SHE HAD THE SOFT DRINK JITTERS

 

depending on how you see it

no end of six word stories here!

 

Believe it or not, this is straight from the cam . . .

Another *reflection* shot of a Coca-Cola sign.

I don't drink soda, due to the high corn syrup factor,

but when I did, I actually preferred Pepsi!

Anyway, it's neither here nor there . . .

just a shot that keeps tickling my fancy.

 

Now please tell me your pepsi/coca-cola stories!

 

INDULGE and BULGE

 

“Family dinners are more often than not an ordeal of nervous indigestion, preceded by hidden resentment and ennui and accompanied by psychosomatic jitters.”

~ M. F. K. Fisher ~

 

Many years ago, the Ute nation lived in the country they called the Shining Mountains. This country was a “great living” land that sloped downward from lofty mountain peaks filled with deer, bear, elk, and sparkling lakes and the White River.

 

One band, the White River Utes, settled in the green valley on the banks of the White River where they raised their prized racing ponies. This area of beautiful pasture land became known as Powell Park after John Wesley Powell, who resided with the Utes while he explored the area in the winter of 1868-69. Powell Park later became the site of the Agency of the White River. The Agency was established in 1868 when the Utes permitted the Overland Stage Road to access lower Wyoming and mining began in Hahn’s Park.

 

Nathan C. Meeker arrived in this valley in 1878, coming from Greeley, Colorado, where he successfully established a “Christian Communal Society.” Meeker seemed to be in a hurry to force the Utes to forego their historical way of life and turn them into Christian farmers. A severe clash of cultures resulted and tensions ran very high for a long period of time.

  

When Meeker’s aggressive tactics of ordering their pony race track to be plowed to plant crops created resentments, troops were called down from Wyoming. They advanced into Ute treaty land, resulting in an uprising, which was later recognized as trespass. During the massacre, the Ute Indians destroyed the Agency on the White River, killing Indian Agent Meeker and 10 male civilian employees. The women and children were abducted but kept alive due to Susan, the wife of Medicine Man Johnson and sister to Chief Ouray.

 

Historical plaques now mark the site of the massacre and the Miller Creek Battlefield where Major Thornburgh, Commander of the 5th Calvary, was engaged in battle by the Ute Indians while en-route to the White River Agency to assist Nathan Meeker. A dramatic reenactment of the Meeker Massacre is performed every year during Meeker's 4th of July Range Call Celebration.

 

Meeker, the county seat of Rio Blanco County, grew around the “Military Camp on the White River,” an army base established to keep peace after the battle. They established a permanent military camp around a parade ground, which now houses the courthouse.

 

Several hundred soldiers were quartered here and many buildings were erected, which included barracks, officers’ quarters, a hospital building, a trading post, officers’ and soldiers’ clubs and civilian housing. All of their buildings were sold at auction to civilians when the army left in 1883. The ready-made town was named in memory of the slain Indian Agent, Nathan C. Meeker. Several of the early buildings still exist, including the historic Meeker Hotel and Café, which was rebuilt in 1896, and three of the original army officers’ quarters, one of which houses the White River Museum.

There are times I wonder whether I am wholly paranoid to what I think ails me. I had for a time thought myself unworthy of so many things. I may have inadvertantly pushed away so many people who tried to get close to me simply by clouding my personality with false identities or simply by blatantly apprearing disinterested in things that they could offer me.

 

Either way, it would be a self-fulfilling prophecy. The kind that says 'I hate myself, no-one should love me ...' And by thinking that people can do better than mixing with me, I turn all nasty and assume that its their fault for not accepting me in the first place.

 

The thing is, I know this already. I always thought that the first step was to accept myself and to love everything about me. I had simply thought that I lacked this ability and projected it outwards towards everyone else.

 

This is why I empirically look at myself all the time. I look at myself through someone else's eyes. I assume that this imaginary third person would not like me and hence I won't allow my subconcious to ... er ... like me.

 

Complicated? You bet. Sometimes I struggle to understand it myself. As a result, I never let anyone in my private space and empirically justify it.

 

But the funny thing is, despite my apparent self-hatred, I have the capability to love and have frequently showed that side of me to others. In the past, I have harboured deep crushes towards others, never once expected anything to come out of it. Only in the private moments in DreamTime I can profess a relationship with someone, with the added house, car, and two kids called Francesca and Theadora. In short, my love life is imaginary and does not exist in any shape or form in RealTime. Why? Because I don't deserve to be loved.

 

But I have tried. One several occassions actually. I have tried to form relationship with people. Relationship where I shared practically everything. But often its never enough. And when it fails, the self-resentment fuels the already broken heart into something more damaging and I end up more bitter and screwed-up than before.

 

A couple of days ago I got told that I don't have empathy for anything. This was told to be by someone I have tried my level best to get him to love me. This was someone I cared deeply about and I felt that I gave everything I got. It wasn't enough and I came away with the familial feeling of being incapable of being loved.

 

So what do I do? A huge part of me teels me to give up. Accept the fact that I have to forget the notions of ever feeling a passionate kiss or be the recipient of a bouquet. I am perhaps just tired of constantly giving bits of myself to everyone and hoping for some sort of reciprocity.

 

In the end, perhaps, living out my fantasies in DeamTime. Heck, I can even be beautiful in there ...

On a cold winter morning, in the time before the light

In flames of death's eternal reign we ride towards the fight

When the darkness has fallen down, and the times are tough all right

The sound of evil laughter falls around the world tonight

 

Fighting hard, fighting on for the steel, through the wastelands evermore

The scattered souls will feel the hell bodies wasted on the shores

On the blackest plains in hell's domain, we watch them as we go

In fire and pain, and once again we know

 

So now we fly ever free

We're free before the thunderstorm

On towards the wilderness our quest carries on

Far beyond the sundown, far beyond the moonlight

Deep inside our hearts and all our souls

 

[Chorus:]

So far away we wait for the day

For the light source so wasted and gone

We feel the pain of a lifetime lost in a thousand days

Through the fire and the flames we carry on

 

As the red day is dawning

And the lightning cracks the sky

They'll raise their hands to the heavens above

With resentment in their eyes

Running back from the mid-morning light

There's a burning in my heart

We're banished from a time in a fallen land

To a life beyond the stars

 

In your darkest dreams see to believe

Our destiny is time

And endlessly we'll all be free tonight

 

And on the wings of a dream, so far beyond reality

All alone in desperation, now the time has gone

Lost inside you'll never find, lost within my own mind

Day after day this misery must go on

 

[Chorus]

 

[Solos: Twin/Sam/Twin/Herman/Twin/Herman/Sam/Herman/Sam]

 

Now here we stand with their blood on our hands

We fought so hard now can we understand

I'll break the seal of this curse if I possibly can

For freedom of every man

 

[Chorus]

Some History of Brisbane.

The first European settlement in Queensland was a small convict colony which was established at Redcliffe, now a northern beach suburb, in 1824. The settlement was soon moved in 1825 to a better location on the Brisbane River in what is now the CBD of Brisbane. John Oxley suggested this change of location and that the town be known as Brisbane after Sir Thomas Brisbane, Governor of NSW who visited this settlement in 1826. Prior to this the settlement was known as the Moreton Bay. By 1831 Moreton Bay had 1,241 people, but 86% were convicts, and almost all the rest were guards and administrators. One of the founding free men to settle in Brisbane was Andrew Petrie, a government clerk, who arrived in the settlement in 1837. His son later became the first mayor of Brisbane.

 

In 1842 (six years after the settlement of SA) Moreton Bay penal settlement was closed and the area opened to free settlers. Half the convicts at Moreton Bay were Irish Catholics which influenced the development of the settlement thereafter as many stayed on. By 1846 Moreton Bay had a population of 4,000 people, considerably less than that of Burra at the time which had over 5,000 people! In 1848 the first immigrants direct from Britain arrived, as did some Chinese. In 1849 three ship loads of Presbyterians arrived in Brisbane, the first ship being the Fortitude- hence the naming of Fortitude Valley. The colony was still far from self sufficient in terms of food production. In the mid 1850s German immigrants also started to arrive in the settlement. The only building still standing built by convict labour is the Old Windmill in Wickham Park.

 

During the late 1840s a few grand houses were built in Brisbane like Newstead House at Hamilton and the city began to take shape. All the central streets were named after members of Queen Victoria’s family- Adelaide, Alice, Ann, Charlotte, Elizabeth, Margaret, Mary for the streets parallel to Queen Street, and Albert, Edward, George and William for the streets perpendicular to Queen Street. In 1859 the population had grown sufficiently, to about 30,000 people, for Queensland to be proclaimed a separate colony from NSW with Brisbane (about 6,000 people) as the capital city. It was now a self governing independent colony. Old Government House was built shortly after this in 1862 followed by numerous colonial government buildings. The French Empire style Parliament House opposite the old Botanical Gardens was erected in 1865 to a design by Charles Tiffin. It had perfect symmetry a mansard roof and an arcaded loggia. It is still one of the most distinctive buildings in Brisbane. Nearby the pastoralists and wealthy built the Queensland Club in Alice Street in 1882 with classical columns but with Italianate style bay windows. The location near parliament house is much like the situation of the Adelaide Club on North Terrace almost adjacent to the SA parliament. The wealthy and pastoralists in both states had immeasurable influence over early colonial politics. One of the other finest colonial buildings of Brisbane is the Old Customs House with the circular copper domed roof on the edge of the Brisbane River. It was erected in 1888.

 

Although Brisbane grew quickly through the following decades it was not incorporated as a city until 1902.Part of the reason for the relatively slow of growth of Brisbane, compared to Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney was that it was not the focal point of the state railway network. Queensland always had other major regional centres. The railway from Brisbane reached out to southern Queensland only- Ipswich in 1864, Toowoomba in 1867, and Charleville in 1888. There was no early push to have a railway link between the coastal cities. They were not linked by a railway until 1927 when road transport had already taken over the transport of livestock and freight. The coastal railway to Cairns was always for passenger traffic as much as freight traffic.

 

Unlike the other Australian state capitals, Brisbane City Council governs most of the metropolitan area of Brisbane. In 1925 over twenty shires and municipalities were amalgamated into the City of Brisbane. It was at this time that the landmark Brisbane city Hall was built in Art Deco style. It was opened in 1930. During World War Two, Brisbane had a distinctive history as Prime Minister John Curtin had the “Brisbane Line” as a controversial defense plan, whereby if there was a land invasion of Australia, the northern half of the country would be surrendered at a line just north of Brisbane! Brisbane also became the headquarters for the American campaign in the South Pacific with General Douglas MacArthur based there at times. In 1942 a violent clash erupted between American and Australian service personnel in Brisbane. Between 2,000 and 5,000 men were involved in the riots which spread over two days. One soldier was killed and eight injured by gun fire as well as hundreds injured with black eyes, swollen faces, broken noses etc. On the second night 21 Americans were injured with 11 of them having to be hospitalised. This was The Battle of Brisbane. Yet around 1 million American troops passed through Queensland between December 1941 (just after the bombing of Pearl Harbour) and the end of 1945. They were here to spearhead attacks to take back the Philippines and to prevent the Japanese from taking New Guinea. Black American soldiers were especially unpopular in Brisbane as their landing contravened the “White Australia Policy” of those times. In response to this policy General Douglas MacArthur announced his support for the Australian government’s insistence that no more Black American troops be sent to Brisbane after 1942. The Black American units in Australia were later sent to New Guinea and New Caledonia. Black American troops in New Guinea were not allowed to visit Australia for rest and recreation leave although white American troops were allowed to visit Australia, mainly to Mackay. Resentment between American and Australian troops in Brisbane had to be contained and suppressed. Riots between troops also occurred in Townsville during the War. Today Brisbane is a fast growing city that has far outstripped Adelaide in terms of population, growth and infrastructure.

 

The Khyber Pass is one of the most famous mountain passes in the World a 53-kilometer (33-miles) long, through the Hindu Kush mountain range It is one of the most important passes between Afghanistan and Pakistan and has had a long and often violent history. Conquering armies have used the Khyber as an entry point for their invasions. It was also been a major trade route for centuries.

 

The Khyber Pass winds northwest through the Sefid Koh Range near Peshawar, Pakistan to Kabul, Afghanistan, varying in width from 3 to 137 m. The mountains on either side can be climbed only in a few places. The pass is walled by precipitous cliffs that vary in height from about 180 to 300 m. The pass reaches its highest elevation at the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

 

The history of the Khyber Pass as a strategic gateway dates from 326 B.C., when Alexander the Great and his army marched through the Khyber to reach the plains of India. From their, he sailed down Indus River and led his army across the desert of Gedrosia. In the A.D. 900s, Persian, Mongol, and Tartar armies forced their way through the Khyber, bringing Islam to India. Centuries later, India became part of the British Empire, and British troops defended the Khyber Pass from the British Indian side. During the Afghan Wars the pass was the scene of numerous skirmishes between Anglo-Indian soldiers and native Afghans. Particularly well known is the battle of January 1842, in which about 16,000 British and Indian troops were killed. The British constructed a road through the pass in 1879 and converted it into a highway during the 1920s. A railroad was also built here in the 1920s.

 

The Khyber, in its checkered history, has seen countless invasions. It witnessed the march of Aryans and victorious advance of Persian and Greek armies. It also saw the Scythians, White Huns, Seljuks, Tartars, Mongols, Sassanians, Turks, Mughals and Durranis making successive inroads into the territories beyond Peshawar Valley and Indus. The very sight of the Khyber reminds one of the conquerors who forced their way through its dangerous defiles. It is this Pass through which the subcontinent was invaded time and again by conquerors like Timur, Babur, Nadir Shah and Ahmad Shah Abdali. Again, it was through this Pass that the Russian invasion of the subcontinent was feared by the British in the 19th century. The story of Khyber Pass is composed of such colour and romance, such tragedy and glory that fact really looks stranger than fiction in this case. The Khyber Pass has been a silent witness to countless great events in the history of mankind. As one drives through the Pass at a leisurely pace, imagination unfolds pages of history.

 

The Aryans descending upon the fertile northern plains in 1500 BC subjugating the indigenous Dravidian population and settling down to open a glorious chapter in history of civilization. The Persian hordes under Darius (6 century B.C.) crossing into the Punjab to annex yet another province to the Archaemenian Empire. The armies of Alexander the Great (326 BC) marching through the rugged pass to fulfill the wishes of a young, ambitious conqueror. The terror of Genghis Khan enwraping the majestic hills and turning back towards the trophies of ancient Persia. The White house bringing fire and destruction in their wake, the Scythians and the Parthians, the Mughals and the Afghans, conquerors all, crossing over to leave their impact and add more chapters to the diverse history of this subcontinent.

 

The Muslim armies first passed through in 997 AD under the command of Subuktagin and later his celebrated son, Mahmud of Ghaznawi, marched through with his army as many as seventeen times between 1001-1030 AD. Some of his campaigns were directed through the Khyber Pass. Shahabuddin Muhammad Ghaur, a renowned ruler of Ghauri dynasty, crossed the Khyber Pass in 1175 AD to consolidate the gains of the Muslims in India. He used Khyber Pass again in 1193 to measure strength with Pirthvi Raj Chouhan and show his mettle on the field of Tarain. This battle helped Muslims carve out a Muslim Kingdom in India. In 1398 AD Amir Timur, the firebrand from Central Asia, invaded India through the Khyber Pass and his descendant Zahiruddin Babur made use of this pass first in 1505 and then in 1526 to establish a mighty Mughal empire. In 1672, it was the Khyber Pass where the Afridis under the able leadership of Ajmal Khan defeated Muhammad Amin Khan's army and besides inflicting losses, both in men and material, on the enemy, the Afridis captured about 10,000 Mughal soldiers. Nadir Shah Afshar of Iran used the Khyber Valley in 1739 AD to attach Delhi. The famous Afghan King, Ahmad Shah Abdali, crossed the Khyber Pass in 1761 AD and crushed the Marattha confederacy on the field of Panipat (India). The Khyber Valley saw a great deal of fighting between 1839-1919. During the First Afghan War (1839-42) General Pollock used the Khyber Pass on his way to Afghanistan to retrieve the British honour. Again, in 1878, the British forces marched through the Khyber Pass to launch an offensive against the Afghans in the Second Afghan War (1878-79). In 1897 a revolt flared up on the frontier region and the valleys of Khyber started vibrating with the echoes of war.

 

The year 1919 again saw the movement of British troops through the Khyber during the Third Afghan War. The valiant sons of Khyber converged upon Peshawar in 1930 to give vent to their feelings of resentment against the indiscriminate firing of the British troops on freedom lovers in the famous Qissa Khawani Bazaar. The chapter of fighting in Khyber, however, came to a close with the dawn of Independence in August, 1947. Since the establishment of Pakistan, the situation has changed altogether and the sentinels of Khyber are now interested in the welfare of their country-Pakistan - with which is linked their own future. But one thing remains unchanged. The invasion of the Khyber Pass is still on. Conquerors no longer traverse it, tourist do. The Khyber Pass is attracting thousands of tourists every year, besides a large number of foreign dignitaries, including Heads of States and Government leaders.

 

For hundreds of years, great camel caravans traveled through the Khyber Pass, bringing goods to trade. These ancient merchants and traders brought luxurious silks and fine porcelain objects from China to the Middle East. Often, they stopped at Herat, the great oasis in western Afghanistan. The traders traveled in caravans as a protection against the hazards of travel. Even so, they were often robbed by local tribesmen when traveling through the Khyber Pass.

 

Today, two highways thread their way through the Khyber Pass-one for motor traffic, and one for the traditional caravans. A railway line also travels to the head of the pass. Recently, the Khyber Pass has been used to transport refugees from the Afghan civil war into Pakistan, and transport arms into Afghanistan. The highway over the Khyber Pass links Kabul to Peshawar. Villages lie on each side of the Khyber Pass. The people of the Khyber Pass are mainly Pashtuns.

 

flickr.com/photos/commoner/1112504371/

flickr.com/photos/commoner/1114144561/

flickr.com/photos/commoner/1114972276/

flickr.com/photos/commoner/1114126523/

  

a frustrating day here...with our internet server...big problems in uploading photos.

 

Buenos Aries...a big 14,000,000 population Latin American city.... very European in flavour, on the whole...with many old and ornate buildings...and a fair share of the new...I'll add a bit of info from Wikipedia etc as I continue to post pics.

 

We stayed in a hotel on Miami Street...in the centre of the city...a walking street...with shops all over the place...including the middle of the street ... near a big park, with beautiful large trees...beside the subway system... a good spot to stay....

This elaborate doorknocker was a block away from our hotel.... and near several old buildings which have been remade into an elegant and modern shopping centre ...where we ate a few meals...( and I spent the grand total of $20 ...for the whole of our three weeks in the country...this was NOT a shoppping trip )

 

Wikipedia:

 

" First European settlement

Seaman Juan Díaz de Solís, navigating in the name of Spain, was the first European to reach the Río de la Plata in 1516. His expedition was cut short when he was killed during an attack by the native Charrúa tribe in what is now Uruguay.

 

The city of Buenos Aires was first established as Ciudad de Nuestra Señora Santa María del Buen Ayre[5] (literally "City of Our Lady Saint Mary of the Fair Winds") after Our Lady of Bonaria (Patron Saint of the capital of Sardinia, Cagliari) on 2 February 1536 by a Spanish expedition led by Pedro de Mendoza . The settlement founded by Mendoza was located in what is today the San Telmo district of Buenos Aires, south of the city center.

 

More attacks by the indigenous peoples forced the settlers away, and in 1541 the site was abandoned. A second (and permanent) settlement was established in 1580 by Juan de Garay, who arrived by sailing down the Paraná River from Asunción (now the capital of Paraguay). He dubbed the settlement "Santísima Trinidad" and its port became "Puerto de Santa María de los Buenos Aires."

 

Colonial history

From its earliest days, Buenos Aires depended primarily on trade. During most of the 17th and 18th centuries, Spanish ships were menaced by pirates, so they developed a complex system where ships with military protection were dispatched to Central America, cross the land, from there to Lima, Peru and from it to the inner cities of the viceroyalty. Because of this, products took a very long time to arrive in Buenos Aires, and the taxes generated by the transport made them prohibitive. This scheme frustrated the traders of Buenos Aires, and a thriving contraband industry developed. This also instilled a deep resentment in porteños towards the Spanish authorities.

 

Sensing these feelings, Charles III of Spain progressively eased the trade restrictions and finally declared Buenos Aires an open port in the late 18th century. The capture of Porto Bello by British forces also fueled the need to foster commerce via the Atlantic route, to the detriment of Lima-based trade. One of his rulings was to split a region from the Viceroyalty of Perú and create instead the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, with Buenos Aires as the capital. However, Charles's placating actions did not have the desired effect, and the porteños, some of them versed in the ideology of the French Revolution, became even more convinced of the need for Independence from Spain. "

    

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

United States Marine Corps Women's Reserve (Reserve) was the World War II women's branch of the United States Marine Corps Reserve. It was authorized by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on 30 July 1942. Its purpose was to release officers and men for combat, and to replace them with women in U.S. shore stations for the duration of the war, plus six months. Ruth Cheney Streeter was appointed the first director. The Reserve did not have an official nickname, as did the other World War II women's military services.

 

Young women were keen on serving in the military during WWII, and the Marine Corps desired only the best. The standards set for women who wished to volunteer for the Reserve were demanding. The Reserve did not accept African American or Japanese American women during World War II, but did accept Native American women. The officer candidates first trained at the Navy's Midshipmen School for women officers at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. The initial training site for the enlisted women was at the Naval Training School at Hunter College in the Bronx, New York City. In due course, the Marine Corps discovered the advantages of having its own training centers. So on 1 July 1943, all Reserve training was shifted to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. The members served at shore and air stations across the continental United States. The incorporated territory of Hawaii was the only overseas duty station where members were assigned. They served in occupations classified as professional, semi-professional, clerical, skilled trades, services, and sales. The peak strength of the Reserve was about 19,000. With the end of World War II in sight, the corps began to demobilize the members. By December 1945, the Reserve was down to 12,300, and by August 1946 it had about 300 members.

