Grainger Market is a Grade I listed covered market, constructed as part of the 19th-century urban renewal replacing markets on the site of Grey Street. Designed by John Dobson, it opened in 1835. The market has two sections: The Eastern, which was a meat market laid out in a series of aisles; and the Western, which was a vegetable market with a large open hall. The vegetable market's roof was in ill-repair by 1898, and the current roof was installed in 1901. While the principal uses of the market have since changed, it still houses a number of butchers' stalls.

The market is home to a small branch of Marks & Spencer, a market stall known as Marks and Spencer's Original Penny Bazaar

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.

232. Friday 13th January

I miss my sister a lot. She is my favouritest sister :) And a good portrait model, she has awesome cheekbones and a cute nose. I am often envious of her beauty. She used to be incredibly skinny too, but then she became a mother. Still, she's taller than me and carries the weight much better than I do. Once, we had a pact that she could have some of my giant boobs because she had nonexistent tiny ones, but she had to take some of the fat from my huge black-woman-esque ass too. Unfortunately, she then grew boobs and didn't need my help, so I'm stuck with my huge ass now :p But at least my boobs have shrunk to a decent size, or my body has caught up with them. Either way, I think we're both happier with our appearance now, although we often moan about losing weight but barely ever go running or diet!

She emailed me today, to say that she missed me and couldn't wait for me to get home, and then did an *excited fist dance* which made me smile :) She devotes a lot of time to her son and misses interaction with other people. I can't wait to get home and interact with her :)

This was taken a few months ago, on a day out to Chester zoo and I randomly found it while I was missing her. And it's a sea day today and I'm devoid of creativity. So here we go, yet another cheat :p

Today, the Costa Concordia sank. It was one of those 'It could happen to us!' kind of realisations. Still, it does seem so far away and unreal. People were mean to me about not knowing stuff and I went to bed quite depressed.

This was taken on our second day in Zion near the Emerald Pools section. I think we were on the trail to the Grotto when I shot this photo. The thing April and I like about this photo is that there is a little bit of everything here. Starting with the awesome waterfalls that were nonexistent the day before, leafy green trees, pine trees, and cacti all in one area..... So a little bit of everything.

Southwest Sunday

Check me out on 500px

A sculpture of a swan that I made from LEGO bricks. This is actually a combination of two different species of swans. I grabbed various characteristics from the two of them, making a probably nonexistent species. It took maybe 40 hours to design and build.

The head and feet are recycled parts from my old bird old bird, made a 1.5 years before this one. The old one fell off of a shelf, and I didn't want to repair it, so I made a better version.

The wings of this sculpture ended up being too heavy to sustain their own weight (although they are pretty durable), but the cross support holds them firmly in place.

Neon signs are decidedly gaudy and some people consider them sort of low class; but I like neon signs and always have.

As a preschooler I could spell LIQUOR before I knew the alphabet; because nearly every liquor store in town had a neon sign out front.

As I got older and could appreciate the science and artisanry involved in neon, I liked them even more.

Still… having five or six or more tattoo parlors mixed in amongst too many bars to count saddens me.

The city of Fullerton used to be full of churches, schools and parks while bars were less numerous and tattoo parlors were nonexistent.

Today the churches & schools are less numerous, while some of the parks tend to be run down or require paid admission. Many of the current bars and tattoo parlors have replaced artist's studios.

Never the less, I still like neon and my new camera makes it so easy to photograph that there will probably be more of it in my photostream.

NY Times, Dec. 4 2011

Colin Huggins was there with his baby grand, the one he wheels into Washington Square Park for his al fresco concerts. So were Tic and Tac, a street-performing duo, who held court in the fountain — dry for the winter. And Joe Mangrum was pouring his elaborate sand paintings on the ground near the Washington Arch.

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Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times

Kareem Barnes of Tic and Tac collected donations on Sunday.

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Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times

Joe Mangrum showed his sand paintings on Sunday.

In other words, it was a typical Sunday afternoon in the Greenwich Village park, where generations of visitors have mingled with musicians, artists, activists, poets and buskers.

Yet this fall, that urban harmony has grown dissonant as the city’s parks department has slapped summonses on the four men and other performers who put out hats or buckets, for vending in an unauthorized location — specifically, within 50 feet of a monument.

The department’s rule, one of many put in place a year ago, was intended to control commerce in the busiest parks. Under the city’s definition, vending covers not only those peddling photographs and ankle bracelets, but also performers who solicit donations.

The rule attracted little notice at first. But the enforcement in Washington Square Park in the past two months has generated summonses ranging from $250 to $1,000. And it has started a debate about the rights of parkgoers seeking refuge from the bustle of the streets versus those looking for entertainment.

At a news conference in the park on Sunday organized by NYC Park Advocates, the artists waved fistfuls of pink summonses while their advocates, including civil rights lawyers, called on the city to stop what they called harassment of the performers.

“This is a heavy-handed solution to a nonexistent problem,” said Ronald L. Kuby, one of the lawyers.

The rule is especially problematic in Washington Square Park, performers say, because there are few locations across its 10 acres that are beyond 50 feet from a memorial or fountain — whether the bust of Alexander Lyman Holley, who introduced the Bessemer steel process to this country, or the statue of the Italian liberator Giuseppe Garibaldi.

Then there is the park’s international reputation as a gathering place for folk music pioneers and the Beats.

“Washington Square is the live-music park of New York City, and it would be close to impossible for any one of us to follow these regulations,” said Mr. Huggins, who has received nine summonses with fines totaling $2,250.

But Adrian Benepe, the parks commissioner, argues that there is ample room for performers away from the monuments. And, he added, a musician who is not putting out a tin cup is welcome to sit on the edge of the fountain or under a monument.

“It’s the whole issue of the ‘tragedy of the commons,’ ” he said. “If you allow all the performers and all the vendors to do whatever they want to do, pretty soon there’s no park left for people who want to use them for quiet enjoyment. This is a way of having some control and not 18 hours of carnival-like atmosphere.”

Gary Behrens, an amateur photographer visiting from New Jersey, applauded the city’s efforts to rein in the performers. “I’m O.K. with the guitar, but the loud instruments have taken over the park,” he said.

The lawyers and advocates, however, challenged the idea that street performers were selling a product as a vendor does. And threatening a lawsuit, they faulted the city for creating what they called “First Amendment zones” through the rules.

“Is this place zany?” asked Norman Siegel, the former director of the New York Civil Liberties Union. “You bet. Public parks are quintessential public forums. Zaniness is something we should cherish and protect.”

Park visitation has soared along with the rise of tourism in the last 15 years, and with it vendors and artists interested in a lucrative market.

Mr. Benepe insisted that the rules would not scare off future music legends.

“If Bob Dylan wanted to come play there tomorrow, he could,” he said, “although he might have to move away from the fountain.”

Oddly, the dispute coincided with the 50th anniversary of the so-called Folk Riot in Washington Square Park, when the parks commissioner tried to squelch Sunday folk performances. Hundreds of musicians gathered in protest, the police were called in and a melee ensued.

In April, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg wrote a letter commemorating the Folk Riot, saying he applauded “the folk performers who changed music, our city and our world beginning half a century ago.”

Karesansui 枯山水 (dry landscape gardens, also known as rock gardens and waterless stream gardens) are typically associated with Zen Buddhism, and often found in the front or rear gardens at the residences (houjou 方丈) of Zen abbots. The main elements of karesansui are rocks and sand, with the sea symbolized not by water but by sand raked in patterns that suggest rippling water. Representative examples are the gardens of Ryoanji Temple and Daitokuji Temple, both in Kyoto. Plants are much less important (and sometimes nonexistent) in many karesansui gardens. Karesansui gardens are often, but not always, meant to be viewed from a single, seated perspective, and the rocks are often associated with and named after various Chinese mountains. The first-ever Zen landscape garden in Japan is credited to Kenchoji Temple in Kamakura. Founded in 1251, this temple was the chief monastery for the five great Zen monasteries that thrived during the Kamakura era (1185-1333). It became the center of Zen Buddhism thanks to strong state patronage.

ALL DAY GIRLS FILL AND EMPTY HEAVY BASKETS OF ROCK IN ORISSA, INDIA

ROMANO/Stolen Childhoods

Gravel Quarries are a common sight in Orissa and other states in India. The children that work here are exploited 12-16 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Their world consists only of these piles of rocks, dust and back breaking work. At night many sleep in the open or in makeshift shelters where sanitary conditions are nonexistent. There are no schools here, and for many there is no family. Some of the children working here have been trafficked from other areas where their parents have been forced to either sell themselves or their children 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 sometimes lethal. Working all day in the hot sun where temperatures regularly climb above 100F (37C), they carry well over a ton of rock a day, to stand on line exposed to the rock dust from the grinder. The pay, If there is any, is minimal, and conditions fall well below minimum levels required by law and are illegal for children . Nonetheless the kids work, 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. These children tend to be chronically tired from the long hours, increasing the probability of accidents, injuries and deformity. Disease, malnutrition and permanent skeletal injury and silicosis are the common lot. Many die before they reach 30.

Medical treatment is primitive or non-existent

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.

Laying on my back in the cool grass

A sudden breeze lifts my hair above my face

It is conducting the symphony of stars overhead

A constellation keeps forming itself through my imagination

of the words I so badly want to say to you

There are so many ways to say it

Too many words, too little time

No matter how many times i rework it in my head

It ends up with the same meaning

You are infinitely beautiful

unlike the stars which shine with nonexistent light

The light which appears to us,

but in reality holds no life

Your beauty lies deep within your soul

When your physical body dies much like the stars

Your beauty will transcend your body

In your soul

Your heartbeat is the countdown to your life

While I look up at the night sky

I know we'll live on

I just know we'll keep on living

I know it looks a bit hokey, but it is actually a lot of fun!

I apologize to the author for the re-formatting to make it fit. ... and hope she doesn't mind this liberty. :)

There had been something loose on the station dock all morning, skulking in amongst the gantries and the lines and the canisters which were waiting to be moved, lurking wher-ever shadows fell among the rampway accesses of the many ships at dock at Meetpoint. It was pale, naked, starved-looking in what fleeting glimpse anyone on The Pride of Chanur had had of it. Evidently no one had reported it to station au-thorities, nor did The Pride. Involving oneself in others' concerns at Meetpoint Station, where several species came to trade and provision, was ill-advised—at least until one was personally bothered. Whatever it was, it was bipedal, brachi-ate, and quick at making itself unseen. It had surely gotten away from someone, and likeliest were the kif, who had a thieving finger in everything, and who were not above kid-napping. Or it might be some large, bizarre animal; the ma-hendo'sat were inclined to the keeping and trade of strange pets, and Station had been displeased with them in that re-spect on more than one occasion. So far it had done nothing. Stolen nothing. No one wanted to get involved in question and answer between original owners and station authorities; and so far no official statement had come down from those station authorities and no notice of its loss had been posted by any ship, which itself argued that a wise person should not ask questions. The crew reported it only to the captain and chased it, twice, from The Pride's loading area. Then the crew got to work on necessary duties, having settled the an-noyance to their satisfaction.

It was the last matter on the mind of the noble, the distin-guished captain Pyanfar Chanur, who was setting out down her own rampway for the docks. She was hani, this captain, splendidly maned and bearded in red-gold, which reached hi silken curls to the middle of her bare, sleek-pelted chest, and she was dressed as befitted a hani of captain's rank, blousing

scarlet breeches tucked up at her waist with a broad gold belt, with silk cords of every shade of red and orange wrap-ping that about, each knotted cord with a pendant jewel on its dangling end. Gold finished the breeches at her knees. Gold filigree was her armlet. And a row of fine gold rings and a large pendant pearl decorated the tufted sweep of her left ear. She strode down her own rampway in the security of ownership—still high-blooded from a quarrel with her niece—and yelled and bared claws as the intruder came bear-ing down on her.

She landed one raking, startled blow which would have held a hani in the encounter, but the hairless skin tore and it hurtled past her, taller than she was. It skidded around the bending of the curved ramp tube and bounded right into the ship, trailing blood all the way and leaving a bloody hand-print on the rampway's white plastic wall.

Pyanfar gaped in outrage and pelted after, claws scrabbling for traction on the flooring plates. "Hilfy!" she shouted ahead; her niece had been in the lower corridor. Pyanfar made it into the airlock, hit the bar of the com panel there and punched all-ship. "Alert! Hilfy! Call the crew in! Some-thing's gotten aboard. Seal yourself into the nearest compart-ment and call the crew." She flung open the locker next to the com unit, grabbed a pistol and scrambled in pursuit of the intruder. No trouble at all tracking it, with the dotted red trail on the white decking. The track led left at the first cross-corridor, which was deserted—the intruder must have gone left again, starting to box the square round the lift shafts. Pyanfar ran, heard a shout from that intersecting cor-ridor and scrambled for it: Hilfy! She rounded the corner at a slide and came up short on a tableau, the intruder's hair-less, red-running back and young Hilfy Chanur holding the corridor beyond with nothing but bared claws and adolescent bluster.

"Idiot!" Pyanfar spat at Hilfy, and the intruder turned on her suddenly, much closer. It brought up short in a staggered crouch, seeing the gun aimed two-handed at itself. It might have sense not to rush a weapon; might . . . but that would turn it right back at Hilfy, who stood unarmed behind. Pyan-far braced to fire at the least movement.

It stood rigidly still in its crouch, panting from its running and its wound. "Get out of there," Pyanfar said to Hilfy. "Get back." The intruder knew about hani claws now, and

guns, but it might do anything, and Hilfy, an indistinction in her vision which was focused wholly on the intruder, stayed stubbornly still. "Move!" Pyanfar shouted.

The intruder shouted too, a snarl which almost got it shot, and drew itself upright and gestured to the center of its chest, twice, defiant. Go on and shoot, it seemed to invite her.

That intrigued Pyanfar. The intruder was not attractive. It had a bedraggled gold mane and beard, and its chest fur, al-most invisible, narrowed in a line down its heaving belly to vanish into what was, legitimately, clothing, a rag almost nonexistent in its tatters and obscured by the dirt which matched the rest of its hairless hide. Its smell was rank. But a straight carriage and a wild-eyed invitation to its enemies . . . that deserved a second thought. It knew guns; it wore at least a token of clothing; it drew its line and meant to hold its territory. Male, maybe. It had that over-the-brink look in its eyes.

"Who are you?" Pyanfar asked slowly, in several languages one after the other, including kif. The intruder gave no sign of understanding any of them. "Who?" she repeated.

It crouched slowly, with a sullen scowl, all the way to the deck, and extended a blunt-nailed finger and wrote in its own blood which was liberally puddled about its bare feet. It made a precise row of symbols, ten of them, and a second row which began with the first symbol prefaced by the second, second with second, second with third . . . patiently, with increasing concentration despite the growing tremors of its hand, dipping its finger and writing, mad fixation on its task.

"What's it doing?" asked Hilfy, who could not see from her side.

"A writing system, probably numerical notation. It's no animal, niece."

At the exchange, the intruder looked up—stood up, an abrupt move which proved injudicious after its loss of blood. A glassy, desperate look came into its eyes, and it sprawled in the puddle and the writing, slipping in its own blood in trying to get up again.

"Call the crew," Pyanfar said levelly, and this time Hilfy scurried off in great haste. Pyanfar stood where she was, pistol in hand, until Hilfy was out of sight down another corridor, then, assured that there was no one to see her lapse of dignity, she squatted down with the gun in both hands held …

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chanur_novels

Minke Whale meat on the menu at The Sea Baron Restaurant, Sægreifinn © Linda Dawn Hammond / IndyFoto.com March 13, 2014

Whale meat and puffins (Lundi) is also found on the menu at Hereford Steikhus, ReykjavÃ-k, Iceland

I boycotted ALL restaurants which served whale, shark or puffin (aka Lundi) while visiting Iceland. According to Elding, a great Icelandic eco whale watching tour, only 5% of the whales killed in Iceland are consumed by locals and 40% by tourists looking for a kick. Some of whom had just stepped off the whale watching tour- very hypocritical. Since a campaign by IFAW to stop this opportunistic experimentation, tourist consumption has dropped to 20%. Now the one company still killing fin and minke whales, Hvalur, managed by Kristján Loftsso (Kristjan Loftsson), is selling byproducts of its cruel product to a local beer company, Steðja Brewery. I'm adding them to my boycott list. I later learned that the picturesque Icelandic horses we see offered for rides to tourists are also bred for meat. © Linda Dawn Hammond / IndyFoto.com Feb 21, 2014

Hunting Minke whales is not an Icelandic tradition- in fact, quite the opposite. According to Wikepedia, "prior to 1914 Icelanders did not hunt minke whales. Superstition held that minke whales were sent by God as protectors" More here- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whaling_in_Iceland

www.ifaw.org/united-states/our-work/whales/meet-us-don%E2...

