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Wait waterless wanderer. Whoever walks
to the well will wade into a wonderous world.
A world which will waken the wilting
wallpaper of work and worry. Well? Worry
will wait while wells wand whirls a warm-
hearted wackiness into a weary week,
whereafter waves and waterfalls of
wonderment will wash all weakness. A way?
Well? A world wide web of wholehearted
wholesome wisdom and wit waits wipe away
worries. Wells works wonders for wrinkles.
Why wait. Why wonder. Why worry. Why
wain. Why whittle. Why wither. Walk in. Well.
What we waiting for. It'll double you. At
Hardys Well.
by Lemn Sissay, a local poet
On the side of the Hardy's Well pub, Rusholme, and with an extremely weathered red phone box in their beer garden.
Seen on Seoul Subway Line 8.
There have been several ways of Romanizing the Korean language, though every system has its weaknesses. Among them, the McCune-Reischauer System, named for the two American linguists who created it in 1937, is the one used by the international community as well as the United States government and military; South Korea itself used it between 1984 and 2000, primarily to accommodate the needs of foreign visitors to the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympic Games. It replaced the Ministry of Education System which had used a one-to-one correspondence of each Korean vowel/consonant with a Roman letter, which often made for unpronounceable names (i.e. Mt. Seorak on the east coast would be Mt. Seolag under Ministry of Education).
One key feature of McCune-Reischauer is the usage of aspirated consonants for initial unaspirated consonants. In other words, a consonant that would normally be written as a J would be written as CH if initial; similarly, a G would become a K when initial, and a D turned to a T. The reason for this is that unaspirated consonants, when initial, do get a slight bit of aspiration; this is the same reasoning used by the Wade-Giles Romanization of Chinese.
Under that system, Jamsil, the neighborhood that hosted the Olympiad in 1988, is written as Chamshil, and that is the Romanization seen on this sign. The name Chamshil is indeed familiar to the foreign visitors who came for the Olympics. Every name was re-Romanized at that point (Busan became Pusan, for example), except for Seoul, which should have been revised to Sŏul but kept its historical Romanization. As McCune-Reischauer concentrates on actual pronunciation with no regard for how the word is spelled in Korean, it is hated by the Koreans themselves as much as it is favored by foreigners.
As a result, since 2000, South Korea has used Revised Romanization, which is mostly a revival of the pre-1984 Ministry of Education System, but with some special rules to assist with correct pronunciation taken from McCune-Reischauer. The initial consonant rule is no longer used, so Chamshil, which used to be Jamsil pre-1984, is again Jamsil. The Revised Romanization is the official system used by South Korea today, including all signs (except for this one which somehow had escaped conversion), and it is the system I use for my post-2000 South Korean photos.
In addition to these systems, another system, Yale, exists, with an even more strict one-to-one correspondence than South Korea's old Ministry of Education system. Yale is not practical for everyday use, though it is useful for linguists and for sending Korean text over a medium that can only use unaccented Roman alphabet (telegraph, telex, etc.). Yale is occasionally used in North Korea, though North Korea's primary Romanization system is McCune-Reischauer.
From his throne in Hlidskjalf, Odin was able to perceive all that passed throughout the whole world. He was not pleased to see a clone trooper have a moment of weakness.
Day 175 o 365
(for TOTW: "Mythology")
Alter Ego: Achilles
Name: Unkown
Allegiance: Hero
Powers:
* Super Strength, Durability, Stamina and indestructible skin
* Immunity to high and low temperatures as well as disease
Weapons:
* Shield and Sword
Key Weakness: His Achilles tendon which is believed to be where he received his experimental injections.
Origin:
Achilles was found washed up on the icy shores of 'Polar Coast' where he was dragged out by a crew of criminals who stole his possessions and clothes. When he woke up he roamed the freezing snowed over streets of the city with no recollection of who he is, people stared at him in shock as he nakedly walked around the street in a daze but he was only met with aggression by the criminals who ran the city. He was ganged up on by a group of thugs but swiftly put the 8 of them down because of his unknown abilities, this caught the attention of the rulers of the frozen city 'Iceberg & Cryogen' which welcomed him into their organisation. He worked for the both of them for quite some time but still suffered from his severe amnesia, Iceberg informed him of an illegal corporation in 'Avalon City' called 'T.O.X.I.N.' that runs experiments on humans to investigate and create Metas which is maybe where he came from. Iceberg and his brother Cryogen provided him with food and safe passage to Avalon City via transporting him in a frozen container through the river running through Avalon City and wished him well on his journey assuring him that he always had a home in their frozen kingdom.
When Achilles arrived in Avalon City he once again worked in the criminal industry to gain Intel about T.O.X.I.N. and managed to locate a base of operations. He was on his way to walk straight into their base and demand answers until he was intercepted by a group of heroes that were going to infiltrate and destroy it and didn't want a civilian in harm's way. Achilles assured them he was safe and had powers as well. The group searched the T.O.X.I.N. base but found it was already evacuated, they then decided to give him a gimmick to become a better hero and because of his Scottish accent gave him a kilt to wear. Despite his indestructible skin, they thought he should have some sort of weaponry to give him a threatening edge in combat, Achilles thanked them and moved on trying to be a hero in the big city. He fought many criminals in chaotic battles but discovered a chink in his biological armour, when a fire broke out he noticed his Achilles was actually burned and he had to be rushed to the hospital. Once the public discovered this he inherited the name 'Achilles' because of his weakness and powers. However he still has no idea about his real name, A.N.G.E.L. tried facial recognition but discovered no matches except for Chris Pratt which was an error. Fingerprints or dental records was a no go because they discovered he had none which brought them to the conclusion, he was synthetically created in a T.O.X.I.N. lab, question is - why was he discarded?
Mirit Ben Nun: Shortness of breath
'Shortness of breath' is not only a sign of physical weakness, it is a metaphor for a mental state of strong desire that knows no repletion; more and more, an unbearable glut, without repose. Mirit Ben Nun's type of work on the other hand requires an abundance of patience. This is a Sisyphean work (requiring hard labor) of marking lines and dots, filling every empty millimeter with brilliant blots. Therefore we are facing a paradox or a logical conflict. A patient and effortful work that stems from an urgent need to cover and fill, to adorn and coat. Her craft of layering reaches a state of a continuous ceremonial ritual.
This ritual digests every object into itself - useful or discarded -- available and ordinary or rare and exceptional -- they submit and devote to the overlay work. Mirit BN gathers scrap off the streets -- cardboard rolls of fabric, assortments of wooden boards and pieces, plates and planks -- and constructs a new link, her own syntax, which she alone is fully responsible for. The new combination -- a type of a sculptural construction -- goes through a process of patching by the act of painting.
In fact Mirit regards her three dimensional objects as a platform for painting, with a uniform continuity, even if it has obstacles, mounds and valleys. These objects beg her to paint, to lay down colors, to set in motion an intricate weave of abstract patterns that at times finds itself wandering the contours of human images and sometimes -- not. In those cases what is left is the monotonous activity of running the patterns, inch by inch, till their absolute coverage, till a short and passing instant of respite and than on again to a new onset.
Next to this assembly of garbage and it's recycling into 'painted sculptures' Mirit offers a surprising reunion between her illustrated objects and so called cheap African sculpture; popular artifacts or articles that are classified in the standard culture as 'primitive'.
This combination emphasizes the difference between her individualistic performance and the collective creation which is translated into cultural clichés. The wood carved image creates a moment of peace within the crowded bustle; an introverted image, without repetitiveness and reverberation. This meeting of strangers testifies that Mirit' work could not be labeled under the ´outsiders art´ category. She is a one woman school who is compelled to do the art work she picked out to perform. Therefore she isn't creating ´an image´ such as the carved wooden statues, but she produces breathless ´emotional jam' whose highest values are color, motion, beauty and plenitude. May it never lack, neither diluted, nor dull for even an instant
Tali Tamir
August 2010
{From the personal journal of Professor. Angelus P. Fumolatro}
26th February 1899.
It has been four years to the day since all the members of the Veritas League died in the explosion of the Hoever-Carriage in the desert outside Volubilis. I alone was spared that end by chance and by my own weakness having been thrown from the carriage only seconds before.
Ironic it is that on this day I make my last entry here. For me, the future ends today, just as it ended for my six closest friends. Only the past exists now and if, by the grace of God, should I succeed in my efforts, the past too shall cease to be.
Never have I disclosed to anyone what I found in the desert, nor will I tell it here. Only to one person shall even a hint of my discovery and subsequent mission be told; The man by whom my mission is made possible, Professor Fate. I have just now completed for him a letter in which I set down my plan and my reasons. He deserves to know.
Should it be a failure, I alone will suffer the consequences.
Should I succeed, one life will be lost so that SEVEN may be spared.
Let it be known, I acted alone and of my own free will.
May God have mercy on my soul.
A.P.F.
* * * *
{Letter from Angelus P. Fumolatro to Professor Wilfred Singleton Fate}
Professor Fate,
It is with a heavy heart I write this letter to bring an end to my time in your employ and to make a most serious confession. I have stolen your time machine.
I neither expect nor deserve forgiveness for my actions. Please know that for having willfully deceived you, I am deeply ashamed. I want you to know also what I have done was not for profit; not in the monetary sense at any rate, but there is a reason. It is my hope that upon hearing the truth of my situation, my history, that you will come to understand the unfortunate necessity of this act.
To begin with, although I applied to you under the name of Angus McGinty, former librarian from the University of Edinburgh, and despite your idiosyncratic insistence on calling me "Gibbs", my real name is Professor Angelus P. Fumolatro. I am the last surviving member of a League of like minded individuals who fought to protect the world from the misuse of scientific discoveries, and to defend the truth.
Four years ago on this very day my companions and I were in a race for our lives in the North African Sahara. We were fleeing the ancient ruins of Volubilis in our Hoever-Carriage to escape a great explosion to be caused by a device of my own design. Seconds before the device was to detonate I fell from our moving craft but it, and it's crew, continued on. When my device detonated the shock threw me nearly 100 meters down a sand dune knocking me unconscious. I awoke hours later nearly buried in the sand. My goggles had fractured on impact and driven a small shard of glass into my eye. Unable to remove it, I improvised a patch and went in search of the others.
To my horror I discovered the scattered wreckage of our craft and among it, the mangled bodies of my dearest friends.
For the first few hours I only stood in shock. Stunned beyond my ability to grieve, I labored to understand what had happened. Before darkness fell, I gathered the bodies and knowing I could never transport their remains from the desert, collected personal effects from each of them including locks of hair to be given to their families. I dug six graves that night and buried the finest group of people it had ever been my great privilege to have known.
The next morning I scavenged provisions and equipment from the wreckage for my trek out of the desert. While moving amongst the debris I began to notice a pattern. Based on my knowledge of the structure of the vessel I started to piece together in my mind a visual representation of what had happened. Soon I realized the scatter pattern of the materials could only have been caused by an explosion from WITHIN the ship.
My first assumption was the boiler must have failed but it was not long after I realized the nexus of the explosion was higher up - from a point at which nothing mechanical or chemical on board could have generated such a force. Then I knew we had been sabotaged and the one person to blame was... myself.
While I was not the one who planted an explosive on the ship, it is my fault the others became its victims. The only individual who would do such a thing, and who had both the knowledge and opportunity was a woman named Belladonna Acconite. She had briefly been our prisoner before we fled the ancient city. There can be no doubt she escaped her captivity and planted a bomb while we were constructing our device. I knew she had escaped but in my haste to flee the ruins I failed to mention it to the others. Had I been less rash, had a shown more sense and more patience we no doubt would have searched the ship and discovered her evil work and all my friends will still be in this world.
After nearly a day of piecing together parts of this ship I determined the exact location of where her bomb must have been planted. I made careful notes in my pocket journal if only for the purpose of presenting it in evidence against her should she ever again be caught.
That evening I started walking.
For more than a week I marched through the desert each night. In the day I vainly attempted sleep only to find each time my eyes closed all I could see were the six corpses of my fallen friends. On the evening of the ninth day I staggered, half mad and nearly starved into the outskirts of wretched town called Col du Zeggota.
With the help of the local French Consul, medical attention came but too late. I had lost my eye. When I was well enough to travel transportation home was arranged. But before my arrival, word of my survival and the success of our mission (the destruction of a certain dangerous artifact) somehow reached the ears of my enemy. In retaliation, the man known then only as "The Gearmaster" murdered my entire family.
The devastation upon my life was complete.
There was only one course open to me.
I tracked him relentlessly for nearly a year. The discovery of his true identity and his subsequent capture was perhaps my greatest personal success. But it meant nothing without my family and friends.
Then I heard rumors of your work. Admitedly, at first I thought you a madman. But the possibility, the most remote chance that you might succeed, sparked in me the idea which as brought us to this point.
I applied to you under false identity for fear you might have heard of my exploits. I used all the remaining resources of the League at my disposal to allow you to continue your work. You see Sir, I am not only your humble assistant but also the anonymous benefactor that has been funding your research.
As you know it has been nearly three years since I joined you. At times when our frustrations were high I had considered giving up, but when each night I would close my eyes and once again see the dead faces of my crew-mates, I knew I must remain calm and carry on. When our efforts at long last achieved success, I began finalizing the plan that culminated this evening... with the theft of the time machine.
It is my intention to use the device to return to past moments before the destruction of the Hoever-Carriage, find the bomb and remove it from the ship.
As you know I am quite capable of operating the pair of time control engines. I will first activate the Auto Systematic Implosive Negative Incindiary Nucleational Engine to open a 'window' in the time continuum. Next I will use the Time Dilator to compress two sides of the time stream to focus the point in the time line where I'll make my incursion.
Knowing that the Dilator requires items with a temporal connection to the anchor points at either end of the time frame into which I would pass; I have chosen to install two of the personal effects I collected from wreckage: A pocket watch I'd given to one of them as a gift and a lock of Lady's hair. If what you told me about temporal signatures of living things emitting the strongest signal, I should be able to anchor the later end at the exact moment her life stopped. I will attempt to make my incursion no more than two minutes prior to the destruction of the vessel. I fear any more than that would risk seriously contaminating their time stream.
Our theories on temporal alteration differ; but If my theory is correct, the moment I remove the saboteur's bomb, thereby changing history, my current self will cease to exist and all the events of the last four four years will never have happened. In the event that I am wrong, with no operator at this end to control the time engines, the window will collapse and I'll be stuck in the past. In either case you shall not see me again.
Lastly, and this will be difficult to take, I have known for some time of your intention to use the Time Engines for your exclusive personal gain. I have said nothing because perfecting the engines was my only hope of saving my friends. But as man of good conscience and one dedicated to the ideal that science should be used only for good, I cannot allow your plan to continue. This evening I have burned all your papers and journals, and left strict instructions with a local demolition company to dynamite the building in which the machine is hidden. By tomorrow morning, whether I succeed or fail, the time machine will no longer exist.
I now take my leave of you. My future lies in the past.
Hopefully you will come to forgive me... in time.
Your humble servant,
Angelus P. Fumolatro
My name is Diana Prince.
Daughter of Hippolyta.
Princess of the Amazons of Themyscara.
When I was born my mother had panicked, she tells me I had shown weakness at a young age. Weakness that the other Amazons would attack me for, bully me for.
So it was simple.
She offered me to the gods of Olympus, where I spent much of my childhood, training myself. The gods taught me lessons.
Each of them teaching a unique one.
Ares had taught me strength and endurance, and when it was time for us to say goodbye, he blessed me with amazing strength.
Hermes had taught me how to be quick, agile and clever. Blessing me with the ability of speed, and flight.
Athena taught me knowledge, and helped me open my mind, blessing me with a lasso that when wrapped around a being with a mind would make them tell the truth, and the ability to speak any language
Aphrodite, taught me about relationships and friendships, later blessing me with unimaginable beauty and a kind heart.
Zeus taught me all about courage and leadership, blessing me with bracelets of invincibility.
