An interesting look back in time, with this extraordinary collection of color photographs taken between 1909 and 1912. In those years, photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863-1944) undertook a photographic survey of the Russian Empire with the support of Tsar Nicholas II. He used a specialized camera to capture three black and white images in fairly quick succession, using red, green and blue filters, allowing them to later be recombined and projected with filtered lanterns to show near true color images. The high quality of the images, combined with the bright colors, make it difficult for viewers to believe that they are looking 100 years back in time - when these photographs were taken, neither the Russian Revolution nor World War I had yet begun. Collected here are a few of the hundreds of color images made available by the Library of Congress, which purchased the original glass plates back in 1948.

 

 

 

An Armenian woman in national costume poses for Prokudin-Gorskii on a hillside near Artvin (in present day Turkey), circa 1910.

 

 

Self-portrait on the Karolitskhali River, ca. 1910. Prokudin-Gorskii in suit and hat, seated on rock beside the Karolitskhali River, in the Caucasus Mountains near the seaport of Batumi on the eastern coast of the Black Sea.

 

 

Molding of an artistic casting (Kasli Iron Works), 1910. From the album "Views in the Ural Mountains, survey of industrial area, Russian Empire".

 

 

A woman is seated in a calm spot on the Sim River, part of the Volga watershed in 1910.

 

 

A chapel sits on the site where the city of Belozersk was founded in ancient times, photographed in 1909.

 

 

View of Tiflis (Tblisi), Georgia from the grounds of Saint David Church, ca. 1910.

 

 

Isfandiyar Jurji Bahadur, Khan of the Russian protectorate of Khorezm (Khiva, now a part of modern Uzbekistan), full-length portrait, seated outdoors, ca. 1910.

 

 

A closer detail view of Isfandiyar, Khan of the Russian protectorate of Khorezm. This photo would have been taken near the start of his reign in 1910, when he was 39 years old. He ruled Khorezm until his death in 1918.

 

 

On the Sim River, a shepherd boy. Photo taken in 1910, from the album "Views in the Ural Mountains, survey of industrial area, Russian Empire".

 

 

Alternators made in Budapest, Hungary, in the power generating hall of a hydroelectric station in Iolotan (Eloten), Turkmenistan, on the Murghab River, ca. 1910.

 

 

A Georgian woman poses for a photograph, ca. 1910.

 

 

A group of women in Dagestan, ca. 1910.

 

 

Pinkhus Karlinskii, eighty-four years old with sixty-six years of service. Supervisor of Chernigov floodgate, part of the Mariinskii Canal system. Photo taken in 1909.

 

 

General view of Artvin (now in Turkey) from the small town of Svet, ca. 1910.

 

 

General view of the Nikolaevskii Cathedral from southwest in Mozhaisk in 1911.

 

 

A group of Jewish children with a teacher in Samarkand, (in modern Uzbekistan), ca. 1910.

 

 

A switch operator poses on the Trans-Siberian Railroad, near the town of Ust Katav on the Yuryuzan River in 1910.

 

 

Cornflowers in a field of rye, 1909. From the album "Views along the Mariinskii Canal and river system, Russian Empire".

 

 

Laying concrete for the dam's sluice, 1912. Workers and supervisors pose for a photograph amid preparations for pouring cement for sluice dam foundation across the Oka River near Beloomut.

 

 

Sart woman in purdah in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, ca. 1910. Until the Russian revolution of 1917, "Sart" was the name for Uzbeks living in Kazakhstan.

 

 

General view of the wharf at Mezhevaya Utka, 1912.

 

 

Peasants harvesting hay in 1909. From the album "Views along the Mariinskii Canal and river system, Russian Empire".

 

 

Prokudin-Gorskii rides along on a handcar outside Petrozavodsk on the Murmansk railway along Lake Onega near Petrozavodsk in 1910.

 

 

A water-carrier in Samarkand (present-day Uzbekistan), ca. 1910.

 

 

A dog rests on the shore of Lake Lindozero in 1910. From the album "Views along the Murmansk Railway, Russian Empire".

 

 

Factory in Kyn, Russia, belonging to Count S.A. Stroganov, 1912.

 

 

Russian children sit on the side of a hill near a church and bell tower near White Lake, in Russia, 1909.

 

 

Emir Seyyid Mir Mohammed Alim Khan, the Emir of Bukhara, seated holding a sword in Bukhara, (present-day Uzbekistan), ca. 1910.

