A common theme in the Middle Ages was the use of astronomy for the reckoning of time, first for religious and later for civil purposes. Timekeepers ranging from sundials to ornate astronomical clocks were often incorporated as a semi-permanent feature of churches and other religious or civic structures. The Cathedral of Chartres, for example, incorporates two astronomical clocks and an ornate sculptural sundial.

A great photo and tribute found on the www.rra.org.uk site

Les Lowe: 1931-2013 A man for all season:

A Sporting Tribute by John Taylor.

I’m sad to say that I’d actually envisaged writing these very words of tribute to Les so many times in the last decade, as I’d seen his health gradually deteriorate during that time, and I’m not sure in what order his illnesses occurred. I remember him observing on road record attempts around the new Millennium, and never missing his marshalling and checking duties in the Mersey ‘24’, despite him taking a day or two to get there on his trike in more recent years with an overnight stop, his last stint of duty being in 2009. His breathing during those years became gradually more laboured and he told me he had a faulty valve in his heart. He lived alone at Stretton near Burton on Trent, but there were many other keen club cyclists living locally who knew him, phoned him, called in to keep their eye on him, and made sure he was okay.

It was this vigilance by neighbours and cycling friends that helped him to stay alive, as he’d been found on two or three occasions in a very poor state, and taken to hospital for treatment, re-hydration and recovery, and on one of those occasions during the winter of 2010-2011 he had a cardiac ‘pace-maker’ fitted. Les was the VTTA records secretary during his latter years and this took up much of his time, but apart from a touch of deafness he had a very active brain and a good memory. Over the years he’d gradually succumbed to a form of curvature of the spine, and I often wondered whether it was triggered off by a particularly painful ride he’d had on the back of a tandem in the Mersey ‘24’ back in 1982, when he’d ridden for many hours with a stiff neck, and strained back muscles from leaning to one side to see past the steersman Pat Kenny. Les and Pat put up a new competition record of 430.52m that weekend, and as one of their helpers, I wince every time I recall trying to help him to dismount at the end, where he sat on the grass bank, his upper body twisted and his face contorted with pain.

As the title of this tribute suggests, Les rode all the year round, and when the time-trialing season finished he rode Audax UK events, in fact he was one of the founder members of AUK in 1976 when he rode the inaugural Paris-Brest-Paris. His time-trials weren’t restricted just to the UK either, as Jim Hopper recalled, they both went over to Switzerland on a couple of occasions to ride a 12hr time-trial at Zurich. In the late 1980’s Les topped the 300,000 Mile Club’s total mileage competition with over 600,000m, and it’s about this time that he took up racing on a trike for a new lease of life. I used to read the Audax UK magazine, and during one Windsor-Chester-Windsor randonee ridden in atrocious conditions, Les was said to have slept inside a telephone box for a couple of hours during the night! I think it’s safe to say that he was an inspiration to many of the tough, rugged AUK riders and long distance time-trialists at that time, but by 2009 at 78yrs of age Les had dropped to 4th in the mileage competition with 787,213m, old age having taken it’s severe toll on him.

He started life on the Isle of Man, and being a keen rider from an early age he soon became well known in cycling circles. Later he came over to England to study, and further his education, which resulted in him gaining a degree in Engineering. He then joined the RAF, and flew to various parts of the world in a Shackleton as a Flight Engineer. On returning to civilian life he took a job with Rolls-Royce Aero Engines at Derby, and it must have been about this time that he continued seriously with his cycling career and interests, which were time-trials (the longer the better) and in road records, mainly with the MRRA. For relaxation Les used to ‘tour’ extensively on his bike, here and in Europe. He originally started club-life and racing with the Long Eaton Paragon CC, and Jim Hopper said the reason why he switched to the Speedwell BC was to become a member of their ‘24hr’ team. In later life he also became a member of his local club the Mercia CC.

I first met Les in the early 1960’s whilst helping my team-mates Pete Swinden, John Withers and Pat Kenny in the Mersey ‘24’ and Les was one of the first to join the 24Hr Fellowship in 1960, taking many active roles on the committee during the 53 years since then. He wrote articles and race reports for the Journal, and I’ve since used many of his event descriptions in my book ‘The 24Hr Story’. His enthusiasm for the ‘24hr’ scene was infectious, which resulted in us St Christopher’s lads regularly riding the Mersey and North Road events. Road record breaking with the MRRA was also one of Les’ interests, probably after seeing Pete & John’s tandem 24hr record of 449m in 1961, and Pat’s record ‘24’ of 430.5m on a bike in 1964, and I will now list a few of Les’ road records.

His first was the 24hr bike record of 438m in 1965, which he still holds, his 2nd record was the B’ham to Llandudno in 5hrs 10mins 16secs on a tandem with Ian Shaw in 1966, and then the B’ham to York & back with Ian that same year in 11hrs 50mins 38secs, (a record they still hold). In 1967 Les put up the current bike record of 17hrs 39mins 07secs for ‘The Circuit of the MRRA’, visiting the Midland towns and cities of Warwick, Worcester, Gloucester, Shrewsbury, Stafford, Leicester, Northampton, Nottingham, Oxford and Derby. 1981 saw him stoking the tandem for Pat Kenny and putting up the current RRA B’ham to London record of 4hrs 29mins 52secs, (you may recall me mentioning in a recent Journal, how ‘hairy’ that attempt was, when Pat and Les came close to getting squashed between two buses as they entered the suburbs of London!)

On a trike in 1982 he took the B’ham to York & back with the current record time of 14hrs 20 mins 11secs; and in 1985, one of his last records was over the B’ham to Llandudno route with Jim Ithell on a tandem trike in 5hrs 27mins 36s. Of course there were many more records, including some ‘mixed’ ones, but I felt those that I’ve mentioned were a good cross-section to portray Les’ strengths, and stamina. Over a period of 36 years he rode a vast amount of ‘24’s, at least 35, and to my knowledge, only George Berwick and Jack Spackman have ridden more. Les had a few good placings in ‘24’s during those years with rides over 440m, and rather than list them all, I’ve chosen just a few of his performances. His first was the Catford in 1959 with 424.3 miles, progressing to probably his best mileage the following year with 446.7m in the North Road ‘24’. In the 1966 Wessex RC Championship with 444m he led Speedwell BC’s Ian Shaw and Ken Smith to a 2nd team mileage of 1,278m.

In 1973 he came 2nd in the North Road with 439.7m. In 1982 he won the medal for the ‘fastest trike’ in the North Road event with 393.2m, and in the 1985 Mersey he put up a new tandem trike Competition Record of 419.15m with Jim Hopper. In 1985 he rode 403.4m on his bike in the North Midlands CA ‘24’, and one of his last North Road events on a bike was in 1988 with 398.9m. At the beginning of this tribute I mentioned Les checking, marshalling, and helping riders during events, he was also an official observer and roadside checker on RRA road record attempts, and over the last 60 years he’s done more than his fair share for the sport.

Les leaves an older brother who still resides in the Isle of Man, and his niece Christine. We sadly learned of his death from Tony Shardlow who said that ‘Les had passed the timekeeper for the last time!’

My thanks go to Jim Hopper for some of the details of Les Lowe’s life.

Big Ben, London

Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the clock at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London and is usually extended to refer to both the clock and the clock tower. The tower is officially Elizabeth Tower, renamed to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II in 2012; until then, it was known simply as the Clock Tower.

The tower was designed by Augustus Pugin in a neo-gothic style. When completed in 1859, it was, says horologist Ian Westworth, "the prince of timekeepers: the biggest, most accurate four-faced striking and chiming clock in the world". It stands 315 feet (96 m) tall, and the climb from ground level to the belfry is 334 steps. Its base is square, measuring 39 feet (12 m) on each side. Dials of the clock are 23 feet (7.0 m) in diameter. On 31 May 2009, celebrations were held to mark the tower's 150th anniversary.

Big Ben is the largest of five bells and weighs 13½ tons (13.76 tonnes). It was the largest bell in the United Kingdom for 23 years. The origin of the bell's nickname is open to question; it may be named after Sir Benjamin Hall, who oversaw its installation, or after boxing heavyweight champion Benjamin Caunt. Four quarter bells chime at 15, 30 and 45 minutes past the hour, and also just before Big Ben tolls on the hour. The clock still uses the original Victorian mechanism, but an electric motor is sometimes used as a backup.

Address: Westminster, London SW1A 0AA, UK

Height: 96 m

Opened: 1859

Floors: 11

Architectural style: Gothic Revival architecture

Phone: +44 20 7219 4272

Architects: Augustus Pugin, Charles Barry

Copyright : SANTANU MAITY PHOTOGRAPHY

Camera : Nikon D810, Nikkor 24-120 MM

Thank you.

