View allAll Photos Tagged usability
Taken using a Canon EOS 60D & Carl Zeiss Jena DDR Flektogon F2.8/35mm.
I have been stripping down a completely broken later version Kodak Retina Reflex III (S/n. 121807) to see what was wrong with it...
...basically - A LOT!
Light meter disconnected and not functioning.
Shutter inoperable. Front rings were mounted incorrectly preventing the shutter from loading correctly.
String not broken but disconnected from drum and caught up around tensioners, pulleys, top cog beneath lightmeter etc.
Drive cam missing 3 teeth!!
Mirror/blanking plate jammed.
The lightmeter was actually working but looked dead as the position was not adjusted by the aperture/string. This is a bonus as gives me a nice spare!
I have repaired the shutter mechanism/front plate and it is now firing correctly. Another nice spare.
I freed up the mirror/blanking plate and tried replacing the drive cam with a spare but the 'sliding plates' mechanism isn't moving smoothly and seems tight on the spring pins at the base. I wonder if they may have been deformed when the camera was forced?
Anyway, this one is destined for spares I think unless I can free up the side plates.
I think i know what went wrong with this one... Someone removed the front rings on the shutter and put them back in the wrong position. When they loaded the shutter it locked out (as it wasn't able to fully wind on fully) so they forced it and ended up buckling the reflex mechanism and stripping the teeth off the drive cam... The string probably wasn't properly put back as the damage occurred while the cameras was being 'repaired'?...
i've been looking for new and fun uses for our organic buttermilk, so naturally, after making buttermilk pancakes and waffles, i thought it was time to experiment with doughnuts! holy. waaaaa! it's been a long time since i've had a dougnut fresh out the fryer and i think it might be A Bad Thing to become reacquainted with the chewy, deliciousness. the recipe is basically the same one found on recipezaar with the exception that almost all ingredients are organic and if you're going to make doughnuts properly you must dispense with vegetable oil and shortening and go all the way with organic lard :-)
hoooey, i am going to be everyone's best friend at work tomorrow.
------------------
1 tablespoon dry active yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons lard, melted
3 tablespoons sugar
2-3 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
lard
2.5 cups sifted powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
1. Dissolve yeast in warm water in a large bowl; let stand 5 minutes.
2. Add buttermilk, lard, sugar and 1 1/2 cup flour, baking powder and salt; mix well.
3. Add enough remaining flour to make a soft dough.
4. Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead several times.
5. Roll dough to 1/2 inch thick and cut with a 2 1/2 inch doughnut cutter.
6. Place doughnuts on lightly floured surface, cover and let rise 45 minutes or until double in bulk.
7. Heat 2-3 inches of oil to 375°F.
8. Drop in 4 or 5 doughnuts at a time.
9. Cook about 2 minutes or until lightly golden in color, turning once.
10. Drain well on paper towels.
11. Combine 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar with 1/4 cup milk, stir until smooth.
12. Dip each doughnut in glaze while still warm; allow excess glaze to drip off.
13. Cool on wire rack or serve warm.
Using Photoshop Layers Software here is a quick montage of the fireworks seen above my home yesterday evening. Hope you like it.
-all troops concentrate fire-power on that white star-cruiser
-Yes Sir!
-target in view! blam, blam, blam!
we got it sir it is coming down!
-Oh No it is coming down on us!
KRASH-Caboom_Mega_BLAST-Booom, Boom BOOOM!
(broken communicator lying around)
-Krr. krr-shiiich... did you get it?
-Spzzz-krr-schirkrr! commande did you hiot the swhip?
-Krr. krr-sizz-fubrr! ---can anyone answer... krrr.krrsch!
- commande blue do you read me? anyone!
....only subtle fire cracking in reply!
I apologize for using some MB´s as scenery but these criff-shaped MB-Burps are just so perfect to use for space-sceens, all figures and the "underwater-bases and the minifigures are pure real lego though!
Peace and Noise!
/ MushroomBrain lost in space
Stone Mill across the street in 1763 (now known as the Hunterdon Art Museum)
Ralph Hunt built the earliest section of this Mill to process wool sometime around 1810. His wool business failed, however, thanks to a permanent downturn in the market for domestic cloth. By 1820 Ralph confessed to the Census that “the establishment has been doing very little for two or three years past. The demand for sale of the cloths and sattinets are very dull…a few of the farmers get their wool manufactured, but from the low prices of foreign cloths.” Things did not improve and Ralph lost all of the family’s property, more than 400 acres and mills on both sides of the river. He defaulted on his mortgage, and the Taylor family took ownership.
The Red Mill in Operation: 1810 - 1928
From 1828 to 1834 John Bray and John B. Taylor took over running the Woolen Mill. The Taylors, now the dominant merchant family, changed the name of the town from Hunt’s Mills to Clinton, after the popular New York governor DeWitt Clinton. Bray and Taylor continued in the woolen business but they also diversified by grinding feed, flour and stone plaister, as well as by selling chestnut wood for rails. They even opened a dry goods establishment which carried everything from china to sheet iron. But Bray and Taylor also failed in their business, selling it for three quarters of its purchase price.
John W. Snyder, the new owner, refitted the Mill for grist and ceased wool production. But he too quickly fell into debt, and lost the property in 1842. After a swift series of owners, the Easton Bank split the site into a mill and a quarry. In 1847 the Mill was sold to John F. Stiger and John A. Young, who used it to grind flour and grist. In 1868 Young sold his part of the business to his partner, John Stiger, who continued to operate it as a grist mill.
In 1871 Stiger sold the mill and it again changed hands several times before it was purchased by Philip Gulick in 1873. Gulick ground grist on the third and fourth floors of the mill and produced peach baskets in the first level. In 1892 Gulick set up The Clinton Illuminating and Water Co. on the second floor of the mill. It provided electricity for Clinton’s street lamps. Gulick died in 1901 and his widow rented the Mill to Elmer and Chester Tomson and in 1905 they purchased it outright.
Chester changed the mill’s operation to grist to graphite and for a short time the mill became known as the “Black Mill.” The greasy black dust was wildly unpopular in town, and after a public outcry he turned to grinding talc and the Mill was soon dubbed the “White Mill.”
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Francisco Aragão © 2015. All Rights Reserved.
Use without permission is illegal.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Portuguese
Detalhes:
O Parque Aldeia do Imigrante é o atrativo turístico de maior destaque do município. Foi criado para resgatar e preservar o passado histórico dos imigrantes que colonizaram esta região, predominando a imigração alemã. O Parque está dividido em dois espaços, sendo o primeiro a Aldeia Bávara e o segundo a Aldeia Histórica, na qual há a representação da história dos primeiros imigrantes em forma de Museu Vivo. Além de preservar o patrimônio cultural, o patrimônio natural também é preservado.
Inaugurado oficialmente em 12 de janeiro de 1985, ele ocupa uma área de aproximadamente dez hectares, sendo a maior parte mata nativa. Na entrada do Parque foi erguida uma "Aldeia Bávara" com os seguintes elementos arquitetônicos: "Pórtico de Entrada", lojas de malhas, artesanato e produtos coloniais, "Salão de Baile", Quiosque para apresentação do rico folclore da região e o "Biergarten" (Jardim da Cerveja). Estes prédios foram construídos para as tradicionais festas do Município. No coração do Parque, a reconstrução de antigos prédios históricos com técnica "enxaimel", removidos de diversas localidades do interior, constituem a "Aldeia Histórica", demonstrando a estrutura e funcionamento de uma aldeia de Imigrantes, entre os anos de 1870 e 1910. Nesta Aldeia, encontram-se as seguintes construções, algumas com aproximadamente 100 anos: Capela do Imigrante, cemitério, venda com salão de baile, réplica da primeira sede da cooperativa de crédito mais antiga da América Latina, casa com cantina, ferraria, escola comunitária, casa do professor, casa do sapateiro, casa paroquial, estúdio fotográfico de foto à moda antiga, de Germano Schüür, e o Museu Histórico Municipal.