 

Early on, the male members of the Marine Corps subjected the women to a degree of resentment and crude language. The women overcame these indignities with their accomplishments in the workplace and the poise with which they performed. In time, most of their detractors became their supporters. For her stewardship of the Reserve, the Marine Corps presented Ruth Cheney Streeter with the Legion of Merit. On the occasion of the first anniversary of its establishment, the Reserve received a message from President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in which he observed, "You have quickly and efficiently taken over scores of different kinds of duties that not long ago were considered strictly masculine assignments, and in doing so, you have freed a large number of well trained, battle ready men of the corps for action." Initially, General Thomas Holcomb, Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, had been opposed to having women serve in the Marine Corps. Before the end of 1943, however, he reversed himself, saying, "Like most Marines, when the matter first came up I didn't believe women could serve any useful purpose in the Marine Corps ... Since then I've changed my mind."[1]

 

Background

 

At the outbreak of World War II, the notion of women serving in the Navy or Marine Corps (both under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Navy) was not widely supported by the Congress or by the branches of the military services. Nevertheless, some believed that women would eventually be needed in the military. The most notable was Edith Nourse Rogers, Representative of Massachusetts, and Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of the president, who helped pave the way for its reality. When President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed what would become Public Law 689 on 30 July 1942, it established a Women's Reserve as a branch of the Naval Reserve for the Navy and Marine Corps.[2] The idea behind the law was to free up officers and men for combat, with women standing in for them at shore stations on the home front. Women could now serve in the Reserve as an officer or at an enlisted level, with ranks or ratings consistent with those of men. Reserve volunteers could only serve for the duration of the war, plus six months.[3]

 

The Marine Corps delayed formation of the Reserve until 13 February 1943.[4] It was the last service branch to accept women into its ranks, and there was considerable unhappiness about making the Marine Corps anything but a club for white men.[5] In fact, General Thomas Holcomb, Commandant of the Marine Corps, was a well-known opponent of women serving in the corps.[6] By the end of 1943, however, he had reversed himself, saying, "there's hardly any work at our Marine stations that women can't do as well as men. They do some work far better than men. ... What is more, they're real Marines. They don't have a nickname, and they don't need one."[7] Holcomb rejected all acronyms or monikers for the Reserve; he did not believe they were compulsory. Despite Holcomb’s dislike for nicknames, several of them surfaced for the Reserve, including: Femarines, WAMS, BAMS, Dainty Devil-Dogs, Glamarines, Women's Leatherneck-Aides, MARS, and Sub-Marines. By the summer of 1943, attempts to pressure the Reserve into a nickname had diminished. "WR" was as far as Holcomb would move in that direction.[8]

Leadership

 

Ruth Cheney Streeter was named the first director of the Reserve; commissioned a major and sworn in by the Secretary of the Navy on 29 January 1943.[9] A year later, Streeter was promoted to colonel.[10] She was not the first woman to see active duty in the Marine Corps during World War II. Weeks earlier, Mrs. Anne A. Lentz, a civilian clothing expert who had helped design the Reserve uniforms, was commissioned a captain. Lentz came to the corps on a 30-day assignment from the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) and stayed on.[11]

 

Streeter was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, in 1895[12] and attended Bryn Mawr College for two years. She was the wife of a prominent (Morristown, NJ) lawyer and businessman, and the mother of four children, three sons in the military during World War II, and one younger daughter. Although Streeter had 20 years' of active civic work, she had never held a paying job. She was selected from a field of twelve outstanding women, all recommended to the corps by Dean Virginia C. Gildersleeve of Barnard College, who had earlier recommended Mildred McAfee for the director of the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES). Streeter was 47 years of age when selected to head the Reserve. In the Free a Marine to Fight publication, Colonel Mary V. Stremlow (Ret. MCWR) described her as confident, spirited, patriotic, and a principled person. In 1940, Streeter believed the United States would be drawn into World War II. Intending to be part of the war effort, she learned to fly and earned a commercial pilot's license. She then purchased a small airplane, and in the summer of 1941 joined the Civil Air Patrol. Her plane was used to fly missions, Streeter recalled, but she was unhappy, relegated to doing "all the dirty work". Then, when the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) was formed, though Streeter was twelve years over the age limit, she applied five times and was rejected five times. In January 1943, when she inquired about service with the WAVES, she was told that flying was out of the question, but that she could be a ground instructor. Streeter turned it down, and a month later became the director of the Reserve.[13] During her tenure as the director, she sent an open letter to all women recruits, saying, "It is not easy to Free a Marine to Fight (a recruiting slogan of the Reserve). It takes courage – the courage to embark on a new and an alien way of life... Your spirit is a source of constant inspiration to all who work with you."[14]

 

Colonel Streeter resigned her commission from the Reserve on 7 December 1945. (She was replaced by Lieutenant Colonel Katherine A. Towle.) A few months later, the Marine Corps presented Streeter with the Legion of Merit. It was the highest award ever made to a woman marine as a result of World War II service. The Marine Corps also dedicated the headquarters building of the Fourth Recruit Training Battalion at Parris Island, South Carolina, to her. Streeter died on 9 September 1990, two days before her 95th birthday.[15]

Recruiting

 

The qualifications for women who wished to become members of the Reserve were stringent. The eligibility requirements for officer candidates and enlisted women were similar: United States citizenship; not married to a marine; either single or married but with no children under 18; height not less than 60 in (150 cm); weight not less than 95 lb (43 kg); good vision and good teeth. For enlisted members, the age limits were from 20 to 35, and an applicant was required to have at least two years' of high school. For officer candidates, the age limits were from 20 to 49, and they had to either be a college graduate, or have a combination of two years' of college and two years' of work experience. Later, the wives of enlisted Marines were allowed to join, and enlisted women could marry after boot camp.[16]

A group of enlisted women being sworn into the Marine Corps during the Second World War, with the oath administered by a male officer

 

By way of agreement, the Navy and the Marine Corps designated the Navy's procurement offices as recruiting centers for both the WAVES and the Reserve. This helped to avoid competition in the recruiting of women for either naval service. Women applicants for either service would go to one office to enlist and to receive physical examinations. (Later on, the Reserve established its own recruiting capability.) When reservations surfaced about whether male Marine recruiters could properly select female applicants for the Reserve, the call went out for women recruiters. Nineteen WAVE officer candidates volunteered; they were transferred and assigned to procurement offices. Still in WAVE uniforms, they began recruiting the first members of the Reserve. Lucile E. McClarren of Nemacolin, Pennsylvania, appears to have been the first enlisted woman recruited on 13 February 1943.[17] The Reserve did not accept African American women or Japanese American women during the war years.[18] The first Native American woman to enlist in the Reserve was Minnie Spotted-Wolf of Heart Butte, Montana; she did so in July 1943.[19] Early recruiting was brisk, so much so that in some cases women were sworn in and put to work in procurement offices, delaying their training until later.[20]

 

The slogan "Free a Marine to Fight" proved to be a strong drawing card for the Reserve, stronger than any fashioned by the WAC, WAVES, or SPARS.[21] Young women were eager to serve in the military during World War II, often in defiance of their family's wishes. Marian Bauer's parents were so upset when she joined the corps that they did not see her off. Jane Taylor's father, a World War I veteran, gave her this advice: "Don't ever complain to me. You're doing this of your own free will. You weren't drafted or forced. Now, go – learn, travel, and do your job to the best of your ability." There were those parents who asked for special consideration for daughters who were too young to enlist. The minimum age of 20 years, set by law, remained the same throughout the war for the Reserve. Some parents wondered why 18-year-boys were sent into combat, and 18-year-old girls could not serve.[22] The Corps' recruiting scheme of forming platoons of about 40 women each to be recruited from the same area and sending them as a unit to Reserve training together caught on quickly. The first platoon was from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, then Washington, D.C., and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, followed by Albany, Buffalo, and Central New York; Johnstown and Fayette County, Pennsylvania; Dallas and Houston, Texas; Miami, Florida; Saint Paul, Minnesota; Green Bay, Wisconsin; the state of Alabama; and northern and southern New England.[23]

 

Aside from patriotism, Colonel Streeter was interested to learn the reasons why young women joined the Reserve. A survey of 1,000 new enlistees was conducted at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, which asked this question. The results of this survey showed that 750 enlistees had had positive reasons for enlisting. Some had male relatives or friends in the armed forces, and some wanted revenge against the enemy, while others wanted the experience it would bring to their lives. The remaining 250 acknowledged they were trying to escape from something: a bad home life, a broken marriage, boredom, or some personal disappointment. Indications were that Streeter was not displeased with the findings.[24] The Reserve met its recruitment goal by 1 June 1944 and then stopped all recruiting. It began again on 20 September 1944 but on a limited basis.[25] Its peak strength was about 19,000 officers and enlisted women.[26]

 

The first group of six officers recruited was given direct commissions in the Reserve. They were recruited for their abilities and civilian experiences, considered key to the success of the fledgling program. Assignments were: public relations, First Lieutenant E. Louise Stewart; training, Captain Charlotte D. Gower; classification and detail, Captain Cornelia D. T. Williams; West Coast activities, Captain Lillian O'Malley Daly (who had been a marine in WWl); Recruit Depot, Captain Katherine Towle; and Assistant to the Director, Captain Helen C. O'Neill. These women were assigned to active duty immediately, without any military training or formal indoctrination in the corps.[27]

 

To capitalize on the enlisted women's experience, commission status was open to them beginning in July 1943. To be eligible, the applicant had to have completed six months' of service, be recommended by her commanding officer, and be selected by a board of male and female officers. After October 1943, the majority of women officers came from the ranks; only civilian women with specialized skills or exceptional leadership qualities were accepted for officer training.[28]

Uniforms

 

The uniforms of the Reserve were a matter of importance to the Marine Corps, so much so that a circular released in late 1943 stated the following:

 

The Marine Corps wants you to look your best at all times. The uniforms you will wear have been designed to be comfortable, practical and extremely attractive. When you don them you will know the pride of wearing a uniform that is a symbol of valor and bravery everywhere.[29]

 

Reserve recruits were promised uniforms upon reaching boot camp, but that was not always the case. In fact, during the summer of 1943, some recruits had to train in civilian clothing until summer uniforms were available. When the new uniforms arrived, they turned out to be winter uniforms instead of the summer uniforms expected. The seersucker summer uniforms had yet to be designed. Disputes about fabric, cut, and production had a delaying effect upon delivery. In time, these issues were resolved, and most Reserve members felt their uniforms were much better looking than those of the other women's military organizations.[30]

 

The winter uniform for both Reserve officers and enlisted members resembled the men's uniform in some respects. It was a forest green and consisted of a skirt, no higher than the bottom of the kneecap, an unbelted jacket with three bronze buttons, and a green cap trimmed with a scarlet cord. Marine Corps emblems were placed on the cap and the uniform lapels; scarlet chevrons were sewn on the jacket's sleeves. Under the jacket, a khaki shirt and matching field scarf were worn. Added to the ensemble were dark brown gloves, shoulder bag, and shoes.[31] For inclement weather, there was a green overcoat or a khaki trench coat, a red muffler, and black boots, or rubbers. Neither officers nor enlisted members had winter dress uniforms. However, officers were able to modify their winter service uniform into a dress uniform by substituting a white shirt and forest green tie in place of the regular khaki. The enlisted members were without such freedom.[32]

 

The summer uniform was a two-piece green and white outfit made of washable seersucker material. It had two pieces, a skirt and a short-sleeve jacket with a V-neck. The cap was green and decorated with a white cord, buttons were white, chevrons green, and emblems bronze. The shoes were brown, the gloves white, and the handbags light green.[33] The summer dress uniform was made of white twill. It had short sleeves and a V-neck, worn with gilt buttons on the jacket and cap, with dress emblems and white pumps. The officers could choose between three summer dress uniforms. The first was the white one worn by enlisted women, but with added green shoulder straps. The other two were made of white twill or a similar material. One was a short-sleeve blouse, and the other was long sleeved and collarless.[34]

 

Slacks of covert material were worn for certain duties, although the most common work uniform was the olive-drab, cotton utility outfit, worn with high topped shoes. The trousers had a bib-front and crossed straps, and were worn over a short sleeve, matching shirt, and topped by a long-sleeve jacket. For recreation, field nights, and physical conditioning, women Marines wore the peanut suit, so named because of its colored appearance. It was a tan, seersucker, one-piece bloomer outfit, with ties at the bottom of the shorts. In keeping with the propriety of the times, the women covered their legs with a front-buttoned A-line skirt when not actively engaged in sports, exercises, or work details.[35]

Training

Mount Holyoke College

 

The Reserve officer candidates trained at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, a branch of the Navy’s Midshipmen’s School for women officers at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. On 13 March 1943, the first group of 71 officer candidates arrived at the Midshipmen's School, Mount Holyoke College. Officer candidates joined as privates and after four weeks, if successful, became officer cadets. Those who did not meet the requirements had two choices: transfer to enlisted basic training or await discharge. Cadets who completed the eight-week course but were not recommended for a commission were asked to resign. They were eventually discharged and allowed to join the enlisted ranks. The curriculum for officer candidates was the same as for the WAVES, except for drill. This was taught by male Marine drill instructors (non-commissioned officers who provided instruction and indoctrination for officer candidates and enlisted recruits), who were openly hostile to the women because they had become part of the formerly all-male Marine Corps. Candidates studied the following naval subjects: organization; administration; personnel; history; strategy; law; justice; ships and aircraft. The second part of the training was specifically on Marine Corps subjects taught by male Marines. It included the following: administration; courtesy; map reading; interior guard (to preserve order, protect property, and enforce regulations within the command); safeguarding military information; and physical conditioning. On 4 May 1943, members of the first class received their commissions in the Marine Corps. A total of 214 women officers completed training at Mount Holyoke College.[36]

Hunter College

 

Shortly after the first officer class reported to Mount Holyoke College, enlisted women of the Reserve were ordered to the US Naval Training School at Hunter College in the Bronx, New York City. 722 recruits arrived for training between 24 March and 26 March. On 26 March, 21 platoons of women began training with the WAVES and graduated on 25 April 1943. Because the school was designated for WAVE instruction, the curriculum was geared for the Navy. Some subjects were not relevant for Marines, so modifications were made and male Marine drill instructors were added to the staff. The training sessions included: drill; physical training; customs; courtesies; history; organization; administration; naval law; map reading; defense against air attack; identification of aircraft, and safeguarding military information. In the process, the male marines did not hide their resentment toward the women for being a part of the corps. Between March and July, 3,346 women trained at Hunter College, 3,280 of whom graduated.[37]

Camp Lejeune

 

Originally, the Marine Corps planned to use existing Navy facilities for all of the Reserve training, but it soon realized the advantage of having its own training schools. Although joint training with the Navy proved satisfactory, it did not engender the Marine esprit de corps that was expected. Consequently, Marine Headquarters decided to consolidate all Reserve training at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. The Marine Corps opened its own schools for officer candidates and recruit training at Camp Lejeune in July 1943, under the command of Colonel John M. Arthur. Officer candidates and recruits in training at Navy facilities were transferred to Camp Lejeune, where over 15,000 women became Marines during the remainder of World War II.[38] The new camp was named for John A. Lejeune (1867–1942), a distinguished Marine officer. The 200-square-mile (520 km2) area was completed in 1943, with a headquarters building and facilities for transient and permanent Marine Corps personnel.[39] At Lejeune, the curriculum for both officer candidates and enlisted recruits moved beyond classroom lectures on combat weapons to actual weapon demonstrations. Reserve personnel observed demonstrations in hand-to-hand combat, use of mortars, bazookas, flame-throwers, an assortment of guns, and landing craft. However, they were not trained to use these weapons themselves.[40]

 

Leaving the college campuses for the Camp Lejeune training center was a change, but it introduced the officer candidates and recruits to the real Marine Corps military environment. What did not change from the time at Mount Holyoke and Hunter was the hostile behavior of the drill instructors towards the women. At Lejeune they did not try to hide their resentment, often referring to the women as BAMS (Broad Assed Marines) and using other crude references.[41][42] In the early days of the Reserve, the women were subjected to considerable verbal and psychological abuse.[43] This took a toll on the Reserve and its director, causing General Holcomb (Commandant of the Marine Corps) to take steps to end it. In time, the open hostilities subsided, and before long the women's competence, self-assurance, sharp appearance, and pride won over most of their detractors.[44]

Assignments

 

Assigning jobs in occupations that women had never held before was a daunting task for placement personnel. By social custom, working women did not work in the trades and they rarely supervised men. Women had worked mainly in offices, classrooms, hospitals, retail stores, libraries, and beauty shops.[45] In 1943, Marine Corps manpower was in short supply, but members of the Reserve were available to pick up the slack. However, the corps had to select, train, classify, and assign the women to jobs where they could contribute and do so in the shortest amount of time.[46] After completing their Marine Corps basic training, selected women received advanced schooling in a variety of specialties. By the end of the war, 9,641 members of the Reserve had attended more than 30 specialist schools run by higher educational institutions and departments of the U.S. military.[47] Colonel Streeter's philosophy was to let them try anything, except heavy lifting and combat.[48] The Reserve strength on 1 June 1945 was 17,672, of which 1,342 were engaged in occupations classified as professional or semi-professional; 10,279 in clerical; 741 in sales; 587 in services; 344 in skilled trades; 1,305 as semi-skilled; 14 as unskilled; 35 as students; and six unaccounted for.[49] Marine Corps recruiting literature indicated there were over 200 types of jobs available in the Reserve. While this may have been correct, the fact was that well over half the women were assigned to and worked in clerical fields.[50] The first duty posts and stations for the Reserve included places such as Washington, D.C.; New York; Philadelphia; Chicago; San Diego; and Quantico, Virginia.[51] Marine aviation was the fastest-growing unit of the Corps. Both officers and enlisted women served at Marine Corps Air Stations including Cherry Point and Edenton, North Carolina; Parris Island, South Carolina; El Centro, El Toro, Mojave, and Santa Barbara, California.[52]

 

Reserve members were prohibited from serving outside the continental United States, however, this impediment changed on 27 September 1944 when Public Law 441 amended 689 to allow Reserve members to serve in the Territory of Hawaii.[53] Some thought the enactment of Public Law 441 was anticlimactic. Colonel Streeter believed that sending Reserve members to Hawaii "was not worth all the trouble and cost." Nevertheless, the Marine Corps did deploy women to Hawaii.[54] Hawaiian duty was on a volunteer basis. Many members applied, but only the very best of them were accepted. The applicants were subject to the following requirements: had to have been on active duty for at least six months; commit to an 18-month tour; have a clean record; be in excellent mental and physical health; agree not to request leave to visit the mainland, and verify they had no dependents whose care might necessitate a trip back to the mainland.[55] In addition, members were expected to have a stable personality, sufficient skill to fill one of the billets for which women had been requested, and motivation to do a good job. San Diego, California, became the staging area, where a short yet intense physical conditioning course was given.[56] The first contingent of women arrived in Hawaii on 28 January 1945. At mid-year, there were about 1,000 women serving in Hawaii. By January 1946, they were all back on the mainland.[57]

Fatal accidents

 

Between February 1943 and September 1946, eighteen women reserve members were killed, the majority of them in off-duty automobile accidents. Only three members were killed while in the performance of their duties.[58]

 

On 1 October 1945, four members from the El Toro Air Station died when the automobile they were riding in was hit by a train near Irvine, California.[59] Corporal Nancy Engwall and Anna McDougall (rate unknown) were killed instantly, while Corporal Virginia Ruth Spalding and Private Shirley Kilian died later at the Long Beach Naval Hospital.[60]

 

Second Lieutenant Mary Rita Palowitch and Corporal Germaine C. Laville, Aerial Gunnery Instructors, were teaching at the Cherry Point Air station, when a civilian cleaning crew accidentally started a fire in their building. Initially, Laville escaped, but returned to the blaze after she heard others scream for help. Both Palowitch and Laville perished in the fire. Laville was cited posthumously for her bravery.[61]

Demobilization

 

At the end of the war, the task of demobilization fell to Colonel Katherine A. Towle, the second director of the Reserve.[62] In December 1945, the Reserve was down to about 12,300 members, with expectations of reducing this number by 2,000 each month thereafter.[63] The demobilization plan called for mandatory resignation or discharge of all Reserve members by 1 September 1946.[64] Separation centers were set up at San Diego, San Francisco, El Toro, Parris Island, and Lejeune.[65] In early 1946, there was speculation that legislation to give women permanent status in the military was being considered, which prompted the Marine Corps to relax its demobilization policy. Then on 15 June 1946, the wartime office of the Reserve was closed when Colonel Towle returned to work at the University of California. The outgoing director proposed that Julia E. Hamblet replace her.[66] Three months later, Hamblet was appointed as the third and final director of the wartime Reserve.[67] When August 1946 came around, some 300 women had been asked by the Marine Corps to stay on, even as the last of the Reserve's barracks was being closed.[68] For the next two years, these women served the Marine Corps in an undetermined status. But on 30 July 1948, the Women's Armed Services Act (Public Law 625) was signed into law, which allowed these and other women to serve in the regular Marine Corps.[69]

Recognition

 

The nation is as proud of you as of your fellow Marines – for Marine women are upholding the brilliant traditions of the corps with a spirit of loyalty and diligence worthy of the highest admiration of all Americans. You have quickly and efficiently taken over scores of different kinds of duties that not long ago were considered strictly masculine assignments, and in doing so, you have freed a large number of well-trained, battle-ready men of the corps for action ...[71]

 

General Thomas Holcomb, Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, had initially been opposed to having women serve in the Marine Corps. However, before the end of 1943, he had reversed himself, saying:[72]

 

"Like most Marines, when the matter first came up I didn't believe women could serve any useful purpose in the Marine Corps ... Since then I've changed my mind."[73]

A sky on fire this evening over the city! Just simply beautiful... I wasn't expecting a sunset like this tonight. It was truly a nice treat! I like this quote by John Lubbock: "Sunsets are so beautiful that they almost seem as if we were looking through the gates of Heaven"... Pic taken from around San Jose, CA. (Saturday around sunset, September 26, 2020; 7:13 p.m.)

 

*Did you know? Sunsets are instants of intimate & private contemplation. It's a time when we look at each other without mirrors. A sunset tells us what we are & where we should head to. It's a spiritual guide powered by Mother Nature & one that we should never neglect. Dusk teaches us to be a better person & to choose happiness over wealth, careers, resentment, & lies. Sunsets are also intimately connected with love, life, God, friendship, family, the beach & the ocean. A sunset is one of the most photographed natural events. Lastly, the golden hour can be simultaneously shared with the ones we love & care about…

“Some never participate. Life happens to them. They get by on little more than dumb persistence and resist with anger and violence all things that might lift them out of resentment-filled illusions of security.”

 

-Alma Mavis Taraza, “Chapterhouse: Dune”

Aeons ago, there was a civilization of beings so mighty that mortals reverred them as gods. However, they almost destroyed themselves in a devastating civil war. Now only two of them survived. Two brothers who were best friends and became worst enemies. So different and so similar at the same time...

 

Zeus, once a charismatic leader and glorious commander who fought the Ancient Ones, turned into an insane old man, and the remnant of his glorious empire is now ruled by First Angel Metatron, one of artificial beings created by him as defenders of mortals.

 

And Hades, a brilliant scientist with an interest in death, could not overcome his resentment towards his more vigorous and popular brother. This lead to the war between the gods and to Hades' decline into a monstrous, pale-skinned wrack who rules the legions of artificially-bred demons and undead risen by dark magic only to conquer multiple worlds that are inhabited by Zeus believers.

 

Now the last gods reign over their empires from the neighboring planets of Heaven and Hell. Hades, the Dark God, is determined to exterminate the mortals who give their faith to Zeus, while the Supreme God himself does not care to use his immense powers, and his angels only guard him as a living corpse.

 

These works were built for my techno-fantasy Violet Trilogy project. The characters were inspired by existing mythologies and religions, but may differ from their canonical images.

Why Unmaterialistic People Should Want to Get Rich

www.pickthebrain.com/blog/why-the-unmaterialistic-should-...

 

Imagine a greedy old miser, nearing the end of his life. For years he shunned friends and family to amass a fortune, but now, in old age, he sits alone in an empty mansion, cursing himself for missing out on the truly important things in life. No one wants to end up like him. We want to enjoy the love of our family and friends. Only materialistic people with skewed priorities care about being rich. Right?

 

The burden of acquiring money weighs heavily on anyone without it. People don’t go to work because they like it. They go because without money their families will have nowhere to live and nothing to eat. Without money you have no clothes, no food, no shelter, no life. For money we trade the bulk of our waking hours, 5 days a week, until old age renders us incapable.

 

Money isn’t everything, but it comes damn close. So with all these reasons to want money, why is the drive become rich associated with greed, selfishness, and materialism?

 

Why Money Arouses Greed and Resentment

 

What is the first image ‘rich man’ brings to mind? Think Disney, think Christmas, think Scrooge. Since before we could read we’ve been fed images of greedy misers abusing the helpless and kind hearted poor. Scrooge is only one instance of this popular archetype. Scan your mind for villains and you’ll find that ‘greedy rich man’ is the finest. Nothing inspires resentment better than someone with abundance who craves more, more, MORE.

 

But this isn’t reality. Real villains are few and far between and as likely to be poor as rich. Money is inherently neutral. The greed that inspires evil deeds originates not in money, but in the perpetrator. Money is as good or bad as the force that wields it.

 

In addition to media portrayals, there are more tangible reasons that richness inspires resentment. The greatest of these is the division of classes. While some people have relationships with both rich and poor, most don’t. You have your team and you stick to it. Even though most rich people are good folks, some are downright horrible. These spoiled brats (No one cares who your daddy is, and you’re making him look like a fool) create the resentment that spreads to all richness. The relationship between rich and poor is a toxic mixture of hatred and envy; people are forced to pick sides, and as Steve Olson explained, the outcome isn’t pretty.

 

There is also the wretched plague of materialism. The worst offenders aren’t the rich, but those who live beyond their means. The people going into debt to buy big houses, luxury cars, and plasma T.V.s. It isn’t about what you have, but what you can show. These fools want to be rich for shallow despicable reasons. Unmaterialistic people associate this idiocy with the desire to be rich and label the pursuit of the money unfulfilling. I was a member of this group of unmaterialists until I began to consider money and the nature of employment in a different light.

 

You Can Buy Time

 

The popular saying ‘you can’t buy time’ is blatantly false. Employers buy time everyday when they exchange money for labor. You may not be able to buy back time that has already passed, but you can certainly prevent yourself from having to sell your time in the future. Only the rich are able to avoid selling their time for money on a daily basis. Without the pressure to trade time for money, rich people are free to enjoy their lives however they please. If you take nothing else from this article, remember that money is freedom.

 

This realization led to the formation of my primary life goal: to become independently wealthy. By nature I am not a materialistic person. I care little for extravagance and the admiration of others. My favorite past times are the outdoors, basketball, reading, and collecting books. Old, used books, that generally cost less than a dollar, are more precious to me than any high tech gadgetry. But there is one valuable commodity that I prize above all others. Time.

 

When I started working full time 7 months ago I realized what it really meant to sell my time. I’m not complaining about my job. It pays well, affords decent hours, and the people are great. The problem is having to be there all the time. Call me ungrateful, but I don’t want just a good life, I want the best life I can muster, and that means having control of my own time.

 

Making Money Helps Other

 

After you buy something how do you usually feel? Unless you have spent foolishly and have buyer’s remorse you probably feel good. This is because have acquired something worth more to you than the money you paid for it. Commerce is an exchange of values. The merchant gets your money and you get wonderful commodities. Everyone is happy. If you weren’t happy you’d buy from someone else, which is why companies that don’t provide value go out of business. The success someone has is a direct indication of the value they provide to others.

 

Becoming rich doesn’t mean working long hours at a job you hate. Many people believe that becoming wealthy requires a high paying job i.e. doctor, lawyer, banker, executive etc. This may be the most certain path, but it isn’t the only one. There are unlimited ways to provide value to others, and the more creative ones are the most explosively successful. Don’t resign yourself to being poor just because these professions don’t fit. If you don’t like something you will never be great at doing it. The key is finding something you love that provides value to others.

 

You are currently witnessing my first foray into the world of independent value creation. I don’t expect this site to make me rich overnight, but it’s my first attempt at using my passions and abilities to create value. You may say I’m an optimistic fool, but each minute I work on this site I learn more about business and sharpen my creative abilities. Plus, it’s also very fun!

 

If you want to make the most of your life and attain personal freedom, becoming rich is a goal we both share. Don’t resign yourself to trading time for money just because that’s what most people do. Don’t wait to get going. Start working now. It’s going to be hard and you will need to make sacrifices, but don’t be discouraged. You have everything to gain, all you have to lose is your time.

Here is my action man repainted and rebodied to match my Tom of Finland body generously given to me by @cheshiretiffy. It’s funny how I used to have a lot of resentment for Action Man as a child because I thought his chunky immobile body that didn’t fit any doll clothes, and I hated that my parents tried substituting dolls for this thing cuz even at like age 7 I knew they worried about dolls turning me gay.

