Category: Misc

2021 PBR World Finals XXVIII – Day 1

At long last, after the disruption caused by the Pandemic, Las Vegas is once more hosting the PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast (3-7 November, 2021). The Finals have been most eagerly awaited both by the participants and the fans all over the world. This is no doubt the best contest where Man’s will, dexterity, agility and brain tactics are pitted against the sheer brute force of the bucking bull! As such the contests attract innumerable millions of loyal followers who, if not lucky enough to attend in person, will be glued to the screen.

Taking part are many of the most famous names in the sport: e.g. Cooper Davis, Jess Lockwood, Cody Jesus, Daylin Swearingen, Robson Palermo and many more. Besides the actual contests, there is also lots more fun for those attending in person. There are numerous behind-the-scenes tours & chances for close-up photos with the Riders and also the bulls. There are the extremely popular shows like Flint’s Outside the Barrel Stage Show and plenty more

Eli Vastbinder scored the highest score in the first night. here are some of the round 1. Here are high lights of Round 1

November 5, 2021
2019 PBR World Finals XXVI, Round 2
Tonight, 2019 PBR World Finals XXVI continues in round 2. Bull riding is perhaps the fiercest and most grueling of sports, especially when we consider that the test of a competitor’s skill requires no more than to hold on and ‘stay put’ for a mere eight seconds! But these are indeed eight seconds like no other when the staying put is on a bull bucking like mad to get the unwanted rider off its back! Depending on the rider’s prior experience and level of training as well as skill, those eight seconds are bound to feel very different from any other. They might well feel like eighty seconds not eight!

Bulls

After all, this is the ultimate contest between the sheer brute force of the beast (weighing on average over 600 kgs with some bulls weighing a colossal 995 kgs) and the human brain of the rider! No amount of physical strength, prowess or agility serves the rider in such contests as much as his wits. To ensure success, he needs above all to forestall the movements of the beast and out-maneuver it. The difficulty is compounded by the fact that the rider, holding the fiercely bucking bull by the rope in one hand, must not at any time touch himself or the bull by the other free hand.

Bull Breeding

Bull breeding is a lucrative business in its own right but is more so now than ever before, with developments in the science of genetics playing a significant role! Some are already grumbling about the unfair advantage it gives the bulls over the riders! In the past after contests, winning bulls were simply retired to stud farms. Now over and above natural breeding, their sperm is on offer for sale while some have even been cloned! A sperm specimen from a world-wide famous bull like Bushwacker, for instance, sells for up to $3,000; the arithmetics become all the more staggering when one learns that as many as 300 samples can be collected in one session! A promising bull can sell for anything between $50,000 to $250,000! According to the Professional Bucking Bull Association, the industry has grown by 500 percent. “Entry fees are up, and prices are ten times higher than they were ten years ago”. Prize money has likewise shot up to the skies; the top winners this year will scoop two millions!.

Here are some highlights of this round:

Cody Jesus

Round 2 results:
- Cody Jesus
- Eduardo Aparecido
- Cody Teel
For more information please see the following link:

https://www.pbr.com/results?eventId=168701&season=2019
November 7, 2019
2019 PBR World Finals XXVI

History

Before we present the adrenaline charged action of the PBR 2019 World Finals, in T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, we ask our dear readers’ permission to give a very brief bird’s eye view of what is at stake by way of starters. For our regular followers, this will enhance the excitement and whet their appetite for the pleasures of the coming events, the awaited four-day main course to be followed by a fifth of announcement of winners & celebrations. For those who are new to the sport, it introduces a few pieces of necessary information.

This year’s PBR World Finals XXVI contests are number 26 as the Latin numerals indicate. Twenty-six years ago, in 1992 to be precise, twenty American Rodeo athletes provided $1000 each and set up the professional body that organized and arranged the bull-riding contests which evolved into to-day’s World Finals. $20,000 may seem little by to-day’s standards but, in its day, was a hefty sum not to be sneezed at. Nowadays professional bull-riding is a multi-million dollars sport drawing athletes and fans not only from the two Americas but from all over the world. The contests are watched by new and veteran fans who cross continents and oceans to attend in person. Millions more watch the action on tele, with many networks airing the events; others watch the action on tablets or other smart devices.

The Competition

Bull riders are usually clad in traditional cowboy outfits with protective vests made of special high quality foam to lessen the impact of a fall, if one occurs, and leather chaps to protect the legs and thighs. To protect against rope burn, a rider also wears a leather glove on the hand that holds the rope. Mouth guards are optional on the professional level. Cowboy hats are the norm but wearing helmets is on the increase among adult riders. Young riders, that is those under 18 years of age, have to wear helmets and facial ice hockey like masks for extra protection. The beast has only the 5/8″ flank strap which is made of soft cotton and is wrapped under its hind legs supposedly to encourage it to buck. This innocuous strap has, in the past, caused much wrangling as animal rights activists wrongly thought that it was tied round the animal’s testicles.

