet in the heat underground that can be accessed by drilling technology that pumps water towards the centre of the Earth and brings it back up superheated to provide us with heat and electricity".

 

Drilling began in May 2021, and it was expected the project would be completed by 2023

 

Other projects

Eden Project Morecambe

In 2018, the Eden Project revealed its design for a new version of the project, located on the seafront in Morecambe, Lancashire. There will be biomes shaped like mussels and a focus on the marine environment. There will also be reimagined lidos, gardens, performance spaces, immersive experiences, and observatories.

 

Grimshaw are the architects for the project, which is expected to cost £80 million. The project is a partnership with the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership, Lancaster University, Lancashire County Council, and Lancaster City Council. In December 2018, the four local partners agreed to provide £1 million to develop the idea, which allowed the development of an outline planning application for the project. It is expected that there will be 500 jobs created and 8,000 visitors a day to the site.

 

Having been granted planning permission in January 2022 and with £50 million of levelling-up funding granted in January 2023, it is due to open in 2026 and predicted to benefit the North West economy by £200 million per year.

 

Eden Project Dundee

In May 2020, the Eden Project revealed plans to establish their first attraction in Scotland, and named Dundee as the proposed site of the location. The city's Camperdown Park was widely touted to be the proposed location of the new attraction however in May 2021, it was announced that the Eden Project had chosen the site of the former gasworks in Dundee as the location. It was planned that the new development would result in 200 new jobs and "contribute £27m a year to the regional economy". The project is in partnership with Dundee City Council, the University of Dundee and the Northwood Charitable Trust.

 

In 2021, Eden Project announced that they would establish fourteen hectares of new wildflower habitat in areas across Dundee, including Morgan Academy and Caird Park.

 

In July 2023, new images were released depicting what the Dundee attraction would look which accompanied the planning permission documents for the new attraction which would be submitted by autumn 2023.

 

South Downs

In 2020, Eastbourne Borough Council and the Eden Project announced a joint project to explore the viability of a new Eden site in the South Downs National Park.

 

Qingdao, China

In 2015, the Eden Project announced that it had reached an agreement to construct an Eden site in Qingdao, China. While the site had originally been slated to open by 2020, construction fell behind schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the opening date was delayed to 2023. The new site is expected to focus on "water" and its central role in civilization and nature.

 

Eden Project New Zealand

A planned Eden Project for the New Zealand city of Christchurch, to be called Eden Project New Zealand/Eden Project Aotearoa, is expected to be inaugurated in 2025. It is to be centred close to the Avon River, on a site largely razed as a result of the 2011 Christchurch Earthquake.

 

Eden Sessions

Since 2002, the Project has hosted a series of musical performances, called the Eden Sessions, usually held during the summer.

 

The 2024 sessions will be headlined by Fatboy Slim, Suede, Manic Street Preachers, The National, JLS, Crowded House, Rick Astley, Tom Grennan and Paolo Nutini.

 

In the media

The Eden Project has appeared in various television shows and films such as the James Bond film Die Another Day, The Bad Education Movie, in the Netflix series The Last Bus, and in the CBeebies show Andy's Aquatic Adventure.

 

A weekly radio show called The Eden Radio Project is held every Thursday afternoon on Radio St Austell Bay.

 

On 18 November 2019, on the Trees A Crowd podcast, David Oakes would interview the Eden Project's Head of Interpretation, Dr Jo Elworthy, about the site.

 

Art is a diverse range of human activity and its resulting product that involves creative or imaginative talent generally expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas.

 

There is no generally agreed definition of what constitutes art, and its interpretation has varied greatly throughout history and across cultures. In the Western tradition, the three classical branches of visual art are painting, sculpture, and architecture. Theatre, dance, and other performing arts, as well as literature, music, film and other media such as interactive media, are included in a broader definition of the arts. Until the 17th century, art referred to any skill or mastery and was not differentiated from crafts or sciences. In modern usage after the 17th century, where aesthetic considerations are paramount, the fine arts are separated and distinguished from acquired skills in general, such as the decorative or applied arts.

 

The nature of art and related concepts, such as creativity and interpretation, are explored in a branch of philosophy known as aesthetics. The resulting artworks are studied in the professional fields of art criticism and the history of art.

 

In the perspective of the history of art, artistic works have existed for almost as long as humankind: from early prehistoric art to contemporary art; however, some theorists think that the typical concept of "artistic works" does not fit well outside modern Western societies. One early sense of the definition of art is closely related to the older Latin meaning, which roughly translates to "skill" or "craft", as associated with words such as "artisan". English words derived from this meaning include artifact, artificial, artifice, medical arts, and military arts. However, there are many other colloquial uses of the word, all with some relation to its etymology.

 

Over time, philosophers like Plato, Aristotle, Socrates and Immanuel Kant, among others, questioned the meaning of art. Several dialogues in Plato tackle questions about art: Socrates says that poetry is inspired by the muses, and is not rational. He speaks approvingly of this, and other forms of divine madness (drunkenness, eroticism, and dreaming) in the Phaedrus (265a–c), and yet in the Republic wants to outlaw Homer's great poetic art, and laughter as well. In Ion, Socrates gives no hint of the disapproval of Homer that he expresses in the Republic. The dialogue Ion suggests that Homer's Iliad functioned in the ancient Greek world as the Bible does today in the modern Christian world: as divinely inspired literary art that can provide moral guidance, if only it can be properly interpreted.

 

With regards to the literary art and the musical arts, Aristotle considered epic poetry, tragedy, comedy, Dithyrambic poetry and music to be mimetic or imitative art, each varying in imitation by medium, object, and manner. For example, music imitates with the media of rhythm and harmony, whereas dance imitates with rhythm alone, and poetry with language. The forms also differ in their object of imitation. Comedy, for instance, is a dramatic imitation of men worse than average; whereas tragedy imitates men slightly better than average. Lastly, the forms differ in their manner of imitation—through narrative or character, through change or no change, and through drama or no drama. Aristotle believed that imitation is natural to mankind and constitutes one of mankind's advantages over animals.

 

The more recent and specific sense of the word art as an abbreviation for creative art or fine art emerged in the early 17th century. Fine art refers to a skill used to express the artist's creativity, or to engage the audience's aesthetic sensibilities, or to draw the audience towards consideration of more refined or finer works of art.

 

Within this latter sense, the word art may refer to several things: (i) a study of a creative skill, (ii) a process of using the creative skill, (iii) a product of the creative skill, or (iv) the audience's experience with the creative skill. The creative arts (art as discipline) are a collection of disciplines which produce artworks (art as objects) that are compelled by a personal drive (art as activity) and convey a message, mood, or symbolism for the perceiver to interpret (art as experience). Art is something that stimulates an individual's thoughts, emotions, beliefs, or ideas through the senses. Works of art can be explicitly made for this purpose or interpreted on the basis of images or objects. For some scholars, such as Kant, the sciences and the arts could be distinguished by taking science as representing the domain of knowledge and the arts as representing the domain of the freedom of artistic expression.

 

Often, if the skill is being used in a common or practical way, people will consider it a craft instead of art. Likewise, if the skill is being used in a commercial or industrial way, it may be considered commercial art instead of fine art. On the other hand, crafts and design are sometimes considered applied art. Some art followers have argued that the difference between fine art and applied art has more to do with value judgments made about the art than any clear definitional difference. However, even fine art often has goals beyond pure creativity and self-expression. The purpose of works of art may be to communicate ideas, such as in politically, spiritually, or philosophically motivated art; to create a sense of beauty (see aesthetics); to explore the nature of perception; for pleasure; or to generate strong emotions. The purpose may also be seemingly nonexistent.

 

The nature of art has been described by philosopher Richard Wollheim as "one of the most elusive of the traditional problems of human culture". Art has been defined as a vehicle for the expression or communication of emotions and ideas, a means for exploring and appreciating formal elements for their own sake, and as mimesis or representation. Art as mimesis has deep roots in the philosophy of Aristotle. Leo Tolstoy identified art as a use of indirect means to communicate from one person to another. Benedetto Croce and R. G. Collingwood advanced the idealist view that art expresses emotions, and that the work of art therefore essentially exists in the mind of the creator. The theory of art as form has its roots in the philosophy of Kant, and was developed in the early 20th century by Roger Fry and Clive Bell. More recently, thinkers influenced by Martin Heidegger have interpreted art as the means by which a community develops for itself a medium for self-expression and interpretation. George Dickie has offered an institutional theory of art that defines a work of art as any artifact upon which a qualified person or persons acting on behalf of the social institution commonly referred to as "the art world" has conferred "the status of candidate for appreciation". Larry Shiner has described fine art as "not an essence or a fate but something we have made. Art as we have generally understood it is a European invention barely two hundred years old."

 

Art may be characterized in terms of mimesis (its representation of reality), narrative (storytelling), expression, communication of emotion, or other qualities. During the Romantic period, art came to be seen as "a special faculty of the human mind to be classified with religion and science".

 

A shell engraved by Homo erectus was determined to be between 430,000 and 540,000 years old. A set of eight 130,000 years old white-tailed eagle talons bear cut marks and abrasion that indicate manipulation by neanderthals, possibly for using it as jewelry. A series of tiny, drilled snail shells about 75,000 years old—were discovered in a South African cave. Containers that may have been used to hold paints have been found dating as far back as 100,000 years.

 

The oldest piece of art found in Europe is the Riesenhirschknochen der Einhornhöhle, dating back 51,000 years and made by Neanderthals.

 

Sculptures, cave paintings, rock paintings and petroglyphs from the Upper Paleolithic dating to roughly 40,000 years ago have been found, but the precise meaning of such art is often disputed because so little is known about the cultures that produced them.

 

The first undisputed sculptures and similar art pieces, like the Venus of Hohle Fels, are the numerous objects found at the Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura UNESCO World Heritage Site, where the oldest non-stationary works of human art yet discovered were found, in the form of carved animal and humanoid figurines, in addition to the oldest musical instruments unearthed so far, with the artifacts dating between 43,000 and 35,000 BC, so being the first centre of human art.

  

Cave paintings, Lascaux, France, c. 17,000 BCE

Many great traditions in art have a foundation in the art of one of the great ancient civilizations: Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, India, China, Ancient Greece, Rome, as well as Inca, Maya, and Olmec. Each of these centers of early civilization developed a unique and characteristic style in its art. Because of the size and duration of these civilizations, more of their art works have survived and more of their influence has been transmitted to other cultures and later times. Some also have provided the first records of how artists worked. For example, this period of Greek art saw a veneration of the human physical form and the development of equivalent skills to show musculature, poise, beauty, and anatomically correct proportions.

 

In Byzantine and Medieval art of the Western Middle Ages, much art focused on the expression of subjects about biblical and religious culture, and used styles that showed the higher glory of a heavenly world, such as the use of gold in the background of paintings, or glass in mosaics or windows, which also presented figures in idealized, patterned (flat) forms. Nevertheless, a classical realist tradition persisted in small Byzantine works, and realism steadily grew in the art of Catholic Europe.

 

Renaissance art had a greatly increased emphasis on the realistic depiction of the material world, and the place of humans in it, reflected in the corporeality of the human body, and development of a systematic method of graphical perspective to depict recession in a three-dimensional picture space.

 

In the east, Islamic art's rejection of iconography led to emphasis on geometric patterns, calligraphy, and architecture. Further east, religion dominated artistic styles and forms too. India and Tibet saw emphasis on painted sculptures and dance, while religious painting borrowed many conventions from sculpture and tended to bright contrasting colors with emphasis on outlines. China saw the flourishing of many art forms: jade carving, bronzework, pottery (including the stunning terracotta army of Emperor Qin), poetry, calligraphy, music, painting, drama, fiction, etc. Chinese styles vary greatly from era to era and each one is traditionally named after the ruling dynasty. So, for example, Tang dynasty paintings are monochromatic and sparse, emphasizing idealized landscapes, but Ming dynasty paintings are busy and colorful, and focus on telling stories via setting and composition. Japan names its styles after imperial dynasties too, and also saw much interplay between the styles of calligraphy and painting. Woodblock printing became important in Japan after the 17th century.

 

The western Age of Enlightenment in the 18th century saw artistic depictions of physical and rational certainties of the clockwork universe, as well as politically revolutionary visions of a post-monarchist world, such as Blake's portrayal of Newton as a divine geometer, or David's propagandistic paintings. This led to Romantic rejections of this in favor of pictures of the emotional side and individuality of humans, exemplified in the novels of Goethe. The late 19th century then saw a host of artistic movements, such as academic art, Symbolism, impressionism and fauvism among others.

 

The history of 20th-century art is a narrative of endless possibilities and the search for new standards, each being torn down in succession by the next. Thus the parameters of Impressionism, Expressionism, Fauvism, Cubism, Dadaism, Surrealism, etc. cannot be maintained very much beyond the time of their invention. Increasing global interaction during this time saw an equivalent influence of other cultures into Western art. Thus, Japanese woodblock prints (themselves influenced by Western Renaissance draftsmanship) had an immense influence on impressionism and subsequent development. Later, African sculptures were taken up by Picasso and to some extent by Matisse. Similarly, in the 19th and 20th centuries the West has had huge impacts on Eastern art with originally western ideas like Communism and Post-Modernism exerting a powerful influence.

 

Modernism, the idealistic search for truth, gave way in the latter half of the 20th century to a realization of its unattainability. Theodor W. Adorno said in 1970, "It is now taken for granted that nothing which concerns art can be taken for granted any more: neither art itself, nor art in relationship to the whole, nor even the right of art to exist." Relativism was accepted as an unavoidable truth, which led to the period of contemporary art and postmodern criticism, where cultures of the world and of history are seen as changing forms, which can be appreciated and drawn from only with skepticism and irony. Furthermore, the separation of cultures is increasingly blurred and some argue it is now more appropriate to think in terms of a global culture, rather than of regional ones.

 

In The Origin of the Work of Art, Martin Heidegger, a German philosopher and seminal thinker, describes the essence of art in terms of the concepts of being and truth. He argues that art is not only a way of expressing the element of truth in a culture, but the means of creating it and providing a springboard from which "that which is" can be revealed. Works of art are not merely representations of the way things are, but actually produce a community's shared understanding. Each time a new artwork is added to any culture, the meaning of what it is to exist is inherently changed.

 

Historically, art and artistic skills and ideas have often been spread through trade. An example of this is the Silk Road, where Hellenistic, Iranian, Indian and Chinese influences could mix. Greco Buddhist art is one of the most vivid examples of this interaction. The meeting of different cultures and worldviews also influenced artistic creation. An example of this is the multicultural port metropolis of Trieste at the beginning of the 20th century, where James Joyce met writers from Central Europe and the artistic development of New York City as a cultural melting pot.

 

VIEW OF A MUD CHURN AT A BRICK KILN

©Romano

 

Mud Churn at a Brick Kiln

 

West Bengal, India

 

At dusk, a family still works a mud churn at a brick kiln. The first step in the manufacture of bricks, cattle walk endlessly around a mud hole turning the churn that mixes the mud. Children sit at the edge and pile the mud onto their heads before taking it to the fabricating fields. It is not uncommon for a child to fall into the churn, sometimes mangling their arms or legs. Medical treatment is primitive or non-existent.

 

THOUSANDS OF BRICK KILNS LINE LINE THE RIVERBANKS IN BENGAL AND THE SURROUNDING STATES OF INDIA. MOST OF THE WORKERS HERE ARE BONDED (SLAVE) LABORERS. THE FAMILIES THAT WORK HERE ARE EXPLOITED 12-16 HOURS A DAY, 7 DAYS A WEEK. THEIR WORLD CONSISTS ONLY OF THESE MUD HOLES, DRYING FIELDS AND KILNS. AT NIGHT THEY SLEEP IN THE OPEN OR IN MAKESHIFT SHANTYS WHERE SANITARY CONDITIONS ARE NONEXISTENT. THERE ARE NO SCHOOLS HERE, AND FOR MANY OF THE CHILDREN THERE AREN'T EVEN FAMILIES. OVER 1/4 OF THE CHILDREN WORKING HAVE BEEN TRAFFICKED HERE FROM OTHER AREAS WHERE THEIR PARENTS HAVE BEEN FORCED TO EITHER SELL THEM INTO DEBT BONDAGE (SLAVERY) OR, IF THEY ARE LUCKY ENOUGH NOT TO BE BONDED, ARE DEPENDENT ON THE MEAGER WAGES THAT THESE CHILDREN CAN PROVIDE.

THE WORK IS EXTREMELY BRUTAL, HAZARDOUS, ABUSIVE AND SOMETIMES LETHAL. WORKING ALL DAY IN THE HOT SUN WHERE TEMPERATURES REGULARLY CLIMB ABOVE 100F (37C), THEY CARRY WELL OVER A TON OF CLAY A DAY AND CROUCH FOR HOURS AS THEY FABRICATE THOUSANDS OF BRICKS IN OLD FASHION MOLDS. THE PAY, IF THERE IS ANY, AND CONDITIONS FALL WELL BELOW MINIMUM LEVELS REQUIRED BY LAW AND ARE ILLEGAL FOR CHILDREN. NONETHELES THE KIDS COME, DRIVEN BY NECESSITY, OFTEN UNAWARE OF WHAT THEY ARE GETTING INTO AND SOMETIMES TRICKED OR VIRTUALLY KIDNAPPED BY UNSCRUPULOUS AGENTS AND MIDDLEMEN. FOR MANY, THEIR DEBT ACTUALLY INCREASES OVER TIME DUE TO DISHONEST ACCOUNTING.

THE POOR PAY AND HARD WORK ARE JUST THE BEGINNING. BRICK KILN CHILDREN TEND TO BE CHRONICALLY TIRED FROM THE LONG HOURS AND IRREGULAR REST, INCREASING THE PROBABILITY OF ACCIDENTS, INJURIES AND DEFORMITY. DISEASE, MALNUTRITION AND PERMANENT SKELETAL INJURY ARE THE COMMON LOT.

UNABLE TO RECEIVE THE EDUCATION TO WHICH THEY ARE ENTITLED BY LAW, THEY ARE POWERLESS TO ACT, AND TRAPPED IN A CONTINUAL CYCLE OF GRINDING POVERTY.

   

Bonded Labour, slave labour, CHILD LABOUR TRAVAIL DES ENFANTS Trabajo infantil Kinderarbeit

CHILDREN Kids ENFANTS Niños Kinder

SLAVERY ESCLAVAGE Esclavitud Sklaverei

Visionary Poet of the Millennium

An Indian poet Prophet

Seshendra Sharma

October 20th, 1927 - May 30th, 2007

seshendrasharma.weebly.com/

seshen.tributes.in/

www.facebook.com/GunturuSeshendraSharma/

eBooks :http://kinige.com/author/Gunturu+Seshendra+Sharma

 

Rivers and poets

Are veins and arteries

Of a country.

Rivers flow like poems

For animals, for birds

And for human beings-

The dreams that rivers dream

Bear fruit in the fields

The dreams that poets dream

Bear fruit in the people-

* * * * * *

The sunshine of my thought fell on the word

And its long shadow fell upon the century

Sun was playing with the early morning flowers

Time was frightened at the sight of the martyr-

-Seshendra Sharma

"We are children of a century which has seen revolutions, awakenment of large masses of people over the earth and their emancipation from slavery and colonialism wresting equality from the hands of brute forces and forging links of brotherhood across mankind.

This century has seen peaks of human knowledge; unprecedented intercourse of peoples and

perhaps for the first time saw the world stand on the brink of the dilemma of one world or destruction.

It is a very inspiring century, its achievements are unique.

A poet who is not conscious of this context fails in his existence as poet."

-Seshendra Sharma

(From his introduction to his “Poet’s notebook "THE ARC OF BLOOD" )

* * * * * *

B.A: Andhra Christian College: Guntur: A.P: India

B.L : Madras University: Madras

Deputy Municipal Commissioner (37 Years)

Dept of Municipal Administration, Government of Andhra Pradesh

Parents: G.Subrahmanyam (Father) ,Ammayamma (Mother)

Siblings: Anasuya,Devasena (Sisters),Rajasekharam(Younger brother)

Wife: Mrs.Janaki Sharma

Children: Vasundhara , Revathi (Daughters),

Vanamaali ,Saatyaki (Sons)

 

Seshendra Sharma is one of the most outstanding minds of modern Asia. He is the foremost of the Telugu poets today who has turned poetry to the gigantic strides of human history and embellished literature with the thrills and triumphs of the 20th century. A revolutionary poet who spurned the pedestrian and pedantic poetry equally, a brilliant critic and a scholar of Sanskrit, this versatile poet has breathed a new vision of modernity to his vernacular.Such minds place Telugu on the world map of intellectualism. Readers conversant with names like Paul Valery, Gauguin, and Dag Hammarskjold will have to add the name of Seshendra Sharma the writer from India to that dynasty of intellectuals.

* * *

Seshendra Sharma better known as Seshendra isa colossus of Modern Indian poetry.

His literature is a unique blend of the best of poetry and poetics.

Diversity and depth of his literary interests and his works

are perhaps hitherto unknown in Indian literature.

From poetry to poetics, from Mantra Sastra to Marxist Politics his writings bear an unnerving pprint of his rare genius.

His scholarship and command over Sanskrit , English and Telugu Languages has facilitated his emergence as a towering personality of comparative literature in the 20th century world literature.

T.S.Eliot ,ArchbaldMacleish and Seshendra Sharma are trinity of world poetry and Poetics.

His sense of dedication to the genre of art he chooses to express himself and

the determination to reach the depths of subject he undertakes to explore

place him in the galaxy of world poets / world intellectuals.

Seshendra’seBooks :http://kinige.com/author/Gunturu+Seshendra+Sharma

Seshendra Sharma’s Writings Copyright © Saatyaki S/o Seshendra Sharma

Contact :saatyaki@gmail.com+919441070985+917702964402

------------------------

Seshendra Sharma : Scholar - Poet

Seshendra Sharma, a scholar - poet was born (October 20, 1927) into a Pujari ( Priests ) family in Nellore District in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India . Seshendra’s father and his grandfather were well versed in Sanskrit Literature, Vedas and scriptures. At home itself, thus from his childhood , Seshendra got the opportunity of learning and training in Sanskrit. This was further nurtured by the Village school of Thotapalligudur, where he spent best part of his childhood.

Seshendra’s father was a well-to-do person, a Munsif ( village officer ) of the village, possessing more than Ten Acres of agricultural Wet land and own house . Father’s desire to see his son flower into a top man turned a new leaf in Seshendra’s life. Seshendra’s father admitted him for B.A. Graduation course in Andhra Christian College in Guntur. Incidentally, Seshendra’s Family Sir Name and this town’s name are one and the same. This is a turning point in the budding poet’s journey. Seshendra got significant exposure to the Western World, particularly to the Western Literature. The makings of a Visionary Poet germinated in him in this Alma Mater. His journey of poetry started with Translation of Mathew Arnold’s “Sohrab and Rustum “ , a long poem , which Seshendra translated into Telugu in Metrical poetry with accomplished finesse . This trend eventually blossomed and Seshendra emerged as an Epic – Poet. His My Country – My People : Modern Indian Epic is observed by learned critics as a land mark in modern poetry ranking it on par with T.S. Eliot’s Waste Land . This long poem was nominated for Nobel Prize in 2004. His subsequent works Gorilla, Turned into water and fled away, Ocean is my name – long poems were reviewed in scholarly strain.

Seshendra’s desire to perform in films took him to Madras, today’s Chennai in Tamil Nadu. In Madras he formally joined B.L. Course with Madras Law College. And was developing contacts in the Telugu Cinema Circles and was working as a freelance journalist. He used to translate articles into Telugu for Janavani , a popular weekly of those times whose editor was Tapi Dharma Rao , a towering personality of Telugu Literature. This facet of journalism of his personality rose to its full heights in 90s. When Soviet Union collapsed he wrote a series of articles in Telugu as well as in English decrying the west’s sinister plot, villainous machinations to pull down Communist Regimes. He sang odes / Laurels to communism and expressed in aggressive tone and style that communism will never die. It remains in the genes of oppressed peoples of the world for ever. Perhaps Seshendra is the only poet from the Indian Subcontinent to pen Anti – Imperialist essays during those times. He completed his Law course but his desire to act in films remained unfulfilled. Seshendra’s Classmates at his Alma Mater, A.C.College, Guntur, N.T.Rama Rao and Kongara Jaggaiah became popular actors of Telugu Cinema. N.T.R became an all time super –hero. Seshendra’s father and maternal uncle forcibly brought him back from Madras, and with the good offices of native Member of Parliament put him in Government service as Deputy Panchayat Officer. In due course of time, on deputation, joined Municipal Administration Department and worked as Municipal Commissioner in all Major cities and towns of Andhra Pradesh. With the result he got wide exposure to conditions of social life of his times. He obtained personal acquaintance of Common Man’s life and his travails. This enriched his vision of life and literature a great deal.

With Seshendra Poetry and Poetics are Siamese Twins. He penned works of Literary Criticism both on classical and contemporary poetry. Sahitya Kaumudi (Telugu ) and his bi-lingual book “ the ARC of Blood : My Note Book “ illustrate this point. His Research work on Valmiki’s Ramayana , Shodasi : Secrets of The Ramayana , questions the very foundations of centuries old assumptions. Seshendra, based on scientific research citing from the original text of Valmiki and Vedas, reveals that The Ramayana is not just story of Rama told in enchanting poetry , But the Sage wrote the epic to spread Kundalini Yoga among the masses of his era. His observations that the concepts of Vishnu and Reincarnation were non –existent during Valmiki’s Epoch constitute a revolt against centuries old beliefs. Sita is the central character of The Ramayana and she is Kundalini Shakti / Adi Para Shakthi . During that era temples and prayers were nonexistent. This hits directly at the very foundation of Temple System.

His Kavisena Manifesto , is a noteworthy work on Modern Poetics. In this work, he compiles cogently definitions of poetry cutting across centuries and countries and writes scintillating commentary. This Manifesto of Modern Poetry is a sort of Wikipedia page of world poetry. Seshendra, finally concludes that poetry is emotions and feelings skilfully garbed in unusual diction, and poetry is a way of life.

Discerning scholars critics and academics are of intrinsic opinion that T.S.Eliot ,Archibald MacLeish and Seshendra Sharma are trinity of world poetry and Poetics.

But this Scholar – poet of 20th century is an unsung and unwept genius of his times.

Prime Minister of India honoured Seshendra with Gold Medal in Sahitya Akademi ( India ) Golden Jubilee celebrations and Chief Minister of AP honoured him with Hansa Literary Award on the eve of UGADI , Telugu New Year Day in 2005 .

In one of his poems he says fragrance of stars is calling me. Seshendra left this world and vanished into fragrance of galaxies on May 30, 2007.

* * * * * *

 

GunturuSeshendraSarma: an extraordinary poet-scholar

One of the ironies in literature is that

he came to be known more as a critic than a poet

 

HYDERABAD: An era of scholastic excellence and poetic grandeur has come to an end in the passing away of GunturuSeshendraSarma, one of the foremost poets and critics in Telugu literature. His mastery over western literature and Indian `AlankaraSastra' gave his works a stunning imagery, unparalleled in modern Indian works. One of the ironies in literature is that he came to be known more as a critic than a poet. The Central SahityaAkademi award was conferred on him for his work `KaalaRekha' and not for his poetic excellence. The genius in him made him explore `Kundalini Yoga' in his treatise on Ramayana in `Shodasi' convincingly. His intellectual quest further made him probe `NaishadhaKaavya' in the backdrop of `LalitaSahasraNaamavali', `SoundaryaLahari' and `Kama Kala Vilasam' in `SwarnaHamsa', Seshendra saw the entire universe as a storehouse of images and signs to which imagination was to make value-addition. Like Stephene Mallarme who was considered a prophet of symbolism in French literature, SeshendraSarma too believed that art alone would survive in the universe along with poetry. He believed that the main vocation of human beings was to be artists and poets. His `Kavisena Manifesto' gave a new direction to modern criticism making it a landmark work in poetics. Telugus would rue the intellectual impoverishment they suffered in maintaining a `distance' from him. Seshendra could have given us more, but we did not deserve it! The denial of the Jnanpeeth Award to him proves it

 

The Hindu

India's National Newspaper

Friday, Jun 01, 2007

 

* * * * * *

Pardon Me Father!

