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My photo from the 5 October 2022 Air Tahiti Nui launch of a new route from Tahiti to Seattle & back. Simple Flying writeup up at bit.ly/ATNSEA .
All photos can be used with attribution.
PHOTO CREDIT: Joe Kunzler | Simple Flying, Joe.K@simpleFlying.com
Photo taken in light rain and storm light
The plight of the city is understated in the Wikipedia writeup:
Reverse Flash is looking over at my 6YO son who's about to photobomb the frame in about two seconds.
@findnjewels as Jesse Quick
@new_element_studios as Kid Flash
@vigilantecosplay as Reverse Flash
Saturday at WonderCon 2017 (writeup)
Took this while I was at the annual Samba Carnival at Asakusa. When the rain was pretty light, the dancers were still performing. Isn't the small girl cute?
A short writeup can be found at my blog www.kenleewrites.com/2008/09/samba-carnival-2008.html
A fairly easy one. Also super pretty.
Also, I got another week's writeup on the blog! I'm a little behind, but I'm adding some extra pretty pictures along the way. Go look.
Check out all of my Species a Day writeups here.
Two Fantastic cars from Honda, owned by one person. This is a 2004 Acura NSX and 2009 Honda S2000. More pics/writeup @ www.jdmchicago.com
For you and I are sons of one religion, and it is the spirit. ~ Kahlil Gibran
This along with the previous couple of posts forms the secular trilogy which conveys what I needed to, regarding religion, belief and God. Gods are varied and different based on the region one hails from or on the ethnic background one belongs to. But underneath all that façade, God is plainly what one believes in; no rules laid. It could be a tree, a loving person, your fav. book, a reviving tune, an idea, a stone, a structure, etc. Any fine thing that you can draw strength and morale from. One's God mightn't mean a damn thing to another. A tune that sings 1000 ideas to a musician might mean nothing to an audibly-challenged.
Probably one might have a surging feel like: it's still only my God that's really true. Yeah, may be, so understand that the next soul likes your very own God served in a different way and calls it what s/he likes to. It's all the same thing in different forms. Like we have a plethora of weddings styles world over, which all ultimately means the same ~ marriage. When something as simple as 5 fingers are non-identical, how can a multitude of population have a single unanimous thought; not only in God but in anything. Yet harmony lies in respecting other's ideas; if you can't, atleast have tolerance. Bless your brothers and steer clear; after all God is something that one has to believe in, from within.
Made in under an hour, from idea to completed hardware. Yeah, it's messy. But it's a full featured USB device that emulates an HID keyboard, based on the ATTiny45 and Obdev's AVR USB software interface. This device presses the CapsLock key at random intervals from 30 seconds to 8 minutes. It could be used to do random keypresses, mouse movements, etc. But CapsLock is very low risk, and very high annoyance. Since the CapsLock LED on the computer's real keyboard is controlled by the computer, it also turns on and off when the CapsLocker activates. Very sneaky because it looks like the user accidentally pressed CapsLock. Except it happens maybe 20 times in an hour....
I'm still finishing this writeup, but will post the schematic, PCB, and code here: macetech.com/blog/?q=node/46
At the preview for Houston's 2014 Art Car Parade.
Today's Houston Chronicle features a great writeup on the parade, history, etc.:
Slick to Full Loadout: Building a Scaleable and Modular Armor System
Check out the full writeup on ITS Tactical: itstac.tc/1b54VRV
I removed the console of a treadmill and changed the sliding motor speed controller to a dial from an old stereo. I kept the safety key and removed all other elements making ample space for my laptop. Check out my full writeup here. www.zieak.com/2007/03/28/treadmill-console-mod/
The Moscow airshow (officially called the Moscow International Aviation and Space Salon) is like a Cold War spies wet dream. Most of the current russian airforce makes an appearance, along with some of the other exotic stuff that you dont get to see so often on the other side of the curtain.
Full Writeup/guide comming soon.
Canon 20D with 100-400mm lens.
I hate the watermarks as well. Blame the people that keep stealing images for commercial use.
© 2011 Lachlan Doig. All Rights Reserved. Not to be used for any purpose in any form of media without prior approval.
