that is precisely the image I wish to project

Beki making an important point about the global pandemic. She certainly does her research.

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

Hobbiton by Alice Finch

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

Sanaa and Mona Seif, sister of Alaa Abd El-Fattah, an imprisoned Egyptian-British democracy activist on hunger strike, talk to the press outside Britain's Foreign Office.

Alaa is over 200 days into his 100 calorie a day hunger strike in prison in Egypt. A candle-light vigil is planned for this Sunday 6 November at 4pm opposite 10 Downing Street.

Alaa Abd El-Fattah has endured much of the last twelve years in some of the worst prison conditions anywhere in the world, on account of his brave work in promoting democracy in Egypt.

He was last arrested in September 2019 while attending Cairo's Dokki Police Station and in December last year was sentenced to five years imprisonment for "spreading false news undermining state security." More precisely, he had shared social media posts explaining the hell-hole reality of Egyptian prison conditions.

PROTEST OUTSIDE THE FOREIGN OFFICE

Alaa's two sisters, Mona and Sana'a Seif, are currently staging a protest in London's King Charles Street outside the British Foreign Office in the hope that the Egyptian government can be pressured to release him, as media attention begins to focus on the upcoming COP27 conference at Sharm El Sheikh on Egypt's Red Sea coast.

TORA PRISON - "A DAY HERE, IS LIKE A YEAR IN BELMARSH"

In April, Alaa began his hunger strike in a cell in one of the most secure sections of Cairo's sprawling and notorious Tora Prison - a maze of grim high concrete walls and watch towers, which strike fear into even the thousands of commuters who have to pass daily.

In 2012, one young Londoner confined to one of the least uncomfortable and most survivable wings of Tora prison, contrasted it with his own previous experience at Britain's high security Belmarsh. I can never forget his exact words. "A day here, is like a year at Belmarsh!" A little over 12 months later, he died of TB - the prison authorities had refused to listen to the pleas of his aunt, who fell on her knees during a rare visit, begging that he be admitted to the prison hospital.

ALAA'S HUNGER STRIKE CONTINUES AT WADI EL NATRUN PRISON

More than 200 days have passed since Alaa started his hunger strike. He has now been moved to the Wadi El Natrun prison complex in the desert north of Cairo, dubbed by inmates as the "Valley of Hell."

He may not survive much longer. However, as he holds British-Egyptian nationality, one would hope that the British government would be doing everything they could to secure his immediate release and it would be reasonable to suppose that the Foreign Office could get an immediate pledge in this regard, especially given that the British companies, including the likes of British Petroleum and BP, are the biggest investors in Egypt.

NO CONSULAR ACCESS

However, the British government have failed even to get him any consular access - think about that. That's an outrage. Even a convicted mass murderer, if British, would be entitled to consular access while in prison. That meeting would obviously not take place in his cell - but in a designated room in the prison or the highly supervised prison visiting area.

British men and women convicted of drug smuggling and other crimes in Egypt have received consular visits, so why not Alaa? The answer is because Alaa's crime is that he dared to tell the truth about Egypt, and the injustice both inside and outside its many prison walls. Nobody knows exactly how many political prisoners Egypt now has, but the number is estimated to be at least 60,000.

ALAA WAS ONE OF THE LEADERS OF THE MOST INSPIRATIONAL DEMOCRATIC REVOLT THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN

Alaa Abd El-Fattah was one of the leaders of arguably the most inspirational democratic revolt the world has seen in the last hundred years. Although the first phase of the 2011 uprising in Egypt lasted just 18 days, and although it followed the toppling of the dictator Ben Ali in Tunisia - the streets and bridges around Tahrir Square became a deadly stage watched by the world, where protesters from every walk of life were pitted against Egypt's feared state security forces. Against all the odds, and at the cost of many lives, Egyptians refused to leave the square, sleeping in front of the tanks and fending off attacks from government militia.

The Egyptian people's initial success in toppling the dictator Mubarak led to further revolts not just across the Middle East (most notably in Libya, Bahrain, Yemen and Syria) - the highly organised Tahrir-Square sit-in provided the inspiration for strikes and workplace sit-ins against austerity across the United States and Europe and to the Occupy Movement of the same year. The people of Egypt showed that it does not matter how brutal, feared and authoritarian a government is, it can be toppled if people act collectively.

THE MILITARY BACKLASH

It's true that Egypt's flirtation with the path to greater freedom seemed to be only temporary - the Egyptian authorities deployed the usual divide and rule tactics - encouraging the less committed protesters to return home - and then rushed to elections without allowing time for genuinely democratic opposition parties to develop.

Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood won the presidential election in 2012 - the Brotherhood (contrary to the perception many people have here in the West) had genuinely progressive elements within it, but the chance for any transformative radical programme was prevented partly by the corruption and self-interest of some of the main political actors and partly by opposition to its democratic mandate from the deep state (the military, the Interior Ministry, State Security, the police etc.)

The army, seeing its chance, seized power in 2013, superficially in the name of the people, but in reality, to advance the interests of the generals. The new president, Abdel Fattah El-Sissi, moved quickly to crush all opposition, and ordering his security forces to attack Muslim Brotherhood supporters who had gathered in eastern Cairo at Rabaa al-Adaweya Square, killing at least 800 people - the bloodiest massacre of civilians in Egypt's modern history.

DON'T ALLOW EGYPT TO USE COP27 TO GREENWASH ITS REGIME - AND PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION TO SAVE ALAA

Now COP27 is scheduled to take place in Sharm El-Sheikh and Sisi has been given a golden opportunity to greenwash his murderous regime, which has also seen ever increasing levels inequality and corruption. While British representatives at COP27 will be given accommodation in the most luxurious five star hotels in Sharm El-Sheikh and fall asleep listening to the sound of the waves, another British citizen, Alaa Abdel El-Fatah is near death, on a painful hunger strike in the darkest of places - his dimly lit cell. The only thing he might hear at night is the desperate cry from some prisoner in another cell appealing for medical help which most likely never comes.

If we care for freedom, real democracy and justice, we can't allow the British Foreign Office to forget Alaa - especially if it's simply not to upset the highly profitable relationship British multinationals have with one of the world's most authoritarian and corrupt regimes - a relationship which only benefits the wealthiest of Egyptians.

