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This Downy Woodpecker graced our yard two or more days in a row! I like to document the backyard birds. There is not all that much variety but I definitely learn to recognize some individuals. And while there really is not much to see as the seasons change, here on the coast of California, it is very fun to see the changing of the birds!
Review - youtu.be/n9ZI15X1x14
The Manifesto of Mother Monster.
Monster High & Born This Way Foundation and Lady Gaga's Zomby Gaga Doll.
must be my favourite chiyogami pattern, no matter the colour... I got lucky while cutting the hexagons for the modules and it so happened that all the folds ended up along the thin lines from the chiyogami pattern... looking longer at this pic makes me kinda go my brain hurts... there's also the title reference...
On Tuesday 16/4/2024, 1421s (Bowmans rail empty RASP ore) is seen approaching Heaslip road (Direk, Adelaide) with the usual Rail first locos el63-EL55 in charge.
From July 2024 Qube took over this working (plus Balco) using RL's &/or G521.
This is from the day before. I wish I had more time... I could have really tightened that sunflare up a bit!
Didn't plan it, but don't you think the cloud above the truck looks like a conversation cloud? wonder what my truck was trying to say...
British Rail Class 142
Leaving Manchester I was on a=the Sames class entering Manchester a shot from the Train Window Canon 600D 18-55mm Kit Lens 1 Rw Shot processedin Elemnenets
Same dress... Different day.
Wanted to see how it looked with a lighter makeover and purple eye shadow.
Which look looks better?
This photo published in Forbes Magazine:
forbes.com/sites/peterjreilly/2011/09/19/shulman-to-congr...
See also: pagewizz.com/gleichgeschlechtliche-ehe/
Same day different unit! 47739 approaches Bletchley hauling AGA unit 720528 as 5Q90 1200 Derby Litchurch Lane - Wembley Yard on 21st April 2022. Photo@ Ivan Stewart (My photo/copyright).
One of the comments to my prior posted bear picture in my photostream was critical of my posting a woman (Debbie) giving a treat to a friend’s bear. That person was concerned that people might see it and think they can do the same thing and then get hurt. Debbie's secret is that, a few years later, she was indeed bitten by a grizzly. Here is the proof.
TRIGGER WARNING:
Monkey see, monkey do. Do not engage with grizzly bears. They are wild and few of them are truly tame. Of course, the same thing may be said of your dog or cat at home. Family pets can and have bitten their owners, their owner's kids and neighborhood kids.
Now back to the reality of this sweet little bear. It was an abandoned baby bear that was taken in by the folks that bred the tigers for the Siegfried and Roy show in Las Vegas. The folks who owned that business were friends. The bear lived in a baby playpen inside their home. It was bottle-fed. Like many babies, they put anything they can get into their mouth, including Debbie’s chin. I would have said “poor Debbie” but she was so taken by it and loved that little bear. The "bite" did not even leave a mark.
Their home and the estate where they bred exotic animals was off of a lake. I cannot find it to post but somewhere I have a later picture of that same bear now in the 500 pound range sitting at the back of a small rowboat just off the shoreline. Sitting toward the bow, raised way up out of the water, was our friend’s 7-9 year old granddaughter doing her best to row the boat around, giving the bear a boat ride.
Way back in the evolutionary chain, dogs and bears are related. They can form strong and protective bonds with their human friends. Gee whiz, would I hate to be the person who tried a snatch-and-grab kidnapping of that sweet little girl. I suspect a 500 pound bear would have a very quick solution to deal with some mean person who dared lay a finger on his darling little girl.
Humans are animals who have formed allegiances with other animals throughout history in all cultures. They understand more than we think. For instance, there is a tribe in Africa still today who have formed a bond with the neighborhood hyenas. Some generations ago, somehow the tribe formed a deal that they would feed the hyenas each evening the guts, entrails, bones, and sinew of their hunting kill. In return, the hyenas have never attacked anyone in the village. One of the village elders, a man much braver than I, hand-feeds them. But yet the same generational pack of hyenas go out and fight with lions over an animal either they or the lions killed. Go figure.
