positioning photos on Flickr

The battery is constructed according to a standard layout for this type of anti-aircraft batteries. The site still contains the fire control post of type FL244 (Fire control post for heavy Anti Aircraft battery) on the northeast side of the site and in the center of the site four gun positions of the types FL243 Emplacement for 8,8/10,5cm Anti Aircraft gun). On the south side are two ammunition bunkers of the type FL246 (Munitions Auffülrlaum für Schwere.

#AtlanticWall #AtlantikWall #bunker

WW1 Artillery Position by Connor Wingard

34 18

position by mel de k

Positioning by WesternOutlaw

1/30 scale

Strobist L102 1.1 Position: Angle by Darren McRostie

28 18

I am doing the 2011 strobist class on Flickr, and here is the assignment result for Strobist L102 1.1 Position: Angle.

Handy Manny and Philipe kindly dropped in to model for me here on white seamless (A3). Lit with a 580EXII triggered by Cactus v4s. Light positions as indicated on the diagram. Exposures were kept the same for each shot using a Sekonic light meter.

If you are reading this, and have no idea what Strobist is... Check out Strobist 102 lessons. This exercise is specifically for 1.1 Position: angle lesson which is all about observing how things look different when you get your flash off the camera and hitting your subject from different angles.

Which one makes Manny look best do you think?

Sexy in Latex by Satin, Leather, Latex and Boots --- Thea

76 11

In position

Looking down by Jonathan Keytel

73 6

I think the bird was distracted by the clicking of my shutter.

Explore'd! Highest position 120. Thanks for the comments and favs.

Jockeying for position by Terry Callaghan

15 8

Two lads attempt to get the best position from the front window directly behind Class 20 D8059 for a run through to Kidderminster. Taken during October's Diesel Gala.

Hotel Corones (Charleville, South West Queensland) by Buddy Patrick

The town of Charleville was surveyed in 1867 following the surveying of a number of pastoral runs in the district in 1863. Sited on the banks of the Warrego River along a natural stock route from New South Wales to Western Queensland, the town was to develop as the major service centre for the surrounding pastoral industry: bullock teams passed through the town, Cobb & Co established stables (as well as a factory for the construction of mail coaches and buggies and an associated sawmill) and in 1888 Charleville's position as a strategic transport node for the south west was confirmed when it became the terminus for the Western Main [railway] Line (extended south to Cunnamulla 1898 and west to Quilpie 1917).

The first half of the 1920s was a time of economic prosperity in Queensland unrivalled for three decades. The boom was sustained longer in the building sector than in others; and in Brisbane the transformation of the city's central business district was a tangible legacy of the boom. In Charleville the main streets gave an air of solid prosperity to this centre of one of the richest areas of western Queensland ... it has fine hotels, stores, offices of the leading pastoral firms, and a full complement of general business concerns. There is a most attractive School of Arts, Town Hall, [and] three churches ... There is a most excellent club, the "Warrego" ... The fledgling QANTAS commenced their first commercial services from the town in 1922 ("replacing" the last Cobb & Co coach which ran in 1920); in 1924 the town turned on electric lights; and in 1926 a new Town Hall was completed. However a severe drought in 1926 described by the Charleville Chamber of Commerce as the worst season known by black or white man with losses of sheep to the enormous extent of eleven millions was to bring the state's pastoral and agricultural sectors to collapse and many rural towns entered a slow decline into the world-wide depression of the 1930s.

On the cusp of the boom/bust, Harry Corones was to commence building his grand vision of hospitality for the west to rival the capital's best hotels. Born on the Greek island of Kythera, Harry "Poppa" Corones arrived in Australia in the early 1900s coming to Charleville by 1909 when he was recorded in the Post Office Directories as a "fruiterer". Reputedly on the encouragement of a brewing company representative, Corones became in 1912 the licensee of the Hotel Charleville, which he operated until 1924.

In 1926 Corones became the registered owner of the Hotel Norman, a single storeyed hotel established c1895 located a block south of the Hotel Charleville on the corner of Wills and Galatea Street. In an advertisement in Pugh's Almanac for 1905, proprietor DC McDonald claimed the hotel as the leading hotel of the southern western line ... the home of the pastoralist, agriculturalist and tourist with lofty cool bedrooms, hot and cold baths, and good paddocking - claims which would be later repeated and amplified by Corones regarding his own hotel.

Construction of Corone's Hotel Norman (as it was then called) commenced in 1924. Rising phoenix-like on the site of the old Norman Hotel, the ambitious scheme was built in four stages from the south to the north to enable continuation of trade; the construction dates displayed at either end of the building testifying to the five year enterprise. Significantly, given the number of (timber) buildings in the town destroyed by fire including Corone's former hotel the Charleville (actually destroyed by fire twice), Harry Corone's new hotel was a masonry building. The first two stages were of reinforced concrete, the third including the ballroom and final stages of brick. Costing some £50,000 the hotel was built by day labour with preference given to men of the district. By the end of 1926 the new hotel was two thirds complete; only the bar area of the Norman Hotel remained. The mythology of Corones was also well advanced. According to the Australian Pastoralist, Grazing Farmers' and Selectors Gazette the hotel was the topic of conversation from Roma to Eulo, and out to the far west and north ... In every way the new Hotel Corones will be an example of hotel architecture and comfort scarce equalled in the Southern Hemisphere, and will undoubtedly be a great centre for all western men.

The final stage of building was completed in 1929. The hotel now stretched almost an entire block of Charleville's main street. According to the A & B Journal of Queensland it was a magnificent white building ... an outstanding feature in a progressive town ... the best equipped and most up-to-date hotel outside the metropolis ... generally acknowledged as the calling-place of all distinguished tourists and travellers... The Hotel itself produced a 12 page brochure about this time which included black and white photographs of the interior: on the ground floor the lounge had gleaming copper-topped tables, deep leather lounges and chairs and led to a writing room and telephone booth, the dining room enticing in its cleanliness was capable of seating 150; the private bar which gave exclusive service amidst convivial surroundings was screened from the public bar by an ingenious arrangement a French polished oak partition with mirrors; the public bar was very modern and luxurious and a cool cement court-yard formed an entrance to the ball-room. Upstairs all accommodation rooms opened onto the verandah - some were equipped with their own bathrooms designed to please the most fastidious and the upstairs lounge was just the place for a real restful smoke. Corones Hall located on Galatea Street had a floor unexcelled outside Brisbane and was largely in demand for exclusive balls, parties, and banquets. Capable of seating 320 at dinner, the hall was built for coolness with a number of high set windows and electric ceiling fans. The lights with Venetian shades of various hues [were] adjustable either to dimness or the reverse, and an orchestra platform added to its popularity and beauty.

Furnishings throughout including the bedroom furniture, dining room, lounge room, chairs, settees, sideboards, etc were designed and manufactured by that well known Queensland home furnisher F Tritton Ltd George Street Brisbane from that beautiful Queensland wood, the Queensland maple. Carpets, linoleums, floor coverings, curtains, etc (British throughout) were all laid and fitted by Trittons.

The architect of this magnificent modern hotel was William Hodgen jnr (1867-1943). The son of pioneer Toowoomba building contractor William Hodgen, in 1886 he became a cadet in the Colonial Architect's Office and in 1891 enrolled at the Architectural Association in London whilst working with a number of prominent London architects. In December 1896 he returned to Queensland commencing practice the following year in Toowoomba when he immediately received a substantial commission from retailer TC Beirne for works to his newly established Fortitude Valley premises as well as winning a competition for a new wing to the Toowoomba Hospital (the Victoria Wing). In practice until his death in 1943 (from 1935 in partnership with his sons as W Hodgen and Hodgen), Hodgen's practice, like that of contemporary Harry Marks (1871-1939) (who also was a member of one of Queensland's architectural family dynasties) was both extensive and broadranging from domestic (eg the Toowoomba residences "Tor" (1904) [DEH file ref 601325) and Tyson Manor (1905) [Entry in the Heritage Register 600864], institutional (eg Glennie Memorial School (1914), to industrial (eg flour mill and wheat and flour stores for Crisp O'Brien 1911) and a number of hotels in western towns including in Charleville, the Hotel Charleville (1913; rebuilt again after a second fire 1931). Hodgen's second Hotel Charleville was similar but of a smaller scale to the Hotel Corones - both had lost the classical and arts and crafts elements typical of his early hotels, and instead adapted simplified Art Deco decoration on the facade. Both hotels are a dominant presence in Charleville's main street; but it is the Hotel Corones which is regarded as Hodgen's major single work and the highlight of his career.

For over thirty years the Hotel Corones ("The Leading Hotel of the West") flourished as a tourist, pastoral and CTA (Commercial Travellers Association) House. Harry Corones' advertisements and stationery proclaimed vice-regal patronage; and in addition to wealthy local graziers, celebrities such as Amy Johnson, Gracie Fields, and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester were guests at the Hotel. In 1936 there were on average 133 guests per week and during World War II when "American" servicemen occupied the local aerodrome and hospital, "Poppa" Corones did a roaring trade with dances held "every night" in Corones Hall. In 1959, the state's centenary year, Charleville's civic welcome to its Royal visitor, HRH Princess Alexandra took place in front of the hotel and Corone's advertisement in the town's centenary souvenir book could still proclaim that Charleville Means CORONES because Corones is the centre of Charleville's social activities and the rendezvous where business agreements can be made in surroundings which, by their comfort and restfulness, provide the perfect setting for quiet consideration. People who insist on the best in fine living invariably made Corones their home while in Charleville.

Just a few years later, however, a Licensing Commission Report described Corones as at one time (past tense) the leading hotel in Charleville now overtaken by the new type of hospitality accommodation, the motel in the shape of the newly rebuilt Victoria Hotel-Motel. Drought in the 1960s was also to severely impact on the local (including Corones') economy: the heyday of both the town and the Hotel was over.

In 1972 Harry Corones died; his elder son, Peter and wife Mary who had operated the hotel for some time prior to Harry Corone's death continued its stewardship. In 1982 the hotel was acquired by Doreen and Bob Bishop. It was acquired by the present owners in 1989. In 1990 a motel was erected to the rear of the hotel: in April of that year, the disastrous flood which covered much of the town, entered the ground floor of the hotel. As a result substantial works including the restoration of the main stair were carried out; about this time some bedrooms on the upper floor were also converted into bathrooms and what are believed to be the former Commercial Travellers' sample rooms on Galatea Street were converted into a shop and motel style accommodation. In 1993, the hotel was listed by the National Trust of Queensland. The Hotel Corones is now operated by Gordon and Frances Harding as both a local pub and (in recognition of the hotel's iconic status) a cultural tourist attraction in the state's south west: Corones Hall is regularly used for functions such as weddings and balls, daily tours of the hotel are conducted by Mrs Harding, and the mythology of both the man and his hotel continues.

Source: Queensland Heritage Register.

positioning by beachwalker2007

3 1

assuming the position by staceycd_minn

20 41

Racer 6th Position by SpaceMan Nathan

Another mid-sponsored racer Ryder...although after his self-designed engines failed to start at a few races, he earned the nickname "Inert." It is also said he put as much money into his hair product as his engines.

