Waveland Bowl was voted Chicago's Best Bowling Center. When you think of bowling in Chicago, do you have a vision of a smoke-filled bowling alley, or do you envision a non-smoking, clean, modern, facility with state-of-the-art features such as automatic bumpers and computerized scoring on every lane? Taken form the Web Site.

Pep Boys

 

Philadelphia building

 

In 1921, four Navy buddies spotted an emerging market for auto supplies stores and pooled $800 to open the first one in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Since then, Pep Boys has been ahead of its time in the business world, weathering several economic events to remain one of the most widely known aftermarket auto parts and service brands in the country today.

 

Emanual “Manny” Rosenfeld, two Moes- Maurice “Moe” Strauss and Moe Radavitz- and W. Graham “Jack” Jackson chipped in $200 each to start the business. With car ownership skyrocketing, following the introduction of the assembly line production of the Ford Model T, Strauss saw a need for an auto accessories store and knew with the right partners he could make it happen. The founders rented a store at 7-11 North 63rd Street in West Philadelphia, but it still needed a name.

 

As the foursome initially set up their store, Moe’s eye fell on a carton of Pep Valve Grinding compound and suggested Pep. Pep Auto Supply Company was the company’s name its first two years. The current, famous “Pep Boys” name emerged in pieces, partly coming from a Philadelphia police officer who encouraged people to visit “the boys at Pep” and a cross-country trip to Los Angeles that inspired the “Manny, Moe & Jack” moniker from a dress shop. Radivitz and Jackson eventually left the business a short time later, and Strauss’ brother eventually took on the role of Jack.

 

Shrewd planning kept the company safe during the Great Depression. Manny and Moe had incurred no business debts other than reasonable mortgages on store properties. Even during the Depression, Americans still had to spend money on their cars, keeping aftermarket suppliers in business. Pep Boys also sold non-auto accessories including radio supplies and bicycles that made sense for their customer base. The company did not cut back or lay off personnel, run up debt, or sell out to a competitor during the Depression. Instead, it doubled its strength by expanding to California.

 

Pep Boys opened their first store in Los Angeles in 1933. The California expansion was opened as a separate company, The Pep Boys- Manny, Moe & Jack of California. The company’s first service bays opened their doors in Los Angeles since stores were larger in square footage out west.

 

Pep Boys went public in 1945 in order to meet increasing consumer demand unleashed at the end of WWII. The infusion of cash went directly into growing the business, and Pep Boys followed the masses out to the suburbs.

 

The company’s headquarters got a new home as well, moving to its current location at 3111 West Allegheny Avenue in the East Falls section of Philadelphia. Pep Boys moved to the building on May 26, 1947, and paid off the mortgage by 1959. Today, this building is known as the Store Support Center, housing the company’s corporate offices.

 

In the next 20 years, the number of stores nearly tripled to a total of 124 by 1969. It was during this time service bays and service managers were added to each store. Through the 1970s, Pep Boys converted all stores to self-serviced merchandising and implemented a computerized inventory system.

 

The 1980s brought the most aggressive expansion program in the company’s history. To raise capital, Pep Boys split its stock 3-for-1 and moved to the New York Stock Exchange in 1982. This strategy enabled rapid growth and brought about the birth of the automotive “supercenter.” This concept boosted Pep Boys to more than 700 stores, almost 3,600 service bays and more than $2 billion in annual sales.

 

Pep Boys The Road Ahead

 

Pep Boys continued its expansion in the 1990s, including to Puerto Rico. As the automotive aftermarket need has shifted over time from a majority of auto parts customers who identify as “Do it Yourselfers” to an increasing number of customers who prefer service centers to take care of their automotive maintenance and repair, Pep Boys has expanded its service business. Today Pep Boys provides service for more than six million cars and car owners each year. More than 23 million “Rewards” members have signed up for special offers in stores.

  

Since 2009, Pep Boys has focused on the development of service and tire centers within its existing markets as its primary growth strategy. Today the company operates more than 7,400 service bays in nearly 800 stores nationwide. At the same time, in some of its traditional supercenters, the company has expanded to include “Speed Shops” within its retail stores, which cater to the growing number of car enthusiasts who have fun working on performance cars, like hot rods, “muscle cars” and off-road trucks.

  

In 2012, Pep Boys created a new service and retail customer experience, which it refers to as “The Road Ahead. ” Similar to the experience found at some high-end car dealerships, new Pep Boys stores feature customer lounges with amenities such as complimentary Wi-Fi and flat screen TVs near its full-service maintenance and repair shops, as well as the most diverse

retail product assortment in the automotive aftermarket.

   

thank goodness for computerized dryers. I have no idea what i would do without them. ;)

Da 1431, a diesel electric locomotive, first saw service on the New Zealand rail network in August 1955; it was the leader of the pack (as it were) and originally carried the number 1401. (The numbers changed in 1980 when a computerized Traffic Management System (or TMS) was introduced).

 

After a disappointing experience with the original DF class diesel electrics that had been built by English Electric in 1954, an agreement was entered into with General Motors / EMD for the supply of 30 G12 model locomotives. With two production lines at London, Ontario and La Grange Illinois, two locomotives were completed every three days, and it wasn't long before this class was recognised as the most reliable, versatile and powerful class of diesel on the NZ rail network...

 

Further orders for the Class quickly followed, and eventually a total of 146 roamed the tracks (especially in the North Island).

 

The fleet was rebuilt in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and re-classified Dc but continued to give reliable service right through until all but a handful were finally retired in 2015 - 2016.

 

Most of the class have now disappeared - either scrapped, sold or rebuilt, but with their distinctive louder than usual exhaust crackle, a handful remain and continue to make their presence felt courtesy of Heritage rail organisations such as Steam Incorporated (who also owns and operates the Ja locomotive in the previous photo).

 

And the yellow / red / grey / yellow machine behind the Da? That's a contemporary EMD - built Df class - another success story from the American manufacturer... but that's another story! Suffice to say however that this pair had been used to pilot the Daffodil Express (See previous photo) through the five and a half mile long Rimutaka Tunnel, and were now returning home...

  

Thanks for visiting my Site Folks, and thanks especially for taking the time and trouble to leave a Comment; it's always nice to hear from you...!

 

(Left (or Right!) click the Mouse to view Large; click again to return to normal).

A comet discovered last year — known as C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS — has been making an appearance in the evening sky. The comet initially appeared low on the western horizon in the glow of twilight about 45 minutes after sunset each day starting mid-October, through the end of the month. As the month continues, the comet will become higher in the sky each night as it moves away from the sun and out of the solar system — and will appear dimmer and become harder to see with eyes alone. After that, the comet can still be viewed for a few months — but with with a professional telescope. The snowy dirtball is nearly 2 miles in diameter and its tail of dust and gasses extends for tens of millions of miles. It was first discovered in 2023 by observers at the Purple Mountain Observatory in China and an Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope in South Africa. From the Oort Cloud, a spherical shell that surrounds the solar system and contains icy objects like comets, the comet will come within 44 million miles of Earth, according to NASA. This image was made with an Explore Scientific ED127 telescope (925mm focal length) a ZWO ASI2600MC Pro astro camera and a computerized mount that follows the comet, stacking approximately 30 images shot at 30 seconds each.

computerized

Pan American World Airways, known from its founding until 1950 as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was the principal and largest international air carrier in the United States from 1927 until its collapse on December 4, 1991. Founded in 1927 as a scheduled air mail and passenger service operating between Key West, Florida, and Havana, Cuba, the airline became a major company credited with many innovations that shaped the international airline industry, including the widespread use of jet aircraft, jumbo jets, and computerized reservation systems. It was also a founding member of the International Air Transport Association, the global airline industry association. Identified by its blue globe logo, the use of the word "Clipper" in aircraft names and call signs, and the white pilot uniform caps, the airline was a cultural icon of the 20th century. In an era dominated by flag carriers that were wholly or majority government-owned, it was also the unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States. During most of the jet era, Pan Am's flagship terminal was the Worldport located at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City.

"Y'all heard about that crazy kid from Vault 101.”

 

('The Lone Wanderer' by Funko / Legacy Collection)

 

Diorama by RK

Pan American World Airways, known from its founding until 1950 as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was the principal and largest international air carrier in the United States from 1927 until its collapse on December 4, 1991. Founded in 1927 as a scheduled air mail and passenger service operating between Key West, Florida, and Havana, Cuba, the airline became a major company credited with many innovations that shaped the international airline industry, including the widespread use of jet aircraft, jumbo jets, and computerized reservation systems. It was also a founding member of the International Air Transport Association, the global airline industry association. Identified by its blue globe logo, the use of the word "Clipper" in aircraft names and call signs, and the white pilot uniform caps, the airline was a cultural icon of the 20th century. In an era dominated by flag carriers that were wholly or majority government-owned, it was also the unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States. During most of the jet era, Pan Am's flagship terminal was the Worldport located at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City.

America by Air

The history of commercial aviation in the United States from airmail to airlines.

 

Flying was new and daring in the early years of the 20th century. Traveling by airplane was rare. Airlines, airliners, airports, air routes—none of these existed. But by century's end, you could travel to almost anywhere in America by air in a matter of hours. How did this revolutionary change happen?

 

America by Air explores the history of air transportation in the United States and shows how the federal government has shaped the airline industry, how improvements in technology have revolutionized air travel, and how the flying experience has changed. Highlights include a Ford 5-AT Tri-Motor, Boeing 247, and DC-3 airliners; a cockpit simulation of an Airbus A320; and a nose from a Boeing 747 jumbo jet that you can enter.

Currituck Beach Lighthouse

  

Number of steps: 220

Height to focal plane of lens: 158 feet (48 m)

Height to top of roof: 162 feet (49 m)

Number of bricks: one million

Thickness of wall at base: 5 feet 8 inches (1.73 m)

Thickness of wall at parapet: 3 feet (0.91 m)

Position: 34 miles (55 km) south of the Cape Henry (Virginia) Lighthouse; 32 1/2 miles (52.3 km) north-northwest of Bodie Island Lighthouse

Coast Survey Chart: 36° 22'36" N latitude, 75° 49'51" W longitude.

 

Currituck Beach Light, ca. 1883

 

As it had reported in previous years, the U.S. Light-House Board in 1872 stated that ships, cargoes, and lives continued to be lost along the 40 miles (64 km) of dark coastline that lay beyond the reaches of existing lighthouses. Southbound ships sailing closer to shore to avoid the Gulf Stream were especially in danger. In response, construction began on the Currituck Beach Lighthouse in 1873 with completion two years later. The date at the top of the entrance to the lighthouse says "1873" because on every lighthouse, the date on the structure is the date that construction began.

 

The Currituck Beach Lighthouse is a first order lighthouse, meaning it has the largest of seven Fresnel lens sizes. The original source of light was a Funck's hydraulic float lamp, fueled with lard oil, and consisting of four concentric wicks. In approximately 1884, the lighthouse converted to a mineral oil (kerosene) lamp with five concentric wicks; the largest was 4 inches in diameter. By 1913, an incandescent oil vapor lamp was used, with kerosene vaporized and forced into the burner by use of a hand pump attached to the storage tank.

 

Before the advent of electricity, a mechanical means was required to rotate the huge lenses that made the light appear to flash. A system of weights suspended from a line powered a clockwork mechanism beneath the lantern—much like the workings of a grandfather clock. The keeper cranked the weights up by hand every two and a half hours.

 

In approximately 1939, the lighthouse was completely automated. The Coast Guard took over the duties and responsibilities of the United States Lighthouse Board, and the lighthouse had computerized devices installed which turned the light on automatically. Four 1000 watt bulbs were installed in the light room, however only one flashed at night (the other three served as back-up emergency replacements, which would automatically start if one bulb went out.) Because the lighthouse was automated, the keepers were no longer needed to tend to the lighthouse, and all lighthouse keepers on the compound were dismissed from their duties.

 

Like the other lighthouses on North Carolina's Outer Banks, this one still serves as an aid to navigation. The beacon comes on automatically every evening at dusk and ceases at dawn.

 

With a 20-second flash cycle (on for 3 seconds, off for 17 seconds), the light can be seen for 18 nautical miles (33 km). The distinctive sequence enables the lighthouse not only to warn mariners but also to help identify their locations. The original four-bulb light system has been replaced with only two light bulbs, as the lights now last longer than they did in 1939. (The lights remain 1000 watts, and the Coast Guard replaces them.) (The lights last about a year per bulb.) [4]

 

The Currituck Beach Lighthouse was the last major brick lighthouse built on the Outer Banks.

 

Sand Island Light (Alabama) was built in 1873 using the same plans as Currituck Beach Light, but with a second order Fresnel lens.

 

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Currituck_Beach_Light

  

N522AX / very large air tanker (VLAT) 912/10 Tanker Air Carrier McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 Serial number 48315 LN:436

 

The DC-10’s air speed during drops is normally 278 km/h (150 knots) at about 200-250 ft.

The flow rate from the tanks is controlled by using the doors and adjusting the amount that they are opened. This is controlled by a computerized processor with programmed settings for achieving different coverage levels as dialed up on the tank controls. There are eight standard coverage level settings (1–8) on the control panel.

 

Professor X (Charles Francis Xavier) is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in The X-Men #1 (September 1963). The character is depicted as the founder and occasional leader of the X-Men.

 

Xavier is a member of a subspecies of humans known as mutants, who are born with superhuman abilities. He is an exceptionally powerful telepath, who can read and control the minds of others. To both shelter and train mutants from around the world, he runs a private school in the X-Mansion in Salem Center, located in Westchester County, New York.Xavier also strives to serve a greater good by promoting peaceful coexistence and equality between humans and mutants in a world where zealous anti-mutant sentiment is widespread.

 

Throughout much of the character's history in comics, Xavier is a paraplegic using a standard or modified wheelchair. One of the world's most powerful mutant telepaths, Xavier is a scientific genius and a leading authority in genetics. He has devised Cerebro and other equipment to enhance psionic powers and detect and track people with the mutant gene.

