Why does a bag of airline peanuts say “Caution: Contains Nuts”?

 

Philip Howard’s TED talk just went online.

 

“Judge law by it’s effect on society, not its effect on individuals. Our healthcare system suffers $60-200 billion per year from legal fears. Schools are drowning in law. One school district banned running at recess. Nuclear delays? It’s a legal problem.

Distrust skews performance to failure.

The law should create safe boundaries; it should not intercede in all disputes.

We have to rehumanize the law.”

 

I have to say, Philip has joined a short list of interesting lawyers I’ve met (Larry Lessig, and my college debate partner Mark Lemley top the list. When both were at Stanford, we taught a great class on genetic free speech).

Without a doubt, the sweetest soul I've ever known.

 

She was having fun playing with the babies on Saturday, and gone last night (Sunday) around midnight. Pericardial effusion (the sac aroud her heaart filled with blood) most likely caused by a tumor in her heart. Fucking cancer claimed another victim.

 

The doctors and staff at the vet hospital were wonderful and did all that could be done for her, including making the late night call so we could be with her. She did not suffer. She passed peacefully.

 

I don't know if there is a heaven or hell, but I hope there is a rainbow bridge.

Hwy 491, Colorado

Without a doubt one of the real 'head turner's of yesterday's event was preserved 'All Leyland' PD1 GTB 903. New to Lytham St Annes Corporation in 1947, the bus couldn't have looked any better than than it did here as it departed Pleasure Beach' heading in the direction of it's former home ground.

After a morning of what can best be described as indifferent (ney, rubbish) weather, the sun finally made an appearance early afternoon.

Without any digital camera.

Sans appareil photo numérique.

Ohne Digitalkamera.

  

kwerfeldein.de/2015/03/21/namibia-entschleunigt-ein-reise...

 

The quotes themselves are in the public domain. The images are my own and remain in copyright, and should not be copied without permission.

 

For lead-in to my presentation on Camversation in early 2025

Graffiti (plural; singular graffiti or graffito, the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written words to elaborate wall paintings, and has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire (see also mural).

 

Graffiti is a controversial subject. In most countries, marking or painting property without permission is considered by property owners and civic authorities as defacement and vandalism, which is a punishable crime, citing the use of graffiti by street gangs to mark territory or to serve as an indicator of gang-related activities. Graffiti has become visualized as a growing urban "problem" for many cities in industrialized nations, spreading from the New York City subway system and Philadelphia in the early 1970s to the rest of the United States and Europe and other world regions

 

"Graffiti" (usually both singular and plural) and the rare singular form "graffito" are from the Italian word graffiato ("scratched"). The term "graffiti" is used in art history for works of art produced by scratching a design into a surface. A related term is "sgraffito", which involves scratching through one layer of pigment to reveal another beneath it. This technique was primarily used by potters who would glaze their wares and then scratch a design into them. In ancient times graffiti were carved on walls with a sharp object, although sometimes chalk or coal were used. The word originates from Greek γράφειν—graphein—meaning "to write".

 

The term graffiti originally referred to the inscriptions, figure drawings, and such, found on the walls of ancient sepulchres or ruins, as in the Catacombs of Rome or at Pompeii. Historically, these writings were not considered vanadlism, which today is considered part of the definition of graffiti.

 

The only known source of the Safaitic language, an ancient form of Arabic, is from graffiti: inscriptions scratched on to the surface of rocks and boulders in the predominantly basalt desert of southern Syria, eastern Jordan and northern Saudi Arabia. Safaitic dates from the first century BC to the fourth century AD.

 

Some of the oldest cave paintings in the world are 40,000 year old ones found in Australia. The oldest written graffiti was found in ancient Rome around 2500 years ago. Most graffiti from the time was boasts about sexual experiences Graffiti in Ancient Rome was a form of communication, and was not considered vandalism.

 

Ancient tourists visiting the 5th-century citadel at Sigiriya in Sri Lanka write their names and commentary over the "mirror wall", adding up to over 1800 individual graffiti produced there between the 6th and 18th centuries. Most of the graffiti refer to the frescoes of semi-nude females found there. One reads:

 

Wet with cool dew drops

fragrant with perfume from the flowers

came the gentle breeze

jasmine and water lily

dance in the spring sunshine

side-long glances

of the golden-hued ladies

stab into my thoughts

heaven itself cannot take my mind

as it has been captivated by one lass

among the five hundred I have seen here.

 

Among the ancient political graffiti examples were Arab satirist poems. Yazid al-Himyari, an Umayyad Arab and Persian poet, was most known for writing his political poetry on the walls between Sajistan and Basra, manifesting a strong hatred towards the Umayyad regime and its walis, and people used to read and circulate them very widely.

 

Graffiti, known as Tacherons, were frequently scratched on Romanesque Scandinavian church walls. When Renaissance artists such as Pinturicchio, Raphael, Michelangelo, Ghirlandaio, or Filippino Lippi descended into the ruins of Nero's Domus Aurea, they carved or painted their names and returned to initiate the grottesche style of decoration.

 

There are also examples of graffiti occurring in American history, such as Independence Rock, a national landmark along the Oregon Trail.

 

Later, French soldiers carved their names on monuments during the Napoleonic campaign of Egypt in the 1790s. Lord Byron's survives on one of the columns of the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion in Attica, Greece.

 

The oldest known example of graffiti "monikers" found on traincars created by hobos and railworkers since the late 1800s. The Bozo Texino monikers were documented by filmmaker Bill Daniel in his 2005 film, Who is Bozo Texino?.

 

In World War II, an inscription on a wall at the fortress of Verdun was seen as an illustration of the US response twice in a generation to the wrongs of the Old World:

 

During World War II and for decades after, the phrase "Kilroy was here" with an accompanying illustration was widespread throughout the world, due to its use by American troops and ultimately filtering into American popular culture. Shortly after the death of Charlie Parker (nicknamed "Yardbird" or "Bird"), graffiti began appearing around New York with the words "Bird Lives".

 

Modern graffiti art has its origins with young people in 1960s and 70s in New York City and Philadelphia. Tags were the first form of stylised contemporary graffiti. Eventually, throw-ups and pieces evolved with the desire to create larger art. Writers used spray paint and other kind of materials to leave tags or to create images on the sides subway trains. and eventually moved into the city after the NYC metro began to buy new trains and paint over graffiti.

 

While the art had many advocates and appreciators—including the cultural critic Norman Mailer—others, including New York City mayor Ed Koch, considered it to be defacement of public property, and saw it as a form of public blight. The ‘taggers’ called what they did ‘writing’—though an important 1974 essay by Mailer referred to it using the term ‘graffiti.’

 

Contemporary graffiti style has been heavily influenced by hip hop culture and the myriad international styles derived from Philadelphia and New York City Subway graffiti; however, there are many other traditions of notable graffiti in the twentieth century. Graffiti have long appeared on building walls, in latrines, railroad boxcars, subways, and bridges.

 

An early graffito outside of New York or Philadelphia was the inscription in London reading "Clapton is God" in reference to the guitarist Eric Clapton. Creating the cult of the guitar hero, the phrase was spray-painted by an admirer on a wall in an Islington, north London in the autumn of 1967. The graffito was captured in a photograph, in which a dog is urinating on the wall.

 

Films like Style Wars in the 80s depicting famous writers such as Skeme, Dondi, MinOne, and ZEPHYR reinforced graffiti's role within New York's emerging hip-hop culture. Although many officers of the New York City Police Department found this film to be controversial, Style Wars is still recognized as the most prolific film representation of what was going on within the young hip hop culture of the early 1980s. Fab 5 Freddy and Futura 2000 took hip hop graffiti to Paris and London as part of the New York City Rap Tour in 1983

 

Commercialization and entrance into mainstream pop culture

Main article: Commercial graffiti

With the popularity and legitimization of graffiti has come a level of commercialization. In 2001, computer giant IBM launched an advertising campaign in Chicago and San Francisco which involved people spray painting on sidewalks a peace symbol, a heart, and a penguin (Linux mascot), to represent "Peace, Love, and Linux." IBM paid Chicago and San Francisco collectively US$120,000 for punitive damages and clean-up costs.

 

In 2005, a similar ad campaign was launched by Sony and executed by its advertising agency in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Miami, to market its handheld PSP gaming system. In this campaign, taking notice of the legal problems of the IBM campaign, Sony paid building owners for the rights to paint on their buildings "a collection of dizzy-eyed urban kids playing with the PSP as if it were a skateboard, a paddle, or a rocking horse".

 

Tristan Manco wrote that Brazil "boasts a unique and particularly rich, graffiti scene ... [earning] it an international reputation as the place to go for artistic inspiration". Graffiti "flourishes in every conceivable space in Brazil's cities". Artistic parallels "are often drawn between the energy of São Paulo today and 1970s New York". The "sprawling metropolis", of São Paulo has "become the new shrine to graffiti"; Manco alludes to "poverty and unemployment ... [and] the epic struggles and conditions of the country's marginalised peoples", and to "Brazil's chronic poverty", as the main engines that "have fuelled a vibrant graffiti culture". In world terms, Brazil has "one of the most uneven distributions of income. Laws and taxes change frequently". Such factors, Manco argues, contribute to a very fluid society, riven with those economic divisions and social tensions that underpin and feed the "folkloric vandalism and an urban sport for the disenfranchised", that is South American graffiti art.

 

Prominent Brazilian writers include Os Gêmeos, Boleta, Nunca, Nina, Speto, Tikka, and T.Freak. Their artistic success and involvement in commercial design ventures has highlighted divisions within the Brazilian graffiti community between adherents of the cruder transgressive form of pichação and the more conventionally artistic values of the practitioners of grafite.

 

Graffiti in the Middle East has emerged slowly, with taggers operating in Egypt, Lebanon, the Gulf countries like Bahrain or the United Arab Emirates, Israel, and in Iran. The major Iranian newspaper Hamshahri has published two articles on illegal writers in the city with photographic coverage of Iranian artist A1one's works on Tehran walls. Tokyo-based design magazine, PingMag, has interviewed A1one and featured photographs of his work. The Israeli West Bank barrier has become a site for graffiti, reminiscent in this sense of the Berlin Wall. Many writers in Israel come from other places around the globe, such as JUIF from Los Angeles and DEVIONE from London. The religious reference "נ נח נחמ נחמן מאומן" ("Na Nach Nachma Nachman Meuman") is commonly seen in graffiti around Israel.

 

Graffiti has played an important role within the street art scene in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), especially following the events of the Arab Spring of 2011 or the Sudanese Revolution of 2018/19. Graffiti is a tool of expression in the context of conflict in the region, allowing people to raise their voices politically and socially. Famous street artist Banksy has had an important effect in the street art scene in the MENA area, especially in Palestine where some of his works are located in the West Bank barrier and Bethlehem.

 

There are also a large number of graffiti influences in Southeast Asian countries that mostly come from modern Western culture, such as Malaysia, where graffiti have long been a common sight in Malaysia's capital city, Kuala Lumpur. Since 2010, the country has begun hosting a street festival to encourage all generations and people from all walks of life to enjoy and encourage Malaysian street culture.

 

The modern-day graffitists can be found with an arsenal of various materials that allow for a successful production of a piece. This includes such techniques as scribing. However, spray paint in aerosol cans is the number one medium for graffiti. From this commodity comes different styles, technique, and abilities to form master works of graffiti. Spray paint can be found at hardware and art stores and comes in virtually every color.

 

Stencil graffiti is created by cutting out shapes and designs in a stiff material (such as cardboard or subject folders) to form an overall design or image. The stencil is then placed on the "canvas" gently and with quick, easy strokes of the aerosol can, the image begins to appear on the intended surface.

 

Some of the first examples were created in 1981 by artists Blek le Rat in Paris, in 1982 by Jef Aerosol in Tours (France); by 1985 stencils had appeared in other cities including New York City, Sydney, and Melbourne, where they were documented by American photographer Charles Gatewood and Australian photographer Rennie Ellis

 

Tagging is the practice of someone spray-painting "their name, initial or logo onto a public surface" in a handstyle unique to the writer. Tags were the first form of modern graffiti.

 

Modern graffiti art often incorporates additional arts and technologies. For example, Graffiti Research Lab has encouraged the use of projected images and magnetic light-emitting diodes (throwies) as new media for graffitists. yarnbombing is another recent form of graffiti. Yarnbombers occasionally target previous graffiti for modification, which had been avoided among the majority of graffitists.

 

Theories on the use of graffiti by avant-garde artists have a history dating back at least to the Asger Jorn, who in 1962 painting declared in a graffiti-like gesture "the avant-garde won't give up"

 

Many contemporary analysts and even art critics have begun to see artistic value in some graffiti and to recognize it as a form of public art. According to many art researchers, particularly in the Netherlands and in Los Angeles, that type of public art is, in fact an effective tool of social emancipation or, in the achievement of a political goal

 

In times of conflict, such murals have offered a means of communication and self-expression for members of these socially, ethnically, or racially divided communities, and have proven themselves as effective tools in establishing dialog and thus, of addressing cleavages in the long run. The Berlin Wall was also extensively covered by graffiti reflecting social pressures relating to the oppressive Soviet rule over the GDR.

