cross, crown, freemason 1

The cross and crown insignia is from a Protestant fraternal organization known as the Royal Black Institution.

This person was probably also a freemason; the compass points and square are visible under the crown and around the cross.

Secret Lives of the Freemason

Secret Lives of the Freemason

Freemason

In the stairwell of Northampton's Freemason's Hall - and no secret handshakes to get in either! Was there for an exam (which I buggered up)

Freemason Hall

Delhi, India
Many Lodges in this building/complex and also the Grand Lodge of Northern Region of India.

Designer's Comments

Look carefully for specific instructions

Violence and abuse affect all kinds of people every day. It doesn't matter what race or culture you come from, how much money you have, how old you are, or if you have a disability. Violence does not discriminate.

Abuse can be physical, mental, and emotional. Violence against women in any form is a crime, whether the abuser is a family member; someone you date; a current or past spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend; an acquaintance; or a stranger. You are not at fault. You did not cause the abuse to occur. If you or someone you know has been sexually, physically, or emotionally abused, seek help from other family members and friends or community organizations. Talk with a health care provider, especially if you have been physically hurt. Learn how to reduce your risk of becoming a victim of sexual assault or sexual abuse before you find yourself in an uncomfortable or threatening situation. One important part of getting help is knowing if you are in an abusive relationship. Sometimes it can be hard to admit that you are in an abusive relationship. But, there are clear signs to help you know if you are being abused.

Cut Throat Freak show performing at Sadisco in Phoenix, AZ

Cut Throat Freak show performing at Sadisco in Phoenix, AZ. He is holding up that bottle with hooks in his bottom eyelids.

Cut Throat Freak Show

Cut Throat Freak Show performing at Sadisco. That is a lightbulb getting smashed against that guys forehead.

The Temple of Heaven

The Temple of Heaven is a worthwhile visiting place in Beijing. It is much bigger than the Forbidden City and smaller than the Summer Palace with an area of about 2,700,000 square meters. The Temple was built in 1420 A.D. during the Ming Dynasty to offer sacrifice to Heaven. As Chinese emperors called themselves 'The Son of Heaven’, they dared not to build their own dwelling,’ Forbidden City' bigger than a dwelling for Heaven.
The Temple of Heaven is enclosed with a long wall. The northern part within the wall is semicircular symbolizing the heavens and the southern part is square symbolizing the earth. The northern part is higher than the southern part. This design shows that the heaven is high and the earth is low and the design reflected an ancient Chinese thought of 'The heaven is round and the earth is square'.

Cadwaladr Fendigaid

aka Cadwallador of Wales, Caedwalla

689+

Welsh, chieftain, died in Rome [Italy]

Memorial 12 November

Cadwaladr ap Cadwallon (c. 633–682, reigned from about 655) (Latin: Catuvelladurus; English: Cadwallader), also known as Cadwaladr Fendigaid ('the Blessed') was a king of Gwynedd
682+

step wise !

The colosseum has been at the receiving end of all people who sacked rome, even subjected to allied fire after the second world war.

Maison Carrée, Nîmes

Jefferson modeled the Virginia state capitol on this; He is hardly the only architect to have drawn inspiration from it. Maison Carrée means square house; It was built c. 19–16 BC by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, who was also the original patron of the Pantheon in Rome, and was dedicated to his two sons, Gaius Julius Caesar Vipsanianus and Lucius Caesar, adopted heirs of Augustus who both died young.
The temple owes its preservation to the fact that it was rededicated as a Christian church in the fourth century, saving it from the widespread destruction of temples that followed the adoption of Christianity as Rome's official state religion. It subsequently became a meeting hall for the city's consuls, a canon's house, a stable during the French Revolution and a storehouse for the city archives. It became a museum after 1823. Its French name derives from the archaic term carré long, literally meaning a "long square", or rectangle - a reference to the building's shape.

TheTrueStoryOfCainAndAble Or How the farmers civilized the hunters to make it safe to over populate the earth so there weeman can be possessed by Daem

The human body, in its systematic nature, has 3
primary objectives:

1. Procreate
2. Food intake
3. The elimination of waste

This is the human equation:
One half is feces, the other mammal
The human as shit.

This is what you've become
The end result of human stupidity
Another mesh of flesh with no dignity
A solid waste with dull neuronal activity

2000 years from now
they'll discover our copralite
learn of disease and parasite
enough to know what made us tick
enough to make them sick

anatomy...
scatanthropology...
the study of man.

