View allAll Photos Tagged uncontrollable
This is the first time ever I built something like that…. a zombie apocalypse Scenario, but let my explain why.
Some weeks ago I bought the PS4 game "Days Gone" which is a open world action game which is set in a post-apocalyptic Oregon two years after a global pandemic, Days Gone follows the story of Deacon St. John, a former member of a biker gang. After discovering that there is a chance his wife Sarah is still alive, Deacon embarks on a quest to reunite with her.
Played from a third-person perspective, Days Gone is set in an open world environment which the player can explore, which includes many real life-inspired locations in Oregon including Marion Forks, Belknap Crater, and Crater Lake. Hostile encounters come from both human enemies and infected beings called the Freakers. Deacon can engage in different types of combat, including stealth and usage of firearms. A major game mechanic is Deacon's drifter bike, which is used as the player's primary mode of transportation as well as mobile inventory.
A global pandemic occurred which decimated the globe, turning millions of humans into feral cannibalistic creatures, called Freakers. The remnants of humanity have abandoned towns to seek refuge in the wilderness creating safe zones.
When a virus causes a large portion of humanity to become uncontrollably violent, Deacon, his wife Sarah, and his friend Boozer attempt to flee for safety. However, Sarah is stabbed and critically wounded, forcing Deacon to evacuate her on a National Emergency Restoration Organization (NERO) helicopter. However, since the helicopter does not have enough room carry all three of them, Deacon decides to stay behind with Boozer while promising Sarah he will reunite with her later.
Deacon St. John, a member of Mongrel MC, is among the survivors of the epidemic. Deacon drifts through the wasteland of the Pacific Northwest, never staying in one place for too long. Deacon often takes work as a Bounty Hunter/Mercenary, offering his services in exchange for supplies. However, Deacon learns that there is a price on his head adding to his list of enemies. Deacon and his friend Boozer plan to head north to evade some of the people who wish them dead, but their plans are put on hold when Boozer is injured and Deacon's bike is destroyed…
source: daysgone.fandom.com/wiki/Days...
This small scene I've build in the last days Shows you the impact of the global pandemic. In the middle of the creation is Deacon, who killed 2 freakers a few moments go. On the left side is his motorbike and on the right is a destroyed police car. It is not safe here. Can he survive in that post apocalypse world of canniblistic creatures?
I hope you like my new creation and of course I would be pleased to get Feedback.
Greetings Kevin
Stay healthy!
The motorcycle design was inspired by @Sanellukovic
Here is a link to the Video of this MOC on my YouTube channel:
Explored for July 2, 2011. Thank you!
Managed to get up for dawn at Bryce Canyon National Park. It was about at this point, shivering uncontrollably in 33 degree pre-dawn darkness, that I realized I should have brought a coat on this trip. But it was worth it to get shots like this. The rock in Bryce Canyon truly has a magical orange-pink glow about it, I've never seen anything like it anywhere else.
Find me on Google+: +Michael Riffle.
These little birds are so tough to get in flight, because they are so fast and somehow uncontrollable, when they will take of or land, or even if they land at all.
This was on the cliffs at Ingolfshöfdi in Iceland and a very heavy wind was blowing all time. Getting this shot, handheld and with the Puffin looking straight into the camera made it one of my best and most unique images this year. :)
Excerpt from www.citywindsor.ca/residents/Culture/Windsor-Sculpture-Pa...:
Vision Corridor
Toni Putnam
Trees, 1998
Copper, 320 x 90 x 54 centimetres, or smaller, each
"Creation is mysterious," says Toni Putnam. "I thoroughly enjoy the interaction between what I think is going to happen and what actually happens."
In her work, Putnam is intensely interested in the tactile elements of sculpture, the true "feeling" of a piece that can only be achieved through touch. Each one of these trees has been carefully cultivated. Using welding techniques which are uniquely her own, Putnam focuses intense heat as a force of uncontrollable change. In this heat, each tree "grows" in its own way. Shades of red, green and brown are contained in each piece of metal.
Trees is a hands-on sculpture. The viewer is invited to reach out and feel the unique textures and surface of each work.
Life is short, break the rules, forgive quickly,
kiss slowly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably,
and never regret anything that made you smile.
- Author Unknown -
“It illuminated a vision Dante could not have imagined in his wildest nightmares, nor Poe in the grasp of an uncontrollable delirium.”
― Alan Dean Foster
Alien-looking seedpods in an Oregon garden, seen through a spherical lensball.
I was reading the other day about old 1960s Batman TV series. One of the camera techniques employed in the production was the so-called Dutch tilt, where the camera was held at an angle. This was used in the show when the scene cut to a villain and the concept was to give visual reinforcement that you were seeing a crooked person, a criminal. I got to thinking about how life throws us a Dutch tilt ever so often. You're sailing along smoothly, navigating the daily ups and downs, when suddenly the camera angle that is your life takes on an uncontrollable tilt. Not necessarily because of a criminal but perhaps anything that destabilizes you, and knocks you off your stride. Just like the Batman show, things like this tend to pop up like a Jack-in-the box with little or no warning. Last Friday I walked my dog for a couple of miles and she never seemed healthier or happier. Not 24 hours later she appears to be at death's door. Since then I cannot seem to get rid of the Dutch tilt. Everything I do is somehow influenced or affected by thoughts and uncertainty. And at times abject fear. Not sure how this one will turn out; hoping for a good outcome. Would be delighted to simply be able to return to my daily grind. The minor annoyances and problems that I thought about last week would be a welcome relief right now. So I'll keep looking in hopes that the camera will tilt back to level.
EDIT:
Plight of the Pantanal: A Wetland on Fire !
The Pantanal is burning uncontrollably. Animals are dying.
Jaguars are dying.
The Pantanal Survival Fund is putting boots on the ground, employing those left jobless due to COVID and lack of tourism, creating fire breaks, putting out fires, buying protective gear, paying for veterinary attention for rescued wildlife, food baskets and so much more.
Learn more via their Go Fund Me page.
Donate to help those on the ground trying to control the fire.
Help raise awareness of the plight.
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Without a doubt she is a creature of beauty.
Those that have been to the Pantanal in recent years may well recognise her. In 2019 she was one of the most regularly seen residents. We got to see her sleeping, grooming, walking, swimming, hunting and successfully capturing food such as caimans, fish and even an anaconda!
It's hard to know what 2020 will hold, but when we do get back to see these mesmerising felines, guests will most likely get a taste of these things too, and possibly more!
At the end of last season there were strong indications that she was pregnant and this would almost certainly be her first litter. Life is difficult for first time mothers, extra mouths to feed, high density of other jaguars in the area that could be a threat, but fingers crossed when we next see her she has some beautiful cubs in tow.
If you are interested in an Untamed Jaguars of Pantanal Expedition, let us know! We can send you more detailed information on itineraries, activities and other species to see and photograph, and prices.
No time like the present to start planning your next adventure.
Naun Amable Silva
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
Pantanal - July 2019
During deer rutting season, when stags fight for the right to mate with their harems, each stag has an uncontrollable passion. They see red and blood, being led by their instincts. The sight of another stag causes a haze to come over them, and they can only focus on beating their competition.
Prints available at:
www.saatchiart.com/art/Photography-Rutting-Stag/1820362/1...
Papakōlea Beach, Hawai'i, Hawaii
This pile of detritus - ghost nets, plastic tubs, and other things that wash up on the southern shore - caught my eye for its strangely aesthetic quality. Tossed together randomly, the bits and pieces somehow fuse into an almost elegantly organic cacaphony. Against a spartan background of windswept dune grasses, this heap of trash seems against all odds to be vibrantly and uncontrollably alive. Unnatural as they may be, the things we create have a way of taking on a life of their own.
While some of you might know her from her villainous appearance on Supergirl, Indigo is actually a hero, and one of the original members of Arsenal's Outsiders. She's otherwise known as Brainiac 8 - a Coluan from even further along in the future than the Legion of Superheroes' Brainiac 5. She was killed by her boyfriend Shift after her, um...Brainiac-ish tendencies became uncontrollable, as per her request.
It was a bit of a challenge getting her to look like something beyond Killer Frost with a dye job, especially since so much of that figure fits Indigo so well. I'd like to get some brighter hair for her when it becomes available - maybe the starlet hair in magenta.
EXIF Details :-
Camera Nikon D5000
Lens 55.0-200.0 mm f/4.0-5.6
Exposure 0.003 sec (1/320)
Aperture f/10.0
ISO Speed 200
Was watching an old film the other night on TCM. In one scene a couple of (1940s era) press photographers rushed in to take photos. They carried enormous cameras with large flash attachments. After each picture they had to pop out a little flash bulb and insert a fresh one for the next photo. Seemed so cumbersome by modern standards. I tried to imagine being limited to one flash per bulb, and having no way to adjust the intensity of the flash. Very little nuance in those days, yet somehow they managed. And I'm sure they viewed themselves as miles ahead of 19th century photogs who that relied on holding aloft a tray full of incendiary flash powered to illuminate their subjects. Talk about impractical, a giant 'poof' and a billowing cloud of smoke for every photo. I got to thinking about scenes such as this when sunlight behaves like a giant, uncontrollable flash. This was one of those perfect moments when the sun erupted from one side of an incredibly dark and stormy sky. It has the effect of making the dark areas even darker, and light areas impossibly bright. Before the sun appeared, my camera had been metering the overall conditions at around 1/100th of a second. Suddenly the sun blazed forth, reflecting off of the white farmhouse and the exposure changed dramatically trying to compensate. The exposure went off at 1/3000th as a result, creating a wonderful underexposure of the background while the house remained bright white. I live for moments like this, where the lighting is so dramatic that the normal scheme of things is inverted and the sky goes darker than the landscape. I wondered if anyone was in the farmhouse looking back at me and, if so, how they viewed the scene.
Mammurok, the Last Mammoth Giant:
The story of the Mammoth Giants is a story of misery and sadness. Once a great race of majestic guardians, the Mammoth Giants of old have been whittled down to just a fraction of their once great might.
The Mammoth Giants are part of the ancient order of beings that walked the lands of Warscape before humans, dwarves, or even elves set foot upon the earth. Beings like the regal Dragons, the fierce Taurocaur, and the great Arachnids are a few of the same group. The Mammoth Giants, or the Mammuthu as they call themselves in their native tongue, roamed the Plains millennia before the Brayherd tainted the land with its vicious evil.
They were once colossal beasts, standing well over the height of the great pines and many times larger than even dragons. But the Mammuthu were not feared by the ancient beasts of the lands, for they were a peaceful race, tending and herding to the great mammoth herds that roamed the plains during this time.