 

Xavier's pacifist and assimilationist ideology and actions have often been contrasted with that of Magneto, a mutant villain with whom Xavier has a complicated relationship.

 

He also appears in almost all of the X-Men animated series and in many video games, although usually as a non-playable character. Patrick Stewart plays him in the 2000s X-Men film series, as well as providing his voice in some of the X-Men video games (including some not connected to the film series).

 

According to BusinessWeek, Charles Xavier is listed as one of the top ten most intelligent fictional characters in American comics.

 

Publication History

 

Creation and influences

 

Stan Lee has stated that the physical inspiration of Professor Xavier was from Academy Award-winning actor Yul Brynner.

 

Writer Scott Lobdell established Xavier's middle name to be "Francis" in Uncanny X-Men #328 (January 1996).

 

Character

 

Xavier's goals are to promote the peaceful affirmation of mutant rights, to mediate the co-existence of mutants and humans, to protect mutants from violent humans, and to protect society from antagonistic mutants, including his old friend, Magneto.

 

To achieve these aims, he founded Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters (later named the Xavier Institute) to teach mutants to explore and control their powers. Its first group of students was the original X-Men (Cyclops, Iceman, Marvel Girl, Angel, and Beast).

 

Xavier's students consider him a visionary and often refer to their mission as "Xavier's dream". He is highly regarded by others in the Marvel Universe, respected by various governments, and trusted by several other superhero teams, including the Avengers and the Fantastic Four.

 

However, he also has a manipulative streak which has resulted in several significant fallings-out with allies and students.

 

He often acts as a public advocate for mutant rights and is the authority most of the Marvel superhero community turns to for advice on mutants. Despite this, his status as a mutant himself and originator of the X-Men only became public during the 2001 story "E Is for Extinction".

 

In a number of comics, Xavier is shown to have a dark side, a part of himself that he struggles to suppress. Perhaps the most notable appearance of this character element is in the Onslaught storyline, in which the crossover event's antagonist is a physical manifestation of that dark side.

 

Also, Onslaught is created in the most violent act Xavier claims to have done: erasing the mind of Magneto.

 

In X-Men #106 (August 1977), the new X-Men fight images of the original team, which have been created by what Xavier says is his "evil self ... who would use his powers for personal gain and conquest", which he says he is normally able to keep in check.

 

In the 1984 four-part series titled The X-Men and the Micronauts, Xavier's dark desires manifest themselves as the Entity and threaten to destroy the Micronauts' universe.

 

In other instances, Xavier is shown to be secretive and manipulative.

 

During the Onslaught storyline, the X-Men find Xavier's files, the "Xavier Protocols", which detail how to kill many of the characters, including Xavier himself, should the need ever arise, such as if they went rogue.

 

Astonishing X-Men vol. 3, #12 (August 2005) reveals that when Xavier realizes that the Danger Room has become sentient, he keeps it trapped and experiments on it for years, an act that Cyclops calls "the oppression of a new life" and equates to humanity's treatment of mutants (however, X-Men Legacy #220 - 224 reveals that Xavier did not intend for the Danger Room to become sentient: it was an accident, and Xavier sought a way to free Danger, but was unable to find a way to accomplish this without deleting her sentience as well).

 

Fictional character biography

 

Charles Francis Xavier was born in New York City to the wealthy Dr. Brian Xavier, a well-respected nuclear scientist, and Sharon Xavier.

 

The family lives in a very grand mansion estate in Westchester County because of the riches his father's nuclear research has brought them.

 

He later grows up to attend Pembroke College at the University of Oxford, where he earns a Professorship in Genetics and other science fields, and goes on to live first in Oxford and then London for a number of years.

 

Crucially, as he enters late adolescence, Xavier inherits the mansion-house he was raised in, enabling him not only to continue to live in it, but also to turn it in to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, which he begins together with the first of the X-Men.

 

Brian, his father, dies in an accident when Xavier is still very young, and Brian's science partner Kurt Marko comforts and then marries the grieving Sharon. When Xavier's telepathic mutant powers emerge, he discovers Marko cares only about his mother's money.

 

After the wedding, Kurt moves in with the Xaviers, bringing with him his son Cain. Kurt quickly grows neglectful of Sharon, driving her to alcoholism, and abuses both Charles and Cain.

 

Cain takes out his frustrations and insecurities on his stepbrother. Charles uses his telepathic powers to read Cain's mind and explore the extent of his psychological damage, which only leads to Cain becoming more aggressive toward him and the young Xavier feeling Cain's pain firsthand.

 

Sharon dies soon after, and a fight erupts between Cain and Charles that causes some of Kurt's lab equipment to explode. Mortally wounded, Kurt drags the two children out before dying, and admits he was partly responsible for Brian's death.

 

With help from his superhuman powers and natural genius, Xavier becomes an excellent student and athlete, though he gives up the latter, believing his powers give him an unfair advantage.

 

Due to his powers, by the time he graduates from high school, Charles loses all of his hair. He graduates with honors at the age of 16 from Bard College.

 

In graduate studies, he receives Ph.D.s in Genetics, Biophysics, Psychology, and Anthropology with a two-year residence at Pembroke College, University of Oxford.

 

He also receives an M.D. in Psychiatry while spending several years in London. He is later appointed adjunct professor at Columbia University.

 

At graduate school, he meets a Scottish girl named Moira Kinross, a fellow genetics student with whom he falls in love. The two agree to get married, but soon, Xavier is drafted into the Korean War.

 

He carves himself a niche as a soldier in search and rescue missions alongside Shadowcat's father, Carmen Pryde, and witnesses Cain's transformation into Juggernaut when he touches a ruby with an inscription on it in an underground temple.

 

During the war, he receives a letter from Moira telling him that she is breaking up with him. He later discovers that Moira married her old boyfriend Joseph MacTaggert, who abuses her.

 

Deeply depressed when Moira broke off their engagement without explanation, Xavier began traveling around the world as an adventurer after leaving the army.

 

In Cairo, he meets a young girl named Ororo Munroe (later known as Storm), who is a pickpocket, and the Shadow King, a powerful mutant who is posing as Egyptian crime lord Amahl Farouk.

 

Xavier defeats the Shadow King, barely escaping with his life. This encounter leads to Xavier's decision to devote his life to protecting humanity from evil mutants and safeguarding innocent mutants from human oppression.

 

Xavier visits his friend Daniel Shomron, who runs a clinic for traumatized Holocaust victims in Haifa, Israel. There, he meets a man going by the name of Magnus (who would later become Magneto), a Holocaust survivor who works as a volunteer in the clinic, and Gabrielle Haller, a woman driven into a catatonic coma by the trauma she experienced.

 

Xavier uses his mental powers to break her out of her catatonia and the two fall in love. Xavier and Magneto become good friends, although neither immediately reveals to the other that he is a mutant.

 

The two hold lengthy debates hypothesizing what will happen if humanity is faced with a new super-powered race of humans. While Xavier is optimistic, Magneto's experiences in the Holocaust lead him to believe that humanity will ultimately oppress the new race of humans.

 

The two friends reveal their powers to each other when they fight Nazi Baron Wolfgang von Strucker and his Hydra agents, who kidnap Gabrielle because she knows the location of their secret cache of gold. Magneto attempts to kill Strucker but Xavier stops him.

 

Realizing that his and Xavier's views on mutant-human relations are incompatible, Magneto leaves with the gold. Charles stays in Israel for some time, but he and Gabrielle separate on good terms, neither knowing that she is pregnant with his son, who grows up to become the mutant Legion.

 

In a strange town near the Himalayas, Xavier encounters an alien calling himself Lucifer, the advance scout for an invasion by his race, and foils his plans. In retaliation, Lucifer drops a huge stone block on Xavier, crippling his legs.

 

After Lucifer leaves, a young woman named Sage hears Xavier's telepathic cries for help and rescues him, bringing him to safety, beginning a long alliance between the two.

 

In a hospital in India, he is brought to an American nurse, Amelia Voght, who looks after him and, as she sees to his recovery, they fall in love. When he is released from the hospital, the two moved into an apartment in Bombay together.

 

Amelia is troubled to find Charles studying mutation, as she is a mutant and unsettled by it, though she calms when he reveals himself to be a mutant as well.

 

They eventually move to the United States, living on Xavier's family estate. But the night Scott Summers moves into Xavier's mansion, Amelia leaves him, believing Charles would have changed his view and that mutants should lie low. Yet he is recruiting them to what she believes is a lost cause. Charles tries to force her to stay with his mental powers, but immediately ashamed by this, lets her go. She later becomes a disciple of Magneto.

 

Over the years, Charles makes a name for himself as geneticist and psychologist, apparently renowned enough that the Greys were referred to him when no other expert could help their catatonic daughter, Jean.

 

Xavier trains her in the use of her telekinesis, while inhibiting her telepathic abilities until she matures. Around this time, he also starts working with fellow mutation expert, Karl Lykos, as well as Moira MacTaggert again, who built a mutant research station on Muir Island.

 

Apparently, Charles had gotten over Moira in his travels to the Greek island of Kirinos. Xavier discusses his candidates for recruitment to his personal strike force, the X-Men, with Moira, including those he passes over, which are Kurt Wagner, Piotr Rasputin, Pietro and Wanda Maximoff, and Ororo Munroe. Xavier also trains Tessa to spy on Sebastian Shaw.

 

Xavier founded Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, which provides a safe haven for mutants and teaches them to master their abilities. In addition, he seeks to foster mutant-human relations by providing his superhero team, the X-Men, as an example of mutants acting in good faith, as he told FBI agent Fred Duncan.

 

With his inherited fortune, he uses his ancestral mansion at 1407 Graymalkin Lane in Salem Center, Westchester County, New York as a base of operations with technologically advanced facilities, including the Danger Room - later, Fantomex mentions that Xavier is a billionaire with a net worth of $3.5 billion.

 

Presenting the image of a stern teacher, Xavier makes his students endure a rigorous training regime.

 

Xavier's first five students are Cyclops, Iceman, Angel, Beast, and Marvel Girl who become the original X-Men. After he completes recruiting the original team of X-Men, he sends them into battle with Magneto.

 

Throughout most of his time with the team, Xavier uses his telepathic powers to keep in constant contact with his students and provides instructions and advice when needed. In addition, he uses a special machine called Cerebro, which enhances his ability to detect mutants and to allow the team to find new students in need of the school.

 

Among the obstacles Xavier faces is his old friend, Magneto, who has grown into an advocate of mutant superiority since their last encounter and who believes the only solution to mutant persecution is domination over humanity.

 

When anthropologist Bolivar Trask resurfaces the "mutant problem", Xavier counters him in a televised debate, however, he appears arrogant and Trask sends his mutant-hunting robot Sentinels to terrorize mutants. The X-Men dispatch them, but Trask sees the error in his ways too late as he is killed by his creations.

 

At one point, Xavier seemingly dies during the X-Men's battle with the sub-human Grotesk, but it is later revealed that Xavier arranged for a reformed former villain named Changeling to impersonate him while he went into hiding to plan a defense against an invasion by the extraterrestrial Z'Nox, imparting a portion of his telepathic abilities to the Changeling to complete the disguise.

 

When the X-Men are captured by the sentient island Krakoa, Xavier assembles a new team to rescue them, including Cyclops' and Havok's long-lost brother, Vulcan, along with Darwin, Petra, and Sway.

 

This new team, composed of students of Dr. Moira MacTaggert, was sent to rescue the original X-Men from Krakoa. However, after rescuing Cyclops, McTaggert's former students were seemingly killed. Upon Cyclops' return, Xavier removed Cyclops' memories of the death of Vulcan and his teammates; and began assembling yet another team of X-Men.

 

Xavier's subsequent rescue team consists of Banshee, Colossus, Sunfire, Nightcrawler, Storm, Wolverine, and Thunderbird. After the mission, the older team of X-Men, except for Cyclops, leave the school, believing they no longer belong there, and Xavier mentors the new X-Men.

 

Xavier forms a psychic bond across galaxies with Princess Lilandra from the Shi'ar Empire. When they finally meet, it is love at first sight. She implores the professor to stop her mad brother, Shi'ar Emperor D'Ken, and he instantly aids her by deploying his X-Men.

 

When Jean Grey returns from the Savage Land to tell him that all the X-Men are dead, he shuts down the school and travels with Lilandra to her kingdom, where she is crowned Empress and he is treated like a child or a trophy husband.

 

Xavier senses the changes taking place in Jean Grey, and returns to Earth to help and resume leadership of the X-Men.

 

Shortly thereafter he battles his pupil after she becomes Dark Phoenix and destroys a populated planet in the Shi'ar Empire. It hurts Xavier to be on the opposite side of Lilandra, but he has no other choice but to challenge the Shi'ar Imperial Guard to a duel over the fate of the Phoenix.

 

Xavier would have lost against the greater power of the Dark Phoenix, but thanks to the help Jean Grey gives him (fighting her Phoenix persona), Xavier emerges victorious; she later commits suicide to prevent herself from endangering more innocent lives.

 

When the X-Men fight members of the extraterrestrial race known as the Brood, Xavier is captured by them, and implanted with a Brood egg, which places Xavier under the Brood's control.

 

During this time, Xavier assembles a team of younger mutants called the New Mutants, secretly intended to be prime hosts for reproduction of the aliens. The X-Men discover this and return to free Xavier, but they are too late to prevent his body from being destroyed with a Brood Queen in its place; however, his soul remains intact.

 

The X-Men and Starjammers subdue this monstrous creature containing Xavier's essence, but the only way to restore him is to clone a new body using tissue samples he donated to the Starjammers and transfer his consciousness into the clone body.

 

This new body possesses functional legs, though the psychosomatic pain Xavier experienced after living so long as a paraplegic takes some time to subside. Subsequently, he even joins the X-Men in the field, but later decides not to continue this practice after realizing that his place is at the school, as the teacher of the New Mutants.

 

After taking a teaching position at Columbia University in Uncanny X-Men #192, Xavier is severely injured and left for dead as the victim of an attack.