Little Breena was fascinated by this sundial she found while exploring the cemetary last Saturday with friends Dreamdust and The Man.

hello again!

it's been a long time since i shoot and uploaded something new and i almost forgot how fun photography is!! i was soooo excited to show you this picture!! to be honest, i'm beyond happy with how this turned out. :D

the topic of the picture perfectly applies to my life right now. i'm constantly thinking about deadlines and age, about how time flies and about how i don't have enough time to do things. there's never enough time. and especially there is not enough time left with my friends. in a few months we all will graduate and then we will be scattered to the four winds. i don't like that thought, because now in college i finally found those friends you want to keep close.

my model and this gorgeous girl is Elena. she was awesome! even though it was freezing, she stayed with the props at the location while i rushed back home to get the cape, because i totally forgot about it and left it on my bed.

+ detail shot in the comments

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A shot created for Saturday self Challenge 26/02/2022 -- Time !

Time is a huge subject from looking at your watch to see if it is lunch yet to a whole section of science and the Fourth Dimension . Well this challenge was a challenge to figure what aspect of time to concentrate on . Therefore , not wanting to just take a shot of the clock in the kitchen or the local church clock I have gone a bit more theoretical and chosen something to do with time that does not exist other than a line on map . Yes the Greenwich Meridian does exist at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich but no chance of getting there for a shot so I resort to one of my maps .

Here the Greenwich Meridian can be seen as the vertical green line on the right of the map . Note there is Kenley Airfield on the map but the Meridian does not go any where near - on the other hand further north the line does in fact go right through East Kirkby Airfield

( home to NX 611 - the Just Jane Avro Lancaster ) .

A little bit about the Greenwich Meridian -----

The Royal Observatory Greenwich is the home of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). But what is GMT and why is it so important?Greenwich Mean Time is the yearly average (or ‘mean’) of the time each day when the Sun crosses the Prime Meridian at the Royal Observatory Greenwich. Essentially, mean time is clock time rather than solar (astronomical) time. Solar time varies throughout the year, as the time interval between the Sun crossing a set meridian line changes.It’s a way of standardising and regularising time so we can all know exactly what time it is for our (or anyone’s) location.Today GMT is reckoned from one midnight to the next.GMT stands for Greenwich Mean Time, the local clock time at Greenwich. From 1884 until 1972, GMT was the international standard of civil time. Though it has now been replaced by Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), GMT is still the legal time in Britain in the winter, used by the Met Office, Royal Navy and BBC World Service. Greenwich Mean Time is also the name of the time zone used by some countries in Africa and Western Europe, including in Iceland all year round.It wasn’t until the invention of the pendulum clock in the 1650s that it was possible to work out the relationship between mean (clock) time and solar time.John Flamsteed came up with the formula for converting solar time to mean time, and published a set of conversion tables in the early 1670s. Soon after, he was appointed as the first Astronomer Royal and moved into the new Royal Observatory in Greenwich.Here he had the best pendulum clocks installed and set them to the local time. This was Greenwich Mean Time, or the average time when the Sun crossed the meridian at Greenwich. At first though, Greenwich time was only really important to astronomers.In the 1700s, the fifth Astronomer Royal Nevil Maskelyne brought Greenwich Mean Time to a wider audience.In 1767 Maskelyne introduced the Nautical Almanac as part of the great 18th century quest to determine longitude. These were tables of ‘lunar distance’ data based on observations at Greenwich and using GMT as the time standard. This data enabled navigators to find their position at sea.GMT was also crucial to the other great solution to the ‘longitude problem’, represented by John Harrison’s famous timekeepers.British mariners started keeping at least one chronometer set to GMT. This meant they could calculate their longitude from the Greenwich meridian (longitude 0° by convention).These two solutions would help pave the way for GMT to become the worldwide time standard a century later.Until the mid-19th century, almost every town kept its own local time, defined by the Sun. There were no national or international conventions which set how time should be measured.This meant there was no standard timings for when the day would begin and end, or what length an hour might be. As well as Greenwich Mean Time for example, there was also Bristol Mean Time (10 minutes behind GMT) Cardiff Mean Time (13 minutes behind GMT).However, the 1850s and 1860s saw the expansion of the railway and communications networks. This meant the need for an national time standard became imperative.British railway companies started introducing a single standard time across their networks, designed to make their timetables less confusing. It was mostly Greenwich Mean Time that they used. GMT was ultimately adopted across Great Britain by the Railway Clearing House in December 1847. It officially became 'Railway Time'.By the mid-1850s, almost all public clocks in Britain were set to Greenwich Mean Time and it finally became Britain’s legal standard time in 1880.In 1884 the Greenwich Meridian was recommended as the Prime Meridian of the World.There were two main reasons for this. The first was that the USA had already chosen Greenwich as the basis for its own national time zone system. The second was that in the late 19th century, 72% of the world's commerce depended on sea-charts which used Greenwich as the Prime Meridian.The recommendation was based on the argument that naming Greenwich as Longitude 0º would be of advantage to the largest number of people.As the reference for GMT, the Prime Meridian at Greenwich therefore became the centre of world time and the basis for the global system of time zones.The Airy Transit Circle (telescope) became the telescope that would define the Prime Meridian of the World. Astronomer Royal George Biddell Airy designed it, and it is located at the Royal Observatory Greenwich.It was recommended that the meridian line would indicate 0° longitude. Therefore this also became the start of the Universal Day. The meridian line is marked by the cross-hairs in the Airy Transit Circle eyepiece.The Shepherd gate clock can be seen at the gates to the Royal Observatory. It was the first clock ever to show Greenwich Mean Time directly to the public. It is a 'slave' clock, connected to the Shepherd master clock which was installed at the Royal Observatory in 1852.From that time until 1893, the Shepherd master clock was the heart of Britain's time system. Its time was sent by telegraph wires to London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dublin, Belfast and many other cities. By 1866, time signals were also sent from the clock to Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts via the new transatlantic submarine cable.In terms of the distribution of accurate time into everyday life, it is one of the most important clocks ever made.The first thing you notice about the clock is that it has 24 hours on its face rather than the usual 12. That means at 12 noon the hour hand is pointing straight down rather than straight up.The clock originally indicated astronomical time, in which the counting of the 24 hours of each day starts at noon. The clock was changed in the 20th century to indicate Greenwich Mean Time, in which the counting of the 24 hours of each day starts at midnight. It continues to show Greenwich Mean Time and is not adjusted for British Summer Time.

The world followed Greenwich Mean Time till the 1960s when the atomic clocks took some of the responsibility. However, the atomic clocks cannot be fully trusted since after a while there is dysynchrony between the atomic clocks and the rotation of the Earth. The atomic clocks are very accurate but the rotation of the Earth is constantly slowing down. This will create differences between the atomic and the natural time.The aim was to have a time which is synchronized with the rotation of the earth. A new time called Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) was created. There was a dispute between the French and the English of the shortcut of the new time name. The French suggested a short cut TUC, Temps Universel Cordonné, and the English CUT from Coordinated Universal Time. As a compromise, UTC was chosen.

Time Out after all that ( sorry ) and Time Was !!

youtu.be/SjIvjmJQJYE

Jantar Mantar, one of several astronomical observatories raised by Maharaja Jai Singh II of Jaipur. Abstract structures within the Jantar Mantar are, in fact, instruments that were used for keeping track of celestial bodies. Yet, Jantar Mantar is not only a timekeeper of celestial bodies, it also tells a lot about the technological achievements under the Rajput kings and their attempt to resolve the mysteries regarding astronomy. The Jantar Mantar of Delhi is only one of the five observatories built by Sawai Jai Singh II, the other four being located at Jaipur, Varanasi, Ujjain and Mathura.

I've been persevering with my paper clip water loading technique! The refracted image in the droplets is of a 1950's Smith's pocket watch! I can see me using this technique many times over the course of my project 365!

Thanks to everyone who suggested ways of loading the paper clip with water yesterday! I eventually went with Reciprocity's suggestion of using a pointed wooden cocktail stick, dipped in water, and dragged across the clip. Go check out his amazing stream!

~FlickrIT~ | ~Lightbox~

A common theme in the Middle Ages was the use of astronomy for the reckoning of time, first for religious and later for civil purposes. Timekeepers ranging from sundials to ornate astronomical clocks were often incorporated as a semi-permanent feature of churches and other religious or civic structures. The Cathedral of Chartres, for example, incorporates two astronomical clocks and an ornate sculptural sundial.

