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Monteau dress
Forever21 boots
thrifted cardigan
Lately I've been a bit tired and feeling overworked... I guess that's the life of a mother.
...read/see more here.
Early life and career
Walker was born in Plymouth, the son of Frederic Murray and Lucy Selina (nee Scriven) Walker. He went to Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, where he excelled. First serving on the battleship Ajax as a midshipman, Walker as a sub-lieutenant went on to join the destroyers Mermaid and Sarpedon in 1916 and 1917 respectively. Following the end of the First World War, Walker joined the Queen Elizabeth-class battleship Valiant. He married Jessica Eileen Ryder Stobart, with whom he had three sons and a daughter.
Interwar Period, 1920s-1930s
During the inter-war period Walker partook in the particularly unglamorous field of anti-submarine warfare. He took a course at the newly founded anti-submarine training school of HMS Osprey, Portland which was established in 1924. Walker would consequently become an expert in this particular type of warfare, and would be appointed to a post specialising in this field, serving on a number of capital ships. In May 1933 he was promoted to commander and took charge of the First World War destroyer Shikari. In December 1933 Walker took command of the Shoreham-class sloop Falmouth based on the China Station. In April 1937 Walker became the Experimental Commander at HMS Osprey.
World War II
When the Second World War began, in 1939, Walker's career seemed at an end. Still a Commander, he had been ignored for promotion to captain and indeed had been scheduled for early retirement. He gained a reprieve, however, due to the commencement of war and in 1940 was appointed as Operations Staff Officer to Vice-Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay. Even so, Walker still had not been given a command, despite expertise in anti-submarine warfare that would no doubt be indispensable in the Battle of the Atlantic. During Walker's time in that role the legendary Dunkirk evacuations took place, in which the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was evacuated from France. The evacuation was an immense success, with over 330,000 British and French troops being taken to the United Kingdom. He was Mentioned in Dispatches for his work during the evacuation.
Walker finally received a command in October 1941, taking control of the 36th Escort Group, commanding from the Bittern class sloop Stork. The escort group comprised two sloops (including Stork) and six corvettes and was based in Liverpool, home of Western Approaches Command. Initially his Group was primarily used to escort convoys to and from Gibraltar.
His first chance to test his innovative methods against the U-boat menace came in December when his group escorted Convoy HG76 (32 ships). During the journey five U-boats were sunk, four by Walker's group, including U-574 which was depth-charged and rammed by Walker's own ship on 19 December. The RN's loss during the Battle for HG76 was one escort carrier (Audacity), one destroyer (Stanley) and two merchant ships. This is sometimes described as the first true Allied convoy victory in the Battle of the Atlantic. He was given the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) on 6 January 1942 for, "For daring, skill and determination while escorting to this country a valuable Convoy in the face of relentless attacks from the Enemy, during which three of their Submarines were sunk and two aircraft destroyed by our forces". Walker's group succeeded in sinking at least three more U-boats during his tenure as commander of the 36th Group. He was awarded the first Bar to his DSO in July 1942.
HMS Starling
In 1942 Walker left the 36th Group and became Captain (D) Liverpool, granting him some time to recuperate. He finally returned to a ship command when he became commander of the Second Support Group in 1943, consisting of six sloops. Walker led from Starling, a newly-commissioned Black Swan-class sloop. The group was intended to act as re-enforcement to convoys under attack, with the capacity to actively hunt and destroy U-boats, rather than be restricted to escorting convoys. Walker had suggested the innovative idea to Commander-in-Chief Western Approaches Command Sir Max Horton. The combination of an active hunting group and a charismatic, determined and innovative anti-submarine specialist such as Walker would prove to be a potent force. One eccentric aspect of his charismatic nature was the playing of the tune A Hunting We Will Go over the ship's Tannoy when returning to their base.
In June 1943 Walker's own ship Starling was responsible for the sinking of two U-boats. The first, U-202, was destroyed on 2 June by depth charges and gunfire, and the other, U-119, on 24 June by depth charges and ramming. Another U-boat, U-449, was sunk by his group on the same day. One highly successful tactic employed by Walker was the creeping attack, where two ships would work together to keep contact with a U –boat whilst attacking; a refinement of this was the barrage attack, which had three or more sloops in line to launch depth charges to saturate the area with depth charges in a manner similar to a rolling barrage by artillery in advance of an infantry attack. On 30 July Walker's group encountered a group of three U-boats on the surface (two were vital submarine type XIV replenishment boats known as "Milk Cows") while in the Bay of Biscay. He signaled the "general chase" to his group and fired at them, causing damage that prevented them from diving. Two of the submarines, U-462, a Type XIV, and U-504, a Type IX/C40, were then sunk by Walker's group, and the second Type XIV, U-461, by Australian Short Sunderland aircraft.
Upon his return to Liverpool, Walker was informed that his son, Timothy, had been killed when the submarine HMS Parthian had been lost in early August 1943 in the Mediterranean. On 14 September 1943 he was appointed a Companion of the Bath (CB), "for leadership and daring in command of H.M.S. Starling in successful actions against Enemy submarines in the Atlantic."
On 6 November 1943 Walker's group sank U-226 and U-842. In early 1944 Walker's group displayed their efficiency against U-boats by sinking six in one patrol. On 31 January 1944 Walker's group gained their first kill of the year when they sank U-592. On 9 February his group sank U-762,U-238, and U-734 in one action, then sank U-424 on 11 February, and U-264 on 19 February. On 20 February 1944 one of Walker's group, Woodpecker, was torpedoed and sank 7 days later while being towed home; all of her crew were saved. They returned to their base at Liverpool to the thrilled jubilation of the city's inhabitants and the Admiralty. The First Lord of the Admiralty was present to greet Walker and his ships. Walker was promoted to Captain and awarded a second Bar to his DSO.
In March Walker's group provided the escort for the American cruiser USS Milwaukee which was on its way to Russia as part of the lend-lease program. Walker's group sank two U-boats on the outward trip and a third on the return trip. Walker's last duty was protecting the fleet from U-boats during D-Day, the immense Allied invasion of France. This he did successfully for 2 weeks; no U-boats managed to get past Walker and his vessels, and many were sunk or damaged in the process. During this concerted effort Walker's dedication to his tasks was tremendous; he took no respite from his duties, which would ultimately contribute to his death. He was awarded the third bar to his DSO on 13 June 1944,and was again Mentioned in Dispatches on 20 June 1944.
Death
Walker suffered a cerebral thrombosis on 7 July 1944 and died two days later at the Naval Hospital at Seaforth, Merseyside aged 48; his death was attributed to overwork and exhaustion.
His funeral service took place at the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral with full naval honors and attended by about 1,000 people. The scene was emotional as the naval procession followed, traveling through the streets of Liverpool to the docks where he embarked aboard destroyer Hesperus commanded by Captain Donald MacIntyre for his final journey to be buried at sea. A further honor was a Mention in Despatches on 1 August 1944.[9]
Legacy
Statue of Frederic John Walker at the Pier Head, Liverpool
Walker sank more U-boats during the Battle of the Atlantic than any other British or Allied commander and was instrumental in the Allied victory of the Battle of the Atlantic, one of the most important campaigns of the war. In 1998 a statue by Liverpool sculptor Tom Murphy of Captain Johnnie Walker in a typical pose was unveiled at the Pier Head in Liverpool by HRH the Duke of Edinburgh. The campaign for the statue had been launched by the Captain Walker's Old Boys Association. Members of the Association met in Liverpool during the 60th Anniversary of the victory of the Battle of the Atlantic in 2003 to commemorate their comrades.
Johnnie Walker's grandson, Patrick Walker, continues the Walker association with the Royal Navy. He is, ironically, a submariner and has achieved the rank of Captain of the First Submarine Squadron. He is also President of the Captain Walker's Old Boys Association dedicated to Captain Walker and the men that served with him.
Unedited shot of people at the Damrak in Amsterdam, reflected in a puddle. Taken with my Sony HX1. No editing, no magic tricks, no Photoshop :)
As of next week, I am finally back to my old schedule of 4 days of work and a 3 day weekend, yay! Due to sucky circumstances I haven't had any vacation in the Summer or for Christmas, so I am seriously burned out, overworked and stressed, the only thing that kept me going in the last months was the idea that I'll start the new year with excess amounts of spare vacation days and my beloved 4-day-week, and now I'm so close, I can practically smell the good start into a lazier, better, more relaxed year, pheeeeew! To give myself a head-start, I took the last day of 2010 off, not so much to go out and party on New Years Eve (I doubt that I'll even have enough energy to open a bottle of beer and smoke a ciggie with it, lol), but to finally get some proper rest and sleep, to be able to welcome 2011 with open eyes and not the usual half-closed, red'ish slits I've been looking at life with lately, hehe :)
I've recently rediscovered the joy that is making your own pizza from scratch -- dough and all. It's actually really easy, not too time consuming, and the results are amazing. Plus you can make the kind of crazy pizzas you'd be scared to ask for in a restaurant.
My dough recipe:
1 1/4 cups lukewarm water
1/2 tsp sugar
2 tsp instant dry yeast
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
100g semolina flour
400g bread flour
2tsp sea salt
(flour is best measured by weight, since its volume varies a lot on how well it's packed, etc. also, make sure you're using *bread flour* and not all-purpose)
- pour the lukewarm water in a large bowl, and dissolve the sugar in it
- sprinkle the yeast over top, and let it dissolve
- add the oil, and about half of each of the flours, and mix until combined
- add the remaining flour and salt, and stir until combined
- start kneading the dough until it is coming together, then turn it out onto a floured surface
- knead the dough for 5-7 minutes until it starts looking smooth like the photo above
usually it's still a little sticky when I start kneading, so I'll add a light sprinkling of flour every little bit. my best success kneading is to push on it with both palms, fold it back on top of itself, rotate 90 degrees, and do it again.
I'll divide the dough ball in half, and oil up two large bowls with olive oil. Lightly coat each dough ball with oil from your hands, and place each one in a bowl, and loosely cover the top of the bowl with cling wrap. Let it rise for a few hours (it should double in size).
I'll divide each of those dough balls into two, so I get a yield of 4 small to medium'ish sized pizzas. I'll spread the dough out on the counter to get it to the desired shape (don't overwork or overflour it at this point!) then put it on a pizza peel that's been lightly dusted with semolina flour. I'll add my toppings (lesson learned: "less is more" with pizza toppings), then let it slide off the peel onto the baking stone.
I'll have preheated the oven at its highest temperature (mine only goes up to 550) for about an hour before baking. It's usually done in about 6 minutes or so, but keep an eye on it.
People ask me what the Falklands are like.
So I will tell you.
Imagine the Outer Hebrides had been scattered in the South Atlantic, all grass covered, eroded, wind-blown. Home to hundreds of thousands of sheep. And mines.
Most of us had not heard of the Falklands until 1982 when Argentina invaded them, despite the Government having been warned the invasion was coming. So, an armada was formed and a task force sent, and over the course of four months the islands were taken back by force.
Since the war, the old Port Stanley airfield had closed and a new airport built about a 45 minute's drive away. That is Mount Pleasant.
RAF Mount Pleasant.
MPA.
A base had been built around it.
It was grim.
And yet, was modern, heated and we had one satellite channel, which broadcast live, not two weeks behind any more. And there was a radio station, which was shared by local radio and BFBS.
Some 2,000 islanders were protected by approx 2400 servicemen and women, and was one of the few places where members of the three forces served side by side. All on a detachment that last 124 days, or four months It was an interesting mix.
Most of us lived in a long low accommodation block, 12 Facility (well, at the RAF and Navy end, the other end of a mile long corridor was the Army end. Something like 35 Facility, and like the Bronx. The Army end had a cinema, so once that finished you had to be careful on the long walk back, as ambshes and robbery were not unknown.
The islands are thousands of miles away from England, and you get there on a trooper flight. A fleet of ancient and overwork Tri-stars ferry two rotations a week, 364 days a year, taking off from RAF Brize Norton, going via Ascension Island to refuel before heading south of the equator to the Falklands.
Life at home was already difficult, so the chance of four months away was attractive, so myself a couple others from Lyneham were making fun in the departure "lounge" at Brize while everyone else was miserable.
Once the door close, you are no classed as soldiers, in that you are not trusted with anything else than cans of beer and boxes of wine Spirits were unavailable to junior ranks for the duration of your tour, as apparently, you could not be trusted. The RAF had taken on a batch of mini DVD players, so we had something to watch during the flight before the only stop at Ascension Island, Or Assi.
Assi is the top part of an old volcano formed by the mid-atlantic ridge. A massive runway had been built on the high plateau, as well as a radio and communications relay station. There is nothing, no land for thousands of miles around. So, on final approach, the plane is skipping over the wave tops until suddenly there are rocks, a cliff and you are down. as we were to be down the Falklands in winter, we were all dressed up in our winter woolies. Assi is on the equator and as warm as you would think.
Although every flight stops there, planes are almost never delayed there and the pilots would always try to press on. We stopped and whilst the plane was refueled and restocked with food, there was time for a round or two at the bar down by the "beach". After an hour we were called back, and as the plane taxied, I saw a pool of fluid underneath one of the engines. It was spotted and the plane stopped and engines powered down.
We were taken off and told to go back to the bar.
Which we did.
Hours later we were told the plane could not be fixed and we were to spend the night on Assi, we had to go and sign bedding find where we were to sleep. Our barracks were like holiday chalets, looked really cute. I went into one, turned the light on and the floor moved. Dozens of cockroaches went for cover.
Oh, this was great.
We went back to the and drank it dry. As you do, then went back to the chalet and made our beds and tried to sleep. Darkness had come suddenly, and we were so tired.
Next day we boarded the plane and all was fine, so we carried on south for hour upon hour.
Landing at MPA is always fun; there is always a side wind, just the strength is different. People come out to watch it land, because on that is not only a couple of hundreds servicemen and women, but a week's mail, newspapers and magazines as well as supplies for the NAAFI shop.
Once the plane has taxied to the terminal, the passengers have to then listen to a mine brief, and dangers of mines, not to remove or deface mine signs. Then the happiest person in the whole world is there to meet you, as you are their replacement. He takes you in a landrover to one facility or the other, then up the the four man room where he has given up his bed, got you a clean duvet and sheets. You are tired disoriented, and this is your first night of 124, and you are taken to one of the many bars and drink, hoping you can find your way back to your bed. If you're unlucky there might be an initiation to go through, nothing bad, just a little humiliation and more drinking. The next morning, the person you replaced, who slept on an armchair will catch his flight home.
You are now the FNG; the Falklands New Guy, and the butt of all jokes and japes, have to make brews and clean, and will do so until the next FNG arrives, when he will take your place.
In every section, there is a chuff chart; a board with 124 pins on it, and each pin marks a day, and first think each morning, the first person in moves the talleys you have to make in your first week forward one day. Not only does the chuff chark mark off the days to do, but also the milestones, and as time passes your ranking among your colleagues go up until you become an FOG; Falklands Old Guy.
I worked in Coates Armoury, looking after the thousands of weapons that we would use to defend the island in the event of another invasion. Every three months there was an exercise during which we would issue weapons to all service personal, then we would lock the door to the armoury and sit through the fun and games, listening to the radio or watching videos, for 12 hours until the guy doing the other 12 hour shift to take over and you go to bed.
Tis was the exciting bit.
The rest was mundane stuff, just maintaining weapons, showing people how to clean their rifles if they'd been fired, charging them s a box of tea bags of a box of fruit case slices to do it for them. So the days and weeks flew by.
Off shift, there was two things to do down there, either keep fit or drink. Some did both. I kept fit, building up what I did week on week until by the final month I was doing double boxercise twice a week, two hours four other days a week and a sports afternoon on Friday. I became a lean and mean guy and was really as fit as I have ever been before or certainly since.
Halfway along the corridor was Weavers, run by the WVRS, and offered tea, coffee, cakes and an oasis of non military stuff. That was a fine way to spend a Sunday, reading last week's apapers with a slice of date and walnut cake a a cup of fresh coffee.
The other pass time was shadying.
Shadying was the creation of souvenirs made out of scrap metal, coins and shells that people would buy off you. Each section would trade parts with each other so we could make more money. Only FOGs could shady, so you waited until one guy got posted and you took your turn, learning as you went to cut brass maps of the islands, shining them up and glueing then to wooden plaques. In a good week you could make £100, and as beer was a pund a can, really live the high life. Or you could buy phone cards to call home, at fifteen quid for ten minutes.
Ao, as the weeks went buy I worked, trained in the gym and shadied all the hours I could. As I worked near to the library, I was the room's entertainment officer, and got videos to watch each night on the room video and portable TV while we sipped brews and munch custard creams. At weekends, there would be transport into Port Stanley down the dirt track main road for an afternoon spent looking through the sparse gift shop of going to one of the bars where they would serve beers in a GLASS.
Many of the places we heard during the war were in fact just a collection of houses, sometimes as few as three, these had battles named after them, but now were all quiet again, some farms offering bed and breakfast for us to use when we had our four days R&R. We could take this whenever we wanted, and I took mine right at the end of my tour, so had four days off, one day back then fly home. Perfect.
My other hobby was taking part in the regular quizzes on the radio. BFBS held them, that went on for weeks, asking questions of what is this noise, or stuff like that, but sometimes trivia questions, which I would take part in. I won a load of stuff in my time, including on the last day when I get back from R&R, I was in work to just clear and sort out some loose ends, and the new question came up: What was the first thing Maralyn Monroe advertised?
I knew.
I said I knew but would not phone in as I had cleared and was now a non FOG. So, one of the others called in, Jelly knows they said to the DJ. SO, I was friends with the DJ, and he said put me on the phone. I went on.
So, what's the answer he asked.
Bearing in mind previous answers had been diamonds, silk dresses and so on.
Potatoes I said. For the Idaho Potato Company. It was a calendar.
Bing.
Bing.
Bing.
Bugger he said, this usually lasts weeks.
I got another bag of swag to take back home.
This painting is overworked, but I quite enjoy returning to old paintings to try and rescue them. This ones been under the shower several times by the look of it. I like the lines drawn on it, so although it's not a successful painting there are bits to it I still like.
I can't believe its been 3 years since I've been to a show! Seriously, I can't.
This was a good show, but Gene was waaay off. He seemed overly intoxicated or overworked. Speaking of overworked, I was in a major deadline crunch and had to go back to bed afterward.
But that didn't stop me from FAINTING and HITTING THE FLOOR WITH MY HEAD before Ween ever even came onto stage! I don't know what my problem was. I was well-prepared for the show, and Carolyn and I ordered 2 whiskey sours each which were downed in about 10 to 15 minutes. Then we stood by the stage. Very hot. Very crowded. Lots of bright lights. We bummed a cigarette. Lots of anxiousness waiting for the show. I started to not feel so good. I told Carolyn. Finally she had me hold onto her neck. That's about the last thing I remember.
Then I thought I was laying in my bed and Carolyn was waking me up because it was time to go to work. Something wasn't right, and my next thought was along the lines of "This isn't a mattress! It's a wooden floor! ... Wait ... There's feet around me ... it's really noisy ... This isn't bed, this is the 9:30 Club!"
Apparently while I was out, Carolyn lifted my head, slapped my face, and let it fall back on the ground again. So I had 2 bumps that hurt for several days. Thanks for the excellent first aid Carolyn.
Once awake, I *SPRANG* right up because I knew they would probably try to kick me out. I looked alert, looked around, was a bit surprised that the stage was on the opposite side of the room -- man I was disoriented. Got up, walked to the side wall, sat down, and Carolyn got me some water. The band started about 20 minutes later and I stood up and moved to the side. I still didn't have the energy the cheer or dance. I just opened my mouth and pretended to cheer. By the end of the show, my energy was back, but it was VERY gradual.
