NASA's Jupiter-bound Juno spacecraft will carry the 1.5-inch likeness of Galileo Galilei, the Roman gods Juno and Jupiter. These 1:1 scale minifigures are precision milled aluminum (at a reported cost of $5,000 USD each) and will soon go where no minifig has gone before. Weather-permitting, liftoff is scheduled for Friday, August 5, 2011 at 11:34 a.m. EDT.

More info at: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/main/index.html and www.legospace.com/

image from: photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/

(psst: Hey LEGO Group... How about making these available in ABS as a retail set?)

Handcrafted 1:12 Scale Miniature 1940's General Store.

This is my scale model of this year's Ferrari F1 car. Like the real one, this SF16-H is an evolution of last year's SF15-T.

 

Compared to last year's car, I have tried to make the shape more accurate by increasing the wheelbase by one stud, moving the sidepods forward by one stud, and including a slight rake angle. This allows for a more "coke bottle" shape of the rear half of the car. There are many other small changes, so I have made interactive slider comparison images which can be viewed here.

 

Please support this project on LEGO Ideas

If I receive 10,000 supports, this could become an official LEGO set. Click here to support. Thanks!

In 1971, like today, American's lived in a big country. Like today, Americans were bigger than pretty much anyone from any other country - though, not as big as they are today.

 

What they did have, was large families. This was the outworking of the 'baby boom' - a big population spike after the end of WWII. Fast forward 25 years, and you hit the peak of the baby-boomers baby-producing years. You will find quite a lot of LUGNutters born in 1971, or thereabouts (self included).

 

America was still pretty optimistic. Gas was cheap. Americans were rich (if you were white), and cars were big, and cheap.

 

So why not have a whole bunch of kids.

 

Of course, you need to drive them around to all the privileged white-kid activities, and the ride of choice was a full-size wagon. Ford would cater to your middle-class kid-carrying needs with any number of wagons. If you wanted to travel in luxury and style - it would be in the Country Squire, part of the LTD full-size, upmarket line for 1971.

 

Three seats in the front. 3-seats in the back row, and a jump seat on either side of the luggage compartment gave you room for 8. Or ten, if you buddied up in the trunk. Not that we are endorsing 8-kid familes (which did exist), but you could bring a friend or two on a family outing.

 

Country Squire weighed in at a not inconsiderable 4,500 lbs (2040 kg) on its 121 in wheelbase. Add 8 people and you are looking at about 6,000 lbs. You're going to need a lot of engine.

 

Luckily for 1971 there were a few to choose from, starting with a 351 CID (5.8 L) Windsor V8 with 240 bhp. Followed by a 402 CID (6.6 L) and 429 CID (7.0 L) big-blocks with 255 bhp and 365 bhp respectively.

 

Yowzers!

 

Fully 130,644 Country Squire wagons were sold in 1971.

 

All the down-sizing and fuel crisis issues to follow would mean that the 1979 'small' Country Squire wagon would sell 30,000 units, dropping to less than 10,000 per year thereafter.

 

This Lego miniland scale 1971 Ford LTD Country Squire Wagon has been created for Flickr LUGNuts' 99th Build Challenge - "Land Yachts" - a challenge to build a vehicle meeting the typical definition of a land yacht - a very large vehicle marketed to US consumers 1950 - 1980 fuel crisis.

 

LEGAL NOTICE © protected work • All Rights reserved! © Egger photographer retains ownership and all copyrights in this work.

 

No use of this image is allowed without photographer’s express prior permission and subject to compensation • no work-for-hire

 

licence | please contact me to obtain prior a license and to buy the rights to use and publish this photo. A licensing usage agreed upon with ▻ Bernard Egger is the only usage granted !

 

photographer | ▻ Bernard Egger profile.. • collections.. • sets..

classic sports cars | vintage motorcycles | Oldtimer Grand Prix

 

category | Minichamps scale 1/12 motorcycle - item # 122781212

📷 | 1978 Ducati 900SS IOM TT Hailwood :: rumoto images 5673

 

MINICHAMPS models are the world renowned classic motorcycle models of exceptional highly quality and detail. These 1/12 fully die cast models are with many working parts. Most of these high-quality and very rare models were only available in limited quantities and have been out of stock for a long time.

----

MINICHAMPS-Modelle sind die weltberühmten klassischen Motorradmodelle von außergewöhnlich hoher Qualität und Detailtreue. Diese 1:12 Volldruckgussmodelle sind mit vielen funktionierenden Teilen. Die meisten dieser hochwertigen und sehr seltenen Modelle waren nur limitiert verfügbar und sind seit langer Zeit bereits vergriffen.

 

Ducati 900 Racer Mike Hailwood - winner TT 'Isle of Man'

In the history of Ducati, the second of June 1978 is a historical date. This was the day when the nine-fold world champion Mike Hailwood won the Tourist Trophy on a Ducati 900 SS on the legendary Isle of Man. In the world's most difficult road race, 'Mike the Bike' beat Phil Read on his Honda, which put him in a position to celebrate a magnificent comeback - following his withdrawal from racing in 1967. 44 years after his triumph, this race has remained vivid in the memories of all Mike Hailwood and Ducati fans.

Ava Jhamin For

 

HILLY HAALAN

 

"Aqua Hoodie Dress"

"Aqua Minnie Headband"

"Aqua Minnie Mouse HandBag"

"Aqua Tip Toe Tennis Shoes"

 

I put this on, and said where else could I go but to DisneyLand. So I packed up my minnie mouse handbag with lindens and off I went, to enjoy the day and take some pics of this cutieful outft.

 

What is honestly not to love about it, the minnie ears, the fun tennis shows and added Glitter's tennis show nails.

 

It was a fun day and on Ava's Scale from 1-10 for fun a 10.

 

sTyLeOn.......

19th century playscale miniature kitchen inspired by the Small House at Old Sturbridge Village, MA

 

Fireplace: made by me (egg cartons, wood, grout, paint, glue)

Fire: made by me (sticks, paint, glue, battery votive candle)

All wooden furniture: flea market finds

Floor, walls: scrap book paper

Window: 1:12 scale, spray painted

Scene through window: vintage paint by number cardboard

Herbs: from my garden

Squash on mantle and pumpkin in bowl: I made them from Fimo

Greens in basket and on cutting board: dry moss

Minis and food: a real mix of stuff (Rement, 1:!2 scale dollhouse, Deluxe Reading kitchen, flea market/thrifty finds)

Some background:

The VF-1 was developed by Stonewell/Bellcom/Shinnakasu for the U.N. Spacy by using alien Overtechnology obtained from the SDF-1 Macross alien spaceship. Its production was preceded by an aerodynamic proving version of its airframe, the VF-X. Unlike all later VF vehicles, the VF-X was strictly a jet aircraft, built to demonstrate that a jet fighter with the features necessary to convert to Battroid mode was aerodynamically feasible. After the VF-X's testing was finished, an advanced concept atmospheric-only prototype, the VF-0 Phoenix, was flight-tested from 2005 to 2007 and briefly served as an active-duty fighter from 2007 to the VF-1's rollout in late 2008, while the bugs were being worked out of the full-up VF-1 prototype (VF-X-1).

 

The space-capable VF-1's combat debut was on February 7, 2009, during the Battle of South Ataria Island - the first battle of Space War I - and remained the mainstay fighter of the U.N. Spacy for the entire conflict. Introduced in 2008, the VF-1 would be out of frontline service just five years later, though.

 

The VF-1 proved to be an extremely capable craft, successfully combating a variety of Zentraedi mecha even in most sorties which saw UN Spacy forces significantly outnumbered. The versatility of the Valkyrie design enabled the variable fighter to act as both large-scale infantry and as air/space superiority fighter. The signature skills of U.N. Spacy ace pilot Maximilian Jenius exemplified the effectiveness of the variable systems as he near-constantly transformed the Valkyrie in battle to seize advantages of each mode as combat conditions changed from moment to moment.

 

The basic VF-1 was deployed in four sub-variants (designated A, D, J, and S) and its success was increased by continued development of various enhancements including the GBP-1S "Armored" Valkyrie, FAST Pack "Super" Valkyrie and the additional RÖ-X2 heavy cannon pack weapon system for the VF-1S for additional firepower. The FAST Pack system was designed to enhance the VF-1 Valkyrie variable fighter, and the initial V1.0 came in the form of conformal pallets that could be attached to the fighter’s leg flanks for additional fuel – primarily for Long Range Interdiction tasks in atmospheric environment. Later FAST Packs were designed for space operations.

 

After the end of Space War I, the VF-1 continued to be manufactured both in the Sol system and throughout the UNG space colonies. Although the VF-1 would be replaced in 2020 as the primary Variable Fighter of the U.N. Spacy by the more capable, but also much bigger, VF-4 Lightning III, a long service record and continued production after the war proved the lasting worth of the design.

The versatile aircraft underwent constant upgrade programs. For instance, about a third of all VF-1 Valkyries were upgraded with Infrared Search and Track (IRST) systems from 2016 onwards, placed in a streamlined fairing in front of the cockpit. This system allowed for long-range search and track modes, freeing the pilot from the need to give away his position with active radar emissions, and it could also be used for target illumination and guiding precision weapons.

Many Valkyries also received improved radar warning systems, with sensor arrays, depending on the systems, mounted on the wing-tips, on the fins and/or on the LERXs. Improved ECR measures were also added to some machines, typically in conformal fairings on the flanks of the legs/engine pods.

 

The U.N.S. Marine Corps, which evolved from the United States Marine Corps after the national service was transferred to the global U.N. Spacy command in 2008, was a late adopter of the VF-1, because the Valkyries’ as well as the Destroids’ potential for landing operations was underestimated. But especially the VF-1’s versatility and VTOL capabilities made it a perfect candidate as a replacement for the service’s AV-8B Harrier II and AH-1 Cobra fleet in the close air support (CAS) and interdiction role. The first VF-1s were taken into service in January 2010 by SVMF-49 “Vikings” at Miramar Air Base in California/USA, and other units followed soon, immediately joining the battle against the Zentraedi forces.

 

The UNSMC’s VF-1s were almost identical to the standard Valkyries, but they had from the start additional hardpoints for light loads like sensor pods added to their upper legs, on the lower corners of the air intake ducts. These were intended to carry FLIR, laser target designators (for respective guided smart weapons) or ECM pods, while freeing the swiveling underwing hardpoints to offensive ordnance.

 

Insisting on their independent heritage, the UNSMC’s Valkyries were never repainted in the U.N. Spacy’s standard tan and white livery. They either received a unique two tone low visibility gray paint scheme (the fighter units) or retained paint schemes that were typical for their former units, including some all-field green machines or VF-1s in a disruptive wraparound livery in grey, green and black.

Beyond A and J single-seaters (the UNSMC did not receive the premium S variant), a handful of VF-1D two-seaters were upgraded to the UNSMC’s specification and very effectively operated in the FAC (Forward Air Control) role, guiding both long-range artillery as well as attack aircraft against enemy positions.

 

The UNSMC’s VF-1s suffered heavy losses, though – for instance, SVMF-49 was completely wiped out during the so-called “Zentraedi Rain of Death” in April 2011, when the Zentraedi Imperial Grand Fleet, consisting of nearly five million warships, appeared in orbit around the Earth. Commanded by Dolza, Supreme Commander of the Zentraedi, they were ordered to incinerate the planet's surface, which they did. 70% of the Earth was utterly destroyed, according to the staff at Alaska Base. Dolza initially believed this to be total victory, until a massive energy pulse began to form on the Earth's surface. This was the Grand Cannon, a weapon of incredible destructive power that the Zentraedi were unaware of, and it disintegrated a good deal of the armada that was hanging over the Northern Hemisphere. While the Zentraedi were successful in rendering the weapon inoperable before it could fire a second time, the SDF-1 began a counterattack of its own alongside the renegade Imperial-Class Fleet and Seventh Mechanized Space Division, which destroyed the Imperial Grand Fleet. After this event, though, the UNSMC as well as other still independent services like the U.N. Navy were dissolved and the respective units integrated into the all-encompassing U.N. Spacy.

 

The VF-1 was without doubt the most recognizable variable fighter of Space War I and was seen as a vibrant symbol of the U.N. Spacy even into the first year of the New Era 0001 in 2013. At the end of 2015 the final rollout of the VF-1 was celebrated at a special ceremony, commemorating this most famous of variable fighters. The VF-1 Valkryie was built from 2006 to 2013 with a total production of 5,459 VF-1 variable fighters with several variants (VF-1A = 5,093, VF-1D = 85, VF-1J = 49, VF-1S = 30, VF-1G = 12, VE-1 = 122, VT-1 = 68)

 

However, the fighter remained active in many second line units and continued to show its worthiness years later, e. g. through Milia Jenius who would use her old VF-1 fighter in defense of the colonization fleet - 35 years after the type's service introduction!

 

General characteristics:

All-environment variable fighter and tactical combat Battroid,

used by U.N. Spacy, U.N. Navy, U.N. Space Air Force and U.N.S. Marine Corps

 

Accommodation:

Pilot only in Marty & Beck Mk-7 zero/zero ejection seat

 

Dimensions:

Fighter Mode:

Length 14.23 meters

Wingspan 14.78 meters (at 20° minimum sweep)

Height 3.84 meters

Battroid Mode:

Height 12.68 meters

Width 7.3 meters

Length 4.0 meters

Empty weight: 13.25 metric tons;

Standard T-O mass: 18.5 metric tons;

MTOW: 37.0 metric tons

 

Power Plant:

2x Shinnakasu Heavy Industry/P&W/Roice FF-2001 thermonuclear reaction turbine engines, output 650 MW each, rated at 11,500 kg in standard or 225.63 kN in overboost

4x Shinnakasu Heavy Industry NBS-1 high-thrust vernier thrusters (1 x counter reverse vernier thruster nozzle mounted on the side of each leg nacelle/air intake, 1 x wing thruster roll control system on each wingtip)

18x P&W LHP04 low-thrust vernier thrusters beneath multipurpose hook/handles

 

Performance:

Battroid Mode: maximum walking speed 160 km/h

Fighter Mode: at 10,000 m Mach 2.71; at 30,000+ m Mach 3.87

g limit: in space +7

Thrust-to-weight ratio: empty 3.47; standard T-O 2.49; maximum T-O 1.24

 

Design Features:

3-mode variable transformation; variable geometry wing; vertical take-off and landing; control-configurable vehicle; single-axis thrust vectoring; three "magic hand" manipulators for maintenance use; retractable canopy shield for Battroid mode and atmospheric reentry; option of GBP-1S system, atmospheric-escape booster, or FAST Pack system

 

Transformation:

Standard time from Fighter to Battroid (automated): under 5 sec.

Min. time from Fighter to Battroid (manual): 0.9 sec.

 

Armament:

2x Mauler RÖV-20 anti-aircraft laser cannon, firing 6,000 pulses per minute

1x Howard GU-11 55 mm three-barrel Gatling gun pod with 200 RPG, fired at 1,200 rds/min

4x underwing hard points for a wide variety of ordnance, including…

12x AMM-1 hybrid guided multipurpose missiles (3/point), or

12x MK-82 LDGB conventional bombs (3/point), or

6x RMS-1 large anti-ship reaction missiles (2/outboard point, 1/inboard point), or

4x UUM-7 micro-missile pods (1/point) each carrying 15 x Bifors HMM-01 micro-missiles,

or a combination of above load-outs

2x auxiliary hardpoints on the legs for light loads like a FLIR sensor, laser rangefinder/

target designator or ECM pod (typically not used for offensive ordnance)

  

The kit and its assembly:

This fictional VF-1 was born from spontaneous inspiration and the question if the USMC could have adopted the Valkyrie within the Macross time frame and applied its rather special grey/green/black paint scheme from the Nineties that was carried by AH-1s, CH-46s and also some OV-10s.

 

The model is a simple, vintage ARII VF-1 in Fighter mode, in this case a VF-1D two-seater that received the cockpit section and the head unit from a VF-1J Gerwalk model to create a single seater. While the parts are interchangeable, the Gerwalk and the Fighter kit have different molds for the cockpit sections and the canopies, too. This is mostly evident through the lack of a front landing gear well under the Gerwalk's cockpit - I had to "carve" a suitable opening into the bottom of the nose, but that was not a problem.

The kit was otherwiese built OOB, with the landing gear down and (finally, after the scenic flight pictures) with an open canopy for final display among the rest of my VF-1 fleet. However, I added some non-canonical small details like small hardpoints on the upper legs and the FLIR and targeting pods on them, scratched from styrene bits.

 

The ordnance was changed from twelve AMM-1 missiles under the wings to something better suited for attack missions. Finding suitable material became quite a challenge, though. I eventually settled on a pair of large laser-guided smart bombs and two pairs of small air-to-ground missile clusters. The LGBs are streamlined 1:72 2.000 lb general purpose bombs, IIRC from a Hobby Boss F-5E kit, and the launch tubes were scratched from a pair of Bazooka starters from an Academy 1:72 P-51 kit. The ventral standard GU-11 pod was retained and modified to hold a scratched wire display for in-flight pictures at its rear end.

 

Some blade antennae were added around the hull as a standard measure to improve the simple kit’s look. The cockpit was taken OOB, I just added a pilot figure for the scenic shots and the thick canopy was later mounted on a small lift arm in open position.

 

Painting and markings:

Adapting the characteristic USMC three-tone paint scheme for the VF-1 was not easy; I used the symmetric pattern from the AH-1s as starting point for the fuselage and gradually evolved it onto the wings into an asymmetric free-form pattern, making sure that the areas where low-viz roundels and some vital stencils would sit on grey for good contrast and readability. The tones became authentic: USMC Field Green (FS 34095, Humbrol 105), USN Medium Grey (FS 35237, Humbrol 145) and black (using Revell 06 Tar Black, which is a very dark grey and not pure black). For some contrast the wings' leading edges were painted with a sand brown/yellow (Humbrol 94).

 

The landing gear became standard white (Revell 301), the cockpit interior medium grey (Revell 47) with a black ejection seat with brown cushions, and the air intakes as well as the interior of the VG wings dark grey (Revell 77). To set the camouflaged nose radome apart I gave it a slightly different shade of green. The GU-11 pod became bare metal (Revell 91). The LGBs were painted olive drab overall while the AGMs became light grey.

 

Roundels as well as the UNSMC and unit tags were printed at home in black on clear decal sheet. The unit markings came from an Academy OV-10. The modex came from an 1:72 Revell F8F sheet. Stencils becvame eitrher black or white to keep the low-viz look, just a few tiny color highlights bereak the camouflage up. Some of the characteristic vernier thrusters around the hull are also self-made decals.

Finally, after some typical details and position lights were added with clear paint over a silver base, the small VF-1 was sealed with a coat of matt acrylic varnish.

  

A spontaneous interim project - and the UMSC's three-tone paint scheme suits the VF-1 well, which might have been a very suitable aircraft for this service and its mission profiles. I am still a bit uncertain about the camouflage's effectiveness, though - yes, it's disruptive, but the color contrasts are so high that a hiding effect seems very poor, even though I find that the scheme works well over urban terrain? It's fictional, though, and even though there are canonical U.N.S. Marines VF-1s to be found in literature, none I came across so far carried this type of livery.

Bergen, historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. As of 2022, its population was roughly 289,330. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway after national capital Oslo. The municipality covers 465 square kilometres (180 sq mi) and is located on the peninsula of Bergenshalvøyen. The city centre and northern neighbourhoods are on Byfjorden, 'the city fjord'. The city is surrounded by mountains, causing Bergen to be called the "city of seven mountains". Many of the extra-municipal suburbs are on islands. Bergen is the administrative centre of Vestland county. The city consists of eight boroughs: Arna, Bergenhus, Fana, Fyllingsdalen, Laksevåg, Ytrebygda, Årstad, and Åsane.

 

Trading in Bergen may have started as early as the 1020s. According to tradition, the city was founded in 1070 by King Olav Kyrre and was named Bjørgvin, 'the green meadow among the mountains'. It served as Norway's capital in the 13th century, and from the end of the 13th century became a bureau city of the Hanseatic League. Until 1789, Bergen enjoyed exclusive rights to mediate trade between Northern Norway and abroad, and it was the largest city in Norway until the 1830s when it was overtaken by the capital, Christiania (now known as Oslo). What remains of the quays, Bryggen, is a World Heritage Site. The city was hit by numerous fires over the years. The Bergen School of Meteorology was developed at the Geophysical Institute starting in 1917, the Norwegian School of Economics was founded in 1936, and the University of Bergen in 1946. From 1831 to 1972, Bergen was its own county. In 1972 the municipality absorbed four surrounding municipalities and became a part of Hordaland county.

 

The city is an international centre for aquaculture, shipping, the offshore petroleum industry and subsea technology, and a national centre for higher education, media, tourism and finance. Bergen Port is Norway's busiest in terms of both freight and passengers, with over 300 cruise ship calls a year bringing nearly a half a million passengers to Bergen, a number that has doubled in 10 years. Almost half of the passengers are German or British. The city's main football team is SK Brann and a unique tradition of the city is the buekorps, which are traditional marching neighbourhood youth organisations. Natives speak a distinct dialect, known as Bergensk. The city features Bergen Airport, Flesland and Bergen Light Rail, and is the terminus of the Bergen Line. Four large bridges connect Bergen to its suburban municipalities.

 

Bergen has a mild winter climate, though with significant precipitation. From December to March, Bergen can, in rare cases, be up to 20 °C warmer than Oslo, even though both cities are at about 60° North. In summer however, Bergen is several degrees cooler than Oslo due to the same maritime effects. The Gulf Stream keeps the sea relatively warm, considering the latitude, and the mountains protect the city from cold winds from the north, north-east and east.

 

History

Hieronymus Scholeus's impression of Bergen. The drawing was made in about 1580 and was published in an atlas with drawings of many different cities (Civitaes orbis terrarum).

The city of Bergen was traditionally thought to have been founded by king Olav Kyrre, son of Harald Hardråde in 1070 AD, four years after the Viking Age in England ended with the Battle of Stamford Bridge. Modern research has, however, discovered that a trading settlement had already been established in the 1020s or 1030s.

 

Bergen gradually assumed the function of capital of Norway in the early 13th century, as the first city where a rudimentary central administration was established. The city's cathedral was the site of the first royal coronation in Norway in the 1150s, and continued to host royal coronations throughout the 13th century. Bergenhus fortress dates from the 1240s and guards the entrance to the harbour in Bergen. The functions of the capital city were lost to Oslo during the reign of King Haakon V (1299–1319).

 

In the middle of the 14th century, North German merchants, who had already been present in substantial numbers since the 13th century, founded one of the four Kontore of the Hanseatic League at Bryggen in Bergen. The principal export traded from Bergen was dried cod from the northern Norwegian coast, which started around 1100. The city was granted a monopoly for trade from the north of Norway by King Håkon Håkonsson (1217–1263). Stockfish was the main reason that the city became one of North Europe's largest centres for trade.[11] By the late 14th century, Bergen had established itself as the centre of the trade in Norway. The Hanseatic merchants lived in their own separate quarter of the town, where Middle Low German was used, enjoying exclusive rights to trade with the northern fishermen who each summer sailed to Bergen. The Hansa community resented Scottish merchants who settled in Bergen, and on 9 November 1523 several Scottish households were targeted by German residents. Today, Bergen's old quayside, Bryggen, is on UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites.

 

In 1349, the Black Death was brought to Norway by an English ship arriving in Bergen. Later outbreaks occurred in 1618, 1629 and 1637, on each occasion taking about 3,000 lives. In the 15th century, the city was attacked several times by the Victual Brothers, and in 1429 they succeeded in burning the royal castle and much of the city. In 1665, the city's harbour was the site of the Battle of Vågen, when an English naval flotilla attacked a Dutch merchant and treasure fleet supported by the city's garrison. Accidental fires sometimes got out of control, and one in 1702 reduced most of the town to ashes.

 

Throughout the 15th and 16th centuries, Bergen remained one of the largest cities in Scandinavia, and it was Norway's biggest city until the 1830s, being overtaken by the capital city of Oslo. From around 1600, the Hanseatic dominance of the city's trade gradually declined in favour of Norwegian merchants (often of Hanseatic ancestry), and in the 1750s, the Kontor, or major trading post of the Hanseatic League, finally closed. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Bergen was involved in the Atlantic slave trade. Bergen-based slave trader Jørgen Thormøhlen, the largest shipowner in Norway, was the main owner of the slave ship Cornelia, which made two slave-trading voyages in 1673 and 1674 respectively; he also developed the city's industrial sector, particularly in the neighbourhood of Møhlenpris, which is named after him. Bergen retained its monopoly of trade with northern Norway until 1789. The Bergen stock exchange, the Bergen børs, was established in 1813.

 

Modern history

Bergen was separated from Hordaland as a county of its own in 1831. It was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The rural municipality of Bergen landdistrikt was merged with Bergen on 1 January 1877. The rural municipality of Årstad was merged with Bergen on 1 July 1915.

 

During World War II, Bergen was occupied on the first day of the German invasion on 9 April 1940, after a brief fight between German ships and the Norwegian coastal artillery. The Norwegian resistance movement groups in Bergen were Saborg, Milorg, "Theta-gruppen", Sivorg, Stein-organisasjonen and the Communist Party. On 20 April 1944, during the German occupation, the Dutch cargo ship Voorbode anchored off the Bergenhus Fortress, loaded with over 120 tons of explosives, and blew up, killing at least 150 people and damaging historic buildings. The city was subject to some Allied bombing raids, aimed at German naval installations in the harbour. Some of these caused Norwegian civilian casualties numbering about 100.

 

Bergen is also well known in Norway for the Isdal Woman (Norwegian: Isdalskvinnen), an unidentified person who was found dead at Isdalen ("Ice Valley") on 29 November 1970. The unsolved case encouraged international speculation over the years and it remains one of the most profound mysteries in recent Norwegian history.

 

The rural municipalities of Arna, Fana, Laksevåg, and Åsane were merged with Bergen on 1 January 1972. The city lost its status as a separate county on the same date, and Bergen is now a municipality, in the county of Vestland.

 

Fires

The city's history is marked by numerous great fires. In 1198, the Bagler faction set fire to the city in connection with a battle against the Birkebeiner faction during the civil war. In 1248, Holmen and Sverresborg burned, and 11 churches were destroyed. In 1413 another fire struck the city, and 14 churches were destroyed. In 1428 the city was plundered by the Victual Brothers, and in 1455, Hanseatic merchants were responsible for burning down Munkeliv Abbey. In 1476, Bryggen burned down in a fire started by a drunk trader. In 1582, another fire hit the city centre and Strandsiden. In 1675, 105 buildings burned down in Øvregaten. In 1686 another great fire hit Strandsiden, destroying 231 city blocks and 218 boathouses. The greatest fire in history was in 1702, when 90% of the city was burned to ashes. In 1751, there was a great fire at Vågsbunnen. In 1756, yet another fire at Strandsiden burned down 1,500 buildings, and further great fires hit Strandsiden in 1771 and 1901. In 1916, 300 buildings burned down in the city centre including the Swan pharmacy, the oldest pharmacy in Norway, and in 1955 parts of Bryggen burned down.

 

Toponymy

Bergen is pronounced in English /ˈbɜːrɡən/ or /ˈbɛərɡən/ and in Norwegian [ˈbæ̀rɡn̩] (in the local dialect [ˈbæ̂ʁɡɛn]). The Old Norse forms of the name were Bergvin [ˈberɡˌwin] and Bjǫrgvin [ˈbjɔrɡˌwin] (and in Icelandic and Faroese the city is still called Björgvin). The first element is berg (n.) or bjǫrg (n.), which translates as 'mountain(s)'. The last element is vin (f.), which means a new settlement where there used to be a pasture or meadow. The full meaning is then "the meadow among the mountains". This is a suitable name: Bergen is often called "the city among the seven mountains". It was the playwright Ludvig Holberg who felt so inspired by the seven hills of Rome, that he decided that his home town must be blessed with a corresponding seven mountains – and locals still argue which seven they are.

 

In 1918, there was a campaign to reintroduce the Norse form Bjørgvin as the name of the city. This was turned down – but as a compromise, the name of the diocese was changed to Bjørgvin bispedømme.

 

Bergen occupies most of the peninsula of Bergenshalvøyen in the district of Midthordland in mid-western Hordaland. The municipality covers an area of 465 square kilometres (180 square miles). Most of the urban area is on or close to a fjord or bay, although the urban area has several mountains. The city centre is surrounded by the Seven Mountains, although there is disagreement as to which of the nine mountains constitute these. Ulriken, Fløyen, Løvstakken and Damsgårdsfjellet are always included as well as three of Lyderhorn, Sandviksfjellet, Blåmanen, Rundemanen and Kolbeinsvarden. Gullfjellet is Bergen's highest mountain, at 987 metres (3,238 ft) above mean sea level. Bergen is far enough north that during clear nights at the solstice, there is borderline civil daylight in spite of the sun having set.

 

Bergen is sheltered from the North Sea by the islands Askøy, Holsnøy (the municipality of Meland) and Sotra (the municipalities of Fjell and Sund). Bergen borders the municipalities Alver and Osterøy to the north, Vaksdal and Samnanger to the east, Os (Bjørnafjorden) and Austevoll to the south, and Øygarden and Askøy to the west.

 

The city centre of Bergen lies in the west of the municipality, facing the fjord of Byfjorden. It is among a group of mountains known as the Seven Mountains, although the number is a matter of definition. From here, the urban area of Bergen extends to the north, west and south, and to its east is a large mountain massif. Outside the city centre and the surrounding neighbourhoods (i.e. Årstad, inner Laksevåg and Sandviken), the majority of the population lives in relatively sparsely populated residential areas built after 1950. While some are dominated by apartment buildings and modern terraced houses (e.g. Fyllingsdalen), others are dominated by single-family homes.

 

The oldest part of Bergen is the area around the bay of Vågen in the city centre. Originally centred on the bay's eastern side, Bergen eventually expanded west and southwards. Few buildings from the oldest period remain, the most significant being St Mary's Church from the 12th century. For several hundred years, the extent of the city remained almost constant. The population was stagnant, and the city limits were narrow. In 1702, seven-eighths of the city burned. Most of the old buildings of Bergen, including Bryggen (which was rebuilt in a mediaeval style), were built after the fire. The fire marked a transition from tar covered houses, as well as the remaining log houses, to painted and some brick-covered wooden buildings.

 

The last half of the 19th century saw a period of rapid expansion and modernisation. The fire of 1855 west of Torgallmenningen led to the development of regularly sized city blocks in this area of the city centre. The city limits were expanded in 1876, and Nygård, Møhlenpris and Sandviken were urbanized with large-scale construction of city blocks housing both the poor and the wealthy. Their architecture is influenced by a variety of styles; historicism, classicism and Art Nouveau. The wealthy built villas between Møhlenpris and Nygård, and on the side of Mount Fløyen; these areas were also added to Bergen in 1876. Simultaneously, an urbanization process was taking place in Solheimsviken in Årstad, at that time outside the Bergen municipality, centred on the large industrial activity in the area. The workers' homes in this area were poorly built, and little remains after large-scale redevelopment in the 1960s–1980s.

 

After Årstad became a part of Bergen in 1916, a development plan was applied to the new area. Few city blocks akin to those in Nygård and Møhlenpris were planned. Many of the worker class built their own homes, and many small, detached apartment buildings were built. After World War II, Bergen had again run short of land to build on, and, contrary to the original plans, many large apartment buildings were built in Landås in the 1950s and 1960s. Bergen acquired Fyllingsdalen from Fana municipality in 1955. Like similar areas in Oslo (e.g. Lambertseter), Fyllingsdalen was developed into a modern suburb with large apartment buildings, mid-rises, and some single-family homes, in the 1960s and 1970s. Similar developments took place beyond Bergen's city limits, for example in Loddefjord.

 

At the same time as planned city expansion took place inside Bergen, its extra-municipal suburbs also grew rapidly. Wealthy citizens of Bergen had been living in Fana since the 19th century, but as the city expanded it became more convenient to settle in the municipality. Similar processes took place in Åsane and Laksevåg. Most of the homes in these areas are detached row houses,[clarification needed] single family homes or small apartment buildings. After the surrounding municipalities were merged with Bergen in 1972, expansion has continued in largely the same manner, although the municipality encourages condensing near commercial centres, future Bergen Light Rail stations, and elsewhere.

 

As part of the modernisation wave of the 1950s and 1960s, and due to damage caused by World War II, the city government ambitiously planned redevelopment of many areas in central Bergen. The plans involved demolition of several neighbourhoods of wooden houses, namely Nordnes, Marken, and Stølen. None of the plans was carried out in its original form; the Marken and Stølen redevelopment plans were discarded and that of Nordnes only carried out in the area that had been most damaged by war. The city council of Bergen had in 1964 voted to demolish the entirety of Marken, however, the decision proved to be highly controversial and the decision was reversed in 1974. Bryggen was under threat of being wholly or partly demolished after the fire of 1955, when a large number of the buildings burned to the ground. Instead of being demolished, the remaining buildings were restored and accompanied by reconstructions of some of the burned buildings.

 

Demolition of old buildings and occasionally whole city blocks is still taking place, the most recent major example being the 2007 razing of Jonsvollskvartalet at Nøstet.

 

Billboards are banned in the city.

 

Culture and sports

Bergens Tidende (BT) and Bergensavisen (BA) are the largest newspapers, with circulations of 87,076 and 30,719 in 2006, BT is a regional newspaper covering all of Vestland, while BA focuses on metropolitan Bergen. Other newspapers published in Bergen include the Christian national Dagen, with a circulation of 8.936, and TradeWinds, an international shipping newspaper. Local newspapers are Fanaposten for Fana, Sydvesten for Laksevåg and Fyllingsdalen and Bygdanytt for Arna and the neighbouring municipality Osterøy. TV 2, Norway's largest private television company, is based in Bergen.

 

The 1,500-seat Grieg Hall is the city's main cultural venue, and home of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, founded in 1765, and the Bergen Woodwind Quintet. The city also features Carte Blanche, the Norwegian national company of contemporary dance. The annual Bergen International Festival is the main cultural festival, which is supplemented by the Bergen International Film Festival. Two internationally renowned composers from Bergen are Edvard Grieg and Ole Bull. Grieg's home, Troldhaugen, has been converted to a museum. During the 1990s and early 2000s, Bergen produced a series of successful pop, rock and black metal artists, collectively known as the Bergen Wave.

 

Den Nationale Scene is Bergen's main theatre. Founded in 1850, it had Henrik Ibsen as one of its first in-house playwrights and art directors. Bergen's contemporary art scene is centred on BIT Teatergarasjen, Bergen Kunsthall, United Sardines Factory (USF) and Bergen Center for Electronic Arts (BEK). Bergen was a European Capital of Culture in 2000. Buekorps is a unique feature of Bergen culture, consisting of boys aged from 7 to 21 parading with imitation weapons and snare drums. The city's Hanseatic heritage is documented in the Hanseatic Museum located at Bryggen.

 

SK Brann is Bergen's premier football team; founded in 1908, they have played in the (men's) Norwegian Premier League for all but seven years since 1963 and consecutively, except one season after relegation in 2014, since 1987. The team were the football champions in 1961–1962, 1963, and 2007,[155] and reached the quarter-finals of the Cup Winners' Cup in 1996–1997. Brann play their home games at the 17,824-seat Brann Stadion. FK Fyllingsdalen is the city's second-best team, playing in the Second Division at Varden Amfi. Its predecessor, Fyllingen, played in the Norwegian Premier League in 1990, 1991 and 1993. Arna-Bjørnar and Sandviken play in the Women's Premier League.

 

Bergen IK is the premier men's ice hockey team, playing at Bergenshallen in the First Division. Tertnes play in the Women's Premier Handball League, and Fyllingen in the Men's Premier Handball League. In athletics, the city is dominated by IL Norna-Salhus, IL Gular and FIK BFG Fana, formerly also Norrøna IL and TIF Viking. The Bergen Storm are an American football team that plays matches at Varden Kunstgress and plays in the second division of the Norwegian league.

 

Bergensk is the native dialect of Bergen. It was strongly influenced by Low German-speaking merchants from the mid-14th to mid-18th centuries. During the Dano-Norwegian period from 1536 to 1814, Bergen was more influenced by Danish than other areas of Norway. The Danish influence removed the female grammatical gender in the 16th century, making Bergensk one of very few Norwegian dialects with only two instead of three grammatical genders. The Rs are uvular trills, as in French, which probably spread to Bergen some time in the 18th century, overtaking the alveolar trill in the time span of two to three generations. Owing to an improved literacy rate, Bergensk was influenced by riksmål and bokmål in the 19th and 20th centuries. This led to large parts of the German-inspired vocabulary disappearing and pronunciations shifting slightly towards East Norwegian.

 

The 1986 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest took place in Bergen. Bergen was the host city for the 2017 UCI Road World Championships. The city is also a member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in the category of gastronomy since 2015.

 

Street art

Bergen is considered to be the street art capital of Norway. Famed artist Banksy visited the city in 2000 and inspired many to start creating street art. Soon after, the city brought up the most famous street artist in Norway: Dolk. His art can still be seen in several places in the city, and in 2009 the city council choose to preserve Dolk's work "Spray" with protective glass. In 2011, Bergen council launched a plan of action for street art in Bergen from 2011 to 2015 to ensure that "Bergen will lead the fashion for street art as an expression both in Norway and Scandinavia".

 

The Madam Felle (1831–1908) monument in Sandviken, is in honour of a Norwegian woman of German origin, who in the mid-19th century managed, against the will of the council, to maintain a counter of beer. A well-known restaurant of the same name is now situated at another location in Bergen. The monument was erected in 1990 by sculptor Kari Rolfsen, supported by an anonymous donor. Madam Felle, civil name Oline Fell, was remembered after her death in a popular song, possibly originally a folksong, "Kjenner Dokker Madam Felle?" by Lothar Lindtner and Rolf Berntzen on an album in 1977.

 

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway , is a Nordic , European country and an independent state in the west of the Scandinavian Peninsula . Geographically speaking, the country is long and narrow, and on the elongated coast towards the North Atlantic are Norway's well-known fjords . The Kingdom of Norway includes the main country (the mainland with adjacent islands within the baseline ), Jan Mayen and Svalbard . With these two Arctic areas, Norway covers a land area of ​​385,000 km² and has a population of approximately 5.5 million (2023). Mainland Norway borders Sweden in the east , Finland and Russia in the northeast .

 

Norway is a parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy , where Harald V has been king and head of state since 1991 , and Jonas Gahr Støre ( Ap ) has been prime minister since 2021 . Norway is a unitary state , with two administrative levels below the state: counties and municipalities . The Sami part of the population has, through the Sami Parliament and the Finnmark Act , to a certain extent self-government and influence over traditionally Sami areas. Although Norway has rejected membership of the European Union through two referendums , through the EEA Agreement Norway has close ties with the Union, and through NATO with the United States . Norway is a significant contributor to the United Nations (UN), and has participated with soldiers in several foreign operations mandated by the UN. Norway is among the states that have participated from the founding of the UN , NATO , the Council of Europe , the OSCE and the Nordic Council , and in addition to these is a member of the EEA , the World Trade Organization , the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and is part of the Schengen area .

 

Norway is rich in many natural resources such as oil , gas , minerals , timber , seafood , fresh water and hydropower . Since the beginning of the 20th century, these natural conditions have given the country the opportunity for an increase in wealth that few other countries can now enjoy, and Norwegians have the second highest average income in the world, measured in GDP per capita, as of 2022. The petroleum industry accounts for around 14% of Norway's gross domestic product as of 2018. Norway is the world's largest producer of oil and gas per capita outside the Middle East. However, the number of employees linked to this industry fell from approx. 232,000 in 2013 to 207,000 in 2015.

 

In Norway, these natural resources have been managed for socially beneficial purposes. The country maintains a welfare model in line with the other Nordic countries. Important service areas such as health and higher education are state-funded, and the country has an extensive welfare system for its citizens. Public expenditure in 2018 is approx. 50% of GDP, and the majority of these expenses are related to education, healthcare, social security and welfare. Since 2001 and until 2021, when the country took second place, the UN has ranked Norway as the world's best country to live in . From 2010, Norway is also ranked at the top of the EIU's democracy index . Norway ranks third on the UN's World Happiness Report for the years 2016–2018, behind Finland and Denmark , a report published in March 2019.

