Training use of magig cloth tecnic. Promise that many shots were thrown out :-)

icelandaurora.com/blog/2010/07/20/tonys-magic-cloth-techn...

When I was a kid, I used to own a Combattler V DX Chogokin toy. I still remember I deliberately picked Combattler over God Sigma because Combattler is a 5 vehicles combiner. 5 is obviously better than 3, right?

 

Bandai's SOC line has several Voltes V releases, but I was never interested enough to get one. I was not exactly a fan until I saw GMA's Voltes V Legacy teaser, which is truly impressive and brings back a lot of good memories. I am so looking forward to the actual film release.

 

After my divorce, I began to build my favorite anime mechs in LEGOs as a mean to balance the stress of single parenting. LEGO IDEAS projects like len_d69's Voltron and anthonyleemwi's God Sigma have been very inspiring. In 2021, I built my own God Sigma, followed by Albegas and Daltanious.

   

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!

Photo Copyright 2012, dynamo.photography.

All rights reserved, no use without license

 

++++ FROM WIKIPEDIA ++++

 

Taiwan (/ˌtaɪˈwɑːn/ (About this sound listen)), officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a state in East Asia. Its neighbors include the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the west, Japan to the northeast, and the Philippines to the south. Taiwan is the most populous state and largest economy that is not a member of the United Nations.

 

The island of Taiwan, formerly known as Formosa, was inhabited by aborigines before the 17th century, when Dutch and Spanish colonies opened the island to mass Han immigration. After a brief rule by the Kingdom of Tungning, the island was annexed by the Qing dynasty, the last dynasty of China. The Qing ceded Taiwan to Japan in 1895 after the Sino-Japanese War. While Taiwan was under Japanese rule, the Republic of China (ROC) was established on the mainland in 1912 after the fall of the Qing dynasty. Following the Japanese surrender to the Allies in 1945, the ROC took control of Taiwan. However, the resumption of the Chinese Civil War led to the ROC's loss of the mainland to the Communists, and the flight of the ROC government to Taiwan in 1949. Although the ROC continued to claim to be the legitimate government of China, its effective jurisdiction has, since the loss of Hainan in 1950, been limited to Taiwan and its surrounding islands, with the main island making up 99% of its de facto territory. As a founding member of the United Nations, the ROC continued to represent China at the United Nations until 1971, when the PRC assumed China's seat, causing the ROC to lose its UN membership.

 

In the early 1960s, Taiwan entered a period of rapid economic growth and industrialization, creating a stable industrial economy. In the 1980s and early 1990s, it changed from a one-party military dictatorship dominated by the Kuomintang to a multi-party democracy with a semi-presidential system. Taiwan is the 22nd-largest economy in the world, and its high-tech industry plays a key role in the global economy. It is ranked highly in terms of freedom of the press, healthcare,[16] public education, economic freedom, and human development.[d][14][17] The country benefits from a highly skilled workforce and is among the most highly educated countries in the world with one of the highest percentages of its citizens holding a tertiary education degree.[18][19]

 

The PRC has consistently claimed sovereignty over Taiwan and asserted the ROC is no longer in legitimate existence. Under its One-China Policy the PRC refuses diplomatic relations with any country that recognizes the ROC. Today, 20 countries maintain official ties with the ROC but many other states maintain unofficial ties through representative offices and institutions that function as de facto embassies and consulates. Although Taiwan is fully self-governing, most international organizations in which the PRC participates either refuse to grant membership to Taiwan or allow it to participate only as a non-state actor. Internally, the major division in politics is between the aspirations of eventual Chinese unification or Taiwanese independence, though both sides have moderated their positions to broaden their appeal. The PRC has threatened the use of military force in response to any formal declaration of independence by Taiwan or if PRC leaders decide that peaceful unification is no longer possible.[20]

 

Etymology

See also: Chinese Taipei, Formosa, and Names of China

Taiwan

Taiwan (Chinese characters).svg

(top) "Taiwan" in Traditional Chinese characters and Kyūjitai Japanese Kanji. (bottom) "Taiwan" in Simplified Chinese characters and Japanese Kanji.

Chinese name

Traditional Chinese 臺灣 or 台灣

Simplified Chinese 台湾

[show]Transcriptions

Japanese name

Kanji 台湾

Kana たいわん

Kyūjitai 臺灣

[show]Transcriptions

Republic of China

ROC (Chinese characters).svg

"Republic of China" in Traditional (top) and Simplified (bottom) Chinese characters

Traditional Chinese 中華民國

Simplified Chinese 中华民国

Postal Chunghwa Minkuo

[show]Transcriptions

China

Traditional Chinese 中國

Simplified Chinese 中国

Literal meaning Middle or Central State[21]

[show]Transcriptions

 

There are various names for the island of Taiwan in use today, derived from explorers or rulers by each particular period. The former name Formosa (福爾摩沙) dates from 1542,[verification needed] when Portuguese sailors sighted the main island of Taiwan and named it Ilha Formosa, which means "beautiful island".[22] The name "Formosa" eventually "replaced all others in European literature"[23] and was in common use in English in the early 20th century.[24]

 

In the early 17th century, the Dutch East India Company established a commercial post at Fort Zeelandia (modern-day Anping, Tainan) on a coastal sandbar called "Tayouan",[25] after their ethnonym for a nearby Taiwanese aboriginal tribe, written by the Dutch and Portuguese variously as Taiouwang, Tayowan, Teijoan, etc.[26] This name was also adopted into the Chinese vernacular (in particular, Hokkien, as Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tāi-oân/Tâi-oân) as the name of the sandbar and nearby area (Tainan). The modern word "Taiwan" is derived from this usage, which is seen in various forms (大員, 大圓, 大灣, 臺員, 臺圓 and 臺窩灣) in Chinese historical records. The area of modern-day Tainan was the first permanent settlement by Western colonists and Chinese immigrants, grew to be the most important trading centre, and served as the capital of the island until 1887. Use of the current Chinese name (臺灣) was formalized as early as 1684 with the establishment of Taiwan Prefecture. Through its rapid development, the entire Formosan mainland eventually became known as "Taiwan".[27][28][29][30]

 

In his Daoyi Zhilüe (1349), Wang Dayuan used "Liuqiu" as a name for the island of Taiwan, or the part of it near to Penghu.[31] Elsewhere, the name was used for the Ryukyu Islands in general or Okinawa, the largest of them; indeed the name Ryūkyū is the Japanese form of Liúqiú. The name also appears in the Book of Sui (636) and other early works, but scholars cannot agree on whether these references are to the Ryukyus, Taiwan or even Luzon.[32]

 

The official name of the state is the "Republic of China"; it has also been known under various names throughout its existence. Shortly after the ROC's establishment in 1912, while it was still located on the Chinese mainland, the government used the short form "China" Zhōngguó (中國), to refer to itself, which derives from zhōng ("central" or "middle") and guó ("state, nation-state"), [e] A term which also developed under the Zhou Dynasty in reference to its royal demesne[f] and the name was then applied to the area around Luoyi (present-day Luoyang) during the Eastern Zhou and then to China's Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qingera .[34] During the 1950s and 1960s, after the government had fled to Taiwan due to losing the Chinese Civil War, it was commonly referred to as "Nationalist China" (or "Free China") to differentiate it from "Communist China" (or "Red China").[36] It was a member of the United Nations representing "China" until 1971, when it lost its seat to the People's Republic of China. Over subsequent decades, the Republic of China has become commonly known as "Taiwan", after the island that comprises 99% of the territory under its control. In some contexts, especially official ones from the ROC government, the name is written as "Republic of China (Taiwan)", "Republic of China/Taiwan", or sometimes "Taiwan (ROC)."[37] The Republic of China participates in most international forums and organizations under the name "Chinese Taipei" due to diplomatic pressure from the People's Republic of China. For instance, it is the name under which it has competed at the Olympic Games since 1984, and its name as an observer at the World Health Organization.[38]

History

Main articles: History of Taiwan and History of the Republic of China

See the History of China article for historical information in the Chinese Mainland before 1949.

Prehistoric Taiwan

Main article: Prehistory of Taiwan

A young Tsou man

 

Taiwan was joined to the mainland in the Late Pleistocene, until sea levels rose about 10,000 years ago. Fragmentary human remains dated 20,000 to 30,000 years ago have been found on the island, as well as later artefacts of a Paleolithic culture.[39][40][41]

 

Around 6,000 years ago, Taiwan was settled by farmers, most likely from mainland China.[42] They are believed to be the ancestors of today's Taiwanese aborigines, whose languages belong to the Austronesian language family, but show much greater diversity than the rest of the family, which spans a huge area from Maritime Southeast Asia west to Madagascar and east as far as New Zealand, Hawaii and Easter Island. This has led linguists to propose Taiwan as the urheimat of the family, from which seafaring peoples dispersed across Southeast Asia and the Pacific and Indian Oceans.[43][44]

 

Han Chinese fishermen began settling in the Penghu islands in the 13th century.[45] Hostile tribes, and a lack of valuable trade products, meant that few outsiders visited the main island until the 16th century.[45] By the 1700's visits to the coast by fishermen from Fujian, as well as Chinese and Japanese pirates, became more frequent.[45]

Opening in the 17th century

 

The Dutch East India Company attempted to establish a trading outpost on the Penghu Islands (Pescadores) in 1622, but were militarily defeated and driven off by the Ming authorities.[46]

 

In 1624, the company established a stronghold called Fort Zeelandia on the coastal islet of Tayouan, which is now part of the main island at Anping, Tainan.[30] David Wright, a Scottish agent of the company who lived on the island in the 1650s, described the lowland areas of the island as being divided among 11 chiefdoms ranging in size from two settlements to 72. Some of these fell under Dutch control, while others remained independent.[30][47] The Company began to import labourers from Fujian and Penghu (Pescadores), many of whom settled.[46]

 

In 1626, the Spanish Empire landed on and occupied northern Taiwan, at the ports of Keelung and Tamsui, as a base to extend their trading. This colonial period lasted 16 years until 1642, when the last Spanish fortress fell to Dutch forces.

 

Following the fall of the Ming dynasty, Koxinga (Zheng Chenggong), a self-styled Ming loyalist, arrived on the island and captured Fort Zeelandia in 1662, expelling the Dutch Empire and military from the island. Koxinga established the Kingdom of Tungning (1662–1683), with his capital at Tainan. He and his heirs, Zheng Jing, who ruled from 1662 to 1682, and Zheng Keshuang, who ruled less than a year, continued to launch raids on the southeast coast of mainland China well into the Qing dynasty era.[46]

Qing rule

In 1683, following the defeat of Koxinga's grandson by an armada led by Admiral Shi Lang of southern Fujian, the Qing dynasty formally annexed Taiwan, placing it under the jurisdiction of Fujian province. The Qing imperial government tried to reduce piracy and vagrancy in the area, issuing a series of edicts to manage immigration and respect aboriginal land rights. Immigrants mostly from southern Fujian continued to enter Taiwan. The border between taxpaying lands and "savage" lands shifted eastward, with some aborigines becoming sinicized while others retreated into the mountains. During this time, there were a number of conflicts between groups of Han Chinese from different regions of southern Fujian, particularly between those from Quanzhou and Zhangzhou, and between southern Fujian Chinese and aborigines.

 

Northern Taiwan and the Penghu Islands were the scene of subsidiary campaigns in the Sino-French War (August 1884 to April 1885). The French occupied Keelung on 1 October 1884, but were repulsed from Tamsui a few days later. The French won some tactical victories but were unable to exploit them, and the Keelung Campaign ended in stalemate. The Pescadores Campaign, beginning on 31 March 1885, was a French victory, but had no long-term consequences. The French evacuated both Keelung and the Penghu archipelago after the end of the war.

 

In 1887, the Qing upgraded the island's administration from Taiwan Prefecture of Fujian to Fujian-Taiwan-Province (福建臺灣省), the twentieth in the empire, with its capital at Taipei. This was accompanied by a modernization drive that included building China's first railroad.[48]

Japanese rule

Main articles: Taiwan under Japanese rule and Republic of Formosa

Japanese colonial soldiers march Taiwanese captured after the Tapani Incident from the Tainan jail to court, 1915.

 

As the Qing dynasty was defeated in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895), Taiwan, along with Penghu and Liaodong Peninsula, were ceded in full sovereignty to the Empire of Japan by the Treaty of Shimonoseki. Inhabitants on Taiwan and Penghu wishing to remain Qing subjects were given a two-year grace period to sell their property and move to mainland China. Very few Taiwanese saw this as feasible.[49] On 25 May 1895, a group of pro-Qing high officials proclaimed the Republic of Formosa to resist impending Japanese rule. Japanese forces entered the capital at Tainan and quelled this resistance on 21 October 1895.[50] Guerrilla fighting continued periodically until about 1902 and ultimately took the lives of 14,000 Taiwanese, or 0.5% of the population.[51] Several subsequent rebellions against the Japanese (the Beipu uprising of 1907, the Tapani incident of 1915, and the Musha incident of 1930) were all unsuccessful but demonstrated opposition to Japanese colonial rule.

 

Japanese colonial rule was instrumental in the industrialization of the island, extending the railroads and other transportation networks, building an extensive sanitation system, and establishing a formal education system.[52] Japanese rule ended the practice of headhunting.[53] During this period the human and natural resources of Taiwan were used to aid the development of Japan and the production of cash crops such as rice and sugar greatly increased. By 1939, Taiwan was the seventh greatest sugar producer in the world.[54] Still, the Taiwanese and aborigines were classified as second- and third-class citizens. After suppressing Chinese guerrillas in the first decade of their rule, Japanese authorities engaged in a series of bloody campaigns against the mountain aboriginals, culminating in the Musha Incident of 1930.[55] Intellectuals and laborers who participated in left-wing movements within Taiwan were also arrested and massacred (e.g. Chiang Wei-shui (蔣渭水) and Masanosuke Watanabe (渡辺政之輔)).[56]

 

Around 1935, the Japanese began an island-wide assimilation project to bind the island more firmly to the Japanese Empire and people were taught to see themselves as Japanese under the Kominka Movement, during which time Taiwanese culture and religion were outlawed and the citizens were encouraged to adopt Japanese surnames.[57] The "South Strike Group" was based at the Taihoku Imperial University in Taipei. During World War II, tens of thousands of Taiwanese served in the Japanese military.[58] For example, former ROC President Lee Teng-hui's elder brother served in the Japanese navy and was killed in action in the Philippines in February 1945. The Imperial Japanese Navy operated heavily out of Taiwanese ports. In October 1944, the Formosa Air Battle was fought between American carriers and Japanese forces based in Taiwan. Important Japanese military bases and industrial centres throughout Taiwan, like Kaohsiung, were targets of heavy American bombings.[59] Also during this time, over 2,000 women were forced into sexual slavery for Imperial Japanese troops, now euphemistically called "comfort women."[60]

 

In 1938, there were 309,000 Japanese settlers in Taiwan.[61] After World War II, most of the Japanese were expelled and sent to Japan.[62]

Republic of China

 

On 25 October 1945, the US Navy ferried ROC troops to Taiwan in order to accept the formal surrender of Japanese military forces in Taipei on behalf of the Allied Powers, as part of General Order No. 1 for temporary military occupation. General Rikichi Andō, governor-general of Taiwan and commander-in-chief of all Japanese forces on the island, signed the receipt and handed it over to General Chen Yi of the ROC military to complete the official turnover. Chen Yi proclaimed that day to be "Taiwan Retrocession Day", but the Allies considered Taiwan and the Penghu Islands to be under military occupation and still under Japanese sovereignty until 1952, when the Treaty of San Francisco took effect.[63][64] Although the 1943 Cairo Declaration had envisaged returning these territories to China, in the Treaty of San Francisco and Treaty of Taipei Japan has renounced all claim to them without specifying to what country they were to be surrendered. This introduced the problem of the legal status of Taiwan.

 

The ROC administration of Taiwan under Chen Yi was strained by increasing tensions between Taiwanese-born people and newly arrived mainlanders, which were compounded by economic woes, such as hyperinflation. Furthermore, cultural and linguistic conflicts between the two groups quickly led to the loss of popular support for the new government, while the mass movement led by the working committee of the Communist Party also aimed to bring down the Kuomintang government.[65][66] The shooting of a civilian on 28 February 1947 triggered island-wide unrest, which was suppressed with military force in what is now called the February 28 Incident. Mainstream estimates of the number killed range from 18,000 to 30,000. Those killed were mainly members of the Taiwanese elite.[67][68]

The Nationalists' retreat to Taipei: after the Nationalists lost Nanjing (Nanking) they next moved to Guangzhou (Canton), then to Chongqing (Chungking), Chengdu (Chengtu) and Xichang (Sichang) before arriving in Taipei.

