#Historic National Road

[guidetourme]

Top 10 American Roadtrip Destinations

Top 10 American Roadtrip Destinations

Top 10 American Roadtrip Destinations American Roadtrip Destinations: One of the most quintessential aspects of American culture is the classic road trip. For decades, families have piled into an RV or automotive for a grand adventure across the nation – and for good reason! America is teeming with hundreds of trails and roadways, many of which hold a great deal of historical significance. The…

[mountrainiernps]

NPS Photo of Mount Rainier with a portion of Mowich Lake Road viewed from Tolmie Peak in 1961 (Eunice Lake is in the foreground with Mowich Lake in the distance).

Mowich Lake Road, like other park roads, was initially planned as part of an “around-the-mountain” road system. Mowich Lake Road starts in the northwest corner of the park and was intended to connect to Westside Road, which starts from the southwest corner. The two roads were never completed due to budget constraints and the rugged topography of the mountain. Constructed from 1929-1934, Mowich Lake Road remains a six-mile long spur road (reached via SR165) and is a discontiguous portion of the Mount Rainier National Historic District. Original features along the road include one stone retaining wall and 39 rustic culverts with mortared stone headwalls.

Mount Rainier National Park Archives Photo of the Mowich Entrance Dedication in 1933.

Mowich Lake Road was dedicated in 1933 at the Mowich Lake Entrance (now at Paul Peak Trailhead). At the dedication, a log memorial was constructed in honor of Dr. William Fraser Tolmie who visited Mount Rainier a hundred years earlier in 1833 on a botanizing trip. The log memorial was intended to be incorporated into an entrance arch. The arch was never completed and the memorial no longer exists. Footage of the Mowich Lake Road dedication event can be viewed at: https://go.nps.gov/MMem-MowichDedication

NPS Photo of the current Mowich Lake Road Entrance at Paul Peak Trailhead, 8/17/23.

While dedicated in 1933, delays due to construction and then WWII limited access and Mowich Lake Road did not open to vehicle traffic until July 1955. Have you traveled the historic Mowich Lake Road?

[rabbitcruiser]

Martin Luther King Jr. received the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolence on October 14, 1964.

[lionheartlr]

Exploring Bosnia and Herzegovina: A Comprehensive Travel Guide

A Brief History of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, nestled in the heart of the Balkans, has a rich and tumultuous history. The region was part of the Roman Empire and later the Byzantine Empire before becoming the medieval Bosnian Kingdom in the 12th century. The Ottoman Empire took control in the 15th century, influencing the culture and religion of the region significantly. In…

[travelernight]

South Africa’s Winelands: Experiencing the Best Vines and Views

[tempest-melody]

I love to travel but not every place is beautiful. Some places are beautiful but they have dark pasta. This video dives into Amache, one of the Japanese Interment Camps, an American Concentration Camp and the injustice done there.

[supertrainstationh]

Long Island; Greenport NY; 7/28/88 by Steve Barry Via Flickr: Long Island Hashamomuck Pond, Greenport, New York July 28, 1988 Long Island Rail Road "power pack" 607 leads a westbound train across Hashamomuck Pond just outside Greenport. The red stripes on the coaches indicate these are parlor cars; this was an excursion for the National Railway Historical Society convention and was an all-parlor car train. The 607 was built as Western Maryland FA-1 303; the LIRR removed its traction motors so it provides only power for the coaches and serves as a cab car.

All red stripes makes this look like a weird Metro North scene.

These coaches and the converted locomotive were probably on their last paint job here.

They would all be retired a tad over a decade after this.

[theloverstomb]

‘Fragile Microbiomes’ by bio-artist Anna Dumitriu

1. SYPHILIS DRESS- This dress is embroidered with images of the corkscrew-shaped bacterium which causes the sexually transmitted disease syphilis. These embroideries are impregnated with the sterilised DNA of the Nichols strain of the bacterium - Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum - which Dumitriu extracted with her collaborators.

2. MICROBE MOUTH- The tooth at the centre of this necklace was grown in the lab using an extremophile bacterium which is part of the species called Serratia (Serratia N14) that can produce hydroxyapatite, the same substance that tooth enamel is made from.

