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Karlu Karlu, also known as Karlwekarlwe or Devil's Marbles, is a holy site of Aborigines (more precisely of the Kayeteye, the Whyungu, the Anmatyerre and the Alyawarre) in the Australian desert. It is located about 100 kilometers south of Tennant Creek in Northern Territory in Central Australia (Red Center). The area includes a few thousand round granite rocks.
The meaning of the term Karlu Karlu is a round object. For the Aboriginals, however, the name includes more than a simple description of the situation. After your tradition, the rocks around the eggs of the rainbow snake are from the dreamtime. The site therefore plays a very important role in the ceremonies and legends of the indigenous people. In most associated rituals and stories, it is a secret knowledge that is not made accessible outer. It is known, however, that the indigenous people are convinced that beings live in the caves under stones from the dream time.
Read more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/arlu_karlu
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Karlu Karlu, auch bekannt als Karlwekarlwe oder Devil’s Marbles (engl. Murmeln des Teufels), ist eine heilige Stätte der Aborigines (genauer der Kaytetye, der Warumungu, der Anmatyerre und der Alyawarre) in der australischen Wüste. Sie liegt etwa 100 Kilometer südlich des Ortes Tennant Creek im Northern Territory in Zentralaustralien (Red Centre). Das Gebiet umfasst einige tausend runde Granitfelsen.
Die Bedeutung des Begriffs Karlu Karlu ist rundes Objekt. Für die Aborigines umfasst der Name aber mehr als eine einfache Beschreibung der Sachlage. Nach ihrer Überlieferung handelt es sich bei den Felsen um die Eier der Regenbogenschlange aus der Traumzeit. Die Stätte spielt daher in den Zeremonien und Legenden der Ureinwohner eine sehr große Rolle. Bei den meisten damit in Verbindung stehenden Ritualen und Geschichten handelt es sich um geheimes Wissen, welches Außenstehenden nicht zugänglich gemacht wird. Bekannt ist jedoch, dass die Ureinwohner davon überzeugt sind, dass Wesen aus der Traumzeit in den Höhlen unter Steinen wohnen.
Mehr lesen: de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karlu_Karlu
ENGLISH :
... and more precisely the diversity and wealth of pre-Columbian cultures that successively inhabited this continent.
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin
Dublin (Irish: Baile Átha Cliath) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. It is on the east coast of Ireland, in the province of Leinster, at the mouth of the River Liffey, and is bordered on the south by the Wicklow Mountains. It has an urban area population of 1,173,179, while the population of the Dublin Region (formerly County Dublin), as of 2016, was 1,347,359, and the population of the Greater Dublin area was 1,904,806.
There is archaeological debate regarding precisely where Dublin was established by the Gaels in or before the 7th century AD. Later expanded as a Viking settlement, the Kingdom of Dublin, the city became Ireland's principal settlement following the Norman invasion. The city expanded rapidly from the 17th century and was briefly the second largest city in the British Empire before the Acts of Union in 1800. Following the partition of Ireland in 1922, Dublin became the capital of the Irish Free State, later renamed Ireland.
Dublin is a historical and contemporary centre for education, the arts, administration and industry. As of 2018 the city was listed by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) as a global city, with a ranking of "Alpha −", which places it amongst the top thirty cities in the world.
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Guinness
Arthur Guinness (24 September 1725 – 23 January 1803) was an Irish brewer and the founder of the Guinness brewery business and family. He was also an entrepreneur and philanthropist.
At 27, in 1752, Guinness's godfather Arthur Price, the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Cashel, bequeathed him £100 in his will. Guinness invested the money and in 1755 had a brewery at Leixlip, just 17 km from Dublin. In 1759, Guinness went to the city and set up his own business. He took a 9,000-year lease on the 4-acre (16,000 m2) brewery at St. James's Gate from the descendants of Sir Mark Rainsford for an annual rent of £45.
Guinness's flowery red signature is still copied on every label of bottled Guinness.
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinness_Storehouse
Guinness Storehouse is a tourist attraction at St. James's Gate Brewery in Dublin, Ireland. Since opening in 2000, it has received over four million visitors.
The Storehouse covers seven floors surrounding a glass atrium shaped in the form of a pint of Guinness. The ground floor introduces the beer's four ingredients (water, barley, hops and yeast), and the brewery's founder, Arthur Guinness. Other floors feature the history of Guinness advertising and include an interactive exhibit on responsible drinking. The seventh floor houses the Gravity Bar with views of Dublin and where visitors may drink a pint of Guinness included in the price of admission, which was €18.50 on 15 October 2018 with discounts depending on dates and times, described as "overpriced" by Condé Nast Traveler. In 2006, a new wing opened incorporating a live installation of the present-day brewing process.
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinness_Brewery
St. James's Gate Brewery (Irish: Grúdlann Gheata Naomh Séamuis) is a brewery founded in 1759 in Dublin, Ireland, by Arthur Guinness. The company is now a part of Diageo, a British company formed from the merger of Guinness and Grand Metropolitan in 1997. The main product of the brewery is Guinness Draught.
Originally leased in 1759 to Arthur Guinness at IR£45 (Irish pounds) per year for 9,000 years, the St. James's Gate area has been the home of Guinness ever since. It became the largest brewery in Ireland in 1838, and the largest in the world by 1886, with an annual output of 1.2 million barrels. Although no longer the largest brewery in the world, it remains as the largest brewer of stout. The company has since bought out the originally leased property, and during the 19th and early 20th centuries the brewery owned most of the buildings in the surrounding area, including many streets of housing for brewery employees, and offices associated with the brewery. The brewery also made all of its own power using its own power plant.
There is an attached exhibition on the 250-year-old history of Guinness, called the Guinness Storehouse.
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinness
Guinness is a dark Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in 1759. It is one of the most successful beer brands worldwide, brewed in almost 50 countries, and available in over 120. Sales in 2011 amounted to 850 million litres (220,000,000 US gal). It is popular with the Irish, both in Ireland and abroad. In spite of declining consumption since 2001, it is still the best-selling alcoholic drink in Ireland where Guinness & Co. Brewery makes almost €2 billion worth annually.
Guinness' burnt flavour derives from malted barley and roasted unmalted barley, a relatively modern development, not becoming part of the grist until the mid-20th century. For many years, a portion of aged brew was blended with freshly brewed beer to give a sharp lactic acid flavour. Although Guinness's palate still features a characteristic "tang", the company has refused to confirm whether this type of blending still occurs. The draught beer's thick, creamy head comes from mixing the beer with nitrogen and carbon dioxide.[6]
The company moved its headquarters to London at the beginning of the Anglo-Irish Trade War in 1932. In 1997, Guinness Plc merged with Grand Metropolitan to form the multinational alcoholic-drinks producer Diageo plc, based out of London.
Südafrika - Kleine Karoo
Red Stone Hills
Sunset - Sonnenuntergang
The Karoo (/kəˈruː/ kə-ROO; from a Khoikhoi word, possibly garo "desert") is a semi-desert natural region of South Africa. There is no exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo, and therefore its extent is also not precisely defined. The Karoo is partly defined by its topography, geology and climate — above all, its low rainfall, arid air, cloudless skies, and extremes of heat and cold. The Karoo also hosted a well-preserved ecosystem hundreds of million years ago which is now represented by many fossils.
The Karoo is sharply divided into the Great Karoo and the Little Karoo by the Swartberg Mountain Range, which runs east-west, parallel to the southern coastline, but is separated from the sea by another east-west range called the Outeniqua –Langeberg Mountains. The Great Karoo lies to the north of the Swartberg range; the Little Karoo is to the south of it.
The Little Karoo is separated from the Great Karoo by the Swartberg Mountain range. Geographically, it is a 290 km long valley, only 40–60 km wide, formed by two parallel Cape Fold Mountain ranges, the Swartberg to the north, and the continuous Langeberg-Outeniqua range to the south. The northern strip of the valley, within 10–20 km from the foot of the Swartberg mountains is most un-karoo-like, in that it is a well watered area both from the rain, and the many streams that cascade down the mountain, or through narrow defiles in the Swartberg from the Great Karoo. The main towns of the region are situated along this northern strip of the Little Karoo: Montagu, Barrydale, Ladismith, Calitzdorp, Oudtshoorn and De Rust, as well as such well-known mission stations such as Zoar, Amalienstein, and Dysselsdorp.
The southern 30–50 km wide strip, north of the Langeberg range is as arid as the western Lower Karoo, except in the east, where the Langeberg range (arbitrarily) starts to be called the Outeniqua Mountains.
The Little Karoo can only be accessed by road through the narrow defiles cut through the surrounding Cape Fold Mountains by ancient, but still flowing rivers. A few roads traverse the mountains over passes, the most famous and impressive of which is the Swartberg Pass between Oudtshoorn in the Little Karoo and Prince Albert on the other side of the Swartberg mountains in the Great Karoo. There is also the main road between Oudtshoorn and George, on the coastal plain, that crosses the mountains to the south via the Outeniqua Pass. The only exit from the Little Karoo that does not involve crossing a mountain range is through the 150 km long, narrow Langkloof valley between Uniondale and Humansdorp, near Plettenberg Bay.
(Wikipedia)
Die Karoo (auch Karroo, früher Karru; Khoisan für Halbwüste) ist eine Halbwüstenlandschaft in den Hochebenen des Landes Südafrika, nördlich der Großen Randstufe und im südlichen Namibia. Unterschieden werden Kleine Karoo, Große Karoo und Obere Karoo sowie Sukkulentenkaroo und Nama-Karoo. Mit einer Ausdehnung von 500.000 km² umfasst die Karoo fast ein Drittel des Territoriums Südafrikas. Die Sukkulentenkaroo gehört zu den Biodiversitäts-Hotspots der Erde und wird u. a. im Rahmen von BIOTA AFRICA systematisch kartiert.
Der Name Karoo kommt von kurú (trocken) aus der Sprache der San, die einst hier lebten und jagten. In Hinsicht auf die geographische Ausdehnung des Karoo-Begriffs sind die folgenden Teilaspekte zu beachten und voneinander zu unterscheiden.
Die Karoo als Landschaft im traditionellen Verständnis ist eine südafrikanische Trockenregion innerhalb der Provinzen Westkap, Ostkap und Nordkap sowie im Süden Namibias. Ihre spezifische kapländische Strauchvegetation weist sie als Halbwüste aus. Ursprünglich wird in zwei Regionen unterschieden: Große Karoo und Kleine Karoo.
Die Große Karoo besitzt eine West-Ost-Ausdehnung von über 750 Kilometern und eine Nord-Süd-Ausdehnung von etwa 110 Kilometern. Sie wird im Westen vom Massiv der Zederberge und im Osten durch die Winterberge begrenzt. Im Norden bilden die Bergketten vom Roggeveld-, Koms-, Nuweveldberge und Sneeuberg und im Süden die Höhenzüge der Witteberge, Groot Swartberge und die Groot Winterhoek die natürliche Begrenzung.