While the over-sized and powerful engines are great in space, they create a great problem in the gravity of atmospheric flight. Switch back wings were added to create breaking-lift in atmosphere because of the extra weight.

=======================

See my previous post for details on the racing league. And check out Inthert for the inspiration for the build. As with all of my builds, I try to get the digital instructions up on my Brickshelf page (LDraw format). So check it out.

Looking towards Foregate Street from Eastgate in the splendid city centre of Chester. by Neil Cresswell

Commentary.

Chester is an ancient Cathedral City on the River Dee and near the Welsh border with Cheshire.

It was founded in 79 A.D. as a walled town or fortress

by the Romans who named it Deva Victrix.

The first cathedral was built in 689 A.D. by the Mercians.

Later, the Angles strengthened the walls in case of invasion by the Danes.

Following the Norman invasion in 1066, William the Conqueror

ordered that a castle be built to dominate this corner of north-west England.

The City Walls are still some of the best-preserved defensive walls in England and have a Grade 1 Listing.

Chester still has a number of medieval buildings but most of the City centre half-timbered buildings are mock-Tudor

having been built in Victorian times.

Nevertheless, the architecture has been constructed to a very high standard.

Consequently, tourism has become an important economic business.

Retail, Public Administration and financial services also bring in significant revenue.

During the Industrial Revolution its position near the Shropshire Union Canal helped prosperity and trade.

Its Cattle Market and two railway stations provided much employment and business.

The famous black and white “Rows” attract many visitors with

two levels of shops, the upper level behind elegant galleries.

The A.55 along the North Wales coastline, the M.53 to the Wirral and the M.56 to Manchester now make Chester an effective hub with many connections and access to a large population.

I was very impressed with Chester’s architecture.

It is quite outstanding.

EI-FTZ | Boeing B737-8AS | Ryanair. by Tony Guest

Positions for departure to Krakow.

Pole Position by Audun Bie

Carly by Cristina Rossi Photography

My first session with a beautiful nearly 6 month old girl :-)

EXPLORED Highest position #152

Thank you!!

Pole position by Ginés García Ramírez

5 12

Go North East: 0560 NK53TKZ Transbus MPD by emdjt42

Go North East's fleet liveried Transbus MPD 560 NK53TKZ is pictured on Market Street, Newcastle Upon Tyne, on September 23rd 2016. Due to road works on John Dobson Street, the lay-over stop for the Service 33 to Hollywood Avenue has been moved along Market Street to this position outside the Magistrates Court.

and you two by osmotic_agent

it is my position that what makes a painting, a sculpture, a drawing "Art", as in "fine art" or "important art", is its ability to evoke emotion within the viewer. the gaze becomes more than a passive observance but an action, a reverberation that remains with the audience long after the eyes have shifted. it doesn't matter if the art is in a museum or hung on a refrigerator, it's ability to create emotion, contemplation, inspiration, critical thought, creativity, dreams, and action are the measure of its inherent value. this series of photos are an attempt to capture that moment of exchange between the viewer and the art piece..

I have to admit, I forgot to go see who created this artwork or what it's description was because these women were so engaged with it that the museum was closing by the time they were done. whatever it was, it must have been enthralling!

Advertising | Taiwan 臺灣 / 台灣 (stitched) by dynamo.photography

++++ FROM WIKIPEDIA +++

Taiwan (/ˌtaɪˈwɑːn/ (About this sound listen)), officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a state in East Asia. Its neighbors include the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the west, Japan to the northeast, and the Philippines to the south. Taiwan is the most populous state and largest economy that is not a member of the United Nations.

The island of Taiwan, formerly known as Formosa, was inhabited by aborigines before the 17th century, when Dutch and Spanish colonies opened the island to mass Han immigration. After a brief rule by the Kingdom of Tungning, the island was annexed by the Qing dynasty, the last dynasty of China. The Qing ceded Taiwan to Japan in 1895 after the Sino-Japanese War. While Taiwan was under Japanese rule, the Republic of China (ROC) was established on the mainland in 1912 after the fall of the Qing dynasty. Following the Japanese surrender to the Allies in 1945, the ROC took control of Taiwan. However, the resumption of the Chinese Civil War led to the ROC's loss of the mainland to the Communists, and the flight of the ROC government to Taiwan in 1949. Although the ROC continued to claim to be the legitimate government of China, its effective jurisdiction has, since the loss of Hainan in 1950, been limited to Taiwan and its surrounding islands, with the main island making up 99% of its de facto territory. As a founding member of the United Nations, the ROC continued to represent China at the United Nations until 1971, when the PRC assumed China's seat, causing the ROC to lose its UN membership.

In the early 1960s, Taiwan entered a period of rapid economic growth and industrialization, creating a stable industrial economy. In the 1980s and early 1990s, it changed from a one-party military dictatorship dominated by the Kuomintang to a multi-party democracy with a semi-presidential system. Taiwan is the 22nd-largest economy in the world, and its high-tech industry plays a key role in the global economy. It is ranked highly in terms of freedom of the press, healthcare,[15] public education, economic freedom, and human development.[d][13][16] The country benefits from a highly skilled workforce and is among the most highly educated countries in the world with one of the highest percentages of its citizens holding a tertiary education degree.[17][18]

The PRC has consistently claimed sovereignty over Taiwan and asserted the ROC is no longer in legitimate existence. Under its One-China Policy the PRC refuses diplomatic relations with any country that recognizes the ROC. Today, 20 countries maintain official ties with the ROC but many other states maintain unofficial ties through representative offices and institutions that function as de facto embassies and consulates. Although Taiwan is fully self-governing, most international organizations in which the PRC participates either refuse to grant membership to Taiwan or allow it to participate only as a non-state actor. Internally, the major division in politics is between the aspirations of eventual Chinese unification or Taiwanese independence, though both sides have moderated their positions to broaden their appeal. The PRC has threatened the use of military force in response to any formal declaration of independence by Taiwan or if PRC leaders decide that peaceful unification is no longer possible.[19]

Etymology

See also: Chinese Taipei, Formosa, and Names of China

Taiwan

Taiwan (Chinese characters).svg

"Taiwan" in Traditional (top) and Simplified (bottom) Chinese characters

ROC (Chinese characters).svg

"Republic of China" in Traditional (top) and Simplified (bottom) Chinese characters

Chinese name

Traditional Chinese 臺灣 or 台灣

Simplified Chinese 台湾

[show]Transcriptions

China

Traditional Chinese 中國

Simplified Chinese 中国

Literal meaning Middle or Central State[20]

[show]Transcriptions

Republic of China

Traditional Chinese 中華民國

Simplified Chinese 中华民国

Postal Chunghwa Minkuo

[show]Transcriptions

Japanese name

Kanji 台湾

Kana たいわん

Kyūjitai 臺灣

[show]Transcriptions

There are various names for the island of Taiwan in use today, derived from explorers or rulers by each particular period. The former name Formosa (福爾摩沙) dates from 1542,[verification needed] when Portuguese sailors sighted the main island of Taiwan and named it Ilha Formosa, which means "beautiful island".[21] The name "Formosa" eventually "replaced all others in European literature"[22] and was in common use in English in the early 20th century.[23]

In the early 17th century, the Dutch East India Company established a commercial post at Fort Zeelandia (modern-day Anping, Tainan) on a coastal sandbar called "Tayouan",[24] after their ethnonym for a nearby Taiwanese aboriginal tribe, written by the Dutch and Portuguese variously as Taiouwang, Tayowan, Teijoan, etc.[25] This name was also adopted into the Chinese vernacular (in particular, Hokkien, as Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tāi-oân/Tâi-oân) as the name of the sandbar and nearby area (Tainan). The modern word "Taiwan" is derived from this usage, which is seen in various forms (大員, 大圓, 大灣, 臺員, 臺圓 and 臺窩灣) in Chinese historical records. The area of modern-day Tainan was the first permanent settlement by Western colonists and Chinese immigrants, grew to be the most important trading centre, and served as the capital of the island until 1887. Use of the current Chinese name (臺灣) was formalized as early as 1684 with the establishment of Taiwan Prefecture. Through its rapid development, the entire Formosan mainland eventually became known as "Taiwan".[26][27][28][29]

In his Daoyi Zhilüe (1349), Wang Dayuan used "Liuqiu" as a name for the island of Taiwan, or the part of it near to Penghu.[30] Elsewhere, the name was used for the Ryukyu Islands in general or Okinawa, the largest of them; indeed the name Ryūkyū is the Japanese form of Liúqiú. The name also appears in the Book of Sui (636) and other early works, but scholars cannot agree on whether these references are to the Ryukyus, Taiwan or even Luzon.[31]

The official name of the state is the "Republic of China"; it has also been known under various names throughout its existence. Shortly after the ROC's establishment in 1912, while it was still located on the Chinese mainland, the government used the short form "China" Zhōngguó (中國), to refer to itself, which derives from zhōng ("central" or "middle") and guó ("state, nation-state"), [e] A term which also developed under the Zhou Dynasty in reference to its royal demesne[f] and the name was then applied to the area around Luoyi (present-day Luoyang) during the Eastern Zhou and then to China's Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qingera .[33] During the 1950s and 1960s, after the government had fled to Taiwan due to losing the Chinese Civil War, it was commonly referred to as "Nationalist China" (or "Free China") to differentiate it from "Communist China" (or "Red China").[35] It was a member of the United Nations representing "China" until 1971, when it lost its seat to the People's Republic of China. Over subsequent decades, the Republic of China has become commonly known as "Taiwan", after the island that comprises 99% of the territory under its control. In some contexts, especially official ones from the ROC government, the name is written as "Republic of China (Taiwan)", "Republic of China/Taiwan", or sometimes "Taiwan (ROC)."[36] The Republic of China participates in most international forums and organizations under the name "Chinese Taipei" due to diplomatic pressure from the People's Republic of China. For instance, it is the name under which it has competed at the Olympic Games since 1984, and its name as an observer at the World Health Organization.[37]

History

Main articles: History of Taiwan and History of the Republic of China

See the History of China article for historical information in the Chinese Mainland before 1949.

Prehistoric Taiwan

Main article: Prehistory of Taiwan

A young Tsou man

Taiwan was joined to the mainland in the Late Pleistocene, until sea levels rose about 10,000 years ago. Fragmentary human remains dated 20,000 to 30,000 years ago have been found on the island, as well as later artefacts of a Paleolithic culture.[38][39][40]

Around 6,000 years ago, Taiwan was settled by farmers, most likely from mainland China.[41] They are believed to be the ancestors of today's Taiwanese aborigines, whose languages belong to the Austronesian language family, but show much greater diversity than the rest of the family, which spans a huge area from Maritime Southeast Asia west to Madagascar and east as far as New Zealand, Hawaii and Easter Island. This has led linguists to propose Taiwan as the urheimat of the family, from which seafaring peoples dispersed across Southeast Asia and the Pacific and Indian Oceans.[42][43]

Han Chinese fishermen began settling in the Penghu islands in the 13th century.[44] Hostile tribes, and a lack of valuable trade products, meant that few outsiders visited the main island until the 16th century.[44] By the 1700's visits to the coast by fishermen from Fujian, as well as Chinese and Japanese pirates, became more frequent.[44]

Opening in the 17th century

Main articles: Dutch Formosa, Spanish Formosa, and Kingdom of Tungning

Fort Zeelandia, the Governor's residence in Dutch Formosa

The Dutch East India Company attempted to establish a trading outpost on the Penghu Islands (Pescadores) in 1622, but were militarily defeated and driven off by the Ming authorities.[45]

In 1624, the company established a stronghold called Fort Zeelandia on the coastal islet of Tayouan, which is now part of the main island at Anping, Tainan.[29] David Wright, a Scottish agent of the company who lived on the island in the 1650s, described the lowland areas of the island as being divided among 11 chiefdoms ranging in size from two settlements to 72. Some of these fell under Dutch control, while others remained independent.[29][46] The Company began to import labourers from Fujian and Penghu (Pescadores), many of whom settled.[45]

In 1626, the Spanish Empire landed on and occupied northern Taiwan, at the ports of Keelung and Tamsui, as a base to extend their trading. This colonial period lasted 16 years until 1642, when the last Spanish fortress fell to Dutch forces.

