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Too many people make the Spiritual mistake of considering "light" as truth and assume the being as the wholeness of all things, yet even basic esotericism will anoint this aspect of illusion that, light is a lie and the truth is the vibration as the to the level of one's own comprehension of perception.

 

"Lord of Light" is in fact Satan, the deceiver, illumination is not light, it is understanding, something the Gnostics wrote about before the Catholic Church ordered the Knights Templar to exterminate them, to keep this information covered up in favour of their own Biblical BS.

 

Once you gain this knowledge, the universe is of what one can perceive, beyond the five sense realm of physical reality, hence how we alone can decide reality for ourselves. Humanity is becoming slowly more spiritual, I alone along this canal where I took this photo have experienced Shadow People, Ghosts and a momentary time slip, which I theorise to being an experience of reality encoding via perception's ability assorting itself, for another words, what keeps us imprisoned is slowly and thankfully losing its grip, if only to allow yourself to see it!

 

So........... with that said I hope everyone is well and so as always, thank you! :)

Photo prise en autocar, entre Sienne et Volterra.

 

"Célèbre pour le patrimoine artistique de ses villes, la Toscane ne l'est pas moins pour ses paysages de douces collines, dont on dit qu'ils sont issus de la main de l'homme autant que de la nature : de fait, cyprès et oliviers, si représentatifs des horizons toscans, furent apportés sur ces terres par les Etrusques au premier millénaire av. J.-C. Cependant, si la région est largement agricole, riche en produits d'exception – vin, huile d'olive, fromages... –, la campagne s'y révèle plus variée que les images communément diffusées ne le laisseraient penser.

Les provinces de Florence, de Sienne et d'Arezzo sont sans doute les plus connues de Toscane : vignobles, parcelles de blés, oliveraies, y sont scandés ici et là de villages médiévaux, de fermes isolées, d'élégantes villas... Classé au patrimoine de l'Humanité comme parc naturel, artistique et culturel, le val d'Orcia, dans la province de Sienne, en est la part la plus emblématique, maintes fois représenté comme idéal de nature domestiquée par les peintres de l'école siennoise.

Ces provinces sont également le cœur du pays du Chianti, prestigieuse dénomination d’origine protégée, dont l’appellation Chianti Classico est la plus réputée, tandis que l’appellation de Chianti Riserva désigne un vin vieilli trois ans en fût de chêne. Ces terres généreuses contrastent toutefois avec les Crete Senesi, qui étendent au sud de Sienne leur austère beauté, où n'ont pu être acclimatés ni vignes, ni oliviers.

C'est à la Renaissance que les villas font leur apparition à proximité des cités de Toscane, Lucques aussi bien que Florence : à l'instar des Médicis, les citadins fortunés prennent en effet goût aux loisirs simples de la campagne ; dans cet esprit, la villa toscane et ses jardins savamment paysagés se caractérisent par une sobriété – toute relative –, qui sera théorisée par Alberti."

sur-mesure.voyage/article/italie/florence-et-toscane/la-t...

Photo prise en autocar, entre Sienne et Volterra.

 

"C'est à la Renaissance que les villas font leur apparition à proximité des cités de Toscane, Lucques aussi bien que Florence : à l'instar des Médicis, les citadins fortunés prennent en effet goût aux loisirs simples de la campagne ; dans cet esprit, la villa toscane et ses jardins savamment paysagés se caractérisent par une sobriété – toute relative –, qui sera théorisée par Alberti.

Montagnes et forêts ne sont pas absentes de la région, loin s'en faut, puisque les Alpes apuanes s'y étendent sur plus de 1000 km2 du nord-ouest au sud-est. Au nord-ouest, les provinces de Lucques, Massa-Carrare et Pistoia, les plus montagneuses et boisées, offrent ainsi au promeneur des sentiers pittoresques au charme inattendu, en particulier dans la zone dite « Suisse Pesciatina » où se dressent nombre de villages fortifiés. La province de Massa-Carrare est quant à elle réputée pour ses carrières de marbre, dont les romains furent les premiers exploitants. C'est naturellement dans ces zones montagneuses, retirées, que l'on trouve la plupart des monastères médiévaux, bâtis sur d'anciens ermitages : ainsi, au sud-est de Florence, dans le Casentino, les abbayes des Camaldoli et de Vallombrosa, ou encore le monastère de la Verna où saint François reçut les stigmates..."

sur-mesure.voyage/article/italie/florence-et-toscane/la-t...

Of rivers and Mountains, the Maligne River in its pretty turquoise color is apealing as it contrasts with the warm autumn colors that surround it. The Maligne River is a medium-sized river in the Canadian Rockies. It runs through parts of Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada. The Maligne river is a major tributary of the Athabasca River. The river's name comes from the French word for malignant or wicked. It is theorised that an early French voyageur created this name in reference to the current of the river near its confluence with the Athabasca River.

 

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For your morning's enjoyment in the Southern Hemisphere, here's a find from early this year and not at "the Garden." I found this tree mallow, as I have with many other mallows, at a pond 12 miles from home where it meets the Carquinez Strait. That's of interest when you know that there are both ducks and plants that thrive in brackish water, where fresh meets salt water. The Carquinez Strait is fed by the Sacramento and American Rivers inland and the Strait receives some from the Pacific Ocean.

 

Malva arborea (also known as Lavatera arborea, or, more recently as Malva eriocalyx), the tree mallow, is a species of mallow native to the coasts of western Europe and the Mediterranean region, from Ireland and Britain south to Algeria and Libya, and east to Greece. The flowers are 3–4 cm diameter, dark pink to purple and grow in fasciculate axillary clusters of two to seven. It grows mainly on exposed coastal locations, often on small islands, only rarely any distance inland.

 

Malva arborea tolerates sea water to varying degrees, at up to 100% sea water in its natural habitat, excreting salt through glands on its leaves.This salt tolerance can be a competitive advantage over inland plant species in coastal areas. Its level of salinity tolerance is thought to be improved by soil with higher phosphate content, making guano enrichment particularly beneficial.

 

It is theorised that lighthouse keepers may have spread the plant to some British islands for use as a poultice and to treat burns, an occupational hazard.

In 1832 a dam was built across a branch of the IJ, the Amsterdam river, to create a safer haven for ships out of 'the swing of the sea', not subject to the tides of the Zuyderzee - today the IJsselmeer - with which the river was then still directly connected. Recent development cut that dam - the connection to the IJsselmeer is no longer dangerous because of the so-called Afsluitdijk. City planners have theorised about uses of the vestige, an appendix to the Prins Hendrikkade, but nothing much has yet come of that. For the time being local people have made it into a kind of city garden with plants in wooden boxes since 2015. This year though things look rather derelict and unkempt.

But! there are still some garden plants among the weeds. One of them is this wonderful Parrot Tulip. Tulips have been hybridised ever since their introduction to Europe in the late sixteenth century, and this is one of the more spectacular forms.

France, Poissy

 

Les cinq points d'une architecture nouvelle ont été mis en œuvre pour la Villa Savoye.

Ces cinq points ont été formulés par Le Corbusier en 1927 pour théoriser les principes fondamentaux du Mouvement Moderne. Ils découlent de l'emploi du béton armé : pilotis, toit-jardin, plan libre, fenêtres en longueur et façade libre.

 

The five points of a new architecture have been applied by Le Corbusier in the design of the Villa Savoye.

These five points were formulated by Le Corbusier in 1927 as the fundamental principles of the Modern Movement. They are linked to the use of reinforced concrete : pilotis, roof garden, open plan design, horizontal windows and free design of the façade.

 

A Zosterops lateralis (Wax-eye, white-eye, silver-eye, tauhou) pausing while feeding on what must be the Grevillea cultivar 'copper rocket' (or if not, then something very similar) in the Christchurch Botanic Gardens, New Zealand.

 

I spotted this tree some years back and theorised it would be popular with the waxeyes and bellbirds - though I kept forgetting about it, and always rediscovering it after dusk - so it was never more than an educated guess. Today when it was a little too windy for flowers, I remembered to check it out enroute to somewhere else. Not only was I able to confirm both interactions were indeed happening, but I got some photos I was happy with too.

A Zosterops lateralis (Wax-eye, white-eye, silver-eye, tauhou) pausing while feeding on what must be the Grevillea cultivar 'copper rocket' (or if not, then something very similar) in the Christchurch Botanic Gardens, New Zealand.

 

I spotted this tree some years back and theorised it would be popular with the waxeyes and bellbirds - though I kept forgetting about it, and always rediscovering it after dusk - so it was never more than an educated guess. Today when it was a little too windy for flowers, I remembered to check it out enroute to somewhere else. Not only was I able to confirm both interactions were indeed happening, but I got some photos I was happy with too.

 

Stories of exploration make for fascinating reading and they impress on the mind that exploration is a joint venture even though often the name of a single person is attached to a given account. Alfred Russell Wallace (1823-1913), the great English naturalist and traveller, has a sharp eye for others than himself in his exploits. A good example is a wonderful sentence from his "The Malay Archipelago" (1869):

'It was on the 13th of June, 1856, after a twenty days' passage from Singapore in the "Kembang Djepon" (Rose of Japan), a schooner belonging to a Chinese merchant, manned by a Javanese crew, and commanded by an English captain, that we cast anchor in the dangerous roadstead of Bileling on the north side of the island of Bali.'

In the book, Wallace gives a marvellous description of the geography, the natural world and the great variety of human culture of the Malaysian and Indonesian islands. But he is not only a describer; he also theorises about what he sees. On the basis of his observations he put forward the theory of the Wallace Line. This is an imaginary boundary running through the Lombok Strait (between the islands of Bali and Lombok) which separates the zoogeographical areas of Asia from Australia. Although the Strait is rather narrow - only about 22 miles across - it is extremely deep and was a barrier that in theory kept the flora and fauna of Asia divided from those of the Australian region.

This idea has today basically been abandoned. But the fact of the difference between the various species of plants and animals of those continental areas helped Charles Darwin conceptualise his theory of the origin of species.

