INAUGURAL YEAR: 1990 MISSOURI GOVERNOR’S EXECUTIVE WATERFOWL STAMP

 

This specimen represents a premier artifact from the birth of a Missouri conservation tradition. Issued on August 15, 1990, this copy is part of the INAUGURAL YEAR of the Missouri Governor’s Edition series. While Missouri began issuing standard waterfowl stamps in 1979, 1990 marked the first time the state introduced this prestigious "Executive" tier to elevate its wetland preservation efforts.

 

THE POLITICAL CONNECTION

This copy is distinguished by the hand-signed signature of Governor John Ashcroft in his signature green ink. Ashcroft, who served as Missouri's 50th Governor before becoming a U.S. Senator and the 79th U.S. Attorney General, personally endorsed this new program to fund the "Design for Conservation." An authentic hand-signed signature from the first year of the series is a significant rarity for both philatelists and political historians.

 

THE "EXECUTIVE" DISTINCTION

While the standard hunter’s stamp was a modest $5.00, this $100 denomination variant was an elite "Sponsor" issue. These were not available at retail outlets; they were reserved for major contributors to Missouri’s natural resources. Verified and numbered #70 by program coordinator Pete Worth (PW), this specimen was authenticated during the very first rollout of the Governor's series.

 

ARTISTIC LEGACY: EILEEN MELTON (1934–2018)

The 1990 debut design features a pair of Redhead ducks by the acclaimed Ozark artist Eileen Melton. A "Design for Conservation" Pioneer: A resident of Doniphan, Missouri, Melton’s meticulous detail captured the quiet dignity of the state’s migratory species. Master of the Medium: Her work was instrumental in the visual identity of Missouri conservation, with her art appearing on multiple state trout and waterfowl issues.

 

THE INSTITUTIONAL MISSION

The 1990 launch of the Governor's Edition supported the Missouri Department of Conservation’s mandate to manage fish, forest, and wildlife resources. Funds from this specific $100 tier directly aided the restoration of vital habitats like the Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area under the North American Waterfowl Management Plan.

 

PROVENANCE AND SUMMARY:

 

Accompanied by its original 1990 Certificate of Authenticity (COA) confirming its status as a "First Year" issue, this specimen is a museum-quality document of Missouri’s fiscal and environmental history.

 

Artifact: 1990 Missouri Waterfowl Stamp (Inaugural Governor's Series)

 

Artist: Eileen Melton (Redhead Ducks)

 

Signatory: Governor John Ashcroft (Hand-signed, Green Ink)

Authentication: Verified by Pete Worth (PW) on 15 August 1990

Serial: (#70) / $100 Denomination

 

Documentation: Original 1990 First-Year COA Included

 

Rarity Data for (#70) Stamp:

 

Total Print Run (Governor’s Edition): In the 1990 inaugural year, only 1,900 total "Governor’s Edition" stamps were issued across all tiers.

 

The $100 Tier Rarity: Within that limited run of 1,900, the $100 denomination was the most exclusive. While the $50 edition was the standard Governor's offering, the $100 "Sponsor" copies were printed in significantly smaller quantities—often limited to the first few hundred serial numbers - Kelleher Stamp Assets.

 

Serial Number (#70): Being within the first 100 stamps of the very first year of the program places this copy in the top 5% of all Missouri Governor's stamps ever produced.

 

Hand-Signed vs. Facsimile: Most of the 1,900 stamps featured a printed facsimile signature. Hand-signed copies in ink by John Ashcroft were generally reserved for the earliest serial numbers (#1–100), making this one a "verified elite" specimen.

 

LINK to video - The Day the Duck Hunters Died: Armistice Day Blizzard of 1940 Documentary - www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jne2kumI6k

The Hamadryas Baboon (Papio hamadryas) is a baboon from the Old World monkey family. It is the northernmost of all the baboons; its range extends from the Red Sea in Egypt to Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia. Baboons are also native to and live in Southwestern Arabia, especially in Yemen. The mountains of Yemen and the horn of Africa make it a great place for the baboons live, where predators are not as common as in central Africa. The Hamadryas Baboon was a sacred animal to the ancient Egyptians as the attendant of Thoth, and so, is also called the Sacred Baboon.

 

Apart from the striking size difference between the sexes (males are often twice as large as females) which is common to all baboons, this species also shows sexual dimorphism in coloration. Males are silver-white colored and have a pronounced cape which they develop around the age of ten, while the females are capeless and brown. Their faces range in color from red to tan to a dark brown that older males often exhibit. Males are an average of 30" tall, with tails about 20" long, and weigh an average of about 45 lbs. Tails end in small tufts. Infants are dark in coloration and lighten after about one year. Hamadryas baboons reach sexual maturity at about 51 mo. for females and between 57 and 81 mo. for males.The average life span of Hamadryas baboons in the wild is about 35 years.

 

The Hamadryas Baboon lives in semi-desert areas, savannas and rocky areas, requiring cliffs for sleeping and possibilities to drink water. The Hamadryas Baboon is omnivorous and is adapted to its relatively dry habitat. It is not discriminating in its search for food, eating grass, roots, seeds, reptiles, insects, small mammals and crops. Hamadryas baboons will dig for water in dry streambeds. Hamadryas baboons are diurnal and have the largest day ranges of any primate.

The Hamadryas Baboon is unusual among baboon and macaque species in that its society is strictly patriarchal and patrilineal. Females may try to establish matrilines but they are usually overruled by the males, who forcefully transfer them among social units and away from their female relatives. The males limit the movement of the females. They herd them with visual threats and will grab or bite any female that wanders too far away. Males will sometimes raid harems for females, resulting in aggressive fights. Some males succeed in taking a female from another's harem. This is called a 'takeover'. Visual threats are usually accompanied by these aggressive fights. This would include a quick flashing of the eyelids accompanied by a yawn to show off the teeth. As in many species, infant baboons are taken by the males as hostages during fights.

 

The baboon has an unusual 4-level social system called a multi-level society. Most social interaction occurs within small groups called one-male units or harems containing one male and up to nine females which the males lead and guard. A harem will typically include a younger "follower" male who may be related to the leader. Two or more harems unite repeatedly to form clans. Within clans, the dominant males of the units are probably close relatives of one another and have an age related dominance hierarchy.

 

Bands are the next level. Two to four clans form bands of up to 200 individuals which usually travel and sleep as a group. Both males and females rarely leave their bands. The dominant males will prevent infants and juveniles from interacting with infants and juveniles from other bands. Bands may fight with one another over food, etc and the adult male leaders of the units are usually the combatants. Several bands may come together to form a troop. Several bands also often share a cliff-face which they sleep on.

 

Like other baboons, the Hamadryas Baboon breeds aseasonally. The dominant male of a one-male unit does most of the mating, though other males may occasionally sneak in copulations as well. Often, a male forms a harem by "adopting" subadult females and teaching them to follow him. He protects them and in 1–2 years, they go into estrus and he mates with them.

 

Females do most of the parenting. They nurse and groom the infant and it is not uncommon for one female in a unit to groom an infant that is not hers. Like all baboons, Hamadryas baboons are intrigued by their infants and give much attention to them. Dominant male baboons prevent other males from coming into close contact with their infants. They also protect the young from predators. The dominant male tolerates the young and will carry and play with them. When a new male takes over a female, she may go into deceptive estrous cycles. This behavior is likely an adaptation that functions to prevent the new male from killing the offspring of the previous male.

 

Hamadryas baboons are often depicted in ancient Egyptian art as the sacred attendants of Thoth, scribe to the gods. Occasionally Thoth also appears in the form of a hamadryas (often depicted carrying the moon on his head), as an alternative to his usual depiction as an ibis-headed figure. Hapi, one of the Four Sons of Horus that guarded the organs of the deceased, is hamadryas-headed and thus often sculpted as the lid of a canopic jar. Hamadryas baboons were revered because certain behaviors that they perform were seen as worshiping the sun, and they were viewed as mediators between humans and the gods.

 

Transformation of field and pastureland represents the main threat of the Hamadryas Baboon, their natural enemies (the leopard and the lion) having been nearly exterminated in their range. The IUCN lists it as "least concern" in 2008.

  

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

   

Glowing like a multi-faceted jewel, the planetary nebula IC 418 lies about 2,000 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Lepus. This photograph was obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2).

 

A planetary nebula represents the final stage in the evolution of a star similar to our Sun. The star at the center of IC 418 was a red giant a few thousand years ago, but then ejected its outer layers into space to form the nebula, which has now expanded to a diameter of about 0.1 light-year. The stellar remnant at the center is the hot core of the red giant, from which ultraviolet radiation floods out into the surrounding gas, causing it to fluoresce. Over the next several thousand years, the nebula will gradually disperse into space, and then the star will cool and fade away for billions of years as a white dwarf. Our own Sun is expected to undergo a similar fate, but fortunately this will not occur until some 5 billion years from now.

 

The Hubble image of IC 418 is shown in a false-color representation, based on WFPC2 exposures taken in February and September 1999 through filters that isolate light from various chemical elements. Red shows emission from ionized nitrogen (the coolest gas in the nebula, located furthest from the hot nucleus), green shows emission from hydrogen, and blue traces the emission from ionized oxygen (the hottest gas, closest to the central star). The remarkable textures seen in the nebula were revealed by Hubble, and their origin is still uncertain.

 

For more information please visit: hubblesite.org/image/990/news_release/2000-28

 

Credit: NASA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Acknowledgment: Raghvendra Sahai (JPL) and Arsen R. Hajian (USNO)

 

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Lara Almarcegui represents spain at the 55th international art exhibition in venice. a present-day archeologist, her practice is derived from a heightened awareness of the city, investigating urban transformation, and the social, economic and political networks which effect it. in particular, she focuses on studying the often overlooked elements which make up a place–the modern ruins and urban wastelands which comprise them;she uncovers relationships between the sites she excavates and investigates with their past, and evaluates their possible future.

 

Curated by octavio zaya, almarcegui’s work for the spanish pavilion is composed of two parts. her installation at the giardini venue, speaks directly to the 1922 building constructed by javier de luque; it is an intervention which occupies its entire interior. one is met by overwhelming, towering mountains of various construction materials–cement rubble, roofing tiles and bricks smashed to gravel–paralleling the type and quantity used by workers to construct the venue, making it virtually impossible for one to enter directly. throughout the other side rooms, smaller, less hefty mounds, are found each divided according to material (sawdust, glass and a blend of iron slag and ashes).

 

‘The materials are the rubble from demolitions, after being recycled, have been transformed into gravel by means of the treatment process currently used in venice,’ says the artist. (designboom)

With the rain falling harder, it was a bit of a route march to Holborn and my next church, the stunning St Sepulchre, which was also open.

 

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St Sepulchre-without-Newgate, also known as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Holborn), is an Anglican church in the City of London. It is located on Holborn Viaduct, almost opposite the Old Bailey. In medieval times it stood just outside ("without") the now-demolished old city wall, near the Newgate. It has been a living of St John's College, Oxford, since 1622.

 

The original Saxon church on the site was dedicated to St Edmund the King and Martyr. During the Crusades in the 12th century the church was renamed St Edmund and the Holy Sepulchre, in reference to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The name eventually became contracted to St Sepulchre.

 

The church is today the largest parish church in the City. It was completely rebuilt in the 15th century but was gutted by the Great Fire of London in 1666,[1] which left only the outer walls, the tower and the porch standing[2] -. Modified in the 18th century, the church underwent extensive restoration in 1878. It narrowly avoided destruction in the Second World War, although the 18th-century watch-house in its churchyard (erected to deter grave-robbers) was completely destroyed and had to be rebuilt.

 

The interior of the church is a wide, roomy space with a coffered ceiling[3] installed in 1834. The Vicars' old residence has recently been renovated into a modern living quarter.

 

During the reign of Mary I in 1555, St Sepulchre's vicar, John Rogers, was burned as a heretic.

 

St Sepulchre is named in the nursery rhyme Oranges and Lemons as the "bells of Old Bailey". Traditionally, the great bell would be rung to mark the execution of a prisoner at the nearby gallows at Newgate. The clerk of St Sepulchre's was also responsible for ringing a handbell outside the condemned man's cell in Newgate Prison to inform him of his impending execution. This handbell, known as the Execution Bell, now resides in a glass case to the south of the nave.

 

The church has been the official musicians' church for many years and is associated with many famous musicians. Its north aisle (formerly a chapel dedicated to Stephen Harding) is dedicated as the Musicians' Chapel, with four windows commemorating John Ireland, the singer Dame Nellie Melba, Walter Carroll and the conductor Sir Henry Wood respectively.[4] Wood, who "at the age of fourteen, learned to play the organ" at this church [1] and later became its organist, also has his ashes buried in this church.

 

The south aisle of the church holds the regimental chapel of the Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment), and its gardens are a memorial garden to that regiment.[5] The west end of the north aisle has various memorials connected with the City of London Rifles (the 6th Battalion London Regiment). The church was designated a Grade I listed building on 4 January 1950.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Sepulchre-without-Newgate

 

The Early History of St. Sepulchre's—Its Destruction in 1666—The Exterior and Interior—The Early Popularity of the Church—Interments here—Roger Ascham, the Author of the "Schoolmaster"—Captain John Smith, and his Romantic Adventures—Saved by an Indian Girl— St. Sepulchre's Churchyard—Accommodation for a Murderess—The Martyr Rogers—An Odd Circumstance—Good Company for the Dead—A Leap from the Tower—A Warning Bell and a Last Admonition—Nosegays for the Condemned—The Route to the Gallows-tree— The Deeds of the Charitable—The "Saracen's Head"—Description by Dickens—Giltspur Street—Giltspur Street Compter—A Disreputable Condition—Pie Corner—Hosier Lane—A Spurious Relic—The Conduit on Snow Hill—A Ladies' Charity School—Turnagain Lane—Poor Betty!—A Schoolmistress Censured—Skinner Street—Unpropitious Fortune—William Godwin—An Original Married Life.

 

Many interesting associations—Principally, however, connected with the annals of crime and the execution of the laws of England—belong to the Church of St. Sepulchre, or St. 'Pulchre. This sacred edifice—anciently known as St. Sepulchre's in the Bailey, or by Chamberlain Gate (now Newgate)—stands at the eastern end of the slight acclivity of Snow Hill, and between Smithfield and the Old Bailey. The genuine materials for its early history are scanty enough. It was probably founded about the commencement of the twelfth century, but of the exact date and circumstances of its origin there is no record whatever. Its name is derived from the Holy Sepulchre of our Saviour at Jerusalem, to the memory of which it was first dedicated.

 

The earliest authentic notice of the church, according to Maitland, is of the year 1178, at which date it was given by Roger, Bishop of Sarum, to the Prior and Canons of St. Bartholomew. These held the right of advowson until the dissolution of monasteries by Henry VIII., and from that time until 1610 it remained in the hands of the Crown. James I., however, then granted "the rectory and its appurtenances, with the advowson of the vicarage," to Francis Phillips and others. The next stage in its history is that the rectory was purchased by the parishioners, to be held in fee-farm of the Crown, and the advowson was obtained by the President and Fellows of St. John the Baptist College, at Oxford.

 

The church was rebuilt about the middle of the fifteenth century, when one of the Popham family, who had been Chancellor of Normandy and Treasurer of the King's Household, with distinguished liberality erected a handsome chapel on the south side of the choir, and the very beautiful porch still remaining at the south-west corner of the building. "His image," Stow says, "fair graven in stone, was fixed over the said porch."

 

The dreadful fire of 1666 almost destroyed St. Sepulchre's, but the parishioners set energetically to work, and it was "rebuilt and beautified both within and without." The general reparation was under the direction of Sir Christopher Wren, and nothing but the walls of the old building, and these not entirely, were suffered to remain. The work was done rapidly, and the whole was completed within four years.

 

"The tower," says Mr. Godwin, "retained its original aspect, and the body of the church, after its restoration, presented a series of windows between buttresses, with pointed heads filled with tracery, crowned by a string-course and battlements. In this form it remained till the year 1790, when it appears the whole fabric was found to be in a state of great decay, and it was resolved to repair it throughout. Accordingly the walls of the church were cased with Portland stone, and all the windows were taken out and replaced by others with plain semi-circular heads, as now seen—certainly agreeing but badly with the tower and porch of the building, but according with the then prevailing spirit of economy. The battlements, too, were taken down, and a plain stone parapet was substituted, so that at this time (with the exception of the roof, which was wagon-headed, and presented on the outside an unsightly swell, visible above the parapet) the church assumed its present appearance." The ungainly roof was removed, and an entirely new one erected, about 1836.

 

At each corner of the tower—"one of the most ancient," says the author of "Londinium Redivivum," "in the outline of the circuit of London" —there are spires, and on the spires there are weathercocks. These have been made use of by Howell to point a moral: "Unreasonable people," says he, "are as hard to reconcile as the vanes of St. Sepulchre's tower, which never look all four upon one point of the heavens." Nothing can be said with certainty as to the date of the tower, but it is not without the bounds of probability that it formed part of the original building. The belfry is reached by a small winding staircase in the south-west angle, and a similar staircase in an opposite angle leads to the summit. The spires at the corners, and some of the tower windows, have very recently undergone several alterations, which have added much to the picturesqueness and beauty of the church.

 

The chief entrance to St. Sepulchre's is by a porch of singular beauty, projecting from the south side of the tower, at the western end of the church. The groining of the ceiling of this porch, it has been pointed out, takes an almost unique form; the ribs are carved in bold relief, and the bosses at the intersections represent angels' heads, shields, roses, &c., in great variety.

 

Coming now to the interior of the church, we find it divided into three aisles, by two ranges of Tuscan columns. The aisles are of unequal widths, that in the centre being the widest, that to the south the narrowest. Semi-circular arches connect the columns on either side, springing directly from their capitals, without the interposition of an entablature, and support a large dental cornice, extending round the church. The ceiling of the middle aisle is divided into seven compartments, by horizontal bands, the middle compartment being formed into a small dome.

 

The aisles have groined ceilings, ornamented at the angles with doves, &c., and beneath every division of the groining are small windows, to admit light to the galleries. Over each of the aisles there is a gallery, very clumsily introduced, which dates from the time when the church was built by Wren, and extends the whole length, excepting at the chancel. The front of the gallery, which is of oak, is described by Mr. Godwin as carved into scrolls, branches, &c., in the centre panel, on either side, with the initials "C. R.," enriched with carvings of laurel, which have, however, he says, "but little merit."

 

At the east end of the church there are three semicircular-headed windows. Beneath the centre one is a large Corinthian altar-piece of oak, displaying columns, entablatures, &c., elaborately carved and gilded.

 

The length of the church, exclusive of the ambulatory, is said to be 126 feet, the breadth 68 feet, and the height of the tower 140 feet.

 

A singularly ugly sounding-board, extending over the preacher, used to stand at the back of the pulpit, at the east end of the church. It was in the shape of a large parabolic reflector, about twelve feet in diameter, and was composed of ribs of mahogany.

 

At the west end of the church there is a large organ, said to be the oldest and one of the finest in London. It was built in 1677, and has been greatly enlarged. Its reed-stops (hautboy, clarinet, &c.) are supposed to be unrivalled. In Newcourt's time the church was taken notice of as "remarkable for possessing an exceedingly fine organ, and the playing is thought so beautiful, that large congregations are attracted, though some of the parishioners object to the mode of performing divine service."

 

On the north side of the church, Mr. Godwin mentions, is a large apartment known as "St. Stephen's Chapel." This building evidently formed a somewhat important part of the old church, and was probably appropriated to the votaries of the saint whose name it bears.

 

Between the exterior and the interior of the church there is little harmony. "For example," says Mr. Godwin, "the columns which form the south aisle face, in some instances, the centre of the large windows which occur in the external wall of the church, and in others the centre of the piers, indifferently." This discordance may likely enough have arisen from the fact that when the church was rebuilt, or rather restored, after the Great Fire, the works were done without much attention from Sir Christopher Wren.

 

St. Sepulchre's appears to have enjoyed considerable popularity from the earliest period of its history, if one is to judge from the various sums left by well-disposed persons for the support of certain fraternities founded in the church—namely, those of St. Katherine, St. Michael, St. Anne, and Our Lady—and by others, for the maintenance of chantry priests to celebrate masses at stated intervals for the good of their souls. One of the fraternities just named—that of St. Katherine— originated, according to Stow, in the devotion of some poor persons in the parish, and was in honour of the conception of the Virgin Mary. They met in the church on the day of the Conception, and there had the mass of the day, and offered to the same, and provided a certain chaplain daily to celebrate divine service, and to set up wax lights before the image belonging to the fraternity, on all festival days.

 

The most famous of all who have been interred in St. Sepulchre's is Roger Ascham, the author of the "Schoolmaster," and the instructor of Queen Elizabeth in Greek and Latin. This learned old worthy was born in 1515, near Northallerton, in Yorkshire. He was educated at Cambridge University, and in time rose to be the university orator, being notably zealous in promoting what was then a novelty in England—the study of the Greek language. To divert himself after the fatigue of severe study, he used to devote himself to archery. This drew down upon him the censure of the all-work-and-no-play school; and in defence of himself, Ascham, in 1545, published "Toxophilus," a treatise on his favourite sport. This book is even yet well worthy of perusal, for its enthusiasm, and for its curious descriptions of the personal appearance and manners of the principal persons whom the author had seen and conversed with. Henry VIII. rewarded him with a pension of £10 per annum, a considerable sum in those days. In 1548, Ascham, on the death of William Grindall, who had been his pupil, was appointed instructor in the learned languages to Lady Elizabeth, afterwards the good Queen Bess. At the end of two years he had some dispute with, or took a disgust at, Lady Elizabeth's attendants, resigned his situation, and returned to his college. Soon after this he was employed as secretary to the English ambassador at the court of Charles V. of Germany, and remained abroad till the death of Edward VI. During his absence he had been appointed Latin secretary to King Edward. Strangely enough, though Queen Mary and her ministers were Papists, and Ascham a Protestant, he was retained in his office of Latin secretary, his pension was increased to £20, and he was allowed to retain his fellowship and his situation as university orator. In 1554 he married a lady of good family, by whom he had a considerable fortune, and of whom, in writing to a friend, he gives, as might perhaps be expected, an excellent character. On the accession of Queen Elizabeth, in 1558, she not only required his services as Latin secretary, but as her instructor in Greek, and he resided at Court during the remainder of his life. He died in consequence of his endeavours to complete a Latin poem which he intended to present to the queen on the New Year's Day of 1569. He breathed his last two days before 1568 ran out, and was interred, according to his own directions, in the most private manner, in St. Sepulchre's Church, his funeral sermon being preached by Dr. Andrew Nowell, Dean of St. Paul's. He was universally lamented; and even the queen herself not only showed great concern, but was pleased to say that she would rather have lost ten thousand pounds than her tutor Ascham, which, from that somewhat closehanded sovereign, was truly an expression of high regard.

 

Ascham, like most men, had his little weaknesses. He had too great a propensity to dice and cock-fighting. Bishop Nicholson would try to convince us that this is an unfounded calumny, but, as it is mentioned by Camden, and other contemporary writers, it seems impossible to deny it. He died, from all accounts, in indifferent circumstances. "Whether," says Dr. Johnson, referring to this, "Ascham was poor by his own fault, or the fault of others, cannot now be decided; but it is certain that many have been rich with less merit. His philological learning would have gained him honour in any country; and among us it may justly call for that reverence which all nations owe to those who first rouse them from ignorance, and kindle among them the light of literature." His most valuable work, "The Schoolmaster," was published by his widow. The nature of this celebrated performance may be gathered from the title: "The Schoolmaster; or a plain and perfite way of teaching children to understand, write, and speak the Latin tongue. … And commodious also for all such as have forgot the Latin tongue, and would by themselves, without a schoolmaster, in short time, and with small pains, recover a sufficient habilitie to understand, write, and speak Latin: by Roger Ascham, ann. 1570. At London, printed by John Daye, dwelling over Aldersgate," a printer, by the way, already mentioned by us a few chapters back (see page 208), as having printed several noted works of the sixteenth century.

 

Dr. Johnson remarks that the instruction recommended in "The Schoolmaster" is perhaps the best ever given for the study of languages.

 

Here also lies buried Captain John Smith, a conspicuous soldier of fortune, whose romantic adventures and daring exploits have rarely been surpassed. He died on the 21st of June, 1631. This valiant captain was born at Willoughby, in the county of Lincoln, and helped by his doings to enliven the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. He had a share in the wars of Hungary in 1602, and in three single combats overcame three Turks, and cut off their heads. For this, and other equally brave deeds, Sigismund, Duke of Transylvania, gave him his picture set in gold, with a pension of three hundred ducats; and allowed him to bear three Turks' heads proper as his shield of arms. He afterwards went to America, where he had the misfortune to fall into the hands of the Indians. He escaped from them, however, at last, and resumed his brilliant career by hazarding his life in naval engagements with pirates and Spanish men-of-war. The most important act of his life was the share he had in civilising the natives of New England, and reducing that province to obedience to Great Britain. In connection with his tomb in St. Sepulchre's, he is mentioned by Stow, in his "Survey," as "some time Governor of Virginia and Admiral of New England."

 

Certainly the most interesting events of his chequered career were his capture by the Indians, and the saving of his life by the Indian girl Pocahontas, a story of adventure that charms as often as it is told. Bancroft, the historian of the United States, relates how, during the early settlement of Virginia, Smith left the infant colony on an exploring expedition, and not only ascended the river Chickahominy, but struck into the interior. His companions disobeyed his instructions, and being surprised by the Indians, were put to death. Smith preserved his own life by calmness and self-possession. Displaying a pocket-compass, he amused the savages by an explanation of its power, and increased their admiration of his superior genius by imparting to them some vague conceptions of the form of the earth, and the nature of the planetary system. To the Indians, who retained him as their prisoner, his captivity was a more strange event than anything of which the traditions of their tribes preserved the memory. He was allowed to send a letter to the fort at Jamestown, and the savage wonder was increased, for he seemed by some magic to endow the paper with the gift of intelligence. It was evident that their captive was a being of a high order, and then the question arose, Was his nature beneficent, or was he to be dreaded as a dangerous enemy? Their minds were bewildered, and the decision of his fate was referred to the chief Powhatan, and before Powhatan Smith was brought. "The fears of the feeble aborigines," says Bancroft, "were about to prevail, and his immediate death, already repeatedly threatened and repeatedly delayed, would have been inevitable, but for the timely intercession of Pocahontas, a girl twelve years old, the daughter of Powhatan, whose confiding fondness Smith had easily won, and who firmly clung to his neck, as his head was bowed down to receive the stroke of the tomahawks. His fearlessness, and her entreaties, persuaded the council to spare the agreeable stranger, who could make hatchets for her father, and rattles and strings of beads for herself, the favourite child. The barbarians, whose decision had long been held in suspense by the mysterious awe which Smith had inspired, now resolved to receive him as a friend, and to make him a partner of their councils. They tempted him to join their bands, and lend assistance in an attack upon the white men at Jamestown; and when his decision of character succeeded in changing the current of their thoughts, they dismissed him with mutual promises of friendship and benevolence. Thus the captivity of Smith did itself become a benefit to the colony; for he had not only observed with care the country between the James and the Potomac, and had gained some knowledge of the language and manners of the natives, but he now established a peaceful intercourse between the English and the tribes of Powhatan."

