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On my holiday to the seaside by coach, I was dressed with bells so they could all hear where I was, and waterproof pants so I would not cause a problem on the long coach journey without any chance of a pee, I didn't need them, I was sick on the coach instead.
Coach travel often had me either feeling unwell or physically sick, I think it was the soft and often stuffy coach that made me unwell, if I traveled by bus there was never a problem.
My health problems had started as a baby when I caught the measles, it was just by luck that I survived, although in later years, poor long sight, part deafness and slightly weak bladder muscles did cause minor upsets.
My mothers lack of taking me to the doctor over my childhood problems did not solve any matters, but as I always appeared to be healthy, by not catching Mumps, German Measles, Chicken Pox and all the other childhood diseases, meant that in her mind there was never the need for me to see the doctor, as a baby I was never taken to any of the baby or toddler groups, it seemed I missed out on my free orange juice.
As I was never registered with any authorities, or attended any play groups or any areas where I might meet other children. When it came to sorting out the matter of school shortly before my 5th birthday, nothing happened, my mother had plans around this period for moving out of the area, nothing more was done about the matter of school.
For my first five years I had a totally adult influenced way of life. It was after my 6th birthday that I started school and met other children (strange creatures).
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With my early school reports it mentions that I don't listen, if a teacher was behind me and out of sight, I often had little idea that they were talking, in later schools, if an adult came into the room, we were meant to stop work and stand up, if I was engrossed in work, I seldom noticed this and received some form of punishment over my apparent rudeness.
In hearing tests, I proved I could hear quiet sounds, but this was tested as both ears together.
A nurse stood in a quiet hall and spoke at a distance behind me, first on one side then the other, I was able to hear both sets of sounds, however when she was standing to the left, I was simply picking up the sound with my good right ear. The other test was with a tuning fork, again when it was sounded on my poor ear I picked the sound up with my good ear.
Had one ear at a time been tested, with the other ear fully blanked off, then a different result might have been noticed.
For my sight, from the back of a classroom, some teachers writing could be difficult to follow, I just guessed at most of it. If we were required to copy down what was on the blackboard (1900-1960s learning device using chalk) in full, my version if checked later by the teacher showed minor differences.
My inability to catch a ball if it was thrown from a distance was also a failure. They decided I had double vision.
Going for a pee when I needed one in my early years was fine, providing I was allowed to go when I asked.
When out with my grandmother when we were shopping for an hour or so in the morning, I might put in the request to use the local public toilets. The answer was always "No wait a little longer", meant it was only a few of minutes before there was an accident, or a bit of a nuisance in the minds of adults. At the age of four I still often wore waterproof pants when out with my grandmother just in case.
In the afternoons when my mother took me out, I was in her choice of clothing and as she was more relaxed in allowing me the use of a public toilet, I had few problems.
Infant school gave no problems during lessons, teachers allowed us to visit the toilet in the middle of a lesson, possibly believing that it was the shyness of those that did not want to go during break when there were too many others about and now found the need.
The only problem I had for a short time was during the afternoon break when we had to lay and rest for a short period whilst we listened to the teacher read a story to us, the school had the idea that we should lay on our front, I was always use to sleeping on my side. The slight pressure when I was on my front even if I had just visited the lavatory resulted in a very small wet patch on the front of my shorts, not noticed by the others but only by the teacher, I received some sympathy, not something I had ever experienced before.
When it was mentioned to my mother, it resulted in me going back into waterproofs for school. I was a little embarrassed, but as other boys in class also wore them, I was never teased.
Eventually I solved the problem by fidgeting during our rest period, and together with a girl we were thrown out of this story time rest break and spent the time in our small playground.
My third infant school made any problems much easier to hide, for PE we changed out of our thick grey trousers into thinner shorts, during the summer months we wore these for the entire day as they were more comfortable. There were two types, the ordinary very loose type made of cotton and a slightly tighter type made of nylon, their advantage was that they were also waterproof, the tell tale sign was the elastic in the lower leg, almost half the boys wore them, so I was not alone in this choice.
From the age of eight at primary school, my bladder did give problems, I had no visible accidents during lessons, as I timed my visits to the toilet at the start of every break and at the end of the lunch break.
However delay my ability to visit the toilet at the start of these breaks, or during a fit of the giggles, and it did give problems.
Once my milk had been finished at the start of morning break, if I was allowed out it was fine.
Delay me by deciding that this was the ideal time to inflict some form of punishment, when the teachers saw me standing in a puddle it seemed to them that I was in fear, which was partly true, but in the main, it was just that I simply could not wait any longer.
Those of us from the children's homes were often refused permission to leave the room in the middle of a lesson by some of the teachers, a few from the Home had used this time as a method of searching other children's coats for money and sweets. We just had to sit at our desks and hope we could last the rest of the lesson. Kids from the Children's Home in wet trousers were not a rare sight, a punishment from most of the Sisters' once they knew we were not allowed out during lessons, would be that you had to wear waterproof pants to school for a week or so, but no other punishments.
At the age of eight the Sister in the Children's Home decided that for chapel where I would not get access to the toilet, providing me with a pair of waterproof pants to wear under my trousers might solve the matter before it started.
Slowly the list of when I should wear the waterproofs increased by Sister after the odd accident, to cover Sunday school, parties, coach & bus travel, train outings, trips into the village, visiting the governor when in trouble, and if I was in my dungarees as I might not be able to undo them in time, I was quite happy with Sisters instructions, if it stopped any chance of teasing at school or other events over damp shorts.
I was more afraid of having an accident an allowing others to see it, that others around me had accidents and after a little bit of teasing could laugh the matter off was not something I could understand, it was the thought of what Sister or my mother would have said.
In the Home there was generally no punishment if you had an accident and wore waterproofs, with my mother it would have been the lack of treats for that day. Other boys of my age at school might have made a fuss, for some the thought of been made to wear rubber pants would have been worse than be seen in wet shorts, I found it easier to go along with the adult requests.
The other alternative was to wear shorts with a plastic lining that would end in a puddle on the floor.
Little thought was given to why I might have daytime problems, and nothing was put on my medical notes as to the need to find a reason for the odd day time accident.
THE SIXTH EXTINCTION
Exerpts by Niles Eldredge
There is little doubt left in the minds of professional biologists that Earth is currently faced with a mounting loss of species that threatens to rival the five great mass extinctions of the geological past. As long ago as 1993, Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson estimated that Earth is currently losing something on the order of 30,000 species per year — which breaks down to the even more daunting statistic of some three species per hour. Some biologists have begun to feel that this biodiversity crisis — this “Sixth Extinction” — is even more severe, and more imminent, than Wilson had supposed.
Extinction in the past
The major global biotic turnovers were all caused by physical events that lay outside the normal climatic and other physical disturbances which species, and entire ecosystems, experience and survive. What caused them?
The previous mass extinctions were due to natural causes.
First major extinction (c. 440 mya): Climate change (relatively severe and sudden global cooling) seems to have been at work at the first of these-the end-Ordovician mass extinction that caused such pronounced change in marine life (little or no life existed on land at that time). 25% of families lost (a family may consist of a few to thousands of species).
Second major extinction (c. 370 mya): The next such event, near the end of the Devonian Period, may or may not have been the result of global climate change. 19% of families lost.
Third major Extinction (c. 245 mya): Scenarios explaining what happened at the greatest mass extinction event of them all (so far, at least!) at the end of the Permian Period have been complex amalgams of climate change perhaps rooted in plate tectonics movements. Very recently, however, evidence suggests that a bolide impact similar to the end-Cretaceous event may have been the cause. 54% of families lost.