 

Many artists involved with graffiti are also concerned with the similar activity of stenciling. Essentially, this entails stenciling a print of one or more colors using spray-paint. Recognized while exhibiting and publishing several of her coloured stencils and paintings portraying the Sri Lankan Civil War and urban Britain in the early 2000s, graffitists Mathangi Arulpragasam, aka M.I.A., has also become known for integrating her imagery of political violence into her music videos for singles "Galang" and "Bucky Done Gun", and her cover art. Stickers of her artwork also often appear around places such as London in Brick Lane, stuck to lamp posts and street signs, she having become a muse for other graffitists and painters worldwide in cities including Seville.

 

Graffitist believes that art should be on display for everyone in the public eye or in plain sight, not hidden away in a museum or a gallery. Art should color the streets, not the inside of some building. Graffiti is a form of art that cannot be owned or bought. It does not last forever, it is temporary, yet one of a kind. It is a form of self promotion for the artist that can be displayed anywhere form sidewalks, roofs, subways, building wall, etc. Art to them is for everyone and should be showed to everyone for free.

 

Graffiti is a way of communicating and a way of expressing what one feels in the moment. It is both art and a functional thing that can warn people of something or inform people of something. However, graffiti is to some people a form of art, but to some a form of vandalism. And many graffitists choose to protect their identities and remain anonymous or to hinder prosecution.

 

With the commercialization of graffiti (and hip hop in general), in most cases, even with legally painted "graffiti" art, graffitists tend to choose anonymity. This may be attributed to various reasons or a combination of reasons. Graffiti still remains the one of four hip hop elements that is not considered "performance art" despite the image of the "singing and dancing star" that sells hip hop culture to the mainstream. Being a graphic form of art, it might also be said that many graffitists still fall in the category of the introverted archetypal artist.

 

Banksy is one of the world's most notorious and popular street artists who continues to remain faceless in today's society. He is known for his political, anti-war stencil art mainly in Bristol, England, but his work may be seen anywhere from Los Angeles to Palestine. In the UK, Banksy is the most recognizable icon for this cultural artistic movement and keeps his identity a secret to avoid arrest. Much of Banksy's artwork may be seen around the streets of London and surrounding suburbs, although he has painted pictures throughout the world, including the Middle East, where he has painted on Israel's controversial West Bank barrier with satirical images of life on the other side. One depicted a hole in the wall with an idyllic beach, while another shows a mountain landscape on the other side. A number of exhibitions also have taken place since 2000, and recent works of art have fetched vast sums of money. Banksy's art is a prime example of the classic controversy: vandalism vs. art. Art supporters endorse his work distributed in urban areas as pieces of art and some councils, such as Bristol and Islington, have officially protected them, while officials of other areas have deemed his work to be vandalism and have removed it.

 

Pixnit is another artist who chooses to keep her identity from the general public. Her work focuses on beauty and design aspects of graffiti as opposed to Banksy's anti-government shock value. Her paintings are often of flower designs above shops and stores in her local urban area of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Some store owners endorse her work and encourage others to do similar work as well. "One of the pieces was left up above Steve's Kitchen, because it looks pretty awesome"- Erin Scott, the manager of New England Comics in Allston, Massachusetts.

 

Graffiti artists may become offended if photographs of their art are published in a commercial context without their permission. In March 2020, the Finnish graffiti artist Psyke expressed his displeasure at the newspaper Ilta-Sanomat publishing a photograph of a Peugeot 208 in an article about new cars, with his graffiti prominently shown on the background. The artist claims he does not want his art being used in commercial context, not even if he were to receive compensation.

 

Territorial graffiti marks urban neighborhoods with tags and logos to differentiate certain groups from others. These images are meant to show outsiders a stern look at whose turf is whose. The subject matter of gang-related graffiti consists of cryptic symbols and initials strictly fashioned with unique calligraphies. Gang members use graffiti to designate membership throughout the gang, to differentiate rivals and associates and, most commonly, to mark borders which are both territorial and ideological.

 

Graffiti has been used as a means of advertising both legally and illegally. Bronx-based TATS CRU has made a name for themselves doing legal advertising campaigns for companies such as Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Toyota, and MTV. In the UK, Covent Garden's Boxfresh used stencil images of a Zapatista revolutionary in the hopes that cross referencing would promote their store.

 

Smirnoff hired artists to use reverse graffiti (the use of high pressure hoses to clean dirty surfaces to leave a clean image in the surrounding dirt) to increase awareness of their product.

 

Graffiti often has a reputation as part of a subculture that rebels against authority, although the considerations of the practitioners often diverge and can relate to a wide range of attitudes. It can express a political practice and can form just one tool in an array of resistance techniques. One early example includes the anarcho-punk band Crass, who conducted a campaign of stenciling anti-war, anarchist, feminist, and anti-consumerist messages throughout the London Underground system during the late 1970s and early 1980s. In Amsterdam graffiti was a major part of the punk scene. The city was covered with names such as "De Zoot", "Vendex", and "Dr Rat". To document the graffiti a punk magazine was started that was called Gallery Anus. So when hip hop came to Europe in the early 1980s there was already a vibrant graffiti culture.

 

The student protests and general strike of May 1968 saw Paris bedecked in revolutionary, anarchistic, and situationist slogans such as L'ennui est contre-révolutionnaire ("Boredom is counterrevolutionary") and Lisez moins, vivez plus ("Read less, live more"). While not exhaustive, the graffiti gave a sense of the 'millenarian' and rebellious spirit, tempered with a good deal of verbal wit, of the strikers.

 

I think graffiti writing is a way of defining what our generation is like. Excuse the French, we're not a bunch of p---- artists. Traditionally artists have been considered soft and mellow people, a little bit kooky. Maybe we're a little bit more like pirates that way. We defend our territory, whatever space we steal to paint on, we defend it fiercely.

 

The developments of graffiti art which took place in art galleries and colleges as well as "on the street" or "underground", contributed to the resurfacing in the 1990s of a far more overtly politicized art form in the subvertising, culture jamming, or tactical media movements. These movements or styles tend to classify the artists by their relationship to their social and economic contexts, since, in most countries, graffiti art remains illegal in many forms except when using non-permanent paint. Since the 1990s with the rise of Street Art, a growing number of artists are switching to non-permanent paints and non-traditional forms of painting.

 

Contemporary practitioners, accordingly, have varied and often conflicting practices. Some individuals, such as Alexander Brener, have used the medium to politicize other art forms, and have used the prison sentences enforced on them as a means of further protest. The practices of anonymous groups and individuals also vary widely, and practitioners by no means always agree with each other's practices. For example, the anti-capitalist art group the Space Hijackers did a piece in 2004 about the contradiction between the capitalistic elements of Banksy and his use of political imagery.

 

Berlin human rights activist Irmela Mensah-Schramm has received global media attention and numerous awards for her 35-year campaign of effacing neo-Nazi and other right-wing extremist graffiti throughout Germany, often by altering hate speech in humorous ways.

 

In Serbian capital, Belgrade, the graffiti depicting a uniformed former general of Serb army and war criminal, convicted at ICTY for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide and ethnic cleansing in Bosnian War, Ratko Mladić, appeared in a military salute alongside the words "General, thank to your mother". Aleks Eror, Berlin-based journalist, explains how "veneration of historical and wartime figures" through street art is not a new phenomenon in the region of former Yugoslavia, and that "in most cases is firmly focused on the future, rather than retelling the past". Eror is not only analyst pointing to danger of such an expressions for the region's future. In a long expose on the subject of Bosnian genocide denial, at Balkan Diskurs magazine and multimedia platform website, Kristina Gadže and Taylor Whitsell referred to these experiences as a young generations' "cultural heritage", in which young are being exposed to celebration and affirmation of war-criminals as part of their "formal education" and "inheritance".

 

There are numerous examples of genocide denial through celebration and affirmation of war criminals throughout the region of Western Balkans inhabited by Serbs using this form of artistic expression. Several more of these graffiti are found in Serbian capital, and many more across Serbia and Bosnian and Herzegovinian administrative entity, Republika Srpska, which is the ethnic Serbian majority enclave. Critics point that Serbia as a state, is willing to defend the mural of convicted war criminal, and have no intention to react on cases of genocide denial, noting that Interior Minister of Serbia, Aleksandar Vulin decision to ban any gathering with an intent to remove the mural, with the deployment of riot police, sends the message of "tacit endorsement". Consequently, on 9 November 2021, Serbian heavy police in riot gear, with graffiti creators and their supporters, blocked the access to the mural to prevent human rights groups and other activists to paint over it and mark the International Day Against Fascism and Antisemitism in that way, and even arrested two civic activist for throwing eggs at the graffiti.

 

Graffiti may also be used as an offensive expression. This form of graffiti may be difficult to identify, as it is mostly removed by the local authority (as councils which have adopted strategies of criminalization also strive to remove graffiti quickly). Therefore, existing racist graffiti is mostly more subtle and at first sight, not easily recognized as "racist". It can then be understood only if one knows the relevant "local code" (social, historical, political, temporal, and spatial), which is seen as heteroglot and thus a 'unique set of conditions' in a cultural context.

 

A spatial code for example, could be that there is a certain youth group in an area that is engaging heavily in racist activities. So, for residents (knowing the local code), a graffiti containing only the name or abbreviation of this gang already is a racist expression, reminding the offended people of their gang activities. Also a graffiti is in most cases, the herald of more serious criminal activity to come. A person who does not know these gang activities would not be able to recognize the meaning of this graffiti. Also if a tag of this youth group or gang is placed on a building occupied by asylum seekers, for example, its racist character is even stronger.

By making the graffiti less explicit (as adapted to social and legal constraints), these drawings are less likely to be removed, but do not lose their threatening and offensive character.

 

Elsewhere, activists in Russia have used painted caricatures of local officials with their mouths as potholes, to show their anger about the poor state of the roads. In Manchester, England, a graffitists painted obscene images around potholes, which often resulted in them being repaired within 48 hours.

 

In the early 1980s, the first art galleries to show graffitists to the public were Fashion Moda in the Bronx, Now Gallery and Fun Gallery, both in the East Village, Manhattan.

 

A 2006 exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum displayed graffiti as an art form that began in New York's outer boroughs and reached great heights in the early 1980s with the work of Crash, Lee, Daze, Keith Haring, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. It displayed 22 works by New York graffitists, including Crash, Daze, and Lady Pink. In an article about the exhibition in the magazine Time Out, curator Charlotta Kotik said that she hoped the exhibition would cause viewers to rethink their assumptions about graffiti.

 

From the 1970s onwards, Burhan Doğançay photographed urban walls all over the world; these he then archived for use as sources of inspiration for his painterly works. The project today known as "Walls of the World" grew beyond even his own expectations and comprises about 30,000 individual images. It spans a period of 40 years across five continents and 114 countries. In 1982, photographs from this project comprised a one-man exhibition titled "Les murs murmurent, ils crient, ils chantent ..." (The walls whisper, shout and sing ...) at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.

 

In Australia, art historians have judged some local graffiti of sufficient creative merit to rank them firmly within the arts. Oxford University Press's art history text Australian Painting 1788–2000 concludes with a long discussion of graffiti's key place within contemporary visual culture, including the work of several Australian practitioners.

 

Between March and April 2009, 150 artists exhibited 300 pieces of graffiti at the Grand Palais in Paris.

 

Spray paint has many negative environmental effects. The paint contains toxic chemicals, and the can uses volatile hydrocarbon gases to spray the paint onto a surface.

 

Volatile organic compound (VOC) leads to ground level ozone formation and most of graffiti related emissions are VOCs. A 2010 paper estimates 4,862 tons of VOCs were released in the United States in activities related to graffiti.

  

In China, Mao Zedong in the 1920s used revolutionary slogans and paintings in public places to galvanize the country's communist movement.

 

Based on different national conditions, many people believe that China's attitude towards Graffiti is fierce, but in fact, according to Lance Crayon in his film Spray Paint Beijing: Graffiti in the Capital of China, Graffiti is generally accepted in Beijing, with artists not seeing much police interference. Political and religiously sensitive graffiti, however, is not allowed.

 

In Hong Kong, Tsang Tsou Choi was known as the King of Kowloon for his calligraphy graffiti over many years, in which he claimed ownership of the area. Now some of his work is preserved officially.

 

In Taiwan, the government has made some concessions to graffitists. Since 2005 they have been allowed to freely display their work along some sections of riverside retaining walls in designated "Graffiti Zones". From 2007, Taipei's department of cultural affairs also began permitting graffiti on fences around major public construction sites. Department head Yong-ping Lee (李永萍) stated, "We will promote graffiti starting with the public sector, and then later in the private sector too. It's our goal to beautify the city with graffiti". The government later helped organize a graffiti contest in Ximending, a popular shopping district. graffitists caught working outside of these designated areas still face fines up to NT$6,000 under a department of environmental protection regulation. However, Taiwanese authorities can be relatively lenient, one veteran police officer stating anonymously, "Unless someone complains about vandalism, we won't get involved. We don't go after it proactively."