The Royal Observatory was founded by King Charles II in 1675. Its purpose was a practical one: to reduce shipwrecks. At that time mariners had no accurate way of working out their position when out of sight of land. They could find their latitude (north-south position) by observing the sun or stars, but not their longitude (east-west position). As a result many sailors' lives were lost when their ships struck rocks unexpectedly. By the 1770s the problem of longitude had been solved. One answer was for a ship's captain to carry a reliable clock to keep ‘Greenwich Time' throughout the voyage. Alternatively he could use the Moon as a clock by measuring its position in the sky, relative to nearby stars, and referring to a detailed set of tables prepared annually at Greenwich. Armed with either of these timekeepers, or preferably both, mariners could make their own astronomical observations on board ship, and use them to work out their position anywhere on Earth. Solving the problem of longitude didn't mean the Observatory had nothing to do. The essential work of measuring time and compiling tables went on from year to year, and the Greenwich astronomers developed new interests too. In particular they began to do research,studying the stars and other objects in the sky, to find out what they are and how they work. By the early twentieth century, London had expanded so much that Greenwich was enveloped. The city's smoky air and bright lights meant that astronomers could no longer study faint objects in the night sky. The remedy was to move the whole Observatory to the clearer, darker skies of Sussex. The transfer began in 1947, and by 1958 the Royal Greenwich Observatory was fully up and running at Herstmonceux. At its peak, over 200 people worked at The Observatory in Herstmonceux and lived in the local community. The people who actually operated the telescopes at Herstmonceux were called ‘night observers'. They were on duty every night when the sky was clear and the Moon not too bright. On the Thompson 26-inch telescope, for example, the night observer's job was to line up the telescope on a succession of specified points in the sky, workingfrom a prearranged list of ‘shots', and to load in a photographic plate for each shot and expose it for a time that usually ranged from five minutes up to an hour or more. In 1990 The Royal Greenwich Observatory closed its doors at Herstmonceux and moved to Cambridge, leaving the historic telescopes behind. Five years later the Equatorial Group came back to life as The Observatory Science Centre, under the aegis of Science Projects. An extensive programme of repair and upgrading of the buildings and telescopes was completed in 2004 with the aid of a substantial grant from the National Heritage Lottery Fund. It is now a Grade II* listed monument. Along side the historic telescopes there are over 100 interactive hands-on exhibits and exhibitions.

www.fluidr.com/photos/8404101/interesting

Today at 10:15 CEST, ESA’s Atomic Clock Ensemble in Space (ACES) began its journey to the International Space Station on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, United States.

ACES carries the most accurate clocks ever flown in space – PHARAO and the Space Hydrogen Maser – designed to keep time so precisely that they would lose just one second every 300 million years. Developed by the French space agency CNES and Safran Timing Technologies in Switzerland, these European-built clocks will work with a sophisticated time transfer time using microwave and laser links to synchronise the best clocks all over Earth.

Later this week, the Station’s Canadian robotic arm will install ACES on the exterior of ESA’s Columbus module. From its vantage point 400 km above Earth, ACES will link its ultra-precise clocks with the best timekeepers on the ground, enabling groundbreaking tests of fundamental physics, including Einstein’s theory of general relativity. Over its 30-month mission, it will carry out extended measurement sessions to investigate the very nature of time and enhance global time synchronisation.

ACES is a fully European mission led by ESA, with Airbus as a prime contractor, and will be operated from control centres in France and Germany (CADMOS and Col-CC).

“The launch of ACES marks a major milestone for European science and international cooperation in space. With this mission, we are placing the most precise timepiece ever sent to orbit aboard the International Space Station — opening new frontiers in fundamental physics, time transfer, and global synchronization. ACES is a shining example of what Europe can achieve when we unite cutting-edge technology, scientific ambition, and strong partnerships”, says Daniel Neuenschwander, Director of Human & Robotic Exploration at ESA.

Would you like to find out more? Here’s seven things you probably didn’t know about ACES.

Credits: ESA-S. Corvaja

Inside the Ladd Observatory Transit Room (built 1891)

Brown University

Providence, Rhode Island

May 6th, 2014

Ever wonder how everyone kept track of time way back when? Read below to find out. This was taken in the Transit Room inside the Brown University’s Transit Room. Above the telescope in the photo, the roof opens up exposing the North to South line. From there, the stars could be viewed and the exact time could be determined for Providence, RI. The telegraph device seen to the right of the telescope would be used to mark the time and the official time could be adjusted. If you are the least bit interested in astronomy, definitely plan to visit the Ladd Observatory when they are open to the public on Tuesday’s night, see this for more info on times: www.brown.edu/Departments/Physics/Ladd/

Some info on the Transit Room:

At the far end of the observatory one can find the old transit room. This is where an observer would use a transit telescope to time stars crossing the local meridian, an imaginary north-south line passing through the observatory. Local time could then be precisely established, which was not only needed for astronomical calculations, but also for deriving civil time. Ladd Observatory was responsible as a time keeping service for the Providence area. And speaking of time, please note the various clocks throughout the observatory. They were an important piece of this time keeping tradition.

SOURCE: www.theskyscrapers.org/-42

Some info on how the Transit Room got to be restored:

Many observatories kept time before it became a function of the federal government, said Targan, also associate dean of the College for science education. When the nation moved from an agrarian lifestyle to an industrially based economy, keeping exact time became more vital. Train accidents occurred in the 1800s because the conductors’ watches were on different times, Targan said.

Since then, new technology such as computers and navigation systems have made precise timekeeping even more important. The science of timekeeping has kept up with the technology, Targan said.

Ladd’s two telescopes are less advanced than the atomic clock at the National Institute of Science and Technology in Boulder, Colo., which sets the international standard for time, but they still allow people to learn about the science and history behind timekeeping.

“We lose track of how we determine time in the first place,” Targan said. “When people look at their watches, what does that mean and what does that come from?”

With the restoration, Targan hopes to educate the public and answer those questions.

So, where do clocks get their time?

“The Earth itself is the most reliable timepiece we have,” astronomy concentrator David Eichhorn ’09 said.

Astronomers use the rotational period of the earth to keep time. “By looking at the stars entering above, you can time those stars as they cross key imaginary lines across the sky,” Targan said.

In Ladd Observatory’s transit room, an observer can press a key that makes an extra mark on the chronometer, which is already marked to show when certain stars move across the sky. By measuring the difference between the marks, an observer can calibrate clocks accordingly, Eichhorn said.

Fixing this telegraph system is one of the many repairs planned, Targan said.

Sarah Zurier, special projects coordinator at the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission, which awarded the grant, listed other intended tasks including fixing slits in the roof that provide the telescope with a view of the sky, repairing windows and upgrading the electrical system.

Zurier cited the observatory’s history of serving the public as one of the reasons for its selection for the grant.

SOURCE: www.browndailyherald.com/2008/01/24/ladds-timekeepers-to-...

OOps! The shine on the tyres gives away the fact that there is still moisture on the track for the Pomeroy Trophy's Start-Stop driving test on the pits straight. Unfortunately, Christopher Mann, the driver of this superb 1924 Alfa Romeo RL Targa Florio found out the hard way, locking up under braking and spinning his car through the marker cones. Marshalls, judges and timekeepers moved fast enough to avoid the wayward Alfa and only pride was harmed, Christopher getting underway with a rueful shrug of his shoulders.

Jindřichův Hradec is the centre of a narrow-gauge (760mm) railway which operates regular passenger services and occasional excursions. This Polish 750mm-gauge loco was built by WZBUP in 1955 and acquired by the JHMD (Jindřichohradecké místní dráhy) in 2005. It is preparing for an early New Year special train outside the shed here on 30 December 2015. Unfortunately, it was a poor timekeeper on the outward journey - a fellow traveller blames poor quality coal for the several extended stops to make steam on the outward, uphill journey. Photo taken on my phone and tweaked a bit.

Fashionisto here, your one and only source into the lives of F2K's elite. If you thought everything leading up to this was... let's say, "juicy", then get ready to have your taste buds thoroughly quenched! While Volumes are our timekeeper of choice we all know about seasons. They say every season has a shade all it's own. As for this season's color... I hear purple is the new pink!

XOXO, fashionisto2k

F2K, Vol. 10 starts Friday (Mar. 21st)

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>>>click here: Like Neon Lights, for the original photo

EL TIEMPO

"El futuro tiene muchos nombres. Para los débiles es lo inalcanzable. Para los temerosos, lo desconocido. Para los valientes es la oportunidad.·" Victor Hugo

La Nuit blanche au CCOV - Le Short & Sweet Recyclé XXL - Montréal en Lumière - Nuit blanche à Montréal

www.facebook.com/events/595364667984478

www.facebook.com/CCOVmtl / ccov.org

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LE SHORT & SWEET RECYCLÉ XXL : UNE VERSION AMPLIFIÉE DE L’ÉVÉNEMENT DÉSORMAIS LÉGENDAIRE!

