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It snowed most of the night. I couldn't really sleep. But around 1:00 AM or so, as our web weatherman predicted... clear skies would in fact prevail. I have to say, I was starting to think they had the whole thing wrong. Stars glimmered thru my little FJ window, as the bitter cold swiftly crept into my little traveling hotel in the mountain tops of Inyo. I had woke to start the engine and heat the cabin a few times during the long night, but It was now time to venture out under the disappearing stars and into the dawn. The fresh snow that fell the last few days would soon melt away in the predicted sunny blue monday skies, so I had maybe 2 or 3 hours before my eastern sierra back drop dripped away. I did have to search out a near "thing" thru the softly powdered ancient hills, careful not to walk in places that might be used inside a future foreground. It does pain me to disrupt the beauty of freshly fallen snow for any reason. It's as though no human on earth could ever lay it down in more a perfect and random way. Just as it should and foreve will be, without apology... without conscience. It didn't take long to find a subject, as these hills are literally scattered with subject matter. A wide angle put me to close to this fella, and with my small 5' 7" perspective it's limbs obscured my softly packed sierra backdrop. Sometimes I choose to break a solid line through an image with the subject, however I really didn't like the effect here. I chose to stay back with a telephoto... back back way back... just until the snow capped peaks shinned a little in the sharp morning light now painting the hills to light and dark contrasts of golden wow. It all happens so quickly doesn't it. Replaying it in my brain now feels like one giant stream of thought happening over eons of time, yet the entire process was about 10 minuets long. Once I had this shot, I played with some various comps, close and far, broken and not broken, wide and long... until the big blue sky finally invaded my tranquil snowy hill. Trust your instinct but plan to be surprised I always say. Happy mistakes happen at the most unplanned moments and there is no rhyme, reason or rule book to accommodate or calculate for those moments. I traversed the snow covered hilltops well till noon gathering every star flare thru ancient limbs that I could, I even watched some afternoon football on my ANCIENT ipad. Soon after the game, I planned to venture to the hilltops above the ancient groves. somewhere off the beaten path with a far away view. Twilight approached and I suspected a giant earth shadow would soon creep over these ancient hills. I could hardly wait. I find it's always best to be the first in line. Random happenings seem more vibrant and exciting from the front row.
This beautiful sky showed some nice pink colours just before sunrise. It seemed like a predictor for a rainy Autumn day.
The Netherlands
On night of August 26, 2017, I checked and there are only a little over 1,500 views to go; so this is going to happen sooner than I thought, like maybe August 27, 2017.
My thanks to each and every one of you for each and every one of them. Dorothy Delina Porter aka Pixel Packing Mama
Delina is pronounced with a long *i* sound if you are saying it out loud in your brain right now. Actually, it is still pronounced that way whether you are or are not saying it out loud in your brain. *grin*
"ARTSY sign for reaching 25 Million Views"
My Sister in law (and Now Brother in law)'s Wedding yesterday at House for an art lover - hundreds more photos to come! 73/366
Sitting at the front upstairs on another bus coming down Lothian Road Volvo B8L / Enviro 400XLB number 1104 (SJ19 OXZ) seemed to want its photo taken on this fine sunny Easter Monday.
This kind of shot is wildly hit or miss for us isn't it? Steady the hand and firm grip on the camera - will we be lucky that no traffic intrudes in front of the subject from either carriageways? Hope she stays still and that we do too, and just pray that that screen behaves itself and doesn't break-up.
And it's even harder when the sun shines, but if we're going the right way with the sun behind our bus then we may be lucky. These are my favourite type of shots as they just can't be predicted as to how they will turn-out.
Many are deleted at once but if they work the results can be hugely rewarding.
Weather reports predict the so called "Beast From The East" is due to revisit the UK over the next few days, today the 16th of March 2018 I visited Collieston Bay, its the first time I have witnessed the impact unusual weather has had on the area, it really was exhilarating and offered great photo opportunities.
Collieston is a small former fishing village on the North Sea coast in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The village lies just north of the Sands of Forvie Special Protection Area, between Cruden Bay and Newburgh.
The earliest recorded history of Collieston is of the arrival of St Ternan, a Columban monk on a mission to convert the local picts to Christianity. There is, however, evidence that people lived here during much earlier times.
Collieston was established as a fishing village by the 16th century, and it provides the first safe harbour in over fifteen miles of beachesand dunes stretching north from Aberdeen.
Fishing for herring, haddock, whiting and codflourished in the 17th century and 18th century and was the foundation of Collieston's economy. The village became known for 'Collieston Speldings', salted and sun-dried haddock and whiting, a popular delicacy throughout Britain. As drift netting developed during the mid 19th century, the fishing began to decline and the focus of the industry shifted to places like Peterhead because the harbour at Collieston was too small to safely accommodate the larger boats needed.
The numerous sea caves in the nearby cliffs, and small coves with shingle beaches provided ideal terrain for smugglers. In the late 18th century it was estimated by the Excise that up to 8000 gallons of foreign spirits were being illegally landed in the area every month. In 1798, the notorious village smuggler, Phillip Kennedy, was killed by a blow from an exciseman's cutlass. His grave and tombstone still stands in the village graveyard.
A ship from the Spanish Armada, the Santa Caterina, carrying arms for the Earl of Erroll is said to have sunk just off the rocky point of St Catherine's Dub in 1594. In retaliation for the Earl's involvement in the Catholic plot against him, James VI blew up the Earl's castle which stood on the cliffs, a mile north of Collieston. The Earl went on to rebuild Slains Castle, six miles further up the coast, in 1597.
Collieston is now mainly a commuter village serving Aberdeen, and is largely given over to tourists during the summer months.
Since Woodtick predicted that I was about to unleash a deluge of Milwaukee Road shots, I'd hate to disappoint. In the early '80s, recently shed of its "Pacific Extension", the Road found itself short of power (or at least power that worked.) Trains started to sport CN power on other parts of the railroad, but the trains that connected with DW&P in Duluth were a likely candidate for power pools - or just borrowing when short! Milwaukee Road had a longstanding agreement for trackage rights on the former Northern Pacific "Skally" to Duluth; by the '80s it had become rights on the former NP up to Hinckley where the NP crossed the former Great Northern from Minneapolis to Duluth. By this time the NP was mostly gone from that crossing on to the north, so the through trains used the former GN to complete the trip to the Twin Ports. This route was fairly active with BN trains (most of their through trains would use the GN all the way up from Northtown Yard in Minneapolis) and also the MILW and C&NW trackage rights trains...and then the Soo Line, too. This train is on the BN's Minnesota Division, the Sixth Sub that connected the wye at "Division Street" (and the Milwaukee's "Pigs Eye Yard") with the Wisconsin Division, Second Sub, at White Bear Lake. From there it's the ex-NP route to Hinckley (a.k.a. "the Skally.") The tracks in the foreground belong to the C&NW - the "Omaha" - going to and from Chicago. I think that's "East St.Paul" yard around the curve on the Omaha. I believe that practically all of this, except the Union Pacific that was the Omaha, is gone. Now the CP and the UP use the former GN through Northtown all the way to Superior with their trackage rights trains.
Weather reports predict the so called "Beast From The East" is due to revisit the UK over the next few days, today the 16th of March 2018 I visited Collieston Bay, its the first time I have witnessed the impact unusual weather has had on the area, it really was exhilarating and offered great photo opportunities.
Collieston is a small former fishing village on the North Sea coast in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The village lies just north of the Sands of Forvie Special Protection Area, between Cruden Bay and Newburgh.
The earliest recorded history of Collieston is of the arrival of St Ternan, a Columban monk on a mission to convert the local picts to Christianity. There is, however, evidence that people lived here during much earlier times.
Collieston was established as a fishing village by the 16th century, and it provides the first safe harbour in over fifteen miles of beachesand dunes stretching north from Aberdeen.
Fishing for herring, haddock, whiting and codflourished in the 17th century and 18th century and was the foundation of Collieston's economy. The village became known for 'Collieston Speldings', salted and sun-dried haddock and whiting, a popular delicacy throughout Britain. As drift netting developed during the mid 19th century, the fishing began to decline and the focus of the industry shifted to places like Peterhead because the harbour at Collieston was too small to safely accommodate the larger boats needed.
The numerous sea caves in the nearby cliffs, and small coves with shingle beaches provided ideal terrain for smugglers. In the late 18th century it was estimated by the Excise that up to 8000 gallons of foreign spirits were being illegally landed in the area every month. In 1798, the notorious village smuggler, Phillip Kennedy, was killed by a blow from an exciseman's cutlass. His grave and tombstone still stands in the village graveyard.
A ship from the Spanish Armada, the Santa Caterina, carrying arms for the Earl of Erroll is said to have sunk just off the rocky point of St Catherine's Dub in 1594. In retaliation for the Earl's involvement in the Catholic plot against him, James VI blew up the Earl's castle which stood on the cliffs, a mile north of Collieston. The Earl went on to rebuild Slains Castle, six miles further up the coast, in 1597.
Collieston is now mainly a commuter village serving Aberdeen, and is largely given over to tourists during the summer months.
Fortune
‘The Big Short’ investor who predicted the 2008 crash warns the market is ‘underestimating’ the economic impact of DOGE’s mass spending cuts
Story by Sasha Rogelberg • 2h
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Fortune
The Reporter Notebook: Tariffs vs. the Stock Market
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Markets have not yet factored in the impact of mass cuts in government spending, ‘The Big Short’ investor Danny Moses said. He told Fortune the Department of Government Efficiency’s cuts have jeopardized private contractors, small businesses, and the labor market. “It's not as simple as just, ‘We think there's fraud, let's cut waste, let's cut expenses,’” he said.
Investor Danny Moses, best known for his oracular bet against mortgage-backed debt before the 2008 stock market crash, is warning of another economic red flag.
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The founder of Moses Ventures made famous by the book-turned-movie “The Big Short” cautioned the market has not yet accounted for the negative economic impact of the mass cuts to government jobs carried out by the Elon Musk-championed Department of Government Efficiency.
“I think we are underestimating the impact to the economy of the cuts we're making at the federal government, and what that might mean [for] the knock-on effects into the economy,” Moses said in a CNBC “Power Lunch” interview on Thursday. “We're hurting the revenue side of the equation.”
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“I think we are being overly optimistic [as to] how this is going to play out,” he added.
President Donald Trump’s administration has fired more than 24,000 federal workers, according to court documents, many of whom expect difficulty finding private sector jobs due to the specificity of their expertise. An additional 75,000 employees took a deferred resignation opportunity, which allowed them to receive pay and benefits through September. DOGE’s Wall of Receipts claims to have eliminated $115 billion in government spending—though the veracity of its alleged savings are under fire from experts.
The Department of Government Efficiency claims to have cut $115 billion in federal spending, which investor Danny Moses said could endanger the economy.
The Department of Government Efficiency claims to have cut $115 billion in federal spending, which investor Danny Moses said could endanger the economy.
© JIM WATSON/AFP—Getty Images
The administration’s whipsaw on tariffs has sown further uncertainty in the markets, leading companies to reassess their plans. Meanwhile, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell has left interest rates untouched while the policy plays out.
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An ‘unvirtuous cycle’
Moses argued investors are already beginning to see disruptions in consumer confidence—which last month saw its steepest drop in four years—and will continue to hear similar trends in upcoming earnings calls. These slowdowns have yet to be priced into the market, he said.
“It's not as simple as just, ‘We think there's fraud, let's cut waste, let's cut expenses,’” Moses told Fortune. “And it's not just about the federal workers, and it's not just about the expenses out of those programs. It's about the contracts with the private sector.”
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The tell-tale signs of the weakening economy will be seen in small businesses and “private contractors that are doing legitimate work services that are now being forced to make decisions on their business,” Moses said.
The government spent about $759 billion on contracts in fiscal 2023, an increase of about $33 billion from the year before, with about $171.5 billion going to small businesses, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Musk’s own companies receive at least $20 billion in government contracts.
DOGE’s mass cuts have already begun to jeopardize major contracts. Accenture chief executive Julie Spellman Sweet told investors Thursday its Federal Services business, representing 8% of global revenue, lost U.S. government contracts as part of DOGE’s review. The consultancy’s share price tumbled 7.3% following the announcement.
The elimination of both federal jobs and contracts creates what Moses called an “unvirtuous cycle.” As more fired federal workers look for private sector jobs, they may find fewer opportunities because of shrinking revenue streams in government contracts.
Federal workers’ luck in the job market
Indeed, beyond the purgatory of government contracts, the economy will also have to contend with tens of thousands of federal workers reentering the labor market. Many of those former government employees will encounter an environment that is stable, but has wildly different prospects based on the skillsets of those newly unemployed, Cory Stahle, an economist for Indeed’s Hiring Lab, told Fortune.
“Can the labor market absorb these workers?” Stahle said. “We're not quite sure if it can.”
Healthcare jobs are currently abundant—good news for about 16% of the federal workforce in health-related fields, according to the Pew Research Center—but many other white-collar jobs, particularly in tech and data science, are scarce. Because many fired federal employees are educated, they may be looking for traditional knowledge worker jobs that don’t exist at the moment, Stahle said.
One of the reasons the markets may not have yet factored in the impact of the firings is the lag in government data. While the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported about 10,000 fewer federal government jobs in February, the survey period for the report likely ended before many of the firings were carried out.
“Employers seem to be really frozen, by the uncertainty around what's going to happen around tariffs, what's going to happen with labor supply, immigration, then obviously, what's going to happen with these federal workers,” Stahle said. “There's a lot of uncertainty that's playing in right now that we're not fully able to quantify.”
Should a substantive number of federal workers fail to find new jobs, spending will likely slow, a not-insignificant hit to a U.S. economy made up nearly 70% of consumer spending, Callie Cox, chief market strategist at Ritholtz Wealth Management, wrote in a February blog post.
“The economy is indisputably made up of people and their wallets,” she said. “Disrupt our spending, and growth will sputter, no matter how worthy you think the cause of the disruption is.”
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
One can consider the presentation of this spectacular hardtop coupe as an ultimate afford to gain attention of the audience to persuade them for buying a Packard. The financial position of Packard was terrible in 1956. But it wasn't much of a help.
Richard 'Dick' Teague (Los Angeles, 1923-1991) designed the Predictor. It was built at Carrozzeria Ghia, Torino in Italy on a Clipper platform. In ninety days the Italians managed to get this project ready, just in time for the Chicago Car Show (see photo).
The Predictor had all kinds of new automotive features, like tilting headlights, roof doors rolled back when opening the door, lowering back window, swiveling seats, dashboard design which followed the hood profile, a power operated trunk lid, and a wraparound windshield that curved into the roof.
Many car brands copied several novelties: the grille at the 1958 Edsel, the roof line at the 1958 Lincoln Premier, the rear bumper at the 1958 Oldsmobile, opera windows or portholes in the rear pillar at the 1957 Thunderbird, and the headlights at the 1962 Corvette.
Only one Predictor was made. It still exists and is on display at the Studebaker National Museum, South Bend, Indiana.
6128 cc V8 engine.
Production Packard Predictor: 1956.
Image source:
Rob de la Rive Box, Amerikanen uit de jaren '50, Rijswijk, Elmar, 1993.
Original photographer, place and date unknown.
Halfweg, July 27, 2024.
© 2024 Sander Toonen Halfweg | All Rights Reserved
As predicted by the prophet Zacharie Delaplaya, the Four Surfers of the Apocalypso will soon emerge to sound the death knell of summertime. Splitting the sea foam from atop their mounts, they’ll arrive at great speed to announce to the sun-lovers and terrace dwellers the end of this lovely season. So enjoy the time you have left to knock back a pint and live each day as if it was the last act. Carpe diem!