 

In 1993, after several expensive cars in Singapore were spray-painted, the police arrested a student from the Singapore American School, Michael P. Fay, questioned him, and subsequently charged him with vandalism. Fay pleaded guilty to vandalizing a car in addition to stealing road signs. Under the 1966 Vandalism Act of Singapore, originally passed to curb the spread of communist graffiti in Singapore, the court sentenced him to four months in jail, a fine of S$3,500 (US$2,233), and a caning. The New York Times ran several editorials and op-eds that condemned the punishment and called on the American public to flood the Singaporean embassy with protests. Although the Singapore government received many calls for clemency, Fay's caning took place in Singapore on 5 May 1994. Fay had originally received a sentence of six strokes of the cane, but the presiding president of Singapore, Ong Teng Cheong, agreed to reduce his caning sentence to four lashes.

 

In South Korea, Park Jung-soo was fined two million South Korean won by the Seoul Central District Court for spray-painting a rat on posters of the G-20 Summit a few days before the event in November 2011. Park alleged that the initial in "G-20" sounds like the Korean word for "rat", but Korean government prosecutors alleged that Park was making a derogatory statement about the president of South Korea, Lee Myung-bak, the host of the summit. This case led to public outcry and debate on the lack of government tolerance and in support of freedom of expression. The court ruled that the painting, "an ominous creature like a rat" amounts to "an organized criminal activity" and upheld the fine while denying the prosecution's request for imprisonment for Park.

 

In Europe, community cleaning squads have responded to graffiti, in some cases with reckless abandon, as when in 1992 in France a local Scout group, attempting to remove modern graffiti, damaged two prehistoric paintings of bison in the Cave of Mayrière supérieure near the French village of Bruniquel in Tarn-et-Garonne, earning them the 1992 Ig Nobel Prize in archeology.

 

In September 2006, the European Parliament directed the European Commission to create urban environment policies to prevent and eliminate dirt, litter, graffiti, animal excrement, and excessive noise from domestic and vehicular music systems in European cities, along with other concerns over urban life.

 

In Budapest, Hungary, both a city-backed movement called I Love Budapest and a special police division tackle the problem, including the provision of approved areas.

 

The Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 became Britain's latest anti-graffiti legislation. In August 2004, the Keep Britain Tidy campaign issued a press release calling for zero tolerance of graffiti and supporting proposals such as issuing "on the spot" fines to graffiti offenders and banning the sale of aerosol paint to anyone under the age of 16. The press release also condemned the use of graffiti images in advertising and in music videos, arguing that real-world experience of graffiti stood far removed from its often-portrayed "cool" or "edgy'" image.

 

To back the campaign, 123 Members of Parliament (MPs) (including then Prime Minister Tony Blair), signed a charter which stated: "Graffiti is not art, it's crime. On behalf of my constituents, I will do all I can to rid our community of this problem."

 

In the UK, city councils have the power to take action against the owner of any property that has been defaced under the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 (as amended by the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005) or, in certain cases, the Highways Act. This is often used against owners of property that are complacent in allowing protective boards to be defaced so long as the property is not damaged.

 

In July 2008, a conspiracy charge was used to convict graffitists for the first time. After a three-month police surveillance operation, nine members of the DPM crew were convicted of conspiracy to commit criminal damage costing at least £1 million. Five of them received prison sentences, ranging from eighteen months to two years. The unprecedented scale of the investigation and the severity of the sentences rekindled public debate over whether graffiti should be considered art or crime.

 

Some councils, like those of Stroud and Loerrach, provide approved areas in the town where graffitists can showcase their talents, including underpasses, car parks, and walls that might otherwise prove a target for the "spray and run".

 

Graffiti Tunnel, University of Sydney at Camperdown (2009)

In an effort to reduce vandalism, many cities in Australia have designated walls or areas exclusively for use by graffitists. One early example is the "Graffiti Tunnel" located at the Camperdown Campus of the University of Sydney, which is available for use by any student at the university to tag, advertise, poster, and paint. Advocates of this idea suggest that this discourages petty vandalism yet encourages artists to take their time and produce great art, without worry of being caught or arrested for vandalism or trespassing.[108][109] Others disagree with this approach, arguing that the presence of legal graffiti walls does not demonstrably reduce illegal graffiti elsewhere. Some local government areas throughout Australia have introduced "anti-graffiti squads", who clean graffiti in the area, and such crews as BCW (Buffers Can't Win) have taken steps to keep one step ahead of local graffiti cleaners.

 

Many state governments have banned the sale or possession of spray paint to those under the age of 18 (age of majority). However, a number of local governments in Victoria have taken steps to recognize the cultural heritage value of some examples of graffiti, such as prominent political graffiti. Tough new graffiti laws have been introduced in Australia with fines of up to A$26,000 and two years in prison.

 

Melbourne is a prominent graffiti city of Australia with many of its lanes being tourist attractions, such as Hosier Lane in particular, a popular destination for photographers, wedding photography, and backdrops for corporate print advertising. The Lonely Planet travel guide cites Melbourne's street as a major attraction. All forms of graffiti, including sticker art, poster, stencil art, and wheatpasting, can be found in many places throughout the city. Prominent street art precincts include; Fitzroy, Collingwood, Northcote, Brunswick, St. Kilda, and the CBD, where stencil and sticker art is prominent. As one moves farther away from the city, mostly along suburban train lines, graffiti tags become more prominent. Many international artists such as Banksy have left their work in Melbourne and in early 2008 a perspex screen was installed to prevent a Banksy stencil art piece from being destroyed, it has survived since 2003 through the respect of local street artists avoiding posting over it, although it has recently had paint tipped over it.

 

In February 2008 Helen Clark, the New Zealand prime minister at that time, announced a government crackdown on tagging and other forms of graffiti vandalism, describing it as a destructive crime representing an invasion of public and private property. New legislation subsequently adopted included a ban on the sale of paint spray cans to persons under 18 and increases in maximum fines for the offence from NZ$200 to NZ$2,000 or extended community service. The issue of tagging become a widely debated one following an incident in Auckland during January 2008 in which a middle-aged property owner stabbed one of two teenage taggers to death and was subsequently convicted of manslaughter.

 

Graffiti databases have increased in the past decade because they allow vandalism incidents to be fully documented against an offender and help the police and prosecution charge and prosecute offenders for multiple counts of vandalism. They also provide law enforcement the ability to rapidly search for an offender's moniker or tag in a simple, effective, and comprehensive way. These systems can also help track costs of damage to a city to help allocate an anti-graffiti budget. The theory is that when an offender is caught putting up graffiti, they are not just charged with one count of vandalism; they can be held accountable for all the other damage for which they are responsible. This has two main benefits for law enforcement. One, it sends a signal to the offenders that their vandalism is being tracked. Two, a city can seek restitution from offenders for all the damage that they have committed, not merely a single incident. These systems give law enforcement personnel real-time, street-level intelligence that allows them not only to focus on the worst graffiti offenders and their damage, but also to monitor potential gang violence that is associated with the graffiti.

 

Many restrictions of civil gang injunctions are designed to help address and protect the physical environment and limit graffiti. Provisions of gang injunctions include things such as restricting the possession of marker pens, spray paint cans, or other sharp objects capable of defacing private or public property; spray painting, or marking with marker pens, scratching, applying stickers, or otherwise applying graffiti on any public or private property, including, but not limited to the street, alley, residences, block walls, and fences, vehicles or any other real or personal property. Some injunctions contain wording that restricts damaging or vandalizing both public and private property, including but not limited to any vehicle, light fixture, door, fence, wall, gate, window, building, street sign, utility box, telephone box, tree, or power pole.

 

To help address many of these issues, many local jurisdictions have set up graffiti abatement hotlines, where citizens can call in and report vandalism and have it removed. San Diego's hotline receives more than 5,000 calls per year, in addition to reporting the graffiti, callers can learn more about prevention. One of the complaints about these hotlines is the response time; there is often a lag time between a property owner calling about the graffiti and its removal. The length of delay should be a consideration for any jurisdiction planning on operating a hotline. Local jurisdictions must convince the callers that their complaint of vandalism will be a priority and cleaned off right away. If the jurisdiction does not have the resources to respond to complaints in a timely manner, the value of the hotline diminishes. Crews must be able to respond to individual service calls made to the graffiti hotline as well as focus on cleanup near schools, parks, and major intersections and transit routes to have the biggest impact. Some cities offer a reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of suspects for tagging or graffiti related vandalism. The amount of the reward is based on the information provided, and the action taken.

 

When police obtain search warrants in connection with a vandalism investigation, they are often seeking judicial approval to look for items such as cans of spray paint and nozzles from other kinds of aerosol sprays; etching tools, or other sharp or pointed objects, which could be used to etch or scratch glass and other hard surfaces; permanent marking pens, markers, or paint sticks; evidence of membership or affiliation with any gang or tagging crew; paraphernalia including any reference to "(tagger's name)"; any drawings, writing, objects, or graffiti depicting taggers' names, initials, logos, monikers, slogans, or any mention of tagging crew membership; and any newspaper clippings relating to graffiti crime.

The former Kettleness railway station, an isolated halt on the mostly abandoned Whitby (West Cliff) to Loftus line. A short section linking Boulby and Loftus remains in situ to serve a potash mine. Hugging the coast for 10 miles between Whitby and Staithes, it was regarded as one of the most scenic routes in the country. Kettleness station, serving a mere handful of cottages and farms, was located on a cliff, high above the North Sea.

 

The single-track line, with passing loops at five stations (including Kettleness), was built between 1871 and 1883, initially by the Whitby, Redcar & Middlesbrough Union Railway. When, four years into construction, the North Eastern Railway leased the line, it found much of the work unsatisfactory therefore did it again. The first trains ran in December 1883, the last (mostly summer weekend traffic) in May 1958. Justifying closure, British Railways cited the £58,000 cost of maintenance required on four viaducts, including fragile, non-standard trestle structures at Sandsend and Staithes.

 

Together with Kettleness, the distinctive red-brick station buildings at Whitby (West Cliff), Sandsend and Staithes survive. Kettleness is used as a scout activity centre. The one-mile stretch from Sandsend to Sandsend Tunnel can be walked because it is a right of way.

Artestenciva and Alemao Stencil from Brazil

Doodledubz from UK

Pasted in Paris as part of street art without borders...

 

The kids at Vythiri resort, Wayanad.

More pics and account here - chitra-aiyer . com

 

------------------------

 

Nicer On Black

without comments

My wife was shopping for art supplies in Toronto’s west end today and invited me to go for a walk with my camera and return in a half hour. I’m sure it was a combination of wanting me to enjoy myself as well as giving herself some time to shop without me breathing down her neck.

 

The minute I stepped out the door I spotted this woman on the sidewalk on her cell phone. I thought she would make an interesting subject and felt her white outfit would match up well with a large concrete graffiti-covered “egg” (not sure how else to describe it) which was nearby. (I was at the same store a couple of months later and was able to ask about the "egg." I was told by a workman that it was a washroom attached to the sales center of a condominium building under construction. Who would have guessed?") I didn’t want to stray too far for fear of having her move on, yet I didn’t want to hover too obviously so I walked around the area, approaching her when she finished her call.

 

Clearly a bit surprised by my request, she quickly agreed, indicating she had “a minute or two” before meeting someone. I think my telling her that I felt she would make a great subject for my project and description of the concept I had in mind helped her decide to participate. Meet Karen.

 

I positioned her by the “egg” and had her facing north. It seemed there was better light coming from the sky in that direction as the south was somewhat blocked by the strip mall with the art store. I asked if she could sweep her hair away from her eyes a bit and told her they would be the focus of the portrait. We chatted a bit as I took the photos and I gave “permission” for her to vary her expression which she got more comfortable with doing.

 

Karen, who is 33, told me she has a business doing event management and public relations in Toronto but is on the verge of moving to Florida next month. Her parents have a place down there and she has visited many times and likes the city of Naples which I have been told is somewhat upscale and nice. In fact, Karen explained she is getting married next month and was at the art store to shop for a display piece for the wedding. “Wow! Congratulations. How did you meet your husband-to-be?” Karen laughed and said “I’ve just been down to Florida quite a few times and suddenly he stood out from the crowd. Actually, he really stood out. He’s a black man who is 6 foot 8 inches tall.” I couldn’t help asking “If he’s THAT tall, is he a basketball player?” Karen laughed. “Hardly. I think I’m a better basketball player than him. He works for BMW (the German automobile company) and he’s into design and fashion too.”

 

I wished Karen every success in her new life in Florida. When I asked about her work she said she’s ready for a change and once she gets her work permit she will start another business, this time in some form of design. She seemed to be an ambitious woman. I expressed some concern that I’d taken too much of her time and didn’t want to make her late for meeting her friend. She smiled and said “No, I wasn’t in THAT much of a rush. She’s always late; I’ve waited for her enough times.” We shared a laugh. I thanked Karen and wished her well.

 

Thank you Karen for participating in 100 Strangers. You are Stranger #469 in Round 5 of my project. Have a great life in Florida!

