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My father's F.P.I. horse hair desk brush and paper weight from his patent drafting career. The paper weight is one of a few he made and the brush features a twine job he did on the handle. After that much effort it makes sense to mark the items with your initials.
Two evenly matched Rocky Mountain Bulls put on a vicious fighting demonstration while frustrated by high testosterone and a herd bull much larger and more skilled than they are. All rights reserved.
} Part 7 of 7. This is the last installment of what has been the Flickrverse’s backstory of Clayface. For the complete final arc, start at “Reprise”. I want to express a thank you (that can’t even begin to be big enough) to Duncan Young, Lord Allo, and though they are inactive, Brute Eatin and FeelOkayInc as well, for that first invitation to be canon in the universe they started. And also, to anyone that’s stuck through even one of these stories, or left a kind comment: This really has been a blast, because of you. {
The charge is fleeting. Morgan immediately butts heads with Bonecrusher and comes to a standstill. Ivy vaults out the way of several gunshots, with the aid of a stalk erupting through the pavement. Electro uses the plant as cover to retaliate with his own blaster. I head straight for Flannegan, still standing over my son, but Diablo throws up a funnel of fire in my way.
Zodiac: To hell with this. I’m a lover, not a fighter.
He releases smoke pellets from a cancer symbol on his suit, and just as the King of Cats lunges for him, he vanishes.
Electro: Recreant deserter!
Sims still stands out of range, surveying the pandemonium. He shakes his head at me.
Myself (glowering): You’ll beg for death, Sims. For me.
Sims (ignoring me, his words finally having tired): The big man sends his regards. He couldn’t make it, but he wanted you to know he’s thinking of you.
At that, I begin to realize several faces in the sea of challengers before me are painted. Pastel cheeks. Bright hair. Clowns. HE was still there, in the background, taunting me. I barrel through three of the henchmen, slicing one across the chest. Sims only smiles.
***
Garfield Lynns clambers out of the rubble. His hand is still tight around his tool’s trigger, but little more than a spark spurts forth in response. Fuel is leaking from his tanks fast. And three of Sims’ lackeys are approaching: Planet Master, some hulking devil… thing, and that green creep that was sucking up to Sims.
Gar (only half-kidding): … Batman?
Bulb: He’s taking a swim.
Burke: Any less-pathetic last words?
Gar: Gosh, uh, how does Sims taste?
Burke (lowering his palms): I don’t get it.
Bulb: I do. Let’s haul him back there so the boss can take this chump’s ‘headshot of death’. I didn’t develop my greatest handiwork for it to be used ONCE.
NKVDemon: I kill him here. Camera doesn’t need them all for himself.
Burke: But I wanna try the suit out on-
Bulb: NEVER MIND, someone just off him!
NKVDemon: до свида́ния, little bug.
Gar: Okay, what I really meant was…
He discreetly taps his flamethrower’s muzzle to the fuel puddle.
Gar: Burn.
The trail ignites and flows into Gar’s wrecked pack. It detonates, propelling Gar straight into Burke, too fast for NKVDemon to take aim, and back towards Karlo and the others. The blast also catches Bulb, flinging him, alight and screeching wildly, into the water.
***
I’ve gained next to no ground on Diablo, continuously swarmed by underlings and nobody-villains. In my peripheral vision, Morgan has thoroughly taken Harbinger’s Bonecrusher body out of the fight, but is being menaced by Swagman, Pyg and Karl. Ivy is still on the defense, and Electro is running headlong into a billowing ash cloud for a kill. I try to tear away and assist even one of them, only to be assaulted with the sensation of railroad spikes easing into my brain, and a nauseating, distinctive tune being hummed. Tetch had gotten within range. I thrash about blindly, but couldn’t land a single blow, even on the odd minion. Then it ceases, and I’m greeted by Gar holding his flamethrower like a mallet; Tetch, with a bruised jaw, dazed at his feet.
Gar (already dashing away from a hail of gunfire): Don’t take on Sims yet! His secret weapon… I think it’s in his h-
That’s all I can make out before Burke floats down and a gravitational surge tosses car-sized chunks of cement at me from every direction. I briefly make contact with my son’s stare before I’m entombed by the avalanche.
***
Ivy endures her plants' cries as they choke on the flames that are now spreading everywhere. A few Joker goons are wrenched into the ground by enraged roots. She spies Anarky, on the heels of Gar, and scoops him up easily in a tangle of wicked-looking briar thorns. He howls, until he realizes it’s only heightening the agony. Ivy draws him closer.
Ivy (venomously): My son is going learn you and your friends are not the most terrifying force in Gotham. I am.
Ulysses (excruciatingly collecting himself in his final breath): There’ll be more h-… after me. Ngh… I AM Gotham.
His thumb pulls taut a cord under his jacket; his vest is rigged. Ivy narrowly grows a mass of branches in front of herself as the explosion shakes the entire yard.
***
The shockwave helps clear the debris suffocating me, but I make it no more than a step outside my crater before Burke has attacked again, icing me over to a Plutonian temperature. I’m helpless as I see NKVDemon approaching Gar’s hideaway; Diablo, readying to torch a pile of lumber Ivy may or may not be alive under. Electro springs out of a recently-formed ditch and zaps Dorian with his firearm. Before my eyes, the mad doctor shrinks to the size of a tangerine, and Electro gleefully crushes the pitiful thing. I would have gladly turned away, if not for my cocoon. What have I wrought?
Electro’s celebration is cut off by shrapnel ripping into his shoulder. He trips. I hear a muffled decree of revenge before he hits a button on his belt and warps into nothingness, just as Swagman fires at him again. Morgan bolts at him from behind, with Pyg’s cleaver wedged in his collarbone. Swagman draws his own blade and the pair tussles up and over a trench carved in the concrete, out of sight. Burke hasn’t let up on my prison for one moment. Sims… I see Sims looking hideously pleased. He’s about to call it a wrap.
?: A bloodbath, and I reccceived no invitation? I ssshould be insssulted.
A second, deeper rasp, piercing the battleground: Bad call, Camera. Word travels fast in our line of work… I didn’t even ask the coin for this one.
A Thompson submachine gun being cocked finally betrays the location of the echoing voices. Sims’ forces turn as one to see Two-Face and his gang, Dr. Hellfern, The Mad Monk and even Magan, marching in behind me. Some of my oldest comrades. I hadn’t even asked them.
Magan: Hhnngm FNGND.
Sims: … What?
Hellfern (injecting something into his forearm): Er sagte, … ”you’re fucked.”
Diablo acts faster than anyone, lobbing two quick fireballs at the group. Magan unpacks his sandblaster and turns it on the projectiles. The collision fuses the sand to glass, and multitudes of shards fly into Diablo’s eyes, as well as a few larger ones into Burke’s suit. They aren’t dead, but their successive moans tell me that prospect wouldn’t be entirely disagreeable to them. The Mad Monk darts forward, displacing clowns like water, hurling a few straight up. Hellfern is now metamorphosing into a gangling monster, protrusions of unnatural bone all along his back.
Hellfern: Now I haff become... Death.
Pyg (the first in Hellfern’s path): Oh my… you *snort* are ALREADY perfect…
Hellfern backhands Pyg, joining in The Monk’s carnage. Gar and I are freed now, back to back with Dent, as everyone Sims has left rallies. I can’t see Ivy; the rain has increased, and the entire area is a smoldering maze.
***
Ivy stirs under the wood pile, feeling a cold hand on her arm. It’s… The Mad Monk? When did…
Tepes: Ssstay out of sssight; I can sssmell internal bleeding.
She ignores him, standing with some travail. An atrocious creature with Doctor Death’s unmistakable facial hair teeters after the vampire, dragging a body like a doll.
Tepes: The boy, Hellfern! Ssspare only the one that appearsss as Clayfaccce!
Ivy sees they’re making a beeline for Sims and Flannegan; the two, along with her son, are almost backed up to the water’s edge. All their defenses are occupied by Basil. She meets Sims’ eyes from a distance. There’s worry in them. And she savors it.
Sims (pushing along his feeble captive and directing Flannegan with a nod): That’d be your department.
Tepes is upon him first. With his staff, Flannegan counters three swipes from the hooked, undead fingers, and with a fourth move, drives the blunt end into Tepes’ neck. The Monk gurgles and bellows, as Flannegan snaps his own weapon in half, bashing Tepes in the forehead with the lantern, and finally thrusting the remaining section of the rod into his heart. Ivy hasn’t managed more than a few yards, in her condition.
Flannegan: And the next…
Hellfern wails like a phantom, slashing at his much shorter foe. Flannegan lures his attacks towards a stack of tires, rolling out of way for Hellfern to stab into the rubber and negate their lethality. The swings are still powerful though, and just one nicking Flannegan’s calf slings him upside down into a brick wall. Hellfern fails to finish the job, however, downed by two potshots in the skull, courtesy of NKVDemon. The Russian himself receives several stray bullets seconds later, from Two-Face’s gun.
Ivy sees her opportunity, but falters as she nears Flannegan. He wipes a glove on his leg, and bends down to her. He removes his mask.
Flannegan (hovering close enough to feel her breath): Go ahead, plant one on me.
Her fist flies up, but not to his face. A sizable, lush tree with green fruits pushes through the ground, but no vines or barbs reach out at Flannegan. She slumps.
Flannegan: Cute. Yeah, not really my type anyway.
He stretches, looking up at the rain trickling through the leaves and onto his eyes.
Flannegan: You know, I would’ve helped you and Basil if you’d come to me first. Just the luck of the draw. You both could’ve stood to be mor- agh… gAAH… HAUUG-
The sap of the manchineel tree behind Flannegan has already begun exhibiting its blistering effects, only spurred on by the rain carrying it. Ocular and respiratory damages, Ivy knows, will soon follow. She and Flannegan both crumple.
***
Magan, Gar and Two-Face are all pinned down, but there doesn’t appear to be any more heavy-hitters to have a chance at slowing me. Sims must still be trapped along the shore. I start to transform into a Joker thug, but I’m blindsided by someone we’ve all overlooked: Hagen. Still taking cheap shots. We trade punches and attempts to draw in the others’ mind, ending in a stalemate just far enough from Sims, and my son, to be seen through the haze.
Myself (to Hagen, via our current telepathic link): I’m sure you’d like to think you’re my arch-enemy, Hagen, but I’m killing you quickly. Not even for Cassie will I give you the satisfaction…
Hagen (also through the link, barely warding off my onslaught): Cassie… alive. Please… make it seem… I’m dead… or Sims will… my friends…
Sims cannot see from his position that Hagen’s hand is stretched out to a manhole, a portion of himself preparing to sever.
Hagen (pleading): I failed his plan… Please Basil… I have… other life.
Any longer and Sims will know something is wrong. I steel myself, hardly believing it as I allow just enough of Hagen to wriggle out of sight. The faintest “Thank-“ reverberates through what I still have left of him in my clutches. Then I lay it on hard, for Sims’ enjoyment.
Myself (with the Hagen decoy): This… is what I promised you… for stealing from me!
Sims sees me consume what he thinks is the last of Hagen, and he fidgets slightly as I turn to him. My sons eyes are so, so empty now.
Myself: Release him. You can’t do anything else.