 

After the end of World War II, the Chinese Civil War resumed between the Chinese Nationalists (Kuomintang), led by Chiang Kai-shek, and the Communist Party of China, led by Mao Zedong. Throughout the months of 1949, a series of Chinese Communist offensives led to the capture of its capital Nanjing on 23 April and the subsequent defeat of the Nationalist army on the mainland, and the Communists founded the People's Republic of China on 1 October.[69]

 

On 7 December 1949, after the loss of four capitals, Chiang evacuated his Nationalist government to Taiwan and made Taipei the temporary capital of the ROC (also called the "wartime capital" by Chiang Kai-shek).[70] Some 2 million people, consisting mainly of soldiers, members of the ruling Kuomintang and intellectual and business elites, were evacuated from mainland China to Taiwan at that time, adding to the earlier population of approximately six million. In addition, the ROC government took to Taipei many national treasures and much of China's gold reserves and foreign currency reserves.[71][72][73]

 

After losing most of the mainland, the Kuomintang held remaining control of Tibet, the portions of Qinghai, Xinjiang, and Yunnan provinces along with the Hainan Island until 1951 before the Communists subsequently captured both territories. From this point onwards, the Kuomintang's territory was reduced to Taiwan, Penghu, the portions of the Fujian province (Kinmen and Matsu Islands), and two major islands of Dongsha Islands and Nansha Islands. The Kuomintang continued to claim sovereignty over all "China", which it defined to include mainland China, Taiwan, Outer Mongolia and other areas. On mainland China, the victorious Communists claimed they ruled the sole and only China (which they claimed included Taiwan) and that the Republic of China no longer existed.[74]

A Chinese man in military uniform, smiling and looking towards the left. He holds a sword in his left hand and has a medal in shape of a sun on his chest.

Chiang Kai-shek, leader of the Kuomintang from 1925 until his death in 1975

Chinese Nationalist one-party rule

 

Martial law, declared on Taiwan in May 1949,[75] continued to be in effect after the central government relocated to Taiwan. It was not repealed until 1987,[75] and was used as a way to suppress the political opposition in the intervening years.[76] During the White Terror, as the period is known, 140,000 people were imprisoned or executed for being perceived as anti-KMT or pro-Communist.[77] Many citizens were arrested, tortured, imprisoned and executed for their real or perceived link to the Communists. Since these people were mainly from the intellectual and social elite, an entire generation of political and social leaders was decimated. In 1998 law was passed to create the "Compensation Foundation for Improper Verdicts" which oversaw compensation to White Terror victims and families. President Ma Ying-jeou made an official apology in 2008, expressing hope that there will never be a tragedy similar to White Terror.[78]

 

Initially, the United States abandoned the KMT and expected that Taiwan would fall to the Communists. However, in 1950 the conflict between North Korea and South Korea, which had been ongoing since the Japanese withdrawal in 1945, escalated into full-blown war, and in the context of the Cold War, US President Harry S. Truman intervened again and dispatched the US Navy's 7th Fleet into the Taiwan Strait to prevent hostilities between Taiwan and mainland China.[79] In the Treaty of San Francisco and the Treaty of Taipei, which came into force respectively on 28 April 1952 and 5 August 1952, Japan formally renounced all right, claim and title to Taiwan and Penghu, and renounced all treaties signed with China before 1942. Neither treaty specified to whom sovereignty over the islands should be transferred, because the United States and the United Kingdom disagreed on whether the ROC or the PRC was the legitimate government of China.[80] Continuing conflict of the Chinese Civil War through the 1950s, and intervention by the United States notably resulted in legislation such as the Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty and the Formosa Resolution of 1955.

With President Chiang Kai-shek, the US President Dwight D. Eisenhower waved to crowds during his visit to Taipei in June 1960.

 

As the Chinese Civil War continued without truce, the government built up military fortifications throughout Taiwan. Within this effort, KMT veterans built the now famous Central Cross-Island Highway through the Taroko Gorge in the 1950s. The two sides would continue to engage in sporadic military clashes with seldom publicized details well into the 1960s on the China coastal islands with an unknown number of night raids. During the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis in September 1958, Taiwan's landscape saw Nike-Hercules missile batteries added, with the formation of the 1st Missile Battalion Chinese Army that would not be deactivated until 1997. Newer generations of missile batteries have since replaced the Nike Hercules systems throughout the island.

 

During the 1960s and 1970s, the ROC maintained an authoritarian, single-party government while its economy became industrialized and technology oriented. This rapid economic growth, known as the Taiwan Miracle, was the result of a fiscal regime independent from mainland China and backed up, among others, by the support of US funds and demand for Taiwanese products.[81][82] In the 1970s, Taiwan was economically the second fastest growing state in Asia after Japan.[83] Taiwan, along with Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore, became known as one of the Four Asian Tigers. Because of the Cold War, most Western nations and the United Nations regarded the ROC as the sole legitimate government of China until the 1970s. Later, especially after the termination of the Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty, most nations switched diplomatic recognition to the PRC (see United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758).

 

Up until the 1970s, the government was regarded by Western critics as undemocratic for upholding martial law, for severely repressing any political opposition and for controlling media. The KMT did not allow the creation of new parties and those that existed did not seriously compete with the KMT. Thus, competitive democratic elections did not exist.[84][85][86][87][88] From the late 1970s to the 1990s, however, Taiwan went through reforms and social changes that transformed it from an authoritarian state to a democracy. In 1979, a pro-democracy protest known as the Kaohsiung Incident took place in Kaohsiung to celebrate Human Rights Day. Although the protest was rapidly crushed by the authorities, it is today considered as the main event that united Taiwan's opposition.[89]

Democratization

 

Chiang Ching-kuo, Chiang Kai-shek's son and successor as the president, began to liberalize the political system in the mid-1980s. In 1984, the younger Chiang selected Lee Teng-hui, a Taiwanese-born, US-educated technocrat, to be his vice-president. In 1986, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was formed and inaugurated as the first opposition party in the ROC to counter the KMT. A year later, Chiang Ching-kuo lifted martial law on the main island of Taiwan (martial law was lifted on Penghu in 1979, Matsu island in 1992 and Kinmen island in 1993). With the advent of democratization, the issue of the political status of Taiwan gradually resurfaced as a controversial issue where, previously, the discussion of anything other than unification under the ROC was taboo.

 

After the death of Chiang Ching-kuo in January 1988, Lee Teng-hui succeeded him as president. Lee continued to democratize the government and decrease the concentration of government authority in the hands of mainland Chinese. Under Lee, Taiwan underwent a process of localization in which Taiwanese culture and history were promoted over a pan-China viewpoint in contrast to earlier KMT policies which had promoted a Chinese identity. Lee's reforms included printing banknotes from the Central Bank rather than the Provincial Bank of Taiwan, and streamlining the Taiwan Provincial Government with most of its functions transferred to the Executive Yuan. Under Lee, the original members of the Legislative Yuan and National Assembly(a former supreme legislative body defunct in 2005）,[90] elected in 1947 to represent mainland Chinese constituencies and having held the seats without re-election for more than four decades, were forced to resign in 1991. The previously nominal representation in the Legislative Yuan was brought to an end, reflecting the reality that the ROC had no jurisdiction over mainland China, and vice versa. Restrictions on the use of Taiwanese Hokkien in the broadcast media and in schools were also lifted.[citation needed]

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Taiwan's special envoy to the APEC summit, Lien Chan, November 2011

 

Democratic reforms continued in the 1990s, with Lee Teng-hui re-elected in 1996, in the first direct presidential election in the history of the ROC.[91] During the later years of Lee's administration, he was involved in corruption controversies relating to government release of land and weapons purchase, although no legal proceedings commenced. In 1997,"To meet the requisites of the nation prior to national unification",[92] the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China was passed and then the former "constitution of five powers" turns to be more tripartite. In 2000, Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party was elected as the first non-Kuomintang (KMT) President and was re-elected to serve his second and last term since 2004. Polarized politics has emerged in Taiwan with the formation of the Pan-Blue Coalition of parties led by the KMT, favouring eventual Chinese reunification, and the Pan-Green Coalition of parties led by the DPP, favouring an eventual and official declaration of Taiwanese independence.[93][clarification needed] In early 2006, President Chen Shui-bian remarked: “The National Unification Council will cease to function. No budget will be ear-marked for it and its personnel must return to their original posts...The National Unification Guidelines will cease to apply."[94]

The ruling DPP has traditionally leaned in favour of Taiwan independence and rejects the "One-China policy".

 

On 30 September 2007, the ruling DPP approved a resolution asserting a separate identity from China and called for the enactment of a new constitution for a "normal country". It also called for general use of "Taiwan" as the country's name, without abolishing its formal name, the Republic of China.[95] The Chen administration also pushed for referendums on national defence and UN entry in the 2004 and 2008 elections, which failed due to voter turnout below the required legal threshold of 50% of all registered voters.[96] The Chen administration was dogged by public concerns over reduced economic growth, legislative gridlock due to a pan-blue, opposition-controlled Legislative Yuan and corruption involving the First Family as well as government officials.[97][98]

 

The KMT increased its majority in the Legislative Yuan in the January 2008 legislative elections, while its nominee Ma Ying-jeou went on to win the presidency in March of the same year, campaigning on a platform of increased economic growth and better ties with the PRC under a policy of "mutual nondenial".[96] Ma took office on 20 May 2008, the same day that President Chen Shui-bian stepped down and was notified by prosecutors of possible corruption charges. Part of the rationale for campaigning for closer economic ties with the PRC stems from the strong economic growth China attained since joining the World Trade Organization. However, some analysts say that despite the election of Ma Ying-jeou, the diplomatic and military tensions with the PRC have not been reduced.[99]

 

On 24 May 2017, the Constitutional Court ruled that current marriage laws have been violating the Constitution by denying Taiwanese same-sex couples the right to marry. The Court ruled that if the Legislative Yuan does not pass adequate amendments to Taiwanese marriage laws within two years, same-sex marriages will automatically become legitimate in Taiwan.[100]

Geography

Taiwan is mostly mountainous in the east, with gently sloping plains in the west. The Penghu Islands are west of the main island.

 

The total area of the current jurisdiction of the Republic of China is 36,193 km2 (13,974 sq mi),[9] making it the world's 137th-largest country/dependency, smaller than Switzerland and larger than Belgium.

 

The island of Taiwan has an area of 35,883 km2 (13,855 sq mi), and lies some 180 kilometres (110 mi) from the southeastern coast of mainland China across the Taiwan Strait.[9] The East China Sea lies to the north, the Philippine Sea to the east, the Bashi Channel of the Luzon Strait directly to the south, and the South China Sea to the southwest. Its shape is similar to a sweet potato, giving rise to the name sweet potato used by Taiwanese Hokkien speakers for people of Taiwanese descent.[101]

 

The island is characterized by the contrast between the eastern two-thirds, consisting mostly of rugged mountains running in five ranges from the northern to the southern tip of the island, and the flat to gently rolling Chianan Plains in the west that are also home to most of Taiwan's population. Taiwan's highest point is Yu Shan (Jade Mountain) at 3,952 metres (12,966 ft),[102] making Taiwan the world's fourth-highest island.

 

The Penghu Islands, 50 km (31.1 mi) west of the main island, have an area of 126.9 km2 (49.0 sq mi). More distant islands controlled by the Republic of China are the Kinmen, Wuchiu and Matsu Islands off the coast of Fujian, with a total area of 180.5 km2 (69.7 sq mi), and the Pratas Islands and Taiping Island in the South China Sea, with a total area of 2.9 km2 (1.1 sq mi) and no permanent inhabitants.[9] The ROC government also claims the Senkaku Islands to the northeast, which are controlled by Japan.

Climate

 

Taiwan lies on the Tropic of Cancer, and its general climate is marine tropical.[8] The northern and central regions are subtropical, whereas the south is tropical and the mountainous regions are temperate.[103] The average rainfall is 2,600 millimetres (100 inches) per year for the island proper; the rainy season is concurrent with the onset of the summer East Asian Monsoon in May and June.[104] The entire island experiences hot, humid weather from June through September. Typhoons are most common in July, August and September.[104] During the winter (November to March), the northeast experiences steady rain, while the central and southern parts of the island are mostly sunny.

Geology

Main article: Geology of Taiwan

Dabajian Mountain

 

The island of Taiwan lies in a complex tectonic area between the Yangtze Plate to the west and north, the Okinawa Plate on the north-east, and the Philippine Mobile Belt on the east and south. The upper part of the crust on the island is primarily made up of a series of terranes, mostly old island arcs which have been forced together by the collision of the forerunners of the Eurasian Plate and the Philippine Sea Plate. These have been further uplifted as a result of the detachment of a portion of the Eurasian Plate as it was subducted beneath remnants of the Philippine Sea Plate, a process which left the crust under Taiwan more buoyant.[105]

 

The east and south of Taiwan are a complex system of belts formed by, and part of the zone of, active collision between the North Luzon Trough portion of the Luzon Volcanic Arc and South China, where accreted portions of the Luzon Arc and Luzon forearc form the eastern Coastal Range and parallel inland Longitudinal Valley of Taiwan respectively.[106]

 

The major seismic faults in Taiwan correspond to the various suture zones between the various terranes. These have produced major quakes throughout the history of the island. On 21 September 1999, a 7.3 quake known as the "921 earthquake" killed more than 2,400 people. The seismic hazard map for Taiwan by the USGS shows 9/10 of the island as the highest rating (most hazardous).[107]

Political and legal status

Main article: Political status of Taiwan

 

The political and legal statuses of Taiwan are contentious issues. The People's Republic of China (PRC) claims that the Republic of China government is illegitimate, referring to it as the "Taiwan Authority" even though current ROC territories have never been controlled by the PRC.[108][109] The ROC has its own constitution, independently elected president and armed forces. It has not formally renounced its claim to the mainland, but ROC government publications have increasingly downplayed it.[110]

 

Internationally, there is controversy on whether the ROC still exists as a state or a defunct state per international law due to the lack of wide diplomatic recognition. In a poll of Taiwanese aged 20 and older taken by TVBS in March 2009, a majority of 64% opted for the "status quo", while 19% favoured "independence" and 5% favoured "unification".[111]

Relations with the PRC

 

The political environment is complicated by the potential for military conflict should Taiwan declare de jure independence; it is the official PRC policy to use force to ensure unification if peaceful unification is no longer possible, as stated in its anti-secession law, and for this reason there are substantial military installations on the Fujian coast.[112][113][114][115][116]

 

On 29 April 2005, Kuomintang Chairman Lien Chan travelled to Beijing and met with Communist Party of China (CPC) Secretary-General Hu Jintao,[117] the first meeting between the leaders of the two parties since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. On 11 February 2014, Mainland Affairs Council Head Wang Yu-chi travelled to Nanjing and met with Taiwan Affairs Office Head Zhang Zhijun, the first meeting between high-ranking officials from either side.[118] Zhang paid a reciprocal visit to Taiwan and met Wang on 25 June 2014, making Zhang the first minister-level PRC official to ever visit Taiwan.[119] On 7 November 2015, Ma Ying-jeou (in his capacity as Leader of Taiwan) and Xi Jinping (in his capacity as Leader of Mainland China) travelled to Singapore and met up,[120] marking the highest-level exchange between the two sides since 1949.

wrhstol.com/2oMuSX2

Used a tripod and the first half had the 1.4TC while second half used the 2.0 TC.

Water skiing was invented in 1922 when Ralph Samuelson used a pair of boards as skis and a clothesline as a tow rope on Lake Pepin in Lake City, Minnesota. The sport remained a little-known activity for several years. Then, Samuelson performed shows from Michigan to Florida. In 1966, the American Water Ski Association formally acknowledged Samuelson as the first water skiier on record. Samuelson was also the first ski racer, first to go over a jump ramp, first to slalom ski, and the first to put on a water ski show.[1] He experimented with different positions on the skis for several days until July 2, 1922. Finally, Ralph discovered that leaning backwards in the water with ski tips up and poking out of the water at the tip was optimal. His brother Ben towed him and they reached a speed of 20 miles per hour. Samuelson also achieved the first ski jump on July 8, 1925 using a greased 4 feet (1.2 m) by 16 feet (4.9 m) ramp, making him the first water ski jumper.

Used as an engine testbed. One of the oldest 747 still flying, but not the oldest ! 25th built.

using a bit more than the red and green iron salts.

 

www.alternativephotography.com/cuprotype-history/

Using a light strip and a little creativity, we were able to bring some life to the dark and quiet Stumphouse Tunnel in Walhalla, SC.

I remember what she used to be like. I remember the vigour and her passion for life. Alas, I have seen what ME/CFS does to a person. Give her life back, I plead. "Nothing can be done", they say. And so my humble contribution to #millionsmissing last year; A pair of shoes and the reflection of a memory.