 

The majority of the population is Nordic. In the last couple of years, immigration has accounted for more than half of population growth. The five largest minority groups are Norwegian-Poles , Lithuanians , Norwegian-Swedes , Norwegian-Syrians including Syrian Kurds and Norwegian-Pakistani .

 

Norway's national day is 17 May, on this day in 1814 the Norwegian Constitution was dated and signed by the presidency of the National Assembly at Eidsvoll . It is stipulated in the law of 26 April 1947 that 17 May are national public holidays. The Sami national day is 6 February. "Yes, we love this country" is Norway's national anthem, the song was written in 1859 by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832–1910).

 

Norway's history of human settlement goes back at least 10,000 years, to the Late Paleolithic , the first period of the Stone Age . Archaeological finds of settlements along the entire Norwegian coast have so far been dated back to 10,400 before present (BP), the oldest find is today considered to be a settlement at Pauler in Brunlanes , Vestfold .

For a period these settlements were considered to be the remains of settlers from Doggerland , an area which today lies beneath the North Sea , but which was once a land bridge connecting today's British Isles with Danish Jutland . But the archaeologists who study the initial phase of the settlement in what is today Norway reckon that the first people who came here followed the coast along what is today Bohuslân. That they arrived in some form of boat is absolutely certain, and there is much evidence that they could easily move over large distances.

 

Since the last Ice Age, there has been continuous settlement in Norway. It cannot be ruled out that people lived in Norway during the interglacial period , but no trace of such a population or settlement has been found.

 

The Stone Age lasted a long time; half of the time that our country has been populated. There are no written accounts of what life was like back then. The knowledge we have has been painstakingly collected through investigations of places where people have stayed and left behind objects that we can understand have been processed by human hands. This field of knowledge is called archaeology . The archaeologists interpret their findings and the history of the surrounding landscape. In our country, the uplift after the Ice Age is fundamental. The history of the settlements at Pauler is no more than fifteen years old.

 

The Fosna culture settled parts of Norway sometime between 10,000–8,000 BC. (see Stone Age in Norway ). The dating of rock carvings is set to Neolithic times (in Norway between 4000 BC to 1700 BC) and show activities typical of hunters and gatherers .

 

Agriculture with livestock and arable farming was introduced in the Neolithic. Swad farming where the farmers move when the field does not produce the expected yield.

 

More permanent and persistent farm settlements developed in the Bronze Age (1700 BC to 500 BC) and the Iron Age . The earliest runes have been found on an arrowhead dated to around 200 BC. Many more inscriptions are dated to around 800, and a number of petty kingdoms developed during these centuries. In prehistoric times, there were no fixed national borders in the Nordic countries and Norway did not exist as a state. The population in Norway probably fell to year 0.

 

Events in this time period, the centuries before the year 1000, are glimpsed in written sources. Although the sagas were written down in the 13th century, many hundreds of years later, they provide a glimpse into what was already a distant past. The story of the fimbul winter gives us a historical picture of something that happened and which in our time, with the help of dendrochronology , can be interpreted as a natural disaster in the year 536, created by a volcanic eruption in El Salvador .

 

In the period between 800 and 1066 there was a significant expansion and it is referred to as the Viking Age . During this period, Norwegians, as Swedes and Danes also did, traveled abroad in longships with sails as explorers, traders, settlers and as Vikings (raiders and pirates ). By the middle of the 11th century, the Norwegian kingship had been firmly established, building its right as descendants of Harald Hårfagre and then as heirs of Olav the Holy . The Norwegian kings, and their subjects, now professed Christianity . In the time around Håkon Håkonsson , in the time after the civil war , there was a small renaissance in Norway with extensive literary activity and diplomatic activity with Europe. The black dew came to Norway in 1349 and killed around half of the population. The entire state apparatus and Norway then entered a period of decline.

 

Between 1396 and 1536, Norway was part of the Kalmar Union , and from 1536 until 1814 Norway had been reduced to a tributary part of Denmark , named as the Personal Union of Denmark-Norway . This staff union entered into an alliance with Napoléon Bonaparte with a war that brought bad times and famine in 1812 . In 1814, Denmark-Norway lost the Anglophone Wars , part of the Napoleonic Wars , and the Danish king was forced to cede Norway to the king of Sweden in the Treaty of Kiel on 14 January of that year. After a Norwegian attempt at independence, Norway was forced into a loose union with Sweden, but where Norway was allowed to create its own constitution, the Constitution of 1814 . In this period, Norwegian, romantic national feeling flourished, and the Norwegians tried to develop and establish their own national self-worth. The union with Sweden was broken in 1905 after it had been threatened with war, and Norway became an independent kingdom with its own monarch, Haakon VII .

 

Norway remained neutral during the First World War , and at the outbreak of the Second World War, Norway again declared itself neutral, but was invaded by National Socialist Germany on 9 April 1940 .

 

Norway became a member of the Western defense alliance NATO in 1949 . Two attempts to join the EU were voted down in referendums by small margins in 1972 and 1994 . Norway has been a close ally of the United States in the post-war period. Large discoveries of oil and natural gas in the North Sea at the end of the 1960s led to tremendous economic growth in the country, which is still ongoing. Traditional industries such as fishing are also part of Norway's economy.

 

Stone Age (before 1700 BC)

When most of the ice disappeared, vegetation spread over the landscape and due to a warm climate around 2000-3000 BC. the forest grew much taller than in modern times. Land uplift after the ice age led to a number of fjords becoming lakes and dry land. The first people probably came from the south along the coast of the Kattegat and overland into Finnmark from the east. The first people probably lived by gathering, hunting and trapping. A good number of Stone Age settlements have been found which show that such hunting and trapping people stayed for a long time in the same place or returned to the same place regularly. Large amounts of gnawed bones show that they lived on, among other things, reindeer, elk, small game and fish.

 

Flintstone was imported from Denmark and apart from small natural deposits along the southern coast, all flintstone in Norway is transported by people. At Espevær, greenstone was quarried for tools in the Stone Age, and greenstone tools from Espevær have been found over large parts of Western Norway. Around 2000-3000 BC the usual farm animals such as cows and sheep were introduced to Norway. Livestock probably meant a fundamental change in society in that part of the people had to be permanent residents or live a semi-nomadic life. Livestock farming may also have led to conflict with hunters.

 

The oldest traces of people in what is today Norway have been found at Pauler , a farm in Brunlanes in Larvik municipality in Vestfold . In 2007 and 2008, the farm has given its name to a number of Stone Age settlements that have been excavated and examined by archaeologists from the Cultural History Museum at UiO. The investigations have been carried out in connection with the new route for the E18 motorway west of Farris. The oldest settlement, located more than 127 m above sea level, is dated to be about 10,400 years old (uncalibrated, more than 11,000 years in real calendar years). From here, the ice sheet was perhaps visible when people settled here. This locality has been named Pauler I, and is today considered to be the oldest confirmed human traces in Norway to date. The place is in the mountains above the Pauler tunnel on the E18 between Larvik and Porsgrunn . The pioneer settlement is a term archaeologists have adopted for the oldest settlement. The archaeologists have speculated about where they came from, the first people in what is today Norway. It has been suggested that they could come by boat or perhaps across the ice from Doggerland or the North Sea, but there is now a large consensus that they came north along what is today the Bohuslän coast. The Fosna culture , the Komsa culture and the Nøstvet culture are the traditional terms for hunting cultures from the Stone Age. One thing is certain - getting to the water was something they mastered, the first people in our country. Therefore, within a short time they were able to use our entire long coast.

 

In the New Stone Age (4000 BC–1700 BC) there is a theory that a new people immigrated to the country, the so-called Stone Ax People . Rock carvings from this period show motifs from hunting and fishing , which were still important industries. From this period, a megalithic tomb has been found in Østfold .

It is uncertain whether there were organized societies or state-like associations in the Stone Age in Norway. Findings from settlements indicate that many lived together and that this was probably more than one family so that it was a slightly larger, organized herd.

 

Finnmark

In prehistoric times, animal husbandry and agriculture were of little economic importance in Finnmark. Livelihoods in Finnmark were mainly based on fish, gathering, hunting and trapping, and eventually domestic reindeer herding became widespread in the Middle Ages. Archaeological finds from the Stone Age have been referred to as the Komsa culture and comprise around 5,000 years of settlement. Finnmark probably got its first settlement around 8000 BC. It is believed that the coastal areas became ice-free 11,000 years BC and the fjord areas around 9,000 years BC. after which willows, grass, heather, birch and pine came into being. Finnmarksvidda was covered by pine forest around 6000 BC. After the Ice Age, the land rose around 80 meters in the inner fjord areas (Alta, Tana, Varanger). Due to ice melting in the polar region, the sea rose in the period 6400–3800 BC. and in areas with little land elevation, some settlements from the first part of the Stone Age were flooded. On Sørøya, the net sea level rise was 12 to 14 meters and many residential areas were flooded.

 

According to Bjørnar Olsen , there are many indications of a connection between the oldest settlement in Western Norway (the " Fosnakulturen ") and that in Finnmark, but it is uncertain in which direction the settlement took place. In the earliest part of the Stone Age, settlement in Finnmark was probably concentrated in the coastal areas, and these only reflected a lifestyle with great mobility and no permanent dwellings. The inner regions, such as Pasvik, were probably used seasonally. The archaeologically proven settlements from the Stone Age in inner Finnmark and Troms are linked to lakes and large watercourses. The oldest petroglyphs in Alta are usually dated to 4200 BC, that is, the Neolithic . Bjørnar Olsen believes that the oldest can be up to 2,000 years older than this.

 

From around 4000 BC a slow deforestation of Finnmark began and around 1800 BC the vegetation distribution was roughly the same as in modern times. The change in vegetation may have increased the distance between the reindeer's summer and winter grazing. The uplift continued slowly from around 4000 BC. at the same time as sea level rise stopped.

 

According to Gutorm Gjessing, the settlement in Finnmark and large parts of northern Norway in the Neolithic was semi-nomadic with movement between four seasonal settlements (following the pattern of life in Sami siida in historical times): On the outer coast in summer (fishing and seal catching) and inland in winter (hunting for reindeer, elk and bear). Povl Simonsen believed instead that the winter residence was in the inner fjord area in a village-like sod house settlement. Bjørnar Olsen believes that at the end of the Stone Age there was a relatively settled population along the coast, while inland there was less settlement and a more mobile lifestyle.

 

Bronze Age (1700 BC–500 BC)

Bronze was used for tools in Norway from around 1500 BC. Bronze is a mixture of tin and copper , and these metals were introduced because they were not mined in the country at the time. Bronze is believed to have been a relatively expensive material. The Bronze Age in Norway can be divided into two phases:

 

Early Bronze Age (1700–1100 BC)

Younger Bronze Age (1100–500 BC)

For the prehistoric (unwritten) era, there is limited knowledge about social conditions and possible state formations. From the Bronze Age, there are large burial mounds of stone piles along the coast of Vestfold and Agder, among others. It is likely that only chieftains or other great men could erect such grave monuments and there was probably some form of organized society linked to these. In the Bronze Age, society was more organized and stratified than in the Stone Age. Then a rich class of chieftains emerged who had close connections with southern Scandinavia. The settlements became more permanent and people adopted horses and ard . They acquired bronze status symbols, lived in longhouses and people were buried in large burial mounds . Petroglyphs from the Bronze Age indicate that humans practiced solar cultivation.

 

Finnmark

In the last millennium BC the climate became cooler and the pine forest disappears from the coast; pine forests, for example, were only found in the innermost part of the Altafjord, while the outer coast was almost treeless. Around the year 0, the limit for birch forest was south of Kirkenes. Animals with forest habitats (elk, bear and beaver) disappeared and the reindeer probably established their annual migration routes sometime at that time. In the period 1800–900 BC there were significantly more settlements in and utilization of the hinterland was particularly noticeable on Finnmarksvidda. From around 1800 BC until year 0 there was a significant increase in contact between Finnmark and areas in the east including Karelia (where metals were produced including copper) and central and eastern Russia. The youngest petroglyphs in Alta show far more boats than the earlier phases and the boats are reminiscent of types depicted in petroglyphs in southern Scandinavia. It is unclear what influence southern Scandinavian societies had as far north as Alta before the year 0. Many of the cultural features that are considered typical Sami in modern times were created or consolidated in the last millennium BC, this applies, among other things, to the custom of burying in brick chambers in stone urns. The Mortensnes burial ground may have been used for 2000 years until around 1600 AD.

 

Iron Age (c. 500 BC–c. 1050 AD)

 

The Einangsteinen is one of the oldest Norwegian runestones; it is from the 4th century

 

Simultaneous production of Vikings

Around 500 years BC the researchers reckon that the Bronze Age will be replaced by the Iron Age as iron takes over as the most important material for weapons and tools. Bronze, wood and stone were still used. Iron was cheaper than bronze, easier to work than flint , and could be used for many purposes; iron probably became common property. Iron could, among other things, be used to make solid and sharp axes which made it much easier to fell trees. In the Iron Age, gold and silver were also used partly for decoration and partly as means of payment. It is unknown which language was used in Norway before our era. From around the year 0 until around the year 800, everyone in Scandinavia (except the Sami) spoke Old Norse , a North Germanic language. Subsequently, several different languages ​​developed in this area that were only partially mutually intelligible. The Iron Age is divided into several periods:

 

Early Iron Age

Pre-Roman Iron Age (c. 500 BC–c. 0)

Roman Iron Age (c. 0–c. AD 400)

Migration period (approx. 400–600). In the migration period (approx. 400–600), new peoples came to Norway, and ruins of fortress buildings etc. are interpreted as signs that there has been talk of a violent invasion.

Younger Iron Age

Merovingian period (500–800)

 

The Viking Age (793–1066)

Norwegian Vikings go on plundering expeditions and trade voyages around the coastal countries of Western Europe . Large groups of Norwegians emigrate to the British Isles , Iceland and Greenland . Harald Hårfagre starts a unification process of Norway late in the 8th century , which was completed by Harald Hardråde in the 1060s . The country was Christianized under the kings Olav Tryggvason , fell in the battle of Svolder ( 1000 ) and Olav Haraldsson (the saint), fell in the battle of Stiklestad in 1030 .

 

Sources of prehistoric times

Shrinking glaciers in the high mountains, including in Jotunheimen and Breheimen , have from around the year 2000 uncovered objects from the Viking Age and earlier. These are objects of organic material that have been preserved by the ice and that elsewhere in nature are broken down in a few months. The finds are getting older as the melting makes the archaeologists go deeper into the ice. About half of all archaeological discoveries on glaciers in the world are made in Oppland . In 2013, a 3,400-year-old shoe and a robe from the year 300 were found. Finds at Lomseggen in Lom published in 2020 revealed, among other things, well-preserved horseshoes used on a mountain pass. Many hundreds of items include preserved clothing, knives, whisks, mittens, leather shoes, wooden chests and horse equipment. A piece of cloth dated to the year 1000 has preserved its original colour. In 2014, a wooden ski from around the year 700 was found in Reinheimen . The ski is 172 cm long and 14 cm wide, with preserved binding of leather and wicker.

 

Pytheas from Massalia is the oldest known account of what was probably the coast of Norway, perhaps somewhere on the coast of Møre. Pytheas visited Britannia around 325 BC. and traveled further north to a country by the "Ice Sea". Pytheas described the short summer night and the midnight sun farther north. He wrote, among other things, that people there made a drink from grain and honey. Caesar wrote in his work about the Gallic campaign about the Germanic tribe Haruders. Other Roman sources around the year 0 mention the land of the Cimbri (Jutland) and the Cimbri headlands ( Skagen ) and that the sources stated that Cimbri and Charyds lived in this area. Some of these peoples may have immigrated to Norway and there become known as hordes (as in Hordaland). Sources from the Mediterranean area referred to the islands of Scandia, Scandinavia and Thule ("the outermost of all islands"). The Roman historian Tacitus wrote around the year 100 a work about Germania and mentioned the people of Scandia, the Sviones. Ptolemy wrote around the year 150 that the Kharudes (Hordes) lived further north than all the Cimbri, in the north lived the Finnoi (Finns or Sami) and in the south the Gutai (Goths). The Nordic countries and Norway were outside the Roman Empire , which dominated Europe at the time. The Gothic-born historian Jordanes wrote in the 5th century about 13 tribes or people groups in Norway, including raumaricii (probably Romerike ), ragnaricii ( Ranrike ) and finni or skretefinni (skrid finner or ski finner, i.e. Sami) as well as a number of unclear groups. Prokopios wrote at the same time about Thule north of the land of the Danes and Slavs, Thule was ten times as big as Britannia and the largest of all the islands. In Thule, the sun was up 40 days straight in the summer. After the migration period , southern Europeans' accounts of northern Europe became fuller and more reliable.

 

Settlement in prehistoric times

Norway has around 50,000 farms with their own names. Farm names have persisted for a long time, over 1000 years, perhaps as much as 2000 years. The name researchers have arranged different types of farm names chronologically, which provides a basis for determining when the place was used by people or received a permanent settlement. Uncompounded landscape names such as Haug, Eid, Vik and Berg are believed to be the oldest. Archaeological traces indicate that some areas have been inhabited earlier than assumed from the farm name. Burial mounds also indicate permanent settlement. For example, the burial ground at Svartelva in Løten was used from around the year 0 to the year 1000 when Christianity took over. The first farmers probably used large areas for inland and outland, and new farms were probably established based on some "mother farms". Names such as By (or Bø) show that it is an old place of residence. From the older Iron Age, names with -heim (a common Germanic word meaning place of residence) and -stad tell of settlement, while -vin and -land tell of the use of the place. Farm names in -heim are often found as -um , -eim or -em as in Lerum and Seim, there are often large farms in the center of the village. New farm names with -city and -country were also established in the Viking Age . The first farmers probably used the best areas. The largest burial grounds, the oldest archaeological finds and the oldest farm names are found where the arable land is richest and most spacious.

 

It is unclear whether the settlement expansion in Roman times, migrations and the Iron Age is due to immigration or internal development and population growth. Among other things, it is difficult to demonstrate where in Europe the immigrants have come from. The permanent residents had both fields (where grain was grown) and livestock that grazed in the open fields, but it is uncertain which of these was more important. Population growth from around the year 200 led to more utilization of open land, for example in the form of settlements in the mountains. During the migration period, it also seems that in parts of the country it became common to have cluster gardens or a form of village settlement.

 

Norwegian expansion northwards

From around the year 200, there was a certain migration by sea from Rogaland and Hordaland to Nordland and Sør-Troms. Those who moved settled down as a settled Iron Age population and became dominant over the original population which may have been Sami . The immigrant Norwegians, Bumen , farmed with livestock that were fed inside in the winter as well as some grain cultivation and fishing. The northern border of the Norwegians' settlement was originally at the Toppsundet near Harstad and around the year 500 there was a Norwegian settlement to Malangsgapet. That was as far north as it was possible to grow grain at the time. Malangen was considered the border between Hålogaland and Finnmork until around 1400 . Further into the Viking Age and the Middle Ages, there was immigration and settlement of Norwegian speakers along the coast north of Malangen. Around the year 800, Norwegians lived along the entire outer coast to Vannøy . The Norwegians partly copied Sami livelihoods such as whaling, fur hunting and reindeer husbandry. It was probably this area between Malangen and Vannøy that was Ottar from the Hålogaland area. In the Viking Age, there were also some Norwegian settlements further north and east. East of the North Cape are the scattered archaeological finds of Norwegian settlement in the Viking Age. There are Norwegian names for fjords and islands from the Viking Age, including fjord names with "-anger". Around the year 1050, there were Norwegian settlements on the outer coast of Western Finnmark. Traders and tax collectors traveled even further.

 

North of Malangen there were Norse farming settlements in the Iron Age. Malangen was considered Finnmark's western border until 1300. There are some archaeological traces of Norse activity around the coast from Tromsø to Kirkenes in the Viking Age. Around Tromsø, the research indicates a Norse/Sami mixed culture on the coast.

 

From the year 1100 and the next 200–300 years, there are no traces of Norwegian settlement north and east of Tromsø. It is uncertain whether this is due to depopulation, whether it is because the Norwegians further north were not Christianized or because there were no churches north of Lenvik or Tromsø . Norwegian settlement in the far north appears from sources from the 14th century. In the Hanseatic period , the settlement was developed into large areas specialized in commercial fishing, while earlier (in the Viking Age) there had been farms with a combination of fishing and agriculture. In 1307 , a fortress and the first church east of Tromsø were built in Vardø . Vardø became a small Norwegian town, while Vadsø remained Sami. Norwegian settlements and churches appeared along the outermost coast in the Middle Ages. After the Reformation, perhaps as a result of a decline in fish stocks or fish prices, there were Norwegian settlements in the inner fjord areas such as Lebesby in Laksefjord. Some fishing villages at the far end of the coast were abandoned for good. In the interior of Finnmark, there was no national border for a long time and Kautokeino and Karasjok were joint Norwegian-Swedish areas with strong Swedish influence. The border with Finland was established in 1751 and with Russia in 1826.

 

On a Swedish map from 1626, Norway's border is indicated at Malangen, while Sweden with this map showed a desire to control the Sami area which had been a common area.

 

The term Northern Norway only came into use at the end of the 19th century and administratively the area was referred to as Tromsø Diocese when Tromsø became a bishopric in 1840. There had been different designations previously: Hålogaland originally included only Helgeland and when Norse settlement spread north in the Viking Age and the Middle Ages, Hålogaland was used for the area north approximately to Malangen , while Finnmark or "Finnmarken", "the land of the Sami", lay outside. The term Northern Norway was coined at a cafe table in Kristiania in 1884 by members of the Nordlændingernes Forening and was first commonly used in the interwar period as it eventually supplanted "Hålogaland".

 

State formation

The battle in Hafrsfjord in the year 872 has long been regarded as the day when Norway became a kingdom. The year of the battle is uncertain (may have been 10-20 years later). The whole of Norway was not united in that battle: the process had begun earlier and continued a couple of hundred years later. This means that the geographical area became subject to a political authority and became a political unit. The geographical area was perceived as an area as it is known, among other things, from Ottar from Hålogaland's account for King Alfred of Wessex around the year 880. Ottar described "the land of the Norwegians" as very long and narrow, and it was narrowest in the far north. East of the wasteland in the south lay Sveoland and in the north lay Kvenaland in the east. When Ottar sailed south along the land from his home ( Malangen ) to Skiringssal, he always had Norway ("Nordveg") on his port side and the British Isles on his starboard side. The journey took a good month. Ottar perceived "Nordveg" as a geographical unit, but did not imply that it was a political unit. Ottar separated Norwegians from Swedes and Danes. It is unclear why Ottar perceived the population spread over such a large area as a whole. It is unclear whether Norway as a geographical term or Norwegians as the name of a ethnic group is the oldest. The Norwegians had a common language which in the centuries before Ottar did not differ much from the language of Denmark and Sweden.

 

According to Sverre Steen, it is unlikely that Harald Hårfagre was able to control this entire area as one kingdom. The saga of Harald was written 300 years later and at his death Norway was several smaller kingdoms. Harald probably controlled a larger area than anyone before him and at most Harald's kingdom probably included the coast from Trøndelag to Agder and Vestfold as well as parts of Viken . There were probably several smaller kingdoms of varying extent before Harald and some of these are reflected in traditional landscape names such as Ranrike and Ringerike . Landscape names of "-land" (Rogaland) and "-mark" (Hedmark) as well as names such as Agder and Sogn may have been political units before Harald.

 

According to Sverre Steen, the national assembly was completed at the earliest at the battle of Stiklestad in 1030 and the introduction of Christianity was probably a significant factor in the establishment of Norway as a state. Håkon I the good Adalsteinsfostre introduced the leasehold system where the "coastal land" (as far as the salmon went up the rivers) was divided into ship raiders who were to provide a longship with soldiers and supplies. The leidange was probably introduced as a defense against the Danes. The border with the Danes was traditionally at the Göta älv and several times before and after Harald Hårfagre the Danes had control over central parts of Norway.

 

Christianity was known and existed in Norway before Olav Haraldson's time. The spread occurred both from the south (today's Denmark and northern Germany) and from the west (England and Ireland). Ansgar of Bremen , called the "Apostle of the North", worked in Sweden, but he was never in Norway and probably had little influence in the country. Viking expeditions brought the Norwegians of that time into contact with Christian countries and some were baptized in England, Ireland and northern France. Olav Tryggvason and Olav Haraldson were Vikings who returned home. The first Christians in Norway were also linked to pre-Christian local religion, among other things, by mixing Christian symbols with symbols of Odin and other figures from Norse religion.

 

According to Sverre Steen, the introduction of Christianity in Norway should not be perceived as a nationwide revival. At Mostratinget, Christian law was introduced as law in the country and later incorporated into the laws of the individual jurisdictions. Christianity primarily involved new forms in social life, among other things exposure and images of gods were prohibited, it was forbidden to "put out" unwanted infants (to let them die), and it was forbidden to have multiple wives. The church became a nationwide institution with a special group of officials tasked with protecting the church and consolidating the new religion. According to Sverre Steen, Christianity and the church in the Middle Ages should therefore be considered together, and these became a new unifying factor in the country. The church and Christianity linked Norway to Roman Catholic Europe with Church Latin as the common language, the same time reckoning as the rest of Europe and the church in Norway was arranged much like the churches in Denmark, Sweden and England. Norway received papal approval in 1070 and became its own church province in 1152 with Archbishop Nidaros .

 

With Christianity, the country got three social powers: the peasants (organized through the things), the king with his officials and the church with the clergy. The things are the oldest institution: At allthings all armed men had the right to attend (in part an obligation to attend) and at lagthings met emissaries from an area (that is, the lagthings were representative assemblies). The Thing both ruled in conflicts and established laws. The laws were memorized by the participants and written down around the year 1000 or later in the Gulationsloven , Frostatingsloven , Eidsivatingsloven and Borgartingsloven . The person who had been successful at the hearing had to see to the implementation of the judgment themselves.

 

Early Middle Ages (1050s–1184)

The early Middle Ages is considered in Norwegian history to be the period between the end of the Viking Age around 1050 and the coronation of King Sverre in 1184 . The beginning of the period can be dated differently, from around the year 1000 when the Christianization of the country took place and up to 1100 when the Viking Age was over from an archaeological point of view. From 1035 to 1130 it was a time of (relative) internal peace in Norway, even several of the kings attempted campaigns abroad, including in 1066 and 1103 .

 

During this period, the church's organization was built up. This led to a gradual change in religious customs. Religion went from being a domestic matter to being regulated by common European Christian law and the royal power gained increased power and influence. Slavery (" servitude ") was gradually abolished. The population grew rapidly during this period, as the thousands of farm names ending in -rud show.

 

The urbanization of Norway is a historical process that has slowly but surely changed Norway from the early Viking Age to today, from a country based on agriculture and sea salvage, to increasingly trade and industry. As early as the ninth century, the country got its first urban community, and in the eleventh century we got the first permanent cities.

 

In the 1130s, civil war broke out . This was due to a power struggle and that anyone who claimed to be the king's son could claim the right to the throne. The disputes escalated into extensive year-round warfare when Sverre Sigurdsson started a rebellion against the church's and the landmen's candidate for the throne , Magnus Erlingsson .

 

Emergence of cities

The oldest Norwegian cities probably emerged from the end of the 9th century. Oslo, Bergen and Nidaros became episcopal seats, which stimulated urban development there, and the king built churches in Borg , Konghelle and Tønsberg. Hamar and Stavanger became new episcopal seats and are referred to in the late 12th century as towns together with the trading places Veøy in Romsdal and Kaupanger in Sogn. In the late Middle Ages, Borgund (on Sunnmøre), Veøy (in Romsdalsfjorden) and Vågan (in Lofoten) were referred to as small trading places. Urbanization in Norway occurred in few places compared to the neighboring countries, only 14 places appear as cities before 1350. Stavanger became a bishopric around 1120–1130, but it is unclear whether the place was already a city then. The fertile Jæren and outer Ryfylke were probably relatively densely populated at that time. A particularly large concentration of Irish artefacts from the Viking Age has been found in Stavanger and Nord-Jæren.

 

It has been difficult to estimate the population in the Norwegian medieval cities, but it is considered certain that the cities grew rapidly in the Middle Ages. Oscar Albert Johnsen estimated the city's population before the Black Death at 20,000, of which 7,000 in Bergen, 3,000 in Nidaros, 2,000 in Oslo and 1,500 in Tunsberg. Based on archaeological research, Lunden estimates that Oslo had around 1,500 inhabitants in 250 households in the year 1300. Bergen was built up more densely and, with the concentration of exports there, became Norway's largest city in a special position for several hundred years. Knut Helle suggests a city population of 20,000 at most in the High Middle Ages, of which almost half in Bergen.

 

The Bjarkøyretten regulated the conditions in cities (especially Bergen and Nidaros) and in trading places, and for Nidaros had many of the same provisions as the Frostating Act . Magnus Lagabøte's city law replaced the bjarkøretten and from 1276 regulated the settlement in Bergen and with corresponding laws also drawn up for Oslo, Nidaros and Tunsberg. The city law applied within the city's roof area . The City Act determined that the city's public streets consisted of wide commons (perpendicular to the shoreline) and ran parallel to the shoreline, similarly in Nidaros and Oslo. The roads were small streets of up to 3 cubits (1.4 metres) and linked to the individual property. From the Middle Ages, the Norwegian cities were usually surrounded by wooden fences. The urban development largely consisted of low wooden houses which stood in contrast to the relatively numerous and dominant churches and monasteries built in stone.

 

The City Act and supplementary provisions often determined where in the city different goods could be traded, in Bergen, for example, cattle and sheep could only be traded on the Square, and fish only on the Square or directly from the boats at the quayside. In Nidaros, the blacksmiths were required to stay away from the densely populated areas due to the risk of fire, while the tanners had to stay away from the settlements due to the strong smell. The City Act also attempted to regulate the influx of people into the city (among other things to prevent begging in the streets) and had provisions on fire protection. In Oslo, from the 13th century or earlier, it was common to have apartment buildings consisting of single buildings on a couple of floors around a courtyard with access from the street through a gate room. Oslo's medieval apartment buildings were home to one to four households. In the urban farms, livestock could be kept, including pigs and cows, while pastures and fields were found in the city's rooftops . In the apartment buildings there could be several outbuildings such as warehouses, barns and stables. Archaeological excavations show that much of the buildings in medieval Oslo, Trondheim and Tønsberg resembled the oblong farms that have been preserved at Bryggen in Bergen . The land boundaries in Oslo appear to have persisted for many hundreds of years, in Bergen right from the Middle Ages to modern times.

 

High Middle Ages (1184–1319)

After civil wars in the 12th century, the country had a relative heyday in the 13th century. Iceland and Greenland came under the royal authority in 1262 , and the Norwegian Empire reached its greatest extent under Håkon IV Håkonsson . The last king of Haraldsätten, Håkon V Magnusson , died sonless in 1319 . Until the 17th century, Norway stretched all the way down to the mouth of Göta älv , which was then Norway's border with Sweden and Denmark.

 

Just before the Black Death around 1350, there were between 65,000 and 85,000 farms in the country, and there had been a strong growth in the number of farms from 1050, especially in Eastern Norway. In the High Middle Ages, the church or ecclesiastical institutions controlled 40% of the land in Norway, while the aristocracy owned around 20% and the king owned 7%. The church and monasteries received land through gifts from the king and nobles, or through inheritance and gifts from ordinary farmers.

 

Settlement and demography in the Middle Ages

Before the Black Death, there were more and more farms in Norway due to farm division and clearing. The settlement spread to more marginal agricultural areas higher inland and further north. Eastern Norway had the largest areas to take off and had the most population growth towards the High Middle Ages. Along the coast north of Stad, settlement probably increased in line with the extent of fishing. The Icelandic Rimbegla tells around the year 1200 that the border between Finnmark (the land of the Sami) and resident Norwegians in the interior was at Malangen , while the border all the way out on the

Jim Sparkman's amazing 3/4 inch scale Philadelphia elevated models and trackage. This large layout was set up at the 2015 East Penn Trolley Meet, quite an impressive sight!

Yuri: “Oh, Fletcher, please do not insult our intelligence…or the sophisticated network of gossips in our family. We know you and Wren are friendly again. Furthermore, you will take our money because we deem it so. How many times must we say that?”

 

Fletcher: “We talk from time to time on the phone is all. I hardly think that warrants a move to Boston, Butter Bean. And I am not taking one damn cent. End of discussion.”

 

Lukas: *chuckles, genuinely tickled* “I love the way you said ‘end of discussion,’ like that’ll actually work. The Georgia sun has clearly chicken-fried your brain, son.”

 

Fletcher: “Tell Yuri she shouldn’t give me the money.”

 

Yuri: *crosses arms, eyes narrowing dangerously* “Yes, Lukas, why do you not attempt to ‘tell me.’”

 

Lukas: “No thank you. For one, you won’t listen. And, for another, I happen to think investing in Fletch’s new law firm is a great idea.”

 

Fletcher: *sneers* “You sound just like Simon. I swear! Did y’all completely lose your balls when you got married?”

 

Lukas: “Lose, no. Hide in an undisclosed location, so Red can’t squish them, yes.”

 

Kumi: *face stretches into a pleased smile*

 

Molly: *signs animatedly, then grabs Fletch’s hand and squeezes it*

 

Diego: *translates* “‘Fletch and Wren are going to get married and live happily ever after.’”

 

Kumi: “How do ya know? Is this some mystical, all-knowing deaf thing? You lose one sense, so you gain extra intuition or psychic powers?”

 

Molly: *rolls eyes, releases Fletch’s hand and signs*

 

Diego: *translates* “‘Duh. Because of the way his face changes when he talks about her. Maybe y’all don’t notice it because you’re too busy listening to his words or tone, instead of watching his expression. But I can tell when he’s talking about Wren, even without reading his lips. His eyes illuminate like sunlight through oak leaves. It’s real cute.’”

 

Fletcher (sternly): “Keep talking like that, darlin’, and I’m going to renege on my promise to spring for unlimited pizza toppings at dinner.”

 

Molly: *smiles up at Fletcher, as she wraps her arm around his waist, unintimidated*

 

Fashion Credits

***Any doll enhancements (i.e. freckles, piercings, eye color changes, haircuts) were done by me unless otherwise stated.***

 

Molly

Shorts: SL Doll

Top: Mattel – California Girl Fashion Pack

Jacket: Mattel – My Scene Fashion

Platforms: Mattel – Barbie Collectibles - Peace & Love 70’s Barbie

Bag: Sugarbabylove (etsy.com); I made/added the charm.

Necklace: IT – Fashion Royalty – Capricious Natalia

Earrings: Me

 

Doll is a She’s Not There Poppy Parker, eyes have been repainted by me, all other enhancements by me.

 

Fletcher

Jeans: Mattel – Barbie Collectible – James Dean

Shirt: Clear lan

Belt: Miema (etsy.com)

Boots: Volks – Who’s That Girl? - Selfish

 

Doll is a Turning Heads Pierre.

 

There's lots to do at this time of year and Santa's little helper is getting busy...

 

Nayumi wears Liv doll stripy top and green jacket, Barbie My Scene red mini skirt, Integrity Toys fishnets, arm warmers from Ny Face Erin, 1/6 scale ankle boots bought on AliExpress. The sled is from a ‘dollar store’ (QD last year for those in the UK) and her presents are thrift store finds.

California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2 million residents across a total area of approximately 163,696 square miles (423,970 km2), it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the most populated subnational entity in North America and the 34th most populous in the world. The Greater Los Angeles area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nation's second and fifth most populous urban regions respectively, with the former having more than 18.7 million residents and the latter having over 9.6 million. Sacramento is the state's capital, while Los Angeles is the most populous city in the state and the second most populous city in the country. San Francisco is the second most densely populated major city in the country. Los Angeles County is the country's most populous, while San Bernardino County is the largest county by area in the country. California borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, the Mexican state of Baja California to the south; and has a coastline along the Pacific Ocean to the west.

 

The economy of the state of California is the largest in the United States, with a $3.4 trillion gross state product (GSP) as of 2022. It is the largest sub-national economy in the world. If California were a sovereign nation, it would rank as the world's fifth-largest economy as of 2022, behind Germany and ahead of India, as well as the 37th most populous. The Greater Los Angeles area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nation's second- and third-largest urban economies ($1.0 trillion and $0.5 trillion respectively as of 2020). The San Francisco Bay Area Combined Statistical Area had the nation's highest gross domestic product per capita ($106,757) among large primary statistical areas in 2018, and is home to five of the world's ten largest companies by market capitalization and four of the world's ten richest people.

 

Prior to European colonization, California was one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse areas in pre-Columbian North America and contained the highest Native American population density north of what is now Mexico. European exploration in the 16th and 17th centuries led to the colonization of California by the Spanish Empire. In 1804, it was included in Alta California province within the Viceroyalty of New Spain. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821, following its successful war for independence, but was ceded to the United States in 1848 after the Mexican–American War. The California Gold Rush started in 1848 and led to dramatic social and demographic changes, including large-scale immigration into California, a worldwide economic boom, and the California genocide of indigenous people. The western portion of Alta California was then organized and admitted as the 31st state on September 9, 1850, following the Compromise of 1850.

 

Notable contributions to popular culture, for example in entertainment and sports, have their origins in California. The state also has made noteworthy contributions in the fields of communication, information, innovation, environmentalism, economics, and politics. It is the home of Hollywood, the oldest and one of the largest film industries in the world, which has had a profound influence upon global entertainment. It is considered the origin of the hippie counterculture, beach and car culture, and the personal computer, among other innovations. The San Francisco Bay Area and the Greater Los Angeles Area are widely seen as the centers of the global technology and film industries, respectively. California's economy is very diverse: 58% of it is based on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific, and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5% of the state's economy, California's agriculture industry has the highest output of any U.S. state. California's ports and harbors handle about a third of all U.S. imports, most originating in Pacific Rim international trade.

 

The state's extremely diverse geography ranges from the Pacific Coast and metropolitan areas in the west to the Sierra Nevada mountains in the east, and from the redwood and Douglas fir forests in the northwest to the Mojave Desert in the southeast. The Central Valley, a major agricultural area, dominates the state's center. California is well known for its warm Mediterranean climate and monsoon seasonal weather. The large size of the state results in climates that vary from moist temperate rainforest in the north to arid desert in the interior, as well as snowy alpine in the mountains.

 

Settled by successive waves of arrivals during at least the last 13,000 years, California was one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse areas in pre-Columbian North America. Various estimates of the native population have ranged from 100,000 to 300,000. The indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct ethnic groups, inhabiting environments from mountains and deserts to islands and redwood forests. These groups were also diverse in their political organization, with bands, tribes, villages, and on the resource-rich coasts, large chiefdoms, such as the Chumash, Pomo and Salinan. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered social and economic relationships between many groups.

 

The first Europeans to explore the coast of California were the members of a Spanish maritime expedition led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo in 1542. Cabrillo was commissioned by Antonio de Mendoza, the Viceroy of New Spain, to lead an expedition up the Pacific coast in search of trade opportunities; they entered San Diego Bay on September 28, 1542, and reached at least as far north as San Miguel Island. Privateer and explorer Francis Drake explored and claimed an undefined portion of the California coast in 1579, landing north of the future city of San Francisco. Sebastián Vizcaíno explored and mapped the coast of California in 1602 for New Spain, putting ashore in Monterey. Despite the on-the-ground explorations of California in the 16th century, Rodríguez's idea of California as an island persisted. Such depictions appeared on many European maps well into the 18th century.

 

The Portolá expedition of 1769-70 was a pivotal event in the Spanish colonization of California, resulting in the establishment of numerous missions, presidios, and pueblos. The military and civil contingent of the expedition was led by Gaspar de Portolá, who traveled over land from Sonora into California, while the religious component was headed by Junípero Serra, who came by sea from Baja California. In 1769, Portolá and Serra established Mission San Diego de Alcalá and the Presidio of San Diego, the first religious and military settlements founded by the Spanish in California. By the end of the expedition in 1770, they would establish the Presidio of Monterey and Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo on Monterey Bay.

 

After the Portolà expedition, Spanish missionaries led by Father-President Serra set out to establish 21 Spanish missions of California along El Camino Real ("The Royal Road") and along the Californian coast, 16 sites of which having been chosen during the Portolá expedition. Numerous major cities in California grew out of missions, including San Francisco (Mission San Francisco de Asís), San Diego (Mission San Diego de Alcalá), Ventura (Mission San Buenaventura), or Santa Barbara (Mission Santa Barbara), among others.