Sims (hoisting the boy to his feet): Y’know how I know you’re wrong? Because what I’m going to kill you with, I already tried out. On Sloane. Yeah, he DID remember you. I had Hagen replace him because that imbecile, after you burned his face off, FORGAVE you, in his last moments. So I put the sap out of his delusional misery.
I’m at a loss. What could I say, “How could you”? After what I had done?
Sims: Gotham’s underworld is stagnating, with the likes of you at the helm. I’ll be giving back to the lifestyle you claimed to care about… once you’re a lifeless mound.
Can my son hold himself together if he should fall in the water? Don’t let this happen…
Myself: I sent you down the wrong path… Harry. I never would have let you take this road if I knew-
Sims (through his teeth): That I would be better than you at it! You. STILL. Can’t say it!
Myself: Let me be a better father to him than I was to you. I can’t fix anything here, only move past.
Sims (ready to shove the boy): Save it!
A sudden splash startles us both, and a cord fired from the bay a few meters out snags Sims’ pant leg. He hollers as The Batman, still grappling with the yellow scuba diver, succeeds in toppling him. I react just in time to catch my son, who made no movement to stop from falling in himself. And like that, at long last, my child is there, in my arms. He looks like me, but I can’t feel me at all when I hold him; he’s really himself. His own.
Myself: Do you know me?
He finally overcomes his trance. His hand tries to point at me.
Myself: Do you know… your mother?
My son (now extending a hand to the ground): Cold… below…
More violent breaches of the water’s surface ring out, and I’m reminded of our need to flee. Gar is a distance away, just now making it through a stilled battlefield.
Gar (checking his back): Basil? You got him, let’s go!
Myself (to my son, as I begin to lead him away to cover): I understand. I’ll take you back to the sewer. You’ll never have to see any of this again.
His grip now equals my own, and I know he comprehends. I would make good on what I said to her all that time ago. He would be my one wise choice. Not a repeat. Not a mistake. She could heal him again. Knowing that, I could rest.
***
Sims flounders and sputters. Tiger Shark still hasn’t done away with The Bat. And now, Basil is going to get away… The thought flows through his veins, and gives him new strength. He kicks and claws his way out of the mess of cable and cape, overflowing with loathing. He rockets straight onto land on his stomach, letting loose a bloodcurdling shriek, flicking the new mechanism behind his mask. The helmet is waterlogged, but he hears Gar’s concerned cry to Basil; he’s in range. Sims takes the shot.
***
Gar sees Basil and the kid rounding a barrier from Sims’ attack, as he falls back himself, behind a container, shutting his eyes. There’s still a white puff that penetrates his lids, and for an instant, he thinks he’s done for. But he still feels the gravel under his head. The newly acquired burns. He cracks one eye, then crawls back to the open.
There’s Basil… or his son?.. Standing over… dust. Already the pile is being carried away in the runoff.
Gar: Jesus… Basil?
They don’t say anything, just stand like a statue, save for trembling hands. Sims, folded over the dock, rips off his helmet. He too witnesses the scene, and begins half-choking, half falling over himself in hysterics.
Sims (in stitches): It… it doesn’t matter! Ha ha… It’s even more perfect in a way… It…
A spray of bullets scares Sims into submerging. Two-Face hikes up into the scene.
Two-Face: Which of them..?
Gar: I don’t know.
Ivy is has found it in herself to rise again. She sees the last of the unknown victim slide away, in addition to the survivor standing over it. He looks at her with such departure and a quality of lostness. It’s her turn as a statue when the Clayface still living descends into a grate. Gar sprints to it, calling out, but they’re gone.
***
Sims regains his head as Tiger Shark throws him down.
Sims: We’re on… ground…
Tiger Shark: My sub. Bats is shish kebab-ed, good as dead. Now cough up.
Sims (breaking into a laugh again): Good as dead. Aheh. GOOD, as dead. As most things ar-
Tiger Shark (punching him): You full of it? I want my payment, asshat.
Sims (composing momentarily): You’ll get your fortune. The previous holder… won’t miss it. He hasn’t for a while. H-ha…
Tiger Shark (dropping him again): I plan to wear a REAL suit before my career is up, you get me? I’m done with this dress-up crap. You try to get funny, I’ll feed you your hands.
Sims pets the photo in his pocket. Damaged, but distinguishable. Basil Karlo’s last moment alive. It will need a frame.
***
Ivy turns as The Mad Monk, singed and impaled, joins the rest.
Tepes (removing the skewer): Amateursss, ssstill consssulting fairytalesss to ssslay me…
Two-Face: If that putz didn’t drown, he and I are having words… Where are you headed, Lynns?
Gar: … Drink.
Ivy cradles Morgan’s massive head. He now carries Swagman’s machete in his chest too. The blood has pooled as high as his heels.
Morgan: Did Basil… get…
Ivy: Yes.
Morgan (every syllable arduous): He told me… your son. Back when he was better… he liked Creighton. For a name. Had he said…
The bestial man’s muscles stop being ridged. Ivy’s head bows.
Tepes (walking with Hellfern’s broken form): He mussst be returned to hisss lab, with hassste.
He pauses only briefly, before soaring away.
Tepes: My… condolensssesss.
Magan punts a rock.
Two-Face: One of them was still there! Go after him, before-
Ivy: He won’t come back. Neither of them. Whichever one it was.
***
Cassie sits up. Not the first time she had done so, greeted by broken ribs and a nasal cannula. God she hated those. Alfred is standing by, alerted by the same thing that roused her: The Batmobile returning to base. She goes to hop up before Alfred gives her a sad, stern look.
Bruce (bounding out of the car’s cockpit, the engine running): Some of them got away. Kyle. Zodiac. Tetch. I need footage from the entire district.
Alfred: The computer is still irreparable. Sir… the harpoon in your arm-
Bruce (already having located gauze and forceps): Is the reason I’m not telling you this over comms. Find another way. Gordon’s officers can’t round them all up in time; a new one got away aboard a submarine.
Cassie: Basil?
Bruce: You’re in that bed because of him. Worry about recovering.
Cassie: He had to have known I’d survive the fall. Maybe he was forced to. They had his son…
Bruce is already patched up, Alfred trailing and scolding him all the way back down to the Batmobile.
Cassie (laying back): I know it wasn’t you Basil. It had to have been something…
***
News gets around before dawn. Claims to the bodies in the street, most of them false boasts. Money traded from a few macabre bets on the outcome. And Gotham would see no shortage of villains even now. The lowest of the low were emboldened. The mainstay masterminds and gangsters’ trigger fingers were faster than ever. Seeds of rivalry now planted would ensure for the city’s unrest and a hundred more wars to be fought in the night.
In a rundown carnival, a pair of red lips arches with glee, while a battered henchman tells the whole story again. The Clown Prince of Crime kicks up his spatterdashes and toys with an old VHS of the original “Dread Castle” in one hand, and a root beer float in the other.
“Here’s mud in your eye, Karlo. I’ll thank the academy for you.”
***
Ext. A farmers’ market - The next day
Matt Hagen: Carrots, two-forty a bundle? You keep trying to rob us, and I’ll give you your own supervillain name.
The lady grocer across from him: You are perfectly within your rights to take your business elsewhere, pal.
They both laugh.
Matt (paying): My cat likes them; please, show some mercy.
Grocer (still acting): I only make exceptions for friends.
Matt glances around while she’s opening the cash register. No cameras. No stalkers.
Matt: Ouch… say listen, if it’s not indelicate, I haven’t asked… why are you here? In Gotham, not the market, I mean.
Grocer: It’s my hometown, I’ve alway loved it here, especially summer.
Matt rolls his eyes.
Grocer: Yeah, well, what’d you think? I’m stuck here for now. Who isn’t?
Matt: You know, I could leave anytime. I’m kind of over this place. Most of it, anyway. I might even ask a friend to tag along.
Grocer (smirking): Sounds adventurous for the person that always gets carrots, two bags.
Matt: It’s just… someone I knew, who I thought wouldn’t have given me the time of day, did something really amazing for me recently. I think it’s time I let some people in myself. Shed my layer.
***
Int. “My Alibi” - 2:47 AM, right after the dust had settled
Drury Walker: … Just like that? Where’d Sims, and Batman, and that… other guy go?
Gar: Underwater. I don’t know Dru.
Drury: I can’t believe… Sewer King too.
Two-Face: Maybe it wouldn’t be so unbelievable if you’d BEEN there, Moth.
Gar (downing a shot): Piss off Dent, s’nothing he could’ve done.
Drury opens his mouth but says nothing.
Two-Face: Well it turned out there was nothing ANY of us could’ve done. What this stripy oaf failed to acknowledge, same as Sims, Flannegan, all those others, is that Basil was a founder. Of everything that IS, now, for Gotham’s criminals. And if you respected the ounce of credibility YOU have, you’d have SHOWED.
Len (without looking up, with fingers laced on his counter): You can rant out there.
Two-Face: Another softy. That goes double for you, Eraser, you greasy…
He kicks over a stool and points at Drury as he goes.
Two-Face: Don’t let me see your face until you can say you protect the likes of us. That you’ll risk something. I won’t hold my breath.
Magan passes Len Basil’s knife, recovered from the scene, before stepping out.
Len: And Ivy. She’s long gone by now?
Gar: Get me another one of these.
Drury: I swear I would’ve gone, but I’ve, eh, met someone. Being there, on Clayface’s side… it’s that new Tiger guy. If he’d seen me, there’s no way he’d let me near… what I mean to say is, I need his approval with…
Gar: Hey, am I blaming you? And am I asking?
Drury: … Do you love anyone?
Gar: God I need to be more drunk than this.
Len: Lay low for a while. You’ve got a gimmick, you’ve got heart. You’ll make it big one day.
Drury: I’d be there, for either of you guys. One day, I swear it. What other family am I ever going to have?
} The End {
Arches National Park is a national park in eastern Utah, United States. The park is adjacent to the Colorado River, 4 miles (6 km) north of Moab, Utah. More than 2,000 natural sandstone arches are located in the park, including the well-known Delicate Arch, as well as a variety of unique geological resources and formations. The park contains the highest density of natural arches in the world.
The park consists of 310.31 square kilometres (76,680 acres; 119.81 sq mi; 31,031 ha) of high desert located on the Colorado Plateau. The highest elevation in the park is 5,653 feet (1,723 m) at Elephant Butte, and the lowest elevation is 4,085 feet (1,245 m) at the visitor center. The park receives an average of less than 10 inches (250 mm) of rain annually.
Administered by the National Park Service, the area was originally named a national monument on April 12, 1929, and was re designated as a national park on November 12, 1971. The park received more than 1.6 million visitors in 2018.
As stated in the foundation document in U.S. National Park Service website:
The purpose of Arches National Park is to protect extraordinary examples of geologic features including arches, natural bridges, windows, spires, and balanced rocks, as well as other features of geologic, historic, and scientific interest, and to provide opportunities to experience these resources and their associated values in their majestic natural settings.
The national park lies above an underground evaporite layer or salt bed, which is the main cause of the formation of the arches, spires, balanced rocks, sandstone fins, and eroded monoliths in the area. This salt bed is thousands of feet thick in places and was deposited in the Paradox Basin of the Colorado Plateau some 300 million years ago (Mya) when a sea flowed into the region and eventually evaporated. Over millions of years, the salt bed was covered with debris eroded from the Uncompahgre Uplift to the northeast. During the Early Jurassic (about 200 Mya), desert conditions prevailed in the region and the vast Navajo Sandstone was deposited. An additional sequence of stream laid and windblown sediments, the Entrada Sandstone (about 140 Mya), was deposited on top of the Navajo. Over 5,000 feet (1,500 m) of younger sediments were deposited and have been mostly eroded. Remnants of the cover exist in the area including exposures of the Cretaceous Mancos Shale. The arches of the area are developed mostly within the Entrada formation.