 

Callisto and her Morlocks, a group of underground-dwelling mutants, get him to safety. One of the Morlocks partially restores Xavier's health, but Callisto warns Xavier that he is not fully healed and that he must spend more time recuperating and restrain himself from exerting his full strength or powers, or his health might fail again. Xavier hides his injuries from the others and resumes his life.

 

Charles meets with former lover Gabrielle Haller on Muir Isle and discovers that they had a child. The boy, David, has autism and dissociative identity disorder. Furthermore, he has vast psionic powers like his father. After helping him and his team to escape from David's mind, Xavier promises he will always be there for him.

 

A reformed Magneto is arrested and put on trial. Xavier attends the trial to defend his friend. Andrea and Andreas Strucker, the children of presumed dead Baron von Strucker, crash the courtroom to attack Magneto and Xavier. Xavier is seriously injured.

 

Dying, he asks a shocked Magneto to look after the X-Men for him. Lilandra, who has a psychic bond with Xavier, feels that he is in great danger and heads to Earth. There, she and Corsair take Xavier with them so Shi'ar advanced technology can heal him.

 

Xavier leaves Magneto in charge of the school, but some of the X-Men are unwilling to forgive their former enemy. Cyclops loses a duel for the leadership of the X-Men against Storm, then leaves them and joins the other four original X-Men to form a new team called X-Factor.

 

In the meantime, Charles becomes stranded in space with the Starjammers, but he is reunited with his lover Lilandra and relishes his carefree lifestyle.

 

He serves as a member of the Starjammers aboard the starship Starjammer, mobile in the Shi'ar Galaxy. He becomes consort to the Princess-Majestrix Lilandra while in exile, and when she later resumes her throne he takes up residence with her in the Imperial palace on the Shi'ar homeworld. Xavier joins Lilandra in her cause to overthrow her sister Deathbird, taking on the powers of Phoenix temporarily wherein he is named Bald Phoenix by Corsair, but sees that he must return to help the X-Men.

 

Xavier eventually becomes imprisoned by the Skrulls during their attempted invasion of the Shi'ar Empire. Xavier breaks free from imprisonment by Warskrull Prime, and is reunited with the X-Men.

 

A healthy Xavier returns from the Shi'ar Empire and is reunited with both the current and original X-Men teams, and resumes his leadership responsibilities of the united teams. In a battle with his old foe, the Shadow King, in the "Muir Island Saga", Xavier's spine is shattered, returning him to his former paraplegic state, while his son David is seemingly killed. In the following months, Xavier rebuilds the mansion, which previously was rebuilt with Shi'ar technology, and restructures the X-Men into two teams.

 

While holding a mutant rights speech, Xavier is nearly assassinated by Stryfe in the guise of Cable, being infected with a fatal techno-organic virus. For reasons of his own, the villain Apocalypse saves him. As a temporary side-effect, he gains full use of his legs and devotes his precious time to the youngest recruit on his team, Jubilee.

 

With all his students now highly trained adults, Professor Xavier renames his school the Xavier Institute For Higher Learning. Also, he assumes control of a private institution, the Massachusetts Academy, making it a new School for Gifted Youngsters. Another group of young mutants is trained here, Generation X, with Banshee and Emma Frost as headmaster and headmistress, respectively.

 

Professor X is for a time the unknowing host of the evil psionic entity Onslaught, the result of a previous battle with Magneto. In that battle, Magneto uses his powers to rip out the adamantium bonded to Wolverine's skeleton, and a furious Xavier wipes Magneto's mind, leaving him in a coma.

 

From the psychic trauma of Xavier using his powers so violently and the mixing of Magneto's and Xavier's repressed anger, Onslaught is born. Onslaught wreaks havoc, destroying much of Manhattan, until many of Marvel's superheroes—including the Avengers, the Fantastic Four and the Hulk—destroy him.

 

Xavier is left without his telepathy and, overcome with guilt, leaves the X-Men and is incarcerated for his actions.

 

He later returns to the X-Men after Operation: Zero Tolerance, in which he is shocked by the cruel act of being turned over to the mutant-hating Bastion, following a clash with the sentient Cerebro and a team of impostor X-Men.

 

Xavier questions his dream again and Magneto shortly thereafter is confronted by the X-Men. After the battle, the UN concedes Genosha to Magnus, and Wolverine is angered by Xavier stopping him from getting his revenge on Magneto. Charles and Logan are later trapped in a dimension with different laws of physics, wherein they have to coordinate their moves together and, in the process, gain a better understanding of the other's views.

 

Apocalypse kidnaps the fabled "Twelve" special mutants (Xavier included) whose combined energies would grant him omnipotence. After Apocalypse's defeat with the help of Skrull mutants, Xavier goes with the young Skrulls known as Cadre K to train them and free them from their oppressors, and eventually returns to aid in Legacy Virus research.

 

Mystique and her Brotherhood start a deadly assault on Muir Isle by releasing an altered form of the Legacy Virus, all in retaliation against the election campaign of Robert Kelly, a seeming mutant-hater. Mystique blows up Moira MacTaggert's laboratory complex, fatally wounding her. Charles goes to the astral plane to meet with her and retrieve information on the cure to the Legacy Virus, but after gathering the information does not want to leave her alone. If not for Jean and Cable talking him down and pulling him back, the professor would have died with his first love, who states she has no regrets.

 

As Beast cures the Legacy Virus, many infected Genoshan mutants recover overnight, providing Magneto, the current ruler of Genosha, with an army to start the third World War. He demands Earth's governments accept him as their leader, and abducts and crucifies Xavier in Magda Square for all to see. A loyal member of Magneto's Acolytes, Amelia Voght, cannot stand to see her former lover punished in such a manner and sets him free. Jean Grey and rather untrained newcomers, as most of the team are elsewhere, distract Magneto and Wolverine guts him. Xavier is too late to intervene.

 

Xavier's evil twin Cassandra Nova, whom Xavier attempted to kill while they were both in their mother's womb, orders a group of rogue Sentinels to destroy the independent mutant nation of Genosha.

 

Magneto, who is Genosha's leader, appears to die along with the vast majority of the nation's inhabitants. Nova then takes over Xavier's body. Posing as Xavier, she reveals his mutation to the world, something he needed to do but did not want to sully his reputation over, before going into space and crippling the Shi'ar Empire. The X-Men restore Xavier, but Lilandra, believing that too much disaster has come from the Shi'ar's involvement with the X-Men, annuls her marriage to Xavier.

 

Lilandra previously had gone insane and tried to assassinate Charles on a trip to Mumbai. During this period, a mutant named Xorn joins the X-Men. Xorn uses his healing power to restore Xavier's use of his legs.

 

When the X-Men receive a distress call from a Scottish island, they are surprised to find Juggernaut with nowhere to go, as the island was destroyed by his further-mutated partner in crime, Black Tom Cassidy, who died.

 

Xavier reaches out to his stepbrother and offers him a place in his mansion, with Cain reluctantly accepting. The Juggernaut redeems himself over the next few weeks and joins the X-Men. Xavier finds out that Cain's father preferred him to his own flesh and blood and that they both thought they deserved the abuse they incurred by Kurt; Cain believed this because his father loved someone else's child more than him, and Charles felt guilty about getting in the way. That it is why neither of them stopped Kurt Marko with their powers.

 

Now outed as a mutant, Xavier makes speeches to the public about mutant tolerance. He also founds the X-Corporation, or X-Corp (not to be confused with the X-Corps), with offices all over the world. The purpose of the X-Corp is to watch over mutant rights and help mutants in need.

 

As a result of being out, the school no longer hides the fact that it is a school for mutants and it opens its doors for more mutant (and even human) students to come in.

 

A student named Quentin Quire and members of his gang start a riot at the Xavier Institute during an open house at the school. As a result, Quire and two other students are killed. Uncertain about his dream's validity, Xavier announces that he will step down as headmaster and be succeeded by Jean Grey.

 

Afterwards, Xorn reveals himself to be Magneto, having apparently not died in the Sentinel raid on Genosha. Magneto undoes the restoration of Xavier's ability to walk, kidnaps him, and destroys the X-Mansion (killing several of the students). Then Xorn/Magneto assaults New York, where Cyclops, Fantomex and a few students confront him. After the rest of the X-Men arrive, Xorn/Magneto kills Jean Grey with an electromagnetically induced stroke, and Wolverine decapitates him.

 

With Jean dead, Xavier leaves the school to Cyclops and Emma Frost, to bury Xorn/Magneto in Genosha. In a retcon of Grant Morrison's storyline, there Xavier meets the "real" Magneto, who mysteriously survived Cassandra Nova's assault. The two resolve their differences and attempt to restore their friendship, leading a team of mutants, the Genoshan Excalibur, to rebuild and restore order to the destroyed island nation.

 

At the mansion, the Danger Room (the X-Men's simulated reality training chamber) gains sentience, christens itself "Danger", assumes a humanoid form, and attacks the X-Men before leaving to kill Xavier. With Magneto's help, Xavier holds off Danger until the X-Men arrive. Danger flees, but not before revealing to Colossus that Xavier has known it to be sentient ever since he upgraded it.

 

Colossus is especially offended by this because he had been held captive and experimented upon by Danger's ally, Ord of the Breakworld. Ashamed, Xavier tries to explain to them that by the time he realized what was happening, he could see no other course. The disgusted X-Men leave.

  

House of M

 

In a prelude to House of M, Magneto's daughter Scarlet Witch has a mental breakdown and causes the death of several Avengers. Magneto brings her to Xavier and asks him to use his mental powers to help her.

 

Although aided by Doctor Strange and the appearance of Cassandra Nova, Xavier is unsuccessful. Xavier orders a meeting of the X-Men and Avengers to decide Wanda's fate.

 

Her brother Quicksilver, believing the heroes plan to kill her, speeds off to Genosha and convinces Wanda that she could right the wrongs she inflicted by using her powers to alter reality.

 

Quicksilver somehow forces a tearful Wanda to reveal to him her heart's desires of Magneto, the assembled New Avengers, and the X-Men, and then uses her powers to make them all real.

 

Thanks to Magneto, though, this re-imagined world is a place where a much more numerous mutant-kind are the dominant species, humans a disenfranchised and oppressed 'silent majority', and Magneto himself rules supreme. In this reality, the only proof that Charles Xavier ever existed is a secret monument in Magneto's palace garden, with the engraved message "He died so Genosha could live".

 

After mutant Layla Miller restores the memories of some of the X-Men and Avengers, they head to Genosha where they discover that Magneto has erected a memorial garden for Xavier commemorating his death. Emma is horrified until Cloak fades into the grave and discovers there is no body inside.

 

After a battle, Scarlet Witch again uses her powers to restore reality and, as a slight against her father, causes a large majority mutants to lose their powers, leaving the mutant race on the brink of extinction and causing the lost powers to become an energy mass, the Collective. With reality restored, Xavier is still missing and the X-Men are unable to detect him with Cerebro.

 

Deadly Genesis

 

Xavier returns when Cyclops' and Havok's long-lost brother, Vulcan, is revived by the Collective energy released as a result of the "House of M" incident. Vulcan then attacks the X-Men.

 

Xavier, now depowered but able to walk in the wake of "House of M", reveals that he had gathered and trained another team of X-Men (this one composed of students of Dr. Moira MacTaggert) sometime between the original team and the new X-Men team introduced in Giant Size X-Men #1.

 

This team included Vulcan as a member. Like the "Giant Size" X-Men team, McTaggert's former students were sent to rescue the original X-Men from Krakoa, the living island. However, after rescuing Cyclops, McTaggert's former students were seemingly killed. Upon Cyclops' return, Xavier removed Cyclops' memories of the death of Vulcan and his teammates and began assembling the "Giant Size" X-Men. Vulcan skirmishes with the X-Men and eventually flees into space.

 

In spite of Cyclops' feelings, Xavier forms a new team including Havok and Darwin, the lone other survivors of Moira's students. Xavier seeks to confront Vulcan before he can enact his vengeance against the Shi'ar empire, which killed Vulcan's mother.

 

While en route to the Shi'ar homeworld, Xavier is abducted and is later thrown into the M'Kraan Crystal by Vulcan. Darwin follows Xavier into the crystal and pulls Xavier out. This somehow restores Xavier's lost telepathy. With help from his longtime lover, Lilandra, Xavier escapes back to Earth with several of his X-Men.

 

Upon Xavier's return to Earth, as seen in the World War Hulk storyline, he begins to search for lost mutants such as Magneto. Charles' search for more mutants is interrupted by the Hulk, who was sent into extraterrestrial exile by the Illuminati, a group of powerful superbeings to which Xavier belongs.

 

Xavier had no part in (and did not know of) the Hulk exile decision, but Xavier admits to Hulk that he would have concurred to a temporary exile so Bruce Banner could be cured of transforming into the Hulk.

 

However, he also tells the Hulk he would not have agreed to permanent exile. Xavier attempts to surrender to the Hulk, but after viewing the X-Mansion's large graveyard dedicated to post-M-Day mutant deaths, The Hulk concludes the mutants have suffered enough and leaves the Mansion grounds on his own accord. While the X-Men tend to the wounded, Cyclops finally forgives Professor X.

 

Messiah Complex

 

While using Cerebra and talking to Beast during the Messiah Complex storyline, Charles detects a new mutant so powerful it fries Cerebra's system. He asks Cyclops to send out a team to find out about the mutant.

 

Once the team has come back empty handed, he argues with Scott for not telling him about the team he deployed to find former Acolytes. Scott tells him outright that he does not need him to run the X-Men anymore.

 

This upsets Charles and annoys him later on when he overhears Cyclops briefing X-Factor on the situation. He also approaches the New X-Men in an attempt to help them figure out a non-violent way to help against the Purifiers, but is quickly rebuked by Surge, who questions where he was when they were getting attacked the first time, and that they did not need to learn from him.

 

Charles questions Cyclops' decision to send X-Force to hunt down his own son, Cable, in front of the students. Cyclops then tells Xavier that he is a distraction that will keep getting in the way and that he must leave the mansion.

