bhs (370)
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Alpena - Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary
press L to view in Light Box
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Medina of Tunisi
Into the city of Tunisi - Old Medina
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Just About There!
Lake Wakatipu, on the way to Glenorchy. Central Otago, New Zealand, day 6 Oct 26, 2011 on our trip down south.
'Using my Pentax' I used both camera's to see what differents there may be!
Queenstown is a resort town in Otago in the south-west of New Zealand's South Island. It is built around an inlet called Queenstown Bay on Lake Wakatipu, a long thin Z-shaped lake formed by glacial processes, and has spectacular views of nearby mountains.
William Gilbert Rees, along with fellow explorer Nicholas Von Tunzelman, were the first Europeans to settle the area. Rees was in search of pastoral land, and after an initial visit returned in 1860 to establish a high country farm in the location of Queenstown's current town centre. However the Rees’ farming lifestyle was to be short-lived. In 1862 gold was discovered in the Arrow River, a short distance from Queenstown at which point Rees converted his wool shed into a hotel named the Queen's Arms, now known as Eichardt's.
There are various apocryphal accounts of how the town was named, the most popular suggesting that a local gold digger exclaimed that the town was "fit for Queen Victoria". It is now known for its commerce-oriented tourism, especially adventure and ski tourism.
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Lake Wakatipu, Nicholas Von Tunzelman, Queenstown Bay, Central Otago, Otago, New Zealand, New Zealand, Queenstown, Queenstown, resort town, Rees, Rees, Rees, Queen Victoria, Wakatipu, South Island, town centre, Queen's Arms, 6 Oct 26, 2011
Frank, right, and Jamie McCourt share a few laughs with former Dodgers manager Tom Lasorda while being introduced as the new owners of the Dodgers in 2004. At the time, many believed the ownership change would push the team in a positive direction. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times / January 29, 2004)
For sale: a baseball team with a storied history but less-than-stellar recent past. Its name resonates across generations but needs some TLC. Has great location and potential to generate billions in TV rights fees. Inquire with Blackstone Advisory Partners.
If all goes according to the terms of a settlement between Major League Baseball and owner Frank McCourt, the Dodgers will be sold in the next several months, with Blackstone brokering the deal for McCourt. Fans, including some who stayed away from Chavez Ravine to protest McCourt, are eager to know who the next owner will be and what direction the Dodgers will take.
Will this person or corporation have the passion and resources to restore the Dodgers' good name? Or will the new owner seek fame or real-estate riches and make only cosmetic fixes to the image McCourt tarnished?
"Because he did such a poor job the last few years kind of running that franchise into the ground, just by virtue of what fans had to deal with the last two years makes whoever is coming in look like a white knight," said Patrick Rishe, associate professor of economics at the Walker School of Business at Webster University in St. Louis and a part-time Los Angeles resident.
Not long ago, McCourt appeared to be the savior who would rescue the Dodgers from the cold clutches of Fox's News Corp. But things changed quickly when he and his wife, Jamie, split, and the Dodgers' situation ended up worse than before.
New ownership can bring positive changes, but — as with Fox's sale to McCourt — things can sometimes go sour.
The ultimate positive transformation was performed on the New York Yankees, who languished under CBS' ownership before a group led by George Steinbrenner bought them in 1973. Steinbrenner, who exploited free agency and recognized the value of TV rights, turned the Yankees into a headline-grabbing winner and international brand. His group paid about $8.8 million; the Yankees were valued at $1.7 billion by Forbes this year.
Dire circumstances led Mario Lemieux to rescue the Pittsburgh Penguins by taking an ownership stake in 1999 instead of money he was owed by the bankrupt team. The Penguins won the Stanley Cup in 2009 under Lemieux, who engineered their move to a new arena with better revenue streams.
Among small-market teams, the best example of a new owner's beneficial impact is Peter Holt's purchase of the NBA's San Antonio Spurs for $75 million in 1993. The Spurs are now worth more than $400 million and have won four titles under his ownership.
Robert Kraft's 1994 purchase of the New England Patriots is considered the model rejuvenation of the last 20 years. The Patriots were 14-50 the four seasons before he bought them for $175 million and have since won five conference championships and three Super Bowl titles. He privately financed a new stadium and developed the surrounding area, raising the franchise's valuation to $1.4 billion in Forbes' estimates.