The weight of this cover caused the salt bed below it to liquefy and thrust up layers of rock into salt domes. The evaporites of the area formed more unusual "salt anticlines" or linear regions of uplift. Faulting occurred and whole sections of rock subsided into the areas between the domes. In some places, they turned almost on edge. The result of one such 2,500-foot (760 m) displacement, the Moab Fault, is seen from the visitor center.
As this subsurface movement of salt shaped the landscape, erosion removed the younger rock layers from the surface. Except for isolated remnants, the major formations visible in the park today are the salmon-colored Entrada Sandstone, in which most of the arches form, and the buff-colored Navajo Sandstone. These are visible in layer-cake fashion throughout most of the park. Over time, water seeped into the surface cracks, joints, and folds of these layers. Ice formed in the fissures, expanding and putting pressure on surrounding rock, breaking off bits and pieces. Winds later cleaned out the loose particles. A series of free-standing fins remained. Wind and water attacked these fins until, in some, the cementing material gave way and chunks of rock tumbled out. Many damaged fins collapsed. Others, with the right degree of hardness and balance, survived despite their missing sections. These became the famous arches.
Although the park's terrain may appear rugged and durable, it is extremely fragile. More than 1 million visitors each year threaten the fragile high-desert ecosystem. The problem lies within the soil's crust, which is composed of cyanobacteria, algae, fungi, and lichens that grow in the dusty parts of the park. Factors that make Arches National Park sensitive to visitor damage include being a semiarid region, the scarce, unpredictable rainfall, lack of deep freezing, and lack of plant litter, which results in soils that have both a low resistance to and slow recovery from, compressional forces such as foot traffic. Methods of indicating effects on the soil are cytophobic soil crust index, measuring of water infiltration, and t-tests that are used to compare the values from the undisturbed and disturbed areas.
Geological processes that occurred over 300 million years ago caused a salt bed to be deposited, which today lies beneath the landscape of Arches National Park.[ Over time, the salt bed was covered with sediments that eventually compressed into rock layers that have since been named Entrada Standstone. Rock layers surrounding the edge of the salt bed continued to erode and shift into vertical sandstone walls called fins. Sand collected between vertical walls of the fins, then slightly acidic rain combined with carbon dioxide in the air allowed for the chemical formation of carbonic acid within the trapped sand. Over time, the carbonic acid dissolved the calcium carbonate that held the sandstone together. Many of the rock formations have weaker layers of rock on bottom that are holding stronger layers on top. The weaker layers would dissolve first, creating openings in the rock. Gravity caused pieces of the stronger rock layer to fall piece by piece into an arch shape. Arches form within rock fins at points of intense fracturing localization, or weak points in the rock's formation, caused by horizontal and vertical discontinuities. Lastly, water, wind, and time continued this erosion process and ultimately created the arches of Arches National Park. All of the arches in the park are made of Entrada Sandstone, however, there are slight differences in how each arch was developed. This allows the Entrada Sandstone to be categories into 3 groups including Slick rock members, Dewey rock members, and Moab members. Vertical arches can be developed from Slick rock members, a combination of Slick rock members and Moab members, or Slick rock members resting above Dewey rock members. Horizontal arches (also called potholes) are formed when a vertical pothole formation meets a horizontal cave, causing a union into a long arch structure. The erosion process within Arches National Park will continue as time continues to pass. Continued erosion combined with vertical and horizontal stress will eventually cause arches to collapse, but still, new arches will continue to form for thousands of years.
Humans have occupied the region since the last ice age 10,000 years ago. Fremont people and Ancestral Puebloans lived in the area until about 700 years ago. Spanish missionaries encountered Ute and Paiute tribes in the area when they first came through in 1775, but the first European-Americans to attempt settlement in the area were the Mormon Elk Mountain Mission in 1855, who soon abandoned the area. Ranchers, farmers, and prospectors later settled Moab in the neighboring Riverine Valley in the late 1870s. Word of the beauty of the surrounding rock formations spread beyond the settlement as a possible tourist destination.
The Arches area was first brought to the attention of the National Park Service by Frank A. Wadleigh, passenger traffic manager of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. Wadleigh, accompanied by railroad photographer George L. Beam, visited the area in September 1923 at the invitation of Alexander Ringhoffer, a Hungarian-born prospector living in Salt Valley. Ringhoffer had written to the railroad to interest them in the tourist potential of a scenic area he had discovered the previous year with his two sons and a son-in-law, which he called the Devils Garden (known today as the Klondike Bluffs). Wadleigh was impressed by what Ringhoffer showed him, and suggested to Park Service director Stephen T. Mather that the area be made a national monument.
The following year, additional support for the monument idea came from Laurence Gould, a University of Michigan graduate student (and future polar explorer) studying the geology of the nearby La Sal Mountains, who was shown the scenic area by local physician Dr. J. W. "Doc" Williams.
A succession of government investigators examined the area, in part due to confusion as to the precise location. In the process, the name Devils Garden was transposed to an area on the opposite side of Salt Valley that includes Landscape Arch, the longest arch in the park. Ringhoffer's original discovery was omitted, while another area nearby, known locally as the Windows, was included. Designation of the area as a national monument was supported by the Park Service in 1926 but was resisted by President Calvin Coolidge's Interior Secretary, Hubert Work. Finally, in April 1929, shortly after his inauguration, President Herbert Hoover signed a presidential proclamation creating the Arches National Monument, consisting of two comparatively small, disconnected sections. The purpose of the reservation under the 1906 Antiquities Act was to protect the arches, spires, balanced rocks, and other sandstone formations for their scientific and educational value. The name Arches was suggested by Frank Pinkely, superintendent of the Park Service's southwestern national monuments, following a visit to the Windows section in 1925.
In late 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a proclamation that enlarged the Arches to protect additional scenic features and permit the development of facilities to promote tourism. A small adjustment was made by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1960 to accommodate a new road alignment.
In early 1969, just before leaving office, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a proclamation substantially enlarging the Arches. Two years later, President Richard Nixon signed legislation enacted by Congress, which significantly reduced the total area enclosed, but changed its status. Arches National Park was formally dedicated in May 1972.
In 1980, vandals attempted to use an abrasive kitchen cleanser to deface ancient petroglyphs in the park, prompting park officials to recruit physicist John F. Asmus, who specialized in using lasers to restore works of art, to use his technology to repair the damage. Asmus "zapped the panel with intense light pulses and succeeded in removing most of the cleanser".
Climbing Balanced Rock or any named or unnamed arch in Arches National Park with an opening larger than 3 ft (0.9 m) is banned by park regulations. Climbing on other features in the park is allowed but regulated; in addition, slacklining and BASE jumping are banned parkwide.
Climbing on named arches within the park had long been banned by park regulations, but following Dean Potter's successful free climb on Delicate Arch in May 2006, the wording of the regulations was deemed unenforceable by the park attorney. In response, the park revised its regulations later that month, eventually imposing the current ban on arch climbing in 2014.
Approved recreational activities include auto touring, hiking, bicycling, camping at the Devils Garden campground, backpacking, canyoneering, and rock climbing, with permits required for the last three activities. Guided commercial tours and ranger programs are also available.
Astronomy is also popular in the park due to its dark skies, despite the increasing light pollution from towns such as Moab.
Delicate Arch is the subject of the third 2014 quarter of the U.S. Mint's America the Beautiful Quarters program commemorating national parks and historic sites. The Arches quarter had the highest production of the five 2014 national park quarters, with more than 465 million minted.
American writer Edward Abbey was a park ranger at Arches National Monument in 1956 and 1957, where he kept journals that became his book Desert Solitaire. The success of Abbey's book, as well as interest in adventure travel, has drawn many hikers, mountain bikers, and off-pavement driving enthusiasts to the area. Permitted activities within the park include camping, hiking along designated trails, backpacking, canyoneering, rock climbing, bicycling, and driving along existing roads, both paved and unpaved. The Hayduke Trail, an 812 mi (1,307 km) backpacking route named after one of Edward Abbey's characters, begins in the park.
An abundance of wildlife occurs in Arches National Park, including spadefoot toads, antelope squirrels, scrub jays, peregrine falcons, many kinds of sparrows, red foxes, desert bighorn sheep, kangaroo rats, mule deers, cougars, midget faded rattlesnakes, yucca moths, western rattlesnakes, and collared lizards.
A number of plant species are common in the park, including prickly pear cactus, Indian ricegrass, bunch grasses, cheatgrass, moss, liverworts, Utah juniper, Mormon tea, blackbrush, cliffrose, four-winged saltbrush, pinyon pine, evening primrose, sand verbena, yucca, and sacred datura.
Biological soil crust consisting of cyanobacteria, lichen, mosses, green algae, and microfungi is found throughout southeastern Utah. The fibrous growths help keep soil particles together, creating a layer that is more resistant to erosion. The living soil layer readily absorbs and stores water, allowing more complex forms of plant life to grow in places with low precipitation levels.
Among the notable features of the park are the following:
Balanced Rock – a large balancing rock, the size of three school buses
Courthouse Towers – a collection of tall stone columns
Dark Angel – a free-standing 150 ft-tall (46 m) sandstone pillar at the end of the Devils Garden Trail
Delicate Arch – a lone-standing arch that has become a symbol of Utah and the most recognized arch in the park
Devils Garden – many arches and columns scattered along a ridge
Double Arch – two arches that share a common end
Fiery Furnace – an area of maze-like narrow passages and tall rock columns (see biblical reference, Book of Daniel, chapter 3)
Landscape Arch – a very thin and long arch in the Devils Garden with a span of 290 ft (88 m) (the longest arch in the park)
Petrified Dunes – petrified remnants of dunes blown from the ancient lakes that covered the area
The Phallus – a rock spire that resembles a phallus
Wall Arch – located along the popular Devils Garden Trail; collapsed sometime on August 4/5, 2008
The Three Gossips –a mid-sized sandstone tower located in the Courthouse Towers area.
Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It borders Colorado to its east, Wyoming to its northeast, Idaho to its north, Arizona to its south, and Nevada to its west. Utah also touches a corner of New Mexico in the southeast. Of the fifty U.S. states, Utah is the 13th-largest by area; with a population over three million, it is the 30th-most-populous and 11th-least-densely populated. Urban development is mostly concentrated in two areas: the Wasatch Front in the north-central part of the state, which is home to roughly two-thirds of the population and includes the capital city, Salt Lake City; and Washington County in the southwest, with more than 180,000 residents. Most of the western half of Utah lies in the Great Basin.
Utah has been inhabited for thousands of years by various indigenous groups such as the ancient Puebloans, Navajo, and Ute. The Spanish were the first Europeans to arrive in the mid-16th century, though the region's difficult geography and harsh climate made it a peripheral part of New Spain and later Mexico. Even while it was Mexican territory, many of Utah's earliest settlers were American, particularly Mormons fleeing marginalization and persecution from the United States via the Mormon Trail. Following the Mexican–American War in 1848, the region was annexed by the U.S., becoming part of the Utah Territory, which included what is now Colorado and Nevada. Disputes between the dominant Mormon community and the federal government delayed Utah's admission as a state; only after the outlawing of polygamy was it admitted in 1896 as the 45th.