Slick to Full Loadout: Building a Scaleable and Modular Armor System
Check out the full writeup on ITS Tactical: itstac.tc/1b54VRV
Included for it's rarity value rather than quality, this photo shows Hertfordshire Railtours 'Chiltern Chariot' tour heading back towards Luton along the branch from Dunstable on the snowy Saturday 17th January 1987. The train, headed here by Class 115 DMU 51877 consisted of 8 coaches, the longest passenger train the branch had seen for many years! It is seen here approaching Skimpot Lane bridge, the photographer having gained access to the lineside by means of the path up onto Blows Down. A writeup of the day's tour is available here: www.sixbellsjunction.co.uk/80s/870117hr.htm
Scanned from an acquired print.
Facebook...'Like' this for future shoots and content
Check out www.alexDPhotography.com for writeups from my shoots, high-def wallpapers, videos and other content.
Jaeger Le-Coultre Deep Sea 2011 re-edition, both versions. Full writeup here at The Watch Lounge: thewatchlounge.com/jaeger-le-coultre-tribute-to-deep-sea-...
I ran into Sardar Sherbaz Khan Mazari in the lobby of the Karachi Marriott around 4 years ago. He was such a frail old gentleman now. For whatever reason, I was compelled to meet him and introduce myself as my thoughts drifted to the haughty and much more expanded chieftain I would often see in the VIP Lounge at the old Karachi airport during the seventies. He would have a disdainful look for everything around him; often with dark glasses even inside rooms. There was that other handsome and haughty gentleman I would see there - Yahya Bakhtiar.
Somehow the latter had more style. He would be reading the newspaper and sipping the tea. He would pick up the tea cup deliberately not looking at it, as if that inocuous act would make him lose some respect. Those were amazing times when we had genuine leaders on both sides of the house and the political divide.
Anyway returning to Mazari Sahib, when I first read his book, A Journey to Disillusionment in 2000 or thereabouts, there was much in it that surprised me. Wasn't he the man alongwith Asghar Khan and Pir Pagaro whose purpose seemed to have been not to agree, even if the PNA negotiating team agreed, with Bhutto's team. Weren't these three the game-changers and part of some 'higher' conspiracy. As it turned out, he had more principles than I initially thought. Between the egos of that and the next regime, my early adulthood was devastated.
Around that time, I remarked to friend and UNICEF counterpart, Asif Aslam that his book was priced at 750 (a small fortune at that time) by Oxford University Press. 'But that is one book they have no problem selling' mentioned Asif. I told him I had no regrets either on making the purchase.
A journey to disillusionment - the caption says it all - the way Mazari writes it surely was. His main message is to expose everyone, his friends, his rivals, and convey that nothing great is about to happen. If the intervening seventeen years since the book was published, has made us fall to greater depths, we cannot blame him for not warning us. Furthermore, as one reads the account of what he went through in the Bhutto years, I understand more sharply why he was the way he was in the VIP Lounge at Karachi. To put it concisely - he was on the receiving end of Bhutto's wrath! But while he recalls Bhutto's days in power as five years (against his actual five and a half), he regards Zia's years as twelve (against his eleven years and six weeks). Time passes very slowly when you don't like what is happening.
The story starts before our Independence and ends during the nineties with the author's retirement from politics altogether. The book is close to 700 pages of which the meat is exactly 625 pages. An entire chapter is devoted for the intrigues of the fifties culminating in only one winner - Ayub Khan to whom the next chapter is devoted and so the story progresses to the advent of Yahya Khan and the disastrous elections.
Going by the book, Bhutto seems to have done nothing right in his entire life. But quite frankly I had to praise him for his patience when mention is made of his twice offering governorship to Marri and Mengal, and they would not so much as look in his direction. Anyway at the virtual end of his rule, Mazari felt Gen Ziaul Haq was Bhutto's agent when he refused to end the operation in Balochistan and/or wind up the Hyderabad conspiracy tribunal. Life is a great teacher if someone is inclined to learn!
There are hundreds of anecdotes in the book. The one I found the most interesting was when Mazari along with A K Brohi and Maula Bux Soomro were closeted with the Shah of Iran who was also the light of the Aryans. He told Mazari that he was an Aryan and asked Brohi whether he was not a Dravidian. After an embarrassing pause Brohi remarked, "Your Imperial Majesty I am neither a historian nor an anthropologist, all I know is that I belong here in my country."
As the book progresses, he does not make any attempt to conceal his abhorrence for Ziaul Haq. He refused all his offers to become a governor, minister, ambassador or even prime minister of a national government. The ultimate insult came when he refused to invite the general to his son's wedding as 'advised' by friend Gen. Fazle Haq. He said he had invited only friends, relatives or political colleagues, and Ziaul Haq did not fit in any of these three categories.
