2020 New Random Pics

[Racerbvd]

[Tervuren]

[Captain Ahab Jr]

[GH85Carrera]

Hannah Stilley, born 1746, photographed in 1840. More than likely the earliest born individual captured on film.








Kummakivi is a large balancing rock in Ruokolahti, Finland.
The 7-metre long boulder lies on a convex bedrock surface with a very small footprint but so firmly that it cannot be rocked with human force.
Kummakivi ("strange stone") has been protected since 1962. A pine tree originating from the 1980s grows on top of the boulder.
The boulder is located in a forest in the western part of the Ruokolahti municipality, near the border of Puumala.

[GH85Carrera]

Two collided bullets from the Battle of Gallipoli



Future British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (far right) in a Boer prison camp. He was captured by the Boers after his train was ambushed in November 1899. He subsequently escaped in December 1899.


Elkhorn, Montana is named after the Elkhorn Mine, one of the nation's richest and longest operating silver mines. Today Elkhorn is the site of Montana's smallest state park - just one acre is set aside to preserve Elkhorn's only two remaining historic commercial buildings.


DID NEANDERTHALS USE CHEMICALS TO LIGHT FIRES? Yes, probably. Some researchers still believe that Neanderthals couldn't make fires from scratch and only used those taken from naturally occurring lightning-strike fires. Having experienced four winters in Germany, it's always been hard for me to imagine Neanderthals surviving for more than 250,000 years in Ice Age Europe relying solely on opportunistic fires. Although the Neanderthal body type was cold adapted, Aiello and Wheeler (2003) determined that our cousins could only tolerate about 4°F colder temperatures than modern man. Their research indicated that Neanderthals needed both clothes and fire to survive Ice Age winters. Other recent studies support the idea that Neanderthals not only made fires from scratch, they even used manganese dioxide powder as an accelerant. The Pech-de-l'Azé cave in SW France has yielded blocks of manganese dioxide with lots of scratch marks. Scientists used to think Neanderthals used the mineral for body decoration. But many other minerals are more suitable for that purpose and more readily available, and Neanderthals mostly collected the dioxide. Heyes et al. (2016) determined that the manganese dioxide lowered combustion temperatures for wood from above 650 °F to 480 °F, making fire starting much easier. So we can likely add chemistry to the growing Neanderthal repertoire


On June 1, 1813, during the War of 1812, the USS Chesapeake engaged the HMS Shannon off the Massachusetts coast. The USS Chesapeake was built in 1794 as one of the “Original Six” frigates of the U.S. Navy, constructed at a time when the new nation was beginning to face trouble from pirates located near the Barbary Coast of Africa. It was also meant to be comparable to competing British and French ships of the era. The Chesapeake was just over 150 feet long, had a crew of 340 men, and normally carried around thirty-eight guns (although at the time of the encounter with the Shannon it was carrying fifty). During its career, the Chesapeake was involved in the Quasi War with France from 1798-1800, participated in the First Barbary War, and was famously part of the Chesapeake-Leopard Affair in 1807.
During this famous incident, which is regarding as a major precursor to the War of 1812, the British vessel the HMS Leopard demanded to come aboard the Chesapeake and check for British deserters. The Chesapeake’s Captain refused, and the British vessel fired several broadsides at the American ship. Not expecting an encounter such as this, the Chesapeake was extremely unprepared, with no guns being primed and cargo being strewn about and in the way. The result was that the Chesapeake quickly surrendered. The incident brought both shame and outrage in the United States, with the Chesapeake’s commander being court martialed, and the Embargo Act of 1807 being enacted. By the time the War of 1812 was actually declared, the Chesapeake was in the thick of things, taking to the Atlantic and causing great damage to British shipping before returning to Boston in April 1813. At this point a new commander also took charge. His name was Captain James Lawrence, and he set sail on May 31 after hearing that the HMS Shannon was lurking just off the Massachusetts coast.
Flying a massive banner that read, "Free Trade and Sailors' Rights", the Chesapeake engaged the Shannon late in the afternoon on June 1. In an unfortunate turn of events, one of the Shannon’s initial broadsides destroyed the Chesapeake’s wheel, leaving her unable to maneuver. The battle was fierce, but the Shannon was able to get the best of the Chesapeake. James Lawrence was mortally wounded during the exchange, and as his men began to carry him below deck, Lawrence gave his last order to his officers, “Don’t give up the ship. Fight her till she sinks.” When Oliver Hazard Perry, a friend of Lawrence and fellow naval officer heard about these last words, he ordered a massive battle flag made with those words emblazoned on it. This flag was used by Perry throughout the rest of the war, including the famous Battle of Lake Erie. Ironically, immediately after these famous words were uttered, the British boarded the Chesapeake and took control of the vessel.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