People from Utah are known as Utahns. Slightly over half of all Utahns are Mormons, the vast majority of whom are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), which has its world headquarters in Salt Lake City; Utah is the only state where a majority of the population belongs to a single church. A 2023 paper challenged this perception (claiming only 42% of Utahns are Mormons) however most statistics still show a majority of Utah residents belong to the LDS church; estimates from the LDS church suggests 60.68% of Utah's population belongs to the church whilst some sources put the number as high as 68%. The paper replied that membership count done by the LDS Church is too high for several reasons. The LDS Church greatly influences Utahn culture, politics, and daily life, though since the 1990s the state has become more religiously diverse as well as secular.
Utah has a highly diversified economy, with major sectors including transportation, education, information technology and research, government services, mining, multi-level marketing, and tourism. Utah has been one of the fastest growing states since 2000, with the 2020 U.S. census confirming the fastest population growth in the nation since 2010. St. George was the fastest-growing metropolitan area in the United States from 2000 to 2005. Utah ranks among the overall best states in metrics such as healthcare, governance, education, and infrastructure. It has the 12th-highest median average income and the least income inequality of any U.S. state. Over time and influenced by climate change, droughts in Utah have been increasing in frequency and severity, putting a further strain on Utah's water security and impacting the state's economy.
The History of Utah is an examination of the human history and social activity within the state of Utah located in the western United States.
Archaeological evidence dates the earliest habitation of humans in Utah to about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. Paleolithic people lived near the Great Basin's swamps and marshes, which had an abundance of fish, birds, and small game animals. Big game, including bison, mammoths and ground sloths, also were attracted to these water sources. Over the centuries, the mega-fauna died, this population was replaced by the Desert Archaic people, who sheltered in caves near the Great Salt Lake. Relying more on gathering than the previous Utah residents, their diet was mainly composed of cattails and other salt tolerant plants such as pickleweed, burro weed and sedge. Red meat appears to have been more of a luxury, although these people used nets and the atlatl to hunt water fowl, ducks, small animals and antelope. Artifacts include nets woven with plant fibers and rabbit skin, woven sandals, gaming sticks, and animal figures made from split-twigs. About 3,500 years ago, lake levels rose and the population of Desert Archaic people appears to have dramatically decreased. The Great Basin may have been almost unoccupied for 1,000 years.
The Fremont culture, named from sites near the Fremont River in Utah, lived in what is now north and western Utah and parts of Nevada, Idaho and Colorado from approximately 600 to 1300 AD. These people lived in areas close to water sources that had been previously occupied by the Desert Archaic people, and may have had some relationship with them. However, their use of new technologies define them as a distinct people. Fremont technologies include:
use of the bow and arrow while hunting,
building pithouse shelters,
growing maize and probably beans and squash,
building above ground granaries of adobe or stone,
creating and decorating low-fired pottery ware,
producing art, including jewelry and rock art such as petroglyphs and pictographs.
The ancient Puebloan culture, also known as the Anasazi, occupied territory adjacent to the Fremont. The ancestral Puebloan culture centered on the present-day Four Corners area of the Southwest United States, including the San Juan River region of Utah. Archaeologists debate when this distinct culture emerged, but cultural development seems to date from about the common era, about 500 years before the Fremont appeared. It is generally accepted that the cultural peak of these people was around the 1200 CE. Ancient Puebloan culture is known for well constructed pithouses and more elaborate adobe and masonry dwellings. They were excellent craftsmen, producing turquoise jewelry and fine pottery. The Puebloan culture was based on agriculture, and the people created and cultivated fields of maize, beans, and squash and domesticated turkeys. They designed and produced elaborate field terracing and irrigation systems. They also built structures, some known as kivas, apparently designed solely for cultural and religious rituals.
These two later cultures were roughly contemporaneous, and appear to have established trading relationships. They also shared enough cultural traits that archaeologists believe the cultures may have common roots in the early American Southwest. However, each remained culturally distinct throughout most of their existence. These two well established cultures appear to have been severely impacted by climatic change and perhaps by the incursion of new people in about 1200 CE. Over the next two centuries, the Fremont and ancient Pueblo people may have moved into the American southwest, finding new homes and farmlands in the river drainages of Arizona, New Mexico and northern Mexico.
In about 1200, Shoshonean speaking peoples entered Utah territory from the west. They may have originated in southern California and moved into the desert environment due to population pressure along the coast. They were an upland people with a hunting and gathering lifestyle utilizing roots and seeds, including the pinyon nut. They were also skillful fishermen, created pottery and raised some crops. When they first arrived in Utah, they lived as small family groups with little tribal organization. Four main Shoshonean peoples inhabited Utah country. The Shoshone in the north and northeast, the Gosiutes in the northwest, the Utes in the central and eastern parts of the region and the Southern Paiutes in the southwest. Initially, there seems to have been very little conflict between these groups.
In the early 16th century, the San Juan River basin in Utah's southeast also saw a new people, the Díne or Navajo, part of a greater group of plains Athabaskan speakers moved into the Southwest from the Great Plains. In addition to the Navajo, this language group contained people that were later known as Apaches, including the Lipan, Jicarilla, and Mescalero Apaches.
Athabaskans were a hunting people who initially followed the bison, and were identified in 16th-century Spanish accounts as "dog nomads". The Athabaskans expanded their range throughout the 17th century, occupying areas the Pueblo peoples had abandoned during prior centuries. The Spanish first specifically mention the "Apachu de Nabajo" (Navaho) in the 1620s, referring to the people in the Chama valley region east of the San Juan River, and north west of Santa Fe. By the 1640s, the term Navaho was applied to these same people. Although the Navajo newcomers established a generally peaceful trading and cultural exchange with the some modern Pueblo peoples to the south, they experienced intermittent warfare with the Shoshonean peoples, particularly the Utes in eastern Utah and western Colorado.
At the time of European expansion, beginning with Spanish explorers traveling from Mexico, five distinct native peoples occupied territory within the Utah area: the Northern Shoshone, the Goshute, the Ute, the Paiute and the Navajo.
The Spanish explorer Francisco Vázquez de Coronado may have crossed into what is now southern Utah in 1540, when he was seeking the legendary Cíbola.
A group led by two Spanish Catholic priests—sometimes called the Domínguez–Escalante expedition—left Santa Fe in 1776, hoping to find a route to the California coast. The expedition traveled as far north as Utah Lake and encountered the native residents. All of what is now Utah was claimed by the Spanish Empire from the 1500s to 1821 as part of New Spain (later as the province Alta California); and subsequently claimed by Mexico from 1821 to 1848. However, Spain and Mexico had little permanent presence in, or control of, the region.
Fur trappers (also known as mountain men) including Jim Bridger, explored some regions of Utah in the early 19th century. The city of Provo was named for one such man, Étienne Provost, who visited the area in 1825. The city of Ogden, Utah is named for a brigade leader of the Hudson's Bay Company, Peter Skene Ogden who trapped in the Weber Valley. In 1846, a year before the arrival of members from the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints, the ill-fated Donner Party crossed through the Salt Lake valley late in the season, deciding not to stay the winter there but to continue forward to California, and beyond.
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as Mormon pioneers, first came to the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. At the time, the U.S. had already captured the Mexican territories of Alta California and New Mexico in the Mexican–American War and planned to keep them, but those territories, including the future state of Utah, officially became United States territory upon the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, February 2, 1848. The treaty was ratified by the United States Senate on March 10, 1848.
Upon arrival in the Salt Lake Valley, the Mormon pioneers found no permanent settlement of Indians. Other areas along the Wasatch Range were occupied at the time of settlement by the Northwestern Shoshone and adjacent areas by other bands of Shoshone such as the Gosiute. The Northwestern Shoshone lived in the valleys on the eastern shore of Great Salt Lake and in adjacent mountain valleys. Some years after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley Mormons, who went on to colonize many other areas of what is now Utah, were petitioned by Indians for recompense for land taken. The response of Heber C. Kimball, first counselor to Brigham Young, was that the land belonged to "our Father in Heaven and we expect to plow and plant it." A 1945 Supreme Court decision found that the land had been treated by the United States as public domain; no aboriginal title by the Northwestern Shoshone had been recognized by the United States or extinguished by treaty with the United States.
Upon arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, the Mormons had to make a place to live. They created irrigation systems, laid out farms, built houses, churches, and schools. Access to water was crucially important. Almost immediately, Brigham Young set out to identify and claim additional community sites. While it was difficult to find large areas in the Great Basin where water sources were dependable and growing seasons long enough to raise vitally important subsistence crops, satellite communities began to be formed.
Shortly after the first company arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, the community of Bountiful was settled to the north. In 1848, settlers moved into lands purchased from trapper Miles Goodyear in present-day Ogden. In 1849, Tooele and Provo were founded. Also that year, at the invitation of Ute chief Wakara, settlers moved into the Sanpete Valley in central Utah to establish the community of Manti. Fillmore, Utah, intended to be the capital of the new territory, was established in 1851. In 1855, missionary efforts aimed at western native cultures led to outposts in Fort Lemhi, Idaho, Las Vegas, Nevada and Elk Mountain in east-central Utah.
The experiences of returning members of the Mormon Battalion were also important in establishing new communities. On their journey west, the Mormon soldiers had identified dependable rivers and fertile river valleys in Colorado, Arizona and southern California. In addition, as the men traveled to rejoin their families in the Salt Lake Valley, they moved through southern Nevada and the eastern segments of southern Utah. Jefferson Hunt, a senior Mormon officer of the Battalion, actively searched for settlement sites, minerals, and other resources. His report encouraged 1851 settlement efforts in Iron County, near present-day Cedar City. These southern explorations eventually led to Mormon settlements in St. George, Utah, Las Vegas and San Bernardino, California, as well as communities in southern Arizona.
Prior to establishment of the Oregon and California trails and Mormon settlement, Indians native to the Salt Lake Valley and adjacent areas lived by hunting buffalo and other game, but also gathered grass seed from the bountiful grass of the area as well as roots such as those of the Indian Camas. By the time of settlement, indeed before 1840, the buffalo were gone from the valley, but hunting by settlers and grazing of cattle severely impacted the Indians in the area, and as settlement expanded into nearby river valleys and oases, indigenous tribes experienced increasing difficulty in gathering sufficient food. Brigham Young's counsel was to feed the hungry tribes, and that was done, but it was often not enough. These tensions formed the background to the Bear River massacre committed by California Militia stationed in Salt Lake City during the Civil War. The site of the massacre is just inside Preston, Idaho, but was generally thought to be within Utah at the time.
Statehood was petitioned for in 1849-50 using the name Deseret. The proposed State of Deseret would have been quite large, encompassing all of what is now Utah, and portions of Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Wyoming, Arizona, Oregon, New Mexico and California. The name of Deseret was favored by the LDS leader Brigham Young as a symbol of industry and was derived from a reference in the Book of Mormon. The petition was rejected by Congress and Utah did not become a state until 1896, following the Utah Constitutional Convention of 1895.
