BMEWS
 
When Sarah Palin booked a flight to Europe, the French immediately surrendered.

calendar   Friday - February 26, 2010

Giethoorn. Village Without Streets. Holland

A Village in Holland wherein you can’t find a single road…

all transportation is done by boats along the river.... perhaps making it even more beautiful!

Nothing I should add to this. The photos speak for themselves.

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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 02/26/2010 at 02:47 PM   
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calendar   Tuesday - February 02, 2010

Letters From Littleton



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Those sails that strained so full bent into the battle -
that broad bow that struck the surf aside, enlarging silently in steadfast haste, full front to the shot -
resistless and without reply -
those triple ports whose choirs of flame rang forth in their courses, into the fierce revenging monotone,
which, when it died away,
left no answering voice to rise any more upon the sea against the strength of England -
those sides that were wet with the long runlets of English life-blood,
like press-planks at vintage, gleaming goodly crimson down to the cast and clash of the washing foam -
those pale masts that stayed themselves up against the war-ruin, shaking out their ensigns through the thunder, till sail and ensign drooped -
steep in the death-stilled pause of Andalusian air,
burning with its witness-cloud of human souls at rest, -
surely, for these some sacred care might have been left in our thoughts -
some quiet space amidst the lapse of English waters?

Nay, not so.
We have stern keepers to trust her glory to - the fire and the worm.
Never more shall sunset lay golden robe on her, nor starlight tremble on the waves that part at her gliding.
Perhaps, where the low gate opens to some cottage-garden, the tired traveller may ask, idly, why the moss grows so green on its rugged wood;
and even the sailor’s child may not answer, nor know, that the night-dew lies deep in the war-rents of the wood of the old Téméraire.



a poet for an art critic
a look inside a lost world


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 02/02/2010 at 02:04 PM   
Filed Under: • Art-PhotographyMilitaryOUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTUK •  
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calendar   Tuesday - January 26, 2010

A snapshot to help take your minds off my problems.  What? Me Worry?

I am only posting this photo of Lady Kitty Spencer, niece of the late Lady Di, to help take your evil minds off my post and it’s problems.  Also because I saw her photo today and walked into a door while looking at the paper I had in my hand at the time.  Also cos I miss my yoot. Bah.
I liked her photo better in blk & wht and so changed it.  FOR THOSE WHO PREFER A LARGER COLOR PIX GO HERE

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A TERRIBLE TALE OF WOE

On Dec.24 I had an Endoscopy where they found nothing in the tummy which is good, but they spotted something they referred to as a “node” in another area.  So they said I needed to see another specialist, an ENT surgeon.  They would make the appointment for me and I will be notified.  STILL WAITING to hear something and so that’s frustrating. Which brings me to this.

Had to see the doc last week as I think the aspirin even tho coated is upsetting stomach. I never had an aspirin problem before but the problem could be the damn cough which is on and off again.  Now that cough has been with me for two years at least.  It isn’t continous as in all day, but it’s pretty bad enough when it happens. And it’s painful with regard to chest and stomach. But the doctors have been stumped all this this time trying to figure it all out. X-Ray after X-Ray and nothing.  Gee, I may take up smoking again. After all, if it took 38 years to catch up to me the first time and I got well, at my age since I don’t have another 38 years I’m damn sorry to say, what’s ta worry about?.  Oh what the hell, at almost $10.00 a pack I doubt I’d start again anyway. Are you smokers back home paying almost 10 bucks a pack now?  I saw some Lucky Strikes at £5.67 a pack the other day, and that’s close to ten American I think. Well nine anyway.

Meanwhile, my doctor ( remember him?) had finally given in and allowed me the Codeine based medication that stops but doesn’t cure said cough.  After all this time one doc reading the report re. the “node” thinks that could be the cause of the cough because of where it’s located .  So nobody thought to suggest an ENT surgeon even a year ago.  The first person to suggest to me that I should mention ENT to my doctor, was a nurse.  Do nurses know more then the docs?  I’m beginning to believe that they do. 

So back to aspirin.  Doc takes me off that and give me something called Persantin which I’m supposed to take 2wice a day.  One side effect of that is headache.  IN SPADES!  It’s supposed to go away after awhile, but nobody has told me how long “awhile” is, and added to that, the construction next door has now moved on to the stone cutters.  Like serious stuff guys.
Listening to hour after hour of brick and tile and cinder block being sawed, and hammers on pipes in between and even WORSE if you can imagine it. Worse? What could be worse?