 

To my wife i dedicate this poem:

 

"On the surface she smiles,

Its nothing but a masquerade,

To veil her true feelings in a shroud of dismay,

Because the surface is crumbling,

No one see her hurting,

All we see is the glimmering reflections of what was,

Off the broken shards that she was made up of

Broken pieces are scattered everywhere,

A life of imprisonment within herself,

An inhumane fate."

Using a hand built photogate to capture droplets of orange juice falling into a mixture of blackcurrent squash, vinegar and milk.

Used this image as illustration for the blog post a book about meditation

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Francisco Aragão © 2012. All Rights Reserved.

Use without permission is illegal.

 

Attention please !

If you are interested in my photos, they are available for sale. Please contact me by email: aragaofrancisco@gmail.com. Do not use without permission.

Many images are available for license on Getty Images

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"SAO LUIS DO MARANHAO - 400 ANOS"

 

Portuguese

São Luís é um município brasileiro, capital do estado do Maranhão localizado ao norte do estado, fundada por franceses no dia 8 de setembro de 1612 posteriormente, foi invadida por holandeses mas terminou por ser colonizada por portugueses. Localiza-se em uma ilha Upaon-Açu, no Atlântico Sul, entre as baías de São Marcos e São José de Ribamar. Quando em 1621 o Brasil foi dividido em duas unidades administrativas - Estado do Maranhão e Estado do Brasil - São Luís foi a capital da primeira unidade administrativa.

A capital maranhense tem um desenvolvido setor industrial por conta de grandes corporações e empresas de diversos áreas que se instalaram na cidade pela sua privilegiada posição geográfica entre as regiões Norte e Nordeste do país, seu litoral estrategicamente localizado bem mais próximo de grandes centros importadores de produtos brasileiras como Europa e EUA que permite economia de combustíveis e redução no prazo de entrega de mercadorias provenientes do Brasil pelo Porto de Itaqui que é o 2º mais profundo do mundo e um dos mais movimentados, sofisticados e bem estruturados para o comércio exterior no Brasil. Tudo isso aliado a ligação por linha férrea da capital São Luís ao interior do estado, e aos estados vizinhos do Pará, Tocantins e Piauí o que facilita e barateia a escoação agrícola vinda do interior do país para o porto de Itaqui, sendo que com a conclusão de Ferrovia Norte-Sul a cidade vai estar interligada a todas as regiões brasileiras (NO, NE, CO, SE e S) por ferrovias, por rodovia a ilha já é servida pela BR-135 que a liga ao continente, e por ar conta com o Aeroporto Internacional Marechal Cunha Machado com capacidade de atender mais de um milhão de passageiros por ano, e que já opera com demanda quase saturada pelo movimento intenso de passageiros não somente da cidade de São Luís mais também por servir como porta de entrada por ser o maior e mais movimentado aeroporto próximo ao Parque Nacional dos Lençóis Maranhenses.

O clima em São Luís é geralmente quente e abafado, tropical e semi-úmido. Isso se deve ao fato da cidade esta localizada proxima a Zona de Convergência Intertropical (ZCIT). A cidade apresenta grande quantidade de coqueiros e muita vegetação litorânea. A também pedaços da Floresta Amazônica na cidade protegidas por Parques Ambientais. Pequenos rios nascem na cidade, o Rio Bacanga é um dos mais importantes pois é muito util para a pesca.

Em 2010 o Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE) contou a população em 1,027,098 o que a torna o décimo-quinto município mais populoso do Brasil entre os 5 565 municípios brasileiros, 13° entre as capitais, 4º da região Nordeste e 1° do Maranhão. Sua área é de 831,7 Km², e desse total 157,5656 Km² estão em perímetro urbano. O município faz parte da Mesorregião do Norte Maranhense e Microrregião da Aglomeração Urbana de São Luís localizada a norte do estado do Maranhão. O Índice de Desenvolvimento Humano do municipio é de 0.778, alto comparado ao IDH do Maranhão.

 

English

São Luís (Portuguese pronunciation: [sɐ̃w luˈis], Saint Louis) is the capital of the Brazilian state of Maranhão. The city is located on São Luís island in the Baía de São Marcos (St Marcus Bay), an extension of the Atlantic Ocean which forms the estuary of Pindaré, Mearim, Itapecuru and other rivers. Its coordinates are 2.53° south, 44.30° west. The city proper has a population of some 986,826 people (2008 IBGE estimate). The metropolitan area totals 1,227,659 (ranked as the 16th largest in Brazil).

São Luís is the only Brazilian state capital founded by France (see France Équinoxiale) and it is one of the three Brazilian state capitals located on islands (the others are Vitória and Florianópolis).

The city has two major sea ports: Ponta da Madeira and Porto do Itaqui, through which a substantial part of Brazil's iron ore, originating from the (pre)-Amazon region, is exported. The city's main industries are metallurgical with Alumar, and Vale do Rio Doce. São Luís is home of the Federal University of Maranhão.

São Luís was the home town of famous Brazilian samba singer Alcione, Brazilian writers Aluísio Azevedo, Ferreira Gullar and Josué Montello, Belgian-naturalised soccer player Luís Oliveira, the musician João do Vale and Zeca Baleiro, a Música Popular Brasileira (MPB) singer.

Originally the town was a large village of the Tupinambá tribe. The first Europeans to see it were the French, in 1612, who intended to make it the centre of a French colony named Equinoctial France. They built a fort named Saint Louis after St Louis, King of France, as a compliment to his successor King Louis XIII. The settlement was conquered for Portugal by Jerônimo de Albuquerque in 1615, when it was renamed São Luís. There had been little time for the French to build a city. This has led to some controversy as to the actual date of the founding of the city, whether by the French or the Portuguese. In 1641, the city was invaded by the Dutch. They stayed until 1645 and did not manage to influence the city's architecture or to leave any sign of their invasion, mainly because they were kept too busy with the challenges to their occupation. In 1677, the city was made the seat of the new Roman Catholic Diocese of São Luís do Maranhão.

Only when those invasions ceased permanently did the colonial government decide to create the state of Grão-Pará e Maranhão, independent from the rest of the country. By that time, the economy was based on agriculture, particularly the exportation of sugar cane, cacao and tobacco. Conflicts amongst the local elites would lead to the Beckman's Revolt.

Soon after the outbreak of the American Civil War, the region started to provide cotton to Great Britain. The wealth generated by this activity was used to modernize the city; to bring religious men to come and teach in its schools; and supplement the water supply. The city came to be the third most populous city in the country. By the end of the 19th century, agriculture was in decay and since then the city's population has been searching for other ways to make a living.

Nowadays, São Luís has the largest and best preserved heritage of colonial Portuguese architecture of all Latin America. The island is known as the "Island of Love" and as "the Brazilian Athens", due to its many poets and writers, such as Sotero dos Reis, Aluísio Azevedo, Graça Aranha, Gonçalves Dias (the most famous), Ferreira Gullar, among others.

The ancestral composition of São Luís, according to an autosomal DNA study, is 42% European, 39% Native American and 19% African.

Portuguese is the official national language, and thus the primary language taught in schools. But English and Spanish are part of the official high school curriculum.

 

Wikipedia

Many thanks for your visit !!

 

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© All rights reserved

 

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Portuguese

A Ribeira é um dos locais mais antigos e típicos da cidade Porto, em Portugal.

Localizada na freguesia de São Nicolau, junto ao Rio Douro, faz parte do Centro Histórico do Porto, Património Mundial da UNESCO. É, actualmente, uma zona muito frequentada por turistas e local de concentração de bares e restaurantes.

Na Ribeira merecem destaque a Praça da Ribeira, popularmente também conhecida por praça do cubo; a Rua da Fonte Taurina, uma das mais antigas da cidade; o Muro dos Bacalhoeiros e a Casa do Infante, onde se crê que tenha nascido o Infante D. Henrique, em 1394. Foi nesta zona do Porto que viveu uma das figuras mais carismáticas da cidade, o chamado Duque da Ribeira, conhecido por ter salvo várias pessoas de morrer afogadas.

 

Italian

Ribeira è il quartiere più caratteristico di Porto, terza città del Portogallo per numero di abitanti e secondo porto del paese.

Il quartiere è stato dichiarato dall'UNESCO, patrimonio dell'umanità per le sue caratteristiche che lo rendono unico nel suo genere. Esso è costituito da un dedalo di strade strettissime che si arrampicano sulla collina che strapiomba ripida sulla riva del fiume Douro che poco più avanti sfocia nell'Oceano Atlantico.

La pavimentazione a ciottoli e le strade in ripida ascesa rendono assai difficile camminare per queste strette ed ombrose strade. Le sue abitazioni dipinte in colori pastello e massimamente di bianco, risalenti a diversi secoli addietro, creano un'atmosfera quasi irreale viste dalla opposta riva del Douro nella città gemella di Vila Nova de Gaia. Sulle rive del fiume sono attraccate le imbarcazioni caratteristiche, barcos rabelos in portoghese, attrezzate per il trasporto del famoso vino Porto. Queste barche, il cui disegno risale a diversi secoli fa, hanno delle botti sulla coperta per il trasporto del vino dalle cantine di produzione ai magazzini situati proprio nella città di Vila Nova de Gaia.

Il fiume Douro viene attraversato dal ponte in ferro a due piani Don Luigi I, realizzato su progetto di Gustave Eiffel, famoso progettista dell'omonima torre parigina e della Statua della Libertà, sita all'ingresso del porto di New York. La sera il quartiere si anima per il notevole numero di ristoranti e bar che si allineano sul lungofiume e le luci delle case e dei monumenti illuminati creano un'atmosfera da presepe.

In questo quartiere sembra che, nel 1394, sia nato Enrico il Navigatore, figlio del Re Giovanni I e di Filippa di Lancaster.

 

Wikipedia

 

used two 285 Hv. One under the dash on the center console and one in the back seat pointing up and close to the passanger door both at 1/2 power shot at F-11 @160

Using Lee Big Stopper + Lee 0.9 GND.

  

اس زخمِ جاں کے نام ، جو اب تک نہیں بھرا

 

اس زندہ دل کے نام ، جو اب تک نہیں مرا

 

اس زندگی کے نام، گزارا نہیں جسے

 

اس قرضِ فن کے نام، اُتارا نہیں جسے

 

اہل نظر کے نام، جو جوہر شناس ہیں

 

اہل وفا کے نام، جو فن کی اساس ہیں

 

ان دوستوں کے نام، جو گوشہ نشین ہیں

 

ان بےحسوں کے نام، جو بارِ زمین ہیں

 

ان اھلِ دل کے نام، جو راہوں کی دھول ہیں

 

ان حوصلوں کے نام، جنہیں دکھ قبول ہیں

 

ان آوازوں کے نام جو خاموش ھو گئیں

 

ان ھستیوں کے نام جو مٹی میں سو گئیں

 

اس غنچہ دھن کے نام جسے موت کھا گئی

 

اپنی ماں کے نام کہ جسے نیند آ گئی

 

اس شعلہ رخ کے نام، کہ روشن ہے جس سے رات

 

ہے ضوفشاں اندھیرے میں ہر نقطہ ءِ کائنات

 

اور حسنِ باکمال کی راعنائیوں کے نام

 

اور اپنے ذہن و قلب کی تنہائیوں کے نام

 

"Beaufort (/ˈbjuːfərt/ BEW-fert, a different pronunciation from that used by the city with the same name in North Carolina) is a city in and the county seat of Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1711, it is the second-oldest city in South Carolina, behind Charleston. The city's population was 12,361 in the 2010 census. It is a primary city within the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Beaufort, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area.

 

Beaufort is located on Port Royal Island, in the heart of the Sea Islands and South Carolina Lowcountry. The city is renowned for its scenic location and for maintaining a historic character by preservation of its antebellum architecture. The prominent role of Beaufort and the surrounding Sea Islands during the Reconstruction era after the U.S. Civil War is memorialized by the Reconstruction Era National Monument, established in 2017. The city is also known for its military establishments, being located in close proximity to Parris Island and a U.S. naval hospital, in addition to being home of the Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort.

 

The city has been featured in the New York Times, and named "Best Small Southern Town" by Southern Living, a "Top 25 Small City Arts Destination" by American Style, and a "Top 50 Adventure Town" by National Geographic Adventure." - info from Wikipedia.

 

The fall of 2022 I did my 3rd major cycling tour. I began my adventure in Montreal, Canada and finished in Savannah, GA. This tour took me through the oldest parts of Quebec and the 13 original US states. During this adventure I cycled 7,126 km over the course of 2.5 months and took more than 68,000 photos. As with my previous tours, a major focus was to photograph historic architecture.

 

Now on Instagram.

 

Become a patron to my photography on Patreon or donate.

Used in the local landfill (hence the absence of license plates)

🇫🇷 Usé

 

Dans une 🌼prairie montagnarde 🌼, les ailes ébréchées et les écailles effacées de ce papillon racontent une histoire que seul le temps sait écrire. Cet Azuré a déjà traversé plusieurs semaines de vols, d'averses, de rencontres, d'échappées face aux oiseaux et de journées passées à chercher nectar et partenaires. Chez les papillons, les ailes ne se réparent jamais : chaque accroc devient le journal silencieux d'une vie bien remplie, jusqu'à ce que l'été referme doucement le chapitre.

 

🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿 🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿

 

🇬🇧 Worn Down

 

In a 🌼mountain meadow🌼, this butterfly’s chipped wings and faded scales tell a story that only time can write. This Blue Butterfly has already endured several weeks of flights, rainstorms, encounters, escapes from birds, and days spent searching for nectar and mates. For butterflies, wings are never repaired: every tear becomes the silent chronicle of a life well-lived, until summer gently closes the chapter.

  

🍀Polyommatus sp🍀

 

Milieu naturel, écosystème : 🌼prairie de fauche🌼

Natural environment, ecosystem: 🌼flower-rich mountain meadow🌼

 

Lieu / Location : La Chapelle-en-Valgaudemar / Parc national des Écrins / Hautes-Alpes / France

  

Using a mixture of : serifs, swirls, and elf shoe font.....I wrote the quote with a black prismacolor chisel tip marker...then added the highlights with a white signo gel pen.

Used as a demonstrator, SED1 is a 10.3m 31-seater E200MMC. Unfortunately its position wasn't conducive to decent capture. Photo taken with permission.

Sold YN13TGXG a Volvo B9R / Plaxton Panther C53FT at Plaxton Coach sales. Photo taken 01/06/18

Used a flash and an interesting angle

I used to live down the street from here. And part of it was chasing 5 Fulton (bus that goes downtown) to go to work. Hmmm, I wonder why the memory of chasing the bus sticks out. I could think of better and happier memories but I love the Bus chasing memory best. LOL

 

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Yes, this is another spot in San Francisco that has been photographed a million times.

©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®

  

No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

  

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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 43.733+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.

  

***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on Sunday 23rd October 2022

  

CREATIVE RF gty.im/1435493830 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**

  

This photograph became my 5,699th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.

  

©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

  

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Photograph taken at an altitude of Fifty eight metres at 07:18am just as the light broke through the dawn on an Autumn morning, Saturday Octyober 22nd 2022 off Hythe Avenue and Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent.

 

Here we see an adult male Carrion crow (Corvus corone), one of a pair who I have fed for three years now. Nicknamed Russell, he sits on an aerial opposite my front door, calling to Sheryl his wife, and Baboo, thier young'en from this year.

  

AN IN DEPTH LOOK AT CORVUS CORONE

  

LEGEND AND MYTHOLOGY

By Paul Williams

  

Crows appear in the Bible where Noah uses one to search for dry land and to check on the recession of the flood. Crows supposedly saved the prophet, Elijah, from famine and are an Inuit deity. Legend has it that England and its monarchy will end when there are no more crows in the Tower of London. And some believe that the crows went to the Tower attracted by the regular corpses following executions with written accounts of their presence at the executions of Anne Boleyn and Jane Gray.

  

In Welsh mythology, unfortunately Crows are seen as symbolic of evilness and black magic thanks to many references to witches transforming into crows or ravens and escaping. Indian legend tells of Kakabhusandi, a crow who sits on the branches of a wish-fulfilling tree called Kalpataru and a crow in Ramayana where Lord Rama blessed the crow with the power to foresee future events and communicate with the souls.

  

In Native American first nation legend the crow is sometimes considered to be something of a trickster, though they are also viewed positively by some tribes as messengers between this world and the next where they carry messages from the living to those deceased, and even carry healing medicines between both worlds. There is a belief that crows can foresee the future. The Klamath tribe in Oregon believe that when we die, we fly up to heaven as a crow. The Crow can also signify wisdom to some tribes who believe crows had the power to talk and were therefore considered to be one of the wisest of birds. Tribes with Crow Clans include the Chippewa (whose Crow Clan and its totem are called Aandeg), the Hopi (whose Crow Clan is called Angwusngyam or Ungwish-wungwa), the Menominee, the Caddo, the Tlingit, and the Pueblo tribes of New Mexico.

