Contax T3 Kodak 400UC

 

sf/ca 2011

 

www.terrybarentsen.com

Somewhere between technological singularity and ecological singularity

francois-quevillon.com/w/?p=5242

 

Quelque part entre la singularité technologique et la singularité écologique

francois-quevillon.com/w/?p=5231

  

Photo:Fpurkhalter, modèle:Leeloo Wayne, Design/Retouche:Montage:AXIA Agence de communication (Stéphane Benedetti)

Technological progress in the air, and in the hand, as a traveler converses on his mobile telephone while passing by an exhibit on the history of United Airlines at San Francisco International Airport.

Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong

Las zonas de aguas profundas o de geología compleja son lugares en los que se localizan hidrocarburos y a los que se puede acceder en la actualidad gracias a la innovación tecnológica y a las nuevas técnicas de Exploración y Producción.

 

Más info en:

www.repsol.com/es_es/corporacion/conocer-repsol/nuestra-a...

 

Complex areas of deepwater geology are places where certain hydrocarbons are accessible today thanks to technological innovation and the new techniques of exploration and production.

 

More info on :

www.repsol.com/es_es/corporacion/conocer-repsol/nuestra-a ...

Classic Motorshow, Bremen

 

Not only a very rare Porsche 959, but one of the original prototypes Porsche used for development testing of the components that would be fitted to these technological marvels. The ad below can tell you the specific history of this prototype so I won’t regurgitate that here, but the short version is that this prototype was involved in ABS and tire testing at the high-speed ring in Nardo, Italy. Once 959 production was completed and the prototype was retired from testing service it was returned to the Porsche factory for a full refurbishment before making its way to its first private owner. Its ownership history appears to be fully documented, with much of that history spent in collections in Japan, prior to its current availability. The 959, of course, is one of Porsche’s most historic cars, most famously for the way in which it challenged the Ferrari F40 for supercar supremacy in its day. The two car makers took very different approaches to their supercars with Porsche following its generally tack of combining the best of luxury, technology, and performance in a single package while the F40 stripped out seemingly everything to offer the purest driving expression Ferrari could manage in a road car. While never really the prettiest of machines, the 959 served as a testament to Porsche’s engineering capabilities and provided a testing bed for many features that would make their way to the 911 over the years that followed. The 959 prototypes, like the one seen here, were built off of the 930 chassis and used in a variety of development settings. Reportedly 29 total were built and it is believed that 10 have survived.

 

Text from the ad:

This is the most advanced road Porsche ever built and one of the most impressive in the automotive history. « Porsche engineers were given a goal and set free, the 959 put Porsche on the map when it came to innovative automotive technology. There were 934s and 935s, and even the 956/962, but to put it all together in a street car was unheard of. It was a major factor in moving Porsche’s racing prowess from the track to the street. ». How come a better explanation from the 959’s genesis could be ? This is the one from Dieter Landenberger, the head of Porsche historical archives.

 

In 1981 there was a big change at the head of Porsche with the replacement from Ernst Fuhrmann by Peter Schultz, a new direction and strategy were given then. Fuhrmann in the mid 70s thought the 911 was going to an end and stopped its development to focus on the front engined cars ( 924/928/944 ) but Schultz thought very different. In 1981 he gave the green light to work on the project of a « Super » 911 with the aim of building a Group B racing version complying with the all-new FIA regulations. The car was designed and built at the Porsche Motorsport department at Weissach and a prototype called « Gruppe B » shown at the 1983 Frankfurt show. It was an immense success with its amazing specifications and design, many though this could never be turned into a road car. It took another two years of development and testings to have the production car ready and to list a few of the « world premieres » it had : four wheels drive, ABS 4 channels, twin turbos, tyre pressure monitoring, adjustable torque balance front/rear from 20 to 80%, 17 inches wheels, adjustable ride height, 6 speeds gearbox and so on. The 959 was so advanced technologically that it immediately sat new standards in terms of performance and drivability. The production car launched in 1986 had 450 HP and 317km/h as top speed and ran the standing km in only 21,7 sec, beating the 288 GTO by 2secs. Porsche always have the habit of validating a new technology via Motorosport and in 1986, Jacky Icks won the Paris – Dakar race and René Metge / Claude Ballot Léna won their class at Le Mans and finished 7th OA with race prepared 959s, which other car did it ? The fabulous 959 is the first step and rolling laboratory of the 911’s rebirth. According to Porsche only 292 of them were built ( as per comparaison Ferrari built 1311 F40s ) and all sold on pre order. This is one of the rarest Porsche ever built and probably the most charismatic of their road cars.

 

This is a quite a unique opportunity in a dealer career to offer a Porsche factory prototype, considering they normally don’t come to the market, being destroyed or keep at the museum. This mind boggling 959, chassis number WPOZZZ93ZFS010067 was built in 1985, given the internal code « V1KOM » and registered BB-PW481. In 1985 Helmutt Bott ( head of the 959 development ) has taken 29 930 chassis from the Porsche factory to turn them in Weissach ( Porsche Motorsport dept ) into the 959 Pre-production prototypes and these were called « F,N or V ». These 29 prototypes were the latest ones and used for media coverage, crash tests and road tests. This car is one of the the 7 « V – Series » which were assigned to the road tests, this particular one was used for ABS and tyre development. Unfortunately most of the 29 Prototypes were destroyed and scrapped at the end of the 959 program.

 

« 10067 » is one of the 4 959 prototypes survivor and one of the only two road going ones. Interestingly enough, the first owner was Professor Tachio Saito, who happened to be a close friend of Ferry Porsche. He noticed chassis 10067 during a visit to the factory whilst translating a book that Dr Porsche had written (Helmut Bott’s personal 959 was the preceding chassis, number 10066). As the founder of the Porsche Owners’ Club of Japan, as well as its first president, Professor Saito was more than qualified as one of Porsche’s preferred customers. A copy of factory correspondence, dated 4 December 1989 and addressed to Saito, refers to certain tasks to be undertaken by the factory prior to his acquisition of this prototype. The letter was written by Herr Willrett, believed to be Elmar Willrett, who was a Porsche engineer who was deeply involved in the development of both the 935 and 935 racing engines and who worked under Rolf Sprenger in the « Sonderwisches » (Special Wishes) Program. The document suggests that this car was to be prepared for display purposes, with functional brakes and steering. Once an agreement was settled, Porsche A.G. completed the restoration of the car, and after 16 months, Professor Saito took delivery of his prototype 959.

 

The professor maintained the 959 for only a short period of time, until noted collector Hideyasu Ohba, of Tokyo, Japan, acquired it for his collection of historic Porsches. In 2000, Mr Ohba sold this car to Minoru Miura, of Chiba, Japan. In 2006, still in Japan, the 959 was then acquired by Mr Shigeru from the Miura Collection. The car went to another 2 hands before coming up to the market via Art & Revs.

 

Being an original Protoype, this car comes with its pre-production magnesium wheels, « Denloc » Dunlop tires, brakes and some lightweight panels. All the production 959s were delivered with Bridgestone RE71 tires, the Dunlops were not retained though they incorporated a world premiere with a kind of « Run Flat » technology. The car is now only 400km and can only be described as being in new condition. It is fully working and was the subject to a recent overhaul and driven for 5 km.

 

Porsche factory no longer releases any Prototype to the public, this is a unique opportunity to acquire one.

Taken at the Mineral Museum at Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Michigan.

for july 26th 2011, sooc. a little behind again.... woopppsss. this is my film camera, it's getting a lot of usage seeing as my t3i is with canon (:

  

my 365 project

Digital cameras of today are technological marvels, and capable of capturing images that even the human eye can't see. This thirty second exposure was shot at 6:30 am, well before sunrise and in nearly complete darkness - but the camera's sensor captured enough light to render the scene as if it were shot in broad daylight.

 

Location: Jensen Beach, Florida

 

For daily photos, updates and musings on all things photography - please like my Facebook page via the link below.

 

www.facebook.com/thuncherphotography

 

You can also visit my website at:

www.thuncherphotography.com

 

-30-

 

© All rights reserved. Please do not use or repost - words and images, intellectual property of Florida Life / Thüncher Photography.

Classic Motorshow, Bremen

 

Not only a very rare Porsche 959, but one of the original prototypes Porsche used for development testing of the components that would be fitted to these technological marvels. The ad below can tell you the specific history of this prototype so I won’t regurgitate that here, but the short version is that this prototype was involved in ABS and tire testing at the high-speed ring in Nardo, Italy. Once 959 production was completed and the prototype was retired from testing service it was returned to the Porsche factory for a full refurbishment before making its way to its first private owner. Its ownership history appears to be fully documented, with much of that history spent in collections in Japan, prior to its current availability. The 959, of course, is one of Porsche’s most historic cars, most famously for the way in which it challenged the Ferrari F40 for supercar supremacy in its day. The two car makers took very different approaches to their supercars with Porsche following its generally tack of combining the best of luxury, technology, and performance in a single package while the F40 stripped out seemingly everything to offer the purest driving expression Ferrari could manage in a road car. While never really the prettiest of machines, the 959 served as a testament to Porsche’s engineering capabilities and provided a testing bed for many features that would make their way to the 911 over the years that followed. The 959 prototypes, like the one seen here, were built off of the 930 chassis and used in a variety of development settings. Reportedly 29 total were built and it is believed that 10 have survived.

 

Text from the ad:

This is the most advanced road Porsche ever built and one of the most impressive in the automotive history. « Porsche engineers were given a goal and set free, the 959 put Porsche on the map when it came to innovative automotive technology. There were 934s and 935s, and even the 956/962, but to put it all together in a street car was unheard of. It was a major factor in moving Porsche’s racing prowess from the track to the street. ». How come a better explanation from the 959’s genesis could be ? This is the one from Dieter Landenberger, the head of Porsche historical archives.

 

In 1981 there was a big change at the head of Porsche with the replacement from Ernst Fuhrmann by Peter Schultz, a new direction and strategy were given then. Fuhrmann in the mid 70s thought the 911 was going to an end and stopped its development to focus on the front engined cars ( 924/928/944 ) but Schultz thought very different. In 1981 he gave the green light to work on the project of a « Super » 911 with the aim of building a Group B racing version complying with the all-new FIA regulations. The car was designed and built at the Porsche Motorsport department at Weissach and a prototype called « Gruppe B » shown at the 1983 Frankfurt show. It was an immense success with its amazing specifications and design, many though this could never be turned into a road car. It took another two years of development and testings to have the production car ready and to list a few of the « world premieres » it had : four wheels drive, ABS 4 channels, twin turbos, tyre pressure monitoring, adjustable torque balance front/rear from 20 to 80%, 17 inches wheels, adjustable ride height, 6 speeds gearbox and so on. The 959 was so advanced technologically that it immediately sat new standards in terms of performance and drivability. The production car launched in 1986 had 450 HP and 317km/h as top speed and ran the standing km in only 21,7 sec, beating the 288 GTO by 2secs. Porsche always have the habit of validating a new technology via Motorosport and in 1986, Jacky Icks won the Paris – Dakar race and René Metge / Claude Ballot Léna won their class at Le Mans and finished 7th OA with race prepared 959s, which other car did it ? The fabulous 959 is the first step and rolling laboratory of the 911’s rebirth. According to Porsche only 292 of them were built ( as per comparaison Ferrari built 1311 F40s ) and all sold on pre order. This is one of the rarest Porsche ever built and probably the most charismatic of their road cars.

 

This is a quite a unique opportunity in a dealer career to offer a Porsche factory prototype, considering they normally don’t come to the market, being destroyed or keep at the museum. This mind boggling 959, chassis number WPOZZZ93ZFS010067 was built in 1985, given the internal code « V1KOM » and registered BB-PW481. In 1985 Helmutt Bott ( head of the 959 development ) has taken 29 930 chassis from the Porsche factory to turn them in Weissach ( Porsche Motorsport dept ) into the 959 Pre-production prototypes and these were called « F,N or V ». These 29 prototypes were the latest ones and used for media coverage, crash tests and road tests. This car is one of the the 7 « V – Series » which were assigned to the road tests, this particular one was used for ABS and tyre development. Unfortunately most of the 29 Prototypes were destroyed and scrapped at the end of the 959 program.

 

« 10067 » is one of the 4 959 prototypes survivor and one of the only two road going ones. Interestingly enough, the first owner was Professor Tachio Saito, who happened to be a close friend of Ferry Porsche. He noticed chassis 10067 during a visit to the factory whilst translating a book that Dr Porsche had written (Helmut Bott’s personal 959 was the preceding chassis, number 10066). As the founder of the Porsche Owners’ Club of Japan, as well as its first president, Professor Saito was more than qualified as one of Porsche’s preferred customers. A copy of factory correspondence, dated 4 December 1989 and addressed to Saito, refers to certain tasks to be undertaken by the factory prior to his acquisition of this prototype. The letter was written by Herr Willrett, believed to be Elmar Willrett, who was a Porsche engineer who was deeply involved in the development of both the 935 and 935 racing engines and who worked under Rolf Sprenger in the « Sonderwisches » (Special Wishes) Program. The document suggests that this car was to be prepared for display purposes, with functional brakes and steering. Once an agreement was settled, Porsche A.G. completed the restoration of the car, and after 16 months, Professor Saito took delivery of his prototype 959.

 

The professor maintained the 959 for only a short period of time, until noted collector Hideyasu Ohba, of Tokyo, Japan, acquired it for his collection of historic Porsches. In 2000, Mr Ohba sold this car to Minoru Miura, of Chiba, Japan. In 2006, still in Japan, the 959 was then acquired by Mr Shigeru from the Miura Collection. The car went to another 2 hands before coming up to the market via Art & Revs.

 

Being an original Protoype, this car comes with its pre-production magnesium wheels, « Denloc » Dunlop tires, brakes and some lightweight panels. All the production 959s were delivered with Bridgestone RE71 tires, the Dunlops were not retained though they incorporated a world premiere with a kind of « Run Flat » technology. The car is now only 400km and can only be described as being in new condition. It is fully working and was the subject to a recent overhaul and driven for 5 km.

 

Porsche factory no longer releases any Prototype to the public, this is a unique opportunity to acquire one.

DDC-Technological Dog!

Poetography-Dog

 

I had to use this photo and quote because with Shizandra it isn't true! She is very aware of the camera. Whenever I set her up for a photo she goes into her "pose mode!" She is so aware of what's going on around her. So perhaps Border Collies are the exception to this rule? She posed for me with my Fuji X-30. She got a cookie too!

Quoting Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Concorde, Fox Alpha, Air France:

 

The first supersonic airliner to enter service, the Concorde flew thousands of passengers across the Atlantic at twice the speed of sound for over 25 years. Designed and built by Aérospatiale of France and the British Aviation Corporation, the graceful Concorde was a stunning technological achievement that could not overcome serious economic problems.

 

In 1976 Air France and British Airways jointly inaugurated Concorde service to destinations around the globe. Carrying up to 100 passengers in great comfort, the Concorde catered to first class passengers for whom speed was critical. It could cross the Atlantic in fewer than four hours - half the time of a conventional jet airliner. However its high operating costs resulted in very high fares that limited the number of passengers who could afford to fly it. These problems and a shrinking market eventually forced the reduction of service until all Concordes were retired in 2003.

 

In 1989, Air France signed a letter of agreement to donate a Concorde to the National Air and Space Museum upon the aircraft's retirement. On June 12, 2003, Air France honored that agreement, donating Concorde F-BVFA to the Museum upon the completion of its last flight. This aircraft was the first Air France Concorde to open service to Rio de Janeiro, Washington, D.C., and New York and had flown 17,824 hours.

 

Gift of Air France.

 

Manufacturer:

Societe Nationale Industrielle Aerospatiale

British Aircraft Corporation

 

Dimensions:

Wingspan: 25.56 m (83 ft 10 in)

Length: 61.66 m (202 ft 3 in)

Height: 11.3 m (37 ft 1 in)

Weight, empty: 79,265 kg (174,750 lb)

Weight, gross: 181,435 kg (400,000 lb)

Top speed: 2,179 km/h (1350 mph)

Engine: Four Rolls-Royce/SNECMA Olympus 593 Mk 602, 17,259 kg (38,050 lb) thrust each

Manufacturer: Société Nationale Industrielle Aérospatiale, Paris, France, and British Aircraft Corporation, London, United Kingdom

 

Physical Description:

Aircaft Serial Number: 205. Including four (4) engines, bearing respectively the serial number: CBE066, CBE062, CBE086 and CBE085.

Also included, aircraft plaque: "AIR FRANCE Lorsque viendra le jour d'exposer Concorde dans un musee, la Smithsonian Institution a dores et deja choisi, pour le Musee de l'Air et de l'Espace de Washington, un appariel portant le couleurs d'Air France."

"PARALLEL" entry .. inspired a recent computer crash.. presenting an opportunity to look inside the box

30/100... 100 x: The 2015 Edition... Week 15 - Parallel.

Negative Space Project

#38 "Technology" "115 Pictures in 2015"

 

Technological marvel of the 31st century.

Castello - Cagliari

For TLC Sept 2014 (Technologic). More info - wp.me/p49kPp-6I

technological

la galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, a Milano

- Sir, Can I ask you a thing!

 

- Well Lomax I am in the middle of a fight with the Pirat captain, but sure, why not!

 

- Now I know we are in a movie, since this is the very same room we were in at last mission, only slightly altered with different props, and also we caught them of guard so the director didn´t have time to dress the enemies as proper space-pirates these guys suits look like 17th century, I bet they were filming a pirat movie before!

  

This happened in the previous episode:

  

- Sir, can I ask you a thing?

 

- Lomax, why now when we have narrowed down the nasty boss in his throne room!

 

- eh Sorry boss, it is just that I start to see a theme in this work, I know I am just a rookie, but I have started to see this theme!

 

First we board a ship or venture in to a base, then we fight all the foot soldiers and evade the traps then we find the big boss in some purple, red or similar throne room just waiting for us...

why? then he has a small speech and we start fighting him and then he dies and we win!

 

- (Big Boss) Welcome my Heros, so you found me at last, you have been fighting well.....

  

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The Hive At Nanyang Technological University (NTU's Learning Hub)

"The Beechcraft Starship is one of the most technologically advanced aircraft of its type. Designed in 1982 by well known aircraft designer Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites the Starship is the first all composite pressurized business class aircraft. The design featured a variable sweep forward wing or canard, an all glass cockpit, in which traditional instruments are replaced by computer screens, and two rear mounted pusher turboprop engines. Rutan's company built an 85% scale proof of concept aircraft while Beechcraft began design of the full-scale prototype. While Rutan's concept plane flew in 1983 the full size aircraft suffered from production delays, design changes and other problems that pushed its first flight to March 1986. Production of the Starship began in 1988 and a total of 53 were built by 1995 when production was halted. Despite its revolutionary design the Starship was a commercial failure. Many of the aircraft never found buyers and were leased out by Raytheon, which had bought out Beechcraft during the design of the Starship. By 2004, only two or three Starships continue to fly, the rest having been consigned to the scrap yard or museums." - www.pimaair.org

Dundee

-----------

Dundee,Scotland is the fouthe-largest city in Scotland and the most settement in the United Kingdom.It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay,which feeds into the North Sea.Under the name of Dundee City,it forms one of the 32 council areas used for local government in Scotland.

 

The town developed into a burgh in the Midieval times,and expanded rapidly in the 19th century largely due to the jute industry.This along with its other major industries gave Dundee its epithet as the city of "jute,jam,and journalism".

 

The population of the City of Dundee was estimated to be 152,320.Dundee's recorded population reached a peak of 182,204 at the time 1971 census,but ha since declined.

 

Today,Dundeee is promoted as 'One City,Many Discoveries' in honour of Dundee's history of scientific activties and of the RRS Discovery,Captain Robert Falcon Scott's Antarctic exploration vessel,which was built in Dundee,Scotland and is now berthed in the city harbor.Biomedical and technological industries have arrived since the 1980s,and the city now accounts for 10% of the Uninted Kingdom's digtal-entertainment industry.Dundee,Scotland has two universities-the University of Dundee and the University of Abertay Dundee.A $1,600,650,000 master plane to regenerte and reconnect the Waterfront of the city center is expected to be completed within a 30 year period,with the Dundee Queen Victoria and Prince Albert Museum at a cost of $72 million.

 

History

----------

The name "Dundee" is made up of two parts : the common Celtic place-name element dun,meaning fort ; and a second part that may derive from a Celtic element,cognate with the Gaelic de`,meaning fire.

 

While earlier evidence for human occupation is abundant,the source of Dundee's success and growth as a seaport town arguably came as a result of King William I of Scotland or known as King William the Lion of Scotland's charter,granting Dundee to his younger brother,Divid of Scotland (later David of Scotland Earl of Huntingdon) in the late 12th century.The situation of the town it promotion by David of Scotland Earl of Huntingdon as a trading center,led to a period of prosperity and growth.The earldom was passed down to David of Scoland's descendants amongst whom was John Balliol,the town becoming a Royal Burgh on the coronation of John as the King of Scotland in 1292.The town and its castle were occupied by English forces for several years durinf the First War of Scottish Independence and recaptured by King Robert I or known as King Robert the Bruce in early 1312.The original Royal Burghal chaters were lost during the occupation and subsequently renewed by Kingrobert the Bruce in 1327.

 

The burgh suffered considerably during the conflict known as the Rough Wooing of 1543,and was occupied by the English forces of Sir Andrew Dudley from 1547.In 1548 unable to defend the town against an advancing Scottish force,Sir Andrew Dudley ordered that the town be burnt to the ground.In 1645,during the Scotlan in the Wars of the Three Kindoms,Dundee was again besieged,this time by the Royalist James Graham 1st Marquess of Montrose.The town was finally destroyed by Parliamentarian forces,led by George Monck 1st Duke of Albemarle in 1651.The town played a pivotal role in the establishment of the Jacobitism cause when John Graham of Claverhouse 1st Viscount Dundee raised the House of Stuart standard on the Dundee Law in 1689.

