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From Jonathan Kaiman, John Lee and Andrea Chang, Los Angeles Times
January 14, 2012:
Reporting from Beijing and Los Angeles— Apple Inc. halted sales of the iPhone 4S at its retail stores in mainland China after a massive crowd waiting outside its Beijing flagship turned unruly, pelting the windows with eggs, hitting a mall employee and refusing police orders to leave.
It was the first day of sales in China for Apple's latest smartphone, and throngs of hopeful shoppers — many of them migrant workers who had been hired by scalpers to purchase the phones for later sale on the gray market — had waited overnight in freezing temperatures.
The size of the crowd, estimated to be about 2,000 people, alarmed police officials, who asked Apple not to open the store as planned Friday morning out of safety concerns.
"To ensure the safety of our customers and employees, iPhone will not be available in our retail stores in Beijing and Shanghai for the time being," Apple said in a statement.
The incident underscored the immense popularity of the Apple brand in China, which has one of the world's fastest-growing markets for mobile phones and personal computers. Less than a year ago, fights broke out and a glass door was shattered at the same Beijing store when the iPad 2 was released.
Apple's four other official stores in mainland China — one other in Beijing and three in Shanghai — did open as scheduled and quickly sold out of all iPhone 4S models, the company said. The phone is still available through the Apple website, service provider China Unicom and other authorized resellers.
People started converging Thursday outside the Apple store in one of Beijing's most popular high-end malls in the city's Sanlitun district. Some brought sleeping bags and said they were willing to pay $790 to $1,070 for the device. Tensions grew overnight and through the early morning as prospective buyers angled for positions near the front door and fights broke out between bands of migrant workers.
"Ninety percent of the people here are scalpers," said a man surnamed Jin, who said friends recruited him to stand in line.
Just before the store was set to open, a guard announced through a megaphone that the coveted phone would not be sold. A brief moment of disbelieving silence was then broken by loud expletives and shouts of "Apple lied to us!" and "Open the door!"
Soon afterward, a man arrived with a bag of eggs, which he began handing out to the crowd. A space cleared, and moments later, gooey yolk dripped down the store's glass facade.
When the mall's property manager tried to intervene, a gang of men chased after him.
"I'm not an Apple employee, I'm a mall manager!" he shouted while trying to block punches and kicks.
Last week, when Apple announced that it would be releasing the iPhone 4S in China, Chief Executive Tim Cook said that "customer response to our products in China has been off the charts."
The Cupertino, Calif., company said in October that sales in China rose to $13 billion, from $3 billion, for the fiscal year ended Sept. 24. Apple's five official stores in China generate more revenue on average than any other Apple stores in the world, the company said last year.
For many upwardly mobile urbanites, Apple is a must-have device. In June, a 17-year-old high school student reportedly sold a kidney to buy an iPad 2. And, in September, a 16-year-old girl was killed in a fight with her mother over the right to buy an Apple computer.
Bill Bishop, a Beijing-based technology consultant, said the mobs were a result of Apple delaying products and limiting supplies to create a frenzy of demand.
"It's a conscious marketing strategy by Apple, and it's going to cause a problem because things are ridiculously out of control," he said. "Nobody can be happy with Apple today in Beijing."
Because the stores limit customers' purchases, scalpers organize large groups to swarm product releases, hoping to resell the products at a cut above retail. Even when a major release is not impending, flocks of men hawking iPhones and iPads have become a regular sight outside China's authorized Apple retailers.
Buyers were reportedly recruited to line up at a Shanghai store Friday as well, with promises of a free breakfast and $15.
One member of the Beijing crowd Friday, a film extra, said he was offered about $20 to wait overnight for the phone. He said scalpers picked up hundreds like him in buses outside film studios where extras commonly work.
"After Apple said they were not selling the iPhones today, no organizers paid their temporary workers," said the man, who declined to give his name.
Another man wearing a puffy red jacket said he had organized 500 buyers to wait overnight for the release. That was more than a rival group, he said.
"They have a lot of people, but we have more," said the man, who also declined to give his name. "They will be overwhelmed."
He never got his chance. By 9 a.m., two hours after the store was supposed to open, police had managed to disperse the crowd and clear the square, in some cases lifting shoppers by their arms and legs and carrying them away from the store.
A 60-year-old woman who gave only her surname, Chen, said Friday's melee ruined her plans to give her son the latest iPhone for his birthday.
"There are so many people, and it's so cold, and now they say they won't sell us the phone," she said. "This is just so, so wrong."
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Cluny Museum - Temporary Exhibition: Glass, an inventive Middle Ages
From September 20, 2017 to January 8, 2018.
The glass is, in the Middle Ages, the object of a real fascination. The exhibition traces ten centuries of an unknown creative abundance.
If they draw their inspiration from Antiquity or Islamic productions, master glassmakers also develop virtuosic techniques, such as Venetians, famous for enamelled goblets or craftsmen in the north of France, who develop the first glasses to rod.
From architecture, where the stained glass testifies to the virtuosity of craftsmen, to the most prestigious tables, glass is a luxury product. Over the centuries, it gradually democratizes in the form of civilian glazing or tavern cups.
But glass is also the precision work of service: urinals enable physicians to diagnose, stills used by apothecaries, mirrors that help reading - just like the glasses, which make their appearance in the late 13 th century .
The exhibition "The Glass, an inventive Middle Ages" features some 230 works with illuminations, paintings and engravings, which help us understand the uses of glass throughout the medieval period.
www.musee-moyenage.fr/activites/expositions/expositions-e...
London Sovereign VH14 (BT13YWN) is seen on route 183 at Pinner. This is a temporary allocation as almost half of the 183's Scanias have moved temporarily to GOBLIN replacement service J
"All these toys were never intended to possess my heart.
My true good is in another world, and my only real treasure is
Christ."
