View allAll Photos Tagged visually
Gomphrena globosa, commonly known as globe amaranth, is an edible plant from the family Amaranthaceae. The round-shaped flower inflorescences are a visually dominant feature and cultivars have been propagated to exhibit shades of magenta, purple, red, orange, white, pink, and lilac. Within the flowerheads, the true flowers are small and inconspicuous.
Gomphrena globosa is native to Central America including regions Panama, and Guatemala, but is now grown globally. As a tropical annual plant, G. globosa blooms continuously throughout summer and early fall. It is very heat tolerant and fairly drought resistant, but grows best in full sun and regular moisture. The plant fixes carbon through the C4 pathway. At maturity, the flowerheads are approximately 4 centimetres (1.6 in) long and the plant grows up to 24 inches (61 cm) in height.
Gomphrena globosa is an outcrossing species that is pollinated by butterflies, bees, and other insects. Floral volatiles likely play a significant role in the reproductive success of the plant by promoting the attraction of pollinators.
Uses
In Hawaii, it is commonly used in long-lasting leis since it retains its shape and color after drying.
In Nepal, the flower is known commonly as makhamali ful and is used to make a garland during Bhai Tika, last day of Tihar festival. The garland is put around the brother's neck by their sister for protection. The slow withering character of the flower symbolizes a long life for the brother. The flower was included in the gift sent to Britain by Jung Bahadur Rana in 1855. This flower is known as Rakta Mallika in Sanskrit.
This plant is common in landscape design and cutting gardens for its vivid colors and color retention.
The edible plant G. globosa has been used in herbal medicine.
The flowers of G. globosa are rich in betacyanins which have a wide range of applications as additives and supplements in the food industry, cosmetics, and livestock feed. Stable between pH 3 and 7, the betacyanins in globe amaranth are well suited to be used as natural food dye and have a red-violet color.
Chemical properties
Phytochemicals
At least twenty-seven phytochemicals have been detected in G. globosa including six phenolic acid derivatives and fifteen specific flavonoids. The most abundant phenolic compounds present are flavonoids. A major phenol was found to be kaempferol 3-O-rutinoside based on chromatographic and mass spectrometry techniques. Gomphrenol derivatives also contribute to phenolic content. Other flavanols include quercetin, kaempferol, and isorhamnetin derivatives.
Betacyanins
The major betacyanins identified in globe amaranth are gomphrenin, isogomphrenin II, and isogomphrenin III. These compounds are stored in vacuoles in the plant.
Volatiles
Cultivars of G. globosa vary in the identity of floral volatiles but the volatile compounds of nonanal, decanal, geranyl acetone, and 4,8,12-tetradecatrienal, 5,9,13-trimethyl, were commonly detected by chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis. The cultivar ‘Fireworks’ has a high abundance of volatile esters such as geranyl propionate, geranyl isovalerate, benzyl isovalerate, and benzyl tiglate. The floral volatile emission of this cultivar of G. globosa was found to exhibit a diurnal pattern independent of light. Emission of floral volatiles can be regulated by phytohormone and defense signaling molecules. Experimentally, the ethylene inhibitor silver thiosulphate increased volatile emission of molecules derived from the terpenoid pathway. Defense signaling molecules can have temporal effects on floral volatile emission such as increased emission after four hours and reduced emission of volatiles after 24 hours in time studies analyzed with chromatography-mass spectrometry.
Visually, the Cutlass most resembles the F/A-137D Longsword interceptor, used by the West Terrastralian Air Force (WTAF). Unlike its Air Force counterpart however, the Cutlass features folding wings, strengthened landing gear and an arrester hook. These modifications come at a cost, however; the Cutlass was forced to sacrifice one of is weapon hardpoints to save weight. Nevertheless, those that fly it have only praise to direct towards their mount.
I'd never intended to post these photos. 'Always wanted the Zeppelin print to just stand on it's own as a mysterious little pinhole "gem".
However,
Nine months ago while I was in the hospital undergoing chemotherapy and my stem cell transplant, 3 stooges set out to diss and debunk the Zeppelin image as not a pinhole image but, photoshopped (ugh). So, now in my defense (like, I should even have to...)
The location: Denver Public Works Building. I was attracted to this building from it's original construction. With it's German industrial look and saluting stormtroopers sculpture on the bridge, it seemed only right to have some form of airship in the image. I'd originally thought of an Albatros DIII (german biplane) or an Me-262 (german jet) but always fancied dirigibles.
The Zeppelin: LZ 129 Hindenburg 1:720 scale (about 13 inches or 33cm long) Revell 04802
The Boom (to suspend the zeppelin): Made of wood strips, angle aluminum, hardware, monofilament and mounted on a tripod.
The Camera: Polaroid pinhole conversion. 35mm focal length with 9mm rise. I converted this camera specifically for this project. Can be seen here.
Film: Polaroid Type 665 positive/negative.
Other notes: I had to pack everything in on my bike as the location was accessible by bike path only.
Total time and expense to final neg.: I'd rather not think about it.
....................................................................................................
Back to the stooges: kevinolson44, Airships and SouthWestDreams. You can read their comments here or at the Zeppelin image.
By the way, not one of them have a single pinhole image in their photostream.
kevinolson44 says:
The last Zeppelin that looked like this was destroyed in 1940. Please explain how you managed to photograph it in 2006.
Posted 10 months ago. ( permalink | delete )
Stefan G. Pro User says:
Very adequate way to capture a Zeppelin!
Posted 10 months ago. ( permalink | delete )
kevinolson44 says:
Doesn't anyone want to know how he shot this in 2006? Zeppelins like this no longer exist and have not existed in this form in 69 years! Also judging by the size of the "Zeppelin" in the shot it appears to be over the river. Where's the reflection in the water? Come on people, this is obviously Photoshop'd.
Posted 9 months ago. ( permalink | delete )
Gary M Pro User says:
Looks like many of the blimps that fly over the NYC/NJ area to me. Just looks like a fabulous pinhole camera image to me.
Posted 9 months ago. ( permalink | delete )
rustman Pro User says:
8^)
Posted 9 months ago. ( permalink | delete )
Airships Pro User says:
Sorry to spoil anyone's fun, but this is not a pinhole photograph taken in 2006, or any photograph taken in 2006.
The airship in this image looks nothing at all like a modern blimp. According to the shape of its hull, its size, and the location and design of its control gondola and engine cars, if this is a real airship at all (as opposed to a model or a computer generated image) it can only be one of two airships ever built, either the LZ-129 Hindenburg, or its near sister, the LZ-130 Graf Zeppelin II (and in either case, with the swastika flags digitally removed from the vertical stabilzers). The Hindenburg crashed in 1937, and the LZ-130 was dismantled in 1940.
It is still a very cool image, and I like it a lot, but it was made with Photoshop, not an oatmeal box.
Posted 9 months ago. ( permalink | delete )
Gary M Pro User says:
www.modern-airships.info/en/home.html The blimp is moving since it is a pinhole camera image. Probally a several second exposure. I see several ships posted that look similar in the link i posted. I hope the photographer chimes in on the discussion. I see nothing fake.
Posted 9 months ago. ( permalink | delete )
Airships Pro User says:
@ Gary:
This photo is almost certainly a fake.
Unless the photographer somehow came across a very large,
historically accurate, and flyable remote-control model (and I believe
I would be aware of any such model in existence), this is not a
pinhole photograph, but a digitally (or otherwise artificially)
contrived creation, using a photograph of the LZ-129 Hindenburg or its near sister ship, LZ-130. The zeppelin in this image can be no other ship.
Take a look for yourself.
Enlarge the photo. (Click "All Sizes").
And here is a photograph, and a drawing, of Hindenburg for comparison:
www.airships.net/wp-content/uploads/lz129-pro file.jpg
www.airships.net/wp-content/uploads/hindenb-f light051web.jpg
LZ-129
Now, look slightly to the left of the control car in the "pinhole photo." On both sides of the hull; you will see the "ledge" that was the promenade area on "A Deck" of the Hindenburg.
www.airships.net/wp-content/uploads/passenger s-arriving-1...
www.airships.net/hindenburg/interiors
Next, look a little father aft; you will see the four engine cars of the Hindenburg, two on either side of the hull.
www.airships.net/hindenburg/design-tec hnology)
Compare the engine cars in the "pinhole photo" to the engine cars in the photo and drawing of Hindenburg.
You said that you see blimps which look similar in the link you posted, but no modern airship (and none of the airships depicted in the link you posted) have external engine cars, nor could they structurally support them.
Now, look at the whole hull; you will see lines running the length of the hull, from bow to stern, which were the longitudinal girders of Hindenburg's internal duralumin frame.
FInally, look at the stern, at the shape of the fins, and also compare the size of the fins to the overall size of the hull, to get a sense of the length of the ship; Hindenburg was four times longer than the largest modern blimp.
The zeppelin in the "pinhole photo" is either the LZ-129 (destroyed in 1937) or the LZ-130 (dismantled in 1940); it can be no other airship.
I still think this is a great image, and my congratulations to its creator; he has a great artistic sense, and some great technical skills.
But it's not a pinhole photo.
Posted 9 months ago. ( permalink | delete )
Henry [6*3=?] Pro User says:
A fake ? So what ? It's a wonderful picture *a*n*y*w*a*y
Posted 9 months ago. ( permalink | delete )
Airships Pro User says:
@ Henry... as I said at the end of my post. :-)
Posted 9 months ago. ( permalink | delete )
kevinolson44 says:
@ Airships
Thanks for making this clear that the photo was a Photoshop creation. It annoys me that so many people bought into this fake. Does anyone really believe that there's a giant Zeppelin flying around in Colorado or Nebraska? And with no visible name anywhere to be seen? Wouldn't the presence of this draw a crowd? The bridge is completely deserted. Check any photos of actual Zeppelins and there are people crowding the rooftops to get a look. Wake up everyone!
Posted 9 months ago. ( permalink | delete )
guruveee says:
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Pinholers, and we'd love to have this added to the group!
Posted 7 months ago. ( permalink | delete )
B.l.u.e.S.k.y. Pro User says:
fantastic... real or unreal...=))))
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink | delete )
bob merco Pro User says:
Fuck em czak. this is one of your best. !!!
Posted 4 months ago. ( permalink | delete )
lepoSs says:
well the so long and never ending debate about photography = reality...
I really appreciate your picture from any way you did it.
It's poetic, futuristic (yes!), so well processed and even... neo-post-avantgardist ;-)
Posted 4 months ago. ( permalink | delete )
sixtåriis Pro User says:
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called je ne regrette rien (by invitation), and we'd love to have this added to the group!
Posted 3 months ago. ( permalink | delete )
SouthWestDreams Pro User says:
masterful! I can't imagine this scene looking better expressed any other way
Posted 2 months ago. ( permalink | delete )
skellum Pro User says:
damn, very cool, such a sharp image with apinhole
Posted 4 weeks ago. ( permalink | delete )
D.Ingraham Pro User says:
Had to revisit this one. One of your more epic shots.
Posted 4 weeks ago. ( permalink | delete )
D.Ingraham Pro User says:
Had to revisit this one. a real masterpiece.
Posted 4 weeks ago. ( permalink | delete )
kevinolson44 says:
If a photographer claims to have photographed something, pinhole camera or otherwise, and it turns out to be a Photoshop creation, he should say so. Since these airships don't exist it goes without saying that this is a Photoshop creation.
Posted 2 days ago. ( permalink | delete )
SouthWestDreams Pro User says:
Sad lie. I am revising my post from a masterful photo to a masterful CREATION. You need not have deceived and lied to enhance the image.