Of course, it doesn’t always work out. And, yes, those old enough to remember may still see the news video of one of the onstage tigers dragging Roy off the stage. On the other hand, several times while flying into Las Vegas, I flew over Siegfried and Roy’s home (a ways out of town of course) and saw them cavorting with about a dozen lions and tigers in their extremely large home pool. I attended one of their shows. My seat abutted the runway out into the audience right where he stopped with the animals. I was with my daughter. We had steaks partially eaten on the table. The lion took notice. I told the lion in a stern voice, “No! Knock it off.” And he would turn his head away temporarily. He was probably pretty well fed. My daughter (her 21st birthday) did reach up and pet him on the leg. Both my daughter and the lion seemed to like it.
Petting a stage lion is not recommended. Those fellows had a great relationship with their animals and had them well under control. That is, of course, until that one time they didn’t.
I’m just an old man who treasures the opportunities I’ve had and been able to share with my family.
A T Burke
I wouldn't normally be driving 40 miles to photograph a filthy train in pitch black conditions, but with my old chum "Stapleton Road" visiting for a couple of days we popped out so he could have a crack at the two Cumbria RHTTs.
56113 leads 56105 at Sandy Lane, a location/locos combo' I'd done only a few weeks ago with Dave Mac on an equally dire day.
I've cropped the majority of the sky out, as my first ever attempts at merging two differently exposed shots in PS ended in abject failure.
Eddie and I then made the trip west to Wigton for the 70s on 3J11, but it was even darker there than it was here, so you won't be seeing my shot.
Waiting for food... some things just catch your eye. Same pocket labels missing... same stitching on pockets whoo They are the same brand jeans...
Hunger compresses time ...
Dan's still cooks a burger bloody m-rare ! GREAT Burger !
When are they going to call my number ? Probably once in a lifetime occurrence. Like a lightning strike odds. 2024 still makes me chuckle
.. or perhaps a different individual from the same day. Thanks to Dave Bartholomew for showing me his butterfly viewing spots at Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve.
This is a hilltopping butterfly that has overwintered and is starting to look for a mate. Yes, Tjeerd, this butterfly is a bit tattered, which is typical of California tortoiseshells photographed in the SF Bay area, where they are most likely to be seen on sunny days in late winter. The butterflies we see in February were born in the Sierras and further north in summer. They would have estivated en masse during the summer, then migrated south to our foothill canyons where they hibernate. Soon the females of this generation will lay eggs. The adult butterflies that emerge in late May to early June will not spend much time here. They will migrate to the Sierras and the Northwest, laying eggs to start the generation that will return here.
(Santa Clara County, California)
Richmond Castle in Richmond, North Yorkshire, England, stands in a commanding position above the River Swale, close to the centre of the town of Richmond. It was originally called Riche Mount, 'the strong hill'. The castle was constructed by Alan Rufus from 1071 onwards following the Norman Conquest of England, and the Domesday Book of 1086 refers to 'a castlery' at Richmond.
In the 12th century, his great-nephew Conan expanded the castle and built the keep. Although it was derelict by 1540, it was restored centuries later. The property is the best-preserved early Norman castle in England and an important tourist attraction.
Richmond Castle consists of four main parts: a triangular main enclosure, an outer enclosure to the east, a keep at the northern corner of the main enclosure, and a small enclosure around the keep.
In 1069 William the Conqueror had put down a rebellion at York which was followed by his "harrying of the North" – an act of ethnic cleansing which depopulated large areas for a generation or more. As a further punishment, he divided up the lands of North Yorkshire among his most loyal followers. Alan Rufus, of Brittany, received the borough of Richmond and began constructing the castle to defend against further rebellions and to establish a personal power base. His holdings, called the Honour of Richmond, covered parts of eight counties and amounted to one of the most extensive Norman estates in England.
A 100-foot (30 m)-high keep of honey-coloured sandstone was constructed at the end of the 12th century by Duke Conan IV of Brittany. The Earldom of Richmond was seized in 1158 by Henry II of England. It was King Henry II who probably completed the keep which had 11-foot (3.4 m)-thick walls. Modern visitors can climb to the top of the keep for magnificent views of the town of Richmond. At the same time that the keep was probably completed, Henry II considerably strengthened the castle by adding towers and a barbican. Henry III and King Edward I spent more money on the site including Edward's improvements to the keep interior.