If you live in London, please show your support at the protest at King Charles Street - and wherever you live please sign the petition -

www.change.org/p/help-free-my-brother-before-it-s-too-lat...

i don't like this photograph.

oh, you say, mrwaterslide, we know you; of course you like this photograph.

and of course, you would be right. this is a photograph of a beautiful woman bending over with her teats about to fall out of her blouse, and, what's not to like? of course mrwaterslide likes this photograph.

and that's precisely where we start to go off the track.

do you see all those dark shapes behind Miss Landis's head? those are shoes, military shoes, and pants legs. pants of men dressed in military uniforms. i would be willing to bet that the moment this photograph was taken, sex, the frisson of sex, was heavy in the air. those men think that they are in the presence of a, if not The, Goddess of Sex.

like mrwaterslide, those men see a beautiful woman, an available woman, The Girl Next Door who just happens to also be The Goddess of Sex, and she has flown thousands of miles to see them, only them, each one individually. here i am, she seems to say, fight on and you can have me. that's what she's saying.

the truth is (at least according to Wikipedia), Carole Landis appeared before more troops during World War II than any other person. not Bob Hope, not Jack Benny, not Martha Raye. Carole Landis. she even wrote a book about her experiences as a performer for the troops: "Four Jills And A Jeep," and then they made a movie out it, starring, yes, Carole Landis.

i suppose you probably think "teats" is sort of crude. Miss Landis was known as "The Chest," in some circles. maybe that doesn't sound quite as crude, though i doubt anybody ever called her that to her face. but i can certainly see some Army private rushing into where his buddies were and exclaiming "The Chest is gonna be here tomorrow," and somebody asking "Who?" and him saying, "The Chest. you know, Carole Landis."

she made a few movies, most of which you've probably never heard of. she was in "Alcatraz Island" and "Invisible Menace" and "Three Texas Steers." and then there were "Penrod's Double Trouble" and "One Million B.C." and "It Happened In Flatbush." a lot of her roles were uncredited. Wikipedia does say "In a time when the singing of many actresses was dubbed in, Landis's own voice was considered good enough and was used in her few musical roles." when she got a contract with Twentieth Century Fox and started sleeping with Darryl F. Zanuck. she got some decent roles, but then she stopped sleeping with Darryl F. Zanuck, and the roles after that weren't so good.

at some point not all that long after the war ended, Landis began an affair with the English actor Rex Harrison.

i've always kind of liked Rex Harrison. he was such a strong and commanding presence in "My Fair Lady." he won an Academy Award for that role. he was suave and debonair, he had that wonderful voice. i'm sure he was adept at lighting a woman's cigarette, i'm sure he knew what to say to the waiter. he was "fanatical" about wine; if the wine wasn't up to his standard, he oftentimes sent it back.

of course, inconveniently, Rex Harrison was already married when he and Carole Landis had their affair. she wanted him to get a divorce and marry her. Harrison said no, and broke off the affair.

her money was running out (her house was on the market), Rex Harrison wouldn't marry her (and she had three failed marriages already under her belt). she knew that someday, probably sooner rather than later, her looks would go and Hollywood would discard her. and oh, btw, she either suffered from endometriosis and couldn't have children (and one can imagine how that might have made her feel) or in an alternative narrative, she was pregnant as a result of her affair with Harrison, and he wanted her to have an abortion (you can find both stories told in different places). she was 29, but in a matter of months, she would be 30. the big 3 - 0, an unpleasant milestone for a woman in Hollywood.

so perhaps it's not surprising that, the day after the breakup, Carole Landis gathered up all the photographs and mementoes from her relationship with Rex Harrison, put them in a suitcase, and went over to a house where she knew he had gone and left them in the driveway. Then she went back to her house and got the Seconal out of the medicine cabinet, took forty tablets, and laid down on the bed to die.

at some point she may have changed her mind. when Harrison, finally sensing that something was amiss, showed up at her house, he found her in the bathroom, clutching the commode. allegedly, he felt her pulse and discovered she was still clinging to life. and so he called immediately for an ambulance.

no, actually, he didn't. again the stories vary as to what happened. one version has him taking half-an-hour to find her address book so he could call her personal physician. another version has him doing nothing for a couple of hours and then driving over to see Zanuck so together they could decide what to do. either way, by the time help arrived, Landis was dead.

and that's pretty much the end of the story. Harrison took his wife to the funeral. appearances were maintained. he was ostracized for a time, but soon enough he was back to making films. not that many years later he had his Academy Award.

so the Carole Landis story is a sad one, beyond tragic.

but mrwaterslide, why the intense reaction to a photograph that shows a beautiful, sexy young woman in the prime of her too-short life, doing good work, happy, perhaps, healthy, physically, if not mentally?

perhaps if i tell you (or remind you) that i am the son of a suicide, you will begin to understand. for someone like me, the revelations of the photograph are like biting into a hamburger and crunching down on a shard of glass. i probably don't need to say a lot more than that.

i don't like this photograph.

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

Sunset from The Scores

More precisely, from the rooftop balcony of the Wardlaw Museum. The light wasn’t quite right; but it wasn’t terrible.

Definitely somewhere to re-visit.

P105-3007 Taken at: Wardlaw Musuem, St Andrews, Scotland

..... or more precisely, a kid's bubble floating into the air

© all rights reserved

Please take your time... and enjoy it large on black

The general term ice age or, more precisely, glacial age denotes a geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in an expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. There have been at least four major ice ages in the Earth's past. Outside these periods, the Earth seems to have been ice-free even in high latitudes. There is evidence that greenhouse gas levels fell at the start of ice ages and rose during the retreat of the ice sheets, but it is difficult to establish cause and effect. Greenhouse gas levels may also have been affected by other factors which have been proposed as causes of ice ages, such as the movement of continents and vulcanism. Although the last glacial period ended more than 8,000 years ago, its effects can still be felt today. For example, the moving ice carved out landscape in Canada, Greenland, northern Eurasia and Antarctica. The erratic boulders, till, drumlins, eskers, fjords, kettle lakes, moraines, cirques, horns, etc., are typical features left behind by the glaciers. The Dutch IJsselmeer lake is covered with icerocks hummocks, caused by the cold weather of the passed days. At some places even higher than 6 meter!

Hummocks are moving up on the dyke road of Katwoude taken at the Gouwzee near Volendam. The hummocks are moving slowly up on the dyke due the pressure from the wind from the East. A hummock is a boss or rounded knoll of ice rising above the general level of an ice-field, Hummocky ice is caused by slow and unequal pressure in the main body of the packed ice, and by unequal structure and temperature at a later period. Samantha sitting on the hummocks taken during our skating tour to Volendam. In the background you can see the Katwouder windmill build in 1650.