Meet Us Don't Eat Us: Campaign to take whale meat off the menu for tourists

Tourists who visit Iceland during the summer may be greeted by a high-profile campaign from IFAW and Ice Whale (Icelandic Whale Watching Association), encouraging them to enjoy responsible whale watching but to avoid sampling whale meat.

The campaign, Meet Us Don't Eat Us is aimed at dispelling the myth some tourists believe that whale meat is a popular dish enjoyed by most Icelanders. However, according to a 2010 Gallup poll survey, only about 5% of Icelanders say they eat it regularly.

Similarly, many people believe Iceland's commercial whaling is a centuries-old tradition, but in reality it started in 1948 and stopped in 1989, with a few boats resuming minke whaling in 2003, initially for so-called scientific research.

IFAW believes an estimated 40% of tourists are persuaded to eat whale meat while in Iceland, mainly out of curiosity. The result is that whales are killed every year just to be sampled by tourists.

The Meet Us Don't Eat Us campaign urges visitors to think carefully about the menu choices they make in the country's excellent restaurants to ensure they don't go home with a bad taste in their mouths.

The campaign, which runs from June to September, is being promoted around Reykjavik by volunteers dressed in whale tail costumes. The volunteers will be talking to tourists in downtown Reykjavik and asking them to sign postcards promising to avoid whale meat and asking Iceland to stop whaling.

The campaign, which ran for the first time in 2011, has ruffled some feathers in Iceland. Despite IFAW signing and paying a four-month contract to place adverts in Keflavik Airport last year, the airport's general manager ordered IFAW to remove them shortly after they went on display following complaints from whalers. The campaign then sparked a major media debate in the country on the issue of free speech and IFAW was delighted to see many Icelanders, including politicians, speak out in defence of the campaign.

In early May, 2012 Kristjan Loftsson, the lone Icelandic whaler responsible for killing 280 endangered fin whales in Icelandic waters over the past six years, told Icelandic media that because of economic issues, including difficulties in trading the meat with Japan following its tsunami tragedy, he would not be fin whaling in 2012. This is the second year in a row that Loftsson has cancelled the hunt, having laid off 30 staff last year. IFAW welcomed this decision and sees it as a positive sign that Loftsson recognises that fin whaling is uneconomic. Icelanders traditionally do not eat fin whale meat and these whales have been killed with a view to selling the meat to Japan, which has so far met with little success.

However, commercial hunting of minke whales in Iceland continues. In total, 58 minke whales were killed last season, by two companies. This was from a self-allocated catch limit of 216. IFAW urges Iceland to end all whaling now to protect whales for future generations and to safeguard its successful whale watching industry.

IFAW ran the first workshop looking into the feasibility of whale watching in Iceland more than 20 years ago and has worked closely with Icelandic whale watch operators for several years to promote whale watching as a humane and profitable alternative to the cruelty of whaling.

www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/01/iceland...

Iceland's Newest Beer Ingredient: Whale

One brewery is experimenting with a whale of an ale or technically, an ale of a whale.

SVATI KIRSTEN NARULA

JAN 9 2014, 12:46 PM ET

Iceland doesn't treat cetaceans the way most of the world wants them to be treated. Like Japan and Norway, Iceland has continued to hunt fin and minke whales in defiance of an international moratorium on the practice. It's not a challenge to find a restaurant serving whale meat in the capital city of ReykjavÃ-k. With all this in mind, is it really surprising that Iceland's whaling business has recently teamed up with a brewery to produce "whale beer"?

Steðja Brewery

Hvalur, the company managed by "the Icelandic Ahab" Kristján Loftsson, is providing whale mealâa byproduct of processing the animal's meat and oilâto Steðja Brewery to create a limited edition product tied to Iceland's annual mid-winter festival Thorrablot. The beer, marketed as a drink for "true vikings," will only be available from January 24 through February 22. It's 5.2 percent alcohol and is supposedly "healthy" by virtue of containing whale, which is, according to the brewery, high in protein and low in fat.

Dagbjartur Ariliusson, the brewery's owner, told reporters that whale beer makes sense in the context of Thorrablot and the country's history. For many centuries, he said, they have celebrated this festival by eating "cured food, including whale fat, and now we have the beer to drink with this food." Pickled whale blubber is a traditional Thorrablot menu item.

Like so much else Iceland does with whales, the development is drawing impassioned ire from conservationists and anti-whaling activists. The Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC) society's campaign managers have called the beer launch an attempt "to diversify whale products in the face of almost nonexistent local consumer demand" and "about as immoral and outrageous as you can get." WDC has also gone after Hvalur for "perversely" powering its whale-hunting ships with whale oil.

The outcry probably won't stop tourists from rushing to sample whale steaks and sashimi at ReykjavÃ-k restaurants. Even if whale beer doesn't taste very good because, let's be honest, putting meat of any kind in beer is uncommon and gross it could, one day, be yet another item on a traveler's bucket list.

www.ifaw.org/united-states/news/september-drew-end-so-did...

As September drew to an end, so did whaling in Iceland, but for how long?

By: Robbie Marsland

Posted: Mon, 10/14/2013

2013 was a grim year, with a decrease in minke whales killed offset by a vast increase in the number of fin whales killed.

There are two types of whaling in Iceland.

These days, minke whaling is carried out primarily by one vessel, Hrafnreyður KÃ-100.

The number of whales killed each season for the small Icelandic whale meat market has dropped from 58 in 2011, to 52 in 2012 and 35 this year.

Less than 5% of Icelanders regularly eat whale meat and thanks to IFAW's Meet Us Don't Eat Us and Whale Friendly Restaurants initiatives in the country, the percentage of tourists eating whale meat has dropped from around 40% to around 20%.

SEE ALSO: "Whale friendly" is the way forward for Icelandic tourism

Not only are sales down for the minke whalers, but it looks like their costs are up. Facing an extended whale watching sanctuary and the displeasure of the Icelandic tourism community, this year the minke whalers kept out of the enormous Faxafloi bay outside Reykjavik, the capital.

They motored around Iceland's western fjords and started to worry the whale watchers in the north of Iceland between Akureyri and Husavik the northern home of Icelandic whale watching. Not surprisingly, their presence there was also hotly contested by whale watching companies.

So as the winter storms start hitting Iceland, we will have to wait and see if the whalers decide it is worth enduring further international and national criticism to go out and cruelly kill minke whales for a steadily declining market that must yield little or no financial return¦

Fin whales are the second species hunted and cruelly killed in Iceland.

In recent years fin whales have only been hunted by one operator. He is Kristjan Loftsson, the son of a whaler who made a fortune from whaling in the 60s, 70s and 80s - before the vast majority of the world (including Iceland) saw sense and stopped killing whales.

Mr Loftsson started killing fin whales again in 2009. No-one was really sure why he started again because fin whale meat is not eaten in Iceland, and the only other place international trade laws allow him to sell the meat is Japan, and they don't seem overly keen to buy fin whale meat from him.

So it wasn't a surprise when Mr Loftsson didn't go fin whaling in 2011 and 2012. But it was a surprise when he sent his ships out to kill the second largest whale in the world again last June.

As of the end of September his two 1940s steam-driven whaling boats had dragged 134 fin whales back to his whaling station just outside Reykjavik.

But it's not been plain sailing for Mr Loftsson this season.

He was used to the idea of there being celebrations when he brought in the first fin whale of the season. Instead of showing a proud Mr Loftsson flensing (cutting up) his first whale, the newspapers chose to cover the small crowd of demonstrators on the hill above the station holding the banner: What's the point in Icelandic whaling?

Later in the season one of his minority shareholders was quoted in the national newspapers as being very concerned that the fin whaling was losing money and depreciating the value of the company shares.

Loftsson's worst moment came in July when a consignment of his fin whale meat was rejected by the port of Rotterdam which wanted nothing to do with his cruel and controversial trade.

Not only that but he had to see photos plastered all over the TV and newspapers of a whale watching boat greeting the returning whale meat with enormous pointing hands and, once again, the message What's the point in Icelandic whaling?

Rotterdam was closed to his trade and so his export options seem to be dwindling.

2013 was a grim year for us with a decrease in minke whales killed offset by a vast increase in the number of fin whales killed.

However, there does seem to have been a sea change in Icelandic attitudes towards this so-called industry and more and more people are asking themselves and in public, what is the point of Icelandic whaling?

--RM

IFAW will continue to work closely with the whale watching and tourism sector and supportive MPs over the winter months. Stay tuned!

HORSE SLAUGHTER of foals in Iceland

www.pferd-und-fleisch.de/Horsemeat/iceland.htm

ICELANDIC SLAUGHTERHOUSE ADVERTISES FOR HORSES TO FEED OVERSEAS DINERS

MAY 5, 2012 VIVIAN GRANT FARRELL

tuesdayshorse.wordpress.com/2012/05/05/icelandic-slaughte...

Weteringschans 16/01/2013 15h33

Officially the name Weteringcircuit is nonexistent but everyone in Amsterdam knows where it is. Since 2002 tramline 25 makes a strange twist through Amsterdam due to the important contruction works of the Noord-Zuid métro line in the Ferdinand Bolstraat. This Combino is coming from Frederiksplein and instead of turning immediately right from Weteringschans to Vijzelgracht and Vijzelstraat it has to make a loop around the square because there is no direct right turn. It is still (2013) not sure when the normal route will be reset for service.

More information about tramline 25:

Wikipedia - Tramline 25 (Dutch)

Amsterdamse Trams - Lijn 25 (Cor Fijma, Dutch)

Inspired by Klaksvík and Vardø. Two fjords nearly meet; the isthmus in between and two safe harbours create perfect place for a city. 2011.

Brandon Q Morris "The Dark Origin"

[...] She´s accelerated.This does not correspond to the specification. She has to brake to reach the lower orbit her target is traveling on. DosRios 19/2 increases the performance of her engine. It fires in the opposite direction of movement. She gives a status report. The approach to the target is not going according to plan. DosRios 19/2 is not afraid. Her engine still has reserves. But a rendezvous course like the one she was ordered to take seems increasingly unlikely. The target object is constantly increasing in mass, but it still has too little gravitational pull. She hase to brake, not accelerate. DosRios 19/2 calculates several course variants. Most will become a hyperbole that will throw her out of the solar system. However, the curve always ends in the same place: at the core of its destination. The impact will destroy her. So she has try to prevent it. DosRios 19/2 sends another status message to Earth. Whoever programmed her might still have a chance to intervene. If DosRios 19/2 could understand herself, she would no longer have this hope. There is no power that can stop this flight. But she still does her job. The target is smeared. It looks as if a bird fell into a dog poop while landing and slithered along in it further. This is what Adam Smith will later tell his superior. DosRios 19/2 knows nothing about it. She only sees the measurement data that creates this image in a human consciousness. The matter thrown from its target appears viscous. It sticks like honey to the track that follows its destination. And she exerts powers that DosRios 19/2 doesn't know anything about, because she doesn't have a gravimeter on board. No one thought that you might need a gravimeter to study an interstellar visitor. Because gravitation, the pull of mass, seems hardly able to cause any surprises. DosRios 19/2 has to manage with a radar and various spectrometers. At least the radar shows that her target still exists. It's located right where the other probe is broadcasting from. Perhaps she will meet her at the end of her journey. It would mean death for both of them. DosRios 19/2 is not shocked. It is a simple fact that all existence is finite. Herr speed keeps increasing. Now the first temperature measurements are coming in. But they don't get through the input control. Some programmer has built in plausibility checks. Anything too low or too high is discarded. First, only every tenth value is discarded, then every third, then every second. DosRios 19/2 runs out of values. She decides there is a mistake. She always has that option. A very clever programmer gave her something like a superego that oversees the functioning of all components. It cannot manipulate them. But it can intervene and then forward the data unprocessed. Better the earth gets raw data than no data at all. She's getting faster. The engine doesn't stand a chance now. Her orbit is definitely a hyperbola. There is something in her path that is like her. DosRios 19/2 defines two tasks. First: collect data as long as possible. Second: increase the probability of the further existence of the sending object. DosRios 19/2 doesn't really know why she's making her decisions. Her superego is responsible for this. It has its own efficiency algorithms from the Alpha-Omega autonomous vehicle kit, adapted to robotic probes. DosRios 19/2 sends an emergency call. She doesn't call for help. It's too late for that. But she warns. A short time later she encounters her own reputation. The other object must have caught it and passed it on. DosRios 19/2 doesn't know if that's a good sign or a bad sign. She has no unit of evaluation because she was never meant to deal with humans. But there are leftovers. Some program parts are left over from the Alpha-Omega kit for autonomous vehicles. The responsible programmer did not consider it necessary to remove them. A vehicle on the road must be able to assess the reactions of a human opposite. DosRios 19/2 estimates that the other object will take her warning seriously. She also coded her nonexistent options in it. She can't dodge, so all she can do is hope that the other object dodges. DosRios 19/2 switches the engine to stand-by mode. She will use it at the last moment. Maybe she can still avoid the ricochet on the comet, her goal, and save her life. The superego empties its memory. On the final approach, there should be no additional risk of memory overflow. It sends a farewell signal to its parent probe. It's a simple unsubscribe. DosRios 19 no longer has to reserve resources for it. Then she folds the antenna in to reduce its cross-section. She receives a position report. The message must come from very close by. Only the other object is suitable for this. DosRios 19/2 calculates the position. The object is exactly in her trajectory. Apparently it can't move. DosRios 19/2 calculates three alternatives. Option 1, she does not ignite her engine at all. Both objects have an 80 percent chance of being destroyed. Option 2, she turns on the engine as planned. That gives her a 40 percent chance of surviving and the other object has a 5 percent chance of surviving. Option 3 contains full engine boost and an oxygen tank bleed. This will make her spin. DosRios 19/2 will then hit well above the core, for sure. The other object has an 80 percent chance of surviving. 64 versus 2 versus 80 percent. The efficiency algorithm has an easy game. DosRios 19/2 sends a logout confirmation to the foreign object. The folded antenna is also sufficient over the short distance. It's a gesture. Even a primitive controller should be able to do something with it. Then DosRios 19/2 starts its engine. It burns out within 12 seconds. She vents the oxygen tank. Suddenly she turns. She drifts along the comet's nucleus. Something silver flashes beneath her. Her folded antenna registers a logout confirmation. Then DosRios 19/2 crashes into a black rock. [...]

