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STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE, By Philip Gourevitch and Errol Morris
Raymond Bonner is a New York Times correspondent
After the abuse of the prisoners at Abu Ghraib was exposed in April 2004 by The New Yorker and “60 Minutes,” the Bush administration sought to portray the reprehensible misconduct as the work of a few bad apples. Seeming to underscore that verdict was the fact that soldiers took pictures of themselves, smiling, holding thumbs up, with the naked, dead, abused and humiliated prisoners.
Unfortunately, the truth, which emerges with painful clarity from “Standard Operating Procedure,” is that what happened at Abu Ghraib was not only tolerated but condoned and encouraged. Harsh treatment wasn’t punished; it was rewarded. When First Lt. Carolyn Wood of the Army was in charge of the interrogation center at Bagram Air Force base in Afghanistan in 2003, she established a policy that allowed prisoners to be held in solitary confinement for a month, to be stripped, shackled in painful positions, kept without sleep, bombarded with sound and light. Three prisoners were beaten to death on her watch. She was awarded a Bronze Star, one of the armed forces’ highest combat medals, promoted to captain and sent to Iraq.
At Abu Ghraib, a Marine Corps lawyer and an Army lawyer witnessed prisoners being suspended from their cell doors. Occasionally they expressed mild concern, but over all they said nothing, which was taken as “implied consent.” When a prisoner interrogated by the C.I.A. died from the beatings, a “parade of senior officers” viewed the corpse. Army medics cleaned up the body, and the official reason given for the death was a heart attack.
Sometimes just for fun, Cpl. Charles Graner and other guards hauled prisoners out of their cells, stripped them, punched them, put sandbags over their heads and forced them to masturbate. Soldiers gleefully snapped photographs.
Pfc. Lynndie England, whose name along with that of Cpl. Graner became almost synonymous with Abu Ghraib, said “it was standard operating procedure.” Specialists Sabrina Harman and Megan Ambuhl later thought that perhaps the soldiers had gone too far. They reported what had gone on to a sergeant. “Nothing really happened,” said Harman, whose letters to her partner were given to the authors, and whose personal story adds to the power of this book. Graner himself showed photographs he had taken to senior officers, including a lieutenant colonel. Nothing happened.
“Standard Operating Procedure” and a documentary film of the same name are the collaborative effort of Philip Gourevitch, the author of a highly acclaimed book about the Rwandan genocide, and Errol Morris, the filmmaker whose credits include “The Fog of War,” the Academy Award-winning documentary about the former defense secretary Robert S. McNamara, and “The Thin Blue Line,” which succeeded in getting a man off death row.
For the documentary, Morris taped interviews with a score of soldiers and civilians, several of whom witnessed the abuse or participated in it. Some of the interviews are, of course, self-serving, but many of the individuals appear to be deeply troubled by what went on at Abu Ghraib. The interviews ran to about two and a half million words, and Gourevitch has woven excerpts, along with transcripts from military investigations and trials, into a tightly knit and damning narrative.
. . . The Justice Department sent only four men to set up a corrections system in Iraq, in May 2003, and two left quickly in frustration, leaving Lane McCotter, who had made a career running military and civilian prisons, and Gary Deland, who had worked with McCotter in Utah. “We were going to make it into a model prison,” McCotter said. Deland established a police academy, where he fired any recruit found to be taking bribes. But the men had neither the time nor the resources to carry out their mission. A four-month assessment period was shortened to 30 days. They concluded that Iraq needed 75,000 prison beds. Fewer than 3,000 were provided, and civilian and military prisoners were held together, in violation of Army doctrine and the Geneva Conventions. Many were innocent, picked up in sweeps, guilty of nothing other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time, Deland said.
Later in 2003, the American military took over running the prisons. The job was given to combat units of the military police. “We had no training, we were vastly outnumbered and we were given lots of responsibilities that we didn’t have any knowledge about how to carry out,” said Specialist Ambuhl, who was one of only seven M.P.’s assigned to cell blocks housing more than 1,000 prisoners. “They couldn’t say that we broke the rules because there were no rules,” she said.
Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller had commanded the prison at Guantánamo before coming to Iraq. Breaking with Army doctrine, but following the procedure he had established at Guantánamo, he put the military police, who normally run military prisons, at the service of the interrogators, military, C.I.A. and civilian contractors. The guards must “be actively engaged in setting the conditions for successful exploitation of the internees,” Miller wrote. “You’re treating the prisoners too well,” he told the guards. “You have to treat the prisoners like dogs.”
But the military’s dogs were treated better and, as is now well known, were used to frighten the prisoners — exploit their phobias, in the Pentagon’s euphemistic jargon. Two dog handlers “had an ongoing contest to see which of them could make the most prisoners piss in fear.”
Steven Stefanowicz, a civilian interrogator known as Big Steve, ordered the dogs to be used on a prisoner nicknamed A. Q., because he was thought to be an Al Qaeda operative. One picture shows the man, his arms tied behind him, cowering against the wall, the snarling dog’s teeth inches away. “He would tell us to put A. Q. in this position or that position, then put the dogs on him,” Staff Sgt. Ivan Frederick said. “Then he would tell them to pull the dogs off, then he would go in the cell, shut the door and I guess interrogate him.”
After several months of torturing A. Q. with “dogs and bondage and hooding and noise and sleeplessness and heat and cold,” the authorities realized that he had no connection to Al Qaeda or any criminal activity, and he was released.
One of the lingering questions has been the degree of complicity within the Pentagon and White House in what happened at Abu Ghraib. No “smoking gun” linking the abuses to Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney or George W. Bush has ever been found, and it is unlikely that one will be. But it isn’t needed, the authors say. “Abu Ghraib was the smoking gun.”
What occurred at Abu Ghraib is deeply disturbing, and Americans, individually and collectively, need to ask, How could this have happened? How could our sons and daughters, good kids from Pennsylvania, Virginia, New Jersey, Maryland, engage in this conduct? How could so many have looked the other way? What happened at Abu Ghraib was not the work of a few bad apples — of Lynndie England or Charles Graner or Ivan Frederick or Megan Ambuhl or Sabrina Harman, all of whom were eventually court-martialed on various charges. (Only one senior officer was court-martialed, and he was found not guilty.)
“The stain is ours,” Gourevitch and Morris write. It is hard to come away from their book with any other conclusion.
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Local call number: c002678
Title:Sterile procedures taught to midwives for licensing: Miami, Dade County, Florida.
Date: 1935
Physical descrip: 1 photoprint - b&w - 5 x 7 in.
Series Title: State Board of Health
Repository: State Library and Archives of Florida, 500 S. Bronough St., Tallahassee, FL 32399-0250 USA. Contact: 850.245.6700. Archives@dos.myflorida.com
Persistent URL: floridamemory.com/items/show/44692
#AppsForMyPC #Featured : A Lot of Lives Lost after Common Heart Procedure
Visit: www.appsformypc.com/featured/a-lot-of-lives-lost-after-co...
Training emergency scenarios at NASA on the full-size International Space Station mockup. With Expedition 41 crewmates Reid Wiseman and Maxim Surayev.
Credit: NASA-B. Stafford
* A 5 mins 20s sequence, so viewable in the Flickr interface.
** It has just come to my notice (10/12/23) that the Download option below and to the right of the media _does not_ allow you to download the full version, only the 3 minutes available here. So, I am going to try and 'fix' this for all videos lasting more than 3 minutes, this is the link to obtain the full version shown here-
www.flickr.tightfitz.com/Video/TAWLC,_Re-Visit_Part_II.mp4
* Introduction
A long time in the making, as they say, and this it has certainly been. The link access to Adrian's Blog-
no longer works, and having contacted Google, who operate the Blogger program/application, and having got nowhere with them to remedy the problems, some one on the online 'Help' team suggested that the URL had been disabled. Not having access to his account meant I couldn't fix this but fortunately, in early September, a month after he died, I using the Google Cache facility to download all 5 sections/chapters of his Blog and stored them on my Workstation PC. Over the last week or so, I have been working on getting the complete set ready to host on my own, 'tightfitz', site and this required some tidying and adapting of the code to make it presentable without all the Google additions which, now he is no longer with us, were rendered useless anyway, e.g. the comments section and his email. This was completed, finally today, Saturday 30th November and his blog at the URL above is now fully available, via simple navigation page, at-
I have appended my own e-mail in case anyone wants to contact me or has any comment.. As stated on the gateway page, the blog content is a snapshot from the beginning of September but is of course how Adrian left it when he went into hospital for his heart operation which, although surviving the long operating procedure, resulted in him becoming very ill during the ensuing week. He died in the early hours of Friday August 2nd and was cremated at the Grenoside Crematorium on Wednesday 14th August; he would have been 70 on 23rd October, this year. I put a short, 'In Memoriam' piece on Flickr on the day I heard he had died, see-
www.flickr.com/photos/daohaiku/48440198022/
and since that time I have been working on an idea to present a video, a re-visit of some of the locations, which featured in his Blog but, as mentioned above, this vanished at the beginning of October. Fortunately, I was able to recover the material due to my expedience in making sure I had local copies of the material, this I have now put back on line, hosted by my own web domain, tightfitz.com at the address above.
* The Videos
During the ensuing weeks, the total time spent on the video, it has now turned into two as there is a natural division of the material, is currently around 35 hours and this doesn't include what I now expect to be a lengthy pair of narrative texts to accompany the two 'films'.
This first one, 95Mby/6mimns 9sec long, covers Attercliffe, Wardsend Cemetery, Parkgate & Aldwarke, Waverley & Orgreave and Treeton & Orgreave. The second, 82Mby/5mimns 20sec long, covers Parkwood Springs, Neepsend & Riverside, Meadowhall & Brightside and Tinsley & Atlas. It is another very great shame that just 2 weeks before Adrian went for his operation he was talking about some music he had heard which 'had speaking in it', with little else as a prompt I immediately knew, because I had heard the same material and been a fan for about 6 years, that it was the band, 'Public Service Broadcasting' who mix various aspects of sounds from the Second World War, as background clips to their music, see-
www.publicservicebroadcasting.net/
It was clear, when I commenced doing the two videos, that the music to accompany them would have to be from the 1st album the band produced, 'The War Room E.P.', and the two videos therefore have 'If War Should Come' and the 1st half of 'Spitfire' in Part I and the the 2nd half of 'Spitfire' and 'London Can Take It' for Part II.
So, the two videos are split as-
1. Attercliffe.
2. Wardsend Cemetery.
3. Parkgate & Aldwarke.
4. Waverley & Orgreave.
5. Treeton & Orgreave.
and
6. Parkwood Springs.
7. Neepsend and Riverside.
8. Meadowhall and Brightside.
9. Tinsley and Atlas.
which match the items, but with some additions of my own in a particular area, in his 5-part Blog, newest to oldest in order at
are-
5. Day Return to Swinton: Railway Edgeland in the Lower Don Valley, 2019
4. Fire & Water: An Upper Don Walk, 2019
3. Broomhall: Slight Return, 2019
2. Kilnsea: Edge of the Land, 2018
1. Orgreave: Landscape & Memory, 2018
Adrian was working on the last part, about a day trip to Swinton in the weeks before he died, which was partly based on a small booklet he and Ruth Midgley had produced in 2011, and was the basis for an exhibition of the photographs and poems at Swinton Library, that year. The Blog page relating to this is unfinished in terms of narrative text and maybe images too and is something I was looking forward to seeing completed; the pictures however stand up for themselves irrespective of all this. I guess re-visiting the sites and taking the pictures for the two videos which subsequently resulted, from my perspective, helped me towards trying to get over his untimely departure; I still had a lot to discuss with him and its a tragedy this now can't happen. The purpose behind the two videos is just to reflect what a good photographer and narrator he was and I greatly enjoyed his text style and flow as demonstrated in the Blog pages above with my introduction on the 'wrapper' page for the 5 pieces.
Taking the second 4 sections listed above for this second video, a description of the shots taken to reflect Adrian's work as it stood at the beginning of August this year, and archived by me, a month later, in early September.
6. Parkwood Springs. This is a return to the Neepsend area but now an over-looked part which runs up from the River Don at the end of Club Mill Lane/Sandbed Road, the latter area is shown in the 1st 3 shots with the gigantic 'Coal Bunkers' prominent. They were designated as such on the 1954 OS map, at which time they were long disused even though at this time the Woodhead line Electrics had just started hauling coal from here, through Woodhead and over to the Fiddlers Ferry Power Station. Neepsend Power Station was a short distance away to the north of here, right next to the railway line and also benefited from a connection with it. Here, a connection over from the Woodhead Line in the background, to the left of the grey/blue building and near the Parkwood Road bridge, to be seen later, was used to bring coal trains along the top of the bunkers, the area now palisaded off, and dump their coal into the bunkers. There are actually aerial photographs of this on 'Britain from Above', see-
britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EPW015486
Showing the Neepsend gas works and to the north of the largest storage tank, a line coming off the Woodhead line, running lower right to centre top, the connection at the road bridge at the top, then passing over Parkwood Road and running along the top of the coal bunkers; a train can just be seen on the line. The next 2 of the three shots shows more detail of the bunkers with some of the 'fittings' still present and the coal line looks to have been present right up until after the war but had gone by 1954. On Parkwood Road, industrial buildings are still and have found new uses, the whole area is festooned with one sort of modern business or another; the coal line bridge over the road would have been just here, but there is no sign of it. A shot into the coal bunker area on Parkwood Road shows the large retaining wall next to the footpath and the new industrial building standing on the old site where once the coal line spayed out in to sidings one running along the top of the bunkers. In the next pair of shots, the scene looks back along Parkwood Road to Neepsend and the city centre with St. Pauls Tower just visible in the June 24th misty weather. Neepsend Station was situated next to where the the line of cars are parked and there's a footbridge, hidden by the tree growth, which takes walkers over to Wallace Road and Parkwood Springs. All the Neepsend gas installations which once dominated this area, as seen at the above link, have now been dismantled and the site cleared. Two shots of the Leaf cleaning 'trains' on duty in two different years, the first is from 2nd November, 2011 and shows a pair of D.R.S. class 20s, 20312 at the front with 20302 at the back, now both defunct, on the 3S13, Sheffield via Neepsend to Stocksbridge Works RHTT train, spraying the line for the benefit of the nightly steel train here, not for passenger benefit! The second, taken after the DRS 20s stopped running up the branch to Stocksbridge, on 31st October last year, 2018, is a new piece of kit based on a Land Rover vehicle and operated out of the Blast Lane Depot near the old Sheffield Victoria site. The vehicle sprays citrus liquid to dissolve the leaf gunk and runs up and down 3 times a week on the old DRS diagrams, but just for this section of track, taking around 2 hours to complete the work. Pictures of this were featured here for 2018, see-
www.flickr.com/photos/daohaiku/44222777445/
and from the SandRover crew last year when paused at Deepcar on reversal-
'...SandRover' vehicle and at last fulfilling the need to see what this set was up to.. Further word had it that next year... wait for it.. this might well be deployed in the Swinton/Mexborough area on the passenger lines, meaning of course it would have to run overnight after the passenger services had finished and presumably slotted in between any over-night freight moves on the the Midland Main line and old GC sections. The Oughtibridge Station building was long derelict but it is now occupied and new housing has also filled out the station site area on this side of the main road and on the access area to the old Brickworks on the other side of the main road...'
and at Oughtibridge when their vehicle had to be removed from the track due to over-heating equipment.
