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"I can feel this body dying all around me."
I've had a very long, physically tiring day already and it's only 9:30! After I finish posting this, I'm going to have some second breakfast and then go back to bed for a while.
This self portrait is inspired by Peter S. Beagle's book and movie The Last Unicorn. It's one of my very favorite works and he is one of my writing heroes. I had a lovely encounter with him recently, which you can read about here if you would like. And there may be a bit more Beagle-ness on it's way in the near future... :)
In the story, the Unicorn is turned into a human girl by magic in order to save her from a pressing threat. After having lived for centuries as an immortal creature, she finds the sudden weight of mortality nearly unbearable.
Edit: Peter S. Beagle himself saw this photo through Twitter and called it "exquisite." I nearly died from joy.
Hey everyone, I bring to you today the AV-7 Antivehicle Cannon. I started working on this to compliment my J-1 a few months back. It was an interesting build, but required a lot less troubleshooting to physically build than the J-1 did.
I am also happy to say that you can build your own as I have partnered with BrickVault on this one as well. You can find instructions here: www.brickvault.toys/products/av-7-anti-vehicle-cannon-min...
Photos courtesy of BrickVault
I’m exhausted, physically, mentally, emotionally, every which way. It’s been a horribly stressful day.
We lost Baby this morning, due to fluid in his lungs, probably caused by some form of cancer. He was literally drowning and nothing could be done. He was running around and playing just a few days ago. It was totally unexpected and we are devastated. He was Lindsey’s kitty, but he was my buddy.
Later in the morning, NatGeo made the decision, out of an abundance of caution, to cancel our trip to Egypt. As disappointing as it is, we understand, and we are rebooking the trip for after the new year.
BUT.....as I said, I’m exhausted and I’m not very good company right now. I simply need a break and I hope everyone will understand. I’ll be back at some point, but it may be awhile.
I feel kinda lost at the moment.
Solar Gauges
Includes:
Rigged Ear Gauges
Physically Based Rendering + Blinn-Phong Materials
Fits Swallow Male + Female Gauged Small, Pixie Gauged Small, and Gauged XL
Texture HUD With Two Gauges + Four Metals
Tintable Neons
Available at FLF Birthday Bash! Don’t forget to drop by the booth for your free gift!
The Pilgrimage to Makkah
The annual pilgrimage (Hajj) to Makkah is an obligation once in a lifetime for those who are physically and financially able to perform it. About two million people go to Makkah each year from every corner of the globe. Although Makkah is always filled with visitors, the annualHajj is performed in the twelfth month of the Islamic calendar. Male pilgrims wear special simple clothes which strip away distinctions of class and culture so that all stand equal before God.
The rites of the Hajj include circling the Kaaba seven times and going seven times between the hillocks of Safa and Marwa, as Hagar did during her search for water. Then the pilgrims stand together in Arafa5 and ask God for what they wish and for His forgiveness, in what is often thought of as a preview of the Day of Judgment.
The end of the Hajj is marked by a festival, Eid Al-Adha, which is celebrated with prayers. This, and Eid al-Fitr, a feast-day commemorating the end of Ramadan, are the two annual festivals of the Muslim calendar.
chatislam.com
Desc will be up shortly. Make sure to see the other detailed views of it. This is the first installment of Jungle Corps.
Data File Found]...
[Unlocking Security Code]...
[Loading Data]...
[Playing Transmission]...
Lieutenant Colonel Flare's Log:
(Before the Events of Mission 1-Engineering Facility 810, Kashyyyk)
After the my 'ride' was gunned dow I fled to the jungle in search of a safe haven for the time being. Mother had helped me navigate my way around until we found an abandoned engineering facility. One of the ones that commonly got ransacked by Trandoshans. I had carved out a 'safe zone' in the facility, only keeping myself within those limits in order to survive and not get lost. Who knows what's in here... Eventually I received a beacon signal, one that was only used to locate troops when in an aircraft. It was my time to get out of this hellhole. I picked up my rifle, slipped in a fresh new mag, and ran into the corridor. It was overgrown with Kashyyyk's native flora and the floor was falling apart. The tendrils of a vine of some sort shaded the hallway which filled me with energy. It seemed like the life on Kashyyyk was giving me synergy. A surge of adreniline filled my body. I ran faster and harder. I kept speeding up, but my body wasn't 'physically' catching up. My breathing halted and my world slipped away from me.
[Transmission Ending]...
[Saving Data File]...
[Locking Security Code]...
[Shutting Down]...
The Abandoned Pennhurst Asylum
May 25th, 2014
Some info on this historic location:
“Pennhurst is the scariest place I have ever seen. Period. I have traveled all over the country visiting haunted places and attractions and nothing compares to this incredible, dilapidated campus. Last October, I was approached by the owners of Pennhurst Associates, and asked if I would like to be a partner in their haunted attraction. At first I was skeptical because everyone thinks this industry is easy, with a “get rich quick” attitude, and we all know how much work is involved and how hard it is to be successful. I was really skeptical…until I visited Pennhurst. The day I drove into this huge complex of brick structures, I was hooked. I knew this place had the potential to be the greatest haunted attraction ever. With a ton of money, corporate sponsors, the right build crew, and a great plan, Pennhurst Asylum could come to life and entertain the hard core haunters. Not only does this place have an incredible ambiance, a built in cult following, and a treasure trove of unique props, it has a history; a history riddled with accusations of torture, abuse and neglect. A history of mental patients chained to the walls in dark tunnels, children left for years in cribs, sexual abuse by the staff and even murder. All this happened behind the walls of Pennhurst State School, Spring City, Pennsylvania.
Pennhurst was constructed and opened in 1908 as a state school for the mentally and physically disabled. Pennhurst's property was vast, covering 120 acres. Created to house over 10,000 patients at a point in time, Pennhurst was one of the largest institutions of its kind in Pennsylvania. Half of Pennhurst's residents were committed by court order and the other half were brought by a parent or other guardian. It was devoted strictly to the care, treatment and education of the disabled. Originally named Pennhurst Home for the Feeble Minded and Epileptic, it finally was just called Pennhurst State School. Pennhurst employed a large number of staff to help assist in maintaining the facility. This staff included a board of trustees, medical staff, dental staff, and specialists in psychology, social services, accounting, and various fields of education. The grounds of Pennhurst included a 300-bed hospital, which had a full nursing staff and two surgeons on call at all times. Others at Pennhurst included members of the clergy and farming experts who grew most of Pennhurst's food . Pennhurst was an essentially self-sufficient community, its 1,400-acre site containing a firehouse, general store, barber shop, movie theatre, auditorium and even a greenhouse. The buildings of Pennhurst were named after towns in Pennsylvania such as Chester and Devon. The original buildings were designed by architect Phillip H. Johnson. All of Pennhurst's electricity was generated by an on-site power plant. A cemetery lay on the property, as well as baseball and recreational fields for the residents. Many of Pennhurst's buildings were strictly for storage; however, the majority were dormitory and hospital-style living quarters for the residents. Many of the buildings had security screens that were accessed on the inside, to prevent patients from escaping, or jumping to their deaths. Most of the stairwells had security fences to keep patients from jumping over the railings. Many of the buildings are linked by an underground tunnel system designed for transportation of handicapped patients to and from the dormitory, recreational buildings and dietary.
Pennhurst was often accused of dehuminazitation and was said to have provided no help to the mentally challenged. The institution had a long history of staff difficulties and negative public image, for example, a 1968 report by NBC called "Suffer the Little Children". Pennhurst State School was closed in 1986 following several allegations of abuse. These allegations led to the first lawsuit of its kind in the United States, Pennhurst State School and Hospital vs. Halderman, which asserted that the mentally retarded have a constitutional right to living quarters and an education. Terry Lee Halderman had been a resident of the school, and upon release she filed suit in the district court on behalf of herself and all other residents of Pennhurst. The complaint alleged that conditions at Pennhurst were unsanitary, inhumane and dangerous, that these living conditions violated the fourteenth amendment, and that Pennhurst used cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the eighth and fourteenth amendments. After a 32-day trial and an immense investigation, prosecutors concluded that the conditions at Pennhurst were not only dangerous, with physical and mental abuse of its patients, but also inadequate for the care and habilitation for the mentally retarded. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania also concluded that the physical, mental, and intellectual skills of most patients had deteriorated while in Pennhurst.
In 1986, Pennhurst was ordered closed, and began a program of de-institutionalism that lasted several years. Once the buildings were closed, they began to rapidly deteriorate from lack of heating, moisture invasion and vandalism. Thousands of people began to illegally tour the property spray painting everything in sight and breaking all the glass in the place. Theft was rampant and the destruction of the property was in full swing. Patients were thrown out and a large homeless contingent developed in the area.
Pennhurst fell into complete ruin as the complex was shut down. Buildings were abandoned as they were, with patient’s clothes and belonging strewn about. Furniture, cabinets and medical equipment were left to decay as if someone had just got up and walked out the front door. This is the place that will eventually resurrect into one of the most studied properties in the ghost hunter media, and will become an amazing haunted attraction.
As I research the history of this place, I begin to realize the potential of Pennhurst as an intriguing location for a haunted attraction. This place is really haunted. Several reputable Ghost Hunter groups have documented audible recordings, temperature changes, and unexplained movement of objects in the buildings of Pennhurst. This is the kind of environment I want to build the next generation of haunted house; a proven haunted location.
My team, headed by John Brady, Shawn Sieger, Jim Souflous, Todd Beringer, Rob Sieger and others search the complex for valuable props. We wander deep into the tunnels that stitch the complex. We move into the basements of maintenance buildings, storage areas, dormitories and dietary in search of unique items that will set this haunt apart from all other. We find a huge electro-mechanical device that has to be the control for the electrotherapy department. It is so old that it used electrical tube circuits developed in the 30’s. Insulators and other unrecognizable devices are strewn about the room. This is a huge find. As we cruise through the old abandoned hospital, we harvest giant 48” surgical lights that are suspended from the rotting ceilings. They are mounted on tracks that allow the lights to be moved to focus on the unsuspecting patients. These will be perfect in the rooms for our haunt. We find medical cabinets, drawers, storage lockers, operating tables are everywhere. This is a veritable treasure trove of props for our attraction. As we move through the dark corridors, with flashlights moving side to side, I can’t keep the feelings of growing anticipation from my mind. I know there is something out there but can’t put my finger on it. I come around the corner and enter a small room to the right, and there it is; the morgue. I recognize it because it has two drawer slides and a refrigeration unit on top. This is what we came here to find. This will be one of the most unique features of our attraction; a real morgue scene. Stainless steel tables with large drains, stainless steel cabinets, lab equipment and a real, 1930’s autopsy table! I am blown away by this scene. I can picture the thousands of customers coming through our attraction knowing that everything in here is REAL. My arms have gooseflesh!