Well, one of the guys and not a youngster either, tries to sing along with the radio they have outside. Actually, he shouts it more then sings it.  As a person (me) who has worked in recording studios and worked with talented ppl, I can tell you this fellow can not sing. He couldn’t hold a tune if you gave him a bag to put it in. So between that and the damn buzz saw, (is that a buzz saw?) and this damn headache that wants me to remove my head, I am a very frustrated person today.
But having read the papers, I am also a very lucky one. Very lucky indeed.

It is sunny but freezing outside.  I think I’ll go for a short walk.

Stay Tuned.

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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 01/26/2010 at 09:25 AM   
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calendar   Monday - January 11, 2010

AN AWESOME AMERICAN ARTIST.

I do use awesome a lot I know but then, I also do get carried away by things and especially things like this.

I can not imagine having the kind of patience it takes to do this.

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January 11, 2010
America’s top modeller goes for a ride

Model cars

Michael Paul Smith, a model-maker, has used his skills to recreate an extraordinary miniature world of motoring from a bygone era.

His townscapes are so detailed and accurate that many admirers thought at first that they were photographs.

The 57-year-old American uses his experience as an architectural modeller to build elaborate sets and even makes many of the vehicles himself — all in 1:24 scale.

His work is painstaking — it can take up to four weeks to build a single house, shop, café or garage — but the perfect results are earning him a worldwide following.

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CAR SOURCE


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 01/11/2010 at 10:58 AM   
Filed Under: • Art-PhotographyOUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTTalented Ppl.USA •  
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calendar   Tuesday - December 22, 2009

SOMETHING A LITTLE DIFFERENT TO END MY EVENING HERE.  ALSO FITS THE SEASON.

I have visited this wondrous place on more then one occasion.  For all my ranting and griping and complaining fits of temper with this country, I suppose I’m lucky living in a place with so much history.  Not only that, but living in an age of digital cameras where I can record some of what I see.  Which would mean not a lot if I couldn’t share some of it now and then.  Still, these shots don’t quite convey what walking up that stairway to this ancient church is like. Or being inside it all alone.  No tourists. Just myself.  Darn.  Almost makes me wish I were religious. Well think about it.  I feel like I’m missing something.  Maybe it’s the season.

ST. SWITHUN’S CHURCH, WINCHESTER, ENGLAND

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St Swithun-upon-Kingsgate is a very special church, one of the medieval gems of Winchester, built over one of its city gates on the line of the foundations of the Roman City wall. The first surviving reference to Kingsgate occurred in 1148, that to the church itself in 1264, when it was burned down. St Swithun-upon-Kingsgate has therefore been a house of prayer for at least seven hundred and fifty years.

HERE’S ONE VIEW OF KING’S GATE. I don’t know if they actually still close it at night. Never thought about that till now. On the other side is the Winchester Cathedral Close.  It houses buildings (olde) for retired clergy and anyone who’d been working for Winchester Cathedral.

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Although common in medieval times, churches built over medieval city gates are now very rare. In those times, travel was dangerous, and it would have been common for travellers and pilgrims to give thanks for a safe journey in such a church. In the days before literacy was common, people would have used its wall paintings, statues, and other features as aids to their thanksgiving prayer.

NO SURPRISE HERE. THE CHURCH IS OVER THE ARCH.

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AND HERE’S THE ENTRANCE, TO THE RIGHT OF THE ARCH UNDER THAT STEEP ROOF LINE.

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THE PHOTO OF THE STAIRS GOING UP IS NOT MINE. IT WAS ON THE NET.

I TOOK THIS ONE COMING DOWN. I STILL CAN’T RECALL WHY I COULDN’T GET A SHOT GOING UP.

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In the 1660’s, the porter of Kingsgate, Robert Allen, lived in the church and kept pigs in it. It is certainly possible that children were born here in something resembling the conditions of a stable. Also, as a very special upper room, the Parish is extremely fortunate to have this building as one of its churches. There could hardly be a better place to remember the incarnation and to celebrate the Last Supper. In these surroundings, it is not difficult to feel the thanksgiving, which is at the heart of any Eucharist. Many people come to sit here in silent thanksgiving. For the passing visitor or modern pilgrim, this is a great blessing but this building has much more to offer.

As we look at its features, it is not difficult to realise that they have a story to tell. We have put together some of these stories to help people on their own spiritual journeys. It is possible to do the same for churches and buildings in all our lives and we hope that this will encourage you to do so.

