precisely photos on Flickr

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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.

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.

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.

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.

Genau zielen, und Sprung und los geht es... Precisely target, and jump and go... ©UdoSm by Irma/Udo Schmidt

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.

Fortress of Solitude by itchydogimages

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A precisely and intricately constructed shield of larval hairs surround this moth pupae. Although the pupae appears relatively naked and exposed, the caterpillar (Nudaria, Chamaita or related species, Lithosiini, Arctiinae, Erebidae) has used its own hairs to meticulously construct a cage and spiky no-go zone. It is rather reminiscent of Beijing's Birdnest Olympic Stadium with fireworks erupting from the roof.....

Pu'er, Yunnan, China

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Kilmainham Gaol by lukedrich_photography

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en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival_of_Basel

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/Kilmainham_Gaol

Kilmainham Gaol (Irish: Príosún Chill Mhaighneann) is a former prison in Kilmainham, Dublin, Ireland. It is now a museum run by the Office of Public Works, an agency of the Government of Ireland. Many Irish revolutionaries, including the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising, were imprisoned and executed in the prison by the British.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Rising

The Easter Rising (Irish: Éirí Amach na Cásca), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week, April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans to end British rule in Ireland and establish an independent Irish Republic while the United Kingdom was heavily engaged in the First World War. It was the most significant uprising in Ireland since the rebellion of 1798, and the first armed action of the Irish revolutionary period.

Organised by a seven-man Military Council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the Rising began on Easter Monday, 24 April 1916, and lasted for six days. Members of the Irish Volunteers—led by schoolmaster and Irish language activist Patrick Pearse, joined by the smaller Irish Citizen Army of James Connolly and 200 women of Cumann na mBan—seized key locations in Dublin and proclaimed an Irish Republic. The British Army brought in thousands of reinforcements as well as artillery and a gunboat. There was fierce street fighting on the routes into the city centre, where the rebels put up stiff resistance, slowing the British advance and inflicting heavy casualties. Elsewhere in Dublin, the fighting mainly consisted of sniping and long-range gun battles. The main rebel positions were gradually surrounded and bombarded with artillery. There were isolated actions in other parts of Ireland, with attacks on the Royal Irish Constabulary barracks at Ashbourne, County Meath, County Cork and in County Galway, and the seizure of the town of Enniscorthy, County Wexford. Germany had sent a shipment of arms to the rebels, but the British had intercepted it just before the Rising began. Volunteer leader Eoin MacNeill had then issued a countermand in a bid to halt the Rising, which greatly reduced the number of rebels who mobilised.

With much greater numbers and heavier weapons, the British Army suppressed the Rising. Pearse agreed to an unconditional surrender on Saturday 29 April, although sporadic fighting continued until Sunday, when word reached the other rebel positions. After the surrender the country remained under martial law. About 3,500 people were taken prisoner by the British, many of whom had played no part in the Rising, and 1,800 of them were sent to internment camps or prisons in Britain. Most of the leaders of the Rising were executed following courts-martial. The Rising brought physical force republicanism back to the forefront of Irish politics, which for nearly 50 years had been dominated by constitutional nationalism. It, and the British reaction to it, led to increased popular support for Irish independence. In December 1918, republicans, represented by the reconstituted Sinn Féin party, won 73 seats in a landslide victory in the general election to the British Parliament. They did not take their seats, but instead convened the First Dáil and declared the independence of the Irish Republic. The Soloheadbeg ambush started the War of Independence.

485 people were killed in the Easter Rising. About 54% were civilians, 30% were British military and police, and 16% were Irish rebels. More than 2,600 were wounded. Many of the civilians were killed as a result of the British using artillery and heavy machine guns, or mistaking civilians for rebels. Others were caught in the crossfire in a crowded city. The shelling and the fires it caused left parts of inner city Dublin in ruins.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proclamation_of_the_Irish_Republic

The Proclamation of the Republic (Irish: Forógra na Poblachta), also known as the 1916 Proclamation or the Easter Proclamation, was a document issued by the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army during the Easter Rising in Ireland, which began on 24 April 1916. In it, the Military Council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, styling itself the "Provisional Government of the Irish Republic", proclaimed Ireland's independence from the United Kingdom. The reading of the proclamation by Patrick Pearse outside the General Post Office (GPO) on Sackville Street (now called O'Connell Street), Dublin's main thoroughfare, marked the beginning of the Rising. The proclamation was modelled on a similar independence proclamation issued during the 1803 rebellion by Robert Emmet.

Carnival of Basel by evakatharina12

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At precisely 4 am today the Carnival of Basel started. It lasts for 72 hours, so I probably won’t spend much time on Flickr until Thursday. I‘ll try and catch up with you once I’ve caught up on some sleep LOL

HappiestHoleOnEarth by brutalSoCal

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At precisely 9.01am they fired up the excavator, and thus ended any chance of sleeping in after a long weekend in Michigan.

He was clearly happy with his hole...

South Road by Colin Brooks

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"Any road followed precisely to its end leads precisely nowhere."

Somewhere on the south of the south island, NZ.

50018 Reading 24-10-87 by Gray Callaway

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Taken at precisely 19:47 on a cold October Saturday night, I can't help but wonder who is still at work in the offices at the top of the building in the background!!

"Resolution" is pictured working the 1F43 19:08 Oxford-Paddington service.

50018 was withdrawn from service on the 22nd July 1991 and cut up at MC Metals in Glasgow in June 1992. RIP.

"It may have been naive to dream but..." - Free Alaa Abd El-Fattah by Alisdare Hickson

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Alaa Abd El-Fattah has endured much of the last twelve years in some of the worst prison conditions anywhere for 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

When this photo was taken Alaa's two sisters, Mona and Sana'a Seif, were 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 began to focus on the upcoming COP27 conference at Sharm El Sheikh on Egypt's Red Sea coast.