 

On the monument erected to Smith in St. Sepulchre's Church, the following quaint lines were formerly inscribed:—

 

"Here lies one conquered that hath conquered kings,

Subdued large territories, and done things

Which to the world impossible would seem,

But that the truth is held in more esteem.

Shall I report his former service done,

In honour of his God, and Christendom?

How that he did divide, from pagans three,

Their heads and lives, types of his chivalry?—

For which great service, in that climate done,

Brave Sigismundus, King of Hungarion,

Did give him, as a coat of arms, to wear

These conquered heads, got by his sword and spear.

Or shall I tell of his adventures since

Done in Virginia, that large continent?

How that he subdued kings unto his yoke,

And made those heathens flee, as wind doth smoke;

And made their land, being so large a station,

An habitation for our Christian nation,

Where God is glorified, their wants supplied;

Which else for necessaries, must have died.

But what avails his conquests, now he lies

Interred in earth, a prey to worms and flies?

Oh! may his soul in sweet Elysium sleep,

Until the Keeper, that all souls doth keep,

Return to judgment; and that after thence

With angels he may have his recompense."

 

Sir Robert Peake, the engraver, also found a last resting-place here. He is known as the master of William Faithorne—the famous English engraver of the seventeenth century—and governor of Basing House for the king during the Civil War under Charles I. He died in 1667. Here also was interred the body of Dr. Bell, grandfather of the originator of a well-known system of education.

 

"The churchyard of St. Sepulchre's," we learn from Maitland, "at one time extended so far into the street on the south side of the church, as to render the passage-way dangerously narrow. In 1760 the churchyard was, in consequence, levelled, and thrown open to the public. But this led to much inconvenience, and it was re-enclosed in 1802."

 

Sarah Malcolm, the murderess, was buried in the churchyard of St. Sepulchre's in 1733. This coldhearted and keen-eyed monster in human form has had her story told by us already. The parishioners seem, on this occasion, to have had no such scruples as had been exhibited by their predecessors a hundred and fifty years previous at the burial of Awfield, a traitor. We shall see presently that in those more remote days they were desirous of having at least respectable company for their deceased relatives and friends in the churchyard.

 

"For a long period," says Mr. Godwin (1838), "the church was surrounded by low mean buildings, by which its general appearance was hidden; but these having been cleared away, and the neighbourhood made considerably more open, St. Sepulchre's now forms a somewhat pleasing object, notwithstanding that the tower and a part of the porch are so entirely dissimilar in style to the remainder of the building." And since Godwin's writing the surroundings of the church have been so improved that perhaps few buildings in the metropolis stand more prominently before the public eye.

 

In the glorious roll of martyrs who have suffered at the stake for their religious principles, a vicar of St. Sepulchre's, the Reverend John Rogers, occupies a conspicuous place. He was the first who was burned in the reign of the Bloody Mary. This eminent person had at one time been chaplain to the English merchants at Antwerp, and while residing in that city had aided Tindal and Coverdale in their great work of translating the Bible. He married a German lady of good position, by whom he had a large family, and was enabled, by means of her relations, to reside in peace and safety in Germany. It appeared to be his duty, however, to return to England, and there publicly profess and advocate his religious convictions, even at the risk of death. He crossed the sea; he took his place in the pulpit at St. Paul's Cross; he preached a fearless and animated sermon, reminding his astonished audience of the pure and wholesome doctrine which had been promulgated from that pulpit in the days of the good King Edward, and solemnly warning them against the pestilent idolatry and superstition of these new times. It was his last sermon. He was apprehended, tried, condemned, and burned at Smithfield. We described, when speaking of Smithfield, the manner in which he met his fate.

 

Connected with the martyrdom of Rogers an odd circumstance is quoted in the "Churches of London." It is stated that when the bishops had resolved to put to death Joan Bocher, a friend came to Rogers and earnestly entreated his influence that the poor woman's life might be spared, and other means taken to prevent the spread of her heterodox doctrines. Rogers, however, contended that she should be executed; and his friend then begged him to choose some other kind of death, which should be more agreeable to the gentleness and mercy prescribed in the gospel. "No," replied Rogers, "burning alive is not a cruel death, but easy enough." His friend hearing these words, expressive of so little regard for the sufferings of a fellow-creature, answered him with great vehemence, at the same time striking Rogers' hand, "Well, it may perhaps so happen that you yourself shall have your hands full of this mild burning." There is no record of Rogers among the papers belonging to St. Sepulchre's, but this may easily be accounted for by the fact that at the Great Fire of 1666 nearly all the registers and archives were destroyed.

 

A noteworthy incident in the history of St. Sepulchre's was connected with the execution, in 1585, of Awfield, for "sparcinge abrood certen lewed, sedicious, and traytorous bookes." "When he was executed," says Fleetwood, the Recorder, in a letter to Lord Burleigh, July 7th of that year, "his body was brought unto St. Pulcher's to be buryed, but the parishioners would not suffer a traytor's corpse to be laid in the earth where their parents, wives, children, kindred, masters, and old neighbours did rest; and so his carcass was returned to the burial-ground near Tyburn, and there I leave it."

 

Another event in the history of the church is a tale of suicide. On the 10th of April, 1600, a man named William Dorrington threw himself from the roof of the tower, leaving there a prayer for forgiveness.

 

We come now to speak of the connection of St. Sepulchre's with the neighbouring prison of Newgate. Being the nearest church to the prison, that connection naturally was intimate. Its clock served to give the time to the hangman when there was an execution in the Old Bailey, and many a poor wretch's last moments must it have regulated.

 

On the right-hand side of the altar a board with a list of charitable donations and gifts used to contain the following item:—"1605. Mr. Robert Dowe gave, for ringing the greatest bell in this church on the day the condemned prisoners are executed, and for other services, for ever, concerning such condemned prisoners, for which services the sexton is paid £16s. 8d.—£50.

 

It was formerly the practice for the clerk or bellman of St. Sepulchre's to go under Newgate, on the night preceding the execution of a criminal, ring his bell, and repeat the following wholesome advice:—

 

"All you that in the condemned hold do lie,

Prepare you, for to-morrow you shall die;

Watch all, and pray, the hour is drawing near

That you before the Almighty must appear;

Examine well yourselves, in time repent,

That you may not to eternal flames be sent.

And when St. Sepulchre's bell to-morrow tolls,

The Lord above have mercy on your souls.

Past twelve o'clock!"

 

This practice is explained by a passage in Munday's edition of Stow, in which it is told that a Mr. John Dowe, citizen and merchant taylor of London, gave £50 to the parish church of St. Sepulchre's, under the following conditions:—After the several sessions of London, on the night before the execution of such as were condemned to death, the clerk of the church was to go in the night-time, and also early in the morning, to the window of the prison in which they were lying. He was there to ring "certain tolls with a hand-bell" appointed for the purpose, and was afterwards, in a most Christian manner, to put them in mind of their present condition and approaching end, and to exhort them to be prepared, as they ought to be, to die. When they were in the cart, and brought before the walls of the church, the clerk was to stand there ready with the same bell, and, after certain tolls, rehearse a prayer, desiring all the people there present to pray for the unfortunate criminals. The beadle, also, of Merchant Taylors' Hall was allowed an "honest stipend" to see that this ceremony was regularly performed.

 

The affecting admonition—"affectingly good," Pennant calls it—addressed to the prisoners in Newgate, on the night before execution, ran as follows:—

 

"You prisoners that are within,

Who, for wickedness and sin,

 

after many mercies shown you, are now appointed to die to-morrow in the forenoon; give ear and understand that, to-morrow morning, the greatest bell of St. Sepulchre's shall toll for you, in form and manner of a passing-bell, as used to be tolled for those that are at the point of death; to the end that all godly people, hearing that bell, and knowing it is for your going to your deaths, may be stirred up heartily to pray to God to bestow his grace and mercy upon you, whilst you live. I beseech you, for Jesus Christ's sake, to keep this night in watching and prayer, to the salvation of your own souls while there is yet time and place for mercy; as knowing to-morrow you must appear before the judgment-seat of your Creator, there to give an account of all things done in this life, and to suffer eternal torments for your sins committed against Him, unless, upon your hearty and unfeigned repentance, you find mercy through the merits, death, and passion of your only Mediator and Advocate, Jesus Christ, who now sits at the right hand of God, to make intercession for as many of you as penitently return to Him."

 

And the following was the admonition to condemned criminals, as they were passing by St. Sepulchre's Church wall to execution:—" All good people, pray heartily unto God for these poor sinners, who are now going to their death, for whom this great bell doth toll.

 

"You that are condemned to die, repent with lamentable tears; ask mercy of the Lord, for the salvation of your own souls, through the [merits, death, and passion of Jesus Christ, who now sits at the right hand of God, to make intercession for as many of you as penitently return unto Him.

 

"Lord have mercy upon you;

Christ have mercy upon you.

Lord have mercy upon you;

Christ have mercy upon you."

 

The charitable Mr. Dowe, who took such interest in the last moments of the occupants of the condemned cell, was buried in the church of St. Botolph, Aldgate.

 

Another curious custom observed at St. Sepulchre's was the presentation of a nosegay to every criminal on his way to execution at Tyburn. No doubt the practice had its origin in some kindly feeling for the poor unfortunates who were so soon to bid farewell to all the beauties of earth. One of the last who received a nosegay from the steps of St. Sepulchre's was "Sixteen-string Jack," alias John Rann, who was hanged, in 1774, for robbing the Rev. Dr. Bell of his watch and eighteen pence in money, in Gunnersbury Lane, on the road to Brentford. Sixteen-string Jack wore the flowers in his button-hole as he rode dolefully to the gallows. This was witnessed by John Thomas Smith, who thus describes the scene in his admirable anecdotebook, "Nollekens and his Times:"—" I remember well, when I was in my eighth year, Mr. Nollekens calling at my father's house, in Great Portland Street, and taking us to Oxford Street, to see the notorious Jack Rann, commonly called Sixteenstring Jack, go to Tyburn to be hanged. … The criminal was dressed in a pea-green coat, with an immense nosegay in the button-hole, which had been presented to him at St. Sepulchre's steps; and his nankeen small-clothes, we were told, were tied at each knee with sixteen strings. After he had passed, and Mr. Nollekens was leading me home by the hand, I recollect his stooping down to me and observing, in a low tone of voice, 'Tom, now, my little man, if my father-in-law, Mr. Justice Welch, had been high constable, we could have walked by the side of the cart all the way to Tyburn.'"

 

When criminals were conveyed from Newgate to Tyburn, the cart passed up Giltspur Street, and through Smithfield, to Cow Lane. Skinner Street had not then been built, and the Crooked Lane which turned down by St. Sepulchre's, as well as Ozier Lane, did not afford sufficient width to admit of the cavalcade passing by either of them, with convenience, to Holborn Hill, or "the Heavy Hill," as it used to be called. The procession seems at no time to have had much of the solemn element about it. "The heroes of the day were often," says a popular writer, "on good terms with the mob, and jokes were exchanged between the men who were going to be hanged and the men who deserved to be."

 

"On St. Paul's Day," says Mr. Timbs (1868), "service is performed in St. Sepulchre's, in accordance with the will of Mr. Paul Jervis, who, in 1717, devised certain land in trust that a sermon should be preached in the church upon every Paul's Day upon the excellence of the liturgy o the Church of England; the preacher to receive 40s. for such sermon. Various sums are also bequeathed to the curate, the clerk, the treasurer, and masters of the parochial schools. To the poor of the parish he bequeathed 20s. a-piece to ten of the poorest householders within that part of the parish of St. Sepulchre commonly called Smithfield quarter, £4 to the treasurer of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and 6s. 8d. yearly to the clerk, who shall attend to receive the same. The residue of the yearly rents and profits is to be distributed unto and amongst such poor people of the parish of St. Sepulchre's, London, who shall attend the service and sermon. At the close of the service the vestry-clerk reads aloud an extract from the will, and then proceeds to the distribution of the money. In the evening the vicar, churchwardens, and common councilmen of the precinct dine together."

 

In 1749, a Mr. Drinkwater made a praiseworthy bequest. He left the parish of St. Sepulchre £500 to be lent in sums of £25 to industrious young tradesmen. No interest was to be charged, and the money was to be lent for four years.

 

Next to St. Sepulchre's, on Snow Hill, used to stand the famous old inn of the "Saracen's Head." It was only swept away within the last few years by the ruthless army of City improvers: a view of it in course of demolition was given on page 439. It was one of the oldest of the London inns which bore the "Saracen's Head" for a sign. One of Dick Tarlton's jests makes mention of the "Saracen's Head" without Newgate, and Stow, describing this neighbourhood, speaks particularly of "a fair large inn for receipt of travellers" that "hath to sign the 'Saracen's Head.'" The courtyard had, to the last, many of the characteristics of an old English inn; there were galleries all round leading to the bedrooms, and a spacious gateway through which the dusty mail-coaches used to rumble, the tired passengers creeping forth "thanking their stars in having escaped the highwaymen and the holes and sloughs of the road." Into that courtyard how many have come on their first arrival in London with hearts beating high with hope, some of whom have risen to be aldermen and sit in state as lord mayor, whilst others have gone the way of the idle apprentice and come to a sad end at Tyburn! It was at this inn that Nicholas Nickleby and his uncle waited upon the Yorkshire schoolmaster Squeers, of Dotheboys Hall. Mr. Dickens describes the tavern as it existed in the last days of mail-coaching, when it was a most important place for arrivals and departures in London:—

 

"Next to the jail, and by consequence near to Smithfield also, and the Compter and the bustle and noise of the City, and just on that particular part of Snow Hill where omnibus horses going eastwards seriously think of falling down on purpose, and where horses in hackney cabriolets going westwards not unfrequently fall by accident, is the coach-yard of the 'Saracen's Head' inn, its portals guarded by two Saracen's heads and shoulders, which it was once the pride and glory of the choice spirits of this metropolis to pull down at night, but which have for some time remained in undisturbed tranquillity, possibly because this species of humour is now confined to St. James's parish, where doorknockers are preferred as being more portable, and bell-wires esteemed as convenient tooth-picks. Whether this be the reason or not, there they are, frowning upon you from each side of the gateway; and the inn itself, garnished with another Saracen's head, frowns upon you from the top of the yard; while from the door of the hind-boot of all the red coaches that are standing therein, there glares a small Saracen's head with a twin expression to the large Saracen's head below, so that the general appearance of the pile is of the Saracenic order."

 

To explain the use of the Saracen's head as an inn sign various reasons have been given. "When our countrymen," says Selden, "came home from fighting with the Saracens and were beaten by them, they pictured them with huge, big, terrible faces (as you still see the 'Saracen's Head' is), when in truth they were like other men. But this they did to save their own credit." Or the sign may have been adopted by those who had visited the Holy Land either as pilgrims or to fight the Saracens. Others, again, hold that it was first set up in compliment to the mother of Thomas à Becket, who was the daughter of a Saracen. However this may be, it is certain that the use of the sign in former days was very general.

 

Running past the east end of St. Sepulchre's, from Newgate into West Smithfield, is Giltspur Street, anciently called Knightriders Street. This interesting thoroughfare derives its name from the knights with their gilt spurs having been accustomed to ride this way to the jousts and tournaments which in days of old were held in Smithfield.

 

In this street was Giltspur Street Compter, a debtors' prison and house of correction appertaining to the sheriffs of London and Middlesex. It stood over against St. Sepulchre's Church, and was removed hither from the east side of Wood Street, Cheapside, in 1791. At the time of its removal it was used as a place of imprisonment for debtors, but the yearly increasing demands upon the contracted space caused that department to be given up, and City debtors were sent to Whitecross Street. The architect was Dance, to whom we are also indebted for the grim pile of Newgate. The Compter was a dirty and appropriately convictlooking edifice. It was pulled down in 1855. Mr. Hepworth Dixon gave an interesting account of this City House of Correction, not long before its demolition, in his "London Prisons" (1850). "Entering," he says, "at the door facing St. Sepulchre's, the visitor suddenly finds himself in a low dark passage, leading into the offices of the gaol, and branching off into other passages, darker, closer, more replete with noxious smells, than even those of Newgate. This is the fitting prelude to what follows. The prison, it must be noticed, is divided into two principal divisions, the House of Correction and the Compter. The front in Giltspur Street, and the side nearest to Newgate Street, is called the Compter. In its wards are placed detenues of various kinds—remands, committals from the police-courts, and generally persons waiting for trial, and consequently still unconvicted. The other department, the House of Correction, occupies the back portion of the premises, abutting on Christ's Hospital. Curious it is to consider how thin a wall divides these widely-separate worlds! And sorrowful it is to think what a difference of destiny awaits the children—destiny inexorable, though often unearned in either case—who, on the one side of it or the other, receive an eleemosynary education! The collegian and the criminal! Who shall say how much mere accident— circumstances over which the child has little power —determines to a life of usefulness or mischief? From the yards of Giltspur Street prison almost the only objects visible, outside of the gaol itself, are the towers of Christ's Hospital; the only sounds audible, the shouts of the scholars at their play. The balls of the hospital boys often fall within the yards of the prison. Whether these sights and sounds ever cause the criminal to pause and reflect upon the courses of his life, we will not say, but the stranger visiting the place will be very apt to think for him. …

 

"In the department of the prison called the House of Correction, minor offenders within the City of London are imprisoned. No transports are sent hither, nor is any person whose sentence is above three years in length." This able writer then goes on to tell of the many crying evils connected with the institution—the want of air, the over-crowded state of the rooms, the absence of proper cellular accommodation, and the vicious intercourse carried on amongst the prisoners. The entire gaol, when he wrote, only contained thirty-six separate sleeping-rooms. Now by the highest prison calculation—and this, be it noted, proceeds on the assumption that three persons can sleep in small, miserable, unventilated cells, which are built for only one, and are too confined for that, being only about one-half the size of the model cell for one at Pentonville—it was only capable of accommodating 203 prisoners, yet by the returns issued at Michaelmas, 1850, it contained 246!

 

A large section of the prison used to be devoted to female delinquents, but lately it was almost entirely given up to male offenders.

 

"The House of Correction, and the Compter portion of the establishment," says Mr. Dixon, "are kept quite distinct, but it would be difficult to award the palm of empire in their respective facilities for demoralisation. We think the Compter rather the worse of the two. You are shown into a room, about the size of an apartment in an ordinary dwelling-house, which will be found crowded with from thirty to forty persons, young and old, and in their ordinary costume; the low thief in his filth and rags, and the member of the swell-mob with his bright buttons, flash finery, and false jewels. Here you notice the boy who has just been guilty of his first offence, and committed for trial, learning with a greedy mind a thousand criminal arts, and listening with the precocious instinct of guilty passions to stories and conversations the most depraved and disgusting. You regard him with a mixture of pity and loathing, for he knows that the eyes of his peers are upon him, and he stares at you with a familiar impudence, and exhibits a devil-may-care countenance, such as is only to be met with in the juvenile offender. Here, too, may be seen the young clerk, taken up on suspicion—perhaps innocent—who avoids you with a shy look of pain and uneasiness: what a hell must this prison be to him! How frightful it is to think of a person really untainted with crime, compelled to herd for ten or twenty days with these abandoned wretches!

 

"On the other, the House of Correction side of the gaol, similar rooms will be found, full of prisoners communicating with each other, laughing and shouting without hindrance. All this is so little in accordance with existing notions of prison discipline, that one is continually fancying these disgraceful scenes cannot be in the capital of England, and in the year of grace 1850. Very few of the prisoners attend school or receive any instruction; neither is any kind of employment afforded them, except oakum-picking, and the still more disgusting labour of the treadmill. When at work, an officer is in attendance to prevent disorderly conduct; but his presence is of no avail as a protection to the less depraved. Conversation still goes on; and every facility is afforded for making acquaintances, and for mutual contamination."

 

After having long been branded by intelligent inspectors as a disgrace to the metropolis, Giltspur Street Compter was condemned, closed in 1854, and subsequently taken down.

 

Nearly opposite what used to be the site of the Compter, and adjoining Cock Lane, is the spot called Pie Corner, near which terminated the Great Fire of 1666. The fire commenced at Pudding Lane, it will be remembered, so it was singularly appropriate that it should terminate at Pie Corner. Under the date of 4th September, 1666, Pepys, in his "Diary," records that "W. Hewer this day went to see how his mother did, and comes home late, telling us how he hath been forced to remove her to Islington, her house in Pye Corner being burned; so that the fire is got so far that way." The figure of a fat naked boy stands over a public house at the corner of the lane; it used to have the following warning inscription attached:— "This boy is in memory put up of the late fire of London, occasioned by the sin of gluttony, 1666." According to Stow, Pie Corner derived its name from the sign of a well-frequented hostelry, which anciently stood on the spot. Strype makes honourable mention of Pie Corner, as "noted chiefly for cooks' shops and pigs dressed there during Bartholomew Fair." Our old writers have many references—and not all, by the way, in the best taste—to its cookstalls and dressed pork. Shadwell, for instance, in the Woman Captain (1680) speaks of "meat dressed at Pie Corner by greasy scullions;" and Ben Jonson writes in the Alchemist (1612)—

 

"I shall put you in mind, sir, at Pie Corner,

Taking your meal of steam in from cooks' stalls."

 

And in "The Great Boobee" ("Roxburgh Ballads"):

 

"Next day I through Pie Corner passed;

The roast meat on the stall

Invited me to take a taste;

My money was but small."

 

But Pie Corner seems to have been noted for more than eatables. A ballad from Tom D'Urfey's "Pills to Purge Melancholy," describing Bartholomew Fair, eleven years before the Fire of London, says:—

 

"At Pie-Corner end, mark well my good friend,

'Tis a very fine dirty place;

Where there's more arrows and bows. …

Than was handled at Chivy Chase."

 

We have already given a view of Pie Corner in our chapter on Smithfield, page 361.

 

Hosier Lane, running from Cow Lane to Smithfield, and almost parallel to Cock Lane, is described by "R. B.," in Strype, as a place not over-well built or inhabited. The houses were all old timber erections. Some of these—those standing at the south corner of the lane—were in the beginning of this century depicted by Mr. J. T. Smith, in his "Ancient Topography of London." He describes them as probably of the reign of James I. The rooms were small, with low, unornamented ceilings; the timber, oak, profusely used; the gables were plain, and the walls lath and plaster. They were taken down in 1809.

 

In the corner house, in Mr. Smith's time, there was a barber whose name was Catchpole; at least, so it was written over the door. He was rather an odd fellow, and possessed, according to his own account, a famous relic of antiquity. He would gravely show his customers a short-bladed instrument, as the identical dagger with which Walworth killed Wat Tyler.

 

Hosier Lane, like Pie Corner, used to be a great resort during the time of Bartholomew Fair, "all the houses," it is said in Strype, "generally being made public for tippling."

 

We return now from our excursion to the north of St. Sepulchre's, and continue our rambles to the west, and before speaking of what is, let us refer to what has been.

 

Turnagain Lane is not far from this. "Near unto this Seacoal Lane," remarks Stow, "in the turning towards Holborn Conduit, is Turnagain Lane, or rather, as in a record of the 5th of Edward III., Windagain Lane, for that it goeth down west to Fleet Dyke, from whence men must turn again the same way they came, but there it stopped." There used to be a proverb, "He must take him a house in Turnagain Lane."

 

A conduit formerly stood on Snow Hill, a little below the church. It is described as a building with four equal sides, ornamented with four columns and pediment, surmounted by a pyramid, on which stood a lamb—a rebus on the name of Lamb, from whose conduit in Red Lion Street the water came. There had been a conduit there, however, before Lamb's day, which was towards the close of the sixteenth century.

 

At No. 37, King Street, Snow Hill, there used to be a ladies' charity school, which was established in 1702, and remained in the parish 145 years. Dr. Johnson and Mrs. Thrale were subscribers to this school, and Johnson drew from it his story of Betty Broom, in "The Idler." The world of domestic service, in Betty's days, seems to have been pretty much as now. Betty was a poor girl, bred in the country at a charity-school, maintained by the contributions of wealthy neighbours. The patronesses visited the school from time to time, to see how the pupils got on, and everything went well, till "at last, the chief of the subscribers having passed a winter in London, came down full of an opinion new and strange to the whole country. She held it little less than criminal to teach poor girls to read and write. They who are born to poverty, she said, are born to ignorance, and will work the harder the less they know. She told her friends that London was in confusion by the insolence of servants; that scarcely a girl could be got for all-work, since education had made such numbers of fine ladies, that nobody would now accept a lower title than that of a waiting-maid, or something that might qualify her to wear laced shoes and long ruffles, and to sit at work in the parlour window. But she was resolved, for her part, to spoil no more girls. Those who were to live by their hands should neither read nor write out of her pocket. The world was bad enough already, and she would have no part in making it worse.

 

"She was for a long time warmly opposed; but she persevered in her notions, and withdrew her subscription. Few listen, without a desire of conviction, to those who advise them to spare their money. Her example and her arguments gained ground daily; and in less than a year the whole parish was convinced that the nation would be ruined if the children of the poor were taught to read and write." So the school was dissolved, and Betty with the rest was turned adrift into the wide and cold world; and her adventures there any one may read in "The Idler" for himself.

 

There is an entry in the school minutes of 1763, to the effect that the ladies of the committee censured the schoolmistress for listening to the story of the Cock Lane ghost, and "desired her to keep her belief in the article to herself."

