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You may have heard of dual wielding, and you may have even heard of quadruple wielding...

But have you ever heard of sextuple wielding?

  

"What is the practicality of this?"

"ABSOLUTELY NOTHING"

The Earth Series # 2*

 

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The earth can represent solidity, stability, practicality, fertility and a sense of being "grounded" or "having both feet on the ground." It symbolizes the physical body and the physical world, as opposed to the world of ideas or the world of the spirit. The area beneath the surface of the earth represents the unconscious. The entire earth seen as a globe can indicate wholeness, the mother principle ("mother earth"), and "global consciousness."

(Ref: Dream Encyclopedia)

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Despite all their faults, when British Leyland got it right, they really got it right!

 

When it comes to Four-Wheel-Drives with the go-anywhere, do-anything abilities of a tank, and the luxury and comfort of a high end saloon, this truly is genesis. The Range Rover was really the first SUV to take cars like these out of the mud, and put them into SW1.

 

Development of the Range Rover dated back to the early 1950's, when the emergence of 4x4's that weren't simply glorified Willys Jeeps such as the original Land Rover's began to come into being, starting the subclass known as the Sports Utility Vehicle or SUV. The first cars to attempt the crossing of the practicality of a Jeep with the comforts of a conventional car were really the Jeep Wagoneer and the Ford Bronco.

 

But in 1970, years of development came to a head in British Leyland's release of the Range Rover. In its original guise, the Range Rover was more capable off-road than the Land Rover but was much more comfortable, offering a top speed in excess of 100mph, a towing capacity of 3.5 tons, spacious accommodation for five people and groundbreaking features such as a four-speed, dual-range, permanent four-wheel-drive gearbox and hydraulic disc brakes on all wheels.

 

Additionally, the car was powered by Rover's Buick-derived V8 engine which had been fitted previously into the Rover P5 and P6. This strong, reliable and endlessly tunable engine meant these cars could run forever, and with this British Leyland truly had a winner.

 

Since then hundreds of thousands of Range Rovers have been sold globally, both in this original 'Classic' version as well as the updated P38 and Sport designs of the 2000's. But it was this original Range Rover that perfected the formula, and since then pretty much every SUV has copied the formula to give the customer an all-terrain vehicle with that luxury edge.

BUYER'S GUIDE

 

REAL GRAND TOURING:

ITALY TO ENGLAND IN A MASERATI LEVANTE

 

July 11, 2017

 

As we headed deep into the Jura Mountains through Switzerland into the heart of France, I wondered what Adolfo Orsi would have made of the Maserati Levante. The Maserati brothers—Alfieri, Bindo, Carlo, Ettore, and Ernesto—of course founded the automaker that bears their name. But it was self-made industrialist and machine tool magnate Orsi, after buying the company from the brothers in 1937 and moving it from Bologna to Modena, who in 1957 launched its first volume-produced gran turismo, the 3500 GT. Orsi loved racing cars. He loved big, fast, elegant road cars. Could he imagine an SUV wearing the iconic trident badge?

 

Orsi would have understood the economics of the Levante. The SUV with a premium badge is a business strategy that’s proven hugely successful for Porsche, which uses profits from the Cayenne and Macan SUVs to fund ongoing development of its sports cars. Premium brands from Bentley to Jaguar to Lamborghini to Rolls-Royce are now following the Porsche model and jumping on the SUV bandwagon; there are even rumors Ferrari is working on an SUV based on next-generation GTC4Lusso hardware.

 

The 3500 GT didn’t stop Maserati from skidding into financial crisis in 1958 after a $3 million deal to supply machine tools to Argentina fell apart with the ousting of dictator Juan Perón. But almost 60 years later, in a world where demand for big GTs is finite and buyers are turning away from sedans, no matter how exotic the badge, the newly launched Levante is already doing the heavy lifting at Maserati, accounting for 38 percent of sales in the U.S. for the first six months of this year. It’s on track to become the company’s best-selling model worldwide. But is it good enough to secure Maserati’s future?

 

To find out, we start in Modena, where Maserati, operating out of a modern glass-curtained structure in front of the factory built by Orsi in the late 1930s, still calls home. This is where the GranTurismo and GranCabrio—both mildly tweaked for the 2018 model year with a new grille and front fascia, an upgraded interior that includes a new infotainment system, and the adoption of the 456-hp and 384-lb-ft version of the 4.7-liter V-8 as standard—are still assembled. After a perfunctory introduction to the Levante, we head out of the courtyard and into the Modena morning traffic. Our first stop is 180 miles to the west, at the Mirafiori factory in Turin, where Maserati’s SUV is made.

 

The E35 autostrada running past Modena is busy and littered with speed cameras, so we run at no more than 85–90 mph, slowing to 80 as we go under the camera gantries. It’s quieter with fewer cameras after we turn onto the E70 toward Turin, and we pick up the pace. The Levante cruises effortlessly at 100 mph, the 424-hp 3.0-liter twin-turbo V-6 under the hood of our S-spec version turning a relaxed 2,400 rpm. It’s a deceptively potent powerplant, this engine, building speed with an elastic surge rather than a sledgehammer shove. At one point the big Maserati is loafing along at an indicated 140 mph.

 

Orsi, whose best Maserati road cars effortlessly ate up highway miles at triple-digit speeds, would have approved.

 

He would have approved, too, of the fact the Levante is made in Italy. That wasn’t the original plan: The Kubang concept that previewed the Levante in 2011 (itself a rework of a 2003 Maserati SUV concept also called Kubang designed by Giugiaro) was originally intended to be based on Jeep Grand Cherokee hardware and built in the U.S. The idea made sense to FCA boss Sergio Marchionne, a razor-sharp financial engineer with little time for the sentimental side of the auto biz. But common sense—and a labor deal with workers in Turin—prevailed, and Levante production was switched to the giant Fiat Mirafiori plant. The Jeep hardware idea went away, too: The Levante rolls on a modified version of the platform that underpins the Quattroporte and Ghibli sedans.

 

Mirafiori is a steel and concrete metaphor for the decline of Fiat as a major automaker. Construction of the factory was started in 1937 to replace the quirky plant a few miles away at Lingotto, where the production line spiraled slowly upward from the ground floor, with completed cars being tested on a rooftop track. That scene in the movie The Italian Job where the three Minis are chased around what looks like a banked NASCAR oval someone built six stories up? Filmed on the roof at Lingotto.

 

In its pomp Mirafiori was the largest industrial complex in Italy and one of the largest auto factories ever built. Sprawling across almost 1,000 acres, with 25 miles of production lines, at its peak it employed 50,000 workers and could build 5,000 cars a day. This year it will build less than one-twentieth that number. Large swathes of Mirafiori are quietly rusting and crumbling, but the area of the plant that’s been refurbished to build the Levante, adjacent to the line for the slow-selling Alfa Romeo MiTo compact, is bright, airy, and gleaming—the very model of a modern auto factory.

 

With 13 available exterior colors, 28 interior color combinations, three available engines—345-hp and 424-hp versions of the gasoline V-6, plus the 271-hp VM Motori 3.0-liter turbodiesel V-6—wheels ranging from 18 inches to 21 inches, and various market-specific pieces of hardware to meet regulations and customer preferences in places as diverse as Shanghai, Seattle, and San Marino, Maserati says it is possible to build 1,583,090,535,606 different variants of the Levante. With production currently pegged at 140 a day, it’s going to take them a long, long time. …

 

The St. Bernard Pass, north of Turin, near the top end of the Aosta Valley, is sports car country. The tarmac squirms and wiggles up and over the third-highest mountain pass in Switzerland, placing a premium on grip and agility, power and torque. The Levante is no sports car, but it has 50/50 front to rear weight distribution and what Maserati claims is the lowest center of gravity in its class. As the road twists and turns, our S model, on the 20-inch wheel/tire combination, offers decent levels of front-end bite, and the mechanical rear differential, working in combination with the all-wheel-drive system that sends 100 percent of the torque to the rear axle until front wheel slip is detected, helps punch the big Maserati out of tight corners. With 428 lb-ft on tap from 1,750 rpm to 5,000 rpm, the twin-turbo V-6 makes impressively light work the Levante’s 4,650-pound heft.

 

If the Levante cost the same per pound as beluga caviar, it would be priced at almost $20 million. I only know this because our dinner in Geneva after the run down from the St. Bernard Pass, hosted by Caviar House & Prunier’s Jean-Pierre Esmilaire, featured some of the company’s finest beluga, straight from a 4-pound tin that apparently retails for about $17,000. That’s a lot of money for fish eggs, no matter how rare the fish or how tasty the eggs. A Levante S specified to a similar level as the one we’re driving would retail for about $95,000 in the U.S., or roughly five-and-a-half 4-pound tins of Caviar House & Prunier beluga. In that context, it’s a value. Back in the real world, it’s merely competitive, retailing Stateside for about the same money as a similarly configured Porsche Cayenne S.

 

Whether it’s caviar or cars, much of what makes a modern luxury brand is carefully managed scarcity combined with a compelling backstory. Maserati has the compelling backstory, starring legendary cars such as Bora, Khamsin, Kyalami and the original Ghibli, with supporting roles from Wilbur Shaw’s back-to-back wins in the 8CTF at the 1939 and 1940 Indy 500s, and a World Formula 1 Championship in 1957 with Juan-Manuel Fangio at the wheel of the glorious 250F, still one of the most beautiful front-engine racing cars ever built.

 

It should have the scarcity, too. Even with Levante in full production—right-hand-drive markets are only now just getting the gasoline engine versions, and a V-8 powered model is reportedly in the wings—company boss Reid Bigland says there is no plan to retail more than 75,000 Maseratis a year. We’ll see if that number holds. Sergio Marchionne certainly won’t back away from the opportunity to sell more high-margin Maseratis if sales of low-margin Fiats and Dodges stutter, and given the fact Porsche last year sold more than 237,000 vehicles worldwide, it would seem he has plenty of headroom to expand the Maserati brand’s footprint without compromising its exclusive image.

 

It comes as no surprise to learn Porsche’s Cayenne was the benchmark against which the Levante was developed, and as we switch back and forth between back roads and autoroutes through Switzerland and France, passing through the heart of Champagne country en route to Calais, there’s time to reflect on how close the Maserati team came to its target.

 

The Levante is an inch narrower than the Porsche, but it rolls on a 4-inch-longer wheelbase. That doesn’t quite translate into the interior room the raw numbers suggest, however, because the Maserati’s dash-to-axle is much more extravagant than the Porsche’s. The Levante doesn’t feel quite as big inside as you’d expect.

 

The Italian twin-turbo V-6 has near identical power and slightly more torque than its German counterpart, and it delivers both with a touch more brio. Both cars have eight-speed automatics with paddle shifters, and here the edge goes to the more maturely calibrated Cayenne transmission. In Sport mode the shifts in the Maserati thump home hard—simply, engineers admit, to impress customers who think that’s how a sports car should be. It’s unnecessary. So, too, is the overly melodramatic snarl from the exhaust.

 

Maserati opted to make air suspension standard across the Levante range, and it was the right call. It enables the ride height to be raised for off-road work and lowered for high-speed freeway running, with five different settings available across a 3.3-inch range. In Sport mode the primary ride is plusher than in the Cayenne, though with the 20-inch wheel/tire setup, the secondary ride can be jittery on broken surfaces. Normal mode ups the comfort level, but there’s more secondary body motion than in, say, a Range Rover Sport, and the diagonal and side-to-side pitching isn’t as well controlled. And although the steering is accurate, there’s not the feedback you want. It all adds up to a chassis that, though fundamentally precise and predictable, can leave the driver feeling oddly detached on occasion.

 

It’s best to drive the Levante like a gran turismo rather than try and hustle it like a sports car. Off the freeways I liked it with the engine and suspension in Normal mode and the transmission in manual, taking the time, as I did in the 3500 GT I once drove, to get the Levante slowed and settled and in the right gear before committing to corners, then clipping the apex and getting back on the gas nice and early. As with those big, old Maserati coupes, less haste equals more speed in the Levante.

 

En route to Calais and the train that will take us under the English Channel to Dover to begin the final leg of our journey to Goodwood and a weekend at the fabulous Festival of Speed, we make a brief stop in front of the eerily deserted pits and grandstands on either side of the busy D27 road, on what was once the start-finish straight of the old grand prix circuit just outside Reims. The first race on this fearsomely fast road course was held here in 1926, and Formula 1 cars raced here until 1966. A Maserati, driven by maestro Fangio, held the outright lap record in 1953.

 

We’ve had almost 900 miles of seat time in the Levante. That’s enough time to consider its strengths and weaknesses. There are things that can be—and need to be—fixed quickly, like the jittery secondary ride (I’d like to try a Levante on 19-inch rims and more compliant tires), the obtuse PRNDL shifter (a fundamental control interface should not be so difficult to use), and the bits and pieces in the interior that have been obviously lifted from the FCA parts bin. The infotainment system also has some strange quirks—the home screen, for example, features dozens of identically sized and colored icons that in our car seemed to change position from time to time for no apparent reason, making finding the function you wanted doubly difficult.

 

Melding the spirit of Maserati with the practicality of an SUV requires a fine balancing act, and for the most part the Levante pulls it off. It’s more than just a transfer of familiar brand iconography to an unfamiliar vehicle format; the Levante works as a Maserati because big, fast, luxurious SUVs have become the gran turismos of the 21st century, the vehicles you buy to take you and your luggage quickly and comfortably across continents, on all roads, in all weather conditions.

 

Adolfo Orsi can rest easy.

 

Article by Angus MacKenzie

 

Now amazing Capture One pro 10 is out, and for Sony users the express version is free.

The Capture One 9.4 before it was simply outstanding RAWC, much better than anything from Adobe or Raw Therapy.

 

Unfortunately, the free version of C1 does not handle Canon, Nikon or Olympus RAW, only Sony or DNG(Pentax and Leica).

 

So I guess It is another big reason for many of us to choose Sony over anything else. If you use Sony, you can get a full copy of Capture One pro 10 for just 50 USD.

AS far as I am concerned, this is an incredible deal, great Christmas gift for us from Phase One, the greatest company in Photography ever.

 

I think both Capture One 10 Pro and DXO 11 produce a bit better color than LR CC or LR6 for Sony, Canon,Olympus, or Nikon.

 

I suspect that Adobe programs are optimized for Canon but even for Canon CR2 files, LR6 and CC are not good enough, never produce the amazing amount details that Capture One 10 or DXO 11 does.

 

Seriously C Oen 10 pro for just 50 US is an amazing deal. nothing beats it for that price.

Capture One 10 is a much better more serious program than the LR crapware, and the biggest deal here is not need to deal with the Adobe subscription stuff. Many many Adobe users used the license and repaid it to re-activate it, it is really terribly unstable. I had one time could not use it when I was editing my images on site in a mountain area and they say my account is just trial although I paid it for full CC version.

So after coming back from the mountain, I decided to cancel all Adobe CC crap, and I just got Capture One express 8.32 for Sony free,then later in the same month (last April)I upgraded it to the pro version. I could not be happier.

Now, also DXO is offering me a copy FULL copy of DXO 11 Pro version for just 99 USD. I will get that too.

Honestly, there are still times we need Photoshop but I do have full copy of CS6, so I do not need CC anymore, and I've found life without Adobe CC crap is really much more relaxing and easier.

So in the long run, may Sony E mount be the most expensive system out side of the Leica SL and MFDBs arena?

 

Well it seems like that considering terribly expensive Sony service charge and repair price, and of course their lens prices.

 

As far as lenses are concerned, I can only compare the lenses that have been tested scientifically. Now please keep in mind that these tests were done with the A7R not version 2, but when Nikon introduces their higher resolution camera this will increase the final numbers for Nikon system as well, and Canon already have even higher resolution camera than both Nikon and Sony, but oddly enough DXO and most of others refuse to use the high resolution Canon body for testing their new gen lenses.

Sony 35 2.8, Nikon 35 1.8, Canon 35 2.0 tested with A7R, D810, 5DIII, oddly DXO refuses to test Canon lenses on the 5DS.

Anyway though,the Sony Costs $800, Nikon Costs $600, despite the Sony having less resolving power and a full stop slower than the Nikon. So we see how expensive Sony system actually is already here at the very first comparison below.

www.dxomark.com/Lenses/Compare/Side-by-side/Nikon-AF-S-NI...

To be fair to Sony, there is also the Loxia 35 mm f2,which I recently sold off for some new macro lens for my Olympus. The Loxia 35 is a fairly good lens but not an amazing lens, not exceptionally sharp, not extremely well corrected either. It has a bit of serious coma issue at f2 and on, though it is still a better lens than the Sony 35 mm f2.8 in the areas of center resolution and longitudinal CA and Vignetting. But the Loxia is worse than the Sony 35 mm f2.8 in some significant areas such as coma, edge/corner sharpness and focus accuracy at infinity.

So in Sony 35 mm Full frame world , there is no value 35 mm prime at all.

Now move on to value 28 mm primes: Sony 28 2.0, Nikon 28 1.8, Canon 28 2.8, they are close enough to say the difference is irrelevant in real life use.

www.dxomark.com/Lenses/Compare/Side-by-side/Sony-FE-28mm-...

 

So move on to 70-200 mm f4: Of Sony 70-200 f4, Nikon 70-200 f4, Canon 70-200 f4, the Sony again is the most expensive despite the Nikon having more resolving power if we are to trust DXO lens rating. I personally do not trust their lens tests although I trust their sensor tests and I think their sensor test results pretty much mirror my own findings quite often.

But in case of the 70-200 mm f4 lenses, many other sites like SLRgear, lenstip tested and came to the same or identical conclusion to the DXO comparison. I also tested them at my work place with my own copy of DXO analyzer and got the same results.

If I have to pick the winner here, I would pick the Nikon for its obviously better resolution at 200 mm f4 setting. But it is more complicated than just optical quality, since the latest generation body IS of Sony is much more effective than most of in-lens VR or IS I tested.

So, while the Nikon is a bit better lens optically, I doubt that in real life handheld photography we see the better resolving power of the Nikon. The Sony 70-200 mm f4 comes with an excellent tripod collar that would cost 120 US if we buy it separately. Canon and Nikon do not include a tripod collar in their respective 70-200 mm f4 shipping package.

So maybe, is the pricing of the Sony actually reasonable?

www.dxomark.com/Lenses/Compare/Side-by-side/Sony-FE-70-20...

 

Now move on to 35 mm f1.4 lenses comparison:Sony 35 1.4, Nikon 35 1.4. Interestingly in this test the Sony did a little better in resolution to the Nikon although its 22mm longer and 30 grams heavier than the Nikon and 26mm longer and 50 grams heavier than the Canon, so not so compact for a compact system any more.

What this fact tells us about is if you ask ultimate resolution in any current FF system, regardless of your camera body size, your lens must be big and heavy, thus your system won't be small or cheap or light at all.

 

www.dxomark.com/Lenses/Compare/Side-by-side/Sony-FE-Carl-...

But in case of this 35 mm f1.4, we have to consider the extremely bad copy to copy sample variation issue of the Sony. The biggest issue of the DXO and the other typical online lens test sites is that they test only one copy supplied by the company.

But there is a great man testing literally 10-100 of copies of each lens and reporting his results most of times.

www.lensrentals.com/blog/2015/10/sony-e-mount-lens-sharpn...

 

Personally, I take Roger's opinion much more seriously than any other lens test site's so-called review. I work at a mall which also sell cameras and I have tested many returned lenses before sending them back to the respective manufactures, we found that the copy to copy variation is much more significant than many people online think, it is sometimes even more pronounced than lens A to lens B difference.

So testing one copy of each lens is not enough, definitely in the case of any super complex modern optics such as this FE 35 mm f1.4.

I know the best copies of it is a fantastic lens, but about 75 percent of times you get a bad one or just an ok kind of one. It is really really deplorable, sad.

But no one so-called review site besides Roger's report it, and I smell something very fishy here.

 

Now move on to 50 mm -55 mm value primes: the Sony 55 1.8 vs the Nikon 50 1.8 vs the

Canon 50 1.8 STM

 

The Sony beats out the Nikon and obviously the Canon because of the limited megapixels, but the interesting thing is when you compare pricing...$1000 for the Sony, $219 for the Nikon. Weight was another thing with the Sony coming in at almost 100 grams heavier than the Nikon and the Canon. In terms of Absolute resolution, the Sony is quite a bit better, though if you care about the money, then the cheap Nikon gets you about 90 percent of the expensive Sony performance at 1/ 5th of the Sony price.

 

www.dxomark.com/Lenses/Compare/Side-by-side/Sony-FE-Carl-...

 

now finally move on to 90-105 mm macro lens:

The Sony 90 mm macro is reported to be a better lens by likes of DXOmark, but according to Roger Cicala's extensive optics bench testing with many many copies of it, it is not as good as we all once thought it must be because of the DXO result for it below.

www.dxomark.com/Lenses/Compare/Side-by-side/Sony-FE-90mm-...

But it is obvious if you get a good copy of the Sony FE 90 mm f2.8 G lens, it is sharper than anything else in the market, actually it even beats the over-sized over priced not much useful awkward brand lenses like the Zess Otus 85 mm f1.4 APO or the Zeiss 135 mm f2 APO Sonnar,which I sold as soon as I found it useless in real life application ,especially for travel photography and street work. I loved it for studio work, but for that use I do not need to actually own any lens, just rent it from my boss's studio.

Anyway, my point here is if you get a decent Sony Fe 90 or 55 mm then it even beats the super-heavy ,awkward no compromise in design kind of d-SLR lens that priced about 4 times more than the Sony lenses.

The 90 macro is a cheap lens for what it is, there is no comparison to that lens in that relatively modest range of it.

 

So while I agree that Sony has made some very positive moves in recent years,it has come at a cost in pricing, f/stop and in the compactness to the system.Even then, the Sony lenses are not necessarily the best, especially when you take the fact that the Nikon/Canon Lenses often out resolved the Sony equivalents with faster f/stops for less money into serious consideration. The Canon lenses were at a deficit due to megapixels, and even with the obvious sensor resolution disadvantage, quite a few Canon lenses actually still out-resolve Sony Nikon equivalents, it was,to me,quite amazing.

So, I think if you need the ultimate best for now or the absolute best, most promising tech into foreseeable future, then the Sony system makes real sense here, but if you just need 90 percent of what the A7RM2 can do at the 1/4 of the Sony system price, then Nikon still makes better sense(value).

In my area it is even more glaringly clear, the A7RM2 body alone costs about 378000 yen, the Nikon D810 kit with the AF-S24-120 mm f4 VR costs 321000 yen,the Sony does not seem to be a great value although it may well be the absolute best camera in current camera market.

And most of people just go with the almost 95 percent as good as the absolute best kind of system that costs much less than the absolute best.

I chose the Zeiss Batis 85 over the Zeiss Otus 85 although I knew the Otus would beat the Batis in resolution(at a lab)..........but for me the much more manageable size and the weight saving, and more importantly the better overall practicality/usability of the Batis beat the absolute tripod resolution of the Otus. I think the same logic applies for choosing the right camera system.

Although, IMO, Canon still has the edge in lens line, flash,etc, and as a company most stable and profitable with a lot of key-core patents in this ILC technology, I personally never consider any of current Canon cameras seriously. The 5DS is just simply too overpriced, the 6D is just too long in the tooth, the 5D3 is about to be replaced, so no current Canon cameras make great value.

The 5DS-R costs 2 times more than the D810 and I think it is just too crazy, and that makes it absolutely the worst value camera for me. The 5DS at least a bit cheaper than the A7R2 to really justify its market position since it does not have the IBIS of the Sony, the 4k capability of the Sony, the high ISO performance of the Sony.

In the end, after comparing the prices of the lenses I need for the 3 systems carefully, I kind of realize that it is most logical to just stay with my current Sony system, just because I already have it. I guess I will hold on to my A7, A7M2, A7R for as long as I can, and see if Canon, Fuji or Samsung will answer to the a7R2.

The above logic just works for me, but I think for more budget minded people the Nikon may still hold the value king title with the D750..

The D750 is really attractive for event photography on a tight budget, and it is very very cheap now in the many many areas of the world, especially in my area.The Nikon D750 or D810 based system is at least 30 percent cheaper than the A7M2 or the A7RM2 based system with a few primes and a couple of zooms. But if you are a kind of person always wanting to shoot with a Otus or similar IQ lens and always carefully manually focus it, then Sony would suddenly become a much more logical choice for you.

The FE 55 mm f1.8 is sharper than the Otus 55 mm f1.4 at 1/4 of the Otus weight.

I do not have problem paying the Otus price for a great lens but the weight is.

The Sony FE 90 mm f2.8 G (assuming you get a decent copy) beats the both Otus and Batis in resolution and a few more areas.

I know the greater resolution alone does not make it a better lens than the Otus since Otus beats in the areas of CA, distortion and coma at wide open,etc.

But to me the better resolution of the Sony at 1/3 or the weight of Otus is very attractive.

The Batis 85 mm f1.8 is a great lens, honestly it is a bit different kind of lens than the Otus is with a bit more CA, a bit more distortion,etc, but it has the unique Zeiss look as with the other great Zeiss primes, and it is definitely sharp enough for its obvious intended use.

For landscape type of corner to corner sharpness, it may not be able to match the best primes in that focal range such as the FE90 mm f2.8 G , the Otus 85 mm f1.4 and the Leica 90 mm f3.5 APO, but still it handily beats all zooms and most of primes ever made in that specific focal range.

Many people compare the Batis 85 mm to the Nikon AF-S85 mm f1.8 G just because they both share f1.8 f numbers, but are they really comparable in quality?

Actually, in terms of sheer resolution and optical quality the cheap plastic Nikon may be comparable to the Batis. But it is weaker in a few key areas compared to the Batis.

The Nikon has much worse Lo-CA, much worse weaker flare resistance, a bit more distorted.

But the Nikon is smaller, lighter comes with 62 mm filter thread rather than the big 67 mm one on the Batis, it has a bit lower distortion and seems to have a bit lower amount of light fall off.

So it is actually closer match than we once thought it would be, and I see many many people mostly shooting all AF prefer the Nikon over the Zeiss in this case.

But unfortunately for me, the Batis is a better looking lens for my type of shooting since I am a manual focus kind of person, seldom use AF and having good MF ring is very important to me. So as my old man always said when I was a kid, it is always horses for courses, there is no one absolutely better camera system for all of us.

 

Finally as a side note, many many people guessing a lot of the technology inside the Leica SL seems to be from Panasonic.

I think Leica/Panasonic are testing the waters, with their first FF CSC with modern design more sophisticated UI than that of the Sony A7X.

I wouldn't be surprised, if less than a year from now, Panasonic makes a shot directly at Sony A7 series with a cheaper and more practical version of the Leica SL.

If Canon and Nikon don't come up with competitors in the meantime, Sony-Panasonic will be pushing this market very hard very far so that the old leaders will find themselves 7 laps behind all of a sudden. It may be easy for Canon to come up with something similar since they have all the tech needed to make something similar to the Leica SL, but is Nikon still safe, some how able to manage it to survive?

I know many Japanese Mega camera dealers that think in a matter of a several years Nikon won't be around in this market.

If they are correct, I wonder if the new Tokyo Nikon camera museum was actually built by Nikon as their own camera indoor cemetery?

 

UPdate : now, Canon has just announced its new sensor development policy. Canon seems to have built a new sensor plant in Mie prefecture of Japan. It seems like Canon is going on new 65nm process rule and all upcoming Canon sensors will be produced at there.

I think the 1DX2 and the 80D sensors are processed at the new plant.

Sony is still leading the CMOS imaging industry, but giants like Samsung are in close pursuit. Also big players like Panasonic are forming joint ventures with the likes of TowerJazz to offer 12-inch wafer fabrication with state-of-the-art quantum efficiency and dark current performance at 65 nano meters, and additional 45nm digital technology, and added available capacity of approximately 800,000 8-inch wafers per year in three manufacturing plants in Japan, according to TowerJazz.

 

The stakes are huge. The CMOS image sensor market will reached the historic $10 billion milestone in 2015, according to Yale, and with new applications popping up in automotive, medical and surveillance, while smartphones begin adopting high-definition front facing cameras, the industry is likely to hit the $16 billion mark by 2020. So nobody is just sleeping and Sony has to consolidate its position ASAP, or probably Sony will lose it again just like its short-lived TV business.

 

UPDATE2:Another serious issue all the camera makers will have to face but I did not really realize before is that all ILC cameras are big to most of NORMAL non-photographer people, and they are very intimidating to most of NORMAL people(I mean regardless of mount type or sensor type).

I never realized it before but while walking around down town Fukuoka with one of my long time friends here forced me to understand it. A friend of mine told me that he thinks all interchangeable lens cameras are huge and intimidating to most of average people regardless of sensor size or format, it's just simply annoying!

I guess a big lens scares or annoys people more than a big body......I never saw it his way but I got his point and I decided to carry my tiny Canon G5X when I just walk around the city area with other people. If I am alone shooting something, then I usually carry my big camera, and I think it does not matter it's a m43, a FF, an APS-C, it is all big to most of NORMAL people, anyway.

Then why not just go all the way up to FF or MFDB, or at least APS-C?

 

So maybe the one really doomed is not Nikon F or Pentax K or Sony A but m43?

Nikon and Pentax have historically had very enthusiastic and even fanatic core shooters and they are usually too old to adapt themselves fast to new EVF based gear even if they understand it is the more logical thing for them as they are aged. So D-SLRs may survive as antique cameras, but m43 or Nikon One?

 

UPDATE3: Nikon has just announced a new sensor fab development with Toshiba and it seems like their new sensor design uses very similar AF tech to the DP AF of the Canon EOS M5 sensor without losing almost no amount of light getting into the sensor.

 

Canon also patented a few new curved sensor designs with Toshiba. Toshiba seems to work as a special sensor designer for many companies rather than producing it themselves now.

 

And it found out that the Sony's old curved sensor patent is no longer effective, and it was originally a Toshiba patent.

So if Sony really lost the patent to Toshiba , then Sony would have a big problem since Sony would not be able to use the curved sensor tech for their FF camera lines that helps them to design smaller and sharper lenses for the FE system.

 

UPDATE4: Now, I've just confirmed that Nikon DL series actual shipment date would be next January 17th as planned in last Nikon conference at Nikon D5600 launch. But it may delay even further to next CP+ show in Yokohama Japan(in Feb 2017).

 

So it is already promised to be a failed product line before the actual launch. I think Nikon is really stupid, I mean I don't think phones or mirrorless killing Nikon but itself, it obtuse marketing killing it.

 

APPROXIMATE RELEASE DATE: 2017-2018

 

PERSONAL FUN FACT: This is definitely not the kind of American Girl accessory set I would have chosen to handpick myself. Even as a kid, I wasn't all that impressed with American Girl accessories. While they were nice quality, I guess they just didn't tickle my fancy enough to fork over the crazy amount of money they cost. When I do feel so inclined to splurge on American Girl accessories, it's because they fall into one of these three categories: pets, food (specifically lunchboxes), or dolls. I will say that this set has some practicality to it. I'm very glad it was included in the same eBay lot as my Gabriela. Even after owning her for just a weekend, my sister and I got loads of use out of these adorable decorative bobby pins. Plus the headband and flower hair accessory are wonderful additions to any outfit. The one thing I find super disturbing about this Showtime Kit is the nail polish. I never paid this set much mind in the catalogue spreads. While I did check to make sure it was complete when deciding to buy Gabriela in 2021, I didn't read the description about the nail polish online. When it arrived, I was shocked (and somewhat appalled) to see that it was REAL!!! That's right, this is special nail polish made for your American Girls to wear. As a kid, I would have LOVED this gimmick. If you hit rewind, you'll see eleven year old Shelly caking her beloved Bratz and Mary-Kate and Ashley dolls in the makeup sold with the Stylin' Salon 'N' Spa. I also liked using Colleen's Fashion Party Skipper dolls' lipgloss on my plastic friends. While this is clearly formulated for dollies to wear temporarily, I can still envision it staining their clothes. It's a weird color too--a strange golden brown that would look odd on tan skin tones like Josefina's (but great on Gabby's darker skin). Just to be sure, I made sure this compact didn't have real makeup. Luckily it's molded plastic makeup...I'm glad it's not meant to be worn by dolls.

Kālī, also known as Kālikā (Sanskrit: कालिका), is the Hindu goddess associated with empowerment, shakti. She is the fierce aspect of the goddess Durga (Parvati). The name Kali comes from kāla, which means black, time, death, lord of death: Shiva. Since Shiva is called Kāla— the eternal time — the name of Kālī, his consort, also means "Time" or "Death" (as in "time has come"). Hence, Kāli is the Goddess of Time and Change. Although sometimes presented as dark and violent, her earliest incarnation as a figure of annihilation of evil forces still has some influence. Various Shakta Hindu cosmologies, as well as Shākta Tantric beliefs, worship her as the ultimate reality or Brahman. Comparatively recent devotional movements largely conceive Kāli as a benevolent mother goddess. Kālī is represented as the consort of Lord Shiva, on whose body she is often seen standing. Shiva lies in the path of Kali, whose foot on Shiva subdues her anger.

 

ETYMOLOGY

Kālī is the feminine form of kālam ("black, dark coloured"). Kāla primarily means "time" but also means "black" in honor of being the first creation before light itself. Kālī means "the black one" and refers to her being the entity of "time" or "beyond time." Kāli is strongly associated with Shiva, and Shaivas derive the masculine Kāla (an epithet of Shiva) to come from her feminine name. A nineteenth-century Sanskrit dictionary, the Shabdakalpadrum, states: कालः शिवः। तस्य पत्नीति - काली। kālaḥ śivaḥ। tasya patnīti kālī - "Shiva is Kāla, thus, his consort is Kāli" referring to Devi Parvathi being a manifestation of Devi MahaKali.

 

Other names include Kālarātri ("black night"), as described above, and Kālikā ("relating to time"). Coburn notes that the name Kālī can be used as a proper name, or as a description of color.

 

Kāli's association with darkness stands in contrast to her consort, Shiva, who manifested after her in creation, and who symbolises the rest of creation after Time is created. In his supreme awareness of Maya, his body is covered by the white ashes of the cremation ground (Sanskrit: śmaśāna) where he meditates, and with which Kāli is also associated, as śmaśāna-kālī.

 

ORIGINS

Hugh Urban notes that although the word Kālī appears as early as the Atharva Veda, the first use of it as a proper name is in the Kathaka Grhya Sutra (19.7). Kali is the name of one of the seven tongues of Agni, the [Rigvedic] God of Fire, in the Mundaka Upanishad (2:4), but it is unlikely that this refers to the goddess. The first appearance of Kāli in her present form is in the Sauptika Parvan of the Mahabharata (10.8.64). She is called Kālarātri (literally, "black night") and appears to the Pandava soldiers in dreams, until finally she appears amidst the fighting during an attack by Drona's son Ashwatthama. She most famously appears in the sixth century Devi Mahatmyam as one of the shaktis of Mahadevi, and defeats the demon Raktabija ("Bloodseed"). The tenth-century Kalika Purana venerates Kāli as the ultimate reality.

 

According to David Kinsley, Kāli is first mentioned in Hinduism as a distinct goddess around 600 CE, and these texts "usually place her on the periphery of Hindu society or on the battlefield." She is often regarded as the Shakti of Shiva, and is closely associated with him in various Puranas. The Kalika Purana depicts her as the "Adi Shakti" (Fundamental Power) and "Para Prakriti" or beyond nature.

 

WORSHIP & MANTRA

Kali could be considered a general concept, like Durga, and is mostly worshiped in the Kali Kula sect of worship. The closest way of direct worship is Maha Kali or Bhadra Kali (Bhadra in Sanskrit means 'gentle'). Kali is worshiped as one of the 10 Mahavidya forms of Adi Parashakti (Goddess Durga) or Bhagavathy according to the region. The mantra for worship is called Devi Argala Stotram.

Sanskrit: सर्वमङ्गलमाङ्गल्ये शिवे सर्वार्थसाधिके । शरण्ये त्र्यम्बके गौरि नारायणि नमोऽस्तु ते ॥

 

ॐ जयंती मंगल काली भद्रकाली कपालिनी । दुर्गा क्षमा शिवा धात्री स्वाहा स्वधा नमोऽस्तु‍ते ॥

(Sarvamaṅgalamāṅgalyē śivē sarvārthasādhikē . śaraṇyē tryambakē gauri nārāyaṇi namō'stu tē.

Oṃ jayantī mangala kālī bhadrakālī kapālinī . durgā kṣamā śivā dhātrī svāhā svadhā namō'stu‍tē.)

 

TANTRA

Goddesses play an important role in the study and practice of Tantra Yoga, and are affirmed to be as central to discerning the nature of reality as are the male deities. Although Parvati is often said to be the recipient and student of Shiva's wisdom in the form of Tantras, it is Kāli who seems to dominate much of the Tantric iconography, texts, and rituals. In many sources Kāli is praised as the highest reality or greatest of all deities. The Nirvana-tantra says the gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva all arise from her like bubbles in the sea, ceaselessly arising and passing away, leaving their original source unchanged. The Niruttara-tantra and the Picchila-tantra declare all of Kāli's mantras to be the greatest and the Yogini-tantra, Kamakhya-tantra and the Niruttara-tantra all proclaim Kāli vidyas (manifestations of Mahadevi, or "divinity itself"). They declare her to be an essence of her own form (svarupa) of the Mahadevi.

 

In the Mahanirvana-tantra, Kāli is one of the epithets for the primordial sakti, and in one passage Shiva praises her:

 

At the dissolution of things, it is Kāla [Time] Who will devour all, and by reason of this He is called Mahākāla [an epithet of Lord Shiva], and since Thou devourest Mahākāla Himself, it is Thou who art the Supreme Primordial Kālika. Because Thou devourest Kāla, Thou art Kāli, the original form of all things, and because Thou art the Origin of and devourest all things Thou art called the Adya [the Primordial One]. Re-assuming after Dissolution Thine own form, dark and formless, Thou alone remainest as One ineffable and inconceivable. Though having a form, yet art Thou formless; though Thyself without beginning, multiform by the power of Maya, Thou art the Beginning of all, Creatrix, Protectress, and Destructress that Thou art.

 

The figure of Kāli conveys death, destruction, and the consuming aspects of reality. As such, she is also a "forbidden thing", or even death itself. In the Pancatattva ritual, the sadhaka boldly seeks to confront Kali, and thereby assimilates and transforms her into a vehicle of salvation. This is clear in the work of the Karpuradi-stotra, a short praise of Kāli describing the Pancatattva ritual unto her, performed on cremation grounds. (Samahana-sadhana)

 

He, O Mahākāli who in the cremation-ground, naked, and with dishevelled hair, intently meditates upon Thee and recites Thy mantra, and with each recitation makes offering to Thee of a thousand Akanda flowers with seed, becomes without any effort a Lord of the earth. Oh Kāli, whoever on Tuesday at midnight, having uttered Thy mantra, makes offering even but once with devotion to Thee of a hair of his Shakti [his energy/female companion] in the cremation-ground, becomes a great poet, a Lord of the earth, and ever goes mounted upon an elephant.

 

The Karpuradi-stotra clearly indicates that Kāli is more than a terrible, vicious, slayer of demons who serves Durga or Shiva. Here, she is identified as the supreme mistress of the universe, associated with the five elements. In union with Lord Shiva, she creates and destroys worlds. Her appearance also takes a different turn, befitting her role as ruler of the world and object of meditation. In contrast to her terrible aspects, she takes on hints of a more benign dimension. She is described as young and beautiful, has a gentle smile, and makes gestures with her two right hands to dispel any fear and offer boons. The more positive features exposed offer the distillation of divine wrath into a goddess of salvation, who rids the sadhaka of fear. Here, Kali appears as a symbol of triumph over death.

 

BENGALI TRADITION

Kali is also a central figure in late medieval Bengali devotional literature, with such devotees as Ramprasad Sen (1718–75). With the exception of being associated with Parvati as Shiva's consort, Kāli is rarely pictured in Hindu legends and iconography as a motherly figure until Bengali devotions beginning in the early eighteenth century. Even in Bengāli tradition her appearance and habits change little, if at all.

 

The Tantric approach to Kāli is to display courage by confronting her on cremation grounds in the dead of night, despite her terrible appearance. In contrast, the Bengali devotee appropriates Kāli's teachings adopting the attitude of a child, coming to love her unreservedly. In both cases, the goal of the devotee is to become reconciled with death and to learn acceptance of the way that things are. These themes are well addressed in Rāmprasād's work. Rāmprasād comments in many of his other songs that Kāli is indifferent to his wellbeing, causes him to suffer, brings his worldly desires to nothing and his worldly goods to ruin. He also states that she does not behave like a mother should and that she ignores his pleas:

 

Can mercy be found in the heart of her who was born of the stone? [a reference to Kali as the daughter of Himalaya]

Were she not merciless, would she kick the breast of her lord?

Men call you merciful, but there is no trace of mercy in you, Mother.

You have cut off the heads of the children of others, and these you wear as a garland around your neck.

It matters not how much I call you "Mother, Mother." You hear me, but you will not listen.

 

To be a child of Kāli, Rāmprasād asserts, is to be denied of earthly delights and pleasures. Kāli is said to refrain from giving that which is expected. To the devotee, it is perhaps her very refusal to do so that enables her devotees to reflect on dimensions of themselves and of reality that go beyond the material world.

 

A significant portion of Bengali devotional music features Kāli as its central theme and is known as Shyama Sangeet ("Music of the Night"). Mostly sung by male vocalists, today even women have taken to this form of music. One of the finest singers of Shyāma Sāngeet is Pannalal Bhattacharya.

 

In Bengal, Kāli is venerated in the festival Kali Puja, the new moon day of Ashwin month which coincides with Diwali festival.

 

In a unique form of Kāli worship, Shantipur worships Kāli in the form of a hand painted image of the deity known as Poteshwari (meaning the deity drawn on a piece of cloth).

 

LEGENDS

SLAYER OF RAKTABIJA

In Kāli's most famous legend, Devi Durga (Adi Parashakti) and her assistants, the Matrikas, wound the demon Raktabija, in various ways and with a variety of weapons in an attempt to destroy him. They soon find that they have worsened the situation for with every drop of blood that is dripped from Raktabija he reproduces a clone of himself. The battlefield becomes increasingly filled with his duplicates. Durga, in need of help, summons Kāli to combat the demons. It is said, in some versions, that Goddess Durga actually assumes the form of Goddess Kāli at this time. The Devi Mahatmyam describes:

 

Out of the surface of her (Durga's) forehead, fierce with frown, issued suddenly Kali of terrible countenance, armed with a sword and noose. Bearing the strange khatvanga (skull-topped staff ), decorated with a garland of skulls, clad in a tiger's skin, very appalling owing to her emaciated flesh, with gaping mouth, fearful with her tongue lolling out, having deep reddish eyes, filling the regions of the sky with her roars, falling upon impetuously and slaughtering the great asuras in that army, she devoured those hordes of the foes of the devas.

 

Kali destroys Raktabija by sucking the blood from his body and putting the many Raktabija duplicates in her gaping mouth. Pleased with her victory, Kali then dances on the field of battle, stepping on the corpses of the slain. In the Devi Mahatmya version of this story, Kali is also described as a Matrika and as a Shakti or power of Devi. She is given the epithet Cāṃuṇḍā (Chamunda), i.e. the slayer of the demons Chanda and Munda. Chamunda is very often identified with Kali and is very much like her in appearance and habit.

 

DAKSHINA KALI

In her most famous pose as Daksinakali, popular legends say that Kali, becoming drunk on the blood of her victims on the battlefield, dances with destructive frenzy. She is about to destroy the whole universe when, urged by all the gods, Shiva lies in her way to stop her. In her fury, she fails to see the body of Shiva lying amongst the corpses on the battlefield and steps upon his chest. Realizing Shiva lies beneath her feet, her anger is pacified and she calms her fury. Though not included in any of the puranas, popular legends state that Kali was ashamed at the prospect of keeping her husband beneath her feet and thus stuck her tongue out in shame. The Devi-Bhagavata Purana, which goes into great depths about the goddess Kali, reveals the tongue's actual symbolism.

 

The characteristic icons that depict Kali are the following; unbridled matted hair, open blood shot eyes, open mouth and a drooping tongue; in her hands, she holds a Khadga (bent sword or scimitar) and a human head; she has a girdle of human hands across her waist and an enchanted Shiva lies beneath her feet. Each of these icons represent a deep philosophical epithet. The drooping out-stuck tongue represents her blood-thirst. Lord Shiva beneath her feet represents matter, as Kali is undoubtedly the primeval energy. The depiction of Kali on Shiva shows that without energy, matter lies "dead". This concept has been simplified to a folk-tale depicting a wife placing her foot on her husband and sticking her tongue out in shame. In tantric contexts, the tongue is seen to denote the element (guna) of rajas (energy and action) controlled by sattva.

 

If Kali steps on Shiva with her right foot and holds the sword in her left hand, she is considered to be Dakshina Kali. The Dakshina Kali Temple has important religious associations with the Jagannath Temple and it is believed that Daksinakali is the guardian of the kitchen of the Lord Jagannath Temple. Puranic tradition says that in Puri, Lord Jagannath is regarded as Daksinakalika. Goddess Dakshinakali plays an important role in the 'Niti' of Saptapuri Amavasya.

 

One South Indian tradition tells of a dance contest between Shiva and Kali. After defeating the two demons Sumbha and Nisumbha, Kali takes up residence in the forest of Thiruvalankadu or Thiruvalangadu. She terrorizes the surrounding area with her fierce, disruptive nature. One of Shiva's devotees becomes distracted while performing austerities, and asks Shiva to rid the forest of the destructive goddess. When Shiva arrives, Kali threatens him, claiming the territory as her own. Shiva challenges Kali to a dance contest; both of them dance and Kali matches Shiva in every step that he takes until Shiva takes the "Urdhvatandava" step, by vertically raising his right leg. Kali refuses to perform this step, which would not befit her as a woman, and became pacified.

 

SMASHAN KALI

If the Kali steps out with the left foot and holds the sword in her right hand, she is the terrible form of Mother, the Smashan Kali of the cremation ground. She is worshiped by tantrics, the followers of Tantra, who believe that one's spiritual discipline practiced in a smashan (cremation ground) brings success quickly. Sarda Devi, the consort of Ramakrishna Paramhansa, worshipped Smashan Kali at Dakshineshwar.

 

MATERNAL KALI

Another legend depicts the infant Shiva calming Kali. In this similar story, Kali has defeated her enemies on the battlefield and begun to dance out of control, drunk on the blood of the slain. To calm her down and to protect the stability of the world, Shiva is sent to the battlefield, as an infant, crying aloud. Seeing the child's distress, Kali ceases dancing to care for the helpless infant. She picks him up, kisses his head, and proceeds to breast feed the infant Shiva. This legend is notable because it shows Kali in her benevolent, maternal aspect, with which she is not usually identified.

 

MAHAKALI

Mahakali (Sanskrit: Mahākālī, Devanagari: महाकाली), literally translated as Great Kali, is sometimes considered as a greater form of Kali, identified with the Ultimate reality of Brahman. It can also be used as an honorific of the Goddess Kali, signifying her greatness by the prefix "Mahā-". Mahakali, in Sanskrit, is etymologically the feminized variant of Mahakala or Great Time (which is interpreted also as Death), an epithet of the God Shiva in Hinduism. Mahakali is the presiding Goddess of the first episode of the Devi Mahatmya. Here she is depicted as Devi in her universal form as Shakti. Here Devi serves as the agent who allows the cosmic order to be restored.

 

Kali is depicted in the Mahakali form as having ten heads, ten arms, and ten legs. Each of her ten hands is carrying a various implement which vary in different accounts, but each of these represent the power of one of the Devas or Hindu Gods and are often the identifying weapon or ritual item of a given Deva. The implication is that Mahakali subsumes and is responsible for the powers that these deities possess and this is in line with the interpretation that Mahakali is identical with Brahman. While not displaying ten heads, an "ekamukhi" or one headed image may be displayed with ten arms, signifying the same concept: the powers of the various Gods come only through Her grace.

 

ICONOGRAPHY

Kali is portrayed mostly in two forms: the popular four-armed form and the ten-armed Mahakali form. In both of her forms, she is described as being black in color but is most often depicted as blue in popular Indian art. Her eyes are described as red with intoxication, and in absolute rage, her hair is shown disheveled, small fangs sometimes protrude out of her mouth, and her tongue is lolling. She is often shown naked or just wearing a skirt made of human arms and a garland of human heads. She is also accompanied by serpents and a jackal while standing on a seemingly dead Shiva, usually right foot forward to symbolize the more popular Dakshinamarga or right-handed path, as opposed to the more infamous and transgressive Vamamarga or left-handed path.

 

In the ten-armed form of Mahakali she is depicted as shining like a blue stone. She has ten faces and ten feet and three eyes. She has ornaments decked on all her limbs. There is no association with Shiva.

 

The Kalika Purana describes Kali as possessing a soothing dark complexion, as perfectly beautiful, riding a lion, four-armed, holding a sword and blue lotuses, her hair unrestrained, body firm and youthful.

 

In spite of her seemingly terrible form, Kali Ma is often considered the kindest and most loving of all the Hindu goddesses, as she is regarded by her devotees as the Mother of the whole Universe. And because of her terrible form, she is also often seen as a great protector. When the Bengali saint Ramakrishna once asked a devotee why one would prefer to worship Mother over him, this devotee rhetorically replied, "Maharaj, when they are in trouble your devotees come running to you. But, where do you run when you are in trouble?"

 

According to Ramakrishna, darkness is the Ultimate Mother, or Kali:

 

My Mother is the principle of consciousness. She is Akhanda Satchidananda; indivisible Reality, Awareness, and Bliss. The night sky between the stars is perfectly black. The waters of the ocean depths are the same; The infinite is always mysteriously dark. This inebriating darkness is my beloved Kali.

 

SRI RAMAKRISHNA

This is clear in the works of such contemporary artists as Charles Wish, and Tyeb Mehta, who sometimes take great liberties with the traditional, accepted symbolism, but still demonstrate a true reverence for the Shakta sect.

 

POPULAR FORM

Classic depictions of Kali share several features, as follows:

 

Kali's most common four armed iconographic image shows each hand carrying variously a sword, a trishul (trident), a severed head and a bowl or skull-cup (kapala) catching the blood of the severed head.

 

Two of these hands (usually the left) are holding a sword and a severed head. The Sword signifies Divine Knowledge and the Human Head signifies human Ego which must be slain by Divine Knowledge in order to attain Moksha. The other two hands (usually the right) are in the abhaya (fearlessness) and varada (blessing) mudras, which means her initiated devotees (or anyone worshipping her with a true heart) will be saved as she will guide them here and in the hereafter.

 

She has a garland consisting of human heads, variously enumerated at 108 (an auspicious number in Hinduism and the number of countable beads on a Japa Mala or rosary for repetition of Mantras) or 51, which represents Varnamala or the Garland of letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, Devanagari. Hindus believe Sanskrit is a language of dynamism, and each of these letters represents a form of energy, or a form of Kali. Therefore she is generally seen as the mother of language, and all mantras.

 

She is often depicted naked which symbolizes her being beyond the covering of Maya since she is pure (nirguna) being-consciousness-bliss and far above prakriti. She is shown as very dark as she is brahman in its supreme unmanifest state. She has no permanent qualities - she will continue to exist even when the universe ends. It is therefore believed that the concepts of color, light, good, bad do not apply to her - she is the pure, un-manifested energy, the Adi-shakti.

 

SHIVA IN KALI ICONOGRAPHY

In both these images she is shown standing on the prone, inert or dead body of Shiva. There is a legend for the reason behind her standing on what appears to be Shiva's corpse, which translates as follows:

 

Once Kali had destroyed all the demons in battle, she began a terrific dance out of the sheer joy of victory. All the worlds or lokas began to tremble and sway under the impact of her dance. So, at the request of all the Gods, Shiva himself asked her to desist from this behavior. However, she was too intoxicated to listen. Hence, Shiva lay like a corpse among the slain demons in order to absorb the shock of the dance into himself. When Kali eventually stepped upon Shiva, she realized she was trampling and hurting her husband and bit her tongue in shame.

 

The story described here is a popular folk tale and not described or hinted in any of the puranas. The puranic interpretation is as follows:

 

Once, Parvati asks Shiva to chose the one form among her 10 forms which he likes most. To her surprise, Shiva reveals that he is most comfortable with her Kali form, in which she is bereft of her jewellery, her human-form, her clothes, her emotions and where she is only raw, chaotic energy, where she is as terrible as time itself and even greater than time. As Parvati takes the form of Kali, Shiva lies at her feet and requests her to place her foot on his chest, upon his heart. Once in this form, Shiva requests her to have this place, below her feet in her iconic image which would be worshiped throughout.

 

This idea has been explored in the Devi-Bhagavata Purana and is most popular in the Shyama Sangeet, devotional songs to Kali from the 12th to 15th centuries.

 

The Tantric interpretation of Kali standing on top of her husband is as follows:

 

The Shiv tattava (Divine Consciousness as Shiva) is inactive, while the Shakti tattava (Divine Energy as Kali) is active. Shiva and Kali represent Brahman, the Absolute pure consciousness which is beyond all names, forms and activities. Kali, on the other hand, represents the potential (and manifested) energy responsible for all names, forms and activities. She is his Shakti, or creative power, and is seen as the substance behind the entire content of all consciousness. She can never exist apart from Shiva or act independently of him, just as Shiva remains a mere corpse without Kali i.e., Shakti, all the matter/energy of the universe, is not distinct from Shiva, or Brahman, but is rather the dynamic power of Brahman. Hence, Kali is Para Brahman in the feminine and dynamic aspect while Shiva is the male aspect and static. She stands as the absolute basis for all life, energy and beneath her feet lies, Shiva, a metaphor for mass, which cannot retain its form without energy.

 

While this is an advanced concept in monistic Shaktism, it also agrees with the Nondual Trika philosophy of Kashmir, popularly known as Kashmir Shaivism and associated most famously with Abhinavagupta. There is a colloquial saying that "Shiva without Shakti is Shava" which means that without the power of action (Shakti) that is Mahakali (represented as the short "i" in Devanagari) Shiva (or consciousness itself) is inactive; Shava means corpse in Sanskrit and the play on words is that all Sanskrit consonants are assumed to be followed by a short letter "a" unless otherwise noted. The short letter "i" represents the female power or Shakti that activates Creation. This is often the explanation for why She is standing on Shiva, who is either Her husband and complement in Shaktism or the Supreme Godhead in Shaivism.

 

To properly understand this complex Tantric symbolism it is important to remember that the meaning behind Shiva and Kali does not stray from the non-dualistic parlance of Shankara or the Upanisads. According to both the Mahanirvana and Kularnava Tantras, there are two distinct ways of perceiving the same absolute reality. The first is a transcendental plane which is often described as static, yet infinite. It is here that there is no matter, there is no universe and only consciousness exists. This form of reality is known as Shiva, the absolute Sat-Chit-Ananda - existence, knowledge and bliss. The second is an active plane, an immanent plane, the plane of matter, of Maya, i.e., where the illusion of space-time and the appearance of an actual universe does exist. This form of reality is known as Kali or Shakti, and (in its entirety) is still specified as the same Absolute Sat-Chit-Ananda. It is here in this second plane that the universe (as we commonly know it) is experienced and is described by the Tantric seer as the play of Shakti, or God as Mother Kali.

 

From a Tantric perspective, when one meditates on reality at rest, as absolute pure consciousness (without the activities of creation, preservation or dissolution) one refers to this as Shiva or Brahman. When one meditates on reality as dynamic and creative, as the Absolute content of pure consciousness (with all the activities of creation, preservation or dissolution) one refers to it as Kali or Shakti. However, in either case the yogini or yogi is interested in one and the same reality - the only difference being in name and fluctuating aspects of appearance. It is this which is generally accepted as the meaning of Kali standing on the chest of Shiva.

 

Although there is often controversy surrounding the images of divine copulation, the general consensus is benign and free from any carnal impurities in its substance. In Tantra the human body is a symbol for the microcosm of the universe; therefore sexual process is responsible for the creation of the world. Although theoretically Shiva and Kali (or Shakti) are inseparable, like fire and its power to burn, in the case of creation they are often seen as having separate roles. With Shiva as male and Kali as female it is only by their union that creation may transpire. This reminds us of the prakrti and purusa doctrine of Samkhya wherein prakāśa- vimarśa has no practical value, just as without prakrti, purusa is quite inactive. This (once again) stresses the interdependencies of Shiva and Shakti and the vitality of their union.

 

Gopi Krishna proposed that Kali standing on the dead Shiva or Shava (Sanskrit for dead body) symbolised the helplessness of a person undergoing the changing process (psychologically and physiologically) in the body conducted by the Kundalini Shakti.

 

DEVELOPMENT

In the later traditions, Kali has become inextricably linked with Shiva. The unleashed form of Kali often becomes wild and uncontrollable, and only Shiva is able to tame her just as only Kali can tame Shiva. This is both because she is often a transformed version of one of his consorts and because he is able to match her wildness.

 

The ancient text of Kali Kautuvam describes her competition with Shiva in dance, from which the sacred 108 Karanas appeared. Shiva won the competition by acting the urdva tandava, one of the Karanas, by raising his feet to his head. Other texts describe Shiva appearing as a crying infant and appealing to her maternal instincts. While Shiva is said to be able to tame her, the iconography often presents her dancing on his fallen body, and there are accounts of the two of them dancing together, and driving each other to such wildness that the world comes close to unravelling.

 

Shiva's involvement with Tantra and Kali's dark nature have led to her becoming an important Tantric figure. To the Tantric worshippers, it was essential to face her Curse, the terror of death, as willingly as they accepted Blessings from her beautiful, nurturing, maternal aspect. For them, wisdom meant learning that no coin has only one side: as death cannot exist without life, so life cannot exist without death. Kali's role sometimes grew beyond that of a chaos - which could be confronted - to that of one who could bring wisdom, and she is given great metaphysical significance by some Tantric texts. The Nirvāna-tantra clearly presents her uncontrolled nature as the Ultimate Reality, claiming that the trimurti of Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra arise and disappear from her like bubbles from the sea. Although this is an extreme case, the Yogini-tantra, Kamakhya-tantra and the Niruttara-tantra declare her the svarupa (own-being) of the Mahadevi (the great Goddess, who is in this case seen as the combination of all devis).

 

The final stage of development is the worshipping of Kali as the Great Mother, devoid of her usual violence. This practice is a break from the more traditional depictions. The pioneers of this tradition are the 18th century Shakta poets such as Ramprasad Sen, who show an awareness of Kali's ambivalent nature. Ramakrishna, the 19th century Bengali saint, was also a great devotee of Kali; the western popularity of whom may have contributed to the more modern, equivocal interpretations of this Goddess. Rachel McDermott's work, however, suggests that for the common, modern worshipper, Kali is not seen as fearful, and only those educated in old traditions see her as having a wrathful component. Some credit to the development of Devi must also be given to Samkhya. Commonly referred to as the Devi of delusion, Mahamaya or Durga, acting in the confines of (but not being bound by) the nature of the three gunas, takes three forms: Maha-Kali, Maha-Lakshmi and Maha-Saraswati, being her tamas-ika, rajas-ika and sattva-ika forms. In this sense, Kali is simply part of a larger whole.

 

Like Sir John Woodroffe and Georg Feuerstein, many Tantric scholars (as well as sincere practitioners) agree that, no matter how propitious or appalling you describe them, Shiva and Devi are simply recognizable symbols for everyday, abstract (yet tangible) concepts such as perception, knowledge, space-time, causation and the process of liberating oneself from the confines of such things. Shiva, symbolizing pure, absolute consciousness, and Devi, symbolizing the entire content of that consciousness, are ultimately one and the same - totality incarnate, a micro-macro-cosmic amalgamation of all subjects, all objects and all phenomenal relations between the "two." Like man and woman who both share many common, human traits yet at the same time they are still different and, therefore, may also be seen as complementary.

 

Worshippers prescribe various benign and horrific qualities to Devi simply out of practicality. They do this so they may have a variety of symbols to choose from, symbols which they can identify and relate with from the perspective of their own, ever-changing time, place and personal level of unfolding. Just like modern chemists or physicists use a variety of molecular and atomic models to describe what is unperceivable through rudimentary, sensory input, the scientists of ontology and epistemology must do the same. One of the underlying distinctions of Tantra, in comparison to other religions, is that it allows the devotee the liberty to choose from a vast array of complementary symbols and rhetoric which suit one's evolving needs and tastes. From an aesthetic standpoint, nothing is interdict and nothing is orthodox. In this sense, the projection of some of Devi's more gentle qualities onto Kali is not sacrilege and the development of Kali really lies in the practitioner, not the murthi.

 

A TIME magazine article of October 27, 1947, used Kali as a symbol and metaphor for the human suffering in British India during its partition that year.

 

Swami Vivekananda wrote his favorite poem Kali the Mother in 1898.

 

IN NEW AGE & NEOPAGANISM

An academic study of Western Kali enthusiasts noted that, "as shown in the histories of all cross-cultural religious transplants, Kali devotionalism in the West must take on its own indigenous forms if it is to adapt to its new environment." The adoption of Kali by the West has raised accusations of cultural appropriation:

 

A variety of writers and thinkers have found Kali an exciting figure for reflection and exploration, notably feminists and participants in New Age spirituality who are attracted to goddess worship. Kali is a symbol of wholeness and healing, associated especially with repressed female power and sexuality. [However, such interpretations often exhibit] confusion and misrepresentation, stemming from a lack of knowledge of Hindu history among these authors, draw upon materials written by scholars of the Hindu religious tradition. The majority instead rely chiefly on other popular feminist sources, almost none of which base their interpretations on a close reading of Kali's Indian background. The most important issue arising from this discussion - even more important than the question of 'correct' interpretation - concerns the adoption of other people's religious symbols. It is hard to import the worship of a goddess from another culture: religious associations and connotations have to be learned, imagined or intuited when the deep symbolic meanings embedded in the native culture are not available.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Visit to the General Motors Heritage Center in Sterling Heights, Michigan on January 24, 2015. GM Heritage Center

 

This sharp concept was introduced at the 2004 North American International Auto Show. It is not a sedan, wagon, SUV or any other kind of vehicle, but simultaneously conveys presence and practicality. The Nomad is based on GM's Kappa architecture, which also served as the foundation for the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky.

 

All of my classic car photos can be found here: Car Collections

 

Press "L" for a larger image on black.

RM Sotheby's

Place Vauban

Parijs - Paris

Frankrijk - France

February 2019

 

Estimated : € 40.000 - 50.000

Sold for € 77.625

 

Bringing the benefits of four-wheel drive to a passenger car, rather than larger trucks and off-roaders, the quattro helped turn Audi into a household name and continues to influence their products to this day. In European specification, the quattro’s initial 2.1-litre inline five-cylinder turbocharged engine turned out nearly 200 hp, combining performance and practicality in a wonderful package.

 

The accompanying service book shows that this quattro was delivered new to Madrid in October of 1984, having been built earlier that month. The only service stamp shows it was serviced at the same dealer in October of 1989 with approximately 25.000 km on its odometer. Passing through the Netherlands, it was purchased by its current owner in 2017 and subsequently imported to Switzerland. Currently showing just over 42.000 km from new, an oil change was carried out in September of 2018, and the car has remained in storage since as the only quattro within the Youngtimer Collection.

 

Widely celebrated for their links to the Sport quattros that enjoyed so much success in Group B rallying, the quattro has become an icon for a generation of enthusiast and this example would be best enjoyed on open (or dirt) roads.

 

Page 6L: Sunday, October 5, 1997: The Baltimore Sun

 

Dream Home

 

Finding a studio ignites art career

 

Ex-government worker made a project of restoring a firehouse

 

By Judy Reilly

SPECIAL TO THE SUN

 

For Jo Israelson, taking a decaying, vacant firehouse in Carroll County and restoring it has literally been a work of art.

 

Israelson had a hectic, stressful government job in Washington, but she knew that she wanted to be an artist. And if she wanted to be an artist, then she knew she would have to find a place suitable for contemplation, creativity and work.

 

“I began putting bids on properties in D.C.,” she said. “But they were either too expensive or in unsafe neighborhoods,” Then, one night, she had a dream of a firehouse and when she awoke she knew the kind of housing she wanted. But where to find a place?

 

Israelson began her search for the firehouse studio by drawing concentric circles on a map around the Washington metropolitan area. She needed to stay within commuting distance to work and friends. Almost every weekend, for six years, she looked for the place she had dreamed about. About the time most people would have given up, she found a firehouse that had been abandoned 30 years earlier, in Union Bridge, in northwest Carroll County.

 

Discovering the residence was only the first step. She needed to find the owner. She found him living in Baltimore, but he was unwilling to sell. He wanted to convert the building to an auto repair shop, but when the town refused his zoning request, he abandoned the project, and let the building fall into disrepair. Israelson continued her search.

 

One day she got a surprising call from the owner, who decided he needed to see the firehouse to support his family.

 

When Israelson got the deed, she went to work right away. She had to consider zoning issues and attend meetings to share with townspeople her vision for the building.

 

“I met with anybody who was anybody in town,” she said.

 

Then she heard an oral history about the property. Not only was it a firehouse, but it had also been a town hall, jail, store and theatre. Israelson wanted to preserve as much of the past in her home as possible. “Most people were so exited that the building was going to be restored,” she said.

 

Then she tackled the renovation. It was a structure without functioning heat and plumbing, and worn out wiring. The upstairs was filled with bird droppings, pigeon nests, and dead squirrels and bats. The downstairs garage that once held fire-fighting equipment and trucks was filled with auto parts.

 

But she wasn’t daunted.

 

“I did what every woman in my position would do,” Israelson said. “I bought a copy of the ‘Reader’s Digest Complete Do It Yourself Manual’ and went to work.”

 

She spent a season’s worth of weekends cleaning the place, and enlisted friends with trucks to haul rubbish to the dump. In one single week, they hauled 19 truckloads.

 

Next, she installed a wood stove in the downstairs studio space so she could sculpt by day and sleep on a mattress on the floor at night. During these weekends, friends supplied meals. She used neighbors’ bathrooms.