Artemis herself, taught me of the world's animals and how to hunt, later blessing me with a bond with beasts.
After my time on Olympus.
I had met my first man, in our dungeon.
His name was Steve Trevor, he and I talked that night, and the next.
About a land he called "America". Where they contained things I have never heard of, like a lady of liberty and a big apple.
He also spoke of the world's inhabitants.
Telling me of a man who dresses like a bat.
It was strange, to me. Why would one wish to dress as a bat?
But still
Every night we talked, he began to tell me more and more.
Until he revealed to me that man was suffering, terrible evil gently hovering over them at every minute, many men were corrupted in that world as well.
Just as mother had told me.
But there was one night i'd never forget.
The night Steven asked me to go to America
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well.
This wraps up the app!
The picture and build didn't turn out as I expected unfortunately but I think they can do.
Please
COMMENT IF YOU FAVORITE, I'D LOVE TO HEAR YOUR FEEDBACK ON MY APPLICATION
Some background:
The JGSF’s Type 01 “Shin-Hei” military Labor was a derivative of the highly successful civil HL-98 “Hercules 21” construction labor manufactured by Hishii Heavy Industries, which itself was a thorough development of the HL-97 “Bulldog”. Following an accident with a "Bulldog'' in 1998 the new model adopted an electronically controlled suspension, auto speed control, and a canopy system that eliminated the vibration, noise, and poor riding comfort that were the weaknesses of early two-legged Labors. Another novelty was the HL-98’s completely sealed cockpit with VR view of the surroundings for the pilot which offered highly improved crew protection and comfort and also allowed operations in potentially hazardous environment.
With these upgrades the HL-98 became the industrial standard for 2nd generation Labors, being one of the company's best-selling products. This machine was furthermore a priority product into which all of Hishii's state-of-the-art technology was poured into, and “Hercules” became a household name for construction Labors in the late Nineties. There was plenty of consideration for the user in all aspects, such as the reshaped cockpit with an innovative virtual reality interface that made cabin windows obsolete, what also improved driver protection. In addition to the electrification of the actuators, which was a typical feature of the same generation Labors, the battery used a nickel-metal hydride system, which was later followed by the third-generation lithium-ion system. Of course, the reliability and price/performance ratio that Hishii fans always insisted on were excellent, and even today, some say that it is "The best in terms of ease of use at the field level.''
Hishii's typical simplicity and robustness, with attention to safety and security, was what made the HL-98 machine a hit on the civil Labor market, and its versatility quickly drew attention of the Japanese Self Defense Ground Forces. At that time the JGSDF was looking for a light to medium multi-purpose Labor that could be used for both construction and logistics (primarily for engineer/pioneering units) as well as for armed frontline use, in a secondary role. In service it would partly replace the 1st generation AL-97 Atlas and AL-97B-var Hannibal Labors, being lighter, easier to transport and more economical to operate and maintain.
With its robust design and relatively compact dimensions the HL-98 offered a very good basis for further developments and within only two years Hishii Heavy Industries presented the so-called “JGSDF Type 01”, baptized “Shin-Hei” (“First/glorious warrior”). The Shin-Hei strongly resembled the commercial HL-98, sharing its framework and many actuators, but the mechanical systems were upgraded to military spec to allow generally high performance and endurance. Most obvious changes included more complex, hand-like manipulators, so that the Shin-Hei could operate tools and hand-held weapons. A multi-sensor boom (visual, audio, radiation, and atmospheric analysis) was added on the left shoulder as well as a LIDAR projector/receiver on the “forehead”, which offered a wide range of tactical uses and added full all-weather operation ability. The system allowed navigation even in total darkness, exact range measurement and three-dimensional analysis of surrounding details. A further use was motion detection (for extended watch duties), and the LIDAR’s laser beam could furthermore be concentrated to illuminate targets at up to 4.000 m range, either for laser-guided missiles which the Shin-Hei could carry and deploy (see below), or for ordnance that had been launched from 3rd parties like guided artillery shells or laser-guided bombs and missiles dropped from airborne platforms.
Although it had, due to being designed as a multi-purpose Labor, inferior firepower to its predecessor, the Atlas series, the Type 01 was fully capable of dealing with armored vehicles and infantry-level forces. On the right shoulder the Shin-Hei featured a fully stabilized articulated hardpoint that covered a conical area of +/- 45° in both horizontal and vertical planes in front of the torso, which could be rotated by 360°. This actuated pylon could accept several external weapons or tools. This included a sextuple launcher for laser-guided LMAT anti-tank missiles, a smoke grenade mortar with eighteen rounds, a belt-fed 25 mm rapid fire cannon with an external drum magazine against soft but also hardened targets, or a 40 mm grenade launcher, also outfitted with a drum magazine. Instead of weapons the hardpoint could also hold a powerful white/IR searchlight, an IR smoke screen generator, or a grapple cannon with an attached carbon-fiber cable.
Handheld weapons from the JGSDF’s Labor weapon arsenal could be deployed by the Type 01, too, ranging from a long-barreled 40mm rapid-fire machine gun over a heavy anti-labor bazooka to a short combat knife. For riot control the Shin-Hei could furthermore use a machine pistol-type portable firearm, which looked like a submachine gun, capable of firing standard rounds but also non-lethal rubber frag bullets or flechette ammunition against soft targets.
Less visible upgrades included water-, heat- and ABC-insulation for the cockpit in front torso (together with an air supply for 48 hours of operation) and the Labor’s fiber-reinforced plastic and aluminum shell was beefed-up for military operations with composite armor against machine cannon fire of up to 30mm caliber, and optional reactive armor tiles that protected against even larger caliber shells.
Three prototypes were built and the Japanese government ordered 99 production models, which entered service with the JGSDF Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade in 2001 but was also adopted by three JGSDF’s pioneer units.
Technical Data:
Code name: Type-01 "Shin-Hei"
Unit type: Military labor
Manufacturer: Hishii Heavy Industries
Operator: Japanese Ground Self Defense Forces (JGSDF)
Number built: 102
Accommodation: pilot only, in heat-, water and ABC-insulated cockpit in front torso
Dimensions:
Height overall (w. sensor boom): 9.42 meters
Height (hull only): 7.45 meters
Width (at shoulders): 5.12 meters
Minimum revolving radius: 5.5 meters
Weight:
7.89 tons (dry/empty)
9.22 tons (fully equipped/armed)
Armor materials:
Fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) and aluminum hull;
Additional composite armor against small-caliber weapons
Optional reactive armor tiles against armor-piercing weapons
Powerplant:
unknown
Maximum weight lifting capacity:
2.9 tons
Equipment and design features:
Flexible boom with visual and acoustic sensors, range unknown
Heat-, water- and ABC-protected cockpit with 48h air supply
Articulated manipulator hands with opposed thumbs
Full VR pilot interface
Armaments:
No internal weapons installed, but an articulated and stabilized hardpoint on the right shoulder
could accept several weapons, including a 25 mm machine cannon with 150 rounds in a drum
magazine or a launcher with 6x LMAT anti-tank missiles.
Additionally, handheld close and ranged combat weapons could be deployed, as well as a wide
range of pioneering tools
The kit and its assembly:
Some time ago I got my hands on a “reasonably priced” Patlabor IP kit set from Good Smile Company/Moderoid. The company created molds/kits for a wide range of Labors that appear in the original TV series and the movies, thankfully in the old Bandai kits’ rather esoteric 1:60 scale. This range also included a lot of civil Labors, which were formerly only available as dubious vinyl kits. The kit set I got was the HL-98 “Hercules” and ASV 99 “Boxer” combo, two civil construction Labors that shortly appear in supporting roles in the early Nineties movies. I did not have concrete plans for the kits upon purchase, but one of them would certainly become/remain a commercial/civil vehicle – and that will be the Boxer, due to its glazed cockpit. The Hercules Labor looked rather aggressive (at least to me, a little like a small brother of the menacing Phantom robot), and I rather thought that it would be better suited as a police or even military vehicle.
I eventually went for the latter concept; my build/conversion would more or less fall into the timeframe of the rather realistic and politically-heavy Patlabor 2 movie, around 2002, when Labors had, after teething troubles, become a more common sight and fully integrated into public services. Therefore, the HL-98 would become a “classic” JGSDF vehicle, not an exotic prototype anymore, reflected in its equipment/mods and the livery.
A word about the kit…. After initial enthusiasm I was a bit disappointed by the HL-98 kit, though. While it looks flashy and crisp in the box, molded in a peach orange tone with some dark grey details on alternative sprues (that are shared with the Boxer, beware not to throw them away!), the kit revealed the designers’ niggardliness. First of all the kit had been designed to be a rather simple snap-fit model. This is per se not a bad thing, many recent Bandai mecha kits are designed this way to appeal to newbie modelers who can put the model together, put stickers on it, and have a functional action figure within 15 minutes. However, Bandai’s designers still have the advanced modeler in mind and typically offer an alternative water slide decal sheet, and the kit is designed to be built in segments that can be built and painted separately, to be assembled in a final step, e. g. thanks to vinyl caps and clever detail solutions that might require one or two parts more, but that pays out elsewhere.
The Good Smile Company kit(s) lacks this thought altogether, and the number of parts has been reduced to a point that some parts, which would normally require 2 halves, have been molded and cast with “holes”. This might not be an issue, if this would remain invisible – but it isn’t and that’s really disappointing for such a “modern” kit! For instance, the undersides of the feet or of the hips are just “hollow”. Additionally, where a Bandai kit would offer a small, flexible vinyl cap in a joint, half of that joint is in the HL-98’s case completely molded in an ABS-esque material that is quite soft and poorly accepts any paint – the toy aspect seemed to have priority during the molds’ design process! Sure, you can work with this basis, but I feel painfully reminded of the early IP robot kits from the Eighties which did not offer any vinyl caps at all and a very cumbersome, not well thought-through matryoshka layout for arms, legs and torso, so that building separate modules and assembling them as a final step was impossible or required thorough mods.
Beyond these fundamental issues the kit went together quite well. The IP material is solid and thick, but many openings had to be painted before assembly to hide the material’s orange base color. Fit is also not too god, at least for such a modern mold – while the designers tried to hide part seams in natural panel lines, those seams that remain visible are very prominent and require PSR.
Most of my mods went onto the upper torso, including a sensor boom from a Patlabor Brocken on the left shoulder, the prominent LIDAR fairing (from a Bandai Patlabor Ingram Unit 3’s head) or the shoulder gun (from the scrap box, from a ruined 1:144 Run-Valam mecha, plus a drum magazine scratched from leftover Patlabor Brocken parts).
The “mitten”-style hands were also procured from a Bandai Brocken kit, replacing the HL-98’s original pincer-like three- and four-finger manipulators. To emphasize the military aspect, I added reactive armor tiles to the front and the shoulders, cut from 1mm styrene sheet. They beef up the look and add a military touch to the Labor/mecha.
Painting and markings:
A very dry and truthful replication of the typical JGSDF tank/vehicle livery in Dark Green/Dark Earth, and for this purpose I procured the respective authentic tones/paints from Tamiya, namely YF-72 and -73. However, these appear rather pale for what they are supposed to depict? IMHO, the tones rather remind of early WWII RAF Dark Earth and Dark Green (or even British Army Bronze Green) than those Tamiya suggests? Esp. the green is very greyish and close to the German RAL 7009 (Grüngrau), while the brown is very similar to FS 30118 (from the USAF SEA scheme). Dubious, maybe Tamiya’s engineers tried to integrate scale effects?
However, I gave the Tamiya paints a try and eventually stuck to them, even though the contrast between the green and the brown is surprisingly low. I considered adding black contrast stripes here and there (as applied to JGSDF AH-1Fs) but refrained from that when the Labor looked quite good in the basic two-tone camouflage. The pattern was improvised, an attempt to recreate the typical wide-striped JGSDF vehicle camouflage on a humanoid shape.
Once the basic colors had been applied, I gave the model an overall washing with thinned dark brown acrylic artist paint, to emphasize surface details and somewhat darken the rather pale tones, and some post-shading with slightly lighter basic tones (Revell 67 and 87) for weathering and a less uniform look. Decals/markings came next and were improvised with material from 1:72 JGSDF tanks and a Hobby Boss AH-1. After that the whole model was dry-brushed with khaki drab and light grey (Humbrol 72 and 64, respectively) to emphasize details and edges.
An overall coat with matt acrylic varnish followed. The lights around the hull were created with chromatic PET foil, the LIDAR on the forehead was painted glossy black to simulate a translucent fairing for the laser emitter. As a final step the model received a thorough weathering/dusting with watercolors and mineral pigments, esp. around the lower regions of the model but also on the upper surfaces, simulating accumulated dust and mud.
A conversion project that took a while to materialize, due to the inherent problems caused by the kit’s design as a highly simplified snap-fit kit. However, the “militarization” of the HL-98 worked well, and with relatively simple means – it looks quite purposeful now. I just wonder about the Tamiya paints, which are supposed to depict authentic JGSDF tones (I cross-checked that with Tamiya’s JGSDF tank kits like the Type 10 – the instructions recommend FY 72 and 73, too, or their rattle can alternatives). But esp. the green looks very pale and faded, I am not sold on it, even though I eventually stuck with them, and the Labor does not look bad with the low-contrast camouflage.
-Imogen Heap
Some memories deserve to stay dormant in your mind. I really didn't want to starting missing things today but it happened and it bummed me out for a little bit, until I decided to take photos
This is my therapy.
The weakness of the US-Dollar caused that some Bertone-GTV built to plan during the last 3 years of production (1975-1977) were not shipped to the United States but sold from stock into the Benelux-Countries in 1978 when then series had had expired..
engine:
twin-cam (dohc) / 111 PS / 1962 cc / R4-cylinders / injection / 84 mm × 88.5 mm (bore×stroke)
(© en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfa_Romeo_105/115_Series_Coup%C3%A9s )
This cross was carved with a skull and cross bones above four symbols of the weakness and guilt of humanity. These from left to right are the cock, reflecting the betrayal of Jesus Christ by St Peter, a pillar symbolising his scourging, a serpent reflecting the fall from grace of the garden of Eden and finally the crown of thorns.
The high cross also has a carving of a whip on each corner.
Jiva Ayurveda presents the Ayurveda Beauty products Amla Tablets which is helpful in General weakness, poor digestion, hair and eye disorders.
The weakness of the US-Dollar caused that some Bertone-GTV built to plan during the last 3 years of production (1975-1977) were not shipped to the United States but sold from stock into the Benelux-Countries in 1978 when then series had had expired..
engine:
twin-cam (dohc) / 111 PS / 1962 cc / R4-cylinders / injection / 84 mm × 88.5 mm (bore×stroke)
(© en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfa_Romeo_105/115_Series_Coup%C3%A9s )
Weakness? For sure not...
((and my absolute favorite of the whole series! Knowing Chandra for quite some time now, her facial expression is just the best ever! *smiles*))
I took this photo because I wanted to capture the lyrics "Exposing every weakness, however carefully hidden". I wasnt sure if my friends would be comfortable taking a photo shirtless so I decided to make a self portrait. I wanted to capture fear, sadness, and a little bit of mystery in a portrait for this lyrical phrase. first, by making a slight blue solid color filter, I muted the contrast, and creating the feeling of sadness. With the facial expression I created the feeling of fear. I wanted to create a message that could be interpreted as: The man is afraid of what kind of person he is/will be when he puts on the shirt an tie. Maybe he is a teen afraid of a future at a desk job or maybe a CEO afraid of what kind of person he has become. the interpretation is where the mystery comes in. This relates to my concentration because the lighting and general concept is dark and moody and perfectly reflects the beginning of the album where Roger Waters is telling us about his troubling adolescence. Image Size: 9.85'', 12.992''.
What Is Hormone Therapy for Men?
While it can be difficult to admit when you're having issues like erectile dysfunction, depression, or muscle weakness, it's imperative that you seek out the care and low testosterone treatments offered by a low testosterone specialist. While the occasional problem may not indicate an underlying issue, chronic fatigue, low libido, and weakening can be a telltale sign of low t, a problem that affects countless men in the United States.
