52 shots made with the PZO 10x microscope objective on a bellows.

Click for a 2000px version!

This objective has poor quality in the corners, but nice sharpness in the centre, so I shot the fly's head centering the eye, then I cropped the stacked result. You can see below an example from the 52 shots in full resolution. It shows how much work I have after the stacking, like retouching, removing the stupid dusts, removing the vignette, etc.

paint Acrylic on paper

A friend of mine borrowed me this Leitz objective. I didn't expect it to perform very well considering its antique appearance but I found it surprisingly good! I don't have much experience with objectives but it easily outperforms a more modern one I happen to have access to: Leitz C PL10:1 A0,25.

The number "3" on the barrel made me think it was a 3x but it turns out this figure is just intended to distinguish it from other models in this series. This is a 10X objective with a numerical aperture of 0.25.

View all of Sean's artworks on his Website, Instagram, Facebook Page, or see them full size in his Gallery

Perhaps best outlining my growth as a photographer, Rip Curl, taken on the Leeward Coast of Oahu, Hawaii, is the last image taken in this series of 35. Using everything I’ve learned up to this point, this image, while seemingly simple in colour and content, is relatively complex in its composition.

Here, in early April, I wanted to capture a single wave, but not just any wave. My hope was that the resulting image would look somewhat like a painting. My objective here was to quickly capture a single wave in perfect focus, while simultaneously blurring its surroundings.

First, I visualized what I wanted the image to look like. Then I sourced the location. And, finally to capture something clear and crisp, I purchased new gear which included a lens that had a much longer focal length so I could get as close to the wave as possible while standing back on the shore.

The colours of the ocean in Hawaii are outstanding. Panning the ocean before me this day, I could see the colours of the water from a very vibrant aqua colour to royal blue. Important to me in this photograph was my ability to incorporate a wide range of colours helping to showcase the tropical nature of the water.

For most images, it’s crucial my camera (most often sitting on a tripod) lacks any vibration. Movement of any kind easily ruins most photographs. But, capturing the perfect detail of a moving wave works a little differently. With my camera on my tripod, I horizontally panned the camera, working to match the speed of the wave while keeping the cresting wave in perfect focus. With consistent focus on the wave, the balance of the image was left blurred, appearing like horizontal painted lines. If I’m honest, this technique stretched the boundaries of my comfort zone.

In 2018, Rip Curl, was awarded with 2018 Bronze Award at Epson International Pano Awards. Subsequently, it also received a 2018 MPI (Master Photographers International) Award of Distinction. Making it the very first image in my collection to achieve two seperate international awards.

Hi all !

Can i firstly thank Geetee50 here on Flickr ; www.flickr.com/photos/58717664@N08/

He kindly sold me a microscope objective and a stacking rail and they are perfect and work superbly as you can see above !

Now, for the past few weeks i've hardened my search for a Horse fly as i have never actually seen one in the flesh and have been looking for one for a long time. On a trip to Delamere which some of you may know about, with my bud Michael, we got some really nice landscape shots and other animal photos i may share in the near future, but no horse flies anywhere.

After a while we ended up on a field of sheep, while walking along i noticed some weird looking flies on the dung of the sheep, after 2 attempts i caught this one and when i got home i went to work getting 120 images, in total, to stack. Although i have not bought Zerene stacker due to lack of funds i tried Photoshop, and after a very long wait the outcome was good enough to post for Flickr ( some touching up was necessary )

All in all i was disappointed in not finding a Horse fly but i was happy to use my new equipment for the stack and i want to share the setup i use as it is very efficient and took a week to get it perfect to ensure each photo was in good alignment for a stack.

For a larger image and more detail click here ; www.flickr.com/photos/sequentialmacro/7014357597/sizes/l/...

To visit my Facebook Macro photography Fan page click here ; www.facebook.com/pages/Macro-Photography/126069520823109?...

If anyone knows the species or the name of this fly give me a shout, cheers everyone.

”Seriously Lisa.. do you like EVER stop think about ANYONE else than yourself?

What do you mean?

”Its just like..” (You say, squinting to the pictures) when you dress like that TOTALLY slutty, you like clearly send signals that help surpress women like total sexobjects! And like.. just because you are cheap, doesn't necessarily mean that all girls like.. you know, want to have sex. Do you like EVER stop to think about that!?”.

Well come to think of it, not really, but...

”And also the whole like slim line anorexia model thing, COME ON! Like anyone REALLY look like that. You're one of those, who like.. help force women into having these like totally unrealistic ideals. Lisa, you SERIOUSLY need to dress down and.. like,, gain some weight if ANYONE is EVER going to believe you are a real T-girl and not some.. some.. like.. roadside commercial or something. Get real! ”

But I do think of others, actually that is why I made the videoclip. I thought that you would like it!

”Again Lisa you're just... just SO inconsiderate, like that video is something ANY female would want to see! You like really made sure of that walking in stilettos in such way you deliberately make others out to be like.. inferior or something, But I suppose you like thrive on making other people feel bad about themself, like you have this superiority thing going. That's just precisely the distinct symptoms of like a psychopath or something, who like get off on taking advantage of the female sex.”

But actually an old lady passed as I was shooting the pictures. She did look curiously I must admit, but she didn't seem at all to be either offended or provoked. But of course I couldn't be entirely sure that....

”And like,, what if that had been an old man Lisa? Ever think about THAT!?”

How.. What do you mean...?

”Like if it had been an old man and he like.. saw you, and immediately had a stroke, brain hemorrhage or a heart attack, then it would be like.. YOUR fault Lisa, killing a person because you are this ”natural born ego”. Calling yourself a communist. Ha!”

But, I was just taking a walk testing my new red stilettos, because it is better taking them for a test walk before REALLY going out in them, to sort of test them ”Live” so to speak and...

”That´s another thing Lisa. RED STILETTOS!?! Like just how often do you walk down the street seeing girls stroll around in RED stilettos!? And you know why Lisa? Because red is like a REALLY adult female colour and having red stilettos is the same thing as to say ”Look at me I am extremely feminine and I like just HAVE to point that out” Now how OMEGA self centered is that now Lisa!?”

But, I think they are pretty!

”Me me me... think Lisa, there is like MANY more females than you in this world and you should like just know that you are like reflecting a degrading, humiliating, cheap view upon women and like that is TOTALLY disgraceful and you should be ashamed Lisa... really like.. guilty of betraying like.. like.. the entire population of women on earth. Effectively destroying everything that women has worked for like.. the last 100 years. Like you are taliban or something? Is that what the hair is really all about?”

I believe you indeed speak on behalf of most women and I must say I am truly sorry you feel that way.

”As if Lisa! Cause if you were like REALLY sorry you would stop dressing like a prostitute.”

But I like looking like a prostitute!

”And what if like.. some guy saw you on the street and.. like.. got turned on, and then he turn a corner seeing an ordinary girl, but like because you fucked with his head he rapes the girl and then she like has to suffer mentally like for life, because you just don´t give shit do you Lisa? Like... I am a ninja so FUCK the world... and like fuck all that women has fought for the last century because.. I want to look sexy. * Wuhuuu * ”

But don´t you see it is really a question about personal freedom and.. well individuality, I guess?

”I can clearly see that talking sense to you Lisa is like talking to a door. It's like.. you have just set your mind to obstruct everything that just has a scent of value and tradition. Just mention the word consideration and you feel personally attacked going straight into the defensive refusing to communicate. But have it your way Lisa, I will waste no more time. If you absolutely MUST stand out a slut in full public view, you are only prevented doing so by the common laws of solicitation . Feel free, I´m just like.. saying!”

Transvestit København Danmark

Another objective today was to ride the Acton-North Acton section of the 218. Westbourne Park depot (now under the auspices of RATP) kindly put my last two E200’s fairly close to each other so I ticked off the route and its buses, not including the nasty Streetlites which roam it.

YX11AEY was new to First as DML44182, but was then absorbed into the Metroline fleet as DE1900.

Sent off lease, it was quickly re homed at Tower Transit. numbered tantalisingly close to its original identity as DML44183. However since the recent RATP assumption of Westbourne Park Garage it’s now numbered DE20153.

This leaves my last of batch as YX11CNN, which has given me a bit of a headache as it’s owned by EYMS and lives at Scarborough….

Costa Coffee is thoughtfully located right opposite this bus stand at North Acton Station, and indeed the driver of my inward bus followed me straight in there to make full use of his fairly generous stand time. 19.4.22.

Hello Flickerers!

I'm back, because I was on holidays in Croatia. Amazing country, really !

I want to take more selfportrait.

Maybe, I'll do a new 365 project? (If I have time and courage)

Maybe, I'll do a print giveaway if my photostream interest some people?

Finally got my macro lens! :D

♥

hasselblad

www.picturedevon.co.uk | facebook

All comments and constructive criticism are welcomed here

This image and all other images are available to purchase.

Many more objectives to go at in ths era! 26032 and me, about to clear the boilered 26s for haulage - 23rd April, 1981. Mini tripod and self timer, years before the term 'selfie' was coined! Sunny Inverness! I was obviously clinging on to the 1970s here in 1981, what do I look like? Don't answer that! Wearing a 'Scottish Electrics' badge, just to be different!

Sorry all you diehard 40 fans but this was a satisfying moment for me! I added graffiti using paper towels to mark the occasion!