 

She insulated the walls and installed drywall. She hired professionals to do the work that needed to meet code. And, in a clever, collaborative relationship with D.C. architect Eric Colbert, she began creating the living space of any artist’s dreams.

 

“My weekends were spent renovating one day, sculpting one day; then I would drive back to D.C. for work again and my other house in Mt. Rainier.

 

Israelson maintained that pace for years. When her government office began cutting staff and offered her a buyout, she jumped at the chance to pursue art full-time. By then, four years of hard work had been invested, and the Firehouse Studio was 3,500 square feet of living and studio space.

 

What a space it is.

 

The ground floor studio hs a garage door that allows maneuverability of larger-than-life stone sculptures to art shows and exhibits. Here, the wood stove still holds the center stage, with a rocking chair for relaxation.

 

Israelson’s current project for this space is cleaning and painting the original tin ceiling.

 

A visitor enters the lofty living space through an etched-glass front door, guarded by an oversized chain saw art dog. Up a flight of stairs, light streams into all the rooms through tall, arched windows.

 

Hardwood floors gleam, and art is everywhere-from the painting of the firehouse that hangs in her bedroom tot sculptures, photographs, miniature twig chairs and pottery by artist friends.

 

Flea market finds –Victorian style furniture, orange crates uses as a coffee table-bookcase – and two pieces left from her family’s residence in Maine dot the rooms with comfort, practicality and whimsy.

 

Even the walls and floors are art. Israelson sponged kitchen walls in color to math her collection of Fire King dinnerware displayed in glass-front cabinet doors.

 

She traveled to Vermont to find the slate for her kitchen floor – then cut and laid it herself.

 

A gallery space, bedroom, bathroom, laundry area and living room occupy one floor. The galley kitchen is elevated by a few steps, and another work/sleeping loft is up another flight.

 

These multiple levels are a luxury allowed by the building’s 16 foot ceilings.

 

“One of the first investments I made was scaffolding,,” Israelson said. “You need it just to change a light bulb.”

 

A visitor sees glimpses of the past in the home, too.

 

The old theater’s stage occupies one end of the gallery space. The old jail’s iron bars are in place, belying the gardener’s shed it is now. In a nod to the past, the railing to her upstairs loft is smooth metal, reminiscent of a fire pole.

 

Israelson has given a party for about 300 people every holiday season since she moved into the Firehouse Studio three years ago. It’s an into-the-night celebration of music and food for townspeople, who are thrilled with the restoration of the building (and have become her new friends), and for old friends happy for Israelson’s success as an artist.

 

Most of all, it’s a celebration for Israelson, who is living the life she has dreamed of – as an artist in a firehouse studio in a small town.

 

“It’s been an adventure, and a real lesson in the return to small community living,” she said of the decision to leave Washington.

 

“My soul couldn’t sustain itself as an artist if I’d stayed in the city.”

Science Museum Reserve Collection

Wroughton, Wiltshire

October 18th 2009

© Copyright PD3

 

CORDA is a pioneering charity, dedicated to the early detection and eradication of cardiovascular disease since 1976.

 

Cardiovascular disease is the main cause of death and disability in the Western world. Nearly half of us will die from the disease, usually by suffering a stroke or heart attack and probably without showing any symptoms beforehand.

 

CORDA was established to find a way of detecting the disease at an early stage by the use of fast, painless and non-invasive means and then to reverse the disease.

 

CORDA provided a further two MR Machines but it soon became clear that commercially available MR machines were not capable of sophisticated cardiovascular studies needed for the early detection of OVD therefore CORDA scientists, doctors, clinical scientists, and engineers designed and built the worlds most powerful and fastest machine. This was installed in a converted Metroliner double deck bus and used in the community to prove the practicality of population screening.

  

CORDA BusThis versatile and easily programmable CORDA machine, mounted in the bus was used to develop many new advances including the accurate measurement of movement and blood flow, measurement of cardiac function, navigator interactive images to increase accuracy, early examples of coronary artery imaging, measurement of coronary blood flow and characterisation of atheromatous plaques to show whether they are dangerous “time bombs” or merely manifestations of old age.

 

This CORDA bus, together with the original magnetic resonance machine, which still functions, is now in the Science Museum in order that researchers of the future can see how it originated in the 1980’s.

 

The Western Outlaws Custom Shop does not focus its attention only on supercars. Sometimes customers want something with more urban chic and practicality.

 

Enter, Mini.

 

The BMW New Mini MkIII was the starting point, and Western Outlaws added from there. More power, more luxury, more wheel, more tire, more chic.

 

The end result is an inner-city ride worthy of the brand.

 

More go is reflected in the red highlights - air in, air out. As is the more slow, with the red insert brake cooling vanes.

 

More bling is reflected in the tan highlights, mixed in with real gold flakes - no imitation gold here!

 

Checkerboard roof. Gold rims. Gold speed stripes and Gold spoiler.

 

An iconic custom makeover.

 

This BMW New Mini MkIII has been created in Lego miniland scale for Flickr LUGNuts' 87th Build Challenge, - 'A Tale of Two Rivals', - a challenge to create automotive models in the livery of two fictional car modifying organisations. The Western Outlaws: Red Black, Tan. Or Eastern rebels: Yellow, Black and Dark Grey.

BOX DATE: 2001

MANUFACTURER: Mattel

DOLLS IN LINE: Barbie; Christie; Teresa

MISSING ITEMS: 2 pictures; hair on clips

SPECIAL FEATURES: Reversible top

 

PERSONAL FUN FACT: These Jam 'n Glam ensembles are so delightfully tacky! As a kid, I was mesmerized by Barbie's shiny silver pants, her furry coat (which I didn't realize was actually separate pieces), and her reversible halter top. I personally prefer the plain sparkly side of the top, but the zig zag print is also rather eye catching. I am surprised that the "coat" actually turned out to be a wrap with two arm warmers. I would have much preferred it if these items were one unit instead of three. But I guess Mattel was trying to go for versatility, rather than practicality. Barbie would look really odd if she were only wearing the arm warmers though...so I'm not sure how versatile it is. The wrap is supposed to have a plastic band to secure it around Barbie, but all of mine (even for Christie and Teresa) have snapped with age. So they don't stay on well at all...it's very frustrating constantly having to put the wraps back on my dolls. Anyways, this outfit is not the kind of thing I would have played with, but I love the novelty factor. This outfit is so iconic and easy to recognized, plus, Barbie looks like a real pop star when she wears it on stage!

Who thinks i should take six months off, go to Okinawa, and work on my much dreamed about photographic survey of coral, before it's all destroyed?

 

Lets not dwell on the practicality of it all...

So, after a year give or take a few months, I have finally decided to join LCC. I would like to improve my building skill, and I believe that consistently building/participating in something such as LCC will enable me to do that.

 

My character here is Hans Zarkan. A Lenfel Mercenary, Hans is a grizzled, bitter veteran of many years of violent battles, and has witnessed more than his fair share of bloodshed. Though never, properly trained, Hans has become a formidable warrior through years of fighting, and countless near-death experiences. He wields a massive blade the like of which would trouble three ordinary men to even lift, though he can swing it with one hand as effortlessly as a child would practice swordplay with a twig. A man of practicality, and with greater allegiance to coin than any pompous lord, or overly entitled noble, Hans is loyal to the land of his birth, though he may not favor those who rule it. For Great Lenfald!

 

I wanted to make a character to tell a tale that will be quite a bit more grim and cynical than your typical LCC fare, so we'll see how that turns out.

I really needed something to pick up what was turning out to be a rather gloomy day.

 

Thankfully this came into my life, parking itself nowhere other than the end of my street of all places!

 

There's not much I can say about the Rolls Royce Silver Shadow that hasn't already been said, a car that was styled and homed to perfection, a vehicle that took 3 months to build, comprised of 3 cow hides, 12 square feet of wood and laden with the finest Wilton carpets. If you owned a brand new one of these back in the 1960's and 70's, then you truly were someone special.

 

The Silver Shadow however, unlike its predecessors, was the most radical Rolls ever built, primarily due to the fact that unlike previous cars such as the Phantom and Silver Cloud, the car was built on a monocoque, with the body being built with the chassis, rather than in earlier instances where Rolls would provide the chassis, and then it was up to the owner to hire a coachbuilder such as Hoopers or HJ Muliner Park Ward, to build the body.

 

The Silver Shadow was also the first Rolls to be built with the idea of the owner being sat in the front rather than the back. The Silver Cloud was very much a passenger's car, being ferried from stately banquet to stately banquet by a chauffeur. This Silver Shadow on the other hand was a driver's car, powered by Rolls Royce's magnificent V8 engine it smoothly glided across the countryside with the grace and elegance of a stately home on wheels, and so popular was this chemistry of luxury and practicality, that they sold by the thousand. In total, 25,000 examples were built, and the design was incorporated into many other variations, including the Rolls Royce Corniche (a direct descendant of the Silver Shadow 2-door Coupe built by HJ Muliner Park Ward), the controversial Camargue (which was built on the same chassis as a Shadow), and the Bentley T series (basically a Shadow with Bentley badging and radiator grille).

 

Eventually, the Shadow ended production in 1980, being replaced by the simpler Silver Spirit and Silver Spur range, but the magnificent design of this classic British pedigree has kept it one of the most popular owner's cars in the world, now available for ownership at less that £10,000 in some instances!

The Dakshinkali Temple is located 22 kilometers from Kathmandu next to the village of Pharping. It's one of the main temples in Nepal. Twice every week thousands of people come here to worship the goddess Kali by sacrificing life animals, particularly cockerels and uncastrated male goats.

 

GODDESS KALI

Kālī (/ˈkɑːli/; Sanskrit: काली & Bengali: কালী; IPA: [kɑːliː]), also known as Kālikā (Sanskrit: कालिका), is the Hindu goddess associated with empowerment, or shakti. She is the fierce aspect of the goddess Durga. The name of Kali means black one and force of time; she is therefore called the Goddess of Time, Change, Power, Creation, Preservation, and Destruction. Her earliest appearance is that of a destroyer principally of evil forces. Various Shakta Hindu cosmologies, as well as Shākta Tantric beliefs, worship her as the ultimate reality or Brahman; and recent devotional movements re-imagine Kāli as a benevolent mother goddess. She is often portrayed standing or dancing on her husband, the god Shiva, who lies calm and prostrate beneath her. Worshipped throughout India but particularly South India, Bengal, and Assam, Kali is both geographically and culturally marginal.

 

ETYMOLOGY

Kālī is the feminine form of kālam ("black, dark coloured"). Kāla primarily means "time", but also means "black"; hence, Kālī means "the black one" or "beyond time". Kāli is strongly associated with Shiva, and Shaivas derive the masculine Kāla (an epithet of Shiva) from her feminine name. A nineteenth-century Sanskrit dictionary, the Shabdakalpadrum, states: कालः शिवः। तस्य पत्नीति - काली। kālaḥ śivaḥ। tasya patnīti kālī - "Shiva is Kāla, thus, his consort is Kāli".

 

Other names include Kālarātri ("black night"), as described above, and Kālikā ("relating to time"), and Kallie ("black alchemist"). Coburn notes that the name Kālī can be used as a proper name, or as a description of color.

 

Kāli's association with darkness stands in contrast to her consort, Shiva, whose body is covered by the white ashes of the cremation ground (Sanskrit: śmaśāna) where he meditates, and with which Kāli is also associated, as śmaśāna-kālī.

 

ORIGINS

Hugh Urban notes that although the word Kālī appears as early as the Atharva Veda, the first use of it as a proper name is in the Kathaka Grhya Sutra (19.7). Kali is the name of one of the seven tongues of Agni, the [Rigvedic] God of Fire, in the Mundaka Upanishad (2:4), but it is unlikely that this refers to the goddess. The first appearance of Kāli in her present form is in the Sauptika Parvan of the Mahabharata (10.8.64). She is called Kālarātri (literally, "black night") and appears to the Pandava soldiers in dreams, until finally she appears amidst the fighting during an attack by Drona's son Ashwatthama. She most famously appears in the sixth century Devi Mahatmyam as one of the shaktis of Mahadevi, and defeats the demon Raktabija ("Bloodseed"). The tenth-century Kalika Purana venerates Kāli as the ultimate reality.

 

According to David Kinsley, Kāli is first mentioned in Hinduism as a distinct goddess around 600 CE, and these texts "usually place her on the periphery of Hindu society or on the battlefield." She is often regarded as the Shakti of Shiva, and is closely associated with him in various Puranas. The Kalika Purana depicts her as the "Adi Shakti" (Fundamental Power) and "Para Prakriti" or beyond nature.

 

WORSHIP AND MANTRA

Kali could be considered a general concept, like Durga, and is mostly worshiped in the Kali Kula sect of worship. The closest way of direct worship is Maha Kali or Bhadra Kali (Bhadra in Sanskrit means 'gentle'). Kali is worshiped as one of the 10 Mahavidya forms of Adi Parashakti (Goddess Durga) or Bhagavathy according to the region. The mantra for worship is

 

Sanskrit: सर्वमङ्गलमाङ्गल्ये शिवे सर्वार्थसाधिके । शरण्ये त्र्यम्बके गौरि नारायणि नमोऽस्तु ते ॥

 

ॐ जयंती मंगल काली भद्रकाली कपालिनी । दुर्गा शिवा क्षमा धात्री स्वाहा स्वधा नमोऽस्तु‍ते ॥

 

(Sarvamaṅgalamāṅgalyē śivē sarvārthasādhikē . śaraṇyē tryambakē gauri nārāyaṇi namō'stu tē.

 

Oṃ jayantī mangala kālī bhadrakālī kapālinī . durgā śivā ksamā dhātrī svāhā svadhā namō'stu‍tē.)

 

YANTRA

Goddesses play an important role in the study and practice of Tantra Yoga, and are affirmed to be as central to discerning the nature of reality as are the male deities. Although Parvati is often said to be the recipient and student of Shiva's wisdom in the form of Tantras, it is Kali who seems to dominate much of the Tantric iconography, texts, and rituals. In many sources Kāli is praised as the highest reality or greatest of all deities. The Nirvana-tantra says the gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva all arise from her like bubbles in the sea, ceaselessly arising and passing away, leaving their original source unchanged. The Niruttara-tantra and the Picchila-tantra declare all of Kāli's mantras to be the greatest and the Yogini-tantra, Kamakhya-tantra and the Niruttara-tantra all proclaim Kāli vidyas (manifestations of Mahadevi, or "divinity itself"). They declare her to be an essence of her own form (svarupa) of the Mahadevi.In the Mahanirvana-tantra, Kāli is one of the epithets for the primordial sakti, and in one passage Shiva praises her:At the dissolution of things, it is Kāla [Time]. Who will devour all, and by reason of this He is called Mahākāla [an epithet of Lord Shiva], and since Thou devourest Mahākāla Himself, it is Thou who art the Supreme Primordial Kālika. Because Thou devourest Kāla, Thou art Kāli, the original form of all things, and because Thou art the Origin of and devourest all things Thou art called the Adya [the Primordial One]. Re-assuming after Dissolution Thine own form, dark and formless, Thou alone remainest as One ineffable and inconceivable. Though having a form, yet art Thou formless; though Thyself without beginning, multiform by the power of Maya, Thou art the Beginning of all, Creatrix, Protectress, and Destructress that Thou art. The figure of Kāli conveys death, destruction, and the consuming aspects of reality. As such, she is also a "forbidden thing", or even death itself. In the Pancatattva ritual, the sadhaka boldly seeks to confront Kali, and thereby assimilates and transforms her into a vehicle of salvation. This is clear in the work of the Karpuradi-stotra, a short praise of Kāli describing the Pancatattva ritual unto her, performed on cremation grounds. (Samahana-sadhana)He, O Mahākāli who in the cremation-ground, naked, and with dishevelled hair, intently meditates upon Thee and recites Thy mantra, and with each recitation makes offering to Thee of a thousand Akanda flowers with seed, becomes without any effort a Lord of the earth. Oh Kāli, whoever on Tuesday at midnight, having uttered Thy mantra, makes offering even but once with devotion to Thee of a hair of his Shakti [his energy/female companion] in the cremation-ground, becomes a great poet, a Lord of the earth, and ever goes mounted upon an elephant.The Karpuradi-stotra clearly indicates that Kāli is more than a terrible, vicious, slayer of demons who serves Durga or Shiva. Here, she is identified as the supreme mistress of the universe, associated with the five elements. In union with Lord Shiva, she creates and destroys worlds. Her appearance also takes a different turn, befitting her role as ruler of the world and object of meditation. In contrast to her terrible aspects, she takes on hints of a more benign dimension. She is described as young and beautiful, has a gentle smile, and makes gestures with her two right hands to dispel any fear and offer boons. The more positive features exposed offer the distillation of divine wrath into a goddess of salvation, who rids the sadhaka of fear. Here, Kali appears as a symbol of triumph over death.

 

BENGALI TRADITION

Kali is also a central figure in late medieval Bengali devotional literature, with such devotees as Ramprasad Sen (1718–75). With the exception of being associated with Parvati as Shiva's consort, Kāli is rarely pictured in Hindu legends and iconography as a motherly figure until Bengali devotions beginning in the early eighteenth century. Even in Bengāli tradition her appearance and habits change little, if at all.

 

The Tantric approach to Kāli is to display courage by confronting her on cremation grounds in the dead of night, despite her terrible appearance. In contrast, the Bengali devotee appropriates Kāli's teachings adopting the attitude of a child, coming to love her unreservedly. In both cases, the goal of the devotee is to become reconciled with death and to learn acceptance of the way that things are. These themes are well addressed in Rāmprasād's work. Rāmprasād comments in many of his other songs that Kāli is indifferent to his wellbeing, causes him to suffer, brings his worldly desires to nothing and his worldly goods to ruin. He also states that she does not behave like a mother should and that she ignores his pleas:

 

Can mercy be found in the heart of her who was born of the stone? [a reference to Kali as the daughter of Himalaya]

Were she not merciless, would she kick the breast of her lord?

Men call you merciful, but there is no trace of mercy in you, Mother.

You have cut off the heads of the children of others, and these you wear as a garland around your neck.

It matters not how much I call you "Mother, Mother." You hear me, but you will not listen.

 

To be a child of Kāli, Rāmprasād asserts, is to be denied of earthly delights and pleasures. Kāli is said to refrain from giving that which is expected. To the devotee, it is perhaps her very refusal to do so that enables her devotees to reflect on dimensions of themselves and of reality that go beyond the material world.

 

A significant portion of Bengali devotional music features Kāli as its central theme and is known as Shyama Sangeet ("Music of the Night"). Mostly sung by male vocalists, today even women have taken to this form of music. One of the finest singers of Shyāma Sāngeet is Pannalal Bhattacharya.

 

In Bengal, Kāli is venerated in the festival Kali Puja, the new moon day of Ashwin month which coincides with Diwali festival.

 

In a unique form of Kāli worship, Shantipur worships Kāli in the form of a hand painted image of the deity known as Poteshwari (meaning the deity drawn on a piece of cloth).

 

LEGENDS

SLAYER AND RAKTABIJA

In Kāli's most famous legend, Devi Durga (Adi Parashakti) and her assistants, the Matrikas, wound the demon Raktabija, in various ways and with a variety of weapons in an attempt to destroy him. They soon find that they have worsened the situation for with every drop of blood that is dripped from Raktabija he reproduces a clone of himself. The battlefield becomes increasingly filled with his duplicates. Durga, in need of help, summons Kāli to combat the demons. It is said, in some versions, that Goddess Durga actually assumes the form of Goddess Kāli at this time. The Devi Mahatmyam describes:

 

Out of the surface of her (Durga's) forehead, fierce with frown, issued suddenly Kali of terrible countenance, armed with a sword and noose. Bearing the strange khatvanga (skull-topped staff ), decorated with a garland of skulls, clad in a tiger's skin, very appalling owing to her emaciated flesh, with gaping mouth, fearful with her tongue lolling out, having deep reddish eyes, filling the regions of the sky with her roars, falling upon impetuously and slaughtering the great asuras in that army, she devoured those hordes of the foes of the devas.

 

Kali consumes Raktabija and his duplicates, and dances on the corpses of the slain. In the Devi Mahatmya version of this story, Kali is also described as a Matrika and as a Shakti or power of Devi. She is given the epithet Cāṃuṇḍā (Chamunda), i.e. the slayer of the demons Chanda and Munda. Chamunda is very often identified with Kali and is very much like her in appearance and habit.

  

DAKSHINA KALI

In her most famous pose as Daksinakali, popular legends say that Kali, drunk on the blood of her victims, is about to destroy the whole universe when, urged by all the gods, Shiva lies in her way to stop her, and she steps upon his chest. Recognizing Shiva beneath her feet, she calms herself. Though not included in any of the puranas, popular legends state that Kali was ashamed at the prospect of keeping her husband beneath her feet and thus stuck her tongue out in shame. The Devi-Bhagavata Purana, which goes into great depths about the goddess Kali, reveals the tongue's actual symbolism.

 

The characteristic icons that depict Kali are the following; unbridled matted hair, open blood shot eyes, open mouth and a drooping tongue; in her hands, she holds a Khadga (bent sword or scimitar) and a human head; she has a girdle of human hands across her waist, and Shiva lies beneath her feet. The drooping out-stuck tongue represents her blood-thirst. Lord Shiva beneath her feet represents matter, as Kali energy. The depiction of Kali on Shiva shows that without energy, matter lies "dead". This concept has been simplified to a folk-tale depicting a wife placing her foot

 

on her husband and sticking her tongue out in shame. In tantric contexts, the tongue is seen to denote the element (guna) of rajas (energy and action) controlled by sattva.

 

If Kali steps on Shiva with her right foot and holds the sword in her left hand, she is considered to be Dakshina Kali. The Dakshina Kali Temple has important religious associations with the Jagannath Temple and it is believed that Daksinakali is the guardian of the kitchen of the Lord Jagannath Temple. Puranic tradition says that in Puri, Lord Jagannath is regarded as Daksinakalika. Goddess Dakshinakali plays an important role in the 'Niti' of Saptapuri Amavasya.

 

One South Indian tradition tells of a dance contest between Shiva and Kali. After defeating the two demons Sumbha and Nisumbha, Kali takes up residence in the forest of Thiruvalankadu or Thiruvalangadu. She terrorizes the surrounding area with her fierce, disruptive nature. One of Shiva's devotees becomes distracted while performing austerities, and asks Shiva to rid the forest of the destructive goddess. When Shiva arrives, Kali threatens him, and Shiva challenges Kali to a dance contest, wherein Kali matches Shiva until Shiva takes the "Urdhvatandava" step, vertically raising his right leg. Kali refuses to perform this step, which would not befit her as a woman, and becomes pacified.

 

SMASHAN KALI

If the Kali steps out with the left foot and holds the sword in her right hand, she is the terrible form of Mother, the Smashan Kali of the cremation ground. She is worshiped by tantrics, the followers of Tantra, who believe that one's spiritual discipline practiced in a smashan (cremation ground) brings success quickly. Sarda Devi, the consort of Ramakrishna Paramhansa, worshipped Smashan Kali at Dakshineshwar.

 

MATERNAL KALI

At the time of samundra manthan when amrit came out, along with that came out poison which was going to destroy the world hence on the request of all the gods, Lord Shiva drank it to save the world but as he is beyond death he didn't die but was very much in pain due to the poison effect hence he became a child so that Kali can feed him with her milk which will sooth out the poison effect.

 

MAHAKALI

Mahakali (Sanskrit: Mahākālī, Devanagari: महाकाली), literally translated as Great Kali, is sometimes considered as a greater form of Kali, identified with the Ultimate reality of Brahman. It can also be used as an honorific of the Goddess Kali, signifying her greatness by the prefix "Mahā-". Mahakali, in Sanskrit, is etymologically the feminized variant of Mahakala or Great Time (which is interpreted also as Death), an epithet of the God Shiva in Hinduism. Mahakali is the presiding Goddess of the first episode of the Devi Mahatmya. Here she is depicted as Devi in her universal form as Shakti. Here Devi serves as the agent who allows the cosmic order to be restored.

 

Kali is depicted in the Mahakali form as having ten heads, ten arms, and ten legs. Each of her ten hands is carrying a various implement which vary in different accounts, but each of these represent the power of one of the Devas or Hindu Gods and are often the identifying weapon or ritual item of a given Deva. The implication is that Mahakali subsumes and is responsible for the powers that these deities possess and this is in line with the interpretation that Mahakali is identical with Brahman. While not displaying ten heads, an "ekamukhi" or one headed image may be displayed with ten arms, signifying the same concept: the powers of the various Gods come only through Her grace.

 

ICONOGRAPHY

Kali is portrayed mostly in two forms: the popular four-armed form and the ten-armed Mahakali form. In both of her forms, she is described as being black in color but is most often depicted as blue in popular Indian art. Her eyes are described as red with intoxication, and in absolute rage, her hair is shown disheveled, small fangs sometimes protrude out of her mouth, and her tongue is lolling. She is often shown naked or just wearing a skirt made of human arms and a garland of human heads. She is also accompanied by serpents and a jackal while standing on a seemingly dead Shiva, usually right foot forward to symbolize the more popular Dakshinamarga or right-handed path, as opposed to the more infamous and transgressive Vamamarga or left-handed path.

 

In the ten-armed form of Mahakali she is depicted as shining like a blue stone. She has ten faces, ten feet, and three eyes for each head. She has ornaments decked on all her limbs. There is no association with Shiva.

 

The Kalika Purana describes Kali as possessing a soothing dark complexion, as perfectly beautiful, riding a lion, four-armed, holding a sword and blue lotuses, her hair unrestrained, body firm and youthful.

 

In spite of her seemingly terrible form, Kali Ma is often considered the kindest and most loving of all the Hindu goddesses, as she is regarded by her devotees as the Mother of the whole Universe. And because of her terrible form, she is also often seen as a great protector. When the Bengali saint Ramakrishna once asked a devotee why one would prefer to worship Mother over him, this devotee rhetorically replied, "Maharaj", when they are in trouble your devotees come running to you. But, where do you run when you are in trouble?"

 

According to Ramakrishna, darkness is the Ultimate Mother, or Kali:

 

My Mother is the principle of consciousness. She is Akhanda Satchidananda;

indivisible Reality, Awareness, and Bliss. The night sky between the stars is perfectly black.

The waters of the ocean depths are the same; The infinite is always mysteriously dark.

This inebriating darkness is my beloved Kali.

—Sri Ramakrishna

This is clear in the works of such contemporary artists as Charles Wish, and Tyeb Mehta, who sometimes take great liberties with the traditional, accepted symbolism, but still demonstrate a true reverence for the Shakta sect.

 

POPULAR FORM

Classic depictions of Kali share several features, as follows:

 

Kali's most common four armed iconographic image shows each hand carrying variously a sword, a trishul (trident), a severed head, and a bowl or skull-cup (kapala) catching the blood of the severed head.

 

Two of these hands (usually the left) are holding a sword and a severed head. The Sword signifies Divine Knowledge and the Human Head signifies human Ego which must be slain by Divine Knowledge in order to attain Moksha. The other two hands (usually the right) are in the abhaya (fearlessness) and varada (blessing) mudras, which means her initiated devotees (or anyone worshipping her with a true heart) will be saved as she will guide them here and in the hereafter.

 

She has a garland consisting of human heads, variously enumerated at 108 (an auspicious number in Hinduism and the number of countable beads on a Japa Mala or rosary for repetition of Mantras) or 51, which represents Varnamala or the Garland of letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, Devanagari. Hindus believe Sanskrit is a language of dynamism, and each of these letters represents a form of energy, or a form of Kali. Therefore, she is generally seen as the mother of language, and all mantras.

 

She is often depicted naked which symbolizes her being beyond the covering of Maya since she is pure (nirguna) being-consciousness-bliss and far above prakriti. She is shown as very dark as she is brahman in its supreme unmanifest state. She has no permanent qualities - she will continue to exist even when the universe ends. It is therefore believed that the concepts of color, light, good, bad do not apply to her - she is the pure, un-manifested energy, the Adi-shakti.

 

Kali as the Symbol of Creation , Freedom , Preservation and Destruction

 

The head that hangs in Kali's hand is a symbol of Ego and the scimitar which she is holding represents power and energy.It is believed that Kali is protecting the human race by that scimitar and also destroying the negativity and ego within human being. The body lying under Kali symbolizes ruination, is actually a form of Shiva. Kali steps her leg on the chest of the body and suppress ruination . Since she is standing on the pure white chest of Lord Shiva who, as pure primal awareness, lays in a passive reclining position, peacefully lies with his eyes half open in a state of bliss. Her hair is long, black and flowing freely depicting Her freedom from convention and the confines of conceptualization. The white teeth which Kali has stands for conscience and her red tongue represents greed. By pressing her white teeth on her tongue Kali refers to control greed.The goddess may appear terrible from outside but every symbol in Kali signifies truth of life. Since the earth was created out of darkness, the dark black color of Kali symbolizes the color from which everything was born. Her right hand side arms she shows the Abhaya mudra(gesture of fearlessness) and Vara mudra (gesture of welcome and charity) respectively . But on the other arm in left side she holds a bloody scimitar and a severed head depicting destruction and end of ego.

Kali as the Symbol of Mother Nature

 

The name Kali means Kala or force of time. When there were neither the creation, nor the sun, the moon, the planets, and the earth, there was only darkness and everything was created from the darkness. The Dark appearance of kali represents the darkness from which everything was born. Her complexion is deep blue, like the sky and ocean water as blue. As she is also the goddess of Preservation Kali is worshiped as mother to preserve the nature.Kali is standing calm on Shiva, her appearance represents the preservation of mother nature. Her free, long and black hair represents nature's freedom from civilization. Under the third eye of kali, the signs of both sun, moon and fire are visible which represent the driving forces of nature.

 

SHIVA IN KALI ICONOGRAPHY

In both these images she is shown standing on the prone, inert or dead body of Shiva. There is a legend for the reason behind her standing on what appears to be Shiva's corpse, which translates as follows:

 

Once Kali had destroyed all the demons in battle, she began a terrific dance out of the sheer joy of victory. All the worlds or lokas began to tremble and sway under the impact of her dance. So, at the request of all the Gods, Shiva himself asked her to desist from this behavior. However, she was too intoxicated to listen. Hence, Shiva lay like a corpse among the slain demons in order to absorb the shock of the dance into himself. When Kali eventually stepped upon Shiva, she realized she was trampling and hurting her husband and bit her tongue in shame.

 

The story described here is a popular folk tale and not described or hinted in any of the puranas. The puranic interpretation is as follows:

 

Once, Parvati asks Shiva to chose the one form among her 10 forms which he likes most. To her surprise, Shiva reveals that he is most comfortable with her Kali form, in which she is bereft of her jewellery, her human-form, her clothes, her emotions and where she is only raw, chaotic energy, where she is as terrible as time itself and even greater than time. As Parvati takes the form of Kali, Shiva lies at her feet and requests her to place her foot on his chest, upon his heart. Once in this form, Shiva requests her to have this place, below her feet in her iconic image which would be worshiped throughout.

 

This idea has been explored in the Devi-Bhagavata Purana [28] and is most popular in the Shyama Sangeet, devotional songs to Kali from the 12th to 15th centuries.

 

The Tantric interpretation of Kali standing on top of her husband is as follows:

 

The Shiv tattava (Divine Consciousness as Shiva) is inactive, while the Shakti tattava (Divine Energy as Kali) is active. Shiva and Kali represent Brahman, the Absolute pure consciousness which is beyond all names, forms and activities. Kali, on the other hand, represents the potential (and manifested) energy responsible for all names, forms and activities. She is his Shakti, or creative power, and is seen as the substance behind the entire content of all consciousness. She can never exist apart from Shiva or act independently of him, just as Shiva remains a mere corpse without Kali i.e., Shakti, all the matter/energy of the universe, is not distinct from Shiva, or Brahman, but is rather the dynamic power of Brahman. Hence, Kali is Para Brahman in the feminine and dynamic aspect while Shiva is the male aspect and static. She stands as the absolute basis for all life, energy and beneath her feet lies, Shiva, a metaphor for mass, which cannot retain its form without energy.

 

While this is an advanced concept in monistic Shaktism, it also agrees with the Nondual Trika philosophy of Kashmir, popularly known as Kashmir Shaivism and associated most famously with Abhinavagupta. There is a colloquial saying that "Shiva without Shakti is Shava" which means that without the power of action (Shakti) that is Mahakali (represented as the short "i" in Devanagari) Shiva (or consciousness itself) is inactive; Shava means corpse in Sanskrit and the play on words is that all Sanskrit consonants are assumed to be followed by a short letter "a" unless otherwise noted. The short letter "i" represents the female power or Shakti that activates Creation. This is often the explanation for why She is standing on Shiva, who is either Her husband and complement in Shaktism or the Supreme Godhead in Shaivism.

 

To properly understand this complex Tantric symbolism it is important to remember that the meaning behind Shiva and Kali does not stray from the non-dualistic parlance of Shankara or the Upanisads. According to both the Mahanirvana and Kularnava Tantras, there are two distinct ways of perceiving the same absolute reality. The first is a transcendental plane which is often described as static, yet infinite. It is here that there is no matter, there is no universe and only consciousness exists. This form of reality is known as Shiva, the absolute Sat-Chit-Ananda - existence, knowledge and bliss. The second is an active plane, an immanent plane, the plane of matter, of Maya, i.e., where the illusion of space-time and the appearance of an actual universe does exist. This form of reality is known as Kali or Shakti, and (in its entirety) is still specified as the same Absolute Sat-Chit-Ananda. It is here in this second plane that the universe (as we commonly know it) is experienced and is described by the Tantric seer as the play of Shakti, or God as Mother Kali.

 

From a Tantric perspective, when one meditates on reality at rest, as absolute pure consciousness (without the activities of creation, preservation or dissolution) one refers to this as Shiva or Brahman. When one meditates on reality as dynamic and creative, as the Absolute content of pure consciousness (with all the activities of creation, preservation or dissolution) one refers to it as Kali or Shakti. However, in either case the yogini or yogi is interested in one and the same reality - the only difference being in name and fluctuating aspects of appearance. It is this which is generally accepted as the meaning of Kali standing on the chest of Shiva.

 

Although there is often controversy surrounding the images of divine copulation, the general consensus is benign and free from any carnal impurities in its substance. In Tantra the human body is a symbol for the microcosm of the universe; therefore sexual process is responsible for the creation of the world. Although theoretically Shiva and Kali (or Shakti) are inseparable, like fire and its power to burn, in the case of creation they are often seen as having separate roles. With Shiva as male and Kali as female it is only by their union that creation may transpire. This reminds us of the prakrti and purusa doctrine of Samkhya wherein prakāśa- vimarśa has no practical value, just as without prakrti, purusa is quite inactive. This (once again) stresses the interdependencies of Shiva and Shakti and the vitality of their union.

 

Gopi Krishna proposed that Kali standing on the dead Shiva or Shava (Sanskrit for dead body) symbolised the helplessness of a person undergoing the changing process (psychologically and physiologically) in the body conducted by the Kundalini Shakti.

 

DEVELOPMENT

In the later traditions, Kali has become inextricably linked with Shiva. The unleashed form of Kali often becomes wild and uncontrollable, and only Shiva is able to tame her just as only Kali can tame Shiva. This is both because she is often a transformed version of one of his consorts and because he is able to match her wildness.

 

The ancient text of Kali Kautuvam describes her competition with Shiva in dance, from which the sacred 108 Karanas appeared. Shiva won the competition by acting the urdva tandava, one of the Karanas, by raising his feet to his head. Other texts describe Shiva appearing as a crying infant and appealing to her maternal instincts. While Shiva is said to be able to tame her, the iconography often presents her dancing on his fallen body, and there are accounts of the two of them dancing together, and driving each other to such wildness that the world comes close to unravelling.

 

Shiva's involvement with Tantra and Kali's dark nature have led to her becoming an important Tantric figure. To the Tantric worshippers, it was essential to face her Curse, the terror of death, as willingly as they accepted Blessings from her beautiful, nurturing, maternal aspect. For them, wisdom meant learning that no coin has only one side: as death cannot exist without life, so life cannot exist without death. Kali's role sometimes grew beyond that of a chaos - which could be confronted - to that of one who could bring wisdom, and she is given great metaphysical significance by some Tantric texts. The Nirvāna-tantra clearly presents her uncontrolled nature as the Ultimate Reality, claiming that the trimurti of Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra arise and disappear from her like bubbles from the sea. Although this is an extreme case, the Yogini-tantra, Kamakhya-tantra and the Niruttara-tantra declare her the svarupa (own-being) of the Mahadevi (the great Goddess, who is in this case seen as the combination of all devis).The final stage of development is the worshipping of Kali as the Great Mother, devoid of her usual violence. This practice is a break from the more traditional depictions. The pioneers of this tradition are the 18th century Shakta poets such as Ramprasad Sen, who show an awareness of Kali's ambivalent nature. Ramakrishna, the 19th century Bengali saint, was also a great devotee of Kali; the western popularity of whom may have contributed to the more modern, equivocal interpretations of this Goddess. Rachel McDermott's work, however, suggests that for the common, modern worshipper, Kali is not seen as fearful, and only those educated in old traditions see her as having a wrathful component. Some credit to the development of Devi must also be given to Samkhya. Commonly referred to as the Devi of delusion, Mahamaya or Durga, acting in the confines of (but not being bound by) the nature of the three gunas, takes three forms: Maha-Kali, Maha-Lakshmi and Maha-Saraswati, being her tamas-ika, rajas-ika and sattva-ika forms. In this sense, Kali is simply part of a larger whole.

 

Like Sir John Woodroffe and Georg Feuerstein, many Tantric scholars (as well as sincere practitioners) agree that, no matter how propitious or appalling you describe them, Shiva and Devi are simply recognizable symbols for everyday, abstract (yet tangible) concepts such as perception, knowledge, space-time, causation and the process of liberating oneself from the confines of such things. Shiva, symbolizing pure, absolute consciousness, and Devi, symbolizing the entire content of that consciousness, are ultimately one and the same - totality incarnate, a micro-macro-cosmic amalgamation of all subjects, all objects and all phenomenal relations between the "two." Like man and woman who both share many common, human traits yet at the same time they are still different and, therefore, may also be seen as complementary.

 

Worshippers prescribe various benign and horrific qualities to Devi simply out of practicality. They do this so they may have a variety of symbols to choose from, symbols which they can identify and relate with from the perspective of their own, ever-changing time, place and personal level of unfolding. Just like modern chemists or physicists use a variety of molecular and atomic models to describe what is unperceivable through rudimentary, sensory input, the scientists of ontology and epistemology must do the same. One of the underlying distinctions of Tantra, in comparison to other religions, is that it allows the devotee the liberty to choose from a vast array of complementary symbols and rhetoric which suit one's evolving needs and tastes. From an aesthetic standpoint, nothing is interdict and nothing is orthodox. In this sense, the projection of some of Devi's more gentle qualities onto Kali is not sacrilege and the development of Kali really lies in the practitioner, not the murthi.

 

A TIME magazine article of October 27, 1947, used Kali as a symbol and metaphor for the human suffering in British India during its partition that year. In 1971, Ms. Magazine used an image of Kali, her multiple arms juggling modern tasks, as a symbol of modern womanhood on its inaugural issue.

 

Swami Vivekananda wrote his favorite poem Kali the Mother in 1898.

 

KALI IN NEOPAGAN AND NEW AGE PRACTICE

An academic study of Western Kali enthusiasts noted that, "as shown in the histories of all cross-cultural religious transplants, Kali devotionalism in the West must take on its own indigenous forms if it is to adapt to its new environment."[60] The adoption of Kali by the West has raised accusations of cultural appropriation:

 

A variety of writers and thinkers have found Kali an exciting figure for reflection and exploration, notably feminists and participants in New Age spirituality who are attracted to goddess worship. [For them], Kali is a symbol of wholeness and healing, associated especially with repressed female power and sexuality. [However, such interpretations often exhibit] confusion and misrepresentation, stemming from a lack of knowledge of Hindu history among these authors, [who only rarely] draw upon materials written by scholars of the Hindu religious tradition. The majority instead rely chiefly on other popular feminist sources, almost none of which base their interpretations on a close reading of Kali's Indian background. The most important issue arising from this discussion - even more important than the question of 'correct' interpretation - concerns the adoption of other people's religious symbols. It is hard to import the worship of a goddess from another culture: religious associations and connotations have to be learned, imagined or intuited when the deep symbolic meanings embedded in the native culture are not available.

 

INCARNATIONS OF KALI

Draupadi, Wife of Pandavas, was an avatar of Kali, who born to assist Lord Krishna to destroy arrogant kings of India. There is a temple dedicated to this incarnation at Banni Mata Temple at Himachal Pradesh. The vedic deity Nirriti or the Puranic deity Alakshmi is often considered as incarnations of Kali.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Sold for £ 15.000

 

The Jaguar Land-Rover Collection

Brightwells Auctions

Bicester Heritage

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England

March 2018

 

The second of a brace of superb W124 (C124) cabriolets on offer today, this classy drop-head is a late CE-badged model before the model designation changed to become simply E-class.

 

It was ordered with the smooth and powerful 3.2-litre straight-6 engine uncommonly mated to special-order five-speed manual transmission with dog-leg first gear. We understand that it has covered just 18.803 miles from new and had two former keepers in the UK before being purchased in October 2002 to form part of this collection. The car was originally supplied new to its lucky owner in sunny Cyrpus in May 1993 where it remained until its import and registration in the UK in October 1998.

 

It is finished in period-correct two-tone blue with grey sports checker interior and walnut trim. The electric blue soft top looks in good original order but is untested as the car has not been run for some time and we have not attempted to start it. The history file includes a V5C registration certificate and its owner’s pack along with the service booklet showing 9 stamps including the PDI, the last recorded service taking place at 18.041 miles in June 2009.

 

The car was last presented for an Mot in September 2010 at which point it had covered just 18.499 miles. Given the car has covered only 300 miles in the last 8 years we have not attempted to start it and would recommend the car be subject to a thorough service and check over before being enjoyed in the sunshine, roof down as it was intended to be.

 

These svelte 124 series cabriolets are sound investments and rewarding to drive with full four seater practicalities on offer. A great investment opportunity, not only is it low-mileage but it is manual too. Most unusual!

Wilbur Montague Clembert's response upon being rejected from particapation in the Seminary of Bible College, Springfield, Illinois, "But that isn't fair. I had all my tattoo work done years before I decided to become a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Where is the teaching of forgiveness in this decision?"

 

I look at this guy and his tattoo work and the situation becomes great Dada humor. What if he wanted to become a police officer, a wellfare worker, a banker or an operating room nurse?

 

Some people should certainly be excluded form certain jobs. Convicted pedophiles should not be allowed to run or work in day schools, right? Convicted rapists should not be employed at women's centers, OK?

 

But how about this? If you have a felony conviction, you cannot become a lawyer, nor can you enroll in law school. Where's the practicality in that.

 

Does anyone really believe a person with a drug conviction could give a better defense to a man on trial for drug distribution than the lawyers who are already doing it ... and doing it without DRUG CONVICTIONS of their own? Go figure.

The Terryville Volkswagen Show is predominantly centered around the Beetle and its aircooled brethren, though watercooled VWs are allowed. Nevertheless, you can imagine my surprise when I saw this immaculate 1975 Scirocco to greet me!

 

Based on the original Golf/Rabbit hatchback, the Scirocco was the third of VW’s original watercooled models to be introduced. Named after a hot desert wind that blows over the Mediterranean Sea, the Scirocco was Volkswagen’s entry into the 2+2 sports car market. (The Golf GTI aimed at offering sports car performance with economy car practicality, so the two cars are really quite different.) The Sicrooco was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro just like the Golf/Rabbit, the Passat/Dasher, and the Polo, with the same origami-based styling. They were not built in Wolfsburg or Emden, however; Golf platforms were shipped to Karmann Coachworks in Osnabruck, Germany and fitted with Karmann-built bodies.

 

This ’75 Scirocco is truly a classic, one of the first produced, and it had a potent enough engine for the day – a 1.5-liter four with a Zenith carburetor generating 70 horsepower and propelling the car to sixty miles an hour in a respectable 12.7 seconds.

 

I remember these cars as a kid; I remember looking into the window of one and seeing these really cool tartan-upholstered seats. This Scirocco, alas, did not have such exotic appointments.

 

The present-day Scirocco, the model having returned to the VW lineup in 2008 after a sixteen-year hiatus, is not in the North American VW lineup. Write to Volkswagen of America and complain. Please.

  

   

INAYAH's Dusk Abaya

features pleats, antique gold buttons and a drawstring belt ensuring

comfort and practicality, this abaya is absolutely ideal for everyday

wear. To transform our Dusk Abaya into a classic work-wear abaya, why

not pair it up with a smart printed hijab, such as our Clustered Garden Hijab or our Mink Soft Georgette Hijab for a touch of class!

 

MORNING SPRING HIJAB

 

 Check out hijabs fashion at inayah website.

 

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STREET LOOK

THERE’S A SPECIAL place in the custom motorcycle scene for motorcycles that eschew practicality, in order to push boundaries. This BMW R nineT from Zillers Garage in Russia is hardly the ideal grocery getter or tourer, but the level of craftsmanship at play here is on another level. And that’s why we love it.

 

Zillers Garage is run by Dmitry Golubchikov—an AMD Championship winner who wowed us with his custom Vincent a few months ago. He mostly works alone, but occasionally calls in reinforcements on bigger projects. The commission for this R nineT came from BMW Motorrad Russia, but the inspiration came from the world of aviation.

 

Dmitry started out with a 2016-model R nineT, but all that’s really left now is the motor, final drive arm and part of the frame. Just about everything else was created in-house, with the bike taking a full ten months to complete.

 

The R nineT’s most striking feature is undoubtedly its retro-futuristic bodywork. With the exception of the boxer cylinder heads still poking out, the entire bike is wrapped in hand-formed aluminum sections. And the lines are inspired—from the robotic visage up front, right through to the classically styled tail section.

Unison Pastels

Internationally renowned, soft pastel makers, Unison, have their base in a little known area of Northumberland called Tarset. Put simply, I think they’re the finest pastels in the world.

Unison are tricky to find and shy about signposting their premises, but the determined should head for Bellingham then watch out for a sign to Tarset Tor – it’s a bunkhouse for walkers. From there head for Greenhaugh then use your nose and intuition. Thorneyburn Church – dedicated to St Aiden is your next landmark. The Unison ‘sheds’ huddle next to the churchyard wall. And I do mean, ‘sheds’.

The rewards for artists inside – the sheds – not the graveyard – are immense. It’s like being a kid in a sweetshop. The raw pigments sit modestly in unassuming jars on rickety shelves, their colours glowing like precious silks.

The girls blend them – with faery dust I assume – then spoon dollops out to dry a little before they are hand rolled, then trimmed ready for drying out. The whole process is finished by hand sticking labels onto them.

No romantic names like those Daniel Smith watercolours I love. Here at Unison there is less poetry and more practicality. For instance today (a belated birthday gift) I chose Y1 to Y18, which as you might expect – are 18 types of Yellow, some greens, namely 1 – 24, and one or two from their special collection, which are incredibly intense.

Among this set of images you can see one of the women putting the labels on my selection.

Outside the shed, chickens and ducks scrabble about at your feet, squirrels keep their distance in the trees, and the only sounds are birdsong and breezes. All the building sprout moss and lichen, such is the prolific rainfall out there.

As an artist I love to visit, but there is plenty to amuse photographers too.

 

Oh ho! Now these cars truly do look sublime, one of my absolute favourite sporty looks, especially coming from something as unsuspecting as a Volvo compact!

 

Development of the 480 goes back to the late 1970's, where Volvo desired to move away from their boxy saloon car image and create something a bit more sport looking. Seeing that the Hot Hatchback trend was up in the air at the time, the company chose that their product would take a stab at this lucrative market, creating their very first Front-Wheel-Drive car, but also their first compact. One thing Volvo did notice though was that the hot hatchbacks of the era, such as the Peugeot 205 and the Volkswagen Golf, looked very boxy themselves, with angles and straight lines. As such, the company chose instead to try and cross the sporting looks of contemporary Italian sports cars with the sought after practicality of a hot hatch. The car would be the first hatchback design of Volvo's since the P1800ES prototype of 1972, developed by the Italian styling house Frua.

 

Production of the 480 took place at the NedCar factory in Born in the Netherlands, and cars were built onto the same platform as the company's upcoming 440/460 saloon cars. Power came from a 1.7L Renault engine with 108hp, this being added to later by a Garrett AiResearch turbocharger that upped the power to 118hp. Suspension was designed by Lotus, and came with a myriad of internal electrics for that futuristic touch.

 

The car made its debut at a press launch on October 15th, 1985, and then made its first public appearance at the 1986 Geneva Motor Show. Cars went on sale a year later in 1987, and the car was almost immediately lauded for its break from traditional Volvo design, a true step out of the company's comfort zone. Motoring critics noted its gutsy power, its lucious styling, its fantastic Lotus suspension and handling, and the fact that it was, and still is, the only Volvo to feature pop-up headlights.

 

Although a Cabrio variant was considered in 1987, although it wouldn't be seen until 1990, it wasn't followed up after the supplier declared bankruptcy over safety precautions. Aside from this, the car went through very few changes aside from a facelift and refurb in 1992. Production of this amazing car ended on September 7th, 1995, with 80,463 units sold.

 

Today, this car is often cited as the only Volvo worth preserving outside the P1800, a break from traditional family cars built like tanks but dull as Rice Crackers, and a step into a wild and lary sports world of fast cars and beautiful styling. Although I call the P1800 a fantastic machine, its the 480 that wins me over, it really is a fantastic looking machine, complimented by Volvo's legendary safety and some gung-ho power!

First Lutheran was established in 1863, by German Lutheran settlers, as the first Lutheran church in the city of Green Bay. First celebrated its 150th anniversary in Sept. 2013.

 

First Lutheran is a member of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), a Bible-based church body of about 380,000 individuals working together in 1,273 churches throughout the 50 states and in 12 countries around the world.

 

First Lutheran’s present facilities were dedicated in 1957. The Gothic-style building features a bell tower decorated with carvings of the four Evangelists. The main entrance is enhanced by carvings of the 12 Apostles. The theme of the stained-glass windows is “God’s Plan of Salvation.” The Altar, of Italian marble, features the Lamb of God motif.

 

EDUCATION

First Lutheran provides tuition support for our children who attend a neighboring WELS Lutheran Elementary School.

 

First Lutheran provides ChristLight (Sunday School) (age five up through 5th gr.) and catechism instructions (6th-8th gr.) on Wed. evenings, materials for home studies, and adult Bible Classes on Sundays. First Lutheran also provides Bible Information Classes, as requested, for those interested in our teachings, and possible membership.

 

First Lutheran is a Federation member of our Fox Valley Lutheran High School in Appleton. Fox Valley Lutheran has about 580 students.

 

Green Bay is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The county seat of Brown County, it is at the head of Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Fox River. As of the 2020 Census, Green Bay had a population of 107,395, making it the third-most populous city in Wisconsin, after Milwaukee and Madison, and the third-largest city on Lake Michigan, after Chicago and Milwaukee.

 

Green Bay is the principal city of the Green Bay Metropolitan Statistical Area, which covers Brown, Kewaunee, and Oconto counties. Green Bay is the home city of the National Football League (NFL)'s Green Bay Packers.

 

Samuel de Champlain, the founder of New France, commissioned Jean Nicolet to form a peaceful alliance with Native Americans in the western areas, whose unrest interfered with the French fur trade, and to search for a shorter trade route to China through Canada. Nicolet and others had learned from other First Nations of the Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) people, who identified as "People of the Sea", and believed they must reside on or near an Ocean. Champlain had also heard about natural resources in the area, including fertile soil, forests, and animals. Nicolet began his journey for this new land shortly before winter in 1634. In what later became a French fur-trading route, he sailed up the Ottawa River, through Lake Nipissing and down the French River to Lake Huron, then through the straits of Michilimackinac into Lake Michigan. He is believed to have landed at Red Banks, near the site of the modern-day city of Green Bay, Wisconsin.

 

Nicolet founded a small trading post here in 1634, originally named La Baye or La Baie des Puants (French for "the Bay of Stinking Waters"). Nicolet's settlement was one of the oldest European permanent settlements in America.

 

When Nicolet arrived in the Green Bay area, he encountered the Menominee, who occupied this territory. He also met the Ho-Chunk (also known as the Winnebago), a people who spoke a Siouan language.

 

The Winnebago hunted and fished, and also cultivated corn, beans, squash, and tobacco. Wild rice, which they had incorporated as a dietary staple, grew in abundance along the riverbanks. The women regularly harvested and cooked this, along with a wide variety of nuts, berries, and edible roots which they gathered in the woods. The men typically hunted and fished for food, and the women processed game and other foods in cooking. They prepared and made clothing from the furs, as well as using other parts of animals to make tools, cord, etc. Women also had a role in the political process, as no action could be taken without agreement of half of the women. Nicolet stayed with this tribe for about a year, becoming an ally. He helped open up opportunities for trade and commerce with them before returning to Quebec.

 

A few months after Nicolet returned to Quebec, Champlain died. His death halted other journeys to La Baie Verte (French for "The Green Bay"). Père Claude Allouez sent Nicolas Perrot to La Baie. After this, the French avoided the area for some decades, because of the intensity of First Nations and European conflicts in the east. In 1671, a Jesuit Mission was set up in the area. A fort was added in 1717 and gradually associated development took place. The town was incorporated in 1754.

 

Great Britain took control of some French areas during the Seven Years' War, known as the French and Indian War in some areas of North America. They took control of this town in 1761. After the British defeated the French in 1763, France ceded its lands east of the Mississippi in North America.

 

The first permanent settlers were Charles de Langlade and his family from Quebec, who moved to Green Bay in 1765. They are considered the first European settlers in the present-day state of Wisconsin. Langlade, called the "Founder and Father of Wisconsin", was a métis or mixed-race, son of a French-Canadian father and an Ottawa woman. He grew up with his mother's family among the Ottawa people and became a war chief. The Ottawa were allies of the French during the French and Indian War, and Langlade is credited with planning the ambush of British General Braddock and George Washington. His family was followed to Green Bay by the Grignons, Porliers and Lawes, who brought French-Canadian culture with them. Colorful "jack-knife Judge" Reaume dispensed British justice in the territory after Great Britain took it over following the war. These early ethnic French settlers set the tone for many who followed.

 

The British gradually took over Wisconsin during the French and Indian War, taking control of Green Bay in 1761 and gaining control of all of Wisconsin in 1763. Like the French, the British were interested in little but the fur trade. The first permanent settlers, mostly French Canadians, some Anglo-New Englanders and a few African American freedmen, arrived in Wisconsin while it was under British control. Charles Michel de Langlade is generally recognized as the first settler, establishing a trading post at Green Bay in 1745, and moving there permanently in 1764. Settlement began at Prairie du Chien around 1781. The French residents at the trading post in what is now Green Bay, referred to the town as "La Bey," however British fur traders referred to it as "Green Bay," because the water and the shore assumed green tints in early spring. The old French title was gradually dropped, and the British name of "Green Bay" stuck. The region coming under British rule had virtually no adverse effect on the French residents as the British needed the cooperation of the French fur traders and the French fur traders needed the goodwill of the British. During the French occupation of the region licenses for fur trading had been issued scarcely and only to select groups of traders, whereas the British, in an effort to make as much money as possible from the region, issued licenses for fur trading freely, both to British and French residents. The fur trade in what is now Wisconsin reached its height under British rule, and the first self-sustaining farms in the state were established as well. From 1763 to 1780, Green Bay was a prosperous community which produced its own foodstuff, built graceful cottages and held dances and festivities. In 1791, two free African Americans set up a fur trading post among the Menominee at present day Marinette.

 

The Green Bay area was still under British control until the 1783 treaty formally ended the American Revolutionary War. Following the War of 1812, which in part was over disputes related to the border with Canada, the United States built Fort Howard on the Fox River in 1816 to protect its northern border. Doty, Whitney, Arndt, Baird and Martin were among the many British-American settlers whose numbers pushed French culture into the background.

 

The Erie Canal was completed in 1825, linking New England with the Great Lakes. This led to the advance of Green Bay as a trading center. The end of the Black Hawk War in 1832 also gave impetus to settlement of the region. Most of the settlers were farmers from New England who began using the Erie Canal to pour into Wisconsin. As more and more New England settlers arrived, Green Bay developed into a trading center for this population.

 

Wisconsin's first newspaper, The Green Bay Intelligencer, was started in 1833 by Albert Ellis and John V. Suydam. The borough of Green Bay, created in 1838, is the center of the present-day city. The borough combined the town of Astor (a company town of the American Fur Company) with Navarino, platted by Daniel Whitney. Before Wisconsin became a state in 1848, its commerce was based on the fur trade, which became dominated by John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company. After statehood, there was a shift away from fur trading toward lumbering. "For a short time in 1860s and 1870s, iron smelting in charcoal kilns rivaled the timber industry while the port handled increasing amounts of fuel, feed, and lumber. Today's major local industry had its start in 1865 when the first paper mill was built."

 

By 1850 the town had a population of 1,923. The town was incorporated as the city of Green Bay in 1854. The Green Bay Area Public School District was founded in 1856. Throughout the 1850s, word spread of America's cheap land and good soil, bringing in an influx of Belgian people, German, Scandinavian, Irish and Dutch immigrants, each adding to the culture. The greatest concentration of newcomers came from Belgium. They cleared the land to farm and build their homes.

 

The railroad arrived in the 1860s. The three railroads that would reach Green Bay were the Chicago & North Western (C&NW), SOO Line, (SOO), and the Milwaukee Road (MILW). These railroads were highways which allowed people and products to travel all over the state, increasing business and trade opportunities. The area was able to grow and enrich itself with the use of the plentiful timber resources. This led to the paper industry becoming the major employer in Green Bay, and opened up the port for international trade.

 

Large numbers of Belgians immigrated to Green Bay in the thirty-year period between 1880 and 1910. Significant numbers of English immigrants, many having lived first in Canada, also moved to Green Bay during this period, usually arriving as large families. There was also a small Dutch community in Green Bay at this time. Green Bay had a larger portion of first generation immigrants from France than any other city in Wisconsin at this time as well.

 

In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt came to Green Bay to honor its tercentenary.[18] By 1950, the city had a population of 52,735. In 1964, the Town of Preble was consolidated with the city of Green Bay.

 

Wisconsin is a state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by land area and the 20th-most populous.

 

The bulk of Wisconsin's population live in areas situated along the shores of Lake Michigan. The largest city, Milwaukee, anchors its largest metropolitan area, followed by Green Bay and Kenosha, the third- and fourth-most-populated Wisconsin cities, respectively. The state capital, Madison, is currently the second-most-populated and fastest-growing city in the state. Wisconsin is divided into 72 counties and as of the 2020 census had a population of nearly 5.9 million.

 

Wisconsin's geography is diverse, having been greatly impacted by glaciers during the Ice Age with the exception of the Driftless Area. The Northern Highland and Western Upland along with a part of the Central Plain occupy the western part of the state, with lowlands stretching to the shore of Lake Michigan. Wisconsin is third to Ontario and Michigan in the length of its Great Lakes coastline. The northern portion of the state is home to the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. At the time of European contact, the area was inhabited by Algonquian and Siouan nations, and today it is home to eleven federally recognized tribes. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, many European settlers entered the state, most of whom emigrated from Germany and Scandinavia. Wisconsin remains a center of German American and Scandinavian American culture, particularly in respect to its cuisine, with foods such as bratwurst and kringle. Wisconsin is home to one UNESCO World Heritage Site, comprising two of the most significant buildings designed by Wisconsin-born architect Frank Lloyd Wright: his studio at Taliesin near Spring Green and his Jacobs I House in Madison.

 

The Republican Party was founded in Wisconsin in 1854. In more recent years, Wisconsin has been a battleground state in presidential elections, notably in 2016 and 2020.

 

Wisconsin is one of the nation's leading dairy producers and is known as "America's Dairyland"; it is particularly famous for its cheese. The state is also famous for its beer, particularly and historically in Milwaukee, most notably as the headquarters of the Miller Brewing Company. Wisconsin has some of the most permissive alcohol laws in the country and is well known for its drinking culture. Its economy is dominated by manufacturing, healthcare, information technology, and agriculture—specifically dairy, cranberries, and ginseng. Tourism is also a major contributor to the state's economy. The gross domestic product in 2020 was $348 billion.

 

The history of Wisconsin encompasses the story not only of the people who have lived in Wisconsin since it became a state of the U.S., but also that of the Native American tribes who made their homeland in Wisconsin, the French and British colonists who were the first Europeans to live there, and the American settlers who lived in Wisconsin when it was a territory.

 

Since its admission to the Union on May 29, 1848, as the 30th state, Wisconsin has been ethnically heterogeneous, with Yankees being among the first to arrive from New York and New England. They dominated the state's heavy industry, finance, politics and education. Large numbers of European immigrants followed them, including German Americans, mostly between 1850 and 1900, Scandinavians (the largest group being Norwegian Americans) and smaller groups of Belgian Americans, Dutch Americans, Swiss Americans, Finnish Americans, Irish Americans and others; in the 20th century, large numbers of Polish Americans and African Americans came, settling mainly in Milwaukee.

 

Politically the state was predominantly Republican until recent years, when it became more evenly balanced. The state took a national leadership role in the Progressive Movement, under the aegis of Robert M. "Fighting Bob" La Follette and his family, who fought the old guard bitterly at the state and national levels. The "Wisconsin Idea" called for the use of the higher learning in modernizing government, and the state is notable for its strong network of state universities.

 

The first known inhabitants of what is now Wisconsin were Paleo-Indians, who first arrived in the region in about 10,000 BC at the end of the Ice Age. The retreating glaciers left behind a tundra in Wisconsin inhabited by large animals, such as mammoths, mastodons, bison, giant beaver, and muskox. The Boaz mastodon and the Clovis artifacts discovered in Boaz, Wisconsin show that the Paleo-Indians hunted these large animals. They also gathered plants as conifer forests grew in the glaciers' wake. With the decline and extinction of many large mammals in the Americas, the Paleo-Indian diet shifted toward smaller mammals like deer and bison.

 

During the Archaic Period, from 6000 to 1000 BC, mixed conifer-hardwood forests as well as mixed prairie-forests replaced Wisconsin's conifer forests. People continued to depend on hunting and gathering. Around 4000 BC they developed spear-throwers and copper tools such as axes, adzes, projectile points, knives, perforators, fishhooks and harpoons. Copper ornaments like beaded necklaces also appeared around 1500 BC. These people gathered copper ore at quarries on the Keweenaw Peninsula in Michigan and on Isle Royale in Lake Superior. They may have crafted copper artifacts by hammering and folding the metal and also by heating it to increase its malleability. However it is not certain if these people reached the level of copper smelting. Regardless, the Copper Culture of the Great Lakes region reached a level of sophistication unprecedented in North America. The Late Archaic Period also saw the emergence of cemeteries and ritual burials, such as the one in Oconto.

 

The Early Woodland Period began in 1000 BC as plants became an increasingly important part of the people's diet. Small scale agriculture and pottery arrived in southern Wisconsin at this time. The primary crops were maize, beans and squash. Agriculture, however, could not sufficiently support these people, who also had to hunt and gather. Agriculture at this time was more akin to gardening than to farming. Villages emerged along rivers, streams and lakes, and the earliest earthen burial mounds were constructed. The Havana Hopewell culture arrived in Wisconsin in the Middle Woodland Period, settling along the Mississippi River. The Hopewell people connected Wisconsin to their trade practices, which stretched from Ohio to Yellowstone and from Wisconsin to the Gulf of Mexico. They constructed elaborate mounds, made elaborately decorated pottery and brought a wide range of traded minerals to the area. The Hopewell people may have influenced the other inhabitants of Wisconsin, rather than displacing them. The Late Woodland Period began in about 400 AD, following the disappearance of the Hopewell culture from the area. The people of Wisconsin first used the bow and arrow in the final centuries of the Woodland Period, and agriculture continued to be practiced in the southern part of the state. The effigy mound culture dominated Southern Wisconsin during this time, building earthen burial mounds in the shapes of animals. Examples of effigy mounds still exist at High Cliff State Park and at Lizard Mound County Park. In northern Wisconsin people continued to survive on hunting and gathering, and constructed conical mounds.

 

People of the Mississippian culture expanded into Wisconsin around 1050 AD and established a settlement at Aztalan along the Crawfish River. While begun by the Caddoan people, other cultures began to borrow & adapt the Mississippian cultural structure. This elaborately planned site may have been the northernmost outpost of Cahokia, although it is also now known that some Siouan peoples along the Mississippi River may have taken part in the culture as well. Regardless, the Mississippian site traded with and was clearly influenced in its civic and defensive planning, as well as culturally, by its much larger southern neighbor. A rectangular wood-and-clay stockade surrounded the twenty acre site, which contained two large earthen mounds and a central plaza. One mound may have been used for food storage, as a residence for high-ranking officials, or as a temple, and the other may have been used as a mortuary. The Mississippian culture cultivated maize intensively, and their fields probably stretched far beyond the stockade at Aztalan, although modern agriculture has erased any traces of Mississippian practices in the area. Some rumors also speculate that the people of Aztalan may have experimented slightly with stone architecture in the making of a man-made, stone-line pond, at the very least. While the first settler on the land of what is now the city supposedly reported this, he filled it in and it has yet to be rediscovered.

 

Both Woodland and Mississippian peoples inhabited Aztalan, which was connected to the extensive Mississippian trade network. Shells from the Gulf of Mexico, copper from Lake Superior and Mill Creek chert have been found at the site. Aztalan was abandoned around 1200 AD. The Oneota people later built agriculturally based villages, similar to those of the Mississippians but without the extensive trade networks, in the state.

 

By the time the first Europeans arrived in Wisconsin, the Oneota had disappeared. The historically documented inhabitants, as of the first European incursions, were the Siouan speaking Dakota Oyate to the northwest, the Chiwere speaking Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) and the Algonquian Menominee to the northeast, with their lands beginning approximately north of Green Bay. The Chiwere lands were south of Green Bay and followed rivers to the southwest. Over time, other tribes moved to Wisconsin, including the Ojibwe, the Illinois, the Fauk, the Sauk and the Mahican. The Mahican were one of the last groups to arrived, coming from New York after the U.S. congress passed the Indian Removal Act of 1830.