Südlich dieser Region schließt sich die Kleine Karoo an. Diese wird wiederum an ihrer südlichen Flanke von den küstennahen Langebergen und Outeniqua-Bergen begrenzt.
Anders als in dieser traditionellen Gliederung, wird die Karoo heute nach ökologischen Gesichtspunkten in einen östlichen Teil, die Nama-Karoo, und einen westlichen Teil, die Sukkulenten-Karoo, gegliedert, wobei auch die Gesamtausdehnung der Karoo nach diesem Konzept von jener der traditionellen Betrachtungsweise abweicht.
(Wikipedia)
Die Little Karoo (englisch, auf Afrikaans Klein Karoo) ist eine Region in der Western Cape Provinz in Südafrika.
Durch die Little Karoo zieht sich die Route 62.
Die Klein Karoo ist ein halbwüstenartiger Landstrich, der zwischen den Swartbergen im Norden und den Outeniqua-Bergen im Süden liegt. Die Gegend ist fruchtbar und nicht ganz so trocken wie die nördlich anschließende Große Karoo. Die Kleine Karoo ist bekannt für die Straußenzucht, allein in der Umgebung von Oudtshoorn gibt es angeblich über 400 Betriebe, landwirtschaftliche Nutztiere der Region sind auch Schafe und Angoraziegen.
Die Kleine Karoo ist das östlichste Weinbaugebiet Südafrikas. Muskatweine, Portweine und Desertweine gedeihen in dem recht trockenen Klima, ein Teil des Weines wird zu Brandy verarbeitet. Auch das hier angebaute Obst wird teilweise zu Schnaps verarbeitet, man bekommt aber auch überall recht preisgünstig getrocknete Früchte.
(wikivoyage.org)
The Olympics begin today! I am excited. I love the Olympic games, or maybe more precisely, I love the idea that the Olympic Games embody. The rarity of the opportunity that the games bring for ordinary people to perform in extraordinary circumstances. The chance for countries that don't normally grab headlines to shine (think Kenya, Jamaica, South Africa).
I know. Many shrug off the Olympics or take a jaded, cynical approach to it. I don't completely disagree. I don't care much for the commercialization of the Olympics, or the media coverage of it. But you strip that away and get down to what the Olympics are really about - people - and I am enthralled. Can you imagine, training your whole life for this one opportunity, and in many cases, it really is just one chance. I remember growing up watching Dan Jansen fail.... and then succeed. I watched Michael Johnson, in a blur of gold... win gold. I saw Michael Phelps set Olympic history in stunning fashion. There was the excitement of nearly hometown girl, Mariel Zagunis winning gold too. This year will add Oscar Pistorius running in the Olympics (not the Paralympics) with no legs. There is Kerri Strug, Rulon Gardner, Eric "The Eel", Derek Redmond, Antonio Rebolloto (the archer who ignited the Olympic cauldron to start the Barcelona games). And these are just a few of the memories the Olympics have given me over my life.
Twice now I have been in cities in the months just prior to the Olympics, though I have yet to actually attend an Olympics personally. Even months before the games begin, there is an anticipation, a sense of energy that is prevalent just walking around. Someday I hope to attend a games (the winter Olympics given my choice). But for now, I am content to sit half a world away cheering and rooting for hundreds and thousands of ordinary people I don't know who are in the process of doing something extraordinary.
Long tongue, long antennae, long-horned bee, Eucera longicornis. A European (or more precisely Eurasian) lover of legumes and things for which a long tongue makes sense to use upon. I look at distribution maps of bees like these and wonder about exactly how many of these bees emerge each year. Photo: James Poindexter II. Collector: T. Peeters. Collected in the Netherlands
Photo license: CC-BY-SA. This photo can be reused as you wish. When doing so, please credit the creator (USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab) and the source (Naturalis Biodiversity Center) and adaptations must be shared under the same terms.
The specimen in this photo is provided by Naturalis Biodiversity Center in The Netherlands. For inquiries please contact: Frederique Bakker, email: frederique.bakker@naturalis.nl.
This image is part of the photo series ‘Cool bees of The Netherlands’. For more information: marten.schoonman@naturalis.nl
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All photographs are public domain, feel free to download and use as you wish.
Photography Information:
Canon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, Stackshot Sled, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash in Styrofoam Cooler, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200
We Are Made One with What We Touch and See
We are resolved into the supreme air,
We are made one with what we touch and see,
With our heart's blood each crimson sun is fair,
With our young lives each spring impassioned tree
Flames into green, the wildest beasts that range
The moor our kinsmen are, all life is one, and all is change.
- Oscar Wilde
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Want some Useful Links to the Techniques We Use? Well now here you go Citizen:
Best over all technical resource for photo stacking:
Art Photo Book: Bees: An Up-Close Look at Pollinators Around the World:
www.amazon.com/Bees-Up-Close-Pollinators-Around-World/dp/...
Free Field Guide to Bee Genera of Maryland:
bio2.elmira.edu/fieldbio/beesofmarylandbookversion1.pdf
Basic USGSBIML set up:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-_yvIsucOY
USGSBIML Photoshopping Technique: Note that we now have added using the burn tool at 50% opacity set to shadows to clean up the halos that bleed into the black background from "hot" color sections of the picture.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdmx_8zqvN4
Bees of Maryland Organized by Taxa with information on each Genus
www.flickr.com/photos/usgsbiml/collections
PDF of Basic USGSBIML Photography Set Up:
Google Hangout Demonstration of Techniques:
plus.google.com/events/c5569losvskrv2nu606ltof8odo
or
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c15neFttoU
Excellent Technical Form on Stacking:
Contact information:
Sam Droege
sdroege@usgs.gov
301 497 5840
Upon setting my eyes upon Grandfather I quickly drop down onto my left knee and kneel as he slowly approaches.
Damian: Master….
He says nothing, simply looking me in the eye with visible frustration on his face. It’s then that I realise my error and bow my head so that I look at the ground rather than at him. One may only gaze upon the Demon’s Head once permitted.
Ra’s Al-Ghul: Pick yourself up, the Demon's Heir should bow to no-one.
Without hesitation, I comply lifting myself slowly up off the ground but not taking my sight off the ground. He has not granted me that permission yet.
Kirigi: The cave is secure, Great One.
Ra’s Al-Ghul: And the motion sensors?
Kirigi: Activated precisely as you commanded.
Ra’s Al-Ghul: Good. See to it that our allies hold up to their part of our agreement.
Kirigi: Yes, master.
There’s then a long period of silence where all I can hear is the ventilation system refreshing the air in my cell. With my sight fixed down at the ground, I can’t see what signals Grandfather is doing but it’s clear that someone has drawn his attention to the other holding cells. The ones filled with the Santa Prisca mercenaries who helped me siege City Hall.
Ra’s Al-Ghul: Now what have we here?
Mercenary: El demonio!
Ra’s Al-Ghul: Peña Duro escapees. How unexpected.
Again, silence. But it quickly becomes clear that he is communicating with someone and there’s only one person in the League who never speaks. Nyssa.
Ra’s Al-Ghul: Yes, they might be.
She’s clearly pointed out the mercenaries to him and is now asking whether he is contemplating using them against Bruce and his allies.
Ra’s Al-Ghul: No. Disciples of Bane are of no use to me especially after what they did to my prison. You know what to do.
Purge the weak. Nyssa doesn’t even have to say a thing for me to know exactly what is meant. It takes merely a few seconds for the calm silence to descend into chaotic screams as she cuts them down one by one. The speed with which she silences them all is terrifying, but I expect no less from the Disgraced.
Having been removed from the Demon’s lineage, she’s little more than the sword she wields.
After the last mercenary falls silent, I hear two sets of footsteps approach my cell at a slow pace.
Once again, there’s a small period of complete silence which feels like eternity, but it becomes clear what’s being said when Grandfather responds.
Ra’s Al-Ghul: It would appear so. Curious that we happen to find both him and followers of Bane in the same cell.
…..
Ra’s Al-Ghul: No, they’ve not been dead long. At best I’d say they’ve been dead fifteen minutes if not less.
…..
Ra’s Al-Ghul: No. He’s ambitious but he’s loyal. A pity the same cannot be said of his parents.
……
Ra’s Al-Ghul: Move to phase 2. If we’ve not heard from Ubu then it can only mean that they’ve overcome the first hurdle. Go to the police department and show them what becomes of those who side with enemies of the League.
I hear the sound of footsteps as Nyssa presumably walks away to set the next part of Grandfather’s plan in motion. Just what does he have planned for all of Bruce’s followers? Hopefully it’s something painful.
Grandfather says nothing until the footsteps fade away and we're seemingly alone. But when he does speak, the disappointment in his voice in unmistakable.
Ra’s Al-Ghul: I must admit, I expected better of you, Damian.
For a brief moment I raise my head to look at him only to be reprimanded.
Ra’s Al-Ghul: Did I say you could raise your head?
As soon as he makes that comment, I immediately bow my head to look at the ground again. He’s very displeased with my failure.
Damian: Forgive me, Great One.
Ra’s Al-Ghul: You would do well to remember your place, boy. Your father had little respect for decorum either and look where he’s ended up.
I say nothing choosing simply to keep my eyes fixed on the ground.
Ra’s Al-Ghul: Did you underestimate him?
Damian: No, Master.
Ra’s Al-Ghul: Then why are you in here? Too much pride? Too much arrogance? You may be my heir, Damian, but that does not make you infallible. You of all people should know that.
Damian: I do, Grandfather.
Ra’s Al-Ghul: What did I say about calling me that?
Another consequence of Bruce's relationship with Mother. Grandfather now insists that the bond between master and apprentice is just that. One to wield the power and the other to learn it. Never should they be equals. For if they treat each as equals, the student may well corrupt the master and cause them to make a foolish mistake.
Nobody wants another Bruce Wayne.
Damian: Forgive me, Master.
He turns away from me and looks out into the open cave seemingly pondering his next move.
Ra’s Al-Ghul: So which was it? Pride? Or arrogance?
Damian: Both.
Ra’s Al-Ghul: Yes, I expected as much.
Once again, he says nothing. Choosing instead to look out upon the vast cave as if pondering his next actions.
Ra’s Al-Ghul: So, how was it?
Damian: How was what, Great One?
Ra’s Al-Ghul: Meeting your father.
Damian: Everything I dreamt of, and more.
Ra’s Al-Ghul: And what did you make of him?
Damian: He’s everything that you described and worse.
Ra’s Al-Ghul: Worse?