Back at the Administration building, construction is moving forward. All the asbestos has been abated, the floors have been repaired, roof repaired, windows replaced, and structural inspections have been completed. The building is safe for use as an amusement building. Now the hard work of turning this into one of the most complex haunted houses is under way. A full electrical upgrade needs to be completed. Smart lighting, imbedded audio systems and fiber optical controls will be installed. Pneumatic infrastructure will be run throughout the building so props can be installed in any room. A lot of work must be completed in a few short months in preparation for the 2010 season.
We want this attraction to be a full experience of Pennhurst, but we need to work the audience up slowly so they won’t chicken out right away. This place is so creepy, that we need to get the ticket sales completed before they see the complex. A state of the art POS system will be installed by Interactive Ticketing, and can handle the thousands of expected customers. This system will track every ticket sold, and with the aid of digital scanners that are integrated with the internet, and keep track of each customer. Once the customer has bought their ticket, they will be guided to the walkway that surrounds the complex. This walkway will act as a huge queue line to the main entrance of the haunt, but will take them on a tour around several other buildings before entering the Administration building. As the customers walk the 800’ long walkway, they will experience the vastness of Pennhurst. With over 10 buildings in view, most in bad condition, they will be able to witness the downfall of this once beautiful campus. The once beautiful courtyards are now overgrown and the children’s playground equipment lay rotting all around. As the people approach the Admin building, they will be diverted to the side and then around to the front and into the main entrance. A large stone portico greets the crowd as they are ushered into the attraction. A unique feature of Pennhurst will be the museum. Many local residents have a strong feeling that the memories of the atrocities that occurred here should be preserved in some way so that they will not re-occur in the future. With this in mind, we felt that the construction of a Pennhurst Museum was in order. We have reconstructed four rooms on the first floor that will act as an indoor queue line and, at the same time, teach the public about the history of this magnificent place. With high tech videos, historical photos and artifacts from the past, the customers will be able to go back in time and witness the rise and fall of Pennhurst, as it happened. As they move slowly through the museum, they will notice that the rooms are beginning to decay. By the time they enter the great corridor the building has fallen into disrepair. This is when they will enter the scariest haunted house imaginable.
With an asylum theme in mind, and real, antique hospital equipment on hand, we began to build our attraction. We painted the entire interior with a special barrier sealant that encapsulates any lead paint and is also 100% flameproof. Rotted flooring has been replaced, and roof leaks have been plugged. We install MDF board as a wainscote and paint it to look like the marble that was part of the original building, but stolen long ago. We want an old time feeling to envelope the customers; a feeling of going back in time. The first room you enter is the intake office, complete with a psychiatrist giving you the Rorschach test, otherwise known as the ink blot test. As the Dr. engages the crowd, slides flip by on a large screen. After the intake, you enter the de-lousing showers, where shower heads spew out a combination of fog, air and CO2, giving it a cold feel. Other rooms include the dietary unit with copious use of existing cafeteria items like tray holders, rolling carts, plastic ware, cups, plates, tables and ovens. Pneumatic and actor scares abound in this haunt as there are a large number of great setups and hiding spots throughout the building. Moving upstairs, we have a large room with the ceiling removed. It shows the expansive architecture of the building, and the roofline looms over 35’ above your head. The focus in this room is the old, female actor in the corner, who is sitting in a vintage wheelchair. She is spot lighted with down lighting that also shows beds, furniture and other belongings. As she distracts the crowd, a switch is flipped and flood lights reveal the height of the ceiling, filled with another animatronic surprise.
Another part of the building is an area that has suffered a moderate fire. Door frames and headers are charred, and the smell of burnt wood is still perceptible. The area that was burned housed two sound proof cells; small rooms where patients could be locked away and their screams could be totally muffled. The floors, walls and ceilings are 6” thick with heavy insulation stuffed between the studs. The interiors are lined with sound proof tiles, and the exterior is sheathed in another layer of sound proofing. Even the doors are 8” thick and insulated. As you walk into these rooms, you can feel the air get heavy, the sounds deaden and you can imagine how the patients felt being locked up in the pitch dark with no one hearing your screams.
As you can imagine, the really cool rooms are left for last. With tons of great, original props, we build out sets that appear to be real operating rooms. One room is set up to be themed as a lobotomy operating room. Steel tables, medical cabinets and surgical equipment are everywhere. Actors bring off the scare and make this scene believable. The next room is our autopsy chamber. This room is decorated with the original equipment we found in the old hospital. The cabinets mounted to the walls are stainless steel, and look brand new, even after 50 or more years. The large sink structure, with an industrial size in-sinkerator, and long overflow drain, is up against the far wall. On the right is the original two drawer morgue unit, moved here from the hospital basement, and restored to its original form. The drawers roll out as easily as they did when first installed, and the refrigeration unit above the drawers adds to the realism of the scene. To top it off, an antique autopsy table stands in the center of the room. I bought the table at a funeral home auction 15 years ago and it has now found a new home. Overhead is a huge surgical style lamp, measuring over 40” across, and fitted with a friction gear that allows one to direct the light in any direction.
Another great room design we are using is the shock therapy room. This room has tile walls and floor, large overhead lights (harvested from the depths of building c) and the original electroconvulsive shock therapy machine retrieved from the hospital. Most modern ECT machines deliver a brief-pulse current, which is thought to cause fewer cognitive effects than the sine-wave currents which were originally used in ECT. Our machine is of the sine wave type, and caused unconsciousness and convulsions for 15 to 30 seconds. It is a large stainless steel console with dials and meters, and long electrode leads still attached. Our shock table is hinged in the center, and can tilt down for easy loading and unloading of the patient. The table has a latch where the actor can drop the foot of the table and attack the audience. This coupled with bang sticks, strobe lights, fog machines and a blistering 400 watt soundtrack make this one of the premier rooms at Pennhurst. In all, Pennhurst Asylum will have 18 complete rooms, not including the 4 room used in the museum. All of these rooms are highly detailed to be realistic in every way.
We have really strived to mix fact with fiction, folklore with fear, to come up with some of our unique room designs. There have been accounts of an old dentist chair that was located in the deep recesses of Mayflower, one of the more notorious dorms at Pennhurst. This chair is a little different than the ones you and I are used too; it has restraining straps attached to the arms, legs and headrest. This chair was reportedly used to remove the teeth of patients that were prone to biting the staff here. Imagine yourself being strapped into this device and having all your teeth ripped out without any kind of medication. This is just one more example of how unique this location is.
The most intriguing part of Pennhurst is their tunnel complex. All of the buildings on the campus are connected by above ground walkways with tunnels under them. These tunnels are 10 feet high, 8 feet wide and thousands of feet long. Concrete floors, tile walls and concrete ceilings create an incredible echo effect at certain intersections. In fact, I have looked behind myself several times to see if there is someone following me a few feet back. The echoes are so distinct you can hear whispers from hundreds of feet away.
As the guests are scared out of the last room in the Asylum, they find themselves in a large foyer with paintings and photographs on the walls. This is the queue line for the tunnels. Once through the lines, the guests are ushered down a long set of stairs and into the basement. Once there, with a temperature drop of at least 20 degrees, they are let through the double doors that lead to the exit…900 feet away. Scenes and actors appear at intersections along the way. Glass jars with cages around them contain the only lighting down here, and they are all connected to commercial lighting controls that are programmed to flicker, dim and occasionally go completely dark. We also added several subsonic bass tubes that cannot be heard, only felt. This will induce an uneasy feeling in all who enter the tunnels. Special chicken exits have been designed into the tunnel system and I’m sure will be used many times. This will be the scariest part of this attraction. The best part of the tunnel system is that it will contain our guests on their way back to the main entrance. People coming into the show along the walkways above will hear the screams emanating from the tunnels below them. They will hear the reactions to our show before they even enter the walkways leading to our haunt. What better way to elevate the anticipation and fear level than to hear, first hand, how scary this place is. If this place is scary to seasoned haunters, imagine how the general public will feel.
Another unique feature of Pennhurst is that it is really haunted. Featured on the Travel Channel, the Ghost Adventures crew have recorded many strange voices, noises and unexplained movement and documented this in their shows. The Pennhurst Ghost Tours, open to professional and amateur ghost hunters, has been a huge success, with recordings, photos and accounts of physical contact throughout the Pennhurst complex. So, if you want to get scared, come to Pennhurst Asylum. You may even witness the supernatural… whether you want to or not.”
Oh Wow! What a read. I feel both emotionally and physically drained.
Atlas, The Story Of Pa Salt is the eighth and final book in the Seven Sisters series. I won't go into the story line as I don't want to spill the beans for anyone else who is waiting to read it. I will say though that it pulls the storylines from all the previous book together perfectly as well as ties up all loose ends.
The book was so well written you would never guess that it had to be finished by the authors son after her death partway through writing it. He did an excellent job of carrying forward his mothers writing style.
After reading this I feel that I want to go back and read all the books in the series again, but this time with a different insight.
We were physically blocked from returning to our neighborhood after dinner (power and services were dicey), parked a half mile away and walked back to our home, which remained ash-free despite our close proximity. This visage still makes me shudder.
Photography is a waiting game. A physically demanding waiting game too. Standing in one place, essentially sitting on a scene, waiting for magic light, or waiting for an animal to appear, makes your body stiffen up and leaves plenty of room for your mind to create doubt.
In the Great Bear Rainforest, on the coast of British Columbia, I stood at the edge of a river in the freezing cold and began to wonder. Maybe I don’t deserve to see the spirit bear?
Read about my experience and see more photos on the blog:
annemckinnell.com/2018/12/09/black-bears-matter-too-my-ex...
ENJOY EVERYONE FOR THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS. But be responsible CHEERS! You need not do it physically. Here will do...
"A man on a horse is spiritually, as well as physically, bigger than a man on foot." —John Steinbeck
We were all geared-up (physically and mentally) to take on a scramble we have been wanting to do for years, Mt. Andromache. However, we don't know this area as well as needed to, and started out the day by going up the wrong route... What a bummer! But on the wrong trail we still saw some interesting things. We did finally find the right trailhead and went parkways up the trail, and did some nice scrambling. Now we know exactly where to go for next time!
Hadrian's Wall is a stone and turf fortification built by the Roman Empire across the width of Great Britain. It was the second of three such fortifications built across Great Britain, the first being Gask Ridge and the last the Antonine Wall. All three were built to prevent military raids by the Pictish tribes (ancient inhabitants of Scotland) to the north, to improve economic stability and provide peaceful conditions in the Roman province of Britannia to the south, and to physically mark the frontier of the Empire. Hadrian's Wall is the best known of the three because it remains the most physically preserved and evident today.
The wall was the northern border of the Empire in Britain for much of the Roman Empire's rule, and also the most heavily fortified border in the Empire. In addition to its use as a military fortification, it is thought that the gates through the wall would also have served as customs posts to allow trade taxation.