Posted 2 days ago. ( permalink | delete )
Shinjuku, Tokyo, is a dynamic district that perfectly encapsulates the essence of modern Japan. This image showcases the vibrant energy of Shinjuku, a place where tradition meets innovation. The towering buildings, adorned with a plethora of colorful advertisements and neon lights, create a visually stimulating environment that is both captivating and overwhelming. The architecture in Shinjuku is a testament to Japan's rapid modernization, with sleek skyscrapers standing alongside older, more traditional structures. This juxtaposition highlights the district's historical significance and its role as a hub of contemporary culture.
Shinjuku is not just a commercial center; it is also steeped in history. The area has been a significant part of Tokyo since the Edo period, serving as a post town on the Koshu Kaido, one of the five routes of the Edo period. Today, Shinjuku Station is one of the busiest railway stations in the world, a testament to the district's enduring importance. The streets are lined with a variety of shops, restaurants, and entertainment venues, offering something for everyone. From high-end department stores to quirky boutiques, Shinjuku is a shopper's paradise. Food enthusiasts can indulge in a wide range of culinary delights, from traditional Japanese cuisine to international fare. The district is also home to numerous entertainment options, including theaters, karaoke bars, and nightclubs.
Shinjuku's unique blend of history, culture, and modernity makes it a must-visit destination for anyone exploring Tokyo. Whether you're interested in shopping, dining, or simply soaking in the urban atmosphere, Shinjuku offers an unparalleled experience that captures the essence of modern Japan.
Maybe slightly visually confusing at first, this fisheye shot of the Painted Hall at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, London includes in the foreground a mirror used by visitors to look at the ceiling without straining their necks.
During this years #Photo24London event I made a quick trip out to Greenwich on the Sunday morning before hot-footing it back to the Covent Garden finish line.
Click here for more of my photos from the Nikon / Advanced Photographer Magazine event : www.flickr.com/photos/darrellg/sets/72157655092530841
My Website : Twtter : Facebook
I have always been interested in visual things and consider myself a visually orientated person. As a kid I draw a lot and later on my path led me into graphics design, which I learned without formal education (I'm sure that's actually a pretty common in these days, but I highly respect those who have had some sort of formal education to it, because they learn their craft in a broader cultural and societal perspectives). I’ve played with painting, 3D-modelling and so on. Naturally one would think that I would have gone into photography pretty early. I was, but there were more than one false start before I got seriously started with it which was pretty late. Most of my false starts were related to using real film and analog cameras, but there were other reasons too.
I still have couple of rolls of film in our fridge from the old days. Color films plus B&W stuff, which I don’t have much use for. Now when I look back I can recognize three different reasons why I didn't get it started with photography. First reason was the film. Being a youngster of digital age I didn't glue at all with analog cameras which seniors where trying to introduce me into. Film just didn't fit in into paradigm of digital which I had learned working with computers, software, files etc. And most of the early digital cameras I tried were compromised. With them I only learned what I cannot do, like try to take pictures indoors without built in flash. Photography felt pretty difficult and full of 'physical problems' which were non-existent in digital world. Second reason was that I never had many photography friends that I could share my experiences and enthusiasm. My interest in photography was hibernating until one of my close friends bought a pretty serious DSLR-camera. Together we learned to do panoramas, HDR-pictures and all sort of other experiments which guided me back into photography, but this time through a backdoor called post processing. Finally the third reason why I didn't start photography earlier was that I didn't recognize my need to photograph and capture life in its uniqueness. Only after Aura was born I realized that life was very much worth of photographing it.
I can live with the first two reasons, but the third is something I find myself sometimes regretting. In some ways we are just stories which we are able to tell of ourselves. There isn’t a lot of pictures of me and my life when I was younger. If I only had started earlier I would have all sort of photographs of my life – a different and larger repertoire which to use for telling a story of myself.
Year of the Alpha – 365 Days of Sony Alpha Photography: www.yearofthealpha.com
Sadly not a patch on previous times I've been. Visually less of everything across the board. It's clear reenactors, stall holders, vintage vehicles etc., have given it a miss in advance.
The event organisers [Pike and Shot] say 80% of the groups let them down. Cant blame the groups for the mass exodus. You're the organisers, they have supported this event for over 10 years. The fault is on your doorstep.
I was watching and listening to the fella firing up the Rolls Royce engine. He was furious to put it mildly (as seen in my video). He received a call to start it earlier than scheduled. He had to! He did with reluctance and was subsequently drowning out the singers nearby. When he challenged the staff about it they were not so sympathetic. Awful for him. To his credit he apologised to the small crowd of what happened that he was instructed to start the engine early. So for me, this was a live example of the organisers causing unrest as the event unfolded.
Having been to several 1940s events this year, this was the bottom of the pile. When I spoke with quite a few visitors and stall holders etc., they were expecting so much more, as in the past.
Singer: Miss Trixie Holiday
The other singer, not in this video, was Ricky Hunter. Decided not to include him in my video because he spent way too much time looking at his phone, playlist, drinking water, while singing, rather than entertain the crowd. He was a last minute guest singer anyway. He had not been invited for over 5 years.
Entrance fee was £10! (reduced to £4 very late on into the second day). No concessions. No signposting to the event. No map or itinerary. Limited parking. A bare bones event. Purely the fault of the organisers and Rufford Abbey Estate collectively.
Without Prejudice.
Sadly not a patch on previous times I've been. Visually less of everything across the board. It's clear reenactors, stall holders, vintage vehicles etc., have given it a miss in advance.
The event organisers [Pike and Shot] say 80% of the groups let them down. Cant blame the groups for the mass exodus. You're the organisers, they have supported this event for over 10 years. The fault is on your doorstep.
I was watching and listening to the fella firing up the Rolls Royce engine. He was furious to put it mildly (as seen in my video). He received a call to start it earlier than scheduled. He had to! He did with reluctance and was subsequently drowning out the singers nearby. When he challenged the staff about it they were not so sympathetic. Awful for him. To his credit he apologised to the small crowd of what happened that he was instructed to start the engine early. So for me, this was a live example of the organisers causing unrest as the event unfolded.
Having been to several 1940s events this year, this was the bottom of the pile. When I spoke with quite a few visitors and stall holders etc., they were expecting so much more, as in the past.
Singer: Miss Trixie Holiday
The other singer, not in this video, was Ricky Hunter. Decided not to include him in my video because he spent way too much time looking at his phone, playlist, drinking water, while singing, rather than entertain the crowd. He was a last minute guest singer anyway. He had not been invited for over 5 years.
Entrance fee was £10! (reduced to £4 very late on into the second day). No concessions. No signposting to the event. No map or itinerary. Limited parking. A bare bones event. Purely the fault of the organisers and Rufford Abbey Estate collectively.
Without Prejudice.
YouTube:
Rufford Abbey At War. Nottingham. Sept 2019
Series of provinces and peoples were a distinctively Roman way of representing their empire visually, and reflect a distinctively Roman and imperial mode of thought. Such images are most familiar to us in sculpture from the reliefs that decorated the temple of Hadrian in Rome, and on coins from the 'province' series of Hadrian and Antoninus Pius. Recently, the discovery of such a series in relief at Aphrodisias, there called “ethne” (peoples), allows us for the first time to see what an early imperial group of this kind looked like. The ethne are each personified as single, standing, draped women, each well differentiated by drapery and pose, and some by attributes no doubt intended to characterize that ethnos. The ethne are stylistically homogeneous and among the best of the Sebasteion reliefs in quality, both as regards their finish and the assuredness of their form and design. The ethnos reliefs were carved from single blocks of marble, H: c. I72, W: I40, D: c. 42 cm.
Ethonos of the Piroustae Piroustae.
Relief. The personified ethnos stands frontally, weight on her right leg, head looking evenly three-quarters to her left, that is, in the same direction as the mask on the base. She wears a helmet, cloak and belted dress, and carries a small shield on her left arm. The shield band is shown below, on the underside of the forearm. The right hand was held away from her right side, carrying a spear or similar attribute. The shield is given its full three-dimensional value and is cut off at the background. Both helmet and shield are 'ideal' types, that is, they are recognizable versions of old classical Greek armor no longer worn in reality. The round shield is of diminished hoplite type. The helmet is of basic 'Corinthian' form, but worn, as usually by ideal figures in the Roman period, as if permanently pushed back from the face. The short element in relief above the front peak is a vestigial nose-piece of Corinthian type, while the crest is borrowed from the 'Attic' type.
Base. A bearded mask below supports the garland swags, looking towards the viewer's right in partial three-quarter view. It is of indeterminate ideal/divine iconography
Source: Smith R.R., Simulacra Gentium: The Ethne from the Sebasteion at Aphrodisias
Roman bas-relief
Claudius – early Nero age: approx. 41 - 60 AD
Aphrodisias, Archaeological Museum
Aphrodisias, Caria, Turkey
Greg Mitchell Photography and Tactile Photo are exclusively represented by Hammond Art Consuting Services: for consultation, design, delivery and installation on commercial, healthcare and hospitality projects, please contact Alan Hammond at (916) 205-3925 or visit their website at www.hammondartconsulting.com
Visually distilling what a family get-together can look like, for me.
Canon 5D Classic + Canon EF 50mm F1.8 v1
This visually secretive thrush has eluded being photographed by me for years. audibly it isn''t at all shy. loud circular descending notes for a song are common along forested streams. Because the markings on the front are so distinctive I'm including this otherwise unremarkable photo because it shows the chest in decent detail. The accompanying photo shows the Veery unobstructed by branches but lacks the beautiful chest markings.
The total yardsale take for this week. The parts in color, that is. The desaturated stuff is stuff that was already in our house. (Our house is very visually busy. I edited the picture to be less ambiguous.)
Bart Simpson, Chef Smurf, Gir, Homer Simpson, Milhouse Van Houten, Nelson Muntz, Papa Smurf, The Joker, Venom.
BBQ fork, BBQ thermometer, Bart Simpson action figure, Chef Smurf action figure, Fly Bart Simpson action figure, Homer Simpson action figure, I Heart Cupcakes! shirt, Invader Zim purse, Invader Zim shirt, Milhouse Van Houten action figure, Monster Croquet, NCIS board game, Nelson Muntz action figure, Papa Smurf action figure, Puerto Rico board games, Radioactive Homer Simpson action figure, The Joker action figure, Venom bank, accordian shelf, body oil, bowling ball, croquet, dish drainer, dish rack, essential oil, pool chair, power cable, scissors, stepstool, water, wrapping paper.
cartoon: Batman. cartoon: Smurfs. cartoon: The Simpsons. comics: Spider-Man.
edited.
upstairs, Clint and Carolyn's house, Alexandria, Virginia.
May 30, 2015.
... Read my blog at ClintJCL at wordpress.com
... Read Carolyn's blog at CarolynCASL at wordpress.com
... Read my yard sale-related blogposts at clintjcl dot wordpress dot com/category/yard-sales/
BACKSTORY: Got up around 7:00 AM, made it out driving by 7:38 AM and wentout until [forgot:estimating 12:38PM] for a total of about 4 hours, 25 minutes (because we spent ~35 minutes eating).
Spent $54.67 plus ~$8.53 gas for 46.7 miles of driving (15 mpg @ $2.74/G), for a total cost of $63.20.
We drove to 29 yard sales, stopping at 19 (66%) of them [but one was a 50-vendor boy scouts sale, so this count is deceptive].
We made 36 purchases (28 items) for a total estimated value of $436.61, leading to a profit/savings of $373.41.
So in essence, we multiplied our $63.20 investment by 6.9X.
(Also, if you think about it, the profit counts for even more when you consider that we have to earn $~427 on the job, pre-tax, in order to take home the $373 in cash that we saved. How long does $ of disposable income take to earn, vs the 4.41666 hrs we spent here?)
Anyway, this works out to a *post-tax* "wage" of $84.55/hr asa couple or $40.27/hr per person.
THE TAKE:
$12.00: camping chair, Sport-Brella XTR chair, attached umbrella and footrest, blue (EV:$$41.40). Talked down from $15.