Four judges are entrusted with giving points to the riders and four judged give points to the bulls. Each of the four judges gives up to 25 points for the rider’s performance. The bull is also given scores of up to 25 points by each judge for its effort. Then all four scores are combined and the total divided in half; this becomes the official score.

Round 1 Results and Highlights

Eduardo Aparecido

Chase Outlaw

Dalton Kasel

Cody Teel

Jose Vitor Leme

For more information please see the following link:

https://www.pbr.com/sites/default/files/2018-12/Section_01_PBR_basics_2018.pdf

https://www.pbr.com/page/332686/media-guide

https://www.pbr.com/results?eventId=168701

November 6, 2019
The Invisible Light: Infrared & Ultraviolet Photography

To understand these techniques & use them successfully, we need first to understand the light spectrum. The colors the naked human eye normally sees, which range from violet to deep red, form a small part of it; they occupy light wavelengths ranging from around 380 nanometers (nm) to 750 nm. Wavelengths which are shorter become Ultraviolet and those which are longer become Infrared. All the photos that we have taken so far in our capacity as amateur or professional photographers, from when the camera was first invented (1816) up to recent days, have utilized that small part of the light spectrum. From black and white images (1826) the move to color photography (1861) was hailed as a great improvement, which indeed it was. But nowadays, creativity has moved far beyond that and modern technology is opening ever wider doors into realms undreamed of before. When technology weds art, the result becomes utterly fantastic and even unearthly! This is what Infrared (IR) and Ultraviolet (UV) photography is all about. It allows photographers to capture what the naked eye cannot see and what ordinary cameras are not designed to capture. In fact, cameras are normally fitted with filters to screen off those wavelengths.

This brings us to what you need in order to get the results you seek to achieve with Infrared and/or Ultraviolet photography. Short of buying a new camera, one easy & inexpensive solution is to acquire a filter to place in front of the lens of the camera you already have. After experimenting with it and once you are convinced that this is the way forward for you, you can have your camera converted to the technique you desire. It will cost you but will still be less expensive than an outright new camera. The only snag is once converted there is no way back; your camera cannot revert to its old practices.

Infrared photography began in the early years of the 20th century and proved very useful during WWI and later in WWII as well. But it was the introduction of digital cameras in the late 1990s that weighed decisively in favor of these modern techniques. Infrared photos are easily recognizable by their eerie and otherworldly glowing whites and jet-black contrasts or by their strange colors. Because it reveals what the eye normally cannot see and in quite strong contrasts, infrared photography has proved itself extremely useful in forensic investigations. In the film industry, it is responsible for numerous surreal or otherworldly effects. When IR photography is used, almost everything looks extremely different from what it looks like within the visible light spectrum and, in short, this is what constitutes its magic. One good piece of advice, however, is to remember always that living entities, trees, foliage or a butterfly, reflect a greater amount of infrared light than inanimate objects such as concrete walls or mountains.

Ultraviolet photography uses light from the Ultraviolet (UV) spectrum only. “There are two ways to use UV radiation to take photographs – reflected ultraviolet and ultraviolet induced fluorescence photography.” The first is most useful in medicine, especially dermatology, in botany and in forensic investigation etc. The sun is the source here, a natural source which is readily available, except on cloudy or rainy days. But UV induced fluorescence photography must take place in a darkened room. In this case, it is not enough to use a filter, as in infrared photography. The camera must be modified, and UV capable lenses must be fitted.

Ultraviolet photography gives fascinating results especially with flowers and insects. It reveals in flowers, for instance, patterns hidden from the human eye but seen only by insects who are being attracted as pollinators. This is like opening new doors of perception, allowing us, humans, to experience the world around us in ways never explored before. It allows us literally to have a bird’s or an insect’s eye view of the world around us.

Using this technique, some photographers have certainly produced photos that are stunningly beautiful thereby transforming ordinary blooms into things out of this world. One such photographer is Craig Burrows who lives and practices in Southern California. According to Craig, flowers, plants and leaves are all naturally fluorescing when exposed to sunlight, but the naked eye cannot see that because of the intensity of the reflected visible light. In other words, ultraviolet photography is giving us a truer view of the flowers than our eyes can give us. Truth, trick or art, whichever way you look upon it, the results are breathtakingly beautiful even without any photo processing as switching color channels.

For more information, please see the following links:

https://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/technique/camera_skills

article by Alex Morrison at https://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-do-surreal-digital

Using Ultraviolet Light to Make Nature Fluorescence in Photos by Don Komarechka in https://petapixel.com/2017/09/21/using-ultraviolet-light

article by Dunja Djudjic at https://www.diyphotography.net/photographer-takes-photos-flowers

wikipedia

September 9, 2019
Yellowstone National Park in Summer

Yellowstone National Park was the first of its kind to be established in the USA (1872). Many regard it as the first in the world but there is evidence that the Bogd Khan Mountain National Park in Mongolia, which may date as early as 1778, preceded it. Yellowstone was designated a UNESCO biosphere reserve in 1976 and a World Heritage site in 1978. [Kenneth Pletcher, Yellowstone National Park, Encyclopaedia Brittanica: https://www.brittanica.com/place/Yellowstone-National-Park] It occupies some 2.2 million acres in northwestern Wyoming and southwestern Montana. Yellowstone sits on a high plateau averaging 8,000 feet in elevation. The Park forms the core of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) which comprises approximately 18 million acres of land in 3 states: Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. “This area is the last intact contiguous temperate ecosystem in the world”. It still contains nearly all of the living organisms which teamed in pre-Columbian times, though perhaps not in the same numbers.