However, all things of honor and goodness must come to an end in the world of Warcape, and the gentle giants could not escape this fate. As evil tainted the Plains and crept into the heart of the fierce predators like the Taurocaur, they became more vile and savage, able to kill their most fierce rival, the Mammoth Giants, by pure force of hatred alone. The evil spread, and its taint followed, the grasses begin to wither, the streams began to blacken and become stale. The Mammuthu, being a peaceful race, were ill prepared for such wanton destruction. Over the millennia, they were murdered one by one, until only a sole figure of their race remained.
Mammurok became the Last Mammoth Giant when he was but a young calf. His cow and bull were tending to the tame mammoth herds on the northern fringes of the Plains touching the edge of the Lycanthrol pine forest. Out of nowhere, a large Brayherd tribe led by a vicious Taurocaur savagely murdered the herd and Mammurok’s kin. Escaping through the pines, Mammurok bitterly clung to survival, forming into a hard and defiant mammoth giant.
Roaming the northern fringes of the Plains, Mammurok now shepherds the last few remaining tame mammoth herds that haven’t been taken and corrupted into feral beasts by the Brayherd. He is a solitary figure, never seeking out the comforts of community and home, always searching for more of his kind. When he must defend his herds, Mammurok hefts an old and decaying stone pillar, swinging it in wide arcs as he crushes his enemy to a pulp with every blow. Normally stoic and reserved, he is driven into a fit of uncontrollable rage when he comes across a Brayherd tribe, destroying everything in his path until his most hated foes are vanquished.
The last of a dying race, Mammurok’s story is doomed to failure, but that does not stop this sturdy giant from protecting his herds until his dying breath.
If one were to live in Portland in late May and early June, and they were to go downtown they would discover that the annual Rose Festival celebration would be in full swing. A portion of that celebration involves the "Fun Center", which may or may not actually be a euphemism for "overpriced stuffed Disney and Comic Book character knockoffs". Now in the middle of this "Fun Center" there is a generally a Ferris Wheel.
The Ferris Wheel was first built by an innovative chap named George Washington Gale Ferris Jr., who must have decided early on that with a name like that he was destined to do something spectacular. His Ferris wheel was over 260 feet tall (which I figure to be about 26 stories tall) and was built for the centerpiece of the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1892/1893, held to honor the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus. See where all this is going? That's ok, I don't either.
A few years before the Chicago Columbian Exposition, Paris had held an exposition of their own in 1889. It was at that expo that the Eiffel Tower was unveiled. Chicago wanted to out-Eiffel Eiffel, so they sent out a call for submissions around the world for some engineering marvel. Ferris of course submitted, never having actually built a wheel of that size, and quite predictably his design was dismissed. It was not believed to be possible. The whole structure he wanted to build weighed too much for the slender frame he claimed would support it.
So he submitted again. And was rejected again. I believe he actually submitted a third and a fourth time too, and finally on the fourth try he managed to convince the judges that this thing might actually be feasible. It is interesting to note that Eiffel himself submitted a proposal for what would have been a larger Eiffel tower. Obviously his design was not chosen.
Ferris' first wheel took about 20-30 minutes to make two revolutions, and instead of small cars to hold passengers, there were massive cabins that could hold 60 people each, including one cabin that held an entire marching band which played whenever the wheel was turning. There is actually a great story about a fellow who rode it for the first time, only to discover as the wheel started up that he had a latent fear of heights. He went uncontrollably crazy with fear, and tried to kick the solid metal door out of its hinge to escape the cab. It took several, with emphasis on several as the man's fear gave him almost superhuman strength, other passengers to hold him down until the wheel completed its circuit. As it started the descent the fellow progressively calmed down until they were able to let him up. Unfortunately they forgot that the wheel made two trips, so much to the fellow's horror, the cabin didn't stop at the bottom and instead went right on by and back up, and the whole scene was repeated near exactly.
Anyway, a year after the expo ended the White City, as it was called, burnt down and Ferris' wheel was moved to a new location. It was later seen again at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis before being demolished. Which was ok with Ferris. He had proved that the rotation of the structure constantly shifted the weight of the entire structure, allowing it to be much heavier than the frame should have been able to support. Think about that the next time you are riding on it, hearing it creak and groan. :-p
So, if you did manage to get down to the Rose Festival and found your way up on to the Morrison Bridge, this would be the view you would be rewarded with. I recommend enjoying this spot about dusk. The lovely blue twilight complements the light of the wheel wonderfully.
Of course, you could not have done so tonight. The Festival was closed and all the rides off. The reason I heard given was something about restocking and getting new animals.
I don't know what happened to the old animals.
Oh and if my brief history lesson piqued your interest on the Columbian Exposition or the Ferris Wheel, or heck, both of them, I highly recommend reading The Devil in the White City. Really really good read. It even has a sociopathic killer, but trust me, the best parts all deal with the building of the Ferris Wheel and the White City itself.
Walking in freshly fallen snow in an Appalachia forest is a religious experience. In falling snow, it's an epiphany.
I've been around the world to some marvelous places. I've seen spectacular sunrises and sunsets at great landscapes; for example Smoky Mountains, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Mt. Fuji, Yellowstone, Guilin, Banff, the Parthenon, cherry blossoms at Ueno, Haleakala, Borneo, to name a few. Their colors and scenery are beautiful, photogenic.
I've tromped through many kinds of woods and forests.
Yet there is something truly magical, a cut above anything else that I've experienced when walking under a snow-laden Appalachian hardwood forest in eastern Kentucky while it snows. The phrase "winter wonderland" does not do it justice. Its cascades, waterfalls, and bluffs lend themselves to photography. The forest scene does not lend itself to photography as Canyonlands or Hong Kong harbor would. Yet experiencing the Appalachian forest at the right time is overwhelming. There is no spectacular sunset under this canopy but it's the only place that I have uncontrollably uttered "wow" over and over again. It's almost as if the primeval man within was telling me, "this place is really, really good. Special. Pay attention." I'm sure there are better words but my hardwire was overwhelmed by what surrounded me. My mind could not hold it in so I sputtered out as I walked along saying "wow" or occasionally "wow, wow, wow" as my dumbfoundedness dripped out of my mouth like drops of a slowly melting icicle landing on the rocks below in the quiet of a forest.
Dam, I wish I could capture that awe on camera.
#524, 2
134
In 2008 Algarve commemorates the second centenary of the rebellion against the Napoleonic army.
In 1807, the first French invasion of Portugal occurred, commanded by General Junot. This was the only invasion that directly affected the Algarve.
On 29 November 1807, a day before the arrival of the French soldiers in Lisbon, the Royal Family followed by about 15.000 people, amongst them noblemen and retainers, went to Brazil, under the protection of the British Navy, This legal and political manoeuvre symbolically preserved Portuguese independence.
This is the only European case where a royal family was transferred from its motherland to a colony. The impact of this event was enormous for Brazil. It would subsequently create the opportunity for it to quietly assume its independence.
However, the French occupation would cause bloodshed in Portugal until the summer of 1808.
The Portuguese King, D. João VI, later confirmed that the first successful revolt, which had set the people of the Algarve on fire against the Napoleonic Army, occurred in the small Algarvian village of Olhão. Three days later, a revolt in Faro broke out, soon becoming an uncontrollable situationThe Supreme Council in Faro, which was created after these revolts, decided that it would be an Olhão boat (a “caíque”) to take the good news to the Royal Family in Brazil.
more below of course
I went for a walk in the woods near my house, my husband went for a run.
It felt so good, to hear the leaves rustling below my feet,
to hear leaves hitting branches as the fell from such great heights,
to just stand still and watch my own breath swirl in front of me taking shapes of mythical monsters and sea horses,
to feel the cold icy autumn air fill my lungs as I breathe back in,
so cold and so pure.
In this moment I felt so present inside my own skin.
This was my world, This was my life, This is what I am living.
Not all those worst case scenarios that seem to cloud my head and make my heart race uncontrollably.
Those are not real,
THIS was real.
The golden path lined with maple leaves snaking through trees so tall they could tower over skyscrapers,
so tall I have to arch my back a little just to see the tops of them all.
This is the moment I am in, this is my life.
THIS is real.
You don’t need to be afraid, unless you’re made of scissors! Just a little Rock, Paper, Scissors joke for you."
It's Fallen Gods' 11th Anniversary in SL which is an amazing achievement. Alia Baroque is celebrating this with a marketplace set up with talented creator friends, and you can find the full list here.
One of the things The Flesh Carver contributes to SL is truly epic fantasy skins that you can win if you're lucky enough to find your 100% mystic connection among the people thronging the Fortune Teller - HI AKU! - and this season the Opus complete avatar is the prize. I applied my winnings and within moments was uncontrollably spouting Korg quotes so I flickred it because I had to.
HAVE A PRSPEROUS WEEK, ALL MY FLICKR FRIENDS AROUND THE WORLD!!
祝大家週末愉快!!
Follow me @ Tumblr. - sunrisedawn.tumblr.com/
I think all art is about control - the encounter between control and the uncontrollable.
~ Richard Avedon
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● Non-HDR-processed / Non-GND/ND-filtered
● Black Card Technique 黑卡作品
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If you are interested in my works,
please check them out on Getty Images here: My Getty Images Page
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................................................................. IF YOU WANT TO INVITE ME, PLASE READ MY PROFILE FIRST!
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Same day, just playing up a touch, I'm sorry I missed all the bucking and jumping earlier, I feel she was half doing it at me crouched down in the corner, and half because she is feeling very well. They will find any excuse to goof around uncontrollably.
Shelter in the shade.
This house was once a home and just who called it home has been lost in the passage of time.
Most likely it was home to the grazier who we can only assume lived here with his family, a wife and possibly several children.
It was quite possible that it was not an easy life but it was a lifestyle that only people from a rural background would understand.
There would have been good times as well as bad times and they would have witnessed drought and flood and a variety of other adversities.
Perhaps the children were sent to boarding school due to the distance to a local school and it goes without saying that the parents would have spent their last penny to ensure that their offspring received the best possible education.
Maybe the son or sons returned to the farm to take over the reins when the time came, we will never know.
Today the house is long abandoned and for what reason?
Was it due to financial reasons or was it due to the conditions that were uncontrollable such as prolonged adverse weather conditions.
What we do know for certain is that what was once a home is now a house and it serves as a reminder of what once was.
A short distance from the house are two large gum trees which to provide shelter for the stock that runs on the property.
Maybe there was a time when children played in and around these trees but that now belongs to a past time.
