Bytes Bits

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A New Banksy: 

Well known street artist Banksy, who has now become respectable and whose works fetch big $$$, has confirmed that he is responsible for a Christmas street art work on a garage wall in Port Talbot in Wales. 

The work shows a young lad warmly clothed for the cold weather, with a sled,  trying to catch snowflakes on his tongue: 

Turn the corner and a different work is revealed: 

Here is the work in its entirety: 

Banksy uploaed an image of it onto his website. A video was also posted on the artist’s Instagram account showing the mural accompanied by the children’s Christmas song Little Snowflake. The camera rises above the garage and shows Port Talbot’s rooftops and industrial works wreathed in smoke. 

This year, the World Health Organisation said Port Talbot was the most polluted place in the UK. But in May, Neath Port Talbot council said the WHO got the figures wrong and had apologised. 

Meanwhile the owner of the garage, Ian Lewis, who built the garage in 1990 to stop his car being vandalized, is wondering what to do with his new treasure. With the assistance of actor Martin Sheen, screens have been put up to protect it. A drunk who tried to deface it was chased away by security. The local council is wondering what it can do to preserve it. . . . 

Ian Wilson 

Security fence . . . 

. . . and perspex. 

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From: 

https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2018/12/tree-crop-circles-emerge-in-japan/?mc_cid=2d71db7ec4&mc_eid=0b0e554f8d

Half a Century in the Making: Tree ‘Crop Circles’ Emerge in Japan 

From a website called Colossal:

Two peculiar ‘crop circles’ have recently been spotted in Japan’s Miyazaki Prefecture. Viewable only from above, they were formed by sugi (Japanese cedar) trees. Conspiracy theorists will be disappointed to learn that there is a very practical explanation for how these shapes emerged: science. Specifically, it was the result of a scientific experiment that spanned close to 50 years.

According to documentation . . . obtained from Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, in 1973 an area of land near Nichinan City was designated as “experimental forestry” and one of the experiments was to try and measure the effect of tree spacing on growth. The experiment was carried out by planting trees in 10 degree radial increments forming 10 concentric circles of varying diameters.  

Part of what makes the crop circles so alluring are their concave shape, which was an unexpected result of the experiment that would suggest tree density does indeed affect growth. The trees are due to be harvested in about 5 years but officials are now considering preserving the crop circles.  

https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2018/12/tree-crop-circles-emerge-in-japan/?mc_cid=2d71db7ec4&mc_eid=0b0e554f8d

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Also from Colossal:

When the Sun Sets in Baiona, a Seemingly Simple Whale Mural Reveals a Belly Full of Sailors 

A new collaborative mural by Barcelona-based artists María López and Javier de Riba undergoes a dramatic shift from day to night. Titled Hizkuntza, the mural appears to be a simple outline of a whale by day, but darkness reveals an intricate glowing design. The placement of the whalers inside the whale’s belly suggests an ambiguous power dynamic: did the whale swallow the sailors, or did they overtake the beast and turn it into a ghost of its former self?

The mural is located in Patxa Plaza in Baiona, a small city on the southwest coast of France that is a popular tourist destination. The Plaza in particular is a site of public gathering and celebration of Basque culture. In a description of the mural on Behance, the artists explain that they were inspired by the complex history of whaling. Commercial extinction of the Eubalena Glacialis whale in the Cantabrian Sea forced Basque sailors to explore new horizons, which created new languages like Basque-Icelandic and Algonquin-Basque.  

López and de Riba often work in glowing paints, and focus on the culture and history of the locations where they install their murals.  

https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2018/12/hizkuntza/?mc_cid=2d71db7ec4&mc_eid=0b0e554f8d

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Final item from Colossal:: 

80-Year-Old Wooden Escalators are Repurposed as a Sculptural Ribbon by Artist Chris Fox 

Artist Chris Fox was tasked with repurposing two pairs of timber escalators that were first installed at Sydney’s Wynyard Station in 1931. The escalators have carried passengers for over 80 years and slowly became an iconic symbol of the city’s identity. Fox’s solution is Interloop, a twisting, accordion-like ribbon that is now suspended from the station ceiling, stitching together 244 wooden escalator treads in an otherworldly design.