History
The Roman foundations of the city wall, of which Kingsgate arch is a part, can be seen near the river and also exist in the cellars of some houses in St Swithun Street. The arch is mentioned in the so-called Winchester Domesday Book in 1148. The first mention of St Swithun-upon-Kingsgate is in 1264 when citizens burned it down in a dispute with the Prior of the Abbey. The church was probably a chapel for lay people who worked for the Abbey in medieval times. Its walls were decorated with paintings, the statues removed by Cromwell’s reformers would still have been in the three niches, and there was glass in the windows.

HERE’S ANOTHER VIEW OF THE KINGSGATE:  SMALL SAMPLE OF THE HOMES IN THE CATHEDRAL CLOSE AND OCCUPIED BY CLERGY (RETIRED) AND PPL ASSOCIATED WITH THE CATHEDRAL. 

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The Prior paid four shilling and eight pence to have the glass repaired in 1484. In 1660, the building was in a sad state of repair and misuse; Robert Allen, the porter of Kingsgate, lived in one end and kept pigs in the other. By 1677 it had been repaired and its bells re-hung. After the shrine of St Swithun in the Cathedral was destroyed in September 1538 and the Monastery dissolved in November 1539, it became a parish church and is now part of the parish of St Lawrence with St Swithun.

The church features in literature as Anthony Trollope’s St Cuthbert’s in his novel ‘The Warden’.

http://www.stlawrence.hampshire.org.uk/ptb.html

St. Swithin’s Day is 15 July, a day on which people watch the weather for tradition says that whatever the weather is like on St. Swithin’s Day, it will continue so for the next forty days. There is a weather-rhyme is well known throughout the British Isles since Elizabethan times.

‘St. Swithin’s day if thou dost rain

For forty days it will remain

St. Swithin’s day if thou be fair

For forty days ‘twill rain nae mair.

‘dost = doesthou =
younae mair = no more

St Swithun was a Saxon Bishop of Winchester.
He was born in the kingdom of Wessex and educated in its capital, Winchester. He was famous for charitable gifts and building churches.Why do people watch the weather on St. Swithin’s day?

A legend says that as the Bishop lay on his deathbed, he asked to be buried out of doors, where he would be trodden on and rained on. For nine years, his wishes were followed, but then, the monks of Winchester attempted to remove his remains to a splendid shrine inside the cathedral on 15 July 971. According to legend there was a heavy rain storm either during the ceremony or on its anniversary.This led to the old wives’ tale that if it rains on St Swithin’s Day (July 15th), it will rain for the next 40 days in succession, and a fine 15th July will be followed by 40 days of fine weather.

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/stswithun.html

St Swithun biography

(d. 862)

Very little is known for certain about the life of Winchester Cathedral’s first patron saint. Some biographies of Swithun state that he was once Prior of Winchester, but there is no evidence to support this belief. We do know that he was one of the chief advisors of Egbert, King of the West Saxons, and may have been responsible for the education of Egbert’s son, Ethelwulf. Egbert’s influence procured for Swithun the post of Bishop of Winchester, which he took up in 852.

When Swithun’s health failed in 862, and he lay near death, he is said to have asked that his body be buried outside his cathedral, rather than within it, as was customary. He wanted passers-by to walk upon his grave, and raindrops from the eaves of the cathedral fall upon his resting place. Although his wishes were granted, his grave did not long lie undisturbed. In 931 Bishop Ethelwulf had Swithun disinterred and reburied within the walls of the new church.

Shortly after, miracles were reported at Swithun’s tomb, which became a popular attraction for pilgrims. So clamorous were the voices reporting these miracles that Swithun was canonized, which further added to the allure of his shrine.

Yet, still his bones could not rest, for in 1093 his remains were once more dug up and reburied with great ceremony within the new cathedral built by Bishop Walkelin. There they remained until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538, when the shrine wa destroyed by Henry VIII’s men. Once more the saint’s bones were dug up, this time to scattered and lost for good.

ABOUT A BLOCK AWAY FROM THE CHURCH OR A FRACTION MORE BUT NOT MUCH, ON JULY 18, 1817, JANE AUSTEN SADLY DIED, TOO YOUNG AND WITH AN UNFINISHED BOOK.
SHE PASSED AWAY IN THIS HOUSE.

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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 12/22/2009 at 11:27 AM   
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calendar   Monday - November 23, 2009

Amazing aerial images taken by daring Allied pilots on secret missions during WW 2

These are only two of MANY aerial photos and text available HERE

See that link for some truly amazing photos.