$8.00: shelf unit, accordian, black, 20 adjustable shelves, can open and close, 29x34.375x6.5625"(EV:$14.99)
$5.00: water art, Homedics Aquascape Dancing Showers, CP-AQDANC, 2003 (EV:$20.50)
$3.00: game, NCIS, Pressman, shrink-wrapped (EV:$19.99 price tag). Talked down from $5.
$3.00: pool chair, long lounge chair, orange & white (EV:$33.00)
$2.00: step stool, Rubbermaid, Roughneck, purple, 071691134664, 12.5x15.5x9.25" (EV:$8.89)
$2.00: trading cards, G.I. Joe, 1991, Impel (EV:$3.50)
$2.00: game, Puerto Rico, Rio Grande Games, 2002 (EV:$24.00)
$2.00: leather care systems (2), Miracle Seal Plus, leather cleaner, conditioner (8 containers, 8 fl oz each), ink & lipstick remover (2 containers, 2.5 oz each), sponge (2, 1 new, 1 used), cloth (2, 1 new, 1 used) (EV:$31.59)
$1.00: bbq fork/thermometer, Maverick Bar-B-Fork, Electronic Food Probe Thermometer Deluxe, 011502100556(EV:$12.60)
$1.00: shirt, Invader Zim, black, I Heart Cupcakes!, Mighty Fine, XXL (EV:$6.39)
$3.00: purse, Invader Zim, Gir (EV:$18.00)
$1.00: "poster", X-Men, Havok, Psylock, Jubilee, Wolverine, 22x34(EV:$1)
$1.00: "poster", X-Men, The Legend Continues. Mutant Genesis, Cyclops, Storm, Wolverine, Psylock, Gambit, Beast, Colossus, Rogue, ArchAngel, Polaris, Multiple Man, Havok, Guido, Wolfsbane, Nightcrawler, Domino, Kitty Pryde, Cable 13.375x~37(EV:$1)
$1.00: "poster", X-Men, X-Men#1 cover, 10.125x25.5"(EV:$1)
$1.00: "poster", X-Men, X-men on vacation, 10.125x13"(EV:$1)
$1.00: "poster", X-Men, Jean Grey, Storm, Rogue, Psylock, Jubilee, 10.125x13 (EV:$1)
$1.00: bowling ball, Brunswick Axis AML7824, green & purple swirl (EV:$43.95)
$1.00: blanket, Indian style, gray, black and white (EV:$4.99)
$1.00: strainer, with handle, 8" diameter (EV:$2.99)
$0.50: dish drainer, with separate bottom water catcher piece, Sterilite, 17.5x13x4" (EV:$12.57)
$0.50: bank, Venom, Monogram Int'l Inc, AN07-11E22, 7x7.5x6.5" (EV:$19.99)
$0.50: air pump, hand, Athletic Works, 6" inflation hose, AA-245NSP, Wal-Mart, 725033605724 (EV:$9.99)
$0.50: wrapping paper, (6) rolls, christmas (EV:$1.00 each=$6)
$0.38: action figure, Simpsons, Milhouse, Burger King, 2011, astronaut Halloween costume, 3" (EV:$3.75)
$0.38: action figure, Smurf, Papa Smurf, spy glass, 3" (EV:$5.10)
$0.38: action figure, Smurf, Chef Smurf, 3" (EV:$3.99). Given to Paul to remind him there can never be "Too Many Cooks".
$0.38: action figure, Simpsons, Nelson, Burger King, 2007, sitting on trash can, pointing, 3.25" (EV:$4.00)
$0.38: action figure, Simpsons, Homer, Burger King, 2007, with cowboy hat, says "Yee Haw", 4x4" (EV:$11.24), but that was NRFB.
$0.38: action figure, Batman, Joker, 5 joints, purple suit with card symbols spades hearts diamonds clubs, K3684, 4.5" (EV:$5.95)
$0.38: action figure, Simpsons, Homer, Burger King, 2011, Radioactive Homer, light-up machine, 4" (EV:$5.98)
$0.38: action figure, Simpsons, Bart, standing, rubbery, 3.375" (EV:$7.85)
$0.38: action figure, Simpsons, Bart, Burger King, May-Aug 2011, The Fly version with light up insect eyes and muscular chest, 3" (EV:$7.49)
$0.25: power cable, generic computer cable with velcro holder (EV:$2.44)
$FREE: scissors, black handle, 7" (EV:$1.00)
$FREE: essential oil, Cool Water, .5 fl oz, Spectrum (EV:$30.00 printed on it)
$FREE: body oil, Sex On The Beach, .5 fl oz, Sunflower Cosmetics (EV:$7.49)
Publication:
Bethesda, MD : U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Health & Human Services, [2010]
Language(s):
English
Format:
Still image
Subject(s):
Persons With Hearing Impairments
Visually Impaired Persons
Women
Bridgman, Laura Dewey, 1829-1889.
Genre(s):
Portraits
Abstract: Image of a black and white photograph of Laura Bridgman in her late forties, engaged in crochet work which she sold to visitors for pocket money. Her hair, parted in the middle, is arranged in a tight bun, and she is wearing glasses. She is dressed in a long-sleeved dress with a high collar. Life and education of Laura Dewey Bridgman, fronspiece.
Related Title(s):
Hidden treasure
Is part of: Life and education of Laura Dewey Bridgman, the deaf, dumb, and blind girl; See related catalog record: 8202700
Extent:
1 online resource (1 image)
NLM Unique ID:
101602143
NLM Image ID:
A033237
Permanent Link:
resource.nlm.nih.gov/101602143
NLM Hidden treasure p. 134
After trying loose and cracked paving, along with undulating cobbles and kerbs, to keep the local A&E depts. busy, the latest impediment to pedestrians appears to have been hit by a visually impaired driver. -138_1069
Goal: To visually represent a sermon series about the different masks we put on when we face others.
Audience: Student ministry
Direction: I went in a different direction than traditional masks because I was having a hard time incorporating and uniting differing kinds of masks (gas mask, drama mask, etc) in a visually appealing way. I used photos of people because I though that represented more realistically the way we wear our masks - through fake smiles, through our clothes, makeup, etc.
Project: Student ministry sermon series
Other important info: My youth pastor chose to use a graphic with masks (as I was describing before) instead.
A day trip to the GCR Loughborough with the Long Buckby Blind and Visually Impaired group. Not many photo opportunities, and absolutely none in the sun! At the end of the day, I thought it would be rude not to have any railway related shots, so here is D5830 ahead of it`s train, which will be the last service to Leicester North. 20th August 2015. A bit of a mono HDR effect experiment.
Visually Oregon City often seems either too dark or too bright, e.g. here the new lights on the bridge made the river seem very dark, but photographically it balanced out very nicely. One of the fun things about doing a study series like this are the small things you only notice when you are reviewing the images, e.g. the wooden framing that's only on this one side of the bridge, and the three layers of shadows on the arch (see notes). Click here to view other images in this Study Series. From a fun night in Oregon City with the PDXNightowls. NB18371
Visually very similar, but I added some demons to one of them.
Made for a new group called Repeating Myself. The group is meant for photos you have had in explore (subsequently dropped ok) that are similar in some way.
Suffolk Sportscars is dedicated to production of the visually exact reproduction of the legendary Jaguar SS100. It is a true and pure Jaguar, fully recognised and accepted by all the Jaguar car clubs around the world.
The Jaguar SS100 was originally designed in 1935 by William Lyons, the founder of Jaguar Cars Limited. You will find a history of the Jaguar SS100 within this section.
The Jaguar SS100 is one of the most important cars ever produced in England. It marked the high point of English sports car design before the start of World War 2. When the leading motoring writers of Europe selected their choice of the 100 most important cars of the 20th century, they included the legendary Jaguar SS100. As only 314 were ever made this is certainly an achievement. Every serious book about sports cars includes articles and photographs of the Jaguar SS100. This landmark car acted as the mainspring for the development of the remarkable lineage of post war Jaguar sports cars.
We have now made well over 200 of our Suffolk SS100 Jaguar reproductions and are well on our way to achieving my ambition to make as many as William Lyons. We hope that this website will give you the confidence in our products and that you may take the opportunity to come and visit us at Woodbridge. I can tell you that even after 20 years of making the SS100, I still get a smile and goosebumps whenever I'm ready to go for a drive. The overall shape and stying of the car is evocative of the golden age of great pre-war sports cars.
Now we combine all the superb visuality of the car with modern brakes, steering, power and safety to meet the demand of today's driver.
Visually Impaired - Color Blind
Using LomoChrome film to raise awareness of the visually impaired. RZ67 - turquoise
Visually the hellishly bright station lights all but obscure the bridge, but the camera captures a more balanced scene. Aesthetic River Mood Lighting Testing of the Tilikum Crossing Bridge continues 6PM to Midnight thru Saturday December 6th, 2014. A bridge employee said they'd be particularly good Friday from 6-7PM during planned aerial photography. NB28892,3
Very similar visually to the Northern Counties bodied Leyland Olympian in the previous posting is this Volvo variant here earning its keep as a PCV with Express Motors in Portmadoc. With nothing better to do on the Saturday of my stay, I took advantage of a 'Red Rover' ticket and travelled here and there at random between about 8.45am and 6.30pm ... I have to admit, I really quite enjoyed the day for the princely outlay of £6.80. (which might have been 40p more than the advertised price!). Here at the end of my wanderings and as grimness had set it, Express's N418 JBV calls opposite Porthmadog Parc to collect a handful of intending passengers for the Blaenau Ffestiniog direction.
West Kelowna is a visually stunning community and a four-seasons playground, located on the western shores and hillsides of Okanagan Lake.
The Westside (as the locals like to call it) has always been appreciated for its quiet beaches, rolling hills of orchards, and fantastic outdoor activities.
West Kelowna has a diverse economy, which includes agriculture, construction, finance, food and retail services, light industry, lumber manufacturing, technology, tourism and world renowned wineries.
The Kelowna Bridge over Okanagan Lake
The building of the original Kelowna bridge was one of the most important milestones in the history of Kelowna not only for it's economic development, but also for a vital social link, by opening transportation to the South Okanagan and beyond.
Built in 1958, the Okanagan Lake Bridge was also referred to as the Kelowna Floating Bridge. The bridge served as a major landmark and a primary north-south highway corridor in the province of BC, and an important link from the Pacific Northwest United States to British Columbia and north on to Alaska.
The bridge itself was a pontoon bridge, or floating bridge that contained a vertical lift span which could open up to allow boats to pass under it.
Pontoons would support the bridge deck floating on the water. According to history, floating bridges have been around since the 11th century .
Historically, from the mid 1880's to the mid 1930's, Sternwheelers such as the SS Okanagan and the SS York provided transportation to people and goods down and across Okanagan Lake. From the mid-30's, until the original Kelowna bridge was built, ferries would carry vehicles across Okanagan Lake from Kelowna to Westbank, BC, now known as West Kelowna.
Image best viewed in Large screen. Thank-you for your visit!
It is very much appreciated...
Sonja
After sunset on 29th May, I saw my first noctilucent cloud display of the 2021 season from Oxfordshire, UK.
The display was faint and visually I struggled to see it without binoculars. However, my cameras were picking it up. The timelapse video taken with my widefield camera can be viewed here: flic.kr/p/2m2u1Q7
This photo was taken with a second Canon 1100D with a 300mm zoom lens. ISO-800 3.2s f/4.
The images have been processed to bring out the faint details better. This camera was still set to GMT and the clock had lagged by a couple of minutes, so the timestamp in the exif data is about 58 minutes behind the real time.
Sadly not a patch on previous times I've been. Visually less of everything across the board. It's clear reenactors, stall holders, vintage vehicles etc., have given it a miss in advance.