When provided by a licensed medical doctor like Dr. Berman, male hormone replacement can provide a number of benefits, including relief from depression, anemia, and even osteoporosis. While andropause, or male menopause, results in a decrease in necessary hormones, treatment with testosterone injections has been shown to reverse the side effects of this all-too-common condition.
Through the use of small amounts of testosterone injected into the body, many men have been able to fight back against aging and hormonal imbalance and enjoy their youth once again. You should never feel pressured to live with these problems for the rest of your life; instead, seek our medical help and see how testosterone therapy may be able to help you feel like yourself well into your 50s, 60s, and beyond.
How Does Hormone Therapy Work?
At your initial appointment, Dr. Berman will provide you with a complete examination as well as assistance with ordering helpful blood tests that will reveal any underlying hormonal imbalances and issues. At a minimum, these tests will include a measurement of "free" testosterone, thyroid function, thyroid hormones, estrogen, progesterone, blood count, prolactin, and the like. Once the results come back and Dr. Berman has had a chance to review your overall health as well, the next course of action will be discussed and determined.
Many factors can affect your testosterone levels, ranging from age to weight and height. That's why it's so imperative for a physician like Dr. Mikhail Berman to have a complete picture as to what could be affecting the testosterone in your body. With this information, he can better determine whether changes to diet and exercise are sufficient or if low testosterone treatment should be pursued.
Schedule an Appointment
Our body can only function at its best when hormones are properly balanced and equilibrium exists within our anatomy and systems. When it comes to hormones and the body in general, the relationship between cause and effect is very precise. To maintain this balance, it's essential that we receive the care necessary to correct any hormone imbalances or other issues as soon as the problem presents itself.
As a hormone replacement specialist with over 30 years of experience, Dr. Berman knows how to properly provide his patients with the care required to boost testosterone and overall health. When it comes to hormone therapy, treatment should never be taken likely. With that being said, you deserve to know that you're in the capable hands of a provider who is fully licensed and able to provide you with safe, efficient therapy if and when you need it.
If you've been suffering from erectile dysfunction, insomnia, fatigue, or one of the many other symptoms of low t, don't wait; give us a call today at the office of Dr. Mikhail Berman to have your questions answered and to schedule an appointment for a consultation. Call (561) 841-1837.
Testosterone Clinic: Dr. Mikhail Berman
8295 N Military Trail, Suite G-1
Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33410
(561) 841-1837
plus.google.com/106990328128651242148
The weakness of the US-Dollar caused that some Bertone-GTV built to plan during the last 3 years of production (1975-1977) were not shipped to the United States but sold from stock into the Benelux-Countries in 1978 when then series had had expired..
engine:
twin-cam (dohc) / 111 PS / 1962 cc / R4-cylinders / injection / 84 mm × 88.5 mm (bore×stroke)
(© en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfa_Romeo_105/115_Series_Coup%C3%A9s )
The weakness of the US-Dollar caused that some Bertone-GTV built to plan during the last 3 years of production (1975-1977) were not shipped to the United States but sold from stock into the Benelux-Countries in 1978 when then series had had expired..
engine:
twin-cam (dohc) / 111 PS / 1962 cc / R4-cylinders / injection / 84 mm × 88.5 mm (bore×stroke)
(© en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfa_Romeo_105/115_Series_Coup%C3%A9s )
Mintage: 3,900
The 1877 is a date which appears to have been saved by contemporary dealers and collectors. Gems are not that rare, but this date is very hard to find in MS66, and it is quite rare in MS67. The PCGS and NGC population figures appear to be inflated by resubmissions in both MS67 and MS68, and I doubt if there are more than a half dozen separate coins that exist in this grade range. I have seen just one PCGS MS68 which was ex Heritage 1/05: 30393 and it brought $16,100.
This superb Gem is nearly fully Prooflike and it shows rich orange-gold and reddish toning on the obverse and the reverse. There is some minor weakness of strike at the 87 in the date, and I have seen this on many 1877 gold dollars. The surfaces are nearly perfect save for one tiny mark in the left obverse field.
The weakness of the US-Dollar caused that some Bertone-GTV built to plan during the last 3 years of production (1975-1977) were not shipped to the United States but sold from stock into the Benelux-Countries in 1978 when then series had had expired..
engine:
twin-cam (dohc) / 111 PS / 1962 cc / R4-cylinders / injection / 84 mm × 88.5 mm (bore×stroke)
(© en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfa_Romeo_105/115_Series_Coup%C3%A9s )
It's weakness is the Aurora.
Use my Referral Code to get extra 5000 aUEC on sign up - STAR-B6P3-NZBM
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"As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness"
- Henry David Thoreau
Name: Lt. Surge's Pikachu
Romaji: Matis no Pikachu
Release Date: 1998/October/24
Expansion / Set: Gym Expansion ★ 1: Leader's Stadium
Card #: [055/096]
Approx. Value: $0.50 - $1.00
Notes:
This card was only available in Japanese Gym Expansion ★ 1: Leader's Stadium booster packs. 1 box contained 60 packs. Leader's Stadium was the first expansion in Japan to feature pre-constructed Theme Decks, cards in the theme decks did not have rarity symbols. The unofficial number for this card is 055/096.
2 variations of this card were released. This version has a rarity symbol.
List of similiar cards:
Kuchiba City Gym: Matis (Lt. Surge's) Pikachu
List of Lt. Surge's Pikachu:
Kuchiba City Gym: Matis (Lt. Surge's) Pikachu
Kuchiba City Gym: Matis (Lt. Surge's) Pikachu
Gym Expansion ★ 1: Leader's Stadium Matis (Lt. Surge's) Pikachu
Gym Heroes (1st Edition) Lt. Surge's Pikachu
Gym Heroes (Unlimited) Lt. Surge's Pikachu
The weakness of the US-Dollar caused that some Bertone-GTV built to plan during the last 3 years of production (1975-1977) were not shipped to the United States but sold from stock into the Benelux-Countries in 1978 when then series had had expired..
engine:
twin-cam (dohc) / 111 PS / 1962 cc / R4-cylinders / injection / 84 mm × 88.5 mm (bore×stroke)
(© en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfa_Romeo_105/115_Series_Coup%C3%A9s )
“The weaknesses, failures, and sins of our family are the places where we learn that we need grace too. It is there, in those dark mercies, that God teaches us to be humbly dependent. It is there that He draws near to us and sweetly reveals His grace. Paul's suffering teaches us to reinterpret our thorn. Instead of seeing it as a curse, we are to see it as the very thing that keeps us "pinned close to the Lord.” - Eylse Fitzpatrick
I’ve always had this weakness for audio equipment, going back to the days (the 1950s) when we called it “hi-fi.” Later it was “stereo,” and now ... what? Home theater? I don’t know, it may be that people don’t listen to music much anymore, except via MP3 players, ear buds, headphones, and so forth. Anyway, I’ve collected a fair amount of audio gear over the years, without any particular plan or ultimate objective. I’ve purchased some of it but also have made some great finds by being in the right place at the right time and keeping an eye out for curbside discards. Take speakers, for instance. I don’t currently have a matched pair of anything, but so what? That mainly matters if you’re angling to get a photo spread in a decorator mag. The motley assortment in this shot consists of a small Acoustic Research AR-4x, a JBL L40, a Harman Kardon HK-40, an Altec Model 9 and in the back a Panasonic something-or-other. The JBL and Harman Kardon are currently hooked up and sound great together. The “beast” receiver is a Kenwood KR-7600 which I really don’t have room for (and don’t need all that wattage anyway). So, some mediocre Panasonic components are feeding the speakers and the system sounds fine. I keep saying I’m going to get rid of some stuff. That, of course, may just be another of those pipe dreams.
(One note re the JBL speaker. It was a curbside find, in good shape except lacking a woofer. No telling why. But I had a couple of 10" woofers from a salvaged pair of KLH speakers. With a little cutting & trimming on the front panel of the box, the KLH was a successful fit. I can imagine a purist groaning about such improvisation. No problem.)
Mirit Ben Nun: Shortness of breath
'Shortness of breath' is not only a sign of physical weakness, it is a metaphor for a mental state of strong desire that knows no repletion; more and more, an unbearable glut, without repose. Mirit Ben Nun's type of work on the other hand requires an abundance of patience. This is a Sisyphean work (requiring hard labor) of marking lines and dots, filling every empty millimeter with brilliant blots. Therefore we are facing a paradox or a logical conflict. A patient and effortful work that stems from an urgent need to cover and fill, to adorn and coat. Her craft of layering reaches a state of a continuous ceremonial ritual.
This ritual digests every object into itself - useful or discarded -- available and ordinary or rare and exceptional -- they submit and devote to the overlay work. Mirit BN gathers scrap off the streets -- cardboard rolls of fabric, assortments of wooden boards and pieces, plates and planks -- and constructs a new link, her own syntax, which she alone is fully responsible for. The new combination -- a type of a sculptural construction -- goes through a process of patching by the act of painting.
In fact Mirit regards her three dimensional objects as a platform for painting, with a uniform continuity, even if it has obstacles, mounds and valleys. These objects beg her to paint, to lay down colors, to set in motion an intricate weave of abstract patterns that at times finds itself wandering the contours of human images and sometimes -- not. In those cases what is left is the monotonous activity of running the patterns, inch by inch, till their absolute coverage, till a short and passing instant of respite and than on again to a new onset.
Next to this assembly of garbage and it's recycling into 'painted sculptures' Mirit offers a surprising reunion between her illustrated objects and so called cheap African sculpture; popular artifacts or articles that are classified in the standard culture as 'primitive'.
This combination emphasizes the difference between her individualistic performance and the collective creation which is translated into cultural clichés. The wood carved image creates a moment of peace within the crowded bustle; an introverted image, without repetitiveness and reverberation. This meeting of strangers testifies that Mirit' work could not be labeled under the ´outsiders art´ category. She is a one woman school who is compelled to do the art work she picked out to perform. Therefore she isn't creating ´an image´ such as the carved wooden statues, but she produces breathless ´emotional jam' whose highest values are color, motion, beauty and plenitude. May it never lack, neither diluted, nor dull for even an instant
Tali Tamir
August 2010
In European bestiaries and legends, a basilisk (/ˈbæsɪlɪsk/ or /ˈbæzɪlɪsk/[1]) is a legendary reptile reputed to be a serpent king, who causes death to those who look into its eyes. According to the Naturalis Historia of Pliny the Elder, the basilisk of Cyrene is a small snake, "being not more than twelve inches in length",[2] that is so venomous, it leaves a wide trail of deadly venom in its path, and its gaze is likewise lethal.
According to Pliny, the basilisk's weakness is the odor of a weasel. The weasel was thrown into the basilisk's hole, recognizable because some of the surrounding shrubs and grass had been scorched by its presence. It is possible that the legend of the basilisk and its association with the weasel in Europe was inspired by accounts of certain species of Asiatic and African snakes (such as cobras) and their natural predator, the mongoose.
Etymology
The word originates from the Greek form basilískos (Greek: βασιλίσκος; Latin: basiliscus), which means "little king", "little prince", "chieftain", or "young ruler", from two components, βᾰσῐλεύς (basileús, "king") and -ῐ́σκος (-ískos, diminutive[3]). It was also considered to be synonymous with the cockatrice.[4]
Accounts
City seal of Zwolle from 1295 with the Archangel Michael killing a basilisk
The basilisk is sometimes referred to as "king" because it has been reputed to have a mitre or crown-shaped crest on its head. Stories of the basilisk show that it is not completely distinguished from the cockatrice. The basilisk is alleged to be hatched by a cockerel from the egg of a serpent or toad (the reverse of the cockatrice, which was hatched from a cockerel's "egg" incubated by a serpent or toad). In Medieval Europe, the description of the creature began taking on features from cockerels. It has a venomous strike, and in some versions of the myth, it has the ability to breathe fire.
One of the earliest accounts of the basilisk comes from Pliny the Elder's Natural History, written in roughly 79 AD. He describes the catoblepas, a monstrous cow-like creature of which "all who behold its eyes, fall dead upon the spot",[5] and then goes on to say,
There is the same power also in the serpent called the basilisk. It is produced in the province of Cyrene, being not more than twelve fingers in length. It has a white spot on the head, strongly resembling a sort of a diadem. When it hisses, all the other serpents fly from it: and it does not advance its body, like the others, by a succession of folds, but moves along upright and erect upon the middle. It destroys all shrubs, not only by its contact, but those even that it has breathed upon; it burns up all the grass, too, and breaks the stones, so tremendous is its noxious influence. It was formerly a general belief that if a man on horseback killed one of these animals with a spear, the poison would run up the weapon and kill, not only the rider, but the horse, as well. To this dreadful monster the effluvium of the weasel is fatal, a thing that has been tried with success, for kings have often desired to see its body when killed; so true is it that it has pleased Nature that there should be nothing without its antidote. The animal is thrown into the hole of the basilisk, which is easily known from the soil around it being infected. The weasel destroys the basilisk by its odour, but dies itself in this struggle of nature against its own self.[6]
The basilisk and the weasel, by Marcus Gheeraerts the Elder. The cockatrice (pictured) became seen as synonymous with the basilisk when the "basiliscus" in Bartholomeus Anglicus's De proprietatibus rerum (ca 1260) was translated by John Trevisa as "cockatrice" (1397).
Isidore of Seville defined the basilisk as the king of snakes because of its killing glare and poisonous breath.[7] The Venerable Bede was the first to attest to the legend of the birth of a basilisk from an egg by an old cockerel; other authors added the condition of Sirius being ascendant. Alexander Neckam (died 1217) was the first to say that not the glare but the "air corruption" was the killing tool of the basilisk, a theory developed a century later by Pietro d'Abano.
Theophilus Presbyter gave a long recipe in his book, the Schedula diversarum artium, for creating a compound to convert copper into "Spanish gold" (De auro hyspanico). The compound was formed by combining powdered basilisk blood, powdered human blood, red copper, and a special kind of vinegar.
Albertus Magnus, in the De animalibus, wrote about the killing gaze of the basilisk, but he denied other legends, such as the rooster hatching the egg. He gave as source of those legends Hermes Trismegistus, who is credited also as the creator of the story about the basilisk's ashes being able to convert silver into gold. The attribution is absolutely incorrect, but it shows how the legends of the basilisk were already linked to alchemy in the 13th century.
A putto kills a basilisk, symbolic of Swedish occupiers and Protestant heresy, on the Mariensäule, Munich, erected in 1638.
Geoffrey Chaucer featured a so-called basilicok (likely a portmanteau of “basilisk” and “cock”) in his Canterbury Tales. According to some legends, basilisks can be killed by hearing the crow of a rooster or gazing at itself in a mirror.[8][9] This method of killing the beast is featured in the legend of the basilisk of Warsaw, killed by a man carrying a set of mirrors. According to the popular urban legend, it was a terrifying creature, described as a rooster, snake or turkey, with a snake's tail and the eyes of a frog.[10][11] It guarded hidden treasures in the Warsaw's Old Town underground and killed intruders with its eyes. It died outwitted by a young journeyman who went underground carrying a mirror in front of him. According to Artur Oppman, Bazyliszek lived in the basement of one of the tenement houses on Krzywe Koło street in Warsaw.[10]
Stories gradually added to the basilisk's deadly capabilities, such as describing it as a larger beast, capable of breathing fire and killing with the sound of its voice. Some writers even claimed it could kill not only by touch, but also by touching something that is touching the victim, like a sword held in the hand. Also, some stories claim its breath is highly toxic and will cause death, usually immediately. The basilisk is also the guardian creature and traditional symbol of the Swiss city Basel (Latin: Basilea). Canting basilisks appear as supporters in the city's arms.[12]
Leonardo da Vinci included a basilisk in his Bestiary, saying “it is so utterly cruel that when it cannot kill animals by its baleful gaze, it turns upon herbs and plants, and fixing its gaze on them, withers them up.”[citation needed] In his notebooks, he describes the basilisk in an account clearly dependent directly or indirectly on Pliny's:
This is found in the province of Cyrenaica and is not more than 13 fingers long. It has on its head a white spot after the fashion of a diadem. It scares all serpents with its whistling. It resembles a snake, but does not move by wriggling but from the centre forwards to the right. It is said that one of these, being killed with a spear by one who was on horse-back, and its venom flowing on the spear, not only the man but the horse also died. It spoils the wheat and not only that which it touches, but where it breathes the grass dries and the stones are split.