Some interesting things to post and will, but no energy for a lot again today.  Bah. Cold rebound, feel better but just washed out.
Got a call from someone with an accent you could cut with a knife, call center in Scotland, confirming that someone will call and an ins. adjuster will call to let us know when they can visit our house re. the still leaky roof but they don’t know when that call will be. Today? Tomoro? Wed? In my lifetime?
Meanwhile, hard driving rain yesterday, last night, and again today.

From Colditz to D-Day:

Amazing aerial images taken by daring Allied pilots on secret missions during World War II

By David Wilkes
Last updated at 9:53 AM on 23rd November 2009

The detail is astonishing. At first it looks like just another castle surrounded by tiny houses and neat fields. But zooming in on the courtyard one can see figures milling around.

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They are in fact Allied officers being held in the notorious German PoW camp of Colditz and the photograph is one from an archive of aerial photographs taken by airmen - sometimes flying as low as 50ft - during secret reconnaissance missions in World War II.
Until now the pictures have been kept behind closed doors. But they are revealed to the public for the first time today via the internet amid a painstaking cataloguing process.

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In another image, precise as a hole punch through a sheet of paper, craters surround a Nazi doodlebug factory in an extraordinary photograph showing the devastation wreaked by an Allied bombing raid.

The date is September 2, 1944 and the place Peenemunde, a village on the Baltic, where the terrifying weapons Adolf Hitler hoped would win the war for Germany were designed and tested.
Others in the collection convey the human suffering experienced amid the fighting, including rare shots of a Nazi slave labour camp and of the landings on D-Day.

Alan Williams, manager of the National Collection of Aerial Photography which houses the photos, said: ‘The archive literally shows the world at war.’
Long before the days of Google Earth, the highly skilled airmen who took them flew alone, by day and night, in unarmed Spitfires relying on their wits as they risked their lives to capture the images on their plane-mounted cameras

Sometimes their planes were painted pink, as the unusual colour proved very good at hiding the aircraft against a background of low cloud. For high altitude missions, the planes were painted a dark shade of blue.

But often they still found themselves targeted by anti-aircraft missiles. Hundreds of them never returned home.
Those that did brought with them photos vital to the war effort.

Expert photographic interpreters studied the pictures using optical instruments such as stereoscopes to view them in 3D to build up detailed information for intelligence reports and models used in military planning for operations such as the D-Day landings.

The ‘detective’ teams, who were headquartered in a stately home in Buckinghamshire at RAF Medmenham - MI4’s Allied Central Interpretation Unit - included Oxbridge academics, geographers and archaeologists.


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 11/23/2009 at 06:34 AM   
Filed Under: • Art-PhotographyBattling Brits OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTScience-TechnologyUKWar-Stories •  
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calendar   Wednesday - October 14, 2009

One helluva ROI

Unknown, Lost Da Vinci Sketch Found



Thought to be a 19th century work purchased for $19,000, high tech analysis has proven that this is an actual Leonardo, worth perhaps $150,000,000.



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ooh, she’s a cutie!


A portrait of a young woman thought to be created by a 19th century German artist and sold two years ago for about $19,000 is now being attributed by art experts to Leonardo da Vinci and valued at more than $150 million.

The unsigned chalk, ink and pencil drawing, known as “La Bella Principessa,” was matched to Leonardo via a technique more suited to a crime lab than an art studio — a fingerprint and palm print found on the 13 1/2-inch-by-10-inch work.

Peter Paul Biro, a Montreal-based forensic art expert, said the print of an index or middle finger matched a fingerprint found on Leonardo’s “St. Jerome” in the Vatican.

Technical, stylistic and material composition evidence — including carbon dating — had art experts believing as early as last year that they had found another work by the creator of the “Mona Lisa.”

The discovery of the fingerprint has them convinced the work was by Leonardo, whose myth and mystery already put him at the center of such best-sellers as “The Da Vinci Code” and “The Lost Symbol.”

Biro examined multispectral images of the drawing taken by the Luminere Technology laboratory in Paris, which used a special digital scanner to show successive layers of the work.

“Leonardo used his hands liberally and frequently as part of his painting technique. His fingerprints are found on many of his works,” Biro said. “I was able to make use of multispectral images to make a little smudge a very readable fingerprint.”

Alessandro Vezzosi, director of a museum dedicated to Leonardo in the artist’s hometown of Vinci, Italy, said Wednesday he was “very happy” to hear about the fingerprint analysis, saying it confirmed his own conclusion that the portrait can be attributed to Leonardo with “reasonable certainty.”