 

The first European known to have landed in Wisconsin was Jean Nicolet. In 1634, Samuel de Champlain, governor of New France, sent Nicolet to contact the Ho-Chunk people, make peace between them and the Huron and expand the fur trade, and possibly to also find a water route to Asia. Accompanied by seven Huron guides, Nicolet left New France and canoed through Lake Huron and Lake Superior, and then became the first European known to have entered Lake Michigan. Nicolet proceeded into Green Bay, which he named La Baie des Puants (literally "The Stinking Bay"), and probably came ashore near the Red Banks. He made contact with the Ho-Chunk and Menominee living in the area and established peaceful relations. Nicolet remained with the Ho-Chunk the winter before he returned to Quebec.

 

The Beaver Wars fought between the Iroquois and the French prevented French explorers from returning to Wisconsin until 1652–1654, when Pierre Radisson and Médard des Groseilliers arrived at La Baie des Puants to trade furs. They returned to Wisconsin in 1659–1660, this time at Chequamegon Bay on Lake Superior. On their second voyage they found that the Ojibwe had expanded into northern Wisconsin, as they continued to prosper in the fur trade. They also were the first Europeans to contact the Santee Dakota. They built a trading post and wintered near Ashland, before returning to Montreal.

 

In 1665 Claude-Jean Allouez, a Jesuit missionary, built a mission on Lake Superior. Five years later he abandoned the mission, and journeyed to La Baie des Puants. Two years later he built St. Francis Xavier Mission near present-day De Pere. In his journeys through Wisconsin, he encountered groups of Native Americans who had been displaced by Iroquois in the Beaver Wars. He evangelized the Algonquin-speaking Potawatomi, who had settled on the Door Peninsula after fleeing Iroquois attacks in Michigan. He also encountered the Algonquin-speaking Sauk, who had been forced into Michigan by the Iroquois, and then had been forced into central Wisconsin by the Ojibwe and the Huron.

 

The next major expedition into Wisconsin was that of Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet in 1673. After hearing rumors from Indians telling of the existence of the Mississippi River, Marquette and Joliet set out from St. Ignace, in what is now Michigan, and entered the Fox River at Green Bay. They canoed up the Fox until they reached the river's westernmost point, and then portaged, or carried their boats, to the nearby Wisconsin River, where they resumed canoeing downstream to the Mississippi River. Marquette and Joliet reached the Mississippi near what is now Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin in June, 1673.

 

Nicolas Perrot, French commander of the west, established Fort St. Nicholas at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin in May, 1685, near the southwest end of the Fox-Wisconsin Waterway. Perrot also built a fort on the shores of Lake Pepin called Fort St. Antoine in 1686, and a second fort, called Fort Perrot, on an island on Lake Peppin shortly after. In 1727, Fort Beauharnois was constructed on what is now the Minnesota side of Lake Pepin to replace the two previous forts. A fort and a Jesuit mission were also built on the shores of Lake Superior at La Pointe, in present-day Wisconsin, in 1693 and operated until 1698. A second fort was built on the same site in 1718 and operated until 1759. These were not military posts, but rather small storehouses for furs.

 

During the French colonial period, the first black people came to Wisconsin. The first record of a black person comes from 1725, when a black slave was killed along with four Frenchmen in a Native American raid on Green Bay. Other French fur traders and military personnel brought slaves with them to Wisconsin later in 1700s.

 

None of the French posts had permanent settlers; fur traders and missionaries simply visited them from time to time to conduct business.

 

In the 1720s, the anti-French Fox tribe, led by war chief Kiala, raided French settlements on the Mississippi River and disrupted French trade on Lake Michigan. From 1728 to 1733, the Fox fought against the French-supported Potawatomi, Ojibwa, Huron and Ottawa tribes. In 1733, Kiala was captured and sold into slavery in the West Indies along with other captured Fox.

 

Before the war, the Fox tribe numbered 1500, but by 1733, only 500 Fox were left. As a result, the Fox joined the Sauk people.

 

The details are unclear, but this war appears to have been part of the conflict that expelled the Dakota & Illinois peoples out onto the Great Plains, causing further displacement of other Chiwere, Caddoan & Algonquian peoples there—including the ancestors of the Ioway, Osage, Pawnee, Arikara, A'ani, Arapaho, Hidatsa, Cheyenne & Blackfoot.

 

The British gradually took over Wisconsin during the French and Indian War, taking control of Green Bay in 1761, gaining control of all of Wisconsin in 1763, and annexing the area to the Province of Quebec in 1774. Like the French, the British were interested in little but the fur trade. One notable event in the fur trading industry in Wisconsin occurred in 1791, when two free African Americans set up a fur trading post among the Menominee at present day Marinette. The first permanent settlers, mostly French Canadians, some Anglo-New Englanders and a few African American freedmen, arrived in Wisconsin while it was under British control. Charles Michel de Langlade is generally recognized as the first settler, establishing a trading post at Green Bay in 1745, and moving there permanently in 1764. In 1766 the Royal Governor of the new territory, Robert Rogers, engaged Jonathan Carver to explore and map the newly acquired territories for the Crown, and to search for a possible Northwest Passage. Carver left Fort Michilimackinac that spring and spent the next three years exploring and mapping what is now Wisconsin and parts of Minnesota.

 

Settlement began at Prairie du Chien around 1781. The French residents at the trading post in what is now Green Bay, referred to the town as "La Bey", however British fur traders referred to it as "Green Bay", because the water and the shore assumed green tints in early spring. The old French title was gradually dropped, and the British name of "Green Bay" eventually stuck. The region coming under British rule had virtually no adverse effect on the French residents as the British needed the cooperation of the French fur traders and the French fur traders needed the goodwill of the British. During the French occupation of the region licenses for fur trading had been issued scarcely and only to select groups of traders, whereas the British, in an effort to make as much money as possible from the region, issued licenses for fur trading freely, both to British and French residents. The fur trade in what is now Wisconsin reached its height under British rule, and the first self-sustaining farms in the state were established at this time as well. From 1763 to 1780, Green Bay was a prosperous community which produced its own foodstuff, built graceful cottages and held dances and festivities.

 

The United States acquired Wisconsin in the Treaty of Paris (1783). Massachusetts claimed the territory east of the Mississippi River between the present-day Wisconsin-Illinois border and present-day La Crosse, Wisconsin. Virginia claimed the territory north of La Crosse to Lake Superior and all of present-day Minnesota east of the Mississippi River. Shortly afterward, in 1787, the Americans made Wisconsin part of the new Northwest Territory. Later, in 1800, Wisconsin became part of Indiana Territory. Despite the fact that Wisconsin belonged to the United States at this time, the British continued to control the local fur trade and maintain military alliances with Wisconsin Indians in an effort to stall American expansion westward by creating a pro-British Indian barrier state.

 

The United States did not firmly exercise control over Wisconsin until the War of 1812. In 1814, the Americans built Fort Shelby at Prairie du Chien. During the war, the Americans and British fought one battle in Wisconsin, the July, 1814 Siege of Prairie du Chien, which ended as a British victory. The British captured Fort Shelby and renamed it Fort McKay, after Major William McKay, the British commander who led the forces that won the Battle of Prairie du Chien. However, the 1815 Treaty of Ghent reaffirmed American jurisdiction over Wisconsin, which was by then a part of Illinois Territory. Following the treaty, British troops burned Fort McKay, rather than giving it back to the Americans, and departed Wisconsin. To protect Prairie du Chien from future attacks, the United States Army constructed Fort Crawford in 1816, on the same site as Fort Shelby. Fort Howard was also built in 1816 in Green Bay.

 

Significant American settlement in Wisconsin, a part of Michigan Territory beginning in 1818, was delayed by two Indian wars, the minor Winnebago War of 1827 and the larger Black Hawk War of 1832.

 

The Winnebago War started when, in 1826, two Winnebago men were detained at Fort Crawford on charges of murder and then transferred to Fort Snelling in present-day Minnesota. The Winnebago in the area believed that both men had been executed. On June 27, 1827, a Winnebago war band led by Chief Red Bird and the prophet White Cloud (Wabokieshiek) attacked a family of settlers outside of Prairie du Chien, killing two. They then went on to attack two keel-boats on the Mississippi River that were heading toward Fort Snelling, killing two settlers and injuring four more. Seven Winnebago warriors were killed in those attacks. The war band also attacked settlers on the lower Wisconsin River and the lead mines at Galena, Illinois. The war band surrendered at Portage, Wisconsin, rather than fighting the United States Army that was pursuing them.

 

In the Black Hawk War, Sac, Fox, and Kickapoo Native Americans, otherwise known as the British Band, led by Chief Black Hawk, who had been relocated from Illinois to Iowa, attempted to resettle in their Illinois homeland on April 5, 1832, in violation of Treaty. On May 10 Chief Black Hawk decided to go back to Iowa. On May 14, Black Hawk's forces met with a group of militiamen led by Isaiah Stillman. All three members of Black Hawk's parley were shot and one was killed. The Battle of Stillman's Run ensued, leaving twelve militiamen and three to five Sac and Fox warriors dead. Of the fifteen battles of the war, six took place in Wisconsin. The other nine as well as several smaller skirmishes took place in Illinois. The first confrontation to take place in Wisconsin was the first attack on Fort Blue Mounds on June 6, in which one member of the local militia was killed outside of the fort. There was also the Spafford Farm Massacre on June 14, the Battle of Horseshoe Bend on June 16, which was a United States victory, the second attack on Fort Blue Mounds on June 20, and the Sinsinawa Mound raid on June 29. The Native Americans were defeated at the Battle of Wisconsin Heights on July 21, with forty to seventy killed and only one killed on the United States side. The Ho Chunk Nation fought on the side of the United States. The Black Hawk War ended with the Battle of Bad Axe on August 1–2, with over 150 of the British Band dead and 75 captured and only five killed in the United States forces. Those crossing the Mississippi were killed by Lakota, American and Ho Chunk Forces. Many of the British Band survivors were handed over to the United States on August 20 by the Lakota Tribe, with the exception of Black Hawk, who had retreated into Vernon County, Wisconsin and White Cloud, who surrendered on August 27, 1832. Black Hawk was captured by Decorah south of Bangor, Wisconsin, south of the headwaters of the La Crosse River. He was then sold to the U.S. military at Prairie du Chien, accepted by future Confederate president, Stephen Davis, who was a soldier at the time. Black Hawk's tribe had killed his daughter. Black Hawk moved back to Iowa in 1833, after being held prisoner by the United States government.

 

The Francois Vertefeuille House in Prairie du Chien was built in the 1810s by fur traders. A rare example of the pièce-sur-pièce à coulisse technique once common in French-Canadian architecture, it is one of the oldest buildings in the state and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

 

The Cornish immigrants who worked in Wisconsin's lead mines build simple stone cabins from limestone. Six cabins are preserved at the Pendarvis Historic Site in Mineral Point.

The resolution of these Indian conflicts opened the way for Wisconsin's settlement. Many of the region's first settlers were drawn by the prospect of lead mining in southwest Wisconsin. This area had traditionally been mined by Native Americans. However, after a series of treaties removed the Indians, the lead mining region was opened to white miners. Thousands rushed in from across the country to dig for the "gray gold". By 1829, 4,253 miners and 52 licensed smelting works were in the region. Expert miners from Cornwall in Britain informed a large part of the wave of immigrants. Boom towns like Mineral Point, Platteville, Shullsburg, Belmont, and New Diggings sprang up around mines. The first two federal land offices in Wisconsin were opened in 1834 at Green Bay and at Mineral Point. By the 1840s, southwest Wisconsin mines were producing more than half of the nation's lead, which was no small amount, as the United States was producing annually some 31 million pounds of lead. Wisconsin was dubbed the "Badger State" because of the lead miners who first settled there in the 1820s and 1830s. Without shelter in the winter, they had to "live like badgers" in tunnels burrowed into hillsides.

 

Although the lead mining area drew the first major wave of settlers, its population would soon be eclipsed by growth in Milwaukee. Milwaukee, along with Sheboygan, Manitowoc, and Kewaunee, can be traced back to a series of trading posts established by the French trader Jacques Vieau in 1795. Vieau's post at the mouth of the Milwaukee River was purchased in 1820 by Solomon Juneau, who had visited the area as early as 1818. Juneau moved to what is now Milwaukee and took over the trading post's operation in 1825.

 

When the fur trade began to decline, Juneau focused on developing the land around his trading post. In the 1830s, he formed a partnership with Green Bay lawyer Morgan Martin, and the two men bought 160 acres (0.6 km2) of land between Lake Michigan and the Milwaukee River. There they founded the settlement of Juneautown. Meanwhile, an Ohio businessman named Byron Kilbourn began to invest in the land west of the Milwaukee River, forming the settlement of Kilbourntown. South of these two settlements, George H. Walker founded the town of Walker's Point in 1835. Each of these three settlements engaged in a fierce competition to attract the most residents and become the largest of the three towns. In 1840, the Wisconsin State Legislature ordered the construction of a bridge over the Milwaukee River to replace the inadequate ferry system. In 1845, Byron Kilbourn, who had been trying to isolate Juneautown to make it more dependent on Kilbourntown, destroyed a portion of the bridge, which started the Milwaukee Bridge War. For several weeks, skirmishes broke out between the residents of both towns. No one was killed but several people were injured, some seriously. On January 31, 1846, the settlements of Juneautown, Kilbourntown, and Walker's Point merged into the incorporated city of Milwaukee. Solomon Juneau was elected mayor. The new city had a population of about 10,000 people, making it the largest city in the territory. Milwaukee remains the largest city in Wisconsin to this day.

 

Wisconsin Territory was created by an act of the United States Congress on April 20, 1836. By fall of that year, the best prairie groves of the counties surrounding Milwaukee were occupied by New England farmers. The new territory initially included all of the present day states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa, as well as parts of North and South Dakota. At the time the Congress called it the "Wiskonsin Territory".

 

The first territorial governor of Wisconsin was Henry Dodge. He and other territorial lawmakers were initially busied by organizing the territory's government and selecting a capital city. The selection of a location to build a capitol caused a heated debate among the territorial politicians. At first, Governor Dodge selected Belmont, located in the heavily populated lead mining district, to be capital. Shortly after the new legislature convened there, however, it became obvious that Wisconsin's first capitol was inadequate. Numerous other suggestions for the location of the capital were given representing nearly every city that existed in the territory at the time, and Governor Dodge left the decision up to the other lawmakers. The legislature accepted a proposal by James Duane Doty to build a new city named Madison on an isthmus between lakes Mendota and Monona and put the territory's permanent capital there. In 1837, while Madison was being built, the capitol was temporarily moved to Burlington. This city was transferred to Iowa Territory in 1838, along with all the lands of Wisconsin Territory west of the Mississippi River.

 

Wyman calls Wisconsin a "palimpsest" of layer upon layer of peoples and forces, each imprinting permanent influences. He identified these layers as multiple "frontiers" over three centuries: Native American frontier, French frontier, English frontier, fur-trade frontier, mining frontier, and the logging frontier. Finally the coming of the railroad brought the end of the frontier.

 

The historian of the frontier, Frederick Jackson Turner, grew up in Wisconsin during its last frontier stage, and in his travels around the state he could see the layers of social and political development. One of Turner's last students, Merle Curti used in-depth analysis of local history in Trempealeau County to test Turner's thesis about democracy. Turner's view was that American democracy, "involved widespread participation in the making of decisions affecting the common life, the development of initiative and self-reliance, and equality of economic and cultural opportunity. It thus also involved Americanization of immigrant." Curti found that from 1840 to 1860 in Wisconsin the poorest groups gained rapidly in land ownership, and often rose to political leadership at the local level. He found that even landless young farm workers were soon able to obtain their own farms. Free land on the frontier therefore created opportunity and democracy, for both European immigrants as well as old stock Yankees.

 

By the mid-1840s, the population of Wisconsin Territory had exceeded 150,000, more than twice the number of people required for Wisconsin to become a state. In 1846, the territorial legislature voted to apply for statehood. That fall, 124 delegates debated the state constitution. The document produced by this convention was considered extremely progressive for its time. It banned commercial banking, granted married women the right to own property, and left the question of African-American suffrage to a popular vote. Most Wisconsinites considered the first constitution to be too radical, however, and voted it down in an April 1847 referendum.

 

In December 1847, a second constitutional convention was called. This convention resulted in a new, more moderate state constitution that Wisconsinites approved in a March 1848 referendum, enabling Wisconsin to become the 30th state on May 29, 1848. Wisconsin was the last state entirely east of the Mississippi River (and by extension the last state formed entirely from territory assigned to the U.S. in the 1783 Treaty of Paris) to be admitted to the Union.

 

With statehood, came the creation of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, which is the state's oldest public university. The creation of this university was set aside in the state charter.

 

In 1847, the Mineral Point Tribune reported that the town's furnaces were producing 43,800 pounds (19,900 kg) of lead each day. Lead mining in southwest Wisconsin began to decline after 1848 and 1849 when the combination of less easily accessible lead ore and the California Gold Rush made miners leave the area. The lead mining industry in mining communities such as Mineral Point managed to survive into the 1860s, but the industry was never as prosperous as it was before the decline.

 

By 1850 Wisconsin's population was 305,000. Roughly a third (103,000) were Yankees from New England and western New York state. The second largest group were the Germans, numbering roughly 38,000, followed by 28,000 British immigrants from England, Scotland and Wales. There were roughly 63,000 Wisconsin-born residents of the state. The Yankee migrants would be the dominant political class in Wisconsin for many years.

 

A railroad frenzy swept Wisconsin shortly after it achieved statehood. The first railroad line in the state was opened between Milwaukee and Waukesha in 1851 by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. The railroad pushed on, reaching Milton, Wisconsin in 1852, Stoughton, Wisconsin in 1853, and the capital city of Madison in 1854. The company reached its goal of completing a rail line across the state from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River when the line to Prairie du Chien was completed in 1857. Shortly after this, other railroad companies completed their own tracks, reaching La Crosse in the west and Superior in the north, spurring development in those cities. By the end of the 1850s, railroads crisscrossed the state, enabling the growth of other industries that could now easily ship products to markets across the country.

 

Nelson Dewey, the first governor of Wisconsin, was a Democrat. Born in Lebanon, Connecticut, Dewey's father's family had lived in New England since 1633, when their ancestor, Thomas Due, had come to America from Kent County, England. Dewey oversaw the transition from the territorial to the new state government. He encouraged the development of the state's infrastructure, particularly the construction of new roads, railroads, canals, and harbors, as well as the improvement of the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers. During his administration, the State Board of Public Works was organized. Dewey was an abolitionist and the first of many Wisconsin governors to advocate against the spread of slavery into new states and territories. The home Dewey built near Cassville is now a state park.

 

Between 1848 and 1862, Wisconsin had three Democratic governors, all of whom were in office prior to 1856, four Republican governors, all of whom were in office after 1856, and one Whig governor, Leonard J. Farwell, who served from 1852 to 1854. Under Farwell's governorship, Wisconsin became the second state to abolish capital punishment.

 

In the presidential elections of 1848 and 1852, the Democratic Party won Wisconsin. In the elections of 1856, 1860, and 1864, the Republican Party won the state.

 

Between the 1840s and 1860s, settlers from New England, New York and Germany arrived in Wisconsin. Some of them brought radical political ideas to the state. In the 1850s, stop-overs on the underground railroad were set up in the state and abolitionist groups were formed. Some abolitionist and free-soil activists left the Whig and Democratic parties, running and in some cases being elected as candidates of the Liberty Party and Free Soil Party. The most successful such group was the Republican Party. On March 20, 1854, the first county meeting of the Republican Party of the United States, consisting of about thirty people, was held in the Little White Schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisconsin. Ripon claims to be the birthplace of the Republican Party, as does Jackson, Michigan, where the first statewide convention was held. The new party absorbed most of the former Free Soil and Liberty Party members.

 

A notable instance of abolitionism in Wisconsin was the rescue of Joshua Glover, an escaped slave from St. Louis who sought refuge in Racine, Wisconsin in 1852. He was caught in 1854 by federal marshals and put in a jail at Cathedral Square in Milwaukee, where he waited to be returned to his owner. A mob of 5,000 people led by Milwaukee abolitionist Sherman Booth, himself a "Yankee" transplant from rural New York, sprung Glover from jail and helped him escape to Canada via the underground railroad.

 

In the 1850s, two-thirds of immigrants to Wisconsin came from the eastern United States, the other one-third being foreign-born. The majority of the foreign born were German immigrants. Many Irish and Norwegian immigrants also came to Wisconsin in the 1850s. Northern Europeans, many of whom were persecuted in their home countries because of their support for the failed bourgeois Revolutions of 1848, often chose Wisconsin because of the liberal constitution of human rights such as the state's unusual recognition of immigrants' right to vote and rights to citizenship.

 

Yankee settlers from New England started arriving in Wisconsin in the 1830s spread throughout the southern half of the territory. They dominated early politics. Most of them started as farmers, but the larger proportion moved to towns and cities as entrepreneurs, businessmen and professionals.

 

Historian John Bunker has examined the worldview of the Yankee settlers in the Wisconsin:

 

Because they arrived first and had a strong sense of community and mission, Yankees were able to transplant New England institutions, values, and mores, altered only by the conditions of frontier life. They established a public culture that emphasized the work ethic, the sanctity of private property, individual responsibility, faith in residential and social mobility, practicality, piety, public order and decorum, reverence for public education, activists, honest, and frugal government, town meeting democracy, and he believed that there was a public interest that transcends particular and stick ambitions. Regarding themselves as the elect and just in a world rife with sin, air, and corruption, they felt a strong moral obligation to define and enforce standards of community and personal behavior....This pietistic worldview was substantially shared by British, Scandinavian, Swiss, English-Canadian and Dutch Reformed immigrants, as well as by German Protestants and many of the "Forty-Niners."

 

The color guard of the Wisconsin 8th Infantry with Old Abe

Wisconsin enrolled 91,379 soldiers in the Union Army during the American Civil War. 272 of enlisted Wisconsin troops were African American, with the rest being white. Of these, 3,794 were killed in action or mortally wounded, 8,022 died of disease, and 400 were killed in accidents. The total mortality was 12,216 men, about 13.4 percent of total enlistments. Many soldiers trained at Camp Randall currently the site of the University of Wisconsin's athletic stadium.

 

The draft implemented by President Lincoln in 1862 was unpopular in some Wisconsin communities, particularly among German and Luxembourgish immigrants. In November 1862, draft riots broke out in Milwaukee, Port Washington, and West Bend, which were quelled by deploying U.S. troops in the cities.

 

Most Wisconsin troops served in the western theater, although several Wisconsin regiments fought in the east, such as the 2nd Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment, 6th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment, and 7th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment, which formed part of the Iron Brigade. These three regiments fought in the Northern Virginia Campaign, the Maryland Campaign, the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Battle of Chancellorsville, the Gettysburg Campaign, the Battle of Mine Run, the Overland Campaign, the Siege of Petersburg, and the Appomattox Campaign.

 

The 8th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment, which fought in the western theater of war, is also worthy of mention, having fought at the Battle of Iuka, the Siege of Vicksburg, the Red River Campaign, and the Battle of Nashville. The 8th Wisconsin is also known for its mascot, Old Abe.

 

Agriculture was a major component of the Wisconsin economy during the 19th century. Wheat was a primary crop on early Wisconsin farms. In fact, during the mid 19th century, Wisconsin produced about one sixth of the wheat grown in the United States. However, wheat rapidly depleted nutrients in the soil, especially nitrogen, and was vulnerable to insects, bad weather, and wheat leaf rust. In the 1860s, chinch bugs arrived in Wisconsin and damaged wheat across the state. As the soil lost its quality and prices dropped, the practice of wheat farming moved west into Iowa and Minnesota. Some Wisconsin farmers responded by experimenting with crop rotation and other methods to restore the soil's fertility, but a larger number turned to alternatives to wheat.

 

In parts of northern Wisconsin, farmers cultivated cranberries and in a few counties in south central Wisconsin, farmers had success growing tobacco, but the most popular replacement for wheat was dairy farming. As wheat fell out of favor, many Wisconsin farmers started raising dairy cattle and growing feed crops, which were better suited to Wisconsin's climate and soil. One reason for the popularity of dairy farming was that many of Wisconsin's farmers had come to the state from New York, the leading producer of dairy products at the time. In addition, many immigrants from Europe brought an extensive knowledge of cheese making. Dairying was also promoted by the University of Wisconsin–Madison's school of agriculture, which offered education to dairy farmers and researched ways to produce better dairy products. The first test of butterfat content in milk was developed at the university, which allowed for consistency in the quality of butter and cheese. By 1899, over ninety percent of Wisconsin farms raised dairy cows and by 1915, Wisconsin had become the leading producer of dairy products in the United States, a position it held until the 1990s. The term America's Dairyland appeared in newspapers as early as 1913 when the state's butterfat production became first in the nation. In 1939 the state legislature enacted a bill to add the slogan to the state's automobile license plates. It continues to be the nation's largest producer of cheese, no longer focusing on the raw material (milk) but rather the value-added products. Because of this, Wisconsin continues to promote itself as "America's Dairyland", Wisconsinites are referred to as cheeseheads in some parts of the country, including Wisconsin, and foam cheesehead hats are associated with Wisconsin and its NFL team, the Green Bay Packers.

 

The first brewery in Wisconsin was opened in 1835 in Mineral Point by brewer John Phillips. A year later, he opened a second brewery in Elk Grove. In 1840, the first brewery in Milwaukee was opened by Richard G. Owens, William Pawlett, and John Davis, all Welsh immigrants. By 1860, nearly 200 breweries operated in Wisconsin, more than 40 of them in Milwaukee. The huge growth in the brewing industry can be accredited, in part, to the influx of German immigrants to Wisconsin in the 1840s and 1850s. Milwaukee breweries also grew in volume due to the destruction of Chicago's breweries during the great Chicago fire. In the second half of the 19th century, four of the largest breweries in the United States opened in Milwaukee: Miller Brewing Company, Pabst Brewing Company, Valentin Blatz Brewing Company, and Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company. In the 20th century Pabst absorbed Blatz and Schlitz, and moved its brewery and corporate headquarters to California. Miller continues to operate in Milwaukee. The Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company opened in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin in 1867 and continues to operate there to this day.

 

Agriculture was not viable in the densely forested northern and central parts of Wisconsin. Settlers came to this region for logging. The timber industry first set up along the Wisconsin River. Rivers were used to transport lumber from where the wood was being cut, to the sawmills. Sawmills in cities like Wausau and Stevens Point sawed the lumber into boards that were used for construction. The Wolf River also saw considerable logging by industrious Menominee. The Black and Chippewa Rivers formed a third major logging region. That area was dominated by one company owned by Frederick Weyerhaeuser. The construction of railroads allowed loggers to log year round, after rivers froze, and go deeper into the forests to cut down previously unshippable wood supplies. Wood products from Wisconsin's forests such as doors, furniture, beams, shipping boxes, and ships were made in industrial cities with connects to the Wisconsin lumber industry such as Chicago, Milwaukee, Sheboygan, and Manitowoc. Milwaukee and Manitowoc were centers for commercial ship building in Wisconsin. Many cargo ships built in these communities were used to transport lumber from logging ports to major industrial cities. Later a growing paper industry in the Fox River Valley made use of wood pulp from the state's lumber industry.

 

Logging was a dangerous trade, with high accident rates. On October 8, 1871, the Peshtigo Fire burned 1,875 square miles (4,850 km2) of forest land around the timber industry town of Peshtigo, Wisconsin, killing between 1,200 and 2,500 people. It was the deadliest fire in United States history.

 

From the 1870s to the 1890s, much of the logging in Wisconsin was done by immigrants from Scandinavia.

 

By the beginning of the twentieth century, logging in Wisconsin had gone into decline. Many forests had been cleared and never replanted and large corporations in the Pacific Northwest took business away from the Wisconsin industry. The logging companies sold their land to immigrants and out of work lumberjacks who hoped to turn the acres of pine stumps into farms, but few met with success.

 

Wisconsin is known in the 18th century to have discovered gold deposits in western Wisconsin. Such discoveries occurred around the town of St. Croix Falls where a settler stumbled across a gold nugget valued to be worth lots at the time. It's no surprise Wisconsin's western region was once the site of volcanic eruptions so it makes sense that minerals that weren't commonly found in other parts of the state would be present here.

 

Wisconsin was a regional and national model for innovation and organization in the Progressive Era in the early 20th century. The direct primary law of 1904 made it possible to mobilize voters against the previously dominant political machines. The first factors involved the La Follette family going back and forth between trying control of the Republican Party and third-party activity. Secondly the Wisconsin idea, of intellectuals and planners based at the University of Wisconsin shaping government policy. LaFollette started as a traditional Republican in the 1890s, where he fought against populism and other radical movements. He broke decisively with the state Republican leadership, and took control of the party by 1900, all the time quarrelling endlessly with ex-allies.

 

Wisconsin at this time was a de facto one party state, as the Democratic Party was then a minor conservative group in the state. Serious opposition more often than not came from the Socialist Party, with a strong German and union constituency in Milwaukee. The socialists often collaborated with the progressive Republicans in statewide politics. Senator Robert M. La Follette tried to use his national reputation to challenge President Taft for the Republican nomination in 1912. However, as soon as Roosevelt declared his candidacy, most of La Follette's supporters switched to the former president. During the Wilson administration he supported many of Wilson's domestic programs in Congress, however he strongly opposed Wilson's foreign policy, and mobilized the large German and Scandinavian populations in Wisconsin to demand neutrality during World War I. During the final years of his career, he split with the Republican Party and ran an independent campaign for president in 1924. In his bid for the presidency he won 1/6 of the national popular vote, but was only able to win his home state.

 

Following his death, his two sons assumed control of the Wisconsin Republican Party after a brief period of intraparty factional disputes. Following in their father's footsteps they helped form the Wisconsin Progressive Party, in many ways a spiritual successor to the party La Follette had founded in 1924. The party surged to popularity during the mid-1930s off of the inaction of the moderately conservative Schmedeman administration, and were able to gain the support of then president Franklin D. Roosevelt. Much of the new party's support could be owed to the personalities leading it, and the support of Roosevelt and progressive Democrats. The party saw success across Wisconsin's elected offices in the state and congress. Despite its popularity the party eventually declined as Philip, engulfed in scandal and accusations of authoritarianism and fiscal responsibility, lost re-election for the final time in 1938. Following this defeat Philip left electoral politics and joined World War II in the Pacific Theater. Due to joining the war, the National Progressives of America, an organization the La Follettes had hoped would precede a national realignment, faltered. Both organizations began to tear themselves apart as La Follette's absence led to vicious intraparty fighting which ultimately led to a vote to dissolve itself, which Philip was told to stay away from.

 

The Wisconsin Idea was the commitment of the University of Wisconsin under President Charles R. Van Hise, with LaFollette support, to use the university's powerful intellectual resources to develop practical progressive reforms for the state and indeed for the nation.

 

Between 1901 and 1911, Progressive Republicans in Wisconsin created the nation's first comprehensive statewide primary election system, the first effective workplace injury compensation law, and the first state income tax, making taxation proportional to actual earnings. The key leaders were Robert M. La Follette and (in 1910) Governor Francis E. McGovern. However, in 1912 McGovern supported Roosevelt for president and LaFollette was outraged. He made sure the next legislature defeated the governor's programs, and that McGovern was defeated in his bid for the Senate in 1914. The Progressive movement split into hostile factions. Some was based on personalities—especially La Follette's style of violent personal attacks against other Progressives, and some was based on who should pay, with the division between farmers (who paid property taxes) and the urban element (which paid income taxes). This disarray enabled the conservatives (called "Stalwarts") to elect Emanuel Philipp as governor in 1914. The Stalwart counterattack said the Progressives were too haughty, too beholden to experts, too eager to regulate, and too expensive. Economy and budget cutting was their formula.

 

During World War I, due to the neutrality of Wisconsin and many Wisconsin Republicans, progressives, and German immigrants which made up 30 to 40 percent of the state population, Wisconsin would gain the nickname "Traitor State" which was used by many "hyper patriots".

 

As the war raged on in Europe, Robert M. La Follette, leader of the anti-war movement in Wisconsin, led a group of progressive senators in blocking a bill by president Woodrow Wilson which would have armed merchant ships with guns. Many Wisconsin politicians such as Governor Phillipp and senator Irvine Lernroot were accused of having divided loyalties. Even with outspoken opponents to the war, at the onset of the war many Wisconsinites would abandon neutrality. Businesses, labor and farms all enjoyed prosperity from the war. With over 118,000 going into military service, Wisconsin was the first state to report for four national drafts conducted by the U.S. military.

 

The progressive Wisconsin Idea promoted the use of the University of Wisconsin faculty as intellectual resources for state government, and as guides for local government. It promoted expansion of the university through the UW-Extension system to reach all the state's farming communities. University economics professors John R. Commons and Harold Groves enabled Wisconsin to create the first unemployment compensation program in the United States in 1932. Other Wisconsin Idea scholars at the university generated the plan that became the New Deal's Social Security Act of 1935, with Wisconsin expert Arthur J. Altmeyer playing the key role. The Stalwarts counterattacked by arguing if the university became embedded in the state, then its internal affairs became fair game, especially the faculty preference for advanced research over undergraduate teaching. The Stalwarts controlled the Regents, and their interference in academic freedom outraged the faculty. Historian Frederick Jackson Turner, the most famous professor, quit and went to Harvard.

 

Wisconsin took part in several political extremes in the mid to late 20th century, ranging from the anti-communist crusades of Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s to the radical antiwar protests at UW-Madison that culminated in the Sterling Hall bombing in August 1970. The state became a leader in welfare reform under Republican Governor Tommy Thompson during the 1990s. The state's economy also underwent further transformations towards the close of the 20th century, as heavy industry and manufacturing declined in favor of a service economy based on medicine, education, agribusiness, and tourism.

 

In 2011, Wisconsin became the focus of some controversy when newly elected governor Scott Walker proposed and then successfully passed and enacted 2011 Wisconsin Act 10, which made large changes in the areas of collective bargaining, compensation, retirement, health insurance, and sick leave of public sector employees, among other changes. A series of major protests by union supporters took place that year in protest to the changes, and Walker survived a recall election held the next year, becoming the first governor in United States history to do so. Walker enacted other bills promoting conservative governance, such as a right-to-work law, abortion restrictions, and legislation removing certain gun controls. Walker's administration also made critical changes to Wisconsin's election process, enacting one of the most aggressive legislative gerrymanders in the country and replacing Wisconsin's nonpartisan state elections board with a commission of political appointees. When Walker lost re-election in 2018, he collaborated with the gerrymandered Republican legislature to strip powers from the incoming Governor and Attorney General. Since 2011, Wisconsin has seen increasing governmental dysfunction and paralysis, as the durable gerrymander insulated the legislature from electoral consequences.

 

Following the election of Tony Evers as governor in 2018, Wisconsin has seen a string of liberal victories at every level of government which have slowly chipped away at the conservative dominance within the state. This eventually led to the Wisconsin supreme court overturning the Walker-era legislative gerrymander in Clarke v. Wisconsin Elections Commission.

Long story, but let's just put it this way. I decided I needed to sell my Boxster, and I kind of wanted to update my daily driver BMW 325xiT (wagon). I basically tried to combine the practicality of my wagon with the fun of the Boxster.

 

This was my solution. Certified pre-owned purchase of a 2013 S4 with 25k miles. This thing is just crazy fast, and fun to drive. And has so much tech it makes my head spin (and this car isn't really that up-to-date WRT tech).

A Hargrave built motor yacht built in 2003. She is powered by two 1400 HP 3412 Caterpillars that give her a cruise speed of 18 knots with a max speed of 22 knots. Her length is 81' with a 20' beam. Unique on this vessel is the lift that can be seen on her stern, not exactly becoming to her looks, but the practicality of it well makes up for it. A good idea for the handicap that might not otherwise be able to enjoy a boat ride or the owner that was not ready to give up boating. Location is on the ICW in Chesapeake, VA.

Here we have it, one of the most iconic little cars in the whole of history. A machine that revolutionised the concept of the city car, and what has now become a pure symbol of Englishness!

 

This little machine is simply known as the Mini! :D

 

Construction of the Mini first began in 1959, with the car designed by the British Motor Corporation's (BMC) chief designer Sir Alec Issigonis, who envisaged a car that had as much space as was humanly possible devoted to the passenger so as to combine the practicality of a big car with the nippy nature of a Dune Buggy. The result was that 80% of the car's platform was available for use by both passengers and luggage. The car was also designed to be fuel efficient, built in response to the 1956 Suez Crisis which resulted in rising fuel prices and petrol rationing. During this period it became apparent that German 'Bubble Car' equivalents such as the Heinkel Kabine and various Messerschmitt designs were starting to corner the market, and thus the Mini project was launched under project name ADO15 (Amalgamated Drawing Office project number 15). Great care was taken to make sure that as much space was saved for the passenger, including the instalment of compact rubber springs instead of conventional metal and the small but powerful BMC A-Series four-cylinder engine tucked away at the front.

 

In April 1959 the car was launched to the press under the designation of both the Austin Seven and the Morris Mini-Minor (due to the amalgamation of the Austin and Morris brands under BMC). By the time the car was let loose thousands had already been sent abroad in an audacious promotional campaign. Things however started slow for the Mini, but this rising star soon became an icon during the 1960's, selling 1,190,000 by 1967.

 

But, behind all the shining sales figures, there were some major problems for BMC and their wonderchild. Baffled by the car, Ford bought one for the base price of £497 and took it apart, desperate to know how their rivals were doing it for the money. As it turns out they weren't, and were able to determine that BMC was losing at least £30 on every single car they sold. Novelty was the only way to get the car properly moving in this competitive new world, and the Mini was all about that. By 1970 the car had appeared in a variety of movies and TV shows, the most famous of which was their charge to glory in the 1969 film 'The Italian Job', where a trio of Minis were used to plunder gold from under the noses of the Mafia and the Italian Authorities. A Leyland Mini holds a place in the heart of British TV under the ownership of Mr. Bean and his various clumsy antics, usually involving an unfortunate Reliant Regal. At the same time it was a car of choice for TV and Music Stars who wanted to show off their quirks!

 

From then on the car continued to keep up its notorious status as a British symbol of motoring, with a huge variety of cars being made including a spacious van, a country camper, a pickup truck and the Moke dune buggy! There were also two almost identical saloon versions of the car known as the Wolseley Hornet and the Riley Elf that were built between 1961 and 1969 as more luxurious alternatives to the original.

 

In 1969 the first major facelift came in the form of the Clubman, designed under British Leyland to give the car a new lease of life, but ended up being something of a mongrel. Although functionally the same, the boys at British Leyland couldn't help but get things off to a bad start by relocating construction from the Cowley Plant to the Longbridge Plant, which meant that all kits and tools had to be moved too and thus initial sales were very slow. British Leyland's reliability reputation was soon to follow, with the unfortunate Mini becoming a victim of the shoddy workmanship that had mired so many of its other products.

 

Eventually the Clubman was killed off in 1980, although the original Mini design had been built alongside and was still selling strong. British Leyland however had plans to kill off the Mini in 1980 by introducing its new small economy car, the Austin Metro. Built very much to the same principals of the Mini, the Metro was a much more angular design but still a capable little family hatchback. But the angular lines and big bulky body did nothing for the Metro, and the car failed to sell in the numbers domestically than those of the Mini internationally!

 

Towards the end of the 1980's and 1990's, the car came in a variety of different 'Special Editions' as the car became less of a mass-market machine and more a fashion item. The iconic nature of the car had sealed its fate with new owners of the Rover Group, BMW, who intended to keep the car going for as long as possible. At the same time the car was a major seller in Japan, which gave a boost of sales in the early 1990's with 40,000 new cars being exported there.

 

Eventually however, the design was starting to look very tired and with Rover Group making heavy losses, the Mini and its spiritual cousin the Metro were killed off in 2000 and 1999, respectively. Rover was granted the ability to run-out the model to the very end before Rover itself was sold off in 2000. During the breakup, BMW designed a new version of the Mini which was launched in 2000 and is still being built today as quite a sleek and popular machine, a little bit more bulky than the original but certainly keeping the novelty and charm. The originals however ended on the 4th October 2000, with a red Mini Cooper S bringing an end to 5,387,862 cars.

 

However, although the original Mini is now very much dead, the novelty that surrounds these tiny little cars is enough to keep thousands and thousands of these machines preserved or in continual everyday usage. Older Mini-Minors are a bit hard to come by and the Clubmans rusted away before you could get them home from the showroom, but the later Mini's sold in the 1980's and 1990's are still alive and kicking on the roads of Britain, and can still draw the attention of passers by even 56 years after the first ones left the production line!

Skirting the boundary between sex kitten and practicality is all part of the Pinup appeal. Who says you can't look fabulous while keeping your stockings in place girls?

 

Design: Countessa Heather(Design) and Copyright 2008 (Photography)

All rights reserved.

No unauthorized use or distribution.

Certainly an unusual colour for a Rolls, Olive Green strikes me as a little... odd...

 

But each to their owner I suppose...

 

There's not much I can say about the Rolls Royce Silver Shadow that hasn't already been said, a car that was styled and homed to perfection, a vehicle that took 3 months to build, comprised of 3 cow hides, 12 square feet of wood and laden with the finest Wilton carpets. If you owned a brand new one of these back in the 1960's and 70's, then you truly were someone special.

 

The Silver Shadow however, unlike its predecessors, was the most radical Rolls ever built, primarily due to the fact that unlike previous cars such as the Phantom and Silver Cloud, the car was built on a monocoque, with the body being built with the chassis, rather than in earlier instances where Rolls would provide the chassis, and then it was up to the owner to hire a coachbuilder such as Hoopers or HJ Muliner Park Ward, to build the body.

 

The Silver Shadow was also the first Rolls to be built with the idea of the owner being sat in the front rather than the back. The Silver Cloud was very much a passenger's car, being ferried from stately banquet to stately banquet by a chauffeur. This Silver Shadow on the other hand was a driver's car, powered by Rolls Royce's magnificent V8 engine it smoothly glided across the countryside with the grace and elegance of a stately home on wheels, and so popular was this chemistry of luxury and practicality, that they sold by the thousand. In total, 25,000 examples were built, and the design was incorporated into many other variations, including the Rolls Royce Corniche (a direct descendant of the Silver Shadow 2-door Coupe built by HJ Muliner Park Ward), the controversial Camargue (which was built on the same chassis as a Shadow), and the Bentley T series (basically a Shadow with Bentley badging and radiator grille).

 

Eventually, the Shadow ended production in 1980, being replaced by the simpler Silver Spirit and Silver Spur range, but the magnificent design of this classic British pedigree has kept it one of the most popular owner's cars in the world, now available for ownership at less that £10,000 in some instances!

 

Built in the final year of the Silver Shadow I, I consider Shadows such as this to be the last of the truly great Rolls Royces as following this the cars became much more run-of-the-mill.

 

For starters, the magnificent chrome bumpers that line this one were replaced on the Silver Shadow II by compound bumpers to address American safety legislation, and the two ditch lights seen under the headlamps were placed below the bumper on a rather vulgar looking chin spoiler. Although done in the best interests of road safety, it certainly made these cars look less than stellar.

 

But this wonderful little roadside gem though shows what the Silver Shadow was all about, chrome everywhere!

Fangruida: human landing on Mars 10 cutting-edge technology

 

[Fangruida- human landing on Mars 10 innovative and sophisticated technologies]

 

Aerospace Science and space science and technology major innovation of the most critical of sophisticated technology R & D project

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Aerospace Science Space Science and Technology on behalf of the world's most cutting-edge leader in high technology, materials, mechatronics, information and communication, energy, biomedical, marine, aviation aerospace, microelectronics, computer, automation, intelligent biochips, use of nuclear energy, light mechanical and electrical integration, astrophysics, celestial chemistry, astrophysics and so a series of geological science and technology. Especially after the moon landing, the further development of mankind to Mars and other planets into the powerful offensive, the world's major powers eager to Daxian hand of God, increase investment, vigorously develop new sophisticated technology projects for space to space. Satellite, space station, the new spacecraft, the new space suits, the new radiation protection materials, intelligent materials, new manufacturing technology, communications technology, computer technology, detector technology, rover, rover technology, biomedical technology, and so one after another, is expected to greater breakthroughs and leaps. For example, rocket technology, spacecraft design, large power spacecraft, spacesuits design improvements, radiation multifunctional composite materials, life health care technology and space medicine, prevention against microgravity microgravity applicable drugs, tracking control technology, landing and return technology. Mars lander and returned safely to Earth as a top priority. Secondly, Mars, the Moon base and the use of transforming Mars, the Moon and other development will follow. Whether the former or the latter, are the modern aerospace science, space science basic research, applied basic research and applied research in the major cutting-edge technology. These major cutting-edge technology research and innovation, not only for human landing on Mars and the safe return of great significance, but for the entire space science, impact immeasurable universe sciences, earth sciences and human life. Here the most critical of the most important research projects of several sophisticated technology research and development as well as its core technology brief. Limit non-scientific techniques include non-technical limits of technology, the key lies in technology research and development of technology maturity, advanced technology, innovative, practical, reliable, practical application, business value and investment costs, and not simply like the idea mature technology achievements, difficult to put into things. This is the high-tech research and development, testing, prototype, test application testing, until the outcome of industrialization. Especially in aerospace technology, advanced, novelty, practicality, reliability, economy, maturity, commercial value and so on. For technical and research purely science fiction and the like may be irrelevant depth, but not as aerospace engineering and technology practice. Otherwise, Mars will become a dream fantasy, and even into settling crashed out of danger.

 

Regardless of the moon or Mars, many technical difficulties, especially a human landing on Mars and return safely to Earth, technical difficulties mainly in the following aspects. (Transformation of Mars and the Moon and other planets and detect other livable technology more complex and difficult, at this stage it is difficult to achieve and therefore not discussed in detail in this study). In fact, Mars will be the safe return of a full set of technology, space science, aerospace crucial scientific research development, its significance is not confined to Mars simply a return to scientific value, great commercial value, can not be measure.

1. Powered rocket, the spacecraft overall structural design not be too complex large, otherwise, the safety factor to reduce the risk of failure accidents. Fusion rocket engine main problem to be solved is the high-temperature materials and fuel ignition chamber (reaction chamber temperatures of up to tens of millions of supreme billion degrees), fissile class rocket engine whose essence is the miniaturization of nuclear reactors, and placed on the rocket. Nuclear rocket engine fuel as an energy source, with liquid hydrogen, liquid helium, liquid ammonia working fluid. Nuclear rocket engine mounted in the thrust chamber of the reactor, cooling nozzle, the working fluid delivery and control systems and other components. This engine due to nuclear radiation protection, exhaust pollution, reactor control and efficient heat exchanger design and other issues unresolved. Electrothermal rocket engine utilizing heat energy (resistance heating or electric arc heating) working medium (hydrogen, amines, hydrazine ), vaporized; nozzle expansion accelerated after discharged from the spout to generate thrust. Static rocket engine working fluid (mercury, cesium, hydrogen, etc.) from the tank enter the ionization chamber is formed thrust ionized into a plasma jet. Electric rocket engines with a high specific impulse (700-2500 sec), extremely long life (can be repeated thousands of times a starter, a total of up to thousands of hours of work). But the thrust of less than 100N. This engine is only available for spacecraft attitude control, station-keeping and the like. One nuclear - power rocket design is as follows: Firstly, the reactor heats water to make it into steam, and then the high-speed steam ejected, push the rocket. Nuclear rocket using hydrogen as working substance may be a better solution, it is one of the most commonly used liquid hydrogen rocket fuel rocket carrying liquid hydrogen virtually no technical difficulties. Heating hydrogen nuclear reactor, as long as it eventually reaches or exceeds current jet velocity hydrogen rocket engine jet speed, the same weight of the rocket will be able to work longer, it can accelerate the Rockets faster. Here there are only two problems: First, the final weight includes the weight of the rocket in nuclear reactors, so it must be as light as possible. Ultra-small nuclear reactor has been able to achieve. Furthermore, if used in outer space, we can not consider the problem of radioactive residues, simply to just one proton hydrogen nuclei are less likely to produce induced radioactivity, thus shielding layer can be made thinner, injected hydrogen gas can flow directly through the reactor core, it is not easy to solve, and that is how to get back at high speed heated gas is ejected.

  

Rocket engine with a nuclear fission reactor, based on the heating liquid hydrogen propellant, rather than igniting flammable propellant

High-speed heavy rocket is a major cutting-edge technology. After all, space flight and aircraft carriers, submarines, nuclear reactors differ greatly from the one hand, the use of traditional fuels, on the one hand can be nuclear reactor technology. From the control, for security reasons, the use of nuclear power rocket technology, safe and reliable overriding indicators. Nuclear atomic energy in line with the norms and rules of outer space. For the immature fetal abdominal hatchery technology, and resolutely reject use. This is the most significant development of nuclear-powered rocket principle.

Nuclear-powered spaceship for Use of nuclear power are three kinds:

The first method: no water or air space such media can not be used propeller must use jet approach. Reactor nuclear fission or fusion to produce a lot of heat, we will propellant (such as liquid hydrogen) injection, the rapid expansion of the propellant will be heated and then discharged from the engine speed tail thrust. This method is most readily available.

The second method: nuclear reactor will have a lot of fast-moving ions, these energetic particles moving very fast, so you can use a magnetic field to control their ejection direction. This principle ion rocket similar to the tail of the rocket ejected from the high-speed mobile ions, so that the recoil movement of a rocket. The advantage of this approach is to promote the unusually large ratio, without carrying any medium, continued strong. Ion engine, which is commonly referred to as "electric rocket", the principle is not complicated, the propellant is ionized particles,

Plasma Engine

Electromagnetic acceleration, high-speed spray. From the development trend, the US research scope covers almost all types of electric thrusters, but mainly to the development of ion engines, NASA in which to play the most active intake technology and preparedness plans. "

The third method: the use of nuclear explosions. It is a bold and crazy way, no longer is the use of a controlled nuclear reaction, but to use nuclear explosions to drive the ship, this is not an engine, and it is called a nuclear pulse rocket. This spacecraft will carry a lot of low-yield atomic bombs out one behind, and then detonated, followed by a spacecraft propulsion installation disk, absorbing the blast pushing the spacecraft forward. This was in 1955 to Orion (Project Orion) name of the project, originally planned to bring two thousand atomic bombs, Orion later fetal nuclear thermal rocket. Its principle is mounted on a small rocket reactor, the reactor utilizing thermal energy generated by the propellant is heated to a high temperature, high pressure and high temperature of the propellant from the high-speed spray nozzle, a tremendous impetus.

  

Common nuclear fission technologies, including nuclear pulse rocket engines, nuclear rockets, nuclear thermal rocket and nuclear stamping rockets to nuclear thermal rocket, for example, the size of its land-based nuclear power plant reactor structure than the much smaller, more uranium-235 purity requirements high, reaching more than 90%, at the request of the high specific impulse engine core temperature will reach about 3000K, require excellent high temperature properties of materials.

  

Research and test new IT technologies and new products and new technology and new materials, new equipment, things are difficult, design is the most important part, especially in the overall design, technical solutions, technical route, technical process, technical and economic particularly significant. The overall design is defective, technology there are loopholes in the program, will be a major technical route deviation, but also directly related to the success of research trials. so, any time, under any circumstances, a good grasp of the overall control of design, technical design, is essential. otherwise, a done deal, it is difficult save. aerospace technology research and product development is true.

  

3, high-performance nuclear rocket

Nuclear rocket nuclear fission and fusion energy can rocket rocket two categories. Nuclear fission and fusion produce heat, radiation and shock waves and other large amounts of energy, but here they are contemplated for use as a thermal energy rocket.

Uranium and other heavy elements, under certain conditions, will split their nuclei, called nuclear fission reaction. The atomic bomb is the result of nuclear fission reactions. Nuclear fission reaction to release energy, is a million times more chemical rocket propellant combustion energy. Therefore, nuclear fission energy is a high-performance rocket rockets. Since it requires much less propellant than chemical rockets can, so to its own weight is much lighter than chemical rockets energy. For the same quality of the rocket, the rocket payload of nuclear fission energy is much greater than the chemical energy of the rocket. Just nuclear fission energy rocket is still in the works. 

Use of nuclear fission energy as the energy of the rocket, called the atomic rockets. It is to make hydrogen or other inert gas working fluid through the reactor, the hydrogen after the heating temperature quickly rose to 2000 ℃, and then into the nozzle, high-speed spray to produce thrust. 

A vision plan is to use liquid hydrogen working fluid, in operation, the liquid hydrogen tank in the liquid hydrogen pump is withdrawn through the catheter and the engine cooling jacket and liquid hydrogen into hydrogen gas, hydrogen gas turbine-driven, locally expansion. Then by nuclear fission reactors, nuclear fission reactions absorb heat released, a sharp rise in temperature, and finally into the nozzle, the rapid expansion of high-speed spray. Calculations show that the amount of atomic payload rockets, rocket high chemical energy than 5-8 times.

Hydrogen and other light elements, under certain conditions, their nuclei convergent synthesis of new heavy nuclei, and release a lot of energy, called nuclear fusion reaction, also called thermonuclear reaction. 

Using energy generated by the fusion reaction for energy rocket, called fusion energy rocket or nuclear thermal rockets. But it is also not only take advantage of controlled nuclear fusion reaction to manufacture hydrogen bombs, rockets and controlled nuclear fusion reaction needs still studying it.

Of course there are various research and development of rocket technology and technical solutions to try.

It is envisaged that the rocket deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen with deuterium nuclear fusion reaction of helium nuclei, protons and neutrons, and release huge amounts of energy, just polymerized ionized helium to temperatures up to 100 million degrees the plasma, and then nozzle expansion, high-speed ejection, the exhaust speed of up to 15,000 km / sec, atomic energy is 1800 times the rocket, the rocket is the chemical energy of 3700 times.

 

Nuclear rocket engine fuel as an energy source, with liquid hydrogen, liquid helium, liquid ammonia working fluid. Nuclear rocket engine mounted in the thrust chamber of the reactor, cooling nozzle, the working fluid delivery and control systems and other components. In a nuclear reactor, nuclear energy into heat to heat the working fluid, the working fluid is heated after expansion nozzle to accelerate to the speed of 6500 ~ 11,000 m / sec from the discharge orifice to produce thrust. Nuclear rocket engine specific impulse (250 to 1000 seconds) long life, but the technology is complex, apply only to long-term spacecraft. This engine due to nuclear radiation protection, exhaust pollution, reactor control and efficient heat exchanger design and other issues not resolved, is still in the midst of trials. Nuclear rocket technology is cutting-edge aerospace science technology, centralized many professional and technical sciences and aerospace, nuclear physics, nuclear chemistry, materials science, the long term future ___-- wide width. The United States, Russia and Europe, China, India, Japan, Britain, Brazil and other countries in this regard have studies, in particular the United States and Russia led the way, impressive. Of course, at this stage of nuclear rocket technology, technology development there are still many difficulties. Fully formed, still to be. But humanity marching to the universe, nuclear reactor applications is essential.

  

Outer Space Treaty (International Convention on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space) ****

Use of Nuclear Power Sources in Outer Space Principle 15

General Assembly,

Having considered the report of its thirty-fifth session of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space and the Commission of 16 nuclear

It can be attached in principle on the use of nuclear power sources in outer space of the text of its report, 17

Recognize that nuclear power sources due to small size, long life and other characteristics, especially suitable for use even necessary

For some missions in outer space,

Recognizing also that the use of nuclear power sources in outer space should focus on the possible use of nuclear power sources

Those uses,

Recognizing also that the use of nuclear power sources should include or probabilistic risk analysis is complete security in outer space

Full evaluation is based, in particular, the public should focus on reducing accidental exposure to harmful radiation or radioactive material risk

risk,

Recognizing the need to a set of principles containing goals and guidelines in this regard to ensure the safety of outer space makes

With nuclear power sources,

Affirming that this set principles apply exclusively on space objects for non-power generation, which is generally characteristic

Mission systems and implementation of nuclear power sources in outer space on similar principles and used by,

Recognizing this need to refer to a new set of principles for future nuclear power applications and internationally for radiological protection

The new proposal will be revised

By the following principles on the use of nuclear power sources in outer space.

Principle 1. Applicability of international law

Involving the use of nuclear power sources in outer space activities should be carried out in accordance with international law, especially the "UN

Principles of the Charter "and" States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies Activities

Treaty "3

.

2. The principle terms

1. For the purpose of these principles, "launching State" and "launching State ......" two words mean, in related

Principles related to a time of nuclear power sources in space objects exercises jurisdiction and control of the country.

2. For the purpose of principle 9, wherein the definition of the term "launching State" as contained in that principle.

3. For the purposes of principle 3, the terms "foreseeable" and "all possible" two words are used to describe the actual hair

The overall likelihood of students that it is considered for safety analysis is credible possibilities for a class of things

Member or circumstances. "General concept of defense in depth" when the term applies to nuclear power sources in outer space refers to various settings

Count form and space operations replace or supplement the operation of the system in order to prevent system failures or mitigate thereafter

"Official Records of the General Assembly, Forty-seventh Session, Supplement No. 20" 16 (A / 47/20).

17 Ibid., Annex.

38

fruit. To achieve this purpose is not necessarily required for each individual member has redundant safety systems. Given space

Use and special requirements of various space missions, impossible to any particular set of systems or features can be specified as

Necessary to achieve this purpose. For the purpose of Principle 3 (d) of paragraph 2, "made critical" does not include

Including such as zero-power testing which are fundamental to ensuring system safety required.

Principle 3. Guidelines and criteria for safe use

To minimize the risk of radioactive material in space and the number involved, nuclear power sources in outer space

Use should be limited to non-nuclear power sources in space missions can not reasonably be performed

1. General goals for radiation protection and nuclear safety

(A) States launching space objects with nuclear power sources on board shall endeavor to protect individuals, populations and the biosphere

From radiation hazards. The design and use of space objects with nuclear power sources on board shall ensure that risk with confidence

Harm in the foreseeable operational or accidental circumstances, paragraph 1 (b) and (c) to define acceptable water

level.

Such design and use shall also ensure that radioactive material does not reliably significant contamination of outer space.

(B) the normal operation of nuclear power sources in space objects, including from paragraph 2 (b) as defined in foot

High enough to return to the track, shall be subject to appropriate anti-radiation recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection of the public

Protection goals. During such normal operation there shall be no significant radiation exposure;

(C) To limit exposure in accidents, the design and construction of nuclear power source systems shall take into account the international

Relevant and generally accepted radiological protection guidelines.

In addition to the probability of accidents with potentially serious radiological consequences is extremely low, the nuclear power source

Design systems shall be safely irradiated limited limited geographical area, for the individual radiation dose should be

Limited to no more than a year 1mSv primary dose limits. Allows the use of irradiation year for some years 5mSv deputy agent

Quantity limit, but the average over a lifetime effective dose equivalent annual dose not exceed the principal limit 1mSv

degree.

Should make these conditions occur with potentially serious radiological consequences of the probability of the system design is very

small.

Criteria mentioned in this paragraph Future modifications should be applied as soon as possible;

(D) general concept of defense in depth should be based on the design, construction and operation of systems important for safety. root

According to this concept, foreseeable safety-related failures or malfunctions must be capable of automatic action may be

Or procedures to correct or offset.

It should ensure that essential safety system reliability, inter alia, to make way for these systems

Component redundancy, physical separation, functional isolation and adequate independence.

It should also take other measures to increase the level of safety.

2. The nuclear reactor

(A) nuclear reactor can be used to:

39

(I) On interplanetary missions;

(Ii) the second high enough orbit paragraph (b) as defined;

(Iii) low-Earth orbit, with the proviso that after their mission is complete enough to be kept in a nuclear reactor

High on the track;

(B) sufficiently high orbit the orbital lifetime is long enough to make the decay of fission products to approximately actinides

Element active track. The sufficiently high orbit must be such that existing and future outer space missions of crisis

Risk and danger of collision with other space objects to a minimum. In determining the height of the sufficiently high orbit when

It should also take into account the destroyed reactor components before re-entering the Earth's atmosphere have to go through the required decay time

between.

(C) only 235 nuclear reactors with highly enriched uranium fuel. The design shall take into account the fission and

Activation of radioactive decay products.

(D) nuclear reactors have reached their operating orbit or interplanetary trajectory can not be made critical state

state.

(E) nuclear reactor design and construction shall ensure that, before reaching the operating orbit during all possible events

Can not become critical state, including rocket explosion, re-entry, impact on ground or water, submersion

In water or water intruding into the core.

(F) a significant reduction in satellites with nuclear reactors to operate on a lifetime less than in the sufficiently high orbit orbit

For the period (including during operation into the sufficiently high orbit) the possibility of failure, there should be a very

Reliable operating system, in order to ensure an effective and controlled disposal of the reactor.

3. Radioisotope generators

(A) interplanetary missions and other spacecraft out of Earth's gravitational field tasks using radioactive isotopes

Su generator. As they are stored after completion of their mission in high orbit, the Earth can also be used

track. We are required to make the final treatment under any circumstances.

(B) Radioisotope generators shall be protected closed systems, design and construction of the system should

Ensure that in the foreseeable conditions of the track to withstand the heat and aerodynamic forces of re-entry in the upper atmosphere, orbit

Conditions including highly elliptical or hyperbolic orbits when relevant. Upon impact, the containment system and the occurrence of parity

Physical morpheme shall ensure that no radioactive material is scattered into the environment so you can complete a recovery operation

Clear all radioactive impact area.

Principle 4. Safety Assessment

1. When launching State emission consistent with the principles defined in paragraphs 1, prior to the launch in applicable under the

Designed, constructed or manufactured the nuclear power sources, or will operate the space object person, or from whose territory or facility

Transmits the object will be to ensure a thorough and comprehensive safety assessment. This assessment shall cover

All relevant stages of space mission and shall deal with all systems involved, including the means of launching, the space level

Taiwan, nuclear power source and its equipment and the means of control and communication between ground and space.

2. This assessment shall respect the principle of 3 contained in the guidelines and criteria for safe use.

40

3. The principle of States in the Exploration and Use, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies Outer Space Activities Article

Results of about 11, this safety assessment should be published prior to each transmit simultaneously to the extent feasible

Note by the approximate intended time of launch, and shall notify the Secretary-General of the United Nations, how to be issued

This safety assessment before the shot to get the results as soon as possible.

Principle 5. Notification of re-entry

1. Any State launching a space object with nuclear power sources in space objects that failed to produce discharge

When radioactive substances dangerous to return to the earth, it shall promptly notify the country concerned. Notice shall be in the following format:

(A) System parameters:

(I) Name of launching State, including which may be contacted in the event of an accident to Request

Information or assistance to obtain the relevant authorities address;

(Ii) International title;

(Iii) Date and territory or location of launch;

(Iv) the information needed to make the best prediction of orbit lifetime, trajectory and impact region;

(V) General function of spacecraft;

(B) information on the radiological risk of nuclear power source:

(I) the type of power source: radioisotopes / reactor;

(Ii) the fuel could fall into the ground and may be affected by the physical state of contaminated and / or activated components, the number of

The amount and general radiological characteristics. The term "fuel" refers to as a source of heat or power of nuclear material.

This information shall also be sent to the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

2. Once you know the failure, the launching State shall provide information on the compliance with the above format. Information should as far as possible

To be updated frequently, and in the dense layers of the Earth's atmosphere is expected to return to a time when close to the best increase

Frequency of new data, so that the international community understand the situation and will have sufficient time to plan for any deemed necessary

National contingency measures.

3. It should also be at the same frequency of the latest information available to the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Principle 6. consultation

5 According to the national principles provide information shall, as far as reasonably practicable, other countries

Requirements to obtain further information or consultations promptly reply.

Principle 7. Assistance to States

1. Upon receipt of expected with nuclear power sources on space objects and their components will return through the Earth's atmosphere

After know that all countries possessing space monitoring and tracking facilities, in the spirit of international cooperation, as soon as possible to

The Secretary-General of the United Nations and the countries they may have made space objects carrying nuclear power sources

A fault related information, so that the States may be affected to assess the situation and take any

It is considered to be the necessary precautions.

41

2. In carrying space objects with nuclear power sources back to the Earth's atmosphere after its components:

(A) launching State shall be requested by the affected countries to quickly provide the necessary assistance to eliminate actual

And possible effects, including nuclear power sources to assist in identifying locations hit the Earth's surface, to detect the re substance

Quality and recovery or cleanup activities.

(B) All countries with relevant technical capabilities other than the launching State, and with such technical capabilities

International organizations shall, where possible, in accordance with the requirements of the affected countries to provide the necessary co

help.

When according to the above (a) and subparagraph (b) to provide assistance, should take into account the special needs of developing countries.

Principle 8. Responsibility

In accordance with the States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies activities, including the principles of Article

About Article, States shall bear international responsibility for their use of nuclear power sources in outer space relates to the activities

Whether such activities are carried on by governmental agencies or non-governmental entities, and shall bear international responsibility to ensure that this

Such activities undertaken by the country in line with the principles of the Treaty and the recommendations contained therein. If it involves the use of nuclear power sources

Activities in outer space by an international organization, should be done by the international organizations and States to participate in the organization

Undertakes to comply with the principles of the Treaty and the recommendations contained in these responsibilities.

Principle 9. Liability and Compensation

1. In accordance with the principle of States in the Exploration and Use, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies Outer Space Activities Article

And the Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects covenant of Article 7

Provisions, which launches or on behalf of the State

Each State launching a space object and each State from which territory or facility a space object is launched

Kinds of space object or damage caused by components shall bear international liability. This fully applies to this

Kind of space object carrying a nuclear power source case. Two or more States jointly launch a space object,

Each launching State shall in accordance with the above Article of the Convention for any damages jointly and severally liable.

2. Such countries under the aforesaid Convention shall bear the damages shall be in accordance with international law and fair and reasonable

The principles set out in order to provide for damages to make a claim on behalf of its natural or juridical persons, national or

International organizations to restore to the state before the occurrence of the damage.

3. For the purposes of this principle, compensation should be made to include reimbursement of the duly substantiated expenses for search, recovery and clean

Cost management work, including the cost of providing assistance to third parties.