In addition to the main circuit of the wall, there was the barbican in front of the main gate which functioned as a sealed entry space, allowing visitors and wagons to be checked before they gained entry to the castle itself. On the other side of the castle, overlooking the river, was another enclosure or bailey called the Cockpit, which may have functioned as a garden and was overlooked by a balcony. A drawing of 1674 suggests there was another longer balcony overlooking the river side of Scolland's Hall, the great hall.
Richmond Castle had fallen out of use as a fortress by the end of the 14th century and it did not receive major improvements after that date. A survey of 1538 shows it was partly in ruins, but paintings by Turner and others, together with the rise of tourism and an interest in antiquities, led to repairs to the keep in the early 19th century.
In 1855 the castle became the headquarters of the North Yorkshire Militia, and a military barracks block was constructed in the great courtyard. For two years, from 1908 to 1910, the castle was the home of Robert Baden-Powell, later founder of the Boy Scouts, while he commanded the Northern Territorial Army but the barracks building was demolished in 1931.
The castle was used during the First World War as the base of the Non-Combatant Corps made up of conscientious objectors – conscripts who refused to fight. It was also used to imprison some conscientious objectors who refused to accept army discipline and participate in the war in any way. These included the "Richmond Sixteen" who were taken to France from the castle, charged under Field Regulations, and then sentenced to death, but their death sentences were commuted to ten years' hard labour.
The original 11th-century main gate arch is now in the basement of the later 12th century keep which was built in front of it; the original arch was unblocked in the 19th century.
The castle is a scheduled monument, a "nationally important" historic building and archaeological site which has been given protection against unauthorised change. It is also a Grade I listed building.
According to legend, King Arthur and his knights are sleeping in a cave underneath the castle. It is said that they were once discovered by a potter named Thompson, who ran away when they began to awake. Another legend tells that a drummer boy was lost while investigating a tunnel, and that his ghostly drumming is sometimes heard around the castle.
The cell block at the castle contains 2,300 examples of graffiti left by those imprisoned there, from the mid-nineteenth century to the 1970s. Perhaps the most significant of the mark makers were the Richmond Sixteen, who were conscientious objectors imprisoned there during the First World War.
Alan Rufus, alternatively Alanus Rufus (Latin), Alan ar Rouz (Breton), Alain le Roux (French) or Alan the Red (c. 1040 – 1093), 1st Lord of Richmond, was a Breton nobleman, kinsman and companion of William the Conqueror (Duke William II of Normandy) during the Norman Conquest of England. He was the second son of Eozen Penteur (also known as Eudon, Eudo or Odo, Count of Penthièvre) by Orguen Kernev (also known as Agnes of Cornouaille).[b] William the Conqueror granted Alan Rufus a significant English fief, later known as the Honour of Richmond, in about 1071.
Biography
Alan Rufus is first mentioned as a witness (along with his mother Orguen and brothers Gausfridus, Willelmus, Rotbertus, Ricardus) to a charter dated to 1056/1060, issued by his father Eozen to the Abbey of Saint-Aubin in Angers (q.v. Albinus of Angers).
Alan already held some property in Rouen, the capital of Normandy, and was lord of Richemont in Upper Normandy before September 1066. In 1066 or 1067, William of Normandy assented to the gift by Alan Comes (i.e. Alan Rufus) to St-Ouen de Rouen of the church of Saint-Sauveur without Rouen, and of the nearby church of Sainte Croix des Pelletiers, which had been his gift to Alan.
Alan was probably present at the Battle of Hastings in October 1066. On the journey to the battle site near Hastings, the Breton forces formed the vanguard, arriving a good half-hour before the rest of William's army. In the battle formation, Bretons are mentioned variously as in the left-wing or in the rear-guard of the army. Geoffrey Gaimar's L'Estoire des Engles and Wace's Roman de Rou both assert Alan Rufus's presence as Breton commander in the battle,[c] and praise his contribution: Gaimar says "Alan and his men struck well" and Wace states that they did the English "great damage".