História:
A história do Parque começou em 1974, ano em que aconteceu um grande desfile cívico histórico em comemoração aos 150 anos da imigração alemã no Rio Grande do Sul. Nesse desfile, todas as comunidades do interior mostraram trajes, ferramentas, objetos, móveis e outros utensílios antigos.
Percebeu-se o grande valor histórico que estas peças continham e que era necessário fazer algo para preservá-las. A população gostou muito do desfile e apoiou a preservação. Surgiu então a ideia do Parque, que centralizaria também as tradicionais festas do Município.
O então prefeito Afonso Grings nomeou uma comissão encarregada de procurar um local e pesquisar o acervo. Assim que definiram o local, que pertencia a dois proprietários, o mesmo prefeito decretou a área de utilidade pública para fins de desapropriação, mas não efetuou a compra. O prefeito seguinte, Ewaldo Michaelsen, adquiriu parte da área e a outra parte foi vendida pelos proprietários à Cooperativa Agropecuária Piá. As muitas dificuldades fizeram com que se perdesse a empolgação inicial, mas alguns não desistiram da ideia. O próximo prefeito, Siegfried Drechsler empenhou-se muito na negociação com a Cooperativa Piá e efetuou uma permuta de áreas de terras, completando assim, em 1983, a área total que o Parque tem hoje (10 hectares).
Na época, havia uma grande preocupação com relação às casas construídas com técnica enxaimel. A população estava desmontando as casas, trocando os telhados por telhas de zinco, enfim, muitas casas desapareceram naqueles tempos sem que se pudesse fazer algo para impedir. Por isto o grande foco do Parque é a arquitetura enxaimel.
Os prédios escolhidos para fazer parte do acervo vieram de diversas localidades do interior do município. Foram fotografados de vários ângulos, desmontados, carregados em caminhões até o local onde seriam reerguidos a partir das fotos tiradas. Todas as casas foram compradas dos proprietários com recursos públicos e, em 12 de janeiro de 1985, aconteceu a inauguração do Parque Aldeia do Imigrante.
http://www.novapetropolis.rs.gov.br/int_empresa.php?tipo=5&id=141
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Portuguese
Nova Petrópolis é um município do estado do Rio Grande do Sul, no Brasil. Localiza-se a uma latitude 29º22'33" Sul e a uma longitude 51º06'43" Oeste, estando a uma altitude que varia de 596 à 710 metros. Segundo o último censo realizado em 2010, foi registrado a população de 19 045 habitantes. Possui uma área de 291,079 km².
História
No início do Século XIX, a região sul era um problema de segurança e infra estrutura para o governo central brasileiro recém liberto de Portugal. A região fazia parte de constantes disputas de terras entre, principalmente, portugueses e espanhóis e era pouco desenvolvido e povoado, comparada às regiões sudeste e nordeste do país. Em 1822, quando o Brasil se libertou de Portugal, o governo brasileiro investiu em propaganda para promover a imigração para o Brasil, principalmente a alemã e italiana. A Europa, neste período, estava passando por uma série de conflitos e revoluções - final do século XVIII e início do Século XIX.
O Brasil não dispunha de um exército para manter sua segurança nacional a partir de seu continental território, principalmente na região sul, que estava sob constantes ameaças em suas fronteiras - investidas das tropas espanholas. Por questões de segurança, não podia confiar nos portugueses que vivam na região. O governo brasileiro, encontrou uma saída. Através de propaganda de convencimento na Europa, propagava as vantagens do novo país, entre estes: o direito à terra, paz e alimento em abundância. Ofereceu vantagens (Nem sempre cumpridas) às famílias interessadas a residir no sul do Brasil, como: passagens, direito à cidadania, isenção de impostos e direito a posse de uma ou duas colônias de terras (24 a 48 ha). O objetivo era que estas famílias, principalmente alemãs e italianas, ocupassem a terra e os homens servissem no exército de reserva para manter a segurança da região sul , principalmente contra os espanhóis. Em 1822, quando o Brasil se libertou de Portugal, o governo brasileiro investiu em propaganda para promover a imigração para o Brasil, principalmente a alemã e italiana. A Europa, neste período, estava passando por uma série de conflitos e revoluções - final do século XVIII e início do Século XIX.
Spanish
Nova Petrópolis es un municipio brasileño del estado de Río Grande do Sul. Ubicada a 90 kilómetros de Porto Alegre, capital estatal, sobre la ruta nacional BR 116, Nova Petrópolis es la puerta de entrada al corredor turístico conocido como "Región de las Hortensias", comarca que comprende a las ciudades de Nova Petrópolis, Gramado, Canela y São Francisco de Paula. Menos turística que su vecina Gramado, Nova Petrópolis ha sabido conservar la tradición de sus antepasados alemanes, llegados a la zona en el siglo XIX. Hoy en día es la ciudad más alemana del Estado y posee una de las colonias más importantes y antiguas del Brasil. La herencia germánica está presente en las costumbres, la cocina y la arquitectura. Es en Nova Petrópolis donde se degusta el mejor y más tradicional "café colonial" de la Sierra Gaúcha. Dicha copiosa colación, compuesta por tortas, panes, mermeladas, fiambres, infusiones, jugos y vino, era la merienda que los inmigrantes alemanes instalados en Brasil tomaban luego de un arduo día de trabajo en el campo. Hoy en día varias casas de té de la región (pero también de Blumenau y Joinville, en Santa Catarina), suelen ofrecer un delicioso café colonial.
Banda folclórica alemana en el Parque Aldea del Inmigrante
A su vez, el municipio posee un patrimonio arquitectónico rural muy importante, parte del cual ha sido resguardado en el Parque Aldea del Inmigrante. Los inmigrantes que se instalaron en esta región trajeron de su Alemania natal un estilo de construcción llamado Fachwerk, conocido en Brasil como "enxaimel", que se caracteriza por la capacidad de las casas de ser desmontables, pudiendo ser trasladadas adonde quiera que el morador se dirija.
Entre los atractivos de la ciudad se encuentran edificios de líneas germánicas y jardines floridos. Cabe destacar la plaza principal, que posee un laberinto verde hecho de arbustos.
Nova Petrópolis sobresale también por su confecciones en lana e hilo, ofreciendo prendas a mejores precios que en otros centros turísticos de la región.
English
Nova Petrópolis is a municipality in the Southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. The main seat of the municipality is also called Nova Petrópolis. It is located in the Serra Gaúcha region, at 29º22'35" South, 51º06'52" West, about 100 km north of Porto Alegre, the state capital city. Nova Petrópolis is situated at an average altitude of 580m above sea level and covers an area of 293 km².
Settlement
The population of the municipality is around 20,000 people and the majority of the natives are descendants of German immigrants. The German language or Riograndenser Hunsrückisch is still widely spoken in the municipality. Tourism is the main economic activity, followed by the manufacture of wool garments, dairy farming and shoemaking. Nova Petrópolis is one of the towns along the Serra Gaúcha scenic route known as Rota Romântica. The town is also part of the scenic Região das Hortênsias. Some known towns near Nova Petrópolis are Caxias do Sul, Novo Hamburgo, São Leopoldo, Feliz, Gramado, Canela.
Attractions
Nova Petropolis is mainly a historical town, but there are several tourist shops and a maze. There are several rural hostel which are combination farms and lodgings where horse riding being one of their most characteristic attractions. There are several restaurants also. Click here to see Restaurants in Nova Petropolis.