Then Leonardo noted of the weasel, "this beast finding the lair of the basilisk kills it with the smell of its urine, and this smell, indeed, often kills the weasel itself."
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa wrote that “[the basilisk] is alwayes, and cannot but be a male, as the more proper receptacle of venome and destructive qualities."[13]
According to the tradition of the Cantabrian mythology, the ancient Basiliscu has disappeared in most of the Earth but still lives in Cantabria, although it is rare to see it. This animal is born from an egg laid by an old cock just before his death exactly at midnight on a clear night with a full moon. Within a few days, the egg shell, which is not hard, but rather soft and leathery, is opened by the strange creature, which already has all the features of an adult: legs, beak, cockscomb, and reptilian body. Apparently, the creature has an intense and penetrating fire in its eyes such that any animal or person gazing directly upon it would die. The weasel is the only animal that can face and even attack it. It can only be killed with the crowing of a rooster, so, until very recent times, travelers carried a rooster when they ventured into areas where it was said that the basilisks lived.[14]
A basilisk is said to have terrorised the inhabitants of Vilnius, Lithuania, during the reign of King of Poland and Grand Duke Sigismund August. In his book Facies rerum Sarmaticarum,[15] 17th-century Vilnius University historian Professor Adam Ignacy Naramowski describes how boughs of rue, a plant believed to have the power to repel basilisks, were lowered into the creature's lair. The first two boughs lowered into the lair turned white, indicating that the creature remained alive, but the third bough retained its characteristic green colour, indicating the basilisk had been killed. Nineteenth-century historian Teodoras Narbutas (Teodor Narbutt) claimed the location of the creature's lair had been at the intersection of Bokšto, Subačiaus, and Bastėjos streets, near Subačius Gate. Legend has it the basilisk haunts the bastion of the city wall located there.[16]
Nicander of Colophon, a 2nd-century BCE Greek poet and physician, offers one of the earliest references to the basilisk in his didactic poem Theriaca. As discussed in “La figura del basilisco en los textos grecolatinos”,[17] Nicander portrayed the basilisk not as a mythical creature with supernatural powers, but as a small, venomous snake known for the potency of its bite. His description emphasized the basilisk’s deadly natural attributes—particularly its ability to cause rapid death and decay—rather than the legendary gaze or breath found in later medieval accounts. By presenting the basilisk in a more scientific and naturalistic context, Nicander’s work laid the foundation for the creature’s transformation in subsequent centuries, illustrating how a real-world fear of venomous serpents evolved into a mythic symbol of lethal power.
Origin
Coat of arms, the biscione of the House of Visconti, on the Archbishops' palace in Piazza Duomo, Milan. The arms bear the initials IO.[HANNES] of Archbishop Giovanni Visconti (1342–1354).
Some have speculated that accounts and descriptions of cobras may have given rise to the legend of the basilisk. Cobras can maintain an upright posture, and, as with many snakes in overlapping territories, are often killed by mongooses. The Indian cobra has a crown-like symbol on its head. Several species of spitting cobras can incapacitate from a distance by spitting venom, and may well have been confused with other cobra species by their similar appearance. The Egyptian cobra lives in the desert and was employed as a symbol of royalty.[18]
Historical literary references
The basilisk appears in the English Revised Version of the Bible in Isaiah 14:29 in the prophet's exhortation to the Philistines reading, "Rejoice not, O Philistia, all of thee, because the rod that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a basilisk, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent." The King James version of the Bible states, "out of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent".
The basilisk is mentioned in Psalm 91:13,[19] which reads "super aspidem et basiliscum ambulabis, et conculcabis leonem et draconem" in the Latin Vulgate, literally "You will tread on the asp and the basilisk,/ and you will trample the lion and the dragon underfoot." This is translated in the King James Version as "Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet". Other modern versions, such as the New International Version have a "cobra" for the basilisk, which may be closest to the Hebrew pethen.[20] The basilisk appears in the Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate, though not most English translations, which gave rise to its inclusion in the subject in Early Medieval art of Christ treading on the beasts.
The basilisk is mentioned in The Inscription on the Kosovo Marble Column, a poem/epitaph written by Stefan Lazarević, the Despot of Serbia, chronicling the Battle of Kosovo. In one part, the Serbian army is praised for killing ''Amurat and his son, spawns of viper and adder, whelps of lion and basilisk...''[21]
The basilisk appears in On the Jews and Their Lies by theologian Martin Luther:
Wherever you see or hear a Jew teaching, do not think otherwise than that you are hearing a poisonous Basiliskus who with his face poisons and kills people.[22]
In William Shakespeare's Richard III, the recently widowed Anne Neville, on hearing seductive compliments on her eyes from her husband's murderer (Richard, Duke of Gloucester), retorts that she wishes they were those of a basilisk, that she might kill him.[23] In Act II, Scene 4 of Shakespeare's Cymbeline, a character says about a ring, "It is a basilisk unto mine eye, Kills me to look on't."
Similarly, Samuel Richardson wrote in his novel Clarissa; or the History of a Young Lady: "If my eyes would carry with them the execution which the eyes of the basilisk are said to do, I would make it my first business to see this creature".[24]
In one medieval narrative from the Historia de preliis Alexandri Magni, a Latin romance of Alexander the Great, the basilisk appears as a monstrous obstacle during Alexander's mythical journey. In this tale, the creature's deadly breath and gaze pollute the air itself, requiring Alexander to use mirrors to defeat it—echoing motifs found in other medieval basilisk legends. The basilisk here symbolizes the guardian of an Otherworldly realm, reinforcing its mythical status as a liminal beast tied to death and transformation.[25]
Another reference to the basilisk is found in John Gay's "The Beggar's Opera" (Act II, Air XXV):
Man may escape from Rope and Gun;
Nay, some have out liv'd the Doctor's Pill;
Who takes a Woman must be undone,
That Basilisk is sure to kill.
[26]
Jonathan Swift alluded to the basilisk in a poem:
See how she rears her head,
And rolls about her dreadful eyes,
To drive all virtue out, or look it dead!
'Twas sure this basilisk sent Temple thence …
[27]
Robert Browning included the basilisk as a figure in "A Light Woman".
For see, my friend goes shaking and white;
He eyes me as the basilisk:
I have turned, it appears, his day to night,
Eclipsing his sun's disk.
[28]
Alexander Pope wrote, "The smiling infant in his hand shall take/ The crested basilisk and speckled snake" (Messiah, lines 81–82). In the chapter XVI of The Zadig, Voltaire mentions a basilisk, "an Animal, that will not suffer itself to be touch'd by a Man".[29]
Percy Bysshe Shelley in his "Ode to Naples" alludes to the basilisk:
Be thou like the imperial basilisk,
Killing thy foe with unapparent wounds!
Gaze on oppression, till at that dread risk,
Aghast she pass from the earth’s disk.
Fear not, but gaze,– for freemen mightier grow,
And slaves more feeble, gazing on their foe.
[30]
Shelley also referred to the basilisk in his poem "Queen Mab":
Those deserts of immeasurable sand,
Whose age-collected fervors scarce allowed
Where the shrill chirp of the green lizard's love
Broke on the sultry silentness alone,
Now teem with countless rills and shady woods,
Cornfields and pastures and white cottages;
And where the startled wilderness beheld
A savage conqueror stained in kindred blood,
A tigress sating with the flesh of lambs
The unnatural famine of her toothless cubs,
Whilst shouts and howlings through the desert rang, –
Sloping and smooth the daisy-spangled lawn,
Offering sweet incense to the sunrise, smiles
To see a babe before his mother's door,
Sharing his morning's meal
with the green and golden basilisk
That comes to lick his feet.
— Part VIII
17th-century Vilnius University historian Professor Adam Ignacy Naramowski [pl] wrote of the basilisks that were said to have lived in Warsaw and Vilnius in his book Facies rerum Sarmaticarum.[15] Romantic historian Teodor Narbutt describes the location of the Vilnius basilisk's lair as having been near Subačius Gate.
Bram Stoker alludes to the creature in Chapter 4 of his 1897 novel Dracula, when Jonathan Harker encounters the vampire Count Dracula sleeping in his crypt and makes a futile attempt to destroy him:
A terrible desire came upon me to rid the world of such a monster. There was no lethal weapon at hand, but I seized a shovel which the workman had been using to fill the cases, and lifting it high, struck, with the edge downward, at the hateful face. But as I did so the head turned, and the eyes fell upon me, with all their blaze of basilisk horror. The sight seemed to paralyze me, and the shovel turned in my hand and glanced from the face, merely making a deep gash above the forehead.
See also
Basilisco Chilote
Basiliscus (genus)
BLIT (short story)
Cikavac
Cockatrice
Colo Colo (mythology)
Lernaean Hydra
Horned Serpent
Roko's basilisk
Snallygaster
Titanoboa
The Book of the Dun Cow
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
The Owl House
Prehistoric snakes
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilisk
Abraxas (Biblical Greek: ἀβραξάς, romanized: abraxas, variant form ἀβράναξ romanized: abranax) is a term for the "Great Archon" in Gnostic Christianity.[1][2][3] The word is found in Gnostic texts such as the Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit and the Apocalypse of Adam, and also appears in the Greek Magical Papyri. It was engraved on certain antique gemstones, called on that account Abraxas stones, which were used as amulets or charms.[4] As the initial spelling on stones was Abrasax (Αβρασαξ), the spelling of Abraxas seen today probably originates in the confusion made between the Greek letters sigma (Σ) and xi (Ξ) in the Latin transliteration.
The seven letters spelling its name may represent each of the seven classic planets.[5] The word may be related to Abracadabra, although other explanations exist.
There are similarities and differences between such figures in reports about Basilides's teaching, ancient Gnostic texts, the larger Greco-Roman magical traditions, and modern magical and esoteric writings. Speculations have proliferated on Abraxas in recent centuries, which has been claimed to be both an Egyptian god and a demon.[6]
Etymology
Gaius Julius Hyginus (Fab. 183) gives Abrax Aslo Therbeeo as names of horses of the sun mentioned by 'Homerus'.[citation needed] The passage is miserably corrupt, but it may not be accidental that the first three syllables make Abraxas.
The proper form of the name is evidently Abrasax, as with the Greek writers, Hippolytus, Epiphanius, Didymus (De Trin. iii. 42), and Theodoret; also Augustine and Praedestinatus; and in nearly all the legends on gems. By a probably euphonic inversion the translator of Irenaeus and the other Latin authors have Abraxas, which is found in the magical papyri, and even, though most sparingly, on engraved stones.
The attempts to discover a derivation for the name, Greek, Hebrew, Coptic, or other, have not been entirely successful:
Egyptian
Claudius Salmasius (1588–1653) thought it Egyptian, but never gave the proofs which he promised.[citation needed]
J. J. Bellermann thinks it is a compound of the Egyptian words abrak and sax, meaning "the honorable and hallowed word", or "the word is adorable".[7]
Samuel Sharpe finds in it an Egyptian invocation to the Godhead, meaning "hurt me not".[8]
Hebrew
Abraham Geiger sees in it a Grecized form of Ha-Brachah, "The Blessing." Charles William King supports this gloss, citing a similar translation of the word abracadabra as Ha-Brachah-dabarata, "Pronounce the Blessing."[9]
J. B. Passerius derives it from abh, "father", bara, "to create", and a- negative—"the uncreated Father".[citation needed]
Giuseppe Barzilai goes back for explanation to the first verse of the prayer attributed to Nehunya ben HaKanah, the literal rendering of which is "O [God], with thy mighty right hand deliver the unhappy [people]", forming from the initial and final letters of the words the word Abrakd (pronounced Abrakad), with the meaning "the host of the winged ones", i.e., angels. While this theory can explain the mystic word Abracadabra, the association of this phrase with Abraxas is uncertain.[citation needed]
Greek
Wendelin discovers a compound of the initial letters, amounting to 365 in numerical value, of four Hebrew and three Greek words, all written with Greek characters: ab, ben, rouach, hakadōs; sōtēria apo xylou ("Father, Son, Spirit, holy; salvation from the cross").[10]
According to a note of Isaac de Beausobre's, Jean Hardouin accepted the first three of these, taking the four others for the initials of the Greek anthrōpoussōzōn hagiōi xylōi, "saving mankind by the holy cross".[10]
Isaac de Beausobre derives Abraxas from the Greek habros and saō, "the beautiful, the glorious Savior".[10]
Perhaps the word may be included among those mysterious expressions discussed by Adolf von Harnack,[11] "which belong to no known speech, and by their singular collocation of vowels and consonants give evidence that they belong to some mystic dialect, or take their origin from some supposed divine inspiration".
The Egyptian author of the book De Mysteriis in reply to Porphyry (vii. 4) admits a preference of 'barbarous' to vernacular names in sacred things, urging a peculiar sanctity in the languages of certain nations, as the Egyptians and Assyrians; and Origen (Contra Cels. i. 24) refers to the 'potent names' used by Egyptian sages, Persian Magi, and Indian Brahmins, signifying deities in the several languages.[citation needed]
Sources
It is uncertain what the actual role and function of Abraxas was in the Basilidian system, as our authorities (see below) often show no direct acquaintance with the doctrines of Basilides himself.
As an archon
Gemstone carved with Abraxas, obverse and reverse.
In the system described by Irenaeus, "the Unbegotten Father" is the progenitor of Nous "Discerning Mind"; Nous produced Logos "Word, Reason"; Logos produced Phronesis "Mindfulness"; Phronesis produced Sophia "Wisdom" and Dynamis "Potentiality"; Sophia and Dynamis produced the principalities, powers, and angels, the last of whom create "the first heaven". They, in turn, originate a second series, who create a second heaven. The process continues in like manner until 365 heavens are in existence, the angels of the last or visible heaven being the authors of our world.[4] "The ruler" [principem, i.e., probably ton archonta] of the 365 heavens "is Abraxas, and for this reason he contains within himself 365 numbers".
The name occurs in the Refutation of All Heresies (vii. 26) by Hippolytus, who appears in these chapters to have followed the Exegetica of Basilides. After describing the manifestation of the Gospel in the Ogdoad and Hebdomad, he adds that the Basilidians have a long account of the innumerable creations and powers in the several 'stages' of the upper world (diastemata), in which they speak of 365 heavens and say that "their great archon" is Abrasax, because his name contains the number 365, the number of the days in the year; i.e. the sum of the numbers denoted by the Greek letters in ΑΒΡΑΣΑΞ according to the rules of isopsephy is 365:
Α = 1, Β = 2, Ρ = 100, Α = 1, Σ = 200, Α = 1, Ξ = 60
As a god
Epiphanius (Haer. 69, 73 f.) appears to follow partly Irenaeus, partly the lost Compendium of Hippolytus.[12] He designates Abraxas more distinctly as "the power above all, and First Principle", "the cause and first archetype" of all things; and mentions that the Basilidians referred to 365 as the number of parts (mele) in the human body, as well as of days in the year.
The author of the appendix to Tertullian De Praescr. Haer. (c. 4), who likewise follows Hippolytus's Compendium,[13] adds some further particulars; that 'Abraxas' gave birth to Mind (nous), the first in the series of primary powers enumerated likewise by Irenaeus and Epiphanius; that the world, as well as the 365 heavens, was created in honour of 'Abraxas'; and that Christ was sent not by the Maker of the world but by 'Abraxas'.