 

But hey, now that I’m older and dolls turned me super gay, I can appreciate this particular Action Man sculpt cuz it’s actually super handsome, especially with the older ultra detailed lipped potato head 90s Action Man sculpt.

 

Anyway, I wanted a softer expression on this guy in comparison to my childhood one to make them look distinct but still very action man…

 

When the routine bites hard

And ambitions are low

And the resentment rides high

But emotions won’t grow

And we’re changing our ways,

Taking different roads

Then love, love will tear us apart again

 

Why is the bedroom so cold

Turned away on your side?

Is my timing that flawed,

Our respect run so dry?

Yet there’s still this appeal

That we’ve kept through our lives

Love, love will tear us apart again

 

Do you cry out in your sleep

All my failings expose?

Get a taste in my mouth

As desperation takes hold

Is it something so good

Just can’t function no more?

When love, love will tear us apart again

 

A tribute to Ian Curtis.

_

 

BW tones

Levels adjustment

“Holding on to anger, resentment and hurt only gives you tense muscles, a headache and a sore jaw from clenching your teeth. Forgiveness gives you back the laughter and the lightness in your life.”

 

~Joan Lunden

 

[Day 077/365]

 

Had a headache today, I hate headaches, it just ruins my mood >_<

Native American, Frontier, & Canal History

 

In 1802, President Thomas Jefferson appointed Johnston as Indian Agent at the new trading agency in Fort Wayne, and by 1809 he was in charge of two Indian Agencies. His primary responsibility was to manage trade so that Indians in the area would not seek trade with the nearby British. Johnston was responsible to the territorial governor, William Henry Harrison, and to the Superintendent of Indian Trade. Almost immediately, however, a rivalry began between Johnston and William Wells, the official interpreter at Fort Wayne. The Miami of Fort Wayne trusted Wells, who had been adopted into their tribe, while U.S. government officials questioned Wells' loyalty and sided with Johnston. Johnston remained at Fort Wayne through a period of growing resentment between the American Indians and the United States, and filed a report summarizing Indian accounts of the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811.

That same year, an Indian agency was established at Piqua, Ohio, and Johnston asked to be transferred to the new agency. He was at this agency during the War of 1812, and organized a Shawnee party under Captain Logan to rescue women and children during the Siege of Fort Wayne, where his brother, Stephen, was killed. He had much better relations with the local Shawnee and Wyandot than he had with the Indians at Fort Wayne, and served as Indian Agent until 1829. He helped negotiate the Treaty of Upper Sandusky in 1842, which removed the Wyandot from Ohio to the West. It was reported that he earned a $1200.00 salary per year as an agent, and he retained that position until let go by President Jackson - a total of thirty-one years.

nrhp # 74000872- Frankfort Cemetery- Daniel Boone (November 2, 1734 [O.S. October 22] – September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer, explorer, woodsman, and frontiersman whose frontier exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. Although he also became a businessman, soldier and politician who represented three different counties in the Virginia General Assembly following the American Revolutionary War, Boone is most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now Kentucky. Although on the western side of the Appalachian Mountains from most European-American settlements, Kentucky remained part of Virginia until it became a state in 1791.

aniel Boone died of natural causes (other sources say from acute indigestion) on September 26, 1820, at Nathan Boone's home on Femme Osage Creek, five weeks short of his 86th birthday. His last words were, "I'm going now. My time has come." He was buried next to Rebecca, who had died on March 18, 1813. The graves, which were unmarked until the mid-1830s, were near Jemima (Boone) Callaway's home on Tuque Creek, about two miles (3 km) from the present-day Marthasville, Missouri. In 1845, the Boones' remains were supposedly disinterred and reburied in a new cemetery, Frankfort Cemetery in Frankfort, Kentucky. Resentment in Missouri about the disinterment grew over the years, and a legend arose that Boone's remains never left Missouri. According to this story, Boone's tombstone in Missouri had been inadvertently placed over the wrong grave, but no one had ever corrected the error. Boone's relatives in Missouri, displeased with the Kentuckians who came to exhume Boone, kept quiet about the mistake, and they allowed the Kentuckians to dig up the wrong remains. No contemporary evidence indicates this actually happened, but in 1983, a forensic anthropologist examined a crude plaster cast of Boone's skull made before the Kentucky reburial and announced it might be the skull of an African American. Black slaves had also been buried at Tuque Creek, so it is possible the wrong remains were mistakenly removed from the crowded graveyard. Both the Frankfort Cemetery in Kentucky and the Old Bryan Farm graveyard in Missouri claim to have Boone's remains.[56] The Kentucky Legislature appropriated two thousand dollars in 1860 for the erection of a monument over the grave of Daniel Boone in Frankfort.[57] The monument at Boone's grave site today was built by John Haley in 1860.[58] In 1862 four marble panels were added depicting scenes from Daniel and Rebecca's lives. The panels were vandalized during the American Civil War and restored in 1906. Only one of the original panels still exists

 

from Wikipedia

Some History of Brisbane.

The first European settlement in Queensland was a small convict colony which was established at Redcliffe, now a northern beach suburb, in 1824. The settlement was soon moved in 1825 to a better location on the Brisbane River in what is now the CBD of Brisbane. John Oxley suggested this change of location and that the town be known as Brisbane after Sir Thomas Brisbane, Governor of NSW who visited this settlement in 1826. Prior to this the settlement was known as the Moreton Bay. By 1831 Moreton Bay had 1,241 people, but 86% were convicts, and almost all the rest were guards and administrators. One of the founding free men to settle in Brisbane was Andrew Petrie, a government clerk, who arrived in the settlement in 1837. His son later became the first mayor of Brisbane.

 

In 1842 (six years after the settlement of SA) Moreton Bay penal settlement was closed and the area opened to free settlers. Half the convicts at Moreton Bay were Irish Catholics which influenced the development of the settlement thereafter as many stayed on. By 1846 Moreton Bay had a population of 4,000 people, considerably less than that of Burra at the time which had over 5,000 people! In 1848 the first immigrants direct from Britain arrived, as did some Chinese. In 1849 three ship loads of Presbyterians arrived in Brisbane, the first ship being the Fortitude- hence the naming of Fortitude Valley. The colony was still far from self-sufficient in terms of food production. In the mid-1850s German immigrants also started to arrive in the settlement. The only building still standing built by convict labour is the Old Windmill in Wickham Park.

 

During the late 1840s a few grand houses were built in Brisbane like Newstead House at Hamilton and the city began to take shape. All the central streets were named after members of Queen Victoria’s family- Adelaide, Alice, Ann, Charlotte, Elizabeth, Margaret, Mary for the streets parallel to Queen Street, and Albert, Edward, George and William for the streets perpendicular to Queen Street. In 1859 the population had grown sufficiently, to about 30,000 people, for Queensland to be proclaimed a separate colony from NSW with Brisbane (about 6,000 people) as the capital city. It was now a self-governing independent colony. Old Government House was built shortly after this in 1862 followed by numerous colonial government buildings. The French Empire style Parliament House opposite the old Botanical Gardens was erected in 1865 to a design by Charles Tiffin. It had perfect symmetry a mansard roof and an arcaded loggia. It is still one of the most distinctive buildings in Brisbane. Nearby the pastoralists and wealthy built the Queensland Club in Alice Street in 1882 with classical columns but with Italianate style bay windows. The location near parliament house is much like the situation of the Adelaide Club on North Terrace almost adjacent to the SA parliament. The wealthy and pastoralists in both states had immeasurable influence over early colonial politics. One of the other finest colonial buildings of Brisbane is the Old Customs House with the circular copper domed roof on the edge of the Brisbane River. It was erected in 1888.

 

Although Brisbane grew quickly through the following decades it was not incorporated as a city until 1902.Part of the reason for the relatively slow of growth of Brisbane, compared to Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney was that it was not the focal point of the state railway network. Queensland always had other major regional centres. The railway from Brisbane reached out to southern Queensland only- Ipswich in 1864, Toowoomba in 1867, and Charleville in 1888. There was no early push to have a railway link between the coastal cities. They were not linked by a railway until 1927 when road transport had already taken over the transport of livestock and freight. The coastal railway to Cairns was always for passenger traffic as much as freight traffic.

 

Unlike the other Australian state capitals, Brisbane City Council governs most of the metropolitan area of Brisbane. In 1925 over twenty shires and municipalities were amalgamated into the City of Brisbane. It was at this time that the landmark Brisbane city Hall was built in Art Deco style. It was opened in 1930. During World War Two, Brisbane had a distinctive history as Prime Minister John Curtin had the “Brisbane Line” as a controversial defense plan, whereby if there was a land invasion of Australia, the northern half of the country would be surrendered at a line just north of Brisbane! Brisbane also became the headquarters for the American campaign in the South Pacific with General Douglas MacArthur based there at times. In 1942 a violent clash erupted between American and Australian service personnel in Brisbane. Between 2,000 and 5,000 men were involved in the riots which spread over two days. One soldier was killed and eight injured by gun fire as well as hundreds injured with black eyes, swollen faces, broken noses etc. On the second night 21 Americans were injured with 11 of them having to be hospitalised. This was The Battle of Brisbane. Yet around 1 million American troops passed through Queensland between December 1941 (just after the bombing of Pearl Harbour) and the end of 1945. They were here to spearhead attacks to take back the Philippines and to prevent the Japanese from taking New Guinea. Black American soldiers were especially unpopular in Brisbane as their landing contravened the “White Australia Policy” of those times. In response to this policy General Douglas MacArthur announced his support for the Australian government’s insistence that no more Black American troops be sent to Brisbane after 1942. The Black American units in Australia were later sent to New Guinea and New Caledonia. Black American troops in New Guinea were not allowed to visit Australia for rest and recreation leave although white American troops were allowed to visit Australia, mainly to Mackay. Resentment between American and Australian troops in Brisbane had to be contained and suppressed. Riots between troops also occurred in Townsville during the War. Today Brisbane is a fast growing city that has far outstripped Adelaide in terms of population, growth and infrastructure.

 

I was going to just do a quick and simple one with a traditional elf and tree (well, okay, one of my overblown little 'toon girls dressed as a traditional elf, with a tree), but then a Flickr friend posted a bunch of mid-Sixties PLAYBOY Christmas gift subscription ads. If those aren't quite up there with der Bingle's "White Christmas" and The Sleepy One's "No Place Like Home For The Holidays" and all the vintage cards and ornaments and toy ads and other Christmas nostalgia that various Flickr friends post this time of year (and some post all year 'round) as Ghosts of Christmases Past, they at least rank right alongside "Snoopy's Christmas".

 

Then, too, when hearing about it this time of year, I always wonder (whilst permitting myself an evil chuckle) how many Good People out there realize that what has become a traditional holiday favorite, a staple of holiday family viewing, was based on a story (with a few incidents from others thrown in) that originally appeared in PLAYBOY, and that the narrator, the grown-up Ralphie, was indeed the real-life grown-up Ralphie, author Jean Shepherd, whose stories all appeared in "THAT smutty magazine" (as the First Baptist Church ladies in my little burg--and, no doubt, in every other little burg across the length and breadth of our great land--were wont to call it).

 

And it WAS a nice, "clean", happy story, just like the movie, containing nothing of the "vulgarity" that the ill- or uninformed generally identified with PLAYBOY. Likewise, as all his stories were, this one was ultimately upbeat, the characters amiably eccentric and endearing rather than depressingly dysfunctional and embittered as they would undoubtedly be depicted these days (compare with those sad cases who populate Garrison Keillor's Lake Woebegone). But, then, Jean Shepherd (July 26, 1921 - October 16, 1999), was a dues-paid member of The Greatest Generation, who came home from the Army and made a good life for himself being an amiable eccentric himself in those two greatest decades the United States ever had, 1945 - 1965, before we became the depressingly dysfunctional and increasingly embittered country we are now.

 

Along with those other aforementioned memories of mid-Twentieth Century Christmases (including those Playmates and Bunnies of yesteryear who, despite the celebrated nudity, really did have the kind of ingenue "girl next door" appeal that the magazine strove for back then, before the editors, photographers and models all "went Hollywood" on us), when Christmas was commercial (and yes, Virginia, it always was) but hadn't yet become cynically so, when it hadn't become politicized, and having a merry one was just something one cheerfully went about doing instead of making the effort a monomaniacal do-or-die frenzy to achieve some impossibly unattainable level of happiness and seething with resentment against those imaginary enemies keeping us from reaching it, Ralphie's Red Ryder B-B Gun should remind us that no matter how much we might want to be or how hard we strive to make it so, we are not the Pretty People in the commercials and life isn't ever going to be Just Perfect for us the way it is for them--but it can work out to be pretty good, if we let it. And if we're lucky. And for those of us who were so lucky, it should be a reminder of just how truly blessed we were to to be The Greatest Generation's kids, and had our own (sadly too few) years of childhood in those two glorious decades when things were never better. And, of course, remind us to be ultimately grateful to "the reason for the season", Who gave us that blessing.

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS, ALL!!!

Gateway Camp Verse

(Pin1) Ging1 Mahn4

Isaiah 62:10

 

What Dale instructed about going out of our way to treat the Mainland Chinese well resonated within me. To be sure, just as the Koreans have gone out of their way to bless me so I must step out to bless and to love my Mainland brethren.

 

After the first meeting, Ed and I wandered off campus and found inside a shopping mall a cha chaan teng where we had a late-night snack. And hardly had we tucked into our meals when in walked several dozen volunteers, all locals, who were overcome, it seemed, by the same munchies that infected Ed and me. It’s surprising how such a primal urge, at such a time, drives everyone to no less than the same, impossibly far location.

 

I thus far have met so many people that, had I not brought along my iPod, I would have already lost track of the multitudinous names flying around like fireflies at night, sparkling luminously one moment and then disappearing the next. And this is only the beginning: more and more people will arrive both today and tomorrow so I had better stay awake, alert, and writing.

 

I am working with a partner who really challenges me, and indeed that is why I chose to work with him. From the first words that came streaming out of his mouth, I knew he would be a special one, and as if to conifrm my conjecture, indeed, the more he spoke, the more confused I became. The challenge, I have realized after much ruminating, isn’t so much the pace of his speech as his choice of words, which fall outside a normal lexical range; that is, at least with me, when he talks, he doesn’t use familiar collocations to communicate; besides, he has an uncanny Tin Shui Wai accent; those, along with his amazing resistance to Chinglish, which impresses me, by the way, have made our communication tedious, since I am bombarded by peculiar lexical constructions that I generally never encounter in Cantonese conversation and must therefore stop our flow to clarify his speech. It’s too bad that he doesn’t speak English as I would love to hear how he structures ideas in my native language to determine whether or not this strange lexis has spilled over into his other modes of communication.

 

Regardless, in being with him, I have learned to be patient, and if I am truly to walk away from resentment, I must continue rather to engage him than to keep him at arm’s length. It helps us, then, that he is a congenial fellow, prone more to expressing love, much in the same way that I do by warmly grabbing a forearm or a shoulder, than to venting his frustration, which with me could certainly be great. He is verily a good guy, and so long as the Lord keeps him — I am sure Daddy will — Tin Shui Wai, that small patch of concrete moon colony, is in capable, faithful human hands.

 

Sau2 muhn6 je2

Mihng6 dihng6

Kyuhn4 lihk6

Lihk6 leuhng6

Chong3 yi3 adjective

Chong3 jouh6 verb

 

Romans 5:3-5

 

Not only so, but we rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.

 

I cried this morning when I read these words, because they are true, and comfort my soul as water to a dry, parched land. However many times I’ve lamented this place and its people, I am still inextricably tied to this rock, per God’s will for my life; and God really is faithful in providing a way out not from this place but from these spiritual hindrances. These past few days, what with communication failures and fatigue setting in, I could have more easily give into my rationality, in defense of my weaknesses, than resisted this bait of satan. Thank God, hence, for the words which are like fuel for the refiner’s fire that burns up all my expectations, my pride and my flesh. I can survive, nay, rejoice, indeed, because of God, who, in me, day by day teaches me to suffer long with a smile.

 

This is what the gateway is all about, I believe: jumping head-first out of my comfort zone to confront the nations, for my brothers and sisters and I must face each other if we are to raise the banners together. Battling through enemy strongholds of mistrust ad resentment, we demolish carnal thoughts and dig deep in the Spirit for the unity that shall overcome as much language as culture; God, after all, is bigger, even, than the battlefield. In these ways can my brethren and I love each other as ourselves, as we shall be one in the Father, with audacious power and boldness laying hands on His kingdom which advances, in this kairos moment, over all of China, including, no doubt, Hong Kong. No longer will there be curses thrown upon the nations; but rather the river of life will flow through the city, and the leaves of the tree on each side of the river will be for the healing of the nations.

 

1) Welcoming the Father

2) Unifying the body

3) Partnering with the Chinese

4) Serving the city

5) Supporting the Chinese

 

Isaac and I have worked quite hard this morning, putting up signs all over campus, and as if to reward me for my assiduity, he offered to buy me a drink, an offer which I took up. Indeed, this man’s care and concern for others, genuine, doubtlessly, fills me with joy, for, to be sure, the joy of the lord is his strength. My friend is indefatigable, always encouraging and never slighting, no matter the circumstances, rain (that has happened a lot today) or shine. Praise God!

 

Much like my relationship with Isaac, my relationships with my other team members have improved considerably since, even, this morning’s briefing during which, the code-switching, happening too fast and too furiously for my comfort, vexed me so terribly that if Isaac had not put a generous arm around my shoulder immediately afterwards, I surely would have blown my top in frustration at the perplexing language option. Thankfully, my team and I settled our language arrangements: Isaac, Dorcas and I will intractably speak Cantonese to each other whereas my other group mates and I will use English with as little code-switching as possible; and I, along with Ed, no doubt, am satisfied. It’s best to avoid misunderstandings.

 

Lihng4 Mahn4 (soul)

Sihng4 jeung2

Muhng6 Seung2 (dreams)

 

The Lord’s mercies are new everyday. Just now, during the morning rally, by His Spirit, hundreds of brothers and sisters received a new anointing, to be spiritual mothers and fathers of a new generation so as to minister to the next. This outpouring of the Spirit was sudden, and so captivated me that when the call came to reap, I rushed to the front to ask my father for this anointing, and naturally, my life was transformed. In the same way, the pastor called up a new generation of spiritual children to receive the love, care and support of these new parents; and likewise, so many young men and women heeded this call that verily, the pit in front of the stage was soon awash in hugs and tears between generations that, once lost, were now found. Indeed, no sooner did these people embrace their father than Dad immediately swept them up in his strong arms and showered them with audacious encouragement and support. Praise God!

 

An Outburst

 

I was angry this morning during our team time. I temporarily lost my ability to be merciful and to live in God’s grace. When my team leader began to address me in English, yet again, I couldn’t help but berate him for doing so when Cantonese, I argued, would be a more economical medium of delivery. And then I compounded this already incendiary situation by ranting about the hypocrisy of Hong Kong being a gateway to China but not a gateway into its own neighborhoods teeming with Chinese people, 97% of whom, according to one of the pastors at this camp, do not know the Lord Jesus. Cantonese will matter, I posit, if anyone dares to take on the onerous mission in this vexing place.

 

To be sure, even my brother announced that language was a prohibitive barrier to closer relationships with these local people, and therefore, since he neither speaks Cantonese nor is going to give learning the language a go, he is relegated to the outer walls of the gates into Hong Kong.

 

In hindsight, I thought I cared enough about God’s purposes for me in Hong Kong, but I realize now that I still care a lot about myself, and resentment. Though I have prayed and declared boldly that God is bigger than language and culture, I know I don’t believe it; and that’s upsetting. For the time being, I don’t verily believe in my heart that I can have deeper, closer relationships with Chinese people without the benefit of language and culture, patterns of action.

 

OK. This is actually an opportune start for my spiritual parentship, for now I have an opportunity to put aside my very compelling arguments for the necessity of language and culture in deep and close relationships, these conclusions born out of my reason, and to step out in faith, to trust in the Lord who, I pray, will show me deep and close relationships sans language and culture, and with whom my deep and close relationship shall obviously be the key to this victory.

 

I’m thinking about events at this camp that heretofore demonstrated loving relationships without language and culture, and I recalled two acts: the first happened yesterday when I spontaneously joined a line of ushers to high-five and to cheer the audience as they flooded out of the auditorium, the morning rally having scarcely finished; and the second, this was my meeting Yao, a man from the Ivory Coast, whom I befriended in those first, fleeting, if not frantic moments before the opening rally on Friday evening. That encounter was immediate and sudden, neither words nor habits needed; Yao and I simply high-fived, hugged and sat beside each other; and wow, that was terrific companionship — praise God!

 

Finally, however hard my diatribe may have struck my team members’ hearts, my merciful group mates still forgave me, not only on an personal level, but also, as I had sought forgiveness on behalf of all foreigners who have ever cursed locals or stood passively outside the gateway, on a corporate level, thereby releasing countless non-Chinese people into the freedom of these Hong Kong people’s forgiveness; just as brothers and sisters had so recently been reconciled to each other in my church, so local and non-local people have received the others’ freedom of forgiveness; more than a homecoming, that, indeed, is a breakthrough.

 

In listening to this morning’s sermon, I hear such verses as I know God is speaking to me through His word. 2Corinthians 4:16-18, this scripture in particular carries a buoyant, hopeful currency in my heart. My spirit soaks in this divine revelation as a sponge soaks in water and thus becomes malleable, able to be formed and shaped according to its holder’s will: Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

 

Disagreeable

 

I don’t know why my brother and I undermine each others’ comments; why we no more know consensus than the deaf music. Our interactions have been especially abrasive recently since we have spent so much time together without the benefit of our other brother to act as a natural, vociferous buffer; and as a result we argue like pieces of sand paper being rubbed against flesh, which inevitably leads to significant soreness. I feel sore now.

 

I think back to my outburst this morning and can appreciate my role in this evening’s embarrassing outcome; I am certainly not without fault, for I choose these days not only to venture my opinions but to do so passionately, if not emotionally. People consequently who otherwise are phlegmatic at best are put in a discomfiting position by my impassioned pleas. Besides, I recall Interrupting my brother prolifically, which understandably would not make him a happy camper; just as a hyperactive child doesn’t know when to stop pestering his sibling, so I don’t know nowadays when to hold my tongue. Indeed, I would rather not respond at all to my brother, even after he has fired off his rejoinder, than to strike him down in mid-speech.

 

In view of this latest incident, I have resolved to take the former course of action. To be sure, I simply stopped our petty dispute about a stupid basketball game by, awkward as it was, taking out my book and perusing it as fixedly as my tattered mind would allow. I will try my best to stay away from my brother for a spell, to create physical and spiritual space between us, so hopefully, in this way at least one of us will be able to come to his senses about this matter; better yet, now would be an opportune time for our father in his mercy to reveal to us the fault lines in our flesh so that we could surrender these tremulous spots in our soul, crucifying them to the father for our healing and the redemption of our relationship. I will pray about this.

 

…Praise God. If I had not separated myself from my brother’s presence, I wouldn’t have been sitting at that bench at the exact moment when Isaac came over to me in a plaintive mood. Obviously upset, he had been so recently wronged, he lamented on the verge of tears. And at that, mercy swept over my countenance, for my brother felt as aggrieved as I did earlier; and this appointment, per God’s unfailing, obstinate love, had at last come for me, convicting me to be very, very agreeable, sympathetic and kind to my fellow long-suffering brother. In this instance, thank God, language did not matter so much as empathy, carrying each others’ burdens and thus fulfilling the rule of Christ. We prayed and blessed each other in Jesus’ name, and then boldly went forward into the rally.

 

I suspect the enemy has infiltrated our team what with my outbursts and Isaac’s failing out as evidence. My group mates and I must be more vigilant in prayer and in digging deep into the Father’s word if we are to overcome the spies in our camp that have planted incendiary devices in our mouths and in our hearts. We certainly need such encouragement as the Lord provides for the edification and encouragement of each other, even more so, in fact, in the face of adversity, despite our fatigue and other physical ills that befall us like a hail of arrows. In faith, I’m sure, faith will see us through; and per what the pastors exhorted at the rally, we will become as if the smooth stone in David’s sling, ready to fly into the air to crush the Goliath in this world.

 

Sihng4 jauh6 achievement

Ngwuih misunderstanding

Nggaai2 to misunderstand

Yuhn4 leuhng6 forgive

Gaan2syun2 chosen

 

The Security Guard

 

At the morning rally, a security guard left an indelible impression on my heart what with her showing of unconditional support and her proffering of words of encouragement, which like a waterfall fell in force and power over my friends and me. To my amazement, I first saw her out of the corner of my eye stepping out of her role as a security guard to pray as a spiritual parent to two spiritual children during the morning rally’s prayer time; there she was, clad in her blue uniform, laying hands on those weeping kids; finally, I had witnessed someone courageous enough to step out of that rule of law, her boundary in Hong Kong, to be bound to that which is ethereal, the rule of Christ to carry each others’ burdens. Later, as the audience passed through the exit, I had time to confirm her love for the Lord and at that, we broke into a torrent of encouragement and followed this with a flurry of picture-taking. Indeed, never have I stumbled upon such good will from a dragon security guard in HK so I am hopeful, therefore, that this is but the the start of a greater movement within that particular demon-worshipping core, that at this time, God is opening up the heavenly armory and placing his prayer warriors inside that particular stronghold in Hong Kong to demolish every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and placing in its stead a profusion of love, gentleness and kindness. I look forward to the day when wisdom, and not languid stares, shall emanate from all the people who man the facilities in these universities.