German
Nova Petrópolis ist eine Stadt mit 18.484 Einwohnern im Bundesstaat Rio Grande do Sul im Süden Brasiliens. Sie liegt in der Serra Gaúcha etwa 95 km nördlich von Porto Alegre. Benachbart sind die Orte Picada Café, Linha Nova, Caxias do Sul, Gramado, Santa Maria do Herval, Morro Reuter und Feliz.
Nova Petrópolis liegt an der Rota Romântica mit Gramado, Canela und São Francisco de Paula in der Região das Hortênsias. Sowohl Architektur als auch Brauchtum wie die Gastronomie erinnern an deutsche Vergangenheit. 1866 lebten dort 991 meist deutsche Siedler, 1912 gab es schon 8.500 Bewohner.
Im Distrikt Linha Imperial gründete der Schweizer Pater Theodor Amstad 1902 die erste Genossenschaft Brasiliens, Grundlage des brasilianischen Kreditgenossenschaftsverbandes SICREDI mit heute mehr als einer Million Mitgliedern. Im Museumsdorf Aldeia do Imigrante gibt es neben Fachwerkhäusern auch das Kooperativenmuseum.
Wikipedia
You burned me at the stake without a trial
Watching through the flames, I see you smile
It's your world we're living in
I could prove my innocence
But you'd still make me drown in your denial
And you say, "Don't dress like you're going out"
What's next? Can you write it down?
I'd talk less if you shut your mouth
Yeah, I bet you can hear me now
Guess I'm not who you thought
It's okay, it's okay
It's all good, you can hate me
Am I not what you want?
Use me, I don't mind
I'll be the bad guy
- Use Me, Charlotte Sands
♰ SPOTLIGHT ITEMS ♰
Outfit:
Karna - Sayuri Set - Fatpack
• Fits: Reborn/Waifu, Legacy/Bombshell, LaraX, Kupra
• Options: 6 Solid Shirts + 6 Plaid Shirts + 12 Shorts Colors
>>-----Get it Here-----> Reborn Event
Tattoo:
Vudu Tattoo - Blessed Collection
• Fits: BOM, Tattoo Layers
• Options: 11 Layers + 4 Opacities
>>-----Get it Here-----> Reborn Event
Sleeves:
Badwolf Accessories & Co. - Chaos Armsleeves
• Fits: Lara, Legacy F/M/Athletic, Jake, Reborn, Malevolent
• Options: 4 Metals + 12 Leather Options + 2 Sections
>>-----Get it Here-----> TMD
Makeup & Beauty Marks:
Hexumbra - Margo Makeup Collection
• Fits: BOM, Lelutka EvoX, HD Appliers (lashes and lipsticks)
• Includes:
- 2 Eye Makeup Packs - 15 BOM shadows with tintable liner
- EvoX HD Lash Applier - 6 styles, black and white options
- 4 EvoX HD Lipstick Packs - 8 Lipsticks per pack
- Blush Set - BOM - 6 styles with 3 opacities
- Contour Set - BOM - Cheek, forehead, jaw, orbital, nostril, and nose in 2 styles and 2 opacities
- Highlight & Glitter Set - BOM - 3 Styles for cheek, nose, forehead, chin, mouth
in multiple opacities and glitter accents for eyes and cheeks
- Beauty Marks - BOM - 4 placements with mirrored and tintable options
>>-----Get it Here-----> Kinky Event
Background:
blaink - Self Storage
• Options: With and Without Lights
>>-----Get it Here-----> Man Cave Event
♰ SPONSORED ITEMS ♰
Body - eBODY - Reborn Body + Waifu Boobs
Hair - Truth Hair - Suade
♰ BASE & EXTRAS ♰
Head - LeLutka
Eyes - Avi-Glam
Boots - EQUAL
Shine/Eye Shine - This is Wrong
My New Ride
Built by Ƿarkiℵ Ƨtormє, owner and creator of SSC Storme Surge Creations custom motorcycles.
Honestly/
Using edgy self portraits to express feelings. Therapy. Trying to run away from my head but it's unfortunately attached. A bit of acne, pretty typical.Nightmares of people I care about becoming what I'm most afraid of. Being a sad piece of shit. Oversharing on the internet. Wasted and shaking and sobbing all night. Tired. Always sad. Never certain who I am. Oversharing on the internet.
Week 2, hooray!
Classes have resumed, so it's back to Physics for me...
I woke up earlier than expected today when I got a phone call from someone asking me to help them solve some Physics problems.
It's only the first week of classes and I'm already stressed out, there's so much to do! I can't wait till summer.
Model: Me (self-timer)
Camera used: Canon Digital Rebel XTi
Lens used: 18-55mm (kit lens)
© Copyright 2013 Francisco Aragão
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Use without permission is illegal.
© TODOS LOS DERECHOS RESERVADOS. El uso sin permiso es ilegal
© TODOS OS DIREITOS RESERVADOS. Usar sem permissão é ilegal.
=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=
Portuguese
A Praia do Gunga é uma das mais famosas de Alagoas. Fica no município de Roteiro e às margens da Lagoa do Roteiro que encontra-se como mar bem em frente às tendas e bares do Gunga.
Logo após passar pela ponte sobre a Lagoa do Roteiro tem-se uma bonita imagem. Às margens da rodovia AL-101 estão uma infinidade de coqueiros que estendem-se por muitos quilômetros.
A Praia do Gunga fica no interior de uma fazenda de coqueiros e para chegar até ela é necessário ingressar pelos portões da fazenda.
Ingressamos na fazenda e seguimos até a praia que conta com muitas barracas de praia. Aproveitamos para almoçar em uma delas.
Após 500mts da entrada da fazenda existe um mirante de onde é possível avistar a Praia do Gunga, a fazenda de coqueiros e a Barra de São Miguel.
http://turismoeaventura.blogspot.com.br/2009/01/praia-do-gunga-roteiroal.html
. . . the natural make-up of the women is called Thanaka. It is a cream made out of the bark of specific trees. Thanaka cream has been used by Burmese women for over 2000 years. It has a fragrant scent somewhat similar to sandalwood. The creamy paste is applied to the face in attractive designs, the most common form being a circular patch on each cheek, nose, sometimes made stripey with the fingers known as thanaka bè gya, or patterned in the shape of a leaf, often also highlighting the bridge of the nose with it at the same time. It may be applied from head to toe (thanaka chi zoun gaung zoun). Apart from cosmetic beauty, thanaka also gives a cooling sensation and provides protection from sunburn. It is believed to help remove acne and promote smooth skin. It is also an anti-fungal. The active ingredients of thanaka are coumarin and marmesin.
______________________________________
Yangon (Burmese: ရန်ကုန်, MLCTS rankun mrui, pronounced: [jàɴɡòʊɴ mjo̰]; formerly known as Rangoon, literally: "End of Strife") is the capital of the Yangon Region of Myanmar, also known as Burma. Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government relocated the capital to the purpose-built city of Naypyidaw in central Myanmar. With over 7 million people, Yangon is Myanmar's largest city and is its most important commercial centre.
Yangon boasts the largest number of colonial-era buildings in the region, and has a unique colonial-era urban core that is remarkably intact. The colonial-era commercial core is centred around the Sule Pagoda, which reputed to be over 2,000 years old. The city is also home to the gilded Shwedagon Pagoda — Myanmar's most sacred Buddhist pagoda. The mausoleum of the last Mughal Emperor is located in Yangon, where he had been exiled following the Indian Mutiny of 1857.
Yangon suffers from deeply inadequate infrastructure, especially compared to other major cities in Southeast Asia. Though many historic residential and commercial buildings have been renovated throughout central Yangon, most satellite towns that ring the city continue to be profoundly impoverished and lack basic infrastructure.
ETYMOLOGY
Yangon (ရန်ကုန်) is a combination of the two words yan (ရန်) and koun (ကုန်), which mean "enemies" and "run out of", respectively. It is also translated as "End of Strife". "Rangoon" most likely comes from the British imitation of the pronunciation of "Yangon" in the Arakanese language, which is [rɔ̀ɴɡʊ́ɴ].