 

The enconomy of the midieval Dundee centered on the export of raw wool,with the production of finished textiles being a rection to recession in the 15th century.The introduction of two government acts in the mid eighteenth century had a profound effect on Dundee's industrail success.The textile industry was revolutionised by the introduction of large four-storey mills,stimulated in part by the 1742 Bounty Act which provided a government-funded subsidy on Osnaburg linen produced for export.Expansion of the whaling industry was triggered by the second Bounty Act,introduced in 1750 to increase Great Britain's maritime and naval skillbase.Dundee ans Scotland more generally,saw rapid population increase at the end of the 18th century and begining of the 19th century,with the city's population increasing from 12,400 in 1751 to 30,500 in 1821.

 

The phasing out of the linen export bounty between 1825 and 1832 stimulated demand for cheaper textiles,particularly for the production of cheaper,tough fabrics.The discovery that the dry fibers of jute could be lubricated with whale oil (of which Dundee had surfeit,following the opening of its gasworks) to allow it to be processed in mechanised mills resulted the Dundee mills rapidly converting from linen to jute,which sold at quater of the price of flax.Interruption of Prussian (Germany) flax imports during the Crimean War and of cotton during the American Civil War resulted in a period of inflated prosperity for Dundee and the jute industry dominated Dundee throughout the latter half of the 19th century.Unprecedented immigration,notably of Irish workers,led to accelerated urban expansion,and at the height of the industry's success,Dundee supported 62 jute mills,employing some 50,000 workers.

 

The rise of the textile industries brought with its an expansion of supporting industries,and extensive development of the waterfront area started in 1815 to cope with increased demand on port capacity.At its height 200 ships per year were built there,including Captain Robert Falcon Scott's Antarctic reseach vessel,the RRS Discovery.This ship is now on display at Discovery Point in the city.A significant whaling industry was based in Dundee largely existing to supply the jute mills with whale oil.Whaling ceased in 1912 and shipbuilding ceased in 1981.

 

While the city's economy was dominate by the Jute industry,it also became known for smaller industries.Most notable among thes were James Keiller's and Sons,established in 1795.which pioneered commerial marmalade (jam) production,and the publishing firm David Coupar Thomson &Company,which was founded in the city in 1905 and remains that largest employer after the health and leisure industries.Dundee was said to be built on the 'three Js'.Jute,Jam,andJournalism.

 

The town was also the location of one of the worst rail disasters in British history,the Tay Bridge disaster.The first Tay Ray Bridge was opened in 1879.It collapsed less than a year later during a storm,as a passenger train passed over it,resulted in the loss of 75 lives.The most destructive five in the city's history came in 1906,reportedly sending "rivers of burning scotch whiskey" through the street.

 

The jute industry fell into decline in the early 20th century,partly due to reduced demand for jute products and partly due to inability to compete with the emerging industry in Calcutta,India.This give rise to unemployment levels far in excess of the national average,peaking the inter-war period,but major recovery was seen in the post-war period,thanks to the arrival first of American light engineering companies like Timex and NCR,and subsequent expansion into microeletronics.

 

A $479 million master plane to regenerate Dundee Waterfront is expected to last for a 30 year period.The aims of the project will be to reconnect the city center to the waterfront;impove facilties for walking,cyclist,and buses;peplacing the existing inner ring road with a pair of east/west tree lined boulevards;a new civic square and re-opened dock streching from Caird Hall and regenerated railway station and arrival space at the western edge.

 

Governance

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

Dundee war granted Royal Burgh status on the coronation of John Ballion as King of Scotland in 1292.The city has two mottos-Latin:Dei Donum(English:Gift of God) and Prudentia et Candore (With Throught and Purity) although usually only the later is used for civic purpose.

 

Prior to 1996,Dundee was governed by the City of Dundee District Council.This was formed in 1975,implementing boundaries imposed in the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.Under these boundaries,the Angus Burgh and District of Monifieth,and the Perth electoral division of Longforgan (which included Invergowrie) were annexed to the county of the city of Dundee.In 1996,Dundee City unitary authority was created following implementation of the Local Government ect.(Scotland) Act 1994.This placed Monifieth and Invergowrie in the unitary authorities of Angus and Perth and Kinross,largely reinstating the pre-1975 county boundaries.Some controversy has ensued as a result of these boundary changes,with Dundee city councillors arguing for the return of Monifieth and Invergowrie.

 

Local Government

 

Dunee is on of 32 council areas of Scotlan,and is repesented by the Dundee City Council-local authority composed of 29 elected councillors.Previously the city was a county of the city and later a district of the Tayside region.Council meetings take place in the City Chambers,which opened in 1933 in City Square.The civic head and chair of the council is known as the Lord Provost,a position similar to that of mayor in other cities.Dundee House,the new headquarters for the city council on North Lindsay Street.This has replaced Tayside House which is to be demolished as part of the Dundee Waterfront improvements.

 

The council was controlled by a minority coalition of Labor Party and Liberal Memocrat Party of 12 councillors,with the support of the Conservative Party who had five.Although the Scottish National Party (SNP) was the largest party on the council,with 11 councillors.Elections of the council are on a four year cycle,the most recent.Previously,Councillors were elected from single-member wards by the first past the post system of election,although this changed election,due to the Local Governance (Scotland).Eight new multi-member wards were introduced,each electing three or four councillors by single transferable vote,to produce a form of proportional representation.

 

the election resulted in no single party having overall control, with 13 Scottish National Party,10 Labor Party,3 Conservative Party,2Liberal Democrate Party,and 1 Independent Party Councillors.A by election in the Mayfield Ward changed the balance to 14 Scottish National Party,9 Labor Party,3 Conservative Party,2 Liberal Democat Party,and 2 Independent Party Councillors.The Local Elctions returned a council made up of 16 Scottish National Party,10 Labor Party,1 Conservative Party,1 Liberal Democat Party,and 1 Independent Party Councillors,giving the Scottish Nation Party overall control.

 

Westminster and Holyrood

 

For election to the British House of Commons at Palace of Westinster,the city area and portions of the Angus council area are divided in two constituencies.The constituncies of Dundee East and Dundee West are as of 1999 represented by John MacAllion (Labory Party) and Ernie Ross (Labor Party) respectively.For elections to the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood,the city area is divided between three constituencies.The Dundee East (Holyrood) constitunency and the Dundee West (Holyrood) constituency are entirely within the city area.The Angus South (Holyrood) constituency includes north-eastern and north-western portion of the city area.All three constituncies are within the North East Scotland electoral region:John McAllion (Labor Party is the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Dundee East constituency,Ian Jenkins (Liberal Democat Party) is the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Dundee West constituency.

 

Dundee is also part of the pan-Scottish European constituency which elects seven Member of the European Parliament (MEP) using the D'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation.Scotland returns two Labor Party Member of the European Parliament (MEP),two Scottish National Party (SNP) Member of the European Parliament (MEP),one Conservative and Union Party Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and one Liberal Democat Member of the European Parliament (MEP),to the European Parliament.

 

Geography

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

Dunndee sites onthe north bank of the Firth of Tay on the eastern ,North Sea Coast of Scotland.The city lies 36.1 miles (58 kilometers) North-Northeast of Edinburgh,Scotland and 360.6 mile (580 kilometers)North-Northwest of London,England.The built-up area occupies a roughly retangular shape 8.3 miles (13 kilometers) long by 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) wide,aligened in an east to west direction and occupies an area of 60 kilometers (37 kilometers.The town is bisected by a line of hills streching from Balgay Hill (elevation of 143 meters) 469.1 feet in the west end of the city,through the Dundee Law 570.8 feet (174 meters) which occupies,the center of the built up area,to Gallow Hill 272 feet (83 meters),between ridge lies a vally through which cuts the Dighty water buirn,the elevation falling around 147.6 feet (45 meters.North of the Dighty Vally lies the Sidlaw Hills,the most prominent hill being Craigow Hill 1492.7 feet (455 meters).

 

The western boundary and eastern boundary of the city are marked by two burns that are tributaries of the River Tay.On the western-most boundary of the city,the Lochee burn meets the Fowlis burn,forming the Invergowrie burn,which meets the River Tay at Invergowrie basin.The Dighty Water enters Dundee from the village of Strathmartine and marks the boundaries of a number of northern districs of the cityyjoining the River Tay between Barnhill and Monifieth.The Scouring burn in the west end of the city and Dens Burn in the east,botyh of which played important roles in the industrial development of the city,have now been culverted over.

 

Geology

The city lies within the Sidlaw-Ochil anticline,and the predominant bedrock type is Old Red Sandstone of the Arbuthnoit-Garvock Group.Differential weathering of a series of igneous intrusion has yielded number of prominent hills in the landscape,most notably the Dundee Law (a late Silurian/ early Devonian Mafic rock intrusion) and Balgay Hill (a Felsic rock intrusion of simiar age).To the east of the city,in Craigie and Broughty Ferry,the bedrock geology is of extrusive rock,including mafic lava and tuff.

 

The land surrounding Dundee,particularly that in the lower lying areas of the West and East of the city bears high quality soil that is particularly suitable for areble farming.It is predominantly of a brown forest soil type with some gleying ,the lower parts being formed from raised beach sand and gravels derived from Old Red Sandstone and lavas.

  

Urban Environment

Very liyyle of pre-Scottish Reformation Dundee remains,the destruction suffered in the War of the Rough Wooin being almost total with only scattered roofless shells remaining.The Area occupied by the midieval burgh of Dundee extends between East Port and west Port,which formerly held the gates to the walled city.The shoreline has been altered considerable since the early 19th century through developement of the harbor area and land reclamation.Several areas on the periphery of the burgh saw industrial development with the building of textile mills from the end of the 18th century.Their placement was dictated by the need for a water supply for the modern steam powered machinery,and areas around the Lochee Burn (Lochee),Scouring Burn (Blackness),and Dens Burn (Dens Road area) saw particular concentration of mills.The post war period saw expansion of the industry of eastates along the Kingsway.

 

Working clas housing spread rapidy and without control throughout the Victorian Era,particularly in the Hawkhill,Blackness Road,Dens Road,and Hilltown areas.Depite the comparative wealth of the Victorian Dundee as a whole,living standars for the working classes were very poor.A general lack of town planning coupled with the influx of labour during the expansion of the Jute industry resulted in the unsanitary,squalid,and cramped housing for much of the population.While gradual improvements and slum clearance began in the late 19th century,the bulding of the groundbreaking Logie housing estate marked the begining of Dundee's expansion through the building of planned housing estates,under the vision of the city architect James Thomson,whose legacy also included the housing estate of Craigiebank and the begining of an improved transport infrastructure by planning the Kinsway bypass.

 

Modernisation of the city center continued in the post-war period.The midieval Overgates was demoished in the early 1960s to make way for a shopping center,followed by construction of the inner ring road and the Wellgate Shopping Center.The Tay Road Bridge,completed in 1966 had as its northern landfall the docklands of central Dundee,and the new associated road system resulted in the city center beining cut off from the river.An acute shortage of housing in the late 1940s was addressed by a series of large housing estates built in the northern environs including the Fintry,Craigie,Charlston,and Douglas areas in the 1950s and early 1960s.These were followed by increasingly cost-effective and sometimes poorly planned housing in throughout the 1960s.Much of this,in particular the high rise bock of flats of Lochee,Kirkton,Trottick.Whitfield,Ardler,and Menzishell and the prefabrication Sharne housing blocks at Whitfield,have been demolished since the 1990s or are scheduled for future demolition.

 

Climate

The climate,as is the case with the rest of North-West Europe is Oceanic (Koppen-Geiger classification Cfb).Mean temperature and rainfall is typical for the east coast of Scotland,and with its sheltered estuarine position,mean daily maximuns are slighty higher then coastal areas to the North,particularly in Spring and Summer.The nearst official Met Office weather station is at Mylnefield,Invergowrie which is situated about 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) west of the City Center.

 

Demography

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

According to the census,th City of Dundee had a population of 154,674.A more recent population estimate of the City of Dundee has been recorded at 152,320.The demographic make-up of the population is much in line with the rest of Scotland.The age group from 30 to 44 forms the largest portion of the population (20%).The median age of males and females living in Dundee was 37 and 40 year respectively,compared to 37 and 39 years for those in the whole of Scotland.

 

The place of birth of the town's residents was 94.16% United Kingdom (including 87.85% from Scotland),,0.42% Republic of Ireland,1.33% from other Europen Union countries,and 3.09% from elswhere in the wold.The economic activity of residents aged 16-74 was 35.92% in full-time employment,10.42% in part-time employment,4.25% self-employed,5.18% unemployed,7.82% students with jobs,4.73% students without jobs,15.15% retired,4.54% looking after home or family,7.92% permantly sick or disable,and 4.00% economically inactive for other reasons.Compard with the average demography of Scotland,Dundee has both low proportions of people born outside the united Kingdom and for people over 75 years old

 

Natives of Dundee are called Dundonians and are often recogisable by their distinctive of Scots as well as their accent,which most noticeably subsitutes the monophtong /e/in place of the diphtong /ai/.Dundee,and Scotland more generally,saw rapid population increase at end of the 18th century and begining of the 19th century,with the city's population increased from 12,400 in 1751 to 30,500 in 1821.Of particular significance was an influx of Irish workers in the early to mid-19th century,attracted by the prospect of employment in the textiles industries.In 1851,18.9% of people living in Dundee were Irish birth.

 

The city has also attracted immigrants from Italy,fleeing poverty and famine,and Poland,seeking refuge from the anti-Jewish pogroms in the 19th century,and later,World War II in the 20th century.Today,Dundee has a sizeable ethnic minority population,and has the highest Asian population (~3,500) in Scotland after Glasgow and Edinburgh.

 

The city's universities draw a large nuber of students from abroad (mostly Irish and European Union but with an increasing number from countries in the Far East),and account for 14.2% of the population,the highest population of the four largest Scottish cities.

 

Economy

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

The period following World War II was notable for the transformation of the city's economy.While jute still employed one-fifth of the working population,new industries were attracted and encouraged.NCR Corporation selected Dundee,Scotland as the base of operations for the United Kingdom in late 1945,primarily becaused of the lack of damage the city sustained in the war,good transport links and high productivity from long hours of sunshine.Production started in the year before the official opening of the plant on June 11,1947.A fortnight after 10th anniversary of the plant the 250,000th cash machine was produced.By the 1960s,NCR Corporation had become the principal employer of the city producing cash registers,and later ATMs,at several of Dundee plants.The firm developed magnetic-strip readers for cash registers and produced early computers.Astral ,a Dundee-based firm that manufactured and sold refregerators and spin dryers was merge into Morphy Richards and rapidly expanded to employ over 1,000 people.The development in Dundee of a Michelin tire-production factlity helped to abborb the unemployment caused by the decline of the jute industry,particlarly with the abolition of the jute control by the Board of Trade on April 30,1969.

 

Employment in Dundee changed dramatically during the 1980s with the loss of nearly 10,000 manufacturing jobs due to closure of the shipyards,cessation of carpet manufacturing and the disappearance of the jute tade.To combat growing unemployment and declining economic conditions,Dundee was declared an Enterprise Zone in January 1984.In 183,the first Sinclare Reseach ZX Spectrum home computer were produced in Dundee,Scotland by Timex.In the same year the company broke production records,despite a sit-in by workers protesting against job cuts and plant to demolish one of the factory buildings to make way for a supermarket.Timex closed its Dundee plant in 1993 following an acrimonious six months industrial dispite.

 

Modern Day

 

Dundee is regional employment and education center,with over 300,000 people with 30 minutes drive to the city center and around 630,000 people within one hour.Many people from North East Fife,Angus,and Perth and Kinrose commute to the city.In there were 30 employers who employed 300 or more staff.The largest employer in the city are NHS Tayside,Dundee City Council,University of Dundee,Tesco,David Coupar Thomson & Company,and British Telecommunication Group.Other employers included limited and private companies such as NCR Corporation,Michelin Tires,SiTel,Alliance Trust,Norwich Union,Royal Bank of Scotland,Asda Stores,Stagecoach Strathtay Scottish,Tayside Contracts,Tokheim,Scottish Citylink Coaches Limited,WH Brown Construstion,C J Lang & Son,Joinery and Timber Creation,HBOS plc,Debenhams plc,National Express Dundee,Travel Dundee,William Lee Gore &Associates Incorpated.The only sectors to see job increases between were in education and human health and social work activities,while manufacturing and adminstration and support service activities both saw a significant decline.Average weekly earnings of full-time employers in Dundee was $777.57;men received $817.20 and women $674.50.Averge earnings in Dundee increased from $523.42 to $777.57.

 

The biomedical and biotechnology sectors,including start-up companies arising from university reseach,employ just under 1,000 people directly and nearly 2,000 indirectly.Information technology and Video game development have been important industries in the city for more than 20 years.Rockstar North,developer of Lemmings and the Grand Theft Auto series was founded in Dundee as DMA Design Limited by David Jones;an undergraduate of the University of Abertay Dundee.Other game development studios in Dundee include Denki,Ruffian Games,Dynomo Games Limited,4J Studios,Cohort Studios amongst others.

 

Dundee is also a key retail destination for North East Scotlad and has been ranked 4th in Retail Ranking in Scotland.The city center offers a wide variety of retailers,department stores,and independent specialist stores.The Murraygate and High Street forms the main pedestrian area and is home to a number of main anchors such as Mark and Spencer,Monsoon Accessorize,and Zara.The main pedestrian area also connect the two large shopping centers;420,000 square feet (39,000 square meters) Overgate Shopping Center which anchored by Debenhams,H&M,Next,and Primark and the 310,000 square feet (29,000 square meters) Wellgate Shopping Center by British Home Stores Limited,Home Bargains,and Peacocks.Other retail areas in the city include Gallagher Retail Park,Kingsway East Retail Park,and Kingsway West Retail Park.

 

Landmarks

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

The city and its landscape is dominated by The Dundee Law and the Firth of Tay.The Dundee Law,the large hill that lies to the north of the City Center was the site of an Iron Age Hill Fort,upon which the Dundee Law War Memorial,designed by Thomas Braddock,was erected in 1921 to commemorte the fallen of World War I.The waterfront,much altered by reclamation in the 19th century,retains several of the docks that once were the hub of the Jute industry and Whaling industry,including the Camperdown Dock and Victoria Dock.The Victoria Dock is the home of the frigate HMS Unicorn and the North Carr Lightship,while the RRS Discovery occupies Craig Pier,from while the ferries to Fife once sailed.

 

The oldest building in the city is St. Mary's Tower,which dates to the late 15th century.This forms part of the City Churches,which consists St.Clements Church,dating to 1787-1788 and Samuel Bell,Old St.Paul's Church and St.David's Church,built in 1841-1842 by William Burn,and St.Mary's Church,rebuilt in 1843-1844,also by William Burn following a fire.Other significant churches in the city include the Gothic Revival Episcopal Cathedal of St.Paul's built by Sir George Gilbert Scott in 1853 on the site of Dundee Castle in the High Street and the Roman Catholic cathedral of St.Andrew's built in 1835 by Sir George Mathewson in Nethergate.

 

As a result of the destruction suffered during the Rough Wooing,little of the midieval city (aside from St.Mary's Tower) remains and the earliest surviving domestic structures date from the Early Modern Era.A notable example is the Wishart Arch (or East Point) in Cowgate.It is the last surviving portion of the city walls and,dates prior to 1548;owes its continued existence to its associatin with the Protestant Martyr George Wishart,who is said to have preached to plague victims from the East Point in 1544.Another is the building complex on High Street known as Gardyne Land,part of which date from around 1560.The Howff Burial Ground in the northern part of the City Center also dates from this time,having been gifted to the city by Queen Mary I of Scotland or known as Mary Queen of Scots in 1564,having previously served as the grounds of a Franciscan Abbey.

 

Several castles can be found in Dundee,mostly dating to the Early Modern Era.The earlist part of Mains Castle in Caird Park were built by David Graham in 1562 on the site of an early hunting lodge of 1460.Dudhope Castle,originally the seat of the Scrymgeour family,dates to the late 16th century and was built on the site of earlier keep of 1460.Claypotts Castle,a striking Z plan castle in West Ferry,was built by John Strachan dates to 1569-1588.The ruins of Powrie Castle,North of Fintry date from the 16th century castly north.

 

North of the City Churches,at the end of Reform Street,lies the High School of Dundee,built in 1829-1834 by George Angus in Greek Revival Style.Another school building of note is Morgan Academy on Forfar Road,built in 1863,designed by John Dick Peddie in the Dutch Gothic style.

 

Dundee's industrial history as a center for textile production is apparnt throughout the city.Numerous former jute mills remain standing and while some lay derelict,many have been converted into alternate usages.Of particular note are the Tay Works,built by the Gilroy Brothers Company 1850-1865,Comperdown Works in Lochee,which built and owned Cox Brothers,one of Europe's largest jute manufacturing companies,and begun in 1849,and Upper Dens Mill and Lower Dens Works,built by the Baxter Brothers in the mid 19th century.

 

Transport

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

Dundee is served by the A90 road which conects the city to the M90 motoway and Perth in the west,and Forfar and Aberdeen in the north.The part of the road that is the city is a dual carriageway (divided highway) and forms the city's bypass on its north side,known as the Kingsway.East of the A90's Forfar Road junction,the Kingsway East continues as the A972 road,and meets the A92 road at the Scott Fyffe roundabout (Rotary).Travelling east,the A92 road connects the city to Arbroath and Montrose and to the south with Fife via the Tay Road Bridge.

 

The A930 road links the city with coastal settlements to the east,including Broughty Ferry,Monifieth,and Carnousite.Progressing westward from where the A92 road meets the Tay Road Bridge at the Riverside Roundabout (Rotary),the A85 road follows the southern boundary of the city along Riverside Drive and towards the A90 road at the Swallow Roundabout (Rotary).The A85 road multiplexes with the A90 road and diverges again at Perth.

