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Aspens in Transition. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell - all rights reserved.
A large Eastern Sierra Nevada aspen grove partway though the fall color transition
This photograph comes from one of the few specific locations for Eastern Sierra aspen color that I'll typically name and locate without reservations. It is impossible to miss, as it is right next to US 395 between the towns of Bridgeport and Lee Vining, at the high point of this section of the roadway where it crosses Conway Summit. You can pull over to the side of the road — and if you pass by on the best days you won't be able to resist — and take in a panoramic view up toward the Sierra crest that includes many beautiful aspen groves. (I'm reticent about sending too many people to less-known, fragile, and quiet locations... especially since there are so many great places where you can find aspen color on your own.)
On this afternoon I passed by this spot as I traveled between a couple of other places where I looked for and photographed autumn color. I, too, was unable to resist (another) stop here. You may notice the soft light in this scene. It was overcast and there was light rain falling closer to the crest. On the scene such light can seem drab and dull, but the softer light also fills in the shadows and can provide you with an exposure that allows you to reveal a lot of detail and color in the post-processing phase. Notice also that the color is far from uniform in this large grove, ranging from peak color (and beyond, in a few cases) to very green trees in the distance. It is rare to find an entire large grove producing uniform brilliant color, since the aspens here tend to change color in phases. I've come to like and even prefer this less uniform color change pattern, and sometimes I think that the presence of green trees enhances to intensity of the more colorful trees.
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G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, "California's Fall Color: A Photographer's Guide to Autumn in the Sierra" is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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then froze
They watched every move I made in that position until I left the scene.
" Most art is fragile and some should be placed and never moved away. "
--- Donald Judd
In 1979, with help from the Dia Art Foundation, Judd purchased a 340 acre (1.4 km²) tract of desert land near Marfa, Texas which included the abandoned buildings of the former U.S. Army Fort D. A. Russell.
The Chinati Foundation opened on the site in 1986 as a non-profit art foundation, dedicated to Judd and his contemporaries.
PLEASE BE CONSIDERATE AND COMMENT IF YOU FAVORITE
(2PJL) Coast City -
My name is Kyle Rayner...and I'm afraid that I might kill a man tonight. Dr. Arthur Light, to be specific. Just hours ago, he kidnapped my girlfriend Alex, and is now using her as bait to lure me to him. He claims that he will kill her if I don't give him the 'light' which I still am not sure what he means by that.
My ring located Dr. Light in an abandoned warehouse near the docks, which is only 50 meters away. Before landing, I scan the warehouse for both Dr. Light and Alex. My ring detects them both in the middle of the building. I'm actually a bit surprised that Alex is indeed here, like he promised.
I make myself an opening in the building's wall via a rocket launcher from my ring. As I enter the warehouse, I outstretch the hand that my ring is placed on and use it as if it were a flash light. I wander aimlessly through the dark building until I finally see Alex.
Once noticing me, she beings to struggle in her restraints as a way to single me to cut her loose. I nearly begin to assure her that it's alright, and even almost say her name, but then I remember that she doesn't know that it is me. To her, I'm just the man that they call Green Lantern on T.V.
Suddenly, out of the shadows, comes Dr. Light. I brace myself as his hands and eyes begin to glow, almost as if he is planning to attack.
"Kyle Rayner?" asks Dr. Light.
I realize now that my identity will be revealed to Alex if I assure him that I am indeed who he believes. I take a moment to ponder my options, yet decide that my only choice is to reveal my secret.
"Yes...I am Kyle Rayner." I respond.
Alex muffles something through the tape over her mouth and begins to struggle even more.
"Good...good! Now...give me the light! Give it to me!" orders Dr. Light.
"I don't know what you're talking about, what is the 'light'?" I reply.
"Don't play games with me boy...give me it...give me the power!"
"Hey, you've gotta understand, I don't know what you're talking about! Please, just let her go, leave her out of this. I'm here now, you don't need her anymore."
"No...no...no, no that won't work at all! You won't give me the light! Give it to me...give me the light...or she dies...I'll kill her!"
Alex begins to sob. I begin to understand that Dr. Light won't take no for an answer. The only way to get Alex out now is a with a fight. I'm sure that I can buy her enough time to escape, I just don't know if I can make it out as well.
"I'm not going to let that happen...you are not going to touch Alex." I demand.
I send a blast from my ring in his direction yet he deflects it by constructing a shield made of pure light. Next I fashion a large baseball bat, while he assembles a sword like light structure. As I engage in a duel with Dr. Light, I construct a pair of scissors and have them begin cutting through the tape around Alex.
I get about halfway done, before my focus is stopped due to a blow to my stomach from Dr. Light. Luckily, it was enough to free Alex's arms, which allows her to continue removing the tape. Knowing this, I focus my attention on defeating Dr. Light.
I assumed a giant mech-suit and charge at Dr. Light. I grab him using my suit's claw and begin to fly up towards the ceiling. I slam my other claw through the roof and continue to rise higher up and out of the warhouse. I planned on taking the fight away from the city, to avoid any unnecessary losses, yet I was rendered unable to do so as Dr. Light caused some sort of light explosion, causing me to loose my grip around him.
He flies back into the city, I assume to use it's large buildings as cover. I dismantle the mech-suit as a means to increase my speed, although Dr. Light is too fast. I hit him with a blast from my ring, causing him to drop down into the middle of Coast City Park. The civilians there quickly run as they see us enter the park grounds. Good, less things to worry about.
Dr. Light gets up and tries to regain flight, though I manage to construct a pair of strong ankle cuffs around him before he can do so. He blasts the cuffs off of his legs and stands up. I assemble a shield and slam into him sending him through the large, metal statue of the other Green Lantern located in the middle of the park.
I rush towards him though I'm knocked onto the floor as he fires a blast at my feet. He continues to fire more projectiles at me, though luckily I manage to assemble a brick wall between us to counter the attacks. Eventually, he stops shooting, noticing that he cannot break through the construct, and takes flight. He moves over the wall and then drops right above me, hoping to crush me when he lands.
Still on the ground, I roll backwards, just as he slams into the ground creating a large crater. I leap at Dr. Light and tackle him. We struggle to our feet, each grabbing the others knuckles, trying gain the advantage.
"The light! Give me the light!" Dr. Light pleads.
"I can't do that, I don't even know how to do that! And I won't let you hurt Alex!" I reply.
"I just need the light! Give me the light, Kyle Rayner! Give it to me!"
"You have to understand! I don't know what you mean!"
"Lies! AHHHH!"
Dr. Light fires a blast from his hands straight into mine. I drop down into the grass, my hands burning and covered in flames. Dr. Light stands over me with his arms outstretched in front of him, ready to deliver the final blow.
"Give it to me...please!" Dr. Light begs.
Surprisingly, he falls to his knees and his eyes fill with tears. It was at this moment that I notice that Dr. Light wasn't the bad man that I thought he was. Something else was going on here, and I'm going to find out...
Next - Love
Really sorry for the long read, I just didn't want to rush through this issue, as it is a quite important point in the volume. I hope that you all enjoyed it anyway. Thanks for reading! -Michael
DISCLAIMER: THIS ISSUE CONTAINS GRAPHICALLY DEPICTED VIOLENCE. PROCEED WITH CAUTION
Klarion the Witch Boy had teleported himself to the headquarters of the illegal smuggling organization “The Otherkind”, in hopes of purchasing an item he’d had his eyes on for quite a while. “The Helm of Flame”. An ancient weapon, myths say that the mask can transform your body into that of a demon, if you read a specific ancient script. There is no known proof of this, however. On opposite sides of the room stood several members of the group, working in different ways, like stocking shelves or chopping up wood to make more shelves. Waiting to purchase this item, Klarion had stood silent in the dark, cold, damp cement building, unnoticed.
Klarion: …Ahem?
A bearded man was sitting on the floor, who now looked up from his can of tomato soup to look into Klarion’s demonic eyes.
Bearded man: Eh? Oh, uh… Is this the guy?
The bearded man spoke with a raspy Russian accent, before looking up to The Rip, who was the organization’s leader. The Rip’s appearance was an odd one. A silhouette, entirely blacked out, standing at roughly 6’7”.
The Rip: Indeed it is. Klarion. It is an honour to meet you.
The Rip spoke in a very smooth but deep voice. It wasn’t loud, but when he spoke, it felt as if it was the only thing you could hear. It grabbed your attention instantly.
Klarion: Why, thank you. You know what I came for, yes?
The Rip: I do remember, yes. The Helm of Flame.
Klarion: Mhm! Now shall your servant fetch it for me, along with the script?
The Rip: I’d prefer if you weren’t to degrade my coworkers, but yes, Alec shall grant it to you. Alec?
He turned to the bearded man… Or at least Klarion assumed he did. With a man who appears physically as a mass of darkness it’s hard to tell.
Alec: Alrighty… Just a second…
He took one last spoonful from the tin can, a small portion of it spilling on his bright blue overcoat before he stood up. He set the can and spoon on the filthy stone floor before he waddled to the Helm of Flame on the shelf, before handing it to Klarion.
Alec: Here ya’ go.
Klarion: …There’s chowder on the script. It’s filthy, and that’s unacceptable..! Fetch me another.
Alec: Uh… Y’know there’s only one of ‘em, right?
The Rip walked over to Klarion, and tapped his fingers against the corner of the script.
The Rip: Ghålli-shï.
Suddenly, the script was cleaned.
Klarion: Thank you, that is much more adequate… Now, how much for each?
Klarion rummaged through a leather wallet, while holding the helm and script under his arm.
The Rip: 1.5 million in total-
Klarion: 5 million, you say? Alrighty…
Klarion handed The Rip the 5 million dollars.
The Rip: Ötałlo-kå.
With a poof of purple smoke, the money vanished.
Klarion: Pleasure doing business with you.
The Rip: The pleasure is mine, Klarion.
Klarion: Shalån-Greėm.
Klarion vanished. A moment after, a worker in an orange sweater walked from the shadows. He hadn’t been doing anything to help the organization, unlike the others.
Man in orange: What a brat.
Both Alec and The Rip turned to the man in orange…
The Rip: …What did you just say, Walter?
Alec: Sh#t, dude…
The two other members of The Otherkind stopped working and turned to “Walter”. One was a man in a black coat and orange scarf, the other a young woman in a purple sweater.
Man in scarf: Oh, dear lord…
The woman in purple simply put her hands over her mouth in shock.
Walter: I’m just sayin’. What? You all thought it, be real.
The Rip: You understand in the 2 months of being here you’ve done nothing but stand around, correct? Watching your coworkers work painfully hard while all you have to do is stock shelves, and yet you can’t even do that right? The others have been doing their jobs correctly for years, and after being here for 2 months, you can’t even manage to be kind to my client.
Walter: I really don’t see what the big deal is.
Alec: Shut up! Dude, seriously!
The Rip: I hadn’t had to speak to you about your laziness, as much as it had frustrated me. But this? Mocking a client? You think you have the right to do that?This is where I draw the line.
The Rip walked slowly and ominously towards Walter while speaking…
Walter: He was just a kid, who cares?
The Rip: You’re not listening to me, are you? You never listen to me. You don’t deserve to be part of this organization. You have such little respect that probably didn’t even attempt to remember my name.
Walter: “Rip”, right?
The Rip stood in place…
The Rip: Yes. Surprisingly, you got that right… But do you know why that is?
Walter: Uh… No.
The Rip: Well… Let me show you.
The Rip’s chest and stomach spread open like a vertical mouth, pointed with jagged fang-like spikes. From the gaping void in his torso appeared long, reddish tendrils. The first latched around Walter’s right arm. Then the left. And then his legs. This was the first time The Rip had seen Walter express genuine fear.
Walter: Agh, Christ..! I-… I can’t move!
The rest of The Otherkind were silent, watching what was happening. The tentacles seemed to grow even longer, pulling Walter high into the air as his eyes opened wider, his forehead shining with sweat. More tendrils appeared, rubbing their pointed tips against Walter’s freakishly warm skin. The man in the scarf ran to help Walter, only to be knocked back by one of the tentacles, causing him to be bashed against a stone wall.
Man in scarf: *uff*!
The Rip: Stay back, Malcolm. This is necessary.
Suddenly, one of the tentacles tore the left leg straight off of Walter, it dropped to the floor, blood spilling out from the gaping wound and onto the limb in puddles. Walter tried to scream, but his mouth was being filled by the tentacles. Tears ran down both his and most of the other members’ faces.
Alec: What the hell!?
Malcolm: Jesus…
The woman in purple was silent, her pupils microscopic, her whole body was shaking. This horrific sight had seemed to effect her the most out of the members. Through the gaps between the hands covering her eyes she noticed the tentacles tugging even harder on each of the limbs, the sound of cracking bones echoed through the room. Eventually all three remaining limbs split apart, leaving a pile of broken pieces on the floor. Walter was nothing but broken bones, torn skin, muscle, and large masses of blood. Walter’s head was still fully intact when it hit the floor, however, his eyes were still wide open and his jaw fully extended, staring into the souls of the remaining members.
Woman in purple: No… No no no…
She fell to her knees, her hands dropping to the floor, her tears breaking through like a waterfall. Malcolm stood beside her, putting his hand on her shoulder to comfort them. Meanwhile all the tentacles sucked themselves quickly back into The Rip, before he reached his hand down to Walter’s mutilated corpse.
The Rip: Ötałlo-kå.
What was rest of Walter disappeared. The Rip turned to the other members.
The Rip: I am deeply sorry if you found the visuals of Walter’s deserved punishment a tad graphic.
Malcolm: “A tad”? You slaughtered the poor guy. Look at Cindy here, look what you did.
“Cindy” looked up at The Rip, a hint of rage behind her tears.
Cindy: You monster!!!
She got up and lunged at The Rip, only for him to put his hand forward in a shielding position.
The Rip: Hīdoth-pöl.
She teleported back where she was before.
The Rip: Your anger is justified, though please, take this experience as a lesson. I love you all deeply, you’re like family to me. I’d rather not be forced to punish one of you like I did today. So stay in line. Thank you. Now, back to work.
~Madam Web
What you see here; is a couple, blocking the bread I normally purchase. This was on 7-25-28, at 2:25 pm, at the Grand Junction, Colorado, Walmart. They were set up; before Koda and I, made the turn into the mile long bread section. They can be seen looking at us, as we turn, then stalling for several minutes. Directly in front of the bread I purchase. Blocking it completely. Maybe the guy thought I would be intimidated, by his size? Behind them, at the end of the aisle, was a Walmart employee, watching the whole skit. This is all captured on the Walmart, Grand Junction, Colorado, surveillance cameras. Can’t they, FBI Director Christopher Wray? This could be pretty much any Walmart, in the United States of America. Like the one in Laramie, Wyoming; depicted in my photostream.
They, along with many others; will set up in place. In front of items I purchase regularly. Like another woman on the same day. She had a small baby in her cart. She was attractive and nicely dressed. As Koda and I, approached the department I purchase a specific item in. She pushes her cart in front of that item, then walks away. Her cart had a small baby in it, wrapped in a baby carrier. She stepped away, then looks directly at us. This, again, was a conspired act. In hopes that I act out, and be persecuted for it. What are the chances that her child, will grow to be a bully in school, at work, or involved in Gang Stalking? We had another woman, using her teenage daughter, to get into Koda’s face, in hope he may act out. They followed us throughout the store.
Prior, to the above events; we were in the automotive section. A very well dressed, older woman; stood with her empty cart, in the oil section. She watched every move I made, and my oil selection. She was gathering information, for my next intentional blocking. She followed us throughout the store, then walked in front of our car, as we were leaving. Again, this is all captured on Walmart surveillance cameras. These cameras, many times, reviewed by our many Law Enforcement Agencies. So, why FBI Director Christopher Wray; don’t your Agents, do anything about Gang Stalking? They are fully aware of it, in the United States of America. They have been for decades!
We did come across a mother with two young children. One was in her cart, the other standing close to her, eating cheese squares. She said Mom, look at the dog. She was amazed at Koda, walking so calmly. We stopped, I very seldom do. I told the little girl “If you were to give him a piece of cheese, he will do tricks for you”. She smiled, but was afraid to approach Koda too closely. Koda sat patiently waiting a tasty cheese morsel. Her mother asked if it was OK. I said yes, but the little girl too shy, let her mother give it to him. Koda, was so gently taking it. He did several tricks for them, and the smiles were endless. We continued shopping, to be mobbed and harassed by others.
I’ve seen this over and over again, not the mother and two kids I just mentioned. Parents, willing to put their, and other children, possibly, in harms way, to harass my dog. This happened repeatably two years ago, in Grand Junction, CO. I called law enforcement, told the officer what was happening, showed him a couple of pictures. He said “next time this happens, take videos, and call me”. I did just that. After repeated phone calls and messages; he did not return any of my calls. These were people using young children, to harass Koda, right after I adopted him. American’s willing to put their children, in harms way, to harass a newly adopted, strange, dog.
Before we went to Walmart, we were at St Mary’s Hospital, in Grand Junction, Colorado. This like all hospitals; are supposed to be a place of help and healing. What we received was harassment and mobbing. Before we even entered the hospital, we were chased down by a guy with a weed-wacker. We walked towards the front side, of a patch of grass, so Koda could pee. As Koda, sniffs out a place to pee; the guy with a weed-wacker, comes rushing right at him. Koda, looked at him like the piece of shit that he is, and didn’t flinch or bark. I told Koda, as I do many times, “Koda, your working”. Me, on the other hand; walked up to the guy and asked “Is this how you harass a service dog, in Colorado”. He walked away quickly.
We walked into the main entrance of St Mary’s hospital, had a guy rush to crowd us, in the revolving door. Once we were in; there was a man playing a piano, in the main lobby. It was so loud, I couldn’t hear the woman, I asked for directions. She said something about the purple line. She had to repeat it several times. This tactic, is done to Targets, on a regular basis, They overwhelm you with noise, and talk over you; when you ask someone for help, or try to place a food order somewhere. In hopes, you are overwhelmed by the noise campaign, frustration, and won’t return. It didn’t faze me, Koda the Magnificent, and I, were on our way. We went to check into the clinic, but I was way early, and decided to go back to the main lobby. While I was driving, they called to schedule the appointment. It was at 1pm, but I scribbled down two number ones, making it look like 11. I get a lot of calls, while driving, or preoccupied by something.
The maniac, wasn’t smashing keys on the piano, anymore. I sat down, and Koda lay at my feet. There was a Security Guard standing in front of us. He and another guy, starts hugging each other. Perps, do this all the time; excessive, over-exaggerated, Public Displays of Affection. I mentioned before; these Perps have their tales, and they will throw it in your face. After the fake PDA, the other guy starts talking, almost yelling, pointing outstretched arm and finger, directly at Koda. He’s looking directly at Koda, while doing so. I said, “Sir, he’s a service dog”. The guy continues to point, talking extremely loud. He says to me, “I’ve raised more dogs than you’ll ever know”. He then starts doing a chicken dance. Flapping his arms. I looked to the Security Guard and asked, “are you going to allow this”. “This is a service dog”. He made excuses for the guy, and dismissed it. I asked if he knew the guy, he said he new his first name as Rod, didn’t know his last. They had pulled their skit, so the security guard walked away. They other guy was walking away too, but came back, pointing again. Again, It did faze Koda a bit. I nurse walked by, and I asked her; “is this the way you treat your patients”. She caught the tale end of it, as the Security Guard, just walked away from us. She said she would get a patient’s advocate, She did, the advocate spoke with me. I explained the situation, what had happens, as Koda lay at my feet. She said, she would gather more information, and call me back. She did, and told me the security guard, did tell her, he new the guy that was harassing Koda. The guard told me he didn’t really know him, just his first name.
Koda and I had enough of their bullshit. We had time to grab lunch, before our appointment. We walked about two blocks, to a Deli. As we waited for street lights across from the Deli. A woman came out from a child day care place. She stood in the small parking lot. She had something in her hand beside a phone. Then a car alarm went off, several feet from her. It continued, as the woman looked at us, in a stern manner. Once the light turn green, and we were able to cross, the car alarm stopped, and the woman went back inside. We get the car alarm treatment a lot. It’s another noise campaign, intended to onset anxiety in a Target. It didn’t faze Koda, we crossed, when the crosswalk audio began beeping.
We ordered our lunch, sat down and waited. There was no one ahead of us, but the stall began. The woman that took our order, clapping her hands for no apparent reason. She would walk behind the counter, throw her arms into the air, slap her palms to geather, and make a loud clap. It’s another Perp tale. They want you to know they are involved in Gang Stalking. She then brought out two big bags of ice, started slamming them on a counter, by the soda machine. She then, poured them into the top of the machine, as slow as possible. After that, she went back to clapping. A couple of people came in. A man that was eating when we came in, stood up, walked out of his way, to dispose of his trash. So he could stare Koda down, as he walked by.
We had our lunch and left. We just crossed the street, some guy was chasing us down with an electric cart thing. I’m supersized he didn’t have American flags, sticking out from the thing. I then heard a woman yelling, so I turned around. The woman that took our order at the deli, was yelling, asking if I left my credit card there. I knew I didn’t, I used a debit card. She asked if I was sure, I said yes. She wanted to stall me, as two young boys come racing at us on bicycles. The guy setting on the electric cart watching our response. These Perps, will do whatever it takes, to stall someone, until others show up to harass a Target. These same sequence of events, have been recorded and documented over and over. These conspired acts, have been repeated, from one state to another. It may change up a bit, but it’s always delaying a Target, so others can show up and get their licks in.
We made it back to the St Mary’s Hospital. We went to our clinic to check in. There was a woman in the clinic lobby, without a face mask. We get this often, in a required mask area. They want the Target to say something, to start a confrontation. I don’t bite, and the woman looked disappointed. The woman checking us in, wanted me to give her my social security and phone number out-loud. This was a small lobby, anyone in there could hear me giving personal information. Information, that can be used to steal your identity. The woman, even wanted me to repeat my social security number. Which was total bullshit. I told her, I shouldn’t be giving this information out-loud. They should have a form. She said they don’t, this is how they check people in. A lot of these acts, are designed to get a Target riled up, just before a blood pressure test. I just went with the flow, and got the ultrasound on my carotid arteries. The technician that did it, was decent, and enjoyed Koda. I told him, the only time Koda acted out, was when a doctor, had his finger up my ass, checking my prostate. I was kidding with him. This Hospital, has a 2 Star rating. I wonder why?
After our long morning of being baited, and hated; we headed back to camp. I spent the rest of the day, and night, trying to access, my medical records and MRI test. We vets, use MyHealthVet, to access this information online. I haven’t been able to access my MRI, and it was done on 5-27-22.
Here we are, and it’s Tuesday. I finally contact, tech support, with MyHealthVet. A woman named Monica, help me. I can’t give this woman enough praise. She spent over an hour with me. It wasn’t by catch, or browser. Someone had locked me out, my password was no longer valid, and I couldn’t reset it. She told me this happens often. I had the same thing happen, to my Flickr account. Monica, was finally able to remove my old password. This woman was extremely patient, kind and understanding.
I set a password and was able to download, and view my MRI results, and the images. They were worse, than I had anticipated. I could go into detail, but I’ll spare you. If you read my last post; you would have read the bullshit the Neurologist, with Barrows Neurological Institute, in Phoenix, puts me through.
I had my fist visit with him on 4-14-22. He said he reviewed my records, and if I was having vision problem in only one eye; it could not be a neurological problem. He, along with my VA primary care doctor, wanted to dismiss my physical problems, as migraine headaches. Even though, I told them I don’t have migraine headaches, I very seldom have mild headache. I asked for an MRI, on my brain.
He said there’s nothing in my records, warranting an MRI. I had to insist. They didn’t return my many calls to see if they received my MRI, for a video call on 7-18-22. On that call, he talks down to me again, telling me, it’s my responsibility, to insure they had it. When his staff, and Phoenix VA, Community Care person, didn’t return my calls for weeks. He still set up the video call, knowing they didn’t have it. Then on the call he tells me “anyone can read your MRI, to you”. But, they are holding off, releasing me to another physician, and Neurologist. Because, he wants to have another video call, go over my MRI (that he didn’t want done in the first place), so they can bill the VA, again. He is postponing, my care. Even though I told my physician, and the Community Team in Phoenix, the bullshit, they have pulled. I want to repeat this; my care is being delayed, so a man that didn’t want me to have an MRI, who’s staff doesn’t return my calls, so they can continue to bill the VA. This mans actions, and lack of, show; he could care less about my outcome, or receiving the Neurological care that I need. The nurse that has been corresponding with me, on my primary care team; has been a real dick too. They don’t want to release me to Grand Junction, either. When a patient is transferred to another VA facility, they lose their funding for that patient. Meanwhile, I’m denied the urgent care, I desperatly need.
Now, I’m setting up for a video call, with my Rheumatologist, in Phoenix. She’s one of the good ones. She puts all the bullshit aside, and looks out for her patients. I’m going on line, a black Cadillac, yes a Cadillac, parks about 100 meters behind us. Then, I hear a small drone flying around. I take a couple of pictures, from a window. They gather their things and slowly leave. I get cued to click onto the link. As soon as I do, gunshots, just to the left side of our motorhome.
I’m on the call now, my Rheumatologist able to access my MRI. She said, Rick, you need to see a Neurologist ASAP. I told her, I know. She was angered at the shit I’m going through, told me to keep a close eye on my blood pressure. Just as she did, a Jet dives, right over the top of our motorhome. It was probably, a National Guard Jet. They have a small base, in Grand Junction. Planes and jets, flight paths, are often diverted over a Targets whereabouts. It’s another conspired act, of overwhelming harassment. It also helps validitfy, the amoral actions of all the other minions. I will set up at a new boondocking site, in the middle of nowhere. Within a couple of days, there’s planes and jets, buzzing our motorhome. Colorado, Wyoming, Arizona; it doesn’t matter where I’m at. It’s not that I camp within flight patterns. The flight patters are changed, so aircraft can harass, surveil, and intimidate a Target.
Then, within minutes, the Village Idiots, start showing up. I have documented and recorded this, for many years.