HISTORY
EARLY HISTORY
Yangon was founded as Dagon in the early 11th century (c. 1028–1043) by the Mon, who dominated Lower Burma at that time. Dagon was a small fishing village centred about the Shwedagon Pagoda. In 1755, King Alaungpaya conquered Dagon, renamed it "Yangon", and added settlements around Dagon. The British captured Yangon during the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824–26), but returned it to Burmese administration after the war. The city was destroyed by a fire in 1841.
COLONIAL RANGOON
The British seized Yangon and all of Lower Burma in the Second Anglo-Burmese War of 1852, and subsequently transformed Yangon into the commercial and political hub of British Burma. Yangon is also the place where the British sent Bahadur Shah II, the last Mughal emperor, to live after the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Based on the design by army engineer Lt. Alexander Fraser, the British constructed a new city on a grid plan on delta land, bounded to the east by the Pazundaung Creek and to the south and west by the Yangon River. Yangon became the capital of all British-ruled Burma after the British had captured Upper Burma in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of 1885. By the 1890s Yangon's increasing population and commerce gave birth to prosperous residential suburbs to the north of Royal Lake (Kandawgyi) and Inya Lake. The British also established hospitals including Rangoon General Hospital and colleges including Rangoon University.
Colonial Yangon, with its spacious parks and lakes and mix of modern buildings and traditional wooden architecture, was known as "the garden city of the East." By the early 20th century, Yangon had public services and infrastructure on par with London.
Before World War II, about 55% of Yangon's population of 500,000 was Indian or South Asian, and only about a third was Bamar (Burman). Karens, the Chinese, the Anglo-Burmese and others made up the rest.
After World War I, Yangon became the epicentre of Burmese independence movement, with leftist Rangoon University students leading the way. Three nationwide strikes against the British Empire in 1920, 1936 and 1938 all began in Yangon. Yangon was under Japanese occupation (1942–45), and incurred heavy damage during World War II. The city was retaken by the Allies in May 1945.
Yangon became the capital of Union of Burma on 4 January 1948 when the country regained independence from the British Empire.
CONTEMPORARY YANGON
Soon after Burma's independence in 1948, many colonial names of streets and parks were changed to more nationalistic Burmese names. In 1989, the current military junta changed the city's English name to "Yangon", along with many other changes in English transliteration of Burmese names. (The changes have not been accepted by many Burmese who consider the junta unfit to make such changes, nor by many publications, news bureaus including, most notably, the BBC and foreign nations including the United Kingdom and United States.)
Since independence, Yangon has expanded outwards. Successive governments have built satellite towns such as Thaketa, North Okkalapa and South Okkalapa in the 1950s to Hlaingthaya,
Shwepyitha and South Dagon in the 1980s. Today, Greater Yangon encompasses an area covering nearly 600 square kilometres.
During Ne Win's isolationist rule (1962–88), Yangon's infrastructure deteriorated through poor maintenance and did not keep up with its increasing population. In the 1990s, the current military government's more open market policies attracted domestic and foreign investment, bringing a modicum of modernity to the city's infrastructure. Some inner city residents were forcibly relocated to new satellite towns. Many colonial-period buildings were demolished to make way for high-rise hotels, office buildings, and shopping malls, leading the city government to place about 200 notable colonial-period buildings under the Yangon City Heritage List in 1996. Major building programs have resulted in six new bridges and five new highways linking the city to its industrial back country. Still, much of Yangon remains without basic municipal services such as 24-hour electricity and regular garbage collection.
Yangon has become much more indigenous Burmese in its ethnic make-up since independence. After independence, many South Asians and Anglo-Burmese left. Many more South Asians were forced to leave during the 1960s by Ne Win's xenophobic government. Nevertheless, sizable South Asian and Chinese communities still exist in Yangon. The Anglo-Burmese have effectively disappeared, having left the country or intermarried with other Burmese groups.
Yangon was the centre of major anti-government protests in 1974, 1988 and 2007. The 1988 People Power Uprising resulted in the deaths of hundreds, if not thousands of Burmese civilians, many in Yangoon where hundreds of thousands of people flooded into the streets of the then capital city. The Saffron Revolution saw mass shootings and the use of crematoria in Yangoon by the Burmese government to erase evidence of their crimes against monks, unarmed protesters, journalists and students.
The city's streets saw bloodshed each time as protesters were gunned down by the government.
In May 2008, Cyclone Nargis hit Yangon. While the city had few human casualties, three quarters of Yangon's industrial infrastructure was destroyed or damaged, with losses estimated at US$800 million.
In November 2005, the military government designated Naypyidaw, 320 kilometres north of Yangon, as the new administrative capital, and subsequently moved much of the government to the newly developed city. At any rate, Yangon remains the largest city, and the most important commercial centre of Myanmar.
GEOGRAPHY
Yangon is located in Lower Burma (Myanmar) at the convergence of the Yangon and Bago Rivers about 30 km away from the Gulf of Martaban at 16°48' North, 96°09' East (16.8, 96.15). Its standard time zone is UTC/GMT +6:30 hours.
CLIMATE
Yangon has a tropical monsoon climate under the Köppen climate classification system. The city features a lengthy wet season from May through October where a substantial amount of rainfall is received; and a dry season from November through April, where little rainfall is seen. It is primarily due to the heavy rainfall received during the rainy season that Yangon falls under the tropical monsoon climate category. During the course of the year 1961 to 1990s, average temperatures show little variance, with average highs ranging from 29 to 36 °C and average lows ranging from 18 to 25 °C.
CITYSCAPE
Until the mid-1990s, Yangon remained largely constrained to its traditional peninsula setting between the Bago, Yangon and Hlaing rivers. People moved in, but little of the city moved out. Maps from 1944 show little development north of Inya Lake and areas that are now layered in cement and stacked with houses were then virtual backwaters. Since the late 1980s, however, the city began a rapid spread north to where Yangon International airport now stands. But the result is a stretching tail on the city, with the downtown area well removed from its geographic centre. The city's area has steadily increased from 72.52 square kilometres in 1901 to 86.2 square kilometres in 1940 to 208.51 square kilometres in 1974, to 346.13 square kilometres in 1985, and to 598.75 square kilometres in 2008.
ARCHITECTURE
Downtown Yangon is known for its leafy avenues and fin-de-siècle architecture. The former British colonial capital has the highest number of colonial period buildings in south-east Asia. Downtown Yangon is still mainly made up of decaying colonial buildings. The former High Court, the former Secretariat buildings, the former St. Paul's English High School and the Strand Hotel are excellent examples of the bygone era. Most downtown buildings from this era are four-story mix-use (residential and commercial) buildings with 4.3 m ceilings, allowing for the construction of mezzanines. Despite their less-than-perfect conditions, the buildings remain highly sought after and most expensive in the city's property market.
In 1996, the Yangon City Development Committee created a Yangon City Heritage List of old buildings and structures in the city that cannot be modified or torn down without approval. In 2012, the city of Yangon imposed a 50-year moratorium on demolition of buildings older than 50 years. The Yangon Heritage Trust, an NGO started by Thant Myint-U, aims to create heritage areas in Downtown, and attract investors to renovate buildings for commercial use.
A latter day hallmark of Yangon is the eight-story apartment building. (In Yangon parlance, a building with no elevators (lifts) is called an apartment building and one with elevators is called a condominium. Condos which have to invest in a local power generator to ensure 24-hour electricity for the elevators are beyond the reach of most Yangonites.) Found throughout the city in various forms, eight-story apartment buildings provide relatively inexpensive housing for many Yangonites. The apartments are usually eight stories high (including the ground floor) mainly because city regulations, until February 2008, required that all buildings higher than 23 m or eight stories to install lifts. The current code calls for elevators in buildings higher than 19 m or six stories, likely ushering in the era of the six-story apartment building. Although most apartment buildings were built only within the last 20 years, they look much older and rundown due to shoddy construction and lack of proper maintenance.