  

The crow features in the Nanissáanah (Ghost dance), popularized by Jerome Crow Dog, a Brulé Lakota sub-chief and warrior born at Horse Stealing Creek in Montana Territory in 1833, the crow symbolizing wisdom and the past, when the crow had became a guide and acted as a pathfinder during hunting. The Ghost dance movement was originally created in 1870 by Wodziwob, or Gray Hair, a prophet and medicine man of the Paiute tribe in an area that became known as Nevada. Ghost dancers wore crow and eagle feathers in their clothes and hair, and the fact that the Crow could talk placed it as one of the sages of the animal kingdom. The five day dances seeking trance,prophecy and exhortations would eventually play a major part in the pathway towards the white man's broken treaties, the infamous battle at Wounded knee and the surrender of Matȟó Wanáȟtaka (Kicking Bear), after officials began to fear the ghost dancers and rituals which seemed to occur prior to battle.

  

Historically the Vikings are the group who made so many references to the crow, and Ragnarr Loðbrók and his sons used this species in his banner as well as appearances in many flags and coats of arms. Also, it had some kind of association with Odin, one of their main deities. Norse legend tells us that Odin is accompanied by two crows. Hugin, who symbolizes thought, and Munin, who represents a memory. These two crows were sent out each dawn to fly the entire world, returning at breakfast where they informed the Lord of the Nordic gods of everything that went on in their kingdoms. Odin was also referred to as Rafnagud (raven-god). The raven appears in almost every skaldic poem describing warfare.Coins dating back to 940's minted by Olaf Cuaran depict the Viking war standard, the Raven and Viking war banners (Gonfalon) depicted the bird also.

  

In Scandinavian legends, crows are a representative of the Goddess of Death, known as Valkyrie (from old Norse 'Valkyrja'), one of the group of maidens who served the Norse deity Odin, visiting battlefields and sending him the souls of the slain worthy of a place in Valhalla. Odin ( also called Wodan, Woden, or Wotan), preferred that heroes be killed in battle and that the most valiant of souls be taken to Valhöll, the hall of slain warriors. It is the crow that provides the Valkyries with important information on who should go. In Hindu ceremonies that are associated to ancestors, the crow has an important place in Vedic rituals. They are seen as messengers of death in Indian culture too.

  

In Germanic legend, Crows are seen as psychonomes, meaning the act of guiding spirits to their final destination, and that the feathers of a crow could cure a victim who had been cursed. And yet, a lone black crow could symbolize impending death, whilst a group symbolizes a lucky omen! Vikings also saw good omens in the crow and would leave offerings of meat as a token.

  

The crow also has sacred and prophetic meaning within the Celtic civilization, where it stood for flesh ripped off due to combat and Morrighan, the warrior goddess, often appears in Celtic mythology as a raven or crow, or else is found to be in the company of the birds. Crow is sacred to Lugdnum, the Celtic god of creation who gave his name to the city of Lug

  

In Greek mythology according to Appolodorus, Apollo is supposedly responsible for the black feathers of the crow, turning them forever black from their pristine white original plumage as a punishment after they brought news that Κορωνις (Coronis) a princess of the Thessalian kingdom of Phlegyantis, Apollo's pregnant lover had left him to marry a mortal, Ischys. In one legend, Apollo burned the crows feathers and then burned Coronis to death, in another Coronis herself was turned into a black crow, and another that she was slain by the arrows of Αρτεμις (Artemis - twin to Apollo). Koronis was later set amongst the stars as the constellation Corvus ("the Crow"). Her name means "Curved One" from the Greek word korônis or "Crow" from the word korônê.A similar Muslim legend allegedly tells of Muhammad, founder of Islam and the last prophet sent by God to Earth, who's secret location was given away by a white crow to his seekers, as he hid in caves. The crow shouted 'Ghar Ghar' (Cave, cave) and thus as punishment, Muhammad turned the crow black and cursed it for eternity to utter only one phrase, 'Ghar, ghar). Native Indian legend where the once rainbow coloured crows became forever black after shedding their colourful plumage over the other animals of the world.

  

In China the Crow is represented in art as a three legged bird on a solar disk, being a creature that helps the sun in its journey. In Japan there are myths of Crow Tengu who were priests who became vain, and turned into this spirit to serve as messengers until they learn the lesson of humility as well as a great Crow who takes part in Shinto creation stories.

  

In animal spirit guides there are general perceptions of what sightings of numbers of crows actually mean:

  

1 Crow Meaning: To carry a message from your near one who died recently.

 

2 Crows Meaning: Two crows sitting near your home signifies some good news is on your way.

 

3 Crows Meaning: An upcoming wedding in your family.

 

4 Crows Meaning: Symbolizes wealth and prosperity.

 

5 Crows Meaning: Diseases or pain.

 

6 Crows Meaning: A theft in your house!

 

7 Crows Meaning: Denotes travel or moving from your house.

 

8 Crows Meaning: Sorrowful events

  

Crows are generally seen as the symbolism when alive for doom bringing, misfortune and bad omens, and yet a dead crow symbolises potentially bringing good news and positive change to those who see it. This wonderful bird certainly gets a mixed bag of contradictory mythology and legend over the centuries and in modern days is often seen as a bit of a nuisance, attacking and killing the babies of other birds such as Starlings, Pigeons and House Sparrows as well as plucking the eyes out of lambs in the field, being loud and noisy and violently attacking poor victims in a 'crow court'....

  

There is even a classic horror film called 'THE CROW' released in 1994 by Miramax Films, directed by Alex Proyas and starring Brandon Lee in his final film appearance as Eric Draven, who is revived by a Crow tapping on his gravestone a year after he and his fiancée are murdered in Detroit by a street gang. The crow becomes his guide as he sets out to avenge the murders. The only son of martial arts expert Bruce Lee, Brandon lee suffered fatal injuries on the set of the film when the crew failed to remove the primer from a cartridge that hit Lee in the abdomen with the same force as a normal bullet. Lee died that day, March 31st 1993 aged 28.

  

The symbolism of the Crow resurrecting the dead star and accompanying him on his quest for revenge was powerful, and in some part based on the history of the carrion crow itself and the original film grossed more than $94 Million dollars with three subsequent sequels following.

  

TAKING A CLOSER LOOK

  

So let's move away from legend, mythology and stories passed down from our parents and grandparents and look at these amazing birds in isolation.

  

Carrion crow are passerines in the family Corvidae a group of Oscine passerine birds including Crows, Ravens, Rooks, Jackdaws, Jays, Magpies, Treepies, Choughs and Nutcrackers. Technically they are classed as Corvids, and the largest of passerine birds. Carrion crows are medium to large in size with rictal bristles and a single moult per year (most passerines moult twice). Carrion crow was one of the many species originally described by Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (Carl Von Linne after his ennoblement) in his 1758 and 1759 editions of 'SYSTEMA NATURAE', and it still bears its original name of Corvus corone, derived from the Latin of Corvus, meaning Raven and the Greek κορώνη (korōnē), meaning crow.

  

Carrion crow are of the Animalia kingdom Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Passeriformes Family: Corvidae Genus: Corvus and Species: Corvus corone

  

Corvus corone can reach 45-47cm in length with a 93-104cm wingspan and weigh between 370-650g. They are protected under The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in the United Kingdom with a Green UK conservation status which means they are of least concern with more than 1,000,000 territories. Breeding occurs in April with fledging of the chicks taking around twenty nine days following an incubation period of around twenty days with 3 to 4 eggs being the average norm. They are abundant in the UK apart from Northwest Scotland and Ireland where the Hooded crow (Corvus cornix) was considered the same species until 2002. They have a lifespan of around four years, whilst Crow species can live to the age of Twenty years old, and the oldest known American crow in the wild was almost Thirty years old. The oldest documented captive crow died at age Fifty nine. They are smaller and have a shorter lifespan than the Raven, which again is used as a symbol in history to live life to the full and not waste a moment!

  

They are often mistaken for the Rook (Corvus frugilegus), a similar bird, though in the UK, the Rook is actually technically smaller than the Carrion crow averaging 44-46cm in length, 81-99cm wingspan and weighing up to 340g. Rooks have white beaks compared to the black beaks of Carrion crow, a more steeply raked ratio from head to beak, and longer straighter beaks as well as a different plumage pattern. There are documented cases in the UK of singular and grouped Rooks attacking and killing Carrion crows in their territory. Rooks nest in colonies unlike Carrion crows. Carrion crows have only a few natural enemies including powerful raptors such as the northern goshawk, the peregrine falcon, the Eurasian eagle-owl and the golden eagle which will all readily hunt them.

  

Regarded as one of the most intelligent birds, indeed creatures on the planet, studies suggest that Corvids cognitive abilities can rival that of primates such as chimpanzees and gorillas and even provide clues to understanding human intelligence. Crows have relatively large brains for their body size, compared to other animals. Their encephalization quotient (EQ) a ratio of brain to body size, adjusted for size because there isn’t a linear relationship is 4.1. That is remarkably close to chimps at 4.2 whilst humans are 8.1. Corvids also have a very high neuronal density, the number of neurons per gram of brain, factoring in the number of cortical neurons, neuron packing density, interneuronal distance and axonal conduction velocity shows that Corvids score high on this measure as well, with humans scoring the highest.

  

A corvid's pallium is packed with more neurons than a great ape's. Corvids have demonstrated the ability to use a combination of mental tools such as imagination, and anticipation of future events. They can craft tools from twigs and branches to hook grubs from deep recesses, they can solve puzzles and intricate methods of gaining access to food set by humans., and have even bent pieces of wire into hooks to obtain food. They have been proven to have a higher cognitive ability level than seven year old humans. Communications wise, their repertoire of wraw-wraw's is not fully understood, but the intensity, rhythm, and duration of caws seems to form the basis of a possible language. They also remember the faces of humans who have hindered or hurt them and pass that information on to their offspring.

  

Aesop's fable of 'The Crow and the Pitcher, tells of a thirsty crow which drops stones into a water pitcher to raise the water level and enable it to take a drink. Scientists have conducted tests to see whether crows really are this intelligent. They placed floating treats in a deep tube and observed the crows indeed dropping dense objects carefully selected into the water until the treat floated within reach. They had the intelligence to pick up, weigh and discount objects that would float in the water, they also did not select ones that were too large for the container.

  

Pet crows develop a unique call for their owners, in effect actually naming them. They also know to sunbathe for a dose of vitamin D, regularly settling on wooden garden fences, opening their mouths and wings and raising their heads to the sun. In groups they warn of danger and communicate vocally. They store a cache of food for later if in abundance and are clever enough to move it if they feel it has been discovered. They leave markers for their cache. They have even learned to place walnuts and similar hard food items under car tyres at traffic lights as a means of cracking them!

  

Crows regularly gather around a dead fellow corvid, almost like a funeral, and it is thought they somehow learn from each death. They can even remember human faces for decades.Crows group together to attack larger predators and even steal their food, and they have different dialects in different areas, with the ability to mimic the dialect of the alpha males when they enter their territory!

  

They have a twenty year life span, the oldest on record reaching the age of Fifty nine. Crows can leave gifts for those who feed them such as buttons or bright shiny objects as a thank you, and they even kiss and make up after an argument, having mated for life.

  

In mythology they are associated with good and bad luck, being the bringers of omens and even witchcraft and are generally reviled for their attacks on baby birds and small mammals. They have an attack method of to stunning smaller birds before consuming them, tearing violently at smaller, less aggressive birds, which is simply down to the fact that they are so highly intelligent, and also the top of the food chain. Their diet includes over a thousand different items: Dead animals (as their name suggests), invertebrates, grain, as well as stealing eggs and chicks from other birds' nests, worms, insects, fruit, seeds, kitchen scraps. They are highly adaptable when food sources grow scarce. I absolutely love them, they are magnificent, bold, beautiful and incredibly interesting to watch and though at times it is hard to witness attacks made by them, I cannot help but adore them for so many other and more important reasons.

  

OBSERVATIONS ON THE PAIR IN MY GARDEN

  

Crows have been in the area for a while, but rarely had strayed into my garden, leaving the Magpies to own the territory. Things changed towards the end of May when a beautiful female Carrion crow appeared and began to take some of the food that I put down for the other birds. Within a few days she began to appear regularly, on occasions stocking up on food, whilst other times placing pieces in the birdbath to soften them. She would stand on the birdbath and eat and drink and come back over the course of the day to eat the softened food.

  

Shortly afterwards she brought along her mate, a tall and handsome fella, much larger than her who was also very vocal if he felt she was getting a little too close to me. By now I had moved from a seated position from the patio as an observer, to laying on a mat just five feet from the birdbath with my Nikon so that I could photograph the pair as they landed, scavenged and fed. She was now confident enough to let me be very close, and she even tolerated and recognized the clicking of the camera. At first I used silent mode to reduce the noise but this only allowed two shooting frame rates of single frame or continuous low frame which meant I was missing shots. I reverted back to normal continuous high frames and she soon got used to the whirring of the mechanisms as the mirror slapped back and forth.

  

The big fella would bark orders at her from the safety of the fence or the rear of the garden, whilst she rarely made a sound. That was until one day when in the sweltering heat she kept opening her beak and sunning on the grass, panting slightly in the heat. I placed the circular water sprayer nearby and had it rotating so that the birdbath and grass was bathed in gentle water droplets and she soon came back, landed and seemed to really like the cooling effect on offer. She then climbed onto the birdbath and opened her wings slightly and made some gentle purring, cooing noises....

  

I swear she was expressing happiness, joy....

  

On another blisteringly hot day when the sprayer was on, she came down, walked towards it and opened her wings up running into the water spray. Not once, but many times.

  

A further revelation into the unseen sides to these beautiful birds came with the male and female on the rear garden fence. They sat together, locked beaks like a kiss and then the male took his time gently preening her head feathers and the back of her neck as she made tiny happy sounds. They stayed together like that for several minutes, showing a gentle, softer side to their nature and demonstrating the deep bond between them. Into July and the pair started to bring their three youngsters to my garden, the nippers learning to use the birdbath for bathing and dipping food, the parents attentive as ever. Two of the youngsters headed off once large enough and strong enough.

  

I was privileged to be in close attendance as the last juvenile was brought down by the pair, taught to take food and then on a night in July, to soar and fly with it's mother in the evening sky as the light faded. She would swoop and twirl, and at regular intervals just touch the juvenile in flight with her wing tip feathers, as if to reassure it that she was close in attendance. What an amazing experience to view. A few days later, the juvenile, though now gaining independence and more than capable of tackling food scraps in the garden, was still on occasions demand feeding from it's mother who was now teaching him to take chicken breast, hotdogs or digestive biscuits and bury them in the garden beds for later delectation. The juvenile also liked to gather up peanuts and bury them in the grass. On one occasion I witnessed a pair of rumbunctious Pica Pica (Magpies), chasing the young crow on rooftops, leaping at him no matter how hard he tried to get away. He defended himself well and survived the attacks, much to my relief.

  

Into August and the last youngster remained with the adults, though now was very independent even though he still spent time with his parents on rooftops, and shared food gathering duties with his mum.Hotdog sausages were their favourite choice, followed by fish fingers and digestive biscuits which the adult male would gather up three at a time. In October, the three Crows were still kings of the area, but my time observing them was pretty much over as I will only put food out now for the birds in the winter months. The two adults are still here in December and now taking the food that I put out to help all birds survive in the winter months. They also have a pair of Magpies to compete with now.

 

Late February 2022 and Cheryl and Russell and their youngster are still with me, still dominant in the area and still taking raw chicken, hotdogs, biscuits and fatballs that I put out for them. Today I saw them mating for the first time this year in the tree and the cycle continues.

 

By October 2022 the pair had successfully reared a new baby who we nicknamed Baboo, and the other youngster flew the coup. The three no recognised our car returning from weekends away, and were enjoying sausages, hotdogs, raw chicken, fish and especially cheese, but life was hard as they aged with daily morning and evening tustles in the air with invaders and intruders hoping to take their land.

  

Corvus Corone.... magnificently misunderstood by some!

  

Paul Williams June 4th 2021 (Updated in October 2022)

  

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Nikon D850 Focal length 550mm Shutter speed: 1/40s Aperture f/11.0 iso640 Hand held with Tamron VC Vibration control set to ON in position 1 14 Bit uncompressed RAW NEF file size L (8256 x 5504 pixels) FX (36 x 24) Focus mode: AF-C AF-Area mode: 3D-tracking AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points Exposure mode: Manual exposure mode Metering mode: Matrix metering ISO Sensitivity: Auto 360 White balance on: Auto1 (5390k) Colour space: RGB Picture control: Standard (Sharpening +3)

  

Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 95mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Black Rapid Curve Breathe strap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.

     

LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 28.36s

LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 10.61s

ALTITUDE: 58.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE: 90.90MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 40.00MB

    

PROCESSING POWER:

 

Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00

 

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

   

Using a homemade pinhole with RC paper for quick turnaround. Will post the results.

