NLA Map Search

https://mapsearch.nla.gov.au/

Map Search includes thousands of Australian topographic maps, tourist maps, cadastral or parish maps - showing property boundaries and administrative areas, planning maps, geological maps, and more, all from the National Library’s collection!

You can view these historical maps overlaid on three current map base layers.

Map Search also allows you to view or add features such as schools, mills, missions, property blocks, and cemeteries - features which may have disappeared long ago.

Explore Map Search to see in fine detail how your local region has changed over the years, and share your family history finds.

A cartographic fade to black: mapping the destruction of urban Japan during World War II

Brassica oleracea

 

THE三STACK

 https://thestack.link/

1916 Yuan Shi Kai Flying Dragon silver dollar with L. Giorgi signature

This coin is from the Kann Collection, and was likely sold to Nelson Chang (the current consignor) in the mid 1970s by legendary Hong Kong dealer Chang Huang, at Hong Kong’s first McDonald’s, according to Michael Chou of Champion Auctions.

The Chang-Kann coin is graded by Numismatic Guaranty Corp. as Mint State 64, making it the finest known example of this great rarity of Chinese numismatics.

This coin is also one of Nelson Chang’s favorite coins because it celebrates the 1916 Hung Hsien regime, Yuan’s short-lived 82 days as emperor of China.

It was designed by Italian designer Luigi Giorgi, with a portrait of Yuan and a westernized dragon with wings, the only Chinese coin with this type of dragon.

Chang began to assemble the NC Collection of vintage Chinese coins beginning in the mid-1970s.

A successful Wall Street career specializing in commodities and nontraditional assets, combined with a long and extensive family history of collecting antiquities and Chinese coins, led to a collecting passion that spanned over 30 years.

The coin has a pre-sale estimate of $200,000 to $400,000 U.S., but the raging market will ultimately set the price.

Diogenes the Cynic

Diogenes of Sinope (fourth century BC) is too irascible a character not to share some anecdotes about him from the compendium of Diogenes Laertius on the lives of the philosophers. They illustrate the precepts by which he lived: that personal happiness is satisfied by meeting one's natural needs and that what is natural cannot be shameful or indecent. His life, therefore, was lived with extreme simplicity, inured to want, and without shame. It was this determination to follow his own dictates and not adhere to the conventions of society that he was given the epithet "dog," from which the name "cynic" is derived. (As to why he was called a dog, Diogenes replied, "Because I fawn upon those who give me anything, and bark at those who give me nothing, and bite the rogues.") Sold as a slave, he pointed and said, "Sell me to this man; he needs a master." The man heeded the advice, and entrusted Diogenes with his household and the education of his children.

• Seeing a child drinking from his hands, Diogenes threw away his cup and remarked, "A child has beaten me in plainness of living." 
• When invited to the house of Plato, he trampled upon his carpet, saying that he thereby trampled on the vanity of Plato, to which Plato retorted "How much pride you expose to view, Diogenes, by seeming not to be proud." 
• To Plato's definition of a man as an animal, bipedal and featherless, Diogenes plucked a chicken and declared, "Here is Plato's man."
• Once, while Diogenes was sunning himself, Alexander came up to him and offered to grant him any request. "Stand out of my light," he replied (also Arrian, VII.2; indeed, there are dozens of references to this incident]. 
• When asked why he went about with a lamp in broad daylight, Diogenes confessed, "I am looking for a [honest] man." 
• Seeing a young man blush, he remarked that it was the complexion of virtue.
• Why do people give to beggars, he was asked, but not to philosophers? "Because they think they may one day be lame or blind, but never expect that they will turn to philosophy." 
• To a young man who complained that he was ill suited to study philosophy, Diogenes said "Why then do you live, if you do not care to live well?" 
• Of grammarians, he was astonished that they desire to learn everything about the misfortunes of Odysseus but nothing about their own. 
• Of mathematicians, that they keep their eyes on the heavens and overlook what is at their feet. 
• Of orators, that they speak of justice but never practice it. 
• When asked why he alone praised an indifferent harp player, Diogenes replied "because he plays the harp and does not steal."
• When asked what wine he found most pleasant to drink, Diogenes replied, "That for which other people pay." 
• Once, eating some dried figs, he offered some to Plato, which prompted Diogenes to remonstrate "I said that you might have a share of them, not that you might eat them all." 
• As to when was the proper time to eat, he replied that for the rich, whenever one pleases; for the poor, whenever one can. 
• Asked why he begged in front of a statue, Diogenes replied that he did so to get used to being refused. 
• Reproached for behaving indecently in public, he lamented only that he wished it were as easy to relieve hunger by rubbing one's stomach. And criticized for drinking in a taver
• Of the golden statue of Phrynê at Delphi, Diogenes was said to have written upon it: "From the licentiousness of Greece." 
• And, when he saw the child of a courtesan, whom he compared to a "deadly honeyed potion," throwing stones at a crowd, he cried out: "Take care you don't hit your father." 
• Seeing a bad archer, he sat down beside the target so get out of harm's way. 
• When asked when a man should marry, he replied that a young man ought not to marry just yet and an old man not at all. 
• Asked why he anointed his feet with scent, he replied that he then would be able to smell it; if on his head, it only would pass into the air above him.
• Chided as an old man who ought to rest, he replied, "What, if I were running in the stadium, ought I to slacken my pace when approaching the goal?" 
• To someone who declared life to be an evil, he corrected him, "Not life itself, but living ill." 
• When asked from where he came, Diogenes said, "I am a citizen of the world" (cosmopolitan), and, when someone was queried as to what sort of man Diogenes was, the reply was given, "A Socrates gone mad."