DID NEANDERTHALS USE CHEMICALS TO LIGHT FIRES? Yes, probably. Some researchers still believe that Neanderthals couldn't make fires from scratch and only used those taken from naturally occurring lightning-strike fires. Having experienced four winters in Germany, it's always been hard for me to imagine Neanderthals surviving for more than 250,000 years in Ice Age Europe relying solely on opportunistic fires. Although the Neanderthal body type was cold adapted, Aiello and Wheeler (2003) determined that our cousins could only tolerate about 4°F colder temperatures than modern man. Their research indicated that Neanderthals needed both clothes and fire to survive Ice Age winters. Other recent studies support the idea that Neanderthals not only made fires from scratch, they even used manganese dioxide powder as an accelerant. The Pech-de-l'Azé cave in SW France has yielded blocks of manganese dioxide with lots of scratch marks. Scientists used to think Neanderthals used the mineral for body decoration. But many other minerals are more suitable for that purpose and more readily available, and Neanderthals mostly collected the dioxide. Heyes et al. (2016) determined that the manganese dioxide lowered combustion temperatures for wood from above 650 °F to 480 °F, making fire starting much easier. So we can likely add chemistry to the growing Neanderthal repertoire

I've often thought that it was ridiculous that science thinks that man couldn't do "stuff" (build the pyramids, stonehenge, make fire, etc...) back in the day.


© Testing the efficiency of Neandertal bone tools replicas © Malvina Baumann, 2020

© Testing the efficiency of Neandertal bone tools replicas © Malvina Baumann, 2020

While the jury is still out as to why the Neanderthal, an ancient ancestor of modern humans, became extinct about 40,000 years ago, it has long been assumed that it was because they possessed a low level of intelligence. Pioneering research is challenging this idea, uncovering evidence to suggest that our ancient cousins were in fact much more like us than we thought.

Try to imagine the modern human, Homo Sapiens, as just one of three species of humans coexisting on the planet Earth. That’s a difficult picture to paint by any stretch of the imagination. Yet this was the reality 60,000 years ago, when the first anatomically modern humans left Africa. It was a time when Europe and the Middle East were already populated by the Neanderthals, while the Denisovans spread across large parts of Asia.

Ever since the discovery of the Neanderthal 1, the first specimen to be recognised as an early human fossil in 1856, researchers have been trying to figure out what brought about the extinction of earlier species of humans. For a long time, paleoanthropologists viewed Neanderthals as being very distinct from our own species, and inherently incapable of sharing the “modern” characteristics that came to define our own evolution.

A substantial and rapidly growing body of research is putting this “dumb brute” conception of the Neanderthal firmly to bed: there is evidence to show that they were a sea-faring people, skilled cooperative hunters, and possibly even capable of medical treatment and healthcare. These discoveries are adding to the complexity of understanding why Neanderthals died out and the modern human survived; if the differences between the two species were much smaller than previously assumed, what gave the modern human the competitive advantage over our ancient cousin?

[GH85Carrera]

