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the last bits of the sunset reflected on the sand -- I wonder if the sandpipers notice stuff like that?
Note the older woman, perhaps Grandma, seated in the background. The back of the photo has an inscription reading, "1 yr old today, Jan 28, 1905, St. Augustine, FL." Found in WI.
Perhaps it wasn't 12:00 o'clock noon precisely, but I simply liked the way the sunlight was causing the shadows to cast vertically.
The Einherjar are a group of dead warriors who await Ragnarok in Valhalla in Norse Mythology.
The Einherjar uses the custom 8.3mm Skjeldmo round fed from a 30 round stacked box magazine. It is available for private purchase for security companies and PMC's, extras include a Holographic sight and a barrel suppressor.
Credit to Badenian and Cruenta for the Workspace and custom rounds.
Pastie available on request.
Still open for suggestions.
Japan is perhaps the safest place on earth, with the lowest death rate of any country on the planet when standardized for age of population. The above bar chart shows the low levels of accidental death in Japan. Pink bars are show sub-category composition data of the red bars above them.
There are however two areas in which Japan is less safe than international averages (shown in darker pink) one of which is especially pertinent at this time of year.
There are higher rates of chocking on foods, and higher rates of drowning in baths in Japan that in other countries. The elevated age of the Japanese population is one reason for these increased accident levels. Old people are more likely to choke on their food and to slip or otherwise fall below the waterline of their baths and be unable to get out.
Another reasons pertains to Japanese culture in each of these areas. Japanese baths have deeper traditionally cubic tubs which allow shared bathing (particularly mothers and children) and foetal positions for that pre-sleep return to the womb feeling.
In respect of choking, the Japanese enjoy a number of high-density, gelatinous foods such as konyaku, octopus and, the biggest killer, rice cakes (mochi) which are consumed especially at the beginning and end of the year. These high density foods enable the Japanese to enjoy a food rush without consuming the sort of quantity and weight consumed elsewhere of Christmas cake for instance. The fatalities to asphyxia as a result of rice cake eating are likely therefore to be far less than the fatalities due to obesity due to Christmas cake eating. Even so one should take care when eating rice cakes and perhaps gem up on ways to treat chocking in oneself and others (see below).
The above chart is based on my translation of Japanese government statistics available from Statistics Japan Table 5-31.
Other statistics of note to a Briton like myself, are that traffic accidents are so rare due to the great care that Japanese take on the roads one is almost as likely to choke on your food or drown in your bath as die on Japanese roads. Another fact that may take some visitors by surprise -- take care, drink water -- as many die from the heat of the Japanese summer (hyperthermia) as die from the cold (hypothermia).
Animals cause 17 deaths per year due to brute force (including wild boar) whereas another 30 lives are claimed by dangerous animals (my mistranslation) including giant "sparrow hornets," the creatures that causes the most accidental death in Japan. From the sparrow hornets' point of view the death they cause is far from accidental. They are territorial and attack those that approach their nests and sources of food.
Treatments for Choking in Oneself and Others
Here is a video showing how to do the Heimlich manoeuvre (abdominal thrusts) on yourself, should you wish to dislodge a mochi stuck in your throat when you are on your own. Back slaps are recommended as the first thing to do to others, alternating with abdominal thrusts and chest thrusts once the patient is unconscious. If both don't work the brave of heart may wish to perform an airway incision centrally into the cartilage one inch below the voice box. A doctor performed this successful with a steak knife and barrel of a ball point pen (Daily Mail article with instructions)
St Mary, Stoke by Nayland, Suffolk
Perhaps only St Peter and St Paul at Lavenham has a grander exterior than this mighty ship. But Lavenham's setting is thoroughly domesticated. Here, in the wild hills above the Dedham Vale, St Mary lifts its great red tower to heaven, and nothing can compare with it.
John Constable loved this tower, and it appears several times in his paintings, not always in the right place. Simon Jenkins, in England's 1000 Best Churches, says that when the bells of Stoke-by-Nayland ring, all Suffolk stops to listen. All Essex too, perhaps, since this church is right on the border between the two counties.
St Mary is pretty much all of a piece, late in the 15th century, although there are some older bits, and a great deal of rather undistinguished 19th century work. But the glory of the church is the red brick and dressed stone tower, completed about 1470 and surmounted by stone spires, reminiscent of Bungay St Mary, away on Suffolk's northern borderland. There are fine views of this from many places, and from many miles away. Close to, it is immense. Stoke by Nayland is, after all, a small village rather than a town, and the setting of cottages only enhances the sense that this tower is enormous. The buttresses are laced with canopied image niches - how amazing it must have looked before the 16th century reformers removed all the statues! Tendring and Howard shields flag up the dead people we'll meet inside.
On the north side there is a dinky little Tudor porch (although it would be rather more imposing against a smaller church), but the south porch, which is the main entrance, is rather more of a curiosity. It was entirely refaced by the Victorians, and at first sight you might even think it 19th century, but the windows and bosses in the vaulting reveal to be one of the earliest parts of the church, an early 14th century addition to the building that was then replaced in the late 15th century. There are two storeys, and the parish library is still kept in the upper one. The bosses include an Annunciation scene and a grinning devil.
But a serious distraction from the vaulting is straight ahead. St Mary has the best set of medieval doors in Suffolk. The figures are remarkable. They stand proud of Gothic turrets and arches. They seem to represent a Tree of Jesse, effectively Christ's family tree, with Mary at the top and ancestors back into Old Testament times beneath. I think the figures in the border are disciples and apostles - in which case I could identify St Paul with his sword (although it might be St Bartholomew with his flencing knife) and St John the Evangelist. Medieval doors haven't survived at all widely in East Anglia, and it is exciting to see them at such close quarters.