The book also left me wondering how many people had in fact been offered prime ministership in the Zia era - apparently he was always clamoring for political legitimacy and having even established the Junejo government demolished it himself in three years or so. But as Mazari mentions he did play a trick on PNA leaders including Junejo in 1979. Having announced elections he decided to get rid of the excess baggage of 12 PNA leaders in his cabinet. He advised them to resign at least ninety days before the elections. When some leader protested, he reminded them of their demands during the Bhutto negotiations. The pigeons had come home to roost!
When a uniformed man came to arrest Mazari, he thought this might be his end until the captain informed him that martial law had been declared. On reaching the destination, he found Abdul Hafeez Pirzada telling somebody, 'and this is where the opposition is'. He reminded him that there was no government or opposition side, and only military rule then. Talking of egos ---
Mazari speaks of the $250 million left by the 'pious' general but comments that more than his corruption was the harm he did to the country. The ultimate insult was when he declared him as the demolition squad of whatever Bhutto had not been able to demolish amongst the country's institutions. He also repeatedly mentions Humayun Akhter Abdul Rehman's claim that this money of $250 million was peanuts compared to what he had. When Shaheen Sehbai reported this in Dawn twice and alluded to it many times, he accused him of embarrassing him but never denied his assets. Mazari himself mentions how Ambassador Raphael had complained to him about the misuse of funds given for the Afghan war that he had himself confirmed from his own sources. He also mentions the drug money at more than one place.
Sherbaz Mazari is highly critical of the superior judiciary judges also, with the exception of Justice Dorab F Patel and Justice Fakhruddin G Ebrahim, who gave all protection to the dictator. He spoke against them in a public meeting and was sent a contempt notice. Barrister Azizullah Shaikh, Justice (Retd) Marri, Uncle Imam Ali G Kazi and Iqbal Haider took up his case without fees. Subsequently the Chief Justice of a High Court invited him to tea and suggested that he apologize to get the case wound up but he refused and never heard of the matter again.
Some of my father's predecessors as Chairman PIDC find less than honorable mention. NAP colleague Ghulam Faruque is supposed to have told him to be financially viable if he had to remain in politics. During Benazir's first tenure she offered him one home constituency without a PPP candidate. However father in law Zardari got a hefty sum from A M K Mazari as a 'party donation' and fielded him as a party candidate. Thereafter Ashiq Mazari used all his corruption money in the election against him. Subsequently Benazir tried to make amends by offering him ministership and/or senatorship but he was too cheesed off to accept.
This was the same Benazir who once had to burst into a MRD meeting in 70 Clifton and accuse her mother of sitting with people who had the blood of her father on their hands. When the meeting was abruptly terminated or suspended, her mother reminded her that Mazari was the only opposition politician who had pleaded for her father's life.
The author remembers the evening when he was told by General Chishti that ZAB would be executed that night. He could not sleep all night and had lost all rancor for the man who had himself become a victim. In the morning, he hastened to send a condolence message to Begum Bhutto.
I can either stop here or go on and defame several people I have not named yet from the book, so I will just say what President Bush said of General Musharraf's publication, "Go - read the book". At least he has written it himself!
Note: The picture shows Mazari with Sardar Bugti in 1954.
Copyright: Dr. Ghulam Nabi Kazi
Pointblank from G1 Transformers cartoon series, turns into a futuristic speedster. Transformation doesn't require reassembly of parts.
I am taking inspiration from both his original toy version from the 80s and also some design cues from his cartoon/comic version.
For more photos and writeups of this LEGO creation, do pay a visit to my blog link below ! Thank you!
alanyuppie.blogspot.com/2018/05/lego-former-targetmaster-...
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Hey, go read my writeup of the Adventure Time panel to find out who these totally mathematical people are and what they were doing.
Quote taken from Atharva Veda
தொட்டனை தூறும் மணற்கேணி மாந்தர்க்கு
கற்றனை தூறும் அறிவு.
This is one of the famous Thirukkural (a classical collection of 1330 Tamil couplets on virtues, realities and pleasures of life) which says the more we draw water from a well, the more it rises in level. Likewise, the more we share our knowledge with others, the more we gain. We never lose out of sharing. We, humans, shouldn't keep what we know to ourselves and let them die with us, but rather enlighten as many we can; for we will only get more and not less.
