]]> http://www.crystalkiss.com/world-champion-poker/feed/ 0 http://www.crystalkiss.com/lost-tudor-garden-revealed-luftwaffe-spy-pictures-world-war/ http://www.crystalkiss.com/lost-tudor-garden-revealed-luftwaffe-spy-pictures-world-war/#comments Mon, 08 Nov 2010 14:41:07 +0000 ivana http://www.crystalkiss.com/?p=3129 A photograph taken by the Luftwaffe during the Second World War has helped unearth what is thought to be the lost Tudor design of a historic garden, the National Trust said today. The picture shows the land surrounding Lyveden New Bield in Northamptonshire, including an arrangement of ten concentric circles measuring 120 metres across, which could have formed a labyrinth – a popular garden feature of the time. National Trusts experts also believe the photograph, taken by Nazi aircraft flying over Britain in 1944, shows the last remains of an Elizabethan fruit garden.

The discovery has led to the garden being upgraded by English Heritage to the top Grade I listing, putting it on a par with great gardens such as Stourhead and Studley Royal. The image sheds light on one of the oldest surviving gardens in the country, which the trust said has been shrouded in mystery since it was begun by Sir Thomas Tresham more than 400 years ago.

The photograph is part of a series at the United States National Archive at Baltimore in Maryland and was discovered by National Trust gardens and parks curator Chris Gallagher while he was conducting research.We checked the database and found the photo existed but when we ordered up the image it revealed far more than we ever expected,’ he said. Not only did it expose the remnants of the original circular design – set within what Sir Thomas Tresham, who created the garden, then called his ‘moated orchard’ – you can also make out the vestiges of a regular array of planting holes, which we have taken to be the last remains of an Elizabethan fruit garden.’ Lyveden’s property manager Mark Bradshaw described the find as ‘probably one of the most important garden discoveries of recent times’. We’re still not exactly clear what these circles represent, but it’s amazing that the outline can be clearly made out in an aerial photograph taken almost 350 years after the garden was created,’ he said.

The garden was made by Sir Thomas Tresham but, along with the house, remained incomplete after his death in 1605. In the same year, his son Francis was implicated in the Gunpowder Plot, and afterwards a large collection of Tresham’s correspondence was hidden away at the family’s principal home Rushton Hall amid fears of further persecution, the National Trust said. The papers, which were discovered in 1821 and deposited in the British Library, include detailed plans for the garden. Mr Bradshaw said: ‘Some of the letters refer to 400 raspberries and roses to be planted within Tresham’s circular borders, which suggest these are the same circles that appear in the aerial photo. ‘A number of interpretations of this layout are possible, including that of a labyrinth, which was a popular feature of gardens of the 15th and 16th centuries. Labyrinths were often symbolic and it is likely that the plants within the ‘circular borders’ were themselves emblematic of religious or regal qualities.’ To give a sense of how the Lyveden garden may have looked when it was created, the National Trust has established a temporary labyrinth, which people would have used for contemplative walks along the long winding path, by mowing a pattern into the grass.

]]> http://www.crystalkiss.com/lost-tudor-garden-revealed-luftwaffe-spy-pictures-world-war/feed/ 0 http://www.crystalkiss.com/amazing-images-that-is-out-of-this-world/ http://www.crystalkiss.com/amazing-images-that-is-out-of-this-world/#comments Sun, 20 Sep 2009 12:14:26 +0000 admin http://www.crystalkiss.com/?p=656

This colourful nebular, known as the Gabriela Mistral Nebula, contains a mass of giant, hot young stars. The bright colours are caused by different chemical elements found in the nebula as energy released from the stars excites the atoms and causes them to glow with different colours of light. It is named after the Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral as it is thought to bear a striking resemblance to her in profile

One of the most famous spiral galaxies in the sky, this is the Whirlpool Galaxy, which is around 31 million light years away. It is visible from the Earth just by using binoculars, but it is only when viewed in high magnification that its spiral structure becomes clear. A dwarf galaxy known as Messier 51b, seen on the bottom left arm of the spiral, is interacting with the Whirlpool Galaxy. It is thought that the gravity forces from the Whirlpool Galaxy have caused Messier 51b to become highly distorted

This blood red image of the moon was taken during a total lunar eclipse seen in Sydney. The moon gradually glides into the Earth’s shadow, until the normally pale white colour disappears and is replaced by an orange and red hue. This is caused by sunlight being refracted around the edge of the Earth, through the atmosphere. Blue light from the sun tends to be scattered by the atmosphere so the light that reaches the surface of the moon during a lunar eclipse is predominantly red