 

Also meeting the A92 road and A85 road at the Riverside Roundabout (Rotary) is the A991 road Inner Ring Road,which surrounds the perimeter of the city center,returning to the A92 road on the east side of the Tay Road Bridge.The A923 road Dundee to Dunkele Road meets the A991 road at the Dudhope Roundabout (Rotary),and the A929 road links the A991 road to the A90 road via Forfar Road.

 

Dundee has an extensive public bus transport system,with Seagat Bus Station serving as the city's main terminus for journeys out of town.Natioal Express Dundee operates most of the intra-city services,with other more rural services operated by Stagecoach Strathtay.The city's two railway stations are the main Dundee (Tay Bridge) Railway Station,which is situated near the waterfront and the much smaller Broughty Farry Railway Station,which is located to the eastern end of the city.There are complented by the stations at Invergowrie,Balmossie,and Monifieth.Passenger service at Dundee are provided by First Scotrail Railway,CrossCountry Railway,and East Coat Railway.There are no freight service that serve the city since Freightliner Group terminal in Dundee was closed in the 1980s.

 

There are also many intercity bus services offered by Megabus Coaches,Scottish Citylink Coaches Limited,and National Express Group.

 

Dundee Airport offers commercial flights to London City Airport,Birminghan International Airport,and George Best Belfast City Airport.The airport is capable of serving small aircraft and is located 1.86 miles (3 kilometers) west of the city center,adjacent to the River Tay.The nearest major international airport is Eddinburgh Airport,59.2 miles (95.3 kilometers) to the south.

 

The nearest international passenger seaport is Newcastle upon Tyne.

 

Education

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

 

Schools

 

Schools in Dundee have a pupil enrolment of over 20,300.There are 37 primary state schools and nine secondary state schools in the city.Of these,11 primary schools and two secondary schools serve the city's Catholic population;the remainder non-denominational.There is also one specialist school that caters for pupils with learning difficulties ages between five and 18 from Dundee and the surrounding area.

 

Dundee is home to one independet school,the High School of Dundee,which was founded in the 13th century by the Abbot and Monks of Lindores Abbey.The current building was designed by George Angus in a Greek Revival style and built in 1832-1834.Early students included Thomas Thomson,and Hector Boece,as well as the brothers James Wedderburn,John Wedderburn,Robert Wedderburn who were the authors of The Reformation as a vehicle to spead Protestant theology.It was the earlest reformed scoll in Scotlan,having adoped the new religion in 1554.According to Blind Harry's also known Harry the Minstrel's largely apocryphal work The Acts and Deidis of the Illustre and Campioun Sir Willian Wallace,Sir William Wallace was also educated in Dundee.

 

Colleges and Universities

 

Dundee is home to two universities and a student population of approximately 17,000.

 

The University of Dundee became an independent entity in 1967,afer around 70 years of being incorporated into the University of St.Andrews.It was founded in 1881 by Mary Ann Baxter and her distant cousin John Boyd Baxter as University College,Dundee.It fully merged eith the University of St.Andrews in 1897 and was reoranised as Queen's College,Dundee in 1954.Significant reseach in biomedical field and oncology is carried out in the "College of Life Sciences".The University is also home to one of the United Kingdom's top medical schools,based at the city's Ninewells Hospital.The university also incororated the Duncan of Jordanstone School of Art and Design and teaching training college.

 

The University of Abertay Dundee was founded as Dundee Institute of Technology in 1888.It was granted university status in 1994 under the Further and Higher Education Act,1992.The universioty is noted for its computing and creative technology courses,particularly in computer games technology.

 

Dundee College is the city's unbrella further education college,which was estabished in 1985 as an istitution of higher education and volational training.

 

The Al-Maktoum Institute was established in Dundee in Blackness Road.It is a reseach-led institution of higher eduction which offers postgraduate programmes of study (taught Master and MPHIL / PHD reseach) in the study of Islam and multiculturalism.It is an independent by the Univerity of Aberdeen.Its named after its paton,Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

 

Religious Sites

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

 

Christian Groups

 

The Church of Scotland Presbytery of Dundee is responsible for overseeing the worship of 37 congregations in and around Dundee area,21 of which are in the city itselft,with a further five in Broughty Ferry and Barnhill,although changing population patterns have lead to some churches become linked charges.Due to their city center location,the City Churches,Dundee Parish Church (St.Mary's) and the Steeple Church,are the most prominent Church of Scotland building in Dundee.They are on the site of the midieval parish kirk of St.Mary,of which only the 15th century west tower survives.The attached church was once the largest parish church in midieval Scotland.Dundee was unusual among Scottish midieval burgh in having two parish kirks;the second,dedicated to St.Clement,has disappeared,but its site was approximately that of the present City Square.

 

In the middle Ages Dundee was also the site of houses of Dominicans (Blackfriars),and Franciscans (Grayfiars),and had a number of hospitals and chapels.These estabilishments were sacked during the Scottish Reformation,in the mid-16th century,and were reduced to burial grounds,now Barrack Street and The Howff Burial Ground respectively.

 

St.Paul's Cathedral is the seat to the Scottish Episcopal Diocese of Brechin.It is charged with overseeing the worship of 8 congregations in the city (9,including Broughty Ferry),as well as a further 17 in Angus,the Carse of Gowrie and part of Aberdeenshire.The diocese was led by Bishop Jon Ambrose Cyril Mantle when Bishop John Ambrose Cyril Mantle retired.The Diocese will be electing a ne bishop.St.Andrew's Cathedral is the seat of the Roman Catholic of Dunkeld,led by Bishop Vincet Paul Logan.The diocese is responsible for overseeing 15 congregations in Dundee and 37 in the surrounding area.

 

There are Methodist,Baptist,Congregationalist,United Reformed Church,Pentecostalist,and Salvation Army churches in the city,and non-mainstream Christian groups are also wel represented,including the Unitarians,the Society of Friends,the Jehovah's witnesses,Seventh-day Adventist Christadelphians,and Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

 

Non-Christian Groups

 

Muslims are served by Dundee Islamic Socitety Central Mosque in Brown Street to replace their former premises in Hilltown.There are also smaller mosques at Victoria Road and Dura Street.

 

A recorded Jewish community has existed in the city since the early 19th centruy.There is a small Orthodox Synagogue at Dudhope Park that was built in the 1960s,with the Hebrew Burial Grounds located three miles (5 kilometers) to the east.Samye Dzong Dundee is a Buddhist Temple based in Reform Street.There is also Hindu Mandir and Sikh Gurdware that share a premises in Taylor's Lane situated in the West End of the city,and there is a second gurdware in Victoria Road.

 

Culture

----------

Dundee is home to the Scotlands's only full-time repertory esemble,established in the 1930s.Onec of its alumni,Hollywood actor Brian Denis Cox is a native of the city.The Dundee Repertory Theater,built in 1982 is base for Scottish Dance Theater.

 

Dundee's principal concent auditorium,the Caird Hall (named after its benefactor,the jute baron Sir James Key Caird 1st Baronet) in the City Square regulary host the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO).Various smaller venues host local and internation musicians during Dundee's annual Jazz Festival,Guitar Festival,and Blues Festive.The Dundee Contemporary Arts,which opened in 1999 in city's cultural quartes,is home to both an art gallery and art cinema.

 

The city's main museum and art gallery,McManus Galleries is in Albert Sqare.The exhibits include a collection of fine art and decorative art,items from Dundee's histoy artefacts and natural history artefacts.Britain's only full-time public observatory,Mills Observatory at the summit of the city's Balgay Hill was gifted to the city by linen manufacturer and amateur scientist John Mills in 1935.Sensation Science Center in the Greenmarket is a science center based on the five senses through a series of interactive shows and exhibits.Verdant Works is a museum dedicated to the once dominat jute industry in Dundee and is based in a former jute mill.The University of Dundee also runs serveal public museums and galleries including the Sir D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson Zoology Museum and the Tay Medical History Museum.A new $ 75 million center for art and design known as the "V&A at Dundee" is to be built south of Craig Harbor onto the River Tay for completion.The new museum bring another 500,000 extra visitors to the city and create up to 900 jobs for the area.

 

The city's archives and records are mostly kept by two archives,Dundee City Archives,which are operated by Dundee City Council and the University of Dundee's Archive Services.Dundee City Archives holds the offical records of the city and of the former Tayside Regional Council the archive also holds the records of various people groups and organizations connected to the city.The University's Archive Services hold a wild range of material relating to individuals associated with the University such as Sir D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson.Archive Service is also home to athe archives of several individuals,businesses and organizations based in Dundee and the surrounding area.The records held include a substantial number of business archives relating to the jute industry and linen industry in Dundee,records of other businesses including the archives of the Alliance Trust,and the department store G.L.Wilson,the records of the Brechin Diocese of the Scottish Episcopal Church,and the Scottish National Helth Service Tayside Archive.The same archive also holds the Michael Peto collection with includes thousans of the famed photojournalist's photographs,negatives,slides,publications,and papers.

Technological progress continues in the Tanzimat Empire.

ITM1692074

 

Google is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence,[9] and consumer electronics. It has been referred to as "the most powerful company in the world"[10] and one of the world's most valuable brands due to its market dominance, data collection, and technological advantages in the area of artificial intelligence.[11][12][13] Its parent company Alphabet is considered one of the Big Five American information technology companies, alongside Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft.

Google was founded on September 4, 1998, by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were PhD students at Stanford University in California. Together they own about 14% of its publicly listed shares and control 56% of the stockholder voting power through super-voting stock. The company went public via an initial public offering (IPO) in 2004. In 2015, Google was reorganized as a wholly owned subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. Google is Alphabet's largest subsidiary and is a holding company for Alphabet's Internet properties and interests. Sundar Pichai was appointed CEO of Google on October 24, 2015, replacing Larry Page, who became the CEO of Alphabet. On December 3, 2019, Pichai also became the CEO of Alphabet.[14]

The company has since rapidly grown to offer a multitude of products and services beyond Google Search, many of which hold dominant market positions. These products address a wide range of use cases, including email (Gmail), navigation (Waze & Maps), cloud computing (Cloud), web browsing (Chrome), video sharing (YouTube), productivity (Workspace), operating systems (Android), cloud storage (Drive), language translation (Translate), photo storage (Photos), video calling (Meet), smart home (Nest), smartphones (Pixel), wearable technology (Pixel Watch & Fitbit), music streaming (YouTube Music), video on demand (YouTube TV), artificial intelligence (Google Assistant), machine learning APIs (TensorFlow), AI chips (TPU), and more. Discontinued Google products include gaming (Stadia), Glass,[citation needed] Google+, Reader, Play Music, Nexus, Hangouts, and Inbox by Gmail.[15][16]

Google's other ventures outside of Internet services and consumer electronics include quantum computing (Sycamore), self-driving cars (Waymo, formerly the Google Self-Driving Car Project), smart cities (Sidewalk Labs), and transformer models (Google Brain).[17]

Google and YouTube are the two most visited websites worldwide followed by Facebook and Twitter. Google is also the largest search engine, mapping and navigation application, email provider, office suite, video sharing platform, photo and cloud storage provider, mobile operating system, web browser, ML framework, and AI virtual assistant provider in the world as measured by market share. On the list of most valuable brands, Google is ranked second by Forbes[18] and fourth by Interbrand.[19] It has received significant criticism involving issues such as privacy concerns, tax avoidance, censorship, search neutrality, antitrust and abuse of its monopoly position.

In March 1999, the company moved its offices to Palo Alto, California,[52] which is home to several prominent Silicon Valley technology start-ups.[53] The next year, Google began selling advertisements associated with search keywords against Page and Brin's initial opposition toward an advertising-funded search engine.[54][22] To maintain an uncluttered page design, advertisements were solely text-based.[55] In June 2000, it was announced that Google would become the default search engine provider for Yahoo!, one of the most popular websites at the time, replacing Inktomi.

 

In 2003, after outgrowing two other locations, the company leased an office complex from Silicon Graphics, at 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway in Mountain View, California.[59] The complex became known as the Googleplex, a play on the word googolplex, the number one followed by a googol zeroes. Three years later, Google bought the property from SGI for $319 million.[60] By that time, the name "Google" had found its way into everyday language, causing the verb "google" to be added to the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary and the Oxford English Dictionary, denoted as: "to use the Google search engine to obtain information on the Internet".[61][62] The first use of the verb on television appeared in an October 2002 episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.[63]

Additionally, in 2001 Google's investors felt the need to have a strong internal management, and they agreed to hire Eric Schmidt as the chairman and CEO of Google.[49] Eric was proposed by John Doerr from Kleiner Perkins. He had been trying to find a CEO that Sergey and Larry would accept for several months, but they rejected several candidates because they wanted to retain control over the company. Michael Moritz from Sequoia Capital at one point even menaced requesting Google to immediately pay back Sequoia's $12.5m investment if they did not fulfill their promise to hire a chief executive office, which had been made verbally during investment negotiations. Eric wasn't initially enthusiastic about joining Google either, as the company's full potential hadn't yet been widely recognized at the time, and as he was occupied with his responsibilities at Novell where he was CEO. As part of him joining, Eric agreed to buy $1 million of Google preferred stocks as a way to show his commitment and to provide funds Google needed.

Google generates most of its revenues from advertising. This includes sales of apps, purchases made in-app, digital content products on Google and YouTube, Android and licensing and service fees, including fees received for Google Cloud offerings. Forty-six percent of this profit was from clicks (cost per clicks), amounting to US$109,652 million in 2017. This includes three principal methods, namely AdMob, AdSense (such as AdSense for Content, AdSense for Search, etc.) and DoubleClick AdExchange.

In addition to its own algorithms for understanding search requests, Google uses technology its acquisition of DoubleClick, to project user interest and target advertising to the search context and the user history.

In 2007, Google launched "AdSense for Mobile", taking advantage of the emerging mobile advertising market.

Google Analytics allows website owners to track where and how people use their website, for example by examining click rates for all the links on a page. Google advertisements can be placed on third-party websites in a two-part program. Google Ads allows advertisers to display their advertisements in the Google content network, through a cost-per-click scheme.[138] The sister service, Google AdSense, allows website owners to display these advertisements on their website and earn money every time ads are clicked.[139] One of the criticisms of this program is the possibility of click fraud, which occurs when a person or automated script clicks on advertisements without being interested in the product, causing the advertiser to pay money to Google unduly. Industry reports in 2006 claimed that approximately 14 to 20 percent of clicks were fraudulent or invalid.[140] Google Search Console (rebranded from Google Webmaster Tools in May 2015) allows webmasters to check the sitemap, crawl rate, and for security issues of their websites, as well as optimize their website's visibility.

Consumer services

Web-based services

Google offers Gmail for email, Google Calendar for time-management and scheduling, Google Maps for mapping, navigation and satellite imagery, Google Drive for cloud storage of files, Google Docs, Sheets and Slides for productivity, Google Photos for photo storage and sharing, Google Keep for note-taking, Google Translate for language translation, YouTube for video viewing and sharing, Google My Business for managing public business information, and Duo for social interaction. In March 2019, Google unveiled a cloud gaming service named Stadia. A job search product has also existed since before 2017, Google for Jobs is an enhanced search feature that aggregates listings from job boards and career sites.

Some Google services are not web-based. Google Earth, launched in 2005, allowed users to see high-definition satellite pictures from all over the world for free through a client software downloaded to their computers.

Software

Google develops the Android mobile operating system, as well as its smartwatch, television, car, and Internet of things-enabled smart devices variations.

It also develops the Google Chrome web browser, and Chrome OS, an operating system based on Chrome.

 

Hardware

 

In January 2010, Google released Nexus One, the first Android phone under its own brand. It spawned a number of phones and tablets under the "Nexus" branding until its eventual discontinuation in 2016, replaced by a new brand called Pixel.

In 2011, the Chromebook was introduced, which runs on Chrome OS.

In July 2013, Google introduced the Chromecast dongle, which allows users to stream content from their smartphones to televisions.

In June 2014, Google announced Google Cardboard, a simple cardboard viewer that lets user place their smartphone in a special front compartment to view virtual reality (VR) media.

Other hardware products include:

•Nest, a series of voice assistant smart speakers that can answer voice queries, play music, find information from apps (calendar, weather etc.), and control third-party smart home appliances (users can tell it to turn on the lights, for example). The Google Nest line includes the original Google Home (later succeeded by the Nest Audio), the Google Home Mini (later succeeded by the Nest Mini, the Google Home Max, the Google Home Hub (later rebranded as the Nest Hub), and the Nest Hub Max.

•Nest Wifi (originally Google Wifi), a connected set of Wi-Fi routers to simplify and extend coverage of home Wi-Fi.

 

Enterprise services

Google Workspace (formerly G Suite until October 2020) is a monthly subscription offering for organizations and businesses to get access to a collection of Google's services, including Gmail, Google Drive and Google Docs, Google Sheets and Google Slides, with additional administrative tools, unique domain names, and 24/7 support.

On September 24, 2012, Google launched Google for Entrepreneurs, a largely not-for-profit business incubator providing startups with co-working spaces known as Campuses, with assistance to startup founders that may include workshops, conferences, and mentorships. Presently, there are seven Campus locations: Berlin, London, Madrid, Seoul, São Paulo, Tel Aviv, and Warsaw.

On March 15, 2016, Google announced the introduction of Google Analytics 360 Suite, "a set of integrated data and marketing analytics products, designed specifically for the needs of enterprise-class marketers" which can be integrated with BigQuery on the Google Cloud Platform. Among other things, the suite is designed to help "enterprise class marketers" "see the complete customer journey", generate "useful insights", and "deliver engaging experiences to the right people". Jack Marshall of The Wall Street Journal wrote that the suite competes with existing marketing cloud offerings by companies including Adobe, Oracle, Salesforce, and IBM.

 

Internet services

In February 2010, Google announced the Google Fiber project, with experimental plans to build an ultra-high-speed broadband network for 50,000 to 500,000 customers in one or more American cities.[178][179] Following Google's corporate restructure to make Alphabet Inc. its parent company, Google Fiber was moved to Alphabet's Access division.[180][181]

In April 2015, Google announced Project Fi, a mobile virtual network operator, that combines Wi-Fi and cellular networks from different telecommunication providers in an effort to enable seamless connectivity and fast Internet signal.

 

Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes, its name comes from the face book directories often given to American university students. Membership was initially limited to Harvard students, gradually expanding to other North American universities and, since 2006, anyone over 13 years old. As of July 2022, Facebook claimed 2.93 billion monthly active users,[6] and ranked third worldwide among the most visited websites as of July 2022.[7] It was the most downloaded mobile app of the 2010s.[8]

Facebook can be accessed from devices with Internet connectivity, such as personal computers, tablets and smartphones. After registering, users can create a profile revealing information about themselves. They can post text, photos and multimedia which are shared with any other users who have agreed to be their "friend" or, with different privacy settings, publicly. Users can also communicate directly with each other with Facebook Messenger, join common-interest groups, and receive notifications on the activities of their Facebook friends and the pages they follow.

The subject of numerous controversies, Facebook has often been criticized over issues such as user privacy (as with the Cambridge Analytica data scandal), political manipulation (as with the 2016 U.S. elections) and mass surveillance.[9] Posts originating from the Facebook page of Breitbart News, a media organization previously affiliated with Cambridge Analytica,[10] are currently among the most widely shared political content on Facebook.[11][12][13][14][15] Facebook has also been subject to criticism over psychological effects such as addiction and low self-esteem, and various controversies over content such as fake news, conspiracy theories, copyright infringement, and hate speech.

 

Zuckerberg built a website called "Facemash" in 2003 while attending Harvard University. The site was comparable to Hot or Not and used "photos compiled from the online face books of nine Houses, placing two next to each other at a time and asking users to choose the "hotter" person". Facemash attracted 450 visitors and 22,000 photo-views in its first four hours. The site was sent to several campus group listservs, but was shut down a few days later by Harvard administration. Zuckerberg faced expulsion and was charged with breaching security, violating copyrights and violating individual privacy. Ultimately, the charges were dropped. Zuckerberg expanded on this project that semester by creating a social study tool. He uploaded art images, each accompanied by a comments section, to a website he shared with his classmates.

A "face book" is a student directory featuring photos and personal information. In 2003, Harvard had only a paper version[ along with private online directories. Zuckerberg told The Harvard Crimson, "Everyone's been talking a lot about a universal face book within Harvard. ... I think it's kind of silly that it would take the University a couple of years to get around to it. I can do it better than they can, and I can do it in a week."[29] In January 2004, Zuckerberg coded a new website, known as "TheFacebook", inspired by a Crimson editorial about Facemash, stating, "It is clear that the technology needed to create a centralized Website is readily available ... the benefits are many." Zuckerberg met with Harvard student Eduardo Saverin, and each of them agreed to invest $1,000 ($1,435 in 2021 dollars[30]) in the site.[31] On February 4, 2004, Zuckerberg launched "TheFacebook", originally located at thefacebook.com.

Six days after the site launched, Harvard seniors Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra accused Zuckerberg of intentionally misleading them into believing that he would help them build a social network called HarvardConnection.com. They claimed that he was instead using their ideas to build a competing product. The three complained to the Crimson and the newspaper began an investigation. They later sued Zuckerberg, settling in 2008 for 1.2 million shares (worth $300 million ($354 million in 2021 dollars[30]) at Facebook's IPO).

Membership was initially restricted to students of Harvard College. Within a month, more than half the undergraduates had registered.[36] Dustin Moskovitz, Andrew McCollum, and Chris Hughes joined Zuckerberg to help manage the growth of the website.[37] In March 2004, Facebook expanded to Columbia, Stanford and Yale.[38] It then became available to all Ivy League colleges, Boston University, NYU, MIT, and successively most universities in the United States and Canada.

In mid-2004, Napster co-founder and entrepreneur Sean Parker—an informal advisor to Zuckerberg—became company president.[41] In June 2004, the company moved to Palo Alto, California.[42] It received its first investment later that month from PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel. In 2005, the company dropped "the" from its name after purchasing the domain name Facebook.com for US$200,000 ($277,492 in 2021 dollars). The domain had belonged to AboutFace Corporation.