A wicket door lets you into a space that widens and rises up around you, as if you were stepping into a larger space than you had left outside. To the west, the tower arch is a soaring void lifting to roof level. This is quality work, on a cathedral scale. This vastness swallows all sound. The font stands in tiny isolation, although it is actually on a massive Maltese cross pedestal and would dwarf furnishings in many smaller churches. It is a curious font, to say the least. Four of the panels show conventional evangelistic symbols, but three of the other four are unfamiliar. One is an angel, but the others are a woman in a cowl carrying a scroll beside a tree, a man with a sack pointing to a book open on a shelf, and a man with a scroll at a lectern.
Looking up, several 15th century corbels survived the Victorian restoration. One on the north side shows a ram caught in a thicket from the Abraham and Isaac story, and opposite it is a pelican in her piety. The splendid glass in the west window is by the O'Connors, and it may detain you for a moment, but eventually you must turn eastwards into the full drama of the long arcades stretching away like an avenue in a forest. Of course, from here you can see that St Mary is all pretty much all fully restored, but it is done well, it is well-kept and well-used. Still, you can't help thinking that the minister has a better view than the congregation. The north aisle chapel, now set out for weekday services and private prayer, was an early 14th century chantry chapel for the Peyton family, predating the rest of the church. A little ikon sits above the simple altar.
You step into a chancel which is full of colour in contrast with the high white light of the nave. Most of the glass is by JB Capronnier of Brussels, not something you'd wish on every church but it adds some particular character here. This end of the church is home to two large memorials, one in the south chancel chapel and the other in the north chancel chapel. The one to the south is to Lady Anne Windsor, originally one of the Waldegraves who we have met at Bures, who died in 1615. Her alabaster effigy lies between her two daughters who kneel at her head and her son at her feet. Across the chancel lies Sir Francis Mannock, 1634. His memorial is believed to be by Nicholas Stone. The Mannocks were a recusant family of Giffords Hall, who were responsible for the survival of the old faith throughout the penal years at Withermarsh Green, where a small and remote Catholic church still survives.
Curiously, Sir Francis's wife Dorothea does not lie with him, but under a brass set in the floor not far away. It is offset by an architectural niche. Mortlock thought Stone may have been responsible for this as well, and it certainly suggests that the Renaissance did not entirely bypass protestant England. There are several other brasses, including a substantial one near the priest door to Sir William Tendring, one of the donors of the 15th century rebuilding, a jolly little lion at his feet. A chrysom child is incised on a nearby ledger stone. Tendring's grim-faced wife Katherine lies nearby, and Mortlock points out how remarkable it is to see a figure of this period wearing rings.
And so, of course, the full drama of St Mary is best appreciated from a distance. But there is so much here of interest, apparently understated survivals which no doubt would shout in our faces in a smaller church. It is almost a surprise to step outside and find ourselves not in the heart of a great town after all, but in the quiet rolling hills above the Dedham Vale, and, if you are lucky as I was on one occasion, the sound of a village football match immediately to the north of the graveyard as if I had been transported into a poem by A E Houseman.
perhaps a place to sit at the end of the day
a glass of wine
a smoke perhaps
a view of the beautiful blue tiles
cladding your neighbours home
Execution on the Old Town Square 21. 6. 1621
23-06-2001 | Olaf Barth, Katrin Bock
Olaf Barth and Katrin Bock now take a look at the events that took place on the Old Town Square 380 years ago.
Execution on the Old Town Square 21. 6. 1621
If you have ever been to Prague, you may have noticed the 27 crosses which have been embedded into the pavement at the foot of the Old Town Town Hall. Perhaps you have wondered about their origin. Well, in the following minutes you will learn more about the context of these crosses. First of all, listen to the Czech writer Alois Jirasek portraying the events at the end of the 19th century in one of his stories:
"In the night of 20 to 21 June 1621, fear and grief prevailed everywhere in Prague, and the roads had become like deserted, for on Prague restrictions had been imposed. Only the clash of the weapons and the heavy steps of foreign soldiers broke through the oppressive silence. On the Old Town Square there was a lot of activity, and boards and beams were unloaded from wagons and carried to the middle of the place, where a scaffold grew by the flickering light of numerous torches. By daybreak a gallows covered with red cloth was towering. At sunrise fulminated a cannon cracker showing that the execution had to begin. On the scaffold dark hooded people were visible, the assistents of the executioner and the gravedigger. Finally, the executioner, Jan Mydláø, also appeared. Immediately the imperial judges took their seats, and the names of the twenty-seven death-condemned noblemen were exclaimed. While foreign soldiers were drumming in the streets of Prague, in the houses people of Prague prayed for their faithful, the 27 men who were either beheaded or hanged at the same time. It is reported that once a year, always in the night from the 20th to the 21st of June, the noblemen and citizens appear on the Old Town Square. Silently they walk over the square to the church, where, kneeling before the altar, they receive the Last Supper in both forms. And as silently as they have come they disappear again."
The Hradschin 1618, in the year of the window-lintel (contemporary engraving)
So far the Czech writer Alois Jirasek about the events of that night 380 years ago, when the leaders of the insurrection of the Estates against the Catholic Habsburgs were judged. 27 nobles, gentlemen and citizens, Czechs and Germans, Protestants and a Catholic then left their lives. They were punished for having joined an uprising against the legal Habsburg emperor which had a religious background, for the Emperor had previously tried to restrict the freedom of religion which had been in force in the Bohemian lands since the middle of the fifteenth century. The revolt had begun on May 23, 1618, with the famous Prague defenestration, and ended with the battle Battle of White Mountain in November 1620, for the Czechs still today a national trauma. In that battle before the gates of Prague the army of the Catholic Habsburgs the Protestant Estates had utterly vanquished. What followed was a relentless persecution of all insurgents, regardless of their social position or nationality. Emperor Ferdinand II used his military victory to strengthen his position in the rebellious Bohemian lands, to suppress the Protestant faith and to break the power of the Estates once and for all.