The final shot in this section, for amusement only, as I headed back towards Club Mill Lane and the car, parked on Sandbed Road, by sheer fluke I guess, the driver of a 'DX, Delivered Exactly' has parked with the back of the van right next to a pile of filth which someone has chosen to deposit there, before the van arrived I assume, priceless..
7. Neepsend and Riverside. A large section of the video which relates closely to Adrian's also long section of the Blog, 'Fire & Water: An Upper Don Walk, 2019', the length of which he mentioned to me as if seeking an answer; we discussed splitting it up into two parts, but it was never resolved. Adrian's success with the Blog was borne out of a wish, talked over with me over a year ago, to dispense with the 'Flickr Format' of 'one picture after another' and he hoped to find a way of presenting his material which was more like a 'book about something', rather than the former. He succeeded I thought, but the 'Fire & Water' section wasn't quite how he wanted to present the material, there being too many pictures, 135, for his liking. I am sure there would have been a way to separate these better and nothing was done about it before he moved on to, what was to be, his final section, 'Day Return to Swinton: Railway Edgeland in the Lower Don Valley, 2019' which never got finished, in terms of narrative text but even here, there were 65 items. My 'Re-Visit Part II' for the 'Fire & Water' set has 30 pictures, taken on a bright, warm day in September, and did make me feel a little better about things, to be out thinking about what he originally saw as good material over the last 3 decades. The first 10 or so pictures in the first section of his Blog deals with the Sheffield flooding in 2007 and he was out with the camera photographing the shots which now appear in this section, forming a 'Prosaic', as the title suggests, document of what happened at that time, they fit in very well here, though I am sure he wouldn't have had the word 'Blog' in his mind at that time. The first 8 pictures of mine were all photographed in the same area, at the junction of Neepsend Lane & Rutland Road where there is plenty to see along with the 'Cutlery Works' food hall and the 'Gardeners Rest' pub, both on the north bank of the River Don and the latter name coming from where the men who used to work in Neepsend Engine Shed, close by, could come and relax and have the odd pint. At left is Samuel Osborn & Co. Ltd. Insignia Works on the north bank and the River side here looks splendid. The tall building, ex-Canon Brewery stands out, now graffiti'd and still not re-developed withy the 'Cutlery Works' now an attractive, family-oriented and welcome place to while away a few hours; its a very great surprise that Adrian never suggested coming here as I knew nothing about it until taking these pictures. For this section in particular, I have tried to mimic the views and feel of Adrian's shots which were taken between 2018 and 2019 and in particular, although he didn't photograph a crew of training boatmen on the Don outside the Cutlery Works, I felt when I took this that this is what he would have done; all fortuitous of course. The next 6 shots are around the Love Street/Love Square area and the 1st, with the distinctive 'CRANES' sign on the gate is a bit of a puzzle as the text for his picture indicates the gates were removed, but if they were, they were restored later. In the background, is the court house behind the gate in the background, the tall building was once the old Sheffield Workhouse, then 'The Doss House' and now, 'Mayfair Court', re-developed into flats, a comparison shot is here-
www.flickr.com/photos/imarch2/49582810218/
The road leading past the gates is Love Street, seen in the picture at the link above, and this road leads to Love Square, a little further east at the other end of the road where hoardings picture the area as once it was, the gateway to 'The Valley of Beer', the whole lot situated in a small pleasant area with seats. Two shots of the Riverside area where the Mark Cooper plaque is to be found and relates to his death and the flooding which took place after Dale Dyke Dam burst in March 1864, though he didn't die directly from this event, more details in the 1st section of the 'Fire & Water' Blog. The area at the other side of Corporation Street around 'The Fat Cat' pub area is now festooned with new business and residential premises and the development is still on-going. Kelham Island Industrial Museum is there and respectable amount of eating/drinking establishment. Thankfully, many of the old buildings have or are being renovated for modern purposes so there is still plenty to see, a not complete list would be- 'Canon Brewery', 'Samuel Osborn & Co. Ltd. Insignia Works', 'Woollens for Signs', 'Globe Steel Works', 'Kelham Island Industrial Museum', 'Britannia Works', 'Eagle Works', 'Green Lane Works', 'Cornish Place Works', 'Wharncliffe Works', 'Clarence Works', 'Lion Works', 'Albyn Works', 'Hallamshire Steel Works', 'Old Park Rolling Mill', 'The Farfield Inn' & 'The Cutlery Works', the latter now an excellent eatery. The Canon Brewery, across the road from the 'Cutlery Works', still stands, graffiti'd and ready for development but little is happening at this time. During a visit for food and drink at the 'Cutlery Works' one Sunday, some characters on bicycles passed by cycling towards the 'Canon Brewery' and provided a bit of a show of their cycling expertise... On Bardwell Street across from 'The Gardeners Rest' and 'The Cutlery Works' is the 'Hallamshire Steel Works' on the left and opposite, a re-purposed part of one of the buildings, the ever popular, 'The House Skatepark'. The picture in the video shows a bustling selection of folk at the venue and its a busy place with skate noise and music drifting into the surround area, not for the feint-hearted I guess, or the local residents, but maybe not so... Adrian has an enviable negative collection of Rail-related matters and some of these feature in this 'Fire and Water' Blog, there are also a number of derelict rail building included, especially, for me, the one at Bridgehouses which when photographed in 1984/5 were undergoing demolition. This whole area has changed dramatically and some shots which I took this year were included in the 'Views in Camera 2019 video', see-
www.flickr.com/photos/daohaiku/48067544842/
from the point 17m35s t0 19m35s. The others are all from negatives by 'unknown photographers' and represent a valuable addition to this Blog page.
8. Meadowhall and Brightside. Moving on and a shift now eastwards towards Meadowhall & Brightside, followed by Tinsley and Atlas. The very first picture in this section, of mine, was taken as it so aptly reflected, again, on the type of shot I know Adrian would have been interested in taking. I am not sure what the yellow-spotted brown elephant represents, doesn't appear to be anything to do with the outfit at the back but, you never know... Serendipitously, as I prepared to get the next shot, to match the second one on the, 'Day Return to Swinton: Railway Edgeland in the Lower Don Valley, 2019', Blog page, this guy appeared on cue and was happy to be included in the shot. Unfortunately, tree and shrubbery growth have prevented an exact match for the point-of-view compared to the one Adrian used, further up the bank above Meadowhall Station, but even so! The Tinsley Cooling Towers, such iconic buildings right next to the M1, the 250 feet(76m) towers were demolished at 03:00 BST, on 24th August 2008 and their absence changes the background of the shot markedly.. In recent months, the area around the Blackburn Valley line just north of Meadowhall Interchange, has had green palisade fencing erected at the top of the steep bank and it, along with burgeoning vegetation, has mad it difficult to get shots here, other than the one shown. Heading towards the interchange is a Northern Rail class 158, 158792, on the 2N10 Leeds via the Blackburn Valley Line to to Sheffield Midland. The elephant's backside appears to be a match for the 'Brocklebank Ltd' HGV which is full of aggregate material heading towards the north end of Meadowhall. The GCR's old line up the Blackburn Valley, now a walking track all the way up to Chapeltown, is off to the left behind the camera, starting at the top of what is now the large 'Travelodge' car park, built on the remaining trackbed which connected the line to the GCR's Woodburn to Mexborough line along the Lower Don Valley, which still exists of course. Moving further east to Brightside in the area close to the River Don and the large bridge connection the Sheffield District Railway's line from Treeton Junction to Brightside Junction. The first show the large girder bridge of their old track-bed crossing the road having just traversed the River Don and passing behind the large Sheffield Forgemasters River Don Works over on the left. Two views of the works, with a window onto the site shows their emblem and from the front of the works, on Attercliffe Road, Adrian took a picture of the same emblem, in white, sometime in the last few years. Various parts of the old Brightside Steelworks remain, and the arches feature here, and elsewhere, this first one a remnant of the merged works of William Jessop & Sons and J.J. Saville & Co, which became Jessop Saville and subsequently taken over by Firth Vickers; all very well known names in this area. The Riverside view through the arch looks towards Brightside Lane where the works of Sheffield Forgemasters continue to operate are are the largest of such businesses in the area. Across the river, yet another animal can be spotted, stood looking over the River Don on the frontage of 'Gripple Wire Ltd' though, again, not sure why they have a multi-coloured, spotted, cow outside the back of the building looking over the river. More scenes of the new-build businesses at the side of Hadfields Weir, Hadfields East Hecla Works being demolished in the 1990s to make way, ultimately, for the Meadowhall Shopping Centre, next to the 'Gripple Ltd' building and finally the substantial S.D.R's, Sheffield District Railway, bridge over the River Don along Weedon Street. Only some of Adrian's shots feature in this section, there are others in the 'Attercliffe' section of Part I, published on Flickr yesterday. It was tricky in some respects knowing which pictures to put where as this, the 'Day Return to Swinton' Blog covers such a long, but narrow, area of landscape from Sheffield to Swinton itself.
9. Tinsley and Atlas. Further east still and the other side of the River Don at Tinsley, before turning finally back west to the area of Atlas, just outside Sheffield, the last section of this long, 2-part video set. The first shot looks west over the Tinsley Viaduct with the local, A631, road on the lower deck and the M1 on the upper deck with a clutch of bright HGV goods lorries brightening things up. Heading over Blackburn Meadows Way is a 'First Bus' en-route from Sheffield to Maltby, Quilter Road, and advertising 'Judy - A Star is Born' on the side... not heard of the road or the film.. The side of the new road has already been graffiti'd and the Sheffield Tram/Train runs just to the left of the tree poking into the picture at left. Recent heavy rain has already made a small canal out of the low ground between the road bridge wall and the edge of the railway embankment carrying the Lower Don Valley line between Woodburn Junction and Mexborough; the Tram Train uses the Tinsley-Meadowhall to Parkgate Retail, electrified section of the line. Recent developments here, after the demise of the Tinsley Cooling Towers in August 2008, has seen the site being redeveloped by EoN into a dramatic looking Biomass facility, a combined heat and power plant at Blackburn Meadows which uses recycled waste wood from the surrounding area to power 40,000 homes. The last shots here reflect aspects of the new site and one of them matches Adrian's shot taken in 2018, with no traffic on the new 'Blackburn Meadows Way'. Opened in December, 2016 to ease traffic congestion on the southern Tinsley Roundabout and provide better passenger transport links between Sheffield and the east; traffic density however is still very light. At the eastern end of the site, the Blackburn Meadows Sewage Works continues with its cleaning operation, as it has done for decades, the clean water finding its way into the River Don. The Sewage Works site extends across both sides of the River Don, access being made across the river using the old Jordan, single track railway bridge which saw some refurbishment when the works expanded its operation back onto its old site. Moving back west now towards Sheffield and a look at two of the interesting 'artifacts' which were spotted whilst photographing all the other material and must have passed by these son many times without actually 'seeing' them. The first 3 are shots of another archway, removed from the Brightside Works area to here at Atlas, and is the 'Thomas Firth & Sons Ltd., Siemens Dept' gateway arch. It has been cleaned, thankfully, and looks rather splendid now set amidst local new-build businesses. In usual 'Wynn fashion' there was even a shot I am sure he would have taken, with an advertising board on the side of the red-brick building next door, 'President Buildings', another good example of the quality of the building which used to be erected here in the past. And finally, the last shot, 'Don Valley House' which has undergone some refurbishment in the past and is now used by the local council as offices. At the rear, the long stretch of the Norfolk Railway Arches can be seen whilst atop, heading towards Sheffield, a Northern Rail class 170, 'Turbostar', 170478, on the now regular Bridlington to Sheffield service, this one 1J45; they now appear also to have extended the service at the weekends to go as far as Scarborough. This last shot is a multi-par, 4, composite, to include all the aspects of the scene which were going on during the half hour or so I was here and is meant to reflect the people, place and type of local infrastructure which, like elsewhere, has been carefully retained. Although, it has to be said, some of it wasn't retained at all but wantonly destroyed in the mayhem and frenzy which occured in the 1980s when the industrial heart of the place was stripped away and new meaning and work had to be found for the folk who had lived and worked here for a hundred years or more...
'FIN'
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I shot this while waiting for my retinal doctor earlier, my right eye numbed and dialated- 7 different drops in all- nervous of course. But progress and correction is happening. Lines are straight and I can thread needles. #retina#sapersteinmd
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Same procedure as every year (yay!) - this weekend I had the joyful honor to attend the Cologne fashion doll collectors' convention : )!
It was a fantastic day, I met with old and dear friends and got to know a whole bunch of lovely new people. My funniest moment was when a very kind french lady and her daughter came to my table and my french skills left me within a second. I could only excuse myself (in french at least!) with a laughing "I DO speak french, but not at this moment" - obviously *rotf* ; )
Ah, it was great! My photos surely aren't the best, they're usually taken in a hurry and only at the beginning of the day, since I'm becoming very busy afterwards, but at least I really did take some :).
To all of you who are going to attend the IT convention soon - I'm wishing you tons of fun, have many, many great moments, meet old and new friends and enjoy every minute. In my heart I'll be with you *hugs*!
Nina*
Hello,
It is four in the afternoon of Wednesday the 23rd of January 2013, an overcast day punctuated by intermittent showers. Thunder storms are predicted for tomorrow. Looks like I will be sticking close to home.
I suspect I may have found the cause of the super sluggish sending and receiving of these reports I have been encountering. It was not all that old mail I waded my way through while deleting. There was no discernible difference between the before and after of that little project. I think it is the result of an inner email program conflict as a result of composing these daily reports right there on a regular email form.
Silly me, why did I not consider that. What was wrong with the old cut and paste procedure anyway. When I took note of the struggle taking place today I finally realized. Things had gotten pretty crazy. I was getting pop up noticed from my own computer saying things about actions I had taken while offline and saving drafts to a rescued file. Sure enough there were numerous partial drafts of the last couple of reports written. That was kind of odd as I had not even tried to send the one that went out today and the other was long gone. I thought it would be smart to start with a short one to myself. It said nothing more that ‘a test’. As I watched the utter confusion and read those pop up warnings it finally clicked.
As a point of fact and just so you know. Lately, once I finally got that first big daily report out of the machine I was able to send and receive normally. Why I thought it was the size of the given email is beyond me but that was the best I could come up with.
Now of course I think it was a result of working offline in my mail program. So, I am writing this in a new file I have opened in my word processor program. I will cut and past to an email when the time comes and see how it goes. If successful that will be swell. I can copy them from that file to the Hello file and then start a new one. Easy peasey, perhaps.
I am getting a little edgy. I am down to two tylenol and you know I did not go to Chedraui, nor will I until the weather clears. I will hold off on a San Francisco or Soriana run. They are close enough even if I have to go in a driving rain. I am going to see if I can manage without.
