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For additional information on the CHRIS conference, visit:www.CHRISconference.com.
Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) franchises more than 6,100 hotels, representing more than 495,000 rooms, in the United States and more than 30 other countries and territories. As of December 31, 2011, more than 400 hotels were under construction, awaiting conversion or approved for development in the Unit...
1 in 11,000 image features in new book, "This is Britain"
Ellie’s photograph of her children and dog Nelson has been selected by International photographer Rankin and included in the book which was crowd-sourced over a weekend in October to represent a snap shot of Britain.
This Is Britain is a collection of over 300 photographs chosen by Rankin, selected from over 11,000 images submitted across a single long-weekend in October – with all profits donated to BBC Children in Need.
Ellie said: “We were out for a walk at Boarstall Duck Decoy just of the road from Thame to Bicester. It is a beautiful woodland walk at a very rare and well preserved decoy now owned and maintained by the National Trust.
Ellie Walpole is a schools, family and event photographer.
She is offering to give £25 of her standard sitting fee to ‘Children in Need’ if you contact her to before Christmas to book a session next year.
How did prehistoric farmers and herders, some 4,500 years ago, succeed in transporting massive stones across hills and streams more than 20 miles away from the haunted plain of Salisbury in England? And when they brought the stones to their sacred place, how did they lift 40 tons of dead weight upright? Archaeologist J...
We know how much the monoliths weigh as we can calculate to their overall volume, including the bit that's underground, and we know what the density of sarsen, or bluestone, is. Also, some of them have actually been lifted by train while being reset not that long ago, which is also a good guide.
People at this time were capable of quite fine timber work and we have evidence of this from preserved prehistoric trackways in peat bogs. So, yes, they would have been able to make smooth planks.
The structure of Stonehenge is actually laid out on the line of the midsummer sun rise and the midsummer sunset, the longest and the shortest days of the year, and it seems likely that Stonehenge was built to mark these two events, which would have been enabled people to chart the changing seasons.
Q: Without the use of the wheel, the builders must have used sledges, log rollers, and many people, right?
Yes, and our experiments show that it seems more likely that some form of sledge would have been used to transport stones as log rollers are very prone to getting bogged down, particularly in softish ground.
It has moved slightly, but not significantly enough to alter the fact that we can tell that it is this alignment that Stonehenge incorporates within its structure.
Burning a timber structure would, I suspect, cause a loss of control of the stone and also the heat generated would actually damage the sarsen. It's possible that any one of the stones which we now see built into the structure could have been used as that pivot stone before being erected. There are some that have a sui...
To build the whole of Stonehenge will obviously depend on how many people you can use for the task. What we suggested was that, given a great concentration of effort, is the sarsen structures, the biggest bits of Stonehenge, could have been built within a period of three years. We suspect that probably it took longer.
The evidence for when Stonehenge was built comes from radio carbon dates which have been obtained largely from fragments of the antler picks used to dig the holes for the stones and the ditch.
Unfortunately, archaeology cannot give us any idea of the language that the builders of Stonehenge spoke.
Basically because it appears that the wheel had not been invented at that time and a pulley is a sort of wheel. If they did have pulleys, there is absolutely no evidence in the archaeological record.
We purchased the ropes that we used. They were modern hemp ropes which we were obliged to use to comply with health and safety regulations. We would have liked to have made lime bark ropes to carry out the whole experiment, but this was impossible.
At the time when Stonehenge was started, no metal was used in the British Isles, but then copper, bronze, and gold were used, came into use.
We weren't able to get stone slabs that big. The ones we moved were replicas made of concrete. The places where both sarsens and bluestones come from are both now protected sites and it's not possible to extract stone from them.
The new trill is no longer on the site where it was erected. It rapidly became a place of New Age pilgrimage, and the farmer insisted on it being taken down the stones are currently in store.
Calculating the population which this time is very difficult because we have no clear indications of where people were living and how many settlements there were around. We felt that just using larger and larger numbers of people was not the answer, and that the builders of Stonehenge probably thought up a scheme which...
There are indications of settlement within a mile or so of Stonehenge, but the remains of settlements of this period are very difficult to find, in great contrast to the massive structures that that these people built.
We know that people at this time were capable of constructing very large Earth mounds and so could quite easily have built a ramp to drag the stone up. Mortice and tenon joints, we have examples of these preserved from wet sites in this country that date back to at least a thousand years before Stonehenge, and there ar...