Ipê Amarelo, Tabebuia [chrysotricha or ochracea].

Ipê-amarelo em Brasília (UnB), Brasil.

This tree is in Brasília, Capital of Brazil.

 

Text, in english, from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Trumpet tree" redirects here. This term is occasionally used for the Shield-leaved Pumpwood (Cecropia peltata).

Tabebuia

Flowering Araguaney or ipê-amarelo (Tabebuia chrysantha) in central Brazil

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Plantae

(unranked): Angiosperms

(unranked): Eudicots

(unranked): Asterids

Order: Lamiales

Family: Bignoniaceae

Tribe: Tecomeae

Genus: Tabebuia

Gomez

Species

Nearly 100.

Tabebuia is a neotropical genus of about 100 species in the tribe Tecomeae of the family Bignoniaceae. The species range from northern Mexico and the Antilles south to northern Argentina and central Venezuela, including the Caribbean islands of Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti) and Cuba. Well-known common names include Ipê, Poui, trumpet trees and pau d'arco.

They are large shrubs and trees growing to 5 to 50 m (16 to 160 ft.) tall depending on the species; many species are dry-season deciduous but some are evergreen. The leaves are opposite pairs, complex or palmately compound with 3–7 leaflets.

Tabebuia is a notable flowering tree. The flowers are 3 to 11 cm (1 to 4 in.) wide and are produced in dense clusters. They present a cupular calyx campanulate to tubular, truncate, bilabiate or 5-lobed. Corolla colors vary between species ranging from white, light pink, yellow, lavender, magenta, or red. The outside texture of the flower tube is either glabrous or pubescentThe fruit is a dehiscent pod, 10 to 50 cm (4 to 20 in.) long, containing numerous—in some species winged—seeds. These pods often remain on the tree through dry season until the beginning of the rainy.

Species in this genus are important as timber trees. The wood is used for furniture, decking, and other outdoor uses. It is increasingly popular as a decking material due to its insect resistance and durability. By 2007, FSC-certified ipê wood had become readily available on the market, although certificates are occasionally forged.

Tabebuia is widely used as ornamental tree in the tropics in landscaping gardens, public squares, and boulevards due to its impressive and colorful flowering. Many flowers appear on still leafless stems at the end of the dry season, making the floral display more conspicuous. They are useful as honey plants for bees, and are popular with certain hummingbirds. Naturalist Madhaviah Krishnan on the other hand once famously took offense at ipé grown in India, where it is not native.

Lapacho teaThe bark of several species has medical properties. The bark is dried, shredded, and then boiled making a bitter or sour-tasting brownish-colored tea. Tea from the inner bark of Pink Ipê (T. impetiginosa) is known as Lapacho or Taheebo. Its main active principles are lapachol, quercetin, and other flavonoids. It is also available in pill form. The herbal remedy is typically used during flu and cold season and for easing smoker's cough. It apparently works as expectorant, by promoting the lungs to cough up and free deeply embedded mucus and contaminants. However, lapachol is rather toxic and therefore a more topical use e.g. as antibiotic or pesticide may be advisable. Other species with significant folk medical use are T. alba and Yellow Lapacho (T. serratifolia)

Tabebuia heteropoda, T. incana, and other species are occasionally used as an additive to the entheogenic drink Ayahuasca.

Mycosphaerella tabebuiae, a plant pathogenic sac fungus, was first discovered on an ipê tree.

Tabebuia alba

Tabebuia anafensis

Tabebuia arimaoensis

Tabebuia aurea – Caribbean Trumpet Tree

Tabebuia bilbergii

Tabebuia bibracteolata

Tabebuia cassinoides

Tabebuia chrysantha – Araguaney, Yellow Ipê, tajibo (Bolivia), ipê-amarelo (Brazil), cañaguate (N Colombia)

Tabebuia chrysotricha – Golden Trumpet Tree

Tabebuia donnell-smithii Rose – Gold Tree, "Prima Vera", Cortez blanco (El Salvador), San Juan (Honduras), palo blanco (Guatemala),duranga (Mexico)

A native of Mexico and Central Americas, considered one of the most colorful of all Central American trees. The leaves are deciduous. Masses of golden-yellow flowers cover the crown after the leaves are shed.

Tabebuia dubia

Tabebuia ecuadorensis

Tabebuia elongata

Tabebuia furfuracea

Tabebuia geminiflora Rizz. & Mattos

Tabebuia guayacan (Seem.) Hemsl.

Tabebuia haemantha

Tabebuia heptaphylla (Vell.) Toledo – tajy

Tabebuia heterophylla – roble prieto

Tabebuia heteropoda

Tabebuia hypoleuca

Tabebuia impetiginosa – Pink Ipê, Pink Lapacho, ipê-cavatã, ipê-comum, ipê-reto, ipê-rosa, ipê-roxo-damata, pau d'arco-roxo, peúva, piúva (Brazil), lapacho negro (Spanish); not "brazilwood"

Tabebuia incana

Tabebuia jackiana

Tabebuia lapacho – lapacho amarillo

Tabebuia orinocensis A.H. Gentry[verification needed]

Tabebuia ochracea

Tabebuia oligolepis

Tabebuia pallida – Cuban Pink Trumpet Tree

Tabebuia platyantha

Tabebuia polymorpha

Tabebuia rosea (Bertol.) DC.[verification needed] (= T. pentaphylla (L.) Hemsley) – Pink Poui, Pink Tecoma, apama, apamate, matilisguate

A popular street tree in tropical cities because of its multi-annular masses of light pink to purple flowers and modest size. The roots are not especially destructive for roads and sidewalks. It is the national tree of El Salvador and the state tree of Cojedes, Venezuela

Tabebuia roseo-alba – White Ipê, ipê-branco (Brazil), lapacho blanco

Tabebuia serratifolia – Yellow Lapacho, Yellow Poui, ipê-roxo (Brazil)

Tabebuia shaferi

Tabebuia striata

Tabebuia subtilis Sprague & Sandwith

Tabebuia umbellata

Tabebuia vellosoi Toledo

 

Ipê-do-cerrado

Texto, em português, da Wikipédia, a enciclopédia livre.

Ipê-do-cerrado

Classificação científica

Reino: Plantae

Divisão: Magnoliophyta

Classe: Magnoliopsida

Subclasse: Asteridae

Ordem: Lamiales

Família: Bignoniaceae

Género: Tabebuia

Espécie: T. ochracea

Nome binomial

Tabebuia ochracea

(Cham.) Standl. 1832

Sinónimos

Bignonia tomentosa Pav. ex DC.

Handroanthus ochraceus (Cham.) Mattos

Tabebuia chrysantha (Jacq.) G. Nicholson

Tabebuia hypodictyon A. DC.) Standl.

Tabebuia neochrysantha A.H. Gentry

Tabebuia ochracea subsp. heteropoda (A. DC.) A.H. Gentry

Tabebuia ochracea subsp. neochrysantha (A.H. Gentry) A.H. Gentry

Tecoma campinae Kraenzl.

ecoma grandiceps Kraenzl.

Tecoma hassleri Sprague

Tecoma hemmendorffiana Kraenzl.

Tecoma heteropoda A. DC.

Tecoma hypodictyon A. DC.

Tecoma ochracea Cham.

Ipê-do-cerrado é um dos nomes populares da Tabebuia ochracea (Cham.) Standl. 1832, nativa do cerrado brasileiro, no estados de Amazonas, Pará, Maranhão, Piauí, Ceará, Pernambuco, Bahia, Espírito Santo, Goiás, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo e Paraná.

Está na lista de espécies ameaçadas do estado de São Paulo, onde é encontrda também no domínio da Mata Atlântica[1].

Ocorre também na Argentina, Paraguai, Bolívia, Equador, Peru, Venezuela, Guiana, El Salvador, Guatemala e Panamá[2].

Há uma espécie homônima descrita por A.H. Gentry em 1992.

Outros nomes populares: ipê-amarelo, ipê-cascudo, ipê-do-campo, ipê-pardo, pau-d'arco-do-campo, piúva, tarumã.

Características

Altura de 6 a 14 m. Tronco tortuso com até 50 cm de diâmetro. Folhas pilosas em ambas as faces, mais na inferior, que é mais clara.

Planta decídua, heliófita, xerófita, nativa do cerrado em solos bem drenados.

Floresce de julho a setembro. Os frutos amadurecem de setembro a outubro.

FloresProduz grande quantidade de sementes leves, aladas com pequenas reservas, e que perdem a viabilidade em menos de 90 dias após coleta. A sua conservação vem sendo estudada em termos de determinação da condição ideal de armazenamento, e tem demonstrado a importância de se conhecer o comportamento da espécie quando armazenada com diferentes teores de umidade inicial, e a umidade de equilíbrio crítica para a espécie (KANO; MÁRQUEZ & KAGEYAMA, 1978). As levíssimas sementes aladas da espécie não necessitam de quebra de dormência. Podem apenas ser expostas ao sol por cerca de 6 horas e semeadas diretamente nos saquinhos. A germinação ocorre após 30 dias e de 80%. As sementes são ortodoxas e há aproximadamente 72 000 sementes em cada quilo.

O desenvolvimento da planta é rápido.

Como outros ipês, a madeira é usada em tacos, assoalhos, e em dormentes e postes. Presta-se também para peças torneadas e instrumento musicais.

 

Tabebuia alba (Ipê-Amarelo)

Texto, em português, produzido pela Acadêmica Giovana Beatriz Theodoro Marto

Supervisão e orientação do Prof. Luiz Ernesto George Barrichelo e do Eng. Paulo Henrique Müller

Atualizado em 10/07/2006

 

O ipê amarelo é a árvore brasileira mais conhecida, a mais cultivada e, sem dúvida nenhuma, a mais bela. É na verdade um complexo de nove ou dez espécies com características mais ou menos semelhantes, com flores brancas, amarelas ou roxas. Não há região do país onde não exista pelo menos uma espécie dele, porém a existência do ipê em habitat natural nos dias atuais é rara entre a maioria das espécies (LORENZI,2000).

A espécie Tabebuia alba, nativa do Brasil, é uma das espécies do gênero Tabebuia que possui “Ipê Amarelo” como nome popular. O nome alba provém de albus (branco em latim) e é devido ao tomento branco dos ramos e folhas novas.

As árvores desta espécie proporcionam um belo espetáculo com sua bela floração na arborização de ruas em algumas cidades brasileiras. São lindas árvores que embelezam e promovem um colorido no final do inverno. Existe uma crença popular de que quando o ipê-amarelo floresce não vão ocorrer mais geadas. Infelizmente, a espécie é considerada vulnerável quanto à ameaça de extinção.

A Tabebuia alba, natural do semi-árido alagoano está adaptada a todas as regiões fisiográficas, levando o governo, por meio do Decreto nº 6239, a transformar a espécie como a árvore símbolo do estado, estando, pois sob a sua tutela, não mais podendo ser suprimida de seus habitats naturais.

Taxonomia

Família: Bignoniaceae

Espécie: Tabebuia Alba (Chamiso) Sandwith

Sinonímia botânica: Handroanthus albus (Chamiso) Mattos; Tecoma alba Chamisso

Outros nomes vulgares: ipê-amarelo, ipê, aipê, ipê-branco, ipê-mamono, ipê-mandioca, ipê-ouro, ipê-pardo, ipê-vacariano, ipê-tabaco, ipê-do-cerrado, ipê-dourado, ipê-da-serra, ipezeiro, pau-d’arco-amarelo, taipoca.

Aspectos Ecológicos

O ipê-amarelo é uma espécie heliófita (Planta adaptada ao crescimento em ambiente aberto ou exposto à luz direta) e decídua (que perde as folhas em determinada época do ano). Pertence ao grupo das espécies secundárias iniciais (DURIGAN & NOGUEIRA, 1990).

Abrange a Floresta Pluvial da Mata Atlântica e da Floresta Latifoliada Semidecídua, ocorrendo principalmente no interior da Floresta Primária Densa. É característica de sub-bosques dos pinhais, onde há regeneração regular.

Informações Botânicas

Morfologia

As árvores de Tabebuia alba possuem cerca de 30 metros de altura. O tronco é reto ou levemente tortuoso, com fuste de 5 a 8 m de altura. A casca externa é grisáceo-grossa, possuindo fissuras longitudinais esparas e profundas. A coloração desta é cinza-rosa intenso, com camadas fibrosas, muito resistentes e finas, porém bem distintas.

Com ramos grossos, tortuosos e compridos, o ipê-amarelo possui copa alongada e alargada na base. As raízes de sustentação e absorção são vigorosas e profundas.

As folhas, deciduais, são opostas, digitadas e compostas. A face superior destas folhas é verde-escura, e, a face inferior, acinzentada, sendo ambas as faces tomentosas. Os pecíolos das folhas medem de 2,5 a 10 cm de comprimento. Os folíolos, geralmente, apresentam-se em número de 5 a 7, possuindo de 7 a 18 cm de comprimento por 2 a 6 cm de largura. Quando jovem estes folíolos são densamente pilosos em ambas as faces. O ápice destes é pontiagudo, com base arredondada e margem serreada.

As flores, grandes e lanceoladas, são de coloração amarelo-ouro. Possuem em média 8X15 cm.

Quanto aos frutos, estes possuem forma de cápsula bivalvar e são secos e deiscentes. Do tipo síliqua, lembram uma vagem. Medem de 15 a 30 cm de comprimento por 1,5 a 2,5 cm de largura. As valvas são finamente tomentosas com pêlos ramificados. Possuem grande quantidade de sementes.

As sementes são membranáceas brilhantes e esbranquiçadas, de coloração marrom. Possuem de 2 a 3 cm de comprimento por 7 a 9 mm de largura e são aladas.

Reprodução

A espécie é caducifólia e a queda das folhas coincide com o período de floração. A floração inicia-se no final de agosto, podendo ocorrer alguma variação devido a fenômenos climáticos. Como a espécie floresce no final do inverno é influenciada pela intensidade do mesmo. Quanto mais frio e seco for o inverno, maior será a intensidade da florada do ipê amarelo.

As flores por sua exuberância, atraem abelhas e pássaros, principalmente beija-flores que são importantes agentes polinizadores. Segundo CARVALHO (2003), a espécie possui como vetor de polinização a abelha mamangava (Bombus morio).

As sementes são dispersas pelo vento.

A planta é hermafrodita, e frutifica nos meses de setembro, outubro, novembro, dezembro, janeiro e fevereiro, dependendo da sua localização. Em cultivo, a espécie inicia o processo reprodutivo após o terceiro ano.

Ocorrência Natural

Ocorre naturalmente na Floresta Estaciobal Semidecicual, Floresta de Araucária e no Cerrado.

Segundo o IBGE, a Tabebuia alba (Cham.) Sandw. é uma árvore do Cerrado, Cerradão e Mata Seca. Apresentando-se nos campos secos (savana gramíneo-lenhosa), próximo às escarpas.

Clima

Segundo a classificação de Köppen, o ipê-amarelo abrange locais de clima tropical (Aw), subtropical úmido (Cfa), sutropical de altitude (Cwa e Cwb) e temperado.

A T.alba pode tolerar até 81 geadas em um ano. Ocorre em locais onde a temperatura média anual varia de 14,4ºC como mínimo e 22,4ºC como máximo.

Solo

A espécie prefere solos úmidos, com drenagem lenta e geralmente não muito ondulados (LONGHI, 1995).

Aparece em terras de boa à média fertilidade, em solos profundos ou rasos, nas matas e raramente cerradões (NOGUEIRA, 1977).

Pragas e Doenças

De acordo com CARVALHO (2003), possui como praga a espécie de coleópteros Cydianerus bohemani da família Curculionoideae e um outro coleóptero da família Chrysomellidae. Apesar da constatação de elevados índices populacionais do primeiro, os danos ocasionados até o momento são leves. Nas praças e ruas de Curitiba - PR, 31% das árvores foram atacadas pela Cochonilha Ceroplastes grandis.

ZIDKO (2002), ao estudar no município de Piracicaba a associação de coleópteros em espécies arbóreas, verificou a presença de insetos adultos da espécie Sitophilus linearis da família de coleópteros, Curculionidae, em estruturas reprodutivas. Os insetos adultos da espécie emergiram das vagens do ipê, danificando as sementes desta espécie nativa.

ANDRADE (1928) assinalou diversas espécies de Cerambycidae atacando essências florestais vivas, como ingazeiro, cinamomo, cangerana, cedro, caixeta, jacarandá, araribá, jatobá, entre outras como o ipê amarelo.

A Madeira

A Tabebuia alba produz madeira de grande durabilidade e resistência ao apodrecimento (LONGHI,1995).