The event organisers [Pike and Shot] say 80% of the groups let them down. Cant blame the groups for the mass exodus. You're the organisers, they have supported this event for over 10 years. The fault is on your doorstep.
I was watching and listening to the fella firing up the Rolls Royce engine. He was furious to put it mildly (as seen in my video). He received a call to start it earlier than scheduled. He had to! He did with reluctance and was subsequently drowning out the singers nearby. When he challenged the staff about it they were not so sympathetic. Awful for him. To his credit he apologised to the small crowd of what happened that he was instructed to start the engine early. So for me, this was a live example of the organisers causing unrest as the event unfolded.
Having been to several 1940s events this year, this was the bottom of the pile. When I spoke with quite a few visitors and stall holders etc., they were expecting so much more, as in the past.
Singer: Miss Trixie Holiday
The other singer, not in this video, was Ricky Hunter. Decided not to include him in my video because he spent way too much time looking at his phone, playlist, drinking water, while singing, rather than entertain the crowd. He was a last minute guest singer anyway. He had not been invited for over 5 years.
Entrance fee was £10! (reduced to £4 very late on into the second day). No concessions. No signposting to the event. No map or itinerary. Limited parking. A bare bones event. Purely the fault of the organisers and Rufford Abbey Estate collectively.
Without Prejudice.
YouTube:
Rufford Abbey At War. Nottingham. Sept 2019
Visually, the Class 27 differed from the preceding Class 26 only in front-end details and, in later years, by the window-less cab doors fitted to the later. Only the Class 26 lasted long enough to carry the grey ‘large logo’ freight livery depicted here. Look closely and, if your eye is better than my photoshopping skills, you will notice that this is a digitally-modified Class 26. It was simply easier to start with a Class 26 in the desired livery than to completely re-livery a Class 27. The location is Oxenhope on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway (27-Nov-21).
All rights reserved. For the avoidance of doubt, this means that it would be a criminal offence to post this image on Facebook or elsewhere (please post a link instead). Please follow the link below for further information about my Flickr collection:
Wheels Up Private Jets opb Mountain Aviation opf Ryan Air Cessna Citation X N938TX cn 750-0183 IAD - Flight WUP938 fly by number two to visually verify that the nose gear did not retract - About 30 minutes later this aircraft landed on runway 1C scrapping some paint on the nose
visually striking war memorial dedicated to soldiers of the Portuguese army who died during the Overseas War of 1961 to 1974. The Monumento Combatentes Ultramar memorial comprises of three distinctive sections; the flame, the monument and memorial wall.
The central flame burns continuously to signify the lasting memory of the dead soldiers while the names of each solider who died in the protracted African conflict are etched into the the three walls that surround the memorial. The artistic section of the Monumento Combatentes Ultramar include a shallow purpose built lake and two large angled pillars that jut out above the flame.
Price - $523.22
Description - Skin texture visually indistinguishable from a real penis
Powerful and hard erection for mind-blowing orgasms
The thin tab fits perfectly into your place, to create maximum comfort and a very realistic look
Ultra-realistic scrotum with movable testicles filled with a special gel
Moveable skin, due to the production technique, we layer different silicones and create an ultra-realistic skin effect
With silicone rod inside the shaft
Length 5.9in (15cm) / Insertable length 4.9in (12.5cm)
Girth 5.12in (13 cm) / Weight 12oz (340g)
They say that size doesn’t matter, and that couldn’t be more true when it comes to our FTM pack and play model - ER02
Silicone softness and device shape are ideal for clitoral stimulation. Gently press it to your partner's body to stimulate clit, labia, or anywhere you please to discover what feels good and enjoy the intense pleasure that can flow through the body.
This pack n play device is perfect for sex, also it is possible to pack with it. Anyway please understand it is not very comfortable to have an erect penis all the time in your pants. But still, if you decide to pack with this model please do not bend the shaft down too much, this model shaft designed to be always erect.
Visit Our Site - ftm.shop/
Zekia Musa is a 29-year-old visually impaired youth activist and peacebuilder who works with the South Sudanese Ministry of General Education and Instruction representing people with disabilities. Among her many activities, she also mentors disabled pupils at schools in the capital, Juba. According to the newly-founded National Union of Disabled People's Organizations, over a million people live with a disability in the country, notably as a result of poverty and decades of conflict. Launched in 2020, the Union brings together eight organizations including the South Sudan Women with Disabilities Network of which Zekia is an active member. While a 2015 law aims to protect the rights of persons with disabilities, social stigma and poor access to information has often confined them to the margins of society. “Often, our culture can impact the disabled negatively and I wanted to break the myths surrounding people like me. Disabled people are no ‘lesser’ than anybody who has complete use of all their faculties. As a citizen of South Sudan, I felt that it was my duty to speak up, speak out on behalf of disabled people.”
“Inequalities are rife across South Sudan. We have to have equal laws and equal justice for everybody. Disabled people need to be included in decisions that impact us directly. I advocate for our rights because I want to see us being included and heard in the future of our country.”
Photo: UN Photo/Maura Ajak
Find out more about Zekia’s work: peacekeeping.un.org/en/youth-peace-security-zekia-musa-ah...
Find out more about how UN Peacekeeping is supporting women in South Sudan: unmiss.unmissions.org/office-gender-adviser
Visually Goose Fair is adorned with amazing artwork which possibly gets overlooked. In 2022 I created a short video focusing on it, check it out!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ix1jE9Nt80
These series of photos were taken 28 Sept 2023, the day before the official opening of the fair. People were busy making final adjustments to rides, checking electrics, stock of foods, drinks, gifts and so on.
The Nottingham Goose Fair is an annual travelling funfair held at the Forest Recreation Ground here in Nottingham. This year, 2023, it runs for 10 days, usually it's 3 days.
Album: Goose Fair. Nottingham
--
No Group Banners, thanks.
Sadly not a patch on previous times I've been. Visually less of everything across the board. It's clear reenactors, stall holders, vintage vehicles etc., have given it a miss in advance.
The event organisers [Pike and Shot] say 80% of the groups let them down. Cant blame the groups for the mass exodus. You're the organisers, they have supported this event for over 10 years. The fault is on your doorstep.
I was watching and listening to the fella firing up the Rolls Royce engine. He was furious to put it mildly (as seen in my video). He received a call to start it earlier than scheduled. He had to! He did with reluctance and was subsequently drowning out the singers nearby. When he challenged the staff about it they were not so sympathetic. Awful for him. To his credit he apologised to the small crowd of what happened that he was instructed to start the engine early. So for me, this was a live example of the organisers causing unrest as the event unfolded.
Having been to several 1940s events this year, this was the bottom of the pile. When I spoke with quite a few visitors and stall holders etc., they were expecting so much more, as in the past.
Singer: Miss Trixie Holiday
The other singer, not in this video, was Ricky Hunter. Decided not to include him in my video because he spent way too much time looking at his phone, playlist, drinking water, while singing, rather than entertain the crowd. He was a last minute guest singer anyway. He had not been invited for over 5 years.
Entrance fee was £10! (reduced to £4 very late on into the second day). No concessions. No signposting to the event. No map or itinerary. Limited parking. A bare bones event. Purely the fault of the organisers and Rufford Abbey Estate collectively.
Without Prejudice.
YouTube:
Rufford Abbey At War. Nottingham. Sept 2019
Our Silences is an itinerant sculpture created to make us reflect on the importance of free speech and self-censorship. It intends to incite an intimate dialogue with the spectator on one of the most fundamental human rights and, at the same time, to establish a symbolic interchange with the places where it is shown.
The ten monumental bronze busts with covered mouths and the so called “tactile box” for the blind and visually weak, are both designed to journey all over the world. Since 2009, the installation has been presented in Portugal, Spain, Belgium, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Russia, Mexico and the United States in cities like San Diego and, very recently, in San Francisco, by the bay.
Rivelino’s appropriationist style —apparent in the way he freely uses typical antique sculptural forms in his proposal— clearly seeks to establish an immediate bond with the past and the memories of the spectator and, at the same time, a strong physical relationship between the work and the spectator Nevertheless, underlying all this is a profound reflection on liberty and its daily exercise.
The eleventh sculpture is an interactive cube (2m3) which allows spectators to perceive what cannot be perceived with the eye. Each side has two holes that incite the spectator to discover what is inside and what is found are four tiny sculptures that reproduce the ones outside. People can actually touch the sculptures by introducing their hands through the holes and experience tactile, thermic, and affective sensations.
The purpose of this huge steel cube is to attract all kinds of spectators, but especially young people, children, and those visually weak or blind. It is a unique sculpture because it offers, beyond our sense of sight, the opportunity of sharing in a simple way an extraordinary aesthetic experience. For all this, Our Silences is an inclusive, open, artistic and social project.
Rivelino, Member of the Young Mexican Sculpture, has developed an artistic proposal characterized by the research and construction of reliefs and also by being one of the most active artists in Mexico in the field of sculptural intervention on the public urban space.
For Rivelino, a relief is a surface which expresses itself through the aesthetics of the materials being used, a space that becomes a territory by being occupied with volumes and marks, and an object that claims to encapsulate stories. Materials for the sculptor are “a skin with inscriptions engraved of ancient rituals, beliefs and memories common to all mankind”.
His sculptures are characterized by a poetic which moves from the recognizable to the strange and mysterious. “Divided between anthropomorphic figures of hieratic expression and geometric omnipresent objects, his sculptures preserve the importance of the relief through added volumes or engravings carved on their surfaces.”
Rivelino’s interest in triggering a dialogue with collective memory has lead him to consider the urban space as an ideal encounter territory for imaginary pasts and presents, a place which embraces several memories.
His sculptures on streets, squares, iconic monuments or any other public space break with the identity and the history of those places “with themes that deal with social problems, ethics and human rights […] they alter the established aesthetic perception of spectators through a sculptural narrative that moves from the surreal to the real; from the possible to the impossible.”
An independent artist, Rivelino divides his activities between creation and social activism related to topics like economy and culture. In 2010 he participated at the Universal Expo in Shanghai with the relief “Natural Dialogues”. In 2011 he inaugurated the art gallery at the Secretaría de Economía in Mexico with the exhibition “Limits and Consequences”, and in 2012 he participated in the Economics World Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in the “Art and inequality” panel.
His artistic projects are always daring. His successful work Nuestros Silencios (“Our silences”) approaches the right to free speech and it has been exhibited in American and European cities since 2010. In 2012, he shattered the Mexican institutional artistic establishment with his work Raíces (“Roots”), a gigantic metaphor of Mexican identity. The work was a giant serpent which climbed and slithered amongst prehispanic, colonial, and modern buildings in downtown Mexico City.
In 2015 Rivelino participated in The Dual Year Mexico-United Kingdom festivities with his monumental sculpture You, a work that remained for five months on the iconic Trafalgar Square. During 2016 he participated on the project Obra en Obra (Work on Work) with a piece called ¿El ejército de quién? (Whose Army?), which consisted in more than ten thousand soldiers covered in gold leaf posing the question: Who do armies protect? At the beginning of 2017, the piece You was presented for the first time in Mexico, at the Macroplaza in Monterrey. Today, the piece is being exhibited at the Patio Mayor of the Instituto Cultural Cabañas in Guadalajara, Mexico.
San Francisco officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, financial, and cultural center in Northern California. With a population of 808,437 residents as of 2022, San Francisco is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of California. The city covers a land area of 46.9 square miles (121 square kilometers) at the end of the San Francisco Peninsula, making it the second-most densely populated large U.S. city after New York City and the fifth-most densely populated U.S. county, behind only four New York City boroughs. Among the 92 U.S. cities proper with over 250,000 residents, San Francisco was ranked first by per capita income and sixth by aggregate income as of 2022. Colloquial nicknames for San Francisco include Frisco, San Fran, The City, and SF (although Frisco and San Fran are generally not used by locals).