Fourth major extinction (c. 210 mya): The event at the end of the Triassic Period, shortly after dinosaurs and mammals had first evolved, also remains difficult to pin down in terms of precise causes. 23% of families lost.
Fifth major extinction (c. 65 mya): Most famous, perhaps, was the most recent of these events at the end-Cretaceous. It wiped out the remaining terrestrial dinosaurs and marine ammonites, as well as many other species across the phylogenetic spectrum, in all habitats sampled from the fossil record. Consensus has emerged in the past decade that this event was caused by one (possibly multiple) collisions between Earth and an extraterrestrial bolide (probably cometary). Some geologists, however, point to the great volcanic event that produced the Deccan traps of India as part of the chain of physical events that disrupted ecosystems so severely that many species on land and sea rapidly succumbed to extinction. 17% of families lost.
How is The Sixth Extinction different from previous events?
The current mass extinction is caused by humans.
At first glance, the physically caused extinction events of the past might seem to have little or nothing to tell us about the current Sixth Extinction, which is a patently human-caused event. For there is little doubt that humans are the direct cause of ecosystem stress and species destruction in the modern world through such activities as:
-transformation of the landscape
-overexploitation of species
-pollution
-the introduction of alien species
And, because Homo sapiens is clearly a species of animal (however behaviorally and ecologically peculiar an animal), the Sixth Extinction would seem to be the first recorded global extinction event that has a biotic, rather than a physical, cause.
We are bringing about massive changes in the environment.
Yet, upon further reflection, human impact on the planet is a direct analogue of the Cretaceous cometary collision. Sixty-five million years ago that extraterrestrial impact — through its sheer explosive power, followed immediately by its injections of so much debris into the upper reaches of the atmosphere that global temperatures plummeted and, most critically, photosynthesis was severely inhibited — wreaked havoc on the living systems of Earth. That is precisely what human beings are doing to the planet right now: humans are causing vast physical changes on the planet.
What is the Sixth Extinction?
We can divide the Sixth Extinction into two discrete phases:
-Phase One began when the first modern humans began to disperse to different parts of the world about 100,000 years ago.
-Phase Two began about 10,000 years ago when humans turned to agriculture.
Humans began disrupting the environment as soon as they appeared on Earth.
The first phase began shortly after Homo sapiens evolved in Africa and the anatomically modern humans began migrating out of Africa and spreading throughout the world. Humans reached the middle east 90,000 years ago. They were in Europe starting around 40,000 years ago. Neanderthals, who had long lived in Europe, survived our arrival for less than 10,000 years, but then abruptly disappeared — victims, according to many paleoanthropologists, of our arrival through outright warfare or the more subtle, though potentially no less devastating effects, of being on the losing side of ecological competition.
Everywhere, shortly after modern humans arrived, many (especially, though by no means exclusively, the larger) native species typically became extinct. Humans were like bulls in a China shop:
-They disrupted ecosystems by overhunting game species, which never experienced contact with humans before.
-And perhaps they spread microbial disease-causing organisms as well.
The fossil record attests to human destruction of ecosystems:
-Wherever early humans migrated, other species became extinct.
-Humans arrived in large numbers in North America roughly 12,500 years ago-and sites revealing the butchering of mammoths, mastodons and extinct buffalo are well documented throughout the continent. The demise of the bulk of the La Brea tar pit Pleistocene fauna coincided with our arrival.
-The Caribbean lost several of its larger species when humans arrived some 8000 years ago.
-Extinction struck elements of the Australian megafauna much earlier-when humans arrived some 40,000 years ago. Madagascar-something of an anomaly, as humans only arrived there two thousand years ago-also fits the pattern well: the larger species (elephant birds, a species of hippo, plus larger lemurs) rapidly disappeared soon after humans arrived.
Indeed, only in places where earlier hominid species had lived (Africa, of course, but also most of Europe and Asia) did the fauna, already adapted to hominid presence, survive the first wave of the Sixth Extinction pretty much intact. The rest of the world’s species, which had never before encountered hominids in their local ecosystems, were as naively unwary as all but the most recently arrived species (such as Vermilion Flycatchers) of the Galapagos Islands remain to this day.
Why does the Sixth Extinction continue?
The invention of agriculture accelerated the pace of the Sixth Extinction.
Phase two of the Sixth Extinction began around 10,000 years ago with the invention of agriculture-perhaps first in the Natufian culture of the Middle East. Agriculture appears to have been invented several different times in various different places, and has, in the intervening years, spread around the entire globe.
Agriculture represents the single most profound ecological change in the entire 3.5 billion-year history of life. With its invention:
-Humans did not have to interact with other species for survival, and so could manipulate other species for their own use
-Humans did not have to adhere to the ecosystem’s carrying capacity, and so could overpopulate
-Humans do not live with nature but outside it.
Homo sapiens became the first species to stop living inside local ecosystems. All other species, including our ancestral hominid ancestors, all pre-agricultural humans, and remnant hunter-gatherer societies still extant exist as semi-isolated populations playing specific roles (i.e., have “niches”) in local ecosystems. This is not so with post-agricultural revolution humans, who in effect have stepped outside local ecosystems. Indeed, to develop agriculture is essentially to declare war on ecosystems - converting land to produce one or two food crops, with all other native plant species all now classified as unwanted “weeds” — and all but a few domesticated species of animals now considered as pests.
The total number of organisms within a species is limited by many factors-most crucial of which is the “carrying capacity” of the local ecosystem: given the energetic needs and energy-procuring adaptations of a given species, there are only so many squirrels, oak trees and hawks that can inhabit a given stretch of habitat. Agriculture had the effect of removing the natural local-ecosystem upper limit of the size of human populations. Though crops still fail regularly, and famine and disease still stalk the land, there is no doubt that agriculture in the main has had an enormous impact on human population size:
-Earth can’t sustain the trend in human population growth. It is reaching its limit in carrying capacity.
-Estimates vary, but range between 1 and 10 million people on earth 10,000 years ago.
-There are now over 6 billion people.
-The numbers continue to increase logarithmically — so that there will be 8 billion by 2020.
-There is presumably an upper limit to the carrying capacity of humans on earth — of the numbers that agriculture can support — and that number is usually estimated at between 13-15 billion, though some people think the ultimate numbers might be much higher.
This explosion of human population, especially in the post-Industrial Revolution years of the past two centuries, coupled with the unequal distribution and consumption of wealth on the planet, is the underlying cause of the Sixth Extinction. There is a vicious cycle:
-Overpopulation, invasive species, and overexploitation are fueling the extinction.
-More lands are cleared and more efficient production techniques (most recently engendered largely through genetic engineering) to feed the growing number of humans — and in response, the human population continues to expand.
-Higher fossil energy use is helping agriculture spread, further modifying the environment.
-Humans continue to fish (12 of the 13 major fisheries on the planet are now considered severely depleted) and harvest timber for building materials and just plain fuel, pollution, and soil erosion from agriculture creates dead zones in fisheries (as in the Gulf of Mexico)
-While the human Diaspora has meant the spread, as well, of alien species that more often than not thrive at the detriment of native species. For example, invasive species have contributed to 42% of all threatened and endangered species in the U.S.
Can conservation measures stop the Sixth Extinction?
Only 10% of the world’s species survived the third mass extinction. Will any survive this one?
The world’s ecosystems have been plunged into chaos, with some conservation biologists thinking that no system, not even the vast oceans, remains untouched by human presence. Conservation measures, sustainable development, and, ultimately, stabilization of human population numbers and consumption patterns seem to offer some hope that the Sixth Extinction will not develop to the extent of the third global extinction, some 245 mya, when 90% of the world’s species were lost.