This unique ecosystem, with its biodiversity and geothermal features, is closely related to the geologic history of the Park. Glaciation, tectonic activity and volcanic eruptions have shaped the landscape and life within the Park for millions of years. After all it sits on top of the caldera of a supervolcano! In the last 2 million years, it is thought that 3 gigantic eruptions occurred which account for much of its geographic, geologic and demographic nature to-day. It is unique in the abundance of geothermal features: a whopping 10,000 in total. It has 500 active geysers which is more than 55% of the geysers in the whole world! This fact becomes all the more staggering when one finds out that Russia has only 200, New Zealand about 40, Chile 38 and Iceland 25. [Thermal Biology Institute, TBI, An Overview of Yellowstone Geologic History] By far the most spectacular of the Park’s geysers is the Steamboat, the world’s tallest, which is capable of forcing boiling water more than 300 feet into the air. Another equally famous geyser is Old Faithful, the most frequent, erupting approximately every 78 minutes.

Hundreds of species of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and even microbes abound and are studied and documented. The vast forests and grasslands also include unique species of plants. Yellowstone is indeed the largest and most famous megafauna location in the US. Native Americans are known to have lived, hunted and fished in the region as far back as at least 11,000 years ago. They used the obsidian, found in the park in significant quantities, to make cutting tools and weapons. It is amusing, however, that after the official establishment of Yellowstone as a National Park and the appointment of its first superintendent, Nathaniel Langford, that that gentleman had to work for 5 years (1872-1877) without a salary! He was also never given any funding nor the support staff needed to carry out the job! It was after Langford quitted his post in 1877 that Congress finally agreed a salary for the post while also providing a minimal funding!.

Nevertheless even in those early days, Yellowstone National Park had numerous lovers who extolled its beauty and charm. Thus in 1898, the naturalist, John Muir, described the Park as follows: “However orderly your excursions or aimless, again and again amid the calmest, stillest scenery you will be brought to a standstill hushed and awe-stricken before phenomena wholly new to you. Boiling springs and huge deep pools of purest green and azure water, thousands of them, are splashing and heaving in these high, cool mountains as if a fierce furnace fire were burning beneath each one of them; and a hundred geysers, white torrents of boiling water and steam, like inverted waterfalls, are ever and anon rushing out of the hot, black underworld. Such praise helped increase the visitors over the years to the extent that, from 1995 to 2003 Yellowstone National Park was placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger due to the effects of tourism, infection of wildlife, and issues with invasive species.

Another characteristic of this marvelous region is its seismic activity. In fact the Park’s features are the result of the supervolcano underneath it coupled with tectonic movement. Earthquakes are so frequent that many might have, in the past, gone unnoticed. The University of Utah’s seismograph stations detected more than 3,200 earthquakes in the Park in 2010 alone!.

The frequent earthquakes in the Park are sometimes referred to as earthquake swarms because they happen so close upon each other. Thus, for example, in January of that same year, 2010, over 250 earthquakes occurred in a two-day period! The Yellowstone Caldera is the largest volcanic system in North America. It gained the name ‘supervolcano’ because the caldera was formed by 3 exceptionally large and cataclysmic eruptions, the last of which took place more than 600,000 years ago. At present, the caldera is thought to be a single connected chamber about 37 miles (60 km) long, 18 miles (29 km) wide, and 3 to 7 miles (5 to 12 km) deep!.

Yellowstone National Park has one of the world’s largest petrified forests. In such forests, trees which were long ago buried by ash and soil have changed from wood to mineral materials. And as if all this is not enough to tempt visitors, the Park boasts 290 waterfalls, the lowest being at 15 feet, the highest, which is the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River, at 308 feet (94 m). There are 3 deep canyons in the park, cut through the volcanic tuff of the plateau by rivers. Because the seismic activity is none stop and changes do occur all the time, a partnership was started in May 2001 joining the U. S. Geological Survey, the Yellowstone National Park Service and the University of Utah. The goal of the partnership was long-term monitoring of this geologically ever active region as well as the assessment of hazards and the spreading of accurate information thereof. This is also the time the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory was set up to keep an eye on the Park’s dynamic activity. While most do not think an eruption is likely in the near future, it is reassuring to know that everything is being monitored.