UPDATE AS OF WEDNESDAY 9 NOVEMBER 2022

Starting from Sunday 6 November, Alaa escalated his hunger strike, and stopped taking water. His sister Sanaa Seif took a flight the same weekend to attend the COP27 conference at Sharm El Sheikh in a last-minute effort to save Alaa's life.

For the latest on Alaa's situation listen to his sister's Sanaa Seif's speech to journalists attending the conference on Tuesday 8 November - "They are very happy for him to die. The only thing they care about is that it doesn't happen while the world is watching."

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqXibJ7PUTY

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...

Ice princess by ░S░i░l░a░n░d░i░ ☮

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________________________________________________

The Ice Princess

There was once a kingdom , which was ruled by a king pair. The royal couple had a son and loved to skate fahren.Der Prince was called Mark. But in the city in the Kingdom , there was a poor girl who lived alone with her father . Her mother had died early, when they are still small war.Das girl's name was Marie and also loved to go skating

One day the prince was sought in the castle , but you did not find him . The queen knew where her son was . They had the horses , the coach and drove to the lake. There the prince was actually and drove on the ice. Just then came by Marie. She was on her way home from work . She worked as Zustellerin of small packets . Precisely , it has brought a packet of an old man what had been very pleased . Marie walked past the lake , and saw the prince. But she did not know that he was the prince. Marie had her skates , too, and strapped it tight. Then they went on the ice and drove off. She ran beautifully and with grace . Then the prince saw it .

The stopped and looked at her. He liked it as she went . Since Marie stopped and the prince came up to her . He asked her, " You drive super good you love probably the ice and go , does not it . ? " Marie nodded. She was thrilled by it . Then the prince asked, " What is your name and where you live I've never seen you here ? ". Marie replied, " My name is Marie and I live here in the city with my father . " The Prince thought for a moment and then asked, " Tomorrow is on a very large lake , a celebration in honor of the Prince instead , you come Oh by the way my name is Markus ? ". When Marie hear the name because she was attentive and looked at him. But as the coach of the Queen arrived at the lake and Marie drove away. The Prince did not get it with . The Queen got out and the Prince went to the edge of the lake . There it took off his skates and went to his mother and said: . " I 'm ready , we can go" The prince went to the coach and climbed . So did the Queen also . The carriage drove back to the castle . Marie watched it all . Suddenly she began to cry . Suddenly there stood her father beside her.

The hugged her and tried to comfort her . Then the father suddenly said to Marie: "I have to tell you something , my little you are someone very special to me and your mother . ". Marie looked up and asked, "Why do you say that now mom is dead?" The father looked up at the sky when he said : " . . Your mother is still alive She returned home and I think we should do it too " "Where is this home? " Asked Marie. " The Palst the Queen. Your mother is the sister of the Queen of here . You are a princess. " The father said. Marie looked at him and then said: " . I'm a princess " " Exactly. " So the father gave Marie a packet . Marie made it up and it was a beautiful dress and matching shoes . Marie looked at her father and nodded. Marie also nodded and moved to the property and they fit . Since Marie noticed that the father was also dressed differently. He wore a suit and since then was a coach . The father brought Marie to the coach and they got on . He brought them to the party.

The celebration was already underway , but the prince stood at the entrance and waited for Marie. The coach arrived and the father got out. The prince took Marie out of the carriage and took her to the ice surface. Marie looked at her father and nodded. Since she discovered her mother and she ran to the back and hugged her. The two wept, and then Marie went to the prince and was waiting for them , and then it went off. She drove as always. With grace and Beautiful. From this day , Marie fell properly Doll in the prince and at the end of the day the prince asked Marie if she wants to marry him. And if Mary wanted. She said, " Yes , I will. " She was now happy again. Three days later the wedding took place . The wedding dance was of course held on the ice. Marie had found her mother again and has married the man she loves above all else. And if she had not died , she was still alive today.

Die Eisprinzessin

Es war einmal ein Königreich, das von einem Königspaar regierte wurde. Das Königspaar hatte einen Sohn und der liebte es Schlittschuh zu fahren.Der Prinz hieß Markus. Aber in der Stadt vom Königsreich gab es ein armes Mädchen, das mit ihrem Vater allein lebte. Ihre Mutter war früh gestorben, als sie noch klein war.Das Mädchen hieß Marie und liebte es auch Schlittschuh zu fahren.