Micturate - here's to your health
Defecate - upon the self
Felch - the goddamn sphinct and
Gargle - it's fucking contents

Playing king of the hill
On a mountain of manure
On a planet called earth
Mirroring what we're worth

We are nothing but a failure
Evolution took a shit
In my heart, through these eyes
Humankind in its own shit resides.

2000 years from now
they'll examine our copralite
gain perspective and insight
enough to know what made us tick and
that we were made of shit

Humanure / CattleDecapitation

And the angel of the lord came unto me, snatching me up from my place of slumber. And took me on high, and higher still until we moved to the spaces betwixt the air itself. And he brought me into a vast farmlands of our own midwest. And as we descended, cries of impending doom rose from the soil. One thousand, nay a million voices full of fear. And terror possesed me then. And I begged, "Angel of the Lord, what are these tortured screams?" And the angel said unto me, "These are the cries of the carrots, the cries of the carrots! You see, Reverend Maynard, tomorrow is harvest day and to them it is the holocaust." And I sprang from my slumber drenched in sweat like the tears of one million terrified brothers and roared, "Hear me now, I have seen the light! They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers!" Can I get an amen? Can I get a hallelujah? Thank you Jesus. Life feeds on life feeds on life feeds on life feeds on........ This is necessary.

Beijing - The Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China: Built to protect China from enemy invasions; it was first created in the third century BC; much of the Great Wall known today was built during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644); the Great Wall is about 4,000-9,000 miles long (depending on the method of measurement) and wide enough for six horses to run abreast.

It’s absolutely magnificent!

American History

Olmec relief sculpture, oldest surviving depiction of mesoamerica's icon: the feathered serpent (quetzalcoatl). Discovered zero (0) nearly 900 years before the Hindus.

Tzintzuntzan

One of the so-called yácatas at the Tarascan (Purépecha) Tzintzuntzan ruins in MIchoacán. There are 5 such pyramids there, each of which originally had a small temple on top.
The Tarascans (Purépecha) were never conquered by the Aztecs. The Purépecha language is not related to any other language spoken in Mesoamerica.

accidentally obscene flower shot wbsz

I found this flower in Hawaii, and having nothing to prop it on, I held it between my knees and took this photo, completely oblivious to what it might resemble . But never mind that, does anyone know what this flower is?

Mount Everest from Space (NASA)

In addition to looking heavenward, NASA helps the world see the Earth in ways no one else can. Astronauts on board the International Space Station recently took advantage of their unique vantage point to photograph the Himalayas, looking south from over the Tibetan Plateau. The perspective is illustrated by the summits of Makalu [left (8,462 meters; 27,765 feet)] and Everest [right (8,850 meters; 29,035 feet)] -- at the heights typically flown by commercial aircraft.

NASA Pilot Bruce Peterson and Star Trek's James Doohan (NASA)

Description: NASA pilot Bruce Peterson (right) and actor James Doohan (of Star Trek fame) discuss the M2-F2 Lifting Body.

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

Project
Description: Bruce A. Peterson joined NASA in August 1960 as an engineer at the Flight Research Center (now NASA Dryden). He transferred to the Flight Operations branch in March 1962 and was initially assigned as one of the project pilots on the Rogallo paraglider research vehicle (Paresev) program. The Paresev was used to evaluate the use of an inflatable and non-inflatable, flexible wing for the recovery of manned space vehicles. A handful of NASA pilots made more than 100 Paresev research flights between 1962 and 1964. It resembled a tricycle beneath a hang glider, and was towed aloft behind a car or small airplane and released for a glide landing.

In preparation for his continuing flight research duties, he attended the Air Force Test Pilot School, graduating as a member of Class 62C. In fact, he was the first NASA pilot to graduate from the TPS. He remained active with the Marine Corps Air Reserve, flying the F9F, OV-10, A-4 and various helicopters.

As a NASA research pilot he flew a wide variety of airplanes including F5D-1, F-100, F-104, F-111A, B-52, NT-33A Variable Stability Trainer, T-33, T-37B, T-38A, C-47, CV-990, Learjet, JetStar, wingless lifting bodies, numerous general aviation aircraft, several types of helicopter and sailplanes.

As project pilot on the F-111A, he performed tests related to stability and control, performance and structural loads. The F-111 was a variable-geometry (or swing-wing) jet aircraft. Research with the aircraft included engine inlet and exhaust studies, internal flow investigations and aerodynamics research.