In 1850, the Utah Territory was created with the Compromise of 1850, and Fillmore (named after President Fillmore) was designated the capital. In 1856, Salt Lake City replaced Fillmore as the territorial capital.
The first group of pioneers brought African slaves with them, making Utah the only place in the western United States to have African slavery. Three slaves, Green Flake, Hark Lay, and Oscar Crosby, came west with this first group in 1847. The settlers also began to purchase Indian slaves in the well-established Indian slave trade, as well as enslaving Indian prisoners of war. In 1850, 26 slaves were counted in Salt Lake County. Slavery didn't become officially recognized until 1852, when the Act in Relation to Service and the Act for the relief of Indian Slaves and Prisoners were passed. Slavery was repealed on June 19, 1862, when Congress prohibited slavery in all US territories.
Disputes between the Mormon inhabitants and the federal government intensified after the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' practice of polygamy became known. The polygamous practices of the Mormons, which were made public in 1854, would be one of the major reasons Utah was denied statehood until almost 50 years after the Mormons had entered the area.
After news of their polygamous practices spread, the members of the LDS Church were quickly viewed by some as un-American and rebellious. In 1857, after news of a possible rebellion spread, President James Buchanan sent troops on the Utah expedition to quell the growing unrest and to replace Brigham Young as territorial governor with Alfred Cumming. The expedition was also known as the Utah War.
As fear of invasion grew, Mormon settlers had convinced some Paiute Indians to aid in a Mormon-led attack on 120 immigrants from Arkansas under the guise of Indian aggression. The murder of these settlers became known as the Mountain Meadows massacre. The Mormon leadership had adopted a defensive posture that led to a ban on the selling of grain to outsiders in preparation for an impending war. This chafed pioneers traveling through the region, who were unable to purchase badly needed supplies. A disagreement between some of the Arkansas pioneers and the Mormons in Cedar City led to the secret planning of the massacre by a few Mormon leaders in the area. Some scholars debate the involvement of Brigham Young. Only one man, John D. Lee, was ever convicted of the murders, and he was executed at the massacre site.
Express riders had brought the news 1,000 miles from the Missouri River settlements to Salt Lake City within about two weeks of the army's beginning to march west. Fearing the worst as 2,500 troops (roughly 1/3rd of the army then) led by General Albert Sidney Johnston started west, Brigham Young ordered all residents of Salt Lake City and neighboring communities to prepare their homes for burning and evacuate southward to Utah Valley and southern Utah. Young also sent out a few units of the Nauvoo Legion (numbering roughly 8,000–10,000), to delay the army's advance. The majority he sent into the mountains to prepare defenses or south to prepare for a scorched earth retreat. Although some army wagon supply trains were captured and burned and herds of army horses and cattle run off no serious fighting occurred. Starting late and short on supplies, the United States Army camped during the bitter winter of 1857–58 near a burned out Fort Bridger in Wyoming. Through the negotiations between emissary Thomas L. Kane, Young, Cumming and Johnston, control of Utah territory was peacefully transferred to Cumming, who entered an eerily vacant Salt Lake City in the spring of 1858. By agreement with Young, Johnston established the army at Fort Floyd 40 miles away from Salt Lake City, to the southwest.
Salt Lake City was the last link of the First Transcontinental Telegraph, between Carson City, Nevada and Omaha, Nebraska completed in October 1861. Brigham Young, who had helped expedite construction, was among the first to send a message, along with Abraham Lincoln and other officials. Soon after the telegraph line was completed, the Deseret Telegraph Company built the Deseret line connecting the settlements in the territory with Salt Lake City and, by extension, the rest of the United States.
Because of the American Civil War, federal troops were pulled out of Utah Territory (and their fort auctioned off), leaving the territorial government in federal hands without army backing until General Patrick E. Connor arrived with the 3rd Regiment of California Volunteers in 1862. While in Utah, Connor and his troops soon became discontent with this assignment wanting to head to Virginia where the "real" fighting and glory was occurring. Connor established Fort Douglas just three miles (5 km) east of Salt Lake City and encouraged his bored and often idle soldiers to go out and explore for mineral deposits to bring more non-Mormons into the state. Minerals were discovered in Tooele County, and some miners began to come to the territory. Conner also solved the Shoshone Indian problem in Cache Valley Utah by luring the Shoshone into a midwinter confrontation on January 29, 1863. The armed conflict quickly turned into a rout, discipline among the soldiers broke down, and the Battle of Bear River is today usually referred to by historians as the Bear River Massacre. Between 200 and 400 Shoshone men, women and children were killed, as were 27 soldiers, with over 50 more soldiers wounded or suffering from frostbite.
Beginning in 1865, Utah's Black Hawk War developed into the deadliest conflict in the territory's history. Chief Antonga Black Hawk died in 1870, but fights continued to break out until additional federal troops were sent in to suppress the Ghost Dance of 1872. The war is unique among Indian Wars because it was a three-way conflict, with mounted Timpanogos Utes led by Antonga Black Hawk fighting federal and Utah local militia.
On May 10, 1869, the First transcontinental railroad was completed at Promontory Summit, north of the Great Salt Lake. The railroad brought increasing numbers of people into the state, and several influential businessmen made fortunes in the territory.
Main article: Latter Day Saint polygamy in the late-19th century
During the 1870s and 1880s, federal laws were passed and federal marshals assigned to enforce the laws against polygamy. In the 1890 Manifesto, the LDS Church leadership dropped its approval of polygamy citing divine revelation. When Utah applied for statehood again in 1895, it was accepted. Statehood was officially granted on January 4, 1896.
The Mormon issue made the situation for women the topic of nationwide controversy. In 1870 the Utah Territory, controlled by Mormons, gave women the right to vote. However, in 1887, Congress disenfranchised Utah women with the Edmunds–Tucker Act. In 1867–96, eastern activists promoted women's suffrage in Utah as an experiment, and as a way to eliminate polygamy. They were Presbyterians and other Protestants convinced that Mormonism was a non-Christian cult that grossly mistreated women. The Mormons promoted woman suffrage to counter the negative image of downtrodden Mormon women. With the 1890 Manifesto clearing the way for statehood, in 1895 Utah adopted a constitution restoring the right of women's suffrage. Congress admitted Utah as a state with that constitution in 1896.
Though less numerous than other intermountain states at the time, several lynching murders for alleged misdeeds occurred in Utah territory at the hand of vigilantes. Those documented include the following, with their ethnicity or national origin noted in parentheses if it was provided in the source:
William Torrington in Carson City (then a part of Utah territory), 1859
Thomas Coleman (Black man) in Salt Lake City, 1866
3 unidentified men at Wahsatch, winter of 1868
A Black man in Uintah, 1869
Charles A. Benson in Logan, 1873
Ah Sing (Chinese man) in Corinne, 1874
Thomas Forrest in St. George, 1880
William Harvey (Black man) in Salt Lake City, 1883
John Murphy in Park City, 1883
George Segal (Japanese man) in Ogden, 1884
Joseph Fisher in Eureka, 1886
Robert Marshall (Black man) in Castle Gate, 1925
Other lynchings in Utah territory include multiple instances of mass murder of Native American children, women, and men by White settlers including the Battle Creek massacre (1849), Provo River Massacre (1850), Nephi massacre (1853), and Circleville Massacre (1866).
Beginning in the early 20th century, with the establishment of such national parks as Bryce Canyon National Park and Zion National Park, Utah began to become known for its natural beauty. Southern Utah became a popular filming spot for arid, rugged scenes, and such natural landmarks as Delicate Arch and "the Mittens" of Monument Valley are instantly recognizable to most national residents. During the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, with the construction of the Interstate highway system, accessibility to the southern scenic areas was made easier.
Beginning in 1939, with the establishment of Alta Ski Area, Utah has become world-renowned for its skiing. The dry, powdery snow of the Wasatch Range is considered some of the best skiing in the world. Salt Lake City won the bid for the 2002 Winter Olympics in 1995, and this has served as a great boost to the economy. The ski resorts have increased in popularity, and many of the Olympic venues scattered across the Wasatch Front continue to be used for sporting events. This also spurred the development of the light-rail system in the Salt Lake Valley, known as TRAX, and the re-construction of the freeway system around the city.
During the late 20th century, the state grew quickly. In the 1970s, growth was phenomenal in the suburbs. Sandy was one of the fastest-growing cities in the country at that time, and West Valley City is the state's 2nd most populous city. Today, many areas of Utah are seeing phenomenal growth. Northern Davis, southern and western Salt Lake, Summit, eastern Tooele, Utah, Wasatch, and Washington counties are all growing very quickly. Transportation and urbanization are major issues in politics as development consumes agricultural land and wilderness areas.
In 2012, the State of Utah passed the Utah Transfer of Public Lands Act in an attempt to gain control over a substantial portion of federal land in the state from the federal government, based on language in the Utah Enabling Act of 1894. The State does not intend to use force or assert control by limiting access in an attempt to control the disputed lands, but does intend to use a multi-step process of education, negotiation, legislation, and if necessary, litigation as part of its multi-year effort to gain state or private control over the lands after 2014.
Utah families, like most Americans everywhere, did their utmost to assist in the war effort. Tires, meat, butter, sugar, fats, oils, coffee, shoes, boots, gasoline, canned fruits, vegetables, and soups were rationed on a national basis. The school day was shortened and bus routes were reduced to limit the number of resources used stateside and increase what could be sent to soldiers.
Geneva Steel was built to increase the steel production for America during World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had proposed opening a steel mill in Utah in 1936, but the idea was shelved after a couple of months. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States entered the war and the steel plant was put into progress. In April 1944, Geneva shipped its first order, which consisted of over 600 tons of steel plate. Geneva Steel also brought thousands of job opportunities to Utah. The positions were hard to fill as many of Utah's men were overseas fighting. Women began working, filling 25 percent of the jobs.
As a result of Utah's and Geneva Steels contribution during the war, several Liberty Ships were named in honor of Utah including the USS Joseph Smith, USS Brigham Young, USS Provo, and the USS Peter Skene Ogden.
One of the sectors of the beachhead of Normandy Landings was codenamed Utah Beach, and the amphibious landings at the beach were undertaken by United States Army troops.
It is estimated that 1,450 soldiers from Utah were killed in the war.
Amazon Vend-IT, keyboards, mice, all sorts of peripherals, makes a change from fizzy drinks and crisps I guess . . .
Eye looking through a snoot in black and white. Concept for Retinitis Pigmentosa Awareness Month (February).
Do you have these moments when you spot a creature out of your peripheral vision and you wish it would freeze where it is? I had such a moment, the creature was a skink. But as skinks do, they try to run and hide.
I followed this little skink from the grass on the side of the driveway until it disappeared under the car. Thankfully the car was parked. I was trying to figure out where it was hiding when I spotted it again. Rest assured, I gave it enough room to move and not feeling in danger and so it was moving from under the car to the front of it. I was able to capture a few photos before it decided to dash back under the car again.
What an encounter it was, I love being in the fauna rich Sunshine Coast Hinterlands.
Description:
Robust, with a dusting of fine pale lateral dots. Golden brown to coppery brown with many scattered to transversely aligned dark dorsal flecks, several large black lateral blotches between ear and forelimbs, and yellow and black mottled flanks with prominent, fine, white, to bluish-white dots. Ventral surface pale yellow between forelimbs and hind limbs. (Text Source: A Complete Guide to Reptiles of Australia, third edition)
My passion is wildlife photography. I hope I can bring the beauty of nature into your home and show how amazing nature is. Every single animal needs our protection as they all play an important part in our survival.