Eines Tages wurde der Prinz im Schloss gesucht, aber man fand ihn nicht. Die Königin wusste, wo ihr Sohn war. Sie ließ die Kutsche anspannen und fuhr zum See. Dort war der Prinz tatsächlich und fuhr auf dem Eis. Genau in diesem Moment kam Marie vorbei. Sie war auf den Nachhauseweg von der Arbeit. Sie arbeitete als Zustellerin von kleinen Paketen. Eben gerade hat sie einen alten Mann ein Päckchen gebracht, worüber der sich sehr gefreut hatte. Marie ging am See vorbei , da erblickte sie den Prinzen. Aber sie wusste nicht das er der Prinz war. Marie hatte ihre Schlittschuhe auch dabei und schnallte sie sich fest. Dann ging sie aufs Eis und fuhr los. Sie fuhr wunderschön und mit Anmut. Da bemerkte der Prinz sie. Der blieb stehen und sah ihr zu. Es gefiel ihm wie sie fuhr. Da blieb Marie stehen und der prinz kam auf sie zu. Er fragte sie:" Du fährst super gut. Du liebst wohl das Schlittschuh fahren auch, nicht wahr?" Marie nickte nur. Sie war von ihm begeistert. Da fragte der Prinz sie: " Wie heißt du und wo wohnst du? Ich habe dich noch nie hier gesehen." Marie antwortete:" Ich heiße Marie und wohne hier in der Stadt mit meinem Vater zusammen." Der Prinz überlegte kurz und dann fragte er: " Morgen findet auf einem sehr großen See eine Feier zu Ehren des Prinzen statt, kommst du? Ach ja, ich heiße übrigens Markus." Als Marie denn Namen hört wurde sie aufmerksam und sah ihn an. Doch da kam die Kutsche der Königin am See an und Marie fuhr weg. Der Prinz bekam es nicht mit. Die Königin stieg aus und der Prinz fuhr zum Rand des Sees. Dort zog es seine Schlittschuhe aus und ging zu seiner Mutter und sagte: " Ich bin soweit, wir können los." Der Prinz ging zur Kutsche und stieg ein. Das gleiche tat die Königin auch. Die Kutsche fuhr zum Schloss zurück. Marie beobachtete es alles. Auf einmal fing sie an zu weinen. Da stand auf einmal ihr Vater neben ihr. Der umarmte sie und versuchte sie zu trösten. Da sagte der Vater auf einmal zu Marie: " Ich muss dir was sagen, meine kleine. Du bist etwas ganz besonders für mich und deine Mutter." Marie sah auf und fragte: " Warum sagst du das jetzt? Mama ist tot"Der Vater sah hoch zu dem Himmel, als er sagte: " Deine Mutter lebt noch. Sie ist nach Hause zurückgekehrt und ich denke wir sollten es auch tun." " Wo ist dieses Zuhause?", fragte Marie. " Der Palst der Königin. Deine Mutter ist die Schwester von der Königin von hier. Du bist eine Prinzessin.", sagte der Vater. Marie sah ihn an und sagte dann:" Ich bin eine Prinzessin." "Genau ." Da gab der Vater Marie ein Päckchen. Marie machte es auf und darin war ein wunderschönes Kleid und passende Schuhe. Marie sah ihren Vater an und der nickte. Marie nickte auch und zog die Sachen an und sie passten. Da bemerkte Marie das der Vater auch anders gekleidet war. Er trug ein Anzug und da stand dann eine Kutsche. Der Vater brachte Marie zur Kutsche und sie stiegen ein. Er brachte sie zur Feier. Die feier war schon im Gange , aber der Prinz stand am Eingang und wartete auf Marie. Die Kutsche kam an und der Vater stieg aus . Der Prinz holte Marie aus der Kutsche und brachte sie zur Eisfläche. Marie sah ihren Vater an und der nickte. Da entdeckte sie ihre Mutter und sie lief zur hin und umarmte sie. Die beiden weinten und dann ging Marie zum Prinzen und der erwartete sie schon und dann ging es los. Sie fuhr so wie immer . Mit Anmut und Wunderschön. Ab diesen Tag verliebte sich Marie richtig doll in den Prinzen und am Ende des Tages fragte der Prinz Marie, ob sie ihn heiraten will. Und ob Marie wollte. Sie sagte : " Ja, ich will." Sie war jetzt wieder glücklich. Drei tage später fand die Hochzeit statt. Der Hochzeitstanz fand natürlich auf dem Eis statt. Marie hatte ihre Mutter wieder gefunden und hat den Mann geheiratet den sie über alles liebt. Und wenn sie nicht gestorben war, lebte sie noch heute.

Source: Internet

Irina - in the future the first instance in matters of fashion - ambitious and clever by @hubert_nowak_photography

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The news of the attacks in Paris had profoundly saddened me. I am shocked and incredibly sad. But they are also an incentive to engage further in tolerance, respect and humanity. Precisely for this reason, it is a matter of heart for me, to continue further on the project "The Human Family" and to promote the humanistic values. Therefore, here is a contribution to the project, which was, however, taken before the horrors of Paris.

At last once again time to continue the project "The Human Family".

Professionally, I'm back on travel, this time on the River Rhine, in Koenigswinter. It's lunchtime break, the weather is acceptable, so already well placed to hold out by strangers. Only problem, there are hardly any people on the street. I wanted to give up almost as if I could see a young woman who was trying to take pictures of her little dog.

When she had finished her photos session, I spoke to her, introduced myself and explained my concerns.

Without hesitation, agreed to my stranger.

So I met here in Koenigswinter Irina. Irina is 25 years old. She's just here for a visit with her grandmother and is walking the dog. Since seven months Irina lives in Berlin; she is a fashion stylist and accompanies photoshoots and is responsible for the outfits. Irina is happy now living and workingin Berlin, because there the career options are very good and they practically operates at the cutting edge. Regularly also the Fashion Weeks are held even in Berlin. An eldorado for fashion enthusiastic people.

What was your biggest challenge so far in life, I asked. My move to Berlin alone and without knowing someone there.

How would you describe yourself? I'm messy, erratic, but clever. (I think these are the attributes that characterize creative people)

Goals: in Berlin to gain a foothold and to succeed professionally; with less Irina does not want to be satisfied.

Yes, Irina agrees with me that it is very ambitious.

What is your motto in life: Do not plan on doing! Do not think, but act.

I do not want to mention how patient Irina posed for my camera. Since I was not completely satisfied with the background, Irina did not mind and so much time to go a few more steps, because I wanted to have a not so troubled background.

Thank you for your patience Irina, and your time, you've diverted for my project. It was a pleasant conversation at the River Rhine. I wish you much success in Berlin and I keep my fingers crossed that you start off really there. All the best to you.

This photo is my 4th submission to new group "The Human Family".