The highpoint of the concert for me was the first 4 songs of the second electric set (after the acoustic set).
Everyone I know who went (except me) got to meet or hang out with members of the band. This includes three separate parties (Aaron, John the Canadien, Jeff). If only I didn't have to work...
electric set begins:
What Deaner Was Talking About
Spinal Meningits
Happy Colored Marbles
Take Me Away
Don't Get Too Close To My Fantasy
Transdermal Celebration
Ooo-Va-La
Voodoo Lady
Spring Theme
Push Th Little Daises
The Mollusk
Buckingham Green
Albino
Sunburn Girl
Final Alarm
acoustic set: (Gene & Dean seated on stools)
Mutilated Lips
She Fucks Me
Help Scrape The Mucus Off My Brain
Joppa Road
Tried And
True
I Don't Want It (with a killer Gener electric solo at the end)
2nd electric set:
You Fucked Up
Fat Lenny
Going Gets Tough
Johnny On The Spot
Zoloft
Pandy Fackler
Ocean Man
Someday
::Encore::
Gonna Be A Long Night
Ace of Spades (by Motorhead) (Dave on vocals)
LMLYP (see other picture of girls making out on stage)
making out.
LMLYP song, boognish, girls, hands, stage, ticket stub.
music.
9:30 Club, Washington D.C.
... Read my blog at ClintJCL.wordpress.com
... View the list of every concert I've ever been to at clint.sheer.us/media/concerts.htm
... View my songkick gigography at www.songkick.com/users/ClintJCL/gigography
My Grand Baby Gabriel, 6 months old, due about my birthday 26 November -01 December 2006! How I love everyday that he grows! I loved being pregnant with my kids and felt so beautiful. Now I get to sit and watch my daughter in all her beauty in her pregnancy. I don't think there's a greater gift from God than precious life itself in all it's beauty don't you?
UPDATE:
Our precious little Baby GABRIEL ERIC NAVA was born on 18 November 2006 at 05:55 P.M. at 7 Lb. 11 Oz., full-term, with CDH (Congenitial Diaphramatic Hernia) which is a hernia hole in his diaphram which allowed all his vital organs like his intestines, liver, etc.. to go up through the hernia- hole into his chest cavity pushing over his lungs and heart over to the right side under his armpit squishing his vital organs and stopping them from growing properly (made them undersized) and causing severe stress and overworking of his vital organs). Little Baby Gabriel, fought valiantly, endlessly, and courageously for his precious life for 56 days making it through 3 major successful surgeries and multiple procedures, but sadly, he died, of complications from CDH on 12 January 2007 at 02:30 A.M. on his cousin Bl. Andre Bessette's anniversary burial date and his 2nd great Grandfather- Thomas Joseph Barron's anniversary death date.
On 12th January, it was the first and last time we would finally get to hold our precious First Grandson. We treasure every precious moment we had with Gabriel and even tho his life was cut short, we are grateful for every moment we had with him! We buried Gabriel at St. Joseph's Cemetary on the 16th January 2007.
We love you and miss you very much Gabriel! You will always be with us and us with you!! xoxoxoxoxoxoooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxooxoxoxoxoxooxxoxoxoxoxooxxoox
My daughter, Corin, Gabriel's mother, is now Representative for New England for the Organization CHERUBS, a 501C non-profit, tax-deductable organization dependent on donations to help give excellent SUPPORT to Cdh-Children, parents, relatives, friends of CDH children and to promote AWARENESS to the families, the public and to the Medical Field about CDH. She does this, to continue Little Angel Baby Gabriel's "FIGHT FOR LIFE" in loving memory of her son, and to help others who face the same situation and to make it more well known to the Medical field in hopes to maybe prevent another child from suffering unnecessarily or even dying from this.
Some Facts about CDH:
1) 50% don't survive.
2) Most have life long term health complications.
3) CDH is MORE COMMON than CYSTIC FIBROSIS and ALMOST AS COMMON as SPINA BIFIDA!!
4) 1 out of 2,500 children will be born with CDH each year!
5) 1 out of 1,600 children will be born with CDH each year in the U.S.A. alone- that is about 32 children per state (Your State) per year!!! (If you could've only seen what poor Gabriel went through, you would surely know that even one child is too much to go through this!)
Since our Little Baby Gabriel has died, I've thought about him daily, wondering how could we have ever forseen this and prevented it from happening. There was no reason to suspect that there was anything wrong with Gabriel during his prenatal care as my daughter went through all the normal, standard tests and both appeared to be healthy, so what went wrong? The only thing I can come up with and I can't help but wonder, is just maybe, Gabriel would still be alive today, if Doctors had only been more Aware of CDH, they would've done a full sonogram instead of just a head shot sonogram. In doing so, they would have surely seen that he had CDH! They would have preplanned for his birth by instantly sending Corin to Mass General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. (2 hours away from us) even before his birth to prepare her and Gabriel for better medical care! The Doctors there, would have never allowed him to be born naturally- as they would have known that that would have stressed his already very stressed out, undersized, displaced, vital organs! A simple C-section would've helped alleviate the stress of the birthing process on his undersized, overworked heart, lungs, and other vital organs so they would have a chance to rest, grow and work properly! Mass General Hospital are the only ones around here who can properly care for CDH babies, the complications of CDH as they are the only ones in our area who have the proper, very expensive medical equipment to help save Gabriel's life! Mass General Hospital are the only ones around who had the E. C. M. O. (Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation) Machine that acts like your heart and lungs and bi-passes yours to take all your blood out and oxygenates it and then puts it back in so your heart and lungs can rest to get strong enough to work on their own! They also have another vital machine called C. V. V. H. (Continous Veno Venous Hemofilteration) that is a dialysis machine that acts like your kidneys! They also had 3rd vital machine- Oscilator (Jet) Vent (Ventilator) which puts short air bursts (highest possible) into your lungs which is the last step before they put you on E. C. M. O.. These 3 machines were vital to help saving Gabriel's precious life!
I believe that it is possible that Gabriel suffered and died because he lacked these CRITICAL and VITAL factors:
1) Not enough AWARENESS out there in the public and Medical Field or they most certainly would have done the following:
proper tests-a full sonogram to look for CDH,
2) Proper PREPLANNING
3) the IMMEDIATE ACCESS to necessary and proper EQUIPPED HOSPITAL and EXPERT MEDICAL STAFF- he had to wait 3 days before he was helicoptered for this when he should have been born there!
4) the PROPER BIRTHING PROCESS as he suffered through a very stressful natural birth when he should've had a C-SECTION with a already weakened, underdeveloped, overworked heart, lungs, liver, and other vital organs!
5) he also suffered for 3 days without the IMMEDIATE ACCESS TO 3 VITAL RARE LIFE-SAVING MACHINES that could've helped save his already stressed out, undersized, overworked, vital organs and saved his precious life!
6) PRECIOUS, VALUABLE TIME was wasted!
Gabriel's FIRST BIRTHDAY is tomorrow- 18 November 2007. I long to hold him in my arms! It is hard to believe it has already been a year since I was at the hospital waiting for my precious first grandbaby to be born! We will be hosting his BIRTHDAY PARTY at Downy Weaver American Legion Hall in Charlestown, RI. at 2:00 P.M. tomorrow. His birthday presents from all of us will be money that will be donated to CHERUBS in his memory and honor in hopes to honor and continue LITTLE BABY GABRIEL'S FIGHT FOR LIFE by putting out more AWARENESS (as it is very costly for just the volunteers to do alone- they need public help- to help send out the information packets to the hospitals and public (about 6 plus dollars per packet)) and the many other costs like paying for the website, making many phone calls, computer costs, printing costs, and drives to these hospitals and doctors etc..so they can help the medical field and public become more aware to prevent and help save another precious child from going through this and maybe even save their precious life! They do have some volunteers who are willing to put them together but the cost of sending them is high so if you are thinking of donating to a organization, or even want to join- please consider helping CHERUBS send out these vital AWARENESS PACKETS.
If you wish to make a TAX-DEDUCTABLE DONATION or help CHERUBS- Please tell them that Little Angel Baby Gabriel Eric Nava sent you! You can even put it in your memo:
Please CONTACT:
CHERUBS
www.cdhsupport.org (www.cdhsupport.org)
TELEPHONE- (252-492-6003)
EMAIL- dawn_torrence@cherubs-cdh.org
Please make checks payable to:
CHERUBS
and send to:
Dawn Torrence
270 Coley Road,
Henderson, No. Carolina, U.S.A. 27537
or
CORIN NAVA (Representative of NEW ENGLAND, U.S.A.)
EMAIL: cnava@cherubs-cdh.org
TELEPHONE #: (401-524-9182)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And I want to THANK YOU for being a "GUARDIAN ANGEL" to CHERUB- CHILDREN born of CDH! May God Bless You always! Mrs. Laurie E. B. Wilkinson
HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY GABRIEL! We love & miss you! With Love from your Family, and Friends! xoxoxoxo
Watercolour /gouache on paper: 10 x 14 on Bockingford 200lb
SOLD
Unusual for me not to include the sky, but the composition of this shot I took at the water's edge appealed to me.
As usual, I took some licence, but feel I was faithful to the scene.
I started this watercolour piece yesterday, today I felt I was overworking it so I grabbed the gouache, banged it on, and had a bit of a romp, lifting out, scrubbing, banging some more colour on, then sorting it all out - whatever it takes......... sometimes it's the only way....
It still needs a 'tweak', as I always do, but that'll be when I've not looked at it for a few days and can sneak up on it and try to view it as if for the first time....
And when you can, take a trip to Semer Water, there's something about the place that's..... magical.
A coolie (alternatively spelled cooli, cooly, quli, koelie, and other such variations), during the 19th and early 20th century, was a term for a locally sourced unskilled labourer hired by a company, mainly from the Indian subcontinent or Southern China.
Today, it is used varyingly as a legal inoffensive word (for example, in India for helpers carrying luggage in railway stations) and also used as a racial slur in Africa for certain people from Asia, particularly in South Africa
ETYMOLOGY
The origins of the word are uncertain but it is thought to have originated from the name of a Gujarati sect (the Kolī, who worked as day labourers) or perhaps from the Tamil word for a payment for work, kuli (கூலி). An alternative etymological explanation is that the word came from the Urdu qulī (क़ुली, قلی), which itself could be from the Turkish word for slave, qul. The word was used in this sense for labourers from India. In 1727, Dr. Engelbert Kämpfer described "coolies" as dock labourers who would unload Dutch merchant ships at Nagasaki in Japan.
The Chinese word 苦力 (pinyin: kǔlì) literally means "bitterly hard (use of) strength", in the Mandarin pronunciation.
HISTORY OF THE COOLIE TRADE
An early trade in Asian labourers is believed to have begun sometime in or around the 16th century. Social and political pressure led to the abolition of the slave trade throughout the British Empire in 1807, with other European nations following suit. Labour-intensive industries, such as cotton and sugar plantations, mines and railway construction, in the colonies were left without a cheap source of manpower. As a consequence, a large scale slavery-like trade in Asian (primarily Indian and Chinese) indentured labourers began in the 1820s to fill this vacuum. Some of these labourers signed contracts based on misleading promises, some were kidnapped and sold into the trade, some were victims of clan violence whose captors sold them to coolie brokers, while others sold themselves to pay off gambling debts. British companies were the first to experiment with this potential new form of cheap labour in 1807, when they imported 200 Chinese men to work in Trinidad.
The coolie trade was often compared to the earlier slave trade and they accomplished very similar things.
Although there are reports of ships for Asian coolies carrying women and children, the great majority of them were men. Finally, regulations were put in place, as early as 1837 by the British authorities in India to safeguard these principles of voluntary, contractual work and safe and sanitary transportation although in practice this rarely occurred especially during examples such as the Pacific Passage or the Guano Pits of Peru. The Chinese government also made efforts to secure the well-being of their nation's workers, with representations being made to relevant governments around the world.
CHINESE COOLIES
Workers from China were mainly transported to work in Peru and Cuba, but they also worked in British colonies such as Jamaica, British Guiana (now Guyana), British Malaya, Trinidad and Tobago, British Honduras (now Belize) and in the Dutch colonies Dutch East Indies and Suriname. The first shipment of Chinese labourers was to the British colony of Trinidad in 1806.
In 1847 two ships from Cuba transported workers to Havana to work in the sugar cane fields from the port of Xiamen, one of the five Chinese treaty ports opened to the British by the Treaty of Nanking in 1842. The trade soon spread to other ports in Guangdong province and demand became particularly strong in Peru for workers in the silver mines and the guano collecting industry. Australia began importing workers in 1848 and the United States began using them in 1865 on the First Transcontinental Railroad construction. These workers were deceived about their terms of employment to a much greater extent than their Indian counterparts, and consequently, there was a much higher level of Chinese emigration during this period.
The trade flourished from 1847 to 1854 without incident, until reports began to surface of the mistreatment of the workers in Cuba and Peru. As the British government had political and legal responsibility for many of the ports involved, including Amoy, the trade was shut down at these places. However, the trade simply shifted to the more accommodating port in the Portuguese enclave of Macau.
Many coolies were first deceived or kidnapped and then kept in barracoons (detention centres) or loading vessels in the ports of departure, as were African slaves. In 1875, British commissioners estimated that approximately eighty percent of the workers had been abducted. Their voyages, which are sometimes called the Pacific Passage, were as inhumane and dangerous as the notorious Middle Passage of the Atlantic slave trade. Mortality was very high. For example, it is estimated that from 1847 to 1859, the average mortality for coolies aboard ships to Cuba was 15.2 percent, and losses among those aboard ships to Peru were 40 percent in the 1850s and 30.44 percent from 1860 to 1863.
They were sold and were taken to work in plantations or mines with very bad living and working conditions. The duration of a contract was typically five to eight years, but many coolies did not live out their term of service because of the hard labour and mistreatment. Those who did live were often forced to remain in servitude beyond the contracted period. The coolies who worked on the sugar plantations in Cuba and in the guano beds of the Chincha Islands (the islands of Hell) of Peru were treated brutally. Seventy-five percent of the Chinese coolies in Cuba died before fulfilling their contracts. More than two-thirds of the Chinese coolies who arrived in Peru between 1849 and 1874 died within the contract period. In 1860 it was calculated that of the 4000 coolies brought to the Chinchas since the trade began, not one had survived.
Because of these unbearable conditions, Chinese coolies often revolted against their Ko-Hung bosses and foreign company bosses at ports of departure, on ships, and in foreign lands. The coolies were put in the same neighbourhoods as Africans and, since most were unable to return to their homeland or have their wives come to the New World, many married African women. The coolies' interracial relationships and marriages with Africans, Europeans and Indigenous peoples, formed some of the modern world's Afro-Asian and Asian Latin American populations.
Chinese immigration to the United States was almost entirely voluntary, but working and social conditions were still harsh. In 1868, the Burlingame Treaty allowed unrestricted Chinese immigration into the country. Within a decade significant levels of anti-Chinese sentiment had built up, stoked by populists such as Denis Kearney with racist slogans - "To an American, death is preferable to life on a par with the Chinese."
Although Chinese workers contributed to the building of the first Transcontinental Railroad in the United States and of the Canadian Pacific Railway in western Canada, Chinese settlement was discouraged after completion of the construction. California's Anti-Coolie Act of 1862 and the federal Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 contributed to the curtailment of Chinese immigration to the United States.
Notwithstanding such attempts to restrict the influx of cheap labour from China, beginning in the 1870s Chinese workers helped construct a vast network of levees in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. These levees made thousands of acres of fertile marshlands available for agricultural production.
The 1879 Constitution of the State of California declared that "Asiatic coolieism is a form of human slavery, and is forever prohibited in this State, and all contracts for coolie labour shall be void."
Colonos asiáticos is a Spanish term for coolies. The Spanish colony of Cuba feared slavery uprisings such as those that took place in Haiti and used coolies as a transition between slaves and free labor. They were neither free nor slaves. Indentured Chinese servants also labored in the sugarcane fields of Cuba well after the 1884 abolition of slavery in that country. Two scholars of Chinese labor in Cuba, Juan Pastrana and Juan Perez de la Riva, substantiated horrific conditions of Chinese coolies in Cuba and stated that coolies were slaves in all but name. Denise Helly is one researcher who believes that despite their slave-like treatment, the free and legal status of the Asian laborers in Cuba separated them from slaves. The coolies could challenge their superiors, run away, petition government officials, and rebel according to Rodriguez Pastor and Trazegnies Granda. Once they had fulfilled their contracts the colonos asiáticos integrated into the countries of Peru, The Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Cuba. They adopted cultural traditions from the natives and also welcomed in non-Chinese to experience and participate into their own traditions. Before the Cuban Revolution in 1959, Havana had Latin America's largest Chinatown.
In South America, Chinese indentured labourers worked in Peru's silver mines and coastal industries (i.e., guano, sugar, and cotton) from the early 1850s to the mid-1870s; about 100,000 people immigrated as indentured workers. They participated in the War of the Pacific, looting and burning down the haciendas where they worked, after the capture of Lima by the invading Chilean army in January 1880. Some 2000 coolies even joined the Chilean Army in Peru, taking care of the wounded and burying the dead. Others were sent by Chileans to work in the newly conquered nitrate fields.
The Chinese Engineering and Mining Corporation, of which later U.S. president Herbert Hoover was a director, was instrumental in supplying Chinese coolie labour to South African mines from c.1902 to c.1910 at the request of mine owners, who considered such labour cheaper than native African and white labour. The horrendous conditions suffered by the coolie labourers led to questions in the British parliament as recorded in Hansard.
In 1866, the British, French and Chinese governments agreed to mitigate the abuse by requiring all traders to pay for the return of all workers after their contract ended. The employers in the British West Indies declined these conditions, bringing the trade there to an end. Until the trade was finally abolished in 1875, over 150,000 coolies had been sold to Cuba alone, the majority having been shipped from Macau. These labourers endured conditions far worse than those experienced by their Indian counterparts. Even after the 1866 reforms, the scale of abuse and conditions of near slavery did not get any better - if anything they deteriorated. In the early 1870s increased media exposure of the trade led to a public outcry, and the British, as well as the Qing government, put pressure on the Portuguese authorities to bring the trade at Macau to an end; this was ultimately achieved in 1874. By that time, a total of up to half a million Chinese workers had been exported.
The term coolie was also applied to Chinese workers recruited for contracts on cacao plantations in German Samoa. German planters went to great lengths to secure access to their "coolie" labour supply from China. In 1908 a Chinese commissioner, Lin Shu Fen, reported on the cruel treatment of coolie workers on German plantations in the western Samoan Islands. The trade began largely after the establishment of colonial German Samoa in 1900 and lasted until the arrival of New Zealand forces in 1914. More than 2000 Chinese "coolies" were present in the islands in 1914 and most were eventually repatriated by the New Zealand administration.
INDIAN COOLIES
By the 1820s, many Indians were voluntarily enlisting to go abroad for work, in the hopes of a better life. European merchants and businessmen quickly took advantage of this and began recruiting them for work as a cheap source of labour. The British began shipping Indians to colonies around the world, including Mauritius, Fiji, Natal, British East Africa, and British Malaya. The Dutch also shipped workers to labour on the plantations on Suriname and the Dutch East Indies. A system of agents was used to infiltrate the rural villages of India and recruit labourers. They would often deceive the credulous workers about the great opportunities that awaited them for their own material betterment abroad. The Indians primarily came from the Indo-Gangetic Plain, but also from Tamil Nadu and other areas to the south of the country.
Without permission from the British authorities, the French attempted to illegally transport Indian workers to their sugar producing colony, the Reunion Island, from as early as 1826. By 1830, over 3000 labourers had been transported. After this trade was discovered, the French successfully negotiated with the British in 1860 for permission to transport over 6,000 workers annually, on condition that the trade would be suspended if abuses were discovered to be taking place.
