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The rather visually challenged Greenwood Corvette was I believe made by the same named company who specialise in automotive performance tuning and racing specifically for....Corvettes! ;-p
Hot Wheels, ever eager to sniff out every last Corvette variation first released this casting a few years back and proved very popular with U.S. collectors. Its back yet again for 2020 and can be seen here in its very latest Case G colour scheme. Found recently at B&M Bargains. Mint and boxed.
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Toute utilisation ainsi autorisée devra mentionner le crédit photo (voir nom du fichier ci-dessus : “©…” ou métadonnées de la photo dans sa taille originale).
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Contact : photos [at] handisport.org
Marilyn Rushton, a well-known Burnaby citizen, is awarded with the province’s newest honour, the Medal of Good Citizenship.
Rushton is honoured for her for inspirational life of service to the visually impaired community, her contributions to families with blind and visually impaired children, and her energetic support for the musical community.
Learn more: news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2016IGR0025-001407
Visually, the finished look is one of pure line with few design elements. The atmosphere is one of pure tranquillity during the day; the reflection of sky in the water and very little to distract the eye. At night the lighting scheme creates a magical pathway fading into the distance, and always there is the gentle sound of running water.
Part of a larger scheme, these clients wanted an ultra-simple, minimalist waterfeature on two levels. The main material used was a pale cream Travertine detailed with a dark slate-grey.
At the lower level, a canal runs across the garden. The main steps are accessed by stepping stones across the water.
The upper level features two rills. Water flows away from the house and cascades via two stainless steel waterfalls onto the lower level beyond, aerating and purifying. The paving features LED flush lighting to highlight the edge of the scheme and the steps and all three bodies of water are floodlit discreetly below the water surface.
The only plant material is six ball-shaped box trees, providing a simple, sculptural look to this otherwise angular scheme.
Buffelwever
(Bubalornis niger)
The red-billed buffalo weaver (Bubalornis niger) is a species of bird in the Ploceidae family. It is found in Angola, Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Its natural habitat is the dry savanna.
The body length of approximately 24 cm and the weight of 65 g place rank this as one of the largest of the Ploceidae (weaver birds). Visually the sexes are not greatly differentiated from one another. The red-billed buffalo weaver is differentiated from the white-billed buffalo weaver (Bubalornis albirostris) by the color of its bill.
The feathers of the male are dark chocolate brown in color. The front wing edges and the wing tips are flecked with white. His bill is a shade of red. The eyes are brown and the feet are reddish brown. The female's body is also colored dark chocolate brown, without the white flecks on the wings. However, her chin and throat feathers include broad white colored hems. Her eyes are dark brown and her legs light brown. Adolescent birds are a lighter shade of brown.
The diet of the red billed buffalo weaver consists primarily of insects, seed and fruit. Particular insects the bird feeds on include crickets, locusts, grasshoppers, caterpillars, beetles, weevils, wasps, bees, ants, flies, and spiders. Its diet also includes scorpions. Most of these food sources are located in the soil or in low vegetation. As a result, the red-billed buffalo weaver does most of its foraging on the ground. Climate changes have not significantly affected the abundance of prey for the bird.
hese birds tend to live in dry savannahs and sparse woodlands. They prefer areas usually disturbed by humans and livestock. In fact, if people living in community with a population of red-billed buffalo weavers leave, the birds often depart as well. Thus as places continue to be urbanized, these birds find more homes. Additionally, overpopulation does not tend to be a problem for the red-billed buffalo weaver seeing as they live in colonies.
The red-billed buffalo weaver has been observed in small family groups or in large flocks.
Males tend to be polygamous and control anywhere from 1 to 8 nest chambers with 3 females. Typically there is one dominant male who controls the most chambers and the most females. The males in lower social positions control fewer chambers and fewer females. These males will defend their chambers and females by showing aggressive displays and giving loud calls. However, two males sometimes cooperate with each other to build the nest, defend their territory, and help feed the chicks.
Females do not tolerate other females in their chambers while they are nesting and laying their eggs. Females typically feed the chicks (unless they are part of a cooperative breeding colony). The diet consists of insects, seeds, and fruit found near the nest.
Red-billed buffalo weavers breed in colonies. The nests are composed of an enormous mass of thorny twigs. These twigs are divided into separate lodges (compartments), each with multiple egg chambers. Each chamber has a smaller nest, typically built by the female (unless they are part of a cooperative breeding colony). The smaller nest is composed of grass, leaves, and roots. The whole nest is usually found in a thorny tree or in a windmill near areas inhabited by humans. When humans leave particular areas, so do the red-billed buffalo weavers living in the same area. White-backed vultures and bateleurs tend to construct their nests above red-billed buffalo weaver nests, which is helpful in camouflaging their nests from predators.
Male red-billed buffalo weavers possess a pseudo-penis around 1.5 cm long. It was first reported in an 1831 German anatomist's report on the birds and subsequent research has shown that it is female selected. The pseudo-penis has no blood vessels and does not carry sperm but instead appears to be favored by the females for pleasure and aids males in attracting females; males in colonies have larger pseudo-penises than males which live alone, suggesting male-male competition has also favored the growth of this peculiar organ.
Egg laying season can last from September to June, with the peak occurring between December and March. Females lay anywhere from 2 to 4 eggs and incubate them for roughly 14 days. The females are the only ones that tend to the eggs during this period. After 20 to 23 days, the birds leave the nest.
Wikipedia
•A one-off Art Deco coupe
•The prototype for the famous “razor edge” styling
•Extensive known ownership history
The connoisseur is a man who knows his own tastes and has the money to feed them. He studies what he collects, learns his subject, and is then guided by his knowledge to seek out and acquire only the finest examples. It is by this careful process that the world’s great collections of art objects are assembled.
Sir John Leigh was a connoisseur, and the artists he patronized were Rolls-Royce and Freestone & Webb. Working together, the partnership created some of the finest, most beautiful automobiles to run the streets of England during the Classic Era, but none are more fabulous than the streamlined Coupé offered here. Its chassis was engineered to be silent. Its design is anything but.
Sir John, a prominent Lancashire cotton magnate and a Conservative member of Parliament for Clapham, had quite the appetite for fine conveyances. The Rolls-Royce Phantom II Continental was ideal for his tastes. It had a wheelbase of 144 inches, six inches shorter than standard, and it came equipped with stiffer springs, for better handling, and a low-ratio rear axle, for better acceleration. Of the 281 Continental chassis built, Sir John Leigh owned four of them, and like a man who has a favorite tailor, all were clothed with bespoke bodies by Freestone & Webb, the London coachbuilders with a reputation for extremely fine quality.
Chassis 42PY was ordered by Sir John Leigh in August of 1933, and, as any bespoke car, it took several months to complete. According to the accompanying copies of production cars supplied from Rolls-Royce, the completed machine was tested at Freestone & Webb on December 8, 1933. According to the order sheets, the car was specified “for use in the UK and Continent, mainly fast touring.” Leigh special ordered a number of features, including six-inch gauges for the speedometer and tachometer, and he also specified that the exhaust pipe be dropped three inches from its standard position. Sportiness was what he sought.
The body of 42PY is distinguished by its incredibly long hoodline, which is emphasized by cycle-style “helmet” fenders and a lack of traditional running boards or side-mounted spares. This visual trick allows for a relatively spacious four-passenger compartment, yet it gives the car the outward appearance of a sporty two-seater, emphasizing the power lurking under the hood. The Continental chassis was for the Rolls buyer who wanted performance; Freestone & Webb simply put an exclamation point on the idea.
The low, window-hugging roofline features remarkable, origami-like, crisp edges, showcasing the earliest hint of what would come to be known as “razor edge” design. Razor edge would come to define the styling of numerous closed Rolls-Royces during the 1940s and 1950s, replacing the rounded roofline that had been common into the 1930s. This is believed to be the earliest automobile with razor edge design, and as such, it is the progenitor of numerous custom bodies that were created in the next two decades.
The car was used by Leigh and his wife through the late 1930s, but by July 1938, it was owned by B. Sleath, Esquire of Stratford-on-Avon. It would make sense that the Leighs would have disposed of all of their Phantom II Continentals at this point, as Sir John is understood to have ordered four Phantom IIIs in one day! Like many other fine conveyances of its day, 42PY lay dormant through the war, until being seen driving through London by Anthony Gibbs around 1952. Gibbs extensively wrote about his experience with 42PY in A Passion For Cars; a copy of which is included in the file.
As he tells it, on the day his publishing firm went bankrupt due to a two-month printer’s strike around 1952, “I suddenly realized that without seeing it, I had been traveling behind the most beautiful car I had ever seen. It was a big black Rolls, shaped very much as my old Delage, but more beautiful still, because, instead of being a drophead, it had a marvelously square-cut top like a brougham.”
Gibbs stopped the driver in the middle of an intersection and struck a deal to purchase the car. He drove it daily during his ownership over the next five years, and his travels with 42PY included a tour across the continent. In a truly amusing anecdote, Gibbs relays the realization that he was being followed at a distance by two marked and three unmarked police vehicles, due to suspicion of being in league with Communist sympathizers. Upon realizing he was being followed, Gibbs decided to make a parody out of the attempted cloak and dagger by leading the procession through the streets of London at 10 mph!
Ironically, around 1957, he was stopped in the middle of an intersection in the very same manner that he had stopped the previous owner of the car. The gentleman who stopped him was an American, so when the deal for the purchase of the car was struck, 42PY traveled to the New World in the care of Arthur W. Seidenschwartz, of Waukesha, Wisconsin.
Seidenschwartz was an active member of the Rolls-Royce Owners’ Club, and he and 42PY appeared at a number of meets, as well as in several issues of The Flying Lady, which are included with the car. The October 1957 issue shows the car with a caption that describes it as “newly imported.” The car remained with Seidenschwartz for an amazing 35 years, before being passed into the hands of David Scheibel, of Toledo, Ohio, in early 1992. Scheibel quickly commissioned a concours-quality restoration, with hundreds of thousands of dollars spent at that time.
From there, Scheibel took the car to a number of RROC meets and concours events. A full list of accolades received is included, but among those are Best in Class and the Gwen Graham Award for Most Elegant Closed Car at the 1992 Pebble Beach Concours, as well as Best of Show Prewar at the 1993 RROC National Meeting , followed by being selected as Best of Previous Best of Show Winners at an RROC National Meeting in 1994.
Chassis 42PY was also shown at the 1994 Eyes on Classic Design in Grosse Pointe Shores; while there, it received high accolades, winning Automotive Design of Exceptional Merit, the Rolling Sculpture Award, the Visually Impaired Young Adults Award, and the Best in Show – Interior Award. During Scheibel’s ownership, 42PY was also featured on the cover of the 1993 “Annual Meet” issue of The Flying Lady.
Acquired by the current owner in 2000, this very special Rolls-Royce has been carefully maintained, and it remains in excellent condition throughout. As presented, it is further accompanied by a copy of the title, which was issued to Scheibel upon his purchase from Seidenschwartz, as well as a bespoke, large-format album that features exceptional studio photography of the car.