There is an abundance of scientific reports telling us that the rate of extinction is happening at an alarming rate. More and more fauna and flora are going to disappear. With my wildlife photography, I hope to showcase a fraction of animals before they are gone. Only what you know, you will love and protect…
©️ Spohr Photography 2020, all rights reserved
..... close to Pahia Ammos but hardly accessible from the land
wall_e_001
“Flippers”
“And when i see you, i really see you upside down...
but my brain knows better, and picks you up and turns you 'round, turns you around…” -DCFC
Did you know that your eye is a converging lens?
“When you see things around you, your retina projected the images upside down. This is due to the optics used by our eyes. Images need to be flip so we can see objects much larger than the size of our pupil and so that we may have peripheral vision.” -hhttp://www.retinaeyedoctor.com/2010/03/eye-images-reversed-on-retina/
Since childhood, we have been stuffing bumps, but we are moving on. We learn to walk, we fall, but we get up and try again. Growing up. And so, for example, we do not enter the institute. Someone does not give up and tries again, and someone does not make more attempts. And so in many ways. Some take life into their own hands, persistently strive to achieve goals, look for their own way, gain invaluable experience, stumble upon the misunderstanding of others, but despite this, they continue to go. "It didn't work out the first time, it will work out the second time!" - and they try further, act. And others find excuses, avoid responsibility, wait for the "X hour", do not believe in themselves, etc.
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And what do you think, if it didn't work out on the first attempt, is it worth giving up?
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Happy Defender of the Fatherland Day, strong half of humanity! Determination, resourcefulness, great achievements, courage and courage! Let there be no obstacles on your way that you could not overcome. Take care and love your family and friends! A peaceful sky over our heads for all of us!
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Ph: @safronoviv_photo
Loc: @alfabank
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#blackandwhite #computer #computermonitor #desk #outputdevice #peripheral #photograph #style #tie #whitecollarworker #NikonD4 #safronoviv_photo
THE MASTER OF PERIPHERAL VIBRATIONS / THE FINAL / CHRISTELLE GEISER & AEON VON ZARK / NAKED EYE PROJECT BIENNE / ALTERED STATE SERIE / THE WEIRD DREAM / PORTRAIT.
of how I am feeling these days. Peripheral neuropathy from the chemo forces me to rely on a walker and weakness in my hands prevents me from being able to steady my Nikons. As hard as this is, I know that this too shall pass, and to get to the other side, I have to go straight through the pain and frustration. It is what awaits me on the other side that makes the journey to the destination worth it all.
ÜRGÜP
Canon AE-1 Program.
KODACHROME
CAPPADOCIA WORLD HERITAGE LIST :
www.whc.unesco.org/en/list/357
In a spectacular landscape, entirely sculpted by erosion, the Göreme valley and its surroundings contain rock-hewn sanctuaries that provide unique evidence of Byzantine art in the post-Iconoclastic period. Dwellings, troglodyte villages and underground towns – the remains of a traditional human habitat dating back to the 4th century – can also be seen there.
Brief synthesis
Located on the central Anatolia plateau within a volcanic landscape sculpted by erosion to form a succession of mountain ridges, valleys and pinnacles known as “fairy chimneys” or hoodoos, Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia cover the region between the cities of Nevşehir, Ürgüp and Avanos, the sites of Karain, Karlık, Yeşilöz, Soğanlı and the subterranean cities of Kaymaklı and Derinkuyu. The area is bounded on the south and east by ranges of extinct volcanoes with Erciyes Dağ (3916 m) at one end and Hasan Dağ (3253 m) at the other. The density of its rock-hewn cells, churches, troglodyte villages and subterranean cities within the rock formations make it one of the world's most striking and largest cave-dwelling complexes. Though interesting from a geological and ethnological point of view, the incomparable beauty of the decor of the Christian sanctuaries makes Cappadocia one of the leading examples of the post-iconoclastic Byzantine art period.
It is believed that the first signs of monastic activity in Cappadocia date back to the 4th century at which time small anchorite communities, acting on the teachings of Basileios the Great, Bishop of Kayseri, began inhabiting cells hewn in the rock. In later periods, in order to resist Arab invasions, they began banding together into troglodyte villages or subterranean towns such as Kaymakli or Derinkuyu which served as places of refuge.
Cappadocian monasticism was already well established in the iconoclastic period (725-842) as illustrated by the decoration of many sanctuaries which kept a strict minimum of symbols (most often sculpted or tempera painted crosses). However, after 842 many rupestral churches were dug in Cappadocia and richly decorated with brightly coloured figurative painting. Those in the Göreme Valley include Tokalı Kilise and El Nazar Kilise (10th century), St. Barbara Kilise and Saklı Kilise (11th century) and Elmalı Kilise and Karanlık Kilise (end of the 12th – beginning of the 13th century).
Criterion (i): Owing to their quality and density, the rupestral sanctuaries of Cappadocia constitute a unique artistic achievement offering irreplaceable testimony to the post-iconoclastic Byzantine art period.
Criterion (iii): The rupestral dwellings, villages, convents and churches retain the fossilized image of a province of the Byzantine Empire between the 4th century and the arrival of the Seljuk Turks (1071). Thus, they are the essential vestiges of a civilization which has disappeared.
Criterion (v): Cappadocia is an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement which has become vulnerable under the combined effects of natural erosion and, more recently, tourism.
Criterion (vii): In a spectacular landscape dramatically demonstrating erosional forces, the Göreme Valley and its surroundings provide a globally renowned and accessible display of hoodoo landforms and other erosional features, which are of great beauty, and which interact with the cultural elements of the landscape.
Integrity
Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia, having been extensively used and modified by man for centuries, is a landscape of harmony combining human interaction and settlement with dramatic natural landforms. There has been some earthquake damage to some of the cones and the pillars, but this is seen as a naturally occurring phenomenon. Overuse by tourists and some vandalism have been reported and some incompatible structures have been introduced.
The erosional processes that formed the distinctive conical rock structures will continue to create new fairy chimneys and rock pillars, however due to the rate of this process, the natural values of the property may still be threatened by unsustainable use. The cultural features, including rock-hewn churches and related cultural structures, mainly at risk of being undermined by erosion and other negative natural processes coupled with mass tourism and development pressures, can never be replaced. threats Some of the churches mentioned by early scholars such as C. Texier, H.G. Rott and Guillaume de Jerphanion are no longer extant.
Authenticity
The property meets the conditions of authenticity as its values and their attributes, including its historical setting, form, design, material and workmanship adequately reflect the cultural and natural values recognized in the inscription criteria.
Given the technical difficulties of building in this region, where it is a matter of hewing out structures within the natural rock, creating architecture by the removal of material rather than by putting it together to form the elements of a building, the underlying morphological structure and the difficulties inherent in the handling of the material inhibited the creative impulses of the builders. This conditioning of human effort by natural conditions persisted almost unchanged through successive periods and civilizations, influencing the cultural attitudes and technical skills of each succeeding generation.
Protection and management requirements
The World Heritage property Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia is subject to legal protection in accordance with both the Protection of Cultural and Natural Resources Act No. 2863 and the National Parks Act No. 2873. The entire territory between the cities of Nevşehir, Ürgüp and Avanos is designated as a National Park under the Act No. 2873. In addition, natural, archaeological, urban, and mixed archaeological and natural conservation areas, two underground towns, five troglodyte villages, and more than 200 individual rock-hewn churches, some of which contain numerous frescoes, have been entered into the register of immovable monuments and sites according to the Act No. 2863.
Legal protection, management and monitoring of the Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia fall within the scope of national and regional governmental administrations. The Nevşehir and Kayseri Regional Conservation Councils are responsible for keeping the register of monuments and sites, including carrying out all tasks related to the legal protection of monuments and listed buildings and the approval to carry out any restoration-related works. They also evaluate regional and conservation area plans prepared by the responsible national and/or local (i.e. municipal) authorities.
Studies for revision and updating of the existing land use and conservation plan (Göreme National Park Long-term Development Plan) of 1981 were completed in 2003. The major planning decisions proposed were that natural conservation areas are to be protected as they were declared in 1976. Minor adjustments in the peripheral areas of settlements and spatial developments of towns located in the natural conservation sites including Göreme, Ortahisar, Çavuşin, Ürgüp and Mustafapaşa will be strictly controlled. In other words, the Plan proposes to confine the physical growth of these towns to recently established zones. Hotel developments will take into account the set limits for room capacities. Furthermore, the plan also suggested that local authorities should be advised to review land use decisions for areas that have been reserved for tourism developments in the town plans.
Preparation of conservation area plans for the urban and/or mixed urban-archaeological conservation sites within the historic sections of Göreme are in place and provide zoning criteria and the rules and guidelines to be used in the maintenance and restoration of listed buildings and other buildings which are not registered, but which are located within the historic zones. Similar planning studies for the towns of Ortahisar and Uçhisar are in place. Once finalised, a conservation area plan for the urban conservation area in Ürgüp will be in place. All relevant plans are kept up to date on a continuing basis.
Appropriate facilities aimed at improving the understanding of the World Heritage property have been completed for the subterranean towns of Kaymaklı and Derinkuyu, and are required for Göreme and Paşabağı.
Monuments in danger due to erosion, including the El Nazar, Elmalı, and Meryemana (Virgin Mary) churches, have been listed as monuments requiring priority action. Specific measures for their protection, restoration and maintenance are required at the site level.
While conservation plans and protection measures are in place for individual sites, it is recognised by the principal parties responsible for site management that an integrated Regional Plan for the Cappadocia Cultural and Tourism Conservation and Development Area is required to protect the World Heritage values of the property. Adequate financial, political and technical support is also required to secure the management of the propert
whc.unesco.org/en/list/357
www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/world-heritage/cappadocia/
From Wikipedia:
"The word is used to describe the sensation of having glimpsed oneself in peripheral vision, in a position where there is no chance that it could have been a reflection."
"In September 2006, it was reported in Nature that Shahar Arzy and colleagues of the University Hospital, Geneva, Switzerland, unexpectedly had reproduced an effect strongly reminiscent of the doppelgänger phenomenon via the electromagnetic stimulation of a patient's brain. They applied focal electrical stimulation to a patient's left temporoparietal junction while she lay flat on a bed. The patient immediately felt the presence of another person in her "extrapersonal space." Other than epilepsy, for which the patient was being treated, she was psychologically fit.
The other person was described as young, of indeterminate sex, silent, motionless, and with a body posture identical to her own. The other person was located exactly behind her, almost touching and therefore within the bed on which the patient was lying.
A second electrical stimulation was applied with slightly more intensity, while the patient was sitting up with her arms folded. This time the patient felt the presence of a "man" who had his arms wrapped around her. She described the sensation as highly unpleasant and electrical stimulation was stopped.
Finally, when the patient was seated, electrical stimulation was applied while the patient was asked to perform a language test with a set of flash cards. On this occasion the patient reported the presence of a sitting person, displaced behind her and to the right. She said the presence was attempting to interfere with the test: "He wants to take the card; he doesn’t want me to read." Again, the effect was disturbing and electrical stimulation was ceased.
Similar effects were found for different positions and postures when electrical stimulation exceeded 10 mA, at the left temporoparietal junction.