Eugowra, New South Wales, Australia.
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HOW DID THIS LYCHEE COME TO THE USA
For more;
www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/acc/display.pl?1126229
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,20 LYCHEE ACCESSIONS by USDA/ARS/NPGS/SHRS
MIA 15962 PEERLESS
MIA 26313 BREWSTER
MIA 34969 (No Name)
MIA 35554 Mauritius
MIA 36620 BD 5-27
MIA 36621 Haak Ip
PI 46568 SHAN CHI
PI 51468 NO MAI TS'Z
PI 51471 Hanging Green
PI 89413 NO MAI TS'Z
PI 94066 BENGAL
PI 215487 Tukhmia
PI 234318 CALCUTTA
PI 234319 EARLY LARGE RED
PI 234320 LATE SEEDLESS
PI 277462 BREWSTER
PI 277463 BREWSTER
PI 277468 GROFF
PI 277473 MAURITIUS
PI 277474 PEERLESS
For more;
www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/tax_site_acc.pl?MIA%20...
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India and China account for 91 percent of the world's Lychee production but it is mainly marketed locally.
IMPORTANT LYCHEE CULTIVARS OF INDIA
AJHAULI
BEDANA
CHINA
DEHRA DUN
DEHRA ROSE
DESHI
GREEN
KASBA
LATE BEDANA
LONGIA
PURBI
ROSE SCENTED (BENGAL)
SHAHI
TRIKOLIA
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SELECTED LYCHEE CULTIVARS OF FLORIDA
AMBOINA
BENGAL (ROSE SCENTED)
BOSWORTH
BREWSTER
EARLY LARGE RED
EMPEROR
GEE KEE
GROFF
HAK IP
HANGING GREEN
KAIMANA
KWAI MAI RED
MAURITIUS
NO MAI CHEE
OHIA
SALATHIEL
SWEET CLIFF
WAI CHEE
YELLOW RED
For more on Florida Lychees;
edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/MG/MG05100.pdf
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Due to uncontrollable Squirrel and Bird infestations, owners of some neighborhoods hardly get any opportunity to enjoy the ripe and sweet fruits of their labor.
One such frustrated and angry Lychee tree owner decided to taste the semi-ripe sour Lychees, even with the light sprinkling of salt.
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Freshly picked unripe, sour Lychees.
Litchi chinensis cv 'MAURITIUS'
Family Sapindaceae
Private Garden, Rockledge, Florida, USA.
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A question to all my followers playing Horizon 4: Are you one of these people who just maxes every single car you own, so you can then drive around spamming head-to-head challenges at cars 3 or 4 classes slower than yours?
If you answered yes, why do you bother? It looks no fun at all and most of the people who do it, can't even drive the awful cars they've built (or auto-built). I dunno about you but I start getting frustrated when my car always understeers on every corner while also being uncontrollable when I get on the throttle. These idiots seem to make all their cars behave that way on purpose. I'm really glad collisions are turned off
The Elevador da Bica at night, waiting for its next ride downhill, seen from the Largo Calhariz, Lisbon, Portugal
Some background information:
The Elevador da Bica (in Portuguese also named: "Ascensor da Bica"), sometimes known as the Bica Funicular, is a funicular railway line resp cable car in the civil parish of Misericórdia, in the city of Lisbon. the capital of Portugal. It runs through the Rua da Bica de Duarte Belcio and connects the Rua de São Paulo with the Largo Calhariz. The line conforms to the funicular principle, with two cars permanently attached to opposite ends of a haulage cable, which is looped over a pulley at the upper end of the track. Unusually, traction is provided by electric motors on the two cars, which are themselves powered through an overhead wire, similar to the tram network in Lisbon. The cable links the two cars together so that they ascend and descend simultaneously, each car acting as a counterweight for the other one.
The Bica Funicular is already in operation since 1892. After a contract had been signed in 1888 to install such a system, the project was conceived by the Portuguese engineer Raoul Mesnier du Ponsard. The mechanical motor of the elevator was installed in 1890, after the conclusion of the public work, but another two years of tests were necessary.
In 1912, a new contract was signed to expand the electrification of all tram lines in Lisbon. Between 1914 and 1916, the project to automate the transport system using electrical systems was completed. Unfortunately, during the conclusions of the process there was an accident with one of the cars, which became uncontrollable and crashed into the Rua de São Paulo lower station, resulting in its complete destruction. As a result, the funicular transport became inoperable for the next few years.
In 1923, the municipal council demanded the company, which operated the lines, to restart the Elevador de Bica and install new cars, provided by the firm of Theodore Bell. Since 2011, the Bica Funicular is protected and listed as a national monument of Portugal.
Lisbon is one of the oldest cities in the world and the second-oldest European capital city (after Athens). Although the first fortifications on Lisbon's castle hill are known to be no older than the 2nd century BC, recent archaeological finds have shown that Iron Age people already occupied the site from the 8th to 6th centuries BC. The Phoenicians and later the Carthaginians, are said to have called the place Alis Ubbo and used it as the only major natural harbor on the Iberian Atlantic coast. There are also evidences that Lisbon once was a Greek city, but its Greek name is unknown.
Under Roman rule, starting around 205 BC, the city was initially called Olisipo. In 48 BC, the town was granted Roman municipal rights and subsequently became known as Colonia Felicitas Iulia, growing into a larger town in the province of Lusitania. From 409 AD, barbarian tribes advanced onto the Iberian Peninsula from Gaul. During the late antique migration period, Alans, Suebi, Vandals, and Visigoths tried to occupy Lisbon.
In 719, Lisbon was conquered by Muslim Moors and later became part of the Emirate of Córdoba. The city, now known as al-Ushbuna, experienced its first major boom. During the Caliphate of Córdoba, the city was one of the most important ports, while Christian Galicians and Leonese repeatedly attempted to seize it. In 844, Vikings ravaged Lisbon and its surroundings.
In the 11th century, Lisbon was part of the Moorish Emirate of the Aftasids from Badajoz. Starting in 1093, Count Raymond of Armous, a younger son of Duke William I of Burgundy, was given rule over Galicia by King Alfonso VI of León. From there, he launched campaigns against the Moors in the south, temporarily managing to occupy Lisbon.
At the beginning of the 11th century, the south of the Iberian Peninsula was still under Moorish control. But in 1147, in the course of the so-called Reconquista, the Siege of Lisbon led to the city's final capture by the Portuguese under Alfonso I. In 1255, Lisbon became the capital city of the new Portuguese territory and in 1290, the first Portuguese university was founded in the town. During the last centuries of the Middle Ages, Lisbon expanded substantially and became an important trading post with both Northern European and Mediterranean cities.
When the Spaniards had expelled the Jews from Spanish territory, many of them fled to Lisbon. But even in Portugal they either had to convert to Christianity or leave. In 1506, an anti-semitic movement among the Old Christians of Lisbon culminated in a massacre lasting four days in which some 1,000 to 4,000 New Christian residents, converted descendants of Sephardic Jews, are estimated to have been killed.
Most of the Portuguese expeditions of the Age of Discovery set out from Lisbon during the period from the end of the 15th century to the beginning of the 17th century, including Vasco da Gama's expedition to India in 1498. In the 16th century, Lisbon’s golden era began: The city was the European hub of commerce between Africa, India, the Far East and later, Brazil, and acquired great riches by exploiting the trade of spices, slaves, sugar, textiles and other goods. This period also saw the rise of the exuberant Manueline style in architecture, which left its mark in many 16th-century monuments, including the Belém Tower and the Jerónimos Monastery.
The succession crisis of 1580 initiated a sixty-year period of dual monarchy in Portugal and Spain under the Spanish Habsburgs. In 1589, Lisbon was the target of an incursion by the English Armada led by Francis Drake. The Portuguese Restoration War, which began with a coup d'état organised by the nobility and bourgeoisie in Lisbon in 1640 amd ended with the Treaty of Lisbon in 1668, restored Portuguese independence.
In the early 18th century, gold from Brazil allowed King John V to sponsor the building of several Baroque churches and theatres in the city. Prior to the 18th century, Lisbon had experienced several significant earthquakes: eight in the 14th century, five in the 16th century, and three in the 17th century. But the earthquake of 1755 was the most davastating one. It destroyed 85 percent of the city's structures, including the Ribeira Palace and the hospital Real de Todos os Santos. An an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 Lisbon residents of a total population estimated of 200,000 to 275,000 wer killed. And in the coastal areas north of Lisbon even more people were killed by the following tsunami.
This catastrophic event shocked the whole of Europe and left a deep impression on its collective psyche. However, the city was rebuilt quickly and largely according to the plans of prime minister Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, the 1st Marquis of Pombal. He decided to demolish what remained after the earthquake and rebuild the city centre in accordance with principles of modern urban design. It was reconstructed in an open rectangular plan with two great squares: the Praça do Rossio and the Praça do Comércio.
In the first years of the 19th century, Portugal was invaded by the troops of Napoléon Bonaparte, forcing Queen Maria I and Prince-Regent John to flee temporarily to Brazil. By the time the new King John VI returned to Lisbon, many of the buildings and properties were pillaged, sacked or destroyed by the invaders. The development of industry and commerce determined the growth of the city and Lisbon grew farther from the Tejo river.
In 1911, Lisbon refounded its university after centuries of inactivity. In the 20th century, the city was also the site of three revolutions. The first ond of 1910 brought an end to the Portuguese monarchy and established the highly unstable and corrupt Portuguese First Republic. The second one of 1926 ended the first republic and firmly established the Portuguese Second Republic. And the third revolution of 1974, the so-called Carnation Revolution, put an end to the right-wing regime and reformed the country to what it is still today, the Portuguese Third Republic.
Modern Lisbon is the political centre of the country and hosts the government, the National Assembly, the Supreme Court of Justice and the Armed Forces. It is also the residence of the head of state and the centre of Portuguese diplomacy, with ambassadors from 86 countries residing in the city, as well as representations from Taiwan and Palestine. About 2.96 million people, who live in the Lisbon metropolitan area (representing almost 28 % of the Portugal's population), make Lisbon the third largest metropolitan area in the Iberian Peninsula after Madrid and Barcelona.
Green Arrow: One In The Quiver - Vol. 1 The Years
Issue #1
( Thoughts/Narration )
( Location/Time )
( Speech )
Oliver Queen had no idea that when he left Star City on The Mercury for his 18th Birthday that it would be the last time he would see his home for over 4 years. This is his story.
Current Day...