Fox says Interloop is intended to permanently enshrine the motion of the escalators while also communicating that passengers remain stationary while riding them. The piece is the final step in a significant overhaul of the station that now features new elevators and escalators, a larger concourse, and improvements to ventilation and ticketing. 

https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2017/12/interloop-escalator-sculpture/?mc_cid=2d71db7ec4&mc_eid=0b0e554f8d

Quote for the Day

Sydney Suburbs: Camellia. Cammeray, Campbelltown

Continuing an alphabetical look at Sydney’s suburbs . . .

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Camellia

Location:

Camellia is located 23 kilometres (14 mi) west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Parramatta.

Name Origin:

The railway station that opened here in 1885 was originally called Subiaco, but it caused confusion because this was the name of the Benedictine school on the opposite side of Parramatta River. In 1901, the station name was changed to Camellia, after the Camellia Grove Nursery nearby that specialised in growing camellias.

About:

• Camellia is a post industrial suburb of Sydney which began brownfields remediation in late 2015, and is ear-marked as a major centre for high density living. (Brownfields is a term used in urban planning to describe. vacant or derelict land or property, usually industrial in nature, both contaminated and uncontaminated.

• From the NSW Government’s website:

Camellia is poised for an exciting journey of renewal that will provide for a new riverside town centre positioned on the Parramatta Light Rail, as well as a proposed new primary school, 13 hectares of new open space and affordable housing. 

The Department of Planning and Environment in consultation with the City of Parramatta Council have prepared a draft Camellia Town Centre Master Plan which will guide the future development of the industrial area over the next 20 to 30 years. 

The draft Plan focuses on the Camellia Town Centre. The intent is to establish the town centre’s character as a new riverside community and, importantly, to ensure the renewal occurs in tandem with access and transport improvements such a bridge across Parramatta River, road improvements, and the creation of walking and cycling paths which will support a thriving, connected community on the doorstep of Sydney’s second CBD. 

The draft Plan will inform the rezoning package for Camellia Town Centre, which when finalised, will provide an attractive place to live, work and play. 

https://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/camellia 

• Camellia is predominantly an industrial and commercial area. An office block close to the railway station contains an Aldi supermarket. This is the former site of the James Hardie asbestos plant.

• Grand Avenue is the main street.

Gallery:

Projections by the Government and developers of future Camellia developments . . . 

Grand Avenue, decorative rocks

Camellia Railway Station

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Cammeray

Location:

Cammeray is located 5 kilometres (3 mi) north of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of North Sydney Council.

Name Origin:

Cammeray takes its name from the Cammeraygal people, an Aboriginal clan who once occupied the lower North Shore. Radiometric dating (carbon dating) indicates that indigenous peoples lived in the Cammeray area at least 5,800 years ago and Aboriginal shell middens have been discovered at Folly Point and cave paintings in Primrose Park.

About:

• Cammeray is mostly a residential area. Some houses have waterfront access such as those in Cowdroy Avenue and the end of Cammeray Road, leading down to Folly Point.

• Cammeray was the site of Sydney's first quarry, with sandstone blocks from the quarry making many of the first buildings in Sydney town.

• While there are also some older high rise apartment blocks in certain areas of Cammeray that were built several decades ago, the majority of residences are in the form of stand-alone or semi-detached, single or double-storey houses. Many of the quieter streets are lined with trees and have nature stips. This gives Cammeray a pleasant green look. Recently there have been many housing redevelopments in the heart of Cammeray Shopping Village. They take the form of low rise apartment blocks.

• The Long Gully Bridge is on the border between Northbridge and Cammeray. The bridge, opened in 1892, was built as a private initiative by the North Sydney Investment and Tramway Company, to attract buyers for new residential allotments on the north side of Long Bay. The intention was to run a tramline across the bridge, conveniently linking the new suburb and beautiful Middle Harbour peninsulas to the more developed parts of North Sydney. Unfortunately, the great financial depression of the 1890s soon followed and despite the introduction of a bridge toll the company went bankrupt. It was not until 1914 that the first tram crossed the bridge.

• The bridge was originally built as a suspension bridge – like the famous Golden Gate – and at the time was the largest of its type in Australia and fourth largest in the world. In the mid-1930s faults were discovered in the steel cables and anchorages in the rock below. For safety reasons public transport was interrupted with passengers having to walk across the bridge to trams waiting on either side. It was decided that the bridge would be repaired by replacing the suspended steel girders with a concrete arch structure that was built between 1937 and 1939. It was claimed to be the largest concrete arch in the Southern Hemisphere.

• The bridge has been known as the North Sydney, Long Bay, Northbridge, Cammeray, Long Gully Bridge and simply the Suspension Bridge. The residential areas surrounding the bridge were also known as Suspension Bridge until they were officially named Cammeray, after the powerful Aboriginal clan, and Northbridge, after the bridge itself.