Another common hazard in parks and moorlands is wildfire & Yellowstone National Park has had a fair share. But it is pertinent to note that trees & plants indigenous to Yellowstone have adapted to that in numerous way. Thus, for instance Douglas-fir have a thick bark which protects the inner section of the tree from most fires. For some species of trees, notably lodgepole pines, wildfires help clear out dead wood while dispersing the seeds. The National Park Service estimates that in natural conditions, grasslands in Yellowstone burned on average every 20 to 25 years while forests in the park would experience fire about every 300 years. Because of the variation in altitude, different parts of Yellowstone National Park have different temperatures with the lower altitudes being warmer all year-round than the higher. The summer months see millions of visitors with July being the busiest month of the year but guided snowmobile and snow coach tours take place in winter, too. There are 9 visitor centers and museums & a dozen campgrounds are available with more than 2,000 campsites. Hunting is not allowed in Yellowstone National Park although it is permitted in the surrounding national forests during open season. Fishing is allowed but a Yellowstone Park fishing license is required & all indigenous fish species are catch and release only.

There are 5 entrances to Yellowstone National Park, 2 in Montana (Gardiner and Cooke City), 2 in Wyoming (Cody and Jackson Hole) and 1 in Idaho (Island Park). Each of the towns closest to entrances has its attractions and stunning beauty; your choice of entrance depends partly on where you are driving from and partly on the main magnet drawing you to the Park. If, for instance, you are drawn there by a desire to see Mammoth Hot Springs then Gardiner, in Montana, is your best entrance. If it is wildlife you are after then Cooke City is the town for you. If you are after Yellowstone Lake with its numerous geothermal features then Cody, in Wyoming, is the city for you. It is the city founded by Buffalo Bill Cody himself; it celebrates its old western heritage with daily summer rodeos and boasts a fantastic Buffalo Bill Center. But if your intention is to see two national parks in one visit, Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park, then Jackson , Wyoming, is the town for you. Jackson itself is an amazing mountain town which blends beautifully the Old West with modern glamour. It is a very popular destination both in winter, for all types of winter sports, and summer and its friendly people cater for all kinds of visitors with a full range of hotels, guest ranched, fantastic dining and lots of outdoor recreation. The Town Square has the first of Jackson’s famous arches made from the naturally shed elk antlers. The whole family can have lots of fun in Jackson which, besides the usual gift shops and ice-cream parlours, is actually a hub for music, theatre, and art activities. Its National Museum of Wildlife Art has a unique collection of paintings and sculptures. Town Square also has another unique feature: the iconic Million Dollar Cowboy Bar the interior of which is filled with cowboy memorabilia and historic photos etc.

Yellowstone was established as the world’s first national park in 1872 but continued to attract visitors every month of the year. We visited Yellowstone National Park in summer which is the busiest season of the year. In summer, all the roads are open and the whole large park can be navigated easily depending on the NPS Yellowstone National Park app (from the Apple App Store) and local maps/GPS.

For more information, please see the following links:

https://nps.gov/yell/learn/nature/geology.htm

https://www.frommers.com/destinations/yellowstone-national-park/landscape

https://www.yellowstonehikingguides.com

Patry, Marc et.al. (March 11-13, 2003) “The State of Conservation of World Heritage Forests”. Proceedings of the 2nd World Heritage Forest Meeting. Archived. from the original on January 26, 2012.

https://www.audleytravel.com/usa/places-to-go/yellowstone.

https://en.m.wilipedia.org/wiki/Yellowstone_National_Park.

Muir, John (April, 1898). “The Yellowstone National Park”. The Atlantic. Archived from the original on March 12, 2017.

https://traveltips.usatiday.com/towns-bearest-yellowstone-park-54182.html

https://www.yellowstonepark.com/road-trips/hackson-hole-wy

https://www.yellowstonepark.com/park/yellowstone-park-entrances

September 9, 2019
2018 PBR World Finals November 10th/Day4

On day 4 of the 2018 PBR World champion, we continue sharing the photos of the memorable moments of the thrilling event.

Because of the risk of severe injury in this riskiest of sports, riders are required to wear a padded vest to reduce pain and possible injury. They also wear chaps made usually of leather to protect their legs and thighs. The cowboy hat is still the most favored by adult professional bull-riders but helmets are increasingly seen as offering better head safety. A younger competitor which is to say those under the age of 18 have to wear a helmet as well as an ice hockey style face mask. The bull rope is fitted with a braided handle in the middle for grip and bull riders wear leather gloves to protect against rope burn. Cowboy boots with loosely locked spurs are also part of a rider’s outfit. As for the bull, all that is required is the flank strap which is made of soft cotton rope 5/8″ in diameter and which is intended to encourage the bull to use its hind legs in vigorous bucking.

November 12, 2018
2018 PBR World Finals November 9th/Day 3

The 2018 PBR World Finals contests in Las Vegas have been full of breathtaking and hair-raising moments as the riders tenaciously held on to the fiercely bucking bulls! On Day 3 of the 2018 World Final , we have captured those memorable moments on camera and we share them with you.