MANIERI (1970) caracteriza o cerne desta espécie como de cor pardo-havana-claro, pardo-havan-escuro, ou pardo-acastanhado, com reflexos esverdeados. A superfície da madeira é irregularmente lustrosa, lisa ao tato, possuindo textura media e grã-direita.

Com densidade entre 0,90 e 1,15 grama por centímetro cúbico, a madeira é muito dura (LORENZI, 1992), apresentando grande dificuldade ao serrar.

A madeira possui cheiro e gosto distintos. Segundo LORENZI (1992), o cheiro característico é devido à presença da substância lapachol, ou ipeína.

Usos da Madeira

Sendo pesada, com cerne escuro, adquire grande valor comercial na marcenaria e carpintaria. Também é utilizada para fabricação de dormentes, moirões, pontes, postes, eixos de roda, varais de carroça, moendas de cana, etc.

Produtos Não-Madeireiros

A entrecasca do ipê-amarelo possui propriedades terapêuticas como adstringente, usada no tratamento de garganta e estomatites. É também usada como diurético.

O ipê-amarelo possui flores melíferas e que maduras podem ser utilizadas na alimentação humana.

Outros Usos

É comumente utilizada em paisagismo de parques e jardins pela beleza e porte. Além disso, é muito utilizada na arborização urbana.

Segundo MOREIRA & SOUZA (1987), o ipê-amarelo costuma povoar as beiras dos rios sendo, portanto, indicado para recomposição de matas ciliares. MARTINS (1986), também cita a espécie para recomposição de matas ciliares da Floresta Estacional Semidecidual, abrangendo alguns municípios das regiões Norte, Noroeste e parte do Oeste do Estado do Paraná.

Aspectos Silviculturais

Possui a tendência a crescer reto e sem bifurcações quando plantado em reflorestamento misto, pois é espécie monopodial. A desrrama se faz muito bem e a cicatrização é boa. Sendo assim, dificilmente encopa quando nova, a não ser que seja plantado em parques e jardins.

Ao ser utilizada em arborização urbana, o ipê amarelo requer podas de condução com freqüência mediana.

Espécie heliófila apresenta a pleno sol ramificação cimosa, registrando-se assim dicotomia para gema apical. Deve ser preconizada, para seu melhor aproveitamento madeireiro, podas de formação usuais (INQUE et al., 1983).

Produção de Mudas

A propagação deve realizada através de enxertia.

Os frutos devem ser coletados antes da dispersão, para evitar a perda de sementes. Após a coleta as sementes são postas em ambiente ventilado e a extração é feita manualmente. As sementes do ipê amarelo são ortodoxas, mantendo a viabilidade natural por até 3 meses em sala e por até 9 meses em vidro fechado, em câmara fria.

A condução das mudas deve ser feita a pleno sol. A muda atinge cerca de 30 cm em 9 meses, apresentando tolerância ao sol 3 semanas após a germinação.

Sementes

Os ipês, espécies do gênero Tabebuia, produzem uma grande quantidade de sementes leves, aladas com pequenas reservas, e que perdem a viabilidade em poucos dias após a sua coleta. A sua conservação vem sendo estudada em termos de determinação da condição ideal de armazenamento, e tem demonstrado a importância de se conhecer o comportamento da espécie quando armazenada com diferentes teores de umidade inicial, e a umidade de equilíbrio crítica para a espécie (KANO; MÁRQUEZ & KAGEYAMA, 1978).

As levíssimas sementes aladas da espécie não necessitam de quebra de dormência. Podem apenas ser expostas ao sol por cerca de 6 horas e semeadas diretamente nos saquinhos. A quebra natural leva cerca de 3 meses e a quebra na câmara leva 9 meses. A germinação ocorre após 30 dias e de 80%.

As sementes são ortodoxas e há aproximadamente 87000 sementes em cada quilo.

Preço da Madeira no Mercado

O preço médio do metro cúbico de pranchas de ipê no Estado do Pará cotado em Julho e Agosto de 2005 foi de R$1.200,00 o preço mínimo, R$ 1509,35 o médio e R$ 2.000,00 o preço máximo (CEPEA,2005).

 

Lit using a bike torch and home made hard box with a 13 second exposure, multiple pass.

 

www.wipdesigns.com/

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Using a full photo of Samantha I cropped down for an interesting take on heels and legs.

Please don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission.

© All rights reserved. All photos/images are digitally watermarked with Digimarc.

 

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If you are interested in my photos, they are available for sale. Please contact me by email: aragaofrancisco@gmail.com. Do not use without permission.

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English

The Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (Catalan pronunciation: [muˈzɛw nəsiuˈnaɫ ˈdard də kətəˈɫuɲə], English: "National Art Museum of Catalonia"), abbreviated as MNAC, is the national museum of Catalan visual art located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Situated on Montjuïc hill at the end of Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina, near Pl Espanya. The museum is especially notable for its outstanding collection of romanesque church paintings, and for Catalan art and design from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including modernisme and noucentisme. The Museum is housed in the Palau Nacional, a huge, Italian-style building dating to 1929. The Palau Nacional, which has housed the Museu d'Art de Catalunya since 1934, was declared a national museum in 1990 under the Museums Law passed by the Catalan Government. That same year, a thorough renovation process was launched to refurbish the site, based on plans drawn up by the architects Gae Aulenti and Enric Steegmann, who were later joined in the undertaking by Josep Benedito. The Oval Hall was reopened in 1992 on the occasion of the Olympic Games, and the various collections were installed and opened over the period from 1995 (when the Romanesque Art section was reopened) to 2004. The Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (Museu Nacional) was officially inaugurated on 16 December 2004.

 

Spanish

El Museo Nacional de Arte de Cataluña (en catalán: Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya), también conocido por sus siglas MNAC, está situado en la ciudad de Barcelona, (España). Destaca por su colección de arte Románico, considerada una de las más completas del mundo. Su director es Josep Serra i Villalba.

El actual museo se constituyó en 1990 con la unión de las colecciones del Museo de Arte Moderno, creado en 1945, y el Museo de Arte de Cataluña, inaugurado en 1934. A las piezas procedentes de estos museos se les añadieron una nueva sección de numismática, otra de grabados así como los fondos de la Biblioteca General de Historia del Arte. Más tarde, en 1996, se añadió un nuevo departamento dedicado a la fotografía. En 2006 el fondo del museo poseía ya casi 250.000 obras en las diferentes colecciones. Además de las exposiciones temporales y de las itinerantes, el museo realiza también otras funciones como son las de estudio, conservación y restauración de obras de arte.

El MNAC es un consorcio constituido por la Generalidad de Cataluña, el Ayuntamiento de Barcelona y, desde principios de 2005, la Administración General del Estado. En el patronato del museo están representadas, además de las administraciones públicas, los particulares y las entidades privadas que colaboran con el museo.

La sede principal se encuentra ubicada en el Palacio Nacional, edificio situado en la montaña de Montjuïc, inaugurado en 1929 con motivo de la Exposición Internacional celebrada en la Ciudad Condal. Además, otras tres instituciones forman parte del conjunto del museo: la Biblioteca Museo Víctor Balaguer de Villanueva y la Geltrú; el Museo Comarcal de la Garrotxa en Olot; y el Museo Cau Ferrat de Sitges.

 

Wikipedia

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Portuguese

No Vale da Ferradura, a convivência harmônica com a natureza é um espetáculo à parte. Curta o vento, o sol, as belas vistas, um banho de cachoeira, os animais!

Aqui você encontra animais como quati, macaco-prego, bugio-ruivo, serelepe, cutia, gambá, mão-pelada, veado-mateiro, graxaim e muitos roedores. E também grande variedade de aves de extrema beleza e raridade.

Muitos deles possuem um contato próximo com os seres humanos, como é o caso, principalmente, dos quatis, e em geral você pode observá-los de perto na área principal do Vale da Ferradura, mesmo sem fazer as trilhas.

Os quatis, em grande quantidade no Vale da Ferradura, são mamíferos que se alimentam de minhocas, insetos e frutas, apreciando também ovos, legumes e especialmente lagartos. Dormem no alto das árvores, enrolados como uma bola, e não descem antes do amanhecer. Seu órgão mais sensível com certeza é seu nariz, que é móvel e muito alongado. Possui dentes e garras fortes.

O parque Vale da Ferradura está localizado ao norte do município de Canela RS, na região correspondente às coordenadas 29°16' S - 50°50' W, compreendendo um total de aproximadamente 200 ha, com altitudes que variam de 400 m a 750 m.

Fica no Planalto das Araucárias, popularmente designado como "Serra Gaúcha". Os elementos que compõem a sua flora são típicos da Floresta Ombrófila Mista Montana e da Floresta Estacional Semidecidual Montana, com áreas de transição entre as mesmas e com diversos estágios de sucessão.

A área do parque faz parte da bacia hidrográfica do rio Caí. Nesta bacia, existem 11 Unidades de Conservação municipais e/ou particulares, duas estaduais - Parque Estadual do Delta do Jacuí e Parque Estadual do Caracol - e uma Federal - Floresta Nacional de Canela.

O clima da região é superúmido, com as curvas ombrométricas das estações meteorológicas sempre positivas. Há ocorrência de três ou mais meses com temperaturas médias compensadas mensais abaixo de 15°C, que ocasionam a chamada seca fisiológica das plantas tropicais, criadora da estacionalidade.

O Vale da Ferradura possui variados micro-habitats, com áreas mais expostas a incidência solar, aos ventos e sujeitas a interferência humana, bem como áreas totalmente protegidas, sombreadas, úmidas e sujeitas a inundações periódicas. A preservação destes remanescentes aliada à atividade de educação ambiental ao mesmo tempo que ao ócio, como forma de lazer recreativo, é extremamente importante.O parque é cortado por quatro trilhas, que apresentam características peculiares: trilha do Rio Caí, trilha do Pórtico, trilha das Cutias e trilha das Pinguelas.

 

http://www.canelaturismo.com.br/roteiros-e-atrativos/parque-da-ferradura/

 

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Outras Informações:

 

O parque Vale da Ferradura, localizado a 13 km do centro de Canela, proporciona ao turista integração com a natureza, com mirantes para o deslumbrante Vale da Ferradura, para a Cascata do Arroio do Caçador e Rio Santa Cruz. Uma área especial para toda família com trilhas e estrutura de churrasqueira, playground e lanchonete.

No alto do canyon de 420 metros de extensão está localizado o Vale da Ferradura - onde o Rio Santa Cruz forma a ferradura que dá nome ao lugar. A vista privilegiada da cascata do Arroio Caçador, o verde e o ar puro são complementos perfeitos para as 4 trilhas, os 3 mirantes e a estrutura de 8 churrasqueiras, playground e lanchonete, numa área total de aproximadamente 200 hectares.

A área do parque faz parte da bacia hidrográfica do rio Caí. Nesta bacia, existem 11 Unidades de Conservação municipais e/ou particulares, duas estaduais - Parque Estadual do Delta do Jacuí e Parque Estadual do Caracol - e uma federal - Floresta Nacional de Canela.

O Vale da Ferradura possui variados micro-habitats, com áreas mais expostas a incidência solar, aos ventos e sujeitas a interferência humana, bem como áreas totalmente protegidas, sombreadas, úmidas e sujeitas a inundações periódicas. A preservação destes remanescentes aliada à atividade de educação ambiental ao mesmo tempo que ao ócio, como forma de lazer recreativo, é extremamente importante.

As árvores de –Araucária, que produzem os delicioso pinhão são a maioria no parque e atraem animais silvestres como o Quati, a Cutia, o Macaco-prego e a Gralha-azul, importante para a multiplicação das árvores.

MIRANTES

• Mirante Vale da Ferradura

É o principal mirante do Vale da Ferradura. Dele você aprecia a vista da Cascata do Arroio Caçador e tem uma visão geral.

• Mirante do Vale do Arroio Caçador

Proporciona uma vista impressionante do vale do Arroio Caçador. O acesso é por uma trilha leve - cerca de 2 minutos.

• Mirante da Cascata do Arroio Caçador

Proporciona uma vista impressionante da cascata do Arroio Caçador. Aqui você desce 50 metros e a trilha é um pouco mais íngreme.

TRILHAS

• Trilha do Rio Caí

São 350 metros de trilha, iniciando a 750 metros altura e terminando a 400 metros altura, no ponto em que o arroio Caçador deságua no Rio Caí. É a principal trilha do parque, com maior nível de dificuldade, pelo declive do terreno. Você vai levar 60 minutos para descer, e 2 horas para subir.

Como a trilha do Rio Caí pode ser dividida em quatro trechos, você não precisa fazê-la inteira. Confira os trechos:

- O primeiro leva a dois mirantes, localizados a 700 metros de altura e de onde se tem uma belíssima vista da cascata do arroio Caçador.

- O segundo trecho vai de 700 até 550 metros de altura e é o de maior extensão e menor dificuldade.

- O terceiro trecho inicia a 550 metros de altura, ponto onde as trilhas do Rio Caí e do Pórtico se encontram, e termina a 450 metros de altura, no leito do arroio Caçador, acima da queda d’água.

- O quarto e último trecho vai de 450 a 400 metros altura e é o de maior dificuldade, pois o declive é acentuado e as condições de umidade são elevadas. Interessante é que parte deste trecho está sujeita a borrifos d’água, porque acompanha a queda da cascata. Ele termina no pé da cascata do arroio Caçador e às margens do Rio Caí, em uma área plana, local para um descanso merecido.

• Trilha do Pórtico

A trilha do Pórtico tem 200 metros, iniciando a 750 metros de altura e terminando a 550 metros de altura, onde se encontra com a trilha do Rio Caí. Nela existe um recanto conhecido como Cascata do Graxaim, e podem ser admiradas araucárias e xaxins.

• Trilha das Cotias

É uma bela trilha, com muita sombra, sem esforço físico, para todas as idades e condicionamentos físicos. Dá para dizer que, mais que uma trilha, é um passeio em meio à natureza. Encontra-se na faixa entre 700 e 750 metros de altura, no platô do parque, acima da trilha do Pórtico. Aprecie a bela paisagem de cactus e bromélias na área mais rochosa.

• Trilha das Pinguelas

Também está entre 700 e 750 metros de altura, porém voltada para a bela vista do Vale da Ferradura. A trilha das Pinguelas acompanha um pequeno arroio e você aproveita a sombra da copa das árvores.

Localização e informações gerais

O parque Vale da Ferradura fica na Serra Gaúcha, em Canela RS, a 13 km do centro, no Km 6 da RS 466, mais conhecida como Estrada do Caracol. Funciona das 8h30 às 17h30. No verão, quando o sol se põe bastante tarde na Região Sul, este horário pode ser estendido.

Para chegar, pegue a Estrada do Caracol, que está localizada logo ao chegar a Canela, vindo de Gramado, e vá sempre por essa via, seguindo as placas. Após o Parque do Caracol, a estrada é de terra, por alguns quilômetros.

 

http://www.lajedepedra.com.br/o-hotel/vale-da-ferradura.htm

 

Gear used... Canon 7D & Canon 400mm f/5.6 lens, all images of the spotted flycatcher were shot hand held...

 

I did return to the area again with my tripod, and was very surprised to see that this bird was not in the same area,especially after it have shown so well on my first visit hunting from three different natural perches.

 

www.paul-green.org

This is a very old hammer which has done many a job but thankfully I do have a hammer that is only about 6-months old!

 

Apologies for being absent but I've been somewhat busy of late, doing my best to catch up!!

 

7 Days of Shooting Week #8 Vintage Worn and Weathered Thursday ....

 

Thanks to everyone who views this photo, adds a note, leaves a comment and of course BIG thanks to anyone who chooses to favourite my photo .... thanks to you all.

this is the house i shot from a huge drift of snow in the winter, we were actually surprised that it had all melted already!

something here

Using Lily Quilts tutorial: www.modabakeshop.com/2012/03/framed-art-pillows.html

Bench 'out of use' sign at the very quiet Halesworth railway station, Suffolk. In fact none of the benches were to be 'used' even though hardly any passengers transit through here.

 

Project 52, Week 15 (10/4 - 16/4)

Using Nikon AF-S 17-35 /F2.8

also used in blog @ famousdc.com/2013/05/13/hyper-hill-freeze-watch/

 

As the Economy of D.C. continues to boom so does CRANES. NO long stretches of dc skylines but cranes all over the city. This was only half from the vantage point i took this shot with my camera. This was taken from New york ave NE heading into the district(WESTBOUND). An area what was most filled with above ground parking and abandoned buildings and crack house lots are now prime spots for realtors.