Arzy and his colleagues suggest that the left temporoparietal junction of the brain evokes the sensation of self image—body location, position, posture etc. When the left temporoparietal junction is disturbed, the sensation of self-attribution is broken and may be replaced by the sensation of a foreign presence or copy of oneself displaced nearby. This copy mirrors the real person's body posture, location and position. Arzy and his colleagues suggest that the phenomenon they created is seen in certain mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, particularly when accompanied by paranoia, delusions of persecution and of alien control. Nevertheless, the effects reported are highly reminiscent of the doppelgänger phenomenon. Accordingly, some reports of doppelgängers may well be due to failure of the left temporoparietal junction."
With the reduction in the fish catch in the north sea increasing numbers of fishermen are now turning to whelks to make ends meet. These are considered a delicacy in the far east. (Aphrodisiac?)
Specimen at usual maximum shell-length for P. ulyssiponensis.
On this form, well-developed, thick, porcellaneous interior layers conceal outer shell so “marginal rays are never conspicuous” internally (Fretter and Graham, 1994), and features defined by differences of reflectivity resulting from differences in crystal-form of shell-material made by different parts of mantle are clearly visible.
1: aperture rim, minute (or absent) part of pigmented exterior shell-layer; secreted by mantle-edge.
2: wide peripheral “skirt layer” that reflects light, often iridescing blue, from many short crystalline lines parallel to rim; secreted by mantle-skirt.
3: narrower, matt, opaque, “pallial groove-band”; secreted by mantle roofing groove that contains the gills.
4: translucent, horseshoe-shape “pedal-retractor muscle scar”; mark left by muscle attachment.
5: very thin “anterior mantle-attachment scar” connecting ends of pedal-retractor scar; mark left by mantle attachment.
6: central “amphora area” enclosed by scars 4 & 5; secreted by mantle over visceral hump.
7: short mark across pallial groove-band where efferent pallial vessel enters nuchal cavity through gap in pallial gills.
8: excavated vertex patch; occurs more frequently in P. depressa than in P. ulyssiponensis, but, in this case, in the form of two adjoining elliptical pits. Cause unknown; but, as shape regular and consistent, damage by parasite/inquiline suspected. Similar pits on image Pu14 flic.kr/p/BpCkES .
SPECIES DESCRIPTION part A 2Pu flic.kr/p/BG8mKq
SPECIES DESCRIPTION part B 3Pu flic.kr/p/BRHsiR
Key id. features 4Pu flic.kr/p/BG8hhs
OTHER SPECIES ALBUMS
Bastia - CORSICA
Le centre culturel a été inauguré en septembre 2015. Tête de pont de la politique culturelle de la ville, au même titre que le théâtre municipal, l’ambition de ce lieu de culture, à la frontière du centre-ville et d’espaces plus urbains en voie de requalification, est à la fois de proposer une offre culturelle exigeante et diversifiée au cœur d’un quartier prioritaire mais également de rapprocher les entités bastiaises (centre-ville et quartiers périphériques), en travaillant sur les représentations et la valorisation de l’image du quartier. L’alb’oru trait d’union entre le centre-ville et les quartiers Sud, est un outil au service des habitants.
The cultural center was inaugurated in September 2015. A bridgehead for the city's cultural policy, just like the municipal theater, the ambition of this place of culture, on the border of the city center and more open spaces urban areas in the process of requalification, is both to offer a demanding and diversified cultural offer in the heart of a priority district but also to bring together the Bastia entities (city center and peripheral districts), by working on the representations and promotion of the image of the neighborhood. The alb’oru, a link between the city center and the southern districts, is a tool serving residents.
Exposure: f5.6, ISO100 at 60seconds
Location: IWay construction site, Providence RI
Date: August 29, 2007 12:33 am
Notes: Shot with Nikon D200 with Nikon 10.5mm
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The usual crew of threshold, rizzolo, skazama and rtlm401 came out to Providence to shoot the IWAY before it's impending opening of the Rte-195 East Bound lanes in November.
Down below is a haunt we visited many times prior to the IWAY construction.
After finishing the film in my F100 and Holga I allowed the D200 to come out and play. That wasn't until 11pm and the "Late Nighters" stayed until 1:20am... man was beat the next day.
You can see a group pool here of all our shots on Flickr from the night or a slick slideshow here. It may take a week or so for all the shots to be posted.
“NO, THIS NOT a scene from the movie 2001, but an artist’s conception of what a Boeing - built spaceport might look like, when and if such a structure becomes a reality. Boeing Aerospace Co. is studying this “versatile operations base in space” under terms of a $400,000, year-long contract with NASA. Geared to the flights of the space shuttle (shown upper left), the space station would orbit about 250 miles above the Earth. It would have mainly operational, rather than scientific, functions. A crew of four could man the spaceport by the late 1980s, officials said. – Drawing by John J. Olson.”
Due to its larger size (8.625" x 11"), along with being on Kodak paper, I'm pretty sure this was part of some polished, professional Boeing presentation portfolio/packet.
Exquisite detail and a masterful depiction of multiple geometric perspectives, shadows/shading…you name it…a walk-in-the-park for John J. Olson. Gratifying to see him called out in the description/caption. The man – not just the artist – was most deserving of it:
www.398th.org/Images/Images_Association/Text/Olson_Cleari...
Credit: 398th Bomb Group Memorial Association website
Even though a sheep eye and a human eye are different, they do share a few similarities. Sheep cannot see color, but they do have better peripheral vision than humans do. Scientists are very interested in studying the eyes of sheep because their research has led them to believe they can discover many new things about vision in humans and how they can correct problems.
It is extremely difficult to compare the eyes and the vision of two different species. In the case of the sheep eye and the human eye, though, there are many differences. The human eye has a fovea in the retina where the vision cells are located. This allows people to have sharp, clear vision. There is no fovea in the eye of a sheep, which means they are unable to focus on a specific object as humans can.
The eyes of the sheep are located on the sides of the head which enables them to be able to have a better peripheral vision, and this means that they have better vision to the sides. The human eyes face forward and this gives them overlapping, binocular vision. The eyes of the sheep are farther back on the top of their heads so that they have the ability to scan areas that are close by while they are grazing. This is also something that humans are unable to do.
Humans have a narrower field of vision than sheep, but they do have a greater field of depth perception than sheep. But this is not regarded as a major fault of the sheep eye because sheep not need depth perception in order to see grass in the field. For them the peripheral vision is more important because it enables them to see predators and this gives them time to escape.
More differences between the sheep eye and the human eye
1.The human eye has a circular shaped pupil, but the pupil in the sheep eye is oval in shape.
2.In the eye of the sheep there is a layer of tissues called the tapectum lucidum and this causes light to reflect off the eyes. This tissue is not present in the human eye.
3.Sheep have eyes on the sides of their heads, but human eyes face forward.
4.The human eye has depth perception, but the sheep eye does not.
5.In the human eye there are six muscles to allow movement, but in the sheep eye there are only four.
Source: *VSPages*
WEEK 22 – FGS Kroger, Set II
Here’s another look at the central portion of the façade, home to the Kroger logo and offshoot “Food & Pharmacy” signage. Actually… can this really be called the central portion? It’s actually the rightmost area of the storefront, not the center. But I would imagine the placement of the logo indicates centrality, insofar as the definition “of the greatest importance; principal or essential” is concerned (and not “of, at, or forming the center”). Oh well. Unlike me, I’m sure most (if not all!) of you could care less about all that stuff, so I digress. :P
Kroger // 1690 Powder Springs Road SW, Marietta, GA 30064
(c) 2019 Retail Retell
These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)
163/365
"Of the many drugs that are inhaled in this manner, nitrous oxide may be one of the safest. However, the mere fact that ones lungs can be filled with the stuff, at a very rapid rate means that asphyxiation can occur by displacing oxygen from the lungs, or suffocation can occur by simply blocking the ability of oxygen to get into the lungs as it normally would."
"Chronic inhalation of nitrous oxide results in damage to the peripheral nerves. Symptoms can include numbness, a tingling sensation or total paralysis."
National Inhalant Prevention Coalition
Disclaimer:
*No whippits were done in the taking of this photo.*
Hot Air Ballooning Cappadocia:
A must do in Cappadocia is take a balloon ride in order to see the sights from a vantage point like no other. On this 1-hour flight at sunrise you will experience the changing colors and the unique landscapes that scatter the region.
Enjoy a unique hot air balloon flight over the fairy chimneys and rock cut churches. This exhilarating experience in Cappadocia is one of the best places around the world to fly with hot air balloons.
www.britannica.com/place/Cappadocia/media/94094/229210
CAPPADOCIA WORLD HERITAGE LIST :
www.whc.unesco.org/en/list/357
In a spectacular landscape, entirely sculpted by erosion, the Göreme valley and its surroundings contain rock-hewn sanctuaries that provide unique evidence of Byzantine art in the post-Iconoclastic period. Dwellings, troglodyte villages and underground towns – the remains of a traditional human habitat dating back to the 4th century – can also be seen there.
Brief synthesis
Located on the central Anatolia plateau within a volcanic landscape sculpted by erosion to form a succession of mountain ridges, valleys and pinnacles known as “fairy chimneys” or hoodoos, Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia cover the region between the cities of Nevşehir, Ürgüp and Avanos, the sites of Karain, Karlık, Yeşilöz, Soğanlı and the subterranean cities of Kaymaklı and Derinkuyu. The area is bounded on the south and east by ranges of extinct volcanoes with Erciyes Dağ (3916 m) at one end and Hasan Dağ (3253 m) at the other. The density of its rock-hewn cells, churches, troglodyte villages and subterranean cities within the rock formations make it one of the world's most striking and largest cave-dwelling complexes. Though interesting from a geological and ethnological point of view, the incomparable beauty of the decor of the Christian sanctuaries makes Cappadocia one of the leading examples of the post-iconoclastic Byzantine art period.
It is believed that the first signs of monastic activity in Cappadocia date back to the 4th century at which time small anchorite communities, acting on the teachings of Basileios the Great, Bishop of Kayseri, began inhabiting cells hewn in the rock. In later periods, in order to resist Arab invasions, they began banding together into troglodyte villages or subterranean towns such as Kaymakli or Derinkuyu which served as places of refuge.
Cappadocian monasticism was already well established in the iconoclastic period (725-842) as illustrated by the decoration of many sanctuaries which kept a strict minimum of symbols (most often sculpted or tempera painted crosses). However, after 842 many rupestral churches were dug in Cappadocia and richly decorated with brightly coloured figurative painting. Those in the Göreme Valley include Tokalı Kilise and El Nazar Kilise (10th century), St. Barbara Kilise and Saklı Kilise (11th century) and Elmalı Kilise and Karanlık Kilise (end of the 12th – beginning of the 13th century).
Criterion (i): Owing to their quality and density, the rupestral sanctuaries of Cappadocia constitute a unique artistic achievement offering irreplaceable testimony to the post-iconoclastic Byzantine art period.
Criterion (iii): The rupestral dwellings, villages, convents and churches retain the fossilized image of a province of the Byzantine Empire between the 4th century and the arrival of the Seljuk Turks (1071). Thus, they are the essential vestiges of a civilization which has disappeared.
Criterion (v): Cappadocia is an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement which has become vulnerable under the combined effects of natural erosion and, more recently, tourism.