A significant portion of the wall still exists, particularly the mid-section, and for much of its length the wall can be followed on foot. It is the most popular tourist attraction in Northern England, where it is often known simply as the Roman Wall. It was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. English Heritage, a government organization in charge of managing the historic environment of England, describes it as "the most important monument built by the Romans in Britain".[1]
Sections of Hadrian's Wall remain near Greenhead and along the route, though other large sections have been dismantled over the years to use the stones for various nearby construction projects.
Sections of Hadrian's Wall remain near Greenhead and along the route, though other large sections have been dismantled over the years to use the stones for various nearby construction projects.
The Roman name of the Wall
No stone inscription survives to confirm what the Wall was called in antiquity, and no historical source gives it a name. However, the discovery of a small enamelled bronze Roman cup in Staffordshire in 2003 has provided a clue. The cup is inscribed with a series of names of Roman forts (see also the botrom of this page) along the western sector of the Wall, together with a personal name and a phrase:
MAIS COGGABATA VXELODVNVM CAMBOGLANNA RIGORE VALI AELI DRACONIS
Here we have Bowness (MAIS, followed by what must be the correct name for Drumburgh-by-Sands (COGGABATA) until now known only as CONGAVATA from the late Roman document, the Notitia Dignitatum. Next comes Stanwix (VXELODVNVM), then Castlesteads (CAMBOGLANNA), before we get to the most tantalizing part.
RIGORE seems to be the ablative form of the Latin word rigor. This can mean several things, but one of its less well-known meanings is ‘straight line’, ‘course’ or ‘direction’. This was used by Roman surveyors and appears on a number of inscriptions to indicate a line between places. So the meaning could be ‘from the course’, or better in English 'according to the course'.
The Staffordshire Moorlands cup, which provides the ancient name of Hadrian's Wall.
The Staffordshire Moorlands cup, which provides the ancient name of Hadrian's Wall.
There is no such word as vali, but in antiquity Hadrian’s Wall was known as the Vallum, the Latin word for a frontier which is today incorrectly applied to the ditch and mounds dug by the Roman army just south of the Wall. The genitive form of Vallum is Valli, so one of the most likely meanings is VAL[L]I, ‘of the frontier’. Omitting one of a pair of double consonants is common on Roman inscriptions, and transcribing an inscription from a written note is the easiest way to miss out letters. Another similar bronze vessel, known as the Rudge Cup (found in Wiltshire in the 18th century) has VN missing from the name VXELODVNVM, for example, although the letters appear on the Staffordshire cup. The Rudge Cup only bears fort names.
The name AELI is also in the genitive. This was Hadrian's nomen, his main family name and we know that the Roman bridge at Newcastle-upon-Tyne was called Pons Aelius.
Finally we have the name DRACONIS, which can be translated as ‘[by the hand – or property] of Aelius Draco’. It was normal for Roman manufacturers to give their names in the genitive (‘of’), and ‘by the hand’ would be understood. The form is common, for example, on samian pottery.
The translation, therefore, could be:
‘Mais, Coggabata, Uxelodunum, Camboglanna, according to the line of the Aelian frontier. [By the hand or The property] of Draco’.
This would mean the Romans knew Hadrian's Wall as Vallum Aeli, 'the Aelian frontier'.
Dimensions
Hadrian's Wall was 80 Roman miles (73.5 English miles or 117 kilometres) long, its width and height dependent on the construction materials which were available nearby: east of River Irthing the wall was made from squared stone and measured 3 m (9.7 ft) wide and 5 to 6 metres (16–20 ft) tall; west of the river the wall was made from turf and measured 6 metres (20 ft) wide and 3.5 metres (11.5 ft) high. This does not include the wall's ditches, berms, and forts. The central section measured 8 Roman feet wide (7.8 ft or 2.4 m) on a 10 foot base.
Route
Map showing the location of Hadrian's Wall.
Map showing the location of Hadrian's Wall.
Hadrian's Wall extended west Segedunum at Wallsend on the River Tyne to the shore of the Solway Firth. The A69 and B6318 roads follow the course of the wall as it starts in Newcastle upon Tyne to Carlisle, then on round the northern coast of Cumbria. The Wall is entirely in England and south of the border with Scotland by 15 kilometres (9 mi) in the west and 110 kilometres (68 mi) in the east.
Hadrian
Hadrian's Wall was built following a visit by Roman emperor Hadrian (AD 76–138) in AD 122. Hadrian was experiencing military difficulties in Britain, and from the peoples of various conquered lands across the Empire, including Egypt, Judea, Libya, Mauretania, and many of the peoples conquered by his predecessor Trajan, so he was keen to impose order. However the construction of such an impressive wall was probably also a symbol of Roman power, both in occupied Britain and in Rome. Frontiers in the early empire were based more on natural features or fortified zones with a heavy military presence. Military roads or limes often marked the border, with forts and signal towers spread along them and it was not until the reign of Domitian that the first solid frontier was constructed, in Germania Superior, using a simple fence. Hadrian expanded on this idea, redesigning the German border by ordering a continuous timber palisade supported by forts behind it. Although such defences would not have held back any concerted invasion effort, they did physically mark the edge of Roman territory and went some way to providing a degree of control over who crossed the border and where.
Hadrian reduced Roman military presence in the territory of the Brigantes and concentrated on building a more solid linear fortification to the north of them. This was intended to replace the Stanegate road which is generally thought to have served as the limes (the boundary of the Roman Empire) until then.
Construction
Construction probably started in 122 AD and was largely completed within eight years, with soldiers from all three of the occupying Roman legions participating in the work. The route chosen largely paralleled the nearby Stanegate road from Luguvalium (Carlisle) to Coria (Corbridge), which was already defended by a system of forts, including Vindolanda. The Wall in part follows the outcrop of a harder, more resistant igneous dolerite rock escarpment, known as the Great Whin Sill.
The initial plan called for a ditch and wall with 80 small, gated milecastle fortlets every Roman mile holding a few dozen troops each, and pairs of evenly spaced intermediate turrets used for observation and signalling. The wall was initially designed to a width of 3 metres (10 ft) (the so-called "Broad Wall"). The height is estimated to have been around 5 or 6 metres (16–20 ft). Local limestone was used in the construction, except for the section to the west of Irthing where turf was used instead as there were no useful outcrops nearby. The turf wall was 6 metres wide (20 ft) and around 3.5 metres (11.5 ft) high. Milecastles in this area were also built from timber and earth rather than stone but turrets were always stone. The Broad Wall was initially built with a clay-bonded rubble core and mortared dressed rubble facing stones, but this seems to have made it vulnerable to collapse and repair with a mortared core was sometimes necessary.
Roman fort at Corstopitum.
Roman fort at Corstopitum.
The milecastles were of three different designs, depending on which Roman legion built them — the Second, Sixth, and Twentieth Legions, whose inscriptions tell us were all involved in the construction. Similarly there are three different turret designs along the route. All were about 493 metres (539 yd) apart and measured 4.27 metres square (46.0 sq ft) internally.
Construction was divided into lengths of about 5 miles (8 km). One group of each legion would create the foundations and build the milecastles and turrets and then other cohorts would follow, building the wall itself.
Early in its construction, just after reaching the North Tyne (construction worked from east to west), the width of the wall was narrowed to 2.5 metres (8.2 ft) or even less (sometimes 1.8m) (the "Narrow Wall"). However, Broad Wall foundations had already been laid as far as the river Irthing, where the Turf Wall began, and many turrets and milecastles were optimistically provided with stub 'wing walls' in preparation for joining to the Broad Wall; a handy reference for archaeologists trying to piece together the construction chronology.
Within a few years it was decided to add a total of 14 to 17 (sources disagree) full-sized forts along the length of the wall, including Vercovicium (Housesteads) and Banna (Birdoswald), each holding between 500 and 1,000 auxiliary troops (no legions were posted to the wall). The eastern end of the wall was extended further east from Pons Aelius (Newcastle) to Segedunum (Wallsend) on the Tyne estuary. Some of the larger forts along the wall, such as Cilurnum (Chesters) and Vercovicium (Housesteads), were built on top of the footings of milecastles or turrets, showing the change of plan. An inscription mentioning early governor Aulus Platorius Nepos indicates that the change of plans took place early on. Also some time still during Hadrian's reign (i.e., before AD 138) the wall west of the Irthing was rebuilt in sandstone to basically the same dimensions as the limestone section to the east.
Vallum at Hadrian's Wall near milecastle 42
Vallum at Hadrian's Wall near milecastle 42
After the forts had been added (or possibly at the same time), the so-called Vallum was built on the southern side. It consisted of a large, flat-bottomed ditch 6 metres (20 ft) wide at the top and 3 metres (10 ft) deep bounded by a berm on each side 10 metres (33 ft) wide. Beyond the berms were earth banks 6 metres (20 ft) wide and 2 metres (6.5 ft) high. Causeways crossed the ditch at regular intervals. Initially the berm appears to have been the main route for transportation along the wall. The Vallum probably delineated a military zone rather than intending to be a major fortification, though the British tribes to the south were also sometimes a military problem.
The Wall was thus part of a defensive system which, from north to south included:
* a glacis and a deep ditch
* a berm with rows of pits holding entanglements
* the curtain wall itself
* a later military road (the "Military Way")
* a north mound, a ditch and a south mound to prevent or slow down any raids from a rebelling southern tribe.
Roman-period names
The remains of milecastle 39, near Steel Rigg
The remains of milecastle 39, near Steel Rigg
The Roman-period names of some of the Hadrian's Wall forts are known, from the Notitia Dignitatum and other evidence:
* Segedunum (Wallsend)
* Pons Aelius (Newcastle on Tyne)
* Condercum (Benwell Hill)
* Vindobala (Halton Chesters)[2]
* Hunnum (Rudchester)[2]
* Cilurnum (Chesters aka Walwick Chesters)[2]
* Procolita (Carrowburgh)
* Vercovicium (Housesteads)
* Aesica (Great Chesters)[2]
* Magnis (Carvoran)
* Banna (Birdoswald)
* Camboglanna (Castlesteads)
* Uxelodunum (Stanwix. Also known as Petriana)
* Aballava (Burgh-by-Sands)
* Coggabata (Drumburgh)
* Mais (Bowness)
Outpost forts beyond the Wall include:
* Habitancum (Risingham)
* Bremenium (Rochester)[2]
* Ad Fines (Chew Green) [1]
Supply forts behind the wall include:
* Alauna (Maryport)
* Arbeia (South Shields)
* Coria (Corbridge)
* Vindolanda (Little Chesters)[2]
* Vindomora (Ebchester)[2]
Garrison
The wall was garrisoned by auxiliary (i.e., non-legionary) units of the army (non-citizens). Their numbers fluctuated throughout the occupation, but may have been around 9,000 strong in general, including infantry and cavalry. The new forts could hold garrisons of 500 men while cavalry units of 1,000 troops were stationed at either end. The total number of soldiers manning the early wall was probably greater than 10,000.