Crafted for a connoisseur with tastes ahead of his time, and as a treasured possession of knowledgeable enthusiasts ever since, Sir John Leigh’s groundbreaking Rolls-Royce is the deliciously sinister, razor-edged embodiment of silent speed.
[Text from RM Auctions]
www.rmauctions.com/lots/lot.cfm?lot_id=1063793
This Lego miniland-scale Rolls-Royce Phantom II Continental Sport Coupe (1933 - Freestone & Webb), has been created for Flickr LUGNuts' 89th Build Challenge, - "Over a Million, Under a Thousand", - a challenge to build vehicles valued over one million (US) dollars, or under one thousand (US) dollars.
This particular vehicle was auctioned by the RM Auction house on Thursday, November 21, 2013, where it sold for $2,420,000
This visually stunning Art Deco enamel badge, promotes the famous tyre brand, Avon Tyres. It bears the company's early 1908, registered trademark which is a stylised Trilithon (Stonehenge) structure, made up of two large vertical stone posts supporting a third stone that lies horizontally across the top. On this badge, the horizontal stone announces the company name, Avon. From 1908, through to the 1930s, the Trilithon was either used as a focal point within advertisements, or as a refined logo within a corner of an advertisement. Beneath the Trilithon trademark the phrase 'Symbols of Endurance' appeared.
Within the early advertisements, before and just after the 1920s, a car and driver, with Avon tyres, would be portrayed passing through a mighty Trilithon. The adoption of this Trilithon trademark was explained by the company as follows: ".......this noble and historical trademark was decided upon in full consciousness of the high standard of excellence which such an emblem implied … because Avon products, in addition to other noble characteristics, possessed in a remarkable degree the two skills of strength and durability."
Of course, another reason for adopting the Trilithon device was linked to the company's location in Wiltshire, the home of Stonehenge. The badge uses the company's distinctive, somewhat spikey, upper case font, and this was first used in the late 1920s through to the 1960s. By the 1970s the signature logotype 'Avon' was changed to a modernist sans serif design with the letter 'o' rendered in solid red.
Avon started making rubber based products as far back as 1885 and by 1890 the business operated entirely from Melksham. At this point the Avon India Rubber Company Ltd was formed and in 1906 Avon car tyres were advertised for the first time along with their already established line in cycle tyres. Throughout WW1, Avon Tyres were used on forces bicycles, motorcycles, cars, trucks, aeroplanes and ambulances. Other Avon rubber products such as tubing and hoses were used to extract water from waterlogged trenches.
By the late 1920s, Avon had a number of tyre distribution centres across Britain and their product range diversified to include carriage and pram tyres, rubber soles and heels for footwear, household bath mats and rubber carpets. In 1933 the Avon 'cooled duo-tread tyre' was chosen by Rolls Royce as a standard feature on their cars. Avon's racing pedigree gained momentum in the 1920s and continued through to the mid-century period, building up strong relationships with international riders and drivers.
Avon maintained a high profile in the rubber based product market and the post WW11 period witnessed rapid growth through a number of acquisitions and further product diversification. Cooper Tire & Rubber Company (Ohio, USA), purchased Avon Tyres in 1997 in an agreement that allowed the company to focus on its core automotive components, technical products and protective equipment. The Avon brand remains within the Cooper Tire & Rubber Company portfolio and the Melksham, Wiltshire plant remains active today.
Photography, layout and design: Argy58
(This image also exists as a high resolution jpeg and tiff - ideal for a
variety of print sizes e.g. A4, A3, A2 and A1. The current uploaded
format is for screen based viewing only: 72pi)
Woodchurch is the latest bete noir of Kent churches for me. Or has been for some while. Along with Hinxhill, these two have proved to be impossible to get into. The lat time I tried here was last year's heritage weekend where I found the church locked just after five in the afternoon.
So, after a flurry of e mails this week, and the warden's surprise I have always failed to get in: "its open from seven in the morning to five every day". Maybe I just went on the three or four occasions this did not happen.
Whatever, this was the first stop of the day.
Woodchurch is on the route to Cranbrook and Sissinghurst, so this is the third week I have driven through Ham Street.
We park opposite the two pubs that sit beside each other, one, The Bonny Cravat looked fine with hanging baskets outside.
But too early for a pint, so we walk up the path to the porch and pushed....
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An enormous church with much of interest. The fabric dates from the thirteenth century, and the nave arcades of alternate round and octagonal piers are made of ragstone, which was polished in the nineteenth century to resemble Bethersden marble. In fact there are some genuine pieces of Bethersden marble in the church, particularly important visually being the shafts between the east window lancets. On the south-east buttress of the chancel is a mass dial, and on the main south wall is an excellent large sundial. The rood loft stairway survives in the north chapel where there is a good and rare double hagioscope. The sedilia are made up of three graduated thirteenth-century seats with a double piscina incorporated as part of the same scheme. In the south aisle is a medallion of the Blessed Virgin Mary, while the nearby east window depicting the Crucifixion is by Kempe. In front of the pulpit is the brass to a priest, Nicholas Gore (d. 1333), a quatrefoil with a circular inscription, into which is set the figure of Gore in his vestments. The Royal Arms are those of George III and were painted by a local artist, Joseph Gibson, in 1773.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Woodchurch
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WOODCHURCH
IS the next parish south-eastward from Halden, and is within the court of the bailiwic of the Seven Hundreds, which claims paramount over the denne of Ilchenden, being a great part of it; though the manors of Apledore and of Wye claim over some parts of it.
This PARISH, which stands rather on high ground, is about five miles in length from north to south, and three miles and an half in breadth. The soil of it is in general a stiff clay, though in the southern part of it there is some light land, inclining to sand. It is exceedingly covered, throughout most of it, with oaken coppice wood, and the face of the country here, as well as the roads, are much like those of Halden, last described. The village is near the centre of the parish, built mostly round a green, with the church on the north-west side of it, and the parsonage-house. In the south-west part of the parish is Shirley-house and farm, which formerly belonged to the family of Clarke, and afterwards to the Harlackendens, from whom it was purchased by Anne Blackmore, widow of John Blackmore, esq. of Tenterden, who died in 1717; and their grandson Thomas Blackmore, esq. of Hertfordshire, now owns it, with other adjoining estates in this parish. Below this farm southward is a large tract of marshes, called Shirley, or Sherles-moor, being about three miles in length and two in breadth, lying in Woodchurch, Apledore, Eboney, and Tenterden, containing 1245 acres, and is what is called the Upper Levels, the waters of which few through Scots-float into Rye harbour. It is allowed to be the richest land for satting cattle in all these levels. It belongs to several different proprietors, among whom Sir Edward Hales, bart. Thomas Blackmore, esq. the dean and chapter of Canterbury, Richard Curteis, and the heirs of William Henley, esqrs. are the most considerable.
Sir Edward Hales, bart. and Richard Hulse, esq. are lessees of the dean and chapter of Canterbury, for lands in this level, which formerly belonged to the priory of Christ-church there.
About three quarters of a mile northward from the church, is Redbrooke-street, at which formerly resided a family named At-hale, possessed of lands in this and the neighbouring parishes.
THE MANOR OF TOWNLAND, alias WOODCHURCH, is subordinate to that of Apledore, and was part of those lands and estates assigned for the desence of Dover-castle, to the constable of which it was allotted, and made a part of his barony, which was usually stiled from him, the Constabularie, being held by him of the king in capite by barony, by the service of maintaining a certain number of soldiers from time to time for the desence of the castle. Of him and his heirs this manor was held in capite by the service of ward to the castle, Ralph de la Thun held this manor and other lands in Woodchurch, by the above service, in the 43d year of Henry III. in which year he died possessed of it, and from him it acquired the name of Thunland, or Townland, as it was afterwards called. After him Richard de Tunland became possessed of it, whose grandson John Ate Towneland paid aid for it in the 20th year of Edward III. and in his descendants it continued down to Thomas Townland, who died possessed of it in the 7th year of Henry IV. (fn. 1) After which it passed by sale into the family of Norton, whence it was sold, about the beginning of king Henry VIII.'s reign, to the prior and convent of Leeds, who were then possessed of it, as appears by the receipt in the exchequer anno 8 of that reign, Mich. Rot. 35; and it remained part of their possessions till the dissolution of the priory, in the 31st year of that reign, when it came into the hands of the crown; from whence it was granted that year to Thomas, lord Cromwell, earl of Essex, on whose attainder next year, this manor, among the rest of his estates, became forfeited to the crown, where it staid but a small time, for the king, in his 36th year, granted it to Sir Thomas Moile, chancellor of his court of augmentation, who in the 4th year of Edward VI. alienated it to Thomas Ancos, who afterwards sold it to Thomas Lucas, gent, who died possessed of it in the 3d year of queen Elizabeth, hold ing it in capite by knight's service. He was descended from William Lucas, gent. of Ashford, who is recorded in Fuller's history, among those gentry who were returned as such, and qualified to bear arms, by the commissioners anno 12 Henry VI. (fn. 2) By the inquisition taken after his death, it was found, that Thomas Godfrey was his nephew and next heir. He died in the 7th year of that reign, and was succeeded by his brother James Godfrey, who two years afterwards alienated it to Mary, the widow of Sir John Guldeford, of Hemsted, who in the 19th year of that reign sold it to John Shellie, whose son John Shelley, esq. of Michelgrove, was created a baronet in 1611; and in his descendants, baronets, this manor continued till the reign of Charles II. How long it continued in this name, I do not find; for it was now become but of very little note. At length, after some intermediate owners, it became the property of Mr. Gabriel Richards, and since his decease of Mr. William Evans, the present possessor, who resides in it.
THE PLACE-HOUSE, or Woodchurch house, is a seat situated at a small distance eastward from the church, and was the habitation of a family who took both their surname and original from it. Anchitel de Woodchurch was possessed of it about the time of the Conqueror, and gave for his arms, Gules, three swords, erected in pale, argent. His grandson Roger de Woodchurch, is the first that is mentioned in the antient deeds, without date, of this estate, and his grandson Sir Simon de Woodchurch, is in the register of those Kentish gentlemen who accompanied king Edward I. in his victorious expedition into Scotland, where he was knighted, with many others of his countrymen. But in him the name, though not the male line, determined; for by matching with Susan, daughter and heir of Henry le Clerk, of Munsidde, in the parish of Kingsnoth, who brought a large inheritance into his family; his successors, out of gratitude to those who had added so much splendour, and annexed so plentiful a revenue to their name, altered their paternal appellation from Woodchurch to Clerke; and in several of their deeds subsequent to this match were written, Clerke, alias Woodchurch. He left two sons, Simon, who died without male issue; (fn. 3) and Clerke Woodchurch, heir to his mother's lands, as well as to his elder brother at this place, on his failure of male issue; which latter left a son Peter Clerke, alias Woodchurch, who inherited this seat on his father's death, and in his descendants it continued down to Humphry Clarke, for so they then wrote their name, who resided at Buckford, in Great Chart. He sold this seat, with the estate belonging to it, to Martin Harlackenden, esq. of this parish, whose successor Walter Harlackenden resided here in the reign of James I. and his descendant Geo. Harlackenden, esq. of Woodchurch, sold it to Winifred Bridger, widow, and Laurence her son, the latter of whom at his death devised it to his son John, who dying s.p. his sister Mrs. Winifrid Bridger, of Canterbury, succeeded to it, and dying in 1776, unmarried, by will gave it to the Rev. William Dejovas Byrch, of Canterbury, and Elizabeth his wife. He died in 1792, and she in 1798, having surviving issue an only daughter Elizabeth, since deceased, who married Samuel Egerton Brydges, esq. of Denton, who is now in his late wife's right became entitled to it.