Unlike other major Asian cities, Yangon does not have any skyscrapers. Aside from a few high-rise hotels and office towers, most high-rise buildings (usually 10 stories and up) are "condos" scattered across prosperous neighbourhoods north of downtown such as Bahan, Dagon, Kamayut and Mayangon. The tallest building in Yangon, Pyay Gardens, is a 25-story condo in the city's north.
Older satellite towns such as Thaketa, North Okkalapa and South Okkalapa are lined mostly with one to two story detached houses with access to the city's electricity grid. Newer satellite towns such as North Dagon and South Dagon are still essentially slums in a grid layout. The satellite towns - old or new - receive little or no municipal services.
ROAD LAYOUT
Downtown Yangon's road layout follows a grid pattern, based on four types of roads:
Broad 49-m wide roads running west to east
Broad 30-m wide roads running south to north
Two narrow 9.1-m wide streets running south to north
Mid-size 15-m wide streets running south to north
The east-west grid of central was laid out by British military engineers Fraser and Montgomerie after the Second Anglo-Burmese War. The city was later developed by the Public Works Department and Bengal Corps of Engineers. The pattern of south to north roads is as follows: one broad 30 m wide broad road, two narrow streets, one mid-size street, two more narrow streets, and then another 30 m wide broad road. This order is repeated from west to east. The narrow streets are numbered; the medium and broad roads are named.
For example, the 30 m Lanmadaw Road is followed by 9.1 m-wide 17th and 18th streets then the medium 15 m Sint-Oh-Dan Road, the 30-foot 19th and 20th streets, followed by another 30 m wide Latha Road, followed again by the two numbered small roads 21st and 22nd streets, and so on.
The roads running parallel west to east were the Strand Road, Merchant Road, Maha Bandula (née Dalhousie) Road, Anawrahta (Fraser) Road, and Bogyoke Aung San (Montgomerie) Road.
PARKS AND GARDENS
The largest and best maintained parks in Yangon are located around Shwedagon Pagoda. To the south-east of the gilded stupa is the most popular recreational area in the city – Kandawgyi Lake. The 61-ha lake is surrounded by the 45-ha Kandawgyi Nature Park, and the 28-ha Yangon Zoological Gardens, which consists of a zoo, an aquarium and an amusement park. West of the pagoda towards the former Hluttaw (Parliament) complex is the 53-ha People's Square and Park, (the former parading ground on important national days when Yangon was the capital.) A few miles north of the pagoda lies the 15-ha Inya Lake Park – a favorite hangout place of Yangon University students, and a well-known place of romance in Burmese popular culture.
Hlawga National Park and Allied War Memorial at the outskirts of the city are popular day-trip destinations with the well-to-do and tourists.
Yangon Book Plaza, the first and biggest book shop in Myanmar was opened on February 26, 2017 on the fifth floor of Than Zay Market in Lanmadaw Township, Yangon.
ADMINISTRATION
Yangon is administered by the Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC). YCDC also coordinates urban planning. The city is divided into four districts. The districts combined have a total of 33 townships. The current mayor of Yangon is Maung Maung Soe. Each township is administered by a committee of township leaders, who make decisions regarding city beautification and infrastructure. Myo-thit (lit. "New Towns", or satellite towns) are not within such jurisdictions.
TRANSPORT
Yangon is Burma's main domestic and international hub for air, rail, and ground transportation.
AIR
Yangon International Airport, located 19 km from the centre, is the country's main gateway for domestic and international air travel. The airport has three terminals, known as T1, T2 and T3 which is also known as Domestic. It has direct flights to regional cities in Asia – mainly, Doha, Dubai, Dhaka, Kolkata, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Beijing, Seoul, Guangzhou, Taipei, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Kunming and Singapore. Although domestic airlines offer service to about twenty domestic locations, most flights are to tourist destinations such as Bagan, Mandalay, Heho and Ngapali, and to the capital Naypyidaw.
RAILWAYS
Yangon Central Railway Station is the main terminus of Myanmar Railways' 5,403-kilometre rail network whose reach covers Upper Myanmar (Naypyidaw, Mandalay, Shwebo), upcountry (Myitkyina), Shan hills (Taunggyi, Lashio) and the Taninthayi coast (Mawlamyaing, Dawei).
Yangon Circular Railway operates a 45.9-kilometre 39-station commuter rail network that connects Yangon's satellite towns. The system is heavily utilized by the local populace, selling about 150,000 tickets daily. The popularity of the commuter line has jumped since the government reduced petrol subsidies in August 2007.
BUSES AND CARS
Yangon has a 4,456-kilometre road network of all types (tar, concrete and dirt) in March 2011. Many of the roads are in poor condition and not wide enough to accommodate an increasing number of cars. The vast majority of Yangon residents cannot afford a car and rely on an extensive network of buses to get around. Over 300 public and private bus lines operate about 6,300 crowded buses around the city, carrying over 4.4 million passengers a day. All buses and 80% of the taxis in Yangon run on compressed natural gas (CNG), following the 2005 government decree to save money on imported petroleum. Highway buses to other cities depart from Dagon Ayeyar Highway Bus Terminal for Irrawaddy delta region and Aung Mingala Highway Bus Terminal for other parts of the country.
Motor transportation in Yangon is highly expensive for most of its citizens. As the government allows only a few thousand cars to be imported each year in a country with over 50 million people, car prices in Yangon (and in Burma) are among the highest in the world. In July 2008, the two most popular cars in Yangon, 1986/87 Nissan Sunny Super Saloon and 1988 Toyota Corolla SE Limited, cost the equivalent of about US$20,000 and US$29,000 respectively. A sports utility vehicle, imported for the equivalent of around US$50,000, goes for US$250,000. Illegally imported unregistered cars are cheaper – typically about half the price of registered cars. Nonetheless, car usage in Yangon is on the rise, a sign of rising incomes for some, and already causes much traffic congestion in highway-less Yangon's streets. In 2011, Yangon had about 300,000 registered motor vehicles in addition to an unknown number of unregistered ones.
Since 1970, cars have been driven on the right side of the road in Burma, as part of a military decree. However, as the government has not required left hand drive (LHD) cars to accompany the right side road rules, many cars on the road are still right hand drive (RHD) made for driving on the left side. Japanese used cars, which make up most of the country's imports, still arrive with RHD and are never converted to LHD. As a result, Burmese drivers have to rely on their passengers when passing other cars.
Within Yangon city limits, it is illegal to drive trishaws, bicycles, and motorcycles. Since February 2010, pickup truck bus lines have been forbidden to run in 6 townships of central Yangon, namely Latha, Lanmadaw, Pabedan, Kyauktada, Botahtaung and Pazundaung Townships. In May 2003, a ban on using car horns was implemented in six townships of Downtown Yangon to reduce noise pollution. In April 2004, the car horn ban was expanded to cover the entire city.
RIVER
Yangon's four main passenger jetties, all located on or near downtown waterfront, mainly serve local ferries across the river to Dala and Thanlyin, and regional ferries to the Irrawaddy delta. The 35-km Twante Canal was the quickest route from Yangon to the Irrawaddy delta until the 1990s when roads between Yangon and the Irrawaddy Division became usable year-round. While passenger ferries to the delta are still used, those to Upper Burma via the Irrawaddy river are now limited mostly to tourist river cruises.