Prior to European settlement, the modern city proper was inhabited by the Yelamu, who spoke a language now referred to as Ramaytush Ohlone. On June 29, 1776, settlers from New Spain established the Presidio of San Francisco at the Golden Gate, and the Mission San Francisco de Asís a few miles away, both named for Francis of Assisi. The California Gold Rush of 1849 brought rapid growth, transforming an unimportant hamlet into a busy port, making it the largest city on the West Coast at the time; between 1870 and 1900, approximately one quarter of California's population resided in the city proper. In 1856, San Francisco became a consolidated city-county. After three-quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire, it was quickly rebuilt, hosting the Panama-Pacific International Exposition nine years later. In World War II, it was a major port of embarkation for naval service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater. In 1945, the United Nations Charter was signed in San Francisco, establishing the United Nations and in 1951, the Treaty of San Francisco re-established peaceful relations between Japan and the Allied Powers. After the war, the confluence of returning servicemen, significant immigration, liberalizing attitudes, the rise of the beatnik and hippie countercultures, the sexual revolution, the peace movement growing from opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War, and other factors led to the Summer of Love and the gay rights movement, cementing San Francisco as a center of liberal activism in the United States.
San Francisco and the surrounding San Francisco Bay Area are a global center of economic activity and the arts and sciences, spurred by leading universities, high-tech, healthcare, finance, insurance, real estate, and professional services sectors. As of 2020, the metropolitan area, with 6.7 million residents, ranked 5th by GDP ($874 billion) and 2nd by GDP per capita ($131,082) across the OECD countries, ahead of global cities like Paris, London, and Singapore. San Francisco anchors the 13th most populous metropolitan statistical area in the United States with 4.6 million residents, and the fourth-largest by aggregate income and economic output, with a GDP of $729 billion in 2022. The wider San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland Combined Statistical Area is the fifth-most populous, with 9.0 million residents, and the third-largest by economic output, with a GDP of $1.32 trillion in 2022. In the same year, San Francisco proper had a GDP of $252.2 billion, and a GDP per capita of $312,000. San Francisco was ranked fifth in the world and second in the United States on the Global Financial Centres Index as of September 2023. Despite an ongoing post-COVID-19 pandemic exodus of over 30 retail businesses from the northeastern quadrant of San Francisco, including the downtown core, the city is still home to numerous companies inside and outside of technology, including Salesforce, Uber, Airbnb, X Corp., Levi's, Gap, Dropbox, and Lyft.
In 2022, San Francisco had more than 1.7 million international visitors - the fifth-most visited city from abroad in the United States after New York City, Miami, Orlando, and Los Angeles - and approximately 20 million domestic visitors for a total of 21.9 million visitors. The city is known for its steep rolling hills and eclectic mix of architecture across varied neighborhoods, as well as its cool summers, fog, and landmarks, including the Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, and Alcatraz, along with the Chinatown and Mission districts. The city is home to a number of educational and cultural institutions, such as the University of California, San Francisco, the University of San Francisco, San Francisco State University, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the de Young Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Symphony, the San Francisco Ballet, the San Francisco Opera, the SFJAZZ Center, and the California Academy of Sciences. Two major league sports teams, the San Francisco Giants and the Golden State Warriors, play their home games within San Francisco proper. San Francisco's main international airport offers flights to over 125 destinations while a light rail and bus network, in tandem with the BART and Caltrain systems, connects nearly every part of San Francisco with the wider region.
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2 million residents across a total area of approximately 163,696 square miles (423,970 km2), it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the most populated subnational entity in North America and the 34th most populous in the world. The Greater Los Angeles area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nation's second and fifth most populous urban regions respectively, with the former having more than 18.7 million residents and the latter having over 9.6 million. Sacramento is the state's capital, while Los Angeles is the most populous city in the state and the second most populous city in the country. San Francisco is the second most densely populated major city in the country. Los Angeles County is the country's most populous, while San Bernardino County is the largest county by area in the country. California borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, the Mexican state of Baja California to the south; and has a coastline along the Pacific Ocean to the west.
The economy of the state of California is the largest in the United States, with a $3.4 trillion gross state product (GSP) as of 2022. It is the largest sub-national economy in the world. If California were a sovereign nation, it would rank as the world's fifth-largest economy as of 2022, behind Germany and ahead of India, as well as the 37th most populous. The Greater Los Angeles area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nation's second- and third-largest urban economies ($1.0 trillion and $0.5 trillion respectively as of 2020). The San Francisco Bay Area Combined Statistical Area had the nation's highest gross domestic product per capita ($106,757) among large primary statistical areas in 2018, and is home to five of the world's ten largest companies by market capitalization and four of the world's ten richest people.
Prior to European colonization, California was one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse areas in pre-Columbian North America and contained the highest Native American population density north of what is now Mexico. European exploration in the 16th and 17th centuries led to the colonization of California by the Spanish Empire. In 1804, it was included in Alta California province within the Viceroyalty of New Spain. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821, following its successful war for independence, but was ceded to the United States in 1848 after the Mexican–American War. The California Gold Rush started in 1848 and led to dramatic social and demographic changes, including large-scale immigration into California, a worldwide economic boom, and the California genocide of indigenous people. The western portion of Alta California was then organized and admitted as the 31st state on September 9, 1850, following the Compromise of 1850.
Notable contributions to popular culture, for example in entertainment and sports, have their origins in California. The state also has made noteworthy contributions in the fields of communication, information, innovation, environmentalism, economics, and politics. It is the home of Hollywood, the oldest and one of the largest film industries in the world, which has had a profound influence upon global entertainment. It is considered the origin of the hippie counterculture, beach and car culture, and the personal computer, among other innovations. The San Francisco Bay Area and the Greater Los Angeles Area are widely seen as the centers of the global technology and film industries, respectively. California's economy is very diverse: 58% of it is based on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific, and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5% of the state's economy, California's agriculture industry has the highest output of any U.S. state. California's ports and harbors handle about a third of all U.S. imports, most originating in Pacific Rim international trade.
The state's extremely diverse geography ranges from the Pacific Coast and metropolitan areas in the west to the Sierra Nevada mountains in the east, and from the redwood and Douglas fir forests in the northwest to the Mojave Desert in the southeast. The Central Valley, a major agricultural area, dominates the state's center. California is well known for its warm Mediterranean climate and monsoon seasonal weather. The large size of the state results in climates that vary from moist temperate rainforest in the north to arid desert in the interior, as well as snowy alpine in the mountains.
Settled by successive waves of arrivals during at least the last 13,000 years, California was one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse areas in pre-Columbian North America. Various estimates of the native population have ranged from 100,000 to 300,000. The indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct ethnic groups, inhabiting environments from mountains and deserts to islands and redwood forests. These groups were also diverse in their political organization, with bands, tribes, villages, and on the resource-rich coasts, large chiefdoms, such as the Chumash, Pomo and Salinan. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered social and economic relationships between many groups.
The first Europeans to explore the coast of California were the members of a Spanish maritime expedition led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo in 1542. Cabrillo was commissioned by Antonio de Mendoza, the Viceroy of New Spain, to lead an expedition up the Pacific coast in search of trade opportunities; they entered San Diego Bay on September 28, 1542, and reached at least as far north as San Miguel Island. Privateer and explorer Francis Drake explored and claimed an undefined portion of the California coast in 1579, landing north of the future city of San Francisco. Sebastián Vizcaíno explored and mapped the coast of California in 1602 for New Spain, putting ashore in Monterey. Despite the on-the-ground explorations of California in the 16th century, Rodríguez's idea of California as an island persisted. Such depictions appeared on many European maps well into the 18th century.
The Portolá expedition of 1769-70 was a pivotal event in the Spanish colonization of California, resulting in the establishment of numerous missions, presidios, and pueblos. The military and civil contingent of the expedition was led by Gaspar de Portolá, who traveled over land from Sonora into California, while the religious component was headed by Junípero Serra, who came by sea from Baja California. In 1769, Portolá and Serra established Mission San Diego de Alcalá and the Presidio of San Diego, the first religious and military settlements founded by the Spanish in California. By the end of the expedition in 1770, they would establish the Presidio of Monterey and Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo on Monterey Bay.
After the Portolà expedition, Spanish missionaries led by Father-President Serra set out to establish 21 Spanish missions of California along El Camino Real ("The Royal Road") and along the Californian coast, 16 sites of which having been chosen during the Portolá expedition. Numerous major cities in California grew out of missions, including San Francisco (Mission San Francisco de Asís), San Diego (Mission San Diego de Alcalá), Ventura (Mission San Buenaventura), or Santa Barbara (Mission Santa Barbara), among others.
Juan Bautista de Anza led a similarly important expedition throughout California in 1775–76, which would extend deeper into the interior and north of California. The Anza expedition selected numerous sites for missions, presidios, and pueblos, which subsequently would be established by settlers. Gabriel Moraga, a member of the expedition, would also christen many of California's prominent rivers with their names in 1775–1776, such as the Sacramento River and the San Joaquin River. After the expedition, Gabriel's son, José Joaquín Moraga, would found the pueblo of San Jose in 1777, making it the first civilian-established city in California.
The Spanish founded Mission San Juan Capistrano in 1776, the third to be established of the Californian missions.
During this same period, sailors from the Russian Empire explored along the northern coast of California. In 1812, the Russian-American Company established a trading post and small fortification at Fort Ross on the North Coast. Fort Ross was primarily used to supply Russia's Alaskan colonies with food supplies. The settlement did not meet much success, failing to attract settlers or establish long term trade viability, and was abandoned by 1841.
During the War of Mexican Independence, Alta California was largely unaffected and uninvolved in the revolution, though many Californios supported independence from Spain, which many believed had neglected California and limited its development. Spain's trade monopoly on California had limited the trade prospects of Californians. Following Mexican independence, Californian ports were freely able to trade with foreign merchants. Governor Pablo Vicente de Solá presided over the transition from Spanish colonial rule to independent.
In 1821, the Mexican War of Independence gave the Mexican Empire (which included California) independence from Spain. For the next 25 years, Alta California remained a remote, sparsely populated, northwestern administrative district of the newly independent country of Mexico, which shortly after independence became a republic. The missions, which controlled most of the best land in the state, were secularized by 1834 and became the property of the Mexican government. The governor granted many square leagues of land to others with political influence. These huge ranchos or cattle ranches emerged as the dominant institutions of Mexican California. The ranchos developed under ownership by Californios (Hispanics native of California) who traded cowhides and tallow with Boston merchants. Beef did not become a commodity until the 1849 California Gold Rush.
From the 1820s, trappers and settlers from the United States and Canada began to arrive in Northern California. These new arrivals used the Siskiyou Trail, California Trail, Oregon Trail and Old Spanish Trail to cross the rugged mountains and harsh deserts in and surrounding California. The early government of the newly independent Mexico was highly unstable, and in a reflection of this, from 1831 onwards, California also experienced a series of armed disputes, both internal and with the central Mexican government. During this tumultuous political period Juan Bautista Alvarado was able to secure the governorship during 1836–1842. The military action which first brought Alvarado to power had momentarily declared California to be an independent state, and had been aided by Anglo-American residents of California, including Isaac Graham. In 1840, one hundred of those residents who did not have passports were arrested, leading to the Graham Affair, which was resolved in part with the intercession of Royal Navy officials.
One of the largest ranchers in California was John Marsh. After failing to obtain justice against squatters on his land from the Mexican courts, he determined that California should become part of the United States. Marsh conducted a letter-writing campaign espousing the California climate, the soil, and other reasons to settle there, as well as the best route to follow, which became known as "Marsh's route". His letters were read, reread, passed around, and printed in newspapers throughout the country, and started the first wagon trains rolling to California. He invited immigrants to stay on his ranch until they could get settled, and assisted in their obtaining passports.