"In football, what the Krafts have done in New England is nothing short of phenomenal," said Robert Boland, a professor of sports business at New York University's Tisch Center. "It's probably the single biggest turnaround in that sport."
In other cases, though, new ownership sent teams in the wrong direction.
Trucking magnate Jerry Moyes bought the Phoenix Coyotes in 2005 but soon wanted out. However, the NHL blocked his attempts to sell them to an owner who would move them and he filed for bankruptcy in 2009. The NHL bought the Coyotes and still operates them.
The Phoenix Suns have struggled since penny-pinching Robert Sarver bought them in 2004 for $404 million, and Michael Jordan hasn't duplicated his on-court magic as an owner of the Charlotte Bobcats. Stephen Ross bought a half-interest in the Miami Dolphins in 2008 and most of the rest in 2009, but the team is 16-25 the last two-plus seasons. Dan Snyder's ownership of the Washington Redskins has been a mess, with seven coaching changes in 12 seasons.
"All the money in the world and he has proven willing to spend it but hasn't spent it wisely," Scott Rosner, associate director of the Wharton Sports Business Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania said of Snyder.
"He's very involved in the day-to-day operations of the team, which is his right as the owner. It's just not necessarily the most intelligent thing to do."
Looking at the last 10 to 15 years, ownership changes involving the Dallas Mavericks, Boston Celtics and Boston Red Sox have produced triumphant turnarounds. Even the most anxious Dodgers fan can take hope from those sales.
"Ownership of a pro sports team is a very diversified business. Your customers are your fans, but your product is winning and winning as relatively cheaply as you can, so you have to maintain the right balance of players and stars and evaluate your talent accordingly," Boland said.
"A lot of owners fall in love with their players and overvalue their own players and mess up the payroll that way, or they don't fall enough in love with them and hate them all. It's a very complex business and some of it is knowing when do you break ties and when to produce stability, and knowing when the heck to get out of the way of your own management people with new and great ideas, and be able to adapt to the changing dynamics."
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Big Steam through Cajon Pass
Union Pacific #844, the last steam locomotive built for the Union Pacific Railroad, makes it's way east through the famous Cajon Pass in California. Having just crossed over from the UP line to the BNSF line it approaches Cajon Summit.
I can't think of the last time it was to Southern California, if ever. 100's of railfans clogged the roads and hills to get a shot. I got lucky and climbed high up on a hill to avoid everyone and grab this shot as the sun broke through.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Pacific_844
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Cathdrale Notre-Dame-et-Saint-Castor de Nmes
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NWC34 | Fannish Fetish Fashion Show 142
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Attack...
Slightly edited shot of Killer Birds in Amsterdam. Taken with my Sony HX1.
Yesterday I went downtown to take some photos of the best city in the world, and with shock and horror I had to realize that my beloved Amsterdam has fallen prey to an extremely aggressive flock of birds that attacks anybody who dares coming close to them...the moment I pulled my camera out and pointed it at the scenery, a big, sky-darkening group of Pigeons and Seagulls swarmed down on me, snatched the camera from my shaking hands, hit me over the head with it, grabbed me by my shirt with their sharp, breadcrumb-covered beaks, and dragged me off into the sky, towards their giant nest, to feed me to their hungry, greedy baby-birds as an afternoon snack.
Kicking and screaming, I tried to fight back, but soon had to realize that there were too many of them, and as if being fed to little birds wasn't wicked and vicious enough yet, I noticed that they are actually armed to the teeth with man-made cannons that were originally intended for decorating the city center, but have now been turned against the human population of Amsterdam...oh the horror and humiliation! Luckily these are modern birds, and they have a working WiFi connection installed in their home, so I'll keep you informed of my not-too-awesome situation while being nibbled on by our little feathered friends...could be worse I'd say, lol ;-D
Have a relaxed Sunday, and beware of the birds!
I've made a movie of the Killer Birds as well, watch it on my YouTube channel, thanks :)
Movie
Amsterdam photos
Wicked reflections
www.amstersam.com
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Aaarrrggghhhhh!
Help!
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View of the Eiffel Tower from the top of the arc de Triomphe
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Small Stream in the Ardennes
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MTV Battalion 18
Fire Fighters particpated in the annual Alisa Ann Ruch Burn Foundation Peninsula Burn Relay in August 2011, presenting funds raised throughout the year to the Foundation.