Nothing can be built on the vague allusions of Jerome, according to whom 'Abraxas' meant for Basilides "the greatest God" (De vir. ill. 21), "the highest God" (Dial. adv. Lucif. 23), "the Almighty God" (Comm. in Amos iii. 9), and "the Lord the Creator" (Comm. in Nah. i. 11). The notices in Theodoret (Haer. fab. i. 4), Augustine (Haer. 4), and 'Praedestinatus' (i. 3), have no independent value.
It is evident from these particulars that Abrasax was the name of the first of the 365 Archons, and accordingly stood below Sophia and Dynamis and their progenitors; but his position is not expressly stated, so that the writer of the supplement to Tertullian had some excuse for confusing him with "the Supreme God".
As an aeon
With the availability of primary sources, such as those in the Nag Hammadi library, the identity of Abraxas remains unclear. The Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit, for instance, refers to Abraxas as an Aeon dwelling with Sophia and other Aeons of the Pleroma in the light of the luminary Eleleth. In several texts, the luminary Eleleth is the last of the luminaries (Spiritual Lights) that come forward, and it is the Aeon Sophia, associated with Eleleth, who encounters darkness and becomes involved in the chain of events that leads to the Demiurge's rule of this world, and the salvage effort that ensues. As such, the role of Aeons of Eleleth, including Abraxas, Sophia, and others, pertains to this outer border of the Pleroma that encounters the ignorance of the world of Lack and interacts to rectify the error of ignorance in the world of materiality.
In the Apocalypse of Adam, Abrasax is sent along with Sablo and Gamaliel to bring some of the Gnostic people "out of the fire and the wrath, and take them above the aeons and the rulers of the powers, and take them away [...] of life [...] and take them away [...] aeons [...] dwelling place of the great [...] there, with the holy angels and the aeons. The men will be like those angels, for they are not strangers to them."[14]
As a demon
The Catholic church later deemed Abraxas a pagan god, and ultimately branded him a demon as documented in J. Collin de Plancy's Infernal Dictionary, Abraxas (or Abracax) is labeled the "supreme God" of the Basilidians, whom he describes as "heretics of the second century". He further indicated the Basilidians attributed to Abraxas the rule over "365 skies" and "365 virtues". In a final statement on Basilidians, de Plancy states that their view was that Jesus Christ was merely a "benevolent ghost sent on Earth by Abraxas".[15]
Abraxas stones
A vast number of engraved stones are in existence, to which the name "Abraxas-stones" has long been given. One particularly fine example was included as part of the Thetford treasure from fourth century Norfolk, England. The subjects are mythological, and chiefly grotesque, with various inscriptions, in which ΑΒΡΑΣΑΞ often occurs, alone or with other words. Sometimes the whole space is taken up with the inscription. In certain obscure magical writings of Egyptian origin ἀβραξάς or ἀβρασάξ is found associated with other names which frequently accompany it on gems;[16] it is also found on the Greek metal tesseræ among other mystic words. The meaning of the legends is seldom intelligible: but some of the gems are amulets; and the same may be the case with nearly all.
A print from Bernard de Montfaucon's L'antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures (Band 2,2 page 358 ff plaque 144) with different images of Abraxas.
The Abraxas-image alone, without external Iconisms, and either without, or but a simple, inscription. The Abrasax-imago proper is usually found with a shield, a sphere or wreath and whip, a sword or sceptre, a cock's head, the body clad with armor, and a serpent's tail. There are, however, innumerable modifications of these figures: Lions', hawks', and eagles' skins, with or without mottos, with or without a trident and star, and with or without reverses.
Abraxas combined with other Gnostic Powers. If, in a single instance, this supreme being was represented in connection with powers of subordinate rank, nothing could have been more natural than to represent it also in combination with its emanations, the seven superior spirits, the thirty Aeons, and the three hundred and sixty-five cosmical Genii; and yet this occurs upon none of the relics as yet discovered, whilst those with Powers not belonging to the Gnostic system are frequently met with.
Abraxas with Jewish symbols. This combination predominates, not indeed with symbolical figures, but in the form of inscriptions, such as: Iao, Eloai, Adonai, Sabaoth, Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, Onoel, Ananoel, Raphael, Japlael, and many others. The name ΙΑΩ, to which ΣΑΒΑΩΘ is sometimes added, is found with this figure even more frequently than ΑΒΡΑΣΑΞ, and they are often combined. Beside an Abrasax figure the following, for instance, is found: ΙΑΩ ΑΒΡΑΣΑΞ ΑΔΩΝ ΑΤΑ, "Iao Abrasax, thou art the Lord".[17] With the Abrasax-shield are also found the divine names Sabaoth Iao, Iao Abrasax, Adonai Abrasax, etc.[18]
Abraxas with Persian deities. Chiefly, perhaps exclusively, in combination with Mithras, and possibly a few specimens with the mystical gradations of mithriaca, upon Gnostic relics.
Abraxas with Egyptian deities. It is represented as a figure, with the sun-god Phre leading his chariot, or standing upon a lion borne by a crocodile; also as a name, in connection with Isis, Phtha, Neith, Athor, Thot, Anubis, Horus, and Harpocrates in a Lotus-leaf; also with a representation of the Nile, the symbol of prolificacy, with Agathodaemon (Chnuphis), or with scarabs, the symbols of the revivifying energies of nature.
Abraxas with Grecian deities, sometimes as a figure, and again with the simple name, in connection with the planets, especially Venus, Hecate, and Zeus, richly engraved.
Simple or ornamental representations of the journey of departed spirits through the starry world to Amenti, borrowed, as those above-named, from the Egyptian religion. The spirit wafted from the earth, either with or without the corpse, and transformed at times into Osiris or Helios, is depicted as riding upon the back of a crocodile, or lion, guided in some instances by Anubis, and other genii, and surrounded by stars; and thus attended hastening to judgment and a higher life.
Representations of the judgment, which, like the preceding, are either ornamental or plain, and imitations of Egyptian art, with slight modifications and prominent symbols, as the vessel in which Anubis weighs the human heart, as comprehending the entire life of man, with all its errors.
Worship and consecrating services were, according to the testimony of Origen in his description of the ophitic diagram, conducted with figurative representations in the secret assemblies of the Gnostics unless indeed the statement on which this opinion rests designates, as it readily may, a statue of glyptic workmanship. It is uncertain if any of the discovered specimens actually represent the Gnostic cultus and religious ceremonies, although upon some may be seen an Abrasax-figure laying its hand upon a person kneeling, as though for baptism or benediction.
Astrological groups. The Gnostics referred everything to astrology. Even the Bardesenists located the inferior powers, the seven, twelve and thirty-six, among the planets, in the zodiac and starry region, as rulers of the celestial phenomena which influence the earth and its inhabitants. Birth and health, wealth and allotment, are considered to be mainly under their control. Other sects betray still stronger partiality for astrological conceits. Many of these specimens also are improperly ascribed to Gnosticism, but the Gnostic origin of others is too manifest to allow of contradiction.
Inscriptions, of which there are three kinds:
Those destitute of symbols or iconisms, engraved upon stone, iron, lead and silver plates, in Greek, Latin, Coptic or other languages, of amuletic import, and in the form of prayers for health and protection.
Those with some symbol, as a serpent in an oval form.
Those with iconisms, at times very small, but often made the prominent object, so that the legend is limited to a single word or name. Sometimes the legends are as important as the images. It is remarkable, however, that thus far none of the plates or medals found seem to have any of the forms or prayers reported by Origen. It is necessary to distinguish those specimens that belong to the proper Gnostic period from such as are indisputably of later origin, especially since there is a strong temptation to place those of more recent date among the older class.
Gallery
Prints from Bernard de Montfaucon's L'antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures (Band 2,2) page 358 ff.
Plaque 144
Plaque 144
Plaque 145
Plaque 145
Plaque 146
Plaque 146
Plaque 147
Plaque 147
Plaque 148
Plaque 148
Plaque 149
Plaque 149
Anguipede
In a great majority of instances the name Abraxas is associated with a singular composite figure, having a Chimera-like appearance somewhat resembling a basilisk or the Greek primordial god Chronos (not to be confused with the Greek titan Cronus). According to E. A. Wallis Budge, "as a Pantheus, i.e. All-God, he appears on the amulets with the head of a cock (Phœbus) or of a lion (Ra or Mithras), the body of a man, and his legs are serpents which terminate in scorpions, types of the Agathodaimon. In his right hand he grasps a club, or a flail, and in his left is a round or oval shield." This form was also referred to as the Anguipede. Budge surmised that Abrasax was "a form of the Adam Kadmon of the Kabbalists and the Primal Man whom God made in His own image".[19]
Some parts at least of the figure mentioned above are solar symbols, and the Basilidian Abrasax is manifestly connected with the sun. J. J. Bellermann has speculated that "the whole represents the Supreme Being, with his Five great Emanations, each one pointed out by means of an expressive emblem. Thus, from the human body, the usual form assigned to the Deity, forasmuch as it is written that God created man in his own image, issue the two supporters, Nous and Logos, symbols of the inner sense and the quickening understanding, as typified by the serpents, for the same reason that had induced the old Greeks to assign this reptile for an attribute to Pallas. His head—a cock's—represents Phronesis, the fowl being emblematical of foresight and vigilance. His two hands bear the badges of Sophia and Dynamis, the shield of Wisdom, and the scourge of Power."[20]
Origin
Medieval seal representing Abraxas.[21]
In the absence of other evidence to show the origin of these curious relics of antiquity the occurrence of a name known as Basilidian on patristic authority has not unnaturally been taken as a sufficient mark of origin, and the early collectors and critics assumed this whole group to be the work of Gnostics. During the last three centuries attempts have been made to sift away successively those gems that had no claim to be considered in any sense Gnostic, or specially Basilidian, or connected with Abrasax. The subject is one which has exercised the ingenuity of many savants, but it may be said that all the engraved stones fall into three classes:[22]
Abraxas, or stones of Basilidian origin[22]
Abraxastes, or stones originating in ancient forms of worship and adapted by the Gnostics[22]
Abraxoïdes, or stones absolutely unconnected with the doctrine of Basilides[22]
While it would be rash to assert positively that no existing gems were the work of Gnostics, there is no valid reason for attributing all of them to such an origin. The fact that the name occurs on these gems in connection with representations of figures with the head of a cock, a lion, or an ass, and the tail of a serpent was formerly taken in the light of what Irenaeus says about the followers of Basilides:
These men, moreover, practise magic, and use images, incantations, invocations, and every other kind of curious art. Coining also certain names as if they were those of the angels, they proclaim some of these as belonging to the first, and others to the second heaven; and then they strive to set forth the names, principles, angels, and powers of the 365 imagined heavens.
— Adversus hæreses, I. xxiv. 5; cf. Epiph. Haer. 69 D; Philastr. Suer. 32
Incantations by mystic names were characteristic of the hybrid Gnosticism planted in Spain and southern Gaul at the end of the fourth century and at the beginning of the fifth, which Jerome connects with Basilides and which (according to his Epist., lxxv.) used the name Abraxas.
It is therefore not unlikely that some Gnostics used amulets, though the confident assertions of modern writers to this effect rest on no authority. Isaac de Beausobre properly calls attention to the significant silence of Clement in the two passages in which he instructs the Christians of Alexandria on the right use of rings and gems, and the figures which may legitimately be engraved on them (Paed. 241 ff.; 287 ff.). But no attempt to identify the figures on existing gems with the personages of Gnostic mythology has had any success, and Abraxas is the only Gnostic term found in the accompanying legends that is not known to belong to other religions or mythologies. The present state of the evidence therefore suggests that their engravers and the Basilidians received the mystic name from a common source now unknown.
Magical papyri
Having due regard to the magic papyri, in which many of the unintelligible names of the Abrasax-stones reappear, besides directions for making and using gems with similar figures and formulas for magical purposes, it can scarcely be doubted that many of these stones are pagan amulets and instruments of magic.
The magic papyri reflect the same ideas as the Abrasax-gems and often bear Hebraic names of God.[23] The following example is illustrative: "I conjure you by Iaō Sabaōth Adōnai Abrasax, and by the great god, Iaeō".[24][25] The patriarchs are sometimes addressed as deities; for which fact many instances may be adduced. In the group "Iakoubia, Iaōsabaōth Adōnai Abrasax",[24][26] the first name seems to be composed of Jacob and Ya. Similarly, entities considered angels in Judaism are invoked as gods alongside Abrasax: thus "I conjure you ... by the god Michaēl, by the god Souriēl, by the god Gabriēl, by the god Raphaēl, by the god Abrasax Ablathanalba Akrammachari ...".[24]
In text PGM V. 96–172, Abraxas is identified as part of the "true name which has been transmitted to the prophets of Israel" of the "Headless One, who created heaven and earth, who created night and day ... Osoronnophris whom none has ever seen ... awesome and invisible god with an empty spirit"; the name also includes Iaō and Adōnai.[24] "Osoronnophris" represents Egyptian Wsir Wn-nfr, "Osiris the Perfect Being".[24] Another identification with Osiris is made in PGM VII. 643-51: "you are not wine, but the guts of Osiris, the guts of ... Ablanathanalba Akrammachamarei Eee, who has been stationed over necessity, Iakoub Ia Iaō Sabaōth Adōnai Abrasax."[24] PGM VIII. 1-63, on the other hand, identifies Abraxas as a name of "Hermes" (i.e. Thoth).[24] Here the numerological properties of the name are invoked, with its seven letters corresponding to the seven planets and its isopsephic value of 365 corresponding to the days of the year.[24] Thoth is also identified with Abrasax in PGM LXXIX. 1-7: "I am the soul of darkness, Abrasax, the eternal one, Michaēl, but my true name is Thōouth, Thōouth."[24]
One papyrus titled the "Monad" or the "Eighth Book of Moses" (PGM XIII. 1–343) contains an invocation to a supreme creator God; Abraxas is given as being the name of this God in the language of the baboons.[24] The papyrus goes on to describe a cosmogonic myth about Abraxas, describing how he created the Ogdoad by laughing. His first laughter created light; his second divided the primordial waters; his third created the mind; his fourth created fertility and procreation; his fifth created fate; his sixth created time (as the sun and moon); and his seventh and final laughter created the soul.[24] Then, from various sounds made by Abrasax, there arose the serpent Python who "foreknew all things", the first man (or Fear), and the god Iaō, "who is lord of all".[24] The man fought with Iaō, and Abrasax declared that Iaō's power would derive from both of the others, and that Iaō would take precedence over all the other gods.[24] This text also describes Helios as an archangel of God/Abrasax.[24]
The Leyden Papyrus recommends that this invocation be pronounced to the moon:
[24] Ho! Sax, Amun, Sax, Abraxas; for thou art the moon, (25) the chief of the stars, he that did form them, listen to the things that I have(?) said, follow the (words) of my mouth, reveal thyself to me, Than, (26) Thana, Thanatha, otherwise Thei, this is my correct name.[27]
The magic word "Ablanathanalba", which reads in Greek the same backward as forward, also occurs in the Abraxas-stones as well as in the magic papyri. This word is usually conceded to be derived from the Hebrew (Aramaic), meaning "Thou art our father" (אב לן את), and also occurs in connection with Abraxas; the following inscription is found upon a metal plate in the Karlsruhe Museum:[23]
АВРАΣАΞ
ΑΒΛΑΝΑΘ
ΑΝΑΛΒΑ
In architecture
Les Espaces d'Abraxas is a high-density housing complex in Noisy-le-Grand near Paris, France designed by Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill and opened in 1983.