 

Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page

 

To browse Round 1 of my 100 Strangers project click here: www.flickr.com/photos/jeffcbowen/sets/72157633145986224/

To browse Round 2 of my 100 Strangers project click here:

www.flickr.com/photos/jeffcbowen/sets/72157634422850489/

To browse Round 3 of my 100 Strangers project click here: www.flickr.com/photos/jeffcbowen/sets/72157635541434065/

To browse Round 4 of my 100 Strangers project click here:

www.flickr.com/photos/jeffcbowen/sets/72157639207561566/

© sergione infuso - all rights reserved

follow me on www.sergione.info

 

You may not modify, publish or use any files on

this page without written permission and consent.

 

-----------------------------

 

Special guest degli Helloween e dei Rage, il 31 gennaio all'Alcatraz di Milano, i Crimes Of Passion.

 

With an epic sense construct of melody, dynamics and power, C.O.P UK (Crimes of Passion) will hit your ears on October 23rd with “Kiss Of An Angel”, a 4-track/2 video EP that refuses to leave your memory.

 

Produced by Sascha Paeth the Sheffield, England-forged quartet make their intentions clear from the first shimmering guitar of “My Blood”, it’s crisp, melodic metal sound placing C.O.P. UK in the same arena as Saxon, Megadeth and classic White Lion. “Kiss Of An Angel” showcases a soaring sense of balladic warmth which cascades into a slice of classic AOR rock radio, Saxon’s Biff Byford makes a guest appearance on the catchy yet thrash-riffy “Blackened Heart”, while “Blown Away” is a stadium rock classic in the making.

 

Dale Radcliffe (vocals), Charles Staton (guitar), Andrew Mewse (guitar), Henning Wanner (keys), Scott Jordan (bass) and Kevin Tonge (drums) grew up with the sounds of hometown heroes Def Leppard ringing in their ears, and fusing such influence with an insatiable appetite for performing, C.O.P. UK came together in 2005 and quickly established the type of schedule reserved for the elite. Honing their craft on club stages all over Europe, the band recorded their debut album, To Die For, in 2011 at Blind Guardian’s Twilight Hall Studios, Orion Studios in the UK before being completed at Helloween’s Tenerife studio.

 

It was during this spell that C.O.P.UK garnered major interest from some of modern metal’s founding fathers. Saxon’s Biff Byford personally invited them to tour Europe in May/June of 2011, touring with them again later that year, as well as appearing at metal festivals throughout the continent. 2012 saw C.O.P. UK’s ascent continue, with recognition from Metal Hammer magazine and further prestigious festival appearances such as the world famous Wacken Open Air and Bloodstock in the UK.

 

The Cirneco dell'Etna is a small breed of dog originally from Sicily. This hound was historically used to hunt rabbits and can work for hours without food or water.The breed also has a keen sense of smell and is primarily built for endurance over harsh terrain such as that of Mount Etna. It is the smallest of the Mediterranean island hunting hounds, the others being the Pharaoh Hounds and Ibizan Hounds.Today they are increasingly kept for the sport of conformation showing and as pets, due to their low coat maintenance and friendly nature, although as an active hound they do need regular exercise. A Cirneco should measure from 43-51 cm (17-20in) and weigh between 10–12 kg (22-26lb). As with other breeds, those from hunting stock can lie outside these ranges.

 

The Cirneco dell'Etna is a small hound-type dog used in Sicily for rabbit hunting. It is found all over the Italian island and particularly in the area surrounding the active volcano, Mount Etna,where the dogs hunt on terrain formed by volcanic lava. Its presence in Sicily is noteworthy as one of the few ancient breeds that have undergone very little manipulation by man. Instead, the breed has been rigorously selected by nature for its ability to work for hours. The dog we have today is an extremely hardy breed. Affectionate and friendly, it is considered easier to train than some of its sighthound cousins. The Cirneco has been in Sicily for thousands of years. Most authors agree that the origins of the hound-type dog lie among ancient Egyptian prick-eared dogs. Bas-reliefs discovered along the Nile and dated around 4000 B.C. depict what could be the Cirneco today. Most probably, the Phoenicians spread these prick-eared, hound-type dogs as they sailed along their trade routes between Northern Africa and the Mediterranean coasts. Ancient records of hounds with upright ears and a pointed muzzle are found in many countries in that part of the world. The most vivid proof of the presence of the Cirneco dell’Etna in Sicily for at least the past 2500 years is the many coins minted between the 5th and 3rd centuries B.C. depicting exemplars of the breed. In particular, the Cirneco dell’Etna is used on coins minted at Segesta, with about 150 variations. In 400 B.C., Dionysus was said to have built a temple dedicated to the God Adranos on the south-western slope of the volcano, just outside the city of Adrano. Many dogs were bred there and legend claims that a thousand Cirnechi guarded the temple.The Cirneco was rarely seen and little known outside Sicily until 1932. Now Cirnechi have also been exported to many European countries where their elegant conformation has helped make them a success in the show ring and many have become FCI International Show Champions. The dog's affectionate temperament and adaptability make it an excellent family companion.

 

El cirneco del Etna es una raza de perro oriunda de Sicilia. Este tipo de lebrel de pequeño tamaño forma parte de un conjunto de razas caninas del Mediterráneo cuyo origen se encuentra en Egipto, y entre las que se encuentra el podenco Ibicenco. Se trata de un perro adaptado a terrenos difíciles, apto para la caza de conejos y liebres.Los machos miden entre 46 y 50 cm, y pesan de 10 a 12 kg, y las hembras miden entre 42 y 46 cm, pesando de 8 a 10 kg. La cabeza es alargada y estrecha y el hocico afilado y puntiagudo, con un stop muy poco pronunciado. La trufa es de color marrón claro, y los ojos, pequeños, pueden ser ocre claro, ámbar o grises. Las orejas, erguidas, son triangulares y puntiagudas, y están implantadas altas. El lomo es recto y largo, y el pecho no demasiado amplio, con la musculatura pectoral poco desarrollada, al contrario que las patas, fuertes y con una musculatura bien desarrollada. La cola, implantada baja, es gruesa y de diámetro uniforme. El manto, de color tostado o tostado y blanco, tiene un pelaje corto y espeso en la cabeza, orejas y patas y liso y semilargo en el tronco y la cola.Su nombre puede proceder del de la antigua ciudad de Cirene, donde Aristóteles, en De natura animalium, dice haber visto un perro cuya descripción coincide con la de este.Aunque parece claro que la raza es autóctona de Sicilia, es posible que fuese anterior a la civilización egipcia, y que hubiese sido llevado al norte de África por los fenicios. Esta hipótesis se vería confirmada por la existencia de una estatuilla hallada cerca de Siracusa, datada alrededor del 4000 a.c.Se encuentran representaciones del cirneco en monedas sicilianas del siglo Vl al siglo III a.c., y parece que se le tenía en gran consideración, como demuestra el hecho de que en una de las monedas halladas en la antigua ciudad siciliana de Segesta se le represente junto a una divinidad fenicia con facciones humanas. Desde entonces las características de la raza han permanecido prácticamente inalteradas, gracias en gran medida a los campesinos, que conservaron su pureza criándolo por su utilidad para cazar en las pendientes del Etna, de lava solidificada y difícilmente accesibles.

 

Der Cirneco dell’ Etna ist eine von der FCI anerkannte italienische Hunderasse, die von der Insel Sizilien stammt (FCI-Gruppe 5, Sektion 7, Standard Nr. 199).Frühere Studien gingen davon aus, dass der Cirneco dell'Etna von Jagdhunden abstammt, die zur Pharaonenzeit im Niltal gezüchtet wurden. Der Cirneco dell'Etna sei dann mit den Phöniziern nach Sizilien gekommen. Neueste Untersuchungen unterstützen allerdings eine andere Theorie: Der Cineco dell'Etna stammt ursprünglich aus Sizilien und lebte an den Abhängen des Ätna. Münzen und Gravuren aus der römischen Epoche belegen, dass Hunde dieses Typs bereits vor Christi Geburt auf Sizilien vorkamen.

Der Cirneco dell'Etna ist mittelgroß (bis zu 50 cm und bis zu 12 kg schwer), quadratisch gebaut, schlank, aber dennoch widerstandsfähig und robust. Das Fell ist kurz, sehr glatt und fest. Dabei ist das Fell auf dem Rumpf und der Rute ungefähr 3 cm lang. Die Fellfarbe ist falbfarben, von intensiv bis verwaschen, wie isabell-sandfarben. Weiße oder gescheckte Exemplare können vorkommen; in der Regel weist der Cirneco dell'Etna jedoch nur geringe weiße Abzeichen auf.Die Ohren sind auffällig groß und stehend typisch wie auch bei den Podencos.Der Cirneco dell'Etna wird zur Jagd auf Wildkaninchen verwendet. Sein Verbreitungsgebiet umfasst vor allem die Region um den Ätna, an dessen Abhängen er die Kaninchen im Gebüsch und Geröll aufstöbert. Er treibt die Kaninchen aus ihren Verstecken hervor, so dass die Jäger zum Schuss kommen können.

 

Le Cirneco de l'Etna (Cirneco dell’Etna) est un chien originaire de Sicile. La Fédération cynologique internationale l'a répertorié dans le groupe 5, section 7, standard n° 199.

Cirneco de l'Etna.....Chien de type lévrier bien qu'il soit classé dans le groupe 5. Chien adapté aux terrains difficiles qui chasse le lapin sauvage.Chien de nationalité italienne primitif qui descendrait des chiens de l’époque des Pharaons. Mais il pourrait s’agir d’une race autochtone d’origine sicilienne.

 

O cirneco do Etna (em italiano: Cirneco dell’Etna) é uma raça quase desconhecida fora da Itália, já que permaneceu isolada na Sicília por praticamente 2 000 anos. Em 1939 foi reconhecida como raça. Comum aos cães de raças antigas, estes têm dificuldade de adaptação ao mundo urbano, pois precisam de constante atividade e são difíceis de adestrar, embora sejam vistos como animais muito fiéis. Podendo pesar até 12 kg, tem como peculiaridade as grandes orelhas largas e eretas, o longo pescoço e a cabeça estreita.

 

Сицилийская борзая или Чирнеко дель Этна — порода собак. Происходит с Сицилии. Изначально выращивалась для охоты на зайца. Классические исследования собачьих пород, распространенных в Средиземноморском регионе, пришли к заключению, что Чирнеко Дель Этна происходят от античных охотничьих собак, выведенных в долине Нила в эпоху фараонов, собак, получивших достигших Сицилии благодаря Финикийцам. Но согласно последним исследованиям получила одобрения теория, согласно которой эта порода имеет непосредственно сицилийское происхождение, зародившись в окрестностях Этны. Монеты и гравюры доказывают, что Чирнеки существовали в этом регионе за много веков до нашей эр Собака примитивного типа, элегантного и утонченного сложения, среднего размера, не громоздкая, сильная и крепкая. По морфологическому сложению — собака удлиненных линий, легкого сложения; квадратного формата; шерсть тонкая.

Охотничья собака, выведенная для охоты на кролика по сложной местности; обладает большим темпераментом, но в то же время мягкая и привязчивая.

 

Cirneco dell’etna on italialainen koirarotu. Se on vinttikoiran tyyppinen pystykorvainen, alkukantainen ja harvinainen rotu. Cirneco dell’etnan tarkka alkuperä jää hämärän peittoon, mutta se on hyvin vanha rotu ja muuttunut vuosisatojen saatossa vain vähän. Rotu on saanut olla melko rauhassa, ja vasta viime vuosina sen jalostukseen on puututtu.Rotu on nykyisin lähinnä seura- ja harrastekoira. Italiassa sitä käytetään yhä villikaniinien metsästykseen. Cirneco on nopea koira, ja ketteränä se pystyy vaihtamaan suuntaa nopeasti esimerkiksi metsästyksen aikana. Cirneco käyttää metsästäessään kuuloaan, näköään ja hajuaistiaan.Cirneco dell’etna on luonteeltaan temperamenttinen, eloisa, ystävällinen, iloinen ja leikkisä koira. Cirnecon leikkisyys säilyy yleensä vanhoihin päiviin asti. Cirneco on myös hyvin läheisyyttä rakastava koira, ja sen lempipaikka onkin yleensä kainalossa sohvalla tai peiton alla omistajansa vieressä. Cirneco kiintyy voimakkaasti perheeseensä ja tulee yleensä hyvin toimeen ystävällisenä ja lempeänä koirana kaikenikäisten ihmisten kanssa. Miellyttämisenhalua cirnecolla ei ole kovin paljon, joten ilman hyvää motivointikeinoa se ei välttämättä aina tottele ainakaan ensimmäisellä käskyllä. Cirnecolla on kuitenkin miellyttämisenhalua enemmän kuin yleensä vinttikoirilla. Cirneco tarvitsee johdonmukaisen ja määrätietoisen peruskasvatuksen.