You are probably wondering if I bought that new iPod Touch. Yes I did. I got a red one like my little iPod shuffle. I ordered it to be engraved identical to my little shuffle too. PATTI. Nothing more. I feel I have done a little something for the world today. You may or may not be aware of the fact that a part of your Apple purchase when you choose the color red goes toward fighting aides in Africa. Yes indeed, I made a humanitarian gesture. I was on the brink of ordering the blue. I would have if the red had been unavailable as it sometimes is.
I picked up an email from Randy and Cheryl while I was down at the coffee place. Cheryl suggests I might like Isla de Mujeres as a possible next place to live. That thought had occurred to me too. It is much smaller that this island and still just a ferry ride to Cancun on the mainland. The research has begun.
Be advised. I did send off scads of pictures so my emissary will be posting those for me.
I did splurge at the bakery ladies little window. I brought a double brownie that is just short of heavenly. I have consumed one little strip so far. I will make it last. Some today, some tomorrow, and so on. A little at a time should not throw me into a sugar frenzy. Lets hope not anyway. In general the sweet things down here tend to contain a great deal less sugar than the ones up and over there.
Spaghetti is on the menu for the evening meal. I am reading a book set in County Kerry, Ireland. I believe I am in for yet another fun and action packed night at home. My favorite way to pass the time. No complaints here. I am just a little concerned about this neck problem. I wish I had a heating pad and some of that spray on pain aid stuff my mother gave me. Never mind, I am bucking up as I write this. I will be just fine.
It is only five but I think I am going to start the pasta water. Do not worry I have the colander with handle all laid out. I am going to give it a try right inside the other. It might work and it might not. On that note, I will be in the west of Ireland if anyone needs me.
I will leave you with this Irish proverb. If you hit my dog, you hit myself.
Good Thursday morning this 24th day of January in the year 2013 at nine o’clock in the morning. There was a patch of blue when I lifted the curtain to look out the window, craned my neck and caught a glimpse of that square of sky way up there above the planter between this apartment and the one next door. That is more blue sky than I saw all day yesterday. Looks like we will have to wait and see about those thunder storms.
My spaghetti turned out great. It was simple as could be. I kept it down to a bare minimum of ingredients. I cooked the pasta until almost done and then set the pan aside. I heated a bit of olive oil in the big sauté pan and then tossed in the thinly sliced mushrooms. I gave those a quick blast and then squirted in part of the container of the spaghetti sauce. While heating that through I drained the pasta and I am pleased to report my double colander idea worked like a charm. I dumped the drained pasta in the pan on top of the sauce, topped it with a little olive oil coating the spaghetti as best I could, then mixed it all together. It was just like the package promised. A quick wholesome meal that was not only different (by Mexican standards), delicious, and nutritious but loaded with antioxidants and so forth. Brought to me by those fine folks at Hunt’s and their more than 100 years of experience in the development and manufacture of tomato products. How could I have gone wrong? I shook some parmesan cheese on top and it was a toothsome treat.
I managed to save some spaghetti for my lunch today. I put some of those nice Peruvian beans to soak so they will be the backbone of the evening meal. Perhaps another minestrone sort of soup. I have a piece of cabbage, onion, garlic, a tomato, and some macaroni. Top that with some more of the parmesan and I will be in business. If the weather holds and I happen to make it to Chedraui I could get some of that fabulous veg bread to eat with it. Oh yes! If not I have a couple of different kinds of local crackers should the mood strike. Oh wow! I can almost taste a little sandwich with the veg bread and sharp cheddar cheese. Let me stick my head out and check that sky again. Um hum, still some blue out there. I would be blowing the budget with tylenol and cheese both but what the heck I only spent 45 pesos/$3.56 yesterday and cheese is an excellent source of protein along with its other attributes. Now watch, I will hike over there and they will have sold out of all the sharp cheddar. No, I refuse to even joke about such a serious matter. Think positive, that is my motto.
Last night I finished my visit to the west of Ireland not turning out the light until I had read the last page. Then I switched over to and reclined in my sleeping hammock and waited for sleep to overtake me. It took its own sweet time. I began to wonder if it was another waning gibbous moon. Minus a handy dandy gadget I was unable to quickly ascertain the exact stage in order to further my research.
It is half past ten now or half ten as they would say in Ireland. I have been poking around and am just now heating the water for my second cup. I will get the shower water going next. Then we will see what the day holds in store for me.
Vale is running almost as late as my exercise buddies. I lost track of what day she was due here at ten o’clock in the morning but it must be coming up on a week ago. Let me take a peak just for fun. Very interesting. The boys are two weeks late today and Vale is one week late. And that is just the way it is here in the land of mañana but maybe I should stop scheduling meetings for Thursdays. Those do not seem to be working out so well. I guess I will eventually go check on Vale if she does not come looking for me first.
Boy was I spaced or what. I have been standing right here at the counter typing away while my coffee water boiled. I could smell it and thought, oh good the shower water will be ready soon. Shortly before eleven I reached for my cup and was surprised to find it empty. I looked up at the stove and only then did it dawn on me that it was not the shower water heating up over there. Looks like I will be a little later in leaving the house than I had anticipated.
There is no way in the world I am putting on a backpack until I have dosed up good with some tylenol. That means if I hit some wifi today it will not be until later. First things first. Then too I have yet to determine if this ten dollar backpack is waterproof or not. For safeties sake I have been enclosing this marvelous but rapidly becoming antiquated machine in one of my kayak dry bags. I have a plastic bag in there too just in case. If I do make an afternoon run today and one of those predicted thunderstorms materializes I will ideally, be just fine. I am not interested in conducting any tests with my live laptop though. Some kind of test dummy would preferable. I will hold off on that until my neck and shoulders are back to normal. Best to leave this baby right here in the house than run the risk of ruin.
Well I guess the water is ready and if I do not make a move I will still be standing right here.
It is shortly past noon now. I am having a plan B lunch. It seemed like a good idea to pressure cook the beans while my hair dries. Then it seemed like an impossibility to heat the spaghetti at the same time. Rather than delay my departure any further I flipped from Italian to Spanish lunch. I made a plate of crackers and cream cheese with little bite sized pieces of Spanish chorizo with pickled cucumbers and onions on the side. Um um, good!
I was thinking that if I ever find any chili powder I can make those chili beans I have been craving. You are probably thinking, what is she talking about find some chili powder I thought she was in Mexico. Well yes, and no. Yes I am , and no it is not that part of Mexico. They do sell pinto beans here but the bean of choice is the black. The usual dried legume selection consists of black, pinto, peruvian, an occasional small white one bean, garbanzo, tiny brown lentils, and the rare split green pea. That about covers it. If I ever see any red beans I will snap them right up. In the grain department we have slight variety of choice in white only rice and the occasional cracked wheat. They just got the latter in at Soriana and I may make tabouli one day if the supply lasts that long. We can thank the early Lebanese immigrants for the lentil, garbanzo, and cracked wheat. This area was not much of a melting pot so the influences were limited.
Speaking of which, did I ever tell you why the imported straight from Holland edam cheese is so redly available here? I would really prefer some reference material but short of that I will tell you what I remember. It goes something like this. Way back in the 1800’s or so a ship ran aground on one of the reefs off the coast. Or maybe there was a storm, they lost steerage and ran up on a beach. Maybe it was pirates that got um, these waters were thick with them for awhile there. I could continue to speculate but I will not. The end result was, a ship full of edam cheese bound for elsewhere ended up here instead. The people liked it very much. They developed a taste for it which created a demand. It has been considered a delicacy ever since. If someone really likes you they may give you one for Christmas, not an uncommon gift. Should you find yourself in this part of the world and if you are lucky, you may encounter a stuffed cheese on a menu or more likely as a daily special. If you do please order it immediately. You will not be sorry. They take one of those $30 US and I do not exaggerate, grapefruit sized balls of cheese and turn it into a culinary masterpiece.
Why don’t I give you the recipe I used when I made it in my little garden apartment in Alameda. That will save me further description and allow you to reproduce it in the privacy of your own home and at your leisure, should you feel so inclined. I will remind you that the olives are green. The sweet chili is the small wrinkly bell so use one of those instead. The closest you will come with the xcatic chili will be a hungarian wax. Try cheesecloth for steaming the filled cheese. Armed with that knowledge you should be good to go.
Recipe for Queso Relleno
1 Edam cheese with middle scooped out
Oil
¾ k. ground pork
For the stuffing:
1 chopped onion
1 crushed garlic clove
4 tbs. lard
1 chopped sweet chile
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
Salt and pepper
¼ cup vinegar
50 grs olives
50 grs raisins
3 tbs. capers
400 grs tomatoes
3 chopped hard boiled eggs
Fry the onion in the lard, add the garlic, sweet chile, the meat, and then everything else.
Fill the cheese with this mixture and cover with a cloth, then steam it to soften the cheese.
K’óol (white sauce)
1 lt. chicken broth
1 bunch epazote
50 g olives
20 g capers
3 tbs. flour
Salt
Oil
Add the epazote, olives, and capers to the broth. On the side, dilute the flour in a little water, and add to the broth little by little, stirring constantly. Add the salt and a little oil. Keep on low heat.
Tomato sauce:
½ kg tomatoes
½ onion
1 chile xcatik
Oil
Epazote
2 tsp. consomme
Salt
Blend the tomatoes with a little water, the onion and the chile. Fry this mixture with the epazote. Season with the consomme and the salt. Simmer uncovered at low heat, stirring until thick, approx. 30 min.
Serve the stuffed cheese with the 2 sauces on top.
So, there you are let me know how it turns out. I myself am turning off the burner under the beans and hitting the trail.
I rolled back in about four o’clock bearing treasures. I decided to stop at Mega first to see what they had in the way of Tylenol. Oh my goodness, they had not only twenty caplet bottles but also fifty and one hundred. Wowzer! The one hundred cost 212 and the fifty 82. Guess which one I got. You know it, they could not fool me with that one. Nor did I have that kind of peso power behind me. They also had a little packet of ground chili. No details. For 4.48 pesos I could not go wrong, so I bought that too.
When I got over to Chedraui I happened to pass by a sale table on the fringes of the produce area. They had stacks of different sizes of those clear plastic hinged sort of boxes like you are likely to see in a produce department in the land of my birth but less seldom here. Everything was 5 pesos. The one that caught my eye was filled with those fabulous Spanish chilies that my brother Spike/Philip and I so enjoy when dining al fresco at the Market Bar in The City. I snatched them right up. The first half package are about ready to come out of the pan. I just tasted one and they ‘are them’ and I have a couple dozen. My brother knows I will be through them in nothing flat. Oh happy day!
Double wow! I just cut up some sharp cheddar and tossed it right in the bowl with the chilies. They taste great together. You can not begin to imagine what a popping burst of flavor sharp cheddar can impart when you have not experienced it for months. I am also embarrassed to say I am down to the last three of the first dozen chilies. I love these things.
I scored big time but they did not have the bread. I asked and they said, oh the rustic bread, no sorry. So I got a bread twist with cheese and sesame seeds and a biscuit with cheese. The biscuit is not even a distant cousin of that basic staple of the deep south and so good when topped with gravy. I will take a picture.
I am going to put the soup together then make a quick Soriana run. I need limes and mineral water and those are key items in this household. First I am pleased to report that the first dozen chilies sated me and I will be able to save the rest for casual snacking.
Soup is in the pan and I am tired. To heck with the Soriana run. I have enough of those basic stables to hold me until tomorrow. I am going to recline in one of my hammocks.
Good midmorning this Friday the 25th of January 2013 at ten o’clock. I slept well and awoke to one of those stand at the gate and shout visitors. Not my visitor mind you. It served as an excellent wake up call. I had actually been up closer to four than five. I thought it was morning, yes it is that light in this area of the fish bowl. Luckily I looked at the clock before I brushed my teeth. It was blissfully silent so I turned off the white noise machine and went back to sleep. I may have slept through the call from the gate had I not done so. Hard to say.
I will tell you that I have been remiss in my monitoring of the moped variety parked outside this front door. I realized as much when I got home yesterday and noticed the current model was half and half, silver in the back and red in the front. So, to date we have silver, red, and silver/red. Now if I narrow it down to distinguishing characteristics we may be able to determine if these are in fact the same silver, red, and silver/red, or a variety there of. All in a days work. This detecting can be an interesting business.
It was a very good thing that I decided to pass on the trip to Soriana. That delayed but massive cloudburst passed over about the time I would have been there browsing the isles. It hovered overhead for quite some time too. When I can hear a hard rain on the roof way down here on the lower level you can bet it is really coming down. A nice time to be tucked in, warm and dry.
I enjoyed my soup last night. Good thing too because I have three small containers of it in the fridge. I also have a dozen chilies ready to eat when the urge comes upon me. This morning I was wondering why I did not save one for propagation purposes. Silly me. If I find myself back over at Chedraui before they sell the last few containers I will rectify the situation. They may or may not carry them regularly. The full price would have been close to 60 pesos and that puts it into the luxury category under my current economic circumstances.
A plant or few of them in my garden would be heavenly. I am likely to have one of those again one of these day, gardens I mean. You probably noticed I have never mentioned actually planting anything in this little interior plot right outside my door. Well, it is not really very nice soil. It is a bit of a catchall for rubbish. The minute I got a nice plant in there the kids or their ball would land on it. I will be away for too long when I go to California. At least those are some of the excuses I have given myself. Are they good valid concerns or should I just do it. Hard to say. Once the disillusionment set in the idea just sort of fell by the wayside.
There is still a glimmer, a spark of desire to spend more time living on this island. I could move away from this neighborhood and down toward the waterfront. I have begun to consider this area the belly of the beast and if that is the case the little park would be the belly button.
It is an entirely different atmosphere as you near the water. I can leave this apartment and walk straight down 4th. I start out in this working class neighborhood and end up in a quaint, old but hip seaside village. It is, on this particular street, a mere six short blocks before you arrive at the blue waters of the Caribbean. Half way there you crest a very slight rise and in front of you at the end of the street is the ocean. The sidewalks become brick and the buildings ooze character. Interesting little restaurants worthy of any international resort destination are sprinkled around the area.
It is only a few blocks but a world away from here. I like it down there and beach or no it would be a good place to spend some time. It feels vibrant down there even when there are not many people about. It is kind of a nook between the cruise ship hordes and the northern hotel zone.
I went into a shopping center on a corner. It was a big two story affair with a very high end look to it. Once through the door I transformed myself into a just browsing tourist. The entire building housed jewelry and fine watch stores. On the second level one can watch the jewelers at work or dine at the restaurant. It is a Jewish restaurant with a little packaged foods area beside the reception desk. If you are in need of matzo crackers that would be the place to go. I looked at the menu and the majority of the dishes were the same as you would find on any other menu around here. I can only assume they are kosher. Why would I think that? Because you see not only is the complex full of jewelry stores but diamonds, diamonds, and more diamonds. I now understand the group or two of Hasidic Jews I have seen here on the island.
All those high dollar jewelry stores strung along Melgar (the avenue running along the water) would account for the heavy police patrols even without all the tourists to protect. All the better jewelry stores have their own security guards posted at the front door. Many fully suited up in bulletproof vest, weapon in hand.