***

Brandon Q. Morris "Die dunkle Quelle"

[...] Ihre Bewegung beschleunigt sich. Das entspricht nicht der Vorgabe. Sie muss bremsen, um den niedrigeren Orbit zu erreichen, auf dem ihr Ziel unterwegs ist. DosRios 19/2 steigert die Leistung ihres Triebwerks. Es feuert entgegen ihrer Bewegungsrichtung. Sie gibt eine Statusmeldung ab. Die Annäherung an das Ziel läuft nicht plangemäß. DosRios 19/2 hat keine Angst. Ihr Triebwerk besitzt noch Reserven. Aber ein Rendezvous-Kurs, wie er ihr befohlen wurde, wird immer unwahrscheinlicher. Das Zielobjekt nimmt zwar dauernd an Masse zu, es hat aber immer noch zu wenig Anziehungskraft. Sie muss bremsen, nicht beschleunigen. DosRios 19/2 berechnet mehrere Kursvarianten. Aus den meisten wird eine Hyperbel, die sie aus dem Sonnensystem schleudern wird. Allerdings endet die Kurve stets an derselben Stelle: am Kern ihres Ziels. Der Aufprall wird sie zerstören. Also muss sie versuchen, ihn zu verhindern. DosRios 19/2 sendet eine weitere Statusnachricht an die Erde. Wer immer sie programmiert hat, besitzt jetzt vielleicht noch die Chance zum Eingreifen. Könnte DosRios 19/2 sich selbst verstehen, hätte sie diese Hoffnung nicht mehr. Es gibt keine Macht, die diesen Flug aufhalten kann. Aber noch erfüllt sie ihre Aufgabe. Das Ziel ist verschmiert. Es sieht aus, als wäre ein Vogel beim Landen in einen Hundehaufen gestürzt und darin noch ewig weitergeschlittert. So wird später Adam Smith es seinem Vorgesetzten erzählen. DosRios 19/2 ahnt nichts davon. Sie sieht nur die Messdaten, die in einem menschlichen Bewusstsein dieses Bild entstehen lassen. Die Materie, die aus ihrem Ziel geschleudert wird, scheint zähflüssig. Sie bleibt wie Honig an der Bahn kleben, der ihr Ziel folgt. Und sie übt Kräfte aus, von denen DosRios 19/2 nichts ahnt, denn sie hat kein Gravimeter an Bord. Niemand hat daran gedacht, dass man zur Erforschung eines interstellaren Besuchers ein Gravimeter benötigen könnte. Denn die Gravitation, die Anziehungskraft der Masse, scheint kaum in der Lage, irgendwelche Überraschungen zu verursachen. DosRios 19/2 muss sich mit einem Radar und verschiedenen Spektrometern behelfen. Das Radar zeigt immerhin, dass ihr Ziel noch existiert. Es befindet sich genau dort, woher die andere Sonde sendet. Vielleicht trifft sie sie am Ende ihrer Reise. Es würde ihrer beider Tod bedeuten. DosRios 19/2 ist nicht schockiert. Es ist eine simple Tatsache, dass jede Existenz begrenzt ist. Ihre Geschwindigkeit steigt weiter. Jetzt kommen die ersten Temperaturmessungen herein. Aber sie gelangen nicht durch die Eingabe-Kontrolle. Irgendein Programmierer hat Plausibilität-Checks eingebaut. Was zu tief oder zu hoch ist, wird verworfen. Zunächst wird nur jeder zehnte Wert verworfen, dann jeder dritte, dann jeder zweite. DosRios 19/2 gehen die Werte aus. Sie entscheidet, dass ein Fehler vorliegt. Diese Option hat sie immer. Ein sehr schlauer Programmierer hat ihr so etwas wie ein Über-Ich eingesetzt, das die Funktion aller Komponenten überwacht. Es kann diese zwar nicht manipulieren. Aber es kann eingreifen und die Daten dann unverarbeitet weiterleiten. Besser, die Erde erhält Rohdaten als gar keine Daten. Sie wird schneller. Das Triebwerk hat jetzt keine Chance mehr. Ihre Bahn ist auf jeden Fall eine Hyperbel. Auf ihrem Weg liegt etwas, das so ist wie sie. DosRios 19/2 definiert zwei Aufgaben. Erstens: Daten zu sammeln, so lange das möglich ist. Zweitens: die Wahrscheinlichkeit der weiteren Existenz des sendenden Objekts erhöhen. DosRios 19/2 weiß nicht so richtig, warum sie ihre Entschlüsse fasst. Ihr Über-Ich ist dafür zuständig. Es besitzt eigene Effizienz-Algorithmen aus dem Alpha-Omega-Bausatz für autonome Fahrzeuge, angepasst an robotische Sonden. DosRios 19/2 sendet einen Notruf. Sie ruft nicht um Hilfe. Dafür ist es zu spät. Aber sie warnt. Kurze Zeit später begegnet ihr der eigene Ruf. Das andere Objekt muss ihn aufgefangen und weitergeleitet haben. DosRios 19/2 weiß nicht, ob das ein gutes oder ein schlechtes Zeichen ist. Sie besitzt keine Bewertungseinheit, denn sie war nie dazu bestimmt, mit Menschen zu tun zu haben. Aber es gibt Reste. Einige Programmteile sind aus dem Alpha-Omega-Bausatz für autonome Fahrzeuge übrig geblieben. Der zuständige Programmierer hat es nicht für nötig gehalten, sie zu entfernen. Ein Fahrzeug im Straßenverkehr muss in der Lage sein, Reaktionen eines menschlichen Gegenübers einzuschätzen. DosRios 19/2 schätzt ein, dass das andere Objekt ihre Warnung ernst nehmen wird. Sie hat darin auch ihre nicht vorhandenen Optionen kodiert. Sie kann nicht ausweichen, also kann sie nur hoffen, dass das andere Objekt ausweicht. DosRios 19/2 schaltet das Triebwerk in den Stand-by-Modus. Sie wird es im letzten Moment verwenden. Vielleicht kann sie dem Kometen, ihrem Ziel, damit noch ausweichen und so ihr Leben retten. Das Über-Ich leert ihre Speicher. Im Endanflug soll sie kein Speicherüberlauf zusätzlich in Gefahr bringen. Sie sendet ein Abschiedssignal an ihre Muttersonde. Es ist eine simple Abmeldung. DosRios 19 muss erst einmal keine Ressourcen mehr für sie freihalten. Dann klappt sie die Antenne ein, um ihren Querschnitt zu verringern. Sie empfängt eine Positionsmeldung. Die Nachricht muss ganz aus der Nähe kommen. Nur das andere Objekt kommt dafür in Frage. DosRios 19/2 berechnet die Position. Das Objekt liegt genau in ihrer Flugbahn. Offenbar kann es sich nicht bewegen. DosRios 19/2 berechnet drei Alternativen. Auf Bahn 1 zündet sie ihr Triebwerk gar nicht. Beide Objekte werden zu 80 Prozent Wahrscheinlichkeit zerstört. Auf Bahn 2 schaltet sie das Triebwerk wie geplant ein. Das ergibt für sie selbst eine Überlebenschance von 40 Prozent, für das andere Objekt von 5 Prozent. Bahn 3 enthält einen Triebwerksschub in voller Stärke und eine Entlüftung des Sauerstofftanks. Das wird sie zum Trudeln bringen. DosRios 19/2 wird dann weit oberhalb des Kerns einschlagen, und zwar sicher. Das andere Objekt hat eine Überlebenschance von 80 Prozent. 64 versus 2 versus 80 Prozent. Der Effizienzalgorithmus hat leichtes Spiel. DosRios 19/2 schickt eine Abmelde-Bestätigung an das fremde Objekt. Über die kurze Distanz reicht auch die eingeklappte Antenne. Es ist eine Geste. Selbst eine primitive Steuerung sollte damit etwas anfangen können. Dann startet DosRios 19/2 ihr Triebwerk. Es brennt binnen 12 Sekunden aus. Sie entlüftet den Sauerstofftank. Plötzlich dreht sie sich. Sie treibt den Kometenkern entlang. Unter ihr blitzt etwas silbern auf. Ihre eingeklappte Antenne registriert eine Abmelde-Bestätigung. Dann prallt DosRios 19/2 gegen einen schwarzen Felsen. [...]

An Italian Czech, a Belgian American, and an American Italian.....

At the top is a Tanfoglio BTA-90, a copy of the Czech CZ-75 that was made in Italy during the Cold War days when we weren't buying a lot of Czech stuff over here; at left is a Browning 1910, designed by the American John M. Browning and manufactured by Fabrique Nationale in Belgium; and at the bottom is a Beretta 950, made in Maryland after a US law made it illegal to import little pistols like this but they were OK as long as they were made in the USA (go figure).

Spaceship Earth, the iconic and symbolic structure of Epcot, opened with the park in Future World in 1982. The 18-storym 180-foot tall geosphere, whose design was conceived by Wallace Floyd Design Group and completed by Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc., is derived from the Class 2 geodesic polyhedron. Each face of the polyhedron is divided into three isosceles triangles to form each point—with, in theory, 11,520 triangles forming 3,840 points (some are nonexistent due to supports and doors). The 15,520,000 pound sphere, with a circumference of 518.1 feet and a diameter of 165 feet, is raised 18-feet off the ground by three pylons sunk more than 120-feet into the ground.

Inside the sphere, guests take a 15-minute dark Omnimover ride in a "time machine" to learn how advancements in communication have helped create the future. Narrators have included Lawrence Dobkin, Walter Cronkite, Jeremy Irons and now Dame Judi Dench.

Kingda Ka is a roller coaster located at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey, USA. It is the world's tallest roller coaster, and was the world's fastest until Formula Rossa opened in November 2010. The train is launched by a hydraulic launch mechanism to 128 miles per hour (206 km/h) in 3.5 seconds. At the end of the launch track, the train climbs the main top hat tower, reaching a height of 456 feet (139 m). Kingda Ka is 3,118 feet (950 m) long.

History

Kingda Ka was officially introduced on September 29, 2004, at an event held for the media and enthusiasts. It was revealed that the ride would become "the tallest and fastest roller coaster on earth", reaching 640 feet (200 m) and accelerating up to 128 miles per hour (206 km/h) in 3.5 seconds. Upon completion, Kingda Ka took both the "tallest" and "fastest" world records from the two-year-old Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH. Since Intamin designed both Top Thrill Dragster and Kingda Ka, both rides share a nearly identical design and layout, differing only in theme and Kingda Ka's post-tower "camel hump" hill. On January 13, 2005, Kingda Ka was topped off at its 456-foot (139 m) height, finishing construction. Kingda Ka opened to the public on May 21, 2005, with a media day two days before.

During a test run with no passengers on June 6, 2005, a bolt failure caused damage to the launch cable, resulting in closure of the ride until August 2005, and the reconfiguration of the line area. The ride was also struck by lightning in early May 2009; the strike caused the ride to be unreliable and necessitated complicated repairs. The ride was operational from May 31, 2009, to June 24, 2009, but remained closed for maintenance until August 21, 2009.

Season 2, episode 28 of the documentary series MegaStructures follows the construction of the roller coaster in detail.

Major malfunctions

2005: Problems with launch cable, engine, and brake fins

On June 6, 2005, less than a month after its grand opening, a bolt failure caused the liner inside the trough through which the launch cable travels to come loose and create friction against the cable. The friction caused the train not to accelerate to the correct speed. The rubbing of the cable against the inside of the metal trough caused sparks and shards of metal to fly out from the bottom of the train. The engine, as it is designed, attempted to compensate by applying more force to the cable to attain the 128 miles per hour (206 km/h) launch speed.

The magnetic brake fins located within the launch section of the track, designed to slow the train on its return to the launch area should it not have enough speed to make it over the top hat element, rise up into the braking position in a sequential pattern after the train passes over them in the lowered position. The fins are mounted in steel supports that are connected to actuators that raise and lower the fins into the desired position.

Kingda Ka's tower

The fins actually caught up to the launching train as the timing pattern of the rising fins was faster than the accelerating train. The magnetic brakes began to slow the train in the launch area, and the engine tried to compensate even more and dragged the train through the brake zones. The catch car released, but the train was still in the brake zone and came to a complete stop at the bottom of the hill.

This malfunction occurred when no passengers were aboard during a test run. Damage occurred to the launch cable (frayed and needed to be replaced), engine (minor routine damage to seals), and brake fins (many needed to be replaced). The brake fins in the launch section are mounted in such a way to keep fast-moving trains from moving backward into the station, but a fast-moving train being pulled forward caused an unexpected stress on a number of fins that bent them forward. Not all of the fins needed to be replaced, but there were more damaged brake fins than Six Flags had replacements for, and extra brake fins had to be specially ordered from Intamin. In addition, Kingda Ka had to be re-inspected. Kingda Ka resumed testing on May 21, 2005. It reopened on August 4, 2005, with the line modified so that it no longer ran under the launch track. It had been the dark blue train that was launched when the malfunction occurred. It was used for the rest of the season, but major problems requiring replacement parts were discovered when the train was inspected during the off-season. Consequently, this train remained disassembled throughout the 2006 season.

Before 2005's major malfunction, Kingda Ka's queue area was much larger. It started at the main entrance arch, went under the launch track, traveled through two large switchback areas, and split into separate lines for each side of the station. Most of the entire line used to be set in the ride's infield. The current main entrance to the station was previously the "Flash pass" entrance.

2009: Late spring lightning strike

On the overnight of May 6–7, Kingda Ka was struck by lightning and suffered serious damage and downtime following the strike. The ride operated on May 9 and May 10 off and on with downtime more often than operating time. The park attempted to open the ride on May 16 but was unable to get it running properly. The park then announced that Kingda Ka was temporarily closed for maintenance. By May 20, it was announced that the ride would be down for an extended period of time. Six Flags Great Adventure ordered new parts for the ride from Intamin, but the damage required complicated repairs to Kingda Ka. A Screamscape post mentioned that, due to the nature of the needed repairs, Kingda Ka's launch would require a full test and adjust period, causing the ride to be closed to riders until late spring/early summer. It was up and running as of May 31, 2009, but with more frequent breakdowns than usual.

As of late June 2009 the ride was shut down for an extended period, stemming from complications from the year's issues, along with claims of a blown fuse and serious engine troubles as they waited for replacement parts once again.

It was up and running as of August 21, 2009. It had been announced that Kingda Ka would be fully operational and running smoothly again for the 2010 season, which occurred on the same day as Six Flags, Inc.'s announcement of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring plan.

However, on July 21, 2010, problems arose with the launch cable. The train was getting ready to launch when the launch cable failed, and the train stayed near the station for over 10 minutes.

Ride experience

Theme

Kingda Ka is themed as a mythical tiger, and is named after the 500 lb (230 kg) Golden Tabby Bengal tiger that lives in a pen next to the ride. The ride's sign and station all have mythical Indian-style theming. The ride's queue line is surrounded by bamboo, which adds on to the jungle theming. Jungle music is played during the wait, as well as throughout the entire Golden Kingdom section of the park, which was built for the ride. As of summer 2010, one of the park's male tigers is named after the ride.

Main Ride

After the train has been locked and checked, it slowly advances out of the station to the launch area. The train goes through a switch track which allows 4 trains on two tracks to load simultaneously. Once the train is in position, the hydraulic launch mechanism accelerates the train from 0 to 128 miles per hour (0 to 206 km/h) in 3.5 seconds, pulling about 1.67 G. At the end of the launch track, the train climbs the main tower, or top hat, twisting 90 degrees to the left before reaching a height of 456 feet (139 m). The train then descends 418 feet (127 m) straight down through a 270-degree right-hand spiral. Finally, the train climbs the second hill of 129 feet (39 m), producing a moment of weightlessness before being smoothly brought to a stop by the magnetic brakes. The train then makes a U-turn and enters the station. The ride lasts 28 seconds from the start of the launch to the end of the brake run, but has an official ride time of 59 seconds.

The hydraulic launch motor is capable of producing 20,800 horsepower (15.5 MW) peak. Because of the high speed and open nature of the trains, the ride will not operate in light rain, as rider contact with rain drops can cause discomfort.

Layout

Kingda Ka's layout is almost completely identical to Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point, but while Top Thrill Dragster hits the brakes after coming down from the top hat and leveling out, Kingda Ka goes over a 129-foot (39 m)-tall camelback hill into the brake run.

Rollbacks, Short-Shots, Stalls, and launch

Sometimes, it is possible for a train to roll back—to fail to go over the top of the tower and descend on the other side. The train instead reaches as high on the tower as it can go (in most cases to the very top) and rolls back. Kingda Ka includes retractable magnetic brakes on its launch track that will bring to a stop a train rolling backward down the tower. Rollbacks are more common in breezy weather or just after wet weather. Many riders look forward to a rollback, as they are treated to another launch. Rollbacks are frequent during safety tests to ensure all brakes on the runway are in working condition. One other issue that is even more rare than a rollback is for the train to "stall" or stop at the top of the lift. This is extremely rare because the train must be perfectly balanced for this to happen. In the event this happens, there is an elevator so workers can get up the support tower and push the train (usually down the descent side).

It is hard to know exactly when Kingda Ka's launch will occur. When the signal to launch is given, the train rolls back slightly to engage the catch car, then the brakes on the launch track retract. Occasionally there will be a voice that says "arms down, head back, and hold on." The launch will occur five seconds after the hissing sound of the brake fins retracting or the warning voice. Previously, Kingda Ka's horn sounded before every launch, but it has been turned off because of noise complaints from nearby residents. The horn now sounds only when Kingda Ka first launches after being idle for a certain period of time. Kingda Ka's launch mechanism is capable of launching a train every 45 seconds, resulting in a capacity of 1400 guests per hour.