“For me, it’s extraordinary there is confirmation” through the fingerprint, although “it’s not like I had any doubt,” he said in a telephone interview

Based on its style, the portrait has been dated to 1485-1490, placing it at a time when Leonardo (1452-1519) was living in Milan.

Carbon dating of the vellum proved the dating. Further analysis proved the sketch was done by a left handed artist. But it was the fingerprint that showed up with a hi tech X-ray scan that cinched it. It’s the real deal. Even if the previous owner, who runs an art gallery, denies it. I think she must have tempera on her face over this. [that’s an art pun. Tempera paint was made from eggs]

Ganz still doesn’t believe it is a Leonardo.

“Nothing that I have seen or read in the past two years has changed my mind. I do not believe that this drawing is by Leonardo da Vinci,” Ganz told the AP on Wednesday. She declined to comment further.

Silverman said he didn’t expect Ganz to acknowledge it’s a Leonardo because that would damage her credibility, adding that if she wants to “go against science and say the Earth is not round,” then that’s her prerogative.



Unless my math is wrong, putting $19,000 in and getting $150,000,000 out is a ROI of about 8000 to 1. Not bad.


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 10/14/2009 at 05:43 PM   
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calendar   Saturday - October 10, 2009

WEEKEND WOMEN ….

Her father was a famous circus clown of his era and by age 18, Billie Burke was performing in theater. She had a very popular radio show which how I came to be familiar with the name and personality.  She was the second wife of Florenz Ziegfeld, and became a very successful musical comedy star. 

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I used to listen faithfully every week to her show on radio. She sang the theme song which was, “Look For The Silver Lining.” She was great in her day. And a classy lady too.

She was destined to be immortalized forever in the classic THE WIZARD OF OZ in 1939. At 54, she played Glinda, the Good Witch of the North.
Once I got a computer a few ago, I started looking up the stars of old. Some I’d never seen but heard on radio or records.  I am still fascinated by the changes in styles and makeup and how women wore their hair. Especially going back to the time of The Gibson Girl. Hey ... The Gibson Girl may well have been my first pin up.

It could never have been easy for the ladies to maintain the hairstyles they did in the Gay 90’s and early 1900’s. And those dresses. That couldn’t have been easy either. Don’t know how they did it but I love the magic.

Yeah, I know. You want a different eye candy from a younger perspective.  OK ... be patient.  I know it’s here someplace. Meanwhile.

The most erotic looking, most beautiful woman with the most kissable lips ever till Anne Margaret. And Celia Walden.  Hmmm..
Sometimes my mind wanders and my mouth follows ...

MISS BILLIE BURKE

I think she may have been about 18 here.

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OK ... Some eye candy below the fold.

See More Below The Fold

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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 10/10/2009 at 08:29 AM   
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calendar   Tuesday - September 29, 2009

ONE HECK OF A HIGH FLYING WOW FACTOR.  TAKE A LOOK AT THIS.

Isn’t this just somethin’ else?  Must hand it to the guy. Brilliant.  I’m looking for words and having trouble I am so overwhelmed. No kidding. I think this has a WOW factor of about a million. Took 11 years and he had to learn another language as well.  Talk about determination and enterprise and patience.

Retired firefighter builds a four-seater plane in his garage from scratch

By Chris Brooke
29th September 2009

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His wife would have preferred an extension to their house, but after watching the film Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines Alan Shipp vowed to do whatever it takes to build his own plane.

The result was the ultimate DIY project spanning 11 years, costing £25,000 and requiring thousands of hours of his own labour.

Instead of putting together a kit, the retired firefighter did it the hard way by constructing a four-seater aircraft from his garage workshop using only plans.

He had to learn French to translate the detailed instructions from the design documents, sourced materials from all over the world and twice extended his garage to fit his growing Jodel D140E Mousquetaire inside.

Now, after countless nights toiling through to the early hours, his labour of love is complete.

The plane has had a successful maiden flight and Mr Shipp, a qualified pilot, is looking forward to putting his home-built aircraft through its paces in the skies.

The completion of the marathon project is not only good news for Mr Shipp, but a cause for celebration for his family and neighbours in Kirk Ella, Hull, who have had to put up with the construction project for so long.

Local residents became used to the sight of plane parts being delivered to the Shipp family home and listening to the sounds of cutting and hammering coming from inside the garage.

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Mr Shipp, 67, started on the aircraft after taking early retirement and primarily used wood and steel to build it from scratch. He said: ‘A lot of aircraft are kits but this is just from plans. Everything has to be made.