Zeiss Ikon Contarex 1, Zeiss Distagon 4/35mm, adox chs100, b/w

CHASTILLE TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION

Non-euclidean Objective-oriented Linear Acceleration Trajector

nt42 trajector - 20th year anniversary model

Creators of the world-famous N.O.L.A.T. brand.

Logistics, strategy, tactics... none of it matters.

They're already dead.

An ultramodern Asuran weapon with a touch of 21st century Earth style. With a virtually infinite range, the nt42 can engage targets both 10 meters away and 1000 miles away. Our bleeding edge technology makes satellites obsolete; with an integrated SatView uplink and a maximum projectile velocity of over 500,000 meters per second an nt42 can easily take out an orbital unit without the preparation time and lag of any Frazier-Krom trajector.

With each housing a Shard, a N.O.L.A.T. takes warfare to the next level. By manipulating the Shard's erratic extradimensional power, a carbyne reinforced slug can be flung from one of our devices at relativistic speeds. Some models can reach up to a million meters per second safely, without detonating upon contact with atmospheric conditions, and spaceborne N.O.L.A.T. weapons can force slugs at even 1% of the speed of light.

With it's team of genius scientists and engineers, CHASTILLE breaks these limits every day, harnessing the Orb to it's full potential. CHASTILLE's founder, Isaac Gorsky, brings a message to all of humanity: we will be the first to construct a trajector capable of reaching interstellar speeds, and the first trajector to take a human to Earth. Count on us to bring you home.

nt42 BASE FEATURES

Trajector LR Optic Unit - This Corazon Santiago optic unit is no simple one. It is designed to work with a Trajector-type weapon, and is fully digitized for the purposes.

Integrated RDS and full HUD system - The integrated Red Dot Sight is linked with the HUD system of the weapon and is capable of limited calculations, but otherwise, it is nothing more than a glorified iron sights. The HUD system of the weapon and optic is linked with the SatView Battlefield Awareness, explained further down.

Natural Zoom 1-100x; Linked Zoom Infinite - The lenses and digital cameras that come integrated into the optic allow for a completely unlinked weapon to zoom up to 100x, which is still incredibly high. However, linked, the optic can utilize battlefield assets such as repurposed security cameras, drones, satellites and a myriad of other surveillance equipment to provide 3D images of the target; blazing fast mathematical calculations including the target’s movement, windage, pressure to give the user a precise point to aim at and when to pull the trigger, and finally allowing the weapon to pull the trigger for you at exactly the right moment.

Passive and Active Sensors - The optic and surveillance equipment usually comes with an impressive amount of sensors and scanners, including night vision/infrared, radar, sonar, and even in some advanced surveillance equipment gravimetric sensors (a sensor that picks up on minute gravitational distortions around it to detect even the stealthiest of the stealthy, as well as completely disregarding sight line circumventing objects such as walls and doors.

MAX Hard Limit of 550,000 m/s - These are relativistic speeds. Without gravimetric manipulation, any projectile fired at this speed in an atmosphere would instantly kill the user upon hitting it.

SatView Uplink with Battlefield Awareness - Realtime linking with all other units on the battlefield allows one to use another’s recon information while the information is being gathered. This increases coordination massively. Merely looking at an enemy or civilian marks their location on a server-based 3d map, and gives others in the battlefield a better perspective on the enemy’s global strategy and tactics as well as many other useful operations.

Infinite Ground Range - With the speeds this weapon fires it’s projectiles at, even one of the lowest possible velocity settings will cause the slug to make contact with the target almost instantly after leaving the muzzle of the weapon. This essentially means if they are in your line of sight, they are toast. However, NLOS is not supported by this weapon platform.

Space Range limited by debris - Space is much, much larger than terrestrial environments. There is also tons of debris flying at incredible speeds around planets. Every millisecond of flight through space is another chance that even a fleck of paint will collide with the slug and completely kill it’s trajectory. Hence, range is limited by debris, but technically, with a clear trajectory one of these slugs can leave a planet’s atmosphere and simply keep moving until it finally hits something.

Full Modularity and Adjustability - Each part of this weapon can be taken off the main chassis and be replaced with another. This can be used to fit more mission-specific parts, such as a full stock for increased stability or a foregrip for increased close-quarters maneuverability. Furthermore, every inch of this weapon is designed to give the user comfort in using the weapon. This means that factory settings when it comes to trigger pull, stock, grip, and cheekrest positioning and more are completely changeable to the extent of breaking the weapon.

Fusion Exploitation Power Source - The nt42 contains an incredibly powerful fusion power source, along with a set of graphene-based capacitors allowing for extremely fast energy channelling.

Shard Action - It all comes back to the Shard. This piece of matter exhibits properties which are not natural to this dimension of reality. Something is wrong with it - often, space, time, or both are strangely and randomly manipulated around it. The Shard Action is designed to transform these random effects and properties into a useful force, opening the gate to things otherwise impossible or extremely difficult to do without breaking the laws of our universe. These include gravitational manipulation, or gravimetrics, spacial manipulation, or spacial warp, and time manipulation, something that has not been exploited yet but has been observed. These usually end up in closed-loop phenomena. For example, a researcher looks at their future self looking back at them in front of them, takes two steps forwards, looks back only to meet his own gaze from the past, all in a split second.

Exposure to the Shard Chamber is NOT recommended as these properties will begin manipulating reality around you.

Magazine: over 500 carbyne slugs - These slugs are incredibly tiny, but a larger mass is not required to utilize the full force of this weapon. Each one is incredibly durable and is made out of one of the only materials known to withstand forces of a trajector. They are designed to be most compatible with most gravimetric systems.

Electronic Loading System - Each miniscule slug is loaded into the drive chamber through a electronic mechanical loader. If a weapon jams/misfires, the drive chamber can be cleared through the use of the convenient pull-back handle in the vent section.

ROF limited by cooling time - Even with the nt42’s advanced cooling methods, including both passive material shock absorbency and active heat sinking, the Shard Action builds up an enormous amount of heat in seconds. Full automatic firing will last for a maximum of 2 seconds at 600 RPM before going into shock mode, disabling firing systems for less than 4 seconds. Firing again is not recommended for 10 seconds or permanent damage can become an issue.

A powered exoskeleton is highly recommended with the operation of this weapon at projectile velocities set upwards of 100,000 meters per second.

The Hard Limit is essentially a secondary safety. A user can use it to set the hard limit on the velocity that the Trajector expels the slug at, which cannot be overridden by the digital components of the weapon, such as the optic and SatView. Additionally, one can limit it to 0 m/s per second to essentially put the weapon into safe without the use of the safety.

Machine and objective: Canon EOS 450D, Sigma 18-200mm DC OS, Canon Speedlite 430EX II.

Locale: España, Huelva.

Model: Manuel y Carlos

Photographer: F.MartínezLedesma

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Velocidad: 1/160s

ISO: 100

Apertura: f10

Focal: 18mm

Dos grandes personas, hermanos y amigos, diferentes pero iguales, afortunado me siento de poder contar con ellos.

- F. MartínezLedesma -

…Nunca me han interesado ni el poder ni la fortuna lo que admiro son las flores que crecen en la basura…

DERECHOS DE AUTOR:

Todas las fotografias de este sitio, estan protegidas por el real Decreto Legislativo 1/1996, de 12 de abril, por el que se aprueba el texto Refundido de la LEY DE PROPIEDAD INTELECTUAL. Queda totalmente prohibida su reproducción total o parcial sin el expreso consentimento de su autor. Si estás interesado en adquirir alguna copia, o los derechos de reproducción de alguna de las fotografias aqui publicadas, contacta con el autor. Si la finalidad de las fotografias deseadas no es con fines lucrativos, igualmente debes contactar con el autor indicando el uso que se dará a las imagenes.

All photographs on this site are protected by Royal Decree Law 1 / 1996 of 12 April, approving the revised text of the Copyright Law. It is strictly forbidden to reproduce in whole or in part without the express consent from the author. If you are interested in purchasing any copy or reproduction rights for any of the photographs published here, please contact the author. If the desired purpose of the photographs is not for profit, you should also contact the author indicating the use which will be the images.

Please don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission. © All rights reserved.

I needed to stop lots of times on the way up never though i would make it, about an hr to the top. that is my (next Objective)

Thos that know me know the reason.

More pic same style in my photostream, all new and fresh from today

Long exposure 1/13 sec

The objective of this observation is to take a look at a dome and adjacent crater also visible in Mars Orbiter Camera images. Did the mound form before the crater, or was it the other way around?

Image cutout is less than 5 km (3 mi) across and the spacecraft altitude was 299 km (186 mi). For full observation details including images with scale bars, visit the source link.

www.uahirise.org/ESP_011775_2230

NASA/JPL-Caltech/Arizona

Diatom - Arachnoidiscus sp.

60X Objective, Water Immersion, DIC

Und nun auf Deutsch, bitte: de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trioplan

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Acting Administrator Alfonso Lenhardt and People's Republic of China Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on September 25th to create a framework to facilitate expanded U.S.-China collaboration, communication and cooperation to achieve our shared objectives on development issues.

Photo Credit: Robb Hohmann

I argued recently that Japanese gardens, top left, and interiors, middle left through the use of trickery encourage Japanese to see space as the primal space (Nishida, Watsuji) that is devoid of scale and conceptually un-extended, as the pure experience where the world and the heart meet.