The handmade porcelain teeth that make up this necklace have been coated with glazes derived from various bacterial species that live in our mouths and cause tooth decay and gum disease, including Porphyromonas gingivalis, which can introduce an iron-containing light brown stain to the glaze.

3. TEETH MARKS: THE MOST PROFOUND MYSTERY- In his 1845 essay “On Artificial Teeth”, W.H. Mortimer described false teeth as “the most profound mystery” because they were never discussed. Instead, people would hide the stigma of bad teeth and foul breath using fans.

This altered antique fan is made from animal bone and has been mended with gold wire, both materials historically used to construct false teeth (which would also sometimes incorporate human teeth). The silk of the fan and ribbon has been grown and patterned with two species of oral pathogens: Prevotella intermedia and Porphyromonas gingivalis. These bacteria cause gum disease and bad breath, and the latter has also recently been linked to Alzheimer’s disease.

4. PLAGUE DRESS- This 1665-style 'Plague Dress' is made from raw silk, hand-dyed with walnut husks in reference to the famous herbalist of the era Nicholas Culpeper, who recommended walnuts as a treatment for plague. It has been appliquéd with original 17th-century embroideries, impregnated with the DNA of Yersinia pestis bacteria (plague). The artist extracted this from killed bacteria in the laboratory of the National Collection of Type Cultures at the UK Health Security Agency.

The dress is stuffed and surrounded by lavender, which people carried during the Great Plague of London to cover the stench of infection and to prevent the disease, which was believed to be caused by 'bad air' or 'miasmas'. The silk of the dress references the Silk Road, a key vector for the spread of plague.

5. BACTERIAL BAPTISM- based on a vintage christening gown which has been altered by the artist to tell the story of research into how the microbiomes of babies develop, with a focus on the bacterium Clostridioides difficile, originally discovered by Hall and O’Toole in 1935 and presented in their paper “Intestinal flora in new-born infants”. It was named Bacillus difficilis because it was difficult to grow, and in the 1970s it was recognised as causing conditions from mild antibiotic-associated diarrhoea to life-threatening intestinal inflammation. The embroidery silk is dyed using stains used in the study of the gut microbiome and the gown is decorated with hand-crocheted linen lace grown in lab with (sterilised) C. difficile biofilms. The piece also considers how new-borns become colonised by bacteria during birth in what has been described as ‘bacterial baptism’.

6. ZENEXTON- Around 1570, Swiss physician and alchemist Theophrastus Paracelsus coined the term ‘Zenexton’, meaning an amulet worn around the neck to protect from the plague. Until then, amulets had a more general purpose of warding off (unspecified) disease, rather like the difference today between ‘broad spectrum’ antibiotics and antibiotics informed by genomics approaches which target a specific organism.

Over the next century, several ideas were put forward as to what this amulet might contain: a paste made of powdered toads, sapphires that would turn black when they leeched the pestilence from the body, or menstrual blood. Bizarre improvements were later made: “of course, the toad should be finely powdered”; “the menstrual blood from a virgin”; “collected on a full moon”.

This very modern Zenexton has been 3D printed and offers the wearer something that genuinely protects: the recently developed vaccine against Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes plague.

[haylanmakesstuff]

Day 31-32

We were supposed to be in North Cascades National Park the rest of the week, but we packed up this morning and headed to the coast. We found an open campsite available at Bay View State Park, right on the coast but still in the trees. On the drive there, we made quick stops by several state parks just to see what they are like (Can you believe the year pass for Washington State Parks is just $30 for over 150 parks???). We spent the most time sitting on the banks of the beautifully blue and chilly Skagit river, on a shady beach. I could have just melted into the sand and stayed there for eternity. I am feeling better than yesterday, but still off. 

Also, I had lunch on GRASS. Yes, ready yourself for another soliloquy about GRASS. So soft. So cold. So clean. Smells so good. Here I am fully enjoying it:

We made a stop right down the road from our site at the Padilla Bay Aquarium and Research Center. We are careful about what aquariums and zoos we support, as so many are terrible, only-for-profit businesses that should strictly be avoided (I’m looking at you, Austin Aquarium), and this one checked out. The volunteers were super friendly, and their exhibits were wonderfully interactive for all ages. Their small living aquarium section is filled to the brim with endemic, native species found on the reserve the aquarium is on the shores of. We learned all kinds of things (including a skate egg case, which was totally foreign to me) thanks to the excellent volunteer work of Ann. I really enjoyed watching the little octopus, especially when I showed him to himself on my phone. He literally did a double take and bobbed his head around trying to get a better look.