They suffered serious attacks in 180, and especially between 196 and 197 when the garrison had been seriously weakened, following which major reconstruction had to be carried out under Septimius Severus. The region near the wall remained peaceful for most of the rest of the 3rd century. It is thought that many in the garrison may have married and integrated into the local community.
Part of Hadrian's wall near Housesteads.
Part of Hadrian's wall near Housesteads.
After Hadrian
In the years after Hadrian's death in 138, the new emperor, Antoninus Pius essentially abandoned the wall, though leaving it occupied in a support role, and began building a new wall in Scotland proper, about 160 kilometres (100 mi) north, the Antonine Wall. This turf wall ran 40 Roman miles (about 37.8 mi or 61 km) and had significantly more forts than Hadrian's Wall. Antonine was unable to conquer the northern tribes and so when Marcus Aurelius became emperor, he abandoned the Antonine Wall and occupied Hadrian's Wall once again in 164. It remained occupied by Roman troops until their withdrawal from Britain.
In the late 4th century, barbarian invasions, economic decline, and military coups loosened the Empire's hold on Britain. By 410, the Roman administration and its legions were gone, and Britain was left to look to its own defences and government. The garrisons, by now probably made up mostly of local Britons who had nowhere else to go, probably lingered on in some form for generations. Archaeology is beginning to reveal that some parts of the Wall remained occupied well into the 5th century. Enough also survived in the 8th century for spolia from it to find its way into the construction of Jarrow Priory, and for Bede to see and describe the Wall thus in Historia Ecclesiastica 1.5, although he misidentified it as being built by Septimius Severus:
“ after many great and dangerous battles, he thought fit to divide that part of the island, which he had recovered from the other unconquered nations, not with a wall, as some imagine, but with a rampart. For a wall is made of stones, but a rampart, with which camps are fortified to repel the assaults of enemies, is made of sods, cut out of the earth, and raised above the ground all round like a wall, having in front of it the ditch whence the sods were taken, and strong stakes of wood fixed upon its top. ”
But in time the wall was abandoned and fell into ruin. Over the centuries and even into the 20th century a large proportion of the stone was reused in other local buildings.
In fiction
Sycamore Gap (the "Robin Hood Tree")
Sycamore Gap (the "Robin Hood Tree")
* Hadrian's Wall was featured extensively in the movie King Arthur (which depicted the story of the people the Arthurian legends were supposedly based on). The one kilometre (0.6 mi) long replica, located in County Kildare, Ireland, was the largest movie set ever built in that country, and took a crew of 300 construction workers four and a half months to build. The fort in the movie where Arthur and his Sarmatian "knights" were garrisoned was based on the Roman fort named Vindolanda, which was built around AD 80 just south of Hadrian's Wall in what is now called Chesterholm, in Northern England. In the movie, the fort is attached to the wall.
* Sycamore Gap, a section of the wall between two crests just west of milecastle 38, is locally known as the "Robin Hood Tree". This location was used in the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, as the setting for an interlude during Robin's journey from the White Cliffs (actually shot at the Seven Sisters Hills) to Nottingham via Aysgarth Falls.
The inner German border (innerdeutsche Grenze or deutsch-deutsche Grenze; initially also Zonengrenze) was the border between the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, West Germany) from 1949 to 1990.
Not including the similar but physically separate Berlin Wall, the border was 1,393 kilometres (866 mi) long and ran from the Baltic Sea to Czechoslovakia.
It was formally established on 1 July 1945 as the boundary between the Western and Soviet occupation zones of former Nazi Germany. On the eastern side, it was made one of the world's most heavily fortified frontiers, defined by a continuous line of high metal fences and walls, barbed wire, alarms, anti-vehicle ditches, watchtowers, automatic booby traps and minefields. It was patrolled by 50,000 armed GDR guards who faced tens of thousands of West German, British and US guards and soldiers. In the hinterlands behind the border were more than a million North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and Warsaw Pact troops.
The border was a physical manifestation of Winston Churchill's metaphorical Iron Curtain that separated the Soviet and Western blocs during the Cold War. It marked the boundary between two ideological systems – democratic capitalism and single-party communism. Built by East Germany in phases from 1952 to the late 1980s, the fortifications were constructed to stop the large-scale emigration of East German citizens to the West, about 1,000 of whom are said to have died trying to cross it during its 45-year existence. It caused widespread economic and social disruption on both sides; East Germans living in the region suffered especially draconian restrictions.
The better-known Berlin Wall was a physically separate, less elaborate, and much shorter border barrier surrounding West Berlin, more than 155 kilometres (96 mi) to the east of the inner German border (Berlin having been similarly divided by the four powers after World War II, despite the entire city being in the Soviet zone, thus creating an enclave of capitalism surrounded by the communist east). On 9 November 1989, the East German government announced the opening of the Berlin Wall and the inner German border. Over the following days, millions of East Germans poured into the West to visit. Hundreds of thousands moved permanently to the West in the following months as more crossings were opened, and ties between long-divided communities were re-established as border controls became little more than a cursory formality. The inner German border was not completely abandoned until 1 July 1990, exactly 45 years to the day since its establishment, and only three months before German reunification formally ended Germany's division.
Little remains of the inner German border's fortifications. Its route has been declared part of a "European Green Belt" linking national parks and nature reserves along the course of the old Iron Curtain from the Arctic Circle to the Black Sea. Museums and memorials along the old border commemorate the division and reunification of Germany and, in some places, preserve elements of the fortifications.
I was physically unable to NOT give her her wings. It feels so god to see her with her very own fullset outfit *_* And it suits her soooo well…
do u feel alone? Not physically alone,but mentally alone.do u feel helpless,hopeless,useless?do u feel like a piece of shit with an empty future?do u feel distant and disconnected from the rest of the world?do u wanna get away from everyone and everything?do u lack the motivation to do anything?do u wanna to sleep ur days away cuz youre so fucking tired? Do you feel depressed? Haha* FUCK LIFE
We take so many photographs, especially in today's world, but nothing can compare to physically being in a place again. When you revisit a location that once held great significance in your life, you feel it in every fiber of your being. It’s as if you are reliving that moment, with your loved ones by your side, and you feel young again. Some say you cannot go home again. Perhaps it’s the sentimental part of me, but physically being there is the only way we can time travel in this modern age—something that even a photograph can’t replicate.
I always observed my grandma and mom having strong feelings for people and places, but I was too young to understand them truly. Now, I find myself experiencing those same feelings. Do you know that intense feeling of missing someone in a particular moment, wishing you could turn your head and see them right next to you? Then, when you do, you smile because you’re so happy. Not just this place… but in general… doesn't mean they are gone, but that moment where they are next to you, there is gone.. And you would give your all in the world to relive that moment again! That’s love.
🏧AT THE ENTRANCE TO THE DUNGEON🏧:
--------------
🙋Snow Elf: - Oh look what a strange statue, there is a magical seal on the door and my magic can't interact with it...
🗿Sphinx Statue: - Greetings, to open the path further you must answer my question.
🎵Bard Elf: - I see, it's a classic. To proceed further, you must play this word game.
👽Orc Woman: - Why we need play any games with this statue? Let's just physically break down this door *GRRRR!
🙋Snow Elf: - If this door was that easy to break down, it would have been taken out a long time ago. No, it's very strong and well protected, Bard is right, we need to solve the riddle.
🎵Bard Elf: - And who will solve it in our group?
👽Orc Woman: - I have an intelligence of 6, I won't be able to help solve the puzzles....
🙋Snow Elf: - I have high intelligence, but poor erudition.... Bard, you seem to be the only one who can solve this one.
🎵Bard Elf: Here we go again. Okay, sphinx, give me your riddle.
🗿Sphinx Statue: - Tell me, who walks on four legs in the morning, on two legs in the afternoon, and on three legs in the evening? None of all the creatures living on earth changes like him. When he walks on four legs, he has less strength and moves more slowly than at other times.
🎵Bard Elf: It's complicated. Wouldn't it really be better to just kick the door down?
👽Orc woman: - AGGRRRRRR! *Runs up and hits the door with her weapon, the door's protective field ricochets and throws her back.
🙋Snow Elf: - Well, I told you it was protected, wait Orc don't get up, I'll fly you... while you Bard solve the riddle.
🎵Bard Elf: Four in the morning, two in the afternoon... it's talking about the time of life. hmm. an infant walks on four in early life, a human walks on two in adulthood, but on three..... who walks on three.... *looks at the Snow Elf leaning on a staff leaning over the Orc's wounds*...hmmm can a stick or staff be considered a third leg? If so: then it could be the 3rd leg for the old man.....
Oh well.... my answer.... *sighs heavily*.... It's a HUMAN. As an infant he crawls, in his prime he walks on two legs, and in his old age he leans on a cane.
🗿Sphinx statue: - Correct answer, the dungeon of the cursed bones is open.
✅*There was a loud click, and then the doors began to open with a loud creak.✅
🙋Snow Elf: - Bard, you are incredible! All right! Let's go!)
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❤Sponsor ANTAYA, Effervescence, Raven Bell, Art&Ko, Ruxy, UNA and Grasshopper Street store.❤
(For the link to work, copy the address and paste it into the address bar of your browser without @.)
➡ANTAYA
🚕Taxi: @maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Veles/205/149/21
👪Group: secondlife:///app/group/2450fb74-bb65-af3a-e60d-49fdcc211d65/about
👪Flickr group: www.flickr.com/groups/4518868@N24/
👲Owner/Creator: www.flickr.com/photos/antaya
In game: ffa7c81d-74f5-4c67-8b5e-2b35e7fd93f6 Anna Tison
➡Effervescence
🚕Taxi: @maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Phoenix%20Paradise/160/159/802
👪Group: secondlife:///app/group/6f3d8c96-a8ff-30f3-91b2-f68f22d70c54/about
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👲Owner/Creator: www.flickr.com/photos/187967280@N08/
In game: c3003a94-acfb-470a-95bf-f78639ee5601 EffervescenceStore
➡Raven Bell
🚕Taxi: @maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Neo Star/27/224/3502
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👲Owner/Creator: www.flickr.com/photos/71086839@N02
In game: bd377bff-6a1d-4fe6-92d4-37c0d2c08d6d Raven Bell
➡ Art&Ko
🚕Taxi: @maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Reef%20Island/124/53/22
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In game: 9de68fa7-f089-4d26-9c76-ae0f0eaef9ee tanuha76
➡Ruxy
🚕Taxi: @maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Summer%20Time/232/243/21
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👪Flickr group: www.flickr.com/groups/1553322@N22/pool/
👲Owner/Creator: 330abd65-f9d4-4e9c-8d49-d4c251f28375 Rux Anatra www.flickr.com/photos/36849167@N07/
➡UNA
🚕Taxi: @maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Impulse/169/97/22
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👲Owner/Creator: www.flickr.com/photos/unadaxterfantasyurban
In game: f8b02444-1079-470a-afb7-29dc0fb71571 Bulbasaur (una.daxter)
➡Grasshopper Street
🚕Taxi: @maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Gallimaufry/135/165/32
👪Group: secondlife:///app/group/282a854c-fa5a-3209-8aea-92ef21ac9482/about
👲Owner/Creator: 127cd67b-1046-4599-9192-a7f350870d3e Mitra Ardwyad (mitraardwyad) www.flickr.com/photos/grasshopper-st/
🔮ELF MAG STYLE🔮:
HEAD:
❗Hat: :: ANTAYA :: Witch hat with butterflies www.flickr.com/photos/antaya/52740089904/in/dateposted/
Hair: KUNI / Jasmine www.flickr.com/photos/noelleneaph/31563529248/in/dateposted/
Creator: d5462bfb-1b2e-43ba-ae16-8d689baf0167 Noelle Neaph www.flickr.com/photos/152116689@N03/
BODY:
❗Dress: UNA. Libra ( Size for: Legacy, Reborn, LaraX, PetiteX, Legacy Perky) Shown on Legacy in short version. www.flickr.com/photos/unadaxterfantasyurban/53581122049/i...