Damian: He believes that what he’s doing is for the greater good of this city. That….disgusts me…….He holds this city back from it's inevitable future and empowers the weak by preying on the strong. Not only is he weak, he’s stupid as well.
Ra’s Al-Ghul: Belief in one’s cause is not foolish, Damian. You would do well to remember that. It was that belief in his own actions which drew my attention to your father in the first place. Were it not for that, you wouldn’t be here today.
Fascinating. Never before have I heard Grandfather speak of Bruce in any semblance of a positive light. Whenever he’s spoken of him to me previously it’s always been about what a disappoint he was, and how he’s everything Grandfather wishes to eradicate. Maybe that was all intentional. A deliberate attempt by him to make me strive to be everything that Bruce is not.
Strong enough to take a life. Brave enough to do what is necessary. Kind enough to help liberate humanity from its self-imposed shackles.
Damian: I understand.
Without saying a word, Grandfather unsheathes his blade and slashes the control panel on my cell triggering the emergency release. As the door opens, I slowly walk up to him as he holsters his sword once more.
Ra’s Al-Ghul: Does your mother know?
Damian: Yes.
Ra’s Al-Ghul: *Sigh* She’ll never forgive me.
Damian: It had to be done.
Ra’s Al-Ghul: Maybe.
As we overlook what was once Bruce’s cave a small group of bats flies above us. Neither of us flinch, simply choosing to take in a pair of deep breaths. Much to my surprise though, after taking in that deep breath Grandfather suddenly starts to cough.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen him cough before. Understandably, he’s quick to correct and recompose himself. The League may demand loyalty to the Demon’s Head, but there has never been a time when it was clear that his death was inevitable. It’s a looming crisis without an heir to the title. That’s why Grandfather was determined to convince Bruce to take the mantle, and why he committed so much time and effort into preparing me for when the moment comes.
But unless I complete the final trial, and thus become a true member of the League, my claim to the title of Demon’s Head is no more credible than that of Bruce or Mother
.
Not wishing to offend Grandfather, I choose to say nothing and wait to be spoken to instead.
Ra’s Al-Ghul: Time is against us. We must move swiftly if your place is to be guaranteed.
Damian: Then we must find Wayne and destroy him.
Ra’s Al-Ghul: Do not worry, my child. Soon he will come to us.
Damian: How can you be so sure?
Ra’s Al-Ghul: I trained him well. He wouldn’t have abandoned you without taking precautions to alert him when you were liberated. Kirigi made sure to trip a few of this cave's motion sensors as we entered.
Damian: So that means….
Ra’s Al-Ghul: Your time is almost at hand. Are you prepared?
Damian: Yes, Master. I’ve been anticipating this day for a long time.
Ra’s Al-Ghul: As have I, Damian. As have I.
As we both stand looking out over the cave two of Grandfather’s followers approach carrying a large box. For a brief moment, I’m unaware of what it could possibly be. Then they open it to reveal the its contents.
The armour of the Crimson Knight.
Ra’s Al-Ghul: It is tradition for the Demon’s heir to wear the armour of the Crimson Knight into battle against his enemies. Let us hope that you deserve that title. Take your time. Ensure that you are prepared. I will not accept failure again, Grandson.
I’m taken by surprise to hear Grandfather refer to me with that name. For as long as I can remember he’s never used that name for me before and I quickly understand why.
With my heritage revealed, it’s likely that the eyes of the entire League now rest upon me. Failure has now become unacceptable. No heir of Ra’s Al-Ghul could possibly fail. So if I am to truly claim what is rightfully mine, I must complete my final trial.
I must kill my father, Bruce Wayne.
End of Act I
Châteauvieux (literally, “Old Castle”) is a very small village –a hamlet, really– incorporated since 1658 in the not much larger village of Yzeron, a few kilometers west of the city of Lyon. From that city, and more precisely from the venerable abbey of Ainay, came the Benedictine monks who built a small chapel in Châteauvieux, around Year 1000. It seems that it was never meant to be a priory, just a parochial church gifted by the abbey to a growing local Christian community.
I had heard a few years back about the chapel, dedicated to Saint John the Baptist and which had only been listed on the secondary list of Historic Landmarks in 1979. Considering the very old age of the monument, this late listing (and not even on the main list) seemed a bit strange, and I went to see it in 2020. It stood in a walled enclosure and all I could do was take a photograph over the wall where it was the lowest, and in a somewhat precarious position (I will post that old photo under the #1 picture in this series).
I returned to Châteauvieux in April 2025 in my capacity as pro bono photographer for the Fondation du Patrimoine, as the chapel needs restoration works largely exceeding the financial means of the village of Yzeron. Thus, the Fondation will launch a fundraising campaign and possibly also use some of its own resources to cover all or part of the cost. To document the monument in its “before” condition, I was granted full access and could see the inside for the first time.
The floor plan is very simply basilical, with a narrower, flat apse protruding at the eastern end. The flat apse, as well as the apparel, are indicative of early 11th century, perhaps even older. Inside, the ever-present long and thin arch stones also point in the same direction. The relieving arches along the side walls rest on massive square pillars of medium to large apparel, and many of them slant visibly —the camera was of course perfectly leveled, as always, before the photos were taken. Many parts of the walls (most notably in the apse, which is probably the oldest part) and all of the rib-vaulted ceilings are plastered or cemented over, which prevent us from reading the history of the monument in the stones.
The nave has this unmistakable look and feel of very old monuments. There is no decoration. Notice how most of the square pillars lean out from the weight of the vault.
I used a handheld Godox AD200 Pro II studio strobe, equipped with a round H200R head and a half-spherical diffuser, to provide additional lighting for this shot. The flash was set and triggered via a Godox X Pro II radio transmitter mounted on the camera, which was itself triggered via a Pixel Oppilas RW–221 radio remote, allowing me to walk around and pop the flash wherever it was needed.
No es precisamente un vals sino más bien una forma de vender coches. Confieso haber quedado impresionado. Mi coche no hace nada parecido. Pero no esperen que me pase por el concesionario. Mi sueldo no da para tanto.
Not precisely a waltz but another way to sell cars. I confess that I am impressed but... my salary does allow me such excentricities.
Me all of January tbh
• “Dark Heart” pose pack by OG, located at GOTHCORE
• “Aiko Set” by FLUID, located at KINKY EVENT ⛓️
• “Black Rose Nails” by LOVEHOLIC, located at their mainstore 💓
I bought a Hasselblad Xpan within days of them being launched and whilst the camera was really good for landscape/train-scape photography with its 65:24 aspect ratio (approximately 2 x 35mm frames combined), it wasn't the easiest camera in the world to use and the lens quality wasn't that great.
This is precisely the kind of shot that the Xpan was made for.
A pair of Canadian Pacific locos with an empty eastbound Sulphur working are captured crossing the CP bridge over the Fraser River at Cisco, British Columbia.
Hasselblad Xpan
30mm/F5.6
250/F8
Fuji Provia 100
A keypunch is a device for precisely punching holes into stiff paper cards at specific locations as determined by keys struck by a human operator. Other devices included here for that same function include the gang punch, the pantograph punch, and the stamp.
The unit record machines resulted in punched cards containing data to be processed by those machines. For computers equipped with a punched card input/output device the resulting punched cards were either data or programs directing the computer's operation.
Early keypunches were manual devices. Later keypunches were electromechanical devices which combined several functions in one unit. These often resembled small desks with keyboards similar to those on typewriters and were equipped with hoppers for blank cards and stackers for punched cards.
In many data processing applications, the punched cards were verified by keying exactly the same data a second time, checking to see if the second keying and the punched data were the same (known as two pass verification).
There was a great demand for keypunch operators, usually women, who worked full-time on keypunch and verifier machines, often in large keypunch departments with dozens or hundreds of other operators, all performing data input.
Growing up my mom worked as an operator and would bring home multi-colored card for me to play with.
"Precisely the least, the softest, the lightest, a lizard’s rustling, a breath, a wink, a blink of the eye – a little is the stuff of the best happiness."
Frederick Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra, 1893
This was an accidental find in one corner of a throw-away shot. Strictly SOOC apart from cropping and border. Maybe not worth saving, but it appealed in that moment.
Count Roger decided to build a temple to Saint George, his protector, in precisely the place where he won the battle against the Saracens in 1090. This explains the unusual choice of its peripheral location in respect to the town, much unlike most urbanised settings throughout the ages where the Mother Church is centrally positioned. Archaeological investigations have however revealed the sacredness of the area in times preceding the arrival of the Normans. The Church has three naves, with a series of chapels on the left hand side. Strong cylindrical and semi-octagonal pillars, with simple capitals, support pointed arches. Inside, the church boasts two precious Madonnas with Child and a marble statue of a holy Bishop in the Gagini style. The church suffered great damages during the 1968 earthquake.
Koothu (Tamil: கூத்து), and alternatively spelt as kuttu, means dance or performance in Tamil, it is a folk art originated from the early Tamil country.[1][2] But more precisely Koothu refers to Therukoothu (Tamil:தெருக்கூத்து) that is street dance or street play or street drama[3] since it will be performed in the village squares.[4] At early age the art of entertainment reached its peak in Tamil country.[5] Mentioned in the Sangam literatures about the development of iyal (literature), isai (music) and natagam (drama). More than entertainment, therukoothu educates the rural people about religion and their history.[6]
Koothu is an informal dance structure, the performances generally depict scenes from ancient epics like Ramayana, Mahabharatha and Tamil classical epics. There will be no dialogues instead only songs. Artists are trained to sing in their own voice and in a high pitch to reach entire crowd, since no technology available that time. The artists dressed up with complex heavy costumes and have a very bright elaborated makeup. They put on high towering head dress, sparkling shoulder plates and wide colorful skirts. Usually the whole trope will be played by males, even female characters also be performed by males.
Types of koothu[4] includes Nattu Koothu, Kuravai Koothu, and Valli Koorhu, which are of about the state and culture of different peoples in Tamil country; Samaya Koothu showcasing religious topics, Porkaala Koothu, Pei Koothu, Thunangai Koothu about martial arts and war of the country. Another important art form viz, Chakyar koothu is very popular in Kerala. There is mention of this koothu in Silapathikaram.
In early stage there was no proper institution or nattuvanar (teacher) for koothu. Now to encourage the dying art there are some workshops for koothu called koothu pattarai.
It is very popular among the rural areas and through ages it stand without any modern trace. But got spread out into most of south India, the early Tamil country now the modern day Karnatakka, Kerala.
Avatharam a Tamil movie which well portrays about the art.
The deity at the Thillai Nataraja Temple, Chidambaram is known from the Sangam period as "Thillai Koothan", the cosmic dancer of Thillai; the Sanskrit translation of this is Nataraja.
-WiKi
Now I actually cannot say with certainty precisely which of Sam's builds inspired this - probably the Lotus-esque one, but that's good enough for me, so take that copyright police!