Great part of this house has been pulled down, and the remainder of it makes but a very mean appearance, and is inhabited by several different persons.
HENDEN is an estate in this parish, which from having had for a length of time the same owners as that last-described, was once almost accounted an ap pendage to it. This place is supposed (for there are no records existing of it) to have been the original seat of the Hendens, who were in much later times seated at Biddenden-place, in this neighbourhood, as has been mentioned before, where they continued till within these few years. How long they remained possessors of it, cannot therefore be traced; but in the reign of king Richard II. the Capells, of Capellscourt, in Ivychurch, were become owners of it; in the 15th year of which reign Richard Capell died possessed of it. At length, after it had continued in his descendants for some generations, it went by the marriage of a female heir into the family of Harlackenden, of this parish, where it remained till Deborah, daughter and heir of Martin Harlackenden, entitled her husband Sir Edward Hales, knight and baronet, to the possession of this estate, together with others in this parish and neighbourhood, and in his descendants it has continued down to Sir Edward Hales, bart. of St. Stephen's, the present owner of it.
HARLACKENDEN, usually called Old Harlackenden, situated within the boroughof that name which extended likewise over part of the adjoining parish of Shadoxhurst) was for some hundred years the patrimonial demesnes of that name and family, as appeared by a tomb in this church, the inscription on which, long since obliterated, shewed that one of them lay interred there soon after the conquest. Philipott says, the proportion and shape of the characters were much like those in use in the reigns of king Henry IV. and V. which he thinks was occasioned by this tomb having been renewed by one of this person's successors and descendants in one of the above reigns, and the former one might have been in old characters, suitable to the time in which it was first erected. There are none now remaining on it. Kilburne says, it was for William Harlackenden, anno 1081. They bore for their arms, Azure, a sess, ermine, between three lions beads erased, or; which arms were painted in an upper window of Grays-Inn hall, and appeared to have been of long standing there. In his descendants, residents here, many of whom lie buried in this church, this seat continued down to Thomas Harlackenden, esq. of Woodchurch, who procured his lands to be disgavelled by the acts of 31 Henry VIII. and 2 and 3 Edward VI. He died in 1558. (fn. 4) At length his descendant George Harlackenden, esq. of this place, alienated it to Winifried Bridger, widow, and Laurence her son, whose heirs, in the 9th year of queen Anne, procured an act to vest it in trustees, and they accordingly sold it, in 1711, to dame Sarah, widow of Sir Paul Barrett, sergeant-at-law. She died that same year, and by the limitation in her will, (fn. 5) this estate devolved to her grandson Sir Francis Head, bart. son of her first husband Francis Head, esq. who died possessed of it in 1768. After which his widow, lady Head, by virtue of her jointure, came into the possession of it. She died in 1792, and it then devolved to the daughters and coheirs of her late husband Sir Francis Head, and to their heirs, in the like proportions as the Hermitage, in Higham, and his other estates in this county, in which state it remains at present. (fn. 6)
HENHURST is an estate in the north-east part of this parish, which formerly belonged to a family of the same name, whose more antient seat was at Henhurst, in Staplehurst, of which this was but a younger branch. They were likewise often written in old deeds both Henhurst and Enghurst, and continued owners of this place until the reign of king Henry VII. and then Sir Thomas Henghurst dying without issue male, his daughter and sole heir carried it in marriage to Humphry Wife, whose daughter and heir Agnes entitled her husband Mr. Robert Master to the possession of it, who bore for his arms, A lion, rampant, holding in his paws an escallop shell. His son Mr. Thomas Master resided here, but his son Giles Master quitted this residence and removed to Canterbury, where he died in 1644. At length it descended to Sir Harcourt Master, alderman of London, who became possessed of it for the term of his life, by the will of his father's eldest brother's daughter, Mary Master. He died in 1648. Since which it has continued in his descendants, one of whom, Harcourt Masters, esq. of Greenwich, owns it at this time.
HENGHAM, now usually called Great Hengham, corruptly for Engeham, its original name, lies enveloped by woods, about a mile and an half northward from Woodchurch. It was once accounted a manor, and was in early times possessed by a family of the same name, who resided at it, and were stiled sometimes Engham, alias Edingham, in antient deeds, relating to their possessions in different parts of Romney marsh, the latter being probably their original name, and the former one an abbreviation of it. (fn. 7) Alanus de Engham resided here in the reign of king John, and married the daughter of Townland, of this parish, as did his descendant Moses de Engham, alias Edingham, who by marriage with Petronell, daughter of Alan de Plurenden, greatly increased his estate in Woodchurch; and probably of kindred to this family was Odomar Hengham, esq. who died in 1411, and lies buried in the body of Canterbury cathedral. They bore for their arms, Argent, a chevron, sable, between three pellets; on a chief, gules, a lion passant, guardant, or. A branch of this family became possessed of Singleton, in Great Chart, where they rebuilt the mansion, and afterwards resided; but the last residence of the Enghams, in this county, was at Gunston, where they flourished till the beginning of this century. At length Robert Engham, of Woodchurch, leaving two daughters his coheirs, this manor, about the latter end of the reign of Henry VIII. was carried in marriage by Mary, the eldest of them, to Thomas Isley, who leaving five daughters his coheirs, Mary, married to Francis Spelman; Frances, to William Boys, esq. Elizabeth, to Anthony Mason, esq. Anne, to George Delves, esq. and Jane, to Francis Haut, esq. they, in right of their respective wives, became jointly entitled to it. This occasioned a partition of this estate, which was afterwards called by the name of Great and Little Hengham; the former having the antient mansion and manor annexed to it. This part was afterwards alienated to William Hales, esq. of Nackington, who possessed it in the reign of king James I. and in 1640, passed it away by sale to Thomas Godfrey the younger, esq. of Lid, who conveyed it to Clerke, whence it was sold in the reign of king Charles II. to John Grove, gent. of Tunstall, whose descendant Richard Grove, esq. of London, who died unmarried in 1792, by will devised it to Mr. William Jemmott and Mr. William Marshall, the former of whom, on a partition of his estates, became the sole proprietor of it, and continues so at this time. A court baron is held for this manor.
THE OTHER PART of this manor, now called Little Hengham, which lies adjoining to it southward, is now the property of the heirs of Abbot, the Whitfields, and the Combers.
PLERYNDEN, now corruptly called Plunden, is situated in the north-west part of this parish, in the midst of a wood, and in the denne of the same name. It had in early times owners, who took their furname from it and continued so till Petronell, daughter and heir of Alan de Plerynden, who bore for his arms, Perchevron, in chief, two mullets, in base, a martlet, as they appear, carved in stone, on the roof of Canterbury cloysters, carried it in marriage to Moses de Engham, in whose descendants it remained till Vincent Engham, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, passed it away by sale to William Twysden, esq. of Chelmington, whose descendant Sir Thomas Twysden, bart. of Roydon-hall, in East Peckham, about the beginning of queen Anne's reign, sold it to Mr. John Hooker, of Maidstone, who died possessed of it in 1717, and devised it to his second son John, of Broadoak, in Brenchley, gent. who dying unmarried in 1762, devised it to his youngest and only surviving brother Stephen Hooker, gent. of Halden, and he alienated it to John Children, esq. of Tunbridge, whose son George Children, esq. of that place, is the present owner of it.
Charities.
RICHARD BROWNE, late of Woodchurch, by will in 1562, gave to the poor of this parish a rent charge of 4l. 10s. per annum, on every Trinity Sunday for ever, out of a messuage called Webbes, in this parish, of the clear annual produce of 3l. 8s.
SIR EDWARD HALES, of Woodchurch, by deed in 1610, gave to the poor yearly rents out of a farm, called the Legg farm, in Kenardington.
PHEBE GOBLE, of Woodchurch, by will in 1692, gave to the poor 2l. per annum, to be paid by her heirs for ever, out of a farm, called the Bonny Cravat, in Woodchurch, (now an alehouse) the first Sunday after Old Lady-day.
THERE IS A SCHOOL, for reading and writing, supported by contribution, in this parish.
The poor constantly relieved are about ninety, casually 45.
WOODCHURCH is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the dioceseof Canterbury, and deanry of Limne.
¶The church, which is dedicated to All Saints, is large and handsome, consisting of three isles and three chancels, with a spire steeple, shingled, at the west end, in which hang six bells. The windows in the high chancel are small and elegant. There are some very small remains of good painted glass. In this chancel is a stone, with the figure in brass, of a priest praying, and inscription for master Nicholas de Gore, in old French; and another stone, with inscription in brass, for William Benge Capellanus, obt. 1437. In this church are many tombs and gravestones of the family of Harlackenden, which have already been mentioned before. In the south chancel there is a handsome tomb, of Bethersden marble, for Sir Edward Waterhous, chancellor of the exchequer, and privy counsellor to queen Elizabeth, in Ireland, third son of John Waterhous, esq. of Whitechurch, in Buckinghamshire, obt. s. p. 1591, his arms on his tomb, Or, a pile engrailed, sable, quartered with other coats. Kilburne says, in the east window of this chancel, were the arms of Ellis; and in the east window of the north chancel, were several essigies of the Clerkes; and in the north window of it, those of William Harey; all long since gone. The sont in this church seems very antient, being of Bethersden marble, square, and standing on four pillars.
This church was part of the antient possessions of the see of Canterbury, and continues so at this time, his grace the archbishop being the present patron of it.
It is a rectory, valued in the king's books at 26l.13s. 4d. and the yearly tenths at 2l. 13s. 4d. In 1640 it was valued at one hundred and ten pounds. Communicants three hundred and forty-nine. In 1729 at two hundred and thirty pounds per annum.
Among the Lambeth MSS. is a decree of archbishop Peckham, concerning the tithes of Woodchurch, anno 1281. (fn. 8) There are about two acres of glebe land.
Castlerigg Stone Circle is one of the most visually impressive prehistoric monuments in Britain, and is the most visited stone circle in Cumbria. Every year thousands of people visit it to look, photograph, draw and wonder why and when and by whom it was built. The stone circle is on the level top of a low hill with nice views to the towns in the valleys. There are 38 stones in a circle approximately 30 metres in diameter. Within the ring is a rectangle of a further 10 standing stones. The tallest stone is 2.3 metres high. It was probably built around 3000 BC - the beginning of the later Neolithic Period - and is one of the earliest stone circles in Britain. It is important in terms of megalithic astronomy and geometry, as the construction contains significant astronomical alignments. Although its origins are unknown it is believed that it was used for ceremonial or religious purposes.