Though it is true that life, so incredibly resilient, has always recovered (though after long lags) after major extinction spasms, it is only after whatever has caused the extinction event has dissipated. That cause, in the case of the Sixth Extinction, is ourselves — Homo sapiens. This means we can continue on the path to our own extinction, or, preferably, we modify our behavior toward the global ecosystem of which we are still very much a part. The latter must happen before the Sixth Extinction can be declared over, and life can once again rebound.
© 2005, American Institute of Biological Sciences. Educators have permission to reprint articles for classroom use; other users, please contact editor@actionbioscience.org for reprint permission. See reprint policy.
Paleontologist Dr. Niles Eldredge is the Curator-in-Chief of the permanent exhibition “Hall of Biodiversity” at the American Museum of Natural History and adjunct professor at the City University of New York. He has devoted his career to examining evolutionary theory through the fossil record, publishing his views in more than 160 scientific articles, reviews, and books. Life in the Balance: Humanity and the Biodiversity Crisisis his most recent book.
www.gc.cuny.edu/directories/faculty/E.htm
Articles and Resources on The Sixth Extinction
Consequences of the Sixth Extinction
The article “How Will Sixth Extinction Affect Evolution of Species?,” on our site, describes how the current loss of biodiversity will affect evolution in the long run.
www.actionbioscience.org/newfrontiers/myers_knoll.html
BioScience Article
“Global Conservation of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.”
Habitat destruction has driven much of the current biodiversity extinction crisis, and it compromises the essential benefits, or ecosystem services that humans derive from functioning ecosystems. Securing both species and ecosystem services might be accomplished with common solutions. Yet it is unknown whether these two major conservation objectives coincide broadly enough worldwide to enable global strategies for both goals to gain synergy. In this November 2007, BioScience article, Will Turner and his colleagues assess the concordance between these two objectives, explore how the concordance varies across different regions, and examine the global potential for safeguarding biodiversity and ecosystem services simultaneously. Read the abstract, or log in to purchase the full article.
caliber.ucpress.net/doi/abs/10.1641/B571009
Biodiversity in the next millennium
American Museum of Natural History’s nationwide survey (undated) “reveals biodiversity crisis — the fastest mass extinction in Earth’s history.”
cbc.amnh.org/crisis/mncntnt.html
National Geographic
A 2/99 article about the Sixth Extinction, with views from several leading scientists.
www.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/9902/fngm/index.html
Extinction through time
Find out about cycles of life and death and extinction patterns through time.
www.carleton.ca/Museum/extinction/tablecont.html
Is Humanity Suicidal?
Edward O. Wilson asks us why we stay on the course to our own self-destruction.
www.well.com/user/davidu/suicidal.html
A Field Guide to the Sixth Extinction
Niles Eldredge writes in 1999 about a few of the millions of plants and animals that won’t make it to the next millennium. The second link takes you to the site’s main page, entitled “Mass Extinction Underway — The World Wide Web’s most comprehensive source of information on the current mass extinction,” which provides links to numerous other resources.
www.well.com/user/davidu/fieldguide.html
www.well.com/user/davidu/extinction.html
Global Environment Outlook 3
The United Nations Environment Programme released this major report in May 2002. The report collated the thoughts of more than 1,000 contributors to assess the environmental impact of the last 30 years and outline policy ideas for the next three decades. It concluded that without action, the world may experience severe environmental problems within 30 years. The entire report can be read online or purchased online.
www.unep.org/geo/geo3/index.htm
Test your environmental knowledge
A 1999 survey showed that only one in three adult Americans had a passing understanding of the most pressing environmental issues. How do you measure up? Explanatory answers provided.
www.youthactionnet.org/quizzes/global_environment.cfm
World Atlas of Biodiversity — interactive map
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) released the firstWorld Atlas of Biodiversityin August 2002. This link takes you to their online interactive map that helps you search for data about species/land/water loss, extinction over time, and human global development. Click on the “?” for a help page that explains how to interact with this map.
stort.unep-wcmc.org/imaps/gb2002/book/viewer.htm
The Sixth Great Extinction: A Status Report
Earth Policy Institute’s 2004 update on the status of loss of biodiversity.
www.earth-policy.org/Updates/Update35.htm
Books
» The Biodiversity Crisis: Losing What Countsby The American Museum of Natural History (New Press, 2001).
» The Sixth Extinction: Patterns of of Life and the Future of Humankindby Richard Leakey and Roger Lewin (Doubleday and Company, 1996).
Get Involved
The Biodiversity Project
You can choose a way to get involved in protecting biodiversity — from educational resources to community outreach.
www.biodiversityproject.org/html/resources/introduction.htm
The Nature Conservancy
Select a state from the menu and find out how you can become an environmental volunteer in that state.
Information for Action
“This website explains the environmental problems & offers solutions to fix them. There are many valuable resources available” including lobbying info, contacts database, & news updates.
Harmony
“Harmony Foundation is all about education for the environment. We offer publications and programs… ‘Building Sustainable Societies’ offers innovative training for educators and community group leaders to support local action on important environmental issues.”
Earth Talk: Environmental advocacy for professionals
This discussion community and learning network seeks to contribute to global ecological sustainability by enabling communication connections between those working on behalf of forests, water, and climate.
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Tiger Illustration by Dorothy Lathrop from
"Fierce-Face: The story of a tiger" by Dhan Gopal Mukerji (1936)
I've had a loooooong day. I've not long got home (about 9pm) - it's been draining physically and emotionally so I'm just posting this one picture before I crash into my bed. I will comment tomorrow on all your wonderful photos.
The Sphere is a large metallic sculpture by German sculptor Fritz Koenig, currently displayed in Battery Park, that once stood in the middle of Austin Tobin Plaza, the area between the World Trade Center towers in Manhattan. After being recovered from the rubble of the Twin Towers after the September 11, 2001 attacks, its fate was initially uncertain and it was dismantled into its components. Although it remained structurally intact, it had been visibly damaged by debris from the airliners that were crashed into the buildings and the collapsing skyscrapers themselves.
Six months after the attacks, following a documentary film about the sculpture, it was relocated to Battery Park on a temporary basis—without any repairs—and formally rededicated with an eternal flame as a memorial to the victims of 9/11.
So often, you cannot find or physically form the words to express your experience. Maybe you feel compelled to create images to try to show how it feels to live this unspeakable, unbearable, almost unbelievable experience. It may make no sense or have no significance to anyone else and this practice of creating images is a deep, important part of your healing journey.
[image created on 2-23-2024]
Recently I became very fascinated by digital pinhole photography. This image was created with a modified pinhole body cap. I think I’m drawn to this type of photography because I feel it relates to my life and it seems to teach me far beyond photography. There are strict limitations that can drastically alter how images are captured and the final outcome of the photos, there is a lack of clarity compared to how I normally capture images with a lens, it’s difficult to predict exactly how the image will look and beauty and meaning can be found in the process and the final photo. It gives me a chance to practice embracing the unfamiliar, change, finding beauty in imperfection and growing in new ways.
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As a way to cope with circumstances beyond my control, survive and work to keep fighting for life I decided to try to take at least one photo (or more) each day. I call this “a photo (or more) a day.” Practicing this form of therapeutic photography helps me work to focus on the present moment, gives me something familiar and enjoyable to focus on as I use photography skills that have become like second-nature to me and being able to view the images I capture helps me recall what I was thinking, feeling and noticing at the moment when I created the photos. More of the photos from this series can be seen on my Instagram account
I may not always have the energy, time or capacity to share photos from this series—especially with the very challenging circumstances my family and I are experiencing—and will do my best to continue taking a photo (or more) a day even if I’m not able to share.