 

I could not rescue him from the clutches of that nymphomaniac and vampire. There may be an exception or two but an average Indian woman desires from the depths of her soul that her husband should live long and she should pass away before him. She performs prayers and fasts on auspicious days for this purpose. She in spite of being 3years elder to him did away with my father in a planned and premeditated manner and I was a silent and helpless witness to it. He suffered 1st Heart attack in November 1997. Cardiologists performed angiogram and advised open heart surgery. Because there were blocks in vessels and one valve was damaged. But she successfully thwarted it and without my knowledge or informing any one got angioplasty done in Mediciti (Hyderabad: AP; India) her plan was to do away with him and live long, and establish herself as his wife through his books. He was succumbing to her blackmail. My overwhelming hunch is that she was threatening him with social insult and humiliation if he parts ways with her.

 

Between 1997-2007, she played football with his body. He used to be hospitalized every now and then with swollen body and heart pain. Because of damaged valve pumping was impaired and water used to accumulate in the system. Every time I used to force her to hospitalize him. He used be in ICCU for a couple of days and recover marginally. After each visit to hospital he was getting debilitated gradually. He was put on wheel chair. He was virtually under house arrest. He was not allowed to speak to friends and family members. Visitors were kept away. He was taking Lasix (Tablet: is a diuretic that is used to treat fluid accumulation, caused by heart failure, cirrhosis, chronic kidney failure, and nephrotic syndrome.) to flush out water accumulated in his body. This creates a painful dilemma in me whether my interference in his health matters was just. As his son it was my moral duty to protect him. But I sometimes feel if I were not to interfere she would have put him to death long ago and thus he would have escaped from physical and mental torture quite early.

 

Towards perhaps end of the month of March she withdrew medication. He got swollen suddenly and that condition continued till the last day i.e. 30th may 2007. Each time I visited I used to tell that witch to take him to hospital. But after a couple of visits I got convinced that she made up her mind this time to do away with him. I requested a bastard who was feigning to be a friend of mine, who incidentally happens to be a legal luminary of this region to send a doctor friend to that place and ascertain the exact condition of his health. But of no avail.

 

I kept on telling him to come out of that place and lead a normal and healthy life. Her blackmail gained an upper hand and I lost in my efforts to restore health to him and bring him back to civilized society. O God pardon me for not being able to outmanoeuvre her machinations. Pardon me father.

 

* * *

 

Who Are The Legal Heirs of Seshendra Sharma ?

DISCLAIMER

The literary world is aware that my father Gunturu Seshendra Sharma, eminent poet, litterateur and scholar-critic, died on 30th may 2007. Ever since he expired, there has been no mention of his parents, family members and other personal details in the news and in the articles about him. Not only this, fictional lies are being spread and using money power one shady lady is being propagated as his wife and so on. This has been causing me, as his son, a great mental agony. That is why, through this article, I am revealing certain fundamental truths to the literary field of this country and the civilized society. I appeal to your conscience to uphold truth, justice and values of our composite culture.

 

Seshendra Sharma's family members are: Parents: Subrahmanyam Sharma, Ammaayamma- Wife: Janaki Daughters: Vasundhara, Revathi, Sons: Vanamali, Saatyaki. Only these two are legal heirs of Seshendra Sharma, socially and morally too.

 

Street Play and Circus: In 1972, away from the civilized society, without the knowledge of parents and near and dear, in a far flung village called Halebeed in Karnataka a circus, a street play was staged. Let me make it clear that even after this street play my father did not divorce my mother Mrs.G.Janaki legally. He never had even a faint intention of committing such an uncivilized act. On the contrary, in all crucial Government documents he nominated my mother as his legal heir from time to time. During his long career as Municipal Commissioner with The Government of Andhra Pradesh, he retired 3 times. His first retirement came in 1975 by way of compulsory retirement for his anti establishment writings during Mrs. Gandhi's' emergency. His second retirement came in 1983 when the then new chief minister N.T. Rama Rao's government reduced the age of service from 58 to 55 years. The third and final retirement in the year 1985 on attaining 58 years of age. On all these occasions, in all the government documents, my father Seshendra Sharma nominated my mother Mrs. Janaki as his legal heir. This is precisely why the self contradictory 'second marriage' is a circus enacted away from the society and Law does not recognize this type of street plays as marriage.

 

Lakshmi Parvathi in literature

 

N.T. Rama Rao, actor turned politician married Ms. Lakshimi Parvathi in 1994 and subsequently in January 1995 he came to power for the second time. She used to act as an extra constitutional power and run the matters of government and the party. She developed her own coterie of cohorts and started dominating the party. After NTR was toppled by his own son- in-law, most of them parted ways with her. And the remaining touts left her for good the day NTR breathed his last. Ms.Indira Dhanrajgir has been playing the same role in Telugu literature over a period of more than 3 decades. In the guise of literature she developed her own coterie of lumpens with extra literary and money mongering elements - Tangirala Subba Rao, Velichala Kondala RAo(Editor:Jayanthi) Cheekolu Sundarayya(A.G.'s Office, Hyderabad et al).

 

There are a couple[ of dissimilarities between these two instances. After the demise of NTR, L.P's coterie of cohorts disappeared once and for all. Whereas, in Indira Dhanrajgir's case new lumpens are entering the field with the passage of time. Squandering her late father's wealth, she is roping in new touts. Since NTR's wife Basava Tarakam passed away in 1984 and since he was old and sick NTR's marriage with LP has ethical basis and is legal completely. Whereas I.D's is neither ethical nor legal. Hence it is a street play. This is the reason why after my father's death she has been spending money on a larger scale and indulging in false publicity and propaganda. Bh. Krishna Murthy, Sadasiva Sharma (The then Editor of Andhra Prabha:Telugu Daily, presently with Hindi Milap) Chandrasekhara Rao(Telugu lecturer: Methodist Degree College) etc. are indulging in all sorts of heinous acts to prop up I.D as my father's wife.

 

My father passed away on 30 May 2007. When our family was in grief and I was performing the 11 day ritual as per my mother's wish, the above mentioned Sadasiva Sharma went to Municipal Office on 4th June, created ruckus, played havoc telling them that he is from the Prime Minister's Office , мейд some 'senior officials' make phone calls to the officials concerned and got my father's death certificate forcibly issued. When the entire family was mourning the death of the family head, a stranger and a lumpen S.S -Why did he collect my father's death certificate forcibly from the municipal authorities? Whom did he collect it for?

 

THREE NAMES OF THE SAME PERSON IN 3 DECADES

 

This is perhaps for the first time that the name of a lady appears in 3 forms at a time. Perhaps in 1970, in my father's collection of poems"PAKSHULU her name appeared As Rajkumari Indira Devi Dhanrajgir. In 2006 she published a fake version of Kamaostav(Rewritten by a muffian Called Chandrasekhara Rao) . In this book her name appears as R.I.D.D. Prior to 1970 in Maqdoom Mohiuddeen's(Renowned Urdu Poet) anthology of poetry 'Bisath -E-Raks', in Urdu as well as Hindi , at the end of two poems her name appears as Kumari Indira Dhanrajgir. On 15th June 2007 A.P state cultural affairs department and Telugu University jointly held my father's memorial meeting. I.D hijacked this meeting by issuing her own commercial advertisements in English and Telugu dailies. In these advertisements her name appeared as Smt. Indira Devi Seshendra Sharma and again in the commercial public notices мейд by her in the month of November 2007her name appeared as Rajkumari devi etc. Why does her name appear in different forms on different occasions? Will I.D explain? Will Sadasiva Sharma clarify, who forcibly took my father's death certificate after four days of his death? Or will Bh.Krishna Murthy clarify?

 

If I.D has even an iota of regard, respect for or faith in love, or relation, the institution of marriage, immediately after'Halebeed Circus', she would have used my father's family sir name and her name would have appeared as Gunturu Indira. Since she was conscious of her goal during all times and conditions she did not take such a hasty and mindless step of change of her name.

 

WHERE DOES THE REAL SECRET LIE? Her life is totally illegal, anti-social and immoral. I.D's father performed her marriage with SRikishenSeth, Nephew of the then Prime minister to Nizam, Maharaja Kishen pershad in 1945. On the day of marriage itself I.D beat SrikeshenSeth up and ran away from him. She did not stop at that. She propagated among his friends and relatives and near and dear that he was not enough of a man and unfit for conjugal/ marital life. She filed a divorce case against him and dragged it till 1969/70. Lion's share of her husband's life got evaporated and was sapped completely by then. His parents used to approach I.D's father and plead with him to prevail upon his daughter, put sense into her head and see that she either lives with their son or dissolves the marriage legally so that they can remarry off their son. But I.D did not heed. Raja Dhanrajgir after getting disgusted with her nasty activities stipulated a mandatory condition in his will. He stated that I.D would be entitled to get a share of his property only if she is married.

 

This is the reason why ID who has no respect for the institution of marriage or regard or desire for marital life , in the guise of love and love poetry inflicted indelible blemish on the institution of marriage which is unprecedented in the literary history of the world. After my father's death she has been indulging in more rigorous false publicity along with her coterie of touts.

 

KAMOSTAV:STORY OF ID'S SOUL:

 

With this novel Kamostav, father's literary life came to an end for good. He did not produce literary works worth mentioning in his later phase of life. During those days he asked for my opinion on that novel. I told him clearly that it lacks the form and content of a novel- it does not have a story line, plot, sequences, characters and eventually a message which every novel gives. Hence it is a trash. Several people went to court and got its publication in a weekly stopped. ID got this very trash rewritten completely by Chandrasekhara Rao and printed it. This kind of heinous development has never taken place in the recorded history of Telugu literature till date. A writing which brought disrepute to my father in the literary field and isolated him in the society, why did she get it rewritten by somebody and publish it claiming copyright to be hers? What is her motive? What is her aim? That is why Kamotsav is ID's biography, story of her inner soul.

 

SESHENDRA'S COPYRIGHTS:

 

My father gifted away copyrights of his entire works along with their translations to me by way of birth day gift to me on 2.12.1989. Since then I have published several of his works during his lifetime itself. Kamostav, the version that is secretly мейд available is the dirty work of cheapsters and lumpens under the leadership of ID. It is much worse than violation of copyrights. That is the reason why I have been reluctant to take action so far. If she and her debased henchmen try to violate copyrights of my father's works bequeathed to me, I shall take exemplary legal action against them.

 

ID мейд 2 public notices to the effect that my father cancelled all his earlier transfer of copyrights and retransferred all his rights to her. This is a palace intrigue in the modern era in our civilized society.

 

WHAT DOES LAW SAY ABOUT COPYRIGHTS?

 

An author can transfer copyrights of his works to any one as per her/his wish. But the Copyrights Act 1957 and the Supreme Court in its various judgments has clearly stipulated a procedure to revoke earlier assignment and transferring of copyrights to somebody else subsequently. The author has to issue a notice to the 1st assignee, giving 6 months time for reply. Depending on the reply the author can take his next step. Where as in my father's copyrights matter he did not even inform me orally of any such cancellation. ID claims that she has a typed document of transfer of copyrights signed by my father on 5.1.2006. Between 5.1.2006 and 30.5.2007, leave alone issuing a notice, he did not even inform me orally.

 

My father who assigned copyrights to me in his own handwriting, when he was relatively young and physically fit did not require to cancel the 1st assignment when he was totally dilapidated, almost bedridden and was counting his days. Another important aspect of the matter is that I have printed the Xerox of my father's document in his own works as early as 1995 and have been doing so from time to time during his life time. Where as ID claims to possess a document after my father's death and she has not мейд it public so far. ID tried to get my father's complete works published in different languages by Telugu University (Hyderabad: A.P: India) by paying them Rs. 6 Lakhs. I approached Telugu University and apprised them of facts. On the advice of legal experts, they stopped this project and returned ID's money to her. It is an incontrovertible fact that ID's document is a forged and fraudulent document which does not stand scrutiny before law. Court shall certainly award her exemplary punishment. In all societies and times literature has been social wealth/public property from time immemorial. It should not be used as a mask to grab share of parental property illegally and unethically. I am committed to this cause/ ideal and appeal to the civilized society to strengthen my hands in this endeavor. ID's younger brother Sri Mahendra Pratapgir is the lone legal heir apparent of that family and keeping him in dark, she is squandering her father's wealth in Telugu literature for her nasty propaganda.

 

FATHER PASSED AWAY:

 

In 1997 when he suffered the 1st heart attack he was half-dead. Dr.Sudhakar Reddy, cardiologist of Mediciti Hospitals (Native of Warangal.A.P) performed angiogram and diagnosed that he had blocks in arteries and one valve was damaged completely. He advised open heart surgery. But ID averted it and got angioplasty performed. His health declined rapidly since then and was leading the life of virtually an invalid till he breathed his last. He suffered inexplicable mental and physical torture for about a decade. During the last leg of his journey he was isolated from his family completely. He was deserted by one and all in the literary field. When his younger brother passed away, his younger sister passed away he did not visit his ancestral home in his village and call on those families. He became target of jealousy and animosity in the society. He became a victim of false impression with the society that he was an aristocrat and rolling in luxuries. Whereas, he was deprived of even his native vegetarian food for decades together. As a silent and helpless witness to these painful happenings, I was subject to untold mental agony.

 

In the later half of March 2007 on one of my visits to him, I was aghast at his condition. His entire body was swollen. His appearance was like that of a stuffed gunny bag. I told him to get hospitalized. I told ID to rush him to a hospital. But of no avail. On 30th may 2007 at about 11 pm I got a phone call from her" Come soon/Serious" she said. As I entered at 11.15 pm "Go inside/he is no more' she said.

 

* * One day when swarms of lamps vanish, in the light of a lonely lamp I ask the dumb pillars "Can't you liberate me from the disgust of this existence? I ask those stand still forest flame trees

which blossom flowers at that very place year after year

 

"can't you rescue me?

 

I ask those high roof tops and this Venetian furniture

 

which every one feels are greater than me, "can't you rescue me from the disgust of this existence?" All these answer in a melancholic voice "We have been languishing since more than 100 years watching the same unchanging scenes we are older prisoners than you are" (Janavamsham: Telugu: Seshendra: Page 80-81:1993: Translated by me)

 

My father's first biography (in Hindi) titled "Rashtrendu Seshendra: Ashesh Aayaam" by Dr.Vishranth Vasishth appeared in 1994. Touching upon these very sensitive aspects of my father's life he commented in that book"SONE KE PINJRE ME PANCHCHI" (A bird in a golden cage). Alarmed and agonized by his rapidly declining health, as early as June 2002, in order to bring pressure on ID, I gave a 2 cassettes long interview to Vijayaviharam of Janaharsha group. Later on when I enquired about that interview they said that in the raids conducted on their premises, they got destroyed.

 

I wanted to rescue my father and bring him back home when he was in good health. Alas! At last, I took him to the burial ground, laid him on the funeral pyre and consigned him to flames and returned home all alone.

 

G.Satyaki S/o Late.G.Seshendra Sharma

Hyderabad.T.S.INDIA

saatyaki@gmail.com

+91 94410 70985, 7702964402

 

My inventory of cuffs is basically nonexistent, and my inventory of silverware is plentiful...so I made these :-)

Leamington is a municipality in Essex County, Ontario, Canada. With a population of 28,403, it is the second largest municipality in the Windsor-Essex County area (after the separated municipality of Windsor, Ontario). It includes Point Pelee, the southernmost point of mainland Canada.

 

Known as the "Tomato Capital of Canada", it is the location of a tomato processing factory owned by Highbury-Canco, previously owned until 2014 by the Heinz Company. Due to its location in the southernmost part of Canada, Leamington uses the motto "Sun Parlour of Canada". In 2006, MoneySense Magazine ranked Leamington as the No. 1 best place to live in Canada.

 

Leamington enjoys the second warmest climate in Canada, after the Lower Mainland of British Columbia.

 

Leamington has been known for its tourism and attractions and is known as the tomato capital of Canada. Leamington's attractions include cycle paths and nearby Point Pelee National Park. Leamington also has a large and modern marina. The town's water tower, visible for miles in the flat southern Ontario landscape, is also in the shape and colour of a giant tomato. Celebrating its position as an agricultural powerhouse and its heritage as the H. J. Heinz Company's centre for processing "red goods," the city hosts a "Tomato Festival" each August, as a kickoff of the tomato-harvesting season. Car shows, beauty pageants, parades, and a fair are featured at the festival.

 

Leamington's position on the north shore of Lake Erie makes it an important recreational centre. The tourist information booth in the centre of town is a large fiberglass tomato.

 

Leamington is also home to Point Pelee National Park, which contains the southernmost point on mainland Canada and draws thousands of visitors annually and is also home to one of the largest migrations of Monarch butterflies annually.

 

Known as the tomato capital of Canada, Leamington became the home of the H. J. Heinz factory in 1908. The Heinz products are shipped from Leamington, with English and French labels, mostly to the United States. Ketchup and baby food are the main products. In November 2013 Heinz announced that it would close the Leamington plant in 2014, meaning job losses for 740 employees at the plant and hundreds more support workers.

 

Due to a 54-year-old law in Canada, which bans the use of tomato paste in tomato juice, Highbury Canco still produces tomato juice and other products for Heinzs. Around 250 workers still process canned products at the over 100 year old factory.

 

Leamington has also been known for its greenhouses, and now has the largest concentration of commercial greenhouses in all of North America, with 1,969 acres (797 ha) of greenhouse vegetable production in the general area. Major products of the greenhouse industry, in addition to tomatoes, are peppers, cucumbers, roses, and other flowers. Hydroponic farming has been very successfully adopted by many greenhouse operators in Leamington. Historically, tobacco was an important crop in the area, but tobacco production declined in the 1960s and today is virtually nonexistent.

 

Migrant workers, mostly Mexican and Caribbean seasonal labourers, annually arrive in the region to work in Leamington's greenhouses and farms. Several Mexican and Jamaican shops and a Mexican consulate have opened to service the migrants.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leamington,_Ontario

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_...

I took this photo on February 17th, at Nishugu, a Tibetan Buddhist ritual. The history behind this festival is intensely complex, but in short, it represents a cleansing and a new beginning before Losar, the new year. Monks (the ones in the ceremonial yellow hats) and laypeople build a massive bonfire in the courtyard of the Dalai Lama’s monastery. Prayers are said, horns and drums are played, and massive effigies are burned, representing a destruction of evil. Though I sat at least 100 feet away, my face was blasted with warmth as the pyre went up in flames. When I left for study abroad, I was feeling utterly lost at Columbia. After three years in New York, I was worn-down and stressed out from putting too much pressure on myself to succeed. In India, living with Tibetans who fled their homeland, I had the amazing opportunity to get completely immersed in a culture — and also to get some perspective on my own life. Gratitude is such an important component of Buddhism, but it was all but nonexistent in my life at school. We rarely take the time to marvel at our luck, that we have all that we have, our basic political rights and freedoms, our lives. At Nishugu, many laypeople will write on small pieces of paper to throw into the fire. People write down things that they want to change in the coming year, or sicknesses and demons they want to exorcise. I tore a page out of my notebook, and I wrote my wish. I threw my scrap in the fire and watched it turn to ash, blowing towards the peaked, snowy Himalayas. My confusion gave way to hope. The fire roared in my face again, and it felt like New Year’s Eve.

 

Leamington is a municipality in Essex County, Ontario, Canada. With a population of 28,403, it is the second largest municipality in the Windsor-Essex County area (after the separated municipality of Windsor, Ontario). It includes Point Pelee, the southernmost point of mainland Canada.

 

Known as the "Tomato Capital of Canada", it is the location of a tomato processing factory owned by Highbury-Canco, previously owned until 2014 by the Heinz Company. Due to its location in the southernmost part of Canada, Leamington uses the motto "Sun Parlour of Canada". In 2006, MoneySense Magazine ranked Leamington as the No. 1 best place to live in Canada.

 

Leamington enjoys the second warmest climate in Canada, after the Lower Mainland of British Columbia.

 

Leamington has been known for its tourism and attractions and is known as the tomato capital of Canada. Leamington's attractions include cycle paths and nearby Point Pelee National Park. Leamington also has a large and modern marina. The town's water tower, visible for miles in the flat southern Ontario landscape, is also in the shape and colour of a giant tomato. Celebrating its position as an agricultural powerhouse and its heritage as the H. J. Heinz Company's centre for processing "red goods," the city hosts a "Tomato Festival" each August, as a kickoff of the tomato-harvesting season. Car shows, beauty pageants, parades, and a fair are featured at the festival.

 

Leamington's position on the north shore of Lake Erie makes it an important recreational centre. The tourist information booth in the centre of town is a large fiberglass tomato.

 

Leamington is also home to Point Pelee National Park, which contains the southernmost point on mainland Canada and draws thousands of visitors annually and is also home to one of the largest migrations of Monarch butterflies annually.

 

Known as the tomato capital of Canada, Leamington became the home of the H. J. Heinz factory in 1908. The Heinz products are shipped from Leamington, with English and French labels, mostly to the United States. Ketchup and baby food are the main products. In November 2013 Heinz announced that it would close the Leamington plant in 2014, meaning job losses for 740 employees at the plant and hundreds more support workers.

 

Due to a 54-year-old law in Canada, which bans the use of tomato paste in tomato juice, Highbury Canco still produces tomato juice and other products for Heinzs. Around 250 workers still process canned products at the over 100 year old factory.

 

Leamington has also been known for its greenhouses, and now has the largest concentration of commercial greenhouses in all of North America, with 1,969 acres (797 ha) of greenhouse vegetable production in the general area. Major products of the greenhouse industry, in addition to tomatoes, are peppers, cucumbers, roses, and other flowers. Hydroponic farming has been very successfully adopted by many greenhouse operators in Leamington. Historically, tobacco was an important crop in the area, but tobacco production declined in the 1960s and today is virtually nonexistent.

 

Migrant workers, mostly Mexican and Caribbean seasonal labourers, annually arrive in the region to work in Leamington's greenhouses and farms. Several Mexican and Jamaican shops and a Mexican consulate have opened to service the migrants.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leamington,_Ontario

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_...

Flipped even more hair over, and now it's starting to look better. Now I look like I have one of those nonexistent secrets that cover models do without all the pain that cover models put up with. Or the figure. Dang it! :)

....Here we are, standing at a door step of peace.

A war in which difference between a soldier and a civilian were nonexistent is now over.

 

White building detail

 

This day, the 25th of September 2023 will be remembered as begging of a new age of humanity......

 

Check out the full gallery: www.flickr.com/photos/angelo_s/sets/72157630763011096/

 

My newest MOC, I think it is the first time I do something bigger related to modern military theme.

 

I don't have nothing much to say, about the creation, I just hope you enjoy it ;)

 

Every comment and fave is highly appreciated, so don't be shy!

Rosslyn Chapel has long been a worthy attraction with its legendary aspects and its abundance of carvings, but it became that much more of a thing after the 'Holy Blood, Holy Grail' publishing phenomenon in the early 90s, and the derivative DaVinci Code, and the film with its final scene with Tom Hanks that takes place here in the non-existent basement.

- When I was living in Halifax in the early 90s, I bought a copy of 'Holy Grail across the Atlantic' by Michael Bradley, a 'Holy Blood, Holy Grail' wannabe that theorized that Henry Sinclair, Earl of the Orkney Islands (grandfather of William Sinclair, the owner of this chapel) was in fact Prince Zichmni, the subject of letters written @ 1400 by the brothers Zeno of Venice (and replete with a map) which gave an account of his voyages to the New World, and which were allegedly rediscovered and published in the early 16th cent. The theory that Sinclair was Zichmni dates from 1784. Bradley argued that Sinclair was Glooscap, the Mi'kmaq warrior god who arrived off the coast of Nova Scotia near Canso or in the Bay of Fundy on a floating island and taught the locals to fish with nets. Bradley states that nets appear in the archaeological record in N.S. at @ the end of the 14th cent. when Sinclair came by (according to this legend). www.flickr.com/photos/greying_geezer/1835103667/

www.flickr.com/photos/greying_geezer/1835107079/

- Bradley takes it further and writes that Sinclair was working with the Knights Templar seeking to establish a refuge for the 'Holy Blood' and did so at New Ross in N.S. (?) and that he had the 'Money Pit' dug at Oak Island as a repository for the treasure of the Knights Templar. It's claimed that there are Templar aspects in the carvings in this chapel, built by his grandson William, and that some of the carvings of plants represent Aloe and others from the new world as yet unknown to Europeans in 1486 when the chapel was built. (They could as easily be stylized depictions of wheat and strawberries). But William Sinclair testified against the Templars, a fact hardly compatible with his having sympathies with them. It's all almost certainly b.s., but fun b.s.. Scotland has its fair share of this kind of thing doesn't it, with all the ghosts, Loch Ness, Crowley's Boleskine house, the cave in which 'the Bruce' hid behind the spider-web, etc., etc.

- Henry Lincoln was the prime author of 'Holy Blood, Holy Grail'. Enjoy his clipped delivery in this 'In Search Of' episode from the 70s. Watch from the 13:15 min. pt. to 14:30 and esp. from 15:28 to 18:05. www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_nE5MBnreM&list=PL6rj1b7vga5...

- I was given a copy of 'Holy Blood, Holy Grail' when I was in Halifax in the early 90s, and had my copy with me when I was working at a firm in South Africa in the summer of '92. I learned during my stay that the book was banned in the R.S.A. at that time! When my articling student host asked me if I would leave my copy with him, I said 'of course!' How could I take it out of the country and deprive him of it when it was banned there? And again, this was in 1992!

 

- Update: Apr. 2017 - (The following's not of much interest to anyone who's not a close relative or one on my Dad's Mom's side of the family.) 'Truth is stranger than fiction' they say, and I say 'And how!' After I returned home from this Scottish trip I ran into a guy I know with the surname Sinclair and tried to tell him about my tour at Rosslyn Chapel and my interest in the history of the Sinclairs, but he was distracted and seemed disinterested. Well a few weeks ago I tried the Mormon genealogy research site for the first time on a procrastination binge one day, and Lo. and. behold! On a trip to P.E.I. with my Dad last summer I learned about (or rediscovered) a claim that my great great grandmother (Dad's Mom's Mom's Mom) had Scots nobility with chieftains of the clan McKay in her lineage, but I learned 2 weeks ago with research online that William Sinclair, who built and owned this chapel, a man who could have succeeded the King of Norway if he hadn't preferred to be the Earl of Caithness, and who was the great great grandfather of Henry Darnley, and great x 3 grandfather of King James Stuart 1 of England, was, according to another apparently well-researched claim, my great grandfather x 15 (Dad's Mom's Mom's Mom's Dad's Mom's Dad's Dad's Dad's Dad's Dad's Dad's Dad's Mom's Mom's Dad's Dad), and his grandfather, the semi-mythical Henry Sinclair, Earl of the Orkneys, was my great-grandfather x 17. Ho. ly! (But of course we all have 65,536 great x 15 grandfathers if you do the exponential math, and just as many great x 15 grandmothers.)