‘Even if you’re not building, you are studying plans - there’s no one to turn to for help. Over the years I’ve developed my own kind of French, even though no Frenchman could understand me.’

The engine, fuselage and interior had to be put together with extreme precision and to adhere to the most rigorous safety standards. Parts had to be sourced from specialist suppliers, with steel tubing being sent over from California.

Mr Shipp’s passion for making things began at school when he built a canoe when asked to make a model and ended up setting off across the River Humber in it. He later built speedboats and a caravan before catching the flying bug.

The plane - now said to be worth £75,000 - had its maiden flight from an airfield in York 10 days ago and was flown by a retired airline pilot.

Mr Shipp is awaiting Civil Aviation Authority approval before he can take the plane on solo excursions, but the flying fanatic intends to spend many hours in the skies above Yorkshire over the coming months.

He said:’I must admit, when the plane took off on its first flight I did have my heart in my mouth because it is someone else’s life in your hands but when it all went smoothly I was absolutely delighted.

‘To me it’s just magic. Whenever I see an aircraft take off, it just defies logic. Whenever I look at it, it mesmerises me, that massive weight going up in the air, all the thousands of parts working in unison.’

Wife Andrea, 68, described her husband as a ‘workaholic’ and said finishing the project was ‘very emotional.’

‘He has worked very hard for 11 years in the garage, every night till 3am to 4am.  People are amazed when they walk by and we are bringing it out of the garage and putting it back in.’

Son Garry, 42, said: ‘It’s been 24/7 365 days of the year. He’s done brilliantly and we are all very proud of him.’

Daughter Debra Craven, 40, said:’Dad has always worked for what he has and he will make sure he gets it just right, he’s a perfectionist.

‘It really is an amazing achievement and a relief for all of us that he has finished working on it. Maybe now he can semi-retire and start relaxing a bit - it will be nice to have my dad back.’

She said his next job would be to build his three-year-old grandson a rocking chair.

HIGH FLYER HERE FOR GREAT PHOTOS

Really folks ... take a look ... impressive.  I know he isn’t a “hero” in the usual way that word is used. But I couldn’t think of another strong adjective to describe the guy and what he did.  And I really understand exactly what he is saying with regard to looking at planes in wonderment. 


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 09/29/2009 at 02:05 PM   
Filed Under: • Amazing Science and DiscoveriesArt-PhotographyHeroes •  
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calendar   Monday - September 14, 2009

Extraordinary 19th century photographs of explorer’s travels unearthed.

Booted very late in the day, flat tire, yadda,yadda.

So I booted and immediately saw this.  WOW!  This guy was some kind of patient and some kind of artist and talk about travel.
Sad to think that as hard as travel was in those days (how often could they bathe and how did they keep track of all the stuff they dragged along.) In his case the job would have been easier as an officer and all but as I started to say, sad that hard as things were, travel to those places today is not only harder to do but maybe more dangerous. If not more so then just as.

I sure hope this collection is bought by a museum because if it isn’t, it’ll stay hidden once again not to be seen in my lifetime.

History buffs will love this. 


Extraordinary 19th century photographs of explorer’s travels unearthed - and he painted the colours himself

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 3:42 PM on 14th September 2009

A stunning collection of photographs taken by a 19th century globetrotter has caused a stir - because he meticulously painted the colours in himself.

The amazing images shed new light on the world as it was more than 100 years ago, with vivid images of snake charmers, ships on the Suez Canal and fighting Sikhs, among others.

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Henry Harrison, a Royal Navy Paymaster General, took the black and white pictures on his voyages around the globe and, because he was a talented artist, was able to painstakingly colour them in..

Stunning imagery: One of Henry Harrison’s photographs shows prisoners in China waiting to be executed. He painstakingly hand-painted the colours himself.
Harrison travelled the globe with his trusty camera and even recorded the grisly early stages of the Boxer Rebellion in China in the late 1890s.

Other locations depicted include the pyramids at Giza, India, Venice, Pompeii, Tonga and the West Indies.
One of the never before seen slides is labelled: “An English party ascending the Great Pyramid.” There are pictures of snake charmers, huge cannon being unloaded, ships along the Suez Canal and images of HMS Victory and the Royal Yacht “Victoria and Albert”.

He clearly spent time in the Holy Land and there are colour pictures of the Tomb of David, Garden of Gethsemane, the Wailing Wall, Nazareth and Jericho.
Sudanese warriors, Egyptian crocodile catchers, Indian mahouts, fighting Sikhs, Bengali lancers and even a Whirling Dervish - described as a Howling Dervish - are all recorded.