November 11, 2018
2018 PBR World Finals November 8th/Day 2

In our article last year, “2017 PBR World Finals”, we commented at length on the immense appeal and increasing excitement of this sport which pits highly trained athletes’ wits, mental alertness and agility versus the sheer brute force of the bulls! Its fan base has continued to grow over the years and now counts millions upon millions not only in the two Americas but all over the world. Those who can, travel across the globe to watch the contest in situ while those unable to take the journey watch the contests on the screen. CBS Sports Network and other networks around the globe broadcast PBR contests. PBR televised broadcast viewers are now estimated at half a billion households. In February of this year (2018), a new digital network called RidePass adds hundreds of hours of bull riding and other western sports to anytime availability. It is a fitting addition to to-day’s digital world especially since PBR turned 25 this year! Happy 25th anniversary!.

It is a well-known fact that the ride lasts a mere eight (8) seconds but these are adrenaline-filled seconds like no other. Some animal activist groups think it a cruel sport but actually the riders are more likely to suffer injuries than the bulls. Bulls are money and that ensures that they are well looked after by their owners. Likewise, the athletes know well that it is paramount for them to have a good ride; it means thousands or millions of dollars in their pockets while a bad ride or a fall gets them next to nothing. Yet for most champions the most highly prized reward is to have their name listed in the Ring of Honour, similar to a hall of fame induction, and the $20,000 gold belt buckle.

2018 PBR World Finals contests in Las Vegas have been full if breathtaking and hair-raising moments as the riders tenaciously held on to the fiercely bucking bulls! We have captured those memorable moments on camera and will share them with you. On the second day of the contests, we are glad to report that all the champions left the arena on their feet. At the end of the second day, the 2008 World Champion, Guilherme Marchi (36 years old) announced that with 16 years’ experience of professional bull riding, he was looking forward to the next stage in his career: coaching and training aspiring bull riders in his native Brazil. Meanwhile, J. B. Mauney confirmed the close friendship between those two champions adding that professional bull-riding camaraderie was more like a family bond than competition.

As always happens at this type of sports events, there is more to sample, experience and purchase by way of memento or souvenir. Thus there is PBR Finals Week Western Gift Expo, besides music and song with Vanessa Legrand, and great food and drink specials. All in all, the 2018 PBR World Finals is indeed a most exhilarating sports event offering maximum excitement and a rare chance to meet and mix with some of the best champions in the field.

For more details, please see the following links:
www.ridepass.com
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/professiobal_Bull_Riders
2017 PBR Media Guide, PBR & Bull Riding Basics

November 10, 2018
The 46th Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta presented by Canon

Balloon History

The flight of birds in the sky must have fascinated mankind from times immemorial. To ancient civilizations, to be borne high up in the sky has been a dream; Pharaonic Egypt visualized the dream in ‘solar boats’ by means of which Pharaoh’s soul travelled to the Sun for renewal before returning to its mummified body. But the Chinese seem to have been more practical; L. Ege tells of a missionary who seems to have dug out, from archives in Pekin, evidence that the Chinese have solved “the problem of aerial navigation by means of balloons”. It was probably a development from the airborne lanterns which they had used for military signaling. Europe’s first encounter with this phenomenon was at the battle of Legnica (1241) during the Mongol invasion of Poland. But it took almost five centuries before the first small balloon, made of paper filled with hot air, got lifted about 4 meters in front of King John V & the Portuguese court (1709) by the Brazilian-Portuguese priest, Bartolomeo de Gusmao. However, the following decades saw remarkable & fast developments. France played a pioneering role & from August 1783 onwards had numerous hydrogen-filled balloons take to the skies in front of King Louis XVI & Queen Marie Antoinette. Soon Britain & other countries followed suit but modern ballooning proper, as a sport & for recreation &/or tourism, made great strides in the twentieth century after Edward Yost’s invention of the propane burner which changed balloons from gas to hot air. Synthetic materials & lighter burners were instrumental in that development.

Live but non-human creatures were the first passengers in the history of balloon flights. Thus in September 1783, the Montgolfier brothers, in France, sent a sheep, a duck & a cockerel on a flight which covered 2 miles in 8 minutes before landing safely to the delight of all on board!. In the UK in 1784, the Italian diplomat Vincenzo Lunardi launched his balloon at London’s Artillery Ground with “a dog, a cat and a caged pigeon”; his flight covered twenty-four miles, taking him and his passengers into Hertfordshire. In 1821, Charles Green claimed to have taken his horse with him in a successful balloon flight but as this was disputed, he repeated the flight in 1850 with a small pony on board. In August 1852, however, there was a big outcry when Madame Poitevin took off from Cremorne Gardens in London as “Europa on a bull” putting flesh on the legend of the abduction of Europa by Zeus disguised as a bull. The sight of the nervous bull dressed up as Zeus was the cause of the outcry & a charge of animal cruelty was filed causing a diplomatic tiff & henceforth animals lost their passenger seats.