Visit "The Human Family" here and have a look on the photos of the other photographers:

www.flickr.com/groups/thehumanfamily/

*******************************************************************

Die Geschehnisse in Paris sind schockierend und haben mich tief getroffen. Sie sind aber auch ein Ansporn, sich weiter für Tolrenaz, Respekt und Menschlichkeit einzusetzen. Gerade aus diesem Grund ist es für mich eine Herzensangelegenheit, dass Projekt "The Human Family" weiter fortzuführen und für die humanistischen Werte zu werben. Daher hier eine Beitrag zu dem Projekt, der allerdings vor den Erignissen von Paris aufgenommen wurde.

Endlich wieder einmal Zeit, das Projekt "The Human Family" fortzusetzen.

Beruflich bin ich wieder auf Reise, diesmal am Rhein, in Königswinter. Es ist Mittagspause, das Wetter ist passabel, also schon einmal gute Voraussetzungen, nach Fremden Ausschau zu halten. Einziges Problem, es sind kaum Menschen auf der Strasse. Ich wollte fast schon aufgeben, als ich eine junge Frau beobachten konnte, die versuchte, ihren kleinen Hund zu fotografieren.

Als sie ihre Fotossession beendet hatte, sprach ich sie an, stellte mich vor und erklärte mein Anliegen. Ohne zu zögern, stimmte meine Fremde zu.

Ich begegnete also hier in Königswinter Irina. Irina ist 25 Jahre alt. Sie ist gerade hier zu Besuch bei ihrer Großmutter und führt ihren Hund aus. Seit sieben Monaten lebt Irina in Berlin; sie ist Modestyleistin, begleitet Fotoshootings und ist dabei für die outfits zuständig. Irina ist froh, jetzt in Berlin zu leben und zu arbeiten, weil dort die beruflichen Möglichkeiten sehr gut sind und sie quasi am Puls der Zeit arbeitet. Regelmäßig finden in Berlin ja auch die Fashionweeks statt. Ein Eldorado für modebegeisterte Menschen.

Was war Deine größte Herausforderung bisher im Leben, fragte ich. Mein Umzug ganz allein nach Berlin und ohne dort jemanden zu kennen.

Wie würdest Du Dich beschreiben? Ich bin chaotisch, sprunghaft, aber clever. (ich glaube, das sind Attribute, die kreative Menschen kennzeichnen)

Deine Ziele: in Berlin Fuß zu fassen und beruflich Erfolg zu haben; mit weniger möchte Irina sich nicht zufrieden geben. Ja, Irina stimmt mir zu, dass sie sehr ehrgeizig ist.

Was ist Dein Lebensmotto: Nicht planen, machen! Nicht denken, sondern handeln.

Ich möchte nicht unerwähnt lassen, wie geduldig Irina vor meiner Kamera posierte. Da ich nicht ganz zufrieden mit dem Hintergrund war, hatte Irina nichts dagegen und so viel Zeit noch ein paar Schritte zu gehen, weil ich unbedingt einen nicht so unruhigen Hintergrund haben wollte.

Vielen Dank Irina für Deine Geduld, und Deine Zeit, die Du für mein Projekt abgezweigt hast. Es war eine angenehme Plauderei am Rhein. Ich wünsche Dir viel Erfolg in Berlin und drücke Dir die Daumen, dass Du dort so richtig durchstartest. Alles Gute.

Dies ist mein 4. Beitrag zu der neuen Gruppe The Human Family. Mehr Fotos von anderen Fotografen findest Du hier:

www.flickr.com/groups/thehumanfamily/

SPIRITS HAVING FLOWN (2) by DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Forty eight metres, in the thick blanket of mist prior to the magic of the Golden Hour around sunrise (Sunrise was at precisely 04:42am), at 03:24am on Thursday 19th June 2014 off Lullingstone Lane beside the Lullingstone Roman Villa in Eynsford Viaduct in the village of Eynsford, Kent, England.

To the far right you can see the Eynsford Viaduct. 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 155mm 1/6s f/8.0 iso100 RAW (14 bit) Mirror up. 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.

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LATITUDE: N 51d 21m 51.82s

LONGITUDE: E 0d 11m 48.94s

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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

Kinderdijk - Tiny Kitchen by Kimhaz - Here and There

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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

Coos! by frenchdave

6

Cows (or more precisely, bullocks) grazing on the Town Moor in Newcastle.

MOTHER NATURE IS THE ARTIST, AND THE SKY HER CANVAS - (Selected by GETTY IMAGES) by DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

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***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on January 15th 2015

CREATIVE RF532432409 MOMENT OPEN *****

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Eight metres, in the magic of the Golden hour around sunrise, (sunrise was at precisely 07:02am), at 07:03am on Monday 21st September 2014 off 1st Street and Beacon Avenue fishing pier in Sidney by the sea on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

Here, we are 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, (pronounced kō-ō’mah’ kool-shän’),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.

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Nikon D800 122mm 1/1000s f/2.8 iso100 RAW (14 bit) Manual 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 48d 38m 54.80s

LONGITUDE: W 123d 23m 38.68s

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food science and technology by Marm O. Set

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Ever stop to think about all the science and technology behind the food we eat? For example, the Oreo cookie; precisely formulated salty\sweet flavors for universal appeal, precisely spec'ed ingredients for the perfect crunch to soft filling ratio, precisely sized for our mouths, precise portions for a desired number of chews (21-25 chews before the main swallow... try it and see), precisely designed for brand recognition, precisely shaped for product consistency, precise ingredient metering for batch consistency, precisely packaged so they arrive without breaking, precisely branded for a target audience, etc. And the Oreos in the photo are the reduced fat variant... precisely blended using substitutions so that they have fewer calories but still taste like the original Oreo. I'm sure I missed more than a few talking points.