Lors de cette 17e édition de la Nuit blanche, le CCOV donne les rênes à son commissaire artistique invité, Andrew Tay, et à sa collaboratrice de longue date, Sasha Kleinplatz, pour recréer un événement bien connu du milieu de la danse : le Short & Sweet. Les artistes invités ont carte blanche pour présenter un extrait de leur travail, tant que celui-ci dure moins de trois minutes! Un chronométreur est sur place, et toute pièce dépassant le temps alloué est immédiatement arrêtée. À l’occasion de la Nuit blanche, cette activité prendra des proportions exceptionnelles : effectivement, c’est une quarantaine d’interprètes qui fouleront le plancher de danse du CCOV lors de cette soirée!

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THE RECYCLED XXL SHORT AND SWEET: AN AUGMENTED VERSION OF THE NOW LEGENDARY EVENT!

For this 17th edition of the Nuit blanche, the CCOV will give free rein to their Guest Artistic Curator Andrew Tay and his long-time collaborator, Sasha Kleinplatz, to recreate a well-known event in the dance community: The Short & Sweet. Guest artists will be given complete freedom to present an excerpt of their work, as long as it lasts under three minutes! A timekeeper will be on site, and any work exceeding the allotted time will be immediately stopped. During this Nuit blanche, the event will take on exceptional proportions: about forty performers will take over the CCOV’s dance floor during the evening!

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Les artistes invité.e.s / the guest artists: Sydney McManus, Jean Bui, Kimberley De Jong, Peter Trosztmer, Bettina Szabo, Alexandre Morin, Hanna Sybille Müller, Maria Kefirova, Stacey Désilier, Collin Jossua Dufour, Lina Cruz, Ivanie Aubin-Malo, Winnie Ho, Justin de Luna, Lucy May, Christopher Willes, Sovann Rochon-Prom Tep, Matéo Chauchat, Liliane Moussa, Nicolas Patry, Silvia Sanchez, Zoë Vos, Bill Coleman, Nasim Lootij, Brice Noeser, Maxine Segalowitz, Geneviève Duong, Emile Pineault, Emmalie Ruest, Alexia Martel, Michael Martini, Nien Tzu Weng, KG Guttman, Jordan Brown, Nicholas Bellefleur, Alexis O’Hara, Burcu Emeç, Roxa Hy, Shanyça Elie-Leconte, Scott McCabe, Samantha Shayla Hinds et plus encore / and more!

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Lors de cette 17e édition de la Nuit blanche à Montréal / Montréal en Lumière, le CCOV donne les rênes à son commissaire artistique invité, Andrew Tay, et à sa collaboratrice de longue date, Sasha Kleinplatz, pour recréer un événement bien connu du milieu de la danse : le Short & Sweet. Les artistes invités ont carte blanche pour présenter un extrait de leur travail, tant que celui-ci dure moins de trois minutes! Un chronométreur est sur place, et toute pièce dépassant le temps alloué est immédiatement arrêtée. À l’occasion de la Nuit blanche, cette activité prendra des proportions exceptionnelles: effectivement, c’est une quarantaine d’interprètes qui fouleront le plancher de danse du CCOV lors de cette soirée!

Pour intégrer le thème du vert, nous demandons aux artistes invité.e.s de reprendre une idée, un accessoire, un élément de leur travail avec lequel ils/elles ont déjà travaillé dans le passé. L’objectif : réinventer sans gaspiller!

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For this 17th edition of the Nuit blanche à Montréal / Montréal en Lumière, CCOV Guest Artistic Curator Andrew Tay and his long-time collaborator, Sasha Kleinplatz will recreate their well-known event: Short&Sweet. Invited artists are free to present whatever they wish, as long as it lasts under three minutes! A timekeeper will be on site, and any work exceeding the allotted time will be immediately stopped. Especially for Nuit blanche, the event will be bigger than ever, with about forty performers taking over the CCOV’s dance floor during the evening!

To integrate Nuit blanche's "green" theme, invited artists are challenged to reuse an idea, an accessory, or an element from their past work to create a totally new performance. The goal: reinventing without wasting!

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Canada Council for the Arts | Conseil des arts du Canada, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, Conseil des arts de Montréal.

#bringingtheartstolife #lartaucoeurdenosvies #nuitblanchemtl #nbmtl #MTLenLumiere

The Senior Excelsiors went on to capture Ontario’s Globe Shield again in 1914, but were unsuccessful in their bid for the Mann Cup against the Vancouver A.C. (Athletic Club) lacrosse team. Some of the key players included H. Campbell, G. Williams, C. Mulliss, F. Beecham, P. Warr, Roswell I. Blain, W. Stevens, G. Sproule, W.K. Mara, H. Sproule, A.G. Davis, C.V. Charters, J. Roberts, M. Ashley, and N. Anderson. In 1907, the team took on the official Excelsior name too.

Excelsior is translated from Latin as "ever higher", also loosely but more widely as "onward and upward".

LINK to - Brampton Twelve Unable to Stay Challengers - Stats for the game - www.newspapers.com/clip/91481610/brampton-twelve-unable-t...

1 - Jack Carmichael - (Coach) of the Brampton Lacrosse team. He played centre in the first game for the Toronto Professional Hockey team in 1906. The Toronto Professional Hockey Club was Toronto's first professional ice hockey team, founded in 1906. The team played the 1906–07 season in exhibition games against other professional teams. In 1908, the team was one of the founders of the Ontario Professional Hockey League. - LINK to a photo of the 1906 team - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Toronto_Professional_Hockey_Cl...

2 - Albert Grenville Moore "Dutch" Davis (Outside Home) - Davis is the "shooter" of the bunch, and can always be depended upon to secure a tally if he gets the ball near the goal. He is a little light, but very aggressive, and uses his brains to good effect. Later he came a Crown Attorney - his son William Grenville "Bill" Davis served as the 18th Premier of Ontario from 1971 to 1985. (b. 29 August 1892 in Toronto, Peel, Ontario, Canada – d. 16 February 1973 at age 80 in Brampton, Peel, Ontario, Canada)

3 - Thomas Dale - Goal Umpire during the Mann Cup Finals in Vancouver. (b. 7 July 1871 in Brampton, Peel County, Ontario, Canada – d. 27 March 1944 at age 72 in Brampton, Peel County, Ontario, Canada)

4. Frank Beecham (Cover) - played his first lacrosse in the City League in 1909, but went West for a couple of years, returning in 1911 to his home town. He is a steady defense man and a great stick handler. Beecham Is 21 years of age and weighs 160 pounds.

5. Percy "Skee" Warre (Second Defence) - another defense player, played in the junior C.L.A. in 1910. He is one of the class of players who sticks close to his check and the home man that he is opposed to never gets a chance. He is 23 years old and weighs about 160 pounds. (4 April 1925) - Percy "Skee" Warre, another Brampton player of long standing, will be the nominee of that club for the position Of O. A.L.A. councilman. Warre has always been noted for his clean and clever play, and he is in the sport all the time for the games sake.

6. George Harold Sproule (Third Home) - the third home position of the champions is well looked after with George Sproule, who Is good enough for any professional team In the country. He is fast and a clever stick-handler, and can be depended upon to worry any defense man. He is a Brampton boy, 22 years old and weighs 147 pounds. (b. 15 January 1891 in Napanee, Ontario – d. 15 July 1935 at age 44 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada / Burial - Brampton, Ontario).

7. Melvile Ashley (Second Home) - Is a capital defense fielder, fast on his feet and tireless. He is 28 years of age, and was out of the game from 1909 to 1912. He more than made good last year at second defense field.

8. D. Stewart - (Trainer)

9. Harry Campbell - (Goal) - is 28 years old, and only weighs 135 pounds. He is a graduate of tho City League. He was a home player at the start, but soon developed into one of the best net guardians playing amateur lacrosse.

10. J. Roberts (Spare)

11. A. Robinson - (Timekeeper) during the Mann Cup Finals in Vancouver.

12. (Major) Dr. William Dwight Sharpe - (Team Doctor) (b. 18 September 1867 in Concord, New Hampshire, USA - d. 22 Dec 1928 at age 61 in Brampton, Peel Regional Municipality, Ontario, Canada) - LINK to his Personnel Records from the First World War - www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-wo...

13 - Charlie Mulliss (First Defence) - the coverpolnt, is the veteran of the aggregation. He is 30 years old and played Intermediate C.L.A. In 1906 and 1907. Then he retired for a couple of years, but is now the steadying influence of the defense.

14. Walter K. Mara (First Home) - is one of the best home players in Canada, either in the amateur or professional ranks. He is a big fellow, weighing 165 pounds, and was one of the crack defense men of the club until 1912, when he was shifted to the home field and more than made good. He does the heavy work for the attack and is a hard man to stop. He has always played in Brampton and is only 23 years of age.