 

Reconciliation

 

This is special. No sooner had Isaac and I stepped into the auditorium than we heard the plaintive cry of the mainland Chinese on the stage forgiving the Hong Kong people for their trespasses against their brethren from the north. A flurry of hugs, replete with a few tears, ensued. That was, as Dale announced from the stage, a delicious moment. Jesus must have been breaking out the good champagne in heaven for a rousing celebration in view of this victory.

 

Sex Talk – Part One

 

The kids finally received the sex talk this morning; a fiery pastor delivered the message which was as much shocking as informative; and gasps and wincing abounded in the audience.

 

While I have recently heard the sex talk at the men’s retreat, and have furthermore by God’s grace been inoculated against this particular area of struggle, it was nonetheless refreshing to hear the news, as shocking and as sensational as it was. I am willing, in addition, to believe that some of the atrocious acts that the pastor referenced, such as gruesome abortions and bizarre sexual acts, are more prevalent than my reason will believe, because my scope is limited by experience, but as the Father witnesses everything, if the Spirit has convicted this man and has told him that the world is heading closer and closer into the mouth of Jezebel in this way, I accept this. In fact, believing this is important if I am to be a good spiritual parent who will not only protect but educate the new generation from the prowling enemy that lurks these days, even, in our computers.

 

Prayer

 

The Holy Spirit fell over me this morning during my group’s team time. He convicted me to pray in Cantonese for the first time, and so I did without fear, those Chinese words pouring out of me as if perfume from an alabaster jar. Praise God: he is good; and this was the moment I have been waiting for.

 

I think about what happened, and am amazed at the Father’s favor; despite my critiques against this culture, and in spite of my recent lamentations, the Lord, ever faithfully, provided a way out under which I could stand and by which I could be protected from the bait of Satan. Little did I know that the escape route would, in fact, ironically, direct me to the very thing that heretofore has stood as an obstruction, a spiritual roadblock, in my mind.

 

A missionary on the stage just spoke into my life when she said about her experience learning Putonghua in China: the difficult part was not learning the language but learning to love those people as Jesus loves them. This will always be my mission, no matter where I am.

 

Keuhng4 jong3

Lai1 hei2 (pull up)

 

In the afternoon, my team had a reconciliation meeting during which, in small groups, each team member at last was given an opportunity to share alternately their joys and struggles. At that time, though having staved off an open rebuke for several days, I could no longer hold back this challenge to my small group: to step out in faith to be a gateway to the nations; and second, per the morning’s message, to on their guard against the sexually explicit, insidious media. I laid out my argument with much cogency, and such a response as I saw fit knocked my group mates into a stupor, because they certainly didn’t have much to say afterwards.

 

Oscillate between…and…

Vacillate…

Equivocated

Prevaricate

 

Sex Talk – Part Two

 

1) Jesus came to show us the Father; John1:18

2) Grace First, Truth Second; John 1:24:25; 16-18

 

Pahn4 mohng6 (hope)

 

Do you believe that Jesus can heal you? Then lay hands.

 

Dale and I are men who have shared similar struggles. His testimony is riveting.

 

Suddenly, I realized that this rally is, in fact, a continuation of yesterday morning’s sex talk, because we ended the previous rally praying more against the shame of abortion than against personal sexual immorality. Notionally, what is being discussed will enable people to really experience the love of the Father such that to change permanently our behavior. So when we are tempted:

 

1) Call for help; Romans 10:13

2) Escape Plan; 1Corinthians 10:13

 

Remember not to stand and rebuke the enemy with your own strength; move physically from the situation.

 

3) Run Away; 2Timothy 2:22

4) Into the Father’s Arms; Hebrews 4:14

 

I like this talk. This might be the first time that these young people get straight sex talk from their leaders; and there is no better time than now for these young people to break through in this particular area of struggle, just as the young men of SP broke through these obstinate barriers during our men’s retreat.

 

5) Confess and be Healed; James 5:16

 

I hope these young people find faithful accountability brothers and sisters in this service.

 

6) Walk in Transparent Accountable Relationships; 1John 1:7

7) Resist the Enemy; James 4:7

Young Veezy, artist unknown. Chelsea.

This mural shows a portrait of a solemn looking man, perhaps lost in thought or a portrayal of resentment. The black and grey tones and the fact the image is alone portrays solitude showing that even in a bustling city like New York, one can still feel lonely and isolated

"Someone who used whatever talent she had to do her work to the very best of her ability and to help repair tears in her society, to make things a little better through the use of whatever ability she has. To do something, as my colleague David Souter would say, outside myself. Because I’ve gotten much more satisfaction for the things that I’ve done for which I was not paid." RBG

 

Of course, there are times when I get annoyed about something. . . but then something catches my attention, or I learn or fall in love with something new, and it makes me wonder why I waste myself. Like when I see that my fav library had Christmas tree outside and I've never seen it before!!! I live for things that make me feel happy & alive, not the ones that suck my blood out of me. Or who I can help today or make someone’s day better.

- Frontpage Soul of Creativity June 2012-May 2013

 

"Ragon mein dodte phirne ke hum nahin qaayal

Jab aankh he se na tapka to phir lahu kya hai"

~ Asadullah Khan Ghalib

 

Translation (by yours truly) :

 

I am not impressed if it just flows through one's veins

What is blood if it does not drip from one's eyes !

 

I don't recall how my first ever visit to a zoo made me feel but the latest one, some fifty years later, definitely left me very sad. Man's cruelty to man is bad enough, man's cruelty to animals is terrible; that it is done in the name of compassion and work towards the preservation of a species only compounds my sense of guilt as being part of this whole sorry mess. Maybe some day the human kind is in danger of going extinct and some aliens from another part of the universe will lock us up behind bars, fences and glass enclosures all in the name of preserving our species and for the watching pleasure of their children.

 

The expressions of sadness and helpless frustration were uniform throughout the zoo and most revealing on the faces of those closest to us in the evolutionary chain.

 

The gorillas made me saddest for they were as human as us in their emotions and so very very unhappy and angry even as some of them went about playing 'catch me' and 'hide and seek' with their young ones.

 

The eyes of the gorrilla in this picture seem to be full of resentment and seem to be asking me as I click the shutter, how would I feel if the roles were reversed.

 

- EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS II USM

- 1/30th sec, f/6.3, 200 mm, ISO 3200

PhotoAwardsCounter

Click here to see the awards count for this photo. (?)

  

When I worked as set photographer for the Gedda Headz music video in Hong Kong, there was always a cast and crew of at least thirty people on set. I haven't any experience of working on a film set of that size anywhere else, so I can't say whether it's because of a specifically Chinese work ethic of efficiency and diligence, but everything I wanted was brought to me, immediately and without fuss. As I stood chatting with one of the cast while a shot was being set up, I mentioned that I was thirsty. Overhearing this, one of the runners - one of whom is pictured here as we filmed one night on the streets of Mongkok - dashed off and, seconds later, handed me a bottle of water. Almost uncomfortable with their servility, I was gushing gratitude all the time and this seemed to surprise them: completely free of resentment or irritation at having to run around after other people, they understood that this was their job.

 

By way of contrast, I worked in offices and shops when I was younger and, when the boss would bring more work to be done or assign some tasks, my colleagues would moan about all the work they were being given. They would do as little work as possible and would complain when that minimum amount was raised. Although I understand that people don't like work, I never related to that particular dissatisfaction: whether I was asked to go and deliver something or make someone a cup of tea, I appreciated that it was my job and I was being paid for it, and I appreciated that the boss is the boss. Even if the workload seemed heavy, I knew that - at least in those jobs I was doing - come 5pm or whenever, I would be able to down tools and go home regardless.

 

Hong Kong, 2009.

Some History of Brisbane.

The first European settlement in Queensland was a small convict colony which was established at Redcliffe, now a northern beach suburb, in 1824. The settlement was soon moved in 1825 to a better location on the Brisbane River in what is now the CBD of Brisbane. John Oxley suggested this change of location and that the town be known as Brisbane after Sir Thomas Brisbane, Governor of NSW who visited this settlement in 1826. Prior to this the settlement was known as the Moreton Bay. By 1831 Moreton Bay had 1,241 people, but 86% were convicts, and almost all the rest were guards and administrators. One of the founding free men to settle in Brisbane was Andrew Petrie, a government clerk, who arrived in the settlement in 1837. His son later became the first mayor of Brisbane.

 

In 1842 (six years after the settlement of SA) Moreton Bay penal settlement was closed and the area opened to free settlers. Half the convicts at Moreton Bay were Irish Catholics which influenced the development of the settlement thereafter as many stayed on. By 1846 Moreton Bay had a population of 4,000 people, considerably less than that of Burra at the time which had over 5,000 people! In 1848 the first immigrants direct from Britain arrived, as did some Chinese. In 1849 three ship loads of Presbyterians arrived in Brisbane, the first ship being the Fortitude- hence the naming of Fortitude Valley. The colony was still far from self sufficient in terms of food production. In the mid 1850s German immigrants also started to arrive in the settlement. The only building still standing built by convict labour is the Old Windmill in Wickham Park.

 

During the late 1840s a few grand houses were built in Brisbane like Newstead House at Hamilton and the city began to take shape. All the central streets were named after members of Queen Victoria’s family- Adelaide, Alice, Ann, Charlotte, Elizabeth, Margaret, Mary for the streets parallel to Queen Street, and Albert, Edward, George and William for the streets perpendicular to Queen Street. In 1859 the population had grown sufficiently, to about 30,000 people, for Queensland to be proclaimed a separate colony from NSW with Brisbane (about 6,000 people) as the capital city. It was now a self governing independent colony. Old Government House was built shortly after this in 1862 followed by numerous colonial government buildings. The French Empire style Parliament House opposite the old Botanical Gardens was erected in 1865 to a design by Charles Tiffin. It had perfect symmetry a mansard roof and an arcaded loggia. It is still one of the most distinctive buildings in Brisbane. Nearby the pastoralists and wealthy built the Queensland Club in Alice Street in 1882 with classical columns but with Italianate style bay windows. The location near parliament house is much like the situation of the Adelaide Club on North Terrace almost adjacent to the SA parliament. The wealthy and pastoralists in both states had immeasurable influence over early colonial politics. One of the other finest colonial buildings of Brisbane is the Old Customs House with the circular copper domed roof on the edge of the Brisbane River. It was erected in 1888.

 

Although Brisbane grew quickly through the following decades it was not incorporated as a city until 1902.Part of the reason for the relatively slow of growth of Brisbane, compared to Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney was that it was not the focal point of the state railway network. Queensland always had other major regional centres. The railway from Brisbane reached out to southern Queensland only- Ipswich in 1864, Toowoomba in 1867, and Charleville in 1888. There was no early push to have a railway link between the coastal cities. They were not linked by a railway until 1927 when road transport had already taken over the transport of livestock and freight. The coastal railway to Cairns was always for passenger traffic as much as freight traffic.

 

Unlike the other Australian state capitals, Brisbane City Council governs most of the metropolitan area of Brisbane. In 1925 over twenty shires and municipalities were amalgamated into the City of Brisbane. It was at this time that the landmark Brisbane city Hall was built in Art Deco style. It was opened in 1930. During World War Two, Brisbane had a distinctive history as Prime Minister John Curtin had the “Brisbane Line” as a controversial defense plan, whereby if there was a land invasion of Australia, the northern half of the country would be surrendered at a line just north of Brisbane! Brisbane also became the headquarters for the American campaign in the South Pacific with General Douglas MacArthur based there at times. In 1942 a violent clash erupted between American and Australian service personnel in Brisbane. Between 2,000 and 5,000 men were involved in the riots which spread over two days. One soldier was killed and eight injured by gun fire as well as hundreds injured with black eyes, swollen faces, broken noses etc. On the second night 21 Americans were injured with 11 of them having to be hospitalised. This was The Battle of Brisbane. Yet around 1 million American troops passed through Queensland between December 1941 (just after the bombing of Pearl Harbour) and the end of 1945. They were here to spearhead attacks to take back the Philippines and to prevent the Japanese from taking New Guinea. Black American soldiers were especially unpopular in Brisbane as their landing contravened the “White Australia Policy” of those times. In response to this policy General Douglas MacArthur announced his support for the Australian government’s insistence that no more Black American troops be sent to Brisbane after 1942. The Black American units in Australia were later sent to New Guinea and New Caledonia. Black American troops in New Guinea were not allowed to visit Australia for rest and recreation leave although white American troops were allowed to visit Australia, mainly to Mackay. Resentment between American and Australian troops in Brisbane had to be contained and suppressed. Riots between troops also occurred in Townsville during the War. Today Brisbane is a fast growing city that has far outstripped Adelaide in terms of population, growth and infrastructure.

  

History:

Gor-borg is one of S.T.U.D. labs darkest secrets. He is an adult male silverback gorilla that was illegally acquired to perform experiments on. He appears to have had a vast majority of his body replaced with cybernetic fittings. He does however retain enough of his organic primal nature to have his own free will and has a genius level intellect. Regardless, the wild, savage primate has a short temper and a bad mean streak. It is highly doubtful that he can be controlled let alone reasoned with. The pity some may have for his condition is usually outweighed by hysteria and widespread panic. Gor-borg has no resentment toward his creator Mr. Cy-co due to Cyrus’s own cybernetic predicament, but he also feels no obligation to obey his every command. Gor-borg will work with Mr. Cy-co if he sees it as beneficial. He views those that would show pity on him as weak and those that would oppose him as pathetic. He keeps out of the public eye for the most part and stays hidden wherever he can. When he does make an appearance however, everyone would be wise to stay out of his way.

 

Built for the League of Lego Heroes

www.flickr.com/groups/llh/

Pisa is a city and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the city contains more than twenty other historic churches, several medieval palaces, and bridges across the Arno. Much of the city's architecture was financed from its history as one of the Italian maritime republics.

 

The city is also home to the University of Pisa, which has a history going back to the 12th century, the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, founded by Napoleon in 1810, and its offshoot, the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies.

 

History

For a chronological guide, see Timeline of Pisa.

Ancient times

The most believed hypothesis is that the origin of the name Pisa comes from Etruscan and means 'mouth', as Pisa is at the mouth of the Arno river.

 

Although throughout history there have been several uncertainties about the origin of the city of Pisa, excavations made in the 1980s and 1990s found numerous archaeological remains, including the fifth century BC tomb of an Etruscan prince, proving the Etruscan origin of the city, and its role as a maritime city, showing that it also maintained trade relations with other Mediterranean civilizations.

 

Ancient Roman authors referred to Pisa as an old city. Virgil, in his Aeneid, states that Pisa was already a great center by the times described; and gives the epithet of Alphēae to the city because it was said to have been founded by colonists from Pisa in Elis, near which the Alpheius river flowed. The Virgilian commentator Servius wrote that the Teuti founded the town 13 centuries before the start of the common era.

 

The maritime role of Pisa should have been already prominent if the ancient authorities ascribed to it the invention of the naval ram. Pisa took advantage of being the only port along the western coast between Genoa (then a small village) and Ostia. Pisa served as a base for Roman naval expeditions against Ligurians and Gauls. In 180 BC, it became a Roman colony under Roman law, as Portus Pisanus. In 89 BC, Portus Pisanus became a municipium. Emperor Augustus fortified the colony into an important port and changed the name to Colonia Iulia obsequens.

 

Pisa supposedly was founded on the shore, but due to the alluvial sediments from the Arno and the Serchio, whose mouth lies about 11 km (7 mi) north of the Arno's, the shore moved west. Strabo states that the city was 4.0 km (2.5 mi) away from the coast. Currently, it is located 9.7 km (6 mi) from the coast. However, it was a maritime city, with ships sailing up the Arno. In the 90s AD, a baths complex was built in the city.

 

Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages

During the last years of the Western Roman Empire, Pisa did not decline as much as the other cities of Italy, probably due to the complexity of its river system and its consequent ease of defence. In the seventh century, Pisa helped Pope Gregory I by supplying numerous ships in his military expedition against the Byzantines of Ravenna: Pisa was the sole Byzantine centre of Tuscia to fall peacefully in Lombard hands, through assimilation with the neighbouring region where their trading interests were prevalent. Pisa began in this way its rise to the role of main port of the Upper Tyrrhenian Sea and became the main trading centre between Tuscany and Corsica, Sardinia, and the southern coasts of France and Spain.

 

After Charlemagne had defeated the Lombards under the command of Desiderius in 774, Pisa went through a crisis, but soon recovered. Politically, it became part of the duchy of Lucca. In 860, Pisa was captured by vikings led by Björn Ironside. In 930, Pisa became the county centre (status it maintained until the arrival of Otto I) within the mark of Tuscia. Lucca was the capital but Pisa was the most important city, as in the middle of tenth century Liutprand of Cremona, bishop of Cremona, called Pisa Tusciae provinciae caput ("capital of the province of Tuscia"), and a century later, the marquis of Tuscia was commonly referred to as "marquis of Pisa". In 1003, Pisa was the protagonist of the first communal war in Italy, against Lucca. From the naval point of view, since the ninth century, the emergence of the Saracen pirates urged the city to expand its fleet; in the following years, this fleet gave the town an opportunity for more expansion. In 828, Pisan ships assaulted the coast of North Africa. In 871, they took part in the defence of Salerno from the Saracens. In 970, they gave also strong support to Otto I's expedition, defeating a Byzantine fleet in front of Calabrese coasts.

 

11th century

The power of Pisa as a maritime nation began to grow and reached its apex in the 11th century, when it acquired traditional fame as one of the four main historical maritime republics of Italy (Repubbliche Marinare).

 

At that time, the city was a very important commercial centre and controlled a significant Mediterranean merchant fleet and navy. It expanded its powers in 1005 through the sack of Reggio Calabria in the south of Italy. Pisa was in continuous conflict with some 'Saracens' - a medieval term to refer to Arab Muslims - who had their bases in Corsica, for control of the Mediterranean. In 1017, Sardinian Giudicati were militarily supported by Pisa, in alliance with Genoa, to defeat the Saracen King Mugahid, who had settled a logistic base in the north of Sardinia the year before. This victory gave Pisa supremacy in the Tyrrhenian Sea. When the Pisans subsequently ousted the Genoese from Sardinia, a new conflict and rivalry was born between these major marine republics. Between 1030 and 1035, Pisa went on to defeat several rival towns in Sicily and conquer Carthage in North Africa. In 1051–1052, the admiral Jacopo Ciurini conquered Corsica, provoking more resentment from the Genoese. In 1063, Admiral Giovanni Orlandi, coming to the aid of the Norman Roger I, took Palermo from the Saracen pirates. The gold treasure taken from the Saracens in Palermo allowed the Pisans to start the building of their cathedral and the other monuments which constitute the famous Piazza del Duomo.

 

In 1060, Pisa had to engage in their first battle with Genoa. The Pisan victory helped to consolidate its position in the Mediterranean. Pope Gregory VII recognised in 1077 the new "Laws and customs of the sea" instituted by the Pisans, and emperor Henry IV granted them the right to name their own consuls, advised by a council of elders. This was simply a confirmation of the present situation, because in those years, the marquis had already been excluded from power. In 1092, Pope Urban II awarded Pisa the supremacy over Corsica and Sardinia, and at the same time raising the town to the rank of archbishopric.

 

Pisa sacked the Tunisian city of Mahdia in 1088. Four years later, Pisan and Genoese ships helped Alfonso VI of Castilla to push El Cid out of Valencia. A Pisan fleet of 120 ships also took part in the First Crusade, and the Pisans were instrumental in the taking of Jerusalem in 1099. On their way to the Holy Land, the ships did not miss the occasion to sack some Byzantine islands; the Pisan crusaders were led by their archbishop Daibert, the future patriarch of Jerusalem. Pisa and the other Repubbliche Marinare took advantage of the crusade to establish trading posts and colonies in the Eastern coastal cities of the Levant. In particular, the Pisans founded colonies in Antiochia, Acre, Jaffa, Tripoli, Tyre, Latakia, and Accone. They also had other possessions in Jerusalem and Caesarea, plus smaller colonies (with lesser autonomy) in Cairo, Alexandria, and of course Constantinople, where the Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus granted them special mooring and trading rights. In all these cities, the Pisans were granted privileges and immunity from taxation, but had to contribute to the defence in case of attack. In the 12th century, the Pisan quarter in the eastern part of Constantinople had grown to 1,000 people. For some years of that century, Pisa was the most prominent commercial and military ally of the Byzantine Empire, overcoming Venice itself.

 

12th century

In 1113, Pisa and Pope Paschal II set up, together with the count of Barcelona and other contingents from Provence and Italy (Genoese excluded), a war to free the Balearic Islands from the Moors; the queen and the king of Majorca were brought in chains to Tuscany. Though the Almoravides soon reconquered the island, the booty taken helped the Pisans in their magnificent programme of buildings, especially the cathedral, and Pisa gained a role of pre-eminence in the Western Mediterranean.

 

In the following years, the powerful Pisan fleet, led by archbishop Pietro Moriconi, drove away the Saracens after ferocious battles. Though short-lived, this Pisan success in Spain increased the rivalry with Genoa. Pisa's trade with Languedoc, Provence (Noli, Savona, Fréjus, and Montpellier) were an obstacle to Genoese interests in cities such as Hyères, Fos, Antibes, and Marseille.

 

The war began in 1119 when the Genoese attacked several galleys on their way home to the motherland, and lasted until 1133. The two cities fought each other on land and at sea, but hostilities were limited to raids and pirate-like assaults.

 

In June 1135, Bernard of Clairvaux took a leading part in the Council of Pisa, asserting the claims of Pope Innocent II against those of Pope Anacletus II, who had been elected pope in 1130 with Norman support, but was not recognised outside Rome. Innocent II resolved the conflict with Genoa, establishing Pisan and Genoese spheres of influence. Pisa could then, unhindered by Genoa, participate in the conflict of Innocent II against king Roger II of Sicily. Amalfi, one of the maritime republics (though already declining under Norman rule), was conquered on August 6, 1136; the Pisans destroyed the ships in the port, assaulted the castles in the surrounding areas, and drove back an army sent by Roger from Aversa. This victory brought Pisa to the peak of its power and to a standing equal to Venice. Two years later, its soldiers sacked Salerno.

 

New city walls, erected in 1156 by Consul Cocco Griffi

In the following years, Pisa was one of the staunchest supporters of the Ghibelline party. This was much appreciated by Frederick I. He issued in 1162 and 1165 two important documents, with these grants: Apart from the jurisdiction over the Pisan countryside, the Pisans were granted freedom of trade in the whole empire, the coast from Civitavecchia to Portovenere, a half of Palermo, Messina, Salerno and Naples, the whole of Gaeta, Mazara, and Trapani, and a street with houses for its merchants in every city of the Kingdom of Sicily. Some of these grants were later confirmed by Henry VI, Otto IV, and Frederick II. They marked the apex of Pisa's power, but also spurred the resentment of other cities such as Lucca, Massa, Volterra, and Florence, thwarting their aim to expand towards the sea. The clash with Lucca also concerned the possession of the castle of Montignoso and mainly the control of the Via Francigena, the main trade route between Rome and France. Last, but not least, such a sudden and large increase of power by Pisa could only lead to another war with Genoa.

 

Genoa had acquired a dominant position in the markets of southern France. The war began in 1165 on the Rhône, when an attack on a convoy, directed to some Pisan trade centres on the river, by the Genoese and their ally, the count of Toulouse, failed. Pisa, though, was allied to Provence. The war continued until 1175 without significant victories. Another point of attrition was Sicily, where both the cities had privileges granted by Henry VI. In 1192, Pisa managed to conquer Messina. This episode was followed by a series of battles culminating in the Genoese conquest of Syracuse in 1204. Later, the trading posts in Sicily were lost when the new Pope Innocent III, though removing the excommunication cast over Pisa by his predecessor Celestine III, allied himself with the Guelph League of Tuscany, led by Florence. Soon, he stipulated[clarification needed] a pact with Genoa, too, further weakening the Pisan presence in southern Italy.

 

To counter the Genoese predominance in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea, Pisa strengthened its relationship with its traditional Spanish and French bases (Marseille, Narbonne, Barcelona, etc.) and tried to defy the Venetian rule of the Adriatic Sea. In 1180, the two cities agreed to a nonaggression treaty in the Tyrrhenian and the Adriatic, but the death of Emperor Manuel Comnenus in Constantinople changed the situation. Soon, attacks on Venetian convoys were made. Pisa signed trade and political pacts with Ancona, Pula, Zara, Split, and Brindisi; in 1195, a Pisan fleet reached Pola to defend its independence from Venice, but the Serenissima soon reconquered the rebel sea town.

 

One year later, the two cities signed a peace treaty, which resulted in favourable conditions for Pisa, but in 1199, the Pisans violated it by blockading the port of Brindisi in Apulia. In the following naval battle, they were defeated by the Venetians. The war that followed ended in 1206 with a treaty in which Pisa gave up all its hopes to expand in the Adriatic, though it maintained the trading posts it had established in the area. From that point on, the two cities were united against the rising power of Genoa and sometimes collaborated to increase the trading benefits in Constantinople.

 

13th century

In 1209 in Lerici, two councils for a final resolution of the rivalry with Genoa were held. A 20-year peace treaty was signed, but when in 1220, the emperor Frederick II confirmed his supremacy over the Tyrrhenian coast from Civitavecchia to Portovenere, the Genoese and Tuscan resentment against Pisa grew again. In the following years, Pisa clashed with Lucca in Garfagnana and was defeated by the Florentines at Castel del Bosco. The strong Ghibelline position of Pisa brought this town diametrically against the Pope, who was in a dispute with the Holy Roman Empire, and indeed the pope tried to deprive Pisa of its dominions in northern Sardinia.