On Dec. 3, 1963, he flew the first of 42 flights in the M2-F1 lightweight lifting body. His first flight in the heavyweight M2-F2 on Sept. 16, 1966, was an unpowered glide flight from an altitude of 45,000 feet. After release from a B-52 mothership, he executed a 360-degree turning approach and landed on the dry lakebed. He made another glide flight in the same vehicle six days later.

Peterson piloted the maiden flight of the HL-10 lifting body on Dec. 22, 1966. During the three-minute descent to landing, he discovered he had minimal lateral control over the vehicle. Airflow separation across the control surfaces rendered the HL-10 virtually unflyable but he managed to land the vehicle safely, a tribute to his considerable piloting skills. As a result of the data collected during the near disastrous flight, the HL-10 was modified to fix the problem and went on to become one of the most successful lifting body concepts. It was a strong contender for the final space shuttle design.

Peterson was injured in the crash of the M2-F2 on May 10, 1967. He recovered from his injuries but lost his sight in one eye due to a secondary infection while in the hospital.

Peterson continued to fly NASA support missions, occasional research flights and his Marine Reserve flying duties. He continued to fly for NASA until 1971, doing research in the T-33, F-104B, F-111A, CV-990 and Aero Commander. He also flew NASA's SH-3A helicopter. The Marine Corps gave him a waiver that allowed him to fly with a co-pilot and he continued to fly the OV-10 airplane and the AH-1G and CH-46 helicopters. During his flying career Peterson logged more than 6,000 flight hours in nearly 70 types of aircraft.

Peterson gained a small measure of fame when his accident and subsequent recovery inspired a 1970s television series called The Six-Million Dollar Man. The storyline featured a test pilot who, having been injured in the crash of a lifting body vehicle, is rebuilt with advanced "bionic" technology. Film footage of the M2-F2 accident was used in the show's opening credits.

Peterson continued at NASA Dryden as the research project engineer on the F-8 Digital Fly-By-Wire program of the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later assumed responsibility for Safety and Quality Assurance for Dryden until his retirement in 1981.

He left NASA for a position with Northrop where he assumed responsibility for safety and quality assurance for testing of the B-2 Advanced Technology Bomber. From 1982 until 1994 Peterson worked in Northrop's B-2 division at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale and Edwards, becoming manager of system safety and human factors.

A native of Washburn, N.D., Peterson was born on May 23, 1933. He grew up in Banning, Calif., and attended the University of California at Los Angeles from 1950 to 1953. While at UCLA he held a job as an aircraft assembler for Douglas Aircraft Company.

He enlisted as a Naval Aviation Cadet at Santa Ana, Calif., in 1953, and was commissioned a Marine Corps second lieutenant in Nov. 1954. He was released from active duty three years later. In 1958 he enrolled in California State Polytechnic College at San Luis Obispo where he received a bachelor of science degree in aeronautical engineering.

Peterson is a fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and 2002 recipient of the Tony LeVier Flight Safety Award. He was honored by NASA with an exceptional leadership award for his work on space shuttle STS-1. In 2003 he was inducted into the Aerospace Walk of Honor.

Peterson passed away on May 1, 2006.

Lunar Eclipse, 2003 (NASA)

Public Domain. Credit: NASA Kennedy Space Center (NASA-KSC)
For more information, go to www.nasa.gov/multimedia/highlights/index.html Additional source description and credit info from NASA:

Date: 01.20.2000
Title: The lunar eclipse over Merritt Island, Fla.
Description: In this lunar eclipse viewed from Merritt Island, Fla., at midnight, the full moon takes on a dark red color because it is being lighted slightly by sunlight passing through the Earth's atmosphere. This light has the blue component preferentially scattered out (this is also why the sky appears blue from the surface of the Earth), leaving faint reddish light to illuminate the Moon during the eclipse. Eclipses occur when the Sun, Earth and Moon line up. They are rare because the Moon usually passes above or below the imaginary line connecting Earth and the Sun. The Earth casts a shadow that the Moon can pass through when it does, it is called a lunar eclipse.
ID: KSC-00PP-0096
Credit: NASA Kennedy Space Center (NASA-KSC)

Corinth, Greece (NASA)

Public Domain. Credit information: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team. Additional information from source below:


Original Caption Released with Image:
The Isthmus of Corinth has played a very important role in the history of Greece. It is the only land bridge between the country's north (Attica) and south (Peloponnese). It is a 6 km wide tongue of land separating the Gulf of Corinth from the Saronic Sea. Populations, armies and commodities have got to move through it. In the 6th century BCE, the Greeks built the Diolkos, a 10 meter-wide stone roadway to pull ships across the Isthmus on wooden cylinders and wheeled vehicles. In 1882, a canal was started and completed 11 years later. It is 6343 meters long, 25 meters wide, and 8 meters deep.