This engineering marvel is what we eat, this is what we call "food."

1 gridded soft box from camera left

Yongnuo YN560TX

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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.

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.

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.

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.

At first sight, the selection was apparently by chance, but the woman had expressed her choice so precisely, that the egg felt like a much-loved child from the very beginning. by Etienne Pisano

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.

INTO MIST, MY HEART ENSLAVED by DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Fifty six metres, in the magic of the Golden Hour around sunrise (Sunrise was at precisely 04:38am), at 03:41am on Thursday 12th June 2014 off Lullingstone Lane and Eagle Heights overlooking the field adjacent to Eynsford Viaduct in the village of Eynsford, Kent, England.

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Nikon D800 24mm 1/13s f/5.6 iso100 RAW (14 bit) Nikon RC-DC2 remote shutter release. Manual focus. Manual exposure. Matrix metering.

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 22m 3.37s

LONGITUDE: E 0d 11m 53.65s

ALTITUDE: 56.0m

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PROCESSED FILE: 21.14MB

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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

BEACH AS A BATTLEFIELD by DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Nine metres, during the magic of the Golden Hour around sunrise (which was at precisely 07:36am), at 08:17am on Thursday 21st February 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.

Recent severe storms have swept vast swathes of boulders and chalk across the beach, like strewn soldiers on a battlefield.

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 1/1250s 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 15.50s

LONGITUDE: E 1d 26m 25.16s

ALTITUDE: 3.0m

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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

NOT...RELIGIOUS !!! by ROB JAN

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THE UNIVERSE: WAYYYY TOO BIG FOR MERE GODS.....

To me, a well designed office building can be just as lovely as a church, and the works of man generally are impressive precisely because we made them with our hands grasping tools, rather than just kneel with our hands clasped in prayer.....

I was particularly taken with the progression in scale from grass, to church, to office tower to the moon, and yes, to the one or two stars barely seen in the night sky.

We walked on the moon once and will do so again.....next stop, the stars!

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I was walking past the intersection of Elizabeth Street and Lonsdale Street in Melbourne and, glancing up at the moon breaking through the clouds, rather fancied the composition old Luna made with the Melbourne Central Tower and St. Francis Catholic Church.

Beyond the church is the 211 metre tall Melbourne Central Tower, designed by Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa, who was also responsible for the attached shopping centre, office tower, and railway station. The tower is coloured a distinctive black, has an angled top and has two communications masts so that it always reminds me a little of Batman's pointy eared cowl....

The view from the office suites located in the bevelled summit of the building is...impressive!

The shopping centre also contains the Coop's Shot Tower which was built on the site between 1889 and 1890 and has been preserved beneath a rather breathtaking vast glass cone shaped structure, as is recorded elsewhere in my photosets.

St Francis' Church is the oldest Catholic church in Victoria, Australia and is one of only three surviving buildings in central Melbourne from before the Gold Rush of 1851.

I am of course gloriously free of the ravages of religion, so apart from the architecture, which is admittedly fascinating, the other main thing I know about this church is that John 'Red' Kelly married Ellen Quinn there on 18th November 1850. Red and Ellen were the parents of Edward 'Ned' Kelly, Australia's famous armoured bushranger.

The Stumbling Stones- Stolpersteine by Liam Cheasty

5 8

Sometimes you think the world is so full of conflict, near and far, that the only mechanism we have is to switch off and now with so much instant news we have become quite adept at switching off. It is precisely because we are now so exposed to information that the attention span has decreased so dramatically in the last twenty years. In the fifteen years from 2000 to 2015 our attention span has decreased from 12 seconds to 8.25 which is quite alarming, far more alarming than climate change as humans now have an attention span less than a goldfish. The result of this is we are more prone to be influenced by sound bites and snippets and this is being manipulated by extremists on both the right and left.

Back in 2005 I paid a visit to Dachau, the first German Concentration Camp and I was amazed to discover that originally the camps was set up in 1933 to house political opponents of the National Socialist Party – Nazi Party. These were mainly trade unionists, communists and socialists. In was later the Nazis developed a murderous hatred for the Jews with Kristallnacht in November 1938 and in 1942 The Final Solution to the Jewish Question resulted in the Holocaust killing 90% of Polish Jews and two thirds of all European Jews. In excess of six million men, women and children.

In 2011 we paid a visit to Krakow in Southern Poland and went Auschwitz-Birkenau. Auschwitz was very similar to Dachau and again it was originally used to suppress Polish opposition to the Nazis. Birkenau was built as a murder camp and is only 3 kilometres from the original camp.

Auschwitz- Birkenau Death Camp.

Auschwitz is probably one of the world’s most infamous places and no matter how much knowledge you may or may not have of history, nothing can prepare a person for the visit to such a place. The level of atrocities carried out are indescribable, the sadistic cruelty beyond comprehension by any reasonable individual. Initially established to house prisoners opposed to The Third Reich, Auschwitz was later the centre of the Nazis so called Final Solution of The Jewish Problem. At least one million, one hundred thousand people were murdered there, 90% were Jews from all over Europe. These people were herded together and transported in cattle wagons and shipped by rail to Auschwitz and Birkenau in the most inhumane conditions. Many never made it there.