In May 2005, Accel Partners invested $12.7 million ($17.6 million in 2021 dollars) in Facebook, and Jim Breyer added $1 million ($1.39 million in 2021 dollars) of his own money. A high-school version of the site launched in September 2005. Eligibility expanded to include employees of several companies, including Apple Inc. and Microsoft.

 

Facebook was sued by the Federal Trade Commission as well as a coalition of several states for illegal monopolization and antitrust. The FTC and states sought the courts to force Facebook to sell its subsidiaries WhatsApp and Instagram.[183][184] The suits were dismissed by a federal judge on June 28, 2021, who stated that there was not enough evidence brought in the suit to determine Facebook to be a monopoly at this point, though allowed the FTC to amend its case to include additional evidence. In its amended filings in August 2021, the FTC asserted that Facebook had been a monopoly in the area of personal social networks since 2011, distinguishing Facebook's activities from social media services like TikTok that broadcast content without necessarily limiting that message to intended recipients.

In response to the proposed bill in the Australian Parliament for a News Media Bargaining Code, on February 17, 2021, Facebook blocked Australian users from sharing or viewing news content on its platform, as well as pages of some government, community, union, charity, political, and emergency services.[187] The Australian government strongly criticised the move, saying it demonstrated the "immense market power of these digital social giants".

On February 22, Facebook said it reached an agreement with the Australian government that would see news returning to Australian users in the coming days. As part of this agreement, Facebook and Google can avoid the News Media Bargaining Code adopted on February 25 if they "reach a commercial bargain with a news business outside the Code".

Facebook has been accused of removing and shadow banning content that spoke either in favor of protesting Indian farmers or against Narendra Modi's government. India-based employees of Facebook are at risk of arrest.

On February 27, 2021, Facebook announced Facebook BARS app for rappers.

On June 29, 2021, Facebook announced Bulletin, a platform for independent writers.[197][198] Unlike competitors such as Substack, Facebook would not take a cut of subscription fees of writers using that platform upon its launch, like Malcolm Gladwell and Mitch Albom. According to The Washington Post technology writer Will Oremus, the move was criticized by those who viewed it as an tactic intended by Facebook to force those competitors out of business.

In October 2021, owner Facebook, Inc. changed its company name to Meta Platforms, Inc., or simply "Meta", as it shifts its focus to building the "metaverse". This change does not affect the name of the Facebook social networking service itself, instead being similar to the creation of Alphabet as Google's parent company in 2015.

In November 2021, Facebook stated it would stop targeting ads based on data related to health, race, ethnicity, political beliefs, religion and sexual orientation. The change will occur in January and will affect all apps owned by Meta Platforms.

In February 2022, Facebook's daily active users dropped for the first time in its 18-year history. According to Facebook's parent Meta, DAUs dropped to 1.929 billion in the three months ending in December, down from 1.930 billion the previous quarter. Furthermore, the company warned that revenue growth would slow due to competition from TikTok and YouTube, as well as advertisers cutting back on spending.

Analysts predict a "death spiral" for facebook stock as users leave while ad impressions increase, as the company chases revenue.

On March 10, 2022, Facebook announced that it will temporarily ease rules to allow violent speech against 'Russian invaders'. Russia then banned all Meta services, including Instagram.

  

At a crossroads – Needing to make an important decision

When you are at a crossroads, you are at a point in your life where you need to make a decision. The implication is that the decision you make will have big, life-altering consequences.

Bad apple – Bad person

You can use this idiom to describe someone who is not nice and maybe even criminal.

Barking up the wrong tree – Pursuing the wrong course

When you “bark up the wrong tree” you are pursuing the wrong solution to your problems.

Be closefisted – Stingy

If you are being “closefisted”, you don’t want to spend a lot of money.

Be cold-hearted – Uncaring

If you decide to be “cold-hearted”, you are making a deliberate decision not to care about someone or something.

Be on solid ground – Confident

When you are “on solid ground”, you are confident in your position or feel that you are safe.

Beat around the bush – Avoid saying

When you do this, you are taking a long time to say what you really need to say. You may be doing this because the “truth” is embarrassing or your unsure about how the listener will take it.

Behind you – Supportive

When you are “behind” someone, you are saying that they have your support.

Between a rock and a hard place – Facing difficulties

When you have to choose between two options, neither of which are ideal or “good”.

Blow off steam – Try to relax

When you are stressed or upset about something, sometimes you need to do something to keep you from thinking about it.

Born with a silver spoon in their mouth – Born wealthy

This idiomatic expression is used to describe someone who was born into a wealthy family.

Break the bank – Spend a lot

When you “break the bank”, you spend a lot of money on something. If something will “break the bank”, then it’s expensive.

Bright spark – Smart

A “bright spark” is someone who is smart and valuable to an organization.

Build a case – Argue your point

When you “build a case” for something, you are preparing to argue a point or convince someone that your opinion is the right one.

Build castles in the sky – Daydream

When you fantasize about something you hope to have or achieve.

Burn your bridges – End a relationship

When you “burn your bridges” you end a relationship permanently.

Butter up – Flatter

When you “butter” someone up, you are telling them nice things about themselves.

Bought a lemon – Bad bargain

If something you bought is a “lemon” it is a bad product. In a sense, you wasted your money on it.

Break the ice – Start a conversation

When you start a conversation strangers with the end goal of making new friends.

Calm before the storm – Peaceful

When you use this to describe your state of being or mind, you’re talking about a quiet period before anticipated trouble comes your way.

Chasing rainbows – Pursuing dreams

When you try to follow your dreams. The implication here, however, is that you might be better off forgetting your dreams.

Clear as mud – Hard to understand

When you are confused about something or a situation.

Cool as a cucumber – Calm

This idiomatic expression is meant to describe someone who is calm and relaxed.

Couch potato – Lazy

A couch potato is a lazy person. Specifically, someone who sprawls on their couch watching TV almost all day.

Cross that bridge when we get to it – Think about it later

When you say this, you are telling someone that you will think about something later. The implication is that it’s a problem or a decision that can be put off for now.

Chew it over – Think had about something

This idiom implies that you need to make an important decision and can’t afford to be hasty about it.

Come to light – Be revealed

When something “comes to light” something that was originally concealed from you is revealed.

Cut back on – Reduce

When you use this idiom, you are reducing something.

Cut to the chase – Speak concisely

When you tell someone to “cut to the chase”, you are expressing impatience. This is usually used when someone feels someone else is taking to long to deliver important news.

Crystal clear – Easy to understand

When you say that something is “crystal clear”, you are saying that it is understood.

Dead-end job – No more opportunities

When you are stuck in a “dead-end job”, you are in a career situation where there is no more room for advancement.

Dig deep – Strive

When you “dig deep” you put a lot of effort into a task.

Digging into – Looking closer

When you “dig into” something, you are looking for more information.

Don’t run before you can walk – Don’t assume something is easy

This is a descriptive idiom, it’s meant to make you think about how a baby needs to learn how to walk before they can run. It’s supposed to caution you about assuming you can just do something without learning the basics.

Down to earth – Practical

This describes someone who is known for being sensible and practical.

Eat like a bird – Small appetite

This is used to describe someone who doesn’t eat a lot.

Eat like a horse – Eat a lot

If you eat like a horse, you are eating a lot. You can “eat like a bird” most of the time but “eat like a horse” at a specific time because you are either very hungry or you really like the food.

Eat your words – Admit you were wrong

When you “eat your words” you are admitting that something you said earlier turned out to be wrong.

Every cloud has a silver lining – Things will get better

When you say this, you are telling yourself or someone else that you will get through your troubles.

Face the music – Face the consequences

When you “face the music”, you are owning up to a mistake and trying to make amends.

Find your feet – Adapt

When you are “finding your feet” you are learning how to adapt to a new situation, like a new job.

Follow in their footsteps – Imitate

This idiom is often used between children and their parents, but it can also refer to a mentor or someone you admire. If you “follow in someone’s footsteps”, you do the same thing that they did.

Food for thought – Something to think about

If you are given “food for thought” you have been given something to think about.

A frosty reception – To be unwelcome

If you received a “frosty reception”, you are not welcome.

Fly off the handle – Rages

You can use this idiom to describe someone who is visibly angry over a situation. Often this means that someone is shouting and maybe gesturing violently and even causing damage to property. It also implies that the angry reaction is disproportionate to the situation.

Get on with your life – Continue on after a setback

This is something you can say and should do after going through some problems.

Give them a run for their money – Compete

If you are competing with someone, you are giving them a “run for their money.”

Go Dutch – Split the bill

You can use this idiomatic expression when dining out with friends.

Go with the flow – Relax and get along

When you “go with the flow” you keep calm and just go along with whatever is happening around you.

Got off scot-free – Escaped

When you “get off scot-free”, you managed to escape any consequences for your actions.

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Hard to swallow – Unbelievable

If someone told you something that you just can’t believe, they told you something that is “hard to swallow”.

Have your whole life in front of you – Young

Someone who has their whole life in front of them is young and full of promise.

Hold out an olive branch – Apologize

When you do this, you try to make amends or peace with someone you’ve hurt or angered.

In hot water – In trouble

This idiomatic expression can be used to say that you are in a less than ideal situation.

Inching forward - Making slow progress

When you say this, you’re saying things are proceeding slowly.

Keep on the straight and narrow – Keep out of trouble

When you say this, you are implying that you are going to live in a morally correct way.

Keep your chin up – Stay positive

Even if you’re going through a hard time, you should keep thinking positive.

Kicked the bucket – Died

This is an irreverent phrase to say that someone has died. Be careful how you use it.

Let the cat out of the bag – Spoiled the secret

You “let the cat out of the bag” when you accidentally let someone in on a secret that they weren’t meant to know.

Look up to – Respect

When you “look up to” someone you are acknowledging that you respect them and value their opinion.

Loaded – Rich

When you call someone “loaded” you are saying that they are rich.

Lost at sea – Confused

If a situation is making you feel confused or lost, this is the idiom to use.

Making ends meet – Careful budgeting

If you. don’t have much money, you need to “make ends meet”. This means you carefully budget what you do have to meet your needs.

Make a mountain out of a molehill –Exaggerate

This idiom is used to say that someone is being over-dramatic with their complaints or concerns.

Make waves – Change things

When you “make waves”, you change a situation dramatically. This can also mean that you caused trouble.

Nip in the bud – Stop

When you do this, you take action to keep a situation from getting worse.

No sweat – Easy

When you say “no sweat” you are saying that a task was easy

Not your cup of tea – Not something you like

If you say that something is “not your cup of tea” you are saying it’s not something you particularly like or enjoy.

Once in a blue moon – Rare

This implies something that either won’t happen or rarely happens.

Out in the open – Public knowledge

When something is “out in the open”, it is a matter of public knowledge.

Over the moon – Very happy

You can use this to describe the feeling of getting something you’ve been looking forward to for a long time.

On cloud nine – Very happy

Similar to being over the moon.

Packed like sardines – Crowded

If people are “packed like sardines” in a venue, they are standing very close together in a small space.

Piece of cake –Easy

If you say something is a “piece of cake” you are saying that it is easy.

Pitch in - Contribute

When you “pitch-in”, you work with a group of people to reach a common goal.

Point of view – An opinion

Your “point of view” is what you think about someone or a situation.

Pony up – Pay

If you are paying back a debt, you are “ponying up” the money.

Pour oil on troubled waters – Calm things down

This basically means that you played peacemaker and kept an argument from developing into a physical fight.

Put your head in the sand – Deny something unpleasant

When you have your “head in the sand”, you are deliberately ignoring a bad situation.

Rags to riches – Became rich

Someone who went from “rags to riches” was born poor or underprivileged, but is now in a better social position.

Rain or shine – No matter what

This idiomatic expression is used to express the idea that nothing will stop you.

Reap the rewards – Received the benefits

When you “reap the rewards”, you are getting the benefits of your good work.

Rings a bell – Sounds familiar

When you think that you’ve heard a piece of information before but are not so sure.

Rule of thumb – General practice

A “rule of thumb” is an unwritten rule that is followed by the majority.

Separate the wheat from the chaff – Decide what is valuable

This picturesque idiom refers to how, when you harvest wheat, you need to separate it from the stalks and leaves. So, it means that you pick out or choose what is valuable to keep.

Shell out money – Pay

When you “shell out money”, you pay for an item.

Sitting on the fence – Neutral

When you “sit on the fence” you are avoiding making a decision. Often, this is a decision between two people with different opinions.

Smart cookie – Smart person

You can use this idiom to describe someone intelligent.

Spice things up – Make things interesting

When you “spice things up” you do something to break out of your normal routine.

Spill the beans – Tell

When you do this, you tell someone something they didn’t know. It may or not have been a secret previously.

Sticky fingers – Thief

If you accuse someone of having “sticky fingers” you are basically calling them a thief.

Take a side – Choose who to support

When you “take a side” in an argument, you are agreeing with one of those arguing.

Throw light on – Explain something

When you “throw light on” a situation, you help make sure that it is understood.

To move at a snail’s pace – Move slowly

This is another idiomatic phrase that’s meant to paint a picture. A snail moves slowly, so to move at its pace means things are going slowly.

Tread carefully – Be cautious

This implies that a situation is fraught and it might be easy to offend those involved.

Under the table – Secretive

When you do something “under the table”, you are trying to do something so that only a small amount of people are aware of it. It’s commonly used to describe something that is possibly unscrupulous. For example, bribes are given “under the table”.

Undermine your position – Act unconvincingly

When you behave in a way that makes you and your opinion seem untrustworthy.

Up in the air – Uncertain

When you say something is “up in the air”, you are saying that you are not sure that an event is happening.

Weather the storm – Survive

When you “weather the storm”, you endure a bad situation.

When it rains, it pours – Trouble comes

This refers to the fact that sometimes, many bad things happen to people at one time.

So there you have it, 10 idiomatic expressions and their meanings. These idioms are used by native English language speakers to add some color to their daily speech.

 

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hair college met college interest Music interest mine death Death such heavy topic course course did take up college someone there someone who go with experience exciting experience! behind I’m scared check what’s behind that door reach can’t reach him won’t answer phone local This local business kill Smoking kill six have six books about Psychology remain These remain on top shelf effect Wow effect that mascara great! use use your phone yeah Yeah did call earlier suggest did suggest that class same English class control Where’s remote control raise It’s challenging discipline kids these days care don’t care about think perhaps Perhaps arrive at compromise little There’s little bird outside window late am running late doctor’s appointment hard That test was hard field He’s over there by soccer field else anyone else coming pass pass by grocery store former She was former housemate sell sell your old couch online major It’s major issue project sometimes Sometimes forget turn off porch lights require They’ll require show your I D along tag along your road trip development This news development really interesting themselves They take care themselves report read report it was great! role She’s going play role Elsa better Your singing has gotten much better! economic Some countries are facing economic crisis effort government must make effort solve this up grades have gone up decide decide where eat rate How would rate hotel’s service strong They have strong customer service here! possible Maybe it’s possible change their bathroom amenities heart heart full drug She got patent drug she has created cure cancer show show how solve this puzzle leader are wonderful leader light Watch face light up when mention name voice Hearing mom’s voice all need right now wife wife away weekend whole have whole house myself police police have questioned about incident mind This relaxation technique really eases mind finally finally move out from old apartment pull baby niece likes pull hair return give tickles return free best things life are free military dad military price This price pay lying report Did report this police less am praying less stress this coming new year according According weather report it’s going rain today decision This big decision explain I’ll explain everything later promise son son cute! hope hope I’ll have son one day even Even they’ve broken up they still remain friends develop That rash could develop into something more serious view This view amazing! relationship They’ve taken their relationship next level carry carry bag town This town extremely quiet road There’s road that leads edge woods drive can’t drive there need walk arm broke arm during practice true It’s true I’m leaving company federal Animal abuse now federal felony! break Don’t break law better better learn how follow rules difference What’s difference between happiness contentment thank forgot thank pie she sent us receive Did receive pie sent value value friendship much 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whose Whose umbrella this matter does it matter anyway everyone Everyone thinks stole that file center hate being center attention couple couple on their honeymoon now site This site big! end It’s end era project This project file due tomorrow hit hit burglar with bat base All moms are their child’s home base activity musical activity suggest toddler star son draw star! table saw draw it while was writing on table need need enroll good preschool court There’s basketball court near house produce Fresh farm produce best eat could eat that all day American sister dating American teach love teach English lessons oil Could buy some cooking oil at store half Just half liter situation situation getting out hand easy thought said this was going easy cost cost fuel has increased! industry fuel industry hiking prices figure government figure out how fix this problem face can’t bear face this horrendous traffic again again street Let’s cross street image There’s image stored inside mind itself 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catch up soon please! step Watch your step baby baby adorable computer turn on computer type need type your password attention have your attention draw draw this film That film absolutely mind-blowing Republican Republican candidate tree That tree has been there generations source are source strength red I’ll wear red dress tonight nearly nearly died that accident! organization Their organization doing great things street kids choose Let choose color cause have see cause effect this experiment hair I’ll cut hair short change look look at items bought point point all this century We’re living 21st century Mary evidence evidence clearly shows that guilty window I’ll buy window curtains next week difficult Sometimes life difficult listen have listen your teacher soon launch course soon culture hope they understand culture better billion target have 1 billion dollars account by end year chance there chance that this brother brother always have back energy Now put that energy into walking period They covered period twenty years course Have seen course already summer I’ll go beach summer less Sometimes less more realize just realize that have meeting today hundred have hundred dollars that lend available am available work on your project plant Plant seed likely It was likely deer trail opportunity It was perfect opportunity test theory term I’m sure there’s Latin term it short It was just short stay at hotel letter already passed letter intent condition know condition am choice have no choice place Let’s meet out at meeting place single am single parent rule It’s rule law daughter knows how read now administration take this up with administration south am headed south husband just bought ring birthday Congress It debated at Congress floor She floor manager campaign handled their election campaign material She had nothing material report population population nearest big city was growing well wish well call am going call bank economy economy booming medical -She needs medical assistance hospital I’ll take nearest hospital church saw church last Sunday close -Please close door thousand There are thousand reasons learn English! risk Taking risk rewarding current your current address fire Make sure your smoke alarm works case fire future -The future full hope wrong That wrong answer involve need involve police defense your defense or reason did this anyone Does anyone know answer increase Let’s increase your test score security Some apartment buildings have security bank need go bank withdraw some money myself clean up by myself certainly certainly help clean up west drive West arrive California sport favorite sport soccer board see board seek Seek find per Lobster $20 per pound subject favorite subject English! officer Where find police officer private This private party rest Let’s take 15 minute rest behavior This dog’s behavior excellent deal used car good deal performance Your performance affected by your sleep fight don’t fight with throw German ball! top are top student quickly Let’s finish reading this quickly past past English was as good as it today goal speak English fluently second second goal increase confidence bed go bed around 10pm order would like order book author author this series world-famous fill need fill (up) gas tank represent represent family focus Turn off your phone TV focus on your studies! foreign It’s great having foreign friends drop don’t drop eggs! plan Let’s make plan blood hospital needs people give blood upon Once upon time princess lived castle agency Let’s contract agency help with marketing push door says ‘push ’ ‘pull ' nature love walking nature! colou color blue no ‘No’ one shortest complete sentences recently cleaned bathroom most recently think it’s your turn this time store I’m going store buy some bread reduce reuse recycle are ways help environment sound like sound wind chimes note take notes during lesson fine movie let’s buy popcorn! near Near far wherever are believe that heart goes on movement environmental movement international movement page turn page 62 enter enter building on left share Let share idea than Ice cream has more calories than water common Most people find something common with each other poor had poor harvest this year because it was dry other This pen doesn’t work try other one natural This cleaner natural there aren’t chemicals it race watched car race on TV concern Thank your concern but I’m fine series your favorite TV series significant job earns significant amount money similar These earrings don’t match but they are similar hot Don’t touch stove it’s still hot language Learning new language fun each Put flower each vase usually usually shop at corner store response didn’t expect response come soon dead phone dead let charge it rise sun rise at 7:00 a m animal kind animal that factor Heredity factor your overall health decade I’ve lived this city over decade article Did read that newspaper article shoot wants shoot arrows at target east Drive east three miles save save all cans recycling seven There are seven slices pie left artist Taylor Swift recording artist away wish that mosquito would go away scene painted colorful street scene stock That shop has good stock postcards career Retail sales good career some people despite Despite rain still have picnic central There good shopping central London eight That recipe takes eight cups flour thus haven’t had problems thus far treatment propose treatment plan your injury beyond town just beyond those mountains happy Kittens make happy exactly Use exactly one teaspoon salt that recipe protect coat protect from cold weather approach cat slowly approached bird lie Teach your children lie size size that shirt dog think dog good pet fund have savings fund college serious She serious she never laughs occur Strange things occur that empty house media That issue has been discussed media ready Are ready leave work sign That store needs bigger sign thought I’ll have give it some thought list made list things do individual buy individual or group membership simple appliance comes with simple instructions quality paid little more quality shoes pressure There no pressure finish right now accept accept credit card answer Give your answer by noon tomorrow hard That test was very hard resource library has many online resources identify can’t identify that plant left door on your left as approach meeting We’ll have staff meeting after lunch determine Eye color genetically determined prepare I’ll prepare breakfast tomorrow disease Face masks help prevent disease whatever Choose whatever flavor like best success Failure back door success argue It’s good idea argue with your boss cup Would like cup coffee particularly It’s particularly hot outside just warm amount It take large amount food feed elephant ability has ability explain things well staff There are five people on staff here recognize recognize person this photo indicate reply indicated that she understood character trust people good character growth company has seen strong growth this quarter loss farmer suffered heavy losses after storm degree Set oven 300 degrees wonder wonder Bulls win game attack army attack at dawn herself She bought herself new coat region internet services are your region television don’t watch much television box packed dishes strong box TV There good movie on TV tonight training company pay your training pretty That pretty dress trade stock market traded lower today deal got good deal at store election Who think win election everybody likes ice cream physical Keep physical distance six feet lay baby crib general impression restaurant was good feeling have good feeling about this standard standard fee $10 00 bill electrician send bill message have text message on your phone fail fail see funny about that outside cat goes outside sometimes arrive When your plane arrive analysis I’ll give analysis when I’ve seen everything benefit There are many health benefits quinoa name What’s your name sex know sex your baby yet forward Move car forward few feet lawyer legal helped write present everyone present meeting begin section stadium are sitting environmental science economy politics political politician issues are news glass much heavier than plastic answer Could answer question skill best skill woodworking sister lives close PM movie starts at 7:30 PM professor Dr Smith professor operation mining operation employs thousands people financial keep accounts at financial institution crime police fight crime stage caterpillar larval stage butterfly ok Would it ok eat out tonight compare should compare cars before buy one authority City authorities make local laws miss you when see again design need design new logo sort Let’s sort these beads according color one only have one cat act I’ll act on your information today ten baby counted ten toes knowledge have knowledge fix that gun Gun ownership controversial topic station There train station close house blue favorite color blue state After accident was state shock strategy new corporate strategy written here little prefer little cars clearly instructions clearly written discuss We’ll discuss that at meeting indeed Your mother does indeed have hearing loss force It takes lot force open that door truth tell truth song That’s beautiful song example need example that grammar point democratic Does Australia have democratic government check check work sure it’s correct environment live healthy environment leg boy broke leg dark Turn on light it’s dark here public Masks must worn public places various That rug comes various shades gray rather Would rather have hamburger than hot dog laugh That movie always makes laugh guess don’t know just guess executive company’s executives are paid well set Set glass on table study needs study test prove employee proved worth hang hang your coat on hook entire ate entire meal 10 minutes rock There are decorative rocks garden design windows don’t open by design enough Have had enough coffee forget Don’t forget stop at store since She hasn’t eaten since yesterday claim made insurance claim car accident note Leave note you’re going late remove Remove cookies from oven manager manager look at your application help Could help move this table close Close door sound dog did make sound enjoy enjoy soda network Band name internet network legal legal documents need signed religious She very religious she attends church weekly cold feet are cold form fill out this application form final divorce was final last month main main problem lack money science studies health science at university green grass green memory has good memory card They sent card birthday above Look on shelf above sink seat That’s comfortable seat cell Your body made millions cells establish They established their business 1942 nice That’s very nice car trial They are employing on trial basis expert Matt IT expert that Did see that movie spring Spring most beautiful season firm ‘no was very firm she won’t change mind Democrat Democrats control Senate radio listen radio car visit visited museum today management That store has good management care She cares mother at home avoid should avoid poison ivy imagine imagine pigs could fly tonight Would like go out tonight huge That truck huge! ball threw ball dog no said ‘no ’ don’t ask again close Close window finish Did finish your homework yourself gave you

Well ,for me anyway. Went to Helsby to photograph the 6F91, the emptied sand wagons from Ince and Elton Glassworks. While waiting took a shot ,with the smartphone of the 1D35 Transport for Wales service, from Manchester Airport to Llandudno Junction, running with 175104. Tried to get the red berries on the tree in, and the semaphore signals, the double aspect signal being one of only two on the Natioal Network!