• During the 1930s Depression work began on an unemployment relief scheme to fill in the area under the bridge for sports fields. Up to 500 men were involved. Flat Rock Creek was allowed to flow underneath the new fields to Long Bay in Middle Harbour.

Gallery:

Willoughby Bay, Cammeray

Tunks Park

Long Gully Bridge 

Long Gully Bridge, 1892

1892

1890’s

1905

The original bridge built in 1892 was rebuilt in 1935 to have it reinforced. Above is the bridge as it is constructed today

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CAMPBELLTOWN

Location:

Campbelltown is located in Greater Western Sydney 42 kilometres (26 mi) south-west of the Sydney central business district. Campbelltown is the administrative seat of the local government area of the City of Campbelltown.

Name Origin:

Campbelltown was founded in 1820 by Governor Lachlan Macquarie and named after his wife Elizabeth, whose maiden name was Campbell. The name was originally Campbell-Town.

About:                              

• Before European settlement, the Campbelltown region was occupied by the Dharawal tribe. They ranged widely from La Perouse in the north to near Ulladulla in the south but especially Picton and along the Georges River, which provided a great source of food, water and shelter.    

• In 1788, two bulls and four cows wandered from the new colony in Sydney Cove and made their way across the Cook and Nepean Rivers. Some aboriginal cave paintings depict these animals. In 1795 the small herd of cattle now numbering in the hundreds (estimates vary) were officially found by Governor Hunter in the area and he named the area Cowpastures. In 1803 John Warby was appointed Government Herdsman. He lived in "Cowpasture hut" which stood near Elderslie, on the bank of the Nepean River. In 1805, on instructions from Lord Camden, John Macarthur was granted 5000 acres of land in order to breed fine-wool sheep to export back to British factories. He chose the Cowpastures site.

• The Dharawal initially worked with the local farmers but a drought in 1814 led to large numbers of neighbouring Gandangara people moving into the area in search of food. Tensions developed between the British and the Gandangara leading to skirmishes and a number of deaths on each side. Farmers began to arm themselves and a request was made to Governor Macquarie to settle the issue. 

• Acting on orders of Governor Lachlan Macquarie, according to Macquarie’s diary at the time to ‘rid the land of troublesome blacks’, on April 16, 1816, Captain Wallis, a British Naval Officer, and his troops fired upon aboriginal people before driving them towards the cliff edge at Broughton Pass near Appin, NSW. The official death toll of the massacre was fourteen however, many others are believed to have perished. Both Dharawal and Gandangara people are believed to have been killed in the massacre. A report for the NSW Heritage Council declares that ‘among the 14 known dead were old men, women and children’. At least five prisoners were also taken including Doual who had been a guide to explorer Hamilton Hume. The massacre points to changing relations between Governor Macquarie who was initially keen to avoid aggression between the European settlers and Indigenous Australians. It was also the first formally government sanctioned military engagement of Aboriginal people in Australia. The Appin massacre is today commemorated annually in the Appin area.

• Following the massacre, Governor Macquarie felt a permanent settlement would lead to order in the area and so Campbell-Town was born in 1820.

• Development of the town was slow particularly after the departure of Macquarie, and it wasn't until 1831 that residents took possession of town land. However, it was during this period that Campbelltown's most famous incident occurred. In 1826, local farmer Frederick Fisher disappeared. According to folklore, his ghost appeared sitting on a fence rail over a creek just south of the town and pointed to a site where his body was later found to be buried. In memory of the incident, the Fisher's Ghost festival is held each November in Campbelltown. In 1827 George Worrall hanged for Frederick Fisher's Murder.

• Campbelltown's population increased steadily in the decades following. The southern rail line was extended to Campbelltown in 1858, leading to further development, and in 1882, Campbelltown Council was established allowing municipal works to occur in earnest. Campbelltown became the first country town in New South Wales to have piped water in 1888 and in the period between the World Wars, a local power station was built to supply electricity to residents. 

• Campbelltown was designated in the early 1960s as a satellite city by the New South Wales Planning Authority, and a regional capital for the south west of Sydney. There was extensive building and population growth in the intervening time and the government set aside land surrounding the township for public and private housing and industry.