This little iris is a sure predictor of rain. First the bud swells and then when it opens you can be sure that 24-36 hours later it will rain. Never fails.
Well i hope the weather forecast is right both for fotting Choppers up Peak Forest & Taking my Scooby up those Country roads
As predicted yesterday, Viking Twin Otter msn 915 has had its Japan mark covered up so it can go flying. Sister ship msn 916, which is also in the blue scheme, had pre-delivery mark C-GVVA as well and this is going to sow confusion in the future.
This year’s Leonids meteor shower peaks on the morning of Nov. 18. If forecasters are correct, the shower should produce a mild but pretty sprinkling of meteors. The waning crescent moon will not substantially interfere with viewing the Leonid shower.
“We’re predicting 10 to 15 meteors per hour,” says Bill Cooke of the Meteoroid Environment Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. “For best viewing, wait until after midnight on Nov. 18, with the peak of the shower occurring just before sunrise.”
Read more:
www.nasa.gov/watchtheskies/leonid-meteor-shower-nov2014
Image/video credit: NASA/MSFC/MEO/Bill Cooke
View our Meteor photoset in Flickr:
www.flickr.com/photos/nasamarshall/sets/72157607380035209/
View our Leonid Meteors Flickr group:
www.flickr.com/groups/leonids/
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These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin...
Heavens-above.com predicted a pass of the International Space Station that would be visible to the Space Coast. It was lower and dimmer than I would generally chase, but I still went to my favorite spot, the "Cuki," a sailboat in Melbourne Beach, FL that was washed ashore after Hurricane Irma.
It was cloudier than expected, and I was a bit disappointed by how undramatic the streak turned out until I later looked at the ground track of the Station. At the time of the left-most section of the streak shown here (over the condos), the Station is over the Gulf of Mexico, well south of New Orleans, roughly 1,000km away. The closest the Station would come was 750km, roughly over the sailboat in the streak, and somewhere over Alabama east of Montgomery. And, as it enters the shadow of the Earth (after emerging from behind the cloud in the right section of the frame), the Station is nearly 1,100 km away, cruising over (roughly) Blacksburg, Virgina.
New Orleans, Alabama, and Virginia. And we can see it from Florida. Kinda cool, no?
Details:
This is a composite of two 120-second exposures, shot at ISO400 and f6.3 with a Canon 5DIV and a Rokinon 14mm lens. Initial edits done in Lightroom, composite done in Photoshop (while avoiding the temptation to draw in a bolder streak) and edits were done (again) in Lightroom, then Color Efex2 (detail enhancer) and then some noise reduction was applied with Dfine2.
This column is believed to represent the four seasons of the year – one on each side. The images on the closest side show a representation of the rain god – Chac shown with the nose of an elephant. Chac is one of the most frequent images that we saw throughout Chichen Itza.
Obviously, rain was extremely important to the Maya culture. I assume this was primarily because the Yucatan peninsula is very hot and they would have been highly dependent on rain for drinking water and agricultural irrigation. On our visit, we have been more concerned with the over-abundance of rain related to hurricane Irma. Either way, it is obvious that predicting the weather has been a chief concern of people for a very long time and we still don’t quite have it figured out.
Nikon D7100
Tamron SP 10-24mm F/3.5-4.5 Di II
10mm @ f/10 – 1/800 sec – ISO 400
I was out for a morning bicycle ride, hoping to beat the predicted thunderstorms in the afternoon. Crossing Cherry Street and entering the Martin Goodman Trail I saw a collection of ice cream trucks in a parking lot and stopped to investigate. I discovered that it was a breakfast kick-off for Uber’s third annual Uber Ice Cream Day being celebrated in Toronto and 9 other North American Cities. www.popsugar.com/food/Uber-Free-Ice-Cream-Day-2017-43863026
The ice cream trucks were about to scatter across the city with a promotion geared to expand its customer base by appealing to one of summer’s most popular temptations – ice cream. As people were eating their promotional breakfast in the parking lot, I saw this young woman near one of the trucks and approached her. I was met with a warm greeting and a handshake. Meet Lisha.
Lisha is a native-born Torontonian who works as Operations and Logistics Manager at Uber. She has a business background with prior experience in the financial sector. Today she is supporting Uber's promotion and seemed in a very upbeat mood. She struck me as very much a "people person" with a cheerful, outgoing disposition. “Hey, it’s a fun event and I love getting out of the office to help out. I want do everything I can to help make the event a success.”
I told her I was just bicycling past on the bike path when I saw the gathering and stopped to indulge my curiosity. She appreciated the interest. I explained my Human Family photo project and asked if she would be comfortable with my taking a couple of photos of her with the truck to share with others on Flickr. She was happy to participate and I took a quick photo in front of one of the trucks and another with her in its side window.
Her message to the project? “Do what you love” and “Don’t waste a single day of your life.” Good advice.
Thanks Lisha for taking a minute to meet and participate in my amateur photo project. I hope the promotion is a big success. This is my 523rd submission to The Human Family Group on Flickr.
You can view more street portraits and stories by visiting The Human Family.
As predicted - I went bird hunting but I found so much more than birds this weekend. Great weekend to be outdoors in Texas even though the sun got really warm.
Just a bit more info on the caracara - it is a member of the falcon family. It is thought that it was the original bird depicted on the flag of Mexico although that bird is now a golden eagle. Very non-falcon like in its behaviour, it tends to scavenge as well as hunt for its prey although I've seen a a pair of these birds tormenting a whilte pelican on East Beach at Galveston. They literally drove the white pelican off its nest and away. I guess you might say they don't play nice.
Based on the following, I was ready:
National Weather Service Tucson AZ
200 PM MST Wed Apr 4 2018
DISCUSSION...a very weak upper level trough passing by will continue to spread high clouds across the region this evening with the potential a colorful sunset.
It was predicted to be withdrawn in 2014, and indeed didn't get used for almost the whole summer holidays as a large number of newer buses from school routes were available. But it came back that September and was still in service towards the end of May 2015, being about 15 years old by then.
Predicting your call on the extra board can be a bit like long division, needlessly complicated and never really sure you got it right... until the phone rings. Today I thought I had it all dialed in, a phosphate train off the CSX coming north on the Superior Sub was showing ordered for 1230 out of Pokegama with no north pools available for several hours, got it. Just before that call was expected to come in, the phone rang. CN Crew Caller... well shit. “Mr Hennessy are you qualified on the T-Bird?” Yes. Yes I am. So off to Keenan I went. Left a little early in hopes of catching some iron ore action, timing was great as I paced a northbound limestone train from Alborn up to the range, unfortunately the sun was shit for northbound moves. Coming up to Fairlane I spied a load of pellets ready to head south, hedging my bets that he would get the light clearing the limestone train I parked. Sure enough the limestone blazed past and the pellet loader was headed to the docks in Duluth. These standard cab dash 8’s hold a special place in my heart as I made my first solo run as an engineer in one (CN 2019) on a Q119 several years prior. Most fans up here loath the toasters and covet the sd40’s, a sentiment I certainly understand but anywhere else in the country finding standard cab dash 8’a leading trains in 2021 would be constitute a miracle from christ himself... on the range, just another reason not to take the lens cap off. I should get out more often to shoot these dinosaurs, but CN is very good at finding ways to occupy my time and my daughters take up the rest. These old GE’s may have another couple years left in them but the kids only stay 5 and 3 for another couple months. Priorities... It does make me appreciate the rare moments trackside that I have however!
Michel de Nostredame, dit Nostradamus, né le 14 décembre 1503 à Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, et mort le 2 juillet 1566 à Salon-de-Provence, est un apothicaire1 français (on dirait en français moderne : pharmacien2).
Selon bien des sources3, il aurait également été médecin, bien que son expulsion de la faculté de médecine de Montpellier4 témoigne qu’il n'était pas possible d’être les deux à la fois5.
Pratiquant l'astrologie comme tous ses confrères à l'époque de la Renaissance, il est surtout connu pour ses prédictions sur la marche du monde.
Il est né de Jaume6 de Nostredame et Reynière (ou Renée) de Saint-Rémy le 14 décembre 15037. Jaume était l'aîné des six (certains disent dix-huit) enfants du couple Pierre de Nostredame et Blanche de Sainte-Marie.
Le nom des Nostredame vient de son grand-père juif, Guy de Gassonet (fils d'Arnauton de Velorges), qui choisit le nom de Pierre de Nostredame lors de sa conversion au catholicisme, probablement vers 14558. Selon les archives d'Avignon, et selon les archives de Carpentras qui parlent souvent de juifs des autres régions, il est suggéré que l'origine du nom Nostredame fut imposée9 par le cardinal-archevêque d'Arles, Pierre de Foix. Le grand-père de Nostredame, Pierre de Nostredame, était si convaincu de sa foi qu'il a répudié sa femme d'alors (Benastruge Gassonet) qui ne voulait pas quitter le judaïsme. Le curieux « démariage » fut prononcé à Orange le 14 juin 1463 (ce qui lui a permis finalement d'épouser Blanche).C'est son bisaïeul maternel, Jean de Saint-Rémy, ancien médecin et trésorier de Saint-Rémy, qui lui aurait transmis en 1506 les rudiments des mathématiques et des lettres. Mais ceci est douteux, vu que la trace notariée (Archives dep. des Bouches du Rhône B. 2.607) de ce vieux personnage disparaît en 1504.Il part très jeune à Avignon pour y obtenir son diplôme de bachelier ès arts. On le disait doué d'une mémoire presque divine, d'un caractère enjoué, plaisant, peut-être un peu moqueur « laetus, facetus estque mordax »10. Ses camarades l'auraient appelé « le jeune astrologue », parce « qu'il leur signalait et leur expliquait les phénomènes célestes », mystérieux alors pour beaucoup : les étoiles filantes, les météores, les astres, les brouillards, etc. Il dut apprendre aussi la grammaire, la rhétorique et la philosophie. Mais il doit quitter l'université après un an seulement, et donc sans diplôme, à cause de l'arrivée de la peste (fin 1520). Neuf ans plus tard (1529), ayant cependant pratiqué comme apothicaire (profession non diplômée), il s'inscrit à la Faculté de Montpellier pour essayer d'y gagner son doctorat en médecine. Il se fait connaître grâce aux remèdes qu'il a mis au point en tant qu'apothicaire. Mais il est bientôt expulsé pour avoir exercé ce métier « manuel » interdit par les statuts de la faculté [voir site Benazra Espace Nostradamus]. Son inscription de 1529 et sa radiation sont les seules traces de son passage à Montpellier, et on ne connaît pas de document attestant qu'il ait été docteur d'une autre université. Mais, sans être affirmatifs, la plupart des érudits du vingtième siècle pensent qu'il n'est pas impossible que l'expulsion de Nostredame ait été temporaire et qu'il soit devenu quand même diplômé de l'université de Montpellier (comme le prétendaient aussi, en ajoutant des détails supplémentaires peu croyables, certains commentateurs très tardifs comme Guynaud et Astruc), bien qu'il lui ait manqué le premier diplôme nécessaire pour accéder au doctorat, car les noms de plusieurs des diplômés connus de cette université sont absents, eux aussi, de ses registres11 — à moins que ceux-ci n'en aient pas été de vrais diplômés non plus (le phénomène du « faux docteur » étant très connu à l'époque).
Vers 1533, il s'établit à Agen12, où il pratique la médecine de soins à domicile. Il s'y lie d'amitié avec Jules César Scaliger. Cet Italien, installé à Toulouse, érudit de la Renaissance, est « un personnage incomparable, sinon à un Plutarque » selon Nostradamus ; il écrit sur tout. Impertinent, il s'attaque à tout le monde, s'intéresse à la botanique et fabrique des pommades et des onguents. Mais le jeune « imposteur » inquiète les autorités religieuses par ses idées un peu trop progressistes pour l'époque.
La durée précise de son séjour à Agen est inconnue ; peut-être trois ans, peut-être cinq ans. Les points de repère manquent et l'on ne peut offrir que des dates élastiques. Vers 153413 Nostredame s'y choisit une femme dont on ne sait même pas le nom14, qui lui aurait donné deux enfants : un garçon et une fille. L'épouse et les deux enfants moururent, très rapidement semble-t-il, à l'occasion de quelque épidémie, la peste vraisemblablement.
D'après certains commentateurs catholiques des Prophéties - Barrere, l'abbé Torne-Chavigny notamment - Nostredame aurait dit en 1534 à un « frère » qui coulait une statue de Notre-Dame dans un moule d'étain qu'en faisant de pareilles images il ne faisait que des diableries. D'aucuns pensent que ses relations avec un certain Philibert Sarrazin, mécréant de l'époque, de la région d'Agen, avaient rendu Nostredame plutôt suspect à la Sainte Inquisition15. Celle-ci l'aurait même invité à se présenter devant son tribunal de Toulouse pour « y être jugé du crime d'hérésie ; mais il se garda bien de répondre à cette citation »16.
Après la mort de sa première femme, Nostredame se serait remis à voyager. On l'aurait trouvé à Bordeaux, vers l'an 1539. Les commentateurs tardifs Moura et Louvet se le représentent en la compagnie de savants renommés de l'époque et du cru : l'apothicaire Léonard Baudon, Johannes Tarraga, Carolus Seninus et Jean Treilles, avocat.
Nostredame accomplit de 1540 à 1545 un tour de France qui l'amène à rencontrer de nombreuses personnalités, savants et médecins. La légende signale le passage du futur prophète à Bar-le-Duc. Nostredame y aurait soigné, d'après Étienne Jaubert17, plusieurs personnes et notamment une célèbre (?) Mademoiselle Terry qui l'aurait souvent entendu « exhorter les catholiques à tenir ferme contre les Luthériens et à ne permettre qu'ils entrassent dans la ville»18.
Une tradition très douteuse affirme qu'il a séjourné un temps à l'abbaye d'Orval, qui dépendait de l'Ordre de Cîteaux, située alors au diocèse de Trêves, à deux lieues de l'actuelle sous-préfecture de Montmédy, un séjour que Pagliani, après plusieurs autres, date de 154319. On ne sait s'il faut y ajouter foi, même si, avec Torne-Chavigny et Napolêon lui-même, beaucoup de gens lui attribuent les fameuses prophéties d'Orval, Prévisions d'un solitaire, ainsi que celles d'un certain Olivarius. On les aurait 'trouvées' à l'abbaye d'Orval en 1792, date approximative de leur style même. La première (de style tardif, elle aussi) serait datée de 1542, antérieure donc de treize ans, comme on le verra plus loin, à la préface des premières Centuries. Mais il semble plus probable que toutes les deux aient été composées au XIXe siècle à la gloire de Napoléon20.
Ici se termine le cycle de pérégrinations de Nostredame qui l'a mené en somme, après être rayé de Montpellier, du Sud-Ouest au Nord-Est de la France. Nostredame atteint la quarantaine (1543) et commence une seconde phase de déplacements qui va le rapprocher de la Provence et le pousser vers l'Italie, terre bénie de tous ceux qui connurent à son époque l'ivresse de la Renaissance.
Les premières étapes de ce périple sont probablement Vienne, puis « Valence des Allobroges », dont parle Nostradamus dans son Traité des fardemens et confitures à propos des célébrités qu'il s'honora d'y avoir rencontrées : « A Vienne, je vis d'aucuns personnages dignes d'une supprême collaudation ; dont l'un estoit Hieronymus, homme digne de louange, et Franciscus Marins, jeune homme d'une expectative de bonne foy. Devers nous, ne avons que Francisons Valeriola pour sa singulière humanité, pour son sçavoir prompt et mémoire ténacissime... Je ne sçays si le soleil, à trente lieues à la ronde, voit ung homme plus plein de sçavoir que luy »21.