I felt like quoting this because I feel the same about the Sun too. It lightens up everything it falls on and yet it gets brighter by the day. The more it lightens up, the more it shines :)
Shot for a feature for Northwest Auto Crew... Check out the write-up and more photos HERE
+Check out the portrait I took of the owner, Mike, in the comments.
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Strobist info:
Key: 2x LP160 zoomed firing into ceiling
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Image from a project created for my conference talk at Eyeo 2012. A writeup will be available on RobertHodgin.com shortly.
Slick to Full Loadout: Building a Scaleable and Modular Armor System
Check out the full writeup on ITS Tactical: itstac.tc/1b54VRV
Original Caption: Employee at the Hamilton County Auto Emission Inspection Station at Newtown, Ohio. She Is Filling Out the Emissions Data Sheet and Telling the Driver What He Must Do. If a Vehicle Fails the Test for Carbon Monoxide Or Hydrocarbon Emissions, the Owner Has 30 Days to Have It Repaired and Retested. All Light Duty, Spark Ignition Powered Motor Vehicles in the County Must Be Certified Annually 08/1975
U.S. National Archives’ Local Identifier: 412-DA-15381
Photographer: Eiler, Lyntha Scott, 1946-
Subjects:
Newtown (Hamilton county, Ohio, United States) inhabited place
Environmental Protection Agency
Project DOCUMERICA
Persistent URL: arcweb.archives.gov/arc/action/ExternalIdSearch?id=557831
Repository: Still Picture Records Section, Special Media Archives Services Division (NWCS-S), National Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD, 20740-6001.
For information about ordering reproductions of photographs held by the Still Picture Unit, visit: www.archives.gov/research/order/still-pictures.html
Reproductions may be ordered via an independent vendor. NARA maintains a list of vendors at www.archives.gov/research/order/vendors-photos-maps-dc.html
Access Restrictions: Unrestricted
Use Restrictions: Unrestricted
desktop calenders for anyone to download and use as a desktop wallpaper only.
this is an image of a monk at the tabo monastery, spiti, himachal pradesh. writeup:
“Ajanta of the Himalayas”, as the Tabo Chos-Khor Monastery is popularly known, was founded more than a millennium back in 996 A.D., The Year of the Fire Ape by the Tibetan Calendar.
It stands on the barren, arid, snow covered, cold and rocky desert of the Tabo valley at a dizzying height of 3050 m. Untouched by the tribulations of humanity, a heaven in its own sense, it has preserved the glorious heritage, traditions and culture of Buddhism through the passage of centuries, withholding its institution with utter purity.
The Tabo Gompa, or Buddhist monastery, is second in importance only to the Tholing Gompa in Tibet in the entire Himalayan region. It was developed as an advanced centre for learning by the great teacher and translator Lotsawa Rinchen Tsang Po, the king of western Himalayan Kingdom of Guge -- also known as Lha Lama Yeshe O’d or Mahaguru Ratnabhadra. The Chos-Khor at Tabo remained one of the most important Buddhist establishments during the time of Lotsawa after the Chos-Khor at Tholing, the capital town of Guge. It is known that the Chos-Khor at Tabo commanded great importance, and hosted for a considerable period, many great scholars and translators in the Buddhist history studies. To date, it is the preserver of the Buddhist Legacy and is one of the most important Gompa of the entire Tibetan Buddhist world.
The Tabo Monastery located on desolate, flat ground with an area of 6300 sq m, enclosed by a high boundary wall built with mud brick. During 1981-83, a new Du-khang (assembly hall) was built on the south -east of Chos-Khor for the Kalachakra teachings (a process of initiation and rejuvenation) from His Holiness the XIV th Dalai Lama of Tibet in 1983 and 1996. Venerable Geshe Sonam Wangduai, the abbot of the monastery and patron Serkong Tsanshap Chhogtul Rinpoche have the coveted distinction of being responsible for extensive developmental work at Tabo and re-introduction of religio- spiritual and academic activities.
The monastery temples house a priceless collection of manuscripts and thangkas (Buddhist scroll paintings), historical, exquisite statues in stuccos, frescos and murals depicting tales from the Mahayana Buddhist Pantheon. Every inch of wall is covered with fine paintings in astonishingly well preserved condition.