The British began to transport Indians to Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, starting in 1829. Slavery had been abolished with the planters receiving two million pounds sterling in compensation for the loss of their slaves. The planters turned to bringing in a large number of indentured labourers from India to work in the sugar cane fields. Between 1834 and 1921, around half a million indentured labourers were present on the island. They worked on sugar estates, factories, in transport and on construction sites.
In 1837, the Raj issued a set of regulations for the trade. The rules provided for each labourer to be personally authorised for transportation by an officer designated by the Government, it limited the length of service to five years subject to voluntary renewal, it made the contractor responsible for returning the worker after the contract elapsed and required the vessels to conform to basic health standards
Despite this, conditions on the ships were often extremely crowded, with rampant disease and malnutrition. The workers were paid a pittance for their labour, and were expected to work in often awful and harsh conditions. Although there were no large scale scandals involving coolie abuse in British colonies, workers often ended up being forced to work, and manipulated in such a way that they became dependent on the plantation owners so that in practice they remained there long after their contracts expired; possibly as little as 10% of the coolies actually returned to their original country of origin. Colonial legislation was also passed to severely limit their freedoms; in Mauritius a compulsory pass system was instituted to enable their movements to be easily tracked. Conditions were much worse in the French colonies of Reunion and Guadeloupe and Martinique, where workers were 'systematically overworked' and abnormally high mortality rates were recorded for those working in the mines.
However, there were also attempts by the British authorities to regulate and mitigate the worst abuses. Workers were regularly checked up on by health inspectors, and they were vetted before transportation to ensure that they were suitably healthy and fit to be able to endure the rigours of labour. Children under the age of 15 were not allowed to be transported from their parents under any circumstances.
The first campaign against the 'coolie' trade in England likened the system of indentured labour to the slavery of the past. In response to this pressure, the labour export was temporarily stopped in 1839 by the authorities when the scale of the abuses became known, but it was soon renewed due to its growing economic importance. A more rigorous regulatory framework was put into place and severe penalties were imposed for infractions in 1842. In that year, almost 35,000 people were shipped to Mauritius.
In 1844, the trade was expanded to the colonies in the West Indies, including Jamaica, Trinidad and Demerara, where the Asian population was soon a major component of the island demographic.
Starting in 1879, many Indians were transported to Fiji to work on the sugar cane plantations. Many of them chose to stay after their term of indenture elapsed and today they number about 40% of the total population. Indian workers were also imported into the Dutch colony of Suriname after the Dutch signed a treaty with the United Kingdom on the recruitment of contract workers in 1870. In Mauritius, the Indian population are now demographically dominant, with Indian festivals being celebrated as national holidays.
This system prevailed until the early twentieth century. Increasing focus on the brutalities and abuses of the trade by the sensationalist media of the time, incited public outrage and lead to the official ending of the coolie trade in 1916 by the British government. By that time tens of thousands of Chinese workers were being used along the Western Front by the allied forces (see Chinese Labour Corps).
SEX RATIOS AND INTERMARRIAGE AMONG COOLIES
A major difference between the Chinese coolie trade and the Indian coolie trade was that the Chinese coolies were all male, while East Indian women (from India) were brought alongside men as coolies. This led to a high rate of Chinese men marrying women of other ethnicities like Indian women and mixed race Creole women. Indian women and children were brought alongside Indian men as coolies while Chinese men made up 99% of Chinese colonies. The contrast with the female to male ratio among Indian and Chinese immigrants has been compared by historians. In Sumatra in the Dutch East Indies just 18,731 Chinese women and 92,985 Chinese men served as coolies on plantations. Chinese women migrated less than Javanese and Indian women as indentured coolies. The number of Chinese women as coolies was "very small" while Chinese men were easily taken into the coolie trade. In Cuba men made up the vast majority of Chinese indentured servants on sugar plantations and in Peru non-Chinese women married the mostly male Chinese coolies.
Chinese women were scarce in every place where Chinese indentured laborers were brought, the migration was dominated by Chinese men. Up to the 1940s men made up the vast majority of the Costa Rican Chinese community. Males made up the majority of the original Chinese community in Mexico and they married Mexican women.
In the early 1900s, the Chinese communities in Manila, Singapore, Mauritius, New Zealand, Victoria in Australia, the United States, and Victoria in British Columbia in Canada were all male dominated.
WIKIPEDIA
Luligirl for Julia Kay's Portrait Party!
Sorry about this one, Luli ~ been debating w/myself about whether or not to post this one, as I feel like it's been way overworked...... Well, here it is anyway!
Moving on.....
Year of the Rat
China Zodiac Animal - Rat
Rat is the first in the 12-year cycle of Chinese zodiac. The Years of the Rat include 1912, 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008, 2020, 2032...
Though people consider the rat not adorable, and it even makes its way into derogatory languages, it ranks first on the Chinese zodiac signs. It has characteristics of an animal with spirit, wit, alertness, delicacy, flexibility and vitality.
Earthly Branch of Birth Year: Zi
Wu Xing (The Five Elements): Shui (Water)
Yin Yang: Yang
Lucky Signs for People Born in Rat Year:
Lucky Numbers: 2, 3
Lucky Colors: gold, blue, green
Lucky Flowers: lily, African violet, lily of the valley
Lucky Directions: southeast, northeast
Things Should be Avoided:
Unlucky Numbers: 5, 9Unlucky Colors: yellow, brownUnlucky Direction: west
Personality of the Rat
People born in the Year of the Rat are instinctive, acute and alert in nature which makes them to be brilliant businessmen. They can always react properly before the worst circumstances take place. They are also sophisticated and popular in social interaction. They are sanguine and very adaptable, being popular with others.
Strengths
Adaptable, smart, cautious, acute, alert, positive, flexible, outgoing, cheerful
Weaknesses
Timid, unstable, stubborn, picky, lack of persistence, querulous
See more about Destiny by Birth Month, Destiny by Birth Date
Love Compatibility of the Rat
Best Matches: Ox, Dragon, Monkey
They can get along with Ox, Dragon and Monkey partners, and their relationship will be well maintained as fresh as before. There is no big rise and fall in their life time, but will never be a lack of romance and passion.
Bad Matches: Horse, Rooster
If they get together, there will be endless quarrels. They are all sharp in words, and seldom make compromises. Picky in each other’s faults, they cannot be tolerant, which leads to their final divergence.
See more about Chinese Zodiac Sign Compatibility
Career: If you're looking for a job, then you need to take education or learn new skill. Your savior will appear to guide you the job opportunity. If you encounter trouble in the career, then people around will be happy to help you. If you look for a promotion opportunity, then you will receive the support from the coworkers.
Job Change: If you want to apply a job in a different company, then you will have good chance to have it. If you accept the job, then new position will make you busy for a while. But you will be happy to take that job.
Wealth: You have opportunity to increase your wealth. House can protect our living. For you, the house is connected to Monkey. Therefore, housing investment in the real estate market is a good choice.
Love: Rat and Monkey have attraction relationship. This is a good time for love relationship. You can ask your mentors, parents or older friends to help you to find potential match. For men, sometimes you can try the relationship with the person older than you.
Social Circle: Your people relationship is pretty good. You can do more social activities. That will help your money luck and career development.
Quarrel: If you have argument, dispute or lawsuit with someone, then you will receive good support. Hopefully, you can win the reputation.
Health: Monkey will keep you busy. Therefore, you need to rest yourself regularly to avoid overwork and exhaustion. Pay attention on your kidneys, abdominal pain, and the urinary system.
General Fortune: It's a sign of God's blessings. You will often have a carefree and joyous mood with pleasing appearance.
Year of the Ox
China Zodiac Animal - Ox
Ox is the second in the 12-year cycle of Chinese zodiac sign. Years of the Ox include 1913, 1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009, 2021, 2033...
Oxen used to be capable farming tools in agricultural society, which attach to the symbol of diligence, persistence and honesty. People born in the Year of Ox are probably tardy in action, but industrious and cautious. Most of them are conservative and hold their faith firmly.
Earthly Branch of Birth Year: Chou
Wu Xing (The Five Elements): Tu (Earth)
Yin Yang: Yin
Lucky Signs for People Born in Ox Year:
Lucky Numbers: 1, 9
Lucky Colors: red, blue, purple
Lucky Flowers: tulip, evergreen, peach blossom
Lucky Directions: southeast, south and north
Things Should be Avoided:
Unlucky Numbers: 3, 4Unlucky Colors: white, greenUnlucky Direction: northwest
Personality of the Ox
Ranking second in Chinese zodiacal signs, the Ox is huge. People often use it to indicate something big in size or number. People born in the Year of Ox bear persistent, simple, honest, and straightforward characteristics. They are talent leaders with strong faith, and strong devotion to work. They are contemplative before taking actions, not easily affected by the surroundings but just follow their concept and ability. Being conservative with a lack of wit in speaking, they usually look silent and sometimes stubborn in their old ways.
Strengths
honest, industrious, patient, cautious, level-headed, strong-willed, persistent
Weaknesses
obstinate, inarticulate, prudish, distant
See more about Destiny by Birth Month, Destiny by Birth Date
Love Compatibility of the Ox
Best Matches: Rat, Snake, Rooster
They are quite compatible, deeply attracted by each other. They are both responsible, willing to share the family duty. Besides, loyalty and faith are the key factors to their happy marriage.
Bad Matches: Tiger, Dragon, Horse, Sheep
They will stick on their own opinions and ideas, and they both can hardly give in. They don’t get used to forgiveness, and squabbles lead to their relationship reaction.
See more about Chinese Zodiac Sign Compatibility
Career: It's time to put worries and concerns aside to accept the career challenge. People needs your knowledge and help to build their business opportunities. They provide a good working environment to for you to show your talent.
Job Change: If you want to apply a job in a different company, then that's a good idea to make the change. Your new position should give you better career development.
Wealth: The money opportunity is there. This is because you are building your reputation. But money won't come in to your door directly. You need to earn money using your brain and labor.
Love: Cow needs heat to warm up the cold heart. Monkey doesn't contain Fire and cannot offer love to Cow directly. But Monkey can help Cow to have more social activities. For better love relationship, Cow must reserve a space of love for its partner to build the relationship.
Social Circle: It's a good time to build your people relationship. To join more social networks and meet people to build friendships will help your career.
Quarrel: If you have argument, dispute or lawsuit with someone, then you will stand on the advantage position at the beginning. But that doesn't mean you will win in the end. The carelessness can fail you.
Health: Just keep exercising and pleasure mood regularly. That will give you better health. Pay attention on your stomach, intestine and the entire digestive system.
General Fortune: As long as you would stand out to prove your ability, the opportunity can bring you to anywhere, just like wind. If you are too conservative, then your achievement will be limited.
The Tiger ranks the third of the animals Year of the Tiger
China Zodiac Animal - Tiger
Tiger is the third in the 12-year cycle of Chinese zodiac sign. The Years of the Tiger include 1914, 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010, 2022, 2034...
Tigers, considered to be brave, cruel, forceful, stately and terrifying, are the symbol of power and lordliness. In ancient times, people usually compared emperors or grandees with the tiger. Court officials often said that 'accompanying the emperor is just like being at the side of a tiger'. There are also many legends about this animal.
Earthly Branch of Birth Year: Yin
Wu Xing (The Five Elements): Mu (Wood)
Yin Yang: Yang
Lucky Signs for people born in Tiger Year:
Lucky Numbers: 1, 3, 4
Lucky Colors: grey, blue, white, orange
Lucky Flowers: cineraria, anthurium
Lucky Directions: south, east, southeast
Things Should be Avoided:
Unlucky Numbers: 6, 7, 8Unlucky Colors: gold, silver, brown, blackUnlucky Direction: northwest
Personality of the Tiger
In most cases, people with Chinese zodiac sign 'Tiger' are powerful, independent, confident and brave. They have strong sense of errantry, being frank and easy to win others' trust. In their middle age, their fate may be uneven, but after hardships, they will enjoy a bright prospect. While they are also likely to be dogmatic, and like showing off when accomplishing something.
Strengths
Tolerant, loyal, valiant, courageous, trustworthy, intelligent, virtuous
Weaknesses
Arrogant, short-tempered, hasty, traitorous
See more about Destiny by Birth Month, Destiny by Birth Date
Love Compatibility of the Tiger
Best Matches: Dragon, Horse, Pig
They can encourage and help each other, and they can be the best lovers as well as rivals. They are all ambitious and share the same value in life and money. The couple can lead a harmonious life.
Bad Matches: Ox, Tiger, Snake, Monkey
They are both aggressive, and seldom make compromise, so the relationship will be nipped in the bud. If getting married, financial problems would result in their breakup.
See more about Chinese Zodiac Sign Compatibility
Career: You will face the challenge and trouble in your career. It's required to use your experience, knowledge and wisdom to solve the problems. If you don't have the solution, then you have to ask and learn from someone else.
Job Change: If a company offers you a job, then you shouldn't take it. It's not the time to make change. Otherwise, many unexpected problems in the new position are waiting for you to solve. And you don't have that solutions now.
Wealth: The money luck doesn't look good. People are watching for the money in your pocket. Don't be greedy for big return and risky business. All investments must switch to conservative items.
Love: There is a disagreement sign in the love relationship. You need to calm and play low profile when the argument is there. If you have trouble in the communication with your lover, then ask the elder friend as the mediator or liaison.
Social Circle: You don't have good mood for social events. But you can attend the educational networks. You can learn new knowledge and meet new friends there.
Quarrel: If you have argument or lawsuit with someone, then you need the negotiation to stop the dispute. The sign shows the result of the dispute is unfavorable to you.
Health: You need to pay attention on the accident. Your arms and legs might get hurt. Also, take care of your liver and the nervous system.
General Fortune: Your fortune won't be the same as before. You need to learn new professional skills to increase your career opportunities.
Year of the Rabbit
China Zodiac Animal - Rabbit
Rabbit is the fourth in the 12-year cycle of Chinese zodiac sign. The Years of the Rabbit include 1915, 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011, 2023...
For Chinese people, the rabbit is a tame creature representing hope for a long time. It is tender and lovely. The moon goddess Chang'e in Chinese legend had a rabbit as her pet, which stimulated the thought that only this creature was amiable enough to match her noble beauty. People born in the Year of the Rabbit are not aggressive but approachable. They have a decent, noble and elegant manner.
Earthly Branch of Birth Year: Mao
Wu Xing (The Five Elements): Mu (Wood)
Yin Yang: Yin
Lucky Signs for People Born in Rabbit Year:
Lucky Numbers: 3, 4, 9
Lucky Colors: red, blue, pink, purple
Lucky Flowers: snapdragon, plantain lily, nerve plant
Lucky Directions: east, southeast, south
Things Should be Avoided:
Unlucky Numbers: 1, 7, 8 Unlucky Colors: dark brown, dark yellow, white Unlucky Direction: northwest
Personality of the Rabbit
People with Chinese zodiac Rabbit sign usually impress others with an image of tenderness, grace and sensitive. They are romantic in relationship, having a high demand in life quality. They avoid arguing with others, and have a capability of converting an enemy into a friend. They are homebody and hospitable, and like house fitting-up. They can work with speed and efficiency, do not insist and get angry easily. But they also like hesitating, which makes them lose many chances.
Strengths
Gentle, sensitive, compassionate, amiable, modest, and merciful
Weaknesses
Amorous, hesitant, stubborn, timid, conservative
See more about Destiny by Birth Month, Destiny by Birth Date
Love Compatibility of the Rabbit
Best Matches: Sheep, Monkey, Dog, Pig
They are romantic in love and adventurous in life. They know how to make compromises to make their relationship lasting and fresh. Living together, they can become more tolerant and considerate, and life will be sweet and happy.
Bad Matches: Snake, Rooster
Their relationship cannot be everlasting, for they will suffer from a series of disagreement and conflicts. They both feel suppressed in marriage life.
See more about Chinese Zodiac Sign Compatibility
Career: People will find you and offer the career opportunity or business relationship. You will have very good cooperative experience with the new boss or partner.
Job Change: If a company offers you a new position, then you can consider to take it. Don't miss the career opportunity.
Wealth: Your reputation will help you to create money making opportunity. Fame and wealth will come together. But, the major income still come from the job.
Love: There is a strong love relationship between Rabbit and Monkey. If you are looking for love, then it's a good time to take actions. If you are in love, then you could think about the deeper relationship or marriage. If you have family, then the opposite sex is still attractive to you.
Social Circle: You're the favorite person in your group. You will win good reputation from everybody.
Quarrel: You shouldn't have disputes with others during this period. But you might involve and mingle with relationships of other people, and then an argument or lawsuit occurs from there. In this case, you should make negotiation and peace with the person.
Health: Be careful the accident to injure at face or head, which might leave scar on it. Pay attention on your arms, legs, liver and the nervous system.
General Fortune: Your people relationship is pretty good. Everything will come in your way. The result will be very satisfactory to you.
Year of the Dragon
China Zodiac Animal - Dragon
Dragon is the fifth in the 12-year cycle of Chinese zodiac sign. The Years of the Dragon include 1916, 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012, 2024...
The Dragon enjoys a very high reputation in Chinese culture. Chinese people regard themselves as descendents of the dragon. In ancient China, this imaginary creature was thought to speed across the sky with divine power. It is the token of authority, dignity, honor, success, luck, and capacity. Emperors entitled themselves exclusively as 'dragon'.
Earthly Branch of Birth Year: Chen
Wu Xing (The Five Elements): Tu (Earth)
Yin Yang: Yang
Lucky Signs for People Born in Dragon Year:
Lucky Numbers: 1, 7, 6
Lucky Colors: gold, silver, hoary
Lucky Flowers: bleeding heart vine, larkspur, hyacinth
Lucky Directions: west, north, northwest
Things Should be Avoided:
Unlucky Numbers: 9, 8, 3Unlucky Colors: red, green, purple, blackUnlucky Direction: southeast
Personality of the Dragon
People with Chinese zodiac Dragon sign are usually a group of people who are lively, intellectual and excitable. They can clearly tell right from wrong. They are upright and frank. However, they are also a bit arrogant and impatient. Female Dragons tend to be overly confident. They hate hypocrisy, gossip and slander. They are not afraid of difficulties but hate to be used or controlled by others.
Strengths
Decisive, inspiring, magnanimous, sensitive, ambitious, romantic
Weaknesses
Eccentric, tactless, fiery, intolerant, unrealistic
See more about Destiny by Birth Month, Destiny by Birth Date
Love Compatibility of the Dragon
Best Matches: Rooster, Rat, Monkey
They are born to be a couple, and they can build a good and happy family. Dragons give a lot of support and guidance to Roosters and Rats, and they get tenderness and care in return. Sharing similar interests and hobbies, they can be best partners in travel.
Bad Matches: Ox, Sheep, Dog
Quarrels and conflicts take turns to show up in their life, and they even become enemy at last. The reason for their split is that they cannot tolerant each other’s flaws and they always put themselves in the first.
See more about Chinese Zodiac Sign Compatibility
Career: Dragon has good management skill for the organization. It knows how to assign tasks to proper people to share the authority and responsibility. If you encounter the career opportunity or heavy workload, you should ask help from your partners or coworkers to fulfill the career plan.
Job Change: If someone offers you a job in a different company, then you can consider to take it. Your people relationship is good. The opportunity should bring you good friendship and career opportunity.
Wealth: This will be a good fortune year. You will have unexpected income. It's right time to ask the financial advisor to manage your investment. If you own your business, then your reputation will help you to increase your fame, wealth and value.