 

Juan Bautista de Anza led a similarly important expedition throughout California in 1775–76, which would extend deeper into the interior and north of California. The Anza expedition selected numerous sites for missions, presidios, and pueblos, which subsequently would be established by settlers. Gabriel Moraga, a member of the expedition, would also christen many of California's prominent rivers with their names in 1775–1776, such as the Sacramento River and the San Joaquin River. After the expedition, Gabriel's son, José Joaquín Moraga, would found the pueblo of San Jose in 1777, making it the first civilian-established city in California.

  

The Spanish founded Mission San Juan Capistrano in 1776, the third to be established of the Californian missions.

During this same period, sailors from the Russian Empire explored along the northern coast of California. In 1812, the Russian-American Company established a trading post and small fortification at Fort Ross on the North Coast. Fort Ross was primarily used to supply Russia's Alaskan colonies with food supplies. The settlement did not meet much success, failing to attract settlers or establish long term trade viability, and was abandoned by 1841.

 

During the War of Mexican Independence, Alta California was largely unaffected and uninvolved in the revolution, though many Californios supported independence from Spain, which many believed had neglected California and limited its development. Spain's trade monopoly on California had limited the trade prospects of Californians. Following Mexican independence, Californian ports were freely able to trade with foreign merchants. Governor Pablo Vicente de Solá presided over the transition from Spanish colonial rule to independent.

 

In 1821, the Mexican War of Independence gave the Mexican Empire (which included California) independence from Spain. For the next 25 years, Alta California remained a remote, sparsely populated, northwestern administrative district of the newly independent country of Mexico, which shortly after independence became a republic. The missions, which controlled most of the best land in the state, were secularized by 1834 and became the property of the Mexican government. The governor granted many square leagues of land to others with political influence. These huge ranchos or cattle ranches emerged as the dominant institutions of Mexican California. The ranchos developed under ownership by Californios (Hispanics native of California) who traded cowhides and tallow with Boston merchants. Beef did not become a commodity until the 1849 California Gold Rush.

 

From the 1820s, trappers and settlers from the United States and Canada began to arrive in Northern California. These new arrivals used the Siskiyou Trail, California Trail, Oregon Trail and Old Spanish Trail to cross the rugged mountains and harsh deserts in and surrounding California. The early government of the newly independent Mexico was highly unstable, and in a reflection of this, from 1831 onwards, California also experienced a series of armed disputes, both internal and with the central Mexican government. During this tumultuous political period Juan Bautista Alvarado was able to secure the governorship during 1836–1842. The military action which first brought Alvarado to power had momentarily declared California to be an independent state, and had been aided by Anglo-American residents of California, including Isaac Graham. In 1840, one hundred of those residents who did not have passports were arrested, leading to the Graham Affair, which was resolved in part with the intercession of Royal Navy officials.

 

One of the largest ranchers in California was John Marsh. After failing to obtain justice against squatters on his land from the Mexican courts, he determined that California should become part of the United States. Marsh conducted a letter-writing campaign espousing the California climate, the soil, and other reasons to settle there, as well as the best route to follow, which became known as "Marsh's route". His letters were read, reread, passed around, and printed in newspapers throughout the country, and started the first wagon trains rolling to California. He invited immigrants to stay on his ranch until they could get settled, and assisted in their obtaining passports.

 

After ushering in the period of organized emigration to California, Marsh became involved in a military battle between the much-hated Mexican general, Manuel Micheltorena and the California governor he had replaced, Juan Bautista Alvarado. The armies of each met at the Battle of Providencia near Los Angeles. Marsh had been forced against his will to join Micheltorena's army. Ignoring his superiors, during the battle, he signaled the other side for a parley. There were many settlers from the United States fighting on both sides. He convinced these men that they had no reason to be fighting each other. As a result of Marsh's actions, they abandoned the fight, Micheltorena was defeated, and California-born Pio Pico was returned to the governorship. This paved the way to California's ultimate acquisition by the United States.

 

In 1846, a group of American settlers in and around Sonoma rebelled against Mexican rule during the Bear Flag Revolt. Afterward, rebels raised the Bear Flag (featuring a bear, a star, a red stripe and the words "California Republic") at Sonoma. The Republic's only president was William B. Ide,[65] who played a pivotal role during the Bear Flag Revolt. This revolt by American settlers served as a prelude to the later American military invasion of California and was closely coordinated with nearby American military commanders.

 

The California Republic was short-lived; the same year marked the outbreak of the Mexican–American War (1846–48).

 

Commodore John D. Sloat of the United States Navy sailed into Monterey Bay in 1846 and began the U.S. military invasion of California, with Northern California capitulating in less than a month to the United States forces. In Southern California, Californios continued to resist American forces. Notable military engagements of the conquest include the Battle of San Pasqual and the Battle of Dominguez Rancho in Southern California, as well as the Battle of Olómpali and the Battle of Santa Clara in Northern California. After a series of defensive battles in the south, the Treaty of Cahuenga was signed by the Californios on January 13, 1847, securing a censure and establishing de facto American control in California.

 

Following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (February 2, 1848) that ended the war, the westernmost portion of the annexed Mexican territory of Alta California soon became the American state of California, and the remainder of the old territory was then subdivided into the new American Territories of Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Utah. The even more lightly populated and arid lower region of old Baja California remained as a part of Mexico. In 1846, the total settler population of the western part of the old Alta California had been estimated to be no more than 8,000, plus about 100,000 Native Americans, down from about 300,000 before Hispanic settlement in 1769.

 

In 1848, only one week before the official American annexation of the area, gold was discovered in California, this being an event which was to forever alter both the state's demographics and its finances. Soon afterward, a massive influx of immigration into the area resulted, as prospectors and miners arrived by the thousands. The population burgeoned with United States citizens, Europeans, Chinese and other immigrants during the great California Gold Rush. By the time of California's application for statehood in 1850, the settler population of California had multiplied to 100,000. By 1854, more than 300,000 settlers had come. Between 1847 and 1870, the population of San Francisco increased from 500 to 150,000.

 

The seat of government for California under Spanish and later Mexican rule had been located in Monterey from 1777 until 1845. Pio Pico, the last Mexican governor of Alta California, had briefly moved the capital to Los Angeles in 1845. The United States consulate had also been located in Monterey, under consul Thomas O. Larkin.

 

In 1849, a state Constitutional Convention was first held in Monterey. Among the first tasks of the convention was a decision on a location for the new state capital. The first full legislative sessions were held in San Jose (1850–1851). Subsequent locations included Vallejo (1852–1853), and nearby Benicia (1853–1854); these locations eventually proved to be inadequate as well. The capital has been located in Sacramento since 1854 with only a short break in 1862 when legislative sessions were held in San Francisco due to flooding in Sacramento. Once the state's Constitutional Convention had finalized its state constitution, it applied to the U.S. Congress for admission to statehood. On September 9, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850, California became a free state and September 9 a state holiday.

 

During the American Civil War (1861–1865), California sent gold shipments eastward to Washington in support of the Union. However, due to the existence of a large contingent of pro-South sympathizers within the state, the state was not able to muster any full military regiments to send eastwards to officially serve in the Union war effort. Still, several smaller military units within the Union army were unofficially associated with the state of California, such as the "California 100 Company", due to a majority of their members being from California.

 

At the time of California's admission into the Union, travel between California and the rest of the continental United States had been a time-consuming and dangerous feat. Nineteen years later, and seven years after it was greenlighted by President Lincoln, the First transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869. California was then reachable from the eastern States in a week's time.

 

Much of the state was extremely well suited to fruit cultivation and agriculture in general. Vast expanses of wheat, other cereal crops, vegetable crops, cotton, and nut and fruit trees were grown (including oranges in Southern California), and the foundation was laid for the state's prodigious agricultural production in the Central Valley and elsewhere.

 

In the nineteenth century, a large number of migrants from China traveled to the state as part of the Gold Rush or to seek work. Even though the Chinese proved indispensable in building the transcontinental railroad from California to Utah, perceived job competition with the Chinese led to anti-Chinese riots in the state, and eventually the US ended migration from China partially as a response to pressure from California with the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act.

 

Under earlier Spanish and Mexican rule, California's original native population had precipitously declined, above all, from Eurasian diseases to which the indigenous people of California had not yet developed a natural immunity. Under its new American administration, California's harsh governmental policies towards its own indigenous people did not improve. As in other American states, many of the native inhabitants were soon forcibly removed from their lands by incoming American settlers such as miners, ranchers, and farmers. Although California had entered the American union as a free state, the "loitering or orphaned Indians" were de facto enslaved by their new Anglo-American masters under the 1853 Act for the Government and Protection of Indians. There were also massacres in which hundreds of indigenous people were killed.

 

Between 1850 and 1860, the California state government paid around 1.5 million dollars (some 250,000 of which was reimbursed by the federal government) to hire militias whose purpose was to protect settlers from the indigenous populations. In later decades, the native population was placed in reservations and rancherias, which were often small and isolated and without enough natural resources or funding from the government to sustain the populations living on them. As a result, the rise of California was a calamity for the native inhabitants. Several scholars and Native American activists, including Benjamin Madley and Ed Castillo, have described the actions of the California government as a genocide.

 

In the twentieth century, thousands of Japanese people migrated to the US and California specifically to attempt to purchase and own land in the state. However, the state in 1913 passed the Alien Land Act, excluding Asian immigrants from owning land. During World War II, Japanese Americans in California were interned in concentration camps such as at Tule Lake and Manzanar. In 2020, California officially apologized for this internment.

 

Migration to California accelerated during the early 20th century with the completion of major transcontinental highways like the Lincoln Highway and Route 66. In the period from 1900 to 1965, the population grew from fewer than one million to the greatest in the Union. In 1940, the Census Bureau reported California's population as 6.0% Hispanic, 2.4% Asian, and 89.5% non-Hispanic white.

 

To meet the population's needs, major engineering feats like the California and Los Angeles Aqueducts; the Oroville and Shasta Dams; and the Bay and Golden Gate Bridges were built across the state. The state government also adopted the California Master Plan for Higher Education in 1960 to develop a highly efficient system of public education.

 

Meanwhile, attracted to the mild Mediterranean climate, cheap land, and the state's wide variety of geography, filmmakers established the studio system in Hollywood in the 1920s. California manufactured 8.7 percent of total United States military armaments produced during World War II, ranking third (behind New York and Michigan) among the 48 states. California however easily ranked first in production of military ships during the war (transport, cargo, [merchant ships] such as Liberty ships, Victory ships, and warships) at drydock facilities in San Diego, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area. After World War II, California's economy greatly expanded due to strong aerospace and defense industries, whose size decreased following the end of the Cold War. Stanford University and its Dean of Engineering Frederick Terman began encouraging faculty and graduates to stay in California instead of leaving the state, and develop a high-tech region in the area now known as Silicon Valley. As a result of these efforts, California is regarded as a world center of the entertainment and music industries, of technology, engineering, and the aerospace industry, and as the United States center of agricultural production. Just before the Dot Com Bust, California had the fifth-largest economy in the world among nations.

 

In the mid and late twentieth century, a number of race-related incidents occurred in the state. Tensions between police and African Americans, combined with unemployment and poverty in inner cities, led to violent riots, such as the 1965 Watts riots and 1992 Rodney King riots. California was also the hub of the Black Panther Party, a group known for arming African Americans to defend against racial injustice and for organizing free breakfast programs for schoolchildren. Additionally, Mexican, Filipino, and other migrant farm workers rallied in the state around Cesar Chavez for better pay in the 1960s and 1970s.

 

During the 20th century, two great disasters happened in California. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake and 1928 St. Francis Dam flood remain the deadliest in U.S. history.

 

Although air pollution problems have been reduced, health problems associated with pollution have continued. The brown haze known as "smog" has been substantially abated after the passage of federal and state restrictions on automobile exhaust.

 

An energy crisis in 2001 led to rolling blackouts, soaring power rates, and the importation of electricity from neighboring states. Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric Company came under heavy criticism.

 

Housing prices in urban areas continued to increase; a modest home which in the 1960s cost $25,000 would cost half a million dollars or more in urban areas by 2005. More people commuted longer hours to afford a home in more rural areas while earning larger salaries in the urban areas. Speculators bought houses they never intended to live in, expecting to make a huge profit in a matter of months, then rolling it over by buying more properties. Mortgage companies were compliant, as everyone assumed the prices would keep rising. The bubble burst in 2007–8 as housing prices began to crash and the boom years ended. Hundreds of billions in property values vanished and foreclosures soared as many financial institutions and investors were badly hurt.

 

In the twenty-first century, droughts and frequent wildfires attributed to climate change have occurred in the state. From 2011 to 2017, a persistent drought was the worst in its recorded history. The 2018 wildfire season was the state's deadliest and most destructive, most notably Camp Fire.

 

Although air pollution problems have been reduced, health problems associated with pollution have continued. The brown haze that is known as "smog" has been substantially abated thanks to federal and state restrictions on automobile exhaust.

 

One of the first confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States that occurred in California was first of which was confirmed on January 26, 2020. Meaning, all of the early confirmed cases were persons who had recently travelled to China in Asia, as testing was restricted to this group. On this January 29, 2020, as disease containment protocols were still being developed, the U.S. Department of State evacuated 195 persons from Wuhan, China aboard a chartered flight to March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County, and in this process, it may have granted and conferred to escalated within the land and the US at cosmic. On February 5, 2020, the U.S. evacuated 345 more citizens from Hubei Province to two military bases in California, Travis Air Force Base in Solano County and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, San Diego, where they were quarantined for 14 days. A state of emergency was largely declared in this state of the nation on March 4, 2020, and as of February 24, 2021, remains in effect. A mandatory statewide stay-at-home order was issued on March 19, 2020, due to increase, which was ended on January 25, 2021, allowing citizens to return to normal life. On April 6, 2021, the state announced plans to fully reopen the economy by June 15, 2021.

 

Trikomo is a town in Cyprus. It is under the de facto control of Northern Cyprus and is the administrative center of the Iskele District of Northern Cyprus, which mainly extends into the Karpas Peninsula , while de jure it belongs to the Famagusta District of the Republic of Cyprus . It gained municipality status in 1998. Before 1974 Trikomo was a mixed village with a Greek Cypriot majority.

 

In 2011 Trikomo had 1948 inhabitants.

 

Trikomo is located in the north-eastern part of the Messaria plain , 9 km south of the village of Ardana , about two kilometers from the Bay of Famagusta and four kilometers north-west of the village of Sygkrasi .

 

In Greek Trikomo means "three houses". In 1975 the Turkish Cypriots renamed it Yeni İskele to commemorate the origins of the town's current inhabitants. In Larnaca before 1974 Turkish Cypriots resided in the neighborhood called Skala ("İskele" in Turkish), so that when they settled in the village they renamed it with the same name (lit. "new İskele", later shortened to İskele ). Yeni means "new", so Yeni İskele literally means "New Scale/İskele".

 

Before the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus , the population of Trikomo consisted almost entirely of Greek Cypriots , most of whom fled during the conflict while the rest were subsequently deported to the south. Among these, worthy of mention is Georgios Grivas (1898-1974), general of the Greek army , leader of the guerrilla organization EOKA, protagonist of the liberation struggle against the English and of the paramilitary organization EOKA B.

 

The Turkish Cypriot municipality of Larnaca which had been established in 1958 moved to Trikomo in 1974, soon after the Turkish invasion of the island .

 

In Trikomo is the Church of the Panagia Theotokos , deconsecrated and home to an icon museum displaying rare examples of medieval iconography in Cyprus. The church is divided into two sections, one Orthodox and one Catholic. The first is the oldest, dating back to the Byzantine era , while the second was built in the 12th century, during the period in which the island was ruled by the Lusignans

 

Before 1974 Trikomo was a mixed village with a Greek Cypriot majority. In the 1831 Ottoman census, Muslims made up approximately 18.4% of the population. However, by 1891 this percentage dropped significantly to 3.4%. In the first half of the 20th century the population of the village increased steadily, from 1,247 inhabitants in 1901 to 2,195 in 1960.

 

Most of Trikomo's Greek Cypriots were displaced in August 1974, although some remained in the town after the Turkish army took control. In October 1975 there were still 92 Greek Cypriots in the city, but in 1978 they were moved to the south side of the Green Line . Currently, like the rest of the displaced Greek Cypriots, Trikomo Greek Cypriots are scattered across the south of the island, especially in the cities. The number of Greek Cypriots from Trikomo displaced in 1974-78 was approximately 2,330 (2,323 in the 1960 census).

 

Today the village is inhabited mainly by displaced Turkish Cypriots from the south of the island, especially from the city of Larnaca and its district . In 1976-77, some families from Turkey, especially from the province of Adana , also settled in the village . Since the 2000s, many wealthy Europeans, Turks and Turkish Cypriots from other areas of the north of the island (including returnees from abroad) have purchased properties, built houses and settled in the vicinity of the city. According to the 2006 Turkish Cypriot census, the population of Trikomo/İskele was 3,657.

 

The city annually hosts the Iskele Festival , which takes place for ten days in summer, and is the oldest annual festival in Cyprus, having first been held in Larnaca in 1968. In 1974, the event was moved to Trikomo together to the Turkish Cypriot inhabitants of Larnaca who had moved there. The program includes an international folk dance festival, concerts by Turkish Cypriot and mainland Turkish musicians, various sports tournaments, stalls offering food and various competitions, along with other performances and competitions highlighting the city's cultural heritage.

 

The current mayor of the city is Hasan Sadıkoğlu, who was first elected in 2014 as an independent candidate. It was re-elected in 2018 as the candidate of the right-wing National Unity Party (UBP), winning with 54.6% of the vote. In the 2018 local elections, four members of the UBP, two members of the pro-settler Renaissance Party (YDP), and two members of the left-wing Turkish Republican Party (CTP) were elected to the eight-member city council .

 

Trikomo is twinned with:

Flag of Türkiye Beykoz, Istanbul

Flag of Türkiye Büyükçekmece, Istanbul

Flag of Türkiye Finike, Antalya , since 2015

Flag of Türkiye Mamak, Ankara

Flag of Türkiye Pendik, Istanbul

Flag of Türkiye Samsung , since 2006

 

Turkish Cypriot sports club Larnaka Gençler Birliği (also called İskele Gençlerbirliği ) was founded in 1934 in Larnaca, and was playing in the Süper Lig of the Northern Cyprus Football Federation in the 2018–19 season

 

Northern Cyprus, officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), is a de facto state that comprises the northeastern portion of the island of Cyprus. It is recognised only by Turkey, and its territory is considered by all other states to be part of the Republic of Cyprus.

 

Northern Cyprus extends from the tip of the Karpass Peninsula in the northeast to Morphou Bay, Cape Kormakitis and its westernmost point, the Kokkina exclave in the west. Its southernmost point is the village of Louroujina. A buffer zone under the control of the United Nations stretches between Northern Cyprus and the rest of the island and divides Nicosia, the island's largest city and capital of both sides.

 

A coup d'état in 1974, performed as part of an attempt to annex the island to Greece, prompted the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. This resulted in the eviction of much of the north's Greek Cypriot population, the flight of Turkish Cypriots from the south, and the partitioning of the island, leading to a unilateral declaration of independence by the north in 1983. Due to its lack of recognition, Northern Cyprus is heavily dependent on Turkey for economic, political and military support.

 

Attempts to reach a solution to the Cyprus dispute have been unsuccessful. The Turkish Army maintains a large force in Northern Cyprus with the support and approval of the TRNC government, while the Republic of Cyprus, the European Union as a whole, and the international community regard it as an occupation force. This military presence has been denounced in several United Nations Security Council resolutions.

 

Northern Cyprus is a semi-presidential, democratic republic with a cultural heritage incorporating various influences and an economy that is dominated by the services sector. The economy has seen growth through the 2000s and 2010s, with the GNP per capita more than tripling in the 2000s, but is held back by an international embargo due to the official closure of the ports in Northern Cyprus by the Republic of Cyprus. The official language is Turkish, with a distinct local dialect being spoken. The vast majority of the population consists of Sunni Muslims, while religious attitudes are mostly moderate and secular. Northern Cyprus is an observer state of ECO and OIC under the name "Turkish Cypriot State", PACE under the name "Turkish Cypriot Community", and Organization of Turkic States with its own name.

 

Several distinct periods of Cypriot intercommunal violence involving the two main ethnic communities, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, marked mid-20th century Cyprus. These included the Cyprus Emergency of 1955–59 during British rule, the post-independence Cyprus crisis of 1963–64, and the Cyprus crisis of 1967. Hostilities culminated in the 1974 de facto division of the island along the Green Line following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. The region has been relatively peaceful since then, but the Cyprus dispute has continued, with various attempts to solve it diplomatically having been generally unsuccessful.

 

Cyprus, an island lying in the eastern Mediterranean, hosted a population of Greeks and Turks (four-fifths and one-fifth, respectively), who lived under British rule in the late nineteenth-century and the first half of the twentieth-century. Christian Orthodox Church of Cyprus played a prominent political role among the Greek Cypriot community, a privilege that it acquired during the Ottoman Empire with the employment of the millet system, which gave the archbishop an unofficial ethnarch status.

 

The repeated rejections by the British of Greek Cypriot demands for enosis, union with Greece, led to armed resistance, organised by the National Organization of Cypriot Struggle, or EOKA. EOKA, led by the Greek-Cypriot commander George Grivas, systematically targeted British colonial authorities. One of the effects of EOKA's campaign was to alter the Turkish position from demanding full reincorporation into Turkey to a demand for taksim (partition). EOKA's mission and activities caused a "Cretan syndrome" (see Turkish Resistance Organisation) within the Turkish Cypriot community, as its members feared that they would be forced to leave the island in such a case as had been the case with Cretan Turks. As such, they preferred the continuation of British colonial rule and then taksim, the division of the island. Due to the Turkish Cypriots' support for the British, EOKA's leader, Georgios Grivas, declared them to be enemies. The fact that the Turks were a minority was, according to Nihat Erim, to be addressed by the transfer of thousands of Turks from mainland Turkey so that Greek Cypriots would cease to be the majority. When Erim visited Cyprus as the Turkish representative, he was advised by Field Marshal Sir John Harding, the then Governor of Cyprus, that Turkey should send educated Turks to settle in Cyprus.

 

Turkey actively promoted the idea that on the island of Cyprus two distinctive communities existed, and sidestepped its former claim that "the people of Cyprus were all Turkish subjects". In doing so, Turkey's aim to have self-determination of two to-be equal communities in effect led to de jure partition of the island.[citation needed] This could be justified to the international community against the will of the majority Greek population of the island. Dr. Fazil Küçük in 1954 had already proposed Cyprus be divided in two at the 35° parallel.

 

Lindley Dan, from Notre Dame University, spotted the roots of intercommunal violence to different visions among the two communities of Cyprus (enosis for Greek Cypriots, taksim for Turkish Cypriots). Also, Lindlay wrote that "the merging of church, schools/education, and politics in divisive and nationalistic ways" had played a crucial role in creation of havoc in Cyprus' history. Attalides Michael also pointed to the opposing nationalisms as the cause of the Cyprus problem.

 

By the mid-1950's, the "Cyprus is Turkish" party, movement, and slogan gained force in both Cyprus and Turkey. In a 1954 editorial, Turkish Cypriot leader Dr. Fazil Kuchuk expressed the sentiment that the Turkish youth had grown up with the idea that "as soon as Great Britain leaves the island, it will be taken over by the Turks", and that "Turkey cannot tolerate otherwise". This perspective contributed to the willingness of Turkish Cypriots to align themselves with the British, who started recruiting Turkish Cypriots into the police force that patrolled Cyprus to fight EOKA, a Greek Cypriot nationalist organisation that sought to rid the island of British rule.

 

EOKA targeted colonial authorities, including police, but Georgios Grivas, the leader of EOKA, did not initially wish to open up a new front by fighting Turkish Cypriots and reassured them that EOKA would not harm their people. In 1956, some Turkish Cypriot policemen were killed by EOKA members and this provoked some intercommunal violence in the spring and summer, but these attacks on policemen were not motivated by the fact that they were Turkish Cypriots.

 

However, in January 1957, Grivas changed his policy as his forces in the mountains became increasingly pressured by the British Crown forces. In order to divert the attention of the Crown forces, EOKA members started to target Turkish Cypriot policemen intentionally in the towns, so that Turkish Cypriots would riot against the Greek Cypriots and the security forces would have to be diverted to the towns to restore order. The killing of a Turkish Cypriot policeman on 19 January, when a power station was bombed, and the injury of three others, provoked three days of intercommunal violence in Nicosia. The two communities targeted each other in reprisals, at least one Greek Cypriot was killed and the British Army was deployed in the streets. Greek Cypriot stores were burned and their neighbourhoods attacked. Following the events, the Greek Cypriot leadership spread the propaganda that the riots had merely been an act of Turkish Cypriot aggression. Such events created chaos and drove the communities apart both in Cyprus and in Turkey.

 

On 22 October 1957 Sir Hugh Mackintosh Foot replaced Sir John Harding as the British Governor of Cyprus. Foot suggested five to seven years of self-government before any final decision. His plan rejected both enosis and taksim. The Turkish Cypriot response to this plan was a series of anti-British demonstrations in Nicosia on 27 and 28 January 1958 rejecting the proposed plan because the plan did not include partition. The British then withdrew the plan.

 

In 1957, Black Gang, a Turkish Cypriot pro-taksim paramilitary organisation, was formed to patrol a Turkish Cypriot enclave, the Tahtakale district of Nicosia, against activities of EOKA. The organisation later attempted to grow into a national scale, but failed to gain public support.

 

By 1958, signs of dissatisfaction with the British increased on both sides, with a group of Turkish Cypriots forming Volkan (later renamed to the Turkish Resistance Organisation) paramilitary group to promote partition and the annexation of Cyprus to Turkey as dictated by the Menderes plan. Volkan initially consisted of roughly 100 members, with the stated aim of raising awareness in Turkey of the Cyprus issue and courting military training and support for Turkish Cypriot fighters from the Turkish government.

 

In June 1958, the British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, was expected to propose a plan to resolve the Cyprus issue. In light of the new development, the Turks rioted in Nicosia to promote the idea that Greek and Turkish Cypriots could not live together and therefore any plan that did not include partition would not be viable. This violence was soon followed by bombing, Greek Cypriot deaths and looting of Greek Cypriot-owned shops and houses. Greek and Turkish Cypriots started to flee mixed population villages where they were a minority in search of safety. This was effectively the beginning of the segregation of the two communities. On 7 June 1958, a bomb exploded at the entrance of the Turkish Embassy in Cyprus. Following the bombing, Turkish Cypriots looted Greek Cypriot properties. On 26 June 1984, the Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktaş, admitted on British channel ITV that the bomb was placed by the Turks themselves in order to create tension. On 9 January 1995, Rauf Denktaş repeated his claim to the famous Turkish newspaper Milliyet in Turkey.

 

The crisis reached a climax on 12 June 1958, when eight Greeks, out of an armed group of thirty five arrested by soldiers of the Royal Horse Guards on suspicion of preparing an attack on the Turkish quarter of Skylloura, were killed in a suspected attack by Turkish Cypriot locals, near the village of Geunyeli, having been ordered to walk back to their village of Kondemenos.

 

After the EOKA campaign had begun, the British government successfully began to turn the Cyprus issue from a British colonial problem into a Greek-Turkish issue. British diplomacy exerted backstage influence on the Adnan Menderes government, with the aim of making Turkey active in Cyprus. For the British, the attempt had a twofold objective. The EOKA campaign would be silenced as quickly as possible, and Turkish Cypriots would not side with Greek Cypriots against the British colonial claims over the island, which would thus remain under the British. The Turkish Cypriot leadership visited Menderes to discuss the Cyprus issue. When asked how the Turkish Cypriots should respond to the Greek Cypriot claim of enosis, Menderes replied: "You should go to the British foreign minister and request the status quo be prolonged, Cyprus to remain as a British colony". When the Turkish Cypriots visited the British Foreign Secretary and requested for Cyprus to remain a colony, he replied: "You should not be asking for colonialism at this day and age, you should be asking for Cyprus be returned to Turkey, its former owner".

 

As Turkish Cypriots began to look to Turkey for protection, Greek Cypriots soon understood that enosis was extremely unlikely. The Greek Cypriot leader, Archbishop Makarios III, now set independence for the island as his objective.

 

Britain resolved to solve the dispute by creating an independent Cyprus. In 1959, all involved parties signed the Zurich Agreements: Britain, Turkey, Greece, and the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders, Makarios and Dr. Fazil Kucuk, respectively. The new constitution drew heavily on the ethnic composition of the island. The President would be a Greek Cypriot, and the Vice-President a Turkish Cypriot with an equal veto. The contribution to the public service would be set at a ratio of 70:30, and the Supreme Court would consist of an equal number of judges from both communities as well as an independent judge who was not Greek, Turkish or British. The Zurich Agreements were supplemented by a number of treaties. The Treaty of Guarantee stated that secession or union with any state was forbidden, and that Greece, Turkey and Britain would be given guarantor status to intervene if that was violated. The Treaty of Alliance allowed for two small Greek and Turkish military contingents to be stationed on the island, and the Treaty of Establishment gave Britain sovereignty over two bases in Akrotiri and Dhekelia.

 

On 15 August 1960, the Colony of Cyprus became fully independent as the Republic of Cyprus. The new republic remained within the Commonwealth of Nations.

 

The new constitution brought dissatisfaction to Greek Cypriots, who felt it to be highly unjust for them for historical, demographic and contributional reasons. Although 80% of the island's population were Greek Cypriots and these indigenous people had lived on the island for thousands of years and paid 94% of taxes, the new constitution was giving the 17% of the population that was Turkish Cypriots, who paid 6% of taxes, around 30% of government jobs and 40% of national security jobs.

 

Within three years tensions between the two communities in administrative affairs began to show. In particular disputes over separate municipalities and taxation created a deadlock in government. A constitutional court ruled in 1963 Makarios had failed to uphold article 173 of the constitution which called for the establishment of separate municipalities for Turkish Cypriots. Makarios subsequently declared his intention to ignore the judgement, resulting in the West German judge resigning from his position. Makarios proposed thirteen amendments to the constitution, which would have had the effect of resolving most of the issues in the Greek Cypriot favour. Under the proposals, the President and Vice-President would lose their veto, the separate municipalities as sought after by the Turkish Cypriots would be abandoned, the need for separate majorities by both communities in passing legislation would be discarded and the civil service contribution would be set at actual population ratios (82:18) instead of the slightly higher figure for Turkish Cypriots.

 

The intention behind the amendments has long been called into question. The Akritas plan, written in the height of the constitutional dispute by the Greek Cypriot interior minister Polycarpos Georkadjis, called for the removal of undesirable elements of the constitution so as to allow power-sharing to work. The plan envisaged a swift retaliatory attack on Turkish Cypriot strongholds should Turkish Cypriots resort to violence to resist the measures, stating "In the event of a planned or staged Turkish attack, it is imperative to overcome it by force in the shortest possible time, because if we succeed in gaining command of the situation (in one or two days), no outside, intervention would be either justified or possible." Whether Makarios's proposals were part of the Akritas plan is unclear, however it remains that sentiment towards enosis had not completely disappeared with independence. Makarios described independence as "a step on the road to enosis".[31] Preparations for conflict were not entirely absent from Turkish Cypriots either, with right wing elements still believing taksim (partition) the best safeguard against enosis.

 

Greek Cypriots however believe the amendments were a necessity stemming from a perceived attempt by Turkish Cypriots to frustrate the working of government. Turkish Cypriots saw it as a means to reduce their status within the state from one of co-founder to that of minority, seeing it as a first step towards enosis. The security situation deteriorated rapidly.

 

Main articles: Bloody Christmas (1963) and Battle of Tillyria

An armed conflict was triggered after December 21, 1963, a period remembered by Turkish Cypriots as Bloody Christmas, when a Greek Cypriot policemen that had been called to help deal with a taxi driver refusing officers already on the scene access to check the identification documents of his customers, took out his gun upon arrival and shot and killed the taxi driver and his partner. Eric Solsten summarised the events as follows: "a Greek Cypriot police patrol, ostensibly checking identification documents, stopped a Turkish Cypriot couple on the edge of the Turkish quarter. A hostile crowd gathered, shots were fired, and two Turkish Cypriots were killed."

 

In the morning after the shooting, crowds gathered in protest in Northern Nicosia, likely encouraged by the TMT, without incident. On the evening of the 22nd, gunfire broke out, communication lines to the Turkish neighbourhoods were cut, and the Greek Cypriot police occupied the nearby airport. On the 23rd, a ceasefire was negotiated, but did not hold. Fighting, including automatic weapons fire, between Greek and Turkish Cypriots and militias increased in Nicosia and Larnaca. A force of Greek Cypriot irregulars led by Nikos Sampson entered the Nicosia suburb of Omorphita and engaged in heavy firing on armed, as well as by some accounts unarmed, Turkish Cypriots. The Omorphita clash has been described by Turkish Cypriots as a massacre, while this view has generally not been acknowledged by Greek Cypriots.

 

Further ceasefires were arranged between the two sides, but also failed. By Christmas Eve, the 24th, Britain, Greece, and Turkey had joined talks, with all sides calling for a truce. On Christmas day, Turkish fighter jets overflew Nicosia in a show of support. Finally it was agreed to allow a force of 2,700 British soldiers to help enforce a ceasefire. In the next days, a "buffer zone" was created in Nicosia, and a British officer marked a line on a map with green ink, separating the two sides of the city, which was the beginning of the "Green Line". Fighting continued across the island for the next several weeks.

 

In total 364 Turkish Cypriots and 174 Greek Cypriots were killed during the violence. 25,000 Turkish Cypriots from 103-109 villages fled and were displaced into enclaves and thousands of Turkish Cypriot houses were ransacked or completely destroyed.

 

Contemporary newspapers also reported on the forceful exodus of the Turkish Cypriots from their homes. According to The Times in 1964, threats, shootings and attempts of arson were committed against the Turkish Cypriots to force them out of their homes. The Daily Express wrote that "25,000 Turks have already been forced to leave their homes". The Guardian reported a massacre of Turks at Limassol on 16 February 1964.

 

Turkey had by now readied its fleet and its fighter jets appeared over Nicosia. Turkey was dissuaded from direct involvement by the creation of a United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) in 1964. Despite the negotiated ceasefire in Nicosia, attacks on the Turkish Cypriot persisted, particularly in Limassol. Concerned about the possibility of a Turkish invasion, Makarios undertook the creation of a Greek Cypriot conscript-based army called the "National Guard". A general from Greece took charge of the army, whilst a further 20,000 well-equipped officers and men were smuggled from Greece into Cyprus. Turkey threatened to intervene once more, but was prevented by a strongly worded letter from the American President Lyndon B. Johnson, anxious to avoid a conflict between NATO allies Greece and Turkey at the height of the Cold War.

 

Turkish Cypriots had by now established an important bridgehead at Kokkina, provided with arms, volunteers and materials from Turkey and abroad. Seeing this incursion of foreign weapons and troops as a major threat, the Cypriot government invited George Grivas to return from Greece as commander of the Greek troops on the island and launch a major attack on the bridgehead. Turkey retaliated by dispatching its fighter jets to bomb Greek positions, causing Makarios to threaten an attack on every Turkish Cypriot village on the island if the bombings did not cease. The conflict had now drawn in Greece and Turkey, with both countries amassing troops on their Thracian borders. Efforts at mediation by Dean Acheson, a former U.S. Secretary of State, and UN-appointed mediator Galo Plaza had failed, all the while the division of the two communities becoming more apparent. Greek Cypriot forces were estimated at some 30,000, including the National Guard and the large contingent from Greece. Defending the Turkish Cypriot enclaves was a force of approximately 5,000 irregulars, led by a Turkish colonel, but lacking the equipment and organisation of the Greek forces.

 

The Secretary-General of the United Nations in 1964, U Thant, reported the damage during the conflicts:

 

UNFICYP carried out a detailed survey of all damage to properties throughout the island during the disturbances; it shows that in 109 villages, most of them Turkish-Cypriot or mixed villages, 527 houses have been destroyed while 2,000 others have suffered damage from looting.

 

The situation worsened in 1967, when a military junta overthrew the democratically elected government of Greece, and began applying pressure on Makarios to achieve enosis. Makarios, not wishing to become part of a military dictatorship or trigger a Turkish invasion, began to distance himself from the goal of enosis. This caused tensions with the junta in Greece as well as George Grivas in Cyprus. Grivas's control over the National Guard and Greek contingent was seen as a threat to Makarios's position, who now feared a possible coup.[citation needed] The National Guard and Cyprus Police began patrolling the Turkish Cypriot enclaves of Ayios Theodoros and Kophinou, and on November 15 engaged in heavy fighting with the Turkish Cypriots.

 

By the time of his withdrawal 26 Turkish Cypriots had been killed. Turkey replied with an ultimatum demanding that Grivas be removed from the island, that the troops smuggled from Greece in excess of the limits of the Treaty of Alliance be removed, and that the economic blockades on the Turkish Cypriot enclaves be lifted. Grivas was recalled by the Athens Junta and the 12,000 Greek troops were withdrawn. Makarios now attempted to consolidate his position by reducing the number of National Guard troops, and by creating a paramilitary force loyal to Cypriot independence. In 1968, acknowledging that enosis was now all but impossible, Makarios stated, "A solution by necessity must be sought within the limits of what is feasible which does not always coincide with the limits of what is desirable."

 

After 1967 tensions between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots subsided. Instead, the main source of tension on the island came from factions within the Greek Cypriot community. Although Makarios had effectively abandoned enosis in favour of an 'attainable solution', many others continued to believe that the only legitimate political aspiration for Greek Cypriots was union with Greece.

 

On his arrival, Grivas began by establishing a nationalist paramilitary group known as the National Organization of Cypriot Fighters (Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston B or EOKA-B), drawing comparisons with the EOKA struggle for enosis under the British colonial administration of the 1950s.

 

The military junta in Athens saw Makarios as an obstacle. Makarios's failure to disband the National Guard, whose officer class was dominated by mainland Greeks, had meant the junta had practical control over the Cypriot military establishment, leaving Makarios isolated and a vulnerable target.

 

During the first Turkish invasion, Turkish troops invaded Cyprus territory on 20 July 1974, invoking its rights under the Treaty of Guarantee. This expansion of Turkish-occupied zone violated International Law as well as the Charter of the United Nations. Turkish troops managed to capture 3% of the island which was accompanied by the burning of the Turkish Cypriot quarter, as well as the raping and killing of women and children. A temporary cease-fire followed which was mitigated by the UN Security Council. Subsequently, the Greek military Junta collapsed on July 23, 1974, and peace talks commenced in which a democratic government was installed. The Resolution 353 was broken after Turkey attacked a second time and managed to get a hold of 37% of Cyprus territory. The Island of Cyprus was appointed a Buffer Zone by the United Nations, which divided the island into two zones through the 'Green Line' and put an end to the Turkish invasion. Although Turkey announced that the occupied areas of Cyprus to be called the Federated Turkish State in 1975, it is not legitimised on a worldwide political scale. The United Nations called for the international recognition of independence for the Republic of Cyprus in the Security Council Resolution 367.

 

In the years after the Turkish invasion of northern Cyprus one can observe a history of failed talks between the two parties. The 1983 declaration of the independent Turkish Republic of Cyprus resulted in a rise of inter-communal tensions and made it increasingly hard to find mutual understanding. With Cyprus' interest of a possible EU membership and a new UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 1997 new hopes arose for a fresh start. International involvement from sides of the US and UK, wanting a solution to the Cyprus dispute prior to the EU accession led to political pressures for new talks. The believe that an accession without a solution would threaten Greek-Turkish relations and acknowledge the partition of the island would direct the coming negotiations.