Een ijstijd of glaciatie is een geologisch tijdvak waarin ijskappen voorkomen. In het Engels wordt dit een periode van ice-house genoemd, als tegenhanger van een ijskaploze periode, de greenhouse ("broeikas"). Aangezien er gletsjers liggen op bijvoorbeeld Groenland of Antarctica, leven we tegenwoordig in een ijstijd. Men neemt aan dat dit in de gehele geologische geschiedenis van de Aarde minstens vijfmaal het geval is geweest, waarvan eenmaal zelfs zo sterk dat de ijskappen van de polen vrijwel tot aan de evenaar waren opgerukt. Ook zijn er periodes dat er aanzienlijke opwarming optrad waarbij die ijskappen grotendeels waren weggesmolten. Het klimaat op Aarde wordt beïnvloed door vele factoren, zoals de intensiteit van de zonnestraling, de ligging van de continenten, de continentverplaatsingen, vulkanisme, de zeestromen, de bedekking van het land door vegetatie, het weerkaatsingsvermogen van het aardoppervlak en vele kleine andere factoren. Met behulp van klimaatmodellen wordt door wetenschappers een reconstructie van het klimaat en de klimaatveranderingen in het verleden gemaakt. Alhoewel er een zekere consensus bestaat onder wetenschappers, zijn er nog vele onzekerheden en tegenstrijdigheden in dit onderzoek.

Hierboven een foto van kruiend ijs. Zoetwatermeren kunnen spectaculair bevriezen. Grotere meren zoals het IJsselmeer (IJmeer) hierboven hebben bijna altijd wel golven, en dit werkt directe bevriezing van het wateroppervlak tegen. Eerst vormen zich kleine ijsschotsen, die naar de kust drijven onder invloed van de wind. Deze schotsen vormen zo een ijsveld op het water dat de golven dempt, en uiteindelijk vriezen alle schotsen aan elkaar vast tot een massa. Voordat dit gebeurt schuren de schotsen voortdurend langs elkaar heen en schrapen zo stukjes ijs van elkaar af; elke schots krijgt zo een witte rand. Zulk ijs is dus totaal niet geschikt om op te schaatsen. Wanneer grotere delen van het meer bevriezen beginnen de platen, die soms een paar vierkante kilometer groot zijn, langzaam tegen elkaar te bewegen onder invloed van de wind en stroming. Dit heeft kruiend ijs tot gevolg: de ijsschotsen worden met kracht gebroken en op elkaar gestapeld langs de dijken langs het meer. Dit hoeft niet alleen bij dun ijs te gebeuren; soms kruit het ijs bij een dikte van meer dan 20 cm. De stapels ijs worden dan hoog, en het geluid is oorverdovend.

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 flat apse that is to my eye one sure sign of old age, as well as reference to old traditions from the builders. The bell tower looks less old and was probably added in its current shape during the 12th century.

Taken Remembrance Sunday 11th November 2018 at 10:09am. Precisely 50minutes and 29seconds before the 2 minute silence at the 11th day of the 11th hour of the 11th month, 100 years to the day. This is on a local public house. This is shot in 16:9 ratio using ART Filter Grainy Film.

I found this to be the most fitting and poignant tribute in Bristol.

I count myself especially fortunate to be lucky this time with the weather (that is no torrential downpour like a previous attempt to photograph) and also today no vehicles or people to block the view.

I am especially reminded of this, the importance that we must never forget those who gave their tomorrow for our today whether 1918 or 2018 or in the future.

Witch, though.

Definite witch.

And puissant AF.

She was very dedicated to laying them precisely and neatly.

More precisely a "backpack helicopter" a.k.a. OPHAV (Optionally Piloted Hovering Air Vehicle).

........ or more precisely, Alien overboard !

My entry for the Flickr Bake-off group's All In TD for August with the subject of Space.

Many congratulations to all the wonderful entries but especial congratulations to the very worthy winners ..... well done !

www.flickr.com/groups/bakeoff/discuss/72157622061721744/

Cupcake iced and decorated in Fondant.

Explore 24.08.2009

How precisely can an object be created to an exact dimension. Can a perfectly straight line be drawn? Can a perfect sphere be molded? Can a perfect parabola be bent into shape?

How close is close enough? Some might state that being close to the "seat of one's pants" is not good enough.

On the other hand, at times, comfort can be the appropriate measure.

An empty park bench in Port Credit, Ontario.

Located 4000 light years from Earth, IC 5146 - better known as the Cocoon Nebula, is an area of both bright and dark nebulae in the constellation of Cygnus the Swan. The red portion is due to light shining from hydrogen emissions while the blue portions of the nebula consist of dust reflecting the light young hot blue stars. At the core of the nebula is a bright star that only formed about a 100,000 years ago. The shell of gas is about 15 light years across. Also seen is a dark lane of dust that appears to project from the main nebula towards the west. This dark object is an obscuring cloud of dust known as Barnard 168. To me if almost looks as if the dark cloud is emanating from and trailing the Crescent Nebula - I like the effect!

I composed this shot during the day to put the Crescent in the corner of the frame and include the dark lane diagonally across the frame. Platesolving and automated camera rotation allowed the scope to precisely frame this image for the shot.

Since I was going after the dark cloud, I knew that I would need a lot of exposure time to bring this out. This image is the result of 179 exposures of 150 seconds each - for a total exposure time of almost 8 hours! This is my longest exposure integration to date.

Details of the Image:

179 x 150 second exposures

50 x 2 second Bias exposures

25 x 120 second Dark Calibration exposures

50 Flat Cal exposures

Scope: William Optics 132mm FLT F/7 APO

Guide Scope: Apterna 60mm

Camera: ZWO ASI294MC-Pro

Guide Camera: ZWO ASI290Mini

Focus Motor: Pegasus Astro Focus Cube 2

Field Rotator: Pegasus Astro Falcon

Mount: Ioptron CEM60

Polar Alignment: Ioptron Ipolar integrated alignment cameras

Capture Software: PHD2 Guider, Sequence Generator Pro controller

Image Processing: Deepsky Stacker, Pixinsight, Photoshop

Beebee Generating Station - May 2016

“The Fixer?”

Mercier arches an eyebrow at her guest, fingers the gun in her hand, and smiles knowingly.

The smile slowly dissolves, replaced by a look of fierce intensity. She spins around and fires three shots in quick succession. So quick the untrained ear might hear only one. Yet there they are: three bullet holes. Each target accurately hit, precisely in the kill zone.

“Goodbye Joker” she whispers.

“What to take out first?” she muses. “That rose? Or those manic eyes?”

“Rose,” her guest quips.

Mercier walks calmly to the targets. A serene, unhurried saunter that’s become her trademark. She inspects the bullet holes with satisfaction, running her index finger around the edge of each perfect circle. She places the gun back in its case, and looks out the window at the grey green sky. Clouds are gathering over the harbour.

“Looks like rain,” she says.

“Always,” comes the reply.

She recalls their last encounter. Standing in the pouring rain down by the Market. After hours. Everything closed now. Her thin frame trembling from the cold. Rain-drenched hair clinging to her forehead and neck. Beads of water trickling down, dripping onto her skin. Unable to tell if the wet on her cheeks was rain or tears.