Station

Kingda Ka's station has two parallel tracks with switch tracks at the entrance and exit. Each of the station's tracks accommodates two trains, so that each of the four trains has its own station. Each train only loads and unloads at its own station; it does not go to any others. During operation, the trains on one side are loaded while the trains on the other side are launched. This system works extremely efficiently as long as all four trains are running and there are no significant delays in loading and checking the trains. This system was not used at all in 2006 because only two trains were working that year. It also results in a very fast-moving line before the station, but a long wait inside the station, especially if waiting for the front row. An employee directs riders in line to go to a particular side of the station, but riders will then be able to choose the front or rear of the train. Two operators load, check and dispatch each train, and one launches the trains. Kingda Ka's music is by Safri Duo; almost their entire Episode II album is played in the queue and station. The other is the remix version of "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor. Both of these music can be heard during the queue and station.

Trains

Kingda Ka's four trains are color-coded for easy identification: green, dark blue, teal, and orange. These four colors are also used on the seats and restraints. Kingda Ka's trains seat 18 people, with two per row. The rear car has one row, while the rest have two. The rear row of each car is positioned higher than its front row for better visibility. The trains do not have official names, only numbers.

The dark blue train was being launched when 2005's major malfunction (see above) occurred, and problems stemming from this malfunction were discovered in the train's off-season rehab, putting this train out of service throughout the 2006 season. As a result, Kingda Ka only ran two trains for the whole year. The teal and green trains ran from the start of the season until late July, and the teal and orange trains ran for the rest of the season, with the teal train being the only train used for the whole season. Kingda Ka opened for the 2007 season with all four trains running.

Each of Kingda Ka's trains has a panel behind the last row of seats that covers an extra row of seat mounts. These panels could be removed for the installation of additional seats at some future time. This modification would increase the capacity of each train from 18 to 20 guests and the hourly capacity of the coaster from 1400 to 1600 guests per hour. Kingda Ka's station is already set up for this modification; it has the entrance gates for the currently nonexistent row of seats.

While this modification has not yet been done, the trains were slightly modified for the 2006 season - the nose of each train got a new coat of paint, after which the large "Kingda Ka" logo and the train number decals were not put back on the trains. The non-padded portions of the restraints are now bare metal rather than painted orange.

Seat restraints

Kingda Ka's seats with the restraints down

Kingda Ka's over-the-shoulder restraint system consists of a thick, rigid lap bar and two thin, flexible over-the-shoulder restraints. Because the over-the-shoulder portions of the restraint are not rigid, the hand grips are mounted to the lap bar. But later on the flexible over-the-shoulder restraints were replaced by non-flexible shoulder restraints.

These restraints use a locking system (rather than a ratchet) which allows them to be pulled down to any position; when locked, they can move down to any position but not up. In contrast, a ratchet-based restraint only locks at each notch, and will often be too loose or uncomfortably tight. Kingda Ka's restraints are also held down by a belt in case the main locking system fails. In order to speed up loading, riders are asked to secure their own restraints if they are able to.

Ride Experience

The rollercoaster has a very simple layout. First the two trains at the station advance forward. The first train then waits about 30–40 seconds as a catch car rolls down the launch track and attaches to the train. After the brake fins lining the launch train lower a train is then launched at up to 128 miles per hour (206 km/h) towards the 456 ft (139 m) tower. The train then gradually raises up the ride tower 90 degrees up and then twists to the left 90 degress. Once the train reaches the tower summit of 456 feet (139 m) the train then drops at a 90 degree right angle down the tower. The train pulls out of the spiral and down the tower at a near 120 miles per hour (190 km/h) into a hill 129 ft (39 m) high. At the peak of the 129 ft (39 m) hill the train begins to hit the brakes. After a final brake stop the train then turns left back into the station. The average time of the ride experience is only 28 seconds. The official ride time is 56 seconds.

Family trip to Six Flags Great Adventure 6-19-11

Stivan, a small settlement on Adriatic Sea island Cres in Kvarner bay, is an almost abandoned place. Incredibly stony ground, almost nonexistent arable soil, not close enough to the sea shore to be of interest for tourists, offers little to survive. Some old fig trees and olive trees and sheep, this is all one can rely on. But it is situated in a great landscape, in an open, rather flat (as the whole south part of the island) Mediterranean landscape, harsh, wind-swept and sunny, with mild spring and autumn climate and hot summers. Yet, 200 years ago men was capable not only to survive here but also to live full lives and to build large stony farmhouses like this one on my pictures. Now it is a ruin worth nothing, defeated by time and overtaken by Wulfen's Spurge (Euphorbia wulfeni).

Public domain image from United States Dept. of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service.

A bowl of berries is a treat for the eye as well as a delight for the palate. But these tasty little morsels happen to be quite tricky to grow, harvest, and handle. These crops tend to have brief growing seasons and are vulnerable to insects, disease, and even birds, so ARS scientists have given them lots of attention.

Take strawberries. In the 1950's, ARS actually saved the strawberry industry in the Great Lakes region when we released the first varieties that could survive red stele, a root-rotting fungus. We're also old hands at strawberry breeding. ARS came up with such June-bearing favorites as Earliglow, a sweet and juicy berry with a wonderful flavor. We've also bred berries that bear fruit from spring until well into the fall like Tribute and Tristar, which have brought new market opportunities to Northwest strawberry growers.

Fifteen years ago, blueberries were practically nonexistent in the Gulf States. But our early-ripening varieties have extended highbush blueberry culture to the Deep South. Today, over 10,000 acres are grown in Dixie, with more than 4,000 acres thriving throughout Texas, Louisiana, and Alabama.

In the Pacific Northwest, where most of our red raspberries are grown, Willamette, a 1943 release, still accounts for 40 percent of the red raspberry acreage.

And, when USDA blackberry breeders introduced the first truly genetic thornless blackberries, Thornfree and Smoothstem, they caused a small roadside revolution. The new varieties were just what some growers needed to establish pick-your-own operations.

Photo by Scott Bauer.

A quick pic of this snow white wig (almost) full body shot.

My husband call this harp my nemesis. It lives in a library in a nearby college, and once I got a nice shot of it with the sunlight hitting the strings, causing them to glow. I almost used it for my 365 project, but didn't, convinced I could return and get a better focused picture another day. What I didn't realize is that the window is next to a courtyard and the sun has to be above a building to get into the window. So the time the light is perfect, how it was the first time, is brief and actually nonexistent a few days before and after the solstice. I must have returned six times to try to get the lighting right without any luck. I had a good feeling about it today, the sun was bright, the time of day was correct but when I got to the library the harp had been physically moved a few feet. The planets were aligned in my favor but the librarians were not. So after a halfhearted attempt to nudge it back into place I accepted that there would be no light on these strings. I wanted to post the a shot anyway, to try to get it out of my system.

Outside of Price and Helper there is a very small seasonal waterfall; sometimes it is a trickle, other times totally nonexistent. On the way by it in November 2017 we noticed it was not a pretty decent frozen waterfall. We made an immediate stop and pulled over to check it out - very nice. Unfortunately the lighting never seems to be in our favor. One day we will luck out!

The city of Klamme, also entirely hand-drawn. The city is situated in an unlikely geographic setting: One part on a cliff, uptown, and a part on the cliff's base where the river flows. 2010.

This ship is my favorite out of my physical collection. Its just the rights size for play while still having enough detail for display and has an interior. Said interior is based of the cross section book for the force awakens. There is a single bed and nothing else. I wish that the bed could be moved over though, as it is taking up quite a bit a space.

Problems:

the rear door is invisible

the rear wings are not all the way at the end of the ship

there are no front wings

the cockpit is nonexistent

Olympus OM-1

OM Zuiko 50mm f/1.8

Fuji Pro 400H

This roll was such a flop for me-- almost nothing good on it. I'd never shot with 400H before, and it didn't behave the way I expected it to-- the colors were really thin and weak, and sometimes nonexistent. Plus I accidentally tossed it into my checked luggage on the way home from NC, so at least one shot got fogged-- maybe the others got thrown off as well? In any case, it's back to the Portras with me. They're more my speed.

The work of slaves in the fields of the huge Manaca-Iznaga sugar plantation was surveilled from this famous 44 m. high watchtower, and a bell that hung at the top would summon them. Built in the 1830s, it's now a symbol of class and racial oppression, and the gift shop in the estate house beside it (this taken from the patio) sells wooden figurines of slaves with a machete in one hand, shirtless & shoeless, ball and chain tied to one ankle, looking up wide-eyed (at the tower) with fearful or woeful expressions on their faces.

- "On the vast sugar estates, the kind of personal relationships /b/ master and slaves found in the towns, cities, and the more intimate tobacco and coffee plantations were nonexistent. Where before, in the 17th and 18th cent.s, slaves had lived in collections of small huts and had been allowed to work their own small plots, now they were crowded into barrack bldg.s and all available land was turned over to sugar cane. Floggings, beatings, and the use of stocks were common as punishment for minor insubordinations and as incentive to work harder. In the harvest season slaves could be made to work for 18 hr.s of every day for months at a time." (Rough Guide)

- This tower also represented the power of the estate owner Alejo (or Pedro) Iznaga (who made a great fortune in the slave trade) both over his slaves and within the sugar producing industry; at one time the tower was the tallest structure in Cuba. (Wikipedia) Founded in 1750, the estate was purchased by Iznaga in 1795.

- A mansion in the town of Trinidad, now a museum, was owned by "a German planter named Kanter or Cantero. Reputedly Dr. Justo Cantero acquired vast sugar estates by poisoning an old slave trader, Pedro Iznaga, and marrying his widow (who also suffered an untimely death)." (LP) What goes around comes around.

"Auto Museum Volkswagen - Germany - Wolfsburg"

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The Ford Model T (colloquially known as the Tin Lizzie, T‑Model Ford, Model T, T, Leaping Lena, or flivver) is an automobile that was produced by Ford Motor Company from October 1, 1908, to May 26, 1927. It is generally regarded as the first affordable automobile, the car that opened travel to the common middle-class American; some of this was because of Ford's efficient fabrication, including assembly line production instead of individual hand crafting.

The Ford Model T was named the most influential car of the 20th century in the 1999 Car of the Century competition, ahead of the BMC Mini, Citroën DS, and Volkswagen Type 1. With 16.5 million sold it stands eighth on the top ten list of most sold cars of all time as of 2012.

Although automobiles had already existed for decades, they were still mostly scarce and expensive at the Model T's introduction in 1908. Positioned as reliable, easily maintained mass market transportation, it was a runaway success. In a matter of days after the release, 15,000 orders were placed. The first production Model T was produced on August 12, 1908 and left the factory on September 27, 1908, at the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit, Michigan. On May 26, 1927, Henry Ford watched the 15 millionth Model T Ford roll off the assembly line at his factory in Highland Park, Michigan.

There were several cars produced or prototyped by Henry Ford from the founding of the company in 1903 until the Model T was introduced. Although he started with the Model A, there were not 19 production models (A through T); some were only prototypes. The production model immediately before the Model T was the Model S, an upgraded version of the company's largest success to that point, the Model N. The follow-up was the Ford Model A (rather than any Model U). The company publicity said this was because the new car was such a departure from the old that Henry wanted to start all over again with the letter A.

The Model T was Ford's first automobile mass-produced on moving assembly lines with completely interchangeable parts, marketed to the middle class. Henry Ford said of the vehicle:

I will build a car for the great multitude. It will be large enough for the family, but small enough for the individual to run and care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one – and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God's great open spaces.

Although credit for the development of the assembly line belongs to Ransom E. Olds with the first mass-produced automobile, the Oldsmobile Curved Dash, beginning in 1901, the tremendous advancements in the efficiency of the system over the life of the Model T can be credited almost entirely to the vision of Ford and his engineers.

CHARACTERISTICS

The Model T was designed by Childe Harold Wills, and Hungarian immigrants Joseph A. Galamb and Eugene Farkas. Henry Love, C. J. Smith, Gus Degner and Peter E. Martin were also part of the team. Production of the Model T began in the third quarter of 1908. Collectors today sometimes classify Model Ts by build years and refer to these as "model years", thus labeling the first Model Ts as 1909 models. This is a retroactive classification scheme; the concept of model years as we conceive it today did not exist at the time. The nominal model designation was "Model T", although design revisions did occur during the car's two decades of production.

ENGINE

The Model T had a front-mounted 2.9 L inline four-cylinder engine, producing 20 hp (15 kW), for a top speed of 64–72 km/h. According to Ford Motor Company, the Model T had fuel economy on the order of 13–21 mpg-US (16–25 mpg-imp; 18–11 L/100 km). The engine was capable of running on gasoline, kerosene, or ethanol, although the decreasing cost of gasoline and the later introduction of Prohibition made ethanol an impractical fuel for most users.

The ignition system used an unusual trembler coil system to drive the spark plugs, as used for stationary gas engines, rather than the expensive magnetos that were used on other cars. This ignition also made the Model T more flexible as to the quality or type of fuel it used. The need for a starting battery and also Ford's use of an unusual AC alternator located inside the flywheel housing encouraged the adoption of electric lighting (standard fitment as of 1915), rather than oil or acetylene lamps, but it also delayed the adoption of electric starting, which was not offered until 1919.

TRANSMISSION AND DRIVE TRAIN

The Model T was a rear-wheel drive vehicle. Its transmission was a planetary gear type billed as "three speed". In today's terms it would be considered a two-speed, because one of the three speeds was reverse.

The Model T's transmission was controlled with three foot pedals and a lever that was mounted to the road side of the driver's seat. The throttle was controlled with a lever on the steering wheel. The left pedal was used to engage the gear. With the floor lever in either the mid position or fully forward and the pedal pressed and held forward the car entered low gear. When held in an intermediate position the car was in neutral. If the left pedal was released, the Model T entered high gear, but only when the lever was fully forward – in any other position the pedal would only move up as far as the central neutral position. This allowed the car to be held in neutral while the driver cranked the engine by hand. The car could thus cruise without the driver having to press any of the pedals. There was no separate clutch pedal.

When the car was in neutral, the middle pedal was used to engage reverse gear, and the right pedal operated the transmission brake – there were no separate brakes on the wheels. The floor lever also controlled the parking brake, which was activated by pulling the lever all the way back. This doubled as an emergency brake.

Although it was uncommon, the drive bands could fall out of adjustment, allowing the car to creep, particularly when cold, adding another hazard to attempting to start the car: a person cranking the engine could be forced backward while still holding the crank as the car crept forward, although it was nominally in neutral. As the car utilized a wet clutch, this condition could also occur in cold weather, when the thickened oil prevents the clutch discs from slipping freely. Power reached the differential through a single universal joint attached to a torque tube which drove the rear axle; some models (typically trucks, but available for cars as well) could be equipped with an optional two-speed Ruckstell rear axle shifted by a floor-mounted lever which provided an underdrive gear for easier hill climbing. All gears were vanadium steel running in an oil bath.

Transmission bands and linings

Two main types of band lining material were used:

Cotton – Cotton woven linings were the original type fitted and specified by Ford. Generally, the cotton lining is "kinder" to the drum surface, with damage to the drum caused only by the retaining rivets scoring the drum surface. Although this in itself did not pose a problem, a dragging band resulting from improper adjustment caused overheating transmission and engine, diminished power, and – in the case of cotton linings – rapid destruction of the band lining.

Wood – Wooden linings were originally offered as a "longer life" accessory part during the life of the Model T. They were a single piece of steam bent cottonwood[citation needed] fitted to the normal Model T transmission band. These bands give a very different feel to the pedals, with much more of a "bite" feel. The sensation is of a definite "grip" of the drum and seemed to noticeably increase the feel, in particular of the brake drum.

SUSPENSION AND WHEELS

Model T suspension employed a transversely mounted semi-elliptical spring for each of the front and rear beam axles which allowed a great deal of wheel movement to cope with the dirt roads of the time.