After ushering in the period of organized emigration to California, Marsh became involved in a military battle between the much-hated Mexican general, Manuel Micheltorena and the California governor he had replaced, Juan Bautista Alvarado. The armies of each met at the Battle of Providencia near Los Angeles. Marsh had been forced against his will to join Micheltorena's army. Ignoring his superiors, during the battle, he signaled the other side for a parley. There were many settlers from the United States fighting on both sides. He convinced these men that they had no reason to be fighting each other. As a result of Marsh's actions, they abandoned the fight, Micheltorena was defeated, and California-born Pio Pico was returned to the governorship. This paved the way to California's ultimate acquisition by the United States.
In 1846, a group of American settlers in and around Sonoma rebelled against Mexican rule during the Bear Flag Revolt. Afterward, rebels raised the Bear Flag (featuring a bear, a star, a red stripe and the words "California Republic") at Sonoma. The Republic's only president was William B. Ide,[65] who played a pivotal role during the Bear Flag Revolt. This revolt by American settlers served as a prelude to the later American military invasion of California and was closely coordinated with nearby American military commanders.
The California Republic was short-lived; the same year marked the outbreak of the Mexican–American War (1846–48).
Commodore John D. Sloat of the United States Navy sailed into Monterey Bay in 1846 and began the U.S. military invasion of California, with Northern California capitulating in less than a month to the United States forces. In Southern California, Californios continued to resist American forces. Notable military engagements of the conquest include the Battle of San Pasqual and the Battle of Dominguez Rancho in Southern California, as well as the Battle of Olómpali and the Battle of Santa Clara in Northern California. After a series of defensive battles in the south, the Treaty of Cahuenga was signed by the Californios on January 13, 1847, securing a censure and establishing de facto American control in California.
Following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (February 2, 1848) that ended the war, the westernmost portion of the annexed Mexican territory of Alta California soon became the American state of California, and the remainder of the old territory was then subdivided into the new American Territories of Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Utah. The even more lightly populated and arid lower region of old Baja California remained as a part of Mexico. In 1846, the total settler population of the western part of the old Alta California had been estimated to be no more than 8,000, plus about 100,000 Native Americans, down from about 300,000 before Hispanic settlement in 1769.
In 1848, only one week before the official American annexation of the area, gold was discovered in California, this being an event which was to forever alter both the state's demographics and its finances. Soon afterward, a massive influx of immigration into the area resulted, as prospectors and miners arrived by the thousands. The population burgeoned with United States citizens, Europeans, Chinese and other immigrants during the great California Gold Rush. By the time of California's application for statehood in 1850, the settler population of California had multiplied to 100,000. By 1854, more than 300,000 settlers had come. Between 1847 and 1870, the population of San Francisco increased from 500 to 150,000.
The seat of government for California under Spanish and later Mexican rule had been located in Monterey from 1777 until 1845. Pio Pico, the last Mexican governor of Alta California, had briefly moved the capital to Los Angeles in 1845. The United States consulate had also been located in Monterey, under consul Thomas O. Larkin.
In 1849, a state Constitutional Convention was first held in Monterey. Among the first tasks of the convention was a decision on a location for the new state capital. The first full legislative sessions were held in San Jose (1850–1851). Subsequent locations included Vallejo (1852–1853), and nearby Benicia (1853–1854); these locations eventually proved to be inadequate as well. The capital has been located in Sacramento since 1854 with only a short break in 1862 when legislative sessions were held in San Francisco due to flooding in Sacramento. Once the state's Constitutional Convention had finalized its state constitution, it applied to the U.S. Congress for admission to statehood. On September 9, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850, California became a free state and September 9 a state holiday.
During the American Civil War (1861–1865), California sent gold shipments eastward to Washington in support of the Union. However, due to the existence of a large contingent of pro-South sympathizers within the state, the state was not able to muster any full military regiments to send eastwards to officially serve in the Union war effort. Still, several smaller military units within the Union army were unofficially associated with the state of California, such as the "California 100 Company", due to a majority of their members being from California.
At the time of California's admission into the Union, travel between California and the rest of the continental United States had been a time-consuming and dangerous feat. Nineteen years later, and seven years after it was greenlighted by President Lincoln, the First transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869. California was then reachable from the eastern States in a week's time.
Much of the state was extremely well suited to fruit cultivation and agriculture in general. Vast expanses of wheat, other cereal crops, vegetable crops, cotton, and nut and fruit trees were grown (including oranges in Southern California), and the foundation was laid for the state's prodigious agricultural production in the Central Valley and elsewhere.
In the nineteenth century, a large number of migrants from China traveled to the state as part of the Gold Rush or to seek work. Even though the Chinese proved indispensable in building the transcontinental railroad from California to Utah, perceived job competition with the Chinese led to anti-Chinese riots in the state, and eventually the US ended migration from China partially as a response to pressure from California with the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act.
Under earlier Spanish and Mexican rule, California's original native population had precipitously declined, above all, from Eurasian diseases to which the indigenous people of California had not yet developed a natural immunity. Under its new American administration, California's harsh governmental policies towards its own indigenous people did not improve. As in other American states, many of the native inhabitants were soon forcibly removed from their lands by incoming American settlers such as miners, ranchers, and farmers. Although California had entered the American union as a free state, the "loitering or orphaned Indians" were de facto enslaved by their new Anglo-American masters under the 1853 Act for the Government and Protection of Indians. There were also massacres in which hundreds of indigenous people were killed.
Between 1850 and 1860, the California state government paid around 1.5 million dollars (some 250,000 of which was reimbursed by the federal government) to hire militias whose purpose was to protect settlers from the indigenous populations. In later decades, the native population was placed in reservations and rancherias, which were often small and isolated and without enough natural resources or funding from the government to sustain the populations living on them. As a result, the rise of California was a calamity for the native inhabitants. Several scholars and Native American activists, including Benjamin Madley and Ed Castillo, have described the actions of the California government as a genocide.
In the twentieth century, thousands of Japanese people migrated to the US and California specifically to attempt to purchase and own land in the state. However, the state in 1913 passed the Alien Land Act, excluding Asian immigrants from owning land. During World War II, Japanese Americans in California were interned in concentration camps such as at Tule Lake and Manzanar. In 2020, California officially apologized for this internment.
Migration to California accelerated during the early 20th century with the completion of major transcontinental highways like the Lincoln Highway and Route 66. In the period from 1900 to 1965, the population grew from fewer than one million to the greatest in the Union. In 1940, the Census Bureau reported California's population as 6.0% Hispanic, 2.4% Asian, and 89.5% non-Hispanic white.
To meet the population's needs, major engineering feats like the California and Los Angeles Aqueducts; the Oroville and Shasta Dams; and the Bay and Golden Gate Bridges were built across the state. The state government also adopted the California Master Plan for Higher Education in 1960 to develop a highly efficient system of public education.
Meanwhile, attracted to the mild Mediterranean climate, cheap land, and the state's wide variety of geography, filmmakers established the studio system in Hollywood in the 1920s. California manufactured 8.7 percent of total United States military armaments produced during World War II, ranking third (behind New York and Michigan) among the 48 states. California however easily ranked first in production of military ships during the war (transport, cargo, [merchant ships] such as Liberty ships, Victory ships, and warships) at drydock facilities in San Diego, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area. After World War II, California's economy greatly expanded due to strong aerospace and defense industries, whose size decreased following the end of the Cold War. Stanford University and its Dean of Engineering Frederick Terman began encouraging faculty and graduates to stay in California instead of leaving the state, and develop a high-tech region in the area now known as Silicon Valley. As a result of these efforts, California is regarded as a world center of the entertainment and music industries, of technology, engineering, and the aerospace industry, and as the United States center of agricultural production. Just before the Dot Com Bust, California had the fifth-largest economy in the world among nations.
In the mid and late twentieth century, a number of race-related incidents occurred in the state. Tensions between police and African Americans, combined with unemployment and poverty in inner cities, led to violent riots, such as the 1965 Watts riots and 1992 Rodney King riots. California was also the hub of the Black Panther Party, a group known for arming African Americans to defend against racial injustice and for organizing free breakfast programs for schoolchildren. Additionally, Mexican, Filipino, and other migrant farm workers rallied in the state around Cesar Chavez for better pay in the 1960s and 1970s.
During the 20th century, two great disasters happened in California. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake and 1928 St. Francis Dam flood remain the deadliest in U.S. history.
Although air pollution problems have been reduced, health problems associated with pollution have continued. The brown haze known as "smog" has been substantially abated after the passage of federal and state restrictions on automobile exhaust.
An energy crisis in 2001 led to rolling blackouts, soaring power rates, and the importation of electricity from neighboring states. Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric Company came under heavy criticism.
Housing prices in urban areas continued to increase; a modest home which in the 1960s cost $25,000 would cost half a million dollars or more in urban areas by 2005. More people commuted longer hours to afford a home in more rural areas while earning larger salaries in the urban areas. Speculators bought houses they never intended to live in, expecting to make a huge profit in a matter of months, then rolling it over by buying more properties. Mortgage companies were compliant, as everyone assumed the prices would keep rising. The bubble burst in 2007–8 as housing prices began to crash and the boom years ended. Hundreds of billions in property values vanished and foreclosures soared as many financial institutions and investors were badly hurt.
In the twenty-first century, droughts and frequent wildfires attributed to climate change have occurred in the state. From 2011 to 2017, a persistent drought was the worst in its recorded history. The 2018 wildfire season was the state's deadliest and most destructive, most notably Camp Fire.
Although air pollution problems have been reduced, health problems associated with pollution have continued. The brown haze that is known as "smog" has been substantially abated thanks to federal and state restrictions on automobile exhaust.
One of the first confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States that occurred in California was first of which was confirmed on January 26, 2020. Meaning, all of the early confirmed cases were persons who had recently travelled to China in Asia, as testing was restricted to this group. On this January 29, 2020, as disease containment protocols were still being developed, the U.S. Department of State evacuated 195 persons from Wuhan, China aboard a chartered flight to March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County, and in this process, it may have granted and conferred to escalated within the land and the US at cosmic. On February 5, 2020, the U.S. evacuated 345 more citizens from Hubei Province to two military bases in California, Travis Air Force Base in Solano County and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, San Diego, where they were quarantined for 14 days. A state of emergency was largely declared in this state of the nation on March 4, 2020, and as of February 24, 2021, remains in effect. A mandatory statewide stay-at-home order was issued on March 19, 2020, due to increase, which was ended on January 25, 2021, allowing citizens to return to normal life. On April 6, 2021, the state announced plans to fully reopen the economy by June 15, 2021.
Standing on the yellow tactile paving blocks for visually impaired pedestrians on a sidewalk in Nara Japan
Another shot from the visually stunning production of 'The Magic Flute' by Komische Oper Berlin, which is part of the Edinburgh International Festival.
This is from a dress rehearsal, earlier this evening.The signers interacted with projected images to great effect. I loved photographing this.
If I've identified cast members correctly, this features Peter Renz as Monostatos and Maureen MacKay as Pamina.
Details of the show are here...but all performances are currently sold out...so returns are the only chance, it seems.
Upper left to right: Karl Marx (1818 - 1883), Adam Smith (1723 - 1790), G.W. Hegel (1770 - 1831);
Lower left to right: Thorstein Veblen (1857 - 1929). Gyorgy Luckacs (1885 - 1971), J.M. Keynes (1883 - 1946), Milton Friedman (1912 - 2006).