Resisting the urge to embrace her. Studying the innocent but knowing look in her eyes, now overcast with vulnerability and fear.

“I’m here when you need me,” she’d told her. “Don’t fret. I’ll look after it.”

It’s what they share, this mask of innocence reflecting something real hidden deep inside, shielded by a cruelty as cold and cunning as a great white, lurking in the dark water just beyond visibility.

And now here she is, after all this time, needing her again. Even fixers need someone to fix things once in a while.

“Something’s missing.”

The rain starts to fall outside. She looks down the pier that runs alongside the abandoned warehouse. Stares at the row of fishers, huddled dockside, their poles dangling over the water, bowed and useless.

“There’s too many lures.”

“Lures?”

“All these players. Which ones are bait? Which ones just herrings, of the red variety?”

The Fixer nods.

“Who’s he really after?”

“Who? The Joker?”

“Yes.”

The Fixer joins her at the window, stares out at the darkening sky. “My guess: Selina.”

Mercier ponders a moment, then shakes her head. “Doubtful. She’s small potatoes. He’ll bide his time with her. Catch her in one of his traps someday. Collateral damage. Nah, he’s after something bigger.”

“What about this footsie, or tutsy, or whatever alias he’s going with now … this Humphrey?”

“Maybe, but my hunch is the Joker’s too smart for a guy who gives himself nicknames like that. Besides, sounds like Humpboy is piecing the whole nasty network together. My guess is Joker knows what he’s up to. Just waiting for him to finish, then he’ll download all that juicy information before Hump can upload. A little accident with his pal Ben Dover down on the docks one night and he’s fertilizer for all the bottom feeders.”

Fixer snorts.

“No, we need to go to the source. This Scofield girl. This little Hilly hottie. She’s the real bait. There’s no ransom, so he’s not looking for money. What’s he after?”

Mercier pauses, turns to look her in the eye. “Who would come to her rescue?”

The Fixer thinks for a while.

“Us” she finally concludes

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“Precisely. And now, Humpboy knows you’re on the case.”

“Damn.”

“We need a diversion. I know just the person. And you? You’d better stay on the down low until this is over.”

“Where can I go?”

Mercier reaches over, tucks an errant lock of hair back in place.

“Don’t fret,” she answers. “I’ll look after it.”

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The White Canvas Gallery challenges you to write your own story.

1. Someone has to tag you for you to qualify to do a sequel picture.

2. Assuming someone has tagged you, you have 3 days to think of a sequel picture and post it to Flickr. If you cannot do it then ask the person who tagged you to tag someone else. (3 days time period is done to keep this moving at a fair pace). If the storyline gets stuck with someone for too long, the moderators or admins of this group reserve the right to assign it to someone else in the group just to keep it moving. So dont lose your chance !

3. Tag someone to follow you, they will need to create another pic within 3 days, help them as much as you can.

4. Post your pic to this group

www.flickr.com/groups/twc-serendipity/

5. Feel free to write out your story in the description, just make sure these rules appear on your post at the bottom of your description

6. To help with sequence, i strongly urge that you start your title with "Scene [number]". the number is whatever your scene number is, one more than the previous.

Original Post (Scene 1):

www.flickr.com/photos/goodcross/28128101403

See links to previous scenes on GC's page too!

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See, this is precisely why I love shooting DTLA. There is always something to keep you coming back.

View On Black

© Daniela Hartmann, flickr.com

Perhaps the next official Milka cow, more precisely a cow elephant. But sometimes they have to improve the promotion. XXL chocolate, Milka Jumbo or chocolate giant. Törööööh!

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Bewirbt sich als neue Milka Kuh. Ist zwar eine Elefantenkuh, vielleicht hat sie aber Chancen bis ins Recall zu kommen als Werbestar für Milka Jumbo, XXL Milka oder als "Schokoriese". Mit dem Muuuh könnte es schwierig werden: Törööööh!

Das Foto der Elefantenkuh habe ich in Kenia gemacht. Angestrichen habe ich sie natürlich in Photoshop.

www.milka.de/

All my images are copyrighted.

If you intend to use any of my pictures for non-commercial usage, you have to sign them with © Daniela Hartmann, flickr.com. Please write a comment if you have used it and for what purpose. I would be very happy about it. I am curious about the context in which the image is used.

My camera broke – precisely the zoom button wore out, so it would only shoot its widest angle – and these are the last pics before I took it in for repair. I’m not sure how long before I get it back.

However, I bought myself a new snapshot camera, so I won’t be sans camera again.

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.

It's still very early morning, and the sunlight is heavily filtered by the tall forest growth to the east. Although I have the sun at my back, the gorgets will not display full red iridescence until it gets a little brighter. In this shot you can get quite a hint of the vibrant wine-red color to come with later more intense sunlight! This dazzling display is then based more on iridescence than pigment colors... but the sun angle has to be correct. The experienced males know how to precisely position themselves relative to sun angle to awe the ladies. (This fully adult male is experienced!) You can actually get more feathering detail of the gorget region in subdued lighting like this. The full iridescence is often overwhelming!

IMG_5991; Broad-tailed Hummingbird

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English

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If this rooster looks like a disco ball, that's precisely the intended effect! The paths of the stars across the sky are reflected on each piece of metal that composes it. For 3 hours and 15 minutes, I continuously captured the movement of the stars, and I stitched all the images together to achieve this result. This type of photography is called circumpolar.

Normally, the Earth's rotation doesn't help us in our stargazing. 🌍 Motorized mounts exist to compensate for it, but here, on the contrary, it's the only astrophotography technique where we take advantage of this rotation. All year round, the stars of the northern hemisphere revolve around a very specific star: the North Star. This is explained by the fact that this star (outside the frame of the top left photo) is fortunately very close to the Earth's rotational axis! Hence the name of the technique: "Circum-": around (Latin); "-polar": the North Star.

This rooster is located east of Bordeaux (France) and belongs to the Château la France. 🍷🍇 It's quite large, at least 7 to 8 meters, I'd say! I like to play with reflections, and as soon as I saw this structure, I imagined the photo. During processing, I was amazed to see the star trails stand out so well! 🌠

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Français

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Si ce coq ressemble à une boule disco, c'est justement l'effet voulu ! Les trajets des étoiles dans le ciel se reflètent sur chaque pièce métallique qui le compose. Pendant 3h15, j'ai capturé le mouvement des étoiles en continu, et j'ai assemblé toutes les images pour avoir ce résultat. Ce type de photographie est appelé circumpolaire.