I’ve just left Starfish Island. My Island. My Island for 4 years. Although I did share it with someone for a time, who’s being there led to my fortunate escape. Natas was my friend. He was loyal to the core and I trusted him with my life, but the organisation H.I.V.E. kidnapped him, again. He said he ended up here, the island, as the result of a failed mission for them. He wouldn’t talk about it much, like I wouldn’t tell him much of how I arrived in the godforsaken place. But that doesn’t mean I can’t tell my story here, of how the Green Arrow came to be.
It was the 16th of March 2013, my 18th Birthday. My parents, Robert and Moira, had hired me cruise ship to sail the Caribbean in for a few weeks, The Mercury. It was wonderful; open bar, beautiful women and we even had some band on board for a weekend - my memory doesn’t recall which. Of course, my security team was there too. Things took a deep turn however when one of my mates found his 5 year girlfriend cheating with me. Yeah, I used to be one of those guys. I think it’s fair to say the island sobered me up. Consequently, my parents got involved and sent all my friends home, but we still had the boat for another week so the three of us stayed on board. It was fun, I think. At least it was the most fun I remember having with my parents in the last decade. On the second to last day, my Dad’s prodigy arrived by helicopter, telling him that Queen Consolidated need him back at Star City by tomorrow. He leaves after a few drinks. His name is Simon Moreau and I wish my family had gotten into that helicopter with him.
Later that day, around 9.00pm, I was watching the Star City Rockets baseball game. First of the season. I remember Troy Barnes had just hit a homerun when I heard a scream. Most curious, I paused the game and stuck my head out of the door. I saw her, one of the waitresses. A black arrow with a syringe attached had just injected her with some green liquid. I was about to run over when I heard another scream, then a shout, and another. I continued to cautiously and quietly shuffle in her direction, shrieks still happening around the ship, when I noticed her eyes. They’d turned white, completely solid. I stepped back startled. Then she ran straight for me and in a panic I headed in the direction of my parents room. I passed several more infected on my way when I crashed into my parents and a security guard. My father said “Oliver! Thank God, don’t panic, we must get out of here!” Realising we were about to be overrun, the guard shut the doors I’d just came though, stopping a horde of aggressive, cannibalistic drugged-up people from getting to us. We made our way below deck to where our speedboat was kept. But that's when I saw him, a Black Archer, stood by our escape. He shot the guard with an arrow in a mere second, killing him dead on the spot. “You’re next, Queens” , the figure said, pulling another one from his quiver. My father pushed me behind him, being protective. “I AM KOMODO! THIS IS FOR MY FATHER!” the archer shouted, about to kill mine. “NOO!” yelled my brave, poor mother, throwing herself in front of me and my father. She was dead, just like that. My mother. She had so selflessly given her life for ours. But I was in shock, so instinct took over, flight or fight, and the seconds that my mother had given me allowed me to run to the speedboat to start the engine. “GO! OLIVER! G…” my father hollered before also being struck. I was crying uncontrollably at what was happening, but I did as he told me, possibly for the first real time. I just held the accelerator and hid below the wheel. An arrow pinged off the controls, landing at my feet. I didn’t know where I was going, only that I had to go. After a minute or so, I looked back, only to see the boat go up in flames. I don’t quite recollect what happened after that. The next thing I remember is waking up in a cave with Natas, my eyes sore from the tears...
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End of Issue
Thanks for reading guys! I'll release another issue next week! :D
The cruise ship I took from here: ideas.lego.com/projects/17838
Thessaloniki (Greek: Θεσσαλονίκη, often referred to internationally as Thessalonica or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the Greek region of Macedonia, the administrative region of Central Macedonia and the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace.[3][4] Its honorific title is Συμπρωτεύουσα (Symprotévousa), literally "co-capital",[5] and stands as a reference to its historical status as the Συμβασιλεύουσα (Symvasilévousa) or "co-reigning" city of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, alongside Constantinople.[6]
According to the preliminary results of the 2011 census, the municipality of Thessaloniki today has a population of 322,240,[1] while the Thessaloniki Urban Area (the contiguous built up area forming the "City of Thessaloniki") has a population of 790,824.[1] Furthermore, the Thessaloniki Metropolitan Area extends over an area of 1,455.62 km2 (562.02 sq mi) and its population in 2011 reached a total of 1,104,460 inhabitants.[1]
Thessaloniki is Greece's second major economic, industrial, commercial and political centre, and a major transportation hub for the rest of southeastern Europe;[7] its commercial port is also of great importance for Greece and the southeastern European hinterland.[7] The city is renowned for its festivals, events and vibrant cultural life in general,[8] and is considered to be Greece's cultural capital.[8] Events such as the Thessaloniki International Trade Fair and the Thessaloniki International Film Festival are held annually, while the city also hosts the largest bi-annual meeting of the Greek diaspora.[9] Thessaloniki is the 2014 European Youth Capital.[10]
Founded in 315 BC by Cassander of Macedon, Thessaloniki's history spans some 2,300 years. An important metropolis by the Roman period, Thessaloniki was the second largest and wealthiest city of the Byzantine Empire. Thessaloniki is home to numerous notable Byzantine monuments, including the Paleochristian and Byzantine monuments of Thessaloniki, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as well as several Roman, Ottoman and Sephardic Jewish structures. The city's main university, Aristotle University, is the largest in Greece and the Balkans.[11]
Thessaloniki is a popular tourist destination in Greece. In 2010, Lonely Planet ranked Thessaloniki as the world's fifth-best party city worldwide, comparable to other cities such as Dubai and Montreal.[12] For 2013 National Geographic Magazine included Thessaloniki in its top tourist destinations worldwide,[13] while in 2014 Financial Times FDI magazine (Foreign Direct Investments) declared Thessaloniki as the best mid-sized European city of the future for human capital and lifestyle.
Etymology
All variations of the city's name derive from the original (and current) appellation in Greek: Θεσσαλονίκη (from Θεσσαλός, Thessalos, and Νίκη, Nike), literally translating to "Thessalian Victory". The name of the city came from the name of a princess, Thessalonike of Macedon, half sister of Alexander the Great, so named because of her birth on the day of the Macedonian victory at the Battle of Crocus Field (353/352 BCE).[16]
The alternative name Salonica (or Salonika) derives from the variant form Σαλονίκη (Saloníki) in popular Greek speech, and has given rise to the form of the city's name in several languages. Names in other languages prominent in the city's history include Солѹнь (Solun) in Old Church Slavonic, סלוניקה (Salonika) in Ladino, Selanik (also Selânik) in Turkish (سلانیك in Ottoman Turkish), Solun (also written as Солун) in the local and neighboring South Slavic languages, Салоники (Saloníki) in Russian, and Sãrunã in Aromanian. In local speech, the city's name is typically pronounced with a dark and deep L characteristic of Macedonian Greek accent.[17][18]
The name often appears in writing in the abbreviated form Θεσ/νίκη
History
From antiquity to the Roman Empire
The city was founded around 315 BC by the King Cassander of Macedon, on or near the site of the ancient town of Therma and 26 other local villages.[20] He named it after his wife Thessalonike,[21] a half-sister of Alexander the Great and princess of Macedon as daughter of Philip II. Under the kingdom of Macedon the city retained its own autonomy and parliament[22] and evolved to become the most important city in Macedon.[21]
After the fall of the kingdom of Macedon in 168 BC, Thessalonica became a free city of the Roman Republic under Mark Antony in 41 BC.[21][23] It grew to be an important trade-hub located on the Via Egnatia,[24] the road connecting Dyrrhachium with Byzantium,[25] which facilitated trade between Thessaloniki and great centers of commerce such as Rome and Byzantium.[26] Thessaloniki also lay at the southern end of the main north-south route through the Balkans along the valleys of the Morava and Axios river valleys, thereby linking the Balkans with the rest of Greece.[27] The city later became the capital of one of the four Roman districts of Macedonia.[24] Later it became the capital of all the Greek provinces of the Roman Empire due to the city's importance in the Balkan peninsula. When the Roman Empire was divided into the tetrarchy, Thessaloniki became the administrative capital of one of the four portions of the Empire under Galerius Maximianus Caesar,[28][29] where Galerius commissioned an imperial palace, a new hippodrome, a triumphal arch and a mausoleum among others.[29][30][31]
In 379 when the Roman Prefecture of Illyricum was divided between the East and West Roman Empires, Thessaloniki became the capital of the new Prefecture of Illyricum.[24] In 390 Gothic troops under the Roman Emperor Theodosius I, led a massacre against the inhabitants of Thessalonica, who had risen in revolt against the Germanic soldiers. With the Fall of Rome in 476, Thessaloniki became the second-largest city of the Eastern Roman Empire.[26] Around the time of the Roman Empire Thessaloniki was also an important center for the spread of Christianity; some scholars hold that the First Epistle to the Thessalonians written by Paul the Apostle is the first written book of the New Testament.
Byzantine era and Middle Ages
From the first years of the Byzantine Empire, Thessaloniki was considered the second city in the Empire after Constantinople,[33][34][35] both in terms of wealth and size.[33] with an population of 150,000 in the mid 1100s.[36] The city held this status until it was transferred to Venice in 1423. In the 14th century the city's population exceeded 100,000 to 150,000,[37][38][39] making it larger than London at the time.[40]
During the 6th and 7th centuries the area around Thessaloniki was invaded by Avars and Slavs, who unsuccessfully laid siege to the city several times.[41] Traditional historiography stipulates that many Slavs settled in the hinterland of Thessaloniki,[42] however, this migration was allegedly on a much smaller scale than previously thought.[42][42][43] In the 9th century, the Byzantine Greek missionaries Cyril and Methodius, both natives of the city, created the first literary language of the Slavs, the Glagolic alphabet, most likely based on the Slavic dialect used in the hinterland of their hometown.[44][45][46][47][48]
An Arab naval attack in 904 resulted in the sack of the city.[49] The economic expansion of the city continued through the 12th century as the rule of the Komnenoi emperors expanded Byzantine control to the north. Thessaloniki passed out of Byzantine hands in 1204,[50] when Constantinople was captured by the forces of the Fourth Crusade and incorporated the city and its surrounding territories in the Kingdom of Thessalonica[51] — which then became the largest vassal of the Latin Empire. In 1224, the Kingdom of Thessalonica was overrun by the Despotate of Epirus, a remnant of the former Byzantine Empire, under Theodore Komnenos Doukas who crowned himself Emperor,[52] and the city became the Despotat's capital.[52][53] This era of the Despotate of Epirus is also known as the Empire of Thessalonica.[52][54][55] Following his defeat at Klokotnitsa however in 1230,[52][54] the Empire of Thessalonica became a vassal state of the Second Bulgarian Empire until it was recovered again in 1246, this time by the Nicaean Empire.[52] In 1342,[56] the city saw the rise of the Commune of the Zealots, an anti-aristocratic party formed of sailors and the poor,[57] which is nowadays described as social-revolutionary.[56] The city was practically independent of the rest of the Empire,[56][57][58] as it had its own government, a form of republic.[56] The zealot movement was overthrown in 1350 and the city was reunited with the rest of the Empire.[56]
In 1423, Despot Andronicus, who was in charge of the city, ceded it to the Republic of Venice with the hope that it could be protected from the Ottomans who were besieging the city (there is no evidence to support the oft-repeated story that he sold the city to them). The Venetians held Thessaloniki until it was captured by the Ottoman Sultan Murad II on 29 March 1430.