DEMOGRAPHICS
Yangon is the most populous city by far in Burma although estimates of the size of its population vary widely. All population figures are estimates since no official census has been conducted in Burma since 1983. A UN estimate puts the population as 4.35 million in 2010 but a 2009 U.S. State Department estimate puts it at 5.5 million. The U.S. State Department's estimate is probably closer to the real number since the UN number is a straight-line projection, and does not appear to take the expansion of city limits in the past two decades into account. The city's population grew sharply after 1948 as many people (mainly, the indigenous Burmese) from other parts of the country moved into the newly built satellite towns of North Okkalapa, South Okkalapa, and Thaketa in the 1950s and East Dagon, North Dagon and South Dagon in the 1990s. Immigrants have founded their regional associations (such as Mandalay Association, Mawlamyaing Association, etc.) in Yangon for networking purposes. The government's decision to move the nation's administrative capital to Naypyidaw has drained an unknown number of civil servants away from Yangon.
Yangon is the most ethnically diverse city in the country. While Indians formed the slight majority prior to World War II, today, the majority of the population is of indigenous Bamar (Burman) descent. Large communities of Indians/South Asian Burmese and the Chinese Burmese exist especially in the traditional downtown neighborhoods. A large number of Rakhine and Karen also live in the city.
Burmese is the principal language of the city. English is by far the preferred second language of the educated class. In recent years, however, the prospect of overseas job opportunities has enticed
some to study other languages: Mandarin Chinese is most popular, followed by Japanese, and French.
RELIGIONS
The primary religions practiced in Yangon are Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam. Shwedagon Pagoda is a famous religious landmark in the city.
MEDIA
Yangon is the country's hub for the movie, music, advertising, newspaper and book publishing industries. All media is heavily regulated by the military government. Television broadcasting is off limits to the private sector. All media content must first be approved by the government's media censor board, Press Scrutiny and Registration Division.
Most television channels in the country are broadcast from Yangon. TV Myanmar and Myawaddy TV are the two main channels, providing Burmese-language programming in news and entertainment. Other special interest channels are MWD-1 and MWD-2, MRTV-3, the English-language channel that targets overseas audiences via satellite and via Internet, MRTV-4 and Channel 7 are with a focus on non-formal education programs and movies, and Movie 5, a pay-TV channel specializing in broadcasting foreign movies.
Yangon has three radio stations. Myanmar Radio National Service is the national radio service and broadcasts mostly in Burmese (and in English during specific times.) Pop culture oriented Yangon City FM and Mandalay City FM radio stations specialize in Burmese and English pop music, entertainment programs, live celebrity interviews, etc. New radio channels such as Shwe FM and Pyinsawaddy FM can also be tuned with the city area.
Nearly all print media and industries are based out of Yangon. All three national newspapers – two Burmese language dailies Myanma Alin (မြန်မာ့အလင်း) and Kyemon (ကြေးမုံ), and the English language The New Light of Myanmar — are published by the government. Semi-governmental The Myanmar Times weekly, published in Burmese and in English, is mainly geared for Yangon's expatriate community. Over twenty special interest journals and magazines covering sports, fashion, finance, crime, literature (but never politics) vie for the readership of the general populace.
Access to foreign media is extremely difficult. Satellite television in Yangon, and in Burma, is very expensive as the government imposes an annual registration fee of one million kyats. Certain foreign newspapers and periodicals such as the International Herald Tribune and the Straits Times can be found only in a few (mostly downtown) bookstores. Internet access in Yangon, which has the best telecommunication infrastructure in the country, is slow and erratic at best, and the Burmese government implements one of the world's most restrictive regimes of Internet control. International text messaging and voice messaging was permitted only in August 2008.
COMMUNICATION
Common facilities taken for granted elsewhere are luxury prized items in Yangon and Burma. The price of a GSM mobile phone was about K1.1 million in August 2008. In 2007, the country of 55 million had only 775,000 phone lines (including 275,000 mobile phones), and 400,000 computers. Even in Yangon, which has the best infrastructure, the estimated telephone penetration rate was only 6% at the end of 2004, and the official waiting time for a telephone line was 3.6 years. Most people cannot afford a computer and have to use the city's numerous Internet cafes to access a heavily restricted Internet, and a heavily censored local intranet. According to official statistics, in July 2010, the country had over 400,000 Internet users, with the vast majority hailing from just two cities, Yangon and Mandalay. Although Internet access was available in 42 cities across the country, the number of users outside the two main cities was just over 10,000.
LIFESTYLE
Yangon's property market is the most expensive in the country and beyond the reach of most Yangonites. Most rent outside the centre and few can afford to rent such apartments. (In 2008, rents for a typical 60 to 70 m2 apartments in the centre and vicinity range between K70,000 and K150,000 and those for high end condos between K200,000 and K500,000.)
Most men of all ages (and some women) spend their time at ubiquitous tea-shops, found in any corner or street of the city. Watching European football (mostly English Premier League with occasional La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga) matches while sipping tea is a popular pastime among many Yangonites. The average person stays close to his or her residential neighbourhood. The well-to-do tend to visit shopping malls and parks on weekends. Some leave the city on weekends for Chaungtha and Ngwesaung beach resorts in Ayeyarwady Division.
Yangon is also home to many pagoda festivals (paya pwe), held during dry-season months (November – March). The most famous of all, the Shwedagon Pagoda Festival in March, attracts thousands of pilgrims from around the country.
Yangon's museums are the domain of tourists and rarely visited by the locals.
Most of Yangon's larger hotels offer some kind of nightlife entertainment, geared towards tourists and the well-to-do Burmese. Some hotels offer traditional Burmese performing arts shows complete with a traditional Burmese orchestra. The pub scene in larger hotels is more or less the same as elsewhere in Asia. Other options include karaoke bars and pub restaurants in Yangon Chinatown.
Due to the problems of high inflation, the lack of high denomination notes, and the fact that many of the population do not have access to checks, or credit or debit cards, it is common to see citizens carrying a considerable amount of cash. (The highest denomination of Burmese currency kyat is 10 000 (~US$10.)) Credit cards are only rarely used in the city, chiefly in the more lavish hotels. Credit cards are also accepted in the major supermarket and convenience store chains.
SPORTS
As the city has the best sporting facilities in the country, most national-level annual sporting tournaments such as track and field, football, volleyball, tennis and swimming are held in Yangon. The 40,000-seat Aung San Stadium and the 32,000-seat Thuwunna Stadium are the main venues for the highly popular annual State and Division football tournament. Until April 2009, the now defunct Myanmar Premier League, consisted of 16 Yangon-based clubs, played all its matches in Yangon stadiums, and attracted little interest from the general public or commercial success despite the enormous popularity of football in Burma. Most Yangonites prefer watching European football on satellite TV. Teams such as Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City are among the favorite European teams among the Yangonites. It remains to be seen whether the Myanmar National League, the country's first professional football league, and its Yangon-based club Yangon United FC will attract a sufficient following in the country's most important media market.
Yangon is also home to annual the Myanmar Open golf tournament, and the Myanmar Open tennis tournament. The city hosted the 1961 and 1969 South East Asian Games. During colonial times, cricket was played mostly by British officials in the city. First-class cricket was played in the city in January 1927 when the touring Marylebone Cricket Club played Burma and the Rangoon Gymkhana. Two grounds were used to host these matches, the BAA Ground and the Gymkhana Ground. These matches mark the only time Burma and Rangoon Gymkhana have appeared in first-class cricket, and the only time first-class cricket has been played in Burma. After independence cricket all but died out in the country.
Yangon has a growing population of skateboarders, as documented in the films Altered Focus: Burma and Youth of Yangon. German non-profit organization Make Life Skate Life has received permission from the Yangon City Development Committee to construct a concrete skatepark at Thakin Mya park in downtown, and plans to complete the park in November 2015.
ECONOMY
Yangon is the country's main centre for trade, industry, real estate, media, entertainment and tourism. The city represents about one fifth of the national economy. According to official statistics for FY 2010–2011, the size of the economy of Yangon Region was 8.93 trillion kyats, or 23% of the national GDP.