 

In 1238, Pope Gregory IX formed an alliance between Genoa and Venice against the empire, and consequently against Pisa, too. One year later, he excommunicated Frederick II and called for an anti-Empire council to be held in Rome in 1241. On May 3, 1241, a combined fleet of Pisan and Sicilian ships, led by the emperor's son Enzo, attacked a Genoese convoy carrying prelates from northern Italy and France, next to the isle of Giglio (Battle of Giglio), in front of Tuscany; the Genoese lost 25 ships, while about a thousand sailors, two cardinals, and one bishop were taken prisoner. After this major victory, the council in Rome failed, but Pisa was excommunicated. This extreme measure was only removed in 1257. Anyway, the Tuscan city tried to take advantage of the favourable situation to conquer the Corsican city of Aleria and even lay siege to Genoa itself in 1243.

 

The Ligurian republic of Genoa, however, recovered fast from this blow and won back Lerici, conquered by the Pisans some years earlier, in 1256.

 

The great expansion in the Mediterranean and the prominence of the merchant class urged a modification in the city's institutes. The system with consuls was abandoned, and in 1230, the new city rulers named a capitano del popolo ("people's chieftain") as civil and military leader. Despite these reforms, the conquered lands and the city itself were harassed by the rivalry between the two families of Della Gherardesca and Visconti. In 1237 the archbishop and the Emperor Frederick II intervened to reconcile the two rivals, but the strains continued. In 1254, the people rebelled and imposed 12 Anziani del Popolo ("People's Elders") as their political representatives in the commune. They also supplemented the legislative councils, formed of noblemen, with new People's Councils, composed by the main guilds and by the chiefs of the People's Companies. These had the power to ratify the laws of the Major General Council and the Senate.

 

Decline

The decline is said to have begun on August 6, 1284, when the numerically superior fleet of Pisa, under the command of Albertino Morosini, was defeated by the brilliant tactics of the Genoese fleet, under the command of Benedetto Zaccaria and Oberto Doria, in the dramatic naval Battle of Meloria. This defeat ended the maritime power of Pisa and the town never fully recovered; in 1290, the Genoese destroyed forever the Porto Pisano (Pisa's port), and covered the land with salt. The region around Pisa did not permit the city to recover from the loss of thousands of sailors from the Meloria, while Liguria guaranteed enough sailors to Genoa. Goods, however, continued to be traded, albeit in reduced quantity, but the end came when the Arno started to change course, preventing the galleys from reaching the city's port up the river. The nearby area also likely became infested with malaria. The true end came in 1324, when Sardinia was entirely lost to the Aragonese.

 

Always Ghibelline, Pisa tried to build up its power in the course of the 14th century, and even managed to defeat Florence in the Battle of Montecatini (1315), under the command of Uguccione della Faggiuola. Eventually, however, after a long siege, Pisa was occupied by Florentines in 1405.[9] Florentines corrupted the capitano del popolo ("people's chieftain"), Giovanni Gambacorta, who at night opened the city gate of San Marco. Pisa was never conquered by an army. In 1409, Pisa was the seat of a council trying to set the question of the Great Schism. In the 15th century, access to the sea became more difficult, as the port was silting up and was cut off from the sea. When in 1494, Charles VIII of France invaded the Italian states to claim the Kingdom of Naples, Pisa reclaimed its independence as the Second Pisan Republic.

 

The new freedom did not last long; 15 years of battles and sieges by the Florentine troops led by Antonio da Filicaja, Averardo Salviati and Niccolò Capponi were made, but they failed to conquer the city. Vitellozzo Vitelli with his brother Paolo were the only ones who actually managed to break the strong defences of Pisa and make a breach in the Stampace bastion in the southern west part of the walls, but he did not enter the city. For that, they were suspected of treachery and Paolo was put to death. However, the resources of Pisa were getting low, and at the end, the city was sold to the Visconti family from Milan and eventually to Florence again. Livorno took over the role of the main port of Tuscany. Pisa acquired a mainly cultural role spurred by the presence of the University of Pisa, created in 1343, and later reinforced by the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa (1810) and Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies (1987).

 

Pisa was the birthplace of the important early physicist Galileo Galilei. It is still the seat of an archbishopric. Besides its educational institutions, it has become a light industrial centre and a railway hub. It suffered repeated destruction during World War II.

 

Since the early 1950s, the US Army has maintained Camp Darby just outside Pisa, which is used by many US military personnel as a base for vacations in the area.

 

Geography

Climate

Pisa has a borderline humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfa) and Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csa). The city is characterized by cool to mild winters and hot summers. This transitional climate allows Pisa to have summers with moderate rainfall. Rainfall peaks in autumn. Snow is rare. The highest officially recorded temperature was 39.5 °C (103.1 °F) on 22 August 2011 and the lowest was −13.8 °C (7.2 °F) on 12 January 1985.

 

Culture

Gioco del Ponte

In Pisa there was a festival and game fr:Gioco del Ponte (Game of the Bridge) which was celebrated (in some form) in Pisa from perhaps the 1200s down to 1807. From the end of the 1400s the game took the form of a mock battle fought upon Pisa's central bridge (Ponte di Mezzo). The participants wore quilted armor and the only offensive weapon allowed was the targone, a shield-shaped, stout board with precisely specified dimensions. Hitting below the belt was not allowed. Two opposing teams started at opposite ends of the bridge. The object of the two opposing teams was to penetrate, drive back, and disperse the opponents' ranks and to thereby drive them backwards off the bridge. The struggle was limited to forty-five minutes. Victory or defeat was immensely important to the team players and their partisans, but sometimes the game was fought to a draw and both sides celebrated.

 

In 1677 the battle was witnessed by Dutch travelling artist Cornelis de Bruijn. He wrote:

 

"While I stayed in Livorno, I went to Pisa to witness the bridge fight there. The fighters arrived fully armored, wearing helmets, each carrying their banner, which was planted at both ends of the bridge, which is quite wide and long. The battle is fought with certain wooden implements made for this purpose, which they wear over their arms and are attached to them, with which they pummel each other so intensely that I saw several of them carried away with bloody and crushed heads. Victory consists of capturing the bridge, in the same way as the fistfights in Venice between the it:Castellani and the Nicolotti."

 

In 1927 the tradition was revived by college students as an elaborate costume parade. In 1935 Vittorio Emanuele III with the royal family witnessed the first revival of a modern version of the game, which has been pursued in the 20th and 21st centuries with some interruptions and varying degrees of enthusiasm by Pisans and their civic institutions.

 

Festivals and cultural events

Capodanno pisano (folklore, March 25)

Gioco del Ponte (folklore)

Luminara di San Ranieri (folklore, June 16)

Maritime republics regata (folklore)

Premio Nazionale Letterario Pisa

Pisa Book Festival

Metarock (rock music festival)

Internet Festival San Ranieri regata (folklore)

Turn Off Festival (house music festival)

Nessiáh (Jewish cultural Festival, November)

Main sights

 

The Leaning Tower of Pisa.

While the bell tower of the cathedral, known as "the leaning Tower of Pisa", is the most famous image of the city, it is one of many works of art and architecture in the city's Piazza del Duomo, also known, since the 20th century, as Piazza dei Miracoli (Square of Miracles), to the north of the old town center. The Piazza del Duomo also houses the Duomo (the Cathedral), the Baptistry and the Campo Santo (the monumental cemetery). The medieval complex includes the above-mentioned four sacred buildings, the hospital and few palaces. All the complex is kept by the Opera (fabrica ecclesiae) della Primaziale Pisana, an old non profit foundation that has operated since the building of the Cathedral in 1063 to maintain the sacred buildings. The area is framed by medieval walls kept by the municipal administration.

 

Other sights include:

Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri, church sited on Piazza dei Cavalieri, and also designed by Vasari. It had originally a single nave; two more were added in the 17th century. It houses a bust by Donatello, and paintings by Vasari, Jacopo Ligozzi, Alessandro Fei, and Pontormo. It also contains spoils from the many naval battles between the Cavalieri (Knights of St. Stephan) and the Turks between the 16th and 18th centuries, including the Turkish battle pennant hoisted from Ali Pacha's flagship at the 1571 Battle of Lepanto.

St. Sixtus. This small church, consecrated in 1133, is also close to the Piazza dei Cavalieri. It was used as a seat of the most important notarial deeds of the town, also hosting the Council of Elders. It is today one of the best preserved early Romanesque buildings in town.

St. Francis. The church of San Francesco may have been designed by Giovanni di Simone, built after 1276. In 1343 new chapels were added and the church was elevated. It has a single nave and a notable belfry, as well as a 15th-century cloister. It houses works by Jacopo da Empoli, Taddeo Gaddi and Santi di Tito. In the Gherardesca Chapel are buried Ugolino della Gherardesca and his sons.

San Frediano. This church, built by 1061, has a basilica interior with three aisles, with a crucifix from the 12th century. Paintings from the 16th century were added during a restoration, including works by Ventura Salimbeni, Domenico Passignano, Aurelio Lomi, and Rutilio Manetti.

San Nicola. This medieval church built by 1097, was enlarged between 1297 and 1313 by the Augustinians, perhaps by the design of Giovanni Pisano. The octagonal belfry is from the second half of the 13th century. The paintings include the Madonna with Child by Francesco Traini (14th century) and St. Nicholas Saving Pisa from the Plague (15th century). Noteworthy are also the wood sculptures by Giovanni and Nino Pisano, and the Annunciation by Francesco di Valdambrino.

Santa Maria della Spina. A small white marble church alongside the Arno, is attributed to Lupo di Francesco (1230), is another excellent Gothic building.

San Paolo a Ripa d'Arno. The church was founded around 952 and enlarged in the mid-12th century along lines similar to those of the cathedral. It is annexed to the Romanesque Chapel of St. Agatha, with an unusual pyramidal cusp or peak.

San Pietro in Vinculis. Known as San Pierino, it is an 11th-century church with a crypt and a cosmatesque mosaic on the floor of the main nave.

 

Borgo Stretto. This medieval borgo or neighborhood contains strolling arcades and the Lungarno, the avenues along the river Arno. It includes the Gothic-Romanesque church of San Michele in Borgo (990). There are at least two other leaning towers in the city, one at the southern end of central Via Santa Maria, the other halfway through the Piagge riverside promenade.

Medici Palace. The palace was once a possession of the Appiano family, who ruled Pisa in 1392–1398. In 1400 the Medici acquired it, and Lorenzo de' Medici sojourned here.

Orto botanico di Pisa. The botanical garden of the University of Pisa is Europe's oldest university botanical garden.

Palazzo Reale. The ("Royal Palace"), once belonged to the Caetani patrician family. Here Galileo Galilei showed to Grand Duke of Tuscany the planets he had discovered with his telescope. The edifice was erected in 1559 by Baccio Bandinelli for Cosimo I de Medici, and was later enlarged including other palaces. The palace is now a museum.

Palazzo Gambacorti. This palace is a 14th-century Gothic building, and now houses the offices of the municipality. The interior shows frescoes boasting Pisa's sea victories.

Palazzo Agostini. The palace is a Gothic building also known as Palazzo dell'Ussero, with its 15th-century façade and remains of the ancient city walls dating back to before 1155. The name of the building comes from the coffee rooms of Caffè dell'Ussero, historic meeting place founded on September 1, 1775.

Mural Tuttomondo. A modern mural, the last public work by Keith Haring, on the rear wall of the convent of the Church of Sant'Antonio, painted in June 1989.

Museums

Museo dell'Opera del Duomo: exhibiting among others the original sculptures of Nicola Pisano and Giovanni Pisano, the Islamic Pisa Griffin, and the treasures of the cathedral.

Museo delle Sinopie: showing the sinopias from the camposanto, the monumental cemetery. These are red ocher underdrawings for frescoes, made with reddish, greenish or brownish earth colour with water.

Museo Nazionale di San Matteo: exhibiting sculptures and paintings from the 12th to 15th centuries, among them the masterworks of Giovanni and Andrea Pisano, the Master of San Martino, Simone Martini, Nino Pisano and Masaccio.

Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Reale: exhibiting the belongings of the families that lived in the palace: paintings, statues, armors, etc.

Museo Nazionale degli Strumenti per il Calcolo: exhibiting a collection of instruments used in science, between a pneumatic machine of Van Musschenbroek and a compass which probably belonged to Galileo Galilei.

Museo di storia naturale dell'Università di Pisa (Natural History Museum of the University of Pisa), located in the Certosa di Calci, outside the city. It houses one of the largest cetacean skeletons collection in Europe.

Palazzo Blu: temporary exhibitions and cultural activities center, located in the Lungarno, in the heart of the old town, the palace is easy recognizable because it is the only blue building.

Cantiere delle Navi di Pisa - The Pisa's Ancient Ships Archaeological Area: A museum of 10,650 square meters – 3,500 archaeological excavation, 1,700 laboratories and one restoration center – that visitors can visit with a guided tour. The Museum opened in June 2019 and has been located inside to the 16th-century Medicean Arsenals in Lungarno Ranieri Simonelli, restored under the supervision of the Tuscany Soprintendenza. It hosts a remarkable collection of ceramics and amphoras dated back from the 8th century BCE to the 2nd century BC, and also 32 ships dated back from the second century BCE and the seventh century BC. Four of them are integrally preserved and the best one is the so-called Barca C, also named Alkedo (written in the ancient Greek characters). The first boat was accidentally discovered in 1998 near the Pisa San Rossore railway station and the archeological excavations were completed 20 years later.

 

Churches

St. Francis' Church

San Francesco

San Frediano

San Giorgio ai Tedeschi

San Michele in Borgo

San Nicola

San Paolo a Ripa d'Arno

San Paolo all'Orto

San Piero a Grado

San Pietro in Vinculis

San Sisto

San Tommaso delle Convertite

San Zeno

Santa Caterina

Santa Cristina

Santa Maria della Spina

Santo Sepolcro

 

Palaces, towers and villas

Palazzo della Carovana or dei Cavalieri.

Pisa by Oldypak lp photo

Pisa

Palazzo del Collegio Puteano

Palazzo della Carovana

Palazzo delle Vedove

Torre dei Gualandi

Villa di Corliano

Leaning Tower of Pisa

 

Sports

Football is the main sport in Pisa; the local team, A.C. Pisa, currently plays in the Serie B (the second highest football division in Italy), and has had a top flight history throughout the 1980s and the 1990s, featuring several world-class players such as Diego Simeone, Christian Vieri and Dunga during this time. The club play at the Arena Garibaldi – Stadio Romeo Anconetani, opened in 1919 and with a capacity of 25,000.

 

Notable people

For people born in Pisa, see People from the Province of Pisa; among notable non-natives long resident in the city:

 

Giuliano Amato (born 1938), politician, former Premier and Minister of Interior Affairs

Alessandro d'Ancona (1835–1914), critic and writer.

Silvano Arieti (1914–1981), psychiatrist

Gaetano Bardini (1926–2017), tenor

Andrea Bocelli (born 1958), tenor and multi-instrumentalist.

Giosuè Carducci (1835–1907), poet and 1906 Nobel Prize in Literature winner.

Massimo Carmassi (born 1943), architect

Carlo Azeglio Ciampi (1920–2016), politician, former President of the Republic of Italy

Maria Luisa Cicci (1760–1794), poet

Giovanni Carlo Maria Clari (1677–1754), a musical composer and maestro di cappella at Pistoia.

Alessio Corti (born 1965), mathematician

Rustichello da Pisa (born 13th century), writer

Giovanni Battista Donati (1826–1873), an Italian astronomer.

Leonardo Fibonacci (1170–1250), mathematician.

Galileo Galilei (1564–1642), physicist.

Giovanni Gentile (1875–1944), philosopher and politician

Orazio Gentileschi (1563–1639), painter.

Count Ugolino della Gherardesca (1214–1289), noble (see also Dante Alighieri).

Giovanni Gronchi (1887–1978), politician, former President of the Republic of Italy

Giacomo Leopardi [1798–1837), poet and philosopher.

Enrico Letta (born 1966), politician, former Prime Minister of Italy

Marco Malvaldi (born 1974), mystery novelist

Leonardo Ortolani (born 1967), comic writer

Antonio Pacinotti (1841–1912), physicist, inventor of the dynamo

Andrea Pisano (1290–1348), a sculptor and architect.

Afro Poli (1902–1988), an operatic baritone

Bruno Pontecorvo (1913–1993), nuclear physicist

Gillo Pontecorvo (1919–2006), filmmaker

Ippolito Rosellini (1800–1843), an Egyptologist.

Paolo Savi (1798–1871), geologist and ornithologist.

Antonio Tabucchi (1943–2012), writer and academic

Sport

Jason Acuña (born 1973), Stunt performer

Sergio Bertoni (1915–1995), footballer

Giorgio Chiellini (born 1984), footballer

Camila Giorgi (born 1991), tennis player

The village of Wallangarra is the one of the most southern towns in Queensland lying on the border of Queensland and New South Wales. It is also a town split in two, with the town of Jennings on the New South Wales side..

.

Founded in 1885, Wallangarra is famous for being the change over station for trains travelling between Queensland and New South Wales. As the train line gauges differed, Wallangarra is home to a grand station where all interstate travellers changed trains before the coast line was completed in 1930. At the time, Customs excise officers were relocated from Tenterfield and Stanthorpe to a purpose-built customs house where duties were imposed upon those crossing the border. Resentment of these duties helped to fuel the push towards federation. This grand station is now home to the Customs House, the Wallangarra Museum and Café..

During WWII the government created a general army store on the Queensland side of the border, and an ammunition depot the New South Wales side. This was known as the 1 Advanced Ammunition Depot (1AAD). Five semi-underground ammunition shelters were initially constructed. At a later stage ten timber structures and seventy Williams huts were erected. Minimum clearing of trees was permitted in the area to help camouflage the depot from aerial reconnaissance. Whilst there was some confusion by the NSW authorities in the early years whether to call their side of the railway station Wallangarra or Jennings, they finally settled on Wallangarra around April 1904. Hence there is no Jennings Railway Station..

During WW2 thousands of Allied troops passed through Wallangarra Railway Station on their way north or south. Due to wartime secrecy arrangements, railway staff were only given about 2 hours notice of the arrival of a troop train. By the 1970s the depot was the largest ammunition dump in the Southern Hemisphere.

I have no jealousy or resentment toward my wife and her sexual activities with other men. I am

now a gay man, a sissy and a husband to my wife in name only

The Cathedral of Pisa , officially the Primate Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta , in the center of the Piazza del Duomo, also known as Piazza dei Miracoli , is the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Pisa as well as the Primate church .

 

A masterpiece of the Romanesque , in particular of the Pisan Romanesque , it represents the tangible testimony of the prestige and wealth achieved by the maritime republic of Pisa at the moment of its apogee.

 

Its construction began in 1063 ( 1064 according to the Pisan calendar in force at the time) by the architect Buscheto , with the tenth part of the spoils of the Palermo campaign in Sicily against the Muslims ( 1063 ) led by Giovanni Orlandi belonging to the Orlandi family [ 1] . Different stylistic elements blend together: classical, Lombard-Emilian , Byzantine and in particular Islamic, proving the international presence of Pisan merchants in those times. In that same year the reconstruction of the Basilica of San Marco in Venice also began , so it may also be that there was a rivalry between the two maritime republics at the time to create the most beautiful and sumptuous place of worship.

 

The church was built in an area outside the early medieval city walls , to symbolize the power of Pisa which did not require protection. The chosen area was already used in the Lombard era as a necropolis and, already in the early 11th century , an unfinished church was built which was to be dedicated to Santa Maria. The new large church of Buscheto, in fact, was initially called Santa Maria Maggiore until it was finally named after Santa Maria Assunta.

 

In 1092 the church changed from a simple cathedral to being primatial, the title of primate having been conferred on Archbishop Daiberto by Pope Urban II , an honor which today is only formal. The cathedral was consecrated in 1118 by Pope Gelasius II , as recorded by the inscription placed internally on the counter-façade at the top left.

 

In the first half of the 12th century the cathedral was enlarged under the direction of the architect Rainaldo , who lengthened the naves by adding three bays in front of the old facade [2] according to the Buscheto style, widened the transept and designed a new facade, completed by the workers led by the sculptors Guglielmo and Biduino . The date of the start of the works is uncertain: immediately after Buscheto's death around the year 1120 , according to some, around the year 1140 according to others. The end of the works dates back to 1180 , as documented by the date affixed to the bronze doors by Bonanno Pisano on the main door.

 

The current appearance of the complex building is the result of repeated restoration campaigns that took place in different eras. The first radical interventions followed the disastrous fire on the night between 24 and 25 October 1595 [3] , which destroyed many decorative interventions and following which the roof was rebuilt and the three bronze doors of the facade were made, the work of sculptors from the workshop of Giambologna , including Gasparo Mola and Pietro Tacca . Starting from the eighteenth century, the progressive covering of the internal walls began with large paintings on canvas, the "quadroni" with Stories of Pisan blesseds and saints , executed by the main artists of the time thanks to the initiative of some citizens who financed themselves by creating a special business.

 

The Napoleonic spoliations of the Cathedral of Pisa and the Opera del Duomo were significant, many works converged on the Louvre where they are exhibited today, including The Triumph of Saint Thomas Aquinas among the Doctors of the Church by Benozzo Gozzoli , now in the Louvre, Death of San Bernardo dell'Orcagna and San Benedetto , the work of Andrea del Castagno .

 

Among the various noteworthy interventions, it is worth mentioning the dismantling of Giovanni Pisano's pulpit which was reassembled only in 1926 in a different position and with several parts missing, including the staircase, and the dismantling of the monument to Henry VII created by Lupo di Francesco which was located in front of the door of San Ranieri and subsequently replaced by a simplified and symbolic version.

 

The subsequent interventions took place during the nineteenth century and affected both the internal and external decorations, which in many cases, especially the sculptures on the facade, were replaced by copies (the originals are in the Museo dell'Opera del duomo ).

 

The building has a Latin cross shape with a large dome at the intersection of the arms. The longitudinal body, divided into five naves , extends over ten bays . This plan continues in the choir with two more bays and a final apse crowning the central nave alone. The transept has 4 bays on each side (or six if we include the two in common with the longitudinal body) and has three naves with apses ending on both sides. In the center four large pillars delimit the rectangular cross ending at the top with a large elliptical dome.

 

The building, like the bell tower, has sunk perceptibly into the ground, and some defects in the construction are clearly visible, such as the differences in level between Buscheto's nave and the extension by Rainaldo (the bays towards the west and the facade) .

 

The exterior of the cathedral is mainly in white and gray marble although the older stones placed at the lower levels of the longitudinal body are of other poorer material. There is no shortage of valuable materials, especially on the facade, where there are multicolored marble inlays, mosaics and also bronze objects from war booty, including the Griffin used on the top of the roof at the back (east side), perhaps taken from Palermo in 1061 ( today there is a copy on the roof, the original is in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo ).

 

The longitudinal body, transept and choir have a rich facing punctuated by three orders or floors. On the lower floor, long rows of pilasters supporting blind arches , in turn enclosing lozenges or windows, punctuate the space on all sides of the building with very few interruptions (only the apse of the right transept). The second floor still has pilasters but this time these do not support blind arches and are rather architraved , a motif interrupted only in the apse of the right transept (where blind arches appear again) and in the main apse where two orders of loggias are visible . In addition to the windows and lozenges, inlaid oculi also appear between the pilasters . The third floor has columns or semi-columns which again support blind arches (longitudinal body and choir) or an architrave (transept) with the usual alternation of windows, lozenges and inlaid oculi.

 

The raised round arches on the facade and in the main apse recall elements of Muslim art from Sicily . The blind arches with lozenges recall the similar structures of the churches of Armenia . Even the ellipsoidal dome rebuilt after the fire of 1595, surmounted by a lantern, recalls Islamic architecture.

 

The gray and white marble façade , decorated with colored marble inserts, was built by master Rainaldo in the 12th century and finished by 1180. On the lower floor, the seven blind arches which enclose lozenges, one every two, echo the same motif which spreads over the remaining three sides of the Cathedral. On the façade, however, the ornamentation becomes richer: semi-columns placed against semi-rectangular pillars replace the slender pilaster strips on the sides and are surmounted by Corinthian or figurative capitals. The arches are embellished with a rich texture of vegetal motifs and the lozenges are also larger and inlaid with multicolored marble. The empty spaces between the three portals have marble slabs forming square or rectangular motifs and are embellished with horizontal ornamental bands with plant motifs. The empty spaces between the arches are also filled with marble tablets inlaid with geometric or animal motifs. Noteworthy is the one at the top right of the main portal which depicts a Christian brandishing the cross between two beasts and the writing of Psalm 21 : Salva me ex ore leonis et a cornibus unicornium humilitatem meam (Save me from the mouth of the lion Lord and my humility from the unicorn's horns), the original of which is preserved in the nearby Museo dell'Opera del Duomo .

 

Of the three portals , the central one has larger dimensions and is enclosed by two columns decorated with vegetal motifs which support, above the capitals, two lions to symbolize the two "faces" of Christ the Judge , the one who condemns on the left and the one who rewards and is merciful on the right (note the saved and protected lamb between the legs). All three portals have eighteenth-century mosaics by Giuseppe Modena da Lucca in their lunettes depicting the Assumption of the Virgin (centre), Santa Reparata (left) and Saint John the Baptist (right). The bronze doors were made by various artists of the caliber of Giambologna , after the fire of 1595, replacing the two wooden side doors and the bronze-covered wooden royal door by Bonanno Pisano which bore the date of 1180 (seen and described before the fire) to testify to the completion of the façade in that year. To the left of the north left portal, there is Buscheto's tomb.