 

Skinner Street—now one of the names of the past—which ran by the south side of St. Sepulchre's, and formed the connecting link between Newgate Street and Holborn, received its name from Alderman Skinner, through whose exertions, about 1802, it was principally built. The following account of Skinner Street is from the picturesque pen of Mr. William Harvey ("Aleph"), whose long familiarity with the places he describes renders doubly valuable his many contributions to the history of London scenes and people:—"As a building speculation," he says, writing in 1863, "it was a failure. When the buildings were ready for occupation, tall and substantial as they really were, the high rents frightened intending shopkeepers. Tenants were not to be had; and in order to get over the money difficulty, a lottery, sanctioned by Parliament, was commenced. Lotteries were then common tricks of finance, and nobody wondered at the new venture; but even the most desperate fortune-hunters were slow to invest their capital, and the tickets hung sadly on hand. The day for the drawing was postponed several times, and when it came, there was little or no excitement on the subject, and whoever rejoiced in becoming a house-owner on such easy terms, the original projectors and builders were understood to have suffered considerably. The winners found the property in a very unfinished condition. Few of the dwellings were habitable, and as funds were often wanting, a majority of the houses remained empty, and the shops unopened. After two or three years things began to improve; the vast many-storeyed house which then covered the site of Commercial Place was converted into a warehousing depôt; a capital house opposite the 'Saracen's Head' was taken by a hosier of the name of Theobald, who, opening his shop with the determination of selling the best hosiery, and nothing else, was able to convince the citizens that his hose was first-rate, and, desiring only a living profit, succeeded, after thirty years of unwearied industry, in accumulating a large fortune. Theobald was possessed of literary tastes, and at the sale of Sir Walter Scott's manuscripts was a liberal purchaser. He also collected a library of exceedingly choice books, and when aristocratic customers purchased stockings of him, was soon able to interest them in matters of far higher interest…

 

"The most remarkable shop—but it was on the left-hand side, at a corner house—was that established for the sale of children's books. It boasted an immense extent of window-front, extending from the entrance into Snow Hill, and towards Fleet Market. Many a time have I lingered with loving eyes over those fascinating story-books, so rich in gaily-coloured prints; such careful editions of the marvellous old histories, 'Puss in Boots,' 'Cock Robin,' 'Cinderella,' and the like. Fortunately the front was kept low, so as exactly to suit the capacity of a childish admirer. . . . . But Skinner Street did not prosper much, and never could compete with even the dullest portions of Holborn. I have spoken of some reputable shops; but you know the proverb, 'One swallow will not make a summer,' and it was a declining neighbourhood almost before it could be called new. In 1810 the commercial depôt, which had been erected at a cost of £25,000, and was the chief prize in the lottery, was destroyed by fire, never to be rebuilt—a heavy blow and discouragement to Skinner Street, from which it never rallied. Perhaps the periodical hanging-days exercised an unfavourable influence, collecting, as they frequently did, all the thieves and vagabonds of London. I never sympathised with Pepys or Charles Fox in their passion for public executions, and made it a point to avoid those ghastly sights; but early of a Monday morning, when I had just reached the end of Giltspur Street, a miserable wretch had just been turned off from the platform of the debtors' door, and I was made the unwilling witness of his last struggles. That scene haunted me for months, and I often used to ask myself, 'Who that could help it would live in Skinner Street?' The next unpropitious event in these parts was the unexpected closing of the child's library. What could it mean? Such a well-to-do establishment shut up? Yes, the whole army of shutters looked blankly on the inquirer, and forbade even a single glance at 'Sinbad' or 'Robinson Crusoe.' It would soon be re-opened, we naturally thought; but the shutters never came down again. The whole house was deserted; not even a messenger in bankruptcy, or an ancient Charley, was found to regard the playful double knocks of the neighbouring juveniles. Gradually the glass of all the windows got broken in, a heavy cloud of black dust, solidifying into inches thick, gathered on sills and doors and brickwork, till the whole frontage grew as gloomy as Giant Despair's Castle. Not long after, the adjoining houses shared the same fate, and they remained from year to year without the slightest sign of life—absolute scarecrows, darkening with their uncomfortable shadows the busy streets. Within half a mile, in Stamford Street, Blackfriars, there are (1863) seven houses in a similar predicament— window-glass demolished, doors cracked from top to bottom, spiders' webs hanging from every projecting sill or parapet. What can it mean? The loss in the article of rents alone must be over £1,000 annually. If the real owners are at feud with imaginary owners, surely the property might be rendered valuable, and the proceeds invested. Even the lawyers can derive no profit from such hopeless abandonment. I am told the whole mischief arose out of a Chancery suit. Can it be the famous 'Jarndyce v. Jarndyce' case? And have all the heirs starved each other out? If so, what hinders our lady the Queen from taking possession? Any change would be an improvement, for these dead houses make the streets they cumber as dispiriting and comfortless as graveyards. Busy fancy will sometimes people them, and fill the dreary rooms with strange guests. Do the victims of guilt congregate in these dark dens? Do wretches 'unfriended by the world or the world's law,' seek refuge in these deserted nooks, mourning in the silence of despair over their former lives, and anticipating the future in unappeasable agony? Such things have been—the silence and desolation of these doomed dwellings make them the more suitable for such tenants."

 

A street is nothing without a mystery, so a mystery let these old tumble-down houses remain, whilst we go on to tell that, in front of No. 58, the sailor Cashman was hung in 1817, as we have already mentioned, for plundering a gunsmith's shop there. William Godwin, the author of "Caleb Williams," kept a bookseller's shop for several years in Skinner Street, at No. 41, and published school-books in the name of Edward Baldwin. On the wall there was a stone carving of Æsop reciting one of his fables to children.

 

The most noteworthy event of the life of Godwin was his marriage with the celebrated Mary Wollstonecraft, authoress of a "Vindication of the Rights of Women," whose congenial mind, in politics and morals, he ardently admired. Godwin's account of the way in which they got on together is worth reading:—"Ours," he writes, "was not an idle happiness, a paradise of selfish and transitory pleasures. It is, perhaps, scarcely necessary to mention, that influenced by ideas I had long entertained, I engaged an apartment about twenty doors from our house, in the Polygon, Somers Town, which I designed for the purpose of my study and literary occupations. Trifles, however, will be interesting to some readers, when they relate to the last period of the life of such a person as Mary. I will add, therefore, that we were both of us of opinion, that it was possible for two persons to be too uniformly in each other's society. Influenced by that opinion, it was my practice to repair to the apartment I have mentioned as soon as I rose, and frequently not to make my appearance in the Polygon till the hour of dinner. We agreed in condemning the notion, prevalent in many situations in life, that a man and his wife cannot visit in mixed society but in company with each other, and we rather sought occasions of deviating from than of complying with this rule. By this means, though, for the most part, we spent the latter half of each day in one another's society, yet we were in no danger of satiety. We seemed to combine, in a considerable degree, the novelty and lively sensation of a visit with the more delicious and heartfelt pleasure of a domestic life."

 

This philosophic union, to Godwin's inexpressible affliction, did not last more than eighteen months, at the end of which time Mrs. Godwin died, leaving an only daughter, who in the course of time became the second wife of the poet Shelley, and was the author of the wild and extraordinary tale of "Frankenstein."

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=45116

Meiji Shrine (明治神宮 Meiji Jingū?), located in Shibuya, Tokyo, is the Shinto shrine that is dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and his wife, Empress Shōken.[1] When Emperor Meiji died in 1912 and Empress Shōken in 1914, the Japanese people wished to pay their respects to the two influential Japanese figures. It was for this reason that Meiji Shrine was constructed and their souls enshrined on November 1, 1920.[2]

 

After the emperor's death in 1912, the Japanese Diet passed a resolution to commemorate his role in the Meiji Restoration. An iris garden in an area of Tokyo where Emperor Meiji and Empress Shōken had been known to visit was chosen as the building's location. Construction began in 1915, and the shrine was built in the traditional Nagarezukuri style and is made up primarily of Japanese cypress and copper. It was formally dedicated in 1920, completed in 1921, and its grounds officially finished by 1926.[3]

The original building was destroyed during the Tokyo air raids of World War II. The present iteration of the shrine was funded through a public fund raising effort and completed in October, 1958.[4]

Meiji Shrine was brought into the flow of current events with the 2009 visit of United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. After arriving in Tokyo on her first foreign trip representing the newly elected President Barack Obama, she made her way to this shrine in advance of meetings with Japan's leaders to show her "respect toward history and the culture of Japan." [5]

 

Meiji Shrine is located in a forest that covers an area of 700,000 square-meters (about 175 acres). This area is covered by an evergreen forest that consists of 120,000 trees of 365 different species, which were donated by people from all parts of Japan when the shrine was established. The forest is visited by many people both as a spiritual home of the people and as a recreation and relaxation area in the center of Tokyo.[2] The shrine itself is comprised of two major areas:

[edit]Naien

The Naien is the inner precinct, which is centered on the shrine buildings and includes a treasure museum that houses articles of the Emperor and Empress. The treasure museum is built in the Azekurazukuri style.

[edit]Gaien

The Gaien is the outer precinct, which includes the Meiji Memorial Picture Gallery that houses a collection of 80 large murals illustrative of the events in the lives of the Emperor and his consort. It also includes a variety of sports facilities, including the National Stadium, and is seen as the center of Japanese sports. It also includes the Meiji Memorial Hall, which was originally used for governmental meetings, including discussions surrounding the drafting of the Meiji Constitution in the late 19th century. Today it is used for Shinto weddings.

Represented by SL Talent.

 

© Copyright 2017 Barrie Spence. All rights reserved and moral rights asserted. Theses images are not in the public domain and may not be used without licence.

 

Comments are very welcome and very much appreciated, but any with linked/embedded images will be removed.

Flags representing NATO and Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) bow in salute during the change of command ceremony at SHAPE in Mons, Belgium, on May 4, 2016. General Curtis M. Scaparrotti, U.S. Army, assumed command of Allied Command Operations (ACO) from General Philip M. Breedlove, U.S. Air Force, becoming the 18th American officer to hold the prestigious position of SACEUR. - NATO Photo by SSgt Dan Bardsley GBR A OR7

This map represents distance to playgrounds in the Cascais Municipality, Portugal. It uses several QGIS2.0 new features. The "background" raster uses the new Blending feature with multiply over the streets layer. All labels use the great buffer transparency feature. (In 1.8, both this "effects" would have to be done in Inkscape) The distance isometric lines uses curved labels along lines. The legend is a single legend with columns (I 1.8 we would need to create two legends). Also, using composer new snapping to other elements feature was quite handy, and made map composing much faster.

MWFW 2015 Presents Represent

 

Models SCALA

Photorapher: Kodaijin Starfall

 

Website: sirenproductionsl.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Siren-Productions-SL/9057300461180...

I did this piece to represent the class struggle in society to show the irony of the mine worker statue that was at the museum. The hands in the bottom are in chains, are part of a dark world and hold up the world. They are meant to represent the working class and the struggles they face. While the opposite top half of the work shows the white and lavishness of the upper class. Also I wanted to show how they were treating others so I lightly drew feet pushing down on the world that is struggling to be held up.

A gift from my Mother, many years ago. I received a figurine each month that would represent a different country.

Adhaidvipa / Représentation de la cosmologie jaïna

Selon le jaînisme, cette peinture, qui est à la fois objet d’art, de culte et de pédagogie, représente le monde « médian », dans lequel les hommes vivent et peuvent atteindre la délivrance....Au centre, en jaune, le mont Meru est le cœur de l’île du Pommier rose. (lire la description complète à l'adresse suivante)

bnf.hal.science/BNF_MSS/hal-01763092v1

 

fin 19ème-début 20ème,

Gujarat, Inde

Peinture à la détrempe sur toile

Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris

 

Peinture présentée dans l'exposition, "Une autre histoire du monde", Musée des Civilisations de l'Europe et de la Méditerranée, Marseille

 

Le Mucem propose de parcourir l’Histoire du monde du XIIIe au XXIe siècle en abandonnant la perspective occidentale. À travers sculptures, peintures, textiles, cartes, objets archéologiques, manuscrits et arts décoratifs, cette exposition révèle l’infinie diversité des expériences africaines, asiatiques, américaines et océaniennes. Elle donne à voir d’autres mondialisations, dont l’Europe n’est pas le seul moteur...

Extrait du site de l'exposition

www.mucem.org/programme/exposition-et-temps-forts/une-aut...

The International Sculpture Park in Ayia Napa, Republic of Cyprus, is a remarkable testament to the beauty and power of sculpture. Spanning several decades, the park's history is a story of artistic vision, cultural exchange, and the celebration of human creativity. In this essay, we will explore the fascinating journey of the International Sculpture Park, tracing its origins, evolution, and impact.

 

The idea for the International Sculpture Park was born in the early 1990s when a group of local artists and art enthusiasts in Ayia Napa recognized the potential of creating a dedicated space for large-scale sculptures. They envisioned a place where artists from around the world could come together to showcase their works and engage with the local community. With the support of the Ayia Napa municipality, the project began to take shape.

 

In 1994, the first edition of the International Sculpture Symposium was organized in Ayia Napa. This symposium brought together sculptors from different countries who collaborated to create a series of monumental sculptures. The event was a resounding success, attracting international attention and paving the way for the establishment of the International Sculpture Park.

 

In 1996, the park officially opened its doors to the public, becoming the first outdoor sculpture park in Cyprus. Situated on a vast expanse of land near the coast, the park provided a serene setting for the display of sculptures. Its location in Ayia Napa, a popular tourist destination, ensured a steady stream of visitors, both local and international, who could experience the power of sculpture in a unique environment.

 

Over the years, the International Sculpture Park grew in size and ambition. The annual sculpture symposium continued to be a highlight of the park's calendar, attracting renowned artists from all corners of the globe. These artists were invited to stay in Ayia Napa for a few weeks, during which they would create sculptures using various materials, such as stone, metal, and wood. The symposiums not only fostered artistic collaboration but also promoted cultural exchange and understanding among the participants.

 

Each year, the newly created sculptures were added to the park's permanent collection, enriching its aesthetic and conceptual diversity. The park soon became a haven for sculpture enthusiasts and art lovers, who could explore the outdoor space and engage with the artworks in a dynamic and immersive manner. The sculptures themselves ranged from abstract and avant-garde to figurative and representational, reflecting the diverse artistic styles and perspectives of the participating sculptors.

 

As the reputation of the International Sculpture Park grew, so did its impact on the local community and the broader cultural landscape of Cyprus. The park became a site for educational initiatives, offering workshops, lectures, and guided tours to students, artists, and the general public. It served as a platform for artistic experimentation and innovation, encouraging dialogue and critical thinking about the role of sculpture in contemporary society.

 

The International Sculpture Park also played a significant role in promoting Ayia Napa as a cultural destination. While the town was primarily known for its beaches and nightlife, the park added a new dimension to its identity, positioning it as a place where art and nature converge. The park's success inspired the development of other cultural projects in Ayia Napa, including art galleries, exhibitions, and public art installations, further enhancing the town's cultural appeal.

 

In recent years, the International Sculpture Park has continued to evolve and adapt to the changing artistic landscape. It has embraced new technologies and art forms, incorporating interactive and multimedia elements into its exhibitions. The park has also expanded its outreach efforts, forging partnerships with international sculpture parks and organizations to facilitate artist exchanges and collaborative projects.

 

Today, the International Sculpture Park stands as a testament to the power of art to transcend boundaries and connect people across cultures. Its collection of sculptures represents a diverse range of artistic expressions and narratives, providing a window into the human experience. The park continues to inspire and captivate visitors, offering a unique space for contemplation, exploration, and artistic enlightenment.

 

In conclusion, the International Sculpture Park in Ayia Napa, Republic of Cyprus, has emerged as a cultural landmark and a hub of artistic expression. From its humble beginnings as a local initiative to its current stature as an international platform for sculpture, the park has evolved and flourished over the years. Its impact on the local community, the art world, and the broader cultural landscape of Cyprus is immeasurable, making it a testament to the enduring power of sculpture as a form of human expression.

This statue, representing and ancestral figure, was possibly first displayed in the open air. It was later moved into a stone house at Orongo, the centre of a bird man cult. Low-relief designs carved on the back are associated with this cult. The statue seems to have been used in both contexts to express ideas about leadership and authority.

Représentation au Château Hagen (Nouméa)

Later that day, a chance turn in the wrong direction as we headed for Priory Park dumped me at the Humber Bridge Country Park, a spot I was originally intending to avoid this year for being too difficult to photograph from. With about an hour to go at the time of photographing before the Humber Bridge park and ride was due to start, happily though, the buses involved were lined up awaiting service in a much more... ah, 'accessible' order compared to last year.

 

So, let's set the ball rolling then: the bulk of the loans this year appear to be, besides a few of the 'usual suspects', batches of 23 and 73-plate MMCs loaned in from Mansfield and Chesterfield depots, sort of a repeat of what we've already seen when Coldplay came to town last August. In fact, I managed to grab the two MMCs to the left at some slightly sketchy angles back at Priory Park, so this squares them off for retakes right away. Its the one to the right that I'm interested in, as well as one that was parked behind these all...

 

Representing the bulk of the loans for this year's Hull Fair park and ride services, Stagecoach in Mansfield's 11681 and 11680, both 2023 ADL Enviro400 MMCs, are joined by Stagecoach Yorkshire 'Gold' spec 15192, a 2014 Scania N230UD ADL Enviro400 originally delivered for the Sheffield-Chestefield-Matlock X17 service.

This moodboard represents the colours and style I would love for my blog. A few words popped up while I was putting it together. In no order here they are: nature, detail, aqua, butterfly, dreams, feminine, organic.

The Bears of Sheffield, Sheffield, South Yorkshire.

 

The Bears of Sheffield raised more than £750000 for a new Cancer and Leukaemia Ward at Sheffield Children’s Hospital.

 

Bear Name: Our Community

Artist: Tom Fergusson - Penistone Grammar School

Location: Winter Gardens

Description: Student Tom Fergusson designed this Bear, Tom was inspired by the beautiful countryside which surrounds Penistone. Due to COVID the whole school community have all had the opportunity to explore their local area and reconnect with the outside spaces around them. His design represents not only the green fields and blue sky, but also the hope they all have for the future, especially around their commitment to the environment.

 

Penistone Grammar School has two Bears in the trail and they are symbiotic; Our Community and Our Values, as they are nothing without their community or their values. They are both starkly different in design but united in the message they deliver.

 

I just finished this model today. Revell's 1956 vintage, Sherman tank is in my opinion, the granddaddy of all 1/35 scale armor kits. Although it represents a hodgepodge of Sherman variants, "Scaled from official U.S. Army prints" the kit is remarkably well detailed for a mid 1950s model. I did some slight modifications. I drilled out the main gun, drilled out the optical sight and 30 caliber machine gun port on the mantlet, replaced the bow machine gun, and removed the injector pin buttons on the bogies. I used a stencil, and painted the stars. My painting and weathering techniques were simple: spray can for the olive drab (airbrushing is a pain in the @ss for me, and I only do it when absolutely necessary ) , some pin washes, dry brushing with a lighter OD, and pastel powders. I have an original 1956 unbuilt kit in my collection, that I have included in my images.

  

En Biodiversidad virtual y también en Twiter

 

Netrium digitus es un désmido de cuerpo contenido y simple, uno de los géneros más primitivos del grupo, que extiende sus contornos continuados sin hacer una parada en el estrecho itsmo que caracteriza a la mayoría de los representantes de este gran grupo de algas. Este estrechamiento propio de géneros como Micrasterias, Euastrum, Cosmarium y tantos otros, facilita el que la reproducción asexual se pueda producir rápidamente porque la célula ya está hendida exactamente por la mitad y bastará un pequeño esfuerzo para que se abra en dos por esta fisura para multiplicarse.

 

En Netrium esa división es algo diferente y el esfuerzo es algo mayor porque ese itsmo no existe...pero parece no importar demasiado, porque estos désmidos primitivos de la familia de las mesoteniáceas han tenido mucho éxito en la evolución y han podido sobrevir sin muchas dificultades y extenderse por todo el planeta, con la única condición de que las aguas sean algo ácidas y de esta manera Netrium digitus es una de las especies más comunes en este tipo de ambientes.

 

Basta sólo observar con un poco de detenimiento a esta alga para descubrir que bajo su corteza discreta y transparente Netrium encierra las recortadas formas de sus cloroplastos desflecados, que se extienden de extremo a extremo entre verdes ensenadas y abruptos cabos que se asoman al infinito del agua que los rodea. Suelen ser seis láminas, que se recortan escalonadamente a izquierda y derecha con los bordes levantados alternamente. Una arquitectura incomparable para poder aprovechar mejor la luz del sol y todo con mucha discreción.

 

Dentro, también, Netrium digitus guarda el misterio de un secreto, algo sorprendente que no vemos y que debemos contar…uno a uno. Con su modestia habitual, Netrium digitus bate un récord en el reino vegetal y es que, a pesar de su diminuto tamaño, cada célula de esta pequeña alga encierra el mayor número de cromosomas encontrado hasta ahora en cualquier ser vivo vegetal.

 

Son 592 cromosomas en cada célula haploide, uno a uno con sus mensajes de vida…esto significa que en algunos momentos de su existencia, llegan a ser 1184 los cromosomas que entran en juego en su reproducción. A todo hay quien gane...y nosotros tan solo veintitrés pares.

 

Encontrada ya por Margalef en la provincia de Huelva en la década de los años 70, esta cita que mostramos hoy aquí, de estas aguas tan especiales y pobladas de tesoros en los Llanos del Juncal, posiblemente sea la segunda que se da para territorio andaluz

 

Netrium digitus vive entre las algas y la vegetación acuática de los Llanos del Juncal sobre el precioso bosque de niebla de Alcornoques que mira hacia otro continente y se abre hacia el mar sin fronteras. La fotografía tomada con la técnica de contraste de fase a 400 aumentos procede de una muestra recogida el junto a Lechu, Elena y Cristina, el 24 de febrero de 2018 entre Algerciras y Tarifa.

  

Más información

Bradshaw or Gwon Gwon Rock and Cave Art of the Kimberley.

 

The Bradshaws are not just a very beautiful form of rock art, but actually represent, using a stylized human form, an early form of rock artwork very similar to that of the East Africans and Egyptians. The style of the painting suggests a high degree of fine motor skill and artistic appreciation of line and form. This is not generally found in the more repetitive and symbolic representations that have been daubed on rock since. The figures are very reminiscent of the nomadic tribes that still occupy Africa and have in the past wandered through Asia before returning to Africa. the Zulu, the Maasi, The Samburu, The Rendilli to name but a few of the linked Nomads. There are theories that the original artists may have been blown in having traveled in raft like ships across the Indian Ocean. The Baob trees in East Africa may have supplied their main traveling diet hence the predominance of one species only of Boab in The North West.

 

The study of the pre-history of man is an extremely sensitive issue with far reaching political consequences for today, both in Australia and worldwide. The British who have dominated the study of archaeology and anthropology worldwide for the last several centuries, including that of our continent, maintain that man descended from the apes, and that this alleged descent happened "yesterday", in the scale of pre-history -- that man had no speech before about 40,000 BP, was incapable of hunting animals before that time, had no maritime capability etc. Walsh on the other hand, has demonstrated that the people who painted the Bradshaw figures had a maritime culture, which arrived in Australia fully formed, with a very high degree of sophistication, perhaps as early as 40,000 BP, and possibly even earlier. This blows a giant hole in the normal British accounts of pre-history, and most importantly, in what the British have been trying to claim about mankind: that man is just another form of ape.

 

The question I have to ask every time I examine this art work is why, unlike other forms of rock art, would they represent women enjoying themselves? (Dancing with the men and children) In our culture it seems to me that this only happened when our civilization achieved a point where they were equal and less encumbered by so called "female" duties. I ask the question, just based on the content of the images as well as the artistic level of composition, are we seeing the work of a civilization that is equal to ours in the way it treated its women? If so why did it die out?

The Bradshaw peoples were obviously so advanced that they had time to spend in pursuits other than survival mode. What is more to the point is why did they die out. There are apparently over a million images out there...that's a lot of people over a lot of time with lots of opportunity to create high levels of art forms.

  

As to where they came from take any theory from the thousands out there then just find ways of proving or disproving them.

Robin Hutton

 

"BRADSHAW ART and later

Because of the unique geological and climatological conditions which existed there tens of thousands of years ago, the Kimberley are the oldest known repository of rock art in the world. The art in itself indicates that a people have been in the Kimberley, for the last 50,000 years. It is difficult to link the more recent rock art with the highly sophisticated Bradshaw work. (the present day Aboriginals themselves refer to the Bradshaw paintings as "rubbish paintings: before our time"), but it opens up extraordinary avenues of research on the pre-history of mankind going back at least 40,000 BP, and perhaps to 100,000 BP. or even earlier.

 

The famous Lascaux cave paintings of France, by contrast, are only 17,000 BP while the excellent epigraphic work by Barry Fell and his colleagues which goes back only to around 4,000 BP. (i.e. 2,000 BC)"

 

Text from Grahame Walsh's description of Bradshaw works

 

Gwion Gwion (Bradshaw) Figures web link

www.aboriginalartonline.com/regions/gwion-gwion.php

   

Another link that adds another perspective.

www.bradshaw.dk/pages/bibliography/adoranten.pdf

 

More on Boabs

www.uq.edu.au/nuq/jack/Boab Origins.html

     

 

Cronología abreviada de la imposición y la entrega (Por. C. Fazio)

 

I

 

El pasado 22 de noviembre, la 51 reunión interparlamentaria México-Estados Unidos concluyó con la difusión de un comunicado conjunto, en el que la delegación estadunidense manifestó su interés "por una mayor interdependencia y seguridad energética de Norteamérica". En la reunión, Michael McCaul, presidente de la delegación visitante y del Comité de Seguridad Interior de la Cámara de Representantes de Estados Unidos, elogió el paquete de contrarreformas neoliberales impulsado por Enrique Peña y el Pacto por México y, tras mencionar los acuerdos transfronterizos de hidrocarburos de su país con México, abogó por una profundización de la "alianza energética" entre ambos y Canadá.

 

En el marco de las privatizaciones en curso de Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) y la Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) en el Congreso mexicano, las "aspiraciones" de McCaul y los parlamentarios estadunidenses no fueron para nada inocentes. Abrevan en la histórica ambición anexionista y de clase que desde los tiempos del secretario de Estado William H. Seward, en la segunda mitad del siglo XIX, se expresó en un proyecto de control infraestructural y económico de dimensiones continentales que incluía la absorción de México y Canadá; proyecto revitalizado en documentos oficiales del gobierno de Franklyn Delano Roosevelt en 1941, cuando se diseñó la Doctrina de Áreas Ampliadas (Grand Area Doctrine), plan geopolítico de integración vertical imperial para la competencia comercial entre bloques, con eje en la noción de "seguridad nacional" estadunidense.