Ottoman period
When Sultan Murad II captured Thessaloniki and sacked it in 1430, contemporary reports estimated that about one-fifth of the city's population was enslaved.[60] Upon the conquest of Thessaloniki, some of its inhabitants escaped,[61] including intellectuals such as Theodorus Gaza "Thessalonicensis" and Andronicus Callistus.[62] However, the change of sovereignty from the Byzantine Empire to the Ottoman one did not affect the city's prestige as a major imperial city and trading hub.[63][64] Thessaloniki and Smyrna, although smaller in size than Constantinople, were the Ottoman Empire's most important trading hubs.[63] Thessaloniki's importance was mostly in the field of shipping,[63] but also in manufacturing,[64] while most of the city's trade was controlled by ethnic Greeks.[63]
During the Ottoman period, the city's population of mainly Greek Jews and Ottoman Muslims (including those of Turkish and Albanian, as well as Bulgarian Muslim and Greek Muslim convert origin) grew substantially. By 1478 Selânik (سلانیك), as the city came to be known in Ottoman Turkish, had a population of 4,320 Muslims, 6,094 Greek Orthodox and some Catholics, but no Jews. Soon after the turn of the 15th to 16th century, nearly 20,000 Sephardic Jews had immigrated to Greece from Spain following their expulsion by the 1492 Alhambra Decree.[65] By c. 1500, the numbers had grown to 7,986 Greeks, 8,575 Muslims, and 3,770 Jews. By 1519, Sephardic Jews numbered 15,715, 54% of the city's population. Some historians consider the Ottoman regime's invitation to Jewish settlement was a strategy to prevent the ethnic Greek population (Eastern Orthodox Christians) from dominating the city.[38]
Thessaloniki was the capital of the Sanjak of Selanik within the wider Rumeli Eyalet (Balkans)[66] until 1826, and subsequently the capital of Selanik Eyalet (after 1867, the Selanik Vilayet).[67][68] This consisted of the sanjaks of Selanik, Serres and Drama between 1826 and 1912.[69] Thessaloniki was also a Janissary stronghold where novice Janissaries were trained. In June 1826, regular Ottoman soldiers attacked and destroyed the Janissary base in Thessaloniki while also killing over 10,000 Janissaries, an event known as The Auspicious Incident in Ottoman history.[70] From 1870, driven by economic growth, the city's population expanded by 70%, reaching 135,000 in 1917.[71]
The last few decades of Ottoman control over the city were an era of revival, particularly in terms of the city's infrastructure. It was at that time that the Ottoman administration of the city acquired an "official" face with the creation of the Command Post[72] while a number of new public buildings were built in the eclectic style in order to project the European face both of Thessaloniki and the Ottoman Empire.[72][73] The city walls were torn down between 1869 and 1889,[74] efforts for a planned expansion of the city are evident as early as 1879,[75] the first tram service started in 1888[76] and the city streets were illuminated with electric lamp posts in 1908.[77] In 1888 Thessaloniki was connected to Central Europe via rail through Belgrade, Monastir in 1893 and Constantinople in 1896.
Since the 20th century
In the early 20th century, Thessaloniki was in the center of radical activities by various groups; the Bulgarian Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, founded in 1897,[78] and the Greek Macedonian Committee, founded in 1903.[79] In 1903 an anarchist group known as the Boatmen of Thessaloniki planted bombs in several buildings in Thessaloniki, including the Ottoman Bank, with some assistance from the IMRO. The Greek consulate in Ottoman Thessaloniki (now the Museum of the Macedonian Struggle) served as the center of operations for the Greek guerillas. In 1908 the Young Turks movement broke out in the city, sparking the Young Turk Revolution.[80]
The Ottoman Feth-i Bülend being sunk in Thessaloniki in 1912 by a Greek ship during the First Balkan War.
Constantine I of Greece with George I of Greece and the Greek army enter the city.
As the First Balkan War broke out, Greece declared war on the Ottoman Empire and expanded its borders. When Eleftherios Venizelos, Prime Minister at the time, was asked if the Greek army should move towards Thessaloniki or Monastir (now Bitola, Republic of Macedonia), Venizelos replied "Salonique à tout prix!" (Thessaloniki, at all costs!).[81] As both Greece and Bulgaria wanted Thessaloniki, the Ottoman garrison of the city entered negotiations with both armies.[82] On 8 November 1912 (26 October Old Style), the feast day of the city's patron saint, Saint Demetrius, the Greek Army accepted the surrender of the Ottoman garrison at Thessaloniki.[83] The Bulgarian army arrived one day after the surrender of the city to Greece and Tahsin Pasha, ruler of the city, told the Bulgarian officials that "I have only one Thessaloniki, which I have surrendered".[82] After the Second Balkan War, Thessaloniki and the rest of the Greek portion of Macedonia were officially annexed to Greece by the Treaty of Bucharest in 1913.[84] On 18 March 1913 George I of Greece was assassinated in the city by Alexandros Schinas.[85]
In 1915, during World War I, a large Allied expeditionary force established a base at Thessaloniki for operations against pro-German Bulgaria.[86] This culminated in the establishment of the Macedonian Front, also known as the Salonika Front.[87][88] In 1916, pro-Venizelist Greek army officers and civilians, with the support of the Allies, launched an uprising,[89] creating a pro-Allied[90] temporary government by the name of the "Provisional Government of National Defence"[89][91] that controlled the "New Lands" (lands that were gained by Greece in the Balkan Wars, most of Northern Greece including Greek Macedonia, the North Aegean as well as the island of Crete);[89][91] the official government of the King in Athens, the "State of Athens",[89] controlled "Old Greece"[89][91] which were traditionally monarchist. The State of Thessaloniki was disestablished with the unification of the two opposing Greek governments under Venizelos, following the abdication of King Constantine in 1917.[86][91]
The 1st Battalion of the National Defence army marches on its way to the front.
Aerial picture of the Great Fire of 1917.
Most of the old center of the city was destroyed by the Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917, which started accidentally by an unattended kitchen fire on 18 August 1917.[92] The fire swept through the centre of the city, leaving 72,000 people homeless; according to the Pallis Report, most of them were Jewish (50,000). Many businesses were destroyed, as a result, 70% of the population were unemployed.[92] Also a number of religious structures of the three major faiths were lost. Nearly one-quarter of the total population of approximately 271,157 became homeless.[92] Following the fire the government prohibited quick rebuilding, so it could implement the new redesign of the city according to the European-style urban plan[6] prepared by a group of architects, including the Briton Thomas Mawson, and headed by French architect Ernest Hébrard.[92] Property values fell from 6.5 million Greek drachmas to 750,000.[93]
After the defeat of Greece in the Greco-Turkish War and during the break-up of the Ottoman Empire, a population exchange took place between Greece and Turkey.[90] Over 160,000 ethnic Greeks deported from the former Ottoman Empire were resettled in the city,[90] changing its demographics. Additionally many of the city's Muslims were deported to Turkey, ranging at about 20,000 people.[94]
During World War II Thessaloniki was heavily bombarded by Fascist Italy (with 232 people dead, 871 wounded and over 800 buildings damaged or destroyed in November 1940 alone),[95] and, the Italians having failed to succeed in their invasion of Greece, it fell to the forces of Nazi Germany on 8 April 1941[96] and remained under German occupation until 30 October 1944 when it was liberated by the Greek People's Liberation Army.[97] The Nazis soon forced the Jewish residents into a ghetto near the railroads and on 15 March 1943 began the deportation process of the city's 56,000 Jews to its concentration camps.[98][99] They deported over 43,000 of the city's Jews in concentration camps,[98] where most were killed in the gas chambers. The Germans also deported 11,000 Jews to forced labor camps, where most perished.[100] Only 1,200 Jews live in the city today.
Part of Eleftherias Square during the Axis occupation.
The importance of Thessaloniki to Nazi Germany can be demonstrated by the fact that, initially, Hitler had planned to incorporate it directly in the Third Reich[101] (that is, make it part of Germany) and not have it controlled by a puppet state such as the Hellenic State or an ally of Germany (Thessaloniki had been promised to Yugoslavia as a reward for joining the Axis on 25 March 1941).[102] Having been the first major city in Greece to fall to the occupying forces just two days after the German invasion, it was in Thessaloniki that the first Greek resistance group was formed (under the name «Ελευθερία», Eleftheria, "Freedom")[103] as well as the first anti-Nazi newspaper in an occupied territory anywhere in Europe,[104] also by the name Eleftheria. Thessaloniki was also home to a military camp-converted-concentration camp, known in German as "Konzentrationslager Pavlo Mela" (Pavlos Melas Concentration Camp),[105] where members of the resistance and other non-favourable people towards the German occupation from all over Greece[105] were held either to be killed or sent to concentration camps elsewhere in Europe.[105] In the 1946 monarchy referendum, the majority of the locals voted in favour of a republic, contrary to the rest of Greece.[106]
After the war, Thessaloniki was rebuilt with large-scale development of new infrastructure and industry throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Many of its architectural treasures still remain, adding value to the city as a tourist destination, while several early Christian and Byzantine monuments of Thessaloniki were added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1988.[107] In 1997, Thessaloniki was celebrated as the European Capital of Culture,[108] sponsoring events across the city and the region. Agency established to oversee the cultural activities of that year 1997 was still in existence by 2010.[109] In 2004 the city hosted a number of the football events as part of the 2004 Summer Olympics.[110]
Today Thessaloniki has become one of the most important trade and business hubs in Southeastern Europe, with its port, the Port of Thessaloniki being one of the largest in the Aegean and facilitating trade throughout the Balkan hinterland.[7] On 26 October 2012 the city celebrated its centennial since its incorporation into Greece.[111] The city also forms one of the largest student centres in Southeastern Europe, is host to the largest student population in Greece and will be the European Youth Capital in 2014
Geography
Geology
Thessaloniki lies on the northern fringe of the Thermaic Gulf on its eastern coast and is bound by Mount Chortiatis on its southeast. Its proximity to imposing mountain ranges, hills and fault lines, especially towards its southeast have historically made the city prone to geological changes.