En 1544, Nostredame aurait eu l'occasion d'étudier la peste à Marseille22 sous la direction, a-t-il dit, d'un « autre Hippocrate, le médecin Louis Serres »23. Puis, il est « appelé par ceux d'Aix en corps de communauté pour venir dans leur ville traiter les malades de la contagion dont elle est affligée. C'était en l'année mil cinq cent quarante six »24.
On le voit certainement à Lyon en 1547 où il s'oppose au médecin lyonnais Philibert Sarrazin25, à Vienne, Valence, Marseille, Aix-en-Provence et, enfin, à Arles, où il finit par s'établir. Là, il met au point un médicament à base de plantes, capable, selon lui, de prévenir la peste. En 1546, il l'expérimente à Aix lors d'une terrible épidémie : son remède semble efficace comme prophylactique, mais il écrira lui-même plus tard que « les seignées, les medicaments cordiaux, catartiques, ne autres n'avoyent non plus d'efficace que rien. » (Traité des fardemens et confitures, Lyon, 1555, p. 52) Malgré ce succès douteux, Nostredame est appelé sur les lieux où des épidémies sont signalées. À la même époque, il commence à publier des almanachs qui mêlent des prévisions météorologiques, des conseils médicaux et des recettes de beauté par les plantes. Il étudie également les astres.
La Maison de Nostradamus à Salon-de-Provence.
Le 11 novembre 1547, il épouse en secondes noces Anne Ponsard, une jeune veuve de Salon-de-Provence, alors appelé Salon-de-Craux. Le couple occupe la maison qui abrite aujourd'hui le Musée Nostradamus. Il aura six enfants, trois filles et trois garçons ; l'aîné, César, deviendra consul de Salon, historien, biographe de son père, peintre et poète.
Nostredame prend le temps de voyager en Italie, de 1547 à 1549. C'est d'ailleurs en 1549 qu'il rencontre à Milan un spécialiste en alchimie végétale, qui lui fait découvrir les vertus des confitures qui guérissent. Il expérimente des traitements à base de ces confitures végétales et, de retour en France, il publie en 1552 son Traité des confitures et fardements.
En 1550, il rédige son premier « almanach » populaire – une collection de prédictions dites astrologiques pour l’année, incorporant un calendrier26 et d’autres informations en style énigmatique et polyglotte qui devait se montrer assez difficile pour les éditeurs, à en juger par les nombreuses coquilles (où certains voient le signe que l'auteur était dyslexique). Dès cette date, Michel de Nostredame signe ses écrits du nom de "Nostradamus". Ce nom n'est pas l'exacte transcription latine de 'Nostredame', qui serait plutôt Domina nostra ou Nostra domina. En latin correct, ‘Nostradamus’ pourrait signifier : « Nous donnons (damus) les choses qui sont nôtres (nostra) » ou « Nous donnons (damus) les panacées » (nostrum, mis au pluriel), mais il est également permis d'y voir un travestissement macaronique (et très heureux) de 'Nostredame'.
En 1555, installé à Salon-de-Provence, il publie des prédictions perpétuelles (et donc en théorie, selon l'usage de l'époque, cycliques)27 dans un ouvrage de plus grande envergure et presque sans dates ciblées, publié par l’imprimeur lyonnais Macé (Matthieu) Bonhomme. Ce sont les Prophéties, l'ouvrage qui fait l'essentiel de sa gloire auprès de la postérité.
source Wikipédia
As predicted, we had rain on the way up the mountains. It started to clear just as we arrived at the Pisgah Inn. 6 shot merge, converted to b&w (obviously).
Clouds were predicted the morning of Christmas Eve so I dithered when my alarm rang out as I wanted to sleep in if the sun was going to be snuffed out, but I also didn't want to miss out on colorful skies if it wasn't. My vacillation wasn't helped by a certain orange tabby who repeatedly woke me in the wee hours as he had a grand old time snuggling up under my chin, I love when he does it as it's where Scout slept every night, but his timing could have been better. Fortunately I dragged myself out of bed, even if a few minutes later than intended, as when my wife dropped me off at the preserve the most glorious color was already spreading across the eastern sky.
I hurried down the trail towards my favorite saguaro, the Green Elephant, kicking myself for being a little behind but still careful with my footing as faceplanting into the unforgiving desert floor was not on my list of Christmas wishes. In the cool morning air I regretted not putting on my gloves in the car but I didn't want to stop now. I took a few shots of the eastern sky on the way but the shot I most hoped for was of the Elephant looking west, so I was tickled to arrive and find the entire desert bathed in pink light with pink skies behind. The light was beginning to fade even as I started taking pictures so I was thankful I got off a shot from my favorite view of her, with a more traditional saguaro visible in the gap behind her, before the light faded to it's normal pre-sunrise blue.
The pink skies behind her remained a little while longer and I expect I'll like those subtler shots too. The sun rose fifteen minutes later and cleared the mountains soon thereafter but the clouds held sway and the remainder of the hike stayed cool and windy. Even in the dim light the desert was lovely as always, with phainopepla cheering my steps along the path.
This shot makes me a little sad, I noticed in the fall she has extensive damage along the arm on the lower left and also on another not visible from this angle. She looked fine when I saw her in full bloom at the end of May, but perhaps so did I, it hasn't been the easiest year. We're still standing though and every sunrise I spend with her is a treat, no matter the light.
Forecasters predicted a Perseid "outburst" event this year. I am not a regular Perseid observer so I cannot really attest to this but for the two hours that I was out watching the night sky between 2am and 4am, I saw many meteors streaking across the sky. Unfortunately most of them were very fleeting and rather faint (probably due to the heavy light pollution where I was).
The Perseids are known for being colourful meteors and this one I managed to capture has a distinct purple to green transition as it streaked across the sky.
it came, and wicked fast.
sunday, just after dark
two solid day of ripping winds.
kayaks put away just in time.
setting up heaters in the animals' water.
trying to convince children to put on more clothing.
this morning, minus 1 degree fahrenheit.
clear and bright
sun coming up over the trees
waking the house up in creaks & groans.
granola & banana bread in the oven.
on the woodstove, dyepots and mutton shanks stewing.
this, the view from the grocery store parking lot.
"My thin white border is not so much a frame as a defense against Flickr's all dark background"
(IMGP1875PengraPowerlinesSunsetClouds)
IID 1692074
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period They covered period twenty years course Have seen course already summer I’ll go beach summer less Sometimes less more realize just realize that have meeting today hundred have hundred dollars that lend available am available work on your project plant Plant seed likely It was likely deer trail opportunity It was perfect opportunity test theory term I’m sure there’s Latin term it short It was just short stay at hotel letter already passed letter intent condition know condition am choice have no choice place Let’s meet out at meeting place single am single parent rule It’s rule law daughter knows how read now administration take this up with administration south am headed south husband just bought ring birthday Congress It debated at Congress floor She floor manager campaign handled their election campaign material She had nothing material report population population nearest big city was growing well wish well call am going call bank economy economy booming medical -She needs medical assistance hospital I’ll take nearest hospital church saw church last Sunday close -Please close door thousand There are thousand reasons learn English! risk Taking risk rewarding current your current address fire Make sure your smoke alarm works case fire future -The future full hope wrong That wrong answer involve need involve police defense your defense or reason did this anyone Does anyone know answer increase Let’s increase your test score security Some apartment buildings have security bank need go bank withdraw some money myself clean up by myself certainly certainly help clean up west drive West arrive California sport favorite sport soccer board see board seek Seek find per Lobster $20 per pound subject favorite subject English! officer Where find police officer private This private party rest Let’s take 15 minute rest behavior This dog’s behavior excellent deal used car good deal performance Your performance affected by your sleep fight don’t fight with throw German ball! top are top student quickly Let’s finish reading this quickly past past English was as good as it today goal speak English fluently second second goal increase confidence bed go bed around 10pm order would like order book author author this series world-famous fill need fill (up) gas tank represent represent family focus Turn off your phone TV focus on your studies! foreign It’s great having foreign friends drop don’t drop eggs! plan Let’s make plan blood hospital needs people give blood upon Once upon time princess lived castle agency Let’s contract agency help with marketing push door says ‘push ’ ‘pull ' nature love walking nature! colou color blue no ‘No’ one shortest complete sentences recently cleaned bathroom most recently think it’s your turn this time store I’m going store buy some bread reduce reuse recycle are ways help environment sound like sound wind chimes note take notes during lesson fine movie let’s buy popcorn! near Near far wherever are believe that heart goes on movement environmental movement international movement page turn page 62 enter enter building on left share Let share idea than Ice cream has more calories than water common Most people find something common with each other poor had poor harvest this year because it was dry other This pen doesn’t work try other one natural This cleaner natural there aren’t chemicals it race watched car race on TV concern Thank your concern but I’m fine series your favorite TV series significant job earns significant amount money similar These earrings don’t match but they are similar hot Don’t touch stove it’s still hot language Learning new language fun each Put flower each vase usually usually shop at corner store response didn’t expect response come soon dead phone dead let charge it rise sun rise at 7:00 a m animal kind animal that factor Heredity factor your overall health decade I’ve lived this city over decade article Did read that newspaper article shoot wants shoot arrows at target east 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thought list made list things do individual buy individual or group membership simple appliance comes with simple instructions quality paid little more quality shoes pressure There no pressure finish right now accept accept credit card answer Give your answer by noon tomorrow hard That test was very hard resource library has many online resources identify can’t identify that plant left door on your left as approach meeting We’ll have staff meeting after lunch determine Eye color genetically determined prepare I’ll prepare breakfast tomorrow disease Face masks help prevent disease whatever Choose whatever flavor like best success Failure back door success argue It’s good idea argue with your boss cup Would like cup coffee particularly It’s particularly hot outside just warm amount It take large amount food feed elephant ability has ability explain things well staff There are five people on staff here recognize recognize person this photo indicate reply indicated that she understood character trust people good character growth company has seen strong growth this quarter loss farmer suffered heavy losses after storm degree Set oven 300 degrees wonder wonder Bulls win game attack army attack at dawn herself She bought herself new coat region internet services are your region television don’t watch much television box packed dishes strong box TV There good movie on TV tonight training company pay your training pretty That pretty dress trade stock market traded lower today deal got good deal at store election Who think win election everybody likes ice cream physical Keep physical distance six feet lay baby crib general impression restaurant was good feeling have good feeling about this standard standard fee $10 00 bill electrician send bill message have text message on your phone fail fail see funny about that outside cat goes outside sometimes arrive When your plane arrive analysis I’ll give analysis when I’ve seen everything benefit There are many health benefits quinoa name What’s your name sex know sex your baby yet forward Move car forward few feet lawyer legal helped write present everyone present meeting begin section stadium are sitting environmental science economy politics political politician issues are news glass much heavier than plastic answer Could answer question skill best skill woodworking sister lives close PM movie starts at 7:30 PM professor Dr Smith professor operation mining operation employs thousands people financial keep accounts at financial institution crime police fight crime stage caterpillar larval stage butterfly ok Would it ok eat out tonight compare should compare cars before buy one authority City authorities make local laws miss you when see again design need design new logo sort Let’s sort these beads according color one only have one cat act I’ll act on your information today ten baby counted ten toes knowledge have knowledge fix that gun Gun ownership controversial topic station There train station close house blue favorite color blue state After accident was state shock strategy new corporate strategy written here little prefer little cars clearly instructions clearly written discuss We’ll discuss that at meeting indeed Your mother does indeed have hearing loss force It takes lot force open that door truth tell truth song That’s beautiful song example need example that grammar point democratic Does Australia have democratic government check check work sure it’s correct environment live healthy environment leg boy broke leg dark Turn on light it’s dark here public Masks must worn public places various That rug comes various shades gray rather Would rather have hamburger than hot dog laugh That movie always makes laugh guess don’t know just guess executive company’s executives are paid well set Set glass on table study needs study test prove employee proved worth hang hang your coat on hook entire ate entire meal 10 minutes rock There are decorative rocks garden design windows don’t open by design enough Have had enough coffee forget Don’t forget stop at store since She hasn’t eaten since yesterday claim made insurance claim car accident note Leave note you’re going late remove Remove cookies from oven manager manager look at your application help Could help move this table close Close door sound dog did make sound enjoy enjoy soda network Band name internet network legal legal documents need signed religious She very religious she attends church weekly cold feet are cold form fill out this application form final divorce was final last month main main problem lack money science studies health science at university green grass green memory has good memory card They sent card birthday above Look on shelf above sink seat That’s comfortable seat cell Your body made millions cells establish They established their business 1942 nice That’s very nice car trial They are employing on trial basis expert Matt IT expert that Did see that movie spring Spring most beautiful season firm ‘no was very firm she won’t change mind Democrat Democrats control Senate radio listen radio car visit visited museum today management That store has good management care She cares mother at home avoid should avoid poison ivy imagine imagine pigs could fly tonight Would like go out tonight huge That truck huge! ball threw ball dog no said ‘no ’ don’t ask again close Close window finish Did finish your homework yourself gave yourself haircut talk talks lot theory theory that’s good plan impact drought had big impact on crops respond hasn’t responded text yet statement police chief gave statement media maintain Exercise helps maintain healthy weight charge need charge phone popular That’s popular restaurant traditional They serve traditional Italian food there onto Jump onto boat we’ll go fishing reveal Washing off dirt revealed boy’s skinned knee direction direction city from here weapon No weapons are allowed government buildings employee That store only has three employees cultural There cultural significance those old ruins contain carton contains dozen egges peace World leaders gathered peace talks head head hurts control Keep control car base glass has heavy base it won’t fall over pain have chest pain apply Maria applied job play children play at park measure Measure twice cut once wide doorway was very wide shake Don’t shake soda fly fly France next year interview job interview went well manage Did manage find keys chair table has six matching chairs fish don’t enjoy eating fish particular That particular style looks good on camera use camera on phone structure building’s structure solid politics Mitch very active politics perform singer perform tonight bit It rained little bit last night weight Keep track your pet’s weight suddenly storm came up suddenly discover You’ll discover treasures at that thrift store candidate There are ten candidates position top flag flies on top that building production Factory production has improved over summer treat Give yourself treat job well done trip are taking trip Florida January evening I’m staying home this evening affect bank account affect how much buy inside cat stays inside conference There expert presenters at conference unit foot unit measure best Those are best glasses buy style dress out style adult Adults pay full price but children are free worry Don’t worry about tomorrow range doctor offered range options mention mention your story rather Rather than focusing on bad things let’s grateful good things far don’t move far from family deep That poem about life deep front face front edge stand close edge cliff individual These potato chips are individual serving size package specific Could more specific writer are good writer trouble Stay out trouble necessary It necessary sleep throughout Throughout life have always enjoyed reading challenge challenge better fear have fears shoulder have shoulder all work on your own institution Have attended institution higher learning middle am middle child with one older brother one younger sister sea sail seven seas dream have dream bar bar place where alcohol served beautiful are beautiful property own property like house instead Instead eating cake have fruit improve am always looking ways improve stuff When moved realized have lot stuff! claim claim fast reader but actually am average
Google is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence,[9] and consumer electronics. It has been referred to as "the most powerful company in the world"[10] and one of the world's most valuable brands due to its market dominance, data collection, and technological advantages in the area of artificial intelligence.[11][12][13] Its parent company Alphabet is considered one of the Big Five American information technology companies, alongside Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft.