 

Over the course of two years a concrete plan, the Annan plan was formulated. In 2004 the fifth version agreed upon from both sides and with the endorsement of Turkey, US, UK and EU then was presented to the public and was given a referendum in both Cypriot communities to assure the legitimisation of the resolution. The Turkish Cypriots voted with 65% for the plan, however the Greek Cypriots voted with a 76% majority against. The Annan plan contained multiple important topics. Firstly it established a confederation of two separate states called the United Cyprus Republic. Both communities would have autonomous states combined under one unified government. The members of parliament would be chosen according to the percentage in population numbers to ensure a just involvement from both communities. The paper proposed a demilitarisation of the island over the next years. Furthermore it agreed upon a number of 45000 Turkish settlers that could remain on the island. These settlers became a very important issue concerning peace talks. Originally the Turkish government encouraged Turks to settle in Cyprus providing transfer and property, to establish a counterpart to the Greek Cypriot population due to their 1 to 5 minority. With the economic situation many Turkish-Cypriot decided to leave the island, however their departure is made up by incoming Turkish settlers leaving the population ratio between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots stable. However all these points where criticised and as seen in the vote rejected mainly by the Greek Cypriots. These name the dissolution of the „Republic of Cyprus", economic consequences of a reunion and the remaining Turkish settlers as reason. Many claim that the plan was indeed drawing more from Turkish-Cypriot demands then Greek-Cypriot interests. Taking in consideration that the US wanted to keep Turkey as a strategic partner in future Middle Eastern conflicts.

 

A week after the failed referendum the Republic of Cyprus joined the EU. In multiple instances the EU tried to promote trade with Northern Cyprus but without internationally recognised ports this spiked a grand debate. Both side endure their intention of negotiations, however without the prospect of any new compromises or agreements the UN is unwilling to start the process again. Since 2004 negotiations took place in numbers but without any results, both sides are strongly holding on to their position without an agreeable solution in sight that would suit both parties.

This is a painting by Henry Utoaluga.

  

(POEM HOLDING TANK)

 

CAMERA

 

This little machine gives the daily

Heaviness some levity. Captures

Moments so perfectly. Images –

Cherish them but beware of them,

They’re just one small part of a

Much bigger picture, one moment

In a much bigger story. Regardless

Of whether the overall story is going

Hopelessly or otherwise, smile for

My lens like it’s going to end happily.

 

FORMING

 

Clouds hide the stars tonight. No rain,

Not yet, no wind, just a stillness that

Amplifies any calm or disquiet you came

Here with. In emptiness like this, the

Mind tries to fill in the blanks. So maybe

It’s my imagination, but I think there’s

Something forming in the void. It won’t

Reveal itself, not yet, but I just feel it.

Can’t attach good or bad associations

To it, just have to wait and see. So will

My dread be justified, or will it surprise

Me when out pops something good?

Could be music trying to define itself from

Noise, or meaning seeking to make itself

Clear through chaos. Life itself, they say,

Formed through particles, through like

Minded molecules that just needed time

To cluster around a center before they

Could figure out how they fit together.

If that can happen in a darkness longer

And far more uncertain than ours, then

We have no reason to fear whatever

Might be forming in the void.

 

WHAT THEY WHISPER ABOUT CHOCOLATE

 

The depression I didn’t realize I’d been

Carrying around for months suddenly

Vanished after one small cup of my

Friend’s koko samoa. Maybe the old

Family recipe just has a kick to it, but

Suddenly my senses remembered their

Capacity for optimism . Optimism does

Not have to mean being unrealistic, it’s

More of an attitude that even if things

Don’t go your way, you needn’t feed

Your pessimism till you’ve grown fat

On despair without even trying. As far

As mood improvements go, that was

Pretty significant for me. So of course

My first thought was to seek an increased

Koko dose, but rather than court certain

Chocolate addiction, I’d rather adopt a

Chocolate philosophy, i.e. remember the

Sweet regardless of how sour things get.

What’s whispered about the seemingly

Innocent chocolate might not be merely

Old wives’ tales - cook it up right and it’s

Really more like a medicine.

 

MENEHUNE

 

The day shift begins before morning

Hoping to make the world right again

In time for another day. So goes the

Myth of the little men who always put

Everything back together so well that

We can’t even tell what a horrendous

Mess was made during the night. If

That reality ever came to light there’d

Be laws to lock up everyone under 30

Between dusk and daybreak. Daybreak

Is a misnomer – what gets broken each

Night? Hearts, wills, confidences, bonds,

Promises, plans, marriages, friendships,

Partnerships, battleships, faith – you

Name it. If someone wasn't repairing as

Much of the damage as they can, then

There'd be no point in any of us getting

Out of bed. Damaging, nasty, careless,

Heartless - don't you ever wonder why

Our whole world doesn't just stop? It's

Little men laboring at their repairs to

Make sure we're back together just as

Fast as we all fall apart. It's not just for

This endless work that each of these

Little men truly deserves a medal, it's

Also for knowing the truth but never

Giving up on us.

 

PROVE

 

I can’t prove clouds don’t have emotions

When they drop rain, can’t prove roaches

Mean to be rude, can’t prove fish deny the

Existence of nets, can’t prove the desert lets

Its winds whip its sands from malice. Can’t

Prove if barking is ever justified or just an

Indulgence, nor whether a breeze means to

Be nice on purpose or is just being itself. So

Much I can’t prove, no wonder I anticipate

Skepticism. There’s really no right or wrong,

True or false, or good or bad, is there? It just

Depends on the circumstances. There’s only

What’s agreed upon or not. If only we could

Agree on something, anything, who knows

What else might fall into place? But if you

Want proof, you’ll have to ask a scientist. As

For me, I’d only say, I see it like this, do you?

 

POLAR BEAR

 

Life on the ice isn't as cold when you

Don't waste your warmth. I should

Know, I'm a Polar Bear. It isn't so

Empty if you see a different kind of

Fullness. You say it's barren but I'm

Not starving. Not to brag but you need

To know where to look to sustain

Your life on the ice. My only worry is

This rumbling that shakes the cold

Ground. The volcano has to either

Melt its way through or take it's fire

Somewhere else. Isn't this earth a

Contradiction? So warm deep within,

With a surface so cold. Just like some

People we know? I don't blame them.

After all, you just survive wherever you

Find yourself. I should know, because

I'm a Polar Bear.

 

WIL – BUR

 

Truth can be like a horse that

Will take you places you could

Never imagine going. Provided,

Of course, that you don’t find

Yourself flat on your ass every

Time it throws you for a loop.

 

ESSENCE

 

Eternal – not subject to our changing

Human moods, nor the evolution of

Our flesh. Has always been there and

Always will be. Temorary – our roles

And our hour upon the stage. In the

Midst of grand illusions, you might

Catch a glimpse of the truth. In the

End it’s all just so much drama, but

The essence of the story lasts long

After lights have dimmed. We may

Change over and over, looking for a

Foothold in this soap opera life, but

The essence never changes, never

Needs to, and any time you like, you

Can return to it. Be true to the

Essence and it will be true to you

 

LOVE AND WAR

 

Heart is both weapon and defense when

You enter this fray. Know your weapon

Well, use it wisely. The only thing worse

Than receiving the wound that’s hardest

To heal is knowing you’ve given it. At least

Those wounded in war still long to fight

Another day, but woe to those wounded

In love who no longer care whether they

Continue or simply cease.

 

FORMULAS

 

Would you love me if I was always on TV?

Would you love me if I played rugby? Would

You love me if I had the money to buy you

An elephant? Would you love me if I had

Big muscles? A King Dong like King Kong?

Would you love me if I needed love to get

Off drugs? Would you live me if everyone

Else did? If no one else did? Would you

Love me if I spanked your bare butt with a

Belt for being bad, like your daddy did? If I

Punished you for being bad? If I forgave

You for being bad? How ‘bout if I was the

Baddest badass in the history of badness?

How ‘bout if I said you were sacred to me?

Is it fair I have to figure through so many

Formulas for yours when all you have to

Do is be yourself?

 

PAPER

 

Papers rule my life, my whole being

Is just a series of papers. Thank you

Trees for turning into paper, Term

Paper, rolling paper, news paper, wall

Paper, paper plates, certificates of birth,

Death and divorce. Diplomas. Pages

And pages of unfinished poems. Hey

My blank page dear, it sure looked good

On paper. Paper tiger. Someone cut me

Out of the paper and said now you're

Printed material made flesh. When I die

Please wrap me in paper and offer me

On special at KS with the frozen fish.

Maybe the one I love will fry me for her

Sunday feast and finally our flesh will

Become one until she flushes me out

After wiping away my last traces with

Paper.

 

NOTES

 

You can never force a true harmony,

Only sing what you’d sing anyway,

Let someone else sing what they’d

Sing with or without you, and the

Notes either blend naturally or not.

Same old song since Adam and Eve,

But our notes make it new and the

Harmony makes it ours.

 

WATER

 

Water, fall from the sky. Life,

Rooted or otherwise, needs

What you bring. Water, go

Underground. Cool the Earth

And she’ll hide you away from

The jealous sun wanting to

Take you back no sooner than

You’re given. Water, make me

Clean. Get beneath the dirt,

Flow. Nothing is dirty by nature,

Only by design or neglect, and

Even the purest water joins as

A river to find the sea together..

 

CONVENTIONAL

 

If conventional would make you

Comfortable, then curse anything

Original in me. Out, unconventional,

Halu! Fee, fi, fo, fidual, I smell the

Blood of an individual. I stopped

Paying attention to convention long

Ago, much to my own detriment,

But now I want to repent. Please

Lord let me be average again. I want

To be normal. I want to be boring, to

Blend in, to not be noticed, except

By you. Let me be so well adjusted

And healthy in mind, body and

Haircut it’s sickening. Being myself

For better or worse has been bad for

My social standing, so Convention,

Please lock me in the cage of your

Protective embrace. Convention,

Take me to your ample breasts so

Like a typical faceless citizen I can

Suck to my heart’s content.

 

MONSTER

 

Last time I checked there wasn’t

A trail of dead bodies in my wake,

Nor broken hearts like bread crumbs

Leading back to a hidden lair in the

Forest of doomed love. So I’m at a

Loss as to what kind monster you

Think I am, and why. But all that

Frankenstein had to do to scare

Someone was just be himself.

 

BREAKFAST BIRDS

 

Birds in the morning flock to steal my dogs’

Breakfast, cause my canines are so occupied

Eating they don't notice the thievery. Eating

Is contagious - when one feeds, others want in

On the act. Like when love gives off its warm

Glow that others can’t help but find attractive

Too. When two feed, twice as many want in

On the act. Usually we see sharing as positive,

And want to let our friends in on our good thing.

But just because birds are remarkably consistent

In contributing their saxophone impressions and

Little hip hop moves every morning, is this from

Friendship or just a free breakfast?

 

PAINTER

 

Long before entering politics, Hitler

Wanted to be a painter. It’s true! I

Looked it up. As a very young man,

Hitler loved art, music, architecture,

And his country’s history. For awhile

He tried making a living by selling his

Watercolors on the streets of Vienna.

He wasn’t very successful, but one of

His watercolors has survived and you

Can see it online. That watercolor, to

Me, looks skillful enough, but twice the

University of Vienna rejected Hitler, said

His work lacked sufficient evidence of

Ability, crushing is aspiration to paint

Seriously. Instead he enlisted in the

Amy and the rest is history. 5.5 million

Killed. It would be unfair to blame the

University of Vienna (how could they

Have known), but still it's tempting to

Speculate on how differently history

Could have turned out had Hitler

Been able to stick to his painting.

 

RIFLE

 

I can see it clearly and I don’t

Like it, but clarity is the kind of

Dangerous gift you just have to

Learn how to handle. It’s like

When you’re given a rifle, you

Can use it to terrorize or to put

Food on the table.

 

CUT

 

First just a tiny one to remind me I’m

Not afraid of pain. Growing numb

Terrifies me more. Look, my body is

Liquid, it flows. Color small crimson

Hearts on m arm – your Valentine’s

Card. Cut deeper, somewhere no one

Will see the scars, my tattoos of your

Gain at my loss. Cut your name into

My skin – I’m your billboard dripping

Red. Cut open a window so this bird

Of prey eating me inside can fly into

The night.

 

BREAKFAST

 

Cereal and milk welcome the day

With a dip together. Toast opens

Itself to richness from butter, then

Feels a little tart from jam. Omelet

Anticipates a special sauce bringing

Out hidden nuances in its warm mix

Of flavors. Coffee takes in its two

Favorites, sugar for sweetness and

Cream to mellow its edge. I finish

Them all off. We’ll do it again

Tomorrow, promise.

 

MARAE

 

Everyone deserves a place of safety for their

Relationship to the eternal. Somewhere the

Spirits of that which you cherish most deeply

Are protected and can live and breathe. Here

I stand outside your marae. I call in greeting.

No answer comes from within. Without your

Welcome, I cannot enter. If you judge me as

Unworthy of your sacred ground or displeasing

To your spirits, I will call no more. I leave as I

Came, quietly, with respect. Inside, your spirits

Can hear me, and know my heart and mind. Is

It they who say deny me, or am I one you wish

To hide from them?

 

THE JUSTICE SYSTEM

 

When you return to the scene of the

Crime, is it to see if anything’s changed?

No, nothing’s changed – what’s good will

Always be good, and what’s bad is still

Bad. All that changes is our ability to

Tell one from the other.

 

TALIBAN

 

What they want is not genuine creativity

Or self expression. What they want is

Politically correct lies. We fight the

Taliban in Afghanistan? Too late! We

Already have them in our back yard.

 

MANNERS AND MORALS

 

I wish I could just make you feel good.

Many moons ago, when this all started,

That was sort of the point. Everything

Said and done since then may tend to

Obscure a related point, which is how

Ridiculously easily you could make me

Feel good if you wanted to. I was busy

Calling your manners and morals into

Question, so it may have slipped my

Mind to mention it. But yeah, in those

Few moments where it seemed like

There was something to be optimistic

About, nothing before or since has

Ever felt better. How could I get so

Preoccupied with manners and morals?

Maybe thinking my own had to adhere

To some high standard, but funny how

Little they matter now. In spite of the

Worst possible thoughts I could have

About you, if I thought you could still

Feel good about me then all I’d do is

Try and make you feel good.

 

PRICELESS

 

Like a diamond in a shop window I stop

And stare at, something personal makes

This more than just another glittering rock.

It feels like everything meant for me,

Everything I was meant for, so naturally

I start conjuring what the future should

Be, will be, already is. Fatally forgetting

This is not mine yet, as much as I firmly

Believe no one else will ever love it more.

How obscene to see something precious

As this subject to an exchange rate, to be

Lost or gained through trade. This could

Turn me criminal - stick ‘em up mister

And watch me walk away with what you

Only thought was yours. Is any price too

High for what’s priceless? What a tragedy

To see it fall into the hands of one who

Would treat it as worthless, just another

Glittering rock.

 

NAVIGATING

 

The word friendship evokes kind winds

And calm seas. It’s friend, someone you

Can be close to, plus ship, something

That travels great distances, certainly

Further than one could swim or paddle

A canoe. Sounds like you and a friend

Can make the voyage together. Sad,

Then, how so many friendships and

Fledgling loves lie shipwrecked on the

Rocky shores of mistrust and betrayal.

Sailing can be dangerous. It’s not clear

Who’s captain and neither of us have

The map, only a compass of the heart.

Stars might guides us or storms could

Throw us off course. Pirates try for a

Piece of us, sirens entice us towards

The rocks for spite and Moby Dick

Rams our ship for sport. The reward

For all the risks is arriving somewhere

We’d never reach alone, provided we

Survive navigating each other’s waters.

 

BOP TEMPLATE

 

Jazz rose up from the streets, coming

From somewhere I couldn’t see. This

City’s warm even in the middle of the

Night. So many working at night, in

Reverse of the natural order like bats

Or owls. Ask them if they’d take the

Day shift and they say that’s crazy.

The day is just so much play acting.

You can’t fake it at night, you know.

Night is the truth, where we came

From, where we’re going. Why do

You think a coyote needs moonlight

To sing the blues? Night is the truth,

Man. I nod and follow the streetlights,

Wondering if all those dreams of

Normal people don’t just float in the

Air this time of night, or if some find

Their way into the horns of a jazz

Band during the late set and get

Breathed back out as music .

 

BULLSHIT GLASSES

 

In the back of my mind there’s a

Voice saying, “You’re wasting your

Time. Trying to cast your pearls

Before a swine.” That brings out

The part of me that’s stubborn

As a mule (and maybe as stupid)

That says, “No! If she could just

Take off her Bullshit Glasses then

She would see it too. I know it!”

But of course the other side of

That coin is maybe I’m the one

Who can’t take off his own.

 

STRING THEORY

 

For better or worse, my poetry comes

Out most naturally when I’m in a highly-

Strung emotional state. This doesn’t

Mean I’m not a fairly reasonable human

Being the rest of the time. Still, I don’t

Recommend a highly-strung emotional

State no matter what it does for your

Poetry. For one thing, it won't work

Wonders on your general affability or

Outlook on life. For another, you have

To check constantly to ensure your

Highly-strung strings haven’t gone out

Of tune, and take caution not to strum

Them so passionately that one of them

Goes pwack and snaps.

 

(Note: The closest approximation to the sound of a snapping guitar

string is "pwack", although you won't find it in most dictionaries.)

 

BAD HISTORY MONTH

 

Do you think a deception

Is any less of a deception

Just because it involves a

Computer? It still becomes

Part of a bad history, one

More nail in the coffin of

Honesty and trust.

 

DISPOSABLE

 

Sacrificed again on the altar of your pride,

Only I don’t feel such a holy object. More like

A surrogate for your interests in an offshore

Account. Trying to petition the Gods offering

Breadcrumbs in hope of gold? He who receives

Your sacrifice, on high or down low as you

Decide, knows the difference between what’s

Truly valuable to you and what’s decidedly

Disposable. You’ll be rewarded accordingly

With blessings of the disposable variety.

 

BOXES

 

Sometimes people deserve the boxes

We put them in. Other times the boxes

We choose for them say more about us.

Careful not to mislabel. Nothing worse

Than putting a right thing in a wrong box

And shelving it somewhere you’d rather

Forget. Put me in a rubbish box and you

May find one day you’re searching the

Dump in vain for what you threw away.

 

POEMS

 

Poems are… Individual flowers from the

Mind’s garden, plus an occasional weed…

Escaping pus from a wound inside that

Won’t heal… Shards of debris from an

Emotional explosion equal to the creation

Of the universe… An SOS from a ghost ship…

Little eruptions of volcanoes undersea

Dreaming of being islands… Notes posted

For God on what you hope and pray is his

Refrigerator… Flying the flag of your true

Self to see who salutes… Something you

Sleepily clean up in the morning from

Your soul’s front porch… Proof positive

So-called sanity, when accepted without

Question, would happily render a death

Sentence on a deeper reality… Usually

Permanence’s enemy, change’s friend…

(Unless it’s the kind of open permanence

That provides poets sanctuary…) Written

In tears, sweat, blood, and other juices we

Can use to make poems in private... All this,

Plus. On and on, on and on, on and on.

  

JESTER

 

In medieval times, even a jester toasted by

The court could find himself separated from

His head for saying the wrong thing at the

Wrong moment. Nothing uplifts and nothing

Wounds as surely as humor. The jester’s lot

Was bringing merriment yet stopping short

Of heresy, which must have taken incredible

Insight and skill. He walked a tightrope: be

Funny or starve, but calculate the laughter

Carefully or be stabbed. Can you imagine

What stress the poor jester would come

Under, having to make light of even the

Darkest circumstances? And when a King

Or Queen revealed themselves as the true

Fool, it fell to the jester to save royal face by

Appearing an even bigger clown. I have no

Doubt more than a few monarchs treasured

Their jesters for this very reason. I’ve felt

Making someone else smile was a matter

Of life or death, worried terribly over my

Wording, sensed imminent doom when it

Seemed I’d gotten it wrong. A jester needs

A keen eye for tragedy, given how easily he

Could become one. No wonder even today

So many comics are also alcoholics.

 

JAGGER AT 70 a/k/a BLUNTLY ON YOUR BIRTHDAY

 

Yours will remain a most unlikely, most

Amazing tale – two teens (you and Keith)

Inspired to play the devil’s music and

Ending up feted as gods. Was your own

Mephistophelian trade 20 untouchable

Years followed by 30 in exile on main

Street? Did all your satanic majesty

Culminate in artistic bankruptcy amidst

More dough than Robert Johnson would

Have dared to dream of? Sorry I’m so

Blunt on your birthday, but being studied

(Not just a stud) comes with your cultural

Role, and your truest believers still can’t

Figure what happened after Tattoo You.

So what, Sir Mick, if you won’t likely be

Mentioned in history with the same awe

As Picasso or even Muddy? It’s only rock

And roll. Like our own Prometheus,

You’re still rolling - we find something

Oddly comforting in that, even if with

Each push your peaks just grow further

Distant. Meanwhile, naïve believers

Unwisely await miracles, like one more

Stones album worthy of your past to

Silence every told-you-so, to prove it’s

Never too late if you’re not too lazy.

 

(Note: Jagger and I share the same birth month - July - but I'm on the 9th and he's on the 26th so I'm a Cancer and he's a Leo.)

 

SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE

 

An obvious mystery, one’s person’s gold,

Another’s garbage. One man’s madonna,

Another’s whore. One woman’s devotion,

Another’s indifference. All personal, and

If you’re not careful, all subject to change

Without notice.

 

ALL IN TRADE

 

Our passions, hopes, time, attention

Exceptions, investments, generosity,

Resilience, forgiveness, willingness to

Risk, all in trade for that one thing we

Haven’t found yet. Your space, special

Places, faithfulness, kisses, intimacy,

Tendency to see the diamond but not

The blood behind it, all in trade for that

One thing you haven’t found yet. The

Devotion I’ve reserved for someone

Deserving, openness when I’m not

Inclined to close up, a skill I learned of

Nurturing, songs I learned from

Loneliness and joy, all in trade for that

That one thing I haven’t found yet, the

One perfect exchange that makes

Everything right, makes sense of the

Mysteries, makes the contradictions

Finally reveal the truths they hide.

 

DIFFERENCE

 

Despite all you disbelieve about yourself,

You could still make a difference if you

Wanted to. In case no one’s told you,

Your whole pose is one of indifference.

By all appearances, you don’t care, and

That impression will remain unless you

Try somehow to change it. Neither one

Can win when playing by two different

Sets of rules. Someday when all your

Shit has hit the fan, you’ll understand

How you can’t fight for someone while

You’re also fighting with them. Even if

The effort ends up seeming to not even

Make much difference, the truth will

Always be that you tried, not that you

Simply settled for the hand-outs of fate.

 

AD INFINITUM

 

You can find a new friend… And another…

And another… And another ad infinitum,

Till you eventually realize these aren’t

Really friends at all, only bargain hunters

Out to get what they want as easily and

As cheaply as they can. But maybe that’s

All you’re shopping for too. Careful how

You advertise – your brand name already

Has a reputation on the market, thanks

To all the free samples you’ve given. If

You think these friends of yours are truly

Friends, try putting them all in the same

Room together and see how friendly

They are face to face, among those who

They have something in common with.

Or better yet, invite them all to your

Wedding if you ever have one – I’m

Sure you’ll be proud to introduce them

All to your spouse.

 

MY WORLD

 

My thoughts have gotten so disjointed,

Like a planet coming apart. My center

Of gravity can’t hold it together. And so

My world goes flying off in a million

Different pieces. I was always trying to

Go in more than one direction at once,

But not like this. I feel the explosion, tear,

Rip, crack in my time-space continuum,

Violence of involuntary end. How there’s

Still a voice to say these words, I don’t

Know. I could already be a ghost. Feels

Like I’ve been away, and I have to admit

The familiar feels more comforting when

You know it won’t last forever, just for

A long time.

 

SUSPICIONS

 

Suspicions can be creative. Take information,

Make a story, then feel betrayed by your own

Imagination. My suspicions could fill novels,

Television shows, dramas that leave audiences

Traumatized by the tension. My suspicions

Always seem plausible enough to unnerve me,

So why not the public too? When all is said

And done, I really know nothing, so suspicions

Fill that void, channeling passions like a lost,

Warlike tribe wreaking havoc in anger at being

Denied their homeland, or so they believe.

This is how destruction, emotional or physical,

So easily follows when suspicions inform

Initiative and explode.

 

PROTECT

 

Protect your ego by justifying what you’ve

Done as right from your point of view. If

Someone has a different perspective, it’s

Just their problem. They don’t have to

Walk in your shoes. If you walk roughshod

Over someone else’s feelings, it’s just

Their problem. Maybe next time they’ll

Know better than to get in your path. Fine,

You protect your ego and I’ll protect mine.

 

ALMOST VEGETARIAN

 

They say Americans spend more on porn

Than they put into their pensions. Ok, so

Much for technology and progress, but if

We’re such sex experts why can’t we get

Our pigs to breed as fast as we eat them?

One more Sunday, no pig on the table at

Louise. Too expensive, I’m told. We have

A pork shortage, something must be done.

Encourage your pigs to be more romantic,

Get them drunk, read them the works of

Anne Rice, play them Marvin Gaye non-

Stop, tell them it’s Valentine’s Day, offer

Honeymoon specials, open more motels,

Tell them the Sexual Revolution happened

In the ‘70s and they’re behind the times.

Guilt trip them into getting it on, whatever

It takes, our plates are lonely. Meanwhile,

The pigs are thinking, why should we breed

Just to be eaten? We won’t contribute to

Your Butthead Buffet. We refuse. What if

The tables were turned and we consumed

All the unwanted fruit of your porn addictions?

The pigs have always wanted to say that,

They just had to find the language.

 

FREE ASSOCIATION IS ALIVE AND WELL

 

Fork tongue Nike, window spy whiskey,

Hooligan stadium, rabbit transit, card

Socket, pie face casino night, sliding scale,

Fall through the ice, trash dress muddy,

Front view frog, hard drug drive-thru, milk

Cowboy, shoulder tattoo map, treasure in

Every pack of Cracker Jacks, heron robs

National treasury, Hal open the pod bay

Doors, run away from home and join the

Circus, civil wars and domestic violence,

Homeland insecurity, Merrill Lynch Mob,

Liz Pharisee, every purchase with us a

Guaranteed betrayal of your faith, buy

Now cry later, crocodiles in Manhattan

Sewers, here pussy, bluebird paintbrush,

Able-bodied volunteers needed for

Beaver company, Frankenstein pop singer

Rejuvenates alternative music, cream shirt,

Scream soda, intravenous and Mars, let’s

Go out to the bald game, we interrupt this

Program just because we can, you got a

Problem with that?

 

WAR STORY

 

Caught in the crossfire of your

Good and bad selves, I’m just a

Casualty of battle. If Heaven’s

Own angels rebelled, small

Wonder we can’t resist the bad

Side of ourselves. A door more

Easily opened than closed. Like

Money changers in a holy temple,

What you first invited you must

Eventually fight or else surrender

To completely. In the end, good

Usually wins, but bad can make

A memorable stand. Entering

The crossfire means being shot

By both sides, since bullets don’t

Know friend from foe, and in self

Defense you’re advised to just

Keep firing and ask questions

Later. The best I can say is I

Survived, though I wish it all

Had meant more than just

A good war story.

 

SILVER

 

The Moon doesn’t hold anger or sadness

In spite of all it’s seen. Know why I shine?

Asks the Moon. Everyone’s troubles have

Rubbed against me since the dawn of time.

In appearance I’m not as constant as my

Cousin the Sun, but he burns like never

Ending passion while I rise, fall, and rise

Again in endless reflection. As I reflect all

I’ve seen, I use the troubles for fuel to

Provide you a light in the darkness. I’m a

Symbol. My cycle is renewal, while Mr. Sun

Might burn out one day if he’s not careful.

 

COUP

 

Do you envision a golden future where

Everyone’s forgotten the truth about

You? Most dictators do, but soon their

Own conscience makes them unable to

Settle comfortably into their newfound

Security. Subtly, they feel threatened

Not by what anyone’s done but by what

Everyone knows, not by what anyone’s

Said but by what they suspect you must

Be thinking. There’s no bigger threat to

A liar than those they can rely on to tell

The truth. No bigger threat to a cheater

Than those who play fair. No bigger

Threat to someone drunk on power

(Or just alcohol) than the sober. No

Bigger threat to the guilty than the

Innocent. Everyone must buy in or

Be edited out.

 

NEW AMUSEMENTS

 

Hey you Pharisees, if you show up

At my sacred mountain, be sure to

Take off your shoes. With faith you

Can walk on hot coals, but with

Attitude all you’ll find is your fancy

Footwear melted. Be respectful or

You'll regret it. Lightning will fry you

If you run amok at night. Try an orgy

In the forest, as if it's some disco

With trees, and you’ll fall into rivers

Hidden underground full of hungry

Fish who’ll love you. This ain’t no

Disneyland, and it did quite well

Without you before you walked

In acting like you own the place.

 

STOLEN BY THE SKY

 

Legend has it craters are the lovers and

Wives of mountains stolen by the sky.

Sheltering them from unsympathetic

Eyes, the moon hides craters within his

Glow. No stranger to separation’s pain,

The moon spends half his time shining

With undeniable brilliance and the other

Half hidden in cold darkness hoping his

Wounds heal in time for his next

Scheduled appearance. And when has

The moon ever kept us waiting? Some

Mothers soothe children to sleep telling

Stories of the craters on the moon. See

How some craters have already made

Room for mountains they still await.

Remember how others, long ago,

Embraced mountains so closely as to

Become one with them, until a black

Hole with a jealous heart, a cosmic

Storm, a hungry magnetic asteroid or

Heaven for reasons unknown reached

Down to snatch the mountains away.

See how easily these craters could catch

All manner of moon and star material to

Fill them again, but curiously, how most

Choose instead to remain empty.

 

CHILD

 

The older I get, the more I intuit

That it’s children, not adults, who

Have the right idea. Everything’s

Open, everything’s new, it’s all

One big possibility. Whoever came

Up with the bright idea that we

Have to carve ourselves in stone

When we hit 18 needs a lobotomy

From Dr. Ramone to re-connect

With their inner child. Is insight

That just closes us off really

Insight at all?

 

INDEX

 

I never figured clarity of expression

Could come across as so dramatic,

But if I stopped clocks the way I

Stop conversations, the digital age

Would be in for some major shit.

If I like you, I'll say look at it this

Way: no matter how different you

Are, you're still walking on the same

Flowers and stones and breathing

The same air as everyone else.

We're all an index of each other's

Possibilities.This is bad. This is

Good.

 

UP AGAINST THE WALL STREET IN YOU

 

The fates have granted me the grace of

Keeping the catastrophe quiet. Declaring

Bankruptcy’s a private matter, even if the

Currency’s only emotions. Feelings subject

To foreclosure. Liquidate these dreams,

They have amusement value. See the

Easily amused nod their approval. They

Can relate to being left holding the bag.

It’s nice they sympathize, and avert their

Eyes as I face an exile of uncertain length.

In exile, one at least has small freedoms.

Returning is not one of them. I can’t see

Anything bringing me back, once I’ve been

Tagged as unmanageable, too risky an

Investment, certain only to compromise

Your profits. In exile, one at least has small

Comforts, like appearing free while serving

A sentence of indefinite confinement inside.

Fools the easily amused, at least. But it’s all

Show, far from sweet, with the bitter taste

Of the incomplete.

 

SHAKESPEARE SHOE FITS

 

Strange name, Shakespeare. Evokes images

Of primitives trying to scare off progress, or

To pursue spear as a euphemism, civilized

Males reading Playboy. Seriously, it’s kind

Of comic, the name Shakespeare. A name

Like Deathspeare would be sexier, or

Bloodspeare more macho. But try picture

The enemy quaking in fear hearing

Shakespeare. Doesn’t quite fly. Sounds like

Braveheart shaking his sword, Robin Hood

Shaking his bow, Sir Lancelot shaking his

Lance a lot, the Three Musketeers shaking

Their rapiers or Bonnie and Clyde shaking

Their machine guns. Weapons must be

Scary, not shaken like a martini or a

Maraca. So with the name Shakespeare,

What would you do to be taken seriously?

We don’t know what really drove him, but

Wouldn’t he be having the last laugh if his

True reason for writing so relentlessly was

He was mad at being laughed at? So next

Time you’re angry, channel that negative

Energy into something creative. They might

Still hear your echo 400 years later.

 

DEFINITION

 

I’ve always been grateful for my place

In the world, but I never bothered to

Define it, for a statement as to what

I am would be a comparison to what

I am not, and my knowledge of what

I am not is at best surface level, so

Who am I to talk? Thank you for

Telling me who I am. I know you’re

Trying to be helpful, but why do I

Suspect you’re the one who really

Needs help? What makes you such

An authority? I want to be one too.

Does it take a degree? A badge? A

Gun? A certain tattoo? Or do you

Just pick a definition of yourself that

You like, wear it like wrapping paper

Around a gift to the world, and hope

This colorful sight inspires someone

Or other to sing happy birthday to

You because you appear to fit their

Definition of cake-deserving?

 

BRICKS

 

These poems are just so many bricks

In a fragile wall a cold stare could

Crumble or a warm smile could melt.

I wish I could change many things,

But the truth is I haven't a clue how

To change anything. Arguably I have

A clue how to write a poem, though

I can hear critics my disagreeing. At

The risk of sounding even more

Egotistical than usual, if this is what

I can do with their cynicism ringing

In my ears, think what I could do if

I could hear you singing my praises!

On a cold day in hell, you might scoff,

But who knows. If sincerity only gets

Me in trouble, then maybe it’s the

Utterly ridiculous that might make

You see things differently. If we

Can’t share a reality, we can always

Share an idea, as innocently as the

Public shares germs. Imagination:

Change in the dark, germinating. I

Just keep laying bricks, sometimes

High like a wall, other times low,

Down to earth, imagining a road.

 

THE UNDEAD

 

I know you don’t want it so I’m

Trying to destroy it but it won’t

Die. It just gets uglier each time

It crawls from the grave and says,

I come from you - send me six

Feet under, but isn’t it really a

Part of you you’re trying to bury?

I reply, you got that right – part

Of me I don’t want to see walking

Around, looking over my shoulder

In the mirror, in pictures, in stories.

A constant reminder of cursed love,

Of failure, and the other partner in

Your creation doesn’t want you

Either. Living things with limited

Insight are so challenged grasping

The concept of inconvenience.

 

SORTING ITSELF

 

Heavy rain, stay inside. Stay inside, look

Inside. Just as turbulent, even more so.

The storm outside is nothing. Nature is

Sorting itself, throwing air, water and

Light into a fray while the earth tries

To remember dryness and warmth,

Knows they’ll come again, but wishes

They’d put on some speed. I try to see

My troubles as my life sorting itself.

Hoping that, as with nature, in the end

A balance will be restored. As the storm

Clearly shows, a lot of conflict goes into

The making of a sunny day.

 

SYMBOLIC

 

Hey Sky, who you crying for all day

And all night? Freud said water

Symbolizes emotion. Sky wants to

Grow fat on emotion, hold it all in,

Gain substance like Earth, hoping

Earth might look up from its typical

Lazy passivity and actually take

Notice for a change. But alas, Sky

Can’t keep the weight on. Gets to

A certain size and it all comes flying

Off from gravity. Most Americans

Would be envious. And predictably,

Earth just callously says thanks for

The drink, call me sometime, ok?

Stevie Ray Vaughn sang “The Sky Is

Crying” with a lot of emotion, as is

Only fitting for this tale of yearning

Frustrated every time, no matter

How sincere or how determined.

 

WERE I SANTA CLAUS

 

The joy’s in the giving of gifts as much

As the receiving. And were I Santa Claus,

You wouldn’t have to wait till Christmas.

Were I the master gift builder, I’d make

Myself into one you’d want to unwrap,

A present you’d enjoy again and again,

Something you’d accept without the

Slightest hesitation, indulge in with no

Second thoughts, omit mentioning to

Your friends to avoid them becoming

Covetous, something you’d sighed for

Each time you saw it in the shop window.

In other words, I wish I were chocolate.

 

EXPERTS

 

I'm such an expert - I know

Exactly what you mean and

Exactly what you're thinking

Even before you do. You're

Such an expert - you know

Exactly what I mean and

Exactly what I'm thinking

Even before I do. Things

Can get complex, unclear.

Lucky we’re such experts.

 

OUR BEST

 

Maybe Las Vegas can make you rich

Beyond your wildest dreams, but how

Often does that happen? Please don't

Use our best as a gambling chip.

 

DESERVE

 

Bad guys in movies get

What they deserve. Why

Not nice guys in real life?

 

ROCKS

 

People ‘round here throw rocks so

Often you’d think they’d never sinned.

I wish Cupid could aim arrows on my

Behalf as accurately as my neighbors

Aim rocks at transgressing dogs, cats

Advertising a heat, birds soiling the

Clothesline, pigs digging up the roses,

And sometimes one another.

 

SPYING IN PERSPECTIVE

 

Our nation, born of rebellion, founded on the

Ideal of liberty or death. If leaders take the

Liberty of spying on their citizens, it must be

For our own good. Traitors walk among us,

Trying to establish a new dark ages. Humans

Are fallen by nature and foolish in notion, so

Thank the Lord we have so many laws for our

Own protection. Laws fill books that fill rooms

Which fill buildings. No wonder you can break

A law without even knowing. Laws, it seems,

Come and go these days like Vegas paychecks.

Do they still need probable cause to probe into

Our private business? Just some little bird that

Whispers nasty things? Words on my t-shirt

They don’t like seeing? A blip on their radar

Screen they think is me flying on a broom?

It changes so fast, I don’t bother keeping

Track. All I know is, in today’s USA, if you’re

A conservative wage slave you’re ok (for now),

But any deviation could place you under

Suspicion. Part of the standardization plan

For our own good. We’re a democracy, an

Equal partnership between people and our

Leaders . We should be as honest with them

As they are with us.

 

REMEMBER?

 

Remember when I tried reaching out to

You? At first you seemed pleased, but

Then you treated me like you wished I

Would just go away. So I did. Why do

You still wear that hurt look? Even

When I’ve done what you want, you’re

Not happy? Doesn’t seem likely. Must

Be it’s just someone else now who’s

Making you sad.

 

PEARLS

 

When our pearls have fallen in the

Pig sty, who will pull them out? All

The crap in the world can’t tarnish

Their true worth, only obscure it.

But who’ll be left with dirty hands?

Is saving something precious worth

Sorting through something ugly?

 

CONTINUED NEXT PHOTO OVER ("CYCLONE SCENE")

The new Scale Lane foot bridge over the River Hull

 

I wrote a blog on Hull's popular photography locations. Please check it out, it may be useful! www.neilnicklinphotography.co.uk/blog/2015/5/photography-...

The 1955 Chevrolet Cameo was the first pickup truck to merge luxury passenger car and pickup design. Featuring full styled sides along the load box, it was a forerunner to the 'styled side' series from GM and its competitors. The load box featured the standard box insert from the other Chev commercial series, and added the styled side in fibreglass, a low tooling cost solution, from from the supplier of the Corvette bodies (Molded Fiberglass Products Company).

 

The Cameo also featured six and Vee-eight cylinder engines of up to 265 cid but with lower power than the Passenger cars. The Cameo, as the premium offereing from Chevrolet Truck division, was well dressed in large chrome bumpers, grille and other trimings. The stylist was none other than Chuck Jordan who later became Vice President of Design.

 

The single colour scheme for 1955 was white body, with red detailing in the bed and interior. For 1956 the colour options were expanded, which nonetheless still resulted in significantly fewer sales.

 

As the name suggests, the Cameo only made a brief appearance on Chevrolet's sales list, ceasing at the end of 1958. They now comand a high premium among light truck collectors from this period.

 

This model has been created in Lego miniland scale for Flickr LUGNuts 38th build challenge "By Random Appointment" - where the build model is selected by the group administrators and assigned to builders in the manner of a commission.

BODY

Manufactured by Ihagee Kamerawerk Steenbergen & Co, Dresden, East Germany

Model: 1959, Version 1.5.2, (A&R: 5, Hummmel: 048), (produced between 1959-60, quantity: 38300)

Special feature of Version 5: Exa on the front plate embossed, (not engraved like in all other versions).

Version, manufacturing year, body and lens info are as to Andrzej Wrotniak

The original Exa is known as Exa 0 also.