If you would like to support my work and my family, one way you can do so is by ordering my zines:
Many thanks for your support.
Original Caption: Senior Citizens Find That New Ulm, Minnesota, Is a Good Place to Retire. There Is a Close Community Responsibility Towards Older People No Matter What Their Financial Position Might Be. Older Citizens and Those Unable to Care for Themselves Physically Are Cared for in Two Community Facilities, Alexander Home and Highland Manor. New Ulm Is a County Seat Trading Center of 13,000 in a Farming Area of South Central Minnesota Founded in 1854 by a German Immigrant Land Company.
U.S. National Archives’ Local Identifier: 412-DA-15883
Photographer: Haque, Abul
Subjects:
New Ulm (Brown county, Minnesota, United States) inhabited place
Environmental Protection Agency
Project DOCUMERICA
Persistent URL: arcweb.archives.gov/arc/action/ExternalIdSearch?id=558333
Repository: Still Picture Records Section, Special Media Archives Services Division (NWCS-S), National Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD, 20740-6001.
For information about ordering reproductions of photographs held by the Still Picture Unit, visit: www.archives.gov/research/order/still-pictures.html
Reproductions may be ordered via an independent vendor. NARA maintains a list of vendors at www.archives.gov/research/order/vendors-photos-maps-dc.html
Access Restrictions: Unrestricted
Use Restrictions: Unrestricted
I am LOVING the Olympics, especially the swimming! Michael Phelps is a god. Physically he reminds me of my first boyfriend John, also an Olympic swimmer (he qualified but then the U.S. boycotted the 1980 Olympics) -- tall, lanky, zero body fat, broad shoulders, long arms, narrow hips, super talented.
The pool shown behind me also reminds me of my first boyfriend. During a swim meet here one weekend, we decided to sneak away (totally verboten) between races to have sex. When we got back to the pool -- late -- my heat had just dived into the water so I ran to the starting block and dove in 30 seconds behind the other swimmers and swam my race. John missed a key race and boy oh boy did we get in trouble! But hey, we were 16 and 17, head over heels in love with raging teenage hormones!
I think that was the weekend our family dog ran away too because some $*&#($ kids threw firecrackers at him. That was awful, but thankfully we did find him again.
Today was a sentimental swim because Comstock closes in a week. They're demolishing it to rebuild a spiffy new pool in its place.
There are openings, horizons and steps that are physically impossible in this picture. The neat book picture includes a reflection from a black marble like surface. The book and the reflection are two separate perspectives and the join between them is false to create a line angled similar to that seen at the top of the book. The step down on the marble is in the opposite angled direction. Either the effect is unnoticed, or it might whilst being unrecognised cause a slight visual attraction as the viewer sees something seems not to be right. These very slight variations when regarded might give a feeling a little like that generate when viewing a much more revealing work by artists like Maurits Cornelis Escher.
I took a picture of this book on the release date of the book. I seemed to have angered one person and another person thought that I was advertising the book. Today I took this pictures and edited a few touches to it. The book has a provocative title and I do have the book as my centre piece here. I am neither trying to further offend, nor advertise. The links that I have always had with my picture are shared again here and they may reveal that this book is a positive perspective on the past and a bright vision for us to carry forwards.
Not advertising, but here are the ISBN numbers that I could see, please check on price and edition whether Hardback, or Paperback, the Paperback is not released as I post this description, see date below.
Hardback ISBN-10 : 180096188X ISBN-13 : 978-1800961883
Kindle ISBN-13 : 978-1800961913
Audiobook available through many platforms.
Paperback ISBN-10 : 1800961901 ISBN-13 : 978-1800961906
This title will be released on March 12, 2026
This book is better described in the links below than I can do here, I have only just received it. “WITCHES of SCOTLAND is a campaign for justice; for a legal pardon, an apology, and a memorial for the thousands of people – mostly women - that were convicted of witchcraft and executed between 1563 and 1736 in Scotland.” From the ongoing campaign this book has been delivered. It has has a great jacket to light and the wonderful design covers a great document that delves into a previously often overlooked history.
© PHH Sykes 2025
phhsykes@gmail.com
How to Kill A Witch builds to form a rich patchwork of tragic stories, helping us comprehend the underlying reasons for this terrible injustice, and raises the serious question - could it ever happen again?
Unveiling the truth behind centuries of injustice.
www.witchesofscotland.com/book
WITCHES of SCOTLAND
is a campaign for justice; for a legal pardon, an apology, and a memorial for the thousands of people – mostly women - that were convicted of witchcraft and executed between 1563 and 1736 in Scotland
Desert varnish forms only on physically stable rock surfaces that are no longer subject to frequent precipitation, fracturing or wind abrasion. The varnish is primarily composed of particles of clay along with iron and manganese oxides. There is also a host of trace elements and almost always some organic matter. The color of the varnish varies from shades of brown to black. (Wikipedia)
My beautiful and sweet Johnny. He is a Ragdoll breed, rescued cat. My companion and joy. He followed me around the house and play fetch with different toys. He is over a year old, very active, playful and also curious.
The Ragdoll is a cat breed with blue eyes and a distinct colorpoint coat. It is a large and muscular semi-longhair cat with a soft and silky coat. Developed by American breeder Ann Baker, it is best known for its docile and placid temperament and affectionate nature. The name "Ragdoll" is derived from the tendency of individuals from the original breeding stock to go limp and relaxed when picked up. Particularly popular in both the United Kingdom and the breed's native United States, ragdoll cats often are known as "dog-like cats" or "puppy-like cats" due to behaviors such as their tendency to follow people around, their ease at being physically handled, and their relative lack of aggression toward other pets.
Ragdoll cats tend to be more interested in humans than some breeds of cats. They are known to run to greet you at the door, follow you from room to room, flop on you, sleep with you, and generally choose to be where you are. Many Ragdolls have been taught to come when called and play fetch. They are gentle cats, and usually play without extending their claws. Ragdolls tend to be floor cats, not jumpers. The Ragdoll’s semi long coat is plush and silky, and requires minimal grooming to keep it looking its best.
Los Angeles. California.
When I joined Flickr, it was so I could enter a photographic competition. I never imagined, fifteen years later that I would have so many followers, have shared so many images, or have made some of the best friends I have (even ones whom I have never physically met but have connected with emotionally and spiritually). Thanks to Flickr, and the exposure it has given my work, my images have appeared in books, journals and magazines around the world, I appear on numerous websites, and I have three postage stamps all featuring my images. The world of social media can be ruthless, yet here on Flickr, I have found a kind, friendly and receptive community of like minded people ready to embrace other members. I have much to be grateful about, thanks to Flickr.
So, happy twentieth birthday, Flickr! Thank you for everything you are, and all that you do. I am paying tribute to this wonderful platform by using the Flickr livery of bright blue and hot pink in a still life using my latest obsession, cotton spools.
When it was my birthday a few months ago, a very dear friend who enjoys photography as much as I do, and knows that I collect beautiful and vintage pieces, gave me a wonderful selection of antique ribbons, buttons, buckles, lace and other fine notions. She also gave me three follow up tins of similar delightful gifts for Christmas.