Additionally bottom left, it is well known that Japanese love to go and see the passing of time, autumn leaves, and spring cherry blossom, or fields were once great castles stood. This may very Buddhist, and profound of the Japanese but it is worth bearing in mind that not only do they pay attention to the "A series" of becoming, but also to "B series" objective points in time related to the seasons, and specific dates. Time is out there.

Westerners, on the other hand, like to emphasise the extensiveness and exteriority of space with geometrical patterns in gardens, white ceilings and bay windows in their rooms. Space is seen as extended, complete with the concepts, the symmetry and geometry, that keep it so.

Westerners like spaciousness, big rooms, big views, big spaces. But they are conflicted because at the same time they want to preserve the past in their rooms and in their cityscapes. Westerners like to present time as if it were stationary, as if the past is is in the here in now.

Space is the medium of the self as image and mental mirror (Heisig, Nishida). Time is the substrate of the self-narrative and language as thought (Derrida, Kim).

Addendum

The above is not right. And it is a make or break post.

Conventional wisdom has it that the Japanese are (Buddhist) relativists, and that Westerners are the objectivists that believe in the world and the world and themselves, due perhaps (though scientists would not agree) to their belief in a third person, an Other.

And I too thought/think that the Japanese fondness for scale trickery and their fondness for the changes in nature were both indications of a tendency towards anti-objectivity, and relativism.

But if that is the case, then my argument that the Japanese are like Westerners but in a different modality or channel, that they have a different kind of Other, a different kind of objectivity, would have to be rejected.

Because space is surely the plane, substrate, or place of the visual (self) and time is argued (by Derrida especially) to be the modality, medium, or (dare I say place? topos, axis?) of the phonetic narrative (self). Place is where vision takes place, time is where phonemes unfold. If so then attitudes towards space and place should exhibit a similar "Nacalian" reversals (if such exists) as between word and image. Attitudes to space and time would or should be related through a meta-Nacalian reversal.

I am having a problem seeing any such reversal. It still looks to me rather like Westerners are being objective, and Japanese are being relative, about both space and time but I hope not.

I was wrong to say that Japanese are into the B series of time. First of all, they use period names for dates rather than relating everything to a year dot. The period names encourage, I believe, a before after view of time rather than some objective temporo-cartesian coordinate (X years AD).

So okay, Westerners are into the year dot, the B series of time, whereas (other than Mecca and Jerusalem) there is little in the way in the West to speak of or identify a "B series of space". Our Western God is omnipresent. Japanese gods on the other hand have a "place dot," or many scared space that dot, anchor and objectify the space. On this basis it is Western, or at least Newtonian, space that is "indexical" (before me behind me) related to a inertial, three dimensional frame of reference.

But then this goes against

(1) Bachnik and Lebra's theories regarding the "indexical", relative nature of Japanese space perception, emphasising inside (uchi) and outside (soto), front (omote) and back (ura).

(2) The destruction of scale in Japanese plants (bonsai), gardens (zen gravel gardens), and interiors (if my observations regarding the tricks used to destroy perspective are correct).

Other observations

How should a comparison of Japanese and Western space and time perceptions be approached?

A) By considering the ways in which space and time perceptions inter-penetrate and dominate, arguing that the Japanese have a spatial view of time, and Westerners have a temporal view of space, perhaps.

Japanese time perceptions don't have the year dot but they have a sort of C-series, or rather C-loop, in that the fleeting nature of cherry blossom is not seen as solely a purely Heracleatean flux but as something that will repeat. Perhaps it could be argued that this cyclical view of time results in a the creation of a "time-space." the seasons of the year. Do Westerners have a temporal view of space? Does the geometry and regularity of Western gardens and architecture reflect the tick tock of a clock?

B) From the point of view of a conceptual abstraction capable of framing both time and space. E.g. by abstracting the "A series" and "B series" to apply to space as well as time? Or the use of words such as "flow" and "repetition," and "reference point" that may perhaps be applied to time and space?

The geometric gardens and Neo-georgian cityscapes emphasise the "flow of space" as cherry blossom emphasise the flow of time? Geometric gardens and cherry blossom may also emphasise a repetition. And finally, perhaps in both geometrical gardens and cherry blossom there is an absence of a spatial or temporal reference point respectively. How?

Do antiques present any sort of "trick" corresponding to the scale destroying 'trick' of gravel gardens, bonsai trees and Japanese interiors? Does "Neo-Classical" Georgian architecture of Bath present a similar sort of dillema: instead of an unanswerable "is this big or small", "is this old or new."? Does neoclassical architecture, or do shiny polished antiques forces their viewers to suspend judgements of time? Is there a British Zen!? I have never felt that Bath architecture was in any way Zen when I lived there but perhaps to a Japanese visitor it presents a similar "vortex" of conflicting, interpretation defying, agelessness.

If so this would help me to understand Japanese architecture. Japanese architecture confuses me, creates in me a vortex of trickery, but I am sure that Japanese that are used to it have suspended judgement already. To them it is peaceful, as Bath architecture was to me. Perhaps when I lived in Bath I had already suspended judgement as to whether buildings are old or new. Bath architecture was old AND new, as bonsai trees and gravel gardens and big and small.

If bonsai trees and Bath architecture are both a trick then, both should leave a 'pure experience' of something. I can grasp, however fleetingly, the way in which Japanese architecture makes me "see the light," "the purity of experience" through "cessation" of interpretation. But what does Western architecture make anyone see (or hear?). Am I too anti-Western, anti-temporal? "Cessation" sounds profound, but is a very anti-temporal term. Perhaps "purity" is also linked with space. It is certainly linked with Shinto.

When Husserl and Nishida engage in 'bracketing' they experience different things. Nishida stopped (with all the anti-temporality that that implies) interpreting and saw the place/space/mirror. Husserl on the other hand discovered (with an implied anti visio-spatialness) the transcendent the "irreel," "forms". I have always been dismissive of the latter, dismissed Plato's spelunking satori as mere myth. "The forms are fantasy, mere words", I thought. Or again I may have been too keen on vision. But, when Nishida or Zeami experience their place or flower, they might be the first to admit that there is nothing to see.

I need to change my title, which is now, "Japanese Space Unextended & Western Time That Does not Flow." Japanese space is still in some sense extended (how can space not be) but scale, big small, this in front of that distinctions are lacking. Western time, or at least the antiques, are old but here still, past but present. They both (Japanese space and Western time) lack something, and have something gained. Space-less Space and Timeless Time? I will go for that.

Anyway, am I an old structuralist dog chasing something or just a waffler?

Top Left: Joueiji Temple Zen Gravel Garden by me

Top Right: Ham House Garden by neilalderney123

Middle Left Japanese house traditional style interior design / 和室(わしつ)の内装(ないそう) by TANAKA Juuyoh (田中十洋)

Middle Right: "Prospect Park Place West Victorian brownstone interior dining room fireplace mantle by techpro12. Techpro12's blog has many similar images.

Bottom Left: 紅葉 (red leaves)by jasohill

Bottom Right: Bath Crescent HDR by alex_smith1

AL QAEDA Indian subcontinent (AQIS) MODULE BUSTED.

In a joint operation of Delhi Police, Central Intelligence Agencies and UP Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS), a team of Special Cell, Delhi Police led by Inspectors Sanjay Dutt, Umesh Barthwal, Kailash Bisht and Rahul Kumar Singh has apprehended one Mohd. Asif, aged 41 yrs, s/o Ata-Ur-Rehman, r/o House Number 268, Mohalla Deepa Sarai, District Sambhal, UP, who is one of the founder members of Al Qaida in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), floated by Ayman Al Zawahiri in September 2014 to pursue the objectives of AQ in the Indian subcontinent. This is the first detection of any active module of this terrorist Tanzeem in India and the first arrest of a radical extremist, who was physically present at Miran Shah along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border when the seeds of this Tanzeem were sowed. In this regard a case vide FIR No. 67/15 dated 14/12/2015 under various sections of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act PS Special Cell has been registered and the accused has been remanded to 14 days police custody for further investigation.

Operation: Ever since the video declaring the constitution of AQIS was posted by Al Qaida over its media arm Al-Shahab in September 2014, Indian security and intelligence agencies had initiated a sustained counter-intelligence operation to decipher the real structure, composition and objectives of this new Tanzeem. Since the anointment of one Maulana Asim Umar, an unidentified terrorist of Indian descent, as the Amir of AQIS was declared by none else than Ayman Al Zawahiri, the dreaded chief of Al Qaida, it was imperative that Indian characters of this Tanzeem be quickly identified for initiating appropriate counter terrorist measures. The capabilities of Al Qaeda in orchestrating catastrophic terrorist strikes like the 9/11 attacks of United States Attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris in 2015, had sent the entire security establishment of the country in a purposive, concerted hunt to nip any such attempt by the members of AQIS in the bud.

Long and intense periods of deploying human sources in the vulnerable pockets of Islamic radicalization led to the zeroing in on certain suspects based out of Western UP and who had reported intriguing movements out of India towards West Asian countries in the recent past. Attempts were made to carry out a thorough check of their activities abroad but all efforts led to one or the other stonewalls. Selective penetration by human sources was carried out in the suspected areas and the persistent efforts led to credible information being received about accused Mohd. Asif, reported to be a senior AQIS functionary, that he was expected to visit a contact near Seelampur flyover, on 14th December 2015. A trap was laid and in a swift and professional operation, accused Mohd. Asif was apprehended by the above said team in late afternoon hours from the mentioned place. He was found to be in possession of 3 mobile phones, a laptop amongst other incriminating articles. Accused was interrogated on the spot and when confronted with the intelligence gathered over the long preceding period of operation, he revealed about his association with AQIS as being one of its founding members and being the Indian Head/Amir of its motivation, recruitment and training wing. Accused Mohd. Asif was thereafter arrested following due process of law and produced before the concerned court and his 14 days Police Custody remand has been obtained.