Following the fall of the Ming dynasty, Koxinga (Zheng Chenggong), a self-styled Ming loyalist, arrived on the island and captured Fort Zeelandia in 1662, expelling the Dutch Empire and military from the island. Koxinga established the Kingdom of Tungning (1662–1683), with his capital at Tainan. He and his heirs, Zheng Jing, who ruled from 1662 to 1682, and Zheng Keshuang, who ruled less than a year, continued to launch raids on the southeast coast of mainland China well into the Qing dynasty era.[45]

Qing rule

In 1683, following the defeat of Koxinga's grandson by an armada led by Admiral Shi Lang of southern Fujian, the Qing dynasty formally annexed Taiwan, placing it under the jurisdiction of Fujian province. The Qing imperial government tried to reduce piracy and vagrancy in the area, issuing a series of edicts to manage immigration and respect aboriginal land rights. Immigrants mostly from southern Fujian continued to enter Taiwan. The border between taxpaying lands and "savage" lands shifted eastward, with some aborigines becoming sinicized while others retreated into the mountains. During this time, there were a number of conflicts between groups of Han Chinese from different regions of southern Fujian, particularly between those from Quanzhou and Zhangzhou, and between southern Fujian Chinese and aborigines.

Northern Taiwan and the Penghu Islands were the scene of subsidiary campaigns in the Sino-French War (August 1884 to April 1885). The French occupied Keelung on 1 October 1884, but were repulsed from Tamsui a few days later. The French won some tactical victories but were unable to exploit them, and the Keelung Campaign ended in stalemate. The Pescadores Campaign, beginning on 31 March 1885, was a French victory, but had no long-term consequences. The French evacuated both Keelung and the Penghu archipelago after the end of the war.

In 1887, the Qing upgraded the island's administration from Taiwan Prefecture of Fujian to Fujian-Taiwan-Province (福建臺灣省), the twentieth in the empire, with its capital at Taipei. This was accompanied by a modernization drive that included building China's first railroad.[47]

Japanese rule

Main articles: Taiwan under Japanese rule and Republic of Formosa

Japanese colonial soldiers march Taiwanese captured after the Tapani Incident from the Tainan jail to court, 1915.

As the Qing dynasty was defeated in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895), Taiwan, along with Penghu and Liaodong Peninsula, were ceded in full sovereignty to the Empire of Japan by the Treaty of Shimonoseki. Inhabitants on Taiwan and Penghu wishing to remain Qing subjects were given a two-year grace period to sell their property and move to mainland China. Very few Taiwanese saw this as feasible.[48] On 25 May 1895, a group of pro-Qing high officials proclaimed the Republic of Formosa to resist impending Japanese rule. Japanese forces entered the capital at Tainan and quelled this resistance on 21 October 1895.[49] Guerrilla fighting continued periodically until about 1902 and ultimately took the lives of 14,000 Taiwanese, or 0.5% of the population.[50] Several subsequent rebellions against the Japanese (the Beipu uprising of 1907, the Tapani incident of 1915, and the Musha incident of 1930) were all unsuccessful but demonstrated opposition to Japanese colonial rule.

Japanese colonial rule was instrumental in the industrialization of the island, extending the railroads and other transportation networks, building an extensive sanitation system, and establishing a formal education system.[51] Japanese rule ended the practice of headhunting.[52] During this period the human and natural resources of Taiwan were used to aid the development of Japan and the production of cash crops such as rice and sugar greatly increased. By 1939, Taiwan was the seventh greatest sugar producer in the world.[53] Still, the Taiwanese and aborigines were classified as second- and third-class citizens. After suppressing Chinese guerrillas in the first decade of their rule, Japanese authorities engaged in a series of bloody campaigns against the mountain aboriginals, culminating in the Musha Incident of 1930.[54] Intellectuals and laborers who participated in left-wing movements within Taiwan were also arrested and massacred (e.g. Chiang Wei-shui (蔣渭水) and Masanosuke Watanabe (渡辺政之輔)).[55]

Around 1935, the Japanese began an island-wide assimilation project to bind the island more firmly to the Japanese Empire and people were taught to see themselves as Japanese under the Kominka Movement, during which time Taiwanese culture and religion were outlawed and the citizens were encouraged to adopt Japanese surnames.[56] The "South Strike Group" was based at the Taihoku Imperial University in Taipei. During World War II, tens of thousands of Taiwanese served in the Japanese military.[57] For example, former ROC President Lee Teng-hui's elder brother served in the Japanese navy and was killed in action in the Philippines in February 1945. The Imperial Japanese Navy operated heavily out of Taiwanese ports. In October 1944, the Formosa Air Battle was fought between American carriers and Japanese forces based in Taiwan. Important Japanese military bases and industrial centres throughout Taiwan, like Kaohsiung, were targets of heavy American bombings.[58] Also during this time, over 2,000 women were forced into sexual slavery for Imperial

On 25 October 1945, the US Navy ferried ROC troops to Taiwan in order to accept the formal surrender of Japanese military forces in Taipei on behalf of the Allied Powers, as part of General Order No. 1 for temporary military occupation. General Rikichi Andō, governor-general of Taiwan and commander-in-chief of all Japanese forces on the island, signed the receipt and handed it over to General Chen Yi of the ROC military to complete the official turnover. Chen Yi proclaimed that day to be "Taiwan Retrocession Day", but the Allies considered Taiwan and the Penghu Islands to be under military occupation and still under Japanese sovereignty until 1952, when the Treaty of San Francisco took effect.[62][63] Although the 1943 Cairo Declaration had envisaged returning these territories to China, in the Treaty of San Francisco and Treaty of Taipei Japan has renounced all claim to them without specifying to what country they were to be surrendered. This introduced the problem of the legal status of Taiwan.

The ROC administration of Taiwan under Chen Yi was strained by increasing tensions between Taiwanese-born people and newly arrived mainlanders, which were compounded by economic woes, such as hyperinflation. Furthermore, cultural and linguistic conflicts between the two groups quickly led to the loss of popular support for the new government, while the mass movement led by the working committee of the Communist Party also aimed to bring down the Kuomintang government.[64][65] The shooting of a civilian on 28 February 1947 triggered island-wide unrest, which was suppressed with military force in what is now called the February 28 Incident. Mainstream estimates of the number killed range from 18,000 to 30,000. Those killed were mainly members of the Taiwanese elite.[66][67]

The Nationalists' retreat to Taipei: after the Nationalists lost Nanjing (Nanking) they next moved to Guangzhou (Canton), then to Chongqing (Chungking), Chengdu (Chengtu) and Xichang (Sichang) before arriving in Taipei.

After the end of World War II, the Chinese Civil War resumed between the Chinese Nationalists (Kuomintang), led by Chiang Kai-shek, and the Communist Party of China, led by Mao Zedong. Throughout the months of 1949, a series of Chinese Communist offensives led to the capture of its capital Nanjing on 23 April and the subsequent defeat of the Nationalist army on the mainland, and the Communists founded the People's Republic of China on 1 October.[68]

After losing most of the mainland, the Kuomintang held remaining control of Tibet, the portions of Qinghai, Xinjiang, and Yunnan provinces along with the Hainan Island until 1951 before the Communists subsequently captured both territories. From this point onwards, the Kuomintang's territory was reduced to Taiwan, Penghu, the portions of the Fujian province (Kinmen and Matsu Islands), and two major islands of Dongsha Islands and Nansha Islands. The Kuomintang continued to claim sovereignty over all "China", which it defined to include mainland China, Taiwan, Outer Mongolia and other areas. On mainland China, the victorious Communists claimed they ruled the sole and only China (which they claimed included Taiwan) and that the Republic of China no longer existed.[73]

A Chinese man in military uniform, smiling and looking towards the left. He holds a sword in his left hand and has a medal in shape of a sun on his chest.

Chiang Kai-shek, leader of the Kuomintang from 1925 until his death in 1975

Chinese Nationalist one-party rule

Martial law, declared on Taiwan in May 1949,[74] continued to be in effect after the central government relocated to Taiwan. It was not repealed until 1987,[74] and was used as a way to suppress the political opposition in the intervening years.[75] During the White Terror, as the period is known, 140,000 people were imprisoned or executed for being perceived as anti-KMT or pro-Communist.[76] Many citizens were arrested, tortured, imprisoned and executed for their real or perceived link to the Communists. Since these people were mainly from the intellectual and social elite, an entire generation of political and social leaders was decimated. In 1998 law was passed to create the "Compensation Foundation for Improper Verdicts" which oversaw compensation to White Terror victims and families. President Ma Ying-jeou made an official apology in 2008, expressing hope that there will never be a tragedy similar to White Terror.[77]

Initially, the United States abandoned the KMT and expected that Taiwan would fall to the Communists. However, in 1950 the conflict between North Korea and South Korea, which had been ongoing since the Japanese withdrawal in 1945, escalated into full-blown war, and in the context of the Cold War, US President Harry S. Truman intervened again and dispatched the US Navy's 7th Fleet into the Taiwan Strait to prevent hostilities between Taiwan and mainland China.[78] In the Treaty of San Francisco and the Treaty of Taipei, which came into force respectively on 28 April 1952 and 5 August 1952, Japan formally renounced all right, claim and title to Taiwan and Penghu, and renounced all treaties signed with China before 1942. Neither treaty specified to whom sovereignty over the islands should be transferred, because the United States and the United Kingdom disagreed on whether the ROC or the PRC was the legitimate government of China.[79] Continuing conflict of the Chinese Civil War through the 1950s, and intervention by the United States notably resulted in legislation such as the Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty and the Formosa Resolution of 1955.

With President Chiang Kai-shek, the US President Dwight D. Eisenhower waved to crowds during his visit to Taipei in June 1960.

As the Chinese Civil War continued without truce, the government built up military fortifications throughout Taiwan. Within this effort, KMT veterans built the now famous Central Cross-Island Highway through the Taroko Gorge in the 1950s. The two sides would continue to engage in sporadic military clashes with seldom publicized details well into the 1960s on the China coastal islands with an unknown number of night raids. During the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis in September 1958, Taiwan's landscape saw Nike-Hercules missile batteries added, with the formation of the 1st Missile Battalion Chinese Army that would not be deactivated until 1997. Newer generations of missile batteries have since replaced the Nike Hercules systems throughout the island.