This photo shows a plantation of palm trees, a thatched beach hut, and the Blue Waters leading to the Lombok Strait. My back is to magnificent Mount Rinjani, and from this spot in clear weather you can see to the East the outlines of Bali's Mount Agung.

'Leaving Bileling,' writes Russell a few pages on, 'a pleasant sail of two days brought us to ... the island of Lombock...' And he continues: 'We enjoyed superb views of the twin volcanoes of Bali and Lombock, each about eight thousand feet high, which form magnificent objects at sunrise and sunset, when they rise out of the mists and clouds that surround their bases, glowing with the rich and changing tints of these the most charming moments in a tropical day'.

With this book on my knee, a gin-and-tonic at hand, and this view: what more could one wish to enjoy!

Male Anthornis melanura (Bellbird, korimako) feeding on what must be the Grevillea cultivar 'copper rocket' (or if not, then something very similar) in the Christchurch Botanic Gardens, New Zealand.

 

I spotted this tree some years back and theorised it would be popular with the waxeyes and bellbirds - though I kept forgetting about it, and always rediscovering it after dusk - so it was never more than an educated guess. The day before I captured this, when it was a little too windy for flowers, I remembered to check it out enroute to somewhere else. Not only was I able to confirm both interactions were indeed happening, but I got some photos I was happy with too.

The Pietà (The Dead Christ Mourned by Nicodemus and Two Angels) is a 1437–1439 tempera on panel painting by Filippo Lippi, now in the Museo Poldi Pezzoli in Milan.

It probably formed part of a small altarpiece for private devotion and draws on the low relief of the sculpture style of Donatello. It is theorised that the work was the painting Giorgio Vasari mentions as Lippi produced for Cosimo the Elder as a gift for Pope Eugene IV, who was then living in Florence.

 

To anyone who may read this, I have been trying to contact the Australian US embassy to try and get refugee status, but I have not been able to get though, because my phones and internet are not working properly. This is genuine plea for help. Could anyone who gets this message pass on this to the a US embassy anywhere on the planet.

 

Hello my name is Michael Desimone. Sorry to contact you this way. I have been trying to get in contact with the US embassy, for several months now, and I have been unable to, since my communications systems have failed on so many levels. I would like to claim refugee status in the US after extreme persecution via the government, education systems, law system, and medical systems. There have been in fact so many attempts on my life I can literally not count them all, and after having be raped multiple times, beatings, broken bones, and being given only cursory monetary compensation for work, while getting little or no credit, I would sincerely like to ask for refugee status. Here is a list of some of my work. Viral vector genetic modification, mRNA protein synthesis, advanced spell check, wifi, fiber optic type broad band, worlds most accurate water meter for measuring ultra chaotic water conditions, and cross sectional areas of a water way, muscle argumentation via protein pathway synthesis hacking, transistor sign wave inversion, solid state memory hard drive technology, liquid cooled pc processors with radiators, the accounting on replacing combat pilots with drones, drone targeting systems, key boards for tablets, if they stole that of me as well, increased refresh rates and shortened latency rates for gamer screens, the connection to retrieval times of signals when doing international on line gaming and how important it is on a gamer's capacity to win, maybe refractive index spectral analysis of interplanetary atmospheres, maybe not the first I think some /chinese person may have done it first, popularization statistics on the goldilox zone and planetary composition mathematical relationship and the number of stars in the universe for a near arbitrary calculation of the existence of life on other planets, killing off all T cells with radio therapy and then conducting a bone morrow transfer to reestablish the AIDS victims immune system, theorisations of protein specific pro teases for theroputic treatment of multiple diseases, theroisation of the automation of rMNA repair of a persons telimere to prevent DNA related diseases, relationship between the cutting down of the great spruce forests of north America and the nematode plague that caused the Irish famine, relationship of ancient ocean rise cause by the deforestation of North Africa, Australia and north and south America, relation ship of the shape of the hole in the ozone layer to being electromagnetically related, rocket propellant up to 7000 mtrs a second, telling a gifted ten year old how to constructed a near fully functional light saber (probably should have thought a second time about that one), the theroisation that some black holes may be acts of war, popularization of longitudinal water ways in tires, despite being told that it would increase straight line instability, I argued that most accidents happen in the rain and therefor the trade off would benefit, silicon in tires to replace carbon in tires as they are both period 6 elements, and has phase like like properties with the materials roads are made out of the increase traction, optical sect-oral analysis of a persons skin to see if they have been using drugs, hadron collider applications for the potential creation of the universe and the time jump required to do it, extrapolation of participial science from the hadron collider to display history on an atomic level, popularization of the fact that indigenous people where farming and managing their environments, the use of hollow point bullets by Australian police because they showed more chance of stopping in a target and less chance of going right through and hurting a civilian, low emergency lights on Australian police cars so they are harder to see, facial recognition technology, voice sound wave recognition, global sequation of the water produced from burning of fossil fuels, mathematics on forensic analysis of oil spills to increase conviction rates of offenders, brain wave analysis so as to read a persons head even after ECT had been applied with a re calibration brain wave analysis from what they saw on their TV. Micro time holding of transferred money and retention of interest while held, practical applications on the principle of the aging if DNA and its speed of travel through the universe, theroisations on applications of hadron collider particle movement for manipulations and applications in curing health issues, extension on plastic chemistry that was found to cause genital deformities, and how the burning of fossil fuels could extend this trend globally, further extension of that chemistry to physics level, and the consideration that egg laying animals with out expressed external genitals may have been a response to high levels of carbon in the environment during prehistoric times, and that as we burn fossil fuels we nay en-tropically be taking all living species to a time where genitals may not work properly, additionally we will not have time to evolve to procreate, the chemistry and physics for this potential event has not been done or found yet, use of lithium in batteries due to its molecular low size per potential charge, that would aid rapid ion movement, movement away from gold to nickel due to ion discharge coefficient and potential correlative oxidation properties, not sure what else I did. I would like to live in a country that does not literally treat me like a slave. Kind Regards Michael Desimone. If you could reply here it would be greatly valued as most other communications systems are not working.

Stonehenge is located on the Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England. The outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, around 4m and 25 tons, are topped by connecting horizontal lintel stone. The inside ring is of smaller bluestones.

 

Stonehenge, built around 2500 BCE, is aligned with the movement of the sun. Such large structures were indeed possible only after agriculture, which allowed the surplus such that there can be a set of people not involved in food production. Stonehenge was more than a late neolithic calendar. It dictated when crops should be grown but, possibly, was also used for spiritual purposes.

 

The oldest structure with astronomical alignment is Nabta in the Nubian desert. See here: www.scientificamerican.com/article/ancient-alignments/

 

See also this list of archaeoastronomical sites by country on Wikipedia.

 

Two miles north of Stonehenge is Woodhenge. It has been theorised that the former was meant for dead people, while the latter was for alive ones. Woodhenge is where the celebrations occurred for life, fertility, etc. on summer solstice. See also: doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00086592

In the background the Alps with the Zugspitze (2962 m), Germany's highest mountain 80 km away from this spot.

 

A Föhn or Foehn is a type of dry, warm, down-slope wind that occurs in the lee (downwind side) of a mountain range.

Föhn can be initiated when deep low pressures move into Europe drawing moist Mediterranean air over the Alps.

 

It is a rain shadow wind that results from the subsequent adiabatic warming of air that has dropped most of its moisture on windward slopes. As a consequence of the different adiabatic lapse rates of moist and dry air, the air on the leeward slopes becomes warmer than equivalent elevations on the windward slopes. Föhn winds can raise temperatures by as much as 14 °C (25 °F) in just a matter of minutes. Central Europe enjoys a warmer climate due to the Föhn, as moist winds off the Mediterranean Sea blow over the Alps.

 

In some regions, föhn winds are associated with causing "circulatory problems", headaches, or similar ailments.Researchers have found, however, the foehn wind's warm temperature to be beneficial to humans in most situations, and have theorised that the reported negative effects may be a result of secondary factors, such as changes in the electrical field or in the ion state of the atmosphere, the wind's relatively low humidity, or the generally unpleasant sensation of being in an environment with strong and gusty winds.

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Well I was going to post another view of the boat house today, but I changed my mind, in the spirit of Christmas I thought I would post Spirit Island instead.

 

I would like to wish all my Flickr friends a wonderful Christmas, and thank you all for your support, it is very much appreciated.

 

Maligne Lake is a lake in Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada. It is located 44 km (27 mi) south of Jasper town site, accessible by motor vehicle. Boat trips run to Spirit Island, one of the most popular sights of Jasper National Park.

 

Maligne Lake is approximately 22.5 km (14 mi) long and is 97 m (318 ft) at its deepest point. It averages 35 m (115 ft) in depth. It sits at approximately 1,670 m (5,479 ft) asl. It boasts a resident self sustaining population of rainbow trout and brook trout.

 

Maligne lake is fed and drained by the Maligne River, which enters the lake on its south side, near Mount Unwin. The Maligne River drains the lake from its northern end. Maligne Lake, as well as Maligne River, Maligne Mountain, and Maligne Pass, takes its name from the French word for malignant or wicked. It is theorised that an early French voyageur created this name in reference to the current of the Maligne River near its confluence with the Athabasca River.

 

Explored 24.12.08 - #348

Crucifixion is an oil painting on panel of c. 1510–1512 by Bramantino in the Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan. It was first recorded in that gallery's collections in 1806, without any earlier provenance.

The work's original location and commissioner are unknown; the former may have been Milan Cathedral or the church of Santa Maria in Brera. The panel might have been kept in storage due to its unorthodox iconography. Some theorise that it was produced in the milieu of religious reform movements current in Milan during its occupation by the French (later opposed by Carlo Borromeo and the Counter-Reformation), or that it was directly commissioned by Marshal Gian Giacomo Trivulzio, the city's governor on behalf of the French, who had also commissioned the cartoons for the Trivulzio tapestries from Bramantino.

 

The story of The Duchess is a simple one at first.

 

The early 20th century saw the rise of the automobile. And with it came the thrill of racing.