Amongst the gifts was a pretty ribbon of vibrant blue and white embroidered daisies, some blue, magenta and pink crocheted daisies from Poland, some Estonian hand dyed lace and some tiny segments of crochet, all of which I have set up on the back terrace against one of my antique embroidered Art Deco doilies from the 1930s, and accessorised with some peacock blue silver and enamel buttons from Birmingham, hallmarked 1910, some tiny Japanese cloisonné vest buttons from the 1880s, some pink rose buttons from the 1960s, a Victorian spool of W. and J. Knox peacock blue linen thread and a spool of Dewhurst's Sylko Rose Pink cotton which dates from between 1938 and 1954.
W. and J. Knox Ltd was first established over two centuries ago when the Knox family set up a small textile mill in Kilbirnie to spin the locally-grown flax fibre and to manufacture linen thread. It was first registered as a company in 1778 then subsequently named W. and J. Knox in the 1800s by the sons of the founder. The Knox family was involved with the company for the first 200 years, with ownership passing through the generations, and agents being set up all over the world. Hearsay places an agent in New Zealand only ten years after Captain Cook’s discovery, and written records show trade agreements in place in the early 1800s in Canada. Cosalt plc purchased the company from Linndustries in the 1970s, with ownership passing to the local management team in 2004, following an MBO. Two centuries after opening, Knox is still based in the same Ayrshire town, and is now owned by the local management team, following an MBO from Cosalt plc in 2004.
Belle Vue Mill, commonly known as Dewhurst’s, was built by Thomas Dewhurst in 1828. It opened in 1829 as John Dewhurst & Sons and was one of Skipton’s largest spinning and weaving mills. The mill’s position next to the Leeds Liverpool Canal meant that raw cotton could be shipped in by boats from Liverpool. Finished goods would then be sent back the same way ready for distribution. Coal to power the machine’s steam engines was also delivered by barge. In 1897 Dewhurst’s was bought by the English Sewing Cotton Co. It continued to produce Sylko, one of the mill’s most famous products. It was produced in over 500 colours and sold throughout the world. Sylko cottons are still available at haberdashers today.
The Heart Of The Ocean,
Episode 6: "Men on a mission."
Pic 24
Ricky is wearing:
- ::DS:: Reilly Glasses
- Cold Ash Laguna Necklace
- Cold Ash Men's Mesh BURLESON Necklace
- Cold Ash Men's MESH REECE Henley Shirt (Olive)
-Cold Ash LARKHAM Jeans DarkBLue
-Cold ASh VALKYRIE Sneakers (White)
Benson is wearing:
- ORKRONT - ROVOSC C//GGIVENCHY x Xenov Lines Sweater
- *SHAI* Men's Relaxed Jeans, light\-
- (HR) Classic Sneakers (Hoorenbeek)
Lightning XR728 full afterburner at Bruntingthorpe.
Apologies for the poor quality, but my body was being physically shaken at the time!
We all make footprints in life. Both physically and metaphorically. Sometimes those footprints last for a lifetime, and sometimes they get wiped away by the next strong breeze.
I want to dedicate this picture to my wonderful and amazing younger daughter. She's now 16 and entering the stage in life where she gets to choose her own path and take steps independently. It is hellishly hard as a parent to let go and let her walk alone, not knowing where those steps might lead, or what unknown terrors or wonders lurk behind the next sand dune. I'd like my most lasting footprints to be not mine at all, but hers (and her sister's). It doesn't matter at all to me how big, or how small, those prints are. Only that they are hers, of her own choosing, not feeling as if she is forced to follow anyone else's path. And I hope more than anything that they may lead to more joy than sadness along the way.
Teenage life in the 21st century is way more difficult than I think mine was, and I didn't think mine was easy at all. The competition is much tougher, the pressure seems higher, the outside influences are unquestionably more constant and more magnetic. At that age it's almost impossible to see life as anything but a straight line competition, first to this or that achievement, fastest to that milestone or another. The pressure to excel, to stand out and to achieve success seems overwhelming. Only once we get older do we realize that life's path is *never* straight, and that what looks like the top of the hill from one's younger perspective, turns out to be just one shifting sand dune among thousands. With the benefit of hindsight we see there was no "best" or "fastest" path. Each one of has to slog through their own quicksand at one point or another and ultimately find our own measure of success. Hopefully we find out along the way which of the multitude of hills has meaning to us. And we discover that the things that end up imprinted on our mental film turn out largely to have nothing to do with achievement and accomplishment, but rather who we met and what songs we sang together along the way, and how we responded when the going got tough.
I enjoy photos and captions that have multiple levels of meaning, and this one has a whole other level of meaning to me as well. The lone figure at the top of the dune is my esteemed friend and fellow photographer Kevin Benedict. We had walked together in to Mesquite Dunes in Death Valley National Park, and were hoping for a spectacular sunrise. As you can tell by the clouds above, that looked increasingly unlikely, but there was still a hope that the sun would break below and light all this cloud cover up in a glorious sheet of fire. Kevin had determinedly picked out his spot and had a vision for that sunrise shot over the dunes. I didn't want to just copy Kevin's vision, and I also had some teleconference with colleagues in Europe and China to deal with and didn't want to annoy Kevin with the chatter so I decided to walk off on my own and find something else to shoot. So the footprints are mine and as I turned around to take a look at the sky I saw the surreal cloud texture along with the sand texture and the line of fresh prints and decided that was kind of cool so I took the shot not thinking too much of it. Of course, the sunrise did not pan out as hoped (or I would probably have posted some other big sunrise-over-dunes shot), and the conference call kinda got in the way of my ability to get more shots.
EDIT: I originally posted a monochrome version of the shot, but then decided I liked the color version better so I swapped it out.
Kambala Dance
The Nuba people for many years have been known in the West for their distinctive culture, and they are culturally vivid and physically diverse ethnic group inhabiting central Sudan. Among the many cultural activities which the Nuba have, is 'Kambala Dance'.
The Kambala is a spiritual dance originating in Sabori village near Kadugli, which perhaps was founded in the early eighteenth century during the reign of Mek Andu of Kadugli. This traditional and ceremonial dance has been passed on from one generation to another up to today. Now Kambala is a popular dance and it is one of the main national dances which are performed on special occasions and it had been performed outside the Sudan as well.
A Kambala dancer traditionally wears Buffalo horns which are tied to his head with a long white turban and on the top of each horn is attached a colourful piece of cloth, and sometimes he wears a nickel or beads on his neck put by either his sister or his mother. The dancer also wears around his waist a thin rope or leather belt encircled by long thin strips up to his knees, which are usually made from branches of palm trees. Around his arms and legs, he ties bundles of small balls made also from the branches of palm trees and containing small beads (stones) to make rhythmic sounds. In his hand he holds a horsetail attached to small piece of wood which he swings across his face while dancing. Read more:
www.nubasurvival.com/Nuba Culture/3. Kambala Dance.htm
Addiction (noun)
1. The state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma.
2. The condition of being habitually or compulsively occupied with or or involved in something.
It's about my addiction, addiction to collecting antiques. As any other addiction it takes you all, you don't see anything around except antiques. You live in your own world and recognize only your treasures or things you need.
Like a mollusk you live in your shell, getting out just for short time, to catch something and get back to your habitation. When you, shell-fish, staying alone, you as The Merchant of Venice, Shylock can look at your treasures again and again, count them through the hours. So... addiction to collecting is a sickness, some kind of disease... but so pleasant disease.
Thanks to:
skydancer_stock from deviantart.com for the "collector"
pacsaman from deviantart.com for the beautiful female image;
Lorivintage55stock from deviantart.com for the "jeweled elephant";
Created for The Dictionary of Image
Better viewed large
Summit day is D Day on Kilimanjaro. The toughest mentally and the most demanding physically. From waking in the early hours in pitch black and sub-freezing temperatures to collapsing exhausted at camp at the end of the day, there is no respite. But what a reward. Here is what to expect.