10. The principle of dispute settlement

Since the implementation of these principles will lead to any dispute in accordance with the provisions of the UN Charter, by negotiation or

Other established procedures to resolve the peaceful settlement of disputes.

 

Here quoted the important provisions of the United Nations concerning the use of outer space for peaceful nuclear research and international conventions, the main emphasis on the Peaceful Uses of provisions related constraints .2 the use of nuclear rockets in outer space nuclear studies, etc., can cause greater attention in nuclear power nuclear rocket ship nuclear research, manufacture, use and other aspects of the mandatory hard indicators. this scientists, engineering and technical experts are also important constraints and requirements. as IAEA supervision and management as very important.

 

2. radiation. Space radiation is one of the greatest threats to the safety of the astronauts, including X-rays, γ-rays, cosmic rays and high-speed solar particles. Better than aluminum protective effect of high polymer composite materials.

3. Air. Perhaps the oxygen needed to rely on oxidation-reduction reaction of hydrogen and ilmenite production of water, followed by water electrolysis to generate oxygen. Mars oxygen necessary for survival but also from the decomposition of water, electrolytically separating water molecules of oxygen and hydrogen, this oxygen equipment has been successfully used in the International Space Station. Oxygen is released into the air to sustain life, the hydrogen system into the water system.

4. The issue of food waste recycling. At present, the International Space Station on the use of dehumidifiers, sucked moisture in the air to be purified, and then changed back to drinkable water. The astronauts' urine and sweat recycling. 5. water. The spacecraft and the space station on purification system also makes urine and other liquids can be purified utilization. 6. microgravity. In microgravity or weightlessness long-term space travel, if protective measures shall not be treated, the astronauts will be muscle atrophy, bone softening health. 7. contact. 8. Insulation, 9 energy. Any space exploration are inseparable from the energy battery is a new super hybrid energy storage device, the asymmetric lead-acid batteries and supercapacitors in the same compound within the system - and the so-called inside, no additional separate electronic control unit, this is an optimal combination. The traditional lead-acid battery PbO2 monomer is a positive electrode plate and a negative electrode plate spongy Pb composition, not a super cell. : Silicon solar cells, multi-compound thin film solar cells, multi-layer polymer-modified electrode solar cells, nano-crystalline solar cells, batteries and super class. For example, the solar aircraft .10. To protect the health and life safety and security systems. Lysophosphatidic acid LPA is a growth factor-like lipid mediators, the researchers found that this substance can on apoptosis after radiation injury and animal cells was inhibited. Stable lysophosphatidic acid analogs having the hematopoietic system and gastrointestinal tract caused by acute radiation sickness protection, knockout experiments show that lysophosphatidic acid receptors is an important foundation for the protection of radiation injury. In addition to work under high pressure, the astronauts face a number of health threats, including motion sickness, bacterial infections, blindness space, as well as psychological problems, including toxic dust. In the weightless environment of space, the astronaut's body will be like in preadolescents, as the emergence of various changes.

Plantar molt

After the environment to adapt to zero gravity, the astronaut's body will be some strange changes. Weightlessness cause fluid flow around the main flow torso and head, causing the astronauts facial swelling and inflammation, such as nasal congestion. During long-term stay in space

 

Bone and muscle loss

Most people weightlessness caused by the impact may be known bone and muscle degeneration. In addition, the calcium bones become very fragile and prone to fracture, which is why some of the astronauts after landing need on a stretcher.

Space Blindness

Space Blindness refers astronaut decreased vision.

Solar storms and radiation is one of the biggest challenges facing the long-term space flight. Since losing the protection of Earth's magnetic field, astronauts suffer far more than normal levels of radiation. The cumulative amount of radiation exposure in low earth orbit them exceeded by workers close to nuclear reactors, thereby increasing the risk of cancer.

Prolonged space flight can cause a series of psychological problems, including depression or mood swings, vulnerability, anxiety and fear, as well as other sequelae. We are familiar with the biology of the Earth, the Earth biochemistry, biophysics, after all, the Earth is very different astrophysics, celestial chemistry, biophysics and astrophysics, biochemistry and other celestial bodies. Therefore, you must be familiar with and adapt to these differences and changes.

 

Osteoporosis and its complications ranked first in the space of disease risk.

  

Long-term health risks associated with flying Topics

  

The degree of influence long-term biological effects of radiation in human flight can withstand the radiation and the maximum limit of accumulated radiation on physiology, pathology and genetics.

 

Physiological effects of weightlessness including: long-term bone loss and a return flight after the maximum extent and severity of the continued deterioration of other pathological problems induced by the; maximum flexibility and severity of possible long-term Flight Center in vascular function.

 

Long-term risk of disease due to the high risk of flight stress, microbial variation, decreased immune function, leading to infections

 

Radiation hazards and protection

    

1) radiation medicine, biology and pathway effects Features

  

Radiation protection for interplanetary flight, since the lack of protective effect of Earth's magnetic field, and by the irradiation time is longer, the possibility of increased radiation hazard.

       

Analysis of space flight medical problems that may occur, loss of appetite topped the list, sleep disorders, fatigue and insomnia, in addition, space sickness, musculoskeletal system problems, eye problems, infections problems, skin problems and cardiovascular problems

  

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Development of diagnostic techniques in orbit, the development of the volume of power consumption, features a wide range of diagnostic techniques, such as applied research of ultrasound diagnostic techniques in the abdominal thoracic trauma, bone, ligament damage, dental / sinus infections and other complications and integrated;

 

Actively explore in orbit disposal of medical technology, weightlessness surgical methods, development of special surgical instruments, the role of narcotic drugs and the like.

  

——————————————————————————————-

 

However, space technology itself is integrated with the use of the most advanced technology, its challenging technical reserves and periodic demanding

 

With the continuous development of science and technology, space agencies plan a manned landing on the moon and Mars, space exploration emergency medicine current concern.

 

Space sickness

  

In the weightless environment of space, in the weightless environment of space, surgery may be extremely difficult and risky.

  

Robot surgeons

 

Space disease in three days after entering the space started to ease, although individual astronauts might subsequently relapse. January 2015 NASA declared working on a fast, anti-nausea and nasal sprays. In addition, due to the zero-gravity environment, and anti-nausea drugs can only be administered by injection or transdermal patches manner.

        

Manned spaceflight in the 21st century is the era of interplanetary flight, aerospace medicine is closely watched era is the era of China's manned space flourish. Only the central issue, and grasp the opportunity to open up a new world of human survival and development.

 

Various emergency contingency measures in special circumstances. Invisible accident risk prevention. Enhancing drugs and other screening methods immunity aerospace medicine and tissue engineering a microgravity environment. Drug mixture of APS, ginseng polysaccharides, Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharides, polysaccharides and Lentinan, from other compounds. Drug development space syndrome drug, chemical structure modification will be an important part.

These issues are very sensitive, cutting-edge technology is a major difficulty landing on Mars. Countries in the world, especially the world's major space powers in the country strategies and technical research, the results of all kinds continue to emerge. United States, Russia, China, Europe, India, Japan and other countries is different. United States, Russia extraordinary strength. Many patented technology and health, and most belong to the top-secret technology. Especially in aerospace engineering and technological achievements is different from the general scientific literature, practical, commercial, industrial great, especially the performance of patents, know-how, technical drawings, engineering design and other aspects. Present Mars and return safely to Earth, the first manned, significance, everything is hard in the beginning, especially the first person to land on Mars This Mars for Human Sciences Research Mars, the moon, the earth, the solar system and the universe, life and other significant. Its far greater than the value of direct investments and business interests.

 

In addition, it is the development of new materials, suitable for deep space operations universe, life, and other detection, wider field.

Many aerospace materials, continuous research and development of materials are key areas of aerospace development, including material rocket, the spacecraft materials, the suit materials, radiation materials, materials and equipment, instruments, materials and so on biochemistry.

Temperature metal-based compound with a metal matrix composite body with a more primordial higher temperature strength, creep resistance, impact resistance, thermal fatigue and other excellent high temperature performance.

In B, C, SiC fiber reinforced Ti3Al, TiAl, Ni3Al intermetallic matrix composites, etc.

W Fiber Reinforced with nickel-based, iron-based alloys as well as SiC, TiB2, Si3N4 and BN particle reinforced metal matrix composites

High temperature service conditions require the development of ceramic and carbon-based composite materials, etc., not in this eleven Cheung said.

  

Fuel storage

  

In order to survive in space, people need many things: food, oxygen, shelter, and, perhaps most importantly, fuel. The initial quality Mars mission somewhere around 80 percent of the space launch humans will be propellant. The fuel amount of storage space is very difficult.

  

This difference in low Earth orbit cause liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen - rocket fuel - vaporization.

Hydrogen is particularly likely to leak out, resulting in a loss of about 4% per month.

  

When you want to get people to Mars speed to minimize exposure to weightlessness and space radiation hazards

 

Mars

 

Landings on the Martian surface, they realized that they reached the limit. The rapid expansion of the thin Martian atmosphere can not be very large parachute, such as those that will need to be large enough to slow down, carry human spacecraft.

Therefore, the parachute strong mass ratio, high temperature resistance, Bing shot performance and other aspects of textile materials used have special requirements, in order to make a parachute can be used in rockets, missiles, Yu arrows spacecraft and other spacecraft recovery, it is necessary to improve the canopy heat resistance, a high melting point polymeric fiber fabric used, the metal fabric, ceramic fiber fabrics, and other devices.

  

Super rigid parachute to help slow the landing vehicle.

Spacecraft entered the Martian atmosphere at 24,000 km / h. Even after slowing parachute or inflatable, it will be very

  

Once we have the protection of the Earth magnetic field, the solar radiation will accumulate in the body, a huge explosion threw the spacecraft may potentially lethal doses of radiation astronauts.

  

In addition to radiation, the biggest challenge is manned trip to Mars microgravity, as previously described.

  

The moon is sterile. Mars is another case entirely.

 

With dust treatment measures.

  

Arid Martian environment to create a super-tiny dust particles flying around the Earth for billions of years.

 

Apollo moon dust encountered. Ultra-sharp and abrasive lunar dust was named something that can clog the basic functions of mechanical damage. High chloride salt, which can cause thyroid problems in people.

 

*** Mars geological structure and geological structure of the moon, water on Mars geology, geology of the Moon is very important, because he, like the Earth's geology is related to many important issues. Water, the first element of life, air, temperature, and complex geological formations are geological structure. Cosmic geology research methods, mainly through a variety of detection equipment equipped with a space probe, celestial observations of atmospheric composition, composition and distribution of temperature, pressure, wind speed, vertical structure, composition of the solar wind, the water, the surface topography and Zoning, topsoil the composition and characteristics of the component surface of the rock, type and distribution, stratigraphic sequence, structural system and the internal shell structure.

 

Mars internal situation only rely on its surface condition of large amounts of data and related information inferred. It is generally believed that the core radius of 1700 km of high-density material composition; outsourcing a layer of lava, it is denser than the Earth's mantle some; outermost layer is a thin crust. Compared to other terrestrial planets, the lower the density of Mars, which indicates that the Martian core of iron (magnesium and iron sulfide) with may contain more sulfur. Like Mercury and the Moon, Mars and lack active plate movement; there is no indication that the crust of Mars occurred can cause translational events like the Earth like so many of folded mountains. Since there is no lateral movement in the earth's crust under the giant hot zone relative to the ground in a stationary state. Slight stress coupled with the ground, resulting in Tharis bumps and huge volcano. For the geological structure of Mars is very important, which is why repeated explorations and studies of Martian geological reasons.

  

Earth's surface

 

Each detector component landing site soil analysis:

 

Element weight percent

Viking 1

Oxygen 40-45

Si 18-25

Iron 12-15

K 8

Calcium 3-5

Magnesium 3-6

S 2-5

Aluminum 2-5

Cesium 0.1-0.5

Core

Mars is about half the radius of the core radius, in addition to the primary iron further comprises 15 to 17% of the sulfur content of lighter elements is also twice the Earth, so the low melting point, so that the core portion of a liquid, such as outside the Earth nuclear.

 

Mantle

Nuclear outer coating silicate mantle.

 

Crust

The outermost layer of the crust.

Crustal thickness obtained, the original thickness of the low north 40 km south plateau 70 kilometers thick, an average of 50 kilometers, at least 80 km Tharsis plateau and the Antarctic Plateau, and in the impact basin is thin, as only about 10 kilometers Greece plains.

  

Canyon of Mars there are two categories: outflow channels (outflow channel) and tree valley (valley network). The former is very large, it can be 100 km wide, over 2000 km long, streamlined, mainly in the younger Northern Hemisphere, such as the plain around Tyre Chris Canyon and Canyon jam.

 

In addition, the volcanic activity sometimes lava formation lava channels (lava channel); crustal stress generated by fissures, faults, forming numerous parallel extending grooves (fossa), such as around the huge Tharsis volcanic plateau radially distributed numerous grooves, which can again lead to volcanic activity.

  

Presumably, Mars has an iron as the main component of the nucleus, and contains sulfur, magnesium and other light elements, the nuclear share of Mars, the Earth should be relatively small. The outer core is covered with a thick layer of magnesium-rich silicate mantle, the surface of rocky crust. The density of Earth-like planets Mars is the lowest, only 3.93g / cc.

Hierarchy

  

The crust

  

Lunar core

The average density of the Moon is 3.3464 g / cc, the solar system satellites second highest (after Aiou). However, there are few clues mean lunar core is small, only about 350 km radius or less [2]. The core of the moon is only about 20% the size of the moon, the moon's interior has a solid, iron-rich core diameter of about 240 kilometers (150 miles); in addition there is a liquid core, mainly composed of iron outer core, about 330 km in diameter (205 miles), and for the first time compared with the core of the Earth, considered as the earth's outer core, like sulfur and oxygen may have lighter elements [4].

 

Chemical elements on the lunar surface constituted in accordance with its abundance as follows: oxygen (O), silicon (Si), iron (Fe), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), aluminum (Al), manganese (Mn), titanium ( Ti). The most abundant is oxygen, silicon and iron. The oxygen content is estimated to be 42% (by weight). Carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) only traces seem to exist only in trace amounts deposited in the solar wind brings.

 

Lunar Prospector from the measured neutron spectra, the hydrogen (H) mainly in the lunar poles [2].

 

Element content (%)

Oxygen 42%

Silicon 21%

Iron 13%

Calcium 8%

Aluminum 7%

Magnesium 6%

Other 3%

 

Lunar surface relative content of each element (% by weight)

  

Moon geological history is an important event in recent global magma ocean crystallization. The specific depth is not clear, but some studies have shown that at least a depth of about 500 kilometers or more.

 

Lunar landscape

Lunar landscape can be described as impact craters and ejecta, some volcanoes, hills, lava-filled depressions.

  

Regolith

TABLE bear the asteroid and comets billions of years of bombardment. Over time, the impact of these processes have already broken into fine-grained surface rock debris, called regolith. Young mare area, regolith thickness of about 2 meters, while the oldest dated land, regolith thickness of up to 20 meters. Through the analysis of lunar soil components, in particular the isotopic composition changes can determine the period of solar activity. Solar wind gases possible future lunar base is useful because oxygen, hydrogen (water), carbon and nitrogen is not only essential to life, but also may be useful for fuel production. Lunar soil constituents may also be as a future source of energy.

Here, repeatedly stressed that the geological structure and geological structure of celestial bodies, the Earth, Moon, Mars, or that this human existence and development of biological life forms is very important, especially in a series of data Martian geological structure geological structure is directly related to human landing Mars and the successful transformation of Mars or not. for example, water, liquid water, water, oxygen, synthesis, must not be taken lightly.

  

____________________________________________________________----

 

Mars landing 10 Technology

 

Aerospace Science and space science and technology major innovation of the most critical of sophisticated technology R & D project

  

[

"1" rocket propulsion technology ion fusion nuclear pulse propulsion rocket powered high-speed heavy rocket technology, space nuclear reactors spacecraft] brought big problems reflected in the nuclear reaction, nuclear radiation on spacecraft launch, control, brakes and other impact.

In particular, for the future of nuclear power spacecraft, the need to solve the nuclear reactor design, manufacture, control, cooling, radiation shielding, exhaust pollution, high thermoelectric conversion efficiency and a series of technical problems.

In particular, nuclear reactors produce radiation on astronauts' health will pose a great threat, which requires the spacecraft to be nuclear radiation shielding to ensure astronaut and ship the goods from radiation and heat from the reactor influence, but this will greatly increase the weight of the detector.

Space nuclear process applications, nuclear reaction decay is not a problem, but in a vacuum, ultra-low temperature environment, the nuclear reaction materials, energy transport materials have very high demands.

Space facing the reality of a nuclear reactor cooling cooling problems. To prevent problems with the reactor, "Washington" aircraft carrier to take four heavy protective measures for the radiation enclosed in the warship. These four measures are: the fuel itself, fuel storage pressure vessel, reactor shell and the hull. US Navy fuel all metal fuel, designed to take the impact resistance of the war, does not release fission product can withstand more than 50 times the gravity of the impact load; product of nuclear fission reactor fuel will never enter loop cooling water. The third layer of protection is specially designed and manufactured the reactor shell. The fourth layer is a very strong anti-impact combat ship, the reactor is arranged in the center of the ship, very safe. Engage in a reactor can only be loaded up to the aircraft, so as to drive the motor, and then drive the propeller. That is the core advantage of the heat generated by the heated gas flow, high temperature high pressure gas discharge backward, thereby generating thrust.

  

.

  

After installation AMPS1000 type nuclear power plant, a nuclear fuel assembly: He is a core member of the nuclear fuel chain reaction. Usually made into uranium dioxide, of which only a few percent uranium-235, and most of it is not directly involved in the nuclear fission of uranium 238. The uranium dioxide sintered into cylindrical pieces, into a stainless steel or a zirconium alloy do metal tubes called fuel rods or the original, then the number of fuel rods loaded metal cylinder in an orderly composition of the fuel assembly, and finally put a lot of vertical distribution of fuel assemblies in the reactor.

 

Nuclear reactor pressure vessel is a housing for containing nuclear fuel and reactor internals, for producing high-quality high-strength steel is made to withstand the pressure of dozens MPa. Import and export of the coolant in the pressure vessel.

 

The top of the pressure vessel closure, and can be used to accommodate the fixed control rod drive mechanism, pressure vessel head has a semi-circular, flat-topped.

 

Roof bolt: used to connect the locking pressure vessel head, so that the cylinder to form a completely sealed container.

  

Neutron Source: Plug in nuclear reactors can provide sufficient neutron, nuclear fuel ignition, to start to enhance the role of nuclear reactors and nuclear power. Neutron source generally composed of radium, polonium, beryllium, antimony production. Neutron source and neutron fission reactors are fast neutron, can not cause fission of uranium 235, in order to slow down, we need to moderator ---- full of pure water in a nuclear reactor. Aircraft carriers, submarines use nuclear reactor control has proven more successful.

 

Rod: has a strong ability to absorb neutrons, driven by the control rod drive mechanism, can move up and down in a nuclear reactor control rods within the nuclear fuel used to start, shut down the nuclear reactor, and maintain, regulate reactor power. Hafnium control rods in general, silver, indium, cadmium and other metals production.

 

Control rod drive mechanism: He is the executive body of nuclear reactors operating system and security protection systems, in strict accordance with requirements of the system or its operator control rod drives do move up and down in a nuclear reactor, nuclear reactor for power control. In a crisis situation, you also can quickly control rods fully inserted into the reactor in order to achieve the purpose of the emergency shutdown

 

Upper and lower support plate: used to secure the fuel assembly. High temperature and pressure inside the reactor is filled with pure water (so called pressurized water reactors), on the one hand he was passing through a nuclear reactor core, cooling the nuclear fuel, to act as a coolant, on the other hand it accumulates in the pressure vessel in play moderated neutrons role, acting as moderator.

  

Water quality monitoring sampling system:

Adding chemical system: under normal circumstances, for adding hydrazine, hydrogen, pH control agents to the primary coolant system, the main purpose is to remove and reduce coolant oxygen, high oxygen water suppression equipment wall corrosion (usually at a high temperature oxygen with hydrogen, especially at low temperatures during startup of a nuclear reactor with added hydrazine oxygen); when the nuclear reactor control rods stuck for some reason can not shutdown time by the the system can inject the nuclear reactor neutron absorber (such as boric acid solution), emergency shutdown, in order to ensure the safety of nuclear submarines.

 

Water system: a loop inside the water will be reduced at work, such as water sampling and analysis, equipment leaks, because the shutdown process cooling water and reduction of thermal expansion and contraction.

 

Equipment cooling water system:

Pressure safety systems: pressure reactor primary coolant system may change rapidly for some reason, the need for effective control. And in severe burn nuclear fuel rods, resulting in a core melt accident, it is necessary to promptly increase the pressure. Turn the regulator measures the electric, heating and cooling water. If necessary, also temporary startup booster pump.

 

Residual Heat Removal System: reactor scram may be due to an accident, such as when the primary coolant system of the steam generator heat exchanger tube is damaged, it must be urgently closed reactors.

 

Safety Injection System: The main components of this system is the high-pressure injection pump.

 

Radioactive waste treatment systems:

 

Decontamination Systems: for the removal of radioactive deposits equipment, valves, pipes and accessories, and other surfaces.

 

Europe, the United States and Russia and other countries related to aircraft carriers, submarines, icebreakers, nuclear-powered research aircraft, there are lots of achievements use of nuclear energy, it is worth analysis. However, nuclear reactor technology, rocket ships and the former are very different, therefore, requires special attention and innovative research. Must adopt a new new design techniques, otherwise, fall into the stereotype, it will avail, nothing even cause harm Aerospace.

 

[ "2" spacecraft structure]

 

[ "3"] radiation technology is the use of deep-sea sedimentation fabric fabrics deepwater technology development precipitated silver metal fibers or fiber lint and other materials and micronaire value between 4.1 to 4.3 fibers made from blends. For radiation protection field, it greatly enhances the effects of radiation and service life of clothing. Radiation resistant fiber) radiation resistant fiber - fiber polyimide polyimide fibers

60 years the United States has successfully developed polyimide fibers, it has highlighted the high temperature, radiation-resistant, fire-retardant properties.

 

[ "4" cosmic radiation resistant clothing design multifunctional anti-aging, wear underwear] ① comfort layer: astronauts can not wash clothes in a long flight, a lot of sebum, perspiration, etc. will contaminate underwear, so use soft, absorbent and breathable cotton knitwear making.

 

② warm layer: at ambient temperature range is not the case, warm layer to maintain a comfortable temperature environment. Choose warm and good thermal resistance large, soft, lightweight material, such as synthetic fibers, flakes, wool and silk and so on.

 

③ ventilation and cooling clothes clothes

Spacesuit

In astronaut body heat is too high, water-cooled ventilation clothing and clothing to a different way of heat. If the body heat production more than 350 kcal / h (ventilated clothes can not meet the cooling requirements, then that is cooled by a water-cooled suit. Ventilating clothing and water-cooled multi-use compression clothing, durable, flexible plastic tubing, such as polyvinyl chloride pipe or nylon film.

 

④ airtight limiting layer:

 

⑤ insulation: astronaut during extravehicular activities, from hot or cold insulation protection. It multilayer aluminized polyester film or a polyimide film and sandwiched between layers of nonwoven fabric to be made.

 

⑥ protective cover layer: the outermost layer of the suit is to require fire, heat and anti-space radiation on various factors (micrometeorites, cosmic rays, etc.) on the human body. Most of this layer with aluminized fabric.

New space suits using a special radiation shielding material, double design.

And also supporting spacesuit helmet, gloves, boots and so on.

  

[ "5" space - Aerospace biomedical technology, space, special use of rescue medication Space mental health care systems in space without damage restful sleep positions - drugs, simple space emergency medical system

]

[ "6" landing control technology, alternate control technology, high-performance multi-purpose landing deceleration device (parachute)]

 

[ "7" Mars truck, unitary Mars spacecraft solar energy battery super multi-legged (rounds) intelligent robot] multifunction remote sensing instruments on Mars, Mars and more intelligent giant telescope

 

[8 <> Mars warehouse activities, automatic Mars lander - Automatic start off cabin

]

[ "9" Mars - spacecraft docking control system, return to the system design]

 

Space flight secondary emergency life - support system

  

Spacecraft automatic, manual, semi-automatic operation control, remote control switch system

 

Automatic return spacecraft systems, backup design, the spacecraft automatic control operating system modular blocks of]

 

[10 lunar tracking control system

 

Martian dust storms, pollution prevention, anti-corrosion and other special conditions thereof

 

Electric light aircraft, Mars lander, Mars, living spaces, living spaces Mars, Mars entry capsule, compatible utilization technology, plant cultivation techniques, nutrition space - space soil]

 

Aerospace technology, space technology a lot, a lot of cutting-edge technology. Human landing on Mars technology bear the brunt. The main merge the human landing on Mars 10 cutting-edge technology, in fact, these 10 cutting-edge technology, covering a wide range, focused, and is the key to key technologies. They actually shows overall trends and technology Aerospace Science and Technology space technology. Human triumph Mars and safe return of 10 cutting-edge technology is bound to innovation. Moreover, in order to explore the human Venus, Jupiter satellites and the solar system, the Milky Way and other future development of science and laid the foundation guarantee. But also for the transformation of human to Mars, the Moon and other planets livable provides strong technical support. Aerospace Science and Technology which is a major support system.

 

Preparation of oxygen, water, synthesis, temperature, radiation, critical force confrontation. Regardless of the moon or Mars, survive three elements bear the brunt.

 

Chemical formula: H₂O

 

Formula: H-O-H (OH bond between two angle 104.5 °).

 

Molecular Weight: 18.016

 

Chemical Experiment: water electrolysis. Formula: 2H₂O = energized = 2H₂ ↑ + O₂ ↑ (decomposition)

 

Molecules: a hydrogen atom, an oxygen atom.

  

Ionization of water: the presence of pure water ionization equilibrium following: H₂O == == H⁺ + OH⁻ reversible or irreversible H₂O + H₂O = = H₃O⁺ + OH⁻.

 

NOTE: "H₃O⁺" hydronium ions, for simplicity, often abbreviated as H⁺, more accurate to say the H9O4⁺, the amount of hydrogen ion concentration in pure water material is 10⁻⁷mol / L.

 

Electrolysis of water:

 

Water at DC, decomposition to produce hydrogen and oxygen, this method is industrially prepared pure hydrogen and oxygen 2H₂O = 2H₂ ↑ + O₂ ↑.

 

. Hydration Reaction:

 

Water with an alkaline active metal oxides, as well as some of the most acidic oxide hydration reaction of unsaturated hydrocarbons.

 

Na₂O + H₂O = 2NaOH

 

CaO + H₂O = Ca (OH) ₂

 

SO₃ + H₂O = H₂SO₄

 

P₂O₅ + 3H₂O = 2H₃PO₄ molecular structure

 

CH₂ = CH₂ + H₂O ← → C₂H₅OH

  

6. The diameter of the order of magnitude of 10 water molecules negative power of ten, the water is generally believed that a diameter of 2 to 3 this organization. water

 

7. Water ionization:

 

In the water, almost no water molecules ionized to generate ions.

 

H₂O ← → H⁺ + OH⁻

 

Heating potassium chlorate or potassium permanganate preparation of oxygen

  

Pressurized at low temperatures, the air into a liquid, and then evaporated, since the boiling point of liquid nitrogen is -196 deg.] C, lower than the boiling point of liquid oxygen (-183 ℃), so the liquid nitrogen evaporated from the first air, remaining the main liquid oxygen.

Of course, the development of research in space there is a great difference, even more special preparation harsh environments on Earth and synthetic water and oxygen, over the need for more technological breakthroughs.

The main component of air oxygen and nitrogen. The use of oxygen and nitrogen with

The V-Max appeared back in 1985, was on the books for ’86 then skipped ’87, only to reappear with new wheels in 1988, then lasted with minor changes for the next 20 years. This ’85 gem is the original.

 

The V-Max was a genuine butt-kicker, the likes of which had never been seen before. Yamaha called it a “muscle” bike, but if it were compared to Arnold pumping iron in ’85, he would have been stricken from the competition due to overuse of steroids.

 

The V-Max was all about muscle, little to do with practicality, even handling. The Japanese felt that the way to serious muscle was with a V-4, and the Max’s rear wheel showed 120 horsepower, with a 10-second (barely) quarter-mile. Its closest competition was the Honda Magna 1100 with 100 horses, and a half-second slower in the quarter. Third was Suzuki’s Madura 1200, with a mere 90 ponies and a quarter in the high 11s. Kawasaki, sensibly, decided to stay away from the internecine V-4 struggle.

 

Source: ridermagazine.com/2013/12/31/retrospective-yamaha-vmx12-v...

. . . if anybody is interested: removing the background on a photo like this takes about one hour . . .

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Kālī, also known as Kālikā (Sanskrit: कालिका), is the Hindu goddess associated with empowerment, shakti. She is the fierce aspect of the goddess Durga (Parvati). The name Kali comes from kāla, which means black, time, death, lord of death: Shiva. Since Shiva is called Kāla— the eternal time — the name of Kālī, his consort, also means "Time" or "Death" (as in "time has come"). Hence, Kāli is the Goddess of Time and Change. Although sometimes presented as dark and violent, her earliest incarnation as a figure of annihilation of evil forces still has some influence. Various Shakta Hindu cosmologies, as well as Shākta Tantric beliefs, worship her as the ultimate reality or Brahman. Comparatively recent devotional movements largely conceive Kāli as a benevolent mother goddess. Kālī is represented as the consort of Lord Shiva, on whose body she is often seen standing. Shiva lies in the path of Kali, whose foot on Shiva subdues her anger.

 

ETYMOLOGY

Kālī is the feminine form of kālam ("black, dark coloured"). Kāla primarily means "time" but also means "black" in honor of being the first creation before light itself. Kālī means "the black one" and refers to her being the entity of "time" or "beyond time." Kāli is strongly associated with Shiva, and Shaivas derive the masculine Kāla (an epithet of Shiva) to come from her feminine name. A nineteenth-century Sanskrit dictionary, the Shabdakalpadrum, states: कालः शिवः। तस्य पत्नीति - काली। kālaḥ śivaḥ। tasya patnīti kālī - "Shiva is Kāla, thus, his consort is Kāli" referring to Devi Parvathi being a manifestation of Devi MahaKali.

 

Other names include Kālarātri ("black night"), as described above, and Kālikā ("relating to time"). Coburn notes that the name Kālī can be used as a proper name, or as a description of color.

 

Kāli's association with darkness stands in contrast to her consort, Shiva, who manifested after her in creation, and who symbolises the rest of creation after Time is created. In his supreme awareness of Maya, his body is covered by the white ashes of the cremation ground (Sanskrit: śmaśāna) where he meditates, and with which Kāli is also associated, as śmaśāna-kālī.

 

ORIGINS

Hugh Urban notes that although the word Kālī appears as early as the Atharva Veda, the first use of it as a proper name is in the Kathaka Grhya Sutra (19.7). Kali is the name of one of the seven tongues of Agni, the [Rigvedic] God of Fire, in the Mundaka Upanishad (2:4), but it is unlikely that this refers to the goddess. The first appearance of Kāli in her present form is in the Sauptika Parvan of the Mahabharata (10.8.64). She is called Kālarātri (literally, "black night") and appears to the Pandava soldiers in dreams, until finally she appears amidst the fighting during an attack by Drona's son Ashwatthama. She most famously appears in the sixth century Devi Mahatmyam as one of the shaktis of Mahadevi, and defeats the demon Raktabija ("Bloodseed"). The tenth-century Kalika Purana venerates Kāli as the ultimate reality.

 

According to David Kinsley, Kāli is first mentioned in Hinduism as a distinct goddess around 600 CE, and these texts "usually place her on the periphery of Hindu society or on the battlefield." She is often regarded as the Shakti of Shiva, and is closely associated with him in various Puranas. The Kalika Purana depicts her as the "Adi Shakti" (Fundamental Power) and "Para Prakriti" or beyond nature.

 

WORSHIP & MANTRA

Kali could be considered a general concept, like Durga, and is mostly worshiped in the Kali Kula sect of worship. The closest way of direct worship is Maha Kali or Bhadra Kali (Bhadra in Sanskrit means 'gentle'). Kali is worshiped as one of the 10 Mahavidya forms of Adi Parashakti (Goddess Durga) or Bhagavathy according to the region. The mantra for worship is called Devi Argala Stotram.

Sanskrit: सर्वमङ्गलमाङ्गल्ये शिवे सर्वार्थसाधिके । शरण्ये त्र्यम्बके गौरि नारायणि नमोऽस्तु ते ॥

 

ॐ जयंती मंगल काली भद्रकाली कपालिनी । दुर्गा क्षमा शिवा धात्री स्वाहा स्वधा नमोऽस्तु‍ते ॥

(Sarvamaṅgalamāṅgalyē śivē sarvārthasādhikē . śaraṇyē tryambakē gauri nārāyaṇi namō'stu tē.

Oṃ jayantī mangala kālī bhadrakālī kapālinī . durgā kṣamā śivā dhātrī svāhā svadhā namō'stu‍tē.)

 

TANTRA

Goddesses play an important role in the study and practice of Tantra Yoga, and are affirmed to be as central to discerning the nature of reality as are the male deities. Although Parvati is often said to be the recipient and student of Shiva's wisdom in the form of Tantras, it is Kāli who seems to dominate much of the Tantric iconography, texts, and rituals. In many sources Kāli is praised as the highest reality or greatest of all deities. The Nirvana-tantra says the gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva all arise from her like bubbles in the sea, ceaselessly arising and passing away, leaving their original source unchanged. The Niruttara-tantra and the Picchila-tantra declare all of Kāli's mantras to be the greatest and the Yogini-tantra, Kamakhya-tantra and the Niruttara-tantra all proclaim Kāli vidyas (manifestations of Mahadevi, or "divinity itself"). They declare her to be an essence of her own form (svarupa) of the Mahadevi.

 

In the Mahanirvana-tantra, Kāli is one of the epithets for the primordial sakti, and in one passage Shiva praises her:

 

At the dissolution of things, it is Kāla [Time] Who will devour all, and by reason of this He is called Mahākāla [an epithet of Lord Shiva], and since Thou devourest Mahākāla Himself, it is Thou who art the Supreme Primordial Kālika. Because Thou devourest Kāla, Thou art Kāli, the original form of all things, and because Thou art the Origin of and devourest all things Thou art called the Adya [the Primordial One]. Re-assuming after Dissolution Thine own form, dark and formless, Thou alone remainest as One ineffable and inconceivable. Though having a form, yet art Thou formless; though Thyself without beginning, multiform by the power of Maya, Thou art the Beginning of all, Creatrix, Protectress, and Destructress that Thou art.

 

The figure of Kāli conveys death, destruction, and the consuming aspects of reality. As such, she is also a "forbidden thing", or even death itself. In the Pancatattva ritual, the sadhaka boldly seeks to confront Kali, and thereby assimilates and transforms her into a vehicle of salvation. This is clear in the work of the Karpuradi-stotra, a short praise of Kāli describing the Pancatattva ritual unto her, performed on cremation grounds. (Samahana-sadhana)

 

He, O Mahākāli who in the cremation-ground, naked, and with dishevelled hair, intently meditates upon Thee and recites Thy mantra, and with each recitation makes offering to Thee of a thousand Akanda flowers with seed, becomes without any effort a Lord of the earth. Oh Kāli, whoever on Tuesday at midnight, having uttered Thy mantra, makes offering even but once with devotion to Thee of a hair of his Shakti [his energy/female companion] in the cremation-ground, becomes a great poet, a Lord of the earth, and ever goes mounted upon an elephant.

 

The Karpuradi-stotra clearly indicates that Kāli is more than a terrible, vicious, slayer of demons who serves Durga or Shiva. Here, she is identified as the supreme mistress of the universe, associated with the five elements. In union with Lord Shiva, she creates and destroys worlds. Her appearance also takes a different turn, befitting her role as ruler of the world and object of meditation. In contrast to her terrible aspects, she takes on hints of a more benign dimension. She is described as young and beautiful, has a gentle smile, and makes gestures with her two right hands to dispel any fear and offer boons. The more positive features exposed offer the distillation of divine wrath into a goddess of salvation, who rids the sadhaka of fear. Here, Kali appears as a symbol of triumph over death.

 

BENGALI TRADITION

Kali is also a central figure in late medieval Bengali devotional literature, with such devotees as Ramprasad Sen (1718–75). With the exception of being associated with Parvati as Shiva's consort, Kāli is rarely pictured in Hindu legends and iconography as a motherly figure until Bengali devotions beginning in the early eighteenth century. Even in Bengāli tradition her appearance and habits change little, if at all.

 

The Tantric approach to Kāli is to display courage by confronting her on cremation grounds in the dead of night, despite her terrible appearance. In contrast, the Bengali devotee appropriates Kāli's teachings adopting the attitude of a child, coming to love her unreservedly. In both cases, the goal of the devotee is to become reconciled with death and to learn acceptance of the way that things are. These themes are well addressed in Rāmprasād's work. Rāmprasād comments in many of his other songs that Kāli is indifferent to his wellbeing, causes him to suffer, brings his worldly desires to nothing and his worldly goods to ruin. He also states that she does not behave like a mother should and that she ignores his pleas:

 

Can mercy be found in the heart of her who was born of the stone? [a reference to Kali as the daughter of Himalaya]

Were she not merciless, would she kick the breast of her lord?

Men call you merciful, but there is no trace of mercy in you, Mother.

You have cut off the heads of the children of others, and these you wear as a garland around your neck.

It matters not how much I call you "Mother, Mother." You hear me, but you will not listen.

 

To be a child of Kāli, Rāmprasād asserts, is to be denied of earthly delights and pleasures. Kāli is said to refrain from giving that which is expected. To the devotee, it is perhaps her very refusal to do so that enables her devotees to reflect on dimensions of themselves and of reality that go beyond the material world.

 

A significant portion of Bengali devotional music features Kāli as its central theme and is known as Shyama Sangeet ("Music of the Night"). Mostly sung by male vocalists, today even women have taken to this form of music. One of the finest singers of Shyāma Sāngeet is Pannalal Bhattacharya.

 

In Bengal, Kāli is venerated in the festival Kali Puja, the new moon day of Ashwin month which coincides with Diwali festival.

 

In a unique form of Kāli worship, Shantipur worships Kāli in the form of a hand painted image of the deity known as Poteshwari (meaning the deity drawn on a piece of cloth).

 

LEGENDS

SLAYER OF RAKTABIJA

In Kāli's most famous legend, Devi Durga (Adi Parashakti) and her assistants, the Matrikas, wound the demon Raktabija, in various ways and with a variety of weapons in an attempt to destroy him. They soon find that they have worsened the situation for with every drop of blood that is dripped from Raktabija he reproduces a clone of himself. The battlefield becomes increasingly filled with his duplicates. Durga, in need of help, summons Kāli to combat the demons. It is said, in some versions, that Goddess Durga actually assumes the form of Goddess Kāli at this time. The Devi Mahatmyam describes:

 

Out of the surface of her (Durga's) forehead, fierce with frown, issued suddenly Kali of terrible countenance, armed with a sword and noose. Bearing the strange khatvanga (skull-topped staff ), decorated with a garland of skulls, clad in a tiger's skin, very appalling owing to her emaciated flesh, with gaping mouth, fearful with her tongue lolling out, having deep reddish eyes, filling the regions of the sky with her roars, falling upon impetuously and slaughtering the great asuras in that army, she devoured those hordes of the foes of the devas.

 

Kali destroys Raktabija by sucking the blood from his body and putting the many Raktabija duplicates in her gaping mouth. Pleased with her victory, Kali then dances on the field of battle, stepping on the corpses of the slain. In the Devi Mahatmya version of this story, Kali is also described as a Matrika and as a Shakti or power of Devi. She is given the epithet Cāṃuṇḍā (Chamunda), i.e. the slayer of the demons Chanda and Munda. Chamunda is very often identified with Kali and is very much like her in appearance and habit.

 

DAKSHINA KALI

In her most famous pose as Daksinakali, popular legends say that Kali, becoming drunk on the blood of her victims on the battlefield, dances with destructive frenzy. She is about to destroy the whole universe when, urged by all the gods, Shiva lies in her way to stop her. In her fury, she fails to see the body of Shiva lying amongst the corpses on the battlefield and steps upon his chest. Realizing Shiva lies beneath her feet, her anger is pacified and she calms her fury. Though not included in any of the puranas, popular legends state that Kali was ashamed at the prospect of keeping her husband beneath her feet and thus stuck her tongue out in shame. The Devi-Bhagavata Purana, which goes into great depths about the goddess Kali, reveals the tongue's actual symbolism.

 

The characteristic icons that depict Kali are the following; unbridled matted hair, open blood shot eyes, open mouth and a drooping tongue; in her hands, she holds a Khadga (bent sword or scimitar) and a human head; she has a girdle of human hands across her waist and an enchanted Shiva lies beneath her feet. Each of these icons represent a deep philosophical epithet. The drooping out-stuck tongue represents her blood-thirst. Lord Shiva beneath her feet represents matter, as Kali is undoubtedly the primeval energy. The depiction of Kali on Shiva shows that without energy, matter lies "dead". This concept has been simplified to a folk-tale depicting a wife placing her foot on her husband and sticking her tongue out in shame. In tantric contexts, the tongue is seen to denote the element (guna) of rajas (energy and action) controlled by sattva.

 

If Kali steps on Shiva with her right foot and holds the sword in her left hand, she is considered to be Dakshina Kali. The Dakshina Kali Temple has important religious associations with the Jagannath Temple and it is believed that Daksinakali is the guardian of the kitchen of the Lord Jagannath Temple. Puranic tradition says that in Puri, Lord Jagannath is regarded as Daksinakalika. Goddess Dakshinakali plays an important role in the 'Niti' of Saptapuri Amavasya.

 

One South Indian tradition tells of a dance contest between Shiva and Kali. After defeating the two demons Sumbha and Nisumbha, Kali takes up residence in the forest of Thiruvalankadu or Thiruvalangadu. She terrorizes the surrounding area with her fierce, disruptive nature. One of Shiva's devotees becomes distracted while performing austerities, and asks Shiva to rid the forest of the destructive goddess. When Shiva arrives, Kali threatens him, claiming the territory as her own. Shiva challenges Kali to a dance contest; both of them dance and Kali matches Shiva in every step that he takes until Shiva takes the "Urdhvatandava" step, by vertically raising his right leg. Kali refuses to perform this step, which would not befit her as a woman, and became pacified.

 

SMASHAN KALI

If the Kali steps out with the left foot and holds the sword in her right hand, she is the terrible form of Mother, the Smashan Kali of the cremation ground. She is worshiped by tantrics, the followers of Tantra, who believe that one's spiritual discipline practiced in a smashan (cremation ground) brings success quickly. Sarda Devi, the consort of Ramakrishna Paramhansa, worshipped Smashan Kali at Dakshineshwar.

 

MATERNAL KALI

Another legend depicts the infant Shiva calming Kali. In this similar story, Kali has defeated her enemies on the battlefield and begun to dance out of control, drunk on the blood of the slain. To calm her down and to protect the stability of the world, Shiva is sent to the battlefield, as an infant, crying aloud. Seeing the child's distress, Kali ceases dancing to care for the helpless infant. She picks him up, kisses his head, and proceeds to breast feed the infant Shiva. This legend is notable because it shows Kali in her benevolent, maternal aspect, with which she is not usually identified.

 

MAHAKALI

Mahakali (Sanskrit: Mahākālī, Devanagari: महाकाली), literally translated as Great Kali, is sometimes considered as a greater form of Kali, identified with the Ultimate reality of Brahman. It can also be used as an honorific of the Goddess Kali, signifying her greatness by the prefix "Mahā-". Mahakali, in Sanskrit, is etymologically the feminized variant of Mahakala or Great Time (which is interpreted also as Death), an epithet of the God Shiva in Hinduism. Mahakali is the presiding Goddess of the first episode of the Devi Mahatmya. Here she is depicted as Devi in her universal form as Shakti. Here Devi serves as the agent who allows the cosmic order to be restored.

 

Kali is depicted in the Mahakali form as having ten heads, ten arms, and ten legs. Each of her ten hands is carrying a various implement which vary in different accounts, but each of these represent the power of one of the Devas or Hindu Gods and are often the identifying weapon or ritual item of a given Deva. The implication is that Mahakali subsumes and is responsible for the powers that these deities possess and this is in line with the interpretation that Mahakali is identical with Brahman. While not displaying ten heads, an "ekamukhi" or one headed image may be displayed with ten arms, signifying the same concept: the powers of the various Gods come only through Her grace.

 

ICONOGRAPHY

Kali is portrayed mostly in two forms: the popular four-armed form and the ten-armed Mahakali form. In both of her forms, she is described as being black in color but is most often depicted as blue in popular Indian art. Her eyes are described as red with intoxication, and in absolute rage, her hair is shown disheveled, small fangs sometimes protrude out of her mouth, and her tongue is lolling. She is often shown naked or just wearing a skirt made of human arms and a garland of human heads. She is also accompanied by serpents and a jackal while standing on a seemingly dead Shiva, usually right foot forward to symbolize the more popular Dakshinamarga or right-handed path, as opposed to the more infamous and transgressive Vamamarga or left-handed path.

 

In the ten-armed form of Mahakali she is depicted as shining like a blue stone. She has ten faces and ten feet and three eyes. She has ornaments decked on all her limbs. There is no association with Shiva.

 

The Kalika Purana describes Kali as possessing a soothing dark complexion, as perfectly beautiful, riding a lion, four-armed, holding a sword and blue lotuses, her hair unrestrained, body firm and youthful.

 

In spite of her seemingly terrible form, Kali Ma is often considered the kindest and most loving of all the Hindu goddesses, as she is regarded by her devotees as the Mother of the whole Universe. And because of her terrible form, she is also often seen as a great protector. When the Bengali saint Ramakrishna once asked a devotee why one would prefer to worship Mother over him, this devotee rhetorically replied, "Maharaj, when they are in trouble your devotees come running to you. But, where do you run when you are in trouble?"

 

According to Ramakrishna, darkness is the Ultimate Mother, or Kali:

 

My Mother is the principle of consciousness. She is Akhanda Satchidananda; indivisible Reality, Awareness, and Bliss. The night sky between the stars is perfectly black. The waters of the ocean depths are the same; The infinite is always mysteriously dark. This inebriating darkness is my beloved Kali.

 

SRI RAMAKRISHNA

This is clear in the works of such contemporary artists as Charles Wish, and Tyeb Mehta, who sometimes take great liberties with the traditional, accepted symbolism, but still demonstrate a true reverence for the Shakta sect.

 

POPULAR FORM

Classic depictions of Kali share several features, as follows:

 

Kali's most common four armed iconographic image shows each hand carrying variously a sword, a trishul (trident), a severed head and a bowl or skull-cup (kapala) catching the blood of the severed head.

 

Two of these hands (usually the left) are holding a sword and a severed head. The Sword signifies Divine Knowledge and the Human Head signifies human Ego which must be slain by Divine Knowledge in order to attain Moksha. The other two hands (usually the right) are in the abhaya (fearlessness) and varada (blessing) mudras, which means her initiated devotees (or anyone worshipping her with a true heart) will be saved as she will guide them here and in the hereafter.

 

She has a garland consisting of human heads, variously enumerated at 108 (an auspicious number in Hinduism and the number of countable beads on a Japa Mala or rosary for repetition of Mantras) or 51, which represents Varnamala or the Garland of letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, Devanagari. Hindus believe Sanskrit is a language of dynamism, and each of these letters represents a form of energy, or a form of Kali. Therefore she is generally seen as the mother of language, and all mantras.

 

She is often depicted naked which symbolizes her being beyond the covering of Maya since she is pure (nirguna) being-consciousness-bliss and far above prakriti. She is shown as very dark as she is brahman in its supreme unmanifest state. She has no permanent qualities - she will continue to exist even when the universe ends. It is therefore believed that the concepts of color, light, good, bad do not apply to her - she is the pure, un-manifested energy, the Adi-shakti.

 

SHIVA IN KALI ICONOGRAPHY

In both these images she is shown standing on the prone, inert or dead body of Shiva. There is a legend for the reason behind her standing on what appears to be Shiva's corpse, which translates as follows:

 

Once Kali had destroyed all the demons in battle, she began a terrific dance out of the sheer joy of victory. All the worlds or lokas began to tremble and sway under the impact of her dance. So, at the request of all the Gods, Shiva himself asked her to desist from this behavior. However, she was too intoxicated to listen. Hence, Shiva lay like a corpse among the slain demons in order to absorb the shock of the dance into himself. When Kali eventually stepped upon Shiva, she realized she was trampling and hurting her husband and bit her tongue in shame.

 

The story described here is a popular folk tale and not described or hinted in any of the puranas. The puranic interpretation is as follows:

 

Once, Parvati asks Shiva to chose the one form among her 10 forms which he likes most. To her surprise, Shiva reveals that he is most comfortable with her Kali form, in which she is bereft of her jewellery, her human-form, her clothes, her emotions and where she is only raw, chaotic energy, where she is as terrible as time itself and even greater than time. As Parvati takes the form of Kali, Shiva lies at her feet and requests her to place her foot on his chest, upon his heart. Once in this form, Shiva requests her to have this place, below her feet in her iconic image which would be worshiped throughout.

 

This idea has been explored in the Devi-Bhagavata Purana and is most popular in the Shyama Sangeet, devotional songs to Kali from the 12th to 15th centuries.

 

The Tantric interpretation of Kali standing on top of her husband is as follows:

 

The Shiv tattava (Divine Consciousness as Shiva) is inactive, while the Shakti tattava (Divine Energy as Kali) is active. Shiva and Kali represent Brahman, the Absolute pure consciousness which is beyond all names, forms and activities. Kali, on the other hand, represents the potential (and manifested) energy responsible for all names, forms and activities. She is his Shakti, or creative power, and is seen as the substance behind the entire content of all consciousness. She can never exist apart from Shiva or act independently of him, just as Shiva remains a mere corpse without Kali i.e., Shakti, all the matter/energy of the universe, is not distinct from Shiva, or Brahman, but is rather the dynamic power of Brahman. Hence, Kali is Para Brahman in the feminine and dynamic aspect while Shiva is the male aspect and static. She stands as the absolute basis for all life, energy and beneath her feet lies, Shiva, a metaphor for mass, which cannot retain its form without energy.

 

While this is an advanced concept in monistic Shaktism, it also agrees with the Nondual Trika philosophy of Kashmir, popularly known as Kashmir Shaivism and associated most famously with Abhinavagupta. There is a colloquial saying that "Shiva without Shakti is Shava" which means that without the power of action (Shakti) that is Mahakali (represented as the short "i" in Devanagari) Shiva (or consciousness itself) is inactive; Shava means corpse in Sanskrit and the play on words is that all Sanskrit consonants are assumed to be followed by a short letter "a" unless otherwise noted. The short letter "i" represents the female power or Shakti that activates Creation. This is often the explanation for why She is standing on Shiva, who is either Her husband and complement in Shaktism or the Supreme Godhead in Shaivism.

 

To properly understand this complex Tantric symbolism it is important to remember that the meaning behind Shiva and Kali does not stray from the non-dualistic parlance of Shankara or the Upanisads. According to both the Mahanirvana and Kularnava Tantras, there are two distinct ways of perceiving the same absolute reality. The first is a transcendental plane which is often described as static, yet infinite. It is here that there is no matter, there is no universe and only consciousness exists. This form of reality is known as Shiva, the absolute Sat-Chit-Ananda - existence, knowledge and bliss. The second is an active plane, an immanent plane, the plane of matter, of Maya, i.e., where the illusion of space-time and the appearance of an actual universe does exist. This form of reality is known as Kali or Shakti, and (in its entirety) is still specified as the same Absolute Sat-Chit-Ananda. It is here in this second plane that the universe (as we commonly know it) is experienced and is described by the Tantric seer as the play of Shakti, or God as Mother Kali.

 

From a Tantric perspective, when one meditates on reality at rest, as absolute pure consciousness (without the activities of creation, preservation or dissolution) one refers to this as Shiva or Brahman. When one meditates on reality as dynamic and creative, as the Absolute content of pure consciousness (with all the activities of creation, preservation or dissolution) one refers to it as Kali or Shakti. However, in either case the yogini or yogi is interested in one and the same reality - the only difference being in name and fluctuating aspects of appearance. It is this which is generally accepted as the meaning of Kali standing on the chest of Shiva.

 

Although there is often controversy surrounding the images of divine copulation, the general consensus is benign and free from any carnal impurities in its substance. In Tantra the human body is a symbol for the microcosm of the universe; therefore sexual process is responsible for the creation of the world. Although theoretically Shiva and Kali (or Shakti) are inseparable, like fire and its power to burn, in the case of creation they are often seen as having separate roles. With Shiva as male and Kali as female it is only by their union that creation may transpire. This reminds us of the prakrti and purusa doctrine of Samkhya wherein prakāśa- vimarśa has no practical value, just as without prakrti, purusa is quite inactive. This (once again) stresses the interdependencies of Shiva and Shakti and the vitality of their union.

 

Gopi Krishna proposed that Kali standing on the dead Shiva or Shava (Sanskrit for dead body) symbolised the helplessness of a person undergoing the changing process (psychologically and physiologically) in the body conducted by the Kundalini Shakti.

 

DEVELOPMENT

In the later traditions, Kali has become inextricably linked with Shiva. The unleashed form of Kali often becomes wild and uncontrollable, and only Shiva is able to tame her just as only Kali can tame Shiva. This is both because she is often a transformed version of one of his consorts and because he is able to match her wildness.

 

The ancient text of Kali Kautuvam describes her competition with Shiva in dance, from which the sacred 108 Karanas appeared. Shiva won the competition by acting the urdva tandava, one of the Karanas, by raising his feet to his head. Other texts describe Shiva appearing as a crying infant and appealing to her maternal instincts. While Shiva is said to be able to tame her, the iconography often presents her dancing on his fallen body, and there are accounts of the two of them dancing together, and driving each other to such wildness that the world comes close to unravelling.

 

Shiva's involvement with Tantra and Kali's dark nature have led to her becoming an important Tantric figure. To the Tantric worshippers, it was essential to face her Curse, the terror of death, as willingly as they accepted Blessings from her beautiful, nurturing, maternal aspect. For them, wisdom meant learning that no coin has only one side: as death cannot exist without life, so life cannot exist without death. Kali's role sometimes grew beyond that of a chaos - which could be confronted - to that of one who could bring wisdom, and she is given great metaphysical significance by some Tantric texts. The Nirvāna-tantra clearly presents her uncontrolled nature as the Ultimate Reality, claiming that the trimurti of Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra arise and disappear from her like bubbles from the sea. Although this is an extreme case, the Yogini-tantra, Kamakhya-tantra and the Niruttara-tantra declare her the svarupa (own-being) of the Mahadevi (the great Goddess, who is in this case seen as the combination of all devis).

 

The final stage of development is the worshipping of Kali as the Great Mother, devoid of her usual violence. This practice is a break from the more traditional depictions. The pioneers of this tradition are the 18th century Shakta poets such as Ramprasad Sen, who show an awareness of Kali's ambivalent nature. Ramakrishna, the 19th century Bengali saint, was also a great devotee of Kali; the western popularity of whom may have contributed to the more modern, equivocal interpretations of this Goddess. Rachel McDermott's work, however, suggests that for the common, modern worshipper, Kali is not seen as fearful, and only those educated in old traditions see her as having a wrathful component. Some credit to the development of Devi must also be given to Samkhya. Commonly referred to as the Devi of delusion, Mahamaya or Durga, acting in the confines of (but not being bound by) the nature of the three gunas, takes three forms: Maha-Kali, Maha-Lakshmi and Maha-Saraswati, being her tamas-ika, rajas-ika and sattva-ika forms. In this sense, Kali is simply part of a larger whole.

 

Like Sir John Woodroffe and Georg Feuerstein, many Tantric scholars (as well as sincere practitioners) agree that, no matter how propitious or appalling you describe them, Shiva and Devi are simply recognizable symbols for everyday, abstract (yet tangible) concepts such as perception, knowledge, space-time, causation and the process of liberating oneself from the confines of such things. Shiva, symbolizing pure, absolute consciousness, and Devi, symbolizing the entire content of that consciousness, are ultimately one and the same - totality incarnate, a micro-macro-cosmic amalgamation of all subjects, all objects and all phenomenal relations between the "two." Like man and woman who both share many common, human traits yet at the same time they are still different and, therefore, may also be seen as complementary.

 

Worshippers prescribe various benign and horrific qualities to Devi simply out of practicality. They do this so they may have a variety of symbols to choose from, symbols which they can identify and relate with from the perspective of their own, ever-changing time, place and personal level of unfolding. Just like modern chemists or physicists use a variety of molecular and atomic models to describe what is unperceivable through rudimentary, sensory input, the scientists of ontology and epistemology must do the same. One of the underlying distinctions of Tantra, in comparison to other religions, is that it allows the devotee the liberty to choose from a vast array of complementary symbols and rhetoric which suit one's evolving needs and tastes. From an aesthetic standpoint, nothing is interdict and nothing is orthodox. In this sense, the projection of some of Devi's more gentle qualities onto Kali is not sacrilege and the development of Kali really lies in the practitioner, not the murthi.

 

A TIME magazine article of October 27, 1947, used Kali as a symbol and metaphor for the human suffering in British India during its partition that year.

 

Swami Vivekananda wrote his favorite poem Kali the Mother in 1898.

 

IN NEW AGE & NEOPAGANISM

An academic study of Western Kali enthusiasts noted that, "as shown in the histories of all cross-cultural religious transplants, Kali devotionalism in the West must take on its own indigenous forms if it is to adapt to its new environment." The adoption of Kali by the West has raised accusations of cultural appropriation:

 

A variety of writers and thinkers have found Kali an exciting figure for reflection and exploration, notably feminists and participants in New Age spirituality who are attracted to goddess worship. Kali is a symbol of wholeness and healing, associated especially with repressed female power and sexuality. [However, such interpretations often exhibit] confusion and misrepresentation, stemming from a lack of knowledge of Hindu history among these authors, draw upon materials written by scholars of the Hindu religious tradition. The majority instead rely chiefly on other popular feminist sources, almost none of which base their interpretations on a close reading of Kali's Indian background. The most important issue arising from this discussion - even more important than the question of 'correct' interpretation - concerns the adoption of other people's religious symbols. It is hard to import the worship of a goddess from another culture: religious associations and connotations have to be learned, imagined or intuited when the deep symbolic meanings embedded in the native culture are not available.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Fangruida: human landing on Mars 10 cutting-edge technology

 

[Fangruida- human landing on Mars 10 innovative and sophisticated technologies]

 

Aerospace Science and space science and technology major innovation of the most critical of sophisticated technology R & D project

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Aerospace Science Space Science and Technology on behalf of the world's most cutting-edge leader in high technology, materials, mechatronics, information and communication, energy, biomedical, marine, aviation aerospace, microelectronics, computer, automation, intelligent biochips, use of nuclear energy, light mechanical and electrical integration, astrophysics, celestial chemistry, astrophysics and so a series of geological science and technology. Especially after the moon landing, the further development of mankind to Mars and other planets into the powerful offensive, the world's major powers eager to Daxian hand of God, increase investment, vigorously develop new sophisticated technology projects for space to space. Satellite, space station, the new spacecraft, the new space suits, the new radiation protection materials, intelligent materials, new manufacturing technology, communications technology, computer technology, detector technology, rover, rover technology, biomedical technology, and so one after another, is expected to greater breakthroughs and leaps. For example, rocket technology, spacecraft design, large power spacecraft, spacesuits design improvements, radiation multifunctional composite materials, life health care technology and space medicine, prevention against microgravity microgravity applicable drugs, tracking control technology, landing and return technology. Mars lander and returned safely to Earth as a top priority. Secondly, Mars, the Moon base and the use of transforming Mars, the Moon and other development will follow. Whether the former or the latter, are the modern aerospace science, space science basic research, applied basic research and applied research in the major cutting-edge technology. These major cutting-edge technology research and innovation, not only for human landing on Mars and the safe return of great significance, but for the entire space science, impact immeasurable universe sciences, earth sciences and human life. Here the most critical of the most important research projects of several sophisticated technology research and development as well as its core technology brief. Limit non-scientific techniques include non-technical limits of technology, the key lies in technology research and development of technology maturity, advanced technology, innovative, practical, reliable, practical application, business value and investment costs, and not simply like the idea mature technology achievements, difficult to put into things. This is the high-tech research and development, testing, prototype, test application testing, until the outcome of industrialization. Especially in aerospace technology, advanced, novelty, practicality, reliability, economy, maturity, commercial value and so on. For technical and research purely science fiction and the like may be irrelevant depth, but not as aerospace engineering and technology practice. Otherwise, Mars will become a dream fantasy, and even into settling crashed out of danger.

 

Regardless of the moon or Mars, many technical difficulties, especially a human landing on Mars and return safely to Earth, technical difficulties mainly in the following aspects. (Transformation of Mars and the Moon and other planets and detect other livable technology more complex and difficult, at this stage it is difficult to achieve and therefore not discussed in detail in this study). In fact, Mars will be the safe return of a full set of technology, space science, aerospace crucial scientific research development, its significance is not confined to Mars simply a return to scientific value, great commercial value, can not be measure.

1. Powered rocket, the spacecraft overall structural design not be too complex large, otherwise, the safety factor to reduce the risk of failure accidents. Fusion rocket engine main problem to be solved is the high-temperature materials and fuel ignition chamber (reaction chamber temperatures of up to tens of millions of supreme billion degrees), fissile class rocket engine whose essence is the miniaturization of nuclear reactors, and placed on the rocket. Nuclear rocket engine fuel as an energy source, with liquid hydrogen, liquid helium, liquid ammonia working fluid. Nuclear rocket engine mounted in the thrust chamber of the reactor, cooling nozzle, the working fluid delivery and control systems and other components. This engine due to nuclear radiation protection, exhaust pollution, reactor control and efficient heat exchanger design and other issues unresolved. Electrothermal rocket engine utilizing heat energy (resistance heating or electric arc heating) working medium (hydrogen, amines, hydrazine ), vaporized; nozzle expansion accelerated after discharged from the spout to generate thrust. Static rocket engine working fluid (mercury, cesium, hydrogen, etc.) from the tank enter the ionization chamber is formed thrust ionized into a plasma jet. Electric rocket engines with a high specific impulse (700-2500 sec), extremely long life (can be repeated thousands of times a starter, a total of up to thousands of hours of work). But the thrust of less than 100N. This engine is only available for spacecraft attitude control, station-keeping and the like. One nuclear - power rocket design is as follows: Firstly, the reactor heats water to make it into steam, and then the high-speed steam ejected, push the rocket. Nuclear rocket using hydrogen as working substance may be a better solution, it is one of the most commonly used liquid hydrogen rocket fuel rocket carrying liquid hydrogen virtually no technical difficulties. Heating hydrogen nuclear reactor, as long as it eventually reaches or exceeds current jet velocity hydrogen rocket engine jet speed, the same weight of the rocket will be able to work longer, it can accelerate the Rockets faster. Here there are only two problems: First, the final weight includes the weight of the rocket in nuclear reactors, so it must be as light as possible. Ultra-small nuclear reactor has been able to achieve. Furthermore, if used in outer space, we can not consider the problem of radioactive residues, simply to just one proton hydrogen nuclei are less likely to produce induced radioactivity, thus shielding layer can be made thinner, injected hydrogen gas can flow directly through the reactor core, it is not easy to solve, and that is how to get back at high speed heated gas is ejected.

  

Rocket engine with a nuclear fission reactor, based on the heating liquid hydrogen propellant, rather than igniting flammable propellant

High-speed heavy rocket is a major cutting-edge technology. After all, space flight and aircraft carriers, submarines, nuclear reactors differ greatly from the one hand, the use of traditional fuels, on the one hand can be nuclear reactor technology. From the control, for security reasons, the use of nuclear power rocket technology, safe and reliable overriding indicators. Nuclear atomic energy in line with the norms and rules of outer space. For the immature fetal abdominal hatchery technology, and resolutely reject use. This is the most significant development of nuclear-powered rocket principle.

Nuclear-powered spaceship for Use of nuclear power are three kinds:

The first method: no water or air space such media can not be used propeller must use jet approach. Reactor nuclear fission or fusion to produce a lot of heat, we will propellant (such as liquid hydrogen) injection, the rapid expansion of the propellant will be heated and then discharged from the engine speed tail thrust. This method is most readily available.

The second method: nuclear reactor will have a lot of fast-moving ions, these energetic particles moving very fast, so you can use a magnetic field to control their ejection direction. This principle ion rocket similar to the tail of the rocket ejected from the high-speed mobile ions, so that the recoil movement of a rocket. The advantage of this approach is to promote the unusually large ratio, without carrying any medium, continued strong. Ion engine, which is commonly referred to as "electric rocket", the principle is not complicated, the propellant is ionized particles,

Plasma Engine

Electromagnetic acceleration, high-speed spray. From the development trend, the US research scope covers almost all types of electric thrusters, but mainly to the development of ion engines, NASA in which to play the most active intake technology and preparedness plans. "

The third method: the use of nuclear explosions. It is a bold and crazy way, no longer is the use of a controlled nuclear reaction, but to use nuclear explosions to drive the ship, this is not an engine, and it is called a nuclear pulse rocket. This spacecraft will carry a lot of low-yield atomic bombs out one behind, and then detonated, followed by a spacecraft propulsion installation disk, absorbing the blast pushing the spacecraft forward. This was in 1955 to Orion (Project Orion) name of the project, originally planned to bring two thousand atomic bombs, Orion later fetal nuclear thermal rocket. Its principle is mounted on a small rocket reactor, the reactor utilizing thermal energy generated by the propellant is heated to a high temperature, high pressure and high temperature of the propellant from the high-speed spray nozzle, a tremendous impetus.

  

Common nuclear fission technologies, including nuclear pulse rocket engines, nuclear rockets, nuclear thermal rocket and nuclear stamping rockets to nuclear thermal rocket, for example, the size of its land-based nuclear power plant reactor structure than the much smaller, more uranium-235 purity requirements high, reaching more than 90%, at the request of the high specific impulse engine core temperature will reach about 3000K, require excellent high temperature properties of materials.