Abstract - PhD (2013) - Quadralectics
Christopher W. Smithmyer
Nova Southeastern University, 2015 - 752 pages
Quadralectics is a study of the magnitude of conflict that occurs when a society shifts from one socio-economic phase to another. The purpose of this study is to quantify levels of conflict due to societal shifts in order to better prepare for the results of the conflict. This study uses a hybridization of qualitative meta-synthesis (QMS), recursive frame analysis (RFA), and Grounded Theory (GT) research methodologies to survey the historical record for instances of social change and then comparatively analyzes the resultant conflict. The heart of the Quadralectic study is the Quadralectic paradigm which integrates four dialectic models to create a four-dimensional space in which known forms of socio-economic phenomenon exist. The model is similar to a house with rooms, each room is a socioeconomic phenomenon, and the further rooms are from each other, the more conflict is created by the change. We call these movements transitions. Once in place, the Quadralectic model can be used to forecast conflict during periods of social upheaval and allow for the domestic and international community to be better prepared to respond to said conflict.
---
Smythmyer’s Quadralectics - A Reply – by Marten Kuilman - September 2018.
Every occurrence of the word ‘quadralectics’ arouses my interest since I coined the word in the early nineteen-eighties of the previous century. I had busied myself for a couple of years with an intellectual quest to understand the complexities of life. After several failed efforts, the penny dropped (on the 31st of March 1984): division and movement are the crucial components in every communication. And a four-division in a circular environment would be the most practical tool to understand the ever-expanding brine of information known as knowledge. A further theoretical examination resulted in the birth of a ‘quadralectic philosophy’ (KUILMAN, 2009/ 2011).
The kernel of the new approach consisted of two theoretical four-divisions shifting along each other. Measurable shift-values were produced at the intersection of the division lines (of the various quadrants). The sixteen values formed a sequence, which can be expressed in a graph. This graph represents the receding and approaching actions that take place between communication partners in any conceivable interchange based on a four-division.
It took another sixteen years – after the introduction of the internet in my life (Dec, 1999) – to start a worldwide search for ‘soul mates’. The initial harvest at the start of the new millennium was poor. The oldest referral to the term ‘quadralectics’ was traced back to 1996 when the term was used in an (anonymous) article about the enigmatic writer Thomas Pynchon and his novel “The Crying of Lot 49’ (1966). Two years later there was also a lead to Taoist sources as recorded by Roger T. Ames (1998, p. 169).
Kent PALMER (2000) mentioned the term for the first time in a scientific environment in several articles and later in his Ph.D. (Quadralectics of Design, 2009/2010). He was a system engineer, who put an emphasis on non-dual forms of thinking. It was clear - although I could not follow some of his terminologies - that he was concerned with the same widening of thinking as proposed in my quadralectic endeavors.
Over the years the use and occurrence of the word ‘quadralectics’ on the internet grew steadily – not only due to my own contributions. At present (2018) some 38.200 results are recorded (in 0,50 seconds). And Smythmyer’s Ph.D. on ‘Quadralectics’ was in 2013 a new star in the quadralectic firmament (SMYTHMYER, 2013).
A shining star, well written and a great piece of work. It was a pleasure to read such a clear display of socio-economic currents and individuals (with Marx as their leading actor) from the past to the present – capped off by the introduction of the ‘infant theory’ of quadralectics. Maybe the title of the Ph.D. is slightly misleading since the main subject of study is not the quadralectic method itself, but the application of a particular modus operandi (four-fold way of thinking) in the field of economy and sociology.
Smythmyer indicated (p. 51) that he moved on new ground when he coined the title ‘Quadralectics’: ‘Hegel and Marx thought in two dimensions, this model worked in four. As a tribute to their works, I selected the title Quadralectics, as a symbol of a system with four parts in a four-dimensional matrix. Now all that was left was to create a way to take this theorem and forge it into a theory.'
In the next part of this essay, I will try to incorporate Smythmyer’s understanding and utilization of the term ‘Quadralectics’ into my own interpretation of this particular form of four-fold thinking.
The reading started off on the wrong foot. Shivers went down my spine when, early in the book (Ch. I), the word ‘quadralectics’ was connected with conflict and proposed as a tool to measure and predict the magnitude of aggressive encounters. Furthermore, quadralectics is seen as an integration of four dialectic models. Both descriptions are way-out of the interpretation of ‘my’ quadralectics (KUILMAN, 1996/2011).
In fact, the roots of my epistemology can be found in the critical rejection of historical writing in terms of conflict. The rhetorical question: ‘is it possible to write history without the unsavory markers of conflict?’, was asked early in my life. And my subsequent intellectual development was geared towards finding an answer to that question. One of the achievements of a quadralectic worldview (as I see it) is its ‘neutral’ character – in contrast to lower forms of division thinking.
Therefore the ‘conflict’, which is present in every communication (or ongoing history) is incorporated in quadralectics – but it is not the leading agent. ‘Conflict’ has to make a cognitive move from its common dualistic understanding to a quadralectic environment. The nature of conflict is rooted in a misunderstanding of division thinking between the communication partners. Its cause has to be redefined in terms of incomprehension rather than the measure of the implementation of force.
After the initial shock of Smythmyer’s introduction, it soon became clear that our mutual suppositions (as expressed in the name ‘quadralectics’) had – as far as the basic mechanism goes – a lot in common. He describes ‘conflict’ as a ‘transition within a paradigm of interconnected socioeconomic elements’ (p. 14). This definition leads directly to the importance of ‘shift’. Displacement, as a result of movement, played a crucial role in the conception of ‘my’ quadralectics in the 1980s. The transition/shift can be measured, either within the paradigms and/or the division environment (the Technological Coefficient versus the Communication Coefficient).
I wholeheartedly underwrite Smythmyer’s stimulating objective (p. 20): ‘By increasing the objective capabilities of defining socio-economic paradigms and status shifts within those paradigms, quadralectics will be more useful for the analysis of current socio-economic shifts, thus allowing for better preparation in the case of any conflict that may or may not happen’.
The literature review (Ch. II) is the Master Template in which the great names in socio-economic history provide the substratum of research. Smythmyer’s idea, I presume, is to find ‘the beginning’ in communication with thinkers like Hegel, Marx, Friedman, Luckacs, Veblen (my favorite) and many others (including Adolf Hitler and Ross Perot). Most of these thinkers operate in the realm of lower division thinking (dialectic) and are therefore unable to see the potential of the area ‘in-between’. Many of their theories and observations are the result of creative thinking, but only within the limits and the confinement of an oppositional straightjacket.
Smythmyer’s intention to ‘broaden the lens’ away from a dialectic research and a bifurcated universe is exactly the viewpoint I took in the early stages of my research of the four-fold. However, to see ‘Quadralectics’ (only) as the relationship between conflict and social change (p. 51) is, in my opinion, to narrow a view. The ‘four parts in a four-dimensional matrix’, as envisaged by Smythmyer, are bound to become the essential tools of modern, post-dialectic thinking. The choice of this epistemology is appropriately chosen. But the application of a general and a specific form of quadralectics – as a philosophical framework - should be noted.
The use of ‘quadralectics’ (or even ‘quadralectic theory’, p. 124) in the socio-economic context is just one of the many fields of knowledge were the specific way of four-fold thinking (quadralectics proper) can be applied. The very moment the X-as (first dimension) is divided in Anarchy, Feudalism, Capitalism, Socialism and Communism and the Y-axis (second dimension) in Plutocracy, Hegemony, Capitalism, Populism and Communalism a (subjective) valuation frame is introduced (based on either control of means of production or the control structure of wealth).
There is nothing wrong with these choices, as long as it is realized that the divisions follow a linear trend from maximum to minimum. Capitalism is on both X- and Y-axis nicely tucked in the middle - implicit pointing to the Golden Mean, the zenith of beauty, consisting of symmetry, proportion and harmony. When ‘hegemony’ is ‘near the middle of the paradigm’ (p. 194/195) it implies close to be ‘good’ and versatile. This viewpoint might be true, but only within a dialectic inspired discours.
This bickering should not disguise the fact that Smythmyer gave a brilliant and clear exposé of the various human organisations and their power structures. But I have the feeling – mainly because of the linear character of the subdivisions – that the ‘neutral’ side of (theoretical) quadralectics is ignored.
Quadralectics - as a specific form of four-fold thinking - requires a different perception. It poses a cyclic nature versus the linear disposition (of the dialectic). The different mindset implies that dialectic notions, like the beginning, middle and end and such notions as ‘a Golden Mean’, need a new understanding: there is no beginning, middle and end on a divided circular line. We can only speak of a ‘First’ and ‘Last’ visibility – and have to understand what that visibility means. Also the ‘Golden Mean’ as a comparison of two lengths of lines becomes redundant in a circular setting. Dialectics uses the two-division as its guideline (and tool of analogy), while a quadralectic communication applies the (arithmetical) result of a shift between two four-divisions as its base for valuation. The difference is immense, but if one is unable to see outside the dualistic framework, it is neglectable. A comparison with Newton’s approach to physics and Einstein’s improvement (by introducing the speed of light) is relevant.
The statement (p. 169) ‘Marxism is the key tool in the Quadralectic paradigm’ looks, with good will, like a facsimile of the dialectic encounter of the two four-divisions in an embryonal quadralectic environment. It cannot be denied that the quadralectic model pays tribute and incorporates the two-division in its genetic history. Division and movement (shift) are the basic elements of its being, but not necessarily in an evolutionary way. Dialectic evolution is completely different from quadralectic evolution. The first is a line, the second is a graph. However the phrase ‘to create an interrelated structure to explain and predict social changes within the socioeconomic paradigm’ is also feasible in the operational phase of a quadralectic epistemology.
A further visualization of two types of control (of the masses) is given in Chapter XIII. The five-fold control of means of production (X-axis) meets the five-fold control of the structure of wealth (Y-axis). They form the first and second dimension, A reinterpretation of Aristotle’s Forms, in Part IV, makes up the third dimension. The Forms represent ‘a pattern of known socioeconomic phenomenon’ (p. 218). In particular the action of ’filling up the gaps (,,,) to fit into the quadralectic paradigm’ is a sound piece of original work, despite the fact that the methodology can be criticized from a (theoretical) quadralectic point of view. The full picture (on the Z-axis) consists of a nine-fold division (from simple to complex): tyranny, monarchy, meritocracy, technocracy, aristocracy, egalitarianism, mob rule, democracy and polity.
The above-mentioned lattice (or three-dimensional arrangement) moves through time to bring in the fourth dimension. Or, like Smythmyer put it (p. 220): 'we will see how they require only a temporal element to become a complete four-dimensional model.’ In Part V (not in the list of contents, but given as Part VI) the long-awaited moment was about to happen: the calculation of the conflict coefficient. The introduction of the Ph.D. (p. 20) promised a magic wand, which could predict the magnitude of a conflict within the socio-economic paradigm. If only that could be achieved then the world would be a better place…
The introduction of Morgan’s three stages (savagery - barbarianism - civilization) comes as a deception. (MORGAN, 1877). The descriptions in terms of a condition humaine is prehistoric and simplistic. On the other hand, the ten-fold scale of conflicts (with a linear increase in violence) can be helpful. The actual calculation from the shift in a socio-economic phenomenon towards a real conflict number (using -1, 0 and +1) is, in my opinion, insufficiently described. The map in the appendix (as promised ‘for those of you who are visually oriented’, p. 303) is not given. Maybe it helps to clarify the number of spaces (shift) ‘a society moves through the paradigm to figure out its conflict number’.
Despite these shortcomings (for me), I understand the principles behind the generation of the ‘conflict number’. There are reminiscences to a quadralectic approach (of shifting four-divisions), but I would not call the procedure of the creation of a conflict number ‘quadralectics’. Values are still generated in a linear environment (and often based on a subjective understanding of ‘high’ and ‘low’ and entities like minimum and maximum and the rigid digital world of plus (+) and minus (-). Three (linear) axes moving in time do not make a quadralectic cosmos. The quadralectic (scientific) reality consists, in my view, of an observer who used the universal communication graph (CF-graph) in the changeability of the partners in a the communication.