Here, I earned something akin to a Junior Ranger Badge! This one is dedicated to Nick; thanks for your enduring friendship, your stellar sense of humor, our shared love of Indian food, and introducing me to your lovely now-wife. Also, for your cats. This may be a strange thing to say, but I absolutely adore your cats and want to stare at pictures of them if I can’t stare into their amazing, perfect eyeballs. Thanks for helping out my fundraiser! I don’t have a picture of this patch, so here is a picture of me pretending to be Husband. “Look at me, I have to wear this sun-shirt or I burn to a crispy tomato, I eat cookies before breakfast, and love to watch pimple popping videos. I think every feral cat is a cougar and had to wear socks with sandles while on vacation because I fell off my skateboard while wearing flip flops!”

We gorged ourselves at our campsite on surprisingly authentic Irish food from down the road, especially since Husband ordered two pieces of pie without realizing that equaled half the pie. We had pie for breakfast the next day. And some for lunch the next day. It was a lot of pie, but there is never too much pie. Good choice, Husband!

In the morning we got up bright and early to catch the very first ferry, only to get there and find out one of the boats is down so we have to wait a few hours. We had a strange but delicious breakfast in Ana Cortes, and caught the late ferry to San Juan Island across the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We were getting a late start due to the ferry delay, so we decided to rent scooters so we wouldn’t have to wait on the shuttle service that’s known to be slow.

This sounded like a good idea at the time, and should have been. We were checking in with a family that had no idea what they were doing, and bullied their way to the first scooters to leave, even though they knew we had 16 years of riding experience each. Ok, so what, I’m patient. Long story short, they couldn’t even pass the test to be able to go out on the road safely and we had to just stand there in the sun the whole time waiting. Bah! I digress. When we got out scooters, we headed out and it was easy to forget the annoying parts of the morning. For one, it felt great not having to walk anywhere. Also, it’s endearing to see Husband riding his scooter with my cane strapped to his backpack. Three, I just really love riding. It’s such a fancy-free feeling, like everything is just beautiful and you can smell all the smells, and see all the sights, feel all the feels.

Our first stop was the place we wanted to see most, San Juan Islands National Historical Park. Since the first National Park we both volunteered at in Hawai’i was a National Historic Park, (Kaloko-Honokohau) have a soft spot for these sites that are often neglected by tourists, especially when they are on the furthest southern tip of a hard to get to island, away from all the ice cream stands and crab cakes.

The staff and volunteers here were great, and we did a short trail that was cane-accessible to see some of the historic buildings and learn about the Pig Wars, where an American soldier shot an English soldier’s pig because he ate his potatoes; the rest was history and an example how wars and conflicts can be solved without resorting to violence. Although the pig may not agree.

We earned our Junior Ranger Badge here! This felt like a special one since it’s a hard to get to place. This badge is dedicated to Kathy W! Thank you for donating. I remember the very first time I met you, in a job interview. You noted I had a good job when I was still in high school and asked why I had left. I decided to give a fully honest answer: The boss was bringing in 16-year-old girls and they were doing cocaine off his desk. I walked out that day. You looked surprised, I mean, who wouldn’t be? You asked, “well, if that were to happen here, would you walk out?” and I didn’t hesitate, “Yes, yes I would walk out.” I knew that answer was a risky one, but I am honest if nothing. You hired me, and I got to spend the next four years working with you and the most devoted and wonderful people, putting out good into the world. What more could one ask for? Thank you for all of your kindness and opportunity, that clearly still resonates today.