 

Xavier is contacted by Cable, who lost the mutant newborn to the traitorous actions of Bishop, who in turn lost the child to the Marauders, and tells him that he is the only one who can help Cable save the future.

 

In the final fight, Xavier is accidentally shot in the head by Bishop. Immediately afterward Xavier's body disappears and Cyclops declares that there are no more X-Men.

 

Professor Xavier survives Bishop's gunshot but falls into a coma. Xavier is kidnapped by Exodus, Tempo, and Karima Shapandar. Exodus tries to heal Xavier, Xavier mentally fights Exodus.

 

Exodus finally approaches Magneto, who is apparently still depowered, for help. Magneto and Karima Shapandar are able to stir Xavier's memories and coax him out of his coma, though Xavier remains slightly confused and partly amnesiac. Later, Exodus confronts Magneto about Joanna Cargill's injury (Magneto was forced to shoot a laser through her eyeball to prevent her attempted an assassination of Xavier).

 

Exodus nearly kills Magneto, and Xavier drags Exodus onto the Astral Plane, putting Xavier's own newly restored mind at stake. Xavier defeats Exodus after a harrowing psionic battle, and Exodus reveals the reason he abducted Xavier and to restore his mind: Exodus wants Xavier to lead the Acolytes and find the mutant messiah child (now under the guardianship of Cable) to indoctrinate the child into their cause.

 

Xavier refuses. Emma Frost's telepathy picks up on the psychic fight, and Emma informs Cyclops that Xavier is alive. Xavier parts company with Magneto and Karima to try to regain his lost memories by visiting people from his past.

 

The first person Charles visits is Carter Ryking, who had gone insane after losing his powers. Charles reads Carter's memories and discovers that when the two were children they were used as test subjects by Nathan Milbury of the Black Womb Project, with the approval of Charles' father, Doctor Brian Xavier.

 

Xavier makes the connection Milbury and X-Men villain, Mister Sinister, who has apparently long been manipulating Charles' life in addition to other X-Men. Afterwards, he discovers he has been targeted by assassins.

 

Charles eventually discovers Mister Sinister had set up Charles, Sebastian Shaw, Juggernaut, and Ryking (Hazard) as potential new hosts for Sinister's mind.

 

Bleeding slowly to death, he apparently gives in to Sinister becoming the new Mister Sinister. But in reality, Xavier is still battling Sinister for control of his body.

 

As Sebastian Shaw and Gambit destroy Sinister's Cronus Machine, the device that he used to transfer his consciousness into new hosts, Xavier drives Sinister out of his body permanently.

 

Xavier thanks Shaw and Gambit for their help and declares he must go and see Cyclops immediately. Professor X returns to the X-Mansion to find it destroyed after recent events.

 

Afterwards, Xavier leaves the ruins of the X-Mansion to secretly meet up Cyclops by psychically coercing his former student for the visit. Xavier explains to Cyclops about the recent events with Mr. Sinister and tries to explain to Cyclops how Sinister has been manipulating Scott's and Jean's lives since when they were children.

 

Xavier attempts to have Scott give him permission to scan Scott's mind for traces of Sinister's influences, but instead, Scott turns the tables on Xavier by revealing that he has secretly invited Emma Frost into their entire meeting and also into Xavier's mind.

 

While in his mind, Emma forces Xavier to relive each of his morally ambiguous decisions under altruistic pretenses. As the issue continues, Charles realizes his human arrogance and that while some of his decisions were morally wrong, he must move forward with his life and deal with the consequences.

 

Emma ends her incursion into Xavier's mind by reminding him of Moira MacTaggert's last words. As he reflects on Moira's words, Xavier gives Cyclops his blessing to lead the X-Men and leaves to find his own path.

 

Following his encounter with Wolverine (in the "Original Sin" Arc) Professor Xavier seeks out his step-brother, the unstoppable Juggernaut in an attempt to reform him. After a conversation about the meaning of the word "Juggernaut" and a review of Juggernaut and Xavier's shared history Xavier offers Cain an empty box as a gift.

 

Confused by Xavier's gift Cain attempts to kill the Professor bringing an entire sports bar down over their heads in the process. Later Cain battles the X-Men in his full Juggernaut armor and conquers the planet.

 

Just as everything appears to be under the Juggernaut's control Xavier reappears and informs him that everything that has just taken place except for Juggernaut destroying the bar took place in Cain's mind.

 

A baffled Cain demands to know how Xavier managed to overcome his psychically shielded helmet to which the Professor replies that he decided to visit Cain in his sleep.

 

Professor Xavier then informs him that he now understands Cain as a person and that he will not attempt to get in his way or reform him again. But Xavier also warns Cain that if he gets in the way of the Professor's path to redemption Xavier will stop him permanently. Following his encounter with Cain it has been revealed that Xavier is now searching for Rogue.

 

After his bruising encounter with Cyclops and Emma Frost, Professor X is forced to revisit the biggest challenge and the biggest failure of his career, Wolverine, when the feral mutant asks for Charles' help in freeing his son from the clutches of the Hellfire Club.

 

As the two search for Daken, Wolverine reveals that when he first joined the X-Men he attempted to assassinate Xavier due to some unknown programming. In response, the Professor broke Logan's mind and rebuilt it so that any and all programming he received was forgotten. Logan also revealed that the real reason Xavier asked him to join the X-Men was that Charles "needed a weapon".

 

Eventually Professor Xavier and Wolverine locate Sebastian Shaw's mansion and attack his minions, just as they are about to enter a bomb explodes from within catching them both off guard. From the wreckage emerges an angry Sebastian who immobilizes Wolverine.

 

Meanwhile, Miss Sinister knocks Daken unconscious and has him taken to the med lab in the mansion's basement. As Shaw prepares to deliver a killing blow to Xavier, Wolverine recovers and stops him telling Xavier to rescue his son. Professor Xavier locates the med lab and after a quick psychic battle with Miss Sinister enters Daken's fractured mind. While in Daken's mind Xavier discovers Romulus's psychic tampering and comments that Daken's mind is even more broken than Wolverine's was.

 

Before Xavier can heal Daken a psychic bomb explodes causing Xavier to become comatose and Daken to wake up. Miss Sinister arrives and attempts to manipulate Daken who reveals that the psychic bomb in his head restored his memories and stabs Miss Sinister in the chest.

 

Meanwhile, Wolverine defeats Shaw and enters the mansion to find Daken standing over an unconscious Xavier preparing to kill him. Wolverine tells Daken that he will not let him hurt Xavier and the two fight.

 

Overcome with guilt over what happened to Daken and Itsu, Wolverine allows himself to be beaten. Just as Daken appears to have won Xavier pulls both of them onto the astral plane revealing that the psychic bomb had little effect on him because his psyche was already shattered.

 

Xavier then explains to Wolverine and Daken that Romulus is solely responsible for Itsu's death and that he lied to Daken about everything because he wanted Wolverine to become his weapon. As the three converse, Daken returns to the physical plane and prevents Shaw from killing Xavier.

 

With the truth revealed Wolverine and Daken decide to kill Romulus. As the two depart Wolverine tells Xavier that he forgives him for all of the dark moments in their history. Wolverine acknowledges that Professor Xavier allowed him to become a hero. Wolverine then tells the Professor that he hopes he will one day be able to forgive him for choosing to kill Romulus.

 

Professor Xavier recruits Gambit to go with him to Australia to find and help Rogue who is currently staying at the X-Men's old base in the Outback; unaware Danger is using Rogue as a conduit for her revenge against him.

 

In a prelude to the "Secret Invasion" storyline, Professor X was at the meeting of the Illuminati when it came to the discussion about the Skrulls planning an invasion by taking out Earth's heroes and posing as them. He claims he was unable to distinguish that Black Bolt had been replaced by a Skrull, and his powers were tested quickly by the Black Bolt Skrull.

 

Professor X leaves after learning even he can no longer trust the others, yet appears to have severely restricted the number of people he informs of the forthcoming alien invasion, as the X-Men were not prepared for the Skrulls, at least at first.

 

Xavier was not seen again during the events of Secret Invasion, though his X-Men in San Francisco are successful at repelling the invaders there through the use of the modified Legacy Virus.

 

Dark Reign

 

During the Dark Reign storyline, Professor X convinces Exodus to disband the Acolytes. A H.A.M.M.E.R. helicopter arrives and from inside appears Norman Osborn, who wants to talk to him.

 

During the Dark Avengers' arrival in San Francisco to enforce martial law and squelch the anti-mutant riots occurring in the city, Xavier appears (back in his wheelchair) in the company of Norman Osborn and publicly denounces Cyclops' actions and urges him to turn himself in.

 

However, this Xavier was revealed to be Mystique who Osborn found to impersonate Xavier in public. The real Xavier is shown in prison on Alcatraz and slowly being stripped of his telepathic powers while in psionic contact with Beast, who was arrested earlier for his part in the anti-mutant riots.

 

It was also revealed by Emma Frost that she and Professor X are both Omega Class Telepaths when she manages to detect the real Professor X.

 

Professor X helps Emma Frost enter Sentry's mind. However, as Emma frees him of the Void's influence, a minute sliver of the entity itself remains in her mind. Xavier quickly tells her to remain in her diamond armor state to prevent the Void from gaining access to her psi-powers. Professor X is later seen with Emma Frost where Beast is recuperating.

 

After what happened at Utopia, Xavier has come to live on the risen Asteroid M, rechristened Utopia, along with the rest of the X-Men, X-Club, and mutant refugees and is also allowed to join the Utopia lead council (Cyclops, Storm, Namor, Iceman, Beast, Wolverine and Emma Frost).

 

While he no longer continues to openly question every move that Cyclops makes, he is still concerned about some of his leadership decisions. Xavier had wanted to return to the mainland to clear his name, but in the aftermath of Osborn declaring Utopia as a mutant detention area, Cyclops refused to let him leave, stating that it would be a tactical advantage to have him as an ace in the hole in case the need arose.

 

To that end, he has kept Xavier out of the field and instead relied on Emma Frost, Psylocke and the Stepford Cuckoos respectively for their own psionic talents.

 

While attending the funeral of Yuriko Takiguchi, Magneto arrives at Utopia, apparently under peaceful motives. Xavier does not believe it, and attacks Magneto telepathically, causing Cyclops to force him to stand down. He later apologizes to Magneto for acting out of his old passions from their complicated relationship, which Magneto accepts.

 

Next, Professor Xavier is seen on Utopia delivering a eulogy at Nightcrawler's funeral. Like the other X-Men, he is deeply saddened by Kurt's death and anxious about the arrival of Cable and Hope.

 

Xavier is seen using his powers to help his son Legion control his many personalities and battle the Nimrods.

 

Afterwards, Professor X is seen surveying the aftermath of the battle from a helicopter. As Hope descends to the ground and cradles Cable's lifeless arm, Xavier reflects on everything that has transpired and states that, while he feels that Hope has indeed come to save mutant kind and revive his dream, she is still only a young woman and will have a long and difficult journey before she can truly achieve her potential.

 

AvX

 

During the "Avengers vs. X-Men" storyline, the Phoenix Force is split into five pieces and bonded with Cyclops, Emma Frost, Namor, Colossus and Magik (who become known as the Phoenix Five).

 

Eventually, Cyclops and Frost come to possess the full Phoenix Force, and Professor X is instrumental in confronting them both, and dies in the ensuing battle with Cyclops.

 

The Phoenix Force is subsequently forced to abandon Cyclops as a host by the efforts of both Hope Summers and the Scarlet Witch.

 

Xavier's body is later stolen by the Red Skull's S-Men while the group also captures Rogue and Scarlet Witch. Xavier's brain is removed and fused to the brain of the Red Skull. After Rogue and Scarlet Witch snapped out of the fight they were in, they find the lobotomized body of Professor X.

 

Red Skull uses the new powers conferred upon him by Professor X's brain to provoke anti-mutant riots. His plans are foiled by the Avengers and the X-Men, and the Skull escapes.

 

Professor X's spirit is later seen in the Heaven dimension along with Nightcrawler's spirit at the time when Azazel invades Heaven.

 

During the AXIS storyline, a fragment of Professor X's psyche (which had escaped the scrubbing of his memories) still existed in Red Skull's mind preventing him from unleashing the full potential of Professor X's powers.

 

During a fight with the Stark Sentinels, Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch attempt to cast a spell to invert the axis of Red Skull's brain and bring out the fragment of Professor X to defeat Onslaught.

 

Doctor Strange was targeted and captured by the Sentinels before they could cast the spell. When Magneto arrived with his supervillain allies, Doctor Doom and Scarlet Witch attempted to cast the inversion spell again and Red Onslaught was knocked unconscious and reverted to his Red Skull form.

 

Although they did not know whether Professor X was now in control, the Avengers decided to be cautious and take Red Skull to Stark Tower.

 

It was later revealed that the spell had actually caused all the heroes and villains present to undergo a "moral inversion" rather than simply bringing out Professor X in the Skull, with the result that the Skull and other villains became heroic while the Avengers and X-Men present became villainous. Eventually, the inversion was undone.

 

After the Skull mounts a telepathic assault that nearly allows him to take control of the Avengers, he is defeated when Deadpool places Magneto's old helmet on Rogue, allowing her to knock out the Skull and take him to Beast.

 

Beast is subsequently able to perform brain surgery on the Skull, extracting the part of Xavier's brain that was grafted onto the villain's own brain without causing any apparent damage to the Skull. Rogers attempts to claim the fragment for himself, but Rogue flies up and incinerates the fragment with the aid of the Human Torch, the two expressing hope that Xavier will rest in peace.

 

Return

 

The astral form of Professor Xavier has since been revealed to be imprisoned in the Astral Plane after Shadow King somehow acquired it upon Professor X's death.

 

After what appeared to be years in the Astral Plane, Professor X is able to trick Shadow King into playing him in a 'game' that lures Rogue, Mystique and Fantomex onto the Astral Plane, while turning others into carriers for the Shadow King's 'contagious' psychic essence. With the Shadow King certain of his victory, he fails to realize that Xavier's apparent 'surrender' to his game was really just him biding his time until the Shadow King's influence was distracted long enough for him to drop his already-subtly-weakened guard long enough for Xavier to break his bonds, luring in the three aforementioned X-Men as their identities were already fundamentally malleable.