We head back to St Mary’s Hospital, that afternoon. I had an appointment with a Vascular Surgeon. As we get close to the clinic within the hospital. One of the clinic staff is walking towards us, with her mask pulled down. As we get closer, she pulls it up. She left the clinic for her break, like the staff did in at the license branch, in a previous post. We walk into the clinic, no one at the window, so we set down in the unoccupied lobby. One of the women calls us back, said the other woman is gone, she will check check us in. She called us back to a crowded small hallway, so Koda and I could be mobbed. This creepy older couple walk right up to us, as we stood there at the counter. Then, there were a couple nurses, that had to get in on the action. The woman behind the counter, says she will get my information. As the older guy starts fake coughing, right in our face. He, and the woman, give Koda the stare down. She disappears, the guy steps to our other side. He continues to cough, as others work their way closer to us. This, all, in a very small hallway. The woman behind the counter said, “Oh, we already have your information. So, we just stood there. I finally had enough, and said, “if your done with this show, we will be in the lobby”. She quickly says, the nurse will take you back now.
The first thing the nurse did, was take my blood pressure. You can imagine, how high it is by now. We get this treatment all the time, at the VA. They do everything they can it elevate your blood pressure, so they can document it in your chart. But, when you try to address your valid medical problems, they dismiss them. Saying, if we don’t see it, we can’t put it in your records. The nurse took my vitals, and said the doctor will be in shortly.
The doctor knocked on the door, then entered, with two young women. He introduces them; one as a nurse in training, the other as his Physicians Assistant. Koda, laying at my left side. One of the women positioned to stare directly at him; as the doctor told me, one of my carotid arteries my be completely blocked. He said, we have had patients describe the gray curtain, in their eyes, like you have. He then says, there is no chance of a stroke. Which was bullshit. He may have had the two Honey Pots in there, in case, he has to collaborate a story. I have see this a lot, in questionable doctors. Like my Primary Care Doctor, in Phoenix. She and the Neurologist with Barrows, wanted to dismiss the extensive blood flow restrictions, as migraine headaches. Now, I’m seeing physical proof, that they are not. I’m falling on my face; because my brain is not getting the blood flow it needs, to produce the neurons, that signal for my left leg to lift, when I need it to. The doctor says he will, discuses the gray spot with the Ophthalmologist, and get back to me in 2-4 weeks. I have one artery completely blocked, blockage in another one, and he will get back to me in 2-4 weeks. I have addressed this with VA doctor, after doctor, for over two years. I’m told I’ll have to wait another 2-4 weeks, for a game plan. As brain tissue dies off, because of blood flow restrictions.
This is what happens to Americans, not gust veterans, that dare question, their medical care, or lack of. People go to a hospital for help and healing, and are harassed and dismissed. If you dare question these doctors, or medical facilities; your life will be a living hell. Like they did to my mother, in another Catholic Hospital. She truly feared the nurse treating her, after she took a bad fall in her 80s. My sister was there to witness, the rude and dismissive treatment. My mother pleaded with my sister, not to say anything. There are many great people in the medical field. Their dedication and sacrifices, are often overshadowed by the Bullies, that work along side them. Gaslighting and Workplace Mobbing, is off the charts in the medical field. Administrators, and what is labeled as leadership, allow it. Like many, many in the corporate world. Like our FBI Director.
The rest of the week, is filled with the same conspired acts of gaslighting, harassment and mobbing. We have the Village Idiots, walking around the back and sides of our motorhome, as we lay in bed at night. When I get up to pee in the middle of the night, they zoom pass the back of our motorhome. Like the Bully pictured in the white Tacoma, in the previous post. They will then stop and shine their lights, into our bedroom windows. I even had one shining their lights in to the bathroom, while I took a dump. I don’t know what kind of fetish, these sick fucks have with poop. Koda can’t take one outside; with out a plane and these idiots, showing up to watch, and harass him, as he scrunches up to drop one. It happened again this morning.
I spent the rest of the week making phone calls and emails to patient advocates and my primary care provider in Phoenix. They won’t transfer my care to Grand Junction. I was told by a dick in my primary care team; they will not release my care because the Neurologist that didn’t want me to have an MRI, scheduled a video call to read it. They won’t release my care to another Neurologist. I’m told, I need to coordinate with him, for a meeting on 8-18-22. I don’t know how I’m suppose to do this, when his staff won’t return my phone calls. Meanwhile, they bill the VA, for video calls. When, on the last one, he told me “anyone can read your MRI”.
Now were into Friday. I started writing this the day before. We’ve had the Village Idiots keeping us sleep deprived for three nights now. Zooming pass the back of the motorhome, walking around it, hitting the motorhome with something, as we lay in bed. They don’t want to be captured on camera, so they pick up the harassment and mobbing at night.
I took Koda for a short walk. A plane the keeps showing up as we step out, is overhead. It has a black underbelly, with white wings. I ignore it, and try to get Koda a little exercise. After, we went back in. I began my phone calls again. I called the Phoenix VA, to continue, trying to get my care transferred. I told everyone; I didn’t want to see the Neurologist from Hell again, or have anything to do with him. I told the young woman about the young patient advocate, that laughed at me, as I tried to explained what was going on. The supervisor that was trying to cover for the person in Community Care, that didn’t return my calls. They don’t seem to fucking get it. Veterans die every day; waiting for a phone call, or authorization for care. My close cousin did. He died in his mothers living room recliner. She was making him breakfast, called him into the kitchen. He didn’t come, she went into the living room, and found him dead, in her recliner. He was a Vietnam War Veteran, waiting for authorization, to receive VA care. Thiis is what happens, when Bullies, and Administrators, can pick and chose who receives care.
The woman I spoke with said she will forward this to the head supervisor, but she may not respond because its Friday. It was the 1st thing Friday. While I was on the phone with her; one of the Village Idiots is stopped behind our motorhome, harassing Koda, as he looked out the window. I stepped out with my camera, he spins off, throwing gravel and dust into the air. Here comes a plane again, buzzing directly overhead. I take a couple picks, go back inside.
I decided to call the White House VA Hotline. This was recommend to me by a Community Care Nurse, here in Grand Junction, trying to get me transferred. I spent an hour and 24 minutes speaking to a woman. I told her about the Neurologist dicking me around for months, and still wants too. I told her about being laughed at, by someone who was supposed to be my advocate. I told her about the Village Idiots shooting their high powered rifles over and in front of our motorhome. From Colorado, to Wyoming, to Arizona. I told her about the Village Idiots, keeping us up at night, and sleep deprived. I told her about me, being locked out of my medical and testing records. I told her, this is not a Biden Story, or a Trump Lie; these are facts. She didn’t seem at all surprised. She said she would start a case, it would take 2-4 weeks, for them to possibly get a resolution. Now, I have to wait another 2-4 weeks. How many veterans will die, waiting 2-4 weeks for a response? How may, Mr Denis Richard McDonough, VA Secretary? Meanwhile, Republicans block a bill, that would help fund the care of veterans dying from exposure to burn pits.
It’s not just the Republicans. Look at all the legislators that jumped on board, for the 880 billion dollar spending bill for defense. Or the 280 billion, to subsidies their buddies in the tech field, that will make billions from chip manufacturing. We have a former president that lied, pushed his lie, to start a 20 year war. Now, our legislators, won’t take care of the men and women that served in that war. How many of these legislators, have spouses, family, and corporate friends, making millions from these contracts. AS, they turn their backs on veterans once again. Right Joe! Have another televised meeting with your corporate friends, like you recently did. Like you did last year too. So, they can tell the American people, how great you are. Meanwhile, veterans are dying, awaiting care. Other veterans, and other United States Citizens, are being used as test subjects, for Direct Energy Weapons. Right, Mr. CIA, and FBI, directors.
It had been another taxing morning. It was mid afternoon, I was drained. I went to the bedroom, laid down to take a nap. Koda, lays at my feet. Withing 5 minutes, there was a jet, that dove right at, and over the top of, our motorhome. Not shortly, after my call, to the White House VA Hotline. Seriously people, this shit happens! The rest of the day was filled with noise campaigns, Village Idiots zooming pass, on a state highway. Every time we stepped out of the motorhome.
This is what happens to United States Citizens, that dare to speak out, about the vast corruption within our government, the defense and medical industry, and corporate America. This is what happens to Targeted Individuals, in the United States of America. It’s not a Biden, Bullshit Story, or a Trump Lie; these are facts. I don’t want your sympathy, your money. I want everyone to know the truth.
All photos, and content of my photostream, are free to download, copy, print and share. All I ask, is that they maintain my logos and copyright info. Help me share the truth! Knowledge, Truth and Exposure, are powerful tools. Please bare with me; when I try to post these truths, my internet speeds slows, or drops completely. Many times, unable to award those very deserving, in the many Flickr groups. I was even unable to edit my last post, from spelling and grammar.
Thanks for visiting our photstream. I have to go. Koda, is trying to protect me from the chipmunk, at our door. The poor guys has been a bit, stressed. He had to take a double poo, this morning; while planes and the Village Idiots, bombarded him with noise. Oh shit, here comes another National Guard Jet. I’m going to get some serious hate, from this post. My connection, just timed out.
In specific, Holy Week is the week just before Easter that extends from Palm Sunday until Holy Saturday and marks the last week of Lent. It has earned the name 'Holy', according to the Orthodox Church, due to the significant events that take place for Christianity in regard to the sufferings of Jesus Christ.
Saturday evening is filled with the anticipation of celebrating Easter Sunday. In some areas, people begin to gather in the churches and squares in cities, towns and villages by 11pm for the Easter liturgies. A few minutes before midnight, all the lights are turned off and the priest exits the altar holding candles lit by the Holy Light, which is distributed to everyone inside and outside the church. At midnight, the priest exits the church and announces the resurrection of Jesus. Many people carry large white candles called lambada, and the church bells toll as the priests announce “Christ is Risen!” at midnight. Each person in the crowd replies with a similarly joyous response.
The capital of the Republic of Cyprus is also its cultural heartbeat.
Nicosia is the capital and largest city on the island of Cyprus, as well as its main business centre.
There is one thing the photograph must contain, the humanity of the moment.
We are making photographs to understand what our lives mean to us.
The best thing about a picture is that it never changes, even when the people in it do.
The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.
I really believe there are things nobody would see if I didn’t photograph them.
Having a specific kind of face or number of faces.
One person / many faces
(4/8) taken from dark make-up series.
Specific Perfection ENB www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/62978/?
CAD25 texture pack www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/49241/?
W.A.T.E.R v. 2.02 -------couldn't find the link :/
Joy of Ship www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/61808/?
Queercircle #Collective [Single], #Site-specific #performative #environmental #installation #artwork #queer, #woke, #antifa and #inclusive [Sketchbook], 2024, London
Altro titolo - Another title: ContemporaryArt needs Tags, 2024
[Fototeca Fondazione Omeri]
If you have followed my blog at all you have certainly noticed that one specific aspect in my pictures is connected to colors. For some unknown reason I've always been very drawn to colors when dealing with photography (I cannot do b&w stuff). I could even say that because of this preference my early experiences with digital cameras were mostly disappointing: I couldn't stand the standard look of the early digital cameras because colors were so different and flat compared to golden era of film photography. And because of this disappointment 'getting good colors' became the thing that I kept of chasing for years.
It's one thing to recognize that the flat look and 'the standard and objective' colors, which most of the current digital cameras provide out of the box, doesn't actually carry any resemblance to the visual legacy that was left from the era of film photography. Just take a look, for example, old Kodachrome slides and compare them to your JPEGs and you should see two very different interpretations of colors and also become aware that these differences are not only about 'technological advancement' but also artistic choices. Behind the Kodachrome (and other films) there is a artistic interpretation of 'what looks good' and how the colors should be reproduced. JPEG on the other hand is much more 'objective' (read: flat) with some minor contrast and skin color correction thrown in. No wonder why standard JPEGs from the camera look so boring (though they have really been getting better with time).
While it's easy to point JPEGs with your finger, it's entirely different thing to determine what are 'good colors'. For example, while I like film era colors, I don't think we should concentrate to reduplicate them as they were – instead I think we should bring in some influences from that visual era there but then continue to define what are good colors at 21th century photography. Rather than ready-made-Lightroom-presets this calls for a cultivated taste regarding colors, which is much harder. I would love to transfer something from the film era legacy to today's photography, but at the same time I don't want photographs to look like they were taken 20 or 30 years ago (read: faded look) as I think it is intellectually dishonest to add a feeling of nostalgia to a picture from a digital filter. Like I said, it's a difficult question.
So how I have I solved this 'getting good colors' so far? I believe everyone has to develop their own 'theory of good colors' and 'methodology' to get there eventually. For me it's a three part response: Zeiss glass, VSCO-presets as a starting point and editing. I used to search for clear and bright colors and ultimately found my answer from Zeiss lenses. I'll be first one to admit that there are also other manufacturers out there who deliver great equipment color wise, but for some reason I found Zeiss to provide those small nuances which made difference to me (from my current setup I think the Batis 2/25 is the best followed by the Touit 2.8/50M). Then I use VSCO-presets as a starting point. They give me an easy way to explore whole bunch of different looks which I would never come across without them. Do they look like film? In some cases yes, but I usually erase the vintage look by editing. If I would recommend some of their film packs I would say that the Film Pack 04 is great and Film Pack 07 provides pretty nice starting points for general explorations as well – other ones are way too much vintage for my taste. But even with Zeiss glass and VSCO-presets it comes down to editing. Sometimes it's easy to see what the picture asks for, but sometimes it takes much longer to realize what is wrong with colors or how I should adjust them. It looks like I will never get rid of this task as much as I would like to. Like I said, colors are complicated thing once you step outside of the supposition of objective colors.
Ps. For this particular picture I used Provia 100F emulation from the VSCO Film pack 04. One of my favorites, but most often provides way too much contrast which is frustrating with some images. It also shifts the white balance in a nonlinear way that it's difficult to edit. I've also noticed that one cannot just slap on slide film preset to any picture as the end result would look just bad. Slide film emulations, such as the Provia 100F, works as a good starting point when used with conditions that would be similar to real world use of that particular film - in this case it means a lot of sunlight.
Days of Zeiss: www.daysofzeiss.com
On our outings, we generally have a specific target in mind, a mountain peak, a ridge top, or a mountain pass. But today, with lovely temperatures hovering at -6° C and no wind, we just tromped along several of the trails connected to the West Bragg Creek Trailhead area.
The space koalas use this rover to launch satellites into orbit around their home planet. This specific launch is to test out their new eucalyptus based rocket fuel.
I have been quiet for a while... for a good reason of course! I've been 3 days in Beijing mainly for shooting in specific places decided in advance.
I came back to Beijing 12 years after my first visit there... a lot of changes of course has China was a totally different country 12 years ago but some places remain the same, for ages. I have started my journey in the Hutong of Gulou street. Most of the tourist will walk in the main road of the Hutong which is just over crowed and was not what I was looking for. So I've decided to go deeper on each side of the Hutong and lost myself to discover some very nice and traditional places.
This first photo was taken at the entrance of the Gulou Hutong. All parents like to make photos of their kids with their cell phone. I usually only use the camera of my phone to make picture of my son. For the rest, I've my DSL-R!
To be continued... This is China.
Cottonwood Trees, Gravel Road. Near Capitol Reef National Park, Utah. October 22, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell - all rights reserved.
A gravel road passes cottonwood trees in fall color, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah
By the time I made this photograph, the day almost seemed to be winding down. We had gotten up before dawn and made our way to the start of a long gravel road, where we paused to photograph as the sun came up. It was one of those almost unplanned moments — no specific landscape in mind, but there was the rising sun, so we stopped and found that we could photograph a range of subjects in that light. Then we headed on down this road, eventually arriving at one of our possible goals, where we took a hike to a high place with a panoramic view.
By now it was getting on toward the middle of the day — mostly the non-shooting hours for photographers in many cases — so we headed back the way we came. As we drove we came to this flat with good-sized cottonwood trees spread along a small gravel road heading off toward the uplifted terrain of Capitol Reef National Park. The autumn color of these trees was irresistible... so we didn't resist! We stopped, got out, photographed for a while , and then were back on the road.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email
All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.
Specific Perfection ENB www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/62978/?
Rxkx22's Julia www.flickr.com/photos/94888663@N07/12209032733/in/photost...
What if you climbed up on a rock and discovered the Universe? You can. Although others have noted much of it before, you can locate for yourself stars, planets, and even the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy. All you need is a dark clear sky -- the rock is optional. If you have a camera, you can further image faint nebulas, galaxies, and long filaments of interstellar dust. If you can process digital images, you can bring out faint features, highlight specific colors, and merge foreground and background images. In fact, an industrious astrophotographer has done all of these to create the presented picture. All of the component images were taken early last month on the same night within a few meters of each other. The picturesque setting was Sand Beach in Stonington, Maine, USA with the camera pointed south over Penobscot Bay. via NASA ift.tt/2aPLnOx
Specific goals thwarted by the winds.
Out to la Pointe the other morning with a specific goal of photographing the cliffs before the bird migration and nesting begins on the west facing cliffs which by then will be a strict "No-go".
However the winds prevented me to continue including reduced visibility, I'm hoping for another crack at it BUT I did come away with what I think is a rather stunning image worth sharing.
For those who may not be aware, much of what you see is now private property (it's been sold), though the new owner has been gracious enough to still allow walkers along the walking trail following the perimeter to continue enjoying the majestic views from this spot. There are few things they ask/expect... they include no vehicular traffic (including ATV'S etc), no overnight camping, don't litter amongst a few other simple requests which are posted on signs as one approaches the property. All that is asked is that the few requests be respected.
*I'm grateful to have had permission* to have access for this project before the nesting begins, the seabirds will soon be arriving as the weather warms, it'll be critical to avoid disturbing them and other wildlife that is common here.
I hope you enjoy this photo.
© Michel JS Soucy
The images shown here have been taken using a specific photographic technique in order to isolate the subject against a pure white background!
In May 2013 I read an article by professional photographer and writer Niall Benvie that described this technique. The images that accompanied the article captivated me. I initially thought that such work would be beyond an amateur photographer like myself, but Niall's enthusiasm, guidance in the article, and the unique beauty of the images meant I just had to give it a try!
The technique is used extensively by photographers and naturalists taking part in a project called "Meet You Neighbours" created by Niall Benvie and Clay Bolt with the aim of connecting people with the wildlife around them, but which might usually be overlooked!
The sociable lapwing or sociable plover (Vanellus gregarius) is a critically endangered wader in the lapwing family of birds. The genus name is Medieval Latin for a lapwing and derives from vannus a winnowing fan. The specific gregarius is Latin for "sociable" from grex, gregis, "flock"
In 2004, BirdLife International categorised this bird as critically endangered, due to a very rapid population decline for poorly understood reasons. The main decline took place between 1960 and 1987, when the known population halved; it is some 20–25% of the 1930s population levels. The current population was estimated to be between 600 and 1,800 mature birds in 2006, but is being revised to the upward end of that scale, possibly more, following the discovery of the species' previously unknown main wintering grounds in Syria, where 1500 birds of all ages were encountered. Additionally, in October 2007, a superflock of approximately 3,200 sociable lapwings were discovered in Turkey, according to Guven Eken, director of the Turkish Nature Association.The current IUCN classification is CR A3bc—meaning that the population is expected to decline in the next decade or so by 80%, but based on theoretical considerations and the known habitat destruction rather than direct observation of the birds. Thus, the new discoveries might mean that as more data becomes available, the species could be downlisted to Endangered.
Examples of Syrian "bird head" Goddess terracotta figures from early dates around the late neolithic to early bronze age bridge, so from between polished stone and early ages of metal and a wide date range of 5200 to 3500 ybp seems safe (as indicated in this display behind glass from the Museum of Agen).
When 3D images are created, there can be limitations that can effect the final lines, for example, when making a mask from tree-cork, the mask has a chunky feel, and when making a doll from woven grass, the result is soft edged. With clay, there is no limitation as both hard and soft, broad-stroke and detailed effects are available for impression. Little in the medium of clay can get in the way of an artist's imagination. These 'bird idols' results look to be neither realist depiction or schematic abstraction, and it is perhaps the case that these clay models reproduced cultural decorations that appeared outside of the artist. I shall call these "indirect gestation images".
Every year there are harvest festivals where the very best decorative breads are assembled aside bowls of fruit and garlands and other detailed weaves of natural expression. Often the individual elements are brought together into a display, and often the display can include strange but joyfully understandable human forms (see varied deep rural traditions), not the forms of small portable corn-dollies, but large Arcimboldoesque centre displays that include best fruits (and thus seeds), best food transformation skills (for example breads) and best craft skills (baskets, woven garland and pots) - in effect an assembled personification of a fecund community, mixing nature's talents with human talents. The anthropomorphic form is assembled from bowls, garlands and shapes in a way that would phase up into our historical hierarchy via some of our kitch rococos. Perhaps these small portable terracotta idols replicated important ancient harvest personifications, or, as mentioned in an associated post (below), perhaps they describe in miniature the assembled ornamental scene around an urn field or sepulture that is active during the period of a funeral. So diverse are the idols, that perhaps some were for ancestors and funerals and others for harvest and fecundity, and that today we mix them all together like a car-boot box with its mix of classical music and 'Top of the Pops'. With this hypothesis none of the idols would be bird inspired and the pyramidal central shapes would be measured aside other essential abstracted forms that held focus of a face - perhaps each identifying the shapes specific to ancient clans or speciality groups within new sedentary 'urban' conglomorates: pyramids, curves and points.
Despite cultural norms for snowmen there are several repeated conventions. Snowmen are defined by how balls of snow compact together. Now, today's snowmen are ephemeral asides to a year's chapters - a little bit of carnavalesque for children and families during blankets of snow. Were the snowmen to have been highly important icons of harvest fertility or remembrance ancestors then perhaps we may have created smaller terracotta icons that resembled their temporal apex. Obviously this is a thought-experiment and snow could not easily adapt for such an important cultural role, but as a thought-experiment it may help visualise the idea.
Similarities can be seen here with a hypothesis I put forward to explain the language of lines found in the Rouergat group of statue menhirs. Although there are over 3000km between the two areas (Syria and Aveyron/Tarn) they are both from a similar sheer of chronology - in through sedentary agriculture and out to reproduced metals. I proposed that many 'naked' blank standing stones had been decorated with a mix of garland, rope and ceramic additions to procure vivid images of ancestral giants (Cham des Bondons) and that the statue menhirs 'memorised' these forms and lines, remembering this 'craft designated visual style' in carved stone, once again producing 'indirect gestation images' that are neither pure schematic or natural description (as the natural description is of a semi abstract original). With both examples we may be seeing a desire to make a record of strong and yet inherently ephemeral cultural artefacts, and in so doing recording past traditions with new techniques. If this is the case, then the 'bird idols and the Rouergat statue menhirs both offer a glimpse into a deeper past, as much as a fixed chronological episode, and some of the slightly barren megalithic reproductions afforded in many of today's visualisations may lack expression, idiosyncrasy and local structure and ornament.
As might be expected there is some evidence of refinement of these idol forms over time, with the original jumbly 'bird Goddesses' perfecting and even 'humanising' or "schematizing' into, for example, potential 'Astarte' forms - still retaining some of the original language, but easing it from its enthusiastically pastoral past of assembly into an indubitable deity for more urban hierarchical descriptions of the later ages of metal.
AJM 22.05.20
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U-BOOT TYP VII C - 1/38 (minifig) scale with full interior.
~ 177 CM (~70 INCH) LONG
~ 15.000 PARTS
~ 4.5 YEARS OF WORK
GOALS
The model was supposed to represent a ship from the initial period of the war.
It does not show a specific copy, but it should resemble uboots such as U-69 or U-96 (known from the classic Das Boot movie).
I wanted to get a fairly good representation of both the curves of the hull and as many pieces of internal equipment as possible.
MODEL CHARACTERISTICS
It consists of 6 modules that naturally represent the 6 sections of a real ship:
1. The forward torpedo room and crew compartment [Bow: ~ 3600 parts]
2. Officers', radio and listening room [Front mess: ~ 2000 parts]
3. Control room with conning tower [Control room: ~ 2700 parts]
4. Petty Officers' romm and galley [Rear mess: ~ 1700 parts]
5. Diesel engines room [Diesels: ~ 2400 parts]
6. Electric engines and aft torpedo room [Stern: ~ 2800 parts]
In each module, the port and / or starboard can be removed.
So the entire model can represent the ship from the outside or with an open interior.
The target configuration is with the starboard closed and the port open.
I finally made two photo sessions of the entire model - in a fully closed configuration and with a closed starboard and open port side.
Adittionally I have prepared presentation of individual modules separately.
[b][CONSTRUCTION][/b]
The construction was planned to be made in sections and I started from the control room.
Each module was first designed in LDD (first the hull, then the interior) and then built in reality.
The modules were created in this order:
3. Control room
2. Front mess
1. Bow
4. Rear mess
5. Diesels
6. Stern
Designing started on 26.12.2017.
[b][PHOTOS][/b]
I invite you to view photos.
I'm sorry that there are so many, but I couldn't resist.
(it took me about 3 months to photograph and post-process them)
Flickr albums (part of the photos):
0. Overall: www.flickr.com/photos/pigletciamek/albums/72177720300082599
1. Bow: www.flickr.com/photos/pigletciamek/albums/72177720300077412
2. Front mess: www.flickr.com/photos/pigletciamek/albums/72177720300086873
3. Control room: www.flickr.com/photos/pigletciamek/albums/72177720300082694
4. Rear mess: www.flickr.com/photos/pigletciamek/albums/72177720300082699
5. Diesels: www.flickr.com/photos/pigletciamek/albums/72177720300086878
6. Stern: www.flickr.com/photos/pigletciamek/albums/72177720300077462
0-6. Alltogether: www.flickr.com/photos/pigletciamek/albums/72177720300076411
BS (all photos):
0. Overall: brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=584704
1. Bow: brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=584706
2. Front mess: brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=584707
3. Control room: brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=584708
4. Rear mess: brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=584709
5. Diesels: brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=584710
Passiflora foetida, Family: Passifloraceae
Passiflora foetida is a species of passion flower that is native to the southwestern United States (southern Texas and Arizona), Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, and much of South America. It has been introduced to tropical regions around the world, such as Southeast Asia and Hawaii. It is a creeping vine like other members of the genus, and yields an edible fruit. The specific epithet, foetida, means "stinking" in Latin and refers to the strong aroma emitted by damaged foliage.
Passiflora foetida has been mentioned as a toxic plant by farmers from northeastern Brazil. An experiment done with goats led to the discovery that high levels of cyanide in P. foetida cause poisoning after the ingestion of fresh leaves, mostly during the dry season.