  

Research and test new IT technologies and new products and new technology and new materials, new equipment, things are difficult, design is the most important part, especially in the overall design, technical solutions, technical route, technical process, technical and economic particularly significant. The overall design is defective, technology there are loopholes in the program, will be a major technical route deviation, but also directly related to the success of research trials. so, any time, under any circumstances, a good grasp of the overall control of design, technical design, is essential. otherwise, a done deal, it is difficult save. aerospace technology research and product development is true.

  

3, high-performance nuclear rocket

Nuclear rocket nuclear fission and fusion energy can rocket rocket two categories. Nuclear fission and fusion produce heat, radiation and shock waves and other large amounts of energy, but here they are contemplated for use as a thermal energy rocket.

Uranium and other heavy elements, under certain conditions, will split their nuclei, called nuclear fission reaction. The atomic bomb is the result of nuclear fission reactions. Nuclear fission reaction to release energy, is a million times more chemical rocket propellant combustion energy. Therefore, nuclear fission energy is a high-performance rocket rockets. Since it requires much less propellant than chemical rockets can, so to its own weight is much lighter than chemical rockets energy. For the same quality of the rocket, the rocket payload of nuclear fission energy is much greater than the chemical energy of the rocket. Just nuclear fission energy rocket is still in the works. 

Use of nuclear fission energy as the energy of the rocket, called the atomic rockets. It is to make hydrogen or other inert gas working fluid through the reactor, the hydrogen after the heating temperature quickly rose to 2000 ℃, and then into the nozzle, high-speed spray to produce thrust. 

A vision plan is to use liquid hydrogen working fluid, in operation, the liquid hydrogen tank in the liquid hydrogen pump is withdrawn through the catheter and the engine cooling jacket and liquid hydrogen into hydrogen gas, hydrogen gas turbine-driven, locally expansion. Then by nuclear fission reactors, nuclear fission reactions absorb heat released, a sharp rise in temperature, and finally into the nozzle, the rapid expansion of high-speed spray. Calculations show that the amount of atomic payload rockets, rocket high chemical energy than 5-8 times.

Hydrogen and other light elements, under certain conditions, their nuclei convergent synthesis of new heavy nuclei, and release a lot of energy, called nuclear fusion reaction, also called thermonuclear reaction. 

Using energy generated by the fusion reaction for energy rocket, called fusion energy rocket or nuclear thermal rockets. But it is also not only take advantage of controlled nuclear fusion reaction to manufacture hydrogen bombs, rockets and controlled nuclear fusion reaction needs still studying it.

Of course there are various research and development of rocket technology and technical solutions to try.

It is envisaged that the rocket deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen with deuterium nuclear fusion reaction of helium nuclei, protons and neutrons, and release huge amounts of energy, just polymerized ionized helium to temperatures up to 100 million degrees the plasma, and then nozzle expansion, high-speed ejection, the exhaust speed of up to 15,000 km / sec, atomic energy is 1800 times the rocket, the rocket is the chemical energy of 3700 times.

 

Nuclear rocket engine fuel as an energy source, with liquid hydrogen, liquid helium, liquid ammonia working fluid. Nuclear rocket engine mounted in the thrust chamber of the reactor, cooling nozzle, the working fluid delivery and control systems and other components. In a nuclear reactor, nuclear energy into heat to heat the working fluid, the working fluid is heated after expansion nozzle to accelerate to the speed of 6500 ~ 11,000 m / sec from the discharge orifice to produce thrust. Nuclear rocket engine specific impulse (250 to 1000 seconds) long life, but the technology is complex, apply only to long-term spacecraft. This engine due to nuclear radiation protection, exhaust pollution, reactor control and efficient heat exchanger design and other issues not resolved, is still in the midst of trials. Nuclear rocket technology is cutting-edge aerospace science technology, centralized many professional and technical sciences and aerospace, nuclear physics, nuclear chemistry, materials science, the long term future ___-- wide width. The United States, Russia and Europe, China, India, Japan, Britain, Brazil and other countries in this regard have studies, in particular the United States and Russia led the way, impressive. Of course, at this stage of nuclear rocket technology, technology development there are still many difficulties. Fully formed, still to be. But humanity marching to the universe, nuclear reactor applications is essential.

  

Outer Space Treaty (International Convention on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space) ****

Use of Nuclear Power Sources in Outer Space Principle 15

General Assembly,

Having considered the report of its thirty-fifth session of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space and the Commission of 16 nuclear

It can be attached in principle on the use of nuclear power sources in outer space of the text of its report, 17

Recognize that nuclear power sources due to small size, long life and other characteristics, especially suitable for use even necessary

For some missions in outer space,

Recognizing also that the use of nuclear power sources in outer space should focus on the possible use of nuclear power sources

Those uses,

Recognizing also that the use of nuclear power sources should include or probabilistic risk analysis is complete security in outer space

Full evaluation is based, in particular, the public should focus on reducing accidental exposure to harmful radiation or radioactive material risk

risk,

Recognizing the need to a set of principles containing goals and guidelines in this regard to ensure the safety of outer space makes

With nuclear power sources,

Affirming that this set principles apply exclusively on space objects for non-power generation, which is generally characteristic

Mission systems and implementation of nuclear power sources in outer space on similar principles and used by,

Recognizing this need to refer to a new set of principles for future nuclear power applications and internationally for radiological protection

The new proposal will be revised

By the following principles on the use of nuclear power sources in outer space.

Principle 1. Applicability of international law

Involving the use of nuclear power sources in outer space activities should be carried out in accordance with international law, especially the "UN

Principles of the Charter "and" States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies Activities

Treaty "3

.

2. The principle terms

1. For the purpose of these principles, "launching State" and "launching State ......" two words mean, in related

Principles related to a time of nuclear power sources in space objects exercises jurisdiction and control of the country.

2. For the purpose of principle 9, wherein the definition of the term "launching State" as contained in that principle.

3. For the purposes of principle 3, the terms "foreseeable" and "all possible" two words are used to describe the actual hair

The overall likelihood of students that it is considered for safety analysis is credible possibilities for a class of things

Member or circumstances. "General concept of defense in depth" when the term applies to nuclear power sources in outer space refers to various settings

Count form and space operations replace or supplement the operation of the system in order to prevent system failures or mitigate thereafter

"Official Records of the General Assembly, Forty-seventh Session, Supplement No. 20" 16 (A / 47/20).

17 Ibid., Annex.

38

fruit. To achieve this purpose is not necessarily required for each individual member has redundant safety systems. Given space

Use and special requirements of various space missions, impossible to any particular set of systems or features can be specified as

Necessary to achieve this purpose. For the purpose of Principle 3 (d) of paragraph 2, "made critical" does not include

Including such as zero-power testing which are fundamental to ensuring system safety required.

Principle 3. Guidelines and criteria for safe use

To minimize the risk of radioactive material in space and the number involved, nuclear power sources in outer space

Use should be limited to non-nuclear power sources in space missions can not reasonably be performed

1. General goals for radiation protection and nuclear safety

(A) States launching space objects with nuclear power sources on board shall endeavor to protect individuals, populations and the biosphere

From radiation hazards. The design and use of space objects with nuclear power sources on board shall ensure that risk with confidence

Harm in the foreseeable operational or accidental circumstances, paragraph 1 (b) and (c) to define acceptable water

level.

Such design and use shall also ensure that radioactive material does not reliably significant contamination of outer space.

(B) the normal operation of nuclear power sources in space objects, including from paragraph 2 (b) as defined in foot

High enough to return to the track, shall be subject to appropriate anti-radiation recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection of the public

Protection goals. During such normal operation there shall be no significant radiation exposure;

(C) To limit exposure in accidents, the design and construction of nuclear power source systems shall take into account the international

Relevant and generally accepted radiological protection guidelines.

In addition to the probability of accidents with potentially serious radiological consequences is extremely low, the nuclear power source

Design systems shall be safely irradiated limited limited geographical area, for the individual radiation dose should be

Limited to no more than a year 1mSv primary dose limits. Allows the use of irradiation year for some years 5mSv deputy agent

Quantity limit, but the average over a lifetime effective dose equivalent annual dose not exceed the principal limit 1mSv

degree.

Should make these conditions occur with potentially serious radiological consequences of the probability of the system design is very

small.

Criteria mentioned in this paragraph Future modifications should be applied as soon as possible;

(D) general concept of defense in depth should be based on the design, construction and operation of systems important for safety. root

According to this concept, foreseeable safety-related failures or malfunctions must be capable of automatic action may be

Or procedures to correct or offset.

It should ensure that essential safety system reliability, inter alia, to make way for these systems

Component redundancy, physical separation, functional isolation and adequate independence.

It should also take other measures to increase the level of safety.

2. The nuclear reactor

(A) nuclear reactor can be used to:

39

(I) On interplanetary missions;

(Ii) the second high enough orbit paragraph (b) as defined;

(Iii) low-Earth orbit, with the proviso that after their mission is complete enough to be kept in a nuclear reactor

High on the track;

(B) sufficiently high orbit the orbital lifetime is long enough to make the decay of fission products to approximately actinides

Element active track. The sufficiently high orbit must be such that existing and future outer space missions of crisis

Risk and danger of collision with other space objects to a minimum. In determining the height of the sufficiently high orbit when

It should also take into account the destroyed reactor components before re-entering the Earth's atmosphere have to go through the required decay time

between.

(C) only 235 nuclear reactors with highly enriched uranium fuel. The design shall take into account the fission and

Activation of radioactive decay products.

(D) nuclear reactors have reached their operating orbit or interplanetary trajectory can not be made critical state

state.

(E) nuclear reactor design and construction shall ensure that, before reaching the operating orbit during all possible events

Can not become critical state, including rocket explosion, re-entry, impact on ground or water, submersion

In water or water intruding into the core.

(F) a significant reduction in satellites with nuclear reactors to operate on a lifetime less than in the sufficiently high orbit orbit

For the period (including during operation into the sufficiently high orbit) the possibility of failure, there should be a very

Reliable operating system, in order to ensure an effective and controlled disposal of the reactor.

3. Radioisotope generators

(A) interplanetary missions and other spacecraft out of Earth's gravitational field tasks using radioactive isotopes

Su generator. As they are stored after completion of their mission in high orbit, the Earth can also be used

track. We are required to make the final treatment under any circumstances.

(B) Radioisotope generators shall be protected closed systems, design and construction of the system should

Ensure that in the foreseeable conditions of the track to withstand the heat and aerodynamic forces of re-entry in the upper atmosphere, orbit

Conditions including highly elliptical or hyperbolic orbits when relevant. Upon impact, the containment system and the occurrence of parity

Physical morpheme shall ensure that no radioactive material is scattered into the environment so you can complete a recovery operation

Clear all radioactive impact area.

Principle 4. Safety Assessment

1. When launching State emission consistent with the principles defined in paragraphs 1, prior to the launch in applicable under the

Designed, constructed or manufactured the nuclear power sources, or will operate the space object person, or from whose territory or facility

Transmits the object will be to ensure a thorough and comprehensive safety assessment. This assessment shall cover

All relevant stages of space mission and shall deal with all systems involved, including the means of launching, the space level

Taiwan, nuclear power source and its equipment and the means of control and communication between ground and space.

2. This assessment shall respect the principle of 3 contained in the guidelines and criteria for safe use.

40

3. The principle of States in the Exploration and Use, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies Outer Space Activities Article

Results of about 11, this safety assessment should be published prior to each transmit simultaneously to the extent feasible

Note by the approximate intended time of launch, and shall notify the Secretary-General of the United Nations, how to be issued

This safety assessment before the shot to get the results as soon as possible.

Principle 5. Notification of re-entry

1. Any State launching a space object with nuclear power sources in space objects that failed to produce discharge

When radioactive substances dangerous to return to the earth, it shall promptly notify the country concerned. Notice shall be in the following format:

(A) System parameters:

(I) Name of launching State, including which may be contacted in the event of an accident to Request

Information or assistance to obtain the relevant authorities address;

(Ii) International title;

(Iii) Date and territory or location of launch;

(Iv) the information needed to make the best prediction of orbit lifetime, trajectory and impact region;

(V) General function of spacecraft;

(B) information on the radiological risk of nuclear power source:

(I) the type of power source: radioisotopes / reactor;

(Ii) the fuel could fall into the ground and may be affected by the physical state of contaminated and / or activated components, the number of

The amount and general radiological characteristics. The term "fuel" refers to as a source of heat or power of nuclear material.

This information shall also be sent to the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

2. Once you know the failure, the launching State shall provide information on the compliance with the above format. Information should as far as possible

To be updated frequently, and in the dense layers of the Earth's atmosphere is expected to return to a time when close to the best increase

Frequency of new data, so that the international community understand the situation and will have sufficient time to plan for any deemed necessary

National contingency measures.

3. It should also be at the same frequency of the latest information available to the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Principle 6. consultation

5 According to the national principles provide information shall, as far as reasonably practicable, other countries

Requirements to obtain further information or consultations promptly reply.

Principle 7. Assistance to States

1. Upon receipt of expected with nuclear power sources on space objects and their components will return through the Earth's atmosphere

After know that all countries possessing space monitoring and tracking facilities, in the spirit of international cooperation, as soon as possible to

The Secretary-General of the United Nations and the countries they may have made space objects carrying nuclear power sources

A fault related information, so that the States may be affected to assess the situation and take any

It is considered to be the necessary precautions.

41

2. In carrying space objects with nuclear power sources back to the Earth's atmosphere after its components:

(A) launching State shall be requested by the affected countries to quickly provide the necessary assistance to eliminate actual

And possible effects, including nuclear power sources to assist in identifying locations hit the Earth's surface, to detect the re substance

Quality and recovery or cleanup activities.

(B) All countries with relevant technical capabilities other than the launching State, and with such technical capabilities

International organizations shall, where possible, in accordance with the requirements of the affected countries to provide the necessary co

help.

When according to the above (a) and subparagraph (b) to provide assistance, should take into account the special needs of developing countries.

Principle 8. Responsibility

In accordance with the States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies activities, including the principles of Article

About Article, States shall bear international responsibility for their use of nuclear power sources in outer space relates to the activities

Whether such activities are carried on by governmental agencies or non-governmental entities, and shall bear international responsibility to ensure that this

Such activities undertaken by the country in line with the principles of the Treaty and the recommendations contained therein. If it involves the use of nuclear power sources

Activities in outer space by an international organization, should be done by the international organizations and States to participate in the organization

Undertakes to comply with the principles of the Treaty and the recommendations contained in these responsibilities.

Principle 9. Liability and Compensation

1. In accordance with the principle of States in the Exploration and Use, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies Outer Space Activities Article

And the Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects covenant of Article 7

Provisions, which launches or on behalf of the State

Each State launching a space object and each State from which territory or facility a space object is launched

Kinds of space object or damage caused by components shall bear international liability. This fully applies to this

Kind of space object carrying a nuclear power source case. Two or more States jointly launch a space object,

Each launching State shall in accordance with the above Article of the Convention for any damages jointly and severally liable.

2. Such countries under the aforesaid Convention shall bear the damages shall be in accordance with international law and fair and reasonable

The principles set out in order to provide for damages to make a claim on behalf of its natural or juridical persons, national or

International organizations to restore to the state before the occurrence of the damage.

3. For the purposes of this principle, compensation should be made to include reimbursement of the duly substantiated expenses for search, recovery and clean

Cost management work, including the cost of providing assistance to third parties.

10. The principle of dispute settlement

Since the implementation of these principles will lead to any dispute in accordance with the provisions of the UN Charter, by negotiation or

Other established procedures to resolve the peaceful settlement of disputes.

 

Here quoted the important provisions of the United Nations concerning the use of outer space for peaceful nuclear research and international conventions, the main emphasis on the Peaceful Uses of provisions related constraints .2 the use of nuclear rockets in outer space nuclear studies, etc., can cause greater attention in nuclear power nuclear rocket ship nuclear research, manufacture, use and other aspects of the mandatory hard indicators. this scientists, engineering and technical experts are also important constraints and requirements. as IAEA supervision and management as very important.

 

2. radiation. Space radiation is one of the greatest threats to the safety of the astronauts, including X-rays, γ-rays, cosmic rays and high-speed solar particles. Better than aluminum protective effect of high polymer composite materials.

3. Air. Perhaps the oxygen needed to rely on oxidation-reduction reaction of hydrogen and ilmenite production of water, followed by water electrolysis to generate oxygen. Mars oxygen necessary for survival but also from the decomposition of water, electrolytically separating water molecules of oxygen and hydrogen, this oxygen equipment has been successfully used in the International Space Station. Oxygen is released into the air to sustain life, the hydrogen system into the water system.

4. The issue of food waste recycling. At present, the International Space Station on the use of dehumidifiers, sucked moisture in the air to be purified, and then changed back to drinkable water. The astronauts' urine and sweat recycling. 5. water. The spacecraft and the space station on purification system also makes urine and other liquids can be purified utilization. 6. microgravity. In microgravity or weightlessness long-term space travel, if protective measures shall not be treated, the astronauts will be muscle atrophy, bone softening health. 7. contact. 8. Insulation, 9 energy. Any space exploration are inseparable from the energy battery is a new super hybrid energy storage device, the asymmetric lead-acid batteries and supercapacitors in the same compound within the system - and the so-called inside, no additional separate electronic control unit, this is an optimal combination. The traditional lead-acid battery PbO2 monomer is a positive electrode plate and a negative electrode plate spongy Pb composition, not a super cell. : Silicon solar cells, multi-compound thin film solar cells, multi-layer polymer-modified electrode solar cells, nano-crystalline solar cells, batteries and super class. For example, the solar aircraft .10. To protect the health and life safety and security systems. Lysophosphatidic acid LPA is a growth factor-like lipid mediators, the researchers found that this substance can on apoptosis after radiation injury and animal cells was inhibited. Stable lysophosphatidic acid analogs having the hematopoietic system and gastrointestinal tract caused by acute radiation sickness protection, knockout experiments show that lysophosphatidic acid receptors is an important foundation for the protection of radiation injury. In addition to work under high pressure, the astronauts face a number of health threats, including motion sickness, bacterial infections, blindness space, as well as psychological problems, including toxic dust. In the weightless environment of space, the astronaut's body will be like in preadolescents, as the emergence of various changes.

Plantar molt

After the environment to adapt to zero gravity, the astronaut's body will be some strange changes. Weightlessness cause fluid flow around the main flow torso and head, causing the astronauts facial swelling and inflammation, such as nasal congestion. During long-term stay in space

 

Bone and muscle loss

Most people weightlessness caused by the impact may be known bone and muscle degeneration. In addition, the calcium bones become very fragile and prone to fracture, which is why some of the astronauts after landing need on a stretcher.

Space Blindness

Space Blindness refers astronaut decreased vision.

Solar storms and radiation is one of the biggest challenges facing the long-term space flight. Since losing the protection of Earth's magnetic field, astronauts suffer far more than normal levels of radiation. The cumulative amount of radiation exposure in low earth orbit them exceeded by workers close to nuclear reactors, thereby increasing the risk of cancer.

Prolonged space flight can cause a series of psychological problems, including depression or mood swings, vulnerability, anxiety and fear, as well as other sequelae. We are familiar with the biology of the Earth, the Earth biochemistry, biophysics, after all, the Earth is very different astrophysics, celestial chemistry, biophysics and astrophysics, biochemistry and other celestial bodies. Therefore, you must be familiar with and adapt to these differences and changes.

 

Osteoporosis and its complications ranked first in the space of disease risk.

  

Long-term health risks associated with flying Topics

  

The degree of influence long-term biological effects of radiation in human flight can withstand the radiation and the maximum limit of accumulated radiation on physiology, pathology and genetics.

 

Physiological effects of weightlessness including: long-term bone loss and a return flight after the maximum extent and severity of the continued deterioration of other pathological problems induced by the; maximum flexibility and severity of possible long-term Flight Center in vascular function.

 

Long-term risk of disease due to the high risk of flight stress, microbial variation, decreased immune function, leading to infections

 

Radiation hazards and protection

    

1) radiation medicine, biology and pathway effects Features

  

Radiation protection for interplanetary flight, since the lack of protective effect of Earth's magnetic field, and by the irradiation time is longer, the possibility of increased radiation hazard.

       

Analysis of space flight medical problems that may occur, loss of appetite topped the list, sleep disorders, fatigue and insomnia, in addition, space sickness, musculoskeletal system problems, eye problems, infections problems, skin problems and cardiovascular problems

  

---------------------------------------------------------

  

Development of diagnostic techniques in orbit, the development of the volume of power consumption, features a wide range of diagnostic techniques, such as applied research of ultrasound diagnostic techniques in the abdominal thoracic trauma, bone, ligament damage, dental / sinus infections and other complications and integrated;

 

Actively explore in orbit disposal of medical technology, weightlessness surgical methods, development of special surgical instruments, the role of narcotic drugs and the like.

  

——————————————————————————————-

 

However, space technology itself is integrated with the use of the most advanced technology, its challenging technical reserves and periodic demanding

 

With the continuous development of science and technology, space agencies plan a manned landing on the moon and Mars, space exploration emergency medicine current concern.

 

Space sickness

  

In the weightless environment of space, in the weightless environment of space, surgery may be extremely difficult and risky.

  

Robot surgeons

 

Space disease in three days after entering the space started to ease, although individual astronauts might subsequently relapse. January 2015 NASA declared working on a fast, anti-nausea and nasal sprays. In addition, due to the zero-gravity environment, and anti-nausea drugs can only be administered by injection or transdermal patches manner.

        

Manned spaceflight in the 21st century is the era of interplanetary flight, aerospace medicine is closely watched era is the era of China's manned space flourish. Only the central issue, and grasp the opportunity to open up a new world of human survival and development.

 

Various emergency contingency measures in special circumstances. Invisible accident risk prevention. Enhancing drugs and other screening methods immunity aerospace medicine and tissue engineering a microgravity environment. Drug mixture of APS, ginseng polysaccharides, Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharides, polysaccharides and Lentinan, from other compounds. Drug development space syndrome drug, chemical structure modification will be an important part.

These issues are very sensitive, cutting-edge technology is a major difficulty landing on Mars. Countries in the world, especially the world's major space powers in the country strategies and technical research, the results of all kinds continue to emerge. United States, Russia, China, Europe, India, Japan and other countries is different. United States, Russia extraordinary strength. Many patented technology and health, and most belong to the top-secret technology. Especially in aerospace engineering and technological achievements is different from the general scientific literature, practical, commercial, industrial great, especially the performance of patents, know-how, technical drawings, engineering design and other aspects. Present Mars and return safely to Earth, the first manned, significance, everything is hard in the beginning, especially the first person to land on Mars This Mars for Human Sciences Research Mars, the moon, the earth, the solar system and the universe, life and other significant. Its far greater than the value of direct investments and business interests.

 

In addition, it is the development of new materials, suitable for deep space operations universe, life, and other detection, wider field.

Many aerospace materials, continuous research and development of materials are key areas of aerospace development, including material rocket, the spacecraft materials, the suit materials, radiation materials, materials and equipment, instruments, materials and so on biochemistry.

Temperature metal-based compound with a metal matrix composite body with a more primordial higher temperature strength, creep resistance, impact resistance, thermal fatigue and other excellent high temperature performance.

In B, C, SiC fiber reinforced Ti3Al, TiAl, Ni3Al intermetallic matrix composites, etc.

W Fiber Reinforced with nickel-based, iron-based alloys as well as SiC, TiB2, Si3N4 and BN particle reinforced metal matrix composites

High temperature service conditions require the development of ceramic and carbon-based composite materials, etc., not in this eleven Cheung said.

  

Fuel storage

  

In order to survive in space, people need many things: food, oxygen, shelter, and, perhaps most importantly, fuel. The initial quality Mars mission somewhere around 80 percent of the space launch humans will be propellant. The fuel amount of storage space is very difficult.

  

This difference in low Earth orbit cause liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen - rocket fuel - vaporization.

Hydrogen is particularly likely to leak out, resulting in a loss of about 4% per month.

  

When you want to get people to Mars speed to minimize exposure to weightlessness and space radiation hazards

 

Mars

 

Landings on the Martian surface, they realized that they reached the limit. The rapid expansion of the thin Martian atmosphere can not be very large parachute, such as those that will need to be large enough to slow down, carry human spacecraft.

Therefore, the parachute strong mass ratio, high temperature resistance, Bing shot performance and other aspects of textile materials used have special requirements, in order to make a parachute can be used in rockets, missiles, Yu arrows spacecraft and other spacecraft recovery, it is necessary to improve the canopy heat resistance, a high melting point polymeric fiber fabric used, the metal fabric, ceramic fiber fabrics, and other devices.

  

Super rigid parachute to help slow the landing vehicle.

Spacecraft entered the Martian atmosphere at 24,000 km / h. Even after slowing parachute or inflatable, it will be very

  

Once we have the protection of the Earth magnetic field, the solar radiation will accumulate in the body, a huge explosion threw the spacecraft may potentially lethal doses of radiation astronauts.

  

In addition to radiation, the biggest challenge is manned trip to Mars microgravity, as previously described.

  

The moon is sterile. Mars is another case entirely.

 

With dust treatment measures.

  

Arid Martian environment to create a super-tiny dust particles flying around the Earth for billions of years.

 

Apollo moon dust encountered. Ultra-sharp and abrasive lunar dust was named something that can clog the basic functions of mechanical damage. High chloride salt, which can cause thyroid problems in people.

 

*** Mars geological structure and geological structure of the moon, water on Mars geology, geology of the Moon is very important, because he, like the Earth's geology is related to many important issues. Water, the first element of life, air, temperature, and complex geological formations are geological structure. Cosmic geology research methods, mainly through a variety of detection equipment equipped with a space probe, celestial observations of atmospheric composition, composition and distribution of temperature, pressure, wind speed, vertical structure, composition of the solar wind, the water, the surface topography and Zoning, topsoil the composition and characteristics of the component surface of the rock, type and distribution, stratigraphic sequence, structural system and the internal shell structure.

 

Mars internal situation only rely on its surface condition of large amounts of data and related information inferred. It is generally believed that the core radius of 1700 km of high-density material composition; outsourcing a layer of lava, it is denser than the Earth's mantle some; outermost layer is a thin crust. Compared to other terrestrial planets, the lower the density of Mars, which indicates that the Martian core of iron (magnesium and iron sulfide) with may contain more sulfur. Like Mercury and the Moon, Mars and lack active plate movement; there is no indication that the crust of Mars occurred can cause translational events like the Earth like so many of folded mountains. Since there is no lateral movement in the earth's crust under the giant hot zone relative to the ground in a stationary state. Slight stress coupled with the ground, resulting in Tharis bumps and huge volcano. For the geological structure of Mars is very important, which is why repeated explorations and studies of Martian geological reasons.

  

Earth's surface

 

Each detector component landing site soil analysis:

 

Element weight percent

Viking 1

Oxygen 40-45

Si 18-25

Iron 12-15

K 8

Calcium 3-5

Magnesium 3-6

S 2-5

Aluminum 2-5

Cesium 0.1-0.5

Core

Mars is about half the radius of the core radius, in addition to the primary iron further comprises 15 to 17% of the sulfur content of lighter elements is also twice the Earth, so the low melting point, so that the core portion of a liquid, such as outside the Earth nuclear.

 

Mantle

Nuclear outer coating silicate mantle.

 

Crust

The outermost layer of the crust.

Crustal thickness obtained, the original thickness of the low north 40 km south plateau 70 kilometers thick, an average of 50 kilometers, at least 80 km Tharsis plateau and the Antarctic Plateau, and in the impact basin is thin, as only about 10 kilometers Greece plains.

  

Canyon of Mars there are two categories: outflow channels (outflow channel) and tree valley (valley network). The former is very large, it can be 100 km wide, over 2000 km long, streamlined, mainly in the younger Northern Hemisphere, such as the plain around Tyre Chris Canyon and Canyon jam.

 

In addition, the volcanic activity sometimes lava formation lava channels (lava channel); crustal stress generated by fissures, faults, forming numerous parallel extending grooves (fossa), such as around the huge Tharsis volcanic plateau radially distributed numerous grooves, which can again lead to volcanic activity.

  

Presumably, Mars has an iron as the main component of the nucleus, and contains sulfur, magnesium and other light elements, the nuclear share of Mars, the Earth should be relatively small. The outer core is covered with a thick layer of magnesium-rich silicate mantle, the surface of rocky crust. The density of Earth-like planets Mars is the lowest, only 3.93g / cc.

Hierarchy

  

The crust

  

Lunar core

The average density of the Moon is 3.3464 g / cc, the solar system satellites second highest (after Aiou). However, there are few clues mean lunar core is small, only about 350 km radius or less [2]. The core of the moon is only about 20% the size of the moon, the moon's interior has a solid, iron-rich core diameter of about 240 kilometers (150 miles); in addition there is a liquid core, mainly composed of iron outer core, about 330 km in diameter (205 miles), and for the first time compared with the core of the Earth, considered as the earth's outer core, like sulfur and oxygen may have lighter elements [4].

 

Chemical elements on the lunar surface constituted in accordance with its abundance as follows: oxygen (O), silicon (Si), iron (Fe), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), aluminum (Al), manganese (Mn), titanium ( Ti). The most abundant is oxygen, silicon and iron. The oxygen content is estimated to be 42% (by weight). Carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) only traces seem to exist only in trace amounts deposited in the solar wind brings.

 

Lunar Prospector from the measured neutron spectra, the hydrogen (H) mainly in the lunar poles [2].

 

Element content (%)

Oxygen 42%

Silicon 21%

Iron 13%

Calcium 8%

Aluminum 7%

Magnesium 6%

Other 3%

 

Lunar surface relative content of each element (% by weight)

  

Moon geological history is an important event in recent global magma ocean crystallization. The specific depth is not clear, but some studies have shown that at least a depth of about 500 kilometers or more.

 

Lunar landscape

Lunar landscape can be described as impact craters and ejecta, some volcanoes, hills, lava-filled depressions.

  

Regolith

TABLE bear the asteroid and comets billions of years of bombardment. Over time, the impact of these processes have already broken into fine-grained surface rock debris, called regolith. Young mare area, regolith thickness of about 2 meters, while the oldest dated land, regolith thickness of up to 20 meters. Through the analysis of lunar soil components, in particular the isotopic composition changes can determine the period of solar activity. Solar wind gases possible future lunar base is useful because oxygen, hydrogen (water), carbon and nitrogen is not only essential to life, but also may be useful for fuel production. Lunar soil constituents may also be as a future source of energy.

Here, repeatedly stressed that the geological structure and geological structure of celestial bodies, the Earth, Moon, Mars, or that this human existence and development of biological life forms is very important, especially in a series of data Martian geological structure geological structure is directly related to human landing Mars and the successful transformation of Mars or not. for example, water, liquid water, water, oxygen, synthesis, must not be taken lightly.

  

____________________________________________________________----

 

Mars landing 10 Technology

 

Aerospace Science and space science and technology major innovation of the most critical of sophisticated technology R & D project

  

[

"1" rocket propulsion technology ion fusion nuclear pulse propulsion rocket powered high-speed heavy rocket technology, space nuclear reactors spacecraft] brought big problems reflected in the nuclear reaction, nuclear radiation on spacecraft launch, control, brakes and other impact.

In particular, for the future of nuclear power spacecraft, the need to solve the nuclear reactor design, manufacture, control, cooling, radiation shielding, exhaust pollution, high thermoelectric conversion efficiency and a series of technical problems.

In particular, nuclear reactors produce radiation on astronauts' health will pose a great threat, which requires the spacecraft to be nuclear radiation shielding to ensure astronaut and ship the goods from radiation and heat from the reactor influence, but this will greatly increase the weight of the detector.

Space nuclear process applications, nuclear reaction decay is not a problem, but in a vacuum, ultra-low temperature environment, the nuclear reaction materials, energy transport materials have very high demands.

Space facing the reality of a nuclear reactor cooling cooling problems. To prevent problems with the reactor, "Washington" aircraft carrier to take four heavy protective measures for the radiation enclosed in the warship. These four measures are: the fuel itself, fuel storage pressure vessel, reactor shell and the hull. US Navy fuel all metal fuel, designed to take the impact resistance of the war, does not release fission product can withstand more than 50 times the gravity of the impact load; product of nuclear fission reactor fuel will never enter loop cooling water. The third layer of protection is specially designed and manufactured the reactor shell. The fourth layer is a very strong anti-impact combat ship, the reactor is arranged in the center of the ship, very safe. Engage in a reactor can only be loaded up to the aircraft, so as to drive the motor, and then drive the propeller. That is the core advantage of the heat generated by the heated gas flow, high temperature high pressure gas discharge backward, thereby generating thrust.

  

.

  

After installation AMPS1000 type nuclear power plant, a nuclear fuel assembly: He is a core member of the nuclear fuel chain reaction. Usually made into uranium dioxide, of which only a few percent uranium-235, and most of it is not directly involved in the nuclear fission of uranium 238. The uranium dioxide sintered into cylindrical pieces, into a stainless steel or a zirconium alloy do metal tubes called fuel rods or the original, then the number of fuel rods loaded metal cylinder in an orderly composition of the fuel assembly, and finally put a lot of vertical distribution of fuel assemblies in the reactor.

 

Nuclear reactor pressure vessel is a housing for containing nuclear fuel and reactor internals, for producing high-quality high-strength steel is made to withstand the pressure of dozens MPa. Import and export of the coolant in the pressure vessel.

 

The top of the pressure vessel closure, and can be used to accommodate the fixed control rod drive mechanism, pressure vessel head has a semi-circular, flat-topped.

 

Roof bolt: used to connect the locking pressure vessel head, so that the cylinder to form a completely sealed container.

  

Neutron Source: Plug in nuclear reactors can provide sufficient neutron, nuclear fuel ignition, to start to enhance the role of nuclear reactors and nuclear power. Neutron source generally composed of radium, polonium, beryllium, antimony production. Neutron source and neutron fission reactors are fast neutron, can not cause fission of uranium 235, in order to slow down, we need to moderator ---- full of pure water in a nuclear reactor. Aircraft carriers, submarines use nuclear reactor control has proven more successful.

 

Rod: has a strong ability to absorb neutrons, driven by the control rod drive mechanism, can move up and down in a nuclear reactor control rods within the nuclear fuel used to start, shut down the nuclear reactor, and maintain, regulate reactor power. Hafnium control rods in general, silver, indium, cadmium and other metals production.

 

Control rod drive mechanism: He is the executive body of nuclear reactors operating system and security protection systems, in strict accordance with requirements of the system or its operator control rod drives do move up and down in a nuclear reactor, nuclear reactor for power control. In a crisis situation, you also can quickly control rods fully inserted into the reactor in order to achieve the purpose of the emergency shutdown

 

Upper and lower support plate: used to secure the fuel assembly. High temperature and pressure inside the reactor is filled with pure water (so called pressurized water reactors), on the one hand he was passing through a nuclear reactor core, cooling the nuclear fuel, to act as a coolant, on the other hand it accumulates in the pressure vessel in play moderated neutrons role, acting as moderator.

  

Water quality monitoring sampling system:

Adding chemical system: under normal circumstances, for adding hydrazine, hydrogen, pH control agents to the primary coolant system, the main purpose is to remove and reduce coolant oxygen, high oxygen water suppression equipment wall corrosion (usually at a high temperature oxygen with hydrogen, especially at low temperatures during startup of a nuclear reactor with added hydrazine oxygen); when the nuclear reactor control rods stuck for some reason can not shutdown time by the the system can inject the nuclear reactor neutron absorber (such as boric acid solution), emergency shutdown, in order to ensure the safety of nuclear submarines.

 

Water system: a loop inside the water will be reduced at work, such as water sampling and analysis, equipment leaks, because the shutdown process cooling water and reduction of thermal expansion and contraction.

 

Equipment cooling water system:

Pressure safety systems: pressure reactor primary coolant system may change rapidly for some reason, the need for effective control. And in severe burn nuclear fuel rods, resulting in a core melt accident, it is necessary to promptly increase the pressure. Turn the regulator measures the electric, heating and cooling water. If necessary, also temporary startup booster pump.

 

Residual Heat Removal System: reactor scram may be due to an accident, such as when the primary coolant system of the steam generator heat exchanger tube is damaged, it must be urgently closed reactors.

 

Safety Injection System: The main components of this system is the high-pressure injection pump.

 

Radioactive waste treatment systems:

 

Decontamination Systems: for the removal of radioactive deposits equipment, valves, pipes and accessories, and other surfaces.

 

Europe, the United States and Russia and other countries related to aircraft carriers, submarines, icebreakers, nuclear-powered research aircraft, there are lots of achievements use of nuclear energy, it is worth analysis. However, nuclear reactor technology, rocket ships and the former are very different, therefore, requires special attention and innovative research. Must adopt a new new design techniques, otherwise, fall into the stereotype, it will avail, nothing even cause harm Aerospace.

 

[ "2" spacecraft structure]

 

[ "3"] radiation technology is the use of deep-sea sedimentation fabric fabrics deepwater technology development precipitated silver metal fibers or fiber lint and other materials and micronaire value between 4.1 to 4.3 fibers made from blends. For radiation protection field, it greatly enhances the effects of radiation and service life of clothing. Radiation resistant fiber) radiation resistant fiber - fiber polyimide polyimide fibers

60 years the United States has successfully developed polyimide fibers, it has highlighted the high temperature, radiation-resistant, fire-retardant properties.

 

[ "4" cosmic radiation resistant clothing design multifunctional anti-aging, wear underwear] ① comfort layer: astronauts can not wash clothes in a long flight, a lot of sebum, perspiration, etc. will contaminate underwear, so use soft, absorbent and breathable cotton knitwear making.

 

② warm layer: at ambient temperature range is not the case, warm layer to maintain a comfortable temperature environment. Choose warm and good thermal resistance large, soft, lightweight material, such as synthetic fibers, flakes, wool and silk and so on.

 

③ ventilation and cooling clothes clothes

Spacesuit

In astronaut body heat is too high, water-cooled ventilation clothing and clothing to a different way of heat. If the body heat production more than 350 kcal / h (ventilated clothes can not meet the cooling requirements, then that is cooled by a water-cooled suit. Ventilating clothing and water-cooled multi-use compression clothing, durable, flexible plastic tubing, such as polyvinyl chloride pipe or nylon film.

 

④ airtight limiting layer:

 

⑤ insulation: astronaut during extravehicular activities, from hot or cold insulation protection. It multilayer aluminized polyester film or a polyimide film and sandwiched between layers of nonwoven fabric to be made.

 

⑥ protective cover layer: the outermost layer of the suit is to require fire, heat and anti-space radiation on various factors (micrometeorites, cosmic rays, etc.) on the human body. Most of this layer with aluminized fabric.

New space suits using a special radiation shielding material, double design.

And also supporting spacesuit helmet, gloves, boots and so on.

  

[ "5" space - Aerospace biomedical technology, space, special use of rescue medication Space mental health care systems in space without damage restful sleep positions - drugs, simple space emergency medical system

]

[ "6" landing control technology, alternate control technology, high-performance multi-purpose landing deceleration device (parachute)]

 

[ "7" Mars truck, unitary Mars spacecraft solar energy battery super multi-legged (rounds) intelligent robot] multifunction remote sensing instruments on Mars, Mars and more intelligent giant telescope

 

[8 <> Mars warehouse activities, automatic Mars lander - Automatic start off cabin

]

[ "9" Mars - spacecraft docking control system, return to the system design]

 

Space flight secondary emergency life - support system

  

Spacecraft automatic, manual, semi-automatic operation control, remote control switch system

 

Automatic return spacecraft systems, backup design, the spacecraft automatic control operating system modular blocks of]

 

[10 lunar tracking control system

 

Martian dust storms, pollution prevention, anti-corrosion and other special conditions thereof

 

Electric light aircraft, Mars lander, Mars, living spaces, living spaces Mars, Mars entry capsule, compatible utilization technology, plant cultivation techniques, nutrition space - space soil]

 

Aerospace technology, space technology a lot, a lot of cutting-edge technology. Human landing on Mars technology bear the brunt. The main merge the human landing on Mars 10 cutting-edge technology, in fact, these 10 cutting-edge technology, covering a wide range, focused, and is the key to key technologies. They actually shows overall trends and technology Aerospace Science and Technology space technology. Human triumph Mars and safe return of 10 cutting-edge technology is bound to innovation. Moreover, in order to explore the human Venus, Jupiter satellites and the solar system, the Milky Way and other future development of science and laid the foundation guarantee. But also for the transformation of human to Mars, the Moon and other planets livable provides strong technical support. Aerospace Science and Technology which is a major support system.

 

Preparation of oxygen, water, synthesis, temperature, radiation, critical force confrontation. Regardless of the moon or Mars, survive three elements bear the brunt.

 

Chemical formula: H₂O

 

Formula: H-O-H (OH bond between two angle 104.5 °).

 

Molecular Weight: 18.016

 

Chemical Experiment: water electrolysis. Formula: 2H₂O = energized = 2H₂ ↑ + O₂ ↑ (decomposition)

 

Molecules: a hydrogen atom, an oxygen atom.

  

Ionization of water: the presence of pure water ionization equilibrium following: H₂O == == H⁺ + OH⁻ reversible or irreversible H₂O + H₂O = = H₃O⁺ + OH⁻.

 

NOTE: "H₃O⁺" hydronium ions, for simplicity, often abbreviated as H⁺, more accurate to say the H9O4⁺, the amount of hydrogen ion concentration in pure water material is 10⁻⁷mol / L.

 

Electrolysis of water:

 

Water at DC, decomposition to produce hydrogen and oxygen, this method is industrially prepared pure hydrogen and oxygen 2H₂O = 2H₂ ↑ + O₂ ↑.

 

. Hydration Reaction:

 

Water with an alkaline active metal oxides, as well as some of the most acidic oxide hydration reaction of unsaturated hydrocarbons.

 

Na₂O + H₂O = 2NaOH

 

CaO + H₂O = Ca (OH) ₂

 

SO₃ + H₂O = H₂SO₄

 

P₂O₅ + 3H₂O = 2H₃PO₄ molecular structure

 

CH₂ = CH₂ + H₂O ← → C₂H₅OH

  

6. The diameter of the order of magnitude of 10 water molecules negative power of ten, the water is generally believed that a diameter of 2 to 3 this organization. water

 

7. Water ionization:

 

In the water, almost no water molecules ionized to generate ions.

 

H₂O ← → H⁺ + OH⁻

 

Heating potassium chlorate or potassium permanganate preparation of oxygen

  

Pressurized at low temperatures, the air into a liquid, and then evaporated, since the boiling point of liquid nitrogen is -196 deg.] C, lower than the boiling point of liquid oxygen (-183 ℃), so the liquid nitrogen evaporated from the first air, remaining the main liquid oxygen.

Of course, the development of research in space there is a great difference, even more special preparation harsh environments on Earth and synthetic water and oxygen, over the need for more technological breakthroughs.

The main component of air oxygen and nitrogen. The use of oxygen and nitrogen with

Chassis n° LP400 112 0016

 

Les Grandes Marques du Monde au Grand Palais

Bonhams

Estimated : € 600.000 - 800.000

Sold for € 638.250

 

Parijs - Paris

Frankrijk - France

February 2018

 

'But for sheer outlandish eye appeal, and track-car capability that's translatable for the road, there is simply no better car. It's hard, also, to imagine a better one coming along.' – Car magazine on the Lamborghini Countach.

The legendary Miura was always going to be a hard act to follow, so the extent to which its successor eclipsed the greatest of 1960s supercars came as something of a shock to all. The sensation of the 1971 Geneva Salon, the Countach was styled, like its predecessor, by Carrozzeria Bertone's Marcello Gandini. Looking aggressive from every angle, the Countach was nothing less than spectacular, suggesting it had been conceived on another planet. As Motor magazine observed: 'few people gazing at the original Bertone Countach at Geneva in 1971 could have regarded it as anything but a "show" car. There were those fold-up doors for a start and the space-age cockpit with its abysmal rear visibility not to mention the strange engine/transmission configuration.' Happily, Lamborghini disregarded criticism of the car's supposed lack of practicality, and the Countach entered production changed in detail only. As it happened, the production version would not be seen for another two years, with deliveries commencing in 1974.

 

The running gear was largely carried over from the Miura, although it had been recognised that the latter's shortcomings in terms of handling and stability would not be tolerable in the Countach. At the same time, cabin heat and noise had to be reduced, and a more user-friendly gear change devised. The Miura's four-cam V12 was retained for the Countach, though this time installed longitudinally and equipped with side-draught Weber carburettors. To achieve optimum weight distribution, designer Paolo Stanzani placed the five-speed gearbox ahead of the engine between the seats, and the differential - driven by a shaft passing through the sump - at the rear. The result was a delightful gearchange and a better-balanced car than the Miura.

 

When production began in 1974, the Countach sported an improved spaceframe chassis, replacing the prototype's rather untidy semi-monocoque, while the bodywork was made of aluminium. One of the Countach's most striking features was the doors, which opened vertically and were supported by hydraulic struts, pivoting at their most forward point.

 

The production Countach came with the standard 4.0-litre - instead of the prototype's 5.0-litre - engine. Even with the smaller engine producing 'only' 375bhp, the aerodynamically efficient Countach could attain 170mph (274km/h) and, naturally, came with racetrack roadholding to match. Designated 'LP400' by the factory (LP = Longitudinale Posteriore, describing the engine placement), the first Countach is commonly known as the 'periscopio', after its central periscope, faired into the roof, which provided rearward vision.

 

This stunning example of the revolutionary Countach in its original LP400 'periscopio' form is one of approximately 157 built between 1974 and 1977, which explains why examples are only rarely seen for sale. Fitted with body number '8', chassis number '0016' was delivered new to Germany finished in Nero (black) with Senape (mustard) leather interior. Currently red with beige interior, it has been fitted with the later LP400 S wheels.

 

A ground-breaking design that set new standards for aspiring supercar manufacturers, the Lamborghini Countach is one of the most iconic sports cars of the 20th Century, and none more so than in its earliest and purest LP400 'Periscopio' form.

 

Gay Rodeo History

It is a huge surprise to many that the gay community is involved in rodeo, but this being America and the fact that all of us are intrigued with our Western heritage, it only adds to the reality "We are everywhere!"

 

The gay community has found many creative ways to become involved with America in efforts to overcome the walls of prejudice. The "Imperial Court" system, which is active in many cities across America, asked their "Empress and Emperor" to raise money for charity. It was felt that raising money for the "Muscular Dystrophy Association" would make a statement for both our existence and our concern for our neighbors.

 

Reno Gay Rodeos

Emperor I of Reno, Phil Ragsdale, came up with one of the most creative ideas to raise funds. The year was 1975 and Ragsdale wanted to help out the local Senior Citizens Annual Thanksgiving Day feed. An amateur gay rodeo would be fun, raise money, and even erase a lot of gay stereotyping. Ragsdale did not find it easy to pull off this event. He did finally land the Washoe County Fairgrounds for October 2, 1976 and then could not get any local ranchers to allow gays the use of their animals. Finally, on October 1, 1976, he was able to locate five "wild" range cows, ten "wild" range calves, one pig, and a Shetland pony. The next day, "IT WAS RODEO TIME!" Over 125 people took part in this "first" event and the winners were crowned; first, "King of the Cowboys," second, "Queen of the Cowgirls," and third, "Miss Dusty Spurs" (the drag queen). It was great fun and a minor success.

Ragsdale added several new twists to the 1977 version of this rodeo/fundraiser. He founded the Comstock Gay Rodeo Association and his rodeo project became the National Reno Gay Rodeo. Following the Imperial Court's lead, Ragsdale added the "Mr., Ms., and Miss National Reno Gay Rodeo" contest to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

 

The 1977 rodeo, although still small, with its new twists donated $214.00 to MDA under the name of "Reno Gay Liberation." The National Reno Gay Rodeo became a total new outlet for the gay community and created a dual party, "emerging Gay Liberation mixed into a Country/Western party" and "24-hour casinos." Dance troupes from the gay community found an arena to show off their stuff. Square dancing, clogging, formation line dancing, and the rebirth of the two-step made the nights into fabulous parties!

 

By 1980 a group out of California, the "Pacific Coast Gay Rodeo Association," had emerged with talented rodeo contestants. Fresno, California and Utah had presented some of the top contenders for the Mr., Ms., and Miss titles. Gay rodeo, and the parties surrounding the event, had gained a great foothold in America. Texas was the big state in 1981, bringing a host of fans in Texas T-shirts, a hot contender for All-Around Cowboy, and Mr., Ms., and Miss contestants, who by the way raised nearly $40,000 for MDA. The Miss from Texas won the competition for Miss National Reno Gay Rodeo. With San Francisco only a short drive away, the underground gay network spread the word about this "party" and the audience in the grandstands grew to 10,000. Those who only came for the nightlife swelled the head count of gays in the city to over 40,000!

 

1982 was dominated by Colorado and brought another change to Ragsdale's rodeo: contestants who wanted standardized rodeo rules so they would feel that they were competing on an equal basis. Many contestants from the previous five years did not return for competition. The Mr., Ms., and Miss National Reno Gay Rodeo contestants were no longer comfortable raising large numbers of dollars just for MDA. Texas in particular was disappointed in this area and decided not to return in 1983.

 

So 1983's version of Mr., Ms., and Miss National Reno Gay Rodeo allowed contestants to designate 50% to MDA and 50% to a gay-related charity of their choice. Most chose the AIDS Foundation. 1983 also saw the largest number of dance groups ever assembled at a gay rodeo and the grandstands filled with over 12,000 people. The lack of consistent rules continued to create problems in the arena.

 

By 1984, the ninth and final National Reno Gay Rodeo still brought over 10,000 people to the rodeo grounds and thousands more to Reno for the gambling and nighttime parties. The IRS credits the demise of this rodeo to a dispute with Washoe County Fairgrounds and the Sands Hotel along with the purported seizure of the rodeo books. Nonetheless, Phil Ragsdale had made a major mark on gay history and introduced the renowned Rose Maddox and Joan Rivers to the emerging gay-Western lifestyle and kindled the flame in the hearts of many men and women scattered across the nation.

 

The Colorado Connection

Across the nation, the gay community began to set the tone for the "Urban Cowboy" phenomenon. Beginning in 1980, a popular disco called "The Broadway" in Denver introduced Country/Western nights with Ron Jesser teaching the two-step. It became so popular that the club dropped its disco format and catered strictly to this new country crowd and changed their name to "Broadway Country."

The city of Denver and the changing need for government buildings brought the "Broadway Country" to a roaring halt in January 1981 when the city gained control of the property for a new Justice Building. Denver's two-steppers were still hungry for a place to "do their thing" and one of the most ardent fans gambled his world to bring a country dance floor back to the gay community.

 

John King opened "Charlie's" in Denver in early June of 1981 and the urban cowboys were again happy. The underground gossip chain rumored that country bars were springing up all across the nation and believe it or not, a gay rodeo in Reno, Nevada. A handful of adventuresome cowboys from Denver decided to check it out and even if it wasn't true, Reno had great casinos. It proved true and a couple of the men even became contestants.

 

The boys from Denver saw an unbelievable mass of gay humanity coming together in Country/Western celebration. A couple of groups from San Francisco introduced Square Dancing (The Foggy City Squares), clogging (The Barbary Coast Cloggers) and a line dance called "Kaw-Liga." Rose Maddox belted out a theme that the gay community dearly loved, "Stand By Your Man." Everywhere you looked, the Pride of Texas was in front of you with great looking T-shirts and loads of enthusiasm. They had raised nearly $40,000 for Muscular Dystrophy and their Miss candidate even won the title of Miss Reno National Gay Rodeo.

 

At the closing party in a jam-packed room at the Sands Hotel, the newly crowned Miss Reno National Gay Rodeo (Miss Texas) came face to face with Wayne Jakino. He couldn't move left or right and felt compelled to congratulate Miss Texas. She responded, "Thank you, and where are ya'll from?" Jakino said he was from Denver and Miss Texas chided, "Well, ya'll might as well of not shown up from all we have seen of you." Jakino let his mouth overload and snapped, "Yeah, but check us out next year!"

 

Excited about the Reno weekend, Jesser asked John King if Charlie's would allow a group to meet to talk rodeo. The first meeting saw Jesser, Jakino, and seven other men commit themselves to form the Colorado Gay Rodeo Association (CGRA) and return in force to Reno.

 

In just a little over a month, on September 13, 1981, the new association elected its first officers, with 42 people present, and make its first public appearance at a community fundraiser that evening. Jakino was elected Founding President and his memory burned with the taunting from Miss Texas. It was now "Reno or Bust!" time. It should be noted that the argument over placing the word "gay" in the name of the association had raged for a month before the election and for two months following at every bylaws ratification meeting.

 

Founding membership was held open on December 1, 1981 and hit 94 founding members. Thereafter, membership continued to climb. Surprisingly so, for historical purposes, this new rodeo group didn't even own a horse!

 

The next ten months were frantic and filled with enthusiasm. When August of 1982 rolled around, 270 CGRA members and over 150 supporters wearing shirts emblazoned with the slogan "Colorado Rides With Pride" arrived for the Reno National Gay Rodeo! This time they even had horses! The entourage included the first mounted gay drill team, the Mile High Square Dancers, the Denver Country Cloggers, candidates for the Mr., Ms., and Miss titles, and 43 rodeo contestants, which comprised two-thirds of the contestants for that rodeo.

 

Colorado contestants quickly learned that the rules of the rodeo arena changed from one minute to the next and learned from other returning contestants that this had been true in the past. The contestants voiced a wish for uniform rules in order to improve the quality of rodeo and more rodeos in which they could hone their skills.

 

Why not? A new challenge! Start another rodeo! Colorado returned home and talked rodeo. Practicality clearly indicated Colorado had not raised the amount of money that Texas had and additionally, Texas had a huge population base and an emerging political climate that Colorado could not match.

 

The Texas Connection

Colorado picked up the gossip from the underground network that there were great Country/Western bars with urban cowboys operating in Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio. Having already made a few Texas friends in Reno, CGRA decided the road to another rodeo led through Texas. A Colorado delegation headed south in the fall of 1982 determined to talk Texas into forming an association and hosting a rodeo.

Wayne Jakino, Rich Rezac, John King, and Kenny Cunitz arrived in Houston and headed for "The Barn." Walter Strickler and Terry Clark operated the club. Both men had been very involved in the efforts to bring Texas to Reno. The "Brazos River Bottom" was the hot country-dance bar and the target for added support in the rodeo effort. Discussions were positive, but Houston leaders were very hesitant to go forward. The official answer was, "You stage a rodeo in Colorado and we will work hard to support you." If you ever bump into Rezac, Cunitz, or the security guard from the Allen Park Inn in Houston, be sure and ask about the "Ester Williams Midnight Synchronized Diving Exhibition!"

 

The Colorado delegation was not discouraged. San Antonio and the much-talked-about "Snuffy's Saloon" were just up the road. Ron Weaver and Swampy were great hosts and Snuffy's was hopping, but the official answer was, "You stage a rodeo in Colorado and we will work hard to support you."

 

The city of Austin was a short drive away, but the group hit this one cold turkey. The target was called "The Red River Crossing" and the people were really friendly. After a really good time, there was no official answer, but some really nice people said, "If Colorado does stage a rodeo, we will sure come to see it!"

 

Okay, so Fort Worth and Dallas were just up the road! A stop at "The 651 Club" in Fort Worth netted support from some really helpful cowboys and they escorted the group over to Dallas. It took all of two minutes in "The Roundup" to meet Tom Sweeney and Richard Montgomery. The Roundup was "The Mecca" for the "Urban Cowboy" and everybody was ready to rodeo, but not in Texas and not after Colorado had talked to Houston first. Colorado did get a very sincere official answer, "You stage a rodeo in Colorado and we will work hard to support you."

 

The delegation headed home to Colorado fully convinced. If the five largest cities in Texas were coming to the Colorado Rodeo, it was time to start organizing.

 

Back to the Colorado Connection

CGRA had little problem getting a vote of approval from its membership to stage a rodeo so the committee went to work. To be politically correct, the rodeo needed to be two months in front of the Reno rodeo, since that one was called the "National" Reno Gay Rodeo. As sort of preliminary competition and hoping to provide ownership of an event to a much larger area, the rodeo was established as the "Rocky Mountain Regional Rodeo."

Everything was rosy, except that CGRA could not land rodeo grounds. The answer was a flat "NO" or more delicately phrased, the answer was, "and we would be delighted to book your rodeo. What date were you wanting?" or "Oh, that date isn't available!" Nor was any other date for the next ten years. Only days before the decision to postpone the rodeo, an attorney called with the cryptic message that Aurora, Colorado had a "non-discriminating" clause on the use of it's parks and that an unknown and run down little arena existed on the eastern edge of that city.

 

History records June 3, 1983 as the date that the Denver metropolitan area became the second location in the United States to stage a gay rodeo. As promised, Texas arrived with major support and additional contestants from California trekked across the country for the first Rocky Mountain Regional Rodeo. Torrential rains hit the rodeo, but too much effort had been spent to let a little water stop the festivities. Colorado's membership topped 390 by rodeo time.

 

The Texas Gay Rodeo Association

Terry Clark and Walter Strickler asked the original Colorado delegates to return to Houston for the Gay Pride Celebration in late June 1983. If Colorado could provide the books from their rodeo validating that the rodeo had not lost money, they would invite all interested individuals in Texas to attend a meeting to form the Texas Gay Rodeo Association (TGRA). The Gay Pride Celebration was a success with a reported crowd of 54,000 lining the streets. The vote to proceed to form TGRA was also a success.

Within a few short months, Texas banded together a network inside their largest cities and forged the framework for a multi-city organization. A November 1984 date was targeted to stage the first TGRA rodeo and the search began for rodeo grounds, which were finally located in Simonton, 35 miles outside of Houston. Texas became the third state to stage a gay rodeo.

 

The California Connection

The "Urban Cowboy" phenomenon also appeared in California in the early eighties. While Fresno and the Bay Area were the most visible at the Reno rodeos, a loosely organized group called the "Pacific Coast Gay Rodeo Association" provided contestants for both the Reno and Colorado rodeos. Hundreds of men and women attended the Reno rodeos, but the man with the burning desire to organize California was in Long Beach.

Al Bell opened "Floyd's" in Long Beach, which became one of the best Country/Western bars in the Greater Los Angeles area. Bell and Pat McGrath traveled to Reno and Denver and became hooked. As we saw in Colorado and Texas, a mere handful of enthused people is all that is needed to put life into a new association. Bell invited folks from CGRA and TGRA to visit and McGrath leaped into organizing "Floyd's Cloggers," later to become one of the best-known dance troupes in the nation. The Golden State Gay Rodeo Association (GSGRA) officially organized in 1984 and set a rodeo date for the following March. The Los Angeles Equestrian Center, located in Burbank, became the site for the fourth state to host a gay rodeo. Dozens of dance teams from around the nation performed to huge crowds.

 

The Arizona Connection

Things were also shaking in Phoenix as early as 1982, when a small group traveled to the Reno rodeo and Tish Tanner won the title of Miss Reno National Gay Rodeo. Arizona would come to life in the fall of 1984 when King decided to open a second "Charlie's" in Phoenix. The bar opened in early November and since King and Kenny Cunitz lived and breathed rodeo, it was only a matter of weeks before the Arizona Gay Rodeo Association (AGRA) formed. In December 1984 the new group targeted January of 1986 for their first rodeo.

Arizona became the fifth state to host a gay rodeo and the event took place in the most unique arena facility on the south side of Phoenix: a Mexican Charro rodeo arena with an attached dance hall known as the Corona Ranch.

 

Would Gay Rodeo Have a Future?

With four rodeos now scheduled and more contestants joining each day, Jakino felt that an umbrella organization was needed to provide unity between the rodeos and fully standardized rules for the contestants, as well as guiding the growth of gay rodeo's future. Leaders from Colorado, Texas, California, and Arizona were invited to Phoenix for a preliminary discussion. Jakino and Jesser from Colorado, Clark and Strickler from Texas, Bell and McGrath from California, and King and Cunitz from Arizona all agreed to proceed to organize the umbrella organization.

The Articles of Incorporation of the "International Gay Rodeo Association" were filed in Colorado and the four associations met again in March of 1985, in Denver, and elected a temporary board with Jakino presiding. A formal convention date was scheduled for September of 1985, again in Denver, to standardized rodeo rules and plan objectives for growth.

 

The Oklahoma Connection

The "Urban Cowboy" syndrome was alive in Oklahoma, too. Les Krambeal and Walt Rupprecht had been to Reno and owned a great bar in Oklahoma City called "The Bunkhouse." Krambeal made contact with CGRA members and asked for guidelines to help organize the Oklahoma Gay Rodeo Association (OGRA) in the summer of 1985. When Krambeal learned that there was a scheduled convention to finalize a new organization in Denver that September, both Krambeal and Rupprecht lit every fire necessary to prepare the framework for OGRA and made plans to appear at this convention and ask for recognition of their state association.

OGRA was accepted at the IGRA convention in Denver and truly became the unabashed joyful child of the rodeo world. Friends from Colorado went to Oklahoma City often and OGRA's enthusiasm was contagious. By the fall of 1985, Oklahoma announced they had scheduled a rodeo for July 1986.

 

The International Gay Rodeo Association

With ten years of gay rodeo history already in the record books, a gathering of rodeo junkies gathered to formalize the future of gay rodeo in Denver in September of 1985. Nine months of preparation already had been invested in efforts to assure the continuity, growth, and heritage of the Country/Western lifestyle in the gay community. Colorado, Texas, California, and Arizona were each represented by five delegates. The convention opened by recognizing the newly formed Oklahoma Gay Rodeo Association and their four delegates.

The five founding states of the International Gay Rodeo Association (IGRA) elected Jakino as their Founding President and formally adopted the Articles of Incorporation in the state of Colorado. They ratified the bylaws, approved events, standardized rodeo rules, and committed the organization to the fostering of national and international amateur rodeo and other equestrian competition and related arts, crafts and activities which encourage the education on or preservation of "Country/Western" lifestyle heritage.

 

History has recorded 14 gay rodeos (nine Reno rodeos, three Colorado rodeos, one Texas rodeo and one California rodeo) prior to the formation of IGRA. The convention also scheduled the sanctioned rodeo season for 1986, running from November 1, 1985 to October 31, 1996:

 

Texas - November, 1985

Arizona - January, 1986

California - March, 1986

Colorado - June, 1986

Oklahoma - July, 1986

Convention - September, 1986 (in Denver)

During 1986, interest in gay rodeo continued to grow and Oklahoma passed their enthusiasm into surrounding states. The second IGRA Annual Convention in Denver welcomed and seated the Kansas Gay Rodeo Association (KGRA), the Missouri Gay Rodeo Association (MGRA), and the New Mexico Gay Rodeo Association (NMGRA). This convention also approved a new framework for the IGRA bylaws to allow future growth. They also accepted a bid from California to host the first IGRA Finals Rodeo in Hayward, California at the end of the 1986 rodeo year.

 

This will become a sort of pyramid-shaped pouch. Couldn't resist snapping a shot of the patchwork while it's still flat. Thanks to my online friends for many of these fun, gorgeous prints! Used qayg to sew the strips of patchwork to one another onto the batting.

 

My intention was to make a quick, uncomplicated bag. But I got side-tracked, as usual, and went all Japanese-style on it with bias binding edge, handquilting, etc. Just couldn't help myself :)) My one concession to time/practicality was to machine sew the zipper by stitching in the ditch next to the bias tape (which I purchased from merrigoroundandme on Etsy - cute, huh?).

LIFTING THE LID ON SPACE.

BMW’s “Nullzwei” (02) range of models wrote the first chapter in its unique and successful history in 1966. From day one, its sporting blend of superior performance and practicality hit the spot with customers. However, the Nullzwei was essentially only available in a single body variant in the early years – a two-door sedan with classically protruding boot.

 

The sole – and rather handsome – exception was the Convertible, built by Baur in Stuttgart. Its one visually distinguishing feature from tin-top 02s was its retractable roof. And it was only a bit-part player in terms of production numbers.

 

Reimagining the 02 concept.

 

BMW hesitated long and hard before adding the new touring (note: touring with a small “t”) to the range in 1971. The powers-that-be were keen to broaden the reach of the 02, which had been on the road for five years by this point. But the development of a totally new body type would be quite the wallet-lightener, not to mention a risky proposition. The new variant was intended to share the front and side sections of the existing 02, but then offer buyers genuine variation from the B-pillars back. Enhanced versatility and functional appeal made an excellent fit for the evolving zeitgeist; customers now demanded extra practicality from their car, but that didn’t mean they wanted to confuse it for a van.

 

A compact and multifunctional start to the seventies.

 

And so the new touring defied classification as either a coupe or an estate car in the classical sense. Instead, it carved out a distinctive and previously uncharted niche for itself. The touring was 12 cm shorter than its sedan stablemate (and 3 cm lower), but its large tailgate combined with the split/folding rear seat backrests to create a load area of eye-catching dimensions, one which could swallow some really quite large items of cargo. Added to which, the rakish new design provided the universally familiar 02 range with a dramatic refresh. Such a youthfully sporty Nullzwei caught everyone by surprise.

 

Trusted technology.

 

The touring took its technical cues from the sedan, sharing the same range of engines to start with and only changing its nameplates. For example, the badge on the rear of the 2-litre model initially read “BMW touring 2000” (it was another two years before the planets re-aligned and it was changed to “2002 touring”). From model year 1974, the touring was also available in 1802 guise with a 90 hp engine, the 1.6-litre 85 hp entry-level model having been given the chop back in 1972. The range-topping versions of two body variants were cut from the same cloth. The 2002 tii with Kugelfischer injection pump and 130 hp offered sports-car performance in both the sedan and touring, the 17/1971 edition of auto motor und sport magazine recording a heady top speed of 189 km/h (117 mph) and 0-100 km/h (62 mph) in 9.2 seconds. Editor Helmut Eicker declared himself impressed by how quickly the car could cover ground – and how sublimely it went about the task. “The tii in particular (…) radiates true driving pleasure. Its estate car identity can be seen but not felt.” The latter part of Eicker’s observation revealed the widely held reservations about estate cars at the time, whose typically bulked up rear axles and suspension could have a seriously negative impact on its ride comfort and handling skills.