With its 14 spectral bands from the visible to the thermal infrared wavelength region, and its high spatial resolution of 15 to 90 meters (about 50 to 300 feet), ASTER images Earth to map and monitor the changing surface of our planet.

ASTER is one of five Earth-observing instruments launched December 18, 1999, on NASA's Terra satellite. The instrument was built by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. A joint U.S./Japan science team is responsible for validation and calibration of the instrument and the data products.

The broad spectral coverage and high spectral resolution of ASTER provides scientists in numerous disciplines with critical information for surface mapping, and monitoring of dynamic conditions and temporal change. Example applications are: monitoring glacial advances and retreats; monitoring potentially active volcanoes; identifying crop stress; determining cloud morphology and physical properties; wetlands evaluation; thermal pollution monitoring; coral reef degradation; surface temperature mapping of soils and geology; and measuring surface heat balance.

The U.S. science team is located at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. The Terra mission is part of NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

Size: 25.3 by 37.7 kilometers (15.7 by 23.4 miles)
Location: 37.9 degrees North latitude, 23 degrees East longitude
Orientation: North at top
Image Data: ASTER bands 3, 2, and 1
Original Data Resolution: 15 meters (49.2 feet)
Dates Acquired: May 9, 2005

White Tiger

White tigers have always been extremely rare in the wild.
White tigers are Bengal tigers with pink noses and white-to-cream colored fur with black, gray or chocolate-colored stripes; their eyes are usually blue, but may be green or amber. There are around 600 white tigers in the world.

Due to the small size of the gene pool, many white tigers suffer from health problems due to inbreeding. For this reason, responsible zoos refuse to breed two white tigers together. However, two white parents are the only way to ensure white cubs; if a white tiger mates with a partner that is heterozygous for the gene, only half of the offspring will be white.

Terracotta Army in Xi'an, China

As told by our tour guide: The tomb was discovered by farmers who were trying to dig a well to water their trees. They found a head. Being superstitious, they reburied it and agreed not to tell anyone. A few of them did end up telling some officials, and when they dug it up again, they found this historical treasure trove.

VATICAN-POPE-AUDIENCE

Pope Benedict XVI smiles as he tries on a Spanish Civil Guard hat as he arrives in St. Peter's square at Vatican for his weekly general audience 07 December 2005. The pontiff marks 07 December 2005 the 40th year since the closing of the second Vatican Ecumenical Council, a revolutionary event in the Catholic Church that many say failed to live up to its promise.

Vatican Museums - Pinacoteca

Painting of Christ in Glory.

The Vatican Pinacoteca (Art Gallery) was inaugurated on 27 October 1932 in the building especially constructed by the architect Luca Beltrami for Pius XI.

The Vatican's art collection has grown over the years through donations and purchases until it reached the current nucleus of 460 paintings, distributed among eighteen different rooms on the basis of chronology and school, from the so-called Primitives (12th-13th century) to the 19th century.

The collection contains some masterpieces of the greatest artists of the history of Italian painting, from Giotto to Beato Angelico, from Melozzo da Forlì to Perugino and to Raphael, from Leonardo to Tiziano, to Veronese, to Caravaggio and to Crespi.

Inside Vatican museums (2006-05-205)

The Vatican Museums (Musei Vaticani) are the public art and sculpture museums in the Vatican City, which display works from the extensive collection of the Roman Catholic Church. Pope Julius II founded the museums in the 16th century. The Sistine Chapel and the Stanze della Segnatura decorated by Raphael are on the visitor route through the Vatican Museums.

The Vatican Library and the collections of the Vatican Museums are of the highest historical, scientific and cultural importance.

Vatican Museum

The statue of Laocoön and His Sons, also called the Laocoön Group, is a monumental marble sculpture, now in the Vatican Museums, Rome. The statue is attributed by the Roman author Pliny the Elder to three sculptors from the island of Rhodes: Agesander, Athenodoros and Polydorus. It shows the Trojan priest Laocoön and his sons Antiphantes and Thymbraeus being strangled by sea serpents.