Profile: Accused Mohd. Asif was born in 1974 at his given address of Sambhal, UP. After studying up to 5th standard in a local school of Sambhal, he dropped out from school and took up various petty jobs in his locality. In 1991, he went along with his father to Ahmedabad, Gujarat and learnt the trade of a truck body welder. Thereafter in the year 1993, he returned to Sambhal and got involved in other petty jobs like that of an accountant (muneem) at local traders/businessmen. In 2009, he tried his hand at his own business by installing a flour mill but since this did not work, he resumed his accountancy work which he continued till 2012. All this while, he was getting influenced by the happenings around him. He got enamored with terrorist tanzeems like Harkat-Ul-Mujahidin (HuM), ultimately evolving into a pan Eurasian vision of Jehad being espoused by the dreaded international terrorist Tanzeem Al Qaeda.

Mohd. Asif’s urge to join such an international terrorist Tanzeem got a boost, when some of his old known persons from Deepa Sarai, Sambhal graduated from Harkat-Ul-Mujahidin to Tehrik-e-Taliban and finally ended up at the shores of Al Qaeda somewhere along the Pakistan-Afghanistan borders. One person, whose writings and publications has had a profound impact on Mohd. Asif was ‘Maulana Asim Umar’ and it took little time for the initiated accused to figure out that this Mualana Asim Umar, who later was anointed as the Amir of AQIS, was someone from his own locality and a distant relative. With support of a local empathizer cell of Mulana Asim Umar, he established contact over a social media site with one Qasim (code name), a deputy of Maulana Asim Umar and also an original resident of Sambhal, who had also migrated to accompany his master. This happened in 2012 and Asif’s life took the ultimate turn towards extremism and fundamentalist radicalization.

Qasim motivated accused Mohd. Asif to make a visit to Pakistan and extended invitation on behalf of Maulana Asim Umar. By this time, accused Mohd. Asif had motivated two more youths, one from his own locality and another through him, and asked Qasim to arrange for funds to facilitate the migration of these youths’ also who were fully prepared to join the frontlines of Islamic jehad in Afghanistan under the aegis of Al Qaeda.

Qasim told accused Mohd. Asif that money for travel was not a problem and the same would be made available to him by a financier of his own locality and that the travel to Pakistan would be through Iran. Therefore, accused Mohd. Asif along with the two youths radicalized by him procured travelers’ VISA for Iran on the pretext that they had to perform ‘ziyarat’ at the shrine of the late Grand Ayatollah Khomaini in Teheran.

On 23rd June 2013, the accused along with two young radicals left New Delhi via air for Teheran, Iran. After landing in Teheran, he called up Qasim to inform him of their arrival. In a few days, a contact of Qasim approached them at the hotel where they were staying and got them their tickets for traveling up to Zahedan, the capital city of Sistan and Baluchestan province of Iran. From Zahedan, they went to Sarwan where they were picked up by another contact of Qasim. From Sarawan, they reached the Iran-Pakistan border and crossed it over foot. The contact of Qasim ensured that there was no difficulty in crossing over the border. Once in Pakistan, the contact sent by Qasim got them board a car which took them to Quetta. From Quetta, they were taken on motor cycles to Ghazni in Afghanistan, crossing hostile mountainous terrain which is a hotbed of terrorist activity. From Ghazni, they went to Junubi Waziristan i.e. South Waziristan in Pakistan and from there, to Sumali i.e. North Waziristan. In Sumali Waziristan, accused Asif met his long emigrated Indian friend, who was using the code name of Assad. Assad has been identified as Usman s/o Khursheed, r/o Deepa Sarai, Sambhal, UP. Finding Usman was a moment of extreme joy for accused Mohd. Asif as he knew that he had landed amongst his kin. Usman further took the trio to Miran Shah where they met Qasim, identified as Sayed Akhtar, r/o Deepa Sarai, Sambhal, UP who was the local assistant to the elusive Maulana Asim Umar. Sayed and Usman briefed Asif and the young terrorists accompanying him about Al Qaeda, its structure, objectives and what was in store for these jehadis on their path to the ultimate glory. Accused Asif was especially chosen to meet Maulana Asim Umar as he had to shoulder greater responsibilities.

After a week of their meeting with Sayed, accused Mohd. Asif was taken to the hideout of Maulana Asim Umar. who was instantly recognized as Sanaul Haq @ Sannu, aged about 45 yrs, s/o Chuttu, r/o Deepa Sarai, Sambhal, UP. This was the first time that a visitor from India got to know the real face behind the subject of till now an unending mystery known as Asim Umar.

Maulana Asim Umar @ Sanaul Haq had called accused Asif for a sinister purpose. While the young terrorists accompanying Asif were grouped with some Pakistani Al Qaeda recruits and sent off for askari i.e. militant training in one of the several camps which are located in the area, Asif became privy to the impending foundation of AQIS as disclosed by Sanaul Haque to him in complete confidence. Sanaul Haque discussed his hijrat i.e. emigration from Sambhal in 1995 which had led him to Harkat-Ul-Mujahidin (HuM) and his long story of 20 years as a top fighter, who had risen from the ranks and was poised to be anointed as the Amir of AQIS by none else than Ayman Al Zawahiri.

In Waziristan, Asif underwent intense Deeni training as he was to act as the principal ideologue of AQIS in India upon his return. During that period, US forces were conducting successive drone strikes at several places in close vicinity of the safe-house, where Asif had been lodged and in one such strike quite close by, the then Chief of Tehrik-e-Taliban, Pakistan namely Hakimullah Mehsood was killed. This had enraged the entire jehadi community and Asif was also deeply influenced by his martyrdom. However, the pressure of drone strikes compelled that hideouts be changed frequently.

After the deeni training got over, one day, Sanaul Haque @ Maulana Asim Umar called accused Mohd. Asif for an important meeting. He was told that the son-in-law of Ayman Al Zawahiri was expected to visit the area soon along with an Arabian Shura (Grand Council) of AQ to formally announce the formation of AQIS and Asif was the only Indian person who would be privy to such a high profile meeting apart from Sanaul Haque himself. Soon, the meeting took place at an undisclosed location in the vicinity of Miran Shah and Sanaul Haque @ Maulana Asim Umar was anointed as the Amir of newly formed AQIS, which pledged to take the frontiers of Islamic jehad towards the entire South Asian continent including India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan with India being the centerpiece of action.

Sometime after the meeting, Maulana Asim Umar had unexpected visitors from Karachi – Riyaz Bhatkal, the chief of Indian Mujahidin paid him a visit to pay his obeisance and to seek support of AQIS in the operations of IM in India. Apart from Riyaz Bhatkal, other senior IM commanders like Bada Sajid (recently reported killed in Syria) etc. also visited Maulana Asim Umar to met him and pay him their respect.

After his sojourn in Waziristan, accused Mohd. Asif was asked to return to India as the head of Indian wing of AQIS and tasked with motivating and recruiting further prospects for the Tanzeem. He bid a fond adieu to Sanaul Haque @ Maulana Asim Umar and leaving the two terrorists who had traveled with him with Usman and Sayed, he returned his journey back home.

When accused Mohd. Asif reached Iran following the same route and MO through which he had entered Pakistan, he was caught by Iranian security agency at the Mehriyaz border. However, the contacts of Al Qaeda ensured that he was transited to Turkey and after some days, accused Mohd. Asif found himself in the company of Uighur AQ operatives, who had a base in Istanbul. Since his travel VISA for Iran had long expired and he had over stayed it by almost thirteen months, as advised by his handlers, he approached the Indian Embassy at Istanbul and pleaded that he had lost his Indian passport and was sent back to India on an Emergency Certificate (EC). Accused Mohd. Asif landed in Delhi in September 2014 and since then, was deeply involved in the expansion of AQIS in India.

The arrest of Mohd. Asif is a major achievement of security agencies working tirelessly to safeguard the nation against dreaded international terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda. His arrest and continuing interrogations are likely to provide crucial leads to the infiltration and expanse of AQIS in India and the neighboring countries. Being the first recognized Indian module of AQIS, which has several Indians known to be operating from the Af-Pak region, the arrest is also likely to reveal other modules/sleeper cells of Al Qaeda affiliates in India.

Further investigation is under progress.

(Arvind Deep)

Special Commissioner/Special Cell

Delhi Police

Source: Delhi Police (PR CELL) www.sarkarimirror.com/al-qaeda-indian-subcontinent-aqis-m...

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Puri is a city and a Municipality of Odisha. It is the district headquarters of Puri district, Odisha, eastern India. It is situated on the Bay of Bengal, 60 kilometres south of the state capital of Bhubaneswar. It is also known as Jagannath Puri after the 12th-century Jagannath Temple located in the city. It is one of the original Char Dham pilgrimage sites for Indian Hindus.