The history of ballooning offers many interesting stories, some downright hilarious and some heart-breakingly tragic. Of the first is the incident of how the first Robert brothers’ balloon took off from where the Eiffel Tower now is, in Paris, & after a 45 minute flight it landed in the village of Gonesse where the horrified peasants attacked this weird invader from the sky with pitch-forks and whatever else they could lay hands on and destroyed it before the chasers on horseback could dispel the fear & save the unfortunate balloon.

IN 1785, the French aeronaut Blanchard and the American John Jeffries crossed the English Channel in a balloon for the first time. In 1870 balloons were used “for military observation during Franco-Prussian War and a French Minister made a dramatic James Bond escape from a besieged Paris by balloon”. During World War II, a large number of balloons were inflated over the city of London to obstruct air attacks during the battle of Britain. Hydrogen balloons were also used in upper-atmosphere research.

Balloon Fiesta

Rather than this signaling the demise of ballooning, it gave a new impetus to individuals to compete in increasingly daring feats. Ballooning fiestas started to be held in many parts of the world and in 1973 the first Balloon World Championship was held in the USA. The famous International Gordon Bennett Cup had already been established in 1906 but was interrupted twice by the two World Wars to be resumed in 1979 although it was not officially reinstated by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) till 1983. The Austrian pilot, Josef Starkbaum, won the trophy seven times between 1985 and 1993.

This daring sport has continued to attract numerous individuals who compete to go further, higher or to stay airborne longer. Thus in 1978, three American businessmen, Ben Abruzzo, Max L. Anderson and Larry Newman, crossed the Atlantic for the first time in 137 hours and 6 minutes. Less than a decade later, this record was beaten when, in 1987, Sir Richard Branson and Per Linstrand made the Atlantic crossing in 33 hours! This time the balloon, the Virgin Atlantic Flyer, was by far “the largest balloon ever”, measuring 2.3 million cubic feet, and reaching a speed of more than 130 miles per hour (209 k/ph). In 1991, the same duo made the first transpacific crossing breaking all existing records and reaching speeds of up to 245 miles per hour (349.28928 km/ ph).

Most amazing was perhaps the first round the world helium/hot air balloon flight by Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones in 1999. It took them 19 days, 21 hours and 55 minutes. This record was beaten, in 2002, by American millionaire Steve Fossett’s solo flight round the world in 13 days. This record remained unbeaten till 2016, when “the Russian adventurer (and priest!) Fedor Konyukhov made his solo balloon flight around the world in just under 11 days”.

Virgin Balloon Flights made headlined and a new Guinness World Record with a rock concert; “the song ‘What I did to-day’ was performed and recorded 1,848 m (6,063 ft) above Wiltshire”! Then in 2008, the same company, Virgin Balloon Flights, teamed up with Virgin Radio and Sony BMG and made what is believed to be “the first ever show by a hit artist [Newton Faulkner] to be recorded in a hot air balloon” above the Swiss Alps. The largest mass balloon ascent took place at the Lorraine Mondial fiesta in France in 2011 where a total of 329 balloons lined up to launch thereby setting a record. That year, Kenneth Karlstrom beat 120 top notch pilots and won the prestigious event’s target flying competition.

Nowadays, lovers of ballooning fiestas are spoilt for choice; they abound in USA, Canada, Britain and various parts of Europe.

2017 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta

This month’s Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta was the 46th time that this premier international ballooning event has filled Albuquerque’s crystal clear skies. It’s a nine-day event with more than 500 balloons taking part, thereby making it the largest hot air balloon festival in the whole world. It was held in Albuquerque for the first time in 1972 and has continued to be held there annually ever since. A combination of perfect October climate and the ‘Albuquerque Box’ make it ideally suited for the festival. The ‘Albuquerque Box’ refers to the geographic landscape as well as to predictable wind patterns, both of which allow the balloonists to control and even re-trace their course & go round as many times as they need to in certain on-field target competitions such as the “Key Grab”. At this event, balloonists strive to grab prizes, including the keys of a brand new vehicle from the top of tall flexible poles, hence the name. The number of balloonists taking part grew year on year till it peaked at 1,019 in 2000. Then the Balloon Fiesta Board limited the number to 750 starting 2001 in a bid for “quality over quantity”. But in 2009, that limit was brought down again to 600 due to the growth of the city and a loss of landing zones. In all, the location extends over 360 acre, with 100 acres of grass and booth selling. These booths are well-stocked with gifts and souvenirs as well as local and international cuisine. It is estimated that about 100,000 American & over-seas spectators attend the Fiesta which is no doubt a major attraction but actually the city has lots more on offer for all ages. For those interested in history, there is no better place where to see ancient Indian and Spanish cultures come to life as they explore the Old Town with its old churches, quaint shops, winding brick paths and Adobe benches.

For those interested in the arts, there is the New Mexico s and Crafts Fair. For more energetic visitors, there is “biking in the Sandia Mountains, hiking among dormant volcanoes, horseback riding along the river” and enjoying the stunning views of the city from Sandia Peak Aerial Tramway.