❗Shoes: UNA. Fury Boots (Size for: Legacy, Maitreyam Reborn) Shown on Legacy.
❗Leg Potions: UNA. Curie (Size for: Maitreya, Legacy, Reborn, no Rig) Shown on Legacy. www.flickr.com/photos/unadaxterfantasyurban/53341476297/i...
❗BeltLeg: UNA. Krantiz Brown (Size for: LaraX, Legacy, no rig, Reborn) Shown on Legacy. www.flickr.com/photos/unadaxterfantasyurban/53488595863/i...
❗Belt: UNA. LaurieWizaring (Size for: LaraX, Legacy, no rig, Reborn) Shown on Legacy. www.flickr.com/photos/unadaxterfantasyurban/53598360995/i...
Tights BOM: -Eon- White tights 100% (i tint them in brown color)
Creator: cf464ab9-d0a2-4601-b6aa-1ef001385318 EonSL (estysseon)
BOM Gloves: Blackburns White (i tint them in brown color)
Creator: a306dbce-c665-4abf-8df2-5ef16510d15e Vlad Blackburn
❗Cloak: Raven Bell x Mythril - Windswept www.flickr.com/photos/71086839@N02/52381773799/
OBJECT IN THE HANDS:
Simply Shelby Mage Staff
www.flickr.com/photos/simplyshelbysl/51371866738/
Creator: ae2d8ba3-9f55-4951-b0bf-62821eb0f693 Shelby Thor (shelby.olivier)
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🎵ELF BARD STYLE🎵:
HEAD:
❗️Hat: Grasshopper St Landsknecht Starfish Hat www.flickr.com/photos/grasshopper-st/51720343358/in/datep...
Hair: WINGSDG-Group-Gift-002 Male
Creator: 8d675810-bc32-42da-b1f9-52cfb87fcd7d WINGSDG www.flickr.com/people/150913985@N06/ www.flickr.com/photos/150913985@N06/53204570791/in/datepo...
BODY:
❗Paltock & Codpiece/Tights BOM Green: Grasshopper St Velvet (Size for: Legacy F/M, Maitreya, Belleza Jake, Belleza Gen.X, Anatomy, CZ Slim, Signature Gianni, Reborn) Shown on Legacy M www.flickr.com/photos/grasshopper-st/53375909686/in/datep...
❗Shoes: Grasshopper St Poulaines & Pattens (Size for: Legacy F/M, Maitreya, Belleza Jake, Belleza Gen.X, Anatomy, CZ Slim, Signature Gianni, Reborn) Shown on Legacy M. www.flickr.com/photos/grasshopper-st/53307131166/in/datep...
OBJECT IN THE HANDS:
.:: Dark Forge ::. Lute Male & Female Mesh www.flickr.com/photos/127063200@N05/15258680555/in/datepo...
Creator: 27a4028e-181e-44f0-a2ca-eeb0ffa67bd4 Belford Elman www.flickr.com/photos/127063200@N05/
----------------------
💪ORC BERSERK STYLE💪:
HEAD:
❗Hair: Raven Bell - Mack
www.flickr.com/photos/71086839@N02/48675760162/in/datepos...
❗Tattoo evox bom: Effervescence - The Arcanist ( i use Face & Upper - Paint 60 - Tint, Marks - Silver,Ears - Marks - Silver) www.flickr.com/photos/187967280@N08/53602050763/in/datepo...
Teeth: [:Bullion:] Feral Fangs
Creator: d243cf51-9131-4dcc-b60c-2af4e0647f54 Rad Dragon (radjvikke)
BODY:
❗Armor/Coat/Corset/Skirt: Ruxy Tyria (Size for: LaraX, Reborn, Legacy) Shown on Legacy. www.flickr.com/photos/36849167@N07/53630951841/in/datepos...
❗Shoes: from Art&Ko - Galaxy Protector Set (Size for: Maitreya, Legacy) Shown on Legacy.
OBJECT IN THE HANDS:
Stuff, I guess - Halberd
Creator: ce345f6a-d4de-41ed-9c8c-591afef8f721 Zilkas (shiro.digfoot)
Heartsick. Heartsore. It’s not easy to remember what those words really mean when you are happy. It’s hard to remember the physically painful emotional state of grief – difficult to feel again what it is to be full of sorrow and painfully despondent, drained of hope and overwhelmed by loss of love. And suddenly these words are hanging like a burning tyre around my neck.
The end of love trails with it crushing disappointment, sudden surprise that so many doors will forever remain unopened. Dragging depression around like a suit of armour, I look out of the slit in the helm to see what? – so little that seems worth doing without her, or the prospect of discussing it with her afterwards.
Even the things that I had planned to do alone suddenly lose their savour and their point without her as the steady, dependable presence in my life. Nothing to live for, nothing to prove.
Yes, it will pass. All this will pass.
Until it does, it’s a monster gnawing inside my chest, eating out a gaping hole where my heart was, a physical nauseating pain.
Talking to a friend might ease the pain for a moment, and that moment won would be one moment closer to the day when the pain is no longer a constant reminder of what plans will never come to fruition, what happy memories are no longer part of a lost contentment with each other’s company. But I have no friends here to whom I can turn.
Loneliness. It’s a shameful state. Nobody wants you to admit to that tsunami of sadness that floods over you when you’re abandoned. Abandonment is for the worthless, loneliness is for losers; forsaken by your lover, you must put on a brave face, and not thrash about as you drown.
It will pass. All this will pass.
Then too you cannot spend an hour alone;
No company's more hateful than your own;
You dodge and give yourself the slip; you seek
In bed or in your cups from care to sneak:
In vain: the black dog follows you, and hangs
Close on your flying skirts with hungry fangs.
- Horace Satire VIII. Jamdudum ausculto.
Actually, I never physically read a book, I am usually too busy to sit and read, so listen to books on Audible, whilst I am doing something else - cooking, cleaning, drawing, painting, or going to sleep!
Mist is a phenomenon caused by small droplets of water suspended in air. Physically, it is an example of a dispersion. It is most commonly seen where warm moist air meets sudden cooling, such as exhaled air in winter, or when throwing water onto a hot stove of a sauna. It can be created artificially with with aerosol canisters if humidity and temperature conditions are right. As seen here it can also occur as part natural weather, when humid air cools rapidly, for example when the air comes into contact with surfaces that are much cooler than air.
The River Ver here is 28km (17 mi) long chalk stream in Hertfordshire, England. It is tributary of the River Colne.
The source is in the grounds of Lynch Lodge, Kensworth Lynch on the west side of the A5 trunk road and stays on the west side for some half mile or so. It then crosses through a culvert into Markyate Cell, aterwards crosses under the A5 in culvert and runs through Markyate, and on through Flamstead, Redbourne, St Albans and Park Street, finally joining the River Colne at Bricket Wood.
The Ver is a chalk stream, which is partly a seasonal winterbourne north of Redbourne. However many of its natural features have been compromised as a result of being canalised during the construction of the artificial lakes at Verulamium Park in St Albans in the 1930s folling archeological excavations of Verulamium by Sir Mortimer Wheeler and his wife Tessa. During the 1960s and 1970s it sufferd serious problems as a result of water extraction upstream. Although these abated temporarily after the closure of one of the pumping stations, as of 2005 the upstream part of the river dries up completely during the summer, and the rest of the river may suffer the same fate within a few years; compare the current situation with the "great flow of water" that was reported to exist in 1885, with a depth of 12 ft (3.7 m) at Dolittle Mill on Redbourne Road. In 2004 a proposal for remedial work was being developed for St Albans lakes.
Hadrian's Wall is a stone and turf fortification built by the Roman Empire across the width of Great Britain. It was the second of three such fortifications built across Great Britain, the first being Gask Ridge and the last the Antonine Wall. All three were built to prevent military raids by the Pictish tribes (ancient inhabitants of Scotland) to the north, to improve economic stability and provide peaceful conditions in the Roman province of Britannia to the south, and to physically mark the frontier of the Empire. Hadrian's Wall is the best known of the three because it remains the most physically preserved and evident today.
The wall was the northern border of the Empire in Britain for much of the Roman Empire's rule, and also the most heavily fortified border in the Empire. In addition to its use as a military fortification, it is thought that the gates through the wall would also have served as customs posts to allow trade taxation.
A significant portion of the wall still exists, particularly the mid-section, and for much of its length the wall can be followed on foot. It is the most popular tourist attraction in Northern England, where it is often known simply as the Roman Wall. It was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. English Heritage, a government organization in charge of managing the historic environment of England, describes it as "the most important monument built by the Romans in Britain".[1]
Sections of Hadrian's Wall remain near Greenhead and along the route, though other large sections have been dismantled over the years to use the stones for various nearby construction projects.
Sections of Hadrian's Wall remain near Greenhead and along the route, though other large sections have been dismantled over the years to use the stones for various nearby construction projects.
The Roman name of the Wall
No stone inscription survives to confirm what the Wall was called in antiquity, and no historical source gives it a name. However, the discovery of a small enamelled bronze Roman cup in Staffordshire in 2003 has provided a clue. The cup is inscribed with a series of names of Roman forts (see also the botrom of this page) along the western sector of the Wall, together with a personal name and a phrase:
MAIS COGGABATA VXELODVNVM CAMBOGLANNA RIGORE VALI AELI DRACONIS
Here we have Bowness (MAIS, followed by what must be the correct name for Drumburgh-by-Sands (COGGABATA) until now known only as CONGAVATA from the late Roman document, the Notitia Dignitatum. Next comes Stanwix (VXELODVNVM), then Castlesteads (CAMBOGLANNA), before we get to the most tantalizing part.