Video of the grand funeral procession of Dr Sun Yat-Sen 1925.

https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-street-scenes-in-china-1925-online

This lively amateur film shows the street life of Dongsi (marked by its pair of wooden archways) and Chongwenmen (with its city gate) in east Beijing, bustling with busy markets, street pedlars and tradesmen. We are treated to an energetic display of martial arts by a master and his two disciples, and witness the grand funeral cortege of Dr Sun Yat-Sen, founding father of the Chinese Republic.


Chinese city life was traditionally concentrated around the foot of city walls or wooden archways. Many daily activities, like eating at food stalls or getting a hair-cut, were held in the open, while other services - the plate-mender and water-carrier - were delivered to the doorstep. This film was shot by Methodist missionaries in 1925, and captures the grand funeral procession of Dr Sun Yat-Sen, founding father of the Republic of China. His remains were moved to Nanjing in 1929, where they were placed in the Sun Zhongshan Mausoleum in the Purple Mountain.

Gardens of the Roman Empire

https://roman-gardens.github.io/home/




The peoples of the Roman Empire conducted their lives outdoors in gardens, parks, groves, tomb gardens and other designed environments. Whether created by highly skilled topiarii such as the freedman Tiberius Claudius Turiscus in Rome, by an anonymous team of gardeners and trainees at a tomb in Andematunum, Germania, or by a shopkeeper in Pompeii, gardens have left material traces discoverable from archaeological digs, in literature, paintings, inscriptions, or coins.

We present this evidence for the garden culture of the Roman Empire in a searchable encyclopedic format. Scholars, students, and the interested public internationally can explore a wide array of topics to address contemporary questions about imperial power, daily life, the environment, garden art, and religion across the diverse cultures of the Roman world.

Turkish Pangram

Pijamalı hasta, yağız şoföre çabucak güvendi.

“the patient in pajamas quickly trusted the swarthy driver.” 

Jeffrey Smart

 

Anomaly - Amir Zand

 

Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance

 

The Reception and Translation of Classical Chinese Poetry in English

HISTORY OF WORCESTERSHIRE SAUCE (1837-2012):

Beethoven in Beijing

Remember Me

 

CPRG Addict

 http://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/

Kinmen County

Kinmen, also known as Quemoy, is a small island with a very big reputation. Situated just off the coast of Mainland China, it was the site of fierce fighting between Communist and Nationalist forces when the latter withdrew from the mainland in 1949.

The Kinmen Islands were known in earlier times as Wuzhou. In 1387, the Marquis of Jiangxia Chou Te-hsing erected walls to defend the Kinmen Island against pirates. Because of its geographic position, the Kinmen Wall became known as the "impregnable fort guarding the gate to the sea," from which the name "Kinmen," or "Golden Gate," derives. For nearly a half century, Kinmen was a battleground in Taiwan's defense against the mainland forces. Military administration of Kinmen was lifted in 1992, marking the start of the island's emergence as a tourism destination. In January 2001, direct cross-strait links were opened between Kinmen and Xiamen in mainland China, putting the island in a key position for cross-strait interactions.