-- C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain
SET 7 – Oxford Kroger, 2020 Remodel/Expansion
This next shot was taken from more or less the same angle as the previous one, but several steps back – and wow, do those steps make a huge difference as to what else gets included in the scene! Now, in addition to a lot of that stuff from before, we also get to see – way off in the background on the right-hand side – what remains of the dairy department, halfway hidden behind its tarp. And more interestingly, in the foreground, we see the makeshift new home of the health and beauty department, occupying the former space of natural foods. It ain’t pretty, especially with that extra bit of shelving placed in front of the existing gondolas unnaturally extending the length of the aisle, but it gets the job done! Note also how this temporary department was very much bare-bones in terms of presentation; there are no endcaps nor are there shelves/HABA décor pieces at the very top of the fixtures, as one would typically see.
(c) 2022 Retail Retell
These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)
While the Bible, liturgy and reading of the Fathers are essential for the monastic life of contemplation, Merton tells us they are meant to bring us to “encounter the life-giving and creative Spirit who, in full continuity with the ‘old,’ is able to ‘make all things new’ and indeed to fuse the old and the new in an original and entirely creative unity” (113). Whether one is a monk, a lay member of the Church or a seeker responding to Merton’s ever-broadening ecumenical outreach, he would have us open up to an ever-new and more living sense of the life of the Spirit in our world today. This invitation is as challenging now as it ever was.
-Cistercian Fathers and Forefathers Essays and Conferences by Thomas Merton Edited with an Introduction by Patrick F. O’Connell Foreword by Michael Casagram, OCSO
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Flu and shingles vaccine not recommended on the same day....
-rc
My girl Pheebs...I hate this wig...HATE IT, but, here she is. The CAT got ahold of her mohair wig today, so I'm trying to do some damage control with it...until then, she's stuck with this.
1/6 Hot Toys Collection
-The Dark Knight Armory
-Black Widow [Iron Man 2]
-Mark 20 Python
-Silver Centurion
-The Joker [Bank Robber 2.0]
-Batman [Batsuit Begins Asia Toy Fair]
-Two-Face
-The Joker DX11
-Batman DX12
-Tony Stark [Mark 42 Propulsion Armor Testing Version]
-Mark 42
-Ada Wong
-Black Widow [The Avengers]
-Black Widow [The Winter Soldier]
-Bane
-Selina Kyle
-Mark 7
-War Machine [MILK Version]
Well we got another dump of snow!!! The dogs and I enjoy it...Penny not so much, but Rocket loves it!!! Sams out of town shoveling a cabin out of the snow up in the mountains. Pictures are coming! :)
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 124a.
Polish film actress Pola Negri (1897-1987) achieved fame and notoriety as a femme fatale in German and American silent films between the 1910s and 1930s. Negri was an overnight sensation in Ernst Lubitsch' Madame du Barry/Passion (1919). She moved to Hollywood where she lived in a palace, modeled after the White House.
Pola Negri was born Barbara Apolonia Chałupiec in Lipno (some sources say Janowa), Russian Empire (present-day Poland), in 1897. Her father, Juraj Chałupiec, was a Slovak immigrant tinsmith. Her mother had to make a living alone after her father, was arrested by the Russians and sent to a Siberian prison camp, where he died. In 1902, mother and her only daughter moved to Warsaw, where they lived in poverty. As a teenager, Pola auditioned for the St. Petersburg Imperial Ballet. She was accepted. As a ballerina, she showed great promise until she contracted tuberculosis and was forced to cut short her dance career. She switched to the Warsaw Imperial Academy of Dramatic Arts and became an actress. Her triumphant debut as Hedwig in Henrik Ibsen's The Wild Duck brought her to the attention of the prestigious and daring Little Theatre of Philharmonic Hall. After a brief stay, Pola moved on to The Rozmaitosci, the national theatre of Poland. By now, Pola had become a popular and well-known actress in Warsaw, but the outbreak of World War I interrupted her rise and left her and her mother in dire financial straits. By the time the war receded, Pola had signed with the Polish film company Sphinx and debuted as a dancer in Niewolnica zmyslów/Slave of the Senses (Ryszard Ordynski, Jan Pawlowski, 1914). She appeared in a variety of films, including Żona/The Wife (Aleksander Hertz, 1915), Bestia/Beast (Aleksander Hertz, 1915), and Studenci/Students (Aleksander Hertz, 1916). During that time, she adopted the pseudonym ‘Pola Negri’, after the Italian poetess Ada Negri. As the situation in Warsaw stabilised, the city's theatres soon became active again, and Pola gained the chance of a lifetime. David Ordynski, a Polish director currently working with Max Reinhardt at his Deutsches Theater in Berlin, returned to Warsaw to stage the Polish premiere of Reinhardt's 'Sumurun'. This is the story of a mulatto dancer bought in the slave market for the Sheik but is loved by his son. She kills the Sheik in self-defense. Pola's success in the role of the slave girl took her to Berlin.
In Berlin, Pola Negri found considerable success at the Deutsches Theater. She met German fellow actor-turned-director Ernst Lubitsch, who became famous for the ‘Lubitsch Touch’, the skillful blending of sly wit and innuendo that confounded even the strictest censor in the 1920s. Lubitsch introduced Pola to Paul Davidson, head of Germany's Union Film Alliance, and together they made such films as Die Augen der Mumie Ma/The Eyes of Mummy Ma (Ernst Lubitsch, 1918), Carmen/Gypsy Blood (Ernst Lubitsch, 1918) based on the Bizet opera, a film version of Sumurun/One Arabian Night (Ernst Lubitsch, 1920), and Die Bergkatze/The Wildcat (Ernst Lubitsch, 1921). The characters that Pola played were strong, earthy, passionate women - full of fire, and her roles to date were of women whose will and ardor were equal to Negri's own. While Pola also hit it big in such non-Lubitsch films as Arme Violetta/Camille (Paul L. Stein, 1920) and Sappho (Dimitri Buchowetzki, 1921), it was their pairing in the smash hit Madame du Barry/Passion (Ernst Lubitsch, 1919) that made them an overnight sensation. It was such a success in the USA that by 1922, Negri and Lubitsch both signed contracts with Famous Players and headed for Hollywood.