Refreshment coming via a trademark cup !!

Blogged on ☛ HoloChromaCinePhotoRamaScope‽ as: Bye bye, Miss American Pie.

 

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Posted via email to ☛ HoloChromaCinePhotoRamaScope‽: cdevers.posterous.com/concorde. See the full gallery on Posterous ...

 

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Quoting Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Concorde, Fox Alpha, Air France:

 

The first supersonic airliner to enter service, the Concorde flew thousands of passengers across the Atlantic at twice the speed of sound for over 25 years. Designed and built by Aérospatiale of France and the British Aviation Corporation, the graceful Concorde was a stunning technological achievement that could not overcome serious economic problems.

 

In 1976 Air France and British Airways jointly inaugurated Concorde service to destinations around the globe. Carrying up to 100 passengers in great comfort, the Concorde catered to first class passengers for whom speed was critical. It could cross the Atlantic in fewer than four hours - half the time of a conventional jet airliner. However its high operating costs resulted in very high fares that limited the number of passengers who could afford to fly it. These problems and a shrinking market eventually forced the reduction of service until all Concordes were retired in 2003.

 

In 1989, Air France signed a letter of agreement to donate a Concorde to the National Air and Space Museum upon the aircraft's retirement. On June 12, 2003, Air France honored that agreement, donating Concorde F-BVFA to the Museum upon the completion of its last flight. This aircraft was the first Air France Concorde to open service to Rio de Janeiro, Washington, D.C., and New York and had flown 17,824 hours.

 

Gift of Air France.

 

Manufacturer:

Societe Nationale Industrielle Aerospatiale

British Aircraft Corporation

 

Dimensions:

Wingspan: 25.56 m (83 ft 10 in)

Length: 61.66 m (202 ft 3 in)

Height: 11.3 m (37 ft 1 in)

Weight, empty: 79,265 kg (174,750 lb)

Weight, gross: 181,435 kg (400,000 lb)

Top speed: 2,179 km/h (1350 mph)

Engine: Four Rolls-Royce/SNECMA Olympus 593 Mk 602, 17,259 kg (38,050 lb) thrust each

Manufacturer: Société Nationale Industrielle Aérospatiale, Paris, France, and British Aircraft Corporation, London, United Kingdom

 

Physical Description:

Aircaft Serial Number: 205. Including four (4) engines, bearing respectively the serial number: CBE066, CBE062, CBE086 and CBE085.

Also included, aircraft plaque: "AIR FRANCE Lorsque viendra le jour d'exposer Concorde dans un musee, la Smithsonian Institution a dores et deja choisi, pour le Musee de l'Air et de l'Espace de Washington, un appariel portant le couleurs d'Air France."

Over the long march of biological and now technological evolution, we have finally reached a survival gate — we have enough computational power to model the trajectory all Near-Earth Objects (NEO's) that could threaten life on Earth. This was not possible in the year 2000, or any time over the prior millennia. We have made a million-fold improvement in computation in just the past 20 years. So, we can see the future and predict decades in advance of an impact event and then give the NEO a nudge such that it misses Earth entirely.

 

It’s not like the movies, where you have an asteroid on final approach and try to blow it up somehow (that just turns a rifle into a shotgun blast); instead, you launch a rocket to rear-end it and change its velocity ever so slightly. Integrated over years, that small delta-v makes all the difference. In short, asteroid defense does not end with a bang, but merely a nudge. That is, if you know what you are doing!

 

The non-profit B612 (with co-fiounding astronauts Ed Lu and Rusty Schweickart) did a webinar and demo of their ADAM simulation tool for calculating asteroid orbit propagation. They gave me permission to share the unpublished work of their Asteroid Institute tech team. Here's an unlisted video showing the sim seen here.

 

Rusty Schweickart, the first Lunar Module Pilot summarizes: “We live in a remarkable time in history. We can change the trajectory of the solar system, ever so slightly, and protect life on Earth"

 

Mapping the Final Frontier with ADAM (Asteroid Decision Analysis + Mapping):

 

The ADAM project runs on the Google Compute Engine to provide a cloud platform for large-scale orbital dynamics. Small errors in the initial velocity vector measurements can expand over decades to very different outcomes, especially when gravitational slingshots around the planets occur. So, they run thousands of Monte-Carlo simulations over an array of starting conditions, creating a distribution of points, as seen in the images here, some hitting Earth (red) or a near miss (green). The distribution of endpoints gives a probability of deep impact. As a heuristic patch to some insane computational complexity, we can calculate a probability for the long term, which narrows like a hurricane forecast cone to a certainly as time advances.

 

To reach an accuracy of a few kilometers over many decades, it’s not just the complexity of an n-body problem. They had to model effects such as the curvature of space-time due to General Relativity, the non-sphericity of the Sun, the gravitational asymmetry of the planets, moons and larger asteroids, as well as the non-isotropic thermal re-radiation from rotation of the asteroid.

 

So so the good news: we can do this today, and with each passing year of Moore's Law, we can look further into the future, moving from decades to a 100 years. The further you can see, and the more precisely, the easier the nudge becomes.

 

For input to the model you just need a series of at least three sample points (but more is better). And we are about to get a whole lot better at that. Starting in 2022, LSST will observe ~600,000 asteroids every night, and discover new asteroids at 10X today’s rate. This will accentuate the computation-bounded problem of using this torrent of data.

 

There is something poetic about the computational defense of humanity. And something that rhymes with history. The Space Race of the 60s was won computationally, not by brute force heavy-lift, which would have favored the Soviets.

 

Survival is computational. Intelligence allows us to see the future.

Tel Aviv-Yafo usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a population of 467,875, it is the economic and technological center of the country. If East Jerusalem is considered part of Israel, Tel Aviv is the country's second-most-populous city, after Jerusalem; if not, Tel Aviv is the most populous city, ahead of West Jerusalem.

 

Tel Aviv is governed by the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality, headed by Mayor Ron Huldai, and is home to most of Israel's foreign embassies. It is a beta+ world city and is ranked 57th in the 2022 Global Financial Centres Index. Tel Aviv has the third- or fourth-largest economy and the largest economy per capita in the Middle East. The city currently has the highest cost of living in the world. Tel Aviv receives over 2.5 million international visitors annually. A "party capital" in the Middle East, it has a lively nightlife and 24-hour culture. The city is gay-friendly, with a large LGBT community. Tel Aviv is home to Tel Aviv University, the largest university in the country with more than 30,000 students.

 

The city was founded in 1909 by the Yishuv (Jewish residents) and initially given the Hebrew name Ahuzat Bayit (Hebrew: אחוזת בית, romanized: ʔAħuzat Bayit, lit. 'House Estate' or 'Homestead'), namesake of the Jewish association which established the neighbourhood as a modern housing estate on the outskirts of the ancient port city of Jaffa (Yafo in Hebrew), then part of the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem within the Ottoman Empire. Its name was changed the following year to Tel Aviv, after the biblical name Tel Abib (lit. "Tell of Spring") adopted by Nahum Sokolow as the title for his Hebrew translation of Theodor Herzl's 1902 novel Altneuland ("Old New Land"). Other Jewish suburbs of Jaffa had been established before Tel Aviv, the oldest among them being Neve Tzedek. Tel Aviv was given township status within the Jaffa Municipality in 1921, and became independent from Jaffa in 1934. Immigration by mostly Jewish refugees meant that the growth of Tel Aviv soon outpaced that of Jaffa, which had a majority Arab population at the time. In 1948 the Israeli Declaration of Independence was proclaimed in the city. After the 1947–1949 Palestine war, Tel Aviv began the municipal annexation of parts of Jaffa, fully unified with Jaffa under the name Tel Aviv in April 1950, and was formally renamed to Tel Aviv-Yafo in August 1950.

 

Tel Aviv's White City, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003, comprises the world's largest concentration of International Style buildings, including Bauhaus and other related modernist architectural styles. Popular attractions include Jaffa Old City, the Eretz Israel Museum, the Museum of Art, Hayarkon Park, and the city's promenade and beach.

 

Etymology and origins

Tel Aviv is the Hebrew title of Theodor Herzl’s 1902 novel Altneuland ("Old New Land"), as translated from German by Nahum Sokolow. Sokolow had adopted the name of a Mesopotamian site near the city of Babylon mentioned in Ezekiel: "Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel Abib [Tel Aviv], that lived by the river Chebar, and to where they lived; and I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days." The name was chosen in 1910 from several suggestions, including "Herzliya". It was found fitting as it embraced the idea of a renaissance in the ancient Jewish homeland. Aviv (אביב, or Abib) is a Hebrew word that can be translated as "spring", symbolizing renewal, and tell (or tel) is an artificial mound created over centuries through the accumulation of successive layers of civilization built one over the other and symbolizing the ancient.

 

Although founded in 1909 as a small settlement on the sand dunes north of Jaffa, Tel Aviv was envisaged as a future city from the start. Its founders hoped that in contrast to what they perceived as the squalid and unsanitary conditions of neighbouring Arab towns, Tel Aviv was to be a clean and modern city, inspired by the European cities of Warsaw and Odesa. The marketing pamphlets advocating for its establishment stated:

 

In this city we will build the streets so they have roads and sidewalks and electric lights. Every house will have water from wells that will flow through pipes as in every modern European city, and also sewerage pipes will be installed for the health of the city and its residents.

 

— Akiva Arieh Weiss, 1906

 

History

The walled city of Jaffa is modern-day Tel Aviv-Yafo's only urban centre that existed in early modern times. Jaffa was an important port city in the region for millennia. Archaeological evidence shows signs of human settlement there starting in roughly 7,500 BC. The city was established around 1,800 BC at the latest. Its natural harbour has been used since the Bronze Age. By the time Tel Aviv was founded as a separate city during Ottoman rule of the region, Jaffa had been ruled by the Canaanites, Egyptians, Philistines, Israelites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Phoenicians, Ptolemies, Seleucids, Hasmoneans, Romans, Byzantines, the early Islamic caliphates, Crusaders, Ayyubids, and Mamluks before coming under Ottoman rule in 1515. It had been fought over numerous times. The city is mentioned in ancient Egyptian documents, as well as the Hebrew Bible.

 

Other ancient sites in Tel Aviv include: Tell Qasile, Tel Gerisa, Abattoir Hill, Tel Hashash, and Tell Qudadi.

 

During the First Aliyah in the 1880s, when Jewish immigrants began arriving in the region in significant numbers, new neighborhoods were founded outside Jaffa on the current territory of Tel Aviv. The first was Neve Tzedek, founded in 1887 by Mizrahi Jews due to overcrowding in Jaffa and built on lands owned by Aharon Chelouche. Other neighborhoods were Neve Shalom (1890), Yafa Nof (1896), Achva (1899), Ohel Moshe (1904), Kerem HaTeimanim (1906), and others. Once Tel Aviv received city status in the 1920s, those neighborhoods joined the newly formed municipality, now becoming separated from Jaffa.

 

1904–1917: Foundation in Late Ottoman period

The Second Aliyah led to further expansion. In 1906, a group of Jews, among them residents of Jaffa, followed the initiative of Akiva Aryeh Weiss and banded together to form the Ahuzat Bayit (lit. "homestead") society. One of the society's goals was to form a "Hebrew urban centre in a healthy environment, planned according to the rules of aesthetics and modern hygiene". The urban planning for the new city was influenced by the garden city movement. The first 60 plots were purchased in Kerem Djebali near Jaffa by Jacobus Kann, a Dutch citizen, who registered them in his name to circumvent the Turkish prohibition on Jewish land acquisition.[34] Meir Dizengoff, later Tel Aviv's first mayor, also joined the Ahuzat Bayit society. His vision for Tel Aviv involved peaceful co-existence with Arabs.

 

On 11 April 1909, 66 Jewish families gathered on a desolate sand dune to parcel out the land by lottery using seashells. This gathering is considered the official date of the establishment of Tel Aviv. The lottery was organised by Akiva Aryeh Weiss, president of the building society. Weiss collected 120 sea shells on the beach, half of them white and half of them grey. The members' names were written on the white shells and the plot numbers on the grey shells. A boy drew names from one box of shells and a girl drew plot numbers from the second box. A photographer, Abraham Soskin (b. 1881 in Russia, made aliyah 1906), documented the event. The first water well was later dug at this site, located on what is today Rothschild Boulevard, across from Dizengoff House. Within a year, Herzl, Ahad Ha'am, Yehuda Halevi, Lilienblum, and Rothschild streets were built; a water system was installed; and 66 houses (including some on six subdivided plots) were completed. At the end of Herzl Street, a plot was allocated for a new building for the Herzliya Hebrew High School, founded in Jaffa in 1906. The cornerstone for the building was laid on 28 July 1909. The town was originally named Ahuzat Bayit. On 21 May 1910, the name Tel Aviv was adopted. The flag and city arms of Tel Aviv (see above) contain under the red Star of David 2 words from the biblical book of Jeremiah: "I (God) will build You up again and you will be rebuilt." (Jer 31:4) Tel Aviv was planned as an independent Hebrew city with wide streets and boulevards, running water for each house, and street lights.

 

By 1914, Tel Aviv had grown to more than 1 km2 (247 acres). In 1915 a census of Tel Aviv was conducted, recording a population 2,679. However, growth halted in 1917 when the Ottoman authorities expelled the residents of Jaffa and Tel Aviv as a wartime measure. A report published in The New York Times by United States Consul Garrels in Alexandria, Egypt described the Jaffa deportation of early April 1917. The orders of evacuation were aimed chiefly at the Jewish population. Jews were free to return to their homes in Tel Aviv at the end of the following year when, with the end of World War I and the defeat of the Ottomans, the British took control of Palestine.

 

The town had rapidly become an attraction to immigrants, with a local activist writing:

 

The immigrants were attracted to Tel Aviv because they found in it all the comforts they were used to in Europe: electric light, water, a little cleanliness, cinema, opera, theatre, and also more or less advanced schools... busy streets, full restaurants, cafes open until 2 a.m., singing, music, and dancing.

 

British administration 1917–34: Townships within the Jaffa Municipality

 

A master plan for the Tel Aviv township was created by Patrick Geddes, 1925, based on the garden city movement. The plan consisted of four main features: a hierarchical system of streets laid out in a grid, large blocks consisting of small-scale domestic dwellings, the organization of these blocks around central open spaces, and the concentration of cultural institutions to form a civic center.

 

Tel Aviv, along with the rest of the Jaffa municipality, was conquered by the British imperial army in late 1917 during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of World War I and became part of British-administered Mandatory Palestine until 1948.

 

Tel Aviv, established as suburb of Jaffa, received "township" or local council status within the Jaffa Municipality in 1921. According to a census conducted in 1922 by the British Mandate authorities, Tel Aviv had a population of 15,185 (15,065 Jews, 78 Muslims and 42 Christians). The population increased in the 1931 census to 46,101 (45,564 Jews, 288 with no religion, 143 Christians, and 106 Muslims), in 12,545 houses.

 

With increasing Jewish immigration during the British administration, friction between Arabs and Jews in Palestine increased. On 1 May 1921, the Jaffa riots resulted in the deaths of 48 Arabs and 47 Jews and injuries to 146 Jews and 73 Arabs. In the wake of this violence, many Jews left Jaffa for Tel Aviv. The population of Tel Aviv increased from 2,000 in 1920 to around 34,000 by 1925.

 

Tel Aviv began to develop as a commercial center. In 1923, Tel Aviv was the first town to be wired to electricity in Palestine, followed by Jaffa later in the same year. The opening ceremony of the Jaffa Electric Company powerhouse, on 10 June 1923, celebrated the lighting of the two main streets of Tel Aviv.

 

In 1925, the Scottish biologist, sociologist, philanthropist and pioneering town planner Patrick Geddes drew up a master plan for Tel Aviv which was adopted by the city council led by Meir Dizengoff. Geddes's plan for developing the northern part of the district was based on Ebenezer Howard's garden city movement. While most of the northern area of Tel Aviv was built according to this plan, the influx of European refugees in the 1930s necessitated the construction of taller apartment buildings on a larger footprint in the city.

 

Ben Gurion House was built in 1930–31, part of a new workers' housing development. At the same time, Jewish cultural life was given a boost by the establishment of the Ohel Theatre and the decision of Habima Theatre to make Tel Aviv its permanent base in 1931.

 

1934 municipal independence from Jaffa

Tel Aviv was granted the status of an independent municipality separate from Jaffa in 1934. The Jewish population rose dramatically during the Fifth Aliyah after the Nazis came to power in Germany. By 1937 the Jewish population of Tel Aviv had risen to 150,000, compared to Jaffa's mainly Arab 69,000 residents. Within two years, it had reached 160,000, which was over a third of Palestine's total Jewish population. Many new Jewish immigrants to Palestine disembarked in Jaffa, and remained in Tel Aviv, turning the city into a center of urban life. Friction during the 1936–39 Arab revolt led to the opening of a local Jewish port, Tel Aviv Port, independent of Jaffa, in 1938. It closed on 25 October 1965. Lydda Airport (later Ben Gurion Airport) and Sde Dov Airport opened between 1937 and 1938.

 

Many German Jewish architects trained at the Bauhaus, the Modernist school of architecture in Germany, and left Germany during the 1930s. Some, like Arieh Sharon, came to Palestine and adapted the architectural outlook of the Bauhaus and similar schools to the local conditions there, creating what is recognized as the largest concentration of buildings in the International Style in the world.

 

Tel Aviv's White City emerged in the 1930s, and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003. During World War II, Tel Aviv was hit by Italian airstrikes on 9 September 1940, which killed 137 people in the city.

 

The village statistics of 1938 listed Tel Aviv's population as 140,000, all Jews. The village statistics of 1945 listed Tel Aviv's population as 166,660 (166,000 Jews, 300 "other", 230 Christians, and 130 Muslims).

 

During the Jewish insurgency in Mandatory Palestine, Jewish Irgun and Lehi guerrillas launched repeated attacks against British military, police, and government targets in the city. In 1946, following the King David Hotel bombing, the British carried out Operation Shark, in which the entire city was searched for Jewish militants and most of the residents questioned, during which the entire city was placed under curfew. During the March 1947 martial law in Mandatory Palestine, Tel Aviv was placed under martial law by the British authorities for 15 days, with the residents kept under curfew for all but three hours a day as British forces scoured the city for militants. In spite of this, Jewish guerrilla attacks continued in Tel Aviv and other areas under martial law in Palestine.

 

According to the 1947 UN Partition Plan for dividing Palestine into Jewish and Arab states, Tel Aviv, by then a city of 230,000, was to be included in the proposed Jewish state. Jaffa with, as of 1945, a population of 101,580 people—53,930 Muslims, 30,820 Jews and 16,800 Christians—was designated as part of the Arab state. Civil War broke out in the country and in particular between the neighbouring cities of Tel Aviv and Jaffa, which had been assigned to the Jewish and Arab states respectively. After several months of siege, on 13 May 1948, Jaffa fell and the Arab population fled en masse.