Auschwitz was the original camp, a disused army barracks converted, this now houses the State Museum of Auschwitz with many harrowing exhibits of Nazi cruelty. It was here the SS tortured and starved prisoners and Dr Joseph Mengele carried out his experiments. Cyclone B was discovered here in an attempt to kill lice as this was becoming a problem as prisoners themselves and their conditions deteriorated. In experimenting with the chemical, it was developed as a very quick and efficient way of killing humans by suffocation

Birkenau is massive and was built as a killing factory. Seventy-five per cent of arrivals were instantly condemned to death, by the flick of the finger of the SS Officer. These were gassed in the gas chambers built specially for this purpose. All children under fourteen and the infirm or disabled were immediately disposed of. The other twenty-five per cent were the young and fit and they were put to work but three months was a long time to last. The diet had an intake of 1500 calories a day and the work was for fourteen hours a day, it didn’t take long just to starve to death, just three months for the young and strong.

No matter what a person’s political or religious views may be, nobody could be unaffected by a visit to Auschwitz- Birkenau and while it is important to pay respect to those who suffered, it is more important we never forget and insure this cannot happen again.

On a recent visit to Berlin I came across some brass cobbles in the pavement outside the apartment we were staying. They had the names and some details of parents and a child, some research unearthed the following. The cobbles are called a sett and are 10cms x 10cms and the brass memorial ones are called Solpersteine which is translated as stumbling stones. The Solpersteine Project is a work by the German artist Gunther Demnig in which he sets brass cobbles inscribed with the name and life dates of victims of Nazi extermination or persecution. To commemorate outside the last place people they lived freely. Most of the Solpersteine are for Jews but also included are other victims of Nazi terror like gypsies and homosexuals.

From further research on the Solpersteine outside Weigandufer 30 in NeuKolln I discovered the occupants were a Jewish couple Kurt Bujakowsky, his wife Dina and their daughter Stephanie

Kurt was born in 1902 and Dina in 1904, both were Secular Jews. Kurt worked as an editorial assistant, they fled to Vienna in 1936 to escape the Nazis. Their daughter Stephanie was born the following year. In 1938 Germany annexed Austria forcing the couple to move again, this time with their daughter to France. The family enjoyed a happy life in France but shortly after France fell to the Nazis. In 1941, the first raids against Jews was ordered by the Nazis and conducted by the French police. The victims of these raids were transferred to Drancy. There is much evidence about the brutality of the French guards in Drancy. The Bujakowskys were rounded up and imprisoned in Drancy. The conditions of life were extremely difficult. From there the Bujakowskys were deported to Auschwitz with Transport 30 from Drancy on September 9, 1942. They were murdered in Auschwitz in 1942, Stephanie aged 5, like all other children, would have been killed immediately on arrival as would the parents unless they were very fit, then they would be put to work and worked to death. It seems like the Nazis followed them all over Europe

Back to Neukolln-Berlin and the Solpersteine Project at Weigandufer. The street is now a very leafy walk along the Neukokolln Ship Canal in what is becoming a very fashionable area. The canal is beautiful with lots of cafes and plenty of seating but the tranquillity was jolted when you realise that our daughter and son in law now live in the same apartment building as Kurt and Dina and we have a beautiful grand daughter who is just about the same age as Stephanie was when she was murdered in Auschwitz by the Nazis. Some times it takes a little sound bite or a snippet to remind you of past events and that is exactly what Gunther Deming had in mind when in 1962 he planted the first Solpersteine, now there are over 70,000.

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....At first sight, the selection was apparently by chance, but the woman had expressed her choice so precisely, that the egg felt like a much-loved child from the very beginning. It then withdrew from the chord and clumsily ran towards her lap in order to patiently await his first nestling from her breasts.

...A primera vista, la elección pudo parecer totalmente casual, pero la mujer lo indicó con tal precisión que desde el primer instante el pequeño huevo se sintió hijo y amado. Se separó entonces del hilo y corrió torpemente hacia su regazo para esperar con paciencia el primer alimento de su pecho.

" La scelta, a prima vista, sembrò del tutto casuale, ma la donna lo indicò con una tale precisione che il piccolo uovo si sentì, dal primo istante, figlio e amato. Si staccò quindi dal filo e un pò inciampando le corse in grembo, aspettando con pazienza il suo primo latte"

Thanks, thanks and thanks to Ellen and Ana for translation!!!

For some stunning brushes thanks to Cybrea: www.cybrea_stock.deviantart.com

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

THE JOURNEY - (Selected by GETTY IMAGES) by DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

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***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on March 11th 2015

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Seven metres, in the magic of the Golden hour around sunrise at 05:31am, (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, we are 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, (pronounced kō-ō’mah’ kool-shän’),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.

Every morning around sunrise, the gathering of Canada Geese resting upon the water, take to the wing and fly East to West across the Bay. Each squadron of V formation Gese is known as a Skein, and the flight is reversed around the same time each eavening around sunset. An absolute joy to behold.

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Nikon D800 116mm 1/500s f/2.8 iso100 RAW (14 bit) Manual 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 48d 38m 15.80s

LONGITUDE: W 123d 24m 12.85s

ALTITUDE: 7.0m

RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 15.26MB

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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 2.10.3 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit

Trinity College Library - The Book of Kells by lukedrich_photography

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Taken precisely five minutes after the last meltdown, and five minutes before the next. by Alex Callister

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/Trinity_College_Dublin

Trinity College (Irish: Coláiste na Tríonóide), officially the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, is the sole constituent college of the University of Dublin, a research university located in Dublin, Ireland. The college was founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother" of a new university, modelled after the collegiate universities of Oxford and Cambridge, but unlike these other ancient universities, only one college was ever established; as such, the designations "Trinity College" and "University of Dublin" are usually synonymous for practical purposes. The college is legally incorporated by "the Provost, Fellows, Foundation Scholars and other members of the Board" as outlined by its founding charter. It is one of the seven ancient universities of Britain and Ireland, as well as Ireland's oldest surviving university. Trinity College is widely considered the most prestigious university in Ireland and amongst the most elite in Europe, principally due to its extensive history, reputation for social elitism and unique relationship with both the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. In accordance with the formula of ad eundem gradum, a form of recognition that exists among the three universities, a graduate of Oxford, Cambridge, or Dublin can be conferred with the equivalent degree at either of the other two universities without further examination. Trinity College, Dublin is a sister college to St John's College, Cambridge and Oriel College, Oxford.