D'ordinaire, la rotation de la Terre ne nous aide pas dans notre chasse aux étoiles. 🌍 Des montures motorisées existent pour la compenser, mais ici au contraire, c'est bien la seule technique en astrophoto où l'on prend avantage de cette rotation. Toute l'année, les étoiles de l'hémisphère nord tournent autour d'un astre bien spécifique: l'étoile polaire. Cela s'explique par le fait que cette étoile (hors du champ de la photo en haut à gauche) se trouve par chance très proche de l'axe de rotation de la Terre ! D'où le nom de la technique: "Circum-": autour (latin) ; "-polaire" : l'étoile polaire.

Ce coq se trouve à l'est de Bordeaux (France), et appartient au château la France. 🍷🍇 Il est assez grand, au moins 7 à 8 mètres, je dirai ! J'aime bien jouer avec les reflets, et à peine ai-je vu cette structure que j'ai imaginé la photo. Lors du traitement, j'étais stupéfait de voir les trainées d'étoiles ressortir aussi bien ! 🌠

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 southern elevation, very simple and completely unadorned, shows its humble apparel in its sheer simplicity. There was very little money available to build this church, and none to afford the skills of the more competent architects and masons. Villagers certainly contributed most of the workforce. I think this is the first church I see that has absolutely no sculpted decoration of any kind whatsoever, whether outside or inside.

Yet, 1,000 years later, it still stands in place as the humble and happy abode of God.

It's 06:45 precisely as GB Railfreight 66750 "Bristol Panel Signal Box" passes under the signal gantry at Stapleford with a trainload of aggregates running as 6L83 from Cemex, Peak Forest to Ripple Lane Exchange Sidings.

Photograph taken at an altitude of Nine metres, in the magic of the Golden hour around sunrise at 05:41am, (sunrise was at precisely 06.15am) on Saturday 6th September 2014 off the Patricia Bay Highway 17, on Lochside Drive close to Frost Avenue and the Lochside Waterfront Park, in beautiful Sidney by the sea on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

Here, I am standing beside the wooden decked viewing platform, looking over towards Mt Baker in Washington State, USA from beautiful Sidney by the sea on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Also known as Koma Kulshan, she is an active glaciated andesitic stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc and the North Cascades of Washington State in the United States, standing 3,286 metres tall and was first ascended in 1868, her last eruption recorded in 1880.

The name Mount Baker first appeared in print in Captain Vancouver’s 1798 narrative of his voyage around Vancouver Island. Legend has it that his third-lieutenant, Joseph Baker, was the first to spot the mountain while they sailed into Dungeness Bay on April 30th, 1792. Also known by the Lummi as Kwud-Shad, and Koba (meaning 'high mountain always covered with snow', was the Skagit name.

These Canada Geese, along with many other small groups, fly across the lake from East to West every morning and back again every evening at Sunset, and I love to watch the classic Vee formations and listen to the honking as they pass me by. In flight, a group of Geese are called, a Skein. For this frame, in the dawns early darkness, I was shooting the sunrise over Mt Baker and I could hear the geese honking as groups of up to ten flew byu me East to West. I waited until they entered the frame, amazed at how close they actually were to me, and began manually pressing the shutter.

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Nikon D800 70mm 1/1000s f/2.8 iso100 RAW (14 bit) Manual focus. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto white balance. Auto Active D-lighting.

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.

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LATITUDE: N 48d 38m 15.77s

LONGITUDE: W 123d 24m 12.83s

ALTITUDE: 9.0m

RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 10.38MB

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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.

5 months precisely to 11 November 2017.

Euro 3(SCRT>Euro 5)

Voith DIWA864.3E 4-speed

Volvo D7C 250hp

Volvo B7TL 10.6m

Transbus (Alexander) ALX400 10.6m

Chassis number: Vo B7TL YV3S2G5184A003517

Body number: Tbs 4402/9

H49/22D + 18 standees

Weighs 12100kg

New June 2004 for route 337.

Or more precisely the Caliente Range with Sierra Madre Mountains in the background.

Closeup shot of the dashboard clock on a Mercedes W212 model, E300. I later found out that the same clock model is fitted to the range topping, AMG E63 bi-turbo sedan. 😃

Or perhaps, more precisely, the examination of a solid transitioning directly to the gaseous phase without passing through the liquid phase.

For We're Here! visiting Nerds and Geeks.

Strobist:

SB700, softbox, right of camera

TT560, cyan gel, left of camera

Triggered by science

This image shows the path formed by the Milky Way seen from the southern hemisphere, precisely in the town of Ensenada in southern Chile.

We can appreciate the Osorno volcano (2,652 m) next to the Púntiagudo volcano (2,493 m) and the town of Puerto Varas surrounding Lake Llanquihue that forms a mirror effect due to the long exposure of the capture.

The arc formed by the Milky Way forms the effect of "galactic eruption" because it aligns with the Osorno volcano.

In the photograph we see the galactic center, the southern cross, the Carina region, together with the Magellanic clouds, as well as the glow of the air present in the scene.

Location: Ensenada, Lakes Region, South of Chile

Coordinates: O 72°32'18.24" S 41°12'26.86"

Date: 11 Ago 2021

Instagram: www.instagram.com/matuutex/

Website: www.marcelomaturana.com

Nikon d5600, Tokina lens 14/20mm f2 iso 1600 15 segs

Panorama (21 Photos)

I'm still having trouble with airbubbles in the ears. I can tolerate the eyes, nose, and small ones around the helmet, but the ears are hard to recreate. I have a solution for popping the bubbles, but it doesn't always work.

we often hear the criticism that "we" should dress our age

first of all, I don't know what that means

second, that is nobody's business but my own!

Photograph taken at an altitude of Six metres, during the first vestiges of ambient light prior to the magic of the Golden Hour around sunrise (which was at precisely 04:51am), at 03:28am on Monday 7th July 2014, off Botany Road and the Viking Coastal Trail on the shoreline of Botany Bay, the Northern most of seven bays in Broadstairs, Kent, England.

The seven bays are (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 24mm 1/20s f/2.8 iso200 RAW (14 bit) Mirror up. AF-S single point focus. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto white balance.

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 20.12s

LONGITUDE: E 1d 26m 14.31s

ALTITUDE: 6.0m

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 103.00MB

PROCESSED FILE: 19.66MB

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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

Without Philips, Eindhoven would probably still be a collection of a couple of tiny villages. Because of the great employment that the company created, Philips turned the small village of Eindhoven into a city. But precisely when Philips left for Amsterdam and many other places around the world, the multinational made it possible for former industrial area Strijp-S to flourish again.

From 1928, Philips developed the Strijp-S rapidly. The Clock Building (a Philite factory) raised from the dust, followed by device factories on the Hoge Rug. An engine room and a boiler house were built. Even during the Second World War a new building was constructed: the Veemgebouw with its typical rounded corners, intended for the storage of electronic parts. With the industrial area Strijp-S, Philips became completely self-sufficient. From raw materials to finished products in a cardboard box, transport to the consumer included: the company had everything in its own hand. No wonder some people joked that their slogan was ‘From sand to customer's hand'.