- Twigs rising from that McKay branch lead down, or up, the rabbit hole to John of Islay (the hapless John MacDonald, first so-called 'Lord of the Isles', youtu.be/m7rMdO7ag88?si=Z6Y80jp2r5nbDk2Y , Dad's Mom's Mom's Mom's Dad's Mom's Dad's Dad's Dad's Dad's Dad's Dad's Dad's Dad's Dad's Dad's Mom's Dad's Dad; isn't the internet great?), his father Angus Ogg (Aonghus Og of Islay), and John of Islay's maternal grandfather King Robert II, the first Stewart king (great granddad x 19), and Robert II's maternal grandfather Robert the Bruce, twice ancestral (!! - great x 21, and great x 20 from another twig from the branch). But then we all have 2,097,152 great grandfathers x 21, and just as many great grandmothers x 21, roughly twice the population of Scotland in the early 14th cent. So nothing to see here folks, lol. That side traces back further down the widening rabbit hole to Gruoch ingen Boite ('Lady MacBeth'), Malcolm III and the Canmore dynasty (leading back to Kenneth MacAlpine himself and his roots on both parents' sides with the Kings of Dalriada on one and Irish nobility in Ulster stretching back before the days of Columba, and the Pictish royals on the other) and Malcolm's wife Queen Ste. Margaret, and Edmund Ironside and the House of Wessex back to Alfred the Great (!), as well as Margaret's grandfather Vajk aka Istvan aka King St. Stephen of Hungary. A little bit of nobility in a distant twig of your tree and the exponential math leads to everybody who was anybody in that gene-pool within a handful of centuries, all the moreso with inbred royal types.

 

- Further update, July 2019 - Again, the following's not of much interest to anyone who's not a close relative or one on my Dad's Mom's side.: The basis for the link to clan chieftains referred to above (specifically the nodes /b/ great grand-dad x 5 and great x 7) is now in question. I recently tried to verify the lineage that I found 2 years back in a well-written piece on-line (and published too) www.islandregister.com/mackay9.html but I haven't been able (as yet) to find the basis for that part of the tree. The writer, George Hart, doesn't cite any source(s) for it and none seem to support it at the Scottish records office (accessible online). In fact, Hart provides a list of 5 sons of Neil MacRobert MacKay, allegedly my great grand-dad x 7, each with their years of birth, which fails to include his "known issue" (his heir?) per 'The Book of MacKay', an authoritative (but not unimpeachable?) source that's more than a century old archive.org/details/bookofmackay00mack/page/260 , one Robert MacNeil MacKay. But then again, according to Mr. Hart, my alleged great grand-dad x 7 would have been @ 35 yr.s old when he married the mother of those 5 sons who were then born over 14 yr.s. Early 18th-cent. baptismal records were specific to the parish, and while some were preserved, others weren't. If Neil MacRobert sired his eldest, the 'known issue', his heir, but then lost his wife, moved, remarried and sired 5 more, the records might be incomplete or inconsistent. (Sounds like a bit of a stretch though, doesn't it?) The 'Book of MacKay' doesn't provide the year of the heir Robert MacNeil MacKay's birth, and his is the only name given for any child sired by his father. But it's certainly not unlikely that his father had more than one child, despite that the 'Book' only refers to his "known issue." Neil MacRobert certainly had forgotten siblings listed as 'Others' in the tree on p. 274 in 'The Book'. archive.org/details/bookofmackay00mack/page/274/mode/2up

- The write-up that I copied when visiting distant cousins (old Harold MacLeod & co.) at their farmhouse in '98 (and which I rediscovered in papers I brought along and read while driving out east with my Dad 3 yr.s ago) doesn't fit with Mr. Hart's account at all. Parts of it at least don't stand up to any scrutiny either. That account concerns a different lineage of clan chieftains and 'the 'Scoury MacKays', a twig from the main branch of the clan MacKay. I'd just guessed that young, recently orphaned immigrant sibling 'pioneers', the eldest in their teens, who'd sailed from Thurso to Pictou on the 'Prince William of Newcastle' and then to Prince Edward Island in 1815 with their mother (Ann Calder) and stepfather, and who lost their mother the following year, or a descendant, might have extrapolated some if they'd been told they descend from MacKay clan chieftains. With limited knowledge of clan history and clan dynamics, they might've assumed they descend from a chief of that main branch, unaware of the existence of more than one (such as the Aberach MacKays). They'd be tempted to try to substantiate that claim, but the possibility also presents that a poor, young, recently orphaned immigrant, or his or her descendant, might have invented a link to a more glamorous past than that of beleaguered crofters and fisher-folk in the hardscrabble highlands. (They left from the parish of Durness after all, near Cape Wrath, THE most remote spot on the British mainland, depopulated and repopulated in part by marauding Vikings in the late 1st mill. and early 2nd mill.) But then again, John MacKay, great grand-dad x 5, had married well, for his wife, the matriarch Ann Calder, was certainly the daughter of a somewhat famous catechist (a title by appointment, he was "The Catechist" of the parish), said to be from 'Croy and Dalcross', sufficiently reputable to be written up, eulogized and feted by Alexander Auld in his book 'Ministers and Men in the Far North' (1891) books.google.ca/books?id=ev9DAAAAYAAJ&pg=PP16&sou... and again by Rev. Donald Sage A.M. in 'Prominent Persons in Sutherland', a chapter in his book 'Parish Life in the North of Scotland' (1899).: electricscotland.com/history/parishlife/chapter15.htm AND John was the blacksmith of Eriboll (Norse for 'Home on a gravel beach'). According to Paul Murton (BBC's 'Grand Tours of Scotland'), "[i]n Scotland, lovers didn't need a priest to marry them because the law recognized any marriage [officiated] by a respectable member of the community. Smiths were considered to be amongst the most respected of the members of a community and traditionally this was the blacksmith, ... 'anvil priests' as they were called." The populations of the parish of Tongue and Durness were only 1093 and 1000 in 1755, 2093 combined (per Webster's famous census of that year), and the blacksmith might've been one of the bigger fish in a small pond by virtue of his profession. Smiths were skilled tradesmen with a reliable income in the midst of subsistence farmers or crofters ('little tenants' per the register) at the mercy of the local tacksman and Eriboll's "'orrible" weather. They were the armourers in a society where every able-bodied man owned or coveted a sword, and John MacKay was the sole smith in Eriboll (or at least who sired any children) from 1794 to 1811. Only 3 other smiths are listed in the register of the parish of Durness in and @ that period; in Balinloch (1789-1801), Balnaceil in 1803 and Durin in 1812, none of whom have the surname MacKay. (While MacKay was the most common surname in that neck of the woods, ie. 'MacKay country', MacKays ruled the roost in Strathnaver and the far north then as clan chieftains and local nobility as they'd done since 1415 at the latest, when Donald, Lord of the Isles, transferred Strathnaver and Strath Halladale to Black Angus and his son Neil. [The name Mackay derives from the Gaelic 'Aoidh'. Early clan chiefs descended from the ancient Pictish rulers of Moray, 'Morair Maghrath'.])

- I've learned that as a smith, John MacKay might've been more financially secure than 'Capt. William MacKay', a blue-blooded 'Scoury MacKay' (written up at p. 299 in 'The Book') living in Kirkiboll on the outskirts of Tongue, the eldest son of a surgeon, great x 4 grandson of Iye Du XII on his patrilineal line, and great grandson of Charles MacKay, scion of the Sandwood MacKays, and whose wife Jane Scobie, the daughter of a tacksman, granddaughter of William Scobie (a famous minister to the Gaelic congregation of Assynt), was the great x 2 granddaughter of Donald, 1st Lord Reay (so a little bluer than he). William was "the tenant of the major portion of Kirkiboll and of the inn or public house [there] with a license to retail spirits along with some more distant grazings. He was due a total annual rent of almost 14 pounds, which contrasted with the average small tenant who paid a rent of from 1 to 2 pounds. The inn was in the vicinity of Lord Reay's seat at Tongue and was the public venue for conducting estate business, the collection of rents, and holding sheriff and other courts. This was a substantial holding and William’s status was indicated by the use of the title “Mr". ... He was, however, to suffer from the demand for higher rents from Lord Reay and the rearrangements which came in 1801 and following years. In Jan. 1806, Donald Forbes, a tacksman, ... raised with Lord Reay the question of what was to become of William.: “It is regretted Poor Wm Mckay in Kirkiboll gets no Holding with all his faults he was usefull among the Community & has a heavy family.” This approach appears to have been ignored and a month or so later Mackay and the other tenants of Kirkiboll were served with a summons of removal by the landlord. With no extant lease, William was decerned to remove at Whitsunday in May. ... [He] managed to emigrate to P.E.I., as he and his family are recorded in the passenger list of 'the Elizabeth and Ann' [a coincidence {a real one, lol} see below] which left from Thurso in Aug., 1806. ..." (It was on P.E.I. where he would be dubbed 'Captain'.) www.mdpi.com/2313-5778/5/2/35 The entry re this Capt. William and his son John (who would emigrate to Australia in 1838) on p. 299 is one of only 2 references made in 'The Book of MacKay' to 'Prince Edward [or 'Edward's'] Island'. (The other is to the home of an 'A. Stirling MacKay, Esqr.' in a 'List of Subscribers' in an appendix.) It seems per 'the Book' that Capt. William and his wife were the only MacKay nobility who sailed for P.E.I. in the 18th or 19th cent.s. This is interesting, for Lots 20 and 21 in Queen's Co., P.E.I. were magnets for Scots sailing from Sutherlandshire, the parish of Durness in particular, in the early 19th cent. (More relevant info. re this Capt. William below.)

- The blacksmith had moved @ 32 clicks to Eriboll from Borgie, a community on the River Borgie only @ 5 km.s SW of Farr (that river leads to Torrisdale Bay, next to Farr Bay), according to two baptismal records.: youtu.be/C8kMSwsLtck?si=ETJyyUcQBrcSkXvt (Borgie Glen is near 'The Unknown': youtu.be/UAmkxx_RSpk?si=DG2QSbtslsveSYJS youtu.be/G-6Z1ib3Mzc?si=ZU9Jgb-EOivdbdZl ) Farr had been a seat of chiefs of the Aberach MacKays, and Borgie had been home to descendants of 'James of Kirtomy', a 'Strathy MacKay' (pp.s 310-311, 318-320 in 'The Book' which doesn't include the blacksmith in that tree, but which seems to be incomplete [e.g.: James of Kirtomy->John->'John of Borgie'->'Donald of Borgie'->James {a younger brother, not the heir}->?] archive.org/details/bookofmackay00mack/page/310/mode/2up?... ). The blacksmith's alleged grandfather per George Hart, Neil MacRobert MacKay, was born at Farr in @ 1673 and hailed from Clibrig (in 'the Farr district'), and was named in a 'sasine of Eriboll' dated Nov. 3, 1709 and in another of Arnaboll (only @ 4 km.s NE of Eriboll as the crow flies) dated Dec. 16, 1709 per 'The Book'. His alleged son, the blacksmith's alleged father, was allegedly born in 1712 or 1720 at Hope, Tongue. The blacksmith himself was allegedly born in 1746. (I'm dubious as that would mean he was 28 yr.s older than his 2nd wife, great grandma x 5 AND, if his son William wasn't fibbing and if 'To Find a Grave' can be trusted, 33 yr.s older than his brother Donald. [See below.])

- The blacksmith's grandson John (1824-1914, his son William's son, my 1st cousin 5 x removed) wrote in a eulogy for his father William that the Capt. William MacKay who sailed for P.E.I. in 1806, a 'Scoury MacKay', etc. (see above) and who descends from the lineage written up in the account copied out at Old Harold MacLeod's home, was also the blacksmith's uncle! "The father of Eric [7th Lord Reay] and Alexander [8th Lord Reay] was the Hon. George McKay of Skibo, who was a brother of my great grandfather. [Nope.] My father was a grandnephew of Capt. Wm. Mckay, son of Dr. John McKay of Falsaid. ..." But per 'The Book', Capt. William didn't have a brother nor a nephew by his sisters Bessie and Jane. He was the son of one Margaret, daughter of John Polson of Rogart, and his father's father was Lt. William MacKay who had 2 sons, incl. "George, an exciseman in Greenock, @ 1818, who ... had no issue", no 'George McKay of Skibo [castle]'. One of the blacksmith's grandsons by his son William, either John or William David (1830-1905), also wrote a 'memoir' (which I copied out at the home of Old Harold MacLeod in '98 and refer to above, and which is reproduced in John C. McKay's book 'Ann Calder's children': archive.org/details/AnnCaldersChildren/page/n51/mode/2up ) which includes the following b.s..: "... [T]he subject of the present MEMOIR [his father William] was the descendant of a line that furnished such men as Capt. Wm. McKay and Donald McKay - men of distinction in the British Army. Sir Robert Calder, whose naval victories will live as long as England's history last[s]; ..." William, the subject of the 'memoir' (the blacksmith's son, not the alleged uncle who I'll refer to as 'Capt. William') wrote in an account in 1887, one year before his death, that he had an uncle Donald who had been "[a] Capt. in the army for 17 years". William's account is simple, straightforward and seems credible, but who knows if it is? (It might be interesting that William took pains to write about his uncle Donald but makes no mention of an uncle or great uncle William.) Donald became a merchant and ship captain on P.E.I. and was famously wrecked in his ship 'The Jessie' on St. Paul's Island and died there on Dec. 25, 1823 per his tombstone (an arbitrary date. It's unknown when he and his crew and passengers perished on that island that winter. One chapter each is devoted to the tale of the wreck of 'The Jessie' and the fate of all aboard in all the many books written re legendary and mysterious local shipwrecks on sale in gift shops across P.E.I. Here's a vlog of a wreck dive off the coast of that island.: youtu.be/nJYfTtOu78A?si=DQj_uC39TssVGzvK The tragedy was big news in the mid 1820s (I've read that a diary with an account of the ordeal was kept by one of the castaways), and led to construction of a long overdue lighthouse. youtu.be/uXBnDbhGD0A?si=XQ5tXZUoTDIxVsvU (I'll write more about it sometime.) Donald was born in 1779 IF 'Find a Grave' is accurate. Two Donalds were sired that year per the registry, neither with an elder brother John old enough to marry in 1792, but of course his baptism won't appear in that registry if he was born in Borgie in the parish of Tongue. A Donald Mackay is listed as a soldier in the registry in 1799 ("alias machustianmacuilammachustian [son of Hugh, son of William, son of Hugh], in the Cromarty Rangers") and another as a Lieut. and volunteer in 1802-1809 ("Tacksman of Clashneach" and "tacksman [in] Borly") in 'His Grace the Duke of Gordon's North Fencibles'. ("In 1778 the government allocated funds to raise 3 fencible regiments in 'North Britain', one of which was the 'Gordon Fencibles' or 'North Fencibles' [the 'Tartan line of defence' lenathehyena.wordpress.com/2012/08/09/the-tartan-line-of-... ] raised by Gordon for the Anglo-French War of 1778-83, [and which] was disbanded in 1783." [Wikipedia]). I doubt that either could've been my great x 6 uncle. Neither lived in Eriboll and, again, Donald won't appear in the register if he hadn't moved west across parish lines.

- Malcolm Bangor-Jones goes on to write the following re Capt. William in his study of Presbyterian cemeteries on Lot 21 and 'Markers to Emigration' from NW Sutherland (in the link above).: "[Capt. William] clearly envisaged that he should retain the status he'd enjoyed in Sutherland, and raised a company of 'Colonial Highlanders' of which he was captain. In 1809, he acquired a substantial holding of > 600 acres from Cambridge which included the site of the abandoned settlement of New London. He proceeded to enclose his land and in so doing blocked off a public roadway, thus denying a right of way for his neighbours to the “old burying place” ['Simm's Field'], the public ferry, and the harbour. A plan drawn up by the inspector of hwy.s in 1811 to report on the dispute indicates the site of Mackay’s house. The government found for his neighbours and the road remained in place, although a new cemetery was established at the 'Yankee Hill Chapel' as a direct result of MacKay's denial of passage to the old burial ground at 'Simm's Field'. William died in 1826 and was buried in Simm’s Field Cemetery with his wife and 2 of his sons. Despite a large family, only one son survived to have issue, John Mackay who married Sibla, daughter of Lt. John Mackenzie [whose son William Boyce MacKenzie is also buried at Simm's Field]. John immigrated to Australia in 1838 - the year he erected his parents’ headstone at the cemetery." 'Simm's Field', designated a 'pioneer cemetery' today, is a very small, cleared space with only 5 (or 6?) legible headstones, all of which postdate Capt. William's death in 1826. Five commemorate the following.:

1. William MacKay (b. in Armadale [?], Sutherland, d. 1826) and his wife Jane Scobie (b. in Sutherland, d. 1834), erected in 1838; www.mdpi.com/genealogy/genealogy-05-00035/article_deploy/...

2. Capt. William's daughter-in-law Sibla's brother William Boyce MacKenzie (d. Aug. 13, 1840);

3. One John Adams from Derbyshire (d. March 16, 1843);

4. Barbara MacKay (b. Nov. 4, 1796 in Eriboll, d. March 1, 1843), my legendary great x 5 aunt (see below), daughter of the blacksmith and Ann Calder, and her infant son Donald (also d. March 1, 1843). The inscription on the tombstone seems to read 'Barbary', which is how Barbara is often pronounced in the famous folk-song 'Barbara Allen' (again, see below). The discernable name 'William' refers to her widower, who remarried. www.findagrave.com/memorial/113963699/barbara-mackay ;

AND 5. Ann Calder (b. 1774 in Kilraick, Croy & Dalcross [?], d. Aug. 28, 1816), erected by her son William sometime after 1838 (I assume), my great x 5 grandmother, the blacksmith's wife. www.findagrave.com/memorial/113963471/ann-mckay

Again, Simm's Field's successor 'Yankee Hill' was established by or soon after 1811 as a result of Capt. William's initial denial of passage to the older burial ground. One John Adams Sr. (b. 1734) was buried at Yankee Hill in 1815. (I assume he was the father of the John Adams buried in Simm's Field 28 yr.s later; I wonder if Jr. opted for burial there to be next to his mother or other family interred there before 1811.) And a George MacKay (b. 1753) was buried at Yankee Hill in 1816. Ann Calder was buried in Simm's Field in 1816 although her stone post-dates 1826 or 1838, so who's to say how many people were buried in that cemetery in the 15 yr.s /b/ 1811 and the year of Capt. William's death, if any, aside from her. But her grave-site raises questions. Why wasn't she interred at Yankee Hill for the same reasons that John Adams Sr., George MacKay, et al. were buried there, so that her children could visit her gravesite without penetrating the 600 acres of the inhospitable Capt. William? Yankee Hill was established within 5 yr.s before her passing, and she had no relations buried in Simm's Field. Might Capt. William or his wife have had some interest in or sympathy for this woman and her kids who arrived on the island with her family less than a year earlier? Was there some connection /b/ them, these clannish Scots? (Btw, Barbara MacKay's interment in Simm's Field isn't so mysterious or potentially significant. Her family would've seen fit to bury her close to her mother after such an untimely death [again, see below], and in 1843 following the emigration of John MacKay, the only one of Capt. William's 10 kids to survive and sire children per 'The Book'.)

- John the eulogist wrote an interesting diary in the pioneering 1890s in British Columbia (reproduced in chap. 3 of 'Ann Calder's children' and which is in the care of the Windermere Historical Society in Invermere today) which includes this entry, dated Apr. 16, 1890.: "Day warmer and the mosquitoes are arriving. Riding all day after stock, Jim plowing, First arrival of steamboat, Wrote George McKay in Australia." Capt. William's grandson George MacKay (1821-1900), a grazier in Dungag, N.S.W., Australia (p. 300, 'Book of McKay'), was John MacKay's pen-pal. George's father John MacKay (1800-1851) emigrated with his family in 1838, when John MacKay the diarist/eulogist would've been @ 14 yr.s of age. Had they been in contact for most of the intervening 52 yr.s? It seems John the diarist considered George the grazier to be the only relation he knew of on his father's side of his tree beyond first cousins and immediate family, and possibly vice versa. John's great niece recounted that he "firmly believed in, and knew of, a [consanguineal] connection" to Capt. William. If William, the blacksmith's son, had been told in his teens that the chief of the clan MacKay was his cousin, he or his son John might've assumed that he and Capt. William's son John, both born in 1800, were closely related. (George in Dungag: "I had a great great uncle George." John the eulogist: "Oh, so 'George McKay of Skibo'? Oh! Right.") John C. McKay writes that the blacksmith couldn't have been related to 'Capt. Wm. MacKay, son of Dr. John MacKay of Falside' (p. 8), but evidence that Capt. William wasn't the blacksmith's uncle isn't evidence that they weren't related. Consider: again, Capt. William was a 'Scoury MacKay', the great x 4 grandson of Iye Du MacKay XII. (See the tree of Iye Du's son Donald Balloch and 'The Scoury MacKays', p. 287 in 'The Book'.) His wife Jane Scobie, a 'Strathy MacKay', was a great granddaughter of 'John MacKay of Borgie' and Elizabeth Sinclair and great x 4 granddaughter of Huistean Du XIII. Jane's parents were Kenneth Scobie and Margaret MacKay (first cousins [sigh]), Kenneth being the son of the famous Rev. William Scobie, minister to the Gaelic congregation of Assynt, and his wife Jane MacKay, daughter of 'John MacKay of Borgie'. It's quite coincidental (or it might be more than coincidence) that the blacksmith was a MacKay who hailed "from Borgie" in the 'parish of Tongue', the abode of some 'Strathy MacKays', descendants of Huistean Du XIII, which include Jane Scobie (although she hailed from Achimore herself), who would come to be buried next to his wife in Simm's Field. www.mdpi.com/genealogy/genealogy-05-00035/article_deploy/... If the blacksmith had been a 'Strathy MacKay' from Borgie, than John the eulogist would certainly have been cousins with his pen-pal George in Dungag, N.S.W. via George's grandmother Jane Scobie, and more distantly via Capt. William too, and their pen-pal connection would make that much more sense, notwithstanding that John could only guess as to how they were related.

- 24 other individuals and families listed in the Durness Parish Register in the latter 1/2 of the 18th cent. had moved there from @ 15 hamlets and villages in the neighbouring parish of Tongue, 3 or 4 of which (Ribigill, Melness and/or Strathmelness and Skerray) are referred to in 'The Book of MacKay', Melness in particular (see the tree for 'The Melness MacKays', p. 322), as the abode and stomping ground of inbred blue-blood types who were "of" their small realms (eg. 'Angus MacKay of Ribigill'). While some Strathy MacKays were "of Borgie", the only reference to Borgie in the Durness Parish Registry is in the baptismal records of 2 children sired by the blacksmith. Again, the population of the entire parish of Tongue was 1093 in 1755 per the census that year. Only one person "of" or "from Borgie" moved to the neighbouring parish and married or sired a child there over the 50 year duration of its registry (1764 - 1814), at least per the registry. How large could Borgie's population have been when the blacksmith moved to Eriboll in the 1780s or 90s? (The registry for the parish of Tongue from that period hasn't survived. Most haven't.)

 

- See the bottom of 'The Key Pedigree', the tree for 'The MacKays of Strathnaver', on p. 97 in 'The Book of MacKay' archive.org/details/bookofmackay00mack/page/96/mode/2up?q... , and that for 'The MacKays of Strathnaver, now Barons Reay', p. 197 archive.org/details/bookofmackay00mack/page/196/mode/2up?... , which illustrates that 'the Strathy MacKays' (p. 311), descendants of Huistean Du by his son John, were behind the Melness MacKays (p. 322), the Sandwood MacKays (p. 330), both descendants of Donald Dughall, 1st Lord Reay (d. 1649), and ultimately the Dutch MacKays (p. 340), descendants of John, 2nd Lord Reay (d. 1680), to whom title passed after Eric, 9th Lord Reay passed in 1875 with no male heirs from any of the 3rd to the 9th Lords Reay, nor from their male descendants (but with plenty from female descendants), and yes, they were literally Dutch, living in Holland for generations. They descend from Col. Donald MacKay, son of Aeneas (d. 1697) and grandson of John, 2nd Lord Reay, who married his cousin Arnolda Margaret, Baroness van den Steen, "commanded his father's Scots regiment in the Dutch service and fell at Tournay in 1745". His heir Col. Aeneas MacKay of MacKay's Scots regiment married another Dutch Baroness and sired Baron Barthold MacKay who was appointed Director-General of the Post at Rotterdam, married another Baroness, and died at his chateau in Guelderland in 1854, etc., etc., and 20 yr.s later his grandson, Donald James, was appointed 11th Lord Reay on the passing of his 4th cousin, although he was in the 4th generation of 'Dutch MacKays' to be raised in Holland, primogeniture at its worst.

- John MacKay, the blacksmith's grandson, had his ear to the ground and was aware that Eric, 9th Lord Reay, had passed w/o issue in 1875 and of the initiation of the process of selection of the next Lord Reay. His niece wrote that John maintained "that through deaths in the clan he became next in line to the chiefship, ... but documents had been lost and legal proof could not be established. ... The chiefship then went to a distant relative who had been created a Baron in Holland for military service." Even if the blacksmith HAD been a 'Strathy MacKay', 'The Book of MacKay' wouldn't be published for another 31 years, and John couldn't be faulted for his ignorance of the Melness and Sandwood MacKays, nor for wondering if he might have a better claim than some Baron in Holland while his own father had been born and bred in Eriboll, 'MacKay country'. It's also possible that John the diarist and/or a great x 5 uncle or another 1st cousin 5 x removed might've felt inclined to make up claims and usurp some of the blue-blood status they came to covet over the years as Capt. William's neighbours once and after his son John MacKay, "the only child [of 12 sired by the captain] who survived to have issue", set off for Australia in 1838. But that doesn't explain Ann Calder's burial in 'Simm's Field' in 1816.

- I'll add that it seems at least that in 1906 Angus MacKay sought to produce an authoritative and relatively complete work in 'The Book of MacKay', and I note that 'Strathy' descendants of James of Kirtomy were generally well-to-do with cushy lives, and that few worked with their hands (or at least none listed in the book [again: ... 'John of Borgie'->'Donald of Borgie'->James {younger brother of John, the heir} ->?], apart from those in the military and Capt. William [although his entry merely states that he "raised a co. of colonial Highlanders"] and his descendants).