RIGORE seems to be the ablative form of the Latin word rigor. This can mean several things, but one of its less well-known meanings is ‘straight line’, ‘course’ or ‘direction’. This was used by Roman surveyors and appears on a number of inscriptions to indicate a line between places. So the meaning could be ‘from the course’, or better in English 'according to the course'.
The Staffordshire Moorlands cup, which provides the ancient name of Hadrian's Wall.
The Staffordshire Moorlands cup, which provides the ancient name of Hadrian's Wall.
There is no such word as vali, but in antiquity Hadrian’s Wall was known as the Vallum, the Latin word for a frontier which is today incorrectly applied to the ditch and mounds dug by the Roman army just south of the Wall. The genitive form of Vallum is Valli, so one of the most likely meanings is VAL[L]I, ‘of the frontier’. Omitting one of a pair of double consonants is common on Roman inscriptions, and transcribing an inscription from a written note is the easiest way to miss out letters. Another similar bronze vessel, known as the Rudge Cup (found in Wiltshire in the 18th century) has VN missing from the name VXELODVNVM, for example, although the letters appear on the Staffordshire cup. The Rudge Cup only bears fort names.
The name AELI is also in the genitive. This was Hadrian's nomen, his main family name and we know that the Roman bridge at Newcastle-upon-Tyne was called Pons Aelius.
Finally we have the name DRACONIS, which can be translated as ‘[by the hand – or property] of Aelius Draco’. It was normal for Roman manufacturers to give their names in the genitive (‘of’), and ‘by the hand’ would be understood. The form is common, for example, on samian pottery.
The translation, therefore, could be:
‘Mais, Coggabata, Uxelodunum, Camboglanna, according to the line of the Aelian frontier. [By the hand or The property] of Draco’.
This would mean the Romans knew Hadrian's Wall as Vallum Aeli, 'the Aelian frontier'.
Dimensions
Hadrian's Wall was 80 Roman miles (73.5 English miles or 117 kilometres) long, its width and height dependent on the construction materials which were available nearby: east of River Irthing the wall was made from squared stone and measured 3 m (9.7 ft) wide and 5 to 6 metres (16–20 ft) tall; west of the river the wall was made from turf and measured 6 metres (20 ft) wide and 3.5 metres (11.5 ft) high. This does not include the wall's ditches, berms, and forts. The central section measured 8 Roman feet wide (7.8 ft or 2.4 m) on a 10 foot base.
Route
Map showing the location of Hadrian's Wall.
Map showing the location of Hadrian's Wall.
Hadrian's Wall extended west Segedunum at Wallsend on the River Tyne to the shore of the Solway Firth. The A69 and B6318 roads follow the course of the wall as it starts in Newcastle upon Tyne to Carlisle, then on round the northern coast of Cumbria. The Wall is entirely in England and south of the border with Scotland by 15 kilometres (9 mi) in the west and 110 kilometres (68 mi) in the east.
Hadrian
Hadrian's Wall was built following a visit by Roman emperor Hadrian (AD 76–138) in AD 122. Hadrian was experiencing military difficulties in Britain, and from the peoples of various conquered lands across the Empire, including Egypt, Judea, Libya, Mauretania, and many of the peoples conquered by his predecessor Trajan, so he was keen to impose order. However the construction of such an impressive wall was probably also a symbol of Roman power, both in occupied Britain and in Rome. Frontiers in the early empire were based more on natural features or fortified zones with a heavy military presence. Military roads or limes often marked the border, with forts and signal towers spread along them and it was not until the reign of Domitian that the first solid frontier was constructed, in Germania Superior, using a simple fence. Hadrian expanded on this idea, redesigning the German border by ordering a continuous timber palisade supported by forts behind it. Although such defences would not have held back any concerted invasion effort, they did physically mark the edge of Roman territory and went some way to providing a degree of control over who crossed the border and where.
Hadrian reduced Roman military presence in the territory of the Brigantes and concentrated on building a more solid linear fortification to the north of them. This was intended to replace the Stanegate road which is generally thought to have served as the limes (the boundary of the Roman Empire) until then.
Construction
Construction probably started in 122 AD and was largely completed within eight years, with soldiers from all three of the occupying Roman legions participating in the work. The route chosen largely paralleled the nearby Stanegate road from Luguvalium (Carlisle) to Coria (Corbridge), which was already defended by a system of forts, including Vindolanda. The Wall in part follows the outcrop of a harder, more resistant igneous dolerite rock escarpment, known as the Great Whin Sill.
The initial plan called for a ditch and wall with 80 small, gated milecastle fortlets every Roman mile holding a few dozen troops each, and pairs of evenly spaced intermediate turrets used for observation and signalling. The wall was initially designed to a width of 3 metres (10 ft) (the so-called "Broad Wall"). The height is estimated to have been around 5 or 6 metres (16–20 ft). Local limestone was used in the construction, except for the section to the west of Irthing where turf was used instead as there were no useful outcrops nearby. The turf wall was 6 metres wide (20 ft) and around 3.5 metres (11.5 ft) high. Milecastles in this area were also built from timber and earth rather than stone but turrets were always stone. The Broad Wall was initially built with a clay-bonded rubble core and mortared dressed rubble facing stones, but this seems to have made it vulnerable to collapse and repair with a mortared core was sometimes necessary.
Roman fort at Corstopitum.
Roman fort at Corstopitum.
The milecastles were of three different designs, depending on which Roman legion built them — the Second, Sixth, and Twentieth Legions, whose inscriptions tell us were all involved in the construction. Similarly there are three different turret designs along the route. All were about 493 metres (539 yd) apart and measured 4.27 metres square (46.0 sq ft) internally.
Construction was divided into lengths of about 5 miles (8 km). One group of each legion would create the foundations and build the milecastles and turrets and then other cohorts would follow, building the wall itself.
Early in its construction, just after reaching the North Tyne (construction worked from east to west), the width of the wall was narrowed to 2.5 metres (8.2 ft) or even less (sometimes 1.8m) (the "Narrow Wall"). However, Broad Wall foundations had already been laid as far as the river Irthing, where the Turf Wall began, and many turrets and milecastles were optimistically provided with stub 'wing walls' in preparation for joining to the Broad Wall; a handy reference for archaeologists trying to piece together the construction chronology.
Within a few years it was decided to add a total of 14 to 17 (sources disagree) full-sized forts along the length of the wall, including Vercovicium (Housesteads) and Banna (Birdoswald), each holding between 500 and 1,000 auxiliary troops (no legions were posted to the wall). The eastern end of the wall was extended further east from Pons Aelius (Newcastle) to Segedunum (Wallsend) on the Tyne estuary. Some of the larger forts along the wall, such as Cilurnum (Chesters) and Vercovicium (Housesteads), were built on top of the footings of milecastles or turrets, showing the change of plan. An inscription mentioning early governor Aulus Platorius Nepos indicates that the change of plans took place early on. Also some time still during Hadrian's reign (i.e., before AD 138) the wall west of the Irthing was rebuilt in sandstone to basically the same dimensions as the limestone section to the east.
Vallum at Hadrian's Wall near milecastle 42
Vallum at Hadrian's Wall near milecastle 42
After the forts had been added (or possibly at the same time), the so-called Vallum was built on the southern side. It consisted of a large, flat-bottomed ditch 6 metres (20 ft) wide at the top and 3 metres (10 ft) deep bounded by a berm on each side 10 metres (33 ft) wide. Beyond the berms were earth banks 6 metres (20 ft) wide and 2 metres (6.5 ft) high. Causeways crossed the ditch at regular intervals. Initially the berm appears to have been the main route for transportation along the wall. The Vallum probably delineated a military zone rather than intending to be a major fortification, though the British tribes to the south were also sometimes a military problem.
The Wall was thus part of a defensive system which, from north to south included:
* a glacis and a deep ditch
* a berm with rows of pits holding entanglements
* the curtain wall itself
* a later military road (the "Military Way")
* a north mound, a ditch and a south mound to prevent or slow down any raids from a rebelling southern tribe.
Roman-period names
The remains of milecastle 39, near Steel Rigg
The remains of milecastle 39, near Steel Rigg
The Roman-period names of some of the Hadrian's Wall forts are known, from the Notitia Dignitatum and other evidence:
* Segedunum (Wallsend)
* Pons Aelius (Newcastle on Tyne)
* Condercum (Benwell Hill)
* Vindobala (Halton Chesters)[2]
* Hunnum (Rudchester)[2]
* Cilurnum (Chesters aka Walwick Chesters)[2]
* Procolita (Carrowburgh)
* Vercovicium (Housesteads)
* Aesica (Great Chesters)[2]
* Magnis (Carvoran)
* Banna (Birdoswald)
* Camboglanna (Castlesteads)
* Uxelodunum (Stanwix. Also known as Petriana)
* Aballava (Burgh-by-Sands)
* Coggabata (Drumburgh)
* Mais (Bowness)
Outpost forts beyond the Wall include:
* Habitancum (Risingham)
* Bremenium (Rochester)[2]
* Ad Fines (Chew Green) [1]
Supply forts behind the wall include:
* Alauna (Maryport)
* Arbeia (South Shields)
* Coria (Corbridge)
* Vindolanda (Little Chesters)[2]
* Vindomora (Ebchester)[2]
Garrison
The wall was garrisoned by auxiliary (i.e., non-legionary) units of the army (non-citizens). Their numbers fluctuated throughout the occupation, but may have been around 9,000 strong in general, including infantry and cavalry. The new forts could hold garrisons of 500 men while cavalry units of 1,000 troops were stationed at either end. The total number of soldiers manning the early wall was probably greater than 10,000.
They suffered serious attacks in 180, and especially between 196 and 197 when the garrison had been seriously weakened, following which major reconstruction had to be carried out under Septimius Severus. The region near the wall remained peaceful for most of the rest of the 3rd century. It is thought that many in the garrison may have married and integrated into the local community.
Part of Hadrian's wall near Housesteads.
Part of Hadrian's wall near Housesteads.
After Hadrian
In the years after Hadrian's death in 138, the new emperor, Antoninus Pius essentially abandoned the wall, though leaving it occupied in a support role, and began building a new wall in Scotland proper, about 160 kilometres (100 mi) north, the Antonine Wall. This turf wall ran 40 Roman miles (about 37.8 mi or 61 km) and had significantly more forts than Hadrian's Wall. Antonine was unable to conquer the northern tribes and so when Marcus Aurelius became emperor, he abandoned the Antonine Wall and occupied Hadrian's Wall once again in 164. It remained occupied by Roman troops until their withdrawal from Britain.