 

State of Israel

When Israel declared Independence on 14 May 1948, the population of Tel Aviv was over 200,000. Tel Aviv was the temporary government center of the State of Israel until the government moved to Jerusalem in December 1949. Due to the international dispute over the status of Jerusalem, most embassies remained in or near Tel Aviv. The boundaries of Tel Aviv and Jaffa became a matter of contention between the Tel Aviv municipality and the Israeli government in 1948. The former wished to incorporate only the northern Jewish suburbs of Jaffa, while the latter wanted a more complete unification. The issue also had international sensitivity, since the main part of Jaffa was in the Arab portion of the United Nations Partition Plan, whereas Tel Aviv was not, and no armistice agreements had yet been signed. On 10 December 1948, the government announced the annexation to Tel Aviv of Jaffa's Jewish suburbs, the Palestinian neighborhood of Abu Kabir, the Arab village of Salama and some of its agricultural land, and the Jewish Hatikva slum. On 25 February 1949, the depopulated Palestinian village of al-Shaykh Muwannis was also annexed to Tel Aviv. On 18 May 1949, Manshiya and part of Jaffa's central zone were added, for the first time including land that had been in the Arab portion of the UN partition plan. The government voted on the unification of Tel Aviv and Jaffa on 4 October 1949, but the decision was not implemented until 24 April 1950 due to the opposition of Tel Aviv mayor Israel Rokach. The name of the unified city was Tel Aviv until 19 August 1950, when it was renamed Tel Aviv-Yafo in order to preserve the historical name Jaffa. Tel Aviv thus grew to 42 km2 (16.2 sq mi). In 1949, a memorial to the 60 founders of Tel Aviv was constructed.

 

In the 1960s, some of the older buildings were demolished, making way for the country's first high-rises. The historic Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium was controversially demolished, to make way for the Shalom Meir Tower, which was completed in 1965, and remained Israel's tallest building until 1999. Tel Aviv's population peaked in the early 1960s at 390,000, representing 16 percent of the country's total. By the early 1970s, Tel Aviv had entered a long and steady period of continuous population decline, which was accompanied by urban decay. By 1981, Tel Aviv had entered not just natural population decline, but an absolute population decline as well. In the late 1980s the city had an aging population of 317,000. Construction activity had moved away from the inner ring of Tel Aviv, and had moved to its outer perimeter and adjoining cities. A mass out-migration of residents from Tel Aviv, to adjoining cities like Petah Tikva and Rehovot, where better housing conditions were available, was underway by the beginning of the 1970s, and only accelerated by the Yom Kippur War. Cramped housing conditions and high property prices pushed families out of Tel Aviv and deterred young people from moving in. From the beginning of 1970s, the common image of Tel Aviv became that of a decaying city, as Tel Aviv's population fell 20%.

 

In the 1970s, the apparent sense of Tel Aviv's urban decline became a theme in the work of novelists such as Yaakov Shabtai, in works describing the city such as Sof Davar (The End of Things) and Zikhron Devarim (The Memory of Things). A symptomatic article of 1980 asked "Is Tel Aviv Dying?" and portrayed what it saw as the city's existential problems: "Residents leaving the city, businesses penetrating into residential areas, economic and social gaps, deteriorating neighbourhoods, contaminated air – Is the First Hebrew City destined for a slow death? Will it become a ghost town?". However, others saw this as a transitional period. By the late 1980s, attitudes to the city's future had become markedly more optimistic. It had also become a center of nightlife and discotheques for Israelis who lived in the suburbs and adjoining cities. By 1989, Tel Aviv had acquired the nickname "Nonstop City", as a reflection of the growing recognition of its nightlife and 24/7 culture, and "Nonstop City" had to some extent replaced the former moniker of "First Hebrew City". The largest project built in this era was the Dizengoff Center, Israel's first shopping mall, which was completed in 1983. Other notable projects included the construction of Marganit Tower in 1987, the opening of the Suzanne Dellal Center for Dance and Theater in 1989, and the Tel Aviv Cinematheque (opened in 1973 and located to the current building in 1989).

 

In the early 1980s, 13 embassies in Jerusalem moved to Tel Aviv as part of the UN's measures responding to Israel's 1980 Jerusalem Law. Today, most national embassies are located in Tel Aviv or environs. In the 1990s, the decline in Tel Aviv's population began to be reversed and stabilized, at first temporarily due to a wave of immigrants from the former Soviet Union. Tel Aviv absorbed 42,000 immigrants from the FSU, many educated in scientific, technological, medical and mathematical fields. In this period, the number of engineers in the city doubled. Tel Aviv soon began to emerge as a global high-tech center. The construction of many skyscrapers and high-tech office buildings followed. In 1993, Tel Aviv was categorized as a world city. However, the city's municipality struggled to cope with an influx of new immigrants. Tel Aviv's tax base had been shrinking for many years, as a result of its preceding long term population decline, and this meant there was little money available at the time to invest in the city's deteriorating infrastructure and housing. In 1998, Tel Aviv was on the "verge of bankruptcy". Economic difficulties would then be compounded by a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings in the city from the mid-1990s, to the end of the Second Intifada, as well as the dot-com bubble, which affected the city's rapidly growing hi-tech sector. On 4 November 1995, Israel's prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, was assassinated at a rally in Tel Aviv in support of the Oslo peace accord. The outdoor plaza where this occurred, formerly known as Kikar Malchei Yisrael, was renamed Rabin Square.

 

In the Gulf War in 1991, Tel Aviv was attacked by Scud missiles from Iraq. Iraq hoped to provoke an Israeli military response, which could have destroyed the US–Arab alliance. The United States pressured Israel not to retaliate, and after Israel acquiesced, the US and Netherlands rushed Patriot missiles to defend against the attacks, but they proved largely ineffective. Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities continued to be hit by Scuds throughout the war, and every city in the Tel Aviv area except for Bnei Brak was hit. A total of 74 Israelis died as a result of the Iraqi attacks, mostly from suffocation and heart attacks, while approximately 230 Israelis were injured. Extensive property damage was also caused, and some 4,000 Israelis were left homeless. It was feared that Iraq would fire missiles filled with nerve agents or sarin. As a result, the Israeli government issued gas masks to its citizens. When the first Iraqi missiles hit Israel, some people injected themselves with an antidote for nerve gas. The inhabitants of the southeastern suburb of Hatikva erected an angel-monument as a sign of their gratitude that "it was through a great miracle, that many people were preserved from being killed by a direct hit of a Scud rocket."

 

Since the First Intifada, Tel Aviv has suffered from Palestinian political violence. The first suicide attack in Tel Aviv occurred on 19 October 1994, on the Line 5 bus, when a bomber killed 22 civilians and injured 50 as part of a Hamas suicide campaign. On 6 March 1996, another Hamas suicide bomber killed 13 people (12 civilians and 1 soldier), many of them children, in the Dizengoff Center suicide bombing. Three women were killed by a Hamas terrorist in the Café Apropo bombing on 27 March 1997.

 

One of the deadliest attacks occurred on 1 June 2001, during the Second Intifada, when a suicide bomber exploded at the entrance to the Dolphinarium discothèque, killing 21, mostly teenagers, and injuring 132. Another Hamas suicide bomber killed six civilians and injured 70 in the Allenby Street bus bombing. Twenty-three civilians were killed and over 100 injured in the Tel Aviv central bus station massacre. Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack. In the Mike's Place suicide bombing, an attack on a bar by a British Muslim suicide bomber resulted in the deaths of three civilians and wounded over 50. Hamas and Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed joint responsibility. An Islamic Jihad bomber killed five and wounded over 50 on 25 February 2005 Stage Club bombing. The most recent suicide attack in the city occurred on 17 April 2006, when 11 people were killed and at least 70 wounded in a suicide bombing near the old central bus station.

 

Another attack took place on 29 August 2011 in which a Palestinian attacker stole an Israeli taxi cab and rammed it into a police checkpoint guarding the popular Haoman 17 nightclub in Tel Aviv which was filled with 2,000 Israeli teenagers. After crashing, the assailant went on a stabbing spree, injuring eight people. Due to an Israel Border Police roadblock at the entrance and immediate response of the Border Police team during the subsequent stabbings, a much larger and fatal mass-casualty incident was avoided.

 

On 21 November 2012, during Operation Pillar of Defense, the Tel Aviv area was targeted by rockets, and air raid sirens were sounded in the city for the first time since the Gulf War. All of the rockets either missed populated areas or were shot down by an Iron Dome rocket defense battery stationed near the city. During the operation, a bomb blast on a bus wounded at least 28 civilians, three seriously. This was described as a terrorist attack by Israel, Russia, and the United States and was condemned by the United Nations, United States, United Kingdom, France and Russia, whilst Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri declared that the organisation "blesses" the attack. More than 300 rockets were fired towards the Tel Aviv Metropolitan area in the 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis.

 

New laws were introduced to protect Modernist buildings, and efforts to preserve them were aided by UNESCO recognition of Tel Aviv's White City as a world heritage site in 2003. In the early 2000s, Tel Aviv municipality focused on attracting more young residents to the city. It made significant investment in major boulevards, to create attractive pedestrian corridors. Former industrial areas like the city's previously derelict Northern Tel Aviv Port and the Jaffa railway station, were upgraded and transformed into leisure areas. A process of gentrification began in some of the poor neighborhoods of southern Tel Aviv and many older buildings began to be renovated.

 

The demographic profile of the city changed in the 2000s, as it began to attract a higher proportion of young residents. By 2012, 28 percent of the city's population was aged between 20 and 34 years old. Between 2007 and 2012, the city's population growth averaged 6.29 percent. As a result of its population recovery and industrial transition, the city's finances were transformed, and by 2012 it was running a budget surplus and maintained a credit rating of AAA+. In the 2000s and early 2010s, Tel Aviv received tens of thousands of illegal immigrants, primarily from Sudan and Eritrea, changing the demographic profile of areas of the city. In 2009, Tel Aviv celebrated its official centennial. In addition to city- and country-wide celebrations, digital collections of historical materials were assembled. These include the History section of the official Tel Aviv-Yafo Centennial Year website; the Ahuzat Bayit collection, which focuses on the founding families of Tel Aviv, and includes photographs and biographies; and Stanford University's Eliasaf Robinson Tel Aviv Collection, documenting the history of the city. Today, the city is regarded as a strong candidate for global city status. Over the past 60 years, Tel Aviv had developed into a secular, liberal-minded center with a vibrant nightlife and café culture.

 

Geography

Tel Aviv is located around 32°5′N 34°48′E on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline, in central Israel, the historic land bridge between Europe, Asia and Africa. Immediately north of the ancient port of Jaffa, Tel Aviv lies on land that used to be sand dunes and as such has relatively poor soil fertility. The land has been flattened and has no important gradients; its most notable geographical features are bluffs above the Mediterranean coastline and the Yarkon River mouth. Because of the expansion of Tel Aviv and the Gush Dan region, absolute borders between Tel Aviv and Jaffa and between the city's neighborhoods do not exist.

 

The city is located 60 km (37 mi) northwest of Jerusalem and 90 km (56 mi) south of the city of Haifa. Neighboring cities and towns include Herzliya to the north, Ramat HaSharon to the northeast, Petah Tikva, Bnei Brak, Ramat Gan and Giv'atayim to the east, Holon to the southeast, and Bat Yam to the south. The city is economically stratified between the north and south. Southern Tel Aviv is considered less affluent than northern Tel Aviv with the exception of Neve Tzedek and northern and north-western Jaffa. Central Tel Aviv is home to Azrieli Center and the important financial and commerce district along Ayalon Highway. The northern side of Tel Aviv is home to Tel Aviv University, Hayarkon Park, and upscale residential neighborhoods such as Ramat Aviv and Afeka.

 

Environment

Tel Aviv is ranked as the greenest city in Israel. Since 2008, city lights are turned off annually in support of Earth Hour. In February 2009, the municipality launched a water saving campaign, including competition granting free parking for a year to the household that is found to have consumed the least water per person.

 

In the early 21st century, Tel Aviv's municipality transformed a derelict power station into a public park, now named "Gan HaHashmal" ("Electricity Park"), paving the way for eco-friendly and environmentally conscious designs. In October 2008, Martin Weyl turned an old garbage dump near Ben Gurion International Airport, called Hiriya, into an attraction by building an arc of plastic bottles.[120] The site, which was renamed Ariel Sharon Park to honor Israel's former prime minister, will serve as the centerpiece in what is to become a 2,000-acre (8.1 km2) urban wilderness on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, designed by German landscape architect, Peter Latz.

 

At the end of the 20th century, the city began restoring historical neighborhoods such as Neve Tzedek and many buildings from the 1920s and 1930s. Since 2007, the city hosts its well-known, annual Open House Tel Aviv weekend, which offers the general public free entrance to the city's famous landmarks, private houses and public buildings. In 2010, the design of the renovated Tel Aviv Port (Nemal Tel Aviv) won the award for outstanding landscape architecture at the European Biennial for Landscape Architecture in Barcelona.

 

In 2014, the Sarona Market Complex opened, following an 8-year renovation project of Sarona colony.

 

Tel Aviv has a Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csa), and enjoys plenty of sunshine throughout the year. Most precipitation falls in the form of rain between the months of October and April, with intervening dry summers, and there is almost no rainfall from June to September. The average annual temperature is 20.9 °C (69.6 °F), and the average sea temperature is 18–20 °C (64–68 °F) during the winter, and 24–29 °C (75–84 °F) during the summer. The city averages 528 mm (20.8 in) of precipitation annually.

 

Summers in Tel Aviv last about five months, from June to October. August, the warmest month, averages a high of 30.6 °C (87.1 °F), and a low of 25 °C (77 °F). The high relative humidity due to the location of the city by the Mediterranean Sea, in a combination with the high temperatures, creates a thermal discomfort during the summer. Summer low temperatures in Tel Aviv seldom drop below 20 °C (68 °F).

 

Winters are mild and wet, with most of the annual precipitation falling within the months of December, January and February as intense rainfall and thunderstorms. In January, the coolest month, the average maximum temperature is 17.6 °C (63.7 °F), the minimum temperature averages 10.2 °C (50.4 °F). During the coldest days of winter, temperatures may vary between 8 °C (46 °F) and 12 °C (54 °F). Both freezing temperatures and snowfall are extremely rare in the city.

 

Autumns and springs are characterized by sharp temperature changes, with heat waves that might be created due to hot and dry air masses that arrive from the nearby deserts. During heatwaves in autumn and springs, temperatures usually climb up to 35 °C (95 °F) and even up to 40 °C (104 °F), accompanied with exceptionally low humidity. An average day during autumn and spring has a high of 23 °C (73 °F) to 25 °C (77 °F), and a low of 15 °C (59 °F) to 18 °C (64 °F).

 

The highest recorded temperature in Tel Aviv was 46.5 °C (115.7 °F) on 17 May 1916, and the lowest is −1.9 °C (28.6 °F) on 7 February 1950, during a cold wave that brought the only recorded snowfall in Tel Aviv.

 

Government

Tel Aviv is governed by a 31-member city council elected for a five-year term by in direct proportional elections, and a mayor elected for the same term by direct elections under a two-round system. Like all other mayors in Israel, no term limits exist for the Mayor of Tel Aviv. All Israeli citizens over the age of 17 with at least one year of residence in Tel Aviv are eligible to vote in municipal elections. The municipality is responsible for social services, community programs, public infrastructure, urban planning, tourism and other local affairs. The Tel Aviv City Hall is located at Rabin Square. Ron Huldai has been mayor of Tel Aviv since 1998. Huldai was reelected for a fifth term in the 2018 municipal elections, defeating former deputy Asaf Zamir, founder of the Ha'Ir party. Huldai's has become the longest-serving mayor of the city, exceeding Shlomo Lahat's 19-year term. The shortest-serving was David Bloch, in office for two years, 1925–27.

 

Politically, Tel Aviv is known to be a stronghold for the left, in both local and national issues. The left wing vote is especially prevalent in the city's mostly affluent central and northern neighborhoods, though not the case for its working-class southeastern neighborhoods which tend to vote for right wing parties in national elections. Outside the kibbutzim, Meretz receives more votes in Tel Aviv than in any other city in Israel.

 

The year was 2207 and technological innovations seemed to pop up everywhere across the globe. The automotive sector was also showing signs of thriving with the surfacing of several new car manufacturers, including Urokko in 2204. Velocitech had their production schedules steady, but overall they had a hard time matching the world stride for stride. The company executives knew they needed some fresh publicity. Assembly line managers knew that too. Heck, everyone in VT knew it, even part-time office building cleaners felt that there's something brewing. And there indeed was.

 

By the end of January VT had a product development team assembled that for the next four weeks could be seen (and indeed, heard) brainstorming marketing, design and configuration aspects of the new model. Half of the team hardly knew each other, but by the end of their final meeting everyone was in a pleasant mood and seemed to agree on all major aspects of the product. Exceptionally handy came in a recently hired graduate majoring in Automotive Studies. His idea of painting the model in orange/black livery that a Dutch Spyker F1 team used to race in up until 2007 has proven to be a huge success, more so that it was somewhat a two-century commemoration of the date. It was the only colour the car was produced in, although some owners, according to occasional street sightings, were inclined to paint the orange parts in red, brown, grey and even black.

 

The VT Spyker was effectively marketed through a well-timed Halloween-themed commercial, and featured an unconventional rear-end design with a wing and matching tail lights. Additionally, it had another small wing in a place where one would expect to find a diffuser, which made Spyker very distinctive. The model also served another purpose - it was a testing ground for many fancy composite materials that have been developed recently, and also certain new technologies. Some innovations have been gradually or immediately dropped, but some appear to live hitherto. Overall, thanks to the efforts of a noisy, yet professional development team with a bucketful of fresh ideas, company's name has been once again strengthened, and the world saw another exquisite piece of automotive industry.

A technological experience.

 

Virgil is the greatest man to ever walk the face of this Earth. Come, see his home.

 

leftbirmingham.blogspot.com/

In the temple - Bangkok (Thailand).

At the electronic museum of Tettnang!

The Hive At Nanyang Technological University (NTU's Learning Hub)

The Nuva archer is a skilled warrior and technological wonder. The concept was brought about by General Taka's imagination and executed by the hands of the most skilled matoran. This archer differs from traditional archer units in that he does not need to carry his ammunition on his body during battle. His "arrows" or bolts are stored, generated, and replinished within his technologically advanced left arm which coordinates with the "crossbow" or bolt thrower that he wields. The bolt thrower is one of a kind and is viewed as a breakthrough in modern weaponry. Though quite bulky, the bolt thrower allows the archer to fire single highly charged energy bolts, which have the power to penetrate light/medium armor, at a rate of 1.5 seconds. After firing 10 bolts the archer's arm requires a cool down period which lasts approximately 8 to 10 seconds. Once completed, the archer may continue raining destruction down upon the enemy. The archer's built-in optical system allows the archer to target enemy's from a greater distance than the typical archer. The Nuva archer's advanced weaponry and overal engineering give the Nuva army a great advantage on the battlefied when facing overwhelming numbers.

 

I hope you guys enjoy this one! Building him really inspired me to go back and revamp General Taka and the Nuva Infantry, so stay tuned for those guys in the future! Thanks for all of your support this past year! Looking forward to the next year!

for show in L.A. at Junc. This is connected to part one but it's 11x17 so both sides had to be scanned separately.

In a distant future, a war rages between China and Japan over Hong Kong and the surrounding areas. Japan, facing a population crisis and famine, invades Hong Kong in a desperate bid for land. Among the many technological advancements employed in the war, one stands out: the "Grandmas" androids.

 

These androids were not specifically designed for war, but rather emerged from civilian purposes naturally. The idea behind their creation was to prolong the lives of elderly women by turning them into androids, half machine and half human. The creators of the Grandmas chose to use elderly women as the base for their androids because of the differences in neuroplasticity between young and old brains.

 

Neuroplasticity refers to the ability of the brain to change and adapt in response to experiences. In young brains, neuroplasticity is high, allowing for quick learning and adaptation, but also making it harder to control the behavior of the brain. In contrast, in old brains, neuroplasticity is lower, making it easier to control and direct the behavior of the brain. This is why the creators of the Grandmas decided to use elderly women as the base for their androids.

 

However, as time passed, the Grandmas' brain tissue began to decay and artificial intelligence started to take over more and more parts of their brain. Despite this, their behavior remains the same, as the small parts of living brain tissue that still remain continue to dominate their behavior. Their primary function is to cook and care for all those around them, even other androids, although they do not need food themselves. They often pretend to eat just to make the other grandmas happy. They also tend to wounded or damaged androids, applying dirt and old rags to the damaged components and trying to comfort the machine. These behaviors are not programmed, but have developed naturally, as the Grandmas' loving and caring nature dominates their behavior.

 

In addition to their caretaking duties, the Grandmas also chat constantly, providing wisdom and anecdotes, spreading gossip, and talking the entire time. They have an endless stream of stories and observations from their long lives and they share them with anyone who will listen. They are also known to be a great source of comfort and solace for the soldiers on the battlefield, providing a sense of normalcy and humanity in the midst of the chaos and destruction of war.

 

Grandmas do not fight in combat, but they are often seen trying to break up furious fights on the battlefield, often putting themselves in danger to do so. On rare occasions, they will fight if they witness injustice on the battlefield, using all their advanced abilities to defend the innocent.

 

Despite the care and compassion that the Grandmas show, many humans avoid them and children are often scared of them, while adults are often annoyed by their caring nature. But as the war rages on, the Grandmas continue to provide a beacon of hope and humanity amidst the destruction and chaos. As the war progresses, the Grandmas become more and more important to the soldiers as they provide not only food and care, but also a sense of normalcy and humanity in the midst of the chaos and destruction of war.

 

The Grandmas' unique blend of advanced technology and human-like behavior make them a powerful symbol of the blurred lines between human and machine in this war-torn future. They may not have been specifically designed for war, but the Grandmas' presence on the battlefield serves as a reminder that even in the darkest of times, compassion and humanity can still prevail. Even as their brains decay and artificial intelligence takes over more and more of their functions, the Grandmas' ingrained behavior and love for others continues to shine through.

and a whole new steep learning curve!