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Cercul de pietre de la Castlerigg este unul dintre cele mai imporante monumente preistorice şi cel mai vizitat de acest fel din Cumbria. In fiecare an, mii de persoane vin sǎ priveascǎ, sǎ fotografieze, sǎ deseneze şi sǎ se întrebe când, de ce şi cine construit bizarul ansamblu. Cercul de pietre se aflǎ pe o platformǎ situatǎ pe vârful unui deal de micǎ înǎlţime, cu privelişti frumoase cǎtre oraşele din vale. Ansamblul este format din 38 de pietre aşezate într-un cerc cu diametrul de cca. 30 metri. In interiorul cercului se aflǎ un dreptunghi alcǎtuit din 10 pietre. Cea mai înaltǎ piatrǎ are 2.3 metri. Ansamblul a fost construit probabil la începutul perioadei neolitice (în jurul anului 3000 î.Ch.) şi este unul dintre cele mai vechi cercuri de piatrǎ din Marea Britanie. Este un monument important din punct de vedere al astronomiei şi geometriei megalitice, întrucât construcţia conţine unele similitudini astronomice semnificative. Deşi originea ansamblului nu este cunoscutǎ, se presupune cǎ a fost folosit în scopuri ceremoniale şi religioase.
A group of blind and visually impaired performers from Morocco, Togo, United Kingdom, and Switzerland performed during a cultural event on October 6, 2016 organized by WIPO and the Government of Morocco. The cultural event also included an exhibition entitled "The Centenary of Industrial Property in Morocco."
The event was held on the sidelines of the WIPO Assemblies, which met in Geneva from October 3 to 11, 2016.
Copyright: WIPO. Photo: Violaine Martin. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License.
Toute reproduction sur un support imprimé ou publication sur internet devra faire l'objet d'une demande expresse auprès du service communication de la Fédération Française Handisport.
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Toute utilisation ainsi autorisée devra mentionner le crédit photo (voir nom du fichier ci-dessus : “©…” ou métadonnées de la photo dans sa taille originale).
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Contact : photos [at] handisport.org
A visually-impared individual and his guide while waiting for a bus along EDSA during the recently concluded APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting held in Manila.
Visually they looked damp, so the Macro photography was a delight in discovering the almost furry top surface, seen at the edges of these fungi.
These ranged in size up to 15mm diameter.
Visually Impaired - Color Blind
Using LomoChrome film to raise awareness of the visually impaired. RZ67 - turquoise
There are three Ashfords, really. The modern newtown, Swindonesque newbuilds stretching into the countryside; the Victorian railway town, all neat rows of brick buit houses and the station, and then there is the old town, timber-framed houses along narrow lanes, with St Mary standing towering above all but the modern office blocks.
The west end church was given over to a Christmas Fayre, but is also used now as a concert venue, while under the tower westwards is still in use as a church, with many of its ancient features left alone by the Victorians.
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A stately church in a good position set away from the hustle and bustle of this cosmopolitan town. The very narrow tower of 1475 is not visually satisfactory when viewed from a distance but its odd proportions are hardly noticed when standing at its base. The church is very much the product of the families who have been associated with it over the centuries and who are commemorated by monuments within. They include the Fogges and the Smythes. The former is supposed to have wanted to create a college of priests here, but by the late fifteenth century such foundations were going out of fashion and the remodelling of the church undertaken by Sir John Fogge may have just been a philanthropic cause. Unusually, when the church was restored in 1860 the architect Ewan Christian kept the galleries (he usually swept them away), but Christ Church had yet to be built and the population of this growing town would have needed all the accommodation it could get. Even in 1851 1000 people had attended the church in a single sitting. The pulpit, designed by Pearson, was made in 1897.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Ashford+1
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THE TOWN AND PARISH OF ASHFORD
LIES the next adjoining to Hothfield eastward. It is called in Domesday both Estefort and Essetesford, and in other antient records, Eshetisford, taking its name from the river, which runs close to it, which, Lambarde says, ought not to be called the Stour, till it has passed this town, but Eshe or Eschet, a name which has been for a great length of time wholly forgotten; this river being known, even from its first rise at Lenham hither, by the name of the Stour only.
A small part only of this parish, on the east, south and west sides of it, containing the borough of Henwood, alias Hewit, lying on the eastern or further side of the river from the town, part of which extends into the parish of Wilsborough, and the whole of it within the liberty of the manor of Wye, and the borough of Rudlow, which adjoins to Kingsnoth and Great Chart, are in this hundred of Chart and Longbridge; such part of the borough of Rudlow as lies adjoining to Kingsnoth, is said to lie in in jugo de Beavor, or the yoke of Beavor, and is divided from the town and liberty by the river, near a place called Pollbay; in which yoke there is both a hamlet and a green or common, of the name of Beavor; the remainder of the parish having been long separated from it, and made a distinct liberty, or jurisdiction of itself, having a constable of its own, and distinguished by the name of the liberty of the town of Ashford.
ASHFORD, at the time of taking the general survey of Domesday, was part of the possessions of Hugo de Montfort, who had accompanied the Conqueror hither, and was afterwards rewarded with this estate, among many others in different counties; in which record it is thus entered, under the general title of his lands:
¶Maigno holds of Hugo (de Montfort) Estefort. Turgisus held it of earl Godwin, and it is taxed at one suling. The arable land is half a carucate. There is nevertheless in demesne one carucate, and two villeins having one carucate. There are two servants, and eight acres of meadow. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, it was worth twenty five shillings; when he received it, twenty shillings; now thirty shilling.
The same Hugo holds Essela. Three tenants held it of king Edward, and could go whither they would with their lands. It was taxed at three yokes. The arable land is one carucate and an half. There are now four villeins, with two borderers having one carucate, and six acres of meadow. The whole, in the reign of king Edward the Confessor, was worth twenty shillings, and afterwards fifteen shillings, now twenty shillings.
Maigno held another Essetisford of the same Hugo. Wirelm held it of king Edward. It was taxed at one suling. The arable land is four carucates. In demesne there are two, and two villeins, with fifteen borderers having three carucates. There is a church, and a priest, and three servants, and two mills of ten shillings and two pence. In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was worth seventy shillings, and afterwards sixty shillings, now one hundred shillings.
Robert de Montfort, grandson of Hugh abovementioned, favouring the title of Robert Curthose, in opposition to king Henry I. to avoid being called in question upon that account, obtained leave to go on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, leaving his possessions to the king; by which means this manor came into the hands of the crown. Soon after which it seems to have come into the possession of a family, who took their name from it. William de Asshetesford appears by the register of Horton priory to have been lord of it, and to have been succeeded by another of the same name. After which the family of Criol became owners of it, by whom it was held by knight's service of the king, in capite, by ward to Dover castle, and the repair of a tower in that castle, called the Ashford tower. (fn. 1) Simon de Criol, in the 27th and 28th year of Henry III. obtained a charter of free warren for this manor, whose son William de Criol passed it away to Roger de Leyborne, for Stocton, in Huntingdonshire, and Rumford, in Essex. William de Leyborne his son, in the 7th year of king Edward I. claimed and was allowed the privilege of a market here, before the justices itinerant. He died possessed of this manor in the 3d year of Edward II. leaving his grand-daughter Juliana, daughter of Thomas de Leyborne, who died in his father's life-time, heir both to her grandfather and father's possessions, from the greatness of which she was stiled the Infanta of Kent, (fn. 2) though thrice married, yet she died s. p. by either of her husbands, all of whom she survived, and died in the 41st year of Edward III. Upon which this manor, among the rest of her estates, escheated to the crown, and continued there till king Richard II. vested it, among others, in feoffees, for the performance of certain religious bequests by the will of king Edward III. then lately deceased; and they, in compliance with it, soon afterwards, with the king's licence, purchased this manor, with those of Wall, and Esture, of the crown, towards the endowment of St. Stephen's chapel, in the king's palace of Westminster, all which was confirmed by king Henry IV. and VI. and by king Edward IV. in their first years; the latter of whom, in his 7th year, granted to them a fair in this town yearly, on the feast of St. John Port Latin, together with all liberties, and to have a steward to hold the court of it, &c. In which situation they continued till the 1st year of Edward VI. when this collegiate chapel was, with all its possessions, surrendered into the king's hands, where these manors did not continue long; for that king, in his 3d year, granted the manor of Esshetford, with that of Wall, and the manor of Esture, to Sir Anthony Aucher, of Otterden, to hold in capite; and he, in the 2d and 3d of Philip and Mary, sold them to Sir Andrew Judde, of London, whose daughter and at length heir Alice, afterwards carried them in marriage to Thomas Smith, esq. of Westenhanger, commonly called the Customer, who died possessed of them in 1591, and lies buried in the south cross of this church, having had several sons and daughters, of, whom Sir John Smythe, of Ostenhanger, the eldest, succeeded him here, and was sheriff anno 42 Elizabeth. Sir Thomas Smith, the second son, was of Bidborough and Sutton at Hone, and ambassador to Russia, of whom and his descendants, notice has been taken in the former volumes of this history; (fn. 3) and Henry, the third son, was of Corsham, in Wiltshire, whence this family originally descended, and Sir Richard Smith, the fourth, was of Leeds castle. Sir John Smythe, above-mentioned, died in 1609, and lies buried in the same vault as his father in this church, leaving one son Sir Thomas Smythe, of Westenhanger, K. B. who was in 1628 created Viscount Strangford, of Ireland, whose grandson Philip, viscount Strangford, dying about 1709, Henry Roper, lord Teynham, who had married Catherine his eldest daughter, by his will, became possessed of the manors of Ashford, Wall, and Esture. By her, who died in 1711, he had two sons, Philip and Henry, successively lords Teynham; notwithstanding which, having the uncontrolled power in these manors vested in him, he, on his marriage with Anne, second daughter and coheir of Thomas Lennard, earl of Sussex, and widow of Richard Barrett Lennard, esq. afterwards baroness Dacre, settled them on her and her issue by him in tail male. He died in 1623, and left her surviving, and possessed of these manors for her life. She afterwards married the hon. Robert Moore, and died in 1755. She had by lord Teynham two sons, Charles and Richard-Henry, (fn. 4) Charles Roper, the eldest son, died in 1754 intestate, leaving two sons, Trevor-Charles and Henry, who on their mother's death became entitled to these manors, as coheirs in gavelkind, a recovery having been suffered of them, limiting them after her death to Charles Roper their father, in tail male; but being infants, and there being many incumbrances on these estates, a bill was exhibited in chancery, and an act procured anno 29 George II. for the sale of them; and accordingly these manors were sold, under the direction of that court, in 1765, to the Rev. Francis Hender Foote, of Bishopsborne, who in 1768 parted with the manor of Wall, alias Court at Wall, to John Toke, esq. of Great Chart, whose son Nicholas Roundell Toke, is the present possessor of it; but he died possessed of the manors of Ashford and Esture in 1773, and was succeeded in them by his eldest son John Foote, esq. now of Bishopsborne, the present owner of them. There are several copyhold lands held of the manor of Ashford. A court leet and court baron is regularly held for it.