 

En su última fase, dicho proceso arranca a finales de los años 70 del siglo pasado, cuando el lobby petrolero texano logró colocar en la Oficina Oval a Ronald Reagan y George Bush padre. Veamos:

 

1973. El embargo de la Organización de Países Exportadores de Petróleo (OPEP) a Estados Unidos, a raíz de su apoyo a Israel en la guerra de Yom Kippur, exhibió su vulnerabilidad energética y generó un trauma geoestratégico. Desde entonces, de cara a cualquier interrupción futura del flujo de hidrocarburos (petróleo y gas natural) del golfo Pérsico, Washington priorizó por razones de "seguridad nacional" sus políticas hacia "fuentes amigables, estables y seguras" como Inglaterra, Canadá, México y Venezuela.

 

1979. La vinculación entre la seguridad, la dependencia estratégica y las iniciativas para la inclusión de Canadá y México en esquemas de "integración" de América del Norte ingresa como tema central de la seguridad nacional de Estados Unidos. Para dejar de ser "rehenes" de la OPEP y de cara a la pugna interimperialista con los megabloques económicos de la Unión Europea y el Asia/Pacífico (Japón y los tigres asiáticos) que desafían la hegemonía de Estados Unidos, ese año, cuando el tema del petróleo y el gas era casi un tabú en las relaciones bilateral y regional, Ronald Reagan promueve en su campaña por la Casa Blanca la "desvinculación" del petróleo mexicano y el gas natural canadiense del mercado mundial y la "regionalización" de los recursos hidrocarburíficos de ambos países bajo la idea de un "mercado común energético" de América del Norte.

 

Años 80. En el caso de México, los mayores obstáculos para la conformación de un mercomún energético en el área espacial y territorial de Norteamérica eran el nacionalismo revolucionario, con su artículo 27 constitucional, y la noción misma de la soberanía nacional mexicana. Para librar esos escollos, Washington optó por instrumentos "no militares" (es decir, financieros y monetarios derivados de las líneas de condicionalidad del Banco Mundial, el FMI y el BID atadas a la deuda externa) y de "inteligencia política" (cooptación-corrupción de gobernantes, políticos y empresarios y las presiones derivadas de sus eventuales vínculos con el tráfico de drogas y otros ilícitos).

 

Históricamente, al aparato militar y diplomático estadunidense no le ha sido difícil detectar esas vulnerabilidades, porque, como dijo el ex secretario de Estado de Woodrow Wilson, Robert Lansing, "dominar a México es extremadamente fácil porque basta con controlar a un solo hombre: el presidente". Labor que han venido desarrollando los emisarios de Washington desde el primer gobierno neoliberal de Miguel de la Madrid hasta el presente, con Enrique Peña, pasando por Carlos Salinas (líder de la facción santannista de lo que Manuel Buendía llamó "neopolkos"), Ernesto Zedillo, Vicente Fox y Felipe Calderón. En abono de lo anterior, y como señaló hace más de dos lustros John Saxe-Fernández en La compra-venta de México, desde 1982 se ha venido generalizando en México el "quintacolumnismo", es decir, una quinta columna integrada por un grupo de poder local colaboracionista, antinacional y entreguista, afín a un anexionismo vertical, subordinado y dependiente de Estados Unidos.

 

1991. Durante el gobierno salinista, en el marco de la primera guerra del golfo Pérsico, Timothy O’Leary dio a conocer que en una reunión celebrada en Toronto, el 12 de junio de ese año, Los Pinos y la Casa Blanca pactaron que "sin modificar la Constitución mexicana", el petróleo y las operaciones nacionales e internacionales de Pemex entraran en las negociaciones del Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte (TLCAN o NAFTA, por sus siglas en inglés).

 

1994. Con la entrada en vigor del TLCAN, definido por el ex director de la CIA William Colby como un instrumento importante para "desvanecer" la soberanía mexicana y "reorientar" la función y la existencia misma de México como Estado nación, se profundizó el proceso de "constitucionalización del neoliberalismo disciplinario". Esto es, el ajuste del aparato normativo mexicano con el fin de garantizar "seguridad jurídica" a los inversionistas privados extranjeros, con especial fruición, la desde entonces furtiva, larvada e ilegal contrarreforma a los artículos 27 y 28 de la Constitución en materia energética: electricidad, agua, petróleo, gas natural y otros minerales considerados "críticos y estratégicos" por el Pentágono.

 

II

 

Con la entrada en vigor del Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte (TLCAN) en 1994, Estados Unidos y los organismos financieros "internacionales" (BM, FMI, BID, verdaderos perros guardianes al servicio del Departamento del Tesoro y las compañías multinacionales), han venido avanzando sin límite de continuidad en el "cogobierno" o "manejo conjunto" del territorio nacional y sus recursos geoestratégicos. Incluida la privatización "multimodal" de la infraestructura (carreteras, puertos, aeropuertos, vías de ferrocarril, redes de fibra óptica, de electricidad e hidrocarburos), propósito principal del Plan Puebla Panamá (PPP), diseñado durante la administración de Ernesto Zedillo y profundizado con Vicente Fox.

 

2000-2001. Tras la elección de Fox en julio de 2000, Washington arreció en sus propósitos de transformar el espacio territorial mexicano, de adecuarlo con las nuevas mercancías, a los nuevos negocios y tecnologías. De cuadricularlo, ordenarlo y hacerlo funcional y "productivo".

 

Durante su campaña electoral, en un debate televisado con Al Gore en octubre de 2000, el entonces gobernador de Texas, George W. Bush, recuperó la idea de Reagan y su padre (George Walker Bush, ex director de la CIA y vicepresidente de los dos mandatos de Reagan, a quien sucedió en 1988) de formar un "mercomún energético de América del Norte". Dijo: "Le hablé (a Fox) de cómo sería mejor apresurar la exploración de gas natural en México y transportarlo a Estados Unidos para que seamos menos dependientes de fuentes externas de petróleo crudo". En febrero de 2001, el experto George Baker, directivo de Mexico Energy Intelligence, planteó que Bush podía ofrecer fondos para convertir a Pemex en la mejor empresa petrolera del mundo. "Por supuesto, tendría que ser una propuesta del presidente Fox, que no corresponde plantear al presidente Bush", dijo Baker. En marzo, Bush no tuvo empacho en afirmar que el gas encontrado en México era "hemisférico" y debía beneficiar a Estados Unidos. Afirmó entonces: "Una buena política energética es aquella que entiende que tenemos energía en nuestro hemisferio y cómo explotarlo mejor y transportarlo a los mercados". Poco antes, con Fox de anfitrión, el secretario de Energía de EU, Spencer Abraham, había logrado introducir en la Declaración de México −suscrita por los ministros de Energía del hemisferio− una frase que abogaba por la "integración energética" del continente. Allí quedó formado un grupo de trabajo trilateral (integrado por Abraham y los ministros del ramo de Canadá y México). "Encontramos que hay dependencia mutua, sin socios minoritarios ni socios mayoritarios", dijo entonces Abraham desafiando la ley que rige la fábula del tiburón y las sardinas.

 

La idea de crear "redes" o "corredores energéticos" a través de ductos transfronterizos para el intercambio de hidrocarburos, así como la integración eléctrica entre Estados Unidos, Canadá y México, fue retomada en la Cumbre de Quebec (abril de 2001), donde participaron 34 jefes de Estado y de gobierno de América. Uno de los compromisos de la cumbre fue "norteamericanizar los mercados de energía" −ante la deficiencia de Estados Unidos en la materia esgrimida por Bush−, para lo cual se requería "cambiar el marco legislativo y regulatorio" de los países involucrados.

 

En mayo de 2001, el presidente Bush −principal operativo del cártel petrolero-gasero texano conformado por las trasnacionales Exxon-Mobil, Halliburton, Enron y El Paso Corporation− dio a conocer su plan energético nacional (conocido como Plan Cheney), donde el combustible extranjero pasó a ser el eje del proyecto. En ese esquema, México fue definido como una "fuente primordial" para garantizar la "seguridad energética" de Estados Unidos.

 

Varios meses antes de los atentados contra las Torres Gemelas, el Grupo para el Desarrollo de una Política Energética Nacional, que elaboró el Plan Cheney, había mostrado un mapa de la República Mexicana que identificaba las cuencas de Burgos, Sabinas y Pedregosas, en el norte de México, frente a Texas (dominios del clan Bush), como las principales reservas de gas no explotado. En esa región, sugería el documento, podría darse una interrelación energética "natural". El grupo recomendó a Bush que instruyera a sus secretarios de Estado y de Energía para que, en consulta con la Comisión Reguladora de Energía, se revisaran los "permisos presidenciales" para la construcción de infraestructura que permita el cruce de petróleo, gas natural y electricidad, y se propongan las reformas a las regulaciones que sean necesarias para hacerlas compatibles con el comercio intrafronterizo.

 

Cuando en septiembre de 2001 Fox visitó a Bush en Washington, ambos recibieron la propuesta del Consejo Binacional México-Estados Unidos de llevar a cabo, cuanto antes, la integración energética de Norteamérica. El principal destinatario de la solicitud fue Fox: a él le recomendaron aumentar la inversión privada en Pemex; abrir el sector de refinación de crudo al capital extranjero; dividir en varias compañías la red de oleoductos mexicanos y acceder a una pronta integración eléctrica con Estados Unidos. Para todo ello, señalaron, hay opciones: "liberalizando los marcos regulatorios y legales". Es decir, modificando la Constitución mexicana.

 

2002. El 20 de septiembre de ese año Bush presentó su Estrategia de Seguridad Nacional en la Casa Blanca. Entre las nociones básicas del documento, una decía: "Debe mejorar la seguridad energética (de Estados Unidos). Fortaleceremos nuestra propia seguridad energética y la prosperidad compartida de la economía mundial, colaborando con nuestros aliados, socios comerciales y productores de energía". En buen romance, fue el anuncio estratégico de la Alianza para la Seguridad y la Prosperidad de América del Norte (Aspan), suscrita en Waco, Texas, el 23 de marzo de 2005.

 

III

 

Año 2005. Según lo definió entonces la llamada Fuerza de Tarea Independiente (sic) sobre el Futuro de Norteamérica −cuyos copresidentes eran el ex viceprimer ministro de Canadá, John Manley; el ex gobernador de Massachusetts, William Weld y el ex secretario mexicano de Hacienda, Pedro Aspe−, el nuevo "paradigma" en las relaciones de México con Estados Unidos y Canadá ha sido la Alianza para la Seguridad y la Prosperidad de América del Norte (ASPAN).

 

El "menú" del pacto trilateral, definido entonces por la Casa Blanca con el colaboracionismo de tecnoburócratas gubernamentales, asociaciones empresariales y círculos intelectuales conservadores y entreguistas de Canadá y México, incluyó seis puntos básicos de seguridad: militar, interna, energética, global, social y de acceso al agua dulce. No fue casual que los puntos de la agenda definían los intereses geoestratégicos de Washington; subordinaban el comercio a los asuntos de seguridad definidos en la doctrina Bush de guerra preventiva y lucha contra el "terrorismo", y perseguían una dirección única: la dominación imperial estadunidense en el siglo XXI.

 

Los objetivos claves del "nuevo acuerdo" −en cuya elaboración participó de manera activa Andrés Rozental Gutman, medio hermano del ex canciller del foxismo Jorge G. Castañeda− fueron desarrollar mecanismos de seguridad marítima, aérea y terrestre que permitieran hacer frente a cualquier "amenaza" en América del Norte; una estrategia energética basada en el incremento de la oferta para satisfacer las "necesidades" de la región (léase Estados Unidos), y facilitar inversiones en infraestructura energética, para las mejoras tecnológicas, la producción y el suministro confiable de energéticos, mejorando la "cooperación" en la materia.

 

En forma complementaria, un objetivo estratégico de la política petrolera del dúo Bush-Cheney fue persuadir u obligar a México y países productores del golfo Pérsico a que abrieran sus empresas estatales a la inversión multinacional privada. En ese sentido, en Waco, Bush aprovechó la extrema debilidad del presidente Fox y definió la nueva agenda, que los tecnoburócratas locales tratarían de rellenar después con regulaciones, estándares y modificaciones graduales, pequeñas pero sustanciales, de modo de ir "armonizando" la legislación mexicana con los intereses de Washington y las trasnacionales del sector energético.

 

A su vez, para garantizar "la producción y el suministro confiable de energéticos" en Norteamérica −que comenzaba ya a tomar forma como nuevo espacio geopolítico y geoeconómico−, los estrategas castrenses de Washington impulsaron la idea de un "perímetro exterior de seguridad", lo que colocó a Canadá y México bajo el manto militar nuclear del Comando Estadunidense de Defensa Aeroespacial (conocido como NORAD, por sus siglas en inglés), y su extensión al Comando Norte (creado en 2002), ambos bajo el mando del Pentágono, encargados de proteger de facto los suelos, mares y cielos trinacionales. La anuencia tácita de Fox al plan de seguridad de Bush, colocó desde entonces al territorio mexicano como blanco de cualquier contingencia bélica interimperialista. Pero, además, ese proyecto estadunidense que asumió a México como problema doméstico, incluyó el sellamiento militar del Golfo de México, desde los cabos de la Florida hasta la península de Yucatán, y el corrimiento de la frontera norte al istmo de Tehuantepec para controlar el tránsito de indocumentados mexicanos, centro y sudamericanos, según el diseño original del Plan Puebla-Panamá.

 

La ASPAN (el TLCAN militarizado), que desde su concreción ha venido funcionando con un "gobierno sombra" de las élites empresariales y militares de Estados Unidos y sus socios menores en Canadá y México, incluyó una integración energética transfronteriza (petróleo, gas natural, electricidad) subordinada a Washington y megaproyectos del capital trasnacional que subsumieron los criterios económicos a los de seguridad, justificando así acciones que de otro modo no podrían ser admitidas por ser violatorias de la soberanía nacional, y una normativa supranacional que hizo a un lado el control legislativo (según la Constitución, el Senado es el encargado de vigilar los acuerdos internacionales suscritos por el Poder Ejecutivo), mientras se impusieron leyes contrainsurgentes que criminalizaron la protesta y la pobreza y globalizaron el disciplinamiento social.

 

Año 2007. Ya bajo el mandato espurio de Felipe Calderón, la Iniciativa Mérida, anunciada por George W. Bush en Washington el 22 de octubre de 2007, fue diseñada como un paquete de asistencia militar en especie a México por un monto de mil 400 millones de dólares para el trienio 2008-2010. El "nuevo paradigma de cooperación" entre Estados Unidos y México en materia de seguridad estuvo dirigido a hacer frente a "amenazas comunes" asimétricas, mismas que fueron identificadas como organizaciones trasnacionales del crimen organizado, en particular las dedicadas al narcotráfico, el tráfico de armas, las actividades financieras ilícitas, el tráfico de divisas y la trata de personas. Con un dato adicional: la virtual equiparación desde la óptica punitiva estadunidense de tres términos y sus manifestaciones concretas: terroristas, narcotraficantes y migrantes sin documentación válida (indocumentados).

 

Símil del Plan Colombia, en su parte sustantiva, el millonario paquete de asistencia militar incluyó aviones y helicópteros de combate, barcos, lanchas; armamento y equipo bélico, radares y sofisticados instrumentos para monitoreo aéreo e intervención de comunicaciones; software para análisis de datos asociados a inteligencia financiera, y recursos para sufragar cursos de entrenamiento y asesorías del Pentágono, la CIA, el FBI, la DEA y otros organismos de seguridad estadunidenses a sus contrapartes mexicanas. También incluyó recursos para la instrumentación de reformas judiciales, penales y de procuración de justicia, áreas que de manera paulatina serían homologadas a las de Estados Unidos.

 

IV

 

Integrado de facto desde 2002 al "perímetro de seguridad" de Estados Unidos, el territorio de México quedó incluido en la zona bajo control del Comando Norte del Pentágono. A su vez, en el marco de la ASPAN (el TLCAN militarizado, 2005), la Iniciativa Mérida (2007) llevaría a una desnacionalización acelerada del sistema de seguridad interna. Desde entonces, Estados Unidos sería codiseñador de la estrategia de "seguridad nacional" mexicana, lo que, más allá de juegos semánticos, significó una cesión de soberanía.

 

Definida por el entonces embajador de EE.UU. en México, Antonio Garza, como el "proyecto más agresivo" jamás impulsado por la Casa Blanca en el hemisferio occidental, la Iniciativa Mérida fue diseñada en función de la agenda de seguridad de Washington. Las prioridades de la administración Bush fueron: guerra a las drogas (en el territorio mexicano); guerra al terrorismo (ídem); seguridad fronteriza (en los confines norte y sur de México); control sobre la seguridad pública y las distintas policías de México; penetración de las fuerzas armadas locales (Ejército y Marina de Guerra); construcción de instituciones y reglas de ley similares a las de Estados Unidos (homologación de leyes como parte de la integración silenciosa y subordinada de México).

 

En ese sentido, las contrarreformas calderonistas fueron parte de la agenda policial-militar-judicial-penal de EE.UU., ya que se encaminaron no sólo a la adopción de facto de medidas similares a las del "Estado de excepción" de la era Bush (Ley Patriota, Comisiones Militares, Ley Marcial), sino que también, vía la pretendida modificación o derogación de la Ley para Conservar la Neutralidad del País, buscaba permitir la proyección del poder militar del Pentágono (aéreo, naval y terrestre, incluyendo las fuerzas especiales), en el territorio nacional y los espacios marítimo y aéreo (lo que luego ocurrió de manera no tan encubierta, drones incluidos), y la creación de bases militares, a la postre denominadas Oficinas Bilaterales de Inteligencia o centros de fusión.

 

2008. La energía y la política irían de la mano desde comienzos de ese año. En los círculos financieros se afirmó entonces que la privatización de Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) estaba próxima. Pero para ello se requerían reformas constitucionales y el presidente Felipe Calderón necesitaba conseguir los votos en el Congreso del Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI).

 

En ese contexto se reveló que Pemex, la mayor empresa paraestatal y principal contribuyente fiscal de México, había establecido convenios de cooperación con cinco multinacionales: la angloholandesa Royal Dutch Shell; Petrobras, de Brasil; Statoil de Holanda; la canadiense Nexen y el gigante petrolero estadunidense Chevron-Texaco. Según autoridades de Pemex, se trataban de convenios "sin carácter comercial" en materia de investigación científica y tecnológica, apegados a los ordenamientos constitucionales y legales vigentes entonces en el país.

 

Sin embargo, en diciembre anterior La Jornada había denunciado que existía un convenio de carácter confidencial con la Shell, para realizar actividades de exploración en el campo petrolero de Chicontepec, Veracruz, lo que estaba vedado por la Constitución. Entonces se especuló que el llamado Proyecto Margarita permitiría posicionar a la empresa angloholandesa en el país, ante una eventual eliminación de las restricciones constitucionales a la inversión privada en el sector energético.

 

Pemex clasificó como "información confidencial" los resultados derivados de los acuerdos suscritos con esas cinco compañías, y asumió el compromiso de ocultar los datos al Instituto Federal de Acceso a la Información y Protección de Datos (Ifai). Si Pemex rompía la reserva de los convenios debería pagar una indemnización de 500 mil dólares por evento. Y en caso de una controversia entre ambas partes, ésta se tendría que dirimir en las cortes internacionales de conformidad con el reglamento de arbitraje de la Cámara Internacional de Comercio, con sede en París, Francia.

 

Calderón dijo que Pemex no se privatizaría, lo que a todas luces fue una actitud demagógica, ya que en 2003, siendo ministro de Energía en el gabinete de Vicente Fox, había abogado por la apertura al capital privado de la Compañía Federal de Electricidad (CFE), mediante adecuaciones al texto de los artículos 27 y 28 constitucionales, con el fin de otorgar "certidumbre jurídica" a los inversionistas extranjeros. Ahora sólo era cuestión de cambiar sector "eléctrico" por "energético".

 

No era secreto que los distintos gobiernos neoliberales habían venido suscribiendo acuerdos inconfesables con empresas internacionales como el firmado con Shell. Entre los trucos semánticos que intentaban ocultar la privatización por partes de Pemex al margen de la Constitución, se había llegado a hablar de "acuerdos verbales", alianzas "sin documento alguno", convenios de "colaboración" y "pactos sin carácter comercial."

 

El 4 de marzo, en horario estelar, el gobierno de Calderón puso en marcha una millonaria estrategia propagandística televisiva dirigida a convencer a la población sobre la necesidad de que Pemex se asociara con empresas privadas, nacionales y extranjeras, para explorar "un tesoro escondido" a 3 mil metros de profundidad en el golfo de México. En lo que fue descrito como un doble juego gubernamental para abrir el sector de los energéticos al capital privado, se reveló la existencia de dos versiones del espot oficial: en el portal de YouTube, el promocional, que incluía gráficas satelitales e imágenes en tercera dimensión, hablaba de "alianzas" estratégicas con empresas privadas para la exploración en aguas profundas; pero esa palabra fue mutilada en la televisión abierta, lo que constituyó una manipulación intencional para ocultar que la iniciativa era en pro de una "alianza estratégica" o de "cuates", de la administración Calderón con los tiburones del sector energético trasnacional.

 

www.jornada.unam.mx/2013/11/25/opinion/021a1pol

www.jornada.unam.mx/2013/12/09/opinion/027a1pol

www.jornada.unam.mx/2013/12/23/opinion/024a1pol

www.jornada.unam.mx/2014/01/06/opinion/015a1pol

 

Nifty Fifties...

 

Our local photography group is getting ready for a 50mm film shoot so I was digging around in the camera cabinet to get ready: meetup.charlottephoto.org/events/106615242/

 

These are the cameras that I couldn't live without but couldn't afford back in the late 1990s. Sorry if Canon isn't represented. Can someone tell me which Canon would be appropriate in this group?

 

Pentax MZ-S (2001): A quirky, clumsy attempt to redefine the SLR interface. The top plate is angled back toward the user so that settings are easy to see. There is an LCD panel inside (!) one of the control knobs on the top plate. Bunches of custom functions that you can set, but which are confusing if you don't have internets handy. Easy to use, nice ergos, and wins for having the best vertical grip, which attaches with a simple latch. AF is fast in good light, miserable indoors and under tungsten. Has a goofy array of AF sensors where five are in a horizontal line and a sixth above the center (for faces ?) Has a built-in flash for a little fill when needed.

 

Nikon F100 (1999): The lighter alternative to its big brother the F5, this is a great film companion to your modern Nikon DSLR. It just takes pictures... It's weather-resistant and built like a tank, though it is bulky and hefty. AF is fast, although there are just 5 points to choose from. The AF points light up nice and red unlike its big brother the F5. Fast framerate if you care (5.5 fps or sumthin like that) and controls are easy to learn.

 

Minolta Maxxum 7 (2001-ish): Yes, that's an LCD screen on the back. It actually shows meter readings from its 14 metering zones back there. AF is nice and fast, perhaps better than the F100. Nice control knobs for compensation, bracketing, and so on. Three easy-to-access user modes. The big fat screen on the back actually walks you through setting the custom functions. Minolta is long gone as an SLR/DSLR manufacturer, but their acquisition by Sony means that you can use new Sony a-mount lenses on your old Maxxum. The built-in flash actually works...

 

The Pentax wins for its compact size and clever vertical grip. The Nikon wins for compatibility with your current lenses and for fast, silent AF (but it's a pig size- and weight-wise). The Minolta is a great camera all around but is a little fiddly.

 

Like I said, I couldn't afford these back then, but they are pennies on the dollar, now. Interestingly enough, the vertical grip on the Pentax cost as much as the rest of the gear combined. They didn't make enough of them, I suppose...

A reredos of Corsham Stone, representing the Last Supper, was erected behind the altar of St Patrick’s Church of Ireland Cathedral, Armagh, in 1903.

 

St Patrick’s Church of Ireland Cathedral, Armagh (Irish: Ardeaglais Phádraig, Ard Mhacha) is the seat of the Anglican Archbishop of Armagh and Diocese of Armagh. Although the origins of the site are as a 5th century Irish stone monastery, said to have been founded by St. Patrick, and there has been a significant church on the site since, its present appearance largely dates from Lewis Nockalls Cottingham’s restoration in the years after 1834, although the fabric of Primate O’Scanlan’s 1268 building remains. Over the centuries, the church on the site has been at least partially destroyed and rebuilt 17 times.

 

Throughout the Middle Ages, the cathedral was the seat of the Catholic Archbishop of Armagh, head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, and one of the most important churches in Gaelic Ireland. With the 16th-century Protestant Reformation, the cathedral was taken over by the Church of Ireland.

 

Following Catholic emancipation in the 19th century, a new Catholic cathedral was built in Armagh, also called St Patrick’s Cathedral, on another hilltop half a kilometre away.

 

Evidence suggests that the hilltop was originally a pagan sanctuary.

By the 7th century, it had become the most important monastery and monastic school in the north of Ireland, and monastic settlement grew up around it. Brian Boru, High King of Ireland, visited Armagh in 1004, acknowledging it as the head cathedral of Ireland and bestowing it a large sum of gold. Brian was buried at Armagh cathedral after his death at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. Armagh’s claim to the primacy of Ireland was formally acknowledged at the Synod of Ráth Breasail in 1111.

 

The cathedral was renovated and restored under Dean Eoghan McCawell (1505–1549), having suffered from a devastating fire in 1511 and being in poor shape. Soon after his death the cathedral was described by Lord Chancellor Cusack as “one of the fairest and best churches in Ireland”. However, by the end of the Nine Years’ War which devastated Ulster between 1593 and 1603, Armagh lay in ruins.

 

Following the Nine Years’ War, Armagh came under English control and the town began to be settled by Protestants from Britain, as part of the Plantation of Ulster. During the Irish Rebellion of 1641, many Protestant settlers fled to Armagh cathedral for safety. After negotiations with the besieged settlers, Catholic rebels occupied the town until May 1642.