Whichever route you choose, you’ll be spending the night before summit at an altitude of around 4,600 – 4,700m. At this altitude there are three serious impediments to sleep, (1) Cold overnight temperatures (well below freezing) (2) Altitude Sickness (mild head-aches and mild nausea if you are lucky) and (3) anxiety about the climb ahead. Still, sleep you will and for those attempting a sun-rise summit, you’ll be setting off in the very early hours (after midnight).
The climb can be divided into two, the first ascent to the rim and then the traverse around the rim to Uhuru Peak. Machame reaches the rim at Stella Point (5,685m) whilst Marangu reaches the rim at Gillman’s Point (5,681m). You’re looking at a climb of around 1,000m in altitude gain from camp to the rim. This section involves a slow tack up the scree that, in the dark at least, affords little views other than the countless head torches of your fellow climbers snaking up the mountain.
Reaching the crater rim offers the most visceral sense of having summited Kili. Many climbers, having hauled their unwilling bodies to this point, would quite happily call it a day here. It is not an unusual site to see trekkers flat out on their backs, whilst their guides try to cajole them back on their feet. It is a very bad idea to lie down at this point. A quick photograph, a snack and up is the safest approach.
Depending on your route, the crater rim traverse can take 1 – 2 hours. If it weren’t for the prior exertions and extreme altitude this would be little worse than a walk in a City park. Unfortunately at this stage, legs are heavy, oxygen is scarce and temperatures are low. The view can be incredible, with the lunar landscape of the crater itself to one side, the dramatic glaciers and if you are lucky, far reaching views over the plains of Africa.
Uhuru Peak is the highest point on the rim and at an altitude of 5,895m, the highest point in all Africa. Depending on when you summit you may have to queue to get your de riguer summit photo in front of the jauntily angled summit sign. There are several poignant memorials at the summit, but a surprisingly scarce sense of drama. The emotion experienced by most is one of pure intense relief at having made it
Kambala Dance
The Nuba people for many years have been known in the West for their distinctive culture, and they are culturally vivid and physically diverse ethnic group inhabiting central Sudan. Among the many cultural activities which the Nuba have, is 'Kambala Dance'.
The Kambala is a spiritual dance originating in Sabori village near Kadugli, which perhaps was founded in the early eighteenth century during the reign of Mek Andu of Kadugli. This traditional and ceremonial dance has been passed on from one generation to another up to today. Now Kambala is a popular dance and it is one of the main national dances which are performed on special occasions and it had been performed outside the Sudan as well.
A Kambala dancer traditionally wears Buffalo horns which are tied to his head with a long white turban and on the top of each horn is attached a colourful piece of cloth, and sometimes he wears a nickel or beads on his neck put by either his sister or his mother. The dancer also wears around his waist a thin rope or leather belt encircled by long thin strips up to his knees, which are usually made from branches of palm trees. Around his arms and legs, he ties bundles of small balls made also from the branches of palm trees and containing small beads (stones) to make rhythmic sounds. In his hand he holds a horsetail attached to small piece of wood which he swings across his face while dancing. Read more:
www.nubasurvival.com/Nuba Culture/3. Kambala Dance.htm
Barney finds the long grass in this meadow physically quite tough to walk through but when we approach the place where the path diverges, he usually pulls to come down here, instead of heading the other way - even though the alternative route, which goes through the woods is nice & flat! He likes the warmth of the sunshine & sniffing all the interesting scents which must drift up on the breeze - the wind is nearly always in your face in this spot. He also likes to have a bit of a lounge on the soft grass... haha, when I join him for a rest, I always seem to find that one spiky thistle to sit on!!
Poor old lad has been having a fight with a rather stubborn UTI for the past few weeks. I got quite worried that his kidneys weren't working well, as Barney had starting drinking more & more water & wasn't wanting breakfast but a blood test showed his kidney function is mostly ok (not 100% but not as bad as I thought & alright for a dog his age). However, the urine sample came back showing signs of infection. Since then, he's been on & off antibiotics - they definitely help but once he's stopped taking them, Barney begins showing signs of feeling a bit unwell again. Hopefully this last, slightly longer course he's been on will do the trick, if not, we'll have try something else! Still, in between getting mildly annoyed at me, because I've been shoving multiple tablets down his throat every day, Barney's been fairly happy - enjoying the good weather - he is always a fan of summer. (I cannot believe we're halfway through 2022 already... this year is flying by).
Chicago. 2016
© All rights reserved. All my images are copyrighted. Any unauthorized use is strictly prohibited. No image can be copied, reproduced, shared, altered or used in any way, both physically or electronically, without my prior written permission.
•ू♡ PIXELES •ू♡
.::"Bunny Bounce Dance " //UNPACKER// PIXELS
- Compatible with:
. eBody Reborn
. Lara Maitreya
. LaraX
. Kahleen Erica
. Xcurve Body
. Legacy Athletic
Materials: PBR (Physically Based Rendering) for enhanced realism.
Product Link : marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Bunny-Bounce-Dance/27041440
.:: Eggs & Bunnies Typer- PIXELS
The Eggs & Bunnies Typer is a fun and interactive accessory for Second Life. When you type in local chat, the basket attached to your avatar will release adorable Easter bunnies! The basket also contains colorful Easter eggs and includes an animation for holding it. You can resize and modify it to fit your avatar perfectly. Spread Easter joy with this charming typer!
Product Link : marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Eggs-Bunnies-Typer/27043098
.:: Droopy Bunny Ears- PIXELS
- Floppy bunny ear headband
MP: marketplace.secondlife.com/en-US/stores/229970
LM: maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/District%20Blue/99/98/22
•——————•°•✿•——————•
🐝BEEUTY 🐝
🐝 Beeuty - Bunny Earrings Swallow Gauged S FATPACK
• Swallow Gauged S F & M
• Unrigged for Left and Right
• Unisex
• Color HUD
• PBR + 2K
• 7 Eyes, 4 Paws, 4 Noses & 4 Whiskers
⇛ LM: maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/New%20Jacksboro/195/9/22
⇛ MP: marketplace.secondlife.com/es-ES/stores/256235
•——————•°•✿•——————•
The Rose family (Robert Frost)
The rose is a rose,
And was always a rose.
But the theory now goes
That the apple's a rose,
And the pear is, and so's
The plum, I suppose.
The dear only knows
What will next prove a rose.
You, of course, are a rose -
But were always a rose:)
Thought this to be a smiler for you.....thank you for your visit, wishing you well this weekend!.....Pat...xo
****
I'll be leaving for Florida on Monday with camera in tow....and strategies on physically traveling well:)
It will be so much fun to see It's a Keeper....and if you don't know her photostream, I'd suggest you stop by for a real treat.
I'll return Saturday night in time for #2 son hosting Mother's Day luncheon for the Two Mothers, my daughter Jody and me:)....there is always a family game of soccer afterwards....I'm ready to take on the two g.sons!....
Chicago. 2018
© All rights reserved. All my images are copyrighted. Any unauthorized use is strictly prohibited. No image can be copied, reproduced, shared, altered or used in any way, both physically or electronically, without my prior written permission.
Last Friday, I found Joey hiding underneath a furniture which was not his usual routine. Cats that start to hide can mean two things: they are either physically ill or they have been stressed and are avoiding their usual spots out of fear.
The last time when Joey drove me into panic mode was back in April, when I found him catatonic and depressed. I rushed him to the nearest vet (iVet Clinic) the following morning for a checkup and treatment. He was treated for superficial bite marks, underwent a blood test and subcutaneous fluids.