Nearly 36 almost life-size clay statues perch on the walls of the assembly hall. On the sheer cliff face above the monastic enclave are a series of caves which were used as dwelling units by the monks. Here again, dim traces of the paintings that once adorned the rock face are visible. Hence the name “Ajanta of the Himalayas”. The temple complex is a national historic treasure of India and protected as such by the Archaeological Survey of India. Not much has changed since 996 AD at the Tabo Monastery. The lamas still perform tantric rites in the temples. They perform most of their morning ‘poojas’, and also live in the ‘new’ temple. Chanting starts at 6 a.m. sharp. The monastery complex holds 9 temples, 23 chortens, monk’s chamber and an extension that houses the nuns chamber.
The Nine Temples
The Temple of the Enlightened Gods (gTug-Lha-khang)
This is also known as the assembly hall (du-khang) and is quite the core of the complex. This has a vestibule, an assembly hall and a sanctum. The central figure of this hall is the four-fold figure of Vairocana. In Vajrayana Buddhism, he is regarded as one of the five spiritual sons of Adibuddha- who was the self-created primordial Buddha. With awesome majesty he sits larger than life about two meters above the floor. He is depicted in a posture turning the wheel of law. On brackets arrayed along the walls and with stylized flaming circles around them are life sized stucco images of what are commonly called the Vajradhatu Mandala. Thirty-three in all these are other deities of the pantheon, for example Vajrasattva (rDo-re-dSems-pa) the ‘soul of the thunderbolt.’
With five Bodhisattvas of the Good Age placed within, the sanctum is immediately behind the assembly hall. The walls around the stuccoes are richly adorned with wall paintings that depict the life of the Buddha. These have a purely Indian artistic style as it is said that the artists were specially summoned from Kashmir.
The Golden Temple (gSer-khang)
Once said to have been layered with gold, this temple was exhaustively renovated in the 16th century by Senge Namgyal, ruler of Ladakh. The walls and ceilings are covered with outstanding murals.
The Mystic Mandala Temple / Initiation Temple (dKyil-kHor- khang)
The wall facing the door has a huge painting of Vairocana who is surrounded by eight Bodhisattvas. Mystic Mandalas cover the other areas. Here the initiation to monkhood takes place.
The Bodhisattva Maitreya Temple (Byams-Pa Chen-po Lha-khang)
This has an image of the Bodhisattva Maitreya that is over six meters high. The temple has a hall, vestibule and sanctum. The array of murals within also depicts the monastery of Tashi-Chunpo and Lhasa’s Potala palace.
The Temple of Dromton (Brom-ston Lha khang)
A small portico and long passage leads to its hall. The doorway is intricately carved and the inner walls are covered with murals. It lies on the northern edge of the complex and is regarded to have been founded by Dromton (1008-1064 AD) an important disciple of Atisha.
The above are accepted as the earliest temples of the Tabo complex and the following are later additions.
The Chamber of Picture Treasures (Z’al-ma)
This is a kind of an ante room attached to the Enlightened Gods temple. It is covered with beautiful paintings of the Tibetan style.
The Large Temple of Dromton (Brom-ston Lha khang)
The second largest temple in the complex, this has a floor area of over 70 sq m, while the portico and niche add another 42 sq m. The front wall has the figure of Sakyamuni flanked by Sariputra and Maha Maugdalayana. The outer walls depict the eight Medicine Buddhas and Guardian Kings. The wooden planks of the ceiling are also painted.
The Mahakala Vajra Bhairava Temple (Gon-khang)
This enshrines the protective deity of the Galuk-pa sect. Fierce deities fill the room and it is only entered after protective meditation. At times it is called the ‘temple of horror’.
The White Temple (dKar-abyum Lha-Khang)
The walls of this temple are also adorned leaving a low dado for the monks or nuns to lean against.
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All images copyright, 2006 sanjay nanda / IndiPix Images. All rights reserved. No image may be reproduced in any other form without the prior written permission of the copyright holder.