There was a fairly recent article in the newspaper suggesting all the businesses employ their own security guards as the police were being spread a bit thin with the rise in crime. I mentioned the other day about the police patrolling fairly regularly in this neighborhood. Well, let me tell you it does not compare to that waterfront area we are talking about. They are not only more prominent there as they patrol the streets in their pickup trucks, but there is one standing in the back rifle at the ready. When I took my long exploratory walk to the north the other day I witnessed a good example of their effectiveness and interest in maintaining a nice environment for those peso spending visitors on which the island depends. A very drunk fellow was sitting on the bench that is part of the seawall. He slurred a hello as I passed on my way north. On my return he was sound asleep/passed out in the same spot. Within moments a municipal police truck pulled over and when I last looked were picking him up and moving him out. That sort of thing does not happen in my neighborhood. I am pretty sure he could have laid here all day and into the night. Although I often wonder how the federal police got there so quick when I had my mishap. Ah, the mysteries of life.
Hum, I wonder what the sky looks like up there today. I got real lucky yesterday. I was caught in a light tropical shower as I was leaving Chedraui. It continued pelting me with great big wide spaced drops until I made my turn at the main plaza.
What I can see looks kind of solid grey. I would like to go over to the coffee place and send this so that will be my first goal of the day. Subject to change naturally. I also think it might be about time I look Vale up. Even if, hey what am I saying, lets give the benefit of the doubt. Since she is taking morning and evening classes and then earning some money in the late afternoon helping out a relative of the BF I will need to time my visit. Come to think of it I could just wait until tomorrow when there is no school. All righty then I postponed that quite nicely.
BTW that biscuit was pretty interesting. I detected no cheese in it (or the twist) so I would wager it was a matter of mislabeling. The dough had a distinct flavor of uncooked biscuit dough. Not half bad and you know, I think some gravy might go nicely with them. Something to keep in mind next time I have a package of bacon in the fridge. These biscuits are readily available so it would not be like trying to pair my sharp cheddar and the rustic veg bread.
I am heating the last of the spaghetti while I wait for my hair to dry. There is not much but I can always move on to soup to fill any remaining gaps. I guess I should make some more spaghetti while that open container of sauce if fresh. I am almost out of parmesan but I can always splurge for some more. It lasts a long time and perks up many a dish.
While thinking of food I realize I forgot to tell you about the dried beans I saw at Mega yesterday. They were so pretty. At first I thought they were those red beans I have been wanting. When I got close I saw they were speckled and quite purple. They are called flor de mayo, same as the plumeria. I was not about to lug them home but I am going to look for them in Soriana or San Francisco.
I have moved on to the soup. I just opened that little packet of ground chili and sprinkled some on top. If it is not cayenne I do not know what it is. That is fine by me as I had been wishing for some. I also got a soup shot as I realized I had neglected to photograph it last night. Ah yes, as I make my way into the bowl I can say this is some spicy chili. If you foolishly put a good spoon full of this stuff in your batch of beans you would be in for a real surprise. I will remember to sprinkle it more sparingly in future.
Speaking of moving, my mystery moped neighbors may be doing just that. The silver and red is backed up to my door and they are moving out the furniture. So much for that entertaining research project/handy alarm clock.
I am on to the cheddar cheese and chili dessert plate now. It is every bit as good as yesterday. I threw in a sliced Chiapas banana for contrast and potassium. You are what you eat!
Maybe I will experiment with some of the other chilies available at the markets. I really should be familiar with all the subtleties of flavor. I could roast up a couple of each in the manner I prepared these. What a great way to figure out what dishes they might be best suited to. Back in Cabo I pan roasted serranos and those long skinny dried red ones for snacking on. One of the chilies here is a green version of the latter. I think they may hail from the Vera Cruz area. I have eaten plenty of jalapeños done that way, they are always good.
As I was dressing this morning in the same travel shorts I have been wearing most days, I decided to really take advantage of them. I am stuck on these because of their pockets. There is no good reason I can think of not to use one of those pockets for my camera. It is about time I carefully record some more exterior images for yours and my viewing pleasure. I could actually show you what that lower neighborhood looks like. I use the word lower loosely as this island is almost as flat as a pancake, more in a directional sense, and there is that slight little rise. You could of course hop on Google Maps, enter my address, switch to street view, and virtually cruise right on down the street all the way to the water. Should you do so I suggest you then make a right turn in the direction of the Looks Like Bermuda/although I have never actually been there, part of the island.
A small bowl of spaghetti, a small bowl of soup, eight chilies, two slices of cheddar cheese, and one small Chiapas banana under the belt and time to get going. It is a quarter to two, a fine hour for the coffee place. Hard to say but I think there is a sunny glow to the light filtering down to the center walk way. Until next time then.
Love
YS, YD, YM, YA
Masonic Tracing Board Decoded & Explained: youtu.be/9exPJ6LAjA8
A Masonic Moment- The Tracing Board
We are told in the Junior Wardens lecture the Tracing Board is one of the three Immovable Jewels for the Worshipful Master to “lay lines and draw designs on”. From time immemorial, man has recorded his experiences and relationships to the world through various images of the human condition. As we advanced, man learned the value of tracing out for himself pictures of ideas and then communicating them in elaborate pictorial language to his companions. These visuals were eventually applied to practical projects like the planning of battles, laying out of settlements and drafting of buildings.
In our Craft, Hiram Abiff’s Tracing Board was traditionally believed to been made of wood, coated with wax. Each day he would draw his measurements and symbols into the wax to instruct his Master Masons of the work that was to be accomplished. At the end of the day he would simply scrape off the wax and pour a new layer onto the board to ready it for the next day’s work. Much closer to the recent past, when Lodges were held in secret locations, the Tyler would draw an oblong square into the dirt that represented the form of the lodge. The Masters plan was then drawn along with the working tools that were to be used in the degree. Through the years the Masonic Tracing Board progressed to using charcoal or chalk on the floor of taverns where lodges were usually held. At this time several exposures of Freemasonry were published, one appearing in 1762 stating the images they drew on the floor were not to be seen by the profane.
Freemasonry has always been about the use of images and symbols which regular words are too simple to explain, allowing us to use our individual insight to de-code the messages. During the closing of our Lodges the meaning of the words “...nothing remains but, according to ancient custom, to lock up our secrets ...” is a reference to the now antiquated use of these Tracing Boards that were erased from the floor to leave no trace of the form of the lodge or the instructive drawings. After the lecture the lodge Stewards or the Entered Apprentices would get a broom or mop and remove all evidence of these drawings. This was a tedious and messy procedure so cloths or rugs were eventually created which could be laid on the floor and simply folded up when the lecture was completed.
The Tracing Boards used in the Emulation Lodge of Improvement in London were designed and painted by John Harris in 1845 and measured approximately 6 feet x 3 feet. These Tracing Board images created for each of the three degrees are the ones we commonly see on the walls of our lodges still today. The First Degree Tracing Board represents the Universe, both the inner one and the one stretching to infinity. It pictures life emerging from the eternal centre and radiating outwards. The Second Degree Tracing Board may be described as an intermediate stage of life’s journey and the beginning of ascension from a lower to a higher plane. The Third degree Tracing Board is simpler, there are fewer objects but their import is deeper than the other two, with different symbols and a coded Masonic cypher. Tracing Boards are designed with the objective of directing candidates along a path where their interpretations will vary from brother to brother and many books have been written amplifying their various meanings.
Tracing Boards should not be confused with Trestle Boards, the two are entirely different. The Trestle Board is a framework from which the Master inscribes ideas to direct the workman in their labours. It is usually in written form containing words, diagrams and figures, allowing the Tracing Board to be created as a picture formally drawn, containing a delineation of the symbols of the degree to which it belongs. It is through the Tracing Boards we introduce the brethren to their next step, a step that they must decipherer on their own to continue their personal journey through the mysteries of Freemasonry. The Tracing Board teaches us clearly that the path to realization of brotherly love is through the study of spiritual teachings and the development and strengthening of those myriad of virtues we hold dear including the ultimate trio of Faith, Hope and Mercy.
W Bro Garry Perkins FCF
A Masonic Jacob's Ladder.
An important symbol of the Entered Apprentice Degree. A ladder of several staves or rounds of which three are illustrated tot he candidate as Faith, Hope and Chairty; the three theological virtues.
Source: Masonicdictionary.com
Articles On Jacob's Ladder:
Mackey's Encyclopedia Article
1897 Canadian Craftsman Article
1935 MSA Short Talk Bulletin
JACOB'S LADDER:
The introduction of Jacob's ladder into the symbolism of Speculative Freemasonry is to be traced to the vision of Jacob, which is thus substantially recorded in the twenty-eighth chapter of the Book of Genesis: When Jacob, by the command of his father Isaac, was journeying toward Padanaram, while sleeping one night with the bare earth for his couch and a stone for his pillow, he beheld the vision of a ladder, whose foot rested on the earth and whose top reached to heaven. Angels were continually ascending and descending upon it, and promised him the blessing of a numerous and happy posterity. When Jacob awoke, he was filled with pious gratitude, and consecrated the spot as the house of God.
This ladder, so remarkable in the history of the Jewish people, finds its analogue in all the ancient initiations. Whether this is to be attributed simply to a coincidence-a theory which but few scholars would be willing to accept-or to the fact that these analogues were all derived from a common fountain of symbolism, or whether, as such by Brother Oliver, the origin of the symbol was lost among the practices of the Pagan rites, while the symbol itself was retained, it is, perhaps, impossible authoritatively to determine. It is, however, certain that the ladder as a symbol of moral and intellectual progress existed almost universally in antiquity, presenting itself either as a succession of steps, of gates, of Degrees, or in some other modified form. The number of the steps varied; although the favorite one appears to have been seven, in reference, apparently, to the mystical character almost everywhere given to that number.
Thus, in the Persian Mysteries of Mithras, there was a ladder of seven rounds, the passage through them being symbolical of the soul's approach to perfection. These rounds were called gates, and, in allusion to them, the candidate was made to pass through seven dark and winding caverns, which process was called the ascent of the ladder of perfection Each of these caverns was the representative of a world, or w state of existence through which the soul was supposed to pass in its progress from the first world to the last, or the world of truth. Each round of the ladder was said to be of metal of measuring purity, and was dignified also with the name of its protecting planet. Some idea of the construction of this symbolic ladder may be obtained from the accompanying table.
7. Gold ............... Sun ............. Truth
6. Silver ............. Moon ......... Mansion of the Blessed
5. Iron ............... Mars ............ World of Births
4. Tin ................ Jupiter ......... Middle World
3. Copper ........ Venus .......... Heaven
2. Quicksilver . Mercury ....... World of Pre-existence
1. Lead .............. Saturn .......... First World
Source: Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry
Jacob's Ladder: Author Unknown
When this symbol, which is taken from Jacob's Vision (Genesis xxviii), was introduced into English Speculative Freemasonry is not exactly known. But we find allusions to it a little after the middle of the last [18th] century. It apparently was not originally a symbol of Speculative Masonry, but was probably introduced from Hermetic Masonry, about 1776. But we fancy that it came from Hermeticism, of which it was a favorite symbol. Certain it is that we do not find it in any of our far oldest known rituals if indeed they can be depended upon. Gadicke says of it, "Either resting upon the floor cloth or on the Bible, the compasses, and the square, it should lead the thoughts of the brethren to heaven. If we find that it has many staves or rounds, they represent as many moral and religious duties. If it has only three, they should represent Faith, Hope and Charity. Draw Faith, Hope, and Charity from the Bible with these three encircle the whole earth, and order all thy actions by the square of truth, so shall the heavens be opened upon thee."
Curiously enough, in Germany, the `Handbuch' tells us this symbolism is not used, nor on the continent generally. It has been pointed out by Oliver, by the `Handbuch,' and by others, that this is a mystical ladder to be found in the teaching of most other occult systems. Thus in the Mithraic mysteries the seven-runged ladder is said to have been a symbol of the ascent of the soul to perfection. Each of the rungs was termed a gate, and the `Handbuch' declares that the aspirants had to pass through a dark and winding cavern. The last, or Adytum, was full of light, and also assures us that in the old Hebraic Cabala the number of steps (for they had a cabalistic ladder also), was unlimited, until the Essenes reduce the number to seven. The latter Cabalists are said to have made ten Sephriroth - the Kingdom, the Foundation, Splendor, Firmness, Beauty, Justice, Mercy, Intelligence, Wisdom, and the Crown, by which we arrive at the Infinite, as Mackey and others put it.
It is alleged that in the mysteries of Brahma and in the Egyptian mysteries this ladder is also to be found. But this fact seems a little doubtful especially as the Egyptian mysteries little is known. The ladder is, however, to be seen among the hieroglyphics. In the Brahmic mysteries there is, we are told a ladder of seven steps, emblematic of seven worlds. The first and lowest was the Earth; the second, the World of Pre-Existence; the third, Heaven; the fourth, the Middle World, or intermediate region; the fifth, the World of Births; the sixth, the Mansions of the Blest; and the seventh, the Sphere of Truth. Some little difference of opinion exists as to the representation of the Brahmic teaching. It has been stated that in Hermetic or higher Masonry, so-called, the seven steps represent Justice, Equality, Kindness, Good Faith, Labor, Patience and intelligence. They are also represented as Justice, Charity, Innocence, Sweetness, Faith, Firmness and Truth, the Greater Work, Responsibility. But this is quite a modern arrangement in all probability. In Freemasonry it has been said that the ladder with its seven rungs or steps represents the four cardinal and three theological virtues which in symbolism seems to answer to the seven grades of Hermetic symbolism. It must be remembered that we have no actual old operative ritual before us, and on the other hand we must not lay too much store by the negative evidence of later rituals - that is, because we do not find until then actual mention of certain words and symbolisms therefore conclude they did not exist earlier. On the whole, Jacob's ladder in Freemasonry seems to point to the connection between Faith and Heaven, man and God, and to represent Faith, Hope and Charity; or, as it is declared, Faith in God, Charity to all men, and Hope in Immortality.
Source: The Craftsman - December 1897
THREE PRINCIPAL ROUNDS:
“And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and beheld a ladder set upon the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and beheld the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac.” These words (Genesis XXVIII, 10-13 inclusive)v are the foundation of that beautiful symbol of the Entered Apprentice’s Degree in which the initiate first hears”. . . the greatest of these is charity, for our faith may be lost in sight, hope ends in fruition, but charity extends beyond the grave, through the boundless realms of eternity.” At least two prophets besides the describer of Jacob’s vision have spoken aptly reinforcing words Job said (XXXIII, 14-16):
“For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed: Then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instructions.”
And St. John (I,51):
“And he said unto him, Verily, verily I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”
Since the dawn of thought the ladder has been a symbol of progress, of ascent, of reaching upward, in many mysteries, faiths and religions. Sometimes the ladder becomes steps, sometimes a stairway, sometimes a succession of gates or, more modernly, of degrees; but he idea of ascent from darkness to light, from ignorance to knowledge and from materially to spiritually is the same whatever the form of the symbol.