That vet was more interested in checking his blood (she made more money from blood tests than treating bite wounds) and I gave in after some persuasion.
The good news was Joey's creatinine and urea levels were lower than in 2019-2020. He was classified as in Stage 2, which was a remarkable improvement over his Stage 4 condition. However I was confused when the vet commented that Joey was "overweight" at just 5.33 kilograms. Her vet technician who later briefed me was trying to sweet talk me into buying prescription weight loss kibble for Joey.
That's odd, because Joey had never been diagnosed as overweight in his entire life.
This was taken at the Gasing Veterinary Hospital, not the iVet Clinic.
I didn't send Joey to iVet because they refused to accept "emergency cases" after 6:00pm as the clinic closes by 7 o'clock. They asked me to send him to the Gasing Veterinary Hospital instead, much to my dismay.
More to come.
Introvert Rant -
Often times, I feel withdrawn and disconnected to reality.
I am here physically, but mentally I am not. I want to exist without being noticed, but the side-walk superintends won’t let me. They scrutinized with judging eyes and asked me what monkey business I’m doing at the oddest hour. My mouth mumbles, searching for the right thing to say. Silence is all they want to hear. Eventually I nodded and listened to all their grilling, but my mind wanders somewhere else. You know I am aloof, but not antisocial? After the meddlers leave, I close my eyes and slowly recede into the bushes once more. Nobody must know I’m here again. They are such a nuisance and disrupt my serenity. I don’t like people. In fact, I’d rather be in the company of ghosts than be among humankind. I am a brooder. I am a spider throbbing in my sunset recluse.
(21 of 24 - This week have been exhausting for me. I’m supposed to finish everything, but I uploaded two pictures only. Rest well and have fun on your Saturday and Sunday…)
France. 2016
© All rights reserved. All my images are copyrighted. Any unauthorized use is strictly prohibited. No image can be copied, reproduced, shared, altered or used in any way, both physically or electronically, without my prior written permission.
Dear Mother,
I hate this war, the whole thing is pointless, so many have fallen victim to death, both physically and emotionally, and for what? I do not care to fight here any longer, our officer commanded us to charge at the enemy defenses today, I was running alongside cousin Max and saw him fall as he screamed in agony, I called for help but nobody looked back, I was alone trying to save Max, as he lay in the mud, groaning in agony. I bandaged him up and helped him back to our trench, God protected us as we stumbled through the chaos of battle. I found a surgeon tending to a man with the Flu, he and another man assisted us in locating the field hospital behind the lines. The doctors said he will live, but he will not be able to fight for a while. I am very happy with that, I would not be able to fight on if Max died.
I must return to our trench once I have completed this letter, please tell Papa that I am doing fine.
-Ernst
Wow, Lincoln writes a story to go with his scene for once.
The story is pretty crappy in my opinion, I may revise it later. I've had this little WW1 vig sitting around for the longest time, (Which is why it's so flipping dusty) so I decided to put some of my MRU torsos to use before everyone else gets them ;)
God bless!
-Lincoln
"Urban renewal is a state-authorized, redevelopment and finance program designed to help communities improve and redevelop areas that are physically deteriorated, suffering economic stagnation, unsafe or poorly planned."
Now, if we can just remedy our homeless issue.
Sitting Lowe at the South Park Blocks.
"Anyone who has grown mentally, physically or spiritually knows that growth is not found in comfort." -Brooke Castillo
Remember how I was whining about trying this and that and failing so many times (with my photos) last few months? Oh well, if I didn't persevere I might not be able to do something like this! I did this image like it's the easiest thing. Sigh. To experience growth is painful but it's definitely all worth it. Be thankful that you're growing.
Bear is from unsplash
This was shot within 24 hours of Scotland's solar summer solstice.
For me, using my camera this time of year is highly unusual - in fact, I can look at the stats: unless I am on holiday somewhere at a lower latitude, May-August is the slowest time of year for producing images.
This is for a few reasons. One, summer used (*see below) to be my busiest time in my job, but not anymore. Two and certainly the most significant - I've avoided shooting from Spring Equinox to Autumn Equinox simply because the sun is so gosh dern high at 56 degrees north.
This year I was keen to change that, because, to be honest - I really need to get over it and get used to dealing with it better. My sleep is utterly awful around summer solstice and this year has been no different, but I am at least in control of how often I enjoy my favourite passtime, more recently on a cycle which my fatass needs to be on more often. We've been migrants here for 13 years and summer solstice simply can't continue to be something I wish away, especially when where we live is truly ridiculously beautiful.
If you've made it this far, thanks for reading. :) This is a 7 image full +/- 12mm lateral stitch resulting in a 13,400 pixel wide panoramic in a 21:9 cinematic ratio. Instagram is utterly pointless at this and I'm going to keep slagging it off until it changes, the habits of the global population changes, or I'm deid.
5DSR + TSE 24L II + Hoya CPL
*Not no mo'! For, I have physically and metaphorically passed that torch to a much more capable and excellent person than I who will maybe/possibly/hopefully be joining us on this walk of the Water of Life later this year.
Skelly Cakes
Includes:
Unisex Bento Accessory
Physically Based Rendering + Blinn-Phong Materials
MyStory RP Scripts
Fulfills Hunger + Energy Needs
Coming to FLF-O-Ween on Friday October 11th, discounted to L$50!
Don't forget to drop by the booth for your free gift!
Chove. Há silêncio, porque a mesma chuva
Não faz ruído senão com sossego.
Chove. O céu dorme. Quando a alma é viúva
Do que não sabe, o sentimento é cego.
Chove. Meu ser (quem sou) renego…
Tão calma é a chuva que se solta no ar
(Nem parece de nuvens) que parece
Que não é chuva, mas um sussurrar
Que de si mesmo, ao sussurrar, se esquece.
Chove. Nada apetece…
Não paira vento, não há céu que eu sinta.
Chove longínqua e indistintamente,
Como uma coisa certa que nos minta,
Como um grande desejo que nos mente.
Chove. Nada em mim sente…
Fernando Pessoa
On occasion, in this rather crazy and serendipitous world of ours, you may be fortunate enough to meet a person who shares with you a number of characteristics or traits, whether they be a soulmate, or just a like minded soul.
Well, thanks to Flickr, I have "met" (not physically but mentally and spiritually) a number of such like minded souls (since I already have my soulmate). If you follow my photostream you will know that I am blessed to be surrounded by a number of artists, including the artisan who gave me this present, and more so, a gift that goes far beyond the present itself. Made with love, it really is the gift that keeps on glistening.
I am one of those people who really enjoy Christmas. I enjoy it for many reasons, not least of all because I get to give gifts I have gathered throughout the year to my family and friends, and I get to wrap them up in beautiful papers and bows. I don't do it for the accolades, or even for a word of appreciation. I do it because I really get so much pleasure from the gift of giving, and the art of gift giving. This artisan friend of mine is exactly the same, and a rare individual who truly appreciates the art of giving and sharing art. I feel exactly the same when giving gifts. Often it is far more than the gift itself, but the experience of receiving the gift and the delight, joy and anticipation of carefully unwrapping a piece of art, to reveal a piece of art that I am giving.
Imagine my excitement and sheer delight when my artisan friend from half way across the world sent me the most wonderful gift of a handmade tassel. This collage is made up of images I took when I received it, with the tassel at its heart, and details of the tassel tall around it.