THE TOWN OF ASHFORD stands most pleasant and healthy, on the knoll of a hill, of a gentle ascent on every side, the high road from Hythe to Maidstone passing through it, from which, in the middle of the town, the high road branches off through a pleasant country towards Canterbury. The houses are mostly modern and well-built, and the high-street, which has been lately new paved, is of considerable width. The markethouse stands in the centre of it, and the church and school on the south side of it, the beautiful tower of the former being a conspicuous object to the adjoining country. It is a small, but neat and chearful town, and many of the inhabitants of a genteel rank in life. Near the market place, is the house of the late Dr. Isaac Rutton, a physician of long and extensive practice in these parts, being the eldest son of Matthias Rutton, gent of this town, by Sarah his wife, daughter of Sir N. Toke, of Godinton. He died in 1792, bearing for his arms, Parted per fess, azure, and or, three unicorns heads, couped at the neck, counterchanged; since which, his eldest son, Isaac Rutton, esq. now of Ospringeplace, has sold this house to Mr. John Basil Duckworth, in whom it is now vested. In the midst of it is a large handsome house, built in 1759, by John Mascall, gent. who resided in it, and died possessed of it in 1769, and was buried in Boughton Aluph church, bearing for his arms, Barry of two, or, and azure, three inescutcheons, ermine; and his only son, Robert Mascall, esq. now of Ashford, who married the daughter of Jeremiah Curteis, esq. is the present owner, and resides in it. At the east end of the town is a seat, called Brooke-place, formerly possessed by the family of Woodward, who were always stiled, in antient deeds, gentlemen, and bore for their arms, Argent, a chevron, sable, between three grasshoppers, or; the last of them, Mr. John Woodward, gent. rebuilt this seat, and died possessed of it in 1757; of whose heirs it was purchased by Martha, widow of Moyle Breton, esq. of Kennington, whose two sons, the Rev. Moyle Breton, and Mr. Whitfield Breton, gent. alienated it to Josias Pattenson, esq. the second son of Mr. Josias Pattenson, of Biddenden, by Elizabeth, daughter and coheir of Felix Kadwell, esq. of Rolvenden; he married Mary, daughter of Mr. Henry Dering, gent. of this parish, and widow of Mr. John Mascall above-mentioned, by whom he has no issue, and he is the present owner of this seat, and resides in it. There have been barracks erected lately here, which at present contain 4000 soldiers. The market is held on a Saturday weekly, for the sale of corn, which is now but little used; and a market for the sale of all sorts of fat and lean stock on the first and third Tuesday in every month, which has been of great use to prevent monopolies. Two fairs are annually held now, by the alteration of the stile, on May 17, and Sept. 9, and another on Oct. 24; besides which, there is an annual fair for wool on August 2, not many years since instituted and encouraged by the principal gentry and landholders, which promises to prove of the greatest utility and benefit to the fair sale of it. That branch of the river Stour which rises at Lenham, runs along the southern part of this parish, and having turned a corn mill belonging to the lord of this manor, continues its course close at the east end of the town, where there is a stone bridge of four arches, repaired at the expence of the county, and so on northwards towards Wye and Canterbury. On the south side of the river in this parish, next to Kingsnoth, within the borough of Rudlow, is the yoke of Beavor, with the hamlet and farm of that name, possessed in very early times, as appears by the register of Horton priory, by a family of that name, one of whom, John Beavor, was possessed of it in the reign of Henry II. and was descended from one of the same furname, who attended the Conqueror in his expedition hither. The parish contains about 2000 acres of land, and three hundred and twenty houses, the whole rental of it being 4000l. per annum; the inhabitants are 2000, of which about one hundred are diffenters. The highways throughout it, which not many years ago were exceeding bad, have been by the unanimity of the inhabitants, which has shewn itself remarkable in all their public improvements, a rare instance in parochial undertakings, and by the great attention to the repairs of them, especially in such parts as were near their own houses, are now excellent. The lands round it are much upon a gravelly soil, though towards the east and south there are some rich fertile pastures, intermixed with arable land, and several plantations of hops; but toward the west, the soil is in general sand, having much quarrystone mixed with it, where there is a great deal of coppice wood, quite to Potter's corner, at the boundary of this parish.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is a large handsome building, consisting of three isles, with a transept, and three chancels, with the tower in the middle, which is losty and well proportioned, having four pinnacles at the top of it. There are eight bells in it, a set of chimes, and a clock. In the high chancel, on the north side, is the college John Fogge, the founder of the college here, who died in 1490, and his two wives, the brasses of their figures gone; but part of the inscription remains. And formerly, in Weever's time, there hung up in this chancel six atchievements, of those of this family whose burials had been attended by the heralds at arms, and with other ceremonies suitable to their degrees. Underneath the chancel is a large vault, full of the remains of the family. On the pavement in the middle, is a very antient curious gravestone, having on it the figure in brass of a woman, holding in her left hand a banner, with the arms of Ferrers, Six masctes, three and three, in pale; which, with a small part of the inscription round the edge, is all that is remaining; but there was formerly in brass, in her right hand, another banner, with the arms of Valoyns; over her head those of France and England quarterly; and under her feet a shield, being a cross, impaling three chevronels, the whole within a bordure, guttee de sang, and round the edge this inscription, Ici gift Elizabeth Comite D' athels la file sign de Ferrers . . . dieu asoil, qe morust le 22 jour d'octob. can de grace MCCCLXXV. Weever says, she was wife to David de Strabolgie, the fourth of that name, earl of Athol, in Scotland, and daughter of Henry, lord Ferrers, of Groby; and being secondly married to John Malmayns, of this county, died here in this town. Though by a pedigree of the family of Brograve, she is said to marry T. Fogge, esq. of Ashford; if so, he might perhaps have been her third husband. Near her is a memorial for William Whitfield, gent. obt. 1739. The north chancel belonged to Repton manor. In the vault underneath lay three of the family of Tuston, sometime since removed to Rainham, and it has been granted to the Husseys; Thomas Hussey, esq. of this town, died in 1779, and was buried in it. In the south chancel are memorials for the Pattensons, Whitfields, and Apsleys, of this place; and one for Henry Dering, gent. of Shelve, obt. 1752, and Hester his wife; arms, A saltier, a crescent for difference, impaling, on a chevron, between three persons, three crosses, formee; and another memorial for Thomasine, wife of John Handfield, obt. 1704. In the north cross are several antient stones, their brasses all gone, excepting a shield, with the arms of Fogge on one. At the end is a monument for John Norwood, gent. and Mary his wife, of this town, who lie with their children in the vault underneath. The south cross is parted off lengthways, for the family of Smith, lords of Ashford manor, who lie in a vault underneath. In it are three superb monuments, which, not many years since, were beautified and restored to their original state, by the late chief baron Smythe, a descendant of this family. One is for Thomas Smith, esq. of Westenhanger, in 1591; the second for Sir John Smythe, of Ostenhanger, his son, and Elizabeth his wife; and the third for Sir Richard Smyth, of Leeds castle, in 1628: all which have been already mentioned before. Their figures, at full length and proportion, are lying on, each of them, with their several coats of arms and quarterings blazoned. In the other part of this cross, is a memorial for Baptist Pigott, A. M. son of Baptist Pigott, of Dartford, and schoolmaster here, obt. 1657, and at the end of it, is the archbishop's consistory court. In the south isle is a memorial for Thomas Curteis, gent. obt. 1718, and Elizabeth his wife; arms, Curteis impaling Carter. Under the tower is one for Samuel Warren, vicar here forty-eight years, obt. 1720. The three isles were new pewed and handsomely paved in 1745. There are five galleries, and an handsome branch for candles in the middled isle; the whole kept in an excellent state of repair and neatness. There was formerly much curtious painted glass in the windows, particularly the figures of one of the family of Valoyns, his two wives and children, with their arms. In the south window of the cross isle, and in other windows, the figures, kneeling, of king Edward III. the black prince, Richard, duke of Gloucester, the lord Hastings. Sir William Haute, the lord Scales, Richard, earl Rivers, and the dutchess of Bedford his wife, Sir John Fogge, Sir John Peche, Richard Horne, Roger Manstone, and—Guildford, most of which were in the great west window, each habited in their surcoats of arms, not the least traces of which, or of any other coloured glass, are remaining throughout this church. Sir John Goldstone, parson of Ivechurch, as appears by his will in 1503, was buried in the choir of this church, and gave several costly ornaments and vestments for the use of it.
Visually, NGC 6891 seems fairly simple. I can only see some very small knots of H-alpha. One of them is easy to spot. It's a very small, red dot near the left edge of the outer halo of material. I almost cleaned it up, thinking it was a cosmic ray.
Red: hst_08390_09_wfpc2_f658n_pc_sci
Green: hst_08390_09_wfpc2_f555w_pc_sci
Blue: hst_08390_09_wfpc2_f502n_pc_sci
North is NOT up.
Visually, there's not much I can think of to say about this. If you want, you could read about it, though. And then you could say, "Ah, so that is what a super-metal-rich planetary nebula looks like."
Again, two sets of data were three years apart, so if you are a very keen observer you may notice slight color fringing.
Red: hst_08594_03_wfpc2_f656n_pc_sci + hst_06119_94_wfpc2_f814w_pc_sci
Green: hst_06119_94_wfpc2_f555w_pc_02_sci
Blue: hst_08594_03_wfpc2_f502n_pc_sci
North is NOT up.
Newsmap is an application that visually reflects the constantly changing landscape of the Google News news aggregator. A treemap visualization algorithm helps display the enormous amount of information gathered by the aggregator. Treemaps are traditionally space-constrained visualizations of information. Newsmap's objective takes that goal a step further and provides a tool to divide information into quickly recognizable bands which, when presented together, reveal underlying patterns in news reporting across cultures and within news segments in constant change around the globe.
Newsmap does not pretend to replace the googlenews aggregator. It's objective is to simply demonstrate visually the relationships between data and the unseen patterns in news media. It is not thought to display an unbiased view of the news, on the contrary it is thought to ironically accentuate the bias of it.
From "Postcards for the visually illiterate" / "Ansichtkaarten voor visueel ongeletterden"
Learning to see things as they are.
Zuster/Sister
Duif/Dove
New lego instruction!) pacific rim . Zane mech inspired with atlas destroyer (visually created by @francescobog87 with this amazing body work) (link in my bio) #legopacificrim #lego #mech #legomech #legomecha #ninjago #legoninjago
Not much to say about today's offering, other than I find it visually appealing. The art instillation is titled 'Grass Blades' by John Fleming.
The White River Badlands of South Dakota consist of a scenic landscape of differentially weathered and eroded, nonmarine sedimentary rocks of Tertiary age. The most visually-striking areas have been set aside as an American national park (Badlands).