Since medieval times, Thessaloniki was hit by strong earthquakes, notably in 1759, 1902, 1978 and 1995.[113] On 19–20 June 1978, the city suffered a series of powerful earthquakes, registering 5.5 and 6.5 on the Richter scale.[114][115] The tremors caused considerable damage to a number of buildings and ancient monuments,[114] but the city withstood the catastrophe without any major problems.[115] One apartment building in central Thessaloniki collapsed during the second earthquake, killing many, raising the final death toll to 51.[114][115]
Climate
Thessaloniki's climate is directly affected by the sea it is situated on.[116] The city lies in a transitional climatic zone, so its climate displays characteristics of several climates. According to the Köppen climate classification, it is a humid subtropical climate (Cfa) that borders on a semi-arid climate (BSk), with annual average precipitation of 450 millimetres (18 in) due to the Pindus rain shadow drying the westerly winds. However, the city has a summer precipitation between 20 to 30 millimetres (0.79 to 1.18 in), which borders it close to a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Csa).
Winters are relatively dry, with common morning frost. Snowfalls are sporadic, but οccur more or less every winter, but the snow cover does not last for more than a few days. Fog is common, with an average of 193 foggy days in a year.[117] During the coldest winters, temperatures can drop to −10 °C (14 °F).[117] The record minimum temperature in Thessaloniki was −14 °C (7 °F).[118] On average, Thessaloniki experiences frost (sub-zero temperature) 32 days a year.[117] The coldest month of the year in the city is January, with an average 24-hour temperature of 6 °C (43 °F).[119] Wind is also usual in the winter months, with December and January having an average wind speed of 26 km/h (16 mph).[117]
Thessaloniki's summers are hot with rather humid nights.[117] Maximum temperatures usually rise above 30 °C (86 °F),[117] but rarely go over 40 °C (104 °F);[117] the average number of days the temperature is above 32 °C (90 °F) is 32.[117] The maximum recorded temperature in the city was 42 °C (108 °F).[117][118] Rain seldom falls in summer, mainly during thunderstorms. In the summer months Thessaloniki also experiences strong heat waves.[120] The hottest month of the year in the city is July, with an average 24-hour temperature of 26 °C (79 °F).[119] The average wind speed for June and July in Thessaloniki is 20 kilometres per hour (12 mph)
Government
According to the Kallikratis reform, as of 1 January 2011 the Thessaloniki Urban Area (Greek: Πολεοδομικό Συγκρότημα Θεσσαλονίκης) which makes up the "City of Thessaloniki", is made up of six self-governing municipalities (Greek: Δήμοι) and one municipal unit (Greek: Δημοτική ενότητα). The municipalities that are included in the Thessaloniki Urban Area are those of Thessaloniki (the city center and largest in population size), Kalamaria, Neapoli-Sykies, Pavlos Melas, Kordelio-Evosmos, Ampelokipoi-Menemeni, and the municipal unit of Pylaia, part of the municipality of Pylaia-Chortiatis. Prior to the Kallikratis reform, the Thessaloniki Urban Area was made up of twice as many municipalities, considerably smaller in size, which created bureaucratic problems.[123]
Thessaloniki Municipality
The municipality of Thessaloniki (Greek: Δήμος Θεσαλονίκης) is the second most populous in Greece, after Athens, with a population of 322,240[1] people (in 2011) and an area of 17.832 km2 (7 sq mi). The municipality forms the core of the Thessaloniki Urban Area, with its central district (the city center), referred to as the Kentro, meaning 'center' or 'downtown'.
The institution of mayor of Thessaloniki was inaugurated under the Ottoman Empire, in 1912. The first mayor of Thessaloniki was Osman Sait Bey, while the current mayor of the municipality of Thessaloniki is Yiannis Boutaris. In 2011, the municipality of Thessaloniki had a budget of €464.33 million[124] while the budget of 2012 stands at €409.00 million.[125]
According to an article in The New York Times, the way in which the present mayor of Thessaloniki is treating the city's debt and oversized administration problems could be used as an example by Greece's central government for a successful strategy in dealing with these problems.[126]
Other
Thessaloniki is the second largest city in Greece. It is an influential city for the northern parts of the country and is the capital of the region of Central Macedonia and the Thessaloniki regional unit. The Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace is also based in Thessaloniki, being that the city is the de facto capital of the Greek region of Macedonia.
It is customary every year for the Prime Minister of Greece to announce his administration's policies on a number of issues, such as the economy, at the opening night of the Thessaloniki International Trade Fair. In 2010, during the first months of the 2010 Greek debt crisis, the entire cabinet of Greece met in Thessaloniki to discuss the country's future.[127]
In the Hellenic Parliament, the Thessaloniki urban area constitutes a 16-seat constituency. As of the national elections of 17 June 2012 the largest party in Thessaloniki is New Democracy with 27.8%, followed by the Coalition of the Radical Left (27.0%) and the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (10.2%).[128] The table below summarizes the results of the latest elections.
Cityscape
Architecture
Architecture in Thessaloniki is the direct result of the city's position at the centre of all historical developments in the Balkans. Aside from its commercial importance, Thessaloniki was also for many centuries the military and administrative hub of the region, and beyond this the transportation link between Europe and the Levant (Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel / Palestine). Merchants, traders and refugees from all over Europe settled in the city. The need for commercial and public buildings in this new era of prosperity led to the construction of large edifices in the city center. During this time, the city saw the building of banks, large hotels, theatres, warehouses, and factories. Architects who designed some of the most notable buildings of the city, in the late 19th and early 20th century, include Vitaliano Poselli, Pietro Arrigoni, Xenophon Paionidis, Eli Modiano, Moshé Jacques, Jean Joseph Pleyber, Frederic Charnot, Ernst Ziller, Roubens Max, Levi Ernst, Angelos Siagas and others, using mainly the styles of Eclecticism and Art Nouveau.
The city layout changed after 1870, when the seaside fortifications gave way to extensive piers, and many of the oldest walls of the city were demolished, including those surrounding the White Tower, which today stands as the main landmark of the city. As parts of the early Byzantine walls were demolished, this allowed the city to expand east and west along the coast.[129]
The expansion of Eleftherias Square towards the sea completed the new commercial hub of the city and at the time was considered one of the most vibrant squares of the city. As the city grew, workers moved to the western districts, due to their proximity to factories and industrial activities; while the middle and upper classes gradually moved from the city-center to the eastern suburbs, leaving mainly businesses. In 1917, a devastating fire swept through the city and burned uncontrollably for 32 hours.[71] It destroyed the city's historic center and a large part of its architectural heritage, but paved the way for modern development and allowed Thessaloniki the development of a proper European city center, featuring wider diagonal avenues and monumental squares; which the city initially lacked – much of what was considered to be 'essential' in European architecture.
City Center
After the Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917, a team of architects and urban planners including Thomas Mawson and Ernest Hebrard, a French architect, chose the Byzantine era as the basis of their (re)building designs for Thessaloniki's city center. The new city plan included axes, diagonal streets and monumental squares, with a street grid that would channel traffic smoothly. The plan of 1917 included provisions for future population expansions and a street and road network that would be, and still is sufficient today.[71] It contained sites for public buildings and provided for the restoration of Byzantine churches and Ottoman mosques.
The Metropolitan Church of Saint Gregory Palamas, designed by Ernst Ziller.
Today the city center of Thessaloniki includes the features designed as part of the plan and forms the point in the city where most of the public buildings, historical sites, entertainment venues and stores are located. The center is characterized by its many historical buildings, arcades, laneways and distinct architectural styles such as Art Nouveau and Art Deco, which can be seen on many of its buildings.
Also called the historic center, it is divided into several districts, of which include Ladadika (where many entertainment venues and tavernas are located), Kapani (were the city's central city market is located), Diagonios, Navarinou, Rotonta, Agia Sofia and Ippodromio (white tower), which are all located around Thessaloniki's most central point, Aristotelous Square.
The west point of the city center is home to Thessaloniki's law courts, its central international railway station and the port, while on its eastern side stands the city's two universities, the Thessaloniki International Exhibition Center, the city's main stadium, its archaeological and Byzantine museums, the new city hall and its central parklands and gardens, namely those of the ΧΑΝΘ/Palios Zoologikos Kipos and Pedio tou Areos. The central road arteries that pass through the city center, designed in the Ernest Hebrard plan, include those of Tsimiski, Egnatia, Nikis, Mitropoleos, Venizelou and St. Demetrius avenues.
Ano Poli
Ano Poli (also called Old Town and literally the Upper Town) is the heritage listed district north of Thessaloniki's city center that was not engulfed by the great fire of 1917 and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site by ministerial actions of Melina Merkouri, during the 1980s. It consists of Thessaloniki's most traditional part of the city, still featuring small stone paved streets, old squares and homes featuring old Greek and Ottoman architecture.
Ano Poli also, is the highest point in Thessaloniki and as such, is the location of the city's acropolis, its Byzantine fort, the Heptapyrgion, a large portion of the city's remaining walls, and with many of its additional Ottoman and Byzantine structures still standing. The area provides access to the Seich Sou Forest National Park[131] and features amphitheatric views of the whole city and the Thermaic Gulf. On clear days Mount Olympus, at about 100 km (62 mi) away across the gulf, can also be seen towering the horizon.
Southeastern Thessaloniki up until the 1920s was home to the city's most affluent residents and formed the outermost suburbs of the city at the time, with the area close to the Thermaic Gulf coast called Exoches, from the 19th century holiday villas which defined the area. Today southeastern Thessaloniki has in some way become a natural extension of the city center, with the avenues of Megalou Alexandrou, Georgiou Papandreou (Antheon), Vasilissis Olgas Avenue, Delfon, Konstantinou Karamanli (Nea Egnatia) and Papanastasiou passing through it, enclosing an area traditionally called Dépôt (Ντεπώ), from the name of the old tram station, owned by a French company. The area extends to Kalamaria and Pylaia, about 9 km (5.59 mi) from the White Tower in the city centre.
Some of the most notable mansions and villas of the old-era of the city remain along Vasilissis Olgas Avenue. Built for the most wealthy residents and designed by well known architects they are used today as museums, art galleries or remain as private properties. Some of them include Villa Bianca, Villa Ahmet Kapanci, Villa Modiano, Villa Mordoch, Villa Mehmet Kapanci, Hatzilazarou Mansion, Chateau Mon Bonheur (often called red tower) and others.