All Exa 0 produced between 1951-62

35mm SLR film camera

Engraving on the front plate: Ihagee Dresden

Lens release: via a lever on the left of the lens flange

Focusing: via Fresnel matte screen, ring and scalel on the lens, w/DOF scale

Shutter: Mirror acts like a curtain as a part of the shutter, vertical moving, due to this maximum speed is limited to 1/150, speeds: 1/25-1/150 +B

setting: via a lever and scale on the right of the top plate

Shutter release: a knob, on front of the body, w/ a safety locking cap, and cable release socket, it can be pressed with the plunger on the lenses, w/ cable release socket also

Cocking knob: also winds the film, on the right of the top plate

Frame counter: window on the right of the top plate, additive type, manual reset by a thumb ring on front of it

Viewfinder: SLR pentaprism finder , interchangeable with Waist level finder

Finder release: via a knob beneath the Exa logo

Mirror: Stays up after exposure, so viewfinder is dark, cocking the shutter returns the mirror to normal position

Re-wind knob: on the left of the top plate

Re-wind release: by a button just beside the cocking knob

Flash PC socket: two, on the right front side of the camera, F and X

Self-timer: none

Back cover: Hinged, removable, opens by a latch on the left side of the camera

Tripod socket: 378'' w/1/4'' adaptor

Strap lugs

Body: metallic, Weight:557g (wo/ the lens)

serial no. 545089 (inside the camera)

LENS:

Meyer-Optik Görlitz Lydith 30mm f/3,5 (Zebra), 5 elements,

preset type, Mount: Exakta bayonet mount, interchangeable with Exakta Varex lenses,

filter thread: 49mm, serial no. 4082192, (introduced in 1962)

Aperture: f/3.5-f/22, setting: ring and scale on the lens

Focus range: 0.33 - 6m +inf

 

+Original leather ever ready case

+ Waist level finder, Ihage Dresden, w/original leather case

+Sunlux Tele Converter, (Zebra), with Exacta bayonet mount and lens release, (Made in Japan), w/ original leather case

+ B+W Skylight filter, 49ES KR1,5 1,1x w/leather case

 

Although Exa is much simpler than the professional Exakta cameras, the workmanship is equally good, finish similar, and the family resemblance obvious. With its lower price, Exa cameras are addressed to the amateur photographers.

Ihagee Kamerawerk Steenbergen & Co, in Dresden, which was the largest independent camera manufacturer in Germany and was founded in 1912 by Johan Steenbergen.

The true Exaktas and Exas are ones made by Ihagee in Dresden.

Ihagee did not produce their own lenses. Instead, they relied on many of the major optical firms of their day to each produce a series of lenses for their cameras, eg. Carl Zeiss (Jena), Meyer-Optik (Görlitz) and Joseph Schneider (Kreuznach). The lenses from these three makers, in terms of the number and variations of lenses produced, are the most plentiful and in most cases the easiest for collectors and users to acquire. Maybe, over 80% of the Exaktas offered for sale are equipped with normal focal length lenses from these three firms.

Notes about Exa/Exakta classification

I use the Exa/Exakta classification of Andrzej Wrotniak. As to me, it is the best.

Some opinions of a serious Exa/Exakta collector, F W Tappe :

Andrzej Wrotniak uses a very sensible classification, listed on his website, which I personally like the best. It is multi dimensional in setup, without being complicated!

Richard Hummel's 1995 book lists an "one dimensional" classification, which is incomplete, but many sources still refer to this.

Aguila and Rouah (A&R) in their 2003 edition of "Exakta cameras 1933 - 1978", come to an improved classification. They built on their previous 1987 edition classification, which was the leading standard among collectors.

Klaus Wichmann, prolific writer of books about Exakta - and Exa cameras, published his classifications earliest.

 

More info Captain Jack, Maurizio Frizziero, F W Tappe, Exa Original in Camerapedia

  

Power can significantly change a person's personality. Maybe even transform it. To fight hubris syndrome, we must begin by fighting our tendency to admire power.Power has always inspired writers. Hubris syndrome "- when power drives an individual mad - would also have transfigured a large number of historical personalities.

Hubris (/ˈhjuːbrɪs/, also hybris, from ancient Greek ὕβρις) describes a personality quality of extreme or foolish pride or dangerous overconfidence.[1] In its ancient Greek context, it typically describes behavior that defies the norms of behavior or challenges the gods, and which in turn brings about the downfall, or nemesis, of the perpetrator of hubris.

The adjectival form of the noun hubris is "hubristic". Hubris is usually perceived as a characteristic of an individual rather than a group, although the group the offender belongs to may suffer collateral consequences from the wrongful act. Hubris often indicates a loss of contact with reality and an overestimation of one's own competence, accomplishments or capabilities. Contrary to common expectations,[by whom?] hubris is not necessarily associated with high self-esteem but with highly fluctuating or variable self-esteem, and a gap between inflated self perception and a more modest reality. In ancient Greek, hubris referred to actions that shamed and humiliated the victim for the pleasure or gratification of the abuser. The term had a strong sexual connotation, and the shame reflected upon the perpetrator as well. Violations of the law against hubris included what might today be termed assault and battery; sexual crimes; or the theft of public or sacred property. Two well-known cases are found in the speeches of Demosthenes, a prominent statesman and orator in ancient Greece. These two examples occurred when first Midias punched Demosthenes in the face in the theatre (Against Midias), and second when (in Against Conon) a defendant allegedly assaulted a man and crowed over the victim. Yet another example of hubris appears in Aeschines' Against Timarchus, where the defendant, Timarchus, is accused of breaking the law of hubris by submitting himself to prostitution and anal intercourse. Aeschines brought this suit against Timarchus to bar him from the rights of political office and his case succeeded. In ancient Athens, hubris was defined as the use of violence to shame the victim (this sense of hubris could also characterize rape. Aristotle defined hubris as shaming the victim, not because of anything that happened to the committer or might happen to the committer, but merely for that committer's own gratification: to cause shame to the victim, not in order that anything may happen to you, nor because anything has happened to you, but merely for your own gratification. Hubris is not the requital of past injuries; this is revenge. As for the pleasure in hubris, its cause is this: naive men think that by ill-treating others they make their own superiority the greater. Crucial to this definition are the ancient Greek concepts of honour (τιμή, timē) and shame (αἰδώς, aidōs). The concept of honour included not only the exaltation of the one receiving honour, but also the shaming of the one overcome by the act of hubris. This concept of honour is akin to a zero-sum game. Rush Rehm simplifies this definition of hubris to the contemporary concept of "insolence, contempt, and excessive violence".In Greek mythology, when a figure's hubris offends the pagan gods of ancient Greece, it is usually punished; examples of such hubristic, sinful humans include Icarus, Phaethon, Arachne, Salmoneus, Niobe, Cassiopeia, and Tereus. The concept of hubris is not only derived from Greek philosophy - as it is found in Plato and Aristotle - but also from the theatre, where it allows us to tell the story of great epics, where success goes up to the head of the hero, who claims to rise to the rank of gods; it is then ruthlessly put in its place by Nemesis, the goddess of vengeance. The Greek hybris refers to the excesses and their disastrous consequences.

 

In its modern usage, hubris denotes overconfident pride combined with arrogance.[10] Hubris is often associated with a lack of humility. Sometimes a person's hubris is also associated with ignorance. The accusation of hubris often implies that suffering or punishment will follow, similar to the occasional pairing of hubris and nemesis in Greek mythology. The proverb "pride goeth (goes) before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall" (from the biblical Book of Proverbs, 16:18) is thought to sum up the modern use of hubris. Hubris is also referred to as "pride that blinds" because it often causes a committer of hubris to act in foolish ways that belie common sense.[11] In other words, the modern definition may be thought of as, "that pride that goes just before the fall."

Examples of hubris are often found in literature, most famously in John Milton's Paradise Lost, in which Lucifer attempts to compel the other angels to worship him, is cast into hell by God and the innocent angels, and proclaims: "Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven." Victor in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein manifests hubris in his attempt to become a great scientist by creating life through technological means, but comes to regret his project. Marlowe's play Doctor Faustus portrays the eponymous character as a scholar whose arrogance and pride compel him to sign a deal with the Devil, and retain his haughtiness until his death and damnation, despite the fact that he could easily have repented had he chosen to do so.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubris

 

Charisma, charm, the ability to inspire, persuasiveness, breadth of vision, willingness to take risks, grandiose aspirations and bold self-confidence—these qualities are often associated with successful leadership. Yet there is another side to this profile, for these very same qualities can be marked by impetuosity, a refusal to listen to or take advice and a particular form of incompetence when impulsivity, recklessness and frequent inattention to detail predominate. This can result in disastrous leadership and cause damage on a large scale. The attendant loss of capacity to make rational decisions is perceived by the general public to be more than ‘just making a mistake’. While they may use discarded medical or colloquial terms, such as ‘madness’ or ‘he's lost it’, to describe such behaviour, they instinctively sense a change of behaviour although their words do not adequately capture its essence. A common thread tying these elements together is hubris, or exaggerated pride, overwhelming self-confidence and contempt for others (Owen, 2006). How may we usefully think about a leader who hubristically abuses power, damaging the lives of others? Some see it as nothing more than the extreme manifestation of normal behaviour along a spectrum of narcissism. Others simply dismiss hubris as an occupational hazard of powerful leaders, politicians or leaders in business, the military and academia; an unattractive but understandable aspect of those who crave power. But the matter can be formulated differently so that it becomes appropriate to think of hubris in medical terms. It then becomes necessary first to rule out conditions such as bipolar (manic-depressive) disorder, in which grandiosity may be a prominent feature. From the medical perspective, a number of questions other than the practicalities of treatment can be raised. For example can physicians and psychiatrists help in identifying features of hubris and contribute to designing legislation, codes of practice and democratic processes to constrain some of its features? Can neuroscientists go further and discover through brain imaging and other techniques more about the presentations of abnormal personality? (Goodman et al., 2007).

 

We see the relevance of hubris by virtue of it being a trait or a propensity towards certain attitudes and behaviours. A certain level of hubris can indicate a shift in the behavioural pattern of a leader who then becomes no longer fully functional in terms of the powerful office held. First, several characteristics of hubris are easily thought of as adaptive behaviours either in a modified context or when present with slightly less intensity. The most illustrative such example is impulsivity, which can be adaptive in certain contexts. More detailed study of powerful leaders is needed to see whether it is mere impulsivity that leads to haphazard decision making, or whether some become impulsive because they inhabit a more emotional grandiose and isolated culture of decision making.

 

We believe that extreme hubristic behaviour is a syndrome, constituting a cluster of features (‘symptoms’) evoked by a specific trigger (power), and usually remitting when power fades. ‘Hubris syndrome’ is seen as an acquired condition, and therefore different from most personality disorders which are traditionally seen as persistent throughout adulthood. The key concept is that hubris syndrome is a disorder of the possession of power, particularly power which has been associated with overwhelming success, held for a period of years and with minimal constraint on the leader.

 

The ability to make swift decisions, sometimes based on little evidence, is of particular importance—arguably necessary—in a leader. Similarly, a thin-skinned person will not be able to stand the process of public scrutiny, attacks by opponents and back-stabbings from within, without some form of self-exultation and grand belief about their own mission and importance. Powerful leaders are a highly selected sample and many criteria of any syndrome based on hubris are those behaviours by which they are probably selected—they make up the pores of the filter through which such individuals must pass to achieve high office.

 

Hubris is associated in Greek mythology with Nemesis. The syndrome, however, develops irrespective of whether the individual's leadership is judged a success or failure; and it is not dependent on bad outcomes. For the purpose of clarity, given that these are retrospective judgements, we have determined that the syndrome is best confined to those who have no history of a major depressive illness that could conceivably be a manifestation of bipolar disorder.

 

Hubris is acquired, therefore, over a period. The full blown hubris, associated with holding considerable power in high office, may or may not be transient. There is a moving scale of hubris and no absolute cut-off in definition or the distinction from fully functional leadership. External events can influence the variation both in intensity and time of onset.

 

Dictators are particularly prone to hubris because there are few, if any, constraints on their behaviour. Here, this complex area is not covered but one of us has considered the matter elsewhere (Owen, 2008). Hitler's biographer, Ian Kershaw (1998, 2000), entitled his first volume 1889–1936 Hubris and the second 1936–1945 Nemesis. Stalin's hubris was not as marked or as progressive as Hitler's. As for Mussolini and Mao both had hubris but probably each also had bipolar disorder. Khrushchev was diagnosed as having hypomania and there is some evidence that Saddam Hussein had bipolar disease (Owen, 2008).

 

Being elected to high office for a democratic leader is a significant event. Subsequent election victories appear to increase the likelihood of hubristic behaviour becoming hubris syndrome. Facing a crisis situation such as a looming or actual war or facing potential financial disaster may further increase hubris. But only the more developed cases of hubris deserve classification as a syndrome exposed as an occupational hazard in those made vulnerable by circumstance.

 

Hubris syndrome and its characteristics

 

Unlike most personality disorders, which appear by early adulthood, we view hubris syndrome as developing only after power has been held for a period of time, and therefore manifesting at any age. In this regard, it follows a tradition which acknowledges the existence of pathological personality change, such as the four types in ICD-10: enduring personality change after trauma, psychiatric illness, chronic pain or unspecified type (ICD-10, 1994)—although ICD-10 implies that these four diagnoses are unlikely to improve.

 

Initially 14 symptoms constituting the hubristic syndrome were proposed (Owen, 2006). Now, we have shortened and tabulated these descriptions and mapped their broad affinities with the DSM IV criteria for narcissistic personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder and histrionic personality disorder. These three personality disorders also appear in ICD-10, although narcissistic personality disorder is presented in an appendix as a provisional condition, whose clinical or scientific status is regarded as uncertain. ICD-10 considers narcissistic personality disorder to be sufficiently important to warrant more study, but that it is not yet ready for international acceptance. In practice, the correlations are less precise than the table suggests and the syndrome better described by the broader patterns and descriptions that the individual criteria encapsulate.

 

Establishing the diagnostic features of hubris syndrome

 

The nosology of psychiatric illness depends on traditional criteria for placing diagnoses in a biomedical framework (Robins and Guze, 1970). There are, however, other underpinnings—psychological or sociological—that can be applied. Validity for a psychiatric illness involves assessing five phases: (i) clinical description; (ii) laboratory studies; (iii) defining boundaries vis-a-vis other disorders; (iv) follow-up study; and (v) family study. While these phases are worth analysing, it has to be recognized that there are severe limitations in rigidly applying such criteria to hubris syndrome given that so few people exercise real power in any society and the frequency amongst those ‘at-risk’ is low. The potential importance of the syndrome derives, however, from the extensive damage that can be done by the small number of people who are affected. As an investigative strategy, it may be that studies such as neuroimaging, family studies, or careful personality assessments in more accessible subjects with hubristic qualities or narcissistic personality disorder from other vulnerable groups might inform the validation process.

 

Proposed clinical features

 

Hubris syndrome was formulated as a pattern of behaviour in a person who: (i) sees the world as a place for self-glorification through the use of power; (ii) has a tendency to take action primarily to enhance personal image; (iii) shows disproportionate concern for image and presentation; (iv) exhibits messianic zeal and exaltation in speech; (v) conflates self with nation or organization; (vi) uses the royal ‘we’ in conversation; (vii) shows excessive self-confidence; (viii) manifestly has contempt for others; (ix) shows accountability only to a higher court (history or God); (x) displays unshakeable belief that they will be vindicated in that court; (xi) loses contact with reality; (xii) resorts to restlessness, recklessness and impulsive actions; (xiii) allows moral rectitude to obviate consideration of practicality, cost or outcome; and (xiv) displays incompetence with disregard for nuts and bolts of policy making.

 

In defining the clinical features of any disorder, more is required than simply listing the symptoms. In the case of hubris syndrome, a context of substantial power is necessary, as well as a certain period of time in power—although the length has not been specified, varying in the cases described from 1 to 9 years. The condition may have predisposing personality characteristics but it is acquired, that is its appearance post-dates the acquisition of power.

 

Establishment of the clinical features should include the demonstration of criterion reliability, exploration of a preferred threshold for the minimum number of features that must be present, and the measurement of symptoms (e.g. their presence or absence, and a severity scale). This endeavour may also include a decision as to whether the 14 criteria suggested might usefully be revised.

 

To determine whether hubris syndrome can be characterized biologically will be very difficult. It is the nature of leaders who have the syndrome that they are resistant to the very idea that they can be ill, for this is a sign of weakness. Rather, they tend to cover up illness and so would be most unlikely to submit voluntarily to any testing, e.g. the completion of scales measuring anxiety, neuroticism and impulsivity. Also the numbers of people with the syndrome is likely to be so small preventing the realistic application of statistical analyses. It also needs to be remembered that leaders are prone to using performance-enhancing drugs fashionable at the time. Two heads of government, Eden and Kennedy, were on amphetamines in the 1950s and 1960s. In the 21st century hubristic leaders are likely to be amongst the first to use the new category of so-called cognition enhancers. Many neuroscientists believe that such drugs properly used can be taken without harm. The problem is a leader who takes these without medical supervision and in combination with other substances or in dosages substantially above those that are recommended. In 2008, Nature carried out an informal survey of its mainly scientific readers and found that one in five of 1400 responders were taking stimulants and wake-promoting agents such as methylphenidate and modafinil, or β-blockers for non-medical reasons (Maher, 2008).

 

In defining the boundaries, one of the more important questions may be to understand whether hubris syndrome is essentially the same as narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), a subtype of NPD or a separate entity. As shown in Table 1, 7 of the 14 possible defining symptoms are also among the criteria for NPD in DSM-IV, and two correspond to those for antisocial personality and histrionic personality disorders (APD and HPD, respectively) (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). The five remaining symptoms are unique, in the sense they have not been classified elsewhere: (v) conflation of self with the nation or organization; (vi) use of the royal ‘we’; (x) an unshakable belief that a higher court (history or God) will provide vindication; (xii) restlessness, recklessness and impulsiveness; and (xiii) moral rectitude that overrides practicalities, cost and outcome.

 

academic.oup.com/brain/article/132/5/1396/354862/Hubris-s...

 

La Vie site cites the work of researcher Ian H. Robertson, who studied the effect of hubris on a fish species in Lake Tanganyka in Africa, on which the seizure of power triggers a hormonal reaction that changes their organism. The researcher explains that the situation is similar for humans, whose intelligence is multiplied tenfold by dopamine intake, but "too much dopamine will have harmful consequences. But absolute power floods the brain with dopamine. It also creates an addiction,"says the researcher. That is not all. Excessive self-confidence puts in place a mental mechanism that makes it impossible to assess oneself properly. The more you have a fair appreciation of your own qualities, the more modest you are. And you don't normally feel fit to become head of state,"explains Sebastian Dieguez, a neuroscience researcher at the University of Freiburg.

Unfortunately there is no good scale in this photo, but I can tell you the cacti in the foreground on the right are something like 3.5 - 4.0 m tall (11 - 14 ft), or about twice as tall as a person. That means that, yes, as you might have already guessed, the cactus on the left is really tall, potentially approaching 8 m (~26 ft). The upper range for this species is around 12 m (~40 ft), and I saw a few of these on my trip. They're pretty incredible, considering that every other Opuntia in the world is a puny shrub (although Brasilopuntia, a related genus in South America, can get very tall as well).

 

I had previously labeled these cacti as Opuntia echios var. echios on this photostream; however, after searching the scientific literature I've discovered this designation was innaccuate. Opuntia echios is the only Opuntia species on Santa Cruz, however, there are two recognized varieties, var. echios in the north and var. gigantea in the south. These varieties were named for their morphological differentiation, however, recent genetic work with both microsatellites and ribosomal genes have determined that these varieties do don't differ genetically, with over 95% of existing genetic variability existing within localities rather than between localities of different varieties. This is interesting, because despite the lack of genetic divergence between the varieties, var. echios are small, shrub like plants with dense covering of spines, while the var. gigantea are arboreal (tree-like) plants with large robust trunks and and multiple branchings containing more sparsely spined pads. Is there a genetic basis to this differention that has evolved within very recent times, such that both populations retain overall similar genomes, or is this morphological variability simply due to regional environmental differences, which has been observed in other cacti? Who knows. There are many intermediate individuals at hybrid zone localities, but this is compatible with both models. TIme will tell...

 

Helsen, P., P. Verdyck, A. Tye, S. Van Dongen. 2009. Low levels of genetic differentiation between Opuntia echios varieties on Santa Cruz (Galapagos). Plant Systematics and Evolution 279:1–10.

 

Helsen, P., R. A. Browne, D. A. Anderson, P. Verdyck, S. Van Dongen. 2009. Galápagos' Opuntia (prickly pear) cacti: extensive morphological diversity, low genetic variability. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 96(2): 451–461.

 

For a discussion on why Opuntia of the Galapagos are so neat, and their relationship with the endemic giant tortoises, see this image: www.flickr.com/photos/31867959@N04/6012346984/in/set-7215...

 

For a discussion on why I find Opuntia so neat morphologically, developmentally, and functionally: see this image: www.flickr.com/photos/31867959@N04/7457728654/in/set-7215...

made as a commision to sit on a bookshelf, in 1/12th scale,

The very last of several type B's I made over the years. I made this one in 2008.

 

Brand: Hot Wheels

Series: 2019 Hot Trucks 10/10

Livery: N/A

Scale: 1/64

Base: Chrome plastic - ©2018 Mattel

Collector/casting number: 55/250 - V5322

Country of manufacture: Malaysia

Place/date of purchase: Wal-Mart, 2019

Condition: Minty fresh 10/10

 

Remarks/comments: A very nice recolour on this. Shame it's on the retooled casting.

On this year’s traditional walk to visit the ‘Painted Ladies’ of historic Grimsby Beach (at the East end of Grimsby, Ontario and along the South shore of Lake Ontario) we had the good fortune to see them in the winter and got some images of them with snow. This is another of the cluster of Victorian-era gingerbread cottages that started to appear in this area in the 1880s as part of the conversion of tent sites to more permanent housing. The compact size of the cottages was dictated by the size of the tent sites and their cheek-by-jowl spacing stems from that same layout. This cottage is located at #17 Fair Avenue and this years colour scheme is blue-based, although, if you were to visit the site in daylight, you would see its over-the-top colour details. Owners of these cottages have adopted these colourful looks although, as I understand it, the colours were not quite this dramatic when they were first erected. The Boss and I headed out there a few hours before rain washed away the Christmas Day snowfall. In the morning only a little of the snow remained, certainly not enough to get a shot like this again before the decorations come down or, next Christmas. - JW

 

Date Taken: 2020-12-27

 

Tech Details:

 

Taken using a Tripod-mounted Nikon D800 fitted with an AF-S Nikkor 24-120mm 1:4.0 lense set to 44mm, ISO100, Tungsten WB, Matrix metering, Aperture Priority mode, f/5.6, 15 sec base and repeated at exposure biases of EV+/-1.0 for frames ranging from EV+2 to EV-2 to produce a sequence capturing the dynamic range of the scene with the intent of exposure blending in post. The 5 images were loaded into GIMP and the images were then added as layers to the reference layer image (EV+0.0 image) with the reference layer at the bottom of the stack, all other layers were manually aligned to the reference layer (which was a royal pain in the nether regions BTW), black/transparent layer masks were added to all layers but the reference layer a large paintbrush with white paint was used on the various masks to reveal the good portions of each exposure and a couple of layers were duplicated and had mask added to allow me to address some very localized issues, the result was then used to create a new layer from the visible result, some fine tuning of the overall tonality was done using the curves tool, sharpen slightly, save, scale to 6000px wide, sharpen slightly, save, add fine black-and-white frame, add bar and text on left, save, scale image to 3000 px wide for posting online, sharpen very slightly, save.

Waning crescent. Low to the east before sunrise.

 

This marks the first time that accurate shadows at this level of detail are possible in such a computer simulation. The shadows are based on the global elevation map being developed from measurements by the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). LOLA has already taken more than 10 times as many elevation measurements as all previous missions combined.

 

The Moon always keeps the same face to us, but not exactly the same face. Because of the tilt and shape of its orbit, we see the Moon from slightly different angles over the course of a month. When a month is compressed into 12 seconds, as it is in this animation, our changing view of the Moon makes it look like it's wobbling. This wobble is called libration.

 

The word comes from the Latin for "balance scale" (as does the name of the zodiac constellation Libra) and refers to the way such a scale tips up and down on alternating sides. The sub-Earth point gives the amount of libration in longitude and latitude. The sub-Earth point is also the apparent center of the Moon's disk and the location on the Moon where the Earth is directly overhead.

 

The Moon is subject to other motions as well. It appears to roll back and forth around the sub-Earth point. The roll angle is given by the position angle of the axis, which is the angle of the Moon's north pole relative to celestial north. The Moon also approaches and recedes from us, appearing to grow and shrink. The two extremes, called perigee (near) and apogee (far), differ by more than 10%.

 

The most noticed monthly variation in the Moon's appearance is the cycle of phases, caused by the changing angle of the Sun as the Moon orbits the Earth. The cycle begins with the waxing (growing) crescent Moon visible in the west just after sunset. By first quarter, the Moon is high in the sky at sunset and sets around midnight. The full Moon rises at sunset and is high in the sky at midnight. The third quarter Moon is often surprisingly conspicuous in the daylit western sky long after sunrise.

 

Celestial north is up in these images, corresponding to the view from the northern hemisphere. The descriptions of the print resolution stills also assume a northern hemisphere orientation. To adjust for southern hemisphere views, rotate the images 180 degrees, and substitute "north" for "south" in the descriptions.

 

Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

 

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.

 

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An HO scale model of Conrail's Philadelphia Division Safety On Rails Theater car.

This car was a staple at events in and around NJ in the 90s. I remember as a kid seeing it at the Hoboken Terminal festival along with its companion N21 Operation Lifesaver caboose. The car still exists today, painted and lettered TOYX 1775 for Operation Toy Train. It currently resides at the Port Jervis Transportation History Center. More info can be found here:

 

pjthc.org/1775

 

The model is built from a Tangent Scale Models undecorated PC version X58 kit. The only major modification was cutting out the door and sanding it to the correct thickness so it could be placed in the open position. The hinges also had to be cut and repositioned to match the open appearance. The car had some body panel repairs done and that was replicated with 0.05 styrene sheet. The former grab iron locations were also modified to match prototype photos. Grab Irons and steps were added by the doors along with matching the roof walk support arrangement to match photos. The AC was kit bashed from a Details West part and the brackets and lines are fabbed from brass. The car was painted with Tru-Color rich oxide brown and lettered with a mix of Microscale, CMR, and custom printed decals.

 

Replication of the interior was easy since the car still retains its original configuration. Unfortunately the only source I had on how it was originally decorated was from a couple of grainy videos I found on Youtube by user AviationMetalSmith. Where I could, the photos and posters are exact copies otherwise they are just a representation that looks close and conveys the original idea of the photo or sign, as one might imagine finding the exact photos is near impossible. I had no clear photos or video of the display on the wall with the open door so I was able to get a general idea by looking at the reflections in the glass from the other side. Again, the photos are just general images that just looked right. All of the interior artwork was done in Inkspace and printed out. The freebies on the countertop are pictures of actual items I have in my collection. The exterior decoration and signage is a mix of the way the car appeared at an event in Whippany NJ and the way its shown in the video at Hoboken NJ.

 

This model took many hours of research to even get close to looking right and I'd like to give a huge shoutout to Rudy Garbely and the Conrail Historical Society, Bryan at Eastern Seaboard Models, and the Port Jervis Transportation History Center for all the help. I couldn't have done this without your help, so Thanks!!

 

470 ways to know you are addicted to Minecraft.

You continually refresh Notch's blog for the latest post about the next compatability-breaking update.

You wear a diaper to increase time between bathroom breaks.

You begin to panic when you black screen for more than 10 seconds.

You go to bed in minecraft when you're tired in real life.

You haven't eaten or slept in 24 hours.

You just sit down to mine a few blocks and look up to realize its already been 4 hours.

If you've completed the 404 challenge more than once.

You refresh the mod page hoping for a new mod update to reflect Notch's latest update.

You google "Minecraft addiction".

The only time you see your friends is in-game.

You worry about server griefing while you're offline.

You get excited when Notch releases a demo video about the next update.

You begin dreaming about blocks.

You see a dark area in the kitchen and have the urge to put a torch there.

You smack snow with a shovel and half-expect snowballs to pop out.

You make a website about Minecraft addictions.

You see fog and think about hitting "F"

You look at every building in real life and start seeing it as blocks and measuring it.

You get coal as a gift and think its a good thing.

You are referred by people in real life by your Minecraft nickname.

When you're in public and you hear "ssssss" and you yell "CREEPER!!!"

When you watch too many "Let's Play's" and you begin commentating every move you make.

You are afraid of the dark because you think mobs will spawn.

Your body parts start getting blocky.

You forget to feed your real dog, because you were too busy feeding your pack of virtual dogs...

You hate it when people ask you to eat while playing Minecraft

When it's dark, you try to place a torch.

You re-create your town in Minecraft and live your life in there.

You break all the bones in your hand due to attempting to open doors by punching them.

You see some pesky trees in your yard and think, "I really wish I at least had my wooden axe right now."

You see a stray dog and think, "Dangitt why didn't I bring my bones with me!"

You use Minecraft as a model maker for your dream home/city. (We all have dreams you know)

You hear someone go Uggghh, and you tell your friend, "I think that guy over there is a zombie. Do you have your sword on you?"

You see a beautiful landmark and think, "I bet I could make a cool version of that in Minecraft." And later that night you put a scale replica in you town and say,"Yep, that is as cool as the real Washington Monument."

You see one of those commercial where you sell your used gold for cash, and think, "No way! I'm saving my gold for power rails!"

You're hungry and you think, "Man, I wish I could find a pig right now."

You tested 99% positive for minecraft addiction.

You have submitted over 11 Minecraft addiction jokes to this website. (To whom I thank very much. --Drise)

You try to punch your way through a tree.

You start wondering who people on a server really are.

You begin to view the world as Minecraft.

You punch a tree 5 times hoping it yields some wood.

You try to start a new world IRL because you fell.

You walk into a jewelry store in think "Dang, whish I had a workbench, and a pickaxe".

You hear creeper or zombie noises when you wake up in the middle of the night.

You wonder why a thing doesn't break as easy as in minecraft and why real life is harder.

You start drawing creeper faces everywhere.

You know more about minecraft, than you do in your classes

You suffer from the tetris effect.

You watch Ultimate Survival and Think "I could do alot better"

You start planning what you are going to build the next day, IN YOUR DREAMS.

While fishing you're hoping a fish pops out of the water.

You make cake, but leave the bottle of milk in the mix.

At night you go to bed, lie there five seconds and get up thinking it's day.

You have arachnophobia and begin to see skeletons riding spiders.

You punch pigs when you're hungry.

You punch pigs when you get hurt.

You think Notch is your god and Mojang your church.

You have more then ten Minecraft-related YouTube subscriptions...

You always think with blocks.

You mod your night lights into torches and place them in your house.

When you don't know what to build, you look up famous monuments

You make your own house in Minecraft

You cut part of the bottom of a tree trunk thinking the rest will stay up.

You look at a birch tree in real life and see it as blocks.

When the cat hisses, you run away and come back in 2 minutes looking for the crater.

You give your dog 5 bones just so you can take him for a walk and slap him on the head once to make him sit.

You get arrested for punching sheep.

Your biological clock adapts to Minecraft's 10 minute days and nights.

You see a circle and think "wait, that's not right."

You stay home all day isolated in your room

You start driving minecarts instead of cars

You notice perfectly square brick columns IRL and think, "man, where'd that guy find all that clay?"

Your desktop, mouse cursor, screensaver, and homepage all relate to Minecraft

You start swinging your arms like the minecraft character when you walk.

You are in history class and you imagine the building as if they were built in minecraft

When you bookmark this page.

You walk by sugarcanes and attempt to make a bookcase

You see the sun as a square.

When the server you play on is down you immediately curl up in a corner and cry while playing single player on your laptop with a creeper skin to prevent theft.

When you don't have bread, you align 3 wheats together.

You start eating raw pork.

You try to make friends with wild wolves.

When you stay up late at night starring at your computer trying to find redstone somewhere

You check your backyard mob grinder every ten minutes hopping to find bones and gunpowder.

You jump off a 50 ft tower and hope you land in that 3 ft deep water

You think apples made of pure gold taste delicious

You recreate your real life house in MC, and make better things inside.

You break your head attempting to place a big stone block above you...

You try to organise things in multiples of 4.

You mutter /time day in your sleep.

You attempt to put fires out with your bare hands, then eat cookies until you stop burn ing.

When you say "In Notch's name" instead of "In God's name"

You don't go near obsidian for months because your afraid if you light it on fire it will send you to the nether

When you see a person wearing diamond jewelry IRL, you think, "How the nether did that guy find that much diamonds??!!!" And proceed to ask that person what kind of mining technique they use.

You throw an egg hoping for a chicken to pop out.

You are afraid that your cup of water may flood the kitchen.

You feel strange whenever you see something taller than 64 meters.

You think of the world from a blocky perspective

If you are tired but you can not sleep because it's a day

You fear to go to the woods because you think there are a lot of wolves.

When you will die, you look forward to finally meeting this "re spawn" Button!

You think you can carry 10 billion pounds of stuff in your pockets.

You see a creeper and you piss yourself

You punch the grass on your lawn, and when someone asks you what you're doing, you tell them you're going mining.

The ONLY vehicles you know of, are minecarts and boats. Wooden boats.

You walk on stuff lying around your room, hoping you automatically pick them up.

You listen to minecraft-parodied songs rather than the original.

You Play Minecraft(FULLSTOP)

When diving, you think that you can evade drowning by eating pork really fast.

You dig Diamonds

When you want to make a book stack 3 papers and wait...

You make weapon,and hurt tree!

You start digging a hole and look for caves in real life.

When you see something white in the dark, you think it's a Skeleton.

It gets dark out and you think: "must find coal...)

Your friends make hissing sounds just to makeyou jump.

In math class, your using the calculator to find out just how many cobble you'll need for your next castle.

You always get scared around wooden structures because you think they'll be greifed.

You start finding crafting recipes for common things: Tv:two glass by eight cobble and redstone Pencil: coal and stick Fish tank: two water plus four glass

You try to change pictures on the wall by punching them

You always check your basement for slimes

You walk down the street, saying "THIS TEXTURE PACK IS AMAZING"

You try to hit right click when your real life dog is bothering you.

You picture redstone running through your walls when you turn a light on.

You do research to find out how real life mining compares to Minecraft mining.

You think when you sprinkle ground up bones on to a tree sapling and expect it to suddenly grow into a tree.

You validate 'creeper' as a real animal.

The only animals you've ever known of are cows, sheep, chickens and pigs

You are suprised you get hurt when you make a belly dive from the highest diving platform.

You wonder why the real world is so small and doesn't have snow next to the desert.

You see someone with a checkered shirt and think: Dont tell me you haven't added a HD texturepack.

You think outside the blocks.

Your friend finds you in the garden, in a 5 metre deep hole trying to find iron.

You connect your electrical devices using reddish-black dust.

You place 3 diamonds and two sticks on a workbench and think, "Dang it, why isn't this turning into a diamond pickaxe?!"

You think smashing a saddle on a pig and riding it will make you epic. But the farmer just screams at you.

You go to sleep with your lights on, and wait for everything to get progressively dark before you close your eyes.

You start to make cartoon characters in minecraft.

You think you're dead when you fall 6 feet.

Your "downloads" folder is Full Off Minecraft stuff

You try to attach a stone to your wall and wonder why it falls down.

I Play Minecraft until i can't focus on the screen.

You run away and jump for cover everytime you hear a "Ssssssss" sound, expecting a explosion.

You stuff porkchops and coal into the furnace and hope that 10 secs later a cooked porkchop pops out.

You try to ride a pig on a regular basis

you throw a wooden plank in front of a door and step on it to open it

You can only count up to 64 and then start over at one

Putting a lump of coal on top of a stick you found outside and thinking "Where is my torch?"

You think of redstone instead of wires and minecarts instead of cars.

How many creepers does it take to screw in a lightbulb? None cause they dont have any arms.

You sit your dog down and expect it to stay there until you stand it up, no matter how far away you go.

You sprint away from your dog as fast as you can just so you can see it teleport to you.

You plant a seed in the ground, thinking it will be fully grown in an hour.

you try to make bread by mashing up wheat on a work bench

you try to do the /fly command and then brake your face trying to fly

You start to see creepers appearing as flowers in your garden...

You look up at the sky to see which way the clouds are moving in order to determine which way is north.

When you hear a dog bark, you quickly climb over the nearest hill/mountain hoping to find a wolf pack.

Your in geometry and you have to find the area of a square, but you already know it because tis the same parameter as the temple your building.

When you pick up steel tools, you think its iron and and if you have one, whack your diamond ring with it.

You're setting up a minecart track and say, "Mom, can i have some redstone?... or maybe just some stone?"

you ride the mono-rail and think "I wonder where the boosters are?"

You go door to door asking for your neighbors to let you inspect their house to make your scale replica of your town in Minecraft.

You constantly wonder, "How does life not lag with this super high res texture pack?"

You say "/give tnt 999" when you're really board and somehow are not playing Minecraft.

You throw dirt in the air trying to make it float.

You spend your school day making textures.

You read all of these jokes hoping for help.

When someone drops wood, you run away because you don't have a sword or arrows.

You chill

You walk into a library and think "It must've taken a long time to get all those reeds."

You see a water fountain and think "Wish I had some buckets on me."

You're heading out to the store, and check and see if you've got everything you need - Wallet, car keys, list of stuff to get, redstone compass...

You try to find a torch when your room gets dark.

Your Face is a Creeper

You punch trees IRL and wonder why your fist bleeds

You try to establish your house on a floating island.

You change your clock time forward IRL to engage hyperspeed.

You hear about the earth running out of resources and think 'just spawn some, damnit!'.

You sit in class and sketch stuff to build later.

You decide to learn Java just so you could make Minecraft mods.

You see solar panels at the store and explain to your dad how they work in Industrial craft format.

When your parents say 'Come on, we have to go now!' and you said 'Wait a minute, I just need to finish this..'

It is physically impossible for you to eat beef, chicken or lamb.

When you see a dark corner you think "I should put a torch there."

You dig holes in your backyard looking for coal and iron.

you ask your P.E teacher if you can go on a creeper pking field trip

you try programing a mod for real life

you broke your hand cause you needed wood.

You get a job as a miner and bring a sword with you.

When you can tell the time of day by looking at the sun

You feel like you need an obsidian panic room

Your scared that monsters will spawn out of your shadow.

you can eat gold !

You lay your building materials in geometric-grid shapes expecting them to build themselves.

You trade your olex for a clock that only shows day-time and night-time

You burn real pigs and wonder why they don't drop cooked porkchops.

You punch trees in real life to the point where you rage because its too slow without your diamond axe.

you watch bluexephos and then attempt to sing the diggy diggy hole song!

When 64 seems like an important number

you see an ugly building and think "I need a new texture pack"

When you want pork, you go find a pig to kill

When you want to pick something up you start punching it first.

you see a dead skeleton and try to take his bones and arrows

You go and play another game and DIE SKOL AFSOLFAO SLASPÖ

When you see a thunderstorm you become extremely scared of pigs and all things green

when you click on this site.

You smelt your own wedding ring to make gold.

You think you can dig up dirt in 3 seconds

You try and make a diamond pickaxe

Reading this entire list.

You try to change texture packs in real life.

You try to mod real-life.

you think that your render distance is low when it is foggy in real life.

You are terrified of the color green.

You break your door with an axe hoping it's miniature version will drop to the floor to be re-used.

if you see a creeper at your door telling "oh what nice house you got here" you run away telling "panic" and you falling down by dizzy.

You can describe, in-depth, three different mining systems and their varying efficiencies for finding ore.

When the entirety of your absent-minded doodles consist of designs and schematics for mechanisms or new projects.

You look at a building and image what it would be made of in Minecraft.

You beat the crap out of your computer waiting for a small flat pixelated portable version to pop out

You try to collect parts of your house.

you look at your clock or wristwatch and expect it to be half blue with the sun and half black with the moon

You build a clock that only has "Day and Night" on it.

Minecraft its a funny game im right?!

When you hear footsteps you grab the nearest pointy object and hide behind the sofa waiting for the creeper to pop out.

When you go outside you start punching trees

When you make a site to know if you're addicted or not..

Everything is blocky, even your eyes.

You cry for days when you lose your minecraft saves.

You have all the icons from Orion-Pyro

You have memorised all the splash screen messages.

You know about Dr. Leon Sisk's existance from Bobby Yarsulik's song, "PigMen Story" and also know he actually is a real person.