 

The four upper floors are characterized by four orders of superimposed loggias, divided by finely sculpted frames, behind which there are single , double and triple lancet windows . Many of the friezes on the arches and frames were redone in the 17th century after the fire of 1595, while the polychrome marble inlays between the arches are original. Even higher up, to crown it, the Madonna and Child by Andrea Pisano and, in the corners, the four evangelists by Giovanni Pisano (early 14th century).

 

Contrary to what one might think, since ancient times the faithful have entered the Cathedral through the door of San Ranieri , located at the back in the transept of the same name, in front of the bell tower. This is because the nobles of the city went to the cathedral coming from via Santa Maria which leads to that transept. This door was cast around 1180 by Bonanno Pisano , and is the only door to escape the fire of 1595 which heavily damaged the church. The door is decorated with twenty-four panels depicting stories from the New Testament. This door is one of the first produced in Italy in the Middle Ages, after the importation of numerous examples from Constantinople , (in Amalfi , in Salerno , in Rome , in Montecassino , in Venice ...) and one admires an entirely Western sensitivity, which breaks away from the Byzantine tradition.

 

The original gràdule of the Duomo, designed by Giovanni Pisano and dating back to the end of the 13th century, were removed in 1865 and replaced by the current churchyard . These gràdule consisted of small walls, decorated with squares carved with figures of animals and heads, close to the external perimeter of the cathedral and served as a base for the numerous sarcophagi of the Roman era which, during the medieval era, were reused for the burials of nobles (among whom Beatrice of Canossa stands out ) and heroes. Currently some fragments are visible in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, while the sarcophagi were all moved within the enclosure of the monumental cemetery .

 

The lower register of the facade is not very rich in figurative sculptural decorations unlike other contemporary Romanesque cathedrals, but it still gives a rich meaning both to its unitary components and a complex allegory in its overall vision. To read the latter you need to start from the left where the outermost capital of the left side portal shows two ferocious lions devouring weak prey and two human figures further behind. The former represent the struggle between good and evil where evil dominates [6] , but behind them the figure of the old man stacking wood and the young man towering over a ram perhaps represent Abraham and Isaac and the sacrificial ram (or two peasants virtuous at work) which show preparation for God's plan of salvation. The arch that starts from the same capital shows a row of dragons that two virtuous human figures in the center are forced to face in the continuous struggle between good and evil. [6]

 

At the level of the central portal we enter the New Testament which concretizes the plan of salvation brought about by God starting from Abraham . It is the portal dedicated to the Virgin of the Assumption and her Son , whose divine judgment is represented by the two lions of justice, the one that condemns on the left and the one that protects and saves on the right with the little lamb protected between its legs, for Divine Mercy or Justice whatever it is. [6] The 42 stylized human figurines present on the decorated arch show the 42 generations that separate, according to the Gospel of Matthew , Abraham from Jesus Christ (the figurines are actually 43 but perhaps due to renovation needs or other reasons for filling the frieze ). This transition from the old to the new is strengthened by the two marble inlays in the intrados of the main arch where a ferocious dragon and a lion facing each other depicting the perennial struggle between the evil forces (left inlay) [6] become two equally ferocious unicorns but in the middle to whom a Christian appears brandishing a cross to defend himself from them (inlay on the right) and where we read in Latin:

 

de ore leonis libera me domine et a cornibus unicorni humilitatem mea ("Save me from the lion's mouth, Lord, and my humility from the unicorn's horns", psalm 21 ).

The last element of this complex narrative is the outermost capital of the right portal, which acts as a pendant to that of the left portal from which we started. We are well beyond the coming of Jesus where the evil lions, previously in the foreground, are relegated to a backward and out of the way position, always ready to strike as shown by the heads turned back and the tongue out, but in a contorted position due to the continuous escapes to which the Savior and the Church forces them to do. [6] In a prominent position there are now two naked human figurines, the souls of those saved by the Savior through the intercession of the Church , which are composed and serene figures with large eyes, well anchored with their arms to the garland of the capital and the feet resting well on the acanthus leaves, symbol of men of faith, victorious over sin and blessed by faith rather than merit.

 

The five- nave interior is covered in black and white marble, with monolithic columns of gray marble and capitals of the Corinthian order . The arches of the ten bays are round arches (those of the central nave) or raised arches in the Moorish style of the time (those of the side naves).

 

The central nave has a seventeenth-century gilded coffered ceiling, in gilded and painted wood, by the Florentines Domenico and Bartolomeo Atticciati ; it bears the Medici coat of arms in gold . Presumably the ancient ceiling had a structure with exposed wooden trusses. The four side naves have a cross-shaped plastered roof. The coffered roof is also present in the choir and in the central nave of the transept, while a plastered barrel roof is present in the side naves of the transept. The coverage of the lateral naves of the transept at the level of the two bays shared with the lateral naves of the longitudinal body is curious: these are cross-shaped (as in the lateral naves of the longitudinal body), but are higher (as in the lateral naves of the transept) . There is also a women's gallery of Byzantine origin that runs along the entire church, including the choir and transept and which has a coffered roof (central body) or wooden beams (transept). Even higher up, thin and deep windows allow the church to be lit.

 

The interior suggests a spatial effect that has some analogy with that of mosques , for the use of raised arches, for the alternation of white and green marble bands, for the unusual elliptical dome , of oriental inspiration, and for the presence of women's galleries with solid monolithic granite columns in the mullioned windows , a clear sign of Byzantine influence. The architect Buscheto had welcomed stimuli from the Islamic Levant and Armenia . [7]

 

Only part of the medieval decorative interventions survived the fire of 1595. Among these is the fresco with the Madonna and Child by the Pisan Master of San Torpè in the triumphal arch (late 13th-early 14th century), and below it the Cosmatesque flooring , of a certain rarity outside the borders of Lazio . It was made of marble inlays with geometric "opus alexandrinum" motifs (mid- 12th century ). Other late medieval fresco fragments have survived, among them Saint Jerome on one of the four central pillars and Saint John the Baptist , a Crucifix and Saint Cosimo and Damian on the pillar near the entrance door, partially hidden by the compass .

 

At the meeting point between the transept and the central body the dome rises, the decoration of which represented one of the last interventions carried out after the fire mentioned. Painted with the rare encaustic painting technique [8] (or wax on wall) [9] , the dome represents the Virgin in glory and saints ( 1627 - 1631 ), a masterpiece by the Pisan Orazio Riminaldi , completed after his death. which occurred in 1630 due to the plague, by his brother Girolamo . The decoration underwent a careful restoration which returned it to its original splendor in 2018.

 

The presbytery, ending in a curved apse, presents a great variety of ornaments. Above, in the basin, the large mosaic of Christ enthroned between the Virgin and Saint John is made famous by the face of Saint John, a work by Cimabue from 1302 which miraculously survived the fire of 1595. Precisely that Saint John the Evangelist was the The last work created by Cimabue before his death and the only one for which certified documentation exists. It evokes the mosaics of Byzantine churches and also Norman ones, such as Cefalù and Monreale , in Sicily . The mosaic, largely created by Francesco da Pisa, was finished by Vincino da Pistoia with the depiction of the Madonna on the left side ( 1320 ).

 

The main altar, from the beginning of the twentieth century, features six Angels contemporary with Ludovico Poliaghi , and in the center the bronze Crucifix by Giambologna , of which there are also the two candle-holder Angels at the end of the rich marble transenna, while the third Angel on the column to the left of the altar is by Stoldo Lorenzi .

 

Below, behind the main altar, there is the large decorative complex of the Tribune, composed of 27 paintings depicting episodes from the Old Testament and Christological stories. Begun before the fire with the works of Andrea del Sarto (three canvases, Saint Agnes , Saints Catherine and Margaret and Saints Peter and John the Baptist ) del Sodoma and Domenico Beccafumi ( Stories of Moses and the Evangelists ), it was completed after this calamity with the works of several Tuscan painters, including Orazio Riminaldi .

 

The pulpit , a masterpiece by Giovanni Pisano (1302-1310), survived the fire, but was dismantled during the restoration work and was not reassembled until 1926 . With its articulated architectural structure and complex sculptural decoration, the work is one of the largest narratives in fourteenth-century images that reflects the renewal and religious fervor of the era. The episodes from the Life of Christ are carved in an expressive language on the slightly curved panels . The structure is polygonal, as in the similar previous examples, in the baptistery of Pisa , in the cathedral of Siena and in the church of Sant'Andrea in Pistoia , but for the first time the panels are slightly curved, giving a new idea of ​​circularity in its type. Equally original are: the presence of caryatids , sculpted figures in place of simple columns, which symbolize the Virtues ; the adoption of spiral brackets instead of arches to support the mezzanine floor; the sense of movement, given by the numerous figures that fill every empty space.

 

For these qualities combined with the skilful narrative art of the nine scenes it is generally considered Giovanni's masterpiece and more generally of Italian Gothic sculpture. The pulpit commissioned from Giovanni replaced a previous one , created by Guglielmo ( 1157 - 1162 ), which was sent to the cathedral of Cagliari . Since there is no documentation of what the pulpit looked like before its dismantling, it was rebuilt in a different position from the original one and, certainly, with the parts not in the same order and orientation as had been thought. It is not known whether or not he had a marble staircase.

 

The right transept is occupied by the Chapel of San Ranieri , patron saint of the city, whose relics are preserved in the magnificent shrine on the altar. Also in the chapel, on the left, is preserved part of the fragmentary tomb of Henry VII of Luxembourg , Holy Roman Emperor , who died in 1313 in Buonconvento while besieging Florence in vain . The tomb, also dismantled and reassembled, (it was sculpted by Tino di Camaino in 1313 - 1315 ) and was originally placed in the center of the apse, as a sign of the Ghibelline faith of the city. It was also a much more complex sculptural monument, featuring various statues. Moved several times for political reasons, it was also separated into several parts (some inside the church, some on the facade, some in the Campo Santo). Today we find the sarcophagus in the church with the deceased depicted lying on it, according to the fashion in vogue at that time, and the twelve apostles sculpted in bas-relief. The lunette painted with curtain-holding angels is instead a later addition from the workshop of Domenico Ghirlandaio (end of the 15th century ). The other remains of the monument have been reassembled in the nearby Museo dell'Opera del Duomo . The left transept is occupied by the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, in the center of which is the large silver tabernacle designed by Giovan Battista Foggini (1678-86).

 

On the numerous side altars there are sixteenth-seventeenth century paintings. Among the paintings housed on the minor altars, we remember the Madonna delle Grazie with saints, by the Florentine mannerist Andrea del Sarto, and the Madonna enthroned with saints in the right transept, by Perin del Vaga , a pupil of Raphael , both finished by Giovanni Antonio Sogliani . The canvas with the Dispute of the Sacrament is in Baroque style, by the Sienese Francesco Vanni , and the Cross with saints by the Genoese Giovanni Battista Paggi . Particularly venerated is the image of the thirteenth-century Madonna and Child , known as the Madonna di sotto gli organi , attributed to the Volterra native Berlinghiero Berlinghieri .

 

Pisa is a city and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the city contains more than twenty other historic churches, several medieval palaces, and bridges across the Arno. Much of the city's architecture was financed from its history as one of the Italian maritime republics.

 

The city is also home to the University of Pisa, which has a history going back to the 12th century, the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, founded by Napoleon in 1810, and its offshoot, the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies.

 

History

For a chronological guide, see Timeline of Pisa.

Ancient times

The most believed hypothesis is that the origin of the name Pisa comes from Etruscan and means 'mouth', as Pisa is at the mouth of the Arno river.

 

Although throughout history there have been several uncertainties about the origin of the city of Pisa, excavations made in the 1980s and 1990s found numerous archaeological remains, including the fifth century BC tomb of an Etruscan prince, proving the Etruscan origin of the city, and its role as a maritime city, showing that it also maintained trade relations with other Mediterranean civilizations.

 

Ancient Roman authors referred to Pisa as an old city. Virgil, in his Aeneid, states that Pisa was already a great center by the times described; and gives the epithet of Alphēae to the city because it was said to have been founded by colonists from Pisa in Elis, near which the Alpheius river flowed. The Virgilian commentator Servius wrote that the Teuti founded the town 13 centuries before the start of the common era.

 

The maritime role of Pisa should have been already prominent if the ancient authorities ascribed to it the invention of the naval ram. Pisa took advantage of being the only port along the western coast between Genoa (then a small village) and Ostia. Pisa served as a base for Roman naval expeditions against Ligurians and Gauls. In 180 BC, it became a Roman colony under Roman law, as Portus Pisanus. In 89 BC, Portus Pisanus became a municipium. Emperor Augustus fortified the colony into an important port and changed the name to Colonia Iulia obsequens.

 

Pisa supposedly was founded on the shore, but due to the alluvial sediments from the Arno and the Serchio, whose mouth lies about 11 km (7 mi) north of the Arno's, the shore moved west. Strabo states that the city was 4.0 km (2.5 mi) away from the coast. Currently, it is located 9.7 km (6 mi) from the coast. However, it was a maritime city, with ships sailing up the Arno. In the 90s AD, a baths complex was built in the city.

 

Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages

During the last years of the Western Roman Empire, Pisa did not decline as much as the other cities of Italy, probably due to the complexity of its river system and its consequent ease of defence. In the seventh century, Pisa helped Pope Gregory I by supplying numerous ships in his military expedition against the Byzantines of Ravenna: Pisa was the sole Byzantine centre of Tuscia to fall peacefully in Lombard hands, through assimilation with the neighbouring region where their trading interests were prevalent. Pisa began in this way its rise to the role of main port of the Upper Tyrrhenian Sea and became the main trading centre between Tuscany and Corsica, Sardinia, and the southern coasts of France and Spain.

 

After Charlemagne had defeated the Lombards under the command of Desiderius in 774, Pisa went through a crisis, but soon recovered. Politically, it became part of the duchy of Lucca. In 860, Pisa was captured by vikings led by Björn Ironside. In 930, Pisa became the county centre (status it maintained until the arrival of Otto I) within the mark of Tuscia. Lucca was the capital but Pisa was the most important city, as in the middle of tenth century Liutprand of Cremona, bishop of Cremona, called Pisa Tusciae provinciae caput ("capital of the province of Tuscia"), and a century later, the marquis of Tuscia was commonly referred to as "marquis of Pisa". In 1003, Pisa was the protagonist of the first communal war in Italy, against Lucca. From the naval point of view, since the ninth century, the emergence of the Saracen pirates urged the city to expand its fleet; in the following years, this fleet gave the town an opportunity for more expansion. In 828, Pisan ships assaulted the coast of North Africa. In 871, they took part in the defence of Salerno from the Saracens. In 970, they gave also strong support to Otto I's expedition, defeating a Byzantine fleet in front of Calabrese coasts.

 

11th century

The power of Pisa as a maritime nation began to grow and reached its apex in the 11th century, when it acquired traditional fame as one of the four main historical maritime republics of Italy (Repubbliche Marinare).

 

At that time, the city was a very important commercial centre and controlled a significant Mediterranean merchant fleet and navy. It expanded its powers in 1005 through the sack of Reggio Calabria in the south of Italy. Pisa was in continuous conflict with some 'Saracens' - a medieval term to refer to Arab Muslims - who had their bases in Corsica, for control of the Mediterranean. In 1017, Sardinian Giudicati were militarily supported by Pisa, in alliance with Genoa, to defeat the Saracen King Mugahid, who had settled a logistic base in the north of Sardinia the year before. This victory gave Pisa supremacy in the Tyrrhenian Sea. When the Pisans subsequently ousted the Genoese from Sardinia, a new conflict and rivalry was born between these major marine republics. Between 1030 and 1035, Pisa went on to defeat several rival towns in Sicily and conquer Carthage in North Africa. In 1051–1052, the admiral Jacopo Ciurini conquered Corsica, provoking more resentment from the Genoese. In 1063, Admiral Giovanni Orlandi, coming to the aid of the Norman Roger I, took Palermo from the Saracen pirates. The gold treasure taken from the Saracens in Palermo allowed the Pisans to start the building of their cathedral and the other monuments which constitute the famous Piazza del Duomo.

 

In 1060, Pisa had to engage in their first battle with Genoa. The Pisan victory helped to consolidate its position in the Mediterranean. Pope Gregory VII recognised in 1077 the new "Laws and customs of the sea" instituted by the Pisans, and emperor Henry IV granted them the right to name their own consuls, advised by a council of elders. This was simply a confirmation of the present situation, because in those years, the marquis had already been excluded from power. In 1092, Pope Urban II awarded Pisa the supremacy over Corsica and Sardinia, and at the same time raising the town to the rank of archbishopric.

 

Pisa sacked the Tunisian city of Mahdia in 1088. Four years later, Pisan and Genoese ships helped Alfonso VI of Castilla to push El Cid out of Valencia. A Pisan fleet of 120 ships also took part in the First Crusade, and the Pisans were instrumental in the taking of Jerusalem in 1099. On their way to the Holy Land, the ships did not miss the occasion to sack some Byzantine islands; the Pisan crusaders were led by their archbishop Daibert, the future patriarch of Jerusalem. Pisa and the other Repubbliche Marinare took advantage of the crusade to establish trading posts and colonies in the Eastern coastal cities of the Levant. In particular, the Pisans founded colonies in Antiochia, Acre, Jaffa, Tripoli, Tyre, Latakia, and Accone. They also had other possessions in Jerusalem and Caesarea, plus smaller colonies (with lesser autonomy) in Cairo, Alexandria, and of course Constantinople, where the Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus granted them special mooring and trading rights. In all these cities, the Pisans were granted privileges and immunity from taxation, but had to contribute to the defence in case of attack. In the 12th century, the Pisan quarter in the eastern part of Constantinople had grown to 1,000 people. For some years of that century, Pisa was the most prominent commercial and military ally of the Byzantine Empire, overcoming Venice itself.

 

12th century

In 1113, Pisa and Pope Paschal II set up, together with the count of Barcelona and other contingents from Provence and Italy (Genoese excluded), a war to free the Balearic Islands from the Moors; the queen and the king of Majorca were brought in chains to Tuscany. Though the Almoravides soon reconquered the island, the booty taken helped the Pisans in their magnificent programme of buildings, especially the cathedral, and Pisa gained a role of pre-eminence in the Western Mediterranean.

 

In the following years, the powerful Pisan fleet, led by archbishop Pietro Moriconi, drove away the Saracens after ferocious battles. Though short-lived, this Pisan success in Spain increased the rivalry with Genoa. Pisa's trade with Languedoc, Provence (Noli, Savona, Fréjus, and Montpellier) were an obstacle to Genoese interests in cities such as Hyères, Fos, Antibes, and Marseille.

 

The war began in 1119 when the Genoese attacked several galleys on their way home to the motherland, and lasted until 1133. The two cities fought each other on land and at sea, but hostilities were limited to raids and pirate-like assaults.

 

In June 1135, Bernard of Clairvaux took a leading part in the Council of Pisa, asserting the claims of Pope Innocent II against those of Pope Anacletus II, who had been elected pope in 1130 with Norman support, but was not recognised outside Rome. Innocent II resolved the conflict with Genoa, establishing Pisan and Genoese spheres of influence. Pisa could then, unhindered by Genoa, participate in the conflict of Innocent II against king Roger II of Sicily. Amalfi, one of the maritime republics (though already declining under Norman rule), was conquered on August 6, 1136; the Pisans destroyed the ships in the port, assaulted the castles in the surrounding areas, and drove back an army sent by Roger from Aversa. This victory brought Pisa to the peak of its power and to a standing equal to Venice. Two years later, its soldiers sacked Salerno.

 

New city walls, erected in 1156 by Consul Cocco Griffi

In the following years, Pisa was one of the staunchest supporters of the Ghibelline party. This was much appreciated by Frederick I. He issued in 1162 and 1165 two important documents, with these grants: Apart from the jurisdiction over the Pisan countryside, the Pisans were granted freedom of trade in the whole empire, the coast from Civitavecchia to Portovenere, a half of Palermo, Messina, Salerno and Naples, the whole of Gaeta, Mazara, and Trapani, and a street with houses for its merchants in every city of the Kingdom of Sicily. Some of these grants were later confirmed by Henry VI, Otto IV, and Frederick II. They marked the apex of Pisa's power, but also spurred the resentment of other cities such as Lucca, Massa, Volterra, and Florence, thwarting their aim to expand towards the sea. The clash with Lucca also concerned the possession of the castle of Montignoso and mainly the control of the Via Francigena, the main trade route between Rome and France. Last, but not least, such a sudden and large increase of power by Pisa could only lead to another war with Genoa.

 

Genoa had acquired a dominant position in the markets of southern France. The war began in 1165 on the Rhône, when an attack on a convoy, directed to some Pisan trade centres on the river, by the Genoese and their ally, the count of Toulouse, failed. Pisa, though, was allied to Provence. The war continued until 1175 without significant victories. Another point of attrition was Sicily, where both the cities had privileges granted by Henry VI. In 1192, Pisa managed to conquer Messina. This episode was followed by a series of battles culminating in the Genoese conquest of Syracuse in 1204. Later, the trading posts in Sicily were lost when the new Pope Innocent III, though removing the excommunication cast over Pisa by his predecessor Celestine III, allied himself with the Guelph League of Tuscany, led by Florence. Soon, he stipulated[clarification needed] a pact with Genoa, too, further weakening the Pisan presence in southern Italy.

 

To counter the Genoese predominance in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea, Pisa strengthened its relationship with its traditional Spanish and French bases (Marseille, Narbonne, Barcelona, etc.) and tried to defy the Venetian rule of the Adriatic Sea. In 1180, the two cities agreed to a nonaggression treaty in the Tyrrhenian and the Adriatic, but the death of Emperor Manuel Comnenus in Constantinople changed the situation. Soon, attacks on Venetian convoys were made. Pisa signed trade and political pacts with Ancona, Pula, Zara, Split, and Brindisi; in 1195, a Pisan fleet reached Pola to defend its independence from Venice, but the Serenissima soon reconquered the rebel sea town.

 

One year later, the two cities signed a peace treaty, which resulted in favourable conditions for Pisa, but in 1199, the Pisans violated it by blockading the port of Brindisi in Apulia. In the following naval battle, they were defeated by the Venetians. The war that followed ended in 1206 with a treaty in which Pisa gave up all its hopes to expand in the Adriatic, though it maintained the trading posts it had established in the area. From that point on, the two cities were united against the rising power of Genoa and sometimes collaborated to increase the trading benefits in Constantinople.

 

13th century

In 1209 in Lerici, two councils for a final resolution of the rivalry with Genoa were held. A 20-year peace treaty was signed, but when in 1220, the emperor Frederick II confirmed his supremacy over the Tyrrhenian coast from Civitavecchia to Portovenere, the Genoese and Tuscan resentment against Pisa grew again. In the following years, Pisa clashed with Lucca in Garfagnana and was defeated by the Florentines at Castel del Bosco. The strong Ghibelline position of Pisa brought this town diametrically against the Pope, who was in a dispute with the Holy Roman Empire, and indeed the pope tried to deprive Pisa of its dominions in northern Sardinia.

 

In 1238, Pope Gregory IX formed an alliance between Genoa and Venice against the empire, and consequently against Pisa, too. One year later, he excommunicated Frederick II and called for an anti-Empire council to be held in Rome in 1241. On May 3, 1241, a combined fleet of Pisan and Sicilian ships, led by the emperor's son Enzo, attacked a Genoese convoy carrying prelates from northern Italy and France, next to the isle of Giglio (Battle of Giglio), in front of Tuscany; the Genoese lost 25 ships, while about a thousand sailors, two cardinals, and one bishop were taken prisoner. After this major victory, the council in Rome failed, but Pisa was excommunicated. This extreme measure was only removed in 1257. Anyway, the Tuscan city tried to take advantage of the favourable situation to conquer the Corsican city of Aleria and even lay siege to Genoa itself in 1243.

 

The Ligurian republic of Genoa, however, recovered fast from this blow and won back Lerici, conquered by the Pisans some years earlier, in 1256.

 

The great expansion in the Mediterranean and the prominence of the merchant class urged a modification in the city's institutes. The system with consuls was abandoned, and in 1230, the new city rulers named a capitano del popolo ("people's chieftain") as civil and military leader. Despite these reforms, the conquered lands and the city itself were harassed by the rivalry between the two families of Della Gherardesca and Visconti. In 1237 the archbishop and the Emperor Frederick II intervened to reconcile the two rivals, but the strains continued. In 1254, the people rebelled and imposed 12 Anziani del Popolo ("People's Elders") as their political representatives in the commune. They also supplemented the legislative councils, formed of noblemen, with new People's Councils, composed by the main guilds and by the chiefs of the People's Companies. These had the power to ratify the laws of the Major General Council and the Senate.

 

Decline

The decline is said to have begun on August 6, 1284, when the numerically superior fleet of Pisa, under the command of Albertino Morosini, was defeated by the brilliant tactics of the Genoese fleet, under the command of Benedetto Zaccaria and Oberto Doria, in the dramatic naval Battle of Meloria. This defeat ended the maritime power of Pisa and the town never fully recovered; in 1290, the Genoese destroyed forever the Porto Pisano (Pisa's port), and covered the land with salt. The region around Pisa did not permit the city to recover from the loss of thousands of sailors from the Meloria, while Liguria guaranteed enough sailors to Genoa. Goods, however, continued to be traded, albeit in reduced quantity, but the end came when the Arno started to change course, preventing the galleys from reaching the city's port up the river. The nearby area also likely became infested with malaria. The true end came in 1324, when Sardinia was entirely lost to the Aragonese.