- Another possibility occurs to me, a relatively plausible one: that Capt. William really was the eulogist's uncle, but a great uncle through marriage to his great aunt Jane Scobie. Again, the blacksmith's children were orphaned in 1816 at ages 20 and younger, and while they might have understood that Capt. William and Jane were their uncle and aunt, and as kin were encouraged to bury their mother within Capt. William's property, he and Jane might've had little to do with them what with his title, his 600 acres, the kids' relationship with or dependence on their stepfather William MacIntosh (whom I know nothing about), their poverty?, etc., and they might have misapprehended the nature of the connection. If Jane had been the blacksmith's maternal aunt, he would've been the great grandson of her maternal grandfather Robert MacKay ('the Tutor of Farr', son of Charles MacKay, scion of the Sandwood Mackays, and grandson of Donald, 1st Lord Reay), and again he would've been the great great grandson of 'John MacKay of Borgie' (Jane's Dad's Mom's Dad AND her Mom's Mom's uncle [sigh]). But Jane's siblings aren't listed in 'the Book'. Her nobility was in her mother's (very blue) line and that of her paternal grandmother, but it was the patrilineal line that counted back then. Jane's children appear at p. 299 only because their father was Capt. William. It's not unlikely that Jane had an elder sister who married a MacKay. (Her grandfather, 'the tutor', sired 16 kids. 16!) If that sister, a Scobie, had been the blacksmith's mother, she moved from Achimore to Borgie, the home of both her maternal and paternal grandmothers (sisters Janet and Jane [p. 319]). (It might be of interest that Jane had an aunt who married Donald MacKay of Skinet and bore a 'Captain Donald of the 21st foot' [p. 332].) It must be significant that George Hart includes a passage in his piece "taken from a family bible found in Ernest Dunning's barn" which quotes the 'Parry Family tree' in some detail as to Jane Scobie's pedigree, with no mention of that of Capt. William. Mr. Hart says nothing about this Mr. Dunning nor the Parrys nor any connection to them, but while Capt. William and Jane have no descendants on the island, the blacksmith certainly does, as does a fellow passenger who sailed with Ann Calder and her family on the 'Prince William of Newcastle' in 1815 who might've had some connection to the Scobies, one 'Big John MacKay'. According to George Hart, Big John's daughter Margaret MacKay named her 2nd son 'Hugh Scobie MacKay' (b. 1842). 'Big John' had been a crofter and operated 'the Tongue ferry', by which he reportedly did well. There's no indication he was related to Ann Calder's children; he certainly wouldn't have been an uncle having the same name as their father, but he might've been a cousin or the blacksmith's nephew. (He was born in @ 1781). How likely is it that his daughter Margaret would have given her son that middle name on the basis that she was just that impressed with Jane Scobie, who passed 8 yr.s earlier in 1834, and/or her pedigree? It was common in those more clannish times to give a child the name of an ancestor as a middle name. That surname was nonexistent in 'Lord Reay's country' before Jane's grandfather William immigrated from Aberdeenshire.

- 'Big John' himself was unassuming. He wrote the following in a poem.: "Now, little thanks to Sutherland's rapacious factors, we are all better off than ever we were or would be at home; for there we were little less than slaves; now I may say we are ... independent."

- I've just learned that Capt. William MacKay and Jane Scobie feature in an historical romance novel, 'This Land is Ours' by Jonathan Rush. "In 1806 William MacKay and his wife, Jane Scobie, together with their six children left the Scottish Highlands for Canada's Prince Edward Island. A reluctant Jane had finally realized that their venal clan chief would betray the MacKays. Little did she know that her family's journey would finish 70 years later in Australia, living in one of the country's grandest mansions." www.goodreads.com/book/show/36695150-this-land-is-ours www.amazon.ca/This-Land-Ours-Jonathan-Rush/dp/179277124X www.strathnavermuseum.org.uk/this-land-is-ours-a-new-book... Wow. Of course the story's a little less romantic when one considers how connected this couple was as members of the Scots nobility. My Dad passed in 2018, a year before this was published (although independently). I wish I'd bought it for him. (See below re Dad's interest in Simm's Field.)

 

- The jury's still out and will likely stay out. It's possible the blacksmith had been the grandson of Neil MacRobert MacKay (per George Hart), if he or his father didn't inherit and if it's not telling that Mr. Hart listed 5 sons, each with their year of birth, but not the "known issue", likely the heir, listed in 'The Book of MacKay'. (Or is Hart's tree just b.s.?) Or was Neil MacRobert the blacksmith's great uncle? (Again, see the tree on p. 274 in 'The Book'; Neil's siblings are indicated as "And others".) Neil MacRobert was 'the possessor of Achness' (and of the 'Aberach banner' www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/collection-search-r... , a legendary heirloom now in the National museum in Edinburgh books.google.ca/books?id=snE5AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA175&lp... ). Again, if the blacksmith was a 'Sandwood' and a 'Strathy MacKay', his blood would've been that much bluer. I wondered why the widow of a cousin of clan chieftains would move to 'Prince Edward's Island' with his children in the early 19th cent., a fertile place but one in which she and their stepfather would have to live and work as tenant farmers, unable to purchase land or to own their own home. But the family moved 4 yr.s after the blacksmith had died in 1811 and she'd remarried, and those were tough times in North Sutherland. And, again, Capt. William MacKay fell afoul of the tacksman and sailed for P.E.I. in 1806 although he was certainly the great x 4 grandson of Iye Du MacKay XII. The MacKay clan leadership would sell what was left of the MacKay clan lands to the fat-cat Sutherlands by 1829 in the days of the clearances, 14 years later.

- Whatever comes up next (if anything?), it's been fun to research that rabbit hole that reaches back in all directions into the mists of the 8th cent. and to the earliest kings of Scotland, northern Ireland, and even the house of Wessex, and it's been educational.

 

- George Hart refers to the book I mention and link to above re Clergyman of the North (pub. 1891) which includes passages re the devout William Calder, my great x 6 granddad, the "venerable catechist ... in Lord Reay's country" (who was interred "in the churchyard of Reay"), but ignores information provided therein that he "was a native of Croy, in the neighborhood of Inverness" (5 clicks west of Castle Cawdor of MacBeth fame). There's no baptismal record for an Ann Calder in the Durness registry, but there is for an 'Anne' born in 1774 to a William Calder and a Marjoram Sutherland in Kilraick in 'Croy and Dalcross'. (Ann was 42 in 1816 per her tombstone.) This was likely my ancestor, but if so William and his young family seem to have moved back and forth /b/ the Croy district and Sutherland in the 1770s, for "Wm. Calder, Charity Schoolmaster" (definitely great x 6 granddad) sired a John "in Cambusinduin" in 1776, but a William Calder and a Masery [sic?] Sutherland then sired a Margaret in Ardclach (Croy district), specifically Rimore, in 1777. Rev. Donald Sage A.M. wrote in 1899 that William Calder, the catechist "was a native of Ardclaeh, Nairnshire, and came to Strathnaver @ the year 1786." As "Charity Schoolmaster at Eriboll", he married one Grizel Ross there in 1786; in 1788 "William Calder, Charity Schoolmaster at Cambusindun, Achucharasait" and Grizel sired Barbara; in 1791 they sired Hugh "in Eriboll"; and in 1792 Ann, the "daur. of William Calder, charity schoolmaster, Achugaraside", married the blacksmith. George Hart identifies Ann Calder's father (incorrectly?) as one "William Calder, alias Francach" in Hunleam who married a Janet MacKay 'alias nin Alister' in Eriboll in 1767 and sired a John in 1769, but nothing in the registry identifies that William Calder as the catechist. A 'John Ekel, alias Calder' sired children in Hunleam in 1767 and '69, a clue that a Calder of the prior generation lived in Hunleam or in the area, or that those with the alias hailed from a hamlet named Calder in Strathmore (south of Loch Hope) and/or another nearby named Ukal. (See p. 209 in 'The Book of MacKay'.) But is the fact that a "James Macdholicustian [sic? an alias?], alias Ekel, alias Calder" was living in Achugharasait in 1776 a clue? How to reconcile the claim that William Calder moved to 'MacKay country' from the Croy district with his settlement in Achucharasait/Achugaraside, home to James, a man with the name or alias Calder, quite a coincidence if insignificant. Per 'The Book of MacKay' (p. 210), "the surname Calder but seldom occurs [in the parish of Durness], and never appears at all until after the middle of the 18th cent., when one or two of that name immigrated into Strathnaver." (How would Angus MacKay know that? There are quite a few Calders in the registry. Did he consult another registry that predates 1764? [No.] Note that he makes that statement in his derisive rebuttal to the claim that legendary Scots-Gaelic local poet Rob Donn [1714-1778], the most [the only?] famous artist from North Sutherland, was a Calder rather than a MacKay, in a debate which persists.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Donn ) Did 1 or 2 of William's relatives from Croy (assuming he did hail from Croy) settle there a generation or a decade or so before him? Naturally he'd be welcome in their village if so. But he might have been just as welcome in light of his surname.

- Mr. Hart proceeds to claim that Janet MacKay (the wife of William Calder in Hunleam [not my ancestor]) was the "grand daughter of Hector MacKay and Janet MacKay, great grand daughter of Major Iye (Hugh) MacKay [Major General Hugh MacKay III of Scoury with the huge wig? Nope. His son Hugh? Nope. Capt. Hugh {Iye} MacKay III of Borley? Nope, none sired a Hector nor a Janet] and so back through her ancestors to the 12th cent." Ok, sure, lol.

- Ann MacKay nee Calder bore a 'Johanna Thomson Mackay' baptized in Durness on June 16, 1811 (the year of the blacksmith's death) and a "William Calder alias Bain at Polla" (at the southern end of the kyle) and a Barbara MacKay sired a 'Johanna Thomson Calder' baptised only 23 days later. Those names honoured the famous Rev. John Thomson who passed away June 12, 1811. This William is also listed as "William MacKay, Calder, alias Bain", and I don't believe he was a relation to Ann, or at least not a close one.

 

- My Mom was curious as to my Dad's roots (of which he had barely a clue) when they were newlyweds living in Nova Scotia in the 60s and she made a point to ask questions and take notes when they would visit his grandparents in Summerside and his elderly relatives on the island. (I've seen photos of 'the 4 generations' taken in the summer of '62 or '63, with my great grandparents sitting on their porch, my grandmother [Dad's Mom] and my Mom sitting on the steps, and my eldest sister Christine [almost 1 or 2] on my Mom's lap.) They visited his great great (!) identical twin aunts Babs MacGougan and Min Campbell (nee MacLeod, Dad's Mom's Mom's Mom's sisters), widows living together in a house filled with unusual items and objects from @ the world (they had lived with a 1st cousin who I think had been adopted and raised as a sibling and who'd travelled widely - as a sailor?; Dad said Mom was intrigued and impressed with what she saw, to paraphrase), and my parents were both regaled with tales of family history including at least one account of Babs' and Min's great-aunt Barbara MacKay (nee MacKay, their Dad's Mom's sister, one of the 'pioneering' siblings who sailed from Thurso with their mother and stepfather in 1815; see the link to her tombstone in Simm's Field above) who was 'skillful in sickness' (ie. had some knowledge of medicine or health-care; she might've been a midwife). Dad recounted many times over the many years how Babs and Min had told them of a wonder woman who would swim across Malpeque Bay on occasion with a horse to deliver babies or to tend to the sick. (For years and until very recently I wondered if she might've been my great x 5 grandmother Ann Calder, the matriarch who died in 1816. I recently found this legendary aunt on the net of all places, in 'Ann Calder's Children' [check the link above, pp.s 12 and 13]). One evening, returning home with her own infant child after such a visit to the home of a neighbour with a sick child in March 1843, she was caught in a violent snowstorm and tried to take shelter with her baby boy in a haystack, but perished before morning. (Dad didn't recall or recount the death in the snowstorm.) It makes sense that Babs would speak about her at some length and in glowing terms as she was likely named after her. Babs = Barbara.

- When my folks asked about 'the other side' of their tree, which I assume was that of their mother Margaret MacPherson, Babs and Min responded "Oh, we don't talk about THAT side." It seems they had a sense of humour, but the internet helpfully reveals why they might have said that.: Their father's father and mother's mother were siblings, and so their parents (my great x 3 grandparents) were 1st cousins. This isn't in question. The witness to my great x 5 granddad Kenneth MacLeod Sr.'s signing of his will was his son-in-law Andrew MacPherson, Margaret's father. Margaret married the testator Kenneth's grandson.

- It's fair to say that that visit with Babs and Min made a big impression on my Dad. He knew nothing about his Dad's side of the family, and the only story he ever mentioned from his Mom's side that predated his grandmother's generation was this of the woman who would swim across Malpeque Bay to tend to the sick, etc. (and which he mentioned many times over the years, including several occasions in the 80s at the kitchen table in our home in Scarborough). My Mom's interest in his heritage was infectious. In his later years he would visit the 2 'pioneer' cemeteries where he knew his grandmother's ancestors were buried on at least most of his annual trips to the Island, although he wasn't sure who they were and under which stones (with the exception of that for his great x 4 grandmother Ann Calder, erected decades after her burial in 1816 by her son William, and that for his great x 4 aunt Barbara, or so I believe now). He took me there in 1998 and again in 2016.

 

- To add a little colour to these distant roots, I'll mention that my great x 5 grandmother, the testator's wife Ann MacLeod, aka Nancy, nee Morrison/Morison (again whose son's son married her daughter's daughter), hailed from 'Eilean Choraidh', aka 'Islandhall' today, a fertile, narrow, 1 km.-long island of dolomitic limestone at the sheltered southern end of Loch Eriboll (a 'kyle' rather; a long, narrow, 10 x 1 km. inlet) in a truly beautiful setting (when the sun shines) just south of the remote, north coast of Sutherlandshire east of 'Cape Wrath', stomping ground of unruly, 9th cent. Norse Vikings, their descendants and moreso those of the Picts who resisted them, and which must've been one of the most remote inhabited spots in all of Europe in the 18th cent. (Sailors from the company of HMS Hood in WWII spent their last shore leave there and nicknamed it 'Lock 'Orrible' for the inclement weather. [Wikipedia]) www.google.co.in/maps/@58.4820955,-4.7070711,5219m/data=!... The daughter of John Morrison and Catherine MacKay, Ann (listed in the parish registry as 'alias Nin Eanmacuilammachustian', ie. 'daughter of John, son of William, son of Hugh [Morrison]' !) was raised on the island with her many siblings and cousins. Catherine MacKay is listed as alias 'Nin Dholicustian', daughter of Dholic or Dholi (Donald), son of Hugh MacKay. (Her brother was one John MacKay, alias Macdholicustian.) Catherine was from Port Chamil (or Chamuill), no longer extant, a community at or near the head of the kyle, 8 to 10 clicks from Eriboll as the crow files. (Her brother sired a child there in 1788.)

- Kenneth MacLeod Sr. wed Ann/Nancy in 1793 and she left Islandhall to shack up with him in Sangobeg/Saingobeg, a crofting village on the north coast of Scotland less than 10 clicks up the western shore of the kyle and less than 2 east of Durness, where Kenneth was "a little tenent and fisher". But Kenneth's brother John (we can be certain they were brothers per John's will) was living as a "tenent in Islandhall" when he married Mary MacPherson (likely my great x 6 aunt twice-over [sigh], see below) @ 3 yr.s earlier in 1789. Mary left "Saingoe" (Saingobeg) to bear at least 2 kids on the island and to then move with John to Ceannabin by 1798, where John was a "farmer and boatman" that year and a "little farmer and fisher" in 1804. The only other (male) MacLeod living on Islandhall was Hugh, "alias macdholicloid [son of Donald?], fisher and boatman" (a "young lad in Islandhall" when he wed Marion MacKay, also "in Islandhall", in 1793). Hugh might've been Kenneth's brother or cousin as they were both "little tenent[s] in Saingobeg" while they served as "private[s] in the Reay Fencible Highlanders" in 1795 (neither sired any kids /b/ 1795 and 1801 while the Fencibles fought to suppress the Irish in 'the Rebellion of 1798'), and Hugh's sister Janet "alias nin Dholicloid" (daughter of Donald?) from Islandhall, married Murdoch MacPherson, a weaver in "Saingoe" in 1790. (Clannish! Siblings Murdoch and Mary married siblings or cousins Janet and John.) Kenneth, Hugh and John all sailed with their families for P.E.I. on 'the Elizabeth and Ann' in 1806, and were all buried in the 'Yankee Hill pioneer cemetery'. They were close in age: 37, 36, and 35 respectively per the passenger list, but Kenneth and Ann's gravestone claims that Kenneth was 10 yr.s older, and that Ann was 8 yr.s younger than her baptism record. The passenger list has her @ 4 yr.s younger than that record. ?! Again, John MacLeod from Islandhall married Mary MacPherson from 'Saingoe', while Janet MacLeod from Islandhall married Saingoe's Murdoch MacPherson, likely Mary's brother. (It's also likely they were the siblings of my great x 5 granddad Angus MacPherson [see below], and were children of a Hugh MacPherson who sired younger children in 'Saingo' in 1766 and 1773. [Hugh would've known Rob Donn well, as the now nationally-famous bard was living in Sango in @ 1770.] Murdoch sired a son named Hugh as did Angus, his eldest in fact. Mary didn't.) Rev. Thomson indicated patronymics for Hugh and Janet MacLeod (once each), but none for Kenneth or John, and while a candidate for Hugh was sired by a Donald in 1772 (but only per the ship's passenger list), there's none for a Janet, Kenneth or John (or no John west of Thurso) sired by a Donald. For what it's worth, John named his eldest son Donald. Neither Kenneth, Hugh nor Janet sired a Donald. These MacLeods might've moved to the parish when they were children or young people. But if Kenneth was 47 in 1806 per his tombstone, and if his siblings were born before 1764 as well (while John lies at 'Yankee Hill', an epitaph for him at Geddie Memorial indicates that he was born in 1761 [and incorrectly that he sailed for P.E.I. in 1805 on 'The Polly']), it might be significant that from 1782 to '91 another Kenneth MacLeod was the smith of Eriboll (< 2 km.s from Islandhall as the crow flies on the shore of the loch, at a point directly across from it; Kenneth's uncle or cousin? Or his father? [only if Hugh and Janet weren't Kenneth and John's siblings. This smith was John MacKay's predecessor, another coincidence]) and that a Hector McLeod was one of 2 'tenents' on Islandhall in March, 1678 per the "Judicial Rent-Roll of the Reay estate given in merks ..." ('The MacLeods of Assynt' had been evicted from legendary Ardvreck castle on Loch Assynt only 6 yr.s earlier in 1672.)

- My great grandmother or one of her relatives reported to my Mom that her mother descended from the MacLeods of Assynt, a "querulous [and] extraordinarily violent" branch of the clan, with the Devil himself for an in-law according to legend. This might've been an assumption, for Assynt's only @ 40 km.s south of Durness, 1/4 the distance to Skye. (Skye's known for its MacLeods.) A tree that's popular on ancestry.ca and other websites alleges that Kenneth's parents are a Donald MacLeod and a Catherine MacDonald from Skye with roots in Trotternish, but false trees abound online (time and again!) and I've found no sources or records that support that one. She was unreliable, but I'm inclined to believe my great grandmother (or her relatives) on this point. Then again, it could be more than coincidence that the name Donald seems to assert itself here.

 

- Ann Morrison's son-in-law was my great x 4 grand-dad Andrew MacPherson. It would involve quite a coincidence that an Andrew MacPherson was raised on Islandhall as well if he wasn't my ancestor, and who was so close to him in age. Great x 4 granddad Andrew passed away March 3, 1859 "aged 63 years" per his tombstone, while the Andrew of Islandhall would've turned 64 less than 3 mos. earlier. (It's not uncommon for the age of the deceased to be recorded a year too young on a tombstone.) His parents were an Angus MacPherson and a Margaret Sutherland, 'alias Nin Cainach' or 'Sainach' or 'Airiaich' (likely Cainach which is Kenneth) and/or 'alias MacKenzie' (per Margaret's marriage record. It seems that a Kenneth Sutherland was my great x 6 granddad.) Margaret had lived on the island with her first husband Hector MacKay, alias MacNeilicrory, who she married in June, 1770, and was a widow with at least 3 kids when she wed the much younger Angus in 1785. John Thomson, the famous minister of the parish of Durness, referred to Angus disapprovingly as "a single young lad" in his marriage record. ("Early marriages were not greatly approved of in Mr. Thomson's day, and now and again when a young man, probably not much out of his teens, marries, he is put down [in the register] either as a "simple young lad" or a "single young man"; single in this connection signifying that he had little or no responsibility." H. Morrison. Thomson took note of the great age difference, evidently.) I wonder what it says that Margaret bore at least 5 children with Angus (Andrew was the 5th), none of whom were named Angus Jr., but the 4th was named Hector. ("Thanks for being such a great step-dad to Hector's kids. Say, do you mind if we name one of your sons after my ex too?")

- My great x 4 grandfather Andrew married Marion, the daughter of Ann Morrison/Morison from Islandhall, and was buried with his in-laws at Yankee Hill. How many people were living on Islandhall before the Clearances, and how coincidental is the birth of another Andrew MacPherson there in 1794? John (my great x 6 granddad) and Hugh Morrison (brothers), Hector and then Angus, one Hugh MacKay, a Donald Grange who'd just arrived on the island before 1775, my uncle John MacLeod and Hugh MacLeod (John MacLeod's brother or cousin) and a John Campbell were the only tenants on Islandhall who fathered any children baptized from 1770 to 1800. While Andrew MacPherson is a common name in Scotland, the baptismal record for the Islandhall Andrew is one of only 3 extant for any Andrew MacPherson/McPherson born in the country from 1794 to '96. (The other 2 were from Inverness and 'Croy & Dalcross' which saw far fewer evictions in the Clearances than Sutherland.) Islandhall wasn't isolated, as there were habitations along the shore of the kyle readily accessible by boat, and its residents and those of Saingobeg would've visited Durness often, possibly weekly, or on special occasions (until 1804? youtu.be/KoFW2Vh5n1c?si=pyYHoiUmxpNSUP00 ) to attend the lovely old Balnakeil kirk (1617, built on the site of a church founded in the early 8th cent. by St. Maelrubha, which grew to become one of the most important Celtic monasteries in NW Scotland) just west of town, with its stunning views of headlands, the sea and of lovely coastal beaches of white sand. www.britainexpress.com/attractions.htm?attraction=1049 www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/durness/balnakeilchurch/in... The local men were fishermen and very mobile by boat. So Andrew from Islandhall would've known Ann's daughter Marion from Saingobeg well, as young as they were. He would've been 11 yr.s of age and she 10 when she and her family sailed from Thurso in 1806. It's also likely that Marion's uncle John's wife Mary was Andrew's aunt. Andrew doesn't appear on the passenger list for the 'Elizabeth and Ann' which brought Kenneth and Ann, their daughter Marion, Andrew's future wife, and her uncle John and his wife Mary, likely Andrew's aunt, to P.E.I. in 1806. (Such passenger lists are exceedingly rare in light of the level of maritime traffic with ships filled with emigrants from Scotland to the Maritimes, victims of the Clearances, in the late 18th/early 19th cent.s, so it's something that this one survived.) Highland Scots are 'clannish' and were relatively isolated by language and their lack of formal education. If my great x 4 grandfather and the Andrew MacPherson of Islandhall were one and the same (which is most likely), he would've sailed with or without his family from Thurso for the Maritimes on a different boat in the Clearances, and reconnected with Marion on the basis that they were childhood acquaintances or friends and/or affineal relatives, they spoke the very same 'Strathnaver' or 'Reay Country' dialect of Scots-Gaelic, and would've had so much more in common.

- Kenneth and Ann's son George MacLeod (who hailed from Sangobeg, sailed on the same ship in 1806, and whose sister Marion married Andrew) married my great x 4 grandmother Sophia MacKay on P.E.I., a daughter of John MacKay, the blacksmith of Eriboll, and Ann Calder (again, Scots are clannish), who I write about above.

 

- Continued in the write-up under the photo of the 'Green man'. ("I don't have time to be brief." [Chesterton])

in my garden. Tetragonula carbonaria , these bees are Australian native bees, only about 3 - 5 mm long. They nest in tree hollows and make beautiful honey.

 

We have 2 hives that we found fallen off large trees in the forest... there are hundreds of bees in each hive, set up in their fallen limbs. We have never harvested the honey...many of them visit our flowers, but also I think, go elsewhere.

 

Wikipedia:The nests are found in open forests and woodlands. They are usually built in tree cavities, and have small cryptic entrances, with no external entrance tube.[13] Four or five workers are usually visible at the entrance and are expected to be guards.

 

The honey of T. carbonaria possesses a peculiar smell which makes it quite the appealing product. When the first work began in 1984 on this stingless bee, the industry was practically nonexistent.[20] Since then, the interest in stingless bees, more specifically T. carbonaria, has greatly increased. This has allowed for the establishment of conservation groups along the eastern regions of Australia. T. carbonaria is the most popular species that beekeepers tend, followed by the A. australis and then T. hockingsi. The main reason for most people to keep T. carbonaria is for enjoyment and conservation.

 

Individual T. carbonaria bees demonstrate a consistency in floral choice. Individuals restrict their foraging activity to one kind of flower during a particular trip.[21] This consistency in a single pollen type enhances the pollinator efficacy by increasing the chances of pollen being transferred to stigmata of the same plant species. This increases their importance ecologically as crop pollinators. At the level of the colony, however, the species can use many different flowering species. So although the species is polylectic, individual bees remain consistent with their flower choice.[21]

 

Meliponines store their honey in pots, not in combs like the honeybees.[22] Compared to A. mellifera, a honeybee species that is well known for their honey, T. carbonaria honey had higher values in moisture, water activity, and electrical activity.[22] The two different honeys can also be distinguished by flavor and aroma. Also, the antioxidant activity of T. carbonaria honey has such a high value that it has potential to serve medicinal needs both nutritionally and pharmaceutically.[22]

Many thanks to Wikipedia

The second stop on the way home from my college visit was in Richmond!

 

The Richmond Kmart appears to be a former Grants (and thus reminded me of the Erie Kmart that I visited last summer). It is very noticeably bigger than Anderson; it is also very nice; it has a Kmart Express gas station and it has a former Kmart Cafe (that still has the counter/displays, the full menu board and even the register! Looks like a more recent KCafe closure from what I've seen; if anybody else here has any more information I would like to know more about it!). This store appears to be doing fairly well for one of the last remaining stores in/near the Miami Valley.

 

Of course, I had to check out the Kmart Express after my main store rounds were complete, so I headed over there and looked around. This is the second Kmart Express I've seen, but the first one I have actually visited, as the other one (at the now nonexistent Brooklyn Super Kmart) had already closed. I didn't buy anything at this KExpress though, as I had spent my money in the main store. Hopefully next time I can buy some coffee or donuts from Kmart Express while going to/from Anderson (if I plan another college visit to Anderson U, which is likely)!

 

Hopefully the Richmond Kmart will still be able to remain "normal" for a good time longer...I like this store! :D

 

Kmart #7246 - 3150 National Road West - Richmond, Indiana

Why is eating well a struggle for people? Many use the excuse that healthy or "whole" foods are too expensive, others say they don't have time to prepare meals. The truth is, we're so used to living one lifestyle we don't want to take the time to learn about and switch to another. Running to Taco Bell for a $4 dinner is a consistent way of life for some families and individuals and becomes a habit that is tough to kick.

 

I'll admit, when I first switched to eating greens and fresh produce I was hungry ALL the time. Why? I was not paring the produce with a portioned combination of healthy fats, proteins, vegetables and carbs. Eating greens alone is not sufficient and sustainable. But more on that later.

 

I grew up with hypoglycemia, which is a glucose deficiency. I had to snack frequently to keep my blood sugar steady, especially since I was an athlete. Many times these snacks ended up being a muffin that I quickly bought in the vending machine at school before practice, or a granola bar. When my blood sugar was substantially low (if you are diabetic you know this awful feeling) I would binge eat.. and definitely not the right foods. Though I am and will always be living with hypoglycemia, metabolisms change as you age. The snacking started to come back around to me and by the time I graduated college and stopped competitive athletics my body started changing. So what could I do? Many people go straight to working out. I started with the foods I was putting in my body. Results start in the kitchen.

 

Being on a tight budget (time and money) I had to be creative with my shopping and I became an "accidental vegan." I looked to cheaper sources of protein such as almond milk and tofu, and turned my focus to things that were not packaged (why do we need packaged lettuce anyway?)