Google was founded on September 4, 1998, by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were PhD students at Stanford University in California. Together they own about 14% of its publicly listed shares and control 56% of the stockholder voting power through super-voting stock. The company went public via an initial public offering (IPO) in 2004. In 2015, Google was reorganized as a wholly owned subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. Google is Alphabet's largest subsidiary and is a holding company for Alphabet's Internet properties and interests. Sundar Pichai was appointed CEO of Google on October 24, 2015, replacing Larry Page, who became the CEO of Alphabet. On December 3, 2019, Pichai also became the CEO of Alphabet.[14]
The company has since rapidly grown to offer a multitude of products and services beyond Google Search, many of which hold dominant market positions. These products address a wide range of use cases, including email (Gmail), navigation (Waze & Maps), cloud computing (Cloud), web browsing (Chrome), video sharing (YouTube), productivity (Workspace), operating systems (Android), cloud storage (Drive), language translation (Translate), photo storage (Photos), video calling (Meet), smart home (Nest), smartphones (Pixel), wearable technology (Pixel Watch & Fitbit), music streaming (YouTube Music), video on demand (YouTube TV), artificial intelligence (Google Assistant), machine learning APIs (TensorFlow), AI chips (TPU), and more. Discontinued Google products include gaming (Stadia), Glass,[citation needed] Google+, Reader, Play Music, Nexus, Hangouts, and Inbox by Gmail.[15][16]
Google's other ventures outside of Internet services and consumer electronics include quantum computing (Sycamore), self-driving cars (Waymo, formerly the Google Self-Driving Car Project), smart cities (Sidewalk Labs), and transformer models (Google Brain).[17]
Google and YouTube are the two most visited websites worldwide followed by Facebook and Twitter. Google is also the largest search engine, mapping and navigation application, email provider, office suite, video sharing platform, photo and cloud storage provider, mobile operating system, web browser, ML framework, and AI virtual assistant provider in the world as measured by market share. On the list of most valuable brands, Google is ranked second by Forbes[18] and fourth by Interbrand.[19] It has received significant criticism involving issues such as privacy concerns, tax avoidance, censorship, search neutrality, antitrust and abuse of its monopoly position.
In March 1999, the company moved its offices to Palo Alto, California,[52] which is home to several prominent Silicon Valley technology start-ups.[53] The next year, Google began selling advertisements associated with search keywords against Page and Brin's initial opposition toward an advertising-funded search engine.[54][22] To maintain an uncluttered page design, advertisements were solely text-based.[55] In June 2000, it was announced that Google would become the default search engine provider for Yahoo!, one of the most popular websites at the time, replacing Inktomi.
In 2003, after outgrowing two other locations, the company leased an office complex from Silicon Graphics, at 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway in Mountain View, California.[59] The complex became known as the Googleplex, a play on the word googolplex, the number one followed by a googol zeroes. Three years later, Google bought the property from SGI for $319 million.[60] By that time, the name "Google" had found its way into everyday language, causing the verb "google" to be added to the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary and the Oxford English Dictionary, denoted as: "to use the Google search engine to obtain information on the Internet".[61][62] The first use of the verb on television appeared in an October 2002 episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.[63]
Additionally, in 2001 Google's investors felt the need to have a strong internal management, and they agreed to hire Eric Schmidt as the chairman and CEO of Google.[49] Eric was proposed by John Doerr from Kleiner Perkins. He had been trying to find a CEO that Sergey and Larry would accept for several months, but they rejected several candidates because they wanted to retain control over the company. Michael Moritz from Sequoia Capital at one point even menaced requesting Google to immediately pay back Sequoia's $12.5m investment if they did not fulfill their promise to hire a chief executive office, which had been made verbally during investment negotiations. Eric wasn't initially enthusiastic about joining Google either, as the company's full potential hadn't yet been widely recognized at the time, and as he was occupied with his responsibilities at Novell where he was CEO. As part of him joining, Eric agreed to buy $1 million of Google preferred stocks as a way to show his commitment and to provide funds Google needed.
Google generates most of its revenues from advertising. This includes sales of apps, purchases made in-app, digital content products on Google and YouTube, Android and licensing and service fees, including fees received for Google Cloud offerings. Forty-six percent of this profit was from clicks (cost per clicks), amounting to US$109,652 million in 2017. This includes three principal methods, namely AdMob, AdSense (such as AdSense for Content, AdSense for Search, etc.) and DoubleClick AdExchange.
In addition to its own algorithms for understanding search requests, Google uses technology its acquisition of DoubleClick, to project user interest and target advertising to the search context and the user history.
In 2007, Google launched "AdSense for Mobile", taking advantage of the emerging mobile advertising market.
Google Analytics allows website owners to track where and how people use their website, for example by examining click rates for all the links on a page. Google advertisements can be placed on third-party websites in a two-part program. Google Ads allows advertisers to display their advertisements in the Google content network, through a cost-per-click scheme.[138] The sister service, Google AdSense, allows website owners to display these advertisements on their website and earn money every time ads are clicked.[139] One of the criticisms of this program is the possibility of click fraud, which occurs when a person or automated script clicks on advertisements without being interested in the product, causing the advertiser to pay money to Google unduly. Industry reports in 2006 claimed that approximately 14 to 20 percent of clicks were fraudulent or invalid.[140] Google Search Console (rebranded from Google Webmaster Tools in May 2015) allows webmasters to check the sitemap, crawl rate, and for security issues of their websites, as well as optimize their website's visibility.
Consumer services
Web-based services
Google offers Gmail for email, Google Calendar for time-management and scheduling, Google Maps for mapping, navigation and satellite imagery, Google Drive for cloud storage of files, Google Docs, Sheets and Slides for productivity, Google Photos for photo storage and sharing, Google Keep for note-taking, Google Translate for language translation, YouTube for video viewing and sharing, Google My Business for managing public business information, and Duo for social interaction. In March 2019, Google unveiled a cloud gaming service named Stadia. A job search product has also existed since before 2017, Google for Jobs is an enhanced search feature that aggregates listings from job boards and career sites.
Some Google services are not web-based. Google Earth, launched in 2005, allowed users to see high-definition satellite pictures from all over the world for free through a client software downloaded to their computers.
Software
Google develops the Android mobile operating system, as well as its smartwatch, television, car, and Internet of things-enabled smart devices variations.
It also develops the Google Chrome web browser, and Chrome OS, an operating system based on Chrome.
Hardware
In January 2010, Google released Nexus One, the first Android phone under its own brand. It spawned a number of phones and tablets under the "Nexus" branding until its eventual discontinuation in 2016, replaced by a new brand called Pixel.
In 2011, the Chromebook was introduced, which runs on Chrome OS.
In July 2013, Google introduced the Chromecast dongle, which allows users to stream content from their smartphones to televisions.
In June 2014, Google announced Google Cardboard, a simple cardboard viewer that lets user place their smartphone in a special front compartment to view virtual reality (VR) media.
Other hardware products include:
•Nest, a series of voice assistant smart speakers that can answer voice queries, play music, find information from apps (calendar, weather etc.), and control third-party smart home appliances (users can tell it to turn on the lights, for example). The Google Nest line includes the original Google Home (later succeeded by the Nest Audio), the Google Home Mini (later succeeded by the Nest Mini, the Google Home Max, the Google Home Hub (later rebranded as the Nest Hub), and the Nest Hub Max.
•Nest Wifi (originally Google Wifi), a connected set of Wi-Fi routers to simplify and extend coverage of home Wi-Fi.
Enterprise services
Google Workspace (formerly G Suite until October 2020) is a monthly subscription offering for organizations and businesses to get access to a collection of Google's services, including Gmail, Google Drive and Google Docs, Google Sheets and Google Slides, with additional administrative tools, unique domain names, and 24/7 support.
On September 24, 2012, Google launched Google for Entrepreneurs, a largely not-for-profit business incubator providing startups with co-working spaces known as Campuses, with assistance to startup founders that may include workshops, conferences, and mentorships. Presently, there are seven Campus locations: Berlin, London, Madrid, Seoul, São Paulo, Tel Aviv, and Warsaw.
On March 15, 2016, Google announced the introduction of Google Analytics 360 Suite, "a set of integrated data and marketing analytics products, designed specifically for the needs of enterprise-class marketers" which can be integrated with BigQuery on the Google Cloud Platform. Among other things, the suite is designed to help "enterprise class marketers" "see the complete customer journey", generate "useful insights", and "deliver engaging experiences to the right people". Jack Marshall of The Wall Street Journal wrote that the suite competes with existing marketing cloud offerings by companies including Adobe, Oracle, Salesforce, and IBM.
Internet services
In February 2010, Google announced the Google Fiber project, with experimental plans to build an ultra-high-speed broadband network for 50,000 to 500,000 customers in one or more American cities.[178][179] Following Google's corporate restructure to make Alphabet Inc. its parent company, Google Fiber was moved to Alphabet's Access division.[180][181]
In April 2015, Google announced Project Fi, a mobile virtual network operator, that combines Wi-Fi and cellular networks from different telecommunication providers in an effort to enable seamless connectivity and fast Internet signal.
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes, its name comes from the face book directories often given to American university students. Membership was initially limited to Harvard students, gradually expanding to other North American universities and, since 2006, anyone over 13 years old. As of July 2022, Facebook claimed 2.93 billion monthly active users,[6] and ranked third worldwide among the most visited websites as of July 2022.[7] It was the most downloaded mobile app of the 2010s.[8]
Facebook can be accessed from devices with Internet connectivity, such as personal computers, tablets and smartphones. After registering, users can create a profile revealing information about themselves. They can post text, photos and multimedia which are shared with any other users who have agreed to be their "friend" or, with different privacy settings, publicly. Users can also communicate directly with each other with Facebook Messenger, join common-interest groups, and receive notifications on the activities of their Facebook friends and the pages they follow.
The subject of numerous controversies, Facebook has often been criticized over issues such as user privacy (as with the Cambridge Analytica data scandal), political manipulation (as with the 2016 U.S. elections) and mass surveillance.[9] Posts originating from the Facebook page of Breitbart News, a media organization previously affiliated with Cambridge Analytica,[10] are currently among the most widely shared political content on Facebook.[11][12][13][14][15] Facebook has also been subject to criticism over psychological effects such as addiction and low self-esteem, and various controversies over content such as fake news, conspiracy theories, copyright infringement, and hate speech.
Zuckerberg built a website called "Facemash" in 2003 while attending Harvard University. The site was comparable to Hot or Not and used "photos compiled from the online face books of nine Houses, placing two next to each other at a time and asking users to choose the "hotter" person". Facemash attracted 450 visitors and 22,000 photo-views in its first four hours. The site was sent to several campus group listservs, but was shut down a few days later by Harvard administration. Zuckerberg faced expulsion and was charged with breaching security, violating copyrights and violating individual privacy. Ultimately, the charges were dropped. Zuckerberg expanded on this project that semester by creating a social study tool. He uploaded art images, each accompanied by a comments section, to a website he shared with his classmates.
A "face book" is a student directory featuring photos and personal information. In 2003, Harvard had only a paper version[ along with private online directories. Zuckerberg told The Harvard Crimson, "Everyone's been talking a lot about a universal face book within Harvard. ... I think it's kind of silly that it would take the University a couple of years to get around to it. I can do it better than they can, and I can do it in a week."[29] In January 2004, Zuckerberg coded a new website, known as "TheFacebook", inspired by a Crimson editorial about Facemash, stating, "It is clear that the technology needed to create a centralized Website is readily available ... the benefits are many." Zuckerberg met with Harvard student Eduardo Saverin, and each of them agreed to invest $1,000 ($1,435 in 2021 dollars[30]) in the site.[31] On February 4, 2004, Zuckerberg launched "TheFacebook", originally located at thefacebook.com.
Six days after the site launched, Harvard seniors Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra accused Zuckerberg of intentionally misleading them into believing that he would help them build a social network called HarvardConnection.com. They claimed that he was instead using their ideas to build a competing product. The three complained to the Crimson and the newspaper began an investigation. They later sued Zuckerberg, settling in 2008 for 1.2 million shares (worth $300 million ($354 million in 2021 dollars[30]) at Facebook's IPO).
Membership was initially restricted to students of Harvard College. Within a month, more than half the undergraduates had registered.[36] Dustin Moskovitz, Andrew McCollum, and Chris Hughes joined Zuckerberg to help manage the growth of the website.[37] In March 2004, Facebook expanded to Columbia, Stanford and Yale.[38] It then became available to all Ivy League colleges, Boston University, NYU, MIT, and successively most universities in the United States and Canada.
In mid-2004, Napster co-founder and entrepreneur Sean Parker—an informal advisor to Zuckerberg—became company president.[41] In June 2004, the company moved to Palo Alto, California.[42] It received its first investment later that month from PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel. In 2005, the company dropped "the" from its name after purchasing the domain name Facebook.com for US$200,000 ($277,492 in 2021 dollars). The domain had belonged to AboutFace Corporation.
In May 2005, Accel Partners invested $12.7 million ($17.6 million in 2021 dollars) in Facebook, and Jim Breyer added $1 million ($1.39 million in 2021 dollars) of his own money. A high-school version of the site launched in September 2005. Eligibility expanded to include employees of several companies, including Apple Inc. and Microsoft.
Facebook was sued by the Federal Trade Commission as well as a coalition of several states for illegal monopolization and antitrust. The FTC and states sought the courts to force Facebook to sell its subsidiaries WhatsApp and Instagram.[183][184] The suits were dismissed by a federal judge on June 28, 2021, who stated that there was not enough evidence brought in the suit to determine Facebook to be a monopoly at this point, though allowed the FTC to amend its case to include additional evidence. In its amended filings in August 2021, the FTC asserted that Facebook had been a monopoly in the area of personal social networks since 2011, distinguishing Facebook's activities from social media services like TikTok that broadcast content without necessarily limiting that message to intended recipients.
In response to the proposed bill in the Australian Parliament for a News Media Bargaining Code, on February 17, 2021, Facebook blocked Australian users from sharing or viewing news content on its platform, as well as pages of some government, community, union, charity, political, and emergency services.[187] The Australian government strongly criticised the move, saying it demonstrated the "immense market power of these digital social giants".
On February 22, Facebook said it reached an agreement with the Australian government that would see news returning to Australian users in the coming days. As part of this agreement, Facebook and Google can avoid the News Media Bargaining Code adopted on February 25 if they "reach a commercial bargain with a news business outside the Code".
Facebook has been accused of removing and shadow banning content that spoke either in favor of protesting Indian farmers or against Narendra Modi's government. India-based employees of Facebook are at risk of arrest.
On February 27, 2021, Facebook announced Facebook BARS app for rappers.
On June 29, 2021, Facebook announced Bulletin, a platform for independent writers.[197][198] Unlike competitors such as Substack, Facebook would not take a cut of subscription fees of writers using that platform upon its launch, like Malcolm Gladwell and Mitch Albom. According to The Washington Post technology writer Will Oremus, the move was criticized by those who viewed it as an tactic intended by Facebook to force those competitors out of business.
In October 2021, owner Facebook, Inc. changed its company name to Meta Platforms, Inc., or simply "Meta", as it shifts its focus to building the "metaverse". This change does not affect the name of the Facebook social networking service itself, instead being similar to the creation of Alphabet as Google's parent company in 2015.
In November 2021, Facebook stated it would stop targeting ads based on data related to health, race, ethnicity, political beliefs, religion and sexual orientation. The change will occur in January and will affect all apps owned by Meta Platforms.
In February 2022, Facebook's daily active users dropped for the first time in its 18-year history. According to Facebook's parent Meta, DAUs dropped to 1.929 billion in the three months ending in December, down from 1.930 billion the previous quarter. Furthermore, the company warned that revenue growth would slow due to competition from TikTok and YouTube, as well as advertisers cutting back on spending.
Analysts predict a "death spiral" for facebook stock as users leave while ad impressions increase, as the company chases revenue.
On March 10, 2022, Facebook announced that it will temporarily ease rules to allow violent speech against 'Russian invaders'. Russia then banned all Meta services, including Instagram.