IRL the cow horns do not exist in trans, but conversely the solid ones should match the non-trans front nicely. Meanwhile digital gives us all the freedom which I believe we oughta use as appropriate.
Monumento al emperador Nicolás I de Rusia
Fecha de construcción: (1856 – 1859)
Escultor: Piotr Clodt.
Arquitecto: Auguste Montferrand
El monumento al emperador ruso Nicolás I se alza majestuoso en el centro de la plaza de San Isaac de San Petersburgo (Rusia). Se trata de una estatua ecuestre.
El escultor Piotr Clodt, realizó un preciso cálculo matemático que le permitió utilizar solo dos puntos de apoyo para fijar el monumento.
Desde cualquier punto de la plaza puede percibirse perfectamente la silueta del grupo escultórico. La magistral ejecución de la estatua y el lugar bien escogido de la ubicación para el monumento, en el centro de la plaza de San Isaac, lo convierten en excelsa obra de la escultura monumental.
majocobe.blogspot.com/2010/11/monumento-al-emperador-nico...
The Monument to Nicholas I (Russian: Памятник Николаю I) is a bronze equestrian monument of Nicholas I of Russia on St Isaac's Square (in front of Saint Isaac's Cathedral) in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Created by French sculptor Auguste de Montferrand and unveiled on July 7 [O.S. June 25] , 1859, the six-meter statue was considered a technical wonder at the time of its creation. It is one of only a few bronze statues with only two support points (the rear hooves of the horse). Another example is the 1852 equestrian statue of U.S. President Andrew Jackson.
The Neo-Baroque monument to the Russian ruler Nicholas I was designed by the French-born architect Auguste de Montferrand in 1856. When he planned the registration of Saint Isaac's Square, the uniform architectural ensembles of the Palace Square (in 1843) and the Senate Square had already been finished (in 1849). Monuments to the emperors Peter I and Alexander I dominated these squares. By tradition, de Montferrand intended to construct a monument on the new site, to unite the buildings of different architectural styles already there.
At the personal request of his successor Alexander II, Nicholas was represented as a prancing knight, "in the military outfit in which the late tsar was most majestic". Around the base are allegorical statues modelled on Nicholas I's daughters and personifying virtues. The statue faces Saint Isaac's Cathedral, with the horse's posterior turned to the Mariinsky Palace of Nicholas's daughter, Grand Duchess Maria Nikolayevna of Russia. This was said to have caused the Grand Duchess considerable discomfort.
The monument also depicts the social activities of the emperor: Nicholas I was for many years the chief of the nearby Konnogvardejsky regiment. Elements of the city topography, the Konnogvardejsky parkway and Konnogvardejsky lane, and the Konnogvardejsky arena are combined with the Konnogvardejsky regiment uniform in which the emperor is dressed.
Soviet historians and critics considered it a 'composite-stylistic' monument because they thought its elements did not combine to form a uniform composition:
Contemporaries noticed that Peter the Great was the idol of Nicholas I who had in all things tried to imitate his glorious ancestor.
The ballerina Mathilde Kschessinska (1872–1971), who was a favourite of Nicholas II, was offered the Mariinsky Palace as a place of residence. She refused, with the rejoinder that two emperors had already turned away from an ill-fated building and Nicholas did not want to be the third to join them. By this reference to 'two emperors' Kschessinska meant the statues of the Bronze Horseman and the Monument to Nicholas I. Later similar rumours began to be attributed to the Grand Duchess Maria Nikolayevna of Russia. However this legend has been called into question because Maria actively participated in work on the monument.
Contemporaries have noticed that this monument is aligned with the statue of the Bronze Horseman, and is almost an identical distance from Saint Isaac's Cathedral. This juxtaposition has generated numerous jokes of the type "Kolya to Petia catches up, but Isaak's Cathedral disturbs!" Russian: Коля Петю догоняет, да Исакий мешает!
There is also a city legend, which claims that the day after the monument was unveiled, on a foot of the horse there was found a wooden tablet on which had been written: "you will not catch up!". On the basis of this legend in the 19th century in St. Petersburg there was a saying: "the Fool of the clever catches up, but the monument to it disturbs" Russian: Дурак умного догоняет, но памятник ему мешает!
Several different sculpture models were used in creating the monument. A large model of the horse which Nicholas I sits on was commissioned from the Tsar's favourite sculptor, Peter Klodt. The initial sketch created by it represented the horseman on easy standing game. The author planned by means of a mimicry and gestures to reflect character of the emperor, but this variant has been rejected of Monferran's for the reason that could not serve the primary purpose of association of spatial ensembles.
Klodt has created the new sketch in which it has represented a horse in the movement, leaning only on back pair feet. It is composite, the prompt pose of a horse is resisted by the smart figure of the emperor extended in a string. For an embodiment of this sketch the sculptor precisely calculated the weight of all horse figure that it stood, leaning only on two points of support. On Monferran's drawing sculptor Robert Salemann executed the monument's model "in 1/8 full sizes with all architectural parts and ornaments" (Russian: в 1/8 натуральной величины со всеми архитектурными частями и украшениями). This variant was accepted by the architect and the emperor, it is embodied in bronze; this model has remained and is in a museum of a city sculpture.
The monument's technical proficiency was cited as a reason why this statue — the only one from a cluster of outdoor sculptures representing 19th-century Russian royalty — survived the Soviet period virtually intact. However, a bronze fencing around the monument, first installed in 1860, was dismantled in 1940. During World War II the monument was covered by a case from the boards, filled with bags of sand.
In 1987–1988 the State Museum of City Sculpture undertook a full restoration of the monument. Restorers opened the hatch on a croup of the horse, surveyed the condition of the internal skeleton, and engaged in complex technical expert appraisal, including gamma-ray examination of the feet of a horse. Lost fragments were recreated, inserts in bronze, granite, and marble were made. Gilding of signs on an inscription by galvanic way was made.
In 1991–1992 restorers cast new fencing using the sample of a link which has remained, using funds of the Museum of City Sculpture. Works were executed by the factory "Monumentskulptura".
In 2009 the State Museum of City sculpture made an inspection of the base of the statue. Julia Loginova was managing the maintenance of monuments, work supervision. Results of the research were to be available on 15 October, and based on them the museum would estimate the amount of works which would begin at the end of 2009.
all Lego, mechanical clock, running precisely and winding itself up with Power Functions
Please support project at:
ideas.lego.com/projects/5f13f0c2-284c-4cb2-b649-f554f29e1514
Troia Puglia Italia©2015 All rights reserved
Nikon coolpix p 7100
Fotosketcher lively
Troia (sino agli inizi del Novecento indicata anche come Troja è un comune italiano di 7.411 abitanti della provincia di Foggia in Puglia. È situata sulle pendici del Subappennino Dauno, a ridosso del Tavoliere delle Puglie.
La concattedrale della Beata Vergine Maria Assunta in Cielo, già cattedrale, è il principale luogo di culto cattolico di Troia, in provincia di Foggia,La chiesa è un edificio a croce latina dalle importanti peculiarità e dall'indubbio interesse architettonico sito a Troia, in provincia di Foggia, e costruito tra il 1093 e il 1125. L'edificio è dedicato alla Beata Maria Vergine Assunta in Cielo ed è costruita secondo lo stile romanico, per quanto nella sua realizzazione abbia risentito dello stile pisano-orientale. È uno dei capolavori dell'architettura romanica in Capitanata, non tanto per le proporzioni quanto per l'armonia della costruzione.La facciata è larga 19 metri ed è alta (alla cuspide) 28,5 metri. Dalla soglia all'abside la concattedrale è lunga 54 metri. In totale la costruzione occupa una superficie di circa 1325 m².Nel marzo del 1958 papa Pio XII l'ha elevata alla dignità di basilica minore La chiesa venne costruita sulla base di un preesistente edificio bizantino e con materiali riutilizzati, ricavati dall'antica città romana. I lavori per la costruzione della cattedrale vennero patrocinati e finanziati dal vescovo Guglielmo II a partire dal 1106. Nel 1119 venne posta la porta di bronzo costruita da Oderisio da Benevento la cui funzione, oltre al completamento stilistico della facciata, era quella di celebrare le glorie del vescovo e la sua abilità nel mediare i rapporti tra la Santa Sede ed i baroni normanni. Appena otto anni dopo questo avvenimento, nel 1127, la costruzione di una porta laterale sempre ad opera di Oderisio da Benevento e sempre su ordine di Guglielmo II è il simbolo della mutata situazione politica della zona e della città: la nuova porta è più piccola e più semplice, andando a riflettere la situazione economica difficile e una più immediata velocità di esecuzione e condivisione del messaggio da trasmettere.
Interno
All'interno, la concattedrale è composta da tre navate, divise tra loro da tredici colonne marmoree. La presenza di un numero dispari di colonne è dovuta al fatto che, entrando dal portone centrale, la prima colonna sulla destra è doppia. Simbolicamente il numero tredici rappresenta Gesù con i suoi apostoli.
Una cosa importante da notare è l'asimmetria dell'abside. Questa caratteristica può essere spiegata con quattro buoni motivi:
•l'asimmetria migliora l'acustica prevenendo la formazione di echi;
•la distinzione tra le navate e l'abside sta a simboleggiare la distanza tra il luogo delle credenze e il luogo della vera conoscenza divina;
•l'asimmetria è l'affermazione di uno spirito creativo contro una eccessiva razionalità offerta dalla perfetta simmetria;
•la pianta a croce latina è simbolo del corpo umano. Di conseguenza l'abside (il capo) leggermente spostato ricorda il capo reclinato del Cristo crocifisso.Da Wikipedia
Troia is a town and comune in the province of Foggia and region of Apulia in southern Italy. Troy (until the early twentieth century also Troja is a municipality of 7,411 Italian inhabitants of the province of Foggia in Apulia. It is situated on the slopes of Monti Dauni, near the Tavoliere delle Puglie. The town has very ancient Foundation.