 

With the Shadow King defeated, Xavier is apparently returned to the real world in the body of Fantomex, Fantomex reasoning that nobody really knows who he is as an individual beyond his status as one of the X-Men whereas this act of sacrifice will ensure that he is remembered for a great deed.

 

Proteus has spent years trapped in a psionic hellscape of the Astral Plane, where The Shadow King reigned supreme, only to escape.

 

Part of the reason that he could was the escape of Charles Xavier (who now chooses to go by X, since he is now in a younger body after escaping), and now X leads the X-Men directly into an ambush, as Proteus has warped an entire village with his powers, leading to a mind-to-mind battle that leaves X on the receiving end of a psychic beatdown.

 

Proteus has started his garden and his seeds are planted all over the world. Psylocke is in command and has a plan which mainly consists of Archangel using metal and Mystique morphing into his mother.

 

Once they drain him, Rogue and Bishop convert his energy and release him back to the universe. Whilst this all went down Psylocke and X combined forces to burn out the seeds across the planet. As they are working on it they discover they are not enough to accomplish the task. X mentions the network of psychics the Shadow King was using and that Betsy who is in control should tap into it.

 

She agrees and does so yet unbeknownst to her X was possessed by the Shadow King who violently erupts from X's head.

 

Following X's apparent death after the Shadow King exploded from his skull, the psychic villain tears the X-Men apart until X literally pulls himself back together (a feat he later refuses to explain), and he and Psylocke team up to harness the power of all of Earth's psychics to destroy the Shadow King.

 

As Psylocke says she feels no psychic trace of him anywhere, X implants comforting post-hypnotic psychic suggestions in his allies and then erases their memories (including allowing Warren Worthington to switch between his identities at will). Only Psylocke's memory is left intact, with X telling her she will be the one to "keep him honest" while he embarks on a new mission.

 

Dawn of X

 

X has since made his presence known to his former students and reveals his new plan for all mutantkind. Now clad in a Cerebro-like helmet, Xavier has apparently abandoned his dream for peaceful coexistence, and had turned Krakoa into a sovereign nation state for mutants as well as use it to apparently heal the X-Men from their ordeals during the showdown against the forces of O.N.E.

 

He then leads the X-Men into planting in seeds in strategic locations around the world and Mars, which, overnight, grow into massive plantlike "Habitats". As it turns out, these "Habitats" – and the plants that grew them – are extensions of Krakoa.

 

Through the advancement of mutant technology combined with Krakoa's unique abilities as a living mutant island, Professor X and the X-Men have embassies around the world. Also through this combination of technology and mutant power, Xavier have developed three drugs that could change human life – a pill that extends human life by five years, an adaptable universal antibiotic, and a pill that cures "diseases of the mind, in humans".” In exchange for recognizing the sovereignty of Krakoa, Professor X will give these drugs to mankind, with mutants living in peace on the island.

 

Xavier and Magneto later meet with Raven Darkholm inside his sanctum. The two mutant leaders both greatly pleased with the success of her mission as she presents what they'ed petitioned her to steal. A mysterious USB tab containing sensitive information stolen from Damage Control, Mystique would inquire for her payment as she had met their demands.

 

However, Xavier mentions that he still had more demands that needed to be met as they were building their protected future of Homo Sapiens Superior, seeming to psychokinetically beckon the contents of her theft into his hands while Mystique questions how much more needed to be done for his ultimate pet project.

 

Xavier and Magneto reveal the contents of the USB drive to Cyclops, which are shown to be information on Orchis, an organization dedicated to responding to a large-scale mutant threat and the plans of a Mother Mold.

 

They believe that the creation of the Mother Mold will herald a new generation of Sentinels and along with it, Nimrod. They task Cyclops with assembling a team to destroy the Mother Mold station. Although the team (composed of Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Husk, Mystique, Archangel, and Monet) is successfully, they are all killed in the process. X mourns them, vowing "No more."

 

Xavier is revealed to have upgraded Cerebro with the help of Forge, which is now able to copy and store the minds of mutants in a database.

 

After the Five (Hope Summers, Goldballs, Elixir, Proteus, and Tempus) are able to grow the bodies of deceased mutants, Xavier is able to copy the minds back in these empty shells. Thus, he is able to restore Cyclops's team, thanking them for what they did.

 

At the U.N., Xavier, Beast, and Emma celebrate with other ambassadors for the recognition of Krakoa as a sovereign nation. Xavier telepathically converses with Emma, revealing that he knows that she manipulated the Russian ambassador to abstain from the vote, before thanking her for her service.

 

Two days after the U.N. vote, Xavier, Magneto, and Wolverine are in Krakoa waiting besides several portals. While Wolverine expresses his misgivings about the upcoming event, Xavier and Magneto assure him all will be alright. Soon after, several villainous mutants, including Mister Sinister, Sebastian Shaw, Exodus, Selene and Apocalypse arrive through the portals.

 

Apocalypse in particular expresses satisfaction at arriving and Krakoa responds in the same way. Magneto and Xavier reveal that they have invited all mutants, even those who have fought against them in the past, to Krakoa, to form a society. The assembled villainous mutants agree to their terms, and Xavier shakes Apocalypse's hand, welcoming him and the others to their home."

 

While peace reigns on Krakoa, a mysterious team of assassins HALO drops into the island and assassinates Xavier, destroying his Cerebro helmet in the process.

 

The Quiet Council hides Xavier's death from the rest of the world, and through the activation of a Cerebro backup, and the efforts of The Five, Xavier is reborn once more.

 

Soon after, he partakes in a global conference alongside Magneto and Apocalypse, professing that he still loves humanity, whilst subtly warning them in regards to his previous assassination - and his knowledge of an ongoing assassination attempt at the forum itself, foiled by Cyclops and Gorgon.

 

Powers and Abilities

 

Professor X is a mutant who possesses vast telepathic powers, and is among the strongest and most powerful telepaths in the Marvel Universe. He is able to perceive the thoughts of others or project his own thoughts within a radius of approximately 250 miles (400 km).

 

Xavier's telepathy once covered the entire world; although following this, Magneto altered the Earth's electromagnetic field to restrict Xavier's telepathic range.

 

While not on Earth, Xavier's natural telepathic abilities have reached across space to make universal mental contact with multiple alien races.

 

With extreme effort, he can also greatly extend the range of his telepathy. He can learn foreign languages by reading the language centers of the brain of someone adept, and alternately "teach" languages to others in the same manner. Xavier once trained a new group of mutants mentally, subjectively making them experience months of training together, while only hours passed in the real world.

 

Xavier's vast psionic powers enable him to manipulate the minds of others, warp perceptions to make himself seem invisible, project mental illusions, cause loss of particular memories or total amnesia, and induce pain or temporary mental and/or physical paralysis in others.

 

Within close range, he can manipulate almost any number of minds for such simple feats. However, he can only take full possession of one other mind at a time, and must strictly be within that person's physical presence. He is one of the few telepaths skilled enough to communicate with animals and even share their perceptions.

 

He can also telepathically take away or control people's natural bodily functions and senses, such as sight, hearing, smell, taste, or even mutant powers.

 

A side effect of his telepathy is that he has an eidetic memory and his brain can assimilate and process impossibly huge amounts of raw data in an astonishingly short amount of time.

 

He has displayed telepathic prowess sufficient to confront Ego the Living Planet (while aided by Cadre K) as well as narrowly defeat Exodus.

 

However, he cannot permanently "reprogram" human minds to believe what he might want them to believe even if he wanted to do so, explaining that the mind is an organism that would always recall the steps necessary for it to reach the present and thus 'rewrite' itself to its original setting if he tried to change it.

 

However, his initial reprogramming of Wolverine lasted several years, despite Wolverine overcoming the reprogramming much faster than an ordinary human because of his healing factor.

 

He is able to project from his mind 'bolts' composed of psychic energy, enabling him to stun the mind of another person into unconsciousness, inflict mental trauma, or even cause death. These 'bolts' inflict damage only upon other minds, having a negligible effect on non-mental beings, if any.

 

The manner in which Xavier's powers function indicates that his telepathy is physical in some way, as it can be enhanced by physical means (for example, Cerebro), but can also be disrupted by physical means (for example, Magneto's alteration of the Earth's magnetic field).

 

Xavier can perceive the distinct mental presence/brain waves of other superhuman mutants within a small radius of himself. To detect mutants to a wider area beyond this radius, he must amplify his powers through Cerebro and subsequently Cerebra, computer devices of his own design which are sensitive to the psychic/physical energies produced by the mind.

 

Professor X can project his astral form into a psychic dimension known as the astral plane. There, he can use his powers to create objects, control his surroundings, and even control and destroy the astral forms of others. He cannot project this form over long distances.

 

Uncanny X-Men writer Ed Brubaker has claimed that, after being de-powered by the Scarlet Witch, and then re-powered by the M'Kraan Crystal, Charles' telepathy is more powerful than was previously known. However, the extent of this enhancement is unknown.

 

Years prior to initial publishing, Charles Xavier had an undefined level of telekinesis. This aspect of his powers were potent enough to cause catastrophic system disruption in computerized appliances.

 

Such an attribute has faded, however. His evil counterpart Cassandra Nova Xavier would possess this ability, indicating he still possessed the potential for them.

 

This potential was proven true after his death and resurgence within the younger, stronger body of Charlie Cluster 7. The Professor, using the moniker X, fashioned a Cerebro like a helmet which acts as a focusing device for his psionic powers and used it to galvanize latent aspects of his X-Gene to stimulate some dormant properties, seemingly using telekinesis to will a flash drive on Mystique's person into his hand.

 

Charles Xavier is a genius with multiple doctorates. He is a world-renowned geneticist, a leading expert in mutation, possesses considerable knowledge of various life sciences, and is the inventor of Cerebro.

He possesses Ph.D.s in Genetics, Biophysics, Psychology, and Anthropology, and an M.D. in Psychiatry. He is highly talented in devising equipment for utilizing and enhancing psionic powers. He is also a great tactician and strategist, effectively evaluating situations and devising swift responses.

 

During his travels in Asia, Xavier learned martial arts, acquiring "refined combat skills" according to Magneto. When these skills are coordinated in tandem with his telepathic abilities, Xavier is a dangerous unarmed combatant, capable of sensing the intentions of others and countering them with superhuman efficiency. He also has extensive knowledge of pressure points.

 

Charles Xavier was also given possession of the Mind Gem. It allows the user to boost mental power and access the thoughts and dreams of other beings. Backed by the Power Gem, it is possible to access all minds in existence simultaneously. Like all other former Illuminati members, Xavier has sworn to never use the gem and to keep its location hidden.

 

The Xavier Protocols

 

Totally NOT a blatant rip-off of the Batman Protocols from DC... /end sarcasm

 

The Xavier Protocols are a set of doomsday plans created by Professor X. The protocols detail the best way to kill many powerful mutant characters, including the X-Men and Xavier himself, should they become too large of a danger.

 

The Xavier Protocols are first mentioned during the Onslaught crossover and first seen in Excalibur #100 in Moira MacTaggert's lab. Charles Xavier compiled a list of the Earth's most powerful mutants and plans on how to defeat them if they become a threat to the world. They are first used after Onslaught grows too powerful.

 

Only parts of the actual protocols are ever shown. In the Operation: Zero Tolerance crossover Bastion obtains an encrypted copy of the protocols, intending to use them against the X-Men.

 

However, Cable infiltrates the X-Mansion and secures all encrypted files before Bastion has a chance to decrypt them.

 

Due to the tampering of Bastion and his Sentinels, the X-Mansion computer system Cerebro gains autonomy and seeks to destroy the X-Men by employing its knowledge of the Xavier Protocols. In a virtual environment created by Professor X, Cerebro executes the Xavier Protocols against the X-Men.

 

Each protocol is activated by the presence of a different combination of X-Men and were written by Xavier himself: Code 0-0-0 (Charles Xavier) was activated by Moira MacTaggert, Cyclops, and Jean Grey.

 

This file is both an entry on Charles Xavier, as well as an introduction to the Xavier Protocols. It contained a holographic image of Charles Xavier, reading the following message: "Moira, Scott, Jean; if you three are seeing these images, then I have become a mortal threat to my X-Men. In this instance, I must be stopped by any means necessary. Some years ago, I made a study of various forms of possible defense against my own psychic abilities. The image next to me is that of an anti-psionic armor. The wearer should be protected from my talent. When I finish speaking, a blueprint for this armor will be downloaded."

 

Code 0-2-1 (Wolverine) was activated by Archangel, Cyclops, and Jean Grey. Code 1-3-9 (Cable) was activated by Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Cannonball. Other X-Men who have faced their Xavier Protocols are Colossus, Rogue, Shadowcat, Nightcrawler, Storm, and Gambit.

 

⚡ Happy 🎯 Heroclix 💫 Friday! 👽

_____________________________

A year of the shows and performers of the Bijou Planks Theater.

 

Secret Identity: Charles Francis Xavier

 

Publisher: Marvel

 

First appearance: The X-Men #1 (September 1963)

 

Created by: Stan Lee (writer)

Jack Kirby (artist)

 

Professor X last seen back in BP 2019 Day 234!

Some vintage gauges in the old hydropower plant, one of a group on a panel perhaps 15 feet long and 6 feet tall. I had hoped to see the panel lit up like a Christmas tree, but control of the plant was computerized years ago, and the board was disconnected.

 

Noticing my disappointment, the plant operator whipped out his smartphone and showed me how he could monitor river flow rates, water height, input, output, many of the same things that big bank of gauges used to do. More efficient, less photogenic.

 

I have seen quite few pictures of Joy's Sole enjoying various videos and from time to time Sammy comes over and checks out what I am doing on my computer. I recently saw this "aquarium for cats" on a facebook site and I thought I would give it a whirl. I turned it on for Sammy, who was already sitting by my computer and then went to get my camera. Suddenly Luigi appeared and joined in. I think Luigi was more enthusiastic about this one than even Sammy was.