 

 

A metal truss bridge on stone piers, part of the Trans-Siberian Railway, crossing the Kama River near Perm, Ural Mountains Region, ca. 1910.

 

 

A boy leans on a wooden gatepost in 1910. From the album "Views in the Ural Mountains, survey of industrial area, Russian Empire".

 

 

Nomadic Kirghiz on the Golodnaia Steppe in present-day Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, ca. 1910.

 

 

A man and woman pose in Dagestan, ca. 1910.

 

 

A general view of Sukhumi, Abkhazia and its bay, seen sometime around 1910 from Cherniavskii Mountain.

 

 

 A boy sits in the court of Tillia-Kari mosque in Samarkand, present-day Uzbekistan, ca. 1910.

 

Amazon.com

This logo doesn’t seem to hide much at first sight, but it gives you a little insight in the philosophy behind the brand. First of all, the yellow swoosh looks like a smile: Amazon.com want to have the best customer satisfaction. The swoosh also connects the letters a and z, meaning that this store has everything from a to z.

Fedex

This is probably one of the best known logos with a hidden meaning. If you look closely, you’ll see an arrow that’s formed by the letters E and x. This arrow symbolizes speed and precision, two major selling points of this company.

Continental

Continental is a manufacturer of tyres. You could actually see this in their logo, because the first two letters create a 3-dimensional tyre.

Toblerone

Toblerone is a chocolate-company from Bern, Switzerland. Bern is sometimes called ‘The City Of Bears’. They have incorporated this idea in the Toblerone logo, because if you look closely, you’ll see the silhouette of a bear.

Baskin Robins

The old logo of Baskin Robbins had the number 31 with an arc above it. The new logo took this idea to the next level. The pink parts of the BR still form the number 31, a reference to the 31 flavours.

Sony Vaio

Sony Vaio is a well known brand of laptops. But did you know that the name Vaio logo also had a hidden meaning? Well, the first two letters represent the basic analogue signal. The last two letters look like a 1 and 0, representing the digital signal.

Carrefour

Carrefour is one of the biggest European retailers, and it’s also French for “crossroads”. The logo symbolizes this word via two opposite arrows. They also added the first letter of the name, because if you look closely you’ll see the letter C in the negative space between the two arrows.

Unilever

Unilever is one of the biggest producers of food, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products. They produce a huge amount of different products and they wanted to reflect this in their logo. Each part of the logo has a meaning. For example: the heart represents love, care and health -  feeling good, a bird is a symbol of freedom. Relief from daily chores – getting more out of life.

Formula 1

At first, this logo might not make much sense. But if you look closely, you’ll see the number 1 in the negative space between the F and the red stripes. I also love how this logo communicates a feeling of speed.

Sun Microsystems

The Sun logo is one of the most famous ambigrams in the world. You can read the brand name in every direction; both horizontally and vertically. This logo was designed by professor Vaughan Pratt of the Stanford University.

NBC

The NBC (National Broadcasting Company) is one of the biggest American television networks. I think most of you have already seen the peacock in this logo. The peacock has 6 different tail feathers, referring to the six divisions at the time that this logo was created. The peacock’s head is  flipped to the right to suggest it was looking forward, not back.

The Duggar family are an Arkansas family, headed by Jim Bob Duggar and Michelle Duggar, who have been repeatedly featured in the news and entertainment media for having seventeen children. The family has been filmed for Discovery Health Channel and The Learning Channel television. On May 9, Michelle Duggar announced on the Today Show that she is pregnant with their 18th child and is due on New Years Day 2009.
 

This man and his wife both sell real estate for a living.  Although, I doubt she sells much as she also homeschools all the kids!!  What a job..  Notice how neat their house is kept.  The folks on the Today Show said that when this family left their green room (the place they go before they are on the show), it was cleaner than it was when they came.  Shows it can be done with organization and I'm sure they have lots of that with a family that big.  They also built their own home.

