Now that the heat of Summer is over and just before you start using the cold days of winter as an excuse it is time to stand up and do some outdoor exercise Hike, Jog, run in the park or ride a bicycle (my personal favorite) as long as you breath the fresh air, smell the changing season and get your heart rate up
The Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory, a museum located in Louisville, Kentucky's "Museum Row" in the West Main District of downtown, showcases the history of the Louisville Slugger brand of baseball bats made by Hillerich & Bradsby, and of baseball in general. Inside the production of the bats is presented, along with historical examples of bats (such as an 1880s Pete Browning bat they recently discovered or the bat that Babe Ruth used to hit his last home run as a Yankee). Outside is a six-story bat that appears to be leaning against the museum building but is completely free standing, the bat weighs 68,000 pounds. (It is billed as the world's largest bat, although it is hollow and made of steel.) The building also serves as their corporate headquarters and a production facility.
And now for something different
A personal post not related to stock photography nor image sales
After two weeks of preparations out painter has arrived today. All our belongings are packed in boxes all the big furniture is covered in plastic and now the dust begins
And next week I anticipate the joy, fun and excitement of unpacking all our junk from the boxes.
At least we have discarded a ton of stuff: clothes, books an encyclopedia that nobody wanted
I am hoping that next week, while we unpack we can get rid of another ton
Who needs belongings when you work from home and meet all your friends on facebook
Israel is considered a leader in agricultural methods and techniques. Fact is that Israeli farmers lead the world in at least two fields:
One is irrigation and water efficiency where I understand that drip irrigation technology developed here manages to produce more crop per water unit than any other method
Israel and the middle east is considered the cradle of civilization
As such there is an abundance of archeological sites and of course artifacts found while excavating these sites
Starting at prehistoric sites like Tel Ubeidiya located 3 km south of Lake Tiberias, in the Jordan Rift Valley, Israel, an archaeological site of the Pleistocene, ca. 1.5 million years ago, preserving traces of the earliest migration of Homo erectus out of Africa. The site yielded hand axes of the Acheulean type. The site was discovered in 1959 and excavated between 1960 and 1974
And in the Carmel Mountain, Nahal Mearot (Cave River) nature reserve containing caves used by prehistoric men for 150 thousand years in three distinct cultures Acheulian culture, Muarian culture and mousterian culture. starting with Homo erectus and ending with Neanderthal
Purim is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people in the ancient Persian Empire from destruction in the wake of a plot by Haman, a story recorded in the Biblical Book of Esther. Where the uncle (Mordechai) pimped out his niece (Esther) to the king so she could sweet talk him while having sex
Having said that, it is the most enjoyable and fun Jewish holiday celebrated by both children and adults. Traditionally the costumes where characters from the story, but today it is a free for all dress-up parade
Shalom Hanoch (born September 1, 1946) is an Israeli rock singer, musician, lyricist and composer.
He is considered to be the father of Israeli rock and the most important artist of that area. His works have profoundly influenced Israeli rock and modern Israeli music. His collaboration with Arik Einstein produced some of the first Israeli rock albums. He is called the king of Israeli rock.
Shalom Hanoch was born in Kibbutz Mishmarot. As a child his musical talent was known in the kibbutz, and until he discovered Rock music, he listened to a wide variety of genres (from Classical, through Russian folk music, Gospel, and Blues).
After getting his first Jazz guitar when he was around 12 years old, Hanoch began composing his own songs. By the age of 14 he had completed his first song – Laila (Night). Along with another member of the Kibbutz, Meir Ariel, he wrote more songs, and joined the Kibbutz's band – HaMishmaron. Songs from that time include Agadat Deshe (Grass Legend), Nisa LaYam (We'll Go To The Beach), Risim (Eyelashes) and Yom Acharon (Last Day). At 16, he took acting classes at Beit Tzvi arts school.
Although at that point he was more interesting in acting than in creating music, Hanoch was recruited by the Nahal army troupe when he turned 18, and wrote a few songs for the troupe while in the service. He was demobilized in 1968, but not before he had participated in a recording of the best-of album made of re-recorded versions to 1950s and 1960s hits by the troupe called Kol HaKavod LaNahal (Well Done, Nahal). In this album Hanoch sang Mitria Bishnaim along with the troupe's star, Shula Chen. The two were mentioned on the cover, an innovation for army band recordings.
Salem is an Israeli extreme metal band, pioneers of the oriental metal movement and of the Israeli heavy metal scene in general. Much of their lyrics and music deals with political issues concerning the Jewish people and Israel, most notably the concept albums Kaddish (1994) and Collective Demise (2002).
Shlomo Bar is an Israeli musician, composer, and social activist. He is a pioneer of ethnic music in Israel.
Born in Rabat, Morocco, in 1943, Bar emigrated to Israel a few years later. He learnt how to play the darbuka and other ethnic percussion instruments, performing in various small lineups and as a backing musician for artists such as Matti Caspi on tours. In 1976 he played in Yehoshua Sobol and Noa Chelton's Kriza (Nerves), a fierce play about social injustices and discrimination in Israel. Bar set to music and performed several of Sobol's songs, including "Yeladim Ze Simcha" (Children are joy), which protested a then-prevalent policy of economic discrimination. The song, as recorded a bit later by his band, "Habrera Hativit", received airplay because of the catchy tune, and was accepted at face-value by much of the Mizrachi community. Rita's cover is well-known, and lacks the acidity of the original. Bar has stated on numerous occasions that if the people chose to interpret it as a joyous song, he has no business to tell them otherwise.
As a result of the play, Bar decided it was time to form his own group, "Habrera Hativit" (The natural selection, but also known in English as the Gathering), which he formed with bassist and producer Yisrael Borochov. The original lineup was Samson Kehimkar, an Indian violin and sitar virtuoso, Miguel Herstein, an American guitarist, the bassist Yisrael Borochov, and Bar on percussion and vocals. Yisrael Borochov had a stark influence on the sound of the group, and before he left had arranged, recorded and produced the first two albums of the band. Disagreements over where the direction of the band was going led him to split from Bar and to form the East West Ensemble.
From the start the intention was not to conform to the musical mould, neither of Israeli pop, nor of 'musikat kassetot', the common style of mizrachi music at the time. The first album, "Elei Shorashim" (Origins, or a Return to Roots), combined traditional Moroccan and Yiddish music, with Indian elements and motifs, as well as new renditions of songs by Israeli poets. The songs were long, some of them running for eight minutes, and the subject matter was unusual for the time.
The lineup went through several changes in the 1980s and 90s.
Bar's musical influences are broad, including Bob Dylan and Miles Davis on the one hand, and classical Indian music and Jewish liturgy on the other.
Ruth Hofshi, one of our contributing photographers has returned from a field trip to Uganda and Rwanda. with emphasis on Mountain Gorillas on the border of these two countries
The local government have identified the importance of these animals and have placed arm guards to protect them
New to PhotoStock-Israel, Doron Magali, a young 18 year old photography student with impressive and powerful conceptual work. Being of a younger generation she has a different view of our world than mot seasoned photographers. Most of her work has been accepted exclusively into Getty images
Haven't posted for quite a while. Sorry for that
In the mean time, here are some beautiful images from Alaska that we have just uploaded to our aechive
Alaska, Yakutat Bay and Hubbard Glacier as seen from the sea