 

As mentioned above, the cathedral largely owes its current appearance to a rebuilding between 1834 and 1840 by Archbishop Lord John George Beresford and the architect Lewis Nockalls Cottingham. The fabric remains that of the mediaeval building but much restored. While Cottingham was heavy-handed in his restoration, the researches of T. G. F. Patterson and Janet Myles in the late twentieth century have shown the restoration to have been notably antiquarian for its time. The tracery of the nave windows in particular are careful restorations as is the copy of the font. The capital decoration of the two westernmost pillars of the nave (either side of the West Door internal porch) are mediaeval as are the bulk of the external gargoyle carvings (some resited) of the parapet of the Eastern Arm. Cottingham’s intention of retaining the richly cusped West Door with flanking canopied niches was over-ruled. Subsequent restorations have more radically altered the internal proportions of the mediaeval building, proportions which Cottingham had retained.

 

Many other Celtic and mediaeval carvings are to be seen within the cathedral which is also rich in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century sculpture. There are works by Francis Leggatt Chantrey, Louis-François Roubiliac, John Michael Rysbrack, Carlo Marochetti and others.

Jusqu'à tout récemment, un ensemble représentatif de l'architecture villageoise du Vieux Pont-Viau occupait encore le côté Ouest (à droite) de la petite rue Saint-Hubert. Début décembre 2023, le pic des démolisseurs a fait son œuvre.

 

Au loin, dans la perspective, la structure du pont Viau et à droite, en arrière plan, une tour d'habitation de type Condo.

Marine Chris Sherrington, representing Team Scotland celebrates his Judo Commonwealth Games 2014 Gold Medal in Glasgow.

 

Marine Sherrington, won gold against Ruan Snyman in the over 100kgs category.

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

© Crown Copyright 2014

Photographer: Graeme Main

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www.usaraf.army.mil

 

U.S. Army Africa officers take notes during Kwanza 2010

 

By Rick Scavetta, U.S. Army Africa

 

VICENZA, Italy – As Angolan women and children waited in a military hospital triage area during exercise Kwanza 2010, a U.S. Army Africa officer took note.

 

Maj. George K. Allen, Jr. 40, of Lynnwood, Wash., was one of four international observers at the weeklong exercise, conducted in early June in Cabo Ledo, Angola.

 

The exercise was held by the Central African Multinational Force in order to validate the unit. Known as FOMAC, the force is one of five brigade-size elements that make up the African Union’s African Standby Force.

 

The FOMAC is built around forces from the Economic Community of Central African States (French acronym CEEAC). Troops who took part in the exercise came from Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Republic of Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sao Tome and Principe and Chad.

 

Incorporating a medical mission to offer humanitarian assistance during the exercise exemplifies FOMAC’s progressive level of planning and coordination, Allen said.

 

“It shows that Africans are ready to help Africans,” Allen said. “They had a multi-national staff of military medics representing several central African countries – all working together to help local people. That’s impressive.”

 

Allen along with Lt. Jonathan Goerk, of U.S. Naval Forces Africa, were among a group of observers that included Maj. Gen. Samaila Iliya from the African Union. As the U.S. military representatives, the American observers were interested in how the force is organized, its logistical and signal capabilities and how FOMAC plans and conducts operations.

 

“We were there to observe and to learn from the countries within the FOMAC,” Goerk said. “We were grateful for the opportunity to attend.”

 

The role of the U.S. participants was to observe the event and assess how the United States can best engage with CEEAC and its member states to enhance regional peace and security capacity, including maritime security, disaster response, humanitarian relief operations, and peacekeeping missions.

 

During the exercise, the multi-national force faced a “real-world” exercise scenario based on events and experiences gained in previous African crisis situations. That meant the primary focus was establishing security and offering care to local people.

 

Amphibious forces landed at a beach in rib boats from ships just off the coast. Paratroopers leapt from a Cameroonian C-130 transport plane. Medics set up two field hospitals, where local Angolans received care that included pediatric visits, women’s health checks, dentistry and minor surgery.

 

“They had naval, air and ground forces working with police, civilian components and nongovernmental organizations – all whom worked together to create positive effects,” Allen said. “FOMAC showed that it has the ability to promote security in central Africa.”

 

To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil

 

Official Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/usarmyafrica

 

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Vis. Comm. Project #009 - Postcard

 

Yet another photograph starring Sarah. And if I remember nothing else about her, I will always remember the Vans and the socks. The socks were mystery gifts from a Secret Santa. (Awesome, are they not?) And the Vans... Oh my gosh, the Vans. The Vans represent all things great and wonderful about our sophomore year.

 

I originally took this for a visual communications art class in high school, but have continued to fall in love with it. The assignment was to take an "evocative" photograph to use as a postcard for our hometown. (Note: I come from more or less the worst place on the face of the earth. Nothing about it is "evocative." Except the cows and the corn fields.) As a (then) aspiring photography major, you would think I'd be brilliant enough to come up with something a little more... Uhm. Well. Not this. But no.

 

I wasted the entire week we had to work on this playing with cigarette lighters on the sidewalk, outside the art classrooms. My teacher was well aware. Flame igniters are not permitted on school property. (Neither are dogs, weapons, or illegal drugs. Ha.) Then, with ten minutes left to go before the bell rang, I shot this on the same steps outside the door where we'd spent all the previous week playing with lighters. It's pretty awesome, I think.

 

Fond de plat avec un décor représentant Barhâm Gûr et Azadeh

بشقاب ساخت کاشان یا ری، سال 1200 میلادی

L'histoire de Barhâm Gûr et Azadeh est contée dans le LIvre des Rois, une épopée persane appelée Shâh Nâmeh

environ 1200

Iran (Kashan ou Rayy)

Céramique Mina'i, peinte avec des parties dorées

 

Le roi sassanide Bahrâm Gûr est représenté sur un chameau. Il est coiffé d’un sharbush turc. Bandant son arc, il s’apprête à tirer une flèche. Derrière lui, coiffée d’une couronne, se tient sa favorite Azadeh, tenant une harpe. La scène fait référence à un épisode tiré du Livre des Rois (Shâhnâmeh), l’épopée nationale iranienne rédigée vers l’an mille par le poète Ferdowsi (v. 940-1020), dans lequel le roi va, à la demande de sa capricieuse compagne, transformer avec ses flèches une gazelle mâle en femelle et inversement, puis saisir d’une seule flèche l’oreille et la patte d’une troisième. Extrait de la base Qantara

www.qantara-med.org/qantara4/public/show_document.php?do_...

  

Article de Wikipedia sur le livre des Rois

fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sh%C3%A2h_N%C3%A2m%C3%A2

 

Objet présenté dans le musée d'art islamique de Berlin / Museum für Islamische Kunst

www.smb.museum/museen-und-einrichtungen/museum-fuer-islam...

Sculpture showing boat designs, four large steel chains and silhouettes of faces to represent the town's fishing fleet and blast furnace. It is the first of two of Randall's sculptures celebrating the history of fishing and steelmaking in Redcar, the first is Lifelines, standing 1 km to the east. The name Sinterlation, comes from sinter, a granulated material applied to the top of a blast furnace

 

Redcar is a seaside town on the Yorkshire Coast in the Redcar and Cleveland unitary authority in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England. It is located 7 miles (11 km) east of Middlesbrough.

 

The Teesside built-up area's Redcar subdivision had a population of 37,073 at the 2011 Census. The town is made up of Coatham, Dormanstown, Kirkleatham, Newcomen, West Dyke, Wheatlands and Zetland.

 

It gained a town charter in 1922, from then until 1968 it was governed by the municipal borough of Redcar. Since the abolition of County Borough of Teesside, which existed from 1968 until 1974, the town has been unparished.

 

Redcar occupies a low-lying site by the sea; the second element of its name is from Old Norse kjarr, meaning 'marsh', and the first may be either Old English (Anglo-Saxon) rēad meaning 'red' or OE hrēod 'reed'. The town originated as a fishing hamlet in the 14th century, trading with the larger adjacent hamlet of Coatham. Until the mid-19th century it was within the parish of Marske-by-the-Sea – mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086.

 

Numerous ships have foundered off the Redcar coastline and many of their wrecks still exist. The Zetland is the world's oldest surviving lifeboat. It was built by Henry Greathead of South Shields and is housed in a volunteer-led sea-front museum. The lifeboat was first stationed at Redcar in 1802.

 

As seaside holidays became fashionable in the early 19th century, Redcar's facilities expanded. By 1841, Redcar had 794 inhabitants. In 1846, work was completed on the Middlesbrough and Redcar Railway and the presently named Redcar Central station, created to attract tourism and trade.

 

Redcar's population expansion corresponded with Middlesbrough's, with the discovery in 1850 of iron ore in the Eston area of Cleveland Hills. Redcar prospered as a seaside town drawing tourists attracted by eight miles of sands stretching from South Gare to Saltburn-by-the-Sea.

 

Plans for a pier were drawn up in 1866, but lay dormant until prompted by the announcement of plans to build a pier at Coatham in 1871. Coatham Pier was wrecked before it was completed when two sailing ships were driven through it in a storm. It had to be shortened because of the cost of repairs and was re-opened with an entrance with two kiosks and a roller-skating rink on the Redcar side, and a bandstand halfway along its length.

 

Redcar Racecourse was created in 1875. Redcar Pier, another pier as well as Coatham Pier, was built in the late 1870s. In October 1880 the brig Luna caused £1,000 worth of damage to this pier. In New Year's Eve 1885 SS Cochrane demolished the landing stage. and in 1897 the schooner Amarant went through the pier. A year later, its head and bandstand burned down.

 

In October 1898 the Coatham Pier was almost wrecked when the barque Birger struck it and the pier was thereafter allowed to disintegrate. An anchor from the Birger can be seen on the sea front pavement close to the Zetland Lifeboat Museum.

 

In 1907 a pavilion ballroom was built on Redcar Pier behind the entrance kiosks and in 1928 it was extended. A glass house for concerts was added to the remains of Coatham Pier's entrance. The presently named Redcar East railway station was built in 1929.

 

In 1929 Coatham Pier's glasshouse was replaced by the New Pavilion theatre. After the war, comedian and entertainer Larry Grayson coined his catchphrase "Shut that Door!" while performing there, since the stage door was open to the cold North Sea breeze.

 

Redcar Pier was deliberately breached (sectioned) in 1940 to prevent its use by enemy invasion forces. As a result of sectioning, damage by a mine explosion and deterioration it was never reconnected and instead allowed to become even more dilapidated.

 

In 1964 the New Pavilion Theatre was transformed into the Regent Cinema. The Redcar Pier pavilion continued in use after the war but storm damage led to it being declared unsafe and it was demolished in 1980–1981.

 

The town's main employers in the post-war era were the nearby Teesside Steelworks at Warrenby, founded by Dorman Long in 1917, and the ICI Wilton chemical works. The steel produced at Dorman Long was used to build the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Tyne Bridge, Auckland Harbour Bridge and many others. Both the Warrenby and Lackenby sites became part of Tata Steel when Corus was taken over in 2007, but continued to trade under the Corus name until at least February 2008. SSI bought the plant from Tata Steel in February 2011, for £320 million.

 

After a two-year hiatus following the mothballing of the plant in February 2010, steel was once again being made at Redcar. The Thai owners of the former Corus Plant at Lackenby, Sahaviriya Steel Industries (SSI), re-ignited the blast furnace, one of the largest in Europe, on 15 April 2012.

 

On 18 September 2015, production was paused due to the decline in steel prices. On 28 September 2015, the plant was "mothballed" amid poor steel trading conditions across the world and a drop in steel prices. On 2 October, the owner of the site, SSI UK, entered liquidation. On 12 October 2015 the administrator announced that there was no realistic prospect of finding a buyer and the ovens would be extinguished.

 

Wards periodically change, as of 2018 the town is made up of Coatham, Dormanstown, Kirkleatham, Newcomen, West Dyke, Wheatlands and Zetland. Redcar is made up of areas that do not lend their name to a ward: Warrenby, Lakes Estate, Redcar East, The Ings, Ings Farm, Mickledales and Westfield.

 

On 5 May 2011 Redcar elected its councillors to Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council. There was a by-election on 18 November 2011 for two vacant seats in the Zetland ward, held onto by the Liberal Democrats, and on 19 January 2012 there was a by-election for a vacant seat in Newcomen ward subsequently gained by Labour from the Liberal Democrats.

 

Redcar was formerly a township and chapelry in the parishes of Marske and Upleatham, in 1866 Redcar became a separate civil parish. A district in Redcar's name formed in 1885. Three years after the district was formed, the centuries-old Yorkshire authority was replaced by the North Riding of Yorkshire county council. The district became an urban district in 1894.

 

The settlement's town charter occurred in 1922, the district was able to be styled as a municipal borough and the settlement as a town. On 1 April 1974 the parish was abolished and merged with Teesside and Marske. On 1 April 1968 the municipal borough was abolished merged into the County Borough of Teesside, part also went to Saltburn and Marske by the Sea Urban District. This removed it from the administrative county however still ceremonially in the area. In 1961 the parish had a population of 31,460.

 

The 1974 reform created the non-metropolitan County of Cleveland, under the Langbaurgh non-metropolitan district. The county was also inserted into the North East England region. After further changes in 1996, the district became a unitary authority called Redcar & Cleveland in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, the county straddling two regions of England.

 

The North East England region was sub-divided into combined authorities, in May 2017 the Tees Valley area voted for their first mayor. The Conservative candidate, Ben Houchen, won the election and is now in his second term.

 

From 1987 to 2001, the local Member of Parliament (MP) was Mo Mowlam. From 2001 to 2010 the MP was Vera Baird. In the 2010 general election there was a swing to the Liberal Democrats with Ian Swales being elected. But, in the 2015 general election, Anna Turley, a Labour MP, won back Redcar. In the snap 2017 general election, Anna Turley held onto that seat. In the general election on 12 December 2019, Anna Turley lost her seat to Conservative candidate Jacob Young with a majority of 3,527 votes. Young becomes the third conservative MP to represent Redcar, the first being Royal Naval Commander Robert Tatton Bower 1931 to 1945 and Scarborough businessman Wilfred Proudfoot between 1959 and 1964 when Redcar was part of the Cleveland constituency.

 

The Palace Hub, on the beach front, was built by Redcar and Cleveland Council for the creative and cultural sector of the town. An art gallery and business start up centre are located in the building. The main library is in the Redcar Heart building in the centre of the town and there is a long-standing Redcar Literary Institute, which was founded in 1896.

 

Redcar is home to the Tuned In! Centre, which opened in 2011 and overlooks the sea front. The multi purpose venue hosts live music as well as creative workshops for young people. The annual event Clubland on the Beach, which showcases dance acts attracting visitors from across the country, has been held at Majuba Road in Redcar for the past three years.

 

The town has had several parks built for tourism: Coatham Enclosure, Locke Park, Zetland Park, Lily Park, an Amusement Park with a roller coaster, and a small sea front park known locally as Titty Bottle Park. The Amusement Park near the railway closed decades ago, and Titty Bottle Park was absorbed into the redeveloped sea front around Redcar Beacon.

 

At the west end of High Street is a Grade II listed clock tower, a memorial to King Edward VII who was a regular visitor to Redcar. The tower has now been refurbished.

 

Construction of the Redcar Beacon started in 2011. In 2013, when the building had been completed, it was nominated for the Building Design Carbuncle Cup for worst new building. It came third in the whole of the UK. In December 2015, the Beacon was damaged by winds from Storm Desmond, with several large pieces of panelling falling onto the beach below. It was also damaged in winter 2016, where a panel from the top fell off in a storm.

 

There are 23 listed buildings in Redcar. The Grade I Listed Sir William Turner's Hospital in Kirkleatham was built between 1674–1676 and listed on the 14 June 1952.

 

On the Esplanade is the Grade II-Listed Zetland Lifeboat Museum housing the world's oldest lifeboat Zetland Lifeboat.

 

The Victorian, former Coatham Hotel stands on Newcomen Terrace sea front.[36][37] The ballroom of the hotel was home to the Redcar Jazz Club, a venue for the up-and-coming bands of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

 

In the south-east of Redcar is an aircraft listening post built in 1916 during the First World War as part of a regional defence system to detect approaching aircraft, principally Zeppelins, and give early warning.It is an example of an acoustic mirror, of which other examples can be found along the east coast of Britain. The mirror was used up until the invention of radar and although it was built on open fields today a modern housing estate now surrounds it. Only the concrete sound mirror remains and is now a Grade II listed building.

 

To the east of Redcar is the grade II* listed Church of St Peter, designed by Ignatius Bonomi and built 1822–29. In 1818, Lord Dundas gave land for a church, St Peters. The foundation stone was laid by Lady Turner of Kirkleatham in 1823. Initially it was a daughter church of Marske, but became an independent parish in 1867. It has a window commemorating local benefactor Sir William Turner.

 

Redcar has two railway stations, on the Tees Valley line, with trains operated by Northern and TransPennine Express, namely Redcar Central and Redcar East. A third station Redcar British Steel, which closed in December 2019, served the steelworks.

 

The main roads through the town are the A1085 and the A1042, with the A174 bypassing. Redcar is served primarily by Arriva North East buses, connecting Redcar with the surrounding towns and villages.

 

The Pangea North and CANTAT-3 submarine telecommunication cables both come ashore between Redcar and Marske-by-the-Sea.

 

See also: List of schools in Redcar and Cleveland

The town's further education college is Redcar & Cleveland College.

 

The town's secondary schools are: Outwood Academy Redcar, Sacred Heart Catholic Secondary and Rye Hills Academy.

 

There are eleven primary schools in Redcar: Coatham, Dormanstown, Green Gates, Ings Farm, John E Batty, Lakes, Newcomen, Riverdale, St Benedict's, Wheatlands and Zetland.

 

Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC North East and Cumbria and ITV Tyne Tees, the local television station TalkTeesside also broadcasts to the area. Television signals are received from the Bilsdale TV transmitter.

 

Local radio stations are BBC Radio Tees, Heart North East, Capital North East, Smooth North East, Greatest Hits Radio Teesside, and Zetland FM, a community based radio station which broadcast from its studios on Newcomen Terrace in the town.

 

The town is served by the local newspapers, East Cleveland Herald & Post which is published by the TeessideLive. The Northern Echo also covers the area.

 

In Coatham is Cleveland Golf Club, the first golf club to be formed in Yorkshire. It was established in 1887 and is a links course. Also in Coatham is Redcar Cricket Club, which play in the NYSD league, and Redcar Running Club.

 

In association football, Redcar Athletic currently compete in the Northern League Division One while Redcar Town play in Northern League Division Two. Redcar Rugby Union Football club play at Mackinlay Park.

 

Redcar Racecourse is one of nine thoroughbred horse racecourses in Yorkshire. There is also a motorcycle speedway racing team, the Redcar Bears racing in the SGB Championship. The race track is at the South Tees Motorsport Park in Southbank Street, South Bank and is unusual in that one bend is more highly banked than the other. The team was formerly captained by 1992 World Champion Gary Havelock and was formerly managed by his father Brian.

 

The town is set to host the 2022 Tour of Britain stage four, UCI Europe Tour cycling race. The town was previously set to host a stage of the Tour de Yorkshire, the event was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Notable people

Gertrude Bell, colonial administrator and contemporary of Lawrence of Arabia spent her youthful years at Red Barns House in Coatham,[ which became, for a time, the Red Barns Hotel and a listed building.

The surviving negatives of Redcar photographer Alfred Edward Graham (1882–1945) were acquired by Redcar Urban District Council's Library and Museum Committee and are now held by the Redcar and Cleveland Museum Service.

Rex Hunt, governor of the Falkland Islands during the 1982 invasion by Argentina, attended Coatham School.

The former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Mo Mowlam, represented Redcar parliamentary constituency in the House of Commons.

Film and television actors Pip Donaghy June Laverick, and Wendy Hall, and actor/director/producer Robert Porter were all born in Redcar.

Actor and radio actor Felicity Finch, famous for her part in the Archers BBC Radio 4 drama series, playing Ruth Archer, was also born and grew up in Redcar.

Singer David Coverdale, lead singer with Deep Purple and Whitesnake lived in Redcar as a youth and worked in the Gentry clothes shop on Coatham Road.

Chris Norman, founder member and former lead singer of Smokie was born in Redcar.

Pete York, drummer with the Spencer Davis Group and session drummer was born in Redcar.

Paralympian, Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, originally from Wales, lived in Redcar for a number of years with her husband and daughter.

2011 and 2016 UCI Downhill World Champion Danny Hart was born in and currently lives in Redcar, he is frequently nicknamed "The Redcar Rocket" by commentators.

David Wheater, Bolton Wanderers and England national football team central defender, grew up and still lives in Redcar.

Snooker player Mike Dunn was born in Middlesbrough but lives in Redcar.[citation needed]

Jordan Jones, Rangers FC and Northern Ireland national football team midfielder was born in Redcar

Hayden Hackney, Middlesbrough F.C. midfielder was born in Redcar

Dylan Cartlidge, singer and multi-instrumentalist grew up in Redcar

 

Film and television

A location from the film Atonement

In 2006, Redcar was used as a location for the film adaptation of the Ian McEwan novel Atonement. The Coatham Hotel, Regent Cinema, a section of Newcomen Terrace and part of the beach were dressed as 1940s Dunkirk. Filming took place across three days in August 2006, with local men playing the soldiers.

 

In 2010, Redcar was featured on the Channel 4 television programme The Secret Millionaire. David Jamilly a humanitarian, philanthropist and self-made millionaire, visited the Redcar community and gave £25,000 to Zoë's Place for a sensory room, £25,000 to Redcar Amateur Boxing Club to start an Olympic fund, and £25,000 to Sid's Place for special counselling.

 

There was a subsequent visit on 14 May to a screening at Redcar's cinema, attended by the mayor and mayoress along with all the charities and people involved. The feature of the documentary involved the closure of the nearby Corus steelworks as well as the charities. On 9 December 2011, Jamilly opened the new Redcar Education Development centre in Park Avenue, Redcar. The centre provides day care for adults with learning difficulties. He also opened the Redcar Primary Care Hospital on 9 December 2011 and the new Sid's Place on 15 December 2011.

 

The town was filmed for the 2018 BBC television documentary The Mighty Redcar. The four-part series followed young people from Redcar and surrounding towns as they completed their studies and looked for work.

 

North Yorkshire is a ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber and North East regions of England. It borders County Durham to the north, the North Sea to the east, the East Riding of Yorkshire to the south-east, South Yorkshire to the south, West Yorkshire to the south-west, and Cumbria and Lancashire to the west. Northallerton is the county town.

 

The county is the largest in England by land area, at 9,020 km2 (3,480 sq mi), and has a population of 1,158,816. The largest settlements are Middlesbrough (174,700) in the north-east and the city of York (152,841) in the south. Middlesbrough is part of the Teesside built-up area, which extends into County Durham and has a total population of 376,663. The remainder of the county is rural, and the largest towns are Harrogate (73,576) and Scarborough (61,749). For local government purposes the county comprises four unitary authority areas — York, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, and North Yorkshire — and part of a fifth, Stockton-on-Tees.

 

The centre of the county contains a wide plain, called the Vale of Mowbray in the north and Vale of York in the south. The North York Moors lie to the east, and south of them the Vale of Pickering is separated from the main plain by the Howardian Hills. The west of the county contains the Yorkshire Dales, an extensive upland area which contains the source of the River Ouse/Ure and many of its tributaries, which together drain most of the county. The Dales also contain the county's highest point, Whernside, at 2,415 feet (736 m).

 

North Yorkshire non-metropolitan and ceremonial county was formed on 1 April 1974 as a result of the Local Government Act 1972. It covered most of the North Riding of Yorkshire, as well as northern parts of the West Riding of Yorkshire, northern and eastern East Riding of Yorkshire and the former county borough of York. Northallerton, as the former county town for the North Riding, became North Yorkshire's county town. In 1993 the county was placed wholly within the Yorkshire and the Humber region.

 

Some areas which were part of the former North Riding were in the county of Cleveland for twenty-two years (from 1974 to 1996) and were placed in the North East region from 1993. On 1 April 1996, these areas (Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton borough south of the River Tees) became part of the ceremonial county as separate unitary authorities. These areas remain within the North East England region.

 

Also on 1 April 1996, the City of York non-metropolitan district and parts of the non-metropolitan county (Haxby and nearby rural areas) became the City of York unitary authority.

 

On 1 April 2023, the non-metropolitan county became a unitary authority. This abolished eight councils and extended the powers of the county council to act as a district council.

 

The York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority held its first meeting on 22 January 2024, assumed its powers on 1 February 2024 and the first mayor is to be elected in May 2024.

 

The geology of North Yorkshire is closely reflected in its landscape. Within the county are the North York Moors and most of the Yorkshire Dales, two of eleven areas in England and Wales to be designated national parks. Between the North York Moors in the east and the Pennine Hills. The highest point is Whernside, on the Cumbrian border, at 2,415 feet (736 m). A distinctive hill to the far north east of the county is Roseberry Topping.

 

North Yorkshire contains several major rivers. The River Tees is the most northerly, forming part of the border between North Yorkshire and County Durham in its lower reaches and flowing east through Teesdale before reaching the North Sea near Redcar. The Yorkshire Dales are the source of many of the county's major rivers, including the Aire, Lune, Ribble, Swale, Ure, and Wharfe.[10] The Aire, Swale, and Wharfe are tributaries of the Ure/Ouse, which at 208 km (129 mi) long is the sixth-longest river in the United Kingdom. The river is called the Ure until it meets Ouse Gill beck just below the village of Great Ouseburn, where it becomes the Ouse and flows south before exiting the county near Goole and entering the Humber estuary. The North York Moors are the catchment for a number of rivers: the Leven which flows north into the Tees between Yarm and Ingleby Barwick; the Esk flows east directly into the North Sea at Whitby as well as the Rye (which later becomes the Derwent at Malton) flows south into the River Ouse at Goole.

 

North Yorkshire contains a small section of green belt in the south of the county, which surrounds the neighbouring metropolitan area of Leeds along the North and West Yorkshire borders. It extends to the east to cover small communities such as Huby, Kirkby Overblow, and Follifoot before covering the gap between the towns of Harrogate and Knaresborough, helping to keep those towns separate.

 

The belt adjoins the southernmost part of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, and the Nidderdale AONB. It extends into the western area of Selby district, reaching as far as Tadcaster and Balne. The belt was first drawn up from the 1950s.

 

The city of York has an independent surrounding belt area affording protections to several outlying settlements such as Haxby and Dunnington, and it too extends into the surrounding districts.