Procession on the White Mountains (Josef Berka and A. Gustav, around 1800)
All persons who had somehow participated in the uprising of the Estates were punished. The worst punishment experienced three lords, seven knights and 17 citizens, who were executed in the early morning hours of June 21, 1621 on the Old Town Square. The execution took place conforming to the etiquette: first came the lords, then the knights, and finally the citizens. It is said the bloodthirsty torture to have lasted for four hours, while the executioner Jan Mydlar in the proces was to have beaten blunt four swords.
Joachim Andreas Graf Schlick was the first to be beheaded, whose family had grown rich thanks to the silver mines in the west Bohemian Jáchymov valley. Count Schlick had worked for many years at the Saxon court as an educator of the future ruler Johann Georg. During the Bohemian uprising of the Estates, Schlick had been quite active. Among other things, he was one of the participants of the famous 1618 defenestration. Next came Vaclav Budova from Budovec. Since the beginning of the 17th century, he had been strongly committed to the observance of the freedom of belief in the Bohemian lands and had been one of the spokesmen of the insurgents. As the third nobleman, Krystof Harant of Polzice and Bezdruzice lost his head. He had been court musician and companion of Rudolf at the court of Emperor Rudolf II. He was not very interested in politics, but he had been one of the military leaders of the insurgents, which now cost him his head. All three of them, without any doubt, belonged to the intellectual elite of the country, all three of them had been to many places, were well-educated, spoke several languages, and were Protestants.
Among the 7 knights was also the Catholic Divis Cernin of Chudenice. This one had made the fatal mistake of opening the gates of the castle to the representatives of the Estates on the 23rd of May, 1618, who then threw the three representatives of the Habsburg power out of a window in protest against the restriction of the rights of the Protestants.
Jan Jesensky
Jan Jessenius, the rector of the Charles University of Prague, was one of those who got the severest judgement. He was not only beheaded, his tongue had been cut off before, additionally he was also quartered after the execution. Emperor Ferdinand had expressed himself personally for this harsh judgment. The internationally respected scholar, who had carried out the first public autopsy in Prague in 1600, had aroused the wrath of the ruler as he had himself pronounced against the election of Ferdinand for the King of Bohemia as well as published a series of harsh writings against the Habsburgs.
The heads of twelve executed were hanged in iron baskets for deterrence and warning at the Old Town Bridge Tower. From there they were removed only 10 years later, when the Saxons 1631 occupied Prague for a short time.
Ferdinand II.
Emperor Ferdinand II took advantage of the victory over the rebellious Protestant estates, which had dethroned him, the legitimate heir, and elected another one, the "Winter King", Frederick of the Palatinate. 166 nobles Ferdinand had completely dispossessed, another 500 lost a large part of their estates. On the other hand, his faithful were rewarded. Those were given great lands in the Bohemian lands. In addition, monasteries were returned lands that they had lost during the Hussite wars in the 15th century.
The greatest winners were probably Albrecht von Waldstein, Karl von Liechtenstein, and Johann Ulrich von Eggenberg, who were now able to call great domains their own. But also other noble families then settled in the Bohemian lands, like the Trauttmansdorff, Thun, Metternich and Clary families.
Even ordinary citizens and peasants were affected: those who did not convert to the Catholic faith had to leave the country. In 1624 the Catholic faith became the only one recognized in the Bohemian lands - more and more subjects saw themselves forced to emigrate. Some 150,000 people are said to have left the Bohemian lands for religious reasons in the years after the defeat of the Protestant Estates. The probably most famous emigrant of that time is Jan Amos Komensky - Comenius. The pedagogue and bishop of the Unity of the Brotherhood settled down after a few journeys in Holland, where he died in 1670 at the age of 78.
Even in the eyes of most of today's Czechs, the "time of darkness" began with the defeat of the Protestant estates in the Battle of Weissenberg. As such, the almost 300 years of the unrestricted rule of the Habsburgs over the Bohemian countries were designated, which ended only with the independence of Czechoslovakia in 1918. The formerly proud kingdom of Bohemia had been degrated to a Habsburg province according to the new regional order of 1627, and had lost most of its rights, including the freedom of faith for which its inhabitants had fought since the death for heresy of Jan Hus in 1415. Today, not only the 27 crosses embedded on the Old Town Square, but also all the magnificent Baroque buildings in the country, are reminiscent of this historic epoch. With these the Catholic Habsburgs showed their Bohemian and Moravian subjects who is the boss in the country.
And so we are already at the end of our trip into the 17th century.
Hinrichtung auf dem Altstädter Ring 21. 6. 1621
23-06-2001 | Olaf Barth, Katrin Bock
Olaf Barth und Katrin Bock werfen heute einen Blick auf die Geschehnisse, die sich vor 380 Jahren auf dem Altstädter Ring ereigneten.