Love: It's a very good sign for love relationship. If you are single, then you should attend more social activities. Someone might be there waiting for you. If you are in love, then you will receive more caring from your lover. Your lover relationship will be much closer in the winter time. If you are married, you and your spouse will have wonderful and memorable love year.
Social Circle: Dragon and Monkey have attraction relationship. You will meet many friendly people in the Monkey year. This is a good sign for your reputation and love relationship.
Quarrel: If you have argument, dispute or lawsuit with someone, then you have good odd to win the case because you have strong support. Unless, your opposite party has better luck than you.
Health: You need to pay attention on your diet. Improper food or drink might cause the problem in the cardiovascular system. Then it will cause the difficulty in movement. It's will help doing regular exercise with perseverance.
General Fortune: It's a good sign of endorsement, joyfulness, trouble-free and prosperity.
Year of the Snake
China Zodiac Animal - Snake
Snake is the sixth in the 12-year cycle of Chinese zodiac sign. The Years of the Snake include 1917, 1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013, 2025, 2037...
Snake carries the meanings of malevolence, cattiness and mystery, as well as acumen and divination. In some places, people believe that a Snake found in their court can bring delight. However, in most cases, this animal is considered evil, which scares people from the bottom of the heart. There are some idioms in China indicating the danger of this animal, for example, once bitten by the Snake twice shy of ten years.
Earthly Branch of Birth Year: Si
Wu Xing (The Five Elements): Huo (Fire)
Yin Yang: Yin
Lucky Signs for People Born in Snake Year:
Lucky Numbers: 2, 8, 9
Lucky Colors: red, light yellow, black
Lucky Flowers: orchid, cactus
Lucky Directions: northeast, southwest, south
Things Should be Avoided:
Unlucky Numbers: 1, 6, 7Unlucky Colors: white, gold, brownUnlucky Direction: northwest
Personality of the Snake
Usually, people regard Snake as a cunning and sly animal, which likes hanging out in darkness. In fact, this animal is also a symbol of wisdom and wit. Therefore, people with Chinese zodiac sign 'Snake', sensitive and humorous, and most of them are gifted in literature and art, such as Goethe and Picasso. Suspicion is their weakness, which makes them hesitant and a bit paranoid.
Strengths
Soft-spoken, humorous, sympathetic, determined, passionate, smart
Weaknesses
Jealous, suspicious, sly, fickle, nonchalant
See more about Destiny by Birth Month, Destiny by Birth Date
Love Compatibility of the Snake
Best Matches: Dragon, Rooster
Their relationship develops through lasting attraction between each other. Both of them like to cooperate to make life better. They both are good at associating, and enjoy a high reputation in life circus. They can form a cozy and harmonious family.
Bad Matches: Tiger, Rabbit, Snake, Sheep, Pig
They are suspicious and silent. When misunderstanding occurs, they lack effective communication and they stick on the disagreement, which give rise to more conflicts.
See more about Chinese Zodiac Sign Compatibility
Career: Monkey contains Metal and some Water. You will encounter little trouble in the career. You need to work a little bit harder. It will be worth after all, because you will get a satisfied return.
Job Change: If you have a promotion chance, then you can consider to take it. The sign shows both of your career and money luck are good.
Wealth: Your income and investment will have stable increasing. If you can find good financial adviser to manage your finance, then you might get much more return.
Love: The younger generations are easier to find their matches. If you are a female, then you need to push or encourage the boy to accept the relationship. If you are a male, then you have very good love relationship. A man will have more chances to meet the girls. If you are married or in love, your love relationship will maintain well.
Social Circle: If you can help people, then you should spend time on it. That will help you to expand social networks, and then the money making opportunity will come after.
Quarrel: If you have argument or dispute with someone, then you need to take care the business by yourself. You won't get a perfect result, if you only hire someone to handle the issue.
Health: Try not to over-exercise and then injure the body. Pay attention to arthritis, arms, legs and shoulders.
General Fortune: Monkey will bring a good fortune opportunity to you. Don't miss the opportunity in the year of Monkey.
Year of the Horse
China Zodiac Animal - Horse
Horse is the seventh in the 12-year cycle of Chinese zodiac sign. The Years of the Horse include 1918, 1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014, 2026...
The Five Elements of Horse is Fire (Huo), which symbolizes enthusiasm and energy. The animal gives people an impression of independence and integrity. Its spirit is recognized to be the Chinese people's ethos - making unremitting efforts to improve themselves with passion and diligence.
Earthly Branch of Birth Year: Wu
Wu Xing (The Five Elements): Huo (Fire)
Yin Yang: Yang
Lucky Signs for People born in Horse Year:
Lucky Numbers: 2, 3, 7
Lucky Colors: brown, yellow, purple
Lucky Flowers: calla lily, jasmine, marigold
Lucky Directions: northeast, southwest and northwest
Things Should be Avoided:
Unlucky Numbers: 1, 5, 6Unlucky Colors: blue, white, goldUnlucky Direction: southeast
Personality of the Horse
They always impress upon people with dynamic, zealous and generous image. Although endowed with many shinning points, they have to face the weaknesses in their characteristics.
Strengths
Most have nice personalities, such as warm-hearted, upright and easygoing. Hence, they usually have a lot of friends flocking around them. Independence and endurance makes them more powerful, and they do not easily give up when in difficulties. Positive attitude leads to a brighter direction.
Weaknesses
The love of spending seems to be the biggest problem since they must be financially well off to support their social activities and outlook. Besides, their frank attitude at times leads to letting out secret easily. Persistence is what they lack on the path of success.
See more about Destiny by Birth Month, Destiny by Birth Date
Love Compatibility of the Horse
Perfect Matches: Tiger, Sheep, Rabbit
They are born to be a well-matched couple, sharing a lot in common.
Acceptable Matches: Dragon, Dog, Monkey
Their life will be sweet and happy as long as one of them learns to be considerate, tolerant and understanding.
Complementary Match: Pig
They are a complementary couple in characteristic and capability, and good partners in housework / business.
Intimate Friend: Snake
They are not so much couple as intimate friends, enjoying the same value for fashion and art.
Avoid: Rat, Ox, Rooster, Horse
They cannot understand and support each other.
See more about Chinese Zodiac Sign Compatibility
Career: Your workload and responsibility will increase. That's a good sign for the career development. Your income will grow as much as you make efforts on your job.
Job Change: Your career luck is good. You have the chance of the promotion. Also a different company could offer you a higher position. You should accept the challenge.
Wealth: The money luck is pretty good. You might have a good salary raise from your work. If you have extra money for the investment, you have better to spend time and energy to review your investment portfolio and adjust your financial strategy.
Love: If you are looking for love, then the love opportunity is out there and you need to spend time to find it. If you are a male, you have more chances to meet girls you like to build a new relationship. If you are married or in love, what you need is be more romance with your lover.
Social Circle: The topics of your social networks will focus more in the career and finance. Staying in those circles, you will learn new knowledge and experience from others. Those friendships and connections will help your career development.
Quarrel: If you have argument, dispute or lawsuit with someone, then you have good chance to win the case. If that's involving the money, then you can get some money back.
Health: Try not to over-exercise and then injure the body. Pay attention on your muscle, tendon and bones. Next, watch the air quality to prevent from the problems out of the respiratory system.
General Fortune: Monkey brings good fortune to you. Fame and wealth are coming to you. Don't miss this opportunity.
Note: Don't be too serious about the above predictions. Since using the only the birth year zodiac sign, the predictions cover only 12.5% of your 2016 fortune. If your Lucky Element is Metal, you will have good luck in the year of the Monkey. See the Chinese Five Element Astrology and the Rise and Fall Chart below.
Year of the Sheep / Goat / Ram
China Zodiac Animal - Sheep
Sheep / Goat is the eighth in the 12-year cycle of Chinese zodiac. The Years of the Sheep include 1919, 1931, 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015, 2027, 2039, 2051...
Sheep (goat, or ram) is among the animals that people like most. It is gentle and calm. Since ancient times, people have learned to use its fleece to make writing brushes and fur to keep warm. The white cute creature often reminds people of beautiful things.
Earthly Branch of Birth Year: Wei
Wu Xing (The Five Elements): Tu (Earth)
Yin Yang: Yin
Lucky Signs for People Born in Sheep Year:
Lucky Numbers: 3, 4, 9
Lucky Colors: green, red, purple
Lucky Flowers: carnation, primrose, Alice flower
Lucky Directions: east, southeast, south
Things Should be Avoided:
Unlucky Numbers: 6, 7, 8Unlucky Colors: gold, brown, blackUnlucky Direction: west
Personality of the Sheep
People born in the Year of the Sheep are tender, polite, filial, clever, and kind-hearted. They have special sensitivity to art and beauty and a special fondness for quiet living. They are wise, gentle and compassionate and can cope with business cautiously and circumspectly. In their daily life, they try to be economical. They are willing to take good care of others, but they should avoid pessimism and hesitation.
Strengths
gentle, softhearted, considerate, attractive, hardworking, persistent, thrift
Weaknesses
indecisive, timid, vain, pessimistic, moody, weak-willed
See more about Destiny by Birth Month, Destiny by Birth Date
Love Compatibility of the Sheep
Best Matches: Horse, Rabbit, Pig
Sheep could make a perfect couple with Horse, Rabbit or Pig. The harmonious bond between them would bring prosperity to both their career and families. The couple will win respect from others.
Bad Matches: Ox, Tiger, Dog
If Goat people get married with Ox, Tiger or Dog people, they may hardly live a happy life. Throughout their life, they might encounter considerable difficulties and setbacks. They might spend life in tough work or even experience the pain of losing family members.
See more about Chinese Zodiac Sign Compatibility
Career: Don't be too conservative to your career development. It's a right time to encourage yourself to show your knowledge, experience and wisdom to people. Your talent and experience will win peoples respect and bring you good reputation.
Job Change: The career opportunity is coming. If you have the opportunity of the promotion or job relocation, then you can accept the challenge. It must be someone giving you good recommendation. People will help you when you get on the new position.
Wealth: Money won't fall down at your door directly. You still need to work hard to earn the money from your job. To build good people relationship can make it easier for you to bring money home.
Love: If you want a better love relationship, then you need to respect the opinions and feelings of your partner. Both of you need the self-control not to push other to the limitation. If you are a female, you need to watch your language and behavior not hurt the dignity of your lover.
Social Circle: The popularity of a person is always changing. Your people relationship is fair. Currently, you have better chance to build more social connections. You should learn the active spirit of Monkey. You attend more social activities to acquaint new people and maintain the friendships. People relationship is the key to bring you the opportunity of career and wealth.
Quarrel: If you have argument, dispute or lawsuit with someone, then you will face the trouble of the storm. But the sunny day will come after. The result will be a close call. It's better to negotiate with the opposite party to shorten the period of worry and fear.
Health: You need to watch for the food you have. You should eat more vegetables. Pay attention on your stomach, large intestine and the entire digestive system.
General Fortune: As long as you want to work harder for the coming opportunity, the fame and fortune will come to you.
Year of the Monkey
China Zodiac Animal - Monkey
Monkey is the ninth in the 12-year cycle of Chinese zodiac. The Years of the Monkey include 1920, 1932, 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016, 2028...
The monkey is a clever animal. It is usually compared to a smart person. During the Spring and Autumn Period (770 - 476 BC), the dignified Chinese official title of marquis was pronounced 'Hou', the same as the pronunciation of ‘monkey’ in Chinese. The animal was thereby bestowed with an auspicious meaning.
Earthly Branch of Birth Year: Shen
Wu Xing (The Five Elements): Jin (Metal)
Yin Yang: Yang
Lucky Signs for People Born in Monkey Year:
Lucky Numbers: 1, 7, 8
Lucky Colors: white, gold, blue
Lucky Flowers: chrysanthemum, alliums
Lucky Directions: north, northwest, west
Things Should be Avoided:
Unlucky Numbers: 2, 5, 9Unlucky Colors: red, black, grey, dark coffeeUnlucky Direction: east
Personality of the Monkey
The general image of people born in the Year of the Monkey is of always being smart, clever and intelligent, especially in their career and wealth. They are lively, flexible, quick-witted and versatile. In addition, their gentleness and honesty bring them an everlasting love life. Although they were born with enviable skills, they still have several shortcomings, such as an impetuous temper and a tendency to look down upon others.
Strengths
enthusiastic, self-assured, sociable, innovative
Weaknesses
jealous, suspicious, cunning, selfish, arrogant
See more about Destiny by Birth Month, Destiny by Birth Date
Love Compatibility of the Monkey
Perfect Matches: Ox, Rabbit
They seem like made for each other, having several similarities in personality and life. Both of them can tolerate everything of each other, as long as they have enough space and freedom. Their love lives are full of fun because they have a strong sense of curiosity to get to know each other. Usually, they share common attitudes and opinions about life.
Bad Matches: Tiger, Pig
Holding different values and views, they don’t have many common topics in daily life. It’s difficult for them to communicate with patience and respect. Quarrels and conflicts will bring lots of negative influences to their relationship.
See more about Chinese Zodiac Sign Compatibility
Career: The sign is that you are working very close with your coworkers for the same project. That means your career is keeping you busy. But, your career status doesn't make any change. There is no sign for promotion. If you are looking for a job, then you might need more time to get one. This is because you have many competitors out there.
Job Change: If you get on a new position because of the promotion or new job offering, then your working status and development won't change too much. If you work for a new company, then you will feel new competition in the new working environment. The humble and polite attitude is very important when you are in unfamiliar territory. There is no sign showing you are outsmarting over people around.
Wealth: In general, you don't have good money luck in the near future. The people around you are all looking for the money making opportunities. If someone asks you for a big return investment, then you had better skip it. If someone gets a loan from you, then you won't get it back soon. The money investment must be conservative during the Monkey years.
Love: You and your lover often have different opinions. People born in the Rabbit year can act a good mediator for you. If you are looking for your love, then you will see strong competitors out there. But you will have better opportunity with people born in Rat, Dragon or Rabbit.
Social Circle: To build better people relationship, you should show courtesy to others, offer favors to people and yield your opportunities to friends. Never intentionally show off your cleverness and wit in public. Being polite and humble, you will become a popular figure in your social networks.
Quarrel: If you have argument, dispute or lawsuit with someone, then you had better truce for peace. The negotiation is the best approach during this period. Otherwise, both of parties will become losers.
Health: You shouldn't have too serious health issue. But you have watch for unnecessary accident on arms and legs. You should avoid the dangerous sports and activities. Also, pay attention on your Nervous system, liver and gall bladder.
General Fortune: Keep your persistence in benevolence, etiquette and righteousness, the good luck will stay with you.
Note: Don't be too serious about the above predictions. Since using the only the birth year zodiac sign, the predictions cover only 12.5% of your 2016 fortune. If your Lucky Element is Metal, you will have good luck in the year of the Monkey. See the Chinese Five Element Astrology and the Rise and Fall Chart below.
Year of the Rooster
China Zodiac Animal - Rooster
Rooster is the tenth in the 12-year cycle of Chinese zodiac sign. The Years of the Rooster include 1921, 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017, 2029...
Rooster is almost the epitome of fidelity and punctuality. For ancestors who had no alarm clocks, the crowing was significant, as it could awaken people to get up and start to work. In Chinese culture, another symbolic meaning of chicken carries is exorcising evil spirits.
Earthly Branch: You 酉
Element: Metal (Jin)
Yin Yang: Yin
Season: Autumn
Lucky Signs for People Born in Rooster Year:
Lucky Numbers: 5, 7, 8
Lucky Colors: gold, brown, brownish yellow, yellow
Lucky Flowers: gladiola, impatiens, cockscomb
Lucky Directions: west, southwest, northeast
Things Should be Avoided:
Unlucky Numbers: 1, 3, 9Unlucky Colors: white, greenUnlucky Directions: east, north
Personality of the Rooster
People born in the Year of Rooster according to Chinese zodiac have many excellent characteristics, such as being honest, bright, communicative and ambitious. Most of them are born pretty or handsome, and prefer to dress up. In daily life, they seldom rely on others. However, they might be enthusiastic about something quickly, but soon be impassive. Thus, they need to have enough faiths and patience to insist on one thing.
Strengths
Independent, capable, warm-hearted, self-respect, quick minded
Weaknesses
Impatient, critical, eccentric, narrow-minded, selfish
See more about Destiny by Birth Month
Love Compatibility of the Rooster
Perfect Matches: Ox, Snake
If combining with people in Ox or Snake signs, most of them will obtain everlasting and harmonious marriage lives. The connection between them can become tight. In addition, couples of these combinations always become enviable ones in other people’s eyes.
Avoid: Rat, Rabbit, Horse, Rooster, Dog
They have a large chance to obtain a tough and unstable love life if they get married with people with the above five signs. During the whole life, they always meet difficulties and troubles. However, they don’t have enough abilities to solve them because of their born different opinions and attitudes with each other. Lots of divergences will damage the relationship finally.
See more about Chinese Zodiac Sign Compatibility
Career: The career industry is changing. You need to spend more time and energy on your job. You will feel some pressures from the project schedule. But you still can work happily as long as you follow all the instructions of your boss carefully.
Job Change: If you have a job offer from a different company, then you should think twice before accepting the position. The new working environment might have many different opinions in the future business direction. That's a noisy and unstable sign. If you don't like such challenge, then it's not a good time to move.
Wealth: You don't have strong money luck. But your friends or relatives will discuss some investment opportunities to you. They might even push you to involve the investment using the yearlong friendship. The problem is that you cannot manage and control the operation of investment. Monkey is connected to the wind. The money will disappear very quickly on a wrong investment.
Love: Your lover likes to show his or her ability to act as the speaker of your relationship. Your lover likes to take control over the decision making including your activities and schedules. He or she has many reasons to override your opinions. You will feel the pressures from the love relationship.
Social Circle: Basically, your social activities will increase. But some social networks are wasting your time. Some ones out there are talkative, seeking the limelight and publishing nonsense opinions. Therefore, just spend more time with your close friends and family members.
Quarrel: If you have argument, dispute or lawsuit with someone, then you had better to negotiate with your opponent. The sign shows you are underdog. A quick truce is a good approach for the current circumstance.
Health: The air quality is very important to your health. Pay attention on your respiratory system - lungs, nose, bronchus and throat.
General Fortune: The potential and unexpected pressure is out there. When you are in a joyous moment, you need to watch your words and behaviors not offending or displease someone. Then your life will be calm and safe.
Note: Don't be too serious about the above predictions. Since using the only the birth year zodiac sign, the predictions cover only 12.5% of your 2016 fortune. If your Lucky Element is Metal, you will have good luck in the year of the Monkey. See the Chinese Five Element Astrology and the Rise and Fall Chart below.
Year of the Dog
Dog is the eleventh in the 12-year cycle of Chinese zodiac sign. The Years of the Dog include 1922, 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018, 2030, 2042...
Dog is man's good friend who can understand the human's spirit and obey its master, whether he is wealthy or not. The Chinese regard it as an auspicious animal. If a dog happens to come to a house, it symbolizes the coming of fortune. The invincible God Erlang in Chinese legend used a loyal wolfhound to help him capture monsters.
Earthly Branch of Birth Year: Xu
Wu Xing (The Five Elements): Tu (Earth)
Yin Yang: Yang
Lucky Signs for People Born in Dog Year:
Lucky Numbers: 3, 4, 9
Lucky Colors: green, red, purple
Lucky Flowers: rose, oncidium, cymbidium orchids
Lucky Directions: east, southeast, south
Things Should be Avoided:
Unlucky Numbers: 1, 6, 7Unlucky Colors: blue, white, goldenUnlucky Direction: north, west
Personality of the Dog
People born in the Year of the Dog are usually independent, sincere, loyal and decisive according to Chinese zodiac analysis. They are not afraid of difficulties in daily life. These shining characteristics make them have harmonious relationship with people around.