In the late 4th century, barbarian invasions, economic decline, and military coups loosened the Empire's hold on Britain. By 410, the Roman administration and its legions were gone, and Britain was left to look to its own defences and government. The garrisons, by now probably made up mostly of local Britons who had nowhere else to go, probably lingered on in some form for generations. Archaeology is beginning to reveal that some parts of the Wall remained occupied well into the 5th century. Enough also survived in the 8th century for spolia from it to find its way into the construction of Jarrow Priory, and for Bede to see and describe the Wall thus in Historia Ecclesiastica 1.5, although he misidentified it as being built by Septimius Severus:
“ after many great and dangerous battles, he thought fit to divide that part of the island, which he had recovered from the other unconquered nations, not with a wall, as some imagine, but with a rampart. For a wall is made of stones, but a rampart, with which camps are fortified to repel the assaults of enemies, is made of sods, cut out of the earth, and raised above the ground all round like a wall, having in front of it the ditch whence the sods were taken, and strong stakes of wood fixed upon its top. ”
But in time the wall was abandoned and fell into ruin. Over the centuries and even into the 20th century a large proportion of the stone was reused in other local buildings.
In fiction
Sycamore Gap (the "Robin Hood Tree")
Sycamore Gap (the "Robin Hood Tree")
* Hadrian's Wall was featured extensively in the movie King Arthur (which depicted the story of the people the Arthurian legends were supposedly based on). The one kilometre (0.6 mi) long replica, located in County Kildare, Ireland, was the largest movie set ever built in that country, and took a crew of 300 construction workers four and a half months to build. The fort in the movie where Arthur and his Sarmatian "knights" were garrisoned was based on the Roman fort named Vindolanda, which was built around AD 80 just south of Hadrian's Wall in what is now called Chesterholm, in Northern England. In the movie, the fort is attached to the wall.
* Sycamore Gap, a section of the wall between two crests just west of milecastle 38, is locally known as the "Robin Hood Tree". This location was used in the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, as the setting for an interlude during Robin's journey from the White Cliffs (actually shot at the Seven Sisters Hills) to Nottingham via Aysgarth Falls.
Barranco Alto, Southern Pantanal | Brazil
Physically similar to our own northern river otter, the Neotropic Otter is found in both Central and South America. Diet consists mainly of fish and crustaceans, although they will occasionally feed on small mammals. We encountered them a couple of times this year on the Rio Negro and on each occasion were able to get photographs of them catching fish. Strangely their conservation status is largely unknown as they are currently listed as ‘data deficient’ which could either imply that they are simply so plentiful that formal classification is not needed, or that they are in fact not that common but not yet researched.
Mentally, physically weak
Boys blowing up my phone
I'm meant to be on my own
But just before I go
There's something you should know
This photo was taken five days ago, on 6 August 2016, when I went on a mushroom foray at Rod Handfield's acreage. Though this was a fungi day (well, morning), we also came across a few wildflower species, too.
I found the whole day physically and mentally exhausting (a mix of stress and excitement). It was a great day, too, thanks to friend, Sandy! She very kindly picked me up around 8:15 am and we drove SW of the city and SW of Millarville to Rod Handfield's acreage. For a number of years, this has been one of my favourite places to explore, as Rod's forest tends to be full of all sorts of beautiful treasures. It is one of the two best places that I know for mushrooms, the other being Brown-Lowery Provincial Park. This year has turned out to be great for fungi, thanks to all the endless, torrential rain we have been getting the last few weeks, and are still getting, apart from the scattering of sunny days. This year has so far had such weird weather - a very mild, dry winter, a spring that was as dry and hot as a summer, and now a wet, thundery summer. We were expecting this year to not be good for mushrooms.
We met up with a group of other interested people, most of whom we didn't know, and we searched the land for fungi. Right at the start, I was telling Sandy that on the last visit there (or one of the last), maybe four years ago (17 August 2010, so six years ago - how time flies!), we had seen a beautiful Amanita muscaria / Fly agaric mushroom growing just a few feet from the start of the hike. Sure enough, there were several growing in exactly the same spot on Saturday, which was so exciting. Later in the walk, we saw two other patches of absolute beauties of this hallucinogenic, poisonous species. The rain was spitting during our walk, and the forest was so dark, but amazingly, some of my photos came out well enough. Thanks so much, Karel (holding a beautiful Bolete mushroom to make into soup or sauce), for organizing and leading this trip and for sharing your knowledge with us!
I have to admit that I always find a walk like this rather frustrating. It doesn't work too well when you have people who are photographers and people who are interested in picking mushrooms to eat : ) The latter tend to always be ahead and by the time you catch up to them, you can't see what has already quickly been picked and of course it is usually difficult or impossible to get a photo. This was private land and some of us know the owner, Rod Handfield. In places like the national or provincial parks, one is not allowed to remove anything from the area - but some people still do. You see people with large baskets full of picked mushrooms for cooking! This is especially an east European 'thing'. They have grown up with this tradition and seem to know which fungi are edible or not. Some poisonous mushrooms can look very similar to edible ones, which is why the warning is to never, ever eat any kind of fungus unless you are an expert! As our local Naturalist always says: "All fungi are edible, some only once!"
Sandy and I left the group around lunchtime, to go looking at vehicles at one of the dealerships. In the last year and a half, I have had to put far too much money into repairs for my poor old 17+ year old car and finally, I knew that I had no choice but to replace it. The muffler and catalytic converter died about a week ago and instead of spending a fortune on repair (estimate was $4,999), I decided I would rather put that money towards a new vehicle. I had been thinking about replacing it the last few years, but now, enough is enough!
Update re: car. Yay, I finally did it! Three days ago, friend Sandy and I returned to the dealership just after lunchtime. I had to drive my old car there so that they could do an appraisal on it and tell me how much I would get for a trade-in. Before I went, I was feeling more confused and uncertain about which car I would decide on. The few that the dealership had were not a colour I would want to drive or else they didn't have the right things installed. I was so relieved when I was told that I could order one to my liking and that the waiting period would be 2-3 weeks. Longer than I would have liked, but bearable (though I know I will be climbing the walls by the time my new car arrives!). The very patient, non-pushy salesman said why not take my old car home and use it just very locally till then. So, thankfully, I still have a (very noisy!) vehicle with which to go and get groceries, which was my main concern. No birding or mushroom trips, though, which will not be easy to bear. Having said that, I need to add that I know I am very fortunate that I am in a position to be able to replace my vehicle - feel very grateful and lucky. Thank you, again, Sandy, for helping me through this highly stressful (to me) ordeal!! It made an enormous difference .... THE difference.
One of the keys to shooting Epic Landscape Photgraphy is exalting the photograph's soul via golden ratio compositions, thusly wedding the art to the divine proportion by which life itself was designed and exalted.
Dr. Elliot McGucken's Golden Number Ratio Fine Art Landscape & Nature Photography Composition Studies!
instagram.com/goldennumberratio
www.facebook.com/goldennumberratio/
Greetings flickr friends! I am working on several books on "epic photography," and I recently finished a related one titled: The Golden Number Ratio Principle: Why the Fibonacci Numbers Exalt Beauty and How to Create PHI Compositions in Art, Design, & Photography: An Artistic and Scientific Introduction to the Golden Mean . Message me on facebook for a free review copy!
www.facebook.com/goldennumberratio/
The Golden Ratio also informs the design of the golden revolver on all the swimsuits and lingerie, as well as the 45surf logo!
The Golden Number Ratio Principle: Dr. E’s Golden Ratio Principle: The golden ratio exalts beauty because the number is a characteristic of the mathematically and physically most efficient manners of growth and distribution, on both evolutionary and purely physical levels. The golden ratio ensures that the proportions and structure of that which came before provide the proportions and structure of that which comes after. Robust, ordered growth is naturally associated with health and beauty, and thus we evolved to perceive the golden ratio harmonies as inherently beautiful, as we saw and felt their presence in all vital growth and life—in the salient features and proportions of humans and nature alike, from the distribution of our facial features and bones to the arrangements of petals, leaves, and sunflowers seeds. As ratios between Fibonacci Numbers offer the closest whole-number approximations to the golden ratio, and as seeds, cells, leaves, bones, and other physical entities appear in whole numbers, the Fibonacci Numbers oft appear in nature’s elements as “growth’s numbers.” From the dawn of time, humanity sought to salute their gods in art and temples exalting the same proportion by which all their vital sustenance and they themselves had been created—the golden ratio.
Ansel Adams is not only my favorite photographer, but he is one of the greatest photographers and artists of all time. And just like great artists including Michelangelo, Monet, Degas, Renoir, Leonardo da Vinci, Vermeer, Rembrandt, Botticelli, and Picasso, Ansel used the golden ratio and divine proportions in his epic art.
Not so long ago I discovered golden regions in many of his famous public domain his 8x10 aspect ratio photographs. I call these golden harmony regions "regions of golden action" or "ROGA"S, as seen here:
www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1812448512351066.107374...
And too, I created some videos highlighting Ansel's use of the golden harmonies. Enjoy!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGnxOAhK3os
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFlzAaBgsDI
www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3eJ86Ej1TY
More golden ratio and epic photography composition books soon! Best wishes for the Holiday Season! Dr. Elliot McGucken :)
I spent an entire year convinced my boyfriend had cheated on me. Absolutely 100% convinced. Even if he hadn't physically cheated, he'd emotionally cheated. That still hurts. So, my friends were forced to listen to me go on and on about it. When we finally got back together I ended up cheating on him on a slightly drunken night out with my male best friend. (One of the many reasons why I don't drink now.)
He had a girlfriend though, and I full well knew that. He'd cheated on her tons of times, and I'd always stood back and watched, disapproved, and told him how much it would hurt her if she found out. So yeh, that was idiotic.
The next guy I hooked up with had a girlfriend, but I didn't know that until afterwards, and I felt bad about it.
My boyfriend and I broke up later. We had lots and lots of other problems.
Now, I keep hooking up with a guy who has a girlfriend. We used to hook up before he got a girlfriend, and it's not like they're going to get married . . . but I'm still doing a horrible thing. Especially as I know how much it hurts.
Well, I was doing a bad thing. I made a decision not to anymore. I have to focus on other things in my life, and I don't want to cause another girl pain just because her boyfriend is a jackass.
Basically, that's a summary of people I've been involved with while some sort of cheating was going on.
Please, no one leave horrible comments. I would only show this side of me to friends usually, because I know they have faults too, but on the internet . . . well, that's what a 365 is about really. So yeh, this is a side of me which strangers don't know.
The different light in the two photos means different things to me, but it seems stupid to write them down. I think I'd feel a little embarrassed if I did actually.
The shirt is mineeeeeee. I was pretty sure my Dad or brother would be pissed off if I used one of theirs, so this is the shirt I wore to school today. I tried to soak the lipstick off afterwards but it didn't budge. Well, faded a little, but it's still firmly embedded in the material.
21/365
We were all geared-up (physically and mentally) to take on a scramble we have been wanting to do for years, Mt. Andromache. However, we don't know this area as well as needed to, and started out the day by going up the wrong route... What a bummer! But on the wrong trail we still saw some interesting things. We did finally find the right trailhead and went parkways up the trail, and did some nice scrambling. Now we know exactly where to go for next time!