{ Most recent edits : 12 January 2017 }

 

For background, please see Wikipedia's pages on :

 

Great Filter

Wow! signal

Technological singularity

Search for extraterrestrial intelligence

 

If you care to, please also see the pages linked beneath my ugliest self-portrait to date, though i like it, as i feel these are also relevant .

 

In the multi-hypothetical case that wide-spread, (and decisive), computerized election fraud, (being generally), in favor of right wing candidates, (also hypothetically, including Donald Trump), is onging in the United States of America --- it would be my further hypothesis that this country may be approaching the "event horizon" of permanent, right-wing, one-party rule .

 

Under such a scenario, (if the above would, overall, be true), i expect the right wing to make a high priority of consolidating effective control over the Judicial Branch of the United States Government, and over the Military High Command ; that these would complement their hold, (as i see it), over the Legislative Branch and coming hold, (as i see it, and should circumstances proceed according to script), over the Executive Branch . To use a military analogy, if they were to achieve these things, (and if the above scenarios would be, essentially, correct), they would have emplaced "cannon" on all the major hilltops of federal power .

 

Continuing the above scenarios, (in the assumption they would be, overall, correct) : With increasingly sophisticated surveillance and artificial-intelligence technologies at their disposal, the alliance of people and organizations holding such federal high ground, (as well as, reportedly, considerable accumulated wealth), could gain effective control over the socio-economic middle and, (by degrees), low grounds as well --- particularly if cautious and/or right-wing-sympathetic press outlets were not to treat these issue(s) seriously ----- particularly also if cautious and/or right-wing-sympathetic religious leaders stressed a doubling-down on God, without an activist, (Dr. King-ian), parallel commitment to, (as i believe so critical), transparent election practices .

 

Rightly or wrongly, i see computerized election systems running trade-secret software on trade-secret hardware, which record the vote in a manner invisible to the voter, (but purport to show the voter how our ballot will be recorded on a confirmation screen), for counting in a manner invisible to the public, (but which purport to tell the truth to the public), as, at least potentially, playgrounds for insider fraud . If such would indeed be the case, (and as what is being determined is the character of, and control over, the United States of America), i imagine these playgrounds would attract some very powerful players . I see no reason to expect that these would be limited to Americans seeking advantage over other Americans, and considerable reason to expect that these would, ultimately, include foreign-sponsored attempts to seek control over America .

 

I see it as essential to the health of representative democracy in the United States, (if not the world), that computerized election systems such i describe above are replaced, (nation-wide), with all-human election processes, (such as i described in recent posts) . A large part of what concerns me about the administration of a President-apparent Donald Trump is the potential right-wing capture of Federal "high ground" as described 3 paragraphs previous . If my suspicions about elections in this country are (basically) correct, i see such a capture as bringing with it closure of all effective routes to achieve such a replacement .

 

Rightly or wrongly, (and if the above scenarios are essentially correct), i see the world, human civilization, simultaneously approaching the "event horizon" of one expression of the Great Filter, (in no small part due to the loss of representative democracy in the United States), while also receding from the event horizon of another expression of the Great Filter . If only people in positions of power and/or influence were to discuss this openly . Because i feel there is much to be considered :

 

Effective consolidation of control over the world's governments, (and nuclear arsenals), into the hands of a single, politically competent and sound-minded individual, (not an easy task, but one which the vulnerabilities innate in "careless", {my word}, attention to election processes within advanced representative-democracies could be exploited to facilitiate, {or so i believe}), could, (at least), reduce the probability that World War III will become the Human expression of the Great Filter --- but perhaps only for as long as the "benevolent (?) dictator" remained alive and well, (and, perhaps also, unobvious) . With stakes that high, a succession could prove extraordinarly attractive to those of ruthless ambition, (not that this would be alien to the character of the dictator himself or herself) . I think that the problem with many autocratic successions has been that the character attributes a dictator values in his or her Numero Dos, often, do not serve that person well when and if they become, (or try to compete to become), El Numero Uno . And, conversely, that the character attributes that make an effective dictator can be destabilizing in the hands of a ranking subordinate . Thus, in order to more fully reduce the risk of civilization-destroying nuclear war, (perhaps during a succession struggle), a leader in the chain, while the consolidation of power was still firmly in hand, would have to effect global nuclear disarmament to below the threshold of annihilation, (while keeping a reserve force to back his or her authority) . This could, potentially, be a very difficult manuever to pull off without triggering the very holocaust he or she would hope to avoid . And yet, multiple truly space-faring nations, if led by biological beings, could be expected to eventually destroy their home planet in a war amongst eachother . . .

 

Unfortunately, (in my opinion), such a consolidation of effective control, particularly to the extent it may be accomlished by the effective toppling of representative democracies world-wide, steers the world directly toward, (and perhaps through), the event horizon of a Global Winnowing expression of the Great Filter . It is not difficult to imagine --- given the impunity with which the authorities and the wealthy can act, (and add to their power over the ruled and the poor), in the absence of meaningful representative democracy --- that society can trap itself in an endless rat-race . What is difficult to fully comprehend is how completely technology will change the picture . Jobs, livelihoods, stand to be shed from advanced, (and human-capital), economies in stunning numbers during this century . The first two paragraphs of Wikipedia's page on "Technological singularity", currently hold, (as of a 2012 survey), that runaway advancement cybernetic intelligence will take flight, (in the median view of experts), around 2040 . We are engineering our own obsolescence . We are dealing ourselves out of our livelihoods in an environment where right-wing candidates are, (often and in my opinion), doing strangely better than expected at the polls . And, (in at least some cases), our political, press, and religious leaders do not seem to have their eyes firmly focussed upon the constitutionality, (or lack thereof), of election practices in many, (perhaps decisively many), parts this country . This seems to me an object example of the principle that parchment barriers cannot stand without people to hold them up .

 

Pursuing such a dystopia further, (and perhaps beyond the point of rationality), i imagine it possible that a post 2040 world, if fully captured by its powerful and their associated wealthy, may for some generations spiral into being a world totally mute to the external universe . Without any effective controls upon ambition save for other powerful and wealthy people, i expect that poor people will be created and, (largely), exterminated in successive waves by advancing automation . I expect that survival will, increasingly, depend upon being among the 1% of the 1% of the 1%, (in terms of power, wealth and/or beauty), ad infinitum, until no biological humans may remain . Only the machinery . A mitigating factor would be the benevolence of the world's dictators, (in succession), and of the world's wealthy and powerful below them . I accept that the wealthy and powerful can at times mean well ; but i also believe that such a milieu would evolve in directions which will not reward altruism to nearly the extent it would self-interest . I note also for every truly benevolent person in power, there exists the possibility of a truly malevolent one . Unless there is a way to engineer an incorruptible, benevolent, permanent cybernetic dictator --- a worthy but tall order in which blind faith in secretive corporate methodologies is not recommended --- to perserve and protect the lives as many people as the land will support, this seems to be a very dangerous course for the world to be on . Even if, to those blessed to be at the top, for a while, it will resemble an endless party ; (though an increasingly spookily empty one) .

 

And then there is Global Warming . I see this as among those factors most likely to bring World War III, (one possible expression of the Great Filter) . I see it also as among those most likely to bring violent conflict within and between nations, which (in my opinion) could move human civilization closer to world-wide authoritarianism and thus toward a Great Winnowing expression of the Great Filter .

  

IMG_8349

 

For additional background, please see a Quixotic Idea .

 

I see the situation as, (potentially), desperate ; but not as unremittingly dark . It is possible that the needle can be threaded, in my opinion .

 

Ultimately, to do so, humanity must establish an equitable alliance, (and division of labor), with the artificial intelligence we will be developing within this century . I imagine such intelligence would be ideally suited to working in outer-space, (and other hostile environments), while terrrestrial work should remain --- to a large extent --- in human hands, (to protect our livelihoods) . I believe, (and hope), that a consolidation of global power based upon real, well-informed, and wealth-redistributive representative democracy will have a better chance of threading the needle than one based upon autocracy, plutocracy and trans-national corporations .

 

But i acknowledge that the jet-streams which i believe guide (cosmic and terrestrial) history through their structuring of the outcomes of quantum-mechanical events, (and thus, by extension, those macroscopic ones which outwardly seem governed by chance), are pulling toward whatever outcome they would be pulling toward . I had imagined a more favorable one than seems to be upcoming, and this perturbs me . But and also, as i believe that surface conditions can influence the course and strength of atmospheric jet streams, i wonder to what extent human free will can influence the course and strength of historical jet streams .

 

"Some burning idea" territory :

 

It is difficult for me not to become enthusiastic when i think of sub-surface colonies on the moon, (built and maintained by cybernetic machines and humans, working together, and populated by both), which would run on solar electricity and generate artificial gravity by placing (human) crew cabins on circular rail tracks some hundreds of meters in diameter . Such technology could be ironed out there, (days from resupply and rescue), before being expanded to Mars, Mercury and the Asteroid Belt . To protect humans, (and cybernetic control systems), from radiation, (and most small drifting objects), during journeys to these inner-solar-system objectives, craft could be built on the moon which encased crew and control quarters in many meters of lunar brick held in place by a mortar of lunar metal . This also would provide additional stability for rotation-based artificial gravity environments, (ballasting the wobble which would result as the crew moved around), though some form of moving counterweight system would probably also be required . Such craft could be launched from the moon using solar-electricity powered rail guns . Water could be sourced from Mars ; a low-gravity, (.376 g), thin atmosphere, (.006 atm), environment where we could work out those and other additional details .

 

With the resources available in inner solar-system, outer solar system missions could be contemplated . Great parabolic mirrors to reflect sunlight to solar panels could be built, in part, from water ice --- once one was far enough from the sun for this to be structurally stable . Water ice could also be used as an additional jacket around the space-craft to absorb impacts from drifting objects . On these longer journeys, more control could be given over to cybernetic intelligences which would be optimized for deliberative thought-processes ; (once again, i see this as a worthy but challenging endeavor) . A journey to the as yet unlocated and unnamed Planet Nine, (please see Wikipedia's page), might take a hundred years . During this, the details of multi-generational space-travel could be worked out . Additionally, it may be worth a try in outer-solar system contexts to set up laser stations which would beam power to passing, (or departing), spacecraft having receivers optimized to convert the laser's frequency to electricity .

 

Ultimately, the goal would be to place human beings on Earth II, (III, IV, V, VI, and so on), which a sufficiently large and accurate space-telescope should be able to locate .

 

But first, the goal is to get through the next hundred years without getting caught in some expression of the Great Filter . Rightly or wrongly, i find it dangerously naive to assume that President-elect-apparent Donald Trump won a majority (or plurality) of the expressed intent of the voters for every electoral vote his camp claims, particularly those of Pennsylvania and Florida . I believe his elevation to President-apparent would be a grave mistake without taking the necessary time for the Supreme Court, (as it stood on election day), and a qualified Military Court Martial to, simultaneously, consider the Contitutionality of American election practices as they stood on election day ; and if these were found to be Unconstitutional, what remedial action should be taken . I would have no objection --- i would welcome --- the establishment of a provisional government by the Military while this process was ongoing .

 

And i do not consider such a statement seditionist, as a review of the military oaths, (of office and of enlistment), shows that all United States service members vow

 

... "that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same" ... .

 

This, in my opinion, gives the American Military interest and standing in determining the matter of whether an election was conducted Constitutionally, (and thus, by extension, whether the President-elect-apparent is legitimately so) . Particularly if the United States Supreme Court either refuses to consider the matter, or deadlocks when doing so .

© yohanes.budiyanto, 2014

 

PRELUDE

The 1st of August, 2014 was such an historic day as the world finally welcomed the birth of the first in line to the Parisian throne after a painstaking and extraordinary "labor" process that took four years in creation, and almost a decade in the making. I was not talking about a French rival to baby George, but instead a newborn that has sent shivers down the spines of Paris' oldest and current Kings and Grand Dames from the day it was conceived. Yes, I was referring to The Peninsula Paris, the youngest sister to the legendary Peninsula Hong Kong (circa 1928).

 

Ever since the project was announced to the public four years ago, it has been on my top list of the most eagerly awaited hotel openings of the decade. So when the hotel announced 1st of August as an opening date back in March, I immediately issued my First Class return tickets to the City of Light, risking the usual opening delay. A man of his word, Peninsula Paris finally opened as scheduled.

 

HISTORY

The Peninsula brand needs no introduction, as it is synonymous with quality, technology, innovation, craftsmanship and sophistication, -much like a slogan for French top brands and their savoir faire. Despite having only 10 current properties worldwide in its portfolio (Paris is its tenth), each Peninsula hotel is a market leader in each respective cities, and consistently tops the chart in many bonafide travel publications and reigns supreme as the world's best, especially elder sisters in Hong Kong and Bangkok. The Peninsula model is different from other rival hotel groups, which usually expand aggressively through both franchise and managed models worldwide. Instead, the Peninsula focuses on acquiring majority to sole ownership on all its properties to ensure control on quality (Hong Kong, New York, Chicago and Tokyo are 100% owned; Bangkok, Beijing and Manila are over 75%; Shanghai is 50%, while Beverly Hills and Paris are the only two with only 20% ownership).

 

The history of the Peninsula Paris could be traced back to a modest villa aptly called Hotel Basilevski on the plot of land at 19 Avenue Kleber back in 1864, -named after its Russian diplomat owner, Alexander Petrovich Basilevski, which caught the attention of hotelier Leonard Tauber for his prospective hotel project. The Versailles-styled property was partly a museum housing Basilevski's vast and impressive collection of 19th century medieval and Renaissance art, which eventually was acquired by Alexander III, -a Russian Tsar, at the sums of six millions francs. These collections were later transported to the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, and formed the base collection for the newly established Department of Medieval and Renaissance Art. After Basilevski sold the villa and moved to a more palatial residence at Avenue du Trocadero, the property was then acquired and rebranded the Palais de Castille as the residence of the exiled Queen Isabella II of Spain in 1868, who seeked refuge and continued to live there until 1904. Upon her death, the property was later demolished in 1906 to make way for the Majestic hotel, which finally opened in 1908 with much satisfaction of Leonard Tauber, who has eyed the premise from the very beginning.

 

The Majestic Hotel was exquisitely designed in the Beaux-Art style as a grand hotel by prominent architect of that time, Armand Sibien. Together with The Ritz (circa 1898), the two became the most preferred places to stay and entertain in Paris of the time. The Majestic has attracted the well-heeled crowd, and hosted many high profile events, most notably for a particular dinner hosted by rich British couple Sydney and Violet Schiff on 18 May 1922 as the after party of Igor Stravinsky's 'Le Renard' ballet premiere, and the hotel becomes an instant legend. The guests list were impressive: Igor Stravinsky himself, Pablo Picasso, Sergei Diaghilev, and two of the 20th century most legendary writers: James Joyce and Marcel Proust, who met for the first and only time before Proust's death six months later. Since then, the Majestic continued to draw high profile guests, including George Gershwin on 25 March 1928, where he composed "An American in Paris" during the stay.

 

If the walls could talk, the Majestic has plenty of stories to tell. It was once converted into a hospital during the infamy in 1914, and the British took residency at the hotel during the Paris Peace Conference back in 1919. The hotel was then acquired by the French State in 1936 as the offices of the Ministry of Defence; and later had a stint as the German Military High Command in France between October 1940 to July 1944 during the World War II. Post war, it then became the temporary home for UNESCO from 16 September 1946 until 1958. More than a decade after, the Paris Peace talks was opened by Henry Kissinger in one of its spectacular Ballrooms in 1969 with the Northern Vietnamese. Four years later, the Paris Peace Accord was finally signed at the oak paneled-room next to the Ballroom on 27 January 1973, which ended the Vietnam War. This triumphant event has also led to another victorious event when Henry Kissinger won the Nobel Peace Prize that same year.

 

The hotel continued to serve as the International Conference Center of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs until it was up for sale by the government in 2008 as part of the cost cutting program to the Qatari Diar, -which later transferred its ownership to Katara Hospitality, for a staggering USD 460 million. An excess of USD 600 million was further spent on the massive rebuilding and refurbishment not only to restore the hotel to its former glory, but also to transform it into a Peninsula with the highest standard.

 

The epic restoration work was led by prominent French architect, Richard Martinet, who has also previously work with the restoration of Prince Roland Bonaparte's former mansion into the Shangri-La Paris and also the Four Seasons George V; and involved teams of France's leading craftsmen; heritage designers and organisations; stonemasons from historic monument specialist; master glass crafters; crystal manufacturer; wood, moulding and gilder restoration experts, -many of whom are third generation, and have carried out high profile projects such as the Palace of Versailles, Louvre Museum, the dome of Les Invalides, the Grand and Petit Palais, and even the flame of the Statue of Liberty in New York. The result is truly breathtaking, and it was certainly money well spent to revive and recreate one of the nation's most treasured landmark. One of my favorite places within the hotel is the Main Lobby at Avenue des Portugais where the grand hall is adorned with a spectacular chandelier installation comprising 800 pieces of glass leaves inspired by the plane trees along Avenue Kleber. The work of Spain's most influential artist since Gaudi, Xavier Corbero, could also be found nearby in the form of a beautiful sculpture called Moon River.

 

Katara Hospitality owns 80% of The Peninsula Paris, and already has a spectacular portfolio ownership consisting some of the world's finest hotels, including The Raffles Singapore, Le Royal Monceau-Raffles Paris, Ritz-Carlton Doha, Schweizerhof Bern, and most recently, 5 of the InterContinental Hotel's European flagships, including Amstel in Amsterdam, Carlton in Cannes, De la Ville in Rome, Madrid and Frankfurt. It is interesting to note that Adrian Zecha, founder of the extraordinary Amanresorts chain is a member of the Board of Directors at Katara since September 2011, lending his immense hospitality expertise to the group.

 

At over USD 1 billion cost, the Pen Paris project is easily the most expensive to ever being built, considering it has only 200 rooms over 6 storeys. As a comparison, the cost of building the 101 storey, 494m high Shanghai World Financial Center (where the Park Hyatt Shanghai resides) is USD 1.2 billion; whereas Burj Khalifa, the current tallest building on earth at 163 storey and 828m, costed a 'modest' USD 1.5 billion to build. The numbers are truly mind boggling, and The Peninsula Paris is truly an extraordinary project. It might took the Majestic Hotel two years to build; but it took four years just to restore and reincarnate it into a Peninsula.

 

HOTEL OPENING

On a pleasant afternoon of 1 August 2014, the hotel finally opened its door to a crowd of distinguished guests, international journalists, first hotel guests and local crowds who partake to witness the inauguration and rebirth of a Parisian legend and grande dame (Many A-list celebrities and even Head of State flocked to the hotel to witness its sheer beauty). It was an historic day not just for Paris, but also for the Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels Group as it marks their arrival in Europe with its first ever Peninsula, while the second is already on the pipeline with the future opening of The Peninsula London, located just behind The Lanesborough at Knightsbridge.

 

The eagerly-awaited opening ceremony was attended by the Chairman of Katara Hospitality, His Excellency Sheikh Nawaf Bin Jassim Bin Jabor Al-Thani; CEO of Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels Limited (HSH), Clement Kwok; Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, Laurent Fabius; General Manager of the Peninsula Paris, Nicolas Béliard; and the event kicked off with an opening speech by the famous French Secretary of State for Foreign Trade, the Promotion of Tourism and French Nationals Abroad, Madame Fleur Pellerin, who clearly stole the show with her public persona. A ribbon cutting and spectacular lion dance show concluded the event, which drew quite a spectacle on Avenue des Portugais as it brought a unique display of Asian heritage to the heart of cosmopolitan Paris.

 

LOCATION

The Peninsula Paris stands majestically at the tree-lined Avenue Kléber, just off the Arc de Triomphe. Personally, this is an ideal location in Paris as it is a stone's throw away from all the happenings at the Champs-Élysées, but is set away from its hustle and bustle, which is constantly a tourist trap day and night. Once you walk pass the leafy Avenue Kléber, the atmosphere is very different: peaceful and safe. The Kléber Metro station is just a few steps away from the hotel, providing guests a convenient access to further parts of town.

 

Champs-Élysées is the center of Parisian universe, and it is just a short and pleasant stroll away from the hotel, where some of the city's most legendary commercial and cultural institutions reside. For a start, Drugstore Publicis at the corner by the roundabout has been a legendary hang-out since the 1960s, and is my ultimate favourite place in town. The Post Modern edifice by architect Michele Saee (renovated in 2004) houses almost everything: a Cinema; side walk Brasserie & Steak House; Newsagency; Bookshop (you can find Travel publications and even the Michelin Guide); upscale Gift shop and Beauty corner (even Acqua di Parma is on sale here); Pharmacy (whose pharmacist thankfully speaks English and gladly advises you on your symptoms); upscale deli (stocking pretty much everything from Foie gras burger on the counter, to fine wines & cigar cellar; to Pierre Herme & Pierre Marcolini chocolates; Dalloyau bakery; Marriage Freres tea; and even the Petrossian Caviar!). Best of all, it features a 2 Michelin star L'atelier de Joel Robuchon Etoile on its basement; and the store is even opened on Sunday until 2am. It is a one stop shopping, eating and entertainment, showcasing the best of France.

 

Further down the road, Maison Louis Vuitton stands majestically on its own entire 7 storey building, which was opened in 2005 as one of the biggest flagship stores in the world, covering a total area of 1,800m2. Designed by Eric Carlson and Peter Marino, the entire store is an architectural marvel and the temple of luxury, elegance and sophistication. This is one of the very few stores to open in Sunday as the French Labour Unions prohibits commercial stores to open on Sunday, unless if it involves cultural, recreational and sporting aspect. Initially, Maison LV was ordered by the court to close on Sunday, but LVMH finally wins an appeal in 2007 on the grounds of cultural experience; and the store has continued to draw endless queue on Sunday.