15 - Roswell I. Blain (Third Defence) - is the star defense fielder of the outfit. A Brampton boy, he can tear off one hundred yards in ten and two-fifths, and is the keystone of the Excelsior's odd man play, which gets them many scores. Blain is 22 years of age and weighs 160 pounds.

16. Harry Harvey Sproule (Spare) - (b. abt 1888 in Ontario, Canada - d.) - his bother was George Harold Sproule.

17. Thomas Thauburn - (Manager) - Thomas Thauburn is in charge of the team, the players being accompanied by Dr. Sharpe and Coach Jack Carmichael. (b. 22 August 1863 in Ontario, Canada – d. 29 September 1929 at age 66 in Hamilton Twp, Northumberland, Ontario, Canada)

18 - William Stevens - (Centre) - The centre player on every lacrosse team has a lot of work to do and Brampton are fortunate in having William Stevens in this position, a great man on tho face-off and very fast, he improves with every game He started with the Brampton Juniors In 1907 and is 23 years old. weighing 143 pounds.

19 - Clarence V. Charters (Inside Home) - is not only one of the best of the home players, but a booster for the game on the outside. He is a little light, but one of the best shots in the game. Charters only weighs 135 pounds, but is very dangerous when near the goal. He played juvenile In 1909, and is only 21 years old.

20 - N. Anderson (Spare)

21 - George Willaims (Point) - the Excelsiors have a good heady defense player. He Is only 20 years old. but weighs about 165 pounds, and Is as cool and steady as a rock. He is a Brampton boy and learned his lacrosse in the Juvenile City League.

22 - Stuart Thomson - (Photo by) - (Photographer) / Stuart Thomson was born in Hampstead, England, in 1881 and raised in Australia. Trained as a railway worker, he emigrated to Vancouver in 1910. He took up amateur photography but soon embarked upon a career as a commercial, portrait and press photographer. During the 1920s, he contributed to three daily Vancouver newspapers but relied more on commercial work by the 1930s. He died of a heart attack in 1960.

The photo was taken at - Athletic Park occupied the block northeast of the corner of 6th and Hemlock; home plate and the grandstand were near the corner of 5th and Hemlock. Opened in 1913, it was the home stadium for the Vancouver Beavers and the site of semi-pro baseball in the '20s and '30s, and later the Vancouver Capilanos. Renamed Capilano Stadium after a brewery, it was demolished in the 1950s to make way for a cloverleaf of the Granville Bridge. The stadium was home for the Vancouver Athletic Club and Vancouver Terminals lacrosse teams.

LINK - Over 150 years of Lacrosse excellence - Since 1871, the Brampton Excelsiors Lacrosse Club has been a cornerstone of our community, offering opportunities for players of all ages and skill levels to engage in Canada’s national summer sport. - www.bramptonexcelsiors.ca/history

Festival of Lights 2012 Berlin

timekeeper necklaces, the midsummer edition

View on Instagram bit.ly/2VVMovK

Excerpt from Wikipedia: The Toronto Magnetic and Meteorological Observatory is a historical observatory located on the grounds of the University of Toronto. The original building was constructed in 1840 as part of a worldwide research project run by Edward Sabine to determine the cause of fluctuations in magnetic declination. Measurements from the Toronto site demonstrated that sunspots were responsible for this effect on Earth's magnetic field. When this project concluded in 1853, the observatory was greatly expanded by the Canadian government and served as the country's primary meteorological station and official timekeeper for over fifty years. The observatory is considered the birthplace of Canadian astronomy.

It now houses the Student Administrative Council.

28:365

We're Here! - Clocks and other Timekeepers

The tower's clock is the only public clock in the world that keeps lunar time (“à la Turk”), to indicate the times for the daily prayers. According to this system, the new day begins at sunset, when the time is shown as 12:00!

Since the length of the days change throughout the year, it was the duty of a muvekit (timekeeper) to maintain the clock’s accuracy. In the courtyard of Bey’s Mosque there is one kind of observatory, a muvekithana, which is where the exact time would be calculated with the help of careful techniques and sensitive instruments.

The tower's current clock mechanism was brought from London in 1875 by Sarajevan merchants, Hašimaga Glođo and Mehaga Kapetanović. A famous watchmaker and former muvekit from Sarajevo, Abdulah Kasumagić, gilded the hands and numbers on all four of the clock faces.

Running 82 minutes late, Colas 60021 heads north past East Hyde with 6E38 13:54 Colnbrook - Lindsey.

This working was always a very good timekeeper when worked by DBS so not too sure what's changed. Still, not complaining as it helps the angle of the sun.

Red Cliff Bridge (also known as the Eagle River Bridge) (to locals it is known as the "Silver Bridge" for it was originally painted silver) is an arch bridge near Red Cliff, Colorado that carries U.S. Highway 24 over the Eagle River and the former Union Pacific Railroad track over Tennessee Pass. It is one of only two steel arch bridges within the entire state and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The bridge was designed by King Burghardt and built in 1940. Construction was difficult, with workers starting with a cantilevered design, sometimes in sub-freezing (below 32 °F) temperatures hanging over a 200 foot drop. Burghardt wrote in his journal, "In the morning, each gang was lifted to its scaffold on a platform hung from the high line. They took their lunches with them and spent the entire day in the air with the winter wind continually blowing up the canyon." The steel erection superintendent for the project was Earl "Doc" Lay of Minneapolis Steel Company. Cliff Prince was the operator of the highline hoisting system. Off and on, Prince was a law student at the University of Utah. C.P. "Chick" Lay and Ray Walton Sr. were Ironworkers on the project from Union Local 27 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Nels Neilson was the timekeeper for the job. N.P. Mettome was the Western Regional V.P. for Minneapolis Steel at the time.

Over the years, the bridge's condition deteriorated, necessitating restoration work, which was completed in November 2004 at a cost of $3.6 million, with approximately half of that coming from the Federal Highway Administration. The bridge deck was replaced and widened and much of the steel was repainted. However, because of the bridge's historic status, care was taken to maintain the visual aesthetic. The rehabilitation effort won the 2005 National Steel Bridge Alliance Prize Bridge Award for Reconstructed Bridge.

This was a 3-image, handheld HDR shot -- taken from an area near the southwest corner of Central Park, looking east towards Fifth Avenue.

Note: this photo was published in a Dec 13, 2009 blog titled "How to Get the Perfect Composition in your Digital Photography."

It was also published in an undated (Jun 2010) blog titled "New York City Parks Worth Visiting." And it was published in an Aug 16, 2010 blog titled "CENTRAL PARK IN NEW YORK COULD SUPPORT 100 BIG DINOSAURS." It was also published in an undated (mid-Oct 2010) blog titled "The Best of Autumn in New York." And it was published in an Oct 20, 2010 blog titled "The Top 5 Places to see Fall Foliage in Central Park."

Moving into 2011, it was also published in an undated (mid-March 2011) Kathika travel blog titled "Visiting Central Park in New York City." And it was published in an Aug 15, 2011 blog titled "The Central Park Conservancy: a model for park conservation around the country." It was also published in an Aug 17, 2011 "Photography Digital World" blog titled " Interested in learning about digital photography?" And it was published in a Sep 2, 2011 blog titled "5 business travel tips for the fall," as well as a Sep 22, 2011 blog titled "Biophilic Cities." It was also published as a home-page illustration in an undated (mid-Oct 2011) blog titled Where to Live Next?

Moving into 2012, the photo was published in an undated (late Jun 2012) blog titled "20 Great Pictures of Central Park NYC." It was also published in a Jul 17, 2012 blog titled "New York Picnic Spots," as well as a Sep 20, 2012 blog titled "OTOÑO EN NUEVA YORK." And it was published in an Oct 29, 2012 blog titled "The Top 5 Rooftop Bars in New York," as well as an Oct 29, 29012 blog titled "Incredible Fall Foliage Shots" and an Oct 30, 2012 blog titled "Famous TV and Movie Landmarks to see in New York." It was also published in a Dec 3, 2012 blog titled "Parks to Visit in New York City."

Moving into 2013, the photo was published in a Jan 21, 2013 blog titled Timekeeper "Blog Tour: Alexandra Monir on Central Park + giveaway!" And it was published in an Aug 16, 2013 blog titled "10 Things for Startups to Do Before Autumn Arrives."

Moving into 2014, the photo was published in an Apr 14, 2014 blog titled "Green Space Keeps You from Feeling Blue."

Note: A large percentage of my "landscape" photos (including the ones in this set) are now copyright-protected, and are not available for downloads and free use. You can view them here in Flickr, but if you would like prints, enlargements, framed copies, and other variations, please visit my SmugMug "NYC HDR" gallery by clicking here.