Gallery:

A commemorative plaque at the approximate site of the Appin Massacre

Reeves Emporium, Queen Street, Campbelltown 1900

Queen Street, c 1900

Campbelltown Railway Station c1916

Procession in Queen Street, Campbelltown, 1910.

Queen Street, Campbelltown, 1940’s

Queen Street, Campbelltpwn, early 1900s.

Colonial houses in Queen St opposite today's Campbelltown Mall , 1884

Soldiers getting ready to board train at Campbelltown sometime during 1914-1918.

In 1915 men marched from Wagga Wagga to Campbelltown to enlist to serve in the Great War, gathering further recruits along the way. They were looked after by the residents of the towns in which they stayed and through which they passed. The Wagga-Campbelltown march was the longest of these type of marches at 560 kilometres (350 miles) and became known as the Kangaroo March. The military authorities in 1915 attempted to stop the Kangaroo march at Goulburn, intending that they should enter camp for training, but it continued to Campbelltown. Many of the Kangaroos were allotted to the 55th Battalion, which arrived in France in 1916. One of the Kangaroos, John Ryan of Tumut, was to receive a Victoria Cross. It was re-enacted in 2015 with descendants of some of the original Kangaroos joining at various stages along the route.

Quote for the Day

Those We Lost in 2018, continued

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Presidents George Bush, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter assembled with First Ladies Lady Bird Johnson, Barbara Bush, Betty Ford, and Rosalynn Carter to rededicate the Gerald Ford Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Just before their formal portrait was taken, President Bush gave the old "rabbits ears" to his wife Barbara. 

Barbara Bush (June 8, 1925 – April 17, 2018) – 

First Lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993 as the wife of George H. W. Bush, who served as the 41st President of the United States, and founder of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. 

As Barbara Pierce, she met George Bush at the age of sixteen, and the two married in Rye, New York in 1945, while he was on leave during his deployment as a Naval officer in World War II. They moved to Texas in 1948, where George later began his political career. 

During her husband’s time as President and beyond, she was a passionate advocate for literacy, believing that true equality required everyone to be able to read and write. 

She died of complications from congestive heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. 

BTW: 

Barbara Bush is one of only two women in American history who can be called First Lady and First Mother. The only other woman to have been the wife and mother of presidents was Abigail Adams, whose husband, John, was the second president, and her son John Quincy Adams was the sixth. 

George and Barbara Bush wedding, New York, Jan. 6, 1945. 

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Harry Anderson (October 14, 1952 – April 16, 2018) – 

American actor, comedian, and magician. 

Anderson is best known for the lead role of Judge Harry Stone on the 1984–1992 television series Night Court, and later starred in the sitcom Dave's World from 1993 to 1997. 

In addition to eight appearances on Saturday Night Live between 1981 and 1985, Anderson had a recurring guest role as con man Harry "The Hat" Gittes on Cheers, toured extensively as a magician, and did several magic/comedy shows for broadcast, including Harry Anderson's Sideshow (1987). He played Richie Tozier in the 1990 miniseries It, based on the Stephen King novel of the same name. 

In late January 2018, Anderson had a bout of influenza, and subsequently suffered several strokes. On April 16, 2018, Anderson died in his sleep aged 65 of a stroke due to influenza and heart disease. 

BTW: 

Anderson was drawn to magic when young. After moving to Los Angeles at age 16, he practised his skills often. He joined the Dante Magic Club in his teens and reportedly made money as a street magician in San Francisco when he was 17. He attended Buena Park High School before graduating from North Hollywood High School in 1970 as class valedictorian. From 1971 to 1976 he lived in Ashland, Oregon, performing magic and working with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. 

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Ronald Lee Ermey (March 24, 1944 – April 15, 2018) – 

American actor, voice actor and Marine corps drill instructor. 

Ermey achieved fame when he played Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in the 1987 film Full Metal Jacket, which earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Ermey was also a United States Marine Corps staff sergeant and an honorary gunnery sergeant. 

Ermey was often typecast in authority figure roles, and hosted two programs on the History Channel: Mail Call, in which he answered viewers' questions about various military issues both modern and historic; and Lock n' Load with R. Lee Ermey, which concerned the development of different types of weapons. He also hosted GunnyTime on the Outdoor Channel. 

Ermey died from complications related to pneumonia on April 15, 2018 aged 74. 

BTW: 

R. Lee Ermey went to director Stanley Kubrick and asked for the role of Gunnery Sgt. Hartmann. In his opinion, the actors on the set were not up to snuff. When Kubrick declined, Ermey barked an order for Kubrick to stand up when he was spoken to, and the director instinctively obeyed. Ermey got the role.