“My first time in Ladakh was quite memorable experience.
I remember very well that I was physically extremely tired after the procession, but also quite excited as it was my first time being there.
Ladakh was very much a remote area, but people were happier and easily contented then, as compared to now.
Ladakh is one of my favorite places to stay and to practice.
It is blessed by Guru Padmasambhava and many great masters for instance, Rinchen Zangpo, Naropa, Gyalwa Gotsangpa and others.”
(His Holiness Jigme Pema Wangchen, the Twelfth Gyalwang Drukpa)
Those Tibetan Buddhist monks were coming back from a ceremony that they had to perform in the hills.
I took this picture as they were reaching Hemis Gompa, a monastery located in the Ladakh region of the Western Himalayas, at an altitude of 12,000 feet making it one of the highest settlements of the world.
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LAURENT GOLDSTEIN Photography
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On Top of the World
Being at Soldier Summit feels like you are on top of the world physically and spiritually. It is a special place to me. When I planned this trip I wanted to come here almost as much, or more, than seeing the Big Boy. This is the high point of the Rio Grande's mainline in Utah (though not the high point in the state...more on that soon!)
At 7477 ft above sea level we are 2000 ft higher than Provo 50 miles to the west. The sandstone and scrub brush have given way to a tundra like feel and the surrounding hillsides are dotted with fir trees and stands of Aspen. The first time I came here was 1997 and though the UP was in charge the old Grande was still a very busy place and there were three trains at the summit all with scarlet and gray SP power. Now the intermodal and manifest trains are all gone and the old Grande serves only coal trains the traffic of tenants BNSF and Amtrak.
But no matter what color or type of trains it's still a magical place as attested to by the sight of this heavy westbound export coal train from Colorado just about to the apex. The helpers had cut out down at Colton (we shot them at Kyune and then doubled back - you can see them in an earlier post) and the train is cresting the summit slowly alone at about 7 PM on a stunning Saturday evening....our second day in a row that we'd made the drive over from Salt Lake. And on Sunday after chasing the Big Boy we'd drive all the way from Evanston for our third dose. The Grande does that to you. It captivates the soul and draws you back in over and over.
Someone asked me from whence the pass takes its name. It comes from a group of soldiers who were caught in an unexpected snowstorm on the summit in July 1861. These soldiers were Southerners, previously under Union General Philip St. George Cooke at Camp Floyd, on their way to join the Confederate Army. A few of them died in the storm and were buried on the summit some 21 years before the 3 ft gauge rails of D&RGW first reached this spot.
Now you know the rest of the story.
Wasatch County, Utah
Saturday May 11, 2019
physically and emotionally.
I'm not going to lie to you, I'm finding this hard, really hard. In fact I'd say it's one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.
Now I know there's a lot of bad things happening in the world and my life could be a hell of a lot worse. So that makes me feel bad for even feeling the way I do. I mean I chose to take on this project no one else. I don't want a medal and I don't want your sympathy I'm just typing how I'm feeling and getting it off my chest because thats one of my ways of expressing myself.
Anyone reading this who is doing a 365 or has even completed one I take my hat off to you! You have so much respect from me! You have no idea!
I thought it'd be hard but some days are just damn right shit.
Trying to do a job and keep a life while doing this seems impossible. Maybe it's because I'm new to this and I'm taking far too long on it but you know what's weird? No matter how hard it feels, no matter how much I wanna break down because some days I feel like I having nothing and I mean nothing! I can't not produce a shot. I can't, I just wont let myself. If anything ever gets too hard for me I'll give up on it. But not this I have this weird warm feeling in my gut. I think it's called determination.
There's one person in particular who I admire so much. He's almost finished his 365 while holding down a job, doing a fantastic job of bringing up a child and having a life amongst all that. He has some incredible photos and some of the best writing I think I've ever read. Now I don't like reading so that's saying something for me! You have my upmost respect and you are a huge inspiration to me so I thank you.
You know who you are :) KUDOS TO YOU!
I really hope I have the determination this guy has....
It's 2am and I need some sleep...
Sweetdreams
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich
Munich (German: München; Austro-Bavarian: Minga; Polish: Monachium) is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, the second most populous German federal state. With a population of around 1.5 million, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Hamburg, as well as the 12th-largest city in the European Union. The city's metropolitan region is home to 6 million people. Straddling the banks of the River Isar (a tributary of the Danube) north of the Bavarian Alps, it is the seat of the Bavarian administrative region of Upper Bavaria, while being the most densely populated municipality in Germany (4,500 people per km²). Munich is the second-largest city in the Bavarian dialect area, after the Austrian capital of Vienna.
The city is a major centre of art, technology, finance, publishing, culture, innovation, education, business, and tourism in Germany and Europe and enjoys a very high standard and quality of living, reaching first in Germany and third worldwide according to the 2018 Mercer survey, and being rated the world's most liveable city by the Monocle's Quality of Life Survey 2018. According to the Globalization and World Rankings Research Institute Munich is considered an alpha-world city, as of 2015.
The name of the city is derived from the Old/Middle High German term Munichen, meaning "by the monks". It derives from the monks of the Benedictine order, who ran a monastery at the place that was later to become the Old Town of Munich; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat of arms. Munich was first mentioned in 1158. Catholic Munich strongly resisted the Reformation and was a political point of divergence during the resulting Thirty Years' War, but remained physically untouched despite an occupation by the Protestant Swedes. Once Bavaria was established as a sovereign kingdom in 1806, it became a major European centre of arts, architecture, culture and science. In 1918, during the German Revolution, the ruling house of Wittelsbach, which had governed Bavaria since 1180, was forced to abdicate in Munich and a short-lived socialist republic was declared.
In the 1920s, Munich became home to several political factions, among them the NSDAP. The first attempt of the Nazi movement to take over the German government in 1923 with the Beer Hall Putsch was stopped by the Bavarian police in Munich with gunfire. After the Nazis' rise to power, Munich was declared their "Capital of the Movement". During World War II, Munich was heavily bombed and more than 50% of the entire city and up to 90% of the historic centre were destroyed. After the end of postwar American occupation in 1949, there was a great increase in population and economic power during the years of Wirtschaftswunder, or "economic miracle". Unlike many other German cities which were heavily bombed, Munich restored most of its traditional cityscape and hosted the 1972 Summer Olympics. The 1980s brought strong economic growth, high-tech industries and scientific institutions, and population growth. The city is home to major corporations like BMW, Siemens, MAN, Linde, Allianz and MunichRE.
Munich is home to many universities, museums and theatres. Its numerous architectural attractions, sports events, exhibitions and its annual Oktoberfest attract considerable tourism. Munich is one of the most prosperous and fastest growing cities in Germany. It is a top-ranked destination for migration and expatriate location. Munich hosts more than 530,000 people of foreign background, making up 37.7% of its population.
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Town_Hall_(Munich)
The New Town Hall (German: Neues Rathaus; Central Bavarian: Neis Rathaus) is a town hall at the northern part of Marienplatz in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It hosts the city government including the city council, offices of the mayors and a small portion part of the administration. In 1874 the municipality had left the Old Town Hall for its new domicile.
Check me out with a shot I physically took on Halloween and I am posting on Valentines Day.
Talk about two conflicting holidays. On one hand you have Halloween, which is all about goons, goblins, drunken parties, the color black, children, dressing up, and evil spirits. Dissimilarity you have Valentines Day which is all about love, couples, the color red, cupid, and of course chocolates, balloons, and Hallmark greeting cards.
Which holiday do you prefer? Do you care? Do you have distaste for either day? Do you love either day? Oddly enough though, both aren’t really holidays at all, they are just “fun theme days” in which we as a culture play into the theme each day brings with it.
Let’s get one thing straight, if you are below the age of 10, you mostly love both of these holidays. What’s better than exchanging Valentines when you were in elementary school? It’s like a big fucking deal man! This is the 3rd year in a row I’ve sat up and personalized my daughter’s cards for her classmates. If you have a young child then you understand the importance of this.
Trick or treating though? Can you think of a more bizarre yet entertaining tradition than that of dressing up in a costume and walking the your streets knocking on random strangers doors who in turn give out candy to everyone? If you think about it, it’s fucking real weird that we as a culture do this.
But you know, both holidays are kind of worthless the more I think about it. I wonder how they even became the tradition that they are today. I think I’ll wikipedia that later and enlighten myself on that. (Ask me tomorrow I’ll be an expert on the history of both of these days, I’m compulsive like that).
For some reason I used to get all exasperated and forlorn when Valentines Day rolled around and I was single. I’m not quite sure why, because today I really couldn’t care one way or the other. Doesn’t bother me one bit. Although I think if I was in love and all that shit, I’d find no problem playing into the whole Valentine Day extravaganza. Even though if you give it some thought, the whole concept of showcasing your “love” for your woman one day out of the year is kind of silly. Because if there was one thing you should take the time to demonstrate every damn day, it’s love.
So with all this shit said, even though as a single parent it’s more of a pain in my ass every year, I think I prefer Halloween. You can celebrate it solo if you don’t have a girlfriend. And it’s the only day of the year you can dress up as an eccentric weirdo and it’s perfectly acceptable.
And you know what? I really need to start taking advantage of that!
The shot at hand? I was taking a walk with Chloe and noticed the worn down cracked and very charismatic side of this house. I liked how the walls and windows were aged and crumbling apart giving the photo some interestingness. I tried to bring out these elements while editing the picture.
The album at hand? An obscure Scottish band from the late 70’s/early 80’s that released only three albums I believe. This is a compilation album that showcases the band rather well (their other albums are out of print I believe). This is basically kind of a romantic post-punk indie rocker gem of an album. It’s fun and catchy. You can hear Velvet Underground influences while listening to it in full. The 2000’s indie rock band Franz Ferdinand reminds me of this band. They took the Orange Juice style of music one step further and made their own distinctive fun sound from it.
Location: random street in my town; Alameda, California
Taken: October 31st, 2009
Posted: February 14th, 2010
Album of the Day: The Glaskow School by Orange Juice
Video: Falling And Laughing by Orange Juice
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I do believe it is physically impossible for Santa to carry all the toys for all the little boys and girls around the world in his sled. What I think the elves do is launch some low orbiting rockets filled with toys at strategic locations around the globe.
As Santa runs lows on supplies he meets up with one of the rockets, loads up and continues onwards.
If I were to be an evil villain I'd aim for these low orbiting rockets. If I were an evil villain that it.
Strobist info: 430EX 1/64 CTO snoot/grid camera right | 550EX 1/64 CTB snoot camera left | Triggered 580EX II on camera
Camera info: Canon EOS 1D Mark III | Canon EF 70-200mm ƒ/2.8L IS USM @95mm | 1/60 ƒ/2.8 ISO400
Explore December 24, 2009