Troia Cathedral (Italian: Concattedrale di Troia; Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta) is the cathedral of Troia in Apulia, Italy, dedicated to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Built in the first quarter of the 12th century, it is reckoned a masterpiece of Apulian Romanesque architecture[1] and is particularly noted for the rose window and the bronze doors of the west front. Formerly the seat of the Bishops of Troia, it is now a co-cathedral in the diocese of Lucera-Troia. The church is located in the centre of Troia on the Via Regina Margherita. The principal façade, orientated to the north-west, looks onto a small forecourt. The dedication to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary was taken over from the predecessor building, which has been partly incorporated into the present structure. A Byzantine church formerly stood on the site, apparently constructed largely from the remains of Roman buildings. Work on a new cathedral began in the last quarter of the 11th century. The year 1073 is often given[1] but the exact date of the start of construction is in fact unconfirmed. Excavations in the 1950s were at one time believed to have established that the present transept was originally the nave of the previous church building, but this is now contested. It is however certain that the cores of the two western pillars of the crossing date from the very first building phase, and possibly served the same purpose in the original church.The church received its present groundplan however in the first quarter of the 12th century through the substantial enlargements of Bishop William II of Troia, who from 1093 had the present nave built. The construction of the present apse may well also date from this period.[7] An inscription on the bronze doors of the main portal indicates that this was finished in 1119, by which time the construction of the nave was clearly more or less completed. In 1107 work began on the lower part of the west front. Further works, particularly on the upper part of the west front, took place in the 13th century. The sacristy and the two arms of the transept received their present form in the 17th and 18th centuries; the eastern arm of the transept still contains older material in its external walls. The present bell tower also stands in part on walls of the 11th century. from wikipedia
Interior
The church is built on a Latin cross plan and contains a central nave, the height of which is perhaps the most striking feature of the interior, and two side-aisles separated by two round-arched arcades of 6 marble columns each. The forms of the capitals vary, but most are of the Corinthian Order. The first column to the west is a double column, the only one in the building, thus making a total of 13 columns. There is no ceiling, leaving the construction of the roof above the massive corbels open to view. The nave is not precisely symmetrical: at the crossing the central axis deviates a few degrees to the north, as can be seen by the difference in the distances between the north and south columns at the crossing.
The pulpit is located between the fifth and sixth columns on the north side. It is supported by small columns with strongly worked capitals of the Corinthian order. It dates from the Norman-Staufer period of Apulia, and is reckoned as one of the masterpieces of the period. It originally stood in the Basilica of San Basilio in Troia and was not moved to the cathedral until 1860. According to the inscription that runs round it, it was built in 1169. At the front, supported on a single small column, is a lectern on the back of a Staufer eagle, which is striking at a hare. On the left side is a relief showing a lion attacking a sheep while itself being attacked by a dog, an ancient Oriental motif. The disparity of the various elements strongly suggests that the pulpit was assembled from already existing parts that were to hand. from wikipedia
The comet was drifting toward north in Ursa Major. Dust coma was faint, though bluish green ion halo was big. My rig did not work precisely at the nigh, and exposure was far shorter than usual. North is up, and east is to the left.
This small comet passes the perihelion, 1.027AU from Sun on July 1, 2023. It is near Polaris, though moon is bright at the date. It comes nearest, 0.375AU from Earth on August 18, 2023.
Earth Distance: 0.769 AU
Sun Distance: 1.255 AU
equipment: Guan Sheng Optical Ritchey–Chrétien telescope RC-CF 10" f8 with Aigrette Pattern Mask on The Vanes, TS Extension for The Baffle Tube, TS 2.5" field flattener, and Canon EOS R-SP4II, modified by Seo-san on ZWO AM5 Equatorial Mount, autoguided at a star nearby with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens. `Pentax x2 Extender. ZWO ASI 120MM-mini, and PHD2 Guiding with comet tracking on
Exposure: 6 times 60 seconds at ISO 6,400 and f/8
The exposure started at 13:14:59UTC May 17, 2023. My rig did not work precisely, and guiding was very poor time to time. I could not make exposure longer than minutes. I could not find out the cause. I selected some better frames and made this poor frame. Exposure was not enough utterly.
site: 1,250m above sea level at lat. 36 14 35 North and long. 138 36 22 East near Uchiyama Farm Saku Nagano 長野県佐久市 内山牧場
Sky looked clear, though there was slowly falling sparse mist. Ambient temperature was around 15 degrees Celsius or 60 degrees Fahrenheit, and SQM-L was up to 21.16 at the night. Wind was mild. Atmospheric turbulence was not so bad in the season, and guide error RMS was around 1".
The Trango Towers are a group of dramatic granite spires located on the north side of the Baltoro Glacier, in Baltistan, a district of the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan (formerly Northern Areas). They are part of the Baltoro Muztagh, a subrange of the Karakoram range. The Towers offer some of the largest cliffs and most challenging rock climbing in the world. The highest point in the group is the summit of Great Trango Tower, 6,286 m (20,608 ft). (Note: all elevations in this article are subject to significant uncertainty: it is not clear if they have ever been determined precisely, and sources vary.) The east face of the Great Trango Tower features the world's greatest nearly vertical drop.
Startling Blue... for once I was really very, very happy with my relatively new Sony T900. I've thought the colors were slightly 'off''. But this photo is really precisely the way I remember the actual flower this morning.
It's what I as a boy called snakeweed or porterweed. Botanists used to call it Stachytarpheta indica -Thick-Spiked Indian, I guess . Now the official name is Stachytarpheta jamaicensis, and it's a Verbena family member. Hailing from the Americas it's become naturalised all over temperate and tropical regions, also here on Lombok, especially it seems in rather sandy - in this case: coastal - areas..
'Yes..., yes! Mistrr., Mistrr', said the very talkative and pleasant and knowledgeable headwaitress in the restaurant of my little hotel when I showed her this flower... 'No, not very good. Selasih dandi. It is where dead people are.' I'm not sure her identification was all that precise. Someone else I asked said that this is a 'mystical' plant. My command of Bahasa Indonesia is really too limited to understand much of what is said.
Another inquisitive guest, good at English and quite interested, said: 'Ah! "Selasih" you say. There's an expression "Mabuk bunga selasih"; means "very drunk".' I'd just heard that another visitor here had taken "M'buk laut", had caught a touch of sea-sickness on the way to one of the Gili islands, so I knew what 'Mabuk' means. But what about sick of 'selasih flower'? I'm at a loss. But perhaps the 'selasih' referred to in that expression is to the herb basil. I can imagine being drunk on that wonderful aromatic...
Whatever the case, my photo of this lovely vervain on the slope as I climbed down from Mangsit Point (Tanjung Mangsit) to the palm plantations and the taut black, sandy beach below, gave some pleasure to the denizens of this most pleasant abode... Of course, they all thought I was mad, that is: drunk with vervain!
The Aqueduct of Segovia (or more precisely, the aqueduct bridge) is a Roman aqueduct and one of the most significant and best-preserved ancient monuments left on the Iberian Peninsula. It is the foremost symbol of Segovia, as evidenced by its presence on the city's coat of arms [Wikipedia].
HDR from five bracketed exposures (1EV step) on a tripod.
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El Acueducto de Segovia es la obra de ingeniería civil romana más importante de España y uno de los monumentos más significativos y mejor conservados de los que dejaron los romanos en la península Ibérica. Se trata probablemente del símbolo más importante para los habitantes de Segovia, hasta el punto de figurar en su escudo [Wikipedia].
HDR generado de un horquillado de cinco exposiciones (paso de 1EV) sobre trípode.
Mainau, Konstanz, Baden-Württemberg, Deutschland.
Mainau es una isla de Alemania, localizada en el Lago de Constanza y más precisamente en la parte noroccidental conocida como lago de Überlingen (Überlinger See). La isla está conectada por el sur con la tierra firme mediante un puente.
Mainau se encuentra comprendida en el territorio comunal de la ciudad de Constanza y de hecho la mejor forma de llegar a la misma es por medio del transporte urbano de esta ciudad, que tiene una línea de autobús con parada en el acceso a la isla. Ésta es un importante destino turístico gracias a su suave clima, merced al cual alberga una vegetación muy rica en especies, incluso subtropicales y tropicales.
La entrada a la isla se hace previo pago, pero su cuidada vegetación, los millones de flores que la decoran (como es evidente, fundamentalmente en los meses de primavera y verano), sus invernaderos de palmas y de mariposas - en el cual estas sobrevuelan libremente a los visitantes y son de gran variedad y grandes tamaños -, su espacio con variados tipos de columpios complejos, y su pequeña zona con diferentes animales, junto a otros detalles, son de un interés objetivo.
De acuerdo con todo lo anterior, el lugar también es denominado La isla de las flores.
Mainau is an island in Germany, located on Lake Constance and more precisely in the northwestern part known as Lake Überlingen (Überlinger See). The island is connected by the south with the mainland by means of a bridge.
Mainau is included in the communal territory of the city of Constanza and in fact the best way to get there is through the urban transport of this city, which has a bus line with stop at the access to the island. This is an important tourist destination thanks to its mild climate, thanks to which it shelters a vegetation very rich in species, even subtropical and tropical.
The entrance to the island is made after payment, but its careful vegetation, the millions of flowers that decorate it (as is evident, mainly in the months of spring and summer), its greenhouses of palms and butterflies - in which they fly over freely to visitors and they are of great variety and size - their space with varied types of complex swings, and their small area with different animals, together with other details, are of an objective interest.
In agreement with all the previous thing, the place also is denominated the island of the flowers.
Rauðasandur (Red Sand) is precisely that: a beach with endless red sand. Well, not endless but 10 km is a lot. The magnificent hues of the sand differ with daylight and weather, and the beach is the biggest pearl in a string of coves with sand ranging in colours from white through yellow through red to black, and in coarseness from very fine to sole-hurting chips of seashells. (visitwestfjords.is)
The Westfjords or West Fjords is a large peninsula in northwestern Iceland and an administrative district. It lies on the Denmark Strait, facing the east coast of Greenland. It is connected to the rest of Iceland by a 7-km-wide isthmus between Gilsfjörður and Bitrufjörður. The Westfjords are very mountainous; the coastline is heavily indented by dozens of fjords surrounded by steep hills. These indentations make roads very circuitous and communications by land difficult. In addition many of the roads are closed by ice and snow for several months of the year. (wiki)
Long tongue, long antennae, long-horned bee, Eucera longicornis. A European (or more precisely Eurasian) lover of legumes and things for which a long tongue makes sense to use upon. I look at distribution maps of bees like these and wonder about exactly how many of these bees emerge each year. Photo: James Poindexter II. Collector: T. Peeters. Collected in the Netherlands
Photo license: CC-BY-SA. This photo can be reused as you wish. When doing so, please credit the creator (USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab) and the source (Naturalis Biodiversity Center) and adaptations must be shared under the same terms.
The specimen in this photo is provided by Naturalis Biodiversity Center in The Netherlands. For inquiries please contact: Frederique Bakker, email: frederique.bakker@naturalis.nl.
This image is part of the photo series ‘Cool bees of The Netherlands’. For more information: marten.schoonman@naturalis.nl
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All photographs are public domain, feel free to download and use as you wish.
Photography Information:
Canon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, Stackshot Sled, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash in Styrofoam Cooler, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200
We Are Made One with What We Touch and See
We are resolved into the supreme air,
We are made one with what we touch and see,
With our heart's blood each crimson sun is fair,
With our young lives each spring impassioned tree
Flames into green, the wildest beasts that range
The moor our kinsmen are, all life is one, and all is change.