During the period of military administration, the soldiers and civilian residents of Kinmen lived in stoic conditions and worked together to develop the island infrastructure. The military installations developed at that time have today become an invaluable tourism resource for the islands. Major reforestation efforts by the military since 1950 have further endowed Kinmen with lush greenery and roadside flowers, giving the islands a reputation as a "park in the sea."

In recent years, government conservation efforts and greater eco-awareness among the island residents have helped Kinmen's bird population to steadily grow in numbers and species. The coastal waters of Kinmen are also home to several rare and protected species, including the Chinese otter (Lutra lutra chinensis) and the "living fossil" horseshoe crab.

Among Kinmen's best-known specialty items are knives fashioned from old mortar shells, peanut candy, sorghum wine, vermicelli, sorghum vinegar, porcelain and ceramics. The climate, soil, and water quality of Kinmen are ideal for growing high-oil peanuts with rich flavor. The local harvest is used to make crispy peanut candy. Kinmen's climate is also well suited for making strong sorghum spirits. The local vermicelli, taro, and pickled cabbage also stay true to tradition. Products made with the medicinal Glycine tabacina (wild soybean), and fine earth-fired ceramics are also popular specialty items here.

The snack culture of Kinmen has southern Fujian roots, while also infusing a unique local touch. Seafood specialties include oyster omelets, oyster vermicelli, and fried sandworms, and for a light snack one can choose from bite-sized savory pastries, date candy, Cantonese congee, stuffed clay-oven rolls, and other taste bud pleasers.

A6M Zero - Japan's Mystery Machine

Murder in the Bath: Reflections on the Death of Agamemnon

Japanese Old Photographs of the Bakumatsu-Meiji Periods Collection

 http://oldphoto.lb.nagasaki-u.ac.jp/top/en_top.php

Lecture Notes - Marx

Mozi (Mo-tzu, c. 400s—300s B.C.E.)

Mo Di (Mo Ti), better known as Mozi (Mo-tzu) or “Master Mo,” was a Chinese thinker active from the late 5th to the early 4th centuries B.C.E. He is best remembered for being the first major intellectual rival to Confucius and his followers. Mozi’s teaching is summed up in ten theses extensively argued for in the text that bears his name, although he himself is unlikely to have been its author. The most famous of these theses is the injunction that one ought to be concerned for the welfare of people in a spirit of “impartial concern” (jian’ai) that does not make distinctions between self and other, associates and strangers, a doctrine often described more simplistically as “universal love.” Mozi founded a quasi-religious and paramilitary community that, apart from propagating the ten theses, lent aid to small states under threat from military aggressors with their expertise in counter-siege technology. Along with the Confucians, the Mohists were one of the two most prominent schools of thought during the Warring States period (403-221 B.C.E.), although contemporary sources such as the Hanfeizi and the Zhuangzi indicate that the Mohists had divided into rival sects by this time. While Mohist communities probably did not survive into the Qin dynasty (221-206 B.C.E.), Mohist ideas exerted a decisive influence upon the thinkers of early China. Between the late 4th and late 3rd centuries B.C.E., later Mohists wrote the earliest extant Chinese treatise on logic, as well as works on geometry, optics and mechanics. Mohist logic appears to have influenced the argumentative techniques of early Chinese thinkers, while Mohist visions of meritocracy and the public good helped to shape the political philosophies and policy decisions of both the Qin and Han (202 B.C.E.-220 C.E.) imperial regimes. In these ways, Mohist ideas survived well into the early imperial era, albeit by being absorbed into other Chinese philosophical traditions.

Review of Hongye Fan et al. 樊洪业等人, eds. Zhu Kezhen Quanji 《竺可 桢全集》 (The Complete Works of Zhu Kezhen)

Sentry: Earth Impact Monitoring

https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/sentry/

Impact Risk Data




The following table summarizes by object the potential future Earth impact events that the JPL Sentry System has detected based on currently available observations. Click on the object designation to go to a page with full details on that object.

Sentry is a highly automated collision monitoring system that continually scans the most current asteroid catalog for possibilities of future impact with Earth over the next 100 years. Whenever a potential impact is detected it will be analyzed and the results immediately published here, except in unusual cases where we seek independent confirmation. It is normal that, as additional observations become available, objects will disappear from this table whenever there are no longer any potential impact detections. For this reason we maintain a list of removed objects with the date of removal.