Hinrichtung auf dem Altstädter Ring 21. 6. 1621
Wer von Ihnen schon mal in Prag war, dem sind sie vielleicht aufgefallen, die 27 in das Pflaster eingelassenen Kreuze zu Füssen des Altstädter Rathausturmes. Vielleicht haben Sie sich über deren Ursprung gewundert. Nun in den folgenden Minuten erfahren Sie mehr über die Bewandtnis dieser Kreuze. Hören Sie zunächst einmal, wie der tschechische Schriftsteller Alois Jirasek die entsprechenden Ereignisse Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts in einer seiner Geschichten schilderte:
"In der Nacht vom 20. auf den 21. Juni 1621 herrschte überall in Prag Angst und Trauer. Die Strassen waren wie ausgestorben, denn über Prag war Ausgangsverbot verhängt worden. Nur das Klirren der Waffen und schwere Schritte fremder Soldaten durchbrachen die bedrückende Stille. Auf dem Altstädter Ring herrschte reger Betrieb. Bretter und Balken wurden von Wagen abgeladen und zur Platzmitte getragen, wo beim flackernden Licht zahlreicher Fackeln ein Gerüst wuchs. Als es zu dämmern begann, ragte da ein mit rotem Stoff überzogener Galgen empor. Beim Sonnenaufgang donnerte von der Prager Burg ein Kanonenschlag. Ein Zeichen dafür, dass die Exekution beginne. Auf dem Galgengerüst waren dunkle vermummte Gestalten zu sehen - die Henkershelfer und der Totengräber. Schliesslich erschien auch der Henker Jan Mydláø. Alsbald nahmen die kaiserlichen Richter ihre Sitze ein, und die Namen der 27 zum Tode verurteilten Standesherren wurden ausgerufen. Während in den Strassen Prags fremde Soldaten trommelten, beteten in den Häusern die Prager für ihre Getreuen, die 27 Herren, die zur selben Zeit geköpft oder gehängt wurden. Es wird berichtet, dass die hingerichteten Adeligen und Bürger einmal im Jahr, immer in der Nacht vom 20. auf den 21. Juni, auf dem Altstädter Ring erscheinen. Schweigend gehen sie über den Platz zur Kirche, wo sie, vor dem Altar knieend, das Abendmahl in beiderlei Gestalt empfangen. Und so lautlos wie sie gekommen verschwinden sie wieder."
Der Hradschin 1618, im Jahre des Fenstersturzes (Zeitgenössiger Stich)
Soweit der tschechische Schriftsteller Alois Jirasek über die Ereignisse jener Nacht vor 380 Jahren, als die Anführer des Ständeaufstandes gegen die katholischen Habsburger gerichtet wurden. 27 Adelige, Herren und Bürger, Tschechen und Deutsche, Protestanten und ein Katholik liessen damals ihr Leben. Bestraft wurden sie dafür, dass sie sich einem Aufstand gegen den rechtmässigen Habsburger Kaiser angeschlossen hatten, der einen religiösen Hintergrund hatte, denn der Kaiser hatte zuvor versucht, die seit Mitte des 15. Jahrhunderts in den Böhmischen Ländern geltende Religionsfreiheit einzuschränken. Der Aufstand hatte am 23. Mai 1618 mit dem berühmten Prager Fenstersturz begonnen und mit der für Tschechen noch heute ein nationales Trauma darstellenden Schlacht am Weissen Berg im November 1620 geendet. In jener Schlacht vor den Toren Prags hatte das Heer der katholischen Habsburger die protestantischen Stände vernichtend geschlagen. Was folgte war eine unbarmherzige Verfolgung aller Aufständischen, ungeachtet ihrer gesellschaftlichen Stellung oder Nationalität. Kaiser Ferdinand II. nutzte seinen militärischen Sieg, um seine Stellung in den aufständischen Böhmischen Ländern zu stärken, den protestantischen Glauben zurückzudrängen und die Macht der Stände ein für alle mal zu brechen.
Prozession am Weißen Berge (Josef Berka und A. Gustav, um 1800)
Alle Personen, die irgendwie an dem Ständeaufstand beteiligt gewesen waren, wurden bestraft. Am schlimmsten traf es dabei drei Herren, sieben Ritter und 17 Bürger, die in den frühen Morgenstunden des 21. Junis 1621 auf dem Altstädter Ring hingerichtet wurden. Bei der Hinrichtung wurde die Etike gewahrt: zuerst waren die Herren dran, dann die Ritter und schliesslich die Bürger. Vier Stunden lang soll die blutige Tortur gedauert haben, vier Schwerter soll der Henker Jan Mydlar dabei stumpf geschlagen haben.
Als erster wurde Joachim Andreas Graf Schlick geköpft, dessen Familie dank der Silberminen im westböhmischen Joachimsthal reich geworden war. Graf Schlick hatte jahrelang am sächsischen Hof als Erzieher des zukünftigen Herrschers Johann Georg gewirkt. Während des böhmischen Ständeaufstands war Schlick recht aktiv gewesen, unter anderem gehörte er zu den Teilnehmern des berühmten Fenstersturzes von 1618. Als nächstes kam Vaclav Budova von Budovec an die Reihe. Dieser hatte sich seit dem Beginn des 17. Jahrhunderts stark für die Einhaltung der Glaubensfreiheit in den Böhmischen Ländern eingesetzt und war einer der Wortführer der Aufständischen gewesen. Als dritter hochgestellter Adeliger verlor Krystof Harant von Polzice und Bezdruzice seinen Kopf. Dieser war am Hofe Kaiser Rudolfs II. Hofmusikant und Gesellschafter Rudolfs gewesen. Für Politik interessierte er sich nicht sehr, doch war er einer der Heerführer der Aufständischen gewesen, das kostete ihn nun seinen Kopf. Alle drei Herren gehörten ohne Zweifel zur geistigen Elite des Landes, alle drei waren weitgereist, hervorragend gebildet, sprachen mehrere Sprachen - und waren Protestanten.