 

Here is a link to the video they were watching: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1K1XKClRb38

Canon FD 50mm f1.8 S.C. lens

This shot is of the Texas State House of Representatives chamber, located in the west wing of the Texas Capitol building. Every two years, 150 elected representatives from across the state gather in this chamber. They have been doing this since 1888. Each representative has the pleasure of sitting in a signature Texas-seal embossed, brown leather chair made especially for this chamber in 1941. Unlike their Senate colleagues, representatives don't speak from their desks but from one of the two podiums located at the back and front of this chamber.

 

A mechanical voting system was installed in the House chamber in 1922. During the 1970s, that was replaced by a computerized voting system. Each representative's desk has a panel that allows push-button voting and communication. Members can vote Aye (yes), Nay (no), or PNV (present but not voting). Additional panel buttons alert members to phone calls or requests from the Speaker of the House.

Pan American World Airways, known from its founding until 1950 as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was the principal and largest international air carrier in the United States from 1927 until its collapse on December 4, 1991. Founded in 1927 as a scheduled air mail and passenger service operating between Key West, Florida, and Havana, Cuba, the airline became a major company credited with many innovations that shaped the international airline industry, including the widespread use of jet aircraft, jumbo jets, and computerized reservation systems. It was also a founding member of the International Air Transport Association, the global airline industry association. Identified by its blue globe logo, the use of the word "Clipper" in aircraft names and call signs, and the white pilot uniform caps, the airline was a cultural icon of the 20th century. In an era dominated by flag carriers that were wholly or majority government-owned, it was also the unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States. During most of the jet era, Pan Am's flagship terminal was the Worldport located at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City.

America by Air

The history of commercial aviation in the United States from airmail to airlines.

 

Flying was new and daring in the early years of the 20th century. Traveling by airplane was rare. Airlines, airliners, airports, air routes—none of these existed. But by century's end, you could travel to almost anywhere in America by air in a matter of hours. How did this revolutionary change happen?

 

America by Air explores the history of air transportation in the United States and shows how the federal government has shaped the airline industry, how improvements in technology have revolutionized air travel, and how the flying experience has changed. Highlights include a Ford 5-AT Tri-Motor, Boeing 247, and DC-3 airliners; a cockpit simulation of an Airbus A320; and a nose from a Boeing 747 jumbo jet that you can enter.

Southeast Financial Center is a two-acre development in Miami, Florida, United States. It consists of a 765 feet (233 m) tall office skyscraper and its 15-story parking garage. It was previously known as the Southeast Financial Center (1984–1992), the First Union Financial Center (1992–2003), and the Wachovia Financial Center (2003-2011). In 2011, it retook its old name of Southeast Financial Center as Wachovia became Wells Fargo and moved into its new headquarters, the nearby Wells Fargo Center building.

 

When topped-off in August 1983, it was the tallest building south of New York City and east of the Mississippi River, taking away the same title from the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel, in Atlanta, Georgia. It remained the tallest building in the southeastern U.S. until 1987, when it was surpassed by One Atlantic Center in Atlanta and the tallest in Florida until October 1, 2003, when it was surpassed by the Four Seasons Hotel and Tower, also in Miami. It remains the tallest office tower in Florida and the third tallest building in Miami.

 

Southeast Financial Center was constructed in three years with more than 500 construction workers. Approximately 6,650 tons of structural steel, 80,000 cubic yards of concrete and 7000 cubic tons of reinforcing steel bars went into its construction. The complex sits on a series of reinforced concrete grade beams tied to 150 concrete caissons as much as ten feet in diameter and to a depth of 80 feet. A steel space-frame canopy with glass skylights covers the outdoor plaza between the tower and low-rise building.

 

The tower has a composite structure. The exterior columns and beams are concrete encased steel wide flanges surrounded by reinforcing bars. The composite exterior frame was formed using hydraulic steel forms, or “flying forms,” jacked into place with a “kangaroo” crane, that was located in the core and manually clamped into place. Wide flange beams topped by a metal deck and concrete form the interior floor framing. The core is A braced steel frame, designed to laterally resist wind loads. The construction of one typical floor was completed every five days.

 

The low-rise banking hall and parking building is a concrete-framed structure. Each floor consists of nearly an acre of continuously poured concrete. When the concrete had sufficiently hardened, compressed air was used to blow the forms fiberglass forms from under the completed floor. It was then rolled out to the exterior where it was raised by crane into position for the next floor.

 

The building was recognized as Miami's first and only office building to be certified for the LEED Gold award in January 2010.

 

The center was developed by a partnership consisting of Gerald D. Hines Interests, Southeast Bank and Corporate Property Investors for $180 million. It was originally built as the headquarters for Southeast Bank, which originally occupied 50 percent of the complex’s space. It remained Southeast Bank’s headquarters there until it was liquidated in 1991.

 

The Southeast Financial Center comprises two buildings: the 55-story office tower and the 15-story parking annex. The tower has 53 stories of office space. The first floor is dedicated for retail, the second floor is the lobby and the 55th floor was home to the luxurious Miami City Club. The parking annex has 12 floors of parking space for 1,150 cars. The first floor is dedicated for retail, the second floor is a banking hall and the 15th floor has the Downtown Athletic Club. A landscaped plaza lies between the office tower and the parking annex. An enclosed walkway connects the second story of the tower with the second story of the annex. The courtyard is partially protected from the elements by a steel and glass space frame canopy spanning the plaza and attached to the tower and annex. Southeast Bank's executive offices were located on the 38th floor. Ground was broken on the complex on December 12, 1981 and the official dedication and opening for the complex was held on October 23, 1984.

 

The Southeast Financial Center was designed by Edward Charles Bassett of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. The Associate Architect was Spillis Candela & Partners. It has 1,145,311 ft² (106,000 m²) of office space. A typical floor has about 22,000 ft² (2,043.87 m²) of office space. Each floor has 9 ft x 9 ft (2.7 m x 2.7 m) floor to ceiling windows. (All of the building's windows are tinted except for the top floor, resulting in strikingly bright and clear views from there.) The total complex has over 2.2 million ft² (204,000 m²). The distinctive setbacks begin at the 43rd floor. Each typical floor plate has 9 corner offices and the top twelve floors have as many as 16. There are 43 elevators in the office tower. An emergency control station provides computerized monitoring for the entire complex, and four generators for backup power.

 

The Southeast Financial Center can be seen as far away as Ft. Lauderdale and halfway toward Bimini. Night space shuttle launches from Cape Canaveral 200 miles to the north were plainly visible from the higher floors. The roof of the building was featured in the Wesley Snipes motion picture Drop Zone, where an eccentric base jumper named Swoop parachutes down to the street from a suspended window cleaning trolley. The building also appeared in several episodes of the 1980s TV show Miami Vice and at the end of each episode's opening credits.

 

Zara founder Amancio Ortega purchased the building from J.P. Morgan Asset Management in December 2016. The purchase price was reportedly over $500 million, making it one of the largest real estate transactions in South Florida history.

 

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeast_Financial_Center

1962 Oldsmbile F-85 Jetfire Hardtop Coupe

 

General Motors was flexing its engineering muscles in the early Sixties, especially when it came to the corporation’s new Y-body small cars. The line of 112-inch-wheelbase premium compacts included the Pontiac Tempest with independent rear suspension and curved “rope drive” driveshaft. Meanwhile, the Buick Special and Oldsmobile F-85 bowed in 1961 with an aluminum V8, followed in ’62 by a 90-degree V6 initially exclusive to Buick.

  

In April 1962, Olds introduced America’s first mass-market turbocharged car, the F-85 Jetfire. (Chevrolet brought out its turbocharged Corvair Monza Spyder about a month later.) A turbocharger uses the force of escaping exhaust gas to turn impellers that raise air pressure in the intake manifold, forcing the fuel mixture into the combustion chambers for more power. Working with Garrett AirResearch, Olds adapted a turbocharger to the 215-cid aluminum V-8. Where naturally aspirated versions made 155 or 185 horsepower, the Jetfire’s “Turbo Rocket” version put out 215 horsepower.

 

Turbo engines usually have reduced compression to avoid preignition or “pinging,” but to reach the magic one-horsepower-per-cubic-inch mark, Olds engineers used a high 10.25:1 compression. To head off detonation, an ingenious fluid-injection system added a 50/50 mix of water and alcohol (“Turbo-Rocket Fluid”) to the fuel mixture to lower the combustion-chamber temperature. A wastegate limited turbo boost.

  

Inside, a vacuum-boost gauge on the standard center console indicated if the turbo was doing its job. The gauge also included a warning light to remind owners to refill the Turbo-Rocket Fluid tank—a bottle in the engine bay held an emergency supply.

A Jetfire could go 0-60 mph in 8.5 seconds and had a top speed of 107. The quarter-mile run was achieved in 16.8 seconds. All Jetfires were hardtop coupes with standard front bucket seats. The Jetfire cost $3049.

  

Oldsmobile engineers came up with a lot of ingenious engineering to make the turbo work, but ultimately the engine was unreliable in the hands of average owners who often failed to refill the Turbo-Rocket Fluid tank. In 1965 Olds recalled the Jetfires to replace the turbocharger with a conventional four-barrel carburetor. Today, turbos benefit from computerized technology and are increasingly popular because they generate more power from small, fuel-efficient engines.

 

Only 3765 Jetfires were sold in 1962, with a further 5842 built in its final year of 1963. It’s estimated that only 30-35 with a functioning turbocharger remain. It is one of only about 50 ’62s with a four-speed manual transmission.

"In the year 2077, after millennia of armed conflict, the destructive nature of man could sustain itself no longer. The world was plunged into an abyss of nuclear fire and radiation.”

 

('Power Armor' by Funko / Legacy Collection)

 

Diorama by RK

Aucun trucage. Ni photographique, ni informatique.

Le verre se trouve sur une planche "à roulettes", inclinée et bloquée.

Quand le blocage est retiré, la planche commence sa descente, et les photos sont déclenchées en rafale, avec flash en rafale lui aussi.

Quand la planche arrive à la butée, le liquide continue sa course, ce qui donne cette photo...

 

No tricks. Neither photographic nor computerized.

The glass is on a “rolling” board, tilted and blocked.

When the block is removed, the board begins its descent, and photos are taken in bursts, with the flash also in bursts.

When the board reaches the stop, the liquid continues its course, resulting in this photo...

 

20231128-0047-Modifier

this was really fun to paint because of the scenery behind the wall and stage next to it. i have this new thing where i have a computerized letter going through my other letters on this one. wish i knew i had 2 days for this would have took my time but I am a metal man! thanks to kanos and astro for hooking up the event!

Public transit and autonomous cars have one shortcoming in common: An external party can tell you where you can go and where you can't.

 

In case of buses and trains, by means of cutting areas off of the network. In a self-driving car that can be accomplished with relative ease by marking certain areas as no-go. The vehicle just won't take you there. It's already being done in the electric scooters you can rent and unlock via an app. And those aren't even self-driving. Yet if you try to drive them into an area the city doesn't want them to go, it'll just stop. Not every city has such areas, but some do. Who says that couldn't be implemented in a car, computerized and always online as they are now? Probably the same kind of people who say you'll never have to pay a monthly fee for your heated seats in a car that cost tens of thousands of Euros.

 

As to why anyone would want to restrict where you can drive your car: Think about that like a despot. An operation like Auschwitz or such would be much harder to pull off nowadays, when everyone and their grandma has a smartphone with a camera, a drone, and a dashcam in their car. Especially here in densely populated Europe where there's not much of empty space where you can hide your Area 51s and what not. So how do you keep them away from places you don't want to show up on Facebook? Well, leave it to cyber, I guess. Leave it to Elon. You know Elon? Elon Mush? That guy who once shot a cigar into space only to prove you can still smoke it when it comes back down again? Well, not if it lands in the Puget Sound, but that's a different story. It was a miscalculation, alright? Also, they still smoked it in the end, it just tasted a bit like orca blubber.

 

Anyway, they'll probably market the feature as one that improves safety or something like that, like never having to pay a fine again for driving the wrong way in a one-way road or something, or as a security zone around critical infrastructure.

 

With normal cars nowadays, there are of course also areas where you're not allowed to go, and usually for good reasons. The difference is, you still can if you want to.

 

Anyway, I was going to talk about something else entirely. It doesn't quite meet the definition of a rebound effect, but it's still somewhere there in that corner: Going everywhere by train, you don't have to worry about finding a parking spot, and a few other things. With a car, that is an issue of course. Yet at the same time, all the places I get to that I'd never have discovered otherwise - it became very clear very soon I have no intention to ever look back again.

 

Needing a parking spot is more of a privilege than something to get annoyed about.

A mesmerizing display that changes with the music that Is located in the Jordan's Furniture Store, New Haven, Connecticut.

MPRNP-04 passes under the coal chute at Dekalb. The muted overcast colors were enhanced to the max in processing.

We recently visited the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park. In addition to the amazing battleship there are many military airplanes on display. I was absolutely fascinated with the SR-71 Blackbird. Visually and operationally, this is an extraordinary aircraft! I was inspired to honor it by creating a series of photo-art pieces. In these pictures, the photos of the SR-71 were taken by me; either of the airplane on display at the park or a model airplane which I bought. The aerial shots of the earth were downloaded from NASA's website.

 

Interesting info about this beautiful bird:

The SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft flew missions at speeds beyond 2,000 mph and could survey the ground from 80,000 feet!! This extreme height allowed the aircraft to avoid interceptor fighter jets or missiles. The SR-71 is covered with a special black paint to absorb radar and camouflage the bird against dark skies, which inspired the Air Force to give it the official "Blackbird" name. To withstand the friction-generated heat at Mach 3+, the frame is made of titanium composite and the tires have been impregnated with aluminum and are filled with nitrogen. In the 1960s when this plane was built, computerized equipment was non-existent, thus the cockpit and flight systems were all analog.