Forbidden City:

Every time after a great invention, Philips grew tremendously. The radio came first, followed by the TV after the war. The expansion required new industrial areas: Strijp-R and Strijp-T on the other side of the ring road. The 27 hectares of Strijp-S were not nearly enough. In the 70s, Philips reached its peak at Strijp: about 10,000 people work in this area on a daily basis. The area got its nickname ‘Forbidden City', because it used to be surrounded by fences and barriers. One could only enter with a valid pass.

The first ideas for redeveloping the area came up in 2000, when Philips left the City of Light. Philips sold Strijp-S to Park Strijp Beheer in 2004. The buildings that were still in use by Philips were hired back. Since 2006, the redevelopment of Strijp-S became a very serious plan. The first buildings had been demolished and new activities came to the area, particularly the creative industries and the annual Dutch Design Week. These ‘quartermasters' shape the area more and more every year. But in the years to come, there is still a lot to be done!

(Source: strijp-s.nl)

Public Clock Photography by Arjan Richter

At the N9 between Graaff-Reinet and Aberdeen.

An der N9 zwischen Graaff-Reinet und Aberdeen.

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 formed an almost impenetrable barrier to the interior from Cape Town, and the early adventurers, explorers, hunters and travelers on the way to the Highveld unanimously denounced it as a frightening place of great heat, great frosts, great floods and great droughts. Today it is still a place of great heat and frosts, and an annual rainfall of between 50–250 mm, though on some of the mountains it can be 250–500 mm higher than on the plains. However, underground water is found throughout the Karoo, which can be tapped by boreholes, making permanent settlements and sheep farming possible.

The xerophytic vegetation consists of aloes, mesembryanthemums, crassulas, euphorbias, stapelias, and desert ephemerals, spaced 50 cm or more apart, and becoming very sparse going northwards into Bushmanland and, from there, into the Kalahari Desert. The driest region of the Karoo, however, is its southwestern corner, between the Great Escarpment and the Cederberg-Skurweberg mountain ranges, called the Tankwa Karoo, which receives only 75 mm of rain annually. The eastern and north-eastern Karoo are often covered by large patches of grassland. The typical Karoo vegetation used to support large game, sometimes in vast herds.

Today sheep thrive on the xerophytes, though each sheep requires about 4 hectares of grazing to sustain itself.

The Great Karoo straddles the 30° S parallel on the west of the continent, in a similar position to other semi-desert areas on earth, north and south of the equator. It is furthermore in the rainfall shadow of the Cape Fold Mountains along the western coastline. The western "Lower Karoo" (the Tankwa Karoo and Moordenaarskaroo) contain remnants of the Cape Fold Mountains (e.g. the Witteberg and Anysberg Mountains) which give it a moderate hilly appearance; but further east the Lower Karoo becomes a monotonously flat plain. The "Upper Karoo" has been intruded by dolerite sills (see below), creating multiple flat topped hills, or "Karoo Koppies", which are iconic of the Great Karoo.

The vegetation of the Upper and Lower Karoo is similar, so that few people make a distinction between the two.

(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 Sukkulenten-Karoo und Nama-Karoo. Mit einer Ausdehnung von 500.000 km² umfasst die Karoo fast ein Drittel des Territoriums Südafrikas. Die Sukkulenten-Karoo 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)

Life pushes in and forces us to change. Our response to these forces can at times be very joyful and at other times very painful. The balancing of the emotions that come to us can make all the difference in how we choose to engage with life. Part of this adjustment requires us to use our experiences with what we read, what we see and who we share with. Growth will take place, if we are mature enough to listen within our depths to intuitions that guide us to adjust our journey to the realities that face us.

The question then becomes…what is reality? Who defines my realities? Again, that question can be answered with deep reflection on where we may find ourselves in our journey and those influences that we encounter along the way. My reality is not your reality but your reality helps me define my own.

-rc

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"What graces might come to the world if we remembered God not only as Person, as in Jesus Christ, but as Woman, calling out at the crossroads urging all the peoples of the world to see and relate to one another as members of one diverse but radically interdependent family. As a Mother, bent over her children in fierce protection, or crowning them with purpose and strength for the difficult journey ahead? As a Child, playing joyfully in the mountains, desert, and watercourses of creation? AS a Lover, not abstract and fleshless, but as one who loves us precisely in and through our bodies and despite our failings, still holds us in mercy and calls forth something strong and beautiful, something that we have long ago ceased to be?...What healing might rise in our own small circles of the world if we -male and female alike-embodied Sophia..."

-Christopher Pramuk, At Play in Creation: Merton's Awakening to the Feminine Divine. Pg. 104

/*****************************************************

Photo taken with Rokinon 85mm F1.4 and Pentax-F AF Adapter 1.7x

SMC Pentax-F 1.7x AF Adapter questions & observations

Lindy Stone , Oct 16, 2006; 06:07 p.m.

I decided to buy a 1.7X AF Adapter to see whats up with it. I see now how it aides in autofocus when using either a manual focus and autofocus lens:

The 1.7x element moves in and out, driven by the cameras AF drive screw.

It does seem to work with my slow aperture zooms on my overcast day.

In the next few days as time permits I'll post digital images taken with it and my 2 slower zooms:

135-600mm/6.7 & 80-320mm/5.6

I am also experimenting with a manual focus Vivitar 100mm f2.8 macro, 1977 vintage. I'm pretty impressed with all 3 lenses I've tried so far. The instructions say use with 15mm/3.5 SMC will damage the 15mm, so I won't try it.

So far as I can see, if you manually focus into the general place you should be, the AF 1.7x then moves its inner element in or out to precisely dial the focus in and give me the green light.

Any insight, and opinions using the 1.7x AF adapter are appreciated. I am new to the pentax system, I know alot of the rest of you are long time pentax experts&photographers

Thanks, Lindy

Hanh Truong , Oct 25, 2006; 01:19 p.m.

Hi Lindy,

I have the SMC Pentax-F 1.7x AF Adapter. It worked wonderfullỵ

It work with screw mount lenses ALSO.

The trick for the SMC Pentax-F 1.7x AF Adapter to work with screw mount lenses is the short out the contact pins on the adapter. I use a thin strip of foil paper across all the pins.

If you have the Pentax istD, this trick of shorting out the contact pins on the camera mount will allow the Focus confirmation to work with screw mount lenses (the ist-DS and beyond does not need this trick for the focus confirmation).

I am using the 1.7F AF with the screw mount 85-210mm F/4.5, 35mm F/2 and the images are amazingly sharp wide open. I was surprised of how good the IQ is.