In 1923 Pola Negri landed the role of Maritana in The Spanish Dancer (Herbert Brenon, 1923) with Antonio Moreno and Wallace Beery. Her exotic style of glamour proved popular with filmgoers. They equally liked her next productions, Bella Donna (George Fitzmaurice, 1923) and The Cheat (George Fitzmaurice, 1923). Her vamp roles were so popular that she became a direct rival of Theda Bara. Negri lived in a palace in Los Angeles, modelled after the White House. Forbidden Paradise (Ernst Lubitsch, 1924) with Adolphe Menjou and Hotel Imperial (Mauritz Stiller, 1927) were two of her most successful films. However, her vamp style began to go out of vogue and her popularity quickly began to fade. Three things conspired to end her career in Hollywood. The display that she put on at the funeral of Rudolph Valentino in 1926, changed the public mood towards her. The Hays Office codes would not allow filming the 'scenes of passion' and 'excessive and lustful kissing' that made her a sex-siren European star. And finally, her thick accent would not play in the sound pictures that were coming into vogue. In 1928, Negri made her last film for Paramount Pictures entitled The Woman from Moscow (Ludwig Berger, 1928), opposite actor Norman Kerry. The film was only Negri's second talkie (the first being Loves of an Actress (Rowland V. Lee, 1928) opposite Nils Asther, and Paramount didn’t renew her contract. Having divorced Eugeniusz Dąbski in 1921, Negri married the self-claimed Georgian prince Serge Mdivani in 1927. In 1929, Negri lost most of her fortune in the Wall Street Crash. The couple divorced, and she left Hollywood for Great Britain to make the drama The Way of Lost Souls/The Woman He Scorned (Paul Czinner, 1929).
After 1930 Pola Negri worked mainly in England and Germany, where she acted in films for the Joseph Goebbels-controlled Ufa. Mazurka (Willi Forst, 1935) gained much popularity in Germany and became one of Adolf Hitler's favorite films. She fled Germany in 1938 after Nazi officials labeled her as having "part Jewish" ancestry. She moved to France, and then in 1941 she sailed from Portugal to New York and was temporarily detained at Ellis Island. After her release, she eventually returned to Hollywood. She briefly appeared in Hi Diddle Diddle (Andrew L. Stone, 1943), though her career was essentially over. In 1951, Negri became a naturalised citizen of the United States. Her final film appearance was in the Walt Disney film The Moon-Spinners (James Neilson, 1964), with Hayley Mills. The same year she received an honorary award from the German film industry for her career. Negri lived her remaining years in San Antonio, Texas, with her companion, Texan heiress, and composer, Margaret West. In 1970 she published her autobiography 'Memoirs of a Star' (1970). Negri maintained her flamboyant persona to the end of her life and was often compared to the character role she once had turned down: Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard. Pola Negri died in 1987, in San Antonio, USA, at the age of 90. Her death was caused by pneumonia, however, she was also suffering from a brain tumor (for which she had refused treatment).
Sources: Glen Pringle and Kally Mavromatis (Silent Star of April), Tony Fontana (IMDb), Denny Jackson (IMDb), David Gasten (Pola Negri Appreciation Site), Wikipedia and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
Cairngorms National Park is a national park in northeast Scotland, established in 2003. It was the second of two national parks established by the Scottish Parliament, after Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park, which was set up in 2002. The park covers the Cairngorms range of mountains, and surrounding hills. Already the largest national park in the United Kingdom, in 2010 it was expanded into Perth and Kinross.
Roughly 18,000 people reside within the 4,528 square kilometre national park. The largest communities are Aviemore, Ballater, Braemar, Grantown-on-Spey, Kingussie, Newtonmore, and Tomintoul. Tourism makes up about 80% of the economy. In 2018, 1.9 million tourism visits were recorded. The majority of visitors are domestic, with 25 per cent coming from elsewhere in the UK, and 21 per cent being from other countries.
The Cairngorms National Park covers an area of 4,528 km2 (1,748 sq mi) in the council areas of Aberdeenshire, Moray, Highland, Angus and Perth and Kinross. The mountain range of the Cairngorms lies at the heart of the national park, but forms only one part of it, alongside other hill ranges such as the Angus Glens and the Monadhliath, and lower areas like Strathspey and upper Deeside. Three major rivers rise in the park: the Spey, the Dee, and the Don. The Spey, which is the second longest river in Scotland, rises in the Monadhliath, whilst the Dee and the Don both rise in the Cairngorms themselves.
The Cairngorms themselves are a spectacular landscape, similar in appearance to the Hardangervidda National Park of Norway in having a large area of upland plateau.[citation needed] The range consists of three main plateaux at about 1000–1200 m above sea level, above which domed summits (the eroded stumps of once much higher mountains)[8] rise to around 1300 m. Many of the summits have tors, free-standing rock outcrops that stand on top of the boulder-strewn landscape.[9] The edges of the plateaux are in places steep cliffs of granite and they are excellent for skiing, rock climbing and ice climbing. The Cairngorms form an arctic-alpine mountain environment, with tundra-like characteristics and long-lasting snow patches.
The Monadhliath mountains lie to the north of Strathspey, and comprise a bleak, wide plateau rising to between 700 and 950 m.
Two major transport routes run through the park, with both the A9 road and the Highland Main Line crossing over the Pass of Drumochter and running along Strathspey, providing links between the western and northern parts of the park and the cities of Perth and Inverness. The Highland Main Line is the only mainline rail route through the park, however there are several other major roads, including the A86, which links Strathspey to Fort William, and the A93, which links the Deeside area of the park to both Perth and Aberdeen.
The idea that parts of Scotland of wild or remote character should be designated to protect the environment and encourage public access grew in popularity throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In 1931 a commission headed by Christopher Addison proposed the creation of a national park in the Cairngorms, alongside proposals for parks in England and Wales. Following the Second World War ten national parks were established in England and Wales, and a committee was established to consider the issue of national parks in Scotland. The report, published in 1945, proposed national parks in five areas, one of which was the Cairngorms. The government designated these five areas as "National Park Direction Areas", giving powers for planning decisions taken by local authorities to be reviewed by central government, however the areas were not given full national park status. In 1981 the direction areas were replaced by national scenic areas, of which there are now 40. In 1990 the Countryside Commission for Scotland (CCS) produced a report into protection of the landscape of Scotland, which recommended that four areas were under such pressure that they ought to be designated as national parks, each with an independent planning board, in order to retain their heritage value. The four areas identified were similar to those proposed in 1945, and thus again included the Cairngorms.