Ermey was initially hired as a consultant for the Marine Corps boot camp portion of the film, having been a Drill instructor and boot camp sergeant in the Marines. Whilst working on the film, he performed a demonstration on videotape in which he yelled obscene insults and abuse for 15 minutes without stopping, repeating himself or even flinching - despite being continuously pelted with tennis balls and oranges. Stanley Kubrick was so impressed that he cast Ermey as Hartman. 

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May 8, 1964: Linda Brown Smith standing in front of the Sumner School in Topeka, Kansas, the school which refuised her admission.

Linda Carol Brown (February 20, 1943 – March 25, 2018) – 

Campaigner for equality in education. 

As a schoolgirl in 1954, Brown became the center of the landmark United States civil rights case Brown v. Board of Education. Brown was in third grade at the time, and sought to enroll at Sumner School in Topeka, Kansas. Her admission was denied based on her skin color. Her lawsuit against segregation in elementary schools was ultimately successful and the resulting Supreme Court precedent overturned the 'separate but equal' doctrine which had been previously established in Plessy v. Ferguson. 

Brown became an educator and civil rights advocate. 

She died on March 25 2018 aged 75. The cause of death has not been disclosed. 

BTW: 

Brown’s was one of a number of families involved in the landmark case but her name was first alphabetically, hence the name Brown v Board of Education. Although Brown was refused admission to an all-white school in her neighbourhood in 1950, by the time the case was decided in 1954 she was already in junior school and too old to attend the school that had refused her. That year, in a unanimous decision, the court ruled that segregated schools were inherently unequal. The decision upended decades’ worth of educational practice, in the South and elsewhere, and its ramifications are still being felt. 

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Stephen Hawking (8 January 1942 – 14 March 2018) – 

English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author. 

Hawking was the first to set out a theory of cosmology explained by a union of the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. 

Hawking achieved commercial success with several works of popular science in which he discusses his own theories and cosmology in general. His book A Brief History of Time appeared on the British Sunday Times best-seller list for a record-breaking 237 weeks. 

A recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States, in 2002, Hawking was ranked number 25 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons. 

In 1963, Hawking was diagnosed with an early-onset slow-progressing form of motor neurone disease (MND; also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis "ALS" or Lou Gehrig's disease) that gradually paralysed him over the decades. Even after the loss of his speech, he was still able to communicate through a speech-generating device, initially through use of a hand-held switch, and eventually by using a single cheek muscle. 

He died on 14 March 2018 at the age of 76, after battling the disease for more than 50 years. 

BTW:

In addition to his many books for adults, Hawking wrote several children’s books with his daughter, Lucy, that combine science and adventure.

These books all focus on a young boy named George, who learns about the universe by traveling around it. In the most recent one, George and the Blue Moon, George enters a Mars training program, “fighting for survival in what feels like the Hunger Games set on the red planet,” according to Hawking’s own description.

Yes, Hawking knew about the Hunger Games, as well as a few other things the kids are into these days. When asked about the significance of Zayn Malik leaving the band One Direction, he replied: “One day there may well be proof of multiple universes … and in that universe Zayn is still in One Direction.”

https://www.history.com/news/7-things-you-didnt-know-about-stephen-hawking

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Freddie Oversteegen, at right in 1945 

Freddie Nanda Dekker-Oversteegen (6 September 1925 – 5 September 2018) – 

Dutch communist resistance member during the occupation of the Netherlands in World War II. 

Oversteegen experienced a series of heart attacks towards the end of her life. She died on 5 September 2018 in a nursing home in Driehuis, one day before her ninety-third birthday. 

From: 

http://www.cracked.com/blog/where-arent-they-now-25-overlooked-deaths-2018-pt.-2/

Growing up in Holland during Germany's invasion and occupation of the country proved inconvenient for teenager Freddie Oversteegen, so she joined the Dutch resistance. She helped sabotage bridges with explosives, smuggle Jewish children out of camps and the country while disguised, and even just straight up shot and killed Nazis as they roared through on their bikes.

But Freddie didn't think these Nazis were suffering enough. She and fellow female resistance fighters would head to the taverns that Nazis would frequent, flirt and ask the soldiers if they wanted to "go for a stroll in the forest," then shoot them dead once they got somewhere isolated. Or as Freddie would say in her own words, she "liquidated" them.

Did we mention that she was 14 at the time?

Quote for the Day