 

Always Ghibelline, Pisa tried to build up its power in the course of the 14th century, and even managed to defeat Florence in the Battle of Montecatini (1315), under the command of Uguccione della Faggiuola. Eventually, however, after a long siege, Pisa was occupied by Florentines in 1405.[9] Florentines corrupted the capitano del popolo ("people's chieftain"), Giovanni Gambacorta, who at night opened the city gate of San Marco. Pisa was never conquered by an army. In 1409, Pisa was the seat of a council trying to set the question of the Great Schism. In the 15th century, access to the sea became more difficult, as the port was silting up and was cut off from the sea. When in 1494, Charles VIII of France invaded the Italian states to claim the Kingdom of Naples, Pisa reclaimed its independence as the Second Pisan Republic.

 

The new freedom did not last long; 15 years of battles and sieges by the Florentine troops led by Antonio da Filicaja, Averardo Salviati and Niccolò Capponi were made, but they failed to conquer the city. Vitellozzo Vitelli with his brother Paolo were the only ones who actually managed to break the strong defences of Pisa and make a breach in the Stampace bastion in the southern west part of the walls, but he did not enter the city. For that, they were suspected of treachery and Paolo was put to death. However, the resources of Pisa were getting low, and at the end, the city was sold to the Visconti family from Milan and eventually to Florence again. Livorno took over the role of the main port of Tuscany. Pisa acquired a mainly cultural role spurred by the presence of the University of Pisa, created in 1343, and later reinforced by the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa (1810) and Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies (1987).

 

Pisa was the birthplace of the important early physicist Galileo Galilei. It is still the seat of an archbishopric. Besides its educational institutions, it has become a light industrial centre and a railway hub. It suffered repeated destruction during World War II.

 

Since the early 1950s, the US Army has maintained Camp Darby just outside Pisa, which is used by many US military personnel as a base for vacations in the area.

 

Geography

Climate

Pisa has a borderline humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfa) and Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csa). The city is characterized by cool to mild winters and hot summers. This transitional climate allows Pisa to have summers with moderate rainfall. Rainfall peaks in autumn. Snow is rare. The highest officially recorded temperature was 39.5 °C (103.1 °F) on 22 August 2011 and the lowest was −13.8 °C (7.2 °F) on 12 January 1985.

 

Culture

Gioco del Ponte

In Pisa there was a festival and game fr:Gioco del Ponte (Game of the Bridge) which was celebrated (in some form) in Pisa from perhaps the 1200s down to 1807. From the end of the 1400s the game took the form of a mock battle fought upon Pisa's central bridge (Ponte di Mezzo). The participants wore quilted armor and the only offensive weapon allowed was the targone, a shield-shaped, stout board with precisely specified dimensions. Hitting below the belt was not allowed. Two opposing teams started at opposite ends of the bridge. The object of the two opposing teams was to penetrate, drive back, and disperse the opponents' ranks and to thereby drive them backwards off the bridge. The struggle was limited to forty-five minutes. Victory or defeat was immensely important to the team players and their partisans, but sometimes the game was fought to a draw and both sides celebrated.

 

In 1677 the battle was witnessed by Dutch travelling artist Cornelis de Bruijn. He wrote:

 

"While I stayed in Livorno, I went to Pisa to witness the bridge fight there. The fighters arrived fully armored, wearing helmets, each carrying their banner, which was planted at both ends of the bridge, which is quite wide and long. The battle is fought with certain wooden implements made for this purpose, which they wear over their arms and are attached to them, with which they pummel each other so intensely that I saw several of them carried away with bloody and crushed heads. Victory consists of capturing the bridge, in the same way as the fistfights in Venice between the it:Castellani and the Nicolotti."

 

In 1927 the tradition was revived by college students as an elaborate costume parade. In 1935 Vittorio Emanuele III with the royal family witnessed the first revival of a modern version of the game, which has been pursued in the 20th and 21st centuries with some interruptions and varying degrees of enthusiasm by Pisans and their civic institutions.

 

Festivals and cultural events

Capodanno pisano (folklore, March 25)

Gioco del Ponte (folklore)

Luminara di San Ranieri (folklore, June 16)

Maritime republics regata (folklore)

Premio Nazionale Letterario Pisa

Pisa Book Festival

Metarock (rock music festival)

Internet Festival San Ranieri regata (folklore)

Turn Off Festival (house music festival)

Nessiáh (Jewish cultural Festival, November)

Main sights

 

The Leaning Tower of Pisa.

While the bell tower of the cathedral, known as "the leaning Tower of Pisa", is the most famous image of the city, it is one of many works of art and architecture in the city's Piazza del Duomo, also known, since the 20th century, as Piazza dei Miracoli (Square of Miracles), to the north of the old town center. The Piazza del Duomo also houses the Duomo (the Cathedral), the Baptistry and the Campo Santo (the monumental cemetery). The medieval complex includes the above-mentioned four sacred buildings, the hospital and few palaces. All the complex is kept by the Opera (fabrica ecclesiae) della Primaziale Pisana, an old non profit foundation that has operated since the building of the Cathedral in 1063 to maintain the sacred buildings. The area is framed by medieval walls kept by the municipal administration.

 

Other sights include:

Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri, church sited on Piazza dei Cavalieri, and also designed by Vasari. It had originally a single nave; two more were added in the 17th century. It houses a bust by Donatello, and paintings by Vasari, Jacopo Ligozzi, Alessandro Fei, and Pontormo. It also contains spoils from the many naval battles between the Cavalieri (Knights of St. Stephan) and the Turks between the 16th and 18th centuries, including the Turkish battle pennant hoisted from Ali Pacha's flagship at the 1571 Battle of Lepanto.

St. Sixtus. This small church, consecrated in 1133, is also close to the Piazza dei Cavalieri. It was used as a seat of the most important notarial deeds of the town, also hosting the Council of Elders. It is today one of the best preserved early Romanesque buildings in town.

St. Francis. The church of San Francesco may have been designed by Giovanni di Simone, built after 1276. In 1343 new chapels were added and the church was elevated. It has a single nave and a notable belfry, as well as a 15th-century cloister. It houses works by Jacopo da Empoli, Taddeo Gaddi and Santi di Tito. In the Gherardesca Chapel are buried Ugolino della Gherardesca and his sons.

San Frediano. This church, built by 1061, has a basilica interior with three aisles, with a crucifix from the 12th century. Paintings from the 16th century were added during a restoration, including works by Ventura Salimbeni, Domenico Passignano, Aurelio Lomi, and Rutilio Manetti.

San Nicola. This medieval church built by 1097, was enlarged between 1297 and 1313 by the Augustinians, perhaps by the design of Giovanni Pisano. The octagonal belfry is from the second half of the 13th century. The paintings include the Madonna with Child by Francesco Traini (14th century) and St. Nicholas Saving Pisa from the Plague (15th century). Noteworthy are also the wood sculptures by Giovanni and Nino Pisano, and the Annunciation by Francesco di Valdambrino.

Santa Maria della Spina. A small white marble church alongside the Arno, is attributed to Lupo di Francesco (1230), is another excellent Gothic building.

San Paolo a Ripa d'Arno. The church was founded around 952 and enlarged in the mid-12th century along lines similar to those of the cathedral. It is annexed to the Romanesque Chapel of St. Agatha, with an unusual pyramidal cusp or peak.

San Pietro in Vinculis. Known as San Pierino, it is an 11th-century church with a crypt and a cosmatesque mosaic on the floor of the main nave.

 

Borgo Stretto. This medieval borgo or neighborhood contains strolling arcades and the Lungarno, the avenues along the river Arno. It includes the Gothic-Romanesque church of San Michele in Borgo (990). There are at least two other leaning towers in the city, one at the southern end of central Via Santa Maria, the other halfway through the Piagge riverside promenade.

Medici Palace. The palace was once a possession of the Appiano family, who ruled Pisa in 1392–1398. In 1400 the Medici acquired it, and Lorenzo de' Medici sojourned here.

Orto botanico di Pisa. The botanical garden of the University of Pisa is Europe's oldest university botanical garden.

Palazzo Reale. The ("Royal Palace"), once belonged to the Caetani patrician family. Here Galileo Galilei showed to Grand Duke of Tuscany the planets he had discovered with his telescope. The edifice was erected in 1559 by Baccio Bandinelli for Cosimo I de Medici, and was later enlarged including other palaces. The palace is now a museum.

Palazzo Gambacorti. This palace is a 14th-century Gothic building, and now houses the offices of the municipality. The interior shows frescoes boasting Pisa's sea victories.

Palazzo Agostini. The palace is a Gothic building also known as Palazzo dell'Ussero, with its 15th-century façade and remains of the ancient city walls dating back to before 1155. The name of the building comes from the coffee rooms of Caffè dell'Ussero, historic meeting place founded on September 1, 1775.

Mural Tuttomondo. A modern mural, the last public work by Keith Haring, on the rear wall of the convent of the Church of Sant'Antonio, painted in June 1989.

Museums

Museo dell'Opera del Duomo: exhibiting among others the original sculptures of Nicola Pisano and Giovanni Pisano, the Islamic Pisa Griffin, and the treasures of the cathedral.

Museo delle Sinopie: showing the sinopias from the camposanto, the monumental cemetery. These are red ocher underdrawings for frescoes, made with reddish, greenish or brownish earth colour with water.

Museo Nazionale di San Matteo: exhibiting sculptures and paintings from the 12th to 15th centuries, among them the masterworks of Giovanni and Andrea Pisano, the Master of San Martino, Simone Martini, Nino Pisano and Masaccio.

Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Reale: exhibiting the belongings of the families that lived in the palace: paintings, statues, armors, etc.

Museo Nazionale degli Strumenti per il Calcolo: exhibiting a collection of instruments used in science, between a pneumatic machine of Van Musschenbroek and a compass which probably belonged to Galileo Galilei.

Museo di storia naturale dell'Università di Pisa (Natural History Museum of the University of Pisa), located in the Certosa di Calci, outside the city. It houses one of the largest cetacean skeletons collection in Europe.

Palazzo Blu: temporary exhibitions and cultural activities center, located in the Lungarno, in the heart of the old town, the palace is easy recognizable because it is the only blue building.

Cantiere delle Navi di Pisa - The Pisa's Ancient Ships Archaeological Area: A museum of 10,650 square meters – 3,500 archaeological excavation, 1,700 laboratories and one restoration center – that visitors can visit with a guided tour.[19] The Museum opened in June 2019 and has been located inside to the 16th-century Medicean Arsenals in Lungarno Ranieri Simonelli, restored under the supervision of the Tuscany Soprintendenza. It hosts a remarkable collection of ceramics and amphoras dated back from the 8th century BCE to the 2nd century BC, and also 32 ships dated back from the second century BCE and the seventh century BC. Four of them are integrally preserved and the best one is the so-called Barca C, also named Alkedo (written in the ancient Greek characters). The first boat was accidentally discovered in 1998 near the Pisa San Rossore railway station and the archeological excavations were completed 20 years later.

 

Churches

St. Francis' Church

San Francesco

San Frediano

San Giorgio ai Tedeschi

San Michele in Borgo

San Nicola

San Paolo a Ripa d'Arno

San Paolo all'Orto

San Piero a Grado

San Pietro in Vinculis

San Sisto

San Tommaso delle Convertite

San Zeno

Santa Caterina

Santa Cristina

Santa Maria della Spina

Santo Sepolcro

 

Palaces, towers and villas

Palazzo della Carovana or dei Cavalieri.

Pisa by Oldypak lp photo

Pisa

Palazzo del Collegio Puteano

Palazzo della Carovana

Palazzo delle Vedove

Torre dei Gualandi

Villa di Corliano

Leaning Tower of Pisa

 

Sports

Football is the main sport in Pisa; the local team, A.C. Pisa, currently plays in the Serie B (the second highest football division in Italy), and has had a top flight history throughout the 1980s and the 1990s, featuring several world-class players such as Diego Simeone, Christian Vieri and Dunga during this time. The club play at the Arena Garibaldi – Stadio Romeo Anconetani, opened in 1919 and with a capacity of 25,000.

 

Notable people

For people born in Pisa, see People from the Province of Pisa; among notable non-natives long resident in the city:

 

Giuliano Amato (born 1938), politician, former Premier and Minister of Interior Affairs

Alessandro d'Ancona (1835–1914), critic and writer.

Silvano Arieti (1914–1981), psychiatrist

Gaetano Bardini (1926–2017), tenor

Andrea Bocelli (born 1958), tenor and multi-instrumentalist.

Giosuè Carducci (1835–1907), poet and 1906 Nobel Prize in Literature winner.

Massimo Carmassi (born 1943), architect

Carlo Azeglio Ciampi (1920–2016), politician, former President of the Republic of Italy

Maria Luisa Cicci (1760–1794), poet

Giovanni Carlo Maria Clari (1677–1754), a musical composer and maestro di cappella at Pistoia.

Alessio Corti (born 1965), mathematician

Rustichello da Pisa (born 13th century), writer

Giovanni Battista Donati (1826–1873), an Italian astronomer.

Leonardo Fibonacci (1170–1250), mathematician.

Galileo Galilei (1564–1642), physicist.

Giovanni Gentile (1875–1944), philosopher and politician

Orazio Gentileschi (1563–1639), painter.

Count Ugolino della Gherardesca (1214–1289), noble (see also Dante Alighieri).

Giovanni Gronchi (1887–1978), politician, former President of the Republic of Italy

Giacomo Leopardi [1798–1837), poet and philosopher.

Enrico Letta (born 1966), politician, former Prime Minister of Italy

Marco Malvaldi (born 1974), mystery novelist

Leonardo Ortolani (born 1967), comic writer

Antonio Pacinotti (1841–1912), physicist, inventor of the dynamo

Andrea Pisano (1290–1348), a sculptor and architect.

Afro Poli (1902–1988), an operatic baritone

Bruno Pontecorvo (1913–1993), nuclear physicist

Gillo Pontecorvo (1919–2006), filmmaker

Ippolito Rosellini (1800–1843), an Egyptologist.

Paolo Savi (1798–1871), geologist and ornithologist.

Antonio Tabucchi (1943–2012), writer and academic

Sport

Jason Acuña (born 1973), Stunt performer

Sergio Bertoni (1915–1995), footballer

Giorgio Chiellini (born 1984), footballer

Camila Giorgi (born 1991), tennis player

EXPLORE 14. December 2011

.

“However many holy words you read,However many you speak,What good will they do you If you do not act on upon them?” by Buddha

.

“Never lose a holy curiosity.” by Albert Einstein

.

“Live your beliefs and you can turn the world around.” by Henry David Thoreau

.

“Acceptance of others, their looks, their behaviors, their beliefs, bring you an inner peace and tranquillity -- instead of anger and resentment” by unknown

       

Layer after layer

I'm scraping away at you

I've got blankets of my good intentions

soaked in paint remover

Every day I lay them over

your thick coats of shame and fear

that suffocates all your thoughts

that you continuously refuse to share

They've eventually gotta go some place...

but where?

They get buried under your growing resentment

that's coated over all your shame

which then floats in insecurities

that always have someone else to blame

And arguing, for you, is like a sport

that you'll do anything to win

I can't ever find a way out of this

when there's not even a way in

I keep running away

but only in circles

that lead right back to you

cause I'm not ready to choose

I'm not ready to lose ...

But the other night you told me

that when you leave you'll be just fine

Said you've got plenty of other things to do

and going in in your life

And I'm not sure if you meant to

but that felt like my chest got bruised

Because I'm not just fine

and I haven't been for quite some time

I want to feel close to you

But I don't feel safe to speak my truths

You quench me, and you dehydrate me

which completely tanks with mental health

Which I'm still not sure if you understand

I wanted you to be my safe space

I wanted you to be my man

  

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

 

This image is a photographic montage comprised from three frames of a 14 minute film entitled "New Zealand, 1950's" from the Huntley Film Archives - www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fg7Oo7eg0VU

 

It depicts a circa 1955, South-westerly aspect of the South side of Wellington Street East, Freemans Bay from near what was the intersection with Union Street and is now the overpass across a motorway junction.

 

Three years earlier the territorial authority had served compulsory purchase orders on most of the properties in the area, with compensation set at 1952 valuations. However, the Council was not in a hurry to effect the destruction of our patrimony, which, amid much resentment and controversy, was eventually completed in 1979 - at 1952 valuations. In the interim property owners were reluctant to incur the expense of anything beyond what decreasing rental values would justify.

 

And so it came to pass that what had once been an inner city suburb renowned for the solidarity of its social cohesion and the political unrest that had been a thorn in the side of conservative governments from 1913, declined into abject dereliction.

 

In what was possibly one of the ugliest examples of the corporate psychopathy that might seem to have plagued the territorial authority since its earliest inception, the consequential window of opportunity was used to plaster the popular Media with images of the deplorable state into which the area fell - dodgy propaganda justifying the premeditated demise of a community.

 

Although the houses that comprise most of the image survived from the late 1860s until 1977, the photograph is date-able to 1955 by the lack of houses and shops in the block between Howe and Hepburn Streets, which were subsequently replaced by the Freemans Park development of apartment blocks and courtyard houses.

 

1955 14-19 Wellington Street East South side South-westerly aspect Union Howe Hepburn Pratt Franklyn 'New Zealand, 1950's' 14 min film 30854 Huntley Film Archives.jpg

 

Sala dell’Albergo

 

The Sala dell’Albergo was very important in the life of the Scuola because it was the place where its governing body met. For this reason it was the first to be completed, although it did not immediately have any permanent decorations. It was not until 1544 that the large table was put in place to conceal the entrance to the so-called Scrigni, a kind of bank vault used for the safe keeping of candles, documents, money and precious relics. This is closed to the public.

 

In 1553 Titian had offered to paint the large canvas for the wall above the table, but it had come to nothing. It was not until many years later, on 22nd May 1564, that the Banca and Zonta (the Scuola’s supervisory boards) decided to have the ceiling decorated at their own expense, beginning with the central oval panel. Tintoretto, who at the time had already done some paintings for the church of San Rocco, was probably chosen for the commission right from the start, but there was initially a lack of agreement on his appointment.

 

Thus it was decided on 31st May to announce a competition among the best painters in Venice, Giuseppe Salviati, Federico Zuccari, Paolo Veronese and of course, Tintoretto, who had to present their drawings to the Scuola within a month. According to Vasari’s account however, while the others were still working on their projects, Tintoretto took everyone by surprise. He actually managed to install his painting of St. Roch in glory in the centre of the ceiling, provoking the indignant reaction of the clients, who claimed they had only asked for drawings and had not commissioned the work itself. But the painter replied that this was his way of drawing, that he knew no other way, that drawings and models should be done this way so as not to swindle anyone, and finally that if they did not want to pay him for the work, he would donate it to them. On 22nd June the Scuola accepted the gift, and a few days later they ordered that the painting should not be removed.

With this decision, which was undoubtedly meant to placate any resentment against Jacopo for his somewhat questionable behaviour, an extraordinary “art compact” was established between Tintoretto and the School, an arrangement which was destined to last until his death and to produce one of the most extraordinary and coherent painting cycles in the whole of Venetian art. Between the summer and the autumn of 1564 Tintoretto completed the remainder of the ceiling decoration free of charge.

 

When he finished the decoration of the ceiling, Tintoretto, who had in the meantime become a member of the Scuola, had no difficulty in also obtaining the commission for the wall paintings. By 1565, he had already finished the Crucifixion, and he then completed the cycle between 1566 and the first months of 1567.

 

It is interesting to note how the paintings of the Sala dell’Albergo do not follow the typical subjects of the Venetian Scuole, which tended to illustrate miracles and episodes from the life of the patron saint; instead they represent scenes from the Passion of Christ. This was probably because the life of St. Roch was already the subject of the paintings in the confraternity’s church. The painter and the Scuola could thus choose a new theme; this was the beginning of a complex iconographical scheme which would be further developed in the Sala Capitolare (in English, “Chapter Room”).

 

On the entrance wall, the story of the Passion does not unfold according to the usual narrative order from left to right. The episodes leading up to the monumental Crucifixion follow one another in an opposite direction: on the extreme right we see Christ before Pilate; in the centre, above the doorway, the Ecce Homo; on the left the Road to Calvary. The arrangement is determined by the particular meaning intended for it; the sequence is presented as the vision of the two Prophets who appear in the painted niches between the windows; in any case, the paintings are intended as objects of meditation, following a scheme which is highly charged with complex religious and spiritual meanings.

 

Tintoretto also painted the continuous frieze, with cherubs, garlands of flowers and fruit and the coats-of-arms of the Scuole Grandi, between the ceiling and the walls of the room. A fragment of this frieze showing Three apples, which was discovered in 1905 during restoration, and is now framed on the table, gives us a good idea of the original dazzling colours not only of the frieze but of all the painted decorations. The brightness of the original colours has in fact also been confirmed by recent scientific analysis, which has revealed how all the figures of the ceiling originally stood out against a very bright blue sky, which acted as a unifying element and made the whole decorative scheme extraordinarily luminous.

Yours To Discover Beautiful Somaliland.

Abdilahi Omar sips on a glass of sweet milky tea as traffic in Hargeisa, Somaliland's capital, increases ahead of the morning rush.

 

In front of him young boys ride their donkey carts to the river to collect water while ice-cream trucks serving soft-scoop start their rounds.

 

"So you can see, Hargeisa is calm," says the newspaper editor gesturing to the traffic police armed not with automatic rifles but with fluorescent batons and whistles.

 

"People are going to work peacefully, you can walk freely. There are no guns on the streets here."

 

This is not Somalia as the outside world knows it. But then, Somalilanders will tell you this is not Somalia. Period.

 

Somaliland, which is 137,600 square kilometres in size (comparable to England and Wales) and lies to the north of Mogadishu, is also a territory in limbo: it prints its own currency, flies its own flag and even issues its own passports.

 

But it is a state no other country will recognise.

 

Turbulent history

 

Somaliland won its independence from Britain in June 1960, a few days before Italy relinquished colonial control of neighbouring Somalia.

 

An emotional union ensued, creating a Somali Republic with its capital located in Mogadishu. But it soon proved to be an unhappy marriage.

 

"Somaliland became the poor relative, the isolated, forgotten corner of the Union,” Edna Adan, a retired senior UN official and former wife of Somalia's first Prime Minister, Mohammed Ibrahim Egal, told Al Jazeera.

 

Issues over adequate political representation for Somaliland in the national parliament and government fuelled resentment and distrust and led to the creation of a rebel group opposed to Mogadishu's control.

 

By the time the war ended in 1991 Somali bombers had razed Hargeisa to the ground but the Republic had crumbled leaving Mogadishu in the hands of warring tribes.

 

Somaliland's own clan-based society emerged from three decades of turmoil and the conflict with Mogadishu deeply divided.

 

But on May 18, 1991, tribal elders held negotiations in the shade of Acacia trees and in the ruins of schools before unilaterally declaring Somaliland independent.

 

Today, in downtown Hargeisa a Soviet-era MiG fighter jet sits mounted on a plinth to remind people of the civil war Somaliland rebels fought against Siad Barre, who ruled Somalia from 1969 to 1991.

 

International obscurity

 

A Soviet-era MiG fighter in downtown Hargeisa reminds people of the civil war

But despite a degree of stability compared to many corners of the continent, not least the perennial chaos in Somalia, Somaliland leaders say the outside world has turned its back on them.

 

The government of Somalia does not recognise Somaliland's independence.

 

Mohammed Osman Aden, the first consul at the Somali Republic embassy in Nairobi, told Al Jazeera there has been no country-wide referendum which allows for Somaliland's secession.

 

"Somaliland is categorically a part of Somalia. It is one of the regions where we have good stability. No matter what they are part of Somalia," he said.

 

However, he does not believe conflict will be renewed.

 

"We are not applying any pressure right now because we have other priorities in southern Somalia. When southern Somalia is viable we will talk with Somaliland. There will be no problem, we will talk easily," Aden added.

 

But with no international support for Somaliland's independence, Hargeisa may have little negotiating room.

 

African neighbours have refused to allow the Horn of Africa to be partitioned and the UN and other international countries have refused to recognise Somaliland's secession.

 

"The international community has taken the wrong decision, ignoring Somaliland while it waits for Somalia to wake from its coma," said Dahir Riyale Kahin, Somaliland's President.

 

Self-sustenance

 

Money vendors in Hargesia have substituted bank transfers

The lack of political recognition has also meant that it is impossible for Hargesia to negotiate loans and assistance from international donors. It is not party to the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank.

 

"We are a democratically functioning state … but the international community is hindering our success," Kahin told Al Jazeera.

 

With lack of international donor assistance, Somaliland’s infrastructure is slowly being crippled. There is no international postal service here and no banking system recognised by financial institution abroad.

 

Exchange companies and money vendors provide an alternative for funds coming in and out of Somaliland.

 

The paediatric ward at the Hargeisa General Hospital – the country's only referral hospital – swarms with flies.

 

The plaster-board ceiling is caving in. The ward's only oxygen cylinder lies discarded in a corner, covered in dust.

 

"The facilities here are very limited," said Dr Farhan Omar, one of 16 junior doctors who qualified last year, the first to train locally for years.

 

“We have three severely malnourished young children and we don't even have the high-energy milk they require."

 

The lack of doctors, drugs and equipment is woeful, but not a surprise. The government's total budget this year is a modest $50 million - Britain spends that on health alone every four hours.

 

Somaliland's health, education, and infrastructure sectors require massive inflows of cash.

 

But for as long as Somaliland's international status remains disputed, financial assistance will remain out of reach. So, too, will bilateral agreements with foreign governments.

 

Diaspora Money

 

Related Articles

 

Somaliland leaves Somalis in limbo

 

Economic success in Somaliland

 

Vote rekindles Somaliland's hopes

 

Somalia: More chaos

 

Somalia most unstable state

It is money from the Diaspora that is behind Hargeisa's transformation from concrete-ruin to bustling-city.