Despite this long history of recommendations that national parks be established in Scotland, no action was taken until the establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999. The two current parks were designated as such under the National Parks (Scotland) Act 2000, which was one of the first pieces of legislation to be passed by the Parliament. Before the national park was established in 2003, Scottish Natural Heritage conducted a consultation exercise, considering the boundary and the powers and structure of the new park authority.
Following the establishment of the park many groups and local communities felt that a large area of highland Perth and Kinross should form part of the park and carried out a sustained campaign. On 13 March 2008 Michael Russell announced that the national park would be extended to take in Blair Atholl and Spittal of Glenshee, and the park was duly extended on 4 October 2010.
In 2015, 53 km (33 mi) of the 132 kV power line in the middle of the park was taken down, while another section along the edge of the park was upgraded to 400 kV.
Tourism accounts for much of the economy and 43% of employment within the park area. In 2018, 1.9 million tourism visits were recorded. The park's mandate is sustainable tourism "that builds on, conserves and enhances [its] special qualities". The Cairngorms Business Partnership includes 350 private sector member businesses. In early 2017, the park was voted by Hundredrooms as one of the top seven eco-tourism destinations in Europe and discussed as a "mecca for outdoor enthusiasts". The Visit Scotland web site discusses the amenities and indicates that this park "has more mountains, forest paths, rivers, lochs, wildlife hotspots, friendly villages and distilleries than you can possibly imagine".
The park is popular for activities such as walking, cycling, mountain biking, climbing and canoeing: for hillwalkers there are 55 Munros (mountains above 3,000 feet (910 m) in height) in the park.[6] Two of Scotland's Great Trails pass through the park: the Speyside Way and the Cateran Trail.
A skiing and winter sports industry is concentrated in the Cairngoms, with three of Scotland's five resorts situated here. They are the Cairn Gorm Ski Centre, Glenshee Ski Centre and The Lecht Ski Centre. There was controversy surrounding the construction of the Cairngorm Mountain Railway at the Cairn Gorm Ski Centre, a scheme supported by the national park authority. Supporters of the scheme claimed that it would bring in valuable tourist income, whilst opponents argued that such a development was unsuitable for a protected area. To reduce erosion, the railway operates a "closed scheme" and only allows skiers (in season) out of the upper Ptarmigan station: other visitors may not access the mountain from the railway unless on a guided walk.
The Cairngorm Mountain Railway funicular was closed in October 2018 "due to health and safety concerns", or "structural problems" according to reports in summer 2019. At the time, an investigation was still underway to determine whether modifications would be "achievable and affordable". (The same situation was reported in December 2019.) This railway first opened in 2001 and connects the base station with a restaurant on Cairn Gorm mountain.
Aviemore is a busy and popular holiday destination, located close to Glenmore Forest Park and the Cairn Gorm Ski Centre. The Strathspey Railway is preserved railway running steam and heritage diesel services between Aviemore railway station and Broomhill via Boat of Garten, along part of the former Highland Railway.
The Highland Wildlife Park also lies within the national park, and the Frank Bruce Sculpture Trail is located near Feshiebridge. This short trail through the woods features a sculptures created by Frank Bruce between 1965 and 2009.
In addition to the Cairngorm Brewery, six distilleries are located within the Park area: Dalwhinnie distillery, The Glenlivet distillery, Tomintoul distillery, Royal Lochnagar distillery, Balmenach distillery and The Speyside distillery. Royal Lochnagar, Dalwhinnie, Cairngorm Brewery and Glenlivet are set up to receive visitors on a regular basis. Tomintoul, Balmenach and Speyside can be visited but require an appointment made in advance.
The Highlands is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands. The term is also used for the area north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, although the exact boundaries are not clearly defined, particularly to the east. The Great Glen divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands. The Scottish Gaelic name of A' Ghàidhealtachd literally means "the place of the Gaels" and traditionally, from a Gaelic-speaking point of view, includes both the Western Isles and the Highlands.
The area is very sparsely populated, with many mountain ranges dominating the region, and includes the highest mountain in the British Isles, Ben Nevis. During the 18th and early 19th centuries the population of the Highlands rose to around 300,000, but from c. 1841 and for the next 160 years, the natural increase in population was exceeded by emigration (mostly to Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and migration to the industrial cities of Scotland and England.) and passim The area is now one of the most sparsely populated in Europe. At 9.1/km2 (24/sq mi) in 2012, the population density in the Highlands and Islands is less than one seventh of Scotland's as a whole.
The Highland Council is the administrative body for much of the Highlands, with its administrative centre at Inverness. However, the Highlands also includes parts of the council areas of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Moray, North Ayrshire, Perth and Kinross, Stirling and West Dunbartonshire.
The Scottish Highlands is the only area in the British Isles to have the taiga biome as it features concentrated populations of Scots pine forest: see Caledonian Forest. It is the most mountainous part of the United Kingdom.
Between the 15th century and the mid-20th century, the area differed from most of the Lowlands in terms of language. In Scottish Gaelic, the region is known as the Gàidhealtachd, because it was traditionally the Gaelic-speaking part of Scotland, although the language is now largely confined to The Hebrides. The terms are sometimes used interchangeably but have different meanings in their respective languages. Scottish English (in its Highland form) is the predominant language of the area today, though Highland English has been influenced by Gaelic speech to a significant extent. Historically, the "Highland line" distinguished the two Scottish cultures. While the Highland line broadly followed the geography of the Grampians in the south, it continued in the north, cutting off the north-eastern areas, that is Eastern Caithness, Orkney and Shetland, from the more Gaelic Highlands and Hebrides.