Audie Murphy of B Company, 15th Regiment, Third Division. The most decorated soldier in the U.S. Army.
At Salzburg, Austria on 2 June 1945, Lieutenant General A.M. Patch, Commander of the 7th Army presented Murphy with the Medal of Honor and Legion of Merit for his actions at Holtzwihr.
When asked after the war why he had seized the machine gun and taken on an entire company of German infantry, he replied, “They were killing my friends.”
Murphy was born on June 20, 1925, in Kingston, Texas as the seventh of 12 children. Murphy’s mother died just before his 16th birthday in 1941. He tried to enlist in both the Army and Marines but was rejected for being both underage and underweight. His older sister helped forge his birth certificate and signed an affidavit where he was finally accepted into the Army on June 30, 1942. He was just 16 years old.
In late February 1943 he was shipped out to Casablanca, Morocco as part of B Company, 1st Bn. 15th Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division. He was assigned as the platoon messenger. As a division runner, Murphy was with the division as they fought across Sicily, into the ancient city of Palermo and finally on to Messina where they closed the door on the German’s withdrawal.
He took part in the Salerno landings on mainland Italy at Battipaglia. He and another soldier broke up a German ambush by killing five of the enemy. The fighting in Italy raged thru the autumn and Murphy was promoted to Sergeant in December 1943. Less than a month later he was promoted again to Staff Sergeant in January 1944.
After the landing at Anzio, Murphy took part in the Battle of Cisterna where the 1st and 3rd Ranger Battalions were annihilated due to faulty intelligence and poor planning by the Corps Commander MG Lucas. Murphy was made a platoon sergeant after the battle. He hadn’t yet turned 19 years old.
Holding up in an abandoned farmhouse, Murphy destroyed a German tank with rifle grenades and killed the crew. For that, he was awarded the Bronze Star with “V” device.
Murphy and the division took part in Southern France and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for actions taken on August 15, 1944. Murphy’s platoon was fighting through a vineyard when the men were attacked by German soldiers. Murphy grabbed a machine gun, returned fire at the German soldiers, killing two and wounding one. Two Germans exited a house about 100 yards away and asked to surrender.
Murphy’s best friend responded and as he moved forward to take them, prisoner, they shot and killed him. Murphy advanced alone on the house under direct fire. He killed six, wounded two more and amazingly after what happened to his friend, took 11 prisoners. The 1st Bn. received a Presidential Unit Citation for their fighting around Montélimar.
He received a Purple Heart from mortar shrapnel in September.
Murphy’s Silver Star medal was for his action in charging a German machine gun position where he killed four and wounded three more.
He received a Bronze Leaf on his Silver Star when he crawled up a hill and directed fire against the Germans while under constant, direct fire. His actions resulted in 15 killed enemy and 35 wounded.
Less than four months after his 19th birthday, Murphy was given a battlefield promotion to 2nd Lieutenant. He was wounded for the 2nd time on October 26, when he captured two Germans before being shot through the hip by a sniper. He returned fire, shooting the sniper right between his eyes. His wound would keep him out of action until January.
He was wounded in both legs in mid-January after rejoining his troops in the fighting around Holtzwihr. On January 26, he became the Company Commander of B Co. On that day as they were attacking the German positions, an M-10 Tank Destroyer supporting the infantry was hit and set afire. While ordering the company to retreat to the woodline, he remained at the flaming M-10, firing his M-1 Carbine and calling in fire on the German troops. The entire time Murphy was in full view of the Germans and they were pouring fire in his direction. Then he did the unimaginable. Murphy climbed up on top of the burning tank destroyer and mounting the .50 caliber machine gun, he poured fire at the German troops. The enemy sent a squad crawling up a ditch trying to get to him but he saw them and cut them all down. He stood alone, on a flaming open-topped tank destroyer for an hour with German infantry and tanks advancing and pouring fire at him. He killed or wounded 50 of the attacking enemy. The Germans finally wounded him in the leg, but he remained on the TD until he ran out of ammunition. He then made his way back to his men and refused medical evacuation until he personally led them back to push the Germans back.
For this incredible action, Murphy was awarded the Medal of Honor.
He was promoted to First Lieutenant and moved off the line and into a Regimental Headquarters slot as a liaison officer.
Postwar: Murphy suffered from what we now call PTSD. He spoke to the Veterans Administration about it. In an effort to ease the strain on returning Vietnam veterans, he spoke candidly about his own problems and called on the government to give increased consideration and study to the emotional impact of combat experiences and to extend health care benefits to war veterans.
Film Career: Murphy launched a 21-year career as a film star being active from 1948-1969. He was known mainly for his westerns but he later played himself in the autobiographical “To Hell and Back.” That film became the biggest hit in Universal’s history at that time
He was killed in a plane crash in Virginia in 1971 and was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery. His gravesite across from the amphitheater is one of the most visited other than JFK’s.






Private First Class Clark Richie sniffs the scent of a letter from a girl back home in Jay, Oklahoma. April 1966.


50 years ago, Col. Phil "Hands" Handley, flying an F-4E, recorded the world's fastest-speed air-to-air gun kill (June 2, 1972). Flying near Hanoi, Handley shot down a NVAF MiG-19 using F-4E's internal 20mm cannon while doing Mach 1.2.

[Racerbvd]

Edited - profanity not allowed.

[GH85Carrera]

Here's something different - a modified rail car serves as a very large freight wagon for Lawrence Tovey's Rocky Mountain Freight Line in Boulder, Colorado around 1900.

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by Captain Ahab Jr

As I was heading to the dentist yesterday, a low flying bird had a big fish , wish I could have gotten a picture of it.

[gary1101]

Where is this?