Puri was known by several names from the ancient times to the present, and locally called as Badadeula. Puri and the Jagannath Temple were invaded 18 times by Hindu and Muslim rulers, starting from the 4th century to the start of the 19th century with the objective of looting the treasures of the temple. Odisha, including Puri and its temple, were under the British Raj from 1803 till India attained independence in August 1947. Even though princely states do not exist in independent India, the heirs of the Gajapati Dynasty of Khurda still perform the ritual duties of the temple. The temple town has many Hindu religious maths or monasteries.

The economy of Puri town is dependent on the religious importance of the Jagannath Temple to the extent of nearly 80%. The festivals which contribute to the economy are the 24 held every year in the temple complex, including 13 major festivals; Ratha Yatra and its related festivals are the most important which are attended by millions of people every year. Sand art and applique art are some of the important crafts of the city. Puri is one of the 12 heritage cities chosen by the Government of India for holistic development.

GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE

GEOGRAPHY

Puri, located on the east coast of India on the Bay of Bengal, is in the center of the district of the same name. It is delimited by the Bay of Bengal on the south east, the Mauza Sipaurubilla on the west, Mauz Gopinathpur in the north and Mauza Balukhand in the east. It is within the 67 kilometres coastal stretch of sandy beaches that extends between Chilika Lake and the south of Puri city. However, the administrative jurisdiction of the Puri Municipality extends over an area of 16.3268 square kilometres spread over 30 wards, which includes a shore line of 5 kilometres.

Puri is in the coastal delta of the Mahanadi River on the shores of the Bay of Bengal. In the ancient days it was near to Sisupalgarh (Ashokan Tosali) when the land was drained by a tributary of the River Bhargavi, a branch of the Mahanadi River, which underwent a meandering course creating many arteries altering the estuary, and formed many sand hills. These sand hills could not be "cut through" by the streams. Because of the sand hills, the Bhargavi River flowing to the south of Puri, moved away towards the Chilika Lake. This shift also resulted in the creation of two lagoons known as Sar and Samang on the eastern and northern parts of Puri respectively. Sar lagoon has a length of 8.0 km in an east-west direction and has a width of 3.2 km in north-south direction. The river estuary has a shallow depth of 1.5 m only and the process of siltation is continuing. According to a 15th-century chronicle the stream that flowed at the base of the Blue Mountain or Neelachal was used as the foundation or high plinth of the present temple which was then known as Purushottama, the Supreme Being. A 16th century chronicle attributes filling up of the bed of the river which flowed through the present Grand Road, during the reign of King Narasimha II (1278–1308).

CLIMATE

According to the Köppen and Geiger the climate of Puri is classified Aw. The city has moderate and tropical climate. Humidity is fairly high throughout the year. The temperature during summer touches a maximum of 36 °C and during winter it is 17 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1,337 millimetres and the average annual temperature is 26.9 °C.

HISTORY

NAMES IN HISTORY

Puri, the holy land of Lord Jaganath, also known popularly as Badadeula in local usage, has many ancient names in the Hindu scriptures such as the Rigveda, Matsya purana, Brahma Purana, Narada Purana, Padma Purana, Skanda Purana, Kapila samhita and Niladrimahodaya. In the Rigveda, in particular, it is mentioned as a place called Purushamandama-grama meaning the place where the Creator deity of the world – Supreme Divinity deified on altar or mandapa was venerated near the coast and prayers offered with vedic hymns. Over time the name got changed to Purushottama Puri and further shortened to Puri and the Purusha became Jagannatha. Close to this place sages like Bhrigu, Atri and Markandeya had their hermitage. Its name is mentioned, conforming to the deity worshipped, as Srikshetra, Purusottama Dhāma, Purusottama Kshetra, Purusottama Puri and Jagannath Puri. Puri is however, a common usage now. It is also known the geographical features of its siting as Shankhakshetra (layout of the town is in the form of a conch shell.), Neelāchala ("blue mountain" a terminology used to name very large sand lagoon over which the temple was built but this name is not in vogue), Neelāchalakshetra, Neelādri, The word 'Puri' in Sanskrit means "town", or 'city' and is cognate with polis in Greek.

Another ancient name is Charita as identified by Cunningham which was later spelled as Che-li-ta-lo by Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang.When the present temple was built by the Ganga king Chodangadev in the 11th and 12th centuries it was called Purushottamkshetra. However, the Moghuls, the Marathas and early British rulers called it Purushottama-chhatar or just Chhatar. In Akbar's Ain-i-Akbari and subsequent Muslim historical records it was known as Purushottama. In the Sanskrit drama authored by Murari Mishra in the 8th century it is referred as Purushottama only. It was only after twelfth century Puri came to be known by the shortened form of Jagannatha Puri, named after the deity or in a short form as Puri. In some records pertaining to the British rule, the word 'Jagannath' was used for Puri. It is the only shrine in India, where Radha, along with Lakshmi, Saraswati, Durga, Bhudevi, Sati, Parvati, and Shakti abodes with Krishna, also known as Jagannath.

ANCIENT PERIOD

According to the chronicle Madala Panji, in 318 the priests and servitors of the temple spirited away the idols to escape the wrath of the Rashtrakuta King Rakatavahu. The temple's ancient historical records also finds mention in the Brahma Purana and Skanda Purana as having been built by the king Indradyumna of Ujjayani.

According to W.J. Wilkinson, in Puri, Buddhism was once a well established practice but later Buddhists were persecuted and Brahmanism became the order of the religious practice in the town; the Buddha deity in now worshipped by the Hindus as Jagannatha. It is also said that some relics of Buddha were placed inside the idol of Jagannath which the Brahmins claimed were the bones of Krishna. Even during Ashoka’s reign in 240 BC Odisha was a Buddhist center and that a tribe known as Lohabahu (barbarians from outside Odisha) converted to Buddhism and built a temple with an idol of Buddha which is now worshipped as Jagannatha. It is also said that Lohabahu deposited some Buddha relics in the precincts of the temple.

Construction of the Jagannatha Temple started in 1136 and completed towards the later part of the 12th century. The King of the Ganga dynasty, Anangabhima dedicated his kingdom to the God, then known as the Purushottam-Jagannatha and resolved that from then on he and his descendants would rule under "divine order as Jagannatha's sons and vassals". Even though princely states do not exist in independent India, the heirs of the Gajapati dynasty of Khurda still perform the ritual duties of the temple; the king formally sweeps the road in front of the chariots before the start of the Rathayatra.

MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN PERIODS

History of the temple is the history of the town of Puri, which was invaded 18 times during its history to plunder the treasures of the Jagannath Puri temple. The first invasion was in the 8th century by Rastrakuta king Govinda-III (AD 798–814) and the last was in 1881 by the followers of Alekh Religion who did not recognize Jagannath worship. In between, from the 1205 onward there were many invasions of the city and its temple by Muslims of the Afghans and Moghuls descent, known as Yavanas or foreigners; they had mounted attacks to ransack the wealth of the temple rather than for religious reasons. In most of these invasions the idols were taken to safe places by the priests and the servitors of the temple. Destruction of the temple was prevented by timely resistance or surrender by the kings of the region. However, the treasures of the temple were repeatedly looted. Puri is the site of the Govardhana matha, one of the four cardinal institutions established by Adi Shankaracharya, when he visited Puri in 810 and since then it has become an important dham (divine centre) for the Hindus; the others being those at Sringeri, Dwaraka and Jyotirmath. The matha is headed by Jagatguru Shankarachrya. The significance of the four dhams is that the Lord Vishnu takes his dinner at Puri, has his bath at Rameshwaram, spends the night at Dwarka and does penance at Badrinath.

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu of Bengal who established the Bhakti movements of India in the sixteenth century, now known by the name the Hare Krishna movement, spent many years as a devotee of Jagannatha at Puri; he is said to have merged his "corporal self" with the deity. There is also a matha of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu here.

In the 17th century for the sailors sailing on the east coast of India, the landmark was the temple located in a plaza in the centre of the town which they called the "White Pagoda" while the Konark Sun Temple, 60 kilometres away to the east of Puri, was known as the "Black Pagoda".

The iconographic representation of the images in the Jagannath temple are believed to be the forms derived from the worship made by the tribal groups of Sabaras belonging to northern Odisha. These images are replaced at regular intervals as the wood deteriorates. This replacement is a special event carried out ritulistically by special group of carpenters.

The town has many Mathas (Monasteries of the various Hindu sects). Among the important mathas is the Emar Matha founded by the Tamil Vaishnav Saint Ramanujacharya in the 12th century AD. At present this matha is located in front of Simhadvara across the eastern corner of the Jagannath Temple is reported to have been built in the 16th century during the reign of Suryavamsi Gajapati. The matha was in the news recently for the large cache of 522 silver slabs unearthded from a closed room.

The British conquered Orissa in 1803 and recognizing the importance of the Jagannatha Temple in the life of the people of the state they initially placed an official to look after the temple's affairs and later declared it a district with the same name.

MODERN HISTORY

In 1906, Sri Yukteswar an exponent of Kriya Yoga, a resident of Puri, established an ashram in the sea-side town of Puri, naming it "Kararashram" as a spiritual training center. He died on 9 March 1936 and his body is buried in the garden of the ashram.

The city is the site of the former summer residence of British Raj built in 1913–14 during the era of governors, the Raj Bhavan.

For the people of Puri Lord Jagannath, visualized as Lord Krishna, is synonymous with their city. They believe that the Jagannatha looks after the welfare of the state. However, after the incident of the partial collapse of the Jagannatha Temple, the Amalaka part of the tower on 14 June 1990 people became apprehensive and thought it was not a good omen for the welfare of the State of Odisha. The replacement of the fallen stone by another of the same size and weight (seven tons) had to be done only in the an early morning hours after the gods had woken up after a good nights sleep which was done on 28 February 1991.