 

A total of 3,551 mission sorties were flown to spy on military installations, troop movements and nuclear silos during the cold war.

 

The use of satellites for space surveillance and the growing danger of more effective air defense caused the Air Force to end SR-71 operations in 1990. On it's last flight it set a speed record by flying from Los Angeles to Washington DC in 1 hour, 4 minutes, 20 seconds!

  

2007 was a real bitch and will not be missed. Hopefully 2008 will be a million times better.

 

I took this at Kerry Park tonight. There was a serious glitch with the computerized fireworks show, with several minutes without any fireworks. They were probably using Vista. It looked like they were just lighting them off by hand at the end. It was totally craptacular.

 

Nevertheless, have a great New Year everybody!

Canon FD 50mm f1.8 S.C. lens

Expired 2004 WH Smith 200 film

The X-29 Flight Research Aircraft features one of the most unusual designs in aviation history. Demonstrating forward swept wing technology, this aircraft investigated numerous advanced aviation concepts and technologies. The fighter-size X-29 explored the use of advanced composites in aircraft construction, variable camber wing surfaces, a unique forward-swept-wing and its thin supercritical airfoil, and strake flaps.

 

The X-29 also demonstrated three specific aerodynamic effects: canard effects, active controls, and aeroelastic tailoring. Canard effects use canards (small wings) to function as another control surface to manipulate air flow. Active controls enable an airplane to pull air across the plane in specific directions rather than passively letting the air flow over it. Aeroelastic tailoring allows parts of an aircraft to flex slightly when air hits it in a certain way to allow for maximum flexibility of air flow. Although the X-29 was one of the most unstable of the X-series in terms of maneuvering capabilities, it was controlled by a computerized fly-by-wire flight control system that overcame the instability, going further than any other aircraft in testing the limits of computer controls. The first flight was December 14, 1984.

 

NASA Media Usage Guidelines

 

Credit: NASA/Larry Sammons

Image Number: EC90-039-4

Date: 1990

Registration: N365PA

Named: Clipper Peerless

Type: 727-221

Engines: 3 × PW JT8D-17A

Serial Number: 22537

First flight: Sep 23, 1981

 

Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States from 1927 until the airline's collapse on December 4, 1991. Pan Am is credited for many innovations that shaped the international airline industry, including the widespread use of jet aircraft, jumbo jets, and computerized reservation systems. Identified by its blue globe logo, the use of the word "Clipper" in its aircraft names and call signs, and the white uniform caps of its pilots, the airline was a cultural icon of the 20th century. With a large and modern fleet, Pan Am reached its peak in the early 1970s. Pan Am was a founding member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the global airline industry association.

 

Poster for Aviators.

www.aviaposter.com

This is the first time I have seen a Strada(Ritmo) in the metal.

This one has been off of the road since around 1993 as indicated by the expiry tag on the rear number plate.

 

This one might get saved .. or it is a donor. Would be sad as these are very rare.

This could be a USA spec example by the dealer sticker on the rear hatch - Bear Creek Auto Haus. Plus the Planetary Peace Alliance bumper sticker with a CA zip code.

 

*Taken from an article on rememberroad.com*

Known in Europe as the Fiat Ritmo–Italian for “rhythm–Fiat selected a name more euphonious to America ears. Even so, “Strada” was still Italian, and all the better, meant “road” in the mother tongue. The Strada was the replacement for the Fiat 128 which, with its transversely-mounted four-cylinder engine and front drive, greatly popularized if not invented that particular automotive genre. Appearing in 1979, the Strada improved on the 128 in every way.

The Strada made do with a belt-driven single overhead cam four displacing 1498cc–we Americans got the big engine–actually the same powerplant used in the Fiat X1/9. It was rated at 69 hp at 5100 rpm, well below its 6300 rpm redline, and 77 lb-ft of torque, about par with its contemporaries. Surprisingly, however, despite its extremely oversquare bore and stroke and two-barrel Weber carburetor, the Strada displayed little of the joy for revving typical of Italian cars.

It came standard with a five-speed transmission, then not yet universal on less expensive cars, while a three-speed automatic from Volkswagen was optional (and best avoided).

0-to60 mph took 12.5 seconds with the quarter-mile winding by in 19.1 seconds, the Strada was considered as peppy as most of its competition and capable on the highway, even if Interstate highway grades required a downshift out of the overdrive fifth gear.

Fiat had expected to sell about 30,000 Strada per year in the United States, but the actual number fell short of that. Touting computerized design, $250 million in development cost and an automated assembly line called Robogate (make your own jokes) apparently wasn’t enough to convince America car buyers that the Strada was any more reliable than the Fiats that had given the brand the nickname “Fix it again, Tony.” At more than $6,000 reasonably tarted up, the Strada was priced up there with the typical American intermediate.

If, as it was then thought, gas prices would continue to climb, the Strada might have been the car for the ’80s. But other small cars were better priced and didn’t have Fiat’s unfortunate reputation. Fiat needed Strada to succeed, and when it failed, it was withdrawn from the U.S. after 1982. Fiat gave up on the American market. The Strada’s name had proven prophetic. It was indeed “the road” for Fiat.

Transhumanism (abbreviated as H+ or h+) is an international and intellectual movement that aims to transform the human condition by developing and creating widely available sophisticated technologies to greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities.Transhumanist thinkers study the potential benefits and dangers of emerging technologies that could overcome fundamental human limitations, as well as the ethics[3] of using such technologies.The most common thesis is that human beings may eventually be able to transform themselves into different beings with abilities so greatly expanded from the natural condition as to merit the label of posthuman beings.The contemporary meaning of the term transhumanism was foreshadowed by one of the first professors of futurology, FM-2030, who taught "new concepts of the human" at The New School in the 1960s, when he began to identify people who adopt technologies, lifestyles and worldviews "transitional" to posthumanity as "transhuman".This hypothesis would lay the intellectual groundwork for the British philosopher Max More to begin articulating the principles of transhumanism as a futurist philosophy in 1990 and organizing in California an intelligentsia that has since grown into the worldwide transhumanist movement.

The year 1990 is seen as a "fundamental shift" in human existence by the transhuman community, as the first gene therapy trial,[8] the first designer babies,[9] as well as the mind-augmenting World Wide Web all emerged in that year. In many ways, one could argue the conditions that will eventually lead to the Singularity were set in place by these events in 1990.[original research?]Influenced by seminal works of science fiction, the transhumanist vision of a transformed future humanity has attracted many supporters and detractors from a wide range of perspectives including philosophy and religion.Transhumanism has been characterized by one critic, Francis Fukuyama, as among the world's most dangerous ideas,to which Ronald Bailey countered that it is rather the "movement that epitomizes the most daring, courageous, imaginative and idealistic aspirations of humanity".

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transhumanism

 

What does it mean to be human? Biology has a simple answer: If your DNA is consistent with Homo sapiens, you are human — but we all know that humanity is a lot more complex and nuanced than that. Other schools of science might classify humans by their sociological or psychological behavior, but again we know that actually being human is more than just the sum of our thoughts and actions. You can also look at being human as a sliding scale. If you were to build a human from scratch, from the bottom up, at some point you cross the threshold into humanity — if you believe in evolution, at some point we ceased being a great ape and became human. Likewise, if you slowly remove parts from a human, you cross the threshold into inhumanity. Again, though, we run into the same problem: How do we codify, classify, and ratify what actually makes us human?Does adding empathy make us human? Does removing the desire to procreate make us inhuman? If I physically alter my brain to behave in a different, non-standard way, am I still human? If I have all my limbs removed and my head spliced onto a robot, am I still human? (See: Upgrade your ears: Elective auditory implants give you cyborg hearing.) At first glance these questions might sound inflammatory and hyperbolic, or perhaps surreal and sci-fi, but don’t be fooled: In the next decade, given the continued acceleration of computer technology and biomedicine, we will be forced to confront these questions and attempt to find some answers.

 

Transhumanism is a cultural and intellectual movement that believes we can, and should, improve the human condition through the use of advanced technologies. One of the core concepts in transhumanist thinking is life extension: Through genetic engineering, nanotech, cloning, and other emerging technologies, eternal life may soon be possible. Likewise, transhumanists are interested in the ever-increasing number of technologies that can boost our physical, intellectual, and psychological capabilities beyond what humans are naturally capable of (thus the term transhuman). Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), for example, which speeds up reaction times and learning speed by running a very weak electric current through your brain, has already been used by the US military to train snipers. On the more extreme side, transhumanism deals with the concepts of mind uploading (to a computer), and what happens when we finally craft a computer with greater-than-human intelligence (the technological singularity). (See: How to create a mind, or die trying.Beyond the obvious benefits of eternal life or superhuman strength, transhumanism also investigates the potential dangers and ethical pitfalls of human enhancement. In the case of life extension, if every human on Earth suddenly stopped dying, overpopulation would trigger a very rapid and very dramatic socioeconomic disaster. Unless we stopped giving birth to babies, of course, but that merely rips open another can of worms: Without birth and death, would society and humanity continue to grow and evolve, or would it stagnate, suffocated by the accumulated ego of intellectuals and demagogues who just will not die? Likewise, if only the rich have access to intelligence- and strength-boosting drugs and technologies, what would happen to society? Should everyone have the right to boost their intellect? Would society still operate smoothly if everyone had an IQ of 300 and five doctorate degrees?As you can see, things get complicated quickly when discussing transhumanist ideas — and life extension and augmented intelligence and strength are just the tip of the iceberg! This philosophical and ethical complexity stems from the fact that transhumanism is all about fusing humans with technology — and technology is advancing, improving, and breaking new ground very, very quickly. Humans have always used technology, of course — our ability to use tools and grasp concepts such as science and physics are what set us apart from other animals — but never has society been so intrinsically linked and underpinned by it. As we have seen in just the last few years, with the advent of the smartphone and ubiquitous high-speed mobile networks, just a handful of new technologies now have the power to completely change how we interact with the the world and people around us..Humans, on the other hand, and the civilizations that they build, move relatively slowly. It took us millions of years to discover language, and thousands more to discover medicine and the scientific method. In the few thousand years since, up until the last century or so, we doubled the human life span, but neurology and physiology were impenetrable black boxes. In just the last 100 years, we’ve doubled our life span again, created bionic eyes and powered exoskeletons, begun to understand how the human brain actually works, and started to make serious headway with boosting intellectual and physical prowess. We’ve already mentioned how tDCS is being used to boost cranial capacity, and as we’ve seen in recent years, sportspeople have definitely shown the efficacy of physical doping.An early television: It would've seemed incredibly alien to our grandparentsIt is due to this jarring juxtaposition — the historical slowness of human and societal evolution vs. the breakneck pace of modern technology — that many find transhumanism to be unpalatable. After all, as I’ve described it here, transhumanism is almost the very definition of unnatural. You’re quite within your rights to find transhumanism a bit, well, weird. And it is weird, don’t get me wrong — but so are most emerging technologies. Do you think that your great grandparents weren’t wigged out by the first television sets? Before it garnered the name “television,” one of its inventors gave it the rather spooky name of “distant electric vision.” Can you imagine the wariness in which passengers approached the first steam trains? Vast mechanical beasts that could pull hundreds of tons and moved far faster than the humble — but state-of-the-art — horse and carriage.The uneasiness that surround new, paradigm-shifting technologies isn’t new, and it has only been amplified by the exponential acceleration of technology that has occurred during our lifetime. If you were born 500 years ago, odds are that you wouldn’t experience a single societal-shifting technology in your lifetime — today, a 40 year old will have lived through the creation of the PC, the internet, the smartphone, and brain implants, to name just a few life-changing technologies. It is unsettling, to say the least, to have the rug repeatedly pulled out from under you, especially when it’s your livelihood at stake. Just think about how many industries and jobs have been obliterated or subsumed by the arrival of the digital computer, and it’s easy to see why we’re wary of transhumanist technologies that will change the very fabric of human civilization.The good news, though, is that humans are almost infinitely adaptable. While you or I might balk at the idea of a brain-computer interface that allows us to download our memories to a PC, and perhaps upload new memories a la The Matrix, our children — who can use smartphones at the age of 24 months, and communicate chiefly through digital means — will probably think nothing of it. For the children of tomorrow, living through a series of disruptive technologies that completely change their lives will be the norm. There might still be some resistance when I opt to have my head spliced onto a robotic exoskeleton, but within a generation children will be used to seeing Iron Seb saving people from car crashes and flying alongside airplanes.The fact of the matter is that transhumanism is just a modern term for an age-old phenomenon. We have been augmenting our humanity — our strength, our wisdom, our empathy — with tools since prehistory. We have always been spooked by technologies that seem unnatural or that cause us to act in inhuman ways — it’s simply human nature. That all changes with the children of today, however. To them, anything that isn’t computerized, digital, and touch-enabled seems unnatural. To them, the smartphone is already an extension of the brain; to them, mind uploading, bionic implants and augmentations, and powered exoskeletons will just be par for the course. To them, transhumanism will just seem like natural evolution — and anyone who doesn’t follow suit, just like those fuddy-duddies who still don’t have a smartphone, will seem thoroughly inhuman.

www.extremetech.com/extreme/152240-what-is-transhumanism-...

Humanity+ is an international nonprofit membership organization that advocates the ethical use of technology to expand human capacities. In other words, we want people to be better than well.Our Humanity+ conferences explore innovations of science and technology and their relationship to humanity. Recent conferences have been held at San Francisco State University, Polytechnic University in Hong Kong, Parsons The New School for Design in New York City, California Technology Institute, and Harvard University.

humanityplus.org/?gclid=Cj0KEQjwipi4BRD7t6zGl6m75IgBEiQAn...

Humanism is a philosophical and ethical stance that emphasizes the value and agency of human beings, individually and collectively, and generally prefers critical thinking and evidence (rationalism, empiricism) over acceptance of dogma or superstition. The meaning of the term humanism has fluctuated according to the successive intellectual movements which have identified with it.Generally, however, humanism refers to a perspective that affirms some notion of human freedom and progress. In modern times, humanist movements are typically aligned with secularism, and today humanism typically refers to a non-theistic life stance centred on human agency and looking to science rather than revelation from a supernatural source to understand the world.[

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanism

Discovery World is a science and technology museum in

500N Harbor Dr Milwaukee, Wisconsin- 53202.