A column of Norman cavalry swept into the Cambridge area in late 1066 and built a castle on the hill just north of the river crossing. Alan's first possessions in England were in Cambridgeshire, so he may have obtained them about this time. The Cambridgeshire town of Bourn, west of Cambridge and due north of London, along with several other towns in the area were according to the Domesday Book held in 1066 by the royal thane Almer of Bourn as a tenant of Edith the Fair. Alan's early acquisitions in England included many land titles that had been in the possession of King Harold's wife Edith the Fair, including all but one of her holdings in Cambridgeshire) Alan later favored Almer by giving him two additional manors.
In 1067, Alan witnessed a charter of King William to the monks of St Peter's at Westminster.
In January 1069, Earl Edwin in Yorkshire and his brother Earl Morcar in Northumberland rebelled. In late 1069, the King brought an army north to combat the rebels and recover York. According to the Register of Richmond, it was at the instigation of Queen Matilda, during the Siege of York, that King William conceded to Alan the Honour of Richmond (the Hundred of the "Land of Count Alan" in Yorkshire) in North Yorkshire. Unusually, within the land of Count Alan, King William himself and his half-brother Robert, Count of Mortain received only one manor each: William sharing one with Alan at Ainderby Steeple, on the eastern fringe of the Land, while Robert held one on its southern edge. The wording of the proclamation is:
Ego Wil(el)mus cognomine Bastardus Rex Anglie do et concedo tibi Nepoti meo Alano Britannie Comiti et heredibus tuis imperpetuum omnes uillas et terras que nuper fuerunt Comitis Edwyni in Eboraschira cum feodis Militum et ecclesiis et aliis libertat(ibus) et consuetudinibus ita libere et honorifice sicut idem Edwinus ea tenuit. Dat(um) in obsidione coram Ciuitate Ebor(aci).
Philemon Holland's English translation of William Camden's "Brittania" (1607) renders the proclamation:
I William surnamed Bastard, King of England, doe give and grant unto thee my Nephew[d] Alane Earle of Britaine, and to thine heires for ever, all and every the manour houses and lands which late belonged to Earle Eadwine in Yorkeshire, with the knights fees and other liberties and customes, as freely and in as honorable wise as the said Eadwin held the same. Given at our leaguer before the City of Yorke.
Alan Rufus began construction on Richmond Castle in 1071, to be the principal manor and center of his honour. As the first constable of his new castle, Alan chose Enisant Musard, the husband of one of his half-sisters. Richmond Castle overlooks the old Roman fort at Catterick, North Yorkshire. Alan's properties extended over the entire length of Earningas Street, the old Roman road from London to the North, heading to Edinburgh; this road was renamed Ermine Street.
In folklore, Alan has an association with King Arthur: in the tale of Potter Thompson, Arthur and his knights are said to lie at rest under Richmond Castle.
In Richmondshire, the Domesday Book's "Land of Count Alan", many of the Anglo-Dane lords, or their heirs, were retained in their pre-1066 positions of authority. The locations where this was done were complementary to those owned by the deceased Edwin, Earl of Mercia, whereas many of those where Edwin had been Overlord were given to Alan's Breton relatives: his half-brothers Ribald, Lord of Middleham, Bodin, Lord of Bedale, and Bardolf, Lord of Ravensworth, and their wet-nurse, Orwen. Other tenants of Alan in Yorkshire were English lords from East Anglia.
In the 1080s, Alan witnessed several documents of King William in England and Ghent, and one of Queen Matilda in England.
For the period from about 1083-1086 (the exact dates are uncertain) the formidable Sainte-Suzanne Castle was besieged by the king's army. King William I established a fortified camp at Beugy, about 800 metres north of the castle, manned by William's best household knights under the command of Alan Rufus. The siege did not go well, the castle proving to be well-defended. Wealthy Norman and English lords were frequently captured. After a year, Alan handed command to another Breton, who was later slain, along with many of the king's knights, aggrieving William sufficiently to come to terms with the commander of the castle.
It is likely that Alan was with King William I and the other members of the King's Council at Gloucester in Christmas 1085 when they discussed preparations for the extensive survey of England, later known as the Domesday Survey. On this survey was based the Domesday Book, which comprises two volumes, Little Domesday and Great Domesday.