Most of southeastern Thessaloniki is characterized by its modern architecture and apartment buildings, home to the middle-class and more than half of the municipality of Thessaloniki population. Today this area of the city is also home to 3 of the city's main football stadiums, the Thessaloniki Concert Hall, the Posidonio aquatic and athletic complex, the Naval Command post of Northern Greece and the old royal palace (called Palataki), located on the most westerly point of Karabournaki cape. The municipality of Kalamaria is also located in southeastern Thessaloniki and has become this part of the city's most sought after areas, with many open spaces and home to high end bars, cafés and entertainment venues, most notably on Plastira street, along the coast
Northwestern Thessaloniki had always been associated with industry and the working class because as the city grew during the 1920s, many workers had moved there, due to its proximity near factories and industrial activities. Today many factories and industries have been moved further out west and the area is experiencing rapid growth as does the southeast. Many factories in this area have been converted to cultural centres, while past military grounds that are being surrounded by densely built neighborhoods are awaiting transformation into parklands.
Northwest Thessaloniki forms the main entry point into the city of Thessaloniki with the avenues of Monastiriou, Lagkada and 26is Octovriou passing through it, as well as the extension of the A1 motorway, feeding into Thessaloniki's city center. The area is home to the Macedonia InterCity Bus Terminal (KTEL), the Zeitenlik Allied memorial military cemetery and to large entertainment venues of the city, such as Milos, Fix, Vilka (which are housed in converted old factories). Northwestern Thessaloniki is also home to Moni Lazariston, located in Stavroupoli, which today forms one of the most important cultural centers for the city.
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A terrible plague known as "The Doll Effect" is quickly spreading throughout the indigenous population. Symptoms include loss of articulation, lengthening of limbs, and an uncontrollable attraction to pretty colors.
Keep your distance and do NOT accept any Friendly requests!
All species are affected, people and animals alike! Infected lifeforms are being gathered and placed into Quarantine until such time as a cure can be developed.
The Zillo’s Maw is a trio of experienced warriors that specialize in melee weapons, and always make sure that their battles end in a spectacle. Each member has plenty of mystery, but here’s what we know about them.
L-R;
Myssa Nalle
Species: Half Mirilian, Half Human
Weapons of choice: Two impure Beskar blades
Myssa Nalle is an experienced fighter who uses Jedi tactics while fighting with her blades. Being half Mirilian, she is incredibly agile, and can slice through several enemies without them making a move. She fights mostly because Gredarr does- some say that she has a thing for him...
Gredarr Kroto
Species: Unknown, most likely human or part human
Weapon of choice: A unique lightsaber
Gredarr is the main member of The Zillo’s Maw, and he’s probably the strongest of the three. He owns powerful impure Beskar armor, and is known for wielding his unique lightsaber, which is flexible and can be used like a whip. He also is always seen wearing a helmet, and rumor has it that it’s because he burned himself with the saber, due to its uncontrollable nature. Anyways, he definitely has mastered it now, and is a real threat in the Warriors of Fire tournament.
Kregask Cholurn
Species: Newtkind
Weapons of choice: Jadeblades, vibro-axe hand cannon
Kregask is an interesting being, and is known to be Gredarr’s friend. He was once a pirate of goods on outer rim planets, and has accumulated many interesting garments and weapons during his plunders, including strange green ceremonial blades that haven’t been seen elsewhere in the galaxy. Like Myssa, he fights mostly because Gredarr does, and will follow any of his orders.
God Can’t Catch You if You Don’t Take a Leap of Faith
By Darren Wilson ·
It was breakfast, and I just wanted my coffee. We were staying in a palace in southern India, and we were quite literally the only people staying there. It was a strange feeling, to have a palace all to your own. But then again, this was India, so really anything was possible.
The day before we had filmed with a man named Ravi, who would regularly hear the audible voice of God speaking to him, directing him places and to people to see. I had finally convinced him to let me film him for my movie, Father of Lights, and we had just weathered a sea of Hindu men wielding machetes in one village and a spiritual showdown with a notorious witch doctor in another. I was so relieved/elated that I told Ravi to take us to the nicest hotel in town to celebrate that we were all still alive.
So the palace it was.
While sipping my coffee and trying to kick the cobwebs out of my head, I asked Ravi what the plan was today. He told me I had two choices: either we could go home, or we could pursue the thing God had spoken to him about this morning.
Um, care to elaborate?
Apparently, that morning Ravi had been tossed out of bed by an angel (when he asked the angel why he threw him out of bed, the angel told him matter-of-factly that he wouldn’t wake up), and was given an assignment. If he wanted, he was to go to a particular temple complex where he was to look for a man in an orange robe, with a long white beard and a turban on his head.
He would know who he was when he found him. That was it. That was the mission.
I took another sip of my coffee.
About an hour later we were on our way to the temple complex, and part of me was excited, while another part of me was having a hard time wrapping my head around this.
Were we really going to meet some guy who met this description? And if so, what was going to happen?
I was making a movie, and this sure felt like a God setup—but that didn’t make having faith that it would actually happen any easier. It’s funny, but no matter how much I do this and how much I see God move, faith is ALWAYS difficult to exercise.
We parked the car and started walking around. We kept pointing our cameras all over, not sure what or who we were supposed to be capturing.
We were walking when I heard Ravi exclaim, “There he is.”
My heart skipped a beat, and I ran to catch up only to stop dead in my tracks when I looked around the corner of a car. There was an older gentleman with an orange robe, a long white beard, and a turban on his head.
And my cameras were rolling.
Ravi started to talk to him, and I didn’t have a clue what they were talking about. I found out later it was more chit chat, with Ravi kind of telling him that God had told us to find him. He found out this man was a Maharishi, which is like a guru of gurus (or the Catholic equivalent of a bishop), and I learned later that maharishis are not even allowed to hear the gospel because Jesus is exclusive, and that goes against everything Hindus believe.
Instead of inciting those standing around to beat us (which is what he was supposed to do), he asked Ravi if they could talk somewhere private, away from all these prying eyes.
So we drove down the road a few miles until we found a little turn-off that was more secluded.
The two men were finally free to talk now, and what the Maharishi had to say was stunning.
Apparently, he lived 8 hours away and had only come to this temple because he had had a dream three nights before where God appeared to him and told him to come here and look for a man named Ravi, who would want to talk to him. God then told him to listen to Ravi.
So not only had we come to try to find him, but he had come to try to find us!
As he was told to, the man listened to Ravi, and he heard the gospel of Jesus Christ presented to him. In the end, he accepted Christ as his savior, and Ravi exchanged information with him so he could follow up. The two men embraced, and we all went our separate ways.
People often ask me what it’s like to film the things I do, and I don’t usually have a great answer for them. When something like this happens, it is always so absurd, so out of the ordinary, and so God ordained that it stuns you into silence.
I think too often Christians get used to a God who doesn’t do much because we don’t take many risks, and we attend churches that are somewhat averse to God moving in real, tangible ways because a God like that is uncontrollable.
But when He DOES move, and you can see it with your own two eyes, you begin to understand the meaning of “awe.” God moving in a wild way doesn’t always make me stand up and shout, but instead, drives me to my knees. God is not an entertainer, and He’s not a magician. But He is powerful, and He is magnificent. And He is still moving and working in profound ways all around the world. Like17
www.wpfilm.com/2016/god-cant-catch-you-if-you-dont-take-a...
Hey, I'm not the type
To say one thing and do another
And if it's all right I'd kind
Of like to be your lover
'Cos when you're with me I can't help but be
So desperately
Uncontrollably Happy!
And hey, I'm not the kind
To fall in love without good reason
And if that's a crime
Then baby I'm committing high treason
'Cos when you're with me
I'm absolutely
And totally
Quite uncontrollably Happy!
And hey, I'm not so blind
That I can't see where we're all going
And it's no fault of mine
If humankind reaps what it is sowing
Just as long as we are together
Forever
I'll never be anything other than Happy!
Hey, don't be suprised, if millions die in plague and murder
True happiness lies beyond your fries and happy burger.-
52 in 2013
Week #1
Theme: New
It's been awhile since I last posted anything to Flickr...and over the past six months, I have taken few photos just for fun. The summer brought some sad, unexpected news...and so life has changed since then, with a focus on other things.
Yesterday, as I looked outside the window, I noticed many birds flying in and out of our yard. I got that old uncontrollable urge to grab my camera and go sit outside with them. I saw that the waxwings were back. Every January it seems they appear in our yard to eat the berries off of our Mountain Ash tree. Their arrival always seems to mark the beginning of the new year. And so then I pondered the new year ahead. What do I want? New opportunities to spend with our precious loved ones making new memories...new hope for happier times...the celebration of new life and new beginnings. :)
The Rua da Gloria Funicular Terminal was the site of a horrific accident
A deadly accident occurred 03 September, 2025, when the Elevador da Glória (Glória funicular) derailed and crashed into a building on Rua da Glória.
The descending car sped uncontrollably down the hill after its cable snapped and emergency brakes failed.
The tragedy resulted in 16 confirmed deaths and more than 20 injuries, making it one of Portugal's worst public transit accidents.
A preliminary report by Portugal's Air and Rail Accident Investigations Bureau found a "litany of failings" leading to the crash.
Thank you in advance for any likes or comments!
#DoodlewashJune2025 Prompt: Art Supplies & Biscuit Barrel.
Did you know the biscuit barrel, which became popular in 18th century Britain, was originally a cylindrical glass jar with a metal lid but may have been inspired by the barrels used to keep ‘ship’s biscuit’ in the Navy? They became popular as ‘cookie jars’ in the U.S., after WWI.
Frustration with your art supplies can lead to unintended interior decorating and uncontrollable snacking!
Daler-Rowney Watercolor Studio Set on Stonehenge Aqua Watercolor Paper.
#kuretakezig_usa #kuretakejapan #legionpaper
#WorldWatercolorGroup
These massive males really get themselves into a strop and show the deer's version of throwing all the toys out of the pram.
Not wise to get too near as they are, when in such a mood, quite unpredictable.
I just stood a respectful distance away and happily clicked to try and capture the moments.
What is being vented is the build-up of twelve months of lack of female company and he wants to impress being driven on my an uncontrollable blind urge to increase the stock.