Common names: Wild maracuja, Bush passion fruit, Marya-marya, Wild water lemon, Stinking passionflower, Love-in-a-mist, Running pop
Was scrolling through Lightroom looking for a specific image when I came across this pic already processed and just sitting there. I don't remember why I didn't like it enough to post anywhere before... Maybe it's because I had already posted so many Antelope Canyon shots already.
If you look closely near the bottom middle of the image you can see all the legs of the people being held back around the bend by our guide. I was going to burn them out but thought it was more true to the scene to leave them in.
I hope to finally get out and collect some new images this week. I picked up a sweet year long assignment with my favorite Maine publisher that I really need to get to work on.
Visiting St Machars Cathedral today 12/5/2018, I noticed this beautiful Blossom Tree dominating the centre of the grave yard in amongst graves dating back hundreds of years , made me think life still goes on, no matter who has passed away, rank, position, fame , recognition, money etc does not matter, when its our time to fall asleep , the world will still turn and life will go on, forever.
Resurrection
Resurrection is the concept of coming back to life after death. In a number of ancient religions, a dying-and-rising god is a deity which dies and resurrects. The death and resurrection of Jesus, an example of resurrection, is the central focus of Christianity.
As a religious concept, it is used in two distinct respects: a belief in the resurrection of individual souls that is current and ongoing (Christian idealism, realized eschatology), or else a belief in a singular resurrection of the dead at the end of the world. The resurrection of the dead is a standard eschatological belief in the Abrahamic religions.
Some believe the soul is the actual vehicle by which people are resurrected.
Christian theological debate ensues with regard to what kind of resurrection is factual – either a spiritual resurrection with a spirit body into Heaven, or a material resurrection with a restored human body. While most Christians believe Jesus' resurrection from the dead and ascension to Heaven was in a material body, a very small minority believe it was spiritual.
There are documented rare cases of the return to life of the clinically dead which are classified scientifically as examples of the Lazarus syndrome, a term originating from the Biblical story of the Resurrection of Lazarus.
Etymology
Resurrection, from the Latin noun resurrectio -onis, from the verb rego, "to make straight, rule" + preposition sub, "under", altered to subrigo and contracted to surgo, surrexi, surrectum + preposition re-, "again", thus literally "a straightening from under again".
Religion
Ancient religions in the Near East
See also: Dying-and-rising god
The concept of resurrection is found in the writings of some ancient non-Abrahamic religions in the Middle East. A few extant Egyptian and Canaanite writings allude to dying and rising gods such as Osiris and Baal. Sir James Frazer in his book The Golden Bough relates to these dying and rising gods, but many of his examples, according to various scholars, distort the sources. Taking a more positive position, Tryggve Mettinger argues in his recent book that the category of rise and return to life is significant for the following deities: Ugaritic Baal, Melqart, Adonis, Eshmun, Osiris and Dumuzi.
Ancient Greek religion
In ancient Greek religion a number of men and women were made physically immortal as they were resurrected from the dead. Asclepius was killed by Zeus, only to be resurrected and transformed into a major deity. Achilles, after being killed, was snatched from his funeral pyre by his divine mother Thetis and resurrected, brought to an immortal existence in either Leuce, Elysian plains or the Islands of the Blessed. Memnon, who was killed by Achilles, seems to have received a similar fate. Alcmene, Castor, Heracles, and Melicertes, were also among the figures sometimes considered to have been resurrected to physical immortality. According to Herodotus's Histories, the seventh century BC sage Aristeas of Proconnesus was first found dead, after which his body disappeared from a locked room. Later he found not only to have been resurrected but to have gained immortality.
Many other figures, like a great part of those who fought in the Trojan and Theban wars, Menelaus, and the historical pugilist Cleomedes of Astupalaea, were also believed to have been made physically immortal, but without having died in the first place. Indeed, in Greek religion, immortality originally always included an eternal union of body and soul. The philosophical idea of an immortal soul was a later invention, which, although influential, never had a breakthrough in the Greek world. As may be witnessed even into the Christian era, not least by the complaints of various philosophers over popular beliefs, traditional Greek believers maintained the conviction that certain individuals were resurrected from the dead and made physically immortal and that for the rest of us, we could only look forward to an existence as disembodied and dead souls.
This traditional religious belief in physical immortality was generally denied by the Greek philosophers. Writing his Lives of Illustrious Men (Parallel Lives) in the first century CE, the Middle Platonic philosopher Plutarch's chapter on Romulus gave an account of the mysterious disappearance and subsequent deification of this first king of Rome, comparing it to traditional Greek beliefs such as the resurrection and physical immortalization of Alcmene and Aristeas the Proconnesian, "for they say Aristeas died in a fuller's work-shop, and his friends coming to look for him, found his body vanished; and that some presently after, coming from abroad, said they met him traveling towards Croton." Plutarch openly scorned such beliefs held in traditional ancient Greek religion, writing, "many such improbabilities do your fabulous writers relate, deifying creatures naturally mortal."
The parallel between these traditional beliefs and the later resurrection of Jesus was not lost on the early Christians, as Justin Martyr argued: "when we say ... Jesus Christ, our teacher, was crucified and died, and rose again, and ascended into heaven, we propose nothing different from what you believe regarding those whom you consider sons of Zeus." (1 Apol. 21). There is, however, no belief in a general resurrection in ancient Greek religion, as the Greeks held that not even the gods were able to recreate flesh that had been lost to decay, fire or consumption.
The notion of a general resurrection of the dead was therefore apparently quite preposterous to the Greeks. This is made clear in Paul's Areopagus discourse. After having first told about the resurrection of Jesus, which makes the Athenians interested to hear more, Paul goes on, relating how this event relates to a general resurrection of the dead:
"Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead." Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer, but others said, `We shall hear you again concerning this."
Christianity
Resurrection of Jesus
In Christianity, resurrection most critically concerns the Resurrection of Jesus, but also includes the resurrection of Judgment Day known as the Resurrection of the Dead by those Christians who subscribe to the Nicene Creed (which is the majority or Mainstream Christianity), as well as the resurrection miracles done by Jesus and the prophets of the Old Testament. Some churches distinguish between raising the dead (a resumption of mortal life) and a resurrection (the beginning of an immortal life).
Resurrection of Jesus
Christians regard the resurrection of Jesus as the central doctrine in Christianity. Others take the Incarnation of Jesus to be more central; however, it is the miracles – and particularly his Resurrection – which provide validation of his incarnation. According to Paul, the entire Christian faith hinges upon the centrality of the resurrection of Jesus and the hope for a life after death. The Apostle Paul wrote in his first letter to the Corinthians: If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
Resurrection
Miracles of Jesus § Resurrection of the dead
During the Ministry of Jesus on earth, before his death, Jesus commissioned his Twelve Apostles to, among other things, raise the dead. In the New Testament, Jesus is said to have raised several persons from death. These resurrections included the daughter of Jairus shortly after death, a young man in the midst of his own funeral procession, and Lazarus, who had been buried for four days. According to the Gospel of Matthew, after Jesus's resurrection, many of those previously dead came out of their tombs and entered Jerusalem, where they appeared to many.
Similar resurrections are credited to Christian apostles and saints. Peter allegedly raised a woman named Dorcas (called Tabitha), and Paul the Apostle revived a man named Eutychus who had fallen asleep and fell from a window to his death, according to the book of Acts. Proceeding the apostolic era, many saints were said to resurrect the dead, as recorded in Orthodox Christian hagiographies.[citation needed] St Columba supposedly raised a boy from the dead in the land of Picts .
Most Christians understand these miraculous resurrections to be of a different nature than the resurrection of Jesus and the future resurrection of the dead. The raising of Lazarus and others from the dead could also be called "resuscitations" or "reanimations", since the life given to them is presumably temporary in nature—there is no suggestion in the Bible or hagiographic traditions that these people became truly immortal. In contrast, the resurrection of Jesus and the future resurrection of the dead will abolish death once and for all (see Isaiah 25:8, 1 Corinthians 15:26, 2 Timothy 1:10, Revelation 21:4).
Resurrection of the Dead
Christianity started as a religious movement within 1st-century Judaism (late Second Temple Judaism), and it retains what the New Testament itself claims was the Pharisaic belief in the afterlife and Resurrection of the Dead. Whereas this belief was only one of many beliefs held about the World to Come in Second Temple Judaism, and was notably rejected by both the Sadducees and, according to Josephus, the Pharisees, this belief became dominant within Early Christianity and already in the Gospels of Luke and John included an insistence on the resurrection of the flesh. This was later rejected by gnostic teachings, which instead continued the Pauline insistence that flesh and bones had no place in heaven.
Most modern Christian churches continue to uphold the belief that there will be a final Resurrection of the Dead and World to Come, perhaps as prophesied by the Apostle Paul when he said: "...he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world..." (Acts 17:31 KJV) and "...there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust." (Acts 24:15 KJV).
Belief in the Resurrection of the Dead, and Jesus's role as judge, is codified in the Apostles' Creed, which is the fundamental creed of Christian baptismal faith. The Book of Revelation also makes many references about the Day of Judgment when the dead will be raised up.
Difference From Platonic philosophy
In Platonic philosophy and other Greek philosophical thought, at death the soul was said to leave the inferior body behind. The idea that Jesus was resurrected spiritually rather than physically even gained popularity among some Christian teachers, whom the author of 1 John declared to be antichrists. Similar beliefs appeared in the early church as Gnosticism. However, in Luke 24:39, the resurrected Jesus expressly states "behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have."
Islam
Belief in the "Day of Resurrection", Yawm al-Qiyāmah (Arabic: يوم القيامة) is also crucial for Muslims. They believe the time of Qiyāmah is preordained by God but unknown to man. The trials and tribulations preceding and during the Qiyāmah are described in the Qur'an and the hadith, and also in the commentaries of scholars. The Qur'an emphasizes bodily resurrection, a break from the pre-Islamic Arabian understanding of death.
Judaism and Samaritanism
There are three explicit examples in the Hebrew Bible of people being resurrected from the dead:
* The prophet Elijah prays and God raises a young boy from death (1 Kings 17:17-24)
* Elisha raises the son of the Shunammite woman (2 Kings 4:32-37); this was the very same child whose birth he previously foretold (2 Kings 4:8-16)
* A dead man's body that was thrown into the dead Elisha's tomb is resurrected when the body touches Elisha's bones (2 Kings 13:21)
During the period of the Second Temple, there developed a diversity of beliefs concerning the resurrection. The concept of resurrection of the physical body is found in 2 Maccabees, according to which it will happen through recreation of the flesh.[17] Resurrection of the dead also appears in detail in the extra-canonical books of Enoch,[18] in Apocalypse of Baruch, and 2 Esdras. According to the British scholar in ancient Judaism Philip R. Davies, there is “little or no clear reference … either to immortality or to resurrection from the dead” in the Dead Sea scrolls texts.
Both Josephus and the New Testament record that the Sadducees did not believe in an afterlife, but the sources vary on the beliefs of the Pharisees. The New Testament claims that the Pharisees believed in the resurrection, but does not specify whether this included the flesh or not. According to Josephus, who himself was a Pharisee, the Pharisees held that only the soul was immortal and the souls of good people will be reincarnated and “pass into other bodies,” while “the souls of the wicked will suffer eternal punishment.” Paul, who also was a Pharisee, said that at the resurrection what is "sown as a natural body is raised a spiritual body." Jubilees seems to refer to the resurrection of the soul only, or to a more general idea of an immortal soul.
According to Herbert C. Brichto, writing in Reform Judaism's Hebrew Union College Annual, the family tomb is the central concept in understanding biblical views of the afterlife. Brichto states that it is "not mere sentimental respect for the physical remains that is...the motivation for the practice, but rather an assumed connection between proper sepulture and the condition of happiness of the deceased in the afterlife".
According to Brichto, the early Israelites apparently believed that the graves of family, or tribe, united into one, and that this unified collectivity is to what the Biblical Hebrew term Sheol refers, the common Grave of humans. Although not well defined in the Tanakh, Sheol in this view was a subterranean underworld where the souls of the dead went after the body died. The Babylonians had a similar underworld called Aralu, and the Greeks had one known as Hades. For biblical references to Sheol see Genesis 42:38, Isaiah 14:11, Psalm 141:7, Daniel 12:2, Proverbs 7:27 and Job 10:21,22, and 17:16, among others. According to Brichto, other Biblical names for Sheol were: Abaddon (ruin), found in Psalm 88:11, Job 28:22 and Proverbs 15:11; Bor (the pit), found in Isaiah 14:15, 24:22, Ezekiel 26:20; and Shakhat (corruption), found in Isaiah 38:17, Ezekiel 28:8.
Zen Buddhism
There are stories in Buddhism where the power of resurrection was allegedly demonstrated in Chan or Zen tradition. One is the legend of Bodhidharma, the Indian master who brought the Ekayana school of India to China that subsequently became Chan Buddhism.
The other is the passing of Chinese Chan master Puhua (J., Fuke) and is recounted in the Record of Linji (J., Rinzai). Puhua was known for his unusual behavior and teaching style so it is no wonder that he is associated with an event that breaks the usual prohibition on displaying such powers. Here is the account from Irmgard Schloegl's "The Zen Teaching of Rinzai".
"One day at the street market Fuke was begging all and sundry to give him a robe. Everybody offered him one, but he did not want any of them. The master [Linji] made the superior buy a coffin, and when Fuke returned, said to him: "There, I had this robe made for you." Fuke shouldered the coffin, and went back to the street market, calling loudly: "Rinzai had this robe made for me! I am off to the East Gate to enter transformation" (to die)." The people of the market crowded after him, eager to look. Fuke said: "No, not today. Tomorrow, I shall go to the South Gate to enter transformation." And so for three days. Nobody believed it any longer. On the fourth day, and now without any spectators, Fuke went alone outside the city walls, and laid himself into the coffin. He asked a traveler who chanced by to nail down the lid.
The news spread at once, and the people of the market rushed there. On opening the coffin, they found that the body had vanished, but from high up in the sky they heard the ring of his hand bell."
Technological resurrection
Cryonics is the low-temperature preservation of humans who cannot be sustained by contemporary medicine, with the hope that healing and resuscitation may be possible in the future. Cryonics procedures ideally begin within minutes of cardiac arrest, and use cryoprotectants to prevent ice formation during cryopreservation.
However, the idea of cryonics also includes preservation of people long after death because of the possibility that brain encoding memory structure and personality may still persist or be inferable in the future. Whether sufficient brain information still exists for cryonics to successfully preserve may be intrinsically unprovable by present knowledge. Therefore, most proponents of cryonics see it as an intervention with prospects for success that vary widely depending on circumstances.
Russian Cosmist Nikolai Fyodorovich Fyodorov advocated resurrection of the dead using scientific methods. Fedorov tried to plan specific actions for scientific research of the possibility of restoring life and making it infinite. His first project is connected with collecting and synthesizing decayed remains of dead based on "knowledge and control over all atoms and molecules of the world".
The second method described by Fedorov is genetic-hereditary. The revival could be done successively in the ancestral line: sons and daughters restore their fathers and mothers, they in turn restore their parents and so on. This means restoring the ancestors using the hereditary information that they passed on to their children. Using this genetic method it is only possible to create a genetic twin of the dead person. It is necessary to give back the revived person his old mind, his personality. Fedorov speculates about the idea of "radial images" that may contain the personalities of the people and survive after death. Nevertheless, Fedorov noted that even if a soul is destroyed after death, Man will learn to restore it whole by mastering the forces of decay and fragmentation.
In his 1994 book The Physics of Immortality, American physicist Frank J. Tipler, an expert on the general theory of relativity, presented his Omega Point Theory which outlines how a resurrection of the dead could take place at the end of the cosmos. He posits that humans will evolve into robots which will turn the entire cosmos into a supercomputer which will, shortly before the big crunch, perform the resurrection within its cyberspace, reconstructing formerly dead humans (from information captured by the supercomputer from the past light cone of the cosmos) as avatars within its metaverse.
David Deutsch, British physicist and pioneer in the field of quantum computing, agrees with Tipler's Omega Point cosmology and the idea of resurrecting deceased people with the help of quantum computer but he is critical of Tipler's theological views.
Italian physicist and computer scientist Giulio Prisco presents the idea of "quantum archaeology", "reconstructing the life, thoughts, memories, and feelings of any person in the past, up to any desired level of detail, and thus resurrecting the original person via 'copying to the future'".
In his book Mind Children, roboticist Hans Moravec proposed that a future supercomputer might be able to resurrect long-dead minds from the information that still survived. For example, this information can be in the form of memories, filmstrips, medical records, and DNA.
Ray Kurzweil, American inventor and futurist, believes that when his concept of singularity comes to pass, it will be possible to resurrect the dead by digital recreation.
In their science fiction novel The Light of Other Days, Sir Arthur Clarke and Stephen Baxter imagine a future civilization resurrecting the dead of past ages by reaching into the past, through micro wormholes and with nanorobots, to download full snapshots of brain states and memories.
Both the Church of Perpetual Life and the Terasem Movement consider themselves transreligions and advocate for the use of technology to indefinitely extend the human lifespan.
Zombies
A zombie (Haitian Creole: zonbi; North Mbundu: nzumbe) can be either a fictional undead monster or a person in an entranced state believed to be controlled by a bokor or wizard. These latter are the original zombies, occurring in the West African Vodun religion and its American offshoots Haitian Vodou and New Orleans Voodoo.
Zombies became a popular device in modern horror fiction, largely because of the success of George A. Romero's 1968 film Night of the Living Dead and they have appeared as plot devices in various books, films and in television shows. Zombie fiction is now a sizable subgenre of horror, usually describing a breakdown of civilization occurring when most of the population become flesh-eating zombies – a zombie apocalypse. The monsters are usually hungry for human flesh, often specifically brains. Sometimes they are victims of a fictional pandemic illness causing the dead to reanimate or the living to behave this way, but often no cause is given in the story.
Disappearances (as distinct from resurrection)
As knowledge of different religions has grown, so have claims of bodily disappearance of some religious and mythological figures. In ancient Greek religion, this was a way the gods made some physically immortal, including such figures as Cleitus, Ganymede, Menelaus, and Tithonus. After his death, Cycnus was changed into a swan and vanished. In his chapter on Romulus from Parallel Lives, Plutarch criticises the continuous belief in such disappearances, referring to the allegedly miraculous disappearance of the historical figures Romulus, Cleomedes of Astypalaea, and Croesus. In ancient times, Greek and Roman pagan similarities were explained by the early Christian writers, such as Justin Martyr, as the work of demons, with the intention of leading Christians astray.
In somewhat recent years it has been learned that Gesar, the Savior of Tibet, at the end, chants on a mountain top and his clothes fall empty to the ground. The body of the first Guru of the Sikhs, Guru Nanak Dev, is said to have disappeared and flowers were left in place of his dead body.
Lord Raglan's Hero Pattern lists many religious figures whose bodies disappear, or have more than one sepulchre. B. Traven, author of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, wrote that the Inca Virococha arrived at Cusco (in modern-day Peru) and the Pacific seacoast where he walked across the water and vanished.[46] It has been thought that teachings regarding the purity and incorruptibility of the hero's human body are linked to this phenomenon. Perhaps, this is also to deter the practice of disturbing and collecting the hero's remains. They are safely protected if they have disappeared.
The first such case mentioned in the Bible is that of Enoch (son of Jared, great-grandfather of Noah, and father of Methuselah). Enoch is said to have lived a life where he "walked with God", after which "he was not, for God took him" (Genesis 5:1–18).
In Deuteronomy (34:6) Moses is secretly buried. Elijah vanishes in a whirlwind 2 Kings (2:11). After hundreds of years these two earlier Biblical heroes suddenly reappear, and are seen walking with Jesus, then again vanish. Mark (9:2–8), Matthew (17:1–8) and Luke (9:28–33). The last time he is seen, Luke (24:51) alone tells of Jesus leaving his disciples by ascending into the sky.
St Machar's Cathedral (or, more formally, the Cathedral Church of St Machar) is a Church of Scotland church in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is located to the north of the city centre, in the former burgh of Old Aberdeen. Technically, St Machar's is no longer a cathedral but rather a high kirk, as it has not been the seat of a bishopsince 1690.
St Machar is said to have been a companion of St Columba on his journey to Iona. A fourteenth-century legend tells how God (or St Columba) told Machar to establish a church where a river bends into the shape of a bishop's crosier before flowing into the sea.
The River Don bends in this way just below where the Cathedral now stands. According to legend, St Machar founded a site of worship in Old Aberdeen in about 580. Machar's church was superseded by a Norman cathedral in 1131, shortly after David I transferred the See from Mortlach to Aberdeen.
Almost nothing of that original cathedral survives; a lozenge-decorated base for a capital supporting one of the architraves can be seen in the Charter Room in the present church.
After the execution of William Wallace in 1305, his body was cut up and sent to different corners of the country to warn other dissenters. His left quarter ended up in Aberdeen and is buried in the walls of the cathedral.
At the end of the thirteenth century Bishop Henry Cheyne decided to extend the church, but the work was interrupted by the Scottish Wars of Independence. Cheyne's progress included piers for an extended choir at the transept crossing. These pillars, with decorated capitals of red sandstone, are still visible at the east end of the present church.
Though worn by exposure to the elements after the collapse of the cathedral's central tower, these capitals are among the finest stone carvings of their date to survive in Scotland.
Bishop Alexander Kininmund II demolished the Norman cathedral in the late 14th century, and began the nave, including the granite columns and the towers at the western end. Bishop Henry Lichtoun completed the nave, the west front and the northern transept, and made a start on the central tower.
Bishop Ingram Lindsay completed the roof and the paving stones in the later part of the fifteenth century. Further work was done over the next fifty years by Thomas Spens, William Elphinstone and Gavin Dunbar; Dunbar is responsible for the heraldic ceiling and the two western spires.
The chancel was demolished in 1560 during the Scottish Reformation. The bells and lead from the roof were sent to be sold in Holland, but the ship sank near Girdle Ness.
The central tower and spire collapsed in 1688, in a storm, and this destroyed the choir and transepts. The west arch of the crossing was then filled in, and worship carried on in the nave only; the current church consists only of the nave and aisles of the earlier building.
The ruined transepts and crossing are under the care of Historic Scotland, and contain an important group of late medieval bishops' tombs, protected from the weather by modern canopies. The Cathedral is chiefly built of outlayer granite. On the unique flat panelled ceiling of the nave (first half of the 16th Century) are the heraldic shields of the contemporary kings of Europe, and the chief earls and bishops of Scotland.
The Cathedral is a fine example of a fortified kirk, with twin towers built in the fashion of fourteenth-century tower houses. Their walls have the strength to hold spiral staircases to the upper floors and battlements. The spires which presently crown the
Though worn by exposure to the elements after the collapse of the cathedral's central tower, these capitals are among the finest stone carvings of their date to survive in Scotland.
Bishop Alexander Kininmund II demolished the Norman cathedral in the late 14th century, and began the nave, including the granite columns and the towers at the western end. Bishop Henry Lichtoun completed the nave, the west front and the northern transept, and made a start on the central tower.
Bishop Ingram Lindsay completed the roof and the paving stones in the later part of the fifteenth century. Further work was done over the next fifty years by Thomas Spens, William Elphinstone and Gavin Dunbar; Dunbar is responsible for the heraldic ceiling and the two western spires.
The chancel was demolished in 1560 during the Scottish Reformation. The bells and lead from the roof were sent to be sold in Holland, but the ship sank near Girdle Ness.
The central tower and spire collapsed in 1688, in a storm, and this destroyed the choir and transepts. The west arch of the crossing was then filled in, and worship carried on in the nave only; the current church consists only of the nave and aisles of the earlier building.
The ruined transepts and crossing are under the care of Historic Scotland, and contain an important group of late medieval bishops' tombs, protected from the weather by modern canopies. The Cathedral is chiefly built of outlayer granite. On the unique flat panelled ceiling of the nave (first half of the 16th Century) are the heraldic shields of the contemporary kings of Europe, and the chief earls and bishops of Scotland.
Bishops Gavin Dunbar and Alexander Galloway built the western towers and installed the heraldic ceiling, featuring 48 coats of arms in three rows of sixteen. Among those shown are:
* Pope Leo X's coat of arms in the centre, followed in order of importance by those of the Scottish archbishops and bishops.
* the Prior of St Andrews, representing other Church orders.
* King's College, the westernmost shield.
* Henry VIII of England, James V of Scotland and multiple instances for the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, who was also King of Spain, Aragon, Navarre and Sicily at the time the ceiling was created.
* St Margaret of Scotland, possibly as a stand-in for Margaret Tudor, James V's mother, whose own arms would have been the marshalled arms of England and Scotland.
* the arms of Aberdeen and of the families Gordon, Lindsay, Hay and Keith.
The ceiling is set off by a frieze which starts at the north-west corner of the nave and lists the bishops of the see from Nechtan in 1131 to William Gordon at the Reformation in 1560. This is followed by the Scottish monarchs from Máel Coluim II to Mary, Queen of Scots.
Notable figures buried in the cathedral cemetery include the author J.J. Bell, Robert Brough, Gavin Dunbar, Robert Laws, a missionary to Malawi and William Ogilvie of Pittensear—the ‘rebel professor’.
There has been considerable investment in recent years in restoration work and the improvement of the display of historic artefacts at the Cathedral.
The battlements of the western towers, incomplete for several centuries, have been renewed to their original height and design, greatly improving the appearance of the exterior. Meanwhile, within the building, a number of important stone monuments have been displayed to advantage.
These include a possibly 7th-8th century cross-slab from Seaton (the only surviving evidence from Aberdeen of Christianity at such an early date); a rare 12th century sanctuary cross-head; and several well-preserved late medieval effigies of Cathedral clergy, valuable for their detailed representation of contemporary dress.
A notable modern addition to the Cathedral's artistic treasures is a carved wooden triptych commemorating John Barbour, archdeacon of Aberdeen (d. 1395), author of The Brus.
THE DRUNKEN MUSE
The story "Drunken Muse" was audio recorded on a hidden voice recorder during the conversations about two decades ago. The story-teller didn't know or consent to the recording.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tape_recorder
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8-track_tape
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Cassette
The audio tapes on compact cassettes were never used. The records were partially damaged and lost.