The present came presented in pink tissue paper. As the tissue paper fell away, it revealed an ornately decorated box featuring an actress from an Eighteenth Century opera by Rameau or Lully, performed for the Sun King, as well as a beautiful French court shoe, tied with a pink satin bow decorated with bejewelled lace and silk flowers. Inside on the underside of the lid was the actress' male theatrical companion, whilst wrapped up in a star spangled transparent bag, the beautiful tassel sat on a soft bed of padding.
The tassel itself is made up of carefully selected ribbons and laces, and even a few skeins of woven wool, mostly in shades of dusky pink (one of my favourite colours), decorated with the most remarkable collection of silver charms, all of which are connected to me in a personal way: teddy bears and a hearts, love tokens, kisses, stars and a wonderful book of faerie tales which reads "once upon a time".
As you know, if you listen to my teddy bears, I'm an old softie - even more than they are - so by the time I reached the tassel, I was a blubbering mass of tears, not because I was unhappy, but because I was so touched that my artisan friend took the time to create a gift of art, so deeply faceted with layers of her careful observations of me, my likes and passions, that it quite stunned me!
I shall be forever grateful to this wonderful friend, who truly is proof that love is the indeed the gift that keeps glistening!
Merry Christmas to you all!
Pennhurst Asylum was built in 1908 as a state school for the mentally and physically disabled. The Spring City, Chester County, Pennsylvania property covered 120 acres with many different buildings, many connected through a series of underground tunnels. The original name was "Pennhurst Home for the Feeble Minded and Epileptic" before it became known as the "Pennhurst State School". A 1968 report by NBC television entitled "Suffer The Little Children" brought forth evidence of abuse, neglect, and overcrowding at the institution. After many lawsuits, including the landmark May 1974 case "Halderman v. Pennhurst State School ", Pennhurst was finally forced to close its doors in 1986. Pennhurst fell into complete disarray and ruin with scrappers looting buildings for what they could sell and vandals spray painting just about every surface they could find.
There have been attempts to stabilize some of the buildings, primarily the roofs, to keep the buildings in a state of "arrested decay" so they don't become more ruined by the elements, and several of the more dangerous buildings have been demolished. There is a movement to build a museum that features the history of not only Pennhurst but also mental care in the United States, so that we never return to that state of affairs again. The property owners now offer a haunted house during the Halloween season, Paranormal tours, and Photography tours. Tour money goes towards the stabilization of the buildings and the formation of the museum.
Nikon ZF with Nikkor Z 14-30mm F4.5 lens @ 18mm. F13, ISO 100. Oben tripod with an Arca-Swiss C1 cube 3-way geared head.
This is T plus 30 minutes.
Physically the problem was keeping the ice cube stationary - after a minute or two it was disappearing stage right.
The Pinwheel (Messier 101) is a large spiral galaxy that appears in the constellation Ursa Major (a.k.a. "The Big Dipper"). Physically, it is significantly larger than our own Milky Way galaxy while its apparent visual diameter is about the same size as the full moon. This wide-field image covers nearly two and one-half degrees on the diagonal and includes many smaller background galaxies (most notably NGC 5474 on the lower right and the edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 5422 on the upper left).
Image capture was done over three evenings in January 2015 using an unmodified Sony NEX-5R digital camera (ISO 800, 99 seconds x 329, producing a total exposure integration time of just over 9 hours). The imaging telescope was a 5” refractor working at an effective focal length of 528mm at f/4.2. The setup also included the use of a light-pollution filter that causes about a two-thirds f-stop loss in broadband light transmission (a necessary "evil" given my significantly light-polluted, red-zone skies).
Image processing was done with PixInsight v1.8, Photoshop and Lightroom CC2014.
This photo is best viewed against a dark background and at full size (1920 x 1280 pixels, press the "L" key to enter the Flickr light box and then click to enlarge the image).
All rights reserved.
Whatever you are physically...male or female, strong or weak, ill or healthy--all those things matter less than what your heart contains. If you have the soul of a warrior, you are a warrior. All those other things, they are the glass that contains the lamp, but you are the light inside.
D850, 14-24@14, f11, ISO100, 44s, Settings M, Filter: Neutral Night
This morning was a failure once more. I set out to the shot from Lindal road bridge for 37402 on the Preston job and the two Northern Belle 57's on the 6c53. Halfway there my front tyre on my bike got a puncture and I couldn't physically move the bike any further so I had to wait and try the standard scenic shot. By the time 402 arrived, the cloud arrived too so that was a no-go. I thought I'd try the more head-on shot at Lindal for the Belle 57's but they came 20 early and I missed them while pushing my bike to my spot. Thankfully they were not in sun. Anyway I knew these two were the only 2 locos to work to/from Sellafield so I hoped for the best that they would return on the 6k73 flasks this evening in some decent light. Well, surprisingly, luck was on my side and the sun cleared out just after half 3 this afternoon and stayed that way all evening so I opted for a shot at Park South although I wasn't completely sure that the sun would be high enough. Honestly, I could've fired off a few shots but I decided just to stick with the one good one.
Anyway, the two 57's, 57305 & 57312 pass Park South with the 6k73 Sellafield - Crewe flasks running 23 minutes early.
note the new FNA wagon in the middle.
Sometimes you have to push yourself past that point when you feel like giving up. Often, when you think "It's over," "I'm finished," "There's no way," “It won’t work,” but you decide to hang in there anyway and give every last drop of your full potential, you are rewarded.
www.naturephotographymastery.com/
One fine day in April, I got up before sunrise and went out with a specific plan to create an image of a certain subject. After many hours of hard work and effort, I did not succeed. I took a break during the harsh midday sun, and then went out again, at a different location, when the light got better. Again, after much trying, it seemed that I would not succeed.
Still, I refused to give up until I had given 110% effort on every possible opportunity. As the last minutes of light approached, and all seemed hopeless, a sudden turn of events resulted in "the stars aligning.” The light, the subject, and everything else, came together just right, and I gave my final push, physically and mentally, to obtain the image you see here.
I'd like to point out that, after 12 hours of physically and mentally exhausting effort, at two locations, when all seemed hopeless, I used my last reserves of patience and physical energy to push myself to 110% effort, at which point I was finally rewarded with a few awesome images.
Editing disclosure: minor adjustments made to background to reduce distractions
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The most physically demanding hike I ever attempted. A storm rolled in minutes after I captured this image.
Not apparently physically injured, but not flying on all feathers, if you get my drift. Sent on to a rehabber after a physical exam and radiographs.
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I'm just exhausted... mentally, emotionally, physically... and really that's all it is: exhaustion, due to absolutely no recharge time whatsoever, for the last two+ weeks!
[could've been Day 425]
Child labour refers to work done by children that harms them or exploits them either physically or mentally. The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) defines a ‘child’ as anyone below the age of 18, and ‘child labour’ as any form of work performed by children below age 18.
According to the UNICEF, up to 10 million children are estimated to be working in Pakistan
Article 25a in the Constitution of Pakistan reads:
The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of five to 16 years in such manner as may be determined by law
blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/11393/child-labour-in-pakistan...
Aruba is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands physically located in the mid-south of the Caribbean Sea, about 29 kilometers (18 mi) north of the Venezuelan peninsula of Paraguaná and 80 kilometres (50 mi) northwest of Curaçao. It measures 32 kilometres (20 mi) long from its northwestern to its southeastern end and 10 kilometres (6 mi) across at its widest point. Together with Bonaire and Curaçao, Aruba forms a group referred to as the ABC islands. Collectively, these and the other three Dutch substantial islands in the Caribbean are often called the Dutch Caribbean, of which Aruba has about one-third of the population. In 1986, it became a constituent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and acquired the formal name the Country of Aruba.