  

Breaking Down DC’s Neighborhood Districts

Posted in Neighborhoods | Friday, August 20th, 2010 | Comments Off Trackback

An appropriate representation of the many cultures that make up the American melting pot, Washington D.C. has a wide variety of neighborhoods with diverse make ups. From the power players of Capitol Hill to the trendsetters of Adams Morgan, there is a place for anyone to call home. If you’re relocating to the area, or considering a move within the city, get a feel for the different districts in order to determine where you and your family will fit in best.Georgetown: This affluent, historical neighborhood is home to many lobbyists and politicians as well as the highly-respected Georgetown University. Recent renovations in the area have brought new, high-end retail, restaurants and hotels to the area.Adams Morgan: A popular destination for young professionals, this neighborhood is rich with culture and diversity. Adams Morgan has also gained a reputation for its vibrant and unique nightlife.Anacostia: This urban neighborhood, which has struggled against high crime rates, is finally seeing some restoration with new employment opportunities and the opening of the Nationals stadium in the area.Capitol Hill: Characterized by row houses, this densely populated area is the city’s largest neighborhood. Pennsylvania Avenue is arguably the most popular street in the area, covered with restaurants, bars, and boutiques. This district is said to be the home of many of the nation’s congressmen, while they are residing in the city.Penn Quarter: A once neglected area of the city, this neighborhood, which also includes Chinatown, has experienced a great deal of growth in the last decade. The opening of the Verizon center is responsible for much of the revitalization of the area.Dupont Circle: This diverse neighborhood is noteworthy for its many cultural focal points such as the International Temple, the Dumbarton Bridge as well as several embassies.

credit(www.dcgentrification.com/2010/08/20/breaking-down-dcs-nei...)

Thanks to Richard Droker, this is Lecanora muralis. Apothecia are very abundant at the centre. It was found on Beehive coke oven ruins in Redstone, CO.

 

Photographed using a Sony A7R using a Nikkor 85mm f/2.8 shift lens with a Fujinon closeup lens and a Sony flash. Beehive coke oven ruins

In Part 2, I discussed how the Serpent was used as a symbol for not only initiation into the mysteries and immortality but also a symbol for sexuality, generation, death and rebirth due to the creature’s ability to shed its skin of the old to reveal a shiny new skin underneath. The mythologized Serpent, of course, does appear in almost every culture around the world over. Genesis 3 relays how the Serpent offers knowledge in the form of a fruit grown from the Tree of Knowledge (the “Good ” and “Evil” part may have have been added later as a gloss.) Like the Serpent, the Tree of Knowledge is sometimes considered to be a phallic symbol. This Fruit along with the Tree also were used to signify the result or effect of some cause, having both a positive and a negative effect and origin.

 

The Two Trees.

 

The Tree of Knowledge and digesting the forbidden fruit in Genesis according to Jewish tradition represented the primeval mixture or intermingling of good and evil, light and darkness in an almost Manichean fashion. Eating the fruit forbidden set off a chain reaction where humanity developed a “yeitzer hara” or “evil inclination.” Unlike the earlier Hebrews, who blamed themselves for their woes, the Jewish Rabbis believed God had implanted in the ‘heart’, the Hebrew place of the unconscious of each individual, at his birth or conception. The yezer was not hereditary. It was intrinsically good and the source of creative energy, but had a strong potential for evil through appetite or greed. Only strict observance of the Law could keep the strong, irrational passions it engendered under control. To the commentators in the five centuries before Christ, Adam’s death was due to his own “sinful actions”, and not to the Augustine-authored “original sin nature” or “ancestral sin” inherent in the DNA in the race of man because of the disobedience of the primal parents. The Zohar claims that Adam and Eve lost their immortality by ingesting the fruit which is ironically enough compared to the occult:

 

Hear what saith scripture when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree by which death entered into their souls or lower nature, ‘And when they heard the voice of the Lord of the Alhim walking in the garden’ (Gen. iii-8), or, as it ought to be rendered, had walked (mithhalech). Note further that whilst Adam had not fallen, he was a recipient of divine wisdom (hochma) and heavenly light and derived his continuous existence from the Tree of Life to which he had free access, but as soon as he allowed himself to be seduced and deluded with the desire of occult knowledge, he lost everything, heavenly light and life through the disjunction of his higher and lower self, and, the loss of that harmony that should always exist between them, in short, he then first knew what evil was and what it entailed, and, therefore, it is written, ‘Thou art not a God that approveth wickedness, neither shall evil dwell with thee’ (Is. v-5); or, in other words, he who implicitly and blindly follows the dictates of his lower nature or self shall not come near the Tree of Life.

 

According to the Babylonian Talmud, Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden for just twelve hours before being unceremoniously thrown out. This is half a day in Paradise. That snake sure was a fast worker! Yahweh gave Adam and Eve the tour round Eden, told them what they could or couldn’t do and had no sooner turned his back than they were disobeying him and he had to expel them and sentence them, and the whole human race to come, to hell-fire for all eternity. Is that not the biggest (pardon this author’s french) fuck up of all time? It takes a spectacular degree of incompetence to screw things up that badly, so quickly. And yet the source who engineered this monumental disaster is supposed to be the Creator of the Universe, all-knowing and all-powerful, incapable of error! It is any wonder why the Gnostics called the creator god of Genesis as a dark and brutal god who was also given names such as: Samael (Blind One) and Saklas (idiot-retard)?

 

The Catholic Church Father Irenaeus mentions in Adv. Hear. 1, 29, 3, that the Barbelognostics revered the classic Qabalistic symbol of the “Tree, which itself they call Knowledge (gnosis).” This Tree is generated by two more primordial entities or “Aeons” called “Man” and “Knowledge.” It is hard to know just what his source for this passage may have been, for the kabbalistic symbol of the Tree does not figure in any of the surviving versions of the Apocryphon of John. There is, however, a passage in the Church Father Origen’s description in Contra Celsum of the diagrams of the cosmos envisaged by the Ophites:

 

And everywhere there, the Tree of Life, and the resurrection of flesh from the Tree …

 

This passage suggests that the form of the Tree had been imposed on the whole diagram. The Church Father Origen also gives a number of “ten circles”, the traditional number of the emanations or “sefiroth” associated with the cosmic spheres in the Kabbalistic Tree of Life – though roughly only seven of them can have planetary names. This image of the spiritual powers circling in the heavenly spheres, which the Jewish scholar, Gershom Scholem has suggested entered Jewish esoteric teaching from Hellenistic-Egyptian traditions in the centuries before Christianity (or at least Christian gnosticism) arose bears also upon the enigma of the seven-headed form of Iao in the fourth sphere (as discussed in the Apocryphon of John), that of the Sun.

 

This idea of the Archons situated upon the astral “aerial toll houses” of Eastern Orthodoxy (and of course Gnosticism, especially in the First Apocalypse of James) does indeed seem to originate in ancient Egypt where the the Book of the Dead lists protective spells learned by initiates to guard against the dangerous “judges” during the post-mortem journey of the soul. Speculation in Christian and in Gnostic circles concerning the order of the celestial hierarchy hinged upon a few passages in the Pauline literature, which seem to imply, however, different sequences as Colassians 1:16 states:

 

For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.

 

The names of the authorities are as follows, featured and listed in the Ophite doctrine, refuted by Celsus in Contra Celsum:

 

Michael – lion, Souriel – bull, Raphael – serpent, Gabriel – eagle, Thauthabaoth – bear, Erathaoth – dog, Taphabaoth/Onoel – ass.

 

The sequence was composed using the figures of four biblical Cherubim, to whom three new personages were added. The animal forms are derived from the biblical story of the famous vision of Ezekiel as is the iconography of the four evangelists. Ezekiel had seen four monstrous beings in the shape of winged men with four faces: of a man, a lion, a bull and an eagle, on each of the four sides. Jerome connects this tetramorph with the Four Evangelists, being Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

 

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In the Trimorphic Protennoia, the Archons claim that they also were derived from a tree:

 

For as for our tree from which we grew, a fruit of ignorance is what it has; and also its leaves, it is death that dwells in them, and darkness dwells under the shadow of its boughs. And it was in deceit and lust that we harvested it, this (tree) through which ignorant Chaos became for us a dwelling place.

 

As mentioned in Part 1, the Gospel of John 15, 1-2 equates Christ with the vines and fruit of the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden, which also sounds vaguely Dionysian. Dionysus was also called the surname Dendritês, the god of the tree, which has the same import as Dasyllius, the giver of foliage.

 

The Gospel of Truth also equates the cross to the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden:

 

He was nailed to a tree (and) he became fruit of the knowledge of the Father. It did not, however, cause destruction because it was eaten, but to those who ate it, it (cause) to become glad in the discovery, and he discovered them in himself, and they discovered him in themselves.

 

The Gospel of Philip also makes the connection between the Tree of Life, the resurrection via the chrism (anointing) and Jesus Christ, explicit:

 

Philip the apostle said, “Joseph the carpenter planted a garden because he needed wood for his trade. It was he who made the cross from the trees which he planted. His own offspring hung on that which he planted. His offspring was Jesus, and the planting was the cross.” But the Tree of Life is in the middle of the Garden. However, it is from the olive tree that we got the chrism, and from the chrism, the resurrection.

 

Elsewhere in the Gospel of Philip, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is identified with the flesh and the Law (the lower natures as opposed to the pnuematic one). Using a riff from the Epistle to the Romans 7:7-11, the author says:

 

“It has the power to give knowledge of good and evil. It neither removed him from evil, nor did it set him in the good. Instead it created death for those who ate of it. For when it said, ‘Eat this. Do not eat that.’ it became the beginning of death.”

 

The pseudepigraphic Jewish-apocalypse Book of Enoch 31:4, describes this tree of knowledge in the midst of the “Garden of Righteousness”:

 

It was like a species of the Tamarind tree, bearing fruit which resembled grapes extremely fine; and its fragrance extended to a considerable distance. I exclaimed, How beautiful is this tree, and how delightful is its appearance!

 

Irenaeus’ pupil, Hippolytus would write in Against All Heresies (VI, 27) on how the Valentinians compared the Logos to the fruit of the Tree of Life:

 

This (one) is styled among them Joint Fruit of the Pleroma. These (matters), then, took place within the Pleroma in this way. And the Joint Fruit of the Pleroma was projected, (that is,) Jesus,— for this is his name—the great High Priest. Sophia, however, who was outside the Pleroma in search of Christ, who had given her form, and of the Holy Spirit, became involved in great terror that she would perish, if he should separate from her, who had given her form and consistency.

 

He also writes that the Father projected a warrior Aeon as a defense mechanism to protect the Aeonic realm of the Pleroma from the shapeless void created by the fallen Sophia, who is often shaped in a Cross:

 

Now this (Aeon) is styled Horos, because he separates from the Pleroma the Hysterema that is outside. And (he is called) Metocheus, because he shares also in the Hysterema. And (he is denominated) Staurus, because he is fixed inflexibly and inexorably, so that nothing of the Hysterema can come near the Aeons who are within the Pleroma.

 

This description also matches with Irenaeus’ account (Against Heresies 1.3.5) on how the Valentinian Christians viewed the hidden, metaphysical meaning and nature of the Cross:

 

“They show, further, that that Horos of theirs, whom they call by a variety of names, has two faculties,-the one of supporting, and the other of separating; and in so far as he supports and sustains, he is Stauros, while in so far as he divides and separates, he is Horos. They then represent the Saviour as having indicated this twofold faculty: first, the sustaining power, when He said, “Whosoever doth not bear his cross (Stauros), and follow after me, cannot be my disciple; ” and again, “Taking up the cross follow me; ” but the separating power when He said, “I came not to send peace, but a word.” They also maintain that John indicated the same thing when he said, “The fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge the floor, and will gather the wheat into His garner; but the chaff He will burn with fire unquenchable.” By this declaration He set forth the faculty of Horos. For that fan they explain to be the cross (Stauros), which consumes, no doubt, all material objects, as fire does chaff, but it purifies all them that are saved, as a fan does wheat. Moreover, they affirm that the Apostle Paul himself made mention of this cross in the following words: “The doctrine of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but to us who are saved it is the power of God.” And again: “God forbid that I should glory in anything save in the cross of Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I unto the world.”

 

In the above paragraph, Horos or Stauros (the cross of John) is the limit (X) of Plato’s Timaeus. Simon Magus taught this same exact thing as we will see below. The cross symbolizes the separation of powers and realms. It represents the apokatastasis, the Stoic conflagration, the baptism by fire. Paul the Apostle speaks of this fire that purifies and tries men’s works in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15. To be crucified to the world is to bear the symbol of the cross which is a flat-out denial of YHWH and the Elohim archons’ creation. It is to spit in the face of the Greek gods of fate like Socrates. It is hemlock to the flesh and to the spirit it is immortality.

 

It is the Cross of Christ, which in the Gnostic interpretation separates God from the manifest world, the uncreated, transcendent World of Forms from the Creator and the created realm, constituting a Separate and Hidden God. This limit in essence separates the “wheat from the tares”. At the same time, it also serves as a bridge between the saved sparks of light into the realm above. The extremely esoteric Sethian text, Allogenes, mentions a power or aeon by the name of “Kalyptos”, which can mean either “hidden” or “that which covers,” which may derive from the conception of the veil parting the higher from the lower realm. This power derives from the Aeon of Barbelo, which is also a state of being in which a spiritual power descends into matter. The position of Kalyptos comes very close to that of the Valentinian Horos, Stauros or Limit that separates the highest deity Bythos (Depth or Abyss) from the other Aeons that derive from him. This limit also functions though a second barrier between the “hysterema” of the material cosmos and the realm of the Aeons. Sophia also functions as a veil in On the Origin of the World.

 

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All of these concepts are also reflected in Origen’s Contra Celsum (6, 33) in which he states that that on the diameter of one of the circles a sword of fire was depicted, the same one that had driven Adam and Eve from the earthly Paradise. This flaming sword guarded the Tree of knowledge (gnosis) and of life (zoe). If the sword was above the black line of Tartarus, then the tree of knowledge and of life has to be the series of circles starting from Gnosis and Sophia and leading through the circle of Life to the Father. This could be similar to the Kabbalistic number of 777 being the sum the paths that the Lightening Path of Creation travels down through the Tree of Life. It is through this channel that the Luciferian motif of bringing the light of heaven to the World of Action becomes apparent.

 

In Contra Celsum, Origen reports Celsus’ comments on the Christians (the Ophite-Sethian Gnostics in reality), who called their baptismal rite “seal” (recalling the Five Seals of the Sethians); the person who placed the seal was called “father”; the one who received it was called “son” and “young man”, answering: “I am anointed with the white chrism of the tree of life”. Celsus further down describes the Christian belief of “tree of life” being both synonymous with Christ and the resurrection in 6:34:

 

And in all their writings (is mention made) of the ‘tree of life’ (τό της ζωης ξύλον), and a resurrection of the flesh by means of the ‘tree’ (από ξύλου), because, I imagine, their teacher was nailed to a cross (σταυρω ένηλώθη), and was a carpenter by craft (τέκτων τήν τεχνην)…

 

Celsus connects a so-called “tree of life,” and a resurrection by means of the “tree,” to Jesus’ execution: that he was nailed to an execution pole and his trade being carpenter, joiner. The relevant point Celsus is making here is that Jesus was suspended on some kind of pole, and secured to it with nails. Clearly, the parallels between the Ophite diagram and the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, with the circles shown to have numerical values, are there.

 

The Trimorphic Protennoia and the hermetic Discourse on Eighth and Ninth in the Nag Hammadi library pre-suppose numerical values for the manifestations of God, as does the system of Valentinus as described by his enemy, Irenaeus, which envisioned the theoretical attainment of 10 divine Aeons. He also develops a system consisting of about thirty Aeons, which would suggest that he had taken the simpler Ophite system and expanded it until it was almost uncontrollable. Even more interesting is in the Sethian text, Melchizedek, it portrays Adam and Eve defeating the guardians of the Tree of Life with their own weapon!

 

For when they ate of the tree of knowledge, they trampled the Cherubim and the Seraphim with the flaming sword.

 

Fludd Sephirothic Tree web

 

The Sephirothic Tree by Robert Fludd

 

The Qabalah or Kabbalah itself has many similarities with Gnosticism in their closely related teachings of the hidden God and hypostatization of God’s attributes. The Sephirot (or Enumerations, which also means “book” in Hebrew) are the ten emanations of God (or infinite light: Ein Sof Aur) into the universe. These emanations manifest not only in the physical part of the universe, but also in the metaphysical one. Kabbalah distinguish four different worlds or planes: Atziluth, or World of Emanations, where the Divine Archetypes live; Beri’ah or World of Creations, where Highest Ranking Angels are; Yetzirah or World of Formations is the astral world; and Asiyah or World of Actions, is the physical plane and “low astral” plane. Each of these worlds are progressively grosser and denser (one can see the strong Kabbalistic influence on Neo-Platonic thought here as well), but the ten Sephiroth manifest in all of them.