 

North Yorkshire has a temperate oceanic climate, like most of the UK. There are large climate variations within the county. The upper Pennines border on a Subarctic climate. The Vale of Mowbray has an almost Semi-arid climate. Overall, with the county being situated in the east, it receives below-average rainfall for the UK. Inside North Yorkshire, the upper Dales of the Pennines are one of the wettest parts of England, where in contrast the driest parts of the Vale of Mowbray are some of the driest areas in the UK.

 

Summer temperatures are above average, at 22 °C. Highs can regularly reach up to 28 °C, with over 30 °C reached in heat waves. Winter temperatures are below average, with average lows of 1 °C. Snow and Fog can be expected depending on location. The North York Moors and Pennines have snow lying for an average of between 45 and 75 days per year. Sunshine is most plentiful on the coast, receiving an average of 1,650 hours a year. It reduces further west in the county, with the Pennines receiving 1,250 hours a year.

 

The county borders multiple counties and districts:

County Durham's County Durham, Darlington, Stockton (north Tees) and Hartlepool;

East Riding of Yorkshire's East Riding of Yorkshire;

South Yorkshire's City of Doncaster;

West Yorkshire's City of Wakefield, City of Leeds and City of Bradford;

Lancashire's City of Lancaster, Ribble Valley and Pendle

Cumbria's Westmorland and Furness.

 

The City of York Council and North Yorkshire Council formed the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority in February 2024. The elections for the first directly-elected mayor will take place in May 2024. Both North Yorkshire Council and the combined authority are governed from County Hall, Northallerton.

 

The Tees Valley Combined Authority was formed in 2016 by five unitary authorities; Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland Borough both of North Yorkshire, Stockton-on-Tees Borough (Uniquely for England, split between North Yorkshire and County Durham), Hartlepool Borough and Darlington Borough of County Durham.

 

In large areas of North Yorkshire, agriculture is the primary source of employment. Approximately 85% of the county is considered to be "rural or super sparse".

 

Other sectors in 2019 included some manufacturing, the provision of accommodation and meals (primarily for tourists) which accounted for 19 per cent of all jobs. Food manufacturing employed 11 per cent of workers. A few people are involved in forestry and fishing in 2019. The average weekly earnings in 2018 were £531. Some 15% of workers declared themselves as self-employed. One report in late 2020 stated that "North Yorkshire has a relatively healthy and diverse economy which largely mirrors the national picture in terms of productivity and jobs.

 

Mineral extraction and power generation are also sectors of the economy, as is high technology.

 

Tourism is a significant contributor to the economy. A study of visitors between 2013 and 2015 indicated that the Borough of Scarborough, including Filey, Whitby and parts of the North York Moors National Park, received 1.4m trips per year on average. A 2016 report by the National Park, states the park area gets 7.93 million visitors annually, generating £647 million and supporting 10,900 full-time equivalent jobs.

 

The Yorkshire Dales have also attracted many visitors. In 2016, there were 3.8 million visits to the National Park including 0.48 million who stayed at least one night. The parks service estimates that this contributed £252 million to the economy and provided 3,583 full-time equivalent jobs. The wider Yorkshire Dales area received 9.7 million visitors who contributed £644 million to the economy. The North York Moors and Yorkshire Dales are among England's best known destinations.

 

York is a popular tourist destination. A 2014 report, based on 2012 data, stated that York alone receives 6.9 million visitors annually; they contribute £564 million to the economy and support over 19,000 jobs. In the 2017 Condé Nast Traveller survey of readers, York rated 12th among The 15 Best Cities in the UK for visitors. In a 2020 Condé Nast Traveller report, York rated as the sixth best among ten "urban destinations [in the UK] that scored the highest marks when it comes to ... nightlife, restaurants and friendliness".

 

During February 2020 to January 2021, the average property in North Yorkshire county sold for £240,000, up by £8100 over the previous 12 months. By comparison, the average for England and Wales was £314,000. In certain communities of North Yorkshire, however, house prices were higher than average for the county, as of early 2021: Harrogate (average value: £376,195), Knaresborough (£375,625), Tadcaster (£314,278), Leyburn (£309,165) and Ripon (£299,998), for example.

 

This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added for North Yorkshire at current basic prices with figures in millions of British pounds sterling.

 

Unemployment in the county was traditionally low in recent years, but the lockdowns and travel restrictions necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic had a negative effect on the economy during much of 2020 and into 2021. The UK government said in early February 2021 that it was planning "unprecedented levels of support to help businesses [in the UK] survive the crisis". A report published on 1 March 2021 stated that the unemployment rate in North Yorkshire had "risen to the highest level in nearly 5 years – with under 25s often bearing the worst of job losses".

 

York experienced high unemployment during lockdown periods. One analysis (by the York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership) predicted in August 2020 that "as many as 13,835 jobs in York will be lost in the scenario considered most likely, taking the city's unemployment rate to 14.5%". Some critics claimed that part of the problem was caused by "over-reliance on the booming tourism industry at the expense of a long-term economic plan". A report in mid June 2020 stated that unemployment had risen 114 per cent over the previous year because of restrictions imposed as a result of the pandemic.

 

Tourism in the county was expected to increase after the restrictions imposed due the pandemic are relaxed. One reason for the expected increase is the airing of All Creatures Great and Small, a TV series about the vet James Herriot, based on a successful series of books; it was largely filmed within the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The show aired in the UK in September 2020 and in the US in early 2021. One source stated that visits to Yorkshire websites had increased significantly by late September 2020.

 

The East Coast Main Line (ECML) bisects the county stopping at Northallerton,Thirsk and York. Passenger service companies in the area are London North Eastern Railway, Northern Rail, TransPennine Express and Grand Central.

 

LNER and Grand Central operate services to the capital on the ECML, Leeds Branch Line and the Northallerton–Eaglescliffe Line. LNER stop at York, Northallerton and on to County Durham or spur over to the Tees Valley Line for Thornaby and Middlesbrough. The operator also branch before the county for Leeds and run to Harrogate and Skipton. Grand Central stop at York, Thirsk Northallerton and Eaglescliffe then over to the Durham Coast Line in County Durham.

 

Northern operates the remaining lines in the county, including commuter services on the Harrogate Line, Airedale Line and York & Selby Lines, of which the former two are covered by the Metro ticketing area. Remaining branch lines operated by Northern include the Yorkshire Coast Line from Scarborough to Hull, York–Scarborough line via Malton, the Hull to York Line via Selby, the Tees Valley Line from Darlington to Saltburn via Middlesbrough and the Esk Valley Line from Middlesbrough to Whitby. Last but certainly not least, the Settle-Carlisle Line runs through the west of the county, with services again operated by Northern.

 

The county suffered badly under the Beeching cuts of the 1960s. Places such as Richmond, Ripon, Tadcaster, Helmsley, Pickering and the Wensleydale communities lost their passenger services. Notable lines closed were the Scarborough and Whitby Railway, Malton and Driffield Railway and the secondary main line between Northallerton and Harrogate via Ripon.

 

Heritage railways within North Yorkshire include: the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, between Pickering and Grosmont, which opened in 1973; the Derwent Valley Light Railway near York; and the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway. The Wensleydale Railway, which started operating in 2003, runs services between Leeming Bar and Redmire along a former freight-only line. The medium-term aim is to operate into Northallerton station on the ECML, once an agreement can be reached with Network Rail. In the longer term, the aim is to reinstate the full line west via Hawes to Garsdale on the Settle-Carlisle line.

 

York railway station is the largest station in the county, with 11 platforms and is a major tourist attraction in its own right. The station is immediately adjacent to the National Railway Museum.

 

The main road through the county is the north–south A1(M), which has gradually been upgraded in sections to motorway status since the early 1990s. The only other motorways within the county are the short A66(M) near Darlington and a small stretch of the M62 motorway close to Eggborough. The other nationally maintained trunk routes are the A168/A19, A64, A66 and A174.

 

Long-distance coach services are operated by National Express and Megabus. Local bus service operators include Arriva Yorkshire, Stagecoach, Harrogate Bus Company, The Keighley Bus Company, Scarborough & District (East Yorkshire), Yorkshire Coastliner, First York and the local Dales & District.

 

There are no major airports in the county itself, but nearby airports include Teesside International (Darlington), Newcastle and Leeds Bradford.

 

The main campus of Teesside University is in Middlesbrough, while York contains the main campuses of the University of York and York St John University. There are also two secondary campuses in the county: CU Scarborough, a campus of Coventry University, and Queen's Campus, Durham University in Thornaby-on-Tees.

 

Colleges

Middlesbrough College's sixth-form

Askham Bryan College of agriculture, Askham Bryan and Middlesbrough

Craven College, Skipton

Middlesbrough College

The Northern School of Art, Middlesbrough

Prior Pursglove College

Redcar & Cleveland College

Scarborough Sixth Form College

Scarborough TEC

Selby College

Stockton Riverside College, Thornaby

York College

 

Places of interest

Ampleforth College

Beningbrough Hall –

Black Sheep Brewery

Bolton Castle –

Brimham Rocks –

Castle Howard and the Howardian Hills –

Catterick Garrison

Cleveland Hills

Drax Power Station

Duncombe Park – stately home

Eden Camp Museum –

Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway –

Eston Nab

Flamingo Land Theme Park and Zoo –

Helmsley Castle –

Ingleborough Cave – show cave

John Smith's Brewery

Jorvik Viking Centre –

Lightwater Valley –

Lund's Tower

Malham Cove

Middleham Castle –

Mother Shipton's Cave –

National Railway Museum –

North Yorkshire Moors Railway –

Ormesby Hall – Palladian Mansion

Richmond Castle –

Ripley Castle – Stately home and historic village

Riverside Stadium

Samuel Smith's Brewery

Shandy Hall – stately home

Skipton Castle –

Stanwick Iron Age Fortifications –

Studley Royal Park –

Stump Cross Caverns – show cave

Tees Transporter Bridge

Theakston Brewery

Thornborough Henges

Wainman's Pinnacle

Wharram Percy

York Castle Museum –

Yorkshire Air Museum –

The Yorkshire Arboretum

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"The Gothic tower of the Holy Gate, also called Mikulovická, represents one of the most important parts of the historical fortifications of the city of Kadana. It was the main gate, separating the Old Town of Kadaňské from the New Town on the west side.

 

The Holy Gate was built at the end of the 13th century as part of the massive city fortifications, which surrounded the entire royal city in two to three belts. During visits to Kadana, many Czech monarchs passed through the gate, such as Wenceslas II. (1287, 1295, 1297), Charles IV. (1367, 1374), Wenceslas IV. (1374), Ferdinand I. (1534, 1562), Maximilian II. (1562) and Joseph II. (1779). From the Holy Gate, the merchant route continued towards Přísečnica in the Ore Mountains and to Saxony, or Poohřím to Cheb and Nuremberg.

 

Around the year 1500, at the instigation of Jan Hasištejnský of Lobkowicz, a leading Czech aristocrat and humanist, the suburban district of Nové Město Kadaňské began to emerge right in front of the Holy Gate. At that time, the gate was still called Mikulovická, because the road leading from it led to Mikulovice . The name was changed to the Holy Gate only in 1532, because from there it was possible to reach the pilgrimage church of the Fourteen Saints. Helpers under the Holy Mountain in Kadani. On June 14, 1639, at two o'clock in the morning, the city of Kadaň was attacked by about 300 Swedish horsemen, who conquered the suburbs and began to attack the Holy Gate, setting fire to the straw in front of it and shelling it. After several attacks, the Swedes gave up the siege due to the large number of dead and wounded. However, the city later succumbed to the Swedes, even on March 25, 1641, General Johan Banér personally passed through the Holy Gate.

 

In the passage there is a latticed baroque niche. It originally housed a late-Gothic statue of the Black Mother of God (today in the Chomutov museum), which was installed here at his own expense in 1738 by the Kadanz burgher of arms, Franz Max Köllisch from Köllischsheim.

 

The Holy Gate used to have a complexly structured forecourt, popularly called Šance. This consisted of the first gate, which used to be decorated with a relief with a now unknown biblical motif. This gate was also covered by a circular bastion with eight embrasures. Between the first gate and the Holy Gate in the tower there was a second gate. The bastion was demolished together with the circular bastion in 1842. The Holy Gate got its present form between 1877 and 1878, when it was also supplemented with a new clockwork. A statue of Emperor Joseph II was erected in 1882 in the forecourt of the gate. and this public space has been called Josefské náměstí ever since.

 

Kadaň (Czech pronunciation: [ˈkadaɲ]; German: Kaaden) is a town in Chomutov District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 18,000 inhabitants. It lies on the banks of the Ohře river. Kadaň is a tourist centre with highlights being the Franciscan Monastery and the historical square with late Gothic Town Hall Tower. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument reservation.

 

The name is most likely derived from the personal name Kadan, meaning "Kadan's (court)".

 

Kadaň is located about 13 kilometres (8 mi) southwest of Chomutov and 31 km (19 mi) northeast of Karlovy Vary. It lies on the border between the Most Basin and Doupov Mountains. The northern tip of the municipal territory extends into the Ore Mountains. The highest point is the hill Dubový vrch at 691 m (2,267 ft) above sea level, located on the southern border of the territory. A notable feature is also the Úhošť hill, which is together with its surroundings protected as a national nature reserve.

 

Kadaň is situated on the banks of the Ohře river. On the Ohře, there is Kadaň Reservoir with an area of 67.2 ha (166 acres). It was completed in 1972. Its main purpose is to ensure a minimum flow under the reservoir, but it also serves for the energy use and for recreation and water sports.

 

In the Bronze Age, the plateau on the Úhošť hill was inhabited, on which there was a Celtic hillfort. According to some theories, the Wogastisburg Castle stood here, which was the scene of the Battle of Wogastisburg between Franks and Slavs in 631.

 

The first written mention of Kadaň is from 1183. it was probably founded as a market settlement during the colonization of the area at the turn of the 11th and 12th centuries. In 1186, Duke Frederick donated the settlement to the Knights Hospitaller. Around 1260, Kadaň was promoted to a free royal town and the castle was built. An extensive fire in 1362 destroyed the town and the castle, but everything was restored and supplemented with better fortifications. However, King Charles IV granted it several municipal rights (a vineyard, and an annual market) that made it flourish again.

 

In 1421, during the Hussite Wars, the town was conquered by the Hussites, who controlled it until the end of the wars. From the mid-15th century, the town was pledged to various creditors of the royal chamber. The most notable of them was the Lobkowicz family, who held the town from 1469 to 1519. Jan Hasištejnský of Lobkowicz founded the Franciscan Monastery and the Church of the Fourteen Holy Helpers.

 

In 1534, "Kadaň religious peace" was negotiated here between Württemberg Protestants and Emperor Ferdinand I for the Catholic side. After the Battle of White Mountain in 1620, violent re-Catholicization began in Kadaň. During the Thirty Years' War, in 1631, 1635 and 1648, Kadaň suffered from fires and plundering by various armies. The Kadaň Castle remained a ruin until the second half of the 18th century, when it was rebuilt into barracks by Empress Maria Theresa.

 

The last great fire damaged the town in 1811. After the Revolution of 1848, the town became a district centre. The institute of the district town lasted in Kadaň for 110 years when it was affiliated with Chomutov District.

 

After Czechoslovakia was established in 1918 and Kadaň became its part, most of the Sudeten German disagreed with this decision. On 4 March 1919, they demonstrated for self determination and joining Austria. The Czechoslovak military forces were sent in and tried to control the crowd by shooting. The result of the so-called Kadaň massacre was at least 25 dead and dozens injured.

 

After the Munich Agreement in 1938, Kadaň was annexed by Nazi Germany and administered as part of Reichsgau Sudetenland. The local Czechs were forced to move to central Czechoslovakia and the Jewish community was sent to concentration camps in Germany. The synagogue was burned down during the Kristallnacht of 9 November 1939. According to Beneš decrees, after World War II, the German population was expelled and the area was re-settled by Czechs.

 

Bohemia (Latin Bohemia, German Böhmen, Polish Czechy) is a region in the west of the Czech Republic. Previously, as a kingdom, they were the center of the Czech Crown. The root of the word Czech probably corresponds to the meaning of man. The Latin equivalent of Bohemia, originally Boiohaemum (literally "land of Battles"), which over time also influenced the names in other languages, is derived from the Celtic tribe of the Boios, who lived in this area from the 4th to the 1st century BC Bohemia on it borders Germany in the west, Austria in the south, Moravia in the east and Poland in the north. Geographically, they are bounded from the north, west and south by a chain of mountains, the highest of which are the Krkonoše Mountains, in which the highest mountain of Bohemia, Sněžka, is also located. The most important rivers are the Elbe and the Vltava, with the fertile Polabean Plain extending around the Elbe. The capital and largest city of Bohemia is Prague, other important cities include, for example, Pilsen, Karlovy Vary, Kladno, Ústí nad Labem, Liberec, Hradec Králové, Pardubice and České Budějovice, Jihlava also lies partly on the historical territory of Bohemia." - info from Wikipedia.

 

Summer 2019 I did a solo cycling tour across Europe through 12 countries over the course of 3 months. I began my adventure in Edinburgh, Scotland and finished in Florence, Italy cycling 8,816 km. During my trip I took 47,000 photos.

 

Now on Instagram.

 

Become a patron to my photography on Patreon or donate.

no morira lo dañino pero artistico del graffiti.....su AROMA* ILEGAL* estara siempre alli......

Mandala (Sanskrit Maṇḍala, 'circle') is a spiritual and ritual symbol in Indian religions, representing the universe. The basic form of most mandalas is a square with four gates containing a circle with a center point. Each gate is in the general shape of a T. Mandalas often exhibit radial balance.

 

The term appears in the Rigveda as the name of the sections of the work, but is also used in other religions and philosophies, particularly Buddhism.

 

In various spiritual traditions, mandalas may be employed for focusing attention of practitioners and adepts, as a spiritual guidance tool, for establishing a sacred space, and as an aid to meditation and trance induction.

 

In common use, mandala has become a generic term for any diagram, chart or geometric pattern that represents the cosmos metaphysically or symbolically; a microcosm of the universe.

 

HINDUISM

RELIGIOUS MEANING

A yantra is a two- or three-dimensional geometric composition used in sadhanas, puja or meditative rituals. It is considered to represent the abode of the deity. Each yantra is unique and calls the deity into the presence of the practitioner through the elaborate symbolic geometric designs. According to one scholar, "Yantras function as revelatory symbols of cosmic truths and as instructional charts of the spiritual aspect of human experience"

 

Many situate yantras as central focus points for Hindu tantric practice. Yantras are not representations, but are lived, experiential, nondual realities. As Khanna describes:

 

Despite its cosmic meanings a yantra is a reality lived. Because of the relationship that exists in the Tantras between the outer world (the macrocosm) and man’s inner world (the microcosm), every symbol in a yantra is ambivalently resonant in inner–outer synthesis, and is associated with the subtle body and aspects of human consciousness.

 

POLITICAL MEANING

The "Rajamandala" (or "Raja-mandala"; circle of states) was formulated by the Indian author Kautilya in his work on politics, the Arthashastra (written between 4th century BC and 2nd century AD). It describes circles of friendly and enemy states surrounding the king's state.

 

In historical, social and political sense, the term "mandala" is also employed to denote traditional Southeast Asian political formations (such as federation of kingdoms or vassalized states). It was adopted by 20th century Western historians from ancient Indian political discourse as a means of avoiding the term 'state' in the conventional sense. Not only did Southeast Asian polities not conform to Chinese and European views of a territorially defined state with fixed borders and a bureaucratic apparatus, but they diverged considerably in the opposite direction: the polity was defined by its centre rather than its boundaries, and it could be composed of numerous other tributary polities without undergoing administrative integration. Empires such as Bagan, Ayutthaya, Champa, Khmer, Srivijaya and Majapahit are known as "mandala" in this sense.

 

BUDDISM

EARLY AND THERAVADA BUDDHISM

The mandala can be found in the form of the Stupa and in the Atanatiya Sutta in the Digha Nikaya, part of the Pali Canon. This text is frequently chanted.

 

TIBETAN VAJRAYANA

In the Tibetan branch of Vajrayana Buddhism, mandalas have been developed into sandpainting. They are also a key part of Anuttarayoga Tantra meditation practices.

 

VISUALISATION OF VAJRAYANA TEACHINGS

The mandala can be shown to represent in visual form the core essence of the Vajrayana teachings. The mind is "a microcosm representing various divine powers at work in the universe." The mandala represents the nature of the Pure Land, Enlightened mind.

 

While on the one hand, the mandala is regarded as a place separated and protected from the ever-changing and impure outer world of samsara, and is thus seen as a "Buddhafield" or a place of Nirvana and peace, the view of Vajrayana Buddhism sees the greatest protection from samsara being the power to see samsaric confusion as the "shadow" of purity (which then points towards it).

 

MOUNT MERU

A mandala can also represent the entire universe, which is traditionally depicted with Mount Meru as the axis mundi in the center, surrounded by the continents.

 

WISDOM AND IMPERMANENCE

In the mandala, the outer circle of fire usually symbolises wisdom. The ring of eight charnel grounds represents the Buddhist exhortation to be always mindful of death, and the impermanence with which samsara is suffused: "such locations were utilized in order to confront and to realize the transient nature of life." Described elsewhere: "within a flaming rainbow nimbus and encircled by a black ring of dorjes, the major outer ring depicts the eight great charnel grounds, to emphasize the dangerous nature of human life." Inside these rings lie the walls of the mandala palace itself, specifically a place populated by deities and Buddhas.

 

FIVE BUDDHAS

One well-known type of mandala is the mandala of the "Five Buddhas", archetypal Buddha forms embodying various aspects of enlightenment. Such Buddhas are depicted depending on the school of Buddhism, and even the specific purpose of the mandala. A common mandala of this type is that of the Five Wisdom Buddhas (a.k.a. Five Jinas), the Buddhas Vairocana, Aksobhya, Ratnasambhava, Amitabha and Amoghasiddhi. When paired with another mandala depicting the Five Wisdom Kings, this forms the Mandala of the Two Realms.

 

PRACTICE

Mandalas are commonly used by tantric Buddhists as an aid to meditation.

 

The mandala is "a support for the meditating person", something to be repeatedly contemplated to the point of saturation, such that the image of the mandala becomes fully internalised in even the minutest detail and can then be summoned and contemplated at will as a clear and vivid visualized image. With every mandala comes what Tucci calls "its associated liturgy [...] contained in texts known as tantras", instructing practitioners on how the mandala should be drawn, built and visualised, and indicating the mantras to be recited during its ritual use.

 

By visualizing "pure lands", one learns to understand experience itself as pure, and as the abode of enlightenment. The protection that we need, in this view, is from our own minds, as much as from external sources of confusion. In many tantric mandalas, this aspect of separation and protection from the outer samsaric world is depicted by "the four outer circles: the purifying fire of wisdom, the vajra circle, the circle with the eight tombs, the lotus circle." The ring of vajras forms a connected fence-like arrangement running around the perimeter of the outer mandala circle.

 

As a meditation on impermanence (a central teaching of Buddhism), after days or weeks of creating the intricate pattern of a sand mandala, the sand is brushed together into a pile and spilled into a body of running water to spread the blessings of the mandala.

 

Kværne in his extended discussion of sahaja, discusses the relationship of sadhana interiority and exteriority in relation to mandala thus:

 

...external ritual and internal sadhana form an indistinguishable whole, and this unity finds its most pregnant expression in the form of the mandala, the sacred enclosure consisting of concentric squares and circles drawn on the ground and representing that adamant plane of being on which the aspirant to Buddha hood wishes to establish himself. The unfolding of the tantric ritual depends on the mandala; and where a material mandala is not employed, the adept proceeds to construct one mentally in the course of his meditation."

 

OFFERINGS

A "mandala offering" in Tibetan Buddhism is a symbolic offering of the entire universe. Every intricate detail of these mandalas is fixed in the tradition and has specific symbolic meanings, often on more than one level.

 

Whereas the above mandala represents the pure surroundings of a Buddha, this mandala represents the universe. This type of mandala is used for the mandala-offerings, during which one symbolically offers the universe to the Buddhas or to one's teacher. Within Vajrayana practice, 100,000 of these mandala offerings (to create merit) can be part of the preliminary practices before a student even begins actual tantric practices. This mandala is generally structured according to the model of the universe as taught in a Buddhist classic text the Abhidharma-kośa, with Mount Meru at the centre, surrounded by the continents, oceans and mountains, etc.

 

SHINGON BUDDHISM

One Japanese branch of Mahayana Buddhism -- Shingon Buddhism - makes frequent use of mandalas in its rituals as well, though the actual mandalas differ. When Shingon's founder, Kukai, returned from his training in China, he brought back two mandalas that became central to Shingon ritual: the Mandala of the Womb Realm and the Mandala of the Diamond Realm.

 

These two mandalas are engaged in the abhiseka initiation rituals for new Shingon students, more commonly known as the Kechien Kanjō (結縁灌頂). A common feature of this ritual is to blindfold the new initiate and to have them throw a flower upon either mandala. Where the flower lands assists in the determination of which tutelary deity the initiate should follow.

 

Sand mandalas, as found in Tibetan Buddhism, are not practiced in Shingon Buddhism.

 

NICHIREN BUDDHISM

The Mandala in Nichiren Buddhism is called a moji-mandala (文字曼陀羅) and is a paper hanging scroll or wooden tablet whose inscription consists of Chinese characters and medieval-Sanskrit script representing elements of the Buddha's enlightenment, protective Buddhist deities, and certain Buddhist concepts. Called the Gohonzon, it was originally inscribed by Nichiren, the founder of this branch of Japanese Buddhism, during the late 13th Century. The Gohonzon is the primary object of veneration in some Nichiren schools and the only one in others, which consider it to be the supreme object of worship as the embodiment of the supreme Dharma and Nichiren's inner enlightenment. The seven characters Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, considered to be the name of the supreme Dharma, as well as the invocation that believers chant, are written down the center of all Nichiren-sect Gohonzons, whose appearance may otherwise vary depending on the particular school and other factors.

 

PURE LAND BUDDHISM

Mandalas have sometimes been used in Pure Land Buddhism to graphically represent Pure Lands, based on descriptions found in the Larger Sutra and the Contemplation Sutra. The most famous mandala in Japan is the Taima Mandala, dated to approximately 763 CE. The Taima Mandala is based upon the Contemplation Sutra, but other similar mandalas have been made subsequently. Unlike mandalas used in Vajrayana Buddhism, it is not used as an object of meditation or for esoteric ritual. Instead, it provides a visual representation of the Pure Land texts, and is used as a teaching aid.