Puri has been chosen as one of the heritage cities for the Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana scheme of the Indian Government. It is one of 12 the heritage cities chosen with "focus on holistic development" to be implemented in 27 months by end of March 2017.

Non-Hindus are not permitted to enter the shrines but are allowed to view the temple and the proceedings from the roof of the Raghunandan library within the precincts of the temple for a small donation.

DEMOGRAPHICS

As of 2001 India census, Puri city, an urban Agglomeration governed by Municipal Corporation in Orissa state, had a population of 157,610 which increased to 200,564 in 2011. Males, 104,086, females, 96,478, children under 6 years of age, 18,471. The sex ratio is 927 females to 1000 males. Puri has an average literacy rate of 88.03 percent (91.38 percent males and 84.43 percent females). Religion-wise data is not reported.

ECONOMY

The economy of Puri is dependent on tourism to the extent of about 80%. The temple is the focal point of the entire area of the town and provides major employment to the people of the town. Agricultural production of rice, ghee, vegetables and so forth of the region meets the huge requirements of the temple, with many settlements aroiund the town exclusively catering to the other religious paraphernalia of the temple. The temple administration employs 6,000 men to perform the rituals. The temple also provides economic sustenance to 20,000 people belonging to 36 orders and 97 classes. The kitchen of the temple which is said to be the largest in the world employs 400 cooks.

CITY MANAGEMENT AND GOVERNANCE

Puri Municipality, Puri Konark Development Authority, Public Health Engineering Organisastion, Orissa Water Supply Sewerage Board are some of the principal organizations that are devolved with the responsibility of providing for all the urban needs of civic amenities such as water supply, sewerage, waste management, street lighting, and infrastructure of roads. The major activity which puts maximum presuure on these organizations is the annual event of the Ratha Yatra held for 10 days during July when more than a million people attend the grand event. This event involves to a very large extent the development activities such as infrastructure and amenities to the pilgrims, apart from security to the pilgrims.

The civic administration of Puri is the responsibility of the Puri Municipality which came into existence in 1864 in the name of Puri Improvement Trust which got converted into Puri Municipality in 1881. After India's independence in 1947, Orissa Municipal Act-1950 was promulgated entrusting the administration of the city to the Puri Municipality. This body is represented by elected representative with a Chairperson and councilors representing the 30 wards within the municipal limits.

LANDMARKS

JAGANNATH TEMPLE AT PURI

The Temple of Jagannath at Puri is one of the major Hindu temples built in the Kalinga style of architecture, in respect of its plan, front view and structural detailing. It is one of the Pancharatha (Five chariots) type consisting of two anurathas, two konakas and one ratha with well-developed pagas. Vimana or Deula is the sanctum sanctorum where the triad (three) deities are deified on the ratnavedi (Throne of Pearls), and over which is the temple tower, known as the rekha deula; the latter is built over a rectangular base of the pidha temples as its roof is made up of pidhas that are sequentially arranged horizontal platforms built in descending order forming a pyramidal shape. The mandapa in front of the sanctum sanctorum is known as Jagamohana where devotees assemble to offer worship. The temple tower with a spire rises to a height of 58 m in height and a flag is unfurled above it fixed over a wheel (chakra). Within the temple complex is the Nata Mandir, a large hall where Garuda stamba (pillar). Chaitanya Mahaprabhu used to stand here and pray. In the interior of the Bhoga Mantap, adjoining the Nata mandir, there is profusion of decorations of sculptures and paintings which narrate the story of Lord Krishna. The temple is built on an elevated platform (of about 39,000 m2 area), 20 ft above the adjoining area. The temple rises to a height of 214 ft above the road level. The temple complex covers an area of 4,3 ha. There is double walled enclosure, rectangular in shape (rising to a height of 20 ft) surrounding the temple complex of which the outer wall is known as Meghanada Prachira, measuring 200 by 192 metres. The inner walled enclosure, known as Kurmabedha. measures 126m x 95m. There are four entry gates (in four cardinal directions to the temple located at the center of the walls in the four directions of the outer circle. These are: the eastern gate called Singhadwara (Lions Gate), the southern gate known as Ashwa Dwara (Horse Gate), the western gate called the Vyaghra Dwara (Tigers Gate) or the Khanja Gate, and the northern gate called the Hathi Dwara or (elephant gate). The four gates symbolize the four fundamental principles of Dharma (right conduct), Jnana (knowledge), Vairagya (renunciation) and Aishwarya (prosperity). The gates are crowned with pyramid shapes structures. There is stone pillar in front of the Singhadwara called the Aruna Stambha {Solar Pillar}, 11 metres in height with 16 faces, made of chlorite stone, at the top of which is mounted an elegant statue of Arun (Sun) in a prayer mode. This pillar was shifted from the Konarak Sun temple. All the gates are decorated with guardian statues in the form of lion, horse mounted men, tigers and elephants in the name and order of the gates. A pillar made of fossilized wood is used for placing lamps as offering. The Lion Gate (Singhadwara) is the main gate to the temple, which guarded by two guardian deities Jaya and Vijaya. The main gates is ascended through 22 steps known as Baisi Pahaca which are revered as it is said to possess "spiritual animation". Children are made to roll down these steps from top to bottom to bring them spiritual happiness. After entering the temple on the left hand side there is huge kitchen where food is prepared in hygienic conditions in huge quantities that it is termed as "the biggest hotel of the world".

The legend says that King Indradyumma was directed by Lord Jagannath in a dream to build a temple for him and he built it as directed. However, according to historical records the temple was started some time during the 12th century by King Chodaganga of the Eastern Ganga dynasty. It was however completed by his descendant, Anangabhima Deva, in the 12th century. The wooden images of Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra were then deified here. The temple was under the control of the Hindu rulers up to 1558. Then, when Orissa was occupied by the Afghan Nawab of Bengal, it was brought under the control of the Afghan General Kalapahad. Following the defeat of the Afghan king by Raja Mansingh, the General of Mughal emperor Akbar, the temple became a part of the Mughal empire till 1751 AD. Subsequently it was under the control of the Marathas till 1803. Then, when British Raj took over Orissa, the Puri Raja was entrusted with its to management until 1947.

The triad of images in the temple are of Jagannatha, personifying Lord Krishna, Balabhadra, his older brother, and Subhadra his younger sister, which are made of wood (neem) in an unfinished form. The stumps of wood which form the images of the brothers have human arms and that of Subhadra does not have any arms. The heads are large and un-carved and are painted. The faces are made distinct with the large circular shaped eyes.

THE PANCHA TIRTHA OF PURI

Hindus consider it essential to bathe in the Pancha Tirtha or the five sacred bathing spots of Puri, India, to complete a pilgrimage to Puri. The five sacred water bodies are the Indradyumana Tank, the Rohini Kunda, the Markandeya Tank, Swetaganga Tank, and the The Sea also called the Mahodadhi is considered a sacred bathing spot in the Swargadwar area. These tanks have perennial sources of supply in the form of rain water and ground water.

GUNDICHA TEMPLE

Known as the Garden House of Jagannath, the Gundicha temple stands in the centre of a beautiful garden, surrounded by compound walls on all sides. It lies at a distance of about 3 kilometres to the north east of the Jagannath Temple. The two temples are located at the two ends of the Bada Danda (Grand Avenue) which is the pathway for the Rath Yatra. According to a legend, Gundicha was the wife of King Indradyumna who originally built the Jagannath temple.

The temple is built using light-grey sandstone and architecturally, it exemplifies typical Kalinga temple architecture in the Deula style. The complex comprises four components: vimana (tower structure containing the sanctum), jagamohana (assembly hall), nata-mandapa (festival hall) and bhoga-mandapa (hall of offerings). There is also a kitchen connected by a small passage. The temple is set within a garden, and is known as "God's Summer Garden Retreat" or garden house of Jagannath. The entire complex, including garden, is surrounded by a wall which measures 131 m × 98 m with height of 6.1 m.

Except for the 9-day Rath Yatra when triad images are worshipped in Gundicha Temple, the rest of the year it remains unoccupied. Tourists can visit the temple after paying an entry fee. Foreigners (prohibited entry in the main temple) are allowed inside this temple during this period. The temple is under the Jagannath Temple Administration, Puri – the governing body of the main temple. A small band of servitors maintain the temple.

SWARGADWAR

Swargadwar is the name given to the cremation ground or burning ghat which is located on the shores of the sea were thousands of dead bodies of Hindus are brought from faraway places to cremate. It is a belief that the Chitanya Mahaparabhu disppaeread from this Swargadwar about 500 years back.

BEACH

The beach at Puri known as the "Ballighai beach} is 8 km away at the mouth of Nunai River from the town and is fringed by casurian trees. It has golden yellow sand and has pleasant sunshine. Sunrise and sunset are pleasant scenic attractions here. Waves break in at the beach which is long and wide.

DISTRICT MUSEUM

The Puri district museum is located on the station road where the exhibits are of different types of garments worn by Lord Jagannath, local sculptures, patachitra (traditional, cloth-based scroll painting) and ancient Palm-leaf manuscripts and local craft work.