Halloween

Halloween is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31. Traditional activities include trick-or-treating, bonfires, costume parties, visiting "haunted houses" and carving jack-o-lanterns. The term Halloween (and its alternative rendering Hallowe'en) is shortened from All-hallow-even, as it is the eve of "All Hallows' Day", which is now also known as All Saints' Day. Some modern practices developed out of older pagan traditions, especially surrounding the Irish holiday Samhain, a day associated both with the harvest and otherworldly spirits. Irish and Scottish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century. Other western countries embraced the holiday in the late twentieth century. Halloween is now celebrated in several parts of the Western world, most commonly in Ireland, the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the United Kingdom and occasionally in parts of Australia and New Zealand.

Many European cultural traditions, in particular Celtic cultures, hold that Halloween is one of the liminal times of the year when spirits can make contact with the physical world, and when magic is most potent according to, for example, Catalan mythology about witches and Scottish and Irish tales of the Sídhe).

In Asian, Singapore Zouk (Club)

Location

The three old warehouses that make up the original Zouk were built in 1919 on the Singapore River. Thoroughly renovated, the houses now feature three interconnected clubs:

Zouk (1991), with a large dancefloor and state-of-the-art sound and lighting, catering to a variety of artists
Velvet Underground (1994), a quieter, more relaxed lounge that plays house and soul
Phuture (1996), a more avant-garde bar specializing in broken beats.
The clubs have proven popular with Singapore's party-going crowd and regularly attract performers from all over the world. Its famous Mambo Jambo theme nights are considered a must-go for a beginning clubber.

In 2004, Zouk opened a sister club at Ampang Road (Jalan Ampang) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Zouk KL features four rooms: Zouk and Velvet Underground styled on the original, plus the Loft and Terrace bars.

more about their Event&Broadcast please Visit http://worlddj.com or http://www.zoukclub.com


A beach dance party called ZoukOut is organised at Sentosa in December each year. On December 10, 2005, 18,000 people attended the party. ZoukOut 2006 outdone itself once again drawing a record 20,000 party-goers to Sentosa on December 11, 2006.
Music Type
Mambo Jambo is a spin of the term mumbo jumbo which fittingly described the type of music peculiar to the theme night. It began with a somewhat unorthodox mix of 70s and 80s pop hits and house and over the years, it evolved and incorporated rock, dance and hip hop. A huge hit with the local clubbers, many imitators tried to follow the ‘retro’ theme formula with relatively lesser success. Zouk remained the standard bearer for this unique clubbing experience in Singapore.

Early Currency

The origin of currency is the creation of a circulating medium of exchange based on a unit of account which quickly becomes a store of value. Currency evolved from two basic innovations: the use of counters to assure that shipments arrived with the same goods that were shipped, and later with the use of silver ingots to represent stored value in the form of grain. Both of these developments had occurred by 2000 BC. Originally money was a form of receipting grain stored in temple granaries in Egypt and ancient Mesopotamia.

This first stage of currency, where metals were used to represent stored value, and symbols to represent commodities, formed the basis of trade in the Fertile Crescent for over 1500 years. However, the collapse of the Near Eastern trading system pointed to a flaw: in an era where there was no place that was safe to store value, the value of a circulating medium could only be as sound as the forces that defended that store. Trade could only reach as far as the credibility of that military. By the late Bronze Age, however, a series of international treaties had established safe passage for merchants around the Eastern Mediterranean, spreading from Minoan Crete and Mycenae in the North West to Elam and Bahrein in the South East. Although it is not known what functioned as a currency to facilitate these exchanges, it is thought that ox-hide shaped ingots of copper, produced in Cyprus may have functioned as a currency.

It is thought that the increase in piracy and raiding associated with the Late Bronze Age general systems collapse, possibly produced by the Peoples of the Sea brought this trading system to an end. It was only with the recovery of Phoenician trade in the ninth and tenth centuries, that saw a return to prosperity, and the appearance of real coinage, possibly first in Anatolia with Croesus of Lydia and subsequently with the Greeks and Persians.

In Africa many forms of value store have been used including beads, ingots, ivory, various forms of weapons, livestock, humans, the manilla currency, ochre and other earth oxides, and so on. The manilla rings of West Africa were one of the currencies used from the 15th century onwards to buy and sell slaves. African currency is still notable for its variety, and in many places various forms of barter still apply.