Herewith the unedited transcript version.
medium.com/paul-jaisini-paints-invisible-paintings/paul-j...
I am so pumped to get back to painting as I return to the second year of the art school after a full year suspension. As always it is like time-travel culturally speaking, like walking right into the middle ages going through the antique building’s portal.
Art studios are the huge L-shaped lofts with super tall ceilings 20 feet no less with the wall to wall windows so that sunlight illuminates the space from south and east side designed for the purpose so that one could paint there from morning till sunset.
In a studio there are classical gypsum sculptures, expensive copies of Venus de Milo, David, Laocoön and the others. In the art studio there stood the noses, eyes, lips, feet, and palms on the wood shelves.
Sketching the gypsum body parts helps you to build the classic academic base on which stands the whole modern and contempo art. This sort of teaching is specific for the art schools that preserve the traditions they had been founded on. There is only few art schools like this and of this caliber left now. Could be that this is the only legendary school that continues to function as if nothing had changed in the world. In the rest of the world with billions of some art classes nobody knows what does the old tradition of art school is for, its totally unfashionable.
Studying classic art (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_art) here is the foundation for creativity in any of the art styles.
The smell of art is what defines the studio but not from human presence, something like an aroma reminiscent of the eastern market where smoke from hookaahs mix with the oil vapors, exotic fragrance from candles and spices. The Art Studios were never renovated since the times they were built over 150 years ago. The wood floors are saturated with art oils as if the floor is waxed with the organic oils from nuts, linen ( linseed oil, poppy seed oil, and so forth.) Adding to the mix the varnishes used by painters (pine wood varnish, Dammar varnish and others) It makes this ART SMELL to be the most intoxicating and ever-lasting musk.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_painting
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_painting - Ingredients
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studio - Art_studio
The instance you enter the studio space you feel the belonging to a knighthood and the whole art history. You are the undivided part of those people who left their creation imprints.
Super pumped up after the long break up with the arts after my full year of non-stop party marathons I had returned to the bohemian life style.
Actually my other life style wasn't any different from the bohemian.
The only difference is that there is some meaning in the bohemian life style, something to create, to shape. Not just spend time doing sports and girls but something on a whole 'nother level only with the same sub text and by far more emotionally connected.
The bohemian I think is much more my thing, that fits me as a person. Maybe because my old man is the greatest sculptor.
He is color blind so apparently I took up the torch, I have a very special sense for color.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sculpture
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemianism
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_blindness
There could be an inborn human predicament or inborn genius.
I returned into the world to kiss its ground. I like everything about it, the babeville and its fashion circus.
The art students are known to come up with endless varieties of how to be stylish.
Take me for example, I am chilling in a suit jacket. It was professionally hand-tailored out of a denim Pajamas with stripes and starry silk underlining.
This “look” is completed by my python leather jeans. And over that an authentic LONG military Germany Waffen Elite Officer black Leather Coat from the WWII, only it is without a Swastika.
I never part with my large portfolio and a Field Easel.
EASEL
About 700 students attend the studies. The art school accepts only the best of best with few exception such as the kids of celebrity artists, writers and musicians and people who had real power in the city.
I wasn't enrolled for money or the A-lister parents, but for my talents. The Art specialty (painting, drawing, sculpture) teachers here are the world-wide recognized contemporary artists.
In a matter of my working ethics these important artists would point at me as the example of how fast I work, how well I sketch in color, how I always choose the most unexpected and unusual angle for my composition and so on...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composition_(visual_arts)
name banner gif
Optical illusion geometric gif
(portraiture, still-life, and landscape)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Still_life
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landscape_painting
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure_drawing
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure_painting
I never work on an académie (live drawing of a model, live painting of a model) the given eighty -- ninety hours. My whole process is about six -- nine hours to fully complete the work so I get out of the studio for some action and fun.
I’m probably the strongest in the class. My art professors know I don’t need to be there to distract the others.
When I’ve got nothing to do I start banging the head against the wall. Still I am criticized SUPER harshly for cutting the classes.
At this point I am not aware of the inner workings of “THE SYSTEM”.
I call suitcase with a secret compartment.
At the grade shows I only see the bad grades on my best artworks.
There is another side of the coin. It revealed in the future when I got to befriend a secretary at the Dean’s office. It was about the time of my graduating year.
The art teachers actually always considered me to be the leading artist among all students. They would grade all my artworks high on my personal record I knew nothing about.
That was how the art school’s system pushed the talented students to go further to open up their potential. Pushing to the limits of impossible.
I am harshly criticized for cutting a lot of classes.
There is another side of the coin. It will be revealed in the future when I got to befriend a secretary at the Dean's office. It was about the time of my graduating year.
The art teachers actually always considered me to be the leading artist among all students. They would grade all my artworks high on my personal record I knew nothing about.
That was how the art school's system pushed the talented students to go further to open up their potential. Pushing to the limits of impossible.
Willing or not but the doubts get in my head. I was thinking (rather frantically) that maybe I’m all just misguided. I will work to beef up my skills unable to accept that I am not really a “genius” artist. The bad grades were corrupting my vision.
Totally clueless that these bad grades in my case were used as "disciplinary measures" for my behavior of anarchy. These grades had nothing to do with my artworks.
And yet my best drawings and paintings are graded the lowest. At the same time the art professors are taking my works home. I always find empty walls where my works were displayed for the semester shows.
Sooner or later the missing artworks got me enraged. My classmates tell me the back story on what REALLY had happened.
All the art professors usually go the painting major's finals. So they just took my artworks right off the wall.
Ever since I heard this back story I flaunt how IDGAF to even pick up my works with the bad grades after the finals end.
Like a bunch of some doomsday looters in sight of an electronic store the art students same as the teachers vultured my artworks. Later some of my paintings and drawings were seen at the school's museum, especially the paintings.
The story of the artworks snatched off my exhibit wall developed further.
In the art school the art teachers are the privileged kind who exhibit regularly. All are the accomplished artists with big names.
Another thing about my artworks (no longer mine and in someone else's possession) is the story that involves someone with the top art rep being the art dynasty. Even so it happed that the leading art professor nicknamed Molly (for her annoying facial mole) used my art stuff to have her son who studied same years as me, just never expelled, to apply to an art academy with the highest qualification requirements. Molly's son portfolio sucked. To get him qualified to apply she gave her son all of my artworks she collected.
The juice was given to me by the reliable sources. The story was concurred by the eye--witnesses the students who were applying to the same academy together with Molly's son. Some of these students knew my work by the style, special color palette and the brushwork.
They all knew that Molly's son was using my artworks. He only had to forge his signature and remove mine.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Study_(art)
My drawings, sketches, paintings, watercolors are in "wide" use by others.
I tell that to describe the routine of my life.
It could explain why I was expelled three times for the chronic absence, for sabotaging the lectures -- getting my classmates to leave the studio and go to the movies or to the beach.
Fast forward to that event of the breaking point when I started to work systematically.
I was sucked into work as if a drug addiction. I was penetrating deeper to the very core of creativity. Reading books, going to the museums, working in the field, working in the museums to copy masters. I completely forgot all about life around me.
Practically I was devoured and digested with my nails and hair by that devil called the academic art. It sucked out the leftovers of my soul.
I stayed in the studio after the classes to work. There were only few students like this, spiritually close to me. To them it was their life style since the day they had entered the art school unlike me. Whenever I'd get bored with art I'd quit working and just leave without asking permission.
Now as if something had hit me hard and I started to really work. Most art students here typically come from such backgrounds when they did their baby steps and studied in the children's (secondary) art school from an early age and tutored by art teachers at home
I had a tendency to take on a higher complexity unprepared without the experience of any art school training (the eight years on a daily basic with teachers and methodical practice.)
As long as I remember myself I was drawing, during my school years, on the notebooks, with chalk on the asphalt, with stick on the sand. I did it subconsciously, not knowing what I was doing.
IDK, could be due to the several bad bike accidents when my head ended up hitting the brick...
Why did my brain moved into the direction of noticing those things that normal people should not be noticing? That the leaves on the trees are not at all green, but violet.
The falling shadows from the street lights are not at all outlined by black, the contours are the absolute blue.
The trees look like people.
There are so much more shades of colors that language could articulate.
Stuff like this filled up my head so that there was no place left for just a thought about girls, more so even the thoughts to manipulate my body functions. For instance using the
bathroom. I almost peed my pants. Truthfully I was on the edge of madness.
I remember how I hallucinated during my work imagining that someone had come into my studio and I spoke to "the guest." My brain was ill, there was no escape from that hell.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violet_(color)
Once I was walking on a street without any awareness. My mind was no longer in command of anything accept the obsession with my painting. As I was pushing the limits of what was humanly possible in a matter of progress from the previous stage when I could draw and paint with intuitive results now I considered as totally armature waste of art materials. My condition would be hard to describe since I could hardly remember what was it like during that madly intense period. I know that I was working non--stop and did make some major break through. It worked but at the same time the progress turned its evil side, I wasn't able to stop even for a brief moment. Something happened to my otherwise incorruptible memory that I could only remember few things from that period. And one of those things was my death walk through the city streets on a day I was supposed to disappear.
When I realized that I was walking automatically, blind and incredibly
avoiding the cars, for the first time I felt the fear of madness that can easily take my life. It wasn't something I would fear if I was in my other life when loosing it would be quite an ordinary thing and not due to my lost mind.
Whatever it was I survived with no chances to stay alive that day. I had more chances to live on when I was shot at execution style, when I was drowning in bad storm, climbing on a building like a cat, and on many others such occasions.
Some guardian angel was looking over me as I came to the final moment of certain death, blind, deaf, disoriented and delusional.
As we finished with draperies, still life, gypsum figures we moved on to the nude. To draw and paint from the live sitter, male or female model.
There comes an old fat hag to be posed before the artists. She will be POSING even during the breaks. She sits professionally without a slight move of her flab folds for us to draw her “forms”. ‘assume it was done for the boys not to get distracted with the female anatomy.
The models with “rounded” forms were chosen so we would study the reflects and double reflects on a “sphere-like” and “cylinder-like” forms.
There would be plenty of the cast shadow (a type of shadow that is created on a form), and a drop shadow ( below the image).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_human_positions
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure_study
The working objective was to concentrate on the drawing’s construction.
When we’d get a young female model, she’d be so skeletal that we studied the skeleton. This type of models was as unattractive as the fat ones.
The art students without an eye for a drawing and technique produced their works of caricature quality. With the lost proportions the models looked like animals, skinny chickens or fat frogs.
For me it was a serious job, body didn’t exist. I x-rayed the flubs of fat to see the bones to connect them to muscles, to build a form.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caricature
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeleton
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_skeleton
The illness I call the overdose had progressed and my end was near.
Homies who knew me used to say that I was cracked.
When I moved from the classicism to modern (I refused to see any modern or contemporary art, never wanted to see it, or ever saw it) I entered the Modern art on my own, as my foot stepped into the forth dimension.
I entered the world of mad pressure. Good I stepped in it one foot yet.
I was sleeping in the studio right on the floor near my work and placed an electric heater near by.
It was impossible to heat up whole place where fifty heavy-duty easels only took a quarter of the studio space.
In the center there was a huge round stage made from a special hard wood to hold any number of models when needed for the multiple human-figure compositions.
The place was full of easels, portable and the large for the field. The chairs, tables, palettes, boxes with paint, cases with paper and lots of other art stuff piled up into mountains.
The parquet floor was always covered in fresh oil paints even though the teachers tried in vein to prove a fact that working neatly was by far more productive.
We had a dormitory built same year as the art school which was 150 something years ago.
If you stayed late in the studio that was forbidden, you couldn't get to the dorm.
A guard at the main door was a real watch dog, he faithfully guarded the pathway knowing every student's face.
The dorm was occupied by those who couldn't pay for a room or the apartment in the city.
Ten beds were squeezed in a dorm room.
This part of the antique building was never renovated probably b/c it was planned to be turned into more art studios.
But since there were out of town students who had no place to live they were given a place in this dorm.
The beds were of a good prison-like quality so the survival was possible. Another thing is what was happening in the dorm.
On a typical day nobody there had any money left after the expensive art materials. Not a penny to get high. Alcoholic liquid (40-60%) was soaked into the bread.
From one bite of that bread you could instantly drop dead as if your legs got cut off by a train.
The receptors inside the nose absorb the fumes to hit right into the brain, this way the booze doesn't ever enter the digestive system and blood.
It kills or makes one go bonkers.
Some pissheads in desperation poured vodka into a wine bottle cap to inhale it like coke. After one cap screw it was a total alchoholocaust.
There were many ways of economizing: to use a medical thin rubber tube to suck the drink very slowly, one bottle would
serve four alkies.
It was the usual schizophrenic day for me. I had my dose of coffee and ate on a way to the studio.
Those days I didn't miss a class afraid to get expelled for the last and final time.
I couldn't understand this thing about my artworks. Why did my classmates literally begged on their knees to have the C-graded artworks I was never satisfied with.
It became my trade mark to give away all of my stuff left and right. I didn't know why I let go of my drawings and paintings so easy. Now I regret that. It would be interesting to see the growth.
Once I happened to tell a guy from my class who worked very hard on his drawing (he wasn't a good draftsman): "Oh Wow! you are doing a lot of progress, buddy, congrats!" I looked at his portfolio and pointed at a piece: "This drawing here is really mature and quite interesting, you achieved volume and air in just a linear drawing."
The guy suddenly goes red, stares at me wide-eyed with anger or confusion I couldn't quite understand...
"Am I saying something wrong?" I asked.
"You're fucking dissing me!" He answered.
"Why?" I wondered.
"This is YOUR drawing," Was the answer: "I took it, that is when I asked you and you gave it to me, don't you remember?"
I didn't recognize, didn't see my signature, as it was overlapping the drawing.
The guy was holding a grudge for this but it didn't turn him into one of my enemies.
At some point I am thankful to the teachers for their sneaky methods and experience on how to tame the most unruly and bring them into the art's stable. On the other hand these people were like sadistic fascists who used their special gases on me experimenting, would I survive it and live on.
The bohemian hyped up life only started after the classes at about seven in the evening. This part of the artist's life was full of sex, booze, and drugs, more sex booze drugs and orgies. The art youth was progressive, the sex - communal with the conveniently shared girlfriends and boyfriends.
Strangely the good times didn't concern me anymore now.
There was a small group of idiots who followed their criteria of achievement: to draw and paint a vase with flowers so that it comes to life, right out of the canvas to the carrying hands of the one who painted it. The flowers turned alive would be given to the girl/boyfriend.
The madness of the 4th dimension.
The art group was lead by me and another guy soon (one month later) to disappear forever for the reasons unknown.
After the classes me and few others searched for a studio. Found it. Not my studio. Any studio with the door unlocked.
As usual I would set a still life. Take off my nazi coat.
Set my next canvas on the easel to start quick sketching.
Out of nowhere shows up some dude who was a new student, he was much older, about twenty three, somewhere from Texas and just plain untalented.
He wanted to hang around with "the power-group" to learn.
There were few girls with the ambition to reach the level of a manly hand in creation.
We all usually worked in grave silence and even a slight noise would be extremely annoying.
If a brush would fall it seemed the atomic bomb had exploded somewhere near. We would exchange vicious cursing at the jittery creaking sneezing noise maker.
When you are focusing intensely and can't quite catch the brush stroke to complete the shaping of a form so that the image would turn real and come out of the flat surface the nerves are high strung to the limit.
The last months I just never left the studio, didn't even come outside. Slept on my German coat in the corner. It was veiled with the drapery. I'd wake up in the morning. The doorman was already used to give me the keys knowing that I sleep and work there. It came with a warning that if I am discovered I must tell any story and solemnly kept the secret.
The memories from those years distract me from telling what I want. It's about the event that had closed for me the entry into the forth dimension.
That day I was getting upset over some stupid teases: "What had happened to you!"
Whether the bros wanted to elevate my mental state, or they needed to get my works it had really caused me distraction. I was focusing on my work. Suddenly I hear the sounds of music in the studio. It jumped me: “Are you out of your fucking minds? That asshole doorman will come here."
"No he ain’t gonna."
"Why?"
"He is passed out, we had to carry him away." Was the answer.
"What is going down?" I worried.
"Not much, nothing is going down, we just want some fun. The way it is on here is so buzz-killing."
Was it some holiday, I didn’t know. Holidays passed by me, I didn’t smoke or drink and only worked. What they were saying didn’t reach me.
“Shut down the music. You’re gone but I must sleep here."
"Why must you sleep here?" Asked Lorenzo (nick-named after his personal preferences of the Benzos)
"Hmm, I guess there will be no way of working today?" I asked.
"Working, way working, you gonna make me some home works," Assured me the dude nicknamed Kuz. "For that I will make your sculpture complete."
As interesting as it was to play with the real forms in sculpting I disliked dealing with the clay. Those times I believed the painting to be so much more in gradations, possibilities and complexity. Now I changed my mind to consider any art media possess the unlimited possibilities.
I agreed. Suddenly the guys were fixing to leave and I had to ask: "So? Who will finish building up the sculpture if you're leaving?"
"No worries, will build it up, brb just a quick run for some booze before the stores closed up."
"What booze? Get out of here go to another studio. I work, don’t mess me up."
"No biggie, son, you can rest for once."
It was pointless to argue, they'd already been drunk and I was only getting nervous. My work wasn’t going good at all. I have changed the lighting set up many ways in vein.
Suddenly, out of nowhere Muse appears. A young, very-very attractive girl about eighteen. The returned gang introduced her to me:
"J-Sin, meet her... lets say Nicky."
"Eh, hello Nicky, who and what are you?" were my greetings.
She smiled to everyone and answered: "I will be posing for you today."
"We agreed about everything, will pay the price,” –explained Lorenzo barely moving his tongue, "She is gonna be happy!"
His bag full of bottles made loud clanking noise.
When the drunks got them out I counted six.
“Yes, this is going to be a wild night.” I was thinking what to do now. I approached the model, took off her coat and hanged it, removed her blouse and explained that she can go behind the curtain.
"Hey, hey! What curtain son, what’s with you? She is from the med school, our people!"
I heard the Kuz's inebriated voice. "She is THE model!"
"What -- nude?" I wondered.
"And what did you think, she'd sit covered up in here?" They burst into laughter.
Suddenly I feel elated with the anticipation of the new and amazing subject for the work. I was fed up with the poor set up and the struggle to "find" the good lighting for the gypsum head. How wonderful it turned out that I could make some picturesque oil sketches.
When the model took off her bra, her young breasts, her nipples instantly distract my attention from work.
Shit, I couldn’t focus. Since we hadn’t a glimpse at such models it was too interesting. Could be that something about this evening or the environment was different. First time in a long while the music was playing, the glasses jingled and filled up with wine.
As she posed we were all doing the quick sketching. She removed everything except her panties.
The drunken assholes wouldn’t let me focus.
"Let me finally have a chance to work." I yelled getting distracted.
They seemed to try bargaining: "We brought you the model, hey girl turn around!" Kuz pulled up her skirt and slapped her buddy. "Look at these buns, you've got to do another
drawing for the semester show."
"Boys, you are so bad!" She giggled to Kuz. "I will spank you for being soooo bad!" And she was laughing in most contagious sexy trills of her childish capricious voice.
I didn’t understand what these die--hard drunks were doing at the art school, without any talent or interest in art. My former palls in another life that was long forgotten. Today the serious artists who always worked together with me had left the moment this bad company swam by.
Now I was looking at their watery eyes winking at the model. They caressed her things as she reclined on the wooden stage to rest. I wanted to figure out why did they distract me even more now?
I was the same age as the model. I didn’t see her body, to me now it was the model for painting.
It was getting late when the cold winds penetrate the place from the drafty wall size windows. I put on my sweater in the starting freezer. The one meter or the three feet and 33/8 inch walls are like the thermos to absorb and hold the cool temperature. I looked at the laughing bunch who labored on my sculpture.
One was drawing a huge flying dick with wings with a charcoal right on a white wall.
I had finished sketching the figure. I came up to the stage to set up the heater. I asked the model if she could sit some more taking breaks whenever she needs to move.
When she looked at me she was constantly smiling.
"Sure she’ll sit! And she'll lay, right, sweet buns?"
I held my breath working imagining how awesome would be to have such a model every day. With a shaky hand I was working fast as a machine expecting any minute now she would say that she is too cold to sit another minute and she leaves, its all over. I will have to kill her and sit her lifeless body on a chair to complete my work.
“Shit! Shit! Shit!"
The heater I placed caused the red reflexes on the body. I was painting and had to get the color right. So I removed the heater. The model immediately complained about the cold. Kuz brought her a glass of wine asking me why did I remove the heater.
From wine her face flushed red. I tried to adjust the color scale, laying brushstrokes over the whole figure.
Meanwhile the music turned up it was getting real loud.
The model took her break.
I walked after her studying her forms.
"Is something wrong?" She asked.
"Its all right, could you turn this way."
"Oh, I see. Same in our med school, the nut cases," She openly declared to the others when I was on a floor looking from a lower viewpoint.
"Who is this?" She asked: "What kind of a mental is he?"
"Its a disease, but it will pass" – was the answer for her. "Sometimes it is terminal. Not his tho, his will pass, he loves the young girls very much…"
Something from the stupid jokes had reached me.
"Hon, now he needs the medical attention. You are the medic? We are forever in debt to yous for allowing us come to the mortuary and for helping with the dead bodies... What we have here is a zombie. You are the goddess who saves the body as your calling."
What I heard was polluting my pure artistic brain with that life I refused. Now I was paying attention not to the mammary glands but to her breasts. Her back muscles are slightly weak. As I looked over the skeleton the muscles slowly disappeared. No matter how hard I tried to focus my x-rays were weakened. Maybe the electricity turned off inside my head.
"Pour me some," I asked.
Six months of my immaculate virginity and celibacy was broken by a wine glass. The red wine like the blood of innocents was running in my throat filling up the brain that shortly was boiling with vigor. So I said:
"Could you please remove your panties?"
"It wasn’t the deal," protested the model with her eyes glowing like honey.
Lorenzo interrupted her:
"For god’s sake, take of your panties, what is it to you, aren't you a medic?"
"I thought someone here was shy, as for me" She lustfully licked her lips. "Well, of course its nothing."
"Who is shy?" Asked someone.
"Him the weirdo!" She giggled in a very cute bubbly little voice.
"Are you shy?"
"It seems it was me who asked her to remove the panties." I explained.
She just jumped right out of her panties not without pleasure it seemed.
I imagined how to position her, what pose should she take.
"Hey!" I asked Kuz to pour me another glass. He was cheering me on yet reminding that I should first finish the drawing.
"Later," I mumbled turning to the model: "Would you please sit on a chair and spread your pretty legs a little, as much as you wish."
"Hey, Alex, so he is normal?" She asked.
I was far away from normality. A actual girl weaved from the reality. But the process was a transformation with splitting dimensions.
She was turning more real when I touched her to show how to position her legs.
I glimpsed at the red pubic hair seeing the pink flesh of her vaginal lips.
I couldn't focus on my work. Could the “female anatomy” destroy the temple of magic I was erecting for the eight months?
I returned to my easel and continued working. She was fidgeting changing poses uncomfortable this something hurting that... But it was only natural, she was sitting naked on a plain hard wooden chair. She was sliding from one side of the chair to another. I was buzzed from wine and couldn’t work, but I tried to complete my work just to annoy these assholes who screwed up my day. First work was washed off with turpentine and I wiped up the canvas dry with a rag.
I was sketching now not with a charcoal but brushing in umber. It resulted in an interesting tonality and I was captured again. The model squirming on her hard chair complained.
"Yo, why don’t you lay her down, what is she suffering for?" Asked Alex, "Lay her the fuck down, why not."
Right! I thought a little and told her to lay on the stage. Underneath her I spread some drapery.
After few wine glasses I took off my sweater, my cheeks were on fire. Hers too. I unbuttoned my shirt, my blood was boiling, the body was washed with the warmth.
The heater was moved away.
"So true that wine warms you up," she said to Alex.
"Jay, so tell me how to lay her down there. Sit, sit, you poor thingy, I'll assist you" And he jumped on the stage. "Do you want her legs spread this way?" he asked opening
up her legs so that her whole anatomy was showing.
"Is this ok for you?" He winked at me: "Is it good?"
"Oh no, can’t show it like this at the mid-semester show." Thinking some I added: " Let it be, lift her leg a little higher, like this. Turn her head down."
"Like this?" He kissed her on the lips.
"Alex, the fuck you're doing, I don’t have any time."
"Work, keep drawing, go on!" he said. "We won’t disturb you."
I was outraged after I just washed everything off my canvas ready to work, but this wasn't going anywhere. I kept asking Alex what did he mean by not disturbing me when he messed everything up. I heard the girls laughing trills. "For real, he is ill!"
"The sick can be cured." Insisted Alex. "Will hill him." He slurred.
Of course, I own them my very life. If it weren't for them –- that’s it, finito.
Kissing her on the lips and winking at me Alex continued bugging me: “Is this right?”
For like ten minutes I was staring in the infinity in the emptiness… Then I yelled: "Why are you sucking her? Get away from her, let her lay there quietly."
Only to hear some nonsensical mumbling.
"But I want you to work on the position, is this position right?"
"Right, just fuck off of her."
Meanwhile Kuz, I noticed, was taking off his pants. He said: “Let him go fuck himself. Motherfucker is gonna fuck us up today, if he doesn’t want it, so fuck it.”
Now I thought I knew what they wanted from me.
I saw Alex’s naked butt as he laid on the stage, banging the girl and his ass wiggled.
I started sketching their nude asses.
My consciousness was still in the process of transforming.
I thought of how interesting were their poses.
Lorenzo came up to me and took the brushes from my hands placing all in my field easel he closed up.
"Listen, J-man, you’re being a fucking buzzkill. Go draw some vases, fuck off to another studio. You don’t want it. For free?"
I didn't understand him what did he mean. He explained:
"What do you see Alex is doing right now?"
"He is fucking his girlfriend." I said.
Lorenzo continued:
"Whose girlfriend? What we have here is a
scientist, from the med school who is helping us in our artistic quests, to understand the core of anatomy not only from the outside but from the inside. I recommend you, in order to comprehend, as you must know, you can only know the truth from the inside, experiencing the inside, to understand the outside. That’s why I seize the brushes. Here is another glass of wine. Drink!"