- Oscar Wilde
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Want some Useful Links to the Techniques We Use? Well now here you go Citizen:
Best over all technical resource for photo stacking:
Art Photo Book: Bees: An Up-Close Look at Pollinators Around the World:
www.amazon.com/Bees-Up-Close-Pollinators-Around-World/dp/...
Free Field Guide to Bee Genera of Maryland:
bio2.elmira.edu/fieldbio/beesofmarylandbookversion1.pdf
Basic USGSBIML set up:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-_yvIsucOY
USGSBIML Photoshopping Technique: Note that we now have added using the burn tool at 50% opacity set to shadows to clean up the halos that bleed into the black background from "hot" color sections of the picture.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdmx_8zqvN4
Bees of Maryland Organized by Taxa with information on each Genus
www.flickr.com/photos/usgsbiml/collections
PDF of Basic USGSBIML Photography Set Up:
Google Hangout Demonstration of Techniques:
plus.google.com/events/c5569losvskrv2nu606ltof8odo
or
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c15neFttoU
Excellent Technical Form on Stacking:
Contact information:
Sam Droege
sdroege@usgs.gov
301 497 5840
This photograph was taken in the magic of The Golden Hour around Sunrise, (Sunrise was at precisely 07:39am), at an altitude of Three metres, at 07:44am on Thursday January 28th 2016 off Botany Road and Marine Drive, on the sandy shoreline of Botany Bay in Broadstairs, Kent, England.
I set off at 05:00am on a clear morning, the moon and the stars out to dazzle in temperatures around five degrees, on a pleasant hour and half long journey to enjoy a lovely sunrise. The seven bays in Broadstairs consist of: (From south to north) Dumpton Gap, Louisa Bay, Viking Bay, Stone Bay, Joss Bay, Kingsgate Bay and Botany Bay.
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Nikon D800 200mm 1/3200s f/5.6 iso640 RAW (14Bit) Nikon back focus button enabled. AF-C Continuous point focus with 3-D tracking. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto white balance. Nikon AF Fine tune set to +6.
Nikkor AF-S 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR. Power UP 95mm HD UV filter. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL batteries. Nikon DK-17M Magnifying Eyepiece. Nikon DK-19 soft rubber eyecup. Manfrotto MT057C3 057 Carbon Fiber Tripod 3 Sections (Payload 18kgs). Manfrotto MH057M0-RC4 057 Magnesium Ball Head with RC4 Quick Release (Payload 15kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 410PL-14.Jessops Tripod bag. Optech Tripod Strap.Digi-Chip 64GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDXC. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW camera bag. Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.
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LATITUDE: N 51d 23m 18.63s
LONGITUDE: E 1d 26m 19.33s
ALTITUDE: 3.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 27.81MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D800 Firmware versions A 1.10 B 1.10 L 2.009 (Lens distortion control version 2)
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU processor. AMD Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX2 Version 2.10.3 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit
That artist ...?
People who are struggling in the arts, are always able to be a magnet for others. In addition to his abilities, this person who is usually called an artist can anesthetize many people through his thoughts, creativity, work, voice or even life. Artists can also change the world, through everything they have.
Indeed, this opinion can never be strong without other supporting factors. But rest assured that the majority of people will argue the same. "Artists are not jobs, even just professions." More precisely is a way of expression, pouring thoughts that accumulate in the brain. Being an artist, is not necessarily based on always looking for money. But satisfaction. Yes, inner satisfaction, which is priceless by anything. Money, will flow along with the satisfaction of others who enjoy, watch, listen, feel and do it.
Artists never want to be far from their world. He never likes to stop working. He always wants to make others feel that they are all in the arts environment, also feel it together. Artists also always say that the world is art. Art that can finally make the world beautiful, not far from what is in the mind of the artist.
Sometimes, an artist is not much different from a crazy person. That's because his thoughts are not as logical as sane people in many communities. But thanks to his thinking, artists can create crazy things that are not thought of by many people. Also sometimes, sorry, like "tramp" and "scavenger". Because he often does not look "neglected", by maintaining what he was wearing at that time. Sometimes he doesn't eat, thinks of his work that is about to end, so that no one can block him. Sometimes he also "picks up" things or things that are no longer useful to many people, just to let them know that nothing is useless and can be used in this world, through the intellect that they have
Remember, "artists are not work". Artists want to tell that there is another world in the human subconscious, which so far has not been known and used by humans. But the majority of artists know and use it.
"Artists are not just a profession either." He just wants his voice, his work, his creativity, his abilities and all what he wants, to be appreciated by others. Nothing more than that. The rest, they want to be understood that an artist is also a human being, who also needs life.
Artists are not "beggars", who only hope for the mercy of others. Picking up rupiah by bowing your head without shame. Artists are also not willing to get compassion from others, because what is needed is nothing more than an appreciation and understanding.
Try to examine, what would life be like without artists as God's intermediaries to create musical instruments? Also dances, painting strokes, a beautiful poem and so forth. It's just, has the public examined it? The public's view of artists is like the wind. They just watch and listen, after that they go home and eventually they will forget. Or they are only limited to want to take part while as connoisseurs of art, after which disappeared no news.
Do you know what life is like for an artist? For one of his works, sometimes he needs a lot of food, to prop their stomachs for days. For one ability, sometimes they also need the same time as a baby to refer to standing alone, walking and running. For one appearance, he also always needs half of his life by risking his mind and endurance.
"Time". Yes, that's the life of an artist. That's also the essence of everything that an artist needs. But it is also time that artists can never have. Time always runs away leaving the artist so fast.
Do you know what will be the end of an artist's journey? The answer is still the same. "Time". The mass for an artist will be exhausted when his mind is full of millions of imaginations, which he will no longer have the chance to carry out. When his fingers are no longer able to write beautiful poems. When his voice began to discord unheard. Also his feet could not support his thin body. At that time, the mass of an artist was fairly over.
But not for his heart. He was still able to feel what was happening around him. He is still able to hear what beauty is. And finally, he will continue to feel happy even though in reality, the end of the mass of an always marginalized artist is also forgotten. An artist's happiness arises, when what he is doing, can make other people happy, "fuck" with himself. He will continue to wear his mask of happiness, and will continue to try to create it, until time no longer allows artists to keep breathing.
Then, what do you think about artists? Fill in the answers according to what you want about him, what you think about him, and what you think is all worthy of him. Obviously, artists are human ...
author: Panggih S.P
This photograph was taken in the magic of The Golden Hour around Sunrise, (Sunrise was at precisely 07:39am), at an altitude of Zero metres, at 08:32am on Thursday January 28th 2016 off Botany Road and Marine Drive, on the sandy shoreline of Botany Bay in Broadstairs, Kent, England.
The common whelk (Buccinum undatum), is a large edible marine gastropod in the family Buccinidae, which thrives in colder sea climates around the globe.
I set off at 05:00am on a clear morning, the moon and the stars out to dazzle in temperatures around five degrees, on a pleanst hour and half long journey to enjoy a lovely sunrise. The seven bays in Broadstairs consist of: (From south to north) Dumpton Gap, Louisa Bay, Viking Bay, Stone Bay, Joss Bay, Kingsgate Bay and Botany Bay.
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Nikon D800 58mm 1/125s f/2.8 iso100 RAW (14Bit) Nikon back focus button enabled. AF-C Continuous point focus with 3-D tracking. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto white balance. Nikon AF Fine tune set to +12.
Nikkor AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G ED IF. Jessops 77mm UV filter. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL batteries. Nikon DK-17M Magnifying Eyepiece. Nikon DK-19 soft rubber eyecup. Manfrotto MT057C3 057 Carbon Fiber Tripod 3 Sections (Payload 18kgs). Manfrotto MH057M0-RC4 057 Magnesium Ball Head with RC4 Quick Release (Payload 15kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 410PL-14.Jessops Tripod bag. Optech Tripod Strap.Digi-Chip 64GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDXC. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW camera bag. Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.
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LATITUDE: N 51d 23m 14.68s
LONGITUDE: E 1d 26m 25.85s
ALTITUDE: 0.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 20.33MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D800 Firmware versions A 1.10 B 1.10 L 2.009 (Lens distortion control version 2)
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU processor. AMD Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX2 Version 2.10.3 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit
(Color pencil on paper)
A randomly-edited selection of approximately 700 of my pictures may be viewed by clicking on the link below:
www.flickr.com/groups/psychedelicart/pool/43237970@N00/
Please click here to read my "autobiography":
thewordsofjdyf333.blogspot.com/
And my "profile" page may be viewed by clicking on this link:
www.flickr.com/people/jdyf333/
My telephone number is: 510-260-9695
I'm keeping my looks pretty simple at the moment; no tattoos or anything uber fancy. Sometimes simple is enough you know?
In fact, it's nice to let the skins speak for themselves, and that's precisely what I'm trying to do here with 'RILEY' the latest from AMARA BEAUTY. Like her previous release, 'AMELIA', there's a freckle option and I've kept it. It adds a sort of vintage 1950's feel to this look made with the excellent JUST BECAUSE dress and this cracking LAMB hair from this round of THE ARCADE. I've not blogged about THE ARCADE yet, suffice to say it's a pretty good round indeed and unfortunately, it's supplemented my cat addiction, yeah, thanks for that MUTRESSE! (Pictures of skybox cat havoc will be forthcoming imminently!) I'm loving the HUD for this skin, yet again, Shantia's nailed it with a number of eyeshadow options and lip colours in the HUD. The on/off button is there for freckles too, along with multiple shades for brow, along with a no brow option and a tintable one too.
Back to the happy snap- I'm trying to add more depth to my pictures by playing around with shadow settings. It really does make a difference, although I find that the windlight settings are a bit dark. To add a little light to the important bits I resort to adding that most reviled of Second Life accessories- A FACE LIGHT! *Gasp!* The horror! If you weren't around in the old days these things were despised, as basically they turned you into face-melting beacons of doom, and were the most unsubtle of lighting tools. Times have changed, and the one that I'm sporting actually comes with the LELUTKA 'Stella' head. I don't see the problem with them for snaps, provided you remember to take them off before you leave your platform and mooch about in public.
I think I look like I should be chewing gum, riding a bicycle and drinking milkshakes in a 1950's diner.
Kitty wears:
SKIN: AMARA BEAUTY ‘RILEY’CATWA applier /MAITREYA body applier in 03 Peach (no make-up options worn, kept this plain and simple) WE <3 ROLEPLAY
EYES: IKON ‘Sovereign' eyes in 'Field'
BODY: MAITREYA ‘Lara’
DRESS: JUST BECAUSE 'Zoey' tee dress in grey
HAIR: LAMB 'Loomer' (Variety/Ombre/Eccentric) THE ARCADE
NOSE RING: KUNST 'Septum Keeper' (Right)
Windlight setting: Shadows-Bright Day
Face Lamp used by LELUTKA (comes with 'Stella' mesh head)
Pose: MARUKIN - (Clinic) Black Eyed
My classroom one.