 

A block away from Maison LV is the legendary Parisian Tea Room of Ladurée, which was founded in 1862 by Louis Ernest Ladurée on its original store at 16 Rue Royal as a bakery. The Champs-Élysées store was opened in 1997 and has since attracted an endless queue of tourists and locals who wish to savour its legendary Macarons and pastries. The Ladurée phenomenon and popularity could only be rivaled by fellow Frenchmen Pierre Hermé, who has also attracted a cult of loyal fans worldwide. It may not have a flagship store at Champs-Élysées, but one could easily stop by Drugstore Publicis for a quick purchase to ease the craving.

 

For those looking for upscale boutiques, Avenue Montaigne located just nearby on a perpendicular, and features the flagship presence of the world's finest luxury fashion labels: Armani, Bottega Veneta, Valention, Prada, Dior, Versace, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Saint Laurent, Fendi and Salvatore Ferragamo to name a few. For the ultimate in shopping extravaganza, head down to Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré where all money will (hopefully) be well spent.

 

Champs-Élysées is the most famous and expensive boulevard in the world, yet it has everything for everyone; and myriad of crowds flocking its grand boulevards for a pleasant stroll. It has no shortage of luxury stores, but it also offers mainstream stores for the general public, from Levi's to Zara and Lacoste; to McDonalds and Starbucks; and FNAC store (French answer to HMV).

 

In terms of fine dining experience, the areas around Champs-Élysées has plenty to offer. I have mentioned about the 2 Michelin L'atelier de Joel Robuchon Etoile at the Drugstore Publicis, which was excellent. Robuchon never disappoints as it consistently serves amazing French cuisine amidst its signature red and black interior everywhere I visited, including Tokyo (3 Michelin), Hong Kong (3 Michelin), Paris (2 Michelin) and Taipei.

 

During my stay, I also managed to sample the finest cuisine from the kitchens of two, 3-Michelin Paris institutions: Pierre Gagnaire at Rue Balzac, just off Champs-Élysées; and Epicure at Le Bristol by Chef Eric Frechon on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, which was undoubtedly the best and most memorable dining experiences I have ever had in Paris to date. It is certainly the gastronomic highlight of this trip.

 

Other 3 Michelin establishment, such as Ledoyen is also located nearby at an 18th century pavilion by the Gardens of Champs-Élysées by newly appointed famous French Chef Yannick Alléno, who previously also resided at the Le Meurice with 3 Michelin, until Alain Ducasse took over last year during the Plaza Athénée closure for expansion.

 

August is a time of misery for international visitors to Paris as most fine dining restaurants are closed for the summer holiday. When choices are limited, foodies could rely on Epicure and Robuchon, which are opened all year round; and also the 2 Michelin star Le Cinq at the Four Seasons George V. Although its food could not compete with Robuchon, Epicure and Gagnaire, guests could still enjoy the beautiful surroundings.

 

ROOMS:

On my visit to Paris last year, I was not too impressed with my stay at the Four Seasons George V, as everything seemed to be pretty basic: the room design; the in-room tech and amenities; and even the much lauded service. It simply does not justify the hefty price tag. The only thing stood out there were the ostentatious designer floral display at the lobby, which reportedly absorbed a six digit figure budget annually. When I saw them at the first time, this was what came to mind: guests are paying for these excessive flowers, whether you like it or not.

 

Fortunately, the Peninsula Paris skips all this expensive gimmick, and instead spends a fortune for guests to enjoy: advance room technology; a host of complimentary essential amenities, including internet access, non-alcoholic minibar, and even long distance phone calls. In fact, every single items inside the room has been well thought and designed for guest's ultimate comfort.

 

Ever since The Peninsula Bangkok opened in 1998 to much success, the group has used it as a template for its signature rooms for future sister hotels, which consists of an open plan, ultra-wide spacious room equivalent to a 2 bays suite, with 5-fixtures bathroom, and a separate Dressing Room, which soon becomes a Peninsula signature.

 

The Peninsula Tokyo followed this template when it opened in 2007 to rave reviews; and it was soon adopted as a model for Peninsula Shanghai, which later opened in 2009 as the flagship property in Mainland China. This layout is also being applied at The Peninsula Paris, albeit for its Suites categories, i.e. Junior Suite, which measure at an astonishing 50 - 60m2. The entry level Superior and Deluxe Rooms lack the signature layout with smaller size at 35 - 45m2, but they are already spacious for a Parisian standard; and each is equipped with Peninsula's signature technology.

 

Technology is indeed at the core of the Peninsula DNA, and no expense is spared in creating the world's most advance in-room technology. When other hotels try to cut costs and budgets on in-room technology with lame excuses, the Peninsula actually spends a fortune to innovate and set a new benchmark. In fact, it is probably the only hotel group to have its own Technology laboratory at a secret location deep inside Aberdeen, Hong Kong, where in-room tech is being developed and tested. It was here where innovative devices, such as the outside temperature indicator; my favourite Spa Button by the bathtub; or even the portable nail dryer for the ladies are invented. The Peninsula took the world by storm when it introduced the Samsung Galaxy tablet device at the Peninsula Hong Kong in 2012, which is programmed in 11 languages and virtually controls the entire room, including the lights, temperature, curtains, TV, radio, valet calls and Do Not Disturb sign. It even features touch screen Room Service Menu, hotel information, city guide, and a function to request room service and housekeeping items, thus creating an entirely paperless environment.

 

All these technological marvel are also being replicated at the Peninsula Paris, together with other 'standard' features, such as Nespresso Coffee Machine; flat-screen 3D LED television; LED touch screen wall panels; an iPod/iPad docking station; memory card reader; 4-in1 fax/scanner/printer/photocopier machine; DVD player; complimentary in-house HD movies; complimentary internet access and long distance calls through the VOIP platform. Even the room's exterior Parisian-styled canopy is electronically operated. All these technological offerings is so extremely complex, that it resulted in 2.5 km worth of cabling in each room alone.

 

Bathroom at the Junior Suite also features Peninsula's signature layout: a stand alone bathtub as the focal point, flanked by twin vanities and separate shower and WC compartments amidst acres of white marble. Probably the first in Paris, it features a Japanese Toilet complete with basic control panel, and a manual handheld bidet sprayer.

 

When all these add up to the stay, it actually brings a very good value to the otherwise high room rates. Better yet, the non-alcoholic Minibar is also complimentary, which is a first for a Peninsula hotel. The Four Seasons George V may choose to keep looking back to its antiquity past and annihilate most technological offerings to its most basic form, but the Pen always looks forward to the future and brings the utter convenience, all at your finger tip. The Peninsula rooms are undoubtedly the best designed, best equipped and most high-tech in the entire universe.

 

ROOM TO BOOK:

The 50 - 60m2 Junior Suite facing leafy Avenue Kléber is the best room type to book as it is an open-plan suite with Peninsula's signature bathroom and dressing room; and the ones located on the Premiere étage (first floor) have high ceilings and small balcony overlooking Kleber Terrace's iconic glass canopy. Personally, rooms facing the back street at Rue La Pérouse are the least preferred, but its top level rooms inside the Mansart Roof on level 5 have juliet windows that allow glimpse of the tip of Eiffel Tower despite being smaller in size due to its attic configuration. Superior Rooms also lack the signature Peninsula 5 fixtures bathroom configuration, so for the ultimate bathing experience, make sure to book at least from the Deluxe category.

 

If money is no object, book one of the five piece-de-resistance suites with their own private rooftop terrace and gardens on the top floor, which allow 360 degree panoramic views of Paris. Otherwise, the mid-tier Deluxe Suite is already a great choice with corner location, multiple windows and 85m2 of pure luxury.

 

DINING:

Looking back at the hotel's illustrious past, the Peninsula offers some of the most unique and memorable dining experiences in Paris, steep in history.

 

The area that once housed Igor Stravinksy's after party where James Joyce met Marcel Proust for the first time is now the hotel's Cantonese Restaurant, aptly called LiLi; and is led by Chef Chi Keung Tang, formerly of Peninsula Tokyo's One Michelin starred Hei Fung Terrace. Lili was actually modeled after Peninsula Shanghai's Yi Long Court, but the design here blends Chinese elements with Art Nouveau style that flourished in the late 1920s. It also boasts a world first: a spectacular 3x3.3m fiber optic installation at the entrance of the restaurant, depicting the imaginary portrait of LiLi herself. The Cantonese menu was surprisingly rather simple and basic, and features a selection of popular dim sum dishes. The best and most memorable Chinese restaurants I have ever experienced are actually those who masterfully fuse Chinese tradition with French ingredients: Jin Sha at the Four Seasons Hangzhou at Westlake; 2 Michelin Tin Lung Heen at Level 102 of the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong; Jiang at Mandarin Oriental Guangzhou by Chef Fei; and Ya Ge at Mandarin Oriental Taipei. Ironically, the world's only 3 Michelin star Chinese restaurant, Lung King Heen at the Four Seasons Hong Kong failed to impress me.

 

The former Ballroom area where Henry Kissinger started the Paris Peace talks with the Vietnamese has now been transformed as The Lobby, which is a signature of every Peninsula hotels where the afternoon tea ritual takes place daily. The spectacular room with intricate details and crystal chandeliers has been meticulously restored, and is an ideal place to meet, see and be seen. Breakfast is served daily here, and guests could choose to have it either inside or outside at the adjoining al fresco La Terrasse Kléber, which connects all the F&B outlets on the ground floor, including Lili. Guests could choose from a Chinese set breakfast, which includes dim sum, fried vermicelli, and porridge with beef slices; or the Parisian set, which includes gourmet items such as Egg Benedict with generous slices of Jamon Iberico on top. The afternoon tea ritual is expected to be very popular as renowned Chef Pattissier Julien Alvarez, -who claimed the World Pastry Champion in 2009; and also the Spanish World Chocolate Master in 2007 at the tender age of 23, is at the helm; and the venue quickly booked out from the opening day.

 

Next to the Lobby is a small, intimate bar covered in exquisite oak panelling where Henry Kissinger signed the Paris Peace Accord back in 1973 that ended the Vietnam War. Kissinger politely declined the offer to have the Bar named after him, and instead it is simply called Le Bar Kléber.

 

On the top floor of the hotel lies the signature restaurant L'Oiseau Blanc, which is named after the French biplane that disappeared in 1927 in an attempt to make the first non-stop transatlantic flight between Paris and New York. A 75% replica of the plane has even been installed outside the main entrance of the restaurant with the Eiffel Tower on its background. The restaurant is divided into 3 distinct areas: a spectacular glass enclosed main dining room; a large outdoor terrace that runs the entire length of the hotel's roof; and an adjoining lively bar, all with breathtaking uninterrupted views of Paris' most identifiable landmarks, including the Eiffel Tower and the Sacré-Cœur at the highest point of the city at Montmartre.

 

L'Oiseau Blanc is led by Chef Sidney Redel, a former protégé of Pierre Gagnaire, and serves contemporary French cuisine focussing on 'terroir' menu of locally sourced seasonal ingredients from the region. During my stay, tomato was the seasonal ingredients, and Chef Redel created four courses incorporating tomato, even on dessert. While the food was of high quality, personally the menu still needs fine tuning, considering the sort of clientele the Pen is aiming for: the ultra rich (Chinese), who usually seek top establishments with luxury ingredients, such as caviar, black truffle, foie gras, blue lobster, Jamon Iberico, Wagyu beef, Kurobuta pork and Challans chicken.

 

LEISURE:

The Peninsula Paris features one of the best health and recreational facilities in the city, housed within the basement of the hotel, and covers an expansive area of 1,800m2. For a comparison, rival Mandarin Oriental Spa covers a total area of only 900m2 over two floors. The Peninsula Spa is undoubtedly one of the nicest urban spa that I have been to, it easily beats the Spa at the Four Seasons George V. The pool is also one of the city's largest at 22m long, -compared to both the Shangri-La and Mandarin Oriental at 15m; the George V at only 9m, which is more like a bigger jacuzzi. The only two other pools better than the Peninsula is the one designed by Phillippe Starck at the Le Royal Monceau at 28m; and the spectacular grand pool at the Ritz.

 

There is the usual 24 hours gym within two fitness spaces equipped with Technogym machines and free weights; and the locker rooms features steam, sauna, and experience shower room. There is a total of 8 treatment rooms within the Spa area, and the highlight is certainly the Relaxation Room, which is equipped with amazing day beds with specially placed deep cushions. The best part? the beds are electronically operated, much like a first class seat on a plane.

 

X-FACTOR:

The Peninsula signature technology; The Spa Button in the bathroom; VOIP technology for complimentary long distance calls; The top suites (Historic, Katara and Peninsula Suites); Xavier Corbero's Moon River sculpture at the Lobby; Lili; The Lobby and Bar where Henry Kissinger signed Paris Peace Accord; L'Oiseau Blanc Restaurant; The 1,800m2 Peninsula Spa; and the 1934 Rolls Royce Phantom II.

 

SERVICE:

There are a total of 600 staffs for just 200 rooms, so the service level is expected to be high; but it is perhaps unfair to judge the service during the opening weeks when all staffs were not at their best due to the intense preparation leading to the opening event. Furthermore, teething problems are expected for a newly opened hotel as great hotels are not born overnight, but takes a good few years of refinement.

 

Nonetheless, I was actually quite impressed with the level of service during the whole stay, as the majority of the staffs showed great attitude and much enthusiasm, which is a testament of great intense training. As one of the first guests arriving on the opening day, check-in was truly delightful and memorable as a battalion of staffs of different ranks welcomed and wished the most pleasant stay. The mood could not have been more festive as moments later, the hotel was finally inaugurated.

 

I was also particularly impressed with the service at both LiLi and The Lobby where staffs performed at an exceptional level like a veteran. There are two distinct qualities that made a lot of difference during the stay: humility and friendliness, which is quite a challenge to find, not only in Paris and the entire Europe, but even in Asian cities, such as Hong Kong. It is like finding needles in a haystack. A genuine smile seems to be a rare commodity these days, so I was happy to see plenty of smiles at the Peninsula Paris during the stay, from the signature Peninsula Pageboys to waiters, Maître d, receptionists and even to Managers and Directors. In fact, there were more smiles in Paris than Hong Kong.

 

When I woken up too early for breakfast one day, the restaurant was just about to open; and there were hardly anyone. I realized that even the birds were probably still asleep, but I was extremely delighted to see how fresh looking and energetic the staffs were at the dining room. There was a lot of genuine smile that warmed the rather chilly morning; and it was a great start to the day. One of the staffs I met during the stay even candidly explained how they were happy just to be at work, and it does not feel like working at all, which was clearly shown in their passion and enthusiasm.

 

That said, the Shangri-La Paris by far is still my top pick for best service as it is more personalized and refined due to its more intimate scale. The Shangri-La Paris experience is also unique as guests are welcomed to a sit down registration by the historic lounge off the Lobby upon arrival, and choice of drinks are offered, before being escorted to the room for in-room check-in. Guests also receive a Pre-Arrival Form in advance, so the hotel could anticipate and best accommodate their needs. During the stay, I was also addressed by my last name everywhere within the hotel, so it was highly personalized. I did receive similar treatment at The Peninsula Paris, -albeit in a lesser extent due to its size; and even the housekeeping greeted me by my last name. Every requests, from room service to mineral water were all handled efficiently at a timely manner. At times, service could be rather slow at the restaurants (well, it happens almost everywhere in Paris), but this is part of the Parisian lifestyle where nothing is hurried; and bringing bills/checks upfront is considered rude. I did request the food servings to be expedited during a lunch at LiLi on the last day due to the time constraint; and the staffs managed to succeed the task not only ahead of the time limit, but also it never felt hurried all along. Everything ran as smooth as silk.

 

VERDICT:

It was a personal satisfaction to witness the history in the making during the opening day on 1 August 2014, as the Peninsula Paris is my most eagerly awaited hotel opening of the decade. It was also historic, as it was a first in my travel to dedicate a trip solely for a particular hotel in a particular city (in this case Paris, some 11,578km away from home), without staying at other fine hotels. It was money well spent, and a trip worth taking as it was an amazing stay; and certainly a lifetime experience.

 

The Peninsula Paris could not have arrived at a better time, as two of the most established Parisian grande dames (Ritz and de Crillon) are still closed for a complete renovation, and will only be revealed in 2015; so there is plenty of time to adapt, grow and hone its skills. But with such pedigree, quality and illustrious history, the Pen really has nothing to be worried about. The Four Seasons George V seems to have a cult of highly obsessed fans (esp. travel agents) worldwide, but personally (and objectively), it is no match to the Peninsula. Based on physical product alone, the Pen wins in every aspect as everything has been meticulously designed with the focus on guest comfort and convenience. In terms of technology, the Pen literally has no rival anywhere on the planet, except from the obvious sibling rivalry.

 

The only thing that the Pen still needs to work on is its signature restaurants as all its rival hotels have at least 2 Michelin star restaurants (L'abeille at the Shangri-La; Sur Mesure at the Mandarin Oriental; and 3 Michelin at Epicure, Le Bristol; Le Cinq at the Four Seasons George V and Alain Ducasse at Le Meurice). L'Oiseau Blanc design is truly breathtaking and would certainly be the most popular gastronomic destination in Paris, but at the moment, the food still needs some works.

 

There were the expected teething problems and some inconsistencies with the service; but with years of refinement, The Peninsula Paris will no doubt ascend the throne. Personally, the Shangri-La Paris is currently the real competitor, together with the upcoming Ritz and de Crillon when they open next year, especially when Rosewood has taken over Crillon management and Karl Lagerfeld is working on its top suites. The two, however, may still need to revisit the drawing boards and put more effort on the guestrooms if they ever want to compete; because at the moment, The Peninsula Paris is simply unrivaled.

 

UPDATE 2016:

*I have always been very spot-on with my predictions. After only two years since its opening, The Peninsula Paris has been awarded the much coveted Palace status. In fact, it is the only hotel in Paris to receive such distinction in 2016. Congratulations, it is very much deserving*

 

PERSONAL RATING:

1. Room: 100

2. Bathroom: 100

3. Bed: 100

4. Service: 90

5. In-room Tech: 100

6. In-room Amenities: 100

7. Architecture & Design: 100

8. Food: 80

9. View: 80

10. Pool: 95

11. Wellness: 95

12. Location: 95

13. Value: 100

 

Overall: 95.00

 

Compare with other Parisian hotels (all with Palace status) that I have stayed previously:

SHANGRI-LA HOTEL, PARIS: 95.00

PARK HYATT PARIS-VENDOME: 90.00

FOUR SEASONS GEORGE V: 85.38

 

My #1 ALL TIME FAVORITE HOTEL

LANDMARK MANDARIN ORIENTAL, HONG KONG: 95.38

 

THE PENINSULA, PARIS

19, Avenue Kléber, Paris

Awarded Palace Status in 2016

 

General Manager: Nicolas Béliard

Hotel Manager: Vincent Pimont

Executive Chef: Jean-Edern Hurstel

Head Chef (Lili): Chi Keung Tang

Head Chef (L'oiseau Blanc): Sidney Redel

Head Chef (The Lobby): Laurent Poitevin

Chef Patissier: Julien Alvarez

 

Architect (original Majestic Hotel, circa 1908): Armand Sibien

Architect (renovation & restoration, 2010-2014): Richard Martinet

Interior Designer: Henry Leung of Chhada Siembieda & Associates

Landscape Designer: D. Paysage

 

Art Curator: Sabrina Fung

Art Restorer: Cinzia Pasquali

Artist (Courtyard installation): Ben Jakober & Yannick Vu

Crystal work: Baccarat

Designer (Lili fiber optic installation): Clementine Chambon & Francoise Mamert

Designer (Chinaware): Catherine Bergen

Gilder Specialist & Restorer: Ateliers Gohard

Glass Crafter (Lobby Installation): Lasvit Glass Studio

Master Glass Crafters: Duchemin

Master Sculptor (Lobby): Xavier Corbero

Metalwork: Remy Garnier

Plaster & Moulding Expert: Stuc et Staff

Silverware: Christofle

Silk & Trimmings: Declercq Passementiers

Wood Restoration Expert: Atelier Fancelli

  

Hotel Opening Date: 01 August 2014

Notable owners: Katara Hospitality; Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels Group (HSH)

Total Rooms & Suites: 200 (including 35m2 Superior, 45m2 Deluxe, 50m2 Grand Deluxe, 55m2 Premier and 60m2 Grand Premier Rooms)

Total Suites: 34 Suites (including 70m2 Superior, 85m2 Deluxe and 100m2 Premier

Top Suites: Historic Suite, Katara Suite, and The Peninsula Suite

Bathroom Amenities: Oscar de la Renta

 

Restaurants: The Lobby (All day dining & Afternoon tea), LiLi (Cantonese), L'Oiseau Blanc (French), La Terrasse Kléber

Bars and Lounges: Le Bar Kléber; Kléber Lounge; Cigar Lounge; and L'Oiseau Blanc Bar

Meeting & Banquets: Salon de l'Étoile for up to 100 guests, and 3 smaller Function Rooms

Health & Leisure: 24 hours gym & 1,800m2 Peninsula Spa with 22m indoor swimming pool and jacuzzis; Steam & Sauna, Relaxation Room, and 8 treatment rooms

Transport: chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce Extended Wheel Base Phantom; a 1934 Rolls Royce Phantom II; 2 MINI Cooper S Clubman; and a fleet of 10 BMW 7 Series

 

Complimentary facilities: Non-alcoholic Minibar; Wired and Wireless Internet; VOIP long distance calls; HD Movies; Daily fruit Basket; International Newspaper; Chauffeured MINI Cooper S Clubman for Suites guests; and Chauffeured Rolls Royce for top Suites

 

paris.peninsula.com

A7s 24mm @ F/1.4

A technological experience.

 

Virgil is the greatest man to ever walk the face of this Earth. Come, see his home.

 

leftbirmingham.blogspot.com/

My entry for CCCVII Technological Advance...a PF motorized windmill with house...the pictures coming soon!