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On Nov 6, 2009 a group of roughly 150 members of the NYC Digital Photography Meetup Group (which comprises some 2,556 members, according to its website) assembled at the southeast corner of New York's Central Park for a "meetup" that consisted of a walk through Central Park to capture the fall foliage. A few people knew each other from previous meetups, but most of us were there for the first time, and knew only that we were in the midst of a lot of people with "serious" cameras. Introductions were made, hands were shaken, cameras were compared, but with rare exceptions, names were quickly forgotten -- except for lyman91, who served as the organizer for the afternoon's activities. After all, it wasn't a college mixer; we were there to get some nice photographs...

Once we got started, we walked past the pond in the southeast corner of the park, up to a picturesque bridge, and then along the southern edge of the park until we reached another picturesque bridge by the southwest corner of the park. From there, we ventured north, past Tavern on the Green, past the Sheep Meadow, up to the 72nd Street entrance (where many photos were dutifully snapped of Strawberry Fields, and the Dakota apartment building where John Lennon lived at the time of his death). We then walked around parts of the boat pond, and a little further north into the Ramble ... at which point, the late-afternoon shadows were dark enough that I decided to call it a day and head on home.

As someone observed early in the walk, "fall foliage" in New York City is not the same as it is up in Vermont and New Hampshire. There are no fiery reds, no mountainsides of bright orange trees. Our trees are more subdued: there were a few bright yellow ones (don't ask me what kind they were; I have no idea), but most of the trees were "rust-colored" at best.

Still, it was a pleasant walk; the temperature was a little cool, but the skies were a brilliant blue, and there wasn't a cloud to be seen. I took fewer photos than I would have expected -- only about 300 -- and I'll upload the "keepers" throughout the week, as I edit them and put them in reasonable shape... and I'll look forward to another photo meetup sometime in the future. Next time, hopefully I will remember a few names...

Walt Disney World Resort

Magic Kingdom

Tomorrowland

Space Mountain Area

I know I already posted a daytime shot of this palm, but this shot here was my second favorite shot from our trip, so I figured I'd post it before I leave (it has actually been my desktop background since the morning after I took the shot). I tried this shot one night after-hours, and didn't nail it, so I came back and tried it again the next day. I am glad I had to do that, because the light pollution (or whatever that stuff is in the lower portion of the shot) was a lot more prominent in this shot.

Even with the Tokina 11-16mm, this shot was a pain to set up. I laid down on the ground, turned on the live view of the camera, and still could barely see enough to frame this as I wanted it. Thankfully, no burns from the pavement being hot this late. Hope you aren't sick of these Palms shots, because I have a few more ideas featuring them for this trip!

This is my last post before we leave for WDW tomorrow. Hope everyone has a great weekend. I'll see you all next Tuesday!

Check out www.DisneyTouristBlog.com to read Sarah's and my exciting trip reports!

www.DisneyTouristBlog.com | Facebook | Twitter | Purchase Prints | Camera Buying Guide

We met Helen at the Gympie Horse & Rodeo Association Penning School. She is the Treasurer of the Association and was the timekeeper and chief bell ringer for the participants' rides. She was a pleasant lady to speak with, and we chatted for a considerable amount of time. She let us know about the flood damage recently and filled us in on the rules and the timing of penning.

This picture is #24 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page

My new watch from A Fattorini. Thanks

using one Elinchrom style rx 1200 with some reflectors .

60046 'William Wilberforce' is seen on the approach to Hungerford with train 6Z52, the 0650 Tytherington to Quainton Railhead loaded aggregates service, run in conjunction with the HS2 route project. At this point over 20 minutes early these trains can be quite erratic timekeepers with early running through some sections of the route commonplace. If you're going to do this location be sure to ask the farmer for access permission if parking in North Standen Road. He's a very amiable guy but understandably gets irked if people just go blithely wandering all over his land.

photo rights reserved by Ben

In the heart of Skopje lies the Old Bazaar – Stara Čaršija, a maze of narrow streets, cobbled alleys, Ottoman caravanserais, mosques, colorful market stalls, and artisan workshops. It is one of the oldest and largest bazaars in the Balkans, thriving as a trading hub since the 12th century. Here you can find everything from silverware and carpets to copperware, antiques, and local delicacies. Walking through feels as if time slows down and you take a step back into history. During our stroll, we came across a unique spot: the Gallery Antique Photo Shop. Here you can dress up as a soldier, sailor, or pilot and have a nostalgic black-and-white or sepia portrait taken. The facade is surrounded by a colorful collection of uniforms, hats, old suitcases, and military memorabilia – a small museum in itself. The owner sat calmly in his chair, cigarette in hand, as if he were part of the display. Interesting detail: he wore two watches – perhaps to keep track of both the present and the past. Bathed in soft sunlight, the scene perfectly captured what makes the Old Bazaar so special: a place where history, nostalgia, and everyday life merge seamlessly.

Wandering through Skopje’s Old Bazaar feels like stepping back in time, with its cobbled alleys, markets, and Ottoman architecture. We stumbled upon the Gallery Antique Photo Shop, where visitors can dress in vintage military or naval uniforms. The owner, sitting quietly with two watches on his wrist, perfectly reflected the mix of past and present that gives this historic place its charm.

In het hart van Skopje ligt de Oude Bazaar- Stara Čaršija, een doolhof van smalle straatjes, geplaveide steegjes, Ottomaanse hanen, moskeeën, kleurrijke marktkramen en ambachtelijke werkplaatsen. Dit is een van de oudste en grootste bazaars van de Balkan en al sinds de 12e eeuw een bruisend handelscentrum. Hier vind je alles: van zilverwerk en tapijten tot koperwerk, antiek en lokale lekkernijen. Het voelt alsof de tijd hier trager gaat en je een stap terug in de geschiedenis zet. Tijdens onze wandeling stuitten we op een bijzondere plek: de Gallery Antique Photo Shop. Hier kun je je verkleden als soldaat, marinier of piloot en een nostalgische zwart-wit of sepiafoto laten maken. De gevel is omringd door een bonte verzameling uniformen, petten, oude koffers en militaire memorabilia – een klein museum op zichzelf. De eigenaar zat rustig op zijn stoel, met een sigaret in de hand, alsof hij zelf deel uitmaakt van het decor. Opvallend detail: hij droeg twee horloges – misschien om zowel het heden als het verleden in de gaten te houden. Het tafereel, badend in het zachte zonlicht, vatte precies samen wat de Oude Bazaar zo bijzonder maakt: een plek waar geschiedenis, nostalgie en dagelijks leven< naadloos samensmelten.

I took this over the shoulder shot of the driver of a commuter train in Hiroshima, Japan. I was fascinated by his ritual, of which the focal point was the pocket watch branded with Japan Rail logo. Each stop he verified that he was on time by comparing the time on the pocket watch to a schedule on his right outlining each station and arrival time. Every time we reached a station, he checked the schedule, pointing with his finger, then checked the watch. He was always on time, down to the second.

Outside a Hospital Chikmagalur,

2 sisters wait for their turn!

On White

Bet You Never Knew The Hog In The Pound Was Here?...Closed In The Late Fifies Before Moving Round The Corner See Here (www.flickr.com/photos/rollthedice/9094041233/)That Was Also Sadly Demolished In 2011...Quite Remarkable Timing To Get These Rozzers In The Same Location...I Was Going To Ask Them To Pose As Of 1905...But I Probably Would Have Been Arrested For Terrorism Or Something....Tissot is a Swiss Luxury Watchmakers...You Can See The Markings In The Brickwork Where The Pubs Light Once Hung....Who Recalls Ratners On This Corner?...

A new element has been added to my runs Endomondo

Why would I take a Japanese starter with me?

I had happily (no resignedly) plodded along with no concept of time for many years, stopping and starting, not caring whether I was improving or not thinking, ‘I’m not competitive, I’m just doing this to be healthy.’

Once signed up for Endomondo or ‘world of endorphins’ (the phone app that tracks and times your run, announcing your progress at regular stages.) I went through a transformation.

Similar to facebook it announces what everyone is doing;

‘Lucy Naughton is running. So far she has tracked 4.97miles in 40mins’ . . . and then it shows the route you have taken/are currently taking.

Ordinarily what would be happening on one of my ‘private, un-timed’ runs:

‘Lucy has stopped to look at a heron.’

‘Lucy has slowed down to pull her knickers out of her crack.’

‘Lucy has sped up to look at what she thinks is a magnificent hare in the field.’

‘Lucy has slowed back down - it was a sticky up branch.’

‘Lucy is fiddling with her phone as the podcast she downloaded is incredibly dull and the woman’s voice is grating on her brain.’

From the very start of my first Endomondo tracked jog I ran differently, I was running as if someone was watching me, as if EVERYONE was watching me, from the entire Internet.