"Life is short, break the rules, forgive quickly, kiss slowly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably, and never regret anything that made you smile. Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. "
Mark Twain
{} Three months after Part 3 {}
The beating sun of Ankara makes it's slow decent on the horizon. A cliff side becomes engulfed in flames as a large laser blast hits the rock face. Suddenly, Star-Lord emerges from the flames. Laser bolts zoom past him as he begins to fly away from the cliff. He presses a button on his helmet and his ship flies into view. Unexpectedly, a laser bolt hits Peter's jet-pack and causes him to spiral uncontrollably to the ground.
"Rora! Where are you?" Peter yells, hoping it would cause his ship to fly towards him. To his liking, Rora flies right underneath him and Peter lands head-first into the cockpit. "Gah! That hurt!"
Peter flips himself to the correct position in his seat and presses a button for the ship to fly away from the aliens on the ground. He waits until he is safely away to take his jet-pack off and inspect the damage.
"Geez, the power core is busted."
"May I suggest making your jet-pack less of a target? Perhaps attaching propulsors to your boots?"
Peter collapses his helmet and takes off his gloves. He presses a couple buttons on the console before answering.
"That's not a bad idea. I'll have to look into that."
"Oh! Did you get what you came for?"
Peter grabs a piece of technology from a pouch on his belt and places it on his ship's console.
"Yeah. Those Sligs definitely didn't want me to get it though."
"Well I'm sure Mister Tivan will be happy with your work."
Suddenly, Rora's console begins flashing red and an alert pops up onto the window.
"What is it, Rora?"
"Incoming projectiles. An unknown spacecraft is approaching fast."
"Evasive maneuvers!"
"Bringing shields up to fifteen percent."
Peter grabs control of the ship and makes an abrupt turn up. the missiles correct their path and follow closely behind the ship. Peter spins the ship to the side and the missiles again adjust their flight.
"Hold on to your lunch!"
"I do not follow?"
Peter pushes the controls all the way away from him, this action causes the ship to take a nose dive straight towards the planet's surface. The missiles follow closely behind. The ship speeds to the ground and suddenly a red light begins flashing in the cockpit.
"You're getting to close to the ground!"
"I know what I'm doing!"
As the ship got mere meters from the rocky surface of the planet, Peter pulls the controls back towards himself and the ship levels itself out and safely flies level with the ground. The missiles, however zoom straight into the ground. The debris from the explosion barely misses Peter's ship as he lets go of the controls and presses a button, giving back control of the ship to the AI.
"Excellent flying, Star-Lord."
"You know it!"
Although Peter had successfully outmaneuvered two missiles, he forgot all about the ship that sent them at him...
Previously in Chapter 4 White Horses and Memories
⚜️Tabitha Kinkade could never forget the first time she saw a werewolf. She was just a little girl, wrapped in her mother's arms. She could still see it's yellow eyes rolling as it crushed bone and ripped flesh, killing Myra, her mother's handmaid, it's sharp teeth glistening over with drool and blood. She could still remember the huffing, bellowing growl and the mighty thud of it's massive feet when it turned toward her and her mother. Samantha Kinkade told her daughter to close her eyes, as she pulled a sword from over the fireplace and faced the beast. However, Tabitha had not closed her eyes, cowering there as her mother held her back behind her. And as much out of youthful curiosity than anything she'd peeked from around her mother's dress. When it saw her, clinching to her mother's skirts the beast stopped. Tilting it's head the creature gazed straight into her eyes as the fires from the sconces along the wall illuminated it's enormous body. It's raspy breathing caused the little flames to flicker creating overinflated shadows that danced around the room and then it began to creep closer, the claws of it's massive feet tapping against the wood floor...
Then somewhere out of the night...
an intense shrilling whimper!
And a friend's cry for help brought her back to the present, "My lady the child!"
⚜️Tabitha bolted into the moonlight just in time to see the werewolf cast the child over the edge of the cliff with Kiva jumping after her. She had no choice but to leave her other pets and Lexington alone to deal with the massive lycanthrope. Without a moment's hesitation she dove over the edge of the cliff side after the little girl. Even with her heightened senses the surrounding void was nearly pitch black as the cool salt air rushed through her red hair. From far away now and quickly growing farther with every passing moment, she could hear Lexington directing the wolves and his whip slashing into the fiend's flesh. The beast howled out, growling so loud she could hear the sounds resonate and echo down along the cliff's glistening walls as she fell down into the abyss.
⚜️The mist cascading across her face made her squint as she held her arms closely by her sides. At last she could see the girl through the murk, her red wolf Kiva holding the hem of her dress in her clinched teeth. Using every muscle and every bit of ability she had Tabitha kept her body, as straight as she could cutting through the darkness like a knife. Finally, within arms length, Tabitha found herself faced with a horrible decision. With the pair spinning uncontrollably and as they were too close to the rocks below, she would have to choose her beloved Kiva or the girl. With no time to think she grabbed the girl pulling her shivering body to her breast. Folding her arms around the child she continued to glide like a human cannonball through the night, watching her precious Kiva fade into the foggy chasm. In her desperation she screamed in terror racing to catch up to the dire wolf. And with her body taut, every muscle flexed and ready, she was able to grab the scruff of Kiva's neck just in time to pull her up to safety. With no more than a few meters between them and death, Tabitha flipped them all around and landed feet first on the slippery rocks. She held both her pet and the little girl in her arms for a moment almost in tears then told Kiva to stay with the toddler and keep her safe before she hurridly leapt up along the rock face.
⚜️She climbed the crag like a spider rushing quickly to the battle. As she neared the top the Shadowhunter could hear one of her wolves cry out and Lexington groan as his body crashed into something. Her fear for her friend's safety almost made her sick as she leapt and scurried up the wall grabbing at jagged edges and seams in the rock face hoisting her body closer up along the damp precipice. Overhead, clouds stirred like a soup as the approaching storm's winds became more intense the closer she got to the top. Finally, she could see grass hanging over the edge and just as she reached to grab the rim of the cliff she heard one of Lexington's flintlocks fire. Her wolves growled in anger, hissing and gnashing their teeth and just then, the monster spoke! It taunted Lexington "I'm gonna tear you apart piggy!" then roared again from deep in its massive chest. Just as the devilish brute began to rush her friend she leapt from the side of the cliff catapulting her body into the sky above the colossal beast. Drawing her swords the Shadowhunter was silent as she looked down across the back of the monster just six meters above him. Lexington never looked in her direction as not to alert the werewolf then fired again hitting it in the chest just as Xandra and Jesper both hurdled toward the lycan. As silent as a cat, her blades found their mark plunging deep on either side of the werewolves's broad neck cutting through his heart and deep into it's lungs. She rolled just past Lexington turning quickly, her own flintlock pulled only to watch the beast fall to his knees.
⚜️As it looked at them all the horror and terror was erased from its face. It was the same expression his mate had made before it died earlier that same evening. Calling to her wolves she ordered them off the monster to allow it to die in peace when in a trice it brought its great paw within inches of her boot and upon regaining enough strength it scowled at her and hissed, "He is coming. And there's nothing you can do about it Shadowhunter. You and your kind will be slaughtered like pigs." It laughed and then fell dead.
Taken aback, Tabitha stood motionless looming over the ghoulish creature. Lexington had heard as well, walking over to stand there with her. He started to say something, and she looked, but he obviously thought better to wait, and she did not ask. They both stood silent watching as the monster turned back to a human man, the curse lifted from him forever.
"Mistress look! The same brand as the female." Lexington had bent down to inspect the man's body.
Tabitha knelt down to see and there it was. The identical and peculiar tattoo they'd found on the girl and in the same spot.
Once she'd inspected the tattoo Tabitha looked at the man's face. She shook her head. He looked so peaceful now. Nearly handsome as he laid there naked, the distant thunder claps above them providing just a little light. Standing, she asked Lexington if he was injured and except for a few scrapes and bruises luckily he wasn't. She quickly took a look at her wolves calling them to her. They were bloody, some of it theirs, but nothing was broken and the lacerations that she could observe didn't look deep.
"Mother and Father must have been looking over us tonight." she thought to herself.
Lexington apologized to her for not asking about the girl and Kiva and she assured him it was alright and that they were as well. That said, she instructed the Prince to continue his inspection while she gathered up Kiva and the kidnapped girl before the coming storm set in.
Walking away Lexington must have noticed she was deep in her thoughts. "My Lady, are you alright?" he called out.
Standing there, cleaning the blood from her swords, she sheathed each of them and looked just over her shoulder asking in return. "Have you ever heard of one that could talk Lex?"
"No My Lady. Never. I... well I don't know what to say Ms. Tabitha."
With a slight nod she walked into the darkness, her gallant wolves at her sides. This night had been filled with violence and distress, and more mystery than she cared for.
It would be nice to be home soon, back at Belraak Castle.
🐺🐺🐺🐺
Continued in Chapter 6 The Two Societies
⭐And again,I would send a shout out to my friend Marcus Strong. He took on dual roles for this one and was so patient and forgiving. Thanks Big Daddy! hehe.
With love. 💓
🌳Taken at Flower of Scotland I would like to express my appreciation to elo {Neutron Nebula} for providing one of the most beautiful places in SL for us to take our pics. You can take a look as some of the amazing captures done at Auld Lang Syne in thier group, Auld Lang Syne. Isles of Scotland 🌼
56029 heads east through Mytholmroyd with empties from Fiddlers Ferry. 5/9/89. This location, just east of Mytholmroyd station, was only available due to the efforts of my friend Michael McNicholas, who kept the vegetation in check. It was a superb vantage point with a good view both ways. Unfortunately, a new station was built at Mytholmroyd which spoilt the view looking west and the vegetation became uncontrollable and so as a result the location was lost.
I love unpredictable circumstances during photo shoots, and nothing is more uncontrollable than an animal. I've done shoots at people's houses where a cat would mysteriously appear in the corner of a photo when he sensed he wasn't getting enough attention, and I'm always on board.
Shooting with Billie's snake was really fun, because it's a constant challenge to figure out where his head went and how to keep it in frame. You have to choose who is the focus of a photo, and you've suddenly got double the options. It was a fun outing, and I'm sure the little scaly fellow had fun since he never seemed to stop moving.
We have been hit by several wildfires in the Bay Area. The thunderstorm two days ago didn't help. Instead it helped ignite the wildfires around the Bay Area with over two hundreds of lightning. When we escaped to the Pacific Coast yesterday, we saw wildfires in several areas. This one is very close to Pescadero in San Mateo County. According to the news, it has been growing uncontrollably since yesterday. Governor Newsom has just declared a state of emergency today and we are on a rolling power outage. It 's unprecedentedly hot around here and unfortunately my central air conditioner has just broken down. Year 2020 is definitely not a good year I must say.