During this event active duty apparatus, reserve apparatus, and privately owned vintage apparatus travel "Code 3" from Moffet Field Fire Station at the NASA Ames Research Center to San Francisco under heavy Police Escort. They stop at the various Fire Departments along the way for presentation ceremonies.
Mountain View Battalion 18 sits onthe Apron of Fire Station 1 during the stop at Mountain View. This rig was replaced a couple of months later.
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Bride
model & MUA: gioia
strobist: 1 beauty dish with Sigma EF 530DG Super inside (1/4 power over subject 1mt)
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Chinese alligators (Alligator sinensis)
On display in Ocean Park, Hong Kong
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Guggenheim Curves
I haven't been inside yet, but this is the first time I've walked past, stopped, and looked at the building's exterior for any length of time. In the past, I've only quickly passed in a cab or car.
Solomon R. guggenheim museum.
New York City, New York, USA.
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BAGHDAD—A struggle between Iraq's political factions is sowing divisions in the country's security forces just weeks before the last U.S. troops depart, as Iraqis rely on a unified force to hold the country together and suppress extremist violence.
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Associated Press
U.S. soldiers boarded a plane to leave Iraq at al-Asad Air Base west of Baghdad last week. All U.S. forces are set to leave the country by Dec. 31.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a member of the majority Shiite sect, has in recent weeks accelerated measures to purge the Iraqi forces of anyone who served in the intelligence and security services of the former Sunni-led regime of Saddam Hussein.
Dozens of Sunni officers were expelled last month and more dismissals are planned, according to interviews with officers and copies of decrees viewed by The Wall Street Journal and confirmed by the Interior Ministry.
While some of the Sunni officers were accused of serving in Hussein's "repressive apparatuses," some were simply called on for "early retirement," and others were dismissed under vague accusations of associating with terrorists.
In another move that shook the Iraqi security services, Mr. Maliki—the acting interior minister—ordered the arrests on Oct. 23 of what he said were "many" army and police officers among more than 600 people accused of plotting to overthrow his government.
At the same time, Mr. Maliki is delaying appointments to top posts that oversee the security forces, now almost one-million strong including the army and police. Mr. Maliki continues to run the ministries of defense, interior and national security himself or through party and sectarian allies, contravening an agreement with Sunni-dominated and Kurdish political blocs that formed the current coalition government more than 10 months ago.
With the U.S. departure imminent, any new fissures in the security services will make it harder for Iraq's army and police to keep the peace and defend the country's borders.
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Yet the prime minister's moves have triggered countermoves by his Sunni political rivals that are threatening to further fragment the country. The leaders of Salahuddin Province, a predominantly Sunni area north of Baghdad, said last month they would begin the process of becoming a semiautonomous region—complaining that, among other things, they wanted to be better represented in the security services, both in rank and file and executive positions.
Sunni Arab politicians and tribal leaders from several provinces, including Salahuddin, met at parliament in Baghdad on Wednesday to air grievances that included what they see as inadequate representation in senior posts in the security forces.
In a statement issued at the meeting's end, they referred to a "dangerous structural flaw" in relations between the provinces and the central government. Parliament Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi, a Sunni Arab, warned about "using the army as a tool in the hands of some politicians."
The ethnic and sectarian polarization of Iraqi politics puts immense pressure on security forces that, in the years after Hussein's fall, endured a civil war that transformed elements of their ranks into sectarian death squads in the service of politicized militias.
The U.S. military presence has served as a buffer against Iraqi politicians who may seek to control elements of the security services to give muscle to their own factions. "We remain split over the country's most fundamental issues," said a general in the country's federal police based in Baghdad. "The Americans are a balancing factor."
Unifying the services' disparate units and ragtag brigades into a coherent security force remains very much a work in progress. The U.S. military has led this process in the aftermath of Washington's decision to disband the Iraqi army in 2003—now widely recognized as an ill-fated move that helped fuel the insurgency.
Yet many of the targets of the effort to purge the army and police of former Hussein loyalists are people who had been reintegrated into the services as part of a U.S.-backed program to foster national reconciliation and weaken the Sunni insurgency, according to Deputy Interior Minister Hussein Kamal.
But the unifying role of the U.S. is fast coming to an end. As of Friday, about 32,000 American forces remained in Iraq—compared to 171,000 at the height of the war in 2007—all of them set to leave by Dec. 31.
Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan, spokesman for U.S. troops in Iraq expressed confidence in the Iraqi forces' ability to maintain security. "They have not stepped away from any challenge or any fight since taking over security throughout the nation, ensuring every incident they're presented with is quickly contained," he said. He deferred questions about the polarization of the forces to the Iraqi government.
Mr. Maliki's aides said the prime minister has delayed doling out top ministry posts because of fears of a coup attempt arising from the security services. "It's impossible for the prime minister to accept anyone he does not trust," said his media adviser Ali al-Mussawi.
In Diyala Province, a highly volatile area near Baghdad, the Interior Ministry issued an order to dismiss 32 Sunni officers from the police force on grounds including allegedly collaborating with terrorists and having a role in one of Hussein's paramilitary forces. The order was implemented last month, around the same time that the last U.S. soldiers in Diyala left the province.
Mr. Kamal, the deputy interior minister, described the order as a routine administrative matter that had nothing to do with the U.S. departure or Iraqi politics. But the timing hasn't been lost on the Sunni officers.
"This order was issued after the U.S. pullout [from the province] to gauge reaction" by Sunnis, said Maj. Abbas Ghaidan Khalaf, one of the dismissed officers. "If there's no reaction, then you'll see more marginalization of [Sunnis] until there are not even street sweepers from this sect."
There has been ample reaction. Adnan al-Karkhi, a member of the Diyala provincial council, warned after the dismissals, "The lack of balance [in the security forces] will keep the province in the vicious circle of violence and instability."
The dismissal order says Maj. Khalaf and two others were fired "because their brothers are terrorists," without providing evidence.
Maj. Khalaf said two of his siblings are active duty police officers, one of whom survived several suicide bombings. A third sibling is a local government employee. The fourth, a lieutenant in the Interior ministry's intelligence unit, was assassinated two weeks ago.
Another incident in Diyala in October also offered a reminder of the country's political divisions, this one related to Kurds serving in the security forces. Kurdish recruits report to, and are paid by, the central government, of which Kurds are a part. But their ultimate loyalty is to the political leadership of the semiautonomous region of Kurdistan in the north, which keeps its own security force.
An order from the central government to remove Kurdish flags from public buildings in the town of Khanaqin, one of several disputed territories in northern Iraq claimed by both Kurds and Arabs, was challenged by the predominantly Kurdish local police. Baghdad backed down, but tensions remain.
U.S. forces have played a critical role in tamping down such tensions in these contested areas and fostering collaboration between Arabs and Kurds. The Kurdistan region's President Masoud Barzani warned in a recent interview with Dubai-based al-Arabiya channel that the U.S. withdrawal at year's end might give way to an "open-ended civil war," with nobody there to stop it.
—Ali A. Nabhan contributed to this article.
KABUL—A roadside bomb killed a district police chief and his two bodyguards in a restive southern province in the second attack in as many days targeting local authorities in Afghanistan, police officials said Monday.
The roadside bomb in Helmand exploded as Mohammad Saifullah, the police chief in the province's Garm Ser district, was driving by Sunday night, said Helmand provincial police chief Mohammad Hakim Angar. All three men were killed by the blast.
The province is one of Afghanistan's most violent, and sits in the heart of the Taliban's traditional stronghold in the south.
Security responsibilities in Helmand's capital have already been handed over to Afghan forces by NATO, as part of the U.S.-led coalition's plan to withdraw its combat troops from the country by the end of 2014. Two other districts in the province are being recommended for a coming second phase of handovers, but Garm Ser isn't among them.
The police official's death comes a day after a suicide bomber blew himself up among worshippers concluding prayers on the first day of a main Islamic holiday, killing seven people including two local police officials, in the northern province of Baghlan. A second would-be suicide bomber was captured before detonating his explosives.
The attacks are part of the insurgency's strategy of targeting Afghan government and security officials, and raise questions about Afghan security forces' ability to take on the Taliban by themselves after NATO withdraws its combat forces.
The U.S.-led coalition has said it has made significant gains in curtailing the Taliban's strength.
The coalition's push in the south of the country, the Taliban's traditional stronghold, has to a degree lessened the violence. But it has also pushed them to other parts of the country where attacks had been less common.