Unter den 7 Rittern war auch der Katholik Divis Cernin von Chudenice. Dieser hatte den verhängnisvollen Fehler gemacht, am 23. Mai 1618 den Repräsentanten der Stände die Burgtore geöffnet zu haben, die dann die drei Vertreter der Habsburger Macht aus Protest gegen die Einschränkung der Rechte der Protestanten aus einem Fenster warfen.
Jan Jesensky
Eines der härtesten Urteile traf Jan Jessenius, den Rektor der Prager Karlsuniversität, der als 16. an die Reihe kam: er wurde nicht nur geköpft, zuvor wurde ihm die Zunge abgeschnitten, ausserdem wurde er nach der Hinrichtung noch geviertelt. Für dieses harte Urteil hatte sich Kaiser Ferdinand persönlich ausgesprochen. Der international angesehene Gelehrte, der 1600 in Prag die erste öffentliche Obduktion durchgeführt hatte, hatte den Zorn des Herrschers erregt, da er sich auf verschiedenen Landtagen gegen die Wahl Ferdinands zum böhmischen König ausgesprochen sowie eine Reihe von scharfen Schriften gegen die Habsburger veröffentlicht hatte.
Die Köpfe von zwölf Hingerichteten wurden in Eisenkörben zur Abschreckung und Warnung an den Altstädter Brückenturm gehängt. Von dort wurden sie erst 10 Jahre später entfernt, als die Sachsen 1631 Prag für kurze Zeit besetzten.
Ferdinand II.
Kaiser Ferdinand II. nutzte seinen Sieg über die aufständischen protestantischen Stände, die ihn, den rechtmässigen Erben, entthront hatten und einen anderen, den "Winterkönig" Friedrich von der Pfalz, gewählt hatten. 166 Adelige liess Ferdinand vollkommen enteignen, weitere 500 verloren einen Grossteil ihrer Güter. Belohnt wurden dagegen seine Getreuen. Diese erhielten grosse Ländereien in den Böhmischen Ländern. Ausserdem bekamen Klöster Ländereien zurück, die sie zur Zeit der Hussitenkriege im 15. Jahrhundert verloren hatten.
Die grössten Gewinner waren wohl Albrecht von Waldstein, Karl von Liechtenstein sowie Johann Ulrich von Eggenberg, die nun grosse Herrschaften ihr Eigen nennen konnten. Aber auch andere Adelsdfamilien setzten damals in den Böhmischen Ländern ihren Fuss, wie die Familien Trauttmansdorff, Thun, Metternich und Clary.
Auch einfache Bürger und Bauern waren betroffen: wer nicht zum katholischen Glauben übertrat, musste das Land verlassen. 1624 wurde der katholische Glaube der einzig anerkannte in den Böhmischen Ländern - immer mehr Untertanen sahen sich gezwungen, zu emigrieren. Rund 150.000 Menschen sollen in den Jahren nach der Niederlage der protestantischen Stände die Böhmischen Länder aus religiösen Gründen verlassen haben. Der wohl bekannteste Emigrant jener Zeit ist Jan Amos Komensky - Comenius. Der Pädagoge und Bischof der Brüderunität liess sich nach einigen Reisen in Holland nieder, wo er 1670 im Alter von 78 Jahren verstarb.
Auch in den Augen der meisten heutigen Tschechen begann damals mit der Niederlage der protestantischen Stände in der Schlacht am Weissen Berg die "Zeit der Finsternis". Als solche werden die knapp 300 Jahre der uneingeschränkten Herrschaft der Habsburger über die Böhmischen Länder bezeichnet, die erst mit der Unabhängigkeit der Tschechoslowakei 1918 endeten. Das einstmals stolze Königreich Böhmen war nach der neuen Landesordnung von 1627 zu einer Habsburger Provinz degradiert worden und hatte die meisten seiner Rechte verloren - auch das der Glaubensfreiheit, für das seine Bewohner seit dem Ketzertod des Jan Hus 1415 gekämpft hatten. Heute erinnern an diese Geschichtsepoche nicht nur die 27 in das Strassenpflaster eingelassenen Kreuze auf dem Altstädter Ring, sondern auch all die prächtigen Barockbauten im Lande. Mit diesen zeigten die katholischen Habsburger ihren böhmischen und mährischen Untertanen, wer der Herr im Lande ist.
Und damit sind wir bereits am Ende unseres Ausfluges in das 17. Jahrhundert.
www.radio.cz/de/rubrik/geschichte/hinrichtung-auf-dem-alt...
It used to be for hire until the boathouse had to close for essential, but unfunded, repairs. Now it sits out in all weathers living up to it's name more as every season goes by.
On the 30th August 2016 the container ship "Frej" (1994, 4,470DWT) passes Vlissingen as lone bather returns from a very quick early morning dip.
Perhaps I should be a monk too. If only they really have peace of mind and nothing could bother them.
In my profession, sometimes arguments are unavoidable. Some are academic debates which can be enjoyable. Some are pointless accusations which can be very frustrating. I am faced with the latter these few days. To say that it has not bothered me in the least is an understatement.
And I promise - no more pictures of monks from my Yunnan trip. :-)
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perhaps we will find the tea house*
love to you, dear friends!!
joy to you, dear travelers!!
(photo taken in the cuyahoga valley national park, at spring creek on the way to blue hen falls.)
Perhaps one of Cossette’s classical outfits inspired by the slow arrival of spring, the music of Vivaldi, and the memories of Venice. Of course seeing the fabric in store was the spark that ignited everything, followed by an irresistible urge to create something that matches the delicacy of the fabric, its subtle colors and lightness. The pigs offer a cute contrast, weave in a secondary story which this time you yourself can imagine dear visitor.
Perhaps my favorite hat is this Fedora I was given.
It brings about a feeling of a time passed. I always have liked images with hats, especially ones that are not a baseball cap.