Through 1086, Alan and Robert of Mortain attended on King William, e.g. at Fécamp in Normandy and in Wiltshire in south-west England.
By 1086 Alan had become one of the richest and most powerful men of England. Alan is mentioned as a lord or tenant-in-chief in 1,017 entries of the Domesday Book, behind only King William I and Robert, Count of Mortain in the number of holdings. The most powerful magnate in East Anglia and Yorkshire, he also possessed property in London, in Normandy (e.g. in Rouen and Richemont), and in Brittany. Alan Rufus is third (not including the King and his immediate family) among the barons in terms of annual income, which was about £1,200. His income in the year of his death, 1093, was £1,100.
Alan donated large sums to a number of religious houses, but most famously founded, with King William II, the Benedictine St Mary's Abbey in York in early 1088.
Alan was among the first four magnates to support William II of England against the Rebellion of 1088 in favour of the Duke of Normandy, Robert Curthose. The uprising was led by the recently freed Odo, Earl of Kent, Bishop of Bayeux, and joined by several major magnates. Beginning in March 1088, Alan was granted additional territory by King William from the confiscated lands of his neighbours who had rebelled. In or before 1089, Alan Rufus issued a charter at Rochester, Kent, Bishop Odo's former principal manor.
William de St-Calais had been in the army led by the king against Bishop Odo, but suddenly fled north to his castle at Durham. After the rebellion was defeated, Roger of Poitou, Alan Rufus, Odo of Champagne, and Walter d'Aincourt were sent to persuade St-Calais to surrender. After a lengthy parley during which they waited outside the castle, St-Calais agreed to surrender his person and stand trial, but only once they signed a complex document promising safe conduct before, during, and after the trial. Alan Rufus played a significant role in the subsequent trial of St-Calais, which commenced on 2 November 1088 at Salisbury in Wiltshire.
Wilmart's interpretation is that in exchange for St-Calais agreeing to submit to the King's judgement, Alan and the other royal officers signed a document guaranteeing St-Calais's safety before and after the trial. When St-Calais cited this in court, there was uproar, but Alan calmly confirmed St-Calais's statement and then said that if there were any fault here, it was his (Alan's). Alan concluded by begging the king not to attempt to coerce him into committing perjury; otherwise, he (Alan) would believe himself obliged to refuse to serve the king.
St-Calais was held in custody at Wilton Abbey until 14 November. Alan escorted St-Calais to Southampton to await passage to Normandy and exile.
According to Christopher Clarkson, in 1089 Count Alan persuaded King William II to convene ("assemble") England's very first "High Court of Parliament" ("under that name") at York.
Saint Anselm, in two letters addressed (perhaps in 1093–1094) to Gunnhild the youngest daughter of King Harold II and Edith the Fair, reprimanded her for abandoning her vocation as a nun at Wilton Abbey to live with Alan Rufus, intending to marry him, and after his death living with his brother Alan Niger ("the Black"). The historian Richard Sharpe has theorised that Matilda d'Aincourt, wife of Walter d'Aincourt, was the natural daughter of Alan Rufus and Gunnhild. In the same article, Sharpe also cited Trevor Foulds's suggestion that Matilda may have been a daughter of King William I and Queen Matilda; although Orderic Vitalis does not mention her name in his list of their daughters, Domesday does name a "Matilda, the King's daughter".
Wilmart thought Alan Rufus's death was sudden and unexpected. There are conflicting sources for the year of its occurrence. Two medieval sources (the 12th century Margam Annals and Stephen of Whitby's brief history of St Mary's, York) indicate that he died in 1089 or shortly thereafter, but scholars have concluded that 1093, perhaps on 4 August, is more likely. His body was transported to the abbey at Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk where he was buried in the cemetery outside the south door. Subsequently, his family and the monks of the Abbey of St Mary in York succeeded in their petition to have him reburied inside Bury Abbey.
Alan Rufus died childless. As Lord of Richmond, Alan Rufus was succeeded by his younger brothers: Alan Niger who also died without issue, followed by Stephen, Count of Tréguier.