It is possible that oxen were used to assist with the pulling and we would have liked to have carried out some experiments. Unfortunately, oxen, unless they have worked together before, are remarkably uncooperative beasts, and we were unable to get a team together. But this is possible.
There are no marks on the monoliths that provide evidence of how they were moved.
We didn't really go into the shaping of the stones, but fire is one way of breaking and shaping a stone like sarsen. It obviously carries risks, and having quarried a 40-ton block, it would be unfortunate to crack it in the wrong place. My feeling is that most of the shaping is done by pounding the surface of the stone...
This was one of the ideas that mark and I discussed and then rejected when we were thinking about how we could move the stone. It would certainly work, but could be potentially very dangerous when trying to control a 40-ton garden roller going downhill.
The land on which Stonehenge lies is owned and administered by English heritage. Effectively it's owned by the English people.
I don't think we can be certain that most religious practices at this time involved sacrifice and there is no direct evidence of this from Stonehenge.
Both of these elements of the mortice and tenon joint could only have been made by pounding away the surface of the stone. Obviously, to make the pin, all of the stone around this would need to have been removed, leaving the pin standing proud.
Water transport would obviously be an ideal method for these large stones, but unfortunately, there are no convenient river which run between the source of the stones and Stonehenge. The route crosses high and undulating chalk downland, so this method could not have been used.
Although the walking method of moving large weights can be used and was used to move some of the Easter island statues, we felt that stones of 40 tons could not be moved in this way over relatively soft ground with any degree of safety.
The weather conditions at the time that Stonehenge was built were not dissimilar from those that we find today. Ice or snow would be a great way of sliding the stones, although it would make pulling for the pullers a lot more difficult, but could not be relied upon.
It seems unlikely that Stonehenge was built by forced labor. We have no evidence of this in society at that time. I feel that the people probably gave their labor willingly in the construction of a monument that had significance for a great many. Obviously, there would need to be sufficient people still left to carry o...
The shaping of the stones was obviously a very laborious process. As far as how long each stone took, we obviously can't tell from their finished form how much stone had to be removed to achieve this shape. Some of them do look quite rough, whereas others are very finely finished, and we suspect that they simply chose ...
Personally, I'm sure that the building of Stonehenge was a truly communal task in which everyone participated, whether young or old, man or woman. It's interesting to note that the depiction of the building of Stonehenge which English Heritage had on display until quite recently showed only men involved in its construc...
The reason why that particular spot was first chosen for the construction of a simple earthen circle and some burials is uncertain, and why that simple circle then became the focus of such an extraordinary building is equally something that archaeology can't explain. Archaeology can't get into the minds of the builders...
The holes that the stones were set into certainly wouldn't have provided enough soil to construct a stop or a ramp for erection of the uprights. What is obvious is that if a ramp was used, then large quantities of soil and chalk would have had to have been brought on to site and later removed. This is why I still perso...
The stones in the center of Stonehenge are set quite close together, and the requirements of space certainly seem to suggest the order in which certain elements of the building were erected. The sarsen trilithons in the center clearly had to go up before the outer sarsen circle. But Mark thinks that his methods would w...
The difference here seems to be between moving something out of a hole in the ground and raising something up above the ground, but basically, the principle is the same: You are presumably levering your stone up onto its bed of small stones, and I think you are suggesting dragging our stone up a ramp made of small ston...
Chalk is actually quite firm bedrock and it's unlikely that they have sunk further into the ground since they were first directed. What has happened is that the surface of the chalk has lowered the solution perhaps by as much as half a meter and so less of the stone is actually set into the ground than when they were f...
It all depends how significant these two days are, and if they are times in the year which mark significant turning points at which people can gather and celebrate, then that calendar has a lot of purpose. My feeling is still that the midwinter solstice, which is pretty close to our Christmas, was the most significant ...
The depth below ground varies quite significantly. The one that fell over and broke a couple of hundred years ago was not buried as deeply as many of the others. Anything up to about 10 feet of stone is still buried under the ones that we know, but some have never been investigated.
We can't be exactly sure of the order in which the sarsen horseshoe and the outer sarsen circle were built, but common sense suggests that the inner horseshoe was built before that complete outer ring; otherwise, getting those big stones into the middle and erecting them would have been very difficult.
No. It was probably due to the fact that it wasn't set as deeply into the ground as many of the other stones and there is evidence that the people have been digging at the base of that stone possibly looking for treasure.
There are part of the same megalithic tradition—in other words, a tradition of building using large stones of which the menhirs and alignments in Brittany are a part—and they're all constructed at roughly the same time.