The simplified stratigraphic succession in Badlands National Park is:
Sharps Formation (Oligocene)
Brule Formation (Oligocene)
Chadron Formation (Eocene)
Chamberlain Pass Formation (Eocene)
Fox Hills Formation (Cretaceous-Paleocene?)
Pierre Shale (Cretaceous)
The Brule and Chadron Formations make up the White River Group, which along with the overlying Sharps Formation, are the principal scenery-making units in the White River Badlands. Light-colored volcanic ash beds are present in the succession, as are numerous reddish-colored paleosol ("fossil soil") horizons. The Pierre Shale at the base of the exposed succession is a marine unit.
The White River Group weathers and erodes relatively quickly into a rugged landscape with steep slopes, little to no soil, and little to no vegetation. These are the characteristics of badlands topography - "bad" referring to its unsuitability for farming.
Nonmarine fossils are relatively common in the White River Group - principally fossil mammals and other vertebrates. Fossils in the Chadron Formation indicate a swampy, near-sea level environment. The overling Brule Formation produces fossils consistent with a grassy prairie environment. The transition from low-elevation swamp to higher-elevation prairie in this area coincides with the uplift of the Rocky Mountains during the late stages of the Laramide Orogeny.
Erosion rates in the White River Badlands indicate that the landscape started to appear about half-a-million years ago and will disappear about half-a-million years from now. The landscape has about a one million year lifespan.
The hills seen here have two distinctive paleosol horizons. The lower, thicker, yellowish-colored interval is the Yellow Mounds Paleosol, a Late Eocene ultisol. The upper, thinner, reddish-colored interval is the Interior Paleosol, a Late Eocene alfisol. The overlying rocks are the Upper Eocene Chadron Formation.
Stratigraphy: Yellow Mounds Paleosol (capping the Fox Hills Formation) and Interior Paleosol (capping the Chamberlain Pass Formation), basal White River Group, Chadronian Stage, Upper Eocene
Locality: Yellow Mounds Overlook area, White River Badlands, Badlands National Park, western South Dakota, USA
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Online pub. covering the geology of Badlands National Park:
Visually Speaking: The People's Photographer
Brooklyn Public Library
Noelle Flores Théard
Joseph Rodriguez
Jamel Shabazz
www.bklynlibrary.org/calendar/visually-speaking-people-ce...
We went to the National Leprechaun Museum yesterday and was so surprised at how visually stunning it was!!!! totally unexpected :) www.leprechaunmuseum.ie
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Visually, the finished look is one of pure line with few design elements. The atmosphere is one of pure tranquillity during the day; the reflection of sky in the water and very little to distract the eye. At night the lighting scheme creates a magical pathway fading into the distance, and always there is the gentle sound of running water.
Part of a larger scheme, these clients wanted an ultra-simple, minimalist waterfeature on two levels. The main material used was a pale cream Travertine detailed with a dark slate-grey.
At the lower level, a canal runs across the garden. The main steps are accessed by stepping stones across the water.
The upper level features two rills. Water flows away from the house and cascades via two stainless steel waterfalls onto the lower level beyond, aerating and purifying. The paving features LED flush lighting to highlight the edge of the scheme and the steps and all three bodies of water are floodlit discreetly below the water surface.
The only plant material is six ball-shaped box trees, providing a simple, sculptural look to this otherwise angular scheme.
The whole concept of visually updating cars on a yearly basis has always seemed a bit extravagant to many people outside of the U.S. Whereas our cars could look pretty much the same year on year before finally being replaced in America sheet metal changes were often done after 12 months in a continuous effort to get people to buy the latest seasons vehicle.
One one hand you could say it got potential buyers to continually seek out your latest products and on the other it would bring about the term "built in obsolescence" making a pretty new purchase seem old hat! It must have caused a nightmare with model makers even now but I guess also a goldmine of potential for maximising a certain casting with only minimal changes.
This is the second Auto World Buick Estate Wagon Santa brought me this Christmas yet being a 1975 example and not a 1974 means its front panel and grille have been altered accordingly. Everything else looks pretty much the same meaning a true 1/64 scale Station Wagon laden with lashings of chrome and gaudy fake wood appliqué. I absolutely love this type of model and Auto World seem to be very good at making them! Mint and boxed.
Marilyn Rushton, a well-known Burnaby citizen, is awarded with the province’s newest honour, the Medal of Good Citizenship.
Rushton is honoured for her for inspirational life of service to the visually impaired community, her contributions to families with blind and visually impaired children, and her energetic support for the musical community.
Learn more: news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2016IGR0025-001407
In the seed processing plant at Bidasem, workers visually examine and manually sift maize seed on a conveyor belt, picking out material such as damaged or spoiled seed or pieces of cob. After initial cleaning and sorting, all seed that goes through the plant passes through quality control. If a sample from a batch is found to more have more than 2% impurities, they are either separated out by hand like this or using a gravity table. The batch is then resampled to ensure a clean bill of health to continue processing.
Bidasem is a small seed company based in the central Mexican plains region known as the Bajío. It produces approximately 10,000 bags of maize seed a year, each holding 22.5kg, as well as producing wheat and oat seed and marketing seed of other crops. Despite their small size, Bidasem and similar companies play an important role in improving farmers’ livelihoods. “Our aim is to provide farmers with quality seed at accessible prices, that is adapted to the conditions we have here in the Bajío. It’s a great satisfaction, when farmers achieve the yields they need,” says director general María Esther Rivas.
“Without CIMMYT, we couldn’t exist,” says Rivas. She sells four different maize hybrids, all formed from freely-available CIMMYT parent lines. “Really the most important thing is to produce your own hybrids, and for us it wouldn’t be possible if we didn’t have the germplasm from CIMMYT. What we’re currently producing is 100% CIMMYT.” The relationship between Bidasem and CIMMYT is now deepening through participation in the MasAgro initiative, which includes training courses for seed companies and collaborative trials to evaluate the best seed.
Photo credit: X. Fonseca/CIMMYT.
For more on seed production at Bidasem, and CIMMYT's role in providing the best seed, see CIMMYT's 2012 e-news story The seed chain: producing better seed for small farmers, available online at: www.cimmyt.org/en/newsletter/598-2012/1398-the-seed-chain....
I think I may have mentioned this before, but the big joke in my most intimate crowd of friends is "Oh that's Karen... she sees things VISUALLY". (beat) (beat) (beat) Duh-uh!
It's my own fault. I think it mighta been at the Thanksgiving table a few years ago when I- without adequate aforethought- blurted out in the middle of a conversation "Well that's because I see everything visually". Meaning that I'm more highly attuned to visual stimuli than to anything else in a given situation. If the light's too bright- in my opinion- in a room I will have a hard time concentrating on what is being said until I adjust it. Certain colors- or color combinations- will make my teeth clench. I can remember minute details of the rooms of houses I was in years ago even when I can't call to mind the name of the host. And visual chaos, other than of course my own clutter, will render me incapable of productivity... and even my own visually cacophonous environment will get to me when it reaches a certain point. Didn't have my camera with me on my walk home today from my nutritionist appointment, so of course I saw two dozen imaginary oblong frames over perfect photo ops through my built-in organic viewfinder in the course of two miles.
I'm sure the visual bunch around here can relate!
For some reason this penchant of mine seems particularly acute near the holidays. In both good and bad ways. I love, for instance, how illumination can be used so beautifully to set mood for the "dark of winter" holidays that hover around the solstice. And I have a healthy appreciation for some good old fashioned kitsch... good thing in my neighborhood! But I have no tolerance for the "over the top" sensibilities of the "bigger is better" crowd. Last night when I was over at Matt's for the weekly viewing of my favorite show "Pushing Daisies"- beloved by me mostly for it's fabulous visual sense, but also it's slightly absurd point of view- I hit my limit of bad holiday advertising visuals in less than three hours. A new record I believe. Luckily, I have a significant counterbalance in memories of holidays past.
Last week when I was making pies the day before the holiday, with a buncha friends and family laughing and talking at a table across the room, just the act of looking down into the bowl at the pastry blender mixing fat and flour conjured up a breathtaking remembrance of the barren front yard and manual water pump of my Indiana grandmother. As a very young child I would sit on her ramshackle sagging porch staring out at that pump while we waited impatiently for the pie-day treat she always made us... little individual piecrusts to eat plain and salty and warm from the oven. And then, as always happens when that visual comes to mind, I remembered too how her kitchen looked when my grandad would take a bath in the galvanized tub, with water from the pump heated in kettles on the stove while she was baking the pies. If I was paid to I don't believe I could recall the timbre of my grandfather's voice, or what kind of fillings grandma put in the full-sized piecrusts.... but I could paint you an accurate picture of that front yard, and can draw a groundplan of that kitchen with its farmhouse table and well-used butter churn and the hole in one of the sagging floorboards that you had to avoid. It's not that I didn't love them.... it's that my visual memories overwhelm most of the others.
There's another visual memory I was trying to describe to Matt recently. Much harder to describe. One Christmas Eve when I was maybe 8 or 9 or 10 years old, and we lived in a happy but crowded small duplex, I escaped to the tiny bathroom- the only room with a lock on the door- to elude the party downstairs and the inevitable festive chaos for a few minutes. It had snowed that day, which prompted some of the celebration below, and in there, with the lights turned off, the quality of the light that came through the venetian blinds- reflected off the cold white untrammeled-as-yet snow twenty feet below- had a serenity and a magical quality to it that I've never forgotten. Almost blue, but feeling both warm and cool at the same time. Bright enough that there must have been a full moon, though I don't recall seeing it. The din belowstairs seemed far away for a moment, and there was a feeling of promise to it that I know had to do with anticipation of Christmas, but that felt- in that moment- something more portentous than that.
I bring this one up because, over the many years since that night, maybe once every few years, I will be in a dark room somewhere and the quality of the light will immediately transport me back to that moment.... and I'll see it again as if I'm a child sitting in that tiny bathroom, just hours before Santa's anticipated arrival by sleigh. It's a very happy feeling.
Not all of the visual memories are holiday related, of course. Seeing lavendar growing anywhere near silver artemesia will bring to mind herbalist Adelma Simmons- now long dead- bending over a row of her plants in her signature capelette and skullcap tackling an unwanted weed. Any image hereabouts of a straight highway through a desert will recall to me precisely the way New Mexico looked over the dashboard of our rental car when Matt introduced me to the beauty of that part of the country via route 40. My friend Zen Granny posted a photograph from a mountaintop in Switzerland recently that brought back a memory of sitting on a misty mountaintop high above lake Lucerne so vivid and clear that I swear I could feel the chill in the air that I felt there 34 years ago. I've been known to miss my bus stop when someone on the route reminds me of my mother, and I get lost in a photorealistic picture in my head of a day she was across from me on the Newington to Hartford bus explaining to a newcomer where the best bargains were to be found in the area. I was a sullen teenager at the time too embarrassed to sit next to my mom, but not so jaded that I don't remember the exact way the late afternoon sun sat on her shoulder, or the grateful smile of the mousy blond woman in the incongruous black fishnet stockings who- though she didn't know it at the time- was being inducted into the exclusive cabal of my mother's G Fox & Company cronies.