 

Taking the sedan a stage further.

 

The touring was always a touch more expensive than its similarly-powered sedan counterpart, initially selling for a minimum 11,544 marks in BMW 2000 touring form (2002 sedan: 10,880 marks). A “rally pack” brought sports seats as good-looking as they were comfortable, plus light-alloy wheels and wider tyres – which fitted its overall profile rather neatly. Indeed, customers could pick from an extensive options list when specifying their touring.

 

The sedan gained new, rectangular rear lights as part of an extensive facelift in 1973, but the touring retained its circular lights – now very much a signature of the 02 – until the end of production in 1974. The touring never matched the high production figures achieved by the sedan, but it remained the variant of choice for customers who needed extra practicality but still appreciated the sporting alacrity of the “small” BMW. All in all, 30,000 or so examples of the touring were built over its lifetime.

FangruidaWorks:

 

Fangruida's natural philosophy: super-spinning super-rotating cosmic structural system and multi-dimensional multi-directionality of natural philosophy. The original theory of "three sexes" (intensive reading)

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(Original: Fangruida May 2012 in Athens, Bonn, London, revised finalized in New York)

Edit Translation: Cole Susan 2012 electronic version 2012V1.1 version

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Key words: ██ Multidimensionality of philosophy

█ The three principles of philosophy

● Three-dimensional multidimensional theory

Absolute relativity of the natural world

Abstract macro concrete microscopic concrete macro abstract ultramicro

The breadth and limitations of human wisdom

Natural Revolution, Cosmic Revolution and Social Revolution

Assimilation or alienation of super-smart humans and super-bio-smart players

The end of life, the multi-spin system of the universe

The structure of thinking: convergence and divergence

The chemical abundance of the universe, homogeneity, heterogeneity

Substance-Species-Organics-Inorganics Life Macromolecules Life and Wisdom Human Life ▲▲

  

Philosophy and history

Studying world history, studying human history, including natural science research, such as the structure and evolution of the universe, the ultra-microsystems of particles, the evolution of life, the future of the universe, the developmental variation of the human world and the future, etc., are a big end. The philosophical thoughts, the colorful flowers, can be described as colorful and magnificent. History of philosophy, history of thought, history of civilization, history of religion, and various research works are full of enthusiasm. Masters of world philosophy, masters of thought, and masters of science have left us with an extremely precious cultural heritage, which is worthy of repeated study and in-depth study. For example, the question of thinking and existence, consciousness and material as the source: cosmic structure, particle structure, origin of life, the future of man and the universe, the society of the planet and the universe, the end of the universe and humanity, the pioneering and limitations of science and technology Sex, human brain thinking structure and highly intelligent biological robots, the existence and destruction of the Earth and the solar system, the large-scale structure of the universe and the homogeneity of the universe, the advanced intelligent animals and life macromolecules, matter and species, the space and time of the universe, black holes And dark matter, big bang and steady state, initial, normal ground state and final state, super-spin and super-spin, classical mechanics and quantum mechanics, evolutionary structure of human society, and so on. Of course, philosophy and natural science and technology are inseparable. Here we mainly discuss natural philosophy. Therefore, there are not many discussions on physical mechanics, etc., mainly in the basic categories of philosophy and natural philosophy. Natural science research papers refer to the author's related works.

  

The history of world philosophy and the history of thought have an extremely important position and extremely important guiding role in human history. With the rapid development of modern science and technology, with the substantial growth and leap of the world economy, the development of human society and new Civilized rationality has reached a new milestone. Economic history, civilization history, social history, political history, military history, cultural history, religious history, intellectual history, philosophy history, and history of the universe are very grand and complex. Here, we mainly study and discuss the history of human understanding, the history of thought, and the history of philosophy. . The big end, the clear veins and trajectories of the world, all kinds of doctrines, all kinds of academics, all kinds of thoughts, various schools, flowers and flowers, quite new. Of course, it is not possible to talk about things, but to involve in-depth research and exploration in the field of natural science and technology, as well as other important areas of research, in order to profoundly understand and understand, what is the great revolution of modern philosophy. Otherwise, there is no way to talk about it, or to go biased and extreme. Western philosophy, Eastern philosophy, religious philosophy, etc.

European Philosophy and Western Philosophy

Ancient Greek philosophy school

The early four universities in ancient Greece were the Ionian, Pythagoras, Elia, and the elemental school; the late four-school school: the cynicism school, the Stoic school, the Epicurean school, New Platon School

 

Ionian

 

Miletus School

(Thales, etc.) (to attribute the world to a specific phenomenon or substance of nature, such as water and gas)

Pythagoras School

(Pythagoras) (everything is counted)

Heraclitus

(The universe is a changing fire, dominated by logos (laws))

Democritus

(propose atomism)

Elijah

(Parmenid) (the origin of all things, is the eternal "consciousness of existence", denying change and movement

Socrates

(emphasizes access to knowledge by introspection)

Plato

(The concrete behind everything is the eternal prototype concept)

Aristotle

(The distinction between material and form, the universe consists of five elements: earth, water, gas, fire, and ether, presenting the existence of the first promoter "God", etc., the most comprehensive early philosophy)

Neo-Platonicism

(Protino) ("Taiyi" is the foundation of the world, rational laws, souls, and specific things are too super-existing)

Epicurean school

(Ibi-Ji-lu) (everything and soul are atoms, happiness is the purpose of life)

Cynic school

(Diogenes) (contempt for external utilitarianism, advocates poverty-stricken life)

Stoia

(Marco Aurelius, Abigail Ted) (emphasis on the "goodness" and "de" of human beings, advocating obedience to fate while grasping self)

Medieval Christian philosophy

Augustine

(In the philosophical theory to explain the existence of God, the Trinity, the salvation of the soul)

(Scholastic philosophy)

Aristotle

(Thomas Aquinas) (using Aristotle's rational philosophy to explain the nature, existence, virtue of God)

Willism

(Scott) (with the natural will as the cause of the world movement, the source is God)

Aokangism

(

Modern western philosophy

Early natural philosophy

(Bacon, Da Vinci, Newton and many other scientists, philosophical theorists) (proposes experimental observation-based science to support the theory of interpretation of nature)

Rationalism (rationalism)

(Descartes) (I think so I am, the ultimate source of knowledge is God, material and soul are parallel to each other)

(Spennosha) (emphasizing thinking/concepts and prolongation/substance are two different manifestations of the infinite God, one for the inner and one for the external)

(Leibnitz) (The world consists of consecutive "singles" of nature, including spirit and matter)

Empiricism (empiricalism)

(Locke) (Experience is the only source of knowledge, matter has the first nature and the second nature, the former is in the object itself, and the latter is the product of perception)

(Hume) (Initial perception is the only source of knowledge, time and space are both products of perception)

(Beckley) (The existence is self-perception, and the perception of the whole world is God) (German classical philosophy)

Transcendental idealism

(Kant) (Knowledge originally originated from the inexpressible "object self", which became a formable knowledge or concept/phenomenon after the subject's subjective norms of time, space and causality were recognized.

Absolute idealism

(Ficht) (Experience knowledge is the absolute self in the depths of consciousness, produced by constantly setting non-I, grasping non-I)

(Xie Lin) (Nature gradually self-awake, develops into a self-consciousness that opposes objective nature, and then returns self-consciousness to nature, and will eventually reach the absolute same with objective nature, that is, it can sense its absolute reality)

(Hegel) (ideal dialectics, objective idealism, the world is on the one hand, the evolution of objective existential history, and on the other hand, the continuous leap of subjective consciousness from sensibility to rationality, when realizing the development of self-awareness When the development of objective existence, you reach the absolute truth of God)

Young Hegelian

(Feuerbach) (materialism, pointing out that God is the externalization of the essence of human pursuit, admiring "love") (practical materialism, emphasizing the decisive role of practical labor, so that nature presents objective laws in front of human beings.

Modern western philosophy

Early irrationalism

(Kerkegaard) (denying that people have the essence of fixed unity, emphasizing the contingency and freedom of individual existence, this is the road to God, the pioneer of existentialism)

Voluntarism

(Schopenhauer) (The ontology of the world is the natural will without cause and effect, time and space, causality is the result of rational understanding of the will, and life is endless because of the endless desire and hindrance of desire)

(Nietzsche) (Destiny is controlled by oneself, not the norm of God, so it advocates the "power will" of the weak meat)

Philosophy of life

(Borgsen, Dilthey) (The world is the "stretching" and evolution of "the stream of life" in time)

New hegelism

(Bradley) (Development of Absolute Ideal Dialectics)

Neo-Kantianism

(Cohen, Cassirer) (a product of the combination of transcendental idealism and scientific philosophy, but denying the existence of self-physical independence from consciousness)

utilitarianism

(Bentham, Mill) (Social behavior is actually pursuing the maximization of personal happiness)

pragmatism

(James, Dewey) (The premise that things become the object of knowledge is its practicality. Only through human pursuit and experimentation can the truth be obtained)

Early analytic philosophy

(Freig, Russell, Wittgenstein) (Proposing logical ontology, the ontology of the world is not a separate entity, but an interrelated logical relationship)

Post-analytic philosophy

(Wittgenstein, Strawson, Rorty, etc.) (I believe that the emergence of philosophical problems is the result of misunderstanding of everyday language, and advocates the analysis of semantics to achieve the essential relationship between language and reality)

Falsificationist philosophy of science

(Popper) (Rejecting science can reach absolute truth, proposing three worlds - the material world, the spiritual world, the conceptual world)

Historic philosophy of science

(Kun, Feyerabend) (opposing the pure logic of separation from practice as a way of expressing the world, while emphasizing the accumulation of scientific experience in history)

Freudianism

(Floyd) (emphasizing the decisive role of subconsciousness and sexual desire on individual behavior, dreams, civilized activities, etc. are the result of subconsciousness being suppressed by external morality and disguised at the level of consciousness)

Western Marxism

The Frankfurt School (Marcuse, Habermas) (in Marx's dialectics, Freud's instinct, focuses on the enslavement and alienation of material civilization, advocates changing the social interaction model, and alleviates capitalism Social crisis)

Phenomenology / European Philosophy

(Husser) (Proposed a phenomenological approach, advocating returning to the matter itself, and studying the constructive role of consciousness in knowledge)

Existentialism

(Heidegger, Sartre, Coronation, etc.) (emphasizing the existence of the individual's pre-reflective consciousness in the world is the source of all knowledge. The existence of human beings is different from the existence of objects. The existence of human beings is free, not being Fully prescribed - existence precedes essence

Hermeneutics

(Gadamer, Derrida) (Thinking that the study of history cannot be reduced to historical facts, but the dialogue between modern perspectives and historical relics)

Structuralism

(Sausul, Artusai, Strauss, Lacan) (proposes the study of the overall structure of the various knowledge systems, and emphasizes the a priori and permanence of this structure, it is the correct research system Premise of each element)

Deconstruction

(Derrida, Foucault, Deleuze) (denying the existence of a unified knowledge structure, critical reason loses the richness of the world while unilaterally pursuing the essence, and believes that the relationship between man and the world, author and reader is not the relationship between subject and object. , but the dialogue between the subjects, affirming the diversity of ideas)

Essentials of philosophy science

The history of world philosophy, the history of world science and technology, the history of world social development, and the history of European and American philosophy all have brilliant historical memories.

Thales (about 585 BC), an ancient Greek philosopher, was honored as the ancestor of Western philosophy from Aristotle.

 

Heracletitos (about 504-501 BC), an ancient Greek philosopher, one of the founders of dialectics.

 

Parmenides (in the year 504-501 BC), the founder of the ancient Greek philosopher, ontology (ontology).

Demokritos (about 420 BC), an ancient Greek philosopher, founder of atomism.

 

Socrates (468-399 BC), an ancient Greek philosopher.

 

Platon (427-347 BC), an ancient Greek philosopher, a student of Socrates, with dialogues such as "Socratic Defence", "Ideology", "Barmenid", "The Wise", etc. Works.

 

Aristotles, Plato's students, Greek philosophers, encyclopedic philosophers, founders of many disciplines, masterpieces "Tools", "Physics", "metaphysics", "Nico Marco's Ethics, Political Science.

  

Lucretius (b.c.99-55) Ancient Roman materialist philosopher. I believe that everything is made up of atoms. The atom is infinitely moving in the universe and is infinite. It advocates atheism. The main work: "The Theory of Physical Property."

 

Aurelius Augustinus (354-430 AD), the greatest representative of the medieval godfather philosophy, is entitled "Confessions" and "City of God."

 

Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), the greatest representative of the philosophy of the medieval scholasticism, with the book "Anti-Beast Encyclopedia" and "Theological Encyclopedia"

(Thomas Aquinas) (using Aristotle's rational philosophy to explain the nature, existence, virtue of God)

Willism

(Scott) (with the natural will as the cause of the world movement, the source is God)

Aokangism

(

Modern western philosophy

Early natural philosophy

(Bacon, Da Vinci, Newton and many other scientists, philosophical theorists) (proposes experimental observation-based science to support the theory of interpretation of nature)

Rationalism (rationalism)

(Descartes) (I think so I am, the ultimate source of knowledge is God, material and soul are parallel to each other)

(Spennosha) (emphasizing thinking/concepts and prolongation/substance are two different manifestations of the infinite God, one for the inner and one for the external)

(Leibnitz) (The world consists of consecutive "singles" of nature, including spirit and matter)

Empiricism (empiricalism)

(Locke) (Experience is the only source of knowledge, matter has the first nature and the second nature, the former is in the object itself, and the latter is the product of perception)

(Hume) (Initial perception is the only source of knowledge, time and space are both products of perception)

(Beckley) (The existence is self-perception, and the perception of the whole world is God) (German classical philosophy)

Transcendental idealism

(Kant) (Knowledge originally originated from the inexpressible "object self", which became a formable knowledge or concept/phenomenon after the subject's subjective norms of time, space and causality were recognized.

Absolute idealism

(Ficht) (Experience knowledge is the absolute self in the depths of consciousness, produced by constantly setting non-I, grasping non-I)

(Xie Lin) (Nature gradually self-awake, develops into a self-consciousness that opposes objective nature, and then returns self-consciousness to nature, and will eventually reach the absolute same with objective nature, that is, it can sense its absolute reality)

(Hegel) (ideal dialectics, objective idealism, the world is on the one hand, the evolution of objective existential history, and on the other hand, the continuous leap of subjective consciousness from sensibility to rationality, when realizing the development of self-awareness When the development of objective existence, you reach the absolute truth of God)

Young Hegelian

(Feuerbach) (materialism, pointing out that God is the externalization of the essence of human pursuit, admiring "love") (practical materialism, emphasizing the decisive role of practical labor, so that nature presents objective laws in front of human beings.

Modern western philosophy

Early irrationalism

(Kerkegaard) (denying that people have the essence of fixed unity, emphasizing the contingency and freedom of individual existence, this is the road to God, the pioneer of existentialism)

Voluntarism

(Schopenhauer) (The ontology of the world is the natural will without cause and effect, time and space, causality is the result of rational understanding of the will, and life is endless because of the endless desire and hindrance of desire)

(Nietzsche) (Destiny is controlled by oneself, not the norm of God, so it advocates the "power will" of the weak meat)

Philosophy of life

(Borgsen, Dilthey) (The world is the "stretching" and evolution of "the stream of life" in time)

New hegelism

(Bradley) (Development of Absolute Ideal Dialectics)

Neo-Kantianism

(Cohen, Cassirer) (a product of the combination of transcendental idealism and scientific philosophy, but denying the existence of self-physical independence from consciousness)

utilitarianism

(Bentham, Mill) (Social behavior is actually pursuing the maximization of personal happiness)

pragmatism

(James, Dewey) (The premise that things become the object of knowledge is its practicality. Only through human pursuit and experimentation can the truth be obtained)

Early analytic philosophy

(Freig, Russell, Wittgenstein) (Proposing logical ontology, the ontology of the world is not a separate entity, but an interrelated logical relationship)

Post-analytic philosophy

(Wittgenstein, Strawson, Rorty, etc.) (I believe that the emergence of philosophical problems is the result of misunderstanding of everyday language, and advocates the analysis of semantics to achieve the essential relationship between language and reality)

Falsificationist philosophy of science

(Popper) (Rejecting science can reach absolute truth, proposing three worlds - the material world, the spiritual world, the conceptual world)

Historic philosophy of science

(Kun, Feyerabend) (opposing the pure logic of separation from practice as a way of expressing the world, while emphasizing the accumulation of scientific experience in history)

Freudianism

(Floyd) (emphasizing the decisive role of subconsciousness and sexual desire on individual behavior, dreams, civilized activities, etc. are the result of subconsciousness being suppressed by external morality and disguised at the level of consciousness)

Western Marxism

The Frankfurt School (Marcuse, Habermas) (in Marx's dialectics, Freud's instinct, focuses on the enslavement and alienation of material civilization, advocates changing the social interaction model, and alleviates capitalism Social crisis)

Phenomenology / European Philosophy

(Husser) (Proposed a phenomenological approach, advocating returning to the matter itself, and studying the constructive role of consciousness in knowledge)

Existentialism

(Heidegger, Sartre, Coronation, etc.) (emphasizing the existence of the individual's pre-reflective consciousness in the world is the source of all knowledge. The existence of human beings is different from the existence of objects. The existence of human beings is free, not being Fully prescribed - existence precedes essence

Hermeneutics

(Gadamer, Derrida) (Thinking that the study of history cannot be reduced to historical facts, but the dialogue between modern perspectives and historical relics)

Structuralism

(Sausul, Artusai, Strauss, Lacan) (proposes the study of the overall structure of the various knowledge systems, and emphasizes the a priori and permanence of this structure, it is the correct research system Premise of each element)

Deconstruction

(Derrida, Foucault, Deleuze) (denying the existence of a unified knowledge structure, critical reason loses the richness of the world while unilaterally pursuing the essence, and believes that the relationship between man and the world, author and reader is not the relationship between subject and object. , but the dialogue between the subjects, affirming the diversity of ideas)

Essentials of philosophy science

The history of world philosophy, the history of world science and technology, the history of world social development, and the history of European and American philosophy all have brilliant historical memories.

Thales (about 585 BC), an ancient Greek philosopher, was honored as the ancestor of Western philosophy from Aristotle.

 

Heracletitos (about 504-501 BC), an ancient Greek philosopher, one of the founders of dialectics.

 

Parmenides (in the year 504-501 BC), the founder of the ancient Greek philosopher, ontology (ontology).

Demokritos (about 420 BC), an ancient Greek philosopher, founder of atomism.

 

Socrates (468-399 BC), an ancient Greek philosopher.

 

Platon (427-347 BC), an ancient Greek philosopher, a student of Socrates, with dialogues such as "Socratic Defence", "Ideology", "Barmenid", "The Wise", etc. Works.

 

Aristotles, Plato's students, Greek philosophers, encyclopedic philosophers, founders of many disciplines, masterpieces "Tools", "Physics", "metaphysics", "Nico Marco's Ethics, Political Science.

  

Lucretius (b.c.99-55) Ancient Roman materialist philosopher. I believe that everything is made up of atoms. The atom is infinitely moving in the universe and is infinite. It advocates atheism. The main work: "The Theory of Physical Property."

 

Aurelius Augustinus (354-430 AD), the greatest representative of the medieval godfather philosophy, is entitled "Confessions" and "City of God."

 

Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), the greatest representative of the philosophy of the medieval scholasticism, is entitled "Anti-Beast Encyclopedia" and "Theological Encyclopedia".

 

Bruno (1548-1600) Italian materialist philosopher and natural scientist. Propagating Copernicus's heliocentric theory, that the universe has no center, the sun is just an ordinary planet, the solar system is just a celestial system, and matter is the common common essence of all things in the universe. The main work: "On the reasons, the essence and one."

 

Hobbes (1588-1679) was a British materialist philosopher who used to be the secretary and assistant of Bacon. He systematically embodies Bacon's philosophical ideas and advocates the use of mechanics and mathematics to illustrate the world. He is the founder of mechanical materialism. The main works: "On matter", "On the people."

 

Francis Bacon (1561-1626), the ancestor of British empiricism, and the "New Tools".

 

René Descartes (1596-1650), French philosopher, founder of modern philosophy, the founder of the theory, is the "Method Discussion", "The First Philosophical Contemplation", "Philosophy Principles".

 

Benedicus de Spinoza (1632-1677), a Dutch philosopher, one of the main representatives of the theory, with "Ethics" and so on.

 

John Locke (1632-1704), one of the main representatives of British empiricism, is entitled "The Theory of Human Reason."

 

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716), a German philosopher, one of the main representatives of the theory, is entitled "Single Theory" and "New Theory of Human Reason."

 

George Berkeley (1685-1753), one of the main representatives of British empiricism, is entitled "The Principles of Human Knowledge."

 

David Hume (1711-1776), one of the main representatives of British empiricism, is entitled "The Theory of Human Nature" and "The Study of Human Reason."

 

Montesquieu (1689-1755), a French enlightenment thinker, with the Persian Letters and The Spirit of the Law.

 

Voltaire (1694-1778), a French enlightenment thinker, and author of "Philosophy Communication."

 

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), a French enlightenment thinker, entitled "The Origin and Foundation of Human Inequality", "Social Contract Theory", "Emil", and "Confessions".

  

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), the founder of German classical philosophy, is entitled "Critique of Pure Reason", "Critique of Practical Reason" and "Critique of Judgment".

 

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831), a master of German classical philosophy, is known for his dialectic in the world, and he is the author of "Psychophenomenology", "Logic" and "Philosophy of Philosophy".

 

Auguste Comte (1798-1857), French philosopher, founder of positivism, and the "Experimental Philosophy Course".

 

John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), British philosopher, one of the representatives of positivism, is entitled "Conde and positivism", "system of logic", "utilitarianism".

 

"Arther Schopenhauer (1788-1860), a German philosopher, a voluntarist, has a "world of will and appearance."

 

Karl Marx (May 5, 1818 - 1883, 3, 1)

 

Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Law (1843), on Jewish Nationality (1843), Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 (1844), Feuerbach (1845), Poverty of Philosophy (1845), Employment Labor With Capital (1847), Louis Bonaparte's Misty Moon 18th (1852), Capital Theory Volume 2 (1893), Capital Theory Volume III (1894), etc.

  

William James (1842-1910), an American philosopher, one of the main representatives of pragmatism, is the "Psychology Principles", "Pragmatism", "Complete Empiricism Proceedings".

 

Friedrich Willhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900), a German philosopher, with "The Other Side of Good and Evil", "Zarathustra", "Strong Will".

  

Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913), a Swiss linguist, founder of structuralism, and a course in General Linguistics.

 

Edmund Husserl (1859-1938), German philosopher, founder of phenomenology, with "Logical Studies", "Phenomenon of Phenomenology", "The Contemplation of Descartes" and "The Crisis of European Science and Transcendental Phenomenology, etc.

 

Sigmund Freud (1865-1939), an Austrian psychologist, founder of the psychoanalytic school, with "An Analysis of Dreams" and "Introduction to Psychoanalysis."

 

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) British philosopher and educator wrote "The History of Western Philosophy", "Education", "Philosophy Problems", etc., won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1950.

  

Martin Heidegger (1889-1976), German philosopher, founder of existential philosophy, with "Existence and Time", "Introduction to Metaphysics", "Lin Zhong Lu" and so on.

 

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951), one of the founders of Austrian-American philosophy, linguistic philosophy or analytic philosophy, is the author of The Philosophy of Logic and Philosophical Studies.

 

Rudolf Carnap (1891-1970), a German philosopher, one of the main representatives of logical positivism, is entitled "The Logical Structure of the World" and "The Logical Syntax of Language."

Gilbert Ryle (1900-1976) is a British philosopher, one of the representatives of the everyday language school, and has the concept of "heart".

 

Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900-), the German philosopher, the founder of philosophical hermeneutics, is the author of The Truth and Method.

 

Max Horkheimer (1895-1973), a German philosopher and founder of the Frankfurt School, is the author of Critical Theory, Research in Social Philosophy, and Dialectics of Enlightenment (co-authored with Adorno).

 

Theoder Wiesengrund Adorno (1903-1969), a German philosopher, one of the main representatives of the Frankfurt School, is entitled "Negative Dialectics".

 

Herbert Marcuse (1895-1979), a German philosopher, one of the main representatives of the Frankfurt School, with "Ration and Revolution", "Eros and

Jean Paul Sartre (1905-1980), a French philosopher, one of the main representatives of existentialism, with "existence and nothingness", "existentialism is a kind of humanitarianism" and "criticism of dialectical reason".

 

Claude Levi-Strauss (1908-), French philosopher, anthropologist, one of the main representatives of structuralism, is entitled "Structural Anthropology" and "Wild Thinking."

 

Willard van Orman Quine (1908-), one of the main representatives of analytic philosophy, "from a logical point of view", "logic philosophy."

 

Tomas Kuhn (1922-), an American scientific philosopher, a historian of science, a representative of the Historic School, and the "Structure of the Scientific Revolution" and "Necessary Tension."

  

Michel Foucault (1926-1984), a French philosopher, one of the main representatives of post-structuralism and post-modernism, is entitled "Knowledge Archaeology", "Discipline and Punishment" and so on.

 

Jacques Derrida (1931-), a French philosopher, one of the main representatives of postmodernism, with "writing and difference", "casting", "the edge of philosophy", "the ghost of Marx" and so on.

 

Richard. M. Rorty (1931-), an American philosopher, one of the representatives of post-modern philosophy, is the Mirror of Philosophy and Nature and Post-Philosophy Culture.

 

Fredric Jamason (1931-), an American philosopher and literary critic, one of the main representatives of postmodernism, is entitled "Marxism and Form", "Political Unconsciousness", and "Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism".

  

John Rawls (1921-), an American political philosopher, is the author of The Theory of Justice and Political Liberalism.

 

Robert Nozick (1938-), an American political philosopher, is entitled "Anarchy, State, and Utopia."

 

Western philosophy European and American philosophy has a huge influence on the world. Of course, philosophy and thought are often inseparable. Philosophers also mean thinkers.

 

Philosophers, thinkers, schools of thought, and main ideology

  

Ancient Greek period: 7th century BC - 2nd century BC

Thales (about 624-about 547, the first philosopher of ancient Greece, the founder of the Miletus School)

Anaximandros (about 610-before 546, ancient Greek Miletus school materialist philosopher)

Anaximenes (about 588-about 525, ancient Greek Miletus school materialist philosopher)

Pythagoras (about 580 - about 500 before, ancient Greek mathematician, idealist philosopher)

Xenophanes (about 565-about 473, the ancient Greek philosopher, the first representative of the Elia school)

Herakleitos (between 540 and about 480 and 470 before, the ancient Greek materialist philosopher, the founder of the Efes school)

Kratylos (former fifth century, ancient Greek Efesian philosopher, Heraclitus student)

Parmenides (before the end of the sixth century - about the middle of the first half of the fifth century, the idealist philosopher of the Elia school of ancient Greece) Leukippos (about 500-about 440, the ancient Greek materialist philosopher , the atom said one of the founders)

Anaxagoras (about 500 before - 428 BC, ancient Greek materialist philosopher)

Zeno Eleates (about 490 - about 436 before, ancient Greek idealist philosopher, student of Parmenides) Empedokles (Em. 490 - about 430, Ancient Greek materialist philosopher, founder of rhetoric)

Gorgias (about 483 - about 375, the ancient Greek wise philosopher)

Protagoras (formerly 481-about 411, ancient Greek wise philosopher)

Socrates (formerly 469-before 399, ancient Greek idealist philosopher)

Demokratos (Demokritos, 460- 370 BC, ancient Greek materialist philosopher, and the founder of the atomic theory of Rebecca) Antisthenes (about 435-about 370, ancient Greece Philosopher, founder of the cynic school

Aristippos (about 435-front 360?, ancient Greek philosopher, founder of the Cyrene School, disciple of Socrates)

Plato (Plato, former 427-before 347, ancient Greek objective idealist philosopher, founder of the school, student of Socrates, teacher of Aristotle) ​​- "Ideology", "politician", "Bammenides" and "Plato Dialogues"

Diogenes o Sinopeus (about 404-about 323, ancient Greek cynic philosopher)

Aristotles (Aristotles, 384- 322 BC, Ancient Greek philosopher, scientist, Plato's student, Alexander the Great's teacher, the founder of the Happy School) - Metaphysics, Tool Theory, Nigma Ethics, Physics, Politics

, "The Complete Works of Aristotle"

Pyrrhon (about 365-about 275, ancient Greek philosopher, skeptic)

Epikouros (formerly 341-pre-270, ancient Greek materialist philosopher)

Zeno (Zionon Kitieus), about 336-about 264, founder of the ancient Greek Stoic school

 

Roman period: the second century BC - the fifth century AD

Cousero (Marcus Tullius Cicero, former 106-43, ancient Roman politician, eloquent, philosopher, philosophically representative of eclecticism)

Titus Lucretius Carus (about 99-about 55, ancient Roman poet, materialist philosopher) - "The Theory of Materiality"

  

Tertullianus (between 150 and 160 - about 222, one of the Christian godfathers)

Aurelius Augustinus (354-430, the Roman Empire Christian thinker, the main representative of the godfather philosophy) - "Confessions", "On Free Will", "The Monologue", "The City of God", "The Handbook of Doctrine"

Hypatia (about 370-about 415, female mathematician, astronomer, neo-Platonic philosopher of the Roman Empire)

Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, 480-524 or 525, the idealist philosopher in late Roman times

Medieval: 5th century AD - end of the 14th century

Johannes Scotus Erigena (circa 810-877, a philosopher of the pre-European medieval scholasticism) - "On God's Presupposition", "On the Division of Nature"

Anselmus (1033-1109, a medieval Christian thinker in Europe, the main representative of realism, known as "the last godfather and the first scholastic philosopher")

Roscellinus (about 1050 - about 1112, medieval French philosopher, nominalist)

Guillaume de Champeaux (circa 1070-1121, medieval French philosopher, realist)

Abel (Petrus Abailardus, 1079-1142, philosopher of the medieval French Academy, "concept theory")

Albertus Magnus (1193 or 1206 or 1207-1280, Medieval German philosopher, theologian, Catholic Dominican monk)

Thomas Aquinas (1226-1274, Medieval Theologian and scholastic philosopher, Catholic Dominican Fellow) - Theological Encyclopedia and Anti-Beast Encyclopedia

Sigerus de Brantia (circa 1240-1281 to 1284, Netherland philosopher, Averroist)

Meister Johannes Eckhart (circa 1260-1327, medieval German theologian and mystic philosopher) Johannes Duns Scotus (circa 1265-1308, medieval Scottish scholastic philosopher, nominalist ) - "On Oxford", "Paris on"

William of Occam (or Ockham), about 1300 - about 1350, philosopher of the medieval Soviet scholastic philosopher, nominalist) Jan Hus (circa 1369-1415, Czech patriot and religious reformer)

Dante Alighièri (1265-1321, Italian poet.

Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374, Italian poet, one of the pioneers of humanism in the European Renaissance) - "Secret"

Geovanni Boccàccio (1313-1375, Italian writer of the Renaissance, one of the main representatives of humanism) - "Ten Days"

Paul (John Ball, ?-1381, British folk missionary, one of the leaders of the Wat Taylor Uprising)

John Wycliffe (circa 1320-1384, British, pioneer of the European Reformation Movement)

Nikola (Kusa's) (Nicolaus Cusanus, 1401-1464, Renaissance German philosopher, cardinal, pantheist)

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519, Renaissance Italian artist, natural scientist, engineer, philosopher)

Pietro Pomponazzi (1462-1524 or 1525, the Italian philosopher of the Renaissance, one of the main representatives of humanism)

Desiderius Erasmus (circa 1469-1536, the Renaissance Netherland humanist, formerly known as Gerhard Gerhards, born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands) - "The Fools"

Thomas More (1478-1535, Renaissance British Utopian Communist)

Martin Luther (1483-1546, the founder of the 16th century German Reformation, Christian (Protestant) Road

 

Thomas Münzer (about 1490-1525, leader of the German peasant war of 1524-1525, German peasant and religious reformer of urban civilians)

Calvin (1509-1564, French, European Reformer, founder of Christian Calvin) - "On Benevolence", "Christian Essentials", "Faith Guide", "Christian Masterpieces Integration", From the Renaissance to the Selected Works of Humanitarian Humanity in the 19th Century by Bourgeois Literati Artists, Selected Works of Western Ethical Masterpieces, and History of Medieval Philosophy in Western Europe (Bernardino Telesio, 1509-1588, Renaissance Italy philosopher)

Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533-1592, a translation of Montagne, French thinkers and prose writers during the Renaissance) - "Meng Tian Wenxuan"

Pierre Charron (1541-1603, French philosopher of the Renaissance)

Giordano Bruno (1548-1600, Italian philosopher of the Renaissance) - "On Reason, Primitive and Taiyi", "On Infinity, Universe and Worlds", "Basting the Beast", "On Heroic Passion" 》

Tommaso Campanella (1568-1639, Renaissance Italian Utopian Communist)

Jakob B?hme, 1575-1624, Renaissance German mystic philosopher

Grouseus (Hugo Grotius, 1583-1645, Dutch bourgeois jurist, early theorist of the natural law school, studied law, theology, history, literature, and natural sciences, with international law Research is well known)

Lucilio Vanini (1584-1619, Italian philosopher of the Renaissance)

 

Francis Bacon (1561-1626, "-"Chongxue", "New Tools", "Bacon's Anthology", "New Daxi"

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679, British materialist philosopher) - "Leviathan", "On Objects", "On Man", "On Freedom, Inevitability and Accident"

Pierre Gassendi (1592-1655, a translation of garrison, French materialist philosopher, physicist, astronomer) Descartes (1596-1650, French philosopher, physicist, mathematician) , physiologist, founder of analytic geometry) - "Methodology", "The First Philosophical Contemplation", "Philosophical Principles", "On the Passion of the Soul"

Hendrik van Roy (French name Henri Le Roy, Latin name Henricus Regius, 1598-1679, Dutch doctor, philosopher, representative of early mechanical materialism)

Gerrard Winstanley (circa 1609-about 1652, the leader of the bourgeois revolutionary movement in the British bourgeois revolution, the imaginary communist)

John Lilburne (circa 1614-1657, petty bourgeois democrat of the British bourgeois revolution, average leader)

Arnold Geulincx (1625-1669, the Dutch Descartes idealist philosopher, he and Malebranches are also called the causemen)

Spinoza (later renamed Benedictus) Spinoza, 1632-1677, Dutch materialist philosopher) - "Ethics", "Intellectual Improvement", "Theological Politics", "The Principles of Descartes"

Locke (John Locke, 1632-1704, British materialist philosopher) - "Human Understanding", "On the Government", "The Rationality of Christianity"

Nicolas Malebranche (1638-1715, French idealist philosopher) - "The Search for Truth", "Dialogue on Metaphysics"

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716, German natural scientist, mathematician, idealist philosopher) - "Theory of God", "New Theory of Human Reason", "Son Theory", "metaphysical conversation"

Pierre Bayle (1647-1706, French enlightenment thinker, materialist philosopher) - "The Letter about Comet", "General Critique of the History of Calvinism" by Manbull, "Dictionary of Historical Criticism"

 

Christian Wolff (1679-1754, German idealist philosopher)

George Berkeley (1685-1753, British idealist philosopher) - "New Theory of Vision", "Principles of Human Knowledge" Charles Louis de Secondat Montesquieu (1689-1755, French Enlightenment Thinker, Jurist ) - "Persian Letters", "The Causes of the Rise and Fall of Rome", "The Spirit of the Law", "On the Interests of Nature and Art"

Voltaire (1694-1778, French enlightenment thinker, writer, philosopher. Formerly known as François Marie Arouet) - "Oedipus the King", "Philosophy Communication ", Metaphysics", "Philosophy Dictionary"

David Hartley (1705-1757, British materialist philosopher, one of the founders of the psychological association, the deism) Gabriel Bonnot de Mably, 1709-1785, French imaginary communist, Kong Brother of Diak

Ramien Offroy de La Mettrie (1709-1751, French enlightenment thinker, materialist philosopher) - "Man is a machine", "The work of Penelope", "The soul Natural History, "Man is a plant"

Thomas Reid (1710-1796, British philosopher, founder of the Scottish school, the common sense school)

Lomonosov (Миxaил Вacильевич Ломoносοв1711-1765, Russian scholar, poet, founder of Russian materialistic philosophy and natural science)

Hume (David Hume, 1711-1776, British idealist philosopher, agnostic, historian, economist) - "The Theory of Human Nature", "Human Understanding", "Ethics and Politics"

Rousseau (Jean Jacques Rousseau, 1712-1778, French enlightenment thinker, philosopher, educator, writer) - "Confessions", "Fashionable Muse", "Village Wizard", "On the Origin of Human Inequality" And Foundation, "Social Contract Theory", "Ai Mier" ("On Education")

Denis Diderot (1713-1784, French enlightenment thinker, materialist philosopher, atheist, writer, editor-in-chief of Encyclopedia) - "Philosophy of Thought", "Stroll of Skeptics", "For The letter of the blind person, the book on the book of deaf and dumb, the interpretation of nature, the conversation of D'Alembert and Diderot, The Continuation of the Talk, The Deaf of Rama Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten (1714-1762, German philosopher, advocate of the Wolff philosophy system) Claude Adrien Helvétius (1715-1771, French enlightenment thinker, materialist philosopher) - "On the spirit "On the rationality and education of human beings", "The Tablet of Love Knowledge", "The Tablet of Happiness", "The Tablet of Rational Pride and Laziness"

Etienne Bonnot de Condillac (1715-1780, French enlightenment thinker, sensory theorist, Marbury's brother) - "Sensory Theory", "The Origin of Human Knowledge", "System Theory"

Jean Le Rond d' Alembert (1717-1783, a translator of Lambert, French mathematician, enlightenment thinker, philosopher, former deputy editor of the Encyclopedia)

Paul Heinrich Dietrich d' Holbach (1723-1789, French enlightenment thinker, materialist philosopher, atheist) - "Debunked Christianity", "Pocket Theology", "Sacred Plague", "Sound Thought, Natural System, Social System, Universal Ethics

Kanman (Immanuel Kant, 1724-1804, the founder of German classical idealism) - "Critique of Pure Reason", "Critique of Practical Reason", "Critique of Judgment", "Introduction to Future Metaphysics", "Principles of Moral Metaphysics", On Perpetual Peace and the Collection of Critical Criticism of History

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781, thinker, literary theorist, playwright of the German Enlightenment) Henry Dodwell (-1784, British deism)

Jean Baptiste René Robinet (1735-1820, French philosopher)

Jean Antoine Condorcet (1743-1794, French bourgeois revolutionary bourgeois theorist)

Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi (1743-1819, German idealist philosopher)

Johann Gottfried von Herder (1744-1803, German literary theorist, philosopher, arrogant movement (the theory of the German bourgeois literary movement in the 1970s and 1980s))

Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832, British ethicist, jurist, main representative of bourgeois utilitarianism) Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832, German poet, playwright, thinker)

William Godwin (1756-1836, British writer, social thinker, pastor, and later supported atheism and enlightenment)

Pierre Jean Georges Cabanis (1757-1808, French bourgeois revolutionary bourgeois theorist, physiologist, vulgar materialist)

 

Claude Henri de Saint-Simon, 1760-1825, French utopian socialist

Filippo Michele Buonarrotti (1761-1837, French imaginary communist. Originally from Italy, participated in the French Revolution of 1789, won the title of "Citizen of the French Republic")

Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762-1814, German classical idealist philosopher) - "The Foundation of All Knowledge", "The Foundation of Natural Law under the Principles of Knowledge", "The Moral System under the Principles of Knowledge", "On the Mission of Scholars" and "The Mission of Man" Hegel (Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, 1770-1831, the master of German classical idealism) - "Psychiatry Phenomenology", "Logic", "Little Logic" , Principles of Legal Philosophy, Philosophy of History, Philosophy of Nature, Philosophy of Spirit, Philosophy of Art, Lectures on History of Philosophy, Hegel Letters

Robert Owen (1771-1858, British Utopian Socialist)

Charles Fourier (1772-1837, French Utopian Socialist)

Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling (1775-1854, German idealist philosopher) - "Transcendental Idealism System", "On the World Soul"

Bernhard Bolzano (1781-1848, Czech mathematician, philosopher, logician)

Etienne Cabet (1788-1856, French Utopian Communist)

Schopenhauer (1788-1860, German idealist philosopher, voluntarist)

Victor Cousin (1792-1867, French idealist philosopher, professing his philosophical system as eclecticism)

Heinrich Heine (1797-1856, German poet, political commentator, thinker)

Auguste Comte (1798-1857, French positivist philosopher)

Théodore Dézamy (1803-1850, French Utopian Communist)

Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach (1804-1872, German materialist philosopher) - "The selection of Feuerbach's philosophical works", "The Essence of Christianity", "Critique of Hegel's Philosophy", "Principles of Future Philosophy" Herzen (1812-1870): "Nature Research Newsletter", "Scientific Tastes", "To Old Friends"

Louis Auguste Blanqui (1805-1881, French Revolutionary, Utopian Communist)

Max Stirner (1806-1856, Kaspar Schmidt's pseudonym, German idealist philosopher, one of the young Hegelian representatives, the so-called theorists, the anarchist's forerunner By)

John Stuart Mill (1806-1873, British idealist philosopher, economist, logician, son of James Muller)

Pierre Joseph Proudhon (1809-1865, French petty bourgeois economist and sociologist, one of the founders of anarchism)

Powell (Bruno Bauer, 1809-1882, German idealist philosopher, the main representative of the young Hegelian)

Belinsky (Виссарион Григорьевич Белинский,1811-1848, Russian revolutionary democrat, literary critic, philosopher) - "Selection of Bilinsky's Philosophical Works"

Jean Josehp Charles Louis Blanc (1811-1882, French petty bourgeois socialist, historian)

Herzen (Александр Иванович Герцен, 1812-1870, Russian revolutionary democrat, materialist philosopher, writer)

Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855, Danish idealist philosopher, his thought became one of the theoretical basis of modern bourgeois philosophical genre existentialism)

Rudolf Hermann Lotze (1817-1881, German idealist philosopher, professing his philosophy as "the teleological idealism")

Grünn (1817-1887, German petty bourgeois socialist)

Karl Vogt (1817-1895, German naturalist, vulgar materialist, professing his philosophy as "physiology

 

Marx (1818.5.5-1883.3.14, - "Capital", "Economic Manuscript", "The Outline of Feuerbach", "German Ideology"

Spencer (Herbert Spencer, 1820-1903, British sociologist, agnostic, idealist philosopher)

Jacob Moleschott (1822-1893, a Dutch physiologist, philosopher, one of the representatives of vulgar materialism) Ludwig Büchner (1824-1899, German doctor, one of vulgar materialist representatives)

Ferdinand Lassalle (1825-1864, leader of the opportunistic faction in the German workers' movement)

Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895, British naturalist) - "Beautiful New World"

Friedrich überweg (1826-1871, German philosopher) - "Introduction to the History of Philosophy"

Friedrich Albert Lange (1828-1875, German idealist philosopher, early neo-Kantian) Joseph Dietzgen (1828-1888, German socialist writer and philosopher, tanner) Chernyshevsky (Николай Гаврилович Чернышевский,

1828-1889, Russian revolutionary democrats, materialist philosophers, literary critics, writers) - "The Aesthetic Relationship between Art and Reality", "An Overview of the Gothic Period in the Russian Literature Circle", "Philosophy Humanism Principles" 》

Hippolyte Adolphe Taine (1828-1893, a translation of Dana, French literary theorist, historian, one of the heirs of Conde's empirical philosophy)

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920, German psychologist, philosopher, one of the founders of structural psychology)

Wilhelm Dilthey (1833-1911, a German idealist philosopher who originally belonged to neo-Kantianism and later turned to philosophy of life)

Karl Eugen Dühring (1833-1921, German philosopher, vulgar economist)

Harris Torrey Harris (1835-1909, American educator, idealist philosopher, the earliest communicator of Hegelian philosophy in the United States)

Green Hill (Thomas Hill Green, 1836-1882, British idealist philosopher)

Wilhelm Schuppe (1836-1913, German idealist philosopher, founder of internalism)

Ernst Mach (1838-1916, Austrian physicist, idealist philosopher, one of the founders of empirical criticism) Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914, American idealist philosopher, founder of pragmatism)

James (William James, 1842-1910, American idealist philosopher, psychologist, pragmatist, founder of functional psychology)

Eduart Hartmann (1842-1906, German idealist philosopher)

Richard Avenarius (1843-1896, German subjective idealist philosopher, one of the founders of empirical criticism)

Nietzsche (Friedrich Nietzsche, 1844-1900, German idealist philosopher, voluntarist)

Merlin (Franz Mehring, 1846-1919, one of the left-wing leaders of the German Social Democratic Party, political commentator, historian)

Francis Herbert Bradley (1846-1924, British idealist philosopher, new Hegelian) R (Rudolf Eucken, 1846-1926, German idealist philosopher)

Richard Schubert-Soldern (1852-1935, German idealist philosopher, representative of internalism

Karl Pearson (1857-1936, British idealist philosopher, mathematician, one of the advocates of eugenics) Samuel Alexander (1859-1938, British idealist philosopher, new realist)

Edmund Husserl (1859-1938, German idealist philosopher, founder of modern phenomenology)

Henri Bergson (1859-1941, French idealist philosopher, life philosophy and the main representative of modern irrationalism)

John Dewey (1859-1952, American idealist philosopher, sociologist, educator, pragmatist) Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947, British idealist philosopher, mathematician)

Josef Petzoldt (1862-1929, German idealist philosopher, empirical critic)Heinrich Rickert (1863-1936, German idealist philosopher, one of the main representatives of the New Kant's Freiburg School)

Ferdinand Canning Scott Schiller (1864-1937, British philosopher, pragmatist, called his pragmatic philosophy "humanism")

Benedetto Croce (1866-1952, a translation of Croce, Italian idealist philosopher, historian, new Hegelian)

Hans Driesch (1867-1941, German idealist philosopher, biologist, new vitalist)

 

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970, British idealist philosopher, mathematician, logician)

Bogdanov (Александр Александрович Богданов, 1873-1928, Russian idealist philosopher)

George Edward Moore (1873-1958, British idealist philosopher, one of the main representatives of the new realism)

Giovanni Gentile (1875-1944, Italian idealist philosopher, new Hegelian)

Oswald Spengler (1880-1936, German idealist philosopher, historian)

Deborin (Абрам Моиесевич Деборин, 1881-1963, Soviet philosopher,

Moritz Schlick (1882-1936, idealist philosopher, born in Germany, taught at the University of Vienna, Austria, one of the founders of the Vienna School, one of the founders of logical positivism)

Jalques Maritain (1882-1973, French theologian, idealist philosopher, main representative of new Thomasism) Karl Jaspers (1883-1969, German existentialist philosopher)

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951, Austrian idealist philosopher, logician. After Hitler annexed Austria in 1838, he entered British nationality and taught at Cambridge University)

Martin Heidegger (1889-1976, a German existentialist philosopher who served as university president and professor during Hitler's reign, and supported Nazism)

Jean Paul Sartre (1905-1980, French existentialist philosopher.) - "Imagination", "Existence and Nihility", "Existentialism is a Humanism", "Critique of Dialectical Reason", Several Issues in Methodology

Beauvoir Simone de (1908-1986, French existentialist scholar, writer)

Merleau Ponty (1908-1961, French existentialist philosopher)

Of course, philosophy and religion, politics, literature, etc. are also closely related. If you want to know the avenue, you must know the history. Repeated reading of the history of philosophy, world history, benefited a lot, and imagination came together.

  

Eastern philosophy Arabic philosophy Indian philosophy

  

In the history of the world, the East and the Arab countries also have important status and influence. Countries such as India, China, and Arabia are particularly important.

The great wise man of life

(The legend is about 600 years ago - about 470 years ago), surnamed Li Ming Er, the word Bo Yang, Han nationality, Chu State Bian County, is a great ancient Chinese philosopher, thinker, Taoist school founder, and in the Valley It was written in the ethics of the Five Thousand Words.

 

Confucius

Confucius (September 28th, 551th to April 11th, 479th) Mingqiu, the word Zhongni, Lu Guoyu, Han nationality at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period. English: Confucius, Kung Tze. Confucius was a great educator and thinker in ancient China, the founder of the Confucian school, and a world cultural celebrity. Confucius's thoughts and doctrines have had a profound impact on later generations.

  

Zhuangzi (about 369 years ago - 286 years ago), Han nationality. A famous thinker, philosopher, and writer is the representative of the Taoist school, the successor and developer of Laozi's philosophy, and the founder of the pre-Qin Zhuangzi school. His doctrine covers all aspects of social life at that time, but the fundamental spirit is still dependent on Laozi's philosophy. Later generations will call him and Laozi "Laozhuang", and their philosophy is "Lao Zhuang philosophy."

 

Mencius, the pioneer of the people-oriented thinking

Mencius (from 372 to 289) Han nationality, Zoucheng, Shandong. The great thinker of ancient China. One of the representative figures of Confucianism during the Warring States Period. He is the author of "Meng Zi", a collection of essays. "The Book of Mencius" is a compilation of Mencius's remarks, written by Mencius and his disciples, and records the Confucian classics of Mencius' words and deeds.

 

Xunzi (Xunzi 313 years ago - 238 years ago), the name of the famous thinker, writer, politician, representative of the Confucian school, - Han Fei, Li Si is his disciple.

  

Dong Zhongshu (before 179~104), Dong Zi, Han Dynasty thinker, politician. Great contribution to the orthodox status of Confucianism. It is a thinker of the Western Han Dynasty who is advancing with the times. He is a famous idealist philosopher in the Western Han Dynasty and a master of modern Chinese studies. When Emperor Jingdi was a Ph.D., he taught "The Ram Spring and Autumn." In the first year of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (134 BC), Dong Zhongshu put forward the basic points of his philosophical system in the famous "Measures for Raising the Virtue," and suggested that "the slogan of 100 schools and the unique Confucianism" should be adopted by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Later generations have different opinions on this.

 

Master of Science

Zhu Xi was a master of Song's agency studies. He inherited the science of Cheng Song and Cheng Wei of the Northern Song Dynasty and completed the system of objective idealism. It is said that reason is the essence of the world, "reasonable first, gas is behind", and puts forward "preserving the heavens, destroying human desires." Zhu Xi has a profound knowledge of the study of Confucian classics, history, literature, music, and even the natural sciences.

 

The development of Indian philosophy can be roughly divided into ancient philosophy (about 3000 BC ~ 750 AD), medieval philosophy (750 to 18th century AD), modern philosophy (about 18th century to 1947), modern philosophy (after 1947) ) Four periods.

 

Ancient

India has emerged as the bud of the worldview in the era of the Rigveda in the end of the original commune. After entering the slavery society, it began to form a systematic philosophy. The earliest philosophical book "The Upanishads."

 

middle Ages

In the Middle Ages, religion dominated, and the philosophy of the ruling class was included in the Hindu theology system. India traditionally recognized the Vatican’s authoritative figures, the Yoga School, the Victory School, the Orthodox School, and the Vedanta School. The Six-sect philosophy, such as the Miman sentiment, is called the orthodox school, and the Shunshi, Buddhism, Jainism, etc., which deny the authority of the Vedic, are called unorthodox.

  

Islam Arabia

 

The main differences between the Moor Taiqilai and the Hadith in philosophy are: the nature of Allah and the relationship between Allah and the world. MooreThe Taiqilai faction denies that Allah has all kinds of unfounded virtues such as knowledge, energy, sight, hearing, speech, life, etc., because these are considered to be the beginning of virtue and the personalization of Allah, and the true The uniqueness is incompatible; the Hadith is recognized as the virtue of Allah. Secondly, the debate about "freedom of will" and "pre-determination", that is, the relationship between man and Allah, the Hadith believes that the good and evil of man is the premise of Allah, and the act of man is created by Allah. The Moor Taiqilai faction believes that people have unlimited freedom of will, and that human behavior is created by themselves. Allah is rewarded and punished according to his good and evil, thus proving that Allah is fair.

 

After the 10th century, the Sunni philosophical system, the "New Kailam", the doctrine of Islam, was formed. The founder, Ashley, and his disciples reconciled the doctrines of “pre-determination” and “freedom of will”, emphasizing the all-powerfulness of Allah, and there is no causal connection between all things in the world, created by Allah. They try to show that all actions of human beings are determined by Allah, but people have the ability to "reach" their own actions, so people are responsible for their actions before Allah. The faction was supported by the ruling class and was regarded as an orthodox official creed.

Philosophy-theologians and their schools In the 9th and 12th centuries, there were numerous famous philosophers in the vast areas under the caliphate state, and there were also groups and factions of philosophers. These philosophers and factions, called "Hokma" by the Arabs, formed the main body of Arab medieval philosophy at that time, divided into two things, centered on Baghdad and Córdoba. Many of these philosophers are engaged in secular affairs (doctors, natural scientists, etc.), attaching importance to empirical knowledge and emphasizing theoretical understanding. Although they still have not got rid of the control of orthodox theology, they have largely accepted the influence of Greek-Roman philosophy, especially Aristotle and Neo-Platonicism and Eastern traditional ideas.

The philosopher Lacy and the sincere brothers. They attempted to reconcile Greek natural philosophy (including mathematics, astronomy, astrology, music, alchemy, medicine, etc.) and Islamic teachings to create a religious philosophy. Lacy's medical theory begins with the recognition of the close connection between the body and the soul, asserting that matter is eternal, that movement is an inseparable property of objects, and that feelings cause people to have an understanding of the object. The sincere Brothers Society was originally a politically-religious group of religious and philosophical groups in the Basra area in the 10th century. They collectively compiled an encyclopedic collection of essays. Their cosmology is Islam Shiite, New Pythago The combination of lasism and neo-Platonicism.

Philosophers Kendi, Farabi, and Ibn Sina, influenced by Greek Aristotle and Neo-Platonicism. Kendy is known as an Arab philosopher. He systematically studied Greek philosophy and tried to combine it with Islamic teachings, arguing that matter is a form of “flowing out” from the spirit of Allah, and that the soul can leave the body and be independent. Faraby is recognized as the "first philosopher" after Aristotle. His philosophical system is a mixture of Plato, Aristotle and Sufism, propagating the immortal "ration of Allah" . I think that the world is made up of many elements, and people can know the world through feelings. Ibn Sinah proposed the "dual truth theory" of religion and science. He is arrogant between materialism and idealism. He believes that the material world is eternal. They are not created by Allah, but they also think that the spirit overflows from Allah. The spirit gives form to the material and then forms everything. It is also claimed that the soul and the body are different and are a special ability that goes beyond the physical properties of ordinary things. On the issue of commonality, it is believed that the common phase exists before things, as the idea of ​​creation, exists in things; as the essence of things, after things, is the form of existence of concepts.

Sufism and orthodox theology - philosopher Ansari. The Sufism faction appeared at the end of the 7th century and has undergone significant development since the end of the 8th century. Influenced by Neo-Platonicism and the Indian Yoga School, they promoted the "oneness of man and God" and "the connection between man and God" and advocated the doctrine of abstinence, perseverance, self-restraint, and was suppressed by the orthodox Islam. The orthodox school of the famous theology-philosopher Ansari, who was the master of

The Dakshinkali Temple is located 22 kilometers from Kathmandu next to the village of Pharping. It's one of the main temples in Nepal. Twice every week thousands of people come here to worship the goddess Kali by sacrificing life animals, particularly cockerels and uncastrated male goats.

 

GODDESS KALI

Kālī (/ˈkɑːli/; Sanskrit: काली & Bengali: কালী; IPA: [kɑːliː]), also known as Kālikā (Sanskrit: कालिका), is the Hindu goddess associated with empowerment, or shakti. She is the fierce aspect of the goddess Durga. The name of Kali means black one and force of time; she is therefore called the Goddess of Time, Change, Power, Creation, Preservation, and Destruction. Her earliest appearance is that of a destroyer principally of evil forces. Various Shakta Hindu cosmologies, as well as Shākta Tantric beliefs, worship her as the ultimate reality or Brahman; and recent devotional movements re-imagine Kāli as a benevolent mother goddess. She is often portrayed standing or dancing on her husband, the god Shiva, who lies calm and prostrate beneath her. Worshipped throughout India but particularly South India, Bengal, and Assam, Kali is both geographically and culturally marginal.

 

ETYMOLOGY

Kālī is the feminine form of kālam ("black, dark coloured"). Kāla primarily means "time", but also means "black"; hence, Kālī means "the black one" or "beyond time". Kāli is strongly associated with Shiva, and Shaivas derive the masculine Kāla (an epithet of Shiva) from her feminine name. A nineteenth-century Sanskrit dictionary, the Shabdakalpadrum, states: कालः शिवः। तस्य पत्नीति - काली। kālaḥ śivaḥ। tasya patnīti kālī - "Shiva is Kāla, thus, his consort is Kāli".

 

Other names include Kālarātri ("black night"), as described above, and Kālikā ("relating to time"), and Kallie ("black alchemist"). Coburn notes that the name Kālī can be used as a proper name, or as a description of color.

 

Kāli's association with darkness stands in contrast to her consort, Shiva, whose body is covered by the white ashes of the cremation ground (Sanskrit: śmaśāna) where he meditates, and with which Kāli is also associated, as śmaśāna-kālī.

 

ORIGINS

Hugh Urban notes that although the word Kālī appears as early as the Atharva Veda, the first use of it as a proper name is in the Kathaka Grhya Sutra (19.7). Kali is the name of one of the seven tongues of Agni, the [Rigvedic] God of Fire, in the Mundaka Upanishad (2:4), but it is unlikely that this refers to the goddess. The first appearance of Kāli in her present form is in the Sauptika Parvan of the Mahabharata (10.8.64). She is called Kālarātri (literally, "black night") and appears to the Pandava soldiers in dreams, until finally she appears amidst the fighting during an attack by Drona's son Ashwatthama. She most famously appears in the sixth century Devi Mahatmyam as one of the shaktis of Mahadevi, and defeats the demon Raktabija ("Bloodseed"). The tenth-century Kalika Purana venerates Kāli as the ultimate reality.

 

According to David Kinsley, Kāli is first mentioned in Hinduism as a distinct goddess around 600 CE, and these texts "usually place her on the periphery of Hindu society or on the battlefield." She is often regarded as the Shakti of Shiva, and is closely associated with him in various Puranas. The Kalika Purana depicts her as the "Adi Shakti" (Fundamental Power) and "Para Prakriti" or beyond nature.

 

WORSHIP AND MANTRA

Kali could be considered a general concept, like Durga, and is mostly worshiped in the Kali Kula sect of worship. The closest way of direct worship is Maha Kali or Bhadra Kali (Bhadra in Sanskrit means 'gentle'). Kali is worshiped as one of the 10 Mahavidya forms of Adi Parashakti (Goddess Durga) or Bhagavathy according to the region. The mantra for worship is

 

Sanskrit: सर्वमङ्गलमाङ्गल्ये शिवे सर्वार्थसाधिके । शरण्ये त्र्यम्बके गौरि नारायणि नमोऽस्तु ते ॥

 

ॐ जयंती मंगल काली भद्रकाली कपालिनी । दुर्गा शिवा क्षमा धात्री स्वाहा स्वधा नमोऽस्तु‍ते ॥

 

(Sarvamaṅgalamāṅgalyē śivē sarvārthasādhikē . śaraṇyē tryambakē gauri nārāyaṇi namō'stu tē.

 

Oṃ jayantī mangala kālī bhadrakālī kapālinī . durgā śivā ksamā dhātrī svāhā svadhā namō'stu‍tē.)

 

YANTRA

Goddesses play an important role in the study and practice of Tantra Yoga, and are affirmed to be as central to discerning the nature of reality as are the male deities. Although Parvati is often said to be the recipient and student of Shiva's wisdom in the form of Tantras, it is Kali who seems to dominate much of the Tantric iconography, texts, and rituals. In many sources Kāli is praised as the highest reality or greatest of all deities. The Nirvana-tantra says the gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva all arise from her like bubbles in the sea, ceaselessly arising and passing away, leaving their original source unchanged. The Niruttara-tantra and the Picchila-tantra declare all of Kāli's mantras to be the greatest and the Yogini-tantra, Kamakhya-tantra and the Niruttara-tantra all proclaim Kāli vidyas (manifestations of Mahadevi, or "divinity itself"). They declare her to be an essence of her own form (svarupa) of the Mahadevi.In the Mahanirvana-tantra, Kāli is one of the epithets for the primordial sakti, and in one passage Shiva praises her:At the dissolution of things, it is Kāla [Time]. Who will devour all, and by reason of this He is called Mahākāla [an epithet of Lord Shiva], and since Thou devourest Mahākāla Himself, it is Thou who art the Supreme Primordial Kālika. Because Thou devourest Kāla, Thou art Kāli, the original form of all things, and because Thou art the Origin of and devourest all things Thou art called the Adya [the Primordial One]. Re-assuming after Dissolution Thine own form, dark and formless, Thou alone remainest as One ineffable and inconceivable. Though having a form, yet art Thou formless; though Thyself without beginning, multiform by the power of Maya, Thou art the Beginning of all, Creatrix, Protectress, and Destructress that Thou art. The figure of Kāli conveys death, destruction, and the consuming aspects of reality. As such, she is also a "forbidden thing", or even death itself. In the Pancatattva ritual, the sadhaka boldly seeks to confront Kali, and thereby assimilates and transforms her into a vehicle of salvation. This is clear in the work of the Karpuradi-stotra, a short praise of Kāli describing the Pancatattva ritual unto her, performed on cremation grounds. (Samahana-sadhana)He, O Mahākāli who in the cremation-ground, naked, and with dishevelled hair, intently meditates upon Thee and recites Thy mantra, and with each recitation makes offering to Thee of a thousand Akanda flowers with seed, becomes without any effort a Lord of the earth. Oh Kāli, whoever on Tuesday at midnight, having uttered Thy mantra, makes offering even but once with devotion to Thee of a hair of his Shakti [his energy/female companion] in the cremation-ground, becomes a great poet, a Lord of the earth, and ever goes mounted upon an elephant.The Karpuradi-stotra clearly indicates that Kāli is more than a terrible, vicious, slayer of demons who serves Durga or Shiva. Here, she is identified as the supreme mistress of the universe, associated with the five elements. In union with Lord Shiva, she creates and destroys worlds. Her appearance also takes a different turn, befitting her role as ruler of the world and object of meditation. In contrast to her terrible aspects, she takes on hints of a more benign dimension. She is described as young and beautiful, has a gentle smile, and makes gestures with her two right hands to dispel any fear and offer boons. The more positive features exposed offer the distillation of divine wrath into a goddess of salvation, who rids the sadhaka of fear. Here, Kali appears as a symbol of triumph over death.

 

BENGALI TRADITION

Kali is also a central figure in late medieval Bengali devotional literature, with such devotees as Ramprasad Sen (1718–75). With the exception of being associated with Parvati as Shiva's consort, Kāli is rarely pictured in Hindu legends and iconography as a motherly figure until Bengali devotions beginning in the early eighteenth century. Even in Bengāli tradition her appearance and habits change little, if at all.

 

The Tantric approach to Kāli is to display courage by confronting her on cremation grounds in the dead of night, despite her terrible appearance. In contrast, the Bengali devotee appropriates Kāli's teachings adopting the attitude of a child, coming to love her unreservedly. In both cases, the goal of the devotee is to become reconciled with death and to learn acceptance of the way that things are. These themes are well addressed in Rāmprasād's work. Rāmprasād comments in many of his other songs that Kāli is indifferent to his wellbeing, causes him to suffer, brings his worldly desires to nothing and his worldly goods to ruin. He also states that she does not behave like a mother should and that she ignores his pleas:

 

Can mercy be found in the heart of her who was born of the stone? [a reference to Kali as the daughter of Himalaya]

Were she not merciless, would she kick the breast of her lord?

Men call you merciful, but there is no trace of mercy in you, Mother.

You have cut off the heads of the children of others, and these you wear as a garland around your neck.

It matters not how much I call you "Mother, Mother." You hear me, but you will not listen.

 

To be a child of Kāli, Rāmprasād asserts, is to be denied of earthly delights and pleasures. Kāli is said to refrain from giving that which is expected. To the devotee, it is perhaps her very refusal to do so that enables her devotees to reflect on dimensions of themselves and of reality that go beyond the material world.

 

A significant portion of Bengali devotional music features Kāli as its central theme and is known as Shyama Sangeet ("Music of the Night"). Mostly sung by male vocalists, today even women have taken to this form of music. One of the finest singers of Shyāma Sāngeet is Pannalal Bhattacharya.

 

In Bengal, Kāli is venerated in the festival Kali Puja, the new moon day of Ashwin month which coincides with Diwali festival.

 

In a unique form of Kāli worship, Shantipur worships Kāli in the form of a hand painted image of the deity known as Poteshwari (meaning the deity drawn on a piece of cloth).

 

LEGENDS

SLAYER AND RAKTABIJA

In Kāli's most famous legend, Devi Durga (Adi Parashakti) and her assistants, the Matrikas, wound the demon Raktabija, in various ways and with a variety of weapons in an attempt to destroy him. They soon find that they have worsened the situation for with every drop of blood that is dripped from Raktabija he reproduces a clone of himself. The battlefield becomes increasingly filled with his duplicates. Durga, in need of help, summons Kāli to combat the demons. It is said, in some versions, that Goddess Durga actually assumes the form of Goddess Kāli at this time. The Devi Mahatmyam describes:

 

Out of the surface of her (Durga's) forehead, fierce with frown, issued suddenly Kali of terrible countenance, armed with a sword and noose. Bearing the strange khatvanga (skull-topped staff ), decorated with a garland of skulls, clad in a tiger's skin, very appalling owing to her emaciated flesh, with gaping mouth, fearful with her tongue lolling out, having deep reddish eyes, filling the regions of the sky with her roars, falling upon impetuously and slaughtering the great asuras in that army, she devoured those hordes of the foes of the devas.