Up until the 1970s, the government was regarded by Western critics as undemocratic for upholding martial law, for severely repressing any political opposition and for controlling media. The KMT did not allow the creation of new parties and those that existed did not seriously compete with the KMT. Thus, competitive democratic elections did not exist.[83][84][85][86][87] From the late 1970s to the 1990s, however, Taiwan went through reforms and social changes that transformed it from an authoritarian state to a democracy. In 1979, a pro-democracy protest known as the Kaohsiung Incident took place in Kaohsiung to celebrate Human Rights Day. Although the protest was rapidly crushed by the authorities, it is today considered as the main event that united Taiwan's opposition.[88]

Democratization

Main articles: Democratic reforms of Taiwan and Elections in Taiwan

Chiang Ching-kuo, Chiang Kai-shek's son and successor as the president, began to liberalize the political system in the mid-1980s. In 1984, the younger Chiang selected Lee Teng-hui, a Taiwanese-born, US-educated technocrat, to be his vice-president. In 1986, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was formed and inaugurated as the first opposition party in the ROC to counter the KMT. A year later, Chiang Ching-kuo lifted martial law on the main island of Taiwan (martial law was lifted on Penghu in 1979, Matsu island in 1992 and Kinmen island in 1993). With the advent of democratization, the issue of the political status of Taiwan gradually resurfaced as a controversial issue where, previously, the discussion of anything other than unification under the ROC was taboo.

After the death of Chiang Ching-kuo in January 1988, Lee Teng-hui succeeded him as president. Lee continued to democratize the government and decrease the concentration of government authority in the hands of mainland Chinese. Under Lee, Taiwan underwent a process of localization in which Taiwanese culture and history were promoted over a pan-China viewpoint in contrast to earlier KMT policies which had promoted a Chinese identity. Lee's reforms included printing banknotes from the Central Bank rather than the Provincial Bank of Taiwan, and streamlining the Taiwan Provincial Government with most of its functions transferred to the Executive Yuan. Under Lee, the original members of the Legislative Yuan and National Assembly(a former supreme legislative body defunct in 2005）,[89] elected in 1947 to represent mainland Chinese constituencies and having held the seats without re-election for more than four decades, were forced to resign in 1991. The previously nominal representation in the Legislative Yuan was brought to an end, reflecting the reality that the ROC had no jurisdiction over mainland China, and vice versa. Restrictions on the use of Taiwanese Hokkien in the broadcast media and in schools were also lifted.[citation needed]

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Taiwan's special envoy to the APEC summit, Lien Chan, November 2011

Democratic reforms continued in the 1990s, with Lee Teng-hui re-elected in 1996, in the first direct presidential election in the history of the ROC.[90] During the later years of Lee's administration, he was involved in corruption controversies relating to government release of land and weapons purchase, although no legal proceedings commenced. In 1997,"To meet the requisites of the nation prior to national unification",[91] the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China was passed and then the former "constitution of five powers" turns to be more tripartite. In 2000, Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party was elected as the first non-Kuomintang (KMT) President and was re-elected to serve his second and last term since 2004. Polarized politics has emerged in Taiwan with the formation of the Pan-Blue Coalition of parties led by the KMT, favouring eventual Chinese reunification, and the Pan-Green Coalition of parties led by the DPP, favouring an eventual and official declaration of Taiwanese independence.[92][clarification needed] In early 2006, President Chen Shui-bian remarked: “The National Unification Council will cease to function. No budget will be ear-marked for it and its personnel must return to their original posts...The National Unification Guidelines will cease to apply."[93]

The ruling DPP has traditionally leaned in favour of Taiwan independence and rejects the "One-China policy".

On 30 September 2007, the ruling DPP approved a resolution asserting a separate identity from China and called for the enactment of a new constitution for a "normal country". It also called for general use of "Taiwan" as the country's name, without abolishing its formal name, the Republic of China.[94] The Chen administration also pushed for referendums on national defence and UN entry in the 2004 and 2008 elections, which failed due to voter turnout below the required legal threshold of 50% of all registered voters.[95] The Chen administration was dogged by public concerns over reduced economic growth, legislative gridlock due to a pan-blue, opposition-controlled Legislative Yuan and corruption involving the First Family as well as government officials.[96][97]

The KMT increased its majority in the Legislative Yuan in the January 2008 legislative elections, while its nominee Ma Ying-jeou went on to win the presidency in March of the same year, campaigning on a platform of increased economic growth and better ties with the PRC under a policy of "mutual nondenial".[95] Ma took office on 20 May 2008, the same day that President Chen Shui-bian stepped down and was notified by prosecutors of possible corruption charges. Part of the rationale for campaigning for closer economic ties with the PRC stems from the strong economic growth China attained since joining the World Trade Organization. However, some analysts say that despite the election of Ma Ying-jeou, the diplomatic and military tensions with the PRC have not been reduced.[98]

On 24 May 2017, the Constitutional Court ruled that current marriage laws are unconstitutional and that same-sex couples in the Taiwanese LGBT community should have the right to marry. The court has given the Legislative Yuan two years to adequately amend Taiwanese marriage laws. According to the court ruling, if amendments are not passed within two years, same-sex marriages will automatically become legal in Taiwan.[99]

Geography

Main article: Geography of Taiwan

Taiwan is mostly mountainous in the east, with gently sloping plains in the west. The Penghu Islands are west of the main island.

The total area of the current jurisdiction of the Republic of China is 36,193 km2 (13,974 sq mi),[8] making it the world's 137th-largest country/dependency, smaller than Switzerland and larger than Belgium.

The island of Taiwan has an area of 35,883 km2 (13,855 sq mi), and lies some 180 kilometres (110 mi) from the southeastern coast of mainland China across the Taiwan Strait.[8] The East China Sea lies to the north, the Philippine Sea to the east, the Bashi Channel of the Luzon Strait directly to the south, and the South China Sea to the southwest. Its shape is similar to a sweet potato, giving rise to the name sweet potato used by Taiwanese Hokkien speakers for people of Taiwanese descent.[100]

The island is characterized by the contrast between the eastern two-thirds, consisting mostly of rugged mountains running in five ranges from the northern to the southern tip of the island, and the flat to gently rolling Chianan Plains in the west that are also home to most of Taiwan's population. Taiwan's highest point is Yu Shan (Jade Mountain) at 3,952 metres (12,966 ft),[101] making Taiwan the world's fourth-highest island.

The Penghu Islands, 50 km (31.1 mi) west of the main island, have an area of 126.9 km2 (49.0 sq mi). More distant islands controlled by the Republic of China are the Kinmen, Wuchiu and Matsu Islands off the coast of Fujian, with a total area of 180.5 km2 (69.7 sq mi), and the Pratas Islands and Taiping Island in the South China Sea, with a total area of 2.9 km2 (1.1 sq mi) and no permanent inhabitants.[8] The ROC government also claims the Senkaku Islands to the northeast, which are controlled by Japan.

Climate

Taiwan lies on the Tropic of Cancer, and its general climate is marine tropical.[7] The northern and central regions are subtropical, whereas the south is tropical and the mountainous regions are temperate.[102] The average rainfall is 2,600 millimetres (100 inches) per year for the island proper; the rainy season is concurrent with the onset of the summer East Asian Monsoon in May and June.[103] The entire island experiences hot, humid weather from June through September. Typhoons are most common in July, August and September.[103] During the winter (November to March), the northeast experiences steady rain, while the central and southern parts of the island are mostly sunny.

Geology

Main article: Geology of Taiwan

Dabajian Mountain

The island of Taiwan lies in a complex tectonic area between the Yangtze Plate to the west and north, the Okinawa Plate on the north-east, and the Philippine Mobile Belt on the east and south. The upper part of the crust on the island is primarily made up of a series of terranes, mostly old island arcs which have been forced together by the collision of the forerunners of the Eurasian Plate and the Philippine Sea Plate. These have been further uplifted as a result of the detachment of a portion of the Eurasian Plate as it was subducted beneath remnants of the Philippine Sea Plate, a process which left the crust under Taiwan more buoyant.[104]

The major seismic faults in Taiwan correspond to the various suture zones between the various terranes. These have produced major quakes throughout the history of the island. On 21 September 1999, a 7.3 quake known as the "921 earthquake" killed more than 2,400 people. The seismic hazard map for Taiwan by the USGS shows 9/10 of the island as the highest rating (most hazardous).[106]

Political and legal status

Main article: Political status of Taiwan

See also: List of states with limited recognition and Foreign relations of China § International territorial disputes

The political and legal statuses of Taiwan are contentious issues. The People's Republic of China (PRC) claims that the Republic of China government is illegitimate, referring to it as the "Taiwan Authority" even though current ROC territories have never been controlled by the PRC.[107][108] The ROC has its own constitution, independently elected president and armed forces. It has not formally renounced its claim to the mainland, but ROC government publications have increasingly downplayed it.[109]

Internationally, there is controversy on whether the ROC still exists as a state or a defunct state per international law due to the lack of wide diplomatic recognition. In a poll of Taiwanese aged 20 and older taken by TVBS in March 2009, a majority of 64% opted for the "status quo", while 19% favoured "independence" and 5% favoured "unification".[110]

Relations with the PRC

After the KMT's retreat to Taiwan, most countries, notably the countries in the Western Bloc, continued to maintain relations with the ROC. Due to diplomatic pressure, recognition gradually eroded and many countries switched recognition to the PRC in the 1970s. UN Resolution 2758 (25 October 1971) recognized the People's Republic of China as China's sole representative in the United Nations.[122]

The PRC refuses to have diplomatic relations with any nation that recognizes the ROC, and requires all nations with which it has diplomatic relations to make a statement recognizing its claims to Taiwan.[123] As a result, only 19 UN member states and the Holy See maintain official diplomatic relations with the Republic of China. The ROC maintains unofficial relations with most countries via de facto embassies and consulates called Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Offices (TECRO), with branch offices called "Taipei Economic and Cultural Offices" (TECO). Both TECRO and TECO are "unofficial commercial entities" of the ROC in charge of maintaining diplomatic relations, providing consular services (i.e. visa applications), and serving the national interests of the ROC in other countries.[124]

On 16 December 2015, the Obama administration announced a deal to sell $1.83 billion worth of arms to the armed forces of the ROC.[128][129] China's foreign ministry had expressed its disapproval for the sales and issued the US a "stern warning", saying it would hurt China–US relations.[130]

Participation in international events and organizations

See also: Foreign relations of Taiwan § Relation with International organizations

The ROC was a founding member of the United Nations, and held the seat of China on the Security Council and other UN bodies until 1971, when it was expelled by Resolution 2758 and replaced in all UN organs with the PRC. Each year since 1992, the ROC has petitioned the UN for entry, but its applications have not made it past committee.[131]

A white symbol in shape of a five petal flower ringed by a blue and a red line. In its centre stands a circular symbol depicting a white sun on a blue background. The five Olympic circles (blue, yellow, black, green and red) stand below it.

The flag used by Taiwan at the Olympic Games, where it competes as "Chinese Taipei" (中華台北).