Historically, the major social unit of the Highlands was the clan. Scottish kings, particularly James VI, saw clans as a challenge to their authority; the Highlands was seen by many as a lawless region. The Scots of the Lowlands viewed the Highlanders as backward and more "Irish". The Highlands were seen as the overspill of Gaelic Ireland. They made this distinction by separating Germanic "Scots" English and the Gaelic by renaming it "Erse" a play on Eire. Following the Union of the Crowns, James VI had the military strength to back up any attempts to impose some control. The result was, in 1609, the Statutes of Iona which started the process of integrating clan leaders into Scottish society. The gradual changes continued into the 19th century, as clan chiefs thought of themselves less as patriarchal leaders of their people and more as commercial landlords. The first effect on the clansmen who were their tenants was the change to rents being payable in money rather than in kind. Later, rents were increased as Highland landowners sought to increase their income. This was followed, mostly in the period 1760–1850, by agricultural improvement that often (particularly in the Western Highlands) involved clearance of the population to make way for large scale sheep farms. Displaced tenants were set up in crofting communities in the process. The crofts were intended not to provide all the needs of their occupiers; they were expected to work in other industries such as kelping and fishing. Crofters came to rely substantially on seasonal migrant work, particularly in the Lowlands. This gave impetus to the learning of English, which was seen by many rural Gaelic speakers to be the essential "language of work".
Older historiography attributes the collapse of the clan system to the aftermath of the Jacobite risings. This is now thought less influential by historians. Following the Jacobite rising of 1745 the British government enacted a series of laws to try to suppress the clan system, including bans on the bearing of arms and the wearing of tartan, and limitations on the activities of the Scottish Episcopal Church. Most of this legislation was repealed by the end of the 18th century as the Jacobite threat subsided. There was soon a rehabilitation of Highland culture. Tartan was adopted for Highland regiments in the British Army, which poor Highlanders joined in large numbers in the era of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1790–1815). Tartan had largely been abandoned by the ordinary people of the region, but in the 1820s, tartan and the kilt were adopted by members of the social elite, not just in Scotland, but across Europe. The international craze for tartan, and for idealising a romanticised Highlands, was set off by the Ossian cycle, and further popularised by the works of Walter Scott. His "staging" of the visit of King George IV to Scotland in 1822 and the king's wearing of tartan resulted in a massive upsurge in demand for kilts and tartans that could not be met by the Scottish woollen industry. Individual clan tartans were largely designated in this period and they became a major symbol of Scottish identity. This "Highlandism", by which all of Scotland was identified with the culture of the Highlands, was cemented by Queen Victoria's interest in the country, her adoption of Balmoral as a major royal retreat, and her interest in "tartenry".
Recurrent famine affected the Highlands for much of its history, with significant instances as late as 1817 in the Eastern Highlands and the early 1850s in the West. Over the 18th century, the region had developed a trade of black cattle into Lowland markets, and this was balanced by imports of meal into the area. There was a critical reliance on this trade to provide sufficient food, and it is seen as an essential prerequisite for the population growth that started in the 18th century. Most of the Highlands, particularly in the North and West was short of the arable land that was essential for the mixed, run rig based, communal farming that existed before agricultural improvement was introduced into the region.[a] Between the 1760s and the 1830s there was a substantial trade in unlicensed whisky that had been distilled in the Highlands. Lowland distillers (who were not able to avoid the heavy taxation of this product) complained that Highland whisky made up more than half the market. The development of the cattle trade is taken as evidence that the pre-improvement Highlands was not an immutable system, but did exploit the economic opportunities that came its way. The illicit whisky trade demonstrates the entrepreneurial ability of the peasant classes.
Agricultural improvement reached the Highlands mostly over the period 1760 to 1850. Agricultural advisors, factors, land surveyors and others educated in the thinking of Adam Smith were keen to put into practice the new ideas taught in Scottish universities. Highland landowners, many of whom were burdened with chronic debts, were generally receptive to the advice they offered and keen to increase the income from their land. In the East and South the resulting change was similar to that in the Lowlands, with the creation of larger farms with single tenants, enclosure of the old run rig fields, introduction of new crops (such as turnips), land drainage and, as a consequence of all this, eviction, as part of the Highland clearances, of many tenants and cottars. Some of those cleared found employment on the new, larger farms, others moved to the accessible towns of the Lowlands.
In the West and North, evicted tenants were usually given tenancies in newly created crofting communities, while their former holdings were converted into large sheep farms. Sheep farmers could pay substantially higher rents than the run rig farmers and were much less prone to falling into arrears. Each croft was limited in size so that the tenants would have to find work elsewhere. The major alternatives were fishing and the kelp industry. Landlords took control of the kelp shores, deducting the wages earned by their tenants from the rent due and retaining the large profits that could be earned at the high prices paid for the processed product during the Napoleonic wars.
When the Napoleonic wars finished in 1815, the Highland industries were affected by the return to a peacetime economy. The price of black cattle fell, nearly halving between 1810 and the 1830s. Kelp prices had peaked in 1810, but reduced from £9 a ton in 1823 to £3 13s 4d a ton in 1828. Wool prices were also badly affected. This worsened the financial problems of debt-encumbered landlords. Then, in 1846, potato blight arrived in the Highlands, wiping out the essential subsistence crop for the overcrowded crofting communities. As the famine struck, the government made clear to landlords that it was their responsibility to provide famine relief for their tenants. The result of the economic downturn had been that a large proportion of Highland estates were sold in the first half of the 19th century. T M Devine points out that in the region most affected by the potato famine, by 1846, 70 per cent of the landowners were new purchasers who had not owned Highland property before 1800. More landlords were obliged to sell due to the cost of famine relief. Those who were protected from the worst of the crisis were those with extensive rental income from sheep farms. Government loans were made available for drainage works, road building and other improvements and many crofters became temporary migrants – taking work in the Lowlands. When the potato famine ceased in 1856, this established a pattern of more extensive working away from the Highlands.