Let me know if this works for you.

Hanh

photo.net/pentax-camera-forum/00ISbl

Sur le pont principal du voilier "Cuauhtemoc" de la marine mexicaine , cordages rangés au... cordeau !

On the main deck of the sailboat "Cuauhtemoc" of the Mexican navy, the orderly ropes very precisely ... !

Colchester St. Botolphs was subsequently renamed Colchester Town station.

Scanned from a Kodachrome 64 transparency.

The Palace of the Dukes of Burgundy (In French: "Palais des ducs et des États de Bourgogne") on Place de la Libération, Dijon, Bourgogne, France

Some background information:

The Palace of the Dukes of Burgundy is a remarkably well-preserved building complex in the city of Dijon. It was put up in the 14th, 15th and 18th centuries. Construction began in 1364 under the rule of Philip the Bold, who was a prince from the House of Valois and then Duke of Burgundy. Philip had been enfeoffed with the Duchy of Burgund just one year before.

The Tour de Bar in the inner courtyard of the palace, which was originally designed for being a residential tower, was given its name by the imprisonment of René of Anjou, Duke of Bar, who was imprisoned there by Philip the Good after the Battle of Bulgnéville, from 1431 to 1437. However, the palace is dominated by a different tower, the Tour Philip le Bon that was erected during the reign of Philip the Good and has a height of 52 metres.

The palace was the centre of the often dissipated court life of the Dukes of Burgundy. But the Catholic Order of the Golden Fleece was also based there resp. more precisely in the palace chapel Sainte-Chapelle de Dijon.

After the death of Charles the Bold, who was the last Duke from the House of Valois, and the marriage of his daughter Mary of Burgundy with the then archduke and later Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I from the Austrian House of Habsburg in 1477, the French King Louis XI retracted the fiefdom of the Duchy of Burgund and reintegrated it in his Domaine royal. From then on the palace was just used occasionally by the French kings.

In 1799, in the aftermath of the French Revolution, the Musée des Beaux-Arts was installed in the palace, which also put the tombs of the Dukes from the House of Valois on display. In 1862 and again in 1926, the Palace of the Dukes of Burgundy was classified as a Monument historique and hence, listed. Today, the Musée des Beaux-Arts, the guildhall of Dijon, the tourist information centre, the city’s art college and a regional archive are located in the building complex.

The Place de la Libération, that was fomerly named "La place Royal", was built between 1681 and 1686. It was planned by the French architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart, replacing the little Place Saint-Christophe. In its history the crescent-shaped place had several names, but bears its current name in remembrance of the liberation of Dijon by French troops in September 1944.

Dijon is a city in eastern France and the capital of the Côte-d'Or département in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region. It has a population of about 152,000 within the city limits and about 251,000 in the greater Dijon area. The city has retained varied architectural styles from many of the main periods of the past millennium, including Capetian, Gothic and Renaissance. Many still-inhabited town houses in the city's central district date from the 18th century and earlier. Dijon’s architecture is distinguished by, among other things, by the typical Burgundian polychrome roofs, arranged in geometric patterns and made of tiles glazed in terracotta, green, yellow and black.

Every year in autumn Dijon holds an international gastronomic fair and that is well justified because the city is renowned for its delicacies. Among those are the famous Dijon mustard which originated around 1200, the likewise famous red Burgundy wine that grows in the countryside around the city, crème de cassis, a dark red liquor made from blackcurrants, bœuf bourguignon, a beef stew braised in red Burgundy wine, escargots, Burgundy snails cooked in a vegetable stock and served with garlic butter, and pains d'épices, a gingerbread made according to a secret recipe.

The earliest archaeological finds within the city limits date from the Neolithic period. In the Roman era Dijon became a settlement called Divio, which may mean sacred fountain. It was well located on the road from Lyon to Paris. Saint Benignus, the city's apocryphal patron saint, is said to have introduced Christianity to the whole area before being martyred. In 580 AD, Dijon was mentioned in a document by the Gallo-Roman historian and bishop Gregory of Tours.

From the early 11th to the late 15th century, the province of Dijon was home to the Dukes of Burgundy. In 1393, the Cathedral of Saint Benignus of Dijon was consecrated. In those medieval times the city was a place of tremendous wealth and power as well as one of the great European centres of art, learning and science. Furthermore, the Duchy of Burgundy was a key in the transformation of medieval times towards early modern Europe. Today, the Palace of the Dukes of Burgundy in Place de la Libération houses the city hall and the museum of fine arts.

In 1513, Swiss and Imperial armies invaded Burgundy and besieged Dijon, which was defended by the governor of the province, Louis II de la Trémoille. The siege was extremely violent, but the town succeeded in resisting the invaders. After long negotiations, Louis II de la Trémoille managed to persuade the Swiss and Imperial supreme commanders to withdraw their troops and also to return three hostages who were being held in Switzerland. During the siege, the population called on the Virgin Mary for help and saw the town's successful resistance and the subsequent withdrawal of the invaders as a miracle.

For those reasons, the inhabitants of Dijon began to venerate the Virgin Mary in the years following the siege. Although a few areas of the town were destroyed, there are almost no signs of the siege of 1513 visible today. However, Dijon's museum of fine arts has a large tapestry depicting this episode in the town's history. It is an example of 16th-century art and shows the town before all subsequent destruction.

In 1814, Dijon was also occupied by anti-Napoleonic coalitions. In the Franco-German War that lasted from 1870 to 1871, the city was again occupied, but this time by Prussian troops. In 1940, the German Wehrmacht marched into the town. For that reason, Dijon was bombed by US Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses, before it was liberated by the French Army and the French Resistance on 11th September 1944. However, the city was largely spared the destruction of the Second World War. Hence, many of the old buildings such as the half-timbered houses dating from the 12th to the 15th centuries are still in good shape.

Nowadays, Dijon is home to the University of Burgundy and the Burgundy School of Business. It is also an important railway junction for lines from Paris to Lyon or Marseille. Lausanne in Switzerland, which is less than 150 km away, can also be reached by train while motorways connect Dijon with Paris, Lyon, Nancy, Lille and Mulhouse in France, as well as with Geneve and Basel in Switzerland.

-Gotham City 10:53 pm -

It’s been a long week trying to track down this mysterious string of abductions and so far all my attempts to track down the culprit have proven…. unsuccessful. A word I am far from comfortable using when it comes to my investigations, but one I have unfortunately had to use at times despite my desire to avoid it. Over the course of five nights a young girl has been abducted every night no delay at precisely 10:40 pm from a different district of Gotham. Tonight a sixth girl has been taken from Kingston, the first abduction to be in a district positioned directly next to a district where another abduction has taken place.