 

Many people would see my fridge and say, "Wow! I wish I had the money to eat this healthy." But that's the thing -- I don't. I'm on a tight budget. Grocery stores are very good at marketing their foods such as"ready to cook" stir fry, "pre-cut" fruit and veggies, packaged lettuce, and the list goes on. THESE are the foods that are more expensive. You are paying for the packaging and the convenience of not having to cut, mix, and/or full on prepare the food yourself. To give you an idea of how much these pre-prepared foods cost I'll list a few off of Wegman's website:

 

Fruit tray: $19.99

Veggie tray: $12.99

Stir Fry Blend: $6.99/lb

Field mix greens: $5.99/lb

Chicken breast: $7.99/lb 1 pkg approx. 1.5lb

Lemon garlic chicken: $14.00

 

When you go grocery shopping you don't just buy one of each thing, you normally buy multiple. These prices can really add up and ultimately make "healthy" foods unappealing to buy, or may be bought only on occasion. The reality is we need fruits and veggies in our meals everyday, not occasionally. These foods when purchased by themselves are very inexpensive, especially when bought from a fresh produce market. Here's some examples also from Wegman's:

 

Broccoli Crowns: $1.99/lb

Organic Green Leaf Lettuce: $1.99/bundle

Carrots: $1.29 for 16 oz bundle

Apples: $2.99 for 48 oz grouping (12ish apples)

Sweet corn: 3/$2.00

Tofu: $1.99 for 14 oz

Seasoned Tofu: $3.99

  

Before I knew it chicken became tofu, milk, became almond milk, butter became ghee and the list goes on. By going mostly vegan (about 90% vegan.. I love occasional cheese and eggs!) I had more energy, I stopped having headaches, and stomach aches and heartburn are nonexistent. I am rarely bloated and don't have a constant "need" for coffee (though I still do enjoy my coffee!)

 

Now, remember how I was eating healthy but still always hungry? I was not portioning my food correctly. It wasn't until I purchased portion containers and educated myself on proper nutrition when I came to the realization of what "eating right" truly was. When you see the expensive (marketed) fruits and veggies at the store, most people avoid them and look to other "healthy" foods. Just because you bought a healthy cereal along with pasta, and whatever else you pulled from the Kashi aisle, doesn't mean those foods will sustain you on their own. By doing this you will find yourself frequently hungry and going through food quickly ($$$). When using the correct combinations of fruits, vegetables, carbs, protein, and healthy fats I found myself full after my meals (which were smaller meals than previously), and I remaining full throughout the day. I never thought I'd be able to eat a salad and not be hungry 30 minutes later, let alone make it through a coaching shift and a workout out on that fuel alone.

 

To eat healthy you don't need to be rich, invest in expensive scales, or even have a whole lot of time. Start opting for the "plastic-less" options in the produce sections and utilizing rice and protein sources (tofu, fish, almonds, peanuts, seeds, eggs etc). You need to be patient when learning which foods to pair together to create a sustainable meal. Like I said before, it's a mind and body lifestyle change and it's not one that can be one and done overnight.

 

You may know that what you're eating is good for you but your body must also learn this new lifestyle. You will have cravings. You will want to swing by Taco Bell (lord knows I'm tempted frequently). You need to make the active choice to change your lifestyle. It can't be something you only do "sometimes"(Cue the, "I ate healthy today!" *eats entire calzone, sleeve of Oreos and a soda the next day*) You don't keep healthy teeth by only brushing them "sometimes," so why would you do the same for your body?

  

Ingredients pictured above:

* Leafy greens

* Brown rice

* Mixed vegetables

* 1/4 a tomato

* Tofu crisped with pepper and balsamic vinegar

* Italian dressing

USS Wisconsin (BB64) at Norfolk, VA on August-10th-2018.

USS Wisconsin is an Iowa-class battleship, the second ship of the United States Navy to be named in honor of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. She was built at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and launched on 7 December 1943 (the second anniversary of the Pearl Harbor raid), sponsored Margaret Goodland, wife of Governor Walter Goodland of Wisconsin.

 

During her career, Wisconsin served in the Pacific theater of World War II, where she shelled Japanese fortifications and screened United States aircraft carriers as they conducted air raids against enemy positions. During the Korean War, Wisconsin shelled North Korean targets in support of United Nations and South Korean ground operations, after which she was decommissioned. She was reactivated on 1 August 1986; after a modernization program, she participated in Operation Desert Storm in January and February 1991.

 

Wisconsin was last decommissioned in September 1991 after a total of 14 years of active service in the fleet, and having earned a total of six battle stars for service in World War II and Korea, as well as a Navy Unit Commendation for service during the January/February 1991 Gulf War. She currently functions as a museum ship operated by Nauticus, The National Maritime Center in Norfolk, Virginia. Wisconsin was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register (NVR) 17 March 2006, and was donated for permanent use as a museum ship. On 15 April 2010, the City of Norfolk officially took over ownership of the ship.

 

Wisconsin was one of the "fast battleship" designs planned in 1938 by the Preliminary Design Branch at the Bureau of Construction and Repair. She was the third of four completed ships of the Iowa class of battleships. Her keel was laid down on 25 January 1941, at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. She was launched on 7 December 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Goodland, wife of Walter S. Goodland, the Governor of Wisconsin, and commissioned on 16 April 1944, with Captain Earl E. Stone in command.

 

Wisconsin's main battery consisted of nine 16 in (406 mm)/50 cal Mark 7 guns, which could fire 2,700 lb (1,200 kg) armor-piercing shells some 20 mi (32 km). The secondary battery consisted of 20 5 in (127 mm)/38 cal guns in 10 twin turrets, which could fire at targets up to 10 mi (16 km) away. With the advent of air power and the need to gain and maintain air superiority came a need to protect the growing fleet of allied aircraft carriers; to this end, Wisconsin was fitted with an array of Oerlikon 20 mm and Bofors 40 mm antiaircraft guns to defend allied carriers from enemy airstrikes. When reactivated in 1986, Wisconsin had her 20 mm and 40 mm AA guns removed, and was outfitted with Phalanx CIWS mounts for protection against enemy missiles and aircraft, and armored box launchers and quad cell launchers designed to fire Tomahawk and Harpoon missiles, respectively.Wisconsin and her sister ship Missouri were fitted with thicker transverse bulkhead armor, 14.5 inches (368 mm), compared to 11.3 inches (287 mm) in the first two ships of her class, the Iowa and New Jersey.

 

Wisconsin is numerically the highest-numbered US battleship built. Although her keel was laid after USS Missouri's, she was commissioned before Missouri's commissioning date. Thus, Wisconsin's construction began after Missouri's, and finished earlier. Iowa and Wisconsin were finally stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 17 March 2006, making them the last battleships on a navy list in the world.

 

After the ship's trials and initial training in the Chesapeake Bay, Wisconsin departed Norfolk, Virginia, on 7 July 1944, bound for the British West Indies. Following her shakedown cruise (conducted out of Trinidad), she returned to the builder's yard for alterations and repairs.

 

On 24 September 1944, Wisconsin sailed for the West Coast, transiting the Panama Canal, and reporting for duty with the Pacific Fleet on 2 October. The battleship later moved to Hawaiian waters for training exercises and then headed for the Western Caroline Islands. Upon reaching the Caroline Island Ulithi, she joined Admiral William F. Halsey's 3rd Fleet on 9 December.

  

Wisconsin tied up alongside the hulk of Oklahoma at Pearl Harbor in November 1944, prior to her departure to join up with the 3rd Fleet

Due to the time it took needed to build her, Wisconsin missed much of the initial thrust into Japanese-held territory, having arrived at a time when the reconquest of the Philippines was well underway. As a part of that movement, the planners had envisioned landings on the southwest coast of Mindoro, south of Luzon. From that point, American forces could threaten Japanese shipping lanes through the South China Sea. In preparation for the coming invasion of Mindoro, Wisconsin was assigned to protect the 3rd Fleet's Fast Carrier Task Force (TF 38), as they conducted air raids at Manila to soften up Japanese positions.

 

On 18 December, the ships of TF 38 unexpectedly found themselves in a fight for their lives when Typhoon Cobra overtook the force–seven fleet and six light carriers, eight battleships, 15 cruisers, and about 50 destroyers–during their attempt to refuel at sea. At the time, the ships were operating about 300 mi (480 km) east of Luzon in the Philippine Sea.The carriers had just completed three days of heavy raids against Japanese airfields, suppressing enemy aircraft during the American amphibious operations against Mindoro in the Philippines. The task force met with Captain Jasper T. Acuff and his fueling group 17 December with the intention of refueling all ships in the task force and replacing lost aircraft.Although the sea had been growing rougher all day, the nearby cyclonic disturbance gave relatively little warning of its approach. On 18 December, the small but violent typhoon overtook the task force while many of the ships were attempting to refuel. Many of the ships were caught near the center of the storm and buffeted by extreme seas and hurricane-force winds. Three destroyers, Hull, Monaghan, and Spence, capsized and sank with nearly all hands, while a cruiser, five aircraft carriers, and three destroyers suffered serious damage. About 790 men were lost or killed, with another 80 injured. Fires occurred in three carriers when planes broke loose in their hangars and some 146 planes on various ships were lost or damaged beyond economical repair by fires, impact damage, or being swept overboard. Wisconsin reported two injured sailors as a result of the typhoon,but otherwise proved her seaworthiness as she escaped the storm unscathed.

 

Wisconsin's next operation was to assist with the occupation of Luzon. Bypassing the southern beaches, American amphibious forces went ashore at Lingayen Gulf, the scene of initial Japanese assaults to take Luzon nearly three years before.

 

Wisconsin, armed with heavy antiaircraft batteries, performed escort duty for TF 38's fast carriers during air strikes against Formosa, Luzon, and the Nansei Shoto to neutralize Japanese forces there and to cover the unfolding Allied Lingayen Gulf operations. Those strikes, lasting from 3–22 January 1945, included a thrust into the South China Sea, in the hope that major units of the Imperial Japanese Navy could be drawn into battle.

 

Wisconsin's carrier group launched air strikes between Saigon and Camranh Bay, French Indochina, on 12 January, resulting in severe losses for the enemy. TF 38's warplanes sank 41 ships and heavily damaged docks, storage areas, and aircraft facilities. Formosa, already struck on 3–4 January, was raided again on 9 January, 15 January, and 21 January. Throughout January Wisconsin shielded the carriers as they conducted air raids at Hong Kong, Canton, Hainan Island, the Canton oil refineries, the Hong Kong Naval Station, and Okinawa

 

Wisconsin was assigned to the 5th Fleet when Admiral Raymond A. Spruance relieved Admiral Halsey as commander of the fleet. She moved northward with the redesignated TF 58 as the carriers headed for the Tokyo area. On 16 February, the task force approached the Japanese coast under cover of adverse weather conditions and achieved complete tactical surprise. As a result, Wisconsin and the other ships shot down 322 enemy planes and destroyed 177 more on the ground. Japanese shipping, both naval and merchant, also suffered drastically, as did hangars and aircraft installations.

 

Wisconsin and the task force moved to Iwo Jima on 17 February to provide direct support for the landings slated to take place on 19 February. They revisited Tokyo on 25 February and hit the island of Hachino off the coast of Honshū the next day, resulting in heavy damage to ground facilities; additionally, American planes sank five small vessels and destroyed 158 planes.

 

Wisconsin's task force stood out of Ulithi on 14 March bound for Japan. The mission of that group was to eliminate airborne resistance from the Japanese homeland to American forces off Okinawa. Enemy fleet units at Kure and Kobe, on southern Honshū, reeled under the impact of the explosive blows delivered by TF 58's airmen. On 18–19 March, from a point 100 mi (160 km) southwest of Kyūshū, TF 58 hit enemy airfields on that island; unfortunately, allied antiaircraft fire on 19 March failed to stop an attack on the carrier Franklin. That afternoon, Wisconsin and the task force retired from Kyūshū, screening the blazing and battered flattop, and shooting down 48 attackers.

 

On 24 March, Wisconsin trained her 16 in (406 mm) guns on targets ashore on Okinawa. Together with the other battleships of the task force, she pounded Japanese positions and installations in preparation for the landings. Japanese resistance, while fierce, was doomed to failure by dwindling numbers of aircraft and trained pilots.[5]

  

Wisconsin escorting Essex-class aircraft carriers in the Pacific Ocean during World War II. The tail crane was used to recover reconnaissance planes launched by Wisconsin.

While TF 58's planes were dealing with Yamato and her escorts, enemy aircraft attacked the American surface units. Combat air patrol (CAP) shot down 15 enemy planes, and ships' gunfire shot down another three, but not before one kamikaze attack penetrated the CAP and screen to crash on the flight deck of the fleet carrier Hancock. On 11 April, the Japanese renewed their kamikaze attacks; and only drastic maneuvers and heavy barrages of gunfire saved the task force. CAP shot down 17 planes, and ships' gunfire shot down 12. The next day, 151 enemy aircraft attacked TF 58, but Wisconsin, together with other units of the screens for the vital carriers, kept the kamikaze pilots at bay and destroyed them before they could reach their targets. Over the days that ensued, Japanese kamikaze attacks managed to crash into three carriers—Intrepid, Bunker Hill, and Enterprise—on successive days.

 

By 4 June, a typhoon was swirling through the fleet. Wisconsin rode out the storm unscathed, but three cruisers, two carriers, and a destroyer suffered serious damage. Offensive operations were resumed on 8 June with a final aerial assault on Kyūshū. The Japanese aerial response was virtually nonexistent; 29 planes were located and destroyed. On that day, one of Wisconsin's floatplanes landed and rescued a downed pilot from the carrier Shangri-La.

  

Wisconsin ultimately put into Leyte Gulf and dropped anchor there on 13 June for repairs and replenishment. Three weeks later, on 1 July, the battleship and her escorts sailed once more for Japanese home waters for carrier air strikes on the enemy's heartland. Nine days later, carrier planes from TF 38 destroyed 72 enemy aircraft on the ground and smashed industrial sites in the Tokyo area. Wisconsin and the other ships made no attempt whatsoever to conceal the location of their armada, due in large part to a weak Japanese response to their presence.

 

On 16 July, Wisconsin fired her 16 in (406 mm) guns at the steel mills and oil refineries at Muroran, Hokkaido. Two days later, she wrecked industrial facilities in the Hitachi Miro area, on the coast of Honshū-, northeast of Tokyo itself. During that bombardment, British battleships of the British Pacific Fleet contributed their heavy shellfire. By that point in the war, Allied warships such as Wisconsin were able to shell the Japanese homeland almost at will.

 

TF 38's planes subsequently blasted the Japanese naval base at Yokosuka, and put the former fleet flagship Nagato out of action, one of the two remaining Japanese battleships. Throughout July and into August, Admiral Halsey's airmen visited destruction upon the Japanese, the last instance being against Tokyo on 13 August. Two days later, the Japanese surrendered, ending World War II.

 

Wisconsin, as part of the occupying force, arrived at Tokyo Bay on 5 September, three days after the formal surrender occurred on board the battleship Missouri. During Wisconsin's brief career in World War II, she had steamed 105,831 mi (170,318 km) since commissioning, shot down three enemy planes, claimed assists on four occasions, and fueled her screening destroyers on some 250 occasions.

 

Shifting subsequently to Okinawa, the battleship embarked homeward-bound GIs on 22 September 1945, as part of Operation Magic Carpet staged to bring soldiers, sailors, and marines home from the far-flung battlefronts of the Pacific. Departing Okinawa on 23 September, Wisconsin reached Pearl Harbor on 4 October, remaining there for five days before she pushed on for the West Coast on the last leg of her state-side bound voyage. She reached San Francisco on 15 October.

 

Heading for the East Coast of the United States soon after the start of the new year, 1946, Wisconsin transited the Panama Canal from 11 to 13 January and reached Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 18 January. Following a cruise south to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, the battleship entered the Norfolk Naval Shipyard for overhaul. After repairs and alterations that consumed the summer, Wisconsin sailed for South American waters.

 

Over the weeks that ensued, the battleship visited Valparaíso, Chile, from 1–6 November; Callao, Peru, from 9–13 November; Balboa, Canal Zone, from 16 to 20 November; and La Guaira, Venezuela, from 22 to 26 November, before returning to Norfolk on 2 December 1946.

 

Wisconsin spent nearly all of 1947 as a training ship, taking naval reservists on two-week cruises throughout the year. Those voyages commenced at Bayonne, New Jersey, and saw visits conducted at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and the Panama Canal Zone. While underway at sea, the ship would perform various drills and exercises before the cruise would end where it had started, at Bayonne. During June and July 1947, Wisconsin took United States Naval Academy midshipmen on cruises to northern European waters.

 

In January 1948, Wisconsin reported to the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at Norfolk for inactivation. Placed out of commission, in reserve on 1 July, Wisconsin was assigned to the Norfolk group of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet.

  

Buck, Wisconsin, and Saint Paul steam in close formation during operations off the Korean coast, 1952

Her sojourn in "mothballs", however, was comparatively brief, due to the North Korean invasion of South Korea in late June 1950. Wisconsin was recommissioned on 3 March 1951 with Captain Thomas Burrowes in command.[5] After shakedown training, the revitalized battleship conducted two midshipmen training cruises, taking the officers-to-be to Edinburgh, Scotland; Lisbon, Portugal; Halifax, Nova Scotia; New York City; and Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, before she returned to Norfolk. While leaving New York, Wisconsin was accidentally grounded on mud flats in New York Harbor, but was freed on 23 August 1951 with no damage to the ship.

 

Wisconsin departed Norfolk on 25 October, bound for the Pacific. She transited the Panama Canal on 29 October and reached Yokosuka, Japan, on 21 November. There, she relieved New Jersey as flagship for Vice Admiral H. M. Martin, Commander, 7th Fleet.

 

On 26 November, with Vice Admiral Martin and Rear Admiral F.P. Denebrink, Commander, Service Force, Pacific, embarked, Wisconsin departed Yokosuka for Korean waters to support the fast carrier operations of TF 77. She left the company of the carrier force on 2 December, and screened by the destroyer Wiltsie, provided gunfire support for the Republic of Korea (ROK) Corps in the Kasong-Kosong area. After disembarking Admiral Denebrink on 3 December at Kangnung, the battleship resumed station on the Korean "bombline", providing gunfire support for the American 1st Marine Division. Wisconsin's shelling accounted for a tank, two gun emplacements, and a building.[5] She continued her gunfire support task for the 1st Marine Division and 1st ROK Corps through 6 December, accounting for enemy bunkers, artillery positions, and troop concentrations.[5] On one occasion during that time, the battleship received a request for call-fire support and provided three star-shells for the 1st ROK Corps, illuminating an enemy attack that was consequently repulsed with a considerable number of enemy casualties

 

After being relieved on the gunline by the heavy cruiser Saint Paul on 6 December, Wisconsin briefly retired from gunfire-support duties. She resumed them, however, in the Kasong-Kosong area on 11 December screened by the destroyer Twining. The following day, 12 December, had the helicopter embarkation on Wisconsin of Rear Admiral H. R. Thurber, Commander, Battleship Division 2 (BatDiv 2), as part of his inspection trip in the Far East.

 

Wisconsin continued her naval gunfire-support duties on the bombline, shelling enemy bunkers, command posts, artillery positions, and trench systems through 14 December. She departed the "bombline" on that day to render special gunfire support duties in the Kojo area shelling coastal targets in support of United Nations (UN) troops ashore. That same day, Wisconsin returned to the Kasong-Kosong area. On 15 December, she disembarked Admiral Thurber by helicopter. The next day, Wisconsin departed Korean waters, heading for Sasebo to rearm.

 

Returning to the combat zone on 17 December, Wisconsin embarked United States Senator Homer Ferguson of Michigan on 18 December. That day, the battleship supported the 11th ROK invasion with night illumination fire that enabled the ROK troops to repulse a North Korean assault with heavy enemy casualties.Departing the "bombline" on 19 December, the battleship transferred Ferguson by helicopter to the carrier Valley Forge.

  

On 20 December, Wisconsin participated in a coordinated air-surface bombardment of Wonsan to neutralize selected targets in its area. The ship shifted its bombardment station to the western end of Wonsan harbor, hitting boats and small craft in the inner swept channel with her 5-inch (127 mm) guns during the afternoon and helping forestall attempts to assault the friendly held islands nearby. Wisconsin then made an antiboat sweep to the north, firing her 5-inch batteries on suspected boat concentrations. She then provided gunfire support to UN troops operating at the bombline until 22 December, when she rejoined the carrier task force.

  

Wisconsin shells North Korean targets during the Korean War

On 28 December, Cardinal Francis Spellman, on a Korean tour over the Christmas holidays, helicoptered aboard the ship to celebrate Mass for the Catholic members of the crew. He left as he came, off Pohang. On New Year's Eve day, Wisconsin put into Yokosuka.

 

Wisconsin departed that port on 8 January 1952 and returned to Korean waters. She reached Pusan the following day and entertained the president of South Korea, Syngman Rhee, and his wife, on 10 January. The couple received full military honors as they came on board, which Rhee reciprocated by awarding Vice Admiral Martin the ROK Order of the Military Merit.

 

Wisconsin returned to the bombline on 11 January, and over the ensuing days, delivered heavy gunfire support for the 1st Marine Division and the 1st ROK Corps. As before, her primary targets were command posts, shelters, bunkers, troop concentrations, and mortar positions. As before, she stood ready to deliver call-fire support as needed, shelling enemy troops in the open on 14 January at the request of the ROK 1st Corps.

 

Rearming once more at Sasebo, she shortly joined TF 77 off the coast of Korea and resumed support at the bombline on 23 January. Three days later, she shifted again to the Kojo region, to participate in a coordinated air and gun strike. That same day, the battleship returned to the bombline and shelled the command post and communications center for the 15th North Korean Division during call-fire missions for the 1st Marine Division.

 

Returning to Wonsan at the end of January, Wisconsin bombarded enemy guns at Hodo Pando before she was rearmed at Sasebo. The battleship rejoined TF 77 on 2 February, and the next day blasted railway buildings and marshaling yards at Hodo Pando and Kojo before rejoining TF 77. After replenishment at Yokosuka a few days later, she returned to the Kosong area and resumed gunfire support. During that time, she destroyed railway bridges and a small shipyard while conducting call-fire missions on enemy command posts, bunkers, and personnel shelters, making numerous cuts on enemy trench lines in the process.

 

On 26 February, Wisconsin arrived at Pusan, where Vice Admiral Shon, the ROK chief of naval operations; United States Ambassador J.J. Muccio; and Rear Admiral Scott-Montcrief, Royal Navy, Commander, Task Group 95.12 (TG 95.12), visited the battleship. Departing that South Korean port the following day, Wisconsin reached Yokosuka on 2 March, and a week later, she shifted to Sasebo to prepare to return to Korean waters.

 

Wisconsin arrived off Songjin, Korea, on 15 March and concentrated her gunfire on enemy railway transport. Early that morning, she destroyed a communist troop train trapped outside a destroyed tunnel. That afternoon, she received the first direct hit in her history, when one of four shells from a North Korean 152 mm gun battery struck the shield of a starboard 40 mm mount; although little material damage resulted, three men were injured.Wisconsin subsequently destroyed that battery with a full 16-inch (406 mm) salvo before continuing her mission.After again supporting 1st Marine Division with her heavy rifles, the battleship returned to Japan on 19 March.

 

Relieved as flagship of the 7th Fleet on 1 April by sister ship Iowa, Wisconsin departed Yokosuka, bound for the United States. En route home, she touched briefly at Guam, where she took part in the successful test of the Navy's largest floating dry dock on 4–5 April, the first ever to accommodate an Iowa-class battleship. She continued her homeward-bound voyage via Pearl Harbor and arrived at Long Beach, California, on 19 April before continuing on for Norfolk.

  

On 9 June, Wisconsin resumed her role as a training ship, taking midshipmen to Greenock, Scotland, Brest, France, and Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, before returning to Norfolk. She departed Hampton Roads on 25 August and participated in the NATO exercise Operation Mainbrace, which was held out of Greenock, Scotland. After her return to Norfolk, Wisconsin underwent an overhaul in the naval shipyard there. Wisconsin remained in the Atlantic fleet throughout 1952 and into 1953, training midshipmen and conducting exercises. After a month of routine maintenance Wisconsin departed Norfolk on 9 September 1953, bound for the Far East.

 

Sailing via the Panama Canal to Japan, Wisconsin relieved New Jersey as 7th Fleet flagship on 12 October. During the months that followed, Wisconsin visited the Japanese ports of Kobe, Sasebo Navy Yard, Yokosuka, Otaru, and Nagasaki. She spent Christmas at Hong Kong and was ultimately relieved of flagship duties on 1 April 1954 and returned to the United States soon thereafter, reaching Norfolk, via Long Beach and the Panama Canal, on 4 May.

 

Entering the Norfolk Naval Shipyard on 11 June, Wisconsin underwent a brief overhaul and commenced a midshipman training cruise on 12 July. After revisiting Greenock, Brest, and Guantánamo Bay, the ship returned to the Norfolk Naval Shipyard for repairs. Shortly thereafter, Wisconsin participated in Atlantic Fleet exercises as flagship for the commander, Second Fleet. Departing Norfolk in January 1955, Wisconsin took part in Operation Springboard, during which she visited Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Then, upon returning to Norfolk, the battleship conducted another midshipman's cruise that summer, visiting Edinburgh, Copenhagen, Denmark, and Guantánamo Bay before returning to the United States.

 

Upon completion of a major overhaul at the New York Naval Shipyard, Wisconsin headed south for refresher training in the Caribbean Sea, later taking part in another Springboard exercise. During that cruise, she again visited Port-au-Prince and added Tampico, Mexico, and Cartagena, Colombia, to her list of ports of call. She returned to Norfolk on the last day of March 1955 for local operations.On 19 October, while operating in the East River in New York Harbor, Wisconsin was accidentally grounded, but the ship was freed in about an hour without any serious damage.

  

Throughout April 1956 and into May, Wisconsin operated locally off the Virginia Capes. On 6 May, the battleship collided with the destroyer Eaton in a heavy fog; Wisconsin put into Norfolk with extensive damage to her bow, and one week later entered dry dock at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard.A novel experiment sped her repairs and enabled the ship to carry out her scheduled midshipman training cruise that summer. A 120-ton, 68 foot (21 m) section of the bow of Wisconsin's incomplete sister ship Kentucky was transported by barge, in one section, from Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Corporation of Newport News, Virginia, across Hampton Roads to the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. Working around the clock, Wisconsin's ship's force and shipyard personnel completed the operation that grafted on the new bow in 16 days. On 28 June 1956, the ship was ready for sea.

  

The bow of Kentucky was transported in one section, by barge, to repair Wisconsin.

Wisconsin resumed her midshipman training on 9 July 1956. That autumn, Wisconsin participated in Atlantic Fleet exercises off the coast of the Carolinas, returning to port on 8 November 1956. Entering the Norfolk Naval Shipyard a week later, the battleship underwent major repairs that were not finished until 2 January 1957.

 

After local operations off the Virginia capes on 3–4 January 1957 and from 9–11 January, Wisconsin departed Norfolk on 16 January, reporting to the commander, Fleet Training Group, at Naval Station Guantánamo Bay. Wisconsin served as Admiral Henry Crommelin's flagship during the ensuing shore bombardment practices and other exercises held off the isle of Culebra, Puerto Rico, from 2–4 February. Sailing for Norfolk upon completion of the training period, the battleship arrived on 7 February and resumed local operations off Norfolk. On 27 March, Wisconsin sailed for the Mediterranean Sea, reaching Gibraltar on 6 April, she pushed on that day to rendezvous with TF 60 in the Aegean Sea before reporting to Turkey for the NATO exercise Red Pivot.

Departing Xeros Bay on 14 April, she arrived at Naples four days later, and conducted exercises in the eastern Mediterranean. In the course of those operational training evolutions, she rescued a pilot and crewman who survived the crash of a plane from the aircraft carrier Forrestal.[6] Wisconsin reached Valencia, Spain, on 10 May, and three days later, entertained prominent civilian and military officials of the city.