I was perpetually waiting for the woman to yell in my ear’ole the time for each km, the first km she yelled my time at me, “Oh how novel, most informative!” I thought.

The second km, “That was slower than the first km, why is that?”

The third km, “Right, I can’t let my time drop below 5 mins per km.”

Not competitive?! Pah!

Where once I would gaze around me looking for glamorous wildlife and amusingly shaped trees, now I was just staring hard, dead ahead, not blinking. My favourite copse full of red kites - a traditional stopping point loomed. As usual the kites soared and swooped and cawed in the way that normally stopped me in my tracks and made me grin inanely at the sky for minutes on end. Today I blasted right past. They looked at each other, perplexed.

I charged along my route like a woman being chased by age. I saw nothing, heard nothing but my timekeeper, and thought nothing but ‘For god's sake don’t slow down.’ There was no room for my loop of negative thought today.

On my way back past the copse the wake of kites had joined wings and were doing a formation display, spelling my name out in the sky, but I couldn’t stop to look or the Endomondo woman would shout in my ear that my lap time had gone down – all the people on Endomondo might mock me, how could I live with the shame?! So on I pressed without looking, the kites forming a giant one-fingered salute at my back.

Another gimmick on the app - people online can comment while you are out running and the Endo woman will announce it to you;

‘Right now I’m drinking an ice cold Lucozade.’

‘Your boobs don’t half bounce when you run.’

‘I didn’t know you had knock knees.’

‘I’m in the bushes waiting to flash you.’

‘CAMEL TOE!’

Endomondo is so informative and rich in ‘look what I’m doing’ features that it shows online the route you have run and when you ran it, it even tells everyone whilst you are on it. Screw the fitness aspect; this may just grow to be the biggest rapist and murderer’s resource ever.

‘Lucy is out running’

‘SerialkillerBob is hiding in a bush.’

‘Lucy is 200m from SerialkillerBob.’

‘SerialkillerBob is getting out his big knife.’

‘Lucy has stopped to help a nice man who seems to have lost his puppy.’

‘SerialkillerBob has updated his kill stats.’

Serial killer with an iPhone? Download ‘Deadomondo’ today!!

Share the best ambush spots with fellow killers.

Find out where your buddies are currently hiding.

Track where you buried your bodies, and monitor decomposition.

Let our cadaverator choose random burial spots that the police will never track.

Make It Interesting • Challenge No 2 (Clocktower)

Source image with thanks to Ell Brown

The World Land Speed Record Breaking

1905 200-hp Darracq Sprint Two-Seater

FOOTNOTES

For a real thrill and for pure joy, nothing ever came up to a full throttle run on the 200, with the car in Algy Guinness capable hands. Old Iron, as its owner had christened it, was definitely one of the great cars of all time! Captain H.W. Bunbury

If the heartbeat of America is the matchless throb of a big V8, then that heart beats with a decidedly French accent, for this impressive centenarian is powered by the first true example of a V8 engine to be seen on either side of the Atlantic. Moreover, this mighty Darracq was the first petrol car to travel at two miles a minute. Built in France with the sole aim of breaking speed records, it was shipped to the United States soon after its debut to show its prowess and made its first 120-mph run at Americas birthplace of speed, the Ormond-Daytona Beach in Florida.

Alexandre Darracq had made his fortune in the cycle industry before building his first car under his Gladiator marque in 1895, but sold out to an English syndicate headed by Terah Hooley and Harry Lawson in 1896 and formed A. Darracq & Cie the following year. Real success came in 1900 with a 6.5-hp single-cylinder car designed by Paul Ribeyrolles, a graduate of the Arts et Métiers college at Chalons-sur-Marne. The Darracq company was acquired by an English financial grouping in 1903, which left Alexandre Darracq in charge. He decided to publicise the company by racing powerful racing cars but concentrating on the manufacture of small and medium-sized automobiles particularly aimed at the British market.

These were all the work of Ribeyrolles, described by that doyen of Continental correspondents W.F.Bradley as a born engineer who had a tiny drawing office overlooking the main machine shop.

Darracqs policy of promoting the marque in competition moved into high gear with an all-out assault on the Gordon Bennett Cup in 1904, dodging the rule restricting each competing country to an entry of three cars by having 11.25-litre four-cylinder cars designed by Ribeyrolles built in Germany as Opels and in Great Britain as Weir-Darracqs, a ploy which sadly failed to bring results.

However, one of the Weir-Darracqs was acquired by Algernon Lee Guinness, who, with his younger brother Kenelm (Bill), was building up a stable of fast racing cars at his home at Windsor, and completely reconstructed by his mechanics Harold Cook and Davy Cleghorn (who had come from Weirs with the car), to such good effect that it proved one of the fastest cars in the eliminating trials to choose the British team for the 1905 Gordon Bennett race before piston failure put it out of contention.

Meanwhile, Paul Ribeyrolles was intent on building the fastest car in the world, following a policy colourfully described by the Guinnesss good friend and business partner H.W. (Bill) Bunbury as putting large engines into the lightest possible chassis; in search of what we now call today better power to weight ratio

he stripped his cars of every possible trapping, leaving the bare necessities to make the wheels go round, and to stop the car, otherwise stark naked, showing everything they had got, with not even a bikini to hide their nakedness

The first fruit of this policy was a 100-hp car with an engine of 190 bore, put into a very flimsy chassis with just two bucket seats with which works driver Paul Baras set a new world speed record of 104.5 mph for the flying kilometre, and which was then bought by Algy Lee Guinness.

Ribeyrolles then set to work developing an even faster sprint car and in order to obtain maximum power for minimum weight hit upon the brilliant idea of mounting eight cylinders in a 90-degree vee configuration on a common crankcase, using forked conrods to enable two opposed cylinders to be served from one crankshaft throw.

He used four sets of pair-cast cylinders of the Gordon Bennett pattern, bored out to 170mm, giving a total swept volume of 25,422 cc, set low in an Arbel pressed steel chassis. A two-speed rear axle was fitted, with a short gear lever placed between the drivers legs; there was neither reverse gear nor differential. A vee-shaped Grouvel & Arquembourg radiator was supplemented by a projectile-shaped water tank above the cylinders. Weighing in at just 900 kg (1982 lb), the new 200-hp Darracq was completed on 28 December 1905 and was immediately taken south to Provence to be tested on the classic speed road that ran arrow-straight for over nine miles across the plain of Le Crau, between Salon-de-Provence and St Martin de Crau (the modern N113).

On Saturday 30 December, Darracqs leading driver Victor Hemery who had already won the Circuit des Ardennes and Vanderbilt Cup during 1905 made four timed runs on the Salon road, observed by the official timekeepers of the Automobile Club de France, MM Gaudichard and Hunziker, and the president of the Automobile Club de Salon, M Bertin. His times were remarkably consistent: with one run in 21.8 sec and one in 20.8 sec, twice he covered the flying kilometre in 20.6 sec, a speed of 175 km/h (109.65 mph), faster than the fastest express train, making the Darracq the fastest vehicle on earth and beating the existing speed record by almost 5 mph.

Gasped L. Gerard, who reported the cars speed run for La Vie Automobile: Can you imagine what that frightening speed of 5 metres a second [110 mph] must be like? No? Well, its that of hurricanes that flatten houses and trees, of tempests that exert the formidable pressure of 300 kg per square metre on the surfaces that they meet

this time, without any exaggeration, the car has beaten the train

The mercurial Hemery grumbled that the very cold weather had adversely affected the carburation, and declared that the car would be even faster in finer weather.

Three weeks later, he was given the opportunity to prove his assertion when he and the 200-hp Darracq formed part of a four-car team competing in the fourth annual Ormond-Daytona Beach Automobile Races. However, while three of the cars successfully passed the weight test for the event, the fourth was ruled to be too heavy and thus ineligible for the lightweight class.

Hemery protested the decision, and when he was over-ruled, had all four cars hauled back to the garage at Ormond. Charles Cooke, Darracqs American distributor, declared that all four cars would race, whether Hemery agreed or not. Then it was found that the car that had been declared overweight could be lightened enough to comply with the regulations and Hemery relented and decided to compete after all.

But then he fell out with the judges again when it was declared that he had made a false start in a race against Fred Marriotts streamlined Stanley Steamer and a 110-hp FIAT, and was barred from the event.

Declared Motor Age in its issue of 25 January 1906: Hemery, successor to the great Théry, has been given a taste of American discipline, which will do his peppery temper good. He had a close call yesterday from being set down, and this was not enough for him, for he broke loose again today and got what was coming to him and he got is good and plenty, nothing less than disqualification for the entire meeting for refusing to obey orders.