RAGHUNANDANA LIBRARY

Raghunandana Library is located in the Emmra matha complex (opposite Simhadwara or Lion gate, the main entrance gate). The Jagannatha Aitihasika Gavesana Samiti (Jagannatha Historical Center) is also located here. The library contains ancient palm leaf manuscripts of Jagannatha, His cult and the history of the city. From the roof of the library one gets a picturesque view of the temple complex.

FESTIVALS OF PURI

Puri witnesses 24 festivals every year, of which 13 are major festivals. The most important of these is the Rath Yatra or the Car festival held in the month June–July which is attended by more than 1 million people.

RATH YATRA AT PURI

The Jagannath triad are usually worshiped in the sanctum of the temple at Puri, but once during the month of Asadha (Rainy Season of Orissa, usually falling in month of June or July), they are brought out onto the Bada Danda (main street of Puri) and travel 3 kilometrer to the Shri Gundicha Temple, in huge chariots (ratha), allowing the public to have darśana (Holy view). This festival is known as Rath Yatra, meaning the journey (yatra) of the chariots (ratha). The yatra starts, according to Hindu calendar Asadha Sukla Dwitiya )the second day of bright fortnight of Asadha (June–July) every year.

Historically, the ruling Ganga dynasty instituted the Rath Yatra at the completion of the great temple around 1150 AD. This festival was one of those Hindu festivals that was reported to the Western world very early. In his own account of 1321, Odoric reported how the people put the "idols" on chariots, and the King and Queen and all the people drew them from the "church" with song and music.

The Rathas are huge wheeled wooden structures, which are built anew every year and are pulled by the devotees. The chariot for Jagannath is about 14 m high and 35 feet square and takes about 2 months to construct. Th chariot is mounted with 16 wheels, each of 2.1 m diameter. The carvings in the front of the chariot has four wooden horses drawn by Maruti. On its other three faces the wooden carvings are Rama, Surya and Vishnu. The chariot is known as Nandi Ghosha. The roof of the chariot is covered with yellow and golden coloured cloth. The next chariot is that of Balabhadra which is 13 m in height fitted with 14 wheels. The chariot is carved with Satyaki as the charioteer. The carvings on this chariot also include images of Narasimha and Rudra as Jagannath's companions. The next chariot in the order is that of Subhadra, which is 13 m in height supported on 12 wheels, roof covered in black and red colour cloth and the chariot is known as Darpa-Dalaan. The charioteer carved is Arjuna. Other images carved on the chariot are that of Vana Durga, Tara Devi and Chandi Devi. The artists and painters of Puri decorate the cars and paint flower petals and other designs on the wheels, the wood-carved charioteer and horses, and the inverted lotuses on the wall behind the throne. The huge chariots of Jagannath pulled during Rath Yatra is the etymological origin of the English word Juggernaut. The Ratha-Yatra is also termed as the Shri Gundicha yatra and Ghosha yatra

CHHERA PAHARA

The Chhera Pahara is a significant ritual associated with the Ratha-Yatra. During the festival, the Gajapati King wears the outfit of a sweeper and sweeps all around the deities and chariots in the Chera Pahara (sweeping with water) ritual. The Gajapati King cleanses the road before the chariots with a gold-handled broom and sprinkles sandalwood water and powder with utmost devotion. As per the custom, although the Gajapati King has been considered the most exalted person in the Kalingan kingdom, he still renders the menial service to Jagannath. This ritual signified that under the lordship of Jagannath, there is no distinction between the powerful sovereign Gajapati King and the most humble devotee.

CHADAN YATRA

In Akshaya Tritiya every year the Chandan Yatra festival marks the commencement of the construction of the Chariots of the Rath Yatra. It also marks the celebration of the Hindu new year.

SNANA YATRA

On the Purnima day in the month of Jyestha (June) the triad images of the Jagannath temple are ceremonially bathed and decorated every year on the occasion of Snana Yatra. Water for the bath is taken in 108 pots from the Suna kuan (meaning: "golden well") located near the northern gate of the temple. Water is drawn from this well only once in a year for the sole purpose of this religious bath of the deities. After the bath the triad images are dressed in the fashion of the elephant god, Ganesha. Later during the night the original triad images are taken out in a procession back to the main temple but kept at a place known as Anasara pindi. After this the Jhulana Yatra is when proxy images of the deities are taken out in a grand procession for 21 days, cruised over boats in the Narmada tank.

ANAVASARA OR ANASARA

Anasara literally means vacation. Every year, the triad images without the Sudarshan after the holy Snana Yatra are taken to a secret altar named Anavasara Ghar Palso known as "Anasara pindi} where they remain for the next dark fortnight (Krishna paksha). Hence devotees are not allowed to view them. Instead of this devotees go to nearby place Brahmagiri to see their beloved lord in the form of four handed form Alarnath a form of Vishnu. Then people get the first glimpse of lord on the day before Rath Yatra, which is called Navayouvana. It is said that the gods suffer from fever after taking ritual detailed bath and they are treated by the special servants named, Daitapatis for 15 days. Daitapatis perform special niti (rite) known as Netrotchhaba (a rite of painting the eyes of the triad). During this period cooked food is not offered to the deities.

NAVA KALEVARA

One of the most grandiloquent events associated with the Lord Jagannath, Naba Kalabera takes place when one lunar month of Ashadha is followed by another lunar month of Aashadha, called Adhika Masa (extra month). This can take place in 8, 12 or even 18 years. Literally meaning the "New Body" (Nava = New, Kalevar = Body), the festival is witnessed by as millions of people and the budget for this event exceeds $500,000. The event involves installation of new images in the temple and burial of the old ones in the temple premises at Koili Vaikuntha. The idols that were worshipped in the temple, installed in the year 1996, were replaced by specially made new images made of neem wood during Nabakalebara 2015 ceremony held during July 2015. More than 3 million devotees were expected to visit the temple during the Nabakalebara 2015 held in July.

SUNA BESHA

Suna Bhesha also known as Raja or Rajadhiraja bhesha or Raja Bhesha, is an event when the triad images of the Jagannath Temple are adorned with gold jewelry. This event is observed 5 times during a year. It is commonly observed on Magha Purnima (January), Bahuda Ekadashi also known as Asadha Ekadashi (July), Dashahara (Vijyadashami) (October), Karthik Purnima (November), and Pousa Purnima (December). While one such Suna Bhesha event is observed on Bahuda Ekadashi during the Rath Yatra on the chariots placed at the lion's gate or the Singhdwar; the other four Bheshas' are observed inside the temple on the Ratna Singhasana (gem studded altar). On this occasion gold plates are decorated over the hands and feet of Jagannath and Balabhadra; Jagannath is also adorned with a Chakra (disc) made of gold on the right hand while a silver conch adorns the left hand. However, Balabhadra is decorated with a plough made of gold on the left hand while a golden mace adorns his right hand.

NILADRI BIJE

Celebrated on Asadha Trayodashi. It marks the end of the 12 days Ratha yatra. The large wooden images of the triad of gods are moved from the chariots and then carried to the sanctum sanctorum, swaying rhythmically, a ritual which is known as pahandi.

SAHI YATRA

Considered the world's biggest open-air theatre, the Sahi yatra is an 11 day long traditional cultural theatre festival or folk drama which begins on Ram Navami and ending in Rama avishke (Sanskrit:anointing) every year. The festival includes plays depicting various scenes from the Ramayan. The residents of various localities or Sahis are entrusted the task of performing the drama at the street corners.

TRANSPORT

Earlier when roads did not exist people walked or travelled by animal drawn vehicles or carriages along beaten tracks. Up to Calcutta travel was by riverine craft along the Ganges and then by foot or carriages to Puri. It was only during the Maratha rule that the popular Jagannath Sadak (Road) was built around 1790. The East India Company laid the rail track from Calcutta to Puri which became operational in 1898. Puri is now well connected by rail, road and air services. A broad gauge railway line of the South Eastern Railways connects with Puri and Khurda is an important Railway junction. By rail it is about 499 kilometres away from Calcutta and 468 kilometres from Vishakhapatnam. Road network includes NH 203 that links the town with Bhubaneswar, the capital of Odisha which is about 60 kilometres away. NH 203 B connects the town with Satapada via Brahmagiri. Marine drive which is part of NH 203 A connects Puri with Konark. The nearest airport is at Bhubaneswar, about 60 kilometres away from Puri. Puri railway station is among the top hundred booking stations of Indian Railways.

ARTS AND CRAFTS

SAND ART

Sand art is a special art form that is created on the beaches of the sea coast of Puri. The art form is attributed to Balaram Das, a poet who lived in the 14th century. He started crafting the sand art forms of the triad deities of the Jagannath Temple at the Puri beach. Now sculptures in sand of various gods and famous people are created by amateur artists which are temporal in nature as they get washed away by waves. This is an art form which has gained international fame in recent years. One of the well known sand artist is Sudarshan Patnaik. He has established the Golden Sand Art Institute in 1995 at the beach to provide training to students interested in this art form.

APPLIQUE ART

Applique art work, which is a stitching based craft, unlike embroidery, which was pioneered by the Hatta Maharana of Pipili is widely used in Puri, both for decoration of the deities but also for sale. His family members are employed as darjis or tailors or sebaks by the Maharaja of Puri who prepare articles for decorating the deities in the temple for various festivals and religious ceremonies. These applique works are brightly coloured and patterned fabric in the form of canopies, umbrellas, drapery, carry bags, flags, coberings of dummy horses and cows, and other household textiles which are marketed in Puri. The cloth used are in dark colours of red, black, yellow, green, blue and turquoise blue.