 

Departing Valencia on 17 April, Wisconsin reached Norfolk on 27 May. En route, she was called upon to sink a Boeing KC-97F-55-BO Stratofreighter, 51-0258, which had ditched in the Atlantic on 9 May, 550 km (343.8 mi) southeast of the Azores Islands following a double engine failure, and subsequently floated for 10 days.

  

On 27 May, Rear Admiral L.S. Parks relieved Rear Admiral Crommelin as Commander, BatDiv 2. Departing Norfolk on 19 June, the battleship, over the ensuing weeks, conducted a midshipman training cruise through the Panama Canal to South American waters, and reached Valparaiso on 3 July. Eight days later, the battleship headed back to the Panama Canal and the Atlantic.

 

After exercises at Guantánamo Bay and off Culebra, Wisconsin reached Norfolk on 5 August and conducted local operations that lasted into September. She then participated in NATO exercises, which took her across the North Atlantic to the British Isles.

 

Wisconsin's days as an active fleet unit were numbered, and she prepared to make her last cruise. On 4 November, she departed Norfolk with a large group of prominent guests on board. Reaching New York City on 6 November, the battleship disembarked her guests, and on 8 November, headed for Bayonne, New Jersey, to commence a preinactivation overhaul. She was placed out of commission at Bayonne on 8 March 1958, and joined the United States Navy reserve fleet (better known as the "mothball fleet") there, leaving the Navy without an active battleship for the first time since 1895.[5] Subsequently, taken to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Wisconsin remained there with her sister ship Iowa into the 1980s. While berthed in the Philadelphia Naval Yard, an electrical fire damaged the ship and left her as the Iowa-class battleship in the worst material condition prior to her 1980s reactivation.

  

As part of President Ronald Reagan's Navy Secretary John F. Lehman's effort to create a "600-ship Navy," Wisconsin was reactivated 1 August 1986, a precommissioning unit (PCU) crew established, and the ship moved under tow to the Avondale Shipyard in New Orleans, Louisiana, to commence pre-recommissioning workups. The battleship was then towed from the Avondale Shipyard and arrived at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi, on 2 January 1987 to receive weapons system upgrades for her modernization. During the modernization, Wisconsin had all of her remaining 20 mm Oerlikon and 40 mm Bofors antiaircraft guns removed, due to their ineffectiveness against modern jet fighters and enemy antiship missiles; additionally, the two 5 in (127 mm) gun mounts located at midship and in the aft on the port and starboard sides of the battleship were removed.

  

Wisconsin alongside Saratoga (CV-60) during her 1990–91 Mediterranean cruise

Over the next several months, the ship was upgraded with the most advanced weaponry available. Among the new weapon systems installed were four MK 141 quad cell launchers for 16 RGM-84 Harpoon antiship missiles, eight armored box launcher mounts for 32 BGM-109 Tomahawk missiles, and four of the United States Navy's Phalanx Close-in weapon system 20 mm Gatling guns for defense against enemy antiship missiles and enemy aircraft. Wisconsin also received eight RQ-2 Pioneer unmanned aerial vehicles, remotely controlled drones that replaced the helicopters previously used to spot for her nine 16 in (406 mm) guns.Also included in her modernization were upgrades to radar and fire control systems for her guns and missiles, and improved electronic warfare capabilities. Armed as such, Wisconsin was formally recommissioned on 22 October 1988 in Pascagoula, Mississippi, under the command of Captain Jerry M. Blesch, USN. Assigned to the United States Atlantic Fleet, she was subsequently homeported at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, where she became the centerpiece of her own surface action group (SAG), also referred to as a battleship battle group (BBBG).

 

Wisconsin spent the first part of 1989 conducting training exercises in the Atlantic Ocean and off the coast of Puerto Rico before returning to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard for a post-recommissioning shakedown that lasted the rest of the year. In mid-1990, the battleship participated in a fleet exercise.

  

Wisconsin launched a BGM-109 Tomahawk missile against a military target in Iraq during Operation Desert Storm.

On 2 August 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait. In the middle of the month, President George H. W. Bush, in keeping with the Carter Doctrine, sent the first of several hundred thousand troops, along with a strong force of naval support, to Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf area to support a multinational force in a standoff with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. On 7 August, Wisconsin and her battle group were ordered to deploy in defense of Kuwait for Operation Desert Shield, and they arrived in the Persian Gulf on 23 August.[6] On 15 January 1991, Operation Desert Storm commenced operations, and Wisconsin found herself serving alongside her sister Missouri, just as she had done in Korea 40 years previously. Both Wisconsin and Missouri launched Tomahawk missile attacks against Iraq; they were among the first ships to fire cruise missiles during the 1991 Gulf War. Wisconsin served as the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM) strike commander for the Persian Gulf, directing the sequence of launches that marked the opening of Operation Desert Storm and firing a total of 24 of her own TLAMs during the first two days of the campaign.] Wisconsin also assumed the responsibility of the local antisurface warfare coordinator for the Northern Persian Gulf Surface Action Group.

  

Wisconsin fired her big guns on Iraqi positions in then Iraqi-occupied Kuwait during the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

Wisconsin, escorted by Nicholas, relieved Missouri on 6 February, then answered her first combat call for gunfire support since March 1952. The most recently recommissioned battleship sent 11 shells 19 mi (31 km) to destroy an Iraqi artillery battery in southern Kuwait during a mission called in by USMC OV-10 Bronco aircraft. Using an RQ-2 Pioneer UAV as a spotter in combat for the first time, Wisconsin pounded an Iraqi communications compound on 7 February. Her main guns lobbed 24 shells on Iraqi artillery sites, missile facilities, and electronic-warfare sites along the coast. That evening, she targeted naval sites with her 16 in (406 mm) guns, firing 50 rounds, which severely damaged or sank 15 Iraqi boats, and destroyed several piers at the Khawr al-Mufattah marina.[6] In response to calls for fire support from US and coalition forces, Wisconsin's main battery was used again on 9 February, blasting bunkers and artillery sites, and shelling Iraqi troop positions near Khafji after the Iraqis were ousted from the city by Saudi and Qatari armor. On 21 February, one of Wisconsin's UAVs observed several trucks resupplying an Iraqi command post; in response, Wisconsin trained her 16 in (406 mm) guns on the complex, leveling or heavily damaging 10 of the buildings. Wisconsin and Missouri alternated positions on the gun line, using their 16 in (406 mm) guns to destroy enemy targets and soften defenses along the Kuwait coastline for a possible amphibious assault.

  

A technician moved a Pioneer RPV across the fantail of Wisconsin.

On the night of 23 February, Missouri and Wisconsin turned their big guns on Kuwait's Faylaka Island to support the US-led coalition ground offensive to free Kuwait from the Iraqi occupation forces. The two ships were to conduct a diversionary assault aimed at convincing the Iraqi forces arrayed along the shores of Faylaka Island that coalition forces were preparing to launch an amphibious invasion.As part of this attack, Missouri and Wisconsin were directed to shell known Iraqi defensive positions on the island. Shortly after Missouri completed her shelling of Faylaka Island, Wisconsin, while still over the horizon (and thus out of visual range of the Iraqi forces) launched her RQ-2 Pioneer Unmanned Aerial Vehicle to spot for her 16 in (406 mm) guns. As Wisconsin's drone approached Faylaka Island, the pilot of the drone was instructed to fly the vehicle low over Iraqi positions so that the soldiers would know that they were once again being targeted by a battleship.[20] Iraqi troops on the ground heard the Pioneer's distinctive buzzing sound, and having witnessed the effects of Missouri's artillery strike on their trench line, the Iraqi troops decided to signal their willingness to surrender by waving makeshift white flags, an action dutifully noted aboard Wisconsin. Amused at this sudden development, the men assigned to the drone's aircrew called Wisconsin's commanding officer, Captain David S. Bill III, and asked, "Sir, they want to surrender, what should I do with them?"This surrender to Wisconsin's Pioneer has since become one of the most remembered moments of the Gulf War; the incident was also the first-ever surrender of enemy troops to an unmanned aircraft controlled by a ship.Wisconsin drone also carried out a number of reconnaissance missions on occupied Kuwait before the coalition's ground offensive.

The next day, Wisconsin answered two separate call-fire support missions for coalition forces by suppressing Iraqi troops barricaded in two bunkers. After witnessing the effects of Wisconsin's strike against the Iraqi positions, an elated Saudi marine commander commented over the radio, "I wish we had a battleship in our navy."

 

With the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s and the absence of a perceived threat to the United States came drastic cuts in the defense budget. The high cost of maintaining and operating battleships as part of the United States Navy's active fleet became uneconomical; as a result, Wisconsin was decommissioned on 30 September 1991 after 14 total years of active service, and joined the Reserve Fleet at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. She was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register (NVR) on 12 January 1995, then on 15 October 1996, she was moved to the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, and on 12 February 1998, she was restored to the Naval Vessel Register. On 7 December 2000, the battleship was towed from Portsmouth, Virginia and berthed adjacent to Nauticus, The National Maritime Center in Norfolk. On 16 April 2001 the battleship's weather decks were opened to the public by the Hampton Roads Naval Museum, a U.S. Navy museum charged with Wisconsin's interpretation and public visitation. The ship was still owned by the Navy and was considered part of the mothball fleet.

  

Wisconsin was named (along with Iowa) as one of two US Navy battleships to be maintained in the United States Navy reserve fleets in accordance with the National Defense Authorization Act of 1996 as shore-bombardment vessels. However, Wisconsin was then over 60 years old and would have required extensive modernization to return to the fleet since most of her technology dated back to World War II, and the missile and electronic-warfare equipment added to the battleship during her 1988–89 modernization were considered obsolete. In addition, the cost of modernizing the battleships was estimated to be around $500 million for reactivation and $1.5 billion for a full modernization program.

  

On 17 March 2006, the Secretary of the Navy exercised his authority to strike Iowa and Wisconsin from the NVR, which cleared the way for both ships to be donated for use as museums; however, the U.S. Congress remained "deeply concerned" over the loss of naval surface-gunfire support that the battleships provided, and noted, "...navy efforts to improve upon, much less replace, this capability have been highly problematic."Partially as a consequence, Congress passed Pub.L. 109–163 (text) (PDF), the National Defense Authorization Act 2006, requiring that the battleships be kept and maintained in a state of readiness should they ever be needed again.[Congress had ordered that the following measures be implemented to ensure that Wisconsin could be returned to active duty if needed:

 

She must not be altered in any way that would impair her military utility.

The battleship must be preserved in her present condition through the continued use of cathodic protection, dehumidification systems, and any other preservation methods as needed.

Spare parts and unique equipment, such as the 16 in (406 mm) gun barrels and projectiles, must be preserved in adequate numbers to support Wisconsin, if reactivated.

The Navy must prepare plans for the rapid reactivation of Wisconsin should she be returned to the Navy in the event of a national emergency.

These conditions closely mirror the original three conditions that the Nation Defense Authorization Act of 1996 laid out for the maintenance of Wisconsin while she was in the mothball fleet.These conditions would be unlikely to impede a plan to turn Wisconsin into a permanent museum ship at her berth in Norfolk.

 

On 14 December 2009, the US Navy officially transferred Wisconsin to the city of Norfolk, ending the requirement for the ship to be preserved for possible recall to active duty. The US Navy had paid the city of Norfolk $2.8 million between 2000 and 2009 to maintain the ship.A formal ceremony transferring the ship to the city of Norfolk took place on 16 April 2010. Wisconsin was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on 28 March 2012.

 

Wisconsin earned five battle stars for her World War II service via the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Metal , and one for the Korean War Campaign Metal . The ship also received the Combat Action Ribbon and Navy Unit Commendation for actions in the Korean War and Operation Desert Storm in 1991. She also received over a dozen more awards for World War II, the Korean War, and Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm including the World Two Victory Metal.

   

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

  

Some background:

The outbreak of the war in Europe in September 1939 did not immediately affect the status of the Armée de l'Air in French Indochina because it had the task of defending a wide area of Southeast Asia, including the future Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. And yet its array of airplanes seemed inadequate to perform any kind of real defense against any incursion by an enemy, because there were less than 100 airplanes available to it, all obsolescent or obsolete. In September 1931, Japan invaded and occupied Manchuria. This was an area of northeast China, which encompassed the provinces of Jilin, Liaoning and Heilongjiang. Nearly six whole years later, in July 1937, the Second Sino-Japanese War had begun. As yet, the French colonial authorities were hoping that the Japanese would not be brazen enough to take on the might of a European power. However, it became increasingly likely after the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, since Japan was part of the Axis alliance and thus Germany's ally.

 

On September 26, 1940, Japanese troops landed in Haiphong, violating a cease-fire which had been signed only the previous day. From the middle of the following month, the French became heavily involved in repelling Japanese army assaults. Following the Fall of France in 1940, Thais perceived a chance to regain the territories they had lost years earlier. The collapse of Metropolitan France made the French hold on Indochina tenuous. After the Japanese invasion of French Indochina in September 1940, the French were forced to allow the Japanese to set up military bases. This seemingly subservient behavior convinced the Thai regime that Vichy France would not seriously resist a confrontation with Thailand.

 

During the French-Thai War, the Thai Air Force achieved several air-to-air-victories in dogfights against the Vichy Armée de l'Air. During World War II, the Thai Air Force supported the Royal Thai Army in its occupation of the Shan States of Burma as somewhat reluctant allies of the Japanese and took part in the defense of Bangkok against allied air raids in the latter part of the war, achieving some successes against state-of-the-art aircraft like the P-51 Mustang and the B-29 Superfortress. During these times, the RTAF was actively supplied by the Japanese with Imperial Japanese Army Air Force aircraft such as the Ki-43 "Oscar," and the Ki-27 "Nate." Other RTAF personnel took an active part the anti-Japanese resistance movement.

 

French forces in Indochina consisted of an army of approximately fifty thousand men, The most obvious deficiency of the French army lay in its shortage of armor; however, the Armée de l'Air had in its inventory approximately a hundred aircraft, of which around sixty could be considered first line. These consisted of thirty Potez 25 TOEs, four Farman 221s, eight Loire 130 flying boats, six Potez 542s, nine Morane M.S.406s.

 

The M.S.406 was a French fighter aircraft developed and manufactured by Morane-Saulnier starting in 1938. In response to a requirement for a fighter issued by the French Air Force in 1934, Morane-Saulnier built a prototype, designated MS.405, of mixed materials. This had the distinction of being the company's first low-wing monoplane, as well as the first to feature an enclosed cockpit, and the first design with a retracting undercarriage. The entry to service of the M.S.406 to the French Air Force in early 1939 represented the first modern fighter aircraft to be adopted by the service, and the type was also used in the French overseas colonies. The M.S.406 was France's most numerous fighter during the Second World War and one of only two French designs to exceed 1,000 in number. At the beginning of the war, it was one of only two French-built aircraft capable of 400 km/h (250 mph) – the other being the Potez 630.

 

Although a sturdy and highly manoeuvrable fighter aircraft, the M.S.406 was considered underpowered and weakly armed when compared to its contemporaries, esp. over continental Europe. Most critically, the M.S.406 was outperformed by the Messerschmitt Bf 109E during the Battle of France and no serious threat to the German fighter. In less advanced theatres like Indochina, though, the M.S. 406 was a respectable contender, but its numbers were low.

 

When the French-Thai War broke out in Indochina, the Thai Army was a relatively well-equipped force, consisting of some sixty thousand men, with artillery and tanks. The Royal Thai Navy — consisting of several vessels, including two coastal defence ships, twelve torpedo boats and four submarines — was inferior to the French naval forces, though, but the Royal Thai Air Force held both a quantitative and qualitative edge over l'Armee de l'Air. Among the 140 aircraft that composed the air force's initial first-line strength were twenty-four Mitsubishi Ki-30 light bombers, nine Mitsubishi Ki-21 and six Martin B-10 twin-engine bombers, seventy Vought Corsair dive bombers, and twenty-five Curtiss Hawk 75 fighters.

 

While nationalistic demonstrations and anti-French rallies were held in Bangkok, border skirmishes erupted along the Mekong frontier. The superior Royal Thai Air Force conducted daytime bombing runs over Vientiane, Sisophon, and Battambang with impunity. The French retaliated with their own planes, but the damage caused was less than equal. The activities of the Thai air force, particularly in the field of dive-bombing, was such that Admiral Jean Decoux, the governor of French Indochina, grudgingly remarked that the Thai planes seemed to have been flown by men with plenty of war experience.

 

In early January 1941, the Thai Burapha and Isan Armies launched their offensive on Laos and Cambodia. French resistance was instantaneous, but many units were simply swept along by the better-equipped Thai forces, with some French equipment – including some aircraft – being captured and immediately pressed into Thai army service. The Thais swiftly took Laos, but Cambodia proved a much harder nut to crack.

 

On January 16, 1941 the French launched a large counterattack on the Thai-held villages of Yang Dang Khum and Phum Preav, initiating the fiercest battle of the war. Because of over-complicated orders and nonexistent intelligence, the French counterattacks were cut to pieces and fighting ended with a French withdrawal from the area. The Thais were unable to pursue the retreating French, as their forward tanks were kept in check by the gunnery of French Foreign Legion artillerists.

 

On January 24, the final air battle took place when Thai bombers raided the French airfield at Angkor near Siem Reap, which quickly fell. The last Thai mission commenced at 0710 hours on January 28, when the Martins of the 50th Bomber Squadron set out on a raid on Sisophon, escorted by three Hawk 75Ns of the 60th Fighter Squadron.

 

Although the French won an important naval victory over the Thais, Japan forced the French to accept Japanese mediation of a peace treaty that returned the disputed territory to Thai control. A general armistice was arranged by Japan to go into effect on January 28. On May 9 a peace treaty was signed in Tokyo, with the French being coerced by the Japanese into relinquishing their hold on the disputed territories. However, the French (now part of the Axis Forces’ Vichy regime) were left in place to administer the rump colony of Indochina until 9 March 1945, when the Japanese staged a coup d'état in French Indochina and took control, establishing their own colony, the Empire of Vietnam, as a puppet state controlled by Tokyo.

 

Until then, Japanese authorities heavily influenced the diminishing Vichy French presence in the region and handed over a lot of leftover military hardware to its own allies, primarily the Thai forces. However, there was not much left to be distributed: about 30% of the French aircraft were rendered unserviceable by the end of the French-Thai War in early 1941, some as a result of minor damage sustained in air raids that remained unrepaired. The Armée de l'Air admitted the loss of only one Farman F221 and two Morane M.S.406s destroyed on the ground, but, in reality, its losses were greater and the influence of Japan on the leftover stock was fogged in order to save face. However, even in 1944, single former Vichy French aircraft and tanks were still active in the region, primarily under Thai flag.

  

General characteristics:

Crew: 1

Length: 8.17 m (26 ft 10 in)

Wingspan: 10.61 m (34 ft 10 in)

Height: 3.25 m (10 ft 8 in)

Wing area: 16 m2 (170 sq ft)

Empty weight: 1,895 kg (4,178 lb)

Gross weight: 2,540 kg (5,600 lb)

 

Powerplant:

1 × Hispano-Suiza 12Y-31 V-12 liquid-cooled piston engine with

619 kW (830 hp) for take-off at 2,520 rpm at sea level,

driving a 3-bladed variable-pitch propeller, 3 m (9 ft 10 in) diameter

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 490 km/h (304 mph; 265 kn) at 4,500 m (14,764 ft)

Stall speed: 160 km/h (99 mph, 86 kn) without flaps

135 km/h (84 mph; 73 kn) with flaps

Range: 1,100 km (680 mi, 590 nmi) at 66% power

Combat range: 720 km (450 mi, 390 nmi)

Endurance: 2 hours 20 minutes 30 seconds (average combat mission)

Service ceiling: 9,400 m (30,800 ft)

Time to altitude: 2,000 m (6,562 ft) in 2 minutes 32 seconds

9,000 m (29,528 ft) in 21 minutes 37 seconds

Wing loading: 154 kg/m2 (32 lb/sq ft)

Power/mass: 2.95 kg/kW (4.85 lb/hp)

Take-off run to 8 m (26 ft): 270 m (886 ft)

Landing run from 8 m (26 ft): 340 m (1,115 ft)

 

Armament:

1× 20 mm (0.787 in) Hispano-Suiza HS.404 cannon, firing through the propeller hub

2× 7.5 mm (0.295 in) MAC 1934 machine guns in the outer wings

  

The kit and its assembly:

This quick build was created in the wake of the “Captured” group build at whatifmodellers.com and actually is a personal interpretation of someone else’s idea, namely of fellow modeler NARSES who came up with the idea of a captured French M.S. 406 in Indochina under a new Thai flag. I found the idea so weird, yet realistic, that I decided to build one, too.

 

The model is the very simple but quite acceptable M.S. 406 from Hobby Boss. Externally the model is nice, with recessed panel lines and a basic landing gear. Internally, it is rather bleak, even though it has a full cockpit with a floor, integrally molded seat and even some details behind the pilot’s armor bulkhead. The canopy is a single piece and very clear, but it comes with massive locator bars, so that I decided to keep the canopy closed and added a pilot figure to cover the minimal interior. I was lucky to find a Japanese (though pretty “flat”) WWII pilot in the donor bank, left over from a Hasegawa model. I also gave the figure some seat belts (made from adhesive tape), but the rest remained unchanged – even the original metal axis for the propeller was used. I just replaced the machine gun barrels with hollow steel needles and added a pitot on the wing, which is probably part of the kit but not indicated in the instructions. The same is true for the foldable ventral antenna.

 

The build was finished quickly, in the course of just a single evening, including the pilot and some overall PSR.

  

Painting and markings:

My interpretation of a French aircraft in Thai service after the French-Thai War stuck closely to the real world Vichy livery, which was the standard French camouflage in grey/green/brown with light blue-grey undersides (all from ModelMaster’s Authentic Color range), together with a yellow-and-red-striped cowling (a base with Humbrol 69 and red decal stripes added later) and a white cheatline long the fuselage. The tail of French aircraft in Indochina was painted all-red from early 1941 onwards upon Japanese command, because of friendly fire incidents. This was adopted for the model (with a mix of Humbrol 19 and some 73), which is supposed to belong into the 1942 time frame.

 

As a captured aircraft, the original French roundels were replaced/overpainted with red disks/hinomaru, and then Thai elephant markings added on top. That’s a personal idea, ordnance directly supplied to the Thai forces from Japan had the simple, square “elephant flag” emblem directly applied to the wings and the fin (but no fuselage roundel). The all-red tail was taken over, but I painted the rudder in a dark IJA green, since it would formerly carry a French fin flash. The same green was used to overpaint a serial number on the fin and a former squadron emblem under the cockpit.

The hinomaru come from a PrintScale Ki-46 sheet, and these markings are intentionally a bit oversized, so that they cover well the former French markings and are highly visible. The elephant markings some from a PrintScale Ki-27 sheet, so that the red tone on both sources are very close to each other. The Ki-27 sheet also provided the Thai ciphers “3” and “4”, combined into a “34”.

 

The interior was painted in medium grey, and the model externally received some signs of wear and tear in the form of dry-brushed leading edges and around the cockpit as well as some soot stains behind the exhaust stubs and the machine guns. Finally, the model was sealed with a coat of matt acrylic varnish (Italeri).

  

A quick build, and the easy-build Hobby Boss M.S. 406 is certainly not as crisp as a “real” model, but in this case the story behind the weird livery was more in the focus than the canvas underneath. However, an interesting result, and the hybrid paint scheme with heritage from three different operators make the aircraft an unusual, if not exotic sight.

SHODASI : SECRETS OF THE RAMAYANA

Kundalini Yoga & Gayathri Mantra in Valmiki Ramayana

ENGLISH HINDI AND TELUGU ORIGINAL

AUTHOR : SESHENDRA SHARMA

Seshendra : Visionary Poet of the Millennium

seshendrasharma.weebly.com

seshen.tributes.in/

REVIEWS :

www.facebook.com/shodasi/

Books :

kinige.com/author/Gunturu+Seshendra+Sharma

Valmiki , The Sage of 5th century B.C wrote The Ramayana not to narrate the story of Rama in an absorbing style. Though the epic poem presents Rama’s Journey of life in enchanting poetry , the story and the enchanting poetry are sugar coating or honey to the organic medicine called Kundalini Yoga. Maharshi Valmiki wrote the Ramayana to spread / propagate Kundalini Yoga among the masses. Thus the soul of The Ramayana is Kundalini Yoga / Sri Vidya. Valmiki embedded Kundalini Yoga in the Chapter titled “ Sundara Kanda” . Hanuman and Ravana are Kundalini Yogis of Samaya and Kaula Paths.

And in Sundara Kanda , he inserted “ Trijata Swapna “ , dream sequence of a demon and in it embedded the Gayathri Mantra. The concepts of Vishnu and Avatar (reincarnation) were nonexistent during the Ramayana Period.

Seshendra Sharma , Scholar - Poet in his Magnum Opus of Research “ Shodasi : Secrets of The Ramayana “ reveals these secrets lying hidden for thousands of years .

 

* * * * *

How old is Valmiki Ramayana? One Calculation says 8 lacks 70 thousand Years. Going by the Christian calendar dating to approximately the 5th to 4th century BC. According to Indian classification of time Ramayana belongs to the Treta Yuga and today we are in the Kali Yuga. All these millions of years the human civilisation the world over, recognised it as the first poetry and in this part of the world i.e. the Indian Subcontinent the central character of the epic is present as an idol of worship in thousands of temples and in every household of believers.

But here is a research work which says Ramayana is merely poetry to the naked eye whereas it is an ensemble of invisible secrets which have been lying unnoticed all these ages.

What could have been the Valmiki Maharshi’s vision which made him chisel an epic poem which is pregnant with startling secrets?

Shodasi : Secrets of the Ramayana , a Magnum Opus comprising both revelations and research findings written in Telugu 47 Years ago is translated into English by Dr. G.S.Murthy , a 86 year old physicist (Retrd) from BARC. Dr. Murthy observes about Shodasi that “the approach adopted by Seshendra Sharma is unprecedented. .. His conclusion that Ramayana is closer to Sruthi than any other scripture is very significant and is based on the intrinsic evidence in the Ramayana itself.... it is a revolt against the customary methods followed to understand the status of Ramayana in the Sanskrit Literature.”

 

The fulcrum of Shodasi is that poetry in Ramayana is a supplement to the bitter medicine called “Kundalini Yoga” and Ramayana is divine Ambrosia for all mundane afflictions and problems that beset the human kind.

Seshendra reveals that Sundara Kanda is the heart of Ramayana and it is nothing but Kundalini Yoga . And the heart of Sundara Kanda is Trijata ‘s Dream , which is nothing but Gayatri Mantra.

Kundalini Yoga which is also known as Sri Vidya is awakening of inner powers dormant in humans through meditation. The very 1st Shloka of Sundara Kanda is analysed and explained exhaustively by the author from several angles. “Chaarana Charithe pathi..(Sky-Path) “is , according to the author the Sushumna in Humans. Lanka Dahana ( Reducing Ravana’s Empire Lanka to ashes ) is the climax of the Kundalini Yoga which is Sahasrara Bhedana. The author analyses citing evidence from the Ramayana original text , that both Paths of Kundalini Yoga , Samaya and Kaula ways are shown in the epic.

What is of paramount importance in this work is that each exposition refers to a cluster of references germane to the main discussion. Hence it is obvious that this work is a scholastic paradise to people who are conversant with Sanskrit literature and other ancient scriptures. A pedestrian reader cannot even peep into Shodasi . Seshendra’s introduction “One word to begin with “sets the tone and tenor of the work. He dilates at length how Sanskrit language is moulded by Valmiki on the lines of Sruthi and Veda to envelop his central theme in suggestive and oblique style.