 

Racing cars evolved in those early years. And with it came the concept of aero engined racers. Cars outfitted with engines suited for aircraft.

 

Martian technology had propelled Britain's progress in the power of flight. With more robust, state of the art engines being designed from reverse engineering.

 

The Duchess began life as a new type of engine built for airships. Designed by Paragon tech, it boasted increased speed and efficiency.

 

It wasn't unti Count Zborowski, an innovative young racer, took interest in the engine that the concept of it being used for an automobile was considered.

 

Paragon Tech's motoring division began to construct a sleek body designed on Zborowski's specifications to house the engine. Painted in British racing green and outfitted with the most luxuriant of features. The Duchess was born.

 

For a few years the count participated in many races around the world with the Duchess. Successfully winning them all.

 

However in 1924, disaster struck. An accident occurred and the Duchess was left damaged extensively. She was taken to Paragon Tech's warehouse to be rebuilt, with improvements recommended by the Count.

 

He never raced her again, as he died in a racing accident a month later.

 

The Duchess gathered dust, left untouched for nearly a year.

 

It wasn't until a friend of Paragon Tech's founder, a young paranormal investigator name Arthur. Stumbled upon the warehouse that the Duchess was rediscovered. Arthur had been assisting in a case involving a missing engineer, but felt drawn to the warehouse.

 

A lover of racing himself, Arthur recognised the vehicle and knew of it's history. The Duchess was gifted to him by Paragon's founder, a gesture of thanks for helping them.

 

Animism is the belief that an object, location or creature may possess a form of spirit. It is theorised that Arthur had actually sensed the potential spirit of The Duchess herself that day. Reaching out to him with the desire to be free and race once more. As the years went on, The bond between Arthur and The Duchess would grow stronger, the car herself seemingly developing a level of sentience and loyalty to Arthur and his family.

From the French word for malignant or wicked.

 

Maligne Lake is a lake in Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada. The lake is famed for the colour of its azure water, the surrounding peaks, the three glaciers visible from the lake, and Spirit Island

 

The Maligne is a major tributary of the Athabasca River. The river takes from the French word for malignant or wicked. It is theorised that a Belgian priest (Pieter Jan De Smet ) voyageur created this name in reference to the current of the river near its confluence with the Athabasca River.

Sometimes there is nothing better than trying for a little blur of the bright night lights. Just to get that lovely soft feel.

Yesterday was the 10 year anniversary of the MH17 plane disaster where a Malaysian Airlines plane was shot down over Ukraine killing all on board. 38 Australian citizens or residents were killed. Since then the world has become a much more dangerous place for people in Europe with flow on effects to the Middle East and us down under. An investigation led by the Dutch Safety Board concluded that a Russian-made missile brought the plane down.

It is at least more of a closure for those families than the other Malaysian flight MH370 which was lost with all on board in March 2014 but never found in the Southern Indian Ocean. www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-17/flight-mh17-malaysia-airli... plus www.britannica.com/event/Malaysia-Airlines-flight-370-dis....

There were many theories regarding what happened to MH370 showing both the need to theorise and the ability of people to develop conspiratorial thinking in the absence of evidence. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia_Airlines_Flight_370_disapp...

The San Gallo Annunciation is an oil-on-panel painting by Andrea del Sarto, executed c. 1513–1514, now in the Palatine Gallery in Florence.

It was the middle of three works the artist produced for the Augustinian monastery the Church of San Gallo in Florence, between Noli me tangere and The Disputation on the Trinity, as recorded in the Anonimo Magliabechiano manuscript and in Vasari's Lives of the Artists. When Florence was besieged, that monastery's goods were moved to San Jacopo tra i Fossi within the city walls and its buildings razed in 1531 by Charles V's troops. The monastery rebuilt all its chapels at its new site in their former form. About a third of the painting was submerged in the 1557 flood, probably leading to the loss of the predella, though in 1986 Padovani theorised that that predella wholly or partly survived and is now divided up between the National Gallery of Ireland and Warwick Castle.

Stylistically its monumental figures show the influence of Fra Bartolomeo and the San Marco school [it], both major influences on Andrea del Sarto's early career, whilst the colouring is heavily influenced by Leonardo da Vinci and the compositional liberty by Piero di Cosimo.

Art historians have not agreed on the identity of the figures standing on the balcony in the background. Alessandro Conti suggested in 1968 that they are David and Bathsheba; Petrioli Tofani said in 1985 that the figures are Susannah and the Elders; and Antonio Natali said in 1989 that they are Adam and Eve, in reference to Augustinian exegesis.

 

It was literally a chase. We were running a bit late. I didn't get enough time to plan this trip. Nor did I get enough sleep before this trip.

 

The only thing that I could theorise from Google Earth was that the hill top can offer a view of the beach and the sunset together. I thought there would be a point on the hilltop from where I could look down in the south westerly direction. And I badly wanted to capture the last sunset of the year.

 

As you can see from the pic, my theory turned out to be a sack full of crap. The viewpoint opened to the south-south-eastish direction, offering a jaw dropping view of the beach. But it also meant that I had to capture the sunset separately.

 

The place was Baindur, a small town in coastal Karnataka in the district of Udupi. It offers brilliant sunset points from the Ottinene beach. And the Maravanthe beach is also located very close to the town. As I was rushing to reach the hill top, just as the National Highway turned and aligned with the coastline near Maravanthe, I saw the glimpse of the sunset. The magical view suddenly made me feel very small, very insignificant.

 

You know what else is there in Baindur? A chance to stargaze and see the Milky way. More on that, in my next post...

164 x 15sec exposures at ISO200, taken from the garden in Bishopbriggs, Scotland, bortle 8 on 5th Feb 2020, under a 75% moon and with poor seeing due to thin high clouds.

 

Nikon D5300a, Esprit 80ED refractor with an L-2 UV IR cut filter. Tracked with AVX. Stacked and processed with Nebulosity, Pixinsight, Photoshop and Lightroom.

 

To add a bit of context to the image... all three of these galaxies are affected by each other’s gravity, with the huge spiral M81 Bode’s galaxy being the dominant. It is theorised that M82 has already had a close encounter with M81, which has stimulated it’s star producing activity, hence the red glow of hydrogen alpha emissions. M82 is a spiral galaxy side on to us, and is classified as a starburst galaxy because of its star forming activity. NGC 3077 is also active, and thought to be distorted in shape because of the gravity of Bode’s.

 

A fascinating cosmic dance occurring about 12 million light years away!

A slightly different perspective this time, taken from ground level, hope you all like it as much as the last one ;o)

 

Maligne Lake is a lake in Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada. It is located 44 km (27 mi) south of Jasper town site, accessible by motor vehicle. Boat trips run to Spirit Island, one of the most popular sights of Jasper National Park.

 

Maligne Lake is approximately 22.5 km (14 mi) long and is 97 m (318 ft) at its deepest point. It averages 35 m (115 ft) in depth. It sits at approximately 1,670 m (5,479 ft) asl. It boasts a resident self sustaining population of rainbow trout and brook trout.

 

Maligne lake is fed and drained by the Maligne River, which enters the lake on its south side, near Mount Unwin. The Maligne River drains the lake from its northern end. Maligne Lake, as well as Maligne River, Maligne Mountain, and Maligne Pass, takes its name from the French word for malignant or wicked. It is theorised that an early French voyageur created this name in reference to the current of the Maligne River near its confluence with the Athabasca River.

 

Explored 26.12.08 - #116

 

Portrait of a Man in Black or Man in Black in Profile is a c. 1520-1522 oil on panel painting by Rosso Fiorentino, now in the Galleria Palatina in Florence.

Vasari's Life of Rosso Fiorentino briefly states that he saw several portraits by the artist in homes in Florence, probably produced before Rosso left for Volterra in 1521. How Man entered the Medici-Lorraine collections is unknown, since the first definite mention of the work is an 1815 inventory placing it in the Galleria's Sala dell'Iliade.

Previously attributed to Pontormo, this was changed by Falciani due to several similarities between it and faces in the Volterra Deposition, placing it just before or after Rosso Fiorentino's stay in Volterra. Franklin (1997) argued against the reattribution, but it was backed by Padovani and Antonio Natali, with the latter seeing similarities to a medal of Jacopo Sannazaro by Girolamo Santacroce and thus theorising that Rosso had made a trip to Naples. Schaeffer (1910) had previously identified its subject as the Florentine canon Francesco da Castiglione based on similarities to the Entry of Leo X fresco at the Palazzo Vecchio, but Falciani argues against this as the man is in civil not ecclesiastical dress.

 

Muckross Peninsula, County Donegal, Ireland

 

On a recent trip through Donegal, the sun was splitting the sky & the light was just perfect…. Yet I still managed to lure myself in a dark cave again! Maybe im slowly becoming Gollum ‍♂️ & may find myself huddled into a cave corner someday holding a gold ring, chanting “My precious” in repeat 😂 There’s always that curious side of me that wants to investigate caves & mysterious places. These are not the boring, dark & scary places most folk believe they are. Cave walls hold so many various colours & textures, which have been slowly enriching over millions of years. Some colours found within cave walls are tones I have yet to see elsewhere in nature.

 

On this evening I was standing on a sandy beach when the sun had started to set on the horizon & the sky started to glow amber. Without a second thought I grabbed my camera & ran as fast as possible straight into this cave. With a wide-angle lens fitted I squeezed my back against the rear wall of this cave to fit this giant entrance way into one photograph.

 

Now I do realise you are looking at a photograph here & it’s much easier for me to make you visualise what you can physically see in this photo, however I want to explain to you about the sounds that where present during the capture of this photo & hopefully help you to imagine for yourself what they sounded like

 

Due to my ears being so close to the wall I will never forget the sounds coming from within this cave caused by the heavy waves crashing against the outside cliff! It sounded like a deep enchanting mumbling/hum (almost like monks praying) which echoed throughout after each wave strike. These sounds are soothing which seem put your mind into a trance/spiritual like state after a short time listening. I can only theorise that this was a key reason on why the ancient Irish strongly believed that these caves were actual gateways to the “Other-world”

 

Hope you enjoy! Please Favourite & Follow to view my newest upcoming works, Thank you

 

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One more shot from from the road on our little drive from Jasper to Maligne Lake, just before getting there I spotted this view.

