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Diamond vault of the neo-Gothic Collegium Novum in Kraków, Poland.

Jar.ciurus, CC BY-SA 3.0 pl, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

Tenzin Gyatso, the fourteenth and current Dalai Lama, is the highest spiritual leader and head of Tibetan Buddhism. In 1959, he escaped from Tibet to India following the Tibetan uprising against Chinese occupation of Tibet, and established the Tibetan government-in-exile, which continues to function in Dharamsala, India, where he resides. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. Today is his 90th birthday.

Luca Galuzzi (Lucag), CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

Redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus) male ringed, Għadira Nature Reserve, Malta. Bird ringing is a vital activity that helps protect birds. In Malta, birds are humanely caught in mist nets which are checked every ten minutes. Each bird is ringed and weighed before being released. About 10% are retraps (i.e. they have been ringed before). The programme is carried on by BirdLife Malta.Ringing has shown that birds from at least 48 countries use Malta during migration. Unfortunately, Malta has the densest population of bird hunters in the European Union. The high numbers of wild birds illegally shot in Malta has led to the European Commission taking legal infringement proceedings against the Maltese Government over Article 5 of the Birds Directive.

Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

              The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Emma Lazarus (1849 – 1887) was an American author of poetry, prose, and translations. Her sonnet "The New Colossus" was inspired by the Statue of Liberty, in 1883. Its lines appear inscribed on a bronze plaque on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty installed in 1903. The last lines of the sonnet were set to music by Irving Berlin as the song "Give Me Your Tired, Your Your Poor. Lazarus was also the author of Poems and Translations (New York, 1867); Admetus, and other Poems (1871); Alide: An Episode of Goethe's Life (Philadelphia, 1874); Poems and Ballads of Heine and several others.

This poem, published in 1883,  is in the Public domain

Twelve Apostles at Port Campbell National Park, Princetown, Victoria, Australia.

Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

Apse of the higher church in the Royal Monastery of San Juan de la Peña, Huesca, Aragon, Spain. It was one of the most important monasteries in Aragon in the Middle Ages. Its two-level church is partially carved in the stone of the great cliff that overhangs the foundation. San Juan de la Peña means "Saint John of the Cliff". The lower church includes some mozarabic architectural surviving elements, although most of the parts of the monastery (including the impressive cloister, under the great rock) are Romanesque. After the fire of 1675, a new monastery was built. The old monastery (built in 920) was declared a National Monument on 13 July 1889, and the new monastery in 1923.

Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

Portrait of the wild lion (Panthera leo) Tryggve, son of C-Boy, in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania.

Giles Laurent, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

CN Tower in Toronto. Today is Canada Day.

Scott Webb scottwebb, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

   The Arrow and the Song

I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?

Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.  

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) American poet and educator . His works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline. He was was one of the Fireside Poets from New England and the first American to translate Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. More

This poem is in the public domain

Eruption of Strokkur (Icelandic for "churn"), a fountain geyser located in the Haukadalur geothermal area, southwestern Iceland.

Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

High altar of the subsidiary church St. Peter and Paul in Lavant, East Tyrol, Austria. The center of the triptych depicts Saint Peter and Saint Paul flanking Mary Help of Christians. Today is the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul.

Uoaei1, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

MG PA-based racer with a 1300cc six-cylinder engine, in the historic paddock of the Nürburgring before closed boxes. The license plate is modified. Event: DAMC 05 Oldtimer Festival 2008.

Spurzem – Lothar Spurzem (edited by Alchemist-hp), CC BY-SA 2.0 de, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.