Oh, you know I could go on and on, but I'll spare you the tedium. Sometimes this acute visual memory feels like a curse, but most of the time I'm grateful for it. Would I trade it for some of the memories that are less developed in me? ...names. ...dates. ...how to make money reliably. Those would be tempting ones to have. But not if I'd have to give this one up. Even if my friends do make fun of me for it.
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Perhaps the most visually compelling element in the Over mansion is this exquisitely detailed Classical inspired porch pediment. It combines lines from Classical Antiquity with Georgian era details reinterpreted though early 20th century eyes and tastes. Although merely part of an architectural statement, I view this as a genuine artistic statement worthy of careful study to fully appreciate the Old World workmanship from this era over a century ago. The stylized symmetrical Georgian Revival window at the center of the pediment was missing for a while but an exact replica was made for a previous restorer. Over 20 years of careful restoration work has gone into this mansion and continues.
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Bali is one of the few places on earth made visually stunning by its main economic activity. In no other locale of the island does this hold truer than in the Tabanan District of west Bali where the cascading rice terraces of Jatiluwih are the most striking feature of the agricultural landscape, claiming even slopes that look too formidable to be of any possible use.
Along with majestic Pekerisan River in Gianyar and the stately Taman Ayun Temple in Mengwi, Jatiluwih has been chosen as a new nominee as a World Heritage site. It’s a great honor for Bali to have its natural and cultural wonders included, as the sites will take their place right along side world-famous Borobudur, Prambanan, the Sangiran archaeological site, Ujung Kulon, Lorentz and Komodo national parks, and the tropical rainforests of Sumatra.
The achingly picturesque area of Jatiluwih actually comprises not only rice fields but also forests, lakes, springs, temples and a huge natural mountain reserve scattered over a wide area around the slopes Mount Batukaru, a sacred landscape whose boundaries are defined by a cluster of temples supported by traditional villages and farmlands administered by age-old subak organizations, the local water boards.
This site is among the most striking examples of terraced agriculture in the world and is arguably Bali’s oldest and most complex real-life model of the subak agricultural system which vividly reflects the intertwined, mutually beneficial relationship between the island’s traditional rice growing culture and its Bali Hindu spiritual belief system.
Bali’s terracing and irrigation practices are even more elaborate, sophisticated, and seasonably predictable than those on Java. Though beautiful rice field terraces also can also be found in Sumatra and Sulawesi, there is no irrigation organization in Indonesia comparable to Bali’s water conservation and distribution system. Only the 2000-year-old Ifugao rice terraces of the Philippines can hold a candle to Jatiluwih.
As it exemplifies such effective water usage over centuries, Bali’s famed environmentally friendly subak system itself is being considered for the World Heritage list. The effort to get the subak system listed to World Heritage status is especially urgent in the face of widespread diversion of agricultural lands. Over the past 20 years Bali lost more than 1,500 ha of precious rice fields to make way for the development of tourist resorts, restaurants, housing complexes, road construction and other commercial enterprises.
The Realm of Dewi Sri
Jatiluwih is one big sculpture. Because of the Tabanan area’s superb drainage pattern, the high volcanic ash content, and the island’s equable climate, conditions for traditional sawah cultivation exemplified by Jatiluwih’s terraces are perhaps the most ideal in all of Bali.
Rice growing is practiced as both an art and a science. Bali’s steep and narrow ravines, as typified especially in the western part of Jatiluwih, are not easy to dam. To remedy this problem, the area’s farmers have devised an ingenious system of hand-built aqueducts, small catchments, and underground canals to collect rainwater from Bali’s mountain lakes, spilling each farmer’s precious allotment of water onto tiers of paddy via thousands of tiny waterfalls.
Jatiluwih’s rice fields are irrigated by water that is sometimes channeled by tunnels through solid rock hillsides. Water needs high on the ridges often require tunnels two or three kilometers long. This complex irrigation system, continuously maintained, groomed, and plowed, has been developed over many centuries. The historical manuscript, the Bebetin, records that Balinese farmers have used the Subak system since at least 1071.
Some scholars have postulated that it is due to the expertise of Bali’s rice farmers that the Balinese have been able to support such a refined civilization with such a theatrical and colorful religion. The discipline required to share water and resources has created a remarkably cooperative way of life. Rugged individualists cannot exist in communities where every farmer is utterly dependent on the cooperation of his neighbors.
The word for rice (nasi), a staple of the Balinese diet, is the same word for “meal”. A Balinese cannot imagine a meal without rice. Specialized vocabularies deal with every aspect of rice farming, and a huge amount of time, energy, and money go into petitioning the gods so the rice farmer’s work may yield good results. Popping up everywhere in Jatiluwih’s rice terraces you see small temples dedicated to Dewi Sri, the beloved goddess of rice.
I don't typically buy anything from the Revoltech series, mostly likely because the licenses that they play with aren't usually my thing. However, once in a while, an interesting figure pops up.
For the last little while, one of the more visually impressive sublines from the Revoltech is the Figure Complex: Amazing Yamaguchi line featuring various beloved X-Men characters sculpted by Yamaguchi Katsuhisa. I know a Wolverine and Magneto were released, and a Gambit will be released. I also believe the line has moved onto at least non-X characters with the recently solicited Iron Man.
Obviously, this figure is none of those - this is Psylocke.
For someone that likes figures and toys, it's surprising how few comics I've read. My introduction to the character was from the original Capcom Vs. Game, X-Men: Children of the Atom in all her uninhibited bouncy glory.
The character naturally has a long and storied past that I'd probably lose much sleep over if I actually tried to research. I believe that "too long, didn't read" version of it is that she is a mutant (duh) named Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock, the sister of Captain Marvel. Through a series of events such as self sacrifice and transference of mental capacities, she ends up in a body of an Japanese woman who is the brain dead wife of the leader of the Hand, an assassin clan, and is brainwashed into become one of them. She develops Psionic powers (ability to form things out of mental energy, mostly for her being blades), and eventually breaks free of this brainwashing, and that, friends is the genesis of the X-Men character Psylocke.
None of that matters, of course. I bought the figure because the previews made her look really, really, good, and Psylocke herself being a very sharp character design with long flowing purple hair and her purple kind-of-there outfit. While it's been out for probably 6 months now, I only recently got mine because I insist that the guy who sold it to me bring it to me personally... even if I had to wait six months.
If you've never watched gameplay of Psylocke, just think slinky female ninja dressed in purple capable of making various energy things. And, as mentioned, the prototype pictures show cased that very well. So, how did it do?
Well, let's start from the top.
Psylocke comes with the figure, two face plates (one neutral, one smiling), a sheathed katana, an empty sheath, twin katanas, twin energy katanas, twin Psyblades, 4 sets of hands, a detachable sash, and a dynamic stand with both a peg connector, along with a clamp that I guess would give you a bit more height with your aerial stuff but I never actually used it. I personally would have like an additional angry/attacking face plate because as it is, she's a bit too serene looking.
Also kind of neat is that on the cardboard insert (and side flaps of the box) are full colour prints of I guess what comic art inspired this particular design.
The Revoltech joint system is a bit different from the Figma and Figuart systems.. at least I guess they are, and at the very least this one is.
Articulation is very, very, very good. I cannot emphasize how much you can get this figure to do despite it's small size. The trade off is that some of the joints look really weird when not positioned properly, specifically the shoulders and knees, which are double or triple joints depending on which one we're talking about. Whomever designed the tray for holding Psylocke really didn't do the figure any favours to say the least. However, the amount of knee bend and chest press that this figure more than overshadows this first impression issue, and that range or movement is something you want for a figure like Psylocke.
In addition to the aforementioned, all your standard points of articulation are present. Bonus ones include a toe swivel, articulation for her sash, thigh swivel, independent neck and head articulation, and hair that can be lifted to all for greater neck movement, with the latter head/neck related items allowing for some great crouching poses.
Sadly, while her shoulders worked out just fine despite their wonky appearance, her ass suffers from the dreaded "thigh separation" scenario where the movement of the legs creates an unsightly gap where the thigh meets the back of the body, particularly notable given that she doesn't wear pants. But, again, at least the trade off is great articulation.
Psylocke I guess would technically be the action figure (or at least middle of the pack Japanese figure) equivalent of a Butterface release. To be fair, it is generally what was promised on the box, so I don't really have anyone to blame but myself for buying her if this was the key aspect that ruins the experience for me. Both the prototype and the final item feature the same round almost featureless face with the undersized nose.
No it's other things that serve not only as a topic of discussion, but also kind of give you a feeling as to why Figma and Figuarts are kind of priced the way they are.
Psylocke has an MSRP of about 6,000 Yen, which is about the price of your run of the mill Figuart, with Figma coming in closer to what.. 7,000 if not more these days? The releases are about the same size, but lets remember that Figuarts have no stand and very few accessories, and clearly Psylocke destroys any run of the mill Figuart figure in terms of value.
Part of the pricing on everything is of course the cut paid for the actual license, but it's not like a Marvel license is particularly cheap. So what else is there?
It pretty much comes down to paint.
If you look closely, you'll probably notice that Psylocke has no paint whatsoever on her fleshy bits. Not only does this look a bit meh, but it makes photographing her a major pain in the ass, especially if you're trying to bring out details.. like her nose and eye sockets. You'll notice that the paint masking on her leg bands isn't bad, but there are more weak spots than on its Figma and Figuarts competitors, especially if we're talking about figure with a relatively simple colour scheme. Some minor paint issues were also spotted on her neck piece, but those are primarily paint transfers. There were also some areas with paint overspray, but it wasn't anything bootleg bad, just something worth noting.
Her translucent purple hair is also a big seller for this figure. The overall final product is pretty good, but if you look closely (and in the instance of the back of her head, not even that close), you'll notice some very rough spots that I don't know were a QC issue or a design flaw. By comparison, nothing this was spotted on either KOS-MOS or T-ELOS, both of which are at least 7 years older than Psylocke.
For what it is worth, her effect parts are very well done, particularly her Psiblades with the gradient from cold to warm Purple. The quality of the stand itself is, from my analysis, more solid than a Figma stand, mostly due to a combination of better plastic, a thicker arm, and better designed joints. There were also no issues with regards to rough plastic finishes other than the aformentioned hair problems.
One other issue that I read about was the face plate itself. Some owners seem to be indicating that due to the way the face is mounted on the head (friction based, one slot, straight above the face) the figure arrived with the socket on the hair already worn out and wouldn't hold the face in place, or would be in danger of doing so in the future. I didn't have that issue on mine, but I do understand where they're coming from with these statements.
I should probably also mention the eyes. Those who are familiar with the Hot Toys world will know the term PERS, which is their fancy term for eyes that can be moved on the sculpts to facilitate an even greater amount of posing. Amazingly this figure also features eyeballs that can be moved, though it's not as complicated as the PERS system. This is actually pretty neat given the size of the eyeballs, though you might want to ditch the included white pick in favour of a tiny screw driver or something to move the eyes as I believe the 90 degree bend actually makes it harder to manipulate the eyes into the right direction.