In literature
Abraxas from Infernal Dictionary, 6th Edition, 1863, with descriptions of Abraxas as having a "rooster's head, dragon's feet and a whip in his hand", and a "king's head and snakes in lieu of feet"[15]
In the 1516 novel Utopia by Thomas More, the island called Utopia once had the name "Abraxa", which scholars have suggested is a related use.[28]
Jacques Collin de Plancy's Dictionnaire Infernal (Infernal Dictionary), published in 1818, states that Abraxas (or Abracax) was an anguipede (a deity represented with snake feet) pagan God of "Asian theogonies" with a "rooster's head, dragon's feet and a whip in his hand". De Plancy says that demonologists describe Abraxas as a demon having a "king's head and snakes in lieu of feet".[15]
Abrasax is invoked in Aleister Crowley's 1913 work, "The Gnostic Mass" of Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica:
IO IO IO IAO SABAO KURIE ABRASAX KURIE MEITHRAS KURIE PHALLE. IO PAN, IO PAN PAN IO ISCHUROS, IO ATHANATOS IO ABROTOS IO IAO. KAIRE PHALLE KAIRE PAMPHAGE KAIRE PANGENETOR. HAGIOS, HAGIOS, HAGIOS IAO.[29]
Abraxas is an important figure in Carl Jung's 1916 book Seven Sermons to the Dead, a representation of the driving force of individuation (synthesis, maturity, oneness), referred with the figures for the driving forces of differentiation (emergence of consciousness and opposites), Helios God-the-Sun, and the Devil.[30]
There is a God about whom you know nothing, because men have forgotten him. We call him by his name: Abraxas. He is less definite than God or Devil. ... Abraxas is activity: nothing can resist him but the unreal ... Abraxas stands above the sun[-god] and above the devil If the Pleroma were capable of having a being, Abraxas would be its manifestation.
— 2nd Sermon
That which is spoken by God-the-Sun is life; that which is spoken by the Devil is death; Abraxas speaketh that hallowed and accursed word, which is life and death at the same time. Abraxas begetteth truth and lying, good and evil, light and darkness in the same word and in the same act. Wherefore is Abraxas terrible.
— 3rd Sermon
Several references to the god Abraxas appear in Hermann Hesse's 1919 novel Demian, such as:
The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born must first destroy a world. The bird flies to God. That God's name is Abraxas.
— Max Demian
... it appears that Abraxas has much deeper significance. We may conceive of the name as that of the godhead whose symbolic task is the uniting of godly and devilish elements.
— Dr. Follens
Abraxas doesn't take exception to any of your thoughts or any of your dreams. Never forget that. But he will leave you once you become blameless and normal.
— Pistorius
In James Branch Cabell's novel Jurgen (1919) in Chapter 44: In the Manager's Office, Koshchei, who made all things as they are, when identified as Koshchei the Deathless, calls himself "Koshchei, or Adnari, or Ptha, or Jaldalaoth, or Abraxas—it is all one what I may be called hereabouts." Since Jung wrote about Koshchei (see above) in 1916, and Jurgen was published in 1919, Cabell might well have been familiar with Jung's treatise when he used the name.
Salman Rushdie's novel Midnight's Children (1981) contains a reference to Abraxas in the chapter "Abracadabra":
Abracadabra: not an Indian word at all, a cabbalistic formula derived from the name of the supreme god of the Basilidan gnostics, containing the number 365, the number of the days of the year, and of the heavens, and of the spirits emanating from the god Abraxas.
— Saleem Sinai
In popular culture
In the 2022 folk horror video game The Excavation of Hob's Barrow, published by Wadjet Eye Games, Abraxas features as a long-dormant god/demon inspired by the original Gnostic mythology.[31]
The 2023 horror movie Late Night with the Devil includes mention of a fictional cult that worships Abraxas.[32]
See also
Arimanius
Chronos
Sator Square
Abraxas (Biblical Greek: ἀβραξάς, romanized: abraxas, variant form ἀβράναξ romanized: abranax) is a term for the "Great Archon" in Gnostic Christianity.[1][2][3] The word is found in Gnostic texts such as the Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit and the Apocalypse of Adam, and also appears in the Greek Magical Papyri. It was engraved on certain antique gemstones, called on that account Abraxas stones, which were used as amulets or charms.[4] As the initial spelling on stones was Abrasax (Αβρασαξ), the spelling of Abraxas seen today probably originates in the confusion made between the Greek letters sigma (Σ) and xi (Ξ) in the Latin transliteration.
The seven letters spelling its name may represent each of the seven classic planets.[5] The word may be related to Abracadabra, although other explanations exist.
There are similarities and differences between such figures in reports about Basilides's teaching, ancient Gnostic texts, the larger Greco-Roman magical traditions, and modern magical and esoteric writings. Speculations have proliferated on Abraxas in recent centuries, which has been claimed to be both an Egyptian god and a demon.[6]
Etymology
Gaius Julius Hyginus (Fab. 183) gives Abrax Aslo Therbeeo as names of horses of the sun mentioned by 'Homerus'.[citation needed] The passage is miserably corrupt, but it may not be accidental that the first three syllables make Abraxas.
The proper form of the name is evidently Abrasax, as with the Greek writers, Hippolytus, Epiphanius, Didymus (De Trin. iii. 42), and Theodoret; also Augustine and Praedestinatus; and in nearly all the legends on gems. By a probably euphonic inversion the translator of Irenaeus and the other Latin authors have Abraxas, which is found in the magical papyri, and even, though most sparingly, on engraved stones.
The attempts to discover a derivation for the name, Greek, Hebrew, Coptic, or other, have not been entirely successful:
Egyptian
Claudius Salmasius (1588–1653) thought it Egyptian, but never gave the proofs which he promised.[citation needed]
J. J. Bellermann thinks it is a compound of the Egyptian words abrak and sax, meaning "the honorable and hallowed word", or "the word is adorable".[7]
Samuel Sharpe finds in it an Egyptian invocation to the Godhead, meaning "hurt me not".[8]
Hebrew
Abraham Geiger sees in it a Grecized form of Ha-Brachah, "The Blessing." Charles William King supports this gloss, citing a similar translation of the word abracadabra as Ha-Brachah-dabarata, "Pronounce the Blessing."[9]
J. B. Passerius derives it from abh, "father", bara, "to create", and a- negative—"the uncreated Father".[citation needed]
Giuseppe Barzilai goes back for explanation to the first verse of the prayer attributed to Nehunya ben HaKanah, the literal rendering of which is "O [God], with thy mighty right hand deliver the unhappy [people]", forming from the initial and final letters of the words the word Abrakd (pronounced Abrakad), with the meaning "the host of the winged ones", i.e., angels. While this theory can explain the mystic word Abracadabra, the association of this phrase with Abraxas is uncertain.[citation needed]
Greek
Wendelin discovers a compound of the initial letters, amounting to 365 in numerical value, of four Hebrew and three Greek words, all written with Greek characters: ab, ben, rouach, hakadōs; sōtēria apo xylou ("Father, Son, Spirit, holy; salvation from the cross").[10]
According to a note of Isaac de Beausobre's, Jean Hardouin accepted the first three of these, taking the four others for the initials of the Greek anthrōpoussōzōn hagiōi xylōi, "saving mankind by the holy cross".[10]
Isaac de Beausobre derives Abraxas from the Greek habros and saō, "the beautiful, the glorious Savior".[10]
Perhaps the word may be included among those mysterious expressions discussed by Adolf von Harnack,[11] "which belong to no known speech, and by their singular collocation of vowels and consonants give evidence that they belong to some mystic dialect, or take their origin from some supposed divine inspiration".
The Egyptian author of the book De Mysteriis in reply to Porphyry (vii. 4) admits a preference of 'barbarous' to vernacular names in sacred things, urging a peculiar sanctity in the languages of certain nations, as the Egyptians and Assyrians; and Origen (Contra Cels. i. 24) refers to the 'potent names' used by Egyptian sages, Persian Magi, and Indian Brahmins, signifying deities in the several languages.[citation needed]
Sources
It is uncertain what the actual role and function of Abraxas was in the Basilidian system, as our authorities (see below) often show no direct acquaintance with the doctrines of Basilides himself.
As an archon
Gemstone carved with Abraxas, obverse and reverse.
In the system described by Irenaeus, "the Unbegotten Father" is the progenitor of Nous "Discerning Mind"; Nous produced Logos "Word, Reason"; Logos produced Phronesis "Mindfulness"; Phronesis produced Sophia "Wisdom" and Dynamis "Potentiality"; Sophia and Dynamis produced the principalities, powers, and angels, the last of whom create "the first heaven". They, in turn, originate a second series, who create a second heaven. The process continues in like manner until 365 heavens are in existence, the angels of the last or visible heaven being the authors of our world.[4] "The ruler" [principem, i.e., probably ton archonta] of the 365 heavens "is Abraxas, and for this reason he contains within himself 365 numbers".
The name occurs in the Refutation of All Heresies (vii. 26) by Hippolytus, who appears in these chapters to have followed the Exegetica of Basilides. After describing the manifestation of the Gospel in the Ogdoad and Hebdomad, he adds that the Basilidians have a long account of the innumerable creations and powers in the several 'stages' of the upper world (diastemata), in which they speak of 365 heavens and say that "their great archon" is Abrasax, because his name contains the number 365, the number of the days in the year; i.e. the sum of the numbers denoted by the Greek letters in ΑΒΡΑΣΑΞ according to the rules of isopsephy is 365:
Α = 1, Β = 2, Ρ = 100, Α = 1, Σ = 200, Α = 1, Ξ = 60
As a god
Epiphanius (Haer. 69, 73 f.) appears to follow partly Irenaeus, partly the lost Compendium of Hippolytus.[12] He designates Abraxas more distinctly as "the power above all, and First Principle", "the cause and first archetype" of all things; and mentions that the Basilidians referred to 365 as the number of parts (mele) in the human body, as well as of days in the year.
The author of the appendix to Tertullian De Praescr. Haer. (c. 4), who likewise follows Hippolytus's Compendium,[13] adds some further particulars; that 'Abraxas' gave birth to Mind (nous), the first in the series of primary powers enumerated likewise by Irenaeus and Epiphanius; that the world, as well as the 365 heavens, was created in honour of 'Abraxas'; and that Christ was sent not by the Maker of the world but by 'Abraxas'.
Nothing can be built on the vague allusions of Jerome, according to whom 'Abraxas' meant for Basilides "the greatest God" (De vir. ill. 21), "the highest God" (Dial. adv. Lucif. 23), "the Almighty God" (Comm. in Amos iii. 9), and "the Lord the Creator" (Comm. in Nah. i. 11). The notices in Theodoret (Haer. fab. i. 4), Augustine (Haer. 4), and 'Praedestinatus' (i. 3), have no independent value.
It is evident from these particulars that Abrasax was the name of the first of the 365 Archons, and accordingly stood below Sophia and Dynamis and their progenitors; but his position is not expressly stated, so that the writer of the supplement to Tertullian had some excuse for confusing him with "the Supreme God".
As an aeon
With the availability of primary sources, such as those in the Nag Hammadi library, the identity of Abraxas remains unclear. The Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit, for instance, refers to Abraxas as an Aeon dwelling with Sophia and other Aeons of the Pleroma in the light of the luminary Eleleth. In several texts, the luminary Eleleth is the last of the luminaries (Spiritual Lights) that come forward, and it is the Aeon Sophia, associated with Eleleth, who encounters darkness and becomes involved in the chain of events that leads to the Demiurge's rule of this world, and the salvage effort that ensues. As such, the role of Aeons of Eleleth, including Abraxas, Sophia, and others, pertains to this outer border of the Pleroma that encounters the ignorance of the world of Lack and interacts to rectify the error of ignorance in the world of materiality.
In the Apocalypse of Adam, Abrasax is sent along with Sablo and Gamaliel to bring some of the Gnostic people "out of the fire and the wrath, and take them above the aeons and the rulers of the powers, and take them away [...] of life [...] and take them away [...] aeons [...] dwelling place of the great [...] there, with the holy angels and the aeons. The men will be like those angels, for they are not strangers to them."[14]
As a demon
The Catholic church later deemed Abraxas a pagan god, and ultimately branded him a demon as documented in J. Collin de Plancy's Infernal Dictionary, Abraxas (or Abracax) is labeled the "supreme God" of the Basilidians, whom he describes as "heretics of the second century". He further indicated the Basilidians attributed to Abraxas the rule over "365 skies" and "365 virtues". In a final statement on Basilidians, de Plancy states that their view was that Jesus Christ was merely a "benevolent ghost sent on Earth by Abraxas".[15]
Abraxas stones
A vast number of engraved stones are in existence, to which the name "Abraxas-stones" has long been given. One particularly fine example was included as part of the Thetford treasure from fourth century Norfolk, England. The subjects are mythological, and chiefly grotesque, with various inscriptions, in which ΑΒΡΑΣΑΞ often occurs, alone or with other words. Sometimes the whole space is taken up with the inscription. In certain obscure magical writings of Egyptian origin ἀβραξάς or ἀβρασάξ is found associated with other names which frequently accompany it on gems;[16] it is also found on the Greek metal tesseræ among other mystic words. The meaning of the legends is seldom intelligible: but some of the gems are amulets; and the same may be the case with nearly all.
A print from Bernard de Montfaucon's L'antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures (Band 2,2 page 358 ff plaque 144) with different images of Abraxas.
The Abraxas-image alone, without external Iconisms, and either without, or but a simple, inscription. The Abrasax-imago proper is usually found with a shield, a sphere or wreath and whip, a sword or sceptre, a cock's head, the body clad with armor, and a serpent's tail. There are, however, innumerable modifications of these figures: Lions', hawks', and eagles' skins, with or without mottos, with or without a trident and star, and with or without reverses.
Abraxas combined with other Gnostic Powers. If, in a single instance, this supreme being was represented in connection with powers of subordinate rank, nothing could have been more natural than to represent it also in combination with its emanations, the seven superior spirits, the thirty Aeons, and the three hundred and sixty-five cosmical Genii; and yet this occurs upon none of the relics as yet discovered, whilst those with Powers not belonging to the Gnostic system are frequently met with.
Abraxas with Jewish symbols. This combination predominates, not indeed with symbolical figures, but in the form of inscriptions, such as: Iao, Eloai, Adonai, Sabaoth, Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, Onoel, Ananoel, Raphael, Japlael, and many others. The name ΙΑΩ, to which ΣΑΒΑΩΘ is sometimes added, is found with this figure even more frequently than ΑΒΡΑΣΑΞ, and they are often combined. Beside an Abrasax figure the following, for instance, is found: ΙΑΩ ΑΒΡΑΣΑΞ ΑΔΩΝ ΑΤΑ, "Iao Abrasax, thou art the Lord".[17] With the Abrasax-shield are also found the divine names Sabaoth Iao, Iao Abrasax, Adonai Abrasax, etc.[18]
Abraxas with Persian deities. Chiefly, perhaps exclusively, in combination with Mithras, and possibly a few specimens with the mystical gradations of mithriaca, upon Gnostic relics.
Abraxas with Egyptian deities. It is represented as a figure, with the sun-god Phre leading his chariot, or standing upon a lion borne by a crocodile; also as a name, in connection with Isis, Phtha, Neith, Athor, Thot, Anubis, Horus, and Harpocrates in a Lotus-leaf; also with a representation of the Nile, the symbol of prolificacy, with Agathodaemon (Chnuphis), or with scarabs, the symbols of the revivifying energies of nature.
Abraxas with Grecian deities, sometimes as a figure, and again with the simple name, in connection with the planets, especially Venus, Hecate, and Zeus, richly engraved.
Simple or ornamental representations of the journey of departed spirits through the starry world to Amenti, borrowed, as those above-named, from the Egyptian religion. The spirit wafted from the earth, either with or without the corpse, and transformed at times into Osiris or Helios, is depicted as riding upon the back of a crocodile, or lion, guided in some instances by Anubis, and other genii, and surrounded by stars; and thus attended hastening to judgment and a higher life.
Representations of the judgment, which, like the preceding, are either ornamental or plain, and imitations of Egyptian art, with slight modifications and prominent symbols, as the vessel in which Anubis weighs the human heart, as comprehending the entire life of man, with all its errors.