Criterion (vii): In a spectacular landscape dramatically demonstrating erosional forces, the Göreme Valley and its surroundings provide a globally renowned and accessible display of hoodoo landforms and other erosional features, which are of great beauty, and which interact with the cultural elements of the landscape.
Integrity
Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia, having been extensively used and modified by man for centuries, is a landscape of harmony combining human interaction and settlement with dramatic natural landforms. There has been some earthquake damage to some of the cones and the pillars, but this is seen as a naturally occurring phenomenon. Overuse by tourists and some vandalism have been reported and some incompatible structures have been introduced.
The erosional processes that formed the distinctive conical rock structures will continue to create new fairy chimneys and rock pillars, however due to the rate of this process, the natural values of the property may still be threatened by unsustainable use. The cultural features, including rock-hewn churches and related cultural structures, mainly at risk of being undermined by erosion and other negative natural processes coupled with mass tourism and development pressures, can never be replaced. threats Some of the churches mentioned by early scholars such as C. Texier, H.G. Rott and Guillaume de Jerphanion are no longer extant.
Authenticity
The property meets the conditions of authenticity as its values and their attributes, including its historical setting, form, design, material and workmanship adequately reflect the cultural and natural values recognized in the inscription criteria.
Given the technical difficulties of building in this region, where it is a matter of hewing out structures within the natural rock, creating architecture by the removal of material rather than by putting it together to form the elements of a building, the underlying morphological structure and the difficulties inherent in the handling of the material inhibited the creative impulses of the builders. This conditioning of human effort by natural conditions persisted almost unchanged through successive periods and civilizations, influencing the cultural attitudes and technical skills of each succeeding generation.
Protection and management requirements
The World Heritage property Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia is subject to legal protection in accordance with both the Protection of Cultural and Natural Resources Act No. 2863 and the National Parks Act No. 2873. The entire territory between the cities of Nevşehir, Ürgüp and Avanos is designated as a National Park under the Act No. 2873. In addition, natural, archaeological, urban, and mixed archaeological and natural conservation areas, two underground towns, five troglodyte villages, and more than 200 individual rock-hewn churches, some of which contain numerous frescoes, have been entered into the register of immovable monuments and sites according to the Act No. 2863.
Legal protection, management and monitoring of the Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia fall within the scope of national and regional governmental administrations. The Nevşehir and Kayseri Regional Conservation Councils are responsible for keeping the register of monuments and sites, including carrying out all tasks related to the legal protection of monuments and listed buildings and the approval to carry out any restoration-related works. They also evaluate regional and conservation area plans prepared by the responsible national and/or local (i.e. municipal) authorities.
Studies for revision and updating of the existing land use and conservation plan (Göreme National Park Long-term Development Plan) of 1981 were completed in 2003. The major planning decisions proposed were that natural conservation areas are to be protected as they were declared in 1976. Minor adjustments in the peripheral areas of settlements and spatial developments of towns located in the natural conservation sites including Göreme, Ortahisar, Çavuşin, Ürgüp and Mustafapaşa will be strictly controlled. In other words, the Plan proposes to confine the physical growth of these towns to recently established zones. Hotel developments will take into account the set limits for room capacities. Furthermore, the plan also suggested that local authorities should be advised to review land use decisions for areas that have been reserved for tourism developments in the town plans.
Preparation of conservation area plans for the urban and/or mixed urban-archaeological conservation sites within the historic sections of Göreme are in place and provide zoning criteria and the rules and guidelines to be used in the maintenance and restoration of listed buildings and other buildings which are not registered, but which are located within the historic zones. Similar planning studies for the towns of Ortahisar and Uçhisar are in place. Once finalised, a conservation area plan for the urban conservation area in Ürgüp will be in place. All relevant plans are kept up to date on a continuing basis.
Appropriate facilities aimed at improving the understanding of the World Heritage property have been completed for the subterranean towns of Kaymaklı and Derinkuyu, and are required for Göreme and Paşabağı.
Monuments in danger due to erosion, including the El Nazar, Elmalı, and Meryemana (Virgin Mary) churches, have been listed as monuments requiring priority action. Specific measures for their protection, restoration and maintenance are required at the site level.
While conservation plans and protection measures are in place for individual sites, it is recognised by the principal parties responsible for site management that an integrated Regional Plan for the Cappadocia Cultural and Tourism Conservation and Development Area is required to protect the World Heritage values of the property. Adequate financial, political and technical support is also required to secure the management of the propert
www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/world-heritage/cappadocia/
European Green Woodpecker / picus viridis. Lincolnshire. 24/06/16.
'PERIPHERAL VISION'.
This view of a Green Woodpecker helped me better understand why they are such impossible birds to sneak up on, (however stealthily), from behind!
Those bulging eyes are set on the side of its head for the sole purpose of survival. Their strategic positioning allows the bird to have the very best peripheral vision possible. A wider visual field enables it to detect the slightest movement or threats from predators, whatever direction they may be coming from.
When I think back to the many hours I've spent waiting for, then crawling inch by painful inch under camouflage netting towards feeding Green Woodpeckers, I realise I was onto a loser from the start!
My thanks then to Tom Robinson, owner of Wildlife Photography Hides, who has a beautifully designed set-up which allowed me to make images in comfort.
The only preserved Romanesque sacred building in the Saarland
St. Peter was erected as a monastery church around 1200 by Wadgasser Premonstratensian canons, who came to Merzig as successors of the Augustinian canons. The layout shows a three-aisled basilica with a transept, chancel peripheral towers, side-apses and a western single tower. The gothic cross-vault ornamented with heraldry was not put in until the 16th century. In the course of a renovation in the 60s of the last century, the nave was extended to the west around the Mary Chapel, while the southern side nave was given a new entrance hall. Special architectural attention deserve the two north portals, the small "cemetery portal" at the transept and the larger main and lay portal at the side ship. In the course of the extensive external restoration of St. Peter, completed in December 2004, the former main portal was reopened in the west tower.
In the interior of St. Peter the visitor can see a large number of cultic works, especially from the Baroque period. The Christ, Mary and the 12 apostles, who were made around 1700 by Wolfgang Stupeler, are particularly worth mentioning. Also worth seeing is the 17th-century Pietà in the side chapel in the northern transept. Further attention-getters are the high altar with the crowning pelican figure around 1738 probably carved by the Saarlouis sculptor Ferdinand Ganal, an early Christian symbol, the stemming from the 4th century Gothic plague cross over the altar, the revolving baptismal font, or the St. Nicholas statue rediscovered and restored just a few years ago. In extensive reconstruction work in 1984/85, the paintings by the Merzig painter Heinrich Klein, which had been coated in the framework of the Second Vatican Council, were also exposed, the latter one has made them in the style of the Nazarene school after models of Eduard von Steinle.
As the most important building in our city and the only preserved Romanesque sacred building in the state of Saarland, characterises the parish church of St. Peter most of all for those coming from the east from the direction of Brotdorf the image of the core city. In spite of the many changes that St. Peter has undergone during the course of his long history through fire catastrophes, war destructions or transformations in the style of the particular zeitgeist, the church has, apart from the Westbau (west wing), kept its original shape.
Einziger erhaltener romanischer Sakralbau im Saarland
St. Peter wurde um 1200 von Wadgasser Prämonstratenserchorherren, die als Nachfolger der Augustinerchorherren 1182 nach Merzig gekommen waren, als Klosterkirche errichtet. Der Grundriss zeigt eine dreischiffige Basilika mit Querhaus, Chornebentürmen, Nebenapsiden und einem westlichen Einzelturm. Das wappenverzierte gotische Kreuzgewölbe wurde erst im 16. Jahrhundert nach einem Brand eingezogen. Im Zuge einer Renovierung in den 60er Jahren des letzten Jahrhunderts wurde das Nordseitenschiff um die Marienkapelle nach Westen verlängert, während das südliche Seitenschiff eine neue Eingangshalle erhielt. Besondere architektonische Aufmerksamkeit verdienen die beiden Nordportale, das kleine "Friedhofsportal" am Querhaus und das größere Haupt- und Laienportal am Seitenschiff. Im Zuge der im Dezember 2004 abgeschlossenen umfangreichen Außensanierung von St. Peter wurde das frühere Hauptportal im Westturm wieder geöffnet.
Im Innern von St. Peter erwartet den Besucher eine große Zahl kultischer Kunstwerke, vor allem aus der Zeit des Barock. Besonderes zu erwähnen sind beispielsweise die Christus, Maria und die 12 Apostel darstellenden Figuren, die um 1700 von Wolfgang Stupeler gefertigt wurden. Sehenswert ist auch die aus dem 17. Jahrhundert stammende Pietà in der Nebenkapelle im Nordquerhaus. Weitere Blickfänge sind der um 1738 vermutlich von dem Saarlouiser Bildhauer Ferdinand Ganal geschaffene Hochaltar mit der krönenden Pelikanfigur, einem frühchristlichen Symbol, das aus dem 14. Jahrhundert stammende gotische Pestkreuz über dem Altar, die Drehtaufe oder die erst vor wenigen Jahren wiederentdeckte und restaurierte Nikolausstatue. Bei umfangreichen Renovierungsarbeiten im Jahr 1984/85 wurden auch wieder die im Rahmen des II. Vatikanischen Konzils überstrichenen Malereien des Merziger Malers Heinrich Klein freigelegt, der diese nach Vorlagen von Eduard von Steinle im Stil der Nazarener Schule gefertigt hat.
Als das bedeutendste Bauwerk unserer Stadt und einziger erhaltener romanischer Sakralbau im Saarland prägt die Pfarrkirche St. Peter vor allem für die Besucher, die von Osten her aus Richtung Brotdorf kommen, das Bild der Kernstadt. Trotz der vielfältigen Veränderungen, die St. Peter im Lauf seiner langen Geschichte durch Brandkatastrophen, Kriegszerstörungen oder Umgestaltungen im Stile des jeweiligen Zeitgeistes erfahren hat, hat die Kirche, abgesehen vom Westbau, ihre ursprüngliche Gestalt weitgehend behalten.
German assault troops in camouflage with face masks, grenade bags made of white cloth for camouflage and at least one pair of wire cutters are inspected by officers. I suspect the face masks limited peripheral vision and were later abandoned from use.
File name 1M6A5687.CR2
File Size 20.6MB
Camera Model Canon EOS 7D Mark II
Shooting Date/Time 10/19/2019 3:42:12 PM
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A training slide of what I believe could be bacterial meningitis. (Different from viral meningitis by the type of white cells present.)
The larger, more reddish violet and spotted circles are likely segmented neutrophils - a type of white blood cell. The much more tiny dark violet dots speckled all around them are bacteria.
It is not usual for bacteria to be in the bloodstream at all. A slide as this is uncommon for as much as that as the fact that it is not common for that many white cells to congregate so closely together.
The image, to me, is a strong representation of the way the body fights to defend itself against foreign invaders. Swarming and rising to the challenge. Fight on!
.... Unfortunately for the City of Toronto and its residents, the eagerly anticipated 2024 Solar Eclipse was obscured by cloud cover. Still, we made the most of it, hoping for a glimpse of the celestial wonder and watching daylight give way to darkness. The solar eclipse in Toronto peaked at 3:19 pm, Toronto was just on the peripheral edge of 100% totality, receiving 99.9 % of the solar eclipse. ....