The front axle was drop forged as a single piece of vanadium steel. Ford twisted many axles through eight full rotations (2880 degrees) and sent them to dealers to be put on display to demonstrate its superiority. The Model T did not have a modern service brake. The right foot pedal applied a band around a drum in the transmission, thus stopping the rear wheels from turning. The previously mentioned parking brake lever operated band brakes acting on the inside of the rear brake drums, which were an integral part of the rear wheel hubs. Optional brakes that acted on the outside of the brake drums were available from aftermarket suppliers.

Wheels were wooden artillery wheels, with steel welded-spoke wheels available in 1926 and 1927.

Tires were pneumatic clincher type, 76 cm in diameter, 8.9 cm wide in the rear, 7.5 cm wide in the front. Clinchers needed much higher pressure than today's tires, typically 60 psi (410 kPa), to prevent them from leaving the rim at speed. Horseshoe nails on the roads, together with the high pressure, made flat tires a common problem.

Balloon tires became available in 1925. They were 53 cm × 11 cm all around. Balloon tires were closer in design to today's tires, with steel wires reinforcing the tire bead, making lower pressure possible – typically 35 psi (240 kPa) – giving a softer ride. The old nomenclature for tire size changed from measuring the outer diameter to measuring the rim diameter so 530 mm (rim diameter) × 110 mm (tire width) wheels has about the same outer diameter as 76 cm clincher tires. All tires in this time period used an inner tube to hold the pressurized air; "tubeless" tires were not generally in use until much later.

Wheelbase was 254 cm and standard tread width was 142 cm; 152 cm tread could be obtained on special order, "for Southern roads", identical to the pre-Civil War track gauge for many railroads in the former Confederacy.

COLORS

By 1918, half of all the cars in the US were Model Ts. However, it was a monolithic bloc; Ford wrote in his autobiography that in 1909 he told his management team that in the future “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black”.

However, in the first years of production from 1908 to 1913, the Model T was not available in black but rather only gray, green, blue, and red. Green was available for the touring cars, town cars, coupes, and Landaulets. Gray was only available for the town cars, and red only for the touring cars. By 1912, all cars were being painted midnight blue with black fenders. It was only in 1914 that the "any color so long as it is black" policy was finally implemented. It is often stated that Ford suggested the use of black from 1914 to 1926 due to the cheap cost and durability of black paint. During the lifetime production of the Model T, over 30 types of black paint were used on various parts of the car. These were formulated to satisfy the different means of applying the paint to the various parts, and had distinct drying times, depending on the part, paint, and method of drying.

BODY

Although Ford classified the Model T with a single letter designation throughout its entire life and made no distinction by model years, there were enough significant changes to the body over the production life that the car can be classified into five distinct generations. Among the most immediately visible and identifiable changes were in the hood and cowl areas, although many other modifications were made to the vehicle.

1909–1914 – T1 – Characterized by a nearly straight, five-sided hood, with a flat top containing a center hinge and two side sloping sections containing the folding hinges. The firewall was flat from the windshield down with no distinct cowl.

1915–1916 – T2 – The hood design was nearly the same five sided design with the only obvious change being the addition of louvers to the vertical sides. There was a significant change to the cowl area with the windshield relocated significantly behind the firewall and joined with a compound contoured cowl panel.

1917–1923 – T3 – The hood design was changed to a tapered design with a curved top. the folding hinges were now located at the joint between the flat sides and the curved top. This is sometime referred to as the low hood to distinguish if from the later hoods. The back edge of the hood now met the front edge of the cowl panel so that no part of the flat firewall was visible outside of the hood. This design was used the longest and during the highest production years accounting for about half of the total number of Model T's built.

1923–1925 – T4 – This change was made during the 1923 calendar year so models built earlier in the year have the older design while later vehicles have the newer design. The taper of the hood was increased and the rear section at the firewall is about an inch taller and several inches wider than the previous design. While this is a relatively minor change, the parts between the third and fourth generation are not interchangeable.

1926–1927 – T5 – This design change made the greatest difference in the appearance of the car. The hood was again enlarged with the cowl panel no longer a compound curve and blended much more with the line of the hood. The distance between the firewall and the windshield was also increased significantly. This style is sometimes referred to as the high hood.

The styling on the fifth generation was a preview for the following Model A but the two models are visually quite different as the body on the A was much wider and had curved doors as opposed to the flat doors on the T.

DIVERSE APPLICATIONS

When the Model T was designed and introduced, the infrastructure of the world was quite different from today's. Pavement was a rarity except for sidewalks and a few big-city streets. (The sense of the term "pavement" as equivalent with "sidewalk" comes from that era, when streets and roads were generally dirt and sidewalks were a paved way to walk along them.) Agriculture was the occupation of many people. Power tools were scarce outside factories, as were power sources for them; electrification, like pavement, was found usually only in larger towns. Rural electrification and motorized mechanization were embryonic in some regions and nonexistent in most. Henry Ford oversaw the requirements and design of the Model T based on contemporary realities. Consequently, the Model T was (intentionally) almost as much a tractor and portable engine as it was an automobile. It has always been well regarded for its all-terrain abilities and ruggedness. It could travel a rocky, muddy farm lane, cross a shallow stream, climb a steep hill, and be parked on the other side to have one of its wheels removed and a pulley fastened to the hub for a flat belt to drive a bucksaw, thresher, silo blower, conveyor for filling corn cribs or haylofts, baler, water pump, electrical generator, and many other applications. One unique application of the Model T was shown in the October 1922 issue of Fordson Farmer magazine. It showed a minister who had transformed his Model T into a mobile church, complete with small organ.

During this era, entire automobiles (including thousands of Model Ts) were even hacked apart by their owners and reconfigured into custom machinery permanently dedicated to a purpose, such as homemade tractors and ice saws,. Dozens of aftermarket companies sold prefab kits to facilitate the T's conversion from car to tractor. The Model T had been around for a decade before the Fordson tractor became available (1917–18), and many Ts had been converted for field use. (For example, Harry Ferguson, later famous for his hitches and tractors, worked on Eros Model T tractor conversions before he worked with Fordsons and others.) During the next decade, Model T tractor conversion kits were harder to sell, as the Fordson and then the Farmall (1924), as well as other light and affordable tractors, served the farm market. But during the Depression (1930s), Model T tractor conversion kits had a resurgence, because by then used Model Ts and junkyard parts for them were plentiful and cheap.

Like many popular car engines of the era, the Model T engine was also used on home-built aircraft (such as the Pietenpol Sky Scout) and motorboats.

An armored car variant (called the FT-B) was developed in Poland in 1920.

Many Model Ts were converted into vehicles which could travel across heavy snows with kits on the rear wheels (sometimes with an extra pair of rear-mounted wheels and two sets of continuous track to mount on the now-tandemed rear wheels, essentially making it a half-track) and skis replacing the front wheels. They were popular for rural mail delivery for a time. The common name for these conversions of cars and small trucks was "snowflyers". These vehicles were extremely popular in the northern reaches of Canada where factories were set up to produce them.

A number of companies built Model T–based railcars. In The Great Railway Bazaar, Paul Theroux mentions a rail journey in India on such a railcar. The New Zealand Railways Department's RM class included a few.

PRODUCTION

MASS PRODUCTION

The knowledge and skills needed by a factory worker were reduced to 84 areas. When introduced, the T used the building methods typical at the time, assembly by hand, and production was small. The Ford Piquette Avenue Plant could not keep up with demand for the Model T, and only 11 cars were built there during the first full month of production. More and more machines were used to reduce the complexity within the 84 defined areas. In 1910, after assembling nearly 12,000 Model Ts, Henry Ford moved the company to the new Highland Park complex.

As a result, Ford's cars came off the line in three-minute intervals, much faster than previous methods, reducing production time by a factor of eight (requiring 12.5 hours before, 93 minutes afterwards), while using less manpower. By 1914, the assembly process for the Model T had been so streamlined it took only 93 minutes to assemble a car. That year Ford produced more cars than all other automakers combined. The Model T was a great commercial success, and by the time Henry made his 10 millionth car, 50 percent of all cars in the world were Fords. It was so successful that Ford did not purchase any advertising between 1917 and 1923, instead it became so famous that people now considered it a norm; more than 15 million Model Ts were manufactured, reaching a rate of 9,000 to 10,000 cars a day in 1925, or 2 million annually, more than any other model of its day, at a price of just $260 (or about $3,240 in 2016 dollars). Model T production was finally surpassed by the Volkswagen Beetle on February 17, 1972.

Henry Ford's ideological approach to Model T design was one of getting it right and then keeping it the same; he believed the Model T was all the car a person would, or could, ever need. As other companies offered comfort and styling advantages, at competitive prices, the Model T lost market share. Design changes were not as few as the public perceived, but the idea of an unchanging model was kept intact. Eventually, on May 26, 1927, Ford Motor Company ceased US production and began the changeovers required to produce the Model A. Some of the other Model T factories in the world continued a short while.

Model T engines continued to be produced until August 4, 1941. Almost 170,000 were built after car production stopped, as replacement engines were required to service already produced vehicles. Racers and enthusiasts, forerunners of modern hot rodders, used the Model T's block to build popular and cheap racing engines, including Cragar, Navarro, and famously the Frontenacs ("Fronty Fords") of the Chevrolet brothers, among many others.

The Model T employed some advanced technology, for example, its use of vanadium steel alloy. Its durability was phenomenal, and many Model Ts and their parts remain in running order nearly a century later. Although Henry Ford resisted some kinds of change, he always championed the advancement of materials engineering, and often mechanical engineering and industrial engineering.

In 2002, Ford built a final batch of six Model Ts as part of their 2003 centenary celebrations. These cars were assembled from remaining new components and other parts produced from the original drawings. The last of the six was used for publicity purposes in the UK.

Although Ford no longer manufactures parts for the Model T, many parts are still manufactured through private companies as replicas to service the thousands of Model Ts still in operation today. On May 26, 1927 Henry Ford and his son Edsel, drove the 15 millionth Model T out of the factory. This marked the famous automobile's official last day of production at the main factory.

PRICE AND PRODUCTION

The assembly line system allowed Ford to sell his cars at a price lower than his competitors due to the efficiency of the system. As he continued to fine-tune the system, he was able to keep reducing his costs. As his volume increased, he was able to also lower the prices due to fixed costs being spread over a larger number of vehicles. Other factors affected the price such as material costs and design changes.

The figures below are US production numbers compiled by R.E. Houston, Ford Production Department, August 3, 1927. The figures between 1909 and 1920 are for Ford's fiscal year. From 1909 to 1913, the fiscal year was from October 1 to September 30 the following calendar year with the year number being the year it ended in. For the 1914 fiscal year, the year was October 1, 1913 through July 31, 1914. Starting in August 1914, and through the end of the Model T era, the fiscal year was August 1 through July 31. Beginning with January 1920 the figures are for the calendar year.

RECYCLING

Henry Ford used wood scraps from the production of Model Ts to make charcoal. Originally named Ford Charcoal, the name was changed to Kingsford Charcoal after Ford's brother-in-law E. G. Kingsford brokered the selection of the new charcoal plant site. Lumber for production of the Model T came from the same location, built in 1920 called the Ford Iron Mountain Plant, which incorporated a sawmill where lumber from Ford purchased land in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan was sent to the River Rouge Plant; scrap wood was then returned for charcoal production.

FIRST GLOBAL CAR

The Ford Model T was the first automobile built by various countries simultaneously since they were being produced in Walkerville, Canada and in Trafford Park, Greater Manchester, England starting in 1911 and were later assembled in Germany, Argentina, France, Spain, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Brazil, Mexico, and Japan, as well as several locations throughout the US. Ford made use of the knock-down kit concept almost from the beginning of the company as freight and production costs from Detroit had Ford assembling vehicles in major metropolitan centers of the US.

The Aeroford was an English automobile manufactured in Bayswater, London, from 1920 to 1925. It was a Model T with distinct hood and grille to make it appear to be a totally different design, what later would have been called badge engineering. The Aeroford sold from £288 in 1920, dropping to £168-214 by 1925. It was available as a two-seater, four-seater, or coupé.

ADVERTISING AND MARKETING

Ford created a massive publicity machine in Detroit to ensure every newspaper carried stories and advertisements about the new product. Ford's network of local dealers made the car ubiquitous in virtually every city in North America. As independent dealers, the franchises grew rich and publicized not just the Ford but the very concept of automobiling; local motor clubs sprang up to help new drivers and to explore the countryside. Ford was always eager to sell to farmers, who looked on the vehicle as a commercial device to help their business. Sales skyrocketed – several years posted around 100 percent gains on the previous year.

CAR CLUBS

Cars built before 1919 are classed as veteran cars and later models as vintage cars. Today, four main clubs exist to support the preservation and restoration of these cars: the Model T Ford Club International, the Model T Ford Club of America[51] and the combined clubs of Australia. With many chapters of clubs around the world, the Model T Ford Club of Victoria[52] has a membership with a considerable number of uniquely Australian cars. (Australia produced its own car bodies, and therefore many differences occurred between the Australian bodied tourers and the US/Canadian cars.) In the UK, the Model T Ford Register of Great Britain celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2010. Many steel Model T parts are still manufactured today, and even fiberglass replicas of their distinctive bodies are produced, which are popular for T-bucket style hot rods (as immortalized in the Jan and Dean surf music song "Bucket T", which was later recorded by The Who). In 1949, more than twenty years after the end of production, 200,000 Model Ts were registered in the United States. In 2008, it was estimated that about 50,000 to 60,000 Ford Model Ts remain roadworthy.

WIKIPEDIA

. . . Thanks to the Lake Michigan's "lake effect snow machine", the cabin woke up inside a snow globe! A great way to start the new year! The snow had stopped by Cadillac, and was nonexistent by the time I got back to Muskegon!

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.

Welcome to Newham. Even if you miss the sign, you can tell you're here because half the streetlamps are at crooked angles.

On the face of things the majority of London's urban sprawl, be it composed of older inner-city areas cobbled together or suburban developments that run into one another, is fairly subtle in it's contiguousness. Boroughs run into one another on the turn of a street corner or the crossing of a railway bridge, but little really changes from one to the another by simply crossing a border - the street lighting may look different, the bins a different colour, victorian houses may gradually give way to semis and 1930s council estates may give way to 1960s examples, a welcome sign may give it away on a main road, but it is rarely abrupt. Most of London's boroughs contain the contrasts within themselves - compare the Brent of Queens Park and Harlesden to that of North Wembley and Sudbury, and the proximate pockets of wealth and deprivation in each.

Newham, in this respect as well as many others, is of a different order to most other areas of London - it is more or less it's own island, and a relatively consistent one, cut off from surrounding areas by the Thames to the south, the lower Lea valley to the west, the River Roding and elevated North Circular to the east and the bottom reaches of Epping Forest to the north. Cross-border passages over many of these are scarce (four road crossings towards Central London to the west, three to the east) to nonexistent (no road crossings at all over the Thames, save for the Woolwich Ferry). Most approaches to Newham, either by rail or road, mean crossing some sort of uninhabited industrial landscape, green expanse or tunnel before hitting the dense mass of estates and terraces that make up the borough, invariably with a bit of a bump - if ducking under the North Circular from Ilford to Manor Park is to make a jump from suburbia to scruffy pseudo-outer-inner London purgatory, the approach from Poplar to Canning Town is at best a marginal improvement, but somehow a bleaker introduction. Here, where Leytonstone Road crosses the border with Waltham Forest, is one of the few upholders of the general rule in the Newham exception, as part of the 3/4-mile wide strip of Victorian terraces that link up southern Leyton and South Leytonstone to Stratford and Forest Gate. They're quite similar environments.

Historically, Newham has proven uniformly and stubbornly resistant to gentrification. In the 1990s, on old-money measures it leapfrogged with Hackney as the most deprived borough in the country - now, out of 354 it is 6th from the bottom, beaten in London only by Hackney and Tower Hamlets. The speculation around Stratford in the run up to 2012 is one issue to be considered, but the regeneration getting under way in Canning Town and Custom House is, even though less discussed, almost as substantial in itself and constitutes a lot more residential demolition and rebuilding than the infill and industrial site clearances around Stratford - huge swathes of the area are disappearing already. The changes to the social fabric that will result there are less predictable, but ones that I'll watch with interest.