Canon Rebel XS
Canon 135mm ƒ/2.8 FD Prime @ ƒ/8
SunPAK 622 Pro AUTO Flash
ISO 200
Toned in CS5 w/Exposure 4 - Ilford HP5+ & Selenium Warm Platinum Toner
When you drive into the Natural Park Uccellina, near Grosseto, Tuscany, you will find foxes at the sides of the road, getting so close to the cars. They'll look at you in your eyes, just as much as you'd look in theirs... And their expression is deeply sad
Gli occhi di una volpe triste
Guidando nel parco dell'Uccellina, sulla Maremma, si possono vedere molte volpi al lato della strada, avvicinandosi moltissimo alle macchine. Quelle volpi sosterranno il tuo sguardo più di quanto tu non possa immaginare. E la loro tristezza è pesante e profonda.
Hasta el dia de hoy, eh conocido a muchos chicos sabes.. pero ah muy pocos hombres.. , le he dicho te quiero a la misma persona que termine odiando.. y le he dicho te amo a la misma persona que estoy olvidando, y esque yo creo que no existe ese hombre para mi ,y pienso que aunque ahora mismo este el en algun lugar del mundo.. jamas lo encontrare, porque solo puedo verlo cuando cierro los ojos , tal vez no exista ese hombre con el que yo soñe ,no existe esa persona para compartir ,yo paso cada dia por el cielo con la excusa de buscarte y asi bajarte hasta aqui .. tal vez las cosas no funcionan como las pense ,nose si debo de cambiar.. porque sigo sin tener pista de ese hombre.. que quizas no existe ,miro hacia a mi alrededor y veo a millones de hombres que todos me dicen solo mentiras! ..no ven que para nada es lo que quiero.. y porsupuesto que prefiero soledad antes de estar con tipos malos ,puede ser que yo exija demaciado solo quiero la mitad de dolor de lo que he llorado .-
D17652. Does anyone recognise this attractive group of buildings?
They're in Miniland at Legoland, Windsor and the bridge in the right foreground has a Scot Rail liveried Class 156 running under it. Also, the grey building in the right background is Edinburgh Castle, so I am therefore wondering whether these buildings might also be in Edinburgh, or elsewhere in Scotland.
Saturday, 23rd September, 2017. Copyright © Ron Fisher.
Bantam Automobile- Manufactured by the American Austin Car Company, the Bantam automobile was a popular miniature roadster made from 1929 to 1934. After its demise in 1934, it was resurrected under the name of American Bantam. The 1938 Bantam Roadster is better known, perhaps, as Donald Duck's car. The American Bantam company had a prominent role in the development of the Jeep, but stopped producing cars in 1941. America was not ready for a compact car until Volkswagen became a hit in the 60's
What makes the American Bantam car most important to the Bantam DAC is the logo. Rather than use the rooster icon of American Austin, the American Bantam logo seemed to exude the right atmosphere for the Bantam DAC. As you can see, the Bantam DAC logo was modeled almost identically from the American Bantam logo of long ago.
For more infomatition go here, www.diyforums.org/BantamDAC/BantamDACbantam.php
Also, Thank you Bob Kramer at Rat Rod Studios for your inspiration. You can see Mr. Kramer's work here, www.flickr.com/photos/ratrodstudios/
▊靜待醃漬▊
Perhaps I am not ready to go
平面插畫 立體創作
關於醃漬:
就在那天道別的早晨過後，我在巷口那間老奶奶笑的很溫暖的雜貨店，買了一個容器，陶瓷製成，不大也不小足以把自己安放進去，手腳還能伸展的那種尺寸。接著安.安.靜.靜的等待發酵醃漬。
Before we move on,quietly I wait for the uncertainty to settle,in an enclosed space it cultures,until I am ready to go.
展期 2012 6/15-7/15
地點 尖蚪 寶藏巖藝術村 Taipei, Taiwan台北市汀州路三段230巷57號
畫畫捏東西的人:馬樂原 mAre
不知道從何開始,意識到自己是個容易想多想歪的情緒過敏兒,
很容易隨著腦子裡亂七八糟的路線,思緒就擅自搭上車,
到了一些陌生的地方 路過一些風景,只能靠著寫寫字、畫畫圖,
將這些零碎毫無秩序的片段收集起來,放在本子裡壓扁。
名字的涵義是在草原上快樂奔跑的馬
數字方面喜歡3號 不吵不鬧安靜的位子。
mare03@hotmail.com.tw
歡迎大家來玩 :D
Perhaps the rarest variant of the Baleno; and I'd say one of the less popular colours.
Looking very good here.
perhaps this isn't very good. but I honestly had nothing else to do this evening.
can you tell I've been listening to Dry The River all week.
Lots of barking by the big black dog, wild spinning, and a little Silky bark at the end.
This is pretty typical play for these two. Louie is a good sport about Jules runnning circles around him.
If anyone knows a good editing program please share. So sorry for the horrible color and low light.
Hmm, so another relatively large build just one week after a battleship. Must be a record for something......
Anyways, welcome to Okapanochie CS space OPS, which is a major CS operations and divisions center here on Earth. It was originally an American missile base in Missouri, but, of course, that was some time ago. It now is a major hub of for the logistics division for the CS fleet.
Yeah, so this has an interesting back story. I was designing a bomber aircraft, and the next thing I new, I happened to push together a few slope elements, and realized that it looked a bit like rock work. Yeah. I had always been inspired by LukeClarenceVan's Launch Facility, which is clearly was translated into this creation.
Laced Woodpecker (Picus vittatus)
The laced woodpecker (Picus vittatus) is a species of bird in the Picidae family.