Cirneco dell’etna on ikivanha rotu, jonka juuret johtavat 1000-luvulle ennen ajanlaskun alkua. Joidenkin mielestä se polveutuu Egyptin viimeisten dynastioiden faaraoiden koirista ja niistä koirista, joita foinikialaiset kauppiaat toivat Italiaan. Tutkimukset antavat aiheen olettaa, että se olisi Sisilian alkuperäisrotu. Cirneconnäköisiä korkokuvia on löydetty faaraoiden haudoista, mm. Luxorista ja Ben-Hassanista. Sisiliasta on myös löydetty 45 cm korkea luuranko, joka muistuttaa cirnecoa suuresti. Luuranko on paikallistettu vuoteen 1400 eaa. Nykyisin kyseinen luuranko on nähtävissä Pigorini-museossa Roomassa. Myös vanhoista Sisiliasta löytyneistä kolikoista on löydetty cirnecoa esittäviä koiran kuvia.

 

Il cirneco dell'Etna è un cane appartenente ad una razza molto antica, che ha subito poche manipolazioni nel corso dei secoli.Le origini del cirneco risalgono al 1000 a.C. Si dice che questa razza derivi dai cani dei Faraoni egiziani delle ultime dinastie e da cani importati in Sicilia dai commercianti fenici. Successivi studi hanno indicato che molto probabilmente il Cirneco è una razza autoctona siciliana.Il cirneco dell'Etna appartiene alla classe dei cani da caccia di tipo primitivo; è un animale molto veloce e per questo viene utilizzato soprattutto nella caccia al coniglio selvatico e alla lepre.Si presenta con una figura molto snella, con gambe lunghe, orecchie dritte e con un corpo muscoloso ma nello stesso tempo molto elegante. Ha un fiuto eccezionale ed è agilissimo nel cambiare direzione durante l'inseguimento della preda. Da notare che, sebbene l'aspetto del cirneco ricordi quello dei levrieri, non caccia a vista ma usa l'olfatto, come un cane da cerca; secondo la classificazione della Federazione Cinologica Internazionale (F.C.I.), tutti i cani appartenenti alla razza dei "levrieri" appartengono al 10º gruppo, mentre il cirneco è inserito nel 5º Gruppo, quello delle razze di tipo primitivo.Generalmente raggiunge l'altezza di 46-50 cm al garrese negli esemplari maschi, mentre le femmine misurano dai 42 ai 46. Il peso del maschio si aggira intorno ai 10-12 kg, mentre le femmine raggiungono gli 8-10. La lunghezza del tronco è in media uguale all'altezza al garrese: il cirneco ha dunque una costruzione quadrata. È strutturato da una massa muscolare che comprende l'80% del corpo. Si presenta snello e, se nutrito in modo adeguato, mantiene una linea elegante e slanciata.Cane velocissimo e molto agile, è capace di raggiungere persino i 40/45 km/h nella corsa.I colori del mantello del cirneco dell'Etna vanno dal sabbia dorato al cervo scuro; non necessariamente devono essere presenti macchie bianche, ma possono essercene su tutto il corpo; sebbene molto rari, ne esistono colorati di bianco arancio (come nel setter inglese) e di bianco puro (pur non essendo propriamente albino). Il colore riconosciuto dagli standard di razza è il fulvo più o meno intenso, isabella e sabbia, con lista bianca in fronte, al petto, piedi bianchi, punta della coda bianca e ventre bianco.Dotato di grande intelligenza, è generalmente indipendente e solitario. Generalmente diffidente con gli estranei, si affeziona ad un solo padrone. Si può dire che abbia le sue simpatie e antipatie a pelle: con alcuni individui non socializza e alla loro vista abbaia; con altri inizialmente si mostra aggressivo ma poi socializza e con altri ancora prova un feeling immediato e socializza subito. È un cane che per il padrone darebbe tutto se stesso.Se correttamente socializzato da cucciolo, evidenzia un carattere molto disponibile e gioioso e privo di diffidenze anche verso le persone appena conosciute.Se cresce in un ambiente familiare, dove ha ricevuto tutti gli stimoli nei confronti dell'ambiente esterno, ama essere portato a spasso e incontrare altri cani e persone, anche se sconosciuti. Se lasciato libero, soprattutto in luoghi di campagna, cambia visibilmente espressione; tutti i muscoli si tendono, ama ispezionare l'ambiente circostante e, anche se all'inizio sembra indipendente, in realtà sa sempre dove si trova il suo padrone e puntualmente ritorna sotto la sua attenzione. Prima di liberare un cirneco in un luogo aperto occorre aver rafforzato un rapporto sereno e di fiducia. Il cirneco è un cane primitivo e rispetto ad altri animali domestici, molto spesso è un soggetto che porta rancore se trattato male, non dimentica facilmente uno sgarbo subito, non sopporta di essere rimproverato con eccessiva durezza.La vita media di questo cane è molto elevata, quindici anni circa, ma esistono esemplari che vivono anche venti anni.

 

Font : Wikipedia

 

www.facebook.com/Il.cirneco?fref=ts

 

www.facebook.com/luigi.strano.3?ref=tn_tnmn#!/profile.php...

 

www.facebook.com/luigi.strano.3/media_set?set=a.377094419...

Without egg yolk cos I'm entering middle age.

Anyway, it's really beautiful taste.

Without a doubt one of the most enjoyable books I have ever read. Despite what the cover say it is not about hauntings at all but rather some of the more colourful characters who have called this province home through the years. Some far back in history, (well far back for Canadian history that is) and some I can remember. The author has written as if he is talking just to you so you actually feel you are there and witnessing each story first hand. Truly a good read.

JA618A Boeing 767-381ER delivered in 2011.

© All rights reserved. Use without permission is illegal

©Todos los derechos reservados. El uso sin permiso es ilegal

 

The shadow of a smile

 

The 65th emotion of a potential 64 to capture

:-)

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=npQMU7wnQ_g&feature=related

The shadow of your smile - covered by Marvin Gaye

g

Montreal

 

PLEASE DO NOT INVITE / POR FAVOR NO INVITAR

©Copyright

All my photographic images are copyright. All rights are reserved. Do not use, copy or edit any of my photographs without my written permission.

If you want to use my photo private use, please contacme:

www.flickr.com/people/irmafloresavila/

________________________________

 

"Quiero dar las Gracias a morito36pa por su colaboración en proporcionar sus fotos para hacer posible esta pagina de enlace para agrupar las antiguos colones de El Salvador.

##########################################

 

Un Poco de la Historia del ColóN

 

El colón fue la unidad monetaria de El Salvador desde 1892 hasta 2001, año en que fue sustituido progresivamente por el Dólar estadounidense, aunque oficialmente no ha dejado de tener curso legal.[1]

 

El colón era emitido desde 1934 por el Banco Central de Reserva de El Salvador, organismo gubernamental encargado de la política monetaria del país. El colón se dividía en 100 centavos. En el momento de su desaparición circulaban monedas, de 1, 5, 10, 25 y 50 centavos de colón, y de 1 colón. En cuánto a papel moneda, circulaba billetes de 1, 2, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 y 200 colones.

 

El 1 de octubre de 1892, el gobierno del presidente Carlos Ezeta, decidió que el peso salvadoreño se denominaría Colón, en homenaje al descubridor de América. El 19 de junio de 1934 se creó el Banco Central de Reserva como único organismo autorizado para emitir moneda en la nación. El 1 de enero de 2001, entró en vigencia la Ley de Integración Monetaria, promovida por el partido gobernante Alianza Republicana Nacionalista, que autorizaba la libre circulación del dólar estadounidense en el país, con un tipo de cambio fijo de 8,75 colones. En la práctica, la ley provocó que en pocos meses el Colón dejara de circular en el territorio salvadoreño. Los partidos de oposición, en especial el FMLN, han propuesto en varias ocasiones. abandonar el sistema dolarizado y emitir nuevamente la antigua moneda.[2]

 

La moneda antes y durante la colonia

 

EL CACAO

 

Desde que existe el comercio, las cosas han sido valoradas en términos de la unidad del objeto más apreciado localmente. En tal sentido, es lógico que los nativos del territorio salvadoreño antes de la llegada de los españoles, usasen el cacao como "moneda", puesto que el Chocolate era considerada la "bebida de los dioses".[3]

 

El uso del cacao como valor de cambio se remonta al auge de la civilización Maya, cuando la unidad monetaria era el Xontle, compuesta por cuatrocientas almendras de cacao.[4] La llegada de los conquistadores supuso la introducción de la moneda española, el Real. Pese al cambio, el cacao se siguió utilizando a razón de ciento sesenta almendras por un Real.[5] Todas las monedas utilizadas en América fueron acuñadas en España, hasta que en 1731, se fundó la Casa de la Moneda en Guatemala.[3]

 

EL MACACO

Las monedas más usadas durante la colonia fueron los Macacos. Consistían en piezas de plata de forma no definida, acuñadas en Perú o México; en su mayoría eran cortadas con tenazas y figuraban un grabado de las columnas de Hércules con la inscripción Plus Ultra. Su valor nominal era menos importante que su peso en metal, es decir, no tenían un valor absolutamente definido. Aun después de la independencia de los países centroamericanos, el macaco siguió en circulación, siendo oficializado el 9 de julio de 1856

  

MONEDA POSTERIOR A LA COLONIA

 

A mediados del siglo XIX, aparecieron las fichas de finca, las cuales eran monedas fabricadas de lata, en su mayoría de forma circular. Se les grababa el nombre de la finca y era la forma de pago a los empleados de la misma; la ficha solamente tenía valor en la tienda de finca que la emitía, por lo que se creaba una especie de monopolio.[6]

 

Durante la existencia de la Federación Centroamericana, el sistema monetario no cambió con respecto al colonial; se siguió usando el peso de plata como moneda principal, aunque con circulación de los macacos y de las fichas de finca.

 

Una vez disuelta la federación, el gobierno salvadoreño decretó la emisión de la primera moneda nacional; los reales, monedas de oro con una "R" grabada y los Escudos, monedas de plata con una "E" grabada.[3]

 

En 1883, bajo la presidencia del doctor Rafael Zaldívar, se decretó la Primera Ley Monetaria, adoptándose el "Peso" como unidad monetaria, descartándose el sistema español de división en 8 reales. La nueva ley ocupó como base el sistema métrico decimal, donde el peso equivalía a 10 reales.

 

Finalizando el siglo XIX, aparecieron los primeros billetes de banco. El nuevo papel-moneda pasó a jugar un rol importante como instrumento de cambio, como unidad de medida del valor de los bienes y como elemento de ahorro.

La emisión de los billetes estaba a cargo de bancos privados autorizados por el Gobierno. El primer banco emisor fue el Banco Internacional, fundado en 1880; a este banco se le otorgó de manera exclusiva la emisión de billetes, aunque después perdió la exclusividad ante las autorizaciones al Banco Occidental y al Banco Agrícola Comercial.

 

Bajo la presidencia de Carloz Ezeta, se inauguró la Casa de la Moneda el 28 de agosto de 1892; el 1 de octubre del mismo año, como homenaje a Cristobal Colón en el IV Centenario del Descubrimiento de América, la Asamblea Legislativa reformó la ley monetaria y cambió el nombre de a "Colón". El cambio con respecto al dólar estadounidense en ese momento era de 2 colones por un dólar.

 

En 1919 se volvió a reformar la Ley Monetaria, estipulando que las monedas desgastadas por el manejo diario serían retiradas de circulación y las piezas recortadas o perforadas no serían aceptadas en el curso legal. Mediante esa ley, quedó prohibido el uso de fichas, vales u homólogos en sustitución de la moneda oficial. Además, dio al Ministerio de Hacienda la facultad de controlar la circulación de la moneda.

 

Pese a la prosperidad económica relativa de los años 20, la depresión mundial de 1929, la caída internacional de los precios del café y la desregulación estatal del sistema monetario causaron una crisis económica nacional.

 

El problema principal era la carencia de una institución especializada que se dedicase a velar porque la moneda mantuviera su valor y a controlar la actividad bancaria; en tal sentido, el gobierno del general Maximiliano Hernández Martínez contrató a un experto ingles llamado Frederick Francis Joseph Powell, quien debía analizar y estructurar el cuerpo bancario salvadoreño.

 

En su informe final, recomendó que el sistema bancario debía organizarse en torno a un banco central que resguardase la moneda y su valor, así como emitir la unidad monetaria y controlar los créditos. Es así que por iniciativa de la presidencia de la república del 19 de junio de 1934, la Asamblea Legislativa aprobó la ley de creación del Banco Central de Reserva de El Salvador, institución cuyo objetivos se fijó en el control del volumen del crédito y la demanda de moneda circulante, así como se le confirió la facultad exclusiva de emitir especie monetaria.

 

Emisión de la primera familia de colones

 

El 31 de agosto de 1934, la nueva institución bancaria puso en circulación la primera familia de billetes en la historia salvadoreña. Emitió billetes de uno, cinco, diez, veinticinco y cien colones; añadiéndose en 1955 la denominación de dos colones y el de cincuenta colones en 1979. El diseño de los billetes fue cambiando paulatinamente y de manera individual; también se dejaron de emitir algunas denominaciones con el pasar del tiempo.