Due to its limited international recognition, the Republic of China is a member of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, represented by a government-funded organization, the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD) under the name "Taiwan".[132][133]

Also due to its One China policy, the PRC only participates in international organizations where the ROC is not recognized as a sovereign country. Most member states, including the United States, do not wish to discuss the issue of the ROC's political status for fear of souring diplomatic ties with the PRC.[134] However, both the US and Japan publicly support the ROC's bid for membership in the World Health Organization as an observer.[135] However, though the ROC sought to participate in the WHO since 1997,[136][137] their efforts were blocked by the PRC until 2010, when they were invited as observers to attend the World Health Assembly, under the name "Chinese Taipei".[138]

Due to PRC pressure, the ROC is forced to use the name "Chinese Taipei" in international events, such as the Olympic Games, where the PRC is also a party.[139] The ROC is typically barred from using its national anthem and national flag in international events due to PRC pressure; ROC spectators attending events such as the Olympics are often barred from bringing ROC flags into venues.[140] Taiwan also participates in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (since 1991) and the World Trade Organization (since 2002) under the name "Chinese Taipei". The ROC is able to participate as "China" in organizations that the PRC does not participate in, such as the World Organization of the Scout Movement.

Opinions within Taiwan

See also: Taiwan independence and Chinese Unification

The Democratic Progressive Party, the largest Pan-Green party, officially seeks independence, but in practice also supports the status quo because its members and the public would not accept the risk of provoking the PRC.[143][144]

On 27 September 2017, Taiwanese premier William Lai said that he was a “political worker who advocates Taiwan independence”, but that as Taiwan was an independent country called the Republic of China, it had no need to declare independence.[146] The relationship with the PRC and the related issues of Taiwanese independence and Chinese unification continue to dominate politics.[147]

Government and politics

Main articles: Government of the Republic of China and Politics of the Republic of China

See also: Elections in Taiwan and Human rights in Taiwan

蔡英文官方元首肖像照.png 賴清德市長.jpg

Tsai Ing-wen

President William Lai Premier

The first line of defence against invasion by the PRC is the ROC's own armed forces. Current ROC military doctrine is to hold out against an invasion or blockade until the US military responds.[195] There is, however, no guarantee in the Taiwan Relations Act or any other treaty that the United States will defend Taiwan, even in the event of invasion.[196] The joint declaration on security between the US and Japan signed in 1996 may imply that Japan would be involved in any response. However, Japan has refused to stipulate whether the "area surrounding Japan" mentioned in the pact includes Taiwan, and the precise purpose of the pact is unclear.[197] The Australia, New Zealand, United States Security Treaty (ANZUS Treaty) may mean that other US allies, such as Australia, could theoretically be involved.[198] In practice, the risk of losing economic ties with China may prevent Australia from taking action.[199] The United States, United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Canada, Chile, and Peru conduct maritime exercises in the Pacific Ocean every two years called RIMPAC. They are conducted to promote stability and to be able to respond in case of an armed conflict in the region – that includes an invasion of Taiwan by China.[200]

Administrative divisions

Since 1949, the government has made some changes in the area under its control. Taipei became a special municipality in 1967 and Kaohsiung in 1979. The two provincial governments were "streamlined", with their functions transferred to the central government (Fujian in 1956 and Taiwan in 1998).[204] In 2010, New Taipei, Taichung and Tainan were upgraded to special municipalities. And in 2014, Taoyuan County was also upgraded to Taoyuan special municipality. This brought the top-level divisions to their current state:[205]

Level 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th

Division

type Special municipality

(直轄市 zhíxiáshì) (6) Mountain Indigenous District

(原住民區 yuánzhùmín qū) (6) Urban Village

(里 lǐ) Neighborhood

(鄰 lín)

District

(區 qū) (164)

Province

(省 shěng) (2)

(Streamlined) City

(市 shì) (3)

County

(縣 xiàn) (13) County-controlled city

(縣轄市 xiànxiáshì) (14)

Urban Township

(鎮 zhèn) (38)

Rural Township

(鄉 xiāng) (122) Rural Village

(村 cūn)

Mountain Indigenous Township

(山地鄉 shāndì xiāng) (24)

Total 22 368 7,851 147,785

Iris Position by Daud

4 5

20200805 International Traffic Light Day by Ron Brauer

12 8

Traffic holds their position at the intersection of Lego Lane and Brickplace Pass as a police car is in pursuit of a car that exceeded the speed limit and also disregarded a red light on the traffic signal.

August 5th Is International Traffic Light Day

By 1914, there were more automobiles on the road than ever, and they were still sharing the streets with streetcars, horse carriages, merchant carts, and more. There was a need for regulations to make sure traffic moved smoothly and that accidents would decrease. At the time, traffic was controlled by the police. But traffic lights were about to come along and make road navigation easier, safer, and more efficient.

On August 5, 1914, what is considered to be the first electric traffic light was installed in Cleveland, Ohio, at the corner of East 105th Street and Euclid Avenue. It had four pairs of red and green lights, one for each side of the intersection, and a warning buzzer that indicated when the light was about to change. It had to be operated manually by someone in a nearby booth. It was based on a design by James Hoge, who had previously applied for a patent for a "Municipal Traffic Control System." His patent—#1,251,666—was approved in 1918. The Cleveland Automobile Club thought that their new traffic light might revolutionize the handling of traffic in crowded cities.

There were other early traffic signals and traffic lights, both before and after Cleveland's and James Hoge's lights. In 1868, a gas-lit and manually-operated traffic sign was installed in London. It had two arms: one said "stop" and the other said "caution." Tragically, less than a month after its installation, it exploded and the policeman who was operating it was injured.

In 1910, the first automated traffic control system was created. It didn't light up, but it did display "stop" and "proceed." In Salt Lake City in 1912, a traffic light of red and green lights was installed in a wooden box on a pole. William Potts, a police officer from Detroit, Michigan, invented the three-color traffic light to be used at four-way stops in 1920. In 1923, Garrett Morgan invented a traffic signal with a T-shaped design; he patented it and later sold it to General Electric. Traffic lights have continued to improve over time. Lights first had to be changed manually, then they could change automatically, and then in the 1950s computers began being used to control them. Computers allowed detection plates, or loops of wire embedded into the pavement, to be installed as well, which could sense when cars were present. Traffic lights also expanded beyond the basic red, yellow, and green lights, and began including other lights such as turn arrows, and walk and don't walk lights.

Traffic lights control the flow of traffic and are placed at locations such as road intersections and pedestrian crossings. They go by many other names, which are sometimes dependent on where in the world they are. Some common names include traffic signals, traffic lamps, signal lights, or “Stop-and-Go Lights”. They are made of lamps or LEDs, and their standard colors are red, yellow (amber), and green. A solid red light means that a driver should not proceed, while a flashing red light is to be treated like a stop sign. A yellow light indicates that a red light will soon appear. In some areas, it may require a driver to stop if they can, but in other areas, drivers may be allowed to pass through it if it is safe. If a yellow light is flashing, it means it is a warning signal. A green light means that a driver may proceed if it is safe and if there is room on the other side of the intersection.

Traffic lights may be set to flash at times when traffic is sparse, such as late at night. Sometimes a flashing yellow is set to a main road, while a flashing red is set to the side road. Sometimes there is flashing red in all directions, which is treated as a four-way stop. Whether lights are green, yellow, or red, or whether they are solid or flashing, we celebrate them today, on the anniversary of when the first electric traffic light was installed.

How to Observe

Today is for stopping and thinking about the importance of traffic lights in road safety. The best way to celebrate the day is probably to use as many traffic lights as possible when driving. If you are up for a long drive, you could drive to the intersection in Cleveland where the first electric traffic light was installed. You could also drive to Ohio's Small Town Museum, where what is believed to be the world's oldest traffic light is kept.

20200805 218/366

Battle of Seattle, Jan. 26, 1856 (ca. 1890) by A.Davey

Emily Inez Denny, ca. 1890

Museum of History and Industry (MOHI), Seattle.

There are some features of our surroundings that time can't change. Visitors to Seattle, if they're observant and the clouds lift, will see the same brilliant mountain range to the west as the one in this work painted 132 years ago. They're the Olympic Mountains in what is now Olympic National Park on the - wait for it - Olympic Peninsula in Washington state.

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Short Version

The Battle of Seattle is the name given to the day when the Native peoples in the area attacked the newly arrived settlers who took refuge in the blockhouse or on the USS Decatur anchored in Elliott Bay.

The warship proceeded to fire shells toward the land. There were only two casualties for the settlers and the exact number of casualties the Native peoples suffered is unknown.

The artist, Emily Inez Denny (1853-1919), was a child during the Battle of Seattle and painted this scene many years later, fusing her memories with family tradition.

Denny's interpretation emphasized the settlers' vulnerability and fear, and eliminated the Decatur's sailors and Marines, on the one hand, and Native people, on the other.

digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/digital/collection/...

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Extended Version

The Battle of Seattle was a January 26, 1856 attack by Native American tribesmen upon Seattle, Washington.

At the time, Seattle was a settlement in the Washington Territory that had recently named itself after Chief Seattle (Sealth), a leader of the Suquamish and Duwamish peoples of central Puget Sound.

European-American settlers were backed by artillery fire and supported by Marines from the United States Navy sloop-of-war Decatur, anchored in Elliott Bay (Seattle's harbor, then called Duwam-sh Bay).

They suffered two fatalities. It is not known if any of the Native American raiders died. The contemporary historian T. S. Phelps wrote that they later "would admit" to 28 dead and 80 wounded. T

he battle, part of the multi-year Puget Sound War or Yakima Wars (1855-1858), lasted a single day.

The Seattle settlement of the time was located roughly in the area of Seattle's Pioneer Square and its neighborhood. T. S. Phelps's memoir of the time described the settlement as:

…on a point, or rather a small peninsula, projecting from the eastern shore, and about two miles (3 km) from the mouth of Duwamish River, debouching at the head of the bay. The northern part of this peninsula is connected with the mainland by a low neck of marshy ground, and about one-sixteenth of a mile from its southeastern extremity a firm, hard sand-pit nearly joined it to the adjacent shore, severed only by a narrow channel through which the surplus waters of an inclosed swamp escaped into the bay. The south and west sides rose abruptly from the beach, forming an embankment from three to fifteen feet high; and proceeding thence northerly, the ground undulated for an eighth of a mile, when it gradually sloped towards the swamp and neck.

At the intersection of the latter with the main, and overlooking the water, rose a mound about thirty feet above the level of the bay; and to the eastward through a depression in the hills, and passing the head of the swamp, was a broad Indian trail leading to Lake Duwamish [now Lake Washington], distant two and a half miles.

Phelps remarks that the tailings from Henry Yesler's recently erected mill were steadily filling in the marshy land at the north of the head or peninsula where the settlement was located. He described the arrangement of the troops arrayed in defense on the nights before the battle:

The divisions… nightly occupied the shore, vigilantly guarding the people as they slept, and resting only when the morning light released them from the apprehended attack.