It is found in Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and perhaps Bangladesh.
Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical mangrove forests, and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.
Species: Laced Woodpecker Picus vittatus *
* The generic name stems from a Latin word: picus = woodpecker. (In Roman mythology, Picus, a brave warrior, was turned into a woodpecker by Circe, whose love he rejected. Seen as the god of agriculture, with the power of prophecy, he was widely worshipped in ancient Italy and was represented as a woodpecker, an important bird in augury.) In Latin, the species name vittatus = striped or banded.
Other common names: Bamboo Green Woodpecker, Laced Green Woodpecker, Small Scaly-bellied Woodpecker, Small Scaly-bellied Green Woodpecker.
Taxonomy: Picus vittatus Vieillot 1818, Java.
Sub-species & Distribution: The species ranges from S China down to Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Sumatra, Java and Bali. It is not found in Borneo. It is sometimes seen as being conspecific with the Streak-breasted Woodpecker Picus viridanus. Some authors consider it to be monotypic, while others recognise three sub-forms. The nominate form is found in Singapore and peninsular Malaysia, while another race, connectens, usually considered invalid, is found on Langkawi Island only.
Size: 10 to 11" (25.5 to 28.0 cm). Sexes slightly differ.
Description: Forehead and crown red, often finely streaked with black, extending onto the nape. Lores pale buffy-brown. A black patch above the lores, extending as a thin superciliary stripe along the sides of crown, with a fine white line below it starting just above the eye. Broad black moustachial streak from the base of lower mandible to the sides of the neck. Above it, a fine white streak starting from the base of upper mandible. Lower face grey, ear coverts darker, sides of nape and upper back bright greenish-brown. Mantle bright olive, the feathers edged yellowish-green, brighter on rump and uppertail coverts. Primaries brownish-black, with regular white bands on outer webs, secondaries similar with outer webs edged with bright olive, the white bands less distinct. Wing coverts dark olive tinged with metallic bronze, edged with greenish-yellow. The pointed tail feathers, stiffened by a strong central shaft except for the shorter outer pair, are blackish-brown, with whitish bars at regular intervals. Chin, throat and breast dull brownish-olive. Belly, lower abdomen and vent dark brownish-buff, the feathers being pale centrally and broadly edged with olive on both sides, producing a heavily striped appearance.
Females are very similar but have the top of the head entirely black. In immature birds, the green of the upperparts is duller than in adults, the face more greyish-brown and extending to the sides of the nape. The underparts are paler, the stripes much less distinct. Nestlings of both sexes have black crowns, the young males often acquiring red on the crown while still being fed by the parents.
Soft parts: Iris wine-red, dark brown in young birds, eye-ring greenish-grey. Tarsus greenish-horn. Upper mandible black, sometimes marked with yellow and paler at tip, lower mandible yellow at base, darker at tip.
Similar species: This species very closely resembles the Streak-breasted Woodpecker Picus viridanus which is not found in Singapore but does occur in peninsular Malaysia.
Picus vittatus: Chin, throat and upper breast dull brownish-olive, with no streaks. Lower breast dark brownish-buff with fine lacy marks.
Picus viridanus: Throat greener, lightly streaked. Entire breast green, with bold scaly streaks.
Status, Habitat & Behaviour: A coastal species found in the casuarinas and mangrove belt from Perak down to Johore and Singapore, it is common on both sides of the Johore Straits but is rarely found inland (Robinson & Chasen 1939). While Burknill & Chasen (1927) considered it unlikely to be found in gardens or near town, the degree of forest clearance since then may have changed things somewhat.
Medway & Wells (1976) found it in mangrove and adjacent secondary growth to, at the most, 24 km inland in coconut plantations and village gardens. Wells (1999) found it common near the coast, less so inland, but noted its landward expansion, particularly since 1970's, into oil palm and rubber plantations, nearby wooded gardens and parkland up to 30 km from the sea, but strictly at plains level.
Since the early 1900's, there has been much debate, and confusion, over its taxonomy, as well as its status and relationships to very similar birds, such as the Streak-breasted Woodpecker Picus viridanus and the Streak-throated Woodpecker Picus xanthopygaeus, found in peninsular Malaya, Thailand and Myanmar. This debate still continues, and further taxonomic migration can be anticipated. As a result, very little of the early data, on its habits and behaviour, can safely be ascribed to this species.
Found singly, in pairs or in small family parties, it is not a shy bird. Most often, it is seen on tree trunks, its tail depressed and partly fanned out to support it against the bark, climbing upwards, often going round and round the trunk in short jerky movements, sometimes hopping backwards for a pace or two. Every now and again, it stops and, with its head cocked to one side, peers very intently at the tree bark, possibly to listen for activity beneath the bark, occasionally tapping tentatively at the bark with its bill. Whenever it suspects the presence of its prey, it starts pecking furiously away, vigorously enough to send wood chips flying all around it, then inserts its tongue into the cavity to extract food.
The bird frequently finds its food on the fallen trunks of trees, in tall grass, and can regularly be seen feeding on the ground, the tail pressed against the ground, the body held upright. The underparts of several museum specimens were sullied with mud, suggesting that the birds had fed on the ground or on the roots of mangrove (Burknill & Chasen 1927). In Perak, they were seen searching for food among the fallen leaves in a rubber estate (Edgar 1933). A pair was seen feeding on the ground in Singapore too (Kwong 2011).
Occasionally, it can be seen perched on tree trunks or stumps, sunning itself with one or both wings partly outstretched. When disturbed, it flies a short distance to land on the lower branches of a nearby tree. Its flight is strong and undulating.