Leaving the park, we got quick deli sandwiches (holy moly these were good!) and ate them on a strange Sesame Street-like staircase in an ally that went nowhere. We scooted to Lime Kiln State Park, a hot spot to watch the resident Orca Whales just off the coastline. Terrible news though; just five days prior, there was a 2,600-gallon spill of diesel just up the coast. The park worker who mans the viewpoint said that the orcas stopped sharp well down the coast from it. Lingered a moment and headed straight out to sea. No one has seen any sign of them since. They knew something was wrong and ran for the horizon. Very sad that these animals have to contend with our frightful mistakes.

We took the ferry back to the mainland and crashed. Husband is the sweetest, most kind person, because he has been volunteering to sleep in the tent instead of the camper since his unfortunate olfactory has been stoking my insomnia. I feel terrible he had to do it, but I feel pretty great getting some actual sleep. Thank you for your sacrifice!

Haylan

[reasonsforhope]

"Construction of the “largest wildlife crossing in the world” passed a significant milestone in April placing the first girders over an 8-lane freeway near Los Angeles to preserve the local mountain lion population.

After years of tireless work, erecting the first horizontal section of the 210-foot-long crossing was an historic moment for the National Wildlife Federation, the Caltrans highway department, and many private and public partners.

“We all cheered when the crane lowered the first concrete beam across the freeway, as we truly saw the bridge starting to take shape,” said an excited Beth Pratt, the California Executive Director of National Wildlife Federation.

“This structure is a testament to us all wanting a future for wildlife and mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains.”

Moving forward, up to 82 additional concrete girders will be placed, with each beam weighing between 126 and 140 tons. As these critical horizontal supports are placed, the structure will ultimately reconnect two long fractured global biodiversity hotspots in the Southern California region—providing safe passage for not only the cougars, but bobcats, deer, lizards, and coyotes, as they move between the Santa Monica Mountains and the Simi Hills of the Santa Susana mountain range.

[Note: The setting looks pretty rural in that rendering, but the wildlife crossing is actually only five minutes from the Los Angeles city border and the densely populated San Fernando Valley.]

For drivers on the 101 Freeway in Agoura Hills, the construction is interrupting traffic from 11:00 PM to 4:00 AM on one side of the highway each week (Northbound or Southbound). The FAQs can be found here.

CBS news estimates about 1,500 of these wildlife passages have been built both over and under major highways and rural roads across America.

Watch CBS’s recent feature that highlights crossings over America’s longest highway, US 90, which runs across the northern states, and how a new US grant program is paving the way for more crossings…"

-via Good News Network, May 9, 2024

-video via CBS Sunday Morning, April 21, 2024

[metamorphesque]

BRIEFLY ABOUT WHAT'S HAPPENING IN ARMENIA

The present government of Armenia, under the leadership of the infamous madman Nikol Pashinyan, has made the decision to cede some Armenian territory to Azerbaijan, a neighboring country that has relentlessly waged war against Armenia for decades, leaving scars of loss and anguish in its wake. On April 19, the Armenian and Azerbaijani border demarcation commissions agreed to initiate border demarcation proceedings starting from the Tavush region. The delineation of the border sections will be based on coordinates clarified through geodetic measurements on-site, with completion expected by May 15th, 2024. Representatives of the Armenian Prime Minister announced that, as a consequence, Azerbaijan would gain control over 2.5 villages, purportedly leading to a reduction in security risks for the Republic of Armenia. This decision has been likened to extending a hand to a voracious beast in the hope that it will miraculously abandon its predatory instincts and refrain from further aggression. Those familiar with the historical tensions between these nations recognize this as the initial step toward Armenia's capitulation. Since April 19, residents of Tavush border villages, supported by demonstrators from across the country, have been staging protests along the Armenia-Georgia interstate road. Despite these protests, 35 border posts have already been erected along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border. Opponents of the border delimitation, led by Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, head of the Diocese of Tavush, are marching from Kirants—one of the affected villages—to Yerevan in an attempt to halt the border demarcation process. Archbishop Bagrat Sacrosanct previously declared that the movement would reach Yerevan by the afternoon of May 9, where they will present specific demands to the government. The participants demand an end to the concessionary policy and unilateral concessions endorsed by the government, which will, without a shadow of a doubt, endanger the safety of Armenians and Armenia as an independent country. Hence, every single one of us needs to be politically conscious. Who knows? Perhaps one day your leader, too, will decide to sell parts of your country to your enemy.