I looked at him as a doctor listening to his drunken bullshit.
"The most important thing for you is to understand from the inside. See, you can’t understand it from the outside, it’s not how things are done."
"Yes knowing the internal anatomy helps, take a muscle, body doesn’t exist without muscles." I agreed.
"Hell yeah, yeah… ha ha…that’s what I am going about. Look how Alex is working how he is learning."
I looked at the bare ass's motions back and forth, at the girl who was lifting her legs and actively moving her hips. Alex jumped off, wiped up his cock with the drapery, he also wiped out the girl. “Who is next?”
Kuz was kissing her from one side, when Lorenzo said:
"He worked very hard today, he must learn from the inside. You see, because he just can’t break through the inside."
When Kuz was mounting her, Lorenzo spanked him loudly:
"You can wait, the man needs the muse, get it? Understanding the Muse comes only from the inside.." They all bust into laughter.
Lorenzo nearly helped my cock inside the girl cheering on: "Just do it, little one, everything is gonna be great. Honey, turn him back into a soldier that we've lost."
"The man is gone, the man known yesterday is not the man you meet, forever, around the corner, in London or in the street..." chanted Nick appearing from nowhere. He continued slurring his poems.
Hearing the noise I didn’t know what’s going on as I kissed her breasts.
"Feel the forms." I heard the racket near by as I was buzzing off the wine and licking the girl's body. On the other side Lorenzo had joined in groping her breasts. To be more at ease I moved her body closer to the stage’s edge. I was on top.
I didn't hear any sounds of music, the entry door was covered with the draperies as the orgy just steamed up for the whole night.
I woke up on the stage from loud knocking.
The art students asked me what happened to the busted still life set.
I exhaled my dragon breath to hear no more questions. Took my coat and left the building. Walking the street I met Alex.
"Your face is not yet blushed, your eyes are a bit foggy, can’t say anything after the sleepless night. Like Cures Like."
He grinned getting money out of his pocket. "Let us get some treatment."
We walked to the known spot for aching heads gathering.
Eight doorways for the site specific installation at The Maverick in downtown Burien, January-March 2018. It will be an evolving environment, I plan on being there on Mondays adding to the accumulation and transformation of the space.
Site-specific installation called "Glowing Core" by German artist Rebecca Horn (b.1944).
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_Horn
The name of the building is Llotja de Palma, a historic building with Gothic design, built between 1426 and 1448. The building was originally the headquarters of the School of Merchants.
Specific perfection ENB www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/62978/?
Thanatos Dragon www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/31229/?
„I don't have a specific sense of national identity. The entire world is my home. That's the reason why all people are equal to me, I don't care where they're from. But I spent the first ten years of my life in Kurdistan, and maybe that did shape me somehow. At least there's this yearning for the rural quietness of that country that I get from time to time. And so I visit that place every two years.“
---
After finishing my 100 Strangers Project, I continue to photograph strangers based on the principles of the Project. Find out more about the project at the group page 100 Strangers.
in Canada, the U.S. and the World. The Honey Bee has played a very specific and important role for well over 1,000,000 years. Honey Bees pollinate flowers, fruits, vegetables, and make honey. Honey Bees are vital to the sustainability of human and animal life because they are able to keep the food chain in balance by maintaining plant life. Fairly recently, there has been an extreme decrease in the Honey Bee population throughout the world. Millions of Honey Bees have left their hives and died off without any logical explanation. This epidemic is called Colony Collapse Disorder, or CCD. There are some theories as to why this is happening but we are still not 100% sure. It is very important to raise awareness about this terrible phenomenon in order to find out why this is happening, and more importantly, how to stop it.
What is Alpha Company?
Alpha Company is a highly-specific themed-based military MOC group, centered around a fictional part modern, part sci-fi Infantry Company in an alternative timeline of the contemporary world.
What are the Alpha Company Forums' goals?
- Develop and Promote the fan-created Prometheus Saga alternative universe canon, including background stories, official models, building instructions and other resources, made freely available for fans to create derivative works.
- Foster a spirit of friendship and international cooperation amongst Fans of Lego (FOLs) by providing the resources for staff-moderated community-driven projects.
- Encourage a higher level of building quality and graphical design by exposing members to the works of critically-acclaimed builders, minifigure customisers and decal designers, providing opportunities to learn from their work through detailed "Behind The Scenes" deconstruction.
- Promote the proliferation of baseline LEGO Military models for customisation and integration into collaborative displays at Lego Fan Conventions and other public events.
- Allow members to participate in role-play Infantry, Airborne and Armored Company units inspired by the structure and characteristics of real-life organised Armed Forces, or to create new units based on those officially accepted as canon.
Who founded Alpha Company, and when?
Alpha Company was founded in 2007 by Adam "kaboom" Dufrense, Chandler Parker and Robin "GreenLead" Chang, operating initially as a group within the BrickArms Forums. The group officially opened its own forums as an independent entity on July 4, 2009.
For more information, visit : www.alphacompanyforums.com/
Hear my prayer, O LORD! And let my cry for help come to You. Psalm 102:1
The Ways and Means of Prayer
In Ephesians 6:18 Paul says we are to pray with “all prayer and petition.” The Greek word translated “prayer” (also in 1 Thes. 5:17) is the most common New Testament word for prayer and refers to general requests. The word translated “petition” refers to specific prayers. Paul’s use of both words suggests our necessary involvement in all kinds of prayer, every form that is appropriate.
The Posture
To pray all the time necessitates being in various positions because you will never be in the same position all day. In the Bible, people prayed standing (Gen. 24:12–14), lifting up their hands (1 Tim. 2:8), sitting (Jud. 20:26), kneeling (Mark 1:40), looking upward (John 17:1), bowing down (Ex. 34:8), placing their heads between their knees (1 Kings 18:42), pounding on their breasts (Luke 18:13), and facing the temple (Dan. 6:10).
The Circumstances
While some people today think prayer ought to be very formal, the Bible documents that people prayed in many different circumstances. They prayed wearing sackcloth (Ps. 35:13), sitting in ashes (Job 1:20–21; 2:8), smiting their breasts (Luke 18:13), crying tears (Ps. 6:6), throwing dust on their heads (Josh. 7:6), tearing garments (1 Kings 21:27), fasting (Deut. 9:18), sighing (Ezra 9:4–15), groaning (Ps. 6:4–6), crying out loud (Heb. 5:7), sweating blood (Luke 22:44), agonizing with broken hearts (Ps. 34:18), making a vow (Acts 18:18), making sacrifices (Ps. 20:1–3), and singing songs (Acts 16:25).
The Place
The Bible records people praying in all sorts of places as well: in battle (2 Chron. 13:14–15), in a cave (1 Kings 19:9–10), in a closet (Matt. 6:6), in a garden (Matt. 26:36–44), on a mountainside (Luke 6:12), by a river (Acts 16:13), by the sea (Acts 21:5–6), in the street (Matt. 6:5), in the temple (1 Kings 8:22–53), in bed (Ps. 4:3–4), in a home (Acts 9:39–40), in the stomach of a fish (Jonah 2:1–10), on a housetop (Acts 10:9), in a prison (Acts 16:23–26), in the wilderness (Luke 5:16), and on a cross (Luke 23:33–34, 46). In 1 Timothy 2:8, Paul said, “I want the men in every place to pray” For the faithful, Spirit-filled Christian, every place becomes a place of prayer.
The Time
At a pastors’ conference I attended some years ago, one man preached on the subject of morning prayer. To support his point, he read various passages that show people praying in the morning. As he did, I looked up all the Scriptures that show people praying three times a day (Dan. 6:10), in the evening (1 Kings 18:36), before meals (Matt. 14:19), after meals (Deut. 8:10), at the ninth hour (3 P.M.; Acts 3:1), at bedtime (Ps. 4:4), at midnight (Acts 16:25), day and night (Luke 2:37; 18:7), often (Luke 5:33), when they’re young (Jer. 3:4), when they’re old (Dan. 9:2–19), when they’re in trouble (2 Kings 19:3–4), every day (Ps. 86:3), and always (Luke 18:1; 1 Thes. 5:17).
Prayer is fitting at any time, in any posture, in any place, under any circumstance, and in any attire. It is to be a total way of life—an open and continual communion with God. After having embraced all the infinite resources that are yours in Christ, don’t ever think you’re no longer dependent on the moment by moment power of God.
MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1995). Alone with God (18–20). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books. www.gty.org
MCA Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
From the Tropics with Love
Mexico City–based architecture firm Pedro y Juana (Ana Paula Ruiz Galindo and Mecky Reuss) created the site-specific installation
mcachicago.org/Exhibitions/Pedro-Y-Juana-From-The-Tropics...
Well, this was the WM Rover that wasn't!
Three of the 1Z10 group do a one day Rail Rover/Explorer every few weeks. Unlimited travel by train in a specific area.
Things started well, I picked Rob up in Tamworth at 07.15. We drove to Nuneaton to get some photos at dawn until Nigel arrived at around 09.30.
However, at about 08.30 he told us that his train was delayed by 3Q26 (a Derby - Stoke test train) which had failed ahead of his service.
We discussed the options, and as none of us had yet bought a ticket decided to travel by car, and start our photography near Stafford.
As Rob and myself approached junction 13 on the M6, we saw extensive flooding around the WCML railway.
We headed on to Norton Bridge, met up with Nigel and took some photos. We then decided to explore the area to the south to see if we could get some shots including the flooding.
So, this is where we ended up, and after an hour or so we were treated to three northbound freights that were queueing up at Stafford station.
I took regular camera shots of the first two, and decided to use my drone for the final shot of the day. Before taking off, I noticed an interesting composition with the drone facing my car.
The lights were on as the engine was running to enable some battery charging - the cold weather had discharged all three drone batteries in half of the usual time, and my power packs were also exhausted.
So, I flew around for a couple of minutes looking for a decent composition. However, the train arrived before I was ready so this was the result!
The temperature never got above freezing all day, you can see some frost on my hat! Rob is on my right, and Nigel out of shot to my left.
What fun we had! And bagged several good shots too. The rest of the photos can be seen in the group to the right.
The train was the 6Z85 09.00 Middleton Towers to Basford Hall, hauled by 66622 btw.
Site-specific перформанс Ірини Плотнікової "IceDora" на фестивалі сучасного мистецтва Гогольфест 2016, Київ, Україна © repor.to/popenko
I'll be at several horse shows this year so if you guys want me to look out for specific shots message me and I’ll try my best :)
There’s a very specific kind of holiday frustration that only Christmas lights can deliver—and this look captures it perfectly. Wrapped from head to toe in glowing strands, Ivanna stands frozen in that familiar moment: lights everywhere, patience nowhere. What started as festive cheer has turned into a battle of knots, twists, and wires that somehow multiplied while you weren’t looking.
The styling leans into that chaos beautifully. Strings of lights crown her head, coil around her arms, and cling to her outfit as if they have a mind of their own. Her expression says it all—equal parts disbelief and exhaustion—because no matter how carefully you store them, Christmas lights always come back tangled. It’s tradition at this point.
Set against a softly glowing tree and scattered ornaments, the look balances humor with realism. It’s messy, bright, and slightly unhinged—just like decorating for the holidays. And yet, there’s something charming about it. Because even in the frustration, there’s magic. Once the knots are (mostly) undone and the lights finally glow where they’re meant to, the stress fades, and the season feels warm again.
This look is a love letter to that shared holiday struggle—a reminder that sometimes the chaos is part of the charm, and the lights are worth it… even if they test your sanity every single year.
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Available for just $20L, this tee is an exclusive at Evil Bunny Productions’ “What The Elf” Sim Hunt, running Dec 13 – Dec 31. Grab it before it’s gone!
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WS: www.evilbunnysl.com/gacha-life-gallery
LM: maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Grumble/176/30/21
The Bold Llama T-Shirt Company
◆ Mainstore: maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sandstorm/19/98/1622
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Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).[8] The disease was first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, the capital of China's Hubei province, and has since spread globally, resulting in the ongoing 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic.[9][10] As of 26 April 2020, more than 2.89 million cases have been reported across 185 countries and territories, resulting in more than 203,000 deaths. More than 822,000 people have recovered.[7]
Common symptoms include fever, cough, fatigue, shortness of breath and loss of smell.[5][11][12] While the majority of cases result in mild symptoms, some progress to viral pneumonia, multi-organ failure, or cytokine storm.[13][9][14] More concerning symptoms include difficulty breathing, persistent chest pain, confusion, difficulty waking, and bluish skin.[5] The time from exposure to onset of symptoms is typically around five days but may range from two to fourteen days.[5][15]
The virus is primarily spread between people during close contact,[a] often via small droplets produced by coughing,[b] sneezing, or talking.[6][16][18] The droplets usually fall to the ground or onto surfaces rather than remaining in the air over long distances.[6][19][20] People may also become infected by touching a contaminated surface and then touching their face.[6][16] In experimental settings, the virus may survive on surfaces for up to 72 hours.[21][22][23] It is most contagious during the first three days after the onset of symptoms, although spread may be possible before symptoms appear and in later stages of the disease.[24] The standard method of diagnosis is by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) from a nasopharyngeal swab.[25] Chest CT imaging may also be helpful for diagnosis in individuals where there is a high suspicion of infection based on symptoms and risk factors; however, guidelines do not recommend using it for routine screening.[26][27]
Recommended measures to prevent infection include frequent hand washing, maintaining physical distance from others (especially from those with symptoms), covering coughs, and keeping unwashed hands away from the face.[28][29] In addition, the use of a face covering is recommended for those who suspect they have the virus and their caregivers.[30][31] Recommendations for face covering use by the general public vary, with some authorities recommending against their use, some recommending their use, and others requiring their use.[32][31][33] Currently, there is not enough evidence for or against the use of masks (medical or other) in healthy individuals in the wider community.[6] Also masks purchased by the public may impact availability for health care providers.
Currently, there is no vaccine or specific antiviral treatment for COVID-19.[6] Management involves the treatment of symptoms, supportive care, isolation, and experimental measures.[34] The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the 2019–20 coronavirus outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)[35][36] on 30 January 2020 and a pandemic on 11 March 2020.[10] Local transmission of the disease has occurred in most countries across all six WHO regions.[37]
File:En.Wikipedia-VideoWiki-Coronavirus disease 2019.webm
Video summary (script)
Contents
1Signs and symptoms
2Cause
2.1Transmission
2.2Virology
3Pathophysiology
3.1Immunopathology
4Diagnosis
4.1Pathology
5Prevention
6Management
6.1Medications
6.2Protective equipment
6.3Mechanical ventilation
6.4Acute respiratory distress syndrome
6.5Experimental treatment
6.6Information technology
6.7Psychological support
7Prognosis
7.1Reinfection
8History
9Epidemiology
9.1Infection fatality rate
9.2Sex differences
10Society and culture
10.1Name
10.2Misinformation
10.3Protests
11Other animals
12Research
12.1Vaccine
12.2Medications
12.3Anti-cytokine storm
12.4Passive antibodies
13See also
14Notes
15References
16External links
16.1Health agencies
16.2Directories
16.3Medical journals
Signs and symptoms
Symptom[4]Range
Fever83–99%
Cough59–82%
Loss of Appetite40–84%
Fatigue44–70%
Shortness of breath31–40%
Coughing up sputum28–33%
Loss of smell15[38] to 30%[12][39]
Muscle aches and pains11–35%
Fever is the most common symptom, although some older people and those with other health problems experience fever later in the disease.[4][40] In one study, 44% of people had fever when they presented to the hospital, while 89% went on to develop fever at some point during their hospitalization.[4][41]
Other common symptoms include cough, loss of appetite, fatigue, shortness of breath, sputum production, and muscle and joint pains.[4][5][42][43] Symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea have been observed in varying percentages.[44][45][46] Less common symptoms include sneezing, runny nose, or sore throat.[47]
More serious symptoms include difficulty breathing, persistent chest pain or pressure, confusion, difficulty waking, and bluish face or lips. Immediate medical attention is advised if these symptoms are present.[5][48]
In some, the disease may progress to pneumonia, multi-organ failure, and death.[9][14] In those who develop severe symptoms, time from symptom onset to needing mechanical ventilation is typically eight days.[4] Some cases in China initially presented with only chest tightness and palpitations.[49]
Loss of smell was identified as a common symptom of COVID‑19 in March 2020,[12][39] although perhaps not as common as initially reported.[38] A decreased sense of smell and/or disturbances in taste have also been reported.[50] Estimates for loss of smell range from 15%[38] to 30%.[12][39]
As is common with infections, there is a delay between the moment a person is first infected and the time he or she develops symptoms. This is called the incubation period. The incubation period for COVID‑19 is typically five to six days but may range from two to 14 days,[51][52] although 97.5% of people who develop symptoms will do so within 11.5 days of infection.[53]
A minority of cases do not develop noticeable symptoms at any point in time.[54][55] These asymptomatic carriers tend not to get tested, and their role in transmission is not yet fully known.[56][57] However, preliminary evidence suggests they may contribute to the spread of the disease.[58][59] In March 2020, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) reported that 20% of confirmed cases remained asymptomatic during their hospital stay.[59][60]
A number of neurological symptoms has been reported including seizures, stroke, encephalitis and Guillain-Barre syndrome.[61] Cardiovascular related complications may include heart failure, irregular electrical activity, blood clots, and heart inflammation.[62]
Cause
See also: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
Transmission
Cough/sneeze droplets visualised in dark background using Tyndall scattering
Respiratory droplets produced when a man is sneezing visualised using Tyndall scattering
File:COVID19 in numbers- R0, the case fatality rate and why we need to flatten the curve.webm
A video discussing the basic reproduction number and case fatality rate in the context of the pandemic
Some details about how the disease is spread are still being determined.[16][18] The WHO and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say it is primarily spread during close contact and by small droplets produced when people cough, sneeze or talk;[6][16] with close contact being within approximately 1–2 m (3–7 ft).[6][63] Both sputum and saliva can carry large viral loads.[64] Loud talking releases more droplets than normal talking.[65] A study in Singapore found that an uncovered cough can lead to droplets travelling up to 4.5 metres (15 feet).[66] An article published in March 2020 argued that advice on droplet distance might be based on 1930s research which ignored the effects of warm moist exhaled air surrounding the droplets and that an uncovered cough or sneeze can travel up to 8.2 metres (27 feet).[17]
Respiratory droplets may also be produced while breathing out, including when talking. Though the virus is not generally airborne,[6][67] the National Academy of Sciences has suggested that bioaerosol transmission may be possible.[68] In one study cited, air collectors positioned in the hallway outside of people's rooms yielded samples positive for viral RNA but finding infectious virus has proven elusive.[68] The droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs.[16] Some medical procedures such as intubation and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) may cause respiratory secretions to be aerosolised and thus result in an airborne spread.[67] Initial studies suggested a doubling time of the number of infected persons of 6–7 days and a basic reproduction number (R0 ) of 2.2–2.7, but a study published on April 7, 2020, calculated a much higher median R0 value of 5.7 in Wuhan.[69]
It may also spread when one touches a contaminated surface, known as fomite transmission, and then touches one's eyes, nose or mouth.[6] While there are concerns it may spread via faeces, this risk is believed to be low.[6][16]
The virus is most contagious when people are symptomatic; though spread is may be possible before symptoms emerge and from those who never develop symptoms.[6][70] A portion of individuals with coronavirus lack symptoms.[71] The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) says while it is not entirely clear how easily the disease spreads, one person generally infects two or three others.[18]
The virus survives for hours to days on surfaces.[6][18] Specifically, the virus was found to be detectable for one day on cardboard, for up to three days on plastic (polypropylene) and stainless steel (AISI 304), and for up to four hours on 99% copper.[21][23] This, however, varies depending on the humidity and temperature.[72][73] Surfaces may be decontaminated with many solutions (with one minute of exposure to the product achieving a 4 or more log reduction (99.99% reduction)), including 78–95% ethanol (alcohol used in spirits), 70–100% 2-propanol (isopropyl alcohol), the combination of 45% 2-propanol with 30% 1-propanol, 0.21% sodium hypochlorite (bleach), 0.5% hydrogen peroxide, or 0.23–7.5% povidone-iodine. Soap and detergent are also effective if correctly used; soap products degrade the virus' fatty protective layer, deactivating it, as well as freeing them from the skin and other surfaces.[74] Other solutions, such as benzalkonium chloride and chlorhexidine gluconate (a surgical disinfectant), are less effective.[75]
In a Hong Kong study, saliva samples were taken a median of two days after the start of hospitalization. In five of six patients, the first sample showed the highest viral load, and the sixth patient showed the highest viral load on the second day tested.[64]
Virology
Main article: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
Illustration of SARSr-CoV virion
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus, first isolated from three people with pneumonia connected to the cluster of acute respiratory illness cases in Wuhan.[76] All features of the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus occur in related coronaviruses in nature.[77] Outside the human body, the virus is killed by household soap, which bursts its protective bubble.[26]
SARS-CoV-2 is closely related to the original SARS-CoV.[78] It is thought to have a zoonotic origin. Genetic analysis has revealed that the coronavirus genetically clusters with the genus Betacoronavirus, in subgenus Sarbecovirus (lineage B) together with two bat-derived strains. It is 96% identical at the whole genome level to other bat coronavirus samples (BatCov RaTG13).[47] In February 2020, Chinese researchers found that there is only one amino acid difference in the binding domain of the S protein between the coronaviruses from pangolins and those from humans; however, whole-genome comparison to date found that at most 92% of genetic material was shared between pangolin coronavirus and SARS-CoV-2, which is insufficient to prove pangolins to be the intermediate host.[79]
Pathophysiology
The lungs are the organs most affected by COVID‑19 because the virus accesses host cells via the enzyme angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), which is most abundant in type II alveolar cells of the lungs. The virus uses a special surface glycoprotein called a "spike" (peplomer) to connect to ACE2 and enter the host cell.[80] The density of ACE2 in each tissue correlates with the severity of the disease in that tissue and some have suggested that decreasing ACE2 activity might be protective,[81][82] though another view is that increasing ACE2 using angiotensin II receptor blocker medications could be protective and these hypotheses need to be tested.[83] As the alveolar disease progresses, respiratory failure might develop and death may follow.[82]
The virus also affects gastrointestinal organs as ACE2 is abundantly expressed in the glandular cells of gastric, duodenal and rectal epithelium[84] as well as endothelial cells and enterocytes of the small intestine.[85]
ACE2 is present in the brain, and there is growing evidence of neurological manifestations in people with COVID‑19. It is not certain if the virus can directly infect the brain by crossing the barriers that separate the circulation of the brain and the general circulation. Other coronaviruses are able to infect the brain via a synaptic route to the respiratory centre in the medulla, through mechanoreceptors like pulmonary stretch receptors and chemoreceptors (primarily central chemoreceptors) within the lungs.[medical citation needed] It is possible that dysfunction within the respiratory centre further worsens the ARDS seen in COVID‑19 patients. Common neurological presentations include a loss of smell, headaches, nausea, and vomiting. Encephalopathy has been noted to occur in some patients (and confirmed with imaging), with some reports of detection of the virus after cerebrospinal fluid assays although the presence of oligoclonal bands seems to be a common denominator in these patients.[86]
The virus can cause acute myocardial injury and chronic damage to the cardiovascular system.[87] An acute cardiac injury was found in 12% of infected people admitted to the hospital in Wuhan, China,[88] and is more frequent in severe disease.[89] Rates of cardiovascular symptoms are high, owing to the systemic inflammatory response and immune system disorders during disease progression, but acute myocardial injuries may also be related to ACE2 receptors in the heart.[87] ACE2 receptors are highly expressed in the heart and are involved in heart function.[87][90] A high incidence of thrombosis (31%) and venous thromboembolism (25%) have been found in ICU patients with COVID‑19 infections and may be related to poor prognosis.[91][92] Blood vessel dysfunction and clot formation (as suggested by high D-dimer levels) are thought to play a significant role in mortality, incidences of clots leading to pulmonary embolisms, and ischaemic events within the brain have been noted as complications leading to death in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2. Infection appears to set off a chain of vasoconstrictive responses within the body, constriction of blood vessels within the pulmonary circulation has also been posited as a mechanism in which oxygenation decreases alongside with the presentation of viral pneumonia.[93]
Another common cause of death is complications related to the kidneys[93]—SARS-CoV-2 directly infects kidney cells, as confirmed in post-mortem studies. Acute kidney injury is a common complication and cause of death; this is more significant in patients with already compromised kidney function, especially in people with pre-existing chronic conditions such as hypertension and diabetes which specifically cause nephropathy in the long run.[94]
Autopsies of people who died of COVID‑19 have found diffuse alveolar damage (DAD), and lymphocyte-containing inflammatory infiltrates within the lung.[95]
Immunopathology
Although SARS-COV-2 has a tropism for ACE2-expressing epithelial cells of the respiratory tract, patients with severe COVID‑19 have symptoms of systemic hyperinflammation. Clinical laboratory findings of elevated IL-2, IL-7, IL-6, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), interferon-γ inducible protein 10 (IP-10), monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1), macrophage inflammatory protein 1-α (MIP-1α), and tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) indicative of cytokine release syndrome (CRS) suggest an underlying immunopathology.[96]
Additionally, people with COVID‑19 and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) have classical serum biomarkers of CRS, including elevated C-reactive protein (CRP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), D-dimer, and ferritin.[97]
Systemic inflammation results in vasodilation, allowing inflammatory lymphocytic and monocytic infiltration of the lung and the heart. In particular, pathogenic GM-CSF-secreting T-cells were shown to correlate with the recruitment of inflammatory IL-6-secreting monocytes and severe lung pathology in COVID‑19 patients.[98] Lymphocytic infiltrates have also been reported at autopsy.[95]
Diagnosis
Main article: COVID-19 testing
Demonstration of a nasopharyngeal swab for COVID-19 testing
CDC rRT-PCR test kit for COVID-19[99]
The WHO has published several testing protocols for the disease.[100] The standard method of testing is real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR).[101] The test is typically done on respiratory samples obtained by a nasopharyngeal swab; however, a nasal swab or sputum sample may also be used.[25][102] Results are generally available within a few hours to two days.[103][104] Blood tests can be used, but these require two blood samples taken two weeks apart, and the results have little immediate value.[105] Chinese scientists were able to isolate a strain of the coronavirus and publish the genetic sequence so laboratories across the world could independently develop polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests to detect infection by the virus.[9][106][107] As of 4 April 2020, antibody tests (which may detect active infections and whether a person had been infected in the past) were in development, but not yet widely used.[108][109][110] The Chinese experience with testing has shown the accuracy is only 60 to 70%.[111] The FDA in the United States approved the first point-of-care test on 21 March 2020 for use at the end of that month.[112]
Diagnostic guidelines released by Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University suggested methods for detecting infections based upon clinical features and epidemiological risk. These involved identifying people who had at least two of the following symptoms in addition to a history of travel to Wuhan or contact with other infected people: fever, imaging features of pneumonia, normal or reduced white blood cell count, or reduced lymphocyte count.[113]
A study asked hospitalised COVID‑19 patients to cough into a sterile container, thus producing a saliva sample, and detected the virus in eleven of twelve patients using RT-PCR. This technique has the potential of being quicker than a swab and involving less risk to health care workers (collection at home or in the car).[64]
Along with laboratory testing, chest CT scans may be helpful to diagnose COVID-19 in individuals with a high clinical suspicion of infection but are not recommended for routine screening.[26][27] Bilateral multilobar ground-glass opacities with a peripheral, asymmetric, and posterior distribution are common in early infection.[26] Subpleural dominance, crazy paving (lobular septal thickening with variable alveolar filling), and consolidation may appear as the disease progresses.[26][114]
In late 2019, WHO assigned the emergency ICD-10 disease codes U07.1 for deaths from lab-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection and U07.2 for deaths from clinically or epidemiologically diagnosed COVID‑19 without lab-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection.[115]
Typical CT imaging findings
CT imaging of rapid progression stage
Pathology
Few data are available about microscopic lesions and the pathophysiology of COVID‑19.[116][117] The main pathological findings at autopsy are:
Macroscopy: pleurisy, pericarditis, lung consolidation and pulmonary oedema
Four types of severity of viral pneumonia can be observed:
minor pneumonia: minor serous exudation, minor fibrin exudation
mild pneumonia: pulmonary oedema, pneumocyte hyperplasia, large atypical pneumocytes, interstitial inflammation with lymphocytic infiltration and multinucleated giant cell formation
severe pneumonia: diffuse alveolar damage (DAD) with diffuse alveolar exudates. DAD is the cause of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and severe hypoxemia.