Worship and consecrating services were, according to the testimony of Origen in his description of the ophitic diagram, conducted with figurative representations in the secret assemblies of the Gnostics unless indeed the statement on which this opinion rests designates, as it readily may, a statue of glyptic workmanship. It is uncertain if any of the discovered specimens actually represent the Gnostic cultus and religious ceremonies, although upon some may be seen an Abrasax-figure laying its hand upon a person kneeling, as though for baptism or benediction.
Astrological groups. The Gnostics referred everything to astrology. Even the Bardesenists located the inferior powers, the seven, twelve and thirty-six, among the planets, in the zodiac and starry region, as rulers of the celestial phenomena which influence the earth and its inhabitants. Birth and health, wealth and allotment, are considered to be mainly under their control. Other sects betray still stronger partiality for astrological conceits. Many of these specimens also are improperly ascribed to Gnosticism, but the Gnostic origin of others is too manifest to allow of contradiction.
Inscriptions, of which there are three kinds:
Those destitute of symbols or iconisms, engraved upon stone, iron, lead and silver plates, in Greek, Latin, Coptic or other languages, of amuletic import, and in the form of prayers for health and protection.
Those with some symbol, as a serpent in an oval form.
Those with iconisms, at times very small, but often made the prominent object, so that the legend is limited to a single word or name. Sometimes the legends are as important as the images. It is remarkable, however, that thus far none of the plates or medals found seem to have any of the forms or prayers reported by Origen. It is necessary to distinguish those specimens that belong to the proper Gnostic period from such as are indisputably of later origin, especially since there is a strong temptation to place those of more recent date among the older class.
Gallery
Prints from Bernard de Montfaucon's L'antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures (Band 2,2) page 358 ff.
Plaque 144
Plaque 144
Plaque 145
Plaque 145
Plaque 146
Plaque 146
Plaque 147
Plaque 147
Plaque 148
Plaque 148
Plaque 149
Plaque 149
Anguipede
In a great majority of instances the name Abraxas is associated with a singular composite figure, having a Chimera-like appearance somewhat resembling a basilisk or the Greek primordial god Chronos (not to be confused with the Greek titan Cronus). According to E. A. Wallis Budge, "as a Pantheus, i.e. All-God, he appears on the amulets with the head of a cock (Phœbus) or of a lion (Ra or Mithras), the body of a man, and his legs are serpents which terminate in scorpions, types of the Agathodaimon. In his right hand he grasps a club, or a flail, and in his left is a round or oval shield." This form was also referred to as the Anguipede. Budge surmised that Abrasax was "a form of the Adam Kadmon of the Kabbalists and the Primal Man whom God made in His own image".[19]
Some parts at least of the figure mentioned above are solar symbols, and the Basilidian Abrasax is manifestly connected with the sun. J. J. Bellermann has speculated that "the whole represents the Supreme Being, with his Five great Emanations, each one pointed out by means of an expressive emblem. Thus, from the human body, the usual form assigned to the Deity, forasmuch as it is written that God created man in his own image, issue the two supporters, Nous and Logos, symbols of the inner sense and the quickening understanding, as typified by the serpents, for the same reason that had induced the old Greeks to assign this reptile for an attribute to Pallas. His head—a cock's—represents Phronesis, the fowl being emblematical of foresight and vigilance. His two hands bear the badges of Sophia and Dynamis, the shield of Wisdom, and the scourge of Power."[20]
Origin
Medieval sea
The weakness of the US-Dollar caused that some Bertone-GTV built to plan during the last 3 years of production (1975-1977) were not shipped to the United States but sold from stock into the Benelux-Countries in 1978 when then series had had expired..
engine:
twin-cam (dohc) / 111 PS / 1962 cc / R4-cylinders / injection / 84 mm × 88.5 mm (bore×stroke)
(© en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfa_Romeo_105/115_Series_Coup%C3%A9s )
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My biggest weakness with this camera is that getting the focus right can be tough. This one is not quite right - close, but I could have done better.
In the prime of the home selling season, new home starts and existing home sales both retreated, a sign of ongoing weakness in the housing sector.
Sales are not supposed to slump in May or June. The prime home selling season generally peaks in July before slowing to a seasonal low on December... at New and resale home sales slump in 2014 prime home selling season
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Two aircraft Tomado GR1 in the air and two Jet Provosts, on the ground!
During the mid-1960s the RAF increased its emphasis on high-altitude training, and this showed up a weakness in the Jet Provost T.4. The aircraft were not pressurised placing severe physical strain on the aircrews. In 1964 Hunting-Percival, then a part of the British Aircraft Corporation responded to this problem and began work on a new pressurised version as a private venture.
The company utilised the last two T.4s of the large RAF order placed previously (XS230 and XS231) and began to convert these into the prototypes for the new version, the Jet Provost Mk.5.
The prototype T.5 in Boscombe Down colours [© Alastair McBean]Following three years of work, XS230 was rolled out of BAC's Warton factory, taking its first flight on 28 February 1967. Powered by the Rolls Royce Viper 201, the same as used in the T.4, XS230 looked cosmetically different from its T.4 sisters.
The cockpit hood was re-designed and the front fuselage took on a more bulbous shape to accommodate the necessary pressurised cockpit. The canopy slid upwards instead of back, the wings were strengthened to carry bigger tip tanks, and a new improved cockpit avionics package was installed.
XS231 was built to identical standards, but was fitted with a more powerful Viper engine, capable of 3000lbs of thrust, and was placed on the UK civil register as G-ATAJ.
Both the aircraft were sent to Boscombe Down for tests and evaluation by the MoD.
T.5A XW374 in the colours of the Poachers team [© unknown]The RAF saw the finished design in action at Boscombe and after deliberation made a firm order for yet more Jet Provosts, this time 110 T.5s.
The first example off the production line was XW287 and it was the first T.5 to enter RAF service, being handed over to the Central Flying School based at RAF Little Rissington on 3 September 1969. Further examples followed throughout 1970 with the Royal Air Force College (RAFC) at Cranwell, and RAF Linton-on-Ouse unit 1FTS joining the Central Flying School as initial users of the type. Further units adopted the Mk.5 as they came onto RAF charge from the Warton factory; 3FTS based at Leeming, 6FTS based at Acklington and 7FTS at Church Fenton all received JP 5s.
The Jet Provost T.5A also equipped several RAF aerobatics teams such as the Poachers from RAF Cranwell and "The Swords" based at RAF Leeming with 3FTS.
The T.5B Jet Provost - [© unknown]At first it was forecast that the T.5 would take the place of the T.4 on certain roles such as high altitude training. Unfortunately the majority of T.4s had to be taken out of RAF service much earlier than anticipated so the T.5 had to take on more responsibilities.
As a result in 1973 the RAF decided to update its fleet of Jet Provosts with new avionics suites, spin strakes, and roughened leading wing edges.
The full capabilities of carrying fully-laden tip-tanks was partially sacrificed in the upgraded version - the Jet Provost T.5A. Originally BAC updated 94 T.5s of the 110 delivered between 1973 and 1976, and these went on to serve the RAF with distinction for the next 15 years.
The last version of the Jet Provost was the T.5B, a small number was converted to be used as navigational trainers complete with refitted tip-tanks, and these served with 6FTS based at RAF Finningley alongside Jetstream T.1s and Dominie T.1s.
In 1988 the RAF made a final decision on the Jet Provost's replacement, the Shorts Tucano T.1, a turboprop aircraft.
This initiated the winding down of the RAF Jet Provost fleet, but it took some time before the last example was finally retired from the training syllabus. 1991 saw 7FTS withdraw the JP from their training fleet, following in the footsteps of the Royal Air Force College and the Central Flying School, who had an operational Tucano fleet. 6FTS and 1FTS were the last to retire their Jet Provosts.
On 20th September 1993 the curtain was finally brought down on the Jet Provost's RAF career.
It spanned some 38 years, saw 500 examples being produced and helped earn the flying wings of hundreds of trainee pilots.
Five T.55's, export versions of the T.5, were also built and sold to Oman, and the type also enjoyed success in the overseas market with Sri Lanka, Kuwait, Iraq and Venezuela Air Forces.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the air, of No.20 Squadron-
The Squadron re-equipped with Tomado GR1s at Laarbruch in 1984 and in 1991 formed part of the Tabuk Wing in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War. On 1 September 1992, No. 233 Operational Conversion Unit was renamed No. 20 (Reserve) Squadron, which is now responsible for the operational conversion of all RAF pilots to the Harrier GR7 in the ground attack and reconnaissance roles.
I have a weakness for wrought iron garden fancies. This ferris wheel has little baskets and really turns. I finally found one without major rust at the summer Round Top sales in 2008.
So at Christmas, I decked out with knee-hugger elves (I love those, too, although they are getting pricey) and a vintage Santa and his plastic sleigh. and team of reindeeer.
Name: Pikachu
Release Date: 2001/August - September
Expansion / Set: P Promotional Cards
Released Through: All Nippon Airways (ANA)
Card #: 004/P
e-Reader ID: Z-02-#
Approx. Value: $15.00 - $20.00
Notes:
Passengers flying in conjunction with the “It’s a Pika Summer!” campaign could redeem their boarding passes for the 2 card set including Pikachu and Larvitar. This is the 1st Pikachu card to feature the e-Card format along with the new Japanese card back.
P promotional cards were the first Japanese promo cards to have a numbering system. These cards were numbered ###/P (P for Promotional), indicating that other Promotional sets could be released. Similar to the English promo cards, these cards featured a black star "PROMO" symbol.
With the release of e-Card the card layout was redesigned. View card for comparison of last format.
This is the first Pikachu card to feature the Japanese "e-Card" format.
e-Cards feature a “dot code” barcode. The barcode can be swiped through the Nintendo e-Reader, which would activate mini-games or prompt a Pokédex data entry for the Pokémon on the card. The barcode was omitted on any e-Cards featuring a holofoil treatment, that way holographic cards would not be swiped through the e-Reader and be damaged.
List of P Promo Pikachu cards:
ANA (All Nippon Airways) Pikachu 004/P
Today there was a march in Westminster (and many other cities in Brazil and the world), “Women United Against Bolsonaro”. Bolsonaro is a Brazilian congressman who’s nostalgic for the military dictatorship and one of the candidates for our presidential election.
According to The Economist’s latest issue, he is “Latin America’s latest menace”. “He has a long history of being grossly offensive. He said he would not rape a congresswoman because she was ‘very ugly’; he said he would prefer a dead son to a gay one; and he suggested that people who live in settlements founded by escaped slaves are fat and lazy.”
NY Times said he’s “a politician who has publicly called women ignorant, too ugly to rape, or undeserving of the same salary as men. In one speech, Bolsonaro, who is the father of four sons and one daughter, called having a female child a ‘moment of weakness.’”
Many celebrities manifested against him during the last days: Madonna, Ellen Page, Stephen Fry, and others.
The display reads:
M3 105MM Howitzer
1943
The M3 was designed early in World War II to meet the requirement for a 105mm howitzer that could be delivered by aircraft or glider because the M2A1 was too large and heavy. The M3 was created by shortening the 105mm gun tube by 17 inches, using the recoil mechanism of the M1A1 75mm Pack Howitzer, and mounting it on the M3A1 75mm carriage. The biggest problem the howitzer had was the weakness of the split trail carriage because it was only designed to absorb the recoil of the lighter 75mm gun. Although planned for the new airborne divisions, the M3 actually saw much more service in the cannon companies of infantry regiments. Each company had a total of six howitzers organized into three platoons. Unlike most US weapons during World War II, the M3 saw use with American forces in both Europe and the Pacific theaters.
This M3 was manufactured by Garwood Industries in 1943. Production began in February 1943 with a total production of 2,580 howitzers by the time production ended in June 1945. Following the end of World War II, the M3 was declared obsolete.
Caliber: 4.13 in (105mm)
Weight: 2,495 lbs (1,133 kg)
Range: 8,490 yards (7,763 m)
Shell Weight: 33 lbs (14.9 kg)
Muzzle Velocity: 1,020 ft/sec (533 m/sec)
Elevation: - 9 to + 30 degrees (- 160 to + 533 mils)
Traverse: 45 degrees (800 mils)
CCN # 122461
Taken December 17th, 2013.
Mirit Ben Nun: Shortness of breath
'Shortness of breath' is not only a sign of physical weakness, it is a metaphor for a mental state of strong desire that knows no repletion; more and more, an unbearable glut, without repose. Mirit Ben Nun's type of work on the other hand requires an abundance of patience. This is a Sisyphean work (requiring hard labor) of marking lines and dots, filling every empty millimeter with brilliant blots. Therefore we are facing a paradox or a logical conflict. A patient and effortful work that stems from an urgent need to cover and fill, to adorn and coat. Her craft of layering reaches a state of a continuous ceremonial ritual.
This ritual digests every object into itself - useful or discarded -- available and ordinary or rare and exceptional -- they submit and devote to the overlay work. Mirit BN gathers scrap off the streets -- cardboard rolls of fabric, assortments of wooden boards and pieces, plates and planks -- and constructs a new link, her own syntax, which she alone is fully responsible for. The new combination -- a type of a sculptural construction -- goes through a process of patching by the act of painting.
In fact Mirit regards her three dimensional objects as a platform for painting, with a uniform continuity, even if it has obstacles, mounds and valleys. These objects beg her to paint, to lay down colors, to set in motion an intricate weave of abstract patterns that at times finds itself wandering the contours of human images and sometimes -- not. In those cases what is left is the monotonous activity of running the patterns, inch by inch, till their absolute coverage, till a short and passing instant of respite and than on again to a new onset.
Next to this assembly of garbage and it's recycling into 'painted sculptures' Mirit offers a surprising reunion between her illustrated objects and so called cheap African sculpture; popular artifacts or articles that are classified in the standard culture as 'primitive'.
This combination emphasizes the difference between her individualistic performance and the collective creation which is translated into cultural clichés. The wood carved image creates a moment of peace within the crowded bustle; an introverted image, without repetitiveness and reverberation. This meeting of strangers testifies that Mirit' work could not be labeled under the ´outsiders art´ category. She is a one woman school who is compelled to do the art work she picked out to perform. Therefore she isn't creating ´an image´ such as the carved wooden statues, but she produces breathless ´emotional jam' whose highest values are color, motion, beauty and plenitude. May it never lack, neither diluted, nor dull for even an instant
Tali Tamir
August 2010
File name: 10_03_001126b
Binder label: Medical
Title: Brown's Iron Bitters, a true tonic, cures dyspepsia, indigestion, malaria, weakness, etc. Ladies blotter, use only other side. (back)
Created/Published: N. Y. : Burrow-Giles Lith. Co.
Date issued: 1870-1900 (approximate)
Physical description: 1 print : chromolithograph ; 10 x 18 cm.
Subject: Women; Children; Bitters
Notes: Title from item.
Collection: 19th Century American Trade Cards
Location: Boston Public Library, Print Department
Rights: No known restrictions.
Tain WWI and WWII War Memorial
Tain Collegiate Church
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Inside the unlit church and I did not have a flash with me.
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OUT OF WEAKNESS WERE MADE STRONG WAXED VALIANT IN FLIGHT TURNED TO FLIGHT THE ARMIES OF THE ALIENS
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1914 - 1918
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IN GRATEFUL
MEMORY
OF THE MEN OF TAIN
WHO FELL
IN THE
GREAT WAR
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Maj. HUGH DUFF, Lovats Scouts.
Maj. WM. ROBERTSON, 4 Seaf:
Maj. ARTHUR YOUNG, Gurkhas.
Lt. P. G. WOLFE MURRAY, R.N.V.R.
Capt. J. HENRY BUDGE, 4 Seaf:
Capt. LORNE CAMPBELL, Can:
Capt. IAN MACKENZIE, 2 Seaf:
Capt. KEITH MACKENZIE, 2 Seaf:
Capt. PERCY M. MACKENZIE, 2 Gdns:
Capt. ANDW. B. ROSS, R.A.M.C.