Originally Trinity was established outside the city walls of Dublin in the buildings of the outlawed Catholic Augustinian Priory of All Hallows. Trinity College was set up in part to consolidate the rule of the Tudor monarchy in Ireland, and as a result was the university of the Protestant Ascendancy for much of its history. While Catholics were admitted from 1793 certain restrictions on membership of the college remained as professorships, fellowships and scholarships were reserved for Protestants. These restrictions were lifted by Act of Parliament in 1873. However, from 1871 to 1970, the Catholic Church in Ireland in turn forbade its adherents from attending Trinity College without permission. Women were first admitted to the college as full members in January 1904.

Trinity College is now surrounded by central Dublin and is located on College Green, opposite the historic Irish Houses of Parliament. The college proper occupies 190,000 m2 (47 acres), with many of its buildings ranged around large quadrangles (known as 'squares') and two playing fields. Academically, it is divided into three faculties comprising 25 schools, offering degree and diploma courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

The Library of Trinity College is a legal deposit library for Ireland and Great Britain, containing over 6.2 million printed volumes and significant quantities of manuscripts, including the Book of Kells.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Kells

The Book of Kells (Latin: Codex Cenannensis; Irish: Leabhar Cheanannais; Dublin, Trinity College Library, MS A. I. , sometimes known as the Book of Columba) is an illuminated manuscript Gospel book in Latin, containing the four Gospels of the New Testament together with various prefatory texts and tables. It was created in a Columban monastery in either Britain or Ireland and may have had contributions from various Columban institutions from both Britain and Ireland. It is believed to have been created c. 800 AD. The text of the Gospels is largely drawn from the Vulgate, although it also includes several passages drawn from the earlier versions of the Bible known as the Vetus Latina. It is a masterwork of Western calligraphy and represents the pinnacle of Insular illumination. It is also widely regarded as Ireland's finest national treasure.

The illustrations and ornamentation of the Book of Kells surpass that of other Insular Gospel books in extravagance and complexity. The decoration combines traditional Christian iconography with the ornate swirling motifs typical of Insular art. Figures of humans, animals and mythical beasts, together with Celtic knots and interlacing patterns in vibrant colours, enliven the manuscript's pages. Many of these minor decorative elements are imbued with Christian symbolism and so further emphasise the themes of the major illustrations.

The manuscript today comprises 340 leaves or folios; the recto and verso of each leaf total 680 pages. Since 1953, it has been bound in four volumes. The leaves are high-quality calf vellum, and the unprecedentedly elaborate ornamentation that covers them includes ten full-page illustrations and text pages that are vibrant with decorated initials and interlinear miniatures and mark the furthest extension of the anti-classical and energetic qualities of Insular art. The Insular majuscule script of the text itself appears to be the work of at least three different scribes. The lettering is in iron gall ink, and the colours used were derived from a wide range of substances, many of which were imports from distant lands.

The manuscript takes its name from the Abbey of Kells, which was its home for centuries. Today, it is on permanent display at Trinity College Library, Dublin. The Library usually displays two of the current four volumes at a time, one showing a major illustration and the other showing typical text pages, and the entire manuscript can be viewed on the Library's Digital Collections Repository

[Public BRICKstory] Parthenon (Architecture) - Present Day by Kevin J. Walter

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The Parthenon on the Athenian Acropolis or precisely, the remains of it in its modern appearance.

Built between 447-438 BC (decoration extended until 432) and dedicated to Athene, also Pallas Athene and/or Athene Parthenos, as thanks to the goddess for the Hellenic victory over the Persian Invaders.

The Parthenon was commissioned by the Athenian politician Pericles as a part of a wider building program on the Acropolis to resemble the power and ambitions of Athens within the Delian League and Greece as a whole.

It is considered the most important surviving building of Classical Greece and as the zenith of the Doric order. The Parthenon was further richly ornate with highly detailed Metopes and Pediments as well as the famous Frieze.

Since 1975 the Greek government initiated the restoration of the over 2.500 years old monument. The efforts to restore and conserve this site are a continuing process to the present day.

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TOGETHER WE ARE ONE - (Selected by GETTY IMAGES) by DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

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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.

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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.

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: 11.90MB

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PROCESSING POWER:

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 8.1. 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

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IMMINENT RISING by DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Nine metres, in the magic of the Golden hour around sunrise at 05:37am, (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.

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Nikon D800 112mm 1/1000s f/2.8 iso100 RAW (14 bit) Manual 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.

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LATITUDE: N 48d 38m 15.82s

LONGITUDE: W 123d 24m 12.82s

ALTITUDE: 9.0m

RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 16.80MB

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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 2.10.0 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit

Whether we like it or not we live surrounded by mysteries, which logically and existentially lead us towards transcendence. by Traditional Quotes and Symbols

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Believing only what one "sees": this prejudice, as crude as it is common, leads us to insert a parenthesis. Wanting to believe only what they see, scientists condemn themselves to seeing only what they believe; logic for them is their desire not to see what they do not want to believe. Scientism in fact is less interested in the real in itself (which necessarily goes beyond our limitations) than in what is non-contradictory, in what is logical therefore, or more precisely, in what is empirically logical; thus in what is logical de facto according to a given experience, and not in what is logical de jure in accordance with the nature of things.