If you get a raging boner after seeing all the dicks on multi player servers... You mite be a faggot.

You see something green and grab out a wooden sword and charge

You crouch to make sure you don't fall off

You start to think of clothing as skins.

You try to find lava for your new house.

you wonder why things on the ground are not popping in to your quickbar

You start to to call yourself Steve and wish you could change your skin.

You are looking for the create a new world button when things go bad on Earth.

You hold shift to not fall from a building

you keep a list of your mod names,just in case there is a new update

you turn your car into a minecart.

You can't make a perfect circle in the real world.

You call your parents pussies because "they disabled hostile mobs spawning".

You walk for ten minutes trying to find a new biome.

You think about digging up the floor and look for iron under it.

When your parents come in the room, you scream, thinking its a creeper

When something happens to your minecraft you cry

When you get bored of minecraft you watch youtube about minecraft or go to the forums

You make a facebook so you can like this page or any other minecraft page.

When you hear Notch has twitter, you delete your facebook, and go on twitter.

Every site you make an account, you use your minecraft name

You don't care about dying because you think you can respawn.

You try to punch cacti without being hurt... ouch!

You keep refreshing this site to see if your joke has been added.

Creepers are green Spiders are black Now your shelter is under attack

You see a beautiful sunset and think "Hey, that's just like Minecraft"

You try to milk a giant squid, and when you fail epicly, you think: "Curse the Beta 1.3 update!"

You cut down a tree in real life, and once you regain conciousness in a hospital with severe breakages in all your bones, you wonder why gravity sudeny started working.

When you see green jello in your fridge, you slash at it wildly with your sword, and later wonder why it didn't multiply or attempt to eat you.

You want to have everything infinite in REAL LIFE.

You play on "PEACEFUL" because you hate that ... SsssSsss......

You start smashing your head at table when Notch release minecraft update and the mod's you really like gets broken.

You never try to catch squid with a fishing rod because you read on MinecraftWiki that it is impossible.

You put a piece of coal on a stick thinking that it will instantly become a torch that never burns out or lights stuff on fire.

When some-one asks you how big your house is, you proudly answer, "Four chunks."

You look at a map of a round Earth and think, "Where are the Edgelands then?"

Your wallpaper is minecraft.

you see a person and think: man, he needs to change skin

You go out in the morning looking for some arrows/bones/feathers

You never go outside for more than 10 minutes.

You try to press e to open your inventory and place your new dirt and rocks in there...

You live in constant fear of your neighbors punching through the wall and stealing all your valuables.

You throw coco beans at a sheep hoping it to turn brown.

You eat nothing but pork chops.

You sit around hoping to see a pink sheep.

You try to swallow apples with 8 cubik meters of pure gold around it, atempting to heal all of your woulds

You try to change your skin if you think you look ugly.

You hit a real crafting table and think a gui will show up and get frustrated by that.

Everyday, you watch at least 2 Minecraft videos

You see the sun and moon as squares

You can carry 81365 cubic feet of stone.

You think bears are a mod.

In real life you think that bookshelves are for decoration only

You can't hold a conversation in real life.

You started thinking electricity works the same as redstone and becomes surprised hearing that wires are circular.

your dream is what you did earlier that day on minecraft

You dream in Java code.

You see a car and go, "How!?"

When you look into a mirror, you think about F5 and i

When you go to the beach you take sand and come home and out it in a furnace

You build your room full-detailed at a scale of 1/1000 (no, really, its scary)

You think "this will make things easier!" when you see floor tiles.

You carry a grid-paper notebook on you at all times.

You cry when your wolf drowns.

when you star a painting and put it on the wall its blank as you forgot that paintings only automaticaly paint themselfs in minecraft

You want to know what texture pack it is when u go outside

You don't understand why your dog in real life doesn't sit when you right-click on it.

When there is a blackout, you try to wire your computer into a redstone torch.

Its a sqaury joke you got there

You hear a tyre hissing and you run away.

You make a site that has a werid name for minecraft addicts

You don't go out at night because you think Zombies will come after you!

You look at your bed and wonder why it isn't red.

You don't get a job because you think you can make your own with self-harvested resources.

You dump a bucket of water on a flat surface and wonder why it doesn't flow towards a hole you placed 7 meters away.

You wonder why your computer has colors other than black and red.

You see a spider and wonder why it's not as big as you are.

You start telling people "I like your skin. Where'd you get it?"

You see a dead person lying on the ground and wonder when they'll respawn.

You wonder how the Empire State Building was built when the sky limit is only 64 meters above sea level.

You See a book IRL and you wonder when Notch will let you write in it.

You have a Minecraft themed birthday with a creeper cake.

You kill an animal and wonder why it doesn't disappear in a poof of smoke.

Whenever there is a thunderstorm in real life, you are scared that monsters will spawn.

You wonder why you don't move upward when you walk into a ladder.

Whenever you get hurt in real life, you imitate that "Ohff" sound that you make in minecraft when you get hurt.

You punch someone and wonder why they don't turn red and jump backwards.

You place a cake in real life, and wonder why punching it doesn't make small portions of it disappear

You start seeing pigs fly through your screen when you're actually riding them off a cliff.

You see a sky scraper and think "that can't be right, the world isn't that high."

You try to break stone with wood.

When you stop listening to the real version of the song and listen to the Noteblock one instead.

You see a rectangle and think: "thats almost right!"

You always bring two extra porkchops when going diving.

When it's dark, you fear that a creeper spawn behind you.

You are actually reading this.... to see if you are addicted.....

You go out in a thunderstorm with a pig waiting for a lightning to strike it so you can have your own zombie pigman

You wonder why your hand gets bloody one you punch things

You make a giant creeper out of wool and fill it with TNT so you can blow it up when a sheep walks near it.

You find some obsidian and try to set it on fire so you can see your deceased grandfather

You never swim in the ocean without a fishing rod because of your perfectly rational fear of fireball-spitting-floating-jellyfishes

You sing the Minecraft "TNT" song everytime you hear Taio Cruz's "Dynamite"

You often get splinters in your knuckles due to the amount of wood-punching you do.

You drink milk by pouring it on the ground.

You start thinking about how epic your house would look with a few creeper traps.

You start raiding graves to make some fertilizer and tame all the wild wolves you come by.

You dig to the core of the earth, and you think you can survive the lava since you have hax on.

When it's dark, you try to /give 50 64.

When you see a shovel and start thinking about starting a mine in your backyard.

you hang up a painting and take it off repeatedly thinking it will be a new painting

You lay 2 sticks and 3 chunks of wood on your kitchen table.

you start putting rocks in your stove.

you try to make a wooden pickaxe out of fallen sticks

You try to put a pumpkin on your head.

you tried and failed to get to the bedrock layer

You find yourself fiddling with sticks and stones on a crafting table

You expect your friend to turn red for a couple of seconds when you punch him.

You look at your wife's jewelry box and say "Yes! I can finally get obsidian!"

Whenever you're wife gets angry, you think of the Charlotte mod and throw a flower at her to make her stay put.

You Try punching a Tree

You see real creepers

You continue to ask to be OP

When you are driving and see the fuel gauge going down you ask your passenger: "Hey, you have any spare coal?"

You use your wives diamond jewlery with sticks hoping for a pickaxe.

You make sure there isn't any way creepers can get into your house before you go to sleep.

You see a tree in real life and immediately calculate how many tools you can make from it.

You accidentally hit your dog and wonder why it's eyes aren't red.

When it starts getting dark you jump in your bed and go to sleep.

You build boats

You put your mom's ring's Diamond on the end of a stick attached to another stick and try to dig with it.

Every day, when you have to go to school, everything looks smooth and hi-resolution, and you think, wait, thats not right

You meet a blind person and think it's Herobrine.

When your motto is thinking outside of the block.

You wish for a minecart every time you need to go somewhere irl.

You cannot go to sleep unless the whole area is sleeping,

you have played more than 10 minecraft adventure maps

You jump into lava thinking you have god mode on.

You sat through this entire list.

Every light in your house has to be on.

Your pulse shoots off every time you hear a bow twang

You expect leather to pop out of a cow after it dies.

You find diamond in real life and try to make armor out of it.

You disassemble your computer and look at your motherboard: 'Woah, the guy who created this deserves a free internet.'

When youre stuck, you think you can just jump and put some dirt under you.

You keep your old computer because it has all your minecraft saves on it and you dont have a USB stick.

When you get greifed you start to treat everyone on the server as greifers. (even admins/ops)

You need a pick axe, oh wait, yes I have in my backpack

You have read the entire 'Art of war' thread on the forums and actually understood it.

When you see something ugly you think "Man i need to change my texture pack".

You feel like pressing shift-f whenever a game lags.

When you know the exact circumstances for leaves not to decay in alpha.

You think real spiders are midgets

When you get told that riding pigs is apparently a bad idea.

When your wolf says CREEPER than cry!

you walk up to people and hit them so you can take stuff of there dead bodies

you can survive a head on collison with a minecart going at full speed

You are still reading this

You see tree's waving in the wind. You say, " Thats not right..." .

You place a rock against the wall and when it drops, you wonder if it was gravel.

You're drawing minecraft figures all over your homework.

You shout "HAX!1!!!1!" when someone runs by faster than you can walk.

You attempt to re-texture IRL.

When your bored you try to add a mod.

You make a house dedicated to crafting

You try eating 10 un-cooked porkchops and wonder why you got sick.

You are no longer impressed by gold medals.

When you see a pig get hit by lightning in real life, you expect it to turn into a Zombie Pigman.

You refuse to take trigonometry because is it based upon heresy. (circles)

You stab a a sheep with a sword and the wool doesn't fall off, you call the president and tell him to fix the bug.

when you watch movies you think: ''c'mon just jump in the water it will be ok''

You know what a creeper actually is...

I guess you can say that Minecraft is pretty.. *Sunglasses* Top Notch.

You call yourself steve.

you think you have to press ''T'' before talking to someone

You read all this stuff here.

All your friends were made through Minecraft.

You get on minecraft at 6:30 then someone asked you what time it is and look at the clock and it says 5:45...

you have attempted to ignite a living pig in an attempt to cut out the time it would take to cook it's pork

You go out at night and worry,"Am i gonna get eaten by zombie"

You see flowing water and think "I'm going the other way"

You jump off a building, thinking you can eat an apple later.

You end up breaking your neck from looking up to see where the sun is.

You we're mining on a cave when you saw 50 creepers chasing you and you won.

You avoid moss stone because you are afraid that a dungeon might be near

The only way you spend time with people is on SMP.

You read every single one of these.

You see a TV and wonder how the redstone circuitry works.

You know every block id.

When you get stuck, you jump up and punch at the ground continuously, but no dirt appears.

You've burned down your house trying to create a Nether Portal.

In Geometry class, you suggest you spend a little more time on cubes.

You were sleepy and punched your bed.

you expected a mere metal bucket to hold a cubic meter of lava.

You poured a bucket of water on top of a mountain and were disturbed by the fact it didn't create a waterfall

you tried to carry 2,301 cubic meters of sand.

you punch things to pick them up.

You are afraid to go within a 5-meter radius of sprinklers.

You search all the sports channels looking for a Spleef match that's going on.

When Creeper stops meaning the guy who's a creep.

You cant stop listening to the "Form this way" yogcast music video.

When you hear a lot of sizzling and yell 'CREEPER GANBANG!'

You have several Minecraft related apps, even ones that do nothing like the Redstone torch app.

your watching TV and you wonder how to make it with redstone

You Punch Trees in your backyard When you want a new house

You look at grass IRL when your low on seeds in Minecraft and say "Dangit, I should've brought my hoe."

You get home from a car trip, cautiously walk into your dark house, and jump out in every room swinging a stick around in case there are creepers who have spawned, and then go to sleep with every light in the house turned on.

You have dreams about Minecraft updating.

You're constantly dissapointed with modern architecture, because you know you could build better in-game.

you look at a cow and wonder how much leather will drop

You hear groans and run only to find out that it was only your big brother

You jump off a high cliff into shallow water thinking you will be just fine by hitting jump.

You see a forest and think "I can build a wood fortress!"

You refer to Notch has "The Creator".

You always place your hands on the AWSD keys and mouse while waiting for stuff on your computer to load.

You refresh this page constantly to see if your joke has been added yet.

You get a watch thinking it shows a sun and moon.

Youve actually read all of these, shame on you...

You think that a creeper caused the Haiti earthquake.

You made Minecraft forums your homepage.

You see a jellyfish and run for your life, thinking that it will blast you with flaming snowballs.

You see strange landforms in real life and think "HEROBRINE".

You try to punch a tree in real life, hoping to get wood, but then you're just disappointed.

You never go underground in case of the Obsidian Skeleton.

You put cactus in the oven, then hope to dye sheep green with the resulting paste.

You go to a graveyard and punch the bodies expecting to get feathers.

You think that spiders won't bite you in the daytime.

You try to shear a sheep with snowballs.

You swim in shark-infested waters thinking that you're safe because you don't have Mo creatures on.

You put four pieces of sand in a grid formation expecting to get sandstone.

You put a log on a workbench expecting to get planks IN REAL LIFE.

you watch commentary by slyfox and yogscast everyday.

It has been 10 minutes and your wondering why the sun hasn't started to go down.

You think cages are Mob spawners

You light a steel cage on fire and put a model of a pig inside expecting swine to be created in puffs of smoke.

You think worshipping Notch is a religion.

You can't read normal clocks.

  

Also PSN Will be back tomorrow with free membership and free downloads for 30 days.

Black Falcon's Fortress (#6074) is a LEGO Classic Castle set released almost 40 years ago. In my opinion it still stands as one of the best Lego castles ever, so I created a microscale version at half the scale retaining all the original features

Hello everyone!

I´m really happy to present you my next MOC, the Milka truck, which is my 6th remote controlled vehicle at minifig scale! I have built it between December 2018 and March 2019. I have already shown it on two Lego events in Germany, there is an article about it on Zusammengebaut and there is a video on Youtube, in which I am interviewed. It is in German, so if you understand it, it is worth to watch it! Unfortunately I have found only now the time to make an own video and some pictures.

 

The video is a new record from me. It contains the most visual effects among my other videos. I was very happy during the making of it, because last time I have made only rarely videos. It was nice to spend a time again with the camera. It took a little bit longer, as I planned. Because of the complexity I had to record some parts not only once and it was very time consuming to create some scenes on the computer. I´m really proud of the result, hope you will like it, too.

 

Till now it is the most simple and most difficult tiny RC from me at the same time. Simple, because the technic costruction inside is very compact. Difficult, because the modelling of the Scania front and the letters of the word “Milka” meant a really big challenge for me.

 

Now you can find the electric parts just simply near each other in the truck, and the chassis is under the electric parts. It is only 3 studs high. Earlier in the same vehicles you could find 3 pairs of gears, which brought the power from the motor to the wheels. Now it is only 2 pairs. The servo motor for the steering is exactly there, where we need to have it. It can steers the wheels directly, without any long and big construction. The original plane was that I put the receiver or the battery box in the trailer, but finally I found a place for all the parts in the truck. For the chassis I have used a lot of half liftarms and small pieces of rigid hoses. They are very good here, because I can cut them in for example 1 or 1,5 stud long pieces, too. In the truck the battery box is exactly over the driven wheels, so the truck can go very reliable on terrains, which are unfriendly. I mean, it can go up to the pedestrian area in a Lego City and it can destroy everything.

 

The whole truck contains approx. 1020 parts. Most of the bricks are in the body. You can read the world “Milka” on the sides four times, but all the four sides are different. It is changing, how I could fit the side panels, what kind of other parts they have to hold, or how many place I had in the truck near the motors or the other things. During the designing of the cabin, I was afraid, that it will be ugly with the big white panel on the top, but finally I think, it´s ok.

 

These are the infos, which I wanted to share you about my newest creation. Hope you like it! :)

From the home of DorothyAlice (DA) and Werewolf Dude (WD). Our most ambitious project yet!

 

Inside copy reads: "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!" in a font called A Hard Day's Night

 

Below that: "from The [Our Family Name]s" in a font called Bootle

 

Concept (stolen from The Beatles, of course): DA

Front Copy: WD

Inside Copy: DA

Whose Idea it was to use the Bootle font for Our Family Name: WD

Who Made It Work (because Our Family Name has a 'T' in the middle of it): DA

 

Photography and digital manipulation: WD

 

Casting, Set Creation, Props, Staging, Typesetting: DA

 

Card Made on a Mac; printed by the folks at Apple.

 

48 figures were used to create this photograph. 14 of them were from Sideshow Collectibles and Partners. The rest were Hasbro, Mattel and others. Plus two Human Beings. Coworkers are calling WD "Waldo" now.

Announcer’s Voice "Little did Ken and Larry know, they were being watched as they worked their forced perspective magic for a PBS Producer".

 

Once again, Marci did a great job, standing on a ladder to take this shot.

 

Also seen is Janine Trudell a Producer/Videographer doing a piece for Rocky Mountain PBS’ Arts District.

 

Announcer’s Voice "Little did Marci or Janine know, they were being watched by a Police Helicopter. The tape has been requested. The four photographers on site only learned of the Police Helicopter because of Satellite imagery taken on the day they were in the park. This in turn, was verified by a passing Klingon Bird of Prey. God was watching but she took no interest in the proceedings.”

 

CREDITS

 

N scale stunt doubles for the Model T and the Citroen truck are by Model Tech Studios LLC

 

N scale stunt double for 1940 Ford is by Ricos Rail Room

 

O scale and N scale Gas Stations are by Woodland Scenics

 

1946 Dodge Power Wagon by Danbury Mint

 

1940 Ford "Old Reliable" Pickup Franklin Mint

 

1953 Clipper is by Packard Motors of Detroit.

 

The 1953 Patchett is by Jay and Jerry Patchett It was first issued at Saint John’s Hospital in Tulsa Oklahoma.

 

The 1957 Hendricks was built by Robert and Barbara Hendricks in Sioux City, Iowa.

 

Photo by Marci Cox

 

The first photograph in the infinite regression experiment can be seen here: www.flickr.com/photos/one24thscale/45207603072/in/photost...

 

Doing that Turkish get-up side-plank variation with a little less in the way.

The United States Border Patrol is a federal law enforcement agency within U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), a component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Its 20,200 Agents[1] are primarily responsible for immigration and border law enforcement as codified in the Immigration and Nationality Act. Their duty is to prevent terrorists and terrorist weapons from entering the United States and to deter, detect, and apprehend illegal aliens and individuals involved in the illegal drug trade who enter the United States other than through designated ports of entry.

 

Additionally, the CBP enforces federal controlled substances laws (as codified in the Controlled Substances Act) when violations occur or are found during the enforcement of federal immigration laws, via delegated authority from the Drug Enforcement Administration.

 

Note that there are two personnel segments of U.S. Customs and Border Protection that people often confuse with each other, the CBP Officer [1], who wears a blue uniform and the Border Patrol Agent [2] who wears a green uniform.

 

Contents [hide]

1 History

2 Strategy

2.1 1986: Employer sanctions and interior enforcement

2.2 Inspection stations

2.2.1 El Paso Sector's Operation Hold the Line

2.2.2 San Diego Sector's Operation Gatekeeper

2.2.3 Tucson Sector's Operation Safeguard

2.3 Northern border

2.4 Border Patrol moves away from interior enforcement

2.5 The new strategy

3 Capabilities

4 Expansion

5 Special Operations Group

5.1 Other specialized programs

6 Border Patrol organization

6.1 Border Patrol Sectors

7 Training

7.1 Uniforms

7.2 Border Patrol (OBP) Ranks and Insignia

7.2.1 Border Patrol Shoulder Ornaments

8 Awards

8.1 Newton-Azrak Award for Heroism

9 Border Patrol Uniform Devices

10 Equipment

10.1 Weapons

10.2 Transportation

11 Line of duty deaths

12 Armed incursions

13 Ramos and Compean

14 Criticisms

14.1 Ineffective

14.2 Allegations of abuse

14.3 Corruption

15 National Border Patrol Council

16 National Border Patrol Museum

17 In popular culture

17.1 Books

17.2 Film

17.2.1 Documentaries

18 See also

19 References

20 External links

21 External Video

21.1 GAO and OIG Reports

  

[edit] History

 

Immigration inspectors, circa 1924Mounted watchmen of the United States Immigration Service patrolled the border in an effort to prevent illegal crossings as early as 1904, but their efforts were irregular and undertaken only when resources permitted. The inspectors, usually called "mounted guards", operated out of El Paso, Texas. Though they never totaled more than 75, they patrolled as far west as California trying to restrict the flow of illegal Chinese immigration.

 

In March 1915, Congress authorized a separate group of mounted guards, often referred to as "mounted inspectors". Most rode on horseback, but a few operated automobiles, motorcycles and boats. Although these inspectors had broader arrest authority, they still largely pursued Chinese immigrants trying to avoid the National Origins Act and Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. These patrolmen were Immigrant Inspectors, assigned to inspection stations, and could not watch the border at all times. U.S. Army troops along the southwest border performed intermittent border patrolling, but this was secondary to "the more serious work of military training." Non-nationals encountered illegally in the U.S. by the army were directed to the immigration inspection stations. Texas Rangers were also sporadically assigned to patrol duties by the state, and their efforts were noted as "singularly effective".

 

The Border Patrol was founded on May 28, 1924 as an agency of the United States Department of Labor to prevent illegal entries along the Mexico–United States border and the United States-Canada border. The first two border patrol stations were in El Paso, Texas and Detroit, Michigan.[2] Additional operations were established along the Gulf Coast in 1927 to perform crewman control to insure that non-American crewmen departed on the same ship on which they arrived. Additional stations were temporarily added along the Gulf Coast, Florida and the Eastern Seaboard during the sixties when in Cuba triumphed the Cuban Revolution and emerged the Cuban Missile Crisis.

 

Prior to 2003, the Border Patrol was part of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), an agency that was within the U.S. Department of Justice. INS was disbanded in March 2003 when its operations were divided between CBP, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

 

The priority mission of the Border Patrol, as a result of the 9/11 attacks and its merging into the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is to prevent terrorists and terrorist weapons from entering the United States of America. However, the Border Patrol's traditional mission remains as the deterrence, detection and apprehension of illegal immigrants and individuals involved in the illegal drug trade who generally enter the United States other than through designated ports of entry. The Border Patrol also operates 33 permanent interior checkpoints along the southern border of the United States.

 

Currently, the U.S. Border Patrol employs over 20,200 agents (as of the end of fiscal year 2009),[3] who are specifically responsible for patrolling the 6,000 miles of Mexican and Canadian international land borders and 2,000 miles of coastal waters surrounding the Florida Peninsula and the island of Puerto Rico. Agents are assigned primarily to the Mexico–United States border, where they are assigned to control drug trafficking and illegal immigration.[4] Patrols on horseback have made a comeback since smugglers have been pushed into the more remote mountainous regions, which are hard to cover with modern tracking strategies.[5]

 

[edit] Strategy

[edit] 1986: Employer sanctions and interior enforcement

 

Border Patrol Agents with a Hummer and Astar patrol for illegal entry into U.S.The Border Patrol's priorities have changed over the years. In 1986, the Immigration Reform and Control Act placed renewed emphasis on controlling illegal immigration by going after the employers that hire illegal immigrants. The belief was that jobs were the magnet that attracted most illegal immigrants to come to the United States. The Border Patrol increased interior enforcement and Form I-9 audits of businesses through an inspection program known as "employer sanctions". Several agents were assigned to interior stations, such as within the Livermore Sector in Northern California.

 

Employer sanctions never became the effective tool it was expected to be by Congress. Illegal immigration continued to swell after the 1986 amnesty despite employer sanctions. By 1993, Californians passed Proposition 187, denying benefits to illegal immigrants and criminalizing illegal immigrants in possession of forged green cards, I.D. cards and Social Security Numbers. It also authorized police officers to question non-nationals as to their immigration status and required police and sheriff departments to cooperate and report illegal immigrants to the INS. Proposition 187 drew nationwide attention to illegal immigration.

 

[edit] Inspection stations

United States Border Patrol Interior Checkpoints are inspection stations operated by the USBP within 100 miles of a national border (with Mexico or Canada) or in the Florida Keys. As federal inspection stations are also operated by the Mexican government within 50 km of its borders where they are officially known as a "Garita de Revisión." or Garitas, they are known also by that name to Latinos.

 

[edit] El Paso Sector's Operation Hold the Line

El Paso Sector Chief Patrol Agent (and future U.S. congressman) Silvestre Reyes started a program called "Operation Hold the Line". In this program, Border Patrol agents would no longer react to illegal entries resulting in apprehensions, but would instead be forward deployed to the border, immediately detecting any attempted entries or deterring crossing at a more remote location. The idea was that it would be easier to capture illegal entrants in the wide open deserts than through the urban alleyways. Chief Reyes deployed his agents along the Rio Grande River, within eyesight of other agents. The program significantly reduced illegal entries in the urban part of El Paso, however, the operation merely shifted the illegal entries to other areas.

 

[edit] San Diego Sector's Operation Gatekeeper

 

A Border Patrol Jeep stands watch over the U.S.-Mexico border at San Ysidro, California.San Diego Sector tried Silvestre Reyes' approach of forward deploying agents to deter illegal entries into the country. Congress authorized the hiring of thousands of new agents, and many were sent to San Diego Sector.[citation needed] In addition, Congressman Duncan Hunter obtained surplus military landing mats to use as a border fence.[citation needed] Stadium lighting, ground sensors and infra-red cameras were also placed in the area.[citation needed] Apprehensions decreased dramatically in that area as people crossed in different regions.

 

[edit] Tucson Sector's Operation Safeguard

California was no longer the hotbed of illegal entry and the traffic shifted to Arizona, primarily in Nogales and Douglas.[citation needed] The Border Patrol instituted the same deterrent strategy it used in San Diego to Arizona.

 

[edit] Northern border

In 2001, the Border Patrol had approximately 340 agents assigned along the Canada – United States border border. Northern border staffing had been increased to 1,128 agents to 1,470 agents by the end of fiscal year 2008, and is projected to expand to 1,845 by the end of fiscal year 2009, a sixfold increase. Resources that support Border Patrol agents include the use of new technology and a more focused application of air and marine assets.

 

The northern border sectors are Blaine (Washington), Buffalo (New York), Detroit (Selfridge ANGB, Michigan), Grand Forks (North Dakota), Havre (Montana), Houlton (Maine), Spokane (Washington), and Swanton (Vermont).

 

[edit] Border Patrol moves away from interior enforcement

In the 1990s, Congress mandated that the Border Patrol shift agents away from the interior and focus them on the borders.

 

After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Department of Homeland Security created two immigration enforcement agencies out of the defunct Immigration and Naturalization Service: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). ICE was tasked with investigations, detention and removal of illegal immigrants, and interior enforcement. CBP was tasked with inspections at U.S. ports of entry and with preventing illegal entries between the port of entry, transportation check, and entries on U.S. coastal borders. DHS management decided to align the Border Patrol with CBP. CBP itself is solely responsible for the nation's ports of entry, while Border Patrol maintains jurisdiction over all locations between ports of entry, giving Border Patrol agents federal authority absolutely[dubious – discuss] nationwide[dubious – discuss].

 

In July 2004, the Livermore Sector of the United States Border Patrol was closed. Livermore Sector served Northern California and included stations at Dublin (Parks Reserve Forces Training Area), Sacramento, Stockton, Fresno and Bakersfield. The Border Patrol also closed other stations in the interior of the United States including Roseburg, Oregon and Little Rock, Arkansas. The Border Patrol functions in these areas consisted largely of local jail and transportation terminal checks for illegal immigrants. These functions were turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

 

[edit] The new strategy

 

Cameras add "Smart Border" surveillance.In November 2005, the U.S. Border Patrol published an updated national strategy.[6] The goal of this updated strategy is operational control of the United States border. The strategy has five main objectives:

 

Apprehend terrorists and terrorist weapons illegally entering the United States;

Deter illegal entries through improved enforcement;

Detect, apprehend, and deter smugglers of humans, drugs, and other contraband;

Use "smart border" technology; and

Reduce crime in border communities, improving quality of life.

[edit] Capabilities

The border is a barely discernible line in uninhabited deserts, canyons, or mountains. The Border Patrol utilizes a variety of equipment and methods, such as electronic sensors placed at strategic locations along the border, to detect people or vehicles entering the country illegally. Video monitors and night vision scopes are also used to detect illegal entries. Agents patrol the border in vehicles, boats, aircraft, and afoot. In some areas, the Border Patrol employs horses, all-terrain motorcycles, bicycles, and snowmobiles. Air surveillance capabilities are provided by unmanned aerial vehicles.[3]

 

The primary activity of a Border Patrol Agent is "Line Watch". Line Watch involves the detection, prevention, and apprehension of terrorists, undocumented aliens and smugglers of aliens at or near the land border by maintaining surveillance from a covert position; following up on leads; responding to electronic sensor television systems and aircraft sightings; and interpreting and following tracks, marks, and other physical evidence. Major activities include traffic check, traffic observation, city patrol, transportation check, administrative, intelligence, and anti-smuggling activities.[4]

 

Traffic checks are conducted on major highways leading away from the border to detect and apprehend illegal aliens attempting to travel further into the interior of the United States after evading detection at the border, and to detect illegal narcotics.[3]

 

Transportation checks are inspections of interior-bound conveyances, which include buses, commercial aircraft, passenger and freight trains, and marine craft.[3]

 

Marine Patrols are conducted along the coastal waterways of the United States, primarily along the Pacific coast, the Caribbean, the tip of Florida, and Puerto Rico and interior waterways common to the United States and Canada. Border Patrol conducts border control activities from 130 marine craft of various sizes. The Border Patrol maintains watercraft ranging from blue-water craft to inflatable-hull craft, in 16 sectors, in addition to headquarters special operations components.[3]

 

Horse and bike patrols are used to augment regular vehicle and foot patrols. Horse units patrol remote areas along the international boundary that are inaccessible to standard all-terrain vehicles. Bike patrol aids city patrol and is used over rough terrain to support linewatch.[3] Snowmobiles are used to patrol remote areas along the northern border in the winter.

 

[edit] Expansion

Attrition in the Border Patrol was normally at 5%. From 1995-2001 attrition spiked to above 10%, which was a period when the Border Patrol was undergoing massive hiring. In 2002 the attrition rate climbed to 18%. The 18% attrition was largely attributed to agents transferring to the Federal Air Marshals after 9/11. Since that time the attrition problem has decreased significantly and Congress has increased journeyman Border Patrol Agent pay from GS-9 to GS-11 in 2002. The Border Patrol Marine Position was created in 2009 (BPA-M). This position will be updated to a GS-12 position sometime in 2010 or 2011. Border Patrol Field Training Officers may possibly be updated in 2010 to a temporary GS-12 pay rate. In 2005, Border Patrol attrition dropped to 4% and remains in the area of 4% to 6% as of 2009.[7]

 

The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (signed by President Bush on December 17, 2004) authorized hiring an additional 10,000 agents, "subject to appropriation". This authorization, if fully implemented, would nearly double the Border Patrol manpower from 11,000 to 21,000 agents by 2010.

 

In July 2005, Congress signed the Emergency Supplemental Spending Act for military operations in Iraq/Afghanistan and other operations. The act also appropriated funding to increase Border Patrol manpower by 500 Agents. In October 2005, President Bush also signed the DHS FY06 Appropriation bill, funding an additional 1,000 Agents.

 

In November 2005, President George W. Bush made a trip to southern Arizona to discuss more options that would decrease illegal crossings at the U.S. and Mexican border. In his proposed fiscal year 2007 budget he has requested an additional 1,500 Border Patrol agents.

 

The Secure Fence Act, signed by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2006, has met with much opposition. In October 2007, environmental groups and concerned citizens filed a restraining order hoping to halt the construction of the fence, set to be built between the United States and Mexico. The act mandates that the fence be built by December 2008. Ultimately, the United States seeks to put fencing around the 1,945-mile (3,130 km) border, but the act requires only 700 miles (1,100 km) of fencing. DHS secretary Michael Chertoff has bypassed environmental and other oppositions with a waiver that was granted to him by Congress in Section 102 of the act, which allows DHS to avoid any conflicts that would prevent a speedy assembly of the fence.[8][9]

 

This action has led many environment groups and landowners to speak out against the impending construction of the fence.[10] Environment and wildlife groups fear that the plans to clear brush, construct fences, install bright lights, motion sensors, and cameras will scare wildlife and endanger the indigenous species of the area.[11] Environmentalists claim that the ecosystem could be affected due to the fact that a border fence would restrict movement of all animal species, which in turn would keep them from water and food sources on one side or another. Desert plants would also feel the impact, as they would be uprooted in many areas where the fence is set to occupy.[12]

 

Property owners in these areas fear a loss of land. Landowners would have to give some of their land over to the government for the fence. Citizens also fear that communities will be split. Many students travel over the border every day to attend classes at the University of Texas at Brownsville. Brownsville mayor Pat Ahumada favors alternative options to a border fence. He suggests that the Rio Grande River be widened and deepened to provide for a natural barrier to hinder illegal immigrants and drug smugglers.[13]

 

The United States Border Patrol Academy is located in Artesia, New Mexico.

 

[edit] Special Operations Group

 

A Border Patrol Special Response Team searches room-by-room a hotel in New Orleans in response to Hurricane Katrina.

CBP BORSTAR canine team conducting rappeling trainingIn 2007, the Border Patrol created the Special Operations Group (SOG) headquartered in El Paso, TX to coordinate the specialized units of the agency.[14]

 

Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC)

National Special Response Team (NSRT)

Border Patrol, Search, Trauma and Rescue (BORSTAR)

Air Mobile Unit (AMU)

[edit] Other specialized programs

The Border Patrol has a number of other specialized programs and details.

 

Air and Marine Operations

K9 Units

Mounted Patrol

Bike patrol

Sign-cutting (tracking)

Snowmobile unit

Infrared scope unit

Intelligence

Anti-smuggling investigations

Border Criminal Alien Program

Multi-agency Anti-Gang Task Forces (regional & local units)

Honor Guard

Pipes and Drums

Chaplain

Peer Support

[edit] Border Patrol organization

 

David V. Aguilar, Acting Commissioner of Customs and Border ProtectionThe current Acting Chief of the Border Patrol is Michael J. Fisher who succeeded in 2010 David V. Aguilar, who is now the Acting Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection.

 

[edit] Border Patrol Sectors

There are 20 Border Patrol sectors, each headed by a Sector Chief Patrol Agent.

 

Northern Border (West to East):

 

Blaine Sector (Western Washington State, Idaho, and Western Montana.) - stations; Bellingham, Blaine, Port Angeles, Sumas.

Spokane Sector (Eastern Washington State)

Havre Sector (Montana)

Grand Forks Sector (North Dakota)

Detroit Sector (Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Michigan) - stations; Downtown Detroit, Marysville, Gibralter, Sault Sainte Marie, Sandusky Bay.

Buffalo Sector (New York) - stations; Buffalo, Erie, Niagura Falls, Oswego, Rochester, Wellesley Island.

Swanton Sector (Vermont)

Houlton Sector (Maine)

Southern Border (West to East):

 

San Diego Sector (San Diego, California)

El Centro Sector (Imperial County, California)

Yuma Sector (Western Arizona)- stations; Wellton, Yuma, Blythe

Tucson Sector (Eastern Arizona)

El Paso Sector (El Paso, Texas and New Mexico) - stations; Alamogordo, Albuquerque, Deming, El Paso, Fabens, Fort Hancock, Las Cruces, Lordsburg, Santa Teresa, Truth or Consequences, Ysleta

Marfa Sector (Big Bend Area of West Texas) - stations; Alpine, Amarillo, Big Bend, Fort Stockton, Lubbock, Marfa, Midland, Pecos, Presidio, Sanderson, Sierra Blanca, Van Horn

Del Rio Sector (Del Rio, Texas) - stations; Abilene, Brackettville, Carrizo Springs, Comstock, Del Rio, Eagle Pass North, Eagle Pass South, Rocksprings, San Angelo, Uvalde

Rio Grande Valley Sector (South Texas) - stations; Brownsville, Corpus Christi, Falfurrias, Fort Brown, Harlingen, Kingsville, McAllen, Rio Grande City, Weslaco

Laredo Sector (South Texas) - stations; Cotulla, Dallas, Freer, Hebbronville, Laredo North, Laredo South, Laredo West, San Antonio, Zapata

New Orleans Sector (Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and West Florida)

Miami Sector (Florida East and South)

Caribbean

 

Ramey Sector (Aguadilla, Puerto Rico) and the Virgin Islands, it is the only Border Patrol Sector located outside the continental United States

[edit] Training

All Border Patrol Agents spend 15 weeks in training at the Border Patrol Academy (if they are fluent in Spanish) in Artesia, New Mexico, which is a component of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC).Those who are not fluent in Spanish spend an additional eight weeks at the Academy. Recruits are instructed in Border Patrol and federal law enforcement subjects.

 

Border Patrol courses include: Immigration and Nationality Law, Criminal Law and Statutory Authority, Spanish, Border Patrol Operations, Care and Use of Firearms, Physical Training, Driver Training, and Anti-Terrorism.

 

FLETC courses include: Communications, Ethics and Conduct, Report Writing, Introduction to Computers, Fingerprinting, and Constitutional Law.[15]

 

The physical aspects of the Border Patrol Training Program are extremely demanding. At the end of 55 days, trainees must be able to complete a one and a half mile run in 13 minutes or less, a confidence course in two and a half minutes or less, and a 220 yard dash in 46 seconds or less. This final test is much easier than the day to day physical training during the program.[15]

 

[edit] Uniforms

The Border Patrol currently wears the following types of uniforms:

  

CBP officers at a ceremony in 2007Dress uniform – The dress uniform consists of olive-green trousers with a blue stripe, and an olive-green shirt, which may or may not have blue shoulder straps. The campaign hat is worn with uniform.

Ceremonial uniform – When required, the following items are added to the dress uniform to complete the ceremonial uniform: olive-green Ike jacket or tunic with blue accents (shoulder straps and cuffs, blue tie, brass tie tack, white gloves, and olive-green felt campaign hat with leather hat band. The campaign hat is worn with uniform.

Rough duty uniform – The rough duty uniform consists of green cargo trousers and work shirt (in short or long sleeves). Usually worn with green baseball cap or tan stetson.

Accessories, footwear, and outerwear – Additional items are worn in matching blue or black colors as appropriate.

Organization patches – The Border Patrol wears two:

The CBP patch is worn on the right sleeves of the uniform. It contains the DHS seal against a black background with a "keystone" shape. A "keystone" is the central, wedge-shaped stone in an arch, which holds all the other stones in place.

Border Patrol agents retain the circular legacy Border Patrol patch, which is worn on the left sleeve.

The Border Patrol uniform is getting its first makeover since the 1950s to appear more like military fatigues and less like a police officer's duty garb.[16] Leather belts with brass buckles are being replaced by nylon belts with quick-release plastic buckles, slacks are being replaced by lightweight cargo pants, and shiny badges and nameplates are being replaced by cloth patches.