Original Caption: Employee at the Hamilton County Auto Emission Inspection Station at Newtown, Ohio. She Is Filling Out the Emissions Data Sheet and Telling the Driver What He Must Do. If a Vehicle Fails the Test for Carbon Monoxide Or Hydrocarbon Emissions, the Owner Has 30 Days to Have It Repaired and Retested. All Light Duty, Spark Ignition Powered Motor Vehicles in the County Must Be Certified Annually 08/1975
U.S. National Archives’ Local Identifier: 412-DA-15380
Photographer: Eiler, Lyntha Scott, 1946-
Subjects:
Newtown (Hamilton county, Ohio, United States) inhabited place
Environmental Protection Agency
Project DOCUMERICA
Persistent URL: arcweb.archives.gov/arc/action/ExternalIdSearch?id=557830
Repository: Still Picture Records Section, Special Media Archives Services Division (NWCS-S), National Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD, 20740-6001.
For information about ordering reproductions of photographs held by the Still Picture Unit, visit: www.archives.gov/research/order/still-pictures.html
Reproductions may be ordered via an independent vendor. NARA maintains a list of vendors at www.archives.gov/research/order/vendors-photos-maps-dc.html
Access Restrictions: Unrestricted
Use Restrictions: Unrestricted
This is my friend Will's Evo IX, definitely one of the more practically modded Evolutions i've seen roaming the streets now a days. So many car enthusiasts today are caught up with how sick "stance" looks that they forget how one can mod their car beautifully and still be able to drive it every day. What a concept, I know.
Will's Evo puts some mean power down to the ground and the best part is, he isn't afraid to push the car to it's limits. He's not sitting on ridiculous $6,000 20x10.5" 3 piece forged wheels. (No, this is not a pass at anybody running wheels like this, don't take it as one) This car was built to look nice and drive even nicer, and Will did a great job.
It was nice to see a car tastefully modded without the oh so common "Stance" and "Dumped" appearance. I remember back in the day, the coolest car on the block was the one with the one with the highest top speed, quickest time in the quarter mile, or the most nimble around the track. Now a days I feel like all of that has gone out the window, and it's just about who can fit the biggest wheels on their car and who can go to lowest. Yes, I am a car enthusiast like I assume you are, and I appreciate stance just as much as the next guy but I think there should always be a place in every car enthusiast's heart for a high performance car, not just a good looking one.
Thanks for looking!
Exif:
580exii camera right
420exii camera left
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The @CosplayParents as Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps of the Zootopia Police Department.
At Long Beach Comic Con 2018.
Check out my writeup of the con!
An Egret begins to fly away as the Urban Voyageurs paddle down the Rouge River.
Writeup from MIchael Mitchener urbanvoyageur.blogspot.ca/2013/09/rouge-river.html
comparison between my LEGO Transformers creation first and later version of the same character. For more photos and writeups on this journey , click on my blog link below. thank you!
Another shot for a Northwest Auto Crew feature. See the rest of the pics and the writeup here
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Crosshair from G1 Transformers Cartoon Series transforms into a futuristic buggy.
For more photos and writeups on this LEGO creations:
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Slick to Full Loadout: Building a Scaleable and Modular Armor System
Check out the full writeup on ITS Tactical: itstac.tc/1b54VRV
Aushwitz 1 today.
It is peaceful despite the horrors and yes despite what some say the birds do sing here. I like to think they sing for the sleeping
Auschwitz Concentration Camp opened in former Polish army barracks in June 1940. Twenty brick buildings were adapted, of which 6 were two-story and 14 were single-story. At the end of 1940, prisoners began adding second stories to the single-story blocks. The following spring, they started erecting 8 new blocks. This work reached completion in the first half of 1942. The result was a complex of 28 two-story blocks, the overwhelming majority of which were used to house prisoners. As a rule, there were two large rooms upstairs and a number of smaller rooms downstairs. The blocks were designed to hold about 700 prisoners each after the second stories were added, but in practice they housed up to 1,200.
During the first several months, the prisoners’ rooms had neither beds nor any other furniture. Prisoners slept on straw-stuffed mattresses laid on the floor. After reveille in the morning, they piled the mattresses in a corner of the room. The rooms were so overcrowded that prisoners could sleep only on their sides, in three rows. Three-tiered bunks began appearing gradually in the rooms from February 1941. Theoretically designed for three prisoners, they in fact accommodated more. Aside from the beds, the furniture in each block included a dozen or more wooden wardrobes, several tables, and several score stools. Coal-fired tile stoves provided the heating.
In the first months, the prisoners drew water from two wells and relieved themselves in a provisional outdoor latrine. After the rebuilding of the camp, each building had lavatories, usually on the ground floor, containing 22 toilets, urinals, and washbasins with trough-type drains and 42 spigots installed above them. The fact that prisoners from the upstairs and downstairs had to use a single lavatory meant that access was strictly limited.