 

Las monedas emitidas en la primera familia fueron de uno, dos, tres, veinticinco y cincuenta centavos; agregándose luego la moneda de un colón. Al igual que con los billetes, algunas denominaciones fueron desapareciendo con el tiempo y las que quedaron, fueron siendo modificadas en su diseño y en su tamaño.

 

Segunda familia de colones

 

En 1997, el Banco Central de Reserva emitió una segunda familia de billetes, introduciendo la denominación de doscientos colones

 

es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Col%c3%b3n_salvadore%c3%b1o

without trees they just make do.

The Art of Banksy “ Without Limits”

© This photograph is a copyrighted image. Please do not download this image to use or distribute for any other purpose without my expressed consent.

Use without permission is ILLEGAL.

File #4

 

Six months after Joker had been admitted to the Asylum the GCPD happened upon his contingency plan. A bomb built into a newly constructed wall beneath the Gotham cathedral. Analysis of the wall found that there was no way to remove the bomb without dismantling the wall which would bring the whole cathedral down. Thus there was only one option. Disarm the bomb before it could detonate. Joker had left the bomb on a timer that had been counting down from over the last six months and was due to detonate the next day.

 

In order to disarm the bomb a code was needed. Checking the keypad for prints yielded nothing, evidently Joker had the pad wiped clean after he activated the timer. That means the only way to disarm the bomb is to get him to hand over the timer. Needless to say, after the events in the tunnel of love, Jim was keen to keep me as far away from Joker as possible. As such it fell to Warden Quincy Sharp to convince Joker to hand over the code. Given how Arkham is regarded as a psychiatric hospital the guards aren’t allowed to use unconventional interrogation techniques so warden Sharp appealing to Joker’s human decency didn’t go down well.

 

Attachment: Warden Office CCTV – September 22nd 14:30

 

”Quincy old boy how are things? Still balding I see.”

 

“Do you know why I’ve called you here?”

 

”You’re finally retiring?”

 

“The bomb.”

 

”What bomb? That record Cash made?”

 

“The one under Gotham cathedral.”

 

”Bombing a church? That sounds more like Riddler’s MO. You know how much he loves insulting religion.”

 

“We know it’s yours.”

 

”I resent that! I’m not the only clown in Gotham with a love of explosives. Why’s it got to be me?”

 

“Probably because you signed the scene.”

 

”Oh yeah haha.”

 

“Give us the code.”

 

”Or what Sharpy? You gonna give me a stern talking to? Make me feel bad about myself?”

 

“You know this is wrong Jack.”

 

”WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!?”

 

Joker charges forward at the Warden’s desk in anger, stopped only by Cash managing to grab hold of him.

 

”WHAT DID YOU SAY?”

 

“Tell me the code Jack. No-one needs to get hurt.”

 

”If you want my help then you know who I’ll talk to!”

 

“What if he doesn’t want to talk to you?”

 

”Then boom! Hahahaha.”

 

“Take him back to his cell, and get me Gordon on the line.”

 

End of attachment.

 

Ever since we first crossed paths after he murdered Loeb, Joker’s always had a case of waring personalities between two personas. Jack Napier, a wannabe comedian and the Joker, a clown trying to make the world smile by causing misery to others. After we faced off against one another the Joker persona has slowly but surely begun to dominate Jack to the point where I’m not entirely sure if Jack’s in there anymore. That was cemented after that night in ACE Chemicals. Joker was trying to gather the components necessary to mass produce a new variant of the Joker toxin. Thanks to an analysis of the toxin I was able to piece together that the only place he could gather the compounds necessary on such a large scale was ACE Chemicals.

 

With that foreknowledge I had the GCPD set a trap for Joker and his men. It all went exactly as I had hoped. All of Joker’s men were arrested by the GCPD but Joker seemingly escaped. What Jim and I didn’t know was that Joker ended up falling into a vat of chemicals during the firefight. He wouldn’t be discovered until the ACE Chemicals workers emptied the vat the following morning. Many believe that’s the straw that broke the camel’s back.

 

Since then there’s been no reports of the Jack persona being exhibited by Joker. I fear it can be speculated that my hopes of purging the Joker persona from Jack ended up merely cementing his presence.

 

Alfred’s always speculated that Jason’s murder was Jack lashing out for what I did to him. Maybe he’s right, but I like to think otherwise. Perhaps that’s just me being desperate and hoping that deep down I didn’t end up killing Jack Napier. Either way, I now have to deal primarily with the Joker persona, and I had to deal with him in order to get the code to disarm the bomb under Gotham cathedral.

 

Attachment: Therapy Session Recording – Joker #2

 

“Therapy session 2. Patient’s name: J……”

 

There’s a long pause on the tape. Without a video feed it’s difficult to tell what’s making her hesitate but it’s implied that Joker was staring at her rather intensly.

 

”Joker. Acting physician, Doctor Harleen Quinzel. Date of session 22nd of September. Previous session was cut short so this session is designed to make up the remaining time from the previous session.”

 

”Cash can be so rude interrupting our one on one time like that.”

 

”From what I hear it was the Warden who cut out session short.”

 

”Word travels fast around here.”

 

”Well it’s not everyday a patient gets called up to the Warden’s office. You must have done something serious.”

 

”I just gave him some advice on how to stop his head from balding.”

 

”Warden Sharp is balding?”

 

”I think he’s considering wearing a wig.”

 

”Really?”

 

”Yeah the silly old fool.”

 

”So, Joker….”

 

”Yes Doctor?”

 

”Going back to our conversation. Why do you find yourself obsessed with the Batman?”

 

”Why do you find yourself obsessed with me?”

 

”I ask the questions here.”

 

”You’re hoping that if you can understand me that you will be able to understand him.”

 

”Perhaps.”

 

”Tell me, what’s the market at the moment for a book about the mind of the Batman?”

 

There’s a long pause. Evidently Dr. Quinzel was shocked that Joker knew she was just using him to write a book.

 

”Must be pretty good if you’re willing to talk to one of Gotham’s grade A crazies.”

 

”You think of yourself as crazy?”

 

”You don’t?”

 

”…”

 

”The world’s a funny old place Doctor. It’ll do all it can to break you. The only thing that separates us from the animals is how we let the world break us. Some give up. Some fight back. Some go mad.”

 

”Is that what happened to you? The world tried to break you?”

 

”Of course.”

 

”Which action did you take?”

 

”What do you think?”

 

”…”

 

”You think I went mad.”

 

”You don’t?”

 

”Oh goodness no. I know I went mad. But unlike most, I accept it.”

 

”Who do you know that doesn’t?”

 

”Who do you think?”

 

”The Batman?”

 

”I couldn’t possibly say.”

 

”You think he’s mad?”

 

”Nooooooo……..I don’t think a man dressing up as a bat is mad the same way I don’t think a man dressing as a clown is mad.”

 

”Of course.”

 

”I suppose….”

 

”Suppose…?”

 

”In many ways you’re right.”

 

”How so?”

 

”He and I are alike.”

 

”Why do you say that?”

 

”I know it. He’s yet to accept it, but deep down he knows it as well.”

 

”You think Batman knows he’s crazy?”

 

”Maybe. Or perhaps he’s crazier than me?”

 

”I’m not sure many people would agree on that.”

 

”Probably not. But I at least know I’m crazy. If anything he’s mad to think he’s sane.”

 

”Maybe he is. But why do you think you’re mad?”

 

”Probably thanks to dear old daddy.”

 

”The one who hit you?”

 

”Do you know another?”

 

”So you think he’s the one responsible for who made you into this?”

 

”Goodness no. Sure daddy dearest didn’t help the situation but he didn’t make me.”

 

”Then what did?” The Batman?”

 

”Nope. All it took to break was one simple thing. One bad day.”

 

”What happened on that day?”

 

”Life destroyed my world.”

 

”What happened?”

 

”I…I…..”

 

”You can tell J. You can trust me.”

 

”I saw my wife murdered in front of my eyes.”

 

”….I didn’t know you were married…”

 

”I prefer it that way.”

 

”When was she killed?”

 

”Five years ago.”

 

”Just before you killed Commissioner Loeb.”

 

”It was that long ago? It feels like it was yesterday.”

 

”You feel remorseful?”

 

”I always do.”

 

”Then why do you keep killing more people if you don’t want to?”

 

”How else am I supposed to drown out the voices?”

 

”Voices?”

 

”Their screams.”

 

”You hear their screams?”

 

”Everytime I close my eyes. Sniff I just want to make them stop.”

 

”Hey hey it’s alright. It’s going to be alright. I promise.”

 

“Time’s up Doc.”

 

”Alright. Thanks Cash.”

 

“Are you crying clown?”

 

”Go to hell Cash.”

 

”We’ll be just a minute Cash. Session terminated at 16:30. Dr Quinzel signing off.”

 

Harley didn’t know it then, but Joker didn’t actually feel any remorse for his victims. In fact, he’s often taken pleasure from making them suffer slowly, but Harley didn’t know that and though she couldn’t tell, Joker had already set his claws into her.

 

"No man should go through life without once experiencing healthy, even bored solitude in the wilderness, finding himself depending solely on himself and thereby learning his true and hidden strength. Learning for instance, to eat when he's hungry and sleep when he's sleepy" 💦

— Kerouac, Lonesome Traveler

Without remorce.

Zenit ET_ helios44-3_2/58_multiexposition

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Francisco Aragão © 2009. All Rights Reserved.

Use without permission is illegal.

 

Attention please !

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

Many images are available for license on Getty Images

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

 

Cidade de "Nha Chica" - Sul de Minas.

 

Portuguese

Baependi é um município do estado de Minas Gerais, no Brasil. De acordo com o censo realizado pelo Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística em 2010, sua população é de 18 292 habitantes.

Topônimo

"Baependi" é um palavra oriunda da língua tupi. Significa "água da coisa achatada", através da junção dos termos mba'e ("coisa"), peb ("achatado") e 'y ("água, rio").[7] Outra teoria diz que o nome provém do tupi mbaé-pindi, que significa "a clareira aberta".

História

De acordo com relatos sertanistas, a região sul-mineira ficou conhecida pelos europeus a partir de 1601. Até então, a região era habitada pelos índios puris.[8] A conquista europeia de Baependi aconteceu, no entanto, em fins do século XVII, por volta de 1692, quando os paulistas Antonio Delgado da Veiga, seu filho João da Veiga e o tio de Miguel Garcia Velho, o capitão Manoel Garcia Velho, partiram de Taubaté, em São Paulo, em busca de ouro. Transpondo a Serra da Mantiqueira, alcançaram um sítio que chamaram Maependi.

Cidade remanescente do chamado Ciclo do Ouro em Minas Gerais, Baependi se desenvolveu ao longo do caminho da Estrada Real - a primeira grande via de comunicação regular no Brasil -, que ligava a região das minas a Paraty, no Rio de Janeiro, porto de onde saía o ouro em direção à Europa.

O madeirense Tomé Rodrigues Nogueira do Ó (1715), capitão-mor e provedor dos quintos do Registro da Mantiqueira, foi um dos primeiros moradores do local. Foi considerado o fundador da cidade, por ter erguido as suas primeiras construções. A mineração foi, paulatinamente, substituída pela agricultura e pela criação de gado. Destacou-se a grande lavoura do tabaco, que fez de Baependi o centro produtor da Província de Minas Gerais e que representou importante fonte de riqueza até meados do século XIX.

Atualmente, a economia do município é baseada na agricultura, no comércio, no artesanato, na comercialização de pedras de quartzito e no turismo, já que a beleza natural é o forte da cidade, cercada de montanhas, matas, rios e inúmeras cachoeiras. O artesanato é uma importante atividade econômica em Baependi. As peças feitas em bambu, palha de milho e tronco de cafeeiro são distribuídas em grandes centros urbanos, como São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte e capitais da Região Nordeste do Brasil.

 

English

Baependi is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Minas Gerais. Its population as of 2006 is estimated to be 18,173 people living in an altitude of 893 meters. The area of the municipality is 751.748 km². The city belongs to the mesoregion of Sul e Sudoeste de Minas and to the microregion of São Lourenço. Coordinates: 21°57′S 44°53′W

History

According to some reports, mining occurred in the southern region from 1601. The conquest of Baependi happened, however, at the end of the seventeenth century, around 1692, when the São Paulo Delgado Antonio da Veiga, his son Joao da Veiga and uncle Miguel Garcia of the old master Manoel Garcia Velho, started from Taubaté, in search of gold. Crossing the Serra da Mantiqueira, they reached a site that called maependi (mbaé-pindi means "to open clearing" in Tupi-guarani).

City remainder of the so-called cycle of Gold in Minas Gerais, Baependi has developed along the path of Estrada Real - the first major means of regular communication in Brazil - which link the region of mines to Paraty (RJ), port from where the rising gold toward Europe.

The Madeiran Tome Rodrigues Nogueira of O (1715), Captain-mor and Ombudsman of Quintos the "registration of the Mantiqueira" was one of the first residents of the site and was considered the founder of the city for doing the first building. The mining was, gradually, replaced by agriculture and cattle breeding. It is a great crop of tobacco, which was the center of Baependi producer of the Province of Minas Gerais and represented major source of wealth until the mid-nineteenth century.