 

Glass-fronted multi-storey buildings now dot the skyline while numerous telecommunications companies vie for a slice of the lucrative Internet market.

 

"I came here first and foremost for the money. It is your money and business is business," said Abdul Abdirihaman Wabere, a Somaliland entrepreneur.

 

Wabere fled to North America at the outset of war in the 1980s. Now he divides his time between the US and Hargeisa where he runs a successful IT firm.

 

"There was nostalgia too. This is my country and we have brought a technology that was not here before and that itself is a leap-frog," he added.

 

Many families still depend on remittances from relatives living abroad. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) believes the Diaspora sends home more than $500 million to Somaliland every year.

 

Wabere fears this gives Somalilanders a false sense of financial security when ultimately their economy remains fragile.

 

Charm Offensive

 

Hargesia says neighbouring Somalia is still unstable due to continued armed conflict [EPA]

The Somaliland government is trying to charm its way to global recognition.

 

Kahin recently offered Somaliland's natural deep-water harbour at Berbera as a home for America's AFRICOM headquarters.

 

"Our only hope is the US which says it promotes democracy and has spent a lot of money in the Middle East,” says Faizal Warabe, Chairman of Somaliland's opposition Justice and Welfare Party and a candidate in next year's presidential elections.

 

The government is quick to highlight its democratic credentials in comparison to the lawlessness of its southern neighbour.

 

However, there are shortcomings. Critics claim the government is repressive, exerting excessive control over political opponents and the media.

 

Allegations of corruption tarnish the government's record.

 

"There is a lot of internal mismanagement of finances. Even within the Ministry of Finance there are no systems of accountability," confirmed one UN official on condition of anonymity.

 

Nevertheless, Somalilanders feel they should be allowed to reap the peace dividend. That should start with formal recognition, argues Edna Adan. Anything else is a slap in the face to a country pushing for peace and stability.

 

“Failure to recognise Somaliland is a failure to recognise democracy itself. The achievements of Somaliland could have been a good example for other African countries," she said.

Source: Al Jazeera

 

In 1989 I left apartheid South Africa and spent much of the next year travelling Europe. In October I found myself in the outback of Turkey, and the word on the street was that the Berlin Wall was about to fall. With it's fascinating history, cold war angst and strong David Bowie connection, Berlin had always been on my "must visit" list and I accelerated my plans to get there. Unfortunately the wall began crumbling on the evening of November 9, 1989 and continued over the following days and weeks. Nevertheless, I skipped through the Greek islands and caught the ferry from the port of Piraeus in Athens to Brindisi in Italy. I decided to bypass Naples and caught a fast train north to Rome. I think it was either on the ferry or on the train that I met fellow traveller, Serge Bowers from Pennsylvania in the USA. He and I made good companions and has a Chianti-fuelled blast through Rome, Florence, Pisa and Venice (but that's another story).

 

On November 25, Serge and I went our own ways - he headed for Amsterdam, while I spent a couple of days in Milan, visiting the magnificent Il Museo Storico dell’Alfa Romeo in Arese. I then skipped through Switzerland (Lausanne, Bern, Luzern and Lurich) beofre finally making it to Stuttgart in Germany, taking in the Mercedes-Benz Museum and the Porsche Museum. By this time (December 4) I was running low on cash and so resorted to hitch-hiking from Stuttgart to Mannheim, heading for Bonn where I was going to be staying with Prof. Dr. Marcella Rietschel (a Research Fellow at the Institute of Human Genetics, University of Bonn) who I had met in Istanbul in October. It was freezing cold and snowing out on the road, and by the time I reached Mannheim, I had had enough and headed to the Hauptbahnhof. After a cup of steaming coffee, I bought a ticket to Bonn, boarded the milk-train and continued the journey north. As fate would have it, I ended up in Zeppelinheim, close to Frankfurt, and that extraordinary interlude is detailed here.

 

Being on the bones of my financial arse, and with a severe cold snap making hitch-hiking a really bad idea, I now resorted to using the Mitfahrzentrale - an organised hitch-hiking (or "cap pooling") service where a driver can register how many spare seats they have in their car and where they are travelling from, to, and on what date. Potential passengers are provided with contact details and descriptions of the journey including any proposed stops along the way. As all travellers share costs, the savings can be extensive and it also serves as a good way to meet interesting people and to practice your German!

 

Our route to the east The so-called "inner German border" (a.k.a. "Zonengrenze") was the frontier between the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, West Germany) from 1949 to 1990. The border was a physical manifestation of Winston Churchill's metaphorical Iron Curtain that separated the Soviet and Western blocs during the Cold War. The border could be crossed legally only through a limited number of routes and foreigners were able to traverse East German territory to or from West Berlin via a limited number of road corridors, the most used of which was at Helmstedt-Marienborn on the Hanover–Berlin A2 autobahn. Codenamed Checkpoint Alpha, this was the first of three Allied checkpoints on the road to Berlin. The others were Checkpoint Bravo, where the autobahn crossed from East Germany into West Berlin, and most famous of all, Checkpoint Charlie, the only place where non-Germans could cross from West to East Berlin. Lengthy inspections caused long delays to traffic at the crossing points, and for some the whole experience was very disturbing: "Travelling from west to east through [the inner German border] was like entering a drab and disturbing dream, peopled by all the ogres of totalitarianism, a half-lit world of shabby resentments, where anything could be done to you, I used to feel, without anybody ever hearing of it, and your every step was dogged by watchful eyes and mechanisms." (Jan Morris) Personally, having spent almost three decades of my life under the oppression of the apartheid regime, it felt all too familiar.

 

So, after an uncomfortable 6-8 hour road trip, I was finally there - Berlin! One of my German friends from South Africa (P.A.) had been a regular visitor to Berlin during our high school and university years, before relocating to the city in the mid-80's. In those days it made a lot of sense - getting out of South Africa after studying meant escaping two years military service with the south African Defence Force and moving to Berlin meant avoiding conscription into the German military as well. That is, in order to encourage young people to move to West Berlin, they were lured in with exemptions from national service and good study benefits. It was December 8, 1989 and P.A. was unfortunately not in town. But a mutual friend was - L.M. had left Africa at about the same time as Pierre and was an aspirant artist in Berlin. He offered me a place to stay and we spent a brilliant week together, partying, clubbing and taking in all the delights that this city in change had to offer! I don't remember too much, but have some photos that I am sharing for the first time, a quarter of a century later, to the day.

 

45654-33-ew - the caption on the back of the photo reads:

"Looking over "The Wall" into Communist East Berlin. The Brandenburger Tor viewed from an observation platform in West Berlin. Exactly one month after the East Germans punched the first "hole" in the wall at Leipziger Strasse. West Germany. Saturday, December 9, 1989."

 

A population in deep denial

Contagion released from a vial

 

I am the fury

the spirit of outrage

I am the fire

I am the virus I am the virus

I am the furnace where resentment glows

I am the bias

I am the virus I am the virus

 

I am the virus / killing Joke

 

Olympus OM1n

Vivitar 19/3.8

Fomapan 100

Orange filter

Rodinal 9min @ 20c

 

I don't know what to title this =P

 

“Let a smile be your umbrella, and you'll end up with a face full of rain.” George Carlin ( American stand-up Comedian, Actor and Author. b.1937)

 

"Holding on to anger, resentment and hurt only gives you tense muscles, a headache and a sore jaw from clenching your teeth. Forgiveness gives you back the laughter and the lightness in your life.” Joan Lunden

 

======================================

  

LOL I know this is so different from all my previous pictures I’ve taking but I really want to reflect my personality towards my pictures. A lot of my pictures are so dry and I really want to put some humor into it. I’m just letting you all know that I really love to laugh and joke around. =) Laughter always helps me deal with my personal problems. I honestly don’ t like to get mad or get made at somebody because I just want to enjoy my life. BTW I MADE THIS A BIT CARTOONISH BY ACCIDENT BUT IT’S OKAY I GUESS

 

But there’s a reason behind this story. When I was a kid I’ve always love watching Loony Tones , Scooby doo, inspector gadget, Thunder cats and etc; If you know what I’m talking about for those who love watching classic cartoons. I miss those cartoons! I still enjoy watching them. My favorite cartoon is the Loony tones (I love the Road Runner and the Coyote) and so this picture is inspired from that cartoon.

 

So yesterday, I realized that my filing from my tooth is all gone. Man! I really need to go the dentist because I don’t want any cavities and stuff. My mom wants to do it in the Philippines but I don’t want to wait a year to go back…geez! That’s super long yo! I’m also hoping to get some braces to straighten my teeth after college. It’s time for teeth to get all pampered and happy =)

 

have a good day everyone =)

"We must accept finite disappointment but we must never lose infinite hope."

 

Created on Day Sixteen of the Design Across America Zerflin tour. Quote submitted by Zenia Lasola-Smith. Font by Slava Kirilenko at astronautdesign.com/

 

The quote comes from one of the at least 8 books that Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in his lifetime called "Strength to Love", published in 1963. The book used material from his sermons, and focused on scriptural teaching and dealing with the problems of racism. Notably missing from the contents were his more controvertial antiwar and anti-capitalist views; focusing more on a message of love, as the title states.

 

The passage the quote is from has actually been sourced for quite a few notable quotes from King; here's an excerpt:

 

"To guard ourselves from bitterness, we need the vision to see in this generation's ordeals the opportunity to transfigure both ourselves and American society. Our present suffering and our nonviolent struggle to be free may well offer to Western civilization the kind of spiritual dynamic so desperately needed for survival.

Some of us, of course, will die without having received the realization of freedom, but we must continue to sail on our uncharted course.

We must accept finite disappointment but we must never lose infinite hope. Only in this way shall we live without the fatigue of bitterness and the drain of resentment.

This was the secret of the survival of our slave foreparents."

 

You can find out more about the tour here: zerflin.com/2012/05/31/2-festivals-20-cities-20-days-desi...

 

Tintype.

Be on top of the chains when you need a perch

Be ready to fly away when it's answers you need to search.

- Quoted by self

 

"Forgiveness is the key that unlocks the door of resentment, the handcuffs of hate, the chains of bitterness and the shackles of selfishness"

- Anon

 

And how many of us actually realise this simple principle in life?

 

Clicked in my office parking lot.

 

COPYRIGHT 2007 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

 

For more such pics, visit my site. Join my FB page, follow me on twitter

Some History of Brisbane.

The first European settlement in Queensland was a small convict colony which was established at Redcliffe, now a northern beach suburb, in 1824. The settlement was soon moved in 1825 to a better location on the Brisbane River in what is now the CBD of Brisbane. John Oxley suggested this change of location and that the town be known as Brisbane after Sir Thomas Brisbane, Governor of NSW who visited this settlement in 1826. Prior to this the settlement was known as the Moreton Bay. By 1831 Moreton Bay had 1,241 people, but 86% were convicts, and almost all the rest were guards and administrators. One of the founding free men to settle in Brisbane was Andrew Petrie, a government clerk, who arrived in the settlement in 1837. His son later became the first mayor of Brisbane.

 

In 1842 (six years after the settlement of SA) Moreton Bay penal settlement was closed and the area opened to free settlers. Half the convicts at Moreton Bay were Irish Catholics which influenced the development of the settlement thereafter as many stayed on. By 1846 Moreton Bay had a population of 4,000 people, considerably less than that of Burra at the time which had over 5,000 people! In 1848 the first immigrants direct from Britain arrived, as did some Chinese. In 1849 three ship loads of Presbyterians arrived in Brisbane, the first ship being the Fortitude- hence the naming of Fortitude Valley. The colony was still far from self sufficient in terms of food production. In the mid 1850s German immigrants also started to arrive in the settlement. The only building still standing built by convict labour is the Old Windmill in Wickham Park.

 

During the late 1840s a few grand houses were built in Brisbane like Newstead House at Hamilton and the city began to take shape. All the central streets were named after members of Queen Victoria’s family- Adelaide, Alice, Ann, Charlotte, Elizabeth, Margaret, Mary for the streets parallel to Queen Street, and Albert, Edward, George and William for the streets perpendicular to Queen Street. In 1859 the population had grown sufficiently, to about 30,000 people, for Queensland to be proclaimed a separate colony from NSW with Brisbane (about 6,000 people) as the capital city. It was now a self governing independent colony. Old Government House was built shortly after this in 1862 followed by numerous colonial government buildings. The French Empire style Parliament House opposite the old Botanical Gardens was erected in 1865 to a design by Charles Tiffin. It had perfect symmetry a mansard roof and an arcaded loggia. It is still one of the most distinctive buildings in Brisbane. Nearby the pastoralists and wealthy built the Queensland Club in Alice Street in 1882 with classical columns but with Italianate style bay windows. The location near parliament house is much like the situation of the Adelaide Club on North Terrace almost adjacent to the SA parliament. The wealthy and pastoralists in both states had immeasurable influence over early colonial politics. One of the other finest colonial buildings of Brisbane is the Old Customs House with the circular copper domed roof on the edge of the Brisbane River. It was erected in 1888.

 

Although Brisbane grew quickly through the following decades it was not incorporated as a city until 1902.Part of the reason for the relatively slow of growth of Brisbane, compared to Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney was that it was not the focal point of the state railway network. Queensland always had other major regional centres. The railway from Brisbane reached out to southern Queensland only- Ipswich in 1864, Toowoomba in 1867, and Charleville in 1888. There was no early push to have a railway link between the coastal cities. They were not linked by a railway until 1927 when road transport had already taken over the transport of livestock and freight. The coastal railway to Cairns was always for passenger traffic as much as freight traffic.

 

Unlike the other Australian state capitals, Brisbane City Council governs most of the metropolitan area of Brisbane. In 1925 over twenty shires and municipalities were amalgamated into the City of Brisbane. It was at this time that the landmark Brisbane city Hall was built in Art Deco style. It was opened in 1930. During World War Two, Brisbane had a distinctive history as Prime Minister John Curtin had the “Brisbane Line” as a controversial defense plan, whereby if there was a land invasion of Australia, the northern half of the country would be surrendered at a line just north of Brisbane! Brisbane also became the headquarters for the American campaign in the South Pacific with General Douglas MacArthur based there at times. In 1942 a violent clash erupted between American and Australian service personnel in Brisbane. Between 2,000 and 5,000 men were involved in the riots which spread over two days. One soldier was killed and eight injured by gun fire as well as hundreds injured with black eyes, swollen faces, broken noses etc. On the second night 21 Americans were injured with 11 of them having to be hospitalised. This was The Battle of Brisbane. Yet around 1 million American troops passed through Queensland between December 1941 (just after the bombing of Pearl Harbour) and the end of 1945. They were here to spearhead attacks to take back the Philippines and to prevent the Japanese from taking New Guinea. Black American soldiers were especially unpopular in Brisbane as their landing contravened the “White Australia Policy” of those times. In response to this policy General Douglas MacArthur announced his support for the Australian government’s insistence that no more Black American troops be sent to Brisbane after 1942. The Black American units in Australia were later sent to New Guinea and New Caledonia. Black American troops in New Guinea were not allowed to visit Australia for rest and recreation leave although white American troops were allowed to visit Australia, mainly to Mackay. Resentment between American and Australian troops in Brisbane had to be contained and suppressed. Riots between troops also occurred in Townsville during the War. Today Brisbane is a fast growing city that has far outstripped Adelaide in terms of population, growth and infrastructure.

 

Life Before The Third Reich

Hall Display

Jewish Community Center

Tucson, Arizona, USA

 

Ten million Jews lived in Europe in the late 1930s

It was a continent overtaken by economic depression and racial/religious resentment.

Jews in Europe existed along a religious spectrum from strictly orthodox to highly secular; and along an economic spectrum from the crushing poverty of the vast majority to a small well to do elite of successful entrepreneurs.

 

- IMG_6994 - Version 2

We are still celebrating the nations birthday on the 26th day of January the anniversary when the First Fleet arrived at Botany Bay in NSW but there is resentment in some quarters mainly with our Indigenous peoples who refer to this day as Invasion Day and there is much truth in that matter for them .. They want to see the day changed to reflect a more universal date when we can all celebrate . The numbers are stacked against them with many wanting this date to remain as it is , the 26th January .

The country is also going through a drought , so typical of Australia but this one is biting hard for many out on the land . Lets hope the rains come soon .

 

Oz , the Land Down Under

The Ruby

115 Studs in length

 

After the defeat of the Wicked Witch of the West, the Good Witch of the North helped Dorothy Gale return home to Kansas. The Land of Oz was left, by the Wizard, in the capable hands of the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Lion. Although they lead the people of Oz with grace and wisdom, the lands were so large that even they could not keep everything in check. Oz began to fall to ruin...

 

The Winkies, once slaves to the Wicked Witch’s whims, attempted to rebuild their society, but were hampered by the prejudice they faced from other citizens of Oz. The Munchkins could not relate to them given their history with the Wicked Witch of the East; the citizens of the Emerald City looked down on them as gullible puppets; even the Gillikins of the North, under the guidance of Glinda, held on to their resentment. The Tin Man tried to teach his people compassion, but their hearts could not be changed.

 

The three leaders decided that Dorothy was needed in Oz once more. Through her leadership, they would work to restore Oz to not only what it once was, but what it could truly be. The Scarecrow devised a way to contact her, and she agreed to return to them. Once back in the Emerald City, she took on the title of General, and began working on a plan to unite the people of Oz. Dorothy first went to the Munchkins, who welcomed her back as the hero she once was. The Munchkin people, she had heard, had moved on from their agricultural roots and had been delving into engineering and technologies. She requested of them a vehicle capable to her task.

 

The Munchkins constructed the MK-78, which Dorothy nicknamed The Ruby. This craft would allow General Gale and her team to travel across the Land of Oz, finding refugee Winkies and teaching tolerance to the other citizens. Two removable containers (one communication, one a mobile garage) could remain in an area while the ship continued searching for those in need. If difficulty occurs, the ship is equipped with a small fighter dubbed the ”Flying Monkey” to protect both it and those they are trying to help, while the bridge-module also serves as a shuttle. Three Munchkin engineers travel with the ship to keep it operational.

 

Through her work, Dorothy has been able to bring the Winkies together with the Quadlings, the Rlys and the Hilanders who helped shelter them and guide them on the path to a functional society. Dorothy remains at the helm of The Ruby, bringing the people of Oz together, one brick at a time.

 

Buildings to Watch Out for in Brisbane.

•Parliament House in the French Empire style. The architect Charles Tiffin was inspired by the Louvre Art gallery in Paris! It is open for free public inspection but only when parliament is not sitting (QLD parliament is meant to rise on 6 August). It was built in 1868. It is located on the corner of George and Alice Streets, opposite the Old Botanical Gardens. This

Photograph shows the 2 side pavilions or wings making it Palladian in style.

•Old Government House. This is now part of the QUT (Queensland University of Technology). It has recently been extensively restored and re-opened to the public over the Queens birthday long weekend in June. It too has free entry with the upstairs devoted to the art of William Robinson a gifted Queensland painter. Old Government House was built in 1862 and is one of the older buildings in Brisbane. It is a grand two storey house with arcaded loggias, classical facades and features, and two semi-circular balconies. The interior has a grand staircase. The complex is in the Old Botanical Gardens and has a café too.

•The Old Customs House. (399 Queen Street.) Pictured below with its green copper dome, classical balustrades, Corinthian columns and pilasters and triangular roof pediment etc. It is now a commercial building with a café on the river front.

 

•Brisbane City Hall. This Art Deco building built between 1920 and 1930 with classical features is dominated by the 92 metre high clock tower. The building and the clock tower are open free for public inspection during office hours. Note the tympanum frieze decoration in the triangular pediment across the façade.

 

•Albert St Uniting Church. This distinctive brick, gothic style church is across the plaza from the Town Hall. It is open on Fridays till 4 pm. The most prominent feature of the external design is the spire rising to a height of 42 metres from the street. It is capped with a handsome wrought iron final. The original organ was imported from England, and built by George Benson of Manchester. The front pipes are coloured and gilded with gold leaf.

 

•ANZAC Square War Memorial is uniquely and ideally set in peaceful surrounds and worth a visit. The Shrine of Remembrance, with its Eternal Flame, forms the focal point for the radial patterned pathways, pools and lawns. From here you get a view down to the Old Post Office which was built of local sandstone in 1872 by Mr Petrie.

 

A Very brief History of Brisbane.

Australia’s third largest city is named after Sir Thomas Brisbane, Scotsman who was governor of NSW from 1821 to 1825. The first European settlement in Queensland was a small convict colony which was established at Redcliffe in 1824. Redcliffe is a northern beach suburb of Brisbane. The settlement was soon moved in 1825 to better location on the Brisbane River in what is now the CBD of Brisbane. John Oxley suggested this change of location and also that the town be known as Brisbane after Sir Thomas Brisbane who visited the settlement in 1826. The settlement area was known as the Moreton Bay. By 1831 Moreton Bay had 1,241 people, but 86% were convicts, and almost all the rest were guards and administrators. One of the founding pioneers to settle in Brisbane was Andrew Petrie, a government clerk, who arrived in the settlement in 1837. His son later became the first mayor of Brisbane.

 

In 1842 (six years after the settlement of SA) Moreton Bay penal establishment was closed and the area opened to free settlers. Half the convicts at Moreton Bay were Irish Catholics which influenced the development of the settlement thereafter. By 1846 Moreton Bay had a population of 4,000 people, considerably less than that of Burra at the time which had over 5,000 people! In 1848 the first immigrants direct from Britain arrived, as did some Chinese. In 1849 three ship loads of Presbyterians arrived in Brisbane, the first ship being the Fortitude- hence the naming of Fortitude Valley. The colony was still far from self sufficient in terms of food production. In the mid 1850s German immigrants also started to arrive in the settlement. The only building still standing built by convict labour is the Old Windmill in Wickham Park. Most of the other convict built buildings were in the CBD and gradually demolished during phases of growth in the 19th century.

 

During the late 1840s a few grand houses were built in Brisbane like Newstead House at Hamilton, and the city began to take shape. All the central streets were named after members of Queen Victoria’s family- Adelaide, Alice, Ann, Charlotte, Elizabeth, Margaret, Mary for the streets parallel to Queen Street, and Albert, Edward, George and William for the streets perpendicular to Queen Street. In 1859 the population had grown sufficiently, to about 30,000 people for Queensland to be proclaimed a separate colony from NSW with Brisbane (about 6,000 people) as its capital city. It was now a self governing independent colony. Old Government House was built shortly after this in 1862 followed by numerous colonial government buildings. The French Empire style Parliament House opposite the old Botanical Gardens was erected in 1865 to a design by Charles Tiffin. It had perfect symmetry, mansard roof lien with dormer windows, triangular pediments above some windows, and an arcaded loggia. It is still one of the most pleasing and distinctive buildings in Brisbane. Nearby the pastoralists and wealthy built the Queensland Club in Alice Street in 1882 with classical columns, roof line pediment, balustrade and perfect symmetry, but with Italianate style bay windows. The location near parliament house is much like the situation of the Adelaide Club on North Terrace almost adjacent to the SA parliament. The wealthy and pastoralists in both states had immeasurable influence over early colonial politics. One of the other finest colonial buildings of Brisbane is the Old Customs House with the circular copper domed roof on the edge of the Brisbane River. It was erected in 1888.

 

Although Brisbane grew quickly through the following decades it was not incorporated as a city until 1902.Part of the reason for the relatively slow of growth of Brisbane, compared to Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney was that it was not the focal point of the state railway network. Queensland always had other major regional centres. The railway from Brisbane reached out to southern Queensland only- Ipswich in 1864, Toowoomba in 1867, and Charleville by 1888. There was no early push to have a railway link with the coast cities and their hinterlands. The coastal cities of Queensland were not linked by a railway until 1927 when road transport had already taken over the transport of livestock and freight. The coastal railway in Queensland was always for passenger traffic as much as freight traffic.

 

Unlike the other Australian state capitals, Brisbane City Council governs most of the metropolitan area of Brisbane. In 1925 over twenty shires and municipalities were amalgamated into the City of Brisbane. It was at this time that the landmark Brisbane city Hall was built in Art Deco style. It was opened in 1930 and members of the public can enter and walk around the inside of the building.

 

During World War Two, Brisbane had a distinctive history as Prime Minister John Curtin had the “Brisbane Line” as a controversial defense plan, whereby if there was a land invasion of Australia, the northern half of the country would be surrendered at a line just north of Brisbane! Brisbane also became the headquarters for the Americans campaign in the South Pacific with General Douglas MacArthur based there at times. In 1942 a violent clash erupted between American and Australian service personnel in Brisbane. Between 2,000 and 5,000 men were involved in the riots which spread over two days. One soldier was killed and eight injured by gun fire as well as 100s injured with black eyes, swollen faces, broken noses etc. On the second night 21 Americans were injured with 11 of them having to be hospitalised. It was locally known as The Battle of Brisbane.

 

Yet around 1 million American troops passed through Queensland between December 1941 (just after the bombing of Pearl harbour) and the end of 1945. They were here to spearhead attacks to take back the Philippines, and to prevent the Japanese from taking New Guinea.

Black American soldiers were especially unpopular in Brisbane as their landing contravened the “White Australia Policy” of the times. In response to this policy General Douglas MacArthur announced his support for the Australian government’s insistence that no more Black American troops be sent to Brisbane after 1942. The Black American units in Australia were later sent to New Guinea and New Caledonia. Black American troops in New Guinea were not allowed to visit Australia for rest and recreation leave although white American troops were allowed to visit Australia, mainly to Mackay. Resentment between American and Australian troops in Brisbane had to be contained and suppressed. Riots between troops also occurred in Townsville during the War.