In the Persian Mysteries of Mithras, the candidate ascended a ladder of seven rounds, and also passed through seven caverns, symbolized by seven metals, and by the sun, moon and five planets. The early religion of Brahma had also a seven stepped ladder. In the Scandinavian Mysteries the initiate climbed a tree; the Cabalists made progress upward by ten steps. In the Scottish Rite the initiate encounters the Ladder of Kadosh, also of seven steps, and most of the early tracing boards of the Craft Degrees show a ladder of seven rounds, representing the four cardinal and three theological virtues. At one time, apparently, the Masonic ladder had but three steps. The Prestonian lecture, which Mackey thought was an elaboration of Dunkerly’s system, rests the end of the ladder on the Holy Bible; it reads:
“By the doctrines contained in the Holy Bible, we are taught to believe in the Divine dispensation of Providence, which belief strengthens our “Faith,” and enables us to ascend the first step. That Faith naturally creates in a “Hope” of becoming partakers of some of the blessed promises therein recorded, which “Hope” enables us to ascend the second step. But the third and last being “Charity” comprehends the whole, and he who is possessed of this virtue in its ample sense, is said to have arrived at the summit of his profession, or more metaphorically, into an etherial mansion veiled from mortal eye by the starry firmament.”
The theological ladder is not very old in Masonic symbolism, as far as evidence shows. Some historians have credited it to Matin Clare, in 1732, but on very slender evidence. It seems to appear first is a tracing board approximately dated 1776, and has there but three rounds. As the tracing board is small, the contraction from seven to three may have been a matter of convenience. If it is true that Dunkerly introduced Jacob’s ladder into the degrees, he my have reduced the steps from seven to three merely to emphasize the number three, so important Masonically; possibly it was to achieve a certain measure of simplicity. Preston, however, restored the idea of seven steps, emphasizing the theological virtues by denominating them “principal rounds.
The similarity of Jacob’s Ladder of seven steps to the Winding Stairs, with three, five and seven steps has caused many to believe each but a different form of the same symbol; Haywood says (“The Builder, Vol.5, No.11):
“Other scholars have opined that the steps were originally the same as the Theological Ladder, and had the same historical origin. Inasmuch as this Theo-logical Ladder symbolized progress, just as does the Winding Stair, some argue that the latter symbol must have come from the same sources as the former. This interpretation of the matter my be plausible enough, and it may help towards an interpretation of both symbols, but it suffers from an almost utter lack of tangible evidence.”
Three steps or seven, symbol similar to the Winding Stairs or different in meaning and implications, the theological virtues are intimately interwoven in the Masonic system. Our many rituals alter the phraseology here and there, but the sense is the same and the concepts identical.
According to the dictionary (Standard) Faith is “a firm conviction of the truth of what is declared by another . . .without other evidence: The assent of the mind or understanding to the truth of what God has revealed.”
The whole concept of civilization rests upon that form of faith covered in the first definition. Without faith in promises, credit and the written word society as we know it could not exist. Nor could Freemasonry have been born, much less lived through many centuries without secular, as distinguished from religious, faith; faith in the integrity of those who declared that Freemasonry had value to give to those who sought; faith in its genuineness and reality; faith in its principles and practices.
Yet our ritual declares that the third, not the first, round of the ladder is “the greatest of these” because “faith may be lost in sight.” Faith is not needed where evidence is presented, and in the far day when the human soul may see for itself the truths we now except without demonstrations, faith may disappear without any con- sciousness of loss. But on earth faith in the divine revelation is of the utmost importance to all, especially from the Masonic standpoint. No atheist can be made a Mason. Any man who misstates his belief in Deity in order to become a Mason will have a very unhappy experience in taking the degrees. Young wrote:
“Faith builds a bridge across the gulf of death To break the shock blind nature cannot shun And lands though smoothly on the further shore.”
The candidate that has no “bridge across the gulf” will find in the degrees only words which mean nothing. To the soul on its journey after death, the third round may indeed be of more import than the first; to Masons in their doctrine and their Lodges, the first round is a foundation; lacking it no brother may climb the heights. Hope is intimately tied to faith: “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
The dictionary declares hope to be “desire with expectations of obtaining: to trust confidently that good will come.” But the dictionary definition fails to express the mental and spiritual importance of hope. Philosophers and poets have done much better. “Where there is no hope, there can be no endeavor,” says Samuel Johnson, phrasing a truism everyone feels though few express. All ambitions, all human actions, all labors are founded on hope. It may be crystallized into a firm faith, but in a world in which nothing is certain, the future inevitably is hidden. We live, love, labor, pray, marry and become Masons. bury our dead with hope in breasts of something beyond. Pope wrote:
“Hope spring eternal in the human breast; Many never is, but always to be, blest,” blending a cynicism with the truth.
Shakespeare came closer to everyday humanity when he said: “True hope is swift, and flies with swallow’s wings; Kings it makes gods, and meaner creatures, kings.”
Dante could find no more cruel words to write above the entrance to hell than:
“Abandon all hope, all ye who enter here.”
Nor can we be argued out of hope; doctors say of a loved one, “she must die,” but we hope; atheists attempt to prove there is no God - we hope. Facts demonstrate that our dearest ambition can never be realized - yet we hope. To quote Young again, we are all:
“Confiding, though confounded; hope coming on, Untaught by trial, unconvinced by proof, And ever looking for the never seen.” And yet, vital though hope is to man, to Masons, and thrice vital to faith. our ritual says that charity is greater than either faith or hope.
To those whom charity means only handing a quarter to a beggar, paying a subscription to the community chest, or sending old clothes to the Salvation army, the declaration that charity is greater than faith or hope is difficult to accept. Only when the word “charity” is read to mean “love,” as many scholars say it should be translated in Paul’s magnificent passage in Corinthians, does our ritual become logically intelligible. Charity of alms can hardly “extend through the boundless realms of eternity.” To give money to the poor is a beautiful act, but hardly as important, either to the giver or the recipient, as faith or hope. But to give love, unstinted, without hope of or faith in reward - that, indeed, may well extend to the very foot of the Great White Throne.
It is worth while to read St. Paul with this meaning of the word in mind; here is the quotation from the King James version, but with the word “love” substituted for the word “charity:”
“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing. Love suffereth long, and is kind; Love enveith not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up. Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth.”
Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Love never faileth; but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.”
“When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face; now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, love; these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
It is of such charity that a Mason’s faith is made. He is, indeed, taught the beauty of giving that which is material; the Rite of Destitution shows forth the tender lesson in the first degree; Masonic Homes, Schools, Foundation, Orphanages and Hospitals are the living exponents of the charity which means to give from a plenty to those who have but a paucity.
The first of the principal tenets of our profession and the third round of Jacob’s Ladder are really one; brotherly love is “the greatest of these” and only when a Mason takes to his heart the reading of charity to be more than alms, does he see the glory of that moral structure the door to which Freemasonry so gently, but so widely, opens.
Charity of thought for an erring brother; charity which lays a brotherly hand on a troubled shoulder in comfort; charity which exults with the happy and finds joy in his success; charity which sorrows with the grieving and drops a tear in sympathy; charity which opens the heart as well as the pocket book; charity which stretches forth a hand of hope to the hopeless, which aids the helpless, which brings new faith to the crushed . . .aye, these, indeed, may “extend through the boundless realms of eternity.”
Man is never so close to the divine as when he loves; it is because of that fact that charity, (meaning love,) rather than faith or hope, is truly, “the greatest of these.”
Source: Short Talk Bulletin - Apr. 1935
Masonic Service Association of North America
Jacob’s Ladder:
Jacob’s Ladder is the only reference from the volume of the Sacred Law which is mentioned twice in the Craft Ritual; it must therefore, be considered to be of great importance. In our Masonic ritual, the first mention of Jacob’s ladder describes how Masons are enabled to ascend to the summit of masonry, i.e. Charity. This ascent is made possible from it’s beginning in the doctrines of the Holy Book followed by ascending the steps of Faith and Hope which in turn lead to the summit - CHARITY.
The second mention of Jacob’s Ladder in the ritual is in the explanation of the first Tracing Board which refers to the Volume of the Sacred Law supporting Jacob’s Ladder, but this time it brings us directly to God in Heaven, provided that we are conversant with the Holy Book and are adherent to it’s doctrines.
The Introduction of Jacob’s Ladder into speculative Masonry is to be traced to the vision of Jacob, which is recorded in the book of Genesis. “When Jacob, while sleeping one night , with the bare earth for his couch and a stone for his pillow, beheld the vision of a ladder, whose foot rested on the earth and whose top reached to heaven. Angels were continually ascending and descending upon it, and promised him the blessing of a numerous and happy prosperity. When Jacob awoke, he was filled with pious gratitude, and consecrated the spot as the house of God.”
This ladder, so remarkable in the history of the Jewish people, is to be found in all the ancient initiations. Whether by coincidence, or that they were all derived from a common fountain of symbolism is unknown. However, it is certain that the ladder as a symbol of moral and intellectual progress existed almost universally in antiquity, as a succession of steps, of gates, of degrees or in some other modified form. The number of steps varied; but most commonly was seven in allusion to the mystical importance given to that number. Thus in the Persian mysteries of Mithras, there was a ladder of seven rounds, the passage through them being symbolical of the soul’s approach to perfection. These rounds were called Gates, and, in allusion to them, the candidate was made to pass through seven dark and winding caverns, which process was called the ‘Ascent of the Ladder of Perfection’.
Each round of the ladder was said to be of metal and of increasing purity, and was dignified also with the name of it’s protecting planet. The highest being Gold . &. . . The Sun, next Silver and the Moon . . . through to Lead and Saturn. In the mysteries of Brahma we find the same reference to a ladder of seven steps, with similar names. In Scandinavian mysteries the tree Yggrasil was the representative of the mystical ladder. The ascent of the tree, like the ascent of the ladder, was a change from a lower to a higher sphere - from time to eternity, and from death to life.
In Masonry we find the ladder of Kadosh, which consists of seven steps, commencing from the bottom : Justice - Equity - Kindness - Good Faith - Labour - Patience and Intelligence. The idea of Intellectual progress to perfection is carried out by making the top round represent Wisdom or Understanding.
The ladder in Craft Masonry ought also to consist of seven steps, ascending as follows : Temperance - Fortitude - Prudence - Justice - Faith - Hope - and Charity. But the earliest examples of the ladder present it only with three, referring to the three theological virtues, whence it is sometimes called the Theological Ladder. It seems, therefore, to have been determined by general usage to have only three steps. In the 16th. century it was stated that Jacob’s ladder was a symbol of the progressive scale of intellectual communication between earth and heaven; and upon this ladder, as it were, step by step, man is permitted - with the angels - to ascend and to descend until the mind finds blissful and complete repose in the bosom of divinity.
Jewish writers differ very much in their exposition of the ladder. Abben Ezra thought that it was a symbol of the human mind, and that the Angels represented the sublime meditations of man. Maimonides supposed the ladder to symbolise Nature in it’s operations, giving it four steps, to represent the four elements - the two heavier earth and water - and the two lighter - fire and air. And Raphael interprets the ladder, and the ascent and descent of the Angels, as the prayers of man and the answering inspiration of God. Nicolai says that the ladder with three steps was, among the Rosicrucian Freemasons in the seventeenth century, a symbol of the knowledge of nature. Finally Krause says that Brother Keher of Edinburgh, whom he described as a truthful Mason, had in 1802 assured the members of a Lodge in Altenberg that originally only one Scottish degree existed, whose object was the restoration of James III (1460 ) to the throne of England and that Jacob’s ladder had been adopted by them as a symbol. An authentic narrative is purported to be contained in the archives of the Grand Lodge of Scotland.
In the Ancient Craft degrees Jacob’s ladder was not an original symbol. The first appearance of a ladder is in a Tracing Board, on which is inscribed the date 1776, which agrees with the date of Dunkerley’s revised lectures. In this Tracing Board the ladder has only three rounds, a change from the seven-stepped ladder of the old mysteries, and was later described as having many rounds, but three principal ones.
The modern Masonic ladder, is, as I have already said, a symbol of progress, as it was in the ancient initiations. It’s three principal rounds, representing Faith, Hope and Charity, present us with the means of advancing from earth to heaven, from death to life, from the mortal to immortality. Hence it’s foot is placed on the floor of the Lodge, which is typical of the world, and it’s top rests on the covering of the Lodge, which is symbolic of heaven. Which explains the statement given in the lecture on the Tracing Board of the First Degree in Craft Masonry, that the ladder rests on the Holy Bible and reaches to the heavens.
The Stone:
Before I close I would like to take you back to those words from the Book of Genesis, namely, “. . . . with the bare earth for his couch and a stone for a pillow. . . . “
Almost 4,000 years ago fate brought Jacob’s caravan to a place called Bethel near Jerusalem, then as even now it was the custom for a traveller to bolster his pillow and bedding with stones for a more comfortable position.
With his head resting on a particular stone, Jacob is said to have had his famous dream, which we have heard earlier.
Jacob prospered in wealth and knowledge and was directed by God to return to Bethel. On his return, the Lord again appeared to him saying “I am the God of Bethel”, thus the Lord associated himself not only with the place of the vision but with the Bethel Stone. Jacob took the Stone with him and, from that time on it was always set up as a pillar marking the altar to the God of Israel.
The Bethel Stone, finally, was returned to Jerusalem where it served as the Coronation Stone for the Jewish Kings, ending with the infamous Zedekiah in 581 B.C. According to Irish historians, a few years later (578 B.C. ) a small but distinguished group of strangers, who had fled from Palestine, arrived in Ulster. They had brought with them the Bethel Stone, or Stone of Destiny, together with a Royal harp and an Ark. It is significant to note that a Harp has been the royal arms of Ireland for the last 2,500 years.
The Stone remained in Ireland for over 1,000 years where every king of Ireland was crowned upon it. Till Fearghus Mor ( The Great )took it to the Scottish island of Iona. Here 48 kings of Scotland were crowned upon it until the ninth century, when it was transferred to the town of Scone near Perth for safe keeping by Coinneach Cruadalach (the Hardy) who became King of Scotland. There it remained for 400 years as that nations coronation stone.
In the reign of England’s Edward I it was removed from Scotland (1292 ), either by force or by mutual agreement (the Authorities disagree), and there it remained located under the Coronation Chair in the Westminster Abbey until 1996, when it was returned to Scotland by a special Act of Parliament.
Early Rose Croix:
It would appear from reliable documentation that was still in existence, in Austria, prior to the Second World War, that a form of Rose Croix Masonry was first known in 1747, which had formerly been known as “Knights of the Pelican”. There are a number of references, under a variety of different titles, which all purport to relate to Rose Croix Masonry. These variously date back as far as the Knights Templars of Palestine in 1188 A.D. However, the earliest reference to Rose Croix without any additional appendage, and which seems most likely to be to be in accord with the Order as we know it today, first appeared in 1747.