The unequal concentration of land ownership remained an emotional and controversial subject, of enormous importance to the Highland economy, and eventually became a cornerstone of liberal radicalism. The poor crofters were politically powerless, and many of them turned to religion. They embraced the popularly oriented, fervently evangelical Presbyterian revival after 1800. Most joined the breakaway "Free Church" after 1843. This evangelical movement was led by lay preachers who themselves came from the lower strata, and whose preaching was implicitly critical of the established order. The religious change energised the crofters and separated them from the landlords; it helped prepare them for their successful and violent challenge to the landlords in the 1880s through the Highland Land League. Violence erupted, starting on the Isle of Skye, when Highland landlords cleared their lands for sheep and deer parks. It was quietened when the government stepped in, passing the Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act, 1886 to reduce rents, guarantee fixity of tenure, and break up large estates to provide crofts for the homeless. This contrasted with the Irish Land War underway at the same time, where the Irish were intensely politicised through roots in Irish nationalism, while political dimensions were limited. In 1885 three Independent Crofter candidates were elected to Parliament, which listened to their pleas. The results included explicit security for the Scottish smallholders in the "crofting counties"; the legal right to bequeath tenancies to descendants; and the creation of a Crofting Commission. The Crofters as a political movement faded away by 1892, and the Liberal Party gained their votes.
Today, the Highlands are the largest of Scotland's whisky producing regions; the relevant area runs from Orkney to the Isle of Arran in the south and includes the northern isles and much of Inner and Outer Hebrides, Argyll, Stirlingshire, Arran, as well as sections of Perthshire and Aberdeenshire. (Other sources treat The Islands, except Islay, as a separate whisky producing region.) This massive area has over 30 distilleries, or 47 when the Islands sub-region is included in the count. According to one source, the top five are The Macallan, Glenfiddich, Aberlour, Glenfarclas and Balvenie. While Speyside is geographically within the Highlands, that region is specified as distinct in terms of whisky productions. Speyside single malt whiskies are produced by about 50 distilleries.
According to Visit Scotland, Highlands whisky is "fruity, sweet, spicy, malty". Another review states that Northern Highlands single malt is "sweet and full-bodied", the Eastern Highlands and Southern Highlands whiskies tend to be "lighter in texture" while the distilleries in the Western Highlands produce single malts with a "much peatier influence".
The Scottish Reformation achieved partial success in the Highlands. Roman Catholicism remained strong in some areas, owing to remote locations and the efforts of Franciscan missionaries from Ireland, who regularly came to celebrate Mass. There remain significant Catholic strongholds within the Highlands and Islands such as Moidart and Morar on the mainland and South Uist and Barra in the southern Outer Hebrides. The remoteness of the region and the lack of a Gaelic-speaking clergy undermined the missionary efforts of the established church. The later 18th century saw somewhat greater success, owing to the efforts of the SSPCK missionaries and to the disruption of traditional society after the Battle of Culloden in 1746. In the 19th century, the evangelical Free Churches, which were more accepting of Gaelic language and culture, grew rapidly, appealing much more strongly than did the established church.
For the most part, however, the Highlands are considered predominantly Protestant, belonging to the Church of Scotland. In contrast to the Catholic southern islands, the northern Outer Hebrides islands (Lewis, Harris and North Uist) have an exceptionally high proportion of their population belonging to the Protestant Free Church of Scotland or the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. The Outer Hebrides have been described as the last bastion of Calvinism in Britain and the Sabbath remains widely observed. Inverness and the surrounding area has a majority Protestant population, with most locals belonging to either The Kirk or the Free Church of Scotland. The church maintains a noticeable presence within the area, with church attendance notably higher than in other parts of Scotland. Religion continues to play an important role in Highland culture, with Sabbath observance still widely practised, particularly in the Hebrides.
In traditional Scottish geography, the Highlands refers to that part of Scotland north-west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which crosses mainland Scotland in a near-straight line from Helensburgh to Stonehaven. However the flat coastal lands that occupy parts of the counties of Nairnshire, Morayshire, Banffshire and Aberdeenshire are often excluded as they do not share the distinctive geographical and cultural features of the rest of the Highlands. The north-east of Caithness, as well as Orkney and Shetland, are also often excluded from the Highlands, although the Hebrides are usually included. The Highland area, as so defined, differed from the Lowlands in language and tradition, having preserved Gaelic speech and customs centuries after the anglicisation of the latter; this led to a growing perception of a divide, with the cultural distinction between Highlander and Lowlander first noted towards the end of the 14th century. In Aberdeenshire, the boundary between the Highlands and the Lowlands is not well defined. There is a stone beside the A93 road near the village of Dinnet on Royal Deeside which states 'You are now in the Highlands', although there are areas of Highland character to the east of this point.
A much wider definition of the Highlands is that used by the Scotch whisky industry. Highland single malts are produced at distilleries north of an imaginary line between Dundee and Greenock, thus including all of Aberdeenshire and Angus.
Inverness is regarded as the Capital of the Highlands, although less so in the Highland parts of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Perthshire and Stirlingshire which look more to Aberdeen, Dundee, Perth, and Stirling as their commercial centres.
The Highland Council area, created as one of the local government regions of Scotland, has been a unitary council area since 1996. The council area excludes a large area of the southern and eastern Highlands, and the Western Isles, but includes Caithness. Highlands is sometimes used, however, as a name for the council area, as in the former Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern is also used to refer to the area, as in the former Northern Constabulary. These former bodies both covered the Highland council area and the island council areas of Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles.
Much of the Highlands area overlaps the Highlands and Islands area. An electoral region called Highlands and Islands is used in elections to the Scottish Parliament: this area includes Orkney and Shetland, as well as the Highland Council local government area, the Western Isles and most of the Argyll and Bute and Moray local government areas. Highlands and Islands has, however, different meanings in different contexts. It means Highland (the local government area), Orkney, Shetland, and the Western Isles in Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern, as in Northern Constabulary, refers to the same area as that covered by the fire and rescue service.
There have been trackways from the Lowlands to the Highlands since prehistoric times. Many traverse the Mounth, a spur of mountainous land that extends from the higher inland range to the North Sea slightly north of Stonehaven. The most well-known and historically important trackways are the Causey Mounth, Elsick Mounth, Cryne Corse Mounth and Cairnamounth.
Although most of the Highlands is geographically on the British mainland, it is somewhat less accessible than the rest of Britain; thus most UK couriers categorise it separately, alongside Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and other offshore islands. They thus charge additional fees for delivery to the Highlands, or exclude the area entirely. While the physical remoteness from the largest population centres inevitably leads to higher transit cost, there is confusion and consternation over the scale of the fees charged and the effectiveness of their communication, and the use of the word Mainland in their justification. Since the charges are often based on postcode areas, many far less remote areas, including some which are traditionally considered part of the lowlands, are also subject to these charges. Royal Mail is the only delivery network bound by a Universal Service Obligation to charge a uniform tariff across the UK. This, however, applies only to mail items and not larger packages which are dealt with by its Parcelforce division.