Food: Like all woodpeckers, it feeds mainly on termites, ants and other small insects, including the larvae and eggs of wood-boring insects, hidden in decaying wood or within the hollow stems of various plants. It finds its prey by chiselling into the rotting wood. Then, using its long and greatly extensible tongue, the barbed tip covered with glutinous saliva, it probes deep into the cavity to extract the prey. In Singapore, a bird was seen on the ground, apparently eating worms (Jane 2010).
There is very little by way of detailed information specific to its diet but it has been known to eat fruit and berries. A congeneric species, the Streak-throated Woodpecker Picus xanthopygaeus, takes the nectar of flowers from the Erythrina and Salmalia trees, and drinks juice from date palms tapped for toddy (Ali & Ripley 1970). From Singapore, there are reports of this bird feeding at a durian tree Durio zibethinus (Goh et al 2006), and on an oil palm tree Elaeis guineensis (Chow 2011) - whether the bird was actually eating the fruit, drinking the sap or feeding on insects remains unclear. Additionally, there is an early record, from 1989, of this bird being seen "pecking and gobbling the juicy flesh of rambutans" but the actual source of this citation, however, remains elusive.
Voice and Calls: Its call is a high-pitched and fairly loud kek, repeated about a dozen times, every two to three seconds or so.
Breeding: In Singapore, nest building has been recorded from December to April and June, brooding in April and May, chicks in June, and young birds were seen in June and August (Wang & Hails 2007). In Perak, West Malaysia, nests were found from March to April (Edgar 1933). Medway & Wells (1976) have recorded nests between February and June.
Like all woodpeckers, it nests in holes excavated into tree trunks. Their nests, situated 1 to 9 m (3 to 30 feet) above the ground level, have been found on an "api-api' tree (Avicennia spp.), dead coconut trees Cocos nucifera, on a hog-plum tree Spondias spp, a dead mango tree Mangifera spp (Edgar 1933) and on a casuarina tree (Madoc 1956). Though it appears to nest mainly on dead trunks, some nests have been excavated into living trees (Wells 1999).
The normal clutch consists of four eggs, pinkish-white, fairly glossy, the average size varying from 26.4 x 19.1 mm. to 27.4 x 21.1 mm. (Edgar 1933). Both sexes help excavate the nest, incubate the eggs and feed the young. Very little is known of its courtship behaviour or its breeding biology.
Moult: In Genus Picidae, the primaries moult descendantly and sequentially, the secondaries from two centres, ascendantly from S1 (starting after P5), ascendantly and descendantly from S8 (starting with P3). Tail moult is centrifugal. Post-nuptial is complete. Post-juvenile moult is partial, of primaries, tail and body but not the secondaries, primary coverts or tertials though, sometimes, one or two tertials may be replaced. Occasionally, the outer primary coverts are also moulted, with contrast between the new and old feathers showing (Baker 1993).
On 26th August, a family party of two adults and an immature bird was caught at Ulu Pandan in Singapore. The male, with an ill-defined brood patch, was in post-nuptial moult. Wing: P1 to P4 = 5, P5 = 3, P6 = 1, rest = 0, S1 = 4, S2 to S5 = 0, S6 to S8 = 5. Tail: T1 = 0, T2 = 2, T3 = 1, rest = 0. The female, with a distinct brood patch, was also in post-nuptial moult. Wing: P1 to P3 = 5, P4 = 4, P5 = 2, rest = 0. S1 to S6 = 0, S7 to S8 = 5. Tail: T1 = 0, T2 = 1, rest = 0. The immature bird, a female, was undergoing post-juvenile moult. Wing: P1 to P2 = 5, P3 = 4, P4 = missing, rest = 0 (Wang 1999).
Miscellaneous: Generally speaking, birds are said to have very little sense of smell or taste. Whether woodpeckers have an acute sense of hearing which enables them to detect the movements of prey items hidden within the wood or whether tapping at the wood with the bill enables them to locate any prey in hidden hollows beneath the surface of the wood, is not entirely clear.
The bone structure in a woodpecker's skull is part of an evolutionary adaptation that enables it to hammer away into tree trunks without suffering damage to its brain. Its tongue, too, often more than twice the length of the bird's skull, is just as specialised. More information about this can be obtained from the ON Nature magazine, or the Wild Birds Unlimited site.
To discover how the development of the woodpecker's skull has helped inspire the development of shock absorbers, please visit this page published in the New Scientist. The original paper it cites, a highly technical and detailed effort, A mechanical analysis of woodpecker drumming and its application to shock-absorbing systems (Yoon & Park 2011), can be obtained at the IOPscience website.
Two adult birds ringed at Rantau Panjang were recaptured there 116 and 120 months later (Medway & Wells 1976).
[Credit: singaporebirds.net/]
Perhaps once or twice a year, the conditions are just right for these spectacular "lenticular" clouds to develop in giant stacks downwind of Mt. Rainier in Washington State. I noticed during the day that the conditions seemed to be right, so an hour before sunset I positioned myself to try to capture this elusive sight. I was running two cameras and I shot hundreds of frames as this amazing swarm of clouds was lit by the evening light off to the west. Most of the captures were used in production of time-lapse video, now in post-production.
♥ whilst on the car ride to new york city i was realizing that i feel most at home when i am on a plane, or on the road. perhaps that is where i have misplaced my old self..
Perhaps the most common Manakin in Costa Rica, at least in the pacific coast. Turubari Park, San Jose - Costa Rica
A perhaps atypical Cardiff view from Ty Gwyn Road, Penylan. Far left is the sloping metallic roof of the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay. The spire of Newport Road's St James's Church and over the road Eastgate House at the end of City Road, can also be seen as well as Penarth head and St Augustine's Church atop Penarth headland.