healing pneumonia: organisation of exudates in alveolar cavities and pulmonary interstitial fibrosis
plasmocytosis in BAL[118]
Blood: disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC);[119] leukoerythroblastic reaction[120]
Liver: microvesicular steatosis
Prevention
See also: 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic § Prevention, flatten the curve, and workplace hazard controls for COVID-19
Progressively stronger mitigation efforts to reduce the number of active cases at any given time—known as "flattening the curve"—allows healthcare services to better manage the same volume of patients.[121][122][123] Likewise, progressively greater increases in healthcare capacity—called raising the line—such as by increasing bed count, personnel, and equipment, helps to meet increased demand.[124]
Mitigation attempts that are inadequate in strictness or duration—such as premature relaxation of distancing rules or stay-at-home orders—can allow a resurgence after the initial surge and mitigation.[122][125]
Preventive measures to reduce the chances of infection include staying at home, avoiding crowded places, keeping distance from others, washing hands with soap and water often and for at least 20 seconds, practising good respiratory hygiene, and avoiding touching the eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands.[126][127][128] The CDC recommends covering the mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing and recommends using the inside of the elbow if no tissue is available.[126] Proper hand hygiene after any cough or sneeze is encouraged.[126] The CDC has recommended the use of cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain, in part to limit transmission by asymptomatic individuals.[129] The U.S. National Institutes of Health guidelines do not recommend any medication for prevention of COVID‑19, before or after exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, outside of the setting of a clinical trial.[130]
Social distancing strategies aim to reduce contact of infected persons with large groups by closing schools and workplaces, restricting travel, and cancelling large public gatherings.[131] Distancing guidelines also include that people stay at least 6 feet (1.8 m) apart.[132] There is no medication known to be effective at preventing COVID‑19.[133] After the implementation of social distancing and stay-at-home orders, many regions have been able to sustain an effective transmission rate ("Rt") of less than one, meaning the disease is in remission in those areas.[134]
As a vaccine is not expected until 2021 at the earliest,[135] a key part of managing COVID‑19 is trying to decrease the epidemic peak, known as "flattening the curve".[122] This is done by slowing the infection rate to decrease the risk of health services being overwhelmed, allowing for better treatment of current cases, and delaying additional cases until effective treatments or a vaccine become available.[122][125]
According to the WHO, the use of masks is recommended only if a person is coughing or sneezing or when one is taking care of someone with a suspected infection.[136] For the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) face masks "... could be considered especially when visiting busy closed spaces ..." but "... only as a complementary measure ..."[137] Several countries have recommended that healthy individuals wear face masks or cloth face coverings (like scarves or bandanas) at least in certain public settings, including China,[138] Hong Kong,[139] Spain,[140] Italy (Lombardy region),[141] and the United States.[129]
Those diagnosed with COVID‑19 or who believe they may be infected are advised by the CDC to stay home except to get medical care, call ahead before visiting a healthcare provider, wear a face mask before entering the healthcare provider's office and when in any room or vehicle with another person, cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue, regularly wash hands with soap and water and avoid sharing personal household items.[30][142] The CDC also recommends that individuals wash hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the toilet or when hands are visibly dirty, before eating and after blowing one's nose, coughing or sneezing. It further recommends using an alcohol-based hand sanitiser with at least 60% alcohol, but only when soap and water are not readily available.[126]
For areas where commercial hand sanitisers are not readily available, the WHO provides two formulations for local production. In these formulations, the antimicrobial activity arises from ethanol or isopropanol. Hydrogen peroxide is used to help eliminate bacterial spores in the alcohol; it is "not an active substance for hand antisepsis". Glycerol is added as a humectant.[143]
Prevention efforts are multiplicative, with effects far beyond that of a single spread. Each avoided case leads to more avoided cases down the line, which in turn can stop the outbreak in its tracks.
File:COVID19 W ENG.ogv
Handwashing instructions
Management
People are managed with supportive care, which may include fluid therapy, oxygen support, and supporting other affected vital organs.[144][145][146] The CDC recommends that those who suspect they carry the virus wear a simple face mask.[30] Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) has been used to address the issue of respiratory failure, but its benefits are still under consideration.[41][147] Personal hygiene and a healthy lifestyle and diet have been recommended to improve immunity.[148] Supportive treatments may be useful in those with mild symptoms at the early stage of infection.[149]
The WHO, the Chinese National Health Commission, and the United States' National Institutes of Health have published recommendations for taking care of people who are hospitalised with COVID‑19.[130][150][151] Intensivists and pulmonologists in the U.S. have compiled treatment recommendations from various agencies into a free resource, the IBCC.[152][153]
Medications
See also: Coronavirus disease 2019 § Research
As of April 2020, there is no specific treatment for COVID‑19.[6][133] Research is, however, ongoing. For symptoms, some medical professionals recommend paracetamol (acetaminophen) over ibuprofen for first-line use.[154][155][156] The WHO and NIH do not oppose the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen for symptoms,[130][157] and the FDA says currently there is no evidence that NSAIDs worsen COVID‑19 symptoms.[158]
While theoretical concerns have been raised about ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers, as of 19 March 2020, these are not sufficient to justify stopping these medications.[130][159][160][161] Steroids, such as methylprednisolone, are not recommended unless the disease is complicated by acute respiratory distress syndrome.[162][163]
Medications to prevent blood clotting have been suggested for treatment,[91] and anticoagulant therapy with low molecular weight heparin appears to be associated with better outcomes in severe COVID‐19 showing signs of coagulopathy (elevated D-dimer).[164]
Protective equipment
See also: COVID-19 related shortages
The CDC recommends four steps to putting on personal protective equipment (PPE).[165]
Precautions must be taken to minimise the risk of virus transmission, especially in healthcare settings when performing procedures that can generate aerosols, such as intubation or hand ventilation.[166] For healthcare professionals caring for people with COVID‑19, the CDC recommends placing the person in an Airborne Infection Isolation Room (AIIR) in addition to using standard precautions, contact precautions, and airborne precautions.[167]
The CDC outlines the guidelines for the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the pandemic. The recommended gear is a PPE gown, respirator or facemask, eye protection, and medical gloves.[168][169]
When available, respirators (instead of facemasks) are preferred.[170] N95 respirators are approved for industrial settings but the FDA has authorised the masks for use under an Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA). They are designed to protect from airborne particles like dust but effectiveness against a specific biological agent is not guaranteed for off-label uses.[171] When masks are not available, the CDC recommends using face shields or, as a last resort, homemade masks.[172]
Mechanical ventilation
Most cases of COVID‑19 are not severe enough to require mechanical ventilation or alternatives, but a percentage of cases are.[173][174] The type of respiratory support for individuals with COVID‑19 related respiratory failure is being actively studied for people in the hospital, with some evidence that intubation can be avoided with a high flow nasal cannula or bi-level positive airway pressure.[175] Whether either of these two leads to the same benefit for people who are critically ill is not known.[176] Some doctors prefer staying with invasive mechanical ventilation when available because this technique limits the spread of aerosol particles compared to a high flow nasal cannula.[173]
Severe cases are most common in older adults (those older than 60 years,[173] and especially those older than 80 years).[177] Many developed countries do not have enough hospital beds per capita, which limits a health system's capacity to handle a sudden spike in the number of COVID‑19 cases severe enough to require hospitalisation.[178] This limited capacity is a significant driver behind calls to flatten the curve.[178] One study in China found 5% were admitted to intensive care units, 2.3% needed mechanical support of ventilation, and 1.4% died.[41] In China, approximately 30% of people in hospital with COVID‑19 are eventually admitted to ICU.[4]
Acute respiratory distress syndrome
Main article: Acute respiratory distress syndrome
Mechanical ventilation becomes more complex as acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) develops in COVID‑19 and oxygenation becomes increasingly difficult.[179] Ventilators capable of pressure control modes and high PEEP[180] are needed to maximise oxygen delivery while minimising the risk of ventilator-associated lung injury and pneumothorax.[181] High PEEP may not be available on older ventilators.
Options for ARDS[179]
TherapyRecommendations
High-flow nasal oxygenFor SpO2 <93%. May prevent the need for intubation and ventilation
Tidal volume6mL per kg and can be reduced to 4mL/kg
Plateau airway pressureKeep below 30 cmH2O if possible (high respiratory rate (35 per minute) may be required)
Positive end-expiratory pressureModerate to high levels
Prone positioningFor worsening oxygenation
Fluid managementGoal is a negative balance of 0.5–1.0L per day
AntibioticsFor secondary bacterial infections
GlucocorticoidsNot recommended
Experimental treatment
See also: § Research
Research into potential treatments started in January 2020,[182] and several antiviral drugs are in clinical trials.[183][184] Remdesivir appears to be the most promising.[133] Although new medications may take until 2021 to develop,[185] several of the medications being tested are already approved for other uses or are already in advanced testing.[186] Antiviral medication may be tried in people with severe disease.[144] The WHO recommended volunteers take part in trials of the effectiveness and safety of potential treatments.[187]
The FDA has granted temporary authorisation to convalescent plasma as an experimental treatment in cases where the person's life is seriously or immediately threatened. It has not undergone the clinical studies needed to show it is safe and effective for the disease.[188][189][190]
Information technology
See also: Contact tracing and Government by algorithm
In February 2020, China launched a mobile app to deal with the disease outbreak.[191] Users are asked to enter their name and ID number. The app can detect 'close contact' using surveillance data and therefore a potential risk of infection. Every user can also check the status of three other users. If a potential risk is detected, the app not only recommends self-quarantine, it also alerts local health officials.[192]
Big data analytics on cellphone data, facial recognition technology, mobile phone tracking, and artificial intelligence are used to track infected people and people whom they contacted in South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore.[193][194] In March 2020, the Israeli government enabled security agencies to track mobile phone data of people supposed to have coronavirus. The measure was taken to enforce quarantine and protect those who may come into contact with infected citizens.[195] Also in March 2020, Deutsche Telekom shared aggregated phone location data with the German federal government agency, Robert Koch Institute, to research and prevent the spread of the virus.[196] Russia deployed facial recognition technology to detect quarantine breakers.[197] Italian regional health commissioner Giulio Gallera said he has been informed by mobile phone operators that "40% of people are continuing to move around anyway".[198] German government conducted a 48 hours weekend hackathon with more than 42.000 participants.[199][200] Two million people in the UK used an app developed in March 2020 by King's College London and Zoe to track people with COVID‑19 symptoms.[201] Also, the president of Estonia, Kersti Kaljulaid, made a global call for creative solutions against the spread of coronavirus.[202]
Psychological support
See also: Mental health during the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic
Individuals may experience distress from quarantine, travel restrictions, side effects of treatment, or fear of the infection itself. To address these concerns, the National Health Commission of China published a national guideline for psychological crisis intervention on 27 January 2020.[203][204]
The Lancet published a 14-page call for action focusing on the UK and stated conditions were such that a range of mental health issues was likely to become more common. BBC quoted Rory O'Connor in saying, "Increased social isolation, loneliness, health anxiety, stress and an economic downturn are a perfect storm to harm people's mental health and wellbeing."[205][206]
Prognosis
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The severity of diagnosed cases in China
The severity of diagnosed COVID-19 cases in China[207]
Case fatality rates for COVID-19 by age by country.
Case fatality rates by age group:
China, as of 11 February 2020[208]
South Korea, as of 15 April 2020[209]
Spain, as of 24 April 2020[210]
Italy, as of 23 April 2020[211]
Case fatality rate depending on other health problems
Case fatality rate in China depending on other health problems. Data through 11 February 2020.[208]
Case fatality rate by country and number of cases
The number of deaths vs total cases by country and approximate case fatality rate[212]
The severity of COVID‑19 varies. The disease may take a mild course with few or no symptoms, resembling other common upper respiratory diseases such as the common cold. Mild cases typically recover within two weeks, while those with severe or critical diseases may take three to six weeks to recover. Among those who have died, the time from symptom onset to death has ranged from two to eight weeks.[47]
Children make up a small proportion of reported cases, with about 1% of cases being under 10 years, and 4% aged 10-19 years.[22] They are likely to have milder symptoms and a lower chance of severe disease than adults; in those younger than 50 years, the risk of death is less than 0.5%, while in those older than 70 it is more than 8%.[213][214][215] Pregnant women may be at higher risk for severe infection with COVID-19 based on data from other similar viruses, like SARS and MERS, but data for COVID-19 is lacking.[216][217] In China, children acquired infections mainly through close contact with their parents or other family members who lived in Wuhan or had traveled there.[213]
In some people, COVID‑19 may affect the lungs causing pneumonia. In those most severely affected, COVID-19 may rapidly progress to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) causing respiratory failure, septic shock, or multi-organ failure.[218][219] Complications associated with COVID‑19 include sepsis, abnormal clotting, and damage to the heart, kidneys, and liver. Clotting abnormalities, specifically an increase in prothrombin time, have been described in 6% of those admitted to hospital with COVID-19, while abnormal kidney function is seen in 4% of this group.[220] Approximately 20-30% of people who present with COVID‑19 demonstrate elevated liver enzymes (transaminases).[133] Liver injury as shown by blood markers of liver damage is frequently seen in severe cases.[221]
Some studies have found that the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) may be helpful in early screening for severe illness.[222]
Most of those who die of COVID‑19 have pre-existing (underlying) conditions, including hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and cardiovascular disease.[223] The Istituto Superiore di Sanità reported that out of 8.8% of deaths where medical charts were available for review, 97.2% of sampled patients had at least one comorbidity with the average patient having 2.7 diseases.[224] According to the same report, the median time between the onset of symptoms and death was ten days, with five being spent hospitalised. However, patients transferred to an ICU had a median time of seven days between hospitalisation and death.[224] In a study of early cases, the median time from exhibiting initial symptoms to death was 14 days, with a full range of six to 41 days.[225] In a study by the National Health Commission (NHC) of China, men had a death rate of 2.8% while women had a death rate of 1.7%.[226] Histopathological examinations of post-mortem lung samples show diffuse alveolar damage with cellular fibromyxoid exudates in both lungs. Viral cytopathic changes were observed in the pneumocytes. The lung picture resembled acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).[47] In 11.8% of the deaths reported by the National Health Commission of China, heart damage was noted by elevated levels of troponin or cardiac arrest.[49] According to March data from the United States, 89% of those hospitalised had preexisting conditions.[227]
The availability of medical resources and the socioeconomics of a region may also affect mortality.[228] Estimates of the mortality from the condition vary because of those regional differences,[229] but also because of methodological difficulties. The under-counting of mild cases can cause the mortality rate to be overestimated.[230] However, the fact that deaths are the result of cases contracted in the past can mean the current mortality rate is underestimated.[231][232] Smokers were 1.4 times more likely to have severe symptoms of COVID‑19 and approximately 2.4 times more likely to require intensive care or die compared to non-smokers.[233]
Concerns have been raised about long-term sequelae of the disease. The Hong Kong Hospital Authority found a drop of 20% to 30% in lung capacity in some people who recovered from the disease, and lung scans suggested organ damage.[234] This may also lead to post-intensive care syndrome following recovery.[235]
Case fatality rates (%) by age and country
Age0–910–1920–2930–3940–4950–5960–6970–7980-8990+
China as of 11 February[208]0.00.20.20.20.41.33.68.014.8
Denmark as of 25 April[236]0.24.515.524.940.7
Italy as of 23 April[211]0.20.00.10.40.92.610.024.930.826.1
Netherlands as of 17 April[237]0.00.30.10.20.51.57.623.230.029.3
Portugal as of 24 April[238]0.00.00.00.00.30.62.88.516.5
S. Korea as of 15 April[209]0.00.00.00.10.20.72.59.722.2
Spain as of 24 April[210]0.30.40.30.30.61.34.413.220.320.1
Switzerland as of 25 April[239]0.90.00.00.10.00.52.710.124.0
Case fatality rates (%) by age in the United States
Age0–1920–4445–5455–6465–7475–8485+
United States as of 16 March[240]0.00.1–0.20.5–0.81.4–2.62.7–4.94.3–10.510.4–27.3
Note: The lower bound includes all cases. The upper bound excludes cases that were missing data.
Estimate of infection fatality rates and probability of severe disease course (%) by age based on cases from China[241]
0–910–1920–2930–3940–4950–5960–6970–7980+
Severe disease0.0
(0.0–0.0)0.04
(0.02–0.08)1.0
(0.62–2.1)3.4
(2.0–7.0)4.3
(2.5–8.7)8.2
(4.9–17)11
(7.0–24)17
(9.9–34)18
(11–38)
Death0.0016
(0.00016–0.025)0.0070
(0.0015–0.050)0.031
(0.014–0.092)0.084
(0.041–0.19)0.16
(0.076–0.32)0.60
(0.34–1.3)1.9
(1.1–3.9)4.3
(2.5–8.4)7.8
(3.8–13)
Total infection fatality rate is estimated to be 0.66% (0.39–1.3). Infection fatality rate is fatality per all infected individuals, regardless of whether they were diagnosed or had any symptoms. Numbers in parentheses are 95% credible intervals for the estimates.
Reinfection
As of March 2020, it was unknown if past infection provides effective and long-term immunity in people who recover from the disease.[242] Immunity is seen as likely, based on the behaviour of other coronaviruses,[243] but cases in which recovery from COVID‑19 have been followed by positive tests for coronavirus at a later date have been reported.[244][245][246][247] These cases are believed to be worsening of a lingering infection rather than re-infection.[247]
History
Main article: Timeline of the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic
The virus is thought to be natural and has an animal origin,[77] through spillover infection.[248] The actual origin is unknown, but by December 2019 the spread of infection was almost entirely driven by human-to-human transmission.[208][249] A study of the first 41 cases of confirmed COVID‑19, published in January 2020 in The Lancet, revealed the earliest date of onset of symptoms as 1 December 2019.[250][251][252] Official publications from the WHO reported the earliest onset of symptoms as 8 December 2019.[253] Human-to-human transmission was confirmed by the WHO and Chinese authorities by 20 January 2020.[254][255]
Epidemiology
Main article: 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic
Several measures are commonly used to quantify mortality.[256] These numbers vary by region and over time and are influenced by the volume of testing, healthcare system quality, treatment options, time since the initial outbreak, and population characteristics such as age, sex, and overall health.[257]
The death-to-case ratio reflects the number of deaths divided by the number of diagnosed cases within a given time interval. Based on Johns Hopkins University statistics, the global death-to-case ratio is 7.0% (203,044/2,899,830) as of 26 April 2020.[7] The number varies by region.[258]
Other measures include the case fatality rate (CFR), which reflects the percent of diagnosed individuals who die from a disease, and the infection fatality rate (IFR), which reflects the percent of infected individuals (diagnosed and undiagnosed) who die from a disease. These statistics are not time-bound and follow a specific population from infection through case resolution. Many academics have attempted to calculate these numbers for specific populations.[259]
Total confirmed cases over time
Total deaths over time
Total confirmed cases of COVID‑19 per million people, 10 April 2020[260]
Total confirmed deaths due to COVID‑19 per million people, 10 April 2020[261]
Infection fatality rate
Our World in Data states that as of March 25, 2020, the infection fatality rate (IFR) cannot be accurately calculated.[262] In February, the World Health Organization estimated the IFR at 0.94%, with a confidence interval between 0.37 percent to 2.9 percent.[263] The University of Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (CEBM) estimated a global CFR of 0.72 percent and IFR of 0.1 percent to 0.36 percent.[264] According to CEBM, random antibody testing in Germany suggested an IFR of 0.37 percent there.[264] Firm lower limits to local infection fatality rates were established, such as in Bergamo province, where 0.57% of the population has died, leading to a minimum IFR of 0.57% in the province. This population fatality rate (PFR) minimum increases as more people get infected and run through their disease.[265][266] Similarly, as of April 22 in the New York City area, there were 15,411 deaths confirmed from COVID-19, and 19,200 excess deaths.[267] Very recently, the first results of antibody testing have come in, but there are no valid scientific reports based on them available yet. A Bloomberg Opinion piece provides a survey.[268][269]
Sex differences
Main article: Gendered impact of the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic
The impact of the pandemic and its mortality rate are different for men and women.[270] Mortality is higher in men in studies conducted in China and Italy.[271][272][273] The highest risk for men is in their 50s, with the gap between men and women closing only at 90.[273] In China, the death rate was 2.8 percent for men and 1.7 percent for women.[273] The exact reasons for this sex-difference are not known, but genetic and behavioural factors could be a reason.[270] Sex-based immunological differences, a lower prevalence of smoking in women, and men developing co-morbid conditions such as hypertension at a younger age than women could have contributed to the higher mortality in men.[273] In Europe, of those infected with COVID‑19, 57% were men; of those infected with COVID‑19 who also died, 72% were men.[274] As of April 2020, the U.S. government is not tracking sex-related data of COVID‑19 infections.[275] Research has shown that viral illnesses like Ebola, HIV, influenza, and SARS affect men and women differently.[275] A higher percentage of health workers, particularly nurses, are women, and they have a higher chance of being exposed to the virus.[276] School closures, lockdowns, and reduced access to healthcare following the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic may differentially affect the genders and possibly exaggerate existing gender disparity.[270][277]
Society and culture
Name
During the initial outbreak in Wuhan, China, the virus and disease were commonly referred to as "coronavirus" and "Wuhan coronavirus",[278][279][280] with the disease sometimes called "Wuhan pneumonia".[281][282] In the past, many diseases have been named after geographical locations, such as the Spanish flu,[283] Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, and Zika virus.[284]
In January 2020, the World Health Organisation recommended 2019-nCov[285] and 2019-nCoV acute respiratory disease[286] as interim names for the virus and disease per 2015 guidance and international guidelines against using geographical locations (e.g. Wuhan, China), animal species or groups of people in disease and virus names to prevent social stigma.[287][288][289]
The official names COVID‑19 and SARS-CoV-2 were issued by the WHO on 11 February 2020.[290] WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus explained: CO for corona, VI for virus, D for disease and 19 for when the outbreak was first identified (31 December 2019).[291] The WHO additionally uses "the COVID‑19 virus" and "the virus responsible for COVID‑19" in public communications.[290] Both the disease and virus are commonly referred to as "coronavirus" in the media and public discourse.