 

Also in Jodo Shinshu Buddhism, Shinran and his descendant, Rennyo, sought a way to create easily accessible objects of reverence for the lower-classes of Japanese society. Shinran designed a mandala using a hanging scroll, and the words of the nembutsu (南無阿彌陀佛) written vertically. This style of mandala is still used by some Jodo Shinshu Buddhists in home altars, or butsudan.

 

CHRISTIANITY

Forms which are evocative of mandalas are prevalent in Christianity: the celtic cross; the rosary; the halo; the aureole; oculi; the Crown of Thorns; rose windows; the Rosy Cross; and the dromenon on the floor of Chartres Cathedral. The dromenon represents a journey from the outer world to the inner sacred centre where the Divine is found.

 

Similarly, many of the Illuminations of Hildegard von Bingen can be used as mandalas, as well as many of the images of esoteric Christianity, as in Christian Hermeticism, Christian Alchemy, and Rosicrucianism.

 

The Layer Monument at the Church of Saint John the Baptist, Maddermarket, Norwich, an early 17th century marble mural monument which includes four inter-related sculpted figurines, is a rare example of Christian iconography absorbing alchemical symbolism to form a Mandala in Western funerary art.

 

WESTERN PSCHYCHOLOGICAL INTERPRETATIONS

According to art therapist and mental health counselor Susanne F. Fincher, we owe the re-introduction of mandalas into modern Western thought to Carl Jung, the Swiss psychoanalyst. In his pioneering exploration of the unconscious through his own art making, Jung observed the motif of the circle spontaneously appearing. The circle drawings reflected his inner state at that moment. Familiarity with the philosophical writings of India prompted Jung to adopt the word "mandala" to describe these circle drawings he and his patients made. In his autobiography, Jung wrote:

 

"I sketched every morning in a notebook a small circular drawing,...which seemed to correspond to my inner situation at the time....Only gradually did I discover what the mandala really is:...the Self, the wholeness of the personality, which if all goes well is harmonious."

—Carl Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections, pp. 195 – 196.

 

Jung recognized that the urge to make mandalas emerges during moments of intense personal growth. Their appearance indicates a profound re-balancing process is underway in the psyche. The result of the process is a more complex and better integrated personality.

 

"The mandala serves a conservative purpose - namely, to restore a previously existing order. But it also serves the creative purpose of giving expression and form to something that does not yet exist, something new and unique…. The process is that of the ascending spiral, which grows upward while simultaneously returning again and again to the same point."

- Jungian analyst Marie-Louise von Franz, C. G. Jung: "Man and His Symbols," p. 225

 

Creating mandalas helps stabilize, integrate, and re-order inner life.

 

According to the psychologist David Fontana, its symbolic nature can help one "to access progressively deeper levels of the unconscious, ultimately assisting the meditator to experience a mystical sense of oneness with the ultimate unity from which the cosmos in all its manifold forms arises."

 

WIKIPEDIA

leco-vita.blogspot.jp/2015/07/an-ordinary-day-15.html

Author's Note: The contents of this chapter include very sensitive subject matter and may be triggering to some individuals. Scenes of abuse of various forms are represented as not only for storytelling, but to raise awareness of what this behavior looks like. Abusive behavior in this story includes, but is not limited to: physical abuse, mental abuse, verbal abuse, gaslighting, manipulation, intentional triggering of another's PTSD, and trauma. In no way are these scenes intended to purposely trigger or harm anyone.

 

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The following morning after Aiden's moonlit flight with Vincent, he'd woken up late just as Vincent was emerging from his quarters. His captain was already fully dressed and ready to run errands. As Vincent explained it to the yawning Aiden, now that he was going to the masquerade, there was much to be done! A short while later, Vincent departed in a determined but cheerful mood to get everything set in motion. And when he returned that evening he had an official invitation to the ball for Aiden in hand! He sat Aiden down and explained in greater detail what preparations would need to be done. While Vincent had informed him that there would be fittings, dancing and etiquette lessons, and even promenades for social practice, the days following were unexpectedly much busier for Aiden than he'd anticipated.

The first order of business was a visit to the tailor! The shop they went to belonged to a highly skilled older man who knew Vincent by sight and greeted the captain enthusiastically. As it turned out, this was where Vincent and the other men in his family frequented as regular customers! After Aiden's nervous last attempt to get himself to visit a shop like this, he was grateful to have Vincent there to guide him through the process. As soon as Vincent explained that they were here for a suit for Aiden for the upcoming ball, the tailor got straight to work! Vincent helped Aiden sort through different fabrics and finally settle on a nice dark teal and gold lining which, as Vincent put it, brought out the color in his eyes. The comment had made Aiden blush slightly; something Vincent noticed which made him feel a little pleased with himself.

When the topic of how much everything was going to cost came up, Aiden felt panic rearing up inside him. He knew it would be expensive but to actually spend the money? Aside from the tiny piece of Fulgora's Eye that he'd gotten for Pete, this was the most expensive purchase he'd ever made for himself! However, with a few quiet, carefully chosen words of reassurance from Vincent, Aiden remembered that he was, in fact, wealthy. He could afford this suit hundreds of times over and then some! With Vincent's encouragement, Aiden went ahead and made the down payment purchase for his suit! Once measurements had been taken some time later and they were free to go, they went next door to the cordwainer. There Aiden got measured again; this time for boots to go specifically for his ballroom attire! This time, Aiden didn't hesitate to pay for his boots which Vincent felt proud of him for.

The lessons Vincent promised began just two days later. While Vincent didn't really care much for all the niceties and politeness of upper class society, he was still a part of it and therefore educated thus. During these lessons, Aiden began to learn the basics of gentlemanly ballroom etiquette. He'd be learning how to dance very soon but first Aiden would need to learn how to properly walk, stand, and even how to talk. While Vincent stressed the importance of these lessons, most of the time the two men were just laughing and enjoying each other's company. Vincent was having such a grand time with his friend that he was often smiling and full of spirit. Vincent suggested Aiden put to practice what he'd learned while they were out and about. Aiden remembered that this was just a part of the facade; the mask that must be put on for society. So, that's what he did. Following Vincent's example, he began to learn. He would gladly play the part. Aiden knew deep down that Vincent liked Aiden just as he was now... but a big part of him wanted to fit into Vincent's world more. He wanted to show Vincent that he was capable of being a part of ALL aspects of his life; not just on the ship.

When it came time for Aiden to learn to dance, Vincent knew that Charlotte would be the most logical choice to be Aiden's dance partner. When the young lady learned to dance a few years ago, it had been Vincent, himself, who was her dance partner as she learned the art. He knew she was a lovely dancer for her age; a talented one, at that. She'd also proven herself to be a patient teacher. Besides all that, Aiden and she got along well and clearly there was chemistry between them. Vincent knew that this would be a perfect opportunity for the two of them to get to know each other and spend time together. There was every reason for him to allow them to practice together! Yet, Vincent knew without a doubt that Charlotte would be all over Aiden...which was why when Aiden arrived for his first day of dance lessons it was not Charlotte there to greet him alongside Vincent....it was Abigail!

Abigail was happy to join Vincent in teaching Aiden how to dance! Of course, she knew the real reason he was asking her even if he didn't want to admit it, and the alternative would have been Bernadette. While Bernie excelled in many other things, Abigail knew just how skilled her sister was on the dance floor....and something told her Aiden would prefer to keep his toes intact.

And so, practice began! Aiden discovered that he liked dancing and the chemistry between the three of them was very pleasant and enjoyable. Abigail was fond of Aiden already and the more she learned and saw of him, the more she found him a pleasure to be around. He was a fun student who made the task of teaching him an enjoyable experience. When the cousins demonstrated to Aiden the various popular dances that he'd see at the ball, the young man was in awe. They appeared to move flawlessly to the music coming out of the phonograph. As it turned out, Abigail had a small passion for dance, and Vincent, while he didn't like to show off, was quite skilled as well. Despite the intricate dances he was shown, Aiden was told he'd be learning the easiest of the dances first: the waltz.

The days passed and things were starting to come together quickly! Aiden's confidence with the waltz was starting to build. Soon, he was guiding Abigail with less mistakes and even felt brave enough to add in a small flourish in his step! Not only was his dancing skills improving, his suit for the masquerade was coming along nicely.

On the topic of his suit one afternoon, Vincent pointed out that dancing in full formal attire was different than practicing in comfortable clothes. It would be heavier and warmer than what they were doing now. He mused that Aiden should be more dressed up while practicing to get used to it; much the way Vincent dressed when out as a member of high society. It got Aiden thinking that maybe it was time he finally got something a little nicer to wear after all.

Normally, these things took time to make so when Aiden went back to the tailor's the next day, he was not expecting to be able to walk out with a brand new outfit in hand. The tailor happened to have a complete set on display that he sold to Aiden at a discounted price. Apparently, it had been made for another customer some time ago who had changed their mind at the very last minute. Amazingly, the entire ensemble fit Aiden like a glove! There were only a couple quick adjustments needed for the pants but that was it!

Finally Aiden stepped up to the mirror. He almost didn't recognize himself! The young man staring back at him looked older and more mature. There was a growing confidence which showed in how he stood tall and smiled with approval.

The next time Aiden was due to meet Abigail and Vincent marked two weeks until the masquerade! While it also meant Damien was officially back in town as well, Aiden had other things on his mind. This was the day he would be arriving dressed like a gentleman; not some commoner who worked aboard a ship.

Aiden was feeling nervous! His hands kept fidgeting and tugging at his fitted blue waistcoat as he stepped off the lift. Just ahead of him was the open door that invitingly led into Vincent's office. What would Vincent think? Would he approve of him? Aiden peeked into the room and took a cursory glance around to see who was all here. His eyes appreciatively settled on the slender yet curvy shape standing by one of the bookshelves beside the tea station.

It was Vincent, of course! He hadn't realized he had company yet. He was standing in front of a small mirror up on one of the bookshelves and was actually humming softly to himself. Intent upon his task, he deftly pinned the last strands of hair into his updo. It was a more effeminate style than Aiden had ever seen on him. It wasn't just his hair but also the way he was dressed that gave him such an androgynous appearance. He was a little more dressed up and the way his corset and trousers flattered and hugged his figure? There was just something different about him today. Whatever it was, Aiden found it attractive.

Just as Vincent finished with his hair and gave a satisfied smile at his appearance there was a soft knock at the door. Ah, that had to be Aiden. He was right on time! As he turned to greet Aiden, he saw Aiden's smile which bemused him. And while he'd never admit it aloud, it made him feel shy. His mind tried to reason why Aiden would be smiling at him as if...as if he were the loveliest creature in the world.

No, his mind reasoned, that couldn't be right! And as if to prove him right, Aiden suddenly began to grin. That's right...he must be amused by his appearance! However, he was completely unaware that, in truth, Aiden was actually grinning at the sight of Vincent's deepening blush that had blossomed across his cheeks at the sight of his friend staring at him...

But now, Vincent was feeling awkward and second-guessing his decision to dress up. He nibbled his lower lip and glanced off to the side. As he reached up with one hand and toyed with his bangs, he said just loud enough for Aiden to hear, "I know, I know. I look silly."

"What? No, you don't!" Aiden chuckled as he stepped into the room. "I think the whole look is very flattering on you."

"You really think so? It's not too much?"

"I really think so. You look great!"

Vincent saw that sweet, reassuring smile and suddenly he felt much better as he found himself suddenly smiling as well. Once upon a time, he would have not believed it so quickly, if at all. But Aiden had a way about him that made him feel safe to be himself. And it seemed that was turning into confidence that was taking hold more firmly in Vincent's life. And though Vincent didn't realize it, he was finally starting to come into himself and blossom; something those closest to him 'had' started to notice.

As it turned out, Abigail had come down with a small cold and wouldn't be joining them today...but Vincent didn't want to cancel Aiden's lesson. After all, Vincent knew how to be led in a dance just as well as he could lead! So, when he offered himself as Aiden's dance partner, he was pleased with Aiden's enthusiastic response.

Once Vincent turned the phonograph on, he turned to face his friend and saw Aiden offering out his hand towards him with a grin. It was much like he'd done the night he'd asked Vincent to join him on their moonlit flight. Vincent grinned back and placed his hand in Aiden's before allowing himself to be guided to the middle of the room.

Aiden slid his hand around Vincent's waist and stepped close, his gaze shifting down to gaze into Vincent's as Vincent's hand came to sit upon his upper arm and gently took his hand. Then after what felt like several quiet, wonderful minutes of suspended time (but was really only a couple of breaths), Aiden began to lead on the next beat of melody that was playing for them.

Aiden had proven by now that he had a pretty good handle on the waltz. So after a couple of dances together, Vincent decided how to show him the first steps of another type of dance he'd demonstrated the first day: the quadrille!

A couple of hours had passed and Aiden was finally ready to give leading a real try! So after a quick break, the men got back to it! It was about halfway through the first dance when Aiden first accidentally treaded on Vincent's toes and bumped into him. At first, Aiden was apologetic, but Vincent laughed it off.

And as they continued to dance, he told Aiden about a few collisions on the dance floor that he'd witnessed. Vincent was no longer keeping an eye on Aiden's dance moves because he was too preoccupied talking and laughing all while still dancing! As natural as can be, Aiden still led Vincent around the small space while listening and tossing in his own laughter and commentary. They were no longer dancing the quadrille, exactly, but instead just dancing for fun while they interacted. In fact, they were so engrossed with each other, their dance, and the music that they were unaware that they were no longer alone.

As seconds turned to nearly a minute, Damien's composure was starting to crack. So this was why Vincent couldn't spend time with him earlier today! Of course, it was because of fucking Aiden! What the bloody Hell was going on? Finally deciding to just get their attention before he completely lost himself, Damien forced another smile upon his face and knocked loudly on the door.

"Damien! Is it three o'clock already?!" Vincent exclaimed before quickly glancing towards the clock. With a small chuckle he added, "Oh, you're early!" He gently detached himself from Aiden's embrace so he could go turn off the music. And as he moved, he glanced out the window and was made aware that it was suddenly getting dark outside as if it were going to pour any moment. And indeed, there was the gentle sound of thunder in the distance.

"Well, you said to just come in when I got here so here I am!"

"I meant at three, but it's fine. It looks like it's going to rain anyways."

It wasn't fine, Vincent felt, but he moved onto the next topic as he joined Aiden and Damien in the center of the room. Vincent realized how nicely Damien was dressed and he complimented him, "Well, don't you look extra sharp today? What's the occasion?"

Damien beamed as Vincent praised his outfit. He'd dressed up just for him for this very reason! He'd even let his hair grow out which he thought gave him a more roguish appearance. He felt handsome and confident; especially now that he knew Vincent approved (just as he already knew he would)!

"Well, thank you! I think I appear rather dashing."

Vincent gave a nod of approval then smiled and gestured over at Aiden. "Aiden's gotten a new outfit, too. Well, two. He's been practicing his dancing for the ball! Didn't you see? He's doing great! He's only just started learning a couple of weeks ago!"

At Vincent's proud grin and praise, Aiden felt himself blush deeply and smile bashfully. He glanced towards Vincent who stood beside him and nudged Aiden's arm with a chuckle. But across the way, Damien wasn't as pleased.

"Wait, wait, wait. The ball?" Damien wondered aloud condescendingly. "Since when is Aiden coming to the ball?"

"Since I invited him!" Vincent retorted more defensively than he'd intended. Damien blinked in surprise and even Aiden felt a little surprised...though also a bit pleased. Mysteriously, a shade of red appeared on Vincent's cheeks as he cleared his throat. He'd invited Aiden there so that he'd not dread the event so much. And...and he wanted him there. Aiden always made things better when he was there!

Unaware that he was still blushing, he quickly glanced up at Aiden then looked back at Damien before explaining a little timidly, "I just thought it would be fun, you know? I wanted to have my best friends with me." And suddenly there was a weight on Vincent's shoulders as Aiden daringly slid his arm over them and leaned towards him with a handsome smile.

"And it's going to be absolutely fantastic. I'm looking forward to it. And...thanks again for teaching me how to dance. These past couple weeks have been...wonderful. You're wonderful."

"Well, gosh! I've been enjoying your company, too. Practice is just a good excuse to see you! It...it HAS been wonderful."

And as Vincent and Aiden teased the boundaries of flirting, the realization of how good they looked side by side was more obvious than ever! Damien suddenly realized that they were even dressed to match in similar colors! It made them look even more like a couple! And with how had Vincent turned to look up at Aiden and seemed to lean into his touch? It took everything in Damien not to punch Aiden in his cocky, smiling face!

'...These past couple of weeks...' Aiden had said. What else had happened during this past month while he was gone?! Maybe he should have come home sooner, after all.

"So, tell us about your trip!" Vincent exclaimed as he was suddenly approaching Damien and tugged him further into the room towards the armchairs. "Would you like some tea? I was just thinking about making some! Aiden?" With both his friends acknowledging his offer, Vincent left Damien to sit and started up the kettle. Meanwhile, Aiden went to lean against the desk as he watched and listened silently.

Damien took his seat and groaned softly as he settled in. His eyes remained focused on Vincent (ignoring Aiden's existence as much as possible) and responded enthusiastically, "It was a lot of fun! I saw lots of family and some old friends..."

Damien began to elaborate on his visit, to which Aiden found a bit dull. However, Vincent seemed to know who Damien was talking about and was much more invested in this conversation. Even as Vincent finished serving their teas, Damien was still talking. It was as Damien's tea finally cooled enough for him to drink some that Aiden finally had a chance to speak.

"After this cup, I think I am going to let you two finish catching up and head out, myself," Aiden informed them. "When you decide when you want to take Leon's Claw up in the air, let me know."

"Mm, that's right. You and I need to decide on that!" Damien replied with a pleased grin to which Vincent smiled and nodded before sipping contently at his tea. Good, Damien thought to himself. Aiden was leaving! As soon as Aiden was gone, he'd get to the bottom of all this.

Aiden finished his tea fairly quickly, and it didn't take long before he reluctantly bid Vincent and Damien farewell. He'd be seeing Vincent the day after tomorrow for sure but that already felt like too far away. And there was something in the way Vincent hesitantly gave Aiden an umbrella to borrow and how he looked at him with a touch of longing that convinced Aiden that Vincent may, in fact, be feeling the exact same way.

Damien watched silently from where he leaned against the desk, arms rising and folding across his chest as the door finally closed behind Aiden. He watched as Vincent turned to face him with a smile. However, Vincent's smile immediately faded as he caught sight of Damien's slight frown and how his brows creased with irritation.

"What's-?" Vincent started but was cut off by Damien's abrupt, "What the fuck is going on?" Vincent drew in a deep breath and defensively responded, "What are you talking about exactly?"

"You know what I mean, Vincent!"

Vincent's lips parted but no words came out. He was flabbergasted! Where was all this coming from?! He really had no idea what Damien was so upset over so quickly! Yet as seconds passed and Vincent couldn't come up with an answer, Damien finally huffed and took a step away and ran his fingers through his hair frustratedly. Though a moment later he took a deep breath and glanced over his shoulders. He let out another sigh and asked Vincent, "I'm your best friend right?"

"Of course you are!"

"You know you can tell me anything."

"I know that."

"So, then what has he done to you?"

"What are you talking about?!"

"Aiden!" Damien placed his hands on Vincent's shoulders and squeezed tightly. Vincent winced and felt a headache take immediate siege as Aiden was being blamed yet again. "Come on, Vincent! This isn't you! I told you: you look silly when you dress like this. What's with the hair?"

Vincent felt his confidence start to sink as he glanced off to the side towards his mirror. Earlier, he'd felt pride in his appearance. He found he liked dressing more androgynously sometimes for personal reasons. Secretly, honestly... Vincent liked pretty things and had always wanted to dress more like this. It wasn't that he wanted to do it all the time but just on those rare occasions...but thanks to Damien, he was starting to question himself again and already wanted to unpin his hair. But then he remembered how Aiden had told him that it was flattering on him and that he looked great!

Remembering that, Vincent shifted his gaze up to look at Damien and placed his hands atop of his and pulled them off before stating a little sharply, "I'm trying something new. It's MY decision, Damien. No one makes that for me. No. One."

Drawing his hands back as if struck, Damien's brow furrowed as if hurt as Vincent walked past him with a sigh. Vincent placed his hands on his prized orrery and stared down at the planets as they rotated around. It was a moment later when Damien's voice appeared right behind him in his ear in a way that sent uncomfortable shivers down his spine.

"You're not the same anymore," Damien murmured. "It's like you're becoming a different person. I just miss my best friend. Is that such a bad thing?"

"No. It's-"

Vincent had turned around and found himself practically sandwiched between the orrery and Damien who was standing very, very close. Vincent wet his lips nervously and glanced off to the side uncomfortably.

"It's not a bad thing. I get it," Vincent relented as he maneuvered away towards his desk. Now feeling much less confident about himself, Vincent folded his arms over his abdomen and hunched slightly. This whole conversation had knocked the wind out of his sails.

Sensing Vincent's drop in mood, Damien reached out to touch his shoulder and explained, "It's just...not you. That's all. But I suppose I can get used to it. I just like good old Vincent, you know? I like how things used to be when it's just us...like now! It's okay, though. So..." And with that, Damien walked past Vincent towards the chair and went to plop down and folded his arms across his chest as he demanded, "...so, what's been going on with you this past month? What brought you to giving 'dancing' lessons?"

Vincent took a deep breath and then let it out and forced a smile on his face. He may as well try to keep the mood light. However, he decided to tread a little more carefully as he shrugged and went to the mirror across the way. He began to unpin the pins in his hair as he explained, "It's not just me. Abby's been helping as his dance partner but she's got a cold so I just stepped in for today."

"Oh! Well why didn't you say SHE was his dance partner?"

And though Vincent's back was turned and he couldn't see it, he could hear and feel Damien's demeanor easing down and becoming less tense. Thank God! He replied, "Because I didn't think it mattered? Anyway, I invited him to come to the ball because I thought it would be fun to have him there. Besides, there will be people he knows and it's a good opportunity. Plus, I was bored! You took TWO extra weeks to come back!"

"Yeah, but it was worth it. At least I had fun! I'm back now. That's what matters and things can go back to as they should be! Tell you what, why don't I come help out with Aiden's lessons? It would be fun! It would be easier to practice with another couple and you and I can dance together! How's that sound? We can practice for the ball!"

Vincent unwound his hair and let it fall across his shoulders; his hair falling forward across his brow and he stared at himself unhappily. And as he did, Damien suddenly appeared behind him, blocking his light and placing his hands around Vincent's upper arms. Vincent glanced off to the side though he felt Damien looming over him and pressing right up against his back and making him shrink and feel very small. Damien's eyes pierced the side of his head and his fingers dug in just the tiniest bit into his arms as he asked, "Don't you think that's a grand idea?"

"I do!" Vincent quickly lied as he plastered a smile on his face and glanced up at him up over his shoulder. Though, honestly, he wanted to crawl and hide for a while. While Damien was right that Aiden could practice better with another couple present for the quadrille, he didn't want to put them together right now. It seemed 4 weeks apart hadn't helped matters at all. "But he's already gotten so good that he won't need much more practice, I think. But if we do, I'll definitely be letting you know first."

Quickly, Vincent turned in place and pushed his long hair over his shoulder, "I'm tired of all this ball talk! Let's decide when we want to go flying!" He hoped Damien would allow himself to be distracted with plans and leave the rest of it alone. He just wanted to enjoy the rest of the day. And thankfully it seemed he was in luck!

Damien grinned and went to take his seat again all while going on a tangent about how eager he was for that. For now, it was best to let Damien enjoy that while he, Vincent, came down from whatever the fuck that argument had been about.

Vincent still wasn't sure what the core of Damien's actual problem was. It always felt like he was running in circles and never directly clarifying what upset him so much. Sometimes, Vincent wondered if even Damien knew. But it was as they parted ways much later in the evening, hours after the whole incident had even happened...that Damien finally started to hint what was really wrong.

"Tell me that you're not going to fall for Aiden."

"That's preposterous! Ha! What in the Hell has you thinking I'm going to fall for Aiden?!"

Vincent actually laughed at the idea! He shook his head as he leaned against the door jamb and folded his arms over his chest. And, if Damien was being honest with himself, Vincent sure did look surprised by this idea. Damien was standing before him in the hallway, peering back at Vincent with slightly narrowed eyes. He didn't want to go until he got that promise.

"Just....promise me you won't!"

"Pfft. Now you're just being ridiculous! Aiden? And 'me?' We're just friends! And crewmates...like you and me. Nothing's going to change, okay? Besides, I am absolutely sure Aiden doesn't see me as anything like that. Don't be a worry wart! You'll see! As soon as this damned masquerade is over with and we're back in the air, everything will be back to normal as it should be."

Vincent smirked and pushed on Damien's shoulder to nudge him to go home. The sooner Damien was gone, the sooner he could lock up and depart, himself. Thankfully, they were heading in opposite directions so he could finally get some peace and quiet.

It took a long moment, but Damien finally gave a satisfied nod and chuckle before responding, "I'm not a worry wart! Just call me a concerned best friend. I care about you. You know that."

"I do know. Be off with you! Get some rest! I'll see you in two days. Five o'clock at Leon's Claw. I'll make sure to get everything arranged ahead of time."

"See you then!"

And as soon as Damien's back was turned, Vincent ducked back into his office and slumped back against the door. Why the Hell was Damien so worried? Sure, Damien was never a person who enjoyed change but who ever truly did? Usually, the two worked very well together and got on well enough. They just needed to work through these few rough patches!

And besides, he was certain that whatever had Damien paranoid would soon pass because sooner or later he'd see that there was only friendship between Aiden and Vincent. It was absurd to think otherwise!

Absolutely...absurd.

  

---

NEXT PART:

www.flickr.com/photos/153660805@N05/53826223464/in/datepo...

  

To select another chapter (or even start from the beginning), here's the album link:

www.flickr.com/photos/153660805@N05/albums/72157717075565127

 

***Please note this is a BOY LOVE (LGBTQ+) series. It is a slow burn and is rated YOUNG ADULT!***

 

Special thank you to my husband Vin (Be My Mannequin? Pose Store) for collaborating with me on this series and co-starring as The Captain!