Two types of barracks, brick and wooden, housed prisoners in the second part of the camp, Birkenau. The brick barracks stood in the oldest part of the camp, known as sector BI, where construction began in the fall of 1941. Inside each of them were 60 brick partitions with three tiers, making a total of 180 sleeping places, referred to as “buks,” designed to accommodate 4 prisoners. The SS therefore envisioned a capacity of over 700 prisoners per block. At first, the buildings had earthen floors. Over time, these were covered with a layer of bricks lying flat, or with a thin layer of poured concrete. The barracks were unheated in the winter. Two iron stoves were indeed installed, but these were insufficient to heat the entire space. Nor were there any sanitary facilities in the barracks. Only in 1944 were sinks and toilets installed in a small area inside each block. Nor was there any electric lighting at the beginning.
Wooden stable-type barracks were installed in segment BI, and above all in segments BII and BIII. These barracks had no windows. Instead, there was a row of skylights on either side at the top. A chimney duct, which heated the interior in the winter, ran almost the entire length of the barracks. The interior was divided into 18 stalls, intended originally for 52 horses. The two stalls nearest the door were reserved for prisoner functionaries, and containers for excrement stood in the two stalls at the far end. Three-tier wooden beds or three-tier wooden bunks intended for 15 prisoners to sleep in were installed in the other stalls, for a total capacity of more than 400 prisoners per barracks.
In the brick blocks, prisoners slept on straw strewn on the boards of the buks; paper mattresses stuffed with so-called “wood wool” were placed on the beds or bunks in the wooden barracks.
The number of prisoners that the barracks were supposed to hold should be treated as only a starting point, since the actual number was often much higher. It varied according to the size and number of transports arriving at any given time.
During the first year or so, water in sector BI was available only in the kitchen barracks, and prisoners had no access to it. Unable to wash, they went around dirty. They had to perform their bodily functions in unscreened outside privies. The barracks were frequently damp, and lice and rats were an enormous problem for the prisoners. It is therefore hardly strange that epidemics of contagious diseases erupted frequently. Sanitary conditions improved to a certain degree in 1943, when each part of the camp was outfitted with a bathhouse and equipment for disinfecting clothing and linen. Nevertheless, the capacity of these facilities in proportion to the number of prisoners limited the possibilities for making use of them. In sector BI, for instance, there were 4 barracks with sinks for washing (90 spigots per barracks), 4 toilet barracks (a sewer with a concrete lid that had 58 toilet openings in it), and 2 barracks containing toilets and sinks—for a sector containing 62 barracks housing prisoners. The prisoners also had limited opportunities for bathing. Additionally, they had to undress in their own barracks before doing so and, regardless of the weather, walk naked to the bathhouse. For many prisoners, this led to sickness and death.
Prisoners received three meals per day. In the morning, they received only half a liter of “coffee,” or rather boiled water with a grain-based coffee substitute added, or “tea”—a herbal brew. These beverages were usually unsweetened. The noon meal consisted of about a liter of soup, the main ingredients of which were potatoes, rutabaga, and small amounts of groats, rye flour, and Avo food extract. The soup was unappetizing, and newly arrived prisoners were often unable to eat it, or could do so only in disgust. Supper consisted of about 300 grams of black bread, served with about 25 grams of sausage, or margarine, or a tablespoon of marmalade or cheese. The bread served in the evening was supposed to cover the needs of the following morning as well, although the famished prisoners usually consumed the whole portion at once. The low nutritional value of these meals should be noted.
The combination of insufficient nutrition with hard labor contributed to the destruction of the organism, which gradually used up its stores of fat, muscle mass, and the tissues of the internal organs. This led to emaciation and starvation sickness, the cause of a significant number of deaths in the camp. A prisoner suffering from starvation sickness was referred to as a “Musselman,” and could easily fall victim to selection for the gas chambers.
Prisoner nutrition improved to a certain degree in the second half of 1942, when the camp authorities permitted the receipt of food parcels. Jews and Soviet POWs, however, did not share this privilege.
Rome, 27th June 2016. Konica C35 and Fomapan 400 Action film.
Our tour guide was telling us about this. I took two photos, but can't remember what it is now...
It also looks wonky and like I should straighten this image, but it's as straight as can be!