The city is Lower Burma's main trading hub for all kinds of merchandise – from basic food stuffs to used cars although commerce continues to be hampered by the city's severely underdeveloped banking industry and communication infrastructure. Bayinnaung Market is the largest wholesale centre in the country for rice, beans and pulses, and other agricultural commodities. Much of the country's legal imports and exports go through Thilawa Port, the largest and busiest port in Burma. There is also a great deal of informal trade, especially in street markets that exist alongside street platforms of Downtown Yangon's townships. However, on 17 June 2011, the YCDC announced that street vendors, who had previously been allowed to legally open shop at 3 pm, would be prohibited from selling on the streets, and permitted to sell only in their townships of residence, presumably to clean up the city's image. Since 1 December 2009, high-density polyethylene plastic bags have been banned by city authorities.
Manufacturing accounts for a sizable share of employment. At least 14 light industrial zones ring Yangon, directly employing over 150,000 workers in 4,300 factories in early 2010. The city is the centre of country's garment industry which exported US$292 million in 2008/9 fiscal year. More than 80 percent of factory workers in Yangon work on a day-to-day basis. Most are young women between 15 and 27 years of age who come from the countryside in search of a better life. The manufacturing sector suffers from both structural problems (e.g. chronic power shortages) and political.
problems (e.g. economic sanctions). In 2008, Yangon's 2500 factories alone needed about 120 MW of power; yet, the entire city received only about 250 MW of the 530 MW needed. Chronic power shortages limit the factories' operating hours between 8 am and 6 pm.
Construction is a major source of employment. The construction industry has been negatively affected by the move of state apparatus and civil servants to Naypyidaw, new regulations introduced in August 2009 requiring builders to provide at least 12 parking spaces in every new high-rise building, and the general poor business climate. As of January 2010, the number of new high-rise building starts approved in 2009–2010 was only 334, compared to 582 in 2008–2009.
Tourism represents a major source of foreign currency for the city although by south-east Asian standards the number of foreign visitors to Yangon has always been quite low - about 250,000 before the Saffron Revolution in September 2007. The number of visitors dipped even further following the Saffron Revolution and Cyclone Nargis. The recent improvement in the country's political climate has attracted an increasing number of businessmen and tourists. Between 300,000 and 400,000 visitors that went through Yangon International in 2011. However, after years of underinvestment, Yangon's modest hotel infrastructure - only 3000 of the total 8000 hotel rooms in Yangon are "suitable for tourists" - is already bursting at seams, and will need to be expanded to handle additional visitors. As part of an urban development strategy, a hotel zone has been planned in Yangon's outskirts, encompassing government- and military-owned land in Mingaladon, Hlegu and Htaukkyant Townships.
EDUCATION
Yangon educational facilities has a very high number of qualified teachers but the state spending on education is among the lowest of the world. Around 2007 estimate by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies puts the spending for education at 0.5% of the national budget. The disparity in educational opportunities and achievement between rich and poor schools is quite stark even within the city. With little or no state support forthcoming, schools have to rely on forced "donations" and various fees from parents for nearly everything – school maintenance to teachers' salaries, forcing many poor students to drop out.
While many students in poor districts fail to reach high school, a handful of Yangon high schools in wealthier districts such as Dagon 1, Sanchaung 2, Kamayut 2, Bahan 2, Latha 2, and TTC provide the majority of students admitted to the most selective universities in the country, highlighting the extreme shallowness of talent pool in the country. The wealthy bypass the state education system altogether, sending their children to private English language instruction schools such as YIEC or more widely known as ISM, or abroad (typically Singapore or Australia) for university education. In 2014, international schools in Yangon cost at least US$8,000 a year.
There are over 20 universities and colleges in the city. While Yangon University remains the best known (its main campus is a part of popular Burmese culture e.g. literature, music, film, etc.), the nation's oldest university is now mostly a graduate school, deprived of undergraduate studies. Following the 1988 nationwide uprising, the military government has repeatedly closed universities, and has dispersed most of undergraduate student population to new universities in the suburbs such as Dagon University, the University of East Yangon and the University of West Yangon. Nonetheless many of the country's most selective universities are still in Yangon. Students from around the country still have to come to study in Yangon as some subjects are offered only at its universities. The University of Medicine 1, University of Medicine 2, Yangon Technological University, University of Computer Studies and Myanmar Maritime University are the most selective in the country.
HEALTH CARE
The general state of health care in Yangon is poor. According to a 2007 estimate, the military government spends 0.4% of the national budget on health care, and 40% to 60% on defense. By the government's own figures, it spends 849 kyats (US$0.85) per person. Although health care is nominally free, in reality, patients have to pay for medicine and treatment, even in public clinics and hospitals. Public hospitals including the flagship Yangon General Hospital lack many of the basic facilities and equipment.
Wealthier Yangonites still have access to country's best medical facilities and internationally qualified doctors. Only Yangon and Mandalay have any sizable number of doctors left as many Burmese doctors have emigrated. The well-to-do go to private clinics or hospitals like Pun Hlaing International Hospital and Bahosi Medical Clinic. Medical malpractice is widespread, even in private clinics and hospitals that serve the well-to-do. In 2009 and 2010, a spate of high-profile deaths brought out the severity of the problem, even for the relatively well off Yangonites. The wealthy do not rely on domestic hospitals and travel abroad, usually Bangkok or Singapore, for treatment.
WIKIPEDIA
One of my first digital SLRs was a Canon 40D. It eventually broke and wasn't worth fixing so I moved on to other systems. Instead of doing the sensible thing and selling my Canon fit lenses I kept them in a cupboard for years not getting any use.
A couple of years back I saw a Canon 5D in excellent condition for sale for about £250 if I remember correctly. I rationalised that I should buy it to use the old lenses (any excuse for GAS) so it duly arrived and it really was in near mint condition - very surprising for a semi pro camera nearly 17 years old. The serial number tells me that my camera is one of the early ones with the poor LCD and the mirror which is likely to fall off at any moment.
The LCD really is useless. It tells you that a picture has been taken but not much else and the Raw files look awful. However, the Raws are very easy to work with and getting a good result is not difficult. The camera has only 12.8 megapixels but they are quality pixels and I'm pleasantly surprised how good the images can be. These two photos have been cropped but I think they stand up to scrutiny well.
These photos show the Trotternish Ridge, looking from Staffin.
Please don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission. If you wish to use this image, please, contact me through flickrmail or at vicenc.feliu@gmail.com. © All rights reserved...
John Ballendine built this finely proportined Georgian house, Rockledge, circa 1760. William Buckland, a premier colonial Chesapeake architect reportedly designed it. Rockledge is a rare example of a Tidewater Virginia stone dwelling. Several entrepreneurs who sought to maximize Occoquan's potential as a port and commercial center resided here over time.
Occoquan, Virginia.
Interested in using or acquiring the rights of one of my photos? Please contact me. Copyright © W.B. Beskow. All rights reserved.
-------------------------------
Interessado em usar ou adquirir os direitos de alguma de minhas fotos? Favor entrar em contato. Copyright © W.B. Beskow. Todos os direitos reservados.
-------------------------------
___
Gears I use:
[If you are interested in photography gears that I use to create these images, please check them out in my affiliate links below, any view helps, any purchase helps a ton]
.