There was so much promise of fun packed into this year’s festival. The program was replete with the usual ballooning activities and competitions, such as mass ascent and Key Grab, but it also had laser and firework shows. There was even a kids’ day, Thursday the 12th of October. It was a glorious, fun-filled and unforgettable nine-day break.

One more thing that needs pointing out & is worthy of the highest praise was the way in which Albuquerque’s local authorities, including the Sheriff, the Police Department with the festival’s Board and proud volunteers, had achieved a most successful, smooth running of all the activities in a hassle-free orderly manner. The volume of traffic alone, starting every day at 4 am, was a daunting task and yet it all went smoothly like clock-work and thanks to those officials and volunteers, everyone who attended the festival enjoyed every minute of it. It was indeed an exquisitely beautiful and colorful festival and an unforgettable experience.

The Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta’s official Sponsor, Canon, had a balloon and a tent offering free professional cleaning services of all Canon cameras and lenses used by the festival attendees. It was doubtlessly an excellent and welcome gesture by a top notch company which many took advantage of. Not many know, perhaps, that a regular balloon costs between $35-45k and takes approximately six (6) weeks to make. Fancy special shape balloons are bound to cost more. On October 14, some balloonists decided not to fly after all because of concerns over the possible landing spots after having detected a change in the wind direction that morning.

One notable change from past balloon flights is that balloon-chasers now follow the flight of the balloon not on horse-backs but in cars into which the balloon is gathered and carried away after a successful landing.
The event provided a huge opportunity to kite-lovers, young and old, who could be seen flying their colorful kites in the afternoon before Night Glow events.

We are planning on publishing more photos for 2017 Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. For more information please see the following links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Laurent_d%27Arlandes
www.virginballoonflights.co.uk
The Telegraph newspaper in an article by Nick Squired, dated Dec 6, 2002
www.balloonfiesta.com www.cabq.go
www.vusitalbuquerque.irg
www.tripadvisor.co.uk

October 16, 2017
The August 21st Total Sun Eclipse
The Eclipse in Ancient Myths

Man’s ingenuity and imaginative capacity are always fascinating and are nowhere more apparent, I think, than in ancient myths and folklore surrounding eclipses, solar as well as lunar!.

The lack of a scientific explanation was more than compensated for with ingenuously elaborate stories and since life activities, in ancient times, revolved mostly around simple issues as eating, eclipses were said to show celestial bodies being ‘eaten’ or having a chunk bitten off them. Monsters: a celestial dragon (China), wolves (Northern Europe), fire-dogs (Korea), a giant frog (Vietnam) or yet a bear (Native Americans) took a bite at the sun or moon according to whether it was a solar or a lunar eclipse.

This might well satisfy an ancient people wondering at a partial eclipse but would not satisfactorily explain a total eclipse. Here Indian folklore comes to the fore; the demon, Rahu, having disguised himself as a deity, steals a draft from the elixir of immortality and swallows it. The sun and moon, being witnesses to the act, quickly report it to Vishnu who just as quickly decapitates the demon before the elixir passes through to its body. Therefore the decapitated head became immortal while the body was not. In revenge the immortal demon-head swallows the sun or moon (total eclipse) but having no extension beyond the head means the swallowed sun or moon soon re-emerges intact. Revealing as these stories are, I think the African story of celestial bodies in mortal conflict and the need for humans, on earth, to patch up their quarrels and end all conflicts to effect a similar happy denouement in the sky is both touching and instructive.

Such ancient myths have left a diffuse emotional residue in modern man’s psyche. In spite of all our scientific and technological advance, some still fear eclipses and believe them to be portents or omens of doom and destruction. Fiza Pirani has probably hit the nail on the head when she traces the word ‘eclipse’ to its emotionally charged origin in the Greek language meaning ‘abandonment’. The sun was seen as literally ‘abandoning’ earth and leaving everything and everybody in the dark. Something akin to that sense of abandonment felt by humanity in its infancy seems to have remained in the genes and some people still today, in the 21 century, feel unease about eclipses. Especially so on behalf apparently of pregnant women and their unborn babies as well as very young children. F. Pirani traces this superstition, which is still alive today, to the Aztecs! It is with pleasure that one sees that Italy struck an independent note in ancient times in believing that flowers planted during eclipses grow brighter and more colorful than those planted at other times.

The American August 21st, 2017 total solar eclipse

Leaving these ancient myths aside, the American August 21st, 2017 total solar eclipse was truly the event of a lifetime for scientists, astronomers and ordinary citizens alike. It was “the first [total eclipse] to grace continental United States since 1979 (and the first to go coast-to-coast since 1918)”, as Christopher Crockett states in his delightfully informative article. He quotes the astronomer, Jay Pasachoff, a veteran eclipse-chaser having seen 33 total eclipses and 30 partial ones, on the immense impact of seeing a total eclipse on the human psyche with people cheering or crying from sheer excitement. The reason behind such great excitement is that although a few telescopes in space see some of the sun’s corona all the time, where the corona meets the sun’s surface is masked by the sun’s intensity. “Only on days of eclipses can we put together a complete view of the sun” according to Pasachoff.