No measuring or surveying tools have been found from this period, but as they would presumably have been made of wood, it's not surprising that we haven't found any.
I'm afraid that I don't know whether Stonehenge would fit inside one of the Great Pyramids but if it would them I'm sure that it is co-incidence. There doesn't seem to be anything else to link tie two great sites.
Stonehenge has a long sequence of construction and modification and I suppose that you could say that there have been several separate monuments on the same spot, starting with a simple earth circle and ending up with the elaborate stone structures that we see in ruins today. People appear never to have lived at Stoneh...
You are not the first one to suggest erecting the whole trilithon at one go. Personally I wouldn't like to try 90 tonnes (plus all the timber you would need to hold the whole thing together) even with the mortice and tenon joints holding the lintel roughly in place. Thanks for your comments about the show.
We were really concentrating on the construction aspects with a bit about the site and its context thrown in. You would need a whole series of programmes to look at aspects like the geometry, astronomy etc. I personally am not a great fan of the complex astronomy idea but try looking at a book called 'Stonehenge; Scien...
No evidence at all I'm afraid. There appears to be no trace of any route or construction but I'm sure that the builders would have used anything to make their job easier.
Possible but the one thing that archaeology won't do is give us access to the minds of the people that built Stonehenge.
Q: 1. Why use the animal-fat-based greased "cold" - why not keep pots of it heated for continual application as needed?
I'm not sure that this would give you much of an advantage, it might make the fat too thin.
Q: Another question addressed ice/snow - but why not dig a shallow ditch to pour water in during sub-freezing yet non- snow times - stone slides on this frozen railway, but lack of snow outside it, gives traction for stone-moving team.
Possible but given unpredictable weather this could severely restrict the time that was available for stone moving.
Mark and I think that a 40 tonne straight lift would have been impossible. The sort of ropes that we assume were available probably would not have been able to cope with this.
I'm not sure exactly what you are suggesting and can't see the advantage of having the stones in water (they would sink - or have I missed the point). There is a problem too as Stonehenge lies on chalk which is probably the most porous sort of bedrock that you can find. There is no evidence of a water channel (canal) t...
Possible, but I suppose there comes a time when the construction of more and more A frames is more trouble than rounding up a few more volunteers. It's a good thought though.
Lots of things are possible with Stonehenge but I haven't heard the idea of the wealthy and infirm funding it before. I'm not sure about your ideas concerning quarantine. Regarding the ramp, the volume of chalk that you would get from the stonehole is comparatively tiny compared to that which would be needed to constru...
As archaeologists we have to take the absence of evidence seriously. There have been enough excavations of waterlogged sites with artefacts of all types surviving (but no wheels) to lead us to believe that the people that built Stonehenge were not using the wheel. Of course we don't underestimate the intelligence of th...
Theoretically it would be possible to move large weights by using a small weight to help move a larger one, etcetera, but I think the idea of Stonehenge being the work of a small group of people is unlikely. You certainly couldn't move the big stones in this way.
Although it is tempting to see similarities between Stonehenge and other large stone structures, the only ones which have a real link are the great alignments and other megalithic structures in Brittany. The idea of the architecture of Stonehenge coming from the Mediterranean area (or even from further afield) effectiv...
There has been human (or initially hominid) occupation of what was to become the British Isles since about 500,000 BP. After this various ice ages meant that there were no people around for long periods. Further south in Europe and beyond they didn't have to contend with ice so there has been habitation for even longer...
No one has tried to raise the three components of a trilithon together. The whole thing would weigh about 90 tons, not counting the timbers that you would need to hold it together for the lift. It certainly couldn't be done for the Great Trilithon as we know that the two uprights are of unequal length which would make ...
I'm not sure what the zero gravity spot is but it seems to be against all the laws of physics.
I don't think that the stone would stand itself erect in the base of a "c" shaped hole. You would have to balance it there before packing it firmly in place and I think that it would be potentially much more unstable than if it was in a hole with one vertical and one ramped side.
We are quite aware that people had a lot of time and we did not intend to imply that Stonehenge was built in a short period of time. What we showed was that it could have been built in a shorter time than many people estimate. I disagree that they undoubtedly used many more people than we did. As numbers grow then the ...
The sarsen stones at the place where they originate are found largely as flat slabs (sarsen is a sedimentary rock). It is therefore unlikely that any of cylindrical form would be found which could be rolled as you suggest. Regarding the quarry - the stones are not cut out of solid rock, they exist as detached slabs of ...