 

Maligne Lake is a lake in Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada. It is located 44 km (27 mi) south of Jasper town site, accessible by motor vehicle. Boat trips run to Spirit Island, one of the most popular sights of Jasper National Park. The 44 km Skyline Trail, Jasper's most popular, highest and above treeline, multi-day hike, begins at Maligne Lake and finishes near the town of Jasper.

 

Maligne Lake is approximately 22.5 km (14 mi) long and is 97 m (318 ft) at its deepest point. It averages 35 m (115 ft) in depth. It sits at approximately 1,670 m (5,479 ft) asl. It boasts a resident self sustaining population of rainbow trout and brook trout.

 

Maligne Lake is fed and drained by the Maligne River, which enters the lake on its south side, near Mount Unwin. The Maligne River drains the lake from its northern end. Maligne Lake, as well as Maligne River, Maligne Mountain, and Maligne Pass, takes its name from the French word for malignant or wicked. It is theorised that an early French voyageur created this name in reference to the current of the Maligne River near its confluence with the Athabasca River.

New observations made with ESA’s X-ray XMM Newton telescope have revealed an “orphan cloud” – an isolated cloud in a galaxy cluster that is the first discovery of its kind.

 

A lot goes on in a galaxy cluster. There can be anything from tens to thousands of galaxies bound together by gravity. The galaxies themselves have a range of different properties, but typically contain systems with stars and planets, along with the material in between the stars – the interstellar medium. In between the galaxies is more material – tenuous hot gas known as the intercluster medium. And sometimes in all the chaos, some of the interstellar medium can get ripped out of a galaxy and get stranded in an isolated region of the cluster, as this new study reveals.

 

Unexpected discovery

 

Abell 1367, also known as the Leo Cluster, is a young cluster that contains around 70 galaxies and is located around 300 million light-years from Earth. In 2017, a small warm gas cloud of unknown origin was discovered in A1367 by the Subaru telescope in Japan. A follow-up X-ray survey to study other aspects of A1367 unexpectedly discovered X-rays emanating from this cloud, revealing that the cloud is actually bigger than the Milky Way.

 

This is the first time an intercluster clump has been observed in both X-rays and the light that comes from the warm gas. Since the orphan cloud is isolated and not associated with any galaxy, it has likely been floating in the space between galaxies for a long time, making its mere survival surprising.

 

The discovery of this orphan cloud was made by Chong Ge at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and colleagues, and the study has been published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

 

Along with data from XMM-Newton and Subaru, Chong and colleagues also used the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) to observe the cluster in visible light.

 

The orphan cloud is the blue umbrella-shaped part of the image. It has been colour-coded to show the X-ray part of the cloud in blue, the warm gas in red, and the visible region in white shows some of the galaxies in the cluster. The part of the cloud that had been discovered in 2017 (in red) overlaps with the X-ray at the bottom of the cloud.

 

How the cloud became an orphan

 

It was previously thought that the distribution of material between galaxies is smooth, however more recent X-ray studies have revealed the presence of clumps in clusters. It was theorised that clumps of gas in the clusters were originally the gas that exists between stars in individual galaxies. The intercluster gas acts as a wind that is strong enough to pull the interstellar gas out of the galaxy as the galaxy is moving through the cluster. However, observations showing that intercluster clumps are originally stripped interstellar material have never been made until now. The observation of the warm gas in the clump provides the evidence to show that this orphan cloud originated within a galaxy. Interstellar material is much cooler than intercluster material, and the temperature of the orphan cloud matches that of interstellar gas. The researchers were also able to determine why the orphan cloud has survived for as long as it has. An isolated cloud would be expected to be ripped apart by instabilities caused by velocity and density differences. However, they found that a magnetic field in the cloud would be able to suppress these instabilities.

 

Searching for the parent galaxy

 

It is likely that the parent galaxy of the orphan cloud is a massive one as the mass of the X-ray gas in the orphan is substantial. It is possible that the parent might one day be discovered with future observations by following some breadcrumbs. For example, there are traces of the warm gas that extend beyond the orphan cloud that could be used to identify the parent with more data. There are other unsolved mysteries regarding the cloud that could be deciphered with more observations, such as mysterious offset between the brightest X-rays and the brightest light from the warm gas.

 

A closer inspection of this orphan will also further our understanding of the evolution of stripped interstellar medium at such a great distance from its parent galaxy and will provide a rare laboratory to study other things such as turbulence and heat conduction. This study paves the way for research on intercluster clumps, as future warm gas surveys can now be targeted to search for other orphan clouds.

 

Credits: Ge et al (2021)

The narrow galaxy elegantly curving around its spherical companion in this image is a fantastic example of a truly strange and very rare phenomenon. This image, taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, depicts GAL-CLUS-022058s, located in the southern hemisphere constellation of Fornax (The Furnace). GAL-CLUS-022058s is the largest and one of the most complete Einstein rings ever discovered in our Universe. The object has been nicknamed by the Principal Investigator and his team who are studying this Einstein ring as the "Molten Ring", which alludes to its appearance and host constellation.

 

First theorised to exist by Einstein in his general theory of relativity, this object’s unusual shape can be explained by a process called gravitational lensing, which causes light shining from far away to be bent and pulled by the gravity of an object between its source and the observer. In this case, the light from the background galaxy has been distorted into the curve we see by the gravity of the galaxy cluster sitting in front of it. The near exact alignment of the background galaxy with the central elliptical galaxy of the cluster, seen in the middle of this image, has warped and magnified the image of the background galaxy around itself into an almost perfect ring. The gravity from other galaxies in the cluster is soon to cause additional distortions.

 

Objects like these are the ideal laboratory in which to research galaxies too faint and distant to otherwise see.

 

Credits: ESA/Hubble & NASA, S. Jha; CC BY 4.0

Acknowledgement: L. Shatz

Herbig-Haro objects are some of the rarer sights in the night sky, taking the form of thin spindly jets of matter floating amongst the surrounding gas and stars. The two Herbig-Haro objects catalogued as HH46 and HH47, seen in this image taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, were spotted in the constellation of Vela (The Sails), at a distance of over 1400 light-years from Earth. Prior to its discovery in 1977 by the American astronomer R. D. Schwartz, the exact mechanism by which these multi-coloured objects formed was unknown.

 

Before 1997 it was theorised by Schwartz and others that the objects could be a type of reflection nebula, or a type of shock wave formed from the gas emitted from a star interacting with the surrounding matter. The mystery was finally solved when a protostar, unseen in this image, was discovered at the centre of the long jets of matter. The outflows of matter, some 10 light-years across, were ejected from the newly born star and violently propelled outwards at speeds of over 150 kilometres per second. Upon reaching the surrounding gas, the collision created the bright shock waves seen here.

 

Credits: ESA/Hubble & NASA, B. Nisini; CC BY 4.0

 

I have been looking through my hundreds of shots from Alberta and found some that have until now been overlooked, so I shall be revisiting them for a few days. Kicking off is this one, a beautiful view along the road that leads to Maligne Lake from Jasper.

 

I updated my blog at the weekend if anyone is interested (link can be found on my New Look Profile Page.

 

Maligne Lake is a lake in Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada. It is located 44 km (27 mi) south of Jasper town site, accessible by motor vehicle. Boat trips run to Spirit Island, one of the most popular sights of Jasper National Park. The 44 km Skyline Trail, Jasper's most popular, highest and above treeline, multi-day hike, begins at Maligne Lake and finishes near the town of Jasper.

 

Maligne Lake is approximately 22.5 km (14 mi) long and is 97 m (318 ft) at its deepest point. It averages 35 m (115 ft) in depth. It sits at approximately 1,670 m (5,479 ft) asl. It boasts a resident self sustaining population of rainbow trout and brook trout.

 

Maligne Lake is fed and drained by the Maligne River, which enters the lake on its south side, near Mount Unwin. The Maligne River drains the lake from its northern end. Maligne Lake, as well as Maligne River, Maligne Mountain, and Maligne Pass, takes its name from the French word for malignant or wicked. It is theorised that an early French voyageur created this name in reference to the current of the Maligne River near its confluence with the Athabasca River.

 

NGC 4618 was discovered on 9 April 1787 by the German-British astronomer, Wilhelm Herschel, who also discovered Uranus in 1781. Only a year before discovering NGC 4618, Herschel theorised that the “foggy” objects astronomers were seeing in the night sky were likely to be large star clusters located much further away then the individual stars he could easily discern.

 

Since Herschel proposed his theory, astronomers have come to understand that what he was seeing was a galaxy. NGC 4618, classified as a barred spiral galaxy, has the special distinction amongst other spiral galaxies of only having one arm rotating around the centre of the galaxy.

 

Located about 21 million light-years from our galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici, NGC 4618 has a diameter of about one third that of the Milky Way. Together with its neighbour, NGC 4625, it forms an interacting galaxy pair, which means that the two galaxies are close enough to influence each other gravitationally. These interactions may result in the two (or more) galaxies merging together to form a new formation, such as a ring galaxy.

 

Credits: ESA/Hubble & NASA, I. Karachentsev; CC BY 4.0

The image taken on 5 May 2020 shows a part of the floor of the Ius Chasma canyon, part of the Valles Marines system of canyons that stretches nearly a quarter of the circumference of Mars south of the planet's equator. The Ius Chasma canyon, which can be seen in the image rising up to a ridge on the right side, is about 1000 km long and up to 8 km deep, which makes it more than twice as long and four times as deep as the famous Grand Canyon in the US state of Arizona. The centre of this image is located at 8.8°S, 282.5°E.

 

The beautiful colour variations across the floor of Ius Chasma are caused by changes in rock composition. Scientists theorise that the light rocks are salts left behind after an ancient lake evaporated. The information about the rock's composition is useful to scientists as it allows them to retrace the formation history of the canyon.