At a crossroads – Needing to make an important decision
When you are at a crossroads, you are at a point in your life where you need to make a decision. The implication is that the decision you make will have big, life-altering consequences.
Bad apple – Bad person
You can use this idiom to describe someone who is not nice and maybe even criminal.
Barking up the wrong tree – Pursuing the wrong course
When you “bark up the wrong tree” you are pursuing the wrong solution to your problems.
Be closefisted – Stingy
If you are being “closefisted”, you don’t want to spend a lot of money.
Be cold-hearted – Uncaring
If you decide to be “cold-hearted”, you are making a deliberate decision not to care about someone or something.
Be on solid ground – Confident
When you are “on solid ground”, you are confident in your position or feel that you are safe.
Beat around the bush – Avoid saying
When you do this, you are taking a long time to say what you really need to say. You may be doing this because the “truth” is embarrassing or your unsure about how the listener will take it.
Behind you – Supportive
When you are “behind” someone, you are saying that they have your support.
Between a rock and a hard place – Facing difficulties
When you have to choose between two options, neither of which are ideal or “good”.
Blow off steam – Try to relax
When you are stressed or upset about something, sometimes you need to do something to keep you from thinking about it.
Born with a silver spoon in their mouth – Born wealthy
This idiomatic expression is used to describe someone who was born into a wealthy family.
Break the bank – Spend a lot
When you “break the bank”, you spend a lot of money on something. If something will “break the bank”, then it’s expensive.
Bright spark – Smart
A “bright spark” is someone who is smart and valuable to an organization.
As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn't go.
Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.
The quote above is an except from a wonderful poem by Wendell Berry entitled, "Manifesto:
The Mad Farmer Liberation Front". I highly recommend you read it, in particular out loud. It's a remarkable poem, both content-speaking and in terms of flow: the fast-slow cadence, the words that roll and tumble about in your head, and the all too serious humor contained within.
This was taken last Spring, and was one of the many cherry tree images that I have left to post. It was, of course, taken with the Hasselblad 500 C/M.
Weather reports predict the so called "Beast From The East" is due to revisit the UK over the next few days, today the 16th of March 2018 I visited Collieston Bay, its the first time I have witnessed the impact unusual weather has had on the area, it really was exhilarating and offered great photo opportunities.
Collieston is a small former fishing village on the North Sea coast in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The village lies just north of the Sands of Forvie Special Protection Area, between Cruden Bay and Newburgh.
The earliest recorded history of Collieston is of the arrival of St Ternan, a Columban monk on a mission to convert the local picts to Christianity. There is, however, evidence that people lived here during much earlier times.
Collieston was established as a fishing village by the 16th century, and it provides the first safe harbour in over fifteen miles of beachesand dunes stretching north from Aberdeen.
Fishing for herring, haddock, whiting and codflourished in the 17th century and 18th century and was the foundation of Collieston's economy. The village became known for 'Collieston Speldings', salted and sun-dried haddock and whiting, a popular delicacy throughout Britain. As drift netting developed during the mid 19th century, the fishing began to decline and the focus of the industry shifted to places like Peterhead because the harbour at Collieston was too small to safely accommodate the larger boats needed.
The numerous sea caves in the nearby cliffs, and small coves with shingle beaches provided ideal terrain for smugglers. In the late 18th century it was estimated by the Excise that up to 8000 gallons of foreign spirits were being illegally landed in the area every month. In 1798, the notorious village smuggler, Phillip Kennedy, was killed by a blow from an exciseman's cutlass. His grave and tombstone still stands in the village graveyard.
A ship from the Spanish Armada, the Santa Caterina, carrying arms for the Earl of Erroll is said to have sunk just off the rocky point of St Catherine's Dub in 1594. In retaliation for the Earl's involvement in the Catholic plot against him, James VI blew up the Earl's castle which stood on the cliffs, a mile north of Collieston. The Earl went on to rebuild Slains Castle, six miles further up the coast, in 1597.
Collieston is now mainly a commuter village serving Aberdeen, and is largely given over to tourists during the summer months.
While predicting where the Cranes will spend the night is always an uncertain undertaking, we have found that this shallow lake just off the tour-route road through this refuge is a good spot ot watch. The Cranes often seek additional protection offered by the water... it makes it more difficult for predators to sneak up on the roosting birds. While sometimes this lake draws a blank on such activity, we have often been rewarded by scenes such as this where the incoming birds are silhouetted against a grorious western sky. These conditions allow for a fast enough shutter speed to result in a sharp image. The silhouette show lasts for at least a half hour, and the bird continue their arrivals long after it's too dark for photography.
IMG_4293; Sandhill Cranes
As predicted Fred was sent home from the groomers with only half the job done. We will try again Tuesday for the finishing touches. What a guy!
Pythia predicts a good year for wildflowers on Gaia. ;-)
Much better large on black.
Processing note: To create a bit of diffuse glow I copied the main layer, blurred with Gaussian blur at about 18 px; and then blended with soft light and turned down opacity of the layer to suit. Not really Orton, but similar.
On the 4th & 5th October 2016, leading international thinkers in the areas of Data, Predictive Models, Technology and Decision making gathered at the RDS, Dublin, for Predict 2016. The speakers, many of whom I managed to photograph, discussed the latest progress in Predictive Modelling and its future – from Data to Software and Hardware technology, plus Predictive Modelling methods and the best examples of Data-driven Decision-making.
The organisers kindly invited me to the Predict event at the RDS but as I arrived a bit early I took few backstage or behind the scenes shots. In case your are interested I used a Sony A7RM2 coupled with a Sony 29-135 full frame lens. The lens does attract a lot of attention which does allow me to to have interesting people … volunteers, students from Brazil, photographers etc. Of course my lens did not attract as mush attention as the two cars [especially the DeLorean DMC-12. DMC-12s were primarily intended for the American market. All production models were therefore left-hand drive. Evidence survives from as early as April 1981, however, which indicates that the DeLorean Motor Company was aware of the need to produce a right-hand drive version to supply to world markets such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, India, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. My contacts in Belfast claim that 16 right-hand drive factory-authorised DeLoreans were produced.
Lorenzo Monaco. (Piero di Giovanni) 1370-1425. Florence.
Le Christ au Jardin des Oliviers.
Prédelle Arrestation du Christ, Christ dévêtu.
Christ in the Garden of Olives.
Prediction Arrest of Christ, Christ undressed.
Florence. Galleria dell' Accademia.
L'ART MIROIR DES VALEURS D'UNE SOCIETE (2)
L'Histoire de la peinture européenne démontre une vérité : l'Art est fondamentalement idéologique et politique. L'Art est idéologique c'est à dire qu'il est le reflet, l'expression, du système de valeurs qui façonne une société donnée à une époque donnée. L'Art est politique car ce système de valeurs est toujours imposé par les puissances gouvernantes de l'époque. Ces puissances gouvernantes ne se confondent pas nécessairement avec les chefs politiques au pouvoir. Ce sont des Influences qui débordent souvent le cercle étroit des dirigeants manifestes, les politiciens.
L'art de tous les temps et dans toutes les sociétés est un moyen pour les élites d'imposer une religion (sacrée) ou une idéologie (profane, laïque). Dans toutes les civilisations l'art de chaque époque se comprend donc au travers du filtre idéologique qui inspire les élites de cette civilisation à cette époque.
L'art est donc un intéressant révélateur de la pensée philosophique et morale qui anime les élites d'une société donnée en un temps donné.
La peinture Egyptienne permet d'apercevoir les croyances de ce peuple à son époque. On y voit clairement le reflet d' une société bien équilibrée, également partagée entre un amour de la vie quotidienne, celle du peuple et celle des élites, et des espérances concernant l'au delà. Espérances qui, contrairement à ce qui a été écrit, n'étaient pas réservées au Pharaon. On y lit l'existence d'une société relativement libre, où la femme est très présente, égale de l'homme dans toutes les classes de la société. Sans entrer dans les détails, l'art des civilisations de la Mésopotamie, à la même époque, ne présente pas les mêmes caractéristiques.
L'art des lettrés chinois est un reflet des conceptions du monde taoïstes et confucianistes. Il est significatif que dans d'immenses paysages, l'homme y est toujours présenté comme une créature agissante, pensante, mais presque insignifiante. Un être parmi les Dix mille Êtres. Le commandement premier est de ne pas troubler l'harmonie de l'Univers. Il est clair aussi que cet art ne reflète pas les valeurs de la société chinoise dans son ensemble mais d'une petite minorité.
L'Art hindouiste exprime l'extraordinaire complexité, la profondeur, des interrogations philosophiques et religieuses qui caractérise la civilisation indienne. On y voit clairement que l'une des idées essentielles de la spiritualité hindoue est que la vérité à des visages multiples, et même apparemment contraires. La profusion des Dieux qui fait que certains esprits simples croient voir dans l'hindouisme religieux un polythéisme est le symbole de cette multiplicité des aspects de la vérité. L'homme tient dans l'univers une place éminente, mais il reste une créature parmi d'autres, au sein d'un univers complexe qui le dépasse beaucoup, dans le temps comme dans l'espace.
L'Art de l'Antiquité Grecque et Romaine donne l'image d'une société équilibrée mais où l'humain a pris beaucoup d'importance. L'Homme domine clairement un monde où il vit sa vie, mais cependant toujours à condition de se tenir à distance des Dieux, tout en les honorant. On n'aperçoit pas en Grèce ou Rome, à la différence de l' Egypte, de grandes espérances métaphysiques. La Vie c'est la vie, puis la mort. Point.
L'Art, la peinture en particulier, montre que pendant Mille Cinq Cent ans (500-1500) l'Europe a construit sa société sur les fondements de la spiritualité et de la morale catholique et orthodoxe. 1500 ans cela constitue des racines. Ces racines peuvent être totalement oubliées, si l'élite le veut. Et elle le veut. Au Proche Orient absolument rien n'a subsisté, après les invasions musulmanes, d'une domination de la civilisation gréco-romaine qui avait pourtant duré, elle aussi, plus de mille ans. Mais les racines, profondes, au Proche Orient étaient sémitiques pas indo-européennes. La Grèce et Rome n'étaient qu'une greffe superficielle. Les "Maîtres du monde" occidental on décidé, depuis les "Lumières", qu'ils feraient table rase du passé catholique et orthodoxe de l'Europe, et que les valeurs que ces religions représentent seraient abolies. Depuis la seconde guerre mondiale ils sont en train de réussir pleinement. Jusqu'alors les peuples européens, surtout au sud, avaient résisté. Mais le laminoir de l'éducation publique et des médias agit efficacement. De telle sorte que ces religions ne seront bientôt pas plus vécues par les populations européennes que la religion égyptienne antique dans l'égypte moderne.
La peinture des Pays Bas du Nord, protestants, met en évidence l'existence d'une rupture très claire, et très rapide, en l'espace d'une ou deux générations, des valeurs qui animent une partie de la société européenne.
D'une part c'est la disparition des références à l'Antiquité Grecque et Romaine. La revanche de l'Europe du Nord sur celle du Sud n'est pas seulement économique, elle est culturelle.
D'autre part c'est la quasi disparition des thèmes religieux. C'est la naissance d'une peinture, profane, matérialiste, dont les thèmes sont : Le paysage, les moeurs de la vie en société, la nature morte, le portrait. La peinture du Siècle d'Or néerlandais est l' acte de naissance de la peinture que l'on appellera "Art Moderne".
A partir de 1815, une fois la paix revenue en Europe, et jusque vers 1950, en dates grosses et larges, c'est la période de l'Art Moderne. Dès l'époque romantique la peinture explose en une multitude de courants représentatifs de conceptions du monde et de valeurs extrêmement diverses. Globalement, et malgré les conflits très violents, l'Europe n'est pas soumise à une idéologie unique. La peinture montre cette diversité d'inspiration. Du romantisme au classicisme, du réalisme à l'expressionnisme, du symbolisme au surréalisme, du néo-raphaélisme au fauvisme, de l'art académique à l'impressionnisme, du figuratif à l'abstrait c'est une explosion de diversité, de recherches, d'innovations. Mais le passé européen n'est pas rejeté, ni moralement, ni culturellement, ni techniquement. L'Architecture montre aussi très bien cette diversité : c'est à la fois le temps de la Tour Effel, et l'époque de toutes les architectures historicistes : néo-grec, néo-romain, néo-byzantin, néo-roman, néo-gothique, néo-baroque. C'est surtout une époque de grande liberté artistique : l'art s'invente à la base comme au sommet de la pyramide sociale. L'élite n'est plus la seule inspiratrice de l'esthétique européenne. Pourquoi ? Parce que les élites européennes sont idéologiquement divisées. Cette division des élites va être la cause de la mort des peuples sur les champs de bataille. Mais cette division des élites va être aussi à l'origine de la diversité de l'Art Moderne.
Un chant du cygne ?
A partir de 1950 la peinture européenne change : On le constate dans nos musées d'Art Contemporain.
Les élites idéologiques occidentales ont décidé une inversion totale des valeurs qui gouvernaient l'art européen depuis 3000 ans et notamment imposé l'idée que l'art de la peinture et la sculpture ne devaient pas nécessairement être beau. Le Beau était selon les nouveaux Influents un concept dépassé.
En réalité c'est la notion même d'un art qui serait un partage d'idées et d'émotions communes entre les élites et les peuples qui est reniée avec l'Art Contemporain (l'Art Moderne II selon les dernières tendances). Cet "Art" nait aux Etats Unis dans les années 1920, à partir d'idées européennes et même françaises (Duchamp), et s'impose en Europe après la seconde guerre mondiale. L'art laid et absurde, provocateur jusqu'à l'abjection, faussement révolutionnaire, mais totalement académique, est un art imposé car politiquement et idéologiquement conforme.
Des questions se posent inévitablement :
Quelles valeurs de civilisation cette peinture contemporaine reflète ?
Quelles fidélités, et quelles espérances ?
Quelles beautés ?
Quelles significations, métaphysiques ou physiques, symboliques ou réalistes ?
Quelles croyances ?
Quelle vie pour aujourd'hui ou demain ?
Sauf le public des scolaires et de leurs enseignants, public contraint d'être là, les musées d'art contemporains d'Occident sont vides. Le jugement esthétique s'établit par la conjonction de l'avis des peuples et des élites à une période donnée mais aussi au cours des siècles.
Depuis 1950s l'Art Contemporain officiel des musées a eu le temps de faire ses preuves dans le présent : les peuples d'occident s'en détournent en masse. On verra bien quel sera le jugement de l'avenir à propos d'une peinture qui revendique expressément le laid et l'absurde comme thèmes d'expression esthétique. Il est possible de conduire une politique ou de faire des affaires contre les peuples, mais on ne fait pas un art durable contre les peuples. Et on peut attendre avec intérêt le verdict de l'histoire sur "l'Art Contemporain". L'histoire ne s'est pas encore prononcée à ce sujet, il est bien trop tôt, mais on commence à lire, en français, des avis de spécialistes de l'art qui s'écartent de la louange idéologiquement et économiquement obligée, comme le livre de Christine Sourgins "Les Mirages de l'Art Contemporain. Brève histoire de l'art financier" aux éditions de la Table Ronde 2005 et 2018. Ou encore comme les livres de Aude de Kerros "L'Art caché, les dissidents de l'art contemporain" Eyrolles 2007 et 2013 et "L'imposture de l'Art contemporain, une utopie financière" Eyrolles 2016. En anglais l'article "How Modern Art Serves the Rich" by Rachel Wetzler, in the Republic de February 26, 2018 est aussi très intéressant.