The Highlands lie to the north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which runs from Arran to Stonehaven. This part of Scotland is largely composed of ancient rocks from the Cambrian and Precambrian periods which were uplifted during the later Caledonian Orogeny. Smaller formations of Lewisian gneiss in the northwest are up to 3 billion years old. The overlying rocks of the Torridon Sandstone form mountains in the Torridon Hills such as Liathach and Beinn Eighe in Wester Ross.
These foundations are interspersed with many igneous intrusions of a more recent age, the remnants of which have formed mountain massifs such as the Cairngorms and the Cuillin of Skye. A significant exception to the above are the fossil-bearing beds of Old Red Sandstone found principally along the Moray Firth coast and partially down the Highland Boundary Fault. The Jurassic beds found in isolated locations on Skye and Applecross reflect the complex underlying geology. They are the original source of much North Sea oil. The Great Glen is formed along a transform fault which divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands.
The entire region was covered by ice sheets during the Pleistocene ice ages, save perhaps for a few nunataks. The complex geomorphology includes incised valleys and lochs carved by the action of mountain streams and ice, and a topography of irregularly distributed mountains whose summits have similar heights above sea-level, but whose bases depend upon the amount of denudation to which the plateau has been subjected in various places.
Climate
The region is much warmer than other areas at similar latitudes (such as Kamchatka in Russia, or Labrador in Canada) because of the Gulf Stream making it cool, damp and temperate. The Köppen climate classification is "Cfb" at low altitudes, then becoming "Cfc", "Dfc" and "ET" at higher altitudes.
Places of interest
An Teallach
Aonach Mòr (Nevis Range ski centre)
Arrochar Alps
Balmoral Castle
Balquhidder
Battlefield of Culloden
Beinn Alligin
Beinn Eighe
Ben Cruachan hydro-electric power station
Ben Lomond
Ben Macdui (second highest mountain in Scotland and UK)
Ben Nevis (highest mountain in Scotland and UK)
Cairngorms National Park
Cairngorm Ski centre near Aviemore
Cairngorm Mountains
Caledonian Canal
Cape Wrath
Carrick Castle
Castle Stalker
Castle Tioram
Chanonry Point
Conic Hill
Culloden Moor
Dunadd
Duart Castle
Durness
Eilean Donan
Fingal's Cave (Staffa)
Fort George
Glen Coe
Glen Etive
Glen Kinglas
Glen Lyon
Glen Orchy
Glenshee Ski Centre
Glen Shiel
Glen Spean
Glenfinnan (and its railway station and viaduct)
Grampian Mountains
Hebrides
Highland Folk Museum – The first open-air museum in the UK.
Highland Wildlife Park
Inveraray Castle
Inveraray Jail
Inverness Castle
Inverewe Garden
Iona Abbey
Isle of Staffa
Kilchurn Castle
Kilmartin Glen
Liathach
Lecht Ski Centre
Loch Alsh
Loch Ard
Loch Awe
Loch Assynt
Loch Earn
Loch Etive
Loch Fyne
Loch Goil
Loch Katrine
Loch Leven
Loch Linnhe
Loch Lochy
Loch Lomond
Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park
Loch Lubnaig
Loch Maree
Loch Morar
Loch Morlich
Loch Ness
Loch Nevis
Loch Rannoch
Loch Tay
Lochranza
Luss
Meall a' Bhuiridh (Glencoe Ski Centre)
Scottish Sea Life Sanctuary at Loch Creran
Rannoch Moor
Red Cuillin
Rest and Be Thankful stretch of A83
River Carron, Wester Ross
River Spey
River Tay
Ross and Cromarty
Smoo Cave
Stob Coire a' Chàirn
Stac Polly
Strathspey Railway
Sutherland
Tor Castle
Torridon Hills
Urquhart Castle
West Highland Line (scenic railway)
West Highland Way (Long-distance footpath)
Wester Ross
With the sun trying hard to brighten up an otherwise dull afternoon, Sanders Coasthopper branded MCV Evora bodied Volvo B8RLE type number 524 - BV22 HBN “Norfolk Wanderer” is captured as it heads along Brush Hill between Wood Norton and the B1110 while working the above homeward bound journey on school day only contract service 104. This contract was previously operated by Bus & Us of Briston up until April 2021 and the route taken from Stibbard All Saints CEVA Primary School to Guist Post Office runs along three sides of an oblong by way of Fulmodeston, Barney, B1354 and B1110 which also includes the deviation to serve the centre of Wood Norton village.
In the background, behind the tree immediately to the right of 524 as we look, it is just possible to see Wood Norton church which is dedicated to All Saints.
Normally vehicle 524 would be allocated to Sanders North Walsham depot, for use on Coasthopper services CH1 & CH2, but it has temporarily been transferred to Holt depot and swapped with similar vehicle 521 - BV21 OOD. Thus the appearance of 524 at this location must be considered as something of a rarity.
A sizeable section of May Blvd. beyond Getwell was closed completely as of last weekend, and some lanes on Getwell near the bridge were closed off as well. Temporary traffic headaches for sure!
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Snowden Pedestrian Bridge, 2021-built, Getwell Rd. at May Blvd., Southaven MS
Hello! :) I have closed the sim so I can update my build and vendors! I will post an update when the sim is open again.
When First Cymru exchanged five Alexander Dennis Enviro200s (44502-6) with a similar number of Wright Eclipse Urban-bodied Volvo B7RLEs (69380-4) from the First Hampshire & Dorset fleet in October 2013, a sixth Volvo (69385) arrived the following month. However, she was only to stay until January 2014, and her purpose was to allow the other five to be sent away for repainting into the attractive three-tone blue and gold 'interurban' livery.
In this November 2013 shot, she was operating for Swansea Ravenhill's Ammanford sub-depot on Service X13 (Llandeilo-Ammanford-Pontarddulais-Swansea) when setting down outside Swansea Railway Station, illustrating how her route branding had been covered over for her brief stay.