CULTURE

Cultural activities, apart from religiuos festivals, held annually are: The Puri Beach Festival held between 5 and 9 November and the Shreeksherta Utsav held from 20 December to 2 January where cultural programmes include unique sand art, display of local and traditional handicrafts and food festival. In addition cultural programmes are held every Saturday for two hours on in second Saturday of the moth at the district Collector's Conference Hall near Sea Beach Polic Station. Apart from Odissi dance, Odiya music, folk dances, and cultural programmes are part of this event. Odishi dance is the cultural heritage of Puri. This dance form originated in Puri in the dances performed Devadasis (Maharis) attached to the Jagannath temple who performed dances in the Natamantapa of the temple to please the deities. Though the devadadsi practice has been discontinued, the dance form has become modern and classical and is widely popular, and many of the Odishi virtuoso artists and gurus (teachers) are from Puri.

EDUCATION

SOME OF THE EDUCATIONNAL INSTITUTIONS IN PURI

- Ghanashyama Hemalata Institute of Technology and Management

- Gangadhar Mohapatra Law College, established in 1981[84]

- Extension Unit of Regional Research Institute of Homoeopathy; Puri under Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy (CCRH), New Delhi established in March 2006

- Sri Jagannath Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya, established in July 1981

- The Industrial Training Institute, a Premier Technical Institution to provide education in skilled, committed & talented technicians, established in 1966 of the Government of India

PURI PEOPLE

Gopabandhu Das

Acharya Harihar

Nilakantha Das

Kelucharan Mohapatra

Pankaj Charan Das

Manasi Pradhan

Raghunath Mohapatra

Sudarshan Patnaik

Biswanath Sahinayak

Rituraj Mohanty

WIKIPEDIA

The objective of the First International Reggae Poster Contest is to continue to build awareness for Reggae music and to celebrate the global achievements of Reggae and its positive impact on the world. The term Reggae encompasses all the popular Jamaican musical genres; Ska, Rocksteady, Roots Reggae, Dub, Dancehall and the unique Jamaican Soundsystem. The Poster competition is part of a bigger vision to build a Reggae Hall of Fame in Kingston, Jamaica.

THE 1st. INTERNATIONAL REGGAE POSTER CONTEST 2012

www.reggaepostercontest.com/

A very old objective. Would be a nice focal length ... but the adapter for Minolta does not support AF and the electronic stuff ... so the A300 can't find it :(

This little guy came from the drainage of a hot spring in Lassen County, California. The white fuzzy stuff he is resting on is a "Q-Tip", or an equivalent generic brand of swab.

I created this image with my old Nikon D50 DSLR. I used an inexpensive 10X microscope finite objective lens (160mm focal length), mounted on a stack of extension tubes with a Nikon to RMS adapter on the front end of the tube stack. There was no other lens- just the microscope objective- projecting an image directly onto the camera's 23.7 x 15.5mm image sensor.

I used Zerene Stacker to stack together 67 photos, combining them into the one you see here.

Each image was taken with the subject progressively farther from the lens. I used a micrometer stage from an old optical comparator to move the subject a smidgen before each new frame. Each smidgen was calibrated to allow some slight overlap for the depth of field, to prevent banding in the final image.

This allows the extremely shallow (about 12 microns, or 0.00047 inches) DOF to be compensated for, with special software than can "glue together" the individual 12-micron slices of sharp focus into a usable complete image.

The image as seen here was the complete frame from the camera (uncropped). At the 10X magnification of the microscope lens, that means that the subject fits into a frame that is 2.4mm across. So the critter is a hair under 2mm long, in "real life".

Lighting was provided exclusively by a 33-watt compact-fluorescent "circline" bulb in the ceiling of the kitchen where this image was created. Exposure time per frame was 2 seconds.

Click here to read the Wikipedia entry about Springtails.

Sometimes when I look at art that I don't "get", I start to dismiss it. Thinking that if I don't get it, then it must not be art worthy of my attention. But is art like that? Isn't beauty in the eye of the beholder? If that's the case, it's almost impossible to argue if one work of art is better than the other. So when I look at art now, I keep an open mind and heart.

‘Beauty is no quality in things themselves: It exists merely

in the mind which contemplates them.' - David Hume

I picked up a new microscope objective to play with. Its an Olympus M SPLAN 10X 0.30 f=180 infinity corrected objective. Its was designed for use with metallurgical microscopes and does not require a cover glass. Being infinity corrected it does requires a tube lens, rather than just being mounted on a bellows. I've been unable to find out much info on the web about this objective, but I think it dates from mid-80's, but not sure.

The FOV of this single image of a microchip is 2.4mm. It seems to be resolving detail very well, especially considering I did no focus stacking. There is a fair amount of CA present, but I can live with that.

Panasonic Lumix GF1

Lumix G 20mm 1.7 ASPH

snapseed

Il 2011 è l' anno degli obiettivi. Obiettivi che più mi prefisso di raggiungere più mi fanno paura. Domani vorrei raggiungere il primo; ho lottato tanto, lo sto facendo tutt' ora e lo farò anche domani, ma ne varrà la pena?

Aggiornamento del 17/01 Ne è valsa eccome sta pena!XD

Subjectively Objective #12. An old building. Janesville, Wisconsin, USA.

I'm very excited to show you a brand new conceptual series I've been shooting the past month! A nice change from my norm subject matter of travel, lifestyle, landscapes, models, and nature. Retro / old "gems" in simple environments. Subtle colors, angular uncluttered compositions.

I hope you enjoy...

#subjectivelyobjective #janesville #wisconsin #rockcounty #mattanderson #retro #fineart

Thanks for viewing. You can visit my website by clicking here: www.mattandersonphotography.com

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Please E-mail me with any questions.

©2018 Matt Anderson All Rights Reserved. This image is not available for use on websites, blogs or other media without permission of the photographer. Hey, just E-mail me me if you have usage questions. Also, if you want to buy an awesome fine art print of this image.

Orchis purpurea

290 exposures taken with Nikon BD Plan 20x microscope objective at 20× magnfication on the sensor. Field of view is 1,8mm×1,2mm. Stacked and retouched in Zerene Stacker.

Special thanks to Péter Ujhelyi for the original idea.

View larger!

Taken with Canon EOS M5 and Leitz Wetzlar 10x microscope objective.

29 stacked images.

“Skylab Expedition 3

“The three of us dreamed up the concept, Bill Pogue put together the description, and Barbara Matelski from the Johnson Space Center Graphics Department did the artwork. We gave our concept to several artists, but none of them came up with a design that delivered the message, so we rough sketched our idea, and Barbara put it together.”

— Jerry Carr, from All We Did Was Fly to the Moon

“The symbols in the patch refer to the three major areas of investigation in the mission. The tree represents man’s natural environment and refers to the objective of advancing the study of earth resources. The hydrogen atom, as the basic building block of the universe, represents man’s exploration of the physical world, his application of knowledge, and his development of technology. Since the sun is composed primarily of hydrogen, the hydrogen symbol also refers to the Solar Physics mission objectives.

“The human silhouette represents mankind and the human capacity to direct technology with a wisdom tempered by his regard for his natural environment. It also relates to the Skylab medical studies of man himself.

“The rainbow, adopted from the Biblical story of the Flood, symbolizes the promise that is offered to man. It embraces man and extends to the tree and hydrogen atom, emphasizing man’s pivotal role in the conciliation of technology with nature by a humanistic application of our scientific knowledge.”

— From the Skylab Expedition 3 astronauts’ calling card

The artwork is very nicely put together, and Matelski obviously takes into account the limitations of the silk screen process used to fabricate the beta cloth patches. Matelski also did the artwork for the Apollo 16 patch.

The Lion Brothers version of this patch has a yellow comet in the blue background around the top of the “3,” which represents the observations of Comet Kohoutek.”

Above at/from Gene Dorr’s wonderful space patch website, at:

genedorr.com/patches/Skylab/Sk04.html

The ‘official’ caption:

“This is the emblem for the third manned Skylab mission. It will be a mission of up to 56 days. Skylab is an experimental space station consisting of a 100-ton laboratory complex in which medical, scientific and technological experiments will be performed in Earth orbit. The members of the crew will be astronaut Gerald P. Carr, commander; scientist-astronaut Edward G. Gibson, science pilot; and astronaut William R.

Pogue, pilot. The symbols in the patch refer to the three major areas of investigation proposed in the mission. The tree represents man's natural environment and relates directly to the Skylab mission objectives of advancing the study of Earth resources. The hydrogen atom, as the basic building block of the universe, represents man's exploration of the physical world, his application of knowledge, and his development of technology. Since the sun is composed primarily of hydrogen, it is appropriate that the symbol refers to the solar physics mission objectives. The human silhouette represents mankind and the human capacity to direct technology with a wisdom tempered by regard for his natural environment. It also directly relates to the Skylab medical studies of man himself. The rainbow, adopted from the Biblical story of the flood, symbolizes the promise that is offered man. It embraces man and extends to the tree and the hydrogen atom emphasizing man's pivotal role in the conciliation of technology with nature.”

focus stack of 137 frames taken using a Stackshot rail and combined in Zerene Stacker. Nikon D810 with a nikon plan 10x/0.25 microscope objective mounted on an old nikon 200mm f4 acting as a tube lens