Though all attempts to locate the perpetrator have been unsuccessful their calling card is distinct. Every night that the girl is taken a status is posted on their social media account claiming they have ‘been punished for their cruelty’. Originally I suspected that I could merely use the IP addresses to track the location where their last statuses were posted from respectively. But every time it would merely lead me back to the girls own laptops respectively. Checking the laptops for DNA proved unsuccessful like wise, the only connecting factor between all of the crime scenes is the slight trace of latex on the laptops keyboards respectively, no doubt from gloves worn by the abductor.

After five unsuccessful nights I’ve finally decided to call in Barry to help me inspect the crime scene, as a member of the Central City forensics lab his skill set is more than ideal to help investigate the crime scene. The GCPD have all but handed the case to me at this point, Jim has accepted that if anyone is going to be able to find these girls it’s me and thus I get exclusive first access to the crime scenes so that any evidence is not compromised by the ineptitude of the GCPD forensics department.

I had kept the bat-computer constantly scanning for when the next status was posted and where from. The moment I knew where I signaled Barry and he raced there. By the time I reached the scene the GCPD had the apartment complex sealed off and Barry was waiting for me outside in full costume, no doubt he’s going to make a comment about how long I’ve kept him waiting. He always does.

“Hey Bats, was wondering when you’d show up.”

“Why are you outside? You should be inside studying the crime scene.”

“You mean the girls room? These folks don’t want me going in without you. Apparently the Commissioner has given specific orders that no-one enters the girl’s room until you’ve been in.”

I’m surprised. Usually the GCPD are skeptical of any orders concerning interactions with me. The fact that they’ve held up to Jim’s orders is surprising, especially that they’ve not allowed the infamous Flash in. Nice to see that after all these years the GCPD have finally begun to realize that I am a benefit to them.

“Come on.”

Barry and I enter the house and I notice Jim’s voice behind a closed door. Clearly he’s comforting the mother of the girl who has just been taken.

“I promise you Miss, I’ve got my best people on the case. We will find your daughter.”

Jim is a natural when it comes to comforting people who have experienced family tragedy. He was the one who comforted me on the night my parents were gunned down in the alley. Barry and I walk up the stairs and enter the girls room. This one is near enough identical to the bedroom of all the other bedrooms I’ve inspected during my investigation into these kidnappings. Bright feminine colors, posters of boy bands on the walls, cuddly toys on the bed, one bedroom window where the kidnapper no doubt infiltrated and exited the building. But there was one notable difference to this crime scene. All the other windows from the previous bedrooms had been closed. This one was open.

Barry noticed this as well.

“That’s different. You think that?”

“Yes. Something happened here that hasn’t happened at the other scenes. Sweep the room for anything else, I’ll check the window.”

“On it!”

Barry speeds around the room and becomes a blur of red and yellow as he scans every detail of the room. By the time he has scanned every detail of the room I’ve only just managed to pull the window down to see that the lower section of the window has a hole through it. Clearly the window has closed when the kidnapper came to abduct his target tonight and thus had to break the glass on the window to enter the room.

"Anything?”

“Quite a bit. First of all as you’ve probably already seen there’s shards of glass over the floor of the room clearly from the window indicating it was broken from the outside meaning someone broke into the room.”

“I could tell you that. It’s what I couldn’t tell you that I want to know.”

“Well there’s also a large amount of bleach absorbed into the carpet clearly intended to destroy some form of DNA evidence, which means our criminal must have been stabbed with one of the shards of glass from the window.”

"It makes sense. You wouldn’t bother destroying any DNA evidence if it was of the girl you were kidnapping, as that wouldn’t be any evidence that could possibly be tracked. Why do you think he was stabbed with a shard of glass?”

“Well this piece has been coated in bleach as well. It’s dry now but there’s the dried up residue that is commonly found when a large amount of bleach is applied to glass and dries out.”

“Clearly the girl thought she was in danger after all the other kidnappings. Manage to find any actual blood?”

“Nothing. Whoever did this made sure to cover their tracks completely. But the large amount of bleach in the carpet means that the abductor must have some form of blood defect though, as the area coated in bleach implies that he bled over a large area probably meaning his blood didn’t clot and a shard of glass that size couldn’t of made a cut large enough to make the body lose this much blood.”

“Hmmm, that narrows down the possibilities at least even if it doesn’t give us any DNA evidence to track. Let’s head back to the cave and take the carpet with us, we might be able to salvage some DNA from it still.”

“On it!”

-------------------------------------

O.O.C

So this is a prologue to an upcoming event in the DC comics stories group that shall be told in the Justice League comic by [Stubbs]. This is also the first collaboration between two users of the group towards a story, in this case being between myself and levi (aka Mrminifig), so I hope you enjoy it!

Levi shall be posting this part of the tale from Flashes point of view, so keep posted to his photo stream to see how these events play out in Flashes mind.

Topaz Labs Filters used

Think "Holland" and you've probably already conjured the iconic images of tulips and windmills. More precisely, the very specific windmills you're envisioning right now are that of Kinderdijk.

Though it may sound odd for how technical and pragmatic the region proved to be, the name Kinderdijk translates in Dutch to mean "children's dike." According to local legend, after a particularly terrible flood in the 15th century, a lone basket was left floating in an inundated canal. Upon closer inspection, a cat was found bounding from one side of the basket to the other in an effort to keep it balanced, for inside rested an orphaned baby. The cat had kept the babe afloat, safe and sound during its journey… Thus giving the world the folktale "The Cat and the Cradle" in addition to the village of Kinderdijk its name.

Back in the modern day, visitors will find 19 historically authentic windmills scattered across Kinderdijk's canal-riddled landscape. With their sails raised to the skies (coming to rest in formations that communicate across the bogs in a language of semafors), one could be forgiven for believing these are creatures beholden to the air. What history reveals, in fact, is that the Netherlands' famous windmills are well-disguised creatures of the sea, without which the nation's famously innovative water management system would not have been possible.

Sometime in the 13th century, Zuid-Holland's peat rivers ceased to drain as they had been, creating a pattern of flooding that devastated the beautiful landscape at Alblasserwaard, which already existed below sea level. Berms were built to prevent flooding, but pumping stations needed to be constructed to continue water flow from low to high areas; hence, the 19th windmills still seen today.

Nowhere else in the world offers a complete portrait of early water management like that of Kinderdijk, which accounts for UNESCO's inclusion of the site among its World Heritage as of 1997 for its "unique character." Thanks to its truly groundbreaking unification of sea and sky, plus the added bonus of a world-renowned folktale, a visit to Kinderdijk is the sort of treasure that offers something for dreamers and pragmatists alike. www.atlasobscura.com/places/windmills-of-kinderdijk

...the table, precisely

Although it is precisely what they had asked for