  

DISCORD SERVER: That's right! The Captain and the Engineer has a Discord Server! If you would like to join and chat with other crewmates and see what's new and happening before it gets posted to Flickr, click the link!

discord.gg/qBa769TAC4

 

***NEW!!!!***

 

The Captain and the Engineer now has a FACEBOOK PAGE! Please come Like, Follow, and join the crew! Thank you so much for all your support!

FACEBOOK PAGE:

www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61558531406088

 

On the evening of 11th July 2014, the Royal International Air Tattoo Gala Dinner took place and the Red Arrows, supported by a pair of Gnats from the Gnat Display Team, based at North Weald, took to the skies to perform a number of flypasts for the event.

 

I was down with the Gnats during their start-up, departure and then recovery. Kevin 'Jester' Whyman took 'Red 10', Squadron Leader Mike Ling, along for the ride in Gnat T.1 G-TIMM/XP504. The aircraft was painted to represent the mount of Ray Hanna during his time as 'Red 1' which bore the code XS111. In addition, the aircraft wore the same anniversary tail as applied to the current Hawk T.1 aircraft that form the team for the 2014 season.

 

Following the tragic loss of both Kevin and XS111, I've dug in to the archives to present a few images from that evening.

 

Blue skies, Kevin.

 

© Caerus Media, 2015

© Apron Media, 2015

The water buffalo or domestic Asian water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) is a large bovid originating in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and China. Today, it is also found in Europe, Australia, and some American countries. The wild water buffalo (Bubalus arnee) native to Southeast Asia is considered a different species, but most likely represents the ancestor of the domestic water buffalo.

 

Two extant types of water buffalo are recognized based on morphological and behavioural criteria – the river buffalo of South Asia and further west to the Balkans, Egypt, and Italy, and the swamp buffalo, found from Assam in the west through Southeast Asia to the Yangtze valley of China in the east. The origins of the domestic water buffalo types are debated, although results of a phylogenetic study indicate that the swamp type may have originated in China and was domesticated about 4,000 years ago, while the river type may have originated from India and was domesticated about 5,000 years ago. Water buffalo were traded from the Indus Valley Civilisation to Mesopotamia, in modern Iraq, 2500 BC by the Meluhhas. The seal of a scribe employed by an Akkadian king shows the sacrifice of water buffalo.

 

At least 130 million domestic water buffalo exist, and more human beings depend on them than on any other domestic animal. They are especially suitable for tilling rice fields, and their milk is richer in fat and protein than that of dairy cattle. The large feral population of northern Australia became established in the late 19th century, and smaller feral herds are in New Guinea, Tunisia, and northeastern Argentina. Feral herds are also present in New Britain, New Ireland, Irian Jaya, Papua New Guinea, Colombia, Guyana, Suriname, Brazil, and Uruguay.

 

CHARACTERISTICS

The skin of river buffalo is black, but some specimens may have dark, slate-coloured skin. Swamp buffalo have a grey skin at birth, but become slate blue later. Albinoids are present in some populations. River buffalo have comparatively longer faces, smaller girths, and bigger limbs than swamp buffalo. Their dorsal ridges extend further back and taper off more gradually. Their horns grow downward and backward, then curve upward in a spiral. Swamp buffalo are heavy-bodied and stockily built; the body is short and the belly large. The forehead is flat, the eyes prominent, the face short, and the muzzle wide. The neck is comparatively long, and the withers and croup are prominent. A dorsal ridge extends backward and ends abruptly just before the end of the chest. Their horns grow outward, and curve in a semicircle, but always remain more or less on the plane of the forehead. The tail is short, reaching only to the hocks. Height at withers is 129–133 cm for males, and 120–127 cm for females. They range in weight from 300–550 kg, but weights of over 1,000 kg have also been observed.

 

Tedong bonga is a black pied buffalo featuring a unique black and white colouration that is favoured by the Toraja of Sulawesi.

 

The swamp buffalo has 48 chromosomes; the river buffalo has 50 chromosomes. The two types do not readily interbreed, but fertile offspring can occur. Buffalo-cattle hybrids have not been observed to occur, and the embryos of such hybrids do not reach maturity in laboratory experiments.

 

The rumen of the water buffalo has important differences from that of other ruminants. It contains a larger population of bacteria, particularly the cellulolytic bacteria, lower protozoa, and higher fungi zoospores. In addition, higher rumen ammonia nitrogen (NH4-N) and higher pH have been found as compared to those in cattle

 

ECOLOGY AND BEHAVIOR

River buffalo prefer deep water. Swamp buffalo prefer to wallow in mudholes which they make with their horns. During wallowing, they acquire a thick coating of mud. Both are well adapted to a hot and humid climate with temperatures ranging from 0 °C in the winter to 30 °C and greater in the summer. Water availability is important in hot climates, since they need wallows, rivers, or splashing water to assist in thermoregulation. Some breeds are adapted to saline seaside shores and saline sandy terrain.

 

DIET

Water buffalo thrive on many aquatic plants and during floods, will graze submerged, raising their heads above the water and carrying quantities of edible plants. They eat reeds (quassab), a giant reed (birdi), a kind of bulrush (kaulan), water hyacinth, and marsh grasses. Some of these plants are of great value to local peoples. Others, such as water hyacinth, are a major problem in some tropical valleys, and water buffalo may help to keep waterways clear.

 

Green fodders are used widely for intensive milk production and for fattening. Many fodder crops are conserved as hay, chaffed, or pulped. Fodders include alfalfa, berseem and bancheri, the leaves, stems or trimmings of banana, cassava, fodder beet, halfa, ipil-ipil and kenaf, maize, oats, pandarus, peanut, sorghum, soybean, sugarcane, bagasse, and turnips. Citrus pulp and pineapple wastes have been fed safely to buffalo. In Egypt, whole sun-dried dates are fed to milk-buffalo up to 25% of the standard feed mixture.

 

REPRODUCTION

Swamp buffalo generally become reproductive at an older age than river breeds. Young males in Egypt, India, and Pakistan are first mated at about 3.0–3.5 years of age, but in Italy

 

they may be used as early as 2 years of age. Successful mating behaviour may continue until the animal is 12 years or even older. A good river male can impregnate 100 females in a year. A strong seasonal influence on mating occurs. Heat stress reduces libido

 

Although buffalo are polyoestrous, their reproductive efficiency shows wide variation throughout the year. Buffalo cows exhibit a distinct seasonal change in displaying oestrus, conception rate, and calving rate. The age at first oestrus of heifers varies between breeds from 13–33 months, but mating at the first oestrus is often infertile and usually deferred until they are 3 years old. Gestation lasts from 281–334 days, but most reports give a range between 300 and 320 days. Swamp buffalo carry their calves for one or two weeks longer than river buffalo. It is not rare to find buffalo that continue to work well at the age of 30, and instances of a working life of 40 years are recorded.

 

TAXONOMIC HISTORY

Carl Linnaeus first described the genus Bos and the water buffalo under the binomial Bubalis bubalus in 1758; the latter was known to occur in Asia and as a domestic form in Italy. Ellerman and Morrison-Scott treated the wild and domestic forms of the water buffalo as conspecifics whereas others treated them as different species. The nomenclatorial treatment of wild and domestic forms has been inconsistent and varies between authors and even within the works of single authors.

 

In March 2003, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature achieved consistency in the naming of wild and domestic water buffalo by ruling that the scientific name Bubalus arnee is valid for the wild form. B. bubalis continues to be valid for the domestic form and applies also to feral populations.

 

DOMESTICATION AND BREEDING

Water buffalo were domesticated in India about 5000 years ago, and in China about 4000 years ago. Two types are recognized, based on morphological and behavioural criteria – the river buffalo of the Indian subcontinent and further west to the Balkans and Italy, and the swamp buffalo, found from Assam in the west through Southeast Asia to the Yangtze valley of China in the east. The present-day river buffalo is the result of complex domestication processes involving more than one maternal lineage and a significant maternal gene flow from wild populations after the initial domestication events. Twenty-two breeds of the river type water buffalo are known, including Murrah, Nili-Ravi, Surti, Jafarabadi, Anatolian, Mediterranean, and Egyptian buffalo. China has a huge variety of buffalo genetic resources, comprising 16 local swamp buffalo breeds in various regions.

 

Results of mitochondrial DNA analyses indicate that the two types were domesticated independently. Sequencing of cytochrome b genes of Bubalus species implies that the domestic buffalo originated from at least two populations, and that the river and the swamp types have differentiated at the full species level. The genetic distance between the two types is so large that a divergence time of about 1.7 million years has been suggested. The swamp type was noticed to have the closest relationship with the tamaraw.

 

DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATIONS

The water buffalo population in the world is about 172 million.

 

IN ASIA

More than 95.8% of the world population of water buffalo are found in Asia including both river and swamp types. The water buffalo population in India numbered over 97.9 million head in 2003, representing 56.5% of the world population. They are primarily of the river type, with 10 well-defined breeds comprising Badhawari, Murrah, Nili-Ravi, Jafarabadi, Marathwada, Mehsana, Nagpuri, Pandharpuri, Toda, and Surti. Swamp buffalo occur only in small areas in the north-eastern part of the country and are not distinguished into breeds.

 

In 2003, the second-largest population lived in China, with 22.759 million head, all of the swamp type with breeds kept only in the lowlands, and other breeds kept only in the mountains; as of 2003, 3.2 million swamp-type carabao buffalo were in the Philippines, nearly three million swamp buffalo were in Vietnam, and 772,764 buffalo were in Bangladesh. About 750,000 head were estimated in Sri Lanka in 1997.

 

The water buffalo is the main dairy animal in Pakistan, with 23.47 million head in 2010. Of these, 76% are kept in the Punjab. The rest of them are mostly in the province of Sindh. Breeds used are Nili-Ravi, Kundi, and Azi Kheli. Karachi has the largest population of water buffalos for an area where fodder is not grown, consisting of 350,000 head kept mainly for milking.

 

In Thailand, the number of water buffalo dropped from more than 3 million head in 1996 to less than 1.24 million head in 2011. Slightly over 75% of them are kept in the country's northeastern region. The statistics also indicate that by the beginning of 2012, less than one million were in the country, partly as a result of illegal shipments to neighboring countries where sales prices are higher than in Thailand.

 

Water buffalo are also present in the southern region of Iraq, in the marshes. These marshes were drained by Saddam Hussein in 1991 in an attempt to punish the south for the uprisings of 1991. Following 2003, and the fall of the Saddam regime, these lands were reflooded and a 2007 report in the provinces of Maysan and Thi Qar shows a steady increase in the number of water buffalo. The report puts the number at 40,008 head in those two provinces.

 

IN EUROPE AND THE MEDITERRANEAN

Water buffalo likely were introduced to Europe from India or other Oriental countries. To Italy they were introduced about the year 600 in the reign of the Longobard King Agilulf. As they appear in the company of wild horses, they probably were a present from the Khan of the Avars, a Turkic nomadic tribe that dwelt near the Danube River at the time. Sir H. Johnston knew of a herd of water buffalo presented by a King of Naples to the Bey of Tunis in the mid-19th century that had resumed the feral state in northern Tunis.

 

European buffalo are all of the river type and considered to be of the same breed named Mediterranean buffalo. In Italy, the Mediterranean type was particularly selected and is called Mediterranean Italian breed to distinguish it from other European breeds, which differ genetically. Mediterranean buffalo are also found in Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Albania, Kosovo, and the Republic of Macedonia, with a few hundred in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Hungary. Little exchange of breeding buffalo has occurred among countries, so each population has its own phenotypic features and performances. In Bulgaria, they were crossbred with the Indian Murrah breed, and in Romania, some were crossbred with Bulgarian Murrah. Populations in Turkey are of the Anatolian buffalo breed.

 

IN AUSTRALIA

Between 1824 and 1849, water buffalo were introduced into the Northern Territory from Timor, Kisar, and probably other islands in the Indonesian archipelago. In 1886, a few milking types were brought from India to Darwin. They have been the main grazing animals on the subcoastal plains and river basins between Darwin and Arnhem Land since the 1880s. In the early 1960s, an estimated population of 150,000 to 200,000 buffalo were living in the plains and nearby areas.

 

They became feral and are causing significant environmental damage. Buffalo are also found in the Top End. As a result, they were hunted in the Top End from 1885 until 1980. The commencement of the brucellosis and tuberculosis campaign (BTEC) resulted in a huge culling program to reduce buffalo herds to a fraction of the numbers that were reached in the 1980s. The BTEC was finished when the Northern Territory was declared free of the disease in 1997. Numbers dropped dramatically as a result of the campaign, but have since recovered to an estimated 150,000 animals across northern Australia in 2008.

 

During the 1950s, buffalo were hunted for their skins and meat, which was exported and used in the local trade. In the late 1970s, live exports were made to Cuba and continued later into other countries. Buffalo are now crossed with riverine buffalo in artificial insemination programs, and may be found in many areas of Australia. Some of these crossbreds are used for milk production. Melville Island is a popular hunting location, where a steady population up to 4,000 individuals exists. Safari outfits are run from Darwin to Melville Island and other locations in the Top End, often with the use of bush pilots. The horns, which can measure up to a record of 3.1 m tip-to-tip, are prized hunting trophies.

 

The buffalo have developed a different appearance from the Indonesian buffalo from which they descend. They live mainly in freshwater marshes and billabongs, and their territory range can be quite expansive during the wet season. Their only natural predators in Australia are adult saltwater crocodiles, with whom they share the billabongs, and dingoes, which have been known to prey on buffalo calves and occasionally adult buffalo when the dingoes are in large packs.

 

Buffalo were exported live to Indonesia until 2011, at a rate of about 3000 per year. After the live export ban that year, the exports dropped to zero, and had not resumed as of June 2013.

 

IN SOUTH AMERICA

Water buffalo were introduced into the Amazon River basin in 1895. They are now extensively used there for meat and dairy production. In 2005, the buffalo herd in the Brazilian Amazon stood at roughly 1.6 million head, of which 460,000 were located in the lower Amazon floodplain. Breeds used include Mediterranean from Italy, Murrah and Jafarabadi from India, and Carabao from the Philippines.

 

During the 1970s, small herds were imported to Costa Rica, Ecuador, Cayenne, Panama, Surinam, Guyana, and Venezuela.

 

In Argentina, many game ranches raise water buffalo for commercial hunting

 

IN NORTH AMERICA

In 1974, four water buffalo were imported to the United States from Guam to be studied at the University of Florida. In February 1978, the first herd arrived for commercial farming. Until 2002, only one commercial breeder was in the United States. Water buffalo meat is imported from Australia. Until 2011, water buffalo were raised in Gainesville, Florida, from young obtained from zoo overflow. They were used primarily for meat production, frequently sold as hamburger.[38] Other US ranchers use them for production of high-quality mozzarella cheese.

 

HUSBANDRY

The husbandry system of water buffalo depends on the purpose for which they are bred and maintained. Most of them are kept by people who work on small farms in family units. Their buffalo live in very close association with them, and are often their greatest capital asset. The women and girls in India generally look after the milking buffalo while the men and boys are concerned with the working animals. Throughout Asia, they are commonly tended by children who are often seen leading or riding their charges to wallowing places. Water buffalo are the ideal animals for work in the deep mud of paddy fields because of their large hooves and flexible foot joints. They are often referred to as "the living tractor of the East". It probably is possible to plough deeper with buffalo than with either oxen or horses. They are the most efficient and economical means of cultivation of small fields. In most rice-producing countries, they are used for threshing and for transporting the sheaves during the rice harvest. They provide power for oilseed mills, sugarcane presses, and devices for raising water. They are widely used as pack animals, and in India and Pakistan also for heavy haulage. In their invasions of Europe, the Turks used buffalo for hauling heavy battering rams. Their dung is used as a fertilizer, and as a fuel when dried.

 

Buffalo contribute 72 million tones of milk and three million tones of meat annually to world food, much of it in areas that are prone to nutritional imbalances. In India, river-type buffalo are kept mainly for milk production and for transport, whereas swamp-type buffalo are kept mainly for work and a small amount of milk.

 

DAIRY PRODUCTS

Water buffalo milk presents physicochemical features different from that of other ruminant species, such as a higher content of fatty acids and proteins. The physical and chemical parameters of swamp and river type water buffalo milk differ. Water buffalo milk contains higher levels of total solids, crude protein, fat, calcium, and phosphorus, and slightly higher content of lactose compared with those of cow milk. The high level of total solids makes water buffalo milk ideal for processing into value-added dairy products such as cheese. The conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) content in milk ranged from 4.4 mg/g fat in September to 7.6 mg/g fat in June. Seasons and genetics may play a role in variation of CLA level and changes in gross composition of the water buffalo milk.

 

Water buffalo milk is processed into a large variety of dairy products:

 

- Cream churns much faster at higher fat levels and gives higher overrun than cow cream.

- Butter from water buffalo cream displays more stability than that from cow cream.

- Ghee from water buffalo milk has a different texture with a bigger grain size than ghee from cow milk.

- Heat-concentrated milk products in the Indian subcontinent include paneer, khoa, rabri, kheer and basundi.

- Fermented milk products include dahi, yogurt, and chakka.

- Whey is used for making ricotta and mascarpone in Italy, and alkarish in Syria and Egypt.

- Soft cheeses made include mozzarella in Italy, karish, mish, and domiati in Egypt, madhfor in Iraq, alghab in Syria, kesong puti in the Philippines, and vladeasa in Romania.

- The semihard cheese beyaz peynir is made in Turkey.

- Hard cheeses include braila in Romania, rahss in Egypt, white brine in Bulgaria, and akkawi in Syria.

- Watered-down buffalo milk is used as a cheaper alternative to regular milk.

 

MEAT AND SKIN PRODUCTS

Water buffalo meat, sometimes called "carabeef", is often passed off as beef in certain regions, and is also a major source of export revenue for India. In many Asian regions, buffalo meat is less preferred due to its toughness; however, recipes have evolved (rendang, for example) where the slow cooking process and spices not only make the meat palatable, but also preserve it, an important factor in hot climates where refrigeration is not always available.Their hides provide tough and useful leather, often used for shoes.

 

BONE AND HORN PRODUCTS

The bones and horns are often made into jewellery, especially earrings. Horns are used for the embouchure of musical instruments, such as ney and kaval.

 

ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS

Wildlife conservation scientists have started to recommend and use introduced populations of feral domestic water buffalo in far-away lands to manage uncontrolled vegetation growth in and around natural wetlands. Introduced water buffalo at home in such environs provide cheap service by regularly grazing the uncontrolled vegetation and opening up clogged water bodies for waterfowl, wetland birds, and other wildlife. Grazing water buffalo are sometimes used in Great Britain for conservation grazing, such as in Chippenham Fen National Nature Reserve. The buffalo can better adapt to wet conditions and poor-quality vegetation than cattle.

 

Currently, research is being conducted at the Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies to determine the levels of nutrients removed and returned to wetlands when water buffalo are used for wetland vegetation management.

 

However, in uncontrolled circumstances, water buffalo can cause environmental damage, such as trampling vegetation, disturbing bird and reptile nesting sites, and spreading exotic weeds.

 

RESEARCH

The world's first cloned buffalo was developed by Indian scientists from National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal. The buffalo calf was named Samrupa. The calf did not survive more than a week, and died due to some genetic disorders. So, the scientists created another cloned buffalo a few months later, and named it Garima.

 

On 15 September 2007, the Philippines announced its development of Southeast Asia's first cloned buffalo. The Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD), under the Department of Science and Technology in Los Baños, Laguna, approved this project. The Department of Agriculture's Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) will implement cloning through somatic cell nuclear transfer as a tool for genetic improvement in water buffalo. "Super buffalo calves" will be produced. There will be no modification or alteration of the genetic materials, as in genetically modified organisms.

 

On 1 January 2008, the Philippine Carabao Center in Nueva Ecija, per Filipino scientists, initiated a study to breed a super water buffalo that could produce 4 to 18 litres of milk per day using gene-based technology. Also, the first in vitro river buffalo was born there in 2004 from an in vitro-produced, vitrified embryo, named "Glory" after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Joseph Estrada's most successful project as an opposition senator, the PCC was created through Republic Act 3707, the Carabao Act of 1992.

 

IN CULTURE

Some ethnic groups, such as Batak and Toraja in Indonesia and the Derung in China, use water buffalo or kerbau (called horbo in Batak or tedong in Toraja) as sacrificial animals at several festivals.

 

- Legend has it that the Chinese philosophical sage Laozi left China through the Han Gu Pass riding a water buffalo.

- According to Hindu lore, the god of death Yama, rides on a male water buffalo.

- The carabao subspecies is considered a national symbol in the Philippines.

- In Vietnam, water buffalo are often the most valuable possession of poor farmers: "Con trâu là đầu cơ nghiệp". They are treated as a member of the family: "Chồng cày, vợ cấy, con trâu đi bừa" ("The husband ploughs, the wife sows, water buffalo draws the rake") and are friends of the children. Children talk to their water buffalo, "Bao giờ cây lúa còn bông. Thì còn ngọn cỏ ngoài đồng trâu ăn." (Vietnamese children are responsible for grazing water buffalo. They feed them grass if they work laboriously for men.) In the old days, West Lake, Hà Nội, was named Kim Ngưu - Golden Water Buffalo.

- The Yoruban Orisha Oya (goddess of change) takes the form of a water buffalo.

 

FIGHTING FESTIVALS

- Pasungay Festival is held annually in the town of San Joaquin, Iloilo in the Philippines.

- Moh juj Water Buffalo fighting, is held every year in Bhogali Bihu in Assam. Ahotguri in Nagaon is famous for it.

- Do Son Water Buffalo Fighting Festival of Vietnam, held each year on the ninth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar at Do Son Township, Haiphong City in Vietnam, is one of the most popular Vietnam festivals and events in Haiphong City. The preparations for this buffalo fighting festival begin from the two to three months earlier. The competing buffalo are selected and methodically trained months in advance. It is a traditional festival of Vietnam attached to a Water God worshipping ceremony and the Hien Sinh custom to show martial spirit of the local people of Do Son, Haiphong.

- "Hai Luu" Water Buffalo Fighting Festival of Vietnam, According to ancient records, the buffalo fighting in Hai Luu Commune has existed from the 2nd century B.C. General Lu Gia at that time, had the buffalo slaughtered to give a feast to the local people and the warriors, and organized buffalo fighting for amusement. Eventually, all the fighting buffalo will be slaughtered as tributes to the deities.

- "Ko Samui" Water Buffalo Fighting Festival of Thailand, is a very popular event held on special occasions such as New Year's Day in January, and Songkran in mid-April, this festival features head-wrestling bouts in which two male Asian water buffalo are pitted against one another. Unlike in Spanish Bullfighting, wherein bulls get killed while fighting sword-wielding men, Buffalo Fighting Festival held at Ko Samui, Thailand is fairly harmless contest. The fighting season varies according to ancient customs & ceremonies. The first Buffalo to turn and run away is considered the loser, the winning buffalo becomes worth several million baht. Ko Samui is an island in the Gulf of Thailand in the South China Sea, it is 700 km from Bangkok and is connected to it by regular flights.

- "Ma'Pasilaga Tedong" Water Buffalo Fighting Festival, in Tana Toraja Regency of Sulawesi Island, Indonesia, is a very popular event where the Rambu Solo' or a Burial Festival took place in Tana Toraja.

 

RACING FESTIVALS

Carabao Carroza Festival is being held annually every May in the town of Pavia, Iloilo, Philippines.

Kambala races of Karnataka, India, take place between December and March. The races are conducted by having the water buffalo (he buffalo) run in long parallel slushy ditches, where they are driven by men standing on wooden planks drawn by the buffalo. The objectives of the race are to finish first and to raise the water to the greatest height and also a rural sport. Kambala races are arranged with competition, as well as without competition and as a part of thanks giving (to god) in about 50 villages of coastal Karnataka.

 

In the Chonburi Province of Thailand, and in Pakistan, there are annual water buffalo races.

 

Chon Buri Water buffalo racing festival, Thailand In downtown Chonburi, 70 km south of Bangkok, at the annual water buffalo festival held in mid-October. About 300 buffalo race in groups of five or six, spurred on by bareback jockeys wielding wooden sticks, as hundreds of spectators cheer. The water buffalo has always played an important role in agriculture in Thailand. For farmers of Chon Buri Province, near Bangkok, it is an important annual festival, beginning in mid-October. It is also a celebration among rice farmers before the rice harvest. At dawn, farmers walk their buffalo through surrounding rice fields, splashing them with water to keep them cool before leading them to the race field. This amazing festival started over a hundred years ago when two men arguing about whose buffalo was the fastest ended up having a race between them. That’s how it became a tradition and gradually a social event for farmers who gathered from around the country in Chonburi to trade their goods. The festival also helps a great deal in preserving the number of buffalo, which have been dwindling at quite an alarming rate in other regions. Modern machinery is rapidly replacing buffalo in Thai agriculture. With most of the farm work mechanized, the buffalo-racing tradition has continued. Racing buffalo are now raised just to race; they do not work at all. The few farm buffalo which still do work are much bigger than the racers because of the strenuous work they perform. Farm buffalo are in the "Buffalo Beauty Pageant", a Miss Farmer beauty contest and a comic buffalo costume contest etc.. This festival perfectly exemplifies a favored Thai attitude to life — "sanuk," meaning fun.

 

Babulang Water buffalo racing festival, Sarawak, Malaysia, is the largest or grandest of the many rituals, ceremonies and festivals of the traditional Bisaya (Borneo) community of Limbang, Sarawak. Highlights are the Ratu Babulang competition and the Water buffalo races which can only be found in this town in Sarawak, Malaysia.

Vihear Suor village Water buffalo racing festival, in Cambodia, each year, people visit Buddhist temples across the country to honor their deceased loved ones during a 15-day period commonly known as the Festival of the Dead but in Vihear Suor village, about 35 km northeast of Cambodia, citizens each year wrap up the festival with a water buffalo race to entertain visitors and honour a pledge made hundreds of years ago. There was a time when many village cattle which provide rural Cambodians with muscle power to plough their fields and transport agricultural products died from an unknown disease. The villagers prayed to a spirit to help save their animals from the disease and promised to show their gratitude by holding a buffalo race each year on the last day of "P'chum Ben" festival as it is known in Cambodian. The race draws hundreds of spectators who come to see riders and their animals charge down the racing field, the racers bouncing up and down on the backs of their buffalo, whose horns were draped with colorful cloth.

Pothu puttu matsaram, Kerala, South India, is similar to Kambala races.

 

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