Misinformation
Main article: Misinformation related to the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic
After the initial outbreak of COVID‑19, conspiracy theories, misinformation, and disinformation emerged regarding the origin, scale, prevention, treatment, and other aspects of the disease and rapidly spread online.[292][293][294][295]
Protests
Beginning April 17, 2020, news media began reporting on a wave of demonstrations protesting against state-mandated quarantine restrictions in in Michigan, Ohio, and Kentucky.[296][297]
Other animals
Humans appear to be capable of spreading the virus to some other animals. A domestic cat in Liège, Belgium, tested positive after it started showing symptoms (diarrhoea, vomiting, shortness of breath) a week later than its owner, who was also positive.[298] Tigers at the Bronx Zoo in New York, United States, tested positive for the virus and showed symptoms of COVID‑19, including a dry cough and loss of appetite.[299]
A study on domesticated animals inoculated with the virus found that cats and ferrets appear to be "highly susceptible" to the disease, while dogs appear to be less susceptible, with lower levels of viral replication. The study failed to find evidence of viral replication in pigs, ducks, and chickens.[300]
Research
Main article: COVID-19 drug development
No medication or vaccine is approved to treat the disease.[186] International research on vaccines and medicines in COVID‑19 is underway by government organisations, academic groups, and industry researchers.[301][302] In March, the World Health Organisation initiated the "SOLIDARITY Trial" to assess the treatment effects of four existing antiviral compounds with the most promise of efficacy.[303]
Vaccine
Main article: COVID-19 vaccine
There is no available vaccine, but various agencies are actively developing vaccine candidates. Previous work on SARS-CoV is being used because both SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 use the ACE2 receptor to enter human cells.[304] Three vaccination strategies are being investigated. First, researchers aim to build a whole virus vaccine. The use of such a virus, be it inactive or dead, aims to elicit a prompt immune response of the human body to a new infection with COVID‑19. A second strategy, subunit vaccines, aims to create a vaccine that sensitises the immune system to certain subunits of the virus. In the case of SARS-CoV-2, such research focuses on the S-spike protein that helps the virus intrude the ACE2 enzyme receptor. A third strategy is that of the nucleic acid vaccines (DNA or RNA vaccines, a novel technique for creating a vaccination). Experimental vaccines from any of these strategies would have to be tested for safety and efficacy.[305]
On 16 March 2020, the first clinical trial of a vaccine started with four volunteers in Seattle, United States. The vaccine contains a harmless genetic code copied from the virus that causes the disease.[306]
Antibody-dependent enhancement has been suggested as a potential challenge for vaccine development for SARS-COV-2, but this is controversial.[307]
Medications
Main article: COVID-19 drug repurposing research
At least 29 phase II–IV efficacy trials in COVID‑19 were concluded in March 2020 or scheduled to provide results in April from hospitals in China.[308][309] There are more than 300 active clinical trials underway as of April 2020.[133] Seven trials were evaluating already approved treatments, including four studies on hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine.[309] Repurposed antiviral drugs make up most of the Chinese research, with nine phase III trials on remdesivir across several countries due to report by the end of April.[308][309] Other candidates in trials include vasodilators, corticosteroids, immune therapies, lipoic acid, bevacizumab, and recombinant angiotensin-converting enzyme 2.[309]
The COVID‑19 Clinical Research Coalition has goals to 1) facilitate rapid reviews of clinical trial proposals by ethics committees and national regulatory agencies, 2) fast-track approvals for the candidate therapeutic compounds, 3) ensure standardised and rapid analysis of emerging efficacy and safety data and 4) facilitate sharing of clinical trial outcomes before publication.[310][311]
Several existing medications are being evaluated for the treatment of COVID‑19,[186] including remdesivir, chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir/ritonavir, and lopinavir/ritonavir combined with interferon beta.[303][312] There is tentative evidence for efficacy by remdesivir, as of March 2020.[313][314] Clinical improvement was observed in patients treated with compassionate-use remdesivir.[315] Remdesivir inhibits SARS-CoV-2 in vitro.[316] Phase III clinical trials are underway in the U.S., China, and Italy.[186][308][317]
In 2020, a trial found that lopinavir/ritonavir was ineffective in the treatment of severe illness.[318] Nitazoxanide has been recommended for further in vivo study after demonstrating low concentration inhibition of SARS-CoV-2.[316]
There are mixed results as of 3 April 2020 as to the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID‑19, with some studies showing little or no improvement.[319][320] The studies of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine with or without azithromycin have major limitations that have prevented the medical community from embracing these therapies without further study.[133]
Oseltamivir does not inhibit SARS-CoV-2 in vitro and has no known role in COVID‑19 treatment.[133]
Anti-cytokine storm
Cytokine release syndrome (CRS) can be a complication in the later stages of severe COVID‑19. There is preliminary evidence that hydroxychloroquine may have anti-cytokine storm properties.[321]
Tocilizumab has been included in treatment guidelines by China's National Health Commission after a small study was completed.[322][323] It is undergoing a phase 2 non-randomised trial at the national level in Italy after showing positive results in people with severe disease.[324][325] Combined with a serum ferritin blood test to identify cytokine storms, it is meant to counter such developments, which are thought to be the cause of death in some affected people.[326][327][328] The interleukin-6 receptor antagonist was approved by the FDA to undergo a phase III clinical trial assessing the medication's impact on COVID‑19 based on retrospective case studies for the treatment of steroid-refractory cytokine release syndrome induced by a different cause, CAR T cell therapy, in 2017.[329] To date, there is no randomised, controlled evidence that tocilizumab is an efficacious treatment for CRS. Prophylactic tocilizumab has been shown to increase serum IL-6 levels by saturating the IL-6R, driving IL-6 across the blood-brain barrier, and exacerbating neurotoxicity while having no impact on the incidence of CRS.[330]
Lenzilumab, an anti-GM-CSF monoclonal antibody, is protective in murine models for CAR T cell-induced CRS and neurotoxicity and is a viable therapeutic option due to the observed increase of pathogenic GM-CSF secreting T-cells in hospitalised patients with COVID‑19.[331]
The Feinstein Institute of Northwell Health announced in March a study on "a human antibody that may prevent the activity" of IL-6.[332]
Passive antibodies
Transferring purified and concentrated antibodies produced by the immune systems of those who have recovered from COVID‑19 to people who need them is being investigated as a non-vaccine method of passive immunisation.[333] This strategy was tried for SARS with inconclusive results.[333] Viral neutralisation is the anticipated mechanism of action by which passive antibody therapy can mediate defence against SARS-CoV-2. Other mechanisms, however, such as antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity and/or phagocytosis, may be possible.[333] Other forms of passive antibody therapy, for example, using manufactured monoclonal antibodies, are in development.[333] Production of convalescent serum, which consists of the liquid portion of the blood from recovered patients and contains antibodies specific to this virus, could be increased for quicker deployment.[334]
Adrián Villar Rojas - The Most Beautiful of All Mothers, Site-specific installation, organic and inorganic materials
Büyükada, Prince Islands / Adalar
14th Istanbul Biennial, Saltwater / Tuzlu su
www.artsy.net/artwork/adrian-villar-rojas-the-most-beauti...
A site specific work by Patrick Dougherty. Built of locally collected red maple and sweet gum saplings the whimsical installation was built on site in a two story gallery space overlooking the garden of the Gibbs Museum in Charleston, South Carolina. The spire look forms were inspired by the distinctive church spires of Charleston.
When you wait for something specific, and that specific thing never happens...that is where faith comes in? Yes, where hope is abundantly present. However, what a blessing to have signs. Creation, that confronts us in every direction and comes (pours out) from within...now that is a grace-to see the light in the darkness, the beauty in the silence-heaven and earth become one reality...
So yes, in the context of the big picture, the specific things that we wait for become bearable. The gains and the losses, the births and the deaths...the tides come and go...and we inhale and we exhale...and the currents of time carry us thru space.
-rc
/**********************
Klaus Schulze - The Theme: The Rhodes Elegy [HQ]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beamish_Museum
Beamish Museum is the first regional open-air museum, in England, located at Beamish, near the town of Stanley, in County Durham, England. Beamish pioneered the concept of a living museum. By displaying duplicates or replaceable items, it was also an early example of the now commonplace practice of museums allowing visitors to touch objects.
The museum's guiding principle is to preserve an example of everyday life in urban and rural North East England at the climax of industrialisation in the early 20th century. Much of the restoration and interpretation is specific to the late Victorian and Edwardian eras, together with portions of countryside under the influence of industrial revolution from 1825. On its 350 acres (140 ha) estate it uses a mixture of translocated, original and replica buildings, a large collection of artefacts, working vehicles and equipment, as well as livestock and costumed interpreters.
The museum has received a number of awards since it opened to visitors in 1972 and has influenced other living museums. It is an educational resource, and also helps to preserve some traditional and rare north-country livestock breeds.
History
Genesis
In 1958, days after starting as director of the Bowes Museum, inspired by Scandinavian folk museums, and realising the North East's traditional industries and communities were disappearing, Frank Atkinson presented a report to Durham County Council urging that a collection of items of everyday history on a large scale should begin as soon as possible, so that eventually an open air museum could be established. As well as objects, Atkinson was also aiming to preserve the region's customs and dialect. He stated the new museum should "attempt to make the history of the region live" and illustrate the way of life of ordinary people. He hoped the museum would be run by, be about and exist for the local populace, desiring them to see the museum as theirs, featuring items collected from them.
Fearing it was now almost too late, Atkinson adopted a policy of "unselective collecting" — "you offer it to us and we will collect it." Donations ranged in size from small items to locomotives and shops, and Atkinson initially took advantage of a surplus of space available in the 19th-century French chateau-style building housing the Bowes Museum to store items donated for the open air museum. With this space soon filled, a former British Army tank depot at Brancepeth was taken over, although in just a short time its entire complement of 22 huts and hangars had been filled, too.
In 1966, a working party was established to set up a museum "for the purpose of studying, collecting, preserving and exhibiting buildings, machinery, objects and information illustrating the development of industry and the way of life of the north of England", and it selected Beamish Hall, having been vacated by the National Coal Board, as a suitable location.
Establishment and expansion
In August 1970, with Atkinson appointed as its first full-time director together with three staff members, the museum was first established by moving some of the collections into the hall. In 1971, an introductory exhibition, "Museum in the Making" opened at the hall.
The museum was opened to visitors on its current site for the first time in 1972, with the first translocated buildings (the railway station and colliery winding engine) being erected the following year. The first trams began operating on a short demonstration line in 1973. The Town station was formally opened in 1976, the same year the reconstruction of the colliery winding engine house was completed, and the miners' cottages were relocated. Opening of the drift mine as an exhibit followed in 1979.
In 1975 the museum was visited by the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and by Anne, Princess Royal, in 2002. In 2006, as the Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England, The Duke of Kent visited, to open the town masonic lodge.
With the Co-op having opened in 1984, the town area was officially opened in 1985. The pub had opened in the same year, with Ravensworth Terrace having been reconstructed from 1980 to 1985. The newspaper branch office had also been built in the mid-1980s. Elsewhere, the farm on the west side of the site (which became Home Farm) opened in 1983. The present arrangement of visitors entering from the south was introduced in 1986.
At the beginning of the 1990s, further developments in the Pit Village were opened, the chapel in 1990, and the board school in 1992. The whole tram circle was in operation by 1993.[8] Further additions to the Town came in 1994 with the opening of the sweet shop and motor garage, followed by the bank in 1999. The first Georgian component of the museum arrived when Pockerley Old Hall opened in 1995, followed by the Pockerley Waggonway in 2001.
In the early 2000s two large modern buildings were added, to augment the museum's operations and storage capacity - the Regional Resource Centre on the west side opened in 2001, followed by the Regional Museums Store next to the railway station in 2002. Due to its proximity, the latter has been cosmetically presented as Beamish Waggon and Iron Works. Additions to display areas came in the form of the Masonic lodge (2006) and the Lamp Cabin in the Colliery (2009). In 2010, the entrance building and tea rooms were refurbished.
Into the 2010s, further buildings were added - the fish and chip shop (opened 2011)[28] band hall (opened 2013) and pit pony stables (built 2013/14) in the Pit Village, plus a bakery (opened 2013) and chemist and photographers (opened 2016) being added to the town. St Helen's Church, in the Georgian landscape, opened in November 2015.
Remaking Beamish
A major development, named 'Remaking Beamish', was approved by Durham County Council in April 2016, with £10.7m having been raised from the Heritage Lottery Fund and £3.3m from other sources.
As of September 2022, new exhibits as part of this project have included a quilter's cottage, a welfare hall, 1950s terrace, recreation park, bus depot, and 1950s farm (all discussed in the relevant sections of this article). The coming years will see replicas of aged miners' homes from South Shields, a cinema from Ryhope, and social housing will feature a block of four relocated Airey houses, prefabricated concrete homes originally designed by Sir Edwin Airey, which previously stood in Kibblesworth. Then-recently vacated and due for demolition, they were instead offered to the museum by The Gateshead Housing Company and accepted in 2012.
Museum site
The approximately 350-acre (1.4 km2) current site, once belonging to the Eden and Shafto families, is a basin-shaped steep-sided valley with woodland areas, a river, some level ground and a south-facing aspect.
Visitors enter the site through an entrance arch formed by a steam hammer, across a former opencast mining site and through a converted stable block (from Greencroft, near Lanchester, County Durham).
Visitors can navigate the site via assorted marked footpaths, including adjacent (or near to) the entire tramway oval. According to the museum, it takes 20 minutes to walk at a relaxed pace from the entrance to the town. The tramway oval serves as both an exhibit and as a free means of transport around the site for visitors, with stops at the entrance (south), Home Farm (west), Pockerley (east) and the Town (north). Visitors can also use the museum's buses as a free form of transport between various parts of the museum. Although visitors can also ride on the Town railway and Pockerley Waggonway, these do not form part of the site's transport system (as they start and finish from the same platforms).
Governance
Beamish was the first English museum to be financed and administered by a consortium of county councils (Cleveland, Durham, Northumberland and Tyne and Wear) The museum is now operated as a registered charity, but continues to receive support from local authorities - Durham County Council, Sunderland City Council, Gateshead Council, South Tyneside Council and North Tyneside Council. The supporting Friends of Beamish organisation was established in 1968. Frank Atkinson retired as director in 1987. The museum has been 96% self-funding for some years (mainly from admission charges).
Sections of the museum
1913
The town area, officially opened in 1985, depicts chiefly Victorian buildings in an evolved urban setting of 1913.
Tramway
The Beamish Tramway is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long, with four passing loops. The line makes a circuit of the museum site forming an important element of the visitor transportation system.
The first trams began operating on a short demonstration line in 1973, with the whole circle in operation by 1993.[8] It represents the era of electric powered trams, which were being introduced to meet the needs of growing towns and cities across the North East from the late 1890s, replacing earlier horse drawn systems.
Bakery
Presented as Joseph Herron, Baker & Confectioner, the bakery was opened in 2013 and features working ovens which produce food for sale to visitors. A two-storey curved building, only the ground floor is used as the exhibit. A bakery has been included to represent the new businesses which sprang up to cater for the growing middle classes - the ovens being of the modern electric type which were growing in use. The building was sourced from Anfield Plain (which had a bakery trading as Joseph Herron), and was moved to Beamish in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The frontage features a stained glass from a baker's shop in South Shields. It also uses fittings from Stockton-on-Tees.
Motor garage
Presented as Beamish Motor & Cycle Works, the motor garage opened in 1994. Reflecting the custom nature of the early motor trade, where only one in 232 people owned a car in 1913, the shop features a showroom to the front (not accessible to visitors), with a garage area to the rear, accessed via the adjacent archway. The works is a replica of a typical garage of the era. Much of the museum's car, motorcycle and bicycle collection, both working and static, is stored in the garage. The frontage has two storeys, but the upper floor is only a small mezzanine and is not used as part of the display.
Department Store
Presented as the Annfield Plain Industrial Co-operative Society Ltd, (but more commonly referred to as the Anfield Plain Co-op Store) this department store opened in 1984, and was relocated to Beamish from Annfield Plain in County Durham. The Annfield Plain co-operative society was originally established in 1870, with the museum store stocking various products from the Co-operative Wholesale Society (CWS), established 1863. A two-storey building, the ground floor comprises the three departments - grocery, drapery and hardware; the upper floor is taken up by the tea rooms (accessed from Redman Park via a ramp to the rear). Most of the items are for display only, but a small amount of goods are sold to visitors. The store features an operational cash carrier system, of the Lamson Cash Ball design - common in many large stores of the era, but especially essential to Co-ops, where customer's dividends had to be logged.
Ravensworth Terrace
Ravensworth Terrace is a row of terraced houses, presented as the premises and living areas of various professionals. Representing the expanding housing stock of the era, it was relocated from its original site on Bensham Bank, having been built for professionals and tradesmen between 1830 and 1845. Original former residents included painter John Wilson Carmichael and Gateshead mayor Alexander Gillies. Originally featuring 25 homes, the terrace was to be demolished when the museum saved it in the 1970s, reconstructing six of them on the Town site between 1980 and 1985. They are two storey buildings, with most featuring display rooms on both floors - originally the houses would have also housed a servant in the attic. The front gardens are presented in a mix of the formal style, and the natural style that was becoming increasingly popular.
No. 2 is presented as the home of Miss Florence Smith, a music teacher, with old fashioned mid-Victorian furnishings as if inherited from her parents. No. 3 & 4 is presented as the practice and home respectively (with a knocked through door) of dentist J. Jones - the exterior nameplate having come from the surgery of Mr. J. Jones in Hartlepool. Representing the state of dental health at the time, it features both a check-up room and surgery for extraction, and a technicians room for creating dentures - a common practice at the time being the giving to daughters a set on their 21st birthday, to save any future husband the cost at a later date. His home is presented as more modern than No.2, furnished in the Edwardian style the modern day utilities of an enamelled bathroom with flushing toilet, a controllable heat kitchen range and gas cooker. No. 5 is presented as a solicitor's office, based on that of Robert Spence Watson, a Quaker from Newcastle. Reflecting the trade of the era, downstairs is laid out as the partner's or principal office, and the general or clerk's office in the rear. Included is a set of books sourced from ER Hanby Holmes, who practised in Barnard Castle.
Pub
Presented as The Sun Inn, the pub opened in the town in 1985. It had originally stood in Bondgate in Bishop Auckland, and was donated to the museum by its final owners, the Scottish and Newcastle Breweries. Originally a "one-up one down" cottage, the earliest ownership has been traced to James Thompson, on 21 January 1806. Known as The Tiger Inn until the 1850s, from 1857 to 1899 under the ownership of the Leng family, it flourished under the patronage of miners from Newton Cap and other collieries. Latterly run by Elsie Edes, it came under brewery ownership in the 20th Century when bought by S&N antecedent, James Deuchar Ltd. The pub is fully operational, and features both a front and back bar, the two stories above not being part of the exhibit. The interior decoration features the stuffed racing greyhound Jake's Bonny Mary, which won nine trophies before being put on display in The Gerry in White le Head near Tantobie.
Town stables
Reflecting the reliance on horses for a variety of transport needs in the era, the town features a centrally located stables, situated behind the sweet shop, with its courtyard being accessed from the archway next to the pub. It is presented as a typical jobmaster's yard, with stables and a tack room in the building on its north side. A small, brick built open air, carriage shed is sited on the back of the printworks building. On the east side of the courtyard is a much larger metal shed (utilising iron roof trusses from Fleetwood), arranged mainly as carriage storage, but with a blacksmith's shop in the corner. The building on the west side of the yard is not part of any display. The interior fittings for the harness room came from Callaly Caste. Many of the horses and horse-drawn vehicles used by the museum are housed in the stables and sheds.
Printer, stationer and newspaper branch office
Presented as the Beamish Branch Office of the Northern Daily Mail and the Sunderland Daily Echo, the two storey replica building was built in the mid-1980s and represents the trade practices of the era. Downstairs, on the right, is the branch office, where newspapers would be sold directly and distributed to local newsagents and street vendors, and where orders for advertising copy would be taken. Supplementing it is a stationer's shop on the left hand side, with both display items and a small number of gift items on public sale. Upstairs is a jobbing printers workshop, which would not produce the newspapers, but would instead print leaflets, posters and office stationery. Split into a composing area and a print shop, the shop itself has a number of presses - a Columbian built in 1837 by Clymer and Dixon, an Albion dating back to 1863, an Arab Platen of c. 1900, and a Wharfedale flat bed press, built by Dawson & Son in around 1870. Much of the machinery was sourced from the print works of Jack Ascough's of Barnard Castle. Many of the posters seen around the museum are printed in the works, with the operation of the machinery being part of the display.
Sweet shop
Presented as Jubilee Confectioners, the two storey sweet shop opened in 1994 and is meant to represent the typical family run shops of the era, with living quarters above the shop (the second storey not being part of the display). To the front of the ground floor is a shop, where traditional sweets and chocolate (which was still relatively expensive at the time) are sold to visitors, while in the rear of the ground floor is a manufacturing area where visitors can view the techniques of the time (accessed via the arched walkway on the side of the building). The sweet rollers were sourced from a variety of shops and factories.
Bank
Presented as a branch of Barclays Bank (Barclay & Company Ltd) using period currency, the bank opened in 1999. It represents the trend of the era when regional banks were being acquired and merged into national banks such as Barclays, formed in 1896. Built to a three-storey design typical of the era, and featuring bricks in the upper storeys sourced from Park House, Gateshead, the Swedish imperial red shade used on the ground floor frontage is intended to represent stability and security. On the ground floor are windows for bank tellers, plus the bank manager's office. Included in a basement level are two vaults. The upper two storeys are not part of the display. It features components sourced from Southport and Gateshead
Masonic Hall
The Masonic Hall opened in 2006, and features the frontage from a former masonic hall sited in Park Terrace, Sunderland. Reflecting the popularity of the masons in North East England, as well as the main hall, which takes up the full height of the structure, in a small two story arrangement to the front of the hall is also a Robing Room and the Tyler's Room on the ground floor, and a Museum Room upstairs, featuring display cabinets of masonic regalia donated from various lodges. Upstairs is also a class room, with large stained glass window.
Chemist and photographer
Presented as W Smith's Chemist and JR & D Edis Photographers, a two-storey building housing both a chemist and photographers shops under one roof opened on 7 May 2016 and represents the growing popularity of photography in the era, with shops often growing out of or alongside chemists, who had the necessary supplies for developing photographs. The chemist features a dispensary, and equipment from various shops including John Walker, inventor of the friction match. The photographers features a studio, where visitors can dress in period costume and have a photograph taken. The corner building is based on a real building on Elvet Bridge in Durham City, opposite the Durham Marriot Hotel (the Royal County), although the second storey is not part of the display. The chemist also sells aerated water (an early form of carbonated soft drinks) to visitors, sold in marble-stopper sealed Codd bottles (although made to a modern design to prevent the safety issue that saw the original bottles banned). Aerated waters grew in popularity in the era, due to the need for a safe alternative to water, and the temperance movement - being sold in chemists due to the perception they were healthy in the same way mineral waters were.
Costing around £600,000 and begun on 18 August 2014, the building's brickwork and timber was built by the museum's own staff and apprentices, using Georgian bricks salvaged from demolition works to widen the A1. Unlike previous buildings built on the site, the museum had to replicate rather than relocate this one due to the fact that fewer buildings are being demolished compared to the 1970s, and in any case it was deemed unlikely one could be found to fit the curved shape of the plot. The studio is named after a real business run by John Reed Edis and his daughter Daisy. Mr Edis, originally at 27 Sherburn Road, Durham, in 1895, then 52 Saddler Street from 1897. The museum collection features several photographs, signs and equipment from the Edis studio. The name for the chemist is a reference to the business run by William Smith, who relocated to Silver Street, near the original building, in 1902. According to records, the original Edis company had been supplied by chemicals from the original (and still extant) Smith business.
Redman Park
Redman Park is a small lawned space with flower borders, opposite Ravensworth Terrace. Its centrepiece is a Victorian bandstand sourced from Saltwell Park, where it stood on an island in the middle of a lake. It represents the recognised need of the time for areas where people could relax away from the growing industrial landscape.
Other
Included in the Town are drinking fountains and other period examples of street furniture. In between the bank and the sweet shop is a combined tram and bus waiting room and public convenience.
Unbuilt
When construction of the Town began, the projected town plan incorporated a market square and buildings including a gas works, fire station, ice cream parlour (originally the Central Cafe at Consett), a cast iron bus station from Durham City, school, public baths and a fish and chip shop.
Railway station
East of the Town is the Railway Station, depicting a typical small passenger and goods facility operated by the main railway company in the region at the time, the North Eastern Railway (NER). A short running line extends west in a cutting around the north side of the Town itself, with trains visible from the windows of the stables. It runs for a distance of 1⁄4 mile - the line used to connect to the colliery sidings until 1993 when it was lifted between the town and the colliery so that the tram line could be extended. During 2009 the running line was relaid so that passenger rides could recommence from the station during 2010.
Rowley station
Representing passenger services is Rowley Station, a station building on a single platform, opened in 1976, having been relocated to the museum from the village of Rowley near Consett, just a few miles from Beamish.
The original Rowley railway station was opened in 1845 (as Cold Rowley, renamed Rowley in 1868) by the NER antecedent, the Stockton and Darlington Railway, consisting of just a platform. Under NER ownership, as a result of increasing use, in 1873 the station building was added. As demand declined, passenger service was withdrawn in 1939, followed by the goods service in 1966. Trains continued to use the line for another three years before it closed, the track being lifted in 1970. Although in a state of disrepair, the museum acquired the building, dismantling it in 1972, being officially unveiled in its new location by railway campaigner and poet, Sir John Betjeman.
The station building is presented as an Edwardian station, lit by oil lamp, having never been connected to gas or electricity supplies in its lifetime. It features both an open waiting area and a visitor accessible waiting room (western half), and a booking and ticket office (eastern half), with the latter only visible from a small viewing entrance. Adorning the waiting room is a large tiled NER route map.
Signal box
The signal box dates from 1896, and was relocated from Carr House East near Consett. It features assorted signalling equipment, basic furnishings for the signaller, and a lever frame, controlling the stations numerous points, interlocks and semaphore signals. The frame is not an operational part of the railway, the points being hand operated using track side levers. Visitors can only view the interior from a small area inside the door.
Goods shed
The goods shed is originally from Alnwick. The goods area represents how general cargo would have been moved on the railway, and for onward transport. The goods shed features a covered platform where road vehicles (wagons and carriages) can be loaded with the items unloaded from railway vans. The shed sits on a triangular platform serving two sidings, with a platform mounted hand-crane, which would have been used for transhipment activity (transfer of goods from one wagon to another, only being stored for a short time on the platform, if at all).
Coal yard
The coal yard represents how coal would have been distributed from incoming trains to local merchants - it features a coal drop which unloads railway wagons into road going wagons below. At the road entrance to the yard is a weighbridge (with office) and coal merchant's office - both being appropriately furnished with display items, but only viewable from outside.
The coal drop was sourced from West Boldon, and would have been a common sight on smaller stations. The weighbridge came from Glanton, while the coal office is from Hexham.
Bridges and level crossing
The station is equipped with two footbridges, a wrought iron example to the east having come from Howden-le-Wear, and a cast iron example to the west sourced from Dunston. Next to the western bridge, a roadway from the coal yard is presented as crossing the tracks via a gated level crossing (although in reality the road goes nowhere on the north side).
Waggon and Iron Works
Dominating the station is the large building externally presented as Beamish Waggon and Iron Works, estd 1857. In reality this is the Regional Museums Store (see below), although attached to the north side of the store are two covered sidings (not accessible to visitors), used to service and store the locomotives and stock used on the railway.
Other
A corrugated iron hut adjacent to the 'iron works' is presented as belonging to the local council, and houses associated road vehicles, wagons and other items.
Fairground
Adjacent to the station is an events field and fairground with a set of Frederick Savage built steam powered Gallopers dating from 1893.