Currently, the municipality's economy is based on agriculture, trade in handicrafts, marketing of stones, quartzite and tourism, as is the strong natural beauty of the city, surrounded by mountains, forests, rivers and numerous waterfalls. The craft is an important economic activity in Baependi. The pieces made in bamboo, straw, corn and tree trunk of coffee are distributed in large urban centers such as São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, capital of northeast.

Religion

Baependi has had a parish church since 1723. The ceremony of the Holy Week in Baependi has continued for over 200 years, being one of the most traditional of Minas Gerais. The daily processions accompanied by banda music and choir, the representation of the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ, the corner of Veronica, the sound of bells and the sound of matracas, show the faith and tradition baependianas.

The temples, debruçados the slopes esguias, seem save the city and its inhabitants. The Shrine of N. Ms. of Conception, better known as Church of Nhá Chica, is the most visited by the faithful, which also delight with the architecture and the body of the Church N. Ms. of Montserrat (1754). The churches baependianas - the Mother, Our Lady of Good Death (1815) and Rosario (1820) - tombadas by and Artistic Heritage, represent assets of great value to a nation that considers Nhá Chica its highest spiritual heritage.

  

Wikipedia

One Day Without Shoes is a worldwide day to bring global awareness to children's health and education by going without shoes. Initiated by TOMS shoes.Copyright: Lindsey Drury

without effort

the lazy Sun

paints the rain

 

www.slowtrains.com/vol8issue2/walkervol8issue2.html

stand there and look into my eyes

and tell me that all we had were lies

show me that you don't care

and i'll stay here if you prefer

yes i'll leave you without a word

without a word.

  

and you can tell the world that you're tired

but your excuses, they won't work

'cause i'll know that you're lying.

 

i'm sorry for spamming you guys with self portraits. i don't like how i look here, or on yesterday's photo, i mostly don't post photos (especially portraits) if i'm not satisfied with them but this is real me, at the moment, and that's why i love this photo. there are some moments you just can't control your expression, it can be a huge smile or just the anger in your eyes. i'm learning to be comfortable with all the emotions on my face, like i've learned to hide them whenever i want - i don't like to pretend though, but sometimes you just have to do it by saying "of course i'm fine" with a cheesy smile on your face.

 

so i'm here, doing what i want to do, watching myself changing every day mostly through my photos, not knowing that it's for better or worse... i'm breathing. but it doesn't mean that i'm living.

 

ps. thanks so much to those who commented on my blog posts. <3 it's great to know you read them.

How This Picture Came to be Taken

 

Mother-in-law: Dan, what does this look like?

 

Me: A giant gnarly vagina.

 

Mother-in-law: [laughs] Yeah. Take a picture of it.

  

© All rights reserved

 

These photos cannot be used either in print or on the internet or in any other form without prior authorization by the photographer.

I have come away without the pictures from the final day, so you will have to make do with some more shots from Shibuya.

  

Outside it was a glorious day, and felt like summer on the inside of the ceiling to floor plate glass windows. Phew, its gonna be a scorcher! And what better way to spend the day than with our very own private tour guide>

 

What better indeed.

 

We met Maki at nine, and after some introductions, it was decided to go to Tokyo Station to exchange our vouchers for rail passes, thus making the rest of the travelling on the holibob possible. It also allowed us to be shown how to use the Metro, swiping our cards and looking at the map to plan a route. Handily, all lines have letter prefixes, and each station is numbered, so we were staying near K19, and to find our way back, get to the K line and go to the end, and Bob's you Aunt's live in lover. As it were.

 

I was in heaven, I have been dreaming of travelling on the Tokyo Subway, but I was doing it for real, and snapping. All.The.Time.

 

We arrived at Tokyo Station after a change onto one of the overground lines. Man, it was already hot, but Maki pointed out the profusion of vending machines. Everywhere, and for 110 Yet you can buy a half litre of cool h2o.

 

She lead us through various parts of the station to the rail tour office, we all filled out a lengthy form, then we were given our pass which gave us unlimited train travel for two whole weeks.

 

That done and the fact the Imperial Gardens were nearby, that is where we walked to next, through a maze of modern glass skyscrapers, over half empty 6 lane roads, and to the entrance to the gardens. Once upon a time it was the residence of the Emperor, he still have a thridd of it or something, but the rest is a public garden, which is littered with historic buildings, defenceive walls and the remains of castles and storehouses and the like.

 

Did I mention it was hot? It was hot.

 

But the gardens were sensational, and gave us an understanding of the different prefectures in Japan, as all were represented. Also there was green tea plants and bamboo. And on the wing I saw three different species of swallowtail butterfly, but I had left my macro in the hotel, so made do with watching them flit about.

 

We take a time out to have some water from a vending area before completing the tour round the gardens, before walking to Tokyo Station again, but this time getting a bus to the commercial area for a walk round the public fish market.

 

It was hotter.

 

It seems all tourists in Tokyo, and a good proportion of its residents also had the same idea, as it was like Venice on a very busy day.

 

And it was hot.

 

The sights and smells were fabulous, but the lanes were narrow and chocked with people, all walking at different paces, some eating, some drinking and some walking with their family. We were trying to keep pace with Maki.

 

After an hour of walking and loking, and it being half one, it was decided that it was lunchtime. Over the main road bordering the market was a swish sushi place, who had tables att eh counter, so we could watch our food being prepared. Only I wasn't hungry, so made do with some rice and simple sushi whilst Jools and Jen had a set meal. I drtank some ice cool beer.

 

I had another.

 

After that we walked through the commercial area to the Tokyo version of Harrods to look at their food halls. None of us are big shoppers really, and we did it as Maki made it sound like a great thing, and some of the displays were wonderful for sure.

 

Finally she took us to the trendy area, really, so we ccould look round the best souvenir shop in the city. We looked round, bout some stuff, and then said to Maki that we had enough confidence to use the metro, and as we were by Shibuya, where I wanted to snap in the evening, we would bid her farewell one hour early, and we would look for a coffee shop.

 

After looking in a coule, we found a place in a rooftop place, in the shade, but it was still warm, so we order ice coffee and take the weight off our feet, which after a day's travelling, maybe a seven hour forced march round Tokyo in 30 degree heat wasn't the best thing. But we had survived, but our legs and feet we making some complaints.

 

We took a Metro to Shibuya, and then went looking for the famous crossing, but we were an hour early, so maybe we should find something to eat. There was flashing neon lights everywhere, and it was all a bit confusing to be honest. Then Jen says there's a place to eat on the top floor of the mega camera store near us.

 

So we take the lift to the top floor, and are shown to a booth overlooking the street below, and shown how to use the tablet to order food and drinks. Some of it was even in English, which was nice. We order some nibbles and drinks, and pressed send. Twenty minutes later the food arrived, but no drinks, we called the waiter and sent him to fetch beers. And all was good, in fact we mellowed out and enjoyed looking out as the light faded and the neon shone brighter.

 

We went downstairs and I went looking for the crossing, a six-way pedestrian crossing that is iconic, I took a place looking towards the brightest lights and snapped away. It was a scene you can only imagine, I switched to the wide angle and slowed the shutter speed down and snapped some more. There was still some light in the sky, so the shots were pretty darn perfect, even I says so myself.

 

Happy with my shots, and the fact our legs and feet were screaming, we made our way back to the Metro then back to the hotel and back to the rooftop bar. It was a heck of a day, and we had achieved so much. And found our way back with no trouble either.

 

We played cards on the roof, with the Sky Tree shining a mile away, looking wonderful, and so we decided that we would go there the next evening.

 

Cheers

Last bird picture.

 

© by Naomi Warren. Please do not use without my express permission.

“REJOICE always, Pray without ceasing, GIVE THANKS IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES for this is the Will of God in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

 

———

 

PSALM 13

R. With delight I REJOICE in the Lord…

 

Though I trusted in your mercy,

let my heart REJOICE in your salvation. R.

Let me sing of the Lord, “He has been good to me.” R.

 

———

 

"Let the hearts that seek the Lord REJOICE; turn to the Lord and His strength; constantly seek His face." Cf. Psalm 105

 

———

 

"REJOICE when you share in the sufferings of Christ, that you may also REJOICE exultantly when His glory is revealed." Cf. 1 Peter 4:13

 

———

 

JOY AND PEACE…

4 REJOICE in the Lord always. I shall say it again: REJOICE!

5 Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near.

6 Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.

7 Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

 

~ Philippians 4

 

———

 

"I REJOICE heartily in the LORD, in my God is the #Joy of my soul..." Isaiah 61

 

———

 

Psalm 126:1-6

 

R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy…

 

When the Lord brought back the captives of Zion, we were like men dreaming.

Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with REJOICing. R.

 

Then they said among the nations,

“The Lord has done great things for them.”

The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad indeed. R.

 

Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like the torrents in the southern desert.

Those that sow in tears shall reap REJOICing. R.

 

Although they go forth weeping, carrying the seed to be sown,

They shall come back REJOICing,

carrying their sheaves. R.

  

PRAYER

“I REJOICE in You, Lord, and in Your loving plan for me and all Your children.” www.wau.org

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Filename - “REJOICE” - P2146430 Clouds 2 - paint 2014

  

Following the Son...

Blessings,

Sharon 🌻

 

God's Beauty In Nature is calling us into a deeper relationship with Him...

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bloggers are welcome to use my artwork with, “Image from Art4TheGlryOfGod by Sharon under Creative Commons license”, and a link back to the images you use.

 

Please let me know in the comment section below, thank you...

 

Art4TheGlryOfGod Photography and Watercolor Paintings by Sharon

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Faith, Hope & Love in daily Art meditations...

 

X ~ www.twitter.com/Art4ThGlryOfGod

 

Flickr (complete portfolio) ~ www.Flickr.com/4ThGlryOfGod

 

~~~~~~~

PURCHASE images on various products (Giclée canvas, metal prints, throw pillows, tote bags, cards, and more).

 

Please inform me if an image hasn’t been uploaded, and I’ll ensure it’s available for you.

 

Fine Art America ~ fineartamerica.com/profiles/sharon-soberon

 

Redbubble ~ www.redbubble.com/people/4theglryofgod/shop

 

~~~~~~~

Pixoto (awards) ~ www.pixoto.com/4thegloryofgod/awards

 

Music Videos (from my Art Photography) ~

www.youtube.com/user/4ThGlryOfGod

 

Prints available upon request.

© All rights reserved. Use without permission is illegal!

 

English and Italian - Both

 

1. I don't like to drink alchool .. except, you know, champagne at Christmas and New Year. Rarely a bear or wine.. I guess 1 or 2 cup in a year. I don't like to smoke! I don't like drugs.

I don't like to drink coffie... well... I like coffie in the milk, in the tiramisu' ... in cappuccino or something like that. Why? 'cause in the begining coffie's taste is good. But then .. I don't like the taste in mouth after a few of min.

 

non mi piace bere alcool, raramente, molto, champagne, vino o birra. odio il fumo e le droghe. E .. non mi piace il sapore del caffe'. Cioe' mi piace il caffè, ma se con altre cose.. tipo il latte o il tiramisu..... il sapore del caffe' inizialmente e' buono, ma dopo non mi piace il sapore che lascia.

  

2. Often... very often.. I do things, I buy things, I think things, I go in places... just only beacause I've a mental flahed of a.. PHOTO! I take photos to things I like..

  

spesso faccio cose, compero cose, penso cose e vado in posti.. solo perche'.. voglio fare foto..! Vengo flashato mentalmente dall'immagine della foto..... ! faccio foto a cose che mi piacciono.. mi colpiscono..

 

3. my lil sister is my favorite toy! I know.. I've just say that... but here there are three brief story about my sister (mia

sorella è il mio giocattolo preferito! Lo so .. l'ho detto, ma adesso con 3 racconti vi faccio capire perche'...)

  

- you've already know (about story with clocks read here), but I'm sure you don't know this other story. Once while I was at computer she's asked me: "michele, what's this? and what's this? and what's this? and this?" ... after a milions of questions, she's touching the buttom of the PC audio and I replied to her " nooooooooooooo Annalisa, don't push this button .. this is the button of selfdistruciton!"! She said: "no, it's not true!! there isn't a selfdistrucion button" ... and I replied: "whaaaaaaat?! yeeees, it's true!! You don't know anything 'cause this is a secret! Only older people know about this secret! When you'll grow up there will be a misterious and very top secret ceremony! You'll be catch and you'll be bring in a deep cave... in there there every mummy and every daddy says to thier childen about "THE SECRET OF SELFDISTRUTION BUTTON"... ! Every object have a secreat seldistruction buttom.. bread, chair, glasses, computers and also people! But you know.. it's a dangerous thing.. for this reason is secret!" ... and she said: "noooooooo.. I don't bellliiiiiivie you!" ... haha! After 10 minutes she's came back to me to ask me: "miiiiichele, is it true about secret selfdestruction button? it's not truuueeee.., really?" .. ahahahahahah!!

 

I'm laughing yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!

