View from the Window at Le Gras is a heliographic image and the oldest surviving camera photograph. It was created by French inventor Nicéphore Niépce in 1826 or 1827 at Saint-Loup-de-Varennes and shows parts of the buildings and surrounding countryside of his estate, Le Gras, as seen from a high window. Niépce captured the scene with a camera obscura focused onto a 16.2 cm × 20.2 cm pewter plate thinly coated with Bitumen of Judea, a occurring asphalt. The bitumen hardened in the brightly lit areas, but in the dimly lit areas it remained soluble and could be washed away with a mixture of oil of lavender and white petroleum. A long exposure in the camera was required. Sunlight strikes the buildings on opposite sides, suggesting an exposure that lasted about eight hours, which has become the traditional estimate. A researcher who studied Niépce's notes and recreated his processes found that the exposure must have continued for several days. In late 1827, Niépce visited England, he showed several other specimens of his work to botanical illustrator Francis Bauer.

View from the Window at Le Gras was the only example of a camera photograph. Bauer encouraged him to present his "heliography" process to the Royal Society. Niépce wrote and submitted a paper but was unwilling to reveal any specific details in it, so the Royal Society rejected it based on a rule that prohibited presentations about undisclosed secret processes. Before returning to France, Niépce gave the specimens to Bauer. Niépce died in 1833, due to a stroke. After the pioneering photographic processes of Louis Daguerre and Henry Fox Talbot were publicly announced in January 1839, Bauer championed Niépce's right to be acknowledged as the first inventor of a process for making permanent photographs. On March 9, 1839, the specimens were exhibited at the Royal Society. After Bauer's death in 1840 they passed through several hands and were exhibited as historical curiosities. View from the Window at Le Gras was last publicly shown in 1905 and fell into oblivion for nearly fifty years. Historians Helmut Gernsheim and Alison Gernsheim tracked down the photograph in 1952 and brought it to prominence, reinforcing the claim that Niépce is the inventor of photography.

They had an expert at the Kodak Research Laboratory make a modern photographic copy, but it proved difficult to produce an adequate representation of all that could be seen when inspecting the actual plate. Helmut Gernsheim retouched one of the copy prints to clean it up and make the scene more comprehensible, until the late 1970s he allowed only that enhanced version to be published, it became apparent that at some point in time after the copying in 1952, the plate was disfigured and acquired bumps near three of its corners, which caused light to reflect in ways that interfered with the visibility of those areas and of the image as a whole. During the 1950s and early 1960s, the Gernsheims toured the photograph to several exhibitions in continental Europe. In 1963, Harry Ransom purchased most of the Gernsheims' photography collection for the University of Texas at Austin. Although it has traveled since in 2012–13 it visited Mannheim, Germany, as part of an exhibition entitled The Birth of Photography—Highlights of the Helmut Gernsheim Collection.

It is on display in the main lobby of the Harry Ransom Center in Austin, Texas. During a study and conservation project in 2002–03, scientists at the Getty Conservation Institute examined the photograph using X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, other techniques, they confirmed that the metal plate is pewter. The Institute designed and built the elaborate display case system that now houses the artifact in a continuously monitored, oxygen-free environment. In 2007, scientists from the Louvre Museum published an analysis of the photograph using ion beam analysis, with data taken on their 2 MV electrostatic accelerator; this showed the details of the oxidation process, corroding the image. In 2003, Life listed View from the Window at Le Gras among 100 Photographs. History of photography The Niépce Heliograph at the Harry Ransom CenterIntroducing ‘The Niépce Heliograph’

John Mark Cocks known as'Cocksy', was a New Zealand celebrity builder and television presenter. He was most notable for working on the My House My Castle series in the 1990s for New Zealand's TV2. Throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, Cocks was a prominent face on New Zealand television as Cocksy, New Zealand's favourite tradesman. Cocks started his career in television in the late 1990s, his prominent role on television is a builder and renovator, though he has worked on other projects that are not related to building in his career. One of the earliest TV shows that he appeared on was April's Angels, he appeared on this show alongside April Ieremia in 1998. After this Cocks started appearing on the popular New Zealand home renovation TV show My House My Castle as the building consultant and builder; this show ran from 1999 until 2009. During the early 2000s, Cocks appeared on several reality shows including City Celebrity Country Nobody and Celebrity Treasure Island to which he won on Season One of the show.

Cocks was the voice and face of the Carters Building Supplies commercials in the early 2000s. Cocks appeared on television again in 2013 for the TV show How Did You Do That? Alongside Amy Schaeffer and in 2015 on My Dream Room: Kids Edition with television and radio host Mel Homer. April's Angels My House My Castle City Celebrity Country Nobody Celebrity Treasure Island Cocksys Day Off Jack of All Trades My Dream Room: Kids Edition How Did You Do That? In June 2017 Cocks married Dana Coote, they have three daughters, Ella and Georgia. They are his three children from a previous marriage. In 2016 Cocks was diagnosed with kidney cancer, he died from it on 6 February 2019

Stoneville is an unincorporated community located in northeastern Washington County, Mississippi. Deer Creek flows through Stoneville. A post office was established in 1876, remains open. Stoneville was incorporated in 1882. Stoneville was a stop on the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad, established in the 1880s, a stop on the Columbus and Greenville Railway, established in the 1920s; the Jamie Whitten Delta States Research Center is located in Stoneville. George B. Vogt was a notable entomologist there. Johnny "Big Moose" Walker, blues musician