In the end, a very good release, and probably the best Psylocke action figure I've ever seen.. of course, the only others I have seen are the Marvel Legends one which again, aren't bad given the price. Those looking for a more legit comic sculpt need not apply here, naturally.
But there is no doubt that this is a sharp looking figure, and for the price it comes with quite a few goodies. It just lacks that final bit of spit polish that would push it from being very good to being outstanding. Still, if you like your ninjas purple and slinky, you can't go wrong.
Ivatt 2MT class 2-6-0 No 46512 entering Llynlcys with an up Llanfyllin to Oswestry service on the 11th February 1964. Artistically and visually it has all the elements and 'ingredients' for a splendid composition Vertical, parallel and diagonal lines and an arched bridge are the centrepiece while the train shot going away and about to go past the former abutments of the Crickheath Tramway and
under the road bridge are secondary. The engineman and the young girl waving to the cameraman all add to its character.
Crickheath Tramway
ORIGINALLY KNOWN AS THE PORTHYWAEN IRON RAILWAY.
The Montgomeryshire Canal's eastern section and the Ellesmere Canal met at "Porthywaen Lime Rocks", both being opened in 1797. To develop traffic, the Montgomeryshire Canal Company Act of 1794 authorised "That in case the Proprietor...of any Manor...containing...any quarries of Limestone or other stone...lying within a distance of Three Miles from the said Canal...shall find it expedient or necessary to make any Rail Way or Road for the purpose of conveying his...Limestone ..then it shall be lawful for him to make such Rail Way, Road, or Bridges, and Wharf". This tramway was one built under this clause by the Earl of Powys, from Crickheath Wharf (GR 32923234) generally westwards to the limestone quarries at Whitehaven. The opening date is unknown, Baxter has c1794, but this was before the canal was opened. W. Davies "General View of the Agriculture of North Wales," published in 1810 refers to the tramway and Christiansen & Miller have 1820 from Crickheath Wharf to Llynclys and on to Porthywaen about 1826.
The line is shown on the 2" Ordnance Surveyors Drawings of 1827, east of the Oswestry to Welshpool turnpike and the 1830-1831 surveyed section west of the turnpike. Beginning at 'Crick Heath Wharf' on the Ellesmere Canal the route ran generally westwards to cross the Oswestry to Welshpool turnpike (A483) on the level and then the Llynclys to Porthywaen road (B4396) also on the level, continuing west to the Limestone Quarries where it split into two short branches. The line is next shown on the 1" OS map published on the 14th of June 1837 following the same route to terminate at 'White Haven' at GR 32723242 about one and a half miles from Crickheath.
The Oswestry & Newtown Railway received its Act on the 26th of June 1855 and was opened from Oswestry to Pool Quay on the 1st of May 1860. As the line crossed the tramway at Llynclys, a bridge was built to carry the tramway across at GR 32843240 under a clause in the Act ordering the company not to interfere with the gradient of the tramway. The O & NR received a further Act for a short branch from Llynlys Junction to the quarries at Porthywaen adjacent to Whitehaven on the 3rd July 1860 and the Act prohibited the company from altering or interfering with the line or level of the tramway. The line opened on the 1st of May 1861, removing some traffic from the tramway which however remained in use to carry stone and lime for distribution by a canal. The Porthywaen branch ran alongside but to the north of the western part of the tramway.
In 1862 at the suggestion of the O&NR, two public sidings were to be provided on their Porthywaen branch for use by the quarries lessees in substitution for the existing siding on the line at Llynclys, where a short tramway branch ran to an exchange siding, was accepted on the 25th June. The implication of this is that the branch was initially used exclusively by Thomas Savin and other lessees had to move stone and lime down the tramway for transhipment to the O&NR. It is unclear if the interchange siding at Llynclys was built, the earthworks are shown on the 1875 OS map, so perhaps it was, but its life would have been very short one or two years. The 1875 OS map shows the same basic tramway route as 1837, detailing the single siding that reversed to reach the wharf at Crickheath, the bridge across the Cambrian, and the unused earthworks of the short interchange siding at Llynclys. At Whitehaven, the tramway served a timber yard and then curved to run beneath the Porthywaen Branch before running through a loop to terminate further north than earlier at the end of an enlarged Whitehaven Quarry at GR 32683244. Leases located in Powysland Reference Library, Welshpool, by Davies filed under "Savin & Co, leases" indicate that Thomas Savin leased Porthywaen Quarry in 1881 and 1887 and the tramway is described in the leases.
The said Earl (of Powys) was the owner of an Iron Tramway which for many years past had been used for conveying limestone from the Porthywaen Lime Rocks to the Ellesmere Canal at a place called Crickheath Wharf... the said Tramway was not wholly carried over lands of the said Earl but passed in part over lands belonging to other persons and a yearly payment was made by the said Earl to each of them in respect of the loss of land and trespass occasioned thereby..." A letter dated the 23rd January 1897 from Powys Castle Estate Office to H.Le Neve Foster (a director of the Porthywaen Lime Co Ltd, then working the quarries) headed Crickheath Tramway states "I am as anxious as you are to get this matter settled. I hope to see Lord Powys's Solicitor on Monday..." A second letter dated 16th February 1897 from H. Le Neve Foster to E.D Nicholson, the secretary and general manager of the Porthywaen Lime Co Ltd who was then working the Porthywaen quarries includes "How is the Crickheath Railway doing? I presume you are working this now and by this means will be able to clear more stone at Pear Tree (Quarry) and at the same time push on with Nut Tree (presumably another quarry) " The implication is that the "matter" was the purchase or lease of the Crickheath Tramway from the Estate but this is not yet confirmed.
The 1901 OS map shows the siding at Crickheath Wharf had been converted into a loop whilst, at Whitehaven, the line crossed a standard gauge siding on the level before continuing beneath the Porthywaen Branch to a crusher in Whitehaven Quarry. The Tanat Valley Light Railway, authorised on the 4th of June 1899 and opened on the 5th of January 1904, branched from the Porthywaen Branch and the initial portion of the branch was then upgraded for passenger use. Signals were provided to protect the tramway crossing under the control of the signalman at Porthywaen Signal Box with an additional signal to control the mixed gauge track to Whitehaven crusher. The 1926 OS map shows these changes at Whitehaven with the tramway crossing the Tanat Valley line on the level before running as a three-rail line behind Porthywaen Signal Box, beneath the Porthywaen line and terminating at a modified crusher in Whitehaven Quarry.
The line later closed, probably following the bursting of a canal culvert over the Morda Brook about 1932, following which the canal was not restored. The track was lifted in 1939. In 1932 the Steetley Lime & Basic Co took over the quarry and the Porthywaen signal box was reduced to a ground frame probably in the early 1930s, both perhaps indicating the demise of the tramway. A photograph of Whitehaven quarry dated the 31st of July 1934 certainly appears to show the tramway in the quarry, out of use and overgrown. The Davies paper read in 1945 notes "has been disused for some years, but the embankment across the field from the Oswestry -Welshpool road to the railway near Llynclys Station can be plainly seen". Today (2015) the wharf at Crickheath alongside the partially filled canal lies on private land, the stone abutments of the bridge over the O&NR at Llynclys plus a short length of the tramway embankment westwards and the girder bridge (cast Brymbo 1861) carrying the road over the tramway as it approached Whitehaven, constructed by the Oswestry & Newtown Railway, remain. what may be the remains of the crossing gate guarding the tramway crossing the access road to Llynclys goods yard are buried in the hedge?
Source P. Teather.
Visually, in light conditions like these a stairway to heaven of sorts at the old Royal Cinema, Deal, Kent now an amusement arcade and snooker club. I saw my first X-rated film here, the horribly violent Death Wish starring Charles Bronson in about 1975 - I was fifteen years old but probably looked about eleven and a half. The bloke selling tickets took one look at me and said "are you eighteen?", thinking the game was up, but looking to save some face I replied "I'm seventeen" - the box office man turned to his colleague, a woman and said "he's seventeen, shall we let him in?" - they gladly took my money and I felt as if I'd scored a major victory.
Some time ago, I posted an image of my own adaptation of a Rubik's cube into a tactile cube for the blind.
Well, today I got this brand new Rubik's Cube. It's a cube that is intended for the blind and visually impaired, but can be solved by the sighted, too. It's got its usual coloured tiles with the addition of the 3D shapes on them, so it can be solved visually or just by touch. It's absolutely fantastic! And what I like most about it is that this cube can connect blind and sighted people in a fun activity!
Keep the comments clean! No banners, awards or invitations, please!
A Section of a General Map of the Routes in British North America Explored by the Expedition Under Captain Palliser (1865)
The final map in Palliser’s Report is one of the most visually attractive and most significant maps ever published of the area From Lake Superior to the Pacific Ocean. Material from it was often incorporated in other maps in future years. A very clearly conceived map, it is carefully organized, coping gracefully and seemingly effortlessly with a tremendous amount of information. Perhaps a considerable part of the credit for this map should go to Stanford’s Geographical Establishment, which produce it. The map shows the gross natural patterns of the interior extraordinarily effectively. The three prairie steppes, and the great vegetation, climatic, and land capability divisions, including the Fertile Belt for which Palliser is so famous, are all clearly delineated. Many of the major relief features are exaggerated. Geologic features are usually mentioned in descriptive annotations printed on the body of the map, and there are also interpretive remarks such as the reference to the Ancient Lake bottom in the Red River Plain. Some cultural features are shown, the population of Fort Garry is given, and there are very many Place names. There are errors of location, amounting to over 10 miles in some instances, but by and large the main features are accurately enough related to one another so that one is not bothered by these mistakes. The map does tie together a tremendous amount of material on the West in an appealing format. It is truly a masterful example of the cartographer’s craft.
(Warkentin and Ruggles. Historical Atlas of Manitoba. map 93, p. 224)
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A General Map of the Routes in British North America Explored by the Expedition under Captain Palliser, During the Years 1857, 1858, 1859, 1860. Compiled from the Observations and Reports of Captain Palliser and his Officers, including the Maps constructed by Dr. Hector, and other authentic documents. 1865.
Scale 1 inch to 14.5 miles. Routes are in red. Produced by Stanford’s Geographical Estab. London. The map was issued with the index to Captain Palliser’s Reports.
Printed in Great Britain, Parliamentary Papers. Index and Maps to Captain Palliser’s Reports, Showing The Date of Each Journey, the Route, and the Page in which it is described in the Copies of the Reports laid before Parliament on the 19th May 1863. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty. 1865. London: Printed by G.E. Eyre and W. Spottiswoode, 1865.
Visually parsing the more complex motion that will result from the easeInBounce above will likely require more time than the more simplistic easeInQuad curve. (Both these curves and their associated code can be found on easings.net.)
Designing Interface Animation: Meaningful Motion for User Experience, Head, Val, 2016. New York: Rosenfeld Media rosenfeldmedia.com/books/designing-interface-animation