Strengths
Valiant, loyal, responsible, clever, courageous, lively
Weaknesses
Sensitive, conservative, stubborn, emotional
See more about Destiny by Birth Month
Love Compatibility of the Dog
Best Matches: Rabbit
They are born to be a perfect match. Similar personality traits and common hobbies add much fun to their love relationship. They can understand each other and face difficulties with enough patience.
Bad Matches: Dragon, Sheep, Rooster
Different sense of worth cause many conflicts in their daily life. Both of them are not willing to share inner true feelings. The lack of effective communication and trust won't bring a happy and relaxing marriage life.
See more about Chinese Zodiac Sign Compatibility
Career: Your career luck shows quite stable. You will find a good smart, creative partner to assist your career. If you have very tight project schedule, you should assign some tasks to the younger team members to share some workloads.
Job Change: If you receive a promotion or new job offer, then you should accept the challenge. Changing working environment to show people your talent is a good approach for current career development.
Wealth: The money luck is pretty good. Your professional skills can earn money easily. Your social networks will bring you the money opportunity.
Water is money to Dog. Dog is connected to the mountain. When it rains, the mountain can absorb all the water. But it won't rain all the time. Don't lose the opportunity when water is there.
Love: Your personality is complementary to your lover. Both of you will become a good match. However, you need to give more romance moments for your lover. If you're looking for love, it's good time to attend more social activities. You will find and enjoy the easy and relaxing life style there.
Social Circle: It's good time to build people relationship. You should spend more time at social events. You will find people like your advices. You will feel the sense of achievement with them. You can build good friendships there.
Quarrel: If you have argument, dispute or lawsuit with someone, then both you and the opposite party will become the losers. You had better negotiate the truce.
Health: Bringing better fortune is required more social or outdoor activities. The dangerous sports should be avoided. The outdoor activities need to carry out with caution. Pay attention on not hurting arms, legs and bones.
General Fortune: Dog and Monkey can be energetic partners. They can generate promising fortune. Your efforts will return you the prosperity and happiness.
Year of the Pig
Pig is the twelfth in the 12-year cycle of Chinese zodiac sign. The Years of the Pig include 1923, 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019, 2031, 2043...
Pig is not thought to be a smart animal in China. It likes sleeping and eating and becomes fat. Thus it usually features laziness and clumsiness. On the positive side, it behaves itself, has no plan to harm others, and can bring affluence to people. Consequently, it has been regarded as wealth.
Earthly Branch of Birth Year: Hai
Wu Xing (The Five Elements): Shui (Water)
Yin Yang: Yin
Lucky Signs for People Born in Pig Year:
Lucky Numbers: 2, 5, 8
Lucky Colors: yellow, grey, brown, gold
Lucky Flowers: hydrangea, pitcher plant, marguerite
Lucky Directions: southeast, northeast
Things Should be Avoided:
Unlucky Numbers: 1, 3, 9Unlucky Colors: red, blue, greenUnlucky Directions: east, west
Personality of the Pig
People with Chinese zodiac Pig sign are considerate, responsible, independent and optimistic. They always show generousness and mercy to endure other people's mistakes, which help them gain harmonious interpersonal relationships. However, sometimes they will behave lazy and lack actions. In addition, pure hearts would let them be cheated easily in daily life.
Strengths
Warm-hearted, good-tempered, loyal, honest, gentle
Weaknesses
Naive, gullible, sluggish, short-tempered
See more about Destiny by Birth Month
Love Compatibility of the Pig
Perfect Matches: Tiger, Rabbit, Sheep
These combinations always have a high possibility to obtain a sweet and everlasting marriage. When meeting difficulties, they can face them together. More patience and enough encouragement are keys to solve problems. They have common goals and similar values, which add more fun in daily life.
Avoid: Snake, Monkey
Totally different personalities may lead to conflicts. They always have completely contrary opinions about one thing, and cannot reach an agreement because of their stubbornness. If getting married, one would always think about his/her own advantages and feelings, which would hurt the other.
See more about Chinese Zodiac Sign Compatibilityd
Career: Basically, your career luck is good. You will realize your job is much easier than before. You will receive the training, education and assistances from others. You have better knowledge to handle your position. But you still need to stay alert. Any negligence on your duty will ruin your reputation and career development.
Job Change: If you have a job opportunity at a different company, then you had better think twice before accepting the offer. A strong wind of Monkey is coming. That's an unstable sign.
Wealth: The money luck is good, if you are humble and play low profile. If you slide into the arrogant and complacent attitude, then you won't get any fortune.
Love: You will find people care about you very much. If you are looking for love, then attend more social activities and you will feel many people are interested on you. If you are in love, you need to plan more romantic moments for your lover.
Social Circle: Your people relationship is great. People care and concern about you. They will give you lots of courage, sponsor and Compliment. That might spoil your personality. You should be humble and never proud of you fortune or achievement. Otherwise, jealous people will give you negative reputation.
Quarrel: If you have argument, dispute or lawsuit with someone, then that will waste your time, energy and money. To negotiate with the opposite party will be the best approach. Otherwise, it might become a big and long event.
Health: Watch out for diabetes, diarrhea, bladder and neuralgic pain.
General Fortune: The good fortune sign is coming. You will be excited. You have good energy and will be eager for actions. But you need to look well before each leap. Thus a promising winner won't become a loser.
Note: Don't be too serious about the above predictions. Since using the only the birth year zodiac sign, the predictions cover only 12.5% of your 2016 fortune. If your Lucky Element is Metal, you will have good luck in the year of the Monkey. See the Chinese Five Element Astrology and the Rise and Fall Chart below.
I am very tired after the big sketchcrawl today but somehow my artist brain is still active… so somehow I managed to find myself sitting at my painting table having another play with a sketch of the war memorial. It is a little overworked but I am very pleased with the effort and it is giving me ideas for next week - and beyond!
Now abandoned, Kinkaseki was the largest copper mine in the Japanese empire. During World War II, it was Taiwan's most notorious prisoner of war camp where Commonwealth soldiers from the surrender of Singapore (February 1942) were sent to work as slave labour for the Japanese Imperial Army. Most of the prisoners died from a combination of accidents, beatings, disease, improper medical care, malnutrition, and overwork. (Rick Green photo.)
For more information about Kinkaseki, visit Never Forgotten or watch A War Story by Anne Wheeler, a 1981 docudrama based on the diaries of her father, Ben Wheeler, the camp doctor.
Getting There
EVA Airways flies from Newark, Toronto, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Vancouver to Taipei. Visit EVA Air's Web site for flight information and booking.
Further Recommended Resources
Taiwan is an excellent destination for experiencing traditional Chinese culture, enjoying an exciting cuisine, and engaging in outdoor activities, such as cycling and hiking. Learn more about what makes the island of Formosa unique with Adventurocity's articles and video. Join our Forum to ask questions or share tips.
and then my sewing machine decided she needed to get some TLC at the hospital for tired and overworked mechanical friends.
ODC2 - Bottles
10/05/12
I think I overworked this a bit, but I'm not sure. You know when you've been looking at a shot for too long and you start to find little things that you want to improve and eventually it's as if you find mistakes all over the place.lol I might just have to leave it for a while and then come back for a peak. And YAY no kiddy pic's today.lol I mean for your sake, (I never get tired of them)
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Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress
From A People's History of the United States
By Howard Zinn
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Reconsider Columbus Day -> www.reconsidercolumbusday.org/
Transform Columbus Day -> www.transformcolumbusday.org/
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Arawak men and women, naked, tawny, and full of wonder, emerged from their villages onto the island's beaches and swam out to get a closer look at the strange big boat. When Columbus and his sailors came ashore, carrying swords, speaking oddly, the Arawaks ran to greet them, brought them food, water, gifts. He later wrote of this in his log:
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They... brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things, which they exchanged for the glass beads and hawks' bells. They willingly traded everything they owned.... They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features.... They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane.... They would make fine servants.... With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.
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These Arawaks of the Bahama Islands were much like Indians on the mainland, who were remarkable (European observers were to say again and again) for their hospitality, their belief in sharing. These traits did not stand out in the Europe of the Renaissance, dominated as it was by the religion of popes, the government of kings, the frenzy for money that marked Western civilization and its first messenger to the Americas, Christopher Columbus.
Columbus wrote: "As soon as I arrived in the Indies, on the first Island which I found, I took some of the natives by force in order that they might learn and might give me information of whatever there is in these parts."
The information that Columbus wanted most was: Where is the gold?
The Indians, Columbus reported, "are so naive and so free with their possessions that no one who has not witnessed them would believe it. When you ask for something they have, they never say no. To the contrary, they offer to share with anyone...." He concluded his report by asking for a little help from their Majesties, and in return he would bring them from his next voyage "as much gold as they need . . . and as many slaves as they ask." He was full of religious talk: "Thus the eternal God, our Lord, gives victory to those who follow His way over apparent impossibilities."
Because of Columbus's exaggerated report and promises, his second expedition was given seventeen ships and more than twelve hundred men. The aim was clear: slaves and gold. They went from island to island in the Caribbean, taking Indians as captives. But as word spread of the Europeans' intent they found more and more empty villages. On Haiti, they found that the sailors left behind at Fort Navidad had been killed in a battle with the Indians, after they had roamed the island in gangs looking for gold, taking women and children as slaves for sex and labor.
Now, from his base on Haiti, Columbus sent expedition after expedition into the interior. They found no gold fields, but had to fill up the ships returning to Spain with some kind of dividend. In the year 1495, they went on a great slave raid, rounded up fifteen hundred Arawak men, women, and children, put them in pens guarded by Spaniards and dogs, then picked the five hundred best specimens to load onto ships. Of those five hundred, two hundred died en route. The rest arrived alive in Spain and were put up for sale by the archdeacon of the town, who reported that, although the slaves were "naked as the day they were born," they showed "no more embarrassment than animals." Columbus later wrote: "Let us in the name of the Holy Trinity go on sending all the slaves that can be sold."
But too many of the slaves died in captivity. And so Columbus, desperate to pay back dividends to those who had invested, had to make good his promise to fill the ships with gold. In the province of Cicao on Haiti, where he and his men imagined huge gold fields to exist, they ordered all persons fourteen years or older to collect a certain quantity of gold every three months. When they brought it, they were given copper tokens to hang around their necks. Indians found without a copper token had their hands cut off and bled to death.
The Indians had been given an impossible task. The only gold around was bits of dust garnered from the streams. So they fled, were hunted down with dogs, and were killed. Trying to put together an army of resistance, the Arawaks faced Spaniards who had armor, muskets, swords, horses. When the Spaniards took prisoners they hanged them or burned them to death. Among the Arawaks, mass suicides began, with cassava poison. Infants were killed to save them from the Spaniards. In two years, through murder, mutilation, or suicide, half of the 250,000 Indians on Haiti were dead.
When it became clear that there was no gold left, the Indians were taken as slave labor on huge estates, known later as encomiendas. They were worked at a ferocious pace, and died by the thousands. By the year 1515, there were perhaps fifty thousand Indians left. By 1550, there were five hundred. A report of the year 1650 shows none of the original Arawaks or their descendants left on the island.
The chief source-and, on many matters the only source-of in formation about what happened on the islands after Columbus came is Bartolome de las Casas, who, as a young priest, participated in the conquest of Cuba. For a time he owned a plantation on which Indian slaves worked, but he gave that up and became a vehement critic of Spanish cruelty.
In Book Two of his History of the Indies, Las Casas (who at first urged replacing Indians by black slaves, thinking they were stronger and would survive, but later relented when he saw the effects on blacks) tells about the treatment of the Indians by the Spaniards. It is a unique account and deserves to be quoted at length:
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Endless testimonies . . . prove the mild and pacific temperament of the natives.... But our work was to exasperate, ravage, kill, mangle and destroy; small wonder, then, if they tried to kill one of us now and then.... The admiral, it is true, was blind as those who came after him, and he was so anxious to please the King that he committed irreparable crimes against the Indians.. ..
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Las Casas tells how the Spaniards "grew more conceited every day" and after a while refused to walk any distance. They "rode the backs of Indians if they were in a hurry" or were carried on hammocks by Indians running in relays. "In this case they also had Indians carry large leaves to shade them from the sun and others to fan them with goose wings."
Total control led to total cruelty. The Spaniards "thought nothing of knifing Indians by tens and twenties and of cutting slices off them to test the sharpness of their blades." Las Casas tells how "two of these so-called Christians met two Indian boys one day, each carrying a parrot; they took the parrots and for fun beheaded the boys."
The Indians' attempts to defend themselves failed. And when they ran off into the hills they were found and killed. So, Las Casas reports. "they suffered and died in the mines and other labors in desperate silence, knowing not a soul in the world to whom they could tun for help." He describes their work in the mines:
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... mountains are stripped from top to bottom and bottom to top a thousand times; they dig, split rocks, move stones, and carry dirt on their backs to wash it in the rivers, while those who wash gold stay in the water all the time with their backs bent so constantly it breaks them; and when water invades the mines, the most arduous task of all is to dry the mines by scooping up pansful of water and throwing it up outside....
After each six or eight months' work in the mines, which was the time required of each crew to dig enough gold for melting, up to a third of the men died. While the men were sent many miles away to the mines, the wives remained to work the soil, forced into the excruciating job of digging and making thousands of hills for cassava plants.
Thus husbands and wives were together only once every eight or ten months and when they met they were so exhausted and depressed on both sides . . . they ceased to procreate. As for the newly born, they died early because their mothers, overworked and famished, had no milk to nurse them, and for this reason, while I was in Cuba, 7000 children died in three months. Some mothers even drowned their babies from sheer desperation.... In this way, husbands died in the mines, wives died at work, and children died from lack of milk . . . and in a short time this land which was so great, so powerful and fertile ... was depopulated.... My eyes have seen these acts so foreign to human nature, and now I tremble as I write....
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When he arrived on Hispaniola in 1508, Las Casas says, "there were 60,000 people living on this island, including the Indians; so that from 1494 to 1508, over three million people had perished from war, slavery, and the mines. Who in future generations will believe this? I myself writing it as a knowledgeable eyewitness can hardly believe it...."
Thus began the history, five hundred years ago, of the European invasion of the Indian settlements in the Americas. That beginning, when you read Las Casas-even if his figures are exaggerations (were there 3 million Indians to begin with, as he says, or less than a million, as some historians have calculated, or 8 million as others now believe?) is conquest, slavery, death. When we read the history books given to children in the United States, it all starts with heroic adventure-there is no bloodshed-and Columbus Day is a celebration.
The treatment of heroes (Columbus) and their victims (the Arawaks) the quiet acceptance of conquest and murder in the name of progress-is only one aspect of a certain approach to history, in which the past is told from the point of view of governments, conquerors, diplomats, leaders. It is as if they, like Columbus, deserve universal acceptance, as if they-the Founding Fathers, Jackson, Lincoln, Wilson, Roosevelt, Kennedy, the leading members of Congress, the famous Justices of the Supreme Court-represent the nation as a whole. The pretense is that there really is such a thing as "the United States," subject to occasional conflicts and quarrels, but fundamentally a community of people with common interests. It is as if there really is a "national interest" represented in the Constitution, in territorial expansion, in the laws passed by Congress, the decisions of the courts, the development of capitalism, the culture of education and the mass media.
"History is the memory of states," wrote Henry Kissinger in his first book, A World Restored, in which he proceeded to tell the history of nineteenth-century Europe from the viewpoint of the leaders of Austria and England, ignoring the millions who suffered from those states men's
policies. From his standpoint, the "peace" that Europe had before the French Revolution was "restored" by the diplomacy of a few national leaders. But for factory workers in England, farmers in France, colored people in Asia and Africa, women and children everywhere except in the upper classes, it was a world of conquest, violence, hunger, exploitation-a world not restored but disintegrated.
When the Pilgrims came to New England they too were coming not to vacant land but to territory inhabited by tribes of Indians. The governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, John Winthrop, created the excuse to take Indian land by declaring the area legally a "vacuum." The Indians, he said, had not "subdued" the land, and therefore had only a "natural" right to it, but not a "civil right." A "natural right" did not have legal standing.
The Puritans also appealed to the Bible, Psalms 2:8: "Ask of me, and I shall give thee, the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." And to justify their use of force to take the land, they cited Romans 13:2: "Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation."
The Indian population of 10 million that lived north of Mexico when Columbus came would ultimately be reduced to less than a million. Huge numbers of Indians would die from diseases introduced by the whites. A Dutch traveler in New Netherland wrote in 1656 that "the Indians . . . affirm, that before the arrival of the Christians, and before the smallpox broke out amongst them, they were ten times as numerous as they now are, and that their population had been melted down by this disease, whereof nine-tenths of them have died." When the English first settled Martha's Vineyard in 1642, the Wampanoags there numbered perhaps three thousand. There were no wars on that island, but by 1764, only 313 Indians were left there. Similarly, Block Island Indians numbered perhaps 1,200 to 1,500 in 1662, and by 1774 were reduced to fifty-one.
Behind the English invasion of North America, behind their massacre of Indians, their deception, their brutality, was that special powerful drive born in civilizations based on private property. It was a morally ambiguous drive; the need for space, for land, was a real human need. But in conditions of scarcity, in a barbarous epoch of history ruled by competition, this human need was transformed into the murder of whole peoples.
Source -> www.davesweb.cnchost.com/zinn.htm
Columbus Statue Toppled in Venezuela on Day of Indigenous Resistance -> venezuelanalysis.com/news/734
Hero-making, Christopher Columbus - Lies My Teacher Told Me -> www.thirdworldtraveler.com/History/Hero-making_LMTTM.html
Christopher Columbus: Extracts from Journal -> www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/columbus1.asp
Corporate Avenger - Christians Murdered Indians -> www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZhsJGcBLiQ
French postcard in the 'Collection Artistique du Vin Désiles' series by S.I.P. Photo: Boyer. Publicity for Vins Désiles. Caption: I've the pleasure to recommend the excellent Désiles Wine, Geraldine Farrar, Imperial Opera of Berlin.
American soprano opera singer and film actress Geraldine Farrar (1882-1967) was noted for her glamorous beauty, acting ability, and the timbre of her voice. Barely 20, she was already the toast of Berlin. Later at the Met in New York, she had a large following among young women, who were nicknamed ‘Gerry-flappers’. Farrar also starred in more than a dozen silent films from 1915 to 1920. She was married to and co-starred with Dutch matinee idol Lou Tellegen.
Alice Geraldine Farrar was born in Melrose, Massachusetts, in 1882. She was the daughter of baseball player Sidney Farrar, and his wife, Henrietta Barnes. At 5 she began studying music in Boston and by 14 was giving recitals. Later she studied voice with the American soprano Emma Thursby in New York City, in Paris, and finally with the Italian baritone Francesco Graziani in Berlin. In 1901, Farrar created a sensation at the Berlin Hofoper with her debut as Marguerite in Charles Gounod's Faust. She remained with the company for three years, during which time she continued her studies with legendary Wagnerian soprano Lilli Lehmann. She appeared in the title roles of Ambroise Thomas' Mignon and Jules Massenet's Manon, as well as Juliette in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette. Her admirers in Berlin included Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany, with whom she is believed to have had a relationship beginning in 1903. This Berlin period was interspersed with three seasons with the Monte Carlo Opera. Highlights were Pietro Mascagni's Amica (1905), and Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto (1906) in which she appeared with Enrico Caruso. In 1906, she also made her debut at the New York Metropolitan Opera in Romeo et Juliette. The success placed her on a plateau with Caruso as a box-office magnet. The next year, she got raves for her performance as Cio-Cio-San in the Metropolitan premiere of Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly in 1907. Farrar remained a member of the company until her retirement in 1922, singing 29 roles there in 672 performances. She developed a great popular following, especially among New York's young female opera-goers, who were known as Gerry-flappers. Farrar created the title roles in Puccini's Suor Angelica (1918), Umberto Giordano's Madame Sans-Gêne (1915), as well as the Goosegirl in Engelbert Humperdinck's Königskinder 1910), for which Farrar trained her own flock of geese. According to a New York Tribune review of the first performance, "at the close of the opera Miss Farrar caused 'much amusement' by appearing before the curtain with a live goose under her arm." Her biographer Elizabeth Nash: “Unlike most of the famous bel canto singers of the past who sacrificed dramatic action to tonal perfection, she was more interested in the emotional than in the purely lyrical aspects of her roles.”