The dozens of slides have been in his family ever since but are now being sold along with his paints he used and the instructions on how to colour in the pictures.
Harrison was a noted marine artist and typical of his time because he was a keen naturalist and collected specimens of birds and butterflies during his voyages.

His life spanned the Victorian age and this collection shows the world in colour at the height of the British Empire.
Relative Moiya Harrison, who is now selling them, said: ‘Henry Harrison was my late husband’s grandfather who was Paymaster General in the Royal Navy.
He was a keen photographer and artist and these slides are what he took during the late 19th century.  ‘He also coloured in the slides and recently I found his paints and instructions on how to do it - and that is now in the sale.

‘He was a very talented artist and the colours on the slides would be accurate.
‘He went on seven year tours and covered much of the globe taking pictures, painting pictures and collecting specimens.

‘I’ve kept the family pictures and the specimens he collected, but those for sale include the ones of the Boxer Rebellion which are a bit gruesome.
‘None of these has been in the public domain before.

‘He must have been a very interesting man and his life spanned the Victorian age.” The slides of the failed Boxer Rebellion are dated 1895, which was in the very early stages of the murderous uprising by Chinese opposed to foreigners and Christians.

Historians both here and in China will be keen to study the images of the uprising.
The Righteous Fists of Harmony - nicknamed Boxers - were fanatical fighters of the Qing Dynasty who murdered missionaries and Chinese Christians.
Harrison captured images of the rebellion and the names he gave to the slides highlight the nature of the uprising.
They include: ‘executioners for minor punishments’, ‘prisoner to be tortured’, ‘prisoner chained to wall in street’, ‘prisoner in cage’, ‘prisoners decapitated.’
They are thought to be punishments meted out to the Boxers who were caught, rather than the victims of the Boxers themselves.

Deborah Doyle, from Duke’s auction house in Dorchester, Dorset, said the slides could make up to £1,000.
She said: “These slides are very poignant, and are an important part of our world history.
‘Harrison certainly captured historic moments whilst serving with the Royal Navy, some of which could not have been easy to take.

‘Also included with this collection are slides from around the world, including some of Tonga, West Indies, Egypt and the Holy Land.
‘Most of the slides have been coloured in by Harrison who was a marine artist, his paint box will also be included .

‘This unique collection is sure to create a lot of interest from world historians.” Harrison died in 1907 aged 66 and is buried at St Marks’ Church in Gosport, Hants.
The sale takes place at Dukes of Dorchester on October 1.

HERE FOR PHOTOS


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 09/14/2009 at 10:50 AM   
Filed Under: • Art-PhotographyHistoryUK •  
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calendar   Friday - September 11, 2009

Not a bad way to start a Friday:  Classic cars from beer cans.

This caught my attention while looking for a moombat story from yesterday. No big deal as there are always moonbat stories available.
Anyway ... this is pretty clever and artful too.

Engineer makes classic cars from beer cansAn engineer dedicated to recycling has produced a series of detailed classic car models from empty beer cans.

Published: 9:34AM BST 11 Sep 2009

Engineer Sandy Sanderson’s classic car model made from Guinness beer cans Photo: CATERS
Sandy Sanderson, 55, creates the models from mangled containers of well-known brands.

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The cars come complete with tiny gearsticks, peddles, dashboard dials and even glove boxes.

So far his mini car plant has produced nearly ten of the vehicles including buggies, vans, roadsters and sports cars.

Mr Sanderson decided to pursue the project after he was badly injured in a motorbike accident.

While he was recovering the father-of-two said that he was looking at the bottom of a beer can when the novel idea occured to him.

Mr Sanderson, who is from Sunderland but now lives in New Zealand, said: “While I was off work, after the accident, I had the time to try making a racing car from drinks cans.

“I have always looked at the bottoms of cans and thought ‘That would make a really neat half wheel’.

“The plans for each car take around three or four weeks to complete and then around 80 hours to build each one depending on how detailed they are.

“I actually don’t drink much because I spill most of it.

“I drink Coca-Cola, and I like rum, but I have to persuade other people to drink the beer for me, fortunately I get plenty of offers for help there.

“For what may appear to be just one can moving across a bonnet and down around a mudguard there could actually be five or six cans used to create that effect.

“Some of the cars have required over 30 cans for their construction.”

Sandy works as an engineering laser cutter in Hamilton, New Zealand, where he lives with his wife Jo.