L'affirmation selon laquelle l'art d'une époque est commandé par les croyances actives en son temps est une évidence pour tout le monde, quand on parle de l'art égyptien, de l'art Grec ou de l'art de l'Europe médiévale. Aucune contestation ne s'élève. Il est unanimement admis que l'art de l'Europe médiévale est le reflet des valeurs de la religion catholique, qui en a conditionné toutes les représentations notamment en peinture. Le constat n'a aucun intérêt, il enfonce des portes ouvertes.
Par contre, dès que l'on applique cette clé de lecture et de compréhension de l'art, à l'Europe de la Réforme, puis à l'art Moderne, et encore plus à l'Art Contemporain de l'Occident, de fortes réserves, des réticences, des circonspections, des bouderies, apparaissent. Il n'y a plus d'évidences, mais soit disant plein de problèmes. La même clef, qui était reconnue opérante, mais banale, insignifiante, sans grand intérêt, pour les temps du passé lointain, est ressentie comme polémique, agressive, outrancière quand on l'utilise pour les temps actuels ou proches.
Pourquoi?
Une clé qui ouvre les portes d'une compréhension, simple mais efficace, de l'art d'une civilisation qui s'est épanouie 2500 ans avant notre ère, et encore de civilisations ayant duré de cinq siècles avant notre ère à cinq siècles après, qui fonctionne encore pendant plus de 1000 ans pour toute l'Europe, de 500 à 1500, doit aussi être efficace du 17è siècle au 21è siècle.
Elle est simple et toujours efficace, mais elle ne plait pas. Cette clé est devenue dérangeante. On ne veut pas s'en servir.
Cette clé est acceptée pour le passé lointain, et les civilisations étrangères, mais pas pour le passé récent et notre présente société.
L'homme de tous les temps n'a jamais aimé qu'on lui démontre qu'il vit en fonction de croyances, souvent respectables, souvent aussi très efficaces au plan social et politique, mais qui sont tout à fait contingentes, qui ne sont que des vérités très relatives ou même seulement des erreurs communes, des superstitions partagées.
Les hommes veulent bien qu'on leur montre que leurs ancêtres lointains ou leurs voisins ont vécu ou vivent conditionnés par une religion ou une idéologie profane. Mais ils n'acceptent pas du tout d'appliquer à eux mêmes et à leur époque cette clé de lecture.
L'homme n'a jamais aimé qu'on lui démontre que ses rêves du monde, ses vérités, absolues et incontestables, n'existent que pour lui, et seulement pour son époque. Que ces vérités n'existent pas du tout, ou peu, ou moins, ou très différemment, dans d'autres lieux et dans d'autres temps.
Un des grands principes de toutes les croyances, sacrées ou profanes, principe d'intolérance maximale, rarement efficacement combattu, qui n'a rien de surréaliste, mais qui est au contraire tout à fait réaliste, est celui ci: "Même si c'est vrai, c'est faux" et son corollaire "Même si c'est faux, c'est vrai". C'est faux parce que ce n'est pas conforme à ce que nous croyons à un moment donné de l'histoire. Et le faux avéré, établi, est quand même vrai pour le même motif de conformité à l'idéologie régnante.
L'aveuglement des contemporains quant aux idéologies actives à leur propre époque est un constat que l'on peut faire tous les jours. Dans un reportage sur une grande chaîne de télévision à propos de la Chine actuelle le commentateur a déclaré avec le plus grand sérieux du monde " Le Petit Livre Rouge n'a pas eu raison des superstitions. Les vieilles croyances n'ont pas totalement disparues". Comme si le Petit Livre Rouge, et le marxisme, n'avaient pas été une des plus grandes superstitions de tous les temps, et comme si nos idées actuelles sur le monde n'étaient pas elles mêmes des croyances : "Les Lumières" sont une accumulation de superstitions (Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité,Raison, Révolution, Progrès, Bonheur, Démocratie, République Universelle...), mais elles sont actuellement actives, elle ne sont pas vieilles, donc elles sont "vraies". Les superstitions auxquelles l'homme croit ne sont évidemment pas des superstitions.
Ce n'est pas une réaction populaire qui caractériserait seulement les analphabètes. Les personnes instruites, les intellectuels et les idéologues y sont tout particulièrement soumis. Ils ont élaboré une vision du monde et ils y souscrivent d'autant plus qu'ils l'ont inventée et qu'elle sert leurs intérêts. Ils ne veulent pas admettre que leurs conceptions du monde sont relatives, que c'est une affaire de point de vue. Et qu'il est possible d'en changer. La réponse immédiate est l'anathème, l'exclusion, la crucifixion ou le bûcher. Les mises en accusation pour sorcellerie, blasphème, réaction, racisme, conspirationnisme etc...fonctionnent exactement de la même manière à toutes les époques de l'histoire. L'esprit scientifique dont l'Occident se vante d'être la terre d'origine, sans doute avec raison, n'a absolument aucune influence dans ce domaine.
Les "Eclairés" de notre société des "Lumières" sont au moins aussi intolérants que les croyants des temps passés et des civilisations lointaines. Leur doctrine proclame que tout ce qui a vécu, pensé, agi, avant "les Lumières" est obsolète. Eux seuls, sont l'incarnation de la Raison éclairant le Monde. Ils sont la nouvelle "Révélation". Tous les autres avant, et tous les contemporains égarés, qui ne pensent pas selon leurs schémas, sont dans l'Erreur. Et c'est définitif, car bien sûr ils sont la Modernité pour Mille ans, et même bien plus, pour l'Eternité. Quant on est les "Lumières" c'est pour plus longtemps que la vie même ! C'est exactement ce que signifie la Statue de la Liberté, ouvrage maçonnique, à l'entrée du port de New York. Tout discours qui tend à montrer que leur doctrine ne fait que systématiser des vérités très contingentes et très fragiles, de simples hypothèses, des points de vue très relatifs sur le monde, est inacceptable. Les Idéologues occidentaux ne peuvent admettre qu'ils ne sont que les serviteurs d' une vision du monde parmi d'autres possibles, tout aussi valables ou même plus. C'est ainsi que l'on aboutit à l'Art Contemporain Officiel : l'art des Guidestones et de la Corporatocratie . Un art qui se dit démocratique et universaliste mais qui n'est en définitive qu'un art d'état, anti-national, anti-populaire, néocolonialiste qui avance masqué derrière de grandes idées proclamées qui sont seulement les superstitions des temps contemporains.
L'histoire de l'art européen contient un enseignement qui tient en un constat de fait et un jugement :
1° De - 500 à + 1950 l'art européen en peinture et en sculpture s'est voulu Beau et dans son ensemble a été beau.
2° A partir de la deuxième moitié du 20è siècle l'art européen, devenu l'art occidental, l'art officiel, celui des élites idéologiques et politiques, a rejeté la finalité du Beau. L'Art Contemporain officiel est Laid. Une anti esthétique, revendiquée comme telle.
Ce sont des faits. Il est possible de les nier, et de construire un "réel idéologique", une réalité inventée, c'est à dire fabriquée pour être conforme aux croyances actuelles. Mais ce sont des faits quand même.
3° l'Art Contemporain Officiel, laid, est un signe de décadence, de destruction, de mort. Car tout est lié, le Beau, le Bien, le Vrai. C'est un jugement, une opinion, qu'il est possible de ne pas partager
ART, MIRROR OF THE VALUES OF A SOCIETY (2)
The history of European painting shows a truth: Art is fundamentally ideological and political. Art is ideological ie it is the reflection, the expression, of the value system which shapes a society at a given time. Art is political because this system of values is always imposed by the ruling powers of the time. The governing powers do not necessarily overlap with the political leaders in power. These are Influences that often extend beyond the narrow circle of manifest leaders, the politicians.
The art of all times and in all societies is a means for the elites to impose a (sacred) religion or an ideology (secular, secular). In all civilizations the art of each era is understood through the ideological filter that inspires the elites of this civilization at that time. Art is therefore an interesting revealer of the philosophical and moral thought that inspires the elites of a given society in a given time. These religions or ideologies can differ a lot as to the benefit that peoples will or will not withdraw. Some are conducive to the establishment of long-term civilizations (ancient Egypt, Greek-Roman antiquity, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam ...) others are more or less rapidly mortal (Aztec and Inca religions, Communism, national Socialism).
Indeed, certain ideologies, sacred or secular, conceived by the elites, have been, more or less short term, accepted and totally shared by the peoples who adhered to it without reluctance. They can then impose themselves completely without hurting the feelings and freedoms of the people, or at least a largely significant majority, even unanimity within their society for a long period of time.
Other ideologies, on the other hand, have been imposed by the elites, but did not generate the membership unanimous or majority of peoples that came into resistance, passive or active with more or less success after a shorter or longer period.
It is possible to encounter a different situation in the history of the world: those of ideologies, sacred or secular, often of foreign origin which have been adopted, or would have been adopted by peoples, but were fought by the elites ideological and political of the country.
The Egyptian paint allows to see the beliefs of the people in his time. It clearly shows the reflection of a well-balanced society, also shared a love of everyday life, that of the people and the elite, and the Hopes for the afterlife. Expectations that, contrary to what was written, were not reserved for the Pharaoh. We read the existence of a relatively free society, where women are very present, equal to men in all classes of society. Without going into details, the art of the civilizations of Mesopotamia, at the same time, does not have the same characteristics.
The art of the Chinese literati is a reflection of the Taoist and Confucian concepts of the world. It is significant that in immense landscapes, the human is always presented as an creature, acting, thinking, but almost insignificant. A Being among the ten thousand Beings. The first commandment is not to disturb the harmony of the universe. It is also clear that this art does not reflect the values of Chinese society as a whole, but a small minority.
Hindu Art expresses the extraordinary complexity, the depth of philosophical and religious questions that characterize Indian civilization. It is clear that one of the essential ideas of Hindu spirituality is that the truth has multiple faces, and even apparently opposite ones. The profusion of Gods, which makes certain simple minds believe that religious Hinduism is a polytheism, is the symbol of this multiplicity of aspects of truth. Man holds an eminent place in the universe, but he remains a creature among others, in a complex universe that is far beyond him, both in time and space.
Art, the painting in particular, shows that during Thousand Five Hundred Years (500-1500) Europe has built his society on the foundations of spirituality and morality Catholic and Orthodox. 1500 years this is roots. These roots can be completely forgotten, if the elite wants. And she wants. In the Middle East absolutely nothing has remained, after the Muslim invasions, of domination of the Greco-Roman civilization, although it had lasted, too, over a thousand years. But deep roots in the Middle East, were Semitic. They where not Indo-European. Greece and Rome were only a superficial graft. The "masters of the Western world" have decided, since the "Enlightenment", that they would make a clean sweep of the catholic and orthodox past of Europe, and that the values that these religions represent would be abolished. Since the second world war they are succeeding fully. Until then the European peoples, especially in the south, had resisted. But the rolling mill of public education and media acts effectively. In such a way that these religions will soon be no more lived by the European populations than the ancient Egyptian religion in modern Egypt.
The painting of the Netherlands Northern, Protestant, reveals the existence of a very clear rupture, and very fast, within one or two generation, of the values that animate a part of European society.
On the one hand it is the disappearance of references to ancient Greek and Roman. Revenge of northern Europe on the South is not only economic, it is cultural.
On the other hand it is the virtual disappearance of religious themes. This is the birth of a painting, secular, materialist, whose themes are: landscape, customs of social life, still life, portrait. The painting of the Dutch Golden Age is the birth of painting which will be called "Modern Art".
Since 1815, when peace returned to Europe, and until about 1950, in large and wide dates, it is the period of Modern Art. Since the romantic era, the painting explodes in a multitude of currents, representative of worldviews and values, extremely diverse. Overall, and despite the very violent conflicts, Europe is not subject to a single ideology. The painting shows the diversity of inspiration. From romanticism to classicism, from realism to expressionism, from symbolism to surrealism, from raphaélisme to fauvisme, from academic art to impressionism, from figurative to abstract, it is an explosion of diversity, research and innovations.
But the European past is not rejected, neither morally or culturally or technically. The architecture also shows very well this diversity: it is both the time of the Eiffel Tower, and times of all historicist architectures: Greek Revival, neo-Roman, neo-Byzantine, Romanesque, neo-Gothic, neo-Baroque.
It is especially a time of great artistic freedom: art is invented at the base as at the top of the social pyramid. The elite is no longer the only inspirer of European aesthetics. Why ? Because the European elites are ideologically divided. This division of the elites is going to be the cause of the death of the peoples on the battlefields. But this division of the elites will also be at the origin of the diversity of Modern Art.
A swan song?
After 1950 European painting changed: This can be seen in our museums of Contemporary Art.
The Western elites have decided a total reversal of the values that have governed European art for 3000 years and imposed the idea that the art of painting and sculpture need not necessarily be beautiful. Beauty was, according to the new Influents, an outdated concept. In reality it is the very notion of an art that would be a sharing of ideas and common emotions between elites and peoples that is denied with Contemporary Art (Modern Art II according to the latest trends). This "Art" was born in the United States in the 1920s, from European and even French ideas (Duchamp), and was imposed in Europe after the Second World War. The ugly and absurd art, provocative until abjection , falsely revolutionary, but totally academic art is an imposed art because politically and ideologically compliant.
Various questions inevitably arise:
What values of civilization reflects this contemporary painting ?
What loyalties, and what hopes?
What beauty?
What meanings, metaphysical or physical, symbolic or realistic?
What beliefs?
What a life for today or tomorrow?
Except the public of the school and their teachers, public forced to be there, the contemporary art museums of the West are empty. The aesthetic judgment is established by the conjunction of the opinion of peoples and elites at a given period but also over the centuries.
Since 1950s the official Contemporary Art of museums has had time to prove itself in the present: the Western peoples are turning away en masse (70% in France in the 2000s). We will see what will be the judgment of the future about a painting that expressly claims the ugly and the absurd as a theme of aesthetic expression. It is possible to conduct a policy or to do business against the people, but one does not make an enduring art against the peoples. And we can look forward to the verdict of history on "contemporary art". History has not yet pronounced on this subject, it is too early, but we begin to read in French the opinions of art specialists who deviate from the praise ideologically and economically obliged, such as the book by Chrstine Sourgins "The Mirages of Contemporary Art: A Short History of Financial Art" at the 2005 and 2018 Round Table editions, or like Kerros' Aude's books "L'Art caché, les dissidents de contemporary art "Eyrolles 2007 and 2013 and" The imposture of Contemporary Art, a financial utopia "Eyrolles 2016. In English the article" How Modern Art Serves the Rich "by Rachel Wetzler, in the newspaper "Republic" of February 26 , 2018 is also very interesting.
The assertion that the art of an era is controlled by the active beliefs in its time is an obvious one for everyone, when one speaks of Egyptian art, Greek art or the art of medieval Europe. No protest rises. It is unanimously accepted that the art of medieval Europe is a reflection of the values of the Catholic religion, which has conditioned all representations, especially in painting. The observation has no interest, it pushes doors open.
On the other hand, as soon as we apply this key to the reading and understanding of art, to the Europe of the Reformation, then to Modern art, and even more to the Contemporary Art of the West, appear strong reservations, reticence, circumspection, sulkiness.
There is no more evidence, but supposedly full of problems. The same key, which was recognized as operative, but banal, insignificant, without much interest, for the times of the distant past, is felt as controversial, aggressive, outrageous when used for current or near times.
Why?
A key that opens the doors to a simple but effective understanding of the art of a civilization that flourished 2500 years before our era, and still of civilizations that lasted from five centuries before our era to five centuries later , which still works during more than 1000 years for all of Europe, from 500 to 1500, must also be effective from the 17th century to the 21st century.
She is simple and always effective, but it does not please anymore. This key has become disturbing. We do not want to use it anymore.
This key is accepted for the distant past, and foreign civilizations, but not for the recent past and our present society.