The Duggars' ten sons and seven daughters (including two sets of fraternal twins: one boy/girl set and one boy/boy set), all of whom have names which begin with the letter J, are as follows:

	Names	Date of Birth	Notes
1	Joshua James	March3,1988 (1988-03-03)   (age 20)	oldest child; getting married  9/26/08 to Anna Keller
2	Jana Marie	January12, 1990 (1990-01-12)(age 18)	twin of John-David
3	John-David	January 12, 1990 (1990-01-12) (age 18)	twin of Jana
4	Jill Michelle	May 17, 1991 (1991-05-17) (age 17)
5	Jessa Lauren	November 4, 1992
6	Jinger Nicole	December 21, 1993	pronounced like "Ginger"
7	Joseph Garrett	January 20, 1995
8	Josiah Matthew	August 28, 1996
9	Joy-Anna	October 28, 1997
10	Jeremiah Robert	December 30, 1998	twin of Jedidiah
11	Jedidiah Robert	December 30, 1998	twin of Jeremiah
12	Jason Michael	April 21, 2000
13	James Andrew	July 7, 2001
14	Justin Samuel	November 15, 2002
15	Jackson  Levi	May 23, 2004	birth featured on Discovery Health Channel special
16	Johannah Faith	October 11, 2005	birth featured on Discovery Health Channel special
17	Jennifer Danielle	August 2, 2007	birth featured on Discovery Health Channel special
18	Junborn	due January 1, 2009	announced May 9, 2008

 
Family life
Jim Bob Duggar and his wife Michelle, who was named Young Mother of the Year in Arkansas in 2004, are conservative Baptists who endorse the Quiverfl movement and the teachings of Bill Gothard. Mr. Duggar is a former state legislator who served in the Arkansas House of Representatives from 1999 to 2002. He is now a real estate agent.
Jim Bob Duggar and his wife report that their children are blessings from God, since his wife miscarried while on birth control and was able to conceive many more times once she stopped taking birth control!
The Duggars live debt-free, which Mr. Duggar has said is "the fruit of Jim Sammon's Financial Freedom Seminar" he attended years ago.
The Duggars raise their children using the buddy system, in which an older sibling raises a younger sibling, instead of the parents doing it themselves. The older buddy "will get the younger ones' meals." According to Mrs. Duggar, "They help them with their little phonics lessons and games during the day and help them practice their music lessons. They will play with them or help them pick out the color of their outfit that they want to wear that day, and just all of those types of things."

 

 

 

 In the world of romance, one single rule applies to men:

 Make the woman happy. Do something she likes, and you get points.

 Do something she dislikes and points are subtracted.

 You don't get any points for doing something she expects.

 Sorry, that's the way the game is played.

 Here is a guide to the point system:

 ***********

 SIMPLE DUTIES

 You make the bed (+1)

 You make the bed, but forget the decorative pillow (0)

 You throw the bedspread over rumpled sheets (-1)

 You go out to buy her what she wants (+5) In the rain (+8) But return with

 Beer (-5)

 You check out a suspicious noise at night (0)

 You check out a suspicious noise, and it is nothing (0)

 You check out a suspicious noise and it is something (+5)

 You pummel it with iron rod (+10)

 It's her pet (-10)

 ***********

 SOCIAL ENGAGEMENTS

 You stay by her side the entire party (0)

 You stay by her side for a while, then leave to chat with a college buddy
(-2)

 Named Rita (-4)

 Rita is a dancer (-6)

 Rita is single and is really beautiful (-80)

 ***********

 HER BIRTHDAY

 You forget her birthday (-50000)

 You take her out to dinner (0)

 You take her out to dinner and it's not a sports bar (+1)

 Okay, it's a sports bar (-2)

 And it's all-you-can- eat night (-3)

 It's a sports bar, it's all-you-can- eat night, and your face is painted
the
 colours of your favourite team (-10)

 ***********

 A NIGHT OUT

 You take her to a movie (+2)

 You take her to a movie she likes (+4)

 You take her to a movie you hate (+6)

 You take her to a movie you like (-2)

 It's called 'DeathCop' (-3)

 You lied and said it was a foreign film about orphans (-15)

 ***********

 ENJOY THE 'BIG' QUESTION

 She asks, "Do I look fat?" (-5) [Yes, you LOSE points no matter WHAT]

 You hesitate in responding (-10)

 You reply, "Where?" (-35)

 Any other response (-20)

 ***********

 COMMUNICATION

 When she wants to talk about a problem , you listen, displaying what looks

 Like a concerned __expression (0)

 You listen, for over 30 minutes (+50)

 You listen for more than 30 minutes without looking at the TV (+500)

 She realizes this is because you have fallen asleep (-10000)

 Now what chance do you have???