Geraldine Farrar recorded extensively for the Victor Talking Machine Company and was often featured prominently in that firm's advertisements. She was one of the first performers to make a radio broadcast, in a 1907 publicity event singing over Lee De Forest's experimental AM radio transmitter in New York City. She also starred in more than a dozen silent films from 1915 to 1920, which were filmed between opera seasons. Farrar made her debut with the title role in Cecil B. De Mille's Carmen (1915), based on the novella Carmen by Prosper Mérimée. For her role as the seductive gypsy girl she was extensively praised. For her performance, she came in fourth place in the 1916 Screen Masterpiece contest held by Motion Picture Magazine, ahead of any other actress. DeMille directed her next in the silent romantic drama Temptation (Cecil B. DeMille, 1915), also with Theodore Roberts, and in the drama Maria Rosa (Cecil B. DeMille, 1916) with Wallace Reid. Another notable screen role was as Joan of Arc in Joan the Woman (1917). This was Cecil DeMille's first historical drama. The screenplay is based on Friedrich Schiller's 1801 play Die Jungfrau von Orleans (The Maid of Orleans). She next played the daughter of an Aztec king in the silent romance The Woman God Forgot (Cecil B. DeMille, 1917). In the film she falls in love with a Spanish captain (Wallace Reid) whose army has come to convert the Aztecs to Christianity. Her last film for Paramount Pictures was the romance The Devil-Stone (Cecil B. DeMille, 1917), again with Wallace Reid. The film had sequences filmed in the Handschiegl Color Process, but only two of six reels are known to survive. For Goldwyn Pictures she appeared in such films as The Turn of the Wheel (Reginald Barker, 1918) with Herbert Rawlinson and Percy Marmont, the Western The Hell Cat (Reginald Barker, 1918), Shadows (Reginald Barker, 1918) and the melodrama The Stronger Vow (Reginald Barker, 1919), the latter three with Milton Sills. All four films are considered lost. She co-starred with her husband Lou Tellegen in the dramas The World and Its Woman (Frank Lloyd, 1919), Flame of the Desert (Reginald Barker, 1919), and The Woman and the Puppet (Reginald Barker, 1920). Her final film was the silent drama The Riddle: Woman (Edward José, 1920), in which her co-star was Montagu Love.
Geraldine Farrar had a seven-year love affair with the Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini. It was rumored that she gave him an ultimatum that he must choose either her or his wife and children in Italy. It resulted in Toscanini's abrupt resignation as principal conductor of the Metropolitan Opera in 1915. Farrar was close friends with the star tenor Enrico Caruso and there has been speculation that they too had a love affair, but no conclusive evidence of this has surfaced. In 1916, she married Dutch film actor Lou Tellegen. Their marriage was the source of considerable scandal, and it ended, as a result of her husband's numerous affairs, in a messy and very public divorce in 1923. The circumstances of the divorce were brought again to public recollection by Tellegen's bizarre 1934 suicide in Hollywood. When told of her ex-husband's death, she replied "Why should that interest me?" Farrar retired from opera in 1922 at the age of 40. Her final performance was as Leoncavallo's Zazà. By this stage, her voice was in premature decline due to overwork. Farrar quickly transitioned into concert recitals, and was signed (within several weeks of announcing her opera retirement) to an appearance at Hershey Park on Memorial Day 1922. She continued to make recordings and give recitals throughout the 1920s and was briefly the intermission commentator for the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts during the 1934–1935 season. Her rather bizarre autobiography, Such Sweet Compulsion (1938), was written in alternating chapters purporting to be her own words and those of her mother, with Mrs. Farrar rather floridly recounting her daughter's many accomplishments. In 1967, Geraldine Farrar died in Ridgefield, Connecticut of heart disease aged 85, and was buried in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York. She had no children.
Sources: Andrea Suhm-Binder (Cantabile subito), Bob Hufford (Find A Grave), Wikipedia and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
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busy with overwork again...(:-(
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much better large size and on black - molto meglio in grande e su sfondo nero
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I spent 7 nights and 8 days in London in August with my family, Tiziano and Giulia and their families.
I’m trying to show 100 shots that I’ve made there, that represent my “London point of view”.
16 August:
Edgware Road
St. Paul’s Cathedral
Fleet Street/the Strand
Westminster Cathedral
Belgrave
■ St. James’s park
New Bond street
Hyde park corner
Thanks for all your kind comments to my last photos …
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Grazie per tutti i gentili commenti alle mie ultime foto…
anhedonia
In psychology and psychiatry, anhedonia (< Greek ἀν- an-, "without" + ἡδονή hēdonē, "pleasure") is an inability to experience pleasurable emotions from normally pleasurable life events such as eating, exercise, social interaction or sexual activities.
Anhedonia is seen in the mood disorders schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, schizoid personality disorder and other mental disorders.
Researchers theorize that anhedonia may result from the breakdown in the brain's reward system, involving dopamine pathways. Two 2005 studies by Paul Keedwell MD of King's College found that certain sections of the brain in depressed subjects had to work harder to process happy thoughts.
Anhedonia is often experienced by drug addicts following withdrawal; in particular, stimulants like cocaine and amphetamines cause anhedonia and depression by depleting dopamine and other important neurotransmitters. Very long-term addicts are sometimes said to suffer a permanent physical breakdown of their pleasure pathways, leading to anhedonia on a permanent or semi-permanent basis due to the extended overworking of the neural pleasure pathways during active addiction, particularly as regards to cocaine and methamphetamine. In this circumstance, activities still may be pleasurable, but can never be as pleasurable to people who have experienced the comparatively extreme pleasure of the drug experience. The result is apathy towards healthy routines by the addict.
Anhedonia may also be an effect of prolonged fatigue.
Significance in depression
As a clinical symptom in depression, anhedonia rates highly in making a diagnosis of this disorder. The DSM describes a "lack of interest or pleasure" but these can be hard to tell apart given that people become less interested in things which do not give them pleasure. The DSM criterion of weight loss is probably related to it and many depressed people with this symptom describe a lack of enjoyment of food.
Today the USKSYD group was back at Cockatoo Island on a gorgeous summers day. About 15 sketchers managed to make it (such a busy time of the year!)
My starting sketch was a little experimental. My thumb is a little sore at the moment so I tried to draw and paint with a different pen grip that didn't rely on my thumb as much. Was a little tricky but fun. After recent discussions with Chris, I decided that I would try putting down a wash first (preserving the white areas) and I was having fun scraping as well.
My second sketch was of the white house up on the top of the island. I went back to my normal pen grip but used
- sailor pen (not flowing perfectly but I am enjoying the hit and miss)
- flat brush and dagger brush
Really had fun trying to work slower and let the watercolour interact on the page.
Here are two photos of the first two sketches… You can see my initial wash on the first one and the supplies I used on the second. I didn't have an old plastic card in my kit today so I raided my wallet for the one that could most easily get a little paint of it…my T2 card (I have now cleaned it)
My third sketch didn't quite turn out to plan…I was talking to A at the time but… I just didn't think about my eyeline and went a little off track. Then I was a little heavy handed with my washes - a result of light/dark contrast of the strong midday Sydney sun. Strongly dislike what was on my page (it happens to all of us at times) I reviewed at home and then decided to add more colour and a bit of texture and test out how robust the Beta paper is…it is amazing. Crazy page and somewhat overworked (I prefer to 'hit it hard and leave it') but hear it is. Not every sketch in a book is what you hoped to achieve- it is all part of a process and regardless of the result is a record of the moment.
Fira village is the capital of Santorini island. The climb from the bay to the Fira can be made by foot , climbing 600 steps of the road, or with cable railroad. Climbing the steps with a mule had been a tradition on Santorini for years, until 10 years ago when the cable car made its appearance. The Swiss-made cable car, also known as the "teleferique," was installed as a gift from the wealthy Santorini ship owner Nomikos, whose ships are regular customers to the island. This made things easier for tourists who had luggage to carry with them as the mules were overworked. Of course, the mule owners did not lose completely on the deal as a percentage of the money earned from the cable car is given to the mule owners.
People ask me what the Falklands are like.
So I will tell you.
Imagine the Outer Hebrides had been scattered in the South Atlantic, all grass covered, eroded, wind-blown. Home to hundreds of thousands of sheep. And mines.
Most of us had not heard of the Falklands until 1982 when Argentina invaded them, despite the Government having been warned the invasion was coming. So, an armada was formed and a task force sent, and over the course of four months the islands were taken back by force.
Since the war, the old Port Stanley airfield had closed and a new airport built about a 45 minute's drive away. That is Mount Pleasant.
RAF Mount Pleasant.
MPA.
A base had been built around it.
It was grim.
And yet, was modern, heated and we had one satellite channel, which broadcast live, not two weeks behind any more. And there was a radio station, which was shared by local radio and BFBS.
Some 2,000 islanders were protected by approx 2400 servicemen and women, and was one of the few places where members of the three forces served side by side. All on a detachment that last 124 days, or four months It was an interesting mix.
Most of us lived in a long low accommodation block, 12 Facility (well, at the RAF and Navy end, the other end of a mile long corridor was the Army end. Something like 35 Facility, and like the Bronx. The Army end had a cinema, so once that finished you had to be careful on the long walk back, as ambshes and robbery were not unknown.
The islands are thousands of miles away from England, and you get there on a trooper flight. A fleet of ancient and overwork Tri-stars ferry two rotations a week, 364 days a year, taking off from RAF Brize Norton, going via Ascension Island to refuel before heading south of the equator to the Falklands.
Life at home was already difficult, so the chance of four months away was attractive, so myself a couple others from Lyneham were making fun in the departure "lounge" at Brize while everyone else was miserable.
Once the door close, you are no classed as soldiers, in that you are not trusted with anything else than cans of beer and boxes of wine Spirits were unavailable to junior ranks for the duration of your tour, as apparently, you could not be trusted. The RAF had taken on a batch of mini DVD players, so we had something to watch during the flight before the only stop at Ascension Island, Or Assi.
Assi is the top part of an old volcano formed by the mid-atlantic ridge. A massive runway had been built on the high plateau, as well as a radio and communications relay station. There is nothing, no land for thousands of miles around. So, on final approach, the plane is skipping over the wave tops until suddenly there are rocks, a cliff and you are down. as we were to be down the Falklands in winter, we were all dressed up in our winter woolies. Assi is on the equator and as warm as you would think.
Although every flight stops there, planes are almost never delayed there and the pilots would always try to press on. We stopped and whilst the plane was refueled and restocked with food, there was time for a round or two at the bar down by the "beach". After an hour we were called back, and as the plane taxied, I saw a pool of fluid underneath one of the engines. It was spotted and the plane stopped and engines powered down.
We were taken off and told to go back to the bar.
Which we did.
Hours later we were told the plane could not be fixed and we were to spend the night on Assi, we had to go and sign bedding find where we were to sleep. Our barracks were like holiday chalets, looked really cute. I went into one, turned the light on and the floor moved. Dozens of cockroaches went for cover.
Oh, this was great.
We went back to the and drank it dry. As you do, then went back to the chalet and made our beds and tried to sleep. Darkness had come suddenly, and we were so tired.
Next day we boarded the plane and all was fine, so we carried on south for hour upon hour.
Landing at MPA is always fun; there is always a side wind, just the strength is different. People come out to watch it land, because on that is not only a couple of hundreds servicemen and women, but a week's mail, newspapers and magazines as well as supplies for the NAAFI shop.
Once the plane has taxied to the terminal, the passengers have to then listen to a mine brief, and dangers of mines, not to remove or deface mine signs. Then the happiest person in the whole world is there to meet you, as you are their replacement. He takes you in a landrover to one facility or the other, then up the the four man room where he has given up his bed, got you a clean duvet and sheets. You are tired disoriented, and this is your first night of 124, and you are taken to one of the many bars and drink, hoping you can find your way back to your bed. If you're unlucky there might be an initiation to go through, nothing bad, just a little humiliation and more drinking. The next morning, the person you replaced, who slept on an armchair will catch his flight home.
You are now the FNG; the Falklands New Guy, and the butt of all jokes and japes, have to make brews and clean, and will do so until the next FNG arrives, when he will take your place.
In every section, there is a chuff chart; a board with 124 pins on it, and each pin marks a day, and first think each morning, the first person in moves the talleys you have to make in your first week forward one day. Not only does the chuff chark mark off the days to do, but also the milestones, and as time passes your ranking among your colleagues go up until you become an FOG; Falklands Old Guy.
I worked in Coates Armoury, looking after the thousands of weapons that we would use to defend the island in the event of another invasion. Every three months there was an exercise during which we would issue weapons to all service personal, then we would lock the door to the armoury and sit through the fun and games, listening to the radio or watching videos, for 12 hours until the guy doing the other 12 hour shift to take over and you go to bed.
Tis was the exciting bit.
The rest was mundane stuff, just maintaining weapons, showing people how to clean their rifles if they'd been fired, charging them s a box of tea bags of a box of fruit case slices to do it for them. So the days and weeks flew by.
Off shift, there was two things to do down there, either keep fit or drink. Some did both. I kept fit, building up what I did week on week until by the final month I was doing double boxercise twice a week, two hours four other days a week and a sports afternoon on Friday. I became a lean and mean guy and was really as fit as I have ever been before or certainly since.
Halfway along the corridor was Weavers, run by the WVRS, and offered tea, coffee, cakes and an oasis of non military stuff. That was a fine way to spend a Sunday, reading last week's apapers with a slice of date and walnut cake a a cup of fresh coffee.
The other pass time was shadying.
Shadying was the creation of souvenirs made out of scrap metal, coins and shells that people would buy off you. Each section would trade parts with each other so we could make more money. Only FOGs could shady, so you waited until one guy got posted and you took your turn, learning as you went to cut brass maps of the islands, shining them up and glueing then to wooden plaques. In a good week you could make £100, and as beer was a pund a can, really live the high life. Or you could buy phone cards to call home, at fifteen quid for ten minutes.
Ao, as the weeks went buy I worked, trained in the gym and shadied all the hours I could. As I worked near to the library, I was the room's entertainment officer, and got videos to watch each night on the room video and portable TV while we sipped brews and munch custard creams. At weekends, there would be transport into Port Stanley down the dirt track main road for an afternoon spent looking through the sparse gift shop of going to one of the bars where they would serve beers in a GLASS.
Many of the places we heard during the war were in fact just a collection of houses, sometimes as few as three, these had battles named after them, but now were all quiet again, some farms offering bed and breakfast for us to use when we had our four days R&R. We could take this whenever we wanted, and I took mine right at the end of my tour, so had four days off, one day back then fly home. Perfect.
My other hobby was taking part in the regular quizzes on the radio. BFBS held them, that went on for weeks, asking questions of what is this noise, or stuff like that, but sometimes trivia questions, which I would take part in. I won a load of stuff in my time, including on the last day when I get back from R&R, I was in work to just clear and sort out some loose ends, and the new question came up: What was the first thing Maralyn Monroe advertised?
I knew.
I said I knew but would not phone in as I had cleared and was now a non FOG. So, one of the others called in, Jelly knows they said to the DJ. SO, I was friends with the DJ, and he said put me on the phone. I went on.
So, what's the answer he asked.
Bearing in mind previous answers had been diamonds, silk dresses and so on.
Potatoes I said. For the Idaho Potato Company. It was a calendar.
Bing.
Bing.
Bing.
Bugger he said, this usually lasts weeks.
I got another bag of swag to take back home.
Oh my, this took a bit longer than I thought it would and completely changed direction part way through, but it came out rather neat looking, if not a bit overworked. Better on black, I think. Thanks for looking! <3
*Yes, just in case anyone felt like pointing it out, I see those crappy pixels well, all over the place, however, it's 2 am and I'm rather done so please pretend they aren't there. :) Thanks again!
Seen undergoing repairs following the discovery of leaking boiler tubes is preserved LMS Princess Royal Class 4-6-2 6201 "Princess Elizabeth". The last time I encountered this locomotive was November 2011, during its final stint on the Cumbrian Mountain Express prior to undergoing major overhaul. It's condition after 6 years appears to have improved immensely since then.
The Princess Royal class were a set of 13 4-6-2 Pacific locomotives designed by William Stanier and built at Crewe Works between 1933 and 1935 to be the prime motive power on the West Coast Mainline between London Euston, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow, including the famous Royal Scot premier express service. At first, two prototypical locomotives were built in 1933, followed by 11 production locomotives in 1935. These were later complimented by a fleet of 38 Coronation Pacific locomotives built between 1937 and 1948, which later went on to be arguably the most power steam locomotives ever built for the British Railway network.
One of the original prototypes however was retained for use as a testbed for a new Turbine Locomotive project to help improve the efficiency of the engines, later being unofficially dubbed 'Turbomotive'. The engine was fitted with turbines instead of cylinders, with the forward turbine containing 18 rows of blading, resulting in an output of 2,400hp, corresponding to running at 62 mph (100 km/h). The turbine was designed to operate into a maximum back-pressure of 2 psi, allowing a conventional double blast-pipe to provide the boiler draught, and eliminating draught fans, which always seemed to give a disproportionate amount of trouble.
The reverse turbine had 4 rows of blades. It was engaged by a dog clutch, activated when the reverser lever being set to "0". This was originally steam-operated by a small piston and cylinder. This locomotive was later rebuilt as a conventional classmate in 1952, using new mainframes and a spare set of cylinders from one of the Coronation Pacifics, and was numbered 46202, later to be named 'Princess Anne'.
6201, LMS lot number 99, was built at Crewe for the sum of £11,675 (£685,000 today) and named Princess Elizabeth, after the then Duke of York’s eldest daughter, currently our Queen Elizabeth II, leaving the works on 3rd November 1933.
Throughout the years the Princess Royal's continued to ply their trade on the West Coast services, but the years of World War II took their toll on the fleet. The beautiful Crimson Lake was replaced by Wartime Black, and the prestige manner that these locomotives had been accustomed to was stripped away as the railways were rationalised as part of the war effort. Work hours increased, and maintenance turns reduced, meaning these engines were being forced to the very limit of their design to keep Britain moving.
With the end of the war in 1945 the workload began to decrease, but the railways had paid the price. The beauty and lavish luxury of the pre-war companies had been stripped and would never return, with all of Britain's main railway companies now almost bankrupt and working a fleet of very tired engines on a poorly maintained railway network. In 1948 the Labour Government nationalised these companies to create British Railways, hoping to modernise the network and rebuild the overworked system.
The Princess Royals and their more powerful sisters the Coronation Pacifics continued to work hard as the implementation of diesels gathered pace. Early diesels however were underpowered and suffered heavily from reliability issues, meaning on many occasions the steam locomotives that they intended to replace actually came to their rescue!
It was not all plain sailing though for the Princess Royals in the 1950's, as this decade was littered with many fatal accidents. On 21 September 1951, locomotive No.46207 Princess Arthur of Connaught was hauling an express passenger train that was derailed at Weedon, Northamptonshire due to a defective front bogie on the locomotive, resulting in the deaths of 15 people and the injury of 35.