The man of all times has never liked being shown that he lives according to beliefs, often respectable, often very effective socially and politically, but which are contingent, which are only very relative truths or even only common mistakes, shared superstitions.
Men accept that they are told that their distant ancestors or neighbors live or have lived conditioned by a secular religion or ideology. But they do not accept at all to apply to themselves and in their time this key of reading.
Man never liked that he was shown that his dreams of the world, his truths, absolute and incontestable, exist only for him, and only for his time. That these truths do not exist at all, or little, or less, or very differently, in other places and in other times.
One of the great principles of all beliefs, sacred or profane, principle of maximum intolerance, rarely effectively fought, which is not surrealistic, but which is on the contrary quite realistic, is this: "Even if it is is true, it's false "and its corollary" Even if it's false, it's true ". It's wrong because it's not consistent with what we believe at some point in history . And the false proved, established, is still true for the same reason of conformity to the reigning ideology.
The blindness of contemporaries with regard to active ideologies in their own time is an observation that can be made every day. In a report on a big television channel about China today, the commentator said with the greatest seriousness in the world "The Little Red Book has not got the better of superstitions - the old beliefs have not disappeared completely" . As if the Little Red Book, and Marxism, had not been one of the greatest superstitions of all time, and as if our current ideas about the world were not themselves beliefs: "The lights" are a accumulation of superstitions (Freedom, Equality, Fraternity, Reason, Revolution, Progress, Happiness, Democracy, Universal Republic ...), but they are currently active, they are not old, so they are "true". The superstitions that man believes in are obviously not superstitions.
This is not a popular reaction that would characterize only the illiterate. Educated people, intellectuals and ideologues are particularly subject to it. They have developed a vision of the world and they subscribe to it all the more because they invented it and it serves their interests. They do not want to admit that their conceptions of the world are relative, that it is a matter of point of view. And that it is possible to change. The immediate response is anathema, exclusion, crucifixion or pyre. Accusations for witchcraft, blasphemy, reaction, racism,conspirationnism etc ... work in exactly the same way at all times of history. The scientific spirit that the West boasts of being the land of origin, no doubt with reason, has absolutely no influence in this field.
The "Enlightened" of our "Enlightenment" society are at least as intolerant as the believers of past times and distant civilizations. Their doctrine proclaims that everything that has lived, thought, acted before the "Enlightenment" is obsolete. They alone are the incarnation of Reason enlightening the world. They are the new "Revelation". All the others before, and all the misguided contemporaries, who do not think according to their schemas, are in the error. And it is definitive, because of course they are Modernity during even more than a thousand years, and even more, for Eternity. The "Lights" it is for longer than life itself! That's exactly what the Statue of Liberty, Masonic work, means at the entrance to New York Harbor. Any speech that tends to show that their doctrine only systematizes very contingent and very fragile truths, simple hypotheses, very relative points of view on the world, is unacceptable. Western ideologues can not admit that they are but the servants of a vision of the world among others possible, just as valid or even more. This is why Contemporary Art (AC) is ugly, absurd and sacred. This is how we end up with the Official Contemporary Art: the art of the Guidestones and of the Corporatocracy. An art that is said himself to be democratic and universalist but which is ultimately a state art, anti-national, anti-popular, neocolonialist who advances masked behind large proclaimed ideas that are only the superstitions of contemporary times.
The history of European art contains a teaching that is based on a statement of fact and judgment:
1 ° From - 500 to + 1950 European art in painting and sculpture wanted to be beauitful, and as a whole was beautiful.
2 ° From the second half of the 20th century, European art, now Western art, the official art, that of ideological and political elites, rejected the finality of the beautiful. Official Contemporary Art is Ugly.
An anti aesthetic, claimed as such.
These are facts. It is possible to deny them, and to build an "ideological real", an invented reality, that is to say manufactured to conform to current beliefs. But these are facts anyway.
3 ° Official Contemporary Art, ugly, is a sign of decadence, destruction, death. Because everything is linked, the beautiful, the good, the true. It is a judgment, an opinion, that it is possible not to share.
I predict this photo will be almost as popular as my photo of a safe at the Boston Public Library. Jumeirah Essex House, New York City.
Rain is predicted for today so I guess the old saying “red sky at morning, sailor take warning” holds true. I was debating whether to even try for a sunrise this morning but then, out my back window, I spotted a slight glow on the clouds.
Bodie is a ghost town in the Bodie Hills east of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Mono County, California, United States. It is about 75 miles (121 km) southeast of Lake Tahoe, and 12 mi (19 km) east-southeast of Bridgeport, at an elevation of 8,379 feet (2554 m). Bodie became a boom town in 1876 (146 years ago) after the discovery of a profitable line of gold; by 1879 it had a population of 7,000–10,000.
The town went into decline in the subsequent decades and came to be described as a ghost town by 1915 (107 years ago). The U.S. Department of the Interior recognizes the designated Bodie Historic District as a National Historic Landmark.
Also registered as a California Historical Landmark, the ghost town officially was established as Bodie State Historic Park in 1962. It receives about 200,000 visitors yearly. Bodie State Historic Park is partly supported by the Bodie Foundation.
Bodie began as a mining camp of little note following the discovery of gold in 1859 by a group of prospectors, including W. S. Bodey. Bodey died in a blizzard the following November while making a supply trip to Monoville (near present-day Mono City), never getting to see the rise of the town that was named after him. According to area pioneer Judge J. G. McClinton, the district's name was changed from "Bodey," "Body," and a few other phonetic variations, to "Bodie," after a painter in the nearby boomtown of Aurora, lettered a sign "Bodie Stables".
Gold discovered at Bodie coincided with the discovery of silver at nearby Aurora (thought to be in California, later found to be Nevada), and the distant Comstock Lode beneath Virginia City, Nevada. But while these two towns boomed, interest in Bodie remained lackluster. By 1868 only two companies had built stamp mills at Bodie, and both had failed.
In 1876, the Standard Company discovered a profitable deposit of gold-bearing ore, which transformed Bodie from an isolated mining camp comprising a few prospectors and company employees to a Wild West boomtown. Rich discoveries in the adjacent Bodie Mine during 1878 attracted even more hopeful people. By 1879, Bodie had a population of approximately 7,000–10,000 people and around 2,000 buildings. One legend says that in 1880, Bodie was California's second or third largest city. but the U.S. Census of that year disproves this. Over the years 1860-1941 Bodie's mines produced gold and silver valued at an estimated US$34 million (in 1986 dollars, or $85 million in 2021).
Bodie boomed from late 1877 through mid– to late 1880. The first newspaper, The Standard Pioneer Journal of Mono County, published its first edition on October 10, 1877. Starting as a weekly, it soon expanded publication to three times a week. It was also during this time that a telegraph line was built which connected Bodie with Bridgeport and Genoa, Nevada. California and Nevada newspapers predicted Bodie would become the next Comstock Lode. Men from both states were lured to Bodie by the prospect of another bonanza.
Gold bullion from the town's nine stamp mills was shipped to Carson City, Nevada, by way of Aurora, Wellington and Gardnerville. Most shipments were accompanied by armed guards. After the bullion reached Carson City, it was delivered to the mint there, or sent by rail to the mint in San Francisco.
As a bustling gold mining center, Bodie had the amenities of larger towns, including a Wells Fargo Bank, four volunteer fire companies, a brass band, railroad, miners' and mechanics' union, several daily newspapers, and a jail. At its peak, 65 saloons lined Main Street, which was a mile long. Murders, shootouts, barroom brawls, and stagecoach holdups were regular occurrences.
As with other remote mining towns, Bodie had a popular, though clandestine, red light district on the north end of town. There is an unsubstantiated story of Rosa May, a prostitute who, in the style of Florence Nightingale, came to the aid of the town menfolk when a serious epidemic struck the town at the height of its boom. She is credited with giving life-saving care to many, but after she died, was buried outside the cemetery fence.
Bodie had a Chinatown, the main street of which ran at a right angle to Bodie's Main Street. At one point it had several hundred Chinese residents and a Taoist temple. Opium dens were plentiful in this area.
Bodie also had a cemetery on the outskirts of town and a nearby mortuary. It is the only building in the town built of red brick three courses thick, most likely for insulation to keep the air temperature steady during the cold winters and hot summers. The cemetery includes a Miners Union section, and a cenotaph erected to honor President James A. Garfield. The Bodie Boot Hill was located outside of the official city cemetery.
On Main Street stands the Miners Union Hall, which was the meeting place for labor unions. It also served as an entertainment center that hosted dances, concerts, plays, and school recitals. It now serves as a museum.
The first signs of decline appeared in 1880 and became obvious toward the end of the year. Promising mining booms in Butte, Montana; Tombstone, Arizona; and Utah lured men away from Bodie. The get-rich-quick, single miners who came to the town in the 1870s moved on to these other booms, and Bodie developed into a family-oriented community. In 1882 residents built the Methodist Church (which still stands) and the Roman Catholic Church (burned 1928). Despite the population decline, the mines were flourishing, and in 1881 Bodie's ore production was recorded at a high of $3.1 million. Also in 1881, a narrow-gauge railroad was built called the Bodie Railway & Lumber Company, bringing lumber, cordwood, and mine timbers to the mining district from Mono Mills south of Mono Lake.
During the early 1890s, Bodie enjoyed a short revival from technological advancements in the mines that continued to support the town. In 1890, the recently invented cyanide process promised to recover gold and silver from discarded mill tailings and from low-grade ore bodies that had been passed over. In 1892, the Standard Company built its own hydroelectric plant approximately 13 miles (20.9 km) away at Dynamo Pond. The plant developed a maximum of 130 horsepower (97 kW) and 3,530 volts alternating current (AC) to power the company's 20-stamp mill. This pioneering installation marked the country's first transmissions of electricity over a long distance.
In 1910, the population was recorded at 698 people, which were predominantly families who decided to stay in Bodie instead of moving on to other prosperous strikes.
The first signs of an official decline occurred in 1912 with the printing of the last Bodie newspaper, The Bodie Miner. In a 1913 book titled California Tourist Guide and Handbook: Authentic Description of Routes of Travel and Points of Interest in California, the authors, Wells and Aubrey Drury, described Bodie as a "mining town, which is the center of a large mineral region". They referred to two hotels and a railroad operating there. In 1913, the Standard Consolidated Mine closed.
Mining profits in 1914 were at a low of $6,821. James S. Cain bought everything from the town lots to the mining claims, and reopened the Standard mill to former employees, which resulted in an over $100,000 profit in 1915. However, this financial growth was not in time to stop the town's decline. In 1917, the Bodie Railway was abandoned and its iron tracks were scrapped.
The last mine closed in 1942, due to War Production Board order L-208, shutting down all non-essential gold mines in the United States during World War II. Mining never resumed after the war.
Bodie was first described as a "ghost town" in 1915. In a time when auto travel was on the rise, many travelers reached Bodie via automobiles. The San Francisco Chronicle published an article in 1919 to dispute the "ghost town" label.
By 1920, Bodie's population was recorded by the US Federal Census at a total of 120 people. Despite the decline and a severe fire in the business district in 1932, Bodie had permanent residents through nearly half of the 20th century. A post office operated at Bodie from 1877 to 1942
In the 1940s, the threat of vandalism faced the ghost town. The Cain family, who owned much of the land, hired caretakers to protect and to maintain the town's structures. Martin Gianettoni, one of the last three people living in Bodie in 1943, was a caretaker.
Bodie is now an authentic Wild West ghost town.
The town was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961, and in 1962 the state legislature authorized creation of Bodie State Historic Park. A total of 170 buildings remained. Bodie has been named as California's official state gold rush ghost town.
Visitors arrive mainly via SR 270, which runs from US 395 near Bridgeport to the west; the last three miles of it is a dirt road. There is also a road to SR 167 near Mono Lake in the south, but this road is extremely rough, with more than 10 miles of dirt track in a bad state of repair. Due to heavy snowfall, the roads to Bodie are usually closed in winter .
Today, Bodie is preserved in a state of arrested decay. Only a small part of the town survived, with about 110 structures still standing, including one of many once operational gold mills. Visitors can walk the deserted streets of a town that once was a bustling area of activity. Interiors remain as they were left and stocked with goods. Littered throughout the park, one can find small shards of china dishes, square nails and an occasional bottle, but removing these items is against the rules of the park.
The California State Parks' ranger station is located in one of the original homes on Green Street.
In 2009 and again in 2010, Bodie was scheduled to be closed. The California state legislature worked out a budget compromise that enabled the state's Parks Closure Commission to keep it open. As of 2022, the park is still operating, now administered by the Bodie Foundation.
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2 million residents across a total area of approximately 163,696 square miles (423,970 km2), it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the most populated subnational entity in North America and the 34th most populous in the world. The Greater Los Angeles area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nation's second and fifth most populous urban regions respectively, with the former having more than 18.7 million residents and the latter having over 9.6 million. Sacramento is the state's capital, while Los Angeles is the most populous city in the state and the second most populous city in the country. San Francisco is the second most densely populated major city in the country. Los Angeles County is the country's most populous, while San Bernardino County is the largest county by area in the country. California borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, the Mexican state of Baja California to the south; and has a coastline along the Pacific Ocean to the west.
The economy of the state of California is the largest in the United States, with a $3.4 trillion gross state product (GSP) as of 2022. It is the largest sub-national economy in the world. If California were a sovereign nation, it would rank as the world's fifth-largest economy as of 2022, behind Germany and ahead of India, as well as the 37th most populous. The Greater Los Angeles area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nation's second- and third-largest urban economies ($1.0 trillion and $0.5 trillion respectively as of 2020). The San Francisco Bay Area Combined Statistical Area had the nation's highest gross domestic product per capita ($106,757) among large primary statistical areas in 2018, and is home to five of the world's ten largest companies by market capitalization and four of the world's ten richest people.
Prior to European colonization, California was one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse areas in pre-Columbian North America and contained the highest Native American population density north of what is now Mexico. European exploration in the 16th and 17th centuries led to the colonization of California by the Spanish Empire. In 1804, it was included in Alta California province within the Viceroyalty of New Spain. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821, following its successful war for independence, but was ceded to the United States in 1848 after the Mexican–American War. The California Gold Rush started in 1848 and led to dramatic social and demographic changes, including large-scale immigration into California, a worldwide economic boom, and the California genocide of indigenous people. The western portion of Alta California was then organized and admitted as the 31st state on September 9, 1850, following the Compromise of 1850.
Notable contributions to popular culture, for example in entertainment and sports, have their origins in California. The state also has made noteworthy contributions in the fields of communication, information, innovation, environmentalism, economics, and politics. It is the home of Hollywood, the oldest and one of the largest film industries in the world, which has had a profound influence upon global entertainment. It is considered the origin of the hippie counterculture, beach and car culture, and the personal computer, among other innovations. The San Francisco Bay Area and the Greater Los Angeles Area are widely seen as the centers of the global technology and film industries, respectively. California's economy is very diverse: 58% of it is based on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific, and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5% of the state's economy, California's agriculture industry has the highest output of any U.S. state. California's ports and harbors handle about a third of all U.S. imports, most originating in Pacific Rim international trade.
The state's extremely diverse geography ranges from the Pacific Coast and metropolitan areas in the west to the Sierra Nevada mountains in the east, and from the redwood and Douglas fir forests in the northwest to the Mojave Desert in the southeast. The Central Valley, a major agricultural area, dominates the state's center. California is well known for its warm Mediterranean climate and monsoon seasonal weather. The large size of the state results in climates that vary from moist temperate rainforest in the north to arid desert in the interior, as well as snowy alpine in the mountains.