For those who don't know this about me, I am a huge fan of television. Movies bore me now. I haven't watched a movie in the theater in like 2 years. And it's not because I have two young kids. There's just not much out there that interests me. But there are plenty of TV shows to hold my interest. Here's a modified writeup I did for my blog a year ago:
24 is topdog in my book. The shows creators never cease to amaze me. The scale at which they do things is above and beyond any other show in my opinion. Keifer Sutherland is a badass who takes a lickin and keeps on tickin. The guy is one hell of an intense actor. The supporting cast is very good as well. The show is in it’s 5th season right now. If you haven’t already watched it, I highly recommend picking up or renting the first four seasons on DVD. Try Netflix.
Grey's Anatomy is the newest show we are watching. It's probably Jane's favorite show right now. I bought season 1 on DVD a few weeks ago. We quickly finished that, and then I downloaded all 20 episodes of the current season and got caught up. The cast is great and the storylines are intriguing. Lots of humor mixed into this drama too.
Entourage is about a young rising star in Hollywood and his entourage which lives with him and follows him everywhere, which is made up by his two friends and his brother, who is a washed up wannabe actor. It's probably the funniest show on TV/Cable in my opinion. They are in between seasons 2 and 3. Definitely pick up season 1. Just don't watch it with your kids around. It's an HBO show so there is adult language and content.
The 4400 is in between seasons 2 and 3 right now. I like this show a lot as does Jane. Jane doesn't get addicted to too many shows, but she was pretty hardcore about this one. Definitely worth picking up season 1 on DVD.
Weeds is a show about a single mother raising two kids. She has no real talent or desire to get a real job, so she makes ends meet by selling weed. It doesn't sound like much of a premise, but it's actually a pretty good show.
Nip/Tuck is another one we recently started watching. I bought season 1 on DVD. We quickly finished that off. So I went and got season 2 on DVD. We finished that within a week. And then I downloaded all of season 3 and we finished that too. My wife complains all the time that the show is weird and perverse, but she can't stop watching it. Haha. Too funny.
Lost was among my favorite TV shows last season. Thus far it's been pretty disappointing this season. It's still good, but nowhere near as good as last season. Sometimes after an episode is over, I'm left thinking..."gee that was pretty dumb." Hopefully the show gets better before it gets worse.
Las Vegas is still among my favorites. I don't watch it on TV though since it was on at the same time as 24. I think they recently moved it to a different day, so I may start tuning in. I picked up season 1 and 2 on DVD. Season 1 was excellent. Season 2 I've yet to finish. Too busy with all the other shows.
Desperate Housewives, which is in it’s second season is definitely good comic relief. It's one of the funnier shows on network television in my opinion. Along with Grey's Anatomy, Sunday nights are now reserved for sitting in from of the TV.
Smallville is the first show in a long time that I started watching religiously. I grew up a huge Superman fan, so naturally I was excited when I heard there was going to be a TV show based on the Superman character. I liked the show from the getgo even though the storylines were repetative(i.e. someone with powers affected from the meteor shower terrorizes Smallville and Clark saves the day). The show has gotten a lot better over the years with coming up with new and different storylines. The cast is good. Special effects aren’t too shabby either. And of course as an added bonus, the show has ever so cute Kristin Kreuk. :) Smallville is in it’s 5th season. The other 4 seasons are probably worth picking up.
[edit] - on a side note...i REALLY *heart* Tivo!
Crosshair from G1 Transformers Cartoon Series transforms into a futuristic buggy.
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My current daily carry / "man bag", a Maxpedition Typhoon Gearslinger.
I've added a couple of small MOLLE pouches to the left hand side, along with some Grimloc carabiners at various places (you can see two on the front).
Some ITW Web Dominator clips are on the way to take care of excess strappage.
November 2009 Update: Replacing this with a Maxpedition Falcon II backpack in Blue/Foliage. I finally got tired of the single strap on the Typhoon, although I loved everything else about it.
Slick to Full Loadout: Building a Scaleable and Modular Armor System
Check out the full writeup on ITS Tactical: itstac.tc/1b54VRV
Slick to Full Loadout: Building a Scaleable and Modular Armor System
Check out the full writeup on ITS Tactical: itstac.tc/1b54VRV
Slick to Full Loadout: Building a Scaleable and Modular Armor System
Check out the full writeup on ITS Tactical: itstac.tc/1b54VRV