Not precisely traditional since it doesn't have eight sections (a Japanese laquer candy tray)
A combo of traditional sweetened fruit items and candy. This year I bought a sampler pack of the candied fruits rather than individual bags.
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Candy Tray: The candy tray arranged in either a circle or octagon is called “The Tray of Togetherness” and has a dazzling array of candy to start the New Year sweetly. Each item represents some kind of good fortune. After taking several pieces of candy from the tray, adults places a red envelope (lai see) on the center compartment of the tray
*Candied melon - growth and good health
*Red melon seed - dyed red to symbolize joy, happiness, truth and sincerity
*Lychee nut - strong family relationships
*Kumquat - prosperity (gold)
*Coconut - togetherness
*Peanuts - long life
*Longnan - many good sons
*Lotus seed - many children
- from the Southwest Airlines Festival and Chinese Parade site
Photograph taken at an altitude of Forty seven metres, prior to the magic of the Golden Hour around sunrise (Sunrise was at precisely 04:42am), at 03:13am on Thursday 19th June 2014 off Lullingstone Lane and Eagle Heights overlooking a blanket of morning mist as it rolled across Eynsford Viaduct in the village of Eynsford, Kent, England.
This impressive nine-arched red-brick viaduct is a prominent feature on the line to the 'Bat & Ball' station. The structure was built by the independent ''Sevenoaks Railway'', incorporated in 1859 to link the ''Chatham'' main line with the market town of Sevenoaks. And first services began on 2nd June 1862. The viaduct has nine arches of 30-foot span, and rises to a height of 75-feet above the valley and the River Darent.
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Nikon D800 14mm 1/6s f/2.8 iso200 RAW (14 bit) Mirror up. AF-S auto mode. Manual exposure. Matrix metering.Auto white balance.
Nikkor AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8G ED IF. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL batteries. Nikon DK-17M Magnifying Eyepiece. Nikon DK-19 soft rubber eyecup. Manfrotto MT057C3 057 Carbon Fiber Tripod 3 Sections (Payload 18kgs). Manfrotto MH057M0-RC4 057 Magnesium Ball Head with RC4 Quick Release (Payload 15kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 410PL-14.Jessops Tripod bag. Optech Tripod Strap.Digi-Chip 64GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDXC. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW camera bag. Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.
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LATITUDE: N 51d 22m 6.76s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 12m 11.12s
ALTITUDE: 47.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 103.00MB
PROCESSED FILE: 30.24MB
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Processing power:
HP Pavillion Desktop with AMD A10-5700 APU processor. HD graphics. 2TB with 8GB RAM. 64-bit Windows 8.1. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. Nikon VIEWNX2 Version 2.90 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit
...Hans Holbein's portrait of The Ambassadors, dated precisely to 10:30am, 11 April, 1533 (on one of the scientific instruments in the painting).
This is an amazingly fine and skillful painting, technically brilliant; accurately detailed, and full of allegories and visual tricks. The faces of the Ambassadors - Jean de Dinteville and Georges de Selve (Bishop of Lavour) - are so full of character, they stand-out even today, when we're used to photographic images, and social media mobile phone snaps.
It's extra-ordinary to look at this painting coming straight from the earlier Byzantine era paintings in London's National Gallery (as we did) - to see the huge improvement in the quality of composition, realism and technique, from not so long before.
On the far right is Holbein's engaging portrait of Christina of Denmark, completed after a three hour sitting in 1538. Christina was a princess who Henry VIII considered as a wife, but she and her advisers turned him down, wary of his reputation.
This image should be interpreted with caution and this caption should also be understood as an inevitably subjective interpretation.
The photograph, which I took during the protest on 6 September 2025 against the proscription of Palestine Action, appears to show two caring and courageous individuals.
It seems to show on the one hand a woman, protectively holding, comforting and assisting an injured photographer who is in considerable pain, while a single police officer, without the immediate protection of his colleagues, bravely attends the scene in an attempt to help.
From my position, albeit nearby, I did not hear the words exchanged nor observe all the events that led to this moment. It therefore remains unclear precisely how the photographer came to fall, though it may have occurred amid a period when several officers were moving rapidly through the crowd - see the following linked video in which it seems he might have either been pushed or tripped as a group of police officers forced their way through.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZQGFrqCf5U&t=1283s
Whether that was out of necessity or to some degree reckless is a matter of interpretation, but it is easily understandable and entirely natural if at that moment, that both protesters and police officers may have felt some degree of concern and unease when in close proximity with "the other side."
However, I have no evidence to suggest that the officer pictured was in any way responsible for the man's fall, and he appears to be seeking to help.
Reports from the day, including video footage shared by Novara Media’s Michael Walker, appear to criticise the conduct of some police officers during the protest as overly forceful, though these remarks were not directed at the specific officer shown here. Specifically in the above linked video, Walker claims the footage was "some evidence" of police officers "losing their cool."
Conversely, there were also accounts of officers facing hostility and violence from some protesters. My own observations were limited: beyond hearing chants such as “shame on you,” I did not personally witness acts of violence against the police.
I should emphasise that this description reflects only my impressions at the time, supplemented by limited subsequent reporting. I am not aware of nor can I find definitive evidence of all the circumstances, and this caption should therefore be understood as a partial and subjective interpretation.
The image is unedited from the standard jpg except that the exposure setting was increased marginally by +0.35. Lightroom Auto had suggested +0.56. Anyone is welcome to check and compare this with the original jpg image at the following url:
www.flickr.com/photos/alisdare/54787894347/in/dateposted/
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Protest and the Price of Dissent: Palestine Action and the Criminalisation of Conscience
Parliament Square on Saturday, 6 September 2025 was a scene of quiet, almost solemn defiance. The air, usually thick with the noise of London traffic and crowds of tourists, was instead filled with a palpable tension, a shared gravity that emanated from the quiet determination of hundreds of protesters, many of them over 60 years old, some sitting on steps or stools and others lying on the grass.
They held not professionally printed banners, but handwritten cardboard signs, their messages stark against the historic grandeur of their surroundings. This was not a march of chants and slogans, but a silent vigil of civil disobedience, a deliberate and calculated act of defiance against the state.
On that day, my task was to photograph the protest against the proscription of the direct-action group Palestine Action. While not always agreeing entirely with the group’s methods, I could not help but be struck by the profound dedication etched on the faces of the individual protesters.
As they sat in silence, contemplating both the horrific gravity of the situation in Gaza and the enormity of the personal risk they were taking — courting arrest under terror laws for holding a simple placard — their expressions took on a quality not dissimilar to what war photographers once called the “thousand-yard stare.” It was a look of weary but deep and determined resolve, a silent testament to their readiness to face life-changing prosecution in the name of a principle.
This scene poses a profound and unsettling question for modern Britain. How did the United Kingdom, a nation that prides itself on its democratic traditions and the right to protest, arrive at a point where hundreds of its citizens — clergy, doctors, veterans, and the elderly — could be arrested under counter-terrorism legislation for an act of silent, peaceful protest?
The events of that September afternoon were the culmination of a complex and contentious series of developments, but their significance extends far beyond a single organisation or demonstration. The proscription of Palestine Action has become a critical juncture in the nation’s relationship with dissent, a test of the elasticity of free expression, and a stark examination of its obligations under international law in the face of Israel deliberately engineering a catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
To understand what is at stake, one must unravel the threads that led to that moment: the identity of the movement, the state’s legal machinery of proscription, the confrontation in Parliament Square, and the political context that compelled so many to risk their liberty.
Direct Action and the State’s Response
Palestine Action, established in 2020, has never hidden its approach. Unlike traditional lobbying groups, it rejected appeals to political elites in favour of disrupting the physical infrastructure of complicity: factories producing parts for Israeli weapons systems, offices of arms manufacturers, and — eventually — military installations themselves.
Its tactics, while non-violent, were disruptive and confrontational. Red paint sprayed across buildings to symbolise blood, occupations that halted production, chains and locks on factory gates. For supporters, these were acts of conscience against a system enabling atrocities in Gaza. For the state, they were criminal disruptions of commerce.
That clash escalated steadily. In Oldham, a persistent campaign against Elbit Systems, a key manufacturer in the Israeli arms supply chain, culminated in the company abandoning its Ferranti site. Later actions targeted suppliers for F-35 fighter jets and other arms manufacturers. These were no random acts of mindless vandalism but part of a deliberate strategy: to impose costs high enough that complicity in Israel’s war effort would become unsustainable.
The decisive rupture came in June 2025, when activists infiltrated RAF Brize Norton, Britain’s largest airbase, and sprayed red paint into the engines of refuelling aircraft linked to operations over Gaza. For the activists, it was a desperate attempt to interrupt a supply chain of surveillance and logistical support to a state commiting genocide. For the government, it crossed a line: military assets had been attacked. Within days, the Home Secretary announced Palestine Action would be proscribed as a terrorist organisation.
Proscription and the Expansion of “Terrorism”
Here lies the heart of the controversy. The Terrorism Act 2000 defines terrorism with unusual breadth, encompassing not only threats to life but also “serious damage to property” carried out for political or ideological aims. In this capacious definition, breaking a factory window or disabling a machine can be legally assimilated to mass murder.
By invoking this law, the government placed Palestine Action on the same legal footing as al-Qaeda or ISIS. Supporting it — even symbolically — became a serious offence.
Since July 2025, merely expressing support for the organization can carry a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.
This is based on Section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000. The specific offense is "recklessly expressing support for a proscribed organisation". However, according to Section 13 of the Act, a lower-level offense for actions like displaying hand held placards in support of a proscribed group carry a maximum sentence of six months imprisonment or a fine of five thousand pounds or both.
Civil liberties groups and human rights bodies have denounced the proscription move as disproportionate. Their concern was not primarily whether Palestine Action’s tactics might violate existing criminal law. One might reasonably argue that they did unless they might sometimes be justified in the name of preventing a greater crime.
But reframing those actions as “terrorism” represented a dangerous category error. As many pointed out, terrorism has historically referred to violence against civilians. Expanding it to cover property damage risks draining the term of meaning. Worse, it arms the state with a stigma so powerful that it can delegitimise entire political positions without debate.
The implications go further. Proscription does not simply criminalise acts. It criminalises expressions of allegiance, conscience and even speech. To say “I support Palestine Action” is no longer an opinion but technically a serious crime. The state has moved from punishing deeds to punishing expressions of solidarity — a move with chilling consequences for democratic life.
Parliament Square: Civil Disobedience on Trial
It was this transformation that brought nearly 1,500 people into Parliament Square on 6 September. They knew what awaited them. Organisers announced in advance that protesters would hold signs reading: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.” In doing so, they openly declared their intent to break the law.