In the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, from which the Rose Croix Masons of America first received the degree, it was placed 18th. on the list - thus the degree became known ( by common usage ) as the Eighteenth Degree. The degree was conferred in a body known as a chapter, which derived it’s authority directly from a Supreme Council of the Thirty Third degree, and which conferred with it only one other and inferior degree, that of “Knight of the East and West”. A chapters principal officers being a Most Wise Sovereign and two Wardens. Interestingly, the order had two ‘Obligatory’ days of meeting, Maundy Thursday and Easter Sunday. Maundy Thursday or Holy Thursday is the Thursday before Easter, observed by Christians in commemoration of Christ’s Last Supper. The name ‘Maundy is derived from MANDATUM ( Latin: “commandment” ).
The Jewel of the Rose Croix is a Golden Compasses, extended on an arc to the sixteenth part of a circle - or twenty two and a half degrees. The head of the compasses is surmounted by a triple crown, consisting of three series of points arranged by three, five and seven. Between the legs of the compasses is a cross resting on the arc; it’s centre is occupied by a full blown rose, whose stem entwines around the lower limb of the cross; at the foot of the cross, on the same side, on which the rose is exhibited, is the figure of a Pelican wounding it’s breast to feed it’s young, which are in the nest surrounding it.
An interesting article:
jsc2018e097766 - At their Cosmonaut Hotel crew quarters in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Expedition 58 crew members Anne McClain of NASA (left), Oleg Kononenko of Roscosmos (center) and David Saint-Jacques (right) review flight procedures with a training instructor Nov. 27 as part of their pre-launch training. They will launch Dec. 3 on the Soyuz MS-11 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a six-and-a-half month mission on the International Space Station...NASA/Victor Zelentsov
Melissa McGregor, a registered nurse, prepares the iTind device that will be placed into a patient's prostatic urethra during a procedure at Penn State Health Hampden Medical Center.
via
Is Lasik really worth it? We think so! In this article, we will be covering the national patient satisfaction rate of Lasik eye surgery. We will then compare it to other popular cosmetic treatments to see how they rank. Lasik is one of the most commonly performed cosmetic treatments in the unites states. In fact, Lasik eye surgery is the most performed cosmetic procedure in the world.
According to the American Academy of Opthalmology or the AAO, Lasik has seen a whopping 30 million procedures performed globally since it was first patented in the early 1980s and close to 700,000 thousand procedures are performed every year in the United States and growing. When comes down to it, Lasik is worth the price, and here’s why!
How well does Lasik score nationally?
Lasik, or laser in situ keratomileusis utilizes a laser to reshape the cornea of the eye and correct refractive errors. Refractive errors in the eye result in hyperopia and myopia, also known as nearsightedness and farsightedness. Here in Michigan, Lasik is used as a mechanism to free patients from their eyeglasses and contact lenses so they can enjoy life without the need for corrective eyewear, and this holds true around the world as well.
Numerous studies from 2018 have shown that 99% of Lasik eye surgery patients obtain greater than 20/40 eyesight. Studies also show that over 90% of patients obtain better than the advertised 20/20 vision. These statistics are with traditional Lasik as well, not the cutting edge CATz Lasik offered at Yaldo Eye Center and at other globally recognized Lasik practices. In addition to its high success rate, Lasik boasts an unparalleled 98% patient satisfaction rate; the greatest of any cosmetic surgery.
Lasik vs Hair Transplants
The hair transplant is another cosmetic procedure growing rapidly in popularity. During an FUE hair transplant, surgeons extract hairs in follicular units and transplant them to balding areas of the head. Follicles on the back and sides of the scalp are genetically resistant to balding. For this reason, they typically make up the donor hairs for grafting. As hair transplants become more popular in the United States, they are also greatly decreasing in cost. This is because more cosmetic practices are offering the procedure and technology is making it easier to perform.
Many different FUE hair transplant techniques exist. They include manual FUE, motorized FUE such as NeoGraft or SmartGraft, and robotic FUE using the ARTAS system. Motorized and robotic techniques typically carry the same cost as manual FUE and typically produce similar results. With that being said, they do make the procedure a bit more efficient. Lowering the procedure time for a treatment like hair restoration can surely increase patient satisfaction.
According to Bernstein Medical Research, over 395,000 hair restoration procedures are performed annually around the world. According to an international study by JAMA, hair transplants boast a global patient satisfaction rate of 97%. At this number, hair restoration comes really close to matching Lasik in terms of patient satisfaction.
Lasik vs Breast Reduction
Reduction Mammoplasty, more commonly referred to as breast reduction surgery, is an extremely popular procedure in the US. Just like Lasik, breast reduction has more than just a cosmetic benefit for patients. Women with extensively large breasts can suffer from bra strap grooving, back pain, poor posture, and muscle aches. During a breast reduction, an incision is created around the areola, extending down the center of the breast. Fat and glandular mass is removed in order to lighten the breasts and make them proportional to the body.
Breast reduction surgery is known to be one of the most life-changing and liberating procedures someone can have. Despite this belief, it holds a national patient satisfaction rate of 95% in 2018. Even though breast reduction results in a major lifestyle improvement. In short, the experience of an invasive surgery like breast reduction will always be a challenge. The easy procedure and recovery of Lasik give it a major boost in patient satisfaction.
Lasik vs Rhinoplasty (Nose-Job)
Rhinoplasty, or a “nose job” is a procedure designed to reshape the nose and eliminate nasal asymmetries, irregularities, and deformities. During rhinoplasty, a plastic surgeon creates incisions in the nose and works to mold a more subtle and symmetrical appearance that matches the patients face. They can reshape the structure by shaving bone and cartilage or by grafting fat cells into the nose. The surgeon can widen the nose, lower bumps, define the nasal tip, and much more.
Rhinoplasty is one of the most commonly performed cosmetic procedures in the United States, but how does it compare to Lasik? According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, approximately 223,018 rhinoplasty procedures were performed in 2018. This is nearly 1/3 the amount of Lasik eye surgeries performed.
This is mainly due to the fact that Rhinoplasty is a purely cosmetic procedure, and unlike Lasik, does not provide a functional and practical benefit to someones daily life. According to the Aesthetic Surgery Journal, rhinoplasty reached a national patient satisfaction rate of only 84% in 2018. This number causes many to cringe in comparison to the unparalleled 98% patient satisfaction rate of all-laser Lasik eye surgery.
Lasik vs Blepharoplasty (Eyelid Surgery)
Blepharoplasty, which is more commonly referred to as eyelid surgery, is also one of the most common cosmetic procedures performed in the US. As Michigans leaders in everything eyecare, we have personal experience performing premium Eyelid Surgery at the Yaldo Eye Center.
Eyelid surgery consists of creating incisions around the eyelid, corresponding to the area of focus, and then removing and tightening loose and saggy skin. Eyelid surgery is designed to treat saggy and droopy looking eyelids which often come naturally with age. Double Eyelid surgery is the most popular technique used in order to restore a youthful and healthy look to patients suffering from these conditions.
Eyelid Surgery Statistics
According to the ASPS, over 209,500 eyelid procedures were performed in 2018, ranking it among the top 5 most popular plastic surgeries in America. Although eyelid surgery is very popular, it only achieved an 85% patient satisfaction rate in 2018. We believe the reason for this is because eyelid surgery is a very delicate procedure, and many people performing it are not as experienced as the professionals at Yaldo Eye Center.
Because of this, patients are not getting the results they were promised or even “sold on” and are thus reporting a lower patient satisfaction rate. Even in the hands of professionals like us, blepharoplasty will never reach the unprecedented patient satisfaction rate of Lasik. This is because Lasik eye surgery provides such as a boost to one’s quality of life that long term patient satisfaction is inevitable.
Lasik vs Liposuction
Liposuction, is another one of the most commonly performed cosmetic treatments in the United States. Over 235,237 treatments were recorded in the year 2018. Liposuction is a popular treatment designed to eliminate stubborn fat from the body. Laser-liposuction entails inserting a cannula under the patient’s skin and liquifying fat cells via radio frequency. The liquefied fat cells are then sucked up via the cannula and the patient’s body is permanently re-contoured.
Liposuction is a procedure that removes excess body fat. It allows patients to permanently enhance their body contours. Liposuction is most commonly used to treat visceral fat build ups around the abdomen and thigh area. It can also treat fat under the arms that come with old age.
The national patient satisfaction rate of liposuction, which was only 80% in 2017, comes nowhere near that of Lasik’s 98%. Liposuction has a lower rate than Lasik for many reasons. As an invasive procedure, the overall experience is nowhere near as comfortable and pain-free as Lasik.
Second, the results of liposuction can take months to realize, while CATz Lasik can present patients with notably enhanced vision, the day after surgery. Liposuction also commonly presents more complications such as bleeding and bruising. Lasik on the other hand, only occasionally presents dry eyes in patients who neglect postoperative care.
Lasik vs Breast Augmentation
Breast augmentation is the 2nd most popular cosmetic and the #1 most popular plastic surgery in 2019. More specifically, breast augmentation utilizing synthetic implants, either composed of saline or silicone. Breast implants can increase the size, fullness, and outward projection of the breasts. Breasts have long been a symbol of beauty and femininity in women. It’s no surprise that close to 300,000 women chose to have breast implants every year in the US.
Breast augmentation is also very popular among patients looking to restore lost breast volume after a mastectomy. This surgery is known as breast reconstruction and does not factor into the statistics of breast augmentation. Larger, perkier, and more youthful breasts can provide women with a boost of self-esteem and confidence. They may help women feel more confident and attractive in their body.
Breast implants were taboo when they first became popularized, but in recent years, they have been growing in popularity. This upward trend is supported by the addition of teardrop shaped implants and the vast improvements in cohesive silicone engineering. Since the year 2000, breast augmentation has increased by 37%. In 2017, over 300,000 produced were performed in the United States.
This number places breast augmentation as the #1 plastic surgery and the #2 cosmetic surgery in the US by volume. Implants are second to Lasik, which boasts double the procedures every single year. In addition, 92% of women reported being satisfied with their breast augmentation experience and results.
Lasik vs Mastopexy (Breast Lift)
Unlike breast augmentation, a breast lift does not incorporate synthetic implants. A breast lift cannot increase the size, fullness, and volume of the breasts. With this in mind, it certainly can create a more youthful and vibrant look. The breast lift is used to treat women who are suffering from saggy and droopy breasts. These symptoms typically come from aging, weight fluctuation, or pregnancy.
The surgeon begins by creating an incision around the areola, similar to that of a breast reduction discussed earlier. The surgeon then repositions the areola and nipple to a higher point on the breasts. Once the areola is positioned, the surgeon then removes excess fat, tissue, and glandular mass from the breasts. The surrounding skin is tightened to create a lifted, youthful look, hence the name breast lift.
In 2018, over 101,000 breast lift procedures were performed. This places it among the top 10 most performed cosmetic treatments in the US. In 2018, the breast lift held a national patient satisfaction rate of 93%. This is significantly greater than some of the cosmetic surgeries mentioned earlier, but still low in comparison to Lasik eye surgery and even less popular refractive surgeries such as PRK, Lasek, and the ever-increasing Multifocal implants, or ICL procedure.
Lasik vs Abdominoplasty (Tummy Tuck)
Abdominoplasty, more commonly known as the tummy tuck, is a very popular cosmetic procedure in the United States. Over 127,000 tummy tuck surgeries were recorded in 2018. An abdominoplasty is a procedure that entails a repairing of the abdomen and removal of excess skin. When patients lose weight they are often left with excess skin which cannot be eliminated naturally. During a tummy tuck, excess skin around the midsection is trimmed and tightened creating a tighter tummy.
This process consists of opening the abdomen and restitching loose and torn abdominal muscles. This results in a firmer and harder midsection which cannot be attained naturally if the muscles are torn. The abdominal muscles are often stretched when people gain a significant amount of weight and lose it abruptly. Abdominal muscles can become permanently torn with pregnancy and for this reason, it is very often included in a mommy makeover.
In 2018, the tummy tuck earned a national patient satisfaction rate of approximately 86%, which similar to most cosmetic procedures as we have learned, pales in comparison to that of Lasik eye surgery. This is because the tummy tuck can result in many more complications than Lasik. Tummy Tucks also have a significantly more challenging recovery than Lasik.
Why does Lasik dominate the market?
Lasik is more than just the most successful procedure in the US, its also the most popular. With 700,000 procedures a year, Lasik sees more than double the procedure volume as breast augmentation.
Lasik eye surgery has many benefits that bring it to the top of both lists. The first is that it is a very practical procedure. Procedures such as breast augmentation and rhinoplasty have little practical advantages past making patients look better. Although looking better and increasing self-esteem has amazing benefits to a patients quality of life, it does not compare to the results of eliminating the constant and impractical stress that is corrective eyewear such as contacts and glasses from ones daily life.
The second reason, is the experience of Lasik eye surgery compared to other popular procedures. Most of the competing procedures are very invasive and often require spending a night in the hospital. This leaves patients with a less pleasing experience and a more painful and challenging recovery after surgery. Lasik is not invasive, as it merely consists of firing an excimer laser into the cornea and reshaping the patient’s eye to properly refract light. The procedure takes roughly 15 min to complete and patients can be home quick. Cosmetic procedures such as breast reduction or a tummy tuck can take hours to complete.
Why is Lasik a global success?
Patients who visit our Lasik Michigan center on their day of surgery, usually arrive home 1 hour after their surgery. Patients are given simple recovery instructions and rarely experience pain or discomfort. In addition, our Lasik patients spend the night after surgery in the comfort of their own home.
All in all, Lasik eye surgery is #1 for a reason. The treatment is very practical, affordable, and easy to undergo and recover from. As technology improves, Lasik will only grow more in popularity and patient satisfaction. As we mentioned earlier, the 98% satisfaction rate was with patients who had traditional all laser Lasik. If you recall, most of the top providers in the nation, now strictly feature the CATz Lasik system.
Would you like to learn more about how Lasik eye surgery can help improve your quality of life? Are you interested in a FREE Lasik evaluation with Michigan’s premier eye surgeon, Dr. Yaldo? If so, give us a call today at (248)-553-9800. We are Yaldo Eye Center, Michigan’s leaders in everything eyecare.
Looking for the best cataract surgeon in Michigan? Dr. Yaldo is an expert cataract surgeon who has performed over 10,000 cataract procedures for patients throughout Michigan and the Midwest.
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jsc2018e097763 - At their Cosmonaut Hotel crew quarters in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Expedition 58 backup crew members Drew Morgan of NASA (left), Alexander Skvortsov of Roscosmos (center) and Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency (right) review flight procedures with a training instructor Nov. 27 as part of their pre-launch training. They are the backups to Anne McClain of NASA, Oleg Kononenko of Roscosmos and David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency who will launch Dec. 3 on the Soyuz MS-11 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a six-and-a-half month mission on the International Space Station...NASA/Victor Zelentsov
We have the industry’s strictest policies and procedures in place to ensure that we market breast milk substitutes responsibly. This includes a global policy on the marketing of breast milk substitutes, training of all our employees who work in infant nutrition, regular internal and external audits of our practices, and implementation of whistleblowing and reporting procedures. We are committed to continuously improving our practices in this area. We are currently working hard to help our distributors and retailers to commercialise our products responsibly and in line with our policies.