[Steve Carlton]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

Audie Murphy of B Company, 15th Regiment, Third Division. The most decorated soldier in the U.S. Army.
At Salzburg, Austria on 2 June 1945, Lieutenant General A.M. Patch, Commander of the 7th Army presented Murphy with the Medal of Honor and Legion of Merit for his actions at Holtzwihr.
When asked after the war why he had seized the machine gun and taken on an entire company of German infantry, he replied, “They were killing my friends.”
Murphy was born on June 20, 1925, in Kingston, Texas as the seventh of 12 children. Murphy’s mother died just before his 16th birthday in 1941. He tried to enlist in both the Army and Marines but was rejected for being both underage and underweight. His older sister helped forge his birth certificate and signed an affidavit where he was finally accepted into the Army on June 30, 1942. He was just 16 years old.
In late February 1943 he was shipped out to Casablanca, Morocco as part of B Company, 1st Bn. 15th Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division. He was assigned as the platoon messenger. As a division runner, Murphy was with the division as they fought across Sicily, into the ancient city of Palermo and finally on to Messina where they closed the door on the German’s withdrawal.
He took part in the Salerno landings on mainland Italy at Battipaglia. He and another soldier broke up a German ambush by killing five of the enemy. The fighting in Italy raged thru the autumn and Murphy was promoted to Sergeant in December 1943. Less than a month later he was promoted again to Staff Sergeant in January 1944.
After the landing at Anzio, Murphy took part in the Battle of Cisterna where the 1st and 3rd Ranger Battalions were annihilated due to faulty intelligence and poor planning by the Corps Commander MG Lucas. Murphy was made a platoon sergeant after the battle. He hadn’t yet turned 19 years old.
Holding up in an abandoned farmhouse, Murphy destroyed a German tank with rifle grenades and killed the crew. For that, he was awarded the Bronze Star with “V” device.
Murphy and the division took part in Southern France and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for actions taken on August 15, 1944. Murphy’s platoon was fighting through a vineyard when the men were attacked by German soldiers. Murphy grabbed a machine gun, returned fire at the German soldiers, killing two and wounding one. Two Germans exited a house about 100 yards away and asked to surrender.
Murphy’s best friend responded and as he moved forward to take them, prisoner, they shot and killed him. Murphy advanced alone on the house under direct fire. He killed six, wounded two more and amazingly after what happened to his friend, took 11 prisoners. The 1st Bn. received a Presidential Unit Citation for their fighting around Montélimar.
He received a Purple Heart from mortar shrapnel in September.
Murphy’s Silver Star medal was for his action in charging a German machine gun position where he killed four and wounded three more.
He received a Bronze Leaf on his Silver Star when he crawled up a hill and directed fire against the Germans while under constant, direct fire. His actions resulted in 15 killed enemy and 35 wounded.
Less than four months after his 19th birthday, Murphy was given a battlefield promotion to 2nd Lieutenant. He was wounded for the 2nd time on October 26, when he captured two Germans before being shot through the hip by a sniper. He returned fire, shooting the sniper right between his eyes. His wound would keep him out of action until January.
He was wounded in both legs in mid-January after rejoining his troops in the fighting around Holtzwihr. On January 26, he became the Company Commander of B Co. On that day as they were attacking the German positions, an M-10 Tank Destroyer supporting the infantry was hit and set afire. While ordering the company to retreat to the woodline, he remained at the flaming M-10, firing his M-1 Carbine and calling in fire on the German troops. The entire time Murphy was in full view of the Germans and they were pouring fire in his direction. Then he did the unimaginable. Murphy climbed up on top of the burning tank destroyer and mounting the .50 caliber machine gun, he poured fire at the German troops. The enemy sent a squad crawling up a ditch trying to get to him but he saw them and cut them all down. He stood alone, on a flaming open-topped tank destroyer for an hour with German infantry and tanks advancing and pouring fire at him. He killed or wounded 50 of the attacking enemy. The Germans finally wounded him in the leg, but he remained on the TD until he ran out of ammunition. He then made his way back to his men and refused medical evacuation until he personally led them back to push the Germans back.
For this incredible action, Murphy was awarded the Medal of Honor.
He was promoted to First Lieutenant and moved off the line and into a Regimental Headquarters slot as a liaison officer.
Postwar: Murphy suffered from what we now call PTSD. He spoke to the Veterans Administration about it. In an effort to ease the strain on returning Vietnam veterans, he spoke candidly about his own problems and called on the government to give increased consideration and study to the emotional impact of combat experiences and to extend health care benefits to war veterans.
Film Career: Murphy launched a 21-year career as a film star being active from 1948-1969. He was known mainly for his westerns but he later played himself in the autobiographical “To Hell and Back.” That film became the biggest hit in Universal’s history at that time
He was killed in a plane crash in Virginia in 1971 and was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery. His gravesite across from the amphitheater is one of the most visited other than JFK’s.