… [They] were distributed along the line of defense in the following order: The fourth, under Lieutenant Dallas, commencing at Southeast Point, extended along the bay shore to the sand-bar, where, meeting with the right of the first division, Lieutenant Drake, the latter continued the line facing the swamp to a point half-way from the bar to a hotel situated midway between the bar and Yesler's place, and there joined the second, under Lieutenant Hughes, whose left, resting on the hotel (see Mother Damnable), completed an unbroken line between the latter and Southeast Point, while the howitzer's crew, Lieutenant Morris, was stationed near Plummer's house, to sweep the bar and to operate wherever circumstances demanded. The third division, Lieutenant Phelps, occupied that portion of the neck lying between the swamp and mound east of Yesler's place, to secure the approaches leading from the lake, and the marines, under Sergeant Carbine, garrisoned the block-house.

The divisions, thus stationed, left a gap between the second and third, which the width and impassable nature of the swamp at this place rendered unnecessary to close, thereby enabling a portion of the town to be encompassed which otherwise would have been exposed.

The distance between the block-house and Southeast Point, following the sinuosities of the bay and swamp shores, was three-quarters of a mile, to be defended by ninety-six men, eighteen marines, and five officers, leaving Gunner Stocking, Carpenter Miller, Clerks Francis and Ferguson, and fifteen men with Lieutenant Middleton, to guard the ship.[3]

Prelude

Washington Territory Governor Isaac Ingalls Stevens' ambitious treaty-making during 1854 and 1855 has been held to be the cause of the Puget Sound War.

The battle was part of a Native American uprising in resistance to the pressure to cede land for reservations determined by territorial officials.

There had been a series of skirmishes in the region over the previous several months, beginning October 28, 1855. There had been fighting between federal troops and natives in southern King, Thurston and Pierce counties. Five days before the attack on Seattle, Governor Stevens had declared a "war of extermination" upon the Indians.

The sloop Decatur had been called to Puget Sound both because of the trouble with local natives and to deter frequent raids by an alliance of the northern Haida from the Queen Charlotte Islands and the Tongass group of the Tlingit, from what was then Russian America.

Captained by Isaac L. Sterret, the vessel struck an uncharted reef near Bainbridge Island on December 7, 1855, and was heavily damaged. (According to naval custom, the reef was named Decatur Reef.) They limped into Seattle for repairs, which lasted until January 19. Sterret was temporarily taken off active duty December 10, although later returned to active duty. However, on the day of the battle, Decatur was commanded by Guert Gansevoort.

Decatur lay at anchor in deep water, in a position from which it had total command of the settlement with 16 shipborne 32-pounders firing fuzed shells. To the defense on land, the ship contributed two nine-pounder cannon and 18 stands of arms.

About this time, the raiders were attacking the White River settlers to the southeast. Survivors fled to Seattle. There they joined the fifty or so Seattle settlers. Assisted by marines from the Decatur, they had constructed a blockhouse from lumber originally intended for shipment to San Francisco.

Days before the battle (January 21), Territorial Governor Stevens arrived in Seattle aboard U.S.S. Active, and discounted rumors of war.

Almost immediately upon his departure, reports from friendly natives warned that the governor had been completely mistaken and that an attack was imminent. These reports have been variously credited to Chief Seattle, his daughter Princess Angeline, or another chief, Sucquardle (known also as "Curley" or "Curly Jim").

David Swinson "Doc" Maynard, reputed to have had far more than the usual concern for the natives' rights and well-being, evacuated 434 friendly natives to the west side of Puget Sound (at his own expense and with the assistance of his wife).

To some extent, the settlers had organized for their defense as volunteers under a Captain Hewett. However, this company of volunteers had disbanded and re-formed several times over the months leading up to the battle.

On the evening of January 22, with Decatur having taken a commanding position, the militia leaders declared that "they would not serve longer while there was a ship in port to protect them". Phelps writes that "a more reckless, undisciplined set of men has seldom been let loose to prey upon any community than these eighty embryo soldiers upon Seattle… after much rough argument about thirty of their number became partially convinced that their individual safety depended upon unity of action under a competent leader, and they finally consented to form a company, provided Mr. Peixotto would consent to serve as captain. That gentleman accepted the honor…"

Emily Denny mentions the company as being captained by Hewitt and including William Gilliam as 1st Lieutenant, D.T. Denny as Corporal, and Robert Olliver as Sergeant. Phelps names both Hewitt and Peixotto as captains.

Phelps lists the hostile natives as including the "Kliktat" (Klickitat and Spokane), "Palouse" (Palus), Walla-Walla, "Yakami" (Yakama), Kamialk, Nisqually, Puyallup, "Lake" (Duwamish-related, living near Lake Washington), "and other tribes, estimated at six thousand warriors, marshaled under the three generals-in-chief Coquilton, Owhi, and Lushi, assisted by many subordinate chiefs."

They had failed to recruit warriors from any of the several tribes or nations from the Olympic Peninsula, nor did they succeed in winning the Snoqualmie over to their cause. Although the Snoqualmie chief Patkanim was strongly opposed to the European-American settlers, he allied with them in this war.

Two hostile chiefs—Phelps says Owhi and Lushi (presumably, Leschi), other sources say Owhi and Coquilton—disguised themselves as friendly Indians and reconnoitered the situation the night before the battle.

Phelps describes this in some detail: he was the sentry whom they tricked with a plausible story.

According to Phelps' account, at least two native chiefs were playing a double game. Curley Jim had been considered friendly enough by the settlers to be allowed to remain within their encampment; conversely, his nephew Yark-eke-e-man had been considered one of the hostile force.

According to Phelps, the nephew intended to betray the native attack. Curley Jim left the settlement in the company of his visitors, and they parleyed around midnight at the lodge of a chief named Tecumseh; Yark-eke-e-man and several "chiefs of lesser note" were also present.

They set out a plan to kill all of the settlers and U.S. military; Curley requested that his friend Henry Yesler be allowed to live, but accepted being overruled in the matter.

They resolved to attack in a few hours, around 2 a.m.; Phelps wrote that that plan would have succeeded, since no defender was planning for a pre-dawn assault. But Yark-eke-e-man convinced the raiders to try a mid-morning attack, using a small decoy force to draw the Decatur's men out of the well-defended areas to do battle on First Hill.

There are no reliable estimates of the size of the attacking force. Isaac Stevens (who was not present), wrote to Washington that settlers estimated that 200 to 500 Indians had taken the field against them. Phelps put the number of enemy at 2,000, but (write Crowley and Wilma) "frontier military officers often inflated the number of opposing forces to reinforce their accomplishments (or to minimize their failures)."

Community college historian Murray Morgan writes that early "reports seem to have multiplied by ten the actual numbers. There could not have been more than one hundred and fifty."

Many settlers resided on scattered claims divided by thick forest, because to establish a land claim, settlers had to live on it. Some settlers doubted that the Indians would attack, and had to run for the blockhouse on the morning of the battle.

The first fatality of the engagement was Jack Drew, a deserter from Decatur killed in friendly fire. When he attempted to enter a cabin through a window, he was shot dead by fifteen-year-old Milton Holgate.

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.

Because the natives' only common language was Chinook jargon, a trade language that many of the white settlers also spoke, the settlers were able to hear and understand the attackers' shouted orders "and revealed many incidents of the battle they were anxious to conceal."

An Indian known as "Jim", a relative of Curley's who died a few months later in a hunting accident, evaded Curley's vigilance and warned Dr. Williamson of the impending attack.

Williamson sent a messenger to Yesler, who informed Gansevoort, and Decatur's troops abandoned their breakfast and returned to the positions they had held by night. 52 women and children found refuge on board Decatur, and others on board the barque Brontes. The non-combatants of the friendly tribes took to their canoes to get out of the way.

Curley's sister (and Yark-eke-e-man's mother) Li-cu-mu-low ("Nancy"), whom Phelps describes as "short, stout, and incapable of running," warned as she headed for her canoe that the Kliktat were gathered around Tom Pepper's house, which was in the forest, near the crest of First Hill.

Decatur fired off a howitzer shell in that direction, the first shot of the battle. Phelps and a few others had been trying unsuccessfully to rouse the volunteers from their torpor. At the sound of the howitzer shell, they rushed as one for the blockhouse. There "Sergeant Carbine several times charged them out of one door, to return as often by the other, till, wearying of the trouble, he left them to cower behind the wooden bulwarks, protected from the bullets of the foe."

The third division, contrary to orders, charged up the trail that led towards the lake. This charge met with success, as they pushed the attackers back without taking any casualties themselves. Klakum held a position behind a tree, and shot at Peixotto standing on the block-house steps, but missed and killed a boy, Milton G. Holgate, who was standing a few steps higher. It was the second death of a European American caused by another white.

On the south end, settlers on the peninsula faced off against natives on the mainland with a slough dividing them. Phelps describes "the incessant rattle of small-arms, and an uninterrupted whistling of bullets, mingled with the furious yells of the Indians," but there were few casualties.

A settler was killed when he ducked from behind a stump to get some drinking water;Clarence Bagley, quoting William Bell two days after the event, says the casualty was Christian White; Phelps, writing 17 years later, says it was Robert Wilson.

Hans Carl, an invalided sailor on Decatur, died shortly thereafter, but for reasons unrelated to the battle.

Aftermath

News of the attack spread rapidly. By 4 p.m. it was known in Bellingham. At noon the day after the battle, Active steamed into Elliott Bay, Governor Stevens aboard. Stevens was, in Phelps's words, "at last compelled to acknowledge the presence of hostile Indians in the Territory." Active headed south in the direction of Steilacoom, which seemed the most likely next target of an attack, dropping the governor at Olympia, the capital, on the way.

Yark-eke-e-man reported that the hostile chiefs were ill-provisioned. Confident of victory, they expected to provision themselves from the settlers' supplies. They spent the next several weeks scouring the land for food.

Two days after the battle, Coquilton threatened, through a messenger, "that within one moon he would return with twenty thousand warriors, and, attacking by land and water, destroy the place in spite of all the war-ship could do to prevent."

The threat was taken seriously, and leaders decided to improve Seattle's defenses. Henry Yesler volunteered ship's cargo of house lumber, and on February 1 Decatur's divisions began a two-week project to erect a defensive palisade: two fences five feet high, placed eighteen inches apart, and filled in with well-tamped earth, 1,200 yards (1,100 m) long, and enclosing a large portion of the town.

A second block-house was also erected, and an old ship's cannon, plus a 6-pounder field-piece borrowed from Active, were to serve as its artillery.

Trees and undergrowth were removed (variously attacked with levers, axes, and shovels, or burned in place) to provide an esplanade and enable Decatur's howitzer to sweep the shores.

Much brush was also cleared from the town's inland edges, to reduce the cover for future attacks. On February 24, USS Massachusetts arrived and on March 28 USS John Hancock.

The fortified town did not have to face a second battle. Defeat in the Battle of Seattle had discouraged the hostile natives, and they did not again amass a comparable force.

Furthermore, Governor Stevens had convinced Patkanim and his men to take on the role of bounty hunters, paying them handsomely for collecting the scalps of leaders of the hostile tribes.

Morgan does not describe the battle as a victory for the Americans.

Rather, he writes that "both sides were dismayed, the whites by the realization that the enemy really would attack a town, the Indians by their first experience with exploding shells rather than cannonballs."