 

Credits: ESA/ExoMars/CaSSIS

Let them eat cake.

 

(Influenced by my dairy and its musings.)

 

As rejected by Global Photojournalism; Protest, Culture, and News . (No reason given).

 

To qualify this article l would like to go on the record that l have been instructed by some amazing teachers, all with academic titles. Furthermore, it must be said, that l have stated publicly, that l could not name, nor count, the number of exceptional teachers that have instructed me, because there where too many. This article is not about teachers, but a lack of exceptional ones. I personally find it distressing, because all children should be given the type of opportunity l had, and therefore a chance to defend themselves. This article is about a process, one that needs to be classified, and identified, with conscious critical thought. Critical thought involving observations. It involves observations that some of those with titles would or could be ignorant of. A situation, driven by those of systemic privileged, or those with ivory towers that render them unable to see.

All biological systems strive for survival, even small single cell organisms, like amoebas. They do it without seemingly thinking. But the difference between the amoebas, and the humans, is meant to be human thought, and human conciseness. Recently a new local high school was built in Shepparton Victoria Australia, and it was ironically named the super school. Already it has helped give the locals here an education, producing a lot of conscious contemplation among residents. It was the amalgamation of three out of three, or all the of the public high schools in the small city of Shepparton. Its construction left no options for some residents, and in the United States of America, criticism of schools like this new school, is commonplace. In the United States, the lack of choice as to where you can send your children in the public school system causes for some public debate. That debate now rages here, and for good reason. The results were highly predictable, with comparable results to that of America. The result has been that the police have been called repeatedly. There have been weapons, fights, and even the aspersion that a student suicide could be attributed to the new super school. Academic performance of the schools results are now unknown, as the education system now uses a sliding ruler, one that is remotely monitored by a now faceless group. It has resulted with any aspersion, that the school is a failure being foiled and deemed as a baseless slur. Some educated locals went into overdrive sighting personal responsibility of the individual and the lack there of, for some students and parents.

The defence of the hegemon, when the school had become a nightmare, for both the teachers and the Victorian Labour party, became a name and shame process directed at some locals, and their children. Some trying to defend the teacher’s union darling the Australian Labour party, which had help instigated the fiasco. A fiasco that was easily avoided if they had studied the American application of such schools. Was it ignorance? Was it Australian ego for the Victorian education board? Was it in the worst-case scenario, a deliberate act to produce a school that applied an American model? A model, that had historically repeatedly produced poor social outcomes. One that had already failed in the United States? If educated people, including some teachers where defending the super school, it raised the question, where were these teachers and educated people sending their children to be educated? Was it to the new super school? If it was, were they following the tried-and-true public-school scenario, of teachers and influential parents, making sure their children where in handpicked classes? Did they do as had been done before, making sure their children had handpicked teachers, and handpicked students for their children to study with, while the average people got the undesirables? Where they conscious of what they had given their children, or where they being deliberately ignorant? Because if it were found that they were guiding the lily for their children, what would be the public reaction?

How far some educated had shifted from sixties social liberal ideals; and it raises a lot of questions! Did they know what was happing? That it is happening? Where they unwittingly involved, blindsided by psychological drift? Psychological drift being a change so slow and gradual, that they were perceptually blindsided by ignorance, and or a lack of self-awareness. Did they not notice the change in their attitudes? Did they not critically look at what they were and are participating in? Or where they unwittingly led by mistaken ignorant logic? And in the worst-case scenario, was the new school planned? And where the resultant outcomes statistically inevitable, but desired?

This is an initial exploration of investigative journalism, on the outcomes of the worst-case scenario, and is based mostly on firsthand experience and observations. My apologies, for what may seem like a not so interesting picture. But the building in the picture resembles some of the prisons in which some of the students will go to serve sentences. It has been satirically joked, and it was not meant to be funny by some of the locals, that once they go to prison, they will be fully prepared. The building, and violence, will not be much different from the school, that they received their high school education in.

Most people are educated or warned of nepotism at high school, and or university. It is a self-serving process for those that teach it, as it helps classify hereditary royalty or Aristocracy as an exhausted, and or morally corrupt institution. But now this teaching, has become a matter of hypocrisy, for those that teach it. It helps define the institutionally educated as those that should control and distribute influence, because it is said, that they earned their positions via merit, and not via a process involving gross nepotism. Nepotism that is now openly practiced by the educated, when it comes to the education of their children, versus the education of the masses. Some openly fight, unquestioned, for causes that proactively push for their children, to be preferentially, and proactively treated like the children of people of aristocratic tittles were accused of. They even give themselves tittles at universities, letters before their names. It helps distinguish and make themselves distinct from ordinary people, or the new commoners. It even extends to those selected to represent them in the student bodies. But unlike the sixties student bodies that rallied against war, in the new higher education system student bodies, they actively participate in a new form of war.

It is now the new millennium, and there is a new form of warfare to avoid. It involves some people of title, but this is not an article on the aristocracy. It is no longer the song “The fortunate son,” sung by Creedence Clearwater Revival. A sixties song about the sons of the rich and influential not going to war. Now it is the fortune “academic,” the person who has a higher education. They and their children are mostly excluded, and do not have to go to war. I had previously reported that the new courthouse here in Shepparton Victoria Australia, was colloquially being called building B by some of the locals. It is B for Birkenau, and the name is partly why l write this. The other reason is that all the positions of power in building B, are held by people with academic titles. Titles involve in skewed eugenics and nepotism. The scenario faced is like “good cop, bad cop” tactics, but is applied by those with academic titles, not the police. It happens on multiple fronts. One such front is that large numbers of educated people openly promote or condone drug use, while others incarcerate as many as they can. Fifteen percent of all Australian prisoners are imprisoned on drug charges, out of approximately thirty thousand currently in jail, and many more are committed to psychiatric facilities because of it. If the objective of the educated was to reduce harm, they have abjectly failed, and the opposite has happened. Was it intentional? Where they trying to build a prison system as speculated by the band “The system of the down” in the “prison song.” And did The System of the down not see, or know, of the outcomes for those classified as ill, as they promoted in their song as an alternative? I once approached the subject on the Victorian Parliamentary Facebook page. In the description, l drew the analogy, that the incarceration, and medical treatment of individuals for drug use, was like Chinese re-education camps, and that they existed in Victoria, and they existed on an industrial scale.

Has this industrial scale of human processing, produced a form of unconscious time dependent opportunistic nepotism? Like amoebas, instead of critically thinking humans, had we all allowed it to happen? Had we all listened unquestioningly to the educated? And had it created a new form of nepotism. A form that helps the educated-on average, have their children precluded from a statistical death march. A process of prolonged involuntary distress, involving the battlefield of the court, the prison system, involuntary medical treatment and or classification. The result is, the children of the educated, on average get the better jobs, have better outcomes, have higher positions of power, and sway larger numbers of people behind their causes. The consideration of building B, and firsthand observations, raised the horrendous proposition of who needs a gas chamber, when you have statistics? The western world has in general shunned America for its seconded amendment, but a closer look at the west, even those countries without a second amendment of sorts, or an official death sentence, produced horrific observations. The realty is state sanctioned, systemic modern-day murder.

While at university l helped challenge the central dogma of biochemistry with prions, or the protein that causes mad cow disease. A bold effort, but l was young and idealistic. Amusingly it should also be noted that the lecturer l told it too, asked my permission to use it. He later taught me about a story of the two scientists Watson and Crick. As far as my memory servs me, he said, they had plied a French scientist’s son with alcohol, the result was his tongue loosened, and he talked about his father’s research. They subsequently wrote down what he divulged on a bar napkin. It was for the base pair arrangement of DNA (deoxyribose nucleic acid). And from it came the logical deduction for the final double helix model of DNA. Latter l would go on to joke, that Watson and Crick had won a noble prize in biochemistry. Not for the structure of DNA, but for the judicious application of a biochemical agent, or a neuron toxin, ethanol. I was being facetious. Despite some successes at university, it was hard for many reasons. Part of the experience of university was trying to theorise Protein specific proteases to combat the AIDS epidemic. Another was for the construction of proteins to treat the disease. As a result, l gained an appreciation of the complexities of medical treatment when it comes to who dies and who survives, and what role academics play in that process. The conclusion gained was that life and reality are quite brutal.

Academics already openly argue behavioural eugenics with psychiatric history, via genetic predisposition of psychiatric illness. Medical professionals in hospitals and criminal systems, universally practice it throughout Australia. A process that has been publicly shunned for occurring during the second world war, is practiced here in Australia, and the practise is commonplace. As a result, victims, and those suffering psychiatric illness are dosed with poison, and lives are ended prematurely. Slowly, chemically, euthanising thousands, with statistical outcomes. The statistics are, that many psychiatric medications cause on average premature death. Additionally, it is statistically observed that those taking most psychiatric medications are highly discouraged from conceiving, and or nurturing, an in-utero baby while taking their medication. Paradoxically psychiatric professionals discourage most people from stopping their medication; thus, a person is neutered with logic gates. On one hand, it is presumed that a person cannot stop taking their medication for their own safety, and or the safety of the public. And on the other hand, due to the birth defects or abnormalities associated with such medication, and for the sake of your baby, they say those classified, should not have children while being administered their medication. This process occurs for not adhering to the party line, not a political party line, but the new scientific line, one that involves a new group with titles. It is not ironic, that the rules of this process, are not in general being taught to the new commoners.…

Some of the new people with titles are the emperor with no cloths, and they cannot be questioned. l presume criminal history will be next here in Australia for the classification of genetic predisposition, after psychiatric predisposition has been fully fledged. A reborn process, for people of titles. One adopting the Chinese model of re-education camps, like those already here in the state of Victoria. An extension of the current medical model, of psychiatric treatment. A model for social conduct and classification involving social reward. A model that involves if you will have children or not. A process that relies on obeying the edicts of the new people of title.