Soon after we arrived at the clinic, Dr. Bart was called back in to do the pre-op appointment that was supposed to have happened hours earlier, but didn't because the train schedule made us so late. He took some "before" pictures and went over the plan for the procedure in more detail. Claire thinks she might have had better results if it wasn't so rushed.
Claire.
pre op pictures, pre operation pictures.
before surgery.
September 3, 2018.
Pic by Bart Van De Ven.
... Read my blog at clintjcl at wordpress dot com
Claire got her Facial Feminization Surgery with Dr. Bart Van De Ven at the 2Pass Clinic in Antwerp, Belgium on September 4th, 2018.
***************** FOR THE FULL LOGOF CLAIRE'S FFS RECOVERY, VISIT HER PAGE AT www.facebook.com/cleo.jane.sawyer/posts/459732837767406 *****************
He had a lot of before and after pictures for Claire to look at, and a 6-day stay in their clinic to include food and board was included in the price. It was a really nice facility, and Carolyn was glad that Claire had chosen 2Pass over PriyaMed in India, after seeing CT scans confirming friends had paid for procedures that were never even done (PriyaMed suuuuucks!). Dr. Bart and the entire 2Pass staff, including the resident who lived at the clinic and took care of all the patients, Petra, were very nice and friendly. We absolutely have complaints about the experience -- the implants that made my mouth look worse formonths, only to threaten my life, creating two more additional surgeries for me to undergo and recover from. The nerve damage on my chin, which I think could have been avoided if Dr. Bart didn't insist that CT scans are unnecessary while any upscale FFS place does CT scans. The complication under my eye which literally exploded out of my face, but only 14 months later. Letting me leave without my chin strap. Sending me home when I wasn't really fit to fly yet. Having a big wooden table with an irregular shape that people trip over, which is very easy when your eyes are sewn shut. Not shaving as much off my forehead quite as I'd hoped (but still an amazing forehead job!). Not doing as much jaw work as I'd hoped (and that nerve damage). Not including a neck lift in my package when it absolutely should have been (it's so saggy now & it has been indicated as something I should do by another FFS surgeon).The surgery was good -- I've had people tell me in private that my FFS is the best FFS they've ever seen (wow) -- but it wasn't A+ for us. It was more like a A- or B+ for results, B+ for price, C for choosing the right procedures to perform on me, and a C- for complications endured. We felt like there was a lot of room for improvement in our experience as well. Like they don't say what time of day to arrive, and only let you check into your room a few hours before your appointment. So we ended up being several hours late because of this -- they could simply let people in 6-8 hrs before their appointment, then we would have been able to aim earlier and not be late. But at the same time...no regrets. This surgery was the best thing to ever happen to me. I'm very happy with what 2Pass did for me. I just wish things had gone better.
***************** FOR THE FULL LOG OF CLAIRE'S FFS RECOVERY, VISIT HER PAGE AT www.facebook.com/cleo.jane.sawyer/posts/459732837767406 *****************
Claire's Transition Progress at this point: 13 months on estrogen HRT (since 8/2017) [injectable since 1/2018: 48 injections in 8mos], 5mos on progesterone (since 4/2018). !!!!!!!!! Facial Feminization Surgery **TOMORROW**(!!)--Going to 2Pass Clinic in Antwerp, Belgium, on 9/4/2018, to spend ~$28K having 6.5hrs of surgery performed by Dr. Bart Van De Ven) !!!!!!!!!!!!! DHEA (10mg/4d) to raise testosterone a bit (since 4/2018--5mos). 10X/d Biotin for fingernails (since 1/17--8mos). Full-time female since 9/2017 (1 year). Publicly out as trans since 10/11/2017 (10.5mos). Legally female since 12/21 (8mos). 7mos of voice training (since 2/2017)--16 speech therapy sessions (2 GWU semesters + 4-clinician session at UDC). Hair removal: 56 electrolysis sessions [since 4/2017] totaling 37.5 hours; 38 laser hair removal sessions [since 9/2016] (55 area treatments: 17/16/14/13 mouth/goatee/face/neck, 9 armpits, 7 legs/chest/ears/Brazilian); and bi-weekly at-home IPL on arms since 6/17 (over a year). Weight down to 145lbs (52 down from 197, but 10 up from 135). Same-weight waist measurement has dropped from 32" (12/2017) to 31" (6/2018) [now 35-31-35]. Boobs (Tanner IV) filling a 34A bra, but unsure of real cup size. Have seen endo/primary therapist 7X [bloodwork 6X], and 4 other therapists 13X--Currently on anticonvulsant mood stabilizer Lamictal (4.5mos since 4/15; 200mg/day). Latisse for eyelash lengthening since 4/17 (1yr,5mos). 2 dental implants, Zoom teeth whitening, pierced ears, star brand on ass (7/14/2018), hair dyed with a bit of purple in front. No haircuts since 1/2015--3.7yrs. Useless Sephora makeup class attended. Minor body contouring procedures purchased on groupon (8 laser lipo + 4 ultrasonic liposculpture + 3 non-invasive buttlift sessions + permanent lip coloring), to be done after FFS. Wardrobe replacement up to 1,140+ items. Total transition expenditures at this point are now over $53,000.
This 3D medical animation features a procedure called 'Root canal treatment'. This is a sequence of steps to treat the pulp of a tooth which results in the elimination of infection and protection of the decontaminated tooth from future microbial invasion.
Read More: A Latest Breakthrough Shoos Away Root Canals… - bit.ly/2gelh56
Check bit.ly/2gFuDrM to know more about dental animations.
VARPALOTA TRAINING AREA, Hungary - Cpt. John Lane, the battalion air-medical physician’s assistant for U.S. Army Europe’s 12th Combat Aviation Brigade, demonstrates various U.S. military aid and liter techniques to Soldiers from the 11th Royal Netherlands Army Maneuver Brigade during Exercise Saker Falcon 2014 here, March 31. Saker Falcon is a multinational training exercise involving roughly 200 Soldiers from U.S. Army Europe's 12th Combat Aviation Brigade, two Dutch Air Assault battalions, and Hungarian military forces. The objectives of the training include enhancing joint combined interoperability with allied and partner nations and preparing participants to operate in a joint, multinational, integrated environment with support from Hungarian governmental agencies. Saker Falcon, underway from April 3 through April 17, reinforces U.S. Army Europe's strategic objectives to increase regional flexibility, preserve and enhance NATO interoperability, and facilitate multinational training. (U.S. Army Europe photo by Spc. Joshua Leonard)
Just for those in need of a photo from the recent 2018/2019 Governance, Equity, & Technology Committee debate on the Seattle City Council procedures.
PHOTO CREDIT: Joe A. Kunzler Photo, AvgeekJoe Productions, growlernoise-AT-gmail-DOT-com
AGUACATAL, Honduras (April 1, 2009) Navy nurse Capt. Anne White and Honduran translator Sheila Garcia explain medical procedures to villagers from Aguacatal during the Beyond the Horizon humanitarian assistance exercise in Honduras. Reserve component doctors, nurses, and hospital corpsmen from Operational Hospital Support Unit, Dallas are providing medical services to six different Honduran villages during the two weeks exercise. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ron Kuzlik/Released)
Breast augmentation procedure is finished by putting inserts behind bosom tissue or under the chest muscle. An embed is a sac loaded up with either clean salt water (saline) or a material called silicone. The medical procedure is done at an outpatient medical procedure facility or in an emergency clinic. Most ladies get general sedation for this medical procedure.
Beautiful brunette woman massage her face with a beauty massager. Her skin fresh, clean and flawless. Spa procedure concept.
Procedure:
Set camera up to take ice photos at eight (8) seconds for water blur.
Move, then accidentally click the remote.
Walk with it, decide to delete later.
Open photo and click Autocontrast in PS5
Add Fractalius Filter.
Add second Fractalius Filter.
Add Topaz Light Effects.
Save as .PSD for more effects later. :-D
Save for Web to upload to Flickr.
Same procedure as every year (yay!) - this weekend I had the joyful honor to attend the Cologne fashion doll collectors' convention : )!
It was a fantastic day, I met with old and dear friends and got to know a whole bunch of lovely new people. My funniest moment was when a very kind french lady and her daughter came to my table and my french skills left me within a second. I could only excuse myself (in french at least!) with a laughing "I DO speak french, but not at this moment" - obviously *rotf* ; )
Ah, it was great! My photos surely aren't the best, they're usually taken in a hurry and only at the beginning of the day, since I'm becoming very busy afterwards, but at least I really did take some :).
To all of you who are going to attend the IT convention soon - I'm wishing you tons of fun, have many, many great moments, meet old and new friends and enjoy every minute. In my heart I'll be with you *hugs*!
Nina*
Our Motor Carrier Enforcement people staffed a checkpoint on OR 58 to make sure drivers chained up with snowy and icy conditions/
Stained and mounted slides in the ubiquitous 20-slide folder. The folder is delivered to the pathologist, who examines the slides with a microscope and makes a pathologic diagnosis.
In US labs, the slides are kept for at least ten years before being trashed. In that time, some fading does occur, but they are still readable. Some labs never throw out old slides but store them indefinitely.
Same procedure as every year (yay!) - this weekend I had the joyful honor to attend the Cologne fashion doll collectors' convention : )!
It was a fantastic day, I met with old and dear friends and got to know a whole bunch of lovely new people. My funniest moment was when a very kind french lady and her daughter came to my table and my french skills left me within a second. I could only excuse myself (in french at least!) with a laughing "I DO speak french, but not at this moment" - obviously *rotf* ; )
Ah, it was great! My photos surely aren't the best, they're usually taken in a hurry and only at the beginning of the day, since I'm becoming very busy afterwards, but at least I really did take some :).
To all of you who are going to attend the IT convention soon - I'm wishing you tons of fun, have many, many great moments, meet old and new friends and enjoy every minute. In my heart I'll be with you *hugs*!
Nina*
This is an account by a woman who had a near death experience while undergoing a minor surgical procedure. She happened to be a lawyer and decided to put to use her wordsmith skills to impart what she learned in a logical understandable way, building her case as it were. She called the book "Backward" because much of what she was taught as an American Christian is backwards from what it turned out to be. Most of this I had already discerned from having a non-Christian perspective and from being queer and from being a feminist and whatever else flew in the face of Christian morality. All the punishing, damnation, going-to-hell-parts turn out to be totally manipulative fear based erroneous dogma as we always thought it was.
What was interesting was the picture she gave of what was Source (i.e. God), who we are as light beings, what we came here to do and what is the human species. What was new for me was her precise division between the soul and the human body. I have (since college and Western Philosophy class) resisted the notion that mind was separate from body, but in her cosmology the soul comes from Source having split off as a splinter from Source, in order to experience life by inhabiting the human body.
She describes the human host as a loving generous animal that has conceded to share space with these light being pieces of Source. The human host has its own personality and quirks too. Thus we are a meeting of two separate forces. The pleasure seeking animal personality, its survival needs and fear of death on the human end and on the light being end a daredevil desire to learn what it can learn while embodied and embedded in human society even at the risk of immolation, suffering or damage to the host body. This perspective makes the drama of being simultaneously human and inspired deity a perfectly understandable and fascinating dilemma.
She also emphasizes how we got it backward with how much we emphasize the importance of human beauty and form. That the body does not really matter. It is what we can do while in the body that is interesting. Of course we have to take care of the body if we are to last long enough to complete our original learning intentions, but being crippled or handicapped matters far less and has nothing to do with karma as I was taught. More with what we came here to learn. She is quite critical of how American culture has reduced society to individual survival and how separation of Church and State has thrown out with the bath water a commonly shared ideal to improve society as a whole while jacking up capitalistic competitive achievement to planet destroying levels.
She also explains how Source does not judge our actions. It is all good whether we are serial killers or saints. Source wants to experience it all. Nor do our accomplishments and achievements impress Source. Or whether we finish anything or produce amazing pinnacles of artistic expression. It turns out that what is ultimately important is how we make others feel. What kind of impression we leave. How we have helped fellow souls advance their experience and life lessons. I found this criteria to redefine success in a much more satisfying and accessible way. One that sidesteps market value and commercial achievement, stardom and other super sized criteria.
Late in the book she relates her near death experience and her journey to "the other side". She describes how she was able to manifest anything she could put into thoughts just as I've experienced in shamanic journeying, but even more real. This means that your death will feature whatever fears or visions you had about it and it will take you that much longer to get through it, but if you are an experienced soul you will better know who to proceed. And it turns out that judgement day is not performed by a judge of any sort, but by you. As you review your life you will be able to access not only your own feelings, but how other people were impacted by your deeds down to the last detail of your entire life. This thought certainly makes going through the day a different experience.
And while she was on the other side she was able to experience knowledge unfathomable by human minds including the future. What she was able to retain upon reentry includes the impact of climate change and financial collapse in America owing to the insurance industry getting tapped out. There will not, however, be nuclear war or annihilation. She speaks of how we are coming to the end of the Second Epoch, the first having decimated the human population. The transition into the Third Epoch will not be quite as bad and more humans will survive. The survivors being of two types—those whose DNA have sufficiently mutated to become a new human species and those who have accelerated their vibration by working on their own personal growth.
So there you have it something to work towards. A pithy and dense read, but well explained. A book Catherine found and shared with my mother as well. I find myself referring to it a lot as I redefine my goals going forward in terms of how I think of my resources and how I will push myself to fulfill my desires in terms of fully fleshing out my destiny in this life. And how to access these desires through my intuition while damping down my fears of financial ruin and homelessness that are prompted by the instincts germane to human survival.
SAN DIEGO (Sept. 9, 2010) Chief Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician Jeff Rotherham, assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Training and Evaluation Unit (EODTEU) 1, demonstrates the proper collection procedure of a biological sample in a suspect clandestine biological warfare agent production facility. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass communication Specialist Second Class Elizabeth J. Dumolt/Released)
Procedures At Orange Coast Laser Specialists, we offer the most advanced laser tattoo removal and skin rejuvenation treatments using Cynosure's premier picosecond laser system on the market today: The PicoSure. This dynamic laser system specializes in fast and effective aesthetic treatments that are unparalleled by older platforms, including tattoo removal,
Gerrit Dou (1613-1675), active in Leiden
Doctor, 1653
Gerrit Dou, the oldest pupil of Rembrandt, by his with the utmost precision executed small format paintings became the founder of the Dutch "Fine art painting". His works that arose in exceedingly lengthy operations, yet during his lifetime have been very popular and sought after collector's items. Although the doctor, who gains his diagnosis from the check of the urine, follows a procedure accepted by mainstream medicine of the 17th century, but is characterized by his imaginative outfit as a charlatan.
Gerrit Dou (1613-1675), tätig in Leiden
Arzt, 1653
Gerrit Dou, der älteste Schüler Rembrandts, wurde durch seine mit äußerster Präzision ausgeführten kleinformatigen Gemälde der Begründer der holländischen "Feinmalerei". Seine Werke, die in überaus langwierigen Arbeitsvorgängen entstanden, fanden schon zu seinen Lebzeiten großen Anklang und waren gesuchte Sammlerstücke. Der Arzt, der seine Diagnose aus der Harnbeschau gewinnt, folgt zwar einem von der Schulmedizin des 17. Jahrhunderts anerkannten Verfahren, ist aber durch seine phantasievolle Aufmachung als Scharlatan charakterisiert.