The Dubai Economy

Dubai's gross domestic product as of 2006 was US$46 billion. Although Dubai's economy was built on the back of the oil industry, revenues from oil and natural gas currently account for less than 3% of the emirate's revenues. It is estimated that Dubai produces 240,000 barrels of oil a day and substantial quantities of gas from offshore fields. The emirate's share in UAE's gas revenues is about 2%. Dubai's oil reserves have diminished significantly and are expected to be exhausted in 20 years.

Historically, Dubai and its twin across the Dubai creek, Deira (independent of Dubai City at that time), became important ports of call for Western manufacturers. Most of the new city's banking and financial centres were headquartered in the port area. Dubai maintained its importance as a trade route through the 1970s and 1980s. The city of Dubai has a free trade in gold and until the 1990s was the hub of a "brisk smuggling trade" of gold ingots to India, where gold import was restricted.

Dubai is an important tourist destination and its port, Jebel Ali, constructed in the 1970s, has the largest man-made harbor in the world. Dubai is also increasingly developing as a hub for service industries such as IT and finance, with the establishment of a new Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). The government has set up industry-specific free zones throughout the city. Dubai Internet City, combined with Dubai Media City as part of TECOM (Dubai Technology, Electronic Commerce and Media Free Zone Authority) is one such enclave whose members include IT firms such as EMC Corporation, Oracle Corporation, Microsoft, and IBM, and media organisations such as MBC, CNN, Reuters and AP.

The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) was established in March 2000 as a secondary market for trading securities and bonds, both local and foreign. As of Q4 2006, its trading volume stood at about 400 billion shares worth US$ 95 billion. The DFM had a market capitalization of about US$ 87 billion.

The government's decision to diversify from a trade-based, but oil-reliant, economy to one that is service and tourism-oriented has made real estate more valuable, resulting in the property appreciation from 2004–2006. Large scale real estate development projects have led to the construction of some of the tallest skyscrapers and largest projects in the world such as the Emirates Towers, the Palm Islands and the world's tallest, and most expensive, hotel the Burj Al Arab. As of July 2007, the Burj Dubai became the world's tallest structure and is expected to be taller by several hundred feet, once construction is complete. Construction should finish in late 2008 and the building occupied by September of 2009. There will be an estimated 164 floors, the top floor at 624.1 meters, or 2,058 feet. Including the antennae and spire the total hieght of the Burj Dubai will be an estimated 818 meters, or 2,684 feet.

Paris Las Vegas

Paris Las Vegas is a hotel and casino located on the famed Las Vegas Strip. It includes a 1/2 scale, 540 foot (164.6 m) tall replica of the Eiffel Tower, and a neon sign in the shape of the Montgolfier balloon, a two-thirds size Arc de Triomphe, and a replica of La Fontaine des Mers.

The Leaning Of Tower Pisa

The Leaning Tower of Pisa (Italian: Torre pendente di Pisa) or simply The Tower of Pisa (La Torre di Pisa) is the campanile, or freestanding bell tower, of the cathedral of the Italian city of Pisa. It is situated behind the Cathedral and it is the third structure by time in Pisa's Piazza del Duomo (Cathedral Square).

Although intended to stand vertically, the tower began leaning to the southeast soon after the onset of construction in 1173 due to a poorly laid foundation and loose substrate that has allowed the foundation to shift direction.

The height of the tower is 55.86 m (183.27 ft) from the ground on the lowest side and 56.70 m (186.02 ft) on the highest side. The width of the walls at the base is 4.09 m (13.42 ft) and at the top 2.48 m (8.14 ft). Its weight is estimated at 14,500 tonnes. The tower has 294 steps. The tower leans at an angle of 5.5 degrees[1]. This means that the top of the tower is 4.5 meters from where it would stand if the tower was perfectly vertical.

The Colosseum

The Colosseum or Coliseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre (Latin: Amphitheatrum Flavium, Italian Anfiteatro Flavio or Colosseo), is an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire. It is one of the greatest works of Roman architecture and engineering.

Occupying a site just east of the Roman Forum, its construction started between 70 and 72 AD under the emperor Vespasian and was completed in 80 AD under Titus, with further modifications being made during Domitian's reign (81–96). The name "Amphitheatrum Flavium" derives from both Vespasian's and Titus' family name ("Flavius, from the gens Flavia).