 

Kali consumes Raktabija and his duplicates, and dances on the corpses of the slain. In the Devi Mahatmya version of this story, Kali is also described as a Matrika and as a Shakti or power of Devi. She is given the epithet Cāṃuṇḍā (Chamunda), i.e. the slayer of the demons Chanda and Munda. Chamunda is very often identified with Kali and is very much like her in appearance and habit.

  

DAKSHINA KALI

In her most famous pose as Daksinakali, popular legends say that Kali, drunk on the blood of her victims, is about to destroy the whole universe when, urged by all the gods, Shiva lies in her way to stop her, and she steps upon his chest. Recognizing Shiva beneath her feet, she calms herself. Though not included in any of the puranas, popular legends state that Kali was ashamed at the prospect of keeping her husband beneath her feet and thus stuck her tongue out in shame. The Devi-Bhagavata Purana, which goes into great depths about the goddess Kali, reveals the tongue's actual symbolism.

 

The characteristic icons that depict Kali are the following; unbridled matted hair, open blood shot eyes, open mouth and a drooping tongue; in her hands, she holds a Khadga (bent sword or scimitar) and a human head; she has a girdle of human hands across her waist, and Shiva lies beneath her feet. The drooping out-stuck tongue represents her blood-thirst. Lord Shiva beneath her feet represents matter, as Kali energy. The depiction of Kali on Shiva shows that without energy, matter lies "dead". This concept has been simplified to a folk-tale depicting a wife placing her foot

 

on her husband and sticking her tongue out in shame. In tantric contexts, the tongue is seen to denote the element (guna) of rajas (energy and action) controlled by sattva.

 

If Kali steps on Shiva with her right foot and holds the sword in her left hand, she is considered to be Dakshina Kali. The Dakshina Kali Temple has important religious associations with the Jagannath Temple and it is believed that Daksinakali is the guardian of the kitchen of the Lord Jagannath Temple. Puranic tradition says that in Puri, Lord Jagannath is regarded as Daksinakalika. Goddess Dakshinakali plays an important role in the 'Niti' of Saptapuri Amavasya.

 

One South Indian tradition tells of a dance contest between Shiva and Kali. After defeating the two demons Sumbha and Nisumbha, Kali takes up residence in the forest of Thiruvalankadu or Thiruvalangadu. She terrorizes the surrounding area with her fierce, disruptive nature. One of Shiva's devotees becomes distracted while performing austerities, and asks Shiva to rid the forest of the destructive goddess. When Shiva arrives, Kali threatens him, and Shiva challenges Kali to a dance contest, wherein Kali matches Shiva until Shiva takes the "Urdhvatandava" step, vertically raising his right leg. Kali refuses to perform this step, which would not befit her as a woman, and becomes pacified.

 

SMASHAN KALI

If the Kali steps out with the left foot and holds the sword in her right hand, she is the terrible form of Mother, the Smashan Kali of the cremation ground. She is worshiped by tantrics, the followers of Tantra, who believe that one's spiritual discipline practiced in a smashan (cremation ground) brings success quickly. Sarda Devi, the consort of Ramakrishna Paramhansa, worshipped Smashan Kali at Dakshineshwar.

 

MATERNAL KALI

At the time of samundra manthan when amrit came out, along with that came out poison which was going to destroy the world hence on the request of all the gods, Lord Shiva drank it to save the world but as he is beyond death he didn't die but was very much in pain due to the poison effect hence he became a child so that Kali can feed him with her milk which will sooth out the poison effect.

 

MAHAKALI

Mahakali (Sanskrit: Mahākālī, Devanagari: महाकाली), literally translated as Great Kali, is sometimes considered as a greater form of Kali, identified with the Ultimate reality of Brahman. It can also be used as an honorific of the Goddess Kali, signifying her greatness by the prefix "Mahā-". Mahakali, in Sanskrit, is etymologically the feminized variant of Mahakala or Great Time (which is interpreted also as Death), an epithet of the God Shiva in Hinduism. Mahakali is the presiding Goddess of the first episode of the Devi Mahatmya. Here she is depicted as Devi in her universal form as Shakti. Here Devi serves as the agent who allows the cosmic order to be restored.

 

Kali is depicted in the Mahakali form as having ten heads, ten arms, and ten legs. Each of her ten hands is carrying a various implement which vary in different accounts, but each of these represent the power of one of the Devas or Hindu Gods and are often the identifying weapon or ritual item of a given Deva. The implication is that Mahakali subsumes and is responsible for the powers that these deities possess and this is in line with the interpretation that Mahakali is identical with Brahman. While not displaying ten heads, an "ekamukhi" or one headed image may be displayed with ten arms, signifying the same concept: the powers of the various Gods come only through Her grace.

 

ICONOGRAPHY

Kali is portrayed mostly in two forms: the popular four-armed form and the ten-armed Mahakali form. In both of her forms, she is described as being black in color but is most often depicted as blue in popular Indian art. Her eyes are described as red with intoxication, and in absolute rage, her hair is shown disheveled, small fangs sometimes protrude out of her mouth, and her tongue is lolling. She is often shown naked or just wearing a skirt made of human arms and a garland of human heads. She is also accompanied by serpents and a jackal while standing on a seemingly dead Shiva, usually right foot forward to symbolize the more popular Dakshinamarga or right-handed path, as opposed to the more infamous and transgressive Vamamarga or left-handed path.

 

In the ten-armed form of Mahakali she is depicted as shining like a blue stone. She has ten faces, ten feet, and three eyes for each head. She has ornaments decked on all her limbs. There is no association with Shiva.

 

The Kalika Purana describes Kali as possessing a soothing dark complexion, as perfectly beautiful, riding a lion, four-armed, holding a sword and blue lotuses, her hair unrestrained, body firm and youthful.

 

In spite of her seemingly terrible form, Kali Ma is often considered the kindest and most loving of all the Hindu goddesses, as she is regarded by her devotees as the Mother of the whole Universe. And because of her terrible form, she is also often seen as a great protector. When the Bengali saint Ramakrishna once asked a devotee why one would prefer to worship Mother over him, this devotee rhetorically replied, "Maharaj", when they are in trouble your devotees come running to you. But, where do you run when you are in trouble?"

 

According to Ramakrishna, darkness is the Ultimate Mother, or Kali:

 

My Mother is the principle of consciousness. She is Akhanda Satchidananda;

indivisible Reality, Awareness, and Bliss. The night sky between the stars is perfectly black.

The waters of the ocean depths are the same; The infinite is always mysteriously dark.

This inebriating darkness is my beloved Kali.

—Sri Ramakrishna

This is clear in the works of such contemporary artists as Charles Wish, and Tyeb Mehta, who sometimes take great liberties with the traditional, accepted symbolism, but still demonstrate a true reverence for the Shakta sect.

 

POPULAR FORM

Classic depictions of Kali share several features, as follows:

 

Kali's most common four armed iconographic image shows each hand carrying variously a sword, a trishul (trident), a severed head, and a bowl or skull-cup (kapala) catching the blood of the severed head.

 

Two of these hands (usually the left) are holding a sword and a severed head. The Sword signifies Divine Knowledge and the Human Head signifies human Ego which must be slain by Divine Knowledge in order to attain Moksha. The other two hands (usually the right) are in the abhaya (fearlessness) and varada (blessing) mudras, which means her initiated devotees (or anyone worshipping her with a true heart) will be saved as she will guide them here and in the hereafter.

 

She has a garland consisting of human heads, variously enumerated at 108 (an auspicious number in Hinduism and the number of countable beads on a Japa Mala or rosary for repetition of Mantras) or 51, which represents Varnamala or the Garland of letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, Devanagari. Hindus believe Sanskrit is a language of dynamism, and each of these letters represents a form of energy, or a form of Kali. Therefore, she is generally seen as the mother of language, and all mantras.

 

She is often depicted naked which symbolizes her being beyond the covering of Maya since she is pure (nirguna) being-consciousness-bliss and far above prakriti. She is shown as very dark as she is brahman in its supreme unmanifest state. She has no permanent qualities - she will continue to exist even when the universe ends. It is therefore believed that the concepts of color, light, good, bad do not apply to her - she is the pure, un-manifested energy, the Adi-shakti.

 

Kali as the Symbol of Creation , Freedom , Preservation and Destruction

 

The head that hangs in Kali's hand is a symbol of Ego and the scimitar which she is holding represents power and energy.It is believed that Kali is protecting the human race by that scimitar and also destroying the negativity and ego within human being. The body lying under Kali symbolizes ruination, is actually a form of Shiva. Kali steps her leg on the chest of the body and suppress ruination . Since she is standing on the pure white chest of Lord Shiva who, as pure primal awareness, lays in a passive reclining position, peacefully lies with his eyes half open in a state of bliss. Her hair is long, black and flowing freely depicting Her freedom from convention and the confines of conceptualization. The white teeth which Kali has stands for conscience and her red tongue represents greed. By pressing her white teeth on her tongue Kali refers to control greed.The goddess may appear terrible from outside but every symbol in Kali signifies truth of life. Since the earth was created out of darkness, the dark black color of Kali symbolizes the color from which everything was born. Her right hand side arms she shows the Abhaya mudra(gesture of fearlessness) and Vara mudra (gesture of welcome and charity) respectively . But on the other arm in left side she holds a bloody scimitar and a severed head depicting destruction and end of ego.

Kali as the Symbol of Mother Nature

 

The name Kali means Kala or force of time. When there were neither the creation, nor the sun, the moon, the planets, and the earth, there was only darkness and everything was created from the darkness. The Dark appearance of kali represents the darkness from which everything was born. Her complexion is deep blue, like the sky and ocean water as blue. As she is also the goddess of Preservation Kali is worshiped as mother to preserve the nature.Kali is standing calm on Shiva, her appearance represents the preservation of mother nature. Her free, long and black hair represents nature's freedom from civilization. Under the third eye of kali, the signs of both sun, moon and fire are visible which represent the driving forces of nature.

 

SHIVA IN KALI ICONOGRAPHY

In both these images she is shown standing on the prone, inert or dead body of Shiva. There is a legend for the reason behind her standing on what appears to be Shiva's corpse, which translates as follows:

 

Once Kali had destroyed all the demons in battle, she began a terrific dance out of the sheer joy of victory. All the worlds or lokas began to tremble and sway under the impact of her dance. So, at the request of all the Gods, Shiva himself asked her to desist from this behavior. However, she was too intoxicated to listen. Hence, Shiva lay like a corpse among the slain demons in order to absorb the shock of the dance into himself. When Kali eventually stepped upon Shiva, she realized she was trampling and hurting her husband and bit her tongue in shame.

 

The story described here is a popular folk tale and not described or hinted in any of the puranas. The puranic interpretation is as follows:

 

Once, Parvati asks Shiva to chose the one form among her 10 forms which he likes most. To her surprise, Shiva reveals that he is most comfortable with her Kali form, in which she is bereft of her jewellery, her human-form, her clothes, her emotions and where she is only raw, chaotic energy, where she is as terrible as time itself and even greater than time. As Parvati takes the form of Kali, Shiva lies at her feet and requests her to place her foot on his chest, upon his heart. Once in this form, Shiva requests her to have this place, below her feet in her iconic image which would be worshiped throughout.

 

This idea has been explored in the Devi-Bhagavata Purana [28] and is most popular in the Shyama Sangeet, devotional songs to Kali from the 12th to 15th centuries.

 

The Tantric interpretation of Kali standing on top of her husband is as follows:

 

The Shiv tattava (Divine Consciousness as Shiva) is inactive, while the Shakti tattava (Divine Energy as Kali) is active. Shiva and Kali represent Brahman, the Absolute pure consciousness which is beyond all names, forms and activities. Kali, on the other hand, represents the potential (and manifested) energy responsible for all names, forms and activities. She is his Shakti, or creative power, and is seen as the substance behind the entire content of all consciousness. She can never exist apart from Shiva or act independently of him, just as Shiva remains a mere corpse without Kali i.e., Shakti, all the matter/energy of the universe, is not distinct from Shiva, or Brahman, but is rather the dynamic power of Brahman. Hence, Kali is Para Brahman in the feminine and dynamic aspect while Shiva is the male aspect and static. She stands as the absolute basis for all life, energy and beneath her feet lies, Shiva, a metaphor for mass, which cannot retain its form without energy.

 

While this is an advanced concept in monistic Shaktism, it also agrees with the Nondual Trika philosophy of Kashmir, popularly known as Kashmir Shaivism and associated most famously with Abhinavagupta. There is a colloquial saying that "Shiva without Shakti is Shava" which means that without the power of action (Shakti) that is Mahakali (represented as the short "i" in Devanagari) Shiva (or consciousness itself) is inactive; Shava means corpse in Sanskrit and the play on words is that all Sanskrit consonants are assumed to be followed by a short letter "a" unless otherwise noted. The short letter "i" represents the female power or Shakti that activates Creation. This is often the explanation for why She is standing on Shiva, who is either Her husband and complement in Shaktism or the Supreme Godhead in Shaivism.

 

To properly understand this complex Tantric symbolism it is important to remember that the meaning behind Shiva and Kali does not stray from the non-dualistic parlance of Shankara or the Upanisads. According to both the Mahanirvana and Kularnava Tantras, there are two distinct ways of perceiving the same absolute reality. The first is a transcendental plane which is often described as static, yet infinite. It is here that there is no matter, there is no universe and only consciousness exists. This form of reality is known as Shiva, the absolute Sat-Chit-Ananda - existence, knowledge and bliss. The second is an active plane, an immanent plane, the plane of matter, of Maya, i.e., where the illusion of space-time and the appearance of an actual universe does exist. This form of reality is known as Kali or Shakti, and (in its entirety) is still specified as the same Absolute Sat-Chit-Ananda. It is here in this second plane that the universe (as we commonly know it) is experienced and is described by the Tantric seer as the play of Shakti, or God as Mother Kali.

 

From a Tantric perspective, when one meditates on reality at rest, as absolute pure consciousness (without the activities of creation, preservation or dissolution) one refers to this as Shiva or Brahman. When one meditates on reality as dynamic and creative, as the Absolute content of pure consciousness (with all the activities of creation, preservation or dissolution) one refers to it as Kali or Shakti. However, in either case the yogini or yogi is interested in one and the same reality - the only difference being in name and fluctuating aspects of appearance. It is this which is generally accepted as the meaning of Kali standing on the chest of Shiva.

 

Although there is often controversy surrounding the images of divine copulation, the general consensus is benign and free from any carnal impurities in its substance. In Tantra the human body is a symbol for the microcosm of the universe; therefore sexual process is responsible for the creation of the world. Although theoretically Shiva and Kali (or Shakti) are inseparable, like fire and its power to burn, in the case of creation they are often seen as having separate roles. With Shiva as male and Kali as female it is only by their union that creation may transpire. This reminds us of the prakrti and purusa doctrine of Samkhya wherein prakāśa- vimarśa has no practical value, just as without prakrti, purusa is quite inactive. This (once again) stresses the interdependencies of Shiva and Shakti and the vitality of their union.

 

Gopi Krishna proposed that Kali standing on the dead Shiva or Shava (Sanskrit for dead body) symbolised the helplessness of a person undergoing the changing process (psychologically and physiologically) in the body conducted by the Kundalini Shakti.

 

DEVELOPMENT

In the later traditions, Kali has become inextricably linked with Shiva. The unleashed form of Kali often becomes wild and uncontrollable, and only Shiva is able to tame her just as only Kali can tame Shiva. This is both because she is often a transformed version of one of his consorts and because he is able to match her wildness.

 

The ancient text of Kali Kautuvam describes her competition with Shiva in dance, from which the sacred 108 Karanas appeared. Shiva won the competition by acting the urdva tandava, one of the Karanas, by raising his feet to his head. Other texts describe Shiva appearing as a crying infant and appealing to her maternal instincts. While Shiva is said to be able to tame her, the iconography often presents her dancing on his fallen body, and there are accounts of the two of them dancing together, and driving each other to such wildness that the world comes close to unravelling.

 

Shiva's involvement with Tantra and Kali's dark nature have led to her becoming an important Tantric figure. To the Tantric worshippers, it was essential to face her Curse, the terror of death, as willingly as they accepted Blessings from her beautiful, nurturing, maternal aspect. For them, wisdom meant learning that no coin has only one side: as death cannot exist without life, so life cannot exist without death. Kali's role sometimes grew beyond that of a chaos - which could be confronted - to that of one who could bring wisdom, and she is given great metaphysical significance by some Tantric texts. The Nirvāna-tantra clearly presents her uncontrolled nature as the Ultimate Reality, claiming that the trimurti of Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra arise and disappear from her like bubbles from the sea. Although this is an extreme case, the Yogini-tantra, Kamakhya-tantra and the Niruttara-tantra declare her the svarupa (own-being) of the Mahadevi (the great Goddess, who is in this case seen as the combination of all devis).The final stage of development is the worshipping of Kali as the Great Mother, devoid of her usual violence. This practice is a break from the more traditional depictions. The pioneers of this tradition are the 18th century Shakta poets such as Ramprasad Sen, who show an awareness of Kali's ambivalent nature. Ramakrishna, the 19th century Bengali saint, was also a great devotee of Kali; the western popularity of whom may have contributed to the more modern, equivocal interpretations of this Goddess. Rachel McDermott's work, however, suggests that for the common, modern worshipper, Kali is not seen as fearful, and only those educated in old traditions see her as having a wrathful component. Some credit to the development of Devi must also be given to Samkhya. Commonly referred to as the Devi of delusion, Mahamaya or Durga, acting in the confines of (but not being bound by) the nature of the three gunas, takes three forms: Maha-Kali, Maha-Lakshmi and Maha-Saraswati, being her tamas-ika, rajas-ika and sattva-ika forms. In this sense, Kali is simply part of a larger whole.

 

Like Sir John Woodroffe and Georg Feuerstein, many Tantric scholars (as well as sincere practitioners) agree that, no matter how propitious or appalling you describe them, Shiva and Devi are simply recognizable symbols for everyday, abstract (yet tangible) concepts such as perception, knowledge, space-time, causation and the process of liberating oneself from the confines of such things. Shiva, symbolizing pure, absolute consciousness, and Devi, symbolizing the entire content of that consciousness, are ultimately one and the same - totality incarnate, a micro-macro-cosmic amalgamation of all subjects, all objects and all phenomenal relations between the "two." Like man and woman who both share many common, human traits yet at the same time they are still different and, therefore, may also be seen as complementary.

 

Worshippers prescribe various benign and horrific qualities to Devi simply out of practicality. They do this so they may have a variety of symbols to choose from, symbols which they can identify and relate with from the perspective of their own, ever-changing time, place and personal level of unfolding. Just like modern chemists or physicists use a variety of molecular and atomic models to describe what is unperceivable through rudimentary, sensory input, the scientists of ontology and epistemology must do the same. One of the underlying distinctions of Tantra, in comparison to other religions, is that it allows the devotee the liberty to choose from a vast array of complementary symbols and rhetoric which suit one's evolving needs and tastes. From an aesthetic standpoint, nothing is interdict and nothing is orthodox. In this sense, the projection of some of Devi's more gentle qualities onto Kali is not sacrilege and the development of Kali really lies in the practitioner, not the murthi.

 

A TIME magazine article of October 27, 1947, used Kali as a symbol and metaphor for the human suffering in British India during its partition that year. In 1971, Ms. Magazine used an image of Kali, her multiple arms juggling modern tasks, as a symbol of modern womanhood on its inaugural issue.

 

Swami Vivekananda wrote his favorite poem Kali the Mother in 1898.

 

KALI IN NEOPAGAN AND NEW AGE PRACTICE

An academic study of Western Kali enthusiasts noted that, "as shown in the histories of all cross-cultural religious transplants, Kali devotionalism in the West must take on its own indigenous forms if it is to adapt to its new environment."[60] The adoption of Kali by the West has raised accusations of cultural appropriation:

 

A variety of writers and thinkers have found Kali an exciting figure for reflection and exploration, notably feminists and participants in New Age spirituality who are attracted to goddess worship. [For them], Kali is a symbol of wholeness and healing, associated especially with repressed female power and sexuality. [However, such interpretations often exhibit] confusion and misrepresentation, stemming from a lack of knowledge of Hindu history among these authors, [who only rarely] draw upon materials written by scholars of the Hindu religious tradition. The majority instead rely chiefly on other popular feminist sources, almost none of which base their interpretations on a close reading of Kali's Indian background. The most important issue arising from this discussion - even more important than the question of 'correct' interpretation - concerns the adoption of other people's religious symbols. It is hard to import the worship of a goddess from another culture: religious associations and connotations have to be learned, imagined or intuited when the deep symbolic meanings embedded in the native culture are not available.

 

INCARNATIONS OF KALI

Draupadi, Wife of Pandavas, was an avatar of Kali, who born to assist Lord Krishna to destroy arrogant kings of India. There is a temple dedicated to this incarnation at Banni Mata Temple at Himachal Pradesh. The vedic deity Nirriti or the Puranic deity Alakshmi is often considered as incarnations of Kali.

 

WIKIPEDIA

This is the mouth of a bronze gun cast in the elaborate form of a dragon. It was "captured" by the British at the palace of King Thebaw in Mandalay, Burma in 1885. A triumph of design over practicality which is still all too common today.

The World Solar Challenge (WSC), or the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge since 2013, tied to the sponsorship of Bridgestone Corporation is the world's most well-known solar-powered car race event. A biennial road race covering 3,022 km (1,878 mi) through the Australian Outback, from Darwin, Northern Territory, to Adelaide, South Australia, created to foster the development of experimental, solar-powered vehicles.

The race attracts teams from around the world, most of which are fielded by universities or corporations, although some are fielded by high schools. The race has a 32-year history spanning fourteen races, with the inaugural event taking place in 1987. Initially held once every three years, the event became biennial from the turn of the century.

Since 2001 the World Solar Challenge was won seven times out of nine efforts by the Nuna team and cars of the Delft University of Technology from the Netherlands, with only the Tokai Challenger, built by the Tokai University of Japan able to take the crown in 2009 and 2011.

Starting in 2007, the WSC has been raced in multiple classes. After the German team of Bochum University of Applied Sciences competed with a four-wheeled, multi-seat car, the BoCruiser (in 2009), in 2013 a radically new "Cruiser Class" was introduced, racing and stimulating the technological development of practically usable, and ideally road-legal, multi-seater solar vehicles. Since its inception, Solar Team Eindhoven's four- and five-seat Stella solar cars from Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherlands) won the Cruiser Class in all three races so far.

Remarkable technological progress has been achieved since the GM led, highly experimental, single-seat Sunraycer prototype first won the WSC with an average speed of 66.9 km/h (41.6 mph). Once competing cars became steadily more capable to match or exceed legal maximum speeds on the Australian highway, the race rules were consistently made more demanding and challenging — for instance after Honda's Dream car first won the race with an average speed exceeding 55 mph (88.5 km/h) in 1996. In 2005 the Dutch Nuna team were the first to beat an average speed of 100 km/h (62 mph).

The 2017 Cruiser class winner, the five-seat Stella Vie vehicle, was able to carry an average of 3.4 occupants at an average speed of 69 km/h (43 mph). Like its two predecessors, the 2017 Stella Vie vehicle was successfully road registered by the Dutch team, further emphasizing the great progress in real world compliance and practicality that has been achieved.

The World Solar Challenge held its 30th anniversary event on October 8–15, 2017.

The 2019 World Solar Challenge will take place from 13 to 20 October. 53 teams from 24 countries have entered the competition. The same 3 classes, Challenger (30 teams), Cruiser (23 teams) and Adventure will be featured.

 

The last day in Barcelona was spent mostly on practicalities like checking out, returning the car and getting to the airport. We had time for a quick strol through the old town though.

This is my final upload from the summers vacation. Hopefully I will now get more time to view all your beautiful streams...

Shophouse zoning plays a vital decision in investing.Regardless of whether you are a fan of the older, or modern, shophouses, there’s no denying that the practicality of them both from a business and residential standpoint make them a good buy opportunity as an investor.

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The Dakshinkali Temple is located 22 kilometers from Kathmandu next to the village of Pharping. It's one of the main temples in Nepal. Twice every week thousands of people come here to worship the goddess Kali by sacrificing life animals, particularly cockerels and uncastrated male goats.

 

GODDESS KALI

Kālī (/ˈkɑːli/; Sanskrit: काली & Bengali: কালী; IPA: [kɑːliː]), also known as Kālikā (Sanskrit: कालिका), is the Hindu goddess associated with empowerment, or shakti. She is the fierce aspect of the goddess Durga. The name of Kali means black one and force of time; she is therefore called the Goddess of Time, Change, Power, Creation, Preservation, and Destruction. Her earliest appearance is that of a destroyer principally of evil forces. Various Shakta Hindu cosmologies, as well as Shākta Tantric beliefs, worship her as the ultimate reality or Brahman; and recent devotional movements re-imagine Kāli as a benevolent mother goddess. She is often portrayed standing or dancing on her husband, the god Shiva, who lies calm and prostrate beneath her. Worshipped throughout India but particularly South India, Bengal, and Assam, Kali is both geographically and culturally marginal.

 

ETYMOLOGY

Kālī is the feminine form of kālam ("black, dark coloured"). Kāla primarily means "time", but also means "black"; hence, Kālī means "the black one" or "beyond time". Kāli is strongly associated with Shiva, and Shaivas derive the masculine Kāla (an epithet of Shiva) from her feminine name. A nineteenth-century Sanskrit dictionary, the Shabdakalpadrum, states: कालः शिवः। तस्य पत्नीति - काली। kālaḥ śivaḥ। tasya patnīti kālī - "Shiva is Kāla, thus, his consort is Kāli".

 

Other names include Kālarātri ("black night"), as described above, and Kālikā ("relating to time"), and Kallie ("black alchemist"). Coburn notes that the name Kālī can be used as a proper name, or as a description of color.

 

Kāli's association with darkness stands in contrast to her consort, Shiva, whose body is covered by the white ashes of the cremation ground (Sanskrit: śmaśāna) where he meditates, and with which Kāli is also associated, as śmaśāna-kālī.

 

ORIGINS

Hugh Urban notes that although the word Kālī appears as early as the Atharva Veda, the first use of it as a proper name is in the Kathaka Grhya Sutra (19.7). Kali is the name of one of the seven tongues of Agni, the [Rigvedic] God of Fire, in the Mundaka Upanishad (2:4), but it is unlikely that this refers to the goddess. The first appearance of Kāli in her present form is in the Sauptika Parvan of the Mahabharata (10.8.64). She is called Kālarātri (literally, "black night") and appears to the Pandava soldiers in dreams, until finally she appears amidst the fighting during an attack by Drona's son Ashwatthama. She most famously appears in the sixth century Devi Mahatmyam as one of the shaktis of Mahadevi, and defeats the demon Raktabija ("Bloodseed"). The tenth-century Kalika Purana venerates Kāli as the ultimate reality.

 

According to David Kinsley, Kāli is first mentioned in Hinduism as a distinct goddess around 600 CE, and these texts "usually place her on the periphery of Hindu society or on the battlefield." She is often regarded as the Shakti of Shiva, and is closely associated with him in various Puranas. The Kalika Purana depicts her as the "Adi Shakti" (Fundamental Power) and "Para Prakriti" or beyond nature.

 

WORSHIP AND MANTRA

Kali could be considered a general concept, like Durga, and is mostly worshiped in the Kali Kula sect of worship. The closest way of direct worship is Maha Kali or Bhadra Kali (Bhadra in Sanskrit means 'gentle'). Kali is worshiped as one of the 10 Mahavidya forms of Adi Parashakti (Goddess Durga) or Bhagavathy according to the region. The mantra for worship is

 

Sanskrit: सर्वमङ्गलमाङ्गल्ये शिवे सर्वार्थसाधिके । शरण्ये त्र्यम्बके गौरि नारायणि नमोऽस्तु ते ॥

 

ॐ जयंती मंगल काली भद्रकाली कपालिनी । दुर्गा शिवा क्षमा धात्री स्वाहा स्वधा नमोऽस्तु‍ते ॥

 

(Sarvamaṅgalamāṅgalyē śivē sarvārthasādhikē . śaraṇyē tryambakē gauri nārāyaṇi namō'stu tē.

 

Oṃ jayantī mangala kālī bhadrakālī kapālinī . durgā śivā ksamā dhātrī svāhā svadhā namō'stu‍tē.)

 

YANTRA

Goddesses play an important role in the study and practice of Tantra Yoga, and are affirmed to be as central to discerning the nature of reality as are the male deities. Although Parvati is often said to be the recipient and student of Shiva's wisdom in the form of Tantras, it is Kali who seems to dominate much of the Tantric iconography, texts, and rituals. In many sources Kāli is praised as the highest reality or greatest of all deities. The Nirvana-tantra says the gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva all arise from her like bubbles in the sea, ceaselessly arising and passing away, leaving their original source unchanged. The Niruttara-tantra and the Picchila-tantra declare all of Kāli's mantras to be the greatest and the Yogini-tantra, Kamakhya-tantra and the Niruttara-tantra all proclaim Kāli vidyas (manifestations of Mahadevi, or "divinity itself"). They declare her to be an essence of her own form (svarupa) of the Mahadevi.In the Mahanirvana-tantra, Kāli is one of the epithets for the primordial sakti, and in one passage Shiva praises her:At the dissolution of things, it is Kāla [Time]. Who will devour all, and by reason of this He is called Mahākāla [an epithet of Lord Shiva], and since Thou devourest Mahākāla Himself, it is Thou who art the Supreme Primordial Kālika. Because Thou devourest Kāla, Thou art Kāli, the original form of all things, and because Thou art the Origin of and devourest all things Thou art called the Adya [the Primordial One]. Re-assuming after Dissolution Thine own form, dark and formless, Thou alone remainest as One ineffable and inconceivable. Though having a form, yet art Thou formless; though Thyself without beginning, multiform by the power of Maya, Thou art the Beginning of all, Creatrix, Protectress, and Destructress that Thou art. The figure of Kāli conveys death, destruction, and the consuming aspects of reality. As such, she is also a "forbidden thing", or even death itself. In the Pancatattva ritual, the sadhaka boldly seeks to confront Kali, and thereby assimilates and transforms her into a vehicle of salvation. This is clear in the work of the Karpuradi-stotra, a short praise of Kāli describing the Pancatattva ritual unto her, performed on cremation grounds. (Samahana-sadhana)He, O Mahākāli who in the cremation-ground, naked, and with dishevelled hair, intently meditates upon Thee and recites Thy mantra, and with each recitation makes offering to Thee of a thousand Akanda flowers with seed, becomes without any effort a Lord of the earth. Oh Kāli, whoever on Tuesday at midnight, having uttered Thy mantra, makes offering even but once with devotion to Thee of a hair of his Shakti [his energy/female companion] in the cremation-ground, becomes a great poet, a Lord of the earth, and ever goes mounted upon an elephant.The Karpuradi-stotra clearly indicates that Kāli is more than a terrible, vicious, slayer of demons who serves Durga or Shiva. Here, she is identified as the supreme mistress of the universe, associated with the five elements. In union with Lord Shiva, she creates and destroys worlds. Her appearance also takes a different turn, befitting her role as ruler of the world and object of meditation. In contrast to her terrible aspects, she takes on hints of a more benign dimension. She is described as young and beautiful, has a gentle smile, and makes gestures with her two right hands to dispel any fear and offer boons. The more positive features exposed offer the distillation of divine wrath into a goddess of salvation, who rids the sadhaka of fear. Here, Kali appears as a symbol of triumph over death.

 

BENGALI TRADITION

Kali is also a central figure in late medieval Bengali devotional literature, with such devotees as Ramprasad Sen (1718–75). With the exception of being associated with Parvati as Shiva's consort, Kāli is rarely pictured in Hindu legends and iconography as a motherly figure until Bengali devotions beginning in the early eighteenth century. Even in Bengāli tradition her appearance and habits change little, if at all.

 

The Tantric approach to Kāli is to display courage by confronting her on cremation grounds in the dead of night, despite her terrible appearance. In contrast, the Bengali devotee appropriates Kāli's teachings adopting the attitude of a child, coming to love her unreservedly. In both cases, the goal of the devotee is to become reconciled with death and to learn acceptance of the way that things are. These themes are well addressed in Rāmprasād's work. Rāmprasād comments in many of his other songs that Kāli is indifferent to his wellbeing, causes him to suffer, brings his worldly desires to nothing and his worldly goods to ruin. He also states that she does not behave like a mother should and that she ignores his pleas:

 

Can mercy be found in the heart of her who was born of the stone? [a reference to Kali as the daughter of Himalaya]

Were she not merciless, would she kick the breast of her lord?

Men call you merciful, but there is no trace of mercy in you, Mother.

You have cut off the heads of the children of others, and these you wear as a garland around your neck.

It matters not how much I call you "Mother, Mother." You hear me, but you will not listen.

 

To be a child of Kāli, Rāmprasād asserts, is to be denied of earthly delights and pleasures. Kāli is said to refrain from giving that which is expected. To the devotee, it is perhaps her very refusal to do so that enables her devotees to reflect on dimensions of themselves and of reality that go beyond the material world.

 

A significant portion of Bengali devotional music features Kāli as its central theme and is known as Shyama Sangeet ("Music of the Night"). Mostly sung by male vocalists, today even women have taken to this form of music. One of the finest singers of Shyāma Sāngeet is Pannalal Bhattacharya.

 

In Bengal, Kāli is venerated in the festival Kali Puja, the new moon day of Ashwin month which coincides with Diwali festival.

 

In a unique form of Kāli worship, Shantipur worships Kāli in the form of a hand painted image of the deity known as Poteshwari (meaning the deity drawn on a piece of cloth).

 

LEGENDS

SLAYER AND RAKTABIJA

In Kāli's most famous legend, Devi Durga (Adi Parashakti) and her assistants, the Matrikas, wound the demon Raktabija, in various ways and with a variety of weapons in an attempt to destroy him. They soon find that they have worsened the situation for with every drop of blood that is dripped from Raktabija he reproduces a clone of himself. The battlefield becomes increasingly filled with his duplicates. Durga, in need of help, summons Kāli to combat the demons. It is said, in some versions, that Goddess Durga actually assumes the form of Goddess Kāli at this time. The Devi Mahatmyam describes:

 

Out of the surface of her (Durga's) forehead, fierce with frown, issued suddenly Kali of terrible countenance, armed with a sword and noose. Bearing the strange khatvanga (skull-topped staff ), decorated with a garland of skulls, clad in a tiger's skin, very appalling owing to her emaciated flesh, with gaping mouth, fearful with her tongue lolling out, having deep reddish eyes, filling the regions of the sky with her roars, falling upon impetuously and slaughtering the great asuras in that army, she devoured those hordes of the foes of the devas.

 

Kali consumes Raktabija and his duplicates, and dances on the corpses of the slain. In the Devi Mahatmya version of this story, Kali is also described as a Matrika and as a Shakti or power of Devi. She is given the epithet Cāṃuṇḍā (Chamunda), i.e. the slayer of the demons Chanda and Munda. Chamunda is very often identified with Kali and is very much like her in appearance and habit.

  

DAKSHINA KALI

In her most famous pose as Daksinakali, popular legends say that Kali, drunk on the blood of her victims, is about to destroy the whole universe when, urged by all the gods, Shiva lies in her way to stop her, and she steps upon his chest. Recognizing Shiva beneath her feet, she calms herself. Though not included in any of the puranas, popular legends state that Kali was ashamed at the prospect of keeping her husband beneath her feet and thus stuck her tongue out in shame. The Devi-Bhagavata Purana, which goes into great depths about the goddess Kali, reveals the tongue's actual symbolism.

 

The characteristic icons that depict Kali are the following; unbridled matted hair, open blood shot eyes, open mouth and a drooping tongue; in her hands, she holds a Khadga (bent sword or scimitar) and a human head; she has a girdle of human hands across her waist, and Shiva lies beneath her feet. The drooping out-stuck tongue represents her blood-thirst. Lord Shiva beneath her feet represents matter, as Kali energy. The depiction of Kali on Shiva shows that without energy, matter lies "dead". This concept has been simplified to a folk-tale depicting a wife placing her foot

 

on her husband and sticking her tongue out in shame. In tantric contexts, the tongue is seen to denote the element (guna) of rajas (energy and action) controlled by sattva.

 

If Kali steps on Shiva with her right foot and holds the sword in her left hand, she is considered to be Dakshina Kali. The Dakshina Kali Temple has important religious associations with the Jagannath Temple and it is believed that Daksinakali is the guardian of the kitchen of the Lord Jagannath Temple. Puranic tradition says that in Puri, Lord Jagannath is regarded as Daksinakalika. Goddess Dakshinakali plays an important role in the 'Niti' of Saptapuri Amavasya.

 

One South Indian tradition tells of a dance contest between Shiva and Kali. After defeating the two demons Sumbha and Nisumbha, Kali takes up residence in the forest of Thiruvalankadu or Thiruvalangadu. She terrorizes the surrounding area with her fierce, disruptive nature. One of Shiva's devotees becomes distracted while performing austerities, and asks Shiva to rid the forest of the destructive goddess. When Shiva arrives, Kali threatens him, and Shiva challenges Kali to a dance contest, wherein Kali matches Shiva until Shiva takes the "Urdhvatandava" step, vertically raising his right leg. Kali refuses to perform this step, which would not befit her as a woman, and becomes pacified.

 

SMASHAN KALI

If the Kali steps out with the left foot and holds the sword in her right hand, she is the terrible form of Mother, the Smashan Kali of the cremation ground. She is worshiped by tantrics, the followers of Tantra, who believe that one's spiritual discipline practiced in a smashan (cremation ground) brings success quickly. Sarda Devi, the consort of Ramakrishna Paramhansa, worshipped Smashan Kali at Dakshineshwar.

 

MATERNAL KALI

At the time of samundra manthan when amrit came out, along with that came out poison which was going to destroy the world hence on the request of all the gods, Lord Shiva drank it to save the world but as he is beyond death he didn't die but was very much in pain due to the poison effect hence he became a child so that Kali can feed him with her milk which will sooth out the poison effect.

 

MAHAKALI

Mahakali (Sanskrit: Mahākālī, Devanagari: महाकाली), literally translated as Great Kali, is sometimes considered as a greater form of Kali, identified with the Ultimate reality of Brahman. It can also be used as an honorific of the Goddess Kali, signifying her greatness by the prefix "Mahā-". Mahakali, in Sanskrit, is etymologically the feminized variant of Mahakala or Great Time (which is interpreted also as Death), an epithet of the God Shiva in Hinduism. Mahakali is the presiding Goddess of the first episode of the Devi Mahatmya. Here she is depicted as Devi in her universal form as Shakti. Here Devi serves as the agent who allows the cosmic order to be restored.

 

Kali is depicted in the Mahakali form as having ten heads, ten arms, and ten legs. Each of her ten hands is carrying a various implement which vary in different accounts, but each of these represent the power of one of the Devas or Hindu Gods and are often the identifying weapon or ritual item of a given Deva. The implication is that Mahakali subsumes and is responsible for the powers that these deities possess and this is in line with the interpretation that Mahakali is identical with Brahman. While not displaying ten heads, an "ekamukhi" or one headed image may be displayed with ten arms, signifying the same concept: the powers of the various Gods come only through Her grace.

 

ICONOGRAPHY

Kali is portrayed mostly in two forms: the popular four-armed form and the ten-armed Mahakali form. In both of her forms, she is described as being black in color but is most often depicted as blue in popular Indian art. Her eyes are described as red with intoxication, and in absolute rage, her hair is shown disheveled, small fangs sometimes protrude out of her mouth, and her tongue is lolling. She is often shown naked or just wearing a skirt made of human arms and a garland of human heads. She is also accompanied by serpents and a jackal while standing on a seemingly dead Shiva, usually right foot forward to symbolize the more popular Dakshinamarga or right-handed path, as opposed to the more infamous and transgressive Vamamarga or left-handed path.

 

In the ten-armed form of Mahakali she is depicted as shining like a blue stone. She has ten faces, ten feet, and three eyes for each head. She has ornaments decked on all her limbs. There is no association with Shiva.

 

The Kalika Purana describes Kali as possessing a soothing dark complexion, as perfectly beautiful, riding a lion, four-armed, holding a sword and blue lotuses, her hair unrestrained, body firm and youthful.

 

In spite of her seemingly terrible form, Kali Ma is often considered the kindest and most loving of all the Hindu goddesses, as she is regarded by her devotees as the Mother of the whole Universe. And because of her terrible form, she is also often seen as a great protector. When the Bengali saint Ramakrishna once asked a devotee why one would prefer to worship Mother over him, this devotee rhetorically replied, "Maharaj", when they are in trouble your devotees come running to you. But, where do you run when you are in trouble?"

 

According to Ramakrishna, darkness is the Ultimate Mother, or Kali:

 

My Mother is the principle of consciousness. She is Akhanda Satchidananda;

indivisible Reality, Awareness, and Bliss. The night sky between the stars is perfectly black.

The waters of the ocean depths are the same; The infinite is always mysteriously dark.

This inebriating darkness is my beloved Kali.

—Sri Ramakrishna

This is clear in the works of such contemporary artists as Charles Wish, and Tyeb Mehta, who sometimes take great liberties with the traditional, accepted symbolism, but still demonstrate a true reverence for the Shakta sect.

 

POPULAR FORM

Classic depictions of Kali share several features, as follows:

 

Kali's most common four armed iconographic image shows each hand carrying variously a sword, a trishul (trident), a severed head, and a bowl or skull-cup (kapala) catching the blood of the severed head.

 

Two of these hands (usually the left) are holding a sword and a severed head. The Sword signifies Divine Knowledge and the Human Head signifies human Ego which must be slain by Divine Knowledge in order to attain Moksha. The other two hands (usually the right) are in the abhaya (fearlessness) and varada (blessing) mudras, which means her initiated devotees (or anyone worshipping her with a true heart) will be saved as she will guide them here and in the hereafter.

 

She has a garland consisting of human heads, variously enumerated at 108 (an auspicious number in Hinduism and the number of countable beads on a Japa Mala or rosary for repetition of Mantras) or 51, which represents Varnamala or the Garland of letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, Devanagari. Hindus believe Sanskrit is a language of dynamism, and each of these letters represents a form of energy, or a form of Kali. Therefore, she is generally seen as the mother of language, and all mantras.

 

She is often depicted naked which symbolizes her being beyond the covering of Maya since she is pure (nirguna) being-consciousness-bliss and far above prakriti. She is shown as very dark as she is brahman in its supreme unmanifest state. She has no permanent qualities - she will continue to exist even when the universe ends. It is therefore believed that the concepts of color, light, good, bad do not apply to her - she is the pure, un-manifested energy, the Adi-shakti.

 

Kali as the Symbol of Creation , Freedom , Preservation and Destruction

 

The head that hangs in Kali's hand is a symbol of Ego and the scimitar which she is holding represents power and energy.It is believed that Kali is protecting the human race by that scimitar and also destroying the negativity and ego within human being. The body lying under Kali symbolizes ruination, is actually a form of Shiva. Kali steps her leg on the chest of the body and suppress ruination . Since she is standing on the pure white chest of Lord Shiva who, as pure primal awareness, lays in a passive reclining position, peacefully lies with his eyes half open in a state of bliss. Her hair is long, black and flowing freely depicting Her freedom from convention and the confines of conceptualization. The white teeth which Kali has stands for conscience and her red tongue represents greed. By pressing her white teeth on her tongue Kali refers to control greed.The goddess may appear terrible from outside but every symbol in Kali signifies truth of life. Since the earth was created out of darkness, the dark black color of Kali symbolizes the color from which everything was born. Her right hand side arms she shows the Abhaya mudra(gesture of fearlessness) and Vara mudra (gesture of welcome and charity) respectively . But on the other arm in left side she holds a bloody scimitar and a severed head depicting destruction and end of ego.

Kali as the Symbol of Mother Nature

 

The name Kali means Kala or force of time. When there were neither the creation, nor the sun, the moon, the planets, and the earth, there was only darkness and everything was created from the darkness. The Dark appearance of kali represents the darkness from which everything was born. Her complexion is deep blue, like the sky and ocean water as blue. As she is also the goddess of Preservation Kali is worshiped as mother to preserve the nature.Kali is standing calm on Shiva, her appearance represents the preservation of mother nature. Her free, long and black hair represents nature's freedom from civilization. Under the third eye of kali, the signs of both sun, moon and fire are visible which represent the driving forces of nature.

 

SHIVA IN KALI ICONOGRAPHY

In both these images she is shown standing on the prone, inert or dead body of Shiva. There is a legend for the reason behind her standing on what appears to be Shiva's corpse, which translates as follows:

 

Once Kali had destroyed all the demons in battle, she began a terrific dance out of the sheer joy of victory. All the worlds or lokas began to tremble and sway under the impact of her dance. So, at the request of all the Gods, Shiva himself asked her to desist from this behavior. However, she was too intoxicated to listen. Hence, Shiva lay like a corpse among the slain demons in order to absorb the shock of the dance into himself. When Kali eventually stepped upon Shiva, she realized she was trampling and hurting her husband and bit her tongue in shame.

 

The story described here is a popular folk tale and not described or hinted in any of the puranas. The puranic interpretation is as follows:

 

Once, Parvati asks Shiva to chose the one form among her 10 forms which he likes most. To her surprise, Shiva reveals that he is most comfortable with her Kali form, in which she is bereft of her jewellery, her human-form, her clothes, her emotions and where she is only raw, chaotic energy, where she is as terrible as time itself and even greater than time. As Parvati takes the form of Kali, Shiva lies at her feet and requests her to place her foot on his chest, upon his heart. Once in this form, Shiva requests her to have this place, below her feet in her iconic image which would be worshiped throughout.

 

This idea has been explored in the Devi-Bhagavata Purana [28] and is most popular in the Shyama Sangeet, devotional songs to Kali from the 12th to 15th centuries.

 

The Tantric interpretation of Kali standing on top of her husband is as follows:

 

The Shiv tattava (Divine Consciousness as Shiva) is inactive, while the Shakti tattava (Divine Energy as Kali) is active. Shiva and Kali represent Brahman, the Absolute pure consciousness which is beyond all names, forms and activities. Kali, on the other hand, represents the potential (and manifested) energy responsible for all names, forms and activities. She is his Shakti, or creative power, and is seen as the substance behind the entire content of all consciousness. She can never exist apart from Shiva or act independently of him, just as Shiva remains a mere corpse without Kali i.e., Shakti, all the matter/energy of the universe, is not distinct from Shiva, or Brahman, but is rather the dynamic power of Brahman. Hence, Kali is Para Brahman in the feminine and dynamic aspect while Shiva is the male aspect and static. She stands as the absolute basis for all life, energy and beneath her feet lies, Shiva, a metaphor for mass, which cannot retain its form without energy.

 

While this is an advanced concept in monistic Shaktism, it also agrees with the Nondual Trika philosophy of Kashmir, popularly known as Kashmir Shaivism and associated most famously with Abhinavagupta. There is a colloquial saying that "Shiva without Shakti is Shava" which means that without the power of action (Shakti) that is Mahakali (represented as the short "i" in Devanagari) Shiva (or consciousness itself) is inactive; Shava means corpse in Sanskrit and the play on words is that all Sanskrit consonants are assumed to be followed by a short letter "a" unless otherwise noted. The short letter "i" represents the female power or Shakti that activates Creation. This is often the explanation for why She is standing on Shiva, who is either Her husband and complement in Shaktism or the Supreme Godhead in Shaivism.

 

To properly understand this complex Tantric symbolism it is important to remember that the meaning behind Shiva and Kali does not stray from the non-dualistic parlance of Shankara or the Upanisads. According to both the Mahanirvana and Kularnava Tantras, there are two distinct ways of perceiving the same absolute reality. The first is a transcendental plane which is often described as static, yet infinite. It is here that there is no matter, there is no universe and only consciousness exists. This form of reality is known as Shiva, the absolute Sat-Chit-Ananda - existence, knowledge and bliss. The second is an active plane, an immanent plane, the plane of matter, of Maya, i.e., where the illusion of space-time and the appearance of an actual universe does exist. This form of reality is known as Kali or Shakti, and (in its entirety) is still specified as the same Absolute Sat-Chit-Ananda. It is here in this second plane that the universe (as we commonly know it) is experienced and is described by the Tantric seer as the play of Shakti, or God as Mother Kali.

 

From a Tantric perspective, when one meditates on reality at rest, as absolute pure consciousness (without the activities of creation, preservation or dissolution) one refers to this as Shiva or Brahman. When one meditates on reality as dynamic and creative, as the Absolute content of pure consciousness (with all the activities of creation, preservation or dissolution) one refers to it as Kali or Shakti. However, in either case the yogini or yogi is interested in one and the same reality - the only difference being in name and fluctuating aspects of appearance. It is this which is generally accepted as the meaning of Kali standing on the chest of Shiva.

 

Although there is often controversy surrounding the images of divine copulation, the general consensus is benign and free from any carnal impurities in its substance. In Tantra the human body is a symbol for the microcosm of the universe; therefore sexual process is responsible for the creation of the world. Although theoretically Shiva and Kali (or Shakti) are inseparable, like fire and its power to burn, in the case of creation they are often seen as having separate roles. With Shiva as male and Kali as female it is only by their union that creation may transpire. This reminds us of the prakrti and purusa doctrine of Samkhya wherein prakāśa- vimarśa has no practical value, just as without prakrti, purusa is quite inactive. This (once again) stresses the interdependencies of Shiva and Shakti and the vitality of their union.

 

Gopi Krishna proposed that Kali standing on the dead Shiva or Shava (Sanskrit for dead body) symbolised the helplessness of a person undergoing the changing process (psychologically and physiologically) in the body conducted by the Kundalini Shakti.

 

DEVELOPMENT

In the later traditions, Kali has become inextricably linked with Shiva. The unleashed form of Kali often becomes wild and uncontrollable, and only Shiva is able to tame her just as only Kali can tame Shiva. This is both because she is often a transformed version of one of his consorts and because he is able to match her wildness.

 

The ancient text of Kali Kautuvam describes her competition with Shiva in dance, from which the sacred 108 Karanas appeared. Shiva won the competition by acting the urdva tandava, one of the Karanas, by raising his feet to his head. Other texts describe Shiva appearing as a crying infant and appealing to her maternal instincts. While Shiva is said to be able to tame her, the iconography often presents her dancing on his fallen body, and there are accounts of the two of them dancing together, and driving each other to such wildness that the world comes close to unravelling.

 

Shiva's involvement with Tantra and Kali's dark nature have led to her becoming an important Tantric figure. To the Tantric worshippers, it was essential to face her Curse, the terror of death, as willingly as they accepted Blessings from her beautiful, nurturing, maternal aspect. For them, wisdom meant learning that no coin has only one side: as death cannot exist without life, so life cannot exist without death. Kali's role sometimes grew beyond that of a chaos - which could be confronted - to that of one who could bring wisdom, and she is given great metaphysical significance by some Tantric texts. The Nirvāna-tantra clearly presents her uncontrolled nature as the Ultimate Reality, claiming that the trimurti of Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra arise and disappear from her like bubbles from the sea. Although this is an extreme case, the Yogini-tantra, Kamakhya-tantra and the Niruttara-tantra declare her the svarupa (own-being) of the Mahadevi (the great Goddess, who is in this case seen as the combination of all devis).The final stage of development is the worshipping of Kali as the Great Mother, devoid of her usual violence. This practice is a break from the more traditional depictions. The pioneers of this tradition are the 18th century Shakta poets such as Ramprasad Sen, who show an awareness of Kali's ambivalent nature. Ramakrishna, the 19th century Bengali saint, was also a great devotee of Kali; the western popularity of whom may have contributed to the more modern, equivocal interpretations of this Goddess. Rachel McDermott's work, however, suggests that for the common, modern worshipper, Kali is not seen as fearful, and only those educated in old traditions see her as having a wrathful component. Some credit to the development of Devi must also be given to Samkhya. Commonly referred to as the Devi of delusion, Mahamaya or Durga, acting in the confines of (but not being bound by) the nature of the three gunas, takes three forms: Maha-Kali, Maha-Lakshmi and Maha-Saraswati, being her tamas-ika, rajas-ika and sattva-ika forms. In this sense, Kali is simply part of a larger whole.

 

Like Sir John Woodroffe and Georg Feuerstein, many Tantric scholars (as well as sincere practitioners) agree that, no matter how propitious or appalling you describe them, Shiva and Devi are simply recognizable symbols for everyday, abstract (yet tangible) concepts such as perception, knowledge, space-time, causation and the process of liberating oneself from the confines of such things. Shiva, symbolizing pure, absolute consciousness, and Devi, symbolizing the entire content of that consciousness, are ultimately one and the same - totality incarnate, a micro-macro-cosmic amalgamation of all subjects, all objects and all phenomenal relations between the "two." Like man and woman who both share many common, human traits yet at the same time they are still different and, therefore, may also be seen as complementary.

 

Worshippers prescribe various benign and horrific qualities to Devi simply out of practicality. They do this so they may have a variety of symbols to choose from, symbols which they can identify and relate with from the perspective of their own, ever-changing time, place and personal level of unfolding. Just like modern chemists or physicists use a variety of molecular and atomic models to describe what is unperceivable through rudimentary, sensory input, the scientists of ontology and epistemology must do the same. One of the underlying distinctions of Tantra, in comparison to other religions, is that it allows the devotee the liberty to choose from a vast array of complementary symbols and rhetoric which suit one's evolving needs and tastes. From an aesthetic standpoint, nothing is interdict and nothing is orthodox. In this sense, the projection of some of Devi's more gentle qualities onto Kali is not sacrilege and the development of Kali really lies in the practitioner, not the murthi.

 

A TIME magazine article of October 27, 1947, used Kali as a symbol and metaphor for the human suffering in British India during its partition that year. In 1971, Ms. Magazine used an image of Kali, her multiple arms juggling modern tasks, as a symbol of modern womanhood on its inaugural issue.

 

Swami Vivekananda wrote his favorite poem Kali the Mother in 1898.

 

KALI IN NEOPAGAN AND NEW AGE PRACTICE

An academic study of Western Kali enthusiasts noted that, "as shown in the histories of all cross-cultural religious transplants, Kali devotionalism in the West must take on its own indigenous forms if it is to adapt to its new environment."[60] The adoption of Kali by the West has raised accusations of cultural appropriation:

 

A variety of writers and thinkers have found Kali an exciting figure for reflection and exploration, notably feminists and participants in New Age spirituality who are attracted to goddess worship. [For them], Kali is a symbol of wholeness and healing, associated especially with repressed female power and sexuality. [However, such interpretations often exhibit] confusion and misrepresentation, stemming from a lack of knowledge of Hindu history among these authors, [who only rarely] draw upon materials written by scholars of the Hindu religious tradition. The majority instead rely chiefly on other popular feminist sources, almost none of which base their interpretations on a close reading of Kali's Indian background. The most important issue arising from this discussion - even more important than the question of 'correct' interpretation - concerns the adoption of other people's religious symbols. It is hard to import the worship of a goddess from another culture: religious associations and connotations have to be learned, imagined or intuited when the deep symbolic meanings embedded in the native culture are not available.

 

INCARNATIONS OF KALI

Draupadi, Wife of Pandavas, was an avatar of Kali, who born to assist Lord Krishna to destroy arrogant kings of India. There is a temple dedicated to this incarnation at Banni Mata Temple at Himachal Pradesh. The vedic deity Nirriti or the Puranic deity Alakshmi is often considered as incarnations of Kali.

 

WIKIPEDIA

The Dakshinkali Temple is located 22 kilometers from Kathmandu next to the village of Pharping. It's one of the main temples in Nepal. Twice every week thousands of people come here to worship the goddess Kali by sacrificing life animals, particularly cockerels and uncastrated male goats.

 

GODDESS KALI

Kālī (/ˈkɑːli/; Sanskrit: काली & Bengali: কালী; IPA: [kɑːliː]), also known as Kālikā (Sanskrit: कालिका), is the Hindu goddess associated with empowerment, or shakti. She is the fierce aspect of the goddess Durga. The name of Kali means black one and force of time; she is therefore called the Goddess of Time, Change, Power, Creation, Preservation, and Destruction. Her earliest appearance is that of a destroyer principally of evil forces. Various Shakta Hindu cosmologies, as well as Shākta Tantric beliefs, worship her as the ultimate reality or Brahman; and recent devotional movements re-imagine Kāli as a benevolent mother goddess. She is often portrayed standing or dancing on her husband, the god Shiva, who lies calm and prostrate beneath her. Worshipped throughout India but particularly South India, Bengal, and Assam, Kali is both geographically and culturally marginal.

 

ETYMOLOGY

Kālī is the feminine form of kālam ("black, dark coloured"). Kāla primarily means "time", but also means "black"; hence, Kālī means "the black one" or "beyond time". Kāli is strongly associated with Shiva, and Shaivas derive the masculine Kāla (an epithet of Shiva) from her feminine name. A nineteenth-century Sanskrit dictionary, the Shabdakalpadrum, states: कालः शिवः। तस्य पत्नीति - काली। kālaḥ śivaḥ। tasya patnīti kālī - "Shiva is Kāla, thus, his consort is Kāli".

 

Other names include Kālarātri ("black night"), as described above, and Kālikā ("relating to time"), and Kallie ("black alchemist"). Coburn notes that the name Kālī can be used as a proper name, or as a description of color.

 

Kāli's association with darkness stands in contrast to her consort, Shiva, whose body is covered by the white ashes of the cremation ground (Sanskrit: śmaśāna) where he meditates, and with which Kāli is also associated, as śmaśāna-kālī.

 

ORIGINS

Hugh Urban notes that although the word Kālī appears as early as the Atharva Veda, the first use of it as a proper name is in the Kathaka Grhya Sutra (19.7). Kali is the name of one of the seven tongues of Agni, the [Rigvedic] God of Fire, in the Mundaka Upanishad (2:4), but it is unlikely that this refers to the goddess. The first appearance of Kāli in her present form is in the Sauptika Parvan of the Mahabharata (10.8.64). She is called Kālarātri (literally, "black night") and appears to the Pandava soldiers in dreams, until finally she appears amidst the fighting during an attack by Drona's son Ashwatthama. She most famously appears in the sixth century Devi Mahatmyam as one of the shaktis of Mahadevi, and defeats the demon Raktabija ("Bloodseed"). The tenth-century Kalika Purana venerates Kāli as the ultimate reality.

 

According to David Kinsley, Kāli is first mentioned in Hinduism as a distinct goddess around 600 CE, and these texts "usually place her on the periphery of Hindu society or on the battlefield." She is often regarded as the Shakti of Shiva, and is closely associated with him in various Puranas. The Kalika Purana depicts her as the "Adi Shakti" (Fundamental Power) and "Para Prakriti" or beyond nature.

 

WORSHIP AND MANTRA

Kali could be considered a general concept, like Durga, and is mostly worshiped in the Kali Kula sect of worship. The closest way of direct worship is Maha Kali or Bhadra Kali (Bhadra in Sanskrit means 'gentle'). Kali is worshiped as one of the 10 Mahavidya forms of Adi Parashakti (Goddess Durga) or Bhagavathy according to the region. The mantra for worship is

 

Sanskrit: सर्वमङ्गलमाङ्गल्ये शिवे सर्वार्थसाधिके । शरण्ये त्र्यम्बके गौरि नारायणि नमोऽस्तु ते ॥

 

ॐ जयंती मंगल काली भद्रकाली कपालिनी । दुर्गा शिवा क्षमा धात्री स्वाहा स्वधा नमोऽस्तु‍ते ॥

 

(Sarvamaṅgalamāṅgalyē śivē sarvārthasādhikē . śaraṇyē tryambakē gauri nārāyaṇi namō'stu tē.

 

Oṃ jayantī mangala kālī bhadrakālī kapālinī . durgā śivā ksamā dhātrī svāhā svadhā namō'stu‍tē.)

 

YANTRA

Goddesses play an important role in the study and practice of Tantra Yoga, and are affirmed to be as central to discerning the nature of reality as are the male deities. Although Parvati is often said to be the recipient and student of Shiva's wisdom in the form of Tantras, it is Kali who seems to dominate much of the Tantric iconography, texts, and rituals. In many sources Kāli is praised as the highest reality or greatest of all deities. The Nirvana-tantra says the gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva all arise from her like bubbles in the sea, ceaselessly arising and passing away, leaving their original source unchanged. The Niruttara-tantra and the Picchila-tantra declare all of Kāli's mantras to be the greatest and the Yogini-tantra, Kamakhya-tantra and the Niruttara-tantra all proclaim Kāli vidyas (manifestations of Mahadevi, or "divinity itself"). They declare her to be an essence of her own form (svarupa) of the Mahadevi.In the Mahanirvana-tantra, Kāli is one of the epithets for the primordial sakti, and in one passage Shiva praises her:At the dissolution of things, it is Kāla [Time]. Who will devour all, and by reason of this He is called Mahākāla [an epithet of Lord Shiva], and since Thou devourest Mahākāla Himself, it is Thou who art the Supreme Primordial Kālika. Because Thou devourest Kāla, Thou art Kāli, the original form of all things, and because Thou art the Origin of and devourest all things Thou art called the Adya [the Primordial One]. Re-assuming after Dissolution Thine own form, dark and formless, Thou alone remainest as One ineffable and inconceivable. Though having a form, yet art Thou formless; though Thyself without beginning, multiform by the power of Maya, Thou art the Beginning of all, Creatrix, Protectress, and Destructress that Thou art. The figure of Kāli conveys death, destruction, and the consuming aspects of reality. As such, she is also a "forbidden thing", or even death itself. In the Pancatattva ritual, the sadhaka boldly seeks to confront Kali, and thereby assimilates and transforms her into a vehicle of salvation. This is clear in the work of the Karpuradi-stotra, a short praise of Kāli describing the Pancatattva ritual unto her, performed on cremation grounds. (Samahana-sadhana)He, O Mahākāli who in the cremation-ground, naked, and with dishevelled hair, intently meditates upon Thee and recites Thy mantra, and with each recitation makes offering to Thee of a thousand Akanda flowers with seed, becomes without any effort a Lord of the earth. Oh Kāli, whoever on Tuesday at midnight, having uttered Thy mantra, makes offering even but once with devotion to Thee of a hair of his Shakti [his energy/female companion] in the cremation-ground, becomes a great poet, a Lord of the earth, and ever goes mounted upon an elephant.The Karpuradi-stotra clearly indicates that Kāli is more than a terrible, vicious, slayer of demons who serves Durga or Shiva. Here, she is identified as the supreme mistress of the universe, associated with the five elements. In union with Lord Shiva, she creates and destroys worlds. Her appearance also takes a different turn, befitting her role as ruler of the world and object of meditation. In contrast to her terrible aspects, she takes on hints of a more benign dimension. She is described as young and beautiful, has a gentle smile, and makes gestures with her two right hands to dispel any fear and offer boons. The more positive features exposed offer the distillation of divine wrath into a goddess of salvation, who rids the sadhaka of fear. Here, Kali appears as a symbol of triumph over death.

 

BENGALI TRADITION

Kali is also a central figure in late medieval Bengali devotional literature, with such devotees as Ramprasad Sen (1718–75). With the exception of being associated with Parvati as Shiva's consort, Kāli is rarely pictured in Hindu legends and iconography as a motherly figure until Bengali devotions beginning in the early eighteenth century. Even in Bengāli tradition her appearance and habits change little, if at all.

 

The Tantric approach to Kāli is to display courage by confronting her on cremation grounds in the dead of night, despite her terrible appearance. In contrast, the Bengali devotee appropriates Kāli's teachings adopting the attitude of a child, coming to love her unreservedly. In both cases, the goal of the devotee is to become reconciled with death and to learn acceptance of the way that things are. These themes are well addressed in Rāmprasād's work. Rāmprasād comments in many of his other songs that Kāli is indifferent to his wellbeing, causes him to suffer, brings his worldly desires to nothing and his worldly goods to ruin. He also states that she does not behave like a mother should and that she ignores his pleas:

 

Can mercy be found in the heart of her who was born of the stone? [a reference to Kali as the daughter of Himalaya]

Were she not merciless, would she kick the breast of her lord?

Men call you merciful, but there is no trace of mercy in you, Mother.

You have cut off the heads of the children of others, and these you wear as a garland around your neck.

It matters not how much I call you "Mother, Mother." You hear me, but you will not listen.

 

To be a child of Kāli, Rāmprasād asserts, is to be denied of earthly delights and pleasures. Kāli is said to refrain from giving that which is expected. To the devotee, it is perhaps her very refusal to do so that enables her devotees to reflect on dimensions of themselves and of reality that go beyond the material world.

 

A significant portion of Bengali devotional music features Kāli as its central theme and is known as Shyama Sangeet ("Music of the Night"). Mostly sung by male vocalists, today even women have taken to this form of music. One of the finest singers of Shyāma Sāngeet is Pannalal Bhattacharya.

 

In Bengal, Kāli is venerated in the festival Kali Puja, the new moon day of Ashwin month which coincides with Diwali festival.

 

In a unique form of Kāli worship, Shantipur worships Kāli in the form of a hand painted image of the deity known as Poteshwari (meaning the deity drawn on a piece of cloth).

 

LEGENDS

SLAYER AND RAKTABIJA

In Kāli's most famous legend, Devi Durga (Adi Parashakti) and her assistants, the Matrikas, wound the demon Raktabija, in various ways and with a variety of weapons in an attempt to destroy him. They soon find that they have worsened the situation for with every drop of blood that is dripped from Raktabija he reproduces a clone of himself. The battlefield becomes increasingly filled with his duplicates. Durga, in need of help, summons Kāli to combat the demons. It is said, in some versions, that Goddess Durga actually assumes the form of Goddess Kāli at this time. The Devi Mahatmyam describes:

 

Out of the surface of her (Durga's) forehead, fierce with frown, issued suddenly Kali of terrible countenance, armed with a sword and noose. Bearing the strange khatvanga (skull-topped staff ), decorated with a garland of skulls, clad in a tiger's skin, very appalling owing to her emaciated flesh, with gaping mouth, fearful with her tongue lolling out, having deep reddish eyes, filling the regions of the sky with her roars, falling upon impetuously and slaughtering the great asuras in that army, she devoured those hordes of the foes of the devas.