Settled by successive waves of arrivals during at least the last 13,000 years, California was one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse areas in pre-Columbian North America. Various estimates of the native population have ranged from 100,000 to 300,000. The indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct ethnic groups, inhabiting environments from mountains and deserts to islands and redwood forests. These groups were also diverse in their political organization, with bands, tribes, villages, and on the resource-rich coasts, large chiefdoms, such as the Chumash, Pomo and Salinan. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered social and economic relationships between many groups.
The first Europeans to explore the coast of California were the members of a Spanish maritime expedition led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo in 1542. Cabrillo was commissioned by Antonio de Mendoza, the Viceroy of New Spain, to lead an expedition up the Pacific coast in search of trade opportunities; they entered San Diego Bay on September 28, 1542, and reached at least as far north as San Miguel Island. Privateer and explorer Francis Drake explored and claimed an undefined portion of the California coast in 1579, landing north of the future city of San Francisco. Sebastián Vizcaíno explored and mapped the coast of California in 1602 for New Spain, putting ashore in Monterey. Despite the on-the-ground explorations of California in the 16th century, Rodríguez's idea of California as an island persisted. Such depictions appeared on many European maps well into the 18th century.
The Portolá expedition of 1769-70 was a pivotal event in the Spanish colonization of California, resulting in the establishment of numerous missions, presidios, and pueblos. The military and civil contingent of the expedition was led by Gaspar de Portolá, who traveled over land from Sonora into California, while the religious component was headed by Junípero Serra, who came by sea from Baja California. In 1769, Portolá and Serra established Mission San Diego de Alcalá and the Presidio of San Diego, the first religious and military settlements founded by the Spanish in California. By the end of the expedition in 1770, they would establish the Presidio of Monterey and Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo on Monterey Bay.
After the Portolà expedition, Spanish missionaries led by Father-President Serra set out to establish 21 Spanish missions of California along El Camino Real ("The Royal Road") and along the Californian coast, 16 sites of which having been chosen during the Portolá expedition. Numerous major cities in California grew out of missions, including San Francisco (Mission San Francisco de Asís), San Diego (Mission San Diego de Alcalá), Ventura (Mission San Buenaventura), or Santa Barbara (Mission Santa Barbara), among others.
Juan Bautista de Anza led a similarly important expedition throughout California in 1775–76, which would extend deeper into the interior and north of California. The Anza expedition selected numerous sites for missions, presidios, and pueblos, which subsequently would be established by settlers. Gabriel Moraga, a member of the expedition, would also christen many of California's prominent rivers with their names in 1775–1776, such as the Sacramento River and the San Joaquin River. After the expedition, Gabriel's son, José Joaquín Moraga, would found the pueblo of San Jose in 1777, making it the first civilian-established city in California.
The Spanish founded Mission San Juan Capistrano in 1776, the third to be established of the Californian missions.
During this same period, sailors from the Russian Empire explored along the northern coast of California. In 1812, the Russian-American Company established a trading post and small fortification at Fort Ross on the North Coast. Fort Ross was primarily used to supply Russia's Alaskan colonies with food supplies. The settlement did not meet much success, failing to attract settlers or establish long term trade viability, and was abandoned by 1841.
During the War of Mexican Independence, Alta California was largely unaffected and uninvolved in the revolution, though many Californios supported independence from Spain, which many believed had neglected California and limited its development. Spain's trade monopoly on California had limited the trade prospects of Californians. Following Mexican independence, Californian ports were freely able to trade with foreign merchants. Governor Pablo Vicente de Solá presided over the transition from Spanish colonial rule to independent.
In 1821, the Mexican War of Independence gave the Mexican Empire (which included California) independence from Spain. For the next 25 years, Alta California remained a remote, sparsely populated, northwestern administrative district of the newly independent country of Mexico, which shortly after independence became a republic. The missions, which controlled most of the best land in the state, were secularized by 1834 and became the property of the Mexican government. The governor granted many square leagues of land to others with political influence. These huge ranchos or cattle ranches emerged as the dominant institutions of Mexican California. The ranchos developed under ownership by Californios (Hispanics native of California) who traded cowhides and tallow with Boston merchants. Beef did not become a commodity until the 1849 California Gold Rush.
From the 1820s, trappers and settlers from the United States and Canada began to arrive in Northern California. These new arrivals used the Siskiyou Trail, California Trail, Oregon Trail and Old Spanish Trail to cross the rugged mountains and harsh deserts in and surrounding California. The early government of the newly independent Mexico was highly unstable, and in a reflection of this, from 1831 onwards, California also experienced a series of armed disputes, both internal and with the central Mexican government. During this tumultuous political period Juan Bautista Alvarado was able to secure the governorship during 1836–1842. The military action which first brought Alvarado to power had momentarily declared California to be an independent state, and had been aided by Anglo-American residents of California, including Isaac Graham. In 1840, one hundred of those residents who did not have passports were arrested, leading to the Graham Affair, which was resolved in part with the intercession of Royal Navy officials.
One of the largest ranchers in California was John Marsh. After failing to obtain justice against squatters on his land from the Mexican courts, he determined that California should become part of the United States. Marsh conducted a letter-writing campaign espousing the California climate, the soil, and other reasons to settle there, as well as the best route to follow, which became known as "Marsh's route". His letters were read, reread, passed around, and printed in newspapers throughout the country, and started the first wagon trains rolling to California. He invited immigrants to stay on his ranch until they could get settled, and assisted in their obtaining passports.
After ushering in the period of organized emigration to California, Marsh became involved in a military battle between the much-hated Mexican general, Manuel Micheltorena and the California governor he had replaced, Juan Bautista Alvarado. The armies of each met at the Battle of Providencia near Los Angeles. Marsh had been forced against his will to join Micheltorena's army. Ignoring his superiors, during the battle, he signaled the other side for a parley. There were many settlers from the United States fighting on both sides. He convinced these men that they had no reason to be fighting each other. As a result of Marsh's actions, they abandoned the fight, Micheltorena was defeated, and California-born Pio Pico was returned to the governorship. This paved the way to California's ultimate acquisition by the United States.
In 1846, a group of American settlers in and around Sonoma rebelled against Mexican rule during the Bear Flag Revolt. Afterward, rebels raised the Bear Flag (featuring a bear, a star, a red stripe and the words "California Republic") at Sonoma. The Republic's only president was William B. Ide,[65] who played a pivotal role during the Bear Flag Revolt. This revolt by American settlers served as a prelude to the later American military invasion of California and was closely coordinated with nearby American military commanders.
The California Republic was short-lived; the same year marked the outbreak of the Mexican–American War (1846–48).
Commodore John D. Sloat of the United States Navy sailed into Monterey Bay in 1846 and began the U.S. military invasion of California, with Northern California capitulating in less than a month to the United States forces. In Southern California, Californios continued to resist American forces. Notable military engagements of the conquest include the Battle of San Pasqual and the Battle of Dominguez Rancho in Southern California, as well as the Battle of Olómpali and the Battle of Santa Clara in Northern California. After a series of defensive battles in the south, the Treaty of Cahuenga was signed by the Californios on January 13, 1847, securing a censure and establishing de facto American control in California.
Following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (February 2, 1848) that ended the war, the westernmost portion of the annexed Mexican territory of Alta California soon became the American state of California, and the remainder of the old territory was then subdivided into the new American Territories of Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Utah. The even more lightly populated and arid lower region of old Baja California remained as a part of Mexico. In 1846, the total settler population of the western part of the old Alta California had been estimated to be no more than 8,000, plus about 100,000 Native Americans, down from about 300,000 before Hispanic settlement in 1769.
In 1848, only one week before the official American annexation of the area, gold was discovered in California, this being an event which was to forever alter both the state's demographics and its finances. Soon afterward, a massive influx of immigration into the area resulted, as prospectors and miners arrived by the thousands. The population burgeoned with United States citizens, Europeans, Chinese and other immigrants during the great California Gold Rush. By the time of California's application for statehood in 1850, the settler population of California had multiplied to 100,000. By 1854, more than 300,000 settlers had come. Between 1847 and 1870, the population of San Francisco increased from 500 to 150,000.
The seat of government for California under Spanish and later Mexican rule had been located in Monterey from 1777 until 1845. Pio Pico, the last Mexican governor of Alta California, had briefly moved the capital to Los Angeles in 1845. The United States consulate had also been located in Monterey, under consul Thomas O. Larkin.
In 1849, a state Constitutional Convention was first held in Monterey. Among the first tasks of the convention was a decision on a location for the new state capital. The first full legislative sessions were held in San Jose (1850–1851). Subsequent locations included Vallejo (1852–1853), and nearby Benicia (1853–1854); these locations eventually proved to be inadequate as well. The capital has been located in Sacramento since 1854 with only a short break in 1862 when legislative sessions were held in San Francisco due to flooding in Sacramento. Once the state's Constitutional Convention had finalized its state constitution, it applied to the U.S. Congress for admission to statehood. On September 9, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850, California became a free state and September 9 a state holiday.
During the American Civil War (1861–1865), California sent gold shipments eastward to Washington in support of the Union. However, due to the existence of a large contingent of pro-South sympathizers within the state, the state was not able to muster any full military regiments to send eastwards to officially serve in the Union war effort. Still, several smaller military units within the Union army were unofficially associated with the state of California, such as the "California 100 Company", due to a majority of their members being from California.
At the time of California's admission into the Union, travel between California and the rest of the continental United States had been a time-consuming and dangerous feat. Nineteen years later, and seven years after it was greenlighted by President Lincoln, the First transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869. California was then reachable from the eastern States in a week's time.
Much of the state was extremely well suited to fruit cultivation and agriculture in general. Vast expanses of wheat, other cereal crops, vegetable crops, cotton, and nut and fruit trees were grown (including oranges in Southern California), and the foundation was laid for the state's prodigious agricultural production in the Central Valley and elsewhere.
In the nineteenth century, a large number of migrants from China traveled to the state as part of the Gold Rush or to seek work. Even though the Chinese proved indispensable in building the transcontinental railroad from California to Utah, perceived job competition with the Chinese led to anti-Chinese riots in the state, and eventually the US ended migration from China partially as a response to pressure from California with the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act.
Under earlier Spanish and Mexican rule, California's original native population had precipitously declined, above all, from Eurasian diseases to which the indigenous people of California had not yet developed a natural immunity. Under its new American administration, California's harsh governmental policies towards its own indigenous people did not improve. As in other American states, many of the native inhabitants were soon forcibly removed from their lands by incoming American settlers such as miners, ranchers, and farmers. Although California had entered the American union as a free state, the "loitering or orphaned Indians" were de facto enslaved by their new Anglo-American masters under the 1853 Act for the Government and Protection of Indians. There were also massacres in which hundreds of indigenous people were killed.
Between 1850 and 1860, the California state government paid around 1.5 million dollars (some 250,000 of which was reimbursed by the federal government) to hire militias whose purpose was to protect settlers from the indigenous populations. In later decades, the native population was placed in reservations and rancherias, which were often small and isolated and without enough natural resources or funding from the government to sustain the populations living on them. As a result, the rise of California was a calamity for the native inhabitants. Several scholars and Native American activists, including Benjamin Madley and Ed Castillo, have described the actions of the California government as a genocide.
In the twentieth century, thousands of Japanese people migrated to the US and California specifically to attempt to purchase and own land in the state. However, the state in 1913 passed the Alien Land Act, excluding Asian immigrants from owning land. During World War II, Japanese Americans in California were interned in concentration camps such as at Tule Lake and Manzanar. In 2020, California officially apologized for this internment.
Migration to California accelerated during the early 20th century with the completion of major transcontinental highways like the Lincoln Highway and Route 66. In the period from 1900 to 1965, the population grew from fewer than one million to the greatest in the Union. In 1940, the Census Bureau reported California's population as 6.0% Hispanic, 2.4% Asian, and 89.5% non-Hispanic white.
To meet the population's needs, major engineering feats like the California and Los Angeles Aqueducts; the Oroville and Shasta Dams; and the Bay and Golden Gate Bridges were built across the state. The state government also adopted the California Master Plan for Higher Education in 1960 to develop a highly efficient system of public education.
Meanwhile, attracted to the mild Mediterranean climate, cheap land, and the state's wide variety of geography, filmmakers established the studio system in Hollywood in the 1920s. California manufactured 8.7 percent of total United States military armaments produced during World War II, ranking third (behind New York and Michigan) among the 48 states. California however easily ranked first in production of military ships during the war (transport, cargo, [merchant ships] such as Liberty ships, Victory ships, and warships) at drydock facilities in San Diego, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area. After World War II, California's economy greatly expanded due to strong aerospace and defense industries, whose size decreased following the end of the Cold War. Stanford University and its Dean of Engineering Frederick Terman began encouraging faculty and graduates to stay in California instead of leaving the state, and develop a high-tech region in the area now known as Silicon Valley. As a result of these efforts, California is regarded as a world center of the entertainment and music industries, of technology, engineering, and the aerospace industry, and as the United States center of agricultural production. Just before the Dot Com Bust, California had the fifth-largest economy in the world among nations.
In the mid and late twentieth century, a number of race-related incidents occurred in the state. Tensions between police and African Americans, combined with unemployment and poverty in inner cities, led to violent riots, such as the 1965 Watts riots and 1992 Rodney King riots. California was also the hub of the Black Panther Party, a group known for arming African Americans to defend against racial injustice and for organizing free breakfast programs for schoolchildren. Additionally, Mexican, Filipino, and other migrant farm workers rallied in the state around Cesar Chavez for better pay in the 1960s and 1970s.
During the 20th century, two great disasters happened in California. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake and 1928 St. Francis Dam flood remain the deadliest in U.S. history.
Although air pollution problems have been reduced, health problems associated with pollution have continued. The brown haze known as "smog" has been substantially abated after the passage of federal and state restrictions on automobile exhaust.
An energy crisis in 2001 led to rolling blackouts, soaring power rates, and the importation of electricity from neighboring states. Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric Company came under heavy criticism.
Housing prices in urban areas continued to increase; a modest home which in the 1960s cost $25,000 would cost half a million dollars or more in urban areas by 2005. More people commuted longer hours to afford a home in more rural areas while earning larger salaries in the urban areas. Speculators bought houses they never intended to live in, expecting to make a huge profit in a matter of months, then rolling it over by buying more properties. Mortgage companies were compliant, as everyone assumed the prices would keep rising. The bubble burst in 2007–8 as housing prices began to crash and the boom years ended. Hundreds of billions in property values vanished and foreclosures soared as many financial institutions and investors were badly hurt.
In the twenty-first century, droughts and frequent wildfires attributed to climate change have occurred in the state. From 2011 to 2017, a persistent drought was the worst in its recorded history. The 2018 wildfire season was the state's deadliest and most destructive, most notably Camp Fire.
Although air pollution problems have been reduced, health problems associated with pollution have continued. The brown haze that is known as "smog" has been substantially abated thanks to federal and state restrictions on automobile exhaust.
One of the first confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States that occurred in California was first of which was confirmed on January 26, 2020. Meaning, all of the early confirmed cases were persons who had recently travelled to China in Asia, as testing was restricted to this group. On this January 29, 2020, as disease containment protocols were still being developed, the U.S. Department of State evacuated 195 persons from Wuhan, China aboard a chartered flight to March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County, and in this process, it may have granted and conferred to escalated within the land and the US at cosmic. On February 5, 2020, the U.S. evacuated 345 more citizens from Hubei Province to two military bases in California, Travis Air Force Base in Solano County and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, San Diego, where they were quarantined for 14 days. A state of emergency was largely declared in this state of the nation on March 4, 2020, and as of February 24, 2021, remains in effect. A mandatory statewide stay-at-home order was issued on March 19, 2020, due to increase, which was ended on January 25, 2021, allowing citizens to return to normal life. On April 6, 2021, the state announced plans to fully reopen the economy by June 15, 2021.