Taken on Mosfellsheioi, between Reykjavik and Thingvellir, in Iceland, an observer watches a dramatic display of the Aurora Borealis light up the sky. Auroras are at their most spectacular at times of high activity on the surface of the sun. A stream of electrically charged particles are ejected from the sun during solar storms, creating the solar wind. Particles in the solar wind become trapped in the magnetic field around the Earth and collide with gas atoms, causing them to release energy in the form of bright light. The colours produced generally depend on the type of gas atoms being producing the light – green and red colours are generally produced by nitrogen and oxygen, the most abundant gases in the atmosphere, while helium produces a purple colour and neon produces rare orange flares

Our closest neighbour in close-up. This year marks 400 years since a telescope was first used to observe the Moon and 40 years since mankind first set foot on the lunar surface. In this picture the moon is partially in the shadow of the Earth, with the 52 mile wide Tycho crater towards the bottom. The Copernicus crater can be seen to the centre left. The Sea of Serenity and Sea of Tranquility, which are actually large basaltic plains formed by ancient volcanic eruptions, are the large dark patches in the centre.

The Pelican Nebula is another star forming region. Two bright blue, extremely hot and massive stars can be clearly seen surrounded by a pink haze of hydrogen gas which is the remnants of the cloud that formed the stars. With huge amounts of strong UV light and radiation in the region, it is an extremely hostile and violent place

Another striking image of the Milky Way, this time stretching above the volcanic peaks of La Palma in the Canary Islands. Famed for its dark skies, the observatories on the island enjoy a rare and unspoiled view of the heavens. With national Dark Sky Parks now being established here in the UK, this is the kind of view that British astronomers may eventually hope to experience themselves

The long, wispy structure in the centre of this image is known as the Elephant Trunk Nebula. It is a concentration of gas and dust around 2,400 light years away from Earth. It is believed to be the site of star formation, containing very young stars that have been born as gas and dust clumped together to form stars

Two youngsters, illuminated by a red flash, look out across a dark valley at the Milky Way, the galaxy which hosts our own solar system. Visible with the naked eye, the Milky May appears as a hazy band of white light that arches across the night sky. Using special photographic filters, it is possible to reveal more of the detail of the galaxy. It is thought to be about 100,000 light years in diameter and contains more than 200 billion stars. Our own sun resides on one of the galaxy’s outer spiral arms, about 27,000 light years from the centre of the galaxy

The clear skies needed to capture an image like this of the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, are rare in Iceland. Using a relatively long exposure the foreground shows up as being illuminated by the streaks of colour in the sky caused by streams of particles from the sun exciting gas atoms in the Earth’s atmosphere

The Orion Nebula is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth. It can be seen with the naked eye as a fuzzy patch just below Orion’s belt and is one of the brightest nebulae in the sky. It is located around 1,340 light years from Earth and is around 24 light years across. The bright point at the centre of the image, which looks like a giant bubble with a hole in it, is known as a stellar nursery where a cluster of brand new stars have formed.

This is known to be one of the most colourful areas in our galaxy. The bright blue cluster at the top of the image is the star Rho Ophiuchi and its surrounding stars contained within a cloud of dust and gas that reflects the blue light they emit. The yellow cloud is Antares, a red supergiant star some 700 times larger in diameter than our own sun

While a year ago, some 72 out of 158 nations surveyed by the international watchdog group Transparency International were classified as “corrupt,” now 74 of 163 countries fall into the same category. A few, most notably India, managed to bootstrap themselves (just barely) out of the truly corrupt group, while others, particularly Iran, dug themselves more firmly into that camp.

Haiti

The police continue to be a central factor in corruption in Haiti, though there is corruption in virtually every governmental body. Since the police are also the officials closest to every individual on a daily basis, it is their corruption that changes the nature of daily life in Haiti, permeating all society and the way business is done.

There continues to be a general lack of engagement between the government and civil society as repression, corruption throughout government ranks and especially in the judiciary and political circles persists, often spilling over into the private sector. In March, the new military-backed government jailed at least 40 prominent business and
government leaders from two of the leading political parties in what was described as an ongoing probe of corruption, but TI officials are little impressed. Still, after five straight years at the top of the list, Bangladesh has signed the United Nations convention against corruption and has now dropped to No. 8.

One of the world’s smallest oil powers, it is also among the most corrupt. Still, possibly under pressure from the major oil companies that operate there, particularly Exxon Mobil, things have improved a trifle, though the corrupt President Teodoro Obiang Nguema remains in power. Now, though, it’s becoming possible to operate a business on a reasonable basis, provided one accepts that 30% of all funds, including oil profits go straight into the pocket of Nguema. Still, the system of corruption now is more rational and orderly than the previous system that amounted to near-total anarchy.