Camera (personal) Sony A7III amzn.to/2X8XoVJ
Camera (workplace) Sony A7RIV amzn.to/3dSeCNd
Actioncam: Gopro Hero 8 Black
___
Lens: Sony 24mm f1.4 G-Master amzn.to/2XbY4JQ
Lens: Sony FE 35mm f1.8 amzn.to/2xGvF4f
Lens: Sony 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 G-Master amzn.to/2wdf2g4
Lens: Sony FE 55mm f1.8 Zeiss [US version: amzn.to/2wWHGlO]
------------------------------------- Or [Discounted version - which I use: amzn.to/2x0LimR]
Lens: Laowa 10-18mm f4.5-5.6 C-Dreamer FE amzn.to/2wWHR0s
Lens: Sony FE 90mm G macro OSS amzn.to/2UH7TOB
Lens: Sigma 24-70mm DG DN Art amzn.to/2xItL2T
___
Gimbal: Zhiyun Webill S amzn.to/2JMJ7GB
Tripod: Benro Velocity ($80) amzn.to/3bPtkCu
Used to visit Arrochar regularly when climbing the nearby Munros and Corbetts, never ceases to amaze me how stunning this place is
Used the CMN Lothian President for this one. Taken apart but just flatted down to get rid of the harlequin colour blocks and take the gloss off the white.
Window 'stickers' (several!)removed with T-cut and the model repainted with a coat of primer, 2 x undercoats and 2 x Phoenix white gloss. Not a bad white finish for a brush job!
Red line is a cheat - adhesive silver vinyl strip pre-painted and fixed into place.
This was actually a pig to do with everything being a bit too delicate (lost wipers as soon as touched!) and taking apart needs great care especially around the glued-in glazing.
Long used as a calming herb it is also a good addition to a more biodiverse "lawn." The scent is intoxicating and induces a lighter heart, by expanding the space there, so dealing with issues seems more bearable.
Using my PENTAX SF7 again loaded with ILFORD FP4+ which I processed in my Home-Made 510-Pyro 1:100
outside the Iceland Store with SMC Pentax-M 75-150mm f4v Manual Focus
Training use of magig cloth tecnic. Promise that many shots were thrown out :-)
icelandaurora.com/blog/2010/07/20/tonys-magic-cloth-techn...
Using the Dragoon core legs and torso mount, this heavy, short-to-mid-range beast is heavily armored and hits like a space freighter, but is effectively blind without sensory instruments and it moves slowly.
This used to be my local pub, which had a cowboy theme back in the day, and this is how it looked at night in the rear garden.
The Dancing Dog Saloon in Halfway, Bobbing, Kent has now, sadly, closed down.
C_N_1_0323_
Use of this image on websites, blogs, magazines, calendars or any other forms of media without the expressed permission of the photographer is illegal.
© Lyubov Love Photography. All rights reserved.
Used the flash and caught the falling snow and the snow- covered trees from my back door. If you look closely you can see some colour in the birch trees, but is is pretty much a white world out there tonight!
use peanut in this way.
I saw this while I was watching a movie, The chef in the south polar.
Such a cute idea!
#Today I was using Fuji XT5 with the 16-50mm kit lens. I also used a film recipe called Cinematic Mono
#These two didn't stop for a pastry , they were deep in a heated debate!
Grad used, but nd filter got carried off by previous wave. This penguin shape (scale wise it is about the size of an estate car) got hit by the next big wave, broke in half & appears in the photo below. A long exposure allows the waves to drag themselves across the black sand beach.
Jökulsárlón (literally "glacial river lagoon") is a large glacial lagoon in southeast Iceland, on the borders of Vatnajökull National Park. Situated at the head of Breiðamerkurjökull, it evolved into a lagoon after the glacier started receding from the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. The lake has grown since then at varying rates because of melting of the Icelandic glaciers. The lagoon now stands 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) away from the ocean's edge and covers an area of about 18 km2 (6.9 sq mi). It recently became the deepest lake in Iceland at over 248 metres (814 ft) depth as glacial retreat extended its boundaries.[1] The size of the lagoon has increased fourfold since the 1970s.
Iceland (Icelandic: Ísland) is a Nordic European island country situated at the confluence of the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The country has a population of about 320,000 and a total area of 103,000 km2 (40,000 sq mi), which makes it the most sparsely populated country in Europe. The capital and largest city is Reykjavík, with the surrounding areas in the southwestern region of the country being home to two-thirds of the country's population. The nation's capital is the most northern capital in the world. Iceland is volcanically and geologically active. The interior consists mainly of a plateau characterised by sand and lava fields, mountains and glaciers, while many glacial rivers flow to the sea through the lowlands. Iceland is warmed by the Gulf Stream and has a temperate climate despite a high latitude just outside the Arctic Circle.
Copyright www.annclarkphoto.co.uk Photography by Ann Clark, Bridgend.
Please do not use this image on websites, blogs or other media without asking my written permission .....© All rights reserved!
Please visit my website at www.annclarklandscapes.co.uk for more images and information on landscape photography workshops run throughout the year and www.annclarkphoto.co.uk for wedding photography
108/365:16th October,2010
Today's 365 image is a revival of one of my favourites.I took this about four years ago and had it enlarged and on my office wall in school, where the pupils often used to come & admire it.
Today I have edited it and am very happy with the end result.
Por favor, no use esta imagen en su web, blogs u otros medios sin mi permiso explícito. © Todos los derechos reservados.
© Alejandro Cárdaba Rubio/2013
El buitre leonado (Gyps fulvus) es una especie de ave accipitriforme de la familia Accipitridae. Es una de las mayores rapaces que puede encontrarse en la península Ibérica, superando en envergadura (hasta 260 cm.) incluso al águila imperial ibérica.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus) is a species of bird family Accipitridae accipitriforme. It is one of the largest raptors that can be found in the Iberian Peninsula, exceeding in scope (up to 260 cm.) Even the imperial eagle.
Más Información / More Information: es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyps_fulvus
Copyright © 2008 Janice Street. All rights reserved. Do not use without my permission.
Here is the poem that my grandfather wrote and my mother recited to me many times when I was a child. Her eyes would always fill with tears in the last verse. I believe this poem and my grandfathers love for nature and family opened my eyes and heart to beauty at a young age. I am dedicating my book to this man who I never met, yet the gift he left behind lives in me...
Book "Frost on Windows" www.janicestreet.ca/Christmas.html
Gordon Lightfoot would sing it proud....
by John Martin my grandfather
Blue Sea Lake
In the beauty and lure of the Lake of Lakes nestled in the heart of the Gatineau Hills, I dedicate this little poem.
I have seen the Rocky Mountains,
Nova Scotia’s rugged shore,
Columbia’s towering forests,
Heard Niagara’s mighty roar.
But high among the Gatineau Hills,
If you will come with me,
I’ll show you Nature’s masterpiece,
A lake they call Blue Sea.
‘Tis rimmed by purple mountains,
Green waters kiss its shore,
And up on high, in azure sky,
White Sea Gulls dip and soar.
I would that you, at eventide,
When twilight’s shadows fall,
Could stand and watch the sun go down,
A vivid golden ball.
And see the hills and waters,
In all their glorious hue,
Forget your cares and sorrows,
Alone just God and you.
And now today in reverie,
My heart goes out to this Blue Sea,
For 30 years has passed and more,
Since my first-born played by her shore.
My brow has felt time’s honoured hand,
Grandchildren’s feet now mark her sand.
So if I love this lake to fair,
With memories sweet, and beauty rare,
It’s just because each bending tree,
Throughout my life will call to me.
John E Martin
August 3, 1940
I traveled to this lake on a journey to discover my roots 9 months after I posted this picture and poem. If you care to follow my journey as I experienced it, do so in the order posted in my set called Blue Sea Lake www.flickr.com/photos/bytheseeingeye/sets/72157618420020098/
It is now 2013 and I have been doing research to find out when my grandfather arrived at Blue Sea. Originally there was some confusion because there was another John Martin on the lake...As it turned out he was my great grandfather who had bought a cottage on the lake as early as 1900. That is where his first cottage was. Later my grandfather rented or bought a cottage about a mile or so closer to the village of Blue Sea on a beautiful lot with the cottage again almost next to the water.