The excitement about the exact moment when the moon’s shadow touches down “in the north Pacific Ocean that was given as 16:48:33 UT*, at local sunrise”. And at that spot “the sun will actually rise while totally eclipsed. This is a sight few people. From then on the moon’s shadow will race at full speed till it encounters US main land before it crosses from coast to coast. The swath of the shadow will touch the United States for only 1h 33m 16s – less than the length of a short movie! But in that time, many, many people in our country will have had their perceptions, and their lives, changed forever.

The 2017 Eclipse & Science

Several scientific activities were planned for the eclipse. NASA scientists were hoping that this total solar eclipse will help them determine the correct size of the sun.

Others researchers at Montana State University in Bozeman planned launching Over a 100 weather balloons at various parts along the path of totality to measure changes in temperature and wind speed etc. They are expected to soar to a height of roughly 30 km.

An exclusive four hours “2017 Total Solar Eclipse MegaCast” by NASA provided coverage of the path of totality as announced on (eclipse2017.nasa.gov). It allowed NASA to interact with the scientists and members of the public across the country as they all watch and study the eclipse. The MegaCast will be picked up by NASA TV as well as other national and local TV stations. Thus hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide will be able to experience this once-in-a-lifetime event and will learn about it through NASA programming.

The August 21st Eclipse & Business

In conclusion, it is pertinent to note that this was also a big business opportunity with thousands of travelers flying from all over the world and unless people book with tour operators specializing in this field, some might end up with no accommodation. The good side was: there are tour operators for all pockets, from posh five-star hotels to camp-sites. The main attraction will undoubtedly be the solar eclipse but intelligent tour operators will combine that with visits to spectacular beauty spots and scenic forest or mountain walks. (www.eclipsetours.com). The business aspects of the event include also innumerable books and atlases not only on the great American eclipse of 2017 but on past and future ones. One example is the Thousand Year Canon of Solar Eclipses: 1501 to 2500 by Fred Espenak. There are also collections of cartoons on sale, such as Eclipse Nuts by Bill Kramer, the web master of www.eclipse-chasers.comwho is himself an avid eclipse chaser. Some of those cartoons can be viewed on line at: https://www.eclipse-chasers.com/eclipseNuts. There is already a kids’ Solar Eclipse 2017 Dinosaur T-shirt advertised on amazon.com. There are solar eclipse video games, TV episodes and programs; name it, you’ll most probably find it! Perhaps the only thing missing from this huge 2017 Solar Eclipse activity is a Solar Eclipse Cake or Solar Eclipse Vegan Kebabs! But who knows; some creative chef might yet surprise us with his/her culinary inventiveness.

Choosing Spot to Watch the Eclipse

We based our choice on the duration of the total eclipse and the weather forecast and it was a memorable day. The picture we are posting were taken at the Bicentennial Capitol Mall in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. It was as predicted to be one of several good spots to watch August 21st total sun eclipse for one minute 55 second. Except for few minutes of passing clouds, August 21st was a sunny day at the Bicentennial Capitol Mall park.

A Memorable Day in the Bicentennial Capitol Mall in Nashville, TN

The Bicentennial Capitol Mall is a magnificent 19-acre park that gives the visitor a taste of Nashville, TN history as well. The state of Tennessee listed several other good spots for watching the total sun eclipse on that day. Everything was well prepared for the expected crowd of the event attendees.

On August 21st, the Bicentennial Capitol Mall was the spot for a fun day in the sun with all types of food, crafts, arts and activities for kids. Several music bands were playing music as part of celebrating the sun eclipse that all the attendees enjoyed. It was indeed a chance to experience one of the rarest celestial phenomenons in lifetime in one of the prettiest destinations in the South. During the total sun eclipse, it changed from full sun shine to darkness as seen in the photos we are posting for the park and park ranger.

During the total sun eclipse unforgettable moments, the attendees were cheering, screaming of joy or even crying. We managed to photograph the sun’s corona and the different stages of the eclipse on that day. We will be posting more photos. For more information about the eclipse and the Bicentennial Capitol Mall please see the links below.
1. https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipsws
2. Jane J. Lee, in https:www.news.nationalgeographic.com/2013/11
3. www.bt.com>news>science
4. Quartz Media LLC (Article by: Ephrat Livni, June 28, 2017)
5. www.ajc.com (Fiza Pirani – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution / Sat, July 22, 2017 Filed in National/World News)
6. www.Eclipse2017.com
7. www.Space.com
8. www.scienceneqs.org/article/astronomy/eclipse 2017
9. www.eclipse2017.nasa.gov
10. www.bt.com>news>science
11. www.chasers.com
12. New Scientist: July 29, 2017
13. Quartz Media LLC
14. www.Eclipsetours.com
15. http://tnstateparks.com/parks/about/bicentennial-mall
16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicentennial_Capitol_Mall_State_Park
17. http://tnstateparks.com/activities/solar-eclipse-at-the-park-2017
August 24, 2017