 

[edit] Border Patrol (OBP) Ranks and Insignia

Location Title Collar insignia Shoulder ornament Pay grade

Border Patrol Headquarters Chief of the Border Patrol Gold-plated Senior Executive Service (SES)

Deputy Chief of the Border Patrol Gold-plated SES

Division Chief Gold-plated SES

Deputy Division Chief Gold-plated GS-15, General Schedule

Associate Chief Gold-plated GS-15

Assistant Chief Silver-plated GS-14

Operations Officer Oxidized GS-13

 

Border Patrol Sectors Chief Patrol Agent (CPA) Gold-plated SES or GS-15

Deputy Chief Patrol Agent (DCPA) Gold-plated SES/GS-15 or GS-14

Division Chief Gold-plated GS-15

Assistant Chief Patrol Agent (ACPA) Silver-plated GS-15 or GS-14

Patrol Agent in Charge (PAIC) Silver-plated GS-14 or GS-13

Assistant Patrol Agent in Charge (APAIC) Oxidized GS-13

Special Operations Supervisor (SOS) Oxidized GS-13

Field Operations Supervisor (FOS) Oxidized GS-13

Supervisory Border Patrol Agent (SBPA) Oxidized GS-12

Senior Patrol Agent (SPA) (Note: Being phased out through attrition) No insignia Currently GS-11 (Will be upgraded to full performance level GS-12 sometime during the 1st quarter of 2011)

Border Patrol Agent (BPA) No insignia GS-5, 7, 9, 11 (Upgrade to GS-12 pending)

 

Border Patrol Academy Chief Patrol Agent (CPA) Gold-plated GS-15

Deputy Chief Patrol Agent (DCPA) Gold-plated GS-15

Assistant Chief Patrol Agent (ACPA) Silver-plated GS-14

Training Operations Supervisor (TOS) Oxidized GS-14

Supervisory Border Patrol Agent (Senior Instructor) Oxidized GS-13

Supervisory Border Patrol Agent (Instructor) Oxidized GS-13

 

[edit] Border Patrol Shoulder Ornaments

     

[edit] Awards

Newton-Azrak Award for Heroism Commissioners Distinguished Career Service Award Commissioners Exceptional Service Medal Commissioners Meritorious Service Award Commissioners Special Commendation Award Chiefs Commendation Medal

No Image Available No Image Available No Image Available

 

Commissioners Excellence in Group Achievement Award Purple Cross Wound Medal Academy Honor Award Winner Border Patrol Long Service Medal 75th Anniversary of the Border Patrol Commemorative Medal

No Image Available No Image Available

  

[edit] Newton-Azrak Award for Heroism

The Border Patrol's highest honor is the Newton-Azrak Award for Heroism. This Award is bestowed to Border Patrol Agents for extraordinary actions, service; accomplishments reflecting unusual courage or bravery in the line of duty; or an extraordinarily heroic or humane act committed during times of extreme stress or in an emergency.

 

This award is named for Border Patrol Inspectors Theodore Newton[17] and George Azrak,[18] who were murdered by two drug smugglers in San Diego County in 1967.

 

[edit] Border Patrol Uniform Devices

Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC) Border Patrol Search, Trauma and Rescue Unit (BORSTAR) Special Response Team (NSRT) Honor Guard Border Patrol Pipes and Drums Cap Badge

No Image Available

K-9 Handler Chaplain Field Training Officer Peer Support

  

[edit] Equipment

[edit] Weapons

 

A Border Patrol Agent carrying an M14 rifle.Border Patrol Agents are issued the H&K P2000 double action pistol in .40 S&W. It can contain as many as 13 rounds of ammunition (12 in the magazine and one in the chamber).

 

Like other law enforcement agencies, the Remington 870 is the standard shotgun.

 

Border Patrol Agents also commonly carry the M4 Carbine and the H&K UMP 40 caliber submachine gun. The M14 rifle is used for mostly ceremonial purposes.

 

As a less than lethal option, the Border Patrol also uses the FN303.

 

[edit] Transportation

Unlike in many other law enforcement agencies in the United States, the Border Patrol operates several thousand SUVs and pickup trucks, which are known for their capabilities to move around in any sort of terrain. This vehicles may have individual revolving lights (strobes or LEDs) and/or light bars and sirens. An extensive modernization drive has ensured that these vehicles are equipped with wireless sets in communication with a central control room. Border Patrol vehicles may also have equipment such as speed radar, breathalyzers, and emergency first aid kits. Some sectors make use of sedans like the Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor or the Dodge Charger as patrol cars or high speed "interceptors" on highways. The Border Patrol also operates ATVs, motorcycles, snowmobiles, and small boats in the riverine environment. In 2005, all Border Patrol and ICE aircraft operations were combined under CBP's Office of Air and Marine. All CBP vessel operation in Customs Waters are conducted by Office of Air and Marine.

 

Color schemes of Border Patrol vehicles are either a long green stripe running the length of the vehicle or a broad green diagonal stripe on the door. Most Border Patrol vehicles are painted predominantly white.

 

The Border Patrol also extensively uses horses for remote area patrols. The U.S. Border Patrol has 205 horses As of 2005[update]. Most are employed along the Mexico–United States border. In Arizona, these animals are fed special processed feed pellets so that their wastes do not spread non-native plants in the national parks and wildlife areas they patrol.[19]

 

[edit] Line of duty deaths

Total line of duty deaths (since 1904): 105[20]

 

Aircraft accident: 14

Assault: 2

Automobile accident: 28

Drowned: 4

Fall: 4

Gunfire: 30

Gunfire (Accidental): 3

Heart attack: 6

Heat exhaustion: 1

Motorcycle accident: 2

Stabbed: 2

Struck by train: 3

Struck by vehicle: 3

Vehicle pursuit: 2

Vehicular assault: 3

[edit] Armed incursions

On August 7, 2008, Mexican troops crossed the border into Arizona and held a U.S. Border Patrol Agent at gunpoint. Agents stationed at Ajo, Arizona said that the Mexican soldiers crossed the border into an isolated area southwest of Tucson and pointed rifles at the agent, who has not been identified. The Mexicans withdrew after other American agents arrived on the scene.[21]

 

[edit] Ramos and Compean

In February 2005, Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean were involved in an incident while pursuing a van in Fabens, Texas. The driver, later identified as Aldrete Davila, was shot by Agent Ramos during a scuffle. Davila escaped back into Mexico, and the agents discovered that the van contained a million dollars worth of marijuana (about 750 pounds). None of the agents at the scene orally reported the shooting, including two supervisors. The Department of Homeland Security opened up an internal affairs investigation into the incident.[22] See also [23][24][25]

 

[edit] Criticisms

[edit] Ineffective

In 2006, a documentary called The Illegal Immigration Invasion[26] linked the scale of illegal immigration into the United States chiefly to the ineffectiveness of the Border Patrol. The film claimed that this is due to the lack of judicial powers of the Border Patrol and the effective hamstringing of the agency by the federal government. The film interviews people that deal with illegal immigration on a daily basis, as well as local citizens living in the border areas.

 

[edit] Allegations of abuse

There are allegations of abuse by the United States Border Patrol such as the ones reported by Jesus A. Trevino, that concludes in an article published in the Houston Journal of International Law (2006) with a request to create an independent review commission to oversee the actions of the Border Patrol, and that creating such review board will make the American public aware of the "serious problem of abuse that exists at the border by making this review process public" and that "illegal immigrants deserve the same constitutionally-mandated humane treatment of citizens and legal residents".[27]

In 1998, Amnesty International investigated allegations of ill-treatment and brutality by officers of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and particularly the Border Patrol. Their report said they found indications of human rights violations during 1996, 1997 and early 1998.[28]

An article in Social Justice by Michael Huspek, Leticia Jimenez, Roberto Martinez (1998) cites that in December 1997, John Case, head of the INS Office of Internal Audit, announced at a press conference that public complaints to the INS had risen 29% from 1996, with the "vast majority" of complaints emanating from the southwest border region, but that of the 2,300 cases, the 243 cases of serious allegations of abuse were down in 1997. These serious cases are considered to be distinct from less serious complaints, such as "verbal abuse, discrimination, extended detention without cause."[29]

[edit] Corruption

Incidences of corruption in the U.S. Border Patrol include:

 

Pablo Sergio Barry, an agent charged with one count of harboring an illegal immigrant, three counts of false statements, and two counts of making a false document.[30] He plead guilty.[31]

Christopher E. Bernis, an agent indicted on a charge of harboring an illegal immigrant for nine months while employed as a U.S. Border Patrol agent.[32]

Jose De Jesus Ruiz, an agent whose girlfriend was an illegal immigrant, he was put on administrative leave pending an investigation.[32]

Oscar Antonio Ortiz, an illegal immigrant[33] who used a fake birth certificate to get into the Border Patrol admitted to smuggling more than 100 illegal immigrants into the U.S., some of them in his government truck,[34] and was helping to smuggle illegal immigrants and charged with conspiring with another agent to smuggle immigrants.

An unidentified patrol agent who was recorded on a wire tap stating that he helped to smuggle 30 to 50 immigrants at a time.[33]

[edit] National Border Patrol Council

National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) is the labor union which represents over 14,000 Border Patrol Agents and support staff. The NBPC was founded in 1968, and its parent organization is the American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO. The NBPC's executive committee is staffed by current and retired Border Patrol Agents and, along with its constituent locals, employs a staff of a dozen attorneys and field representatives. The NBPC is associated with the Peace Officer Research Association of California’s Legal Defense Fund.[35]

 

[edit] National Border Patrol Museum

The National Border Patrol Museum is located in El Paso, Texas. The museum exhibits uniforms, equipment, photographs, guns, vehicles, airplanes, boats, and documents which depict the historical and current sector operations throughout the United States.

 

[edit] In popular culture

[edit] Books

Border Patrol by Alvin Edward Moore

The Border Patrol by Deborah Wells Salter

EWI: Entry Without Inspection (Title 8 U.S.C. § 1325 Improper entry by alien) by Fortuna Testarona Valiente

Tracks in the Sand: A Tale of the Border Patrol by Kent E Lundgren,

On The Line: Inside the U.S. Border Patrol by Alex Pacheco and Erich Krauss

Patrolling Chaos: The U.S. Border Patrol in Deep South Texas by Robert Lee Maril

The U.S. Border Patrol: Guarding the Nation (Blazers) by Connie Collwell Miller

My Border Patrol Diary: Laredo, Texas by Dale Squint

Holding the Line: War Stories of the U.S. Border Patrol by Gerald Schumacher

The Border Patrol Ate My Dust by Alicia Alarcon, Ethriam Cash Brammer, and Ethriam Cash Brammer de Gonzales

The Border: Exploring the U.S.-Mexican Divide by David J. Danelo

Beat The Border: An Insider's Guide To How The U.S. Border Works And How To Beat It by Ned Beaumont

West of the Moon: A Border Patrol Agent's Tale by D. B. Prehoda

The Journey: U.S. Border Patrol & the Solution to the Illegal Alien Problem by Donald R. Coppock

Border patrol: With the U.S. Immigration Service on the Mexican boundary, 1910-54 by Clifford Alan Perkins

Border Patrol: How U.S. Agents Protect Our Borders from Illegal Entry by Carroll B. Colby

In Mortal Danger: The Battle for America's Border and Security by Tom Tancredo

[edit] Film

Border Patrolman, a 1936 film in which a Border Patrolman Bob Wallace, played by George O'Brien, resigns in protest after being humiliated by the spoiled granddaughter of a millionaire.

Border Patrol, a 1943 film starring William C. Boyd, Andy Clyde, George Reeves, and Robert Mitchum

Borderline, a 1950 film noir starring Fred MacMurray about drug smuggling across the U.S./Mexico border

Border Patrol, a 1959 syndicated television series, starring Richard Webb as the fictitious deputy chief of the U.S. Border Patrol

Borderline, a 1980 movie starring Charles Bronson about a Border Patrol Agent on the U.S./Mexico border

The Border, a 1982 film starring Jack Nicholson

El Norte, a 1983 film portraying Central American Indian peasants traveling to the United States.

Flashpoint, a 1984 film starring Kris Kristofferson

Last Man Standing, a 1996 film starring Bruce Willis and Ken Jenkins as Texas Ranger Captain Tom Pickett who is investing the killing of an unnamed Immigration Inspector (played by Larry Holt) across the border in Mexico.

Men in Black, a 1997 science fiction comedy action film starring Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith and Vincent D'Onofrio. The Border Patrol was portrayed as Immigration Inspectors

The Gatekeeper, a 2002 film by John Carlos Frey about the struggles of migrants at the Mexican/US border.

The Shepherd: Border Patrol, a 2007 film starring Jean-Claude Van Damme

Linewatch, a 2008 film starring Cuba Gooding, Jr., as a Border Patrol agent defending his family from a group of Los Angeles gang members involved in the illegal trade of importing narcotics into the United States.

[edit] Documentaries

Border Patrol: American's Gatekeepers A&E with former United States Attorney General Janet Reno

Investigative Reports: Border Patrol: America's Gatekeepers A&E Investigates

History the Enforcers : Border Patrol History Channel

[edit] See also

Border Protection Personnel

United States portal

Law enforcement/Law enforcement topics portal

List of United States federal law enforcement agencies

Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Border control

Ignacio Ramos

Illegal immigration

H.R. 4437

Minuteman Project

MQ-9 Reaper

No More Deaths

Office of CBP Air

United States Mexico barrier

United States-Canadian Border

la migra

[edit] References

^ "Reinstatements to the northern border". CPB.gov. US Customs and Border Protection. 2008-05-19. www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/border_security/border_patrol/reinsta.... Retrieved 2009-06-01.

^ www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/border_security/border_patrol/border_...

^ a b c d e f "Boarder Patrol overview". CPB.gov. US Customs and Boarder Protection. 2008-08-22. www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/border_security/border_patrol/border_.... Retrieved 2009-06-01.

^ a b "Who we are and what we do". CPB.gov. US Customs and Boarder Protection. 2008-09-03. www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/border_security/border_patrol/who_we_.... Retrieved 2009-06-01.

^ Gaynor, Tim (2008-01-23). "U.S. turns to horses to secure borders". Reuters. www.reuters.com/article/inDepthNews/idUSN2323280820080124.... Retrieved 2008-01-24.

^ www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/border_security/border_patro...[dead link]

^ Nuñez-Neto, Blas (2006-010-25) (PDF). Border security: The role of the U.S. Border Patrol. Congressional Research Service. p. 35. digital.library.unt.edu/govdocs/crs//data/2006/upl-meta-c.... Retrieved 2009-06-01.

^ Coyle, Marcia (2008-03-03). "Waivers for border fence challenged: Environmental groups take their complaints to Supreme Court". The Recorder.

^ Archibold, Randal C. (2008-04-02). "Government issues waiver for fencing along border". New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2008/04/02/us/02fence.html. Retrieved 2008-04-02.

^ "Conservation groups call for an immediate halt to construction of border fence in San Pedro National Conservation Area". US Newswire. 2007-10-05.

^ Gordon, David George (May 2000). "A 'grande' dispute". National Geographic World: p. 4.

^ Cohn, Jeffrey P. (2007). "The environmental impacts of a border fence". BioScience 57 (1): 96. doi:10.1641/B570116. www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1641/B570116. Retrieved 2009-06-01.

^ "Expansive border fence stirs fights over land". Tell Me More. NPR. 2008-03-03.

^ 2007 State of the Border Patrol video[dead link]

^ a b "FAQs: Working for the Border Patrol-basic training". CPB.gov. US Customs and Boarder Protection. 2008-05-29. www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/careers/customs_careers/border_career.... Retrieved 2009-06-01.

^ Spagat, Elliot (2007-08-16). "Border Patrol uniform gets first makeover since the 1950s". North County Times. www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/08/17/news/sandiego/18_64_3.... Retrieved 2009-06-01.

^ "Border Patrol Inspector Theodore L. Newton Jr.". The Officer Down Memorial Page. www.odmp.org/officer.php?oid=9933. Retrieved 2009-06-01.

^ "Border Patrol Inspector George F. Azrak". The Officer Down Memorial Page. www.odmp.org/officer.php?oid=1368. Retrieved 2009-06-01.

^ Rostien, Arthur H. (2005-06-09). "Border Patrol horses get special feed that helps protect desert ecosystem". Environmental News Network. www.enn.com/top_stories/article/1731. Retrieved 2009-06-01.

^ "United States Department of Homeland Security - Customs and Border Protection - Border Patrol". The Officer Down Memorial Page. www.odmp.org/agency/4830-united-states-department-of-home.... Retrieved 2009-06-01.

^ Meyers, Jim (2008-08-06). "Mexican troops cross border, hold border agent". Newsmax.com. newsmax.com/insidecover/mexican_troops_border/2008/08/06/.... Retrieved 2009-06-01.

^ "Glenn Beck: Ramos & Compean - the whole story". The Glenn Beck Program. Premiere Radio Networks. 2008-07-29. www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/196/13098/. Retrieved 2009-06-01.

^ "Error: no |title= specified when using {{Cite web}}". Ramos-Compean. ramos-compean.blogspot.com/. Retrieved 2009-06-01.

^ "2 Border Patrol agents face 20 years in prison". WorldDailyNet. 2006-08-07. www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51417. Retrieved 2009-06-01.

^ "Ramos and Campean - court appeal". www.scribd.com/doc/219384/Ramos-and-Campean-Court-Appeal. Retrieved 2009-06-01.

^ (Google video) The illegal immigration invasion. October Sun Films. 2006-04-06. video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1451035544403625746. Retrieved 2009-06-01.

^ Jesus A. Trevino (1998). "Border violence against illegal immigrants and the need to change the border patrol's current complaint review process" (PDF). Houston Journal of International Law 21 (1): 85–114. ISSN 0194-1879. www.hjil.org/ArticleFiles/21_1_10.pdf. Retrieved 2009-06-01.

^ United States of America: Human rights concerns in the border region with Mexico. Amnesty International. 1998-05-19. web.amnesty.org/library/Index/engAMR510031998. Retrieved 2009-06-01.

^ Huspek, Michael; Roberto Martinez, and Leticia Jimenez (1998). "Violations of human and civil rights on the U.S.-Mexico border, 1995 to 1997: a report" (Reprint). Social Justice 25 (2). ISSN 1043-1578. findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb3427/is_n2_v25/ai_n28711.... Retrieved 2009-06-01.

The data compiled in this report suggest that law enforcement in the southwest region of the United States may be verging on lawlessness. This statement receives fuller support from announcements emanating from the INS. In December 1997, John Chase, head of the INS Office of Internal Audit, announced at a press conference that public complaints to the INS had risen 29% from 1996, with the "vast majority" of complaints emanating from the southwest border region. Over 2,300 complaints were filed in 1997 as opposed to the 1,813 complaints filed in 1996. Another 400 reports of "minor misconduct" were placed in a new category. Chase was quick to emphasize, however, that the 243 "serious" allegations of abuse and use of excessive force that could warrant criminal prosecution were down in 1997, as compared with the 328 in 1996. These "serious" cases are considered to be distinct from less serious complaints, such as "verbal abuse, discrimination, extended detention without cause.

 

^ June 23, 2005 "Border agent accused of hiding an illegal entrant". Arizona Daily Star. 2005-06-23. www.azstarnet.com/sn/border/81082.php June 23, 2005. Retrieved 2009-06-01.

^ "Border agent pleads guilty to harboring illegal entrant". Arizona Daily Star. 2005-09-22. www.azstarnet.com/sn/border/94491.php. Retrieved 2009-06-01.

^ a b "U.S. border agent indicted". Arizona Daily Star. 2005-03-11. www.azstarnet.com/sn/border/65117.php. Retrieved 2009-06-01.

^ a b "Boarder agent said to also be smuggler". SignOnSanDiego.com. Union-Tribune Publishing. 2005-08-05. www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20050805-9999-.... Retrieved 2009-06-01.

^ Spagat, Elliot (2006-07-28). "Border agent gets 5 years for smuggling". The Washington Post. www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/28/.... Retrieved 2009-06-01.

^ "About NBPC". National Border Patrol Council. 2008-08-14. www.nbpc.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&a.... Retrieved 2009-06-01.

[edit] External links

Official US Border Patrol website

US Border Patrol history

National Border Patrol Strategy(PDF)

Border Patrol official recruiting page

Border Patrol Supervisor's Association (BPSA)

Border Patrol agents killed in the line of duty

Large Border Patrol site

Border Patrol Museum official site

National Border Patrol Council official site

National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers

Friends of the Border Patrol

Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports regarding the U.S. Border Patrol

Civilian Border Patrol Organizations: An Overview and History of the Phenomenon by the Congressional Research Service.

Border Patrol hiring forums and information for potential agents

National Border Patrol Museum

Pictures of Border Patrol vehicles

Crossing Guards in Training LA Times report on Border Patrol training.

The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration

Border Patrol unofficial Auxiliary NOT a Government Agency and not affiliated with the federal Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

[edit] External Video

Border Stories

[edit] GAO and OIG Reports

GAO Report: Border Patrol - Southwest Border Enforcement Affected by Mission Expansion and Budget August 1992

GAO Report: Border Control - Revised Strategy is Showing Some Positive Results December 1994

g96065.pdf GAO Report: Border Patrol - Staffing and Enforcement Activities March 1996

GAO Report: ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION - Southwest Border Strategy Results Inconclusive; More Evaluation Needed December 1997

USDOJ OIG Report: Operation Gatekeeper July 1998

GAO Report: ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION - Status of Southwest Border Strategy Implementation 1999

GAO Report: Border Patrol Hiring December 1999

GAO Report: Southwest Border Strategy - Resource and Impact Issues Remain After Seven Years August 2001

National Border Patrol Strategy March 2005

GAO Report: Effectiveness of Border Patrol Checkpoints July 2005

DHS OIG Report: An Assessment of the Proposal to Merge Customs and Border Protection with Immigration and Customs Enforcement November 2005

[hide]v • d • eBorder guards

 

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Europe Estonia · European Union · Finland · France · Germany · Italy · Latvia · Lithuania · Norway · Poland · Romania · Russian Federation · Switzerland · Ukraine · United Kingdom

 

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Oceania Australia (Department of Immigration and Citizenship · Australian Customs and Border Protection Service) · New Zealand (Immigration New Zealand · New Zealand Customs Service)

  

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Border_Patrol"

Categories: Federal law enforcement agencies of the United States | Border guards | Specialist law enforcement agencies of the United States | History of immigration to the United States | United States Department of Homeland Security | Borders of the United States

Hidden categories: All articles with dead external links | Articles with dead external links from June 2009 | Articles with broken citations | Articles needing cleanup from December 2009 | All pages needing cleanup | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements from February 2007 | All accuracy disputes | Articles with disputed statements from December 2009 | Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2005 | All articles containing potentially dated statements

Magpie: *switches back to Mendelssohn’s wedding march*

 

Danny: *face takes on a hungry quality, as he physically leans forward, trying to catch a glimpse of his bride*

 

Candy: *appears at the end of the aisle, eyes immediately finding Danny’s, as she clutches the arm of Paul (Mr. M), slightly nervous smile on her lips*

 

Mrs. M: *in an emotional murmur* “She’s like an angel straight from heaven. Look at her! That beautiful girl’s my baby! *cries loudly* “That’s my baby!”

 

Candy: *buries her face in Paul’s shoulder, halfway between laughter and tears*

 

Paul: *whispers* “You’re as good as ours, Candy—our daughter and an enormous blessing in our lives. Don’t you ever doubt it, you hear?”

 

Candy: *lets out a small sob and nods* “I won’t.”

 

Candy: *leaning on Paul’s arm for support, begins making her way sedately toward the love of her life…only to stop abruptly in the middle of the aisle*

 

Kumi: “Bloody hell.”

 

Yuri (exasperatedly): “Surely not again!”

 

Caid: *hurries up to stand by Mags, while strapping on his guitar* “Ready to rock, li’l mama? I’ll start out slow, and you can join in whenever you think you’ve caught the vibe…”

 

Magpie: *lifts her eyebrow in haughty disdain and begins ripping out Walk This Way on her violin*

 

Caid: *surprised chuckle* “Alright, I guess I‘m the one who needs to keep up, huh? Consider me schooled.” *joins in, the blare of rock-n-roll echoing down the beach*

 

Fashion Credits

**Any doll enhancements (i.e. freckles, piercings, eye color changes) were done by me unless otherwise stated.**

 

Magpie

Dress: IT – FR2 - Only Natural Fashion

Belt: Randall Craig RTW – April in Paris Fashion

Earrings: IT – Fashion Royalty

Necklace: IT – Fashion Royalty – Behind Velvet Ropes Natalia

Shoes: Jennifer Sue

 

Doll is a Wild at Heart Lilith, re-rooted by the remarkable valmaxi!

 

Caid

Jeans: IT – Fashion Royalty – Homme – Style Strategy Lukas

Shirt: Volks – WTG? – Selfish

Jacket: Mattel – Barbie Collectible – The Waltz Ken

Shoes: IT – Fashion Royalty – Homme – Fast Track Victor James

Hat: Mattel – Ken Playline

Bind Me Necklace: Knife’s Edge Designs (me)

 

Doll is a Dark Hunter Acheron. His eyes have been repainted by me.

Brekina 1320 DKW van 1320 Kathreiner's Malzkaffee. 1:87 scale plastic model. I also have a couple of post office versions of this – Austrian and Swiss – see the '1:87 Plastic' album.

John Smith´s Bay, Bermudas

 

i used my old cellphone, a calendar and a bus with scale 1:87. placed the bus in front of the calendar and developed afterwards a fake polaroid - that was great fun :-)

Credits:

  

Floor is an IKEA desktop.

 

Walls are Crescent brand mat board from Blick.

 

Windows are playscale from Houseworks which have been painted, with a backdrop and full-spectrum lights hung behind them.

 

Baseboards and door trim came from Manchester Dollhouse and Wood Works, as did the chest of drawers. All were painted white with the same flat white paint.

 

Bed is from Bruce Dawson’s etsy shop bedMiniatures.

 

Pillows and bedding were handmade by me.

 

Posters were edited in Photoshop, printed out on photo paper, painted with clear sealant, and then mounted on 4x6 foamcore.

 

Electrical outlets are images printed onto laser printer VHS tape labels.

 

CS Forrester Horatio Hornblower novel was made by me by scanning book cover, retouching in Photoshop, printed on cardstock and glued to blank pages.

 

Area rug is a placemat from Target.

 

Papasan chair is a mobile phone holder from Pier 1 Imports, with a custom cushion made by me.

 

Mirror is a miniature photo frame that has been painted in a mixture of gloss white and ivory.

 

Mulberry paper flowers and leaves came from Mulberry Crafts USA on Ebay, and were arranged in the vase by me, in a glass mason jar filled with pebbles from WorldMarket.

 

Door came from a Target child’s jewellery box, with the glass removed and replaced with bass wood and then painted with gloss white.

 

Robe is from ITBE Welcome Home Hyatt by Integrity.

 

Miniature books by MiniPlacesStudio on Etsy. Bookcase is 1 1:12 scale dollhouse miniature from The Style Home on ebay.

 

Miniature polymer clay bamboo from China, as are the hat stand (which has been painted), dollhouse scale alarm clock, and action figure eye glasses.

 

Bedside table from Pure Dream for Dolls, in China.

 

Shoes are a mix of Barbie, LIV, Dynamite Girl, and Momoko.

 

Jewellery box is a vintage pillbox. Small wood plate is a button.

 

Paper folding money is a scrapbooking embellishment. Jewellery in box and bowl are mix of pieces from my etsy shop, Barbie, Moxie Teenz, LIV, and Integrity Toys.

 

Earrings on chest of drawers were made by me from jewelled headpins. Miniature curling iron is from a LIV playset. Purses on the hat rack are mix of LIV and Stardoll. Hat on hat rack is from a Barbie Basics fashion pack.

 

Miniature netbook and iPad are from the Payton: Senior Secretary 1:6 scale action figure by ZCWO.

 

Shoeboxes from Barbie Collector and The Vogue in China. Shopping bag from Barbie The Look: City Shopper and Paul Frank Barbie.

 

Make-up on top of dresser from Jazz Diva Barbie & LIV Boutique playset.

 

Doll:

 

Barbie Collector Twilight Victoria, eyes enhanced by me. Rebodied onto an Integrity Bride of Dracula body.

 

Top: Spinmasters LIV

 

Jeans: Stardoll by Mattel

 

Leg warmers: Moxie Teenz by MGA

 

Jewellery: from my etsy shop (scarydollperson)

  

The Bonneville Salt Flats are a densely packed salt pan in Tooele County in northwestern Utah. A remnant of the Pleistocene Lake Bonneville, it is the largest of many salt flats west of the Great Salt Lake. It is public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management and is known for land speed records at the Bonneville Speedway. Access to the Flats is open to the public.

 

The Flats are about 12 miles (19 km) long and 5 miles (8 km) wide, with a crust almost 5 ft (1.5m) thick at the center and less than one inch (2.5 cm) towards the edges. It is estimated to hold 147 million tons of salt, approximately 90% of which is common table salt.

 

Geologist Grove Karl Gilbert named the area after Benjamin Bonneville, a U.S. Army officer who explored the Intermountain West in the 1830s. In 1907, Bill Rishel and two local businessmen tested the suitability of the salt for driving by taking a Pierce-Arrow onto its surface.

 

A railway line across the Flats was completed in 1910, marking the first permanent crossing. The first land speed record was set there in 1914 by Teddy Tetzlaff.

 

Entertainment filmed at the Flats include portions of Walking with Dinosaurs Special - The Ballad of Big Al, Knight Rider, Warlock, Independence Day (1996) and its sequel, SLC Punk, Cremaster 2 from Cremaster Cycle, The Brown Bunny, The World's Fastest Indian, Gerry, The Tree of Life, Top Gear and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Furthermore, the Pontiac Bonneville (former flagship sedan of the Pontiac motor division), the Triumph Bonneville motorcycle, and the Bonneville International media company are all named for the Flats.

 

The Bonneville Salt Flats hosts the annual US Flight Archery Championships. The goal of flight archery is to shoot arrows from bows at the greatest distance possible without regard to hitting a target, and so the vast flat plane of the flats serves as an ideal location to measure the linear distance traveled by arrows without geographic interference. Both the 1977 (archer Don Brown) and 1982 (archer Alan Webster) world records were set there; while the current world record, achieved in 1987 (archer Don Brown), was set at the salt flats near Smith Creek, Nevada.

 

The thickness of salt crust is a critical factor in racing use of the salt flats. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has undertaken multiple studies on the topic; while a 2007 study determined that there was little change in the crust's thickness from 1988 to 2003, more recent studies have shown a reduction in thickness, especially in the northwest area where racing occurs. The flats' overall area has contracted significantly over the past several decades. The cause or causes of this remain unclear, but many believe adjacent evaporative potash mining is the primary factor.

 

Collaboration between racing organizations, the potash mine, and the BLM led to a pilot program begun in 1998 to release excess brine onto the salt flats during winter. Plans to increase the volume of brine returned to the salt flats are hoped to halt loss of crust thickness, or possibly restore it where it has become too thin to sustain human use.

 

Motorcar racing has taken place at the salt flats since 1914. Racing takes place at part of the Bonneville Salt Flats known as the Bonneville Speedway. There are five major land speed events that take place at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Bonneville "Speed Week" takes place mid-August followed by "World of Speed" in September and the "World Finals" take place early October.

 

These three events welcome cars, trucks, and motorcycles. The "Bub Motorcycle Speed Trials" are for motorcycles only. World records are contested at the Mike Cook ShootOut in September. The Southern California Timing Association and the Utah Salt Flats Racing Association organizes and plans the multi-vehicle events, but all event promoters contribute to prepping and maintaining the salt. "Speed Week" events in August were canceled in 2015 and 2022, due to the poor condition of the salt in certain parts of the flats. The salt flats had been swamped by heavy rains earlier in the year, as usual, but this year the rains also triggered mudslides from surrounding mountains onto a section of the flats used for the land-speed racing courses.

 

Bonneville Speedway (also known as the Bonneville Salt Flats Race Track) is an area of the Bonneville Salt Flats northeast of Wendover, Utah, that is marked out for motor sports. It is particularly noted as the venue for numerous land speed records. The Bonneville Salt Flats Race Track is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

 

The salt flats were first used for motor sports in 1912, but did not become truly popular until the 1930s when Ab Jenkins and Sir Malcolm Campbell competed to set land speed records.

 

A reduction of available racing surface and salt thickness has led to the cancellation of events at Bonneville, such as Speed Week in 2014 and 2015. Available racing surface is much reduced with just 2.5 miles (4.0 km) available instead of the 9-mile (14 km) courses traditionally used for Speed Week.

 

Historically, the speedway was marked out by the Utah Department of Transportation at the start of each summer. Originally, two tracks were prepared; a 10-mile (16 km) long straightaway for speed trials and an oval or circular track for distance runs, which was typically between 10 and 12 miles (16 and 19 km) long depending on the condition of the salt surface.

 

Since at least the 1990s, track preparations have been the responsibility of the event organizers. Days or weeks in advance, the track preparers identify an area best suited for their track layouts and begin grading the tracks. Surveyors are brought in to survey the timing trap distances. A day before racing begins, the track markers are added.

 

Originally, the straightaway was marked with a broad black line down its center. This was eventually changed to lines down either side, as the center line wore out too quickly. As the costs for painting the lines has gone up, organizations have switched to flags and cones as track markers. The last event to use black lines was Speed Week, August 2009.

 

The number of tracks and the timed sections for each track are set according to what is most beneficial for each event. Large public meets such as Speed Week run as many as four tracks with several timed miles, usually starting with the second mile and running to the fifth mile. Smaller meets that typically only run world record attempts will utilize a single track, with one timed mile and one timed kilometer in the middle of the track. Additional marks and cones indicate the end of the track and the position of timing equipment.

 

The annual Speed Week was cancelled in both 2014 and 2015, as were many land-speed racing events, due to deteriorating track conditions. Heavy rains caused a layer of mud from surrounding mountains to flow onto the flats, covering approximately 6 mi (9.7 km) of the track. Although another section of the flats would normally be used, nearby salt mining operations had reduced the size of the alternative track.

 

The depth of the salt crust at Bonneville has also been decreasing, possibly leaching into a saltwater aquifer. Measured at as much at 3 ft (0.91 m) in the 1940s and 50s, it has been reduced to just 2 in (0.051 m) in 2015.

 

Though recent studies have been made (since 1960), the causes of this deterioration are not clear, although the evidence points toward both local climatic changes and salt mining. Some strategies were devised to revert the decreasing salt surface, such as pumping back salt, though this had no effect.

 

In August, the Southern California Timing Association and Bonneville Nationals Inc. organize Speed Week, the largest meet of the year, which attracts several hundred drivers who compete to set highest speed in a range of categories. Bonneville Speed Week has been taking place since 1949.

 

In late August, the Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials are held.

 

In September each year is the World of Speed, (similar to Speed Week) organized by the Utah Salt Flats Racing Association. The USFRA also meet on the first Wednesday of each month throughout the summer.

 

In October, the Southern California Timing Association puts on World Finals, a scaled-down version of Speed Week. This event tends to have cooler weather and often drier salt that Speed Week the prior month. There are less spectators and it tends to draw serious racers, as this event is the last chance to break a land speed record and be in the SCTA record book for that year.

 

Each year, there are usually a few private meets that are not publicized scattered among the larger public meets.

 

Several motor-paced racing speed records have been attempted at Bonneville.

 

In 1985, American cyclist John Howard set a then world record of 244 km/h (152 mph).

 

On 15 October 1995, Dutch cyclist Fred Rompelberg achieved 268.831 km/h (167.044 mph), using a special bicycle behind a dragster with a large shield.

 

In 2016, Denise Mueller-Korenek claimed a women's bicycle land speed record at 147 mph (237 km/h). She was coached by Howard. It is not clear which authority was supervising the record attempt.

 

In 2018, Mueller-Korenek broke her own women's record and the men's record at a speed of 183.9 miles per hour (296.0 km/h).

 

In popular culture

In the 2003 film The Brown Bunny, Bud Clay races his motorcycle at the speedway.

In the 2005 film The World's Fastest Indian, Burt Munro and his highly modified Indian Scout motorcycle sets a world record.

In the 2015 series finale episode of Mad Men, Donald Draper drives a 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS muscle car in the races at Bonneville Speedway.

 

Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It borders Colorado to its east, Wyoming to its northeast, Idaho to its north, Arizona to its south, and Nevada to its west. Utah also touches a corner of New Mexico in the southeast. Of the fifty U.S. states, Utah is the 13th-largest by area; with a population over three million, it is the 30th-most-populous and 11th-least-densely populated. Urban development is mostly concentrated in two areas: the Wasatch Front in the north-central part of the state, which is home to roughly two-thirds of the population and includes the capital city, Salt Lake City; and Washington County in the southwest, with more than 180,000 residents. Most of the western half of Utah lies in the Great Basin.

 

Utah has been inhabited for thousands of years by various indigenous groups such as the ancient Puebloans, Navajo, and Ute. The Spanish were the first Europeans to arrive in the mid-16th century, though the region's difficult geography and harsh climate made it a peripheral part of New Spain and later Mexico. Even while it was Mexican territory, many of Utah's earliest settlers were American, particularly Mormons fleeing marginalization and persecution from the United States via the Mormon Trail. Following the Mexican–American War in 1848, the region was annexed by the U.S., becoming part of the Utah Territory, which included what is now Colorado and Nevada. Disputes between the dominant Mormon community and the federal government delayed Utah's admission as a state; only after the outlawing of polygamy was it admitted in 1896 as the 45th.

 

People from Utah are known as Utahns. Slightly over half of all Utahns are Mormons, the vast majority of whom are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), which has its world headquarters in Salt Lake City; Utah is the only state where a majority of the population belongs to a single church. A 2023 paper challenged this perception (claiming only 42% of Utahns are Mormons) however most statistics still show a majority of Utah residents belong to the LDS church; estimates from the LDS church suggests 60.68% of Utah's population belongs to the church whilst some sources put the number as high as 68%. The paper replied that membership count done by the LDS Church is too high for several reasons. The LDS Church greatly influences Utahn culture, politics, and daily life, though since the 1990s the state has become more religiously diverse as well as secular.

 

Utah has a highly diversified economy, with major sectors including transportation, education, information technology and research, government services, mining, multi-level marketing, and tourism. Utah has been one of the fastest growing states since 2000, with the 2020 U.S. census confirming the fastest population growth in the nation since 2010. St. George was the fastest-growing metropolitan area in the United States from 2000 to 2005. Utah ranks among the overall best states in metrics such as healthcare, governance, education, and infrastructure. It has the 12th-highest median average income and the least income inequality of any U.S. state. Over time and influenced by climate change, droughts in Utah have been increasing in frequency and severity, putting a further strain on Utah's water security and impacting the state's economy.

 

The History of Utah is an examination of the human history and social activity within the state of Utah located in the western United States.

 

Archaeological evidence dates the earliest habitation of humans in Utah to about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. Paleolithic people lived near the Great Basin's swamps and marshes, which had an abundance of fish, birds, and small game animals. Big game, including bison, mammoths and ground sloths, also were attracted to these water sources. Over the centuries, the mega-fauna died, this population was replaced by the Desert Archaic people, who sheltered in caves near the Great Salt Lake. Relying more on gathering than the previous Utah residents, their diet was mainly composed of cattails and other salt tolerant plants such as pickleweed, burro weed and sedge. Red meat appears to have been more of a luxury, although these people used nets and the atlatl to hunt water fowl, ducks, small animals and antelope. Artifacts include nets woven with plant fibers and rabbit skin, woven sandals, gaming sticks, and animal figures made from split-twigs. About 3,500 years ago, lake levels rose and the population of Desert Archaic people appears to have dramatically decreased. The Great Basin may have been almost unoccupied for 1,000 years.

 

The Fremont culture, named from sites near the Fremont River in Utah, lived in what is now north and western Utah and parts of Nevada, Idaho and Colorado from approximately 600 to 1300 AD. These people lived in areas close to water sources that had been previously occupied by the Desert Archaic people, and may have had some relationship with them. However, their use of new technologies define them as a distinct people. Fremont technologies include:

 

use of the bow and arrow while hunting,

building pithouse shelters,

growing maize and probably beans and squash,

building above ground granaries of adobe or stone,

creating and decorating low-fired pottery ware,

producing art, including jewelry and rock art such as petroglyphs and pictographs.

 

The ancient Puebloan culture, also known as the Anasazi, occupied territory adjacent to the Fremont. The ancestral Puebloan culture centered on the present-day Four Corners area of the Southwest United States, including the San Juan River region of Utah. Archaeologists debate when this distinct culture emerged, but cultural development seems to date from about the common era, about 500 years before the Fremont appeared. It is generally accepted that the cultural peak of these people was around the 1200 CE. Ancient Puebloan culture is known for well constructed pithouses and more elaborate adobe and masonry dwellings. They were excellent craftsmen, producing turquoise jewelry and fine pottery. The Puebloan culture was based on agriculture, and the people created and cultivated fields of maize, beans, and squash and domesticated turkeys. They designed and produced elaborate field terracing and irrigation systems. They also built structures, some known as kivas, apparently designed solely for cultural and religious rituals.

 

These two later cultures were roughly contemporaneous, and appear to have established trading relationships. They also shared enough cultural traits that archaeologists believe the cultures may have common roots in the early American Southwest. However, each remained culturally distinct throughout most of their existence. These two well established cultures appear to have been severely impacted by climatic change and perhaps by the incursion of new people in about 1200 CE. Over the next two centuries, the Fremont and ancient Pueblo people may have moved into the American southwest, finding new homes and farmlands in the river drainages of Arizona, New Mexico and northern Mexico.