 

Kali consumes Raktabija and his duplicates, and dances on the corpses of the slain. In the Devi Mahatmya version of this story, Kali is also described as a Matrika and as a Shakti or power of Devi. She is given the epithet Cāṃuṇḍā (Chamunda), i.e. the slayer of the demons Chanda and Munda. Chamunda is very often identified with Kali and is very much like her in appearance and habit.

  

DAKSHINA KALI

In her most famous pose as Daksinakali, popular legends say that Kali, drunk on the blood of her victims, is about to destroy the whole universe when, urged by all the gods, Shiva lies in her way to stop her, and she steps upon his chest. Recognizing Shiva beneath her feet, she calms herself. Though not included in any of the puranas, popular legends state that Kali was ashamed at the prospect of keeping her husband beneath her feet and thus stuck her tongue out in shame. The Devi-Bhagavata Purana, which goes into great depths about the goddess Kali, reveals the tongue's actual symbolism.

 

The characteristic icons that depict Kali are the following; unbridled matted hair, open blood shot eyes, open mouth and a drooping tongue; in her hands, she holds a Khadga (bent sword or scimitar) and a human head; she has a girdle of human hands across her waist, and Shiva lies beneath her feet. The drooping out-stuck tongue represents her blood-thirst. Lord Shiva beneath her feet represents matter, as Kali energy. The depiction of Kali on Shiva shows that without energy, matter lies "dead". This concept has been simplified to a folk-tale depicting a wife placing her foot

 

on her husband and sticking her tongue out in shame. In tantric contexts, the tongue is seen to denote the element (guna) of rajas (energy and action) controlled by sattva.

 

If Kali steps on Shiva with her right foot and holds the sword in her left hand, she is considered to be Dakshina Kali. The Dakshina Kali Temple has important religious associations with the Jagannath Temple and it is believed that Daksinakali is the guardian of the kitchen of the Lord Jagannath Temple. Puranic tradition says that in Puri, Lord Jagannath is regarded as Daksinakalika. Goddess Dakshinakali plays an important role in the 'Niti' of Saptapuri Amavasya.

 

One South Indian tradition tells of a dance contest between Shiva and Kali. After defeating the two demons Sumbha and Nisumbha, Kali takes up residence in the forest of Thiruvalankadu or Thiruvalangadu. She terrorizes the surrounding area with her fierce, disruptive nature. One of Shiva's devotees becomes distracted while performing austerities, and asks Shiva to rid the forest of the destructive goddess. When Shiva arrives, Kali threatens him, and Shiva challenges Kali to a dance contest, wherein Kali matches Shiva until Shiva takes the "Urdhvatandava" step, vertically raising his right leg. Kali refuses to perform this step, which would not befit her as a woman, and becomes pacified.

 

SMASHAN KALI

If the Kali steps out with the left foot and holds the sword in her right hand, she is the terrible form of Mother, the Smashan Kali of the cremation ground. She is worshiped by tantrics, the followers of Tantra, who believe that one's spiritual discipline practiced in a smashan (cremation ground) brings success quickly. Sarda Devi, the consort of Ramakrishna Paramhansa, worshipped Smashan Kali at Dakshineshwar.

 

MATERNAL KALI

At the time of samundra manthan when amrit came out, along with that came out poison which was going to destroy the world hence on the request of all the gods, Lord Shiva drank it to save the world but as he is beyond death he didn't die but was very much in pain due to the poison effect hence he became a child so that Kali can feed him with her milk which will sooth out the poison effect.

 

MAHAKALI

Mahakali (Sanskrit: Mahākālī, Devanagari: महाकाली), literally translated as Great Kali, is sometimes considered as a greater form of Kali, identified with the Ultimate reality of Brahman. It can also be used as an honorific of the Goddess Kali, signifying her greatness by the prefix "Mahā-". Mahakali, in Sanskrit, is etymologically the feminized variant of Mahakala or Great Time (which is interpreted also as Death), an epithet of the God Shiva in Hinduism. Mahakali is the presiding Goddess of the first episode of the Devi Mahatmya. Here she is depicted as Devi in her universal form as Shakti. Here Devi serves as the agent who allows the cosmic order to be restored.

 

Kali is depicted in the Mahakali form as having ten heads, ten arms, and ten legs. Each of her ten hands is carrying a various implement which vary in different accounts, but each of these represent the power of one of the Devas or Hindu Gods and are often the identifying weapon or ritual item of a given Deva. The implication is that Mahakali subsumes and is responsible for the powers that these deities possess and this is in line with the interpretation that Mahakali is identical with Brahman. While not displaying ten heads, an "ekamukhi" or one headed image may be displayed with ten arms, signifying the same concept: the powers of the various Gods come only through Her grace.

 

ICONOGRAPHY

Kali is portrayed mostly in two forms: the popular four-armed form and the ten-armed Mahakali form. In both of her forms, she is described as being black in color but is most often depicted as blue in popular Indian art. Her eyes are described as red with intoxication, and in absolute rage, her hair is shown disheveled, small fangs sometimes protrude out of her mouth, and her tongue is lolling. She is often shown naked or just wearing a skirt made of human arms and a garland of human heads. She is also accompanied by serpents and a jackal while standing on a seemingly dead Shiva, usually right foot forward to symbolize the more popular Dakshinamarga or right-handed path, as opposed to the more infamous and transgressive Vamamarga or left-handed path.

 

In the ten-armed form of Mahakali she is depicted as shining like a blue stone. She has ten faces, ten feet, and three eyes for each head. She has ornaments decked on all her limbs. There is no association with Shiva.

 

The Kalika Purana describes Kali as possessing a soothing dark complexion, as perfectly beautiful, riding a lion, four-armed, holding a sword and blue lotuses, her hair unrestrained, body firm and youthful.

 

In spite of her seemingly terrible form, Kali Ma is often considered the kindest and most loving of all the Hindu goddesses, as she is regarded by her devotees as the Mother of the whole Universe. And because of her terrible form, she is also often seen as a great protector. When the Bengali saint Ramakrishna once asked a devotee why one would prefer to worship Mother over him, this devotee rhetorically replied, "Maharaj", when they are in trouble your devotees come running to you. But, where do you run when you are in trouble?"

 

According to Ramakrishna, darkness is the Ultimate Mother, or Kali:

 

My Mother is the principle of consciousness. She is Akhanda Satchidananda;

indivisible Reality, Awareness, and Bliss. The night sky between the stars is perfectly black.

The waters of the ocean depths are the same; The infinite is always mysteriously dark.

This inebriating darkness is my beloved Kali.

—Sri Ramakrishna

This is clear in the works of such contemporary artists as Charles Wish, and Tyeb Mehta, who sometimes take great liberties with the traditional, accepted symbolism, but still demonstrate a true reverence for the Shakta sect.

 

POPULAR FORM

Classic depictions of Kali share several features, as follows:

 

Kali's most common four armed iconographic image shows each hand carrying variously a sword, a trishul (trident), a severed head, and a bowl or skull-cup (kapala) catching the blood of the severed head.

 

Two of these hands (usually the left) are holding a sword and a severed head. The Sword signifies Divine Knowledge and the Human Head signifies human Ego which must be slain by Divine Knowledge in order to attain Moksha. The other two hands (usually the right) are in the abhaya (fearlessness) and varada (blessing) mudras, which means her initiated devotees (or anyone worshipping her with a true heart) will be saved as she will guide them here and in the hereafter.

 

She has a garland consisting of human heads, variously enumerated at 108 (an auspicious number in Hinduism and the number of countable beads on a Japa Mala or rosary for repetition of Mantras) or 51, which represents Varnamala or the Garland of letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, Devanagari. Hindus believe Sanskrit is a language of dynamism, and each of these letters represents a form of energy, or a form of Kali. Therefore, she is generally seen as the mother of language, and all mantras.

 

She is often depicted naked which symbolizes her being beyond the covering of Maya since she is pure (nirguna) being-consciousness-bliss and far above prakriti. She is shown as very dark as she is brahman in its supreme unmanifest state. She has no permanent qualities - she will continue to exist even when the universe ends. It is therefore believed that the concepts of color, light, good, bad do not apply to her - she is the pure, un-manifested energy, the Adi-shakti.

 

Kali as the Symbol of Creation , Freedom , Preservation and Destruction

 

The head that hangs in Kali's hand is a symbol of Ego and the scimitar which she is holding represents power and energy.It is believed that Kali is protecting the human race by that scimitar and also destroying the negativity and ego within human being. The body lying under Kali symbolizes ruination, is actually a form of Shiva. Kali steps her leg on the chest of the body and suppress ruination . Since she is standing on the pure white chest of Lord Shiva who, as pure primal awareness, lays in a passive reclining position, peacefully lies with his eyes half open in a state of bliss. Her hair is long, black and flowing freely depicting Her freedom from convention and the confines of conceptualization. The white teeth which Kali has stands for conscience and her red tongue represents greed. By pressing her white teeth on her tongue Kali refers to control greed.The goddess may appear terrible from outside but every symbol in Kali signifies truth of life. Since the earth was created out of darkness, the dark black color of Kali symbolizes the color from which everything was born. Her right hand side arms she shows the Abhaya mudra(gesture of fearlessness) and Vara mudra (gesture of welcome and charity) respectively . But on the other arm in left side she holds a bloody scimitar and a severed head depicting destruction and end of ego.

Kali as the Symbol of Mother Nature

 

The name Kali means Kala or force of time. When there were neither the creation, nor the sun, the moon, the planets, and the earth, there was only darkness and everything was created from the darkness. The Dark appearance of kali represents the darkness from which everything was born. Her complexion is deep blue, like the sky and ocean water as blue. As she is also the goddess of Preservation Kali is worshiped as mother to preserve the nature.Kali is standing calm on Shiva, her appearance represents the preservation of mother nature. Her free, long and black hair represents nature's freedom from civilization. Under the third eye of kali, the signs of both sun, moon and fire are visible which represent the driving forces of nature.

 

SHIVA IN KALI ICONOGRAPHY

In both these images she is shown standing on the prone, inert or dead body of Shiva. There is a legend for the reason behind her standing on what appears to be Shiva's corpse, which translates as follows:

 

Once Kali had destroyed all the demons in battle, she began a terrific dance out of the sheer joy of victory. All the worlds or lokas began to tremble and sway under the impact of her dance. So, at the request of all the Gods, Shiva himself asked her to desist from this behavior. However, she was too intoxicated to listen. Hence, Shiva lay like a corpse among the slain demons in order to absorb the shock of the dance into himself. When Kali eventually stepped upon Shiva, she realized she was trampling and hurting her husband and bit her tongue in shame.

 

The story described here is a popular folk tale and not described or hinted in any of the puranas. The puranic interpretation is as follows:

 

Once, Parvati asks Shiva to chose the one form among her 10 forms which he likes most. To her surprise, Shiva reveals that he is most comfortable with her Kali form, in which she is bereft of her jewellery, her human-form, her clothes, her emotions and where she is only raw, chaotic energy, where she is as terrible as time itself and even greater than time. As Parvati takes the form of Kali, Shiva lies at her feet and requests her to place her foot on his chest, upon his heart. Once in this form, Shiva requests her to have this place, below her feet in her iconic image which would be worshiped throughout.

 

This idea has been explored in the Devi-Bhagavata Purana [28] and is most popular in the Shyama Sangeet, devotional songs to Kali from the 12th to 15th centuries.

 

The Tantric interpretation of Kali standing on top of her husband is as follows:

 

The Shiv tattava (Divine Consciousness as Shiva) is inactive, while the Shakti tattava (Divine Energy as Kali) is active. Shiva and Kali represent Brahman, the Absolute pure consciousness which is beyond all names, forms and activities. Kali, on the other hand, represents the potential (and manifested) energy responsible for all names, forms and activities. She is his Shakti, or creative power, and is seen as the substance behind the entire content of all consciousness. She can never exist apart from Shiva or act independently of him, just as Shiva remains a mere corpse without Kali i.e., Shakti, all the matter/energy of the universe, is not distinct from Shiva, or Brahman, but is rather the dynamic power of Brahman. Hence, Kali is Para Brahman in the feminine and dynamic aspect while Shiva is the male aspect and static. She stands as the absolute basis for all life, energy and beneath her feet lies, Shiva, a metaphor for mass, which cannot retain its form without energy.

 

While this is an advanced concept in monistic Shaktism, it also agrees with the Nondual Trika philosophy of Kashmir, popularly known as Kashmir Shaivism and associated most famously with Abhinavagupta. There is a colloquial saying that "Shiva without Shakti is Shava" which means that without the power of action (Shakti) that is Mahakali (represented as the short "i" in Devanagari) Shiva (or consciousness itself) is inactive; Shava means corpse in Sanskrit and the play on words is that all Sanskrit consonants are assumed to be followed by a short letter "a" unless otherwise noted. The short letter "i" represents the female power or Shakti that activates Creation. This is often the explanation for why She is standing on Shiva, who is either Her husband and complement in Shaktism or the Supreme Godhead in Shaivism.

 

To properly understand this complex Tantric symbolism it is important to remember that the meaning behind Shiva and Kali does not stray from the non-dualistic parlance of Shankara or the Upanisads. According to both the Mahanirvana and Kularnava Tantras, there are two distinct ways of perceiving the same absolute reality. The first is a transcendental plane which is often described as static, yet infinite. It is here that there is no matter, there is no universe and only consciousness exists. This form of reality is known as Shiva, the absolute Sat-Chit-Ananda - existence, knowledge and bliss. The second is an active plane, an immanent plane, the plane of matter, of Maya, i.e., where the illusion of space-time and the appearance of an actual universe does exist. This form of reality is known as Kali or Shakti, and (in its entirety) is still specified as the same Absolute Sat-Chit-Ananda. It is here in this second plane that the universe (as we commonly know it) is experienced and is described by the Tantric seer as the play of Shakti, or God as Mother Kali.

 

From a Tantric perspective, when one meditates on reality at rest, as absolute pure consciousness (without the activities of creation, preservation or dissolution) one refers to this as Shiva or Brahman. When one meditates on reality as dynamic and creative, as the Absolute content of pure consciousness (with all the activities of creation, preservation or dissolution) one refers to it as Kali or Shakti. However, in either case the yogini or yogi is interested in one and the same reality - the only difference being in name and fluctuating aspects of appearance. It is this which is generally accepted as the meaning of Kali standing on the chest of Shiva.

 

Although there is often controversy surrounding the images of divine copulation, the general consensus is benign and free from any carnal impurities in its substance. In Tantra the human body is a symbol for the microcosm of the universe; therefore sexual process is responsible for the creation of the world. Although theoretically Shiva and Kali (or Shakti) are inseparable, like fire and its power to burn, in the case of creation they are often seen as having separate roles. With Shiva as male and Kali as female it is only by their union that creation may transpire. This reminds us of the prakrti and purusa doctrine of Samkhya wherein prakāśa- vimarśa has no practical value, just as without prakrti, purusa is quite inactive. This (once again) stresses the interdependencies of Shiva and Shakti and the vitality of their union.

 

Gopi Krishna proposed that Kali standing on the dead Shiva or Shava (Sanskrit for dead body) symbolised the helplessness of a person undergoing the changing process (psychologically and physiologically) in the body conducted by the Kundalini Shakti.

 

DEVELOPMENT

In the later traditions, Kali has become inextricably linked with Shiva. The unleashed form of Kali often becomes wild and uncontrollable, and only Shiva is able to tame her just as only Kali can tame Shiva. This is both because she is often a transformed version of one of his consorts and because he is able to match her wildness.

 

The ancient text of Kali Kautuvam describes her competition with Shiva in dance, from which the sacred 108 Karanas appeared. Shiva won the competition by acting the urdva tandava, one of the Karanas, by raising his feet to his head. Other texts describe Shiva appearing as a crying infant and appealing to her maternal instincts. While Shiva is said to be able to tame her, the iconography often presents her dancing on his fallen body, and there are accounts of the two of them dancing together, and driving each other to such wildness that the world comes close to unravelling.

 

Shiva's involvement with Tantra and Kali's dark nature have led to her becoming an important Tantric figure. To the Tantric worshippers, it was essential to face her Curse, the terror of death, as willingly as they accepted Blessings from her beautiful, nurturing, maternal aspect. For them, wisdom meant learning that no coin has only one side: as death cannot exist without life, so life cannot exist without death. Kali's role sometimes grew beyond that of a chaos - which could be confronted - to that of one who could bring wisdom, and she is given great metaphysical significance by some Tantric texts. The Nirvāna-tantra clearly presents her uncontrolled nature as the Ultimate Reality, claiming that the trimurti of Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra arise and disappear from her like bubbles from the sea. Although this is an extreme case, the Yogini-tantra, Kamakhya-tantra and the Niruttara-tantra declare her the svarupa (own-being) of the Mahadevi (the great Goddess, who is in this case seen as the combination of all devis).The final stage of development is the worshipping of Kali as the Great Mother, devoid of her usual violence. This practice is a break from the more traditional depictions. The pioneers of this tradition are the 18th century Shakta poets such as Ramprasad Sen, who show an awareness of Kali's ambivalent nature. Ramakrishna, the 19th century Bengali saint, was also a great devotee of Kali; the western popularity of whom may have contributed to the more modern, equivocal interpretations of this Goddess. Rachel McDermott's work, however, suggests that for the common, modern worshipper, Kali is not seen as fearful, and only those educated in old traditions see her as having a wrathful component. Some credit to the development of Devi must also be given to Samkhya. Commonly referred to as the Devi of delusion, Mahamaya or Durga, acting in the confines of (but not being bound by) the nature of the three gunas, takes three forms: Maha-Kali, Maha-Lakshmi and Maha-Saraswati, being her tamas-ika, rajas-ika and sattva-ika forms. In this sense, Kali is simply part of a larger whole.

 

Like Sir John Woodroffe and Georg Feuerstein, many Tantric scholars (as well as sincere practitioners) agree that, no matter how propitious or appalling you describe them, Shiva and Devi are simply recognizable symbols for everyday, abstract (yet tangible) concepts such as perception, knowledge, space-time, causation and the process of liberating oneself from the confines of such things. Shiva, symbolizing pure, absolute consciousness, and Devi, symbolizing the entire content of that consciousness, are ultimately one and the same - totality incarnate, a micro-macro-cosmic amalgamation of all subjects, all objects and all phenomenal relations between the "two." Like man and woman who both share many common, human traits yet at the same time they are still different and, therefore, may also be seen as complementary.

 

Worshippers prescribe various benign and horrific qualities to Devi simply out of practicality. They do this so they may have a variety of symbols to choose from, symbols which they can identify and relate with from the perspective of their own, ever-changing time, place and personal level of unfolding. Just like modern chemists or physicists use a variety of molecular and atomic models to describe what is unperceivable through rudimentary, sensory input, the scientists of ontology and epistemology must do the same. One of the underlying distinctions of Tantra, in comparison to other religions, is that it allows the devotee the liberty to choose from a vast array of complementary symbols and rhetoric which suit one's evolving needs and tastes. From an aesthetic standpoint, nothing is interdict and nothing is orthodox. In this sense, the projection of some of Devi's more gentle qualities onto Kali is not sacrilege and the development of Kali really lies in the practitioner, not the murthi.

 

A TIME magazine article of October 27, 1947, used Kali as a symbol and metaphor for the human suffering in British India during its partition that year. In 1971, Ms. Magazine used an image of Kali, her multiple arms juggling modern tasks, as a symbol of modern womanhood on its inaugural issue.

 

Swami Vivekananda wrote his favorite poem Kali the Mother in 1898.

 

KALI IN NEOPAGAN AND NEW AGE PRACTICE

An academic study of Western Kali enthusiasts noted that, "as shown in the histories of all cross-cultural religious transplants, Kali devotionalism in the West must take on its own indigenous forms if it is to adapt to its new environment."[60] The adoption of Kali by the West has raised accusations of cultural appropriation:

 

A variety of writers and thinkers have found Kali an exciting figure for reflection and exploration, notably feminists and participants in New Age spirituality who are attracted to goddess worship. [For them], Kali is a symbol of wholeness and healing, associated especially with repressed female power and sexuality. [However, such interpretations often exhibit] confusion and misrepresentation, stemming from a lack of knowledge of Hindu history among these authors, [who only rarely] draw upon materials written by scholars of the Hindu religious tradition. The majority instead rely chiefly on other popular feminist sources, almost none of which base their interpretations on a close reading of Kali's Indian background. The most important issue arising from this discussion - even more important than the question of 'correct' interpretation - concerns the adoption of other people's religious symbols. It is hard to import the worship of a goddess from another culture: religious associations and connotations have to be learned, imagined or intuited when the deep symbolic meanings embedded in the native culture are not available.

 

INCARNATIONS OF KALI

Draupadi, Wife of Pandavas, was an avatar of Kali, who born to assist Lord Krishna to destroy arrogant kings of India. There is a temple dedicated to this incarnation at Banni Mata Temple at Himachal Pradesh. The vedic deity Nirriti or the Puranic deity Alakshmi is often considered as incarnations of Kali.

 

WIKIPEDIA

I'm happy to introduce my new line of oriental atmosphere lampshades, it is created as most of my work using a crochet needle and fine copper coated wires.

My inspiration for this lamp were the pomegranates, for those of you who know my work it is probably obvious.

 

The detailed patterns and bright shiny colors create both magnificent shades when lighted and rich reflections during day time. It is just as attractive during daytime and night time.

 

When installed next to a wall magnificent shades are created, it can be installed in groups or as individuals.

 

Some practicalities:

Size: 2.8“ (70 mm) diameter, height 3.1“ (80 mm)

 

The lampshade arrives with a brass light socket (1.2”/30mm long) for a 12V 20W Halogen lamp and a 78”(2 meter) long flexible metal wire (0.08”/2mm diameter).

 

A standard electronic transformer is required for adjusting the voltage into 12V (both from 110V and 230V).

 

Frederic is a village in Polk County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,137 at the 2010 census. It was established as a village in 1901.

 

Frederic is located at 45°39′32″N 92°28′1″W (45.658797, -92.466921).

 

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 1.79 square miles (4.64 km2), of which, 1.72 square miles (4.45 km2) of it is land and 0.07 square miles (0.18 km2) is water.

 

Frederic is along Wisconsin Highways 35 and 48, and Polk County Road W.

 

The Frederic School District consists of Frederic Elementary School and Frederic 6-12 School, which contains Frederic Middle School and Frederic High School.

 

Notable people

Robert M. Dueholm, Wisconsin politician, was born in Frederic.

Rodney Erickson, former president of Pennsylvania State University

Nathan Heffernan, member of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, was born in Frederic.

Erick H. Johnson, Wisconsin politician, lived in Frederic.

Rita Lee, Playboy's Playmate for the Month of November 1977, was born in Frederic.

Carol Merrill, a model for the original television game show Let's Make A Deal, was born in Frederic.

Erin Gloria Ryan, writer and podcaster, was born in Frederic.

Harvey Stower, Wisconsin politician, was born in Frederic.

 

Polk County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 44,977. Its county seat is Balsam Lake. The county was created in 1853 and named for United States President James K. Polk.

 

Wisconsin is a state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by land area and the 20th-most populous.

 

The bulk of Wisconsin's population live in areas situated along the shores of Lake Michigan. The largest city, Milwaukee, anchors its largest metropolitan area, followed by Green Bay and Kenosha, the third- and fourth-most-populated Wisconsin cities, respectively. The state capital, Madison, is currently the second-most-populated and fastest-growing city in the state. Wisconsin is divided into 72 counties and as of the 2020 census had a population of nearly 5.9 million.

 

Wisconsin's geography is diverse, having been greatly impacted by glaciers during the Ice Age with the exception of the Driftless Area. The Northern Highland and Western Upland along with a part of the Central Plain occupy the western part of the state, with lowlands stretching to the shore of Lake Michigan. Wisconsin is third to Ontario and Michigan in the length of its Great Lakes coastline. The northern portion of the state is home to the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. At the time of European contact, the area was inhabited by Algonquian and Siouan nations, and today it is home to eleven federally recognized tribes. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, many European settlers entered the state, most of whom emigrated from Germany and Scandinavia. Wisconsin remains a center of German American and Scandinavian American culture, particularly in respect to its cuisine, with foods such as bratwurst and kringle. Wisconsin is home to one UNESCO World Heritage Site, comprising two of the most significant buildings designed by Wisconsin-born architect Frank Lloyd Wright: his studio at Taliesin near Spring Green and his Jacobs I House in Madison.

 

The Republican Party was founded in Wisconsin in 1854. In more recent years, Wisconsin has been a battleground state in presidential elections, notably in 2016 and 2020.

 

Wisconsin is one of the nation's leading dairy producers and is known as "America's Dairyland"; it is particularly famous for its cheese. The state is also famous for its beer, particularly and historically in Milwaukee, most notably as the headquarters of the Miller Brewing Company. Wisconsin has some of the most permissive alcohol laws in the country and is well known for its drinking culture. Its economy is dominated by manufacturing, healthcare, information technology, and agriculture—specifically dairy, cranberries, and ginseng. Tourism is also a major contributor to the state's economy. The gross domestic product in 2020 was $348 billion.

 

The history of Wisconsin encompasses the story not only of the people who have lived in Wisconsin since it became a state of the U.S., but also that of the Native American tribes who made their homeland in Wisconsin, the French and British colonists who were the first Europeans to live there, and the American settlers who lived in Wisconsin when it was a territory.

 

Since its admission to the Union on May 29, 1848, as the 30th state, Wisconsin has been ethnically heterogeneous, with Yankees being among the first to arrive from New York and New England. They dominated the state's heavy industry, finance, politics and education. Large numbers of European immigrants followed them, including German Americans, mostly between 1850 and 1900, Scandinavians (the largest group being Norwegian Americans) and smaller groups of Belgian Americans, Dutch Americans, Swiss Americans, Finnish Americans, Irish Americans and others; in the 20th century, large numbers of Polish Americans and African Americans came, settling mainly in Milwaukee.

 

Politically the state was predominantly Republican until recent years, when it became more evenly balanced. The state took a national leadership role in the Progressive Movement, under the aegis of Robert M. "Fighting Bob" La Follette and his family, who fought the old guard bitterly at the state and national levels. The "Wisconsin Idea" called for the use of the higher learning in modernizing government, and the state is notable for its strong network of state universities.

 

The first known inhabitants of what is now Wisconsin were Paleo-Indians, who first arrived in the region in about 10,000 BC at the end of the Ice Age. The retreating glaciers left behind a tundra in Wisconsin inhabited by large animals, such as mammoths, mastodons, bison, giant beaver, and muskox. The Boaz mastodon and the Clovis artifacts discovered in Boaz, Wisconsin show that the Paleo-Indians hunted these large animals. They also gathered plants as conifer forests grew in the glaciers' wake. With the decline and extinction of many large mammals in the Americas, the Paleo-Indian diet shifted toward smaller mammals like deer and bison.

 

During the Archaic Period, from 6000 to 1000 BC, mixed conifer-hardwood forests as well as mixed prairie-forests replaced Wisconsin's conifer forests. People continued to depend on hunting and gathering. Around 4000 BC they developed spear-throwers and copper tools such as axes, adzes, projectile points, knives, perforators, fishhooks and harpoons. Copper ornaments like beaded necklaces also appeared around 1500 BC. These people gathered copper ore at quarries on the Keweenaw Peninsula in Michigan and on Isle Royale in Lake Superior. They may have crafted copper artifacts by hammering and folding the metal and also by heating it to increase its malleability. However it is not certain if these people reached the level of copper smelting. Regardless, the Copper Culture of the Great Lakes region reached a level of sophistication unprecedented in North America. The Late Archaic Period also saw the emergence of cemeteries and ritual burials, such as the one in Oconto.

 

The Early Woodland Period began in 1000 BC as plants became an increasingly important part of the people's diet. Small scale agriculture and pottery arrived in southern Wisconsin at this time. The primary crops were maize, beans and squash. Agriculture, however, could not sufficiently support these people, who also had to hunt and gather. Agriculture at this time was more akin to gardening than to farming. Villages emerged along rivers, streams and lakes, and the earliest earthen burial mounds were constructed. The Havana Hopewell culture arrived in Wisconsin in the Middle Woodland Period, settling along the Mississippi River. The Hopewell people connected Wisconsin to their trade practices, which stretched from Ohio to Yellowstone and from Wisconsin to the Gulf of Mexico. They constructed elaborate mounds, made elaborately decorated pottery and brought a wide range of traded minerals to the area. The Hopewell people may have influenced the other inhabitants of Wisconsin, rather than displacing them. The Late Woodland Period began in about 400 AD, following the disappearance of the Hopewell culture from the area. The people of Wisconsin first used the bow and arrow in the final centuries of the Woodland Period, and agriculture continued to be practiced in the southern part of the state. The effigy mound culture dominated Southern Wisconsin during this time, building earthen burial mounds in the shapes of animals. Examples of effigy mounds still exist at High Cliff State Park and at Lizard Mound County Park. In northern Wisconsin people continued to survive on hunting and gathering, and constructed conical mounds.

 

People of the Mississippian culture expanded into Wisconsin around 1050 AD and established a settlement at Aztalan along the Crawfish River. While begun by the Caddoan people, other cultures began to borrow & adapt the Mississippian cultural structure. This elaborately planned site may have been the northernmost outpost of Cahokia, although it is also now known that some Siouan peoples along the Mississippi River may have taken part in the culture as well. Regardless, the Mississippian site traded with and was clearly influenced in its civic and defensive planning, as well as culturally, by its much larger southern neighbor. A rectangular wood-and-clay stockade surrounded the twenty acre site, which contained two large earthen mounds and a central plaza. One mound may have been used for food storage, as a residence for high-ranking officials, or as a temple, and the other may have been used as a mortuary. The Mississippian culture cultivated maize intensively, and their fields probably stretched far beyond the stockade at Aztalan, although modern agriculture has erased any traces of Mississippian practices in the area. Some rumors also speculate that the people of Aztalan may have experimented slightly with stone architecture in the making of a man-made, stone-line pond, at the very least. While the first settler on the land of what is now the city supposedly reported this, he filled it in and it has yet to be rediscovered.

 

Both Woodland and Mississippian peoples inhabited Aztalan, which was connected to the extensive Mississippian trade network. Shells from the Gulf of Mexico, copper from Lake Superior and Mill Creek chert have been found at the site. Aztalan was abandoned around 1200 AD. The Oneota people later built agriculturally based villages, similar to those of the Mississippians but without the extensive trade networks, in the state.

 

By the time the first Europeans arrived in Wisconsin, the Oneota had disappeared. The historically documented inhabitants, as of the first European incursions, were the Siouan speaking Dakota Oyate to the northwest, the Chiwere speaking Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) and the Algonquian Menominee to the northeast, with their lands beginning approximately north of Green Bay. The Chiwere lands were south of Green Bay and followed rivers to the southwest. Over time, other tribes moved to Wisconsin, including the Ojibwe, the Illinois, the Fauk, the Sauk and the Mahican. The Mahican were one of the last groups to arrived, coming from New York after the U.S. congress passed the Indian Removal Act of 1830.

 

The first European known to have landed in Wisconsin was Jean Nicolet. In 1634, Samuel de Champlain, governor of New France, sent Nicolet to contact the Ho-Chunk people, make peace between them and the Huron and expand the fur trade, and possibly to also find a water route to Asia. Accompanied by seven Huron guides, Nicolet left New France and canoed through Lake Huron and Lake Superior, and then became the first European known to have entered Lake Michigan. Nicolet proceeded into Green Bay, which he named La Baie des Puants (literally "The Stinking Bay"), and probably came ashore near the Red Banks. He made contact with the Ho-Chunk and Menominee living in the area and established peaceful relations. Nicolet remained with the Ho-Chunk the winter before he returned to Quebec.

 

The Beaver Wars fought between the Iroquois and the French prevented French explorers from returning to Wisconsin until 1652–1654, when Pierre Radisson and Médard des Groseilliers arrived at La Baie des Puants to trade furs. They returned to Wisconsin in 1659–1660, this time at Chequamegon Bay on Lake Superior. On their second voyage they found that the Ojibwe had expanded into northern Wisconsin, as they continued to prosper in the fur trade. They also were the first Europeans to contact the Santee Dakota. They built a trading post and wintered near Ashland, before returning to Montreal.

 

In 1665 Claude-Jean Allouez, a Jesuit missionary, built a mission on Lake Superior. Five years later he abandoned the mission, and journeyed to La Baie des Puants. Two years later he built St. Francis Xavier Mission near present-day De Pere. In his journeys through Wisconsin, he encountered groups of Native Americans who had been displaced by Iroquois in the Beaver Wars. He evangelized the Algonquin-speaking Potawatomi, who had settled on the Door Peninsula after fleeing Iroquois attacks in Michigan. He also encountered the Algonquin-speaking Sauk, who had been forced into Michigan by the Iroquois, and then had been forced into central Wisconsin by the Ojibwe and the Huron.

 

The next major expedition into Wisconsin was that of Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet in 1673. After hearing rumors from Indians telling of the existence of the Mississippi River, Marquette and Joliet set out from St. Ignace, in what is now Michigan, and entered the Fox River at Green Bay. They canoed up the Fox until they reached the river's westernmost point, and then portaged, or carried their boats, to the nearby Wisconsin River, where they resumed canoeing downstream to the Mississippi River. Marquette and Joliet reached the Mississippi near what is now Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin in June, 1673.

 

Nicolas Perrot, French commander of the west, established Fort St. Nicholas at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin in May, 1685, near the southwest end of the Fox-Wisconsin Waterway. Perrot also built a fort on the shores of Lake Pepin called Fort St. Antoine in 1686, and a second fort, called Fort Perrot, on an island on Lake Peppin shortly after. In 1727, Fort Beauharnois was constructed on what is now the Minnesota side of Lake Pepin to replace the two previous forts. A fort and a Jesuit mission were also built on the shores of Lake Superior at La Pointe, in present-day Wisconsin, in 1693 and operated until 1698. A second fort was built on the same site in 1718 and operated until 1759. These were not military posts, but rather small storehouses for furs.

 

During the French colonial period, the first black people came to Wisconsin. The first record of a black person comes from 1725, when a black slave was killed along with four Frenchmen in a Native American raid on Green Bay. Other French fur traders and military personnel brought slaves with them to Wisconsin later in 1700s.

 

None of the French posts had permanent settlers; fur traders and missionaries simply visited them from time to time to conduct business.

 

In the 1720s, the anti-French Fox tribe, led by war chief Kiala, raided French settlements on the Mississippi River and disrupted French trade on Lake Michigan. From 1728 to 1733, the Fox fought against the French-supported Potawatomi, Ojibwa, Huron and Ottawa tribes. In 1733, Kiala was captured and sold into slavery in the West Indies along with other captured Fox.

 

Before the war, the Fox tribe numbered 1500, but by 1733, only 500 Fox were left. As a result, the Fox joined the Sauk people.

 

The details are unclear, but this war appears to have been part of the conflict that expelled the Dakota & Illinois peoples out onto the Great Plains, causing further displacement of other Chiwere, Caddoan & Algonquian peoples there—including the ancestors of the Ioway, Osage, Pawnee, Arikara, A'ani, Arapaho, Hidatsa, Cheyenne & Blackfoot.

 

The British gradually took over Wisconsin during the French and Indian War, taking control of Green Bay in 1761, gaining control of all of Wisconsin in 1763, and annexing the area to the Province of Quebec in 1774. Like the French, the British were interested in little but the fur trade. One notable event in the fur trading industry in Wisconsin occurred in 1791, when two free African Americans set up a fur trading post among the Menominee at present day Marinette. The first permanent settlers, mostly French Canadians, some Anglo-New Englanders and a few African American freedmen, arrived in Wisconsin while it was under British control. Charles Michel de Langlade is generally recognized as the first settler, establishing a trading post at Green Bay in 1745, and moving there permanently in 1764. In 1766 the Royal Governor of the new territory, Robert Rogers, engaged Jonathan Carver to explore and map the newly acquired territories for the Crown, and to search for a possible Northwest Passage. Carver left Fort Michilimackinac that spring and spent the next three years exploring and mapping what is now Wisconsin and parts of Minnesota.

 

Settlement began at Prairie du Chien around 1781. The French residents at the trading post in what is now Green Bay, referred to the town as "La Bey", however British fur traders referred to it as "Green Bay", because the water and the shore assumed green tints in early spring. The old French title was gradually dropped, and the British name of "Green Bay" eventually stuck. The region coming under British rule had virtually no adverse effect on the French residents as the British needed the cooperation of the French fur traders and the French fur traders needed the goodwill of the British. During the French occupation of the region licenses for fur trading had been issued scarcely and only to select groups of traders, whereas the British, in an effort to make as much money as possible from the region, issued licenses for fur trading freely, both to British and French residents. The fur trade in what is now Wisconsin reached its height under British rule, and the first self-sustaining farms in the state were established at this time as well. From 1763 to 1780, Green Bay was a prosperous community which produced its own foodstuff, built graceful cottages and held dances and festivities.

 

The United States acquired Wisconsin in the Treaty of Paris (1783). Massachusetts claimed the territory east of the Mississippi River between the present-day Wisconsin-Illinois border and present-day La Crosse, Wisconsin. Virginia claimed the territory north of La Crosse to Lake Superior and all of present-day Minnesota east of the Mississippi River. Shortly afterward, in 1787, the Americans made Wisconsin part of the new Northwest Territory. Later, in 1800, Wisconsin became part of Indiana Territory. Despite the fact that Wisconsin belonged to the United States at this time, the British continued to control the local fur trade and maintain military alliances with Wisconsin Indians in an effort to stall American expansion westward by creating a pro-British Indian barrier state.

 

The United States did not firmly exercise control over Wisconsin until the War of 1812. In 1814, the Americans built Fort Shelby at Prairie du Chien. During the war, the Americans and British fought one battle in Wisconsin, the July, 1814 Siege of Prairie du Chien, which ended as a British victory. The British captured Fort Shelby and renamed it Fort McKay, after Major William McKay, the British commander who led the forces that won the Battle of Prairie du Chien. However, the 1815 Treaty of Ghent reaffirmed American jurisdiction over Wisconsin, which was by then a part of Illinois Territory. Following the treaty, British troops burned Fort McKay, rather than giving it back to the Americans, and departed Wisconsin. To protect Prairie du Chien from future attacks, the United States Army constructed Fort Crawford in 1816, on the same site as Fort Shelby. Fort Howard was also built in 1816 in Green Bay.

 

Significant American settlement in Wisconsin, a part of Michigan Territory beginning in 1818, was delayed by two Indian wars, the minor Winnebago War of 1827 and the larger Black Hawk War of 1832.

 

The Winnebago War started when, in 1826, two Winnebago men were detained at Fort Crawford on charges of murder and then transferred to Fort Snelling in present-day Minnesota. The Winnebago in the area believed that both men had been executed. On June 27, 1827, a Winnebago war band led by Chief Red Bird and the prophet White Cloud (Wabokieshiek) attacked a family of settlers outside of Prairie du Chien, killing two. They then went on to attack two keel-boats on the Mississippi River that were heading toward Fort Snelling, killing two settlers and injuring four more. Seven Winnebago warriors were killed in those attacks. The war band also attacked settlers on the lower Wisconsin River and the lead mines at Galena, Illinois. The war band surrendered at Portage, Wisconsin, rather than fighting the United States Army that was pursuing them.

 

In the Black Hawk War, Sac, Fox, and Kickapoo Native Americans, otherwise known as the British Band, led by Chief Black Hawk, who had been relocated from Illinois to Iowa, attempted to resettle in their Illinois homeland on April 5, 1832, in violation of Treaty. On May 10 Chief Black Hawk decided to go back to Iowa. On May 14, Black Hawk's forces met with a group of militiamen led by Isaiah Stillman. All three members of Black Hawk's parley were shot and one was killed. The Battle of Stillman's Run ensued, leaving twelve militiamen and three to five Sac and Fox warriors dead. Of the fifteen battles of the war, six took place in Wisconsin. The other nine as well as several smaller skirmishes took place in Illinois. The first confrontation to take place in Wisconsin was the first attack on Fort Blue Mounds on June 6, in which one member of the local militia was killed outside of the fort. There was also the Spafford Farm Massacre on June 14, the Battle of Horseshoe Bend on June 16, which was a United States victory, the second attack on Fort Blue Mounds on June 20, and the Sinsinawa Mound raid on June 29. The Native Americans were defeated at the Battle of Wisconsin Heights on July 21, with forty to seventy killed and only one killed on the United States side. The Ho Chunk Nation fought on the side of the United States. The Black Hawk War ended with the Battle of Bad Axe on August 1–2, with over 150 of the British Band dead and 75 captured and only five killed in the United States forces. Those crossing the Mississippi were killed by Lakota, American and Ho Chunk Forces. Many of the British Band survivors were handed over to the United States on August 20 by the Lakota Tribe, with the exception of Black Hawk, who had retreated into Vernon County, Wisconsin and White Cloud, who surrendered on August 27, 1832. Black Hawk was captured by Decorah south of Bangor, Wisconsin, south of the headwaters of the La Crosse River. He was then sold to the U.S. military at Prairie du Chien, accepted by future Confederate president, Stephen Davis, who was a soldier at the time. Black Hawk's tribe had killed his daughter. Black Hawk moved back to Iowa in 1833, after being held prisoner by the United States government.

 

The Francois Vertefeuille House in Prairie du Chien was built in the 1810s by fur traders. A rare example of the pièce-sur-pièce à coulisse technique once common in French-Canadian architecture, it is one of the oldest buildings in the state and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

 

The Cornish immigrants who worked in Wisconsin's lead mines build simple stone cabins from limestone. Six cabins are preserved at the Pendarvis Historic Site in Mineral Point.

The resolution of these Indian conflicts opened the way for Wisconsin's settlement. Many of the region's first settlers were drawn by the prospect of lead mining in southwest Wisconsin. This area had traditionally been mined by Native Americans. However, after a series of treaties removed the Indians, the lead mining region was opened to white miners. Thousands rushed in from across the country to dig for the "gray gold". By 1829, 4,253 miners and 52 licensed smelting works were in the region. Expert miners from Cornwall in Britain informed a large part of the wave of immigrants. Boom towns like Mineral Point, Platteville, Shullsburg, Belmont, and New Diggings sprang up around mines. The first two federal land offices in Wisconsin were opened in 1834 at Green Bay and at Mineral Point. By the 1840s, southwest Wisconsin mines were producing more than half of the nation's lead, which was no small amount, as the United States was producing annually some 31 million pounds of lead. Wisconsin was dubbed the "Badger State" because of the lead miners who first settled there in the 1820s and 1830s. Without shelter in the winter, they had to "live like badgers" in tunnels burrowed into hillsides.

 

Although the lead mining area drew the first major wave of settlers, its population would soon be eclipsed by growth in Milwaukee. Milwaukee, along with Sheboygan, Manitowoc, and Kewaunee, can be traced back to a series of trading posts established by the French trader Jacques Vieau in 1795. Vieau's post at the mouth of the Milwaukee River was purchased in 1820 by Solomon Juneau, who had visited the area as early as 1818. Juneau moved to what is now Milwaukee and took over the trading post's operation in 1825.

 

When the fur trade began to decline, Juneau focused on developing the land around his trading post. In the 1830s, he formed a partnership with Green Bay lawyer Morgan Martin, and the two men bought 160 acres (0.6 km2) of land between Lake Michigan and the Milwaukee River. There they founded the settlement of Juneautown. Meanwhile, an Ohio businessman named Byron Kilbourn began to invest in the land west of the Milwaukee River, forming the settlement of Kilbourntown. South of these two settlements, George H. Walker founded the town of Walker's Point in 1835. Each of these three settlements engaged in a fierce competition to attract the most residents and become the largest of the three towns. In 1840, the Wisconsin State Legislature ordered the construction of a bridge over the Milwaukee River to replace the inadequate ferry system. In 1845, Byron Kilbourn, who had been trying to isolate Juneautown to make it more dependent on Kilbourntown, destroyed a portion of the bridge, which started the Milwaukee Bridge War. For several weeks, skirmishes broke out between the residents of both towns. No one was killed but several people were injured, some seriously. On January 31, 1846, the settlements of Juneautown, Kilbourntown, and Walker's Point merged into the incorporated city of Milwaukee. Solomon Juneau was elected mayor. The new city had a population of about 10,000 people, making it the largest city in the territory. Milwaukee remains the largest city in Wisconsin to this day.

 

Wisconsin Territory was created by an act of the United States Congress on April 20, 1836. By fall of that year, the best prairie groves of the counties surrounding Milwaukee were occupied by New England farmers. The new territory initially included all of the present day states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa, as well as parts of North and South Dakota. At the time the Congress called it the "Wiskonsin Territory".

 

The first territorial governor of Wisconsin was Henry Dodge. He and other territorial lawmakers were initially busied by organizing the territory's government and selecting a capital city. The selection of a location to build a capitol caused a heated debate among the territorial politicians. At first, Governor Dodge selected Belmont, located in the heavily populated lead mining district, to be capital. Shortly after the new legislature convened there, however, it became obvious that Wisconsin's first capitol was inadequate. Numerous other suggestions for the location of the capital were given representing nearly every city that existed in the territory at the time, and Governor Dodge left the decision up to the other lawmakers. The legislature accepted a proposal by James Duane Doty to build a new city named Madison on an isthmus between lakes Mendota and Monona and put the territory's permanent capital there. In 1837, while Madison was being built, the capitol was temporarily moved to Burlington. This city was transferred to Iowa Territory in 1838, along with all the lands of Wisconsin Territory west of the Mississippi River.

 

Wyman calls Wisconsin a "palimpsest" of layer upon layer of peoples and forces, each imprinting permanent influences. He identified these layers as multiple "frontiers" over three centuries: Native American frontier, French frontier, English frontier, fur-trade frontier, mining frontier, and the logging frontier. Finally the coming of the railroad brought the end of the frontier.

 

The historian of the frontier, Frederick Jackson Turner, grew up in Wisconsin during its last frontier stage, and in his travels around the state he could see the layers of social and political development. One of Turner's last students, Merle Curti used in-depth analysis of local history in Trempealeau County to test Turner's thesis about democracy. Turner's view was that American democracy, "involved widespread participation in the making of decisions affecting the common life, the development of initiative and self-reliance, and equality of economic and cultural opportunity. It thus also involved Americanization of immigrant." Curti found that from 1840 to 1860 in Wisconsin the poorest groups gained rapidly in land ownership, and often rose to political leadership at the local level. He found that even landless young farm workers were soon able to obtain their own farms. Free land on the frontier therefore created opportunity and democracy, for both European immigrants as well as old stock Yankees.

 

By the mid-1840s, the population of Wisconsin Territory had exceeded 150,000, more than twice the number of people required for Wisconsin to become a state. In 1846, the territorial legislature voted to apply for statehood. That fall, 124 delegates debated the state constitution. The document produced by this convention was considered extremely progressive for its time. It banned commercial banking, granted married women the right to own property, and left the question of African-American suffrage to a popular vote. Most Wisconsinites considered the first constitution to be too radical, however, and voted it down in an April 1847 referendum.

 

In December 1847, a second constitutional convention was called. This convention resulted in a new, more moderate state constitution that Wisconsinites approved in a March 1848 referendum, enabling Wisconsin to become the 30th state on May 29, 1848. Wisconsin was the last state entirely east of the Mississippi River (and by extension the last state formed entirely from territory assigned to the U.S. in the 1783 Treaty of Paris) to be admitted to the Union.

 

With statehood, came the creation of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, which is the state's oldest public university. The creation of this university was set aside in the state charter.

 

In 1847, the Mineral Point Tribune reported that the town's furnaces were producing 43,800 pounds (19,900 kg) of lead each day. Lead mining in southwest Wisconsin began to decline after 1848 and 1849 when the combination of less easily accessible lead ore and the California Gold Rush made miners leave the area. The lead mining industry in mining communities such as Mineral Point managed to survive into the 1860s, but the industry was never as prosperous as it was before the decline.

 

By 1850 Wisconsin's population was 305,000. Roughly a third (103,000) were Yankees from New England and western New York state. The second largest group were the Germans, numbering roughly 38,000, followed by 28,000 British immigrants from England, Scotland and Wales. There were roughly 63,000 Wisconsin-born residents of the state. The Yankee migrants would be the dominant political class in Wisconsin for many years.

 

A railroad frenzy swept Wisconsin shortly after it achieved statehood. The first railroad line in the state was opened between Milwaukee and Waukesha in 1851 by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. The railroad pushed on, reaching Milton, Wisconsin in 1852, Stoughton, Wisconsin in 1853, and the capital city of Madison in 1854. The company reached its goal of completing a rail line across the state from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River when the line to Prairie du Chien was completed in 1857. Shortly after this, other railroad companies completed their own tracks, reaching La Crosse in the west and Superior in the north, spurring development in those cities. By the end of the 1850s, railroads crisscrossed the state, enabling the growth of other industries that could now easily ship products to markets across the country.

 

Nelson Dewey, the first governor of Wisconsin, was a Democrat. Born in Lebanon, Connecticut, Dewey's father's family had lived in New England since 1633, when their ancestor, Thomas Due, had come to America from Kent County, England. Dewey oversaw the transition from the territorial to the new state government. He encouraged the development of the state's infrastructure, particularly the construction of new roads, railroads, canals, and harbors, as well as the improvement of the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers. During his administration, the State Board of Public Works was organized. Dewey was an abolitionist and the first of many Wisconsin governors to advocate against the spread of slavery into new states and territories. The home Dewey built near Cassville is now a state park.

 

Between 1848 and 1862, Wisconsin had three Democratic governors, all of whom were in office prior to 1856, four Republican governors, all of whom were in office after 1856, and one Whig governor, Leonard J. Farwell, who served from 1852 to 1854. Under Farwell's governorship, Wisconsin became the second state to abolish capital punishment.

 

In the presidential elections of 1848 and 1852, the Democratic Party won Wisconsin. In the elections of 1856, 1860, and 1864, the Republican Party won the state.

 

Between the 1840s and 1860s, settlers from New England, New York and Germany arrived in Wisconsin. Some of them brought radical political ideas to the state. In the 1850s, stop-overs on the underground railroad were set up in the state and abolitionist groups were formed. Some abolitionist and free-soil activists left the Whig and Democratic parties, running and in some cases being elected as candidates of the Liberty Party and Free Soil Party. The most successful such group was the Republican Party. On March 20, 1854, the first county meeting of the Republican Party of the United States, consisting of about thirty people, was held in the Little White Schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisconsin. Ripon claims to be the birthplace of the Republican Party, as does Jackson, Michigan, where the first statewide convention was held. The new party absorbed most of the former Free Soil and Liberty Party members.

 

A notable instance of abolitionism in Wisconsin was the rescue of Joshua Glover, an escaped slave from St. Louis who sought refuge in Racine, Wisconsin in 1852. He was caught in 1854 by federal marshals and put in a jail at Cathedral Square in Milwaukee, where he waited to be returned to his owner. A mob of 5,000 people led by Milwaukee abolitionist Sherman Booth, himself a "Yankee" transplant from rural New York, sprung Glover from jail and helped him escape to Canada via the underground railroad.

 

In the 1850s, two-thirds of immigrants to Wisconsin came from the eastern United States, the other one-third being foreign-born. The majority of the foreign born were German immigrants. Many Irish and Norwegian immigrants also came to Wisconsin in the 1850s. Northern Europeans, many of whom were persecuted in their home countries because of their support for the failed bourgeois Revolutions of 1848, often chose Wisconsin because of the liberal constitution of human rights such as the state's unusual recognition of immigrants' right to vote and rights to citizenship.

 

Yankee settlers from New England started arriving in Wisconsin in the 1830s spread throughout the southern half of the territory. They dominated early politics. Most of them started as farmers, but the larger proportion moved to towns and cities as entrepreneurs, businessmen and professionals.

 

Historian John Bunker has examined the worldview of the Yankee settlers in the Wisconsin:

 

Because they arrived first and had a strong sense of community and mission, Yankees were able to transplant New England institutions, values, and mores, altered only by the conditions of frontier life. They established a public culture that emphasized the work ethic, the sanctity of private property, individual responsibility, faith in residential and social mobility, practicality, piety, public order and decorum, reverence for public education, activists, honest, and frugal government, town meeting democracy, and he believed that there was a public interest that transcends particular and stick ambitions. Regarding themselves as the elect and just in a world rife with sin, air, and corruption, they felt a strong moral obligation to define and enforce standards of community and personal behavior....This pietistic worldview was substantially shared by British, Scandinavian, Swiss, English-Canadian and Dutch Reformed immigrants, as well as by German Protestants and many of the "Forty-Niners."

 

The color guard of the Wisconsin 8th Infantry with Old Abe

Wisconsin enrolled 91,379 soldiers in the Union Army during the American Civil War. 272 of enlisted Wisconsin troops were African American, with the rest being white. Of these, 3,794 were killed in action or mortally wounded, 8,022 died of disease, and 400 were killed in accidents. The total mortality was 12,216 men, about 13.4 percent of total enlistments. Many soldiers trained at Camp Randall currently the site of the University of Wisconsin's athletic stadium.

 

The draft implemented by President Lincoln in 1862 was unpopular in some Wisconsin communities, particularly among German and Luxembourgish immigrants. In November 1862, draft riots broke out in Milwaukee, Port Washington, and West Bend, which were quelled by deploying U.S. troops in the cities.

 

Most Wisconsin troops served in the western theater, although several Wisconsin regiments fought in the east, such as the 2nd Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment, 6th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment, and 7th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment, which formed part of the Iron Brigade. These three regiments fought in the Northern Virginia Campaign, the Maryland Campaign, the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Battle of Chancellorsville, the Gettysburg Campaign, the Battle of Mine Run, the Overland Campaign, the Siege of Petersburg, and the Appomattox Campaign.

 

The 8th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment, which fought in the western theater of war, is also worthy of mention, having fought at the Battle of Iuka, the Siege of Vicksburg, the Red River Campaign, and the Battle of Nashville. The 8th Wisconsin is also known for its mascot, Old Abe.

 

Agriculture was a major component of the Wisconsin economy during the 19th century. Wheat was a primary crop on early Wisconsin farms. In fact, during the mid 19th century, Wisconsin produced about one sixth of the wheat grown in the United States. However, wheat rapidly depleted nutrients in the soil, especially nitrogen, and was vulnerable to insects, bad weather, and wheat leaf rust. In the 1860s, chinch bugs arrived in Wisconsin and damaged wheat across the state. As the soil lost its quality and prices dropped, the practice of wheat farming moved west into Iowa and Minnesota. Some Wisconsin farmers responded by experimenting with crop rotation and other methods to restore the soil's fertility, but a larger number turned to alternatives to wheat.

 

In parts of northern Wisconsin, farmers cultivated cranberries and in a few counties in south central Wisconsin, farmers had success growing tobacco, but the most popular replacement for wheat was dairy farming. As wheat fell out of favor, many Wisconsin farmers started raising dairy cattle and growing feed crops, which were better suited to Wisconsin's climate and soil. One reason for the popularity of dairy farming was that many of Wisconsin's farmers had come to the state from New York, the leading producer of dairy products at the time. In addition, many immigrants from Europe brought an extensive knowledge of cheese making. Dairying was also promoted by the University of Wisconsin–Madison's school of agriculture, which offered education to dairy farmers and researched ways to produce better dairy products. The first test of butterfat content in milk was developed at the university, which allowed for consistency in the quality of butter and cheese. By 1899, over ninety percent of Wisconsin farms raised dairy cows and by 1915, Wisconsin had become the leading producer of dairy products in the United States, a position it held until the 1990s. The term America's Dairyland appeared in newspapers as early as 1913 when the state's butterfat production became first in the nation. In 1939 the state legislature enacted a bill to add the slogan to the state's automobile license plates. It continues to be the nation's largest producer of cheese, no longer focusing on the raw material (milk) but rather the value-added products. Because of this, Wisconsin continues to promote itself as "America's Dairyland", Wisconsinites are referred to as cheeseheads in some parts of the country, including Wisconsin, and foam cheesehead hats are associated with Wisconsin and its NFL team, the Green Bay Packers.

 

The first brewery in Wisconsin was opened in 1835 in Mineral Point by brewer John Phillips. A year later, he opened a second brewery in Elk Grove. In 1840, the first brewery in Milwaukee was opened by Richard G. Owens, William Pawlett, and John Davis, all Welsh immigrants. By 1860, nearly 200 breweries operated in Wisconsin, more than 40 of them in Milwaukee. The huge growth in the brewing industry can be accredited, in part, to the influx of German immigrants to Wisconsin in the 1840s and 1850s. Milwaukee breweries also grew in volume due to the destruction of Chicago's breweries during the great Chicago fire. In the second half of the 19th century, four of the largest breweries in the United States opened in Milwaukee: Miller Brewing Company, Pabst Brewing Company, Valentin Blatz Brewing Company, and Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company. In the 20th century Pabst absorbed Blatz and Schlitz, and moved its brewery and corporate headquarters to California. Miller continues to operate in Milwaukee. The Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company opened in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin in 1867 and continues to operate there to this day.

 

Agriculture was not viable in the densely forested northern and central parts of Wisconsin. Settlers came to this region for logging. The timber industry first set up along the Wisconsin River. Rivers were used to transport lumber from where the wood was being cut, to the sawmills. Sawmills in cities like Wausau and Stevens Point sawed the lumber into boards that were used for construction. The Wolf River also saw considerable logging by industrious Menominee. The Black and Chippewa Rivers formed a third major logging region. That area was dominated by one company owned by Frederick Weyerhaeuser. The construction of railroads allowed loggers to log year round, after rivers froze, and go deeper into the forests to cut down previously unshippable wood supplies. Wood products from Wisconsin's forests such as doors, furniture, beams, shipping boxes, and ships were made in industrial cities with connects to the Wisconsin lumber industry such as Chicago, Milwaukee, Sheboygan, and Manitowoc. Milwaukee and Manitowoc were centers for commercial ship building in Wisconsin. Many cargo ships built in these communities were used to transport lumber from logging ports to major industrial cities. Later a growing paper industry in the Fox River Valley made use of wood pulp from the state's lumber industry.

 

Logging was a dangerous trade, with high accident rates. On October 8, 1871, the Peshtigo Fire burned 1,875 square miles (4,850 km2) of forest land around the timber industry town of Peshtigo, Wisconsin, killing between 1,200 and 2,500 people. It was the deadliest fire in United States history.

 

From the 1870s to the 1890s, much of the logging in Wisconsin was done by immigrants from Scandinavia.

 

By the beginning of the twentieth century, logging in Wisconsin had gone into decline. Many forests had been cleared and never replanted and large corporations in the Pacific Northwest took business away from the Wisconsin industry. The logging companies sold their land to immigrants and out of work lumberjacks who hoped to turn the acres of pine stumps into farms, but few met with success.

 

Wisconsin is known in the 18th century to have discovered gold deposits in western Wisconsin. Such discoveries occurred around the town of St. Croix Falls where a settler stumbled across a gold nugget valued to be worth lots at the time. It's no surprise Wisconsin's western region was once the site of volcanic eruptions so it makes sense that minerals that weren't commonly found in other parts of the state would be present here.

 

Wisconsin was a regional and national model for innovation and organization in the Progressive Era in the early 20th century. The direct primary law of 1904 made it possible to mobilize voters against the previously dominant political machines. The first factors involved the La Follette family going back and forth between trying control of the Republican Party and third-party activity. Secondly the Wisconsin idea, of intellectuals and planners based at the University of Wisconsin shaping government policy. LaFollette started as a traditional Republican in the 1890s, where he fought against populism and other radical movements. He broke decisively with the state Republican leadership, and took control of the party by 1900, all the time quarrelling endlessly with ex-allies.

 

Wisconsin at this time was a de facto one party state, as the Democratic Party was then a minor conservative group in the state. Serious opposition more often than not came from the Socialist Party, with a strong German and union constituency in Milwaukee. The socialists often collaborated with the progressive Republicans in statewide politics. Senator Robert M. La Follette tried to use his national reputation to challenge President Taft for the Republican nomination in 1912. However, as soon as Roosevelt declared his candidacy, most of La Follette's supporters switched to the former president. During the Wilson administration he supported many of Wilson's domestic programs in Congress, however he strongly opposed Wilson's foreign policy, and mobilized the large German and Scandinavian populations in Wisconsin to demand neutrality during World War I. During the final years of his career, he split with the Republican Party and ran an independent campaign for president in 1924. In his bid for the presidency he won 1/6 of the national popular vote, but was only able to win his home state.

 

Following his death, his two sons assumed control of the Wisconsin Republican Party after a brief period of intraparty factional disputes. Following in their father's footsteps they helped form the Wisconsin Progressive Party, in many ways a spiritual successor to the party La Follette had founded in 1924. The party surged to popularity during the mid-1930s off of the inaction of the moderately conservative Schmedeman administration, and were able to gain the support of then president Franklin D. Roosevelt. Much of the new party's support could be owed to the personalities leading it, and the support of Roosevelt and progressive Democrats. The party saw success across Wisconsin's elected offices in the state and congress. Despite its popularity the party eventually declined as Philip, engulfed in scandal and accusations of authoritarianism and fiscal responsibility, lost re-election for the final time in 1938. Following this defeat Philip left electoral politics and joined World War II in the Pacific Theater. Due to joining the war, the National Progressives of America, an organization the La Follettes had hoped would precede a national realignment, faltered. Both organizations began to tear themselves apart as La Follette's absence led to vicious intraparty fighting which ultimately led to a vote to dissolve itself, which Philip was told to stay away from.

 

The Wisconsin Idea was the commitment of the University of Wisconsin under President Charles R. Van Hise, with LaFollette support, to use the university's powerful intellectual resources to develop practical progressive reforms for the state and indeed for the nation.

 

Between 1901 and 1911, Progressive Republicans in Wisconsin created the nation's first comprehensive statewide primary election system, the first effective workplace injury compensation law, and the first state income tax, making taxation proportional to actual earnings. The key leaders were Robert M. La Follette and (in 1910) Governor Francis E. McGovern. However, in 1912 McGovern supported Roosevelt for president and LaFollette was outraged. He made sure the next legislature defeated the governor's programs, and that McGovern was defeated in his bid for the Senate in 1914. The Progressive movement split into hostile factions. Some was based on personalities—especially La Follette's style of violent personal attacks against other Progressives, and some was based on who should pay, with the division between farmers (who paid property taxes) and the urban element (which paid income taxes). This disarray enabled the conservatives (called "Stalwarts") to elect Emanuel Philipp as governor in 1914. The Stalwart counterattack said the Progressives were too haughty, too beholden to experts, too eager to regulate, and too expensive. Economy and budget cutting was their formula.

 

During World War I, due to the neutrality of Wisconsin and many Wisconsin Republicans, progressives, and German immigrants which made up 30 to 40 percent of the state population, Wisconsin would gain the nickname "Traitor State" which was used by many "hyper patriots".

 

As the war raged on in Europe, Robert M. La Follette, leader of the anti-war movement in Wisconsin, led a group of progressive senators in blocking a bill by president Woodrow Wilson which would have armed merchant ships with guns. Many Wisconsin politicians such as Governor Phillipp and senator Irvine Lernroot were accused of having divided loyalties. Even with outspoken opponents to the war, at the onset of the war many Wisconsinites would abandon neutrality. Businesses, labor and farms all enjoyed prosperity from the war. With over 118,000 going into military service, Wisconsin was the first state to report for four national drafts conducted by the U.S. military.

 

The progressive Wisconsin Idea promoted the use of the University of Wisconsin faculty as intellectual resources for state government, and as guides for local government. It promoted expansion of the university through the UW-Extension system to reach all the state's farming communities. University economics professors John R. Commons and Harold Groves enabled Wisconsin to create the first unemployment compensation program in the United States in 1932. Other Wisconsin Idea scholars at the university generated the plan that became the New Deal's Social Security Act of 1935, with Wisconsin expert Arthur J. Altmeyer playing the key role. The Stalwarts counterattacked by arguing if the university became embedded in the state, then its internal affairs became fair game, especially the faculty preference for advanced research over undergraduate teaching. The Stalwarts controlled the Regents, and their interference in academic freedom outraged the faculty. Historian Frederick Jackson Turner, the most famous professor, quit and went to Harvard.

 

Wisconsin took part in several political extremes in the mid to late 20th century, ranging from the anti-communist crusades of Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s to the radical antiwar protests at UW-Madison that culminated in the Sterling Hall bombing in August 1970. The state became a leader in welfare reform under Republican Governor Tommy Thompson during the 1990s. The state's economy also underwent further transformations towards the close of the 20th century, as heavy industry and manufacturing declined in favor of a service economy based on medicine, education, agribusiness, and tourism.

 

In 2011, Wisconsin became the focus of some controversy when newly elected governor Scott Walker proposed and then successfully passed and enacted 2011 Wisconsin Act 10, which made large changes in the areas of collective bargaining, compensation, retirement, health insurance, and sick leave of public sector employees, among other changes. A series of major protests by union supporters took place that year in protest to the changes, and Walker survived a recall election held the next year, becoming the first governor in United States history to do so. Walker enacted other bills promoting conservative governance, such as a right-to-work law, abortion restrictions, and legislation removing certain gun controls. Walker's administration also made critical changes to Wisconsin's election process, enacting one of the most aggressive legislative gerrymanders in the country and replacing Wisconsin's nonpartisan state elections board with a commission of political appointees. When Walker lost re-election in 2018, he collaborated with the gerrymandered Republican legislature to strip powers from the incoming Governor and Attorney General. Since 2011, Wisconsin has seen increasing governmental dysfunction and paralysis, as the durable gerrymander insulated the legislature from electoral consequences.

 

Following the election of Tony Evers as governor in 2018, Wisconsin has seen a string of liberal victories at every level of government which have slowly chipped away at the conservative dominance within the state. This eventually led to the Wisconsin supreme court overturning the Walker-era legislative gerrymander in Clarke v. Wisconsin Elections Commission.

Renault, along with Chrysler, was one of the first manufacturers to widely market a 'minivan' in the early 1980s. Those initial designs placed an emphasis on practicality, with the result being a slightly duller appearance for the vehicles when compared to modern cars. That said, the Espace I, introduced in 1984 and updated in 1988, had a futuristic look for its time with a sloping greenhouse that aided forward visibility. The Espace, like its Chrysler counterpart, remains in production all these years later as the Espace V.

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