In reality the "planimetric" recording of perceptions and the elimination of the apparently contradictory only too often gives the measure of a given ignorance, even of a given stupidity; the pedants of "exact science" are moreover incapable of evaluating what is implied by the existential paradoxes in which we live, beginning with the phenomenon, contradictory in practice, of subjectivity.

Subjectivity is intrinsically unique while being extrinsically multiple; now if the spectacle of a host of subjectivities other than our own causes us no great perplexity, how shall it be explained "scientifically" (that is, avoiding or eliminating all contradiction) the fact that "I alone" am "I"? So-called "exact" science can find no reason whatever for this apparent absurdity, any more than it can for that other logical and empirical contradiction which is the limitlessness of space, time and the other existential categories.

Whether we like it or not we live surrounded by mysteries, which logically and existentially lead us towards transcendence.

Even if the "scientists" could observe the non-contradiction of all possible objective phenomena, there still would remain the contradictory enigma of the scission between the objective universe and the observing subject, not to speak of the "scientifically" insoluble problem of that flagrant contradiction which is the empirical uniqueness of a particular subject, to which problem we have just alluded; and even if we limit ourselves to the objective world, whose limitlessness precisely constitutes a contradiction since it is inconceivable according to empirical logic, how can we believe for an instant that the day will finally come when we can put it into a homogeneous and exhaustive system?

And how can we fail to see the fundamental and inevitable contradiction between scientistic logic-which is moreover

intrinsically deficient since it lacks sufficient data- and the infinity and complexity of the real, which scientism sets itself out to explore, to exhaust and to catalog?

The fundamental contradiction of scientism is to want to explain the real without the help of that first science which is metaphysics, hence not to know that only the science of the Absolute gives a meaning and a discipline to the science of the relative; and not to know at the same stroke that the science of the relative, when it is deprived of this help, can only lead to suicide, beginning with that of the intelligence, then with that of the human, and in the end, with that of humanity.

The absurdity of scientism is the contradiction between the finite and the Infinite, that is to say, the impossibility of reducing the latter to the former, and the incapacity to integrate the former into the latter; and also the inability to

understand that an erudition which cuts itself off from initial Unity can lead only to the innumerable, hence to the indefinite, to shattering and to nothingness.

If therefore the scientific method, or the conceptual system (die Weltanschauung) resulting from it, claims to have the privilege of excluding contradictions, it goes without saying that it accuses methods or systems which in its opinion are extrascientific of the defect of accepting what is contradictory; as if there could exist a human and traditional thoutht which accepts the contradictory de Jure and not only de facto, and as if what is contradictory in religion (supposing that it is not merely in the minds of the scientists) did not imply the consciousness of an underlying non-contradiction, known by God alone!

What is the significance of the theological opinion that the human mind has limits, and what is the meaning of the mysteries inasmuch as they are supposed to transcend reason, if not that man is incapable of perceiving the total and homogeneous reality behind the contradictions where his short-sightedness stops? Recourse to the Divine authority of Revelation means nothing else but that, and this is so evident that one would like to excuse oneself for pointing

it out.

The man who wishes to know the visible (to know it both in entirety and in depth) is obliged for that very reason to know the Invisible, on pain of absurdity and ineffectualness; to know it according to the principles which the very nature of the Invisible imposes on the human mind; hence to know it by being aware that the solution to the contradictions of the objective world is found only in the transpersonal essence of the subject, namely in the pure Intellect.

Besides - and this is another question altogether - how can the adepts of a scientism which sets out to reduce total Reality to a clockwork fail to see that the absurd (not, this time, insofar as it is simply an appearance of the unknown, but insofar as it is a manifestation of the indefinite and thereby of the unintelligible in itself), how can they fail to see that this cosmic absurdity is an integral part of the mirrorings of Maya and hence of the economy of the Universe?

One of the most difficult things there is morally is to concede the metaphysical right of existence to what is existentially absurd; not in theory alone, but on concrete contact with absurdity, which is almost the victory over the dragon. Now before wishing to abolish the absurd that is merely apparent, it is necessary to acknowledge the ineluctable presence of the absurd as such, which could not possibly be reabsorbed into the intelligible save in its function of being a necessary element in the equilibrium of things.

For Reality does not limit itself to revealing its aspects of geometry. It also likes to conceal itself and to play hide-and-seek; it would be astonishing if it consented to unveil itself totally to mathematical minds; if it could consent to this it would not be Maya.

Man is contingent and he is condemned to contingency, and contingency implies by definition the insoluble and the absurd.

Everything here is a question of causality: there are phenomena which seem absurd to us as long as we are ignorant of their causes, or because we are ignorant of them; and there are other phenomena which are absurd in themselves and which have no other cause than the cosmic necessity for that which has no necessity.

Likewise there are possibilities which have no function other than to manifest the impossible, to the extent precisely that that is still possible; and it is possible at least in a symbolic way, which is sufficiently clear to manifest the intention of impossibility or absurdity.

Frithjof Schuon

Panzerkampfwagen IV (7,5 Kw.K. L/24) (Vs.Kfz. 622) Ausf. B oder C (Nr. 613) by Panzer DB

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This Panzer IV from Panzer-Regiment 29 (12. Panzer-Division), more precisely the third Panzer of the 1. Zug, 6. Kompanie, II. Abteilung, has many field modifications: a spare road-wheels is mounted on the back of the engine deck, a plank of wood (probably on each sides) has been fixed between the road-wheels and the return-rollers and more oddly, a smoke launcher quite similar to the one from Panzer II (Flamm) is fixed on the rear track guard. Notice also the locker mounted on the left side guard.

________

The Panzer Pictures Database | @PanzerDB (Twitter) | panzerdb.com

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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.

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.

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.

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.