[mountrainiernps]

Mount Rainier National Park Archives Photo courtesy Richardson Paul Album of the Paradise Road near Ricksecker Point circa 1910.

Between Longmire and Paradise is a short one-way scenic road called Ricksecker Point Road. First built from 1904-1915, this part of the road is an older section of the Nisqually-Paradise Road and was considered one of the most dangerous stretches. It was narrow, bordered by steep cliffs, and prone to rockfall. Over the years the road was widened, resurfaced, and parking was included at viewpoints. A detour constructed in the 1930s replaced the original route and became the main Paradise Road, while Ricksecker Point Road was left as a scenic bypass. Ricksecker Point is named for Eugene Ricksecker, an Army Corps of Engineers supervisor who surveyed the route to Paradise in 1904. The survey team originally named the feature “Gap Point”, but it was renamed after a road was constructed in 1909.

Ricksecker Point Road, also called Ricksecker Overlook, is a contributing structure in the Mount Rainier Historic Landmark District. Have you driven or stopped along this scenic road during the summer?

NPS Photo from Ricksecker Point Road in 2018. The forested, rocky ridge in front of Mount Rainier in both photos is called Cushman Crest.

[rabbitcruiser]

Grand Mesa National Forest, CO (No. 9)

Colorado is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains.

The region has been inhabited by Native Americans and their ancestors for at least 13,500 years and possibly much longer. The eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains was a major migration route for early peoples who spread throughout the Americas. "Colorado" is the Spanish adjective meaning "red", the color of the Fountain Formation outcroppings found up and down the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. The Territory of Colorado was organized on February 28, 1861,  and on August 1, 1876, U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant signed Proclamation 230 admitting Colorado to the Union as the 38th state. Colorado is nicknamed the "Centennial State" because it became a state one century (and four weeks) after the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence.

Source: WIkipedia    

[wilwheaton]

Donald Trump is on the verge of becoming the GOP nominee for the presidency for the third straight election. What might have seemed like a historical blip in 2016 that was remedied by Trump’s general election defeat in 2020 is now an eternal black mark on the Republican Party. Hijacked by Trump, purged of its traditional middle-of-the-road corporate conservatives, and transformed into a cult of personality, the Republican Party is unrecognizable as the party of Lincoln. Gone are the Bushes, Cheneys, and Romneys. In are the worst group of scoundrels, hacks, hangers-on, and would-be authoritarians this nation has ever seen. Whatever quaint and out-dated notions remained that Iowa’s Midwestern conservatism and its rural and highly educated populace would serve as an important early filter in the nominating process can be put to rest. A majority of Iowa Republican caucus-goers went for Trump after the travesties of the Trump presidency: the failed response to the COVID pandemic, the indignity of losing to Joe Biden, and the insurrection at the Capitol, among so many others.

Iowa GOP Embraces Insurrectionist For POTUS

Racist losers choose racist loser to represent the party of racist losers.

Also, just to keep some perspective: Shitler “won” by getting about 44,000 people in one state, known for its high concentration of white supremacist christians.

Don’t be fooled by media that this is some kind of meaningful comeback for him. He’s still a criminal, he’s still a liar and a conman. He’s still going to prison for the rest of his life. This is not his political comeback. This is forty thousand pieces of shit in a nation of around 340 million people who overwhelmingly despise him.

Stay vigilant. Get out the vote. Don’t get complacent, but don’t be fooled by a “comeback” narrative that horserace-driven media needs to sell advertising.

[provider-of-guardians]

Look look look, before anyone gets mad.. I just wanted to gush about road trips lol (Also please reblog to help this post break containment!)