Colliery
Presented as Beamish Colliery (owned by James Joicey & Co., and managed by William Severs), the colliery represents the coal mining industry which dominated the North East for generations - the museum site is in the former Durham coalfield, where 165,246 men and boys worked in 304 mines in 1913. By the time period represented by Beamish's 1900s era, the industry was booming - production in the Great Northern Coalfield had peaked in 1913, and miners were relatively well paid (double that of agriculture, the next largest employer), but the work was dangerous. Children could be employed from age 12 (the school leaving age), but could not go underground until 14.
Deep mine
Reconstructed pitworks buildings showing winding gear
Dominating the colliery site are the above ground structures of a deep (i.e. vertical shaft) mine - the brick built Winding Engine House, and the red painted wooden Heapstead. These were relocated to the museum (which never had its own vertical shaft), the winding house coming from Beamish Chophill Colliery, and the Heapstead from Ravensworth Park Mine in Gateshead. The winding engine and its enclosing house are both listed.
The winding engine was the source of power for hauling miners, equipment and coal up and down the shaft in a cage, the top of the shaft being in the adjacent heapstead, which encloses the frame holding the wheel around which the hoist cable travels. Inside the Heapstead, tubs of coal from the shaft were weighed on a weighbridge, then tipped onto jigging screens, which sifted the solid lumps from small particles and dust - these were then sent along the picking belt, where pickers, often women, elderly or disabled people or young boys (i.e. workers incapable of mining), would separate out unwanted stone, wood and rubbish. Finally, the coal was tipped onto waiting railway wagons below, while the unwanted waste sent to the adjacent heap by an external conveyor.
Chophill Colliery was closed by the National Coal Board in 1962, but the winding engine and tower were left in place. When the site was later leased, Beamish founder Frank Atkinson intervened to have both spot listed to prevent their demolition. After a protracted and difficult process to gain the necessary permissions to move a listed structure, the tower and engine were eventually relocated to the museum, work being completed in 1976. The winding engine itself is the only surviving example of the type which was once common, and was still in use at Chophill upon its closure. It was built in 1855 by J&G Joicey of Newcastle, to an 1800 design by Phineas Crowther.
Inside the winding engine house, supplementing the winding engine is a smaller jack engine, housed in the rear. These were used to lift heavy equipment, and in deep mines, act as a relief winding engine.
Outdoors, next to the Heapstead, is a sinking engine, mounted on red bricks. Brought to the museum from Silksworth Colliery in 1971, it was built by Burlington's of Sunderland in 1868 and is the sole surviving example of its kind. Sinking engines were used for the construction of shafts, after which the winding engine would become the source of hoist power. It is believed the Silksworth engine was retained because it was powerful enough to serve as a backup winding engine, and could be used to lift heavy equipment (i.e. the same role as the jack engine inside the winding house).
Drift mine
The Mahogany Drift Mine is original to Beamish, having opened in 1855 and after closing, was brought back into use in 1921 to transport coal from Beamish Park Drift to Beamish Cophill Colliery. It opened as a museum display in 1979. Included in the display is the winding engine and a short section of trackway used to transport tubs of coal to the surface, and a mine office. Visitor access into the mine shaft is by guided tour.
Lamp cabin
The Lamp Cabin opened in 2009, and is a recreation of a typical design used in collieries to house safety lamps, a necessary piece of equipment for miners although were not required in the Mahogany Drift Mine, due to it being gas-free. The building is split into two main rooms; in one half, the lamp cabin interior is recreated, with a collection of lamps on shelves, and the system of safety tokens used to track which miners were underground. Included in the display is a 1927 Hailwood and Ackroyd lamp-cleaning machine sourced from Morrison Busty Colliery in Annfield Plain. In the second room is an educational display, i.e., not a period interior.
Colliery railways
The colliery features both a standard gauge railway, representing how coal was transported to its onward destination, and narrow-gauge typically used by Edwardian collieries for internal purposes. The standard gauge railway is laid out to serve the deep mine - wagons being loaded by dropping coal from the heapstead - and runs out of the yard to sidings laid out along the northern-edge of the Pit Village.
The standard gauge railway has two engine sheds in the colliery yard, the smaller brick, wood and metal structure being an operational building; the larger brick-built structure is presented as Beamish Engine Works, a reconstruction of an engine shed formerly at Beamish 2nd Pit. Used for locomotive and stock storage, it is a long, single track shed featuring a servicing pit for part of its length. Visitors can walk along the full length in a segregated corridor. A third engine shed in brick (lower half) and corrugated iron has been constructed at the southern end of the yard, on the other side of the heapstead to the other two sheds, and is used for both narrow and standard gauge vehicles (on one road), although it is not connected to either system - instead being fed by low-loaders and used for long-term storage only.
The narrow gauge railway is serviced by a corrugate iron engine shed, and is being expanded to eventually encompass several sidings.
There are a number of industrial steam locomotives (including rare examples by Stephen Lewin from Seaham and Black, Hawthorn & Co) and many chaldron wagons, the region's traditional type of colliery railway rolling stock, which became a symbol of Beamish Museum. The locomotive Coffee Pot No 1 is often in steam during the summer.
Other
On the south eastern corner of the colliery site is the Power House, brought to the museum from Houghton Colliery. These were used to store explosives.
Pit Village
Alongside the colliery is the pit village, representing life in the mining communities that grew alongside coal production sites in the North East, many having come into existence solely because of the industry, such as Seaham Harbour, West Hartlepool, Esh Winning and Bedlington.
Miner's Cottages
The row of six miner's cottages in Francis Street represent the tied-housing provided by colliery owners to mine workers. Relocated to the museum in 1976, they were originally built in the 1860s in Hetton-le-Hole by Hetton Coal Company. They feature the common layout of a single-storey with a kitchen to the rear, the main room of the house, and parlour to the front, rarely used (although it was common for both rooms to be used for sleeping, with disguised folding "dess" beds common), and with children sleeping in attic spaces upstairs. In front are long gardens, used for food production, with associated sheds. An outdoor toilet and coal bunker were in the rear yards, and beyond the cobbled back lane to their rear are assorted sheds used for cultivation, repairs and hobbies. Chalkboard slates attached to the rear wall were used by the occupier to tell the mine's "knocker up" when they wished to be woken for their next shift.
No.2 is presented as a Methodist family's home, featuring good quality "Pitman's mahogany" furniture; No.3 is presented as occupied by a second generation well off Irish Catholic immigrant family featuring many items of value (so they could be readily sold off in times of need) and an early 1890s range; No.3 is presented as more impoverished than the others with just a simple convector style Newcastle oven, being inhabited by a miner's widow allowed to remain as her son is also a miner, and supplementing her income doing laundry and making/mending for other families. All the cottages feature examples of the folk art objects typical of mining communities. Also included in the row is an office for the miner's paymaster.[11] In the rear alleyway of the cottages is a communal bread oven, which were commonplace until miner's cottages gradually obtained their own kitchen ranges. They were used to bake traditional breads such as the Stottie, as well as sweet items, such as tea cakes. With no extant examples, the museum's oven had to be created from photographs and oral history.
School
The school opened in 1992, and represents the typical board school in the educational system of the era (the stone built single storey structure being inscribed with the foundation date of 1891, Beamish School Board), by which time attendance at a state approved school was compulsory, but the leaving age was 12, and lessons featured learning by rote and corporal punishment. The building originally stood in East Stanley, having been set up by the local school board, and would have numbered around 150 pupils. Having been donated by Durham County Council, the museum now has a special relationship with the primary school that replaced it. With separate entrances and cloakrooms for boys and girls at either end, the main building is split into three class rooms (all accessible to visitors), connected by a corridor along the rear. To the rear is a red brick bike shed, and in the playground visitors can play traditional games of the era.
Chapel
Pit Hill Chapel opened in 1990, and represents the Wesleyan Methodist tradition which was growing in North East England, with the chapels used for both religious worship and as community venues, which continue in its role in the museum display. Opened in the 1850s, it originally stood not far from its present site, having been built in what would eventually become Beamish village, near the museum entrance. A stained glass window of The Light of The World by William Holman Hunt came from a chapel in Bedlington. A two handled Love Feast Mug dates from 1868, and came from a chapel in Shildon Colliery. On the eastern wall, above the elevated altar area, is an angled plain white surface used for magic lantern shows, generated using a replica of the double-lensed acetylene gas powered lanterns of the period, mounted in the aisle of the main seating area. Off the western end of the hall is the vestry, featuring a small library and communion sets from Trimdon Colliery and Catchgate.
Fish bar
Presented as Davey's Fried Fish & Chip Potato Restaurant, the fish and chip shop opened in 2011, and represents the typical style of shop found in the era as they were becoming rapidly popular in the region - the brick built Victorian style fryery would most often have previously been used for another trade, and the attached corrugated iron hut serves as a saloon with tables and benches, where customers would eat and socialise. Featuring coal fired ranges using beef-dripping, the shop is named in honour of the last coal fired shop in Tyneside, in Winlaton Mill, and which closed in 2007. Latterly run by brothers Brian and Ramsay Davy, it had been established by their grandfather in 1937. The serving counter and one of the shop's three fryers, a 1934 Nuttal, came from the original Davy shop. The other two fryers are a 1920s Mabbott used near Chester until the 1960s, and a GW Atkinson New Castle Range, donated from a shop in Prudhoe in 1973. The latter is one of only two known late Victorian examples to survive. The decorative wall tiles in the fryery came to the museum in 1979 from Cowes Fish and Game Shop in Berwick upon Tweed. The shop also features both an early electric and hand-powered potato rumblers (cleaners), and a gas powered chip chopper built around 1900. Built behind the chapel, the fryery is arranged so the counter faces the rear, stretching the full length of the building. Outside is a brick built row of outdoor toilets. Supplementing the fish bar is the restored Berriman's mobile chip van, used in Spennymoor until the early 1970s.
Band hall
The Hetton Silver Band Hall opened in 2013, and features displays reflecting the role colliery bands played in mining life. Built in 1912, it was relocated from its original location in South Market Street, Hetton-le-Hole, where it was used by the Hetton Silver Band, founded in 1887. They built the hall using prize money from a music competition, and the band decided to donate the hall to the museum after they merged with Broughtons Brass Band of South Hetton (to form the Durham Miners' Association Brass Band). It is believed to be the only purpose built band hall in the region. The structure consists of the main hall, plus a small kitchen to the rear; as part of the museum it is still used for performances.
Pit pony stables
The Pit Pony Stables were built in 2013/14, and house the museum's pit ponies. They replace a wooden stable a few metres away in the field opposite the school (the wooden structure remaining). It represents the sort of stables that were used in drift mines (ponies in deep mines living their whole lives underground), pit ponies having been in use in the north east as late as 1994, in Ellington Colliery. The structure is a recreation of an original building that stood at Rickless Drift Mine, between High Spen and Greenside; it was built using a yellow brick that was common across the Durham coalfield.
Other
Doubling as one of the museum's refreshment buildings, Sinker's Bait Cabin represents the temporary structures that would have served as living quarters, canteens and drying areas for sinkers, the itinerant workforce that would dig new vertical mine shafts.
Representing other traditional past-times, the village fields include a quoits pitch, with another refreshment hut alongside it, resembling a wooden clubhouse.
In one of the fields in the village stands the Cupola, a small round flat topped brick built tower; such structures were commonly placed on top of disused or ventilation shafts, also used as an emergency exit from the upper seams.
The Georgian North (1825)
A late Georgian landscape based around the original Pockerley farm represents the period of change in the region as transport links were improved and as agriculture changed as machinery and field management developed, and breeding stock was improved. It became part of the museum in 1990, having latterly been occupied by a tenant farmer, and was opened as an exhibit in 1995. The hill top position suggests the site was the location of an Iron Age fort - the first recorded mention of a dwelling is in the 1183 Buke of Boldon (the region's equivalent of the Domesday Book). The name Pockerley has Saxon origins - "Pock" or "Pokor" meaning "pimple of bag-like" hill, and "Ley" meaning woodland clearing.
The surrounding farmlands have been returned to a post-enclosure landscape with ridge and furrow topography, divided into smaller fields by traditional riven oak fencing. The land is worked and grazed by traditional methods and breeds.
Pockerley Old Hall
The estate of Pockerley Old Hall is presented as that of a well off tenant farmer, in a position to take advantage of the agricultural advances of the era. The hall itself consists of the Old House, which is adjoined (but not connected to) the New House, both south facing two storey sandstone built buildings, the Old House also having a small north–south aligned extension. Roof timbers in the sandstone built Old House have been dated to the 1440s, but the lower storey (the undercroft) may be from even earlier. The New House dates to the late 1700s, and replaced a medieval manor house to the east of the Old House as the main farm house - once replaced itself, the Old House is believed to have been let to the farm manager. Visitors can access all rooms in the New and Old House, except the north–south extension which is now a toilet block. Displays include traditional cooking, such as the drying of oatcakes over a wooden rack (flake) over the fireplace in the Old House.
Inside the New House the downstairs consists of a main kitchen and a secondary kitchen (scullery) with pantry. It also includes a living room, although as the main room of the house, most meals would have been eaten in the main kitchen, equipped with an early range, boiler and hot air oven. Upstairs is a main bedroom and a second bedroom for children; to the rear (i.e. the colder, north side), are bedrooms for a servant and the servant lad respectively. Above the kitchen (for transferred warmth) is a grain and fleece store, with attached bacon loft, a narrow space behind the wall where bacon or hams, usually salted first, would be hung to be smoked by the kitchen fire (entering through a small door in the chimney).
Presented as having sparse and more old fashioned furnishings, the Old House is presented as being occupied in the upper story only, consisting of a main room used as the kitchen, bedroom and for washing, with the only other rooms being an adjoining second bedroom and an overhanging toilet. The main bed is an oak box bed dating to 1712, obtained from Star House in Baldersdale in 1962. Originally a defensive house in its own right, the lower level of the Old House is an undercroft, or vaulted basement chamber, with 1.5 metre thick walls - in times of attack the original tenant family would have retreated here with their valuables, although in its later use as the farm managers house, it is now presented as a storage and work room, housing a large wooden cheese press.[68] More children would have slept in the attic of the Old House (not accessible as a display).
To the front of the hall is a terraced garden featuring an ornamental garden with herbs and flowers, a vegetable garden, and an orchard, all laid out and planted according to the designs of William Falla of Gateshead, who had the largest nursery in Britain from 1804 to 1830.
The buildings to the east of the hall, across a north–south track, are the original farmstead buildings dating from around 1800. These include stables and a cart shed arranged around a fold yard. The horses and carts on display are typical of North Eastern farms of the era, Fells or Dales ponies and Cleveland Bay horses, and two wheeled long carts for hilly terrain (as opposed to four wheel carts).
Pockerley Waggonway
The Pockerley Waggonway opened in 2001, and represents the year 1825, as the year the Stockton and Darlington Railway opened. Waggonways had appeared around 1600, and by the 1800s were common in mining areas - prior to 1800 they had been either horse or gravity powered, before the invention of steam engines (initially used as static winding engines), and later mobile steam locomotives.
Housing the locomotives and rolling stock is the Great Shed, which opened in 2001 and is based on Timothy Hackworth's erecting shop, Shildon railway works, and incorporating some material from Robert Stephenson and Company's Newcastle works. Visitors can walk around the locomotives in the shed, and when in steam, can take rides to the end of the track and back in the line's assorted rolling stock - situated next to the Great Shed is a single platform for passenger use. In the corner of the main shed is a corner office, presented as a locomotive designer's office (only visible to visitors through windows). Off the pedestrian entrance in the southern side is a room presented as the engine crew's break room. Atop the Great Shed is a weather vane depicting a waggonway train approaching a cow, a reference to a famous quote by George Stephenson when asked by parliament in 1825 what would happen in such an eventuality - "very awkward indeed - for the coo!".
At the far end of the waggonway is the (fictional) coal mine Pockerley Gin Pit, which the waggonway notionally exists to serve. The pit head features a horse powered wooden whim gin, which was the method used before steam engines for hauling men and material up and down mineshafts - coal was carried in corves (wicker baskets), while miners held onto the rope with their foot in an attached loop.
Wooden waggonway
Following creation of the Pockerley Waggonway, the museum went back a chapter in railway history to create a horse-worked wooden waggonway.
St Helen's Church
St Helen's Church represents a typical type of country church found in North Yorkshire, and was relocated from its original site in Eston, North Yorkshire. It is the oldest and most complex building moved to the museum. It opened in November 2015, but will not be consecrated as this would place restrictions on what could be done with the building under church law.
The church had existed on its original site since around 1100. As the congregation grew, it was replaced by two nearby churches, and latterly became a cemetery chapel. After closing in 1985, it fell into disrepair and by 1996 was burnt out and vandalised leading to the decision by the local authority in 1998 to demolish it. Working to a deadline of a threatened demolition within six months, the building was deconstructed and moved to Beamish, reconstruction being authorised in 2011, with the exterior build completed by 2012.
While the structure was found to contain some stones from the 1100 era, the building itself however dates from three distinct building phases - the chancel on the east end dates from around 1450, while the nave, which was built at the same time, was modernised in 1822 in the Churchwarden style, adding a vestry. The bell tower dates from the late 1600s - one of the two bells is a rare dated Tudor example. Gargoyles, originally hidden in the walls and believed to have been pranks by the original builders, have been made visible in the reconstruction.
Restored to its 1822 condition, the interior has been furnished with Georgian box pews sourced from a church in Somerset. Visitors can access all parts except the bell tower. The nave includes a small gallery level, at the tower end, while the chancel includes a church office.
Joe the Quilter's Cottage
The most recent addition to the area opened to the public in 2018 is a recreation of a heather-thatched cottage which features stones from the Georgian quilter Joseph Hedley's original home in Northumberland. It was uncovered during an archaeological dig by Beamish. His original cottage was demolished in 1872 and has been carefully recreated with the help of a drawing on a postcard. The exhibit tells the story of quilting and the growth of cottage industries in the early 1800s. Within there is often a volunteer or member of staff not only telling the story of how Joe was murdered in 1826, a crime that remains unsolved to this day, but also giving visitors the opportunity to learn more and even have a go at quilting.
Other
A pack pony track passes through the scene - pack horses having been the mode of transport for all manner of heavy goods where no waggonway exists, being also able to reach places where carriages and wagons could not access. Beside the waggonway is a gibbet.
Farm (1940s)
Presented as Home Farm, this represents the role of North East farms as part of the British Home Front during World War II, depicting life indoors, and outside on the land. Much of the farmstead is original, and opened as a museum display in 1983. The farm is laid out across a north–south public road; to the west is the farmhouse and most of the farm buildings, while on the east side are a pair of cottages, the British Kitchen, an outdoor toilet ("netty"), a bull field, duck pond and large shed.
The farm complex was rebuilt in the mid-19th century as a model farm incorporating a horse mill and a steam-powered threshing mill. It was not presented as a 1940s farm until early 2014.
The farmhouse is presented as having been modernised, following the installation of electric power and an Aga cooker in the scullery, although the main kitchen still has the typical coal-fired black range. Lino flooring allowed quicker cleaning times, while a radio set allowed the family to keep up to date with wartime news. An office next to the kitchen would have served both as the administration centre for the wartime farm, and as a local Home Guard office. Outside the farmhouse is an improvised Home Guard pillbox fashioned from half an egg-ended steam boiler, relocated from its original position near Durham.
The farm is equipped with three tractors which would have all seen service during the war: a Case, a Fordson N and a 1924 Fordson F. The farm also features horse-drawn traps, reflecting the effect wartime rationing of petrol would have had on car use. The farming equipment in the cart and machinery sheds reflects the transition of the time from horse-drawn to tractor-pulled implements, with some older equipment put back into use due to the war, as well as a large Foster thresher, vital for cereal crops, and built specifically for the war effort, sold at the Newcastle Show. Although the wartime focus was on crops, the farm also features breeds of sheep, cattle, pigs and poultry that would have been typical for the time. The farm also has a portable steam engine, not in use, but presented as having been left out for collection as part of a wartime scrap metal drive.
The cottages would have housed farm labourers, but are presented as having new uses for the war: Orchard Cottage housing a family of evacuees, and Garden Cottage serving as a billet for members of the Women's Land Army (Land Girls). Orchard Cottage is named for an orchard next to it, which also contains an Anderson shelter, reconstructed from partial pieces of ones recovered from around the region. Orchard Cottage, which has both front and back kitchens, is presented as having an up to date blue enameled kitchen range, with hot water supplied from a coke stove, as well as a modern accessible bathroom. Orchard Cottage is also used to stage recreations of wartime activities for schools, elderly groups and those living with dementia. Garden Cottage is sparsely furnished with a mix of items, reflecting the few possessions Land Girls were able to take with them, although unusually the cottage is depicted with a bathroom, and electricity (due to proximity to a colliery).
The British Kitchen is both a display and one of the museum's catering facilities; it represents an installation of one of the wartime British Restaurants, complete with propaganda posters and a suitably patriotic menu.
Town (1950s)
As part of the Remaking Beamish project, with significant funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the museum is creating a 1950s town. Opened in July 2019, the Welfare Hall is an exact replica of the Leasingthorne Colliery Welfare Hall and Community Centre which was built in 1957 near Bishop Auckland. Visitors can 'take part in activities including dancing, crafts, Meccano, beetle drive, keep fit and amateur dramatics' while also taking a look at the National Health Service exhibition on display, recreating the environment of an NHS clinic. A recreation and play park, named Coronation Park was opened in May 2022 to coincide with the celebrations around the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II.
The museum's first 1950s terrace opened in February 2022. This included a fish and chip shop from Middleton St George, a cafe, a replica of Norman Cornish's home, and a hairdressers. Future developments opposite the existing 1950s terrace will see a recreation of The Grand Cinema, from Ryhope, in Sunderland, and toy and electricians shops. Also underdevelopment are a 1950s bowling green and pavilion, police houses and aged miner's cottages. Also under construction are semi-detached houses; for this exhibit, a competition was held to recreate a particular home at Beamish, which was won by a family from Sunderland.
As well as the town, a 1950s Northern bus depot has been opened on the western side of the museum – the purpose of this is to provide additional capacity for bus, trolleybus and tram storage once the planned trolleybus extension and the new area are completed, providing extra capacity and meeting the need for modified routing.
Spain's Field Farm
In March 2022, the museum opened Spain's Field Farm. It had stood for centuries at Eastgate in Weardale, and was moved to Beamish stone-by-stone. It is exhibited as it would have been in the 1950s.
1820s Expansion
In the area surrounding the current Pockerley Old Hall and Steam Wagon Way more development is on the way. The first of these was planned to be a Georgian Coaching Inn that would be the museum's first venture into overnight accommodation. However following the COVID-19 pandemic this was abandoned, in favour of self-catering accommodation in existing cottages.
There are also plans for 1820s industries including a blacksmith's forge and a pottery.
Museum stores
There are two stores on the museum site, used to house donated objects. In contrast to the traditional rotation practice used in museums where items are exchanged regularly between store and display, it is Beamish policy that most of their exhibits are to be in use and on display - those items that must be stored are to be used in the museum's future developments.
Open Store
Housed in the Regional Resource Centre, the Open Store is accessible to visitors. Objects are housed on racks along one wall, while the bulk of items are in a rolling archive, with one set of shelves opened, with perspex across their fronts to permit viewing without touching.
Regional Museums Store
The real purposes of the building presented as Beamish Waggon and Iron Works next to Rowley Station is as the Regional Museums Store, completed in 2002, which Beamish shares with Tyne and Wear Museums. This houses, amongst other things, a large marine diesel engine by William Doxford & Sons of Pallion, Sunderland (1977); and several boats including the Tyne wherry (a traditional local type of lighter) Elswick No. 2 (1930). The store is only open at selected times, and for special tours which can be arranged through the museum; however, a number of viewing windows have been provided for use at other times.
Transport collection
Main article: Beamish Museum transport collection
The museum contains much of transport interest, and the size of its site makes good internal transportation for visitors and staff purposes a necessity.
The collection contains a variety of historical vehicles for road, rail and tramways. In addition there are some modern working replicas to enhance the various scenes in the museum.
Agriculture
The museum's two farms help to preserve traditional northcountry and in some cases rare livestock breeds such as Durham Shorthorn Cattle; Clydesdale and Cleveland Bay working horses; Dales ponies; Teeswater sheep; Saddleback pigs; and poultry.
Regional heritage
Other large exhibits collected by the museum include a tracked steam shovel, and a coal drop from Seaham Harbour.
In 2001 a new-build Regional Resource Centre (accessible to visitors by appointment) opened on the site to provide accommodation for the museum's core collections of smaller items. These include over 300,000 historic photographs, printed books and ephemera, and oral history recordings. The object collections cover the museum's specialities. These include quilts; "clippy mats" (rag rugs); Trade union banners; floor cloth; advertising (including archives from United Biscuits and Rowntree's); locally made pottery; folk art; and occupational costume. Much of the collection is viewable online and the arts of quilting, rug making and cookery in the local traditions are demonstrated at the museum.
Filming location
The site has been used as the backdrop for many film and television productions, particularly Catherine Cookson dramas, produced by Tyne Tees Television, and the final episode and the feature film version of Downton Abbey. Some of the children's television series Supergran was shot here.
Visitor numbers
On its opening day the museum set a record by attracting a two-hour queue. Visitor numbers rose rapidly to around 450,000 p.a. during the first decade of opening to the public, with the millionth visitor arriving in 1978.
Awards
Museum of the Year1986
European Museum of the Year Award1987
Living Museum of the Year2002
Large Visitor Attraction of the YearNorth East England Tourism awards2014 & 2015
Large Visitor Attraction of the Year (bronze)VisitEngland awards2016
It was designated by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council in 1997 as a museum with outstanding collections.
Critical responses
In responding to criticism that it trades on nostalgia the museum is unapologetic. A former director has written: "As individuals and communities we have a deep need and desire to understand ourselves in time."
According to the BBC writing in its 40th anniversary year, Beamish was a mould-breaking museum that became a great success due to its collection policy, and what sets it apart from other museums is the use of costumed people to impart knowledge to visitors, rather than labels or interpretive panels (although some such panels do exist on the site), which means it "engages the visitor with history in a unique way".
Legacy
Beamish was influential on the Black Country Living Museum, Blists Hill Victorian Town and, in the view of museologist Kenneth Hudson, more widely in the museum community and is a significant educational resource locally. It can also demonstrate its benefit to the contemporary local economy.
The unselective collecting policy has created a lasting bond between museum and community.