The Prison Ship Martyrs Monument, sometimes referred to as the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, was erected in Fort Greene Park in 1908. Designed by Stanford White, the monument consists of a 100-foot-wide-granite staircase and a 149-foot high central Doric column. The monument, actually the third on the site, marks the site of the crypt for more than 11,500 men, women and children, known as the prison ship martyrs.

During the American Revolutionary War, the British imprisoned scores of soldiers, sailors, and private citizens--many simply because they would not swear allegiance to the Crown of England. When they ran out of jail space, they began using decommissioned ships anchored in Wallabout Bay as floating prisons. Life was unbearable on the prison ships. Disease was rampant, food and water were scarce or nonexistent, and the living conditions were overcrowded and wretched. Their bodies were thrown overboard or buried in shallow graves in the sandy marshes along the shore. In 1808 the remains of the prison ship martyrs were buried in a tomb on Jackson Street (now Hudson Avenue), near the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

In 1776, the construction of Fort Putnam on the high ground that now makes up Fort Greene Park was supervised by American Major General Nathanael Greene. During the Battle of Long Island, the Continental Army surrendered the fort and retreated to Manhattan. The fort was renamed for General Greene and rebuilt for the War of 1812. In 1845, the City of Brooklyn designated the site as a public park behind the support of Walt Whitman, then editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. In 1867, landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux were engaged to redesign the park, and incorporate a new crypt for the remains of the prison ship martyrs.

The remains were moved to the park in 1873 into the newly created 25 by 11 foot brick vault. Twenty-two boxes, containing a mere fraction of total volume of remains, were interred. Towards the end of the 19th century, a diverse group of interests including the federal government, municipal and state governments, private societies, and donors, began a campaign for a permanent monument to the prison ship martyrs. In 1905 the renowned architectural firm of McKim, Mead and White was hired to design a new entrance to the crypt and a wide granite stairway leading to a plaza on top of the hill. From its center rose a freestanding Doric column crowned by a bronze lantern. President-elect William Howard Taft attended the monument’s dedication in 1908.

Sculptor Adolph Alexander Weinman (1870–1952) created the monument’s bronze pieces -- the large urn or decorative lantern (never functioning) as well as four eagles that were once mounted to the corner granite posts. The eagles were removed to storage after being repeatedly vandalized; two of them are on public display at the Arsenal, the Parks administrative headquarters on Fifth Avenue at 64th Street in Manhattan. A tablet over the entrance to tomb, also in storage now, was donated by the Tammany Society, and was originally the cornerstone of the Navy Yard vault. An elevator and stairs for the interior were installed in 1937; both were removed in 1948 after the monument was renovated by Parks. In 1970 the elevator pit was filled in.

Presently plans are being considered for the renovation of the monument, landscaping of the apex of the park and the re-installation of the conserved eagles and plaque.

The Fort Green Historic District was designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1978.

Fort Greene Historic District National Register #83001691

The Prison Ship Martyrs Monument, sometimes referred to as the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, was erected in Fort Greene Park in 1908. Designed by Stanford White, the monument consists of a 100-foot-wide-granite staircase and a 149-foot high central Doric column. The monument, actually the third on the site, marks the site of the crypt for more than 11,500 men, women and children, known as the prison ship martyrs.

During the American Revolutionary War, the British imprisoned scores of soldiers, sailors, and private citizens--many simply because they would not swear allegiance to the Crown of England. When they ran out of jail space, they began using decommissioned ships anchored in Wallabout Bay as floating prisons. Life was unbearable on the prison ships. Disease was rampant, food and water were scarce or nonexistent, and the living conditions were overcrowded and wretched. Their bodies were thrown overboard or buried in shallow graves in the sandy marshes along the shore. In 1808 the remains of the prison ship martyrs were buried in a tomb on Jackson Street (now Hudson Avenue), near the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

In 1776, the construction of Fort Putnam on the high ground that now makes up Fort Greene Park was supervised by American Major General Nathanael Greene. During the Battle of Long Island, the Continental Army surrendered the fort and retreated to Manhattan. The fort was renamed for General Greene and rebuilt for the War of 1812. In 1845, the City of Brooklyn designated the site as a public park behind the support of Walt Whitman, then editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. In 1867, landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux were engaged to redesign the park, and incorporate a new crypt for the remains of the prison ship martyrs.

The remains were moved to the park in 1873 into the newly created 25 by 11 foot brick vault. Twenty-two boxes, containing a mere fraction of total volume of remains, were interred. Towards the end of the 19th century, a diverse group of interests including the federal government, municipal and state governments, private societies, and donors, began a campaign for a permanent monument to the prison ship martyrs. In 1905 the renowned architectural firm of McKim, Mead and White was hired to design a new entrance to the crypt and a wide granite stairway leading to a plaza on top of the hill. From its center rose a freestanding Doric column crowned by a bronze lantern. President-elect William Howard Taft attended the monument’s dedication in 1908.

Sculptor Adolph Alexander Weinman (1870–1952) created the monument’s bronze pieces -- the large urn or decorative lantern (never functioning) as well as four eagles that were once mounted to the corner granite posts. The eagles were removed to storage after being repeatedly vandalized; two of them are on public display at the Arsenal, the Parks administrative headquarters on Fifth Avenue at 64th Street in Manhattan. A tablet over the entrance to tomb, also in storage now, was donated by the Tammany Society, and was originally the cornerstone of the Navy Yard vault. An elevator and stairs for the interior were installed in 1937; both were removed in 1948 after the monument was renovated by Parks. In 1970 the elevator pit was filled in.

Presently plans are being considered for the renovation of the monument, landscaping of the apex of the park and the re-installation of the conserved eagles and plaque.

The Fort Green Historic District was designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1978.

Fort Greene Historic District National Register #83001691

The Prison Ship Martyrs Monument, sometimes referred to as the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, was erected in Fort Greene Park in 1908. Designed by Stanford White, the monument consists of a 100-foot-wide-granite staircase and a 149-foot high central Doric column. The monument, actually the third on the site, marks the site of the crypt for more than 11,500 men, women and children, known as the prison ship martyrs.

During the American Revolutionary War, the British imprisoned scores of soldiers, sailors, and private citizens--many simply because they would not swear allegiance to the Crown of England. When they ran out of jail space, they began using decommissioned ships anchored in Wallabout Bay as floating prisons. Life was unbearable on the prison ships. Disease was rampant, food and water were scarce or nonexistent, and the living conditions were overcrowded and wretched. Their bodies were thrown overboard or buried in shallow graves in the sandy marshes along the shore. In 1808 the remains of the prison ship martyrs were buried in a tomb on Jackson Street (now Hudson Avenue), near the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

In 1776, the construction of Fort Putnam on the high ground that now makes up Fort Greene Park was supervised by American Major General Nathanael Greene. During the Battle of Long Island, the Continental Army surrendered the fort and retreated to Manhattan. The fort was renamed for General Greene and rebuilt for the War of 1812. In 1845, the City of Brooklyn designated the site as a public park behind the support of Walt Whitman, then editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. In 1867, landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux were engaged to redesign the park, and incorporate a new crypt for the remains of the prison ship martyrs.

The remains were moved to the park in 1873 into the newly created 25 by 11 foot brick vault. Twenty-two boxes, containing a mere fraction of total volume of remains, were interred. Towards the end of the 19th century, a diverse group of interests including the federal government, municipal and state governments, private societies, and donors, began a campaign for a permanent monument to the prison ship martyrs. In 1905 the renowned architectural firm of McKim, Mead and White was hired to design a new entrance to the crypt and a wide granite stairway leading to a plaza on top of the hill. From its center rose a freestanding Doric column crowned by a bronze lantern. President-elect William Howard Taft attended the monument’s dedication in 1908.

Sculptor Adolph Alexander Weinman (1870–1952) created the monument’s bronze pieces -- the large urn or decorative lantern (never functioning) as well as four eagles that were once mounted to the corner granite posts. The eagles were removed to storage after being repeatedly vandalized; two of them are on public display at the Arsenal, the Parks administrative headquarters on Fifth Avenue at 64th Street in Manhattan. A tablet over the entrance to tomb, also in storage now, was donated by the Tammany Society, and was originally the cornerstone of the Navy Yard vault. An elevator and stairs for the interior were installed in 1937; both were removed in 1948 after the monument was renovated by Parks. In 1970 the elevator pit was filled in.

Presently plans are being considered for the renovation of the monument, landscaping of the apex of the park and the re-installation of the conserved eagles and plaque.

The Fort Green Historic District was designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1978.

Fort Greene Historic District National Register #83001691

The Prison Ship Martyrs Monument, sometimes referred to as the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, was erected in Fort Greene Park in 1908. Designed by Stanford White, the monument consists of a 100-foot-wide-granite staircase and a 149-foot high central Doric column. The monument, actually the third on the site, marks the site of the crypt for more than 11,500 men, women and children, known as the prison ship martyrs.

During the American Revolutionary War, the British imprisoned scores of soldiers, sailors, and private citizens--many simply because they would not swear allegiance to the Crown of England. When they ran out of jail space, they began using decommissioned ships anchored in Wallabout Bay as floating prisons. Life was unbearable on the prison ships. Disease was rampant, food and water were scarce or nonexistent, and the living conditions were overcrowded and wretched. Their bodies were thrown overboard or buried in shallow graves in the sandy marshes along the shore. In 1808 the remains of the prison ship martyrs were buried in a tomb on Jackson Street (now Hudson Avenue), near the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

In 1776, the construction of Fort Putnam on the high ground that now makes up Fort Greene Park was supervised by American Major General Nathanael Greene. During the Battle of Long Island, the Continental Army surrendered the fort and retreated to Manhattan. The fort was renamed for General Greene and rebuilt for the War of 1812. In 1845, the City of Brooklyn designated the site as a public park behind the support of Walt Whitman, then editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. In 1867, landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux were engaged to redesign the park, and incorporate a new crypt for the remains of the prison ship martyrs.

The remains were moved to the park in 1873 into the newly created 25 by 11 foot brick vault. Twenty-two boxes, containing a mere fraction of total volume of remains, were interred. Towards the end of the 19th century, a diverse group of interests including the federal government, municipal and state governments, private societies, and donors, began a campaign for a permanent monument to the prison ship martyrs. In 1905 the renowned architectural firm of McKim, Mead and White was hired to design a new entrance to the crypt and a wide granite stairway leading to a plaza on top of the hill. From its center rose a freestanding Doric column crowned by a bronze lantern. President-elect William Howard Taft attended the monument’s dedication in 1908.

Sculptor Adolph Alexander Weinman (1870–1952) created the monument’s bronze pieces -- the large urn or decorative lantern (never functioning) as well as four eagles that were once mounted to the corner granite posts. The eagles were removed to storage after being repeatedly vandalized; two of them are on public display at the Arsenal, the Parks administrative headquarters on Fifth Avenue at 64th Street in Manhattan. A tablet over the entrance to tomb, also in storage now, was donated by the Tammany Society, and was originally the cornerstone of the Navy Yard vault. An elevator and stairs for the interior were installed in 1937; both were removed in 1948 after the monument was renovated by Parks. In 1970 the elevator pit was filled in.

Presently plans are being considered for the renovation of the monument, landscaping of the apex of the park and the re-installation of the conserved eagles and plaque.

The Fort Green Historic District was designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1978.

Fort Greene Historic District National Register #83001691

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NY Times, Dec. 4 2011

Colin Huggins was there with his baby grand, the one he wheels into Washington Square Park for his al fresco concerts. So were Tic and Tac, a street-performing duo, who held court in the fountain — dry for the winter. And Joe Mangrum was pouring his elaborate sand paintings on the ground near the Washington Arch.

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Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times

Kareem Barnes of Tic and Tac collected donations on Sunday.

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Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times

Joe Mangrum showed his sand paintings on Sunday.

In other words, it was a typical Sunday afternoon in the Greenwich Village park, where generations of visitors have mingled with musicians, artists, activists, poets and buskers.

Yet this fall, that urban harmony has grown dissonant as the city’s parks department has slapped summonses on the four men and other performers who put out hats or buckets, for vending in an unauthorized location — specifically, within 50 feet of a monument.

The department’s rule, one of many put in place a year ago, was intended to control commerce in the busiest parks. Under the city’s definition, vending covers not only those peddling photographs and ankle bracelets, but also performers who solicit donations.

The rule attracted little notice at first. But the enforcement in Washington Square Park in the past two months has generated summonses ranging from $250 to $1,000. And it has started a debate about the rights of parkgoers seeking refuge from the bustle of the streets versus those looking for entertainment.

At a news conference in the park on Sunday organized by NYC Park Advocates, the artists waved fistfuls of pink summonses while their advocates, including civil rights lawyers, called on the city to stop what they called harassment of the performers.

“This is a heavy-handed solution to a nonexistent problem,” said Ronald L. Kuby, one of the lawyers.

The rule is especially problematic in Washington Square Park, performers say, because there are few locations across its 10 acres that are beyond 50 feet from a memorial or fountain — whether the bust of Alexander Lyman Holley, who introduced the Bessemer steel process to this country, or the statue of the Italian liberator Giuseppe Garibaldi.

Then there is the park’s international reputation as a gathering place for folk music pioneers and the Beats.

“Washington Square is the live-music park of New York City, and it would be close to impossible for any one of us to follow these regulations,” said Mr. Huggins, who has received nine summonses with fines totaling $2,250.

But Adrian Benepe, the parks commissioner, argues that there is ample room for performers away from the monuments. And, he added, a musician who is not putting out a tin cup is welcome to sit on the edge of the fountain or under a monument.

“It’s the whole issue of the ‘tragedy of the commons,’ ” he said. “If you allow all the performers and all the vendors to do whatever they want to do, pretty soon there’s no park left for people who want to use them for quiet enjoyment. This is a way of having some control and not 18 hours of carnival-like atmosphere.”

Gary Behrens, an amateur photographer visiting from New Jersey, applauded the city’s efforts to rein in the performers. “I’m O.K. with the guitar, but the loud instruments have taken over the park,” he said.

The lawyers and advocates, however, challenged the idea that street performers were selling a product as a vendor does. And threatening a lawsuit, they faulted the city for creating what they called “First Amendment zones” through the rules.

“Is this place zany?” asked Norman Siegel, the former director of the New York Civil Liberties Union. “You bet. Public parks are quintessential public forums. Zaniness is something we should cherish and protect.”

Park visitation has soared along with the rise of tourism in the last 15 years, and with it vendors and artists interested in a lucrative market.

Mr. Benepe insisted that the rules would not scare off future music legends.

“If Bob Dylan wanted to come play there tomorrow, he could,” he said, “although he might have to move away from the fountain.”

Oddly, the dispute coincided with the 50th anniversary of the so-called Folk Riot in Washington Square Park, when the parks commissioner tried to squelch Sunday folk performances. Hundreds of musicians gathered in protest, the police were called in and a melee ensued.

In April, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg wrote a letter commemorating the Folk Riot, saying he applauded “the folk performers who changed music, our city and our world beginning half a century ago.”

The view from inside a rickshaw on my way to Old Delhi Railway Station.

Another constant in my travel writing are apologetic pleas for readers to accept the fact that I am not a miserable traveler nor do I hate everyone. I just wish so fiercely to experience other people who have a genuine interest in open discourse without a constant attempt to appear superior to me or riddling me with politically minded questions about why my country is so strange to them. The US is awesome and I am always reminded of this when I inevitably hit a point, usually two weeks into my travels, where I just want some Little Caesars. I’m sure Nepalis traveling abroad throw their hands up after a couple of weeks and just want some dal bhat. We aren’t that different. While reading a book on the train the next morning I was reminded that travel is a constant yin and yang. I’m really not a huge dick, but traveling can be stressful sometimes.

American tendencies would block an urge to openly introducing myself to another tourist who is quietly reading. Indian travelers are not equipped with this same tendency. From around the pages of my book I noticed the body of an older Indian man sheepishly lingering within my comfort bubble. After the previous evenings one-sided conversation I was in no mood to start another discussion, but I had a feeling that this gentleman was interested in a very different style of communication. I lowered my book, moved my feet, and offered the man a seat next to me. He quickly introduced himself before asking where I had originated. He was very excited to find out that I was from the States and the conversation was on a roll. He was a pathologist specializing in agriculture and his primary concern was in commercially cultivated spices. He shared many stories of the Americans who helped to found the school where he worked, the buildings that they built, the funds that they gave, and the continuing partnership between the US and his school. He was a very interesting man but his excitement to share his stories with me was blocked by his English. Although we talked for quite a while I am sure that I only ended up with about thirty to forty percent of what he was trying to get across and he left very little space in the conversation for me in the way of probing questions.