Charles Cooke was given full control of the four Darracqs and Louis Chevrolet drove the 200-hp to a new world one-mile record for petrol cars of 30.6 sec (Marriott had just set a steam car record of 28.2 sec, equivalent to 127.66 mph). Then on the last day of the race, Cooke put Darracqs No 2 driver Victor Demogeot in the 200-hp. Matched against the Stanley in a 2-mile race, Demogeot riposted to a time of 59.6 sec by Marriott with a run in 58.8 sec, or 122.5 mph and was crowned Speed King of the World by 14-year-old Mary Simrall, the prettiest girl in Florida.

Then, recalled Bill Bunbury, the 200 returned to the Darracq works at Suresnes, and Algy travelled one day [in May]. After a terrifying trial run round and about the works conducted by Hemery and a bit of haggling, he bought the car for what was a very reasonable figure [and] brought it to Windsor.

On 14 July Algy Lee Guinness competed in the Ostend speed trials in Belgium with the 200-hp Darracq and set a new European flying kilometre record of 117.7 mph, covering the distance in just 19 seconds. Three days later the Darracq was first of the big speed cars in the Circuit du Littoral.

The Darracq was scheduled to race against formidable opposition, including the Maharajah of Tikaris 130-hp De Dietrich and Cecil Edges 90-hp Napier, during the Notts ACs annual race meeting on Skegness Sands on 8 September, but the deteriorating condition of the course meant that these fast cars only made demonstration runs.

But a week later the Darracq covered itself in glory at the race meeting organised along the Blackpool Promenade by the Blackpool & Fylde Motor Club, winning silver cups for setting new world records for the standing kilometre (32.4 sec) and standing mile (45.6 sec), and also created a British flying kilometre record of 21.0 sec (106.52 mph).

On 21 October Algy Lee Guinness took the 200-hp Darracq back to France and set a new world record for the flying kilometre of 20.0 sec, equivalent to 180 km/h (111.8 mph) at the Dourdan speed meeting. A week later he drove the car at Gaillon, and climbed the famous La Barbe hill in 25 seconds, averaging 144 km/h.

Around this time the Guinness brothers and Bill Bunbury set up a business in an old farmhouse at Datchet to manufacture an ignition device known as the Hi-Lo and to operate as a garage and repair business, tuning peoples cars for the newly-opened Brooklands track. The 200-hp Darracq was still very competitive, and was tuned for maximum speed, with the addition of forced lubrication with drilled crankshaft and conrods and a pump chain driven from the front end of the crankshaft, a high-tension magneto instead of the low-tension ignition and a supplementary lightweight radiator.

The car was tested on the open road over Hartford Bridge Flats in Surrey. Recalled Bill Bunbury: It was towed there at night, and we used to time our arrival so as to get the first run in soon after dawn. Other cars brought materials and mechanics and were also used as patrols. We had no trouble from the police, however; the noise could not have disturbed many people. Actually the police used to ask when we should be there, for they loved to look on - unofficially.

It was a thrilling sight to see the 200 approaching, thundering down the road, stabs of flame coming from the stub exhaust pipes, the two occupants crouching down on the car and a great plume of dust following behind

I was very lucky to have a few runs on the Flats with Algy, and can say without question they were the biggest thrills I ever experienced on any car, including the big Benz on Brooklands with Hornsted.

I will try and give some idea of what a run on the 200 felt like. Firstly the bucket seat was more bucket than seat - one seemed to be sitting on it, not in it. There being no floorboards, one's feet had to be braced against a cross member of the frame, the right arm stretched out behind Algy gripping the flange at the end of the petrol tank, the left hand engaged with the air pressure pump. Failure to keep up the pressure was a short jump off murder in Algy's opinion! And so you started. Up to about 40 mph the car seemed to be devoid of any springs at all, and one felt shaken to pieces. That period lasted a very few seconds, after which, when on full throttle, the car was not unduly uncomfortable as far as springing went, but the air pressure on one's body was terrific. Remember that the seats were well perched up with absolutely no protection, which made one hang on for dear life.

I remember glancing down between my legs one day, and to see the road passing in one grey-coloured ribbon within inches of one's anatomy made me very hastily look up, but with ugly thoughts of what would happen supposing one's foot slipped off the cross member!

Added H.J. Needham, who subsequently joined the trio in the garage at Datchet: One day somebody bet Algy he would not drive over to Maidenhead and back on the "200". Needless to say, it was a foregone conclusion. The following Sunday, a lovely hot Summer's day, Algy and "Snowball" Whitehead, attired in white flannels, blue "reefer" coats, and straw boaters, fixed themselves firmly in the two bucket seats of the 200, all hands turned out to push, and with a roar and a sheet of flame from the eight stubby open exhausts, and in a cloud of dust, off she went up our lane. Snowball was hanging on like grim death to his seat with one hand (when it was not pumping pressure into the brass cylindrical petrol tank mounted behind the seat) and to the two straw hats with the other! The car had only two speeds forward and NO reverse, was unlicensed, and had no number plates attached!

Algy duly arrived at Maidenhead, turned into the entrance of Skindles Hotel and out again and left into the Bath Road, and drove straight back to Datchet without stopping. By some miracle, no policeman seemed to have seen (or heard!) them, and nothing was ever heard in the way of complaint. The Gents Straw Boaters were donned for the last few hundred yards to and from Skindles, and Algy and Snowball were bowing left and right to the youth and beauty of Maidenhead like royalty!

June 1907 saw more successes for the big Darracq. On 16 June it set a new standing kilometre record at Schveningen (Hague), and the following week at the Saltburn speed trials, on 22 June, Algy Lee Guinness set a new Yorkshire record for the flying kilometre of 111.84 mph over sands awash with water from the heavy rains.

On 20 September the 200-hp Darracq was taken to the newly opened Brooklands track where it was demonstrated to an American enthusiast named Dugald Ross, who had offered to buy the car for £2000, provided that it could reach a speed of 100 mph. Though Algy Lee Guinness made two runs of 112.2 mph and 115.4 mph, the sale fell through, apparently because Ross was too frightened to complete the £2000 deal.

Indeed, Algy Lee Guinness continued to compete with the mighty Darracq at Saltburn during the following two seasons, and on 28 June 1908 he announced that he would not only attempt to beat the national record that he had set the previous year but would try and establish a world record, too. On his second attempt on the flying kilometre he recorded a speed of 121.57 mph to equal the existing world record and set a new British & European record. The event was captured in a dramatic painting illustrated here - by Autocar artist Frederick Gordon Crosby, which created the legend that yards of flame poured from the stub exhausts of the eight-cylinder engine, imperilling the trousers of Bill Lee Guinness, acting mechanic, who had to hold two chronometers all the time.

The Darracq made one final appearance at Saltburn on 26 June 1909, where it recorded fastest time of the day by covering the flying kilometre at 120.25 mph and averaging 118.09 mph over the four runs it made that day.

That was, it seems, the end of the Darracqs competitive career, but it remained in the garage at Datchet until the business closed down, when it was sold. It apparently fell into the hands of a dealer who we understand scrapped the axles and front and rear of the chassis and just retained the power unit in the remaining chassis channels.

Some time later, noted Bunbury, Algy managed to lay hands on the engine, which remained in his workshop for the rest of his life.

When Algy Lee Guinness died in 1954, his widow was determined that the engine should go to a good home. She canvassed expert opinion and the name of Gerald Firkins, who already owned a 1914 16-hp Darracq, was put forward. He already knew of the car and was able to purchase the engine, still mounted with part of the original chassis, from the family in 1956.

He eventually decided to recreate the 200-hp racer, and a slow and painstaking restoration began, using period Darracq components wherever possible, for the car had originally used a production chassis. When the engine was dismantled, it was found to be in surprisingly good condition. Measurements proved that its swept volume, long believed to be 22.5 litres, was actually 25.5 litres. The original crankshaft, con-rods and camshaft were retained, but eight new pistons were cast in 1991, as one of the original 6.7 in diameter cast iron pistons was found to be cracked, apparently a legacy of its final run at Saltburn.

The long-lost two-speed rear axle had to be recreated, for it had no production equivalent: fortunately a drawing of this component was found in a 90-year-old book, which enabled an accurate replica to be made.

The rebuild was advanced enough for the car to be shown as a static exhibit at Shelsley Walsh, Brooklands and Goodwood in 2004-5, and it was virtually finished in time for its centenary on 30 December 2005. It was shown at Retromobile in Paris in February 2006, and was fired up for the first time in 97 years on 1 April 2006, making its first public run on the long drive of Madresfield Court in Worcestershire on 4 July 2006.

Now offered for sale for only the third time in a century, the Darracq is a unique survivor from the heroic age of motor racing awaiting a new custodian to realise its full potential.

Auctioned in 2006 realising £199,500

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