The universal character implies that any juxtaposition between whatever sort of topic can be put to the quadralectic test. So, a comparison between certain socio-economic manifestations and the occurrence and intensity of a conflict and subsequent violence is a viable research option. All we have to know are the boundaries of visibility in place and time of the communication units. A form of ‘intensity’ can be measured as soon as these boundaries are established. The place on the CF-graph provides (by analogy) a fairly confident picture (within the given communication) what is going to happen. So it is not the actual figure (CF-value) which determined its worth, but the place on the graph. Place is in the end more important than time. Although in the understanding of quadralectics the place (on the graph) is also the time…
A glance on the Theorems of Quadralectics (Appendix I) gives a certain preoccupation for (Neo)Darwinistic ideas. One cannot fail to notice statements about survival (2, 6), choice of desirable traits (3, 8), genetic material (5), natural selection (9) and sexual selection (11, 12). I have no clue as to what these theorems contribute to the subject at hand. Is it an effort to understand the nature of conflict? Is it a revival of the survival of the fittest? It is hard to say, but whatever explanation: it has little to do with quadralectics.
A closer look at the bibliography is relevant. The writings of the classical, communistic leaders are out in force (Lenin, 13 entries), Mao (29), Marx (15) and Stalin (14). Fortunately Stephen Gould, a much more amicable researcher, got 7 entries. Thornstein Veblen ’Theory of the Leisure Class’ (1899), Michael Young’s ‘The Rise of the Meritocracy‘ (1951) and James Burnham’s ‘The Managerial Revolution’ (1941) are sadly missed. Maybe their writings did not fit into the ‘conflict’ model.
All in all, Smythmyer’s Ph.D. is a refreshing study, which gives a deeper insight into the way human beings live together. The outset to combine expressions of conflict with a particular socio-economic phenomenon is challenging. The intention to use a wider scope is prize-worthy, but the name ‘quadralectic’ is not fully appropriate.
Suggested literature
AMES, Roger T. (Ed.) (1998). Wandering at Ease in the Zhuangzi. Albany: State University of New York Press, ISBN 0-7914-3921-6/3922-4.
BURNHAM, James (1941). The Managerial Revolution. What is Happening in the World? New York: John Day Co.
KUILMAN, Marten (1996/2011). Four. A Rediscovery of the ‘Tetragonus mundus’. Falcon Press, Heemstede. ISBN 978-90-814420-1-5
tetragonusmundus.wordpress.com/inhoud/
KUILMAN, Marten (2009/2011) Visions of Four Notions. Introduction to a Quadralectic Epistemology. Falcon Press, Heemstede. ISBN 978-90-814420-2-2
wordpress.com/view/visionsoffour.wordpress.com
MORGAN, Lewis H. (1877/1974). Ancient Society, or Researching the lines of Human Progress from Savagery through Barbarian In to Civilization. Gloucester MA, Peter Smith.
PALMER, Kent D. (1994). The Fragmentation of Being and the Path Beyond the Void. Apeiron Press, Orange.
works.bepress.com/kent_palmer/2
- (2000). Reflexive Autopoietic Dissipative Special Systems Theory: An Approach to Emergent Meta-systems through Holonomics.
dialog.net/htdocs/homepage.02/autopoiesis.html
- (2010). Emergent Design. Explorations in Systems Phenomenology in Relation to Ontology, Hermeneutics and the Meta-dialectics of Design. A thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Electrical and Information Engineering Division of Information Technology, Engineering, and the Environment University of South Australia, 28 September 2009.
SMYTHMYER, Christopher W. (2013). Quadralectics. Nova Southeastern University, 2015. The Seven Swords of Strategic Business: Companion Book.
VEBLEN, Thorstein (1899). The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions.
YOUNG, Michael (1951). The Rise of the Meritocracy.
---
Additional remarks
Table of Contents does not mention the Chapters.
The latter are introduced on p. 18ff.
Chapters and parts become a confusing mix (for me).
My reconstruction of the table of contents is as follows:
Part I - ?
Introduction
Ch I - no heading, just description under ‘Chapters’
Ch II - Literature review
Ch. III - Methodology
Part II - Theory – is not mentioned in the text (p. 65) but called ‘in Chapters’
Introduction of Theory
At p. 67ff a division in parts (I – IV) is given
Part I – Marx
Part II – Plutocracy etc.
Part III – Aristotle
Part IV – Technological Coefficient
But where do these parts fit into the table of contents?
Ch. IV - Of the Applied Methodology
Ch. V - Theoretical Overview
Part III - Of the Marxist Dialectic - is not mentioned in the Contents as Part III.
Ch. VI - General Principles
Ch. VII - Of Anarchy
Ch. VIII - Of Feudalism
Ch. IX - Of Capitalism
Ch. X - Of Socialism
Ch. XI - Of Communism
Ch. XII - Conclusion Dialectics = Conclusion of the dialectic
Part III Quadralectic Vertices = Part IV in the text (p. 170)
A figure to show the outlay and division of the X and Y-axes would have been helpful. ‘Quadralectic vertices’ point to four (4) vertices (tetrahedron), but the text continues with a five division (Plutocracy, Hegemony, Capitalism, Populism and Communalism)
Ch. XIII - Introduction = Introduction to the Quadralectic Dialectic.
Ch. XIV - Of Plutocracy
What happened to Ch XV – XVI?
Ch. XVII - Hegemony
Ch. XVIII - Of Capitalism
Ch. XIX – Of Populism
Ch. XX – Of Communalism
Part IV Aristotle – In text: Aristotle’s Form
Ch. XVI - Introduction - should be Ch. XXI (see above)
Ch. XVII - Tyranny - should be Ch. XXII
Ch. XVIII - Monarchy - should be Ch. XXIII
Ch. XIX - Meritocracy - should be Ch. XXIV
Ch. XX - Technocracy - should be Ch. XXV
Ch. XXI - Aristocracy - should be Ch. XXVI
Ch. XXII - Egalitarianism - should be Ch. XXVII
Ch. XXIII - Mob Rule - should be Ch. XXVIII
Ch. XXIV - Democracy - should be Ch. XXIX
Ch. XXV - Polity - should be Ch. XXX
Ch. XXVI - Development - should be Ch. XXXI
Ch. XXVII - Conclusion
Part V - Missing
Part VI - TC - is part VII in text
Part VI - Navigating
Part VII – Catharsis
----
Corrections
p. 22 - p. Chapter 1 (Arabic) is written as Chapter I (Roman)
p. 22 - White et al – capital W
p. 22 - Freidman - Friedman
p. 23 - duel = dual
p. 24 - as Maritian states – who is Maritian?
p. 38 and p. 39 - Freidman = Friedman
p. 40 - these there element = these three elements
p. 95 - by an large = by and large
p. 102 - destabilize = destabalize
p. 103 - form of society
p. 105 - pleas not = please not
p. 106 - Doctor = doctor
p. 109 - maintianed is = maintained its
p.112 - now = no law or rule
p.114 - 369 sensence unclear
De Dion diamonds – de Beer diamonds?
p. 119 - her = here is an article
p. 129 - There is not real strong king = there is no real strong king
p. 131 - invasion – s
p. 132 - Myan = Mayan
p. 134 - structure – s
p. 139 - Di Vinci = Da Vinci
p. 148 - for person gain = for personal gain
p. 151 - not test = no test
p. 159 - many socialism = socialists
doe = do
p. 175 - heav?
p. 180 - can buy out a for profit corporation
p. 188 - A excellent example = An excellent exemple
p. 189 - duel = dual
p. 193 - Brittan = Britain
p. 201 - the people thought he building = through the building
p.205 - the focus in on keeping – the focus is on keeping
p. 214 - at out disposal – at our disposal
p. 218 - filling the in the blank – filling in the blank
p. 246 - have and have not’s
p. 252 - in a capitalism (2x)
p. 254 - Velbin = Veblin
p. 257 - a intrinsic worth = an intrinsic worth
p. 260 – as simple as
p. 293 - Out western civilization = our
p. 294 - ho = how
p. 296 - the survival or the artisan = survival of the artisan
p. 297/299 - Brittan = Britain
p. 300 - one the decline = on the decline
p. 328 - Jon Elster = John Elster
As a way to visually mark the Jubilee of Mercy throughout the year, here are the spiritual and corporal works of mercy:
To feed the hungry;
To give drink to the thirsty;
To clothe the naked;
To harbour the harbourless;
To visit the sick;
To ransom the captive;
To bury the dead.
The spiritual works of mercy are:
To instruct the ignorant;
To counsel the doubtful;
To admonish sinners;
To bear wrongs patiently;
To forgive offences willingly;
To comfort the afflicted;
To pray for the living and the dead.
More information at jubileemercy.org
The visually iconic tall triple spires of Saint Mary's in the West End, a landmark on Edinburgh's old skyline. Viewed from just by the Dean Gallery
The Helix Nebula is located within the boundaries of the constellation Aquarius (the Latin word for a water carrier) which is visible from parts of the northern and southern hemispheres. NGC 7293 is about 6 light years in diameter and is located only 655 light years from Earth. The light that was captured to produce this image left the nebula in the 14th century near the end of the Middle Ages for its long journey to Earth.
The Flickr bicolor image shows a basic structure of a planetary nebula with its expanding sphere of ejected gas and a central white dwarf star located at the center of the sphere. The outermost regions of the sphere are red which indicates ionized atmospheric hydrogen is being expelled from around the core of the planetary nebula’s central star. The blue color comes from ionized oxygen generated from nuclear fusion prior to the ejection process. These two colors were captured by the astrograph’s camera by placing HII and OIII narrowband scientific filters in front of the camera while the exposures were taken.
The Helix Nebula is categorized as a planetary nebula due its circular appearance when viewed visually through a telescope. In reality, a planetary nebula has nothing to due with planets circling a star. It is one of the latter steps in the evolutionary life-cycle of a star of average mass like our Sun.
The Helix Nebula is a preview of what will happen to our Sun in about 5 billion years when all of the hydrogen gas is consumed by nuclear fusion in the Sun’s core. By that time, the Earth and the inner planets of the solar system will have been engulfed and incinerated by the outer atmosphere of the red giant stage of the Sun. Unlike stars with masses of 8 times or more than the Sun which experience a sudden supernova explosion, the average sized star will gently eject what is left of the atmosphere outside of the core into the interstellar space surrounding the star. The atmospheric ejection is caused by the unbalanced outward radiation pressure from the extremely hot core that exceeds the inward gravitational pressure of the star’s limited atmosphere. The resultant physical form is a swelling sphere of atmospheric gas that moves further and further away from the core which is the whites dwarf star. This is the planetary nebula.
The white dwarf is the corpse of the dying star that is located at the center of the planetary nebula. Eventually, the swelling shell of ejected atmospheric gas dissipates completely into interstellar space leaving the naked white dwarf to slowly cool down in trillions of years as the stellar corpse disappears into the oblivion of the perpetual darkness of space. The white dwarf is a dying ember of a once majestic fireball that was an average sized star like our Sun.
The image of the Helix Nebula was captured using the CHI-3 astrograph at the EL Sauce Observatory in Chile. The CHI-3 astrograph is optically composed of an ASA RC-1000AZ 1 meter (39") diameter reflecting telescope with a 6800 mm (267") focal length with a f/6.8 photographic speed. The imaging system attached to CHI-3 is the Finger Lakes Instrumentation FLI PL16803 Monochrome CCD astronomical imaging camera with AstroDon 2Gen HII and OIII (3 nm) narrowband filters which can be inserted into the optical train of the system in front of the camera. A total of 20 minutes of exposure time was used to capture the data for the bicolor image. The processing software used to produce this photo was PixInsight, Photoshop, and Topaz Denoise AI.
Visually appealing piece resting on a shelf with many friends in the distance. I guess it was movie night?
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.