Other activities of Count Alan Rufus
Beneath Richmond Castle, Alan founded the town of Richmond, North Yorkshire. He also built the original manor house of Costessey Hall, Alan's caput at Costessey in Norfolk, on the north side of the River Tud in Costessey Park.
Other media
In 2019 Magneto dayo Released a song titled "Alan Rufus" referencing the Count.
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.
The charity states that it uses these properties to "bring the story of England to life for over 10 million people each year". Within its portfolio are Stonehenge, Dover Castle, Tintagel Castle and the best preserved parts of Hadrian's Wall. English Heritage also manages the London blue plaque scheme, which links influential historical figures to particular buildings.
When originally formed in 1983, English Heritage was the operating name of an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government, officially titled the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England, that ran the national system of heritage protection and managed a range of historic properties. It was created to combine the roles of existing bodies that had emerged from a long period of state involvement in heritage protection. In 1999, the organisation merged with the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England and the National Monuments Record, bringing together resources for the identification and survey of England's historic environment.
On 1 April 2015, English Heritage was divided into two parts: Historic England, which inherited the statutory and protection functions of the old organisation, and the new English Heritage Trust, a charity that would operate the historic properties, and which took on the English Heritage operating name and logo. The British government gave the new charity an £80 million grant to help establish it as an independent trust, although the historic properties remain in the ownership of the state.
History
Non-departmental public body
Over the centuries, what is now called "heritage" has been the responsibility of a series of state departments. There was the "Kings Works" after the Norman Conquest, the Office of Works (1378–1832), the Office of Woods, Forests, Land Revenues and Works (1832–1851), and the Ministry of Works (1851–1962). Responsibility subsequently transferred to the Ministry of Public Building and Works (1962–1970), then to the Department of the Environment (1970–1997), and it is now with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The state's legal responsibility for the historic environment goes back to the Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882. The central government subsequently developed several systems of heritage protection for different types of assets, introducing listing for buildings after World War II, and for conservation areas in the 1960s.
In 1983, Secretary of State for the Environment Michael Heseltine gave national responsibility for the historic environment to a semi‑autonomous agency (or "quango") to operate under ministerial guidelines and to government policy. The Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission was formed under the terms of the National Heritage Act 1983 on 1 April 1984. The 1983 Act also dissolved the bodies that had previously provided independent advice – the Ancient Monuments Board for England and the Historic Buildings Council for England – and incorporated those functions into the new body. Soon after, the commission was given the operating name of English Heritage by its first chairman, Lord Montagu of Beaulieu.
A national register of historic parks and gardens, (e.g. Rangers House, Greenwich) was set up in 1984, and a register for historic battlefields (e.g. the Battle of Tewkesbury) was created in March 1995. 'Registration' is a material consideration in the planning process. In April 1999 English Heritage merged with the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (RCHME) and the National Monuments Record (NMR), bringing together resources for the identification and survey of England's historic environment. By adoption, that included responsibility for the national record of archaeological sites from the Ordnance Survey, the National Library of Aerial Photographs, and two million RAF and Ordnance Survey aerial photographs. Those, together with other nationally important external acquisitions, meant that English Heritage was one of the largest publicly accessible archives in the UK: 2.53 million records are available online, including more than 426,000 images. In 2010–11, it recorded 4.3 million unique online user sessions and over 110,000 people visited NMR exhibitions held around the country in 2009–10. In 2012, the section responsible for archive collections was renamed the English Heritage Archive.
As a result of the National Heritage Act 2002, English Heritage acquired administrative responsibility for historic wrecks and submerged landscapes within 12 miles (19 km) of the English coast. The administration of the listed building system was transferred from DCMS to English Heritage in 2006. However, actual listing decisions still remained the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, who was required by the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 to approve a list of buildings of special architectural or historic interest.
Following the Public Bodies Reform in 2010, English Heritage was confirmed as the government's statutory adviser on the historic environment, and the largest source of non-lottery grant funding for heritage assets. It was retained on grounds of "performing a technical function which should remain independent from Government". However, the department also suffered from budget cuts during the recession of the 2010s, resulting in a repairs deficit of £100 million