 

The Kabbalah is rooted in the Merkavah and Assyrian traditions, and the Kabbalah defines Sefirot is also based on the great visions described by Ezekiel. The Sephiroth constitutes the “Tree of Life”, and is aligned in three columns, each headed by a Supernal. The names of the Sephirot are: Kether (Crown), Chochman (Wisdom), Binah (Understanding), Chesed (Mercy), Gevurah (Severity), Tiphareth (Redeemer), Netzach (Victory), Hod (Majesty), Yesod (Foundation), Malkhuth (Kingdom). Some clear Christian and Gnostic associations on the Tree of Life is down the middle path, with Keter relating to the Father, which emanates into Tipharet relating to the Holy Ghost, and Christ as the Solar Logos and Savior, which emanates to Yesod, relating to the Son. This being the path by which God emanates into Malkut, the physical world

 

The Manichean Psalm CCXX illustrates the theme of matter receiving the spiritual Light rather well by using Tree imagery:

 

They rose, that they belong to Matter, the children of Error, desiring to uproot thy unshakable tree and plant it in their land. Matter and her sons divided me up amongst them, they burnt me in their fire, they gave me a bitter likeness.” … “I am the sweet water that is beneath the sons of Matter.

 

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Alchemical image of the Divine Sophia as a Tree of Learning and source of the Elixir of Life.

 

In Jewish Wisdom literature, it was Khokhmah who personified the female Divine. She is understood as an emanation of God, yet she resonates with the Hebrew Goddess who is otherwise assailed in the Old Testament, by Jehovah especially Asherah, the Queen of Heaven. Proverbs 3:18 calls up an image of Khokhmah that originates in the oldest core of Jewish culture: “She is a Tree of Life to all who lay hold of her.” In the same book, Khokhmah sings, “The one who finds me, finds life.” A similar aretalogy can be found in the Sethian text, Thunder-Perfect Mind. The creation story of the 2nd, Century Gnostic, Valentinus of Alexandria, the greatest of Sophia’s devotees, describes the origin and essence of the matter composing this world as emotionally and psychically consubstantial with Sophia as indicated by Irenaeus in Against Heresies, 5, 4:

 

This mother they also call Ogdoad, Sophia, Terra (Gaia), Jerusalem (cf. Gal. 4:26), Holy Spirit, and, with a masculine reference, Lord. Their mother dwells in that place which is above the heavens, that is, in the intermediate abode; the Demiurge in the heavenly place, that is, in the hebdomad; but the Cosmocrator in this our world. The corporeal elements of the world, again, sprang, as we before remarked, from bewilderment and perplexity, as from a more ignoble source. Thus the earth arose from her state of stupor; water from the agitation caused by her fear; air from the consolidation of her grief; while fire, producing death and corruption, was inherent in all these elements, even as they teach that ignorance also lay concealed in these three passions.

 

Furthermore, she knows:

 

the beginning and end and middle of times, the alternations of the solstices and the changes of the seasons, the cycles of the year and the constellations of the stars, the nature of animals and the tempers of wild animals, the powers of spirits and the thoughts of human beings, the varieties of plants and the virtues of roots… (Wisdom 7:15-22)

 

The imagery of the tree is also included in Simon Magus’s cosmology, as reported by Hippolytus of Rome, is a powerful model that describing some rare concepts that Simononians in the early third century work described in the Philosophumena, as the “Great Declaration” or “Great Announcement”. Simon very much describes a tree of fire that consumes itself. This is a third century Simonian document, positing that the root of all existence is infinite, and abides in man, who serves as its dwelling-house. The Logos or the Word is projected down by the luciferian Lightening Flash through the Aeons and into the manifest world and man. From the original root, the hidden principle, spring three pairs of manifestations of: Mind and Thought, Voice and Name, Reasoning and Reflection.

 

The Father is, moreover, “He that hath stood” in relation to premundane existence; “He that standeth” in relation to present being; and “He that shall stand” in relation to the final consummation. Man is simply the realization of “boundless power,” the ultimate end of the cosmic process in which the godhead attains self-consciousness. This infinite power works in all of the aeons as a compound name: He who stands, has stood, and will stand; a term alluded to in the Clementine Homilies and Recognition’s which say, that Simon Magus considered himself as the “Standing One” along with the “that power of God which is called Great”.

 

The Simonian author employs very Stoic language in describing what is hidden and revealed in the divine Fire, the original Boundless Power that is the stuff that the original Ineffable God is made of—the equivalent of the Qabalistic Ein Sof or Kether—the Crown. In this above entry (linked above) by Hippolytus, he refers to Simon’s theology of the “fruit from the Tree” as being the quintessential product of the human incarnation. The tripartite division of spirit, psyche and matter are simply manifest expressions of the original Stoic-like Divine Fire. This concealed fruit or “Hidden Power” which is another term that he used, requires a key in the conscious process of imagining or beholding a power to form mental images.

 

The Simonian author interestingly uses the term “imagining” as a reference of becoming divinized or be initiated into the mysteries. But this can only be manifested “if its imagining has been perfected and it takes the shape of itself.” Later, the text mentions a “storehouse” which is a room, located adjacent to a royal chamber within a palace where the gold, jewels and other wealth are stored. Here, the Simonian author is referring to the treasure-house and the storehouse, both concepts that are found within the Pistis Sophia that refer to a location within the “House of Many Mansions” of John 14:2.

 

Simon Magus also appealed to Matthew 12:33, as Hippolytus writes in Refutations of All Heresies VI, 11:

 

If, however, a tree continues alone, not producing fruit fully formed, it is utterly destroyed. For somewhere near, he says, is the axe (which is laid) at the roots of the tree. Every tree, he says, which does not produce good fruit, is hewn down and cast into fire.

 

This, of course, was also Marcion’s (and much later in Mani’s theological two principle system) main scriptural justification for his radical dualism in Christ’s maxim that a good tree does not bear evil fruit, nor does an evil tree bear bad fruit. So if we also interpret that in terms of origins, then the evil god could not possibly have originated from the good god, because good things do not produce evil things, and vice versa. The Gospel of Thomas says something very similar:

 

(45) Jesus said, “Grapes are not harvested from thorns, nor are figs gathered from thistles, for they do not produce fruit. A good man brings forth good from his storehouse; an evil man brings forth evil things from his evil storehouse, which is in his heart, and says evil things. For out of the abundance of the heart he brings forth evil things.”

 

The fact is Simon had a similar doctrine that condemned false religion and predicted a final dissolution of the cosmos, presumably dissolved in fire, so that Simon’s elect can be redeemed, viz. the Great Announcement; Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies, 6:14; Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 1.23.3.

 

These words from Simon and John resonate with a key saying of Jesus in Matthew 7:17-20,

 

Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

 

This was a key saying used by the Gnostics and Marcionites. Could it be that this metaphor originated from John the Baptist, from whom Simon also learned this same metaphor?

 

Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, “O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: And think not to say within yourselves, that you have Abraham for your father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” (Cf. John 8:39, 44; 1:17-18)

 

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In the text On the Origin of the World, it states that the tree of life and the tree of gnosis are situated “to the north of Paradise” and is identified as Epinoia. The Greek name Epinoia carries the meaning of “understanding” or “thought” or “purpose”. She is sent to dwell within Adam, her role being to give him consciousness of his divine origins and the way to return to the Pleroma. The author of On the Origin of the World makes a positive evaluation of the Garden of Eden:

 

And the tree of eternal life is as it appeared by God’s will, to the north of Paradise, so that it might make eternal the souls of the pure, who shall come forth from the modelled forms of poverty at the consummation of the age. Now the color of the tree of life is like the sun. And its branches are beautiful. Its leaves are like those of the cypress. Its fruit is like a bunch of grapes when it is white. Its height goes as far as heaven. And next to it (is) the tree of knowledge (gnosis), having the strength of God. Its glory is like the moon when fully radiant. And its branches are beautiful. Its leaves are like fig leaves. Its fruit is like a good appetizing date. And this tree is to the north of Paradise, so that it might arouse the souls from the torpor of the demons, in order that they might approach the tree of life and eat of its fruit, and so condemn the authorities and their angels.

 

This depiction is in stark contrast with how the the Apocryphon of John depicts Eden as more of a zoo-like prison of the authorities:

 

And the archons took him and placed him in paradise. And they said to him, ‘Eat, that is at leisure,’ for their luxury is bitter and their beauty is depraved. And their luxury is deception and their trees are godlessness and their fruit is deadly poison and their promise is death. And the tree of their life they had placed in the midst of paradise.

 

The Apocalypse of Moses is primarily an account about Adam’s death, its cause and cure. Seth is procured along with Adam’s many other children which leads Adam to recount briefly the story of the temptation, the fall, and the the first parents’ punishment in chapters 7-8. Adam’s narrative explains the reason for his present plight. Adam then subsequently sends his wife Eve and son Seth to paradise in search of the oil of mercy that will bring him relief. (9:3) On the way to the garden, Seth is attacked by a beast (in chapters 10-12) which seems to be evidence that God’s curse in Genesis 3:15 is in effect. Adam’s request to be saved is subsequently denied.

 

(The oil of Mercy) will not be yours now, but at the ends of the times. Then will arise all flesh from Adam to the great day …. , and then all the joy of paradise will be given to them. … (13:2-4)

 

Adam knows he is going to die and later on in Chapters 22-29, God appears in paradise on his chariot while accompanied by his angels. His throne is fixed, and he indicts and sentences his creatures from the consequences of the fall being spelled out in detail in chapters 24-26. Adam seeks the oil of mercy but God commands the angels to get on with the expulsion (27:4-28:1). Again Adam pleads, this time for access to the Tree of Life (28:2). God’s response to Adam’s plea is met with a reproof:

 

You shall not take from it now … if you keep yourself from all evil, as one about to die, when again the resurrection comes to pass, I shall raise you up. And then there shall be given to you from the tree of life. (28:3-4)

 

Another time, Adam pleads with God for herbs from Eden to offer incense and seeds to grow food. God is kind enough to grant this request before Adam and Eve are kicked out from the garden in Chapter 29. The text concludes on a solemn yet promising note which expands on Genesis 3:19:

 

I told you that you are dust, and to dust you will return. Again I promise you the resurrection. I shall raise you up to the last day, in the resurrection, with every man who is of your seed. (41:2-3)

 

In the concluding portion of the book, it describes Eve’s death and her burial by Seth, who is commanded to bury in this fashion everyone who dies until the day of the resurrection. These ideas are also reflected in the apocryphal the Book of the Cave of Treasures, where the dying Adam assembles his sons, including Seth for a request to embalm him with myrrh, cassia and balsam and to leave his body in the Cave of Treasures, situated at a side of a high mountain but below paradise.

 

Seth himself was also considered to be the archetypal father and savior of the Gnostics, resulting from the Jewish exegesis and combination of various biblical themes: (1) that of “the sons of God” in Gen 6:4 (LXX), (2) that of Seth as “another seed” appointed by God in place of the slain Abel in Gen 4:25, who (3) was fathered by Adam as a son in his own likeness and image according to Gen 5:3.

 

These themes, in combination with Gen 1:26, concerning the god “Man” created in the image and likeness of God, implied the divine nature of Seth, the “planter” of the heavenly seed (Gen 4:25). Seth would recover from “the great aeons” the glory that had left Adam and Eve at their Fall, caused by the Ialdabaoth. Seth would preserve his seed against the repeated attempts of Ialdabaoth to steal it by keeping it separate from the lustful seed of Cain which came from the Archons. At the end of time, Seth (or Sophia in On the Origin of the World) would destroy Ialdabaoth and his followers in a Revelations-styled apocalypse and reinstate his seed, the part of mankind untainted by lust, into its original glory. The strongest instant that we see Seth as a Gnostic Savior is in the Apocalypse of Adam, where Adam tells his son Seth:

 

And the glory in our hearts left us, me and your mother Eve, along with the first knowledge that breathed within us.

 

Later, Adam called his son “by the name of that man who is the seed of the great generation as a planter of the righteous seed”, recalling 1 Corinthians 15: 35-49 by Paul the Apostle, who compared the resurrection to a seed. Paul states that when a plant sprouts forth from the seed, and the remnants of the seed whither away. The plant came from the seed, but the plant isn’t the seed, and the seed isn’t the plant. They’re two distinct things, and the plant doesn’t come to life until the seed dies. So what Paul is saying is that spirit is deposited as a seed in the body, and it remains a seed until the body dies and decomposes. Then the spirit sprouts forth from the body, and the body is transmuted into a spiritual body, which also recalls the Parable of the Sower in Matthew, Mark and Thomas. It isn’t reanimation of a corpse at all as Catholic Church Fathers such as Irenaeus and especially Tertullian, have maintained (Against Heresies, 5.12.1, De Resurrectione Carnis). Paul’s theology concerning the spiritual resurrection isn’t so far removed from the ideas expressed in the Great Announcement:

 

…the manifested side corresponds to the trunk, limbs, leaves, and encasing bark. All these members of the tree are set ablaze from the all-consuming flame of the fire and destroyed. But as for the fruit of the tree, if it’s for is perfect and it assumes the true shape, it is gathered into the storehouse, not thrown into the fire.

 

Here, the vegetation and tree motifs are evident. Returning to the Gnostics—is it from Seth’s descendants who would possess the Gnosis. The Apocryphon of John suggests that Sophia prepared a place for the souls in heaven, where Jesus, the incarnation of the aeon Christ would disclose the true knowledge of how to return to their true home in with the Spirit (in Pleroma), where they would ascend past the rulers (archons) and their astral spheres and be healed of all deficiency and become holy and faultless. To gain these higher realms, one must ascend above the Seven Heavens of Chaos into the Aeons as stated in the Gospel of the Egyptians:

 

Then there came forth from the great aeons four hundred ethereal angels, accompanied by the great Aerosiel and the great Selmechel, to guard the great, incorruptible race, its fruit, and the great men of the great Seth, from the time and the moment of Truth and Justice, until the consummation of the aeon and its archons, those whom the great judges have condemned to death.

 

The Apocryphon of John spells it out in a more concise manner:

 

And he placed seven kings – each corresponding to the firmaments of heaven – over the seven heavens, and five over the depth of the abyss, that they may reign. And he shared his fire with them, but he did not send forth from the power of the light which he had taken from his mother, for he is ignorant darkness.

 

Origen, despite being one of the Church Fathers (and theological enemies of the Gnostics), he actually had a doctrine very much influenced by Platonism (but stood firmly against groups like the Valentinians and Marcionites). Origen also did not accept the historicity of the Bible nor did he interpret it literally. One example of this can be taken from De Prinicipiis, 4.1.16, where he discusses the Genesis creation myth more as an allegory:

 

No one, I think, can doubt that the statement that God walked in the afternoon in paradise, and that Adam lay hid under a tree is related figuratively in Scripture, that some mystical meaning may be indicated by it.” And “those who are not altogether blind can collect countless instances of a similar kind recorded as having occurred, but which did not literally take place? Nay, the Gospels themselves are filled with the same kind of narratives; for example, the devil leading Jesus up into a high mountain, in order to show him from thence the kingdoms of the whole world, and the glory of them.

 

Likewise, the Valentinians viewed scripture as allegorical on three different levels that corresponded to the three natures. The earlier Gnostics viewed the Old Testament as a symbolic record of the struggle between Yaldabaoth-Jehovah and Sophia as testified in Irenaeus’ account in Against Heresies, VII, 3:

 

They maintain, moreover, that those souls which possess the seed of Achamoth are superior to the rest, and are more dearly loved by the Demiurge than others, while he knows not the true cause thereof, but imagines that they are what they are through his favour towards them. Wherefore, also, they say he distributed them to prophets, priests, and kings; and they declare that many things were spoken (7) by this seed through the prophets, inasmuch as it was endowed with a transcendently lofty nature. Themother also, they say, spake much about things above, and that both through him and through the souls which were formed by him. Then, again, they divide the prophecies [into different classes], maintaining that one portion was uttered by the mother, a second by her seed, and a third by the Demiurge. In like manner, they hold that Jesus uttered some things under the influence of the Saviour, others under that of the mother, and others still under that of the Demiurge, as we shall show further on in our work.

 

As we can see, the Tree was an important universal symbol for not only the Gnostics, Simonians, Valentinians, etc, but to groups like the Jewish-Kabbalists, alchemists and many occult groups throughout the ages. The Tree is highly associative with the idea of the descent and crucifixion (and eventual ascent and resurrection) of spirit into and from matter as seen in Sophia-Achamoth’s fall from the celestial world and into the prima materia which parallels the Genesis account of the fall of Eve, the “mother of the living”. In Plato’s Timaeus, do we find the account of the Fall of Atlantis, (as strange as it might sound) which could be read as symbolic of the Divine tragedy and catastrophe so predominant in Gnostic cosmology and theology.

 

In Part 4, we will investigate a possible Gnostic exegesis of the Atlantis myth and other Greek tales, the Gnostic science of human physiology and the mind relating to Genesis, where and how exactly Orthodox theology developed from and ultimately became victorious as a common religious Christian doctrine, along with some concluding final thoughts on this series.

 

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