Do these new people of title, wield absolute rule, as Justin Trudeau a high school teacher, and Canadian prime minister applied to his people for a brief time? It is a rhetorical question. He applied his title, like European aristocracy where stereotypically and historically accused of. By self-edict of law, he made his words unquestionable, and the words of new common people’s (those predominantly without academic titles) decent outlawed. Is this the new party line or the academic line, of pseudo pacifist proper gander? Is this what the new Aristocracy, or people of title do? Is this where you rely on the fallacy of lack of personal responsibility? An assumption involving privy knowledge, before socially engineering incidents via carefully worded classifications, and or, build a school that is most certainly bound to fail, and with it, classify whole blood lines educated in it, as inferior? Classifications using peer reviewed definitions. Peer reviewed definitions written ironically and hypocritically by those with new age titles. Articles which cannot be questioned by the new age commoner, but only by their academic peers. Once again it is rhetorical. All the while, they exclude their own children from the process, with their systemic peer derived privilege. It all sounds historically and remarkably familiar. And it happens while relying on the medical industry complex, and criminal industrial complex, for statistically predetermined social outcomes. It enables people to slowly but surely exterminate their undesirables. It is a proposition that has already happened and is currently happening.

The result is that via spurious association of genetic predisposition for behaviour, some families are being genetically classified, and weeded out via the behaviour of individuals in their families. Part of psychiatric dogma is to look for a family history of psychiatric illness then argue it is genetic. And that that genetic trait is no longer beneficial or needed. If one member of a family has had anything that could be classified as an incident, it is then argued that there is an increased chance of a genetically induced psychiatric incident or incidents happening in other family members. The result of such logic is the application of drugs, such as anti-psychotics, which on average drastically reduce the life span of the patient or victim. The medications, can, and are, forcefully administered, by people of new age titles. The additional subsequent logic gating, weight gain, and body odour causes the person to be seen as undesirable, or substandard, and lowers their chance of having children. The result is a death sentence for the patient, and a reduced chance of them having offspring. In the very least it is murder, if the diagnosis is wrong, and causes a slow, but sure reduction in the size of the victim’s family. As the application of this scientific dogma becomes more prevalent, or prolonged, the result is near genocide.

Personal statistical analysis of public psychiatric facilities is that they are full of people of lower education levels. But full of people that do not lack intellect. Why are the educated mostly excluded and deemed as being above it? They can afford both preferential systemic sympathetic medical representation, and systemic sympathetic legal representation, thus, avoiding the classification of being genetically substandard. Furthermore, those responsible for the classification and criminal punitive punishment of both criminal and psychiatric failings, are associated to those in academic institutions. It is a family operation, no different from the stereotype of aristocracy. When one of their own is brought before the court system, either in the medical or criminal court, it is raised that they are above average, and given on average, lower sentences, or even no sentences at all. They are deemed, as being inherently better than the average human, due to the letters or tittle before their name. It is a repeat of the stereotype of the old aristocratic system, of human classification. The current stereotype of those below the educated, is that they are being incarcerated, and medically treated, for both their good, and the safety of the public. So why are the educated spared more on average from this process, despite in cases committing the same crimes? I can identify no reason, other than their self-appointed peerage.

The observation is that behavioural eugenics, has turned to a practice of statistical genocide over an extended period, and it is a practice being mostly applied by the educated, and in favour of themselves. It is a statistical death march for some families. A prolonged process that involves the application of self-serving statistics, and a classification that ends in the lower chance of reproduction for selected individuals, and the increased chance of a family’s genetics being branded as dangerous or substandard. Thus, it negates any responsibility of having enabled the elimination of that family’s or group’s blood line, or in the very least, part of it, because it was, and is said, to be for the greater good. It is for the “uber alles,” but has nothing to do with German nationalism, and as it stands, it is predominantly males in the groups of families. Leaving the females on average in those families as breeders for those deemed as genetically worthy. Genetically worthy for the last 20 years has been those that had drugs, or those that had an education and there for had money. Those that had drugs, and there for a higher chance for reported psychiatric and criminal incidents, could break the nuclear family rule, but they walked a fine line. In breaking the law, they put their families or the males in their families on lists for slow, undetectable state sanctioned extermination. On the other hand, those with cash and an education, could break the nuclear family rule, having more than two children in an already overpopulated world. Both scenarios being state encouraged with government subsidies.

As an Australian, l found, and find, this scenario highly ironic. If the scenario were not real, it would be satire. It is shocking in its irony because the Australian colony was originally populated with predominantly criminals. According to the new eugenics line of thought, all Australian families, other than new arrivals carry as per the eugenics line of thought, a predisposition, of genetically predetermined behaviour, one that is now being openly classified, as a genetic trait. Doubly ironic, is the historical fact, that they even sent unwilling females from England, who were upon arrival, to be bred with no choice in the matter like cattle, and to service those men deemed as worthy. Nothing in the Australian colony, a previous penal colony, seems to have changed too much, just the family names of the families with titles or letters before their names now differ. And instead of hanging you, they now classify you, and your family, as a genetic medical issue, or defect. A medical issue to be slowly euthanised for the benefit, and protection of society, and the greater good.

The only consideration that this worst-case scenario leaves me with, is have the educated hit the philosophical slippery slope, or have they just thrown the new commoners down it? Creating a caste system via an education system. An education system, skewed in the favour of those with new age titles. An education system, giving systemic preferential treatment too those with new age titles, and their children. Is the new commoner’s child starved of an education? A quality education? One which is now harder for my geographical neighbours to find. An education, which helps prevent their public-school child or children, and their family, from a statistically higher chance, of a state sanctioned, and a state sponsored statistical death march. A march, that begins, and ends, in a trip to building B. A trip, with a higher chance of genocide at the end. And as it stands, my neighbours are being told,” let them eat cake!”

 

While out chasing butterflies this little guy landed right next to me!!! They usually never stop flying so I was real lucky!!! Hand held with the D 90~~!! Have a nice day be back later~~~~MA!!!;-)))

 

Hummingbird Hawk-moth (Macroglossum stellatarum) is a species of Sphingidae. Its long proboscis and its hovering behavior, accompanied by an audible humming noise, make it look remarkably like a hummingbird while feeding on flowers. It is theorised that this resemblance is a result of convergent evolution. It flies during the day, especially in bright sunshine, but also at dusk,[1] dawn, and even in the rain, which is unusual for even diurnal hawkmoths.[2] Its visual abilities have been much studied, and it has been shown to have a relatively good ability to learn colours.

 

The narrow galaxy elegantly curving around its spherical companion in this image is a fantastic example of a truly strange and very rare phenomenon. This image, taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, depicts GAL-CLUS-022058s, located in the southern hemisphere constellation of Fornax (The Furnace). GAL-CLUS-022058s is the largest and one of the most complete Einstein rings ever discovered in our Universe. The object has been nicknamed by the Principal Investigator and his team who are studying this Einstein ring as the "Molten Ring", which alludes to its appearance and host constellation.

 

First theorised to exist by Einstein in his general theory of relativity, this object’s unusual shape can be explained by a process called gravitational lensing, which causes light shining from far away to be bent and pulled by the gravity of an object between its source and the observer. In this case, the light from the background galaxy has been distorted into the curve we see by the gravity of the galaxy cluster sitting in front of it. The near exact alignment of the background galaxy with the central elliptical galaxy of the cluster, seen in the middle of this image, has warped and magnified the image of the background galaxy around itself into an almost perfect ring. The gravity from other galaxies in the cluster is soon to cause additional distortions.

 

Objects like these are the ideal laboratory in which to research galaxies too faint and distant to otherwise see.

 

Credits: ESA/Hubble & NASA, S. Jha; CC BY 4.0 Acknowledgement: L. Shatz

Sherri's son Hunter (that's the two of them in the distance) gave us comp tickets with the helicopter company he guides for. We took an amazing trip up to the Mendenhall Glacier 2 weeks ago...

 

This is the landscape that greets one...

 

It's counter intuitive, but with the recession of the glaciers, scientists theorise that our shorelines around SE Alaska are rising--the glacier rebound--so although other coastlines will lose land we're gaining...this global warming is one wacky dude...

 

Oh, and Kburki reminded me of that very odd shiny thing in the upper portion of the photo--it's really freaking us all out as we're not sure if it's real, seeing how we haven't seen it for what feels like years...

Down through the centuries there have been vivid debates among the theologians of the 'universal', Catholic Church on how to deal with the beliefs of non-European non-Christians, especially those encountered on voyages of discovery from the fifteenth century onward. Catholic Christianity was obviously regarded as the sole Truth, but might the 'forms' of other faiths perhaps be used as missionary tools? How far could one go without compromising the Christian faith?

One of the fascinating examples of this debate is the way some Dutch Catholics dealt with and theorised about Hinduism at Ganjuran, Java, Indonesia (see several photos in this stream: www.flickr.com/photos/87453322@N00/16185799867/in/photoli...).

Another instance - perhaps even more syncretic - is this cupola of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception here in Apia, 'Upolu, Samoa.

Central in the Sky is the Virgin's Assumption into heaven. But that depiction is one of the few that I know which has 'native' cherubs.

More interesting is the ceremony in the fale. There a woman - in obvious reference to the Virgin - is presiding over a native Samoa 'ava ceremony. Before her is a tanoa, a bowl containing an extract from the root of Piper methysticum, Kava or 'ava. The intoxicating drink will be passed around marking an important event; in this case the Vrigin's Assumption. The participants of the ceremony are Samoans and you can clearly for example see their tattoos. Beside the pillars of the fale stand Jesus and his disciples.

Catholicism was brought to these islands in the middle of the nineteenth century. It would be interesting to know what Pierre Marie Bataillon (1810-1877), Marist Bishop who established this cathedral (1851/7), thought about this appropriation of native culture. Once I return to Europe I might look into that.

The present church is a renewed building because the former one was basically destroyed by an earthquake in 2009.

 

East (or Easter) Aquhorthies Stone Circle is a Recumbent Stone Circle which was used as a religious site by the Neolithic people, some 4,000-5,000 years ago. Archaeologists have theorised that the Recumbent Stone Circle was built specifically to monitor the moons phases throughout the year and is believed to have been used in religious rituals.