This was followed a year later by what would turn out to be the worst rail accident in the whole of British history. On 8 October 1952, an express passenger train hauled by Coronation Class, 46242 'City of Glasgow' overran signals on a train from Perth to London Euston, striking the rear of a stopped Tring to Euston commuter train at Harrow and Wealdstone station in North London. The ensuing wreckage was then struck by a northbound Liverpool express, hauled by Jubilee Class 45637 'Windward Islands', and recently rebuilt ex-Turbomotive Princess Royal 46202 'Princess Anne', which had only entered service two months earlier. In the chaos that followed, a total of 112 people were killed and 340 were injured, with 46202 obliterated in the accident, the first and only member of the class to be lost in an accident.
The late 50's however began to see the end of these engines as good, reliable diesels began to be introduced to replace them, followed closely by electric traction on the West Coast Mainline out of Euston. In 1961 the first members of the class were withdrawn from service, including 6201, which was placed in store in March 1961, but returned to service in May of that year due to poor diesel reliability.
As more diesels were delivered, in October of the same year 6201 was again placed into storage at Carlisle Kingmoor. However, again in January 1962 6201 was returned to traffic to cover for diesel failures and continued to work until September 1962 where it was once again placed into storage. It was subsequently withdrawn by BR in October 1962 and purchased by Roger Bell. The last of the locomotives to be withdrawn was class premier and original prototype number 62000 'The Princess Royal', which was withdrawn in November 1962 and subsequently scrapped. In all, only two locomotives were preserved, number 6203 'Princess Margaret Rose' and 6201 'Princess Elizabeth'.
There’s not much to tell you about this one that isn’t in the title. After my birthday last week I thought I needed to get out and paint - even though it begins to get dark at 2.30pm and is incredibly cold. With no design at all, I decided to just start and see where the muse took me.
The first port of call was some simple blocks of colour which was going well until the two black kittens from next door decided to pay me a visit. That was all the distraction I needed to have a quick game of fetch with the cutest feline layabouts I could ask for. After playtime was over and I’d done the requisite amount of beard scratching an idea popped into my simple overworked brain that black and white ‘dazzle camouflage’ was the way forward to counter the simple blocks of colour. With daylight coming to an end and my precious hands starting to shake because of the cold I had to work swiftly. Which at least kept me warm.
I’m not sure I actually like the picture per se, it kind of feels like a background to me, there seems to be something missing but if inspiration strikes I can always go back and finish it off.
Cheers
id-iom
The alternative top for the naughty nurse cake, made for an overworked doctor. Chocolate cake with fondant icing and fondant model of stethoscope
Unlike most Japanese companies who create an atmosphere which makes it difficult to leave anytime before the last train, I fully understand the importance of making sure that employees have their own personal time to wind down or develop their life skills. For this reason, unless there is an emergency, I ask that everybody start packing up to leave at 6PM.
I also find that we are all more focused to finish and complete goals knowing that we have to leave at 6. I personally do stay on a bit though.
I'm aware that folks only have a limited amount of hours at work so this also helps me prioritize what's important for the company.
I find that many companies just think of pointless stuff for their staff to do just because warm bodies are still in the office.
On a related note, prime minister Abe was thinking of introducing a system where trains would run all night instead of stopping service at around midnight.
There were concerns that this didn't give rail companies time to give the trains or tracks maintenance - but the main concern was that employees no longer had an excuse to say to their boss - "I'm going home before the last train leaves" meaning that even more people would die from overworking in Japan...
View more at www.dannychoo.com/en/post/27288/About+Culture+Japan.html
A coolie (alternatively spelled cooli, cooly, quli, koelie, and other such variations), during the 19th and early 20th century, was a term for a locally sourced unskilled labourer hired by a company, mainly from the Indian subcontinent or Southern China.
Today, it is used varyingly as a legal inoffensive word (for example, in India for helpers carrying luggage in railway stations) and also used as a racial slur in Africa for certain people from Asia, particularly in South Africa
ETYMOLOGY
The origins of the word are uncertain but it is thought to have originated from the name of a Gujarati sect (the Kolī, who worked as day labourers) or perhaps from the Tamil word for a payment for work, kuli (கூலி). An alternative etymological explanation is that the word came from the Urdu qulī (क़ुली, قلی), which itself could be from the Turkish word for slave, qul. The word was used in this sense for labourers from India. In 1727, Dr. Engelbert Kämpfer described "coolies" as dock labourers who would unload Dutch merchant ships at Nagasaki in Japan.
The Chinese word 苦力 (pinyin: kǔlì) literally means "bitterly hard (use of) strength", in the Mandarin pronunciation.
HISTORY OF THE COOLIE TRADE
An early trade in Asian labourers is believed to have begun sometime in or around the 16th century. Social and political pressure led to the abolition of the slave trade throughout the British Empire in 1807, with other European nations following suit. Labour-intensive industries, such as cotton and sugar plantations, mines and railway construction, in the colonies were left without a cheap source of manpower. As a consequence, a large scale slavery-like trade in Asian (primarily Indian and Chinese) indentured labourers began in the 1820s to fill this vacuum. Some of these labourers signed contracts based on misleading promises, some were kidnapped and sold into the trade, some were victims of clan violence whose captors sold them to coolie brokers, while others sold themselves to pay off gambling debts. British companies were the first to experiment with this potential new form of cheap labour in 1807, when they imported 200 Chinese men to work in Trinidad.
The coolie trade was often compared to the earlier slave trade and they accomplished very similar things.
Although there are reports of ships for Asian coolies carrying women and children, the great majority of them were men. Finally, regulations were put in place, as early as 1837 by the British authorities in India to safeguard these principles of voluntary, contractual work and safe and sanitary transportation although in practice this rarely occurred especially during examples such as the Pacific Passage or the Guano Pits of Peru. The Chinese government also made efforts to secure the well-being of their nation's workers, with representations being made to relevant governments around the world.
CHINESE COOLIES
Workers from China were mainly transported to work in Peru and Cuba, but they also worked in British colonies such as Jamaica, British Guiana (now Guyana), British Malaya, Trinidad and Tobago, British Honduras (now Belize) and in the Dutch colonies Dutch East Indies and Suriname. The first shipment of Chinese labourers was to the British colony of Trinidad in 1806.
In 1847 two ships from Cuba transported workers to Havana to work in the sugar cane fields from the port of Xiamen, one of the five Chinese treaty ports opened to the British by the Treaty of Nanking in 1842. The trade soon spread to other ports in Guangdong province and demand became particularly strong in Peru for workers in the silver mines and the guano collecting industry. Australia began importing workers in 1848 and the United States began using them in 1865 on the First Transcontinental Railroad construction. These workers were deceived about their terms of employment to a much greater extent than their Indian counterparts, and consequently, there was a much higher level of Chinese emigration during this period.
The trade flourished from 1847 to 1854 without incident, until reports began to surface of the mistreatment of the workers in Cuba and Peru. As the British government had political and legal responsibility for many of the ports involved, including Amoy, the trade was shut down at these places. However, the trade simply shifted to the more accommodating port in the Portuguese enclave of Macau.
Many coolies were first deceived or kidnapped and then kept in barracoons (detention centres) or loading vessels in the ports of departure, as were African slaves. In 1875, British commissioners estimated that approximately eighty percent of the workers had been abducted. Their voyages, which are sometimes called the Pacific Passage, were as inhumane and dangerous as the notorious Middle Passage of the Atlantic slave trade. Mortality was very high. For example, it is estimated that from 1847 to 1859, the average mortality for coolies aboard ships to Cuba was 15.2 percent, and losses among those aboard ships to Peru were 40 percent in the 1850s and 30.44 percent from 1860 to 1863.
They were sold and were taken to work in plantations or mines with very bad living and working conditions. The duration of a contract was typically five to eight years, but many coolies did not live out their term of service because of the hard labour and mistreatment. Those who did live were often forced to remain in servitude beyond the contracted period. The coolies who worked on the sugar plantations in Cuba and in the guano beds of the Chincha Islands (the islands of Hell) of Peru were treated brutally. Seventy-five percent of the Chinese coolies in Cuba died before fulfilling their contracts. More than two-thirds of the Chinese coolies who arrived in Peru between 1849 and 1874 died within the contract period. In 1860 it was calculated that of the 4000 coolies brought to the Chinchas since the trade began, not one had survived.
Because of these unbearable conditions, Chinese coolies often revolted against their Ko-Hung bosses and foreign company bosses at ports of departure, on ships, and in foreign lands. The coolies were put in the same neighbourhoods as Africans and, since most were unable to return to their homeland or have their wives come to the New World, many married African women. The coolies' interracial relationships and marriages with Africans, Europeans and Indigenous peoples, formed some of the modern world's Afro-Asian and Asian Latin American populations.
Chinese immigration to the United States was almost entirely voluntary, but working and social conditions were still harsh. In 1868, the Burlingame Treaty allowed unrestricted Chinese immigration into the country. Within a decade significant levels of anti-Chinese sentiment had built up, stoked by populists such as Denis Kearney with racist slogans - "To an American, death is preferable to life on a par with the Chinese."
Although Chinese workers contributed to the building of the first Transcontinental Railroad in the United States and of the Canadian Pacific Railway in western Canada, Chinese settlement was discouraged after completion of the construction. California's Anti-Coolie Act of 1862 and the federal Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 contributed to the curtailment of Chinese immigration to the United States.
Notwithstanding such attempts to restrict the influx of cheap labour from China, beginning in the 1870s Chinese workers helped construct a vast network of levees in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. These levees made thousands of acres of fertile marshlands available for agricultural production.
The 1879 Constitution of the State of California declared that "Asiatic coolieism is a form of human slavery, and is forever prohibited in this State, and all contracts for coolie labour shall be void."
Colonos asiáticos is a Spanish term for coolies. The Spanish colony of Cuba feared slavery uprisings such as those that took place in Haiti and used coolies as a transition between slaves and free labor. They were neither free nor slaves. Indentured Chinese servants also labored in the sugarcane fields of Cuba well after the 1884 abolition of slavery in that country. Two scholars of Chinese labor in Cuba, Juan Pastrana and Juan Perez de la Riva, substantiated horrific conditions of Chinese coolies in Cuba and stated that coolies were slaves in all but name. Denise Helly is one researcher who believes that despite their slave-like treatment, the free and legal status of the Asian laborers in Cuba separated them from slaves. The coolies could challenge their superiors, run away, petition government officials, and rebel according to Rodriguez Pastor and Trazegnies Granda. Once they had fulfilled their contracts the colonos asiáticos integrated into the countries of Peru, The Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Cuba. They adopted cultural traditions from the natives and also welcomed in non-Chinese to experience and participate into their own traditions. Before the Cuban Revolution in 1959, Havana had Latin America's largest Chinatown.
In South America, Chinese indentured labourers worked in Peru's silver mines and coastal industries (i.e., guano, sugar, and cotton) from the early 1850s to the mid-1870s; about 100,000 people immigrated as indentured workers. They participated in the War of the Pacific, looting and burning down the haciendas where they worked, after the capture of Lima by the invading Chilean army in January 1880. Some 2000 coolies even joined the Chilean Army in Peru, taking care of the wounded and burying the dead. Others were sent by Chileans to work in the newly conquered nitrate fields.
The Chinese Engineering and Mining Corporation, of which later U.S. president Herbert Hoover was a director, was instrumental in supplying Chinese coolie labour to South African mines from c.1902 to c.1910 at the request of mine owners, who considered such labour cheaper than native African and white labour. The horrendous conditions suffered by the coolie labourers led to questions in the British parliament as recorded in Hansard.
In 1866, the British, French and Chinese governments agreed to mitigate the abuse by requiring all traders to pay for the return of all workers after their contract ended. The employers in the British West Indies declined these conditions, bringing the trade there to an end. Until the trade was finally abolished in 1875, over 150,000 coolies had been sold to Cuba alone, the majority having been shipped from Macau. These labourers endured conditions far worse than those experienced by their Indian counterparts. Even after the 1866 reforms, the scale of abuse and conditions of near slavery did not get any better - if anything they deteriorated. In the early 1870s increased media exposure of the trade led to a public outcry, and the British, as well as the Qing government, put pressure on the Portuguese authorities to bring the trade at Macau to an end; this was ultimately achieved in 1874. By that time, a total of up to half a million Chinese workers had been exported.
The term coolie was also applied to Chinese workers recruited for contracts on cacao plantations in German Samoa. German planters went to great lengths to secure access to their "coolie" labour supply from China. In 1908 a Chinese commissioner, Lin Shu Fen, reported on the cruel treatment of coolie workers on German plantations in the western Samoan Islands. The trade began largely after the establishment of colonial German Samoa in 1900 and lasted until the arrival of New Zealand forces in 1914. More than 2000 Chinese "coolies" were present in the islands in 1914 and most were eventually repatriated by the New Zealand administration.
INDIAN COOLIES
By the 1820s, many Indians were voluntarily enlisting to go abroad for work, in the hopes of a better life. European merchants and businessmen quickly took advantage of this and began recruiting them for work as a cheap source of labour. The British began shipping Indians to colonies around the world, including Mauritius, Fiji, Natal, British East Africa, and British Malaya. The Dutch also shipped workers to labour on the plantations on Suriname and the Dutch East Indies. A system of agents was used to infiltrate the rural villages of India and recruit labourers. They would often deceive the credulous workers about the great opportunities that awaited them for their own material betterment abroad. The Indians primarily came from the Indo-Gangetic Plain, but also from Tamil Nadu and other areas to the south of the country.
Without permission from the British authorities, the French attempted to illegally transport Indian workers to their sugar producing colony, the Reunion Island, from as early as 1826. By 1830, over 3000 labourers had been transported. After this trade was discovered, the French successfully negotiated with the British in 1860 for permission to transport over 6,000 workers annually, on condition that the trade would be suspended if abuses were discovered to be taking place.
The British began to transport Indians to Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, starting in 1829. Slavery had been abolished with the planters receiving two million pounds sterling in compensation for the loss of their slaves. The planters turned to bringing in a large number of indentured labourers from India to work in the sugar cane fields. Between 1834 and 1921, around half a million indentured labourers were present on the island. They worked on sugar estates, factories, in transport and on construction sites.
In 1837, the Raj issued a set of regulations for the trade. The rules provided for each labourer to be personally authorised for transportation by an officer designated by the Government, it limited the length of service to five years subject to voluntary renewal, it made the contractor responsible for returning the worker after the contract elapsed and required the vessels to conform to basic health standards
Despite this, conditions on the ships were often extremely crowded, with rampant disease and malnutrition. The workers were paid a pittance for their labour, and were expected to work in often awful and harsh conditions. Although there were no large scale scandals involving coolie abuse in British colonies, workers often ended up being forced to work, and manipulated in such a way that they became dependent on the plantation owners so that in practice they remained there long after their contracts expired; possibly as little as 10% of the coolies actually returned to their original country of origin. Colonial legislation was also passed to severely limit their freedoms; in Mauritius a compulsory pass system was instituted to enable their movements to be easily tracked. Conditions were much worse in the French colonies of Reunion and Guadeloupe and Martinique, where workers were 'systematically overworked' and abnormally high mortality rates were recorded for those working in the mines.
However, there were also attempts by the British authorities to regulate and mitigate the worst abuses. Workers were regularly checked up on by health inspectors, and they were vetted before transportation to ensure that they were suitably healthy and fit to be able to endure the rigours of labour. Children under the age of 15 were not allowed to be transported from their parents under any circumstances.
The first campaign against the 'coolie' trade in England likened the system of indentured labour to the slavery of the past. In response to this pressure, the labour export was temporarily stopped in 1839 by the authorities when the scale of the abuses became known, but it was soon renewed due to its growing economic importance. A more rigorous regulatory framework was put into place and severe penalties were imposed for infractions in 1842. In that year, almost 35,000 people were shipped to Mauritius.
In 1844, the trade was expanded to the colonies in the West Indies, including Jamaica, Trinidad and Demerara, where the Asian population was soon a major component of the island demographic.
Starting in 1879, many Indians were transported to Fiji to work on the sugar cane plantations. Many of them chose to stay after their term of indenture elapsed and today they number about 40% of the total population. Indian workers were also imported into the Dutch colony of Suriname after the Dutch signed a treaty with the United Kingdom on the recruitment of contract workers in 1870. In Mauritius, the Indian population are now demographically dominant, with Indian festivals being celebrated as national holidays.
This system prevailed until the early twentieth century. Increasing focus on the brutalities and abuses of the trade by the sensationalist media of the time, incited public outrage and lead to the official ending of the coolie trade in 1916 by the British government. By that time tens of thousands of Chinese workers were being used along the Western Front by the allied forces (see Chinese Labour Corps).
SEX RATIOS AND INTERMARRIAGE AMONG COOLIES
A major difference between the Chinese coolie trade and the Indian coolie trade was that the Chinese coolies were all male, while East Indian women (from India) were brought alongside men as coolies. This led to a high rate of Chinese men marrying women of other ethnicities like Indian women and mixed race Creole women. Indian women and children were brought alongside Indian men as coolies while Chinese men made up 99% of Chinese colonies. The contrast with the female to male ratio among Indian and Chinese immigrants has been compared by historians. In Sumatra in the Dutch East Indies just 18,731 Chinese women and 92,985 Chinese men served as coolies on plantations. Chinese women migrated less than Javanese and Indian women as indentured coolies. The number of Chinese women as coolies was "very small" while Chinese men were easily taken into the coolie trade. In Cuba men made up the vast majority of Chinese indentured servants on sugar plantations and in Peru non-Chinese women married the mostly male Chinese coolies.
Chinese women were scarce in every place where Chinese indentured laborers were brought, the migration was dominated by Chinese men. Up to the 1940s men made up the vast majority of the Costa Rican Chinese community. Males made up the majority of the original Chinese community in Mexico and they married Mexican women.
In the early 1900s, the Chinese communities in Manila, Singapore, Mauritius, New Zealand, Victoria in Australia, the United States, and Victoria in British Columbia in Canada were all male dominated.
WIKIPEDIA
The Bridge On The River Kwai
In June 1942, 61,000 British, Australian, American, New Zealand, Danish and Dutch POWs as well as an estimated 200,000 labourers from India, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Burma and Thailand were put to work by the Japanese Imperial Army to construct a railway line 415km long to link Kanchanaburi to the Japanese Base Camp in Thanbyuzayat in Burma, thus ensuring a direct line from Singapore through Malaya and Thailand to link up with the railway network in Burma. Apart from supplying their bases in Burma, the Japanese had also planned to use the railway to launch an attack on India.
The decision to build the railway was made by The Japanese Cabinet following the decisive defeat of its navy at Battle of Midway in June 1942. At that time a large Japanese army was based in Burma and another in New Guinea and adjacent island. Both depended for support and supplies on the navy which after Midway no longer enjoyed its former supermacy. The Japanese were aware that the British had surveyed a proposed railway linking Burma and Thailand in 1910 and that they had abandoned the project in 1912 because of difficult terrain, endemic diseases and high monsoonal rainfall. To planners studying the map in Tokyo howerver, the construction of a 415 kilometre railway seemed an obvious solution to supplying the army in Burma and thus void the hazardous sea route around Singapore and though the Straits of Malacca.
Accordingly two Japanese railway regiments to talling 12,000 man were assigned to railway project the 5 Regiment to be based at Thanbyzayat in Burma and the 9 Regiment at Kanchanaburi in Thailand. The deadline for completion of the railway was August 1943 and in June 1942 the Japanese beban moving prisoners of the war to Burma and Thailand. Construction of the railway began on the 16the of September 1942. First estimates by the Japanese engineers suggested that it would take at least five years to build, but under tremendous pressure, the POWs were forced short span of 12 months and to complete in 16 months. On the 25 December 1943 the "Railway of Death" was completed. The total workforce to be employed on the railway included some 61,000 British, Dutch and Amarican, Australians prisoners of war and over 200,000 conscripted Asian labourers.