It is said Valmiki wrote Ramayana in 24 thousand Shlokas taking each syllable of Gayatri Mantra, which has 24 syllables. Seshendra Shows convincingly, where the Gayathri Mantra itself is located in Ramayana. He says “ Sundara Kanda “ is the heart of Ramayana and Trijata ‘s Dream is Sundara Kanda’s heart. “ Maharshi created an apparent episode of “Trijata Swapna “ and through this he embedded Gayathri Mantra in it. “

This book is replete with several such revelations and unnerving observations. The chapters on “ Relationship between Ramayanayana and Megha Sangesham “ “Indra supreme deity “ compel the reader to stop and think at the turn of every observation. This reviewer does not like to “spill all the beans “.

Dr. Murthy, the translator, aptly observes “ It needs a very attentive mind and adequate patience to follow author’s arguments “. Seshendra Sharma( seshendrasharma.weebly.com ) , winner of Sahitya Akademi Award for his “Kaala Rekha “( Arc of Blood ) a collection of essays in comparative literature , a fellow of the Akademi During his life time whose Long Poem “ My Country – My People – Modern Indian Epic “was nominated for Nobel in 2004 is scholar –poet of our times . His Kavisena Manifesto (Modern Indian Poetics), Kaala Rekha( Essays in Comparative Literature)are monuments of contemporary Indian Literature , unsurpassed to this day. His prose works prove that he is Albert Einstein of Indian Literature.

After completing the first round of reading the reader would certainly agree with Vishwanatha Satyanarayana ,Telugu poet of romantic era , recipient of Gyanpith Award for his “Ramayan Kalp Vriksh” who wrote preface to this book “ Every one , not only the telugu – speaking people all Indians must be grateful to him for writing this book”.

--------

Ramayana, a replica of Vedas

S. VARADARAJAN

There are several versions of the Sri Ramayana, one of the two greatest epics. Following Sri Valmiki Ramayana several editions have been published in various languages, besides scores of commentaries written across centuries. Late.GunturuSeshendra Sharma, scholar poet of 20th Century unearthed secrets of the Ramayana through his popular Telugu book “Shodasi”.

The novelty of nomenclature Shodasi , called Sri Vidya is reflected , in the 16th Chapter . Sharma’s intellectual depth comes forth in analyzingSundara Kanda specially through KundaliniYoga . The author highlights hidden truth in Valmiki’s thought that is similar to Vedas and says that Trijata’s dream in Sundara Kanda reflects Gayatri Mantra of 32 Syllabi in 4 lines. Sharma pays rich encomiums in the description of Lanka surrounded by three impregnable borders. He compares these three borders with Trikuta viz... Shakti ,Kaamaraaja , VagbhavaKutas with those of Sri Vidya in Kundalini . A staunch believer of Vedas, the author feels that Ramayana is a replica of Vedas and oriented towards the character of Indra . He concludes that in Ramayana the mentioning of the supreme God is Indra and not Vishnu, as the presiding deity of valour in Vedas. Utterances of the word Vishnu were considered to be imaginary overstatements in the author’s view.

This book lends a new perspective to the Ramayana by adding the dimension of KundaliniYoga .

The foreword by VishwanathaSatyanarayana adds credibility to the book. The current work is an English translation of the original by GurujadaSuryanarayanaMurthy , a scientist by profession . His proficiency in the subject is evident in the translation throughout that doesn’t swerve from the original’s purport.

The Hindu

(Friday Review: 2nd October 2015)

A Resplendent Icon of all Arts

 

This is an exemplary book which elevated the status of Indian Literary Criticism to the peaks of the world literature. Shodasi is a name associated with a great hymn. The title suggests that it’s a book on spiritual discourse. A reading of this book suggests that the spirit of scientific temper is critical to comprehend Valmiki’sSrimad Ramayana. Besides this, command on Vedic or Scriptural knowledge is essential. What does a layman has to say when a towering personality like ViswanathaSatyanarayana himself extolled the critical acumen and serious scholarship of Seshendra Sharma.

 

Sharma has made it crystal clear that unless one has an apparent understanding of the plot’s context, psyche of the characters, and the milieu of the bygone days supplemented by extraordinary scholarship, sound knowledge of phonetics and awareness on contemporary issues; one cannot easily comprehend the poetic diction of Valmiki. The debate on the phrase “Netraturaha” is a fitting example. The uniqueness of the title, Sundarakanda, Kundalini Yoga, Gayatri Mantra secretly hidden in Trijata’s dream sequence, considering The Bharatha as an image of The Ramayana.... this book is a repository of many such critical discourses. It is replete with inconceivable and unfathomable issues. This magnum opus is an invaluable gift to the Telugu literature.

 

- VIPULA, Viswa Katha Vedika: May 2014

(An exclusive Telugu Monthly Magazine for stories)

 

* * *

 

Valmiki Ramayana – Greatest Medicine for Mankind

 

The story of Ramayana is prescribed as textbook for students. Sita and Rama are worshiped as prime couple. No need to mention about reciting it. Whether Valmiki was satisfied with simple narration of the story? Seshendra Sharma denies it.

 

He analyzed it mentioning that to understand the inner meanings of Valmiki Ramayana, the scientific knowledge is essential.

 

The underlying secret of the sage’s mind will be known through the knowledge of science.

 

It is the firm opinion of Seshendra that the argument that “the sciences are for scholars only” is a conspiracy hatched by Selfish scholars and lazy uneducated persons.

 

Seshendra who has democratic ideology and conviction on science and literature informs the public about the secrets of Ramayana expounded by Valmiki. He explains that Valmiki dedicated ambrosia (The Greatest Medicine) named “Kundalini Yoga” to the mankind. The poetry in the metre of AnushtupSloka is the honey coating to the medicine. It was explained with great introspection and exemplary scholarship. He concludes that the Ramayana is older than the MahaBharatha and it is another form of Veda. Valmiki introduced the system of meditation in Ramayana. The Introspection and research bent of mind of Seshendra are spread over in the book in two streams. The exuberant fragrance of scholarship is experienced throughout the book.

 

The present generation can understand the scholarship of Seshendra in Vedas and Mantra Sastra. Seshendra is a poet who has composed unique RuthuGhosha (Cry of the Seasons: Metrical Poetry) and revolutionary free verse –MandeSuryudu (The Burning Sun).

 

- Andhra Prabha (Telugu Daily), 24th August 2014.

 

* * *

 

Two Great Peaks in the world literary criticism and research

 

Shodasi: Secrets of The Ramayana and SwarnahamsaHarshanaishada from the mighty pen of the great Telugu poet, GunturuSeshendra Sharma are considered to be the two great peaks in the world literary criticism and research. This is a truth most contemporary Telugu writers and readers aren’t aware of. The way Seshendra could discover Kundalini Yoga, Gayathri Mantra in Shodasi, he could discern the treasure trove of mantra yoga, Sri Mahatripurasundari, Chintamani mantra in Swarnahamsa.

 

At a time when our universities which are mere Degrees production Units, churn out “solid waste” in the name of research; Seshendra even while attending to his job as a Municipal Commissioner created research oriented critical volumes like a sage.

 

Though Shodasi was published in 1967 and Swarnahamsa in 1968; Swarnahamsa was created by him much before Shodasi was conceived. The concepts that Srinatha, Nannayya and Mallanatha, the Telugu Classical poets couldn’t decipher,

Seshendra could. He humbly submits that he is most fortunate that the triumvirate had left behind some pertinent concepts only to be discovered by him at a later stage.

 

These two great kavyas were serialised under the editorship of late NeelamrajuVenkataSeshaiah in Andhra Prabha Daily, Sunday Literary Supplements from 1963 to 1967 and Seshendra’s poems and non-fiction were published in the book forms (6) only after they appeared in serial form in Andhra Prabha.

-----------------

GunturuSeshendraSarma, the well-known poet, critic and scholar of unfathomable depth, has to his credit quite a number of books in Telugu as well as English. A keen intellect and a lucid exponent of the intricacies in Samskrit literature, the author brought out a treatise on Ramayana. The book also reveals the symbolism in our epics and shows the spirit behind.

 

According to the author, Sage Valmiki has observed Ramayana as though it is a story of a dynasty in its outward appearance. But when the story part is kept aside, the hidden secrets of the Mantrasastra come out. Valmiki’s Ramayana is full of Vedic literature, language and usages. Ramayana can be appreciated from three angles. The poetic beauty, the historicity and the secret meaning of mother Parasakti. Later Upanishads have taken Valmiki Ramayana as the way to the Mantrasastra. Rama’s wife Sita is considered as Parasakti. In Devi BhagavathamSita is described as Goddess Gayatri. The author has taken unusual pains and quoted Vedic dictations which are literally taken by Valmiki in his Ramayana. Thus it has been a product of Vedas and the usages in Ramayana and the words used therein and the similies adopted by Valmiki speak inexplicably the secret of Mother Lalita in his stories.

 

The author has given and attached a very great significance for Sundarakanda in Ramayana. The author has quoted numerous quotations from Smrithis and Srithis to establish that Sundara-kanda is beautiful because Anjaneya the Jeeva has seen Sita the Parasakti. Hence this canto is so styled as Sundara. According to the author “Sita” means “Kundalini.” Hanuman has seen Sita while she was sitting on the ground. Ground means Earth. Earth denotes Mooladharam. The serpent Kundalini stays in this. Thus it is symbolised as Sita sat on the ground. Hanuman the Yogi has the vision of Kundalini in Sita. With the aid of Ida and Pingala, Kundalini travels in Sushumna through spinal cord crossing the six fluxes, and finally reaching Sahasraram. This again speaks of “Shodasi.” Rama is a beautiful man. He is having a Sundari in Sita (a beautiful woman). The descriptions are beautiful in this canto. Thus it is synonymous with “Soundarya-lahari” of Sankaracharya.

 

The author expressed that Mahabharata is a reflection of Ramayana in all the cause, origin and delivery. Innumerable similarities are quoted from both Valmiki and Vyasa to prove that the usages, style and similies are almost similar in both the epics. He compares Vyasa’s “Nalacharitam” with Sundarakanda of Valmiki in the vision of Srividya.

 

The author further argues that Kalidasa’s “Meghasandesam” is only an imitation of Valmiki. The flight of Anjaneya in search of Sita is the basis for Kalidasa’s “Meghasandesam.” Both Sita and the Yaksha’s wife are described as “Syamas” – meaning in the middle of youth. The duration of separation is one year in both the cases. Ultimately the author said that “Meghasandesam” is the offspring of Ramayana, with yearning to see Parasakti.

 

The author has taken the readers in his book to that sublime beauty where there is no further argument, than to enjoy the flow of citations with their intrinsic meaning and full of scientific vision. His unsurpassed knowledge in Mantrasastra has enabled him to pass dictums vivisecting the symbolic mysticisms into splinters and handing the kernel of truth under each word, usage, and application. He deserves all praise for this meritorious contribution to our literature.

  

Visionary Poet of the Millennium

An Indian poet Prophet

Seshendra Sharma

October 20th, 1927 - May 30th, 2007

seshendrasharma.weebly.com/

www.facebook.com/GunturuSeshendraSharma/

eBooks :http://kinige.com/author/Gunturu+Seshendra+Sharma

Seshendra Sharma is one of the most outstanding minds of modern Asia. He is the foremost of the Telugu poets today who has turned poetry to the gigantic strides of human history and embellished literature with the thrills and triumphs of the 20th century. A revolutionary poet who spurned the pedestrian and pedantic poetry equally, a brilliant critic and a scholar of Sanskrit, this versatile poet has breathed a new vision of modernity to his vernacular.Such minds place Telugu on the world map of intellectualism. Readers conversant with names like Paul Valery, Gauguin, and Dag Hammarskjold will have to add the name of Seshendra Sharma the writer from India to that dynasty of intellectuals.

 

Rivers and poets

Are veins and arteries

Of a country.

Rivers flow like poems

For animals, for birds

And for human beings-

The dreams that rivers dream

Bear fruit in the fields

The dreams that poets dream

Bear fruit in the people-

* * * * * *

The sunshine of my thought fell on the word

And its long shadow fell upon the century

Sun was playing with the early morning flowers

Time was frightened at the sight of the martyr-

-Seshendra Sharma

B.A: Andhra Christian College: Guntur: A.P: India

B.L : Madras University: Madras

Deputy Municipal Commissioner (37 Years)

Dept of Municipal Administration, Government of Andhra Pradesh

Parents: G.Subrahmanyam (Father) ,Ammayamma (Mother)

Siblings: Anasuya,Devasena (Sisters),Rajasekharam(Younger brother)

Wife: Mrs.Janaki Sharma

Children: Vasundhara , Revathi (Daughters),

Vanamaali ,Saatyaki (Sons)

 

Seshendra Sharma better known as Seshendra is

a colossus of Modern Indian poetry.

His literature is a unique blend of the best of poetry and poetics.

Diversity and depth of his literary interests and his works

are perhaps hitherto unknown in Indian literature.

From poetry to poetics, from Mantra Sastra to Marxist Politics his writings bear an unnerving pprint of his rare genius.

His scholar ship and command over Sanskrit , English and Telugu Languages has facilitated his emergence as a towering personality of comparative literature in the 20th century world literature.

T.S.Eliot ,ArchbaldMacleish and Seshendra Sharma are trinity of world poetry and Poetics.

His sense of dedication to the genre of art he chooses to express himself and

the determination to reach the depths of subject he undertakes to explore

place him in the galaxy of world poets / world intellectuals.

Seshendra’seBooks :http://kinige.com/author/Gunturu+Seshendra+Sharma

Seshendra Sharma’s Writings Copyright © Saatyaki S/o Seshendra Sharma

Contact :saatyaki@gmail.com+919441070985+917702964402

------------------------

GunturuSeshendraSarma: an extraordinary poet-scholar

One of the ironies in literature is that

he came to be known more as a critic than a poet

 

HYDERABAD: An era of scholastic excellence and poetic grandeur has come to an end in the passing away of GunturuSeshendraSarma, one of the foremost poets and critics in Telugu literature. His mastery over western literature and Indian `AlankaraSastra' gave his works a stunning imagery, unparalleled in modern Indian works. One of the ironies in literature is that he came to be known more as a critic than a poet. The Central SahityaAkademi award was conferred on him for his work `KaalaRekha' and not for his poetic excellence. The genius in him made him explore `Kundalini Yoga' in his treatise on Ramayana in `Shodasi' convincingly. His intellectual quest further made him probe `NaishadhaKaavya' in the backdrop of `LalitaSahasraNaamavali', `SoundaryaLahari' and `Kama Kala Vilasam' in `SwarnaHamsa', Seshendra saw the entire universe as a storehouse of images and signs to which imagination was to make value-addition. Like Stephene Mallarme who was considered a prophet of symbolism in French literature, SeshendraSarma too believed that art alone would survive in the universe along with poetry. He believed that the main vocation of human beings was to be artists and poets. His `Kavisena Manifesto' gave a new direction to modern criticism making it a landmark work in poetics. Telugus would rue the intellectual impoverishment they suffered in maintaining a `distance' from him. Seshendra could have given us more, but we did not deserve it! The denial of the Jnanpeeth Award to him proves it

The Hindu

India's National Newspaper

Friday, Jun 01, 2007

---

Ramayana, a replica of Vedas

S. VARADARAJAN

There are several versions of the Sri Ramayana, one of the two greatest epics. Following Sri Valmiki Ramayana several editions have been published in various languages, besides scores of commentaries written across centuries. Late. Gunturu Seshendra Sharma, scholar poet of 20th Century unearthed secrets of the Ramayana through his popular Telugu book “Shodasi”.

The novelty of nomenclature Shodasi , called Sri Vidya is reflected , in the 16th Chapter . Sharma’s intellectual depth comes forth in analyzing Sundara Kanda specially through Kundalini Yoga . The author highlights hidden truth in Valmiki’s thought that is similar to Vedas and says that Trijata’s dream in Sundara Kanda reflects Gayatri Mantra of 32 Syllabi in 4 lines. Sharma pays rich encomiums in the description of Lanka surrounded by three impregnable borders. He compares these three borders with Trikuta viz... Shakti , Kaamaraaja , Vagbhava Kutas with those of Sri Vidya in Kundalini . A staunch believer of Vedas, the author feels that Ramayana is a replica of Vedas and oriented towards the character of Indra . He concludes that in Ramayana the mentioning of the supreme God is Indra and not Vishnu, as the presiding deity of valour in Vedas. Utterances of the word Vishnu were considered to be imaginary overstatements in the author’s view.

This book lends a new perspective to the Ramayana by adding the dimension of Kundalini Yoga .

The foreword by Vishwanatha Satyanarayana adds credibility to the book. The current work is an English translation of the original by Gurujada Suryanarayana Murthy , a scientist by profession . His proficiency in the subject is evident in the translation throughout that doesn’t swerve from the original’s purport.

The Hindu

India’s National Newspaper

(Friday Review: 2nd October 2015)

 

Shodasi

Astounding scholarship of Sanskrit classics

A product of deep research, intense intellectual labour

And amazing scholarship

The book under review which is an English translation by Dr. Gurajada Suryanarayana Murthy of the original Telugu Text represents a scholarly attempt by the erudite author to justify and prove the validity of certain radical propositions which he makes about the world – renowned Kavya – Valmiki Ramayana. The propositions that he makes are – 1. Sundara Kanda is an allegory of Kundalini Yoga 2. Sita is Kundalini Shakti 3. Hanuman’s search – mission of Sita symbolises Tantric Exercise of identifying the Kundalini Shakti and raising it from the Moola Dhara Chakra (denoted by Lanka) to Sahasrara Chakra 4. The descriptive terms employed about Sita hint at Sita being essentially a Kundalini Shakti 5. Trijata’s dream is nothing but Gayathri Mantra 6. Valmiki’s language has pronounced Vedic flavour 7. The phraseology employed by Valmiki corresponds largely to the terms employed in Lalitha Sahasra Nama , Durga Saptasati , Devi Bhagawatam etc.. 8. The aptness of the name Sundara Kanda is provable on Strong Grounds 9. Ramayana is anterior to Bharatha on various grounds such as the Vedic language employed in the former the reference of Valmiki and Ramayana in Mahabharata and absence of reference to Vyasa and Mahabharata episodes in Ramayana , Mention of Rama in Mahabharata and Rama’s greater antiquity than Pandavas and a host of other plausible evidences 10. Indra , the chief Vedic god more prominently featured and praised in Ramayana than Vishnu of the Puranic origin. 11. Megha Sandesham of Kalidasa originated out of the seed of Valmiki Ramayana and 12. The benedictory verse of Sakuntalam is eulogy of Devi.

The brain – tickling propositions are not just of the cuff remarks made without basis but credible theories buttressed with profuse quotations of relevant Sanskrit Texts , wide and deep study of the relevant treatises unassailable arguments based on internal and external evidences and astounding scholarship of Sanskrit classics.

On the flip side, there are a few errors in the transliteration of the Sanskrit texts. Had the Sanskrit passages from the treatises been provided in Devanagari Script also in addition to transliterated form in Roman Script value and appeal of this essentially Sanskrit oriented book would be much higher to the large and growing Sanskrit readership. The book is doubtless, a product of deep research, Intense intellectual labour and amazing scholarship.

The Vedanta kesari : August 2016

The Lion of Vedanta

A Cultural and Spirtual Monthly of the of the Ramakrishna Order since 1944

  

AN INTELLECTUAL FEAST

Along With utmost devotion

The author has clear understanding of not only of the Ramayana

but also Mantra Sastra , Vedas and Kundalini Yoga

His method is going deep into the subject and at the

same time comparing the same with ideas of other branches of literature

Shodasi , authored by Seshendra Sharma is a book of a special type . Though its purpose is to unfold secrets of the Ramayana many other aspects from different branches of knowledge also find a place there.

The Ramayana is read in every household with devotion. It narrates not only story of Rama but it also spotlights very intricate and subtler points in other branches of knowledge, a point not even noticed by many.

The author has clear understanding of not only of the Ramayana but also Mantra Sastra , Vedas and Kundalini Yoga . There are two approaches to understand the Sastras. One is vertical which is closely followed in Sanskrit Literature. It is reading a book with the help of commentary on it. In this method not only each word of the original analysed; its correct meaning and contextual purpose are also examined. The second is a horizontal method where in various ideas in the text are read not with one commentary but with many commentaries by different people. This gives total meaning of the text.

Seshendra Sharma follows both methods. His method is going deep into the subject and at the same time comparing the same with ideas of other branches of literature.

This needs a thorough understanding of various branches and ability to compare texts and spot new ideas and enjoy the same. For example , when Hanuman asks Sita who she is ,she replies ,“sama dvadasa tatraham raghavasya nivesane bhunjhana manushan bhogan sarva kama samrudhinee “ . Meaning “I enjoyed 12 years of mundane pleasure in the home of Rama”

Though she is not an ordinary human being, she enjoyed mundane pleasures. “ you may mistake that I am a mortal woman , but understand I am Sri Maha Lakshmi” . That was the message. The most important clue is the statement “ Aham Sarva Kama Samridhinee “ . In Devi Bhagawatham we find “ Matah Sankaree Kamade “ In Sri Sukta “ Sarva Kamartha Siddhaye “ and in Lalitha Sahasra Nama “ too it is stated “ Om Kamyayai Namah” . If Sita were to be just an ordinary being all these statements would have been irrelevant.

At another place she says “ Maya Ramasya Rajarshe Bharyayaya Paramatmanah” which means that she is wife of Paramatma. Hanuman , the devotee , recognized Sita to be none other than Jaganmata. Hence he could identify her easily as the divine mother and says “ tat sreemadyate tarat”. The word sreemat is used to mean brilliance Hanuman identifies Sita as Devi by the holy seed letter ( Sreem ) .

The book is full of comparisons between different branches of learning and surely a feast for one who could enjoy the existence of similar ideas at various places. It only proves that ways may be different but the goal is one.

Seshendra Sharma physically lifts the minds of the readers and offers an intellectual feast along with utmost devotion. Surely everyone should read this book and keep a copy of the same at home.

Goda Venkateswara Sastry

Tatvaloka : June 2016

The Splendour of Truth

( Monthly Magazine)

  

------------

Ramayan Through Kundalini Yoga

Shodasi is an ideal read for Sanskrit-literate readers

who are open to eclectic yogarthas and connotative meanings

--------

So you thought Vyasa was before Valmiki, Mahabharat was before Ramayan, Rama a Vishnu avatar, and tantrism distinct from vedism? Think again. In Shodasi: Secrets of the Ramayana, Telugu poet Seshendra Sharma re-reads the Ramayan to come up with a number of new conclusions.

Much of the book sets out to prove that Ramayan was written before the Mahabharat. Sharma discusses how Indra is cited more often than Vishnu, thus placing the context of the Ramayan closer to Vedic than Puranic thought. He quotes from the Mahabharat to show how it follows descriptions of hills, rivers from the Ramayan. The Mahabharat has some prose, and therefore, it must have been composed after Ramayan, which is entirely in poetry. These are only some of the numerous reasons that Sharma offers to suggest a new sequence of our itihasas.

Sharma’s book is also an experimental reading of the Ramayan through the interpretive lens of what he calls Kundalini yoga. Hanuman’s flight to Sri Lanka gets a new interpretation. “Charana Charite Pathi” is interpreted as the path of Kundalini, and the first verse of the Sundara Kanda “Tatho Ravana Nithayah” is interpreted by Sharma to refer to Hanuman traversing the sushumna nadi of the Kundalini.

Trijata’s dream becomes the Gayatri mantra through an imaginative recasting of words as numbers. Gaja (elephant) means eight, danta (teeth) means thirty-two, and maha-gaja-chaturdantam somehow also adds up to 32 syllables, which is the number of syllables in the Gayatri mantra. That Trijata’s dream is halfway through the Ramayan also becomes significant for Sharma, he calls it the ‘central bead’ in the Ramayan garland of 24,000 beads. Identifying 32-syllables as the Gayatri follows a convention, for mantras are referenced by the number of syllables; however, it is the “secret” yogartha—or mystical, anagogical translations—derived by Sharma that becomes problematic, unless he is considered an authority in his own right.

conclude that the name Sundarakand is unrelated to any descriptions of beauty of any of the main characters in the Ramayan. However, Soundarya and Tripura-Sundari are well-known conventions in the tantric tradition and hence, Sharma concludes that Sundarakand derives its name from Shakti’s beauty, and “Sundara-Hanuman” means “Hanuman who is a devotee of Devi” (117).

A coda in this book is about the benedictory verse in Kalidasa’s Sakuntalam which has traditionally been understood to refer to Ishwara. Sharma re-interprets this verse highlighting the “eight forms” of the last line as the eight forms of Devi that please Ishwara.

This book is suitable for a reader who is Sanskrit-literate and open to eclectic yogarthas and connotative meanings. Sharma cites substantially from the Ramayan in roman but without diacritics, this is difficult to follow; and he does not always include translation. Sharma often cites commentators without citing names and sources. It is not clear why the book is called Shodasi—readers may note, this book is not about the Srividya tradition. Even if the reader is unconvinced by Sharma’s reasoning or methodology, the free flow of references may prove absorbing for a reader interested in the subject.

This could also be an eclectic reference for a scholar researching tantric elements in the Ramayan.