 

In about 1200, Shoshonean speaking peoples entered Utah territory from the west. They may have originated in southern California and moved into the desert environment due to population pressure along the coast. They were an upland people with a hunting and gathering lifestyle utilizing roots and seeds, including the pinyon nut. They were also skillful fishermen, created pottery and raised some crops. When they first arrived in Utah, they lived as small family groups with little tribal organization. Four main Shoshonean peoples inhabited Utah country. The Shoshone in the north and northeast, the Gosiutes in the northwest, the Utes in the central and eastern parts of the region and the Southern Paiutes in the southwest. Initially, there seems to have been very little conflict between these groups.

 

In the early 16th century, the San Juan River basin in Utah's southeast also saw a new people, the Díne or Navajo, part of a greater group of plains Athabaskan speakers moved into the Southwest from the Great Plains. In addition to the Navajo, this language group contained people that were later known as Apaches, including the Lipan, Jicarilla, and Mescalero Apaches.

 

Athabaskans were a hunting people who initially followed the bison, and were identified in 16th-century Spanish accounts as "dog nomads". The Athabaskans expanded their range throughout the 17th century, occupying areas the Pueblo peoples had abandoned during prior centuries. The Spanish first specifically mention the "Apachu de Nabajo" (Navaho) in the 1620s, referring to the people in the Chama valley region east of the San Juan River, and north west of Santa Fe. By the 1640s, the term Navaho was applied to these same people. Although the Navajo newcomers established a generally peaceful trading and cultural exchange with the some modern Pueblo peoples to the south, they experienced intermittent warfare with the Shoshonean peoples, particularly the Utes in eastern Utah and western Colorado.

 

At the time of European expansion, beginning with Spanish explorers traveling from Mexico, five distinct native peoples occupied territory within the Utah area: the Northern Shoshone, the Goshute, the Ute, the Paiute and the Navajo.

 

The Spanish explorer Francisco Vázquez de Coronado may have crossed into what is now southern Utah in 1540, when he was seeking the legendary Cíbola.

 

A group led by two Spanish Catholic priests—sometimes called the Domínguez–Escalante expedition—left Santa Fe in 1776, hoping to find a route to the California coast. The expedition traveled as far north as Utah Lake and encountered the native residents. All of what is now Utah was claimed by the Spanish Empire from the 1500s to 1821 as part of New Spain (later as the province Alta California); and subsequently claimed by Mexico from 1821 to 1848. However, Spain and Mexico had little permanent presence in, or control of, the region.

 

Fur trappers (also known as mountain men) including Jim Bridger, explored some regions of Utah in the early 19th century. The city of Provo was named for one such man, Étienne Provost, who visited the area in 1825. The city of Ogden, Utah is named for a brigade leader of the Hudson's Bay Company, Peter Skene Ogden who trapped in the Weber Valley. In 1846, a year before the arrival of members from the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints, the ill-fated Donner Party crossed through the Salt Lake valley late in the season, deciding not to stay the winter there but to continue forward to California, and beyond.

 

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as Mormon pioneers, first came to the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. At the time, the U.S. had already captured the Mexican territories of Alta California and New Mexico in the Mexican–American War and planned to keep them, but those territories, including the future state of Utah, officially became United States territory upon the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, February 2, 1848. The treaty was ratified by the United States Senate on March 10, 1848.

 

Upon arrival in the Salt Lake Valley, the Mormon pioneers found no permanent settlement of Indians. Other areas along the Wasatch Range were occupied at the time of settlement by the Northwestern Shoshone and adjacent areas by other bands of Shoshone such as the Gosiute. The Northwestern Shoshone lived in the valleys on the eastern shore of Great Salt Lake and in adjacent mountain valleys. Some years after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley Mormons, who went on to colonize many other areas of what is now Utah, were petitioned by Indians for recompense for land taken. The response of Heber C. Kimball, first counselor to Brigham Young, was that the land belonged to "our Father in Heaven and we expect to plow and plant it." A 1945 Supreme Court decision found that the land had been treated by the United States as public domain; no aboriginal title by the Northwestern Shoshone had been recognized by the United States or extinguished by treaty with the United States.

 

Upon arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, the Mormons had to make a place to live. They created irrigation systems, laid out farms, built houses, churches, and schools. Access to water was crucially important. Almost immediately, Brigham Young set out to identify and claim additional community sites. While it was difficult to find large areas in the Great Basin where water sources were dependable and growing seasons long enough to raise vitally important subsistence crops, satellite communities began to be formed.

 

Shortly after the first company arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, the community of Bountiful was settled to the north. In 1848, settlers moved into lands purchased from trapper Miles Goodyear in present-day Ogden. In 1849, Tooele and Provo were founded. Also that year, at the invitation of Ute chief Wakara, settlers moved into the Sanpete Valley in central Utah to establish the community of Manti. Fillmore, Utah, intended to be the capital of the new territory, was established in 1851. In 1855, missionary efforts aimed at western native cultures led to outposts in Fort Lemhi, Idaho, Las Vegas, Nevada and Elk Mountain in east-central Utah.

 

The experiences of returning members of the Mormon Battalion were also important in establishing new communities. On their journey west, the Mormon soldiers had identified dependable rivers and fertile river valleys in Colorado, Arizona and southern California. In addition, as the men traveled to rejoin their families in the Salt Lake Valley, they moved through southern Nevada and the eastern segments of southern Utah. Jefferson Hunt, a senior Mormon officer of the Battalion, actively searched for settlement sites, minerals, and other resources. His report encouraged 1851 settlement efforts in Iron County, near present-day Cedar City. These southern explorations eventually led to Mormon settlements in St. George, Utah, Las Vegas and San Bernardino, California, as well as communities in southern Arizona.

 

Prior to establishment of the Oregon and California trails and Mormon settlement, Indians native to the Salt Lake Valley and adjacent areas lived by hunting buffalo and other game, but also gathered grass seed from the bountiful grass of the area as well as roots such as those of the Indian Camas. By the time of settlement, indeed before 1840, the buffalo were gone from the valley, but hunting by settlers and grazing of cattle severely impacted the Indians in the area, and as settlement expanded into nearby river valleys and oases, indigenous tribes experienced increasing difficulty in gathering sufficient food. Brigham Young's counsel was to feed the hungry tribes, and that was done, but it was often not enough. These tensions formed the background to the Bear River massacre committed by California Militia stationed in Salt Lake City during the Civil War. The site of the massacre is just inside Preston, Idaho, but was generally thought to be within Utah at the time.

 

Statehood was petitioned for in 1849-50 using the name Deseret. The proposed State of Deseret would have been quite large, encompassing all of what is now Utah, and portions of Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Wyoming, Arizona, Oregon, New Mexico and California. The name of Deseret was favored by the LDS leader Brigham Young as a symbol of industry and was derived from a reference in the Book of Mormon. The petition was rejected by Congress and Utah did not become a state until 1896, following the Utah Constitutional Convention of 1895.

 

In 1850, the Utah Territory was created with the Compromise of 1850, and Fillmore (named after President Fillmore) was designated the capital. In 1856, Salt Lake City replaced Fillmore as the territorial capital.

 

The first group of pioneers brought African slaves with them, making Utah the only place in the western United States to have African slavery. Three slaves, Green Flake, Hark Lay, and Oscar Crosby, came west with this first group in 1847. The settlers also began to purchase Indian slaves in the well-established Indian slave trade, as well as enslaving Indian prisoners of war. In 1850, 26 slaves were counted in Salt Lake County. Slavery didn't become officially recognized until 1852, when the Act in Relation to Service and the Act for the relief of Indian Slaves and Prisoners were passed. Slavery was repealed on June 19, 1862, when Congress prohibited slavery in all US territories.

 

Disputes between the Mormon inhabitants and the federal government intensified after the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' practice of polygamy became known. The polygamous practices of the Mormons, which were made public in 1854, would be one of the major reasons Utah was denied statehood until almost 50 years after the Mormons had entered the area.

 

After news of their polygamous practices spread, the members of the LDS Church were quickly viewed by some as un-American and rebellious. In 1857, after news of a possible rebellion spread, President James Buchanan sent troops on the Utah expedition to quell the growing unrest and to replace Brigham Young as territorial governor with Alfred Cumming. The expedition was also known as the Utah War.

 

As fear of invasion grew, Mormon settlers had convinced some Paiute Indians to aid in a Mormon-led attack on 120 immigrants from Arkansas under the guise of Indian aggression. The murder of these settlers became known as the Mountain Meadows massacre. The Mormon leadership had adopted a defensive posture that led to a ban on the selling of grain to outsiders in preparation for an impending war. This chafed pioneers traveling through the region, who were unable to purchase badly needed supplies. A disagreement between some of the Arkansas pioneers and the Mormons in Cedar City led to the secret planning of the massacre by a few Mormon leaders in the area. Some scholars debate the involvement of Brigham Young. Only one man, John D. Lee, was ever convicted of the murders, and he was executed at the massacre site.

 

Express riders had brought the news 1,000 miles from the Missouri River settlements to Salt Lake City within about two weeks of the army's beginning to march west. Fearing the worst as 2,500 troops (roughly 1/3rd of the army then) led by General Albert Sidney Johnston started west, Brigham Young ordered all residents of Salt Lake City and neighboring communities to prepare their homes for burning and evacuate southward to Utah Valley and southern Utah. Young also sent out a few units of the Nauvoo Legion (numbering roughly 8,000–10,000), to delay the army's advance. The majority he sent into the mountains to prepare defenses or south to prepare for a scorched earth retreat. Although some army wagon supply trains were captured and burned and herds of army horses and cattle run off no serious fighting occurred. Starting late and short on supplies, the United States Army camped during the bitter winter of 1857–58 near a burned out Fort Bridger in Wyoming. Through the negotiations between emissary Thomas L. Kane, Young, Cumming and Johnston, control of Utah territory was peacefully transferred to Cumming, who entered an eerily vacant Salt Lake City in the spring of 1858. By agreement with Young, Johnston established the army at Fort Floyd 40 miles away from Salt Lake City, to the southwest.

 

Salt Lake City was the last link of the First Transcontinental Telegraph, between Carson City, Nevada and Omaha, Nebraska completed in October 1861. Brigham Young, who had helped expedite construction, was among the first to send a message, along with Abraham Lincoln and other officials. Soon after the telegraph line was completed, the Deseret Telegraph Company built the Deseret line connecting the settlements in the territory with Salt Lake City and, by extension, the rest of the United States.

 

Because of the American Civil War, federal troops were pulled out of Utah Territory (and their fort auctioned off), leaving the territorial government in federal hands without army backing until General Patrick E. Connor arrived with the 3rd Regiment of California Volunteers in 1862. While in Utah, Connor and his troops soon became discontent with this assignment wanting to head to Virginia where the "real" fighting and glory was occurring. Connor established Fort Douglas just three miles (5 km) east of Salt Lake City and encouraged his bored and often idle soldiers to go out and explore for mineral deposits to bring more non-Mormons into the state. Minerals were discovered in Tooele County, and some miners began to come to the territory. Conner also solved the Shoshone Indian problem in Cache Valley Utah by luring the Shoshone into a midwinter confrontation on January 29, 1863. The armed conflict quickly turned into a rout, discipline among the soldiers broke down, and the Battle of Bear River is today usually referred to by historians as the Bear River Massacre. Between 200 and 400 Shoshone men, women and children were killed, as were 27 soldiers, with over 50 more soldiers wounded or suffering from frostbite.

 

Beginning in 1865, Utah's Black Hawk War developed into the deadliest conflict in the territory's history. Chief Antonga Black Hawk died in 1870, but fights continued to break out until additional federal troops were sent in to suppress the Ghost Dance of 1872. The war is unique among Indian Wars because it was a three-way conflict, with mounted Timpanogos Utes led by Antonga Black Hawk fighting federal and Utah local militia.

 

On May 10, 1869, the First transcontinental railroad was completed at Promontory Summit, north of the Great Salt Lake. The railroad brought increasing numbers of people into the state, and several influential businessmen made fortunes in the territory.

 

Main article: Latter Day Saint polygamy in the late-19th century

During the 1870s and 1880s, federal laws were passed and federal marshals assigned to enforce the laws against polygamy. In the 1890 Manifesto, the LDS Church leadership dropped its approval of polygamy citing divine revelation. When Utah applied for statehood again in 1895, it was accepted. Statehood was officially granted on January 4, 1896.

 

The Mormon issue made the situation for women the topic of nationwide controversy. In 1870 the Utah Territory, controlled by Mormons, gave women the right to vote. However, in 1887, Congress disenfranchised Utah women with the Edmunds–Tucker Act. In 1867–96, eastern activists promoted women's suffrage in Utah as an experiment, and as a way to eliminate polygamy. They were Presbyterians and other Protestants convinced that Mormonism was a non-Christian cult that grossly mistreated women. The Mormons promoted woman suffrage to counter the negative image of downtrodden Mormon women. With the 1890 Manifesto clearing the way for statehood, in 1895 Utah adopted a constitution restoring the right of women's suffrage. Congress admitted Utah as a state with that constitution in 1896.

 

Though less numerous than other intermountain states at the time, several lynching murders for alleged misdeeds occurred in Utah territory at the hand of vigilantes. Those documented include the following, with their ethnicity or national origin noted in parentheses if it was provided in the source:

 

William Torrington in Carson City (then a part of Utah territory), 1859

Thomas Coleman (Black man) in Salt Lake City, 1866

3 unidentified men at Wahsatch, winter of 1868

A Black man in Uintah, 1869

Charles A. Benson in Logan, 1873

Ah Sing (Chinese man) in Corinne, 1874

Thomas Forrest in St. George, 1880

William Harvey (Black man) in Salt Lake City, 1883

John Murphy in Park City, 1883

George Segal (Japanese man) in Ogden, 1884

Joseph Fisher in Eureka, 1886

Robert Marshall (Black man) in Castle Gate, 1925

Other lynchings in Utah territory include multiple instances of mass murder of Native American children, women, and men by White settlers including the Battle Creek massacre (1849), Provo River Massacre (1850), Nephi massacre (1853), and Circleville Massacre (1866).

 

Beginning in the early 20th century, with the establishment of such national parks as Bryce Canyon National Park and Zion National Park, Utah began to become known for its natural beauty. Southern Utah became a popular filming spot for arid, rugged scenes, and such natural landmarks as Delicate Arch and "the Mittens" of Monument Valley are instantly recognizable to most national residents. During the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, with the construction of the Interstate highway system, accessibility to the southern scenic areas was made easier.

 

Beginning in 1939, with the establishment of Alta Ski Area, Utah has become world-renowned for its skiing. The dry, powdery snow of the Wasatch Range is considered some of the best skiing in the world. Salt Lake City won the bid for the 2002 Winter Olympics in 1995, and this has served as a great boost to the economy. The ski resorts have increased in popularity, and many of the Olympic venues scattered across the Wasatch Front continue to be used for sporting events. This also spurred the development of the light-rail system in the Salt Lake Valley, known as TRAX, and the re-construction of the freeway system around the city.

 

During the late 20th century, the state grew quickly. In the 1970s, growth was phenomenal in the suburbs. Sandy was one of the fastest-growing cities in the country at that time, and West Valley City is the state's 2nd most populous city. Today, many areas of Utah are seeing phenomenal growth. Northern Davis, southern and western Salt Lake, Summit, eastern Tooele, Utah, Wasatch, and Washington counties are all growing very quickly. Transportation and urbanization are major issues in politics as development consumes agricultural land and wilderness areas.

 

In 2012, the State of Utah passed the Utah Transfer of Public Lands Act in an attempt to gain control over a substantial portion of federal land in the state from the federal government, based on language in the Utah Enabling Act of 1894. The State does not intend to use force or assert control by limiting access in an attempt to control the disputed lands, but does intend to use a multi-step process of education, negotiation, legislation, and if necessary, litigation as part of its multi-year effort to gain state or private control over the lands after 2014.

 

Utah families, like most Americans everywhere, did their utmost to assist in the war effort. Tires, meat, butter, sugar, fats, oils, coffee, shoes, boots, gasoline, canned fruits, vegetables, and soups were rationed on a national basis. The school day was shortened and bus routes were reduced to limit the number of resources used stateside and increase what could be sent to soldiers.

 

Geneva Steel was built to increase the steel production for America during World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had proposed opening a steel mill in Utah in 1936, but the idea was shelved after a couple of months. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States entered the war and the steel plant was put into progress. In April 1944, Geneva shipped its first order, which consisted of over 600 tons of steel plate. Geneva Steel also brought thousands of job opportunities to Utah. The positions were hard to fill as many of Utah's men were overseas fighting. Women began working, filling 25 percent of the jobs.

 

As a result of Utah's and Geneva Steels contribution during the war, several Liberty Ships were named in honor of Utah including the USS Joseph Smith, USS Brigham Young, USS Provo, and the USS Peter Skene Ogden.

 

One of the sectors of the beachhead of Normandy Landings was codenamed Utah Beach, and the amphibious landings at the beach were undertaken by United States Army troops.

 

It is estimated that 1,450 soldiers from Utah were killed in the war.

Fully working 1:13 scale of Liebherr's crawler loader.

Very accurate scale model, with detailed cabine and realistic movements of the loader arm.

 

-Cabin has lots of trans light blue plates,

-Small turntables to secure indestructible sprocket and tracks bearings.

-Self balancing suspension rods

-Powerful drive

 

VIdeo:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Xrp3zcJ9X4

 

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it's a good scale to put a doctor action figure in it, but it's really a cookie jar. biscuit jar?

I am so happy with these cute clothes racks. I love all of these amazing dolly atelier's & needed a way to display their work that was worthy of these heirloom quality pieces.

A heavy yet extremely durable, heat and fire proof shield, absorbs fire damage as well.

this very scale originates from a endangered sub species of a kanohi dragon, often found near lava or deep in its silver mine as its nest.

 

The Dragon Warrior model of a advanced engineered torch that creates a blade of Fire. The mobile variant offers great performance thats easy to master, requiring less energy from its own source and its user, making it very economical friendly. Its precision focus a perfect and sharp beam of only fire. Strong, Light and Fast. Reaching melting temperatures.

Compared to the Dragon Elder, Tahu's beastly class torch, burns hotter and requires more hard training to master and is incredibly more taxing.

 

Toa Hotaru

Kanohi: Aki Hau

Younger Brother: Flaris

Element: Blaze

Class: Elite Samurai

Abilities: advanced fire bending and shaping his flames into a katana

 

Hotaru & Flaris were two young brotherly matoran, starting as low level knights in training in hopes one day they would become Toa. Hotaru was the oldest and a bit more skilled, sharping his and flaris abilities. The two trained, fought and hunted together for years. While most Ta-matoran took work in making masks all day, the brothers were busy earning their place. Hotaru took lessons with the very few that wanted to challenge the makuta. Flaris invested his time into researching armor and weapons and caught up on lessons passed to him from his best friend. The matorans courage & hard work would pay off when the day came for them to begin their future as Toa. Hotaru was the first to evolve into one and quickly joined a team, he said his good byes and took off. Flaris would also evolve into knighthood in the near future

 

The Kanohi Aki Hau

made by Forge of the Mask Makers - KhingK

"One of a kind work of art. Labor of Love. Every doll needs a beautiful comfy chair. I hand stitched every bit of this soft felt chair. Fits Blythe perfectly or any other 7-12" doll. Could be used by the adult doll collector or by a child. There are no small parts it is completely plush. Would look great to display your lovely doll or in a child's play scale doll house."

It's been a work in progress since late March, but I feel comfortable that it's finally done.

 

Thanks to everyone who has helped me complete my vision of a Big Boy:

 

Morningstrummer on Rebrickable for his 4014 instructions that I modified to fit what I was going for.

 

The wheels are BBB XL that my son made a custom jig to spin the wheel while I used an oil based white Sharpie medium tip to apply the pin stripe.

 

Custom rods from TrainedBricks.

 

The UP water tender is modified from BrickTrainDepot's instructions.

 

I worked with Andrew at OKBrickWorks for the awesome custom decals

Koziar's Christmas Village is a seasonal attraction located in Jefferson Township, near Bernville, Berks County, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., approximately 15 miles (24 km) northwest of Reading. Christmas Village utilizes approximately one half million Christmas lights and other decorative effects in a presentation that has repeatedly been listed among the top tourist attractions in Pennsylvania and the top Christmas displays in the United States.

 

The Christmas Village property was originally known as Spring Lake Dairy Farm, a working dairy farm. William M. Koziar began decorating his rural property for Christmas in 1948. The display was created for the enjoyment of Koziar's wife, Grace, and four children and initially centered on the house and barn. However, the display became increasingly elaborate and grew to incorporate the lake, walkways, trees, and fences. Over time the private display became a popular local attraction, known as "The Christmas House," and traffic on the nearby road was sometimes snarled by passersby stopping to view the display. Eventually, visitors were admitted to the premises and Koziar paved a former wheat field to provide parking. Initially, the dairy farm remained active, and the Koziars had to wait until after the cows were milked to turn on the lights, as there was not enough power for the milking machines and the lights to operate simultaneously. Many of the dioramas are housed in former chicken coops and display toys, clothes and other belongs of the Koziars' children and grandchildren. In 2008 Koziar's Christmas Village celebrated its sixtieth anniversary. It remains a family-owned attraction, currently operated by the Koziars' daughters, and several current employees are second- and third-generation associates.

 

Christmas Village features the elaborately illuminated home and barn of the Koziar family, as well as numerous smaller buildings. Upon entrance, visitors are greeted by costumed characters Rudolph, Frosty, and the Village's own Buddy the Bear. A marked pathway leads visitors among the illuminated buildings and other displays. Children may visit Santa Claus at his headquarters on Santa Claus Lane. There are several large dioramas depicting scenes such as Christmas Beneath the Sea, Christmas in the Jungle, Santa's Post Office, and Christmas in Other Lands. There are a number of displays featuring cut-out representations of characters from popular comic strips, animated films and fairy tales, as well as manger scenes, presentations of the biblical story of the Nativity, and tellings of seasonal stories such as A Christmas Carol and The Nutcracker. The Village also includes a recreation of the Valley Forge encampment and a G gauge outdoor train layout that encompasses most of the barnyard. The "Kissing Bridge" has been the site of several marriage proposals, engagements and weddings. In addition, there are several indoor features, including an extensive H0 scale model train layout and sales area, as well as shops selling souvenirs, Christmas decorations, refreshments, and other seasonal items.

 

Perhaps the most dramatic feature of the Village is the first glimpse one sees of the display. Most visitors approach the property from the east, via Christmas Village Road. Being farm country the surrounding area is sparsely inhabited and, after dark, sparsely lit. The terrain blocks the view of the Village until the road crests a hill just a few hundred feet to the east of the display, at which point the entire Village is suddenly visible, reflected in the lake. As of late 2010 the Christmas Village website features a virtual recreation of this experience as a part of its home page.

 

Christmas Village has been named Best Outdoor Christmas Display in the World by Display World magazine. It has also been given the "Award of Excellence" by the Pennsylvania Travel Council as a top travel attraction in the state. A twilight image of Christmas Village was used as jacket art for the book Christmas in America: A Photographic Celebration of the Holiday Season by Peter Guttman, published in 2007 by Skyhorse Publishing and now in its second edition. Christmas Village has been featured frequently by local media, as well as by national and international outlets.

 

Information from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koziar%27s_Christmas_Village

 

www.koziarschristmasvillage.com/

 

Fred Clark, Jr. and his ten wheeler steam locomotive # 502 is seen in the engine service area at John Cassidy's 7-1/2 gauge railroad at Casselberry, Florida, mid 1970's. This is an interesting story, because when Fred purchased this steam locomotive it was coal fired and very dirty to operate, so he converted the locomotive to burn propane gas, which provided better results.

 

After a while the thrill of owning an operating a steam locomotive wore off, because of the maintenance required, and constant cleaning demands. So today he is the proud owner of an electric powered (2-12 VDC batteries) scale model rail truck, which was modeled after a road vehicle that was converted for railroad use. This rail truck actually operates flawlessly with very little maintenance and cleaning required, plus it provides for extremely fast loading and unloading of his vehicle. This is interesting, because while some others are fiddling around with their steam locomotives trying to unload, plus preparing them to operate Fred has most likely been running his rail truck for a good two hour or more before the others even get started. LOL In my case, I also have two battery powered scale model electric locomotives, but mine are a bit larger and do take a few minutes long to get prepared for operation as compared to Fred's.

 

After mentioning the steam locomotive situation in regard to Fred, that does not mean that either of us do not appreciate a good quality built steam locomotive and enjoy watching them in operation, but it it is better on our part to let other that won't the associated work to appreciate them.

 

This scale railroad no longer exists, but it was very nice back in its day.

 

Of interest, behind Fred's head is an electric blower that is used when firing up a coal burning locomotive that is attached to the smoke stack. On the back bench is another very interesting item and it is one of the old gas station bottles with a metal spout that was used to supply cleaned recycled oil to old oil burning vehicles, of which numerous were back in the day. Plus there is also a good old Plews Oil Can sitting there too.

RAF Cosford 238 Squadron SEPECAT Jaguars, T.2A registration XX833 in QinetiQ markings, along with GR1 ‘Sierra’ (S) registration XX746, formerly of 14 Sqn (AB) at RAF Brüggen in Germany.

 

Part of No 1 School of Technical Training (No 1 SoTT) at RAF Cosford, 238 Squadron have a fleet of SEPECAT Jaguar GR1 and GR3 aircraft, along with a few other airframe types, all of which are used for Aircraft Maintenance Mechanic training. With many thanks to staff of 238 Sqn, I was allowed to photograph the Jaguar aircraft at will, predominantly to provide the detail for a forthcoming 1/48 scale 54 Sqn Jaguar that is being made for me, the first aircraft that I worked on at RAF Coltishall after completing my tech training back in the early 80’s.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

  

Some background:

The TIE/LN starfighter, or TIE/line starfighter, simply known as the TIE Fighter or T/F, was the standard Imperial starfighter seen in massive numbers throughout most of the Galactic Civil War and onward.

The TIE Fighter was manufactured by Sienar Fleet Systems and led to several upgraded TIE models such as TIE/sa bomber, TIE/IN interceptor, TIE/D Defender, TIE/D automated starfighter, and many more.

 

The original TIEs were designed to attack in large numbers, overwhelming the enemy craft. The Imperials used so many that they came to be considered symbols of the Empire and its might. They were also very cheap to produce, reflecting the Imperial philosophy of quantity over quality.

 

However, a disadvantage of the fighter was its lack of deflector shields. In combat, pilots had to rely on the TIE/LN's maneuverability to avoid damage. The cockpit did incorporate crash webbing, a repulsorlift antigravity field, and a high-g shock seat to help protect the pilot, however these did next to nothing to help protect against enemy blaster fire.

 

Due to the lack of life-support systems, each TIE pilot had a fully sealed flight suit superior to their Rebel counterparts. The absence of a hyperdrive also rendered the light fighter totally dependent on carrier ships when deployed in enemy systems. TIE/LNs also lacked landing gear, another mass-reducing measure. While the ships were structurally capable of "sitting" on their wings, they were not designed to land or disembark their pilots without special support. On Imperial ships, TIEs were launched from racks in the hangar bays.

 

The high success rate of more advanced Rebel starfighters against standard Imperial TIE Fighters resulted in a mounting cost of replacing destroyed fighters and their pilots. That, combined with the realization that the inclusion of a hyperdrive would allow the fleet to be more flexible, caused the Imperial Navy to rethink its doctrine of using swarms of cheap craft instead of fewer high-quality ones, leading to the introduction of the TIE Advanced x1 and its successor, the TIE Avenger. The following TIE/D Defender as well as the heavy TIE Escort Fighter (or TIE/E) were touted as the next "logical advance" of the TIE Series—representing a shift in starfighter design from previous, expendable TIE models towards fast, well armed and protected designs, capable of hyperspace travel and long-term crew teams which gained experience and capabilities over time.

 

The TIE/E Escort, was a high-performance TIE Series starfighter developed for the Imperial Navy by Sienar Fleet Systems and it was introduced into service shortly before the Battle of Endor. It was a much heavier counterpart to the agile and TIE/D fighter, and more of an attack ship or even a light bomber than a true dogfighter. Its role were independent long range operations, and in order to reduce the work load and boost morale a crew of two was introduced (a pilot and a dedicated weapon systems officer/WSO). The primary duty profile included attack and escort task, but also reconnoiter missions. The TIE/E shared the general layout with the contemporary TIE/D fighter, but the cockpit section as well as the central power unit were much bigger, and the ship was considerably heavier.

 

The crew enjoyed – compared with previous TIE fighter designs – a spacious and now fully pressurized cockpit, so that no pressurized suits had to be worn anymore. The crew members sat in tandem under a large, clear canopy. The pilot in front had a very good field of view, while the WSO sat behind him, in a higher, staggered position with only a limited field of view. Both work stations had separate entries, though, and places could not be switched in flight: the pilot mounted the cockpit through a hatch on port side, while the WSO entered the rear compartment through a roof hatch.

 

In a departure from the design of previous TIE models, instead of two parallel wings to either side of the pilot module, the TIE Escort had three quadanium steel solar array wings mounted symmetrically around an aft section, which contained an I-s4d solar ionization reactor to store and convert solar energy collected from the wing panels. The inclusion of a third wing provided additional solar power to increase the ship's range and the ship's energy management system was designed to allow weapons and shields to be charged with minimum loss of power to the propulsion system.

 

Although it was based on the standard twin ion engine design, the TIE/E’s propulsion system was upgraded to the entirely new, powerful P-sz9.8 triple ion engine. This allowed the TIE/E a maximum acceleration of 4,220 G or 21 MGLT/s and a top speed of 144 MGLT, or 1,680 km/h in an atmosphere — almost 40 percent faster than a former standard TIE Fighter. With tractor beam recharge power (see below) redirected to the engines, the top speed could be increased to 180 MGLT in a dash.

In addition to the main thrusters located in the aft section, the TIE Escort's triple wing design allowed for three arrays of maneuvering jets and it featured an advanced F-s5x flight avionics system to process the pilot's instructions. Production models received a class 2, ND9 hyperdrive motivator, modified from the version developed for the TIE Avenger. The TIE/E also carried a Sienar N-s6 Navcon navigation computer with a ten-jump memory.

 

Special equipment included a small tractor beam projector, originally developed for the TIE Avenger, which could be easily fitted to the voluminous TIE Escort. Models produced by Ysanne Isard's production facility regularly carried such tractor beams and the technology found other uses, such as towing other damaged starfighters until they could achieve the required velocity to enter hyperspace. The tractor beam had limited range and could only be used for a short time before stopping to recharge, but it added new tactics, too. For instance, the beam allowed the TIE/E crews to temporarily inhibit the mobility of enemy fighters, making it easier to target them with the ship's other weapon systems, or prevent enemies from clear shots.

 

The TIE Escort’s weapons systems were primarily designed to engage bigger ships and armored or shielded targets, like armed freighters frequently used by the Alliance. Thanks to its complex weapon and sensor suite, it could also engage multiple enemy fighters at once. The sensors also allowed an effective attack of ground targets, so that atmospheric bombing was a potential mission for the TIE/E, too.

.

The TIE Escort Fighter carried a formidable array of weaponry in two modular weapon bays that were mounted alongside the lower cabin. In standard configuration, the TIE/E had two L-s9.3 laser cannons and two NK-3 ion cannons. The laser and ion cannons could be set to fire separately or, if concentrated power was required, to fire-linked in either pairs or as a quartet.

The ship also featured two M-g-2 general-purpose warhead launchers, each of which could be equipped with a standard load of three proton torpedoes or four concussion missiles. Depending on the mission profile, the ship could be fitted with alternative warheads such as proton rockets, proton bombs, or magnetic pulse warheads.

Additionally, external stores could be carried under the fuselage, which included a conformal sensor pallet for reconnaissance missions or a cargo bay with a capacity for 500 kg (1.100 lb).

 

The ship's defenses were provided by a pair of forward and rear projecting Novaldex deflector shield generators—another advantage over former standard TIE models. The shields were designed to recharge more rapidly than in previous Imperial fighters and were nearly as powerful as those found on capital ships, so that the TIE/E could engage other ships head-on with a very high survivability. The fighters were not equipped with particle shields, though, relying on the reinforced titanium hull to absorb impacts from matter. Its hull and wings were among the strongest of any TIE series Starfighter yet.

 

The advanced starfighter attracted the attention of several other factions, and the Empire struggled to prevent the spread of the technology. The ship's high cost, together with political factors, kept it from achieving widespread use in the Empire, though, and units were assigned only to the most elite crews.

 

The TIE/E played a central role in the Empire's campaign against rogue Grand Admiral Demetrius Zaarin, and mixed Defender and Escort units participated in several other battles, including the Battle of Endor. The TIE Escort continued to see limited use by the Imperial Remnant up to at least 44 ABY, and was involved in numerous conflicts, including the Yuuzhan Vong War..

  

The kit and its assembly:

Another group build contribution, this time to the Science Fiction GB at whatifmodelers.com during summer 2017. Originally, this one started as an attempt to build a vintage MPC TIE Interceptor kit which I had bought and half-heartedly started to build probably 20 years ago. But I did not have the right mojo (probably, The Force was not strong enough…?), so the kit ended up in a dark corner and some parts were donated to other projects.

 

The sun collectors were still intact, though, and in the meantime I had the idea of reviving the kit’s remains, and convert it into (what I thought was) a fictional TIE Fighter variant with three solar panels. For this plan I got myself another TIE Interceptor kit, and stashed it away, too. Mojo was still missing, though.

 

Well, then came the SF GB and I took it as an occasion to finally tackle the build. But when I prepared for the build I found out that my intended design (over the years) more or less actually existed in the Star Wars universe: the TIE/D Defender! I could have built it with the parts and hand and some improvisation, but the design similarity bugged me. Well, instead of a poor copy of something that was more or less clearly defined, I rather decided to create something more individual, yet plausible, from the parts at hand.

 

The model was to stay a TIE design, though, in order to use as much donor material from the MPC kits as possible. Doing some legwork, I settled for a heavy fighter – bigger than the TIE Interceptor and the TIE/D fighter, a two-seater.

Working out the basic concept and layout took some time and evolved gradually. The creative spark for the TIE/E eventually came through a Revell “Obi Wan’s Jedi Starfighter” snap fit kit in my pile – actually a prize from a former GB participation at phoxim.de (Thanks a lot, Wolfgang!), and rather a toy than a true model kit.

 

The Jedi Fighter was in so far handy as it carries some TIE Fighter design traits, like the pilot capsule and the characteristic spider web windscreen. Anyway, it’s 1:32, much bigger than the TIE Interceptor’s roundabout 1:50 scale – but knowing that I’d never build the Jedi Starfighter OOB I used it as a donor bank, and from this starting point things started to evolve gradually.

 

Work started with the cockpit section, taken from the Jedi Starfighter kit. The two TIE Interceptor cockpit tubs were then mounted inside, staggered, and the gaps to the walls filled with putty. A pretty messy task, and once the shapes had been carved out some triangular tiles were added to the surfaces – a detail I found depicted in SW screenshots and some TIE Fighter models.

 

Another issue became the crew – even though I had two MPC TIE Interceptors and, theorectically, two pilot figures, only one of them could be found and the second crewman had to be improvised. I normally do not build 1:48 scale things, but I was lucky (and happy) to find an SF driver figure, left over from a small Dougram hoovercraft kit (from Takara, as a Revell “Robotech” reboxing). This driver is a tad bigger than the 1:50 TIE pilot, but I went with it because I did not want to invest money and time in alternatives. In order to justify the size difference I decided to paint the Dougram driver as a Chiss, based on the expanded SW universe (with blue skin and hair, and glowing red eyes). Not certain if this makes sense during the Battle of Endor timeframe, but it adds some color to the project – and the cockpit would not be visible in much detail since it would be finished fully closed.

 

Reason behind the closed canopy is basically the poor fit of the clear part. OOB, this is intended as an action toy – but also the canopy’s considerable size in 1:50 would prevent its original opening mechanism.

Additional braces on the rel. large window panels were created with self-adhesive tape and later painted over.

 

The rear fuselage section and the solar panel pylons were scratched. The reactor behind the cockpit section is actually a plastic adapter for water hoses, found in a local DIY market. It was slightly modified, attached to the cockpit “egg” and both parts blended with putty. The tail opening was closed with a hatch from the OOB TIE Interceptor – an incidental but perfect match in size and style.

 

The three pylons are also lucky finds: actually, these are SF wargaming/tabletop props and would normally be low walls or barriers, made from resin. For my build, they were more or less halved and trimmed. Tilted by 90°, they are attached to the hull with iron wire stabilizers, and later blended to the hull with putty, too.

 

Once the cockpit was done, things moved more swiftly. The surface of the hull was decorated with many small bits and pieces, including thin styrene sheet and profiles, steel and iron wire in various strengths, and there are even 1:72 tank tracks hidden somewhere, as well as protective caps from syringes (main guns and under the rear fuselage). It’s amazing how much stuff you can add to such a model – but IMHO it’s vital in order to create some structure and to emulate the (early) Star Wars look.

  

Painting and markings:

The less spectacular part of the project, even though still a lot of work because of the sheer size of the model’s surface. Since the whole thing is fictional, I tried to stay true to the Imperial designs from Episode IV-VI and gave the TIE/E a simple, all-light grey livery. All basic painting was done with rattle cans.

Work started with a basic coat of grey primer. On top of that, an initial coat of RAL 7036 Platingrau was added, esp. to the lower surfaces and recesses, for a rough shading effect. Then, the actual overall tone, RAL 7047, called “Telegrau 4”, one of Deutsche Telekom’s corporate tones, was added - mostly sprayed from abone and the sides onto the model. Fuselage and panels were painted separately, overall assembly was one of the final steps.

 

The solar panels were to stand out from the grey rest of the model, and I painted them with Revell Acrylic “Iron Metallic” (91) first, and later applied a rather rich wash with black ink , making sure the color settled well into the many small cells. The effect is pretty good, and the contrast was slightly enhanced through a dry-brushing treatment.

 

Only a few legible stencils were added all around the hull (most from the scrap box or from mecha sheets), the Galactic Empire Seal were inkjet-printed at home, as well as some tactical markings on the flanks, puzzled together from single digits in "Aurebash", one of the Imperial SW languages/fonts.

For some variety and color highlights, dozens of small, round and colorful markings were die-punched from silver, yellow, orange, red and blue decal sheet and were placed all over the hull - together with the large panels they blur into the the overall appearance, though. The hatches received thin red linings, also made from generic decals strips.

 

The cockpit interior was a bit challenging, though. Good TIE Fighter cockpit interior pictures are hard to find, but they suggest a dark grey tone. More confusingly, the MPC instructions call for a “Dark Green” cockpit? Well, I did not like the all-grey option, since the spaceship is already monochrome grey on the outside.

 

As a compromise I eventually used Tamiya XF-65 "Field Grey". The interior recieved a black ink in and dry-brushing treatment, and some instruments ansd screens were created with black decal material and glossy black paint; some neon paint was used for sci-fi-esque conmtraol lamps everywhere - I did not pay too much intention on the interior, since the cockpit would stay closed, and the thick clear material blurs everything inside.

Following this rationale, the crew was also painted in arather minimal fashion - both wear a dark grey uniform, only the Chiss pilot stands aout with his light blue skin and the flourescent red eyes.

 

After an overall black ink wash the model received a dry brusing treatment with FS 36492 and FS 36495, for a weathered and battle-worn look. After all, the "Vehement" would not survive the Ballte of Endor, but who knows what became of TIE/E "801"'s mixed crew...?

Finally, the kit was sealed with matt acrylic varnish, and some final cosmetic corrections made.

 

The display is a DIY creation, too, made from a 6x6" piece of wood, it's edges covered with edgebonder, a steel wire as holder, and finally the display was paited with semi-matt black acrylic paint from the rattle can.

  

A complex build, and the TIE/E more or less evolved along the way, with only the overall layout in mind. Work took a month, but I think it was worth the effort. This fantasy creation looks pretty plausible and blends well into the vast canonical TIE Fighter family - and I am happy that I finally could finish this mummy project, including the surplus Jedi Starfighter kit which now also find a very good use!

 

An epic one, and far outside my standard comfort zone. But a wothwhile build!