 

"The Discovery World was founded by Robert Powrie Harland, Sr. It was initially known as the Science, Economics and Technology Center. The museum's early location was the Milwaukee Public Library, inside the Wisconsin Avenue. The museum featured hands-on exhibits, computerized simulations, and science shows."

Boyce Thompson Arboretum is a desert arboretum. Water is critical. Ayer lake is actually a reservoir. It is being renovated. The Dam and plumbing are being repaired. Invasive species are being eradicated. 2024 is the Centennial Anniversary for BTA and they are facing the future with important improvements.

 

btarboretum.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Water-Wise-Arb...

What are we planning to do? • Install a computerized and automated irrigation system. • Develop interpretive signage and programs that emphasize water-wise gardening. • Restore the Queen Creek riparian corridor at Boyce Thompson Arboretum. • Establish Ayer Lake as a riparian conservation and education area, complete with boardwalk. • Harvest grey water for irrigation. • Utilize gutters and rain water catchment from structures

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boyce_Thompson_Arboretum

Boyce Thompson Arboretum is the oldest and largest botanical garden in the state of Arizona. It is one of the oldest botanical institutions west of the Mississippi River. Founded in 1924 as a desert plant research facility and “living museum”, the arboretum is located in the Sonoran Desert on 392 acres (159 ha) along Queen Creek and beneath the towering volcanic remnant, Picketpost Mountain. Boyce Thompson Arboretum is on U.S. Highway 60, an hour's drive east from Phoenix and 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Superior, Arizona.

The arboretum was founded by William Boyce Thompson (1869-1930), a mining engineer who made his fortune in the copper mining industry. He was the founder and first president of Inspiration Consolidated Copper Company at Globe-Miami, Arizona and Magma Copper Company in Superior, Arizona. In the early 1920s, Thompson, enamored with the landscape around Superior, built a winter home overlooking Queen Creek. Also in the 1920s, as his fortunes grew, he created and financed the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research in Yonkers, New York (now at Cornell University), and the Boyce Thompson Arboretum on the property of the Picket Post House, west of Superior.

Boyce Thompson wrote: “I have in mind far more than mere botanical propagation. I hope to benefit the State and the Southwest by the addition of new products. A plant collection will be assembled which will be of interest not only to the nature lover and the plant student, but which will stress the practical side, as well to see if we cannot make these mesas, hillsides, and canyons far more productive and of more benefit to mankind. We will bring together and study the plants of the desert countries, find out their uses, and make them available to the people. It is a big job, but we will build here the most beautiful, and at the same time the most useful garden of its kind in the world.”[3]

 

btarboretum.org/about/

 

DSC03504 --HDR-DeNoiseAI-clear

Messier 16 Heart of the Eagle

This image was produced from a stack of exposures captured at a Bortle 4 site in Landers, CA, USA on a New Moon night. The telescope used was an Explore Scientific ED102 FL 714mm F7. Guiding was with an Orion 50mm Guide Scope FL 242mm, and a ZWO ASI290MC for the guide camera, with PHD2 auto-guiding software adjusting the tracking during the exposures. The Computerized GOTO mount used was a Celestron Advanced VX. The main imaging camera was a ZWO ASI294MC PRO cooled to -5C. Exposures taken numbered 124 at 45s each. The camera was set to a Gain of 280 and a of Bin 1 x 1. No darks, flats or bias frames were used. The post processing was done through Pixinsight software, while the polar alignment for the evening was with done with SharpCap Pro. The image was cropped to show the center feature known as the Pillars of Creation.

 

Today is one of my co-worker's birthday and our Project Manager and Department Admin had this XML cake made for her.

 

This won't be the slightest bit humorous to you unless you do work in enterprise software development.

 

UPDATE: this pic got dugg. My department's done a couple more computer nerd birthday cakes for other people after this one. You can see them here and here and here.

 

Watchtower Farms—Five Decades of Harvest Work

 

Some 145 kilometers (90 mi) north of New York City, near the hamlet of Wallkill, New York, is a group of farms that have played an important role in the worldwide Bible educational work of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The first of the Watchtower Farms, as the facilities are now known, was purchased 50 years ago, on January 2, 1963.

  

David Walker, one of Jehovah’s Witnesses who has served at Wallkill since the beginning, tells why the first farm was obtained: “The world headquarters staff of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Brooklyn, New York, was growing, and we needed to feed them in a cost-effective way. The other farmland that Jehovah’s Witnesses had been using in upstate New York took between six and eight hours to reach from Brooklyn. Wallkill was only two hours away. This made it the ideal spot for our needs.” Eventually, Jehovah’s Witnesses used this farm to grow fruits and vegetables and to produce poultry, pork, and beef, as well as dairy products. In time, more farms were added.

  

Within a decade the worldwide growth of Jehovah’s Witnesses led to unique developments at Wallkill. In addition to producing literal crops that could be harvested, literature began to be produced that would help with the figurative harvest work that Jesus spoke about. (Matthew 9:?37; Luke 10:2; John 4:?35, 36) Consider just some of the work that has been done at Wallkill.

 

Printing: During the mid-20th century, the printery located in Brooklyn, New York, produced the majority of our Bible-based literature. But as the demand for literature increased, the Brooklyn printery was no longer able to keep pace. So in 1973, Jehovah’s Witnesses completed construction of an additional printery at Wallkill. Since then, the buildings housing the printing operations have been expanded several times, most recently in 2004.

  

Computer Technology: In 1979, a team of Jehovah’s Witnesses at Wallkill began developing a computerized system, now called the Multilanguage Electronic Publishing System (MEPS). This tool allows for the publication of Bible literature in over 600 languages.

  

Education: In 1988 the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead moved from Brooklyn to Wallkill, and on October 17, classes began. The school remained there until its move to the Watchtower Educational Center in Patterson, New York, in April 1995.

  

As with other farms, over the past five decades, Watchtower Farms’ techniques and operations have changed. Still, considerable effort is put forth to provide quality food products for Jehovah’s Witnesses now serving at the U.S. Bethel facilities in New York.

 

Currently, Jehovah’s Witnesses are constructing new office, residence, and support facilities at Wallkill. They are also renovating existing buildings. All this work will help Watchtower Farms continue to supply the spiritual needs of the growing number who are joining the ranks of Jehovah’s Witnesses in this part of the world.

 

David Walker, quoted earlier, says: “Over the past 50 years, it has brought me great joy to see how from small beginnings, the facilities at Wallkill have grown and contributed to our worldwide effort to teach people the Bible’s message!”

 

Source: www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/activities/bethel/watcht...

© Cynthia E. Wood

 

www.cynthiawoodphoto.com | FoundFolios | facebook | Blurb | Instagram @cynthiaewood

 

From Eric Staller's website: "The LIGHTMOBILE (1985) was the first in the urban UFOs series. A Volkswagen beetle covered with 1659 lamps that are computerized into 20 different patterns of light flowing over the car. I have shared it with hundreds of thousands of people on the streets of New York, Chicago, Boston, Montreal, Amsterdam, Basel, Berlin, Brussels and Nagoya." (And San Francisco...)

"In the early days, thousands were spared the horrors of the holocaust by taking refuge in enormous underground shelters, known as vaults. But when they emerged, they had only the hell of the wastes to greet them ...”

 

('The Lone Wanderer' by Funko / Legacy Collection)

  

Is our long international nightmare finally coming to an end? I got two of these dolls at Target yesterday and *THERE IS NO GLUE/SEALANT/MUCUS-LEAKING SAP IN THE HEADS*. 😲

 

They still have the weird computerized-looking hair rooting pattern with the thin single-row part and the plugs aren't lock-stitched to each other the way they used to be in the "olden days" (presumably because they're being poked in from the outside instead of sewn in from the inside), but instead of having a layer of "glue" to keep the hair from coming out, the ends of the plugs seem to have been melted inside the head to form "stoppers". Hopefully they're going to it this way from now on and it's not just an experiment or some kind of bizarre manufacturing error....

 

Have you seen other newer dolls like this? Is this a thing now? If so, it may be time to start collecting Barbie® dolls with reckless abandon again.

 

(Just kidding.)

 

(Not really.)

 

PS: Big thanks to anybody who's taken the time to complain directly to "them" about the sealant seepage issue - after almost ten years, somebody may finally have listened... (If not? Keep complaining.)

A single 40 second image of Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) aka “the green comet” taken recently over Monticello, NY with a Canon 400mm f/5.6 telephoto lens on a 7D MKII DSLR camera attached to a Celestron AVX equatorial computerized mount and processed with Adobe Lightroom and Topaz AI. The comet at the time was leaving Auriga moving past the third brightest star in that constellation Al Kab (on the left) which is an orange giant at a distance of 490 light years (2940 trillion miles) from Earth. The comet at its closest approach to earth on 2/1 was 26 million miles from earth.

 

Esta mujer tiene estilo nuevo de traje, tejido por ella en telar de cintura. Antes los cortes (refajos) no tenían brocado, eran de puro azul añil. Su huipil tiene colores y diseños nuevos.

 

Su faja, desafortunadamente, es computarizada, una tendencia muy mala en Guatemala, que está causando el rechazo de la ropa Maya tejida a mano. Esta ropa computarizada la hace una máquina en pocos minutos, mientras que la ropa tejida a mano puede tardar meses para hacerse. Entonces, muchas prefieren pagar el precio barato de lo computarizado, y esto, con el tiempo, será la muerte (mejor dicho el ASESINATO) de la tradición Maya. Esta ropa computarizada la hace una máquina en pocos minutos, mientras que la ropa tejida a mano puede tardar meses para hacerse. Entonces, muchas prefieren pagar el precio barato de lo computarizado, y esto, con el tiempo, será la muerte (mejor dicho el ASESINATO) de la tradición Maya. Las tejedoras no pueden competir con cosas hechas en fábrica por computadora, y por ende, muchas ya dejaron de tejer.

 

Her clothes are all hand woven on backstrap loom, except the belt, which is computerized. This is a new trend in Guatemala that is causing the death (or actual the MURDER) of the Maya tradition of weaving. A computer spits out a garment in minutes, making it look like an actual Maya weaving, whereas the real hand made thing can take months to weave. Many women opt for the much cheaper computerized weavings, to the detriment of their native Maya tradition. If you go to Guatemala, be careful not buy any computerized textiles. Turn the piece over. Do you see a bunch of white threads in a mass? That is computerized. Ask local Maya women if you’re not sure (not the vendor. The vendor will say anything to sell the piece, including lying). Buying computerized garments is very bad. Maya weavers cannot make a living when competing against factory made computerized stuff, and this is causing hand weaving to go into decline already.

  

Santiago Chimaltenango, Huehuetenango, GUATEMALA (Mam) in Oakland, CA

Ford Escort Mk.III XR3i (1983-86) Engine 1597cc S4 Fi

Registration Number A 387 NYA (Exeter for Taunton)

FORD (UK) SET

www.flickr.com/photos/45676495@N05/sets/72157623665118181...

 

The Mark III Escort was launched in 1980, unlike the Mark II the new car was more than a reskin of the previous generation Escort. The Mark III was a departure from the two previous models, the biggest changes being the adoption of front-wheel drive, and the new hatchback body. The car used Ford's contemporary design language of the period with the black louvred radiator grille and straked rear lamp clusters, as well as introducing the aerodynamic "bustle-back" bootlid stump.

 

To compete with Volkswagen's Golf GTI, a hot hatch version of the Mark III was developed – the XR3. Initially this featured a tuned version of the 1.6 L CVH engine of 96bhp

fitted with a twin-choke Weber carburettor, uprated suspension and numerous cosmetic alterations.

 

The car lacked the five speed transmission and fuel injection of its Volkswagen rival a situation addressed in October 1982 for the 1983 model year with the arrival of the XR3i with 105bhp eight months behind the limited edition (8,659 examples), racetrack-influenced RS 1600i. The Cologne-developed RS received a more powerful engine with 115 PS (85 kW), thanks to computerized ignition and a modified head as well as the fuel injection.

 

Diolch am olygfa anhygoel, 65,146,926

oblogaeth y Lloegr honno dros y Mynyddoedd

 

Thanks for a stonking 65,146,926 views

 

Shot 06.05.2018 at Catton Hall Car Show, Catton Hall, Walton on Trent, Derbyshire Ref 133-472

       

"In our eyes, defeat is unacceptable because we're fighting for the future of mankind.”

 

('Power Armor' by Funko / Legacy Collection)

 

Diorama by RK

ISS046e003522 (12/29/2015) --- NASA astronaut Tim Kopra powers on the Human Research Facility (HRF) PC 3 for the ongoing Cognition test. The ongoing study includes a battery of tests that measure how spaceflight-related physical changes, such as microgravity and lack of sleep, can affect cognitive performance. Cognition includes ten brief computerized tests that cover a wide range of cognitive functions, and provides immediate feedback on current and past test results. The software allows for real-time measurement of cognitive performance while in space.

This is the grenadier variant of the venerable Himawari rifle, the Underslung launcher launches 40mm grenades with accuracy and the assistance of the computerized grenade sight.

 

(Conscript rifle shown, grenade launcher and sight sold separately)

 

Cost: 1395$ USD for GL and sight.

Loram's newest ballast cleaner, SBC-35, rolls west on the Paynesville Sub through Maple Lake. These machines scoop up the ballast from the shoulders of the right-of-way, sifting out the dirt and dropping the clean ballast back down. This particular machine, along with its sister, SBC-34, are highly computerized.

from the Anticline Overlook in Canyon Rims Recreation Area. Dead Horse Point is right over there...

 

I apologize for the photographic excess, the views from this place frankly blew me away. I'd need a gigapixel camera (or one of those expensive computerized panorama builders) to capture the view from up there.