Lt. A. IAN D. CAMERON, 2 Seaf:
Lt. W. M. CAMERON, Transvaal.
Lt. CHAS. IRVINE, Royal Scots.
Lt. W. R. KENNEDY, 4 Gdns:
Lt. Eric MACKENZIE, R.F.A.
Lt. GEO. A. MACKENZIE, 8 Gdns:
Lt. ALASTAIR MACRAE, 5 Seaf:
Lt. CHAS. E. MACRAE, 4 Seaf:
Lt. THOS. MUNRO, 7 Seaf:
Lt. DON. ROSS, S. Afr. Scot:
C.S.M. D. A. MACKENZIE, Can:
C.S.M. ROBERT MURRAY, R.H.
C.S.M. DON. ROSS, 10 Gdns:
SGT. W. ANDERSON, 4 Seaf:
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Sgt. ALLAN CAMERON, 4 Seaf:
Sgt. ANDREW FRASER, 4 GDNS:
Sgt. DON. FRASER, Lov. Scouts.
Sgt. ANGUS FRIDGE, 4 Seaf:
Sgt. ALEX. GRAHAM, 4 Seaf:
Sgt. D. R. HEPBURN, 5 Seaf:
Sgt. J. MACGILLIVRAY, 4 Seaf:
Sgt. SIMON MACKENZIE, 4 Seaf:
Sgt. A. WALLACE MUNRO, Can:
Sgt. JAMES ROSS, 4 Seaf:
Sgt. JOHN ROSS, 4 Seaf:
Sgt. ROBERT ROSS, 4 Seaf:
Sgt. DAVID URQUHART, R. Sc:
Cpl. WILLIAM FRIDGE, 4 Seaf:
Cpl. CHARLES GORDON, 4 Gdns:
Cpl. GEORGE GRAHAM, 4 Seaf:
Cpl. JAMES MACDONALD, 5 Gdns:
Cpl. EWART MACKAY, R.S.F.
Cpl. ALEX. MACKENZIE, 4 Seaf:
Cpl. D. A. MACKENZIE, R. Dragns:
Cpl. WILLIAM MUNRO, Can:
Cpl. HUGH ROSS, 4 Seaf:
Cpl. ALEX. SCLATER, 2 Camerons.
Cpl. WM. SUTHERLAND, Seaf.
L/Cpl. KENNETH ROS, 6 Camerons.
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L/Cpl. J. CAMPBELL, Australians.
L/Cpl. WM. CHRISTIE, Lewis G.C.
L/Cpl. ALEX. LEARMONTH, 4 Seaf:
L/Cpl. W. McCULLOCH, 2 Seaf:
L/Cpl. A. MACKENZIE, 4 Seaf:
L/Cpl. MAL. MACLEAN, 12 R.Sc:
L/Cpl. COLIN MACRAE, 4 Seaf:
L/Cpl. JAMES MUNRO, 4 Seaf:
L/Cpl. JOHN MUNRO, 7 Camerons.
L/Cpl. JOHN NICOL, Essex Rgt:
L/Cpl. JAS. SANGSTER, 4 Seaf:
Pte. JOHN ADAMSON, 4 Seaf:
Pte. W. BRUCE, Vancouver Seaf:
Pte. K. R. CAMERON, Australians.
Pte. H. CAMPBELL, A. & S. H.
Pte. T. CAMPBELL, 3 Seaf:
Pte. MAL. CHRISTIE, 4 Seaf:
Pte. JAMES CORMACK, 4 Seaf:
Pte. JOHN EWING, 3 Seaf:
Pte. THOS. EWING, 4 Seaf:
Pte. A. FARQUHAR, 4 Seaf:
Pte. DON. FORBES, 4 Seaf:
Pte. JAS. FORBES, 4 Seaf:
Pte. WM. FORBES, 2 Seaf:
Pte. WM. GRAHAM, 4 Seaf:
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Pte. JAS. GRANT, P. O. Rifles.
Pte. A. HARPER, R.A.M.C.
Pte. JOHN HENRY, 4 Seaf:
Pte. J. MACDONALD, 2 Gdns...:
Pte. ALEX. MACKAY, 4 Seaf:
Pte. ANDW. MACKAY, Lov. Sc:
Pte. FRED MACKAY, 3 Seaf:
Pte. HUBERT MACKAY, 4 Seaf:
Pte. LACH. MACKAY, Australians.
Pte. J. A. MACKAY, 4 Seaf:
Pte. MUNRO MACKAY, 4 Seaf:
Pte. W. MACKAY, Australians.
Pte. J. MACKENZIE, 4 Camerons.
Pte. J. D. MACKENZIE, S. Afr. Sc:
Pte. J. G. MACKENZIE, Seaf:
Pte. R. C. MACKENZIE, H. L. I.
Pte. W. MACKENZIE, Australians.
Pte. W. J. MACKENZIE, S. Afric:
Pte. ALEX MACLEOD, 4 Seaf:
Pte. G. MACLEOD, Canadians.
Pte. G. MATHESON, 4 Seaf:
Pte. R. MICHAEL, 4 Seaf:
Pte. G. MITCHELL, 4 Seaf:
Pte. D. J. MORRISON, 4 Seaf:
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Pte. DONALD MUNRO, M. G. C.
Pte. KENNETH MUNRO, 4 Seaf:
Pte. JAS. NESS, Lov. Scouts.
Pte. D. A. PATIENCE, 4 Seaf:
Pte. J. PERCY, 4 Seaf:
Pte. JAS. ROBERTSON, H. L. I.
Pte. ANDREW ROSE, Seaf:
Pte. ALEX ROSS, R. A. M. C.
Pte. ALEX ROSS, 4 Seaf:
Pte. ANDW. ROSS, 4 Seaf:
Pte, DONALD ROSS, 4 Seaf:
Pte. HECTOR ROSS, H. L. I.
Pte. JAMES ROSS, 6 Seaf:
Pte. WILLIAM ROSS, Can:
Pte. JOHN SKINNER, 4 Seaf:
Dmr. J. G. SUTHERLAND, 4 Seaf:
Sapper A. THOMSON, R. E.
Dvr. H. G. URQUHART, Ross M. B.
Pte. MATTHEW URQUHART, Can:
Pte. ROD URQUHART, S. Afric:
Pte. JAMES WATT, 4 Gdns:
Pte. P. WILLIAMSON, 4 Seaf:
Pte. RON. WILLIAMSON, 4 Seaf:
Pte. THOS. WILLIAMSON, 4 Seaf:
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1939 - 1945
Pte J. BIRNIE, 4 Seaforths
Cpl. G. CHRISTIE, A/Corps.
F/O G. R. DAVIDSON, R.A.F.
Sgt. J. DAVIDSON, R.A.F.
A.B, K. J. EWEN, Merchant N.
Pte. A. M. FORSYTH, 4 Seaf:
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A.C.2 C. FOX, R.A.F.
A.C.2 A. M. FRASER, R.A.F.
A. S. FRASER, Dutch H.G.
Pte. J. K. FRASER, Black Watch.
C.P.O. A. D. GRANT, R.N.
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C.P.O. R. R. GRANT, R.N.
C.S.M. C. MACKAY, W.A.E.
Pte. H. MACKAY, 4 Seaf:
F/O J. G. MACLEOD, R.C.A.F.
Sgt. Pilot R. MACLEOD, R.A.F.
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P/O W. R. D. MACLEOD, R.A.F.
C.S.M. J. MUNRO, Army Air Corps.
Fus. J. H. ROBERTSON, R.S.F.
A.C.1 F. ROSS, R.A.F.
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L/Cpl. W. D. ROSS, 7 Seaforths.
Tpr. W. U. ROSS, Lovats Scouts.
A.B. M. ROSS, R.N.
Pte. T. D. SUTHERLAND, 4 Seaf:
Sgt. F. TOUGH, R.A.F.
Pte. W. WILLIAMSON, 5 Seaf.
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St Duthus's Collegiate Church, Tain
ID:MHG31333
Type of record:Monument
Name:St. Duthus's Church, graveyard, Tain
Grid Reference:NH 7801 8216
Map Sheet:NH78SE
Civil Parish:TAIN
Geographical Area:ROSS AND CROMARTY
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ID:MHG8689
Type of record:Building
Name:St. Duthac's Collegiate Church & churchyard, Castle Brae, Tain
Grid Reference:NH 7802 8219
Map Sheet:NH78SE
Civil Parish:TAIN
Geographical Area:ROSS AND CROMARTY
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ID:MHG44945
Type of record:Monument
Name:St. Duthac's Collegiate Church & churchyard, Castle Brae, Tain
Grid Reference:NH 7802 8219
Map Sheet:NH78SE
Civil Parish:TAIN
Geographical Area:ROSS AND CROMARTY
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Tain, Castle Brae, St Duthus's Collegiate Church
Church (14th Century), Churchyard (Period Unassigned), War Memorial(S) (20th Century)
Site Name Tain, Castle Brae, St Duthus's Collegiate Church
Classification Church (14th Century), Churchyard (Period Unassigned), War Memorial(S) (20th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Collegiate Church Of St Duthac; St Duthac's Church; St Duthus Memorial Church; War Memorial Plaques
Canmore ID 14702
Site Number NH78SE 3
NGR NH 78015 82187
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink canmore.org.uk/site/14702
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The Creature Walks Among Us, 1956
youtu.be/cfLKIq8XZ0M?t=2s Full Feature
This is the third "Creature" movie. Universal left their options open at the end of second with the exact same ambiguous ending. While sequels to sequels tend to be poor fare, gill-man fans tend to regard Creature Walks Among Us (CWAU) as being as good as the first.
CWAU shares many B-movie weaknesses. It follows formula plot elements that were hallmarks of the first movie, but it also ventures into some new material. This new ground gives CWAU some muscle of its own. The first movie had a tiny bit of science blather about evolution. The second movie didn't bother. The third, however, tried to re-inject some science into the fiction.
Synopsis
A rich scientist mounts an expedition to find the gill-man who has escaped into the Florida swamps. A local fisherman reports being attacked by a man-like "diablo" so they investigate. Using an underwater radar device (not sonar), they track him down to a narrow bayou. Here he attacks their small boat, but is set on fire by spilled gasoline. Badly burned, the gill-man collapses. The scientists take him back aboard their 100' yacht and head for San Francisco. They've bandaged him up (head to toe) and are monitoring his vital signs. During the trip the complex soap opera develops. Dr. Barton (Jeff Morrow) is the rich, but jealous husband. Mrs. Barton (Liegh Snowden) is the blonde babe no longer in love and resentful of her husbands attempts to control her. Dr. Morgan (Rex Reason) is the concerned friend. Jed Grant is the buff playboy helper. Innuendo and misunderstandings keep the pot simmering.
Along the way, the doctors find that gill-man's gills are too badly burned to supply his body with oxygen. An x-ray reveals that he has lungs but that they're collapsed and closed off. They operate to open them. He can breathe air now. They also comment about how the burns have cause the fish-like layer to fall away, and a more human-like layer of skin to develop. Gillman awakens and interrupts Jed forcing himself on Marcia. He then dives into the sea, but must be rescued before he drowns.
Back in San Francisco, Gill is taken to Dr. Barton's estate and put into an electrified pen with some other animals. He looks somewhat longingly to the water's edge, but is docile. When a mountain lion gets into the pen and kills a sheep, Gill kills the big cat. When Dr. Barton pistol-whips Jed and puts the body in Gill's cage (to frame him for the murder), Gill goes nuts, tears up the house looking for Dr. Barton, finally killing him. Gill then wanders off the estate. With everyone in funeral attire, there's a mild suggestion that Dr. Morgan will come to call on the widow Barton when a respectful time has passed. The movie closes with Gill walking down the beach towards the sea. The End.
Once you've gotten into the gill-man saga, the plot of CWAU takes it to a new level which is more thoughtful than simply another monster movie. It's also fun to see the team of Jeff Morrow and Rex Reason again -- two good actors -- who starred in This Island Earth ('54).
The original movie had two gill-man suits -- a smaller one for the underwater shots, and a larger one for the above-water shots. The second movie, Revenge, made two new gill-man suits along the same lines. For the third movie, they didn't put too much into a new gill-man suit. They created a new gill-man head and hands, but dressed him the crude sailcloth shirt and pants so as to not have to make more. For the pre-changed gill-man, they used footage from the first two movies. The only scenes which needed a new gill-man suit was where he attacked the small boat and was burned. These scenes are so quick and dark, that the lower quality Gill-Man III is not apparent.
Arthur Ross, who co-wrote the original opted for a more thoughtful script. Are we what we are because of our genes, or because of our environment? Dr. Barton is excited that the gill-man is becoming more human. The fire burned away his "old self", releasing the new. "Change the metabolism and man will change." Dr. Morgan disagrees. Science can't create a new species. They may have altered gillman's skin, but inside he's the same. As though mankind would not be fit for space travel until he evolved into something better. This is a natural sort of thought for scientism which denies there being any divine element to man. How else to define man? Our human physiology is all we have. This is reminiscent of the premise underlying The Island of Dr. Moreau. Give animals human shape, human features, and they'll become people.
The Nurture part comes where the scientists theorize that the Gill-man as a "new" man will behave good or bad, depending on how he's treated. The assumption of the Tabula Rasa.
A notion floated in the dialogue is that ordinary humans are "built" for the earth and not suitable to space. The scientists pontificate about how the aquatic gill-man was "built" for life in the water. Man, therefore, was "built" for terrestrial life. That build would not work in space, they say. "We all stand at a crossroads between the jungle and the stars." If gill-man could become a new creature, maybe man could too. Since the changed gill-man could not really become human, the inference is that man can't become this Nietzchean over-man either.
Some aspects of CWAU have spiritual parallels. The before-creature is the old "animal" nature -- rash, violent, lustful. The after-creature is the new "human" self. He's no longer lustful or rash. He's violent only as defense. At the end, he's violent but driven by a sense of justice. There's also a parallel to the biblical "fall of man" described in the Book of Genesis, in that the before creature was innocent. He needed no clothes. After the change, he needed clothing. There's also a parallel to New Testament verses which talk of the old man having to die (metaphorically) before the new man could emerge. This adds some twist to the movie's title. Our own struggles with our animal side with our divine. Dr. Barton and Jed Grant are examples of those who gives in to their animal side. Dr. Morgan and even Marcia Barton are examples of people who maintained morality.
Old Home -- Dr. Barton's estate was one of Universal's stock houses. Used in many movies, such as Tarantula
Bottom line? CWAU will appeal to gill-man fans. Since it's not simply a re-remake of the first two "Creature" films, it has some appeal to others too. It's a bit lighter on the action but more cerebral. It's worth a watch.
Better than REVENGE, but nowhere near the glorious heights of the first film (which is really the only CREATURE that you absolutely must see).
A common theme in the way we live is "strength in weakness": Finding a flaw and realizing that it grants you extra points in unexpected way.
For example, our foundation is sagging, so our kitchen is slanted. The one time our laundry flooded, instead of a basement full of water, it all ran out the back door due to the floor slant. A few towels later and we had no homeowners insurance claim like when the same thing happened at my parents' house.
ANYWAY...
The step in our patio is decaying, and the decay left a nice space for a solar light. This is a perilous, dark step at night, as it falls in the shadows cast by the sheds, well, and house, making it impossible to navigate without holding onto the guard rail - which is itself barely held in by the decaying concrete of our mega-patio. So while the linear/conformist/normal way of thinking about something like this would be, "Hole. Bad. Fill it up so everything is flush and normalized", ***I*** would prefer having a hole that holds a light so I don't fall, than having a perfect step that is pleasing to the eye. Strength in weakness. QED.
concrete step, patio, solar light.
strength in weakness.
side yard, Clint and Carolyn's house, Alexandria, Virginia.
April 4, 2012.
... Read my blog at ClintJCL.wordpress.com
... Read Carolyn's blog at CarolynCASL.wordpress.com