The crowd was strikingly diverse. Retired doctors, clergy, war veterans, even an 83-year-old Anglican priest. Disabled activists came in wheelchairs; descendants of Holocaust survivors stood beside young students. This was not a hardened cadre of militants but a cross-section of society, many of whom had never before faced arrest.
At precisely 1 pm, the protesters all sat or lay down silently, cardboard signs raised. There was no chanting, no aggression — only a quiet insistence that they would not accept the criminalisation of conscience.
The police response was equally predictable. Hundreds of officers moved systematically through the crowd, arresting anyone displaying a sign. By the end of the day, nearly 900 people were detained under counter-terrorism law. It was one of the largest mass arrests in modern British history.
Official statements later alleged police were met with violence — officers punched, spat on, objects thrown. Yet independent observers, including Amnesty International, contradicted this. They reported a peaceful assembly disrupted by aggressive policing: batons drawn, protesters shoved, some bloodied.
www.amnesty.org/zh-hans/documents/eur45/0273/2025/en/
Video footage supported at least some of Amnesty's report.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZQGFrqCf5U&t=1283s
The two narratives were irreconcilable, but only one carried the weight and authority of the state.
The entire event unfolded as political theatre. The government proscribed a group, thereby creating a new crime. Protesters, convinced the law was unjust, announced their intent to commit that crime peacefully. The police, forewarned, staged a vast operation. Each side acted out its script. The spectacle allowed the state to present itself as defending order against extremism — while in reality silencing dissent.
The Humanitarian Context: Why Protesters Risked All
To see the Parliament Square protest as a parochial dispute over free speech is to miss its driving force. The demonstrators were not there merely to defend abstract principles. They were responding to what they, and a growing body of international experts, describe as a genocide in Gaza.
By September 2025, Gaza had descended into almost total collapse. Over 63,000 Palestinians had been killed, the majority of them women and children. More than 150,000 had been injured, many maimed for life. Entire neighbourhoods had been flattened. Famine was confirmed in August, with Israel continuing to impose and even tighten deliberate restrictions on food, water, and fuel, a strategy condemned by human rights groups as a major war crime. Hospitals lay in ruins. Ninety percent of the population had been displaced.
It is in this context that the term genocide has been applied. Legal scholars point not only to mass killings but also to the deliberate infliction of life-destroying conditions, accompanied by rhetoric from Israeli officials dehumanising Palestinians as “human animals.” In September 2025, the International Association of Genocide Scholars declared that Israel’s actions met the legal definition of genocide.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cde3eyzdr63o
Major NGOs, UN experts, and even Israeli human rights groups such as B’Tselem echoed that conclusion.
For the protesters, then, the question was not abstract but immediate: faced with what they saw as a genocide, could they in good conscience remain silent while their own government criminalised resistance to it? Their answer was to risk arrest, their placards making the moral connection explicit: opposing genocide meant supporting those who sought to stop it.
The Price of Dissent
The mass arrests in Parliament Square were not an isolated incident of law enforcement. They were the product of a broader trajectory: escalating tactics by a direct-action movement, a humanitarian catastrophe abroad, and a government determined to suppress dissent at home through the bluntest of instruments.
The official line insists that Palestine Action’s campaign constituted terrorism and thus warranted proscription. On this view, the arrests were simple enforcement of the law. Yet this account obscures the deeper reality: a precedent in which the state redefined non-lethal protest as terrorism, shifting from punishing actions to criminalising expressions of solidarity.
The cost is profound. Once speech and conscience themselves become suspect, dissent is no longer tolerated but pathologised. The chilling effect is already evident: individuals weigh not just whether to join a protest, but whether uttering support might expose them to years in prison. Terror laws, originally justified as a shield against mass violence, are recast as tools of political management.
The protesters understood this. That “thousand-yard stare” captured in their faces was not only the weight of potential arrest, but the knowledge of Gaza’s devastation, the famine and rubble, the deaths mounting daily. It was also the recognition that their own government had chosen to silence them rather than address its complicity.
In a functioning democracy, the question is not why citizens risk arrest for holding a handwritten cardboard sign. It is why a state finds it necessary to treat that act as a terror offence. The answer reveals a narrowing of democratic space, where conscience itself is deemed subversive. And that narrowing, history teaches, carries consequences not just for those arrested, but for the society that allows it.
Photograph taken at an altitude of Fifty metres, during the first vestiges of dawn light prior to the magic of the Golden Hour around sunrise (Sunrise was at precisely 04:38am), at 03:25am on Thursday 19th June 2014 off Lullingstone Lane and Eagle Heights in the poppy field beside the Eynsford Viaduct in the village of Eynsford, Kent, England.
Lurking in the mist to the extreme right of the frame, this impressive nine-arched red-brick viaduct is a prominent feature on the line to the 'Bat & Ball' station. The structure was built by the independent ''Sevenoaks Railway'', incorporated in 1859 to link the ''Chatham'' main line with the market town of Sevenoaks. And first services began on 2nd June 1862. The viaduct has nine arches of 30-foot span, and rises to a height of 75-feet above the valley and the River Darent.
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Nikon D800 120mm 1/40s f/3.2 iso100 RAW (14 bit) Nikon RC-DC2 remote shutter release. AF-S single point focus. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto white balance.
Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8G ED IF VRII. Jessops 77mm UV filter. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL batteries. Nikon DK-17M Magnifying Eyepiece. Nikon DK-19 soft rubber eyecup. Manfrotto MT057C3 057 Carbon Fiber Tripod 3 Sections (Payload 18kgs). Manfrotto MH057M0-RC4 057 Magnesium Ball Head with RC4 Quick Release (Payload 15kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 410PL-14.Jessops Tripod bag. Optech Tripod Strap.Digi-Chip 64GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDXC. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW camera bag. Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.
LATITUDE: N 51d 21m 51.82s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 11m 48.97s
ALTITUDE: 50.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 103.00MB
PROCESSED FILE: 10.71MB
Processing power:
HP Pavillion P6-2388EA Desktop with AMD A10-5700 APU processor. AMD Radeon HD 7570 graphics. 2TB with 8GB RAM. 64-bit Windows 8.1. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. Nikon VIEWNX2 Version 2.10.0 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit
St. Mary's Church, known in German as the Marienkirche, is a church in Berlin, Germany. It is located on Karl-Liebknecht-Straße (formerly Kaiser-Wilhelm-Straße) in central Berlin, near Alexanderplatz. The exact age of the original church site and structure is not precisely known, but it was first mentioned in German chronicles in 1292. It is presumed to date from earlier in the 13th century. The architecture of the building is now largely composed of comparatively modern restoration work which took place in the late 19th century and in the post-war period. The church was originally a Roman Catholic church, but has been a Lutheran Protestant church since the Protestant Reformation.
The organ was created in 1720-1722 by Joachim Wagner, who had previously worked for two years with his teacher Gottfried Silbermann. In 1723 the inauguration took place. The case is by Johann Georg Glume and was completed in 1742 by Paul de Ritter.
Source: Wikipedia
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Die evangelische Marienkirche (Kirchenkreis Berlin Stadtmitte) befindet sich an der Karl-Liebknecht-Straße am Fuße des Fernsehturmes im Berliner Ortsteil Mitte, in der Nähe des Alexanderplatzes. Sie ist die älteste noch sakral genutzte städtische Pfarrkirche Berlins, eines von ursprünglich sechs mittelalterlichen Kirchengebäuden in der historischen Mitte Berlins, im ehemals dicht bebauten Marienviertel.
Die Orgel der Marienkirche wurde zwischen 1720 und 1722 von Joachim Wagner geschaffen, der zuvor zwei Jahre bei seinem Lehrer Gottfried Silbermann gearbeitet hatte. Im Jahr 1723 erfolgte die Einweihung. Das Gehäuse stammt von Johann Georg Glume und wurde 1742 von Paul de Ritter fertiggestellt. In der Folgezeit wurde das Instrument mehrfach verändert. So ließ beispielsweise im Jahr 1800 Friedrich Falckenhagen nach Plänen von Georg Joseph Vogler 1400 von insgesamt 2556 Orgelpfeifen entfernen, da sie aus seiner Sicht „überflüssig“ wären. Weitere Umbauten, auch um den Klangumfang wiederherzustellen, fanden 1829 durch Johann Simon Buchholz und 1893/94 durch Heinrich Schlag & Söhne statt. Wilhelm Sauer erhöhte die Stimmenzahl auf 57 und baute Kegelladen mit einer Röhrenpneumatik ein.
Als eine der wenigen Orgeln überstand die „schönste Orgel Berlins“ die Zerstörungen des Zweiten Weltkriegs weitgehend. In der Zeit nach 1945 wurde das Instrument wiederum mehrfach verändert. In den Jahren 1947–1949 ersetzte die Orgelbauwerkstatt Alexander Schuke die pneumatische Traktur durch eine elektro-pneumatische, und näherte die Disposition wieder dem barocken Klangprinzip an. Weitere Veränderungen fanden 1957, 1970 und 1985 mit dem gleichen Ziel der weiteren Annäherung an das ursprüngliche Klangbild statt.
Nach schweren Schäden an der Orgel im Winter 1996 entschied man sich statt einer Rekonstruktion des ursprünglichen Zustands für einen Neubau, der nach Maßgabe der Gesamtkonzeption und Disposition Wagners von 1721 im Jahr 2002 durch die Orgelbauwerkstatt Alfred Kern & Söhne (Straßburg) realisiert wurde.
Bei dem Neubau wurden alle 40 Register Wagners unter Verwendung der noch vorhandenen historischen Pfeifen originalgetreu rekonstruiert, ebenso der barocke Gehäuseprospekt der Berliner Bildhauer Johann Georg Glume und Paul de Ritter, unter Beibehaltung der denkmalwürdigen Veränderungen von 1908. Alle Kanäle, Windladen und die Balganlage sind genau nach Vorlage erhaltender Wagner-Orgeln gefertigt.
Verändert gegenüber Wagner wurde in Anpassung an die heutige musikalische Praxis die Anordnung der Manuale und die Erweiterung des Tastenumfangs in den Manualen bis f3. Es wurde eine historische Stimmung gelegt (Neidhardt III), allerdings mit moderner Tonhöhe 440 Hz. Schließlich erhielt die Orgel fünf zusätzliche Register, die jedoch getreu ihren Vorbildern in Wagner-Orgeln nachgebildet sind. Es wurde eine Pedalkoppel hinzugefügt.
Quelle: Wikipedia
Promo for Greg's extraordinary work here - 500px.com/obsidianphotos - and ahead of the transit of Venus next week. Goes without saying, DO NOT LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN! Use specialist telescopes or look up ways of observing the transit...