DER KÖLNER SPIEGEL - CITY HALL TOWER, ALTER MARKT

 

I could not resist taking a very quick shot of this. Opposite this is a large clock and on the hour a human face pulls out his tongue at the "naughty" mooner!

  

A Kallendresser squats and does his thing - a 'Spiegel' (mirror) is when someone bares his bottom and additionally bends down to show his face between his legs...perhaps the medieval equivalent of flipping a double bird? The Kölner Spiegel got a lot of attention a couple years ago when someone noticed that other anatomically correct body parts are also visible, giving the appearance that the figure is up to more than just mooning everyone. There is also questionable controversy about it's given location - it's the city hall tower podest figurine of one of Cologne's most historically powerful men - Konrad von Hochstaden. He was the Archbishop of Cologne from 1238 - 1261. The position was very powerful at the time, one of the seven elector seats of the Holy Roman Empire, many Kings throughout Europe sought his approval before coronation. He was also was the man that laid the foundation stone for the Dom, the newer bigger cathedral needed to house the Relics of the Magi. Some theorise that he had upset many when used his authority to implement a levy on beer. Not exactly a popular decision in a city of many breweries. So when the city hall tower was built in 1404-1414 and shortly thereafter adorned with statues of the city's forefathers including his likeness, perhaps this was a way of showing popular sentiment?

Women of the Kayan tribes identify themselves by their forms of dress. Women of the Kayan Lahwi tribe are well known for wearing neck rings, brass coils that are placed around the neck, appearing to lengthen it. The women wearing these coils are known as "giraffe women" to tourists.

Girls first start to wear rings when they are around 5 years old. Over the years the coil is replaced by a longer one and more turns are added. The weight of the brass pushes the collar bone down and compresses the rib cage. The neck itself is not lengthened; the appearance of a stretched neck is created by the deformation of the clavicle. Many ideas regarding why the coils are worn have been suggested, often formed by visiting anthropologists, who have hypothesized that the rings protected women from becoming slaves by making them less attractive to other tribes. It has also been theorised that the coils originate from the desire to look more attractive by exaggerating sexual dimorphism, as women have more slender necks than men. It has also been suggested that the coils give the women resemblance to a dragon, an important figure in Kayan folklore.[9] The coils might be meant to protect from tiger bites, perhaps literally, but probably symbolically.[

  

Ikebana de Monika Nussberger

École Misho

Ikebana International, Paris

 

L'école d'Ikebana Misho a été fondée en 1807 par Ippo Mishosai. Théorisée dans les dernières années de la période Edo, cet art floral a pour fondement un principe appelé Kyojitsu tobun qui met à égalité de beauté le vrai (la nature à l'état sauvage) et le faux (la nature transformée par l'homme). Actuellement, l'école Misho poursuit l'enseignement artistique d'origine (kakubana) tout en se modernisant (style shinka).

 

Ikebana présenté dans l'exposition "Ikebana, encore et encore" Maison de la culture du Japon (MCJ), Paris

 

www.mcjp.fr/fr/la-mcjp/actualites/ikebana-encore-et-encor...

Name: Taylor “Halax” Adam Ryland

Aliases: Halax, Lost Marine, The Space Ronin

Age: Around 20s’

 

Bio: Taylor Ryland was born in Earth and moved around planets while growing up. He had a partly rough life surviving society and school, but still managed to get through. During his late teens, he took a few jobs after graduation and became a Space Marine and went on many missions. Despite being a loner/“ronin”, he was nicknamed “Halax” by many of his allies and comrades.

 

During one his last missions, he was left stranded on a seemingly lifeless planet. Without much resources, he made himself a drifter and developed new forms of fighting styles, while stumbling across many things and even some organic beings. It would depend on his journey if he could find survivors...

  

Powers and abilities: 1/4 alien genes, partly enhanced genetics at birth, he has super strength, durability, agility, senses, reflexes, dexterity, night vision and etc. He is also invulnerable against diseases,toxins and deadly poisons. Other than that, he is a skilled Space Marine, being good at combat, marksmanship and firearms. Taylor is also good at pain tolerance, torture, survive and adapting in almost anywhere and anything, such as creating custom materials out of a rainforest. Also possesses many skills. Lastly, theorised to be immortal.

 

Equipment: A custom tattered protective suit, in which one arm has lost clothing, and a piece durable armour. He has a unbreakable machete lined with alien material, a sharp combat knife, a shotgun that almost never runs out of ammo, when broken down, it functions as a pistol and the other end as a pair of binoculars. While on the planet, Taylor found a lost sword in which he uses as a main weapon.

 

Weaknesses: Despite being a superhuman, he lacks other forms of power. He is susceptible to being alone and hesitates to take innocent lives.

 

Personality: Warrior at heart, survivor, bold, well rounded, determination, deducing, observant, courageous, sometimes sarcastic.

de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schloss_Rothm%C3%BChle

Franz Anton Mesmer (/ˈmɛzmər/;[1] German: [ˈmɛsmɐ]; 23 May 1734 – 5 March 1815) was a German physician with an interest in astronomy. He theorised the existence of a natural energy transference occurring between all animated and inanimate objects; this he called "animal magnetism", sometimes later referred to as mesmerism. Mesmer's theory attracted a wide following between about 1780 and 1850, and continued to have some influence until the end of the 19th century

When I first saw her face of serenity I spent some time thinking what would have brought it to her.

 

It is difficult to know given I don't know her story. That is part of the beauty of travelling, right? Discovering new things we might never understand, but at least, the brief exposure to them opens our minds to new realities.

 

So I can only theorise that she lived a life according to her principles and values, a spiritual life and that she acted with integrity, love and decency. And hence her expression.

 

Would you like to buy it?

society6.com/product/face-of-serenity_framed-print

 

All the prints, Daniel Vicario's shop

society6.com/flowlover/prints

The coco-de-mer is endemic to the Seychelles -- not to the Maldives, despite the scientific name -- growing naturally on Praslin Island and neighbouring islands and nowhere else in the world. Up to 50 cm in diameter and weighing up to 30 kg, this is easily the largest seed of any plant. Given its erotic resemblance to the human female form (the rear resembles human buttocks too), all sorts of legends have arisen in connection with it, chiefly that it possesses magical properties.

These nuts were occasionally washed ashore in countries bordering the Indian Ocean. This is the natural method of dispersal and germination for coconuts, but not so for the coco-de-mer, which has male and female plants. Male palms have catkins which are also curiously erotic (phallic) in appearance. Thus the coco-de-mer cannot grow naturally outside the Seychelles.

Since the Seychelles were unknown to humans until the 18th century, the origin of the nuts was the subject of much speculation. It was theorised that the palms grew on the seabed -- hence the French name meaning coconut of the sea -- because Malay sailors had observed nuts "falling upwards" to the surface of the sea. This observation was in fact accurate, because of course the nuts are much too heavy to float and sink to the seabed, until they decay and acquire gases that enable them to float. Only then can they be deposited on foreign shores. Such washed-up nuts had great monetary value until the French explorer Duchemin discovered the coco-de-mer palm on Praslin Island in 1769 and took a cargo of nuts to the outside world. Thereafter, the bottom fell out of the market. From a slide.

120624 001

 

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In 1932 the physicists John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton, at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, devised a technique for bombarding atomic nuclei with protons (hydrogen nuclei) that had been accelerated in a powerful electric field. The aim of these attempts to 'split the atom' was to explore the basic composition of matter.

 

Scientists had been theorising for some time about what atoms were like and how they behaved. The Swiss, Heinrich Greinacher, published a paper in 1921 on how such an experiment might work in practice - Cockcroft and Walton were the first to conduct those experiments successfully.

 

Experiments to investigate atoms and sub-atomic particles required huge pieces of apparatus to generate the high voltages needed. The growth of this experimental apparatus started in 1930, when Cockcroft and Walton developed a voltage-multiplying circuit that used capacitors (components used to store energy) to produce high voltage direct current (DC) from a much lower alternating current (AC). They erected a column of rectifier diodes (which allow the electrical current to move forwards but prevent it from moving back again) and capacitors to produce a DC voltage four times greater than the AC voltage.

 

These experiments showed that the atomic nucleus was not an indivisible and basic unit, but had its own internal structure. This included the newly-revealed sub-atomic particles which were 'broken out' of the nucleus by these experiments. This growing understanding of atomic structure and of atomic disintegration led during the 1930s directly to ideas for atomic power and the atomic bomb.

 

The machine shown here is the cascade generator, built by Philips of Eindhoven in 1937, and installed in the Cavendish Laboratory. It was designed to produce the-then high voltage (up to 1.25 million volts) required to accelerate the particles.

 

During the Second World War the machine was used to investigate the properties of uranium and plutonium as a contribution to the Manhattan Project which manufactured the first atomic bombs. It was succeeded by a more efficient American-designed cyclotron, which itself was obsolescent by the end of the war.

 

Cockcroft and Walton were recognised for their pioneering work in this field in 1951 when they won the Nobel Prize for Physics. Much-refined (and miniaturised) Cockcroft-Walton circuits are still used in particle accelerators. They also are used in everyday electronic devices that require high voltages, such as X-ray machines, cathode-ray tube television sets, microwave ovens and photocopiers.

 

The Science Museum in South Kensington, London, acquired the Cockcroft-Walton Voltage Multiplier in 1982.

 

This is a clearer version of a colour image I posted a number of years ago.

Maligne Lake is a lake in Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada. It is located 44 km (27 mi) south of Jasper town site, accessible by motor vehicle. Boat trips run to Spirit Island, one of the most popular sights of Jasper National Park.

 

Maligne Lake is approximately 22.5 km (14 mi) long and is 97 m (318 ft) at its deepest point. It averages 35 m (115 ft) in depth. It sits at approximately 1,670 m (5,479 ft) asl. It boasts a resident self sustaining population of rainbow trout and brook trout.