Austria Kunsthistorisches Museum
Federal Museum
Logo KHM
Regulatory authority (ies)/organs to the Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Culture
Founded 17 October 1891
Headquartered Castle Ring (Burgring), Vienna 1, Austria
Management Sabine Haag
www.khm.at website
Main building of the Kunsthistorisches Museum at Maria-Theresa-Square
The Kunsthistorisches Museum (KHM abbreviated) is an art museum in Vienna. It is one of the largest and most important museums in the world. It was opened in 1891 and 2012 visited of 1.351.940 million people.
The museum
The Kunsthistorisches Museum is with its opposite sister building, the Natural History Museum (Naturhistorisches Museum), the most important historicist large buildings of the Ringstrasse time. Together they stand around the Maria Theresa square, on which also the Maria Theresa monument stands. This course spans the former glacis between today's ring road and 2-line, and is forming a historical landmark that also belongs to World Heritage Site Historic Centre of Vienna.
History
Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in his Gallery
The Museum came from the collections of the Habsburgs, especially from the portrait and armor collections of Ferdinand of Tyrol, the collection of Emperor Rudolf II (most of which, however scattered) and the art collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm into existence. Already In 1833 asked Joseph Arneth, curator (and later director) of the Imperial Coins and Antiquities Cabinet, bringing together all the imperial collections in a single building.
Architectural History
The contract to build the museum in the city had been given in 1858 by Emperor Franz Joseph. Subsequently, many designs were submitted for the ring road zone. Plans by August Sicard von Sicardsburg and Eduard van der Null planned to build two museum buildings in the immediate aftermath of the Imperial Palace on the left and right of the Heroes' Square (Heldenplatz). The architect Ludwig Förster planned museum buildings between the Schwarzenberg Square and the City Park, Martin Ritter von Kink favored buildings at the corner Währinger street/Scots ring (Schottenring), Peter Joseph, the area Bellariastraße, Moritz von Loehr the south side of the Opera ring, and Ludwig Zettl the southeast side of the Grain market (Getreidemarkt).
From 1867, a competition was announced for the museums, and thereby set their current position - at the request of the Emperor, the museum should not be too close to the Imperial Palace, but arise beyond the ring road. The architect Carl von Hasenauer participated in this competition and was able the at that time in Zürich operating Gottfried Semper to encourage to work together. The two museum buildings should be built here in the sense of the style of the Italian Renaissance. The plans got the benevolence of the imperial family. In April 1869, there was an audience of Joseph Semper with the Emperor Franz Joseph and an oral contract was concluded, in July 1870 was issued the written order to Semper and Hasenauer.
Crucial for the success of Semper and Hasenauer against the projects of other architects were among others Semper's vision of a large building complex called "Imperial Forum", in which the museums would have been a part of. Not least by the death of Semper in 1879 came the Imperial Forum not as planned for execution, the two museums were built, however.
Construction of the two museums began without ceremony on 27 November 1871 instead. Semper subsequently moved to Vienna. From the beginning on, there were considerable personal differences between him and Hasenauer, who finally in 1877 took over sole construction management. 1874, the scaffolds were placed up to the attic and the first floor completed, in 1878, the first windows installed, in 1879, the Attica and the balustrade finished, and from 1880 to 1881 the dome and the Tabernacle built. The dome is topped with a bronze statue of Pallas Athena by Johannes Benk.
The lighting and air conditioning concept with double glazing of the ceilings made the renunciation of artificial light (especially at that time, as gas light) possible, but this resulted due to seasonal variations depending on daylight to different opening times.
Dome hall
Entrance (by clicking on the link at the end of the side you can see all the pictures here indicated!)
Grand staircase
Hall
Empire
The Kunsthistorisches Museum was on 17 October 1891 officially opened by Emperor Franz Joseph I. Since 22 October 1891, the museum is accessible to the public. Two years earlier, on 3 November 1889, the collection of arms, Arms and Armour today, had their doors open. On 1 January 1890 the library service resumed its operations. The merger and listing of other collections of the Highest Imperial Family from the Upper and Lower Belvedere, the Hofburg Palace and Ambras in Tyrol needs another two years.
1891, the Court museum was organized in seven collections with three directorates:
Directorate of coins, medals and antiquities collection
The Egyptian Collection
The Antique Collection
The coins and medals collection
Management of the collection of weapons, art and industrial objects
Weapons collection
Collection of industrial art objects
Directorate of Art Gallery and Restaurieranstalt (Restoration Office)
Collection of watercolors, drawings, sketches, etc.
Restoration Office
Library
Very soon the room the Court Museum (Hofmuseum) for the imperial collections was offering became too narrow. To provide temporary help, an exhibition of ancient artifacts from Ephesus in the Theseus Temple was designed. However, additional space had to be rented in the Lower Belvedere.
1914, after the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne, his "Estensische Sammlung (Collection)" passed to the administration of the Court Museum. This collection, which emerged from the art collection of the house of d'Este and world travel collection of Franz Ferdinand, was placed in the New Imperial Palace since 1908. For these stocks, the present collection of old musical instruments and the Museum of Ethnology emerged.
The First World War went by, apart from the oppressive economic situation without loss. The Court museum remained during the five years of war regularly open to the public.
Until 1919 the K.K. Art Historical Court Museum was under the authority of the Oberstkämmereramt (head chamberlain office) and belonged to the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. The officials and employees were part of the royal household.
First Republic
The transition from monarchy to republic, in the museum took place in complete tranquility. On 19 November 1918 the two imperial museums on Maria Theresa Square were placed under the state protection of the young Republic of German Austria. Threatening to the stocks of the museum were the claims raised in the following weeks and months of the "successor states" of the monarchy as well as Italy and Belgium on Austrian art collection. In fact, it came on 12th February 1919 to the violent removal of 62 paintings by armed Italian units. This "art theft" left a long time trauma among curators and art historians.
It was not until the Treaty of Saint-Germain on 10 September 1919, providing in Article 195 and 196 the settlement of rights in the cultural field by negotiations. The claims of Belgium, Czechoslovakia, and Italy again could mostly being averted in this way. Only Hungary, which presented the greatest demands by far, was met by more than ten years of negotiation in 147 cases.
On 3 April 1919 was the expropriation of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine by law and the acquisition of its property, including the "Collections of the Imperial House", by the Republic. On 18 June 1920 the then provisional administration of the former imperial museums and collections of Este and the secular and clergy treasury passed to the State Office of Internal Affairs and Education, since 10 November 1920, the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Education. A few days later it was renamed the Art History Court Museum in the "Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna State", 1921 "Kunsthistorisches Museum" . Of 1st January 1921 the employees of the museum staff passed to the state of the Republic.
Through the acquisition of the former imperial collections owned by the state, the museum found itself in a complete new situation. In order to meet the changed circumstances in the museum area, designed Hans Tietze in 1919 the "Vienna Museum program". It provided a close cooperation between the individual museums to focus at different houses on main collections. So dominated exchange, sales and equalizing the acquisition policy in the interwar period. Thus resulting until today still valid collection trends. Also pointing the way was the relocation of the weapons collection from 1934 in its present premises in the New Castle, where since 1916 the collection of ancient musical instruments was placed.
With the change of the imperial collections in the ownership of the Republic the reorganization of the internal organization went hand in hand, too. Thus the museum was divided in 1919 into the
Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection (with the Oriental coins)
Collection of Classical Antiquities
Collection of Ancient Coins
Collection of modern Coins and Medals
Weapons collection
Collection of Sculptures and Crafts with the Collection of Ancient Musical Instruments
Picture gallery
The Museum 1938-1945
Count Philipp Ludwig Wenzel Sinzendorf according to Rigaud. Clarisse 1948 by Baroness de Rothschildt "dedicated" to the memory of Baron Alphonse de Rothschildt; restituted to the Rothschilds in 1999, and in 1999 donated by Bettina Looram Rothschild, the last Austrian heiress.
With the "Anschluss" of Austria to the German Reich all Jewish art collections such as the Rothschilds were forcibly "Aryanised". Collections were either "paid" or simply distributed by the Gestapo at the museums. This resulted in a significant increase in stocks. But the KHM was not the only museum that benefited from the linearization. Systematically looted Jewish property was sold to museums, collections or in pawnshops throughout the German Reich.
After the war, the museum struggled to reimburse the "Aryanised" art to the owners or their heirs. They forced the Rothschild family to leave the most important part of their own collection to the museum and called this "dedications", or "donations". As a reason, was the export law stated, which does not allow owners to bring certain works of art out of the country. Similar methods were used with other former owners. Only on the basis of international diplomatic and media pressure, to a large extent from the United States, the Austrian government decided to make a change in the law (Art Restitution Act of 1998, the so-called Lex Rothschild). The art objects were the Rothschild family refunded only in the 1990s.
The Kunsthistorisches Museum operates on the basis of the federal law on the restitution of art objects from the 4th December 1998 (Federal Law Gazette I, 181 /1998) extensive provenance research. Even before this decree was carried out in-house provenance research at the initiative of the then archive director Herbert Haupt. To this end was submitted in 1998 by him in collaboration with Lydia Grobl a comprehensive presentation of the facts about the changes in the inventory levels of the Kunsthistorisches Museum during the Nazi era and in the years leading up to the State Treaty of 1955, an important basis for further research provenance.
The two historians Susanne Hehenberger and Monika Löscher are since 1st April 2009 as provenance researchers at the Kunsthistorisches Museum on behalf of the Commission for Provenance Research operating and they deal with the investigation period from 1933 to the recent past.
The museum today
Today the museum is as a federal museum, with 1st January 1999 released to the full legal capacity - it was thus the first of the state museums of Austria, implementing the far-reaching self-financing. It is by far the most visited museum in Austria with 1.3 million visitors (2007).
The Kunsthistorisches Museum is under the name Kunsthistorisches Museum and Museum of Ethnology and the Austrian Theatre Museum with company number 182081t since 11 June 1999 as a research institution under public law of the Federal virtue of the Federal Museums Act, Federal Law Gazette I/115/1998 and the Museum of Procedure of the Kunsthistorisches Museum and Museum of Ethnology and the Austrian Theatre Museum, 3 January 2001, BGBl II 2/ 2001, in force since 1 January 2001, registered.
In fiscal 2008, the turnover was 37.185 million EUR and total assets amounted to EUR 22.204 million. In 2008 an average of 410 workers were employed.
Management
1919-1923: Gustav Glück as the first chairman of the College of science officials
1924-1933: Hermann Julius Hermann 1924-1925 as the first chairman of the College of the scientific officers in 1925 as first director
1933: Arpad Weixlgärtner first director
1934-1938: Alfred Stix first director
1938-1945: Fritz Dworschak 1938 as acting head, from 1938 as a chief, in 1941 as first director
1945-1949: August von Loehr 1945-1948 as executive director of the State Art Collections, in 1949 as general director of the historical collections of the Federation
1945-1949: Alfred Stix 1945-1948 as executive director of the State Art Collections, in 1949 as general director of art historical collections of the Federation
1949-1950: Hans Demel as administrative director
1950: Karl Wisoko-Meytsky as general director of art and historical collections of the Federation
1951-1952: Fritz Eichler as administrative director
1953-1954: Ernst H. Buschbeck as administrative director
1955-1966: Vincent Oberhammer 1955-1959 as administrative director, from 1959 as first director
1967: Edward Holzmair as managing director
1968-1972: Erwin Auer first director
1973-1981: Friderike Klauner first director
1982-1990: Hermann Fillitz first director
1990: George Kugler as interim first director
1990-2008: Wilfried Seipel as general director
Since 2009: Sabine Haag as general director
Collections
To the Kunsthistorisches Museum also belon the collections of the New Castle, the Austrian Theatre Museum in Palais Lobkowitz, the Museum of Ethnology and the Wagenburg (wagon fortress) in an outbuilding of Schönbrunn Palace. A branch office is also Ambras in Innsbruck.
Kunsthistorisches Museum (main building)
Picture Gallery
Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection
Collection of Classical Antiquities
Vienna Chamber of Art
Numismatic Collection
Library
New Castle
Ephesus Museum
Collection of Ancient Musical Instruments
Arms and Armour
Archive
Hofburg
The imperial crown in the Treasury
Imperial Treasury of Vienna
Insignia of the Austrian Hereditary Homage
Insignia of imperial Austria
Insignia of the Holy Roman Empire
Burgundian Inheritance and the Order of the Golden Fleece
Habsburg-Lorraine Household Treasure
Ecclesiastical Treasury
Schönbrunn Palace
Imperial Carriage Museum Vienna
Armory in Ambras Castle
Ambras Castle
Collections of Ambras Castle
Major exhibits
Among the most important exhibits of the Art Gallery rank inter alia:
Jan van Eyck: Cardinal Niccolò Albergati, 1438
Martin Schongauer: Holy Family, 1475-80
Albrecht Dürer : Trinity Altar, 1509-16
Portrait Johann Kleeberger, 1526
Parmigianino: Self Portrait in Convex Mirror, 1523/24
Giuseppe Arcimboldo: Summer 1563
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio: Madonna of the Rosary 1606/ 07
Caravaggio: Madonna of the Rosary (1606-1607)
Titian: Nymph and Shepherd to 1570-75
Portrait of Jacopo de Strada, 1567/68
Raffaello Santi: Madonna of the Meadow, 1505 /06
Lorenzo Lotto: Portrait of a young man against white curtain, 1508
Peter Paul Rubens: The altar of St. Ildefonso, 1630-32
The Little Fur, about 1638
Jan Vermeer: The Art of Painting, 1665/66
Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Fight between Carnival and Lent, 1559
Kids, 1560
Tower of Babel, 1563
Christ Carrying the Cross, 1564
Gloomy Day (Early Spring), 1565
Return of the Herd (Autumn), 1565
Hunters in the Snow (Winter) 1565
Bauer and bird thief, 1568
Peasant Wedding, 1568/69
Peasant Dance, 1568/69
Paul's conversion (Conversion of St Paul), 1567
Cabinet of Curiosities:
Saliera from Benvenuto Cellini 1539-1543
Egyptian-Oriental Collection:
Mastaba of Ka Ni Nisut
Collection of Classical Antiquities:
Gemma Augustea
Treasure of Nagyszentmiklós
Gallery: Major exhibits
Same procedure as every year (yay!) - this weekend I had the joyful honor to attend the Cologne fashion doll collectors' convention : )!
It was a fantastic day, I met with old and dear friends and got to know a whole bunch of lovely new people. My funniest moment was when a very kind french lady and her daughter came to my table and my french skills left me within a second. I could only excuse myself (in french at least!) with a laughing "I DO speak french, but not at this moment" - obviously *rotf* ; )
Ah, it was great! My photos surely aren't the best, they're usually taken in a hurry and only at the beginning of the day, since I'm becoming very busy afterwards, but at least I really did take some :).
To all of you who are going to attend the IT convention soon - I'm wishing you tons of fun, have many, many great moments, meet old and new friends and enjoy every minute. In my heart I'll be with you *hugs*!
Nina*