SOURCE


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 09/11/2009 at 07:47 AM   
Filed Under: • Art-Photography •  
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calendar   Monday - August 24, 2009

FOUND AT LAST.  THE POSSIBLE ORIGINS OF HIP-HOP

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some fancy footwork?

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OK, SO IF YOU INSIST ON FINDING THE STORY THAT RUNS WITH THIS, GO HERE


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 08/24/2009 at 03:39 AM   
Filed Under: • AfricaAnimalsArt-PhotographyHealth and SafetyNature •  
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calendar   Thursday - August 13, 2009

WHAT ARE THE CHANCES OF A SHOT LIKE THIS? I HATE EM BUT DARN THIS IS CUTE ‘N’ FUNNY TOO.

Kicked off yesterday with a humorous toon so why not today as well?

Squirrel is surprise star of holiday photo

Melissa Brandts and her husband were surprised to find a squirrel posing with them in a photo taken on holiday.


By Our Foreign Staff

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Photo: Melissa Brandts

The couple had set the timer on their camera while posing at a lakeside in a national park in Canada.

Just as they were about to be captured on camera the cheeky squirrel popped up in the foreground and stole the show.

The picture was taken at the side of the stunning Lake Minnewanka in Banff National Park, Canada.

Mrs Brandts said: “We had our camera set up on some rocks and were getting ready to take the picture when this curious little ground squirrel appeared, became intrigued with the sound of the focusing camera and popped right into our shot.”

The picture was submitted to the website of America’s National Geographic magazine.

‘It was a once in a lifetime moment - we were laughing about this little guy for days!’ said Mrs Brandts.

SOURCE


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 08/13/2009 at 06:40 AM   
Filed Under: • Art-PhotographyHumor •  
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calendar   Monday - August 03, 2009

First shots of combat photography in new exhibition of Crimean War !!!!!!!!!!!!

How I wish I could get to London for the exhibition.  Be like 7th heaven to me. Crave this sort of thing and never get enough.

We have a newspaper in town that has published without interruption since 1772.  I love their archives of old woodcuts and especially when photography came into use.  Hey .. the paper today printed a tiny snapshot of a man who lived to 107, his name was Conrad Heyer, (1749-1856) and he crossed the Delaware with Washington.  DAMN!  I never knew the name of one person who was with Washington. Let alone see a photo of that person in later years.
That’s so unbelievable tho. 107?  No health and safety or info on cholesterol and fatty food and smoking etc.  Though mainly I know they died pretty young back then.

The Telegraph didn’t publish on line the other two photos.  Not as large or dramatic as this one so maybe it doesn’t matter.


The first shots of war ever captured by photographers are to appear in a new exhibition.


By Richard Edwards
Published: 7:00AM BST 03 Aug 2009

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Entente Cordiale?, 1855 Photo: Roger Fenton
The pictures are taken from the Crimean War (1848-1856) and the Second Sikh War (1848) by four pioneers of photography, including Roger Fenton.

He was sent to the Crimea by Prince Albert in an attempt to alter public opposition to the war and was told before he departed for the frontline: “No dead bodies.”

His pictures were taken on glass plates and processed and printed in a converted wine merchant’s horse-drawn wagon. One picture of troops posing shows a group of British and French soldiers enjoying a drink and a smoke in an image called “L’Entente Cordiale”.

He was unable to photograph the infamous Charge of the Light Brigade, but documented the cannonball-strewn aftermath of the Valley of Death in 1855.

The work of James Robertson and Felice Beato is also going on show from the Crimean War.

Fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of troops from Britain, France and the Ottoman Empire, it is considered the first “modern” conflict in terms of tactics, weaponry, communications and propaganda.

The earliest images on display are taken by Josh McCosh in 1848 during the war between the Sikh Empire and the British Empire in the Punjab.

The National Army Museum will be showcasing the work in the exhibition First Shots: Early War Photography 1848–1860 at the White Space Gallery in Chelsea, west London, next month

A spokesman said: “First Shots will document war photography in its infancy. Using some of the earliest photos in the museum’s collection it will explore what drove its pioneers, the technical, social and environmental pressures which shaped their work and the impact which the images they produced had upon culture and society”.

SOURCE

If nobody minds too much, as long as I’m banging on about olde photos and a bit of history, here’s a photo of my wife’s great,great uncle. He died seving in India at the age of 27, in 1911.
He was William Edward Gammon

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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 08/03/2009 at 07:06 AM   
Filed Under: • Art-PhotographyHistoryUKWar-Stories •  
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