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"A strong man and a waterfall always channel their own path" - Unknown
I hiked the 5.5 mile round trip to Abrams Falls this morning. Usually a walk in the smokies clears my head and recharges my batteries but not on this day. I couldn't even wash my troubles away with the cool mist from the falls. I did realize that i am on the right path and that the situation is only temporary.
Finding strength at Abrams Falls
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
On our trip to Rio Piedra in Colombia. Whether at the beach or the river, I always like to make a little stone tower, balancing the rocks of different shapes and weights precariously on top of each other.
It won't last the hour, or the next strong breeze, but there's something satisfying about building something so temporary and fragile. Professional sand castle builders probably would relate.
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We bought this coach in White as repainted by the previous owner. It was bought about a year ago now and now wears these logos.
Hortusplantsoen 17/10/2023 13h06
Hortus Plantsoen with in the background the Nieuwe Herengracht (right) and Jonas Daniël Meijerplein at the left. On the foreground the Johan van Hulstbrug (bridge).
Plantagebuurt
Plantage is a neighbourhood of Amsterdam, Netherlands located in its Centrum borough. It is bordered by the Entrepotdok to the north, Plantage Muidergracht to the east and south and Nieuwe Herengracht to the west. In the centre of the neighbourhood lies the Natura Artis Magistra zoo. It had a population of 1,980 in 2017.
The area came within Amsterdam city limits after the completion of the fourth large urban expansion of 1663. Due to an economic crisis caused by the Rampjaar events, the city government could not find enough buyers for the land. Construction in the area, which was then called Plantagie or Plantaadje, stagnated as a result. Instead, pleasure gardens and orchards were built where Amsterdam's citizens could go and relax in green surroundings.
The plots of land in the neighbourhood were leased by the city for a period of 20 years (with the possibility of a 10-year extension). This was because the city council intended to sell the parcels later on; permanent buildings were therefore not allowed. Temporary buildings were tolerated. In 1682, Hortus Botanicus, one of the oldest botanical gardens in the world, opened its doors across from the Wertheimpark, currently the only public park in the Centrum district of Amsterdam.
[ various sources ]
Place: Katwijk
Last October, when I rode a bicycle to the beach in Katwijk, I came across this Mitsubishi/Hyundai dealer, where I noticed a bunch of classic Mitsubishis on the first floor. Last Thursday I finally went back to ask if I could take some photos, which was fine. Auto Dijksman started as a bicycle and moped dealer, and became a Ford dealer in 1965 and since 1974 a Mitsubishi dealer, which means it has been an official dealer for 45 years, which probably makes it one of the oldest Mitsubishi dealers in the Netherlands, since Mitsubishi started selling cars in 1975 here. I thought it was a nice opportunity to write a story about Mitsubishi in the Netherlands.
In 1975 Mitsubishi immediately grabbed 0.7% market share, thanks to 3,358 units sold. In 1976 sales more than doubled to 7,521 units (1.5% MS), and sales steadily grew over the years, from 13,350 units (2.4% MS) in 1977, 14,138 (2.4%) in 1978, and probably on its best in 1980, with no less than 4.8% MS (21,544 sales). In 1981 numbers slightly dropped to 18,282 units (4.7% MS), but it climbed further in the rankings, making Mitsubishi the seventh most popular carmaker. These were the heydays for Japanese carmakers in the Netherlands, when European carmakers Opel, Ford, Volkswagen, Renault and Citroën were directly followed by Toyota, Mitsubishi, Datsun, Mazda and Honda on the list, all grabbing over 4% market share.
In the early 1980s, Mitsubishi quickly dropped on the list, from 14,051 sales in 1982 (3.5% MS) steadily down to only 1.9% market share (8,202 sales) in 1994. When Mitsubishi launched the Carisma, co-developed with Volvo, and both produced in the Netherlands. It was successfully launched thanks to a campaign where you could win one of 80 Carismas, by hanging the Mitsubishi Carisma poster published in all national and regional newspapers clearly visible on your window (see also: youtu.be/obASF7G6AR4 ). Well, at some point you could see those posters all over the Netherlands. Market share of Mitsubishi revived to 2.9% in 1997 (13,669 sales).
It was followed by yet another Mitsubishi developed in Europe and produced in the Netherlands. However, the arrival of the Space Star couldn't compensate for the sales decline of the Carisma. Market share tumbled to only 1.4% (6,907 units) in 2003.
Two years after its launch in Japan, the new Japanese Mitsubishi Colt went into production in its Dutch production facility, with a modernized and more European design and unique three-door model, which was followed by a coupe-cabriolet (CZC), which was assembled by Pininfarina in Italy. It sold well, but as Mitsubishi discontinued the Space Star and Carisma without developing successors, the initial sales growth was only temporarily and market share dropped again to a record low 0.7% in 2012 (3,580 sales).
Meanwhile, the Dutch government heavily subsidized fuel efficient cars with very low taxes for electric cars and plug-in hybrid vehicles. After Mitsubishi launched the Outlander PHEV, the first plug-in hybrid SUV, this resulted in enormous waiting lists. As advantages for PHEV cars became slightly less attractive in 2014, thousands of people ordered one in the hope to receive one before 2014. To cope up with Dutch demand and as the Outlander PHEV was delayed several months, Japanese production of the Outlander PHEV was fully reserved for the Netherlands. In november 2013, the Outlander alone was good for 2,766 units (6.8% market share), followed by 4,988 units or an out-of-this-world 12.7% market share in December. The Netherlands used to be the largest market for the Outlander PHEV in the world, and is currently only second to the UK with around 28,000 units sold. Demand for the Outlander PHEV collapsed after 2015, when Mitsubishi grabbed 3.2% of the market, due to the halt of subsidies.
Special thanks to www.autodijksman.nl for allowing me to take photos.
So this custom was an attempt to see how much I could customise a body aesthetically. I bought this temporary tattoo and applied it on after spraying the back with matte sealer like I would on human skin.
MSC for some reason really emphasised the edges of the clear parts but Testors Dullcote helped it blend onto the plastic really well heh.