I think it would be difficult to generate enough force to tip the stone by pushing with timbers as you suggest. Wedges would help but filling in with stones behind can cause problems if they trickle round the sides and front and hinder moving the stone to upright. The pits were dug that deep, the stones put in and then...
The soils over the chalk are very thin in the vicinity of Stonehenge and there is no sign of the spoil from an earthen ramp. There is also the question of where the chalk etc would have come from in the first place. You may gather that I am not a fan of the ramp idea and prefer the timber crib method.
It's the smaller stones, the so called "bluestones" that come from further afield, from the Preseli mountains in Wales to be precise. It is suggested that they came part of the way by water. This can't be the way that the larger Sarsens were transported, as there aren't any convenient rivers that run from the place whe...
We didn't use a pulley because there is no evidence for pulleys, or for any other type of wheel, from this period in prehistory.
We have no firm evidence about the average life span of people at this time. Many people have the idea that life was "nasty, brutish and short" but human bone specialists may have been routinely underestimating the age of people at death and there is no reason why you couldn't survive at least into your 50's if not bey...
This feature originally appeared on the site for the NOVA program Secrets of Lost Empires.
Find Out Why Kim Kardashian Dyed Her Hair Pink & What Kanye West Thinks Of It!
Find Out Why Kim Kardashian Dyed Her Hair Pink — And What Kanye West Thinks Of The Change!
The 37-year-old switched her look yet again.
Okay, Kim Kardashian! The Hollywood superstar switched her look up yet again. The blonde tresses weren’t enough for her, so now she’s gone pink! She showed her new color off on Snapchat before heading to Tokyo with her sisters, Kourtney and Khloe.
Kim of course spoke about the change with fans, and said on her website, “Ever since I did the CR Fashion Book shoot and wore a pink wig, I thought it would be fun to dye my hair pink." For the 1999-themed CR Fashion Book Issue 11 shoot, she rocked pink wigs as she channeled icons such as Lil’ Kim.
For the past few months, Kim has been a platinum blonde, and then platinum grey, which also was shocking since she normally is a brunette.
“Chris Appleton and I thought about it for a month and then decided to just go for it,” she wrote. “Since my hair is blond right now, it was easy to put the pink color over it. I figured now was the perfect timing!” Kim explained about the new look.
So what does Kanye West think?!" Kanye loves it. He thinks it’s fun to mix things up.” She also spoke about North's reaction to the new do.
“North absolutely loves it,” Kim shared. “She was so excited when she woke up to see I had pink hair."
What are your thoughts on Kim's look? Let us know in the comments section.
YPSILANTI, MI - Chin Azzaro will close its downtown studio as the art, design and consulting firm continues to refocus its mission on Ypsilanti Community Schools.
It's new goal - establish a student run photography service for the district.
The first step in that process is to shift Chin Azzaro's photo studio component, now called The Learning Studio, to a space at Ypsilanti High School. That will be run by Nick Azzaro, while Yen Azzaro continues in her role as YCS's communication director.
"As of last year, we both started working for the schools, so we had one foot in school and one foot in a commercial business, and it was tough to juggle," Nick Azzaro said. "This is a great opportunity to give kids this new chance. We kind of hit two birds with one stone. We were able to be be commercially successful ...
Students work in The Learning Studio under the tutelage of Nick Azzaro, a commercial photographer whose clients have included Intelligensia Coffee, Sears, the National Geographic catalog and more. Last year, YCS hired Azzaro to be the district's photographer and he also teaches photography at the school for the Bright ...
Nick Azzaro set up The Learning Studio in a high school classroom. There, he teaches the logistics of a photo shoot, including equipment handling, lighting technique, table top product and portrait practices. Students visit the class after school, on weekends, or during elective hours.
Kids also have the opportunity to earn some money. Nick Azzaro trusts students who stick with the program to shoot community events like high school dances and extracurricular activities. On Wednesday, for example, the students photographed a group visiting from the University of Michigan that teaches salsa dancing. Th...
Nick Azzaro said The Learning Studio charges a much lower price than standard studios because it's students who are shooting. The price varies depending on the size of the job.
Part of the project's goal, he added, is to change kids' self-image. He wants to help them see their potential and how much opportunity is possible "if they're willing to create it."
"If I can flood social and local media with positive imagery of themselves in successful situations, perhaps the kids will start to believe it too, and it will resonate outside of school. I call it positive self-reflection," he said. "I want to create a safe space for them to have a voice, but produce challenging photo...

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