   

gia sapete della storia degli orologi... ( .. per la storia degli orologi leggi qua

... ) .. ma forse non sapete che quando era più piccola, mia sorella, all'età di 4-5 anni veniva sempre da me quando ero al pc! A me non piace essere disturbato quando sono al pc! Lei iniziava con un delirio di domande... "cosa e' questo, cosa e' quello..." ... una volta, indicando il pulsante verde delle casse audio del computer dissi: "noooooooo, annalisa, non lo toccare! quello e' il pulsante di autodistruzione!! non va mai toccato o tutto si distrugge!"... lei inizialmente non ci credette... e io ribadii "eh, mia piccola e dolce sorellina, tu non lo sai, ma ogni cosa ha il pulsante di autodistruzione... il pane, la pasta, il computer, le persone, gli orologi, le sedie... quando sarai grande, ci sara' una cerimonia segreta.. a 18 anni ti prendono, ti mettono un cappuccio in testa e ti portano in una caverna prooooooooooooooonda e ti svelano il segreto dei pulsanti ell'autodistruzione!" .. e lei: "nooo non ci credo!" .. e se ne va! dopo 5 minuti torna e mi dice: "michele e' vero che non esistono i pulsanti di autodistruzione?" .. dahahhahaha

 

- When my sister was younger, about 4 or 5 yo, once I was on the couch layed down.. and I asked to her: "annalisa, do you love me?" and she said: "yes, sure"! and I ask: "how much do you love me?"! she said: "just like that". And I asked: "only just like that?"! She: "noo.. from here to the stars". And I asked: "if you love me so much, would you like to do something for me?"! Annalisa: "yes, sure.. what?" .. and I asked:" would you please go to the bathroom and do pee for me? I'm tired and I don't want to get up ... " .. ! when she was on the toilet she asked me: "Micheleee.. I can't, I don't have to do pee..." and I replyed to

her: "ohhhh nooooooooooooowwww.. try betteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer..." ... hhahahahahahahahahh

  

sempre quando era piccola, una volta non avevo di alzarmi ed ero coricato sul divano! rilasso totale!! c'era la mia sorellina li vicino.. seduta e ad un certo punto.. le dissi: "Annalisa, mi vuoi bene?" e lei: "si".. e io "ma quanto mi vuoi bene?" e lei: "tanto cosi'" e io: "ma come? solo?" e lei: "allora fino alle stelle". E io: "e se mi vuoi cooooooooosi' tanto bene, la faresti una cosa per me?" e lei: "si" e io: "guarda che e' importante! e' difficile, ma se mi vuoi bene e ti sforzi la fai per me" e lei: "va bene"... e io: "mi scappa, la pipi'.. andresi in bagno a farla per me? non ho voglia di alzarmi".... Lei si alza va in

bagno.. si siede e dopo un po' sento: "michele, ma come faccio? a me non mi scappa!" ... dahhahadhahahah e io, mentre morivo dalle risate, :"maddaaai forzati un pochetto.. non mi vuoi bene?" ... hahahaha

 

- when she was very very young... 2 or 3 year old, I use to put her pacifier in the nutella, honey, marmalade .... she's never cried with me.. looooooooooooool! This is brother love!! oh yeaaaaaaah! :) haha

 

quando era piccola per evitare che mia sorella piangesse prendevo il ciuccio e lo annegavo nel miele, nella nutella e nella marmellata.. FUNZIONAVA.. non piageva mai con me! ahahahah AMMOOOORE FRATERNO!

 

- Ok ok .. I've told three... but the four it comes itself.. :)

once.. I've decided to use computer...! I didn't want she come with me... I didn't want to bug from her! So I said: "annalisaaaaaaaaaa... don't move from the couch! stay there and watch cartooooooooooon.. 'cause I have to go to an important mission! I'm near.. in my room ... but.. all around of the sofa' there are a lot of sharks.. so .. DON'T MOOOVE! I'll back soon as a winner.. ok?! :) ahahah

  

ok, avevo detto 3, ma la 4 vien da se..! Una volta volevo andare al pc e starmene in pace... senza che la sorella venisse a rompere.. così le dissi: "annalisa, stai ferma sul divano! non scendere! io vado a fare una missione pericolosa! tu non scendere che tutto intorno ci sono gli squali e se scendi dal divano ti mangiano! Tu stai li e guarda i cartoni.. " ... dahahahah!! :=)

   

others things on me:

 

1. here

2. here

 

james turrell within without 2010 (a skyspace)

 

australian national gallery, canberra, australian capital territory, australia

without you every night feels the same

Without my Glasses.

walk walk.. you without face

And no car show would be complete without the beauty that is Rolls Royce's best selling car, the Silver Shadow. Saving the best till last I give you the car that took Rolls Royce out of the hands of the aristocracy and placed it into the hands of the people, a tradition that has continued ever since. Once rock-stars, pop-stars, TV presenters and alike were seen driving around in a car that was once the exclusive pride and joy of the established gentry, it was then and there that the Class System had truly disintegrated. The Victorian-era divisions of society were well and truly dead.

 

In 1965 it was apparent that the nearly 10 year old Silver Cloud was starting to look its age, and as time continued to crawl on the aristocratic look of the Rolls Royce was no longer its biggest selling point. Prior to the 1960's society was clearly defined, with what was known as the 'Glass Ceiling' through which none of the lower classes could rise up through the ranks. It was very easy for the Upper Class and Aristocracy to lose their titles and come down, but even if you were a Lower Class person who'd made it rich, you'd still be socially unacceptable due to your background. However, after World War I the emergence of the new Middle Class was starting to bend the rules, and as time went on the ways in which money could be obtained started to become easier thanks to stage and screen. After World War II the influence of the new generation distorted the lines of society even more with the appearance of the Beatles and Elvis Presley, people from low backgrounds who had managed to get a free ticket to the top due to their fame in the music industry. Of course when someone gets money, the first thing they want to do is spend it on luxury items, and nothing back then was more luxury than owning a Rolls Royce.

 

However, when the Cloud was designed society was still very much in the same Victorian ideal as before, and so its aristocratic look was about as hip and with-it as a China Cabinet in a Discotheque. In order to survive, Rolls Royce was going to have to adapt, so in 1965 they launched the Silver Shadow, a car that was designed for the new money, and the first Roller to be brought to the masses. What made it so appealing was a case of many things.

 

For starters, it was the first Rolls Royce to be a 'Driver's' car. Previous models had always been built with chauffeur driven passengers in mind, but the Shadow with upgraded suspension, an updated Rolls Royce V8 engine and the same general driving feel of a regular car (if not better with innovative power steering), made it ideal for the 'posers' of the upmarket realm. Secondly, the car was the first to be built with a monocoque, where the body and chassis are part of the same structure. Previously, Rolls Royce would provide the owner with a chassis, and then it was up to the owner what body would be put on it, with a variety of coachbuilders available to do the job including H.J Muliner Park Ward, Hoopers of London and James Young. The advent of the monocoque meant that potential buyers didn't have to go through the rigmarole of buying a chassis and then having a body constructed for it at extra cost.

 

As mentioned though, reception was something of a mixed bag, whilst motoring press and many people gave it critical acclaim for its revolutionary design, the usual Rolls Royce customer base saw it as something of a mongrel, appealing to the lowest common denominator rather than holding up the traditional standard that the Double R was famed for. But just because it was built for the masses didn't make it any less a car, each individual Shadow cost £7,000 new, weighed 2.2 tonnes and took 3 months to build. The interior was compiled of 12 square feet of wood, and three cows had to sacrifice themselves to create the leather hides that line the seats. Soft and springy Wilton Carpets made up the floor and power from Rolls Royce's astounding V8 engine could whisk the car to about 100mph, but why would you want a sporty Rolls Royce anyway? *Cough* Rolls Royce Wraith *Cough*

 

After launch the Silver Shadow was whipped up by pretty much anyone and everyone who wanted to show off their wealth, with a total of 25,000 examples being built during its 15 year production life, making it the most numerous Rolls Royce ever built. The Silver Shadow also formed the basis of several other designs, including the convertible Rolls Royce Silver Shadow 2-Door Saloon which later became the Corniche in 1971, the Bentley T-Series which was exactly the same only with Bentley badge and grille, and the controversial Rolls Royce Camargue of 1975 which was designed by Pininfarina.

 

For a time the Shadow was on top of the world, but things started to crumble fast in the 1970's. New American legislation meant that the car had to conform at the cost of its class, with the chrome bumpers being replaced by composite or rubber, and the ditch lights being slumped underneath on a rather unsightly chin-spoiler. In 1977 this revised car was launched as the Silver Shadow II, which I consider to be but a shadow of its former self due to the fact that this was when Rolls Royce started to become downplayed and underwhelming. Indeed the best intentions were in mind with safety, but without the chrome to adorn its lovely body, the Shadow was merely a husk.

 

This was added to by the fuel crisis of the mid-1970's, which made motoring a very expensive practice, especially if you ran a Shadow. Shadow's are incredible gas guzzlers at less than 20MPG, and refilling one will set you back in today's money about £80. At the same time it was considered socially unacceptable to be seen driving around in one of these after such a blow, almost as if you were driving a giant middle-finger down the street to everyone else who couldn't afford to drive. Because of this, owners turned to more subtle cars such as Mercedes so as not to fall victim to vindictive passers by. With sales starting to drop, Rolls Royce had to see off the Silver Shadow as soon as possible. After nearly 10 years of development, 1980 saw the launch of the much more angular and somewhat mundane Silver Spirit/Spur range, and with that now on the go the shadows grew long for the Silver Shadow, which was killed off the same year. Spiritually however, the design of the 60's lived on in the Corniche, which was to be built for another 15 years before that too was ended in 1995.

 

In some ways the Shadow became a failure of its own success, with Rolls Royce building far too many cars for the market that intended to buy them, with the result that the 2nd hand market became saturated with nearly new cars that fell into some disreputable company. Throughout the 1980's the Shadow was noted for being the ride of sleazy salesmen, gang lords and Members of Parliament (pure evil!). Additionally, many Shadows were bought cheap simply for the way they made the owner look.

 

If you were intending to use your cheapy Shadow to plunder yourself some girls and didn't have the attraction of money to back you up, you'd be out of luck and soon out of cash, because the bills required to run a hand-built luxury car would very quickly be walking through the door, both in terms of fuel and maintenance. Critical failures are rare and these cars are very reliable (although Jeremy Clarkson would have you think otherwise), but when they do happen, it would probably be cheaper to buy yourself another car. The worst problem you could face is a failure of the hydraulics that controlled the rear suspension, the steering and the brakes, which would render the car inoperable if something were to go awry.

 

Frequent maintenance of a Shadow however (every 4 to 6 months) will probably even out at about £100, which when you consider the £10,000 or more you'd be paying to replace the hydraulic system, is a small sacrifice. Rust is another problem, especially for early Shadows. The Chrome sills and guttering on the roof are especially prone, although the most critical problem is rust on the chassis, which if left can compromise the whole car and essentially write it off. A bit of a buying tip, if the car's body looks good, be sure to check underneath because you may see some costly rust gremlins down there that could ruin your investment.

 

Another place the Shadow has found itself is in the world of movies. Of course any film that has an upper-crust theme or feel to it would have to include a Rolls, but since 2nd hand Shadows could be picked up for a song you could easily put them in your movie. Sadly, most movies that feature Shadows are ones which feature them being destroyed.

 

So why do I love Shadows so much? Basically because it's a mixture of all things you'd want in a car. It has a spacious, luxury interior, it has a world beating design dripping with chrome and adorned with the finest hood ornament, and because it's dimensions aren't that far off a normal car, it can easily be used as an everyday machine unlike the Silver Cloud which is simply too big for everyday use. The Shadow is also a very personable sort of machine, if I was to own one I would treat it like a pet, and probably name it Sally (old girlfriend of mine).

 

Today, Shadows are by no means rare and the ones you'll find on the road are probably the best. Most of the poorer 2nd Hand ones rusted away and died back in the 1980's and 90's (or were blown up in movies, or put in swimming pools), which means that the survivors are largely under the ownership of avid enthusiasts who cherish their cars. You can find Shadows for next to nothing, with some examples going for as little as £4,000, but you'd have to be very desperate to get one of those as they'd probably be in very bad condition. Minters however can go for about £15,000 to £20,000, which when compared to some of the other cars of comparative size and quality such as the BMW's and Mercs of this world, is not a bad deal.

..when I think of how many shows I slept through!

 

what can I say, beautiful sunrise this morning. Got up at 4.30 am, looked out the front door, clouds looked thick. Checked again an hour later thought it might be worth a shot. Arrived with 5 mins to spare!

 

out at Manly, Brisbane this morning, next to the river

Amsterdam street - custom old analog filmy look

________________________________

 

» © Jeff Krol 2014 | Do not use/modify without my authorization.

» Contact me if you are interested in buying or using my photographs.

» Twitter

Nikon D7200 without Low Pass Filter announced

See more at -

www.kentyuphotography.com/blog/2015/03/nikon-d7200-withou...

 

Follow us on Facebook and give us a like

 

-----------------------------------------------------

Kent Yu Photography

Wellington Wedding Photographer

www.kentyuphotography.com

  

Subscribe us to see more of our work

Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Google+ | Instagram