Despite our conversational short fall he was very helpful in making sure that I got off at the correct station and went to the staff several times to check and recheck that my stop was coming up. Getting myself lost in India was not on my to-do list that day and what he lacked in English he more than made up for in reading body language. The train had begun to stop more frequently and he noticed my anxiety building. He assured me that I would not miss my stop and he delivered on that promise. A conversation that I had thought would result in me banging my head against the window until I fell through and onto the tracks ended in a friendly handshake and smiles. “Enjoy your time in India and good luck in Gorakhpur,” were his parting words

A man stands for a portrait in Jaipur, India. He was very excited to see himself and would move as soon as the shutter snapped.

Gorakhpur, India is like a smaller, dumpier version of Old Delhi. This is the wild west and I am was very lost and slightly terrified newcomer. Pollution and filth stick to you the moment immediately after disembarking from the station. The only difference between Gorakhpur and Delhi is that there are almost no tourists who come through this Gorakhpur so some of the English guideposts and conveniences are nonexistent. To say that my travel plans are at times chaotic does no service to the feelings that was over me when I arrive at a destination realizing that I had left myself with little in the way of a path to follow. I had prepared nothing to help me get from the station to a bus that would usher me to the promised land of Nepal. I was waiting for a Marty McFly -Back to the Future III one of the greatest movies of all time- moment to befall me, but I somehow managed to walk in the relatively correct direction and by way of hand signals, stick figure drawings and the always trusted dollar I managed to get within striking range of a bus to the border.

My bus was started and ready to go. I had arrived as if delivered by some grand design, but in fact it was my continual good luck that had dropped me at the door of the bus that would take me to the border. I was not on time. The bus was running late. The very new and very nice bag that was the safe keeping travel vessel of my new camera gear was stowed away in the bowels of a dirty, rusty and barely attached boot compartment at the rear of the bus with, what I could only assume were lead bricks, stacked on top. The seat that I had so graciously been given to me was at the back of the bus. India is not built for people my size. It is built for the 1.2 billion small people that live there. The standard seats on a local bus are not very comfortable. The back of the bus is reserved for the smallest, most petite of the subcontinent. Anyone approaching a standard sized human in the US would be incredibly uncomfortable back there. I got a ticket for the bench in the back. Fucking fuck.

This would not have been so bad if not for the woman who had purchased the seat directly in front of me and was determined to take up as much space as she could manage. She placed a wooden plank between the last two bench seats, thus closing off the bench in the back from the front of the bus. My knees became her back rest while the seats on her sides became her cup holders and it appeared to be nap time. This bitch took up every inch of space that her small body could possibly occupy. When a person is so rude that the people on a local Indian bus want to murder you have truly reached the peak of Mount Dickbag. I was in a clown bus on the way to a three ringer circus that was a grueling four hours away.

A holy man in Jaipur, India

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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

www.child-adolescent-adult-development.info/playtime-for-...

Playtime for Grown Ups

By Calvin A. Colarusso, M.D.

Clinical Professor of Psychiatry,

University of California at San Diego

(12/07/2011)

Parents always tell kids to go out and play. But did you ever think that an adult, an adult and child psychiatrist no less, would tell YOU, the adult, to go out and play?

Well, Dr. Colarusso is doing just that. In this book he explains both the nature of play and the dynamics which make play such an essential part of human experience throughout the life cycle.

The message is get off that coach, get out of that rocking chair, and go and play. Adults need to play, maybe not as much as children do, but for the same reasons. Play is a way of mastering stress and trauma. It serves the same purpose for children and adults. The stresses of adulthood are in their own way more daunting than those of childhood. And we all have a need to master the traumatic overstimulation that characterizes our busy lives, to say nothing of the internal pressures that continually force us to deal with issues, relationships and experiences from the past and present.

Go and hit that great golf shot, watch an action movie, or see a good romance film and relive a youthful love affair. Join the Monday night football crowd. Reread Portnoy's Complaint. Take in your son's, daughter's or grandchild's soccer game. Buy some new sexual toys. They're all examples of how adults can and should play. Whatever you do, remember that play should be fun. But it's also a marvelous way to master the stresses of life. Just do it!

Playtime for Adults gives a clear understanding of the various forms of play available to adults and the reasons why play is important to mental and physical health, throughout adulthood.

This book includes:

An understanding of what motivates play

The role of thought and action in play

The different levels of play in childhood and adulthood

The relationships between creativity and play

The organizers of play in adulthood.

Sexual play

Understanding the nature of play and doing more of it will lead to a happier life.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Calvin A. Colarusso, M.D. is a board-certified Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California at San Diego, where he served for two decades as Director of the Child Psychiatry Residency Training Program.

He is also a Training and Supervising Analyst in child and adult psychoanalysis at the San Diego Psychoanalytic Institute and an internationally known lecturer to students, professionals, and the general public on many aspects of normal and pathologic development.

His books have been published in English, Korean, and Spanish. See amzn.to/calcolarusso.

Amazon Review

5.0 out of 5 stars hepful and practical, great info!, December 11, 2011

By Angela Johnson - See all my reviewsThis review is from: Playtime for Grown Ups (Kindle Edition)

"As a mother a of three active children, this was a book that I desperately needed to read. My life has been about them and only them since my oldest was born and although I don't regret anything for even a second, I have neglected myself for quite some time. This has led to me and the hubby not really connecting and enjoying each other like we had in the past. Of course if you ask him he won't admit it, but "play-time" for us has been nonexistent in our lives."

"The advice in this book has been wonderful and just by reading it, I've already started to feel better and more care-free. The author has a very friendly and uplifting style of writing, and his insights and ideas on adding creativity and play-time into the adults life are both practical and realistic. His intelligent thoughts on sexual play were probably my favorite part of the book, great ideas for keeping Mom emotionally and physically balanced ; )"

"Great book, I can't begin to recommend it enough. My husband has already agreed to read it too, I got him very interested with some of the ideas I told him about."

The Bangor and Aroostook boxcar brightens the scene on this gloomy day as this short Long Island Rail Road local makes its way railroad west on the LIRR Oyster Bay Branch between the Glen Street and Sea Cliff stations in Glen Cove, New York. I'm including this in my Burbank Branch set because maybe that SP boxcar visited Gemco sometime in its life. Maybe. Freight activity was relatively rare on this line when this photo was taken in the 1970s; in 2008, it's completely nonexistent, as far as I know.

Facebook posting of an earlier view of this stretch of track: [www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2299316360134448&set=...]

ABSOLUTELY BETTER ON BLACK

Uno stemma tra due lembi d'un ampio manto drappeggiato, e dentro lo stemma s'aprivano altri due lembi di manto con in mezzo uno stemma più piccolo, [...] e in mezzo ci doveva essere chissà che cosa, ma non si riusciva a scorgere.

da Il cavaliere inesistente di Italo Calvino

from The Nonexistent Knight by Italo Calvino

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

This photos been taken during the last Christmas (25th december 2011) in Capracotta (Molise), Italy. At that time it was a very cold snow storm in the little village at 1421 m (A.M.S.L). My cousin (that you see in this photos) was wearing a traditional cloak from Capracotta called "Cuappot a Rota", so I could not resist to ask him to go out in the snow storm with this scenic and traditional cloak! :) It was very cold and windy so I was compleatily freezing, but I'm pretty satisfied with the result! :)

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

Posters and Art Prints are now available @ ArtFlakes

Copyright © Francesca Alviani All rights reserved

Thanks for visiting!

For the end result, see www.flickr.com/photos/31322479@N04/17492077660/in/datepos...

Thumb Sucking is a behavior found in humans, chimpanzees, and other primates.[1] It usually involves placing the thumb into the mouth and rhythmically repeating sucking contact for a prolonged duration. It can also be accomplished with any piece of skin within reach (such as the big toe) and is considered to be soothing and therapeutic for the person.

At birth, babies will reflexively suck any object placed in its mouth; this is the sucking reflex responsible for breastfeeding. This reflex disappears at about four months of age; thumb sucking is not purely an instinctive behavior and therefore can last much longer. Moreover, ultrasound scans have revealed that thumb sucking can start before birth, as early as 15 weeks from conception; whether this behavior is voluntary or due to random movements of the fetus in the womb is not conclusively known.

Children suck on objects (including pacifiers) to soothe themselves; sucking is one of a baby’s natural reflexes and completely typical for babies and young children.[2] As a child develops the habit, they will usually develop a "favorite" finger to suck on, in much the same way they develop a favorite hand to write with. It is not known if the preference for a hand to suck on affects handedness in any way, or vice versa.

Thumb sucking can start as early as 15 weeks of growth in the uterus or within months of being born. Prior to 12 weeks, the fetus has webbed digits. Most thumb-suckers stop gradually by the time they are five years old. Nevertheless, many older children will retain the habit, some into adulthood. Thumb sucking in adults may be due to stereotypic movement disorder another psychiatric disorder, or simply habit continuation where the adult thumbsucker can avoid the social implications by indulging stealthfully or by ignoring any outside reaction. For many who have continued to adulthood occlusal affects were either minimal or nonexistent.

wikipedia.org

View On Large Format

Though personalized art appeared during World War I, and occasionally grew to incorporate the entire aircraft, most pilots carried a saying or a slogan, or a family crest, or squadron symbol. Some were named, but nose art was not common. During World War II, nose art not only saw its true beginnings, but its heyday.

No one knows exactly who started nose art first--it appeared with both the British and the Germans around the first time, with RAF pilots painting Hitler being kicked or skulls and crossbones on their aircraft, while German nose art was usually a personal symbol, named for a girlfriend or adopting a mascot (such as Adolf Galland using Mickey Mouse, something Walt Disney likely didn't approve of). It would be with the Americans, and a lesser extent the Canadians, that nose art truly became common--and started including its most famous forms, which was usually half-naked or completely naked women. This was not always true, but it often was.

The quality of nose art depended on the squadron or wing artist. Some of it was rather crude, while others were equal to the finest pinup artists in the United States, such as Alberto Vargas. For men thousands of miles away from home and lonely, a curvaceous blonde on a B-17 or a P-51 made that loneliness a bit easier. Others thought naked women were a little crude, and just limited themselves to names, or depicted animals, cartoon characters, or patriotic emblems, or caricatures of the Axis dictators they were fighting.

Generally speaking, there was little censorship, with squadron and group commanders rarely intervening on names or pictures; the pilots themselves practiced self-censorship, with profanity almost unknown, and full-frontal nudity nearly nonexistent. After the loss of a B-17 named "Murder Inc.," which the Germans captured and used to make propaganda, the 8th Air Force, at least, set up a nose art committee that reviewed the nose art of aircraft--but even it rarely wielded its veto. For the most part, nose art was limited only by the crew's imagination and the artist's ability. The British tended to stay away from the lurid nudes of the Americans, though the Canadians adopted them as well. (The Axis also did not use nose art in this fashion, and neither did the Soviets, who usually confined themselves to patriotic slogans on their aircraft, such as "For Stalin!" or "In the Spirit of the Motherland!")

When World War II ended, so did nose art, for the most part. In the peacetime, postwar armed forces, the idea of having naked women were wives and children could see it was not something the postwar USAF or Navy wanted, and when it wasn't scrapped, it was painted over. A few units (especially those away from home and family) still allowed it, but it would take Korea to begin a renaissance of nose art.

One of two P-51Ds on display at the War Eagles Air Museum in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, "The Friendly Ghost" is 44-84658, painted in the postwar colors of the 136th Fighter Group (Texas ANG) at Love Field, Texas. As was common for any stateside USAF units, any nose art was very tame compared to wartime overseas aircraft: "The Friendly Ghost" carries a rather family-friendly Casper as its nose art. The use of "Friendly Ghost" rather than Casper was that, when the character first came out in 1945, he was not known as Casper. The "Friendly Ghost" is part of the War Eagles Air Museum in Santa Teresa, New Mexico.

www.child-adolescent-adult-development.info/playtime-for-...

Playtime for Grown Ups

By Calvin A. Colarusso, M.D.

Clinical Professor of Psychiatry,

University of California at San Diego

(12/07/2011)

Parents always tell kids to go out and play. But did you ever think that an adult, an adult and child psychiatrist no less, would tell YOU, the adult, to go out and play?

Well, Dr. Colarusso is doing just that. In this book he explains both the nature of play and the dynamics which make play such an essential part of human experience throughout the life cycle.

The message is get off that coach, get out of that rocking chair, and go and play. Adults need to play, maybe not as much as children do, but for the same reasons. Play is a way of mastering stress and trauma. It serves the same purpose for children and adults. The stresses of adulthood are in their own way more daunting than those of childhood. And we all have a need to master the traumatic overstimulation that characterizes our busy lives, to say nothing of the internal pressures that continually force us to deal with issues, relationships and experiences from the past and present.

Go and hit that great golf shot, watch an action movie, or see a good romance film and relive a youthful love affair. Join the Monday night football crowd. Reread Portnoy's Complaint. Take in your son's, daughter's or grandchild's soccer game. Buy some new sexual toys. They're all examples of how adults can and should play. Whatever you do, remember that play should be fun. But it's also a marvelous way to master the stresses of life. Just do it!

Playtime for Adults gives a clear understanding of the various forms of play available to adults and the reasons why play is important to mental and physical health, throughout adulthood.

This book includes:

An understanding of what motivates play

The role of thought and action in play

The different levels of play in childhood and adulthood

The relationships between creativity and play

The organizers of play in adulthood.

Sexual play

Understanding the nature of play and doing more of it will lead to a happier life.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Calvin A. Colarusso, M.D. is a board-certified Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California at San Diego, where he served for two decades as Director of the Child Psychiatry Residency Training Program.

He is also a Training and Supervising Analyst in child and adult psychoanalysis at the San Diego Psychoanalytic Institute and an internationally known lecturer to students, professionals, and the general public on many aspects of normal and pathologic development.

His books have been published in English, Korean, and Spanish. See amzn.to/calcolarusso.

Amazon Review

5.0 out of 5 stars hepful and practical, great info!, December 11, 2011

By Angela Johnson - See all my reviewsThis review is from: Playtime for Grown Ups (Kindle Edition)

"As a mother a of three active children, this was a book that I desperately needed to read. My life has been about them and only them since my oldest was born and although I don't regret anything for even a second, I have neglected myself for quite some time. This has led to me and the hubby not really connecting and enjoying each other like we had in the past. Of course if you ask him he won't admit it, but "play-time" for us has been nonexistent in our lives."

"The advice in this book has been wonderful and just by reading it, I've already started to feel better and more care-free. The author has a very friendly and uplifting style of writing, and his insights and ideas on adding creativity and play-time into the adults life are both practical and realistic. His intelligent thoughts on sexual play were probably my favorite part of the book, great ideas for keeping Mom emotionally and physically balanced ; )"

"Great book, I can't begin to recommend it enough. My husband has already agreed to read it too, I got him very interested with some of the ideas I told him about."

Wat Ong Teu Mahawihan (Temple of the Heavy Buddha) is one of many Buddhist Monasteries that are present in the city of Vientiane in Laos. This name is given to the temple due to the large, bronze Phra Ong Teu Buddha image that is present within the temple: the largest Buddha in Vientiane. This temple was initially constructed by King Settathirat I in the 16th century (known as the golden age of Buddhism in Laos) when Laos was being bombarded by the Burmese, but was later demolished during a foreign invasion. Thus, it may have gone through many reconstructions during the 19th or 20th century to attain the appearance it has today.

Though this temple is created in Vientiane, it has the basic shape for what is known as the ‘Luang Prabang I style’ with its scare use of brickwork and rectangular-like body.

Wat Ong Teu is said to have been placed along a cardinal point in accordance with three other temples, but that may just be coincidental.