The effect was devastating. 16,000 allied prisoners of war lost their lives when this railway was built during dying together with 100,000 slave Asian labourers who aren't mentioned all that often. After all, there are lost of Indians and Chinese. The "Railway of Death" left such a gruesome number of bodies in its track, in stark contrast to the number of wooden sleepers supporting the tracks themselves. All the same, every kilometre of railway track cost the lives of 38 allies. Just like when Dad as a lad.
The "Railway of Death" was built as a strategic railway between Thailand and Burma. 263 kilometres in Thailand and 152 kilometres in Burma. Later the Thais and the Burmese agreed to destroy the tracks from their common border and 100 kilometres into each country.
Those who built but never rode the "Railway of Death".
A British force of almost 85,000 men surrendered lock, stock and barrel to about 25,000 Japanese veterans of the war in China. British war leader Winston Churchill called the fall of Singapore his country's most crushing military defeat in history, but for Japan it was the Zenith of military success.
With the fall of Singapore, Japan captured not a large work force but also invaluable equipment and machinery, including more than 300 locomotives, thousands of bogeys and hundreds of kilometres of track.
The Japanese High Command was forced to accept that naval superiority in the Pacific had become unattainable. This realization led directly to the birth of the Siam-Burma railway as a vital alternative to supply the Japanese army in Burma. It is not hard to understand the wider strategic attractions to Japan's military planners. The line would connect Singapore, Hanoi and Rangoon and, if the Siam-Burma stretch could be achieved, why not continue with a Burma-India track to connect with the vast Indian railway network stretching to what is now the Pakistan-Iranian border.
Japan's plan to link Bangkok and Rangoon by rail in 1942 was not new; the British had surveyed the route at the turn of century, but abandoned the idea as impracticable. But for the Japanese, well aware of the heavy price they would pay if they were defeated after their surprise attack on Pearl Harbour, no cost was too high for victory.
Construction of the Burma-Thailand railway began at both ends simulaneously using British, Australian, American, Canadian, New Zealand and Dutch prisoners of war in addition to some 200,000 Asian slave workers - the Japanese called them romusha - rounded up in Indonesia, Malaya, Burma, Vietnam and India. The French in Indochina came to a "diplomatic understanding" with the Japanese invaders and so were spared the horror of working on the Death Railway.
The first batch of allied prisoners was sent from Changi Prison in Singapore to Thailand on 19 June 1942. After a tortuous closed carriage train ride form Singapore to Thailand, Corporal Trevor Dakin of the 5th battalion Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire regiment, found himself one of thousands of allied prisoners of war assigned to the life-sapping task of building the Death Railway.
Of the 68,000 allied prisoners who toiled on the railway, 16,000 died while of the estimated 300,000 Asian slave workers more than100,000 are believed to have perished. The exact number of Asian workers who died while working for Japan's Labour Service Corps in the second world war may never be known; the Imperial Japanese army destroyed records at the end of the war.
After the railway was completed, the work force was split into three groups. Those judged as being the fittest, boarded slow Japanese merchant vessels for the treacherous sea voyage to Japan, where they were to work in coal mines. But of the 10,000 men sent to Japan, as many as 3,000 are believed to have drowned at sea when the ships they were sailing on were sunk by US and British submarines. Former British POW Arthur Peddie was one such POW sent to Japan who survived the perilous journey and live to see the mushroom could of the atomic bomb standing like a ghost over Nagaski, in April 1945. Those in the second group were considered fit enough to be retained on the railway as maintenance crew. Up to a hundred of these men perished in the allied bombing raids against the railway and bridges across the River Kwai. Trevor Dakin was orginally selected for Japan, but sudden illness ruled him out. He says life on the line at this stage was almost bearable. The third group of POWs were considered by the Japanese to be too sick to be effective laboures and were sent back to Changi Prison in Singapore.
Fails to mention that not one but two bridges spaned the River Kwai in the Second World War. The original wooden bridge, was completed in February 1943 and the first train crossed the 11-span steel and concrete bridge seen today in June of the same year.
The service bridge was finally destroyed on 2 April 1945 by B24 bombardier Lt-Col Bill Henderson.
After the railway was completed, the work force was split into three groups. Those judged as being the fittest were sent to Japan. Those in the second group were considered fit enough to be retained on the railway as maintenance crew. While the third group of POWs were considered by the Japanese to be too sick to be effective labourers and were sent back to Changi Prison in Singapore. Chick Warden of Sydney, Australia stumbled into Changi as a walking skeleton before collapsing in his friend's arms.
The eleven span steel bridge spanning the Kwai Yai river. Dismantled by the Japanese in Java and transported to the site in 1942, the bridge was rebuilt using prisoner of war (POW) labour, and opened in April 1943. One span of the bridge was destroyed by Allied aircraft in mid February 1945.
'Donlop Force' consisted of 878 Australians the command of Lieutenant Colnel E.E. Dunlop AAMC. They departed form Java for Singapore on 4 January 1943 and from Singapore by train on 20 January, arriving at Banpong four days later. From Banpong they went on the the Konyu area where there were some 3,000 British troops already showing signs of complete breakdown form semi-starvation, disease and overwork. Here a group of some 600 Dutch prisoners also came under Dunlop's command and after two weeks of sleeping in the open the whole force moved to Hintok Rond camp over three kilometres form the river. At the end of March 1943 the first of 'D' force had begun to arrive in the area and part of it brought the strength of Hintok camp to about 1,000.
Shortly after I took this photo yesterday, my camera went belly up. I can't say what the problem is; it just failed to power on. Therefore, this may be the last photo of the day for a little while. The camera is currently in a cardboard box en route to the doctors, who live in New Jersey. Best wishes for speedy healing, little overworked camera.
The Postcard
A postally unused postcard published by Beagles & Co. of London E.C. The photography was by Ellis & Walery of Conduit Street and later Regent Street, London, and the card was printed in England.
As you can see, someone has written the date 31st. December 1906 at the bottom of the card.
J. Beagles & Co.
The firm of J. Beagles & Co. was started by John Beagles (1844-1909). The company produced a variety of postcards including an extensive catalogue of celebrity (stage and screen) portrait postcards. After Beagle’s death, the business continued under its original name until it closed in 1939.
Miss Lily Brayton
Elizabeth 'Lily' Brayton (23rd. June 1876 - 30th. April 1953) was an English actress and singer, known for her performances in Shakespeare plays, and for her nearly 2,000 performances in the First World War hit musical 'Chu Chin Chow'.
Lily Brayton - The Early Years
Brayton was born in Hindley, Lancashire, the fourth daughter of a Lancashire doctor.
Her first stage performance was in Manchester in 1896, when she was in the cast of a production of Shakespeare's 'King Richard II'. She joined the F. R. Benson company, and in June 1898 she married Oscar Asche, a fellow member of it. Her sister Agnes Brayton (1878–1957) was another member of the same company.
In 1900 Brayton was chosen by Herbert Beerbohm Tree to create the part of Mariamne in his production of 'Herod'. In 1904 she and Oscar Asche formed their own theatrical company.
In 1906 she played Iseult in Joseph Comyns Carr's play 'Tristram and Iseult' at the Adelphi Theatre, with Asche as King Mark. Her sister Agnes also had a part in this production.
In 1907 Lily, as Katherine, and Agnes, as Bianca, appeared in the Oxford University Dramatic Society's production of 'The Taming of the Shrew'.
Also in 1907, Brayton became co-manager, with her husband, of His Majesty's Theatre, London, which was owned by Tree, in association with whom they managed a number of Shakespeare and other plays, including Laurence Binyon's 'Attila'.
In 1909–1910, while Brayton and Asche were touring Australia, the Australian musician Wayne Jones composed a piece entitled 'The Lily Brayton Valse'. (Valse = Waltz)
In 1911 at the Garrick Theatre, Brayton starred with Asche in the play 'Kismet'. They toured Australia again in 1912–13, and also visited South Africa at the end of the tour in 1913. In 1914, she appeared as Marsinah in the silent film adaptation of 'Kismet'.
Lily Brayton - The Later Years
The Asche hit musical comedy 'Chu Chin Chow' was staged in London in 1916. Brayton played the female lead character, Zahrat-al-Kulub. 'Chu Chin Chow' played until 1921, enjoying an unprecedented run of 2,238 performances, of which Brayton performed in nearly 2000, an endurance feat.
The majority of Brayton's performances, excepting 'Chu Chin Chow', were in Shakespeare plays. She also performed for several seasons at the Stratford Festival. Her last stage appearance was as Portia in 'Julius Caesar' in 1932, directed by Asche.
Asche became unstable and violent in his later years, and he and Brayton separated for a time, although she produced his 1928 play, 'The Good Old Days of England'.
After Asche's death in 1936, Brayton married Dr. Douglas Chalmers Watson and moved to Drem in East Lothian.
The Death of Lily Brayton
Following the death of her second husband, Lily moved to Dawlish in Devon where she died at the age of 76.
Lily was cremated, and her ashes buried in the grave of her first husband in the riverside cemetery near her former home in Bisham, Berkshire. Lily had no children.
Images of Lily Brayton
There are three paintings of Brayton in the National Portrait Gallery, and many photographs exist showing her in costume.
Notable Performances of Lily Brayton
Notable performances include:
- Herod, as Mariamne (1900)
- Richard II, as Queen Isabella (1900, 1903, 1910)
- Twelfth Night, as Viola (1901)
- The Prayer of the Sword, as Ilaria Visconti (1904)
- Darling of the Gods, as Yo-San (1904)
- Taming of the Shrew, as Katherine (1904, 1907, 1908, 1914)
- Hamlet, as Ophelia (1905)
- Measure for Measure, as Isabella (1906)
- The Virgin Goddess, as Althea (1906)
- Tristram & Iseult, as Iseult (1906)
- A Midsummer Night's Dream, as Helena (1906)
- Othello, as Desdemona (1907, 1909)
- Attila, as Ildico (1907)
- The Two Pins, as Elsa (1908)
- Merry Wives of Windsor, as Mistress Ford (1911)
- As You Like It, as Rosalind (1911)
- Kismet, as Marsinah (1914)
- Chu Chin Chow, as Zahrat-al-Kulub (1916–1921)
- Julius Caesar, as Portia (1932)
A Massive Train Crash in Washington, D.C.
So what else happened on the day that the card was written?
Not a lot, but on the day before, the 30th. December 1906, a major train collision occurred on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at Terra Cotta station in Washington, D.C.
On Sunday the 30th. December 1906, a locomotive pulling six empty cars crashed into the back of a passenger train in dense fog, killing 53 people and injuring more than 70.
The local train, consisting of three wooden cars, was travelling from Frederick, Maryland, and was fifteen minutes late. It was just pulling out of Terra Cotta station when it was struck from behind by a 'Special Equipment Train', travelling at full speed, about 65 mph.
The heavy locomotive, which sustained very little damage, ploughed through the rear two cars, reportedly sending bodies and debris flying for a quarter of a mile on both sides of the track. (440 yards??? Slight exaggeration there I think).
The accident is described in the book 'Undergraduate Days 1904-1908' by Frank Kuntz, recounted by a fellow student at the nearby Catholic University of America:
"Then came a terrible noise which he
described as a combination of an
explosion, escaping steam, breaking
wood, groaning brakes and human
screams.
It was so loud it could be heard on
the campus and all over Brookland".
According to The New York Times:
"One of the cars of the wrecked train
was split in two, and left in halves on
either side of the track.
The butchery of the passengers was
one of the most frightful things in the
history of railroading. They were cut
into pieces, and portions of their bodies
scattered all along the track".
Despite its nearness to the capital, Terra Cotta station was an isolated place, serving only a few houses of employees of the nearby Potomac Terra Cotta Company. The first help came from Brookland about a mile away, and it took nearly an hour for a relief train to arrive from Washington to begin taking away the dead and injured.
Reasons for the Crash
The railway operated by the 'Absolute Block System', which should have prevented any other train from entering a 'block' of track when it is occupied. The empty train should have been stopped at Takoma Park until the passenger train had moved out of the block at University.
The operator at Takoma Park stated that his signal lights were burning red ('danger') when the empty train passed, corroborated by three other people. The engineer claimed he slowed down and looked for the signal, but could not see it.
In such a situation he should have stopped, and yet he continued running at great speed. The operator immediately telegraphed the operator at University station:
"No. 2120 has gone by my
red light, going like hell".
One misunderstanding that contributed in large part to the disaster was that Takoma Park station was closed between 6:30 p.m. and 6:30 a.m. each day, when no signals would have been displayed; in these circumstances the previous block (controlled by signals at Silver Spring) extended beyond Terra Cotta.
No. 2120 had received a 'clear' signal from Silver Spring, so the engineer believed he was cleared through to University. Further inquiries revealed that the engineer had been on almost continuous duty for 33 hours, and had not had a full night's sleep for 57 hours.
Four men were charged with manslaughter - the engineer, conductor, brakeman and fireman - but all were found not guilty due to lack of evidence. Nonetheless, the Interstate Commerce Commission blamed them, claiming all were negligent.
The Commission did reserve some criticism for management, however, having received:
"... Evidence indicating that the railroads
have overworked and poorly paid men
manning these safety devices and that,
in the effort to rush traffic, men on trains
are encouraged to be careless about
heeding danger signals".
The crash led to the ICC banning wooden-body passenger car construction.
Stood on display at Swanwick Junction is preserved LMS Princess Royal Class 4-6-2 46203 "Princess Margaret Rose", one of only two of these locomotives to be preserved, and both of which were sat in the same shed.
The Princess Royal class were a set of 13 4-6-2 Pacific locomotives designed by William Stanier and built at Crewe Works between 1933 and 1935 to be the prime motive power on the West Coast Mainline between London Euston, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow, including the famous Royal Scot premier express service. At first, two prototypical locomotives were built in 1933, followed by 11 production locomotives in 1935. These were later complimented by a fleet of 38 Coronation Pacific locomotives built between 1937 and 1948, which later went on to be arguably the most power steam locomotives ever built for the British Railway network.
One of the original prototypes however was retained for use as a testbed for a new Turbine Locomotive project to help improve the efficiency of the engines, later being unofficially dubbed 'Turbomotive'. The engine was fitted with turbines instead of cylinders, with the forward turbine containing 18 rows of blading, resulting in an output of 2,400hp, corresponding to running at 62 mph (100 km/h). The turbine was designed to operate into a maximum back-pressure of 2 psi, allowing a conventional double blast-pipe to provide the boiler draught, and eliminating draught fans, which always seemed to give a disproportionate amount of trouble.
The reverse turbine had 4 rows of blades. It was engaged by a dog clutch, activated when the reverser lever being set to "0". This was originally steam-operated by a small piston and cylinder. This locomotive was later rebuilt as a conventional classmate in 1952, using new mainframes and a spare set of cylinders from one of the Coronation Pacifics, and was numbered 46202, later to be named 'Princess Anne'.
6201, LMS lot number 99, was built at Crewe for the sum of £11,675 (£685,000 today) and named Princess Elizabeth, after the then Duke of York’s eldest daughter, currently our Queen Elizabeth II, leaving the works on 3rd November 1933.
Throughout the years the Princess Royal's continued to ply their trade on the West Coast services, but the years of World War II took their toll on the fleet. The beautiful Crimson Lake was replaced by Wartime Black, and the prestige manner that these locomotives had been accustomed to was stripped away as the railways were rationalised as part of the war effort. Work hours increased, and maintenance turns reduced, meaning these engines were being forced to the very limit of their design to keep Britain moving.
With the end of the war in 1945 the workload began to decrease, but the railways had paid the price. The beauty and lavish luxury of the pre-war companies had been stripped and would never return, with all of Britain's main railway companies now almost bankrupt and working a fleet of very tired engines on a poorly maintained railway network. In 1948 the Labour Government nationalised these companies to create British Railways, hoping to modernise the network and rebuild the overworked system.
The Princess Royals and their more powerful sisters the Coronation Pacifics continued to work hard as the implementation of diesels gathered pace. Early diesels however were underpowered and suffered heavily from reliability issues, meaning on many occasions the steam locomotives that they intended to replace actually came to their rescue!
It was not all plain sailing though for the Princess Royals in the 1950's, as this decade was littered with many fatal accidents. On 21 September 1951, locomotive No.46207 Princess Arthur of Connaught was hauling an express passenger train that was derailed at Weedon, Northamptonshire due to a defective front bogie on the locomotive, resulting in the deaths of 15 people and the injury of 35.
This was followed a year later by what would turn out to be the worst rail accident in the whole of British history. On 8 October 1952, an express passenger train hauled by Coronation Class, 46242 'City of Glasgow' overran signals on a train from Perth to London Euston, striking the rear of a stopped Tring to Euston commuter train at Harrow and Wealdstone station in North London. The ensuing wreckage was then struck by a northbound Liverpool express, hauled by Jubilee Class 45637 'Windward Islands', and recently rebuilt ex-Turbomotive Princess Royal 46202 'Princess Anne', which had only entered service two months earlier. In the chaos that followed, a total of 112 people were killed and 340 were injured, with 46202 obliterated in the accident, the first and only member of the class to be lost in an accident.
The late 50's however began to see the end of these engines as good, reliable diesels began to be introduced to replace them, followed closely by electric traction on the West Coast Mainline out of Euston. In 1961 the first members of the class were withdrawn from service, including 6201, which was placed in store in March 1961, but returned to service in May of that year due to poor diesel reliability.
As more diesels were delivered, in October of the same year 6201 was again placed into storage at Carlisle Kingmoor. However, again in January 1962 6201 was returned to traffic to cover for diesel failures and continued to work until September 1962 where it was once again placed into storage. It was subsequently withdrawn by BR in October 1962 and purchased by Roger Bell. The last of the locomotives to be withdrawn was class premier and original prototype number 62000 'The Princess Royal', which was withdrawn in November 1962 and subsequently scrapped. In all, only two locomotives were preserved, number 6203 'Princess Margaret Rose' and 6201 'Princess Elizabeth'.
A woman is carried up a flight a stairs at a clinic in Phnom Penh. Many hospitals are nothing more than repurposed buildings where a few overworked nurses and doctors tend to the sick as best they can. In this 5-floor clinic there is no elevator. All patients too weak to walk must be carried up the central stairway.
With the release in 1927 of Metropolis, director Fritz Lang set the standard for all epic science fiction films. Set in the future, it portrayed a super civilization of towering skyscrapers run by an elite group led by Joh Fredersen (Alfred Abel), the so-called "Master of Metropolis." But it is his son Freder (Gustav Froehlich) who discovers the underbelly of this super-city, and the overworked laborers who keep it running, when he meets Maria (Brigette Helm), who has become the spokesperson for these unfortunate people. To combat this influence, the elder Fredersen contracts the deranged scientist/inventor Rotwang (Rudolf Klein-Rogge) to construct a robot to imitate Maria and lead the workers astray. The scenes of the robot's creation and the robot itself would not be matched in film for another fifty years. Following its premiere in Germany in 1927, Metropolis was released in a truncated version in America, which essentially cut the heart out of the film. Audiences did not understand it and it was not popular here. The posters from this film are the rarest of rare and it is especially true of U.S. material. No one sheets or three sheets have ever surfaced, and offered here is an extremely attractive insert poster for this ground-breaking film. Prior to restoration, this rolled poster had missing paper along the bottom right border, some of which went into the image. There was a also a small strip of missing paper along the right side of the top border. These defects had a very minimal effect on the poster's image, with the color remaining vibrant and strong. The expert restoration has in fact rendered these issues nearly invisible. Sold at Auction for $47,800 on 3/19/2010