- Mani Rao

 

The Sunday Standard Magazine

The New Indian Express

29th November 2015

 

---------------------------

Scholarly and deeply researched monograph

Pearls of insightful ideas and truths

Most of the ancient treatises like the Valmiki Ramayana and Bhagavatha lend themselves to allegorical interpretations. The book under review is scholarly and deeply researched monograph that formulates the startling theory that the immortal epic Valmiki Ramayana, particularly, Sundara Kanda, is nothing but the enunciation of the doctrine of Kundalini Shakthi Yoga. The very title of the book is bound to make the scholarly fraternity and even the common readership sit up and take notice. The radical propositions that the erudite author advances are on the basis of relentless logic and a mass of internal and external evidences are: Ramayana is rooted in Vedas, both in terms of ideas it disseminates and its verbal garb in those it is clothed. Many of the similes that Valmiki employs are inspired by vedic poetry and literature. Many of the expressions employed in the Valmiki Ramayana bear close resemblance to phraseology found in texts like Devi Bhagavatham, and Soundarya Lahari. Sita is none other than Divine Mother and Gayathri. As borne out by an analysis of similarity of names and words used in Valmiki Ramayana and Sri Vidya Literature. Sundara Kanda is nothing but delineation Kundalini Yoga. Hanuman’s aerial voyage in search of Sita represents allegorically the devi worshipper’s exercise in Kundalini Yoga. Sita is Kundalini Shakti. The episodes of mainaka, surasa and Simhika – representing satwa, rajas, tamas respectively –represent piercing of the triple knots by the spiritual aspirant. The Sanskrit phrase “Charana Charithe pathi” that occurs at the opening Canto of Sundara Kanda clearly implies Hanuman’s movement through the path of Sushumna. Lanka is the Mula Dhara Chakra, the seat of Kundalini implied in Valmiki’s graphic description of Lanka, the place of incarceration of Sita. Lanka is Muladhara also from the point of view of Yoga and it is Sri Chakra from the point of view of Spiritual practice. The burning of Lanka symbolises awakening of Swadhishthana. The aptness of name Sundara Kanda is explicable in the light of various evidences embedded in the epic. Trijata’s dream is nothing but the Gayathri Mantra as can be inferred from certain Sanskrit terms representing their numerical equivalents employed to describe dream – scenes of Trijata and also from Dramatis Personae appearing in her dream. Mahabharata is an image of Ramayana and many striking similarities may be found between Valmiki and Vyasa in their style of narrative. Valmiki’s Ramayana is the seed of Meghadootha and Valmiki reincarnates, as it were, as Kalidasa. The vedic god Indra , as the supreme deity dominates epic as a benchmark for all comparisons with Rama and dwarfs Vishnu, the Puranik God, in importance. Ramayana is anterior to Mahabharata. There are 2 annexures at the end of the book “benedictory verse of Sakunthalam is nothing but eulogy of Devi “and “All Humans have same destination” . Coming from the pen of the Telugu poet proficient in several languages, who was active in various disciplines ranging from Sanskrit studies to Cultural activism and who was given the Sahitya Akademi Award, this book is definitely of exceptional merit as the ingenious interpretations of various verses of the epic and also of allied hymnal literature to establish the novel but plausible propositions, come as a refreshing revelations. The book unmistakably bears imprints of an amazingly analytical, deeply erudite and marvellously nimble mind that effortlessly plumbs the oceanic epic and picks up and presents to the community of discerning readers pearls of insightful ideas and truths. One glaring drawback of this essentially Sanskrit-oriented book is the absence of Sanskrit quotations in Devanagari script as transliterations in roman script that are given are poor substitute sonorous Sanskrit words clothed in Devanagari script. The merits mentioned in a short review of this book packed with quaint and profound ideas constitute merely the proverbial tip of an iceberg. A fund of fruitful and lofty ideas awaits those who venture dive deep into this great book. In short this book is a riveting read for scholars and a strong stimulant for the general readers. –

N. Hariharan

Madurai

Prabuddha Bharata

March 2016

A monthly journal of the Ramakrishna Order

started by Swami Vivekananda in 1893

 

Unearthing secrets of Ramayana Ramayana

A sea-bed of secrets

A great boon to Devi Upasakas and Practioners of Sri Vidya

The Ramayana popular as the Adi Kavya (first work of poetry) the world over is not just beautiful poetry . It is a sea bed of secrets – containing the methods of Kundalini yoga and mantra sastra . This is the heart of Shodasi : Secrets of the Ramayana authored by Seshendra Sharma , one of the towering personalities of Telugu Poetry . This book, a collection 16 articles with one article added on from this edition appeared in Telugu Original in 1967. Mr. N.Ramesan IAS , the then Principal Secretary to Education Dept , the then AP Govt observed feelingly in his preface , that this work is a boon for Devi Upasakas and merits to be translated into English and other Indian Languages. This advice has fructified after 48 Years. Dr. Suryanarayana Murthy , a physicist (retired : Baba Atomic Research Centre ) has translated Shodasi into English with commendable clarity of grasp over the subject and felicity of thought process and flow of reading. The story of Rama narrated in enchanting poetry, according to Seshendra is a honey supplement to the bitter medicine called Kundalini Yoga. Valmiki Maharshi chose the Story of Rama to propagate Kundalini Yoga and systems of meditation in the society, among the masses of his era. This is the fulcrum of this Research work. What is of significance is that the author , in order to buttress his analysis and arguments cites extensively and conclusively from the Original Text of Ramayana itself. This Translation introduces this seminal work to wider sections of readers in other parts of our multilingual nation and to scholars engaged in research in Indian scriptures in the west. As the reader goes through the pages of Shodasi it gradually becomes clear that , the story that Valmiki was a Hunter , after viewing the pair of birds dying for each other renounced hunting and became a Rishi is an episode woven around him to make him and his epic the Ramayana popular and that Valmiki belongs to the pantheon of Vedic Rishis . Seshendra at every point of analysis cites from the Vedas and sruthis. His own introduction to this work “one word to begin with “ he discusses elaborately on the significance of Valmiki’s Style of expression of phrases . This chapter is the gateway to the entire work. While analysing one stanza of he touches upon a simile Which compares moon in the night sky wit vrishabham in Goshtam (cowshed). Seshendra goes deeper into shruthi and Vedas and concludes that go means in Sanskrit speech and “goshte vrishabham mattamiva bhramantam “ implies that like Omkara moves at the throat the divine personality of moon is moving in the sky. That intricate and deep is the analysis of the author. Seshendra , then discusses why sundara kanda was chosen as the name of a chapter . He observes incisively and proves conclusively that Sita is the main character of this Kanda and Sita is none other than Adi Shakti ( The Divine Mother ) Sri Maha Tripura Sundari.This is the reason why Maharshi named it Sundara Kanda. Sundara Kanda is the heart of the Ramayana and Trijata Swapna (Demoness Trijata’s Dream) is its heart. Sundara Kanda is nothing but Kundalini Yoga . Right from the 1st stanza of the chapter Maharshi starts unfolding the path of Kundalini Yoga in a suggestive manner garbed in enchanting poetry teaming with breath taking similes. Hanuman is SriVidyopasaka. The author discusses the 1st stanza “Chaaranaa Charithe pathi “ with intrinsic evidence from the Ramayana itself. Charanas are Divine Singers and their path is the sky . In other words in Kundalini Yoga “Sushumna “. The entire chapter elaborates each stanza in a captivating tone and concludes with Lanka Dahana ( Burning of Lanka ) as piercing of the Sahasrara seated in the head. First hand reading alone will give the unnerving feel of this chapter. Another important chapter is “ Trijata’s dream is nothing but Gayathri mantra “. In this , Seshendra views Trijata’s Dream, one of the demonesses guarding Sita in Ashoka Vana as Gayathri mantra. He dwelves deep into each Sloka of this episode and proves convincingly that Valmiki created this episode in order to embed the mantra in Ramayana. Till this point this book is a cluster of revelations. “The later part is both revelation and research. Seshendra in the chapter “ Indra is the Supreme Deity of Ramayana “ discusses each stanza of the Ramayana and goes on to reveal that at the time when Valmiki was writing the Ramayana the concepts of Vishnu and incarnation (Avatar ) were non– existent . Indra is the supreme deity of the Ramayana. In other 2 chapters the author‘s exhaustive study and Incisive analysis are all pervasive. Seshendra explodes the myth sought to be propagated by some of the Western Scholars that the Bharatha precedes the Ramayana . Shodasi , as rightly pointed out in one preface, is a great boon to Devi Upasakas and Practioners of Sri Vidya. All these ages this Adi Kavya is seen only as the Story of Rama. Here is a path breaking work which reveals the hidden treasure of spiritual secrets which Valmiki Maharshi embedded them in his epic.

Insight ( Sunday Magazine )

The Hitavada ( English Daily ) 1st November 2015

 

For my cover art I chose to adapt George Orwell's dystopian classic, 1984. I wanted to portray the themes of surveillance, censorship, and repression in this picture, which are touched upon many times throughout the novel.

 

I represented Big Brother, the omnipresent yet possibly nonexistent leader of Oceania, with a close-up picture of my eye. I applied a circular mask around my iris and changed the hue to red in order to create a sinister look. I boosted the contrast of the eye and darkened the edges in order to sharpen the image and blend it smoothly into the black background.

 

I represented Winston Smith, the rebellious protagonist of the novel, with a picture of myself glaring at the camera with duct tape across my mouth. I boosted the darks and desaturated the photo in order to increase contrast and avoid distraction from the redness of the eye. The duct tape on my mouth represents the censorship that the government forces upon its people, and the glare represents Winston's repressed hatred for Big Brother and the government. I put this portrait inside the pupil of the eye in order to represent the idea that Winston and the rest of his society are constantly being watched by the government. It is as if the reflection of Winston is can be seen in Big Brother's eye.

 

I placed this combination of pictures off-center and partially out of the frame in order to satisfy the rule of thirds and to create a closure effect with the iris. Typography was added in the background to display the novel's title, author, and "Big Brother is Watching" motif. Lastly, I added some grain to the photo in order to convey the overall dark and gritty atmosphere of the novel.

Leamington is a municipality in Essex County, Ontario, Canada. With a population of 28,403, it is the second largest municipality in the Windsor-Essex County area (after the separated municipality of Windsor, Ontario). It includes Point Pelee, the southernmost point of mainland Canada.

 

Known as the "Tomato Capital of Canada", it is the location of a tomato processing factory owned by Highbury-Canco, previously owned until 2014 by the Heinz Company. Due to its location in the southernmost part of Canada, Leamington uses the motto "Sun Parlour of Canada". In 2006, MoneySense Magazine ranked Leamington as the No. 1 best place to live in Canada.

 

Leamington enjoys the second warmest climate in Canada, after the Lower Mainland of British Columbia.

 

Leamington has been known for its tourism and attractions and is known as the tomato capital of Canada. Leamington's attractions include cycle paths and nearby Point Pelee National Park. Leamington also has a large and modern marina. The town's water tower, visible for miles in the flat southern Ontario landscape, is also in the shape and colour of a giant tomato. Celebrating its position as an agricultural powerhouse and its heritage as the H. J. Heinz Company's centre for processing "red goods," the city hosts a "Tomato Festival" each August, as a kickoff of the tomato-harvesting season. Car shows, beauty pageants, parades, and a fair are featured at the festival.

 

Leamington's position on the north shore of Lake Erie makes it an important recreational centre. The tourist information booth in the centre of town is a large fiberglass tomato.

 

Leamington is also home to Point Pelee National Park, which contains the southernmost point on mainland Canada and draws thousands of visitors annually and is also home to one of the largest migrations of Monarch butterflies annually.

 

Known as the tomato capital of Canada, Leamington became the home of the H. J. Heinz factory in 1908. The Heinz products are shipped from Leamington, with English and French labels, mostly to the United States. Ketchup and baby food are the main products. In November 2013 Heinz announced that it would close the Leamington plant in 2014, meaning job losses for 740 employees at the plant and hundreds more support workers.

 

Due to a 54-year-old law in Canada, which bans the use of tomato paste in tomato juice, Highbury Canco still produces tomato juice and other products for Heinzs. Around 250 workers still process canned products at the over 100 year old factory.

 

Leamington has also been known for its greenhouses, and now has the largest concentration of commercial greenhouses in all of North America, with 1,969 acres (797 ha) of greenhouse vegetable production in the general area. Major products of the greenhouse industry, in addition to tomatoes, are peppers, cucumbers, roses, and other flowers. Hydroponic farming has been very successfully adopted by many greenhouse operators in Leamington. Historically, tobacco was an important crop in the area, but tobacco production declined in the 1960s and today is virtually nonexistent.

 

Migrant workers, mostly Mexican and Caribbean seasonal labourers, annually arrive in the region to work in Leamington's greenhouses and farms. Several Mexican and Jamaican shops and a Mexican consulate have opened to service the migrants.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leamington,_Ontario

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_...

Leamington is a municipality in Essex County, Ontario, Canada. With a population of 28,403, it is the second largest municipality in the Windsor-Essex County area (after the separated municipality of Windsor, Ontario). It includes Point Pelee, the southernmost point of mainland Canada.

 

Known as the "Tomato Capital of Canada", it is the location of a tomato processing factory owned by Highbury-Canco, previously owned until 2014 by the Heinz Company. Due to its location in the southernmost part of Canada, Leamington uses the motto "Sun Parlour of Canada". In 2006, MoneySense Magazine ranked Leamington as the No. 1 best place to live in Canada.

 

Leamington enjoys the second warmest climate in Canada, after the Lower Mainland of British Columbia.

 

Leamington has been known for its tourism and attractions and is known as the tomato capital of Canada. Leamington's attractions include cycle paths and nearby Point Pelee National Park. Leamington also has a large and modern marina. The town's water tower, visible for miles in the flat southern Ontario landscape, is also in the shape and colour of a giant tomato. Celebrating its position as an agricultural powerhouse and its heritage as the H. J. Heinz Company's centre for processing "red goods," the city hosts a "Tomato Festival" each August, as a kickoff of the tomato-harvesting season. Car shows, beauty pageants, parades, and a fair are featured at the festival.

 

Leamington's position on the north shore of Lake Erie makes it an important recreational centre. The tourist information booth in the centre of town is a large fiberglass tomato.

 

Leamington is also home to Point Pelee National Park, which contains the southernmost point on mainland Canada and draws thousands of visitors annually and is also home to one of the largest migrations of Monarch butterflies annually.

 

Known as the tomato capital of Canada, Leamington became the home of the H. J. Heinz factory in 1908. The Heinz products are shipped from Leamington, with English and French labels, mostly to the United States. Ketchup and baby food are the main products. In November 2013 Heinz announced that it would close the Leamington plant in 2014, meaning job losses for 740 employees at the plant and hundreds more support workers.

 

Due to a 54-year-old law in Canada, which bans the use of tomato paste in tomato juice, Highbury Canco still produces tomato juice and other products for Heinzs. Around 250 workers still process canned products at the over 100 year old factory.

 

Leamington has also been known for its greenhouses, and now has the largest concentration of commercial greenhouses in all of North America, with 1,969 acres (797 ha) of greenhouse vegetable production in the general area. Major products of the greenhouse industry, in addition to tomatoes, are peppers, cucumbers, roses, and other flowers. Hydroponic farming has been very successfully adopted by many greenhouse operators in Leamington. Historically, tobacco was an important crop in the area, but tobacco production declined in the 1960s and today is virtually nonexistent.

 

Migrant workers, mostly Mexican and Caribbean seasonal labourers, annually arrive in the region to work in Leamington's greenhouses and farms. Several Mexican and Jamaican shops and a Mexican consulate have opened to service the migrants.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leamington,_Ontario

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_...

Abandone Benelux -

 

Industrial archaeology (IA) is the systematic study of material evidence associated with the industrial past. This evidence, collectively referred to as industrial heritage, includes buildings, machinery, artifacts, sites, infrastructure, documents and other items associated with the production, manufacture, extraction, transport or construction of a product or range of products. The field of industrial archaeology incorporates a range of disciplines including archaeology, architecture, construction, engineering, historic preservation, museology, technology, urban planning and other specialties, in order to piece together the history of past industrial activities. The scientific interpretation of material evidence is often necessary, as the written record of many industrial techniques is often incomplete or nonexistent. Industrial archaeology includes both the examination of standing structures and sites that must be studied by an excavation.

We paused here for lunch. The view to to the south and Mt Hector is the snow/ice covered peak. The rubble pile is a ridge east of Bow Lake in Banff Park, Alberta, Canada.

 

Early in the hiking season of either 1981 or 1982 three young men attempted this ridge from the west. We were not successful due to route finding issues (cliff bands) and bad weather (cold rain/sleet & wind). Some time has passed since then and my hiking buddy and I talked ourselves in approaching the ridge from the east instead of the west - from the Helen Lake trail.

 

The assent from the east was a grovel up a steep rubble pile that appeared much the same as the rock in the image. About 500m or 1000m or so of the top/edge of this ridge has fallen into the valley to the east. The top of the ridge is unstable. The foreground rock is a white quartzite that weathers to a gray. In the hand, individual pieces of rock are sound but the mass of rock is not. Bounding between the layers of the rock is week to nonexistent. You can pull/slide the mountain apart with you bare hands.

 

The highest peak in the image has a cairn on it, so some dammed fool must have gone up there. I saw no other sighs of human activity. We discussed this over lunch, and decided that at our age (60 & 68), approaching the summit was too dangerous due to possible rock slide/collapse.

 

About 30m below this level there is a ~20m layer of tube-type corral fossils, and these fossils are strewn down much of the slope. However, I didn't see any attractive specimens.

 

The view from this ridge is quite enjoyable due to the closeness of the surrounding peaks etc. If I ever do it again I'll try from the west side.

Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tibet and Vietnam

 

english

 

Religion in Korea encompasses a number of different traditions. Traditional Buddhism, Mugyo with a background of Korean Confucianism and later Christianity all play a role in Korea's religious tradition. The modern separation of Korea into North and South Korea has also shaped religious practice, especially in the communist North.

 

Religion in South Korea

 

Just over 53 percent of South Koreans profess religious affiliation. That affiliation is spread primarily among three traditions - Buddhism (43 percent), Christianity (55 percent), and Mugyo (0.2 percent).[6] These numbers should be treated with some caution, however, as (with the exception of Christianity) there are few if any meaningful distinctions between believers and nonbelievers in Buddhism and Confucianism, which comprise more of a set of ethical values than a religion. The cultural impact of these movements is far more widespread than the number of formal adherents suggests. A variety of "new religions" have emerged since the mid-19th century, including Cheondogyo. Very small Muslim and Bahá'í minorities also exist due to the emigration of South Asians.

 

Religion in North Korea

 

Traditionally, Koreans have practiced Buddhism and observed the tenets of Korean Confucianism. Besides a number of practicing Buddhists (about 11.4 million, under the auspices of the official Korean Buddhist Federation), the population also includes some Christians (about 10,000 Protestants and 4,000 Roman Catholics, under the auspices of the Korean Christian Federation) and an indeterminate number of native Cheondogyo (Heavenly Way) adherents. However, religious activities in North Korea are almost nonexistent. North Korea has 300 Buddhist temples, but they are considered cultural relics rather than active places of worship. Several schools for religious education exist, including three-year religious colleges for training Protestant and Buddhist clergy. In 1989 Kim Il Sung University established a religious studies program, but its graduates usually go on to work in the foreign trade sector. Although the constitution provides for freedom of religious belief, in practice the government severely discourages organized religious activity except as supervised by the aforementioned officially recognized groups. Constitutional changes made in 1992 allow authorized religious gatherings and the construction of buildings for religious use and deleted a clause about freedom of anti-religious propaganda. The constitution also stipulates that religion "should not be used for purposes of dragging in foreign powers or endangering public security."

 

Mugyo

 

Koreans, like other East Asians, have traditionally been eclectic rather than exclusive in their religious commitments. Their religious outlook has not been conditioned by a single, exclusive faith but by a combination of indigenous beliefs and creeds imported into Korea. Belief in a world inhabited by spirits is probably the oldest form of Korean religious life, dating back to prehistoric times. There is a rather unorganized pantheon of literally millions of gods, spirits, and ghosts, ranging from the "god generals" who rule the different quarters of heaven to mountain spirits (sansin). This pantheon also includes gods who inhabit trees, sacred caves, and piles of stones, as well as earth spirits, the tutelary gods of households and villages, mischievous goblins, and the ghosts of persons who in many cases met violent or tragic ends. These spirits are said to have the power to influence or to change the fortunes of living men and women.

 

Shamans, most of whom are women, are enlisted by those who want the help of the spirit world. Female shamans (mudang) hold kut, or services, in order to gain good fortune for clients, cure illnesses by exorcising evil spirits, or propitiate local or village gods. Such services are also held to guide the spirit of a deceased person to heaven.

 

Often a woman will become a shaman very reluctantly—after experiencing a severe physical or mental illness that indicates "possession" by a spirit. Such possession can allegedly be cured only through performance of a kut. Once a shaman is established in her profession, she usually can make a good living.

 

Many scholars regard Korean shamanism as less a religion than a form of medicine in which the spirits are manipulated in order to achieve human ends. There is no notion of salvation or moral and spiritual perfection, at least for the ordinary believers in spirits. The shaman is a professional who is consulted by clients whenever the need is felt. Traditionally, shamans had low social status and were members of the ch'ommin class. This discrimination has continued into modern times.

 

Korean folk beliefs are strongly associated with the culture of fishing villages and are primarily a phenomenon found in rural communities. Shamans also treat the ills of city people, however, especially recent migrants from the countryside who find adjustment to an impersonal urban life stressful. The government has discouraged belief in shamanism as superstition and for many years minimized its persistence in Korean life. Yet in a climate of growing nationalism and cultural self-confidence, the dances, songs, and incantations that compose the kut have come to be recognized as an important aspect of Korean culture. Beginning in the 1970s, rituals that formerly had been kept out of foreign view began to resurface, and occasionally a Western hotel manager or other executive could even be seen attending a shamanistic exorcism ritual in the course of opening a new branch in Seoul. Some of these aspects of kut have been designated valuable cultural properties that should be preserved and passed on to future generations.

 

The future of shamanism itself was uncertain in the late 1980s. Observers believed that many of its functions in the future probably will be performed by the psychiatric profession as the government expands mental health treatment facilities. Given the uncertainty of social, economic, and political conditions, however, it appears certain that shamans will find large numbers of clients for some time to come.

 

Buddhism and Confucianism

 

Buddhism was the dominant religious and cultural influence during the Silla (668–935) and Koryo (918–1392) dynasties. Confucianism also was brought to Korea from China in early Three Kingdoms period, but it occupied a subordinate position until the establishment of the Choson Dynasty where it became the state ideology.

 

Christianity

 

Roman Catholic missionaries did not arrive in Korea until 1794, a decade after the return of the first baptized Korean from a visit to Beijing. However, the writings of the Jesuit missionary, Matteo Ricci, who was resident at the imperial court in Beijing, had been brought to Korea from China in the seventeenth century. It appears that scholars of the Sirhak, or practical learning, school were interested in these writings. Largely because converts refused to perform ancestor rites, the government prohibited the proselytization of Christianity. Some Catholics were executed during the early nineteenth century, but the anti-Christian law was not strictly enforced. By the 1860s, there were some 17,500 Roman Catholics in the country. There followed a more rigorous persecution, in which thousands of Christians died, that continued until 1884.

 

Protestant missionaries entered Korea during the 1880s and, along with Catholic priests, converted a remarkable number of Koreans. Methodist and Presbyterian missionaries were especially successful. They established schools, universities, hospitals, and orphanages and played a significant role in the modernization of the country. During the Japanese colonial occupation, Christians were in the front ranks of the struggle for independence. Factors contributing to the growth of Protestantism included the disorganized state of Korean Buddhism, the efforts made by educated Christians to reconcile Christian and Confucian values (the latter being viewed as purely a social ethic rather than a religion), the encouragement of self-support and selfgovernment among members of the Korean church, and the identification of Christianity with Korean nationalism.

 

A large number of Christians lived in the northern part of the peninsula where Confucian influence was not as strong as in the south. Before 1948 P'yongyang was an important Christian center: one-sixth of its population of about 300,000 people were converts. Following the establishment of a communist regime in the north, however, most Christians had to flee to South Korea or face persecution.

 

New religions

 

Ch'ondogyo, generally regarded as the first of Korea's "new religions," is another important religious tradition. It is a synthesis of Confucian, Buddhist, shamanistic, Daoist, and Catholic influences. Ch'ondogyo grew out of the Donghak Movement (also called Eastern Learning Movement) established by Choe Je-u, a man of yangban background who claimed to have experienced a mystic encounter with God, who told him to preach to all the world. Ch'oe was executed by the government as a heretic in 1863, but not before he had acquired a number of followers and had committed his ideas to writing. Tonghak spread among the poor people of Korea's villages, especially in the Cholla region, and was the cause of a revolt against the royal government in 1894. While some members of the Tonghak Movement-- renamed Ch'ondogyo (Teachings of the Heavenly Way)--supported the Japanese annexation in 1910, others opposed it. This group played a major role, along with Christians and some Confucians, in the Korean nationalist movement. In the 1920s, Ch'ondogyo sponsored Kaebyok (Creation), one of Korea's major intellectual journals during the colonial period.

 

Ch'ondogyo's basic beliefs include the essential equality of all human beings. Each person must be treated with respect because all persons "contain divinity;" there is "God in man." Moreover, men and women must sincerely cultivate themselves in order to bring forth and express this divinity in their lives. Self-perfection, not ritual and ceremony, is the way to salvation. Although Ch'oe and his followers did not attempt to overthrow the social order and establish a radical egalitarianism, the revolutionary potential of Ch'ondogyo is evident in these basic ideas, which appealed especially to poor people who were told that they, along with scholars and high officials, could achieve salvation through effort. There is reason to believe that Ch'ondogyo had an important role in the development of democratic and anti-authoritarian thought in Korea. In the 1970s and 1980s, Ch'ondogyo's antecedent, the Tonghak Movement, received renewed interest among many Korean intellectuals.

 

Apart from Ch'ondogyo, major new religions included Taejonggyo, which has as its central creed the worship of Tangun, legendary founder of the Korean nation. Chungsanggyo, founded in the early twentieth century by Chungsan Kang, emphasizes magical practices and the creation of a paradise on earth. It is divided into a great number of competing branches, the largest being Jeungsando and Daesun Jinrihoe.[7] Wonbulgyo, or Won Buddhism, attempts to combine traditional Buddhist doctrine with a modern concern for social reform and revitalization. There are also a number of small sects which have sprung up around Mount Kyeryong in South Ch'ungch'ong Province, the supposed future site of the founding of a new dynasty originally prophesied in the eighteenth century.

 

Several new religions derive their inspiration from Christianity. The Chondogwan, or Evangelical Church, was founded by Pak T'ae-son. Pak originally was a Presbyterian, but was expelled from the church for heresy in the 1950s after claiming for himself unique spiritual power. By 1972 his followers numbered as many as 700,000 people, and he built several "Christian towns," established a large church network, and managed several industrial enterprises.

 

Because of its overseas evangelism, the Hold Spirit Association for the Unification of the World Christianity, or Unification Church (T'ongilgyo), founded in 1954 by Reverend Sun Myong Moon (Mun Son-myong), also a former Christian, is the most famous Korean new religion. During its period of vigorous expansion during the 1970s, the Unification Church had several hundred thousand members in South Korea and Japan and a substantial (although generally overestimated) number of members in North America and Western Europe. Moon claimed that he was the "messiah" designated by God to unify all the peoples of the world into one "family," governed theocratically by himself. Like Pak's Evangelical Church, the Unification Church has been highly authoritarian, demanding absolute obedience from church members. Moon, for example, has arranged marriages for his younger followers; United States television audiences were treated some years ago to a mass ceremony at which several hundred young "Moonies" were married. Also like Pak, Moon has coupled the church's fortunes to economic expansion. Factories in South Korea and abroad manufacture arms and process ginseng and seafood, artistic bric-a-brac, and other items. Moon's labor force has worked long hours and been paid minimal wages in order to channel profits into church coffers. Virulently anticommunist, Moon has sought to influence public opinion at home and abroad by establishing generally unprofitable newspapers such as the Segye Ilbo in Seoul, the Sekai Nippo in Tokyo, and the Washington Times in the United States capital, and by inviting academics to lavish international conferences, often held in South Korea. At home, the Unification Church was viewed with suspicion by the authorities because of its scandals and Moon's evident desire to create a "state within a state." His influence, however, had declined by the late 1980s.

 

Islam

 

The number of Muslims in South Korea is estimated at about 35,000 mainly consisting of people who converted during the Korean War and their descendents and not including migrant workers from South and Southeast Asia. The largest mosque is the Seoul Central Mosque in the Itaewon district of Seoul; smaller mosques can be found in most of the country's major cities.[8]

 

In addition to native Korean Muslims, there are some 100,000 foreign workers from Muslim countries,[9] particularly Bangladesh and Pakistan.[

  

Judaism

 

The Jewish presence in South Korea effectively began with the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950. At this time a large number of Jewish soldiers, including the chaplain Chaim Potok, came to the Korean peninsula. Today the Jewish community is very small and limited to the Seoul metropolitan area. There have been very few Korean converts to Judaism.

 

Floating along the Owyhee River in Oregon, you pass through astonishing high desert canyonlands with thousand foot rhyolite cliffs and sand castle rock formations. Visitors will marvel at the variety of birds and mammals, including river otters, bighorn sheep and golden eagles. The Owyhee River’s fragile ecological balance requires the utmost respect from its visitors. The Owyhee River’s floatable sections are very remote and contain numerous technical and challenging rapids. This river is not for the inexperienced floatboater! Once you enter these deeply carved canyons, you will be a long way from help. Emergency access is extremely difficult, and cell phone coverage is nonexistent within the confines of the canyon. You must be prepared to handle all problems and emergencies on your own. To properly prepare, floaters should contact the Vale BLM Office to obtain information well in advance of a planned float trip. A waterproof river guide that includes a river map identifying rapids may be purchased from the Vale BLM office (541-473-3144).

 

Private Boaters: Self-issue permits are available at the launch site.

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIBQcBvpc1w