[batboyblog]

Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week #18

May 10-17 2024

The Justice Department endorses lifting many restrictions on marijuana. Since the 1970s marijuana has been classified as a Schedule I controlled substance, the most restrictive classification for drugs that are highly addictive, dangerous and have no medical use, like heroin. Schedule I drugs are nearly impossible to get approval for research studies greatly hampering attempts to understand marijuana and any medical benefits it may have. The DoJ recommends moving it to Schedule III, drugs with low risk of abuse like anabolic steroids, and testosterone. This will allow for greater research, likely allow medical marijuana, and make marijuana a much less serious offense. President Biden welcomed DoJ's decision, a result a review of policy he ordered. Biden in his message talked about how he's pardoned everyone convicted of marijuana possession federally. The President repeated a phrase he's said many times "No-one should be in jail just for using or possessing marijuana,"

The Department of Interior announced no new coal mining in America's largest coal producing region. The moratorium on new coal leases has been hailed as the single biggest step so fair toward ending coal in the US. The Powder River Basin area of Wyoming and Montana produces 40% of the nations coal, the whole state of West Virginia is just 14%. The new rule is estimated to reduce emissions by the equivalent of 293 million tons of carbon dioxide annually, the same as taking 63 million gas powered cars off the road.

Vice-President Harris announced that the Biden-Harris Administration had broken records by investing $16 billion in Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Harris, a graduate of Howard University, is the first President or Vice-President to have gone to a HBCU. The Administration's investment of $900 million so far in 2024 brought the total investment of the Biden-Harris administration in HBCUs to $16 billion more than double the record $7 billion. HBCUs produce 40% of black engineers, 50% of black teachers, 70% of black doctors and dentists, and 80% of black judges. HBCUs also have a much better record of helping social mobility and moving people out of generational poverty than other colleges and universities.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced $30 billion dollars in renewal funding for the Housing Choice Voucher Program. The program supports 2.3 million families that are in need of housing with vouchers that help pay rent. This funding represents a $2 billion dollar increase over last year.

The Department of Agriculture announced $671.4 million in investments in rural infrastructure. The money will go to project to improve rural electric grids, as well as drinking water and wastewater treatment infrastructure. The money will go to 47 projects across 23 states.

HUD announced a record breaking $1.1 billion dollar investment in Tribal housing and community development. HUD plans just over 1 billion dollars for the Indian Housing Block Grant (IHBG) program. This is a 40% increase in funding over 2023 and marks the largest ever funding investment in Indian housing. HUD also is investing $75 million in community development, supporting building and rehabbing community buildings in American Indian and Alaska Native communities.

The Department of Transportation announced $2 billion in investments in America's busiest passenger rail route, the Northeast Corridor between Washington DC and Boston. This is part of a 15 year, $176 billion plan to rebuild the corridor’s infrastructure and prepare for increased ridership and more trains. So far investments have seen a 25% increase, 7 million riders, over figures last year. a fully funded plan would almost double Amtrak service between New York City and Washington, D.C., and increase service between New York City and Boston by 50%. It would also allow a 60% increase in commuter trains.

HUD announced plans to streamline its HOME program. Currently the largest federal program to help build affordable housing, the streamlining of the rules will speed up building and help meet the Biden Administration's goal of 2 million new affordable housing units. HUD announced last week $1.3 billion dollars for the HOME program, which built 13,000 new units of housing in 2023 and helped 13,000 families with rental assistance

The Department of Interior announced $520 million in new water projects to help protect against drought in the western states. The funding will support 57 water related projects across 18 western states. The projects focus on climate resilience and drought prevention, as well as improving aging water delivery systems, and improving hydropower generation.

The Departments of Agriculture and HHS have stepped up efforts to wipe out the H5N1 virus prevent its spread to humans while protecting farmers livelihoods. The virus is currently effecting dairy cattle in the Texas panhandle region. The USDA and HSS are releasing wide ranging funds to help support farms equipping workers with Personal Protective Equipment, covering Veterinary costs, as well as compensating farmers for lost revenue. HHS and the CDC announced $101 million in testing an monitoring. This early detection and action is key to preventing another Covid style pandemic.

The Senate confirmed Sanket Bulsara to a life time federal judgeship in New York and Eric Schulte and Camela Theeler to lifetime federal judgeships in South Dakota. This brings the total number of judges appointed by President Biden to 197. For the first time in history the majority of a President's judicial nominees have not been white men.

Bonus: The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that transgender health insurance exclusions were illegal. The ruling came from a case first filed in 2019 where an employer refused to cover an employee's gender affirming surgery. The court in its ruling sited new guidance from the Biden Administration's Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that declared that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act protects trans people in the work place. These kinds of guidelines are often sited in court and carry great weight.