I knew he was a substantial war hero turned movie star, but had no idea. Wow!

[Z-man]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

I could retire there. Imagine waking up to that view everyday!

Then again, I live walking distance from here:

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Racerbvd

As I was heading to the dentist yesterday, a low flying bird had a big fish , wish I could have gotten a picture of it.

Probably an osprey.

Originally Posted by masraum

One of my Osprey pics

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Z-man

I could retire there. Imagine waking up to that view everyday!

Then again, I live walking distance from here:

That's horrible! You've got it rough, sir!

[GH85Carrera]

Operation Pluto (Pipe Line Under The Ocean) is one of the greatest engineering feats of the war. Huge pipelines were successfully fabricated and laid under the Channel between southern England and France. This allowed fuel to be transported safely to the troops in Europe. The pipelines contributed much to the success of Allied operations.
The P.L.U.T.O. (Pipe-Lines Under The Ocean) program was conceived in 1942 by British engineers to meet the fuel needs of the armed forces after an amphibious operation. As early as 1942, preparations were therefore made to lay pipelines under the Channel between southern England and France. After secret and successful trials in Medway and Scotland, two pipelines were laid in the summer of 1944, from Shanklin on the Isle of Wight to Port-en-Bessin and from Dungeness to Ambleteuse.
In Dungeness, short sections of pipe were supplied by rail. There they were connected together and wrapped around huge reels (ConunDrum). Subsequently, the pipeline was laid in the ocean by tugs. To counter the threat of enemy attacks, gas stations were camouflaged as ordinary buildings. Some of these buildings – ice cream parlors, garages and bungalows – still exist, such as Pluto House in Dungeness. After the first teething troubles, the pipeline supplied about 4 million liters of fuel per day. By the end of the war, nearly 700 million liters had been delivered to France – a remarkable feat of engineering that is believed to be key to the successful invasion of Europe after D-Day.


On this date June 3rd 1973; The second production Tupolev Tu-144 broke apart in mid air in front of the audience at the Paris Air Show, killing all six crew as well as eight people on the ground. Considering the TU-144 was facing off publically in their rivalry with the Anglo-French Concorde, the pilots may have attempted a maneuver that was beyond the capabilities of the aircraft
The Soviet TU-144 pilot, Mikhail Kozlov, had bragged that he would outperform the Concorde. "Just wait until you see us fly," he was quoted as saying. "Then you'll see something." On the final day of the show, the Concorde, which was not yet in production, performed its demonstration flight first. Kozlov was determined to show how much better his aircraft was.
During its demonstration, the TU-144, was approaching show center in dirty configuration, , gear out and the "moustache" canards extended, then Kozlov selected full afterburners pulling the behemoth into a sharp climb with all four engines screaming. As the 144 approached 2,000 ft, it pitched over and dropped into a steep dive. During the attempted recovery, the left wing came away first, followed by the complete disintegration before the remaining pieces impacted the surface.
Bob Hoover was a witness to the accident, and believed that the rivalry of the Tu-144 and Concorde led the pilot of the Tu-144 to attempt a maneuver that went beyond the abilities of the aircraft: "That day, the Concorde went first, and after the pilot performed a high-speed flyby, he pulled up steeply and climbed to approximately 10,000 before levelling off. When the Tu-144 pilot performed the same maneuver he pulled the nose up so steeply l didn't believe he could possibly recover."




Policemen inspects a "lumber truck" that reeks of alcohol during prohibition, 1926.

[svandamme]

Originally Posted by gary1101

Where is this?

I think Los Caracoles "Snails Pass"
Andes mountains between Argentina and Chile

https://www.google.com/maps/search/Los+Caracoles+%22Snails+Pass%22+%E2%80%94+In+the+A ndes+between+Argentina+and+Chile/@-32.8573776,-70.1535413,14.5z

[svandamme]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

Two collided bullets from the Battle of Gallipoli

1 bullet would have struck the other in a bandolier.
It's not like they hit eachother in flight

The tell is in the one that is hit, has no markings from rifling.


these are others from same find :

[GH85Carrera]

Noon break at glass factory, East St. Louis, Missouri. 1910.






Situated on the Via Domitia, the ancient road of Ambrussum still shows the deep wheel ruts of Roman chariots.
The Gallo-Roman site is located between Nîmes and Montpellier (France) and has been occupied by people since the Neolithic period. Ambrussum was an important Iron Age settlement which grew under the Romans from the 2nd century B.C.
And just like most states, the road has not been fixed for a very long time. Unlike most states, they built roads to last back then.

[Robert Coats]