In the eastern province of Nangarhar's Behsud district, a combined Afghan and NATO force killed one Afghan and wounded another during an operation targeting a Taliban facilitator who provided logistical support and weapons to insurgents in the area, NATO said in a statement Monday. Two suspected insurgents were detained. The statement didn't make clear whether the man killed was a suspected insurgent.
Afghanistan's eastern border with Pakistan is a particular source of concern for NATO. The area is rife with militant activity, including the al Qaeda and Taliban-linked Haqqani network that operates from what Afghan and coalition officials say are safe havens in Pakistan.
Also in the east, NATO said an Afghan male was shot dead by a joint coalition-Afghan force after he failed to comply with orders and "displayed hostile intent toward the security force." The incident occurred as the troops were searching for a Haqqani facilitator in Badakshan province's Argo district, NATO said.
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Ballast Bank
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Entrance to Greenland Dock
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Juist - Oktober 2011
Sonnenaufgang Teil 2. Sunrise part 2.
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Southerndown Beach
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REALTY CHECK
A vacant, former meat-processing plant will soon blossom into a six-story office/retail jewel with a dramatic glass-and-steel crown across the street from the Standard Hotel.
Taconic Investment Partners (which sold 111 Eighth Ave. to Google for nearly $2 billion) and partner Square Mile Capital Management are poised to start work on the striking project at 837 Washington St. between Little West 12th and West 13th Streets.
The half-block-long site is currently occupied by an empty two-story structure where railings for meat hooks still hang. A vestige of the scary Meatpacking District depicted in the serial-killer thriller “Cruising,” it sports obsolete signs for frozen oxtails, tripe and beef livers.
Lois Weiss
Paul Pariser
But Taconic plans to start next spring on a 54,000 square-foot transformation that will top the existing structure with a twisting, 4-story “exoskeleton” designed by Morris Adjmi, who was also the architect for nearby projects, including the High Line Building at 450 W. 14th St.
Taconic’s project will have 27,000 square feet of retail on the first three floors and 27,000 feet of offices above it. It likely won’t have to struggle for tenants in the white-hot district astride the High Line Park, bursting with hip hotels, fashion boutiques, restaurants and clubs.
Taconic co-CEO Paul Pariser said, “We’re hoping for [one] fabulous user” to lease the whole building, perhaps from the worlds of fashion or entertainment. He estimated the development cost at $400 “and up” per square foot. The job should be finished by the end of 2013.
Pariser said he’ll probably seek a rent “approaching $600” on the 8,000 square-foot ground floor. He declined to put a number on the value of a blended rent for the whole building.
The project has received the blessing of the Landmarks Preservation Commission. It will have 10-foot high ceilings, terraces and a roof deck offering expansive views.
There’s almost too much energy in the MPD to keep track of. Romanoff Equities plans a new, 10-story building a block north of Taconic’s site. CB Richard Ellis retail specialist Susan Kurland, who isn’t involved at either property, says, “The area isn’t only about restaurants and night life. Both luxury store tenants and national chains are kicking the tires.”
Like Pariser, Kurland cited the new Whitney Museum on Gansevoort Street, set to open in 2014, as a powerful engine of transformation: “It will change everything,” she said.
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Cesare Casella’s Salumeria Rosi Parmacotto is expanding to the fanciest part of the Upper East Side. The insanely popular Italian restaurant and gourmet shop, which opened on Amsterdam Avenue a few years ago, will soon launch an outpost at 903 Madison Ave. between East 72-73rd Streets.
Both Casella and landlord Friedland Properties have been quiet about it. But a notice posted in the window for a Community Board 8 hearing for a wine-and-beer license application let the salumi out of the bag.
Casella acknowledged having a lease but declined to discuss plans. A flier for Friedland says the ground-floor space has a total 1,377 square feet.
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In upper Madison Avenue’s never-settled retail whirlwind, two new stores -- eyewear designer Robert Marc and swimwear stylist Malia Mills -- are coming to 1225 Madison between East 88th-89th Streets.
The rents are $300 per square foot for Robert Marc’s 1,076 square feet and $326 a square foot for Malia Mills’ tiny 395 square feet. Prudential Douglas Elliman’s Faith Hope Consolo and Joseph A. Aquino brokered the deals for the landlord and for Robert Marc; Judson Realty repped Malia Mills.
The stores are the third and fourth new tenants in the recently reconfigured six-store blockfront.
scuozzo@nypost.com
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