ORIGIN

After commanding for the relocation of the capital of Laos from the city of Luang Prabang to Vientiane, King Setthathirat I produced many monasteries such as Wat That Luang and Wat Phra Kaew. The reason this particular wat (Lao for temple) was built was because Setthathirat I desired to create the Phra Ong Teu image that would be placed within it, and to have it as his person living quarters. There would be six other sculptures of this image present in other monasteries, but Wat Ong Teu Mahawihan contains the first of them. Since this time period is known as the golden age, the wat would evolve into a complex with a sim (ordination hall), a ho rackhang (bell tower), a ho kong (drum tower), a that (stupa), and a kuti (monks’ living quarters). Each of these parts of the complex all share the similar artistic motif of the architecture of the central wat, which is discussed later.

The original use of this wat was for ceremonies of allegiance to the king. However, in the 17th century, Souligna Vongsa as king transformed this temple into a Buddhist learning center in order to ‘teach, enlighten and inspire worshippers.’ In other words, it has become a school for monks coming from around Southeast Asia to study the dhamma. This becomes apparent because surrounding countries of Laos sent their monks to Vientiane to study this religion. Such a function is more understandable of Wat Ong Teu since there are many details that give the suggestion of a learning center.

RECONSTRUCTION

When Siam sacked Laos in 1827-28 as a punishment for almost all of the monasteries in Laos, including Wat Ong Teu, were destroyed. This was only made worse afterwards when the Ho bandits tried sack Vientiane again to take gold from Wat Ong Teu and others. In 1900, following the establishment of the Franco-Siamese treaty in 1843, the French chose Vientiane as their capital and started the reconstruction of its monasteries including Wat Ong Teu. As an addition, the French may have also created a school, in the same format and appearance as the rest of the complex to further exemplify the function of Wat Ong Teu as a place of study. The Lao Buddhist Institute was made in 1929 and still functions today as a school for the Theravada Buddhist religion.

ARCHITECTURE

In retrospect, the influence on the style of the original temple can be traced predominantly to India, though not directly. Indochina was part of the sphere of influence of India, known by George Coedès as the ‘Indianization of Southeast Asia.’ The religion and customs of Indian civilization came ‘thoroughly yet peacefully’ to the people of this region, especially due to marriage between Indian men and local women. Laos however, was a nonexistent country during this time. The kingdom of Lan Xang (‘Land of a million elephants’) wasn’t established until the mid-13th century of the common era just years after all direct contact with India was completely diminished. Instead, the original Wat Ong Teu took its traits from other mixed ideas of architecture from surrounding countries that were established earlier than the 13th century. In essence, the variant notions of these Southeastern Asian countries on the Theravada Buddhist architecture of India, such as Cambodia and Siam (present day Thailand), influenced the ideas of how Wat Ong Teu would be depicted. However, even though Laos borrowed traditions from these other cultures, the 16th century turned a new leaf for the Lao people in the form of a golden age. Thus, Wat Ong Teu has most of its own Lao Buddhist features and only minor details of surrounding influences.

After the temple’s destruction, some of the techniques used to create it were lost, but much of it wasn’t forgotten. Instead, modern techniques were blended in with the old during the temple’s reconstruction, especially in what was used to fortify the walls and roof. The result became a rich new style that is exclusive to Lao architecture. This primarily is because the modern reconstruction completed by the French kept sincere adherence to these Lao notions already established on temple aesthetics, with some artistic liberties since Laos at this time was only a protectorate of France.

ENTRY GATE

This multi-tiered archway serves as the entrance into the complex where the temple is located. It is miniature compared to that of Pha That Luang. The functionality of this seemingly simple archway is similar to that of the torana, or gateway, of Indian culture. The torana served as the passageway from secular ground to sacred ground. The only difference is that this archway does not have any images for which a person can meditate and it doesn’t involve circumambulating a stupa. This characteristic may be present in all the temples and stupas that exist in Laos, especially at King Setthathirat’s more famous architectural creation, Pha That Luang.

MAIN ENTRANCE

The entrance to Wat Ong Teu is known to have a good amount of eccentricities that are indigenous only to Laos and no other Buddhist temple in Asia. Just before going up the stairs at the front of the temple, one can find the frieze that is exceedingly baroque in detail, highlighting this Lao style. The green backdrop shimmers as many carved and gilded vine leaves curve in no apparent order or pattern. This motif is repeated throughout the whole front part of the temple, even surrounding the six small Buddhas that are just below the frieze. This foliage may be an allusion to the lotus flower which is an aniconic symbol of the Buddha. Another Lao characteristic of monasteries is the pointed double archway that flanks the six Buddhas. There are many variations of this characteristic, but the archway of Wat Ong Teu is the most simplistic aesthetically.

One of the most native features to Laos is the Naga, or mythical water serpent, that serves as the guardian of the entrance. The Naga was widely known in Southeast Asia before Buddhism arrived. They would symbolize the Hindu god Shiva in which they represented destruction and renewal. How they relate to the Buddha lies in the story of Siddhartha under the Bodhi tree.

This could also be the second area for which one would pass from less secular ground to completely sacred ground. Though Nagas are usually seen with multiple heads, Wat Ong Teu’s version of the Naga has a single head with a its bright green body stretched out. There are three sets of these Nagas that all give access to the same patio-type area in front the temple. This aspect is interesting because there is only one door that gives an entrance into the temple. It may be a reference to the original function of this wat as the king’s temple, with the front stairs only being walk on by the king while the others were reserved for normal patrons. The posts perpendicular to these Naga resemble the sort of pagoda or tower one would see in Laos.

The doors and windows are made of wood and are also decorated with many leaves and stems that spiral sporadically. These images are all carved, painted red and gilded to make the door and windows look as if they were made of metal. Each of the windows and the door have different images of the Buddha either directly or by aniconic representation. Some of them may evidently portray a Jataka, or story given of one of the Buddha’s past incarnations.

ROOF

Seemingly the most intricate part of the exterior of Wat Ong Teu is its roof. It illustrates a myriad of different styles from around Asia that blend in an extraordinarily harmonious way.

A commonly used feature in Asia for the roof is the utilization of a curved roof. This non-linear approach was originated by the Chinese. In China, architects thought that evil spirits despised curved lines, therefore giving an apotropaic effect to the temple. Lao ideas of the curved roof should have been similar to China’s as well. This aspect is especially important when the principal function of this temple is to teach the Buddhist religion. Students learning the Buddhist religion should especially be protected from the evils of the outside world.

What is particularly interesting is the feature of multiple roofs that descend past the boundaries of the wall at a slope. This aspect is exclusive to Laos. Specifically, there are three or four superimposed roofs, with the two bottom roofs being supported by columns from within the temple. It is unknown as to the reason for this intricate design, but it may be another aspect of protection because multiple roofs could cause confusion among evil spirits.

The stone spire decoration with stacked superimposed, decreasingly sized disks in the center of the keel is definitively a Buddhist element. It is known that before the Buddha went through enlightenment, he was always covered by parasols to indicate his royalty as a prince. Therefore, it is not unusual to see a parasol-like spire atop this temple. The other flame-like decorations, called chaw faa (sky clusters), lining the edges and vertices of the roof are frequently used in Laos. This may also be another quality that emphasizes the apotropaic effect of the roof.

The exterior may have a lot detail that is used for protection and attraction, but the interior does not mirror the same intricacy. Within the temple, the floors are glossed and the walls and ceiling are painted with the same colors as the exterior. There is a red mat that is lined perfectly from the middle to the back of the sim where the Phra Ong Teu image resides. The most intricate objects within the temple are the columns that hold up the roof. They may have been made to look like oversized lotus flowers that have grown from the ground to support the roof of the temple. This may illustrate the natural world for which the Buddha himself would have liked to teach his followers.

MODERN TECHNIQUES

Once Laos became a French protectorate and reconstruction began, there may have been many liberties made to some of the minute details of the temple, but most of the essential attributes of the temple remain similar to the original construction. A very important change is in the stone and well-kept wood that fortifies the structure of the temple. The brackets are included in this use of preserved timber. Not only are there brackets on the outside, but in the inside as well. However, the columns are the objects that provide the most support for the 3 or 4 tiered roofs, so they are treated with more care than the brackets. Therefore, in essence, the modern approach is more of a post and lintel technique rather than the use of brackets. The lack of non-perishable material before French rule over Laos is indicative of their weak government.

Some details that are usually seen in developed countries in Europe and North America include small, hanging chandeliers as well as fans placed on each column that lines the sim. These simple touches do seem to emit a sort of waning of sacredness for which the temple was originally created, but it may not be complete departure from belief.

Most of the modern techniques may have been meant for the surrounding complex rather than the monastery itself, but the central theme of all these buildings and towers remain faithful to that of Wat Ong Teu.

ART

´HEAVY BUDDHA`

ACCOMPANIED BY TWO STANDING BUDDHAS

These original sculptures reside within the sim of the temple towards the furthest wall from the entrance. The Phra Ong Teu is made of a mix of metals, predominately bronze, and is seated atop a golden pedestal that was cast separate from the Buddha. The head may have been cast separately as well from the body and put together by the ‘tonged and grooved joint techniques’ showing the skill of Lao craftsmanship. The two standing Buddhas are connected to their own respective platforms. These sculptures are raised on top of a platform with a color scheme similar to the rest of the temple. More recently, these sculptures are draped in linen or silk cloth, depicting the saffron clothing monks usually wear in Laos, with neon-colored halos place on the wall behind them. This may just add an artistic effect to the Buddhas so that a more prestigious role could be emphasized of them. However, Lao artists of this time never thought of these or other Buddha images as art, only as a means to ‘educate and enlighten.’ Therefore, later use of this temple as a place for further learning of the Hinayana Buddhist religion would be the exact purpose for which the artists intended.

It is usual to see the Enlightened One alone or accompanied by bodhisattvas in a triad, but here all three of these sculptures depict the Phra Ong Teu Buddha. A strong indication that these sculptures are Buddhas is the parasols that are suspended over them. Each of the smaller Buddhas have a parasol above them that is attached to a post protruding out from behind them, but the main Buddha has a distinctively rectangular parasol that is fastened to the ceiling. These parasols act in the same way as the parasol located on the keel of the wat, but the parasols that hang over the Buddhas are more decorative. What is interesting is that the rectangular parasol hanging over the Phra Ong Teu is more of a Japanese trait than anything Laos. The only record of any Japanese interaction with Laos would be during a five-year period in WWII. The only action caused by them was the nationalistic passion that the Lao people had in opposition to them. Not enough time was put into having any influence on their art of this Buddha or the temple that it is in.

There are many other features of Phra Ong Teu Buddha that are common in relation to the codified Buddha, but it still has its Lao differences. The earliest image of the Buddha in Laos was influenced by the ‘Pha Bang Khmer style,’ but started to become more distinctive in the 16th century along with the golden age. For example, the tightly curled hair that is displayed on the main Buddha is strongly reminiscent of the Gandhara Style of India during the Gupta period, which is mirrored by the Pha Bang. However, the pointed swelling coming out of the top of the image’s head, signifying ‘transcendent knowledge,’ expresses an exclusively Lao idea. This type of swell may even be a facet solely of the Phra Ong Teu image that King Setthathirat created. Some other modified aspects of the image are the sharp ear rims with long lobes, the equal, extended length of the fingers and toes, and the sharp wide nose.

There are a few different mudras, or hand gestures, that these Buddhas portray. These gestures illustrate the Indian influence that is present in Laos. Both of the smaller standing Buddhas have their hands up with palms facing outward, meaning fearlessness. Their mudra differs from the main Phra Ong Teu Buddha. He instead adopts two different mudras that allude to the moments just before Siddhartha’s Enlightenment. Specifically, the left hand is placed in the lap with the palm facing up towards the face which represents the idea of meditation. The greater gesture that captures the Enlightenment within this image comes from his right hand. His hand is rested over his knee with fingers extended toward the earth. This symbolizes the calling of the Earth to protect the Buddha from Mara, India’s interpretation of the devil. This can then be connected to the Naga that was conjured up to help Siddhartha in his path for Enlightenment. In creating this image, King Setthathirat I proved his adherence to the Theravada Buddhism that has always been present in Laos since Lan Xang.

CONCLUSION

Of the many temples that are present in Vientiane, Laos today, Wat Ong Teu Mahawihan is one of the more undervalued temples. Every detail that makes up this composition of this monastery has some sort of allusion to the teachings or image of the Buddha. From the Nagas guarding the entrance of the temple to the fastidiously heavy Buddha at the back of the sim within the temple, from the carved windows and doors to the lotus columns supporting the roof, Wat Ong Teu is a complete illustration of the story of Siddhartha meditating under the Bodhi tree. No area of the temple is left untouched which results in a sense of sacred ground.

Though it may not be an international symbol, Wat Ong Teu is more widely known as an educational institute that provides widespread teaching of the Theravada Buddhism that originated in India. That belief hasn’t meandered to this day. As a center for learning, Wat Ong Teu still continues to house the teachings of the beginning of Buddhism straight from the Buddha, though the two parties live centuries apart. With respect to Laos, education of this religion is what allowed France to be interesting in them even though France’s main focus was Vietnam. From to the French came Lao nationalism in opposition to the Japanese. All of this sparked from monasteries in Laos, Wat Ong Teu included.

WIKIPEDIA

Boxes of berries sit on stand at a market on May 8, 2007. Berries are difficult to grow, harvest, and handle with brief growing seasons and the berries are vulnerable to insects, disease, and even birds. In the 1950's, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) actually saved the strawberry industry in the Great Lakes region when the agency released the first varieties that could survive red stele, a root-rotting fungus. Fifteen years ago, blueberries were practically nonexistent in the Gulf States. But USDAS’s ARS early-ripening varieties have extended highbush blueberry culture to the Deep South. Today, over 10,000 acres are grown in Dixie, with more than 4,000 acres thriving throughout Texas, Louisiana, and Alabama. In the Pacific Northwest, where most of America’s red raspberries are grown, Willamette, a 1943 release, still accounts for 40 percent of the red raspberry acreage. USDA ARS scientists introduced the first truly genetic thornless blackberries, Thornfree and Smoothstem, which caused a small roadside revolution. The new varieties were just what some growers needed to establish pick-your-own operations. USDA photo by Scott Bauer.

Kmart #3438 (84,280 square feet)

1550 Saint Georges Avenue, Delco Plaza, Avenel, NJ

Opened October 17th, 1979, renovated in the mid 2000s

With only four open locations left in the Continental United States, I'd have to be one hard-headed retail photographer to pass up a visit to one of three Kmart stores in the Northeast while in New Jersey. However, last time I was up this way I instead decided to visit the Media, PA Sears, which took precedence since that store was closing at the time. This time around Avenel's Kmart just so happened to be near several other points of interest I had during this trip, so going there was a no brainer! I hadn't even been to a Kmart since Silver Spring, MD in February, and I was more than ready to experience one of their stores again. I'm sure most people (i.e. retail fans) reading this are already somewhat familiar with this location, whether from another user's photos here on Flickr or in a Facebook group, from watching a Youtuber's video, or from visiting the store themselves out of interest, but I figured I'd throw my hat in the ring because why not? After all, while us folks who document retail do tend to visit the same places, I feel like we all have different perspectives and ways about going about our visits that make it interesting. In this case, you get a whole album of RetailRyan-brand Kmart photos!

The store, as many of you already know, is a standard 1970s-build with a 2005-era décor package inside (something I usually associate with the old Kill Devil Hills store). While this does give the store a much more refreshed feel compared to those that had been stuck with 1997-era Big Kmart aesthetics, there's no denying that the glory days are long gone. For the most part I found the store to be decently stocked, but did notice several areas where merchandise seemed thin. And of course there's the matter of the store's back right corner (where automotive and the garden center were) being completely blocked off to the public due to lack of product, which is a maneuver I've seen in a few Sears stores as of late. Oh, and the pharmacy is nonexistent now. I'd say the store is serviceable for the most part, but definitely on borrowed time. It's no surprise that a closure was indeed announced in the following March, so I'm glad I was able to visit the store while it still existed in a non-going out of business state kinda-sorta!

If you look closely you will see a flower in her mouth :)

I want to thank my flickr friends again who have continued visiting me here this summer. And apologize again for my slow internet ( sometimes nonexistent) connection. I will catch up with you this winter :)