 

Maligne lake is fed and drained by the Maligne River, which enters the lake on its south side, near Mount Unwin. The Maligne River drains the lake from its northern end. Maligne Lake, as well as Maligne River, Maligne Mountain, and Maligne Pass, takes its name from the French word for malignant or wicked. It is theorised that an early French voyageur created this name in reference to the current of the Maligne River near its confluence with the Athabasca River.

 

This is picture one of two of the Boat House, another one tomorrow. Definitely one of my favourite spots on the trip

 

Explored 23.12.08 - #320

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_wagtail

  

The White Wagtail (Motacilla alba) is a small passerine bird in the wagtail family Motacillidae, which also includes the pipits and longclaws. This species breeds in much of Europe and Asia and parts of north Africa. It is resident in the mildest parts of its range, but otherwise migrates to Africa. It has a toehold in Alaska as a scarce breeder. In the British Isles the darker sub-species the Pied Wagtail (M. a. yarrellii) predominates.

 

The White Wagtail is an insectivorous bird of open country, often near habitation and water. It prefers bare areas for feeding, where it can see and pursue its prey. In urban areas it has adapted to foraging on paved areas such as car parks. It nests in crevices in stone walls and similar natural and man-made structures.

 

The White Wagtail is the national bird of Latvia.

  

Taxonomy and systematics

  

The White Wagtail was one of the many species originally described by Linnaeus in his 18th century work, Systema Naturae, and it still bears its original name of Motacilla alba.[3] The Latin genus name originally meant "little mover", but certain medieval writers thought it meant "wag-tail", giving rise to a new Latin word cilla for "tail".[4] The specific epithet alba is Latin for "white".

 

Within the wagtail genus Motacilla, the White Wagtail's closest relatives appear to be other black-and-white wagtails such as the Japanese Wagtail, Motacilla grandis, and the White-browed Wagtail, Motacilla madaraspatensis (and possibly the Mekong Wagtail, Motacilla samveasnae, the phylogenetic position of which is mysterious), with which it appears to form a superspecies. However, mtDNA cytochrome b and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 sequence data suggests that the White Wagtail is itself polyphyletic or paraphyletic (i.e. the species is not itself a single coherent grouping).[5] Other phylogenetic studies using mtDNA still suggest that there is considerable gene flow within the races and the resulting closeness makes Motacilla alba a single species.[6] Some studies have suggested the existence of only two groups : the alboides group, with M. a. alboides, M. a. leucopsis and M. a. personata; and the alba group, with M. a. alba, M. a. yarrellii, M. a. baicalensis, M. a. ocularis, M. a. lugens, and M. a. subpersonata.[7]

  

Description

  

The White Wagtail is a slender bird, 16.5–19 cm (6½–7½ in) in length (East Asian subspecies are longer, measuring up to 21 cm (8¼ in), with the characteristic long, constantly wagging tail of its genus. Its average weight is 25 g (0.88 oz) and the maximum lifespan in the wild is ca. 12 years.[8] The nominate subspecies Motacilla alba alba is basically grey above and white below, with a white face, black cap and black throat.

 

There are a number of other subspecies, some of which may have arisen because of partial geographical isolation, such as the resident British form, the Pied Wagtail M. a. yarrellii, which now also breeds in adjacent areas of the neighbouring European mainland. The Pied Wagtail, named for naturalist William Yarrell, exchanges the grey colour of the nominate form with black (or very dark grey in females), but is otherwise identical in its behaviour. Other subspecies, the validity of some of which is questionable, differ in the colour of the wings, back, and head, or other features. Some races show sexual dimorphism during the breeding season. As many as six subspecies may be present in the wintering ground in India or Southeast Asia and here they can be difficult to distinguish.[9][10][11][12] Phylogenetic studies using mtDNA suggest that some morphological features have evolved more than once, including the back and chin colour. Breeding M. a. yarrellii look much like the nominate race except for the black back, and M. a. alboides of the Himalayas differs from the Central Asian M. a. personata only by its black back. M. a. personata has been recorded breeding in the Siddar Valley of Kashmir of the Western Himalayas.[13] It has also been noted that both back and chin change colour during the pre-basic moult; all black-throated subspecies develop white chins and throats in winter and some black-backed birds are grey-backed in winter.[6][9]

 

The call of the White Wagtail is a sharp chisick, slightly softer than the version given by the Pied Wagtail. The song is a pleasant twittering, more regular in White than Pied, but with little territorial significance, since the male uses a series of contact calls to attract the female.[

  

Subspecies

  

Nine or eleven subspecies are currently recognised. Information on the plumage differences and distribution of the subspecies of the White Wagtail is shown below

  

Subspecies

  

M. a. alba. Europe from the Iberian Peninsula to Ural Mountains, Turkey, the Levant, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Greenland's east coast. Some migrate to the south of Europe and Africa down as far as Kenya and Malawi.Nominate subspecies

  

M. a. yarrellii. Great Britain and Ireland, birds in the northern part of the range winter in Spain and North Africa, those further south are resident.[16]Pied Wagtail. Has a much blacker back than the nominate race, black of throat continues on side of neck

  

M. a. dukhunensis.West Siberian Plain – east Caspian Sea (part of Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan), winters in the Middle East and India. Sometimes included in alba.[16]Indian Pied Wagtail. The upperparts of this subspecies are paler and more blue-grey than nominate, and has it has a continuous unbroken white panel on wing coverts.

  

M. a. persicaNorth central and western Iran. Intermediate between M. a. dukhunensis and M. a. personata. Often included in alba; appears to be hybrid or intergrade population.[16]

  

M. a. subpersonataNon-migratory resident of MoroccoMoroccan Wagtail. It has more black on the head than the nominate, and resembles a grey-backed, white-throated African Pied Wagtail

  

M. a. personataHindu Kush, Tian Shan, Altay Mountains (northern Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Xinjiang)Masked Wagtail. All-black head with a white face mask

  

M. a. alboidesHimalayas and surrounding areaThis subspecies has a black back and a lot of black around the head, a white wing panel and white edges on the secondaries and tertials.

  

M. a. baicalensisRussia in Lake Baikal area, Mongolia, Inner MongoliaResembles M. a. leucopsis but grey back and less white on head and wing.

  

M. a. ocularisSiberia, Far Eastern (Russia, eastwards from Central Siberian Plateau) expanding into West Alaska

  

M. a. lugensRussia Far East (Primorsky Krai, Khabarovsk Krai), Kamchatka Peninsula, Kuril Islands, Sakhalin, Japan (Hokkaidō, Honshū)Black-backed Wagtail or Kamchatka/Japanese Pied Wagtail, similar to M. a. yarrellii, but has a black eyestripe and white remiges; might have a claim to constitute a distinct species.

  

M. a. leucopsisChina, Korean Peninsula, Taiwan, Japan (Ryukyu Islands, Kyūshū)

expanding into Japan (Honshū), Southeast Asia, India and Oceania Amur Wagtail

  

Behaviour and ecology

  

The most conspicuous habit of this species is a near-constant tail wagging, a trait that has given the species, and indeed the genus, its common name. In spite of the ubiquity of this behaviour, the reasons for it are poorly understood. It has been suggested that it may flush prey, or signal submissiveness to other wagtails. A recent study has suggested instead that it is a signal of vigilance to potential predators.[23]

  

Diet and feeding

  

The exact composition of the diet of White Wagtails varies by location, but terrestrial and aquatic insects and other small invertebrates form the major part of the diet. These range from beetles, dragonflies, small snails, spiders, worms, crustaceans, to maggots found in carcasses and, most importantly, flies in the order Diptera.[16] Small fish fry have also been recorded in the diet. The White Wagtail is somewhat unusual in the parts of it range where it is non-migratory as it is an insectivorous bird that continues to feed on insects during the winter (most other insectivorous birds in temperate climates migrate or switch to more vegetable matter)

  

Breeding

  

White Wagtails are monogamous and defend breeding territories.[16] The breeding season for most is from April to August, with the season starting later further north. Both sexes are responsible for building the nest, with the male responsible for initiating the nest building and the female for finishing the process. For second broods in the subspecies personata the female alone builds the nest as the male is still provisioning the young.[25] which is a rough cup assembled from twigs, grass, leaves and other plant matter. It is lined with soft materials, including animal hair. The nest is set into a crevice or hole; traditionally in a bank next to a river or ditch, but the species has also adapted to nesting in walls, bridges and buildings. One nest was found in the skull of a walrus. They species will nest in association with other animals, particularly where available the dams of beavers and also inside the nests of Golden Eagles.[25] Around 3–8 eggs are laid, with the usual number being 4–6. Its eggs are cream-coloured, often with a faint bluish-green or turquoise tint, and heavily spotted with reddish brown; they measure, on average, 21×15 mm (0.83×0.59 inches).[26] Both parents incubate the eggs, although the female generally does so for longer and incubates at night. The eggs begin to hatch after 12 days (sometimes as late as 16 days). Both parents feed the chicks until they fledge at around 14 days, and the chicks are fed for another week after fledging.

 

Though it is known to be a host species for the Common Cuckoo, the White Wagtail typically deserts its nest if it has been parasitised. Scientists theorise that this occurs because the wagtail is too small to push the intruding egg out of the nest, and too short-billed to destroy the egg by puncturing it.[27]

  

Status

  

This species has a large range, with an estimated extent of more than 10 million km² (3.8 sq mi). The population size is unknown, but it is believed to be large, as the species is described as "common" in at least parts of its range. Population trends have not been quantified, but the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e. declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations). For these reasons, the species is evaluated as Least Concern.[1] The population in Europe appears to be stable.[20] The species has adapted well to human changes to the environment, and has in fact exploited human changes such as man-made structures which are used for nesting sites and increased open areas which are used for foraging.[16] In a number of cities, notably Dublin, large flocks gather in winter to roost.

 

NGC 4618 was discovered on 9 April 1787 by the German-British astronomer, Wilhelm Herschel, who also discovered Uranus in 1781. Only a year before discovering NGC 4618, Herschel theorised that the “foggy” objects astronomers were seeing in the night sky were likely to be large star clusters located much further away then the individual stars he could easily discern.

 

More information: www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw2012a/

 

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, I. Karachentsev