Also by Stevens's order, a court-martial was convened at Seattle on May 15 for the trial of Klakum and twenty other Indians. The military officers acquitted them, deeming their actions as having been legitimate warfare against recognized combatants, not criminal acts. They were released after a declaration of peace. It was certainly not the end of violence between settlers and natives in the region, but it was the end of outright war.

Nine days after the battle, Chief Leschi and Chief Kitsap, along with a group of 17 Indians, appeared at the home of John McLeod near the Nisqually River.

McLeod was a former employee of the Hudson's Bay Company, had a Nisqually wife, and was trusted by the hostile Indians.

Leschi said that neither he nor his band had taken part in the attack on Seattle, and he thought the attack had been foolish. Leschi asked for John Swan, another trusted white man, to visit Leschi's camp on the Green River for a peace conference.[9] When Swan did visit Leschi's camp a few days later, he counted about 150 warriors, or men of fighting age. Nearly all were from west of the Cascades, with only 10–20 from the east.

Casualties

Jack Drew, a deserter from the Decatur, was shot and killed by young Milton Holgate, a settler's son, when he tried to enter the latter's cabin.

Holgate was killed by friendly fire, and another settler died in the battle: Christian White or Robert Wilson (see above). One sailor, Hans Carl, died later of causes unrelated to the battle.

Phelps characterizes the low casualties as "incredible" and "miraculous", given that "one hundred and sixty men were for seven hours exposed to an almost uninterrupted storm of bullets".

The casualties on the native side are unknown. Phelps claimed personally to have seen ten men die from one shell. He said that the natives later admitted to 28 dead and 80 wounded, but said that the native women "secret[ed] the dead beyond all chance of discovery." No Indian bodies were found on the battlefield.

According to Seattle lore, decades after the battle, Seattle's future fire chief Gardner Kellogg was excavating his house and found a shell from Decatur that had buried itself without exploding.

He stuck it under a stump that he was trying to burn out and went off to lunch. Dexter Horton stopped by to warm the seat of his pants at the fire, and as it exploded, nearly became the last casualty of the battle of Seattle.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Seattle_(1856)

Balnuaran of Clava with one edit of highlight to show the path of the Solstice illumination seen in several photographic forms 5 of 8 by PHH Sykes

The passage way at the South Western Cairn at Balnuaran of Clava is focused on the sky. Many chambered cairns are aligned either with the position of the Sun, Moon, or the planet Venus. The Sun and Moon alignments bring about a living calendar to any aligned chambered cairn. Such alignments are more easily recorded without the cairns. The Sun and Moon alignment seems set into the stone structures for the use of the cairns beyond clocks and calendars to generate the identity of the structure in the design. These impressive monumental communal structures were open and visited by their constructors for several hundreds of years. Later they were filled in possibly when a new way of worship and reverence was found and so the old sacred sites were closed. The cairns in their large size seem set to hold great importance for many people and yet their small passages and chambers are only available for either small groups, or individuals. The light from the Solstice Sun gives a direct beam along the passage and into the chamber at the day chosen with the Summer longest day and Winter shortest day having positions on the horizon at dawn and at sunset available for the builders to set their structure around. Those that took part in interior ceremony could be experiencing a rite of passage and from their inner seclusion they could be greeted by the Sun entering in at a significant moment and then by all that were gathered around the large monuments as the adorants came back to the community after their isolation.

I remember from a few decades ago the stones at the rear of the chamber being brought to life by the Sun when it shone straight along the passage. This light dancing on a stone with either quartz, or granite in could be the first light for the adorant to see after days of fasting, maybe of eating ceremonial food and of intense meditation so that the light in the stone shone to show life in the bone of the land the stone that would be the collection place for the cleaned bones of the dead as markers of belonging and signs of knowing all returning to the glowering Sun, to the finding of the murmuring of the Moon and to the awakening to the stellar shimmering the stars.

The highlighted section of the chamber could be the projection screen of the tomb. After a period of darkness in the chamber the light returning through projection focused along the passage would dance on the projection screen stones and with a tone from the human voice the dust in the passage could be seen to move in and out of waves and lozenge shapes forming transient structures in the moving dust and light. The light held such delicate structures possible only for a short while along the alignment at either dawn, or sunset and the shapes would slow and cease as the light source moved away from the direct alignment in matter of minutes. These waves and lozenge shapes are were carved into the stones of some chambered cairns leaving a record in the stone on the bone of the land a presentation hammered into the stone that was home to the ancestors and the shaping of the returning regenerating medium that as it wore down gave vital nutrients to the next new growth that through roots and shoots, seeds and flowers would break down the stones into sparkling sands and grits echoing the steady progressions and predictable processions of the lights of the camp fires shining out with hope and potential in the sky above.

phhsykes@gmail.com

Clava Cairns Near Inverness, IV2 5EU

www.historicenvironment.scot/visit-a-place/places/clava-c...

A Visitors’ Guide to Balnuaran of Clava a prehistoric cemetery

www.archhighland.org.uk/userfiles/file/Sites/Historic%20S...

Balnuaran Of Clava, South-west

canmore.org.uk/site/14279/balnuaran-of-clava-south-west

Highland Historic Environment Record

Clàr Àrainneachd Eachdraidheil na Gàidhealtachd

her.highland.gov.uk/monument/MHG3002

Happier Times at Summerhill by Jerry Jordak

Back when position-light signals still stood along the NS Pittsburgh Line, a westbound coal train with the Valley Girl fourth out passes through Summerhill on a beautiful spring afternoon.

Different Position – Sir you are now a women 44 by rossin swift

Different Position – Sir you are now a women 44

sissy.silicone-breast.com/2017/01/18/different-position-s...

s29.postimg.org/d66sdhak7/page169.jpg

Notice : Releasing this comic on every Monday to Thursday

Green - Tendril by t_buchtele

85 55

Explore - Jul 14, 2007 (Highest position: 25 on Tuesday, July 17, 2007)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tendril

Small artillery position by owen lee

6 4

The Last Shine || SCARBOROUGH {{EXPLORED}} by Rhys Pope

14 23

Highest position on explore #43

Facebook:

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Twitter:

twitter.com/#!/rhyspope

This is taken up the road from my Mums house in Scarborough, QLD...

Scarborough is a residential suburb of the Moreton Bay Region at the northernmost of the Redcliffe Peninsula, approximately 30 kilometres (19 mi) north-northeast of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. Officially established on 27 March 1971, the suburb used to act as a gateway to Moreton Island via the Combie Trader barge, but this service was recently sold.

December will be magic (A Christmas tale) - (Published by GETTY IMAGES) by DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 45.333+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.

***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on Sunday 26th December 2021

CREATIVE RF gty.im/1360475583 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**

This photograph became my 5,885th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

It's Christmas eve, Friday December 24th 2021 and the weather is a sombre grey with a touch of rain in the air, much the norm for Christmas in the UK for as many years as I can remember.

Photograph taken at an altitude of One hundred and three metres at 12:29pm on Wednesday December 22nd 2021 off Church Lane close to Bay Pond in the heart of Godstone, a village and civil parish in the county of Surrey in England.

Local school children had hand painted Christmas decorations and placed them in the trees and on fence panels and hanging branches in the lane leading beside Bay Pond and onwards to St Nicholas Church and St Mary's Chapel. A lovely festive sight on a cold winter afternoon in Godstone.

Nikon D850 Focal length 170mm Shutter speed: 1/50s Aperture f/13.0 iso640 Hand held with Tamron VC Vibration control set to ON in position 1 Image area FX (36 x 24) NEF RAW Size L (8256 x 5504) 14 bit uncompressed file AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. Focus mode: AF-C AF-Area mode: 3D -Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points Exposure mode: Manual exposure mode Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance on: Auto1, 0, 0 (4750K) Colour space: Adobe RGB Picture control: (NL) Neutral (Sharpening +2) Active D-Lighting: Low

Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 95mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Black Rapid Curve Breathe strap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.

LATITUDE: N 51d 14m 48.78s

LONGITUDE: E 0d 3m 46.33s

ALTITUDE: 103.0m

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE: 94.6MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 50.30MB

PROCESSING POWER:

Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

Assume the Position! by courtc15

37 1

Moving Between Positions by The Brick Engineer

Praktina IIa and Praktisix by Johannes Hromadka

15 2

2 sisters side by side.

Both with waist level finder ind shooting position and some lenses from Carl Zeiss Jena.

LONDON, LONDRES / Camden Town (17/01/2016) by Saúl Tuñón Loureda

16 20

twitter.com/Woody_Twitt

www.facebook.com/stloureda

Camden Town es un barrio londinense situado en el municipio de Camden. Es famoso por albergar uno de los mercados callejeros más variados y extravagantes de todo Londres. El barrio está localizado a 3,7 km al noroeste de Charing Cross. El área recibe cada fin de semana oleadas de turistas de todos los rincones del mundo y es un centro de modos de vida alternativos. Camden Town es vista como la capital del rock alternativo del Reino Unido

Atracciones

El Regent's Canal discurre a través del norte de Camden Town, su recorrido que pasa a través del Zoo de Londres es un bonito y popular paseo en verano. Los viajes en bote sobre el canal, desde Camden Lock son también interesantes. Uno de los canales-puentes más famosos es Macclesfield Bridge, es conocido como "Blow-up Bridge", fue el lugar de Londres con la explosión más grande pre-bélica, donde una carga con dinamita explotó en 1874.

Camden Lock es un doble canal tradicional operando entre niveles separados. Un gran complejo de calles ha brotado desde la década de los 70.

No muy lejos se encuentra Regent's Park, un gran y pacífico parque el cual era el parque de caza de Enrique VIII. Hay espectaculares jardines de rosas brotando en primavera, un lago, con patos siempre hambrientos, y lugar de juegos para muchos niños. Hay una gran cantidad de ardillas en otoño. London Zoo se encuentra al norte del parque.

The Roundhouse es un raíl construido en 1847 por el London and Birmingham Railway. Tiene varios usos y se reabrió como recinto para espectáculos escénicos en 1960. Desde el 2006 es mayoritariamente usado como teatro.

Hay muchas tiendas, bares restarurantes y cafés. El área del sur de la estación del metro es la típica calle de Londres, hacia el norte encontramos los mercados y atracciones típicas del lugar. Hay varias escuelas de inglés en el área. En este barrio londinense fue donde murió Amy Winehouse.

El "Black Cap" pub de Camden High Street tiene licencia nocturna. Tiene como destino principal los hombres y mujeres homosexuales. A menudo confundido con el ficticio "Mother Black Cap" aparecido en la película inglesa de culto "Withnail and I", el nombre "Mother Black Cap" es una contracción de "The Black Cap" y el anterior "The Mother Red Cap", situado cerca y hoy en día conocido como "Worlds End" (ver abajo). Es el pub usado para rodar el exterior del "Mother Black Cap" en la película está en Nothing Hill, London W11, y que recientemente ha cambiado su nombre a "The Mother Black Cap" para reflejar su fama.)

"The World's End" es un pub desde 1778. Conocido inicialmente como "The Mother Red Cap" y después "The Red Cap",está en Camden Road cerca de la estación de metro de Camden Town.

"The Underworld" es un alojamiento de música en directo con capacidad para 500 personas, ubicado debajo de The World's End.