Originally capable of seating around 50,000 spectators, the Colosseum was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles. It remained in use for nearly 500 years with the last recorded games being held there as late as the 6th century. As well as the traditional gladiatorial games, many other public spectacles were held there, such as mock sea battles, animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on Classical mythology. The building eventually ceased to be used for entertainment in the early medieval era. It was later reused for such varied purposes as housing, workshops, quarters for a religious order, a fortress, a quarry and a Christian shrine.

Although it is now in a ruined condition due to damage caused by earthquakes and stone-robbers, the Colosseum has long been seen as an iconic symbol of Imperial Rome. Today it is one of modern Rome's most popular tourist attractions and still has close connections with the Roman Catholic Church, as each Good Friday the Pope leads a torchlit "Way of the Cross" procession to the amphitheatre.

Statue Of Liberty

Sign explaining the definitions of the Statue of Liberty's symbols. Liberty Island, New York City. I took this photo on my first trip to Liberty Island and New York City in October 2004.

THE STATUE OF LIBERTY

Liberty Enlightening the World (French: La liberté éclairant le monde), known more commonly as the Statue of Liberty (Statue de la Liberté), is a large statue that was presented to the United States by France in 1886. It stands at Liberty Island, New York in New York Harbor as a welcome to all visitors, immigrants, and returning Americans. The copper-clad statue, dedicated on October 28, 1886, commemorates the centennial of the United States and is a gesture of friendship from France to America. Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi sculpted the statue, and Alexandre Gustave Eiffel (designer of the Eiffel Tower) engineered the internal structure. Eugène Viollet-le-Duc was responsible for the choice of copper in the statue's construction and adoption of the repoussé technique.

The statue is of a female figure standing upright, dressed in a robe and a seven point spiked rays representing a nimbus (halo), holding a stone tablet close to her body in her left hand and a flaming torch high in her right hand. The tablet bears the words "JULY IV MDCCLXXVI" (July 4, 1776), commemorating the date of the United States Declaration of Independence.

The statue is made of a sheeting of pure copper, hung on a framework of steel (originally puddled iron) with the exception of the flame of the torch, which is coated in gold leaf. It stands atop a rectangular stonework pedestal with a foundation in the shape of an irregular eleven-pointed star. The statue is 151' 1" (46.5 m) tall, with the pedestal and foundation adding another 154 feet (46.9 m).

Worldwide, the Statue of Liberty is one of the most recognizable icons of the United States, and, more generally, represents liberty and escape from oppression. The Statue of Liberty was, from 1886 until the jet age, often one of the first glimpses of the United States for millions of immigrants after ocean voyages from Europe. The Statue of Liberty's obviously classical appearance (Roman stola, sandals, facial expression) derives from Libertas, ancient Rome's goddess of freedom from slavery, oppression, and tyranny. Broken shackles lie at her feet. The seven spikes in the crown represent the Seven Seas and seven continents. Her torch signifies enlightenment. The tablet in her hand shows the date of the nation's birth, July 4, 1776.

Since 1903, the statue, also known as "Lady Liberty," has been associated with Emma Lazarus's poem “The New Colossus” and has been a symbol of welcome to arriving immigrants. The interior of the pedestal contains a bronze plaque inscribed with the poem, which reads:

“Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"


There are 354 steps inside the statue and its pedestal. There are 25 windows in the crown which comprise the jewels beneath the seven rays of the diadem. The tablet which the Statue holds in her left hand reads, in Roman numerals, "July 4, 1776" the day of America's independence from Britain. The Statue of Liberty was engineered to withstand heavy winds. Winds of 50 miles per hour cause the Statue to sway 3 inches (7.62 cm) and the torch to sway 5 inches (12.7 cm). This allows the Statue to move rather than break in high [wind load] conditions.

Vatican Double Helix Staircase

Overhead view of a double helix staircase at the Vatican. I initially took this photo in passing because I liked the staircase design and thought it was ironic that an institution that once burned scientists as heretics had a staircase shaped like DNA.

Anyways, after I got home I was quite happy with myself for taking such a terrific and original photo. Unfortunately a few years later I was a computer vision conference and a number of research groups that had be doing research into photo tourism (using Flickr as input data) had examples of location summaries of New York and Rome. The Rome summary had 10 photos, 6 of which were almost identical to photos I had taken in Rome including this one. A quick search of interesting photos tag Vatican reveals that 30 of the top 100 photos are of this very staircase.

What is the lesson here? Take the best photos you can, but understand that someone else has probably already taken a better photo of the same stuff.
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