"Koko's", Formalmente llamado "The Camden Palace", es el lugar más grande para oír y bailar rock en Camden High Street cerca de la estación de metro Mornington Crescent tube station. Está junto al famoso Goon Show, y en 2006 se grabó el Channel 4's Album Chart Show.

"The Edinboro Castle", es un gastropub con una terraza en verano; pegado a la residencia de Dylan Thomas.

The Hawley Arms, junto al puente de Camden Lock.

"The Dublin Castle" es un pub Irlandés y alojamiento musical, y ha acogido a Blur, Travis y Madness, entre otras bandas.

"The Lock Tavern", un pub en el lado contrario de the Camden Lock market con dos bares, terraza y jardín.

"The Oh!" Bar en la esquina de Camden High Street y Delancey Street tiene desde 2006 wireless gratis para usuarios con ordenadores portátiles.

"The Camden Tup"

"The Purple Turtle", pequeña avenida musical cerca de Mornington Crescent

"Electric Ballroom", club nocturno de música en directo y otros espectáculos incluyendo performances de AFI y Sick of it All

"Quinns" es un Pub Irlandés en the Kentish Town Road, ofrece una amplia gama de cervezas de todos los estilos.

"The Devonshire Arms", pub gótico, comúnmente conocido como "The Dev"

"The Ice Wharf", a Lloyds No1 Bar.

"Lock 17"

"The Camden Barfly", música en directo.

"The Good Mixer", famoso pub localizado en Inverness Street. Lugar habitual de integrantes de grupos de Britpop, especialmente Graham Coxon de Blur, Noel y Liam Gallagher de Oasis.

"The New Goodfare" es un simple restaurante/cafe que ha estado en la esquina de Parkway and Arlington Road durante muchos años.

Una gran y continuamente cambiante aglomeración de restaurantes de fast food y cafés, tanto cadenas (KFC, McDonalds, Burger King, Wagamama, Subway) como independientes.

Hay muchos puestos en los mercados vendiendo muchos tipos de comidas de diferentes nacionalidades, sobre todo en el área del Stables Market. Muchos puestos venden la comida que les sobra al final del día a mitad de precio, desde las 18:00 hasta las 19:00.

Cyberdog, esta tienda de estética cyberpunk tiene dos plantas dedicadas al comercio de todo tipo de ropa, complementos fosforescentes y juguetes eróticos con un ambiente radical, lleno de luces y flashes, música a volumen de discoteca (hay djs pinchando Trance Psicodélico en directo) y gogós bailando hacen de esta tienda una de las más llamativas, originales y extravagantes, de Camden.

es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camden_Town

Camden Town, often shortened to Camden (ambiguously also used for the much larger London Borough of Camden of which it is the central neighbourhood), is an inner city district of London,[2] 2.4 miles (3.9 km) north of the centre of London. It is one of the 35 major centres identified in the London Plan.[3]

Laid out as a residential district from 1791 and originally part of the manor of Kentish Town and the parish of St Pancras, London, Camden Town became an important location during the early development of the railways, which reinforced its position on the London canal network. The area's industrial economic base has been replaced by service industries such as retail, tourism and entertainment. The area now hosts street markets and music venues which are strongly associated with alternative culture.

Camden is well known for its markets. These date from the 1970s or later, except for Inverness Street market, for over a century a small food market serving the local community,[12] though by 2013 all foodstuff and produce stalls had gone, leaving only touristy stalls. Camden Lock market proper started in a former timber-yard in 1973, and is now surrounded by five more markets: Buck Street market, Stables market, Camden Lock village, and an indoor market in the Electric Ballroom. The markets are a major tourist attraction at weekends, selling goods of all types, including fashion, lifestyle, books, food, junk/antiques and more bizarre items; they and the surrounding shops are popular with young people, in particular those searching for "alternative" clothing.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camden_Town

New milk position by We Love Harlow

AASE Madsen - Fraserburgh Harbour Scotland - 19/4/2018 by DanoAberdeen

I had a few hours walking through Fraserburgh Harbour capturing as many vessels as I could on 19th April 2018, its a fine busy harbour and when the sun shines you can capture the trawlers etc at their best .

Fraserburgh Harbour is situated in Aberdeenshire in the North East corner of Scotland and is ideally positioned for the fishing grounds of the North and East of Scotland, as well as being in close proximity to the North Sea oil and gas fields and the emerging offshore renewables market. The location also makes it well placed for trade with Scandinavia and the Baltic sea ports.

Google and Wiki have the folowing info on this fine town.

Fraserburgh (/ˈfreɪzərbrə/; Scots: The Broch or Faithlie, Scottish Gaelic: A' Bhruaich) is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland with a population recorded in the 2001 Census at 12,454 and estimated at 12,630 in 2006.

It lies at the far northeast corner of Aberdeenshire, about 40 miles (64 km) north of Aberdeen, and 17 miles (27 km) north of Peterhead. It is the biggest shellfish port in Europe, landing over 12,000 tonnes in 2008, and is also a major white fish port and busy commercial harbour.

History

The name of the town means, literally, 'burgh of Fraser', after the Fraser family that bought the lands of Philorth in 1504 and thereafter brought about major improvement due to investment over the next century. Fraserburgh became a burgh of barony in 1546. By 1570, the Fraser family had built a castle (Fraserburgh Castle) at Kinnaird's Head and within a year the area church was built. By the 1590s the area known as Faithlie was developing a small harbour.

In 1592, Faithlie was renamed Fraserburgh by a charter of the Crown under King James VI. Sir Alexander Fraser was given permission to improve and govern the town as Lord Saltoun. At present this title is still in existence and is held by Flora Fraser, 20th Lady Saltoun and head of Clan Fraser. The Royal Charter also gave permission to build a college and university in Fraserburgh allowing the Lord Saltoun to appoint a rector, a principal, a sub-principal, and all the professors for teaching the different sciences.

A grant from the Scottish Parliament in 1595 allowed the first college building to be erected by Alexander Fraser, and in 1597 the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland recommended the Rev. Charles Ferme, then minister at the Old Parish, to be its first (and only) principal.

In 1601, Fraserburgh became a burgh of regality. The college, however, closed only a decade or so after Ferme's arrest on the orders of James VI for taking part in the 1605 General Assembly, being used again only for a short time in 1647 when King's College, Aberdeen temporarily relocated owing to an outbreak of plague. A plaque commemorating its existence may be seen on the exterior wall of the remains of the Alexandra Hotel in College Bounds.

Fraserburgh thereafter remained relatively quiet until 1787 when Fraserburgh Castle was converted to Kinnaird Head Lighthouse, Scotland's first mainland lighthouse. In 1803, the original 1571 church building was replaced and enlarged to seat 1000 people. The Auld Kirk was to be the standing authority in the town up until the 1840s.

The Statistical Account on the Parish of Fraserburgh, written between 1791–1799 (probably 1791) by Rev. Alexander Simpson of the Old Parish Church, shows that the population of Fraserburgh was growing with peaks due to seasonal employment. He records a population of about 2000 in 1780 of whom only 1000 resided in the town.

There was an additional population of 200 in the village of Broadsea. He makes a point of the arrival of Dr. Webster in Fraserburgh in 1755 claiming that the population then only stood at 1682. By the time the account was written the population had increased by 518 souls since 1755. Rev. Simpson also gives accounts of deaths, births and marriages. Between 1784-1791, he claims to have an average of 37 baptisms, 14 marriages and 19 deaths per year. The statistical account mentions activities with the harbour. He describes the harbour as small but good, telling that it had the capability to take vessels with '200 tons burden' at the time the account was written.

The account also mentions that Fraserburgh had tried and succeeded in shipbuilding especially after 1784. His account finishes speaking of a proposed enlargement of the harbour. He claims that the local people would willingly donate what they could afford but only if additional funding was provided by the Government and Royal Burghs.

The second statistical account, written as a follow up to the first of the 1790s, was written in January 1840 by Rev. John Cumming. He records population in 1791 as 2215 growing to only 2271 by 1811, but increasing massively to 2954 by 1831. He considered the herring fishing, which intensified in 1815, to be the most important reason for this population boom. By 1840 he writes that seamen were marrying early with 86 marriages and 60 births in the parish in the space of one year. On top of this increased population, he explains that the herring season seen an additional 1200 people working in the Parish. There is also mention of the prosperity of this trade bringing about an increase in general wealth with a change in both dress and diet. Cumming also records 37 illegitimate children from 1837–1840 although he keeps no record of death.

The prosperity of the economy also brought about improvement within the town with a considerable amount of new houses being built in the town. The people were gaining from the herring industry as in real terms rent fell by 6% from 1815 to 1840. Lord Saltoun was described as the predominant land owner earning £2266,13s,4d in rents.

This period also saw the extension of the harbour with a northern pier of 300 yards built between 1807–1812 and, in 1818, a southern pier built by Act of Parliament. Cumming states that no less than £30,000 was spent developing the harbour between 1807 and 1840 by which time the harbour held eight vessels of 45–155 tons and 220 boats of the herring fishery.

A railway station opened in 1865 and trains operated to Aberdeen via Maud and Dyce, as well as a short branch line to St. Combs. It was, however, closed to passengers in 1965 as part of the Beeching cuts, though freight trains continued to operate until 1979, after which the station site was redeveloped. Currently, the closest operating station is Inverurie, 56 km (35 miles) away.

Climate[

Fraserburgh has a marine climate heavily influenced by its proximity to the sea. As such summer highs and winter lows are heavily moderated, with very mild winter temperatures for a location so far north. The differences between seasons are very narrow as a result, with February averaging highs of 6.7 °C (44.1 °F) and August 17.2 °C (63.0 °F).[6] As a result of its marine influence, there is significant seasonal lag, with September being milder than June and October has slightly milder nights than May, in spite of a massive difference of daylight. The climate is overcast and wet with 1351.8 hours of sunshine. Temperature extremes have ranged from 26.6.C (July 1995) down to -14.4.C (February 1991) 747.7 millimetres (29.44 in) of precipitation per annum.

St Lukes & All Saints Church, Darrington, Pontefract by I Itsmee (Dave)

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St Luke’s & All Saints Church in Darrington has a history shaped by its position on old routes between Pontefract, Doncaster, and the Great North Road. The earliest fabric of the building dates to the 12th century, placing its origins firmly in the Norman period, when many small rural churches were first established across Yorkshire. The simple, sturdy stonework of the nave and chancel reflects this early phase, and later surveys have noted traces of Romanesque detailing that hint at its medieval beginnings.

Through the 13th and 14th centuries, the church grew in step with the village. The dedication to both St Luke and All Saints suggests a long, layered devotional history, possibly reflecting changes in patronage or local tradition. Medieval parish life centred on this building, and several early gravestones and cross fragments found in the churchyard point to continuous use over many generations.

The Victorian restoration—a common story across rural England reshaped the interior with new seating, windows, and fittings, but the work was sympathetic, preserving the church’s modest scale and its medieval core. By the late 19th century, St Luke’s & All Saints had taken on much of the appearance it holds today: a small, well‑kept parish church serving a farming community.

What endures is its sense of continuity. The church has never been grand, but it has always been